Transformers: Deep Space Exploration Team

by TcogArchitect

Rating: teen
Tags: Other, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Adventure, Crossover, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe
Length: 36538

Dark Lance's team had been sent to find new worlds, but now they've found much more.

Before they are able to land on the latest planet they have found, Dark Lance's team of Autobot explorers are attacked. Returning fire, both their ship and the enemy's are forced to crash on an unknown world. With their ship heavily damaged and stasis lock a constant threat, Dark Lance and his team must contend with the Decepticons who crashed with them while simultaneously keeping themselves hidden from the local populace. They will soon find, however, that some planets hold secrets as ancient as the stars themselves. Inspired by Beast Wars.

Published 2012-11-07 02:30:02 UTC
Last updated 2014-03-02 17:29:24 UTC

Chapter Two: New Places, New Faces

Published November 13th, 2012

Chapter two: New Places, New Faces

When he awoke from the induced stasis of the modifier pods, the first thing Dark Lance noticed was the hair.  He had done this before, but the addition of organic structures to his body always made him feel like he had replaced another being's consciousness.  The doors opened with a hiss, allowing him to step out and look at himself in the light.  He was still dark blue, but was now on all fours, another sensation he was not unfamiliar with, but did not find entirely comfortable at first, either.  He moved each piece of his body in rapid succession, ensuring that everything was still there and that he could move it all properly.  His flight packs had unfolded and flattened out, refolding into a position which made them look just like natural wings, feathers and all.  His sickles had been modified so that the blades could separate from themselves into a multitude of flexible, black fibers to make up his new tail, with the blades on his shield doing the same on his head to form a short, spiky mane directly behind his lance which, of course, now masqueraded as a horn on his forehead.  His shoulder guards were now unfolded down his arms to become his front legs, with his original legs spinning backwards to achieve the long, powerful rear legs of the creature he was mimicking.  His chest plate had extended out and up to form a new neck and head for his disguise.

He looked around after finishing his self-diagnostic to see his team finishing each of theirs.  Standing in front of him now were three equine forms: a plain, somewhat feminine horse, with a light brown coat and a dark brown mane, which split in the middle to fall equally to her left and right, and a similarly colored tail; a creature that Dark Lance finally remembered from Earth mythology as a pegasus with a bright yellow coat and equally bright green messy mane and tail; and a pure white unicorn with a short, dark blue, slicked-back mane and dark blue, flowing tail.  When they were finished, they went back into the bridge to clean up before continuing to the next order of business: the Decepticons.

"First of all," Dark Lance began, "we need to figure out how far away they landed from our ship."

Bunker carefully pressed a few buttons with his relatively clunky new appendages, and the holo-display then showed a curved line to indicate where the planet's surface was, as two small dots came into view, tracing two more lines down to the first.  A number came up, indicating the distance between the two impact sites.  It was not far.

Dark Lance considered the lines for a moment, then issued a command.  "Aerial map of space between the crash points," he told the computer.  The lines disappeared, and a large map of the area between the Autobot and Decepticon ships appeared in its place.  To the northwest, there was a small town.  A forest extended between the two crash sites, with the Decepticon ship itself smashed into the west side of a mountain, piercing it, while their own had slammed into the ground in the south side of the forest, digging a long furrow through the foliage with its engines before burying itself partially, with the rest of its bulk concealed from the town by the forest trees.  Dark Lance looked intently at the map for a few seconds, before finally making his decision.

"Burnout, you go to the town, and make sure that the Decepticons are not already there.  Bunker, start repairing the main ship functions.  Skybreaker, you and I will head for the Decepticons' ship and try to find out if they are still functional.  No one is to engage.  If something happens, radio the others immediately.  We don't know enough about this planet yet to get involved with the locals, so try to keep low profiles until we do."

The others nodded, and started on their assigned tasks.  Bunker went further into the ship to get his tools, while the others walked outside to  leave.  The first aspect of this new world that they noticed was the lower gravity.  They had been experiencing it for some time, but they had been accustomed to moving through their ship in zero-g, so it had not occurred to them how different this planet's gravity was from other planets they had visited until they were outside.  The second thing they noticed was that the atmosphere wasn't just thinner, it was also much denser.  This possibility had crossed Dark Lance's mind when looking at the holograms of their new forms, but he hadn't thought it would be to such an extent.

Having completed their initial observations about this new environment, Dark Lance and Skybreaker spread their new wings, and took off, acclimating themselves for a few seconds to this latest method of flying.  Even though their wings looked comically small in comparison to the rest of their bodies, the two Autobots were easily capable of keeping themselves aloft in the low gravity and dense atmosphere.   Now sure that they wouldn't need immediate medical attention, Burnout turned towards where the town on the map was, and headed off, the door closing behind her.  Dark Lance and Skybreaker, also satisfied that they could now control their latest forms properly, steered north to where the Decepticons' ship had crashed.

When Burnout got to the town, she was very surprised at the inhabitants.  It looked like they were all one of the forms she, Bunker, or Skybreaker had taken.  She found it odd that they were all so similar in form, but she had seen much stranger things in her travels.  She also wondered how they could build such intricate structures as the buildings she was currently passing without any fingers or other manipulators to hold the tools or carry the materials.  The only thing that truly bothered her, however, was the fact that she didn't see any of them with both wings and a horn, like the form Dark Lance had taken.  She wondered if it was just chance, or if that particular form was rare or unusual.

Meanwhile, Dark Lance and Skybreaker were hidden in some foliage a short distance from the Decepticon ship.  When they had gotten close, they had been able to hear voices and movement inside, indicating that their foes had, in fact, survived the crash and were still fully functional.  So the two had decided to wait in hiding until they had seen their enemies' latest forms, so that they would not accidentally, and incorrectly, assume that a random animal was not a robot in disguise.

Their patience was eventually rewarded, as another, red-colored version of the creature Dark Lance had become walked out, followed by a dragon, a lion with bat wings and a scorpion tail, and a cross between a lion and an eagle with its head feathers swept backwards.  Instantly, the two hidden robots knew which of their enemies was which.  Bloodwing, the leader, had chosen the same form as Dark Lance.  Small wonder, since the two were so similar in their other alt-modes.  The dragon was Fireburst, the second-in-command of their team, and their heavy weapons expert.  The bat-winged lion was Crosswire, the group's medic, if you can call him that.  Dark Lance and Skybreaker had seen firsthand what that mad monstrosity was capable of, and it had been one of the worst experiences of their lives.  The last was Sharpedge, who lived up to her name in every way possible.  From her combat style to her way of speaking, she was one of the meanest Decepticons to ever exist.

The two hidden Autobots watched in silence as the group in front of them checked several places outside the ship, set down some small discs around the area, and then went back inside the ship, which disappeared a few seconds later, shrouded by a cloaking field.  Dark Lance got up, then motioned for Skybreaker to follow.  Once he was sure they were a safe distance away, he took to the air, the other following close behind.

Burnout's mission had been much less eventful.  After setting down a pair of infrared tripwire alarms connected to their ship's alarm system, she went back to the town's library, and began studying the history of the world she was now on after telling an overly friendly purple unicorn she couldn't chat due to urgent business.  She also discovered that the unicorns were able to use magic, explaining how they could build so much, while thinking it was a good thing Dark Lance had sent her instead of Bunker.  After she had gone through most of the library, she decided it was time to go home.  She managed to get out without being stopped again by the librarian, and started heading back towards the Star Runner.

During his comrades' absence, Bunker used the peace and quiet to focus utterly on the task at hand.  He first repaired the Energon shields, allowing him to return to his normal form and get the rest of the job done faster than he would have otherwise.  Except for one interruption from Burnout to sync up her alarms to the ship, the time passed by quickly and quietly.  He may be willing to fight against Unicron himself one-on-one for any of them, but he enjoyed the quiet, peaceful moments.  They calmed him, and he was able to do a lot more when he wasn't being interrupted constantly by his teammates.  By the time the others got back, he had almost all systems except the engines up and running.

"Nice work, Bunker," Dark Lance complimented as he walked in with Skybreaker, both of them transforming into their robot modes.  He was now able to see that Bunker's arms were his rear legs in beast mode, with the tail becoming his signature pair of flowing capes.  The head of his beast mode now faced the ceiling, with its horn flat against Bunker's back.  Skybreaker's beast mode had him laying backwards, with his main shoulder-thrusters becoming the head, his arms forming the back, and his secondary hoverpack turning into his front legs.  Dark Lance was always amazed at how no matter what alt-mode one of them took, the transformations they used were always very similar to previous modes.  Even his new beast mode was reminiscent of his usual jet alt-mode.  Burnout soon appeared, showing that her old gauntlet had become the majority of her beast mode's head, while her other hand joined it to form the bottom portion of the mouth.  Her whole upper body then twisted to put everything in alignment, including the two front legs which now hung off the back of her shoulder blades, looking like they wanted to mimic Skybreaker's backpack.

The four of them then sat in the newly-repaired chairs surrounding the hologram table.  Each told the others what they had accomplished over the course of the day, until everyone knew everything that had transpired up to that point, including the fact that they were not horses, but ponies, as well as various other terminology and historical information Burnout had picked up during her studies.  Then the other three looked expectantly at their leader, waiting for his verdict on what their priorities would be while they were here.  He was silent for almost a minute, mulling over what their course of action should be.  Should they go on the offensive, and try to take out the Decepticons before they could do anything to prepare?  No, that wouldn't work.  The 'cons were always ready for battle, and his team was still tired as well.  Try to repair the ship and leave?  That was an even worse idea.  Even if Bloodwing didn't attack them during repairs or takeoff and let them leave, the natural inhabitants of this world would be unprotected, and that was unacceptable.  What about the protoforms?  Barring a meteor shower of large proportions, they would be safe in orbit.  Start mining for Energon right away?  No, the locals might have evolved to need the crystals to survive.  He had to make sure they wouldn't suffer without it first.  Which meant only one option remained: they would have to go out and reveal themselves to this world.  Soon.  If they didn't, Bloodwing and his team might gain the upper hand by tricking the population into thinking the Autobots were the evil ones, which had already happened once, and he didn't want it happening again.  He was about to tell the others his decision when an alarm went off.  Something was walking around outside, possibly a Decepticon.  The hologram table hummed to life, showing them a picture of three small, probably younger members of the beings that inhabited the area: a regular pony, with a bow the size of her own head holding her mane back; a unicorn with a curly, two-toned mane; and a pegasus riding a scooter.  The three young creatures were staring, mouths open, straight at the ship.  Dark Lance looked at Bunker.

"You haven't gotten around to fixing the cloak field yet, have you?" He said, already knowing the answer.

"I had just started on it when you got back."  Bunker replied grimly.

Chapter Four: Meet the Family

Published November 27th, 2012

Chapter four: Meet the Family

He followed them all the way to the edge of the woods, not wanting to leave them to fend for themselves if the Decepticons, or one of the dangerous-looking animals they had disguised themselves as, decided they wanted to do some late-night hunting.  When they approached the edge of the forest, Dark Lance could hear worried voices in the distance.  It soon became apparent that the voices were calling Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo.  When they finally cleared the last of the trees, Dark Lance could see six ponies of various colors hurriedly looking around and listening for sounds of answer, when their ears spun around, followed quickly by the rest of their heads as he and the Cutie Mark Crusaders revealed themselves from the foliage.  Two of them, a white unicorn with purple mane and tail and an orange-colored earth pony with a cowgirl hat, raced over in front of the others.  The orange one slowed down as she saw that the fillies were unharmed, and with an escort, but the unicorn didn't seem to notice, and if she did, she certainly didn't care.

"Oh, Sweetie Belle, thank goodness you're safe," she said, giving the two-toned unicorn a hug.  "Where have you been?  You were supposed to be back over an hour ago!"  She looked at the filly, tears of relief welling up in her eyes.

"It's alright, Rarity, we were just meeting some new friends," she explained to the pony Dark Lance assumed was her sister.

"So we can see," said another, purple, unicorn as the rest caught up.  "Thanks for bringing them back, we were really worried."

"I wasn't," argued a cyan pegasus with a rainbow-colored mane and tail. "After all, Scootaloo was with them, and if she plans on being as awesome as me one day, then she shouldn't have any problem with anything in that forest."  The purple unicorn shot her a glare, before turning back to Dark Lance with a smile.

"Anyway, let us introduce ourselves.  I'm Twilight Sparkle," she said, puffing her chest out slightly with pride.  Dark Lance could tell she was a student, but also that she was very intelligent, from the way she enunciated her words carefully, but quickly.  "I'm the personal student of Princess Celestia, so if you want to know anything, I'm sure I can help you."  She smiled widely.

^Personal student of royalty?  She must be ridiculously skilled in order to have that kind of status.  She probably knows more about this world than the rest of them put together, so I should keep her in mind if anything comes up.^  he thought to himself, already mentally practicing how he should get in contact with her.

"My name is Rarity," the first unicorn said, "and let me thank you right now for bringing back my sister.  I know she can be a hoof-full, but she's really a good girl."  Dark Lance cocked his head slightly in surprise as she said "hoof-full", but it made sense to him that they would use the term "hoof" instead of "hand", since they didn't have hands.  He also noticed the careful, deliberate way she talked, indicating that she put a lot of effort into how others saw her.  Her expertly groomed mane and tail cemented this idea quite firmly into his memory banks.

^She probably has a job in the textile industry here.  That could be useful.^

The orange pony was the next to approach him.  "Ah'm Applejack, Apple Bloom's big sister," she said with the same accent as the filly.  "Our family owns Sweet Apple Acres, the farm on the edge of town," she explained, confirming his suspicion that Apple Bloom lived on a farm.

^If we need money for something, we may be able to get jobs there.  I'll have to find out about the local currency, though.^

Suddenly, a pink pony with a dark pink, fluffy mane and tail popped up in front of him.  "Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie!" she nearly shouted at him, smiling happily.  Dark Lance knew right away that she was going to be like this every time he saw her.  "What's your name?"

             "Dark Lance," he said simply.

             ^Oh, dear.  She's one of those types that doesn't ever stop talking, isn't she?  Bunker is going to have some serious issues keeping his cool around her.^

"Cool name," the cyan pegasus from earlier replied, hovering a few inches above his head, "but not as cool as mine: Rainbow Dash!" she said, with a bit more pride than was necessary, he thought.  He also noticed Scootaloo looking at her with wide eyes and a big smile, realizing that Rainbow Dash was probably the pony she had been thinking of when she called herself "second-coolest".  He decided not to mention it, though, as he suddenly realized something.

"Wasn't there one more of you?" he asked, sure that there had been six previously.  The others looked around for a moment, and Twilight took a step to her left, revealing a scared, pale yellow pegasus with a long, pink mane and tail.  She eeped in fright, curling herself up tighter to try and hide behind her mane.  "Are you alright?" he asked, genuinely concerned that he had done something to frighten her.

"B-B-Behind you!" she stuttered.  Dark Lance spun around, expecting at least one of the forms the Decepticons had taken to be directly behind him, ready to pounce.  Instead, he saw nothing but forest.  He then became aware of a light pressure on his left front leg, and looked down to see a snake latched on to him with its teeth.  He lifted his leg up to inspect the reptile and turned around.

"Is this what had you so worked up?" he said, hoping it was.

"Omigoodness!" the pegasus said, running up to him.  "Are you okay?  Let me see."  She then grabbed the snake with her hooves, and pulled it off of his leg, tossing it into the brush before looking at where it had been attached to him.  He wondered for a moment how she had done that, since hooves weren't particularly dexterous.  The fact that she was suddenly not scared of the snake also baffled him, since she had just been using one of her friends to hide from it.  She suddenly hummed in thought.  "That's odd, I could have sworn it bit into you.  But I can't find any wound marks."  She sounded very confused.

"And this is Fluttershy,"  Twilight said, introducing her distracted friend for her.  Fluttershy blushed hard, realizing what she had just done.

"I'm so sorry mister Lance, I just got so worked up when I saw that snake, I forgot what we were doing."  She looked like she wanted to hide behind her friends again, as she took a step back.

"It's alright," he smiled at her, not wanting to worry her further.

"Hold on a second..." Rainbow Dash interrupted, moving to Dark Lance's side.  "How come you don't have a cutie mark?"

"A what?" he asked, worry beginning to form in his processor as he realized that there was apparently a major flaw in his disguise.

"A cutie mark? You know, the thing that every foal gets by the time they grow up, symbolizing their special talent?"  He then noticed the images on the back legs of each of the six adults.  Teletraan six had not shown him anything like that when he saw the holograms, and Burnout had apparently not come across the term during her time in town.  He shook his head, painfully aware of his mistake.  Something that important to the culture would definitely cause problems with his disguise.

"How can a pony not have a cutie mark?" Twilight asked, looking like she was deep in thought.

Fortunately, he didn't have to answer, because Apple Bloom did it for him.

"He told us he wasn't actually a pony, he just looks like one."

The others looked to him in shock.  "You aren't a Changeling, are you?"  Rainbow Dash asked suspiciously.  ^That's the second time today,^ Dark Lance thought.  ^What are these 'Changelings' they keep talking about?^  He also became aware that it was getting hard to see, due to the sun having set, so he decided to end the conversation quickly.

"I do not believe that these Changelings are anything like me, but its dark out, and I need to get back to my team.  How about we continue this tomorrow morning?  I believe you have a library of some sort?"  The crusaders let out a disappointed "Awww..." before the others could respond.

"Alright," Twilight said, after thinking for a moment.  "We'll meet at the library tomorrow morning, and we can introduce ourselves properly.  Is everypony alright with that?"  She looked around, and got nods of agreement from her friends.  "Alright then, see you tomorrow!"  She said excitedly.  Dark Lance waved goodbye, then turned around to head back into the forest.  There was a gasp behind him, and Rarity ran to stop his path.

"You aren't actually thinking of going in there now, are you?" she asked incredulously.

"Um, yes?" he answered, not understanding why this was such a big deal.  It seemed like a regular old forest to him.

"But there's all kinds of animals in there that could eat you right up!"  she replied, a look of concern covering her face.

He looked at the leg which had had the snake attached to it not that long ago.  He didn't feel any pain, and it looked just fine.  Unsurprising, considering he was made of metal.  "I think I'll be alright, but thanks for the concern." he said, stepping around her.

"Are ya sure ya'll will be alright?" Applejack questioned.

"Don't worry, I can take care of myself," he said, smiling.  "I don't think I'll have any problem getting back."  He waved one last time before disappearing into the trees.

Chapter Five: Introductions and Interruptions

Published December 4th, 2012

Chapter five: Introductions and Interruptions

Dark Lance awoke from the re-energizer station to find the image panels that showed the exterior of the ship brightening his room with the sun that had begun to rise.  He moved the various panels of his body, and went through his morning systems check before stepping out of the small chamber that he had gotten into the habit of calling his bed, after some lengthy discussions with the inhabitants of one of the previous worlds.  He stretched, ensuring that he was fully mobile, and opened the door to the lodging corridor.  Moving towards the bridge, he reminded himself of the meeting with the ponies, and wondered about the "cutie marks" that their previous conversation had ended with.

^Rainbow Dash said that their cutie marks symbolized their special talent, which explains why they each had a different one,^ he thought as he passed a group of repair drones working on one of the main relay conduits in the wall.  ^But none of my team have one.  Will this cause problems?  How unusual is it for a pony to not have one?  And most importantly, is it easily noticeable?^  Questions raced through his mind, one following right after the other, until he reached the bridge.  There, he found Burnout looking at the holo-display, going through various parts of the ship, and occasionally typing on the small touch pad that was hooked up to it.  Across the room, Bunker was laying on his back underneath the gun controls, engrossed in what he was doing.

"Where's Skybreaker?" Dark Lance said.  Bunker thoroughly ignored him, forcing Burnout to answer instead.

"He's outside, working on the main weapon systems," she said, returning to her work.  Dark Lance moved to the door, pressing the open button before transforming back to his four-legged disguise.  He then took off, letting the door close behind him, circling back to find Skybreaker.

It didn't take long for him to find the yellow and green scout, who was working underneath the main gun.

"How's it coming?" he asked, landing a few steps away.

"Alright," his subordinate's bottom half replied, the rest of him concealed by the panel he was under, and not stopping in his work.  "The primary servos are bent, and there are a couple of busted hydraulics in here, but none of the load-bearing portions look like they're in imminent danger of breaking.  I just want to get it back up and running so that we have it in case Bloodwing and his cronies decide to show up.  Can you hand me that wrench?"  He pointed to a socket wrench near Dark Lance's feet.  The commander picked it up in his teeth, and spat it out underneath the panel Skybreaker was working on.

"Well, I'm going into town to meet with the locals, and see what I can find out about this place," he said, turning towards the direction of the town.

"Alright," the reply came from under the panel, along with the resumed sounds of repairs being made.  "Tell 'em I said 'hi'."

With that, Dark Lance took to the air, making a circle above the half-buried vessel to ensure that an attack was not imminent, before heading in the direction of the town.

Landing just before he cleared the last of the trees, Dark Lance took a better look at the town which he had only seen so far shrouded in darkness.  From his current position, he was slightly above the town, giving him a good look at the layout.

There were a number of rather large, wooden structures huddled together, with a tree cottage set apart from them near the edge of the forest.  Another tree with windows in the upper branches near an open area in the middle of town caught his eye, recognizing it from Burnout's description as the library.  He could also see a larger, multi-story building a little ways in in the middle of another clearing.  There was a barn visible on the far side of the town, which he guessed was part of Sweet Apple Acres, but the building that stood out most was a small, oddly shaped structure tucked into the south side of the town.  It caught his attention because it looked like it was made of cake, frosting and other edible materials that looked strangely similar to sweets he had seen from other planets, both in person and in the records he had received from the other teams.  He took a breath, using the fresh air to cool his circuits so he would be able to operate properly in case of an emergency.  Then he started down the dirt path towards the town.

When he entered the town itself, he became aware of a quickly growing number of eyes watching him.  Glancing around, he realized he was getting numerous strange looks from the ponies in town.  ^Uh-oh,^ he thought, worrying that his lack of a cutie mark had already given him away.  ^I need to get over there fast.^   He quickened his pace slightly, trying not to look nervous, but he kept getting weird stares, and breathed a sigh of relief as the library came into view, releasing the air that had heated up as he had been worrying.  When he got inside the darkened library, he closed the door behind him just before a loud bang startled him back to looking at the suddenly bright room, expecting to find one of the Decepticons who had also crashed holding the ponies hostage.  Instead, a cloud of confetti and streamers drifted down onto his face, their source appearing to be a light blue cannon that Pinkie Pie was standing behind.  Twilight, who was standing in a line next to the other ponies, the Cutie Mark Crusaders standing in front of them with a small, dragon-like creature like they were taking a picture, gave her an annoyed look.

"Pinkie, I told you you weren't supposed to do that until we were sure he was okay with it,"  she said, obviously unappreciative of the pink pony's confetti cannon.

"Aw, c'mon Twilight, you didn't even let me get a welcome party ready, and I couldn't just let such a perfect opportunity like that pass without doing anything," she replied to her friend, who still didn't look too happy about not being listened to.  "Besides, he'll be fine, he doesn't even look worried."  Which was technically true, but only because he had so much practice at keeping his composure in tense situations.  He had already prepared his body to transform and begin combat between the time the cannon went off and he realized it was just party decorations coming from the muzzle.

Shaking the confetti and streamers from his head, Dark Lance finally spoke.  "It's alright, Twilight, she just startled me, that's all," he reassured her, returning his insides to their correct positions, allowing him to move freely again.  "Besides, I'm more curious about why the ponies around here have been staring at me."

Looking back at him, the purple unicorn then noticed that in addition to his horn, he also had wings, something she had not seen in the dark of the previous evening.

"Well aside from your lack of a cutie mark, I'd say they were staring at the fact that you look like an alicorn," she said, studying this new discovery.  "There are only three in Equestria, and they're all royalty," she explained, while Dark Lance cursed himself for choosing something so obviously less common than the others.  Too late now though, since the ship didn't have the materials necessary to create a new form for him.  He sighed, panels on the back of his current head allowing cool air to move across the circuits making up part of his main processor, letting him relax a bit.

"So you said you aren't actually a pony, right?" Rainbow Dash said, breaking the silence.  "Can we see what you really look like?"

Dark Lance thought for a moment, making sure there wasn't a reason not to show them.  Satisfied that he couldn't come up with one, he nodded, then took a step back so that he would have enough room.

He transformed more slowly than he usually would, allowing the others to see more clearly how his two forms were able to change into one another.  First, he stood up onto his hind legs, turning one backwards and flipping his foot down, then copying the motion with the other.  His forelegs then extended away from his body, and the coverings on his lower arms flipped up, revealing his hands.  Simultaneously, his wings refolded themselves back to their flight pack positions.  Finally, the top of his head and horn flipped onto their storage space on his back, as the neck and head of his beast mode fell forward and compressed into his chest plate, the ears flipping up and back to give his shoulders extra protection.  His tail plate was the last to change, splitting in the middle and moving to either side of his waist as the fibers reformed into his sickles.  Now in his robot mode, the ponies in front of him gasped in amazement, looking up and down at him with awe as they tried to grasp how the pony that had been standing in front of them could turn into something so vastly different.

^Well that reaction could have been a lot worse,^ he thought to himself as the ponies processed what they had just seen.

"Now that was pretty awesome.  I've never seen anything like that before," Rainbow Dash said, obviously impressed with his transformation.  The others had similar looks of amazement on their faces, telling him that the Changelings they had mentioned were not, in fact, anything like him.

"Yes, bravo, bra-vo," a mocking tone called from Dark Lance's right.  He snapped his body around, readying himself again for a fight.  On top of the bookshelf, next to an open window, a red alicorn with a dark brown, slicked-back spiky mane and short, similarly colored tail, was laying comfortably, a mean smirk plastered across his face.  Dark Lance's eyes widened in shock, a habit he had picked up from various species that he found was actually useful in ensuring that he knew what he was looking at.  This time, though, he didn't need the extra confirmation.  The smiling, blood red alicorn looking at him was, without a doubt, Bloodwing.  He drew his shield and lance, preparing himself to intercept the Decepticon leader if he tried to attack the surprised and confused ponies a few steps away.  Bloodwing, however, simply laughed.

"Oh, please, Lance, do you honestly think I came here just to fight you?" he taunted, allowing one of his forelegs to dangle lazily off the shelf, the other supporting his head.  "I want to make a deal."

"What kind of deal?"  Dark Lance asked suspiciously, the apertures in front of the blue lights in his eyes narrowing, making it easy for the tense, worried ponies that were now standing protectively around the fillies to see that he didn't trust the relaxed Cybertronian.

"I want to help you leave," Bloodwing replied as he inspected his hoof for dirt and cosmetic damage.  "I'm even willing to let you use parts from the Darksword to repair your ship."

"What's the catch?" Dark Lance asked, fairly certain he already knew the answer.

"You have to do so immediately," his enemy responded, now laying with his hooves crossed, like he was sitting at a business table.  "Without further interference in our affairs."  Dark Lance didn't have to think for even a nanosecond, his answer forming in his voice box before Bloodwing was even finished speaking.

"No deal!" he proclaimed in an angry, indignant tone.  "I don't know why you even bothered coming here, if those were your terms.  Like I'd ever leave a planet behind, knowing you were going to have your way with it!"  He moved into a battle pose, his right arm pointing his lance right at Bloodwing, the other arm, with his shield, ready to swing forward to defend or, if necessary, slash at his opponent with the blades fastened to the top.  Bloodwing sighed, and turned around as he got up to move towards the window behind him.

"Well, I *had* hoped you would finally be greedy and give up for once to spare yourself some pain, but I suppose that's not going to happen."  The red alicorn spread his wings, and took off out the window, heading off into the distance.

"You're slaggin' right it's not going to happen!" the unhappy Autobot leader yelled after him.  He waited a moment before putting his weapons away to make sure he wouldn't have to defend the town from the turned-down Decepticon.  After he had relaxed his position, the others turned towards him.

"Who the hay was *that*?" a shaken Twilight asked him, worry coating her voice.

"Bloodwing," he growled, grinding some of the smaller gears in his neck to produce the guttural sound.  "He's the leader of the Decepticon Deep Space Exploration Team, and he's one of the most calculating individuals I've met.  He and I have been fighting each other for a long time, and his ship firing on us was what caused my team to crash-land here in the first place."  He glared at the open window, silently debating his next move.

Chapter Six: Confrontation

Published December 11th, 2012

Chapter six: Confrontation

Racing above the forest canopy, Dark Lance mentally prepared himself to begin combat while he flew back to the Star Runner.  The tone Bloodwing had used before he left told the dark blue commander that his foe was going to attack soon.  He had to get back to the ship before that could happen, and warn his team, so he had hurriedly said an apologetic goodbye at the library before changing back into the creature he now knew was called an alicorn, and took off.  As he neared the ship, he could see Skybreaker cleaning up his tools.  ^Good,^ he thought, as the pegasus look-alike put the last wrench in a bag, and zipped it up with his teeth.  ^That should mean he got the gun operational.  I just hope we don't have to use it.^  He frowned at the thought of the destruction the cannon could wreak on the forest.  ^Because if we are that outgunned, we won't be getting off this planet online.^  He landed next to his subordinate, quickly telling him of the impending danger.

"We need to get ready for a fight.  The Decepticons will probably be showing up here any minute."  Skybreaker dropped his bag, and started moving quickly towards the entrance.

"I hope you two have some good news for me," Dark Lance called as he and Skybreaker walked into the bridge, which looked much better than when Dark Lance had left.  Bunker was now leaning into the ship's navigation console, a number of multi-colored wires hanging out of it.

"Some," Burnout replied, still standing at the holo-display.  "Environmentals are back online, as well as the various minor sub-systems throughout the ship that had been knocked out in the crash.  Most of the major power conduits have been repaired as well, with only a handful in the engine rooms still non-functioning."  She read the report with the quick, effortless efficiency that came with being a medical expert.  It was something even her commander had trouble doing from time to time, but she always delivered it perfectly.

"Also," said Bunker, most of his upper body still buried in the control console, "I've managed to get all primary interface consoles except this one back to full functionality."

"Alright," Dark Lance replied, moving to the holo-display.  "Get ready for combat, we're about to have company."  As the others stopped what they were doing to check their weapon systems, Dark Lance began typing on the holo-display's control panel.  The display opened, and Teletraan six shot up, catching itself before flying out of the ceiling to keep lookout.

After a few seconds, a short alarm sounded, turning the Autobots' attention to the display, which now showed the top of the forest canopy, as well as multiple winged figures approaching them at high speed.  Dark Lance didn't waste time giving his order.

"Autobots, transform and move out!" he commanded before changing into his beast mode and running to the door, the others fast on his heels.  As soon as he was clear of the door frame, he leapt into the air, unfolded his wings, and made a beeline for the incoming Decepticons.  As he sped towards them, he realized something.  There was an alicorn, a dragon, and the lion/eagle hybrid which he remembered as a griffon from yesterday, but the bat-winged, scorpion-tailed lion known as a manticore that Crosswire was disguised as was nowhere to be seen.  He turned skyward, realizing his mistake, but it was too late.

As the Energon net sprang up in front of him, Dark Lance could only brace himself for the abrupt halt that came with it.  His momentum carried him in a fast circle, slamming into the ground with a thud, and the scrape of metal against metal as the plates of his head were jarred against each other.  Looking behind him, he saw that the net was tied around multiple trees, which was what resulted in him slamming headfirst into the ground, but standing next to the closest tree was Crosswire, still in his strange beast mode.  He was grinning evilly.

The mad scientist took a single step forward before Dark Lance saw a white blur behind him, and he was launched over the net, howling in pain and surprise.  Bunker came up to his captive leader and used his teeth to pull the net open just enough so Dark Lance could get out.  Nodding his gratitude, he spread his wings and flew back above the trees, where he saw Skybreaker being chased through the air by Fireburst and Bloodwing, all three still in their alt-modes.  Seeing Dark Lance appear from beneath the trees, the young bot flew straight at him, the two Decepticons still on his tail.  Dark Lance directed himself back at Skybreaker, understanding what the scout intended.  Turning at the last possible moment, Skybreaker revealed his oncoming commander to his pursuers, having blocked their view with his body.  Before they could react, though, Dark Lance slammed into Bloodwing, knocking both of them out of the sky, and sending them tumbling to the ground below.  Now that there was only one opponent to deal with, Skybreaker turned around to face his challenger, the fire-red dragon roaring with all the menace it could.  The Autobot scout replied with his own battle cry before charging straight at the monster.

Meanwhile, down in the forest below, Burnout had locked gazes with Sharpedge, who had dived at her through the dense leaves, attempting to finish her with one blow.  The initial strike had missed, and the two of them were now staring each other down, waiting for the other to make a move.  Burnout shifted one leg slightly, and then Sharpedge was in the air, her talon reaching backward, ready to attack.  Burnout anticipated the move, however, and jumped out of reach just as the claw slashed at the space she had been occupying.  Deftly turning around, the medic used her anatomical knowledge to angle a two-legged kick so that one hoof connected with her opponent's chest, and the other slammed into the Decepticon's eye as her head lurched forward from the first.  Sharpedge reared back, screaming in pain and anger.  Burnout grinned a little, knowing that the enemy scout had underestimated her combat abilities because of her rank as medic.

In another part of the forest, Bunker found himself dodging yet another stab from Crosswire's tail before lunging back with his horn.  The two fighters had yet to land a blow on each other, despite their best efforts.  Bunker's less bulky form gave him the agility to dodge the Decepticon's attacks, but his spear had to be shorter in order for it to look natural in his beast mode.  This meant that the advantage of reach he usually had that allowed him to keep his opponents at a distance was not there, and it was starting to aggravate him.  Dodging another swipe from his adversary, he decided to change tactics.  If he couldn't attack Crosswire's main body, he would attack the deranged doctor's weapons.  He lunged again, this time at the scorpion tail which had dug yet another ditch into the ground around them, and scored the first solid hit of the fight.  He allowed himself a small smirk as a thin trail of Energon fluid streaked through the air behind the retreating tail, knowing that victory was now his.

Skybreaker, on the other hand, was not faring as well.  Fireburst was cruel and uncaring, and his beast mode was the same.  Another gout of flame spewed from his maw, and Skybreaker barely dodged it, his tail singed in the attack.  Turning around, he noticed that although his opponent was fully capable of hovering, starting and stopping were difficult.  The large, ungainly form may be powerful, but it was not at all maneuverable.  Realizing this, he used it to his full advantage, flying quickly past the relatively slow brute of an opponent he was fighting.  The dragon suddenly stopped, his whole body jerking at the movement, and slowly turned around, only to have the yellow and green blur shoot past him again.  He swiped futilely at the empty air, and turned again.  Skybreaker now knew what his advantage was, and he was going to use it to its fullest extent.  He flew in tight, confusing circles around Fireburst, who was becoming increasingly agitated by his inability to even land a blow on the Autobot scout.  Finally, Skybreaker flew right behind the Decepticon's head and turned around, bending his legs in mid-air.  When Fireburst finally looked at him, he violently extended his legs, kicking the now-infuriated dragon in the face, disturbing his flight.  The bright yellow scout grinned as he realized he might just pull this off.

The team's leader, however, was not so sure.  He had locked his horn against Bloodwing's almost immediately after landing, pressing his head against the red alicorn and trying to get into a position where he could make his enemy surrender.  Neither had managed to get more than a step or two before the other pushed them back, though, and they were both getting tired.  Bloodwing suddenly dipped his head to one side, causing Dark Lance to slip, giving him the opportunity he needed to flip his head upwards, sending the dark blue Autobot stumbling back.  Seizing his chance, Bloodwing pushed the assault forward, his head violently pitching every which way like an angry bull.  Dark Lance finally saw an opening, and brought his own head down, blocking the upwards thrust his opponent had intended for his spark chamber.  Pushing down with the weight of his body, he put the Decepticon leader's face into the ground, holding it there, waiting for his opponent to give up.  Instead, a metallic hoof smacked him in the snout, the impact reverberating through his mostly-hollow pony head.  He took a few steps back, shaking his head as Bloodwing pulled his nose from the dirt, wiping of the muck with a hoof.

Before the two could continue, though, a large red object came crashing down through the trees, Skybreaker right behind it.  Seeing his commander, Skybreaker quickly jumped to his side, taking on a ready pose as the object revealed itself to be Fireburst.  Next, a white mass came flying into the clearing from behind Bloodwing, narrowly missing the Decepticon leader and landing next to Dark Lance, who saw that it was Bunker as he got up and dusted himself off.  Crosswire slowly limped forward through the hole in the branches, stopping next to his leader.  Then Burnout and Sharpedge appeared from Dark Lance's right, each one dodging and returning the other's attacks.  They appeared to be evenly matched, but when they saw their respective teams, they broke off from their fight to stand next to their comrades.

Dark Lance decided to speak, but knew that what he had to say would fall on deaf sensors.

"Bloodwing, stop this.  We don't have to fight, and this planet does not have the means to save itself from the destruction we could cause!" he pleaded, already knowing that he would not be listened to.  As he expected, his opponent just laughed.

"Oh please, Lance, do continue.  I know you've got another heroic speech in there, so let's hear it."  He smiled.  He would never actually do what the emotional Autobot wanted, but he enjoyed listening to his rival's ramblings about peace and harmony.  To his mild surprise, though, there was no speech this time.

"Please, Bloodwing, just stop.  We don't have to do this." Dark Lance pleaded, hoping that the Decepticon leader would listen to him, just this once.  Instead, he got even more laughter.

"'Please, Bloodwing'?  That's it!?  I guess you used up all your heroics, huh?" he laughed again.  "I mean, really, if that's all it would take, don't you think I would have joined you a long time ago?  And to think you used to be so fearsome."  He looked truly amused by his foe's pleas, and Dark Lance didn't like it one bit.

"Alright then," Dark Lance sighed, his circuitry cooled by the flow of air, "I guess we have no choice.  Autobots, transform and prepare for battle!" he shouted to his team, who rapidly complied.

"Decepticons, transform and destroy!" his counterpart yelled with excitement, standing up as his wings fell away from his back, allowing his forelegs to rotate  behind him to form his right arm, his left appearing from below his beast mode's neck before his entire upper body rotated and dropped down, forming his shoulders as his wings returned to their previous position.  His head protruded as his shoulders dropped, revealing a double row of red plates sitting on top of his abyss-black face.  His eyes and mouth were lit a bright red, giving him a demonic appearance.  His legs turned around as this happened, and his feet extended from the backs of his hooves as the front moved back and up to form a solid heel spur.  He then removed the top of his beast mode's head, attaching the long, single spike of mane to his left arm before drawing an equally long, double-edged sword from the bottom of his horn, which then split into three parts that laid down parallel to the top of his shield, spinning so that the center part of the horn was sticking straight out above the mane, and the two pieces from either side of the horn stuck straight back, making the shield look even more dangerous than the sword.

Fireburst stood up on his front legs as his neck collapsed into his body, which rotated upwards as his front legs supported him, his rear legs folding backwards and locking into place on his back.  His tail, now positioned above his head, split down the center, rotating outwards and falling to either side as the tips split into a pair of clawed hands, his elbow, wrist and swivel joints revealing themselves along the lengths of the halves of the tail.  His wings hung at the sides of his legs as the top of his beast mode's mouth moved up above his eyes, and the bottom split to either side, creating a helmet around his hard-edged, serious face.  He grabbed the single claw on each wing with his new arms, and drew two long, curved blades from the outer-most spines.

Sharpedge pushed her wings back as she moved to a bipedal stance, allowing her shoulders to rotate the area around them until her talons pointed up, and then fold down as her rear legs unfolded, turning the claws on her feet into knee guards.  The center of her beast mode then pulled away from her in flaps, unfolding from the struts that held them to become skirt armor.  The sides of her beast mode head then pulled away as the front flipped down to her chest, the sides giving her a swept-back collar as her robot head was revealed to be as appropiate to her name as the rest of her.

Crosswire cackled with glee at the order, anxious to see the looks of fear the Autobots would give him.  His beast mode's head, tail, and entire spinal area lifted away from the rest of his body, then turned so that the head was on his right and his tail on his left.  He also stood on his hind legs, which then unfolded, revealing a whole new leg attached to the end of the first.  His forelegs then moved towards each other and occupied the space where his beast mode head once was.  Then the panels that used to be his stomach moved away, and his lopsided, patchwork head fell forward as the areas that were once his shoulders unfolded down to rest on the screens in front of him that were on the back of his stomach panels.  He smiled as he tested his joints, revealing sharp, white teeth.

Chapter Seven: Disharmony

Published December 20th, 2012

Chapter seven: Disharmony

The next series of movements would have baffled any onlookers with their speed.  Bunker's spear extended and compressed from its horn disguise so that he could wield it properly as he rushed forward to take on Fireburst.  The split mane of Burnout's beast mode flipped around to either side to create a wrist-blade as she prepared to defend against Crosswire's scorpion tail and lion head.  Skybreaker and Sharpedge leapt into the air, the wings on Skybreaker's arms now multi-tasking as his primary weapons, parrying and deflecting the Decepticon's swords, which she had formed from the two longest feathers of her wings, the edges becoming solid and sharp.  Below them, Dark Lance and Bloodwing used their flight packs to charge one another, their weapons and shields slamming together as they each pushed with all their might, trying to make the other yield and fall.

Each of them realizing the other would not give in, the two leaders pushed away, using their flight packs to balance themselves, and then lunged again, this time changing the trajectory of their weapons in mid-motion to deflect the other's attack.  Dark Lance, his right arm now crossing his body, moved his left under it to make an uppercut with his shield blades, twisting his body while lifting his lance to generate the force needed to do any damage.  Pulling back just enough to not be hit, Bloodwing responded with an upswing of his sword, only to be sidestepped and stabbed at by his opponent's main weapon.

Meanwhile, Bunker had lured Fireburst away from the others so there would be no interference in their duel.  He and Fireburst had never seen eye-to-eye, and neither had achieved a significant victory over the other.  He dodged another sword strike, bringing his spear up to block the second, twisting the pole to push the blade away and open up his opponent to a counter-slash.  His blade grazed the Decepticon's shoulder, and he jumped away so he could react faster to the next attack.  Instead of attacking, though, Fireburst stood his ground, taking up a defensive stance with his blades pointing inward slightly.  Bunker shuffled forward once to get in range, making a false lunge.  His old foe took the bait, and he pulled back just as the red transformer's blades came upward to try and disarm him, simultaneously opening up their wielder to the second, true lunge, which connected with the center of his chest plate, pushing him backwards.  Fireburst snarled in anger, and Bunker smiled with confidence.

In another part of the forest, Burnout parried her attacker's lion teeth yet again with the blade of her gauntlet.  Neither she nor Crosswire were well-versed in combat, but he had more weapons and a longer reach than she did, and she was now in dire straits because of it.  She dodged another strike from the scorpion tail that extended above her foe's left shoulder, and noticed several small cuts and holes in the bulbous appendage.  She had been wondering what had caused them for some time, and it finally dawned on her that the origin of the wounds was Bunker's horn.  Realizing that Bunker had also come across the issue of reach, she decided that if it worked for him, it should work for her as well.  The next attack to come at her was with the teeth again, but this time she knew what to do.  Pulling back just out of reach, she swiped at the feline face, and heard the satisfying cry of pain from the Decepticon's vulture-like robot head.  This fight was hers.

Above the trees, however, a very different kind of battle was taking place.  Skybreaker and Sharpedge twirled through the air, the two scout-class robots using all of their maneuverability as they attacked and blocked each other.  Pulling back slightly from the last attack, Skybreaker fired a short burst from his main thrusters, catching his opponent off-guard as he swiped at her again with his wing blades.  Smiling slightly, he passed her and turned around, expecting her to be clutching at a wound in her abdomen.  Instead, he nearly got a face full of sword before bringing his arms up to block the downward strike of both the Decepticon's weapons.  The slight delay in his reaction, however, was enough to let her follow through and push him down so that he would be looking directly at the sun in order to watch anything she did.  Pulling back both arms, Sharpedge dived at the blinded Autobot, preparing to stab him with both blades at once.  Now it was her turn to smile.

Back in Ponyville, a small crowd was gathered at the edge of the Everfree forest.  The ponies there had heard the various battle cries, clanging metal, and occasional cry of pain, and were curious as to what was happening in the woods next to their town.  A few of them even had telescopes or binoculars, and were trying to follow the aerial battle, but the erratic movements of the two flyers were too fast for them to follow closely enough to see anything more than a pair of vaguely humanoid blurs.  Twilight had seen the crowd gathered at the edge of the forest, and after retrieving her own telescope, had begun to try and follow the action as well.  She eventually managed to see that the combatants had certain pieces similar to animals, and it didn't take long for her to realize who it was that was fighting.  Running back into town she gathered her friends, quickly explaining to each what was happening.

In the forest, however, the fighting had already ended.  Both sides were worn out, simply staring at each other.  They all knew the battle was over, but none of them were willing to risk vulnerability by transforming back to their unarmed alt-modes.  So they stood there, staring at each other, waiting for the Energon radiation to force them all back into the safety of their beast modes.  When the sparking electricity that came with the onset of Energon buildup and stasis lock finally began to dance across their bodies, the two leaders grudgingly acquiesced to their bodies.  Bloodwing was the first to give his command, seeing that his Autobot rival would not be destroyed this day.

"Decepticons, transform and return to base," he snarled, changing back to his alicorn mode.  His subordinates followed suit, and were soon heading back towards their crashed ship.  Certain that his team was now out of danger from the Decepticons, Dark Lance reciprocated the order.

"Autobots, transform, and let's go home." he returned to his four-legged alt-mode, and turned back to the Star Runner.

Neither side noticed the blue flowers they walked through on the way back.

When they returned, Skybreaker groaned and immediately headed for the auto-repair bay.  He had managed to prevent himself from being put offline, but Sharpedge was a better tactician than him, and had been able to do quite a bit of damage.  Safely inside the protective Energon field, the others also returned to their robot forms to assess the damage they had taken.  Burnout had taken most of her damage to the gauntlet with her tools, leaving the rest of her body relatively unscathed.  Ignoring the minor injuries she had sustained, she went to Dark Lance, who was holding his side.  Knowing that she would not listen if he told her to check Bunker first, he moved his hand away, allowing her to repair the large gash that Bloodwing had inflicted.  He winced once as she began, the exposed nerve endings sending their displeasure at being tampered with to his main processor.  The proximity alert went off soon after, though, and the holo-display clicked on to reveal six ponies and three fillies walking towards the ship.

"Main hatch open," Dark Lance commanded the voice activation system.  They didn't typically use voice commands, due to the delay between the order and the recognition of what they said, but it was useful on occasion.  The nine ponies walked up the short set of stairs, and looked at the damaged bots.

"We heard fighting in the forest, and we wanted to make sure you were all okay," Twilight explained as Burnout continued to work on patching up the commander's side.  The lavender unicorn looked worried.

"It's alright.  We'll live to fight another day, but thanks for the concern," the Autobot commander replied.  The reaction he got wasn't what he expected.

"Wait.  Whaddaya mean 'fight another day'?" Applejack questioned, looking even more worried than when she arrived.  "You tellin' us you plan on this happenin' again?"

"Unfortunately, yes," he replied, unsure as to why this was a big deal.  Every other race they had come across knew the concept of war, and several had been in active conflict during the time they had spent in their company.  War was by no means a good thing, but it was something that he had come to accept as a fact of life.  ^Are they really that unaccustomed to combat?^ he thought.  ^Or have I simply become numb to it?^

"Finished," Burnout interrupted, getting up.  Dark Lance rose as well, stretching his torso to make sure he still had his full range of motion.  Satisfied with her work, Burnout turned to where Bunker was lying, and moved to his side to repair the larger wounds he had received during the confrontation.

Dark Lance returned his attention to their guests and noticed that the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who he had seen enter the ship, were nowhere to be found.

"Where are Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo?" he asked, looking around for any clues as to where they went.  The others also started turning their heads around, searching for the three fillies who had led them there.  Failing to see any sign of them, Dark Lance moved to the holo-display, which was hooked up to the main security systems, and put in a command to find them.  A few seconds later, the table showed an image of the three wandering through the ship, looking around.  A small-scale map of the ship appeared near the bottom of the image, a blinking dot indicating the location of the fillies.  As the others came to look, he typed a few short commands, then watched the image as the attention of said fillies turned to the ground and headed off into the distance.  They started moving again, this time with curiosity at whatever was on the floor.  He then clicked the holo-display off, and returned his own attention to the six ponies still in the room.  Rarity was the first to speak.

"Well?  Did you figure out where they are?" she asked, obviously worried about the safety of her sister.

"They're down in the lodging corridors.  If nothing else, they're fast for little tykes.  I put up a light path to give them a tour of the ship.  They should be back up here in less than an hour." he said confidently.  Rarity still didn't look too happy about her sister roaming the halls of an alien spaceship unchaperoned, though.  "Don't worry.  Even if something does happen, I'll know about it almost instantly.  They'll be fine."  he assured her.  She looked calmer, but still not unconcerned.  ^Well, that is to be expected of someone whose younger sibling is wandering around in what is, essentially, a stranger's house.^ he thought.  ^They should be fine, though.  I locked all the dangerous rooms off anyway.^

His thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a small cough.  He turned to see Twilight looking at him again, the same worried look still covering her face.

"So what were you guys fighting about, anyway?" she asked, obviously wanting to help.

"Huh?" Dark Lance replied, confused as to whom she was referring.

"Well , you were fighting, right?  What were you fighting about?" she repeated the question.  After a moment pondering what she meant, the dark blue Autobot finally figured out what she was talking about.

"We weren't fighting each other," he answered, receiving confused looks from the visitors.  "We were fighting the Decepticons, who also crashed here."  More confused looks told him he would need to explain more thoroughly.

"Alright," he began, "this is kind of a long story, so we should probably move somewhere more comfortable.  Come on, we can go to the lounge area."

"You have a lounge area?" Rainbow Dash asked, apparently surprised that robots ever rested.

Dark Lance chuckled.  "Yes, we have a lounge area.  We may have better endurance than organic beings like you, but even we need to rest and recharge occasionally."

"Oh.  I guess that makes sense." the multi-colored pony said, satisfied with his explanation.

Chapter Eight: Explanations

Published December 25th, 2012

Chapter eight: Explanations

When they arrived in the large, circular room, Dark Lance motioned to a pair of benches as he removed his weapons and set them on a weapon rack.  He then lifted his flight packs as he and the ponies sat down, draping them over the back of the couch he was now reclining on.  He opened a small cabinet behind his head, and pulled out a canister,  twisting open the cap and lazily taking a drink before finally speaking.

"I would offer you all cans, but I don't think refined Energon and oil would mix well with your biology," he said with a grin.  The others looked surprised at his sudden change of attitude.  The only one not looking at him like he had just grown another head was Pinkie Pie, who was humming happily.  Noticing this, he took another drink before answering the question that was practically written on their faces.  "The lounge room is the one area of the ship that everyone can forget about their duties.  In here, I'm not the commander, just Dark Lance."  The others seemed to accept this as he took another drink, emptying the can.  Finally, he sighed, slouching a little as he organized his memories and thoughts to explain the story of his race and how his ship came to be here.  Looking up, he saw that his audience was now comfortably seated, waiting for him to start.

"Alright.  Well, I suppose I should start by telling you about our home planet, Cybertron.  It's a completely mechanical world, with no organic beings of any kind ever existing on it naturally.  Millennia ago, it was a peaceful place. No wars, no evil, no nothing.  At least, it seemed that way to most folks.  But there's no such thing as perfection, and our race is no exception.  In the gladiator pits of Kaon, Cybertron's slums, a warrior appeared who utterly annihilated anyone he was put up against.  His name was Megatronus.  He became more popular with each victory, and as his fame grew, so did his power and influence.  He eventually started speaking out against the Primes, our leaders, saying that they were corrupt and incompetent.  He garnered support throughout all of Cybertron, talking of a new Golden Age where all would be able to live as equals, with no crime, no conflict, and enough Energon for all."

He paused to get another canister, and passed it to Bunker, who had just walked in and sat down next to him.  "Sounds like a pretty cool guy," Rainbow Dash said, obviously approving of the ambitions of the character she was hearing about.  Lance nodded.

"Doesn't he?  He was certainly charismatic in his ascension.  He eventually met an archivist named Orion Pax in Iacon, the capital of Cybertron.  Orion also believed that the council of the Primes needed to change their methods, but while he thought to change the world government through diplomacy and law, Megatronus sought after the power to change Cybertron with greed and force.  He demanded he be given the rank of Prime, as well as the Matrix of Leadership, one of our most prized and powerful artifacts, but he was denied and both of these things were given to Orion, who was also given a new name to suit his new station: Optimus Prime.  After this perceived betrayal by both the council and his friend, he ceased all attempts at diplomacy entirely.  He shortened his name to Megatron, seceding from the Autobots and creating a new faction of our race: the Decepticons.  He began a mad quest for glory and power, destroying anything and everything that got in his way.  Eventually, the Energon flows that both sides believed to be inexhaustible, began to run out and dry up.  Cybertron had been ravaged nearly to the point of destruction, and Megatron showed no signs of stopping.  Optimus Prime, who had once called him friend, oversaw the creation of a massive ship, designed to carry the remaining Autobots safely to another world, where they might be able to escape the destruction wrought by the Decepticons.  I don't know if Optimus ever made it to that vessel, but I do know that Megatron chased him to a distant, inhabited planet known as Earth.  Optimus now combats Megatron and his servants on that world, determined not to let his one-time ally destroy the inhabitants there as well.  My team, however, was sent out to the stars long before most of this.  When we left, Megatron was still Megatronus, and we payed him little mind.  Since his ascension, though, we have had to combat another team across the galaxy, preventing them from taking over the worlds we come across while simultaneously looking for new sources of energy, and a new home.  We were getting ready to search through this world, before we were blind-sided, and crash-landed here, stranded with the Decepticons."

His story finished, Dark Lance leaned back, patiently allowing the six ponies who had listened so attentively to work out the gravity of what he had told them.  Their faces were etched with horror at what the seemingly benevolent Megatron had become.  During the story, Skybreaker and Burnout had entered as well, and were now sitting in chairs behind their leader, not wanting to interrupt the telling of their history.  Twilight eventually looked up from her thoughts, and Dark Lance waited while she tried to figure out how to word her next question.

"Have you ever tried to get them to join you, and end the war peacefully?" she asked hopefully.  Dark Lance nodded.

"Every time I see them," he said sadly.  "I have yet to convince even one of them of the foolishness of this conflict.  Their beliefs and desires run too deep to be talked out of it.  But defectors are not unheard of, and I still have hope for a peaceful resolution to the war."  Twilight looked back at her hooves in thought for a second, before returning her gaze to the Autobots.

"So what do you plan to do here?" she asked simply.  This time, Skybreaker was the one to answer.

"We're stuck here until we can get the ship repaired, but unless we can find a way to stop Bloodwing and his team from destroying this planet in our absence, we aren't going to leave either way," he said, the confidence and sincerity of his voice reassuring her and her friends.  "We're Autobots.  And we don't let our friends get hurt if we have any say in it."  He pounded a fist into his other hand for emphasis.

Turning back to their guests after Skybreaker's proclamation, Dark Lance continued.  "However, our disguises obviously need work.  Do you think you could help us blend in more effectively?" he asked.  The six ponies in front of him looked at each other, smiling, and then turned back to him, nodding in unison.  "Alright then.  Before we get started on that, though, we should check on the little ones."  He got up, retrieving his weapons from their resting place as he walked out the door.  After a short elevator ride back to the bridge, he and the others found the Cutie Mark Crusaders wandering around, looking at the screens which had been left on.  Hearing the doors hiss open, the three fillies turned and walked over to see what was going on.

"Where were you guys?" Scootaloo asked as she came up to them.  "You were gone when we got back here."

Twilight answered before Lance could speak.  "We were finding out where our new friends came from," she explained, continuing before one of them could ask anything else.  "We'll fill you in later.  Right now, I need to send a letter to Princess Celestia."  She started towards the door.

"Who's that?" Bunker asked, caution tinging his voice.

"Don't worry.  She's my teacher.  She's very nice, and I'm sure she'd be willing to help you all in any way she can."  She suddenly stopped and turned around, as if she had realized something.  "By the way, we've met Dark Lance, but I don't think we've met any of the rest of you properly yet."  She looked expectantly at the other three.

^Well this could be interesting.^  Dark Lance thought to himself.

Chapter Nine: Joke's on Who?

Published December 25th, 2012

Chapter nine: Joke's on Who?

"My name's Skybreaker," the yellow and green scout said, striking a pose to show off his wings.  "And I'm the fastest thing in the air!"

"Heh, sorry, but that title belongs to me," Rainbow Dash interrupted, puffing out her chest with pride.  "You may be big shots back on Cybertron, but around here, I own the skies."  Skybreaker looked at her, an amused grin on his face.

"Oh really?  How about a race, then?  I'll even let you map out the course," he challenged.  "Come back and find me when you're ready."  The hyper-active speedster rolled one of his shoulders, his grin and stance now taking on an air of confidence.  Dash shot him a glare.

"Ok, then.  I'll map out a course so tough, it'll make your head spin!"  She jumped into the air, and hovered so that her face was level with Skybreaker's.  "And when I win, you have to stay on the ground for a week!"  Dark Lance cocked his head at this.  He was used to Skybreaker taking some risky bets, but this was a completely unknown challenge, and the team couldn't afford to be without its primary flier for an entire week.  Twilight looked similarly worried.

"Alright, what happens if I win?"  Skybreaker replied, curious as to what the multi-colored pegasus would be willing to do.

"You won't," she assured him.  "But just in case you get lucky; I'll let Rarity dress me up however she wants without complaining, and then walk around town in it."  At this, Rarity's eyes gleamed, and Skybreaker's mouth broke into a wide, confident grin.  Applejack was face-hoofing, and Bunker was standing next to her with his arms folded, shaking his head.

"Alright, Rainbow, you've got yourself a bet."  He stuck his hand out, and she shook it with her hoof, the two competitors locked in a stare-down.  Bunker introduced himself next, breaking the uneasy silence.

"My name is Bunker.  I do most of the research, development, and repairs on the ship.  I'm also the helmsman, when we can fly."  Twilight looked at him excitedly.

"Could I see some of your work sometime?  I'd love to know more about your technology."  Bunker nodded, happy to see someone else who understood the value of knowledge and information.  Smiling slightly, Burnout went last.

"I'm Burnout, the team's medic.  And actually, I was hoping one of you could show me around and tell me what you know about the medicine here.  I'd rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it."  Fluttershy jumped up at this.

"Oh, you're a doctor?  If you want, I could show you what I know about taking care of ponies and animals sometime."  Burnout smiled nicely at the pegasus, instantly able to sense her timidness.

"That would be great, thanks."

It was now early afternoon, and the ponies waved goodbye as they left the clearing the ship was in.  When they were out of sight, Dark Lance and his team returned inside to finish repairs on themselves and what little was left that they could do on the ship.  The rest of the day passed by uneventfully, and the four of them went back to their rooms to recharge overnight after locking all the hatches.

The next morning, Dark Lance was awoken by the sound of crashing outside his room.  Getting out of his bed, he opened the door to the lodging corridor, and found his three subordinates sprawled in a confused mess on the floor.

"Hey, boss." Skybreaker waved, a sheepish smile on his face as he looked out from under Burnout, Bunker laying underneath them both.

"What the scrap is going on out here?  It sounded like Unicron had shown up when I came out of recharge."  He watched the three Autobots pick themselves up off the floor, Skybreaker having more trouble than the others.  Even when he was back on his feet, the scout wobbled back and forth, trying and failing to keep his balance.  Dark Lance cringed as he fell back on the floor face-first, before deciding something was wrong.  The yellow and green speedster had his fair share of shortcomings, but his balance was what he attributed his ability to go faster than anyone around any turn to, and he was currently incapable of even standing up properly.  Crouching down to get his face closer, Lance decided to check the balance core of the scout himself.  "Hold still," he told Skybreaker as he opened up one of his main back panels.  Looking in, he could see Skybreaker's balance core was spinning normally, but it was now misshapen.  He used his optics to capture a single frame, then disabled them so he could check the image without the distractions of actual vision.  He could now tell that there were small blue dots on the entirety of the now potato-shaped core, indicating some sort of invasive substance or possibly a parasite.  Closing the panel, he reactivated his optics and stood up, turning to Burnout.  "Get him down to the repair bay.  I want to know exactly what's causing this, and how to fix it."  The medic stood stock still, nodding once before bending down to pick up Skybreaker off the floor.  He noticed her unusual silence, and chose to point it out.  "Are you alright, Burnout?" he asked worriedly.

"Yessirfinesirneverbettersir." she answered nervously, spinning around to salute and simultaneously dropping her charge, who fell to the ground with another crash and a muffled groan of pain.  She winced, but held the salute, obviously worried about what her commander was thinking about her lack of control over her condition.  Dark Lance looked at the two in confusion.

"Burnout, what is going on?" he asked, obviously not willing to deal with any antics today.

"Nothingsirwe'refinesirespeciallyBunkersir." she answered, still saluting.  The commander turned to his resident scientist.

"Bunker, what's she talking about?" his voice was becoming more insistent, showing that his patience was running out.  Bunker sighed, his arms coming out from behind his back.  Dark Lance could now see that the white Autobot's hands were missing.  Looking him over for further problems, Lance also noticed that his feet were still in beast mode.  He returned his gaze to Bunker's head.  "Alright, what happened?" he asked firmly.  He crossed his arms to show that he was not going to let anyone leave until he got an answer.  Skybreaker, still on the floor, turned his head to reply.

"We don't know.  We went into recharge mode last night, perfectly fine, and then when we got up this morning, we were all wonky."  He tried to stand again, without success.  Burnout was still standing perfectly still in her salute.  Dark Lance sighed.

"Alright, let's all get to the repair bay, and see if we can figure out what's causing this.  Burnout, help Skybreaker get over there."  He shook his head in exasperation as the scout faceplanted yet again.

"Yessirrightawaysir." the medic replied, turning around to help him get back up off the floor.  As Dark Lance turned to move towards the repair bay, he heard Bunker choke back a laugh.

"What now?" the leader said, not eager for more problems.

"Yo-your lance," his subordinate stuttered out, trying to keep himself from losing all control.  Dark Lance grabbed the hilt of his weapon, unlatching it from its resting place on his back and bringing it forward to look at the... giant flower?  He looked in shock and confusion at his weapon-turned-plant and sighed, his shoulders slumping at this new development.  The outer shell that typically protected his hand from retaliation while in combat had now spread outward, with the tip of the lance as the fulcrum, and folded in on itself, making a convincing blue flower.  It had the same light blue dots across its length as Skybreaker's balance core, making it look even more organic.  Returning it to his back, Dark Lance sighed again, and made his way to the repair bay.  When they got there, he helped Skybreaker onto one of the examination tables.  Burnout's voice box may be malfunctioning, but her skills were still fully serviceable.  She moved the table to a scanning block in the wall, and fed the entire thing with Skybreaker still on it into the block to be checked for anomalous readings.  After several seconds, the machine beeped, and it regurgitated the scout back out into the room.  Burnout watched as the screen next to the block showed the data from the dots.

"Well? What are we looking at?" Dark Lance asked.  He forgot, momentarily, what had happened to her voice box.

"Wellitlookslikethere'ssomesortofstrangeformofEnergonthathascoalescedontohisbalancecoreandhascorrupteditsothatitdoesn'tworkright.IthinkthisEnergonmaybewhatisaffectingallofusinsimilarways,causingtheproblemswe'reexperiencing." For once, Dark Lance did not find the fact that his species did not need air to breathe, or speak, a good thing.  He slowly repeated what she had said in his mind, picking apart her analysis and forcing it into words that made sense to him.  He eventually managed to figure out from her rapid speech that the cause of the problems they were experiencing was an unknown form of Energon.  He quickly came to the conclusion that they needed more information on what had exposed them to this new Energon.

"Alright.  Burnout, you go to the town.  My disguise is ruined, Skybreaker can't even stand, much less walk or fly, and somehow, I don't think Bunker's condition is restricted to his robot mode.  When you get there, find Twilight, and tell her what's going on.  I don't care if you have to write it out to get her to understand, just make it happen.  Skybreaker, sorry, but you're stuck here for the moment.  We'll get you out to the control stations so you can still do something if Bloodwing's team tries anything, but until we get back, I don't want you leaving the ship."  As Burnout moved towards the door, Dark Lance went to help Skybreaker.

"What about us?" Bunker asked as they headed to the bridge.

"I don't think we were the only ones affected by this unknown Energon.  You and I are going to the Decepticon ship to find out if I'm right."

Chapter Ten: I'm Not Laughing

Published January 1st, 2013

Chapter ten: I'm Not Laughing

"WHAT THE SCRAP IS GOING ON AROUND HERE?"

Fireburst had seen his leader unhappy.  He had seen his leader disappointed.  He had seen his leader pleased, depressed, gleeful, amused, angry, and destructive.  But he had never seen Bloodwing as infuriated as he was now.  The red alicorn threw another wrench across the room, screaming in rage.  Sharpedge ducked, allowing the tool to break another screen.  They had all been awoken by Bloodwing yelling over the intercom to come to the bridge, where they had found that their leader was trapped in his beast mode, unable to access any of his other functions.  And he was not exactly thrilled about it.  Fireburst decided to say something before his commander broke everything in sight, including them.

"Sir, please calm down.  I'm sure there is some sort of reasonable explanation for this." He knew instantly that his attempt to calm his leader did not work.

"'Calm down'?  You want me to 'calm down'?  When I've been turned into A SLAGGIN' FLESHY BY PRIMUS-KNOWS-WHAT, AND NOT ONE OF US HAS ANY IDEA HOW TO FIX IT!?" he roared, putting his face right up to Fireburst's, who drew back, fearing slightly for his own safety.

"Yes," he replied calmly.  "We've all been affected by whatever is doing this, and losing control won't help fix it."  Bloodwing drew back slightly, still angry, but now thinking.  He finally sighed, obviously still unhappy, but no longer murderous.

"Yes, you're right Fireburst.  Losing control will not help.  Thank you.  Sometimes I forget how intelligent you are because of your alt-mode choice.  It's good to have someone who is capable of making me think straight."  He put a hoof to his head for moment, rubbing his temple.  He then turned to the other two members of his team, looking for clues as to what caused their conditions.

Crosswire had the most varied changes. His eyes had become large and glossy, his mouth now had a default curve that made him look like he was smiling, and his tail was now much smaller, with its stinger shortened to the point of being useless.  His already small wings had become tiny, and he now almost looked....cute.  Sharpedge, on the other hand, had her feathers puffed out to ridiculous levels.  They now almost covered her face, as well as her claws and talons.  There was no longer a single cutting edge anywhere to be seen.  He sighed.  None of them knew this planet well enough to figure out what had happened, and their medical equipment had been damaged almost beyond repair in the crash.  The full-body scanners were completely ruined, so they couldn't even try to look for anomalies in their systems at the moment.  However, there was one thing they could do.  On the way to the Autobot ship, he had seen a small hut through a break in the trees.  If any being on this planet knew what had happened, it would probably be whoever was in that hut.  After all, if they lived in the forest, they must know how to deal with its dangers.  He smiled evilly as a plan formed in his head.

Meanwhile, in Ponyville, Burnout had finally managed to tell Twilight what was going on, and the two of them were heading back towards the forest.  As they neared the edge, however, a very familiar-looking dragon appeared from the trees, blocking their path.  He growled, putting his body in a fighting stance, lowering himself to the ground.  Burnout stopped, considering her options.  There was no way she would be able to take Fireburst in a head-on fight, and chances were that the others wouldn't be able to help her in time.  So she decided to stall by talking.

"Whatareyoudoinghere?Whatdoyouwant?" she asked, gaining a look of confusion and then amusement from the Decepticon.

"Well, it looks like Bloodwing was right.  You fools were affected by this as well.  As for what I'm doing, isn't it obvious?  I'm stopping you from going anywhere.  After all, it wouldn't work with my master's plan if you managed to get to your destination before him."  He smiled as Burnout frowned, realizing that she would not be able to get back to the others in time to help them.  Twilight looked similarly worried as she started to speak.

"Wait, what are you talking about?  What is his destination?" she said, taking a step forward from behind Burnout.

"Oh, poor little fleshy can't figure it out?  He's going to the hut in the forest.  After all, if anyone knows how to fix this, it will be someone who lives with the cause, right?  Don't worry, though.  We won't hurt them if they cooperate.  At least, not until we have what we need."  He laughed, sending shivers down both of their spines.

During this exchange, Dark Lance and Bunker were investigating the area where the battle had taken place the day before.  As it turned out, Dark Lance had been correct in his assumption that Bunker's hands and feet were affected in beast mode as well.  The white Autobot's legs, instead of ending in hooves like they should while in his unicorn form, now had his robot mode hands and feet.  Dark Lance had thought it was one of the most disturbing things he had ever seen, but kept his mouth shut about it.  Instead, he focused on the strange, out-of-place blue flowers that littered the site of their combat with the Decepticons.  His optics clicked once, and their insides changed to their scanning mode.  He took a reading of the strange plants, and used his remote connection to the ship to compare the analysis with the one Burnout had taken from Skybreaker.

"Bingo," he said, as the result of 'perfect match' flashed across his optics.  "This is exactly what we're looking for.  Bunker, start gathering some of these flowers, we'll need them for a more thorough investigation of their properties.  Hopefully, we can synthesize an antidote.  It could be useful as a bargaining chip.  I'll head back, and get the lab ready for work.  Burnout should be back soon as well, so maybe we'll have some definite answers as to how this happened."  Bunker nodded, and Dark Lance started heading back toward the ship.  Before he could get more than a few feet, however, there was a large explosion from deeper in the forest.  Dark Lance snapped his head back toward the sound, and he could see a small cloud of smoke rising from the forest.  Quickly deciding that it was probably the Decepticons again, he told Bunker to continue his work before taking off in the direction of the disturbance.

By the time he got there, the commotion was over.  He landed next to what used to be a large tree, the inside hollowed out and converted into a house of sorts.  It had been blasted open, what was left of the entryway laying scattered on the ground outside, and what looked like chemistry ingredients had been thrown about, littering the floor.  Getting close to the blast area, he found the tell-tale scorch marks of a detpack on the wood, confirming his suspicion that Bloodwing and his team had been here.  He moved slowly through the room, deciphering what had happened.  At first glance, it looked like there had been a struggle, but the uniform way the various containers had been knocked off their shelves showed that they had been purposefully shoved.  Also, it looked like some of the items had been taken, with the leftovers having been pushed to either side of their landing place on the floor.

^Whoever lives here, Bloodwing was trying to intimidate them.  But why would he resort to property damage?  He's done this sort of thing before, but every other time it's happened, he just used his robot mode.  Why would his tactics change so suddenly?^  He pondered for a minute, rubbing his foreleg against his chin.  It suddenly occurred to him that it may have something to do with the plant.  It had disabled whatever was most important or useful to each of his team: Skybreaker's balance, Burnout's speech, Bunker's hands.  Even his lance had been affected, rendering it useless.  If Bloodwing had also been changed, chances are it had taken away his ability to change into his much-preferred robot mode.  Dark Lance smirked slightly. He knew how much Bloodwing thought himself superior to organic creatures, and now he was trapped in the form of one.  He then thought of the other three Decepticons, and realized that if all of them were contaminated similarly, they would probably be much weaker than normal, allowing him to rescue whoever had been kidnapped.  He walked back outside, and followed the fresh tracks that had been left by his quarry.

Inside the Darksword, Bloodwing paced anxiously while the zebra his team had taken captive moved around a large cauldron in the middle of the room, mixing it slowly and adding an ingredient occasionally.

"Isn't it ready yet!?" he barked, unwilling to stay trapped in his alt-mode any longer than he had to.

"This mix takes time, it's no fault of mine," she replied matter-of-factly.  Bloodwing growled at her.  What little talking she did had been in rhyme, and it was starting to annoy him.

"Just hurry up.  I can't stand being in this ugly form for so long."  He resumed his pacing, staring straight ahead as he fumed silently.  The door opened, and Fireburst walked in, calmly striding towards the cauldron their prisoner was working around.

"How much longer?" he said, looking in across from the zebra.

"Not long yet, no need to fret.  You'll soon be well, freed from the spell."  Fireburst narrowed his eyes, suspicious of what the creature he considered a witch was actually doing.  He had no knowledge of this planet, and no knowledge of how herbs worked.  He had, however, come across multiple beings on other planets who were capable of creating truly devastating concoctions with only a handful of plants.  He didn't say anything, though, and moved to his commander.

"The medic went into town and met up with that purple unicorn you were talking about.  I think they're planning on making some sort of rescue attempt.  We should be ready for them."  Bloodwing looked up from his grumbling, glad for the distraction, and flicked his gaze to Crosswire and Sharpedge, who had been silently standing off to the side since they got back, and were now staring blankly at him.

"WELL?  You heard him, get to your combat posts!"  He watched them run to the door, amazed at their lack of initiative.  As soon as the door opened, however, they were both knocked over as Dark Lance came rushing in past them.  Fireburst turned, and instinctively tried to breathe fire at the intruding Autobot, but instead simply released a harmless cloud of bubbles.  Dark Lance slid to a stop next to the zebra, wedging his flower-horn underneath the cauldron.

"Run!" he yelled as he flipped his head upward, spilling the mixture all over the floor.  "I'll deal with them, you get out of here!"  She nodded, and turned to the door, running out as Crosswire and Sharpedge picked themselves up, still dazed by the unexpected assault.  Dark Lance then launched himself at Fireburst, slamming his shoulder into the dragon's relatively sensitive neck before rolling over him and bucking Bloodwing in the side, slamming him into the wall.  He bull rushed between the two other Decepticons on his way out,  slapped the door controls, and slipped through the closing portal, rolling through the small opening before dropping to the ground and running to catch up with the now-liberated zebra.  He quickly took the lead, bringing her to the Star Runner, where Twilight and the others were waiting.

"Zecora, are you alright?  We ran into that dragon, and he said they were going to do something to you."  The tone of her voice matched the worried look on her face.

"Worry not, Twilight my dear.  I am safe, thanks to our friend here," she answered, turning to Lance.  "I'm curious as to your story, but we do not need to hurry.  Your bodies look how they should not, and knowing your plight takes little thought.  I can help you return to yourselves, but first I'll need some things from my shelves."

"Alright.  Bunker, Burnout, Twilight, you three stay here.  I'll go with Zecora to get what she needs.  Get the repair bay ready, we'll be back soon."  The two of them left, and Bunker motioned for Burnout and Twilight to follow him as he went inside.

The trip to the ruined tree and back was surprisingly uneventful.  Dark Lance thought for sure that they would be attacked by an enraged Bloodwing, but he didn't even hear anything that would signal a Decepticon attack.  When they returned, Zecora used one of their storage crates as a makeshift pot, mixing her potion while Burnout and Bunker studied how the plants and chemicals mixed.  During this time, Dark Lance was able to slowly get Skybreaker back down from the gun controls, returning only a couple of minutes before Zecora finished.

"The brew is ready to make you steady.  Simply soak for a while, and soon you will smile."  She gave her best grin to punctuate the statement, and Dark Lance helped the scout over to the crate.

"By the way, Zecora, I've noticed that you don't seem too fazed by our regular bodies.  Why is that?"  he asked as Skybreaker scrambled over the edge of the makeshift pool, splashing slightly as he fell in.

"Stranger do I see, in this Forest of Everfree.  You are not that scary, considering you are extra-planetary," she answered smoothly.  It amazed him how quickly she could come up with those rhymes.  Even some of the smartest scientists he had met wouldn't be able to do that.  He wondered for a moment if she had powers of precognition, but quickly dismissed the idea as impossible.  Even if she did, it wouldn't help enough to make a difference in her abilities.

When they had all finished, Burnout took a sample of the mixture to try and develop a synthetic version that could be manufactured in case it was needed again.  They then drained the rest, and Dark Lance escorted Twilight and Zecora to the forest's edge.  Twilight had offered to let the herbalist stay with her until they had found a replacement tree for her to move into, and Dark Lance waved as they went into town before returning to his ship.  He entered the bridge to find Skybreaker practicing his gunner skills in one of the pre-programmed simulations.  The scout paused the session, and turned to face his commander.

"Hey boss, I got a question."

"You always have questions, Skybreaker.  What is it?"  He sat in his command chair, resting his leg components since he knew he would be there for a few minutes.

"Well, you managed to save Zecora, and I assume you wrecked whatever she had made for them, so why didn't Bloodwing or the others try to attack?  They always try to get back at us when we mess up their plans."  Dark Lance thought about it for a minute, going through possibilities and crossing them off as he dismissed them, until he had a reasonable explanation.

"Probably because they weren't combat-capable at the time.  Bloodwing was stuck in his alt-mode, Crosswire looked like he had been made kid-friendly, Sharpedge was turned into a walking ball of feathers, and Fireburst had his fire breath turned into bubble breath."  The scout had been trying to hold back during this, but hearing about Fireburst sent him into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.  Dark Lance grinned at the memory as well, remembering the look of confusion and embarrassment on the Decepticon's face as the bubbles popped harmlessly against the ground and walls.  When Skybreaker finally calmed down, he continued.  "Also, they probably recorded what the ingredients for the mixture are.  Bloodwing wouldn't have bothered coming after us if he already had everything he needed.  It may take a day or two, but they'll be able to make their own soon enough.  In the meantime, though, we have a moment to relax."  He thought for a second, going down his mental to-do list.  "Which reminds me: Twilight had said something about a Princess.  I'll probably use this time to meet her so we can get moving on repairs and do some Energon mining.  I want to be sure nothing will happen while I'm gone, though, so I want you to put up a spy camera to monitor the Darksword.  If anything happens, I want to know about it before things get ugly."  Skybreaker nodded in agreement, and turned back to his simulation as Dark Lance leaned back and tilted his head upward in thought, signaling the end of the conversation.

Chapter Twelve: The Royal Treatment

Published January 15th, 2013

Chapter twelve: The Royal Treatment

"So, Dark Lance, where are you from?  I'm anxious to hear how you found our planet."

Dark Lance and Skybreaker were now sitting across from each other one seat away from Princess Celestia, allowing a respectful distance while simultaneously letting Twilight sit next to her mentor.  The three ponies were all politely eating their food, while the two Autobots simply sat and watched.

"My team and I, including Skybreaker here, are from a world called Cybertron.  We're one of the deep space exploration teams moving across the galaxy, looking for new energy sources.  We only happened to come across this planet by chance."  The princess hummed slightly while she chewed, thinking over what he said.

"That must be lonely for you, being away from your homes and families for so long.  I... actually have some experience with that, unfortunately."  She looked down at her food for a moment, and Dark Lance could see, in his peripheral vision, Princess Luna doing the same, although with a much more saddened, almost guilty, look.  He made a mental note of it, and moved on.

"Actually, it's not that bad.  We aren't actually born, you see, so the families we have are our friends, with an occasional set of twins caused by a split spark during the creation process.  We still have romantic relationships, but usually not offspring."

"Creation process?  You make it sound like you came out of a forge or something."  Dark Lance turned towards the new voice, and saw a white unicorn stallion with a blue mane walking in.  Next to him was another alicorn, pink this time with a three-colored mane and tail.  Unlike Celestia and Luna, however, her hair did not flow in an ethereal wind, and was much more solid-looking.

"Shining Armor!"  Twilight suddenly jumped down from her seat,  ran towards the unicorn, and practically tackled him with a hug.  "How are you?  I haven't seen you since the wedding!  You too, Cadence!  It's great to see you again!"  She and the pink alicorn then did a short song and dance, which Dark Lance recognized as their version of a secret handshake, before Cadence spoke.

"We're doing well, Twilight.  I'm interested in your new friends, though.  I didn't realize there were alicorns other than myself, Luna, and Celestia."  Twilight suddenly seemed to remember that the Autobots were still there and returned to her seat, blushing and smiling apologetically to them as she passed.  Shining Armor sat down on Skybreaker's other side, while Cadence sat across from him, next to Dark Lance.

"Shining, Cadence, this is Dark Lance," she gestured with a hoof, and the commander nodded to them in greeting, receiving nods from each in return, "and this is Skybreaker."  She gestured towards the scout, and he waved at them, grinning.  They responded in kind, before using their magic to put together salads of their own.  After a few seconds, Cadence glanced at the empty platters of her sister-in-law's new friends, and grinned slightly before swallowing her food to speak.

"You two are allowed to eat, you know.  We won't think you're rude if pick up the wrong fork.  A lot of ponies get confused, sometimes even me," she said with a sheepish smile.  Dark Lance chuckled lightly and shook his head.

"It's not that.  Skybreaker and I actually aren't able to eat this food.  Our bodies won't process it like yours will.  Thank you, though."  At this, every pony at the table except Twilight gave the two of them confused looks.  Celestia was the first to speak after this.

"If you want, I can call for other foods.  We have quite a few options, due to guests of other species that occasionally visit," she said, a concerned frown on her face.  Dark Lance chuckled lightly again before answering.

"As much as we appreciate the gesture, princess, I don't think you have anything we can eat.  We actually aren't ponies at all.  We just use these forms to protect and disguise ourselves."  She cocked her head slightly, and he noticed that the other ponies at the table had stopped eating.

"So if you're not ponies, than what are you?" she asked conversationally.  Dark Lance could detect the slight trace of caution that now tinged her voice, though.  "You aren't Changelings, obviously.  You wouldn't have come here if that was the case."

"No, we're not.  We are actually machines, capable of rearranging our bodies to take on other forms.  Typically, we would have vehicle-based alt-modes, but this planet has so much raw Energon that the radiation it gives off requires us to use organic-based forms to protect ourselves.  Otherwise, our bodies undergo stasis lock, which disables all of our systems, and we basically go into a coma."  The others were speechless at this explanation, and even Celestia didn't seem to know what to make of them anymore.  Her look of surprise, however, quickly changed to one of curiosity.

"Would you mind showing us?  I'm very curious as to how this transformation works."  Dark Lance nodded once, and stood up.  He moved a few steps away, then turned around to face them before activating his t-cog, and slowly changing into his robot mode.  Once again, he received looks of amazement from his audience.  Shining Armor's jaw had even fallen, although he quickly closed it after a small giggle from Twilight.  Luna was the first to speak this time.

"That was easily the most amazing thing we have ever seen!" she proclaimed loudly.  Dark Lance stretched slightly, his plates somewhat stiff after being in beast mode for so long.  While he was doing this, Shining Armor got up from his seat to get a better look at the Autobot.

"That's incredible," he said, wide-eyed.  "I don't think anypony would have guessed that you were actually something else entirely.  And you said you can both do this?"  Dark Lance nodded, and looked at Skybreaker.  The scout got out of his chair, and took a couple of steps away as well before also changing to his robot mode.  Shining Armor let out a small breath of amazement before continuing.  "Do each of you have a different transformation like that?"  He asked.

"Mostly," Dark Lance responded.  "Some of us are the same models as others, or suffered a split spark when we were created, resulting in the same alt-modes and transformations, but most of us have unique bodies, so our mechanisms don't function identically."

"So, how many of you are there?"  Luna asked.  She was obviously curious about this amazing new species.  Mechanical aliens that could change form without magic.  Who would've guessed?

"Our team consists of four members: Skybreaker, myself, as well as Bunker and Burnout, who stayed behind at our ship.  There is also a Decepticon team, which also has four members: Bloodwing, the leader, Fireburst, Crosswire, and Sharpedge.  Before we were shot down, we also had about 50 stasis pods with protoforms in them.  I was able to eject them before we entered the atmosphere, though.  They're currently in orbit around the planet."  This particular statement caused Luna's eyes to widen.

"Did thou just say 'in orbit'?" she asked.  She was trying to keep her voice calm, but Dark Lance could hear that something was about to cause problems for him.  "As in 'in orbit around the planet in space'?"  He nodded once, and the night princess's eyes went wide.  "I scheduled a meteor shower for two days from now," she said, still slightly in shock.

"What do you mean, 'scheduled'?  You make it sound like you can control meteors," Dark Lance said, obviously somewhat confused.

"Actually, I control all of the night sky, as well as dreams, to a certain extent.  I am the princess of the night, after all."  She puffed out her chest slightly near the end with pride, but Dark Lance noticed a slight falter in her movements, giving away the insecurity she forced it past.

^Whatever happened, it still bothers her.  Not unlike my own ghosts....^  He kept his expression neutral, not giving away what was going through his mind as he continued.  "What do you mean, you 'control the night sky'?  That would take phenomenal amounts of power, and while you obviously are more powerful than other creatures on this planet, I don't think you're quite that powerful.  Either of you."  He turned towards Celestia as he said this while he sat back down to drive his point home.  The white alicorn gave him a small smile and nodded once.

"You are correct, Dark Lance.  Mostly, at least.  Luna really is capable of controlling the planet's moon, and I am fully capable of controlling our sun, but neither of us is able to control the stars.  Luna uses very powerful illusion magic to change the appearance of the sky, allowing her to create different constellations and effects.  However, she is able to use her power to occasionally summon various stellar phenomena from great distances.  It's quite impressive, really."  Luna blushed a little, before Skybreaker decided to ask a question of his own.

"You also said something about dreams.  What did you mean?"  Luna seemed to perk up a bit, like he had asked about her favorite hobby.

"Yes, I also use a type of advanced illusion magic to influence ponies' dreams.  It's easily my favorite kind of magic, because it allows me to help our subjects with their problems, and it allows them to see me more often."  She gave a wide smile at that, and Dark Lance could see that this particular subject was able to distract from whatever self-doubt was eating at her.  Before they could continue, though, Celestia changed her posture slightly, and he could tell it was time for business.

"So, Dark Lance, you mentioned in your letter that there was something you believed you need permission for?  What would that be?"  She gave that same gentle smile, and he suddenly realized something that had not even occurred to him yet.

^She's old.  Far older than any of the other inhabitants of the planet, possibly the oldest.  She isn't going to give anything away unless she is truly taken off-guard.  And that is obviously not easy to do.  I guess I'll just have to pay more attention than normal to how she acts.  Hopefully I'll find out more than just her name by the time we leave.^

"We were wondering if we could start a small mining area.  Your planet has massive amounts of Energon, which we use as fuel, but it has to be mined and refined first.  Otherwise it's just a volatile shiny rock that gives off a light radiation.  Speaking of..."  He stood up, and transformed back to his alt-mode before sitting back down, with Skybreaker mirroring his movements.

Celestia gave him a curious look before speaking again.  "You know you don't have to change back on our account?  We don't mind your normal form."  This was followed by nods of agreement from the others.

"As much as I appreciate that, princess, we actually do have to.  Remember I said that Energon gives off a light radiation?  Well in large enough quantities, raw Energon radiation is capable of putting us into stasis lock if we stay out of beast mode too long.  It doesn't affect organic creatures, so as long as we aren't in robot mode, we aren't subject to its effects."  This was met with a thoughtful hum from the white alicorn, before her sister began speaking again.

"But doesn't it hurt when you change like that?  Your entire body shifts and moves in very uncomfortable-looking ways."  She now had a slightly worried, cringing look on her face, like she had just seen someone's arm get broken.  Dark Lance, however, merely shook his head.

"Not in the least.  It's kind of like your wings.  All of our parts just move into different places.  Nothing actually gets changed, it just has new positions. They just move, they don't break."  Luna appeared satisfied with his explanation, and he turned his attention to Shining Armor, who had a look of intense, almost angry focus on his face.  "Yes?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. The white unicorn was quiet for a couple more seconds, slowly chewing his food.

"Your horn.  When you changed, it flipped onto your back, like a weapon. Why would an explorer need a weapon for peaceful endeavors?"  He kept his eyes locked with Dark Lance's the entire time, driving home the point that he wasn't going to let this drop.  Dark Lance looked down at his plate sadly, a small sigh escaping him.

"Unfortunately, the galaxy isn't as safe as most of us would like.  We've come across several planets with animals capable of putting us off-line for good.  Also," he paused, a small look of anger coming over his features, "there's the Decepticons.  We can't afford to go unarmed while they still function.  If we did, we wouldn't even last a megacycle."

"So why can't you come to an agreement or truce of some kind?  I'm sure that these-'Decepticons', was it?-would be willing to end this peacefully if you talked to them."  Shining Armor said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world (which to him, it was), slightly confused as to why explorers would be embroiled in a war of any kind.  Dark Lance sighed, and looked over at the stallion, using his sensors to do a cursory scan of his body, and finding that the unicorn had no kind of permanent physical damage.  Which meant he had no real combat experience.

"You've never been in a war, have you?" the Autobot asked.

"Well, we had that Changeling invasion a couple weeks ago..." Dark Lance sighed, wishing he didn't have to say what he was about to say.

"So that's a 'no', then.  I didn't think so.  You don't seem like the type of beings to go to war.  The Decepticons won't just let it all end at this point.  They've invested far too much time, effort, and Energon to get anything less than everything they want.  At this point, only two options remain: the destruction of the Decepticons, or the destruction of the Autobots, followed by the enslavement or extinction of every other living thing in the galaxy."  This was followed by slack jaws and shocked stares from every pony at the table, even Celestia.  Cadence was the first to regain the use of her voice this time.

"But, if that's how far they're willing to go, then you must have been fighting for an incredibly long time.  How long has this war been going on?"  The others had finally regained their composure, but Dark Lance couldn't help but think that it was pointless for them to calm down now.

"We've been fighting for almost as long as I've been online: 5 million years."  At this, he could swear he heard bones clack under flesh as the ponies' jaws dropped again, this time with no semblance of self-control present.  Celestia, in particular, looked like she had been shocked beyond all logical boundaries, and her entire body had relaxed slightly, her wings drooping and her legs bending slightly as her eyes unfocused and seemed to stare off at the unseen horizon beyond the castle walls.  Shining Armor had a look of pure horror on his face, his eyes flicking back and forth like he was looking over an intricate map of a battlefield.  The faces of Twilight and Cadence were suddenly filled with realization, but still seemed unable to grasp the full scope of his words.  Luna, however, had a look of sudden awe, the idea of a war capable of being fought for that long would not have seemed possible even ten minutes ago, but with the number of unbelievable things he had said already, she didn't have any trouble accepting this.  Before she could say anything, though, Twilight perked up like she just realized something and started speaking.

"Wait a second.  You said the war has been going on almost as long as you've been online.  Just how old are you?"  The other ponies at the table once again turned toward the commander expectantly.

"5.5 million years old.  Most of that time has been spent in stasis, though.  Moving from star to star takes a very long time, and attempting to stay active during that time is a waste of Energon, as well as dangerous to one's mental health."  He then gestured to Skybreaker with his head.  "Skybreaker, however, is only 2.2 million years old.  He was brought online accidentally by a younger inhabitant of one of the planets we visited.  Gave us quite a bit of trouble during that time, too."  Skybreaker rolled his eyes at his leader's light teasing.  "Anyway, you've probably already figured this out, but our species matures on a completely different scale from organic creatures.  Our bodies don't age or decompose as rapidly as carbon-based life forms, so ours mind don't either."

"Fascinating."  Celestia said, obviously impressed with their longevity.  "But I feel we've gotten a bit off-topic.  How about we return to the business of your mining request?" she asked gently.

"Agreed," Dark Lance said, chuckling slightly at his own digression.  "Let's get back to business."

Chapter Thirteen: Crusaders and Communications

Published January 29th, 2013

Chapter thirteen: Crusaders and Communications

Five hours ago, after Dark Lance and Skybreaker's departure.

Bunker sat in his lab, carefully placing another wire into the small device on his work table with a pair of tweezers.  He set the small copper strand into the laser-cut groove that would be its new home, and slowly pushed the ends of the wire into their respective connectors before gently pressing down along the entire length of the strand, pulling his hand back and relaxing a bit once he finished.  He then grabbed the  soldering iron next to him, and cemented the ends firmly in their place before closing the small protective cover and then closing the rest of the small, band-like device.

"Finally," he said, stretching his body after sitting hunched over for so long.  "Now I just need to test it.  Hopefully Burnout isn't too busy."  He picked up the small object, and walked out to the elevator.  As he was going up, the ship sensors alerted him to someone knocking on the door.

^Well, it's not one of Bloodwing's crew, they would just blast it open.  And I don't think Dark Lance or Skybreaker would bother knocking on the door of their own ship, which means it must be one of the locals.^  When he came out of the elevator, he took the hallway towards the bridge instead of the med-lab to find out who wanted their attention, transforming into his beast mode as he went.  When he arrived and opened the door, though, he wished he hadn't bothered.  Standing before him, looking as innocent and hopeful as they could, were the Cutie Mark Crusaders.  He briefly contemplated shutting the door right then and there, but decided against it.  If he did that, he would never hear the end of it.  Instead, he decided to try a slightly more subtle approach.

"This had better be important," he said, giving the three an unwelcoming glare.  They shrunk back a little from the look he gave them, but quickly returned to their normal cheery selves.

"Yeah, it is!" the orange one said excitedly.  "We came to get Skybreaker!  Rainbow Dash said she was nearly done with the race course, and we volunteered to bring him back!"  She grinned widely at the end, obviously happy about helping her idol.

"Well, sorry to waste your time, but he's not here.  He and Dark Lance went to Canterlot to speak with the princesses.  They won't be back for a few hours, at least."  The three fillies let out a disappointed "awww" at this new development.  Seeing how distressed they were and seeing an opportunity to get something done faster, he decided to give them something to do other than get depressed, and pulled the device he had been working on out of his beast mode's head, getting slightly disturbed looks from the Crusaders.  Ignoring them, he continued.  "How about you do something a little more purposeful for me, since you're heading off a ways already?"  The three fillies' faces lit up at this idea, and nodded their heads vigorously.  "Alright, here's the job.  See this thing here?  This is a high-power communicator.  The Energon radiation on this planet is messing with our comm signals, so I made this to cut through the interference.  I want you to take this to Rainbow Dash, and use this small red button to turn it on.  Then, I should be able to talk to her myself without having to leave the ship.  Once we're done, come back so I can use this to contact Dark Lance.  And whatever you do, don't drop it.  It's extremely fragile, so it will break very easily.  Be careful with it."  He said the last sentence with extra emphasis, staring hard at each of them in turn to make sure they fully understood how serious he was.

The Crusaders took the communicator, and gently placed it in their wagon.  Scootaloo then started moving along a bit more slowly than usual, as the other two shouted "Cutie Mark Crusaders Testers, yeah!"  Bunker shook his head in exasperation at their antics before turning around and going back inside to work on the mini-miners while he waited.  On his way, though, he noticed Burnout leaning against a doorway with her arms crossed, smiling like she knew something she wasn't supposed to.

"What?" Bunker asked, stopping to give the medic a questioning look.

"I saw that," she answered as her grin widened further.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he answered as he walked past her to continue his work.

"Oh, sure you don't.  You keep telling yourself that."  She giggled a little, then returned to her station to continue her own project.

After Bunker got back to his lab, he set up his communications equipment to receive the new communicator's signal, then turned to his next project.  Sitting in the corner were five six-foot-long cylinders, each one with a handle on the top.  The mini-miners.  All of them were severely damaged, having been in one of the less-armored areas of the ship during the firefight and subsequent crash.  He grabbed the first one, which had been crushed slightly on one side, and heaved it onto his workbench.  He stood it up, and pried open the legs so he could detach the plates designed to protect the sensitive internal mechanisms.  Looking in, he found that most of the pieces were actually intact.  He pulled his tools closer and started working.

He had already fixed the first miner and started on the second by the time he realized something was wrong.  He checked his internal clock, and found that it had been over an hour since Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo had left.  He put down his tools and moved to the comms array he had set up earlier to make sure he hadn't simply been too absorbed in his work to notice it go off.  Satisfied that that was not the case, he quickly left his lab to find Burnout.

When he got to the med-lab, Burnout was staring at a computer screen which appeared to be running some sort of simulation.  The screen suddenly flashed red, and Burnout threw her arms up before leaning all the way back in her chair and letting out a groan of frustration.

"Having trouble?" he asked casually.

"I can't get the nano-shell sim to work.  Every time I try to fix one problem, it causes another."  She sighed, and looked at her guest.  "So did you need something?  You don't come out of that lab just for social calls."

"Those three should've contacted me by now.  I'm going out to find them. Chances are they broke that communicator, and I don't want them trying to fix it themselves.  Fortunately, I put a tracking chip in it, so I shouldn't be gone for very long."  He made his way out as Burnout called a farewell to him, and was soon galloping through the forest to retrieve his lost equipment.

He followed the small blip on his internal map, and quickly realized he was not heading towards Ponyville.  Wherever they were, they either didn't know how to get back, or they weren't able to get back.  He quickened his pace, hoping they weren't injured so he wouldn't have to explain it to their families.  Before long, he was almost on top of the tracking unit, and he slowed down so he could pay more attention to what was around him.  He came across a small clearing near the eastern edge of the forest, and the communicator lying in the middle of it.  He picked it up, and noted that it was in almost perfect condition; only a few small specks of dirt blemished its surface.  He wiped it off, then put it back in his head's storage area.

"Okay," he said to himself.  "That's not good.  There's no blood on the ground, though, so they weren't severely injured when they dropped it.  Now I just need to figure out where they went after that."

He began an echolocation scan, using the sound waves to find more freshly-compacted dirt, which would indicate any tracks the fillies or their scooter and wagon might have made.  He quickly found what he was looking for in the form of curving lines cutting through the ground.  Following them, he came through a particularly large bush to find the scooter and wagon crumpled against a tree nearby.  He still saw no blood, but now he was certain they were being chased by something.  They wouldn't have left their stuff behind otherwise.  After finding their hoofprints leading away from the site of the crash, he once again quickened his pace, hoping not to find a scene of carnage.  Fairly soon, he heard snarling ahead of him, and slowed back down to prevent detection.

Dropping low to the ground and carefully choosing where to put each of his legs, he managed to push himself far enough through a small bush to see past it without being noticed.  On the other side was another small clearing, this one at the base of a short cliff.  In the clearing was a group of five strange wolf-like creatures that appeared to be made of wood.  There was also a sixth one that was trying to get  into a small opening at the bottom of the cliff, scrabbling and growling in frustration at its failure to gain entry.  Bunker shifted his optics to thermal, finding that the wolf-creatures themselves did not give off heat, but there was something in the hole in the cliff that did.  He zoomed his vision, shifting to a low-light setting, and he could just make out a small patch of yellow that looked a lot like a hoof.

^Well, now I know what was chasing them.  Now I just have to get them out of there safely.^  He quickly decided how to dispose of the predators, and he waited to put his plan into action until their pacing brought them into a perfect line.  When they were all aligned, he rushed forward, plowing into the first and impaling it with his horn, then continuing through the others, which was made easier when they simply fell apart as they were struck. By the time the last one had registered his presence, it was already at the end of his horn, and had no time to react to his assault.  When he stopped, the wolf which had been digging at the cliff had turned to him and was now snarling at him in anger for his fallen pack-mates.

Bunker simply laughed once before transforming, startling the wolf long enough for him to pull out his spear and throw it at the creature, dispersing it just like the others.  Satisfied that the wood-wolves were no longer a threat, he moved over to the wall and dropped to one knee, lowering his head to look in at the three small, shivering balls of fur inside.

"Applebloom.  Sweetie Belle.  Scootaloo."  At the sound of their names, the three scared fillies looked up to find Bunker's metallic head looking in at them.  "Come on.  Let's get you home."  He didn't need to give them any further urging before they all clutched at his outstretched arm, allowing him to pull them out.  As soon as they were clear of the hole, they moved themselves to his chest, pressing their faces into his softer organic plates for comfort, and almost pushing him over in the process.  Not knowing what else to do, he hesitantly wrapped an arm over them to make them stop shivering, but suddenly stiffened when he looked around for his spear.

The weapon itself was still in the ground where he had left it, but the debris from the creature he had impaled with it was gone.  He swiftly put the crusaders back on the ground and retrieved his weapon, replacing himself between the fillies and the forest and taking on a defensive stance facing the trees.  Recognizing the sudden change in his demeanor and also taking notice of the missing pieces of brush, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo huddled together behind the Autobot, waiting for a signal to do something.  Bunker stood still for several seconds, scanning the bushes with every visual wavelength he had, looking for any giveaway that would show him his target.  As he started to let down his guard, however, there was a growl.  Long and low, obviously from something much bigger than what he was looking for.  As he wondered what it could be, he noticed a massive shadow behind the closest trees.  It moved upwards, over the canopy, and revealed itself to be a giant version of the wolves he had defeated earlier.

"I-it's gonna eat us.  We're gonna die."  Applebloom started to break down as she panicked, crying against Bunker's leg.

Bunker's response was profound in its simplicity.

"No."

With that proclamation, he took two steps forward and began twirling his spear, allowing the weapon to transform in his whirling grasp.  The main shaft split into four pieces and shortened into a wide barrel.  The compressed shell shifted and twisted into a stabilizer handle and trigger guard as the handguard pivoted downward to reveal a firing mechanism.  The tip then split and turned down, forming a shoulder rest.  Bunker smoothly shifted the gyrations of his arms and hands until the weapon was brought to an abrupt stop on his shoulder, ready to fire.  The mega-wolf growled at him, and he brought up his targeting system.

"Whatever you say, twig-brain."  He aimed at the massive creature's head, and pulled the trigger.  A small glow emanated from the muzzle, before a beam of yellow light erupted from the cannon, punching a neat hole through his target's head.  The wolf reared back in pain, trying to escape the burning beam of light, but only succeeded in sealing its own doom as more of its features were brought into the path of the unyielding ray of destruction.  The massive wolf fell, coming apart from itself the whole way down, before slamming into the ground in a huge burst of the same green mist that the smaller versions had exuded upon their destruction with far less sound than Bunker would have thought of such a huge creature.  He waited several seconds, listening for any sounds that would indicate the creature getting up again, but heard nothing.  He returned his cannon to its place on his back, and turned to the Crusaders.

"Are you all okay?" he asked as he made a quick scan to confirm that they were unharmed.

"Yeah, we're fine," Applebloom said.  "But we dropped your communicator thing when those timberwolves were chasin' us."  All three of them hung their heads as she said this, expecting a lecture from him for losing something so important.  Instead, Bunker simply reached behind him and extracted the communicator from his storage compartment, eliciting looks of surprise from the Crusaders.

"Good thing I installed a tracking device in it, then, huh?  I figured something might go wrong on the first test, even though I was planning on using Skybreaker or Burnout for the distance check.  Fortunately, following your tracks after I found this was fairly easy.  Now, how about we get you home?"  All three of them could only nod as they finally started to relax and the adrenaline wore off.  Sweetie Belle yawned, and Bunker could see the events of the day catching up to the other two as well.  He gave a small sigh, and changed back to his beast mode, motioning for them to get on his back.  They gratefully obliged, and Bunker hadn't been walking for five minutes before he heard snoring coming from them.  Their departure was made unhindered, but it did not go unseen by a pair of ice-blue eyes in the shadows.

When they finally arrived at Ponyville, it was already late in the afternoon.  Bunker found Applejack and Rarity about to go out and search for their missing family members, until they saw him coming out of the forest.  Seeing their sisters on his back, they ran up to him, Rarity being the first to speak.

"Oh my goodness," she cried as she saw them unconscious.  "Are they alright?  What happened?"

"They're fine, just tired.  They ran into those wood-wolf things on their way back, and wound up going deeper into the forest.  I had given them a new communicator to test when they got back, so when they didn't call me with it, I used the tracker in it to find out what happened.  I had to get rid of the wolves, but these three were fine when I found them."  Rarity and Applejack had both removed their sisters from Bunker's back at this point and settled them onto their own.  "By the way, I don't know where Scootaloo here lives.  Do either of you know where her house is?"  Both mares thought for a second before Applejack spoke up.

"No, actually.  Now that Ah think about it, they've never said anything about goin' ta Scootaloo's house before.  Ah honestly have no idea where she lives."  She looked over to Rarity, but she merely shrugged.

"Well, I'll just take her to, um....  Fluttershy, I think?  The pink-haired one?"

"Oh, don't worry about it, darling, I'll keep her at my place," Rarity said as she levitated Scootaloo off of Bunker's back.  "I've had all three of them stay with me multiple times, so having only two of them to handle won't be any trouble.  Besides, Fluttershy already has her animals to take care of.  I don't want to give her any more work if I don't have to."

"Alright, then.  If you think you can handle it, I won't stop you.  Thanks."  He turned and started walking away, waving a short goodbye, until something landed right in front of him and kicked up a cloud of dust.  Startled by the sudden movement, he jumped back, prepared to defend himself.  This turned out to be a pointless gesture, as the landing object revealed itself to be Rainbow Dash, looking at him quizzically.

"What's with you?" she asked, confused at his reaction.

"For future reference, never surprise someone who walks around armed.  It's bad for your health."  He then moved around her to continue his way back, and she started following him.

"Yeah, anyway, where's Skybreaker?  I finished that course, I want to see what he thinks."  She smiled in both pride of her accomplishment and excitement for the upcoming race as they continued walking, until Bunker suddenly remembered what had started the day's whole ordeal.  First checking to make sure there weren't any ponies watching, he opened his head-case, getting a look of revulsion from the pegasus next to him as he pulled out the communicator.

"That reminds me.  Let's find out, shall we?"  He put the band on his foreleg, and pressed the power button before carefully punching in the frequency for Dark Lance's comm unit with his other hoof.  The screen was blank for a few seconds, and then Dark Lance's face appeared.

"Bunker.  I see you finished that communicator I asked you about.  I assume you want to find out the status of our mission here?"

"Yes, sir.  Also, when you and the others will be getting back.  Rainbow Dash says she finished the course for her race with Skybreaker."

"I'll be staying here overnight.  I need to speak further with Princess Luna regarding a meteor shower two days from now.  Twilight and Skybreaker, however, should be back on the next train in.  Be careful, though.  We spotted Sharpedge snooping around earlier, and she was back to normal.  Bloodwing will probably be making a move soon.  Also, I got permission from Princess Celestia to start a small mining operation in the gem fields west of Ponyville.  I want the mini-miners up and running by the end of the week so we can get started."

"Understood, sir.  I've already completed repairs on the first miner, and the others shouldn't give me too much trouble.  I take it you'll be back tomorrow?"

"Yes.  Call me if anything happens.  I don't want the Decepticons to damage our equipment when we've finally gained an advantage.  Dark Lance out."  The communicator went dark, and Bunker turned to Rainbow Dash.

"Well, there's your answer.  The train should be here soon.  Skybreaker is probably tired from playing nice all day, though, so don't be surprised if you have to wait until morning to race."  He started walking towards the ship again as Dash took off.  "Hopefully Skybreaker wins.  Heh, never thought I'd say that about the cocky little 'Bot.  Too bad we can't afford him losing that bet."  He continued on his way, noticing the lack of animal sounds in the forest.  He shrugged it off, attributing it to the destruction he had wrought on the wolves earlier.  He had still not noticed the pair of eyes watching him from the brush.

Chapter Fourteen: Cutie Marks and Race Courses

Published February 26th, 2013

Chapter fourteen: Cutie Marks and Race Courses

Skybreaker stepped off the train right behind Twilight, surprised at how low on power he was.  Normally, having to talk with royalty was only mentally exhausting, but the princesses of Canterlot were definitely an exception to how leaders of a country behaved.  Apparently, Celestia had caught on to the fact that Skybreaker was bored and didn't want to be there, so she had taken him for a walk in the hedge maze.  During said walk, she asked if he would be willing to help her with something.  Remembering everything he had been told by Dark Lance about dealing with royalty, he had accepted.  And then wound up helping Celestia trick the entire castle staff into thinking Nightmare Moon had returned.  They had even gone so far as to tie up and gag Skybreaker, making it look like she had a hostage.  Dark Lance, of course, had seen right through the whole thing, but played along anyway.  The charade was lost, though, when Skybreaker started laughing uncontrollably at the cooks, who had shown up brandishing various pots, pans, and cutlery against the perceived enemy.  Apparently the guards weren't the only ones in the castle capable of defending themselves.

And as if that weren't enough to make it a good day, he then found out that Dark Lance had gotten the royal armorer to make cutie mark emblems for all of them.  Dark Lance's, of course, was a lance pointing straight up.  Skybreaker's was a cloud that looked like it had been shattered, Bunker's was simply a tower with a red flag, and Burnout's was a red cross with a small flame pointing outward from each inside corner.  Dark Lance already had his on, and Skybreaker had been eager to get his attached.  Now the other two sets of cutie marks jingled as they moved around in Twilight's saddlebag.

The two travelers stepped off the train platform just in time to see a familiar rainbow blur come to a screeching halt in front of them.  Skybreaker noticed the excitement on her face and grinned.

"I take it by your speed that you finished that course for our race?" he asked.

"Yep.  And I made it so tough, you won't have a chance at beating me!  I'll be impressed if you even finish.  It's that hard."  She gave him a challenging smirk at the end, subconsciously trying to throw off his focus.  Skybreaker, however, was unfazed.

"Uh-huh.  We'll see about that, but not right now.  I need to get back to the ship.  We got cutie marks for Bunker and Burnout, and I need to go recharge.  If I don't get roped into anything, we should be able to race tomorrow."  He yawned near the end, punctuating his exhaustion as Rainbow Dash nodded.

"Yeah, your unicorn buddy said you might need some rest first.  Don't worry, I understand the need for sleep.  One of the best things about being as fast as I am is that I have plenty of time for naps.  It's one of the perks of being this awesome."

"Yeah, I'm too tired to come up with a proper comeback to that."  He yawned again.  "I'll see you tomorrow at some point, Dash.  G'night."

"See ya."

He and Twilight continued walking towards the forest as Rainbow Dash took off to take care of other things.  As they were about to enter the forest, Skybreaker suddenly thought of something.

"Hey, Twilight.  How about I take the bags so you can go home?  You probably have other stuff to take care of besides making deliveries, right?"

"Don't worry about it.  I don't have any terribly pressing matters to attend to right now, and I still want to see some of Bunker's work anyway.  This gives me a good excuse to go look at some of his projects."  Skybreaker decided he wasn't going to argue about it, and they walked the rest of the way in silence.  When they finally got to the ship, Skybreaker walked up and transformed, quickly putting in the entry code and going inside to call out his usual greeting.

"Honey, I'm home!"  Twilight giggled a little at his outburst as she followed him towards the med-lab.  When they got there, they found a very frustrated-looking Burnout typing away furiously at a keyboard.  She suddenly smacked a final key before staring intently at the screen.  After a couple seconds, the screen flashed red, and she leaned back in her chair as she let out a cry of anger and reached at the screen like she wanted to strangle it.  "Having some trouble, there, Burnout?"  She snapped toward him in surprise, before realizing who it was and letting her head slump forward into her hands as her elbows leaned on the console in front of her.

"I've been trying to get this nano-shell working for over twelve hours, now."  Skybreaker whistled.  "I still can't get it to work in such a way that we can install it on ourselves without having to rebuild our bodies entirely.  It's starting to get to me."  Skybreaker scratched at his neck in thought for a moment, realigning a servo that had come loose again while doing so.

"Well, maybe you need to stop thinking about it for a while.  Sometimes you need to get a new perspective on something in order to see it properly, right?  Maybe you just need a break so your processor can think differently when you come back to it.  And I've got something perfect to take your mind off it for a few microcycles."  He reached into the saddlebags Twilight was carrying, and pulled out Burnout's new cutie mark.  He handed them to the medic, and she turned them over in her hands to get a good look at them, before turning back to Skybreaker.

"Where did you get these?" she asked, having seen some of the scout's ill-advised acquisitions before.

"Dark Lance had them made while we were at the castle.  Bunker got a set too. They're our new cutie marks.  See?"  He turned so she could see the shattered cloud that now adorned his thigh.

"Interesting.  What's Bunker's look like?  I'm guessing something really simple, right?"  Skybreaker dug out the other two and showed them off, eliciting a small chuckle from the medic.  "Well, you should probably get them to him.  I can attach these pretty easily, and I'm sure he won't have any trouble either.  I take it you're going to go recharge right after?" she asked as he yawned again.

"Yeah, so I'll say good night now.  Good night."  He waved as he and Twilight left the lab to go down to engineering, where Bunker's lab was.  When they got there, they had to pick their way through the various spare parts and scrap metal across the room to where Bunker was sitting, working on what looked like the last of the mini-miners.  Skybreaker came up right behind Bunker  before saying anything.  "HEY BUDDY!"  he yelled before he found himself doubled over in pain, then face down on the ground as something else hit him on the back of the head.

Bunker, for his part, had been focused entirely on finishing the last mini-miner before Skybreaker yelled at him in close proximity, causing him to reflexively elbow the scout in the abdomen before rabbit punching him in the back of the head to knock him to the ground.  By the time he realized what happened, Skybreaker was already recovering from the attack, groaning in pain.  Bunker helped him pick himself up, before reprimanding him.  Again.

"How many times have I warned you about startling me like that?" he said as he crossed his arms.

"I don't remember.  I think you deleted that file just now.  Jeez.  For an old bot, you still pack one heck of a wallop.  Ow."  Bunker shook his head and rolled his optics before getting to the matter at hand.

"I'm not that old.  So why are you down here, anyway?  You're fully aware that I don't like being disturbed."  Before Skybreaker could get himself in more trouble, Twilight decided to step in.

"Actually, we have something for you."  Bunker cocked an eyebrow as she levitated the pair of metal, tower-shaped plates out of her saddlebags over to him.  He grabbed them out of the air, and looked them over before speaking.

"I assume these are supposed to be my set of those 'cutie marks' you spoke of?"  Skybreaker, now recovered from the earlier assault, turned to show off his new plates in answer.

"Yeah!  Pretty cool, huh?  Dark Lance had the castle's armorer make them.  I gotta say, the dude did a good job, too."  He yawned again, and turned back to the door.  "Well, I'm gonna go recharge.  See you guys in the morning."  As the door shut behind him, Bunker turned back towards Twilight.

"So, I take it you're here to see some of our tech?"  Twilight nodded, and Bunker grinned slightly at her eagerness.  "Well then, I guess we'll start with the mini-miners, here..."

The next morning, Skybreaker got out of his bed, stretching a bit before going up to the bridge.  When he got there, he found Twilight still sleeping on a small cot that apparently Bunker had scrounged up from somewhere.  He knelt down next to her, and shook her lightly until she started moving.  As she started to get up, she stretched, yawning slightly as she did so.

"Morning, sunshine.  Sleep well?"  Twilight blinked at him confusedly, until she looked around and realized she wasn't at home.  She yawned again before answering.

"Yes, actually.  Once I got to sleep, anyway.  I stayed up really late talking to Bunker.  You guys have technology I can't even get my head around.  It's fascinating!  I kept forgetting that you guys weren't ponies, so it wasn't until Bunker showed me some old Cybertronian writing that it occurred to me to ask how you knew our language.  That Sky Spy part of Teletraan 6 is neat."  She grinned at the thought of everything she still had to learn about them.  Skybreaker just cocked an eyebrow, confused as to why anyone would consider something they couldn't understand a good thing.  Usually that sort of thing just made his head hurt.

"Anyway.  The others should be up and about soon, and then we can go into town.  Lance said he'd be back this morning, and after we've talked to him, I can finally go have that race with Dash.  That's gonna be awesome."

"By the way, what do you think your chances are of winning?  I've never seen Rainbow Dash lose an air race fairly.  And if this course is really as difficult as she says, you really might not be able to complete it.  Her aerobatic skill is pro level.  She may have an ego, but it's mostly well-deserved."  Twilight had a very worried look on her face at this point.  "And if she wins, you'll have to stay grounded for a week.  That would put your team in a bad place, and I don't think you're the kind of guy who would go back on a deal like that.  If one of you were to be hurt because of a bet that she came up with, I don't think she could handle it."  Skybreaker put away his joking for a moment, seriously thinking over what Twilight had said.  He was silent for almost a minute before opening his mouth again.

"You're right.  On all counts.  If she won, I wouldn't fly for any reason.  Not even if I got thrown off a cliff.  And yes, that would hamper our tactical ability due to the fact that I'm the fastest.  Technically, Dark Lance is just as capable, but he's not as fast, and he has much more important things to take care of.  Don't worry, though, I won't lose."  He grinned a bit, even as Twilight's face became even more worried.

"But how can you be so sure?"

"Has Bunker told you about jet engines yet?"

"No.  Why, what are they?"  At this, Skybreaker let out a low, somewhat evil chuckle.

"Ask him.  He knows how they work better than I do.  That's why mine don't move around too much when I transform.  Too complex for me to put them back together every time.  I can tell you, though, that as long as I have jets and she doesn't, I'll be faster.  Period."  She still didn't look convinced, but any further concerns were cut off as Bunker walked in.  "Hey!  He lives!  I was wondering when you'd get up.  Usually everyone else is hard at work by the time I get up, let alone still in recharge.  So what did you end up getting done last night?  You know, since you had 'anyone else in your workspace'?" he said with a slightly mocking tone.  Bunker glared at him before answering.

"I said that to you because you are loud and intrusive and don't pay attention.  Miss Sparkle here actually understands the need for quiet when delicate work is being done, and actually listens to the answers to her questions.  As it turns out, she actually assisted me in making the mini-miners more efficient, and we both made discoveries concerning the other's race.  So don't start thinking that she is on your level.  She has intellect you will never be able to hope to have, so you would do well to show some respect."  Skybreaker's optics widened at this, even as Twilight blushed a bit from the praise.  His tirade finished, he started walking towards the door.  "I'm going to the station to wait for Dark Lance.  I'll see you later."  He transformed as the door opened, and then he was gone.

"Wow," Skybreaker commented.  "I don't think he's ever talked about anyone other than Dark Lance with that much respect before.  You must have really impressed him."  He gave a congratulatory grin to the unicorn, causing her to blush further.

"It wasn't that big a deal.  All I did was streamline a couple of tangles and modify one of them so it would carry the refined Energon back from the others.  It was pretty simple, really."  She waved a hoof dismissively, but Skybreaker was undeterred.

"Simple, maybe.  But sometimes the simplest solutions are the least obvious.  Especially when you've done something the same way for a couple million years.  Seriously, though.  Bunker doesn't hand out compliments to anyone he doesn't think has thoroughly earned it.  Dude respects you.  No lie."

A few minutes later, Bunker was sitting on the train platform, watching the locomotive come down the tracks.  As it began to slow down, he got up and moved forward a step, scanning for his commander's energy signature.  He found it as the train's brakes hissed and the doors opened, and he moved to where Dark Lance would get off.  As soon as he did, Bunker threw him a short salute before following him off the platform.

"I take it you finished the mini-miners?" Dark Lance asked as they walked.

"Yes, and I had some help from Twilight.  She had an idea to make one of the miners an Energon carrier, instead.  Have it move the filled Energon tanks while the others continue mining.  Also, she spotted a couple of problems with the design of them that I was able to fix.  She's impressively intelligent.  Especially for an organic."

"I don't suppose you found out anything about the whole 'magic' thing, did you?"

"Actually, yes.  I had her do some basic spells for me, and I found that the energy she uses for magic is actually Energon radiation."  Dark Lance stopped in his tracks, his optics widening in surprise.

"What!?"  This was beyond surprising to Dark Lance.  He had seen organic beings use raw Energon in various ways before, but to actually be able to harness the radiation itself?  That was unheard of.

"Yes, that was my first reaction as well," Bunker said as they continued walking.  "I initially thought that my equipment was misreading the data, but that was not the case.  The horn of the unicorn and alicorn races apparently acts as a particle accelerator.  Their bodies gather and store the radiation, and then they send it through the spiral structure of their horn to create an energy field.  The aura that appears around their horn is actually excess radiation leaking from the tip, which then goes back down to the base and is reused, similar in movement to a magnet's electric field.  Obviously, the larger the horn and the tighter the spiral, the more powerful the magical ability.  Physical size of the pony can also attribute to magical strength, but is typically more indicative of stamina.  I find it quite fascinating."  The two had reached the library, and they saw Twilight leading Skybreaker and Burnout towards them.  As the two groups neared each other, Dark Lance saw a blur of color in his peripheral vision that stopped off to their side and revealed itself to be Rainbow Dash.  She had on a big grin and was looking at Skybreaker with excited eyes.  He grinned back.

"Impatient as I am to get this under way, huh?"

"You better believe I am!  I hardly ever get someone worth racing.  You actually have a chance of providing an actual challenge, unlike most of the ponies around here.  I just hope you don't disappoint me too much."

"Well then, let's get the rest of the gang together and get started, huh?"

"I already did.  Everypony else is at the starting line, waiting for us."

"Then let's get moving, already.  I want to see what Rarity's got in mind for you."

"Oh, ha ha.  Aren't you just a regular ole mister comedian."

"I try."

"Well, keep practicing.  You're not doing very well."  The two of them continued to taunt each other all the way to the starting line on the edge of the Everfree Forest, where the other Elements, Spike, and the CMC were waiting next to a pair of poles stuck in the ground.  Rainbow trotted up between the poles and turned around to face Skybreaker, while the others joined the crowd that was already there.

"Here's the course: We go to the north end of the forest, then turn west to follow the north side of Ponyville.  Then we follow Mane Street south, until we reach the river.  We follow the river all the way to Ghastly Gorge, and fly through till we reach the other side.  Once we're there, we turn around and trace our way back here along the same route.  Whoever makes three laps first, wins.  Got all that?"  Skybreaker let out a short laugh.

"Yeah, but is this really what you meant when you said it would be difficult?  This seems pretty basic to me."

"That's because I haven't gone over the rules yet.  The first rule is that you have to stay within three leg-lengths of a mostly flat surface at all times.  The second rule is that you have to pick up a flag at each checkpoint, and the third is that you can't interfere with the other racer's flight.  The checkpoints are scattered through the track, but they're pretty obvious, so you should be able to get them all.  Still think this won't be difficult, tough guy?"  She grinned with confidence, but Skybreaker  wasn't particularly impressed.

"I think that by the end of today, Rarity will have a new line of dresses just for you.  Any other rules you got for me?  Or can we get this thing started?"  Rainbow nodded, then turned to Pinkie, who grinned before reaching into a nearby tree to pull out her party cannon.  The two racers got into position on the starting line, and Pinkie set up to start the race.

"Ready?  On your mark, get set....  GO!"

Chapter Fifteen: Discourse on Energon

Chapter fifteen: Discourse on Energon

The cannon fired, and both pegasi rocketed forward, quickly disappearing from view.  Applejack let out a low whistle.

"Wow.  I've never seen anypony manage to keep up with  Rainbow Dash before.  Ya'll think he can keep that speed for the entire race?"  She looked to Dark Lance for an answer.  He was sitting, and thought for a moment before answering.

"That depends on whether or not he takes it seriously.  He has a tendency to get over-confident when he does well, but if he doesn't start getting lax in his flying, he should be able to win.  I guess we'll find out when they get back."  The other members of the group made their own predictions, and Burnout started up a conversation with Bunker.

"So you found out how magic on this planet works, right?"  Bunker nodded.

"Yes.  The bodies of these ponies are capable of absorbing Energon radiation.  The horns of unicorns and alicorns allow them to directly harness it."  He was about to continue before Applejack interrupted.

"Now hold on a second.  Ya'll are sayin' that the same thing that makes you guys work, gives us magic?  Yer kiddin', right?"

"No.  In fact, I'll even prove it to you."  He opened his head and pulled out his tool bag, causing Fluttershy to faint as Spike nearly vomited, and the others gave him looks of revulsion, except Pinkie Pie, who cocked her head, wondering why he didn't just use the dimension holes that were everywhere.(Surely a transforming robot from space could see them, right?)  He rolled his eyes in response.  "Is everyone going to do that every time I need to carry something around?"  Without missing a beat, they all answered together.

"Yes."  Bunker sighed and shook his head, before returning to the task at hand.

"Anyway....  Applejack, come here for a moment."  She stepped up to him as he pulled a rather plain-looking device out of the bag.  "I'm curious as to whether the Energon absorption is unique to unicorns.  I would actually like to get readings from all of you, if that's alright."  The present ponies debated for a moment, but none of them were able to come up with any reason not to.  While they were talking, Fluttershy recovered from unconsciousness.  They finally turned back toward Bunker, and nodded in agreement.  He activated the device, and it emitted a small whine.  The end lit up green for a moment, and the device beeped once.  He then turned to Burnout, and the same thing happened. Once it finished, he turned it around so the others could see.  On the screen was a small image of Burnout, with different colors in various areas.

"Alright.  So, this is Burnout's reading.  The different colors are as follows: Green is insignificant, blue is unthreatening, yellow is low-speed buildup, and red is high-speed buildup.  This also only measures the radiation, not the Energon itself.  You can see that the highest radiation level is in the center of her body, near her spark.  Even there, though, it only reaches yellow, and except for the parts directly adjacent to her spark chamber, it's all green."  There were nods of understanding, and Bunker turned the device back to face himself.  As he did so, they were momentarily distracted by Rainbow Dash, then Skybreaker taking short stops right next to them to deposit their collected flags after the first lap.  "Well, that was fast.  Anyway," he pushed a couple of buttons.  "Here's the scan from Applejack."  He turned the device towards them again, and there was a collective gasp.

The entire image was yellow and red.  Most of the red was in her legs, but there was quite a bit through the rest of her body as well.  Applejack blinked a couple times, then looked at Bunker.

"Yer tellin' me I have more of this Energon in me than she does?"  Her face at this point was a mix of amazement and fear, and her voice was the same.

"No.  If this were pure Energon, you would probably be dead.  This is just the radiation given off by the raw material.  As expected, though, you have less than Twilight does.  The fact that most of it is in your legs is what I find intriguing.  I would guess that you subconsciously direct the radiation into your hooves and leg muscles, giving you greater strength and endurance.  I'll have to test it at some point to be sure, though.  Anyway, let's move on.  Rarity?"  She walked up to him, and he repeated the procedure.  Again, the entire image was yellow and red.  This time, however, most of the radiation was near her horn and hooves.

"So what does this picture mean?"  She asked.

"The same thing as Twilight's.  Most of the radiation is centered around your horn, due to your magical capabilities.  Most of the radiation is used there, so your horn has natural buildup.  I have a hypothesis about why your hooves also turn up red, but I'd like to get a scan of Fluttershy first, if she doesn't mind."  They looked to her, and she squeaked a little as she hid behind her mane.

"Um, no...  That would be alright, I guess...  As long as it doesn't hurt, anyway."  Bunker nodded his assurance, and she stepped forward.  He once again repeated the procedure, but when his scanner beeped this time, he raised an eyebrow.

"Well that's interesting.  I honestly don't know what to make of this."  The others gave him curious looks, and he turned the screen to face them.  "First, though: As I thought, your hooves appear to be made of similar material as a unicorn horn, so they have some amount of radiation control as well.  I would guess that this allows you to use your hooves in ways that shouldn't be possible, such as grabbing and picking up objects.  Also, your wings have radiation control capabilities, which probably make up a large part of your flight capacity.  The part I don't understand is this."  He pointed to the head of the diagram, which had red where the eyes were.  "For some reason, your eyes have a high concentration of radiation.  I don't suppose any of you know what this could be?"  The others thought for a second, before Rarity perked up and started speaking.

"I'd care to bet it's the Stare."  She said matter-of-factly.  The other ponies gave sounds of agreement, but Bunker raised an eyebrow as Burnout and Dark Lance tilted their heads in curiosity.

"Care to explain that?" the white Autobot asked.  Rarity turned to Twilight, knowing that she would be better suited to explaining it.  Before she started, Skybreaker came to a screeching halt to drop off his flags.  Just as the group was about to start wondering where Rainbow Dash was, she also came skidding to a stop in front of them before taking off in a blur from where she came.

"Huh.  Skybreaker is actually winning.  I honestly didn't expect that.  Anyway, the Stare is something Fluttershy can do to influence other creatures.  She actually used it on a cockatrice once to save the Crusaders and myself.  She's able to make just about anything listen to her when she uses it."  Bunker rubbed his chin in thought, and then nodded.

"That would probably explain it, then.  If it's alright, though, I'd like to get a scan of it in use.  Burnout, would you be willing to test this for me?"  The medic nodded and stepped forward, but Fluttershy didn't seem too sure of this plan.

"A-are you sure about this?  I mean, I don't think it will even work on you, and I don't want to hurt you if it does."  Burnout smiled reassuringly at the pegasus.

"Don't worry.  I'm sure this will work just fine.  Besides, if you do manage to do anything to me, it probably won't be enough to put me in any real danger.  I promise."  This seemed to calm Fluttershy a bit and she nodded in agreement.  Bunker pulled a new instrument out of his bag, this one with a larger screen and control surface and a larger scanner area.  He fidgeted with it for a second before returning his attention to Fluttershy.

"Alright, whenever you're ready, Fluttershy.  Go ahead."  She nodded her understanding, then took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment.  Then she suddenly snapped them all the way open, leaning forward slightly as she stared at Burnout.  Bunker's scanner started beeping as Burnout froze, a slightly concerned expression on her face.  As Bunker busied himself with the readout, Dark Lance came to Burnout's side, still unconvinced there was no danger.

"You alright, Burnout?  You look worried."  The medic's throat emitted a short whirring, followed by a single click.  Dark Lance tilted his head as he realized what it was.  "Cybertronian?  We only use that when we can't use our vocal components.  Bunker, what's going on?  How is it possible for Fluttershy to disable Burnout's vocals?"  The white Autobot pressed a couple of buttons, then studied the screen for a moment before answering.

"It would appear that Fluttershy is capable of focusing the radiation in her body through her eyes.  It's a very thin ray, but it has the same effect as a stasis beam.  The only difference is that the energy fluctuates slightly, allowing a certain level of control over the affected individual.  This is fascinating, though.  If we could figure out how to replicate this ability, we could make a nonlethal weapon capable of incapacitating almost any Decepticon we come across.  This could actually end the war!"  Bunker was excited now, and Dark Lance was almost reeling with the idea of seeing the war's end.  Bunker nodded to Fluttershy, and she ended the Stare.  Burnout blinked a few times, and wobbled slightly back and forth before finding her balance again as the pegasus turned back to Bunker.

"So, um, do you need me anymore?  It's alright if you do, I'm just wondering."  The scientist didn't even look up as he shook his head.

"No, I've got all the data I need.  You're fine."  Fluttershy visibly relaxed at this, before returning to her spot behind her friends as Pinkie Pie bounced up to Bunker.

"Ooh!  Ooh!  Me next!  Me next!"  Bunker rolled his optics, but picked up the original scanner anyway to check the pink mare's radiation.  When he scanned her, though, instead of the usual high-pitched beep that was emitted for the others, the device let out a honking sound, not unlike an alarm.  Bunker stared in confusion for a moment before shaking his head.

"That can't be right.  Hold on a moment."  He pushed a couple of buttons, then did another scan.  Just like before, the device let out a low honking.  Bunker made a disapproving sound, and Dark Lance came up behind him to see the screen.  When he did, his optics went wide.

"What in the name of Primus?"  he whispered incredulously.  This got the attention of the others, who moved forward a step as Twilight asked the obvious question.

"Is something wrong?"  In response, Bunker turned the screen around, receiving gasps from the ponies.  Unlike the previous diagrams, this one was neither red nor yellow.  It was black.  Twilight was shocked to the point of stuttering.  "Wh-what...  What does this mean?  You didn't even say it could GO black!  Is she in danger?  Will she be alright?  What's going on?"  Dark Lance stepped forward as Bunker turned the screen back around so he could study it further.

"She'll be fine.  These readings are only showing what's already there.  If it were dangerous to her, the effects would already be apparent.  A more likely outcome is that she can do things that don't appear to make sense.  Would that seem logical?"  At this point, every pony there, as well as Spike, went wide-eyed before turning to Pinkie, who looked at them quizzically.  Suddenly, Twilight jumped to her hooves and starting gesticulating wildly.

"That explains everything!  The Pinkie Sense, the sudden appearances, the strange abilities, EVERYTHING!  It finally all makes sense!"  She gave a cry of joy and stood up on her hind legs before falling onto her back with a happy sound.  Dark Lance waited a moment to make sure she was done before continuing.

"Anyway, what the diagram means is that she has enough Energon radiation in her body to put a full-size Autobot or Decepticon into stasis lock."  Twilight got back up at this point to look at him with a curious expression.

"What do you mean, 'full-size'?  You make it sound like you're smaller than normal or something."  Dark Lance then remembered that he had never explained his size difference.

"Ah, yes.  Twilight, do you remember when I said that we normally have vehicle-based alt-modes?"  She nodded.  "Well, how useful would that be in my current size?" She thought for a moment before answering.

"Well, probably not much, considering that you couldn't carry very much more than you could normally.  And, you wouldn't be able to carry any of your teammates because your propulsion wouldn't have enough torque or surface area because it's too small.  So, not at all, really."

"Correct.  Now, with all of that in mind, why would we have evolved to be able to transform if it would only allow the individual to move faster without carrying anything else?"  She put a hoof to her chin in thought for a moment, before her eyes widened and she snapped her head back up to look at the Autobot, who raised an eyebrow.  "Figured it out?"  She nodded.

"You aren't the same size as the rest of your species, are you?"

"No.  In fact, Burnout, Bunker, and I aren't even the same size we used to be.  When we first came online, we were approximately  twenty times our current size."  The ponies stared at him with slack jaws at that, before looking up, trying to imagine a being that large.  Dark Lance chuckled at their reactions before continuing.  "Obviously, we were extremely large.  When we were chosen to be deep space explorers, we had to get new, smaller bodies built so that we wouldn't terrify any life forms we came across.  Our original bodies are in storage underneath the spaceport, back on Cybertron.  Until we find a new world to inhabit, though, they'll stay there."  Twilight appeared to be about to say something before she cocked her head to the side and looked past Dark Lance.

"Is that Rainbow?"  Everyone else in the group turned to look in the same direction, and they all recognized the multi-colored blur coming closer.  "Why is she coming from the wrong way?"  Dark Lance suddenly became uneasy as he zoomed in his optics and noticed that she was injured.  He did a systems check of himself, and prepared himself for fast movement.  As the pegasus neared, the others could see her ragged state, and it became apparent she was breathing heavily.  They all moved towards her, and as she came within speaking distance, she landed, panting.  When they were close enough, she finally caught her breath and spoke.

"Skybreaker got captured by a changeling!"

Chapter Sixteen: Bug Brain

Published April 9th, 2013

Chapter Sixteen: Bug Brain

The instant he heard one of his subordinates was in danger, Dark Lance's entire demeanor changed.

"Bunker, Burnout.  Go back to the ship and prepare the med-lab.  And be ready for an attack from Bloodwing.  Rainbow, can you take me to where Skybreaker is?"  The pegasus panted a few more times before speaking again.

"Yeah, it's not too far.  Just give me a second."  She started taking deeper, more deliberate breaths to get herself under control as Bunker and Burnout disappeared into the forest.  She took one more breath and let it out before jumping back to her hooves and flaring her wings.  "Alright, let's go!"  Dark Lance nodded, and they both took off towards the captive Autobot.

Rainbow took the Autobot commander back the way she had come, turning farther south when they reached the river.  It eventually ended in a waterfall that poured down into a large canyon.  Looking down as he flew, Dark Lance could see two dots at the very bottom.  One was black, the other green.  He called Rainbow to stop, and hovered over to her.

"Wait here.  The rest of your friends will probably have followed us, and they'll most likely want to give you a once-over before you get yourself into anything else.  I should be able to handle this on my own, but I'll let you know if I need backup."  He then started moving again, gliding in a slow circle as the pegasus above called a warning to him.

"Be careful!  He's a lot stronger than any Changeling I've fought before!"  Dark Lance hummed to himself in thought at that.

^Why would this Changeling be stronger?  She didn't say it was any larger, so it's probably safe to assume it isn't, but then what could cause the difference? It may have something to do with the Energon it's consumed.  Or it could simply be a recessive gene.  Maybe a drug of some kind?  I guess I'll find out when I talk to it.^  As he finished his internal list of questions, he landed a few yards from the Changeling.  He found it to be a strange creature, at the very least.  It had the body structure and was slightly larger than a pony, but instead of fur it had glossy black chitin, and light blue eyes with white pupils.  It's horn was sharp and curved, unlike the blunt spirals of a unicorn, and it sported a pair of translucent insectile wings.  Easily the strangest feature, though, were the holes in its hooves.  Skybreaker was several feet farther back, unconscious and encased in a translucent green cocoon filled with goop that prevented him from moving.  Dark Lance did a short scan of his subordinate, but focused his attention back on the Changeling when he found no major injuries.

"You obviously know who I am and why I'm here, since you were waiting, so let's get right to it.  What do you want?"  He gave the strange bug-like creature his best glare, but it only huffed before speaking with a strange, buzzing voice.

"Simple, really.  I want to leave."  This simply confused the Autobot leader.

"What do you mean, leave?  Leave the canyon?  The country?"  The Changeling huffed again.

"No.  I want to leave the planet."  For a microsecond, Dark Lance thought he was being mocked, but the face the Changeling had was one of complete seriousness.

"So why come to me?" he asked, trying to keep up appearances.  The Changeling suddenly growled at him.

"Do not take me for a fool!" he barked, anger covering his features.  "I know precisely what you are, Dark Lance, Commander of Autobot Deep Space Exploration Team Six!  I am fully aware of your capabilities and origins.  And I know you have a ship!  Do not believe me to be one of the ignorant fools who thinks no other intelligent life exists outside of this planet.  I have seen your kind before, and I am fully aware of your conflict."  The Changeling growled again as Dark Lance took in the meaning of his words.

^Interesting.  He already knew what we are, how we got here, and which team we are.  I didn't even bother telling the ponies we've met that there are other teams, so either he has known about all this for a very long time, or he managed to get into the ship without setting off any of our alarms.^

"How do you know all this?  I find it hard to believe you got into our ship without alerting us, so how does a creature we've never come across before know what we are? And why would you want to leave, anyway?"  The Changeling chuckled a little before speaking again.

"Because you *have* come across the same creatures as my progenitors.  You see, I'm actually one of the oldest beings on the planet.  Older than even Celestia.  The rest of my kind died long ago from arrogance and stupidity, but I have been willing to be patient in getting what I want.  In the meantime, however, my species has devolved into near-mindless creatures that require a queen to tell them everything.  This idiotic, failed invasion that she attempted recently was the last straw.  I am tired of their mindlessness and ineptitude.  I want to leave, and I'm willing to do quite a bit to make that happen."  Dark Lance stared curiously at the Changeling for a minute, gauging the truth of his words.

"What's your name?"

"I am called Wingshift."  This made Dark Lance raise an eyebrow, but he decided to leave it alone for now.

"Are you aware that our ship is currently unable to leave?"  he asked calmly.

"Yes, and I'm perfectly willing to both help you fix it, and defeat the Decepticons to allow us to leave without worry.  I have finally found a way to remove myself from the asinine lifestyle of a bug in the ground, and I'm not going to simply let it pass because of some misplaced loyalty that I never cared about to begin with."  Now Dark Lance was curious.

"What do you mean 'misplaced loyalty'?" he asked suspiciously.  Wingshift grinned a little.

"Oh, please.  I already said I'm not a Changeling.  And I know you recognize the style of my name."  Dark Lance's suspicions of what kind of creature he was actually talking to were suddenly confirmed with this statement.

"You *are* an Insecticon..." he muttered, just loud enough to be heard.

"Not quite," Wingshift replied.  Then he transformed.  His hind legs folded, then extended so his hooves were now knee guards.  His back plate fell away, allowing his whole upper body to turn around, then split so that his head became his shoulders, while his neck and forelegs compressed into a pair of powerful arms and his hooves split into a pair of claws with three large pincers making up each one.  His wings then returned to their position behind his neck after his head was revealed, giving Dark Lance a good look at him.  It was obvious from his face alone he was not a normal transformer.  There was plenty of circuitry and metal, but it was interspersed with flesh and  other organic structures.  His mouth had a pair of mandibles, and his eyes were compound.  Whatever Wingshift was, Dark Lance didn't have a name for it.  Then something even more unexpected happened:  Wingshift was suddenly cloaked in green flame.  By the time it had registered in Dark Lance's processor, it was gone, but instead of Wingshift's robot mode, he was now looking at a perfect copy of his own robot mode.  Even his thrusters and lance had been copied.  He stepped back in shock, before finally understanding what had happened.

"You're a Shifter, too?"  The clone shook his head before another flash of green fire enveloped him, leaving the correct robot mode behind.

"No.  I have no relation to the Shifters.  My spark was contaminated during the reproduction sequence, causing me to grow with a much smaller, partially organic body, and the ability to disguise myself as any creature of approximately the same size using the Energon radiation around me.  I am actually the creation of the Insecticons who originally crashed here.  When they exposed their sparks to do so, however, they were subjected to massive amounts of radiation.  The same happened to the others of my generation.  All members of both groups died by the time the fifth generation reached maturity.  Since then, all apparent connections to our Insecticon progenitors has disappeared from the Changeling race.  They are weak, mindless, and completely incompetent in combat.  They rely utterly on their queen and are only capable of defeating even the weakest of foes in large numbers.  Even then, though, victory is not assured!"  The anger in his voice became more and more apparent as he spoke, until he was practically yelling at the end.  He paused for a moment to collect himself, then continued.  "I wish to sever all ties to these pathetic beings, but to do that I must remove myself entirely from all contact with them.  I have to go off-world.  So, if you are willing to do this for me, I am willing to help you fight the Decepticons."

Dark Lance stared hard at the mutant Insecticon, trying to determine the likelihood of him being a threat.  So far, the only hostile act had been capturing Skybreaker, but he could quite easily decide to become loyal to the Decepticons again.  Dark Lance studied the Insecticon's body for signs of ill intention, but instead he found indicators that Wingshift was likening the current situation to a trial in which he was innocent.  Weighing his options and the risks and rewards thereof, Dark Lance made his decision.  Before he could give his answer, though, he heard hoofbeats coming from behind.  Wingshift apparently heard them as well, because he changed back to his Changeling mode.  Dark Lance turned around just in time to see all six Element Bearers round a corner and head straight for them.  When they got close, they slowed down to stop next to him, glaring at Wingshift.  Twilight was first to speak.

"Dark Lance, are you alright?  We tried to keep up, but you're pretty fast, yourself."  He nodded calmly, and gestured to the Changeling before them.

"I'm fine.  I would like to introduce you all to Wingshift.  Apparently, he doesn't like living with the hive, and wishes to leave the planet entirely to get away from it."  This was met with surprised stares from all but Pinkie Pie, who bounced right up to the disguised Insecticon.

"Ooooh!  So does that mean you'll be our friend?  I should throw a party!  I didn't get to throw a party for Lancey and his friends, so I need a really good party to make up for it.  Do you like cupcakes?  What kind of games do Changelings play?  I'll bet they're really interesting, since you can change forms and all.  Can it be a surprise party?  Those are the best!"  Wingshift simply stared in shock at the pink mare as she bounced around him, constantly bombarding him with questions and suggestions.  Eventually, he looked to Dark Lance with a terrified expression.

"Is she always like this?  Please say 'no'.  I don't think I can take this for an extended period of time."  The Autobot commander chuckled at the expected reaction to Pinkie's typical antics.

"She is, but you won't be staying with them."  At this, all six mares looked at him with confused expressions, Pinkie Pie having stopped in midair to do so.  "You'll be staying on the ship.  I don't think you're lying to me about all this, but I didn't get promoted to a position of leadership for taking stupid risks.  I think you'll be more comfortable with us, anyway.  Before that, though, show them why you want to leave.  I don't want them being scared unnecessarily later if I can help it."  The others gave Dark Lance curious looks before returning their attention back to Wingshift expectantly.  He sighed before changing into his robot mode again, earning gasps of surprise from all six mares.

"Changelings are Cybertronians?"  Twilight said as she sat down in shock.

"Not quite."  The purple unicorn's attention returned to Wingshift as he repeated his tale of the evolution of the Changelings.  When he finished, all six of the ponies were reeling from the new revelation.  Suddenly, something occurred to Applejack.

"Wait a sec.  If Dark Lance used to be huge, how big were the Insecticons?"  The Autobot commander answered before Wingshift could open his mouth.

"Typically, a standard Insecticon would have been close to twice my original size.  Some of them were even bigger than that, though.  Don't worry, they rarely left Cybertron, and all of the ones that came here are dead, apparently.  Now, would you mind releasing my subordinate, please, Wingshift?"  Wingshift nodded, then went about taking apart the cocoon Skybreaker was still encased in.  When he was fully freed, Dark Lance picked him up and deposited him on his back.  "Now then, let's get back to the ship and figure out our next move.  I want to be back by nightfall.  Come on."

An hour later, Burnout was checking Skybreaker's systems as he sat in the med-lab, fuming at his defeat from Wingshift.

"Y'know, if I had known he wasn't a regular Changeling, I would've won!  He tricked me into thinking he was a local, and I held back because of it.  Stupid freaking mutant Insecticon creep...."  He continued grumbling and griping as Burnout did her job, silently amused at his frustration at being defeated.

Meanwhile, in the bridge of the Star Runner, Dark Lance was discussing the current situation with Bunker.

"I still think this was a bad idea, Lance.  For all we know, he's already allied himself with Bloodwing, and the first chance he gets, he'll stab us in the back and take off with them instead.  I'm willing to give him a chance, but I'm not willing to totally trust him yet, either."

"I am fully aware of the risks I'm taking, Bunker.  That's why I told him to stay in the room I gave him as much as possible, and he doesn't have clearance to any important areas.  I even put a command in to rescind clearance for any of us if multiple or conflicting energy signatures are detected.  I don't want him running around all over the place just yet, and if he is planning something, he'll have a much harder time of it.  Just try not to go ballistic on him unless you're absolutely sure he's doing something on purpose, alright?"  Bunker gave him a begrudging look, but made an affirmative sound after a moment.  "Thank you.  By the way, how are the repairs on the main engines coming?"  Bunker leaned back slightly in his seat, recalling the necessary information.

"Well, we've finished clearing out the rest of the dirt that will prevent ignition, but most of the internal components are severely damaged.  It will probably be another week, at least, before we can fly.  What about that meteor shower you were talking about before?"

"Luna said she wasn't able to completely redirect the shower, but with my help, she was able to change the paths of the meteors so that only one protoform would be hit, and it would land not too far from here.  Also, she managed to give us another day to prepare for it, so we have two days to get everything in order for the protoform's arrival.  For now, I want you to look after Wingshift.  I'll have him help you as needed, but I need someone to keep an optic on him, and you're the best choice for that."  Bunker shot him another glare, but acquiesced anyway before heading off to his room to recharge.

Chapter Seventeen: Deadly Discoveries

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Chapter Eighteen: Hidden Strength

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Chapter Nineteen: Changing Perspectives

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Chapter Twenty: Landfall

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Chapter Twenty-One: Snowblind

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Chapter Twenty-Two: Secrets

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Chapter Twenty-Three: Ancient Legacy

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Chapter Twenty-Four: Findings

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Chapter Twenty-Five: Wake-Up Call

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Chapter Twenty-Six: Breakout

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Chapter Twenty-Seven: Brawl

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Chapter Twenty-Eight: Crusaders and Killers

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Chapter Twenty-Nine: Six Feet Under

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Chapter Thirty: Clouds on the Horizon

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Chapter Eleven: Skybreaker and Royalty

Published January 8th, 2013

Chapter eleven: Skybreaker's Lament

The next morning, Dark Lance woke up early, rousing the rest of his team so that they could get to work.  Bunker headed straight for the engine room, while Skybreaker took one of the stealth cameras out to set up near the Decepticon ship.  Dark Lance set up the video feed while Burnout went to town to get Twilight.  When it came on, he could see Skybreaker's face looking at the camera.

"There.  That should do it," he heard over the comms channel.  The scout then moved out of frame, and the image shifted while he aimed the camera at the part of the mountain they knew the Decepticons' ship was located, though it was still cloaked.  "How's that look?" he asked, still making some minor adjustments.

"That'll do, Skybreaker," Dark Lance replied.  "We should know about any moves the Decepticons try to make now.  Come on back, and get ready to go.  If we can get an audience with the Princess, you're coming along too."

"What?"  Skybreaker complained loudly.  "Why do I have to go and put up with the boring royal people?"  He had dealt with the upper echelons of other societies, and he had always come to the same conclusion: they were more boring than scrap.  No exceptions.

"Two reasons: one, I don't want to be on my own if something happens and I need more firepower.  Two, If something happens down here, I want to be able to get back and assist the others.  You're faster than either Burnout or Bunker, and while Bunker is a better fighter, you are still fully capable of handling yourself in a situation where we're outnumbered."

Skybreaker went silent at that, unable to find a decent counter-argument.  Dark Lance, as always, had a perfectly valid point.  He was the fastest, and he was perfectly capable of fighting multiple opponents at once.  His commander's ability to come up with debate-ending arguments was something that the scout had come to severely dislike.  Not because it was bad, just that it was annoying how he could never win in a disagreement because of it.  He finally sighed in defeat.

"Alright, boss.  I'll be back soon."  Dark Lance shook his head, smiling with understanding as he remembered a time when he was just as inept at verbal duels.  His reverie was quickly interrupted, however, as Burnout returned with Twilight, the small dragon creature riding on her back.

"Hello, Lance, nice to see you again," the purple unicorn said as she walked in, smiling warmly.

"Hi Twilight.  I wanted to talk to you about this 'Princess Celestia' you mentioned.  I was wondering if it would be possible to meet her, so that we can talk about what my team and I will be doing while we're stuck here."  Twilight perked her ears forward at this, and nodded enthusiastically.

"Of course.  I'm sure she wants to meet all of you, as well.  When did you have in mind?"

"If possible, I'd like to see her today.  Sooner rather than later, preferably."  Twilight nodded, and turned to the dragon.

"Spike, if you would," she said politely.  Spike nodded, then reached into one of the bags across her back, pulling out a quill and ink.  Having procured the correct items, he looked between Twilight and Dark Lance expectantly.

"So, who's it going to be from, exactly?"  Twilight looked at the commander, raising her eyebrows questioningly.

"Me," he said, taking the hint.  Spike started writing almost immediately after he started talking, obviously having a good deal of experience in this sort of work.  "Princess Celestia, I am writing to you via your student to request an audience.  I am from off-world, and my team and I are currently stranded here. I would like to discuss with you what my team will be allowed to do while we're here, as well as answer any questions you may have regarding us.  I would like to meet with you soon, as the ones who damaged our ship are currently incapacitated.  Awaiting your response, Dark Lance."  When he was finished, the dragon rolled up the parchment, and wrapped a ribbon around it to keep it from unrolling.  He then held it up, and took a deep breath before engulfing it in flames.  Dark Lance was more than a little surprised by this.

"Why did you just burn it?" he asked, which drew a small giggle out of Twilight.

"He didn't burn it.  He used a special magic link to the princess to send it straight to her."  This merely confused the Autobot even more, but before he could say anything, Skybreaker walked in.

"Hey, I'm back.  Hi Twilight, how's it goin'?" he said nonchalantly.

"Hi Skybreaker.  Alright.  We just sent a message to the princess asking for a meeting.  It shouldn't take long for her to get back to us, so we just have to wait a little bit," she replied, smiling warmly.

"Cool.  Let me know when you find out our schedule," he said as he walked to the elevator to the lodging corridor.

"It's not going to take that long, Skybreaker," Dark Lance said with a slight warning tone.  He knew better than to let his subordinate go to the lodging corridor when they were waiting for something.  Last time, he had had to go down and get him up personally.  The scout stopped, his hand halfway up to the call button, and sighed.

"Alright," he replied, his entire body slumping slightly in defeat.  He turned around, and walked over to sit down backwards in the gunner seat.  A moment later, Spike belched, and a small roll of paper materialized from the cloud of vapor that came from his mouth.  He caught it, and undid the ribbon holding it together.  Scanning over it once, he cleared his throat before speaking.

"'Dark Lance, I would be more than happy to meet with you today over lunch.  I have never had the pleasure of meeting an alien race before, and would love to find out more about you.  Twilight, please escort them to Canterlot right away so that we may meet face-to-face.  I will await your arrival in the feast hall.  Sincerely, Princess Celestia.'  Looks like we're going to Canterlot, huh?"  Spike said as he re-rolled the paper and stuffed it in a saddlebag.

"Yep," Twilight replied, grinning.  She then turned back to Dark Lance  "Whenever you're ready to go, just tell me."  He looked over at Skybreaker questioningly, and received another sigh and a nod in response.

"Actually, we're ready to head out now," he replied.  Twilight smiled at him again.

"Okay, then.  Let me get my stuff back to my house, and we can leave.  C'mon," she said, turning around and heading back out the door.  Dark Lance motioned for Skybreaker to follow, and they both changed to their alt-modes, following Twilight out of the ship.

After returning what she didn't need at her house, and dropping off Spike at Rarity's since he didn't really have to go, they started heading north.

"Okay, so we aren't going to just walk there, right?" Skybreaker asked after a minute, worried that they would be on the road for such a long time.  Twilight giggled slightly before answering.

"Of course not.  We're going to take the train!"  As she said this, they turned a corner, and a large locomotive was sitting in front of them at a small station, waiting to go.  Twilight went up to the ticket counter, and asked for tickets,tossing over some gold coins before grabbing the tickets with her magic.  She floated two of the tickets over to Dark Lance and Skybreaker, who grabbed them in their mouths before turning to get on the train.

Skybreaker spent most of the ride staring out at the scenery passing by, while Dark Lance and Twilight discussed various topics of their two cultures, comparing and contrasting the differences between them.  He caught a couple glances of their destination as the train made its way up the mountain, passing through various tunnels of rock on the way.  As was expected, the palace itself stood out, even amongst the highly-decorated city surrounding it.  He sighed again, thinking about every other world leader he had met.  He hadn't come face-to-face with many of them, but they were all, without fail, the most boring and uptight beings he had met.

^Just a few hours, Skybreaker,^ he thought to himself.  ^A few hours, and then you can go see if Rainbow Dash has that course ready.  Then, you can run it as many times as you want, as fast as you want, and not have to worry about a single piece of etiquette until at least the next planet.  Just make it a few hours, and you're a free Autobot.^  He continued to repeat the phrase 'just a few hours' to himself until the train stopped.  He sighed one more time, and followed his two companions out of the train.

The city itself was a sight to behold.  Large, ornate buildings lined the cobblestone-paved streets, and even Skybreaker had to wonder how beings with no natural manipulators could build such impressive structures.  He then saw unicorns levitating objects as they walked by, and mentally smacked himself.

^Right after seeing Twilight do that, too.^  He shook his head at himself, disbelieving of his own forgetfulness.  He returned to looking at the city, and soon noticed that his group was getting some curious  glances from the snooty, uptight ponies they passed.  He glanced around once to make sure he hadn't imagined it, and found that several of the ponies behind them were also looking at them with confused faces.  He picked up his pace a bit so that he could whisper to Dark Lance.

"Uh, boss?  We're gettin' some weird looks over here," he said.  Dark Lance looked around, and noticed the extra attention they were attracting.

"Don't worry about it for now.  Just act like it's normal.  We should be there soon."  The commander continued walking, resuming whatever conversation had been taking place between him and Twilight previously.  Skybreaker returned to his place a few steps behind them, and spent the rest of the walk going through his list of probable etiquette procedures.  He was so lost in thought that if Twilight and Dark Lance hadn't been standing slightly to either side, he would have walked right into them.  Looking up, he found himself in front of a pair of ridiculously tall double doors.

^Okay, let's see.  Obvious palace? Check. Unnecessarily large doors? Check.  Guards who get paid obscene amounts of money to literally stand around and do nothing?^ He glanced to either side of the doors as they opened, finding the individuals in question.  ^Check.  Now we just need some statues, a hedge maze, gardens that have no real purpose, and a nice, big throne room that makes anyone who stands in it feel small and powerless.^  Sure enough, he spied all items of his mental Checklist of Boring Royal People on the way to the meeting.  ^Why do they all have the same junk in these places?  Most of it doesn't even get used half the time!^  His mood was slightly improved when they were lead into the dining hall, which had a table covered with vegetables in it.  He was surprised to see that it was not one of the typical 1000-seat tables they were usually shown, but a short, 10-seat table.  ^Well, at least they don't have one of those stupid, uselessly long things that make it so you can only talk to about three or four people.^  At one end, there was a large, white pony, about twice Dark Lance's size, sitting comfortably with a small plate of food in front of her.  She had a flowing, multi-colored mane, while the dark blue and black pony at the other end had a mane that looked like the night sky, stars and all, flowing in an equally imperceptible wind.  ^What is doing that?!^ Skybreaker wondered, completely at a loss as to what could be making the manes and tails of the ponies in front of him move how they did.  His thoughts were interrupted, however, by the larger of the two.

"Greetings.  I am Princess Celestia, and this is my sister, Princess Luna.  Please, sit down.  We have quite a bit to talk about."

Chapter One: Crashing: Bad

Published November 4th, 2012

Chapter one: Crashing, Bad

The ship hovered in the glow of a moon, in the orbit of the latest world it had come across.  It had been to many worlds, some inhabited, some very dangerous.  Inside, a being made of metal stood at a control panel, unmoving, waiting for the scanners to finish.  His body was painted bright yellow with green stripes and he had large, forward-pointing,  horizontal tubes for shoulders while wings were attached to his arms.  His head was covered with small, scale-like metal plates, which alternated between green and yellow to create a checkerboard pattern.  The screen suddenly beeped, and a new image of the planet below appeared.  The screen traced numerous lines across the surface of the image, creating dividers between land and ocean, and highlighting various natural formations.  The metallic being that had been staring at the screen touched a button, and the image of the planet shifted to one side as categories and numbers appeared on the other.

Skybreaker had been on the Star Runner for about half as long as the ship had been in service, but the readouts he was currently looking at were unlike anything he had seen before.  There was intelligent life on this planet, but very few artificial structures in comparison to most planets with sentient beings on them.  Also, there were several different types of intelligent life, making this planet even more unusual.  It was a relatively small planet, with low gravity and a thin atmosphere.  But that is not what had captured the relatively young robot's attention.  It was the fact that the planet was practically covered in Energon that had really surprised him.  In all his travels, he had never even heard of a planet with that much raw Energon.

But now, here one was, just below his feet.

He quickly moved across the ship, towards the bridge.  Rather than take the elevator, he turned towards the stairs, jumping into a luge position as he transformed.  His feet extended past his legs, allowing them to turn away from each other and connect into a long, pointed fuselage as his entire upper body tilted forward and his arm folded up into his shoulders, allowing the engines that made them up to ignite as his thruster pack realigned itself to add more propulsion.  He rocketed up the staircase, returning to his robot mode in midair to come screeching to a halt outside the door to the bridge.  It split down the middle and opened to either side, and his three comrades looked at him expectantly.

"Well?" said Dark Lance, the commander.  He was slightly larger than Skybreaker, and was colored a dark blue with black trim.  A pair of flattened jet engines laid against his back, layered with directional flaps over and under them.  Nestled between the two engines was a bladed shield and his signature lance, from which he derived his name, while a sickle hung from the armor plates attached to either side of his waist. His face was framed by a large fin on either side that swept upwards to a point, giving the illusion of ears, while on top of his head sat a battle mask, etched with two large fangs designed to intimidate foes.  "What did we find?"

"We found the mother load."  he replied,  "The entire planet is practically covered in Energon."

"That's great!" replied Burnout from her seat at the environmental controls and status feed.  She was a light brown, with white and dark brown trim and highlights.  Her head was a light cream color with a brown crest that swept back past her head, and her left arm was almost completely covered by a large, out-of-place gauntlet that held her medical tools.  "We can finally get enough to keep us going without worrying about how much is left."

"It won't be that easy." said Bunker, a bright white male who had a blue cloak hanging from each shoulder, allowing the large spike that was pointing straight up on his lower back to be easily seen from his place at the ship's helm. His face was mostly concealed underneath a white, slitted battle mask that pushed forward along the horizontal middle, giving the sense of a face without actually seeing it, though, the top half was pushed up slightly at the moment to reveal his optics.  The mask pulled back as it got higher, coming to a decorative point about seven inches above his head.  "Don't forget that long-term exposure to large amounts of raw Energon like this is also capable of putting us into stasis lock.  We'll need beast modes in order to spend any substantial length of time down there."

"Also," Skybreaker said, "the planet has multiple sentient species.  It will probably be more difficult to gather the Energon on this planet than it has been in the past."

Dark Lance sat silently in thought for several moments.  He and his team had been sent out into the cosmos to discover and befriend new life forms, leaving one of the many protoforms in the ship's storage bays behind at each friendly planet as an ambassador, protector, and researcher.  Since then, however, their mission had changed.

After the Decepticons had started the Great War which destroyed Cybertron, Dark Lance and his crew had not just been looking for new allies, but also new sources of Energon,  and a new world to call home.  The planet below had more than enough of one of these objectives, but the fact that there were sentient life forms already living there made the chances of this becoming their new home planet mathematically negligible.  However, the Energon reserves on the ship were running out, and they couldn't afford not to at least land and try to make contact.

Before he could give his orders, though, a huge explosion rocked the entire ship.

Outside, another ship had appeared from behind the planet's moon, and had fired on the Star Runner before they were detected.  The second ship's commander smiled.

"Direct hit.  Fire again!"  he ordered.

A second bolt of energy whizzed through the vacuum, hitting the now-tilted ship on its underside, causing a large panel to come loose and hang limply in space.

Inside, Skybreaker took his seat at the ship's gun controls, activating the auto-turrets, and powering up the primary cannon.  Taking quick, precise aim, he began to return fire at the other ship, having anticipated his leader's orders.

"Damage report!" Dark Lance yelled over the thumping of the guns.

"The primary hangar bay has been breached, and we don't have power in the main starboard engine!" Burnout replied, watching her screen for any new alerts as the ship rocked violently again, and the lights flickered.

"Bunker, start a landing run, I'm going to see what I can do about the loose panels!" As Dark Lance got up to head to the hangar, Bunker started hitting buttons and switches, the years of simulations, practice, and experience allowing him to begin the landing procedure before the order was even completed.

Running toward the airlock, Dark Lance turned on his comm link.

"Burnout, what's the update?" he queried.

"Not good," the medic replied. " We don't have enough power to do a proper landing, and the hangar panels won't hold during reentry."

"Scrap." Dark Lance muttered, now at the airlock.  Opening the outer door, he jumped away from the ship, his legs turning to face away from each other before his feet flipped up, the heel spurs in back becoming exhaust ports for the ion repulsor engines in his legs, which folded up to a more compact position.  Simultaneously, his chest plate extended away from his body and rotated upwards, the sensory array located there coming to life as his robot head was concealed and rendered useless.  His shoulder guards then folded down along his arms, covering them completely before they stuck straight out, his chest separating itself and turning downward so that his arms now pointed towards his feet, allowing the hydraulics of his jet mode's neck to move down and connect to his abdomen.  His lance and shield flipped up onto his alt-mode head as his back thrusters splayed out to either side to form a pair of forward-swept wings.  The last pieces to move were the panels that held his sickles, which moved to his back and connected with each other before flipping to his rear to become vertical directional panels.  He then flew to the hangar's outside to get a better look at the broken panel.  Burnout was right, there was no way he'd be able to fix the damage during the firefight sufficiently for it to stay attached during reentry.  Changing back to his robot mode, he magnetized his feet to the hull, and quickly considered his options.

Attempting to use himself as a decoy would only ensure their destruction.  A head-on attack would yield similar results.  He couldn't fix the damage under current circumstances, and the ship wouldn't be able to outrun its attackers.  That left one option.

Re-activating his comm, Dark Lance began issuing orders.

"Skybreaker, use a missile to take out their engines.  Bunker, roll the ship so the hangar is facing away from the planet.  Burnout, depressurize the hangar.  I'm going to jettison the protoforms into orbit.  Hopefully that will keep them out of Decepticon hands until we can fix the damage."  Without response, his orders were carried out.  He saw the missile streak away from the ship, pass the other, and turn around just as a cloud of gas came out of the hangar and the ship started to tilt further.

Within seconds, Dark Lance was at the hangar control pad, putting in directions that would be copied and used by the protective stasis pods to keep themselves in orbit.  He then raced through the jettison procedure, checking each of the dozens of pods for any flaws or damage as the Star Runner was hit again and again by the enemy ship's cannons, shuddering from the impacts.  Once he was satisfied with the state of the pods, he went to the inner most wall and turned to look at the broken door which had been jammed into place by blaster fire.  Firing his rockets after propelling himself off the wall, he stuck both arms out in front of himself, curling his hands into fists and bracing for impact.  He slammed into the door, causing it to burst out into space and disappear from sight.  He then returned to the control panel, and pulled the ejection lever.  All at once, the pods moved forward from the walls, lining up neatly before being sent careening out the hole where the door used to be by the slingshot mechanisms in the floor.  Dark Lance watched them fly out, and then right themselves using compressed air as the onboard computers took control.  When the last pod was safely away, he returned to his jet mode, and flew out to see what else had transpired while he had been dealing with the protoforms.

What he saw was carnage.  The other ship was now helplessly listing towards the planet, its engines all but useless.  His own ship was not doing much better.  Large holes and scorch marks covered the surface of the once-pristine exploration vessel, and it, too was now caught powerlessly in the planet's gravitational pull.  Both ships, however, refused to go down easily, and were still firing all of their weapons at each other.  He hurried back to the airlock, and once inside, returned to his companions, calculating his next move.

When he got there, he could hardly recognize it.  Panels had been knocked loose by the shockwaves, causing the wiring inside to float lifelessly down into the room.  His allies were still at their places, Bunker trying desperately to get the ship back under control, Skybreaker concentrating on his targeting screen with a look of grim determination, and Burnout tapping furiously at her keyboard, trying to get the vessel's self-repair functions to work, while alerts constantly flashed onto her screen, blinking red to tell her of the new problem.

Dark Lance knew full well how this fight would end.

His mechanical eyes clicking back on, Dark Lance realized that he was still alive.  Sore and disoriented, but alive.  He was lying on his front on the floor of the ship, his head looking across the room at his own command chair.  He moved his body to get up, but although everything was working properly, he couldn't move.  He quickly realized that this was due to a large beam from the ceiling laying on top of him.  Knowing now what was on his back, he put more power into his arms and legs and pushed off the ground, the beam sliding off his back to return to the floor.  He looked around.  Burnout was facedown on her console, her arms hanging limply at her sides.  Skybreaker was on his back, the chair of his station having broken under the massive stress of the combat.  Bunker was lying next to his seat, a large dent in the controls where Dark Lance assumed he had hit his head and blacked out on impact.  There were a couple of small flames in parts of the bridge, telling him that he had not been offline for long.

He then felt a small buzzing sensation in his fingers.  The first sign of high levels of Energon radiation.  Ignoring the inconsequential fires, he moved to the large holographic display in the back of the room behind his command chair, clearing it of debris before pressing a button.  The panel beeped cheerfully, and Dark Lance quickly started typing in commands, feverishly hoping  that the computer's equipment was still intact enough to do what he needed.  When he finished, there was a series of clanks and whirrs as the display split open to reveal a small, round object with an antenna on top, a pair of small, folded up wings, and a satellite dish on the bottom.

^Good, Teletraan six is still operational,^ Dark Lance thought, seeing that the probe was still in working condition.  ^Now to start looking for some new forms.^  He quickly pressed a few buttons, and the probe launched into the air, its wings unfolding and catching it before it hit the ground.  By this time, there were also small, silvery streams of what looked like liquid metal coming from several points in the console.  Dark Lance payed them no mind, since he knew they were nanobots which would move through the ship, repairing what they found.  Teletraan six then flew out through a hole which had opened in the ceiling, and Dark Lance turned back towards his unconscious crew.  He quickly started to drag them, one by one, out from their places of rest, then picked them up and carried them into the next room, placing each into a different chamber which then closed around them.  When he was done, he returned to the holographic display, hoping that Teletraan six would be back soon.  He could now feel the Energon buildup in his circuits from the radiation, making him slower and more worried that he would go into stasis lock before Teletraan six returned, dooming them all.

His fears were quelled, however, as the hole in the ceiling opened once more to admit the probe back into its place within the holographic display, which then returned to its normal state and proceeded to show him images of various creatures from this world.  He quickly scanned through them, and chose four which looked almost as if they had evolved specifically so his team could use their forms.

They were all small horse-like creatures, but they had differences between them that made it easy for him to pick which one would go to which member of his team.  The first was plain, and looked almost identical to the horses on Earth.  It wasn't quite the same as what he had seen in the records for that distant world, but it was impossible not to see similarities.  He assigned it to Burnout, since she had the fewest accessories, and proceeded to the next, the name of which escaped him, but had the same body, except for  the addition of a pair of wings which had a strange structure that appeared able to bend and shift in ways that most winged animals would find impossible.  He gave it to Skybreaker, an obvious choice since he was the team's scout.  The third creature, a unicorn, had a single, spiral-patterned horn jutting from its forehead instead of wings.  He decided to give this form to Bunker, reasoning that the white Autobot's spear would be disguised well as the horn.  The final form that Teletraan six had found he did not recognize, but it had both a horn and wings, making it perfect for Dark Lance to carry his weapon without having to sacrifice his ability to fly.

Once he was done, Dark Lance moved back to the second room, just as mechanical sounds began to emanate from the first pod, indicating that the process of modifying their bodies for their new beast modes had begun.  He stepped into the last pod, which then closed, and waited for the machines to finish their work.

Chapter Three: Crusaders and Explosives

Published November 20th, 2012

Chapter three: Crusaders and Explosives

After a moment, Dark Lance decided to go outside and talk to the unexpected visitors.  He transformed into his beast mode so as not to scare them, his team doing the same in case the three younglings came in before Lance had a chance to warn them.  He opened the door, to find three large heads with eyes that took up almost the entire area of their faces looking up at him eagerly.  Somewhat startled at the fact that they did not seem at all worried about the idea that they were standing next to an alien spaceship, he paused for about a quarter of a second.  Which was more than enough time for them to start asking questions.

"Whoareyou?Wheredidyoucomefrom?Areyoutheonlyonehere?Howcomeyoulookliketheprincesses?Canyoudoanycooltricks?What'sthisshipmadeof?Howcomeyouaren'tanswering?What'syourhomelike?Canwecomein?"

The questions came faster than the ammunition out of a machine gun.  He waited for them to calm down a bit before answering, his memory banks having served him well by remembering each question in the order they were asked, allowing him to answer in the same order if he wanted. Which he didn't because he knew he wouldn't have their attention for that long, so he had to get to the important parts first.

"I am commander Dark Lance, of the Autobot Deep Space Exploration Team," he said with an authoritative and important-sounding voice.  He knew how to handle kids like this.  It was all in the presentation.  "I have come from the planet Cybertron to find new energy sources and a new home for my race. My team and I crashed here after being attacked, and we are now stuck here for some time, since our ship cannot take off in its present condition."

The three faces (which was all he could see of them at the moment) looked at him with wide eyes for a moment before saying "Cool" simultaneously in awed voices.  They then looked past him, and the orange, purple-maned pegasus that had been on the scooter asked "So, can we come in?"

He thought for a second.  He knew that he and his team needed to be on good terms with the locals if they were ever going to get anything done while they were here, but he didn't want to put these three in danger if the Decepticons decided to attack.  He looked at the setting sun, and decided that the Decepticons weren't going to do anything before morning at the earliest. "Alright," he finally answered, the three faces looking like they had just been given the greatest gift of their entire lives.  "Just let me-"   Before he could finish, all three of the young ponies had shot past him, and were inside the control room, looking around.  ^Uh-oh,^  he thought.

Sure enough, he followed them in to a scene of chaos.  Despite his team's best efforts, they had already managed to root through several open panels, press numerous buttons on at least five different consoles, and turn the hologram table into a holographic game of dress-up.  Before they could do any real damage, however, Bunker, Burnout, and Skybreaker finally caught one each with their beast mode teeth and were holding them up off the floor, out of reach of everything else.  Dark Lance walked over and explained the rules of the ship to the new guests.

"First of all, you can't run around like that inside.  There are a lot of loose cables, open panels, and sharp edges in here you could hurt yourself on.  Second, this stuff is very delicate equipment, and must be taken care of properly in order to function. That means no standing on things and pressing random buttons, trying to play dress-up.  Thirdly, and this is the most important, don't touch something if you don't know what it is.  You can ask, and we will tell you, but don't touch.  If you can't do as you're told, you aren't allowed in, alright?"  he finally finished, getting a defeated "Okay..."  from the three small fillies.  He nodded to his three comrades, who then gently set the foals down on the floor.

"So, what are your names?" the orange one asked, obviously excited to meet anyone she didn't already know, and eager to get to know them.  The other two also turned around, looking at the ones who had caught them, which is when Dark Lance noticed two things: first, his team had somehow managed to unintentionally catch the filly of the same type they were disguised as.  He wasn't sure if it was a coincidence, or if Primus was trying to send him some kind of message, but that wasn't important right now.  What was important was that each of the fillies had saddlebags filled with gems.  Or at least, they looked like gems.  He quickly realized, however, that the "gems" were actually Energon crystals, and they were glowing.  A lot.  And getting brighter.

"The bags!"  he yelled, knowing his team would notice it too.  They looked at the bags, saw what was about to happen, and immediately snatched one each off the fillies, before running to the door and throwing them out, the confused ponies staring dumbly at them.  Once all three sets of saddlebags were outside, Bunker smacked the door control, closing it just before there was a series of loud bangs, and the shockwaves from the explosions rippled through the metal of the ship, making it hum and groan.

The fillies looked at each other, then at the four ponies in front of them, then back to each other, confused as to why the gemstones they had spent the last few hours collecting just decided to explode.  Dark Lance came over to them, wondering why they had had so much Energon to begin with.  Did they use  it as an energy source?  Food?  Currency?  But before he could open his mouth, the earth pony with the bow asked sadly, "Does this mean we ain't allowed in anymore?" her accent caught him slightly off-guard, but he reacted before they could start asking him more questions.

Knowing full well that most creatures didn't know Energon was explosive until one of his team showed them, he shook his head, to which the fillies looked very relieved.  Now it was his turn to ask a couple questions.

"Before we talk about that, though, I don't think I've heard any of your names yet."

The unicorn gasped with embarrassment.  "I'm sorry, we should know better.  We were just really excited, that's all.  Anyway, my name is Sweetie Belle."  Her tone and inflection told Dark Lance that she was raised, at least, by a higher-class parent, and that she was more accustomed to being scolded on etiquette.

The pegasus spoke up next.  "I'm Scootaloo, the second-coolest pony in Equestria!" she said enthusiastically.  Equestria, huh?  Probably the country they were in.  Also, she said "second-coolest", which meant that there is someone around here who is extremely good at what they do.  Looking at Scootaloo, he guessed that that "something" had to do with pleasing the crowd.  What the crowd was there to see, though, he had yet to find out.

The yellow filly with the red mane went last.  "And ah'm Apple Bloom!" She said with a smile, her accent coming through again.  She looked like she spent a lot of time on a farm, maybe even lived on one.  But he wasn't sure just yet, so he withheld any comments about it.

"And we're..." the three ponies said together while striking a pose,    "THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!" they exclaimed proudly, their mouths stretched into wide grins.  His team then moved forward to introduce themselves as well.

"My name is Bunker.  I am this team's scientist and helmsman."

"I'm Burnout, the medic.  Nice to meet you."

"And I'm Skybreaker.  I do recon stuff."

After introductions were finished, and with the names of the three fillies safely in his processor, Dark Lance then asked about the obvious subject.  "So why did you have all those Energon crystals, anyway?" he asked.

"What's En-er-jon?" Scootaloo asked, confused.

^Not unexpected, but it was worth a shot,^  Dark Lance mused.

"Energon is what those crystals you had were made of," he explained, knowing what the next sentence would be.

"But I've never seen gems do anything like that before," Sweetie Belle said, intrigued by the explosive power that she had just witnessed.

"Most races that live around Energon don't realize it can explode like that until we show them.  I would guess that the crystals you had were set off by the various consoles you went through, slowly setting off a chain reaction in them that caused them to become unstable."  He had explained this many times before.

Satisfied with his explanation, Apple Bloom was the next to speak.

"So how do you know what it does?"  she asked him.  Again, memories of a dozen other worlds and a dozen other beings asking him the same question flashed through his main processor.  He looked at her for a moment, knowing where this conversation would go, and wondering what the reactions of the three fillies in front of him would be when he showed them his natural form.

"I know what it does because I use it as sustenance," he replied calmly.

"Wait, what?  Why would you eat it?" Sweetie Belle asked, confused.

"I don't eat it like that.  First it has to be refined into a more stable compound.  Then I can use it as fuel." he explained patiently.

The three fillies thought for a moment before Apple Bloom spoke up.  "But ah thought only dragons were able to eat gemstones?" she asked, "How come you ponies are able to eat 'em, too?"

"Because my team and I aren't actually ponies," he said, bracing himself for the worst.  The three in front of him looked more confused than anything else.

"But you look just like ponies," Scootaloo said, before Sweetie Belle gasped.

"You're not Changelings, are you?" she asked, fear creeping into her voice.  The other two suddenly looked worried as well.

"I don't know what a 'Changeling' from this planet looks like, but I don't think so, no." he replied, seeing relief wash over the fillies' faces.  He looked out the window, suddenly realizing it was already dusk, and that his guests needed to get home soon.  "It looks like we'll have to finish this conversation another time, though.  It's getting dark.  Time to get you back home."  The crusaders let out a collective "Awwww...." before starting towards the door, Dark Lance close behind.