Stuff in "Operation: Patriotism"

'Kay, SO!

I really thought I'd be in a position where I could move things along in "Operation: Patriotism" by now. But as I have not not, I'm going to announce some changes as something of a teaser.

I have been struggling and struggling and struggling to somehow, SOMEHOW come up with a way to include (my own version) of IDW's "Dark Cybertron" within the story. Aaand . . . just a few days, I FINALLY FIGURED OUT SOMETHING. I'm going to be bringing in Scoop, from IDW's current-at-time-of-writing Robots in Disguise. He's basically a religious Autobot handyman.

Like, "reads his Bible in his sleep" religious.

The story is tagged as "Prime" but I hope to make into a "Prime/G1/IDW/Movie/Whatever-the-damn-hell-I-want" mixture of past Transformers iterations.

I'd also like to include past iterations of My Little Pony, but the Wiki, which I rely for most of my nerdy information, only focuses on Friendship is Magic, and only mentions past generations if FIM is making a homage.

Also, I originally thought that I would have the story over so quick, there would be way to include Windblade Things have changed, and now Windblade - as well as her buddy Nautica, who is an awesome new addition to the Transformers mythos - will be making appearances.

Lockdown will be making a return. Readers of "Friendship is Magic: Prime" will know that Lockdown's first and last appearance had him beaten by Insecticons under the command of Fluttershy. I had always planned on bringing Lockdown back. He would have survived the Insecticons, but had to have his body repaired extensively, with mismatched gaps and "repair plates" all over his frame. His return to Operation: Patriotism is however, inspired by James Roberts' use of the character in his More Than Meets The Eye comic.

But yes, he will have Age of Extinction Lockdown's gun-face. :D

Porter C. Powell, Issac Sumdac, Sari Sumdac, and Meltdown from Animated will make appearances. Dylan Gould from Dark of the Moon will be a recurring human villain, with Sam Witwicky as his crony (there's a twist you didn't see coming, huh?) and naturally, being a business partner of Powell's.

The story will be split into "seasons" - not Arcs or Acts.

Season 1 will deal with setting up politics between the "Trinity" - Cybertronian, Human, and Pony, the introduction of the Dark Cybertron prophecy (of doom!), Twilight's prejudice against humans, the introduction of the Predacons, the introduction of the Equestria Girls, a pony-worshipping human cult called "the Conversion Bureau"**, the Forged, Starscream, the Sparkle Siblings' Dark Energon, and the mystery of humans on Equestria.

Season 2 will feature no spoilers for you

What? "Humans on Equestria", you say? "But this is a Transformers crossover with there's a functional and reliable space portal that allows for instantaneous travel between planets! Surely humans on Equestria aren't that mysterious! Couldn't that just go through the portal?" And the answer is . . . yes. They could.

These humans, however, are native to Equestria.

DUN DUN DUN!

Here's a hint: it has something to do with the shuttle at the end of chapter 2.

**Is naming a cult after the Conversion Bureau too tacky? I mean, they were the inspiration for it, and I would think it would fall under the category of "affectionate parody" but still . . .

Unrelated: I would like to see how Optimus Prime would react to the actual Conversion Bureau, tho'.

Additonally, Prime is, as you know, dead. So that's why I want IDW in my story; so that it still has modern relevance. Keeping in with this theme, Season 2 has a "blank spot" open for integrating an adapted and modified version of Age of Extinction's plot (when it comes out and we know it in more detail.)

That's a word I like. "Adapted." Look forward to it being used in the Author's Notes a lot.