Very loud crashes echoed the streets of Canterlot.
The Autobots landed on sides of buildings, crashed on carriages, and even landed on one another. Optimus Prime fell, back first, and tumbled through Canterlot. He smashed his hand to the ground and clawed at it to regain his structure. After several more skids, Optimus stopped and stood up; looking straight forward as his Autobot brothers smashed against the hard concrete.
A shadow loomed over Optimus causing him to look up. Optimus regretted doing that.
A large metal body landed straight on Prime, crushing him with the intense weight. The body groaned and stood up, rubbing its head. Optimus suddenly saw who it was; Grimlock.
Grimlock turned back around and grabbed Prime's hand, lifting him up to his feet. Grimlock rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Sorry, Optimus, my bad." Grimlock told him. Optimus patted his shoulder which was kind of difficult for Optimus, because Grimlock was so big; Prime had to stretch up to reach him.
"It is okay Grimlock; you didn't know where you were going." Optimus assured him. Grimlock nodded his head in agreement and watched as Optimus Prime stepped forward and stared at where he was just flung.
The Element Tower was much farther away now. Discord was much, much, stronger than Optimus thought. Prime limped forward and watched as many of his fellow Autobots limped towards him. When all seemed accounted for, Optimus spoke, "Is everyone alright?"
"We're fine Optimus," Jazz said clutching his arm, "but that Discord fella is stronger than all of us. He just threw us out of a building, how are we supposed to fight against something like that?!" Jazz screamed.
Optimus paused for a moment before saying, "I don't know, but we must get The Matrix back before it's too late."
"Hey, how we supposed to do that?" Warpath asked, "That Discord guy is right by The Matrix."
Optimus Prime sighed and thought for a moment.
He didn't have to think long when a flash of light appeared above the Autobots.
________________________________________
-10 minutes earlier-
Twilight, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie, and Rainbow were shocked to say the least. Discord literally threw the Autobots right out of the tower and into Canterlot! Discord went from mind games, to this!
As Discord laughed with joy, Luna did not find it so funny and yelled at Discord with her Royal Canterlot Voice. "HOW DARE THEE ATTACK THINE FRIENDS?!?!" Luna flew up to Discord, "THY SHALL BE PUNISHED BEYOND BELIEF!!!!"
Discord chuckled and teleported behind Luna, he put his arm around her neck and said, "Oh, poor little Luna, always second to her big sister. Tell me Princess Luna, do you really think you can stop me? I defeated Celestia; you don't think I can handle you?"
Luna pushed him off and yelled again, "WE SHALL FIGHT TO THE VERY END TO STOP THEE!!!" Discord laughed again and pointed at the destroyed Elements of Harmony.
"You can't fight me without those." Discord said and snapped his fingers. He appeared by Twilight and her friends and put his arms around all six of them.
"It was nice catching up, but now I have very important business to attend to. So..." Discord said dropping the ponies and snapping his fingers. He appeared by The Matrix of Leadership and picked it up. "I'll be taking this." Discord said eyeing The Matrix up and down.
Rainbow snorted and stepped forward, glaring at Discord, she spat at him, "You're not taking anything, bub!"
Rainbow Dash flew straight forward in an attempt to ram him, Discord yawned and snapped his fingers. Before Rainbow could react, she face planted on the wall and slid down. "Rainbow!" Twilight and the other ponies screamed and ran up to their injured friend. Discord reappeared above all the ponies, holding The Matrix.
"Wow that looked like it hurt HAHAHA!!!" Discord laughed and put on a smug face. "Now, I have a very important mission to attend to, and none of you will get in the way of that, CIAO!!!" Discord snapped his fingers and was gone.
Applejack helped Rainbow up, who had a bloody snout from the impact. Luna landed by Twilight with a sorrowful look. "We are sorry Twilight Sparkle; we do not know what to do now." Luna told Twilight. Twilight thought for a moment and looked at the destroyed Elements lying on the ground in front of them.
Twilight knew what to do and lifted up the Elements with her magic, she placed each one on one of her friends, Kindness, Laughter, Loyalty, Honesty, Generosity, and finally her; Magic.
"What are you doing, Twilight?" Rarity asked as the necklace was placed around her.
"If Discord has The Matrix," Twilight began, "than we have to get it back to Optimus so he can use it to bring The Elements back."
"No, Twilight Sparkle," Luna interrupted, "we shall not allow you to perform this dangerous task, thou have seen how Discord is acting, he will kill you and your friends if you do so."
"Look, Princess, we have to do this, if Optimus brings the Elements back, than we can defeat Discord!" Twilight told Luna as she placed The Element of Honesty around Applejack's neck.
"But.... but... we-" Luna began but was cut off by Twilight.
"This is something we have to do Princess.....please." Twilight looked at Luna with big pleading eyes.
Luna sighed and said, "Very well, we will assemble the Royal Guard to evacuate Canterlot at once!" Before Luna walked out of the room, she turned back to Twilight and said, "Good luck Twilight Sparkle, we will be counting on you."
Luna retreated out of The Element Tower, leaving only Twilight and her friends. Twilight finished placing the Elements on her friends and finished by levitating the tiara down to her head.
"Okay girls, we are going into Canterlot, where Discord is out there, causing chaos and doing Celestia knows what to The Matrix. I'm asking you all.....if we will be together through this, as friends, as family, as The Elements. Are you with me?" Twilight told them and put her hoof in front.
After several seconds, Applejack placed her hoof on top of Twilight's. She smiled as Applejack spoke, "Ah'll be with you to the end, Twi."
Then came Pinkie who placed her hoof on top of Applejack's, Pinkie had an energetic smile as she spoke, "This is going to be SO crazy!"
Rainbow Dash trotted up and placed her hoof on top of Pinkie's, even with a bloody snout, she smirked and said, "I'm not leaving you guys again; time to kick Discord's butt!"
Rarity smiled as she walked over and placed her hoof on top of Rainbow's. Rarity got teary eyed when she said, "You are all my best friends, and I will never let you do this alone."
Twilight was proud of her friends but suddenly realized that one was missing, they all looked over to see Fluttershy shaking in fear. After several seconds, Twilight spoke up, "Fluttershy...."
Fluttershy closed her eyes and let a tear fall. The other ponies circled around her, Rainbow placed a hoof on her shoulder. "Don't worry Flutters; we won't let anything happen to you. We'll get through this together, right Twilight?" Rainbow asked.
Twilight looked at Fluttershy with teary eyes, she still smiled when she said, "Yes, we're friends who will do anything for each other. Fluttershy, we love you, we will be together through this entire thing. Now, will you do this with us?" Twilight held out her hoof in front of Fluttershy who opened her eyes.
It took a few moments before Fluttershy answered, but when she did, her friends were surprised at what she said. "Yes, you're my friends, I will be with all of you to the end, and even if we die we'll die together." Fluttershy placed her hoof on top of Twilight's. "I'm with you Twilight." Fluttershy told her. Twilight smiled with tears at the rims of her eyes, the other four placed their hooves with Twilight's and Fluttershy's.
"Let's do this!" Rainbow yelled. The other five cheered and galloped down the stairs and headed for the doors. When Twilight opened the door, they were greeted with a familiar red visor, and a familiar emotionless voice.
"Ponies located!" Soundwave shouted and reached out to grab them.
The ponies screamed and tried to escape, it was too late. Soundwave grabbed each one and held them tightly in his grasp. Each of their heads was poking out of his hands as they struggled to break free.
"Mission successful, ponies subdued, return to Megatron." Soundwave said and transformed into his car mode. The ponies were locked inside and couldn't break out.
"Wow, you have a strong grip. But let us out!" Pinkie Pie shouted.
"Negative." Soundwave said and drove forward.
The ponies fell back into the seats. Pinkie suddenly smiled and started giggling. Applejack looked at her as if she was crazy, which she probably was, "What’s gotten into you, girl?!" Applejack yelled, "We're bein' captured if ya haven't noticed!"
"Oh, hehehe, it's just that I love riding in one of these!" Pinkie stated and started giggling even more.
The five mares groaned and continued to try to find a way out, as Pinkie Pie continued to giggle.
________________________________________
Optimus looked past his hand covering his optics from the sudden bright light, and saw Discord hovering above the Autobots; with a wicked smile on his face.
"Greetings Autobots, I see you enjoyed this year’s fall?" Discord laughed at his own joke. Ironhide's scowled and his hand transformed into his neutron assault rifle. He pointed it straight at Discord.
"I've had it with you, you little punk!" Ironhide yelled and fired several shots at Discord. The bullets struck Discord and to the Autobots amazement; Discord was hurt.
"OHHHHH, you shot me!!!! Oh woe was me!!! Goodbye cruel world!!!" Discord wailed and closed his eyes. He was still floating as the Autobots were stunned they beat him so easily.
"That was easier than I thought." Blaster said and stepped closer to Discord.
Suddenly, Discord raised his head and gasped loudly. He looked around and touched his chest. "I'm alive." Discord said with disbelief, although it was very poor acting. "I'M ALIVE!!!" Discord yelled in victory and danced around in mid-air.
"Oh it feels great to be alive! I think this moment calls for a song!" Discord said as a top hat and cane appeared in his hands. He placed the hat on his head and lifted the cane in the air.
"Ohhhh, it feels great to be alive!" Discord sang but was interrupted by a blue ball of light shooting his hat off. He looked down to see Optimus's right hand transformed into that long silver object. Optimus brought his path blaster down and glared at Discord.
"Enough of your games, Discord! Surrender now!" Optimus yelled. Discord chuckled and lifted up his right hand.
"Oh but if I surrender, I won't have any fun with any of you, especially with my new toy." Discord said and The Matrix of Leadership appeared in his right hand. He lowered his hand and showed it to Optimus. "Missing something, Prime?" Discord joked. Optimus clutched his chest and aimed his path blaster at Discord.
"Give it back now!!!" Optimus yelled. Discord shook his finger.
"Oh Optimus Prime, I will give it to you, but you will have to earn it." Discord said as his menacing smile grew wider.
"He already earned it many millions of years ago!" Ratchet yelled.
Discord chuckled, "Oh, then it will be easier for you to get it again!" Discord said and flew on top of a building. He held The Matrix above his head with his right hand.
"I want to play a little game Autobots! I will hide The Matrix somewhere in Canterlot, if one of you Autobots locate it before three hours pass, you get to challenge me for it! But if you don't find it in less than three hours, I will destroy The Matrix of Leadership!" Discord shouted.
"You can't destroy The Matrix, Discord!" Optimus yelled back, "You have no idea what power you're messing with!"
"Oh, I mess with super powerful and uncontrolled chaos, I'm pretty sure I can simply destroy this Matrix!" Discord shouted as he waved The Matrix of Leadership above his head. "But since I'm a good sport, I'm allowing you Autobots to get it back! Just play my little scavenger hunt!" Discord smiled down at the Autobots.
"What do we do, Prime?" Silverbolt asked Optimus. Optimus stroked his chin and looked up to see Discord's hand glow by The Matrix, he was threatening to destroy it!
"Very well, Discord." Optimus spoke up. "We will play your games."
"Excellent!" Discord cheered but suddenly smacked his head, "Oh I forgot, just to make things a little fairer!"
With that, Discord's left hand lit up and he shot some kind of green beam at the Autobots. The Autobots tried to block the beam with their hands, but to no avail. After the beam stopped, the Autobots felt completely normal, like nothing had happened.
"What was that about?" Sideswipe asked the group.
"I don't know, but I feel as if I'm different somehow." Warpath exclaimed.
Ratchet scanned Bumblebee and found nothing out of the ordinary. Ratchet walked up to Optimus and asked, "What did Discord do to us, Prime?"
"I don't know, but we must check all our components for any differences." Optimus said and began checking himself. Weapon system was fully operational, optic sensors at full capacity, what did Discord do?
Suddenly, the Autobots heard Jazz yell, "Hey, what gives?! I can't transform!"
The Autobots gasped and checked to see if they could transform, they shared the same fate as Jazz.
"I cannot transform! NOT AGAIN!!!" Grimlock yelled.
"I can't either, what’s going on?!" Snarl panicked.
Even the great Optimus Prime was stuck in robot mode! Optimus looked up to see Discord laughing loudly.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA, I see you all have received my little gift! HAHAHAHA!!!" Discord laughed his head off, literally, his head rolled off and landed on the roof of the building. Discord picked up his head and placed it back on.
"Now, things will be a lot more complicated and fun for you Autobots. Oh wait; it will be fun for me!!" Discord shouted.
Jetfire clenched his fists and growled, "If only I could transform, I would fly up there and shoot him until he was just a pile of body parts."
Discord stopped laughing and let The Matrix float above him.
"Now," Discord began, "let the scavenger hunt begin!!!"
Discord snapped his fingers and The Matrix flew around Canterlot in a giant circle. It was picking up speed and soon.... disappeared.
The Autobots looked around them frantically to see if The Matrix was around them, of course it wasn't. A loud cough caught their attention as Discord was standing on top of the building with his arms crossed.
"Excuse me," Discord said as a floating clock appeared right by him, "but you all have about two hours, fifty-nine minutes, and forty-seven seconds left before I destroy The Matrix of Leadership. So......good luck!"
Discord snapped his fingers and disappeared. Optimus looked down the rainy streets of Canterlot and raised his fist.
"Autobots split up and look for The Matrix!!!" Optimus shouted and ran forward. Many Autobots followed him while others took different directions.
As Optimus sprinted down the streets of Canterlot, the chocolate rain pelting his armor, Prime had one thing on his mind...
'Find The Matrix of Leadership.....no matter the cost.'