It was a beautiful night in the land of Equestria, made possible by Princess Luna. She smiled proudly as she molded the starry sky to her desires.
Her good mood was put on hold by a bright flash of light that nearly blinded her. When the light cleared, she saw several streaks dash across the sky. Some disappeared into the Everfree forest, most went far into the badlands west of Equestria and a single one disappeared into the northern area.
Luna looked in every direction the streaks went as a sense of foreboding grew within her.
"That cannot be good."
---
The world felt as if it was spinning as Optimus came around. His vision was blurry at first but it focused as senses returned, he found himself in a meadow. By the amount of sunlight, he guessed it was around midday. He looked around and noticed that everything was significantly larger. Or was it that they shrunk? Pain lanced through his head, causing Prime to wince as he instinctively grasped his head.
As Optimus rubbed his head, he felt something peculiar jutting out of his forehead. He opened his eyes again and caught sight of his hand. Instead of the blocky, hard, and steel appendage, he found a red fur and flesh one. The rest of his arm was the same but he still had the flame decaled armor that became part of his Peterbilt 379 alternate mode. Prime then pushed himself into a sitting position and feeling something weighing down his back. Looking over his shoulder, he found the reason: A pair of red feathered wings.
Spotting a pool of water close by, Optimus made his over and gasped at the reflection within. Gone was the ever familiar robotic visage of the Autobot leader and in its place was one of an equine nature. The odd protrusion on his forehead was in fact a horn, meaning he had become a unicorn of human mythology. Or was he Pegasus because he had wings as well? Over his body was the familiar car parts/armor of his Peterbilt alt mode but his mechanical nature had changed into an organic form.
His attention was drawn to the front of him when he heard the sounds of several men groaning. From their coloring and the armor they were wearing, Optimus deduced they were his Autobot comrades, apparently having shared his own predicament.
"What in the world?"
Ratchet groaned before sitting up and looking at Optimus. He saw Optimus' form and could only gasp, "By the Allspark..."
"I'm afraid we're not the only ones," Optimus replied.
Ratchet looked behind himself and saw what had become of the remaining Autobots. Every one of them: Bumblebee, Topspin, Leadfoot, Roadbuster, Ironhide, Mi- Wait, Ironhide? He looked again and, sure enough, saw Ironhide among the group. He continued his head count to find Elita-1, Arcee, Chromia, Skids, Mudflap, Jetfire, Jolt, and Jazz among the group. None of this made sense. They were all dead, weren't they?
---
After Ratchet had carefully studied them all, he came to his conclusion; nothing.
"There is no logical explanation to this; we're one hundred percent organic!"
"What," Sideswipe exclaimed, "How can that be when we were towering robots before we were caught up in the space bridge."
"If I may Sideswipe," Wheeljack said, "When traveling through a portal such as a space bridge or a wormhole, all matter is converted into energy. The energy then flows through the portal until it reaches its destination and converts back into its original form. However, there are cases when some of that energy is lost and the result is a change in form."
"And what about us," Ironhide said, "Last I remember, Sentinel Prime blasted me and the Twins into rust, Jetfire gave up his body for Optimus to use it as an upgrade, Jazz was split in half by Megatron, and Elita-1 and Jolt was killed by Shockwave. How can we be alive now?"
The scenes of their departure from Earth flashed through Prime's mind. He remembered the one thing that was able to revive Sentinel Prime and himself flying from him: "The Matrix. When it left me, it must have revived all the soldiers that have deceased on Earth."
Ratchet gave it some thought. "That could be it. I mean, it did revive you days after Megatron killed you."
Jetfire added, "But if it revived us, then do you think it would have done the same for the Decepticons?"
Optimus nearly shuddered at the thought. There were already too many Decepticons when they were fighting in Chicago. Imagine how many there would be now if that thought were a reality. He then shifted his focus to the task at hand.
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, let's do some recon of our new environment."
The other nodded in agreement at their leader's suggestion.
"Any questions before we move?"
Mudflap help his hand, "Yeah I got one. I know we're now some freaky horse things but what the heck is old man Jetfire supposed to be?"
"Who you callin' 'old man' ya little punk?" the ancient ex-Decepticon shouted.
It was indeed true that Jetfire's new form was very different from the others. His body had a more insect like quality to it than the horse ones Optimus and the others had.
"I don't know but I'm sure we'll find out; any other questions?"
No one else made any kind of response.
"…Then ROLL OUT!"
"Um... Bad choice of words," Arcee said, "If we aren't machines, then how would we be able to transform?"
Arcee did bring a valid point. One thing organics were not known for was changing shape.
"Hold up, let me see if I can," Mudflap called out.
Mudflap focused like any of them would normally do in order to change and luckily he succeeded in transforming… well, sort of. His armor had shift and twisted off his organic body back into the orange Chevrolet Trax alt mode. The rest of him however…
"Ah, jeez man! Put it back on! No one wants to see you in the buck, especially me!" Mudflap's twin, Skids, shouted.
Mudflap looked down at his nude body then quickly covered his exposed glory. He retreated into a bush where his vehicle followed him. As the familiar sounds of metal shifted rang out, Optimus addressed the rest of the group.
"I believe it goes without saying that no one should try that again," He deadpanned.
Several Autobots nodded in understanding while others were a little disgusted. Mudflap rejoined the group with a red face and a small sheepish grin.
"Now, we'll spread out in teams of two," Optimus continued, "If you find anything, alert the others via flare."
The altered Cybertronians acknowledged the order and paired off.
---
"Remind me again why are we collecting herbs for Zecora?" Scootaloo asked.
"Because we knocked over nearly all her stock and we said we'd make it up to her," Apple Bloom answered.
"And who knows, maybe we could get our cutie marks for this," Sweetie Belle added.
"I doubt it. How much is there left to get?"
"Just one more thing and there it is!" Apple Bloom called out, pointing at a cluster of blue plants.
The trio rushed forward to collect the last item on their list only to crash into something big and hard.
The Crusaders looked at what they had bumped into; the leg of a yellow Unicorn with a black mane, icy blue eyes and clad in armor that looked like parts of a carriage or something. He was pointing some kind of barrel attached to his arm at the three fillies. Next to him was a blue Earth Pony with the same kind of eyes, a white mane and Glasses, a mustache and a lab coat. Over his coat was blue armor similar to the yellow one's armor. The two stared at the Crusaders in surprise and uncertainty.
Sweetie Belle was the first to say something. "Uh, hi?"