//------------------------------// // Decisions... or not // Story: Transformares (Not So) Animated // by neorenamon //------------------------------// by neorenamon The Shadowbolts stared slack jawed as Rainbow Dash walked away from the firing line. "Three bullseyes with ONE SHELL?" asked Slipstream in shock. "What can I say?" she replied, "I have a knack for seeing things in 3 dimensions and making things bounce the way I want to." "Slipstream did the same," muttered Dirge. "After years of practice," she answered, "but I wasn't nearly that good on my first try." "I'm not just a pretty face. I'm the best flier in all of Equestria." "Well there's one last little test," she said evenly. "What's that?" "A cooperation test," she replied, "Squads only work when they work together." "But how do you test that?" "If you want to stay around, I'll tell you that as soon as it's set up." "That's cool," she replied smoothly, "Will I need the hardware for this?" "Yes," she replied, "Your ordinance load will be restocked before the test begins." A couple of Shadowbolts trotted out, and one of them whispered something to Slipstream. "Please excuse us," she announced, "but there's the matter of interlopers..." "They're not interlopers," interrupted Dash, "They're my friends. We were out looking for the ruins of the Castle of the Twin Sisters when I spotted your awesome secret base." "So they are waiting for you?" "Totally." "You know that if you join us, you'll have to leave your friends behind for training." "I've been to junior flight schools," replied Dash, "and I know the Wonderbolts would be the same deal." "The Wonderbolts are show ponies," sniffed Slipstream, "We accomplish more than them, and we pay much better." "They're still the cream of the crop of pegasus in Equestria and everypony who's anypony wants to fly with them." "Well I still feel... uncomfortable... with the notion they might be spying on us," she replied, "If you invite them over to speak freely, I promise that no action shall be taken against them. I just ask that you leave the weapons packs behind." Dash nodded as two Shadowbolts approached and sloughed off her metal saddlebags. "No matter what you finally decide, I'd appreciate it if you came back and reported it." "Sure," replied Dash as she took off, "I'll be back in two shakes of a lamb's tail." Once in the air, she radioed back to Twilight, "Miss me ponypals? Well I'm on my way back. We need to talk. But it shouldn't be over the radio." "You know where we are," replied Twilight. With her sharp pegasus eyes, she saw the others first as she made her way towards them. She pulled up at the last second and landed before Twilight Prime. "I heard the cannon fire from here," she said, "and we saw the air race if one could call it that. What's going on?" "Oh, they're just testing me to see if I'm good enough to join them," she replied with a grin, "and so far, I'm passing with flying colors." "But what about us? What about the Wonderbolts?" "Give me a little credit," she answered, "I said I'm taking the tests to see if I'm good enough to join. Never said I'd actually join." "Then what all is tha point of them thar tests?" asked Apple Buster. "If I'm good enough to join the elite of pegasus mercenaries, then I'm way good enough to be a Wonderbolt." "So we ready ta move on?" "Well... the Shadowbolts want you to come over and speak with them... At first, some of them thought you were spies." "Alright," replied Twilight, "but it has to be quick. We can't waste another minute that we don't have to if we're going to save Celestia from Nightmaretron and the Decepticon forces." "I haven't forgotten." "Just to make things easier, Autoponies change back to pony mode." "But what if they're hostile?" asked Apple Buster. "Then we can change back really quickly." So the Autoponies changed back to pony form. "My Autobots and I will stay back a short distance so there shouldn't be as much tension," added Optimus. The group walked over towards the base. They could see several sets of sharp eyes following them as they approached. Dash could see Captain Slipstream eyeing them as they came closer, and then walked ahead towards them. At the moment, all of their weapons packs were closed up, but nopony was taking theirs off. In fact, Dirge was having her packs strapped back onto her. "Greetings," she said, "I am Captain Slipstream. Air Commander of the Shadowbolts. Dash informs me that you are her friends?" "Yes," replied Twilight, "The ponies are all from Ponyville but me. I am on an important mission for Canterlot. My large metal friends back there are from a very distant land, and they are assisting us in the rescue of our kidnapped Princess." "A kidnapped Princess, you say?" She nodded as she looked at Dash. "Hey," she said awkwardly, "I didn't really have a chance to bring that part up yet. But I was going to get around to it." "We Shadowbolts understand the need for loyalty. If my commander was taken, I would rest at nothing to get her back. Perhaps it would be best to delay the last phase of the test. All I ask is that you keep our existence a secret for a while longer." "Very well," replied Twilight, "I'm sure we can all agree to that. Whatever the results are, or whatever Dash decides, that's her choice and I shall not stand in her way. I'm glad we met face to face, but now we need to get back to our mission." She looked at Dash as she said, "You know where we'll be. Come back when you're ready to continue." Dash nodded. Slipstream turned and began walking back towards the others. ... Discord has changed one of the castle's turrets into a small observatory style telescope, but it was aimed at a distant point on the ground. Not at the stars. "Well that's an odd looking crew," he muttered. "You were expecting somepony else?" asked Nightmaretron from behind. "Perhaps." "Certainly more dangerous than they appear," remarked Princess Megatron. "Oh I doubt that." "Discord could surely take them all out... if he didn't get distracted with his amusements." "Well what's the point of existing if it's not to amuse myself?" "That was part of the reason my sister and I were able to turn you to stone in the first place." "A trifling detail, my dear," smirked Discord, "but now it's time for a little fun." He snapped his talons as clouds began forming all over the skin within his sight, and Discord could see pretty far. Then while half the clouds began pouring chocolate milk rain, the other half began snowing tiny little marshmallows. "What purpose does this serve?" "The whole point of chaos is to be random," he answered, "There's no master plan for everything." "Well I'd appreciate if you at least left my moon alone," muttered Nightmaretron, "and try to keep the damage to a minimum. This is going to be part of my new Empire of the Night, after all." "Party pooper." "Just play with them until I can discover where big sister has hidden the Elements of Harmony. I really look forward to making her tell me." "You know that won't work." "Yes, but it's a good excuse as any to make her suffer for awhile." "Perhaps Lugnut and Blitzwing can..." "Search for something they've never seen before?" "There's not much point in making Discord rebuild my castle twice." "Fine. I need to speak with them about the search for the AllSpark fragments anyways." So Discord was left alone to watch the oncoming Autobots and ponies.