Chapter 49-Run
Faster.
Keep going.
Don’t stop.
Words of inspiration meant nothing to the Alicorn princess. She knew what she was doing; she didn’t need her mind to constantly keep on nagging her about it. Bickering words fought on, but she kept them at bay, forcing them to stay quiet.
Twilight was running. That’s all that mattered was running. Nothing else around them mattered. She and her friends needed to get the Autobots to her castle as soon as possible. If Spike’s shouting from atop her back didn’t keep Twilight going then the explosions certainly did.
Ponyville was in flames. Wherever she and friends ran to all they would see were wooden houses falling in a mixture of fire and ash. The missiles that struck down these buildings came from the cloudy heavens. Twilight had no idea where they would strike next. That’s why she her friends were screaming the whole way.
Rainbow Dash zipped back and forth, saving a few ponies who were trying to escape their burning homes. She was gone for the majority of their race to the castle. Rarity didn’t even look where she was running to. All she and Pinkie did was scream the whole way. Applejack kept a look of pure determination plastered onto her face, her hooves beating the dirt road with raging intensity. Fluttershy stayed on the ground, shrieking and jumping at each explosion that shredded each house apart. Her screaming only intensified whenever the dirt road was hit with missile, forcing her to stop.
She screamed again.
Those screams turned into one loud yelp when she felt a large presence sweep her off her hooves. Bumblebee wasn’t wasting anytime waiting for this pony. They were all in a hurry to get to Twilight’s castle, and they didn’t need to lose any of Twilight’s friends on the way. So, with the yellow Pegasus in his hands, Bumblebee ran as hard as he could through the fire and flames of the burning town.
Twilight looked up, ignoring the smoke burning her eyes and spotting her shimmering beacon of leadership in the distance.
“We’re almost there! Kick it in girls!” the Alicorn screamed, earning nothing but a giant purple laser incinerating the house directly next to her. Whatever was inside that house, whatever was screaming inside…was silenced.
“Oh my gosh,” Spike breathed from atop Twilight’s back, his claws digging into her mane. “Twilight…you gotta hurry!”
“I’m going as fast as I can, Spike!” Twilight retorted, making a sharp turn right that led to even more buildings on fire. But instead of clear streets, these dirt roads were filled with panicking crowds of Ponyville’s civilians scrambling for their lives.
Straight ahead was the castle…
It was an act of pure risk. The Rainbow Power was the only way Twilight could think of for protecting Ponyville against whatever it was that was attacking them (though Twilight did have a certain clue who it was). Sure, she could just teleport all the way to the castle, but she needed the assurance of each of her friends there, and teleporting all the way from Sweet Apple Acres—especially in the condition she was in earlier—there was no way Twilight would’ve been able to pull it off.
Plus, if she left the Autobots to fend for themselves while she and friends went for the Rainbow Power…
Twilight didn’t even want to imagine what would’ve happened if something attacked the Autobots while she and her friends were gone.
Not much farther now… Come on, Twilight, you can do it. Twilight thought to herself, every muscle in her body begging her to stop. Sweat was building heavily on her forehead, dampening her mane and burning her eyes. Wiping her head with her foreleg, Twilight ignored the pains of her body and galloped straight into the chaos, Spike covering his eyes the whole way.
Rainbow suddenly zipped around the corner, her trail of lights following right behind Twilight. The others behind Rainbow Dash included Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy (being carried by Bumblebee). The dirt road was filled to the brim with screaming ponies running back and forth, trying their hardest to run from the explosions. In Applejack’s mind she knew it wouldn’t be long before she was separated from her friends. Everypony was thinking the same thing, Twilight especially.
She didn’t want it to happen. She needed her friends more than ever now.
The one day nopony cared that the Princess of Friendship was wandering about in Ponyville. It was as if nopony even noticed Twilight running right through town. Then again, who would? Everypony else had higher priorities than hoping to see the newest princess of Equestria. That didn’t matter to Twilight. All that mattered now was finding her friends in the sea of terror she was unfortunately trapped inside of.
The Alicorn spun around, nearly being knocked over by a hefty stallion carrying one bag too many. Her violet eyes scanned the crowd, her chest heaving in and out in speeds that even surprised her. She saw them, her friends, hidden within the multitude of colors. There was Rainbow Dash, directly above them all.
Where were the Autobots…?
Twilight stared right through the crowd, catching the glances of Applejack and Rarity. Pinkie was looking around frantically, probably lost already. Not Applejack, though. They interlocked gazes, neither own forcing to break or bend. If they lost this, then they would lose each other. Twilight would never let that happen, not to a friend, not to Appleja-
“Twilight! Look out!" Applejack screamed.
Twilight spun her head around.
The light had already reached her.
A missile.
Everypony around the Alicorn immediately scattered, screaming at one another to get out of the way. Twilight did not move. She wouldn’t have escaped in time, teleporting or not. She shut her eyes as tight as she could and prepared for the blast to eradicate every particle of her existence.
“Duck!”
She didn’t know where the voice came from, but she obeyed the order without question. Instead of ducking, Twilight fell to her stomach, Spike clutching onto her as a child would to a mother. Maybe it wasn’t so different.
She felt the explosion but still felt air filling her lungs with life.
Once Twilight’s eyes were open, all she saw above her head was a dark shadow enveloped in flames. It hit the ground ahead of the Alicorn with a heavy thud, dodging oncoming crowds of ponies as it did so.
The dark shadow was revealed to be Cliffjumper, his back scorched from the impact of the missile he had willingly taken to protect Twilight and Spike. As ponies around his feet shrieked in terror, Cliffjumper turned his head towards the two, his only emotion expressed being of concern.
“Are you okay?” he asked sincerely, liquid Energon dripping from his torn backside. Twilight wondered if she should ask him the same question.
Twilight nodded.
“Then move! We’re almost there!” Cliffjumper shouted out, standing back up to allow the ponies around him to scatter away. Twilight was just about to ask how Cliffjumper got where he needed to be so fast but suddenly found her question lost in the remnants of her mind. The other Autobots all came together from the smoke and crowd, joining right by Cliffjumper’s side.
Fluttershy was safely in Bumblebee’s grasp. Twilight let loose a breath of relief.
The Alicorn looked straight up to see Optimus Prime’s leg step right over her head. He appeared to be staring at something straight ahead, but soon lost interest when he brought his gaze down to Twilight, the Alicorn struggling to get back up.
“Let me help you,” Prime stated, his tone now hard as a rock. His right hand reached forward and gently wrapped around Twilight’s midsection bringing her to her hooves. She struggled at first, the weight of her weariness almost bringing her down once again. Prime made sure she stood upright. Spike helped as well.
“Thanks,” Twilight told them both, staring only at Prime. While Ironhide, Jazz, and Jetfire all appeared by Optimus’ sides, it didn’t really bring much notice to the princess. She was all too focused on Optimus…and what lay behind him.
It was her castle. The giant tower of crystal was being surrounded by fire, the fires of Ponyville.
She shook her head, mumbling words of disbelief. Twilight quickly stamped her hoof in the dirt, pointing right past Prime’s head and down the road. “My castle’s right up ahead! We need to get there and use the Rainbow Power right now! Whatever’s up there it’s not showing any signs of-” a missile fell from the sky, causing a small housing to their far left to erupt in flames, “…any signs of stopping.”
Twilight felt something brush up next to her. She turned her head left and noticed it was Applejack already by her side. In fact, the rest of her friends had joined together right by the Alicorn in less than three seconds. Twilight realized that the streets had begun to clear up, any stragglers were seen taking off to the hills or hiding in whatever rubble there was.
It was such a sad scene, but she had ignore it for now and deal with the task at hoof.
Missiles still rained from the crying skies as Rainbow Dash yelled, “Then what are we waiting for?! Let’s get the hay out of this firestorm and use the Rainbow Power already!”
It was at that moment that Twilight stopped, not just in movement but in reality. She looked straight into the darkness of Rainbow Dash’s eyes. Past the rose-rimmed irises, past the loyalty that her body and soul represented, and in that darkness Twilight saw something. A reflection. Something was heading their way…right behind them.
It fired something.
As the light from the blast grew larger and larger in Rainbow’s eyes, Twilight’s horn flared up without hesitation this time. She cast a spell that created a large, purple shield right behind her and her friends, protecting them all from the blast.
And what a blast it was.
Once the missile struck, Twilight nearly screamed in agony at the force the missile had, unlike anything she’s been able to deal with in the past. Her shield cracked in restraint from the missile. All of her friends spun around to notice that large wall of purple energy behind them. They noticed chips falling off. They also noticed the second missile.
“Get out of the way!” Rarity shrieked in her voice that could shatter eardrums, her horn teleporting Pinkie and Applejack far off to the side. Rainbow Dash flew off in a different direction. She stopped in mid-flight, turning back to notice that Twilight hadn’t even moved.
Spike pushed against her with whatever strength he had, begging her to move. Even Spike wouldn’t go on without her. Twilight was exhausted, and lazily looked up to see the second missile hitting her shield, destroying it within seconds.
“Twilight! No!" Rainbow screamed, having being the only pony to witness her friend being overcome by the fires of the missile’s strength. Her eyes began to burn, and she slammed her face in her hooves, ready to let the tears free.
“I’ve got you, Twilight!”
Rainbow removed her face from her hooves, gasping in happiness to see Optimus Prime standing in front of the weary Alicorn with flames burning his armor. There stood Twilight Sparkle and Spike, right underneath the last Prime with not a scratch on either of them.
Twilight, feeling the ground to make sure she was still alive, looked up at Optimus Prime, barely smiling.
“Thank you,” she told him face to face. As Prime nodded, she looked behind him and instantly noticed their attacker was still coming at full speed. She looked in all directions, memorizing the areas each of her friends were at. Rarity, Pinkie, and Applejack stood in the alley to her left and Rainbow Dash was hovering in the air to her right. Fluttershy still remained in Bumblebee’s arms, quivering like a shaking leaf.
The princess shouted, “Everypony scatter! Meet me at the castle!”
No one said a word and did what the princess said. Rarity, Pinkie, and Applejack all disappeared in the shadows of the far off alley. Rainbow Dash, though hesitant at first, took off to the direction of Twilight’s castle, even her trail of rainbow lights being hidden in the rising smoke. Bumblebee followed right behind her with Fluttershy still safely secure.
Another missile struck the ground right where Optimus was, prompting Prime to act on his own and not by Twilight’s commands.
The last Prime reared forward, swiping up Twilight Sparkle and Spike in the same hand as he bulleted forward down the dirt road to the shimmering castle barely seen through the fire’s essence. Each Autobot was behind him, their optics latched onto the attacker swooping down for another striking raid.
“Autobots,” Jetfire bellowed, “stand your ground and prepare for-!”
A third missile struck him in the side of the chest, launching the Aerialbot clear across the road into a flaming house. What remained of the wooden dwelling all collapsed on the Autobot, ashes and burning cinder rising up from the destruction.
“Jetfire!” Jazz screamed, but soon met the same fate as his fellow brother. Before he could react to the attacker, a missile impacted straight into Jazz’s chest, sending the Autobot straight into a fruit stand.
Cliffjumper struggled to bring out his weapon to use against the enemy. From what little knowledge Rainbow Dash or Applejack had about the weapons he carried, Cliffjumper knew he had something to fight with! He pointed his fist forward in a desperate act, directly at the attacker swooping down right towards him.
“Um…pew, pew?” Cliffjumper mumbled, making his fingers in the shape of the barrel of a gun. He was met with a missile hitting him right in the abdomen, a second impacting his chest and sending the small bot into a group of houses.
Ironhide quickly realized he was the last one.
Instead of trying to fight the thing that just wiped out his Autobots, Ironhide made a 180 and took off down the road where Optimus had disappeared to. He could hear the engines of the enemy getting closer, he could fell the vibrations of the ship gliding across the dirt, and he even felt his shoulder being ripped apart.
Starscream fired two more missiles, blowing one of Ironhide’s shoulders clean off and the second blowing him across the road.
_______________
All Twilight and Spike could hear were the missiles raining down from behind.
Optimus held the two safely in his right palm, his left acting as shield from any oncoming debris. He dared not to look back at what was chasing them. Prime knew what was there, and he tried his best to get Twilight and Spike to the castle, to have them save the town. They were the heroes, not him.
The Prime nearly tripped over himself when hundreds of razor-sharp bullets ripped apart the dirt road ahead of him, many others tearing into his back. Optimus roared in pain, but pushed through it all when he noticed how close Twilight’s castle was.
It was visible through the fire and smoke that surrounded its base, only barely. He wasn’t that far. He could make it.
The ground right at Optimus’ feet erupted, spinning the Prime around to be met with another missile hitting his shoulder.
In one swift act to make sure the pony and dragon didn’t get crushed, Optimus threw the two into the soft grass to the side of the road, allowing the rest of his body to crash down. Twilight and Spike tumbled together, the two yelping in pain until they came to rest by the far side of the road.
Twilight gritted her teeth in pain. Even her teeth hurt.
Everything hurt. Every muscle, every body part, every breath she took hurt the Alicorn. Twilight couldn’t stand anymore. She was absolutely exhausted. All Twilight could do was turn her head left, the glare from the sun reflecting off her castle. They were so close…so very close.
Spike was the first one to get up, a sickening cut on his forehead that forced the forbidden liquid to drip down onto the healthy green grass. His eyes went wide when he spotted Twilight, his friend, in pain. The baby dragon quickly rushed over to her, planting both of his claws on her neck and pulling her head into his chest, quietly crying to himself.
Twilight lifted up her hoof and placed it on Spike’s claw.
“It’s okay, Spike…I’m here…I’m okay… There’s no need to…no need to…” now she was out of breath, her teary eyes looking up to see the crying dragon. “You have to get out of here, Spike.”
Spike rubbed her mane, bending down to hug her.
“I’m not going anywhere without you!” Spike cried, holding onto her ever so tightly. Twilight returned the embrace with whatever strength she still kept inside. She found herself crying sooner than expected.
“How precious."
The Alicorn’s eyes snapped open. Her body began to shudder. She knew that voice.
That evil tongue could never be forgotten.
A huge gust of wind pushed Spike onto his back, the same wind pushing Twilight’s head down. The two looked up in unison, Spike being the only one gasping. All Twilight could do was lay there, her body shaking at uncontrollable levels she couldn’t force to stop.
Starscream was staring down at them…in his jet form.
The Decepticon hovered above the two, his boosters letting loose a purple blaze that somehow kept him airborne. The smoke and ash around Starscream made him appear blurry, unseen, like a phantom. The only words Twilight could mumble were incoherent whimpers. Spike simply couldn’t breathe.
Starscream snickered in delight, his jet form circling around the two in mid-air.
“Ah, poor, delusional Princess Twilight. Is it surprising to see us once again, not dead piles of rust you thought we once were?” Starscream asked, his voice tearing into Twilight’s weakened mind. He chuckled at her expression, continuing to circle them from above. “I’d imagine so. You thought we were gone forever, didn’t you? You thought you could live the rest of your pathetic life and not have to worry about ever dealing with the Decepticons again, didn’t you?!”
Twilight opened her mouth to speak. No words escaped. Tears began to fall from her eyes thanks to burning smoke all around her, the smoke emanating from her own town on fire.
Starscream laughed this time. His sides opened up, revealing twin Gatling guns pointed at the princess. Twilight could feel Spike pressing into the back of her neck, his tears dripping down to land at the top of her head.
“Leave us alone!” Spike threatened, though his voice only sounded afraid, not powerful as he imagined it would be.
Starscream’s laughter only increased, the guns revving up. “Oh, I’m afraid we won’t be making that same mistake again. This is our world now, and there’s nothing you can hope for to stop us!” he shouted, the twin machine guns beginning to light up. “Goodbye…Princess Twilight!”
“No!”
Before anyone could’ve hoped to react, Optimus Prime leapt like a beast hidden in the foliage and latched onto Starscream’s wings. The Decepticon shrieked in surprise, his bullets tearing apart the grass and trees that surrounded the area. Both Spike and Twilight ducked their heads as Optimus struggled to hold onto the flailing Seeker.
Starscream, through his continued flailing and struggle for escape, managed to bring Prime off the ground, sending the two back onto the dirt road and closer to Twilight’s castle. Both Spike and Twilight watched on from afar, their eyes dancing in unison to Prime’s movements. He quickly gained the advantage in no time.
“Decepticon…be gone!” Optimus shouted, his voice full of rage and intensity as he flung the jet halfway across the hills out of pure strength. Starscream couldn’t even control himself anymore, and he suffered his arrogance by crashing into the nearest tower, the entire building falling down on top of him.
With Spike watching the clock tower fall down to form nothing but dust, all Twilight did was look over to stare at Optimus Prime, a lone smile slowly growing on her lips.
“Optimus…” she breathed, all the strength inside of her slowly returning as she began to stand back up. Spike backed away from her, even helping the Alicorn to her hooves once again. Once she was standing, Twilight Sparkle brought her eyes over to Optimus. His back was facing her castle, his eyes slowly turning to meet hers halfway.
Optimus nodded only once.
He never noticed the ship heading right for him.
But Twilight did.
She screamed, “Optimus… Optimus, look out!”
Prime, his optics wide in surprise, quickly spun around to see what had caused Twilight to scream his name to the heavens.
Through the essence of Ponyville’s fires, the darkness of the smoke had overcome Princess Twilight’s castle, making it hardly visible to any keen eye for miles. Her castle wasn’t harmed by any means, but the smoke had caused it to partially vanish, her beacon of leadership gone by the naked eye.
And something burst through it all…
A ship.
Twilight Sparkle knew that ship. Spike knew that ship. Neither of them needed to find the Decepticon insignia on its wings for assurance. They knew it by heart, though they really wished they hadn’t. It was the Decepticon Twilight feared the most, the one that had caused the most unbearable damage on her throughout this war her home has had with the Transformers.
Shockwave fired three rockets, each of them aimed at Optimus Prime.
Twilight’s screams were no match to the blasts of the rockets tearing Prime’s chest apart.
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That made my day
And for once, FOC Starscream is a total badass
This is bad, this is bad, this is bad, this is BAD!!!!!!! Ponyville's in flames, everypony is separated amongst the chaos and the Autobots are being taken out one by one. Now Twilight and Optimus are cornered by Shockwave, the Decepticon Twilight fears more than even Megatron, the very Decepticon that haunts her in her nightmares. They need reinforcements!
"You brought our kind to the brink of extinction Princess Twilight, it is only logical that your kind must now pay the price for your sin."
Hold on... couldn't Optimus and The Autobots have their memories restored with their automated repair systems? If they have amnesia, surely their bodies would act in fixing it. The Autobots might have forgotten who they were, but the body never forgets. Just a thought out of the blue.
BTW, do you think the Autobots had any flashbacks during the raid? Warfare does tend to have the habit of reminding them they fought in a war. Jetfire acted as if he were in command of something, so I asked if he managed to have a flashback and tried to act?
5439074 Pffffff this is Shockwave induced amnesia i'm sure Shockwave wrecked up those systems.
5439291 Yeah, but if they are dead, then there wouldn't be any need.
As I predicted, Twicorn and her friends were useless in stopping the attack, not sure how many Decepticons were there, but even a small amount was too much for her. I'm starting to wonder after last chapter, why Celestia didn't send any guards to Ponyville? She knew that the Decepticons would go after the Autobots and she didn't do anything about it. As things go, the destruction of Ponyville is just as much her fault as the Decepticons.
I know that the Autobot's have amnesia, but what about muscle memory? In practically all movies when soldiers/secret agents get their memories wiped, they still have their skills which act out totally on instinct.
No...
5438666 Haha thanks!
5439023 The rules have changed.
5439074 Shockwave tampered with their sparks, the part of them that contained their life-force and memories. He pretty much obliterated all of their memories. As for the body, yes, the body never forgets, that is true. Keep that in mind for the upcoming chapters.
5440712 Celestia did leave some guards in Ponyville. Chapter 22-Applejack's Advice, second paragraph. Being unaware and unprepared for the Decepticon attack, most of the guards met their fates from the bombardment of the Nemesis.
5442172 Alrighty then.
Truly superb writing here. The war between pony, Autobot, and Decepticon alike seems so realistic.
Happy New Year everybody!
The way Optimus handles Starscream was epic, and Starscream absolutely deserved it. But then there is that ending with Soundwave. Something tells me he’s going to be a bit harder to handle.
Okay, that was hilarious!