Maximares Rising

by Cydra

Rarity vs. Shockwave, Part 1

Maximares Rising

Chapter 5: Rarity vs. Shockwave, Part 1

Rarity wiped her brow and adjusted her sewing glasses. This has been her biggest order to fill in...who knows when. Her horn was aching from moving the needle through immeasurable smaller stitches and her sewing machine was probably close to overheating.
"Just...one more to do," she panted, using her magic to wipe her brow again with a handkerchief‏. She started up the sewing machine, which let out an auditable groan of worn gears. "Yes, yes, I know, but this is the last one," said Rarity, "After that, you can have a nice long break."
However, as soon as she was finished and was turning to pack her things away, another scroll seemed to be waiting...with another order. "Oh, it seems my work is never done," she said before a Las Pegasus accent said “Oh hell no. Not one more before I get a rest."‏
Rarity paused and looked around, not seeing anypony. "Er, who said that?" she asked.
"Look down, girl," said the voice, Rarity turning slowly to see the sewing machine, a light flashing in time with the next words which were, "I’m on strike. This is against union rights."‏
"Pinkie Pie, is this one of your practical jokes?" asked Rarity.
"This ain’t Pinkie, this is an intervention. Your gear has feelings too, girl," said the sewing machine‏.
"I must have overworked myself. I'm starting to hear things," said Rarity.
"Y'all need a holiday, lady," said the sewing machine scolding‏.
"Of course, when even your tools say you need a holiday, it must be time for a holiday," said Rarity, her eyes starting to go derpy.
"That’s the spirit, girl. You keep on working like a machine, you'll end up like one," said the sewing machine‏.
"Yes and my machine will end up like me," said Rarity with a faint giggle.
"More than you know," said the sewing machine before, with a sliding noise converted into a metallic version of "SWEETIE BELLE!" screamed Rarity in shock‏.

Rarity sat up with a start and said, "Oh, what a strange dream. I really need to stop eating gourmet chocolates before bed."‏
"Hey, the protoform’s awake,” said a voice at that‏.
"Who said that?" asked Rarity as she looked and saw she was in a metal circular room, "Where am I?"‏
"Ok, let’s start with the basics, ma'am. We're having some trouble getting the ID bolt to interface with your timeline. What’s your name?" said a disembodied voice‏.
"Rarity," said Rarity.
"Fitting name," said another voice.
"Ok...and who was your Prime?" the voice continued‏.
‎"You mean my princess?" asked Rarity.
"Sure...it’s a big multiverse. Who was your 'princess'?" said the voice, a little sarcastically‏.
"Celestia and Luna, though Twilight Sparkle most likely counts now, though I wouldn't say she rules over me so much," said Rarity.
"Weird names...and which quadrant of your Cybertron did you live in?" said the voice‏.
"What's a Cybertron?" asked Rarity.
"Ooookay...ma'am, this will be alot easier if you cooperate," said the voice in a tired voice that reminded Rarity of customs agents at airship docks.
"I've never heard of a Cybertron," said Rarity, "I'm just a mare from Ponyville."‏
"Ponyville...ooookay. Ma'am. We're going to clear you for entry but we'd like you to proceed to a hospital for a checkup," said the voice calmly‏.
"I suppose I should see a doctor. I've had this dreadful in my head that..." started Rarity before she felt her forehead and felt a very noticeable absence of horn there.
"Erm...ma'am?" said the voice, in a concerned voice before Rarity screamed. Immediately a hatch opened and two robotic humanoids, with red symbols on their shoulders ran in.‏
"Keep away from me! Keep away!" yelped Rarity, her panic making her lash out at anything unfamiliar, which was pretty much everything around her.
"Hold her down. Someone get a stasis lock in here before she hurts herself!" called one of the bots‏.
However, the first bot that got near her was kicked into the wall. "Equinicons have a mean kick," groaned the bot.
"Ok, gonna use the EMP generator," said the other bot before extending a device from his forearm. Rarity would have lashed out at the bot when the device sent several waves of energy at her which suddenly made Rarity feel drained of energy.
The last thing she saw before she passed out was her reflection in a far wall...it wasn’t her face...

Meanwhile, in the non-space of the wormhole network, Matt had landed first watch.
"You don't need to stay up," said Twilight, "I think these bodies don't require regular sleep."‏
"No offense, but technically, you tin cans are at war with us. I trust you...mostly but Dante will chew me a new hole if I leave you at the controls," said Matt with a yawn. "Anyway...I'm the best pilot around...and we've been tracking this signal of your buddies for days," said Matt with another yawn. "Alert...approaching destination...3 minutes," said the computer.
Matt looked grim at the scanner. "I don’t like this. We're way off the beaten track," he said‏.
"Where exactly are we?" asked Twilight.
"How the heck should I know? Do I look like a subspace tour guide?" snapped Matt before saying, "Sorry, kinda been edgy lately."‏
"I understand. I think we all have," said Twilight kindly.
"Warning...subspace reef...artificial,” said the computer at that, Matt looking up in horror.
"What's going on?" asked Twilight.
"We're about to hit a wall," said Matt.‏ With that, he hit the intercom. “ALL HANDS! BRACE, BRACE, BRACE!” he yelled before he and twilight were thrown forward, Matt thrown over the controls which exploded in showers of sparks. At the same time, the view out the main porthole changed to normal space, a large planet in view. Twilight however was more concerned as Matt was thrown to the deck with a sickening crunch‏
"Matt? What do I do? C'mon, Twilight, you have to know some healing spells," she said to herself.
An angry voice came out the remaining console at that. “Unidentified vessel, you have breached Axiom Nexus restricted space. Identify yourself or we will engage defensive measures." as Dante ran in with Applejack close behind.
“What the hell did you do?” he snapped, a blood trickle from his lip and nose showing he’d gotten some knocks too. “Axiom control, this is NSC aligned vessel warlord, we are not hostile, repeat..." he began, hitting controls to no avail‏.
"Twilight, we got some kinda communicator thingy built in, right?" asked Applejack.
"I repeat, this is Axiom flight control to unknown vessel, respond or be eliminated," said the angry voice.
"Better than nothing, do it!” snapped Dante before saying into his com, "Karnak, cut the long range jam on our tin can pals."
"Acknowledged," said Karnak.
Twilight quickly opened an open channel and said, "This is Princess Twilight Sparkle. We have been travelling through subspace but have gotten cut off. We have a wounded friend aboard." She wouldn't normally pull rank, but this was an emergency.
There was a long pause before the voice, "I'm sorry, what did you say your name was?"‏
"Princess Twilight Sparkle," repeated Twilight.
The voice paused before saying, “Affirmative, note that your rank is null and void here. Rescue ship is on route. Axiom flight control over and out."
Applejack gave a sigh of relief and said, "Good thing those guys respect royalty."
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure they're laughing it up on their end," said Dante.
"What's so funny about this?" snapped Twilight.
"Princess Twilight Sparkle, really?" asked Dante pointedly.
Twilight just stared back and said, "So?"‏
"It sounds like a Japanese shampoo brand," said Dante simply‏.
"He's got a point there," said Applejack.
Twilight scowled before a light shone through the main viewport, the promised rescue ship. “Ok, first thing we need to do is get Lynch a doc. Best behavior, this is first contact," said Dante sternly.

"I told you we don't need any stinking ID tags! We're not Cybertronians!" snapped Dante.
"They're ID bolts, sir, and every offworlder has to wear them," said the customs bot with a bored tone.
"Well why not shove it up your tailpipe. My partner needs medical attention or did you forget that?" snapped Dante‏.
"If you would simply allow the ID bolts to attach, you'll be on your way to the hospital sooner," said the customs bot.
"Can I speak to someone around here that has emotion?!" snapped Dante.
"No need to robotist, sir. I’m just doing my job," said the customs bot in a bored tone that intended that he knew perfectly well he could wait here all day if needed‏.
"Sir, I think my friend's health is a higher emergency than registering for an ID tag," said Twilight.
"ID bolt," corrected the customs bot, "No offworlder is allowed to leave the transwarp port without an ID bolt."
"Then can't you bring a doctor here?" snapped Applejack.
"I'm sure the paramedics are on their way," said the customs bot emotionlessly.
"Ok, let me put it this way: would the medics get here faster if I shoved an EMP grenade down your throat?" snapped Dante, Applejack and Twilight facehoofing‏.
"Hostility is not going to make the process go any faster," said the bot.‏
"Oh, trust me, I know how to make it go really fast!" snapped Dante, reaching for a pocket on his armor plate.
"Dante enough," said Twilight before picking him up with her telekinesis.
"Hmm, I'll have to add telekinesis to your list of abilities," said the customs bot, sounding thoroughly unimpressed.
Applejack sighed, looking at the rather pale and still out-cold Matt, “Twi, have you got some kinda...fast forward spell or something to get things movin'?"‏
"Time manipulation is really complex and only a really powerful unicorn can manage it," said Twilight.
"Uh, you've done before and you were only a unicorn then. Now you're a big robotic alicorn," pointed out Applejack.
"Well..." started Twilight.
Just then, one of the doors burst open and what looked like the local equivalent of an ambulance came wailing in. It stopped in front of Matt before changing into robot mode. "Why hasn't anyone alerted to me this sooner?!" snapped the bot, "This human needs medical attention! Did he need to be set on fire before you took notice?"
"He and his companions are in the process of ID bolt registration," said the customs bot flatly.
The medibot gave the customs bot a look of disgust. "You bureaubots and your bolt-counting. Why should they have bothered with giving you sparks?" said the medibot with contempt as he extended what was probably a medical scanner.
"Finally, somebody with actual thoughts. Captain Dante, the man there's my pilot," said Dante, throwing his arms in the air‏.
"First Aid, ERM," said the medibot, "Your friend has nasty case of quantum whiplash."‏
"Yeah, what moron puts a quantum barrier in a commercial wormhole?" snapped Dante, rounding on the ‘bureaubot' again‏.
"The quantum net is an important feature of Axiom Nexus," said the customs bot.
"Axiom Nexus? Ah thought we were on that Cybertron place," said Applejack.
The bureaubot gave Applejack an annoyed look and said, "This is Cybertron, the most advanced version in the multiverse and Axiom Nexus is the capitol."‏
"You really are an idiot, aren’t you?" said Dante carefully to the customs bot before looking at First Aid, "Is there any possible way we can talk to someone with a functioning brain in this building?"‏
"I'm surprised one hasn't come in sooner," said First Aid, "Probably still debating what the scrap you lot are and how to classify you."‏
Dante glared before pointing to each of the group and himself. “Human, human, miscellaneous," he snapped‏.
"Your genetic structure hardly suggests..." started the customs bot.
"You can stick your labels where they don't show. I'm not waiting for some paper-pusher to make its mind about what to call us when my pilot is in dire straits," snapped Dante.
The customs bot began to say “Your pilot is not-" before Dante lost patience and blew a hole in the wall next to the bot’s head. "ENOUGH!” he yelled‏.
"Unlike you, an EMP won't shut him down," said First Aid.
"The next person to delay my pilot’s medicine will be shot in the face till I find someone who won’t delay!" snapped Dante‏.
"Load him in and I'll take him to the hospital," said First Aid before changing to ambulance mode.
"You can't do anything right here?" asked Twilight.
"I don't have the right tools," said First Aid, "We don't get many organics here."‏
"You don’t say," said Dante sarcastically as he helped Twilight get Matt in the back‏.
"Allowing them to leave without ID bolts is illegal," said the customs bot.
"Well I have an emergency override notice retaining to medical need signed by Captain Cheetor himself," said First Aid, flashing the digital notice.
The customs bot glared at the notice before saying reluctantly, “Fine...but I expect them to be registered in one cycle."
"Sure, once he's stable," said First Aid.
As soon as First Aid was gone however the door slammed shot...right in Dante’s face. “Lemme guess...” he said coldly, the customs bot saying "Let’s finish off this registration." grinning for the first time‏.
"Ok, we'll fill out the forms. How long could it take?" asked Twilight.
"NEVER SAY THAT!” yelled Dante.

3 hours of bureaucratical torture later...

"I told you..." snapped Dante, poking the bolt that had been magnetized to his armor‏.
"You know, havin' fingers has been fun, but now they ache worse than hooves," said Applejack.
"Urgh...least you didn’t feel your ribs bruise when they stapled this thing on,” snapped Dante as they walked out into the main city.
‎"They're not that hard to get off," said Applejack as she yanked off hers only for it to stick onto another part of her, "It's gettin' them to stay off that's the trick."‏
"And our ship broke again...and I doubt they'll let us buy one. Look at the restrictions offworlders get," said Dante coldly, showing the welcome leaflet he'd 'borrowed' from the main desk‏.
Twilight looked at the leaflet and said with a frown, "There's a chance we could be detained for a while. I'm guessing we'd count as 'interesting individuals'."‏
"Yeah, remember how they acted when you mentioned your title? That didn’t sound like someone who was impressed. That sounded like someone readying a rap sheet," said Dante‏.
"Ah just hope Matt is on his feet so he can help us find our lost friend," said Applejack.
"We don't need Lynch to start looking. We just need to ask around," said Dante‏.
"Yeah, I suppose a pony like us would stand out around here," said Twilight.
"Uh, ya might wanna take a gander about," said Applejack. She gestured at the large crowd of robots of many different shapes and sizes.
An ad appeared on a viewscreen at that. "Need something that’s nowhere else? Need a deal on it? Then come to Swindle, Swindle & Swindle’s. If we don’t have it, it doesn’t exist," said a smarmy-sounding Cybertronian.
Dante however looked shocked, “That two timing son of a…"
"You can't know that guy. We just got here," said Twilight.
"He's a damn informer for the NSC, little backstabber. I told them we shoulda blasted him," snapped Dante.
"Hang on a moment, what's that?" asked Applejack.
"Can we replay that advertisement?" asked Twilight.
Dante looked around before checking his wrist comp. "Techo, you'd better not screw up," he muttered as the wristcomp’s hacking program tuned into the screen, rewinding the advert. "Say when," he said‏.
"Stop it right there!" shouted the two of them at the same time.
Dante hit stop on the control at that, the screen freezing to show a familiar pony just behind Swindle’s head‏. "Is that Rarity?" asked Applejack.
"It has to be. Though I'm kind of surprised that she ended up here," said Twilight.
"Number three," muttered Dante at that before looking over and seeing a human-sized Cybertronian. “Oi, calculator!" he snapped‏.
‎"No, I don't do statistics for free," said the bot, "Do I look like an Equinicon judge?"‏
"No, how do we get to that creep’s shop?" said Dante, pointing to the frozen image.
The bot glanced at the ad and said, "The Swindles? You must be desperate."‏
"If you don’t tell me, I'll jam your language setting on Korean," said Dante bluntly‏.
"Ok, fine, which one of you has a map?" asked the bot.‏
Dante's eyes narrowed before Twilight managed to step in. “We should be ok. Can you just please tell us the quickest way?" she said politely‏.
The bot glanced at her wings and asked, "You a flyer?"
"Yes," said Twilight.
"Oh, then it should be easy. Just fly up and head that way until you see their sign. It's hard to miss," said the bot.‏
"Good boy, now forget you ever saw us," said Dante bluntly‏.

As expected from an advanced society, Pan-Acea Medical Center was a very well-established hospital and equipped to deal with almost any ailment known to Cybertronians. However, there were cases that gave them trouble, particularly organic cases.
"It’s strange, First Aid. His scan had all the markings of the Quadwal continuum, but he has DNA that is not from there...and it’s increasing with each scan," said a doctor carefully to First Aid, the two looking at a holofeed of the now-awake and rather annoyed Matt. After the alien DNA had turned up, he’d been quarantined...at least till a proper scan of the samples could be done‏.
"Do we know which universal stream in particular he's from, Ratchet?" asked First Aid.
"Not yet. The problem is that he's been all over the place in our multiverse so it's hard to pinpoint where he's from," said the other doctor.
The medical AI also said, “There's also the matter of the nanotech in his bloodstream. Some of its just suppressant for some medical conditions he has and translator clusters in his brain, but there's also clusters of nanites not on my record...seeming to use crystalline technology. The blood samples I’ve checked seem to show them attaching the alien DNA to the human’s strand. The quantum defenses might have hyper-accelerated them."‏
‎"This one is certainly well outside our normal range of experience," commented Ratchet.
"Hey, he's still a patient, remember?" pointed out First Aid.
"I know that, did you think I was going to turn him over to Shockwave? The more esoteric a patient is, the harder he is to treat," said Ratchet.
"With respect, Doctor Ratchet. The nanites, the DNA ones, I doubt they were meant to work this fast. He might be safer in a more secure location. At the rate of DNA implantation, side effects may already be visible," said the computer.
"Organics don't change that quickly. It's not in their nature," said Ratchet. Just then, the view of Matt's room dramatically shifted along with a tearing sound. The camera view swung wildly before they got a good look at a pair of reptilian eyes. Then the view was lost completely as the camera was apparently crushed.
"As I said, there are side effects. The nanites appear to be making sure fatal side effects are avoided...but I recommend that you send for a security team immediately,” said the computer before the wall behind where the holofeed had been became convex from something heavy hitting it.
"Right then, what would be the proper sedative for his bio-makeup?" asked First Aid.
"Unknown, DNA for this new lifeform is not on record," said the computer before another blow was heard, this bump smaller, indicating that the puncher had switched to fists‏.
"Let's try for basic human doses and work our way up," said Ratchet.
"I think it might be too late for that," said the computer as a distant clang was heard and the biohazard alarm began to ring‏.
"We better catch before one of the Decepticons do," said First Aid, "Megatron's mechs won't bother with being gentle."‏
"It just tore an industrial blast door down. I think they are in bigger danger," said the computer calmly, switching to a feed showing several security drones firing at something off screen before a plasma bolt blew one up and a winged reptilian humanoid tackling the other and tearing it in half down the middle‏.
"If the Decepticons find him, Shockwave will vivisect him for sure," said First Aid, "We need to catch him now."‏
"Then we'd better hurry. The mess he's causing will almost certainly be setting off alerts," said Ratchet sternly‏.

Elsewhere, Dante and the girls had found the Swindles shop and to Dante, it couldn't have reminded him of a crooked car dealer's more if the proprietors were wearing tacky shirts, ties, or even turned into used cars themselves.
"Ok, girls, expect the worst, most annoying evil in existence...swindlers,” said Dante coldly‏.
‎"They can't be worse than them Flimflam brothers," said Applejack.
"Oh, you know that sort of thing. Ok, let’s make an entrance," said Dante cheerfully, drawing his blaster, only for Twilight to force it back into the holster‏.
"I think we'll be able to get further if we made a better first impression," she said.
"Fine...but I reserve to shoot him in the kneecap," said Dante annoyed. He was enjoying the fact most of the Cybertronians so far were his height‏.
Twilight knocked on the door before opening it. The bot near the door said brightly, "A customer!"
"How lovely!" said a similar bot by the merchandise shelves.
"Come on in!" said the bot that was behind the counter. The three of them looked eerily alike, the only differences being some coloration.
Dante raised an eyebrow before saying bluntly, "Friend of ours was seen here. We're looking for her. Her name’s Rarity. Where is she?"
"Yes we do have a lot of rarities in here," said the Swindle with the grey chest, "Things that you can barely find anywhere else in the multiverse easily. But Swindle, Swindle & Swindle's got it all."
"We weren't looking for something, we were looking for someone," said Applejack meaningfully.
"Oh, lots of customers have given us glowing review," said the Swindle with the purple chest, "So many bots leave this place pleased with their purchase and telling their friends to tell their friends to come in and buy something."‏
Dante sighed. "My turn, oi, Swindles," he said, unclicking a rifle from a flush part of his back armor and looking at a large armor plating. "That military grade?" he asked‏.
‎"Ooh, have you come to trade up?" asked the Swindle with the red chassis, "We can get you a very good deal for that, one that can work for a human like yourself."
The purple-chested Swindle pulled out a cannon and said, "This model of the scatter blaster is just the right size for you and it can pepper a large crowd of enemies with reasonable efficiency."
"As a matter of fact, your rifle looks like a variation of the scatter blaster, good quality, but easy to trade for this beauty with a small additional fee," said the grey-chested Swindle.
"Nah, I just needed something to demonstrate this," said Dante, before firing his rifle at the armor plating, a hail of black bolts shooting out and peppering through the armor. "Next shots go through something expensive if you do not stop messing us around," he snapped, loading another clip in.‏
"We're just trying to find someone," said Twilight before projecting an image of Rarity.
"Oh, her, poor little thing," said the grey-chested Swindle.
"Showed up one day without any connections, home, or a shanix to her name," said the red-chassis Swindle.
"So out of the goodness of our sparks we offered a job so she can earn some credit," said the purple-chested Swindle.
Dante glared, aiming his blaster in Swindle-1's vague direction. "And obviously, you are now going to let her free to go with us," he said coldly‏.
"Let her free? You make it sound like we were enslaving her," said Swindle-1, sounding hurt.
"We've simply given her a job so she can earn some credit in this city," said Swindle-2.
"She doesn't have a lot of options what with her unprofitable skills," said Swindle-3.
"Unprofitable? Why Rarity's the best dressmaker in most of Equestria!" snapped Applejack. The Swindles just gave her a look.
"Fine, if she’s free to go, let her," said Dante coldly‏.
"I suppose it's no finish off our exo-structure," said Swindle-1.
"It's not like she's made a lot of credit after all," said Swindle-2.
"But I'm sure you can find a way to reimburse her. A pair of Equinicons like you would do very well at the races," said Swindle-3.
"No..." said Dante coldly, spotting a scam like that from a mile off‏.
"You know, you could really trade up for that scatter blaster," said Swindle-1.
"Your friends could use some armament themselves," said Swindle-2.
"I know a set of blasters that would go very well with those wings," said Swindle-3.
"Just get the lady or I'll blow up half the shop...God, I’m turning into Lynch," grumbled Dante‏.
"Ok, she should be in the back," said Swindle-3 before heading that way.
"You sure we can't set you up with some blasters?" asked Swindle-2.
"I don't want to cause more pain than I have to," said Twilight.
"Who said you had to cause pain? Life's not pain," said Swindle-3, "Though in this life there are some bots who will only respect you by how much damage your weapon can do."‏
"Back home, my job’s to blow things like you to pieces. Would you like to volunteer one of your brothers for a demonstration?" snapped Dante‏.
"Some customers are so hard to satisfy," said Swindle-2.
"True indeed," said Swindle-1.
"Here's your little friend," said Swindle-3 walking back in followed by Rarity who was in a protoform-mode not unlike Twilight's and look a little grungy.
"Miss Rarity, Captain Dante, NSC ghost division," said Dante before the girls could speak up, sadly not thinking that the sight of a Stormtrooper in heavy combat armor and holding a gun that was more like a cannon wouldn’t end well.
Rarity quickly backed away from him. "Rarity, it's ok, he's with us," said Twilight.
"He may be a jerk, but he ain't gonna hurt ya," said Applejack.
"I’m not a jerk!" snapped Dante before his comm beeped. "Hold on, it’s the locals, you talk to her,” he said before walking out.
‎"Girls, what are you doing here and why are you so...different?" asked Rarity.
"Well, we've all been changed," said Twilight, "I'm not sure how though."‏
"Well, I’m glad you're all here. That Swindle person is simply dreadful," said Rarity, hugging the two‏.
"Oh, that's just hyperbole," said Swindle-3.
"Not the kind we usually want and is certainly undeserved," said Swindle-2.
"You two had me running ragged doing all sorts of deliveries and stocking your shelves," said Rarity accusingly.
"You did put 'truck' as your alternate mode on your application," said Swindle-1.
"I didn't know what a truck was and I could barely read your form!" snapped Rarity.
"Well, don’t expect your back pay," said Swindle-3 loftily before Dante walked in, looking pale.
"We've got a problem. I think that net thing's triggered a relapse of one of Lynch's old ailments," said Dante.
"What kind of ailment?" asked Twilight.
"Oh, the one that turns him into a bloodthirsty nigh-unstoppable lizard man," said Dante.
"Hmm, sounds like something that will require serious gear for catching," said Swindle-2, "We do have some very strong nets that can hold down most organics."‏
"No, in the absence of the anti-virus," said Dante, before readying his rifle.
Just then, there was a knock on the door. "Wonder who that could be," said Applejack before opening the door, revealing a large blue reptile with wings, horns, and a cross expression.
"Dragon!" yelped Swindle-1.
"Hide the gold!" yelped Swindle-2.
"Save the merchandise!" yelped Swindle-3.
"Kiss my ass. I woke up like this. The doctors say I picked up something from the quantum net...and apparently I ate one of their security cameras," snapped the thing in Matt’s voice‏.
"Lynch? You look like a giant-" started Dante with a smirk before the creature said, "By the way, my breath is hazardous to your health." Dante opened his mouth and the creature quickly added, "And I don't mean by the way it smells."‏
"Ok...so this has happened. By the way, while you were napping, we found another of the pony bots," said Dante‏.
"Really? Where?" asked Matt, snaking his longer neck around Dante. This earned him a scream and a magic blast from Rarity.
"Oh...there," coughed Matt.
"Easy, Rarity, he's a friend," said Twilight.
"Well, the last time I've met a dragon that big, it did not end well for me," said Rarity before pausing and said, "Funny, I feel like that last time was sooner than I can recall."‏
"Lovely, I’m just glad I’m apparently magic-proof. What’s the first thing you remember?" said Matt scathingly‏.
"I'm assuming you're asking for a more relevant memory," said Rarity, "Like how we ended up as robots."
"All Applejack and I can remember is that there was an alien invasion of Ponyville," said Twilight.
"That sounds...familiar, but it's hard to focus. It's as if something is blocking off my memory," said Rarity.
Dante glared before saying, "You don’t say. Tell me, did the Swindles ask for any collateral of any kind?"
"Now good sir, you don't think we would be responsible for her memory loss, do you?" asked Swindle-3.
"How could we even cause it in the first place?" asked Swindle-2.
"Oh, like forcing her to pay with her memory chips before you allowed her to start working here," said Dante accusingly.
The Swindles exchanged glances before Swindle-1 said, "I suppose that is something that could be expected by someone who does not know our philanthropist nature, but that is a branch of marketing we'd never go into."
"Yeah right, like you wouldn't sell body parts," said Matt.
"True, but not memory chips," said Swindle-3.
"There's no value in them. Bots don't need more than the ones they already have and there are easier way to extract memories," said Swindle-2.
"Your friend is simply suffering from repressed memories. She simply doesn't want to remember," said Swindle-3.
Matt and Dante looked at one another. "Survey says...EEEERK!” said Matt, making a buzzer noise and spitting a fireball at some merchandise.
“Truth please," said Dante with a calm expression‏.
"That is the truth," said Swindle-1.
"Honest truth," said Swindle-2.
"We swear by our motherboards," said Swindle-3.
"I'll be the judge of that," said Twilight before sweeping a scanning beam over Rarity, "I don't pick up any missing parts, but there are data nodes that have been locked."‏
"Ok, Matt, they're on the level...this time..." said Dante, Matt pausing in scratching 'Matt woz ere' on the side of a gun‏.
"You scratch it, you buy it," said the Swindles.
A plasma bolt narrowly missed them at that. “Then again, it adds character," said one of them quickly‏.
"Might have good resale value once he's done something noticeable," said another.
"Ok, we're taking miss Rarity. You’re free to object but it won’t make any difference," said Dante politely‏.
"Not a problem. She was a terrible stock/errand girl anyways," said the third.
"And don’t be rude," said Matt‏.
"Now then, I am in serious need of a drink. Where's the best and nearest place for a dragon like myself to go to?"
"The Blue Deployer," said the three Swindles.

The Blue Deployer was actually a better-looking place than Matt and Dante had anticipated. Granted, it was apparently still within the 'lower' levels of Axiom Nexus and thus below the standards of the Transtechs, but for offworlders, it was a pretty swanky place. It looked a bit like a miniaturized casino, though Matt and Dante weren't about to let their guard down.
"Ok, rule one of these places: stay calm, don’t draw attention but if you do, act like you'll use their teeth to open a drink bottle," said Matt calmly, the group walking in and Matt immediately starting to shake‏. "Holy smeg, did someone forget to pay the heating bill?" asked Matt.
"It's not that chilly, you cold-blooded baby," said Dante. The inside of the bar was like a nippy winter day, which wasn't bad for most Cybertronians.
Twilight looked concerned at that. “You'd better wait outside if you're cold-blooded at the moment," she said‏.
"Heck no. I came in here for a drink and I'm getting one. I'll just have to order one that warms the inside," said Matt as he started towards the bar. The guy behind it was pretty big, his blue plating matching the décor of the place. There were solar panels extending from his back that almost resembled wings and a pair of shining light blue tubes placed right behind his shoulders. The tubes were constantly giving off an icy mist.
"Ah, so that’s where it’s coming from. Oi, could you turn the A/C off?" Matt said, his voice getting a bit slurred.
"I though dragons could maintain their own body heat with their fire," said the bartender dryly.
"Well I just got changed into one and I haven't figured out that little trick yet," snapped Matt.
"Oh, very well," said the bartender before the tops of the tubes spun slightly and the mist stopped, "Need something to pep up that fire?"‏
"Something spicy," said Matt‏.
The bartender pulled out a few bottles from a small refrigerator, evidently for organic customers. He poured some red stuff labeled 'Broken Pumice' into a shot glass the size of a bucket which immediately started popping and fizzling. This was followed by some yellow stuff called 'Desert's Spite' which made it bubble even more. Finally, a small drop from a bottle that Matt noticed had splitter writing on the side which produced a small mushroom cloud. Then the bartender dropped in an ice cube-like piece of Energon that somehow caused the concoction to settle down.
Matt stared for a minute before holding up a finger to indicate waiting before pulling out a steel credit and dipping it in, retrieving the stub a second later. "It eats metal...that’s not edible in any way, shape or form," he said in a calm voice, though his eyes was twitching‏.
The bartender picked up the shot glass and took a small sip from it. Nothing appeared to happen except for some hot steam to spout out of his tubes. "It's fine to me," said the bartender.
Matt gave the drink a suspicious look and said, "Hey, Applejack, can you come here for a sec?"
Applejack, who was looking at the games of chance and didn't see the drink's preparation, went over and asked, "What is it?"
"Have a taste," said Matt, offering the drink.
"Thanks," said Applejack before taking a gulp, "Mmm...tangy, got a right kick to this. Hey, Twilight, come over and try this."
Matt glared, his eyes getting a manic look before yelling "MINE!” and downing the lot, even when the bartender tried to pull it away.
"Easy, killer, you can't handle that much at once," said the bartender.
"SILENCE!” shrieked Matt before downing it all and unknowingly taking a bite out the bucket at the same time.
"Well, this will be interesting to watch," said the bartender before taking the flammable stuff out of range.
Matt seemed ok though...until Applejack tried to get his attention and noticed he was rigid. "Ah think ya might have gave him too much," said Applejack.
"Not done yet," said the barkeep, slowly inching under the cover of the bar.
"Oh, he's just faking," said Dante, "Watch this." He reached and grabbed Matt the tail.
"NO!" yelled the mares, well aware of what happens when you yank a dragon's tail.

The barkeep sighed as fire drones finished putting out the last of the fires as Twilight scolded both Matt, who looked sheepishly embarrassed and Dante...who was covered in soot and so far had only been able to make a noise best spelled as 'nnnnnnngh' whenever anyone tried to ask him something.
"I am so sorry about this," said Rarity.
"Not the first time someone's reacted to Predaking's Fury like that," said the barkeeper, "I have to ask the Firecons who try it to go outside."‏
"You think Dante will ever speak again?" asked Matt hopefully.
"No, he'll be fine," said the barkeep, Matt looked sad at that "Aw." ‏
"Don't be sad," said Twilight as she patted Matt on the head only for Matt to wave off her servo and snap, "Stop that."‏ This seemed to snap Dante out of it...the man chuckling weakly‏.
"I'm so sorry this had to happen in your establishment, Mr..." said Rarity, hesitating when she realized she didn't know the bartender's name.
"The name is Cryotek," said the bartender.
The name immediately had an effect on Rarity, her pupils shrinking. "Cryotek..." she said faintly as a blocked memory came barreling to the forefront.

Rarity burst into the boutique. "Sweetie? Sweetie Belle? We have to go!" she called urgently, the sounds of explosions outside. The devices the aliens had dropped had turned the tide with ease against the equestrian royal guard and the regular army.
Just then, there was a loud crash as what looked like a huge excavator smashed through a wall. The shovel arm of it spun around until it pointed towards Rarity. "Gotcha," said the excavator, the shovel opening and closing like a mouth before it reached down with the shovel open wide.

Rarity shook her head as she was spat out, being sent rolling across the floor and into what seemed like glass. The difference was that the view was of Equestria...and it wasn’t a nice view. It showed the planet from the night side...but several large patches of the planet below were glowing orange...fires...‏
"That'll do for now, Scavenger," said a somewhat posh voice, "I have some delicate work to do now." Rarity turned and froze when she saw a large blue dragon. He wasn't as large as some of the adults Rarity has seen, but he did look as vicious as them.
"And you must be the last of the set. Miss...Rarity Belle according to my intelligence," said the dragon calmly‏.
"Who are you? Why have you brought me here?" asked Rarity.
"My name is Cryotek and I have brought you and your little friends here because you are the keys to finding a great treasure," said the dragon.
"And that’s the reason you're attacking our world?" said Rarity in horror‏.
"Well, I suppose we could have done this more quietly if I had arrived here earlier. But when you kidnap important political figures, it reduces the subtle measures you can take," said Cryotek. Rarity paled even more as Cryotek continued, “And of course, if the local multiverse authorities for this sector get wind...well, dead bodies cannot talk."
‎"I won't let you get away with this," snapped Rarity.
Cryotek laughed and asked, "You think you can stop me? You can't even defeat a real dragon, let alone a being like me."‏
"You're not a dragon?" gulped Rarity‏.
"Well, my beast mode is certainly what you would call a dragon. Something I copied from an old protégé of mine. It is magnificent, though the arms are not as dexterous as I would prefer. Of course, the only reason I'm in this form right now is because it's something your shock can handle better. But now that introductions have been made..." The dragon's torso inverted upon itself as its hind legs became longer. A new arm extended from its right side as the neck and head moved over to form the other arm. A head emerged from the base of the tail as it clicked into place on top of the chest. "It's time to start with the experimenting," said the robot as icy mist flicked from the dragon mouth.

Back in the present day, Rarity screamed and tried to back away as best she could. “Wow. Miss, you ok?" said Matt in shock‏.
"It's Cryotek! He's the one who kidnapped us!" yelped Rarity.
"Rarity, what are you-" started Twilight before something seemed to snap into place, "Wait, that's right. We were taken aboard a big ship and Cryotek did something to us."
"But he don't look like that Cryotek," said Applejack, her memory apparently having been sparked.
"That wasn't me. That was my lowtech counterpart," said Cryotek, "Quite a few of us Transtech have an alternative version of ourselves in other parts of the multiverse. Some of them tend to be nastier."
Matt glared at that before stomping over. “Everything you know, now!" he snapped‏.
"By the sounds of it, the Cryotek you're dealing with is the one who comes from Primax 707.1," said Cryotek as he started cleaning some glasses, "From what I've heard, that particular Cryotek is a crafty one, a master criminal organizer. When it comes to staging grand theft or tapping into ancient tech, few can match him. He's a skilled engineer, particularly when it comes to crafting bodies. Devilishly handsome and charismatic for a lowtech as well."
"Oh please, talk about being in love with yourself. Anything useful?" snapped Matt, not noticing that his new claws were tearing holes in the supposedly-invincible bar top.
"Well, he isn't just called Cryotek because of his research into cryogenics. His ice-based weaponry is best measured by your human units of Kelvin."‏
"We didn’t have too much trouble getting through his fleet," said Dante cockily, only for Cryotek to say “Axiom and its linked verses are very, very far away from the NSC. He overextended his reach and didn’t expect your ships. You won’t surprise him again," said the Transtech Cryotek‏.
"So what big treasure could he be after that requires kidnappin' all of us?" asked Applejack.
"I haven't the slightest idea," said Cryotek, "But I don't think he was chasing the wrong trail."
"Now hold up, how do you know about the NSC?" demanded Matt.‏
"You’re not the first ship to run afoul of our quantum net. One of your military exploration ships flew into it. Sadly, one of the systems shut down before the crash landing was the dampeners,” Cryotek said, the two mercs wincing. Without dampeners, the crash would have turned the crewmembers into jam.
‎Just then, Dante felt a lightbulb go off. "Did the ship survive more or less intact?" he asked.
"Asides from the computers' programming being fragged to pieces, its hard drives ought to still be working," said Cryotek.
"And where is it being kept?" asked Dante.
"Most of it’s in the Heap," said Cryotek‏.
"What's the Heap?" asked Dante.
"The lowest level of Axiom Nexus where all the junk filters down to. And I don't mean just the inanimate stuff. Not a place to be going on a whim, even if you're a robot. Nobody would want to go there unless it's crucial. The ones who don't have an easy means to get back out usually never come back," said Cryotek.
"And they took the ship there?" said Dante.
"As I said, most of it. Due to the criminal element, the ship’s hard drive was removed and taken under the jurisdiction of Shockwave." said Cryotek‏.
"And who is this Shockwave?" asked Dante.
There was a long pause before Cryotek said, "Listen, fleshy, this is for your own good: stay away from Shockwave. He's the one Transtech you don’t want to get the attention of. He could keep you from ever leaving Axiom Nexus if you're lucky."‏
"We're not leaving anyway unless we get that ship. The wormhole’s at the border of the uncharted sectors on or side have things that make the quantum net look tame. We need a NSC ship to get past them intact," said Dante gloomily‏.
"Then you'll need to take it to someone who can fix it up," said Cryotek, "And you're not likely to find someone on the open market willing to do that."‏
"Can’t be done anyway. The first official warships from the NSC navy needed unique drives...to stop exactly what we're planning. We need the original drives, so we need to get those drives," said Dante‏.
"You have no idea what getting them from Shockwave will involve," said Cryotek.
"There isn’t any choice," said Matt gloomily‏.
"Then you're going need such a peculiar twist of circumstances that it could be called a miracle," said Cryotek.
"No...we need a distraction," said Dante‏.
________________________________________
Axiom Nexus Security wasn't the most glamorous position, what with no civil war on this Cybertron. It had been too long since there's been a Marauder raid or something. But today promised to be anything but dull.
Reports had come in of several explosions in a building project in the south districts. Nobody had been hurt yet but the explosions were getting close to doing so‏. Wanting a fast response to this, Chief Security Administrator Cheetor went himself. He was also able to get some backup in the form of Inspector Airazor.
"Ok, I can see it, whoever our little explosives expert is. They’re not slowing down. Another blast...and it’s getting close to some energon silos," said Airazor over the channel‏.
"Whoever or whatever's behind this needs to be stopped before the damage becomes irreparable," said Cheetor.
"Ok, you're almost there. I can see what’s doing it, looks like the lizard thing we were told tore up a secure quarantine booth at the hospital near the welcome center," said Airazor calmly, "It’s just round the next bend for you."‏
Cheetor put on more speed, which his vehicle mode was more than able to provide. "Weird...he should be reacting...Chief Inspe-" began Airazor before the line went dead.
Cheetor slowed down before reverting to robot mode. "Airazor? Are you still there?" he asked as he tried boosting the signal of his comlink. He drove around the corner at that only to see the reptile creature from the report...and it was simply standing in the street, waving a small stick. Cheetor glared, his advanced sensors able to detect the basic function of the stick. Obviously, this wasn't some stupid animal.
"Got your attention?" said the lizard creature, apparently wearing some kind of cape.
"There are serious penalties for wanton destruction and disruption of police affairs," said Cheetor sternly.
"What about saving a planet from a jerk?" said the dragon, calmly strolling back and forth‏.
"If there were any serious threats to Cybertron, we would have known about it by now," said Cheetor.
"No, but there will be. My buddies and me need a ship. There's one in the Heap, but your pals at whatever the equivalent of internal security are have the hard drives for the ships navigation. I want those drives back so we can go save my friends planet from a local you should have been monitoring," said the creature calmly‏.
"You think I would just help someone out who's just made a public nuisance of themselves?" asked Cheetor.
"Let me put it this way: one of the people you should be monitoring is acting as 'ambassador' to you guys. My people will follow him back here," snapped the figure‏.
"Your people," repeated Cheetor with doubt.
"The NSC. I suppose you guys don’t get us much. Let me know how being nuked by a planet cracker goes for you,” said the figure, turning to leave apparently‏.
"I think you overestimate your race's power," said Cheetor.
"Oh, I don't think so. They're just as good as razing planets as the next lot," called the figure.
"No, I mean your race's navigational power. The NSC has only been able to venture onto a fringe part of the Malgus universal stream. I doubt they could figure out the advanced transwarp physics required to reach this Cybertron," said Cheetor.
"We don’t need to. This guy will be taken down...and when he is, the NSC will go through his flight logs and take his ship’s drive apart. And when they do, you think they'll be happy when they arrive?" said the figure coldly‏.
"Wait, who are you talking about?" asked Cheetor.
"Let me tell you this. You think we're primitive, sure, do that, but at least we keep an eye on local villains. You can’t even be arsed to keep an eye on your Cryotek versions," snapped the figure‏.
Cheetor did a quick look at the multiversal database. "The only Cryotek that could be a threat to your race is supposed to be trapped between dimensions," said Cheetor.
"Newsflash: Nullspace is between dimensions," said the figure sarcastically, “Oh wait, you not only don’t bother to keep track, you dump them on our doorstep."‏
"Do you expect us to know every single crevice of the omniverse?" asked Cheetor, "It's a hard enough task monitoring our multiverses without worrying about other multiverses. Cryotek is supposed to be suspended in the void between dimensions. He shouldn't have been able to escape, he barely had enough power to survive there."‏
"We live there...and if you think the NSC are bad, you'll be in deep shit if he pisses off the Combine," said the figure angrily‏.
"Look, do you think it's our job to make sure no Cybertronian villain escapes our multiverse?" asked Cheetor.
"Yes!" snapped the figure.
"Well, I'm pretty certain your NSC isn't any more omniscient than ours," said Cheetor, "We monitor the other universes for any threat that's larger than the local group of Autobots or Decepticons can handle, typically the dimension-spanning threats, and send special reinforcement if it's needed. Most megalomaniacs dream of conquering all of reality, but few ever are in the position to do so and this Cryotek should have failed his chance quite some time ago. What world of yours is he attacking anyways?"
"Er, well, it's not really one of our worlds," said the figure.
"So now you are judge and jury too?" said Cheetor.
"Hey, at least I'm trying to be responsible," snapped the figure.
"Responsible? What would your kind know of responsibility? We've observed the NSC and their skirmishes with the Malgus Decepticons. You're not even trying to distinguish the few Autobots mixed up in your crossfire," said Cheetor.
“12 billion,” said the creature simply, causing Cheetor to pause, “That’s how many were dead by the time we managed to get the navy in. Would you bother to distinguish if that was the body count on your side?"‏
"Not all universes are meant for colonizing. Perhaps you should have looked before you leaped," said Cheetor.
The creature turned at that, the 'cloak' spreading out into wings before it leapt forward, knocking Cheetor back. “WOMEN...AND...CHILDREN...UNARMED CIVILIANS!” it roared.
Before it could attack again, a twin-nose jet practically dropped on the creature, shifting into robot mode just before impact. "You are under arrest for wanton destruction, false alarm making, and assaulting an officer," said the bot as she tried to clip some Minicon-sized status cuffs on the creature.
The creature just snarled before easily snapping them. "I’m sorry, it’s rude to interrupt," it snapped before punching Airazor in the face before an aura surrounded it and pulled him off.
"Matt, back off," said Twilight, her three magic projectors shimmering as she stepped out, "This is not helping our case."‏
"Is this with you?" snapped Cheetor.
"Yes, he's our friend who's been helpin' us try to get back home," said Applejack as she walked out.
"He has a strange way of going about it," snapped Cheetor, Airazor saying dizzily “Got a good right hook though."‏
"For the record, I suggested a more civil means of contacting you than making a menace of himself," said Rarity as she stepped out.
Cheetor nodded before pausing, "Wait...you're the one from the welcome center last week. The one the ID bolts couldn’t analyze."‏
"They didn't have any easy job with us either," said Applejack.
"We really need to get home. This Cryotek attacked our world for no reason...and turned us into this," said Twilight‏.
Cheetor turned towards Matt and said, "You could have been more descriptive with what havoc Cryotek was causing."‏
"You just told us that 12 billion is just a statistic? What’s another planet after that?" said Matt darkly, made worse by the fact he had a point‏.
"The difference is that you stumbled into the Malgus stream while Cryotek-" started Airazor.
"Not helping, Airazor," said Cheetor before rubbing his forehead, "This is gonna mean a nightmare of paperwork."‏
"We just need those starter drives. That cruiser is intact from what I hear. It'll get us all the way back, maybe even find Miss Sparkle’s other friends," said Matt, calling down but still glaring‏.
Miss Sparkle?" asked Airazor skeptically.
"Shut up! Look, the drives are apparently in the care of somebody called Shockwave..." said Matt before pausing as the two officers looked shocked‏.
"I think you need to consider finding another ship," said Cheetor, "You have no idea what Shockwave could do to you if he finds you interesting enough to study, let alone trying to steal from him."‏
"We'll be shot down if we try one of your ships," said Matt simply‏.
"Then get another ship," said Airazor, "Hey Cheetor, isn't there an old X-Wing he can take?"
"I wouldn't send a salvage drone off in that ship," said Cheetor.
"A one-man stub fighter...for 5 people plus two combat mechs...oh and Star Wars tech is illegal in the NSC," said Matt cheerfully‏.
"Well, at least you're not completely backwards," said Airazor dryly.
Matt glared at that. "We...need...those...drives. I'd prefer to do it without blowing crap up, hard as that is to believe," snapped Matt‏.
Cheetor sighed and said, "I suppose there may be some forms to sign to make Shockwave relinquish those drives."
"Uh, I'd like to get back to that planet before it's reduced to a cinder and I'm not sure if dragons are supposed to be as long-lived as they're said to be," said Matt.‏
Cheetor glared at that before realizing that, if Shockwave

have the drives, he'd make it as hard as possible to even look at them. "Fine..." he said reluctantly.
"Great, you can get off my back now, miss," said Matt.
"No, you're still under arrest," said Airazor.
"Hey, we're on the same-" snapped Matt before Airazor slammed his head into the ground, "Ow! Police brutality! Police brutality!"‏

Dante couldn’t help but laugh when the group came back. “So, how long will he be locked up? Oh, and will he be in the jail or the reptile house at the zoo?" he teased happily‏.
"Oh, maybe a solar cycle," said Twilight, "I think that's about a day."
"Good, he's our pilot so we'll need him, mutant freak or not," said Dante‏.
"What, you can't fly?" asked Applejack.
"Not with Lynch’s skill, as much as I’d love to leave him here," said Dante gloomily‏.
"I wasn't plannin' on leavin' him, just wonderin' why you had him do all the flyin'," said Applejack.
"Cause he’s a better flier...just his landings need work, that’s all," said Dante‏.
"So, how are we supposed to get those spaceship parts?" asked Rarity.
"Well, we need to get inside first," said Matt, looking thoughtful, "By the way, what the hell’s a MacGuffin?" pointing out a sign on a wall and jumping as a blast of plasma incinerated it. "I need to control that," he said sheepishly‏.
"A MacGuffin is an item of usually indeterminable origin, but great significance. They usually contain great power of some kind," said Cheetor.
"Well, we're safe then," said Dante calmly.
The mares exchanged nervous glances before Rarity said, "Any suggestions about how we do so?"
"Miss, I think you'd best wait back here," said Dante, "You don't have enough firepower to cover yourself when a fight breaks out."
The others gave him a look. "What? There's bound to be a fight, particularly if Lynch is involved."‏
"I object to that comment," snapped Matt, slapping Dante across the back of the head and jumping as Dante was sent sailing into some rubble. “Oopsie," he said to the glaring mares.
"I am not useless, I'm just...out of my element," said Rarity.
"That's puttin' it mildly," said Applejack, glancing about at the bustling city.
"Rarity, perhaps you should focus on another part of our mission, like finding that ship," said Twilight.
Dante said dizzily, "I can help with that, mummy."‏
"You have been warned about the Heap, right?" asked Airazor.
"I am in one hell of a bad mood. I’ve been set on fire by farts, put up with a moron for a partner and punched into a wall. Anyone gets in my way, I'll blow their ball bearings off!" said Dante before yelling the last part‏.
Airazor briefly glanced at Dante before saying, "He'll be fine."‏
Dante and Rarity headed off at that, Rarity wisely staying a few steps behind. "Ok...so how do we get into this Shockmoron’s lab?" he said, the others looking surprised before looking a little scared. "What? Like we have anything to worry..." he said before a dozen charging noises were heard. “He’s right behind me, isn’t he?" Matt said bluntly‏.
"You are not difficult to find," said a cold voice. Matt turned around to see a tall purple cycloptic Cybertronian with two large blaster attached to his shoulders, both of them aiming at Matt. Behind him were tall, heavily-armed, and utterly silent troopers.
"Oh....biiiiig…" said Matt in a tiny voice‏.
"I believe Cheetor had inadequately stated the charges on you. He neglected to add that you've smuggled in several living MacGuffins and a possible Prime," said the purple bot who was doubtlessly Shockwave.
"A what now?" said Matt innocently‏.
"Don't pretend to be ignorant. You're almost a MacGuffin yourself," said Shockwave, a gleam of scientific curiosity in his single optic that made Matt rather uncomfortable.
"I’m not a MacGuffin, I'm a Lynch...and depending who you ask, a raging psychotic," said Matt loftily‏.
"Then perhaps you'd like to explain how you just happened to transform into a dragon for no apparent reason," said Shockwave.
"I'd like to know that too. Last time it was ca...wait, I don’t have to tell you jack shit. Fuck off, toaster!” snapped Matt, kicking Shockwave’s foot and hopping on his other with a yelp.
"I'll add 'assaulting a military officer' to the list of charges against you," said Shockwave, "Now come along quietly and I shan't have to do a dissection."‏
"Touch me and I'll bite your fingers off!" said Matt bluntly before Shockwave’s hand covered his entire head and lifted him up. “I see the flaw in my plan but I still claim moral victory,” said Matt’s muffled voice, crossing his arms‏.
Now, the two of you shall be coming along," said Shockwave, indicating Twilight and Applejack.
"This could be taken as a declaration of OW..." said Matt’s muffled voice before Shockwave zapped him‏.
"Your rights are void, criminal," said Shockwave.
"Military police brutality!" snapped Matt, yelping as he was zapped again‏.

The Heap, or the Indirect Reclamation Zone as it's officially known, was considered no bot's land for good reason. It was pretty much a wasteland in every sense of the word, particularly that it had an enormous amount of scrap that has been left rusting for years.
Dante however felt in his element. His world had unfortunately been classified as Class Z after a zombie outbreak so seeing such wastes just reminded him of home. "Smell that air," he said, pulling out a handheld scanner before turning back to see Rarity still in the travel lift. “What? It’s just dirt. It was alot worse back at my Earth," he said‏.
"It just looks so...unsanitary," said Rarity.
"You're a robot now. You don't have to worry about getting germs," said Dante.
"But..." began Rarity before Dante caught on.
“Oh...is someone scared of getting dirty?" he teased‏.
"It takes a lot of effort to maintain a pristine appearance," said Rarity.
"Well, tough. We'll take you to a car wash later,” snapped Dante, grabbing her and trying to pull her out‏.
Rarity clung to the lift and said, "I'm not stepping out into that garbage dump."‏
Dante glared before grabbing a handful of dirt. “Then the dirt comes to you," he said, tossing it at her‏. The dirt stopped in midair as a bright blue glow enveloped it. "What the-" started Dante before the dirt was flung back into his face.
"I may still be a robot but I still have my old tricks," said Rarity before her horn pulsed. "Hello? What's this?" she asked before jumping out and following her horn like it was a divining rod.
"What the hell are you doing?" asked Dante scathingly as he wiped his face‏.
"It appears there are some gems here of some variety," said Rarity.
"Here? The only gems will be the crystals in the engines of that battlecruiser we're after," snapped Dante, before pausing.
"Well, that would certainly be worth looking for," said Rarity.
"Lead the way," said Dante, checking his rifle before looking up. “Wait...one more thing," he said, apparently aiming at Rarity.
"Wait, what are you doing?" asked Rarity.
"Hold...still…" said Dante carefully before firing, sparks appearing from midair beside Rarity, before a Cybertronian, minus its head appeared. Rarity stared at the robot crumpled over. "Don't forget, this is a lawless zone. We'll be lucky to get halfway to that ship without whole gangs showing up to strip us apart," said Dante.
"You didn’t have to shoot him," Rarity said in horror as Dante kicked the robot to make sure, before pumping a few round into its spark chamber.
“Ok, next time I'll let them do horrible things to you." he said sarcastically‏, "And I'd find a way to upgrade yourself. Don't want to play escort to dead weight all the way there."
Rarity glared at that as the group walked onwards, deeper into the wastes...

Rarity shuddered as Dante fired a burst above them, something sent skittering away. "No wonder they keep people to the city. Hate to see this on the tourist brochure," he muttered‏.
"What's the worst sort of creatures they could have down here?" asked Rarity.
"How should I know? Couldn't be anything bigger than them at least," said Dante.
Rarity shuddered before pausing, a tiny metallic creature staring at her from a pile of junk. The creature had a large round head with equally large eyes on a small spider-like body. "Oh, hello little thing," said Rarity, "Are you looking for food?"‏
The creature cocked its head before scuttling away.
"Hey, horseface, we're not here to make friends with vermin," said Dante rudely.
"Urgh..." muttered Rarity before continuing to follow, Dante snapping “Keep scanning, we need that ship."‏
"Alright, alright, there's an art to this you know," said Rarity before she turned on her gem-finding spell.
The group carried on slowly, not noticing that there weren’t just vermin watching them.

The Heap certainly did have a large collection of bandits, bots who had been forgotten by the Transtechs and left to eke out an existence down in the dumps. "Why did we have to be dumped on this world?" grumbled Cutpurse, "They couldn't have just sent us back home, could they?"
"I dunno, maybe cause we tried to rob one of their banks the minute we landed?" said one of them others, called Slasher.
"It's not like they were spending any of their money," said Pickpocket.
Slasher just facepalmed at that. "Look, we should just make the best of things for now. It’s not like two idiots are going to fall right into our laps," he snapped before the two paused, watching as a human and a small Cybertronian quadruped walked past their hidey-hole. "And it’s not like it'll rain energon cubes on us suddenly," said Slasher casually‏.
The trio looked up expectedly before Cutpurse said, "C'mon, let's just get them before the scavengers do."
"Uh, aren't we the scavengers?" asked Pickpocket.
"Shut up and roll out...and keep a low profile. That organic’s gun looks nasty," snapped Slasher‏.

"How much longer is it gonna take?" griped Dante.
"As long as it has to," snapped Rarity, Dante's attitude and the disgusting state of this place wearing thin on her nerves.
"Good, just hurry up. The sooner we're behind 30 feet of NSC armor, the happier I'll be," said Dante, keeping a look at their surroundings‏.
"Assuming your ship hasn't been used as a trash bin," said Rarity.
"I doubt it. We're not that unlucky," said Dante calmly, before snapping, "Now less talking, more scanning." A skittering noise was heard at that, the duo turning to see the robot skitterers Rarity had seen earlier‏. "Oh, great, wasteland critters," said Dante sarcastically, "Please tell me they're not here to sing a song or something sappy."‏
More and more of the 'critters' continued to emerge though before they all opened their mouths to show rows of rotating buzzsaw teeth. "Uh, I think they found the food they were looking for," said Rarity with worry.
"Oh please," muttered Dante, firing a grenade into the horde and sending them scattering, though the fact that their eyes were still visible indicated they hadn’t gone very far.
"Those creatures remind me of parasprites, I hope they're not as hungry as them," said Rarity.
"What is there to eat around here?" snapped Dante before paling as Rarity said weakly "Us?"
"You can move faster with that scanning, right?" asked Dante.
"Well, I suppose I could skim, though I won't be able to home in precisely," said Rarity.
"How about we get to safer ground then you can narrow the search?" suggested Dante.
"Wait...it’s close...there," said Rarity, before pointing...to a ravine edge‏.
"Of course, it couldn't be easy, could it?" grumbled Dante.
A metallic buzzing was heard at that, the two turning to see more of the creatures heading for them. “Run," said Dante simply‏.
Rarity didn't need more encouragement and quickly sped off, her four legs making her more stable on the shifting junkscape. Dante ran close behind as fast as he could, the two scrambling as fast as they could from the hungry scraplet swarm‏. Dante fired back at them, but the few he hit barely made a dent in the swarm.

However, on a ridge, the three bandits were watching. “Well, what do you know...a scout and some human," said Slasher smugly.
"But look at the two of them. They don't look like they're carrying anything worthwhile on them," said Pickpocket.
"I’m more interested in what they're looking for. The quadruped’s scanning for something and if it’s important enough for an escort then it’s worth taking....and if those scraplets eat them then we'll never find it," said Slasher coldly‏.
"And what if the scraplets decide to have us as the second course?" asked Cutpurse with worry.
"You honestly think we've lasted this long hiding in their territory by luck?" said Slasher smugly, unclipping an orb from a hidden compartment‏.
"We were in their territory?" asked Cutpurse.
"Yup, now I'll show you how. Remember, till I say otherwise, we're their best friends," said Slasher warningly, tossing the orb out where a shrieking noise filled the air, causing the scraplets to apparently panic, running into or even attacking one another.
"Didn't think scraplets were vulnerable to sound," said Pickpocket.
“They are if you know the frequency," said Slasher‏.
"So we're just gonna wait until those varmints eat those guys?" asked Pickpocket.
"No, get down there and get them out of harm’s way, NOW!” snapped Slasher‏.
"Why me?" asked Pickpocket.
"Why not? You want the loot to get chewed up?" snapped Slasher. ‏
Pickpocket gulped before transforming to his vehicle mode, a dune buggy, and driving down towards them, all the time muttering to the Allspark that the scraplets wouldn’t snap out of their panic and see him. ‏

Dante and Rarity had reached the edge of the crevice before the swarm came down on them. "I'll give you a golden horseshoe if you say the ship isn't down there," said Dante as he turned back and shot at more of the scraplets.
Rarity just gulped before managing to cast a magical flare down, the light briefly revealing what looked like a supersized version of a submarine conning tower, only more...organic. "Oh, come on," groaned Dante before a high pitched whine filled the air, causing the two to cover their ears...which was more than the scraplets did, apparently freaking out big time‏.
Rarity looked up to see a dune buggy heading their way. "Is this a rescue?" she shouted over the whining.
"I wouldn't count on it!" Dante shouted back.
"Get in me if you want to live," said the dune buggy before yelping as Dante aimed at it.
“If this is a trap, you'll need more than detailing when I finish," he said nastily‏.
"Uh, would you believe I'm doing this out of the goodness of my spark?" asked the buggy.
"No, I wouldn't believe it even if you were organic and we weren't in a scrapyard or about to be eaten by metal bugs," said Dante.
"Oh, be quiet. It’s better than being eaten," snapped Rarity, climbing in before wincing as something went 'squelch' as she sat down. "Please tell me I didn't just sit in something," she said.
"You didn’t just sit in something," said Dante bluntly, getting in and standing in the other seat, bracing himself and his gun against the roll bar. "Move it, tiny," he called, noticing some of the scraplets apparently getting their marbles back together. The buggy didn't need any encouragement and quickly started rolling.
After a few minutes’ drive, the trio had turned up at what looked like an abandoned Cybertronian ship, gaps in its hull and the lack of engines indicating it had been gutted years ago.
"I've seen roaches check into better motels than this," said Dante.
"I’m sorry if it doesn’t meet your standards," said a cultured voice, the two turning to see a Transtech standing behind them.
"What's a hi-tech guy like you doing in a dump like this?" asked Dante.
"Don't be so rude," hissed Rarity.
"A...misunderstanding with the security services. Till it’s all sorted out, I have to stay here," said the Transtech calmly, "Allow me to introduce my companions, Cutpurse and Pickpocket."‏
Cutpurse, who was sitting nearby, raised a servo and said "'Sup?"‏
The dune buggy said, “I'd shake your hand but you're standing on my foot."‏ Rarity quickly hopped out of the vehicle. Dante hopped out too before the buggy transformed. "Ah...finally...why does my vehicle form have to put my feet as the seats?" Pickpocket moaned‏.
"Could be worse. It could be your hands instead," said Cutpurse.
"Enough, you're boring our guests. So, what brings you to scraplet country?" asked Slasher‏.
"Scrounging," said Dante before Rarity could say anything, "I heard this is the best place to find some scrap material that they don't sell upstairs."‏
"Strange, plenty of scrap dealers in the main city. There's no restrictions on scrap as far as I am aware," said Slasher smugly‏.
"Oh, we're very picky about the type of scrap we're looking for," said Dante, "Not just any piece of metal would do."‏
"Indeed, my creations only need the finest material," said Rarity suddenly, "Artists need the best."‏
Cutpurse and Pickpocket rolled their optics and said in an exasperated tone, "Artists."‏
"Is there something wrong with artists?" said Rarity haughtily‏.
"Other than the fact that they usually turn off their logic circuits?" asked Pickpocket dryly.
Dante, quickly getting the scheme, said coldly, "Miss Rarity is very specific, enough to hire the best. If you insult her again, I will be forced to blow your kneecap off and remove your voice box.” winking at Rarity.
"Believe me, he's brutish enough to do it," said Rarity.
"I'm not paid for my personality," said Dante coldly, to the internal amusement of Slasher. As if an artist would come personally.
"So, what type of metal are you looking for so exclusively?" asked Slasher smoothly.
Rarity paused at that, before saying, “Precious metals, platinum, that sort of thing."‏
"Precious metals? Down here? Even I don't buy that," said Cutpurse.
"You’d be surprised what ponies throw away," said Rarity‏.
The three scrappers looked at Rarity, causing her to mutter, "Oops."
"Oh, you know how crazy artists are," said Dante, "She has a tendency to think like a horse. Faulty insulation from her beast mode programming."‏
"Of course, so...why this sector? The scraplets'll eat anything with metal in them," said Pickpocket, showing unusual thinking ability.
"Well, I can't pick where my-" started Rarity before Dante butted in, "Metal detector. She's fine-tuned her metal detection ability to look for gold, silver, and whatnot. Kinda wish I had one like her back on Earth."‏
"Of course, you’d realize this place is where they dump the old ships. No gold here. Everybot knows that," said Slasher smugly‏.
"Well, I'm an offworlder, what would I know?" said Rarity.
"Then you should be in the city...unless, there's another reason...like the ship at the bottom of the ravine?" said Slasher smugly, his fingers extending into his namesake’s claws‏.
‎"Precious metals on a ship? I thought there wouldn't be pirates here," said Rarity.
"That ship was dumped here stellar cycles ago...and it’s made of something the scraplets can’t stomach. Nothing is that secure unless something valuable is on it. And now someone with the same symbol on its gear has turned up," said Slasher, pointing to Dante’s shoulder‏.
"What? This old thing? I got it at a retail store," said Dante.
"Organics, they always presume we can’t tell how old some armor is...and that’s brand new," said Slasher smugly, before making a swipe as Dante raised his rifle to fire, the rifle falling into several neat slices‏. "Now, let's move on past the niceties. The two of you know how to get on that ship and we are going to the valuable stuff aboard it," said Slasher.
"You think just because you're bigger than us you can push us around?" snapped Rarity.
"Oh, we don't have to be bigger than you to be a threat. Those scraplets are smaller than you and they can be quite deadly if you don't have a way to repel them and I doubt you'll be able to manage it on your own if I just booted you out now," said Slasher.
Dante glared at that, his hand slowly inching to his grenade belt. However, Pickpocket had very acute optics and was able to see what Dante was reaching for. He pointed his gun at Dante and hit him with a concussive blast.
Rarity yelped as Dante went sprawling. “Ah, ah, ah...be gracious guests or I’ll have to ask you to leave, one bit at a time," said Slasher evilly.
"That treasure is no good to you," said Rarity.
"I'll be the judge of that. Lead on, Equinicon," said Slasher.

Meanwhile, back with our other heroes, Matt was busy being a guest of Shockwave's division and he was making sure the scientist regretted every second...helped that so far, his scales had proven impervious to the scientist’s tools. He was doing one thing that his commanders had told him would be considered treason, the reason anyone going after him had orders to gag him on sight: he was singing.
The atrocious noise was almost enough to fry Shockwave's circuits. If he didn’t have a white noise projector in his lab, things would have gotten rather messy. His guards had not proven as lucky, at least two having run away screaming before the projector had been powered up.
‎"Note to self: first part to remove from organic subject, voice box," said Shockwave.
Matt smirked. "Let me go or I sing 3000 bottles of beer on the wall," he said, before, to Shockwave’s surprise, Twilight yelled "NO!"‏
‎"Please, Ah can't take more of it," groaned Applejack.
Shockwave paused before looking at the others and reaching a finger towards the projector to turn it off. "Then please, cooperate...or I turn the projector off," he said‏.
"If you expect us to reveal the secret of making ponies into robots, we don't even know it ourselves," said Twilight.
"That would be a start but I am more curious as to why you were made," said Shockwave‏.
"How the heck should we know?" asked Applejack.
Shockwave turned the projector off at that, only to glare as Matt stayed silent with a smirk. “I don’t do requests,” he said cheekily‏.
"Seriously, we got abducted from some whackjob super villain who messed with us for who knows what reason. Ah don't even remember bein' put in this body, which is probably just as well," said Applejack.
"Your memory banks were damaged in whatever was done," said Shockwave, looking at his readings, “Naturally, you will not be able to leave Axiom Nexus. Not until these energy signatures are analyzed, which should take 443 stellar cycles."‏
"I'm not waiting over a year. My home needs me now," said Twilight.
"I said stellar cycles, not solar cycles. That's about a year in your time units," said Shockwave.
"Ok, that's even less acceptable," said Twilight, "I'm a princess and I demand to be let go."
Shockwave looked at her at that, "Princess...is that your Cybertron’s word for ‘Prime’?"‏
"We're not from Cybertron. We were organic lifeforms from Equestria," said Twilight.
"Well, that's no longer the case, but your previous rank may make you Prime material," said Shockwave.
"Well, Fortress Maximus did call me-" said Twilight before Applejack gave her a warning look.
"Hmm, in that case, I suppose I better give you a routine Matrix check," said Shockwave before coating his servo in a sterilizing agent, "Now, just remain still and you should feel a minimum of discomfort."‏
"Oi! No touchy! Her system’s in NSC territory!" snapped Matt‏.
"I don't see your name on them," said Shockwave in a rather childish tone, perhaps a sign that Matt's singing had slightly unhinged him.
"I said no!” snapped Matt, trying to pull free.
"You know, that projector can do more than neutralize sound," said Shockwave before sending a wireless command. Immediately, Matt's containment cell started projecting an extremely high-pitched sound that soon had Matt to his knees. Matt covered his eyes, soundlessly screaming, his eyes feral slits. Eventually, the sonic blast knocked him out.
"You'll pay for that," said Applejack as she strained against her restraints.
"He is unconscious right now, unharmed except for a temporary deafness for when he awakes," said Shockwave, "I do try to keep specimens in pristine condition before I work on them."‏
Cheetor was also present, if only for questioning and said in shock. "And if the NSC find out? If one of their teams got here, others can too." ‏
"Unless his longevity mirrors that of other draconic species, I doubt he'd live long enough to tell about this," said Shockwave.
"Ah think what Cheetor meant was that I doubt they’d take kindle to comin’ here to find out you cut up one of their kin," said Applejack‏.
"The NSC still stumble around their section of the omniverse. The odds of them finding out how to get into one of the interior timestreams, let alone ours is microscopically small," said Shockwave, "Besides, we have sufficient technology to repel them if need be."‏
Matt groaned at that, chuckling, “Last I checked...we were winning hands down." before Shockwave turned. "25 battles...15 wins," he laughed, the sound blast having caused a few screws to come loose in his head‏.
"You have a considerable sensory recovering factor," said Shockwave, clearly unperturbed by what Matt just said.
"You touch me and the NSC navy will turn this entire sector to fucking molten slag,” said Matt darkly‏.
"And what value could you be to the NSC that they'd wish to inflict genocide?" asked Shockwave.
"Well, look at me. How many of my kind do you think they got over there? And splitters don't count. They don't breathe plasma," said Matt.
Shockwave peered closer. His scanners could detect the automatic tracker from the creature’s nanites but as such signals were one way, there was no way to tell if it was being received. There was an equal chance that a battlegroup was already on its way to recover their wayward trooper...especially if his abilities were unique.
"There may actually be some truth to that," said Shockwave, "Well, I suppose I can't keep you for long. Just long enough to extract some cloning material."
"Hey, only one Matt per multiverse. You'll rip reality to shreds," snapped Matt.‏ Shockwave paused at that, unsure if the creature was bluffing or not. "Or at the very least it'd mean the end of your civilization," said Matt, "Seriously, how can you even imagine there being more than one of me in the same place?" Shockwave visibly shuddered at that.
"Besides what would we gain out of studying his biochemistry?" asked Cheetor.
Shockwave gave him a sharp look and, "You are not here to judge, captain. You are on thin ice at the moment and I suggest you withhold your input unless it counts."‏
"Weaponized plasma...nanotechnology eons ahead of your own,” said Matt in a dull voice.
"Preposterous, no organic could surpass Cybertronian technology, especially Transtech technology," said Shockwave.
"Atlantean biotechnology is 2540 years ahead of your most advanced research," said Matt in the same monotone voice‏.
"Atlantean? As in the organic colony that sank itself?" asked Shockwave derisively.
"In one reality...my memory does not extend that far. My systems are limited to what information my host has," said 'Matt'‏.
‎"I'm not surprised such advanced technology has a separate mind considerably more intelligent than its host to operate it," said Shockwave.
"Note, under Atlantean martial law, attempting to sample or clone Project Khan nanotech is classified as a hostile act," said Matt dully‏.
"Atlantis is long dead," said Shockwave dismissively.
"Non-compliance noted," said Matt calmly before simply leaning back.
"In the meantime, identifying the method of converting non-humanoid organics into functional Cybertronians will be a great asset," said Shockwave as he approached the mares.
"Attacking timeline alphas is a criminal offense," said Matt dully.
"Somehow I liked it better when Matt was actin' loony," said Applejack.
"You are not authorized for this timeline," said Matt dully‏.
"Ok, can you switch his personality back on? He's starting to creep me out," said Twilight.
"Why would I want to do that?" asked Shockwave.
"To prove you can," said Twilight.
There was a long pause before Shockwave said, "You are cleverer than I had surmised."‏
The VI in Matt’s mind however was hard at work, it had slowly been leaning into the restraints, stressing them without even a squeak. Contrary to its perceived emotionlessness, it was capable of tapping into a dragon's fury, once it had gotten access that is. It had also accessed the situation as logically as it could. This 'Shockwave’ was no doubt going to remove and reverse engineer it as well as the timeline alpha's. This was unacceptable. Diplomacy had clearly failed, that left one remaining avenue of response.
Shockwave motioned for one of his silent troopers to remove Matt from his pen and place him in storage. Matt seemed indifferent at first, but once the white noise projector was shut down, he let out an ear-splitting bellow. The guard staggered back before Matt shot upright and shoved his clawed hand through its head, spinning the body to absorb fire from the other guard. "Your lack of cooperation has been noted. I am authorized to neutralize all threats," he said coldly‏.
"And I am authorized to terminate test subjects if necessary," said Shockwave before pressing a button.
A large panel of the wall shifted apart, revealing a round container with a slightly M-shaped hatch on the front. "A Plasma Energy Chamber? Aren't those strictly contraband?" asked Cheetor.
"Plasma energy is not a MacGuffin, it is understood technology and I have gained a sufficient understanding of plasma energy," said Shockwave.
Matt simply cocked his head like a confused bird before grabbing the container, the field starting to diminish. "This weapon is flawed," he said‏.
But soon, the field began to grow stronger and Matt started feeling weaker. "I had a feeling your plasma powers including plasma absorption," said Shockwave, "But the absorption program of this PEC is stronger than your own. Which is just as well, because the energy within this container would be more than sufficient to overload your natural reserves, which is not something I wish to happen in my lab."‏
"You will not succeed..." said Matt darkly, before he shoved his fist through the PEC, making for the door.
"Stop him, containment fire only," commanded Shockwave.
Two guards lunged at him, only for Matt to flip past them, raking his claws along their chest sides as he went, disabling them before jumping up and into a vent. "Y'all having trouble?" said Applejack smugly, glad to see this jerk having trouble‏.
"Your friend has a limit range of movements. He will not be able to escape Axiom Nexus and the authorities will be in hot pursuit," said Shockwave, "For his sake, you better hope he's captured quickly. Among the Decepticons, I'm one of the least likely to prefer destruction over capture. There are several other military officers who would have no qualms in reducing your friend to carbon waste."‏
"Shockwave, he broke out of here without even trying...or whatever is controlling him did. That’s not an organic mind at the controls," warned Cheetor, saying, “I’m not going to place my officers at risk going after that thing."‏
"Shall I call for other military officers then? I'm sure Brawl and Onslaught will relish the challenge," said Shockwave casually, "I suppose if we're desperate, I could contact Megatron. But I'm sure no one here wants that."‏
"He's like a spooked timber wolf. We got one on our farm back home. Y'all chasin' him will just get your bots and him hurt," said Applejack‏.
"Are you suggesting we use bait then?" asked Shockwave dryly.
"Ah don’t see you havin' much choice unless you want to explain to this here Megatron y'all let an armed monster loose," said Applejack.
"Of course, it's a simple plan, set up bait for a dragon. We'll just chain up a princess where he can..." said Shockwave sarcastically before his head turned towards Twilight, "Ah, I forgot, we do have a princess available."
Twilight gulped at that.

Meanwhile...

"Ok, let’s keep moving, don’t want to get left behind, eh?" said Slasher evilly, Dante and Rarity being led through the heaps wastes and down a path into the ravine. "Ok, just in case...Pickpocket, go see where the defenses are this time," ordered Slasher‏.
"What? Why me?" protested Pickpocket.
"Because you're faster on your wheels than Cutpurse," said Slasher.
"Oh, sure, like I couldn't move faster than a mailvan," said Pickpocket sarcastically.
With that, Pickpocket slowly headed out towards the only visible part of the ship. A second later, a deep voice echoed in all the Cybertronians’ heads "This ship is NSC naval property. You do not have clearance. You have 10 seconds to withdraw."‏
Pickpocket quickly started backing up only for Slasher to say, "What are you doing? We don't get anything by just quitting."‏
"Your failure to withdraw has been noted. Lethal force authorized," said the voice, a piece of rubble knocked away to reveal a large blaster that fired a beam that engulfed the top half of Pickpocket, just leaving his twitching lower half.
"Every bot for himself!" yelped Cutpurse before turning to run.
"Ok, Mr. Human, tell your ship to back off," said Slasher, aiming a claw at Rarity's spark chamber, “Or the Equinicon has an accident."
"Well, since you asked so nicely..." said Dante sarcastically before walking towards the ship. Several of the other guns folded out at that before aiming at Dante. "Scanning...NSC tag detected...switching to secure channel," said the computer before the Cybertronians yelped and covered their ears when possible as the ship flooded their heads with static. "Encryption secure...Identification please," said the computer, only Dante able to hear clearly‏.
"Captain James Dante," stated Dante.
There was a pause at that before the computer said, “Unable to verify...database update required. Stand by for nanite scan."‏
Dante looked over his shoulder and said, "This is gonna take a while."‏
“Scan complete...identity confirmed. Welcome Captain. Please note...FTL drive systems are offline. Data drives have been removed by unknown target," said the computer.
"They don't make ships like they used to. Lousy budget cuts," grumbled Dante.
"Hey...you finished? When I get bored, I get twitchy," called Slasher just as the computer asked “Should the other targets be neutralized?"
"No, not right now," said Dante.
"Confirmed...disabling perimeter defenses. Welcome to the Aurora. Deimos Class...registry code, DR-171D," said the computer, a hatch opening.
"Excellent, the spoils await," said Slasher, "Cutpurse, get over here. We're going to need your moving van mode to haul all this out."
"It's not a moving van, it's a-" started Cutpurse when there was the whoosh of VTOL turbines overhead.
Everyone looked up to see a certain brown twin-nosed jet hovering down. "Slasher and Cutpurse, you are under arrest," said Airazor.
Slasher and Cutpurse looked up at that before Slasher held up Rarity. "Ah, ah. Officer, I’ve got a hostage," he called‏.
"Release the hostage and I promise I'll take you in instead of just leaving your shells here to rust," said Airazor as weapons extended from her undercarriage.
"Warning...hostile airspace breach," said the Aurora's computer, still only heard by Dante, who till that point had been pleased to see some cops turn up. “No, no, no, abort, abort!” he said desperately as a blaster unfolded and turned to aim at Airazor‏.
"Airazor, I think you should move quickly," said Rarity.
The warning came too late as the same disintegration blast shot out, clipping Airazor’s wing‏. Airazor let out a cry of pain before she started falling. Fortunately, she was able to shift to robot mode and land on her feet.
Unfortunately, it allowed Cutpurse to aim his blaster at her. "This must be, as you humans say, my birthday. A treasure ship and an inspector of the Security Services,” said Slasher happily‏.
"Just because I'm grounded doesn't mean I'm defenseless," said Airazor.
"Sure, be vaporized, that thing seems to like shooting armed Cybertronians," sneered Slasher‏.
"You think all my weapons were in my vehicle mode?" asked Airazor as she drew a gun.
On cue, the gun that had shot her down turned to aim again, though it didn’t fire...yet. "It looks like the system doesn’t recognize melee weapons, unlike that blaster,” Slasher said gleefully, scratching Rarity's finish as proof‏.
"You are going to pay for that," said Rarity, "I mean that quite literally. You had better have enough credits to cover my paint job."‏
"Shut up. Inspector, you're going to help clear out any surprises in this ship or I'll show how little the ship cares about my claws by dismembering this bot," said Slasher coldly‏.
"I wouldn't count on profiting from this," said Airazor, "Security Administration will not stand for this behavior."‏
"That all depends if I leave witnesses or not," said Slasher, before saying, “Onwards, inspector. I’m getting bored and you know my record very well to know what will happen."‏
"Of course," said Airazor before walking towards the ship.
Dante glared as Airazor walked up. “So...how's the rescue going?" he muttered sarcastically‏.
"I haven't played all my cards yet," said Airazor.
"Hope they're good ones. The ship’s programmed to shoot anyone who draws a firearm who isn’t me," hissed Dante.
"I know what I'm doing," said Airazor as she covertly pressed against her insignia which flashed for two seconds.
"I hope your friends turn up soon. Dealt with this sort of guy before. He'll kill Rarity at the first sign of a cop. We're lucky he didn’t when you popped up. Call them off or she’s dead," Dante hissed‏.
"Oh, they're not coming to us," said Airazor, "We're coming to them."‏
"Great, you really don’t know what this ship’s capable of, do you," muttered Dante coldly before saying, “How many men?"
"Oh, hard to tell, at least three," said Airazor.
"All of them dead. This is a warship that makes our planet crackers look like haulers. You idiots only stripped out the navigation systems. Its targeting AI will flick them out the sky the second it realizes they have hostile intent," hissed Dante‏.
"It's more complicated than that," said Airazor.
"How complicated?" asked Dante.
"Complicated enough that we can't talk about it too long," said Airazor.
"What are you two talking about? Get in there," snapped Slasher‏.
As the group walked in, Dante muttered, "Lynch had better have gotten those nav drives by now."
"I hope so too," said Airazor.

The inside of the ship was more of the organic metal. More disturbing though was some of the crew had clearly...not left. "Blech, who built this ship?" asked Cutpurse, keeping well away from the oozing walls.
"N.S.F. The NSC precursor. This ship probably fought the splitters," said Dante, looking around. "Poor guys. They deserved better," he said miserably.
"We'll burn the bones later," said Slasher, "Where's the heart of this ship, assuming this ship has other biological features."‏
"It’s not a treasure ship, it’s a heavy assault cruiser. It’s not got treasure in it cause at the time its crew and their bosses were rebelling and hadn’t a penny to their name," snapped Dante loudly, losing his temper‏.
"What?! We went through all that trouble and lost Pickpocket and there's no loot?!" snapped Cutpurse.
"Not necessarily," said Slasher, "There may not any treasure in the more usual terms, but the tech on this ship should be quite valuable on the black market."
"The ship isn't just about to let you gut it," said Airazor.
"Is that so?" asked Slasher before looking around, "I don't see any internal defense systems, do you?"‏
"Yeah...cause I told it to turn em off..." said Dante to himself‏. Theoretically, he could switch them back on, but that would result in his companions getting shot as well. And there was a good chance he'd get caught in the crossfire.
"Doesn’t matter anyway. You won't get the ship anyway," said Dante out loud‏.
"Won't I?" asked Slasher, his claws extending further.
"The navigation systems have been removed so you can't fly it anywhere," said Airazor, "Not like this rotting carcass can get off the ground anyways."‏
"That and it won’t listen to you anyway, just try," said Dante smugly.
"Do you think I'm a fool? I would never risk myself to test something potentially hazardous," said Slasher. There was a brief pause before Slasher said, "Cutpurse, give the ship a command."‏
Cutpurse paused at that, remembering what had happened to Pickpocket. "Why should I?" he said finally‏.
"Because our guests are useful as bargaining tools and you haven't been pulling your weight recently," said Slasher.
Cutpurse gulped before heading over to a console and pressing a button. "Access code please," said the computer calmly‏
"Uh, open sesame?" guessed Cutpurse.
“Denied," said the computer before Cutpurse was covered in electricity, juddering before falling back, fried to a crisp‏
Slasher cautiously poked Cutpurse until he heard a groan. "I'm going to have to patch you up, aren't I?" he said in an annoyed tone.
“The next response will be fatal. Your lifesigns have been scanned and coded for lethal response," said the computer‏.
"Fine, I could probably fly better than this ship anyways," muttered Slasher.
"Negative," said the computer smugly‏.
"So, when's that backup supposed to arrive?" whispered Rarity to Airazor.
"Soon, if they can home in on my signal," said Airazor.
Just then, the computer said, "Alert, unidentified mechanical lifeforms detected."
"That was fast," said Rarity.
"But that doesn't sound like my backup," said Airazor.
"Warning...temporal instability...incoming wormhole...cargo 2," said the computer, adding darkly, “Preparing lethal response."
"Display-" started Slasher before pausing and turning to Dante, "You tell it to display the other intruders."
"Fine, but only because I'm curious too," said Dante. A few moments later, a screen was showing an image of a trio of rather ramshackle robots with a rusty red color scheme looking around the cargo hold.
"Oh, it's just a clutter of Junkions," said Slasher dismissively.
A second later, a muted shot hit one of the Junkions, blowing it to pieces and making the others run up a corridor. "That Junkion won't be getting back up in a hurry," commented Cutpurse who was starting to recover from his shocking.
"Targets approaching bridge," said the computer‏.
"Hmm, that would be wear the most valuable tech would be," said Slasher thoughtfully.
"It is also where we are," said Dante‏.
Cutpurse glanced around and asked, "Where's the wheel?"‏
Slasher sighed before a clang was heard at the door. The other looked before it was forced open, allowing two bots that looked even more dilapidated in person to run in, each yelling in a nearly incomprehensible beeping voice.
‎Several guns folded down at that and began firing, though these blasts didn’t do much as the Junkions charged in, Slasher and Cutpurse charging at them. "Time to go!” said Dante, grabbing Rarity and running for it.
"Where do we run to?" asked Rarity.
"Anyplace but here," said Dante.

"This is demeaning and drakeist," said Twilight dully, two of Shockwave’s troopers tying her robot form to a pole.
"And plum crazy if ya ask me," said Applejack.
"You were not inquired," said Shockwave dismissively.
"And what if he doesn’t come?" said Cheetor, who had also objected to the plan‏.
"Then zero harm will come to her," said Shockwave.
"Zero harm total or zero harm just from Matt?" asked Cheetor challengingly.
"That all depends on the resistance," said Shockwave‏.
"Why would Matt even come after Twilight anyways?" asked Applejack.
"From what I've gleamed of Earth literature, dragons are known to attempt to seize princesses for the presumed purpose of consumption, though the dragon is usually slayed by a knight," said Shockwave.
"Y'all are joking...right?" said Applejack dully.
"That literature was written by humans, considerably less enlightened than your friends," said Shockwave, "There is no strong evidence to support that old theory, but now we will be able to test it."‏
Twilight sighed. "Did you listen to how whatever that was spoke? It’s talking like a computer. It’s thinking logically..." she tried to say.
"Of course I noticed," said Shockwave, "The dragon/princess theory is only a backup. That VI identified you as someone of great significance and will certainly attempt to find you."‏
"Unless there's something it wants more," said Twilight pointedly.
"And what could that be?" asked Shockwave disinterestedly.
"Well, if you allowed us to talk about it, we probably could have avoided this," said Twilight.
"Then what are you after?" said Shockwave.

2 floors below...

The storage floors of Shockwave’s...facilities were perhaps the most guarded on Cybertron, the Cybertron equivalent of area 51. Here every MacGuffin, every super weapon, every nasty little invention was researched, logged and then thrown in a locker to never see the light of day again. It was also heavily guarded in case any MacGuffin collector felt like increasing his collection‏.
Unsurprisingly, Shockwave didn't trust anyone, Transtech or lowtech, to guard the McGuffins, but he had plenty of security droids commissioned to guard the place. The bulky tread-rollers looked more fit for the battlefield than guard duty.
Sadly, they were old models, equipped with high velocity plasma cannons. Perfect for killing almost everything. The ‘almost’ at that point blew a vent cover off and dropped down in front of the main doors to the storage room‏.
"Intruder alert," said the closest droid before aiming its plasma cannons at the reptilian.
The first blast impacted Matt, the plasma simply being sucked up like water into a dry sponge. "Threat noted...removing,” said the VI, with a little more emotion, albeit a bored tone before making a gesture, causing the droid to explode.
The other droids rumbled towards Matt but soon got the same treatment. The last one at least had enough intelligence to grab one of the MacGuffins, a jagged purple crystalline sword which projected a rather powerful energy wave. The sword beam shot out and hit Matt dead center, sending him flying back‏.
Matt groaned before sitting back up. A glint of light caught his eye and looked to see what was on the shelf near him. It was a large kite shield, ornately designed and inscribed with a few glyphs of some Cybertronian language. With little thought, Matt grabbed the shield to protect himself. He was momentarily surprised when the shield shrunk down to match his size.
The VI glared up at the droid at that, deflecting several blasts as he charged at it‏. The droid tried to bring the sword down on Matt, but the VI effortlessly blocked it before flicking the shield and making the sword fly out of the droid's hands. After that, it was a simple matter of making the droid's fuel tank explode.
"Now then...where are those drives?" muttered the VI, a smug tone in his voice‏.

Twilight was getting rather bored with being tied to the stake. "Is Matt here yet?" she asked sleepily.
"I would have thought he'd be here by now," said Cheetor before pausing as his insignia beeped, "Already? I would have thought we'd have caught up to him by now."
"Inspector, what was that about?" said Shockwave coldly.
"A case I'm working on that's been put off for too long," said Cheetor, "Can we hurry this up already?"
"We will be finished with this when I say so," said Shockwave.
Cheetor glared at that. "This is ridiculous. We can’t just wait here for a plan that most likely won’t work," he snapped‏.
"Last time I checked, I had the superior rank," said Shockwave sternly, "Unless you have a dispatch saying otherwise from someone of a higher rank, we will be proceeding as I order."
Cheetor glared before saying, "Fine, I need to make a call first." He walked over to a corner and pulled out not a communicator, but a remote Ground Bridge controller.
"Ok...let’s see," he muttered, pressing a few buttons in the hope of stopping the activation.
"Delay effect, activated," said the controller.
"No, no, I want to delay the activation, not the time arrival," snapped Cheetor as he tried to set the controls right.
"What is that?" said Shockwave at that‏.
"Uh, nothing," said Cheetor, hiding the remote behind his back.
"Are you hiding contraband?" demanded Shockwave.
"No, no, it's completely authorized equipment," said Cheetor.
"Then let me see it," demanded Shockwave.
Cheetor sighed before revealing the still charging remote. "A Ground Bridge remote? I hope you've filled out the proper forms for possessing one," said Shockwave.
"Of course I did. I am the Security Administration Officer," said Cheetor.
"And why precisely do you need such instantaneous transport like this?" demanded Shockwave. His answer soon came when a large green portal opened up right behind him.
"Was...someone looking for me?" said a giggling voice at that.
Shockwave looked up to see Matt perched upon a nearby building. "Finally, I was starting to think you weren't going to show up," said Shockwave.
"Well, I’m right here. You’ve got some fun things in the basement," laughed Matt, gliding over and landing, "All these great toys...like the Doom Sword...I call it George."‏
"That sounds more like the Matt we know," said Applejack.
"Sounds more like Discord to me," said Twilight before calling out, "Don't underestimate Matt. He's more dangerous than you think."‏
"Who's Matt?" asked Matt at that in a confused voice before grinning insanely, his eyes slits. "Now then, I think I know how this works," he said, aiming the sword randomly.
"Be careful with that, you fool," said Shockwave, "You have no idea what it is you're holding."
"I know enough, like how to do this," said Matt before swinging the sword and causing a wave of energy to shoot out of it.
Shockwave staggered back at that, his feet stopping at the edge of the Ground Bridge, Matt talking to the sword in a mock Russian voice. "Vats zat, sandvich? Kill zem all? GOOD IDEA!" he said, laughing manically before sending a second blast into Shockwave again, knocking him down the Ground Bridge.
The energy from the sword hitting the portal also caused quite a bit of feedback, namely a big boom that knocked everyone backwards. "That was AWESOME! Let’s see if I can make the purple one explode," said 'Matt' with a psychotic grin.

Unfortunately for Rarity and Airazor, Dante didn't have the layout of the ship as well-memorized as he thought so he kept leading them around in circles. Though admittedly, the ship had gone into lockdown mode and there wasn't a lot of place to be running to.
"This is insane. Where's the damn armory?" snapped Dante, punching a wall and causing the entire ship to shake.
"I didn't think you were that strong," said Rarity.
"He's not, but the stability of where this ship is precarious enough that enough force will jostle it loose," said Airazor.
"That would make it easy to fly out, right?" asked Rarity.
"If we could get it to fly, but we'll more likely end up falling further down," said Airazor.
"How deep does this damn dump go?" snapped Dante‏.
"Hard to say. We might end up all the way down in the Underworld," said Airazor.
"Wonderful..." said Dante darkly before a crash was heard.
"Now what?!" snapped Dante.
"I think we've got more scavenger problems," said Airazor.
Several dozen scraplets scuttled into view. "Oh, not these again," muttered Dante, aiming at them and walking forward. “Gonna drop this EM right in the middle of em," he grumbled‏.
"Uh, I don't think you should get too close," said Airazor.
"Why not? They only eat metal," said Dante. This was indeed true...but the nanites in his blood counted as metal and were in a high enough concentration that the scraplets were all staring at him with an unnoticed hungry look‏.
"Dante, I think you should get away from them," said Rarity.
"If you girls are too scared to deal with some pests, then I'm taking care of it!" snapped Dante.
On cue, one of the scraplets leapt up and sunk its teeth into his leg. “Ow! GAAH! GETTEM OFF!" snapped Dante, hopping back as the others went for him‏. Rarity and Airazor shot at the scraplets, but there were only so many they could hit without hurting Dante.
"GO! GO!” snapped Dante, firing an EM round into the floor around him‏.
Airazor picked up Rarity and ran in the other direction. "We have to help him!" cried Rarity.
"He's about to help himself. And we don't want to be close when that happens," said Airazor.
Dante nodded, waiting for the last moment before tossing the EM grenade into the air, a blue pulse spreading out and causing all the scraplets in range to short out, the others falling over themselves to get away from the fatal energy.
Of course, the blast frazzled Dante, or more precisely, his nanites which helped maintain his body. There was another rumble, the computer saying “Alert...seismic instability...all crew evacuate," before adding, “Jump point detected."‏

Of course, Airazor and Rarity ended up heading back to the bridge since there was little place else they could run to. Slasher was just finishing off the last Junkion, Cutpurse having fled the first chance he’d gotten. "Oh, you came back. Saves me having to hunt you both down," he said a little manically, readying a wrist blaster.
"Alert, unauthorized firearm detected," said the onboard computer.
"Oh shut up, will you?!" snapped Slasher.
"Hostility noted." said the computer as Slasher aimed before he twitched, a blue flash indicating a blast going clean through him. The girls winced but Slasher didn't fall, though he did clutch as his side where the wound was. Another blast rang out, another hole. "No...Not...letting...you...get away…” snapped Slasher, weakly before pausing as another blast hit him.
Just then, a green portal opened up in the bridge. "It's about time, Cheetor," snapped Airazor when a bot who was most definitely not Cheetor fell through.
Shockwave stood up and looked around. "So this is the ship that's been the root of so much trouble," he said.
Slasher stared before managing. “No...NO!” aiming the blaster before a final shot from the computer went through his spark. “Threat terminated...alert...stability compromised...all crew brace."‏
"What is the meaning of this?" demanded Shockwave.
"Shockwave, we're going down with the ship, literally," said Airazor.
With the loud creak of scraping metal, the ship slid forward, quickly losing the fight with gravity. Eventually, the whole ship toppled over and started plummeting down to the bottom of the abyss in a shower of junk.

Well, it's a new year and I though it was time to get back to updating this story. I'm sorry it took me so long to get this updated. I've been rather busy with other stories. And this was one of the chapters where the plot runs away from you, hence why it's in two parts.

Anyways, this chapter is set in Axiom Nexus, which is rather heavy in Transformers references so we'll just focus on the more significant references. For instance, Red Alert and Ratchet are based on their counterparts in the More Than Meets the Eye comic, though probably with futuristic bodies. The Swindles are familiar characters in the Transtech stories along with Cheetor, Airazor, Shockwave, and Cryotek. Speaking of whom, we finally have the identity of the mastermind behind the Mane 6's abduction. The universe he's supposed to be from gets its label from the airdate of "Theft of the Golden Disk". Cryotek was last seen being trapped between dimensions at the end of the 3H comic. The MacGuffins that Matt swipes are the Dark Star Saber and a version of the Skyboom Shield as I think it would have appeared as in one of the Alligned fictions. And of course, the Scraplets are from Transformers: Prime and the Junkions are familiar characters from various different continuities.

Also, the psychotic behavior Matt is showing is the result of his Shar-Khan nanites being activated prematurely. Currently, he's in a proto-Draconus state. It's a bit anachronistic, but it'll be fixed by the next chapter. You'll be able to read that very soon. Please review.