Jack and Twilight emerged from the Groundbridge portal to find themselves back in the Autobot base. Jack looked up to see all of the Autobots standing around him, with looks of approval on their faces. Twilight looked forward and saw all of her friends, sitting there and waiting for her with warm smiles on their faces.
Twilight beamed with joy as they all ran toward each other and embraced themselves in a big group hug. It was hard to distinguish who was saying what a midst their chatter, but they could still make out lines such as "I missed you" and "Welcome back." The Autobots looked on this warm scene and briefly got caught up in the moment.
"I've gotta admit," Arcee said with a small smirk on her face. "There is something strangely uplifting about these ponies."
"Beep-boo," Bumblebee nodded in agreement.
"I know, it's weird," Bulkhead commented. "It's like just seeing them all together and happy made me forget about our troubles."
"But I suppose we can't put it off any longer," Ratchet added somewhat solemnly.
Optimus bent down to address the six ponies. "I'm sure you must all be going through a lot right now, but we need to confront Discord now before he does any more harm."
The six ponies broke their hug and looked at each other. They simultaneously nodded to each other with a serious expression on their faces. "We're ready," Twilight said sternly as she looked up to Optimus.
Optimus silently nodded in agreement before turning to Ratchet to give instructions. "Ratchet, prepare the coordinates!"
Ratchet quickly typed away on his keyboard. "Last time, I gave us some distance from the storm of Chaos that Discord seemed to be located at. This time however, we're going to drop right into the eye of the storm."
"You don't want to try and get the surprise on him again?" Twilight asked in protest.
"I don't think sneak attacks will be possible on this kind of opponent," Ratchet answered as he finished typing. "You six just need to focus on using your elements, and we'll take care of the rest."
Optimus turned to Arcee, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead. "You do not have to throw yourself into danger if you do not wish to. If anyone wants to stay here, I will understand."
"Come on Optimus," Bulkhead protested. "We've been through so much as it is, do you think we're going to turn back now?"
"Bip-zip-bee," Bumblebee beeped in agreement.
"Wherever you go, we'll follow," Arcee spoke boldly.
"Understood," was all Optimus could say to his team's display of loyalty. "Rafael, I trust you will handle the Groundbridge once more."
"Got it," Raf acknowledged as he hit some keys on his keyboard. Once he hit enter, the green light from the Groundbridge portal lit up their base once more.
"Everyone," all heads turned toward Jack as he addressed the crowd. "Good luck."
"Thank you Jack," Twilight said warmly.
"All right team," Optimus said boldly. "Move out!"
And with that, all five Autobots and six ponies walked into the portal.
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The once blue sky was now a dark red as lighting crashed down from the sky. The ground had now become covered in checkerboard tiles, the mountains were now floating in midair, and the center of it all was a floating throne, with jewel eyes and deer antlers sticking out at the top. Discord sat in his chair, admiring his work.
"Ah, I love the smell of chaos in the morning," Discord gloated to himself as he snapped his fingers and made a glass of chocolate milk appear out of nowhere. He was surprised to suddenly hear a loud noise as a green portal opened up underneath him. He looked on to see the five Autobots walk out and stand before him.
"Ugh," Discord sighed to himself as he threw the entire glass of milk into his mouth. A loud crunching noise was heard every time he chewed, until he eventually swallowed the glass whole. "This had better be important."
"Discord!" Optimus called out. "Your reign of terror ends now!"
"This again?" Discord taunted as he teleported down to where the Autobots were standing. "Can't you see I have a very busy schedule? Spreading a kingdom of chaos over the multiverse doesn't just happen with the snap of the fingers, you know. Oh wait, yes it does!" Discord chuckled to himself.
"Not gonna happen, Discord!" The voice echoed loudly from the portal. Discord looked past the Autobots in surprise to find the mane 6, walking out of the portal, side by side, each wearing their element of harmony.
"Well what do we have here?" Discord asked coyly. "So, you all managed to turn back to normal...AGAIN...I take it?" Discord warped back over to sit on his throne. "I suppose you want me to just sit still again and let you win a second time? Sorry, not happening. I have too much of a good thing going on here, and I can't have you ruining it all for me. So if you're not going to stop bugging me, then I'll just have to take care of you the old fashioned way."
"Ha!" Rainbow Dash challenged him. "With these guys on our side? I'd like to see you try!"
Discord said nothing as a small smirk formed on his lopsided face. "hahaha," he let out a small laugh that grew bigger and bigger. "hahaHaHaHaHaHaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
A look of confusion passed over everyone as they all looked to each other to try and find answers. "What's so funny!?" Twilight asked fiercely.
"Don't you see it?" Discord taunted madly. "Ever since I've gotten here, I've been getting even stronger! I don't like to get my own hands dirty, but since you're so persistent, let me show you just how hopeless your battle really is!"
As soon as he finished talking, a black aura surrounded Discord. The black light grew stronger until eventually an entire pillar of black flame shot up from the ground, right where Discord was located. The pillar of black fire reached high up into the sky, and it started to rapidly expand outward. As a precaution the Autobots immediately grabbed the ponies and put some distance between themselves and this strange new predicament.
The flames stopped expanding, but they still shot up into the air. Soon, however, a lion's paw reached out of the flames. However, this lion's paw was easily twenty times bigger than Discord's old paw. Looks of worry and fear started to form on the ponies' faces, while the Autobots only looked on with stern, angry expressions.
Shortly after an eagle talon of equal size shot forth from the flame. Then a large horse leg, then a dragon leg. The wing of a bat and the wing of the bird stretched out the flames simultaneously. Their large wingspan shadowed the entire team in darkness. Finally, a large tail stretched out of the back of the fire. It hit the ground with a tremendous thud that shook the earth itself.
The flames finally receded to reveal Discord's face at last. His head had gone through the biggest change, not only in size but also in appearance. His once cartoonish features were now replaced with more grim, realistic details. This behemoth easily towered over the ponies and even the Autobots. He was probably as big as Unicron's stone warriors!
The new Discord simply looked down at the team with piercing yellow eyes, and then it let out a mighty, ferocious roar.