//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 // Story: War in Equestria // by FlamingSamurai //------------------------------// Princess Cadance looked out towards the entrance of her beloved empire from her castle balcony. The sun was starting to set and the war had been only going on for nearly a day now. Shining Armor ordered as many of the Royal Guards as they could to patrol the borders of the empire for any sign of even the slightest of Changelings. Pinkie Pie was down by the Crystal Heart, guarding it with a few others. Taking another look out towards the border of the empire, Cadance sighed and began to walk back inside. “Oh!” Cadance suddenly gasped as she felt something kick inside of her. She began breathing in and out rapidly as Rarity and Spike arrived. “Princess Cadance!” Rarity cried, rushing over to her. “Are you alright?” Cadance managed to get herself to breath deeper and slower as Rarity put a hoof on her front left leg and did her best to smile at her. “Don’t worry”, she said. “The baby just kicked is all.” Spike sighed in relief. “You had us spooked for a second, there.” “It’s alright, really”, Cadance said. “Has Pinkie reported anything?” Spike shook his head. “She hasn’t seen anything that looks suspicious. Her Pinkie Sense hasn’t gone off, either.” “And what about Shining Armor?” “Nothing on his end”, Rarity said. “He and some of the other guards have been patrolling all day. Literally nothing!” Cadance looked out towards the border of the empire again and sighed. Spike placed a comforting hand on her other leg, but he and Rarity yelped in surprise as Cadance suddenly wrapped her hooves around them and held them close. “Uhh…” was all Spike could get out. “Thank you…” Cadance said, trying not to cry. “Thank you both. I don’t know what Shining and I would do without you.” A few tears escaped Cadance’s eyes and Rarity broke out of the embrace to hold her chin and began wiping the tears away. “There, there, darling,” Rarity spoke softly. “It will be alright, I promise. We’ve been through much worse, after all.” Cadance smiled. “I know. I just hope this ends before the baby arrives. I don’t want him or her to know what it’s like to see its new home at its worst.” At that moment, a scream emerged from below the balcony. Spike ran over and peered over to see what was the matter. “Oh, no!” “What?” What is it, Spike?” Cadance asked urgently. “The Changelings…” Spike said before turning back to his friends. “They’ve broken through!” “WHAT?” Cadance and Rarity shouted in unison. Suddenly, a Changeling rose up over the balcony behind Spike, its horn glowing with a green aura. Thinking quickly, Rarity fired a turquoise beam of magic from her horn that sent it flying. “We need to get her to the safe room!” Rarity shouted. “Spike, take the lead.” “What about you?” Spike asked. Suddenly, four more Changelings arose from where the other had come from, satisfied grins on their faces. Immediately, Rarity jumped in front of Spike and charged a magic blast with her horn. “I’ll be right behind you! Now go!” Spike immediately did as he was told, helping Cadance inside as the Changelings pounced on Rarity. He forced himself not to look back at the mare he loved as he began leading Cadance inside the castle. Rarity wrestled her way out of the Changelings’ grasp and managed to stand up in a defensive stance. “I guess it really is on now. I just hope the others are having an easier time than the rest of us,” Rarity thought to herself before lunging at her attackers. --------------------------------------------------- “Everyone evacuate! We are under attack! This is not a drill!” Rainbow heard the remaining Wonderbolts issue these orders to the citizens of Cloudsdale as she fought off the Changelings surrounding her. They were coming at her from all sides, but Rainbow kept fighting, living her favorite dream by beating up every single one of them. But much to her irritation, they wouldn’t stay down. No matter how many hits Rainbow would land on them, the Changelings would keep coming back for more. She was really not having a good day. Earlier in the day, she was out on patrol when she took a glance at the ground below. She saw two large beings emerging from a cave and, to her amazement, one of them shape-shifted into something that looked like a really large wagon. Using her keen eyesight, she also noticed the creatures didn’t seem organic, but rather, they seemed to be made of metal. Then, they vanished before she could fully comprehend what she had seen. She had wanted to tell the others about what she had seen, but she didn’t think anyone would believe her. As far as anyone knew, there were no such thing as creatures made of metal, so she figured they’d find her crazy. Rainbow didn’t have much time to think about it all as she was too distracted introducing Changelings to her bare hooves. How she had come to this situation was more fresh in her mind. She, Soarin, and Spitfire had gone to look for Fleetfoot and her squad, which had gone missing. Instead, Spitfire led them both into a room where said Wonderbolts were contained in Changeling cocoons. Two Changelings emerged from the shadows and Spitfire herself turned into one. Soarin had decided to hold them off to let Rainbow warn the others. She succeeded, but the other Changelings caught up with her as they others went to evacuate the citizens. One Wonderbolt had volunteered to help Rainbow, but was already knocked out. As Rainbow worried for Soarin’s safety, two other Changelings tried to charge her from different directions, but Rainbow jumped into the air, doing a somersault as she did so, letting the Changelings crash into each other. Landing in a stylish pose, Rainbow then surprised another Changeling by ramming him into a wall with her body. Rainbow turned to another Changeling and continued to fight, although she quickly realized her strength was wearing down. How long had this been going on? She felt as if she had been at it for hours, even though it couldn’t possibily be nowhere near that long. It didn’t matter; she couldn’t keep this up forever, as awesome as she was. As much as she hated to admit it, Rainbow knew she needed to get out of there. Mustering up whatever strength she had left, Rainbow launched herself into the air and began to fly away from the Changelings, who quickly followed in pursuit. As she began to fly in evasive maneuvers, trying desperately to shake them, Rainbow began to think. “Why did they target Cloudsdale?” Rainbow asked herself. “What do we have that they could want - ?” An idea suddenly formed. A while back, Rainbow learned that her pet tortoise Tank needed to hibernate during the winter, so she decided to try and stop winter from coming by sabotaging Cloudsdale’s weather system. Needless to say, it backfired and winter ended up arriving early in Ponyville. “What if the weather system is what they want? What do they want to do with it?” Rainbow quickly changed the direction she was flying in and headed straight for the weather factory, hoping there was still time. She heard buzzing noises as a group of Changelings appeared behind her, trying to gain on her. Rainbow managed to force herself to go faster, not fast enough to perform a Sonic Rainboom, but fast enough to outpace them as she zig-zagged around buildings to reach the factory. She then forced herself not to look back; those Changelings didn’t matter. Her home did. And that’s when large puffs of smoke and streaks of lighting emerged from her intended destination. Changelings and pegasi alike fled from the area, as Rainbow continued towards it. A large blast of snow was shot outwards towards the directions of Baltimare and Fillydelphia, the latter of which where Discord was currently patrolling for the presence of Changelings. As the factory bucked and shook, a Changeling was propelled from the building by whatever chaos it had caused inside and crashed right into the fastest pegasus there ever was, sending her backwards and crashing into the ground before she could have a chance to dodge. The last thing Rainbow saw before she blacked out was the image of four Changelings looming over her. She only hoped the rest of her friends could succeed where she had ultimately failed. --------------------------------------------------- Shining Armor was running back towards the Crystal Castle as fast as he could. The Changelings had gotten through the empire’s defenses and the sight of several of them flying towards it indicated that they were going for the Crystal Heart. The ultimate source of hope and, most importantly, love for Equestria, losing the heart would mean the end of everything. Chrysalis would be unstoppable for sure with the amount of love magic inside of it. “Chrysalis must have ordered it to be brought to her. Well, not today, Changelings,” Shining thought to himself. “The day I let the empire fall to the likes of you is the day I – “ “SCREEEEEEEEAAAAAAHH!!!” Shining heard an ear-piercing screech as a Changeling suddenly landed right in front of him, the full force of the ambush causing the Crystal Prince to jump back in shock. The Changeling charged at him, but Shining put up a protective spell around himself that sent the vermin onto his back. Shining attempted to move around him, but then another Changeling appeared in front of him. Then another to his right. And another to his flank, followed by another, and another, and another… Amidst the small group of Changelings surrounding him, Shining looked over towards the direction of the castle. He thought of Rarity, Spike, Pinkie Pie, and all the other guards fighting to protect the Crystal Heart. Most of all, he thought of Cadance and the unborn child they couldn’t wait to raise. This wasn’t how things would end, he vowed. Not by a long shot. As Shining powered up an offensive shield spell, he suddenly heard a loud whooshing sound and he and the others around him looked up to see something very large flying towards them. With the Changeling’s attention turned towards the object, Shining took the opportunity to unleash his spell, knocking all the Changelings away from him with a violet expanding shield. A moment later, several guards, their armor chipped and cracked in some places, appeared beside their captain and tied ropes around the unconscious Changeling’s hooves. A trio of royal guards approached him, one of them distracted by the giant object hovering over them. “I’m glad to see that you’re okay,” Shining addressed his soldiers as they saluted him. “Now, if I may ask…” He looked up towards the large object. Shining was now able to get a better look at it without the distraction of Changelings. It looked like a box it had wings coming out of its side, something shaped like a thin and long triangle stuck out at the front, and he could see fire coming out from behind it. “What in Celestia’s name is that!?” one of the guards asked. “You took the words right out of my mouth,” Shining said. Before Shining could get another word out, something unexpected happened. “Greetings, carbon-based life-forms,” the object spoke with an ambiguous accent. “Do not be afraid. I am here to help.” The ponies’ jaws dropped and their eyes widened. Little did they realize things were about to get a lot crazier than they already were. --------------------------------------------------- One moment, Bumblebee and his fellow Autobots were inside the Ark, holding on for dear life as the ship made planetfall. The next, he was in total darkness. Suddenly, something was pulling him back to reality. It looked like a small ball of light that was growing bigger and brighter by the second. He heard someone saying something. Whoever he was, he sounded calm, welcoming, and reassuring. “That’s it, Bumblebee. Just follow the light. Everything’s alright.” “Wait, what?!” What did he just hear? “NO!” Bumblebee abruptly sat up, breathing rapidly. What happened? Was he dead? Did the crash do him in? Was he in the Well of All Sparks? “Easy, Bumblebee, easy”, the voice said as Bumblebee felt a hand on his shoulder. Bumblebee turned and, to his relief, there was Ratchet, the Autobot’s chief medic. “Everyone’s alright”, Ratchet reassured him. “We survived the crash, but it knocked most of us out. Now, I need you to lie down so I can get a better look at you.” There were several operating tables along most of the walls in the room. A few other Autobots were lying there, still unconscious and looking mostly intact in spite of what they just went through. There was a large table with tools on it next to Ratchet and there was a cabinet of chemicals with markings Bumblebee took a quick look around. on them in one corner of the room. In another corner, three large cylander-shaped tanks containing a light-red liquid; one of them seemed to have a badly burned and visibly cracked form in it. It quickly dawned on him where he was: the ship’s medical bay. Breathing a sigh of relief, Bumblebee laid back down on the operating table Ratchet had gotten him onto. As Ratchet used a device to scan his body for any and all injuries, Bumblebee turned towards his friend. “Ratchet… what about the others? How did we get here?” Ratchet sighed. “Ironhide, Arcee, Smokescreen, and Prowl are alright, but they’re still unconscious. I’m going to try and wake them up once I’m done with you. Strongarm was near the engine room of the Ark when that explosion happened. She… she’s burned up pretty badly. I had to put her into a healing tank. As for Optimus, Ultra Magnus, Drift, Jazz, and the Wreckers… well, we’ve found no trace of them. There’s no telling where they are.” Ratchet completed his scan and motioned for Bumblebee to sit up. He did so and Ratchet slowly helped him up onto his feet. “As for you, you don’t seem to have suffered any serious injuries, just some light impact trauma from the crash. That’s probably the case with the others, but I’d take it easy for the moment. Give yourself a few minutes while I help the others get back on their stabilizing servos. After that, head for the deck and see if you can help Fixit get the systems back online.” “Fixit?” Bumblebee asked. “Who’s Fixit?” “That would be me, sir”, a new voice spoke up. It was male, but a bit high-pitched. Bumblebee looked around the room for the voice before Ratchet motioned for him to look down. When he did, he saw an orange Mini-Con with a set of two wheels replacing his lower torso, a trio of pincers instead of normal servos, and a pair of innocent-looking blue eyes with a smile on his face. “Um…” Bumblebee didn’t know what to think. “I know what you’re thinking, but in spite of my size, I am Fixit, chief mechanic and former head security officer of the prison ship Alchemor, ready to protect and curve – “ Fixit’s head suddenly twitched to the right with a small sparking sound. “Swerve –“ He twitched again before hitting his chest. “Serve!” Bumblebee looked puzzled. “Umm, pardon me for asking, but what’s with the impediment?” “Fixit’s from a much older generation of Mini-Cons”, Ratchet explained. “If you’ll forgive me for saying so, his age is showing.” Fixit didn’t seem offended, but he crossed his arms and a proud expression crossed his face. “I prefer myself ‘seasoned’, thank you very much. Anyways, I came here because I wanted to inform you that I managed to get the ships scanners back up and running. If Optimus Prime and the others are out there, we’ll know it.” Ratchet nodded in Fixit’s direction. “Good. See if you can scan for any Decepticon signatures, as well. They’re somewhere on this planet and we’re going to find them, too.” He then turned back towards Bumblebee. “If you’re up to it, Bumblebee, why don’t you go help him? I can take things from here.” Bumblebee nodded and walked out of the room towards the deck of the Ark with Fixit. As they walked, Bumblebee noticed the signs of damage the ship took during the Decepticons’ assault. Glass from the lights was shattered, with tiny pieces all over the floor. Walls were cracked, wires strewn everywhere, and Energon dropped from Autobots and Decepticons alike were splattered on the floor and walls. But the Decepticons, who had followed Team Prime back into the Ark after the engines were blown up, were nowhere to be found. “I still can’t believe this is happening”, Bumblebee muttered grimly. “If it makes you feel any better, neither can I”, Fixit replied. “I haven’t seen anything this bad since the breakout onboard the Alchemor.” “I saw the report on that incident,” Bumblebee remembered. “A Decepticon had allowed himself to be captured and broke everyone out of the ship. A lot of good ‘Bots died trying to fight back.” “And I was the only diver – “ ZZTT!! "MacGyver – “ ZZTT!! “Survivor!” Fixit managed to get out as he hit his chest again. An awkward silence fell over the two as they stopped in place for a second. “This is gonna take some getting used to”, Bumblebee thought as Fixit cleared his throat. “Excuse me.” The two of them continued down the hallway. “After that, I was transferred to being a mechanic onboard the Ark. I don’t know about you, but I was psyched!” Fixit continued. “I’ve worked under some great Autobots in my time, but getting to work under Optimus Prime himself? That’s a dream come true!” “You don’t even know the half of it”, Bumblebee said. “But I don’t get it. When the Ark crashed, I thought everyone on board was knocked into stasis. What about you? I didn’t see you all that much after we left Cybertron.” Fixit looked down. “Well, if you must know, when the Decepticons attacked, I hid. After what happened onboard the Alchemor, I didn’t think there was much for a simple Mini-Con to do against a whole army of normal-sized Cybertronians. I was hiding under the main console in the deck of the ship when Optimus and Megatron came crashing through the window. I saw both of them, Elite Guard Commander Ultra Magnus, and First Lieutenant Jazz being sucked out along with two other Decepticons I recognized from the Mayhem Attack Squad. When the ship crashed, I remember being knocked out for a brief moment. “But, when I woke up again, I immediately went to check the rest of the ship for survivors. Being a mechanic, I thought I could do something to help Chief Medical Officer Ratchet repair the others. But instead, I came across several Decepticons, Megatron’s top lieutenants if memory serves, going through a Ground Bridge to an unknown location. They know where Megatron is.” “And if we don’t find them, any indigenous being living on this planet is in danger”, Bumblebee finished. It was at that moment that they made it to the main deck of the ship. Much like the rest of the ship, the whole place was torn apart, the most significant feature being the smashed window. Neither Autobot could see outside of it, however, as the front of the ship seemed to be buried into the side of a rock face with what appeared to be diamonds. Fixit wheeled himself over to the main control panel and began to fiddle around with it. Bumblebee walked up next to him. “So, tell me again how are we able to track anyone without the main monitor in working order? “Well, we do have a hologram projector that shows the map of the planet we’re on in the middle of the room”, Fixit explained. “Once I make a few adjustments to Teletraan-1’s scanners, we can track the Decepticons along with our fellow Autobots. Just give me a few moments, and…” Fixit typed in several different codes into the main computer before a red light flashed onto the screen. “Argh... Bumblebee? I need you to look under the main control panel. Some wires are loose!” Bumblebee got down onto his back and crawled under the main control panel. A couple of wires were hanging loose. “Alright, what do you need me to do?” Bumblebee asked. Fixit peeked down under the panel. “Connect that red wires to the green wire, the blue wire to the black wire, and the white wire to the yellow wire.” Slowly, Bumblebee did as he was told. He carefully connected each color wire to their appropriate partner and then glanced around before finding a small panel and closing it over them. “Okay, try it now!” Bumblebee said. Fixit typed in the codes again. This time, the small screen on the main panel flashed green. Fixit smiled. “Okay, we’re good to throw – “ ZZTT! “- slow – “ ZZTT! BANG! “ – go!” He typed one last code into the keyboard and a map of the planet flared to life. As Bumblebee crawled out from under the panel, he watched the hologram as Fixit made it focus on the continent that they had crash-landed on. Then, several Autobot signals popped up on the radar. Optimus and Jazz seemed to be heading towards their location from a mountain range northeast of their location, but they were several megamiles away. On top of that, Jazz’s signal appeared very faint. Whatever condition he was in, Bumblebee felt that Ratchet would have his work cut out for him. Ultra Magnus seemed to be more closer to their location, at least. He was several megamiles southeast away from the Ark, but was heading northeast towards an unidentified populated area. The Wreckers looked to be at the very center of the map and Optimus and Jazz looked like they were nearing their location. But still nothing on Jetfire, the Autobot’s Chief of Science after Perceptor stayed behind on Cybertron with Rodimus… “Okay, we know where the others are”, Bumblebee said. “What have we got for the Decepticons?” “Let’s see here…” Fixit typed in another code and several Decepticon signals appeared on the map. Immediately, Bumblebee became concerned. There was at least one signal on a northwest section of the continent and the sensors also indicated that whoever it was, they were with what was left of the Nemesis. But what Bumblebee was most concerned about was in a southeast corner of the map. Fifteen Decepticon signals were near a large body of water and were heading in the direction of Ultra Magnus. “Oh no…” Bumblebee exchanged worried glances with Fixit. “We need to tell Ratchet and the others. Now.”  --------------------------------------------------- Most of the guards were down. Rarity and Spike were somewhere in the castle, no doubt helping Princess Cadance get to safety. All around her, Pinkie could only see Changelings. She was backed up against the Crystal Dais, where the Crystal Heart stood. Her party cannon was all out of confetti. But unfortunately for the Changelings, they didn’t exactly remember what happened during Sombra’s return a month or so ago. The fact made the pink party pony smile. One Changeling chuckled. “What’s so funny?” “Oh, nothing,” Pinkie replied casually. But I think I know what you’re thinking. I’m out of ammo in my party cannon. There’s no way I could possibly have anything else to throw your way, could I?” The Changelings looked at each other for a moment and then laughed. “Is this some kind of joke?” the lead Changeling asked. “Not really”, a new voice said. As the lead Changeling turned towards the source of the voice, a bright light filled his vision and he and the others cried out in pain. Pinkie pulled the string of her party cannon and a liquid pink substance came out, covering them in the stuff. From behind the Changelings, Rarity stepped out and observed the Changelings and scooped a small piece of the liquid off one of them, which seemed to be hardening. She licked it and her eyes lit up. “Strawberry?” she asked. “It’s something new I’ve been working on,” Pinkie said. “You never know when a party needs some hardening strawberry sauce for your goodies! By the way, nice job with that flare spell, Rarity!” Rarity chuckled. Then, much to Pinkie’s surprise, Rarity suddenly gasped and pointed her hoof behind where she was standing. Pinkie turned just in time to see a Changeling making off with the Crystal Heart in a sack. “Stop right there, criminal scum!” Pinkie shouted. She and Rarity zoomed towards the Changeling as fast as they could The strawberry sauce was a one pump chump; Pinkie decided to only use it if she was cornered and the only risk was that any of the sauce that remained in the cannon would jam it. But she would not need it for this one. Rarity then began to race ahead of Pinkie, hoping to get close enough to the Changeling to perform another flare spell. But suddenly, Pinkie began to twitch and spaz all about, her ears flopping and eyelids constantly going up and down. Both mares stopped in their tracks. “Pinkie, what’s wrong?” Rarity asked. “He’s getting away!” “I can’t help it!” Pinkie cried. “There’s a big doozie coming this way! And I don’t mean like Manehattan big or Canterlot big. I’m talking REALLY big!” “Ha!” the Changeling shouted at them as he ran. “What’s wrong? Can’t handle losing your little –“ CRUNCH!!! Something as large as an Ursa Major, maybe even larger, landed right behind the Changeling with a loud and deafening sound, who was thrown back by the force of the landing. He, along with Pinkie and Rarity, stared up at the giant being standing before them. It was metallic, stood on two legs, colored white with some signs of red and blue on the chest, and seemed to be… metallic. Rarity was immediately reminded of the description Twilight gave her about humans in the world Sunset Shimmer went to. The Changeling scooped up the Crystal Heart in the sack around his neck and held it to his chest. The giant bent down to one knee and stared at the Changeling dead in the eye. His head didn’t seem to have a face; there was only some kind of visor in front of his eyes and he had what looked like a guard covering his mouth. “You have something that belongs to these people. Return it immediately. This is your only warning.” The creature’s booming voice seemed to have an accent Rarity had once heard off of Octavia Melody back in Ponyville. The shaking Changeling frantically shook his head. “N-no way!” he stammered. “Th-this a-a-artif-f-fact g-g-goes to Chrysalis, r-r-ruler of the Ch-changeling hive!” The giant stared at him again. Then, he placed his fists down in front of him. The Changeling curled back in fear that he was about to get flicked. Instead, the giant unfurled his fingers and unveiled what was in it. Shining Armor, Prince of the Crystal Empire, as well as some of the guards that had been at the borders when the Changelings snuck through. The Changeling yelled in fear and backed up, only to bump into Rarity and Pinkie, who were now standing over him. “And now?” Rarity asked. Unable to go anywhere and cut off from his forces, the Changeling took the heart out of the sack and threw it at Shining’s hooves. Shining picked it up and motioned for two of the guards to restrain the Changeling with their unicorn magic. He then walked over to him as the Changeling was being hoisted to his hooves. “You and the rest of your kind will pay for all of this,” Shining coldly spat. The Changeling just drooped his head as Rarity and Pinkie approached Shining. “You look like you could use a makeover,” Rarity said, looking over a tired-looking Shining. “Maybe another time, Rarity,” Shining said with a chuckle. “Right now, we’ve got to get into contact with Princess Celestia. We’ve got someone here who just helped drive off the other Changelings and wants to keep helping us.” The giant placed a hand over his chest. “Ready to serve in any way I can, miladies.” Rarity felt like she was about to faint. That’s when Pinkie extended a hoof towards him. “Well, hi then! I’m Pinkie Pie and this is Rarity! And you are?” she asked excitedly. The giant extended one of his fingers to touch Pinkie’s hoof. Then, the visor and the mouth guard peeled back, revealing a pair of large, blue eyes and what looked like a mouth. “Hello, Pinkie Pie, Rarity,” the giant said with a smile. “A pleasure to meet your acquaintance. You can call me Jetfire.” END ACT I