//------------------------------// // Part 21: The Fortunate Ones // Story: Equestria Girls: Transformation // by The Bricklayer //------------------------------// Cybertron: The Great War: It was during the height of the Great War, where Hound and several others had found themselves deeply entrenched in what remained of the city of Polyhex, ravaged by decades of warfare. This battle, it’d honestly been going like this for the last several days with neither Autobot nor Decepticon keen on giving in or gaining any ground in the process. And all the while, both sides kept on expending Energon. Hound was the de facto commander for this battle with the previous soldier in charge, an Autobot named Guzzle having been killed early on via a shot to the head early in the battle. Road Rage, she was firing shot after shot at Decepticon snipers, keen on picking off as many as she could before they finally got her. “You know…” she smiled sadly. “After all of this, when this is over… I think a nice keg of energon at Maccadam’s Old Oil House is in order. All of us, just kicking back and relax watching old holovids. Yeah, what do you think Backstreet?” she asked, looking towards her fallen comrade, the late Triggerbot having a hole blown right through his chest courtesy of a Combaticon shell casing. She chuckled sadly, knowing that the Autobot had always hated fighting for the sake of fighting, and to be honest would have rather have been a stellar explorer out amongst the stars, seeking out new life and new civilizations. He probably would have been, had the war not broke out and he’d been unceremoniously drafted. Grumbling to herself, Road Rage muttered: “All the dirty jobs…” before firing off another shot, scoring a headshot right through the cranium of the Seeker known as Nova Storm. If she lived through this, and that was a very large if, she swore she’d take up Backstreet’s job and become a planetorial ambassador, just travel out there amongst the stars and meet all kinds of fascinating new species. She’d name one just after Backstreet, that’s what she’d do. Suddenly, a very loud explosion sent Road Rage flying as her cover was blown to smithereens and parts flew everywhere as the rubble she’d been using was completely destroyed by a blast from the Combaticon known as Brawl. He’d assumed a tripod-legged stationary cannon mode, his usual hover tank alt-mode having been abandoned for the time being. A shout rang out amongst the battlefield, Onslaught ordering: “Armored Division, assume siege modes and open fire at designated coordinates. We’re taking control of this situation, ending this farce!” “...Oh, guess I never did want to live forever…” Road Rage sighed to herself, noting her rifle’s ammo banks had been depleted dry. From her position, she saw the armored division of Onslaught’s forces, as per orders dictated assuming similar tri-legged cannon modes. “Well, this isn’t going to be pretty is it?” Hound laughed darkly to himself, his right arm bleeding energon fluid, a lucky shot from a Con named aptly enough Gunbarrel piercing the armored mesh plating. Thankfully, he’d repaid him in kind by shooting the tank transformer through the stomach. Hound’s prediction proved to be spot on, as the Autobot forces were showered with mortar shots, ruins coming down all around them, with Trailbreaker only just barely able to hold back the crumbling rubble with his forcefield generator. “Again!” Onslaught ordered, pointing directly at the Autobots. “I don’t want a single Autobot standing, you hear?” The armor division began to ready their next wave of shots, as Trailbreaker looked towards Hound. “Sir, I’m not sure we can take another shelling like that!” he shouted, cracks like little fractures of glass in his forcefield already beginning to show. “Now, I’m all for one final last stand, going out in a blaze of glory and all that and getting tales to be told about us, but this is foolish! I’m opting for a surrender! Maybe… just maybe, we’ll get lucky and they’ll just take us prisoner instead!” “No, the Combaticons never take prisoners, they never do…” Hound mused, thinking of his fallen comrades. The dead and rusting, they were the fortunate ones here. Anyone who’d already joined the Allspark could be considered as such, in this tireless seemingly never-ending war that had cut through Cybertron like the blade of a sword and sliced it in two. The ones still left alive… Well, that was another story entirely. Sentinel Prime was gone, destroyed by Deathsaurus in one grand battle that had extinguished most’s last hopes at a peaceful resolution to this conflict, and Megatron was pushing for the offensive aiming to take Iacon. “If they wanted to offer us that luxury, they would have long ago.” “D-Don’t s-suppose you can pull one of your hologram tricks out of that gearbox of yours, could you?” Road Rage coughed out with energon dripping from her mouth, and Hound shook his head. “No, the Decepticons would get wise fairly quickly if some giant warrior just showed up out of the blue. They know of what I can do. If we were dealing with a more fearful and foolish lot, it might work, but Onslaught and his brigade? They are neither fearful nor foolish.” “Then what?” Trailbreaker asked, looking towards a very distinctive white flag laying next to the body of Backstreet. “The flag, use it.” “Of course,” Trailbreaker nodded. “I’ll just set this up at the front of the battlements and-” “No, you will use it to bandage my wound, soldier!” Hound barked out, cutting him off. “We never give in, one quick decisive strike right through the heart of Onslaught’s forces, they’d never expect it. It’d throw them into chaos!” “That’s crazy, suicidal even!” Trailbreaker shouted. “Yes, maybe, but right now… I’d say we’re all out of options. Nobody cares for us, we’re just cogs in a machine. We just have to fend for ourselves, and right now I’d say a little bit of crazy is in order. Now, as Sentinel Prime used to say… Autobots, Transform and Roll Out!” A roar of triumph went up amongst the remaining forces as they followed Hound’s lead, their fighting spirit restored. Small victories Road Rage mused to herself, small victories. Earth, Now: “Yeah, never did want to live forever eh…?” Road Rage thought to herself. “We, or what was left of our platoon survived that, and now here on Earth just chasing after war criminals Hound got picked off by a lone sniper.” she thought, sighing and shaking her head at the irony. “So… he’s really gone?” Indigo’s lips quivered as she stood over the body of Hound, tears beginning to form in them. “No… NO! I WON’T LET HIM DIE!” She pounded the edge of the table with her fists, blubbering and moaning. “He’s the reason me and Lemon are still besties!” “Indy…” Lemon looked at the wreck Indigo Zap had become, then stared up at the lifeless husk of Hound. “Please, Hound… don’t die on us yet. We still need you for the fight against those bastard Cons.” Just watching Hound, laying on that table pipes and tubing being his only source of life, and a small machine hooked up to him beeping out slowly, it made Trixie’s stomach churn, and the showmare retched. Standing in the background, watching with wide eyes was Juniper. Sure, she’d seen Cybertronians die, hell she watched Sky-Byte rip Snaptrap in half! But seeing this, someone who was supposed to be a friend of hers just laying on a table like that... “Who did this… Who?” Indigo growled out. “WHO THE FUCK KILLED HIM?!” Sugarcoat tried to contain her emotions, her voice as hard as steel. “It had to have been one very accurate sniper, see that hole? Only someone with immense training, and a steady hand would have been able to make such a shot.” “How does a sniper leave THAT BIG A HOLE?!” Indigo screamed, turning into a banshee with how high her pitch was. “And what right do you have treating Hound like he was just wires and metal, like he never was alive, to begin with!?!” she shouted, her voice turning into choking sobs about halfway through, before she drew back her fist and tried to punch Sugarcoat only to stumble and fall to the floor. “You think I’m not as broken up about this as you are?” Sugarcoat asked, taking off her glasses and fighting back tears. “But I’m trying to keep myself contained here. Hound, he wouldn’t have wanted to see us like this, fighting and arguing like a bunch of children over who killed him and how!” “Y’know what, Hound is the only thing that helped me get closer to Lemon Zest. Now that he’s gone, she’s gonna totally hate me for letting him down! Do you know how cranky Lemon gets when people let her down like that?! DO YOU?!” Indigo barked, stomping right into Sugarcoat’s face, causing her brows to skyrocket. “Indy… I don’t hate you for this.” Lemon walked over and laid her hand on Indigo’s shoulder. “If anything, you’re right about me getting angry. But I’m more pissed about those Cons than anything else. The next time I see them, I’m going to rip their Energon out with my bare hands, stomp it into the ground, and make them all watch! Who did this? Just… I just want to know who.” “Flamewar,” Road Rage stated solemnly, slowly walking forwards to Lemon, and kneeling down to her level. “Her name was Flamewar. She was the same one who infected me and Prowl with that virus, and now she’s added another to her kill count. Prowl and Knock Out, they were working out an exchange for the cure. Hound was projecting a hologram of Knock Out, keeping the real one out of harm’s way, and had masked his and Knock Out’s sparks. But somehow, don’t ask me how, Flamewar got wise to our trick and shot Hound with her bow and arrows.” “Road Rage. Get me my Targetmaster armor. I know what needs to be done,” Lemon lowered her head and shielded her eyes with her hair. “I’m going to bury Flamewar myself; no Autobots needed.” “And how in Primus’s name do you expect to do that, huh?” Road Rage asked. “First off, you don’t even know where Flamewar is, she’s long gone! And you’d only turn into a gun, you’d need someone to wield you even if you did find her!” Road Rage shouted. “Shadowbolts learn fast. And I’m pretty sure my Targetmaster accuracy is off the charts right about now. Add to the fact that I’m a pro speed skater, and I can outrun and outgun any Con you put in my way.” She didn’t even look up to speak. “Listen to me, Lemon,” Road Rage stated. “Revenge, it’s not the answer. You think I don’t want Flamewar’s head myself? Killing her would feel good, but it wouldn’t bring Hound back all the same!” “So, what are our options then?” Juniper asked. “Is… is there a way to bring Hound back, or do we just…” she trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence. “Just one,” Prowl stated. “But it would require Hound to be completely reformatted, and if we do that… He may not emerge the same as any of us ever knew him. His body would be rebuilt yes, but his personality would probably completely change.” “But… But there’s got to be a way here!” Juniper protested. “Well… there is a way, but I don’t think any of you will like it.” Twilight pulled her head up from her notes. “Have you ever heard of the Frankenstein effect?” Sugarcoat’s head whipped around to face Twilight so fast, everybody swore it probably would have probably fallen off. “Twilight. No, just no.” “And what’s your answer, Saltcoat? Just let him die?” Twilight sharply retorted. “Look. I know it’s bad, but if you really want Hound back, I’m sure we can make an exception.” “Look, I’m not putting anyone’s brains in an already damaged body, just to bring Hound back! This isn’t science Twilight,” Sugarcoat replied. “This is madness!” “Unleash the Magic? That wasn’t madness?” Twilight asked, poking at the Friendship Games in their past. “Tell me, Sugarcoat. To you, and to the rest of CPA, what is madness if it delivers positive results?” Sugarcoat’s jaw dropped, looking as if she’d been slapped. Twilight quickly realized she may have gone too far, remembering that this was a point of shame for the Shadowbolts and something they agreed was not their finest moment for them or CPA. “Okay, maybe that’s not the best metaphor to use, but there’s no such thing as madness. Only insanity.” Twilight sighed and brushed her hand across the table. “Madness is just something we say is bad, but in reality, it’s because we’re scared to try.” “No, it’s called madness because that’s exactly what it is!” Sugarcoat shouted back. “This… All of this you’re proposing, I’m sorry, but I can’t endorse it.” “Then don’t. You’re more than welcome to vote against it.” Twilight turned to the rest of the Shadowbolts, Trixie, and Juniper. “Lemon Zest, Sunny Flare, Sour Sweet, Indigo Zap, Trixie, Juniper. Your thoughts?” Nobody had to say a word, they were completely against whatever Twilight was proposing. She could read it on their faces. “Twilight…” Trixie started. “I love you, honestly I do, but this… I can’t allow you to do this. Hound wouldn’t want you conducting this, in the faintest hope you can bring him back.” “I understand. I’ll tell Perceptor to prepare for the funeral,” Twilight walked away from the deathbed, taking one last look at Hound. She looked into his optics one last time and kissed his forehead before looking at Prowl, who only nodded sadly and began switching the machines off one by one and pulling the pipes out of Hound’s chassis. “Goodbye, my old friend.” he stated. “You ever seen the stars look so beautiful tonight?” Trixie asked her girlfriend, laying on a picnic blanket atop a hillside, Maine’s forests and mountain ranges in front of them, with Canterlot City just a small little selection of lights nestled in the wilderness. In the background, Hound lay resting in his vehicle mode in a short recharge cycle. Not like he needed to intrude upon this moment anyways. “No, I haven’t,” Trixie replied, though in her mind it wasn’t just the stars that looked beautiful. “Then again, city lights kinda prevent you from seeing all of… Well, all of this.” she continued, gesturing upwards. “Hound, you ever gone star watching?” “No. I can’t say I have,” Hound stared skyward, watching as the stars lit up the otherwise black veil above them. “Is this normal behavior for you humans?” “Well… It is in this part of the planet,” Twilight smiled as she tried drawing the stars together using nothing more than her fingers. “I think the Ursas might be out tonight, don’t you Trix?” she asked, and Trixie nodded, gesturing to a specific part of the skies. “You mean the Ursa Major, and Ursa Minor constellations right?” Hound asked. “Yes, exactly,” Twilight replied. “See you’ve been studying up on Earth constellations.” “Well, they’re not just Earth constellations,’ Hound replied. “On Cybertron, we can see them as well. They just go by different names, that’s all. But like your girlfriend, in the big city lights, you can’t see them as well as you can out here. That’s the reason I volunteered to do this, just to get a look at them myself.” “So, what do you think?” Twilight asked, lifting a brow to him. “They’re beautiful, I had friends in the Cybertronian Stellar Galleries who told me about all of this… But I never got the chance to observe them for myself really.” Hound admitted, with a tinge of sadness in his tone. “Why do you think I jumped at the chance to follow Onslaught’s crew to Earth? I wanted to explore new cultures, and see new topographies, and see the stars with my own optics.” “Think you’ll ever have something like it ever again?” Twilight asked, holding her hands together. “On this planet, you mean?” Hound inquired. “Just in general. Will you ever have something this beautiful like these stars?” Twilight put a hand on his hood. “Yeah, I already do. Seeing Cybertron as it is now, restored to it’s golden age of peace and prosperity little by little. That’s all I could have asked for, to see that in my lifetime,” he said softly. “And I won’t let Onslaught nor any of the other members of his crew destroy that which we’ve worked so hard to rebuild.” “And I promise you Hound,” Twilight replied. “I’ll do whatever I can to help you and your team stop Onslaught. Pinkie Promise. Cross my Heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Although caught off guard by the strange saying and the movements, Hound understood the sentiments. “T-Thank you…” he murmured. Back in the present, Twilight watched, along with her friends and the Autobots’ government allies as Hound was loaded up into a rocket constructed by Perceptor that would launch Hound into the sun, as a makeshift funeral pyre. The main body of the rocket had this clear bubble constructed into it, so everyone could see Hound. His body had been restored to it’s original glory, and it seemed just for a moment he was simply sleeping. But everyone knew better. Soldiers stood at attention, rifles at the ready. “Ready! Aim, and fire!” Spitfire barked out, and 21 shots pierced the night as both she and Fowler saluted. The rocket engines fired up, and the funeral barge was sent flying upwards into space on a direct course towards the sun. Twilight watched for a minute, before she could no longer hold back the flood of tears that were threatening to break. Tossing her glasses aside, she ran off sobbing with Trixie trying to reach out and grab her to pull her into a comforting hug, but to no avail. “Let her go,” Chrysalis told her softly. “We all grieve in our own ways. Give her time, and then hold her, and don’t let her go you understand Trixie Lulamoon? She’ll need you now, more than ever.” “Yeah… Yeah, I understand.” Trixie sniffled as she watched the rocket join the stars that Hound had so loved...