Barricade could not believe what he had witnessed a minute ago. Brawl, his dear friend whom he had fought with side by side for all these eons, was decimated right before his optics. Even though the Autobot who took his life was honorable enough to pay his respects afterwards, that did not change the fact that he had brutalized his comrade without mercy. And for what? To protect a royal member of a species made up of tiny organic pests? That was unacceptable. He, the princess, and everyone they cared about had to be punished in the most severe way possible for this.
Barricade had now realized that Lord Megatron's plan to destroy the planet and exterminate its inhabitants was far too merciful. They had to suffer just as he was suffering right now. They had to feel every ounce of pain he was feeling at the moment every single day for the rest of their lives. He did not care whether or not Megatron would support this plan. He was planning to carry it out alone if he had to and he was not going to let anything stand in his way. The loss of his friend simply had to be avenged, and if he was to go through both Optimus Prime and Megatron to accomplish it, then so-
"AAARGH!!!"
He was so lost in his thoughts of vengeance that he did not notice a big ball of plasma being fired on him. It hit him right in the left shoulder and knocked him to the ground. The one who fired it soon came running towards him and it was revealed to be none other than Bumblebee, who proceeded to fire a couple more shots at the enraged Decepticon interrogator lying on the ground. Unfortunately, he quickly got back on his servos and managed to dodge all those shots before jumping to the air and attempting to cut the Autobot scout down with his dagger. Although Bumblebee got out of the way and avoided five more dagger attacks Barricade tried to land on him, he was not fast enough to avoid the sixth one, which resulted in his torso to be sliced and him taking a few steps backwards in pain. When his opponent tried to deliver the finishing blow, however, he blocked the attacked with his right arm before landing first a punch to the gut with his left fist, then an uppercut to the jaw with his right fist, and then a drop kick to the face with both of his feet.
These attacks caused Barricade to fall to the ground a second time and as he attempted to get back up, Bumblebee proceeded to hold him at gunpoint to prevent him from making any wrong moves. When the Decepticon was finally standing on his two servos, he spat an Energon shard to the ground and spitefully said, "I should hurt every single one of your friends for what happened to my comrade. However, we both know that physical pain only goes so far. The only permanent pain in existence is the emotional kind and I know the perfect way to inflict it on you. Those little organic friends of yours are probably hiding in that small town me and Brawl attacked yesterday. Perhaps, I should pay them a visit."
Even though Bumblebee began charging up his plasma canon to full power immediately after hearing Barricade's threat, the vengeful Decepticon interrogator quickly threw a grenade at him and the surprised Autobot scout was forced to cancel the plasma shot and kick the grenade to a nearby Destroyer's head, blowing it up in the process. When he turned around to see Barricade driving away in his vehicle mode, he transformed into his vehicle mode too and started chasing after him.
The chase was a very lengthy one. Both vehicles were headed directly towards Ponyville at full speed, completely ignoring the brutal battle that was taking place behind them. Neither of them were even thinking about slowing down, because they had no intention of giving each other an advantage. On top of that, they were unable gain an advantage on their own. Barricade had tried to leave a trail of dust behind him, but Bumblebee was equipped with headlights and sensors that allowed him to stay on track, He tried to shoot the Decepticon's tires with the machine guns mounted on each of his vehicle mode, but Barricade was a target too fast to land a direct hit on. They went on like this for three solid minutes before they were only two miles away from Ponyville.
At that point, Bumblebee realized he would not be able to prevent Barricade from reaching the town. So, he decided to call up Spike and warn him about Barricade's impending arrival. He quickly contacted Spike's commlink and said, "Hey, Spike, I've got bad news, buddy. Barricade's headed your way. You gotta get everyone out of town ASAP. I'm chasing him, but I don't think I can stop him before he gets there."
"Don't worry, Bee", replied Spike. "Just lead him towards the town square and hold him there for a few minutes. The girls and I will take care of the rest."
A flabbergasted Bumblebee then asked, "What do you mean you'll take care of the rest? You have something that can take him down? What is it?"
"No time to explain", Spike answered. "Just do as I say, okay?"
Though Bumblebee was extremely confused by this, he nevertheless decided to trust Spike and replied, "Alright, then. I hope you guys know what you're doing. Bee out."
He hung up and noticed that he was only a single mile away from Ponyville. Wasting no time, he continued to aim at Barricade's tires and began unloading everything he had on them. Finally, when they had just entered the town borders, he managed to take out one of the tires, causing Barricade to lose control and crashing into Bumblebee's half-complete statue right in the middle of the seemingly abandoned town square.
Transforming back into his robot mode, Bumblebee attempted to strike Barricade with his sword, but the Decepticon immediately got back up and parried the attack with his dagger. He then proceeded to attack the Autobot as quickly as he could with his dagger while Bumblebee tried his hardest to deflect each strike and hold him in the town square. Six strikes later, Barricade headbutted the Autobot and delivered a front kick to the cut on his torso, knocking him down. Just as he was about to stab him with the dagger, however, Bumblebee rolled out of the way, got back up, and punched the Decepticon in his shoulder wound, making him back away in intense pain.
Then, the combatants attacked each other at the same time, with their weapons clashing with each other in mid-air. Despite both of them struggling to break the stalemate, they nevertheless continued to struggle for about fifteen seconds before Bumblebee called Spike and said, "Spike, I can't hold him here forever, y’know. Please tell me you and the girls are ready to put that plan of yours in motion."
"We're on it, Bee". Spike replied. "Just be ready to move of the way in 3... 2... 1... NOW!"
Bumblebee immediately did what he asked and as soon as he did, he saw a two-tonne boulder being launched towards Barricade's face and hitting him in the right optic, partially blinding him. As the Decepticon screamed in agony, Bumblebee saw Spike being launched as well and landing right beside Barricade's remaining optic. The little dragon then proceeded to unleash his fiery breath on the optic, burning through it and blinding Barricade completely. As a result, Barricade screamed and shook in even greater agony, and his erratic movements caused Spike to be thrown off his face. Luckily, Bumblebee was able to catch him and gently brought him to the ground. He then placed his sword to his back, and began attacking the blind and suffering Decepticon while shouting the names of his lost friends.
"This is for Hound!"
Right cross
"This is for Crosshairs!"
Left cross
"This is for Drift!"
Uppercut
That last strike was so strong that it managed to knock Barricade to the ground once again. As he struggled to get up, Bumblebee went behind his downed opponent, retrieved his sword, and prepared to make one last declaration.
"And this... THIS IS FOR PONYVILLE!"
Upon saying that, he plunged his sword through Barricade's back and then dragged it towards his head, slicing through the upper body and the entire head in the process, and spilling Energon shards everywhere. Satisfied with what he had accomplished, he returned the sword to his back and took a moment to catch his breath.
"That was so amazing!", called out a small female voice from behind.
When Bumblebee turned around to see who it was, he saw Apple Bloom in front of the remaining Crusaders, Spike, and the rest of the townsfolk slowly coming out of their boarded up houses. They were all smiling to him and standing a few feet away from a big wooden mechanism that looked similar to a catapult. It took him only a few seconds to realize what had just transpired.
"Holy Primus, guys!", he happily exclaimed. "You built that giant weapon thing all by yourselves?"
Scootaloo enthusiastically replied, "Yep! Well, Rarity and Applejack helped a little, but aside from that, yeah, we built it all by ourselves. Do you like it?"
"You kidding me? I LOVE it!", declared Bumblebee. "You guys did an awesome job making it and I couldn't thank you enough for your help. One question, though. Where’d you find that rock?"
Sweetie Belle sheepishly answered, "Uhhh... That belonged to Rarity once and.... There's a really funny story behind it. You see-"
Before she could explain any further, Spike suddenly put his claw on her mouth and said, "We'll tell you all about it later. Right now, you gotta go help Twilight and the others win the battle."
Bumblebee smacked his own head and replied, "Oh, yeah, right! They need my help back there. I'll come back later to listen to the whole thing, I promise. By the way, sorry about the statue. You won't mind rebuilding it just a little bit bigger than before, right? I think it's only fair if it's at least as tall as I am."
"Will do", stated Apple Bloom. "Just go and be careful, alright?"
"Absolutely", Bumblebee said while giving them a determined nod. "I'll see you all in about one megacycle. Thanks again for your help!"
lo
Right after that, he transformed into his vehicle mode and speedily drove towards the battlefield with the townsfolk cheering behind him and a couple of earth-ponies discussing what to do with Barricade's body.
Meanwhile, in outer space, a gigantic spaceship was making its way to Equestria. Its crew consisted of the exact same types of Decepticon soldiers that Megatron's ship, the Nemesis, was carrying. However, since the new ship was only a quarter of the Nemesis in terms of size, it could house a much lower number of troops:
When the ship finally reached Equestria's orbit, it took the Drones at the bridge only a second to notice the Nemesis floating near the ship's front glass window. As soon as they did, they were pretty much in complete awe of its appearance. They had not caught a glimpse of it for several millennia and seeing it in a fully operational state was a sight to behold. After all, it was the flagship of the entire Decepticon army and it was only logical that it was the most magnificent spacecraft in the galaxy:
While the Drones were observing the Nemesis in full admiration, their first mate broke off from the group and headed towards a chair behind him in order to report to the captain sitting on it. The first mate was a soldier roughly the same size as Brawl and had a color scheme similar to him, as well. One might assume that him and Brawl were brothers, that would not actually be far from the truth:
"We've reached the target planet, sir", he said to the captain while bowing his head in respect. "Awaiting your orders."
The captain responded by standing up and cocking the laser cannon he had for a left arm. This action caused the first mate to get out of his path in fear and as the captain made his way to the center of the group of Drones staring at the Nemesis, everyone did the same as the first mate. Sensing the terror they were feeling in their sparks, the captain briefly looked around before addressing his soldiers by declaring, "Lord Megatron requires our immediate assistance. It is only logical if we eliminate the Autobots and their parasitic equine allies as soon as possible before securing the AllSpark. Prepare the shuttles. The battalion must be fully prepared to engage the enemy in fifteen cycles. On a side note, I require a random specimen from the equines. To use in my experiments, of course. Now, let us go save both our leader and the future of our people."
