…
PREVIOUSLY ON "MY LITTLE PONY"
…
Twilight Sparkle: Who are you?
Optimus Primal: My name…is Optimus Primal.
Cheetor: How the heck did you find us?
Twilight Sparkle: You were all in a crash.
Grogar: Behold, the return of your loyal servants!
Chrysalis: Do you think I would love someone like Megatron? I just barely met him, we all did. And you know I love you, Tirek. Don't forget that.
Grogar: Now, you and your Predacons are to go to Equestria and begin the first wave of my conquest. I don't care how you do it, but I expect you to get it done.
Guardspony: What do you think it could be, Captain?
Soundwave: Megatron!
…
…
Soundwave and Shockwave watched in awe and amazement as Megatron and his band of Predacons towered over them.
"Megatron!" Shockwave gasped as both he and Soundwave bowed to the Predacon leader. "After all these years, you have returned to us!"
"On your feet, fools!" The Predacon leader ordered and both rose up on command. "What are you doing here?"
"Stopping a Maximal ship, Megatron," Soundwave answered as Megatron and the other Predacons transformed back into their beast modes. "Target: Optimus Primal and the Maximals."
Hearing this information, Megatron growled intently at the two Predacons.
"You mean…they're still alive?!" He questioned them. "Even after that mysterious explosion?!" Then he muttered under his breath. "Of course they would be alive. Those accursed Maximals survived everything I threw at them in the Beast Wars."
"Wait a minute," Quickstrike spoke up. "Those no good varmint Maximals are alive?! Uh, did I miss something here?"
"Obviously, you were transitioning to Transformer Vahalla, Quickstrike," Megatron remarked. "Just like I was being transitioned to Cybertron as a prisoner of war. But that's all in the past now, Predacons. Optimus and the other Maximals are alive, and I intend to destroy them once and for all! But first…we have an errand to perform for our new…ally."
Turning back to the Crystal Empire, Megatron felt attacking it on Grogar's behalf would not only give Grogar what he wanted, but Megatron himself would get what he so desired. If the Maximals were alive and on this planet, an attack on innocents was a surefire way to flush them out of hiding.
"New ally?" Soundwave asked, looking over at Megatron with a confused look on his face.
Meanwhile, back in the Crystal Empire, Shining Armor retreated into the castle where Princess Cadence was waiting.
"What happened?!" She inquired of her husband in a worried voice as she got down off her throne and towards him! "What did you see in that strange craft?!"
"Two strange creatures, Cadence," Shining Armor gasped, trying to catch his breath. "One was a panther…the other an alligator. All of a sudden, they just mutated and began blasting us. It took all we had just to escape with our lives."
Almost immediately, memories of Chrysalis crashing their wedding became flooding back to Cadence. "Mutated? You mean…like how a changeling transforms? I thought we'd seen the last of the rogues?"
"Sort of," Shining Armor weakly replied. "Whatever they are though, it's something none of us have ever seen before."
Immediately, Cadence began to realize the growing threat against her empire. Walking over to a large window in the throne room, she looked out to the mountains and began formulating a defense plan.
"I'd better notify Twilight about this," She declared, walking away from the window. "Whoever these creatures are, they are a threat to not only us but to Equestria as well. It's only a matter of time before they go on the attack."
"Then we'd better increase our defenses! If it's a fight they want it's a fight they'll get!" Shining Armor boldly suggested, his earlier doubts leaving him for the moment.
"I'm giving you that order now, darling," Cadence remarked, her eyes focused on writing a scroll to Twilight.
…
Back at the Castle of Friendship, Optimus Primal and the other Maximals were continuing to get acquainted with their new surroundings.
"So, this is basically your main base?" Optimus asked Twilight as they walked into the castle's throne room. The friendship map standing out in the center.
"Well, sort of," Twilight politely answered. "I actually have another residence in Canterlot that I sometimes stay at depending on certain situations. Still, this castle is my home first and foremost. But why do you call it a base? This isn't meant to be a command center or anything like that."
"It's war talk, princess," Cheetor replied, shrugging his shoulders. "When you're in a war, you tend to create your own vocabulary. Kind of helps alleviate the boredom between battles."
"I see," Twilight nervously remarked. "Anyway, this castle is my sanctuary. This is the place I go to whenever I feel down."
"Kind of like a place to decompress," Rhinox guessed, looking around the library. "Normally, I don't do any decompressing unless it is around flowers. There's always something or someone that needs my attention."
As the Maximals chuckled at Rhinox's remark, Spike entered the throne room with the rest of Twilight's friends.
"We came as soon as we got the note, Twi," Applejack spoke up as her eyes fell upon the Maximals. "Why are these animals up and walkin' around in the throne room? Weren't they hurt in that crash last night?"
"Indeed," Rarity added, only to shriek loudly when she saw Rattrap sitting in her throne. "And what is that disgusting rat doing in my chair?!"
"Hey, I resent that, marshmallow!" Rattrap snapped!
"Rattrap, get out of the throne, now" Optimus flatly ordered in annoyance, and Rattrap complied. "I'm sorry about Rattrap. He can be a smart aleck sometimes, but he has a good heart and he's a valuable ally to have in battle."
Then he introduced himself. "I'm Optimus Primal, leader of the Maximals. And this is my crew: You already know Rattrap, but there's also Cheetor," He gestured to the cheetah. "Rhinox," He gestured to the rhino. "Silverbolt," He gestured to the wolf. "And Black Archania, the most recent addition to our crew." He gestured to the spider.
"Nice to meet ya, Optimus," Applejack greeted. "I'm Applejack, Princess of Honesty and these here are my fellow princesses: Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rarity. Each of us is princess of a different element. And I must say, it's not everyday we get to see wild animals walkin' around and talkin' like us."
"Um, Applejack," Fluttershy corrected, nudging her in the side. "I helped rescue them last night, along with your brother." Applejack said nothing.
"So, what are you all doing here?" Rainbow Dash asked Optimus. "And where the hay did you come from?"
"We were on our way back to our home planet, Cybertron," The Maximal leader explained. "When we were suddenly caught up in an explosion."
"An explosion in outer space?" Pinkie Pie blinked in surprise. "How come I wasn't there?! I've always wanted to go to space!"
"Where were you comin' from?" Applejack asked.
"Earth," Rhinox answered, walking next to Optimus. "Or rather…prehistoric Earth where we'd been fighting the Beast Wars with our rivals…the Predacons."
"Predacons?!" Rarity gasped! "They sound like a rather ghastly group!"
"Oh, you ain't seen nothing yet, sister," Rattrap remarked. "They fought us when it came to energon, changing the future, aliens, you name it. Plus, their leader is a real dump heap."
"He means Megatron," Optimus corrected. "We were transporting him back to Cybertron as a prisoner of war when the explosion occurred. And if he's not here with you, I can only assume he survived the explosion as well. And that means he's still alive."
The more Twilight heard about this explosion, the more she became curious as to find out more about what had happened. "What explosion were you caught in?" She asked Optimus, having a sinking suspicion about the root cause.
…
Meanwhile, in his cave, Starswirl the Bearded was writing in his diary about how his students and the Pillars had rescued King Cosmo and Queen Galaxia from the clutches of Grimlord. Then he noticed the presence of Celestia and Luna behind him.
"I uh, hope we weren't interrupting anything," Luna sheepishly greeted. "Starswirl."
"No, no, you weren't interrupting me at all," Starswirl replied, chuckling slightly and taking his focus off of his diary. "In fact, your visit couldn't have come at a better time. I wanted to see how your parents have been doing since we rescued them from Grogar and Grimlord. Surely it must be nice to have them back home again."
"It's…going to take some time for them to get acquainted with how much has changed," Celestia somberly remarked.
"More than even you and the other Pillars. It'll be awhile before they can get back to doing what they were doing before Grogar captured them."
"I highly doubt that," Starswirl commented. "Twilight and her friends are now ruling Equestria, after all. You cannot simply undo that decision. But perhaps that gives you all a chance to finally be a family again."
Both Celestia and Luna gave each other a warm smile.
"However, the reason I called you both here is actually because of something related to when the bomb exploded on the Dark Fortress," Starswirl explained, walking over to his cauldron and activating it, showing the moment when the bomb exploded. "Take a close look at this flying object."
Using a magnifying spell, Starswirl showed the two sisters a mysterious shuttle being caught in the blast radius.
"We see it, Starswirl," Luna commented. "Do you think it might be related to that crash last night in the Everfree Forest? I mean, that looks like the airship that Twilight reported on."
"It's not the ship itself, Luna," Starswirl continued. "Take a look at this falling object going towards the moon." He then used the magnifying spell again on the falling, flaming object, directing the sisters to look even closer.
"It looks like a dragon!" Celestia gasped, looking over at Starswirl. "But what could a dragon be doing out in space? It doesn't make any sense."
"And for that matter, what kind of dragon do you think it could be?" Luna pondered. "It doesn't look like any dragon we've ever seen before. It looks… metallic."
Sighing deeply, Starswirl directed his attention off of the cauldron and proceeded to make his way over to a small library of books that he kept for personal use.
"I want you both to listen very carefully to what I am about to tell you," He instructed, before opening a large black book while the two sisters listened closely. "Before your parents were abducted by Grogar, your father mentioned of a possible war between Equestria and an outside intergalactic force. Do you remember him telling either of you that?"
"N…n…no, Starswirl," Luna stammered. "I was too young to remember."
"I sort of remember it, Starswirl," Celestia confessed with a gulp. "It was right after Grogar was sent to the moon, Father said that…Grogar would find a friend on the moon to help him return to Equestria and take back what was his. At the time though, I thought it was just a fairytale. But after all that's happened, I'm afraid it may be all too real."
The grim look on Starswirl's face gave the two sisters a sign that something was indeed coming.
"You don't mean…?!" Celestia gasped in a hushed voice, her thoughts turning to Twilight and how her fragile mental health state would once again be affected. "Twilight!…Starswirl, can't we just stop whatever war our father was speaking of before it even begins?!"
But the wizard shook his head in indication that he couldn't. "Twilight and her friends…are about to face the greatest challenge of their lives. There's nothing I can do to prevent that."
Her motherly instincts kicking in, Celestia raced out of the cave and took to the air while Luna ran off after her!
"Sister, wait!" Luna called, trying to catch up with Celestia as Starswirl watched from his cave. "Celestia!"
…
…
Back at the Crystal Empire, Shining Armor cast his signature shield spell around the kingdom.
"So, those fools are trying to keep us from getting into their kingdom?" Megatron remarked in observation. "Perhaps this is the best time to give a first impression of our new ally, yesss…"
"Look at those pathetic, four legged creatures," Quickstrike remarked. "Thinking that they're going to stand a chance against us. I can't wait to lasso me some horseys!"
"I like your desire, Quickstrike," Megatron smiled. "But remember, business before pleasure. For now, we can try and weaken their defenses."
But at that moment, Megatron felt a sudden surge in his head, causing him to grow loudly! This came at great shock to the other Predacons.
"Royalty!" Inferno cried out! "Royalty, what is it?!"
Suddenly, Megatron stopped shaking and almost like he was being used as a puppet, flew in front of his Predacons and got their attention. "Predacons!" They heard Megatron say in Grogar's voice. "You are not to take any prisoners. I want you to test the defenses of these pathetic equines and cause them to declare war on us."
"Grogar!" Scorponok realized. "Why are you talking through Megatron?!"
"This is your one and only chance to prove you are worthy of being my allies," Grogar instructed. "You owe your new leases on life to me, so you will do as I command if you wish to continue living! Now go and carry out my orders! And do not fail me!"
Released from Grogar's mind control, Megatron fell into the snow face first much to the amusement of some of the Predacons.
"Blasted goat," Megatron muttered, spitting out of the snow in his mouth. "He sure knows how to make his presence known."
"What do we do now?" Tarantulas asked as Megatron's attention turned towards the wreckage of the Predacon ship that Soundwave and Shockwave were travelling in. "If there are any survivors…"
Looking at the ship, Megatron walked over and surveyed the damaged ship.
"There are no survivors, Megatron," Soundwave replied. "Only Shockwave and I still function."
Megatron stared at the wreckage for a brief moment. "Are you certain?" He asked the two surviving Predacons with his back still turned to them.
"We are certain, Megatron." Shockwave answered.
But suddenly, Megatron saw what appeared to be a bright light shining in the wreckage.
"Inferno! Quickstrike!" He ordered. "There is a stasis pod in the wreckage. Get it out!"
Doing as they were told, Inferno and Quickstrke transformed into their robot modes and proceeded towards the glowing object.
Feeling as though they lied to him, Megatron transformed to robot mode and grabbed Soundwave in his dragon mouth.
"No survivors, you say?" He asked the panther, crushing Soundwave's stomach slightly. "I never believed you for a second…neither of you!"
Tossing Soundwave onto the ground, Megatron grabbed Shockwave and brought the alligator to his face. "Lie to me again," He threatened in a quiet and sinister tone. "And I will have both your sparks!" Throwing Shockwave back onto the snowy ground, Megatron then turned his attention back to the salvage operation.
"Royalty!" Inferno called out. "There are two colonies in here!"
"What do you want us to do with them?" Quickstrike asled.
Knowing that he might have further use of them, Megatron inspected the two pods closely. Seeing that they were once Maximal protoforms, he began to picture them as Predacons…Predacons that he would bring back from the dead. "Keep them protected," He ordered. "And we'll deal with them once our message from Grogar is delivered to these creatures. Prepare to start breaking into their defenses!"
Heeding their commander's words, the remaining Predacons transformed from beast to robot:
"Scorponok, terrorize!"
"Tarantulas, terrorize!"
"Terrorsaur, terrorize!"
"Shockwave, terrorize!"
"Soundwave, terrorize!"
And with all the Predacons transformed, they began to carry out their assault on the protection spell Shining Armor had produced.
…
Back on the moon, Grogar turned off the powers of his bell and walked off the balcony and back into the throne room.
"So, what did you do? Tirek asked the goat.
"I merely gave the Predacons their instructions," Grogar vaguely answered. "I want them to carry out an attack to test not only their strengths, but also force Equestria into a war they can't hope to win."
"Where do you plan on attacking, my emperor?" Sombra asked.
"The Crystal Empire," Grogar said, much to Sombra's shock and disbelief!
"What?! My emperor…" Sombra protested, only to be interrupted by a low growl from Grogar. He was forced to keep his disgust at having his former kingdom be attacked inside.
"Don't worry, Sombra," Chrysalis remarked, flying over to rub his shoulders. "I'm sure there will still be a Crystal Empire for you when all is said and done."
"In the meantime," Tirek wondered. "Do you think this 'Megatron' is going to be a worthy ally of ours, my emperor?"
"If we are to succeed in our mission, we will need his support," Grogar answered. "But that depends on if he and the Predacons can do what they need to do."
Despite his seeming support, a part of Tirek wanted Megatron to fail in his mission. For in his mind, if Megatron were to fail then any thoughts Chrysalis had for the Predacon leader would surely go away.
But Grogar had ideas of his own. Leaving his throne room, he proceeded to walk down deep into a secret area of his castle that was only reserved for him. Entering a private laboratory, Grogar tapped into his bell's power once more and extracted what appeared to be memories out of it.
"So, these are the memories of the great Predacon leader?" He sinisterly chuckled, hardening the memories into a series of five crystals before taking them over to an open book with a hole in the right stack of pages. "Let's see what he has lived through."
"We only have to wait until they repair their ship, and then attack while their guard is down," Grogar heard Megatron in a purple Tyrannosaurus Rex beast mode say to his Predacons at one point during the Beast Wars. "With the Maximal ship in our possession, we will be able to recover the orbiting stasis pods containing Maximals 'eager' to become Predacons."
Grogar then watched Megatron storm over to Terrorsaur.
"SO NO ONE LEAVES!" He shouted.
"Hmm," Grogar said to himself. "So, he always wanted to build his forces? I can do that as well. What else does he have to say?" Taking another crystal, Grogar placed it in the book and looked at another memory of when Megatron supposedly killed Optimus Primal.
"Oh, you Optimuses do love to sacrifice yourselves, don't you?" He remarked to Optimus while inside a locked stasis pod. "Well, fortunately, this time your foolishness will destroy you and your Maximals. The Beast Wars are over, Optimus. You lose."
Laughing evilly, Megatron relished in his enemy's death as Optimus was destroyed by the exploding blast in front of him.
"Nooooo! NNOOOOOOOOOOOOO! MEGATROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!"
Seeing Megatron relish in this particular moment gave Grogar a deep amount of satisfaction. In fact, he couldn't help but picture Twilight Sparkle in Optimus' place. Taking yet another memory, he placed it in the book and he viewed Megatron and the Predacons attempting to destroy a village of protohumans.
"Hmmm, my ears are burning! Yeeessss!" Megatron said as he emerged from behind a rock in a transmetal T-Rex beast mode. "Why, Dinobot, what a delightful surprise! Let's see, where are we now? I have the Golden Disk, I have the power to change the future, and the only remaining obstacle in my path to unimaginable glory... is yourself."
Grogar watched as Megatron transformed to robot mode in front of the wounded Dinobot. "Exhausted. Damaged beyond recovery. Defeated."
"Not just yet!" Dinobot cried and attempted to charge at Megatron, who stopped him dead in his tracks.
"Ah-ah-ah," Megatron teased, showing Dinobot a captured Protohuman. "One more step, and it's raining bits of early human anthropoid, yeeessss."
Not wanting to risk the Protohuman's life, Dinobot stood down.
"Oh dear, how positively Maximal of you," Megatron remarked. "You were weakened before you started, Dinobot. Weakened by compassion."
Growing more and more excited by what he was seeing, Grogar took the fourth crystal and placed it in the book. The next memory showed Megatron entering what appeared to be a large ship with dormant robots inside of it.
Ah... Now I enter these hallowed halls... a conquerer," He heard Megatron say as he walked past the dormant robots. "Yessss... Autobots and Decepticons still frozen in emergency stasis, still awaiting the moment, four million years hence, when they will start the Great War! The Great War, where the Autobots defeat the Decepticons, and thus their descendants, the Maximals, rule we Predacons. Archaic Energon guzzlers! How dare they! Unwilling though I was to follow my namesake's instructions... it has all come down to this! The ultimate risk, for the ultimate prize! A day of reckoning, with those who made us slaves!
Megatron then proceeded towards a particular robot, red and blue in color sitting in a gold captain's chair. "So, we meet face to face, Optimus Prime! In one future, you awaken and become the great leader of the Autobots! But time... shall take a different track now. Computer! All available power to primary weapon!"
Powering up his weapon, Megatron aimed it at the robot's head as he dramatically declared! "Now, Optimus Prime... In memory of the Decepticons, for the glory of the Predacons, for the Cybertron that is rightfully ours... and mine to rule! I unleash the storm of vengeance! Farewell."
A little while later, Megatron emerged from the ship as his enemies became affected by the blast. "
Say goodbye to the universe, Maximals! The future has changed, yessssss. The Autobots lose! Evil triumphs! And you...YOU NO LONGER EXIST!"
Having heard enough, Grogar was filled with inspiration as he began laughing evilly.
"Megatron, we may have met for a short time," He gloated. "But you have already filled me with the determination to finish off Twilight Sparkle and her friends…FOR GOOD!"
Grabbing several spell books, Grogar began searching for spells he could use to his advantage. "Only this time, I shall control you and your Predacons to do my bidding in bringing Equestria…TO ITS KNEES!"
And with his long evil laugh, he began to put together a plan to carry out his ultimate conquest.
…
…
Meanwhile, having heard of the great challenge that her most faithful student was about to face, Celestia flew faster and faster back to the castle, only to be pulled back by Luna.
"Celestia!" Luna cried, pulling her sister to her side. "Maybe…maybe Starswirl's age is starting to get to him. Maybe he's wrong."
"He's not wrong, Luna!" Celestia retorted in a firm tone towards her little sister. "Don't you get it?! Just when you think Twilight has been through it all…something else pulls her right back in. We…we can't let that happen! She has suffered enough already!"
"You heard what Starswirl said, sister," Luna protested, stopping Celestia from flying any further. "If what Father said is to come to pass, we have to face it. Besides, haven't we always believed that Twilight and her friends would come through in the end? We wouldn't have retired if neither of us believed it."
But Celestia wasn't going to listen easily. In her mind, she felt that Twilight had been through enough. "There…there must be another way, Luna. All that we did we did before we truly knew how delicate her mental state was, and how deep her mental wounds run!" Celestia cried in a panicked voice. "Maybe…maybe we should fight this threat ourselves! Yes, that's it! We'll come out of retirement and…"
"No," Luna interrupted in a firm voice. "No, Celestia. We've done our duty, and if you want to see Twilight further gain confidence as ruler of Equestria…"
"Luna!" Celestia cried, sharply turning away from her. "Her mental health…her anxiety…it's already unstable enough as it is. What if something happens to her and I'm not there to help her?! She's been like a daughter to me from the day I took her under my wing. I'd sooner die than see her suffer another breakdown that I could've prevented!"
Panicked, Celestia flew faster back to the castle!
…
Back at the Castle of Friendship, Optimus Primal continued to relay his story to Twilight and the others.
"Let me get this straight," Twilight said while pacing back and forth, trying to absorb all she had heard. "You were caught in the explosion of another ship being destroyed? What other ship could have been in the area?"
"We don't know, Princess," Optimus sighed. "It just came out of nowhere. All we know right now, is that we're stuck here with no way back to Cybertron."
"There has to be a reason for why you encountered that explosion," Twilight pondered. "But the answer may not come right away."
"Oh boy," Rattrap sighed, getting out of Rarity's throne. "Guess our trip home will be further delayed…"
"Look at the bright side, Rattrap," Cheetor remarked, looking over at his fellow maximal. "At least we aren't floating around as space debris. And who knows? Maybe this place will be to our liking."
Just then, Spike felt himself belch out a scroll! "Spike, what is it?" Twilight asked, taking the scroll from him and reading it. After a few moments, a look of worry came onto her face.
"Twilight, what's it say?!" Applejack frantically asked!
"The Crystal Empire…" Twilight said, urgently putting the scroll on the map. "Two strange creatures are threatening to attack it. We've got to get over there and fast!"
But Optimus had his suspicions. For he knew that what he feared the most had come to pass. "Megatron," He said to Twilight, catching her attention. "Megatron…is alive."
With a further look of concern on her face, Twilight turned to her royal advisor. "Spike," She ordered. "Tell Tempest to get a platoon ready for battle! Whoever these creatures are…we can't take them lightly. Ready, everypony?!" When she received only firm nods she declared. "Optimus, we'll be back soon! You and the others…"
"Wait!" The Maximal leader declared! "We're going with you! If anything, it might be a Predacon attack! And if it's us they want it's us they'll get! Maximals!"
Watching in amazement, Twilight and her friends witnessed the Maximals preparing themselves for battle, transforming from beast to robot modes:
"Silverbolt, Maximize!"
"Blackarachnia, Maximize!"
"Cheetor, Maximize!"
"Rattrap, Maximize!"
"Rhinox, Maximize!"
"Optimus Primal, Maximize!"
"I think…" Spike whispered to Twilight. "We just got some big help!"
Acting fast, Twilight casted her teleportation spell transporting herself, her friends and the Maximals to the Crystal Empire to defend the Empire against the Predacons.
However at that moment, Celestia and Luna arrived at the castle and hastily came inside while Starlight came in from another room.
"What was that?" She cried to the sisters. "What was that bright flash?!"
Celestia felt her heart sink realizing that Twilight was once again putting her mental health at risk.
…
…