The Autobot base had been fairly quiet recently after the destruction of the Energon Harvester, as Optimus worked tirelessly to decode the coordinates in the section of the Iacon database that Sunset had brought. He’d already decoded at least the coordinates for the Harvester, which he easily disregarded and continued to decode. It was a fairly quiet day in the hangar with all the other Autobots either resting up, on patrol around the world or just enjoying the hospitality of Canterlot City, which Optimus actually found quite agreeable as it allowed him to focus on his work… until the face of his great adversary appeared on the screen. “Optimus… been well? It’s been so long since we last spoke.”
“What do you want, Megatron?” Optimus scowled, quietly prompting Teletraan to start scanning to isolate the frequency.
“Don’t bother trying to track me down, Prime; I’m not on that ridiculous planet anymore.” Megatron scowled. “I simply called to extend an invitation. To a little… reunion… on Cybertron.”
“Reunion?” Optimus asked.
“Yes. It would seem that an old mutual friend of ours was caught in command of a resistance on Cybertron and had only just recently pilfered a few tons of Energon from Shockwave.” Megatron remarked, stepping aside. “You remember each other, of course.”
Optimus was more than shocked to see his counterpart being held by the Decepticons, much less still alive. “Elita…”
Elita was shocked as well; she could hardly believe her optics. “Optimus…”
They both still remembered what it was that drove them apart. It was when the Ark was about to launch from Cybertron. “Ark’s all set to go, Optimus. And everyone’s aboard.” Ironhide reported. “We’re ready to leave Cybertron on your order.”
“Good. Prepare to launch immediately.” Optimus ordered. Ironhide saluted and quickly climbed aboard the ship.
No sooner had he left than Elita-1 roared into the hangar and transformed, slowly jogging to Optimus’ side. “Optimus, my team just reported in. The Decepticons are closing in; they know about the launch.”
“Megatron will never allow us to leave.” Optimus scowled. “We must launch immediately.”
“Optimus…” Elita started, stopping Optimus from boarding the Ark. “You know I wouldn’t doubt you without reason, but… is this truly the best option? If you leave while the Decepticons still have command of Cybertron, you’re just giving the planet to them while you go for the AllSpark.”
“It is not ideal…but so little is in wartimes.” Optimus shrugged simply. “If Megatron wishes to rule a dead and ruined world, then I say we allow him that much.” Elita’s optics narrowed as he said that, but he simply placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled. “Once we have the AllSpark, we will return and defeat Megatron once and for all before we restore our homeworld to its former glory.”
Elita nodded; she knew nothing would stop Optimus from keeping his word on that. “Very well. Let’s go.” She was just stepping up when the area around the ship’s launch bay started roaring with massive explosions. “Decepticons!”
“Optimus, this is Jetfire; Megatron’s brought a new warship.” the flyer reported. “It’s easily the size of the Ark and maybe a fair bit bigger. If we wanna leave, the time is now!”
“Understood. Quickly.” Optimus nodded as she quickly climbed aboard with Elita, only for the red femme to suddenly be shot in the shoulder and knocked to the ground beside the gangplank. “Elita!”
“I’m okay!” she said as she raised her blaster and fired in the direction the blast had come from, firing blindly at a large unit of Decepticons. “Go; get the ship launched! I’ll find a shuttle and join you with the stragglers!”
“We’ve gotta go, Prime! Now!” Prowl ordered as he sealed the ship before it launched. Elita never made it with that shuttle or the stragglers; she and whatever Autobots remained were left behind on Cybertron. And that was the last Optimus Prime and Elita-1 ever saw of each other.
Until now. Optimus scowled at the screen as Megatron stepped back into the frame. “If she has been harmed, Megatron, I assure you-”
“Spare me the boasting, Prime,” Megatron ordered. “Elita is unharmed. How long she remains this way is entirely up to you.”
“What do you want?” Optimus asked.
“Optimus, no! Don’t listen to him!” Elita yelled before Strika clamped her mouth over the red femme’s mouth.
“What I want is quite simple, Optimus,” Megatron assured. “You will surrender the war and forfeit the Matrix of Leadership. Arrive at the following coordinates within two hours to deliver your decision. But remember, if you wish to see your beloved Elita-1 alive, I suggest against arriving armed. Two hours, Prime; not a moment longer.” The channel closed and a set of coordinates appeared on the screen in its place.
Optimus scowled; he knew he was playing right into Megatron’s hands, but he had no choice. He promised himself during the war that he would do everything in his power to protect Elita-1, and now that he knew for certain that she was alive, he gladly renewed that vow… even if it meant sacrificing the war. “Teletraan, calculate travel time.” That order was easily followed as the coordinates were shown as being just outside the sensor perimeter the Autobots had set up around Canterlot City. With that decided, he strode to the door, passing by Sunset as she and the girls arrived in their armor, all transforming to bot-mode as they saw him pass.
“Hey Prime, where ya goin’?” asked Applejack.
“On patrol,” Optimus said simply, transforming to vehicle mode before he rumbled away.
“Huh. Is it just me or did he seem kinda… out of it?” asked Rainbow.
“More than kinda,” Sunset remarked. “We’d better see what’s up.” With that, she moved to the terminal and revved it up. “Teletraan, where’s Optimus going?”
“He’s left to receive transportation to Cybertron.” The girls were surprised by this.
“Bring up a replay of most recent transmission.” Twilight instructed, allowing the girls to see that Megatron had taken Elita prisoner.
“Now I get it; Optimus went to tear his way through Megatron and save his girlfriend.” Rainbow rationalized.
“Chivalrous as that may be, Rainbow Dash, I don’t believe that’s Optimus’ intention.” Rarity remarked.
“What makes you say that?” asked Sunset.
“Because if it was…” Rarity remarked, opening a small hatch. “Then why did he leave his weapons?” Sure enough, there within the cabinet Rarity had just opened was Optimus’ ion rifle, battleax, and longsword.
That was what made Sunset realize it. “He’s surrendering…” The others looked at her dumbstruck. “He’s giving up the war in exchange for Elita-1’s life.”
“What?! That’s stupid!” Rainbow said in outrage.
“Love makes people do stupid stuff.” Twilight shrugged. “Either way, Optimus is going to need back-up.”
“Well, we can’t follow him,” Sunset remarked from the terminal. “He wiped the coordinates for that SpaceBridge.”
“And he’s got too much of a headstart on us, so we can’t follow him.” Rarity remarked.
“Then we’ll just use our own SpaceBridge!” Pinkie smiled as she lowered the vortex-generating ring from the ceiling.
“Pinkie, are you crazy?!” asked Twilight. “We haven’t even tested the SpaceBridge yet!”
“Well, as the old saying goes; ‘There’s no time like the present’.” Rarity shrugged.
“Say that again when the event horizon tears us apart at the atomic level, or the wormhole breaks and scatters us across the universe,” Twilight assured. “Believe me, I’ve studied Wheeljack’s notes on what can happen when these things malfunction, and I don’t want to have to add a new possibility to that list.”
“Quit being paranoid, Twilight.” Rainbow smiled. “Chances are nothing’ll happen and we’ll end up on Cybertron just fine.”
“Okay, maybe that’ll happen.” Twilight reasoned. “But what do we do once we’re there? We’ve never been to Cybertron; how do we find our way around?”
“We could ask one of the others,” Spike suggested.
“Ask us what?” Wheeljack asked as he and Perceptor appeared.
The girls all looked at each other and came to a consensus; if there was anyone who knew what could happen if they went through the SpaceBridge, it was the ones who built it. “A-A map of Cybertron,” Twilight said quickly. “For some background research; where Megatron really got his start, major battles, that sort of thing.”
Wheeljack raised an eyebrow at the girls’ behavior but shrugged. “Alright sure.” Quickly, he accessed Teletraan and downloaded a map of the planet as well as a database of Cybertronian history and various major battles in the war into a pad, which he then handed to Twilight. “There ya go. Now if you’re charting Megatron’s life story, you’ll wanna start at the Nova Point Energon mine, then move on to the Pits of Kaon. After that, just look into recent political events and then follow the tide of battle.”
“Thanks.” Twilight nodded. “You guys going out?”
“Gotta get some parts in town for a project we’re workin’ on.” Wheeljack shrugged. “Tell Optimus we’ll only be gone for a few minutes.”
“Sure thing.” Applejack nodded.
“If I may ask, why have you lowered the GroundBridge?” asked Perceptor.
Sunset started panicking but tried her best to hide it as she looked straight at the scientist. “Just… going for a scouting mission,” she said simply. “We won’t be gone long.”
“Very well.” Perceptor shrugged as he transformed and his avatar picked up the microscope, quickly climbing into Wheeljack when he transformed before they left the base.
“Well, we’ve got our map of the planet and we know where to start looking.” Rainbow shrugged. “Now we’ve just gotta rev up the bridge and hope we don’t disintegrate.”
“That’s a big hope.” Twilight reminded as Rainbow started entering coordinates in the SpaceBridge’s computer. “I don’t exactly like using myself as a test subject for dangerous science.”
“Relax; we’ll be fine,” Rainbow assured as she pulled the lever, and the vortex roared to life, somehow looking much more intense than any standard GroundBridge. “Well, it didn’t explode right away. That’s a good sign, right?”
“I suppose. Only one way to know for sure if it works. Someone has to pass through.” Twilight instructed.
“Whee!” Pinkie cheered as she jumped into the vortex, terrifying the other girls… until Pinkie’s head poked back through with a broad smile. “Cmon through, guys; the weather’s great.”
“Yee-hoo! It works!” Applejack cheered, prompting a reasonably happy celebration from the other girls. Quickly Rainbow and Applejack grabbed Optimus’ weapons and carried them through the portal, the other girls quickly following them.
But they weren’t expecting what they saw. “I thought you said the weather was great.” Rainbow was right to criticize Pinkie for that; the sky was a massive blanket of crimson clouds with thunder booming in the distance.
“Oh come now Rainbow Dash; storms are very calming.” Rarity remarked.
Twilight wasn’t so sure and checked her scanner, and she didn’t like what she saw. “Not this one,” she remarked. “I’m getting some dangerously caustic readings from those clouds, and pH levels down below one.”
“Translation?” asked Rainbow.
“Acid rain,” Twilight answered simply. “And if my readings are right, the acid’s strong enough to melt any bot unfortunate enough to be caught in it down to slag.”
“Great. So where do we start?” asked Applejack.
“I doubt Megatron would want to base himself out of the mines; he wasn’t exactly proud of that job,” Sunset remembered that from her conversation with the warlord. “Let’s check at Kaon.”
“Best idea we’ve got so far.” Rainbow shrugged as the group all transformed and started driving.
Optimus had only just arrived at the coordinates Megatron had ordered him to, where he found Soundwave waiting with the Combaticons. Optimus scowled as he transformed, his faceplate and visor in place just to be safe. “I am unarmed.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.” Onslaught assured as he scanned the Prime, surprised by what he found. “Not even a sidearm, Prime? I’m almost insulted.”
“All I want is to protect Elita-1,” Optimus assured. “If I must surrender myself to do that, then I do so easily.”
“Megatron said you’d say that.” Onslaught remarked, turning to Soundwave. “Open the SpaceBridge.” Soundwave did as he was ordered, opening the doorway through which the Prime slowly walked, finding himself in the center of the gladiatorial arena face-to-face with Megatron.
“Optimus. I must admit I was surprised to hear that you had come.” the warlord remarked.
“You know full-well you left me little room for negotiations, Megatron.” Optimus countered. “I have only come to surrender myself in exchange for Elita-1’s safety.”
“Ah, honorable to the end, my old friend,” Megatron remarked. “But I will honor our agreement. Elita-1 will not be harmed. You however are another matter.” Suddenly Optimus was shot by a powerful energy bolt in the back, knocking him to the ground where he started slipping out of consciousness. But just before he blacked out completely, he saw the Decepticons dragging Elita and several other femmes out from somewhere under the arena’s stands.
Elsewhere in town, the girls had been forced to move with extreme stealth through the streets of Kaon to avoid the Decepticon patrols on the streets, one of whom they had to duck into an alley to dodge as they rumbled past. “Great. At this rate, we’ll be across town just in time for Megatron to finish cutting Optimus up for dinner.” Rainbow remarked.
“Hey, can I help it if I don’t know my way around?” asked Sunset. “Having a map is one thing; having a sense of where everything on the map is located is another.”
“Found ‘em!” Pinkie called from the ledge of the building they were hiding under.
Rainbow was surprised and quickly climbed up next to her. “How’d you do that?” she asked. Pinkie just pointed and directed Rainbow’s attention to a huge arena with a massive statue of Megatron standing at the gates. “Oh.” With that, she climbed back down and gestured for the girls to follow her.
It didn’t take long for the girls to reach the large arena… where they saw Optimus chained to a wall, as if awaiting execution with Obsidian and Strika holding Elita like they were going to force her to watch. “Oh no; we’re too late.” Sunset scowled.
“Not yet we’re not,” Rainbow smirked. “Megatron’s gonna wanna gloat, and that’ll be our chance.”
Sure enough, Megatron soon strode out of the gladiator’s dwelling with a proud smile on his face. “Well, this is disappointing Optimus. I was expecting at least some show of futile resistance.” the warlord scowled. “Mm, no matter, I suppose. Once the Matrix is in my hands, this war will finally be won and all will bow to me.” Optimus simply sighed as he looked at Elita one more time, seeing her optics wet with tears. “Oh, don’t go all to pieces Prime. You’ll be reunited with her soon enough.”
“What?!” Optimus asked, finally finding some fire within his Spark.
“Ah, ha-ha; there he is.” Megatron smiled proudly.
“You promised me Megatron. You gave your word that Elita would not be harmed.” Optimus scowled.
“So I did. But unless I missed my guess, you failed to note exactly how long she was to remain unharmed.” Megatron smiled as he leveled his cannon at Optimus. “Oh well. Such is the way of war.”
Sunset smirked as she grabbed Optimus’ ion cannon from Applejack and aimed it at Megatron’s arm. “Now I know why you’re called Decepticons!” she called and pulled the trigger, a massive blast firing out and knocking Megatron’s cannon off-target and forcing him to accidentally shoot the control panel for Optimus’ restraints, which allowed the Prime free to charge at Megatron.
Quickly Obsidian and Strika both readied their blasters and fired at Optimus, relaxing their grip on Elita. What happened next wasn’t exactly clear to anyone viewing it from the outside, but for Elita, everything seemed to stop dead as she slipped her way free of her captors and run to Optimus and push him toward the door of the arena. Unfortunately, Optimus was a heavy bot and she started running out of strength. But more than that; she was weakening at an inordinate rate until at last, everything started running properly.
For everyone else, however, it appeared as though Elita had somehow blinked Optimus away from Megatron just before the tyrant’s generals could pump him full of holes before she fell to the ground as if gasping for air. “Elita!” Optimus panicked and grabbed her up.
“Cover them!” Twilight yelled and quickly raised Spike in his Targetmaster form, firing on the Decepticons with the others quickly supporting her in covering Optimus and Elita.
“Dash, get Prime and his gal their gear!” Applejack ordered as she handed the Prime’s weapons to the jet-bot.
“Got it!” Rainbow nodded and raced down, quickly grabbing Elita’s glaive and large blaster rifle before she raced to their sides. “You might need these.”
Optimus gladly took his weapons back and started firing at Megatron with his rifle. “What are you doing here?”
“Apparently saving your bumper,” Rainbow remarked as she fired a barrage of glass gas missiles from her arms at the Decepticons, immobilizing them for a moment. “Cmon, we gotta get outta here.”
“The… o… thers…” Elita wheezed breathlessly.
“We’ll come back for them,” Twilight assured as she and the other girls regrouped with them. “For now, we’ve gotta get somewhere safe and get you some help.”
“She’s right, Optimus. We don’t stand a chance if we can’t get Elita some medical attention.” Sunset assured.
“Then let’s roll.” Optimus nodded and quickly transformed, allowing Applejack to load Elita onto Optimus’s back before the girls all transformed and they all raced down the road out of Kaon amid a swarm of gunfire from the Decepticons, Rainbow’s glass gas wearing off already.
“Cease fire!” Megatron ordered, halting the fire after the Autobots. Once they were gone, Megatron turned to his cyclopic science officer. “Shockwave, send your best scouts after them. I will possess the Matrix.”
“As you command, Lord Megatron.” Shockwave nodded, knowing exactly how convicted his master was.