//------------------------------// // Epilogue // Story: Double the Bass // by Blacktastic //------------------------------// I sat about, gazing at the same unchanging screen for the last hour. "You do realize more questions won't come in until the others get answered?" Soundwave asked. "I know, but it's so awesome people wanna know more about us! Besides...I wanna wait till we get a webcam." I replied, nervously pressing my hooves together. I've known him long enough now to tell when he rolls his eyes from behind those glasses of his. Soundwave walked out of the computer room, which after his arm was reattached he walks with a slight limp in his pony form, he tells me he's lucky to be able to have an arm at all after getting it severed the way it did. A few weeks had gone by since the Autobots left. I asked Soundwave what Blaster meant when he said 'In a few cycles' which rounded to about a few minutes, which was weird, but Soundwave explained that sometimes they're technical difficulties with the space bridge, his being here is one perfect example. As for our daily lives, Laserbeak is usually with Soundwave almost one hundred percent of the time, but the other times he's usually with Ravage who lazes about Fluttershy's. Starscream is back to working with Rainbow Dash on weather patrol, although it's not exactly called working if the two of them can be seen arguing every hour or so. The dynamic duo, Rumble and Frenzy, still spend most of their time with the Cutie Mark Crusaders and spend just as much time getting into trouble. I get to spend most of my time in Ponyville, which since due to the fact Starscream helped in the rescue of a wall eyed mare, a certain doctor was very gracious and let me convert his old workshop into that of my own club scene, I even offered Octavia and Playback jobs there as an apology. Playback accepted and now he and I co-dj together, but Octavia had to deny due to her intended audience mostly being in Canterlot, but she visits from time to time. Soundwave spends most of his day working at the club, and believe me he's no slouch at his job. Even though we're in Ponyville, thanks to Soundwave, the club is quite possibly the highest tech one across all Equestria, meaning we get tons of attendants from all over just to hear the ear shattering bass booming from every speaker. After the attack a tenuous treaty was formed with the Changelings. I'm not one hundred percent sure what it entails, but they're able to cross our borders, which was weird to hear at first and upset alot of ponies, but apparently the Elements of Harmony did something to them and their not as ravenous for love anymore. Like I said I'm not sure on the details... Some ponies still send us thank you letters for saving them in Canterlot, but there's some however who aren't entirely pleased at the relation Soundwave and Starscream had with Shockwave. They may not know too much about their whole past, but they certainly are able to put two and two together to see the Decepticon logo on Soundwave and Starscream's flanks and remember seeing it on the hundreds of Changelings that were attacking. So we usually get an angry pony knocking at our doors, but they're run off by some more grateful ones. "Vinyl!" Soundwave called out "What?!" I called back. "Get out here, the Ambassador is arriving shortly!" I lept up from my chair and rushed outside the house. Starscream was just beginning to swoop down and I saw all the Minicons running towards us in the distance. Soundwave was talking to that little dragon from the library who just belched up a puff of green fire. "Alright cool need anything else Soundwave?" "Negative, your services are no longer required." "I you say so, by the way Twilight wants you to..." Spike began only to be interrupted by an abrupt 'No' from Soundwave. The little dragon looked slightly offended before walking off to the library. "Twilight still giving you a hard time?" I asked "Non stop...I hope this ambassador is another scientist so they'll leave me alone..." he said with annoyed look. I giggled a little as I stared up at the evening sky. "So How do you know he's coming." "Ive been getting faint transmission just recently, I thought nothing of them at first, but when they increased in strength I sent out my own signals to guide the pilot here." "You actually helped the Autobot!? I'd hoped the so called Ambassador had went offline. Allowing I, Starscream to..." "Yeah yeah take over the world, build your empire on the backs of millions of organics, and restart the Decepticon uprising blah blah blah. We heard it all before man, can't you just once be content with what you have." I finished saying with a smirk. He looked at me dumbfounded for a moment "Do I really repeat myself that much?" I smiled and nodded "Maybe get some new material..." "Shh...I need to concentrate on helping the pilot find this planet." Soundwave said After a few silent moments of Soundwave walking around the edges of Ponyville he stopped suddenly and turned to us. "We should move...now!" Without hesitation we all turned and ran. I turned my head back to see something smoking across the darkening sky. As I stared the object began getting bigger and bigger until I could make out a ship coming right at us. Thankfully Soundwave pulled me out of my daze and rushed me behind some cover. The ship landed with a massive thud and skidded across the ground for a few meters before finally coming to a halt. The ship itself was more or less the same size one that Soundwave came with, just big enough to accommodate one bot. Obviously some of the citizens of Ponyville heard this and came rushing out to investigate, including the Element girls. "What's going on? What is this?" Somepony asked. Twilight Sparkle got ahead of the mob "Relax everypony, the Autobots who helped fend of the Changeling attack a few weeks ago decided to send over an ambassador to our world so we can keep peaceful relations with them, please return to your homes." She shouted over the crowd. Most of them dispersed but a few others stayed, chief among them being the mayor, Lyra and her marefriend Bon-bon, Playback, and Octavia who was staying with us at the time. I had went over to the previously mentioned ponies to talk to them a little bit. We stopped our conversation when we heard the all to familiar sound of the transformation sequence. "Laserbeak, Carve and entrance." Soundwave ordered, now standing tall in his robotic form. Laaserbeak let out a metallic screech as he powered up his laser and began to carve through the thick metal, which held strong even during the crash. "Oh I hope whoever it is is okay..." I overheard Fluttershy saying to her friends. We all impatiently continued to watch as Laserbeak finished carving out a giant square with a line down the middle of it. A reluctant Starscream and Soundwave took each side and began to pry it open. The metal lout out an annoying groan as it began to bend against their combined strength. Once the makeshift door was open they both looked inside only to be greeted with a sudden pillar of smoke, which the both immediately backed away from. From inside the ship we heard the sound of heavy metal foot steps against a metal floor. "I cannot believe the infinitesimally small chance that space bridges worm hole generation would fail just as we were about to exit the event horizon. Who knows how many mega-cycles we lost in our attempt to reconfigure the light-drive to allow us safe exit." A metallic nasally voice said from inside. "Is that..." Soundwave began. "....Perceptor?" Starscream finished An Autobot emerged from the smoke. Smaller in comparison to to Soundwave and Starscream he sported a blue and red color scheme with most of his limbs being square, except his head which was rounded at the top, what really stood out though was the shoulder mounted cannon he was sporting. He looked around at everpony and smiled "Ah greeting and salutations equian life forms. I am the Autobot Perceptor, and my companion and I are glad to be here on this planet today as ambassadors to the Autobot organization." "Companion?" Twilight spoke out "I thought you'd only be sending one um...bot?" "On the contrary tiny purple Equian. Autobot command felt it necessary to make sure there was an even number of Autobots to the local docile Decepticon population." "Docile?!" Starscream scoffed, an offended look on his face "I'll show you docile you-" He was interrupted by a swift and sudden kick from another bot who launched himself from the entrance way of the ship. This one contrasted Perceptor quite greatly seeing as how he was more aerodynamic looking, probably having to do with the wings on his back that tilted at the end for some odd reason. He was mostly white-silvery with red and yellow streaks on his wings and arms with a blue face. "Come on them Starscream you didn't think we'd be sending just one of us to look after you two?" the bot asked with a cocky smirk on his face. "You...Jetfire!" Starscream was at a loss for words it seemed. "The one and only." He said with a bow. Starscream was about to try another attack when Soundwave and Perceptor got between the two. "Ah Soundwave, it is good to see that you've been the most cooperative, I couldn't process anyone but you being able to blend in as long as you did." Soundwave nodded simply, he looked off into the distance for a moment. "One of the leaders of the nation of Equestria is approaching." "Ah superb, I'd enjoy getting to business as soon as possible." Perceptor said. He turned his direction towards the approaching princess. Jetfire and Starscream were giving each other dirty looks, but it seems to the suprise of Jetifre Starscream was quite calm. "Whats the mater, all the fire gone from your engine Starscream?" "Hardly, I've learned to pick my moments a little better in my time here." Starscream proclaimed, holding his hand up to his chest. "I'll believe that when I see it..." Jetfire said with a smirk. I wakled over to Soundwave "What's with those two?" "They used to be brothers...in Cybertronain terms anyways." "Oh right that equal rival stuff you mentioned...wait...used to be?" "Many still consider them to be, but they won't acknowledge it. Both of them are too prideful..." "Ah..." Just as we finished Princess Luna had landed in front of everpony. All the ponies bowed respectfully, even Soundwave nodded his head. "Citizens of Ponyville!" she said loud enough for everypony to hear "Please return to your homes, this is a private dealing!" The rest of the ponies let out a murmur before leaving to their homes, except Madam Mayor who I guess was permitted to stay to let her be filled in. Me, Playback, and Octavia trotted homeward, we were quiet until about halfway there. "So...ya ever gonna tell me whats up between you and Soundwave?" Playback started "What do you mean?" I asked "Ya know..." he gave me a nudge and a wink "What?" The realization hit me "Oh nononono..." I blushed "I mean when he was here and spending most of his time as a pony well...the illusion was convincing, but..." "Buuuuut?" He said leaning. Octavia was also now listening intently "Well against my better judgement I asked hm about that and he shot me down for two reasons...one being the obvious fact it would never work out seeing as he's a space robot and I'm a pony and..." "And? And what?" "Well...he's gay..." As soon as I said that both Octavia and playback simultaneously stopped and said "What?!" "Well yeah...He told me that it's because there was only two women at the end of the war, an Autobot and Starscream." "Starscream's a girl?" Octavia asked "No, but I think Soundwave said he had like a copy of himself as a girl or something...either way he told me 'with those as my options being with a man-bot seemed like the better path to choose'" They looked at each other and shrugged, but shivered when they realized that somewhere out in the cosmos...was a Starscream who was twice as vile during a certain time of the month.... ------- "And that's the deal...Any questions?" Princess Luna asked us "Nope" Jetfire said simply "None at all Princess." I shrugged simply, and my Minicons all nodded "I promise nothing..." Starscream said. "You will if you want to continue functioning." Jetfire threatened, causing both of them to once again get face to face. After breaking them up once again they both scanned for the local populace to don their disguises. Jetfire turned into a silvery pegasus with the same cutie mark as Starscream's only his ace card was an Autobot symbol, his red mane was slicked back. Perceptor turned into an red earth pony with a blue mane that looked cut with a bowl as guidance, he had a large pair of thick rimmed glasses adorning his face, and his cutie mark was a microscope. Princess Luna nodded to them to leave, but she nodded her head at me to stand off to the side while she had a talk with the mayor, to whom she gave a small trinket to. Once she left Luna approached me. "So...can you tell me anything of those two." I looked over at the departing group of bot-ponies. "Jetifre is usually level headed, but around Starscream they match on ego, otherwise he's rather trustworthy. Perceptor is much like Shockwave" I said, eliciting a gasp from Luna. I held my hand out to stop any would be outburst "He's a genius, but he's also one of the few Autobots who will never partake in combat if necessary, on top of that he isn't psychotic..." Luna let out a sigh of relief, then she flew up to meet my eye level. "Soundwave...I cannot thank you enough for everything you have done." She smiled "And to think the first time we met we tried to kill one another." I nodded simply before walking back into to town and transforming back into a pony. Before she left I turned my head one last time and smiled "Thank you as well...for giving me this second chance...I would still be on a path to my own destruction if not for you...and of course her..." I said my gaze drifting to a white mare off in the distance. She smiled knowingly as she took off into the night sky. I trotted homeward, happily accepting my new life in Ponyville... ------- A/N There you have it loyal readers, an epilouge. I couldn't decide between Perceptor and Jetifre, so i just went with both. And yes you would be gay too if your only options were Arcee, an Autobot who wants to kill you, and Slipstream, the female Starscream. i just felt it nessecary to say that, mostly cuz all of the gay fan pics I see of Soundwave, plus I thought it'd be funny. Feel free to also ask questions to Jetfire and Perceptor at the tumblr blog here