//------------------------------// // Chapter Three: Crusaders and Explosives // Story: Transformers: Deep Space Exploration Team // by TcogArchitect //------------------------------// Published November 20th, 2012 Chapter three: Crusaders and Explosives After a moment, Dark Lance decided to go outside and talk to the unexpected visitors. He transformed into his beast mode so as not to scare them, his team doing the same in case the three younglings came in before Lance had a chance to warn them. He opened the door, to find three large heads with eyes that took up almost the entire area of their faces looking up at him eagerly. Somewhat startled at the fact that they did not seem at all worried about the idea that they were standing next to an alien spaceship, he paused for about a quarter of a second. Which was more than enough time for them to start asking questions. "Whoareyou?Wheredidyoucomefrom?Areyoutheonlyonehere?Howcomeyoulookliketheprincesses?Canyoudoanycooltricks?What'sthisshipmadeof?Howcomeyouaren'tanswering?What'syourhomelike?Canwecomein?" The questions came faster than the ammunition out of a machine gun. He waited for them to calm down a bit before answering, his memory banks having served him well by remembering each question in the order they were asked, allowing him to answer in the same order if he wanted. Which he didn't because he knew he wouldn't have their attention for that long, so he had to get to the important parts first. "I am commander Dark Lance, of the Autobot Deep Space Exploration Team," he said with an authoritative and important-sounding voice. He knew how to handle kids like this. It was all in the presentation. "I have come from the planet Cybertron to find new energy sources and a new home for my race. My team and I crashed here after being attacked, and we are now stuck here for some time, since our ship cannot take off in its present condition." The three faces (which was all he could see of them at the moment) looked at him with wide eyes for a moment before saying "Cool" simultaneously in awed voices. They then looked past him, and the orange, purple-maned pegasus that had been on the scooter asked "So, can we come in?" He thought for a second. He knew that he and his team needed to be on good terms with the locals if they were ever going to get anything done while they were here, but he didn't want to put these three in danger if the Decepticons decided to attack. He looked at the setting sun, and decided that the Decepticons weren't going to do anything before morning at the earliest. "Alright," he finally answered, the three faces looking like they had just been given the greatest gift of their entire lives. "Just let me-" Before he could finish, all three of the young ponies had shot past him, and were inside the control room, looking around. ^Uh-oh,^ he thought. Sure enough, he followed them in to a scene of chaos. Despite his team's best efforts, they had already managed to root through several open panels, press numerous buttons on at least five different consoles, and turn the hologram table into a holographic game of dress-up. Before they could do any real damage, however, Bunker, Burnout, and Skybreaker finally caught one each with their beast mode teeth and were holding them up off the floor, out of reach of everything else. Dark Lance walked over and explained the rules of the ship to the new guests. "First of all, you can't run around like that inside. There are a lot of loose cables, open panels, and sharp edges in here you could hurt yourself on. Second, this stuff is very delicate equipment, and must be taken care of properly in order to function. That means no standing on things and pressing random buttons, trying to play dress-up. Thirdly, and this is the most important, don't touch something if you don't know what it is. You can ask, and we will tell you, but don't touch. If you can't do as you're told, you aren't allowed in, alright?" he finally finished, getting a defeated "Okay..." from the three small fillies. He nodded to his three comrades, who then gently set the foals down on the floor. "So, what are your names?" the orange one asked, obviously excited to meet anyone she didn't already know, and eager to get to know them. The other two also turned around, looking at the ones who had caught them, which is when Dark Lance noticed two things: first, his team had somehow managed to unintentionally catch the filly of the same type they were disguised as. He wasn't sure if it was a coincidence, or if Primus was trying to send him some kind of message, but that wasn't important right now. What was important was that each of the fillies had saddlebags filled with gems. Or at least, they looked like gems. He quickly realized, however, that the "gems" were actually Energon crystals, and they were glowing. A lot. And getting brighter. "The bags!" he yelled, knowing his team would notice it too. They looked at the bags, saw what was about to happen, and immediately snatched one each off the fillies, before running to the door and throwing them out, the confused ponies staring dumbly at them. Once all three sets of saddlebags were outside, Bunker smacked the door control, closing it just before there was a series of loud bangs, and the shockwaves from the explosions rippled through the metal of the ship, making it hum and groan. The fillies looked at each other, then at the four ponies in front of them, then back to each other, confused as to why the gemstones they had spent the last few hours collecting just decided to explode. Dark Lance came over to them, wondering why they had had so much Energon to begin with. Did they use it as an energy source? Food? Currency? But before he could open his mouth, the earth pony with the bow asked sadly, "Does this mean we ain't allowed in anymore?" her accent caught him slightly off-guard, but he reacted before they could start asking him more questions. Knowing full well that most creatures didn't know Energon was explosive until one of his team showed them, he shook his head, to which the fillies looked very relieved. Now it was his turn to ask a couple questions. "Before we talk about that, though, I don't think I've heard any of your names yet." The unicorn gasped with embarrassment. "I'm sorry, we should know better. We were just really excited, that's all. Anyway, my name is Sweetie Belle." Her tone and inflection told Dark Lance that she was raised, at least, by a higher-class parent, and that she was more accustomed to being scolded on etiquette. The pegasus spoke up next. "I'm Scootaloo, the second-coolest pony in Equestria!" she said enthusiastically. Equestria, huh? Probably the country they were in. Also, she said "second-coolest", which meant that there is someone around here who is extremely good at what they do. Looking at Scootaloo, he guessed that that "something" had to do with pleasing the crowd. What the crowd was there to see, though, he had yet to find out. The yellow filly with the red mane went last. "And ah'm Apple Bloom!" She said with a smile, her accent coming through again. She looked like she spent a lot of time on a farm, maybe even lived on one. But he wasn't sure just yet, so he withheld any comments about it. "And we're..." the three ponies said together while striking a pose, "THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!" they exclaimed proudly, their mouths stretched into wide grins. His team then moved forward to introduce themselves as well. "My name is Bunker. I am this team's scientist and helmsman." "I'm Burnout, the medic. Nice to meet you." "And I'm Skybreaker. I do recon stuff." After introductions were finished, and with the names of the three fillies safely in his processor, Dark Lance then asked about the obvious subject. "So why did you have all those Energon crystals, anyway?" he asked. "What's En-er-jon?" Scootaloo asked, confused. ^Not unexpected, but it was worth a shot,^ Dark Lance mused. "Energon is what those crystals you had were made of," he explained, knowing what the next sentence would be. "But I've never seen gems do anything like that before," Sweetie Belle said, intrigued by the explosive power that she had just witnessed. "Most races that live around Energon don't realize it can explode like that until we show them. I would guess that the crystals you had were set off by the various consoles you went through, slowly setting off a chain reaction in them that caused them to become unstable." He had explained this many times before. Satisfied with his explanation, Apple Bloom was the next to speak. "So how do you know what it does?" she asked him. Again, memories of a dozen other worlds and a dozen other beings asking him the same question flashed through his main processor. He looked at her for a moment, knowing where this conversation would go, and wondering what the reactions of the three fillies in front of him would be when he showed them his natural form. "I know what it does because I use it as sustenance," he replied calmly. "Wait, what? Why would you eat it?" Sweetie Belle asked, confused. "I don't eat it like that. First it has to be refined into a more stable compound. Then I can use it as fuel." he explained patiently. The three fillies thought for a moment before Apple Bloom spoke up. "But ah thought only dragons were able to eat gemstones?" she asked, "How come you ponies are able to eat 'em, too?" "Because my team and I aren't actually ponies," he said, bracing himself for the worst. The three in front of him looked more confused than anything else. "But you look just like ponies," Scootaloo said, before Sweetie Belle gasped. "You're not Changelings, are you?" she asked, fear creeping into her voice. The other two suddenly looked worried as well. "I don't know what a 'Changeling' from this planet looks like, but I don't think so, no." he replied, seeing relief wash over the fillies' faces. He looked out the window, suddenly realizing it was already dusk, and that his guests needed to get home soon. "It looks like we'll have to finish this conversation another time, though. It's getting dark. Time to get you back home." The crusaders let out a collective "Awwww...." before starting towards the door, Dark Lance close behind.