//------------------------------// // Chapter Seven: Disharmony // Story: Transformers: Deep Space Exploration Team // by TcogArchitect //------------------------------// Published December 20th, 2012 Chapter seven: Disharmony The next series of movements would have baffled any onlookers with their speed. Bunker's spear extended and compressed from its horn disguise so that he could wield it properly as he rushed forward to take on Fireburst. The split mane of Burnout's beast mode flipped around to either side to create a wrist-blade as she prepared to defend against Crosswire's scorpion tail and lion head. Skybreaker and Sharpedge leapt into the air, the wings on Skybreaker's arms now multi-tasking as his primary weapons, parrying and deflecting the Decepticon's swords, which she had formed from the two longest feathers of her wings, the edges becoming solid and sharp. Below them, Dark Lance and Bloodwing used their flight packs to charge one another, their weapons and shields slamming together as they each pushed with all their might, trying to make the other yield and fall. Each of them realizing the other would not give in, the two leaders pushed away, using their flight packs to balance themselves, and then lunged again, this time changing the trajectory of their weapons in mid-motion to deflect the other's attack. Dark Lance, his right arm now crossing his body, moved his left under it to make an uppercut with his shield blades, twisting his body while lifting his lance to generate the force needed to do any damage. Pulling back just enough to not be hit, Bloodwing responded with an upswing of his sword, only to be sidestepped and stabbed at by his opponent's main weapon. Meanwhile, Bunker had lured Fireburst away from the others so there would be no interference in their duel. He and Fireburst had never seen eye-to-eye, and neither had achieved a significant victory over the other. He dodged another sword strike, bringing his spear up to block the second, twisting the pole to push the blade away and open up his opponent to a counter-slash. His blade grazed the Decepticon's shoulder, and he jumped away so he could react faster to the next attack. Instead of attacking, though, Fireburst stood his ground, taking up a defensive stance with his blades pointing inward slightly. Bunker shuffled forward once to get in range, making a false lunge. His old foe took the bait, and he pulled back just as the red transformer's blades came upward to try and disarm him, simultaneously opening up their wielder to the second, true lunge, which connected with the center of his chest plate, pushing him backwards. Fireburst snarled in anger, and Bunker smiled with confidence. In another part of the forest, Burnout parried her attacker's lion teeth yet again with the blade of her gauntlet. Neither she nor Crosswire were well-versed in combat, but he had more weapons and a longer reach than she did, and she was now in dire straits because of it. She dodged another strike from the scorpion tail that extended above her foe's left shoulder, and noticed several small cuts and holes in the bulbous appendage. She had been wondering what had caused them for some time, and it finally dawned on her that the origin of the wounds was Bunker's horn. Realizing that Bunker had also come across the issue of reach, she decided that if it worked for him, it should work for her as well. The next attack to come at her was with the teeth again, but this time she knew what to do. Pulling back just out of reach, she swiped at the feline face, and heard the satisfying cry of pain from the Decepticon's vulture-like robot head. This fight was hers. Above the trees, however, a very different kind of battle was taking place. Skybreaker and Sharpedge twirled through the air, the two scout-class robots using all of their maneuverability as they attacked and blocked each other. Pulling back slightly from the last attack, Skybreaker fired a short burst from his main thrusters, catching his opponent off-guard as he swiped at her again with his wing blades. Smiling slightly, he passed her and turned around, expecting her to be clutching at a wound in her abdomen. Instead, he nearly got a face full of sword before bringing his arms up to block the downward strike of both the Decepticon's weapons. The slight delay in his reaction, however, was enough to let her follow through and push him down so that he would be looking directly at the sun in order to watch anything she did. Pulling back both arms, Sharpedge dived at the blinded Autobot, preparing to stab him with both blades at once. Now it was her turn to smile. Back in Ponyville, a small crowd was gathered at the edge of the Everfree forest. The ponies there had heard the various battle cries, clanging metal, and occasional cry of pain, and were curious as to what was happening in the woods next to their town. A few of them even had telescopes or binoculars, and were trying to follow the aerial battle, but the erratic movements of the two flyers were too fast for them to follow closely enough to see anything more than a pair of vaguely humanoid blurs. Twilight had seen the crowd gathered at the edge of the forest, and after retrieving her own telescope, had begun to try and follow the action as well. She eventually managed to see that the combatants had certain pieces similar to animals, and it didn't take long for her to realize who it was that was fighting. Running back into town she gathered her friends, quickly explaining to each what was happening. In the forest, however, the fighting had already ended. Both sides were worn out, simply staring at each other. They all knew the battle was over, but none of them were willing to risk vulnerability by transforming back to their unarmed alt-modes. So they stood there, staring at each other, waiting for the Energon radiation to force them all back into the safety of their beast modes. When the sparking electricity that came with the onset of Energon buildup and stasis lock finally began to dance across their bodies, the two leaders grudgingly acquiesced to their bodies. Bloodwing was the first to give his command, seeing that his Autobot rival would not be destroyed this day. "Decepticons, transform and return to base," he snarled, changing back to his alicorn mode. His subordinates followed suit, and were soon heading back towards their crashed ship. Certain that his team was now out of danger from the Decepticons, Dark Lance reciprocated the order. "Autobots, transform, and let's go home." he returned to his four-legged alt-mode, and turned back to the Star Runner. Neither side noticed the blue flowers they walked through on the way back. When they returned, Skybreaker groaned and immediately headed for the auto-repair bay. He had managed to prevent himself from being put offline, but Sharpedge was a better tactician than him, and had been able to do quite a bit of damage. Safely inside the protective Energon field, the others also returned to their robot forms to assess the damage they had taken. Burnout had taken most of her damage to the gauntlet with her tools, leaving the rest of her body relatively unscathed. Ignoring the minor injuries she had sustained, she went to Dark Lance, who was holding his side. Knowing that she would not listen if he told her to check Bunker first, he moved his hand away, allowing her to repair the large gash that Bloodwing had inflicted. He winced once as she began, the exposed nerve endings sending their displeasure at being tampered with to his main processor. The proximity alert went off soon after, though, and the holo-display clicked on to reveal six ponies and three fillies walking towards the ship. "Main hatch open," Dark Lance commanded the voice activation system. They didn't typically use voice commands, due to the delay between the order and the recognition of what they said, but it was useful on occasion. The nine ponies walked up the short set of stairs, and looked at the damaged bots. "We heard fighting in the forest, and we wanted to make sure you were all okay," Twilight explained as Burnout continued to work on patching up the commander's side. The lavender unicorn looked worried. "It's alright. We'll live to fight another day, but thanks for the concern," the Autobot commander replied. The reaction he got wasn't what he expected. "Wait. Whaddaya mean 'fight another day'?" Applejack questioned, looking even more worried than when she arrived. "You tellin' us you plan on this happenin' again?" "Unfortunately, yes," he replied, unsure as to why this was a big deal. Every other race they had come across knew the concept of war, and several had been in active conflict during the time they had spent in their company. War was by no means a good thing, but it was something that he had come to accept as a fact of life. ^Are they really that unaccustomed to combat?^ he thought. ^Or have I simply become numb to it?^ "Finished," Burnout interrupted, getting up. Dark Lance rose as well, stretching his torso to make sure he still had his full range of motion. Satisfied with her work, Burnout turned to where Bunker was lying, and moved to his side to repair the larger wounds he had received during the confrontation. Dark Lance returned his attention to their guests and noticed that the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who he had seen enter the ship, were nowhere to be found. "Where are Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo?" he asked, looking around for any clues as to where they went. The others also started turning their heads around, searching for the three fillies who had led them there. Failing to see any sign of them, Dark Lance moved to the holo-display, which was hooked up to the main security systems, and put in a command to find them. A few seconds later, the table showed an image of the three wandering through the ship, looking around. A small-scale map of the ship appeared near the bottom of the image, a blinking dot indicating the location of the fillies. As the others came to look, he typed a few short commands, then watched the image as the attention of said fillies turned to the ground and headed off into the distance. They started moving again, this time with curiosity at whatever was on the floor. He then clicked the holo-display off, and returned his own attention to the six ponies still in the room. Rarity was the first to speak. "Well? Did you figure out where they are?" she asked, obviously worried about the safety of her sister. "They're down in the lodging corridors. If nothing else, they're fast for little tykes. I put up a light path to give them a tour of the ship. They should be back up here in less than an hour." he said confidently. Rarity still didn't look too happy about her sister roaming the halls of an alien spaceship unchaperoned, though. "Don't worry. Even if something does happen, I'll know about it almost instantly. They'll be fine." he assured her. She looked calmer, but still not unconcerned. ^Well, that is to be expected of someone whose younger sibling is wandering around in what is, essentially, a stranger's house.^ he thought. ^They should be fine, though. I locked all the dangerous rooms off anyway.^ His thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a small cough. He turned to see Twilight looking at him again, the same worried look still covering her face. "So what were you guys fighting about, anyway?" she asked, obviously wanting to help. "Huh?" Dark Lance replied, confused as to whom she was referring. "Well , you were fighting, right? What were you fighting about?" she repeated the question. After a moment pondering what she meant, the dark blue Autobot finally figured out what she was talking about. "We weren't fighting each other," he answered, receiving confused looks from the visitors. "We were fighting the Decepticons, who also crashed here." More confused looks told him he would need to explain more thoroughly. "Alright," he began, "this is kind of a long story, so we should probably move somewhere more comfortable. Come on, we can go to the lounge area." "You have a lounge area?" Rainbow Dash asked, apparently surprised that robots ever rested. Dark Lance chuckled. "Yes, we have a lounge area. We may have better endurance than organic beings like you, but even we need to rest and recharge occasionally." "Oh. I guess that makes sense." the multi-colored pony said, satisfied with his explanation.