//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 
// Story: Transformers Prime: Ponies in Disguise 
// by RavageXeno 
//------------------------------//

When he watched the new ponies tumble out of the portal, it looked like they would get a taste of how much the ground hurt.

A lot.

But luckily for them there was a soft purple unicorn for them to land on, which slightly cushioned the impact of the fall.

"Oh my! Are you guys alright?" Fluttershy finally asked, emerging from her hiding place behind Applejack to tend to the ponies who had fallen out of the portal. Her shyness momentarily being replaced by kindness and concern for her friend and the strange new ponies.

"Yes Fluttershy, we're fine," Twilight said slightly muffled from underneath the pile of ponies, which had suddenly appeared from nowhere. After a few moments, they managed to untangle themselves from each other. Starscream’s mouth gaped open in shock when the figures separated. Applejack caught a glimpse of his expression, his horror catching her attention.

“Starscream, do ya’ know who these pony folks are?” she asked, watching carefully as Fluttershy worked around them, checking them each in turn. She had tended to Twilight and was now on the first of the two new ponies. 

“Yes, Applejack, I do know these ponies,” he replied with a sigh, demoralised by what he thought to be such vulgar company. He spread out his wings, which ached from misuse and seemed driven to send him aloft. However, before he could start silently ranting about how he was the rightful ruler of the Decepticons, his thoughts were interrupted by Pinkie giving an excited shriek and something landing on his right wing. 

“Hey look, what an awesome phoenix!” she said in her hyperactive, super-energetic manner. Starscream and almost every other pony - except for Twilight, Fluttershy and the two new ponies who were having a quiet conversation - looked around to see the midnight blue phoenix which had just landed on his wing. Its yellow eyes scanned the ponies around him, then finally came to rest upon Starscream.  

“Hello, Laserbeak,” he said “I never thought I would see you here, though there have been more surprising developments.” He glanced towards the new ponies, out of pure habit, in contempt, who were still engrossed in their conversation. 

“Yes, Applejack,” he continued before she was able to ask the question out loud. “I do know this bird as well, all three of them are...” He groaned quietly in disgust. “Old friends.” He never took his eyes off of Laserbeak, who blatantly ignored him, and scanned the area with interest. Like Soundwave, Laserbeak was as cold and calculating as the former communications officer, and even though more of a pet than an actual Decepticon he was still able to give Starscream the heebie-jeebies. Unfortunately, both Soundwave and Laserbeak knew of this little fact. 

“Starscream, I’m glad we didn’t have to search the entire of this dimension for your ungrateful hide,” the smaller of the two new ponies said, and with a sigh Starscream had to acknowledge them. 

The larger of the two (though the same height as Starscream) was a yellow stallion who had a black mane and tail which had yellow streaks running through it. Technically he should have been a pegasus, but instead of wings there were two large spikes protruding from his back, which seemed to have once been the main bone for his wings. Situated behind these and coming out of the same place were two smaller spikes. Which, Starscream thought, made him look iconically like his robotic counterpart. The stallion’s cutie mark was of a bumblebee in flight which carried a red Autobot insignia. 

The smaller of the two (who was the same size as all the mares in the vicinity) was a blue mare who had a pink mane and tail which had a few small streaks of blue in it. Unlike her counterpart she was an earth pony, who by the looks of things really wanted to buck Starscream in the face. A sentiment which he shared with her entirely. Her cutie mark was of a dark pink heart which had a red Autobot insignia inside it, and a jagged line which cut down the center.

“Arcee, Bumblebee. What a pleasure it is to see you here,” he said every word dripping with sarcasm, even though there was some truth in those words. Their presence here would make it easier for him to find a way out of this dimension, and people seemed to naturally like Autobots better than Decepticons. Though he had no idea why.

“If I may ask, how on Cybertron did you end up here?” he said, dropping all sarcasm for open curiosity. He guessed that the tale had Megatron written all over it in big, red, flashing letters.

“Well, that’s kind of a long story,” she said, speaking calmly instead of pounding his face into scrap.





Arcee and Bumblebee crept quietly down the empty corridor. The two were headed towards where the new energy signature reading was coming from. Unfortunately, it was in the heart of the Nemesis. Though the corridors were suspiciously empty.

They had been sent here when a massive energy surge had interfered with all of Earth's technology, and broadcasted the Nemesis's location to every Autobot in the solar system. 

Both of them had their blasters primed, though Arcee was also carrying the tracker in one hand. But they were both prepared to blast any Decepticon at a moment's notice. 

They stopped in front of a simple door and Arcee put the tracker away began working on a way to open the door. Which was a big red button set in the wall to the side of the door. 

"Bee, this seems way too easy. So be ready for anything," Arcee said, preparing to open the door. Bumblebee beeped in a series of tones as a response. 

She opened the door and they burst into the room, blasters scanning through the darkness. The only meagre light came from the open doorway behind them, though it was enough to illuminate most of the small room and its contents.

Old data banks, broken equipment and spare parts were a few of the items amidst the piles of discarded junk. They were in a storage closet, and both of them knew it. As the truth hit them, Knockout and Breakdown disengaged themselves from the shadows and hit them again. Knockout stabbed Bumblebee in the neck and Breakdown punched Arcee in the face. 

Both of them were unconscious before they hit the floor.

“This mercenary work is rather profitable, though I think taking it up professionally would result in a few dents and scuffs in the body work. And anyway, surgeon sounds much more elegant,” Knockout said whilst cuffing Bumblebee’s hands behind his back then moving onto Arcee. 

“Ha, don’t make me laugh, you wouldn’t last five minutes as a mercenary,” Breakdown said whilst picking up Bumblebee. He did laugh when Knockout nearly fell over after picking up Arcee; he had walked backwards into a shelf and a hand had grabbed him, startling him.

“I would last longer than five minutes, you ungrateful oaf!” jokingly pushing his partner out of the way, “probably about ten minutes. Now we had probably get back to Megatron before this pair decide to wake up and he throws us through a portal for being imbeciles,” Knockout said leading the way out of the storage closet and down the corridor towards Soundwave’s lab.

When they reached the lab they threw their autobot captives onto the floor in front of the machine which Soundwave had been devoting his time to for the past few months. They were placed kneeling so that they would be greeted by the blue pulsing light of the machine. 

“Well done you two, I half expected you to be a pile of spare parts, though it seems that Autobots are easier to defeat than humans. Wouldn’t you agree Breakdown,” Airachnid said smirking at them as she walked out of the shadows of the room. 

“Airachnid! We were expecting Lord Megatron, not a snivelling excuse for robot. What are you doing here? I thought we solved the infestation problem when we lost the Insecticons?” Knockout said gripping his energon prod loosely, just incase... Not many bots liked Airachnid, and Knockout wasn’t sorry to not be one of them. 

“Tut tut Knockout, you should treat your commanders with respect, or I might decide to add a few Decepticons to my trophy cabinet,” she said before focusing her attention on the two Autobots who were still unconscious.

“Arcee! What a pleasure it is to see you again! Though this would be more fun if you were awake to provide me with some intelligent conversation,” she continued, looking back at the two Decepticons with dismay, to emphasise her point.

Ignoring the two Decepticons, she then walked up to Arcee and traced her nail down the side of the unconscious Autobot’s face. She was imagining all of the ways in which she could make Arcee’s life miserable. Starting with using a cortical psychic patch to find the location of Jack’s house and then murder him in front of her. 

She either didn’t hear the door open behind her, or she thought it was Knockout and Breakdown leaving the room. 

“Airachnid, what do you think you are doing with my prisoners?” Megatrons asked as he stepped into the room, followed by Soundwave. Knockout and Breakdown had both left the room, to avoid being collateral damage in the confrontation which was about to happen. 

“Your prisoners Lord Megatron? I recall Knockout and Breakdown bringing them in, if i was not mistaken,” she responded coolly.

“Under my orders.”

“Then, my liege, allow me to break Arcee. She and I have a...” Airachnid sneered as she dragged a finger across Arcee’s cheek. “History.”

"No," Megatron said, leaning in to take a closer look at the two Autobots, his dagger-teeth exposed in a wide grin. "I have a far better use for them."

“As you wish my liege,” she said before giving one last look at Arcee before heading towards the door.

“And Airachnid, I would prefer it if you didn’t interfere with my plans then plead innocence. I've heard from Soundwave your plans of treachery,” he said, moving aside to let her escort herself out of the room.

Soundwave glanced at Megatron before going and standing behind the machine and pushing random buttons starting up the machine. Seeing Airachnid walk out of the lab Knockout walked back in, careful to avoid her poisonous gaze.

"Knockout, wake our guests up out of their beauty sleep," Megatron said as he walked up to the control panel next to the door and locked all access to the room. He then turned to look at his guests as they became reacquainted with the world. 

As they were waking up, Knockout moved out of the way and into the shadows, avoiding the hail of insults which were bound to fly around the room. Arcee woke staring into the lifeless blue eye of the machine which greeted her with the slow mumble of gears of it draining Energon from the Decepticon’s store. She calmed her erratic nerves when she glimpsed Bumblebee out of the corner of her eye.

Though she wasn’t pleased to see the menacing figure which was in the doorway, she was at least expecting him to be there. At least it wasn’t the worst bot to be standing there.

“Arcee, Bumblebee, I’m glad you could finally join us.” Megatron said from the shadows. “I apologize for the mess. I needed to get rid of a certain pest before we could have this conversation,” Megatron continued, his arms clasped behind his back. Instantly she understood what was meant by pest and was silently grateful, though only for a moment once she remembered where she was.

“Megatron. I know that we aren’t here to exchange pleasantries, not that I’ve ever really heard a conversation where you had a conversation without insulting somebody, unless you wanted something. And if you didn’t want us for something we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Arcee said whilst silently trying to break out of her bonds.

“If I were you Arcee I wouldn’t insult the person who controls the outcome of your pitiful excuse for a life. And don’t try and stall me so you can break your bonds, they are made out of adamantium so don’t even try. But you would be correct in your assumption that you are here for a specified reason. One which I’m sure you’ll be eager to aid me in,” Megatron continued walking out of the shadows and closer to them.

“Ha, I doubt that. No Autobot would willingly help you achieve any of your sadistic dreams,” she said with contempt. She glanced at Bumblebee, who to her seemed frozen in terror, though Megatron knew otherwise.

“I wouldn’t jump to conclusions too quickly Arcee. I haven’t said a single word to your companion, but I believe that he is already allied to this particular cause,” Megatron said looking from Arcee to Bumblebee as she digested this information. “Isn’t that right Bumblebee?”

He gave a few beeps in response to Megatron’s question, stating that he did in-fact agree with Megatron as he knew what the machine was. Arcee stared at him in shock until he explained in another series of beeps that when Megatron was in his mind, he kept thinking about a machine which Soundwave was working on. And that it was meant to be a transportation device.

“Your yellow friend is correct. Soundwave was only recently able to finish building it,” Megatron said looking fondly at the glowing machine.

“But I still don’t understand what we have to do with it. Surely you don’t need us for anything?” Arcee said whilst casually surveying the room, cataloging the number of Deceptions and trying to figure a way out of this mess. 

“I have a proposal for you. You two go through the portal and try and find a way out of the portal. You can join Starscream who is currently trying to do that. You can ring Optimus and tell him where you are if you like,” he said trying to pull a pleasant face, which was kinda tricky when you had spiky teeth and red eyes.

“And if we refuse?” she asked, making sure that alternatives weren’t  any better than this first idea.

“You get locked in a cell for the rest of your pitiful existence. Your allies might be able to help you escape, though it would take time. And there’s no telling how long I would be able to keep the pests away,” Megatron said menacingly, using her fragile past against her. It was that one statement that persuaded her.

“Okay we’ll do it, but first I want to send a message to Optimus,” she responded before Megatron nodded at Knockout and he moved forward and undid her cuffs. She was led around the machine to Soundwave where she would send the message. Bumblebee kept offering beeps of advice to improve the message, whilst Knockout went to stand near Megatron.

“Lord Megatron, are you sure this is wise?” he said gripping his energon prod tightly as he kept glancing between the two Autobots. Waiting for either of them to make a move at trying to escape.

“Do you have an alternative” Megatron said looking down at the physician.

“You have already sent Starscream to this other dimension, and now you are sending two Autobots as well. All three of them have a vendetta against you. I would probably be best to have a safety precaution in place,” Knockout said whilst keeping his eyes on the Autobots. Megatron thought that whilst Knockout seemed to be acting a bit paranoid (as he often was when his paint job was involved), he did have a valid point. 

“Good thinking, Knockout,  but that leaves us with the question of who to send with them. A vehicon is out of the question, they would probably fall off a cliff or something equally idiotic,” Megatron said, considering the list of options silently, though Knockout couldn’t do the same as he vocalised his thought process.

“Well you can’t send myself or Breakdown. If Breakdown goes, I have no partner and if I go, there would be no medic! We can’t send the creep Airachnid she would turn against us as fast as she can transform into her disgusting alt-mode, Soundwave is out of the question– he’s the key to our entire operation. Who can we afford to send?” Knockout said, relaxing as it seemed that he wasn’t going to be sent and endanger his paint job.

“Knockout I have an idea, go and uncuff Bumblebee,” Megatron said as he watched Arcee walk back to Bumblebee who’s cuffs were being removed by Knockout. He then prepared himself for a conversation he really didn’t want to have. 

“Soundwave, I need you to send Laserbeak through the portal with them. I don’t trust them so I need to have someone to watch them. There is nobody else,” Megatron said half expecting a blunt refusal followed by an outcry from the Autobots in the room. Though thankfully everything went silent, which wasn’t completely good news. 

Arcee and Bumblebee could see the justification in Megatron’s worries, and they would probably do the same if the roles were reversed. But Megatron was much more concerned with Soundwave’s response, who was currently frozen whilst he made his decision. Which was understandable considering his past. 

Back during the war for Cybertron Soundwave had more than one minicon. But after the loss of Frenzy, Rumble and Ravage he became more selective of his company. Locking himself away and not caring about the state of the war. It took eons for Megatron to convince him to rejoin the war and avenge his minicons. It was one of the main reasons he took his vow of silence.

“I realize that you’ve lost your other minicons, and that you are particularly protective of Laserbeak, but you also know that I wouldn’t ask you to do something like this lightly.” Megatron said. It was a few silent minutes before he made his decision.

Laserbeak ejected off of Soundwave’s chest and started circling the Autobots with whom he was to travel. Knockout and Megatron backed into the shadows as Soundwave started up the machine, so they wouldn’t get transported as well.

In a flash of blinding light the bots were gone.





Arcee told the surrounding ponies how they got here in slightly fewer words, though some considerable time had passed since they had first found Starscream in the meadow. And Twilight was eagre to be off, so that she could inform the Princesses of the new developments.

Personally.

“Right guys, we need to go and catch the next train to Canterlot, which leaves in about 30 minutes. Applejack, run home and tell your family, Rarity’s and Spike that we are leaving,” she said organising the huddle of ponies into action. Applejack raced off at a gallop as the others started at a brisk trot. 

“Twilight darling, how do you know what the train times are?” Rarity asked as they started moving towards the town and the train station.

“Oh, I memorised the schedule when I came to Ponyville. I thought it might be useful someday,” Twilight said watching with confusion as Starscream stopped near to one of the trees which skirted the limits of Ponyville. She thought he was just staring at the tree - maybe he hadn’t seen one before? - but then she noticed Laserbeak perched in one of the branches. 

Starscream, for his part was getting slightly annoyed with this world. Firstly the new Autobots and then Laserbeak, who now seemed to be mocking him from the tree. Though he really didn’t like the rainbow coloured pegasus. 

“Hey Starscream! What’s the matter?” she said punching him lightly on his side. “Never seen a tree before, is it scaring you?” Rainbow mocked flying slightly above the ground near Starscream. He decided that he really, really didn’t like her.

“Shut up Rainbow and race me,” he said turning away from the tree and facing her.

“What!” she said behind a fit of laughter.

“You heard me. Race. Me,” he said beating his wings so that he was hovering slightly off the ground. 

“Okay pal. Whatever you say. Wait, have you ever flown before?” she asked before lining up next to Starscream on an improvised start line which had quickly been drawn in the ground by Pinkie. The other ponies all decided it was a good idea to get out of the way. Laserbeak had also taken this advice and was now perched on Fluttershy’s wing. 

“No,” he said before Twilight started the countdown. 

“On your marks.

“Get set.

“GO!”

They set off. Rainbow being half courteous, half arrogant in her easy victory let Starscream set off first. They both jumped into the air and flew towards the town. But they didn’t make it.

Starscream slammed straight into the trunk of the tree which Laserbeak had been perched on. Rainbow fell to the ground and joined the other ponies in laughing at his expense.