//------------------------------// // New way of Life or Counter Attack // Story: Friendship is Magic, When All Are One // by RobotFox //------------------------------// Chapter 17 New Way of Life or Counter Attack Surprisingly the trip from the battle-ridden city of Canterlot was actually very quiet, aside from a lightly mourning unicorn with an equally pained Alicorn. But the tension was fierce. It was clear that all of them had something to say but it didn’t seem like a good idea. Most of them were still digesting all of what just happened and in the hard process of accepting what happened. Aside from the weeping from Twilight and Luna, only Skyfire spoke as if he took on the role of an announcer. He didn’t talk majority of the time only stating that he would be landing in Ponyville soon. All of them displayed their sadness openly; there was no need to hide it. It was just so hard to believe that this could happen. Starscream was the only one who didn’t show sadness, rather simple annoyance and anger. Usually he would be voicing it but that didn’t seem to be a very wise not to mention he was also trying to assess the situation, trying to think of a counter attack. But he couldn’t think straight. For one the environment was completely tense, the gloom really had effect on this thinking and Rainbow Dash currently was glaring at him once again. His eye twitch in annoyance by it; he warned them. He warned all of them. He warned them about Megatron and Unicorn and both fell upon deaf ears. Rainbow Dash merely chuckled at them as a joke. Merely saying he was ‘Thinking too hard about it’. He wasn’t sure as to why she and most of the other didn’t take what he said seriously, for Primus sake he fought Megatron and saved their planet. Why would he make this up? It wasn’t long until Skyfire landed in an area close to the town where he had a large enough space to land safely and not disturb anything. The front hatch opened up and all of them walked out through the stairway. Surprisingly, not many residents were there to see them, perhaps they were all hiding in their homes, even from this distance you could see the destruction and mass power presented at Canterlot. As soon as they had all left the larger transformer and were standing a few feet away, he transformed to his robot mode. It was now close to evening, the day’s natural light was still fading leaving everything in an orange tint. “Well,” Twilight began as the eight ponies came together in a small circle, “What do we do?” “I reckon we get used to it,” Applejack said in defeat, it was clear she couldn’t believe what she was saying either. “Ah don’t wanna admit it, but Ah don’t think we will be able to do much about it.” “We’re just giving up?” Rainbow Dash asked in disbelief of her friend. “I agree. As much as I would love to prove to our great ruler that this was a perilous mistake…we have no way to speak with her.” Rarity said also a bit saddened. “Or attack…” Starscream added as he heard the various vehicles driving/flying from a distance away, obviously on their way to the Space Bridge. At this point, he noticed Skyfire walking toward the town. He theorized that it was to get Wheeljack, or at least tell him what was going on. He followed him. “No,” Luna said firmly, her tears had dried but her darkened expression was still clearly visible, “We will not attack or question her.” “What!?” The rainbow mare yelled out. “Really! You! She just kicked your flank off the throne, and you’re not going to do anything about it!?” The Night Alicorn’s aqua eyes looked sympathetically at her, “It is done. If we try to negotiate or make any hostile action, we are to be killed on sight. And I do not want any lives lost from all this.” “But what makes you think she will stop?” Rainbow countered. “What are we supposed to do?” Applejack countered back, “I hate to say it Rainbow…I really do but how can we stop her or them?” she pointed up in the sky were the large metal planet looking phenomenon orbiting them next to the moon. “If ‘ol Screamer and the others couldn’t even touch her...” “Wait, we can’t just go in and attack her!” Twilight yelled out. “Really? Seriously Twilight?” Rainbow jumped up in the air and flew into the unicorn’s face, “She just nearly killed Screamer, booted out her sister so she could have all the power, expelled you, and banished all of us from Canterlot! I think you’re being way too nice about this!” “We will not attack her!” Luna called out sternly. “She may have done these things to us but we will not resort to any unnecessary harm…this isn’t my sister or your ruler.” “Um…” Fluttershy uttered quietly trying to get the others’ attention, “I don’t know if it will help but…what about the Elements of Harmony?” “That’s it!” Pinkie Pie immediately had a burst of sudden energy and her mane fully inflated, “That’s how we’ll stop her! We’ll use the Elements of Harmony on her and maybe we can fix everything.” “And just how are we going to go about that?” Rarity asked. “We can’t go back into Canterlot and ask for them.” “We obviously we just sneak in and steal them,” Rainbow replied, agreeing with Pinkie’s plan, “How hard can it be?” “Impossible,” Luna answered firmly. “Huh?” Rainbow said, not expecting that kind of immediate answer. “How-” “After the incident with Discord, My sister and I cast a spell that makes the door locked in more ways than one. No physical or magical methods will be able to enter unless both my sister and I break it ourselves,” Luna explained. She sighed afterwards knowing that she was just breaking their hopes. “Well isn’t that convenient?” The Rainbow mare groaned as she landed and scrapped her hoof against the ground. “So, now what?” Twilight made a crippled sigh, “We’ll…We’ll talk about it tomorrow morning…I think all of us need a breather. We’ll meet for breakfast at Sugar cube Corner.” She turned to the Night Alicorn, “You can stay with me if you want.” Luna had a small sad smile, “Thank you Twilight Sparkle. We’ll gladly accept your offer.” --Not far from the town-- Starscream caught up with Skyfire by flying next to his head but neither of them spoke at first. Before they left, and after Wheeljack had done a quick patch up and repair on Skyfire’s jet thruster as well as detain Scavenger in Energon chains, they had helped Wheeljack set up a in a small area. It was caverns in the ground where there was a bit of room where a normal sized Cybertron could fit and so Wheeljack chose this location to put up the Communication’s Array. They felt that a more concealed location would be best for this scenario. “You’re not going to stay to speak with them?” Skyfire asked as Starscream flew by his head. “I think my input will would only make the situation worse,” Starscream answered honestly. “…What are you and the girls going to do?” “…I don’t know…we barely beat Megatron, and since Celestia and perhaps Unicron are both conventionally and magically superior…I can’t say.” At this point, they made it to the caves, where they saw that Sideswipe had beaten them to them. Wheeljack had just put a small piece into the large communicator and closed the top. Just as he finished working, he turned to Sideswipe and noticed the two of them coming towards them. “Well look who came over?” Sideswipe said as they approached the small place where the communications array and a bundled up Constructicon were located. “I’m assuming Sideswipe told you what’s going on,” Skyfire said as he made it there and Starscream landed on his shoulder. “Yeah,” Wheeljack replied, “This just makes things even more confusing.” “All of us are returning Cybertron. Primus knows what Megatron and Optimus plan on doing.” “Right,” Skyfire agreed. “Leave the Communications array; we may still need to get in contact with the residents of this planet.” “Well, that saves some time.” “Perhaps it will be beneficial,” Starscream added, “Celestia and maybe Unicron are both technologically and magically advanced, you may need their help as well. We’re going to have to pull together, but we can’t stay worlds apart.” “We don’t know anything about what Megatron and Optimus are planning yet,” Wheeljack explained as he turned on the machine and went to untie the surprisingly quiet Decepticon, “But we’ll keep you informed.” The Constructicon chuckled as he was untied but Sideswipe still had his blaster “Shows that sometimes you just need to show who’s boss.” “This isn’t a moral debate. You’re either returning to Cybertron or you can go serve Unicron directly,” Sideswipe said firmly although it was in a somewhat comedic sense since he knew what the response would be. Scavenger merely took his blaster back from the Autobot Trooper and started his walk toward the Space Bridge. The pegasus jumped up and maintained his place in the air “You three better get going too, something gives me a feeling that Celestia will be making sure you follow her instructions.” “Yeah, we better get going.” Sideswipe then turned around and transformed, “We’ll keep you updated.” And with that, he drove off with Wheeljack following his example as he transformed and drove off as well. Starscream at this point flew in front of Skyfire so he could face him, “Well, I suppose this ends our little reunion.” Skyfire let out a small smirk, “Well, we’ll see depending on when Optimus and Megatron come up with something, we’ll have to see. But either way, despite the circumstances, I’m glad we were able to patch a few things up.” The ex-seeker made a small smirk as well, “I wish there was nothing to patch up in the first place.” He let out a small sigh, “Either way, at least we can say we are no longer enemies.” Skyfire nodded once, “Be sure to check on up the Communications array frequently, if Wheeljack or the others can’t make it, I’ll try and make a call to let you know.” Starscream nodded as the large shuttle transformed and flew away. The pegasus kept his altitude, looking up in the sky where the shuttle was going before turning to the Communications Array controls. He could only hope that the caves were an adequate hiding place for it. It was the size for a Cybertronian but being a scientist/being at war forever and using computers all the time allowed him to quickly remember how to use it. So even with being a pony, he could still easily work it. Besides, Wheeljack had left it on. He quickly heard the loud boom from the Space Bridge but Starscream didn’t turn to see it. He looked over back to the town where even from this distance he could see the Elements of Harmony and Luna still conversing about the situation. He let out another sigh and, with a light glare, flew over to the group. --Ponyville-- “We’re seriously just going to let this go by?” Rainbow exclaimed, showing her pride and energy getting lower. “What can we do?” Pinkie said sadly, “As long as Celestia is like this…” “Believe me Rainbow Dash,” Luna began. “It pains me as it does all of you to know that nothing can be done. At least not at this moment.” “So…we’re just going to take it in stride?” Rainbow confirmed. “Stride isn’t a word Ah’d use sugar cube, more like dealing wit it,” Applejack clarified, she then yawned. “Well, going to have to break this to da family somehow. See yah tommara y’all.” And with that the orange mare started her way home. “Bye.” Was all Pinkie Pie said, her head low as she started her way to Sugar Cube Corner. “But…” Rainbow attempted but noticed it was falling on deaf ears. Fluttershy nodded once, showing her distaste on the whole situation but wasn’t happy either. She said a brief goodbye and started her way to her small cottage. “Rainbow Dash.” said mare turned to Luna. “Understand that this isn’t something we can just address with mere words, negotiation or any other conventional method.” “Yeah… whatever.” Twilight sighed, “Dash, just go home and we’ll talk about it in the morning.” “Yeah yeah,” Rainbow said, annoyed, waving her hoof about as she hovered in the air. At this point, both the lavender unicorn and dark Alicorn made their way to the library. She huffed as she landed and scraped her hoof against the ground. “The others returned to their places of residence?” She turned to see Starscream land by her. “Yeah, well what’s your plan?” she inquired. “Wait till Megatron and Optimus Prime to come up with something,” He answered quickly. “Really?” She was a bit surprised. “What?” “I don’t know,” she shrugged showing a bit of disappointment. If anything, she expected him to all gung ho about attacking Celestia. “It’s just usually you would talk about how we should do something.” Starscream’s once calm exterior went tense as his eyes narrowed into a hard glare. “Oh, we’re finally doing something?!” he yelled at her. “Whoa! Where did that come from?” Rainbow asked, a bit shocked at his reaction. “Don’t act like you don’t know what I mean,” He sneered. “We’re finally going to take my warnings seriously?” Rainbow groaned but made a small glare as well, “It’s too late now!” “Okay that’s it Screamer! You keep point the hoof at us about not doing anything, well what did you do!?” The mare demanded. “I worked to get my Cybertronian form back!” he countered. “And the good that did!” She yelled back. “I know you didn’t just get it for Megatron.” “Well…” he growled, she had a point. While it was mostly true that he wanted his Cybertronian form back to fight off the Decepticons when they returned, it was clear that he missed his old form. While he enjoyed many aspects of being this organic creature, he was part of Cybertronian as it was who he once was. Doctor Whooves and he were pretty sure Twilight knew, but he didn’t think Rainbow Dash was able to figure this out. He groaned, he didn’t have much of a rebuttal. “And all you did was mope!” “What?! I was busy with Celestia and all those visits!” The pegasus mare quickly pushed the stallion back, “No you weren’t! Aside from those two ‘dates’ all you ever did was sit by yourself, worry about that thing on your flank or spend time with Twilight or the Doc. Well here’s one for you Screamer,” she put venom into his name, “What could we have done?” “If we properly prepared-” “Yeah right! Like anything we would’ve thought of would have stop this?!” Starscream for the first time started seeing her point. Here he was pointing the blame at anyone but himself, when really all this time he didn’t do much of anything either. “And I’m sick of it,” Rainbow Dash made this clear as she glared spears into the stallion’s eyes. “We’re done, go spend the night with Twilight, I’m sure you’ll want to spend time with her more anyway…” The ex-seeker panicked, “What? Rainbow Dash, Twilight and I never-” “It doesn’t matter Screamer! When I said we’re done, I meant it! Good Bye!” she glared at him and started to walk off, getting ready to fly away. Starscream felt numb and useless. This whole time he was blaming them for their inaction but in ways he didn’t see before, they were more proactive than he was. Both Celestia and Luna agreed to save a small cache of the weapons they produced during the first Decepticon invasion. Twilight tried to make safety routes and other safety protocols. And all the others actually had lives, careers, families…all he did was get his Cybertronian form back. All this time he could’ve been making weapons, he could’ve easily manufactured more advanced Cybertronian-grade weapons all those times he just did other things that were not as important…instead of actually doing anything for preparation…or spending time with Rainbow Dash… The stallion quickly ran to her, “No! I’m…I’m sorry. You’re right…I-” “Didn’t do much of anything did you?” Rainbow stopped and turned to the stallion, “You also didn’t tell me much of anything you’ve done.” “What?” “With the Decepticons…you never told me anything about it.” “You said you didn’t want to know.” Rainbow turned away, that actually was partially true. Back when Megatron first attacked, Starscream told her a little bit of his life before being with the Decepticons and she requested that he didn’t talk about the Decepticons part. But there was a few moments she asked something about it and he would either go around the question or just flat out ignore it. She mostly took these moments in stride and looked past them but she wasn’t being nice about it anymore. “Yeah, but I willing to bet Twilight knows all about it.” The ex-seeker internally froze. That was very true; Rainbow hardly knew much about his past. Twilight actually was very educated on who he was and what he did. As to why, for one she asked but also he trusted her. She was the first one in the whole group to want to learn and educate him on this new planet. He didn’t want her to know who he once was…or any other pony for that matter, he feared they would never seem him the same way…and not in a good way either. Why did he trust Twilight to trust him on such things? Starscream remained silent as the rainbow mane mare turned around and flapped her way into the air not saying a single word. The stallion felt like she just punched him the stomach and kicked him a few times while she was at it. But she was right. “Further proves I’ve been nothing more than a burden to this planet… and to all of them…” --Library-- “We thank you again Twilight Sparkle for letting us your home for shelter,” Luna said as the two of them entered the tree house. As they entered, the two of them made it to the center where the table was and Luna sat down on the floor. “It’s fine,” Twilight said with a sigh as she closed the door behind them. “And Princess-” “Luna,” The Night Alicorn said firmly, interrupting her, “We no longer carry such a title.” “But-” “We no longer wish to be associated with that title,” She nodded once. “Even if the situation didn’t come with such consequences, we still would rather you call us ‘Luna’.” Twilight had a small sad smile, “Fine, but only if you quit calling me ‘Twilight Sparkle’ and just call me ‘Twilight’. We’re friends remember?” Luna returned the small smile, “Indeed we-” Luna noticed that she was using her old formal speech finally, “Indeed ‘I’ have, very well Twilight.” Twilight sadly walked over to the Alicorn who, while holding a small smile, was just as troubled and concerned as she was. “Do you have any idea what to do? We can’t let things stay this way.” “I’m afraid not,” Luna answered honestly. “And I know. But we can’t make any sudden action. I’m sure my sister and this Unicron would be expecting said action from either us or the Cybertronians.” Twilight sighed as walked her way to the kitchen, “I’m going to make some green tea, you want some?” “Yes please.” Luna said dropping her train of thought; she knew it was for the best that they just forget about the issue for now, both of them have been sobbing and grieving this whole situation as their…family member turned on them. Both she and Twilight still had their dry tears present as neither of them has washed up but both were too exhausted to even think of doing such a thing. “Twilight? Is that you?” A young male voice called out. Luna looked up the stairwell and saw the small purple dragon known as Spike coming down the stairs. As he came down he saw the dark Alicorn, “Pr-Princess, I- I didn’t know-” “Do not fret young drake, our-” she stopped herself, “my intrusion was unannounced.” “Oh…okay, so where’s Twilight?” “I’m right here Spike,” Twilight called from the kitchen. At this point, the mare was carrying a small tray with two cups and pot of tea with her magic and placing in on the small table. “I glad to see you’re alright, the way you guys just got up and left I was worried something may have happened to you guys. I could see the whole thing from the window.” “Not everything,” Twilight said sadly with her eyes watering again as she used her magic to pour herself and Luna a cup of tea. “What happened?” The drake asked concerned as he went closer to them. As he neared them, he noticed their saddened expressions much more clearly, the dried tears and the wounded Alicorn. “Celestia! What happened!? Luna you’re bleeding and-” “I am aware of my injuries.” She said dejectedly. Twilight looked at the injuries again and noticed that they had never been wrapped at all. Her wing was still dragging to the ground and the dark wound in her chest was still had a bit of moisture making it clear she was still bleeding a little bit and her pierced wing had small streaks of blood coming down the feathers. The lavender mare shook her head; she couldn’t believe she had missed that, much less how Luna hadn’t brought any attention to it until now. “Spike, go get the First Aid kit.” “On it!” The purple dragon yelled out and ran upstairs to do as he was asked. “You really shouldn’t worry-” “Luna!” It was Twilight’s turn to be stern. “You’re hurt. You can’t walk around without at least bandaging it.” Luna let out a deep sigh and nodded once. “I got it!” The purple dragon yelled out caring a metal box with a red cross on it and placed it at the table, then opened it. “Now will you two tell me what happened?” “Very well,” Luna said and Twilight sighed, neither of them wanted to talk about it anymore but Spike deserved to know. For the next hour, Luna and Twilight explained to the young drake what had happened through sniffles and tearing eyes as they both dressed Luna’s wounds and drinking their tea. Spike asked many questions and couldn’t believe what either of them were saying. In the end, judging by the way Luna looked, and how Twilight clearly expressed it, he had to believe it. By the time they had finished, a white wrap was around Luna’s neck and across her chest as her wing was wrapped all around. Her wing was no longer dragging across the floor but it wasn’t pressed against her body either like her other wing. They also applied ointment and other medicines on her face where scratches from Celestia’s hoofs struck her. “I just can’t believe it…it’s just so…” Spike was shaking his head, still trying to register what had just been explained to him. “Go to bed Spike, thanks for keeping things going around here. But I think that we’re all going to bed soon, we could all use some sleep to refresh our minds. We’ll talk about it in the morning.” “Yeah, where are you going to sleep Princess?” Spike asked. “Luna,” She reiterated, “And I will stay here for the night.” She gestured to the floor. “Huh? We do have a guest bed…” Twilight offered. “No, you have been generous enough already,” Luna said with a firm nod. Twilight made a light groan; this Princess was stubborn. “Can I at least offer you at a pillow?” Luna thought for a moment. “Fair enough.” Twilight used her magic grabbed a few pillows from upstairs and put them on the ground that Luna insisted to sleep on. She also put down a spare blanket as well; she wasn’t going to argue about this. “Thank you,” Luna said gratefully. “You’ve been incredibly generous to us Twilight.” “Think nothing of it,” She waved off as she climbed up the stairs to go to bed. She paused and looked back down at the former princess, “Are you sure you’ll be okay down here?” “We are- I am certain.” --Rainbow Dash’s Home-- The rainbow mane pegasus flew home rather hastily. Her emotions were running wild. The shear fact that Celestia of all ponies was actually turning their country and planet (as well as another planet) into a dictatorship under her full control... She couldn’t believe that she would do this; first she had kicked her sister off the throne they had shared and now she was just tearing apart their usual way of living. She was willing to bet any amount of bits that she was going to start changing everything, including things in Ponyville, soon. She groaned as she finally entered her cloud home and went straight to her couch and just started staring off into space. She growled as her thoughts went to her now ex-coltfriend. Their relationship was a bit rocky from the get go. To be fair, it wasn’t entirely each other’s fault for it being so rough. She was working with weather patrol and Starscream was fulfilling his ‘civic duty’ by answering all of Celestia’s calls. But the two of them hardly spent time with one another. Aside from their self-proclaimed ‘dates’ and a few other moments they shared, Starscream was either at Doctor Whooves’ place, Celestia or Twilight’s. She groaned thinking about her. Actually, she did believe Starscream when he said that there was no romantic interaction between the two. While being the Element of Loyalty didn’t tell her when someone was being loyal or not, she usually had a pretty good idea. But she couldn’t help but wonder if both of their feelings were misguided. Maybe Starscream did have feelings for Twilight and had just mistaken them as being for her. She didn’t know and she would bet that Starscream himself didn’t either. She let out a long sigh as she turned her head to the small table she had in her living room. There was a photograph of all her friends, including Starscream. It was the first group photo they had ever taken with him. It was all of them around each other and Starscream standing with a confused, though content, expression on his face. She wondered how strange it was being the only Stallion in the group. Occasionally, Big Macintosh would be part of the equation thanks to Fluttershy, but still, in the early days anyway, Starscream was the only male in the group of theirs, but when everything started going back to normal, they found out that things were going to get complicated. She turned her head to look at a book that she had borrowed from the library next to the photo. The book was titled “The Adventures of Daring Do: Legend of the Mini-Cons” and in the corner there was a box that said “Introducing Sunstorm!”. The cover showed Daring Doo in a cave looking at an altar where a glowing blue sword with an ‘M’ on the hilt. Next to Daring Doo was a large yellow and orange machine looking at it with awe. The machine looked a bit like Starscream but there were a few changes. The sky blue mare couldn’t help but wonder if the author was inspired by the events of the Decepticons first invasion to write in such a character. She didn’t know when the book was released so she couldn’t say and at this moment she didn’t care…she still hadn’t started it and was way too tired to start reading it now. She yawned as she got up to get a quick drink of water and head to bed. She had to admit, it felt weird. While she went through a few nights where he wasn’t around, she knew where he was. But most nights he was home and these times were a lot of times the only times they spent time together. Her mind drifted back to the ex-seeker. She did feel somewhat bad for ignoring his warnings, or rather laughing at them. The sheer fact that they won made her believe that Megatron would never attempt anything again and that if he did, it would be a long time from now. Still, the fact remained that he did warn them. But she was still angry that he blamed them for their inaction when he himself didn’t do much. “Well, he didn’t have to yell…” she sighed as she put her glass on the counter. “I’ll talk it out with him tomorrow.” --Cybertron-- Shockwave looked was in the small observatory that served as the guardian’s home and place of operations. Ever since Megatron left him as guardian of Cybertron, he had be watching over the space bridge, monitoring the battles on Cybertron and keeping inventory on all the Energon cubes that Megatron and the Decepticons on Earth have made. His job was what many would consider boring but he very reserved about it. He believed that emotion was one of the many flaws of beings, including his fellow Decepticon warriors. All of a sudden, the purple Decepticon heard the alert of the Space Bridge being used. He quickly made it to the small computer console and with his one hand activated the other end of the bridge so they could pass through. After typing in the essential information, he turned to the double doors of the large tube at the center of the room. In that moment, the doors opened. “Greeting Megatron, I am- Autobots!” he alerted pointing his gun arm out upon noticing Optimus Prime beside him. Inside were also Prowl, Bumblebee, Ironhide, Scavenger, Soundwave, and Thundercracker. “Lower your weapon!” Megatron ordered. “The Autobots are not our enemy.” Shockwave lowered his weapon confused. “Unicorn has returned.” “Unicron?” The ray gun Decepticon questioned as the two leaders as well as a small group of their men walking out behind them. “The war has been postponed?” “Yeah, something along those lines…” Prowl sneered. “Eons ago we agreed if Unicron returned we would be ready to fight him off again,” Optimus stated to the vast majority. “Don’t get comfortable with this reunion,” Megatron interrupted. “Not a problem…” Scavenger said silently to himself “We are at a threat greater than either has ever faced before, and we need to act fast,” Megatron continued. “What are your orders Megatron?” Shockwave asked just as stock as ever. Megatron walked over to the computer console, “Begin preparation for a star fleet for a full scale assault. Optimus and I have to put an end to these quarrels here before we begin mobilization.” “Autobots,” Optimus began, turning to his men, “You do the same, before to announce a cease fire of all combats you may encounter.” Both Autobots and Decepticons grudgingly agreed with this union and quickly did as they were ordered, both sides dispersing as they left the building to do as they were ordered. Megatron went to work on the computer as the Autobot leader went next to him. “What is this?” “I’m opening all comlinks and video signals to our frequency. If Unicron and the pearly organic are to be stopped, we need to straighten the planet.” Optimus nodded, “Agreed. Hopefully, we’ll be able to mobilize a force before the Princess starts her plans with Cybertron.” Megatron stopped for a moment and turned toward his enemy with a light glare, “Why didn’t you use it?” Optimus knew what he meant. “It could’ve killed her.” “So having her eliminate us is a better option?” The Decepticon leader asked. “You know just as well as I that would have finished her.” “Her sister views very highly of her. I don’t think that she is in the right state of mind. Also eliminating her would probably not affect Unicron.” “Our very existence and the right of being on Cybertron is at risk and your prime concern is merely weather or not a mere organic is lost. It is survival of the fittest, and if the weak organics back on that mudball of a planet can’t hold their own then so be it.” Optimus remained silent and waited for Megatron to prepare the link to all single to broadcast the postponing of the war. --Canterlot-- Canterlot was in shambles but already in reconstruction. Both mares and stallions were building the city back to its former glory. The newly formed army created by several stallions and the Combaticons were patrolling the army as the regular guards were leading citizens to their still livable homes that were not damaged too much. Fortunately, there were very few citizens that remained who weren’t seriously hurt, and the majority of them had evacuated to other towns much like with the first invasion. Both Celestia and Nightmare Moon looked over from the very balcony that Luna was previously occupying during the Decepticon invasion. Not to anyone’s surprise, none of the Cybertronians; Decepticons or Autobots chose to stay and decided to just return to Cybertron. Neither of them knew exactly how they were returning home but was able to deduce that the loud booming they heard from a distance may have something to do with it since none of them seemed to be around. But Celestia had several loyal pegasi guards fly around from Canterlot and Ponyville to find if any of them remained without her authorization. The self-appointed Queen just raised the moon and turned to the menacing looking Nightmare Moon just staring at her. Celestia noticed this and sneered, “Something troubling you?” “I just don’t understand,” The Unicron spawn replied, “Why didn’t you get rid of them?” The Queen raised a brow, “They have been banished from my overall presence…that is punishment enough.” “You think too highly of yourself,” The spawn said with a menacing chuckle. “Do you really think that they will no longer oppose you? I’m sure that all of them would rather go back to the original form of government.” The Queen glared at her, “I have yet to reform anything. Equestria and the rest of the planet need to be at peace and informed of my new rule before any permanent changes are made. Then I will begin reformation for Equestria and Cybertron.” The spawn remained silent as she continued her way down from the balcony and to her place of rest. The spawn followed her. “You didn’t answer my question from before.” “Which was?” She asked, still trotting away and not facing her. “Why didn’t you get rid of them?” she inquired. “I have. They are of no consequence anymore.” “You know what I mean. After they disobeyed your title, attacked you, and flat out refused to join you, you merely let them go.” “They have been given their punishment. I have taken away my sister’s most prized possession, her night, as well as removed her title, and I have expelled my prized student, whose dream was to study under me. I believe these are satisfactory punishments.” “But it will-” she was stopped by a magic grip holding her and choking her as she was lifted from the ground. The white Alicorn turned around to face her as she peered through her blue, reptilian eyes. “I don’t know how you and Unicron operate but understand this,” she pressed on, putting her against the wall. “I am not either of you…neither of you control me.” She let go and the dark Alicorn fell to her hoofs, gasping for air, “No matter what had transpired in the past, Luna is still my sister and Twilight and her friends still hold a place in my heart.” “But…” “As for Starscream, he has proven that he does care for this planet and therefore I paid a debt by sparing his life.” She then struck her with her hoof, “Understand this Nightmare Moon, you too have committed crimes against me and Equestria, only because of Unicron do you remain.” And with that, she started her way back to her room where two of the guards stood by her room. The dark alicorn coughed a bit before standing and glared down the corridor, “Merely controlling her emotions isn’t working! It’s working against us if anything…” It was then a loud knocking was heard. Celestia and Nightmare Moon turned towards the main entrance to where the upper levels were. At that moment, a pegasus guard flew in from down the hall hurriedly. “What is it?” Celestia called out as she walked back to where he was. “It’s one of the Cybertronians, your highness, he said that he wanted to be part of your protection.” Celestia stayed silent for a moment. “Which one?” “He calls himself Skyfire.” --Ponyville-- Starscream walked through the quiet town where it was completely empty, even the guards, and majority of the lights in homes were extinguished. The next to complete darkness for the ex-seeker did little for comfort, as did anything right now. He was confused more so than anything as well as depressed. Everything Rainbow Dash said was right; he merely pointed the blame at everyone else when really there was nothing that they could effectively do. And it wasn’t like they had just sat around either; the Decepticons were an immediate threat. In hindsight, it was probably a good thing that the Autobots and Decepticons came, at least they knew now and even Megatron wasn’t stupid enough to believe that Unicron could be defeated by conventional means and the Matrix was the only thing that they knew would ultimately destroy him. His thoughts kept returning to Rainbow Dash said. For a time, he trusted Rainbow Dash a bit more after she kept his relationship with Megatron a secret when he shared it with her. Then again, he was mentally depressed and being turned into an organic a mere few hours prior probably influenced it to tell just about anyone at the time. He did enjoy Twilight’s company; she was his closest friend and the first to give him a chance and learned they had a lot in common. Both were very influenced in science and both loved to learn. Though they had different fields of interest, it did help them find common ground and was often what made him want to spend more time with her, even when he was supposed to be talking to Princess Celestia. He sighed, this was confusing. Being Cybertronian didn’t exclude him from romance but Starscream, before and after joining the Decepticons, didn’t concern him with such things. Before he was traveling from planet to planet and conducting experiments and while with the Decepticons, he was worrying about taking over the command. Becoming an organic and living here made it the first time he was experiencing it. He didn’t know what to think. Perhaps he actually did like Twilight more. Perhaps he didn’t realize that because of Rainbow Dash. He actually wondered if Twilight had any romantic interest in him, or rather, if she had thought about it before he had gotten together with Rainbow Dash. He groaned as he shook his head. He was incredibly exhausted and thinking like this wasn’t good for him now. Getting some sleep and perhaps something to eat would benefit him greatly. Within a short period of time, he made it to Twilight’s library and saw that a single light was on. Faint but a light nonetheless, this gave him the incentive to go in. The ex-seeker knocked lightly, hoping not to wake anyone who may be asleep. After a moment the door opened and saw it was a patched and…bare Princess Luna. This is the first time he (and many ponies perhaps) had ever seen either of the Princesses without any kind of attire. “Princess?” “Luna,” She corrected quickly. Starscream blinked once but nodded. “What brings you here?” She asked gently and tiredly. “Uh…” the sound he made sounded somewhat like a gag, “Rainbow Dash kicked me out…” “Oh.” The dark Alicorn was a bit stunned, “You lived with her, didn’t you?” “Officially…” “Oh… But Twilight has retired for the night.” Starscream groaned, “Then she can get on my case about it in the morning.” He walked inside and Luna let him. While in some ways this was Twilight’s home, she knew that she and Starscream were close. “Do you wish to discuss it before you retire for the night?” she asked knowing even with the little knowledge she was given that it was affecting him personally. The stallion turned around to her as his eyes noticed the carelessly tossed royal garments to the side, “No…but what are you up for?” “It’s a bit difficult for me to sleep; I often sleep during the day as I performed my duties at night.” That wasn’t entirely the reason but it was practically the truth. “Hmph…What’s with the discarded attire?” He pointed at her effects. The Alicorn stayed silent for a moment, “Retire for the night, you’ve stressed yourself too much as is.” The stallion let out a strange combination of a yawn and a groan, but nodded once and did as instructed. He made his way toward a corner. Luna used her magic to give him one of the three pillows that Twilight had given her as well as the blanket. The stallion let out small ‘thanks’ before falling asleep almost immediately. Luna sighed before turning to a window and looked out the window, staring at the moon. Some would believe that she would hate looking at it since it severed as her prison but it was part of her. She was Princess of the Night; the night became part of her when she put her artistic touch to it. For the first time she saw or rather noticed the differences between her own and Celestia’s night and much like herself bring the day, it didn’t seem right. The stars were very spread out and didn’t follow any kind of constellation that was placed out as she set. But the sight of Unicron in the sky, like another Moon, served as a reminder that it was no longer in her control. “What happened to you Tia…?”