Chapter Seven-The Chaos-Bringer
Arcee, having found her fellow Autobot, used her amazing agility to jump all the way to the platform Cliffjumper was on.
"Come on, Cliff," she said to him. "Let's get you back home." She then noticed that Cliffjumper looked like he was covered in black and purple and saw that his optics glowed yellow instead of their usual blue. He was about to attack his partner until he was struck down and disintegrated in smoke, releasing the spark it took away from the Vehicon. The weapon that destroyed Cliffjumper was actually a Keyblade which appeared as though it wasn't being controlled by anyone until it floated back to King Sombra's side, revealing him as the sole wielder of the weapon.
"By the Allspark, King Sombra," said Optimus Prime, having witnessed this terrible sight. "What have you done?"
"I just transformed your comrade into a special breed of Heartless known as a Sparkless," explained Sombra. "Just be glad it's for the best he was weak, lame, and easy to capture." Suddenly, he defended himself with his Keyblade as Twilight's Keyblade quickly struck his. Twilight then teleported straight towards him and they began an epic duel between each other.
"Why, King Sombra, why!?" shouted Twilight, her Keyblade hitting against Sombra's.
"It's to prove my new power my new master just gave to me," said the King. "But of course, you wouldn't know that, my dear Princess."
"I'm just a regular old unicorn!" said Twilight. "You, Sombra, are just a prisioner of your own dark fantasies." They then separated and the tip of Twilight's Keyblade began to glow with a purple-yellow color.
"What's goin' on with her Keyblade, sugarcube?" Applejack asked Sora.
"She's about to use Ragnarok," said Sora. "It's an intense power he won't be able to escape." As soon as the lights reached a critical peak, Twilight fired away several yellow energy bullets at King Sombra. However, he quickly turned into black smoke and the Ragnarok was instead approaching an Energon crystal.
"Arcee, get down from there!" Bulkhead desperately told Arcee. Indeed, she jumped off the platform and joined with the rest of the Autobots.
"Princess Cadence, open a Ground Bridge now," Optimus Prime said through his commlink. In an instant, the Ground Bridge portal was opened up for the base.
"Don't think this is over, Twilight Sparkle," said King Sombra through his shadowy guise. "We'll meet again within the Chaos-Bringer." He then fled away with Megatron and his fellow Decepticons to the Nemesis, the Decepticon warship. The Warriors and the Autobots then went through the portal just as Twilight's Ragnarok hit one of the Energon crystals, causing a huge explosion that destroyed the entire mining op. The Warriors and Autobots returned to the base, tired and saddened from their mission.
"We heard everything over the commlink," Shining Armor said. "Are you alright, Twily?" Twilight didn't respond. "Don't worry, lil' sis. We're just as shocked as you are."
"I thought he died," Twilight said suddenly.
"Sugarcube?" asked a concerned Applejack.
"I thought the blast of happiness from the Crystal Heart killed King Sombra for good," Twilight continued. "I just don't understand how he came back to life and turned Cliffjumper into something how what the 'Bots looked like during those 'Con experiments during the war."
"Twilight, darling, we--" Rarity was cut off before she could finish.
"I mean, he was cruel to the Crystal Empire before, but I never thought he would go Nightmare Moon," Twilight voice was starting to descend from disbelief to anger. "I just can't believe he would kill one of the Autobots in his own demented way and would call me a Princess even though I don't look anything like an alicorn at all!"
"C'mon, Twi," Rainbow Dash assured her. "He's doing this just to get to your noggin."
"And if that wasn't enough, I even fought him one on one!" Twilight said, her anger having reach its peak. At this, she began screaming to the heavens and started kicking the walls out of frustration. "Why is it that every time I try to do the right thing, it ends up descending into GARBAGE!?!" With her strength, she kicked one of the metal boxes straight at the Ground Bridge control panel, causing it to short out.
"Twilight!" Ratchet said out of frustration. "I needed that!" Twilight didn't care to listen to Ratchet as her anger fell into tears as she started sobbing uncontrollably. Princess Cadence then walked towards Twilight and wrapped her wing around her, holding her close to her chest, hoping it would calm her down. Indeed, she released herself from her former foalsitter's wing and wiped her eyes away from the tears.
"Twilight Sparkle," Optimus Prime began. "We never did intend for this turn of events to happen. But as of this moment, only we five Autobots remain on this soil. We mustn't allow our anguish to cloud our judgement and we must stop King Sombra's plan to create his own army of Heartless and Sparkless for the Decepticons to honor the memory of our fallen comrade."
"A-Arcee?" Twilight asked. It was difficult as she was still recovering from her breakdown.
"If Cliff's gone for good," Arcee said. "There's no use sulking around and letting that twisted monarch get away with it." Rainbow Dash looked around.
"Where's Neku and Shiki?" she asked.
"I used the Ground Bridge to send them back to their hometown of Shibuya," Ratchet replied.
"Shiki said to tell you to visit them one day, if you got the chance," said Jack.
"By the way, what is that Blood of Unicorn the King mentioned?" asked Pinkie Pie. "Even though his magic creates Heartless, why would his blood bring Autobots and Decepticons back to life?"
"Unicron," Bulkhead corrected. "U-N-I-C-R-O-N. He's the one behind a substance known as Dark Energon, the Anti-Spark."
"And this concerns us how?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"A long time ago," Optimus began. "There were two forces that existed when the universe was born: Primus and Unicron. After years of struggle, Primus created the Thirteen Primes, the original descendants of Cybertron, and together, they sent Unicron into stasis and cast him from Cybertron's orbit. And I'm afraid, as he drifted through space, he attracted debris around himself, thus forming the planet Earth." Everyone gasped at this very news.
"So, you're saying, that this giant robot is the very world we're on right now?" asked a confused Rainbow Dash.
"Well, that's one way of summing it up," said Lea.
"Well, if he's the very Earth, then his spark chamber must be the world's Keyhole we're seeking," Twilight deduced. "And King Sombra must be using his newfound Heartless magic to reawaken him and destroy the world, casting it into the infinite darkness. We must find the pathway to the inside of Unicron as soon as possible."
"Well, I was looking up the world's volcano's, and I read a news article about how more recently, this one in the desert outside of Jasper, Nevada is spewing out purple magma," said Raf, using his laptop to relay the info the Warriors were seeking. "Maybe that's where Unicron is resting."
"Alright, that's it," said Spike. "We've got to get to the Keyhole right away."
"That's going to be a problem," said Ratchet. "The Ground Bridge is temporarily offline thanks to Twilight's tantrum."
"Not a problem," assured Twilight. "I'll just teleport us to our location." Indeed, using all of her magical might, she teleported herself, her friends, and the Autobots to their destination, but became very dizzy upon teleporting so many people to their destination.
"Look, there's the opening," said Ventus. "This trip to find the Keyhole is going to be a total cakewalk.
"Come now," said Pinkie Pie. "You can't walk on cake. You'll ruin it." Her friends then looked at her in a mix of confusion and annoyance. After travelling down various tunnels and passageways within Unicron, they found and entered the spark chamber, where they already saw King Sombra and Megatron preparing to revive Unicron.
"What are you doing, King Sombra?" asked Optimus.
"It's nothing personal," said the King. "It's just business."
"Sombra, NO!" Twilight shouted. However, Sombra already used his Heartless magic to reignite Unicron's spark, where the Warriors can see Unicron's face within.
"Who has awakened me from my slumber?" Unicron boomed.
"I have," said Sombra. "King Sombra, your ruler, your master!" He then cackled in delight at having Unicron corrupt the world's heart, shrouding it into darkness.
"You misunderstand," said the Chaos-Bringer. "I am my own master." He then used the energy in his spark to try and attack King Sombra, but quickly dissolved in smoke and dodged the attack and returned to his physical form.
"Apparently, I didn't think this through," said the King. "Lord Megatron, he's your problem now."
"No, WAIT!" said Megatron in vain. However, Sombra already fled through a Corridor of Darkness. "Is there any way to stop him?"
"Only one way," said a despondent Optimus Prime. "The Matrix of Leadership. Now, help us light our darkest hour!" Suddenly, a beam of light shot out of his chest, zapping Unicron's spark into oblivion. In its place, was the world's Keyhole.
"There's the Keyhole!" said Twilight, pointing to it. "Let's seal it up before the Heartless take it over."
"Not so fast," said Megatron, already standing in her way and extending a sword from his arm.
"Twilight!" shouted Applejack. She then ran toward Twilight as a way to protect her, but Megatron already used his sword to give her a cut on her side, gravely injuring her.
"Applejack!" Twilight said. In her shock, she used her Keyblade to magically glow until its blade looked twice as long and easily knocked him to the ground. Afterwards, the tip of her Keyblade shot out a beam at the Keyhole, creating a swirling flash of light and a locking sound, indicating that the world's Keyhole was now sealed. She then rushed towards Applejack's side, who is already weak and close to death. In her desperation, she used a simple healing spell to mend her wound, making the mesh look like Megatron never cut it, restoring Applejack to full health.
"Thanks for saving my rump, sugarcube," said Applejack.
"I just couldn't let you die at Megatron's hands," said Twilight, imagining what would happen if she didn't heal her.
"Speakin' of Megatron, where is he?" she asked. "I'd like to give that metal varmit what for!" They saw him approaching Optimus, who is also on the ground, but not showing any wounds. Finally, he opened his optics and looked at Megatron curiously.
"Where are we, Megatronus?" he said. Megatron was suddenly taken aback at this, as he hasn't been called "Megatronus" since the war, except Optimus, who at the time was also known as Orion Pax.
"What did you call me, Optimus?" he asked.
"Who's that?" Optimus asked. "You know I'm Orion Pax, right?"
"Y-yes," said a hesitant Megatron. "Come on, let's take you back to the Nemesis." He then turned to look at the Warriors. "We shall meet again." He then stepped through a Ground Bridge portal with an amnesiac Optimus Prime and they were never heard from again. The Warriors and Autobots then just stood there in shock and confusion.
"What just happened?" asked Kairi.
"Ratchet," Arcee said through her commlink. "Is the Ground Bridge operational?"
"It is," he said.
"Send us back," Arcee instructed. "The Warriors of Light and Harmony have saved our world, but at a cost." Suddenly, another Ground Bridge portal, one for the Autobot base, then appeared. As they were about to step through, they turned to look at the Warriors.
"I know," said Rainbow Dash solemnly. "You guys don't exist." They then donned their Keyblade Armor and traveled through their own portal to the Lanes Between, resuming their journey to save the Realm of Light.
"Don't make us come looking for you then," said Arcee in response. They then traveled through their portal back to the base.
"Where are the Warriors?" asked June. Bumblebee buzzed something in response.
"They sealed the Keyhole to this world and are off on their next world," Raf translated.
"And Optimus?" asked Jack.
"With Megatron," said Bulkhead. "He just went with him and acted like he doesn't even know us."
"I was afraid of this," said Ratchet. "When he used the Matrix of Leadership to send Unicron back into stasis, not only did he lose the collective wisdom of the Primes, he also lost his memories, as well."
Meanwhile, back on board the Nemesis, Megatron returned with Optimus Prime and at this sight, the Decepticons aimed their weapons at him in defense.
"Stand down, soldiers," Megatron commanded. "This is Orion Pax."