//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: Transformers: Harmony // by megatron_91 //------------------------------// Transformers: Harmony Chapter 7 By: Megatron_91 Scattered across the rolling, sandy, hills near the little town of Appaloosa, drenched Equestrians continued with their daily activities and chores despite the unusual downpour falling upon them. Not one of the hard-working locals expected the sudden, out-of-place, storm to be masking a force of such great destruction that it had arrived on their world with only one purpose: ending all life as they knew it. High above the damp ponies on the ground below, the Nemesis hovered, sitting in the upper atmosphere like some sleek, deadly bird of prey, ready to act on a moment’s notice. Within the massive warship, all stood silent as the massive, silver, form of the Decepticon founder flew into the open landing bay. Transforming in mid-air, he landed with a loud thud, leaving a small dent in the metal flooring. As he passed, several of his soldiers lined up at attention, his large, spiked, shoulder pads ominously glowed in the dim lights decorating the Nemesis’s landing docks. His blood-red eyes darted left and right, scanning each of the assembled soldiers as they continued to hold their attention, awaiting his command. With a wave of his clawed hand, he dismissed them, sending the nervous troops scattering back to their respective outposts throughout the ship. He silently continued forward, making a straight line towards the Nemesis’s current captain: Starscream, leader of the Seeker Air Brigade. “Lord Megatron,” Starscream announced, bowing at the waist, his wings, twitching in fear as the Decepticon leader approached. “Allow me to be the first to formally welcome you aboard the Nemesis; we have been eagerly awaiting your arrival,” he hissed, watching from the corner of his eye as the Decepticon soldiers continued to flee the area. The colossal, Decepticon Emperor growled, passing by the bowing Seeker as he made his way towards the large hallway that would lead throughout the ship and, eventually, up to the Nemesis’s command center. Looking back to where Megatron had entered into the massive warship, the trembling Seeker could now see a few dozen silver, jet-class Vehicons flying into the hangar before transforming and landing perfectly at attention, waiting for their next orders. Aside from the new color palette, Starscream could sense that there was something different about this group of drones, but he couldn’t quite place his clawed finger to it. “If I may ask, my Lord,” the Seeker chimed as he watched the Decepticon Leader briefly look back at him. “Who, or what, are your new friends?” he asked, referring to the lines of drones now assembling in the hangar entrance. “A new breed of Vehicon that I agreed to test for Shockwave before leaving Cybertron,” the Decepticon Emperor explained. “Now, accompany me to the bridge, Starscream,” he rumbled. “We have much to discuss.” “Permit me to begin by saying I am overjoyed you managed to safely make the difficult journey through space, my liege,” Starscream nervously chuckled, quickly catching up to the fast moving Decepticon leader. “But before we discuss the reason for your return, I must inform you that we have located numerous, natural Energon deposits littered across the surface of the planet,” he continued. “I believe that if we begin a full excavation of these spots immediately, we will procure more than enough Energon to crush the Autobots under our mighty heel!” the silver Seeker growled, lifting his arms in a triumphant pose. “I am not interested in simple Energon mining, Starscream,” Megatron flatly stated, continuing to walk forward down the long-winding corridor as, all around him, Decepticon soldiers dropped what they were doing to salute him. Starscream stopped in confusion, making sure he had heard the silver tyrant correctly. It didn’t make any sense for Megatron to reject the chance at gathering more Energon. Whatever he had found during his sojourn through space must be of immense personal interest to the Lord and Master of the Decepticons. “You’re not?” the silver Seeker queried. Cautiously, he resumed his pace behind his towering commander. “Then what are you interested in?” Starscream raised an inquisitive eyebrow, curious as to what the Decepticon leader might have brought on board the ship. The propeller mounted on his chest lazily spun along as he continued to think. You will know shortly, Megatron thought, turning to eye the Decepticon Seeker with his glowing, red optics. He didn’t trust the fidgeting Decepticon as far as he could throw him. Ever since Starscream’s brief time as leader of the Decepticons during his extended absence from the chain of command, after the incident involving Optimus and his walking, pet city, Megatron had been weary of the Seeker’s antics. After all, it was Starscream’s grandiose spending of Energon at the time of his reign that caused the Decepticons to rush in their efforts to vacate the dying planet. Megatron loathed the fact that the silver Seeker was the only one competent enough to run the ship and its Energon mining operations during his absence. “I desire to know the status of my ship, Starscream.” “Ah ha, yes!” the Air Commander exclaimed, nervously intertwining his fingers as he spoke. “The status of the ship! Well, as you can see,” he began, slightly clearing his vocal processor as Megatron glared at him, baring his razor sharp teeth. The small, batwing-like appendages at the sides of Starscream’s boxy head let out a small puff of steam due to the stress the seeker was currently enduring. “We have all weapons online, full power being supplied to all sectors, and the crew is all present and accounted for. Except for Oil Slick…” he explained, quickly muttering the last part, hoping the brutal tyrant would not hear him. “And where is Oil Slick?” Megatron asked, turning back around to continue his small journey to the command deck. “Destroyed, by the Autobot Bumblebee,” Starscream timidly stated, gulping as he raised his clawed hands to his face in a vain form of self-defense. Silence slowly filled the narrow corridor as Starscream finished his report. The silver Seeker stepped back slightly as Megatron suddenly came to a halt in front of him. All around them Decepticon soldiers had stopped their work to watch, hoping they would get to see Starscream torn apart and strewn across the ship. Eyeing his leader’s deadly, right-armed fusion cannon, the veteran Air Commander readied himself. He would either need to dodge, or grab one of the nearby soldiers and use them as a shield. An eternity seemed to pass before anything happened; nobody dared to move when the Decepticon tyrant finally spoke. “Where is the body?” he growled, not even bothering to turn around. “Somewhere in the desert below,” Starscream explained, watching as Megatron started moving again. They were almost to the bridge now. “Barricade needed to return to the ship for medical repairs and had no time to search for it. “You and I will go to retrieve it, once I have everything I need sorted,” Megatron hissed as he reached the door leading to the Nemesis’s bridge. He paused for a moment, allowing the computers to scan his identity before the door opened and he stepped through onto the open bridge. “Now, where is Soundwave?” he asked, scanning the deck for his loyal Communications Officer. “He is at his observation post in the mountains outside Canterlot,” Starscream explained, watching as Megatron moved across the bridge, looking over drone’s shoulders at the data flashing by on the consoles in front of them. “Why do you ask?” “Because, I need him to translate something!” the Decepticon leader snarled in his slightly raspy voice, the bright lights of the console behind him reflecting off of his bucket-shaped helmet, casting a shadow across Megatron’s face that served to intensify his frightful visage. Reaching into his personal subspace pocket, the Decepticon leader pulled out a small book that barely fit in the palm of his hand. The book was made of old, brown leather, and had bright gold highlights running through the bindings. On the cover was an image of a powerful sword stuck inside a stone, surrounded and by ancient Cybertronian writings. The pages on the inside were yellowed and extremely old, yet somehow still intact. Starscream’s ruby-red eyes widened in shock as recognized the artifact in Megatron’s palm. I-Is that, what I think it is? the Seeker thought in reverence as he approached Megatron to get a better look. If it was, then this was a find worth more than the rediscovery of Space Bridge technology made by Shockwave ages ago in the Sea of Rust. Before he knew what he was doing, Starscream found himself slowly reaching out towards the tattered book. “Plucked from the hidden tomb of the Knights of Cybertron’s very leader,” Megatron explained, drawing his hand back as to not let the treacherous Air Commander touch the precious treasure. “Gaze upon, the Tome of Prima!” he exclaimed, holding the ancient manuscript high into the air so the entire bridge could watch in awe. “The legends state that the secrets found within the Tome of Prima have the power to change the universe itself,” Starscream worshipfully stated as he cautiously circled around behind Megatron to get a better look at the faded collection of texts. “Indeed, Starscream,” the Decepticon leader snarled, opening the book slightly to look at one of the faded pages. “And, from what I have been able to translate myself, I have already discovered one of those secrets to be buried here, on this very planet,” he explained. “And what might that be?” Starscream absentmindedly asked, mesmerized by the thoughts of what power the ancient tome could give him over Megatron, should he obtain it. “The Creation Matrix!” Megatron exclaimed, instantly catching the attention of every living being on the bridge. “The what!?!?” Starscream exclaimed, snapping out of his trance and looking up at his leader. “Surely you jest, my Lord! The Creation Matrix? Hidden away on this pathetic, mud-ball of a planet?” he questioned as he raised his arms helplessly in confusion. “Apparently, the ancients did not see this planet to be as pathetic as we do,” Megatron stated, nonchalantly observing another nearby monitor as he ignored Starscream’s emotional outburst. “For all we know, this planet could be far more than meets the eye.” He rose up from the console and turned his attention back towards his second-in-command. “But, in order to be certain, and to find the Matrix’s exact coordinates on this world, I must have Soundwave translate the rest of the Tome,” he explained. “Of course, my Lord!” Starscream exclaimed, humbly bowing at the waist. “I shall take the ship to Canterlot at once and pick up Soundwave in order to carry out this important task.” “Oh, no, Starscream!” the massive, silver Decepticon hissed, suddenly drawing in very close to Starscream’s face so he was looking the smaller Decepticon eye-to-eye. “You and I have a little trip we need to make, to recover something you lost, remember?” he menacingly growled, referring back to Oil Slick’s dead body hidden somewhere in the desert. “But, I…” the Air Commander began to say before being cut off by a wave of the Emperor’s clawed hand. “BLACKOUT!” Megatron roared, drawing the large airship Decepticon from across the room towards him. “Starscream and I are leaving to retrieve our fallen comrade’s body. It is of the utmost importance that we do not allow our technology to fall into the native’s possession,” he explained as the larger Decepticon kneeled before him. “You are to take the Nemesis and land in the valleys to the south of Canterlot; you will allow Soundwave to board, and you will tell him to translate this,” he commanded, handing the loyal airship the Tome of Prima. “Tell him he needs to locate the exact coordinates to the Matrix’s location before he translates anything else.” “It will be done, my Lord,” Blackout boomed as he took the tome from Megatron’s outstretched hand. “Oh, and Blackout?” the silver tyrant stated, making the cobalt Decepticon look up at him. “Should I discover that you have taken even the slightest peak at this book, I will not hesitate to do to you what I did to Slugslinger after he failed me during the battle at Tyger Pax,” he warned. “O-Of course not, sir,” Blackout stammered as the memories of his fellow Decepticon’s dying screams filled his head. “Good…now come, Starscream!” Megatron ordered, motioning for the Decepticon Air Commander to follow him as he made his way back towards the bridge’s exit. “And have the new flyers accompany he us,” he demanded, referring to the new, silver Vehicons that were awaiting orders in the hangar. “I have a feeling I will be seeing an old friend while we are out on this little trip.” He smiled. ……….. Silence wafted through Autobot Outpost, Celestia 1, as the assembled group of ponies stared in shock at Optimus Prime. The Autobot commander had just requested their aide in dealing with an extraterrestrial threat to their world. Unsure of how to respond, they slowly took their eyes off of the towering robot and looked around at each other. Time seemed to slow down for Twilight the moment Optimus mentioned the ancient artifacts of Equestrian lore. Millions of thoughts began racing through her head as she tried to figure out where this alien being had heard about the relics and how much he knew about them. But, what worried her most of all was his request for their help in stopping Megatron. The purple unicorn simply didn’t know what effect the Elements would have on an extraterrestrial life form, if they would have an effect at all. She knew they worked well enough on beings whose power was of magical origin, but if Incinerator was anything to take a lesson from, then the Decepticons likely wouldn’t be bothered by magic, as evidenced by how quickly the massive robot had torn through her shield. What if all of her friends did help the Autobots, and the Elements had no effect on Megatron? They would be slaughtered… “How do you know about the Elements of Harmony?” Applejack asked, breaking the long-standing silence in the room as she drew everyone’s attention towards herself. “I saw the tales of your heroic actions painted on the stained glass in Celestia’s castle,” Optimus calmly explained, answering the concerned earth pony’s question. “I had assumed you to be legends from Equestria’s past up until now.” “Wait!” Pinkie suddenly exclaimed. “You know Princess Celestia?” “Indeed,” Optimus stated, smiling at the excitable pony. “She was the first of your kind we met upon our arrival to this planet, and she has proven our ally ever since.” “Is she going to help fight Megatron, too?” Rainbow Dash queried, continuing the bombardment of questions on the Autobot’s leader. “I have been led to believe that is the case,” Prime answered, reassuring the group, as he watched most of them sigh in relief. “But, I still believe it would be beneficial to have the legendary Elements of Harmony there to aide us in our struggle.” “And what if we refuse?” Twilight suddenly asked in a somber, almost depressing tone of voice. Her eyes remained fixated on the floor as she asked her question. A dark, subdued atmosphere entered the outpost as Twilight muttered those words. Every one of her friends turned and gave her a peculiar look as they tried to figure out where this sudden negativity came from. The usually happy unicorn didn’t move, standing motionless whilst looking at the hard, concrete floor. The tension in the air seemed to thicken immensely as the assembled ponies and Autobots waited for Optimus Prime to respond to the lavender mare’s question. “Freedom is your right,” Optimus stated, looking down at her. “If you make that request, we will honor it.” “Yeah, but we aren’t going to make that request, right girls?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, turning to see Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie all nodding their heads in agreement. “Wrong, Rainbow,” Twilight stated, earning a shocked, angry look from the cyan pegasus. “We can’t help them,” she asserted, stepping forward to face her confused friends. “Umm…would y’all kindly excuse us for a moment?” Applejack asked, looking embarrassedly up at Optimus and the rest of the Autobots as her friends looked at each other like they were ready to start a brawl. Moving quickly, and with strength given to her by her earth pony heritage, she grabbed Rainbow, Twilight, and everypony else and dragged them to the other side of the room. She decided it would be best to get as far away as possible from the source of the tension before they tried to work out a solution between the lavender unicorn and cyan pegasus. Applejack sat them all down in a circle, looking over each one of them, before she joined them in discussing their next course of action and Twilight’s sudden, negative behavior. “She knows we’ll still be able to hear them, right?” Bumblebee whispered to Bluestreak, who only shrugged in response. “Twilight, what’s wrong?” Applejack asked once she felt they had moved a sufficient enough space away from the alien warriors. Twilight hissed at her friends, suddenly putting on much more emotion than she had a few seconds ago. She looked around at each of their confused faces. “Are you all crazy!? Are you trying to get us all killed? Why in Equestria are you telling them we can fight an alien warlord!?” “Maybe because we can?” Rainbow Dash sarcastically replied as she lifted her hooves to her face to display a faux look of shock. “No, we can’t,” Twilight bluntly stated as she regarded the flyer’s mocking expression. “We’re the Elements of Harmony!” she snapped back as all around the circle the others nodded in agreement. “We can do anything!” “No, we can’t,” the lavender unicorn repeated. “The Elements have only worked in the past because there was historical precedence. Princess Celestia and Luna used them on Discord thousands of years before we did, and Princess Celestia used them against Nightmare Moon a thousand years before we did,” she explained to her listening friends, “and I don’t know about you, but I don’t think this Megatron guy was here thousands of years ago for the Elements to be tested on him.” She glared at the cyan-colored pegasus before her. “So what?” Rainbow asked, flaring her wings as a primitive show of dominance. “We’ll just give it a shot, and if that doesn’t work, we’ll think of something else.” “Are you even listening to me!?” Twilight growled. “If we go up against Megatron and the Elements don’t work, he will slaughter us! I mean look,” she explained, pointing hoof back towards the waiting Autobots who were having a small discussion themselves. “If even they’re afraid of fighting him, what chance do we have should the Elements fail?” she asked, taking a step towards Rainbow Dash in anger. “Alright, that’s enough!” Applejack barked, forcing her way in between the two furious mares. “The two of you are fixin’ to come to blows over this,” she said looking at her two friends with a worried expression. “Twilight, even if the Elements don’t work that doesn’t mean we’re completely defenseless.” “Oh, really? How so?” Twilight asked, sarcasm dripping in her voice while she cocked her head to the side, waiting for her earth pony comrade to answer. “Well, for one thing we’ve got you,” Applejack countered, a little more than annoyed at the lavender unicorn’s sarcasm. “You’re one of the strongest unicorns I’ve ever met.” Twilight’s face fell as Applejack said those words. Oh, how she wanted to affirm what the hard-working farmer was saying, to tell her she was absolutely right, but deep down she knew it wasn’t true. There were times, she felt, where her friends trusted in her magical abilities too much. Not even her magic could stand up to the Decepticon’s weaponry; that had already been proven to her. “It won’t help, Applejack,” she sighed, closing her eyes in despair. “You saw how easily Incinerator destroyed the shield I raised to save us yesterday.” Rainbow Dash growled, throwing her arms forward in exasperation. “You were tired! You said so yourself!” she fought, trying to get Twilight to see her point of view. “That’s irrelevant,” Twilight replied, looking up at her now hovering friend. “I was giving my all to protect you guys and it still didn’t work.” She rubbed her temples in pain as she thought of what might have happened if Bumblebee hadn’t been there. “You were just having a bad day,” Rarity calmly replied, placing her hoof around the purple-haired mare’s shoulder as she stepped forward. “I’ve seen you do amazing things with magic; remember how you were able to lift an entire Ursa Minor by yourself?” “There’s a difference between a lost baby animal and an alien warlord, Rarity,” Twilight glanced at her friend, annoyed at how the white unicorn could even compare the two in a situation like this. “Besides, why are you all getting on to me; it’s pretty obvious Fluttershy doesn’t want to do this either,” she indicated, pointing to the shaking, cream pegasus who looked at her with panicked eyes. “Fluttershy’s fine,” Rainbow stated as she hovered down between Twilight and her fellow flyer. “I want to know why you’re so against this. We’ve faced down dragons, manticores, an entire changeling army, and who knows what else!” she exclaimed, looking at her the lavender unicorn with an expectant look. “Yeah, Twilight!” Pinkie shouted, jumping up from her spot. She quickly began to hop around the visibly annoyed unicorn. “How come, how come, how come, how come, how come…”she repeated every time she leapt into the air as she came back down. Twilight gritted her teeth as Pinkie continued to hop in circles shouting the same insistent question. Everything hurt as she rubbed her temples again, her brain, her body, her ears. Why couldn’t her friends just see she was trying to help them? To keep them all safe and alive? She knew what the Autobots and Celestia were doing was important, but she also knew there was a chance they couldn’t do anything to help them. As the pink party pony stopped bouncing and began moving her head closer and farther from Twilight’s ears to create a Doppler effect with her question the unicorn finally snapped. “BECAUSE I DON’T WANT YOU ALL TO THROW AWAY YOUR LIVES FIGHTING A BATTLE I KNOW WE CAN’T WIN!!!” she yelled, knocking the pink pony backwards onto her back. Unfortunately, she didn’t realize she had screamed loud enough for everyone in the room to hear and the nearby Autobots broke off their conversation to return their attention to the natives below. Twilight was breathing heavily as she looked around at all the surprised faces. “Throw away our lives?” Applejack asked as her voice unexpectedly took on a much angrier tone and her face soon changed to match. “I don’t know if I need to remind you Twilight,” she spat, shoving her hoof into the unicorn’s chest. “But I have a little sister who lives on this here planet, and if that Megatron feller is threatening this planet, then he’s threatening her!! So, if wanting to protect my family equates to throwin’ away my life, then I’ll gladly do it!” she exclaimed, glaring at the now confused unicorn. “Applejack, no, that’s not what I meant,” Twilight replied reaching out with her hoof to touch the earth pony, but meeting only air as she moved away. Applejack was no longer listening; Twilight had insulted her too much. “I’m just trying to keep you all safe.” “Well, I don’t need you to keep me safe, Twilight,” the orange-coated mare spat, not bothering to turn around and look at her friend. “I need to keep Apple Bloom safe,” she explained, referencing her younger sister. “Neither do I, Twilight,” Rarity said as she stepped forward, taking her place next to Applejack. “I would be willing to give everything if it meant saving Sweetie Belle.” “And me for Scoots,” Rainbow added, referring to the small, orange pegasus filly she had recently begun taking a big sister role towards. The cyan pegasus flew down from her place in the air to stand with Rarity and Applejack. “And I’m in it for the awesome robots!” Pinkie exclaimed, trotting up to her assembled friends before sitting down. “And maybe Pound and Pumpkin,” she stated as an afterthought, thinking back to her employers twin babies, who looked up to her as a role model and big sister. Twilight stared at the four ponies now standing defiantly in front of her. Her friends each had a reason for staying and fighting what she thought was a hopeless battle, each one of them had a glimmer of hope shining in their eyes as they thought of what or whom they were risking their lives for. There was no possible way she was going to get them to change their minds; they would put their lives on the line no matter what she said. She felt defeated on the inside, she had failed; each one of her friends was going to get themselves killed and there was nothing she could do about it. She wanted to cry. But, as she looked around, she caught sight of Fluttershy sitting by herself. As far as she was aware, the cream pegasus had no brothers or sisters to fight for like the others, and she had no real reason to risk her life fighting this war. If she couldn’t save all of her friends, she could at least try and save Fluttershy. Twilight lowered her head and began to walk towards the cowering flyer. “Twilight!” Pinkie shouted in surprise, watching as the unicorn slowly walked away from the group. “Optimus Prime,” Twilight said, looking up at the Autobot leader. “I thank you for your hospitality and the offer, but I must be honest and tell you that the Elements have little chance of working on an enemy they have never faced before. However, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie all wish to stay and help you, because they have something to fight for; but Flutterhsy and I do not,” she continued, blatantly lying to the towering robot as she ignored the thoughts of Spike and her brother and his wife floating through her mind. “So, with your respect, we will take our leave.” “I understand, Twilight Sparkle,” Optimus said, looking down at her with concerned eyes. “Sometimes we all need something to fight for and give us the strength we need to persevere. It grieves me to see you go, but remember, we will be here if you change your mind.” “I know,” she replied. “Well, no point in long goodbyes,” Prowl stated, lifting his arm towards the hallway Bumblebee and Bluestreak had brought them through earlier. “There’s the door; Teletraan will let you out.” “Come on, Fluttershy,” Twilight said, turning back around to address the timid pegasus that was standing apart from the other four ponies. “I told you Fluttershy is fine!” Rainbow Dash yelled towards Twilight, taking a defensive stance in front of her lifelong friend. “No, Rainbow,” the timid pegasus squeaked as she began to walk towards the lavender mare much to her best friend’s shock. “Twilight’s right; you’re doing the right thing by fighting to protect Scootaloo, but I won’t be able to help much in this fight,” she said as she got up from her place on the floor. “Fluttershy, are you serious?” the cyan-colored pegaus asked in disbelief as she saw her friend begin to walk towards Twilight. “I’ll find out what’s really going on with her,” she whispered into her fellow flyer’s ear as she passed by her. She received a relieved and understanding nod from the angry pegasus before she joined Twilight in leaving the Autobot base. Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie all watched after the two retreating mares as they disappeared into the dark hallway. They turned to face each other with worried expressions. Deep down, they all knew Twilight had lied to Optimus, she had Spike, Cadence, and especially Shining Armor to fight for. As they turned around to rejoin the Autobots standing behind them each one hoped the timid, beige pegasus would be able to solve the mystery of Twilight’s peculiar behavior.