//------------------------------// // Chapter 13 // Story: Transformers: Harmony // by megatron_91 //------------------------------// Transformers: Harmony Chapter 13 By: Megatron_91 Twilight looked out across the vast openness of Autobot Outpost Celestia One. A somber atmosphere hung in the air, lingering like a thick, black fog. She sat by herself, far out of the way, with her head to the floor. She didn’t want to speak to anypony nor be spoken to. She watched silently as Ratchet rushed by, carrying some strange looking tool covered in little tweezers and spikes. She knew where he was going and she knew she didn’t want to be there. All that was in there were the remains of a fallen hero. Someone who had only tried to help her… ……… The escape from the Nemesis had gone smoothly…after what happened to Bluestreak. As Twilight remembered it, Laserbeak found her soon after Soundwave had left. He had found her sitting next to the Autobot’s motionless body and would have killed her if Bumblebee and her friends had not arrived shortly after he did. Luckily, it only took a small volley of laser fire to drive off the Decepticon attacker. Afterwards, Bumblebee insisted on carrying Bluestreak’s remains out of the warship; not wanting to leave them for the Decepticon’s to pick over. At first, the lavender unicorn had been glad to hear that they would be able move the fallen Autobot, but, as they did so, she noticed that Bumblebee didn’t seem very phased. She had been under the impression the he and Bluestreak were friends. Was Bumblebee not saddened by his fellow Autobot’s death? Or, had he just seen so much of it that it didn’t even give him pause for thought anymore? They had worked their way through the snaking corridors of the Decepticon flagship; surprised not to run into any resistance. Twilight assumed that Soundwave took what Bluestreak had told him to heart and didn’t even bother with trying to find her. Why would he? He had already taken what he needed from her. Along the way, Twilight could remember her friends expressing their happiness at having found her and that she hadn’t been hurt. Sighs of relief and hugs had been exchanged, and, when they asked what happened to Bluestreak, she told them the truth. They gave her condolences and assured her that there were some things you just couldn’t control and that she shouldn’t hold herself responsible for them. Funny, she had thought, that was pretty close to what Bluestreak had told her. The only obstacles they met while trying to leave the ship were two guards outside the entrance that Pinkie had been talking to. Bumblebee simply shot them and grabbed the pink party mare before taking off into the night. Only when the group had returned to the base did things start to get a little out of hoof. Rather than Optimus, as they had been hoping, it was Prowl who was first to meet them when they entered. He had not been happy. The Autobot second-in-command was enraged that Bumblebee had launched a gung-ho attack on the Nemesis without orders. He tried to charge the smaller Autobot with blatantly disobeying a senior officer’s orders and for inadvertently causing the death of a fellow soldier. His attempt to court martial Bumblebee did not go well as Twilight and her friends desperately tried to defend the scout’s actions. Prowl wouldn’t have even bothered listening to them had Twilight not mentioned the Creation Matrix. Almost instantly Prowl had turned his attention from the Autobot he was attempting to arrest and gave it to the lavender mare beneath him. She answered the second-in-command’s questions, telling him about how she had been forced to decode the matrix’s coordinates for Soundwave. He had not been happy to hear that. She told him how Bluestreak had rescued her before sacrificing himself to make sure she had a chance to escape from her Decepticon captors; and, lastly, she told him about the strange book Soundwave had been reading her the coordinates from. For whatever reason, it wasn’t until Twilight mentioned the old, raggedy tome did Prowl believe her. After that he stopped asking her questions and ran off to try and contact Optimus on one of the Teletraan terminals. Finally, Ratchet came along and offered to move Bluestreak’s body into his medical bay. ……… That had all happened about two hours ago. But, for Twilight, it felt like days. All she wanted to do was go home, crawl into her comfortable bed, and sleep off this horrible nightmare. Was that too much to ask? From the corner of her eye, she could make out Applejack approaching her from across the room. “You doing alright, Twi?” the farm pony asked before sitting down next to the depressed unicorn. She could see the bags under Twilight’s eyes and could tell her friend was in desperate need of some sleep. “You’re lookin’ a little worn down,” she noted. “I’ll be fine Applejack. I’ll get my second wind soon enough.” She yawned, long enough and wide enough that someone could drive a train into the tunnel formed by her mouth. Her thoughts were a mess and her head still hurt a little from the ring-like device Soundwave had placed around her horn to block her magic. An awkward silence filled the space in between the two ponies. Applejack continuously glanced over at her friend, struggling to figure out what to say next. In response, Twilight continued to stare at the floor. Neither one was very comfortable under the current circumstances. The sounds of heavy metal footfalls filled the empty air. The orange-coated earth pony hesitated just a moment longer before she continued speaking. “Ya know, Twi, Fluttershy told us about what was botherin’ you,” she stated, cautiously watching her friend for a negative reaction. “Now, I do regard you somewhat as the leader of our little group, but you really shouldn’t be worryin’ yourself by thinking like that. We’re mighty capable of keepin’ ourselves safe. You do not need to put that much stress on yourself; it can do bad things to ya.” “Thanks,” the lavender unicorn sighed in response. “But I’ve already been told that once today…” Applejack looked at Twilight in confusion. “You have?” She watched as Twilight finally lifted her head off the ground and slowly looked in the direction of Ratchet’s medical lab. The earth pony quickly put two-and-two together. “Oh, sorry…” “It’s okay,” Twilight grumbled as she stood up. “I’m still just a little upset about what happened I guess.” She yawned again as Applejack wrapped her hoof around the unicorn’s shoulder. “I can understand that Twilight, trust me,” she explained. “Now, I hate to do this since you’re still upset and all, but the others sent me over here to ask you something…” The true nature of the earth pony’s visit to Twilight was starting to come to light, and the mare could see her unicorn friend raising a curious eyebrow. “It’s just that, with everything that’s happened, you getting kidnapped and Fluttershy getting attacked, we were all wonderin’ if you’d change your mind about helping the Autobots. Fluttershy already has and we’d really like you to as well. We think we’d be a little safer if we all stuck together from here on out.” Twilight hesitated to answer. At first, she didn’t know what to say. Her friends were still in danger of getting themselves killed, and she still wasn’t sure if her magic, or the Elements, would even work on the Decepticons. But, soon enough, memories of the past few hours began to come back to her; especially the ones about Bluestreak and how he too had expressed a desire for Twilight to change her mind. She sighed and smiled lightly. She knew what she was going to need to do. “Okay,” she finally said much to the Earth pony’s delight. “I’ll do it for Bluestreak, but you have to promise me to keep yourselves safe, okay?” “Don’t you worry about the rest of us Twilight, we’ll be fine.” Applejack chuckled as she instinctively reared herself onto her hind legs out of excitement. “I told you, and Bluestreak told you, you don’t need to be stressin’ yourself out over this, we ain’t your responsibility.” “I know,” Twilight sighed. “But it would make me feel a little better if you just promised me anyways.” She gave the orange mare a shy, awkward smile. “Well then, I promise we’ll do our best to keep ourselves safe while we’re saving Equestria from an alien invasion,” she replied. She placed her right hoof over her heart to show her sincerity to the magical mare before her. “Good,” a masculine voice suddenly sounded from behind them. Whipping around, both mares were shocked to find Prowl looming over them. How somepony so large and made of metal had managed to sneak up behind them they would never know. An annoyed look was displayed on the second-in-command’s face as he looked down on them. “If you two are done, you are to report to the briefing room immediately,” he ordered in his gruff, scratchy voice. “We have a lot to discuss before we roll out to recover the matrix.” He quickly turned around and walked off in the direction of a nearby hallway. ……… The Autobot’s briefing room reminded Twilight of the many Science Fiction novels she had read when she was younger. The room was almost pure, blinding white in color; while black, wall-spanning monitors hung from the rounded surfaces of the chamber. In the center sat some kind of large, cylindrical slab. Small, bright lights were being emitted into the air from the slab’s cold, black tabletop. Surrounding this central spire were rows of seats slowly ascending on a slope up the sides of the round room. Each row contained a long, winding desk running along in front of them. Finally, hanging from the center of the room was a metal, cone-like stalactite that seemed to be picking up the lights coming off the tabletop below it. As she entered the wide circular room, Twilight followed Applejack onto one of the benches and took a seat. All around her, she could see her friends and the other Autobots patiently waiting for Prowl to begin the emergency meeting. Behind them, the Autobot in question stepped into the room and closed the door after him; he hastily made his way down to the central floor. The room remained silent as the Autobot strategist began punching in a series of commands into a hidden keypad somewhere on the small, white slab. Suddenly the room dimmed and the cylindrical projector roared to life. It displayed the image of one of the most beautiful objects Twilight had ever seen. The strange object in question appeared to be made of some kind of gold-orange alloy that had been formed into a perfect, hollowed-out sphere. The sphere almost seemed cracked open in the middle, like a fruit, allowing one to view the inside through a small, hexagonal opening. Surrounding this sphere was a pair of large, silver brackets that came together above and below the center of the rounded metal, giving it an appearance not unlike a ringed planet. Finally, in the center of the sphere, visible through the hexagonal opening, was a large, crystal orb. It glowed with a bright, blue light, which seemed to have a calming effect. The more Twilight stared at the blue light emitting from the projected image the more she wanted to try and touch it. “This is the Creation Matrix,” Prowl explained, snapping Twilight out of her trance. He had his arms folded across his chest as he began the briefing. “To us Autobots, it is an ancient symbol of leadership and power amongst our culture.” He looked around the room, watching as the remaining Autobots nodded their heads. They all knew this story. It had been told to them since they were proto-forms. “Up until now, it had always been assumed that the Matrix was merely the stuff of myths and legends. But, new information has been brought to light on the part of Twilight Sparkle.” He paused and pointed towards the lavender mare. Twilight blushed slightly and sank in her seat as the room’s attention turned towards her. “According to Ms. Sparkle, during her captivity onboard the Nemesis, she was forced by the Decepticon Soundwave to translate a series of coordinates that he claimed led to the mythical Matrix,” the Autobot’s second-in-command continued. “I have consulted with Optimus Prime and he has confirmed that, during his encounter with Megatron in the Apaloosan Desert, the Decepticon Leader did reveal that he had found coordinates pinpointing the Creation Matrix’s location on this planet. I myself am a little skeptical, but it is a risk we cannot take.” “So what’s the plan?” Wheeljack asked, raising his hand as his “ears” glowed in the darkness. He had always been a Bot more accustomed to action than words. “The coordinates, as provided by Twilight, lead to here.” Prowl paused briefly and began punching a few more orders into the unseen terminal. The hologram flickered and the matrix was replaced with the image of a massive, crystalline city. “The Crystal Empire. Fortunately, thanks to the Sky-Spy we sent over the Nemesis in the last half hour, we know Megatron has yet to return to his ship and receive the coordinates from Soundwave. This gives us at least a little bit of time to form a rudimentary strategy.” He turned to his audience and waited for all that he had said so far to sink in before continuing. This is where it was going to get complicated. “Unfortunately, we are now one Autobot down because of Bumblebee’s rash actions, and Optimus and Ironhide are still several hours out from the base. We do not have the time to wait for them; Megatron could return to the Nemesis at any moment.” Prowl explained. “And, even with their warship damaged, thanks in part to Bumblebee, Rarity, and Applejack, most Decepticons have flight capable alternate modes and will easily be able to reach the Crystal Empire, and, more importantly, the Matrix, before we do.” “So, what are we going to do?” Bumblebee asked, repeating Wheeljack’s earlier question. He was a little more than annoyed that the Autobot strategist continually blamed him for Bluestreak’s death, but, at the same time, praised him for sabotaging the Nemesis. The little yellow scout was getting impatient and was ready to start a fight. He had just lost his best friend and he wasn’t happy. Prowl turned to face the yellow and black-striped Autobot, giving him a cold, steely stare before proceeding to speak. “Bumblebee, for the time being, I am temporarily removing the court martial from your record in order to allow you to fight alongside us during this time of emergency,” he explained, watching in anger as the younger robot rolled his optics. “Now, to solve our first problem of being undermanned, I suggest we go through with Optimus Prime’s original plan of using the Elements of Harmony to give us an edge. Over the past fifteen minutes, I have taken the time to study what the Elements have done for this planet in the past and I admit; I am impressed. I apologize for underestimating you,” he expressed. Turning, he could see the six grinning mares in the audience. “However,” he sustained. “In order for the Elements of Harmony to work it is imperative that you all stand united, correct?” He watched as the six equestrians nodded in unison. “So, I ask you, Twilight Sparkle,” He pointed upwards towards the lavender unicorn again. “Do you fight with us? I have read your profile and understand that both your brother and his consort live within the Crystal Empire, so your excuse of not having anything to fight for will not work here.” “You can count on me, Prowl,” Twilight exclaimed as she stood up and saluted the ranking Autobot officer. “Good,” Prowl replied, returning the salute. From the far side of the room, where he had been sitting quietly, Ratchet stood up and cleared his throat, grabbing everyone’s attention. “That is all well and good, but it still doesn’t solve the second problem, Prowl. Even at our fastest available speeds it would take us hours to reach the Crystal Empire. In the time we will have spent travelling there; Megatron will have already flown back to the Nemesis to receive the coordinates and beaten us to the city.” He briefly stopped and scanned the faces of the assembled Autobots and ponies in the room. “If we are going to succeed in this mission, then we are going to need a faster way to get to the Crystal Empire.” Wheeljack suddenly stretched his hands outwards and cracked his large, mechanical knuckles in the process. “Don’t you worry go worrying about that, Docbot! I’ve got the perfect thing to get us there faster than a turbofox can run through an Iaconian rust field.” Underneath his serrated, metal faceplate, he was grinning like a lunatic. Every other Autobot in the room looked at him with extreme worry. ……… The pale light of the moon reflected off the surface of Megatron’s Cybertronic Gunship vehicle mode as he streaked through the skies. It had been a long night. Every one of the new drones had been destroyed by Prime. But, that didn’t matter; Shockwave would build more at his request. Whether he wanted to or not. Megatron took a brief moment to stop focusing on his flying and turn his attention to the celestial object in the sky above him. It was very different than the twin, metal moons of Cybertron. He scoffed to himself. He still couldn’t believe these simple animals believed their “Princesses” had any control over the movement of their planet’s star and moon. Very soon, the glowing orb of rock and ore would give way to its much brighter, gaseous counterpart. There would be no aid from any princesses; no aid from any magic. The morning was coming. And Megatron would have his long anticipated victory at sunrise. He swooped in low as he made his approach into the hanging valley where his mighty warship awaited his return. In front of him, he could see Starscream, still carrying the half decomposed body of his former chemical engineer. Starscream’s vehicle form had seven, massive propellers, a bit much in Megatron’s opinion. Two were mounted in between each set of his double-decker wings, one was attached to the front of the cockpit, and two more sat in front of his twin tailfins that stuck off the back of his vehicle mode. The only thing more disgusting than the amount of propellers the silver seeker had chosen to attach to his vehicular form, was the pair of water-based landing gear situated to the front of and below his cockpit. As if Starscream would ever allow himself to fly that close to the ground. The duo roared through the night. Soon, they made their descent down towards the large black ship that sat stationary in the valley below them. Transforming into robot mode, they crashed down on the ground and instantly noticed there were no guards watching the entrance. Megatron did not like this. Stepping inside, the Decepticon leader ordered his air commander to take Oil Slick’s remains to the medical lab while he made his way back up to the bridge. Starscream saluted before running off down one of the nearby halls. As the tyrant Decepticon began moving towards the Command Bridge he couldn’t help but notice something seemed off. There were no drones darting up and down the halls trying to get there work done, there were no roaring cheers from spectators watching as two Decepticon’s fight each other to relieve their boredom, and there had been no one to greet him upon entrance, an unwanted, but very commonly practiced, procedure. Something was wrong with his ship. The Decepticon leader didn’t even bother to wait for the door to the bridge once he had reached it. Instead, he blew it open with his fusion cannon, startling everyone in the room beyond. “SOUNDWAVE!!” he roared, calling out to his loyal communications officer and spy. He stepped into the room and watched as the silver-and-blue Decepticon appeared from the far side of the room, pushing his way through several drones that had packed themselves onto the bridge. So, this is where they’ve all been hiding, he thought. He looked down as Soundwave kneeled on one knee before him. “Where are the coordinates to the Matrix’s location?” Megatron demanded. “The coordinates you provided me from the Tome of Prima lead to here, my Lord.” The metallic sounding Decepticon held a small holographic projector in the palm of his hand. Being transposed into the air was the image of a large, crystalline city. “Unfortunately, I am not able to pinpoint the Matrix’s exact location within the city…” “And why not?” the much larger Decepticon growled as he continued to study the transparent image of the Crystal Empire. In many ways, it reminded him of the long fallen Crystal City of Cybertron. Soundwave paused, carefully choosing his words to avoid Megatron’s wrath. “During my translations of the coordinates, I found myself in need of aid from a local in order to convert the decoded numbers into a usable form,” The spymaster continued, still keeping his head looking towards the floor. He was hoping to avoid Megatron’s enraged gaze. “The Autobots stormed the ship to rescue her. During the firefight, my terminals were destroyed. I have not only lost the data the unicorn provided me on the exact location of the Matrix within the city, but the Autobot’s damaged the Nemesis’s central fuel pump. I am afraid to say that the Nemesis is not flightworthy at this point in time.” Had it not been for Soundwave’s exemplary millennia of service to the Decepticon cause, Megatron would have killed him then and there. Instead he had a bigger fish to fry. “BLACKOUT!” Megatron roared again. He spotted the massive, cobalt Decepticon slowly trying to make his way out of the room. But, as it had been with Soundwave, there were a dozen or so smaller drones standing between him and the door. The Decepticon tyrant instantly raised his fusion cannon and fired a round at the Airship Transformer, barely missing his head as it exploded against the nearby wall. He didn’t want to kill Blackout, no, he would need the large Decpticon’s might for the battle he knew was coming. Instead, he just wanted to frighten his soldier a little; it would make him much easier to deal with. “Come here.” Megatron slowly curled his finger towards himself repeatedly as he spoke. “Y-Yes, my Lord?” Blackout asked as he pushed a couple of small, mining drones to the floor. He was now standing before the Decpeticon tyrant and, even though he was several feet taller, Blackout knew he didn’t stand a chance should Megatron decide to eliminate him. “Did I, or did I not put you in charge of my ship?” the leader of the Decepticon asked, glaring up into Blackout’s much larger optics. “Well, yes, but I-” “Then perhaps you can explain to me,” Megatron hissed, cutting off the larger Decepticon as he drew closer to his face. “Just how it was possible that an Autobot strike team managed to infiltrate my ship, destroy Soundwave’s equipment, and cripple the Nemesis right before I am about to claim the Matrix for myself!! CAN YOU!?” The massive Decepticon waited to answer. The drive to survive the next few minutes was clouding his mind and making it difficult to think. He had to say something though or Megatron would end his existence with one shot from his legendary fusion cannon. With that in mind, Blackout did the only thing he could think to do. Beg. “Please Lord Megatron,” Blackout pleaded, dropping on one knee to mimic Soundwave. “I know what I have done cannot be forgiven, but if you spare my pitiful life I will serve you faithfully until the last drop of innermost energon runs dry through my spark!” he exclaimed. “Oh ho, do not worry about me killing you Blackout, not yet. Fate has played in your favor and I will need you in the battle against Prime for the matrix,” the silver commander growled in return. “You will accompany me and the rest of the fliers as we make the first strike on this so called ‘Crystal Empire,’ understood?” “Yes, sir!” Blackout replied, saluting his commanding officer. The hulking Decepticon instantly turned around and started making his way towards the loudspeaker controls so he could announce that all flyers needed to assemble in the hangar bay. “Good. Now, Soundwave,” Megatron rumbled, turning his attention back to his communications officer who had now risen back onto his feet. “You will order the engineers and miners to stay here on the ship and initiate repairs before taking the rest of the ground based Decepticons and following behind us flyers. You will be the second wave of attack on the Autobots and the Crystal Empire.” “As you command, Megatron!” the blue-and-silver Decepticon exclaimed with his echoing voice. He quickly made his way to the bridge’s exit in search of the engineering drones. Megatron laughed to himself as he watched the Decepticon drones scatter about the bridge, looking for work to do, or trying to figure out which of the higher ranking Decepticons to follow. Perhaps he would be able to salvage this catastrophe after all. He had a strategy of attack and a lead on the Autobots. Yes, this would all go according to plan in the end. “DECEPTICONS!!!” Megatron bellowed, drawing the attention of all Cybertronians on the bridge as he spread his arms wide. “We attack the Crystal Empire at sunrise!!”