//------------------------------// // chapter 14 // Story: Transformers Prime: Ponies in Disguise // by RavageXeno //------------------------------// Starscream cautiously entered the room, though he acted like there was no hesitation at all. The room was large and well lit, due to the gold lined windows that ran from the ceiling to the floor along one wall. In the center of the room was an ornate dining table, and though it only filled half the room, it could seat nearly a 100 people, based off of his rough estimate. Currently only two places were being used, the one at the head of the table and the one next to it. As he walked calmly across to the other side of the room, his hoofsteps rang sharply on the marble floor. The Queen didn’t look up as he approached, her attention fixed on some papers on the table in front of her. “You had a pleasant night I hope,” the Queen asked as Starscream sat down, though she didn’t look up from her work. “Yes, I slept well,” Starscream replied, before hastily adding “Your Majesty.” “Oh, you have no need to stand on such pointless ceremony. Call me Olethron,” Olethron said, still not looking up at Starscream. “Okay then,” he replied, watching as Quill Brooks came and brought breakfast. A plate of pancakes coated in golden syrup was placed in front of him, and a large silver bowl containing a wide selection of fruit and berries was placed behind the plate. They sat there in silence for a while, Olethron concentrated on her work and occasionally took something from the bowl. Whilst Starscream fought silently with the cutlery, though he managed to do better than he had done last time. At Rarity’s. He quickly pushed that thought to the back of his mind, and ignored the images of his nightmare that had surfaced with it. The sweet tasting food turned sour, and he gave up on the meal. He had eaten most of it anyway. “Starscream, would you care to join me for a tour,” Olethron said as she stood, a slight tone to her voice showing that she was still pulling rank, even after her earlier comment. Not seeing much choice in the matter, Starscream followed her out of the doors at this end of the room. The Castle had many winding corridors, all covered in gleaming white paint that seemed to sparkle in the golden rays that beamed through the large windows. Like the dining room, the corridors were sparsely furnished, with only the odd painting or vase dotted around. And those seemingly only there due to their high price tag, as Starscream had no notion of how a single line down a blank canvas could be thought attractive. Though he didn’t understand most things these ponies did. It felt like no one lived here, and the smell of new paint followed them around. The place was spotless, but Starscream didn’t see anyone as they walked around. Not even the hushed whispers or the sound of doors shutting softly as the servants hid from view. Though their tour wasn’t completely silent, Olethron explained things as they walked. Talking about family history and the importance of such-and-such a painting, to which Starscream only listened to half heartedly. But responded enthusiastically whenever he was asked for his opinion on some trivial matter or other. Eventually they found their way back to the entrance, but on the landing above it. Which was high enough to make Starscream gulp when he looked over the bannister. To their left was a balcony that was sat directly above the main doors, across from them was the dining room. But to their left was a door to a room that Olethron hadn’t mentioned yet. It was nearly as large as the main door, and was made out of the same black stone. But where the other door had a rather plain design, this one seemed to have the entirety of the equestrian history carved into it, with various things highlighted with different coloured stone. Though when he got closer he realised that it wasn’t coloured stone. The Sun was depicted in gold and the moon in silver, with the eyes of the ponies depicted by a multitude of different jewels. And there was one creature, a strange mismatched creature, which nearly blinded Starscream with the number of different colours used on him. The door was more like a giant mosaic. And when he had thought this he took a step back and his ears dropped back for a moment. Though Olethron was concentrating too much on the door to notice any of this. Her horn lit up with her blue aura, and after a moment a loud click was heard from within the door. Slowly it creaked open away from them, until it stopped with a loud thud a few minutes later. Leaving a pitch black abyss before them. Calmly she walked forward, and Starscream quickly followed her, not wishing to be left alone. As soon as they had walked past the doors, they began to close behind them and they began descending a small number of steps. Starscream shot a worried glance at the diminishing gap of light before hurriedly keeping pace with Olethron. Before the doors had completely blocked all the light, her horn lit up again. Creating a bolt of lightning that descended from the ceiling and hit the chandeliers hanging in the room before them, igniting all of the candles in a burst of flame. The room wasn’t the most well lit room of the Castle, but Starscream could tell it was huge, from the faint outlines he could make out of the slate grey walls. Looking down, he saw that the path he was on was made out of a blood red stone, and it was the only part of the room not filled. The rest of the room was filled with statues. “This is my trophy room,” Olethron declared, and at the same time her eyes and the crystal in her amulet glowed purple. “Trophy room..?” Starscream asked, stopping as she did and raised his hoof. “In my time I’ve made a lot of enemies,” she explained, walking up to one of the statues, “and this is how I commemorate the ones who gave me the best challenge.” The statue she had approached was of a stallion with sharp teeth, a wide brimmed hat, small round sunglasses and a long jacket. She patted him on the head before moving along. “So... You make a statue of the enemies you have defeated?” Starscream asked, pausing to look at a creature that looked like a large pepper pot, before continuing on. “No. I turn them into a statue,” she said, making Starscream pause whilst looking at a cube which had a heart on each of it’s sides. “All these are living ponies - and other creatures - that are encased in stone. Perfectly safe from the outside world.” “You have a lot of enemies then...” Starscream said looking around the room. There were hundreds of statues. Whilst a few were xenomorphs or some of Haunt’s robots, there was a large variety in the others. To his right he saw a pony with a small computer attached to her arm. Further along there was a pony in workers clothes with the name tag ‘Emmet’. And a few statues back he saw a rather young pony holding a strange ball in his hoof, with a small creature by his side with a tail that was kinda shaped like a lightning bolt that he hadn’t seen in Equestria. He stopped before one statue, and the Queen continued walking for a few seconds until she realised that he had stopped. The statue was made up of a panther - crouching as if to pounce at the front center - and two young colts on either side. One of the colts had a vicious looking spike instead of his right hoof, and the other had two large cylindrical objects instead of his hooves (which reminded Starscream of pile-drivers). They both had similar cutie marks, a cassette with a Decepticon symbol on them. “Do you know them?” Olethron asked, watching as a confused look crossed his face. “B- But... They died on Cybertron. They were lost, during the war,” Starscream said, taking a step back away from the statues. “Follow me,” Olethron said, as she began leading the way out of the room. Starscream quickly followed her, though he kept turning to glance at the statue. He was now glad that Laserbeak had decided to stay with the others. She led them back onto the landing above the entrance, but this time they went out onto the large balcony, which contained nothing but a large ornate glass topped table. The castle seemed to have grown out of one of the tallest buildings, one with a pony head on top of it, and he realised the reason he hadn’t seen it was because there was a holographic mirage that blocked the view from the other direction. It looked like it was made out of a constant downpour of rain, that fell in a single line across the city from the dark mass of clouds above. Below them was a large courtyard. Where, a large portion of Olethron’s army was drilling in formation. Beyond the edge of the city, the ground leveled out into the large rocky plain before meeting the edge of the forest where Starscream had first met Olethron. And betrayed the ponies. He quickly pushed the thought to a dark section of his mind and barricaded it in a closet. He then returned his attention back to Olethron, who was leaning on the railing of the balcony. Glancing from the drop to his wings, he decided not to follow her example. “Things that are lost have a tendency to end up in that forest,” Olethron said pointing towards it. “Ponies - such as yourself - are found from other worlds. I pride myself on keeping them safe, no matter what they do.” “So the people, in the statues are still alive,” Starscream asked. “Why, it is only the flesh that is frozen. Their minds are still active, and aware of all that is around them,” she replied. They stood in silence for a while, Olethron watching her troops whilst Starscream was staring at the horizon, deep in thought. “Have you found a person,” Starscream shook his head before continuing, “I mean pony called Cliffjumper?” “Cliffjumper..? Cliffjumper..?” she said, whilst tapping a hoof on the railing. “The name Sounds familiar...” she continued, before going quiet for a minute. “Oh, now I remember him! He turned up a few years ago with another stallion, by the name of Tailgate.” She said, making a small smile appear on Starscreams face which she luckily didn’t see. “They were an exceptionally troublesome pair.” “Are they in your collection?” Starscream said, whilst managing to keep the slight amount of joy out of his voice. If I could reunite them with- “Unfortunately,” Olethron began, interrupting this thought. “They had an accident with a dragon before I could add them to the collection.” Starscream’s thought then shattered into a million tiny pieces. “Ah...” was all he managed to say. They then descended back into silence for a while, until Quill Brooks walked onto the balcony carrying a large white box on his back. “Ah, there you are Alfred,” Olethron said as he used his magic to place the box on the table. “Starscream, I’ve got you something,” she continued as she turned towards the table. Starscream followed her over, whilst Quill Brooks grumbled something under his breath about his name and then took the lid off the box. Olethron then used her magic to pull two silver gauntlets out of the box, and at the same time lifted Starscream’s front hooves up. She carefully slid one of them onto his right front leg, where it fit snugly. It stopped just as it reached his elbow, but a large curve of metal continued up to protect the joint. The gauntlet felt familiar to him, and it was in the same dark grey metal of his robot mode and had a red rocket on the side of it. There were four large spikes on a hinge mechanism that clipped to the top side, and a separate one on a sliding mechanism on the bottom side. They seemed to be connected to the strap of leather that ran along his hoof, he turned it towards him to get a closer look, and moved the strap with his hoof experimentally. He shot his head back as the spikes either flipped or slid forward, nearly stabbing him in the face, and looking very much like a hand now. He moved the strap again, and they all returned to their original position. Olethron then slipped the other one on to his left leg, and it looked practically identical. Except that there was no rocket on this one, only a red stripe running down the length of the gauntlet in its place. “How did you make these?” Starscream asked, as he examined them, though more carefully this time. “Oh, it was simple. We found the right one in the forest, all we had to do is copy the design,” She said, as she released him from her magical grasp. “But, I lost my right arm...” he said as he began to understand. Olethron merely smiled. “Now close your eyes, and no peeking,” Olethron said as she turned to the box. Starscream did as he was instructed, and he soon felt something placed atop his head and something else wrapped around his neck. After a few moments she told him to open his eyes, and he was faced by what he considered an impressive grey pegasus. Though he didn’t care how many agreed with him. He then noticed that he was wearing a royal purple coloured cape and a gold tri-pointed crown with a large red crystal set into the front of it. He then spent the next few minutes examining his new appearance in the mirror. The cape was long enough to nearly touch the ground, but didn’t hinder his ability to use his wings. Not that he would use them anyway. “I hope you like it Starscream,” Olethron said, as she walked around the mirror towards him. “But that attire is only fit for a King.” “What..?” Starscream said, a jumbled mass of different thoughts rushing through his head. “I would like you to be King. To rule at my side,” she said. He opened his mouth to reply, but no words came out. “Oh, don’t worry. I only propose it to improve the morale of the troops,” she continued when he didn’t respond to her. “And only, until we restore you to your rightful place.” “I.. I would be honoured!” he replied after a few moments, whilst bowing slightly to her and then standing up straight. An evil grin on his face, and a mischievous gleam to his eye. Which the Queen responded to with a smile of her own. “Come, we must plan the approaching battle,” she said as they both walked off the balcony back into the castle. They were in Scar's throne room. Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow, Pinkie, Arcee and Bumblebee were sat on cushions facing the throne. Whilst Scar and Haunt were slumped against it and Nightshade was pacing up and down the length of the room. “How could Starscream abandon us like that?” Rarity asked, being the first one to break the silence in the room. “We can get him back when we kick the Queen out of Equestria!” Rainbow said, leaping into the air when she said the statement. “How?” Arcee said, watching as the pegasus started to fly around the room. “I think I know how...” Haunt said, sitting up straight and ruffling her wings. [Some time later] “That was the worst idea ever, of all time,” Twilight said, voicing what most of the group thought. “But are you in?” Scar asked, being one of the few who had the differing opinion. “Yes,” the rest of them replied as a group.