//------------------------------//
// Chapter 15 
// Story: Transformers Prime: Ponies in Disguise 
// by RavageXeno 
//------------------------------//

Starscream was sat at the table the next day eating breakfast, though it was still dark outside. He was still wearing his crown and cape, he had only taken them off to go to sleep. And this time he luckily wasn’t awoken during the night by a nightmare. Olethron was sat next to him, also eating, but occasionally glancing at a report between mouthfuls of food. 

They had spent the rest of the day yesterday planning the forthcoming battle. Which they planned on starting at dawn. But there was one small detail they still hadn’t covered.

“How are we going to get them there?” Starscream asked once he had finished his breakfast. 

“Oh don’t worry, we’ll get over that little problem,” She said, as a scout ran in with apparently urgent news, as he hadn’t even knocked at the door. She had turned Quill brooks’ muzzle to stone for an hour yesterday for not knocking at the door. 

“And it seems that problem is now easier than we first thought,” she said, smiling at the piece of paper she was handed as the scout ran off again. She handed it to Starscream, who took a moment to decipher the message. He hadn’t yet gotten used to pony writing, but the six pictures that accompanied the message helped him a lot.

“Oh, well this is just perfect,” Starscream said, mimicking the smile that Olethron had with his own, slightly sinister version. 





The moon was just on the edge of the horizon, and the sun kept teasing that it was moments away from rising. Starscream was stood on the edge of the city. On a high ridge that fell sharply to the valley below. On the other side of the valley, a similar ridge stood in front of the forest and in the distance Starscream could make out the Manganese Mountains.

Olethron had created the valley during the night, as she thought that fighting on the flat plain was rather dull. She was stood slightly ahead of him, watching the horizon with eager eyes. Starscream kept his attention forward as well.

Behind him were six pairs of eyes that tried to burn his spark with accusing glares every time he looked at them. They were on a metal platform that had been rolled out by two of Olethron’s bodyguards, both of whom had towered over Starscream, and were a few steps behind the platform. 

The platform had dug itself into the ground, and didn’t look like it would move unless Bruticus tried to shove it. On the top of the platform, were thick rings that secured the chains tightly, so none of the six ponies had much movement. 

Each of them had thick cuffs around their hooves, which rattled loudly every time they shuffled slightly. And each of these were attached to one of the rings and two of their other cuffs. Another chain also attached to the rings, and attached to a spiked collar which sat snugly around their necks. And as a small way of taunting, each of the collars had their element carved into the front of it.

Twilight had a six-pointed star, Rarity had a diamond, Rainbow had a lightning bolt, Pinkie had a balloon, Arcee had an apple, and Bumblebee had a butterfly. They all matched their cutie marks - as Starscream had gathered they were supposed to - except for Arcee and Bumblebee, but Olethron hadn’t noticed yet.

Twilight and Rarity had magic inhibitor rings on their horns, and Rainbow had a strap holding her wings down. 

Starscream thought it was a slight overkill, but Olethron wouldn’t allow anything less.

Olethron had insisted that they skip the small remainder of their breakfast so she could gloat at her prizes. And Starscream had expected her to turn them to stone there and then, but she wanted to watch their reactions as she tore their hope apart, as she had put it.  

Though she had quickly grown tired of Rainbow’s arrogant statements, and put a muzzle on her to stifle her voice. 

Once they had been rolled up here, Olethron had very ceremoniously given Starscream the key to their bonds. A wide grin on her face as she hung the key around his neck, still taunting them that their ‘friend’ had betrayed them. Which seemed to especially please her, as she kept mentioning that their elements were powered by friendship, though yet again Starscream didn’t understand. And he didn’t think it was a good idea to interrupt her monologue.

Olethron was now silent. Repeatedly glancing towards the sun that was slowly peaking over the horizon. The sign she had placed in the centre of the valley looked lonely, abandoned in the middle of no-where. Olethron had also created that, with the time and date of the battle etched into it. And based on her intermittent temper, it didn’t seem that she liked being kept waiting. 

Suddenly a gleam of gold caught Starscreams eye, momentarily blinding him. When he regained his sight, he saw that a large grin was on Olethron’s face. Following her gaze he saw Scar stood on the opposite ridge, flanked by his two lieutenants, Brisingr and Draco.

Scar was wearing his gold armour, but this time he was wearing all of it, not just the chest piece. Behind him, was a small group of guards that was made up of ponies in similar armour, mainly the ones Starscream had seen about the castle. The rest of the army stood behind him, and was made up completely of Haunt’s robots, but she was nowhere to be seen. 

“Haunt was always too much of a coward to engage in an actual fight,” Olethron said, which went against what Starscream thought of her. But now he thought about it, she had used trickery instead of confrontation.

But he didn’t see how hiding would help her, their army was outnumbered nearly 3 to 1. It would only prolong the inevitable. He turned to look at their army, which was spread out behind them. 

It was made up mainly of Insecticons, in pony form. Though they couldn’t sit still for any length of time, and were constantly shifting between different forms. But here and there was the odd pony or griffin in purple/gray armour. The army spread out for nearly a mile, and looked like a swirling dark sea of destruction. 

“Why hello Son, have you come to surrender,” Olethron said, using magic to project her voice across the valley.

“Don’t call me that. You lost that right when Father died,” Scar replied, using the same magic to respond to her. “And we’ll never surrender!” he continued, which was followed with a loud cheering from his army.

“Oh, such bold words. When even your own sister has deserted you,” Olethron said, grinning at Scar even though he couldn’t see her face. “Where is she? It will save me time having to hunt her down if you just tell me.”

“You can keep your filthy hooves off her,” Scar replied with venom. But it only made Olethron smile. 

“Oh, I do love it when you act like a caring big brother. But you won’t be able to protect her for long,” Olethron said. Scar didn’t respond to that, and after a few minutes of silence Olethron got bored of waiting. She used her magic to cover the sky in a thin layer of clouds, just enough to shade the ground from the sun. 

Trumpets then blared on either side signalling the attack, and both armies started pouring into the valley, like two ferocious waves.