//------------------------------// // Chapter 19 // Story: Transformers Prime: Ponies in Disguise // by RavageXeno //------------------------------// “But, we saw you fall off a cliff...” Rainbow said after she had picked her jaw up off the floor. “Oh, my dear, it takes more than simple treachery to get rid of me, and I’m surprised it took Starscream that long to try something like that,” Olethron said, smiling at them through the barrier. “So you knew I was going to betray you?” Starscream asked, picking himself up off the floor. “Of course I knew, your little clone told me everything about you. He even tried to betray me a few times himself,” she replied, before laughing at the confused expression on Starscream’s face. “Though maybe you haven’t created him yet, the portals sometimes mix up their timings. “Now, enough of the chit-chat. Do you surrender?” She continued, looking at them for their answer. “Surrender? Ha! We’re winning,” Haunt said, standing proudly as Scar landed next to her. “You should be the one to surrender.” “I will never surrender to two insolent foals,” Olethron snarled, stamping her hoof down. “Well if you don’t want to surrender, stop hiding behind that force field like a coward,” Scar said, as he folded his wings. Grimmy was still stood next to the barrier, his slightly open mouth revealing the orange glow of the waiting flames and allowing dark plumes of smoke to pour out. “As you wish,” Olethron said, letting go of the spell that powered the barrier. As it vanished Grimmy charged with a torrent of scorching flame flying straight towards Olethron. Standing her ground, she pulled something from her side with her magic and held it in front of her to deflect the flames around her. After a few seconds Grimmy stopped the torrent of flames and gave Starscream and the others a clear view of Olethron. Held in front of her was a jagged sword, that had a blade constructed of the purple crystals and a handle made of obsidian. The blade looked imperfect, as if the hundreds of shards of crystal that made it up didn’t want to fit together, and often stuck out in random directions. Not pausing to wait for an explanation Grimmy charged, roaring at Olethron whilst he built up the flames in his jaws for a bigger blast. Whilst the soldiers near Olethron took a few steps back to avoid him, she held her position with a smirk on her face. She ducked under the huge jaws that snapped shut where she was a mere moment before and lunged up with the sword once she was beneath him. Grimmy let out a pained roar as the sword pierced through his chest. Letting go of the sword with her magic, she left it in his chest as she summoned a gust of wind that knocked him off his feet and grinding across the ground on his side until he came to a rest near the chariot. “Grimmy No!” Haunt said, rushing to his side once he had stopped. “I’ll be waiting for your surrender,” Olethron said, laughing as she turned and sauntered away, whilst her soldiers remain in their positions giving them some space. Haunt quickly began scanning Grimmys unmoving form with her magic to asses the damage, crouching down to get a better look. When Starscream and Rainbow walked over, she was charging her magic to send a beam of it to the crystal below his neck. “No no no no no no...” Haunt stammered after she had opened the panels on his chest. The sword had cut straight through the panels and headed straight for the small chamber in the center of the mass of gears and mechanisms. The tip of the blade had smashed the crystal in the chamber and it was now in tiny little shards that were no longer pulsing like they were. “You can fix him right?” Rainbow asked probably thinking like Starscream did, that they were still outnumbered and only Grimmy could send the soldiers running for their lives. After waiting a few moments for an answer, they looked at Haunt to find her frozen over the robot with her eyes distant and glazed. She remains still as they watch Grimmy’s red eyes fade to black and only moves once Scar puts his hoof on her shoulder. Shaking her head she stood up straight, with her eyes momentarily glowing red. She let out an enraged snarl as she grabbed hold of the sword and pulled it out of his chest. She began examining the blade, whilst a demonic expression possessed her face and strands of her mane began to look like they were on fire. Starscream, Rainbow and Scar slowly backed away from her as the sword started glowing then almost seemed to burst into flames. The shards that made up the blade then coalesced together, forming an altogether more perfect blade but it still had it’s jagged appearance. With a wrathful growl, her eyes locked on to where she could just see Olethron as she sauntered away, and before her brother could stop her she charged the large mass of soldiers before her. “Shouldn’t we help her?” Rainbow asked, more out of the urge to fight than concern for Haunt. “I think she’s got things covered,” Starscream replied as they watched Haunt cut through anyone who got in the way of her target. Soon Rainbow and Starscream had to hover in the air to be able to watch over the growing pile of fallen soldiers. Though it took Starscream a few attempts before he could hover without crashing into something. The soldiers were less than happy to let what looked like a raging demon near their Queen, so hundreds dived in front of her to block her path. Some of the more intelligent soldiers realised that the tactic was definitely not working, so had slowly made their way behind Haunt in an attempt to catch her by surprise. Before Rainbow could shout out a warning, a high pitched whoosh sound came from beside them and a glob of green liquid shot past them. It landed on the armour of a soldier and began to quickly eat through it before he managed to pull it off. Other soldiers weren’t so lucky and ran from the battlefield shrieking in agony. Turning, Starscream saw Lily crouched on top of the chariot laughing as she watched the soldiers flee. He could see some of the green liquid - presumably acid - dripping from her jaws, and as another soldier got too close to Haunt she fired another glob and it landed with precise aim on it’s target. Starscream flew a bit further away from the dragon, just to be on the safe side. It didn’t take long for Haunt to reach Olethron, and she was now stood in a small clearing of the soldiers taking deep breaths after her enraged charge across the battlefield. She stood there snarling at the Queen and waiting for her to make the first move. “Soldiers deal with this... trash,” Olethron said, maintaining her snobbery and calm demeanour in the face of her more than probable defeat. None of her soldiers moved, though they feared the wrath of their Queen the pony before them had made some of their greatest warriors look like nothing more than children. And none among them were willing to fight for their Queen against her. She was on her own. “Well then, I guess it’s just you and me,” Olethron said, seemingly not dazed by the challenge before her, and only concerned with making sure the amulet was still in place around her neck. Tired of waiting Haunt let out a yell and charged, holding the sword in the air above her. Olethron quickly threw up a barrier with her magic, which shattered into a thousand pieces as the sword smashed through it and she was sent flying backwards by the discharge of energy. Haunt didn’t slow down, and once Olethron had picked herself up off the ground she was already beside her and preparing for the final strike. She brought the sword down again, this time leaving a jagged wound down the side of her neck whilst cutting through the chain that secure the amulet to her neck. Haunt then kicked her to the ground and stood over her with the tip of the blade pointed at her neck. “Like mother like daughter it seems,” Olethron said, as she knew the wound would leave a scar. “I am nothing like you,” Haunt said, her voice full of malice as she lowered the blade so it the tip dug into her. “I won’t kill the helpless,” she continued, removing the sword from her neck and turning, she walked back towards her brother with the amulet now in her grasp. Olethron slowly picked herself up, after healing the gash with magic but leaving a scar in its place, then took a few shaky steps forward. “Now my army! Attack!” she shouted a manic grin on her face but it soon faded as shouts of indignation rose from her army as it turned and left her. She watched in horror as they left her alone and vanished into the distance. She then cried out as her coat faded from dark grey to light pink, her eyes lightened from purple to light blue and stopped being slit-pupiled. Her dragon wings vanished altogether. Olethron took a step towards them, the beginning of an attempt to retrieve her amulet and restore her alicorn-hood. But after a moment thought better of it and turned tail and ran off into the distance before anyone decided to lock her up. Starscream and Rainbow returned to the ground, again with Starscream messing up the landing and ending up upside down again. Haunt ignored them and her brother as she just walked past all of them and went over to Grimmy who was still on the floor. She stabbed the sword into the ground then began collecting the shattered shards out of his chest until she had them all on her hoof. “Can’t you just replace the crystal?” Twilight asked when she and the others got there. “No, the crystal contains it’s memories and thoughts. If you change the crystal you change the robot and they would become completely different,” Haunt said, not looking up from the shards. “I’ve known Grimmy for so many years it would feel wrong.” “Statement, get over it master,”HK-47 said, throwing the requiem void towards her and knocking the shards from her hoof and herself from her thoughts. Before she could catch them, the requiem void landed with a thud on the floor and all the shards fell into it and were absorbed by the device, making it pulse and glow brighter. Realising what had just happened Haunt glared at HK-47, who promptly ran off. “Hmmmm, maybe...” Haunt said lifting up the requiem void and placing it over Grimmy’s open chest. “Haunt, what are you doing?” Starscream asked, stepping closer to get a better look. “Don’t worry, you know as well as anyone that in science you need to take risks,” she replied, a small grin appearing on her face as her plan formulated in her mind. “Well, could you not take risks with the one thing that is able to send us home,” Starscream almost shouted, he didn’t want the device to be in their grasp only to be destroyed before they could go home. Though he also didn’t want to see how painful her sword was. Ignoring his last remark she continued with her plan, slowly she lowered the device into his chest where it fit snugly where the crystal once sat. After checking that all the gears were still in working order, she closed up his chest and waited for a few minutes. “Well... Did it work?” Rarity asked, whilst nobody noticed his eyes lighting up.