It didn’t take that long to get to the castle doors, even with the sound of constant banging pushing the two of them forward. It was probably Pinkie Pie sending Twilight another invitation to her “Get Well Soon Party”, but as Twilight said before…she didn’t want too much company.
Spike was the one who opened the door, with a weary Twilight right behind him. The dragon had somehow convinced her to get out of bed, and since they were now expecting company he wanted Twilight to show ponies that she was doing perfectly fine, and that the dreaded rumors were of course false.
The rumors being that Princess Twilight may never recover…
Spike didn’t know how such a rumor had started, but he wanted to make sure it never happened. He stayed up with Twilight every night until she fell asleep, he calmed her down whenever she stared crying again, and no matter what…Spike would always be there for her.
Spike opened the crystal doors, revealing a sweating, panting, terrified Apple Bloom.
“Spike! Twilight!” she shouted, catching Twilight’s attention instantly. “Please, Ah didn’t know who else ta turn to! A bunch o’ ponies came ta our farm an’ started beatin’ up mah sister!”
Twilight’s ears straightened. All weariness in her body seemed to fade away at the mention of Applejack. Spike gasped loudly, trying to comprehend what Apple Bloom was saying.
“Wait, what?!” Spike shouted in surprise, both claws covering his dangling jaw. “Did…did you get anypony else to help you?”
Apple Bloom shook her head quickly, sweat streaming down her forehead. “Ah couldn’t get anypony else because-!” the shouting of two gruff, male voices started to approach. Apple Bloom spun her head around, screaming and backing away next to Spike.
“Oh no! They’re here!”
Almost immediately, two stallions emerged from the side of the closest building. They wore sunglasses and dark coats, something only guard ponies would wear on occasion. Spike and Apple Bloom both noticed how quickly they acted, and how quickly they spotted them. Both of the stallions’ jaws dropped.
“It’s Princess Twilight!” one of them shouted.
What he did next surprised all three of them.
The stallion rolled up his sleeve, revealing a mechanical device attached to his entire foreleg. Shockingly, the device started to move, and bits of metal began to merge together, creating a long pole sticking straight out of the stallion’s hoof. The tip of the pole began to glow bright blue, and the mysterious stallion pointed the weapon of some sort right at the princess.
Twilight recognized the sound the device made right away. It was all too familiar… It sounded like metal…transforming. Twilight kept a mental note on what she had just witnessed, but prepared herself with a magical shield right as the weapon was about to show its power.
Luckily, the other stallion slapped the weapon aside just in the nick of time.
“You idiot!” he scolded. “You’re not supposed to reveal our tech to outsiders!”
“But, Noctune said that Princess Twilight was-!”
“She’s not the target, that filly is!"
Both stallions felt an electrical pulse radiate through their bodies before they fell to the dirt, twitching. Spike and Apple Bloom both looked back at Twilight, whose horn was radiating heat from the paralysis spell she had used not too long ago. Those ponies would be fine. They would feel better in a few hours, perfectly enough time for Twilight to get to Sweet Apple Acres, stop whatever was happening, and get back to her castle to question the two stallions.
The Alicorn gently pushed Spike and Apple Bloom aside, her face set in stone.
“Were there anymore of those ponies following you, Apple Bloom?” Twilight asked, her strong, leader-like voice returning to her.
Apple Bloom grimaced at the twitching stallions a few feet from her, but shook her head. “Um…no…well…Ah don’t really remember. Ah was runnin’ really fast an’ Ah guess Ah wasn’t really payin’ attention.”
Twilight stepped right over the two stallions now drooling over themselves. Spike reached out his claw and shouted, “Hey Twilight! Where ya goin’?”
She stopped in her tracks. Closing her eyes, Twilight could only imagine the information Apple Bloom provided. These stallions, two of which tried to attack her already, are at Sweet Apple Acres right now hurting Applejack. Her friend. She was in danger. All the sadness, all the sorrow, all the pain she had felt was because of her losing Optimus Prime, her friend. Twilight couldn’t go through any of that again. Whoever these ponies were…they were going to pay.
Twilight didn’t even turn around. “Get Apple Bloom back inside the castle, Spike. I’m going to get the rest of my friends…” she turned back to see Apple Bloom shed a small tear, “and we’re going to save your sister.”
Spike and Apple Bloom shielded their eyes once Twilight teleported away, a bright flash erupting from the spell.
_______________
“Ah already said…Ah don’t know what yer talkin’ about! OW!”
“Getting real tired of this…”
Brass Hoof slammed the table leg onto the ground, shattering the wood instantly. He backed away from the mare tied up in a chair, blood dripping down her nose. Two other soldiers stood by Big Macintosh, tying him up in a special wire that they’ve had equipped for situations like this.
She just wouldn’t talk. Brass Hoof could tell Applejack was a terrible liar. He knew Optimus was here, but she denied everything, saying she didn’t know what he was rambling on about. He could always torture her, but what good would that do? He knew by now that this was a much stronger pony than what they’ve dealt with in the past. She wouldn’t break.
All the more fun to try.
Brass Hoof took off his glasses, showing Applejack his rose-colored iris. Applejack began to shudder in the little chair she was tied to. His stare pierced her eyes, ripped apart her soul, and went to work on her mind. It was a stare almost as powerful as Fluttershy’s, but this felt…dark. Evil.
“I know Optimus is on this farm, Applejack,” Brass Hoof quietly muttered, gripping her wounded hind leg and pushing down on it with heavy force. Applejack hissed in pain, small tears welding up in her eyes. “Are you gonna tell me where he is…or do I just have to end your career as an apple bucker?”
Applejack bit her lip. Through the tears, she glared at Brass Hoof and sent a large glob of spit into his face. “Go buck yerself,” she growled.
Brass Hoof neglected the spit on his face, slapping Applejack as a form of punishment. “We don’t have time for this!” Brass Hoof announced, backing off of the Earth pony a few feet. “You are going to tell us where he is right now.”
The mare glared at him. “An’ what makes you think Ah’ll jus’ up an’ tell you?” she snarled.
A short, dark blade unsheathed itself from Brass Hoof’s sleeve.
Applejack’s eyes matched the size of pinpricks once he lowered the blade to her stomach, hovering slightly towards it closer and closer. But he didn’t stop. Brass Hoof lowered the dark blade past her stomach and kept going lower down south…
The mare hadn’t been more terrified in her life.
“You want to have foals one day? I suggest you start talking.”
A few tense seconds had passed and Applejack refused to speak. Sweat was dripping down the sides of her head as the cold blade edged closer and closer. Brass narrowed his eyes, bringing his hoof back.
“Wait!”
Brass smiled.
Tears began flowing freely down her cheeks. Applejack closed her eyes and cried, “Please don’t! He’s…he’s in the barn…Ah swear…please.”
The barn…of course. It’s the only thing big enough to hold him. Brass Hoof thought to himself. The blade sunk back inside his coat sleeve, a large breath of relief coming from the earth pony.
The doors slammed open, and while Brass thought he had a fight coming soon from that filly’s escape, he was relieved to see four of his soldiers nearly knock themselves over to get in first. One stood up before the others, pointing his hoof back outside.
“Sir, five mares just arrived and started attacking the squad! You’ll never believe this either but…Princess Twilight is one of them.”
His relief suddenly vanished.
Brass Hoof put on his glasses and shouted to the two dazed unicorns lying in front of him. “You two, I want you to teleport into the barn right now and rip Optimus Prime apart! Leave. No. Evidence!”
The unicorns pushed on each other to get back to their hooves. “Yes, sir!” the two unicorns replied in unison, their horns igniting before the two disappeared from the room.
_______________
Two bright flashes appeared in the darkness of the Apple Family barn. The unicorns removed their sunglasses to adjust to the darkness. Even then, they could still clearly see Optimus Prime’s silhouette sitting right in front of them. Looks like that little country hick was telling the truth after all.
One of the unicorns smiled manically. “Well, well, well…the reporters were actually right for once,” he said, stepping closer to the unmoving statue.
His fellow unicorn smiled just the same, feeling a new rush take over him. “This is what we’re paid to do…protect the world…and kill aliens.”
“Haha…yeah, I hear that.”
They both approached Prime by now, standing silently in front of him. They were both grinning like idiots, probably because it was way too easy. Also, because this was mostly the first job they’ve done since the AAA was created a year ago. What a job it was, though. Killing an alien.
“Well,” the first unicorn grunted, pulling up his sleeve while a buzz saw instantly formed out of clicking metal, snuggling neatly next to his good hoof, “let’s get to work, shall we?”
The second unicorn pulled up his sleeve and did the same. “Oh, we shall get to wo-”
What he didn’t expect was the blue crystal that powered the device to fly right off of his foreleg.
It was almost as fast as a bullet. The two unicorns stared in shock as the crystal flew right off the device and attached itself right onto Optimus Prime’s outer armor. A strange new sound had awakened. This sound was something the two hadn’t heard before in their lives. It sounded like a very deep, low frequency noise. They stared at the alien in front of them, their eyes bulging wide to see the crystal completely disappear. Instead, a blue wave washed over Optimus’ entire body…and then silence.
However, it didn’t last long enough for the stallions to start counting seconds.
That same familiar sound came back, not the new one they had just heard moments ago, but a sound the both of them and their tiny minds knew from pure memory.
Transforming metal.
The massive vehicle in front of the two unicorns whirred, clicked, and shaped itself into a new form. A massive arm with fingers clawed at the dirt next to them, followed by a second arm and two legs. The unicorns backed away in fear, their jaws refusing to close as the mechanical monstrosity rose up higher and higher.
A large head popped out at the top, revealing twin blue orbs shining in the darkness.