//------------------------------//
// Heroes Will Rise 
// Story: The Transformers My Little Pony Crossover 2 
// by TFCrossoverFan 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 12

Starscream floated above Canterlot in robot form, like some vast, predatory bird of prey. The corrupted power of the Elements emitted from him like fire. Bot, con, pony, and changeling alike all stopped fighting and stared up at him.

"A long time ago, I said that I would be leader of the Decepticons one day," Starscream announced to all. "But now I realize just how small my vision was, how petty my ambitions were. Why would I want to be in charge of an empire of morons, when I can be a GOD?"

Starscream held his hands out and streaks of pure energy shot out from them into the streets below. Everyone scattered. "TREMBLE AND BOW BEFORE ME! FOR I AM STARSCREAM, GOD OF UNIVERESES!"

"And like I too said a long time ago, NEVER!"

Starscream paused. "Huh?" He turned his head just in time to see Galvatron flying right at him before they collided. The two Decepticons fell to the street below and crashed. Galvatron put his hands around Starscream's neck and pinned him to the ground. "So, it wasn't enough when I blasted you into a pile of ash, was it? It wasn't enough when I cast you out into the depths of space, WAS IT? When will you just die and stay dead?!"

Starscream kicked Galvatron off him and casually stood up. "Death is merely another obstacle to overcome. Now grovel and bow before me."

Galvatron raged and screamed. "DECEPTICONS! OBLITORATE HIM!" Any Decepticons that were not in stasis cuffs opened fire on the power tripping Seeker. Starscream staggered, growled, and responded by casting a wave of energy at his opponents. They were all sent flying backwards.

Starscream smirked. "Ha. Too easy." A beam of light then hit him in the back and tore through his chest. Starscream stared at the hole for a few seconds, and then turned around to see a wrathful- looking Celestia before the Autobot/Pony army.

"You will pay." Celestia seethed.

Starscream only smiled. "Oh my dear Celestia, you wouldn't believe the things I can do now. I am in possession of power beyond measure, and I will personally see to it that every single one of your little ponies dies screaming!"

"Then it is time I made a stand!" Celestia yelled as she fired another beam.

As he did before, Starscream simply held a hand out and blocked the beam. He flicked a finger and Celestia was sent flying back from the recoil. Starscream smirked. "So overconfident."

"Speak for yourself," Optimus Prime said as he sucker punched Starscream from the side. "Autobots, take him down!"

Every Autobot and every pony present attacked Starscream at the same time. Valiant though their efforts were, the fact was that Starscream was simply far too powerful.

In Another Place, Far Beyond Comprehension…

Six little ponies stood together in the middle of a vast dimensional plane. Their mortal minds translated their surroundings into a rocky desert with winds that kicked up the sand and a bright sun in the distance, so that they would not go mad.

"Where are we?" Applejack asked.

"Are… are we dead?" Rainbow Dash quietly said.

Fluttershy began sobbing to herself while Rarity gently patted her on the shoulder, herself desperately trying to hold back the tears.

"No, no we're not dead," Twilight said with a hint of delusion in her voice. "Clearly we have simply been teleported to some far off foreign land. If we can just get back to Canterlot, we can still win this! Right girls?"

The others gave looks of uncertainty and despair to each other.

"Girls?" Twilight gave a nervous gulp. She looked over to Pinkie, who had remained silent this whole time and was facing away from the others. "Come on, Pinkie, back me up here!"

Pinkie slowly turned around to face the others. Her mane was straight and her brows were furrowed. "We lost, Twilight."

"No, no we didn't! This is only a setback!"

"We're dead, Twilight!"

"But how could have Starscream beaten us? How could-"

Pinkie slapped Twilight in the face. "Get a hold of yourself!" Pinkie yelled with tears running from her eyes. "We never stood a chance against the Decepticons! We never have!"

"But what about the other times we beat them? What about those times, huh?!"

"Oh yeah Twilight? Then ask yourself this: when have we ever defeated the Decepticons without the Autobots around?"

Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but found herself unable to answer.

"That's right," Pinkie said. "We've never beaten the Decepticons on our own. Never have, never will. Do you remember when we first fought Nightmare Moon or Discord? Or Sombra or Tirek? You wanna know why we were able to stop them? Because they weren't Decepticons. We were out of our league since day one… it was only a matter of time before we got ourselves killed…"

They remained silent for a minute.

"I'm sorry for hitting you." Pinkie croaked from her dry throat.

Twilight gave a sniff. "It's okay… I needed a reality check."

"Elements of Harmony..." A voice whispered.

The six ponies huddled together and frantically looked around. "Who's there? Show yourself!" Twilight said.

"We have been watching you… for a long, long time…"

From the winds of sand stepped forth ten tall, proud looking Cybertronians. Their features were obscured by the bright sunlight, but the six little ponies could tell that they commanded a sense of majesty and authority from their presence alone.

"You have fought for Optimus, our greatest hero, with courage, and sacrifice."

"Sacrifice that was never meant to be."

"Your misfortune was undeserving, and so, it has been deemed fit that you return to the land of the living."

"Go now, return to Optimus, and use the Elements to stop Starscream."

"But you will not be going back alone. For if you are to escape from the afterlife, you will need guides."

Footsteps were heard behind the ponies. They turned around, and simply stared in shock.

The ghostly forms of Ratchet, Ironhide, Prowl, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Wheeljack, and Mirage stood before them, looking down at the ponies with sad smiles.

"None of this pain was meant to happen. The best we can do at this point is to make sure this all ends in a happy ending. We are so, so sorry for your suffering."

The mysterious Cybertronians raised their hands up to the sky as one, and lights began swirling around the ponies and deceased Autobots.

"Wait!" Twilight cried out. "Who are you?"

"We are the Thirteen."

Twilight blinked. "But there are only ten of you-"

She was cut off as everything turned white.

Canterlot…

Twilight gave a groan of pain as she slowly woke up. Her vision cleared and she realized she was lying on the floor of the Chamber of the Elements. She looked down at her chest and saw that her mortal wound was healed. She looked around and saw that her friends were also very much alive and healed.

A giant robotic hand appeared in her vision, held out as if offering assistance. Twilight looked up to see Prowl, in physical form, smiling down at her.

"Do you require assistance standing up, Miss Sparkle?" Prowl asked.

Twilight gaped and teared up. It was one thing to see the ghost of a friend, but to see them actually alive again, the fact that this miracle was actually happening… it was almost too much. She accepted. "Yes."

Prowl helped Twilight get on her hooves. Twilight looked behind her and saw the other returned Autobots also assisting her friends. Ironhide was with Applejack, Sideswipe was with Rainbow Dash, Sunstreaker and Mirage were with Rarity, and Wheeljack was with Fluttershy.

Pinkie Pie and Ratchet simply stared at each other. "…Ratchet?" Pinkie weakly asked.

Ratchet smiled at her. "I guess I got to keep that Pinkie Promise after all."

Pinkie buried her face into his chest and cried. Ratchet simply patted her on the back.

Outside…

Optimus and Celestia hit the ground. "He is too strong," Celestia weakly said.

Optimus got up. "We cannot give in to despair. Fight!"

Starscream shot down Fortress Maximus and Omega Supreme. He gave a smirk, and then twirled around to grab Discord by the throat. "Thought you could sneak up on me, eh?"

Discord struggled. "It was worth a shot."

"You know, I never got around to thanking you Discord. If it wasn't for your valuable information about the Elements, I never would have achieved such glory! Thank you." He squeezed. "Now die."

A blast of purple magic shot out from nowhere and severed Starscream's hand, freeing Discord. Starscream scowled and looked towards the source. "Who dares strike a god?!"

"You, a god Starscream? This is bad comedy."

Starscream blinked. He knew that voice. "It cannot be."

The Mane Six stepped out from a cloud of dust in the street, defiantly glaring at Starscream. The Autobots and ponies all stopped and stared in shock, speechless.

"HOW?" Starscream demanded. "I killed you!"

"You did kill us." Twilight explained. "But some really important people decided it wasn't our time yet! And you wanna know something? We didn't come back alone."

Starscream raised a browplate. "What are you talking about-" He was cut off when a series of missiles shot out from behind the Mane Six and hit him square in the chest, downing him.

Ironhide, Ratchet, Prowl, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Wheeljack, and Mirage stepped out from the large dust cloud behind the ponies. "Starscream, we have come for you." Prowl said.

Starscream saw them and gaped. "That's not possible! You were all killed in battle years ago! I saw it with my own optics!"

"Well think again Screamer!" Sideswipe said. "We're here to right what went wrong!"

"Tch, oh yeah? And what might that be?"

"Oh, we're just going to drag you back to the afterlife kicking and screaming is all." Sunstreaker casually explained.

"I have ascended to godhood! Your empty threats mean nothing to me!" Starscream sent a wave of energy to incinerate them. When the wave subsided, he was surprised to see the Autobots and ponies perfectly unharmed. Starscream was starting to feel an inkling of worry. "Why are you still alive?"

"We are under the protection of Primus," Mirage said. "Your uncouth Unicron powers cannot touch us!"

"Quickly girls!" Wheeljack said. "Activate the Elements!"

"But how can we?" Twilight asked. "The Elements are inside him!"

"That doesn't matter Twilight! You just have to believe in yourself!" Prowl said. Everyone gave him a weird look. "Uh, what I meant to say was, ahem, whether or not you physically have the Elements is irrelevant. You should be able to remotely activate them through sheer force of will."

"Can we do that?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"There's only one way to find out." Applejack replied.

The ponies closed their eyes and grit their teeth. A faint rainbow glow appeared from Starscream's chest. Starscream gave an alarmed cry. "OW! That hurt! Stop it!"

"It's working!" Rarity said.

The eyes of the ponies began to glow and the Elements of Harmony themselves tore their way out of Starscream's chest. Multiple rainbows shot out from them and began swirling around Starscream. "AH! NO! NOT EVEN THIS WILL STOP ME!"

"Then how about we even the odds?" Ironhide rhetorically asked. He and the other Autobots held out their hands, and beams of blue light shot out from them, hitting Starscream. The power of Primus gave the weaker power of the Elements a helping hand, so to speak.

Starscream shook uncontrollably, what with being at the epicenter of such a fusion of power. Then the combined might of Primus and the Elements fired a beam directly between Starscream's feet, creating a portal.

Starscream fell into the portal and, out of reflex, transformed and attempted to fly out. He was mostly successful, he managed to escape the portal and get just past the rim, but before he could go too far glowing blue tendrils made of pure energy sprang out from the rim of the portal and wrapped around Starscream. Starscream transformed back into robot mode and cried out for help as he was slowly dragged into the portal. "Somebody! Please! Help me! I don't want to go offline again!"

Ratchet tapped his chin. "Well now that I think about it, there is one person who might help you."

Starscream was in a tug of war with the tendrils, only a few feet from the portal's rim. "Really? Who?"

A ball of light shot up from the portal and went into the sky. With a flash it turned into a robot in mid air, and landed on the ground in front of Starscream. It was a very familiar purple one-eyed Decepticon.

Starscream gave a hopeful smile. "Shockwave, my dear old comrade! You have returned from the dead just to help me? I am forever grateful!"

Shockwave calmly walked up to the struggling Starscream and put his hand on Starscream's shoulder. "Primus awaits you, Starscream. It is only logical that you come with me."

Starscream widened his optics in horror.

Shockwave pushed forward and went over the edge of the portal, taking Starscream down with him. "No!" Starscream yelled and, in one final bid for life, reached out with his one free hand and grabbed onto the edge of the portal.

Starscream dangled there, literally on the verge of death. Shockwave and the tendrils continued to pull him down. He was only delaying the inevitable.

He was quite surprised when he saw Pinkie Pie standing above him at the rim of the portal, glaring down at him. "Pinkie Pie?" He said.

"Starscream, this is for breaking your Pinkie Promise." Pinkie Pie raised a hoof and brought it down on one of his fingers, causing it to release its grip. He only had three holding onto the edge now.

Starscream's panic increased. "Wait! Don't do that! I'm sorry, okay? I really am sorry this time!"

"This is for killing me." Pinkie knocked off another finger.

"Stop that!"

"This is for killing my friends." Only one finger left.

"Please! Have mercy!"

"And this… this is for killing Ratchet!" Pinkie knocked off the last finger.

Starscream was pulled down into the void. He gave one final, terrified scream to the world of the living.

The portal closed.

All were silent for a few moments. It was over. Pinkie fell back on her haunches and gave a long sigh. Her five friends sat down beside her to take in the moment.

"I guess we can say we literally went to hell and back on this adventure, eh?" Rainbow Dash joked. The other ponies chuckled lightly.

Hoofsteps were heard. The six ponies looked to the side to see Celestia gaping at them, tears in her eyes. "…Is that really you?"

They went up to her and hugged her. Celestia broke down and fell to her knees. She wrapped her wings around them as she sobbed.

Optimus Prime, while relieved that the Mane Six were alive, had his attention focused on another set of heroes who were thought o be dead. Seven friends who he thought he would never see again stood before him. He hesitantly held a hand out, almost afraid that it would turn out to be just an illusion.

Ironhide grabbed Optimus' hand and patted it. "Yeah Prime, we're really here."

"My friends," Optimus said, "You're alive!"

"Yes, we're alive again, but it's only temporary." Prowl explained. "I'm sorry."

"You said that Primus sent you?" Optimus asked. "I thought he was a myth."

Ratchet gave a laugh. "That's what we all thought. Turns out there's a lot we don't know about ourselves. Don't worry, we've got plenty of time to talk."

"But, you said your return to life was temporary."

Sideswipe gave a shrug. "Eh, Primus technically gave us twenty-four hours to stop Starscream, so we've got plenty of time to catch up. But right now, let's focus on rounding up the last of those Decepticreeps!"

Above Canterlot, on the mountainside…

Galvatron glared down at the city. Another defeat, another wasted effort. He turned to his soldiers that had managed to escape being captured: Soundwave, Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, Sixshot, the Terrorcons, the Stunticons, the Constructicons, Trypticon, the Predacons, the Combaticons, and Scorponok.

"Lord Galvatron, we can strike from the high ground while the Autobots and ponies are distracted! Let us fight!" Razorclaw exclaimed.

Galvatron gave him a flat glare. "No. I am done with this world. Sick and DONE with it. I should have listened to Scourge, this world is nothing but trouble. Soundwave, activate the space bridge. We are returning to our home universe."

"As you command, Lord Galvatron." Soundwave said. A giant green portal appeared before them.

"So what, we're just giving this world up to the Autobots?" Sixshot asked.

"Indeed," Zarak said from inside Scorponok's head. "You seemed rather set on keeping this world when we started this campaign."

Galvatron growled. "I am sick of magic. I am sick of friendship. And most of all, I am sick of those GODDAM PONIES!" He pointed at the portal. "WE ARE LEAVING, NOW!"

All the Decepticons quickly entered the space bridge portal, leaving Galvatron the last to go through.

Galvatron gave one final look to the city down below. "We shall meet again Prime, for I have one last scheme…" Galvatron turned and entered the portal. Seconds later, it closed.