Chapter 10
Optimus Prime opened the doors to Princess Celestia’s throne room. Behind him followed Jazz, Mirage, Cliffjumper, Wheeljack, and Perceptor. Celestia stepped down from her throne and approached Optimus.
“Optimus, it is a pleasure to see you again,” Celestia said, “Who are they?”
Optimus moved to the side so as to give Celestia a better view of the new Autobots. “Princess Celestia, I’d like you to meet five other Autobots from my dimension. This is Jazz, Wheeljack, Mirage, Cliffjumper, and Perceptor.”
The five new Autobots gave a respectful bow to Celestia.
“There are also five others- the Dinobots- who are here as well, but they stayed behind in Ponyville with the others to help rebuild it.”
“Rebuild it? Was there a battle?”
“No Celestia. The Dinobots assumed the ponies were trying to harm Bumblebee and attacked the town, but were stopped by Fluttershy before they could do any serious damage. The Dinobots are infamous for not exactly being… subtle.”
“Well, so long as no pony was hurt and they help rebuild Ponyville, I suppose I can forgive them for their misunderstanding. But, now on to why these new Autobots are here. Optimus, how did they get here?”
“That’s a question you should ask them, not me.”
Celestia turned to Jazz and the others. “Excuse me, but how were you five- ten, I should say- transported here? Was there another accident?”
“Ah, I see Optimus has told you what happened,” Perceptor said, “Well you see, after Optimus and his party vanished, we devoted out entire time to finding where he and the others went. Many days passed until we finally located the coordinates to this dimension.”
“So you came here on your own accord?”
“Yes. While Optimus’ trip was a complete accident, we came here on our own will.”
“We came here to retrieve Optimus and the others,” Jazz said, “So once we rebuild your town we’ll just boogey on outta here.”
Optimus and Celestia looked at each other. “I’m afraid we can’t do that,” Optimus said.
Cliffjumper groaned. “Oh great, I know exactly where this is going. While you were away you guys got soft on this world and its locals so now you don’t wanna leave no matter what.”
“No Cliffjumper. We will eventually leave, but we cannot go as of this moment.”
“So what’s keeping us?”
“Megatron is here.”
“WHAT?!” all five Autobots said.
“When the others and I were sent off by the space bridge, we found ourselves accompanied by Megatron, Soundwave, Starscream, Skywarp, and Thundercracker. When we arrived we were in the orbit of this planet, and we were put into stasis lock when we crashed in the forest not far from here. The locals- the ponies- found us and quickly befriended us. The Decepticons have only sparingly showed themselves thus far.”
“Yikes, that must have been painful,” Mirage said.
Wheeljack was stroking his chin in thought. “Hey you know what; I bet the Decepticons had something to do with the accident! I bet they just happened to be doing something really similar to what we were doing at the same time, and both sides ended up in the same situation!”
“Normally Wheeljack I wouldn’t note that as a possibility,” Optimus said, “But considering the rather bizarre circumstances, there’s a high chance that’s exactly what happened.”
“So Optimus, all we have to do is remove the Decepticons from this place, and then we can go home?” Jazz asked.
“Affirmative.”
“Alright. Let me just call up Silverbolt first, he and the others were expecting us to get back soon.”
“Wait, your com link still works?”
“Yeah, why?”
“This whole time while we were here our com links haven’t been able to pick up so much as a nanoclick.”
“That’s probably because you came here falling from the sky, and your heads got busted up. We arrived here at ground level.”
“Yes, that makes sense. Go ahead, tell Silverbolt. Oh, and tell him to not send reinforcements. There are more Decepticons over there than here.”
“Gotcha Prime.”
Jazz set up a signal between him and the Ark. “Hello? Anybody read me? Hello? This is Jazz.”
“Jazz,” a voice responded, “This is Silverbolt. Have you guys found Optimus and the other Autobots yet?”
“Yes Silverbolt, we found them.”
“Copy that. I’m sending you a space bridge portal now.”
“Negative on that Silverbolt.”
“Why? What’s wrong over there?”
“The Decepticons are also here Silverbolt, and Prime wants us to bring ‘em back to our world. He doesn’t want the ponies to suffer Megatron’s wrath.”
“Ponies?”
“Yeah man! The dominant species of this world are magical horses! Plus they’re really cute.”
“Um…okay. Weird, but…okay. You guys need any reinforcements sent over to help you?”
“No. Prime’s orders. He wants you guys back at the base to be ready for a Decepticon attack. Besides, Optimus said there’s only five Decepticons here and seeing how there’s almost twenty of us, well, ya’ know.”
“Alright. Call us up when you’re ready. We’ll be waiting. Silverbolt out.”
“Copy that. Jazz out.” Jazz closed his com link.
“Is it done?” Optimus asked.
“It’s done.” Jazz replied.
“Very well. Come, I’ll familiarize you all with the locals. Celestia, do you wish to accompany us and meet the Dinobots?”
Celestia nodded. “Certainly Optimus.”
The party of seven left Canterlot and proceeded down the mountainside to Ponyville. When they arrived the Dinobots were still rebuilding the wreckage they caused. The Dinobots stopped momentarily to greet Celestia.
“Optimus, who are that?” Grimlock asked.
“Grimlock, this is Princess Celestia. She is one of the co- rulers of this land.”
“Land? What land is this?”
“Hey that’s right Optimus,” Jazz said, “We never asked you yet what this place is called.”
“This world is called Equestria.”
“Ah, “Equestria”, as in “equine”, I see.” Perceptor said.
“What is he talking about?” Celestia asked Optimus.
“Equine is the scientific name for horses and ponies in the world we come from.”
“Huh.”
Over the course of the next week, the ten new Autobots settled themselves in Ponyville, getting used to the various themes and gimmicks that came with living here. All of them quickly became friends with the locals, and had very interesting experiences.
Jazz took an especial liking to Equestrian culture. He greatly admired the music the ponies created and the architecture of their buildings. He became especially close to Pinkie Pie and DJ Pon3, the former because of her fun, upbeat personality and love for parties, and the latter because of her skills as a disc jockey. Some residents of Ponyville are worried that if all three of them throw a party together the universe will implode.
Wheeljack and Perceptor became obsessed with studying the nature of Equestria. They were amazed that such things as magic and dragons did exist. They both swore to apologize to Hoist and Warpath when they returned home.
At first Mirage and Cliffjumper couldn’t find any particular liking to Equestria. It was not long before Bumblebee suggested to them that they should go out and meet the fillies. Bumblebee reasoned that the fillies always wanted to see the Autobots, but since they were almost always busy with other jobs, the fillies were often disappointed. Mirage and Cliffjumper were not enthusiastic about meeting the children at all at first, but soon came to love the fillies. Mirage became known as the “hide and seek expert”, thanks to his ability to turn invisible. And Cliffjumper often performed daredevil stunts for the kids to watch, all the while telling them to not do them at home.
But arguably the Autobots who were changed the most by their time in Equestria were the Dinobots. By the end of the second day, the Dinobots had fully restored Ponyville. Afterwards they began following Fluttershy around, calling her “Boss Fluttershy”. Fluttershy at first was not comfortable with the idea of four giant robot dinosaurs and one giant robot pterosaur constantly following her around, but she then saw an opportunity in it. She began talking to the Dinobots, teaching them how to act kinder and be more civil. By the sixth day, the Dinobots had changed from cold hardcore warriors to more reasonable and almost goofy warriors. Optimus praised Fluttershy for her accomplishment. When Fluttershy was asked by Wheeljack about how she had taught the Dinobots decency where he could not, she said she didn’t know. But everyone knew that the real reason was because the Dinobots looked up to Fluttershy as a leader figure, so they listened to her.
Celestia was sitting on her throne, thinking about the events of the past week. All was quiet. Her guards stood as still as statues. Then, loud noises in the distance reached her ears. Celestia looked up at the door. The noises drew closer. As they became clearer, Celestia could hear screams and gunfire. Celestia quickly descended the stairs that held her throne and ran to the door. Then the noise stopped. She stopped. Celestia was at the half way point of the hall, two of her guards flanking her, staring intently at the main door.
The main door exploded. Celestia and her guards covered their eyes from the dust and debris. She looked to the source of the explosion, and took a battle stance. Emerging from the dust and smoke; was Megatron. To his left were two of the Decepticons Celestia had seen with him in Everfree; Starscream and Soundwave. But to his right were two Decepticons Celestia had never seen before. The foremost one had a bulky, purple body and a single eye in the middle of its face. The other was green and purple in color and had a visor and mouth- plate.
The two new Decepticons raised their weapons; or in the cyclops’s case, his whole arm; at Celestia.
“Shockwave, Scrapper, hold your fire,” Megatron yelled to the two new ‘Cons, “This one is mine.”
Megatron approached Celestia, and locked eyes with her. “Hello, Celestia…”