//------------------------------// // Chapter 58-Equestria Attacked! // Story: Transformers: The Requiem // by JDPrime22 //------------------------------// All it took was the headlines and Applejack was weeping. Nopony was up yet. Applejack made it her goal to be the first Apple up on the farm before the rest of her family. Big Mac rivaled her in this challenge, but for the Sunday morning the stallion decided to sleep in, especially since there was no work to be done on Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack was just about to prepare herself a waffle or two with a tall glass of milk to go with it. The only thing she was really missing was the morning newspaper. She didn’t like to admit it, but all she really read were the comics. There were no comics that morning. No smiles, no chuckles, no nothing. The newspaper Applejack held in her shaking hooves was nothing but news. Horrible…horrible news. Sprawled across the floor, the couch, and even Applejack’s lap were portions of the newspaper. All unneeded or uninteresting pieces of news that didn’t relate to the main focus were strewn across the living room, the only important piece resting in the farmpony’s lap. All it took was one look at the headlines… The orange mare sniffled hard, wiping her cheeks with a free hoof. She brought her red eyes back down to the newspaper in her lap. Applejack refrained from bawling at that point and silently read the lines to herself. Each word was a struggle, even for Applejack. “‘Terror strikes the city of Las Pegasus in ways ponykind hasn’t seen since the Darkest Hour. On Saturday, 11:33 am, the city of Las Pegasus was quiet, families of ponies enjoying Celestia’s sunshine. That same day, 11:58 am, all that remained of the city were burning buildings followed by massive craters in the earth large enough to swallow all of downtown Las Pegasus.’” Applejack held a hoof to her mouth, the words now dribbling out like a young, crying filly. After all, she was crying like a filly all morning. “‘Nopony knows where it came from. Their day was all too perfect to be interrupted by anything. Nothing could prepare the citizens of Las Pegasus for the alien warship last spotted yesterday disappearing behind Smokey Mountain. Eyewitness accounts suggest that the warship wiped out the city in a matter of minutes, leaving nothing in its path of destruction. “‘I just witnessed hell today,’ a lone stallion told our reporters on scene. ‘It came out of the sky in a cloud of darkness, bringing with it the wrath of the universe! I knew this day was coming, and look what happened! Las Pegasus is gone! We weren’t prepared for this! We weren’t prepared!’” Applejack shook her head, her eyes rolling. She continued on. “‘Whether or not eyewitness accounts were supported by evidence, none can deny the amount of destruction the alien warship has displayed on one of Equestria’s most thriving cities. As of now, the death toll is rising over the thousands with even more injured or missing. Royal Guard stationed in Las Pegasus had no chance to escape, and all squads under the order of the Royal Sisters joined the fallen in their final resting place.’ “‘With hundreds of aid workers from several more cities across the country coming to the rescue, survivors from the attack in Las Pegasus can have hope knowing help is currently on the way.’” There was still more to it on page 5D, but Applejack had to take a break from reading. She leaned back, placing both of her hooves against her forehead as she released a heavily defeated sigh. Her large Stetson hat fell to her side, but Applejack didn’t seem to care. For once in her life, her hat felt far too heavy to wear, to carry on. A gift given to her…from her parents. Her dad. Applejack reached down and plucked the large Stetson from the sofa cushion. She held it close to her chest, wrenching every time she felt her heartbeat soar across the large brim of the hat. Tiny tears fell from her brilliant emerald irises, impacting the brown of her hat, soaking it. She held the hat closer, never letting go again. Applejack hadn’t realized how long she had been sitting in that position when she heard the small hoofsteps approach. “…Sis…” a little voice began, “are you okay?” The mare turned her head to the left only slightly. She didn’t even need to look to know who it was, but she felt obligated to, knowing her little sister wanted to speak to her face to face. There she was. Little Apple Bloom standing but a few feet away from the couch, nervously shuffling back and forth as her eyes contemplated on staring at Applejack or not. Applejack acted quickly. She placed her hat back atop her head, staring at Apple Bloom as more tears rushed down her face. Apple Bloom gasped, and then realized what her older sister was doing. She was beckoning her forward, her foreleg outstretched. The little filly bore signs of true concern across her face. She jumped, crawling up on the couch and into Applejack’s embrace. Apple Bloom could feel her sister tightening her grip around her shoulder, her entire body shuddering. Whether it is an instinct only a sister could feel towards her sibling or she felt obligated to do so, Apple Bloom found herself wrapping her forelegs around Applejack’s midsection. The two sisters shared a warm hug, Applejack sobbing and Apple Bloom comforting. It was an entirely new feeling to the young filly. Usually it was her who was shedding tears of pain and then her older sister would be there for her, comforting Apple Bloom in the time she needed a sister most. The feeling was strange, listening to Applejack cry, feeling her heartbeat only increase and then slow down as the seconds ticked away. Apple Bloom held her tighter. Soon enough, when she felt Applejack stop crying, Apple Bloom looked up at her sister with teary eyes that matched her older sister’s. Applejack smiled down at her, wrapping Apple Bloom up in a quick hug with an equally quick kiss on the forehead to go with it. “Thanks,” Applejack whispered, “Ah really needed somepony right now.” “Anytime, sis,” Apple Bloom replied, her voice cracking as the tears started boiling. “None o’ that now, we don’t want Granny knowin’ you’ve been cryin’, or else you’ll get the talk about being a big pony again,” Applejack quietly told her little sister, wiping her eyes with a free hoof. Apple Bloom wiped her own eye, staring up at Applejack quizzically. “But…weren’t you cryin’ just now, sis?” Applejack chuckled sadly, gently stroking Apple Bloom’s mane. “Yeah…but this is different.” “How?” the filly asked. “Ah’ll talk to you about it later tonight,” Applejack quickly answered, leaping off the couch with Apple Bloom by her side. “Now, why don’t you go an touch up a little? Ah’ll make ya some waffles this mornin’, how does that sound?” As if her sadness suddenly vanished, Apple Bloom beamed, licking her lips. “Sounds good to me!” she exclaimed, practically bouncing up and down. “Go get your bow an’ then we can make the waffles together,” Applejack told her younger sister, watching her take off down the hall and up the stairs in a heartbeat. The farmpony began to smile, but found her smile deflating faster than she could’ve known. She was alone again. Applejack never liked being alone, even for short periods of time. An Apple was only as good as the rest of the bunch, her family. Without them…Applejack just didn’t know what she would do. She would fall, definitely, and probably never get back up. That was a path Applejack never wanted to take, nor did she ever want it to be an option. Lost in her own thoughts, Applejack found herself resting her forelegs on the lower half of the door. Her eyes danced across the morning orchard. Every gust of wind across the fields of grass caught her attention, every apple in every tree swaying in the breeze captured her glance, and the massive helicopter flying by stole her breath. All the tears in her eyes were not just from the pain of the morning read but from the great amount of wind blowing into her face from the helicopter’s blades tearing the sky apart. Applejack watched with great interest as the helicopter dove down to the earth, transforming at the last second and landing by a group of giants all standing on her property. She didn’t mind. Applejack was grateful that Drift was training the Autobots in Sweet Apple Acres. Her eyes seemed to lock on Drift, the Decepticon turned Autobot right as he began to speak to the group. His intellectual tone could rival Twilight’s, and the strength he put in it was practically heard all across the orchard. Applejack could barely make out what he was telling them, but she understood the gist of what he was saying. She leaned in, her forelegs dangling over the half door. “I have done my best to repair each and every one of you, now all that remains…is you,” Drift began, his optics scanning the group of Autobots. “The power is inside each of you. It doesn’t control you, you control it. Every Cybertronian, since the day of birth, has been given the strength to control oneself. You are all like undisciplined children, as of now, but that is why I am here. Discipline must be enforced, and the only way we can begin is if you are willing to discipline yourself…and transform!” Applejack watched as Drift stuck his blade out in front of him, the tip being jammed into the grass. She heard him ask one question. “Who is willing to step forward first and show me that we can begin?” For the longest amount of time, Applejack watched the Autobots shuffle around nervously, their glowing blue eyes turning to one another for support. Drift stood silently, the morning sun pushing his shadow across the grass fields. No one was willing to step up, which almost created a depressed sigh to escape the mare. That all was washed away when Jetfire stepped forward, standing straight and determined. “Jetfire,” Drift announced, “you are a Transformer! Prove this to me…” At first, Jetfire only stepped forward because no one was brave to do so first. He just wanted the silence to end, to prove to Drift that they weren’t children and wanted to learn. Now he had to prove he was a Transformer by putting it to the test, prove that he could control himself. Discipline is what he needed; discipline was what Drift could offer in order to transform him into a true soldier. Transform… Transform… Jetfire thought. He clenched his fists, hunched over, shut his optics, and began to shake. He screamed that same word over and over in his shattered husk of a mind. Drift watched on with careful eyes, as did Applejack. The struggle continued on for several more seconds before Applejack was about to retreat back inside. She could smell the oven beginning to burn, and the shrill and cries from her younger sister only increased Applejack’s worries. She forgot to tell Apple Bloom that they didn’t need the oven to make waffles. Two minutes had passed and nothing had happened. Applejack sighed, her eyes falling. “Ah really hope ya know what yer doin’, Drift,” she said, turning to head to the kitchen. She stopped when her ear twitched, a new sound coming from the fields behind her. A scream. Applejack spun around…and witnessed the impossible. “Come on… Come on…” Jetfire muttered, his entire body shuddering. He was beginning to feel something, the change, the discipline, the power that Drift told him about earlier. The control. It was there, so close to his reach. But he was unable to seal it, to grab it and claim it for himself. Jetfire screamed and punched his own chest. “Transform!” Applejack’s jaw dropped. All the Autobots backed away in shock. A soft grin began to tug at the edge of Drift’s mouth when he saw Jetfire’s alternative mode hovering above the grass.