by neorenamon
"Any ideas how you can sneak us into the Two Sister's Castle?" asked Twilight as they used their optics to scan the castle from as far away as they could.
"I could eat you and throw you up once they let me in," offered Discord helpfully.
"EWW!" protested Apple Buster, "That's so dang wrong on so dang many levels!"
"Yeah," agreed Rare Seeker, "That would be a fashion disaster!"
"Ah don't think y'all is getting the point over here," she sighed.
"Sounds like fun to me!" said Pinkie Maximum.
"Now ya really got meh worried there Pinkie," she groaned further.
"I think if we knew where the Decepticons and Nightmaretron were," suggested Prime, "we could plan a route to sneak in past them."
"Too bad we don't have cloaking devices," mused Bulkhead.
Discord snapped his talons and a really big cloak appeared on Bulkhead.
"No no," he said, "A cloaking device radiates an energy field that makes us invisible to the enemies' sensor packages."
"Since I have no real idea how your sensors work, I doubt I could do anything like that."
"But having the enemy looking someplace else is pretty much the same effect," said Ratchet.
"That sounds like you're having an idea," said Jazz.
"Yes," he continued, "Have Omega Supreme make a diversionary attack on the other side of the castle. Make the Cons give chase for a while before Megatron..."
"Princess Megatron!" blurt out Bumblebee.
"AHEM!" he snapped, "Before he calls them back to their patrols. The Cons will assume we're on the ship waiting to assault the base."
"That sounds good," said Prime.
"I'd prefer leaving Arcee behind," he added, "but she should be perfectly safe in Omega's sick bay."
"Agreed. Omega should break off the attack and fake battle damage as soon as Megatron hits him. I'm sure he's arrogant enough to think his cannon can damage Omega and will surely call for the other Cons to give chase."
"While Omega diverts their attention, we slip in and rescue the Princess," said Twilight, "and hopefully recover the remains of the Elements of Harmony. We can still hopefully find a way to make them usable again. I can't believe they're permanently inert."
"We can't assume we can get them to work," said Prime, "So we'll need contingency plans..."
"Just kick her can across the sky with our awesomeness!" interrupted Rainbow Bolt.
"Oh that'll work," grumbled Ratchet.
"But for the moment, we should stay together," said Prime, "The Cons and their allies are surely sticking together."
"True," said Twilight, "and we need you to continue acting like their ally until we need you to attack their group from the inside, Discord."
"Oh that so sounds like fun," he said rubbing his paw and talong together.
"So get back to the group," she scolded, "If you suddenly appeared during Omega's diversion, even Nightmaretron would surely look at the coincidence suspiciously."
"Oh right!" he said as he vanished in a flash of light.
"Can we trust that one?" asked Prime.
"As long as Nightmaretron and Megatron appear to be holding the upper hand," replied Twilight, "I think so. But as soon as we have the Elements of Harmony and deal with Nightmaretron, he might strike out on his own and attack us. We have to keep tabs on him at all times."
They all nodded. Then they moved closer to the castle as Prime used a scrambled channel to call Omega. He had to use burst transmits to make sure the Cons couldn't triangulate on their position.
"Somethin bugs me, Twillie," said Apple as she whispered close to her.
"What's that?"
"Well what if Discord decides he can schmooze his way into Nightmaretron's good graces by double crossing us?"
"There's not much we can do if he does," she replied, "He's just too powerful to deal with without the Elements and I'm pretty sure he's fully aware of that."
"I can't say he has loyalty to anyone but himself," muttered Rainbow.
"And if we play it right, we can use that to our advantage."
"I really hope that Nightmaretron hasn't done anything... unsightly... to our beloved Celestia," said Rare Seeker.
"We all hope that," said Apple.
"I believe her strategic value is still too high for them to dispose of her right now," said Twilight.
They continued to move closer when they heard explosions on the other side of the castle.
"The diversion has begun," said Prime, "We better keep radio silence now that we're so close together."
They all nodded. From the walls of the castle, they could see Megatron, Blitzwing and Lugnut take off away from them in their vehicle modes. There was no sign of Nightmaretron as of yet. The sounds of battle increased before they sounded like they were moving away from the castle and away from them.
"Good job, Omega," said Ratchet quietly.
Then there was a really bright flash and loud explosion they couldn't see through the castle.
"DAMAGE SEVERE," said Omega in an open broadcast, "RETREATING TO SPACE."
"Oh no," gasp Ratchet.
"Don't call to him," said Jazz, "That could have been a ploy to make the Decepticons follow him."
"Trust me," he replied, "I've known Omega long enough to know he's not capable of lying! He must really be damaged!"
"Well he's still doing his job."
"I just hope Arcee wasn't damaged in the attack."
"She's down near his core. If he's damage that far in, he couldn't fly out to space."
"Yeah," he sighed back, "There's that."
"Now let's get into that castle so we can save their Princess."