A massive red truck rolled out of the woods, coming to a halt at the foot of a craggy, barren mountain. On cue, an easy two dozen Decepticons stepped out of their hiding spaces along the top of the crater. They held their weapons ready, wary.
The truck reared back, sprouting limbs, and in a moment Optimus Prime stood in his robot mode.
“Ah, Prime!” Galvatron gloated, “Just on time! I knew you'd come! Sentimentality has always been your greatest weakness.”
“And arrogance has always been yours.” Prime's faceplate didn't flinch, even as he stared down countless weapon barrels.
“It's not arrogant if it's the truth. Conquest is nothing less than my destiny, and I shall crush everything that stands in my path!”
“Enough talk. Where's Princess Celestia?”
“Ah, yes, the organic! Don't worry, Prime- she's safe...and she'll remain that way, so long as you comply!”
Optimus Prime narrowed held out his empty hands. “If that's what it takes to keep her safe, so be it.”
“Bah!” Galvatron stepped forward, and slid down the slope of the mountain. His massive feet dug twin furrows through the loose rock and sent fragmented pebbles scattering in all directions. He came to a halt in front of Optimus Prime, and jabbed a metal finger into Prime's chest. “You nauseate me, Autobot. You and all your kind, the way you fawn over these pathetic organic germs.” He spun around, and snapped his fingers- at which point a hidden doorway opened up in the side of the mountain. “Now, follow me, Prime! There's something I want you to see, before I melt you down!”
Two sweeps landed behind Optimus Prime and jabbed him in the back with their laser rifles. Together, the robots walked through the cramped tunnel, and then out into the crater itself. The whole inside of the mountain had been plated with metal, with cybertonian technology spreading in all directions, like the greedy roots of a chrome-plated vine. Lights flashed, electrodes crackled,
Princess Celestia was in the center of it all, encased in a shimmering cube of energy, from which tangled braids of cable and conduit stretched to larger banks of machinery. She was still asleep, wings curled about her like a shield. She fretfully twitched every now and again, sensing the danger even in her unconsciousness.
“Celestia!” Optimus Prime clenched his massive fists, causing the more sensible Decepticons present to cringe. “So help me, Galvatron, if you've hurt her...”
“Spare me your prattling, Autobot. Your precious organic is fine- at least, so much as such a lesser life form can be. In fact, I've made sure to keep her in perfect condition- she'd not serve my purpose, otherwise!”
“You've got me- you don't need a hostage anymore.”
“Ha! You think too small, Prime! I'd originally planned on merely disintegrating this lower life form before your optics...but then my scientists brought a very particular fact to my attention.” Galvatron circled around Celestia's prison, smiling viciously. “Did you know, Optimus, that these contemptible, carbon-based life forms contain a potentially unlimited source of energy? I believe they call it 'magic' or 'friendship' or some equally primitive term. If our predictions are true, a single one of these so-called 'ponies' is just as potent as a fusion reactor...that is, with the right motivation!” Galvatron slammed his hand onto the top of Celestia's prison. She jolted to wakefulness, blinking the drowsiness from her eyes.
“Optimus!” Her blue eyes focused on the Autobot leader. It took her a moment more to register the Decepticons standing behind him. Her horn glowed, and she slammed a beam of raw magical energy into the shimmering walls of her cell. The walls of her cubical prison shattered, and energy went coursing through the crater, channeled by the cabling to waiting banks of blinking machinery.
“No!” Optimus Prime pivoted on a heel, laying out one of his sweep guards with a single punch. He fell upon the second Decepticon next and yanked his laser pistol out of his grip. Optimus Prime pumped a few rounds into the Sweep, then spun on Galvatron again.
Galvatron grabbed a nearby Decepticon, using him as a shield as Optimus Prime blazed away.
“You don't scare me, Prime!” lied Galvatron, “Try as you might, there's only one of you, and dozens of us!”
“Two of us,” said Princess Celestia. “That should be more than enough.”
Princess Celestia stretched her wings and took to the air, glowing with solar energy. Her telekinetic beam hit Galvatron in the side, slamming him into the crater's interior wall.
“Kill them!” Galvatron ranted as he pushed himself back to his feet. “Both of them!”
Optimus Prime took cover behind a pile of cybertonian machinery, snapping off quick, deadly blasts with his stolen pistol. Celestia crossed the crater in a golden blur, and set to hovering over Optimus Prime's shoulder.
“Run, Princess! I'll cover you!” Prime said between laser blasts.
“I'm not leaving you here!”
“You can fly, I can't. It's that simple. I'll be fine.”
“That's a lie and you know it.”
“Got me there.” Optimus Prime ducked down as a few Constructicons fired another salvo in his direction. “Now go- your subjects need you.”
“Right now, you need me more than they do.” Celestia snapped her head to the side, horn flaring with heavenly light. She burned a hole through a Sweep who'd been trying to creep around to a flaking position. “Who else is going to watch your back?”
“Not interrupting anything, am I?” A long shadow fell over the crater as Sky Lynx began a circular, almost liesurely descent. A few stray laser blasts bounced off his hull and wings, but soon, Sky Lynx came to a hover a short distance above the ground.
Sky Lynx opened his landing hatch, and Grimlock stomped out, leaping down to the ground (and on top of a hapless Decepticon). The rest of the Autobot delegation followed, laying down cover fire with expertise born of years of fighting. It was the sort of image Optimus Prime had seen uncounted times before in his eons of existence- though the addition of several ponies flying alongside his troops was a new one. Princess Luna and Princess Twilight Sparkle shot out of Sky Lynx's hold, each glimmering with the deadly shine of battle magic. Once the squad was clear, Sky Lynx switched to his draconian mode, and brought his not-inconsiderable firepower to bear.
“I thought I left orders for you to stay at the castle.” Optimus Prime said.
“Me Grimlock no listen.” The dinobot's faceplate was expressionless, but it sounded like he was smiling. He tossed a familiar black energy rifle at the Autobot leader.
“Technically, that's mutiny.” Optimus plucked the gun out of the air and promptly turned it on the Decepticons.
“Not first time!” Grimlock transformed into a dinosaur and spewed flame at the Decepticons. “Probably not last, either Haw haw!”
“SISTER! ART THOU WOUNDED?” Luna landed beside Celestia, eyes wide with concern.
“Don't worry, I'm alright.” Celestia smiled wanly, despite the chaos unfolding all around her. “You don't need to worry about me.”
“TO BATTLE, THEN! HAVE AT YOU, KNAVES!” Luna launched herself into a knot of Decepticons, smashing into them with the overwhelming force of a tidal wave. The purple robots scattered in all directions, smoking from the scorch marks Luna's magic left on them.
“Me Grimlock think me in love.”
“Not now, big guy!” Bumblebee scrambled out from behind Grimlock's knees and fired his blaster in the general direction of the oncoming Decepticons.
While outnumbered, the Autobots and ponies made up for it with audacious bravery. Every Autobot on the field blazed away at the Decepticons. Even Beachcomber fought on, despite the queasy look he got every time he pulled the trigger. Soon, the Decepticons were pushed back, many fleeing over the edge of the crater.
The Autobots regrouped during a lull in the battle, falling into position with practiced ease. They kept their weapons ready, facing outward
“Autobots, report.” Optimus Prime rumbled.
Perceptor looked up from the sights of his rifle. “I took the liberty of performing a preliminary analysis of the impromptu fortifications the Decepticons have established-”
“Today, Perceptor.” Bumblebee said.
“They've built a space bridge!” blurted Perceptor. “Bigger than any I've ever seen before. The good news is, the energy budget for such a device is prohibitive- there's no way the Decepticons could stockpile the fuel needed to activate the space bridge in such a short period of time, especially from an early-industrial civilization like this one.”
Galvatron's face flickered to life on a dozen terminal screens scattered throughout the crater. “Wrong, Autobot! Don't think you've won- for just one of these puny organic creatures has already yielded enough energy to seal your fate!” The machinery of the space bridge began to crackle and hiss with stored energy as it began to bludgeon the laws of time and space to its liking.
“Stupid computer. Me Grimlock smash!”
“Grimlock, no!” Twilight Sparkle swooped down in front of the dinobot before he could demolish it. “You can't break the matter-dimensional transferrence once the sequence is started, or else you could tear the entire planet apart!”
“How you know?”
“Perceptor's been filling me in on the basics.”
“And you're a most astute student, Princess Twilight Sparkle.”
“Why, thank you!”
“Ahem.” Princess Celestia nudged Twilight, “While I'm glad you're learning, we have more important things to worry about.”
“Indeed you do!” Galvatron sneered from the viewscreen. “The space bridge will open in a matter of moments, and thus, it shall seal your doom! MWA HA HA HA!”
The space bridge machinery began to hum, its deep resonance enough to shake even Sky Lynx's bolts. Great gusts of wind began to whip through the crater, strong enough to lift up rocks and gravel in a stinging, painful vortex.
“Quickly, everyone inside!” Sky Lynx transformed to his shuttle mode, and Autobots and Princesses alike piled into his passenger bay. As soon as Optimus Prime's feet hit the loading ramp, Sky Lynx blasted off, taking to the air.
Below them, the entire crater began to glow with otherworldly energy, until a column of light shot up into the sky like a focused volcano. A vortex of sand and dust swirled around the crater, blocking it from view. Hurricane force winds buffeted Sky Lynx, rattling his passengers inside like so many loose toys.
“Brace yourselves!” Sky Lynx yelled over the apocalyptic din. The Autobots grabbed hold of whatever they could, narrowly avoiding crushing each other, or their equestrian allies.
Sky Lynx put on another burst of bone-jarring acceleration, and blasted free of the space bridge's vortex.
There was a final, blinding flash of light, and the turbulence quit entirely.
“What happened?” Twilight fluttered up to one of Sky Lynx's windows, peering eagerly outside. “Oh no.”
The dust slowly began to settle, and a massive, shadowy thing began to become visible. Twilight could barely comprehend the scale. Dwarfing even Sky Lynx, the thing that came out of the space bridge was the biggest thing she'd ever seen. It was the size of a city, of a mountain, but it was moving. A single, massive footstep caused a minor quake that could be felt from miles away. Then another. Then another.
Details soon became visible- the metal beast was vaguely draconian in shape, only made of hard angles and unfeeling metal. Artillery of all sorts bristled from every surface, their barrels tracking steadily back and forth, searching for targets.
Galvatron stood triumphantly on the nose of the cyclopean metal dragon, and cackled.
“Behold, Autobots, the instrument of your destruction! TRYPTICON!”