Chapter 6 Short Notice
‘Come to Unicron… Unicron…’ Celestia’s mind raged with the message. A distorting voice constantly ringing through her head as she attempted to sleep. She twists and turned forcing her eyes shut trying her best to block out the voice.
“What do you want from me…” Celestia said to…herself. She knew she wasn’t going crazy. There was nothing to spark it really. Maybe during Luna’s absents, but since her return ruling the country has been far easier. But what was talking to her.
“So you’re not ignoring me anymore?” the voice suddenly said catching her off guard.
She awoke from her bed shocked from the sudden change voice change. She took a breath using a hoof to remove sweat. “Who are you?”
“You’re talking to yourself.”
She made shook her head “I am not crazy. I know that you are not me.”
“You are partially correct. Call me a messenger. However, I’m not the one fueling your… desires.”
“What are you talking about?” She didn’t want to admit they she was feeling deep desires being exposed.
“Don’t lie to yourself. You remember the days when you were in complete control”
“Stop it!”
“You enjoyed it. You dictated when it was day or night. Weather it would be-”
“Silence!” Celestia growled, “You are not going to change me! I rule Equestria with my sister! I don’t do this alone, our parents made it so we would rule it together!”
“But deep inside, you that is not what you want is it? You feel the power…bloodlust” the voice continued “Deep inside, you-”
“Enough! You are merely a figment-”
“I am not imagination!” She voice echoed loudly to the point it were it physically hurt. She grabbed her hears with her hoofs “Come to Unicron…”
“I’m going to tomorrow…” she answered, hoping it would make the voice to go away.
“Go now!” The voice screamed painfully again.
“But… Equestria… my sister.” She pleaded.
“No time for that. Once you get to Unicron, Equestria and all the planet will be safe…”
Celestia stopped for a moment. All of her country would be safe? The simple idea of having the entire planet at her control, her world at her watch, ensuring its safety. If what she heard and researched of said power of this Unicron, the fact that others may be immune to magic will become irrelevant, the power that such a being could have would perhaps even over power Discord.
“Fine…” Celestia said with a half smile. “Just let me inform one of my guards to tell everyone of my early absents.”
She heard no reply. She waited for a moment for the voice to speak but nothing came. She took this as a ‘yes’. She then got out of bed and exited her room. When she came out, she saw a patrolling Lieutenant at her room.
“Princess!” The armored black earth pony said standing at attention.
“Lieutenant! Where is my sister?” She asked.
“Not here Princess. The Captain informed that she vacated the town to investigate something she saw from a distance. A light from Ponyville or Cloudsdale.”
‘Perfect!’ the voice said gently enough to not startle Celestia.
“Just like her. Doing things herself since she resumed her duties” she said to herself “Inform her that I have left to investigate something myself, but I will be gone for some time. Till I return, my sister is in charge of both Day and Night.”
The guard nodded but was clearly not happy with the order. The day Princess sighed internally, what Luna said was true, aside from Ponyville, she still hasn’t regained the trust of her people.
“Resume your patrol, then inform your Captain this order. I will be leaving momentarily.” Celestia said as the Lieutenant saluted.
“Yes your highness.” And with the officer continued his duties as he did before.
‘You done?’ the voice said suddenly, though surprisingly gentle.
“As long as Equestria is not left unattended or ill-informed, I am satisfied…” she whispered to herself as she started her way to leave her castle.
‘Fair enough. Now I’ll lead you to Unicron. And soon the desires deep in your heart will be… met.’
Celestia did her best to ignore that statement as she jumped into the air flying out of Equestria and far into the stars.
--Empty Fields near Ponyville--
“The damage isn’t too serious.” Starscream explained as he looked at his old friend’s damaged jet engine on his back “But actually using it won’t be possible.”
Skyfire sighed, “Can it be repaired quickly?” Skyfire’s tone expressed his feelings toward the whole situation. First he’s damaged by Megatron, then he’s transported to a planet he wasn’t familiar with and now he’s met up with a former friend. In a way he was glad to see that he was no longer blowing him away without even thinking and was still functioning, but didn’t seem to want to rekindle their old friendship they shared eons ago.
“Not likely. The residence of this planet is not very technologically advanced.” The seeker explained, “While the damage is minor and repairs are not too difficult, getting all the parts will take time.”
“Well what about the residence of this planet’s abilities you mentioned? Magic?”
Starscream glared slightly, though not facing Skyfire, he could feel him doing so “No. Your damages are minor and will not require their means of their…magic.”
“Hmph, nice to see that hasn’t changed.” Skyfire chuckled lightly.
“What are you talking about?”
“I remember back when we were scientists. Every time the mere mention of magic” Starscream cringed “you’d always either spend most of the time trying to decipher it or trying to prove that it was something other than it and in the process I had to get more observations that you should’ve been able to get.”
The seeker snorted “Don’t start this up again. I may have not been able to figure out the properties of magic but I will in the future.” He said standing up and walking away from his old friend and went in front of him “I’m constantly exposed to it after all.”
The shuttle chuckled again, he was seemingly more and more like the Starscream he knew eons ago “And you’re going to neglect it now as well, even for something this simple?”
“Yes!” The seeker groaned, “Besides it more than likely won’t work.”
“What do you mean? Does this-”
“Before you say does this have anything to do with my prejudice toward magic that is not true.” Starscream interrupted “Cybertronians… for the most part, are immune to their magic.”
“Except you?” Skyfire asked smirking at the irony of this revelation.
“Yes… Primus thought it would humors for me to be affected by magic and no one else on Cybertron.”
“Hmm… where is that organic anyway?” Skyfire said, changing the subject standing up.
“That’s a good point. It shouldn’t take this long.” The seeker pointed out “But then again I’m sure more than one of them is a difficult impasse to awake at this hour.”
Just as he made that statement a bright blinding light came nearby blinding both flyers temporarily. Skyfire was the first to unshielded his optics and saw four beings land straight from the light as the bright hole in the sky closed up. The shuttle blinked a few times before finally seeing them clearly.
“Optimus?” Skyfire asked as his optics finally cleared up.
“Decepticon!” A southern like voice called out.
Starscream looked up to the four figures and panicked as two of them raised their blasters ready. Before the seeker could let a word out, the two of them opened fire.
“I knew Starscream was far from dead.” Prowl yelled out. Starscream finally was able to identify them.
The Seeker take a few steps back trying to avoid their blast as well as Skyfire who was nearby. “You insolent Autobots! Hold your fire! I not going to-” The seeker yelled trying his hardest to fire back as he did for years now.
“Ironhide, Prowl! Hold your fire!” Skyfire yelled out also trying to defend the ex-Decepticon.
“Autobots, hold your-” Optimus was interrupted by beam of energy blast nearby, making him take a step back. The Autobot leader looked to the origin of the beam to see the dark blue Alicorn flaring her wings.
“What kind of weird planet is this?” Bumblebee asked a bit amazed.
“Invaders! We have made it clear that you are not welcome here!” The dark Alicorn yelled in her Royal Canterlot voice “Leave Equestria or physical force will be implemented!”
“Made clear? What’s she talking about?” Ironhide asked turning to Prowl who also had a confused expression both of them keeping their weapons aimed at her.
“Confusing us with the Decepticons maybe?” Bumblebee wondered allowed.
Optimus threw his ion blaster to ground and had his hands up “Please, we are not here to fight. We are only here to find our friend.”
The dark blue Alicorn lowered herself to the ground a distance away from them, she was in-between the Autobots and the flyers that arrived earlier. At this point, the two Autobot troopers lowered their weapons. In that instance the blue Alicorn’s horn glowed and in an instant she to the size of the Cybertronians. This action startled the Autobots but Optimus and Bumblebee didn’t act hostel but both Ironhide and Prowl kept their guard up.
“You and the others do not look familiar. Introduce yourself.” She demanded from them.
“I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots.” Optimus introduced “And these are my men, Bumblebee, Ironhide, and Prowl.”
“And I am Princess Luna, Co-ruler of Equestria.” Luna nodded then turned to Skyfire and Starscream “And you two?”
“You know who I am.” The seeker pointed out thought her expression showed that she didn’t have any idea who he was. The seeker groaned remembering that Luna never actually saw him in his Cybertronain form “It’s me, Starscream!”
Luna raised a brow “Starscream? You have returned to your Cybertronain form?”
The seeker groaned again. He really didn’t want to show his ability to change from his Cybertronian form and to pony form. It was a weakness that could easily be exploited by the Autobots. He saw them just as much of a threat as he did the Decepticons, though he disliked this revelation, he really couldn’t blame them for being that way. But nonetheless he didn’t trust the Autobots anymore than the Decepticons or Celestia at this point.
But if he didn’t there would be an outcry and at this rate, making sure the Autobots get off on the right foot would be most beneficial to himself and the ponies. He figured they would get along as they have with the humans on Earth.
He then groaned as he internally activated his implanted device and glowed with brief shine. When it was over they saw a silver pegasus, the one Luna recognized. “There! Satisfied?”
The Autobots were shocked at what they saw before their optics. It was in fact the missing Decepticon for half a steller cycle and yet here he was, talking to the co-ruler of the planet and as part of her species no less.
Luna blinked a moment but nodded “Yes, I am.” The pegasus then flew over to the now much larger Luna “Maybe you can assist me on your friends here.”
“He ain’t no friend of ours!” Ironhide growled lowering his blaster completely.
“The feeling is mutual Autobot!” The pegasus spat back.
“Enough!” The Night Princess called out. Not as loud as her usual Canterlot voice but enough to make it firm command to stop the fight early. She turned to Starscream “Starscream, return to your Cybertronain form immediately.”
The pegasus flew a short distance away but soon did as ordered, pressing the button and flashing back to his Cybertronian form and walked next to Luna, seemingly like a body guard. He wasn’t entirely sure why she wanted him back in this form but decided not to ask questions now, he already had to worry about the Autobots, he didn’t need Luna’s bad side to be added to that list too.
“I think it will be easier if we’re all at the same elevation for this situation.” Luna said with ease to which Starscream seemed to only nod at. Surprisingly, he couldn’t come up with much of a complaint: it did make sense. “Now you are?” She said facing the larger white transformer.
“Skyfire, um your highness.” The large shuttle said making his way to his fellow comrades.
“Skyfire you alright?” Bumblebee said running to him to look at the damage.
“I’m okay, just can’t fly for the moment.” Skyfire explained as he walked over to the other Autobots as to face the Princess and the ex-Air Commander.
“Now then, Optimus Prime, State your business.” Luna said.
Optimus took a step forward “I apologize for my men’s hostilities.” Both Prowl and Ironhide just glared at the seeker to which he just blew them off. “We were here to rescue one of my men, who was transported here.”
“Transported?” Luna questioned.
“By a Space Bridge” Starscream explained, butting in “We Decepticons developed it as a quicker, easier and more efficient means of transport between another planet and Cybertron.”
“You know who the Decepticons are right?” Prowl asked glaring at the seeker.
“I am well aware. If it wasn’t for Starscream’s defect, Equestria would probably have fallen under their rule.” The Night Princess explained.
“Defect?” Bumblebee asked turning to Starscream “So…you’ve been here all this time?”
“How perceptive…” the seeker said crossing his arms.
Optimus had his suspicions as well because of Starscream’s presence but at the same time he knew Megatron wouldn’t leave Starscream, of all bots, alone to rule a planet. For one, it’s hard for a single bot to rule a planet and for what it seems, it looked like the planet hasn’t been harvest for energy like the Decepticons have been doing with Earth. In fact it looked like the planet hasn’t been used for mining period from what it looked like. But then again he only just arrived in an empty field.
“Your Highness, we mean you no harm.” Optimus explained “We only ask that we barrow a means of transport to leave your planet in peace.”
“Excuse me?” Luna was somewhat confused.
Starscream chuckled “This planet is not very technologically advanced Optimus Prime. The ponies use another source of convenience, one of which is almost useless to us.”
“Is that so?” Prowl asked skeptically.
“I fear what Starscream has stated is very true.” Luna said “We learned this when we fought the Decepticons, our prime defense, magic, and was useless against them. All we had was a few alien bits of technology and what Starscream offered us.”
Skyfire had to smirk at that, it was funny knowing that Starscream told him the truth and he was able to confirm it for sure now. “So it’s true, magic doesn’t work on Cybertronians here?”
“At least not entirely.” Luna confirmed to which Starscream lightly groaned at “But I’m afraid we can not grant your request. As stated before, we don’t have the capabilities to offer transport.”
“Well ant that great!” The red Autobot groaned turning away from all of them.
“It’s a seven orbital cycle trip from Earth to here.” The ex-Decepticon entered “As much as I hate to admit it, I fear your only option is to build another space craft or repair Skyfire.”
“That will take too much time.” Bumblebee said a bit worried “If we take that long, who knows what the Decepticons will do on Earth.”
“I wouldn’t worry too much, Wheeljack and Jazz will be able to hold their ground.” The police Autobot explained.
“But that still minimizes our force on Earth and as long as we’re here this planet is in danger as well.” The Autobot leader explained. After a moment of pause he turned to Starscream who stood with his arms crossed “Starscream, is this the planet you and the Decepticons left to.”
Starscream was about to throw a rude remark but held back “Yes, this is the planet we settled for a new source of energy. Since the planet’s residence has yet to mine resources, we thought it would be easy to use as an energy replacement for Earth.”
“Hmm… were there any plans for a space bridge?”
“I don’t know. If there were any plans for one, I defect to Equestria by then.” Starscream explained, uncrossing his arms but then continued, “However, knowing Megatron, it would make logical sense to make one…”
--Earth, Decepticon Stage and Bunker, Nemesis--
“You preset the path without my authorization!” Megatron yelled at the computer screen. He was currently using video phone to talk directly to Shockwave on Cybertron.
“By then, the new model Space Bridge was still in development. I thought to be more efficient to preset the bridge path to Equestria on them while you’re busy taking it over.” Shockwave explained with little worry.
“And you’re saying that it’s possible that the Autobot has been transported there, even when there’s no exit on the other end of the bridge?” Megatron inquired.
“Precisely, The other end of the Space bridge, as long as it ends in a planet’s atmosphere, can still be used with out another space bridge at the end of the path.”
“Hmm…” Megatron thought for a moment. They pretty much just made a quick way to the planet they failed to apprehend months ago. If the Autobot was there then it could be said that his fate was sealed. After all, as far as he was aware, the ponies were not aware of the difference between Autobots and Decepticons.
But at the same time, what if Starscream was still alive? The fate of Starscream was left for interpretation when they all left. Megatron figured a blast near the spark chamber would have terminated him but others still felt he was still functioning. And if that was the case, Skyfire may still be alive.
Megatron was well aware of Starscream’s old friendship with Skyfire. He’s been told the story twice. Once when they uncovered the shuttle transformer in the ice and another time when they failed to acquire the weapon they created with the power of the Earth’s core. At the time, both of them were NAILs (Non-Aligned Indigenous Lifeforms), but this was before the war began. They were both scientists and explorers and since then started their long friendship. After losing him, he didn’t have much choice other than to join the Decepticons and get involved in the war.
“We must be certain.” Megatron turned to the other Decepticons “Knowing Optimus, he’s probably sent a squad to help him.”
“Megatron.” Soundwave interrupted “Our previous encounter with the life forms on the planet, preparation will be required.”
“We were ill-prepared. But we’ll fix that. Besides, if we can get a Space bridge built on their planet the original plans for the planet will serve it’s purpose.”
“But if the Autobots are already there then-” Thundercracker was interrupted by Megatron “Then they can only aid us.”
The Decepticon leader then turned back to the computer console “Decepticons, we must re-obtain the Space Bridge and make a counter force. In the next orbital cycle I want all of you energized and recharged. For tomorrow we finally take Equestria and be certain of the Autobots’ fate!”
--Empty Fields near Ponyville--
“What the hay? More of them!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as the group made their way to the field. They were still a distance away but they could still see all of them clearly, in the dead of night. “Last time it was only one of them and Starscream!”
“Well their not fighting.” Twilight observed, “Maybe these are those Autobot’s Starscream told me about.”
“Well, if there’s no shooting then they already have a step above the Decepticons.” Rarity added to it.
“Yay! More heavy metal! It’ll be like seeing Starscream for the first time when the Decepticons came and-” Pinkie was stopped by a hoof in the mouth by Twilight.
“We got it.”
“Is that Princess Luna?” Fluttershy inquired, flying up a bit ahead.
“Huh?” Rainbow flew ahead of her and Twilight came close behind her “Princess Luna? She wasn’t there before. And why is she…so big?”
“Luna must have seen the big light you’re talking about all the way from Canterlot. She must have responded to it.” Twilight explained. “I guess she used a size changing spell to look eye level with them.”
“Well let’s get up there. Last thing Ah need is to be woken up fur nuting.” Applejack said making it clear to Rainbow she was not happy with being woken late at night.
“Hey, it was Screamer’s idea, not mine!” Rainbow exclaimed, catching the orange mare’s frustration.
Twilight merely shook her head “What’s done is done. Besides it’s probably best were aware of their presence before hoof. And since Luna’s here, we won’t have to worry about informing Celestia.”
“It’s funny to think that he was always worrying about the Decepticons coming back, and instead we get the Autobots!” The pink mare exclaimed, mocking the irony.
Applejack chuckled “I guess that is kinda funny.”
By this time the six of them finally made it to the group of giants, minus Bumblebee, who were currently talking together about a Space Bridge, which was something none of them were well informed about.
“So, you’ve finally arrived?” Starscream said turning to the group of ponies that just came to them.
By then the rainbow maned mare flew to the head of the seeker and crossed her forelegs “What’s that’s supposed to mean?”
“Twilight Sparkle?” Luna asked, slightly surprised but not entirely taken back. “And the others? What has thou- you doing here?”
The purple unicorn chuckled nervously, seeing the Night Princess in such large size, just added a bit of intimidation to her, more than she already had. “Um… Rainbow Dash informed us about, um, the Autobots.”
“Now what’s going on here?” Ironhide yelled out “You all mean to tell me Starscream has been here six months and now were supposed to believe he has to harm them?”
Starscream glared at the war Autobot, taking the comment personally “There is much you don’t know about me Autobot…” he kept his volume low but intense.
“Back down Ironhide.” Optimus ordered to which the red Autobot nodded to grudgingly.
“So these are the Autobots?” the shy yellow mare asked.
Luna nodded till letting her horn glow brightly before she gradually resized to her normal size as before. “Yes, these are the Autobots. Beings that Starscream has informed Twilight and I about.”
“Didn’t you say these were the guys who were good with um…?” Rainbow Dash struggled, trying to coming up with the word.
“Humans… Organics.”
“Yeah, that’s it! Um… so their on our side right?” The sky blue one asked.
The seeker made a dry chuckle “At least they would be if I wasn’t around.”
At this point the Autobot spy took a step forward “So, what do we do? We can’t leave this planet till Skyfire’s repaired or get out of here before Megatron causes any trouble on Earth.”
Luna shook her head “These are matters that I should discuss with my sister. Starscream” The dark blue Alicorn flew up to the seeker “I want the Autobot’s to remain out in the fields for the time being. I want you and the others to watch over them till morning. By then my sister and I will come to a decision.”
“What do we do till then?” Bumblebee asked the Autobot leader.
“I don’t know. But we need to come up with a way to get back to Earth and quick. And if we can work with the inhabitants of the planet we may succeed, even if we may have to work with Starscream.”
Sorry it took so long everyone. Let's just say life got in the way. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!