Equestria Universe, Canterlot Castle…
“WHAT?!” shouted the Mane 6.
Celestia stared to the Twilight’s friends. She noticed that they were very, very worried and she know they should be. Since the day she returned to the Human World, Princess Twilight Sparkle has been sending reports about her new giant alien robots friends, the Autobots, and their mortal enemies, the Decepticons, from the distant planet of Cybertron. The last report that she received a few days ago was telling that Twilight and her friends were now fighting alongside of Optimus Prime against the evil attacks of Megatron’s minions in their intergalactic civil war.
“I know that you should be worried about this, my little ponies,” said Celestia “but I wasn’t the Autobots’ decision. Twilight Sparkle decided that to bring peace to the Human Universe was to end the so called War for Cybertron and the horrible Decepticons. That’s why she will remain on Earth for a long time.”
“I understand that it was Twi’s decision, your Highness,” growled Rainbow Dash “but we’re talking about a WAR!”
“Dashie is right, yer Majesty, but maybe it’s better.” said Applejack “If Twi trust in this ‘Optimus Prime’, then Ah trust in him too.”
“I can’t believe that Megatron is such a bad alien robot.” said Pinkie Pie with a sad voice “Even after we have sang together in the Summer Hub Promo.”
A awkward silence fell in the throne room as the Princess of the Sun and the other Mane 6 stared at Pinkie Pie with a confusion look.
“What?” said the pink pony “Do I have something in my mane?”
Suddenly, a voice whispered inside of Celestia’s mind, telling her about something that was happening on Earth. Celestia looked to the side as she heard her new ancient friend. The news were about something bad. A ‘huge’ robbery…
Human Universe, Earth, Crown City’s metal factory…
Three giant robots runned from a human factory after they have attack it and stealing it lot of metal, each one carrying a huge box in their backs filled with those materials for their master. These robots were known as Decepticons, an evil scourge of the Universe with the desire to destroy everything in their way. Suddenly, a bullet stroke in Knockout’s shoulder, creating a small scratch in its paint. Knockout growled as he looked behind to see a group of green militar jeeps and a blue motorcycle chasing him and his comrades. In that moment, one of the jeeps and the bike changed into a another giant robots firing their blasters towards the Cons.
“We got Autobots behind our tailpipes!” screamed the medic as he ducked to avoid a blast “And this construction materials are severely hampering our ability to transform! Maybe you didn’t thought very quite so much about this, Screamy!”
“Just keep running, Knockout!” shouted Starscream “We cannot return to Megatron with empty hands or our sparks are doomed!”
“Ever noticed that whenever is hard work,” growled Snow Cat “Megatron is not around?!”
None of the Decepticons had time to answer when a street lamp fell right in front of them, making each one tumbled all the way until they crashed into a wall, breaking the boxes in the process. Starscream was the first to get up from the huge mount of the stolen material. While rubbing the back of his head, the second-in-command saw two human females with their combat suits standing in top of a rock. Starscream growled. For three weeks, the new allies of the Autobots have been beating the Decepticons like stupid Protoforms.
“What’s the hurry, Cons?” said the blue girl with a grin under her helmet “Got something that doesn’t belong to you?”
Raising up from the stolen metal, Knockout gasped when he saw that his body was full of dents and scratches. All his perfect body was completely ruined.
“MY BEAUTIFUL PAINT!!!” he shouted while turning his hand into a saw “I’M GOING TO CUT YOU INTO PIECES!!!”
“And Ah was thinkin’ that Rarity was da drama queen…” said the orange girl while aiming her new Harmony Cannon towards the Decepticons “All right, partners, ya know how this works: give us da metal and yer free to go.”
“I've got a better idea: why don’t I blow you up into ashes and we flew away with the metal?” said Starscream.
Starscream aimed his blaster towards the humans, but, in that moment, a purple vortex appeared behind them and from it came a group of Seekers firing their blasters towards the girls and the Autobots that were arriving. Luckily, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Arcee and Hound took cover behind a rock while firing back. After reloading his blasters, Hound jumped from his cover and shoot down three. Starscream continued to fire his weapon, but he stopped when a hand laid in his shoulder. The Seeker looked back and saw Snow Cat with few metal under his left arm.
“The Ground Bridge is opened, Starscream!” he said “Pick up some metal and retreat!”
“Me?! The great and powerful Starscream?! NEVER!!!” shouted Starscream.
“Then you should do it right now!” growled Knockout “Lord Megatron is not famous for his patience.”
Starscream growled before picking up some metal and running into the Ground Bridge. He never hated his leader so much. Once their commanders were safe, the few Seekers that survived to the Autobot attack returned to their master’s ship. After the portal closed itself, Dashie growled as she pulled off her helmet and throw it to the ground.
“...And they just runned away with the few metal they stoled.” said Arcee.
Optimus Prime and Twilight Sparkle rubbed their chins at the same time. After three weeks, the Decepticons have been robbing construction materials from NEST and human facilities, but what really worried Optimus is that they always flew away from the Autobots even before they fire a single blast. He and his soldiers have fought Megatron for many years and they knew that he or any of his soldiers never turned their backs into a battle.
“First the new NEST’s communication system,” said Optimus as he crossed his arms “then Doctor Fujiyama’s new radar control and now this metal from Crown City’s factory...” he said “Surely Megatron is building something. And with that Dark Energon in his hands, is hard to tell what is planing to do.”
“But what can he building which such primitive technology?” said Ratchet “No offense, girls.”
“None taken.” said Sunset Shimmer as she rolled her eyes.
“Call me crazy,” said Hound “but running away from a battle without a reason doesn’t looks like something from the Cons.”
“But what good is for us to took down this freaks with our new guns and suits if we they keep respawning over and over again?” growled Rainbow Dash.
“Yeah! It’s soooo unfair!” said Pinkie Pie “It’s like they have a clone factory in the Moon.”
Suddenly, the Autobots stared to the pink girl. For some reason, she said something that may be crazy or maybe possible.
“Hum...Pinkie Pie?” said Wheeljack “Did I’ve already told you that you are a creepy genius human that I’ve met in my entire life?” he asked.
“I don’t think so. Why?” said Pinkie while scratching her head.
“Could that be possible, Ratchet?” asked Optimus to his medic.
“Well, we all know that Megatron is not a fool.” he answered while rubbing his chin “He wouldn’t never leave Cybertron without a way to replace his lost troops.”
“So you’re going to share your idea, darlings?” asked Rarity “Cause I’ve already gave up to understand how do your kind works.”
“Unlike other machines,” started Optimus “our kind isn’t built, but instead born like the organic creatures. When a cybertronian is born, he or she is created as a small and harmless sentient being that we call Protoforms.”
“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!” said Spike “So you are saying that the Cons are creating an army of...giant alien robots?”
“That sounds weird, but no.” said Ratchet “When the war started, many Decepticon scientists began to work in a way to replace their dead troops with different Protoforms. We too began to use that method, since that the Autobots weren’t well prepared to this war.”
“But how can ya be sure that they brought this...things to Earth?” asked Applejack.
“Besides that I’m the only Protoform that survived to the Ark’s crash,” answered Sari “it what’s the rules say. Both Autobot and Decepticon protocols said that every ship that travels to outside of Cybertron must carry an group of Protoforms so they can replace the crew in the alien world.”
A silent moment fell in the Ark’s bridge. Twilight slowly looked to the computer’s screen that began to show the Earth’s Moon. It was similar to the one in Equestria, except that it wasn’t used to trap a evil princess.
“The Moon, heh?” said Twilight “I always wanted to see the one from this Universe.”
“Your stupid logic almost cost the lost of the metal, Starscream!” growled Megatron “You’re very lucky that Soundwave could send some troops to help you.”
Megatron’s voice could almost be heard through the entire Nemesis. All Decepticons stopped to see the discussion between their leader and commander. When both Decepticons commanders discussed with each other it was always big fun to see how it would end.
“I made my contribution!” growled Starscream “At least, I brought what you wanted, right?”
“This metal is not even enough to build a rocket, you fool!” growled once more the Decepticon leader “You also made clear your desire to replace me as leader of the Decepticons. Mistake number one.” he said as he tapped Starscream’s chest with his finger.
Starscream clenched his fists “It’s time for a change, Megatron!” he growled “It’s time for action, not words! I am the leader of the future!” he said has he placed his hand in his chest.
“You?!” chuckled Megatron “You couldn’t lead Protoforms in a parade. How can you pretend to lead the Decepticons?”
Megatron turned around and walked towards the Nemesis’ front window. The second-in-command exploded in hanger. He couldn’t take it anymore and no one turns his back on him. He needed to terminate Megatron right there and right now and then he could have the power and the entire Universe in his hands. Starscream aimed his blaster towards Megatron’s back and charged it up, ready to blast his leader. Soundwave gasped when he saw this treacherous movement. He knew he had to warn his master.
“MEGATRON!” shouted Soundwave.
Hearing his name, Megatron turned around just in time to raise up his cannon to defend himself from Starscream’s blast. Every Decepticon in the room gasped when they saw this attack, but Starscream was the one who gasped more, since that Megatron was still online and very, very angry.
“You’ve failed to dispose of me when you had the chance, Starscream.” said Megatron as he pointed to his commander “Mistake number two...Now it’s MY turn!”
With those words, Megatron rose up his Fusion Cannon, with his aim locked on the Seeker. Starscream’s optics grew smaller when he saw the growing purple light in end of the cannon. He was shaking so much like he was going to blow any second...For real. The red and blue Seeker rose up his arms in a way trying to defend himself as he took a few steps backwards.
“Please! Don’t fire!” said Starscream “I...I-I was wrong. I shouldn’t have done it.” But the light in end of the weapon continued to grow “PLEASE!!! DON’T SHOOT!!!”
Megatron ignored every word from Starscream’s mouth. With his cannon fully charged, the evil Decepticon fired a ball of energy that stroke right into the commander’s arm, who yelled in pain has he fell backwards. Sparks flew from the wound as few Energon escaped from it. Slowly, Megatron walked towards Starscream until he reached him. All the Decepticons didn’t nothing to help their friend. All they wanted is to be sure they remained in one piece. Grabbing his neck, Megatron brought his commander closer to his face so he could hear each and every word.
“Consider this your ‘lucky’ day, Starscream,” he said “but next time you try to terminate me or even do something against me…” said Megatron as he clenched the Seeker’s throat “I’ll make sure you don’t feel anything.” he finished with a dark voice.
Starscream could only nodded his head very fast. Throwing away his soldier, Megatron turned around and walked towards the bridges windows, thinking in his plan to defeat Optimus Prime and Twilight Sparkle. Slowly, Starscream stood in one knee looking to his leader. Suddenly, a grin appeared in his face. Then a small chuckle was heard.
“Couldn’t lead Protoforms, heh?” he said to himself “We shall see about that, my Lord…”
Standing up, Starscream walked out of the Nemesis’ bridge while rubbing his arm, but he didn’t notice in the red Decepticon that saw his commander walking away with a smile in his face.
Hound pushed the ammo into his rifle and pulled the front of the gun that made a ‘click’. Spinning his weapon in his hand, the green Autobot placed it in his back and looked to his friends. Charging up their weapons, both Team Prime and the Rainbooms were ready to attack, if it actually existed, the Decepticon Protoforms factory on the Moon, but not Ratchet and Sunset Shimmer, since Sari was going to be in in the battle, someone needed to control the Ground Bridge and it was better to left someone with her. Changing his blaster into his hand, Optimus Primed looked to his human friends, dressed with their new war suits and with their Harmony Cannon 2.0, as Wheeljack liked to call, ready.
Optimus’ optics laid on the purple human that saved his spark from Megatron. Thanks to Ratchet’s amazing work, Twilight Sparkle’s arm was completely fixed, as well his wounds.
The Autobot leader gazed his soldiers “Every one of you knows the plan?” he asked.
“Open the Ground Bridge over the Moon,” said Sari while changing her body into her battle mode “land in that rock, sneak into that building, install the virus and return in one piece. Did I forget something?” she asked as she crossed her arms and smiled.
“Yes.” answered Ratchet “Try to not be killed, blowed up or die without air.”
Sari chuckled nervously. The medical officer inserted the Moon’s coordinates and pulled down the lever, making the Ground Bridge to turned on. Of course he was against that idea, since that the machine has a limit. The vortex could break apart at any second and throw the Autobots and the girls into the stars. Changing their forms into their disguise, the Autobots allowed the Rainbooms to enter inside them.
“Autobots, roll out!” shouted Optimus.
Driving into the portal, Prime led his team through the blue path until they could see a grey globe made of rock and filled with craters floating in the space. He knew that he and the others needed to be very careful to not let Rainbooms to flew away from both Moon and Earth. The red truck drove out of the portal, following by the blue bike, the white sport car, the green military jeep and the yellow car. They were like bullets cutting the stars in half as they were thrown towards the Moon.
“Autobots, transform!” shouted Optimus.
Transforming back into his robot form, Optimus held Twilight and Sari in both hands as he fell towards the surface of the Moon. Arcee, Hound, Bumblebee and Wheeljack did the same thing, each one holding their humans. Landing with one knee on the ground, the Autobots created a huge cloud of lunar dust. Pinkie Pie cleared the dust from her visor and her eyes grew bigger when she saw the extensive grey ground and the dark sky filled with the small dots. Thanks to their new helmets, she and her friends could breath like they where on Earth and look even to the Sun with the special visor. The pink girl jumped from Wheeljack’s hand and slowly fell towards the ground. Once both her feet connected the Moon’s surface, she giggled before jumping forward.
“Neil Armstrong, eat your heart!” said Pinkie Pie “I knew I should have brought my flag.”
“Alright, Pinkie Pie, da playground is over.” chuckled Applejack.
“Applejack is right, darling,” said Rarity before she looked around “but it might be a problem to find those Protoforms in this dirty place.”
“Bzzt-brpdo-brpzt” said Bumblebee while pointing to the northeast “Bzzt-brpdo-brpzt-bleep-bzz”
“What? Are you sure, Bumblebee?” asked Optimus, receiving a nod from his scout “Hmmm…That should be a problem.”
“What’s wrong, Fluttershy?” asked Twilight.
“Well...Bee said that he saw the factory in that direction,” said the yellow girl while pointing the same direction that Bumblebee showed few moments ago “but he said that the place is being watched by a group of...I-Insecticons.”
“Insecticons?” asked Rainbow Dash “You should have brought the insecticide, Rarity.” she laughed before receiving a growl from the white girl.
“They are the Decepticons’ beasts.” answered Arcee “They only think in smashing and eating anything that isn’t a Con. From the first time, that son of a glitch had the right idea to leave those things here.”
“E-E-Eating?” burble Rarity.
“Don’t worry, girl.” said Wheeljack while tapping Rarity’s helmet “You should be dead when they will start to eat you.”
“WHEELJACK!!!” growled Hound and Sari, making the Wrecker to shrug.
In that moment, Optimus Prime stepped next to his team. He and Bumblebee have been discussing about their situation.
“So I believe we have to change our plan now, right?” asked Twilight.
“Indeed, Twilight.” said Optimus “Autobots, remember endrun in Poliex?”
“Ah, never before have I seen such an impressive group of lethal fighting machines!” said Starscream “And pretty good-looking, if I do say so myself.”
Starscream gazed his four new Decepticons, each one was completely similar to him in every way. Few minutes earlier, the second-in-command was humiliated in front of the entire crew by Megatron, but that was going to be his last mistake. Megatron said that he couldn’t lead Protoforms in a parade, but what about a group of Starscream's ready to blow the mighty leader into pieces? Thanks to Shockwave’s cloning formula, Starscream was able to create four clones of himself.
“With this Protoforms under my command,” he said while picking up a four small Energon cubes “Megatron will never know what him! He’ll be crushed in our way!”
Opening the clones’ chest, Starscream placed the cubes in their spark chamber, making the Energon to flew through their veins and their sparks start beating. Suddenly, a sound similar to an computer’s system being turned up was heard. One by one, the Starscream's’ red optics began to light up and then each one began to move their arms for the first time. The real Starscream laughed like a maniac with his plan working perfectly, but then…
“Us? Against Megatron?!? ARE YOU INSANE?!?” shouted the first one before looking down with an embarrassing face “Ah, I think I just sprang an oil leak…”
“What?” said Starscream as he rose up his eyebrow.
“Silence, you fool!” shouted the second clone “Megatron is a worthless pile of scrap metal compared to MY genius.” he said has he pressed his thumb in his chest.
“Brilliant observation! Brilliant!” said the third clone while rubbing his hands against each other “But your genius pales in comparison to the genius of our leader, the original Starscream.” he said while pointing to Starscream.
The real Seeker smiled after hearing those words “Mmm, I could listen to this one all day!” he said while rubbing his chin.
Suddenly, the fourth and last clone step forward, right in front of his creator “What are you talking about?” he growled before pointing himself with his thumb “I am the original Starscream!”
“Liar!” reacted Starscream, placing his hand in his chest “I am the original Starscream!”
“What?!” said the clone “I never said I was the original Starscream.”
Starscream shook violently his head before blinking his optics, trying to find a way about that second lie that ‘himself’ said.
“Huh?! You just did right now, idiot.” said Starscream while tapping in the clone’s shoulder.
“No, I didn’t.” lied the clone.
“Yes, you did.”
“No, I didn’t.” lied the clone once more as he pushed his forehead against Starscream’s head.
“Yes, you did!” growled Starscream as he pushed back with his forehead.
“No. I. Didn’t.” said the clone.
Both Starscream and the liar clone pushed their foreheads against each other like animals with horns. Suddenly, a chuckled caught the attention of all Starscream's, including the original one. Turning their heads around, the five Seekers saw a red robot standing with his shoulder against the opened door. Starscream, the original, could see how much was the doctor enjoying thanks to the smile on his face.
“Looks like you’re having some troubles, Screamy.” said Knockout.