//------------------------------//
// Ch12: Turn of the Tide 
// Story: Applebloom: Transform and Roll Out! 
// by Dusty the Royal Janitor 
//------------------------------//

(A/N: This story takes place after issue 10 of the My Little Pony Comic Book and the Cutie Mark Crusaders Micro Series comic. This story also does not officially recognize any events of Season 3 onward. The story primarily takes place in the Transformers Aligned Continuity Family with certain smaller inspirations taken from the Transformers Animated and G1 continuity families.)

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Applebloom: Transform and Rollout!
by Dusty the Royal Janitor





Chapter 12: Turn of the Tide





The kitchens in Canterlot Palace were a sight to behold. When Applebloom thought of a kitchen, she tended to think of the old, rustic kitchen at the Apple Family homestead with wooden cabinets and countertops, old-style ovens and stoves, and the scent of apples ingrained into the very walls. The kitchens in the palace put her little kitchen to shame. The room was vast, probably larger than the whole bottom floor of her house, with rows of long counters covered in stoves and ovens and cabinets running from end to end. Large vents opened over the stoves, hanging down from the ceiling, covered in dials and with brass cooking tools hooked onto them. In the back of the room, a massive door that looked like it belonged on a bank vault opened into the enormous walk-in refrigerator, and another door led into an even bigger pantry. One could only wonder what the place was like when it was busy with dozens upon dozens of ponies bustling around to make enough food to feed an army.

Applebloom wasn’t impressed by any of it right now.

The little robot looked around the kitchen dejectedly, watching disinterestedly as Cheerilee helped her brother fry up some apple fritters. Her teacher fumbled around with the ingredients and utensils, making something of a mess thanks to her lack of experience. Luckily her brother had enough skill for the both of them and seemed to be making up for it.

Her friends were sitting next to her upon barstools at a large white counter in the center of the impressive kitchens, chattering animatedly. Applebloom wasn’t sure what they were talking about. She wasn’t really listening. She was too focused upon what she saw upon the balcony and how much she had to answer for, to the Princesses, her family, and all the citizens of Canterlot. Applebloom leaned forward and buried her face in her hands, trying to shut the world out, when she suddenly felt a small hoof prodding into her side.

“Applebloom?” came Sweetie Belle’s voice, “Applebloom! Are you even listening?!”

Applebloom looked up from her hands to see that both Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were watching her expectantly. Sweetie Belle appeared concerned, but if anything Scootaloo looked a little bit annoyed. Applebloom sighed. “Sorry, girls. What’s up?”

“We’ve been trying to talk to you for ten minutes!” Scootaloo snapped. “You just kept drifting off into the sparkly land of lollipops and gumdrops on us!”

Applebloom wilted. “Sorry, I was just thinking about what we saw on the balcony,” she said weakly.

“That’s what we were talking about!” Scootaloo snapped, throwing her hooves up in the air. “We were trying to tell you that this wasn’t your fault! None of that stuff we saw was because of you!”

Applebloom shot a glare at Scootaloo. “How can you say that?” she asked harshly. “I’m the reason they came!” Applebloom slammed a fist down on the counter, cracking the marble surface slightly and making a bunch of plates stacked upon it rattle as she continued to rant. “You heard them! They said they were looking for an ‘Autobot!’ That’s me!” The energy suddenly left her as she leaned forward, resting her head on the edge of the counter. “If I hadn’t ever transformed into this they wouldn’t have come,” she mumbled dejectedly.

“You can’t know that,” Sweetie Belle protested. “We don’t know how they found Equestria.”

“Well it sure can’t be a coincidence that they found it the day after I turned into this, now can it?” she grumbled, motioning to herself with one hand.

“Probably not,” Scootaloo said, still frowning. “But you didn’t call them here. You didn’t want them to show up and attack. They came on their own because they’re big fat jerks who can only get their kicks by making ponies miserable.”

Sweetie Belle nodded. “Like Diamond Tiara, but bigger.” She frowned, tilting her head. “And metal. And alien. And more violent. And they can shoot lasers. And―”

Scootaloo reached over and placed a hoof over her friend’s muzzle. “Yes, Sweetie Belle, we get it.”

Sweetie knocked the hoof away and smacked her lips, before turning back to Applebloom and continuing. “What we’re saying is, this whole thing is their fault. Not yours.” She reached over and tried to place a hoof on Applebloom’s shoulder, though she couldn’t quite reach that high up. “You don’t blame yourself for when Diamond Tiara bullies you and you can’t blame yourself for this.”

“It’s different this time though, girls!” Applebloom cried, looking away from the two of them. “They’re hurting other ponies! Diamond Tiara at least sets her sights on us and she doesn’t hurt other ponies trying to get to us. These Decepticons are out there hurting… even killing ponies right now!” Applebloom seemed to crumple in on herself as she took a deep breath. “And I’m just sitting in here, lettin’ my brother make me fritters. I should be out there stopping them. It’s my fault they’re here in the first place.”

The three fillies were all silent for a moment. Applebloom sat on the verge of tears as she stared anywhere but at her friends. Sweetie Belle was looking at her concerned, while Scootaloo looked away from her, seething quietly.

A low voice clearing its throat caught their attention. The three of them turned to see Big Macintosh with Cheerilee standing by his side, nodding at them. “Fritters’ll be done in about five minutes,” he said with a sad smile.

Applebloom returned her brother’s nod, but said nothing

Just as she was about to bury her head back into her hands and shut out the world again, Applebloom felt a hoof pat her on the back. She turned to see Cheerilee, standing behind her with a tentative smile.

“Why don’t you change back into your pony form, Applebloom?” Cheerilee asked, patting her back lightly. “You’ve been in your robot form for hours now. Maybe changing back will help you calm down. Besides,” she chuckled weakly, “we’re not even sure that your current form can eat.”

Applebloom blinked, momentarily stunned out of her depression. She looked down at her hand and flexed her servos, as if only just realizing that she’d spent the whole time at the castle in her robot mode, with only brief transformations into her wagon mode. “Huh…” she muttered. “I’d... almost forgotten.”

“Yeah, maybe being a pony again will calm you down!” Scootaloo said with a wide smile, standing up on her barstool and lifting herself unsteadily onto her hind legs. “Maybe walking around like a gangly minotaur is doing stuff to your brains. You don’t know!”

Applebloom chuckled weakly at her friends antics before sighing. “Alright,” she said, closing her eyes and―

CHUNKA-KSSSSHHHHTZZZTT

“AAGH!”

Applebloom fell over backwards, clutching her head with her hands as a lance of pain spiked through it, more intense than the ones she felt when her forced memories ran through her mind. Applebloom faintly heard her friends and brother calling out to her as her head spiked in agony. She felt something strange happening in her chest as she tried to get her bearings, slowly opening her eyes.

“Applebloom!” Sweetie Belle cried, standing next to her.

“Are you alright?” asked Scootaloo, hovering over her on buzzing wings.

“What happened?” Cheerilee asked, cradling her head in the crook of her foreleg.

Applebloom sputtered, her eyes focusing not on the ponies that huddled around her but on something else. Her chest had opened up, splitting down the middle and revealing her inner workings. One thing in particular stood out.

In the middle of her chest there sat a very strange component. It looked vaguely like somepony had taken a vegetable steamer and stretched it out into a more conical shape. .

‘My T-Cog...’ Applebloom somehow knew instinctively. ‘The part of me that lets me transform.’

Just as the thought ran through her head, a shower of green sparks erupted from the tip of her T-Cog, making the room flash with green light and forcing the ponies surrounding Applebloom to step back and shield themselves from the hot sparks. Applebloom, too, shielded her eyes from the flash of sparks. When they died down, though, she managed to finally get a good look at the part of her that made her a transformer.

Her T-Cog was damaged.

One of the metal rods that made up the conical section was singed black with heat, as was the cylindrical base where it met that rod. A nearby slat that should have been glowing green had been completely melted by heat and had rehardened, fused to the base in an awkward position.

Before Applebloom could make out anymore, though, her chest closed back up and locked into place. Just as she was about to try and open it up again, though, the alien script started scrolling in front of her eyes again.

Blinking, Applebloom forced her eyes to focus on the readouts running down through her vision. She managed to catch a schematic of what appeared to be herself, with a red, flashing light hovering over her chest where her T-Cog was. A red line branched off the flashing light, leading to a word that Applebloom quickly translated to mean “T-Cog Failure.” The readout continued to scroll in front of her eyes before settling on what appeared to be a silhouette of her pony form, surrounded by a red ring. A line of text appeared next to the image. Applebloom locked up at what the text translated into.

ALT-MODE 1 - DATA CORRUPTED AT 09:32:44:76 /// T-COG: DAMAGED ///
CORRUPTED DATA PRESENTS RISK TO FOLLOWING SYSTEMS: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11...
CORRUPTED DATA UNRECOVERABLE
DATA LOST

The silhouetted image of her pony form suddenly vanished. The rest of the readout followed suit not a moment later.

Applebloom simply sat there in stunned silence as she slowly realized what had happened.

Her T-Cog had been damaged...

...And she’d lost the data for her pony form.

She couldn’t become a pony anymore.



*     *     *



The gargantuan Decepticon rained fire and destruction down upon the city. The five-story tall robot opened hundreds of hatches upon its every surface, revealing cannons akin to the ones the footsoldiers had been using. They had the effect of making it look like the robot had grown spines on its carapace; spines that shot blasts of hot plasma down into the city it stood over. Upon its tail was an even larger cannon, though the robot did not yet use it, instead slinging the long, corded limb around like a torturer’s lash upon the city. The tail was thick as an ancient tree trunk and knocked buildings and structures over with the barest of effort. Flames licked at its grinning, fanged, mandibled mouth, and its massive purple compound eyes spoke only of hatred and malice. Fifty feet tall and at least thrice that in length, the robot had not yet even moved, and already a crater of destruction had formed around him. 

Scorponok had come to Canterlot.

Princess Luna leapt into action, bounding off of the rooftop and barrelling towards the monolithic mechanical monster.

“Princess Luna, wait!” Applejack shouted, reaching after her futilely as she looked on at the massive robot in horror.

Rarity watched the princess vanish into the distance, worriedly wringing her hooves. “She’s going to get herself killed trying to fight that thing!”

“No way!” Rainbow Dash shouted, shooting a glare down at the two of them. “It’s the feathering Princess!” she snapped. “No way she’s going to let some overgrown bug take her down. C’MON!” She yelled, rocketing off after Princess Luna.

“Rainbow, wait!” Rarity cried, but Rainbow had already vanished, a puff of dust the only thing to note that she’d been standing beside them.

“That crazy featherbrain!” Applejack snarled, stamping a hoof. She growled, looking down at her hooves before turning to Rarity. “We need to get after them!”

“Quite right.” Rarity said, her face a mask of grim determination. “First, though, we must find a way off of this rooft― Applejack look out!”

Applejack suddenly felt herself tackled to the side by Rarity as a massive clawed hand crashed down upon the roof, right where she’d been standing. The two of them tumbled across the rooftop before slamming into a chimney in a daze. Shaking off the blow, they looked to see one of the Vehicons from before, a javelin lodged in its sparking, sputtering eye, flailing at the edge of the rooftop and smashing its fists down upon it in a mad, blinded attempt to crush the two ponies. 

Applejack stood up as silently as she could, leading Rarity to cover around the other side of the chimney. Placing her back to it, she looked around the cover at the enraged robot. “Looks like y’all missed the brains, Rares.” Applejack muttered.

Rarity sniffed haughtily. “Well, obviously It’s not easy to hit a target that small, Applejack.”

AJ blinked. Rarity too seemed to stop and come to realize what she’d just said. Applejack snorted lightly. “Did you just…”

Rarity tittered, despite the chaos around them. “Yes, I believe I did. Pinkie Pie must be rubbing off on me.”

The two of them chuckled grimly for a moment before the tension came swiftly rushing back as the chimney exploded behind them. Yelping and bracing themselves amid the explosion of brick and mortar, Applejack caught sight of the blinded Vehicon aiming his blaster at them. “Horseapples, he can hear us!” She snarled. “Rarity, run!”

“Where?!” she cried, motioning around at the rooftop they’d been stranded on. 

The Vehicon levelled his cannon at the two of them, a purple glow forming at the tip. Applejack and Rarity clutched each other, bracing themselves.

A cacophonous “Kra-Koom!” echoed through the street.

Applejack winced, expecting to feel a searing pain or a blistering heat. She felt Rarity tense up in her grip, only for the two of them to relax a moment later when they realized that nothing had happened. Blinking, the two of them looked to the Vehicon that had cornered them, only to see that his face was planted firmly in the rooftop, his arms flung out wildly. Absently, the two of them noticed that there was a massive, sparking dent in the back of his head. Slowly, the vehicon extricated himself from the rooftop, rubble and shingles falling off his face as he tried to get his bearings.

“Fire two!”

Another cannon shot rang out

Applejack watched as a cannonball slammed into the side of the Vehicon’s head, destroying half of the robot’s skull in an explosion of sparks, fire, and ruined shards of metal and parts. What was left of the blinded robot slowly slumped, crashing to the ground below.

AJ and Rarity boggled, just getting up to look over the roof at what had come to their rescues when a voice spoke from behind them.

“Need a hoof?”

The two of them turned to see three batponies alighting down upon the roof dressed in full night guard armor. Applejack and Rarity recognized Sunstorm and Dirge instantly, but the third newcomer was a mystery to them. She was shorter and leaner than most of the other soldiers they’d seen, and unlike most of the batponies they’d met whose colors had leaned towards cooler colors, her wings and mane were a deep, dark red. Her voice was high pitched and, one might almost say squeaky. Nevertheless, something about her stance and the way she carried herself commanded attention as she approached the two of them, saluting sharply.

“Major Screaming Star, commander of the Lunar Guard at your service!” She broke salute and held out a hoof to the two ponies. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Applejack and Rarity.”

Applejack blinked for a second before taking the hoof in hers. The farmer winced as she felt a fierce grip crush her hoof. “Pleasure to meetcha.” She spoke through the bone-shattering hoofshake.

“Likewise.” Rarity said, taking Screaming Star’s hoof after Applejack, wincing at the small mare’s vicegrip.

“Yo, Screamy!” came a familiar voice shouting from over the side of the roof. “They alright up there?”

Screaming Star lifted off, peering over the side of the roof at the voice. “They’re fine. Shaken up but intact”

“Thank Celestia,” the voice said as Applejack and Rarity trotted over to the edge of the roof to see the speaker. In the street below stood Shining Armor, standing atop a massive octagonal wooden vehicle with eight cannons spaced around its sides and a huge turret resting atop it. Shining Armor stood atop the rotating turret, his eyes shifting to look at Applejack and Rarity. “Twiley would never forgive me if I let her friends get blown to bits,” he said with a confident smile.

“Shining Armor!” Rarity said with a wide grin. “If you weren’t a married stallion, I’d kiss you!”

Shining Armor looked between the two of them. “Where are Princess Luna and Rainbow Dash?” he asked.

“Plum fools ran off to fight that giant bug thing what just dropped out of the sky!” Applejack grumbled. 

Another batpony guard landed on the roof and stepped forward, grumbling. “That sounds like our princess, yes.” the new arrival said.

“Silence, Thundercracker!” Screaming Star said, shooting him a scalding glare. “Our princess is more than capable of handling herself against such a lowly creature!”

“If we could get back on track?” Rarity asked, interrupting the nascent argument before it could begin. “We need to get to that creature and help our friends!” she said, pointing at the giant scorpion robot.

“Right!” Screaming Star said, snapping back to attention. Leaning over the side of the building, she shouted down at Shining Armor. “Royal Guards! Can your tanks handle the enemy footsoldiers?”

Shining Armor waved at the Major and nodded. “These things might not have seen action in a while, but they can take those chumps. Count on us, Screamy!”

“Go for the eyes!” Rarity shouted down at him. “They’re hard to hit, but they’re the only weak point they have!”

“Gotcha! Thanks for the intel, Rarity!” Shining Armor slapped the hull of the tank he was sitting in and pointed down a side street. “Attention Tank Corps! Move out!”

As the tanks in the street below rumbled down the street and into various side streets and alleys towards the remaining Vehicon forces, Screaming Star turned back to Rarity and Applejack. “Sunstorm and Dirge will transport you to the creature. The Lunar and Solar guards will be launching an all-out coordinated assault on the beast. Hold the thing off until we get there!” she ordered.

“We’ll do what we can but we’re only four ponies.” Applejack said, wiping beads of sweat out of her face.

“True, but one of those ponies is Princess Luna.” Screaming Star said. “If anypony can defeat that thing, it’d be the Sword of Equestria.” The major nodded and Applejack and Rarity felt two strong pairs of hooves wrap under their arms and lift them up. Dirge and Sunstorm flapped their bat wings heavily, nodding at their commander. “Now go!” Screaming Star ordered. “Give us five minutes! The cavalry is on the way!”

Applejack and Rarity both gulped as they found themselves rapidly approaching the monstrous, fifty-foot scorpion creature.



*     *     *



Princess Luna buffeted the massive scorpion creature with spells that would have turned most creatures to dust. The very air around Luna grew cold, water particles in the air freezing as a flurry of powdery snow seemed to drift off of her wings. With every blast into the metal scorpion’s thorny, metal hide, shafts of glacial ice would form upon his chassis. Alas, though it seemed to slow him down ever so slightly, there was little to be done about the hundreds upon hundreds of cannons lining his entire body, each of them firing bursts of fiery plasma down upon the city, and into the air, staving off all attacks. Luna was forced to duck and dodge and weave around innumerable bursts of energy, incapable of charging up any one spell enough that it would cause significant damage, and incapable of getting in close to attack physically. The most she could do was annoy him.

That was the bad news. The good news was that she was annoying him.

Her efforts were, if nothing else, proving a sufficient distraction to the creature. Indeed, if Luna were to ascribe such emotions to a monster like this, she would say he was surprised that anything was capable of affecting him in even the most minor capacity. This had the effect of drawing most of his fire away from the city and onto her.

She just wasn’t sure how much longer she could dodge his attacks.

Luna’s armor had a passive defense spell woven into it, but it had already been strained to the breaking point fighting against the Vehicon footsoldiers she’d taken out beforehand. It was doubtful that it would continue to hold against too many of this creature’s powerful blasts. Still, Rainbow Dash had said she had a plan, and if she could just hold out until she got back―

―ah, there was Rainbow Dash now…

...rocketing straight down towards the monster’s head, a mach cone forming around her hooves.

Luna gasped as she realized what Rainbow Dash’s plan was. “Accursed fool!” she shouted, breaking off her attack on Scorponok and changing course towards Rainbow Dash. Luna could see the mach cone around Dash thinning as she moved to intercept, the cannonfire from the creature’s guns exploding behind her as she approached her friend. Finally, just a split-second before Dash’s cone would have broken and she would have rocketed forward into a Sonic Rainboom, Luna tackled rainbow to the side, sending the two of them hurtling into an evacuated part of the city, crashing through a window and into what appeared to be an office of some sort, glass scattering around them as they tumbled into a desk, splintering it to pieces.

Luna coughed as she tried to get her wind back, only to feel a hoof impact with the side of her head, her helmet thankfully softening the blow.

“What the heck, Princess?!” Rainbow shouted. “I had him!”

Luna snapped angrily towards Rainbow Dash, fixing her with a cowing glare. “What wert thou thinking, Rainbow Dash?!”

Dash shook off the princess’ stare and fixed Luna with a glare of her own. “I was gonna Sonic Rainboom straight through his head! There’s no way he coulda lived through something like that! Now that you stopped me he’ll see it coming next time!”

“Thou art a fool!” Luna said, stamping her hoof. “Thou knowest that thou wouldst not live through a collision at such speeds, do ye not?!”

“Well… yeah!” Rainbow faltered, before hardening her gaze again. “But somepony had to do something and if that was what it took…” she trailed off, looking anywhere but at Luna’s face.

Luna’s glare softened. She put a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder and looked her in the eyes. “Fair Rainbow Dash…” she began “We are truly touched by thine bravery and willingness to sacrifice thyself for thy fellow pony. Truly thou art a hero to thy very core,” she frowned, gripping her shoulder harder as she continued. “But thou knowest not what thine enemy is capable of. ‘Tis possible he could resist thy attack. Then where wouldst we be? Down a hero and still with a monster on the loose. We… I cannot afford to lose a friend to such a foolish kamikaze attack, especially when it is not known if it will even work.”

Rainbow snorted frustratedly, stomping a hoof and scowling at the princess. “Well we have to come up with something quick! If we let that monster stick around much longer there won’t be a city left to save!”

“Agreed. Perhaps if we―” Luna’s ears suddenly perked up, her head snapping to look at the castle, a startled look on her face quickly morphing into a look of confusion.

“...Princess?” Dash asked, cocking her head. “What is it?”

“...’Tis the Pony Pokey.” Luna said blankly.

Rainbow Dash blinked. It was a moment before she could speak again after the odd non-sequitur. “Say what?”

“Rainbow,” Luna turned to look at her. “Did Celestia grant thee or thy friends a silver flute?”

Dash nodded. “Yeah. She gave one to Pinkie and Fluttershy when she sent the two of them to grab the elements of Harmony!”

“A-HA!” Luna stomped a hoof triumphantly. “Then there lies our plan!” she exclaimed. “Come, Dame Rainbow Dash! We shall reconvene with thy friends and unleash the Elements’ judgment upon them!” Luna leapt into the air and rocketed out of the hole in the building towards the castle in the distance, avoiding bursts from Scorponok’s cannon fire as she and Dash raced through the battlefield.

Not too far away, a pair of batponies and their charges noticed the two blue blurs racing across the sky towards the palace.

“Is that…?” Applejack asked, calling over the noise of the battle and wriggling in Sunstorm’s hooves.

“Princess Luna and Rainbow Dash!” Dirge announced, gripping Rarity tightly, looking down at the two of them. “They’re breaking away from the fight towards the castle, Ma’ams. Do you still wish to engage the monster or should we follow?”

Rarity gasped. “If they’re headed back towards the castle then Pinkie and Fluttershy must have gathered the Elements! We need to go and collect them!” 

Dirge and Sunstorm nodded. “As you wish, ladies.” Dirge said, nodding to Sunstorm and banking right towards the castle, flapping their wings as fast as they could.

It was not long before Rarity and Applejack found themselves on solid ground alongside Princess Luna and Rainbow Dash. The ponies gathered in the castle courtyard, which felt eerily still given everything that was happening out in the city. Galloping towards them were Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. Pinkie held a silver flute in her mouth, her cheeks puffed out as she blew into it, though neither Rarity nor Applejack could hear any noise coming from it. Fluttershy, meanwhile, carried a familiar, jeweled chest on her back.

“The Elements of Harmony!” Luna announced with a grin. “Prithee, give them here, fair Fluttershy!”

Fluttershy hastily cantered over to Princess Luna, who lifted the chest from her back in her magic and opened it. Quickly, she distributed the elements amongst the ponies present. The five of them quickly fastened their elements around their necks, Pinkie still tooting on the seemingly silent flute and dancing a little jig.

Princess Luna winced. “Yes, Pinkie Pie, We are here,” she said, lighting her horn and snatching the flute from Pinkie’s mouth with her magic, leaving Pinkie to make a sound like a deflated balloon with her lips as they found themselves devoid of an instrument. 

Pinkie pouted. “Yeah, you’re here, but where are Princess Celestia and Twilight?”

Luna frowned. “‘Tis true. Sister should be able to hear that flute from anywhere in the world.” Her horn lit once again as she closed her eyes. “A moment if you will.”

The five ponies stood in tense silence as they watched the Princess reach out with her magic, the navy glow around her horn expanding and pulsating as Luna’s face twisted into an even deeper scowl. After several tense moments, Luna’s eyes suddenly snapped open as she gasped for air, tears suddenly welling up at the corners of her eyes. 

“Celestia…” Luna stuttered, horrified. “She has fallen.”

“What?!” all five ponies shouted at once.

“She’s dead?!” Rainbow Dash shouted, her wings flaring outward.

Luna quickly shook her head. “Nay, she yet lives, but she has been grievously wounded.” Luna looked grim, her expression fighting between an enraged snarl and a tearful breakdown. “I fear if she is not seen to immediately...” she trailed off, her composure cracking.

“What about Twilight?!” Rarity asked desperately. “She was with Celestia. Is she okay?”

Luna stood quietly, her face finally choosing to land on a tearful breakdown as she desperately tried to maintain composure. Tears ran down the sides of her face as she did everything she could to hold her face in a neutral mask. She looked away, turning her head to gaze anywhere but at the five friends, closing her eyes and fighting to hold back a sob.

“No…” Fluttershy whimpered, tears playing at the corners of her eyes.

“Princess?” Rarity asked, tears threatening to take her over as well.

“...I cannot sense her magic.” Luna said simply. “Either she’s so far away that I cannot detect it, or she’s…” she trailed off, refusing to finish her own sentence.

The five ponies all said nothing as they all broke down. Rarity and Fluttershy started openly weeping, sobs racking their bodies as the weight of it hit them. Pinkie remained silent, but her mane had become decidedly un-poofy and her vibrant coat looked dull as she gazed into the distance with a thousand-yard stare. Applejack shook her head and muttered to herself words like ‘not again. I can’t lose somepony again. Please.’

Rainbow Dash took it entirely differently.

“I’LL KILL THEM! she screeched, rocketing into the air and out of the courtyard. “I’LL KILL THEM ALL!” her voice rang out as she disappeared over the castle walls.

“Rainbow, wait!” Fluttershy called after her, but the rainbow pegasus clearly didn’t hear her. She turned to Luna tearfully. “Princess, you have to go after her! Please! She’ll get herself killed!”

Luna stuttered. “I…” she struggled to say, looking back and forth between the city in flames and Fluttershy’s pleading face. Luna winced as she looked back and forth indecisively. She growled and stamped her hooves in frustration, before turning to Fluttershy. “I must save Celestia.” She said apologetically, tears flowing freely now. “If she were to pass I fear a greater catastrophe would fall Equestria.”

Fluttershy sobbed, her eyes welling up. “B-But…”

Luna shook her head. “I shall make haste. I will try to save Rainbow, but I must retrieve Celestia first!” She lifted off, beating her mighty wings. “I am so sorry, fair Fluttershy,” she said weakly, rocketing off in the direction she sensed her sister.

Fluttershy choked back a sob as she watched Luna fly off into the distance. A whine escaped her lips, but then suddenly cut off as she steeled herself, taking a deep breath. She clenched her eyes shut and set her mouth in a determined frown. Fluttershy flapped her wings and took off.

“Fluttershy, what are you doing?!” Rarity gasped through her crying.

Fluttershy turned to her friends, keeping her face set in a steely frown. “I’m going to go save Rainbow!” she announced, trying her best to keep any emotion off her face.

“Fluttershy, no!” Pinkie protested. “You can’t!”

“This ain’t the time to suddenly grow stones!” Applejack stomped her hoof. 

“Rainbow is going to get herself killed out there!” Fluttershy shouted, pointing out to the smouldering city. “I need to help her!”

“Fluttershy, be reasonable!” Rarity pleaded. “You aren’t even wearing armor! If you go out there, you’ll only be putting yourself at risk!”

Fluttershy growled. “Rainbow would do the same for me,” she rumbled.

Applejack looked at her with an equally intense scowl. “No offense, Flutters, but Rainbow is faster, stronger, and better trained than you. Not to mention, she ain’t exactly the best at making smart decisions.”

“Well I can’t just sit here with my feathers up my flank!” Fluttershy shouted, glaring daggers at Applejack. “We need to do something!”

Suddenly a window above them burst open, showering the four of them with shattered glass. The ponies all shrieked, startled as tiny, jagged shards rained down upon them, shielding themselves as best they could.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAA~!!” Came a constant, enraged scream from above them, getting louder by the second. Applejack spared a glance upward at what or who was making the noise, only to see a yellow, redheaded robot filly descending rapidly towards the ground.

“Applebloom?”



*     *     *



____________
Five Minutes Earlier
____________

“Let me go!” Applebloom shrieked as she struggled, pinned to the wall by Big Macintosh’s mighty hooves.

“Not until y’all calm down!” Big Mac snorted.

“Applebloom please!” Sweetie protested, tears welling up in her eyes.

“You’re being crazy about this!” Scootaloo yelled.

“Let’s just talk about this like mature ponies,” Cheerilee insisted.

The little robot had thrashed and flailed, barely kept in check by Big Macintosh’s immense strength as he desperately tried to calm his sister. Her teeth gnashed and tears flowed as she wailed, doing everything she could to free herself.

“I ain’t a pony no more! I never was!” Applebloom thrashed, making Big Mac grunt as she nearly broke free. “I’m a monster from outer space! I ain’t good for nothing but fighting and killing! Let me go!”

“Applebloom that’s not true! You’re more than that!” Cheerilee pleaded.

“I ain’t and I never was! I only got my cutie mark when I became a robot!” She cried, the fight finally leaving her as she slumped against the wall. Big Mac kept his hooves on her, just in case. Tears fell from her eyes like twin waterfalls as she screwed her eyes shut, her body racking with sobs.

“That’s what it means.” Applebloom whimpered. “I got my mark when my real self was revealed. I’m a robot from outer space. Good for nothing but wreckin’ stuff. Wreckin’ people.”

Cheerilee trotted up to her, attempting a smile. “Applebloom, just because you can’t turn into a pony on the outside doesn’t mean you’re not still a pony on the inside,” she said as encouragingly as she could.

Applebloom glared at her teacher. “Didn’t y’all see?” she growled weakly. “I ain’t a pony on the inside either. I’m nothin’ but gears and cogs.”

“That’s not what she meant and you know it, dummy.” Scootaloo snorted, rolling her eyes.

“Scootaloo, please!” Cheerilee snapped at her.

“Then what does this mean?” Applebloom asked, nodding to the cutie mark, still emblazoned on her hip. “It showed up when I turned inta one of these alien robots! My special talent is being one of these things!” she yelled.

Sweetie Belle interjected. “But didn’t you say there were two groups of them?” she asked, trying her best to talk her down. “Good guys and bad guys? Isn’t that what Yoketron said to you?”

“What does it matter?!” Applebloom howled, slamming her head back against the wall, cracking the marble behind her. “They all fight! They all fought each other for millions and millions of years! They killed their own planet and they just kept fighting! That’s all any of them’re good for is fighting and breaking stuff and hurting anyone that gets in the way!”

Applebloom turned a glare on her brother. “And if I ain’t a pony… if all I’m ever gonna be good for is fighting… then I might as well fight the people that need t’be fought.”

“Applebloom, no!” Cheerilee protested as Big Mac tightened his grip on his sister once again.

“Now get… OFF!” Applebloom screeched, leaning back and jumping off the ground, bringing her knees up and driving her feet into Big Mac’s belly. The draft horse flew off of his sister, falling backwards several feet as Applebloom took off running, charging headlong for the door.

“Wait!” Sweetie Belle cried out. “Applebloom!”

“Get away!” she shouted. The little robot tackled the doors, causing them to bust open and catching Corporal Ethereal, who had been guarding the door, in the rump, sending him sprawling. She turned into her wagon mode and barreled down the hall, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle giving chase as Cheerilee helped Big Macintosh to his hooves.  

Applebloom raced down the hallway faster than anypony could gallop, navigating the winding halls as best she could. It wasn’t long until she spotted a large, bay window overlooking the courtyard. Screeching to a stop, she transformed back into her robot mode, popping her hammer out of its slot upon her back and switching it on, the energon contained within quickly forming the warhammer’s faces. Applebloom hefted the mighty weapon over her shoulder, readying a swing when she heard the ponies calling behind her.

“Applebloom, don’t!” Sweetie Belle shouted.

“Don’t be stupid!” Scootaloo yelled.

Applebloom’s angry snarl quickly morphed into a sad frown. She looked at her friends… ex-friends, she supposed, and sighed sadly.

“Go back to Ponyville, girls.”

She turned back to the window and set her face back in its snarl. With a bellowing war cry, she swung at the glass, shattering it into thousands of pieces. Still yelling, she leapt from the window into the courtyard below.



*     *     *



The little robot landed unharmed about a dozen feet away from the ponies and immediately took off at a run towards the courtyard gates.

“Applebloom!” Applejack called, reaching out a hoof for her.

Applebloom skidded to a halt just as she was about to vault over the gate. She turned to look at her sister, looking at her pleadingly from across the courtyard. Applebloom opened her mouth, almost ready to say something, before closing her eyes and turning back around. Wordlessly, she leapt towards a wall and kicked off of it, leaping over the ten-foot fence separating the courtyard from the city streets below.

“Applebloom, wait!” Applejack cried, galloping towards the gate, only to be grabbed by Pinkie Pie. She struggled in her grasp. “Let me go!” she screamed. “I’m not going to lose her again!”

Fluttershy frowned, crossing her hooves and raising an eyebrow but she didn’t say anything.

“Applejack, be reasonable!” Rarity pleaded. “We could barely take down a few of their footsoldiers, and that was with Princess Luna at our side! Twilight and Celestia couldn’t handle them!”

“Fluttershy was right, though!” Applejack snarled. “We can’t just sit here and do nothing! What if it was Sweetie Belle out there?” she growled, turning to Pinkie Pie. “Or the cake twins?”

Pinkie and Rarity looked between one another for a moment, conflicted. Finally, Rarity relented. “Very well, Applejack, Fluttershy. You’re both right.”

Applejack looked like she was going to take off once again when Rarity held up a hoof.

“But!” Rarity said sharply. “We’re not going to be much help to them if we don’t go in there without a proper plan. We need something that can take down those brutes swiftly and efficiently. Otherwise, we’ll just be putting ourselves in danger and possibly even making it harder to get our friends and family to safety.”

Applejack snorted, stomping a hoof. “This ain’t the time for sitting around, planning and gabbin’ our yaps! They’re in danger now!”

“I might have a plan…” Pinkie Pie said with an angry growl, her long, straight hair hiding half of her face.

The others turned to her as she looked out over the burning city.

“We’re going to blow them into scrap metal.” Pinkie growled.



*     *     *



Applebloom raced through the city, which thankfully by now seemed to have been evacuated. One could never be too certain though. There were always stubborn ponies that wouldn’t leave their homes, or ponies who were convinced that they could ride the disaster out. Caution still had to be taken as she fought the Decepticons.

Applebloom kept her sights firmly fixated on the monolithic monster in the background. The giant, monstrous scorpion loomed over the city like a spectre of death, casting its shadow over the streets in the dying sunlight. With every rumbling step it took, buildings shuddered and windows shook and a wave of dust would flow through the streets.

Her wheels were blisteringly hot as she sped through the abandoned streets, though for whatever reason she didn’t find it uncomfortable. She decided a few moments later it must have had something to do with being a robot. As all-consuming as her recent revelation was, though, she didn’t have time to focus on it at that moment.

Applebloom turned a corner and nearly ended up with her front end sheared off by a powerful magic blast. She braked to a halt, her wheels squealing as she spun out briefly, spinning right into the lines between a Royal Guard Tank and a pair of Vehicons. Shifting out of her wagon form and back into robot mode, she staggered, trying to get her bearings.

“Another one!” she heard a pony call from behind her. “Port guns, get ready to--”

“Hold your fire!” Another, sharper voice rang out. “That’s Applebloom! The one everypony’s been talking about around the castle! She’s on our side!”

Applebloom turned to look at the tank. Three unicorn ponies were peeking out of slats in the base, where a ring of guns were set around each of its eight, octagonal sides, looking at her with trepidation and suspicion. Atop the vehicle, though, sat a familiar face.

“Shining Armor?” Applebloom asked dizzily.

Before anypony could reply, though, the two Vehicons trained their guns upon the little robot, one of them shouting at the other. “It’s an Autobot! Get her!” he yelled.

Applebloom ducked backwards just as their plasma blasts exploded into the ground where she had been standing moments before. Frowning, she composed herself as best she could, shaking off the dizziness and retrieving her hammer from the slot in her back. Engaging the weapon, she charged forward towards the Vehicons. The two of them fired their guns at her, but Applebloom ducked and weaved between the shots as she dashed closer and closer. Ducking into a slide, Applebloom skidded along the pavement between one of the Vehicon’s legs. She swiped her hammer, catching the robot in the back of the knee and knocking him off balance. She skidded out the other side of the ‘Con’s legs and rolled to the side as the Vehicon toppled backwards, crashing into the pavement in a heap. Applebloom hefted her energon warhammer over her head with a rage-fueled battle cry and brought it crashing down upon the Vehicon’s chest, the metal cratering and denting as she rattled the mechanical organs and components beneath. 

Applebloom was about to go in for another swing when a plasma shot fired just barely off to her left, grazing her hair. She stumbled back, trying to get out of the line of fire as the second Vehicon approached her, gun trained squarely upon her middle. Applebloom was about to duck under the struggling, fallen Vehicon for cover when suddenly a magical blast caught the Vehicon in the shoulder, causing him to stagger and stumble.

“Main gun! Again! Fire!” Shining Armor shouted.

A second magical burst exploded through the air, impacting with the back of the Vehicon’s head and sending it toppling to the ground, unmoving.

Applebloom blinked, before noticing that the Vehicon she had taken out before was struggling to get up. Acting quickly, she hefted her hammer over her shoulder again and brought it down into the side of her fallen foe’s head. The Con stopped moving after that. Dead or unconscious, she didn’t know. Nor did she think she cared.

Shining Armor leapt out of the cockpit at the top of the tank and slid down the side of it, landing gracefully at the base of the vehicle. He walked the short distance over to Applebloom.

“I thought Princess Celestia told you to stay put,” he said to Applebloom, narrowing his eyes.

Applebloom frowned, averting her eyes. “I had to do something,” she grumbled, before looking back at him pointedly. “And I ain’t going back. Not until we’ve won.”

Shining Armor pursed his lips, looking at her with a raised eyebrow. The two were silent for a moment before he nodded.

“I can respect that,” he said.

Applebloom binked, startled. “Wait, really?”

Shining Armor smiled faintly. “When I told my parents I was joining the royal guard as a colt, they did everything they could to try and get me to reconsider. They didn’t want me putting myself in danger or getting into fights. But sometimes…” Shining Armor trailed off, turning and showing off the purple shield on his flank. “...Sometimes you’re just meant for something bigger. My purpose is to protect ponies. Keep them safe from bullies and monsters like these Decepticons.” He nodded to the mark on Applebloom’s hips. “If that’s what you think your purpose is too, then there’s nothing I can possibly do to stop you. And frankly, I don’t want to.”

Applebloom looked away. “I… I don’t know what my purpose is.” She said, looking down at her strange hands, flexing the fingers. “But… whatever kind of monster I am, I’m good at fighting.” She clenched her fist and shut her eyes. “And I can’t just sit around while these Decepticons are tearing the place up.”

Shining Armor nodded. “Well, the good news is that the Tank Corps has pretty much taken care of all the footsoldiers by now.” He nodded towards Scorponok, still rampaging off in the distance. “The bigger threat now is that thing. The Solar and Lunar guard is currently trying to hold it off, and last we heard, the Elements of Harmony and Princess Luna had withdrawn from the position. Reasons unknown, but I doubt they’ve just up and deserted.” He shook his head. “Can’t say it seems like the Solars and Lunars are being all that effective from here, though. If we can’t take that thing down, all of Canterlot will be destroyed.”

Applebloom looked at the tank and then back to Shining Armor. “You say that the Tank corps was able to take out the Vehicon troopers?” she asked.

He nodded once again. “The side cannons don’t seem to do much more than annoy them if they aren’t already damaged, but the main cannons seem to pack enough of a punch that they go down in a few hits.”

Applebloom frowned. “Maybe we can use that.” she said, pointing to Shining Armor. “Regroup with the rest of the tanks and send ‘em all at the big bug. If all of you aim the main cannons at the same spot, maybe it’ll be enough to punch through!” Applebloom leaned in and whispered into Shining Armor’s ear.

Shining Armor smiled. “That might actually work!” he said, saluting Applebloom. “I’ll get the tanks together as fast as possible!”

She nodded. “I’ll keep him busy and try to get it all ready. You get as many tanks as you can!” She transformed back into her wagon mode, her wheels squealing as she sped off in a cloud of dust towards the mammoth robotic scorpion in the distance.

One of the guards poked his head out of the view slot as Shining Armor clambered back towards the tank. “...Sir?” he ventured. “Did you just take orders from a filly?”

Shining Armor chuckled.



*     *     *



The Solar and Lunar guards were getting their flanks handed to them.

They were the elite of the elite, hoof chosen by Celestia and Luna themselves. They had backgrounds in such prestigious corps as the Violet Suns, the Navy MANTAs, the Wonderbolts, and the New Moons. They had all been trained to take out any number of seemingly undefeatable foes, from Dragons and Rocs, to Krakens and Megalodons. From Demons and Nightmares, to Hydras and Mountain Lions. 

And they were getting their flanks kicked by a scorpion.

To be fair, the scorpion was fifty feet tall, three times that long, made of metal, and covered in cannons that fired deadly plasma, with serrated pincers, fire breath, and an even bigger cannon that fired who-knows-what on the end of its tail. It was a testament to their training and resilience that only half their number was already out of the fight, and had only received grievous injuries as opposed to being outright slaughtered.

That said, they had barely even made a dent in the creature’s hide.

“Attack the eyes!” Screaming Star shouted, her voice carrying throughout the whole battlefield. “The Elements of Harmony have confirmed that those are the weak points!”

“Maybe for the small ones, but not this thing!” shouted Rewind, leader of the Solar guards. “I’ve tried going after the eyes and lost count of how many times I’ve died by now! They’re too well defended, and even if you do get past the fire breath and cannons, spells don’t do jack against this thing!”

Flipsides grunted, sweat pouring down her face as her horn lit up in a blazing corona before she slumped to the ground with exertion. “My gravity spells don’t affect it! It’s just too big and powerful! I can chuck stuff at him, but that doesn’t do anything either!”

“Great! So our big guns are out of the question too!” grumbled Slipstream. The batpony danced and weaved, low to the creature’s surface as she slipped through the rows upon rows of cannons as though she were gliding on oil. She kicked at each of the cannons as she passed, trying to disable them, but was having little luck.

“Pray tell, my friends, for I must ask,” said the enigmatic Stripes of the Solar guard, mixing potions on the fly behind cover as she spoke in the traditional rhyme befitting her zebra heritage. “How then shall we complete this task?”

“Punch it until it breaks!” Shouted the enraged Rainbow Dash, who had joined the battle only a few minutes ago. She was flying around like a mare possessed, tackling the creature at high speeds, taking any chance she could to land a blow. Not that it was doing much.

“As much as I like your style, miss Dash,” came the cultured voice of the burly and massive Ramhorn, his horn aglow. “I’m afraid that not even I am capable of hitting this creature quite that hard,” he said as he desperately pounded at one of the creature’s joints, trying to knock it over. His blows did little more than make the leg twitch, though, despite his ability to break through most materials known to ponykind.

“Sonics don’t seem to be working.” Thundercracker croaked softly as he massaged his throat, only audible to the rest thanks to the magical efforts of the Solar guard Decibel, currently hiding behind cover alongside Stripes. “I’ve been screaming at every frequency I can think of at a couple hundred D’s, and the most I can do is make him rattle. Whatever that thing is, it’s damn well put together.”

An incredibly androgynous, tall purple alicorn suddenly slammed face first into the pavement next to Decibel and Stripes, groaning audibly and bleeding from the nose. Weakly, he pushed herself up from the ground, spitting out a wad of blood as she wobbled on his hooves. “I’ve managed to freeze a few of the guns on its left side, but beyond taking a few of the weapons out, I haven’t been able to hurt it much.” His face twitched, like a pang of pain had just lanced through the side of her head. “Plus the fusion spell is wearing off. I think at least half of me is going to be out of it for a while.”

“Get to cover, Slamdance.” Rewind said over Decibel’s communication spell. “Get help for whichever one of you is hurt. You two are no good to us dead.”

Slamdance nodded. “Thank you sir…” she said, a white glow encasing his body. The alicorn’s body lit up like a star, then suddenly shrank and split like an amoeba, forming into two distinct ponies. As the glow faded, they were revealed to be a bright red unicorn with a mane only slightly darker than his coat, and a royal blue pegasus mare with an indigo mane. The red unicorn quickly fell to the pavement, bleeding from the nose and mouth, his violet eyes unfocused. The pegasus stumbled, shaking her head, but eventually managed to regain her footing and grabbed hold of her brother, fluttering him off towards the castle.

A bearded, slate gray pegasus desperately tried to wrangle the beast’s tail, chewing on the beast’s hide like a beaver trying to chew through a particularly stubborn tree. Spitting out a mouthful of metal, he grumbled, speaking over the spell. “So Flipsides is useless, Grand Slam and Raindance are too injured to do their silly fusion dance again, Ramhorn can’t punch the giant bug, and the bats’ silly shrieking isn’t doing squat. At least half of us have been carted off to medical already! Does ANYPONY have a plan, or am I actually going to have to try and eat this thing?”

Decibel cleared his throat, ducking as a plasma blast exploded next to the wall he was hiding behind. “I have Playback attempting to contact Princesses Celestia and Luna, but beyond that I’m afraid I have very little intel to give, Steeljaw.”

“So your rookie brother’s off calling for help. Wonderful.” Steeljaw grumbled, leaning in for another bite of the creature’s tail, holding on tightly as it thrashed back and forth.

“We might not have a choice but to try and distract this thing until they get here,” said Dirge, still resting his voice after his attempts at hypnotic singing failed, dodging plasma fire as he flew through the air.

“We’re supposed to be the best of the best!” Steeljaw snarled through a mouthful of metal and wire. Spitting it out, he snarled down to the rest of them. “We can take down dragons, hydras, and krakens and you’re telling me that we can’t stop the one thing that’s actually managed to get into the city?! That we’re just supposed to wait until the Princesses get here?!”

Decibel suddenly shot up where he was sitting. “Princess Celestia is down!” he shouted over the communication spell. “The news just came in from Playback! Princess Luna is taking her back to the castle to recuperate!”

“I could have told you that!” Rainbow Dash snarled, kicking desperately at a cannon, barely managing to dent it.

“Well why didn’t you?!” Roared Steeljaw.

“This is distressing, I will admit.” Stripes said harshly as she continued to mix, a scowl on her face. “But this is no time to throw a fit!”

Steeljaw snarled. “Well what are we supposed to do?!” he demanded. “Keep banging our heads against a wall, hoping that somepony comes right the hell out of nowhere to save our hides?!”

Suddenly, right the hell out of nowhere, a little red wagon darted around a corner, driving at full speed towards one of the monster’s legs. Transforming quickly into her bipedal robot form, she hefted her hammer over one shoulder and, still sliding across the pavement, slammed it into the base of its leg. The leg buckled under the monster’s body, throwing the beast off balance and sending it toppling forward, smashing his face into the ground just as Applebloom emerged from underneath its other side.

“Convenient,” muttered Thundercracker.

Applebloom hefted her hammer over her shoulder, leaping back as the giant scorpion got back to its feet, turning its head to look at her and training its many cannons upon her. She leapt back to avoid a burst of plasma fire, ducking behind a brick wall when all of a sudden a voice rang out in her head.

“Connection established!” Came a calm, deep voice in her head.

“What?!” Applebloom looked around, her head darting from side to side as she looked for whoever it was that just spoke.

“Applebloom,” said a different voice, this one female and high pitched. “You are Applebloom, yes?”

Applebloom nodded, still ducking behind cover as plasma blasts exploded around her. “Uh… yes?”

The voice continued. “This is Major Screaming Star of the Lunar guard. You’ve been added to our communication link spell, courtesy of Decibel. What are you doing out here?” she demanded.

Applebloom frowned. “I had to fight. I couldn’t just sit around. It’s… what I’m meant to do. Maybe.”

“What?!” Rainbow Dash shouted over the spell as she bucked another cannon, denting it. “Applebloom, stop talking crazy! Get back to the castle!”

“No!” Applebloom snapped. “I need to fight these things! If I go back, I’m just going to keep putting everypony in danger!”

“Enough!” shouted Rewind, stomping a hoof as he looked out over the battlefield from atop a roof, ducking to the side to avoid a burst of plasma. “Nobody wants a filly on the battlefield, but did you see that just now?!” he asked the rest of the guards. “That was the first blow the monster couldn’t just shrug off! Look at its leg!”

Those few guards that were in a position to looked at the left-front leg that Applebloom had struck. The beast was very plainly favoring it, putting less weight upon it than its other legs. Rewind continued. “If she’s capable of dishing out that sort of damage where none of us could, maybe it’s in our best interest if she stays.”

“She’s just a filly!” Steeljaw protested before a particularly violent thrash dislodged him from the scorpion’s tail. He flapped his wings wildly, barely managing to regain control before he would have crashed into a building. Shaking it off, he continued. “We can’t be looking out for a little filly in the middle of all of this!”

“I don’t like it either, but what choice do we have?!” Rewind asked. “The Elements of Harmony are out if what Miss Dash has been yelling about Miss Sparkle is true, and the Princesses are down!”

“How much help can a filly be?!” Steeljaw snarled.

“This thing is called a Headmaster.” Applebloom said, closing her eyes and slipping into a neutral, textbook style of speech as she did her best to concentrate on the fading information that Yoketron had implanted into her. Her head panged with pain, but it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as when she previously accessed her implanted memories. “It falls under the Guardian-class of Cybertronian scale along with a fully-formed Combiner. They’re way bigger and tougher than your average Basic-class Cybertronian or Leader-class Cybertronian but not as big or strong as a Supreme or City-class bot. This one is on the large side… Scorponok. Reaper of Nebulos.”

“Well that title doesn’t sound particularly pleasant.” Ramhorn grunted, leaping from his perch on the beast’s leg and grabbing hold of a cannon with his forelegs.

Applebloom ignored him and continued. “Scorponok is responsible for the genocide of half the population of the planet Nebulos back in the early days of the Great War… oh Celestia…” A tear fell from her eye as she played back the information that had been implanted within her in her head. She steeled herself as best she could. “He needs to be stopped! He needs to be stopped as quickly as possible or he’ll try to do the same to our planet!”

“We’re working on it!” Slipstream shouted, desperately trying to beat at the top of the monster’s head with the help of her silent partner, Acid Storm. Scorponok reached up with a massive pincer and tried to slice at them, barely catching their manes as they ducked under it. “Not really getting much of anywhere, though.”

Applebloom turned her head, not that there was anypony there to speak to directly. “Y’all said that I was the first one to hurt it physically?”

Rewind confirmed, dodging plasma fire as he ran around under the beast, looking for any sort of weak point. “We’ve sent our heaviest hitters after it, but the most we’ve been able to do with physical attacks is dent it. Even Ramhorn can’t seem to punch through, and when he’s fully charged he can punch through solid titanium.”

Applebloom frowned. “And other attacks?”

Screaming Star spoke up. “Sonics are out, which makes most of my team pretty useless beyond simply annoying him. It’s taken up to two hundred decibels and barely been rattled, on every frequency and wavelength we can hit. And if Dirge’s efforts are any indication, mental attacks don’t work well either.”

“It’s too big for my gravity spells to work, and pegasus lightning hasn’t done anything but annoy it.” Flipsides said, ducking under several bursts of plasma as she galloped alongside the beast, weaving between its legs and hurling debris and detritus at its chassis. “The only thing we can do is try to bend or break the cannons lining its hide, but that won’t stop it in the long run and it’s a lot of effort for little reward. There must be hundreds of cannons lining that thing’s body!”

“The only one of us that can seem to damage it at all is Steeljaw, and he attacks things by biting them.” Thundercracker croaked as he nursed his strained vocal cords behind cover.

“Oi! Rack off, bat.” Steeljaw snarled, chewing on a mouthful of metal. “At least I’m doing something.”

“And nopony else was able to do anything?” Applebloom asked, desperately.

“If I will remind you all…” Stripes said calmly from behind cover,  “Slamdance managed to freeze its hull. The guns on its left no longer do fire. Perhaps that’s the key to make it expire.”

“Dammit!” Steeljaw grumbled. “Why’d Slamdance have to go and get knocked out?!”

Applebloom slapped a fist into her open palm. “Y’all, I think I have a plan, but we’re gonna need something that can make fire, or at least a lot of heat. And more ice iff’n y’all can find a way to make that happen.”

Stripes spoke up. “If what you seek is ice and fire, then I may provide what you desire. Many potions I have primed and set, to be altered now to any effect.”

“That rhymin’,” Applebloom muttered. “Y’all a zebra?”

“Indeed, I hope that’s not a gripe. I have no name, they call me Stripes.” replied the Zebra guard.

“Hey!” Steeljaw groused through a mouthful of steel. “Can we get to the part where you explain your plan? My jaw is getting tired!”

“Right, right.” Applebloom said. “Stripes, y’all can make freezing and fire potions?”

“A simple working of my art.” Stripes confirmed. “I’ve already the base from which to start.”

“Here’s the plan then.” Applebloom said, peeking over the small wall she had hidden behind at the mammoth, looming scorpion. “I was the only one that could hurt it, an’ even then, I didn’t hurt it much. Varmint has no weak spots.”

“Not exactly filling us with confidence, Applebloom.” Rainbow Dash grunted as she tried to wrestle one of the creature’s robotic antennae to little effect.

“If the thing ain’t got no weak points, then we’ve gotta make one!” Applebloom said, watching as the guards buzzed around it and climbed all over it, desperately trying to affect the massive creature in any way. “Right now, y’all ain’t doing much to it, but y’all are keeping it from getting anywhere. Y’all’re bamboozling it! Just keep doing that. Keep holding out, but whatever y’all do, keep its attention off’a me an’ Stripes.”

Applebloom continued, addressing Stripes this time. “Stripes, I’m gonna need you to make ‘least one ice potion, and iff’n you can, two fire potions.”

Stripes nodded. “For me a truly simple task,” she said calmly as ever. “What is your intent, if I may ask?”

“Y’all said its left side was frozen, yeah?” she didn’t wait for an answer before continuing. “We’re gonna chuck a fire potion at the frozen bits. Then an ice potion, and then another fire one.”

“I get it!” Rewind said, stomping a hoof. “If your plan works, it’ll weaken its metal hull enough that we might be able to break through!”

“Once it’s been frozen and thawed a couple times,” Applebloom continued, “I’mma get up there and hit it as hard as I can. Hopefully, the hull will break and expose all its inner workings. Then, once we’ve exposed the insides, we follow Rainbow Dash’s plan.” She punched a fist into her open palm. “Hit it until it breaks.”

Dash snorted as she continued to wrestle the beast’s antenna. “I like this plan!”

“I shall finish up these basic brews, until they have effects we choose.” Stripes said, pulling components out of the various pouches that dangled around her barrel. “To your post, begin your climb. Fixing these shall take some time.”

“Got it!” Applebloom said, transforming into a wagon and wheeling out of cover, barely dodging plasma fire as she sped over towards the beast’s other side, ducking under the creature’s massive head. “Everypony else, work on distracting it! It seems to be focusing more on the flyers so all pegasi and batponies, keep its attention as far away from me as y’all can!”

“You heard her!” Screaming Star snapped. “Get to work, fools!”

Applebloom skidded across the pavement beneath the creature’s head, barely dodging the flames licking from its mandibles as she tried to maneuver her way towards the creature’s frozen side. The beast took notice of her briefly, leaning down and attempting to snatch her up in its flaming jaws, when Rainbow Dash suddenly flew by at high speed, catching it in the eye with her hoof.

“Hey! Over here, ugly!” Rainbow snapped, barely zipping out of the way of its fiery mandibles as the creature attempted to snap her up. Her foe sufficiently distracted, Applebloom merely had to weave between the trails of molten metal dripping from the creature’s mandibled mouth as it drooled constantly. Skidding out from beneath the creature’s head, Applebloom made a sharp left as she passed the beast’s giant, skittering legs.

Shifting out of her wagon form, Applebloom took in the towering monster before her from this new vantage point.

The beast was distracted by the dozen-and-a-half fliers spinning and twirling around its face, barely paying attention to the few that were crawling around its back like fleas, such as Ramhorn, still futilely trying to find any decent place to attack. Applebloom nodded. If he could climb around on the beast’s back and go unnoticed, then hopefully she wouldn’t be immediately targeted when she began to make her climb.

She took in more of the monster, finally spotting the frozen section she was looking for. A segment of the creature’s side had been covered by what looked like a winter’s morning frost, a patch of the cannons and gears having been turned white with icy chill. Though most of the creature’s cannons were engaged, the ones caught in the frosty patch were noticeably immobile and inactive.

Most of the cannons were pointed away from Applebloom as she took off towards Scorponok’s leg, instead aiming at the pegasi and batponies that buzzed about his face. Perfect. 

Applebloom leapt into the air, grabbing onto a jutting shaft of metal about ten feet off the ground, and taking her first step to scaling the great beast. Scorponok roared, its voice something more akin to a cross between a hiss and a Diamond Dog scraping its claws along a chalkboard than anything else. What few windows there were in the vicinity that were still undamaged shattered at the thunderous noise. Applebloom winced, holding on as tightly as she could as the beast thrashed, its legs skittering and shifting as it changed position. Gripping the small ledge with all her might, Applebloom hastily pulled herself up, grabbing onto the base of a cannon and lifting herself further up the metal beast’s leg.

The leg shook and shuddered as the creature continued to thrash about, resisting the new assault from the fliers that swarmed about his face. Rainbow Dash made herself particularly irritating by throwing herself against the sides of the monster’s head repeatedly. Like a moth throwing itself against a light bulb or a bee bumping against a window as it tried to escape a room, Rainbow’s blows had little effect against the monster, but she was certainly making herself known. 

Meanwhile, the other fliers had taken to flying in loops and barrel rolls around the creature’s face. With their focuses taken away from trying to attack the creature and put more towards simply distracting it, they could concentrate more upon flying, allowing them to better dodge the creature’s cannon fire and flaming breath. Of more danger was the bursts from Scorponok’s stinger, which burned through buildings like a match flame through tissue paper. Whatever was being fired from that stinger would cause great swathes of whatever matter it hit to disintegrate, as all the matter surrounding the impact shriveled and burned and blackened, clouds of dust and ash and ember bursting up from the impact sites. The only saving graces were that the cannon at the end of its stinger took a long time to charge up, creating a distinct whining noise as it came close to firing, and that Steeljaw was currently working on disabling it, if he could just get through the outer hull enough to sabotage its internal components. He hadn’t had much of an effect yet, but he was getting closer.

Applebloom leapt from handhold to handhold, gripping the ledges set into the massive, metal creature’s body and gripping them with all her might as she scrabbled for purchase. After several frantic minutes of climbing and leaping, she managed to reach the giant scorpion’s first joint. Hefting herself up, she was allowed a brief respite as she managed to scramble onto a ledge between the two major sections of leg, though she still had another 25 feet to climb before she managed to reach level ground. Taking a deep breath, she hefted herself up and leapt towards another ledge as she continued her ascent.

The cannons jutted out of the creature’s body like hairs would out of a normal scorpion’s. They twitched and shifted as Applebloom grabbed hold of them, lifting herself higher and higher. Occasionally, one would fire, which Applebloom would have to quickly lean away from as she climbed, though for the most part they weren’t aimed specifically at her, as the beast’s attention was focused firmly upon the fliers, buzzing about its face. 

As Applebloom began the second leg of her climb, though, she found herself directly below a cannon, glowing purple and ready to fire.

With a squeak of panic, Applebloom leapt to the side and into open air as the cannon fired right behind her, singing her hair slightly. Falling out and away from the creature’s leg, Applebloom was forced to think fast. Grabbing her Hammer from its slot, she quickly engaged it as she fell. Swinging it towards the robot scorpion’s leg, she managed to use it like a makeshift climber’s hook, hooking it over another cannon and stopping her fall. 

She lurched, perilously swinging back and forth, her arms screaming in their sockets as she held onto the hammer. Dangling a good thirty feet off the ground, Applebloom kicked and swung, desperately trying to get back to the leg and continue her climb. After a few moments of swaying and swinging, She managed to loop her foot around another shaft of metal sticking out of the creature’s hide. Using the foothold to pull herself closer to the beast’s leg, she managed to regain purchase, though she had lost a bit of ground from her fall. Retracting her hammer and placing it back in its slot, she continued climbing the leg, eventually reaching the top of the second joint.

The ground levelled out here as the leg bent at roughly a 90 degree angle. The ground was still uneven and covered in ledges and grooves and little shafts and spines of metal, as well as the larger cannons and the rotating, shifting turrets they rested on. That said, Applebloom was now level with the beast’s back, as the creature’s legs, naturally, bent like those of a scorpion’s. Not counting the one she stood upon, there were two sections of leg remaining between her and the main body, sloping downward like a bell curve that had been skewed away from its abdomen.

The cannons were all turned away from her, instead pointing towards the beast’s head and actively firing at the fliers zipping about the creature’s face.

As Scorponok struggled and shuffled about in place, the leg Applebloom stood upon shook and shuddered, forcing her to get low and hold onto the peaks and valleys of metal beneath her. Holding fast to the creature’s spiny carapace, Applebloom realized that the beast was struggling too violently and its chassis was too uneven to roll across in wagon mode. She’d have to run across it in robot mode.

Carefully making her way along the creature’s leg, she ducked under a firing cannon, the heat from its blasts singing her mane even further and crisping the edges of the bow set into it. Ducking into a roll, she cleared the cannon and avoided its fire, though the rough surface of the leg beneath her scratched her surface up a little. Applebloom attempted to gain speed as she ran across the leg, though it was akin to running across a footbridge in the middle of an earthquake. 

Reaching the end of the leg’s section, Applebloom resolved to leap directly to the creature’s body from where she stood. Gearing up for a running start, the little bot hurled herself into the air, putting every ounce of strength she had into her legs. Hurtling through the air, Applebloom gasped as the creature suddenly shifted again, moving away from her and causing her to fall short. With a cry of alarm, Applebloom bounced off the side of the beast’s body and fell between the section of leg she’d just leapt off of and the main body, landing roughly in the joint where the leg met the underside of its abdomen.

Applebloom squealed as the joint shifted and contracted around her. What could charitably be described as one of the beast’s ‘hip joints’ expanded and contracted as Scorponok scuttled around the clearing it had made itself. Wasting no time, Applebloom rolled onto her belly and lifted herself up with her arms and legs and leapt out onto the beast’s last section of leg, barely avoiding being crushed in the beast’s joints. Taking a deep breath, she leapt towards the side of the body, proceeding to scale it like she had the first two sections of leg.

“Applebloom, are you alright?” Came Stripes’ perpetually calm voice over the magical communication. “Your fall there gave us quite the fright!”

“Fine!” Applebloom replied as she scaled the beast’s metal hide. “Misjudged the jump is all. I’ve reached the main body and I’m making my way up now!” Grabbing ahold of a vent of some kind, she addressed the zebra. “How are those potions coming?”

“The fire flasks have been completed.” Stripes replied, peeking out of cover and looking towards the beast. Applebloom turned her head and saw a flash of gold, black, and white, waving quickly at the shape before turning back to her climb. “I can throw it now if it is needed.” Stripes finished.

“Sooner the better!” Applebloom grunted as she looped an arm around another cannon. “Whenever you’re ready.”

“Watch the blast, robotic friend! To brace yourself, I’d recommend!” Stripes shouted as she rolled out of cover. Leaning up onto her hind legs, she pulled back with a foreleg and, with surprising strength, chucked a glass flask corked with a flaming rag at the beast’s side. The zebra must have had the strength of an olympic javelin thrower behind her, as the flask sailed a good hundred feet through the air and fifty feet up before shattering against the icy patch near the creature’s head. An oily, foul smelling substance spattered against the beast’s hide and quickly lit up in a flash of superheated fire, causing the beast to screech and thrash as Applebloom held tight to the cannon she’d wrapped her arm around. The beast flailed and floundered, whipping around and smashing into several more buildings, knocking them asunder beneath its struggling, metal body.

The flames seared the beast’s side, blackening much of it with soot and licking at the side of the beast’s face. Applebloom felt a wave of heat wash over her as she crouched behind the cannon, her arm getting the worst of it as it was looped around the cannon, searing the small layer of fur and skin that still covered her metal limbs. The blue and yellow flames caused some patches of the beast’s carapace to glow red with heat and other parts to turn black with soot, as the initial burst of flame quickly turned to a blue glow as the flames shrank to nothing but a fiery coating over a section of its body, and then just as quickly went out, leaving only the blackened metal with a few glowing patches. Despite the size and heat of the blast, though, the fire hadn’t seemed to have caused it any damage, despite all the screaming and thrashing. The ice that had disabled the beast’s cannon’s beforehand had been sublimated into vapor and the patches that were glowing with heat seemed to be disabled still, but the parts of its hide that had been freed from the ice and were now simply blackened with soot and ash seemed instead to be working again, several more cannons now firing wildly into the air.

The lack of damage and the revival of several of the beast’s cannons wasn’t the worst part, though. It no longer seemed to be focusing upon the fliers.

“I think we made it mad, Stripes!” Applebloom cried, clutching to the cannon as best she could, her legs flailing wildly as she was dragged about by the beast’s twisting and flailing. “It’s lookin’ for whatever done thrown that flask!”

“I need some time to find new cover.” Stripes grunted, picking herself and her potions up from where she was hiding and galloping along a wall. “If you could distract him so he doesn’t recover?” She suggested to Applebloom.

Applebloom grunted affirmatively and finally managed to plant her feet on a ledge as the beast thrashed. The perilous climb made even more so by the creature’s enraged flailing, Applebloom steadily made her way to the top of the creature’s carapace. Steadying herself on all fours, Applebloom made a mad dash for where the creature’s head met its body. The effect was like trying to run a marathon in an earthquake. Applebloom teetered and wobbled as she tried to run, tripping occasionally on the grooves and spires jutting from the beast’s back. 

Reaching the ‘neck,’ Applebloom grabbed hold of a cannon and shielded herself. The cannons were aimed haphazardly now, firing in every direction instead of being aimed at the fliers still buzzing around the beast’s head. The distraction was proving to no longer be effective as Scorponok angrily rampaged around the clearing he’d formed, searching for whatever had thrown the firebomb at him.

Applebloom needed to give Stripes a reprieve. Quickly scoping out a particular pegasus, she threw together a plan on the fly.

“Rainbow Dash!” Applebloom shouted over the comm spell as the speedster dashed by. She barely managed to catch the pegasus’ attention in time for her to chuck her hammer at her. “Catch!” she shouted.

Rainbow swooped beneath the massive warhammer, clumsily catching it with her forehooves. Without saying anything, Rainbow darted back toward the beast’s head, gripping the hammer tightly. “I’m going to need it back!” Applebloom barely managed to shout before another thrash knocked her on her back.

Rainbow let out a shrill war cry as she rocketed into the back of Scorponok’s head, hefting the hammer over her shoulder and driving it down into its cranium. The impact knocked the creature’s head down a little, damaging the chassis with a small dent and discharging a burst of blue energy across its exoskeleton. The beast hissed, thrashing backwards and catching Rainbow in the jaw, sending her tumbling back a little but not letting go of the warhammer.

“It worked,” Applebloom shouted as she tried to regain her footing. “He noticed the hammer! Rainbow, you need to distract him while Stripes and I finish making the weak point!”

“If I don’t finish him off first!” Rainbow snarled, rolling to her hooves, cradling the hammer over her shoulder as she lifted off again.

“Just be sure to give it back when the second flame potion goes off!” Applebloom shouted after her as she banked under the monster’s head and drove the hammer into what served as the beast’s chin.

Applebloom shakily made her way back towards the beast’s edge where the firebomb had burst. Stripes’ voice suddenly came over the comm spell as she approached. “The potion of cold has been prepared! Find some cover if you wish to be spared!”

Applebloom barely caught sight of a faintly glowing blue flask sailing through the air towards her. With a squeal of alarm, Applebloom turned on one foot and leapt away from the incoming freeze bomb. She heard glass shatter behind her and a crackling noise like ice on a lake cracking underhoof. Applebloom lurched in the air as she felt something catch her foot and she found herself suddenly brought to a halt as her face smacked into the beast’s back. Scorponok thrashed and screeched once again, attention temporarily diverted from Rainbow swinging the hammer into its eye, only to return to her after a few quick blows. 

With a groan, she looked over her shoulder to see that Scorponok’s side was covered in ice. Large spires of frozen water jutted from the beast’s side and back, disabling any cannons and systems caught beneath it. What alarmed her, though, was that her foot had been caught in a crystal of ice.

Her foot pinned in the ice, Applebloom could only struggle fruitlessly as she tried to free herself. Stripes’ voice came over the comm spell once again. “Applebloom, have you been hit? You approached the site just as I threw it”

Applebloom grumbled. “I’m alright. Sorta. My foot’s caught in the ice.”

“Is there a way you can get free?” Stripes asked seriously. “We musn’t delay on potion three!”

“I’ll try.” Applebloom grunted, pulling on her leg as hard as she could. Her leg was stuck fast. “I think Rainbow’s got you covered, but change position so he don’t spot you anyway. If I ain’t free by the time you’re ready, throw the potion anyway! I can… probably shrug it off...” 

“I do not wish to make that gamble.” Stripes replied. “Free yourself and do not amble!”

Applebloom found herself in an odd position, stuck face down and unable to right herself without twisting her ankle in the ice painfully. She couldn’t bend properly to try and hit the ice with her fists, so she was forced to settle for kicking at the cold crystal with her other foot. She heard bits of it chip off beneath her, but she was obviously accomplishing very little as her foot was still stuck fast.

Scorponok thrashed and shook beneath her as Rainbow attacked its face, but for once, she wasn’t being tossed about thanks to the ice. If she didn’t free herself soon, though, she’d be a fried apple.

Suddenly, a high pitched whine rang through the battlefield. Applebloom looked up to see a purple glow forming at the end of Scorponok’s tail. A moment later, a bright purple beam launched from its end and blasted into a building in the streets below. Moments later, there was a cry of agony and alarm over the comm spell, before the spell suddenly started crackling and squealing with static.

Applebloom grunted, shaking her head to clear it of the noise. Still futilelyfutiley trying to free her foot, she called out over the comm spell. “Rainbow, I could use a hoof!”

She was answered with silence. Or as close to silence as one could get in an active battlefield, anyway.

“Rainbow?!” She called again.

A voice suddenly rang out through the battlefield. “Decibel is down! The communication spell is offline!” Screaming Star yelled at the top of her lungs.

Applebloom’s heart caught in her throat. There was no way to call out to Rainbow and get her to break her out of the ice. Furthermore, there was no way to know when Stripes would throw the last fire potion. If she didn’t get out of the ice fast, she was going to be burned to a crisp! The little bot pulled with all her might, but only succeeded in twisting her ankle painfully.

“C’mon…” Applebloom grunted as she struggled, only succeeding in exhausting herself.

“Need help?” a voice asked as a massive hoof stomped down next to her. Applebloom looked up to see a giant gray armored unicorn looking down upon her. He had to be at least as big as her brother, though he looked a little older. “I may not be able to hurt this monster, but I think I can take care of a chunk of ice.”

Applebloom heaved a sigh of relief. “Thanks… uh?”

“Major Ramhorn at your service, ma’am” he bowed, a hint of a Trottingham accent slipping into his voice. “It’s a pleasure to make your proper acquaintance. You’ve been the talk of the castle all day.”

“So I been told.” Applebloom grunted, still struggling. “Could y’all maybe…?”

“One moment.” Ramhorn said, his horn alighting with a faint orange glow. Strangely, though, no spell seemed to be cast upon the ice. Instead, the glow started to encompass his whole body. Ramhorn’s muscles seemed to bulge beneath his armor and his body started radiating an electrifying sort of heat. Stomping his hoof and snorting, Ramhorn pawed at the ground and backed up, lowering his head for a charge.

Suddenly, Screaming Star’s voice rang out through the battlefield.

“Bombs away!”

Ramhorn took off in a charge towards the ice that pinned Applebloom. Applebloom struggled, trying to get herself free. “Ramhorn, stop!” she shouted.

The guard ignored her, lowering his glowing horn towards the ice and crashing into it in a mighty headbutt. The ice shattered, sending Applebloom skidding across the beast’s uneven, jagged hide. She twisted around as she landed trying to see whether Ramhorn was safe.

Ramhorn stood, still glowing and shaking himself off as he emerged from the icy debris.

A glass flask burst about three feet away from his feet, splashing foul-smelling oil everywhere.

Everything went up in flames.

“Ramhorn!” Applebloom shouted, leaping to her feet, ready to sprint towards the blaze. Just as she took a step, though, a flaming, charging pony emerged from the wall of fire, desperately rolling around on the uneven surface. Gasping, Applebloom dashed over to the flaming guard, slapping at the flames with nothing but her hands.

“I gotcha!” Applebloom shouted, though she wasn’t having much of an effect on the fire. “I’ll put you out!”

“Get clear!” came a voice from above her. Applebloom looked up and quickly ducked to the side as Rainbow Dash swooped in with a small raincloud she’d gathered, bucking it over Ramhorn and dousing his flames with rainwater. The fire quickly drowned away, leaving a shivering, grunting Ramhorn on the ground. 

Applebloom gasped. Her stomach lurched and a dizzy spell washed over her as she looked at what the flames had done to her rescuer. Half his body was burned, patched with black and red where his skin had been charred. He coughed and hacked weakly, spitting out a wad of blood and ash.

Rainbow swooped down, holding Applebloom’s warhammer in her teeth. She spat it out onto the ground at her feet. “What happened?!” she demanded.

Applebloom looked down at Ramhorn, horrified. “He… he was trying to save me and…” she trailed off, shaking her head, a tear dripping from her eye. “This is all my-”

“Hey!” Rainbow said, grabbing Applebloom’s shoulder. “Not the time to have a pity party! You have a job to do, remember?” She inched her nose under Ramhorn, flipping him onto her back with a pained grunt from the both of them. 

“But―-” Applebloom tried to protest, only for Ramhorn to cough and fix her a gaze with his good eye.

“I’ll be fine, love.” Ramhorn croaked out. “You just do your part, right?”

“I’ll get him to Stripes.” Rainbow said. “She’s gotta have something for this. You just focus on what you gotta do.”

Applebloom nodded mutely, picking up her warhammer and getting to her feet. Rainbow Dash beat her wings and lifted off, rocketing towards the building the flask had been thrown from.

Applebloom stood there, gripping the hammer weakly as time seemed to slow. Another pony had just gotten hurt because of her. All he had tried to do was help her and because she was too clumsy and too careless and too weak to get out of the way of danger herself, he’d had half his body burned to a crisp. She opened her eyes and looked out over the city, the moment frozen in time before her. Canterlot was burning and it was her fault. She was the reason these invaders had come. She was the reason ponies were out there hurt or dying. It was her.

“No more of this.” Applebloom whispered, her grip around the hammer tightening. She grit her teeth as tears ran down her cheeks. Time sped back up again as she took off at a sprint for the burned, blackened, glowing patch of metal on Scorponok’s back, her hammer trailing behind her in her grasp. She howled out a war cry as she swung the hammer above her head, the glowing blue head shining like a star as it crested the apex of its arc, then, with the force of Applebloom’s rage and despair behind it, crashed down into the glowing, heated, weakened metal.

Scorponok’s hull buckled, a creaking, groaning noise resounding through the clearing as the hammerhead impacted the beast’s carapace. A shockwave burst from the impact point, releasing a thunderous boom as she hit her mark. And with a final groan of protest, Scorponok’s hull shattered beneath her. 

The metal beneath Applebloom’s feet spiderwebbed with cracks as chunks of heated, blackened armor fell from the beast’s hide. Like earth split by a quake, a great fissure opened in the beast’s hide, pistons, gears, nuts and bolts, and even a whole cannon raining down upon the streets below as a flood of energon gushed from the wound.

Scorponok screeched and howled, rearing back on two of its hind legs, thrashing about more violently than ever before. The great monster slammed into buildings, knocking them over as it swung from side to side in pain and panic. Its massive claws snapped at the air wildly, occasionally catching a building in their grasp and splitting them open, but the erratic panicked nature of its thrashing was easy enough for the remaining guards to avoid. It tried to fire its cannon, but Steeljaw had apparently done enough of a number on its tail that its main stinger cannon was finally disabled, no longer free to do widespread damage upon the city. Its smaller cannons fired wildly, doing little more damage than it had already done.

Applebloom was thrown off of the creature as it thrashed and flailed. She lost her grip on her hammer, the weapon flying away from her as she was thrown into a brick wall, the wind knocked out of her as she slid down the masonry into a heap on the ground. Her head swam and her vision spun as she tried to regain her bearings from the impact.

Scorponok shrieked, snapping Applebloom back to reality. She shook her head and looked up at the beast, looming over her like a monstrous spectre of death, its animalistic, insectoid eyes focused squarely upon her. Applebloom’s breath hitched in her throat as the beast glared down at her.

And then, its legs buckled. The creature screeched once before finally coming down in a heap, collapsing into the middle of the street like a wet rag, its body going limp and motionless.

Applebloom let out a relieved breath as she felt hooves landing around her. 

“Applebloom, are you alright?” Screaming Star asked as several other guards landed around her. “Any injuries?”

Applebloom groaned, flexing all her limbs a little. “Nothing I can’t walk off.” she grunted. “How’s Ramhorn?”

Screaming Star’s ears twitched. “Ramhorn’s with Stripes. He, Decibel, and the other injured guards are being transported to medical as we speak,” she reported.

Applebloom nodded. “Good… that’s good.”

Rewind slipped off of Screaming Star’s back, trotting up to her and placing a hoof on her forehead. “That was a hell of a blow you gave him at the end there. Nice work, filly.” Rewind said

Applebloom shook her head. “No… No it isn’t.” She muttered. “It was me. It’s my fault that this happened in the first--”

Metal creaked and groaned, sending a resounding screeching noise rumbling through the clearing. 

The guards all turned around and quickly lowered themselves into a battle stance. Applebloom looked up and gasped.

Scorponok was getting to its feet. Slowly but surely, the massive scorpion creature stood, its legs trembling but gaining strength with every moment. Its massive claws snapped and clapped, serrated, bladed edges creating sparks every time they closed. Its piercing glare was levelled firmly upon Applebloom and the guards as it rose higher and higher. Its tail swung back and forth threateningly as the cannons scattered around its carapace levelled at them.

And then, a familiar clanking noise resounded through the clearing.

The beast’s six legs slid down his body mechanically, fusing together as Scorponok reared up on two new hind legs, clawed feet emerging from their ends as his body rose into the air. His tail retracted, sliding in the opposite direction up his body as the stinger end twisted and spun, settling into a position over his newly acquired shoulders as his clawed arms altered where they met the body, reorienting themselves as they became more suited for its new, bipedal stance. Cannons rearranged themselves, forming sections of armor that appeared similar to shoulder pads, shinguards, and thigh guards, as well as many other pieces of armor. Looming ever higher and higher, the beast’s head split open and slid down until the monstrous, insectoid face rested in the middle of his chest. The wound Applebloom inflicted remained open, seeping energon out of its side, but Scorponok rearranged the cannons around it to form a makeshift bandage, slowing the leak though not completely stopping it. Finally, a head emerged from the top of its shoulders, shaped similar to Appleblooms but with an entirely different visage. No mouth or nose to speak of, but four orange eyes glowing behind what looked to be a pair of yellowish goggles set into a black helmet covering the whole head and tipped with wicked-looking orange horns.

The newly-transformed robot stood a hundred feet tall. A titan looming over the city, dwarfing every structure save for the castle itself. Had the citizens of Canterlot not already been ushered into emergency shelters and onto evacuating airships, surely they would have collapsed at the sight of such a monster. 

Scorponok glared down at Applebloom and the guards, pointing a claw down at them.

“No…” Applebloom whispered as the guards all took off around her. “No no no…”

“FIRE!”

A massive purple burst of energy suddenly exploded from a side street, impacting the massive titan in the chest, burning through the cannons that had blocked off the energon leak in the wound Applebloom had made. The massive robot staggered back, clutching at the wound with one of his claws.

Applebloom and Scorponok both turned. Emerging from the side street was a line of octagonal tanks, their main cannons all aimed at the wound in Scorponok’s side. The massive robot growled, the stinger cannon set in his shoulder glowing for a second before sputtering out thanks to Steeljaw’s sabotage. As Scorponok aimed his smaller cannons at the tanks, though, Shining Armor popped out of the top of one of them, pointing at the beast.

“FIRE TWO!” he shouted.

As one, the main cannons atop the tanks all glowed purple with destructive magic, firing just moments before Scorponok’s cannons could and exploding into the wound Applebloom had created, burning at the robots inner workings, and causing it to shriek and howl in pain as it collapsed forward, barely catching itself with a claw. The wound was leaking freely now, bright blue energon pouring onto the ground like a waterfall from its chest.

With the last of its strength, the beast fixed a glare upon Applebloom. Looking at the little bot, still slumped at the base of a building, it opened the mouth on its chest, fire and molten metal glowing within as it charged up one last attack.

“FIRE THREE!”

One final blast impacted with Scorponok’s side, sending the massive robot crashing to the ground, a cloud of dust and smoke rising from where it fell. The robot’s eyes continued to glare at Applebloom as it craned its neck to look at her, the four eyes flickering and turning a dull gray as they slowly went out.

Applebloom let out a long, relieved breath as she stood up from the base of the building. The Solar and Lunar guards in the air all landed as guardsponies throughout the clearing clapped their hooves against the ground, whooping and cheering that the beast had been felled. Shining Armor leapt out of the tank and trotted towards her. 

“Applebloom!” Shining Armor called. “Are you alright?”

Applebloom nodded as she stepped away from the building towards Shining. She nodded weakly. “Yeah… I think I’ll be okay.”

Shining Armor smiled, reaching up and patting her on the shoulder. “I think you’ve seen enough for one day, Applebloom. Let’s get you back to the castle.”

“Why don’t you allow us?” Came a voice from above the clearing. Everypony turned and looked up to see two last robots standing atop a building, grinning evilly down at the crowd. One tall, bulky and forest green in color and the other, and the other slim, purple, and white. The slim one leapt into the air and transformed with a familiar clanking noise into a metal form that looked like a massive, sleek, mechanical bird while the big green one leapt off the building and crashed into the ground aside Applebloom, cratering the ground beneath him. “I guarantee we’ll get her zere faster zan you will.”

The guards all leapt into action but were forced to scatter as Blitzwing fired down upon them as he hovered in the air. Applebloom instinctively reached for her hammer, only to remember too late that she’d lost it when falling off Scorponok’s back. Left open, she let out a sharp scream of surprise as she felt Brawl’s massive hand close around her leg and she was hefted into the air.

Brawl’s other arm twisted and shifted into a cannon as he fired a few quick bursts at the guards, dodging tank fire as he shot blasts of plasma at the infantry. “Time to go, Blitz!” he shouted up at the plane.

“I could not agree more!” Blitzwing said, lowering a little closer to the ground. “Grab on!”

Brawl charged through the guards as they desperately tried to give chase. Leaving the ponies in the dust, Brawl leapt into the air, a struggling Applebloom writhing in his hand as he grabbed onto the base of Blitzwing’s plane form just above his tailfin.

Blitzwing rocketed into the air, Brawl holding onto him tight and dragging Applebloom below them as the three of them rocketed towards the only notable structure in the city still undamaged:

Canterlot Castle. 



*     *     *



The cavern was deep, dank, and dark. Though it was miles and miles away from the fighting, the rumbles of battle could still be heard. Shudders vibrated through the green crystals set into the walls of the cave, creating a resonating hum as the ground trembled.

Moisture dripped from stalactites set into the high ceiling, drops of water trickling to the pointy bottoms of the rock structures and falling the several dozen feet to the ground below, dripping noisily into puddles of more water.

Or at least they would, were they not interrupted, splashing instead into a prone, purple form that appeared several minutes ago in a flash of magenta light.

The purple creature stirred but did not wake.