//------------------------------// // A Stage Set // Story: Ponies/Transformers: Cybertron Boys // by Quick-5 //------------------------------// In a dark, mysterious place... Megatron, the Decepticon leader, sat on his throne upon his ship, thinking. He was thinking about his current situation. How did he find himself in his situation: deep underground, his battleship broken, his communications down, and his crew in shambles. He was trapped on this strange new world with no idea of what to expect from his scouts. What would this mysterious planet he found himself on hold? Perhaps some intelligent mechanical people like him? Some useless race of fleshlings? Maybe it's completely desolate? Only time would tell. The tall, grey robot was stirred from his thoughts by the door behind him opening. "What is it?" he called. "Lord Megatron," a monotone, computerized voice spoke "My scouts have returned." Megatron looked at the door to see his most loyal follower, Soundwave. The blue, expressionless Decepticon was accompanied by a black, robotic panther and a mechanical bird perched on his shoulder. "Well, what are you waiting for?" Megatron asked. "Let's see what they've seen." Soundwave motioned for his companions to go to Megatron, which they did. Megatron grabbed the panther and placed it on his lap. He began fiddling with some wiring behind the feline's head. Then the panther's eyes lit up, and a projection emitted from them. "Hmmm... Interesting." Megatron commented. The projection showed a quaint little town filled with small, fleshy creatures the Decepticon didn't recognize. They were so...colourful, and happy. The sight of the jovial quadrupeds trotting along, smiling and laughing was sickening to the Decepticon leader. Though the creatures were bizarre, several things held his attention. The first was that several of the fleshlings had horns. This wouldn't have been unusual if not for the fact that when they glowed, objects seemed to move at their whim. These...creatures were capable of levitation. This was intriguing to Megatron, as he had never seen any species possess that ability naturally. There were also variations of the creatures that possessed wings for flight and could even stand atop clouds...somehow. "Soundwave." Megatron called. "Did Ravage tell you how these things stand on clouds?" "Exact reason: unknown." Soundwave replied. "Current explanation: magic." Megatron scoffed. "Magic. A likely story." he said, deactivating Ravage's projector. "Shockwave would have a field day with this. Heh Heh. Now shoo." he ushered Ravage off his lap and back to Soundwave. "Laserbeak. Come here." Megatron called. The mechanical bird glided down to Megatron's shoulder and activated its own eye-projector. The projection that came from the bird's eyes showed a city constructed entirely of clouds with winged ponies flying this way and that. The city was adorned with waterfalls coloured like rainbows, adorned with the entire ROYGBIV spectrum. "Very strange..." Megatron commented. Laserbeak's projection changed to show another city, this one constructed of solid materials. The creatures inhabiting this city seemed to be of high status judging by their mannerisms. The city was adorned with precious metals and bright colours. But the biggest building of all was a grand castle towering above the rest of the city. The projection zoomed in on two creatures in particular. They possessed both a horn and wings. One of pure white with a rainbow mane, the other a dark indigo with a mane like the night sky. They seemed to be discussing a scroll of some kind. Judging by their crowns and other precious-lookong decorations, they obviously held positions of authority. "Hmmm..." Megatron hmmmed, dismissing Laserbeak. "What is our next course of action, Lord Megatron?" Soundwave asked. "We wait for the Seekers to return." Megatron said. "Then we'll use whatever information they bring to plan our next move." He sat back in his chair. "You're dismissed." Soundwave nodded, exiting the room with his minions. Megatron was alone with his thoughts once more, awaiting his other scouts to bring him new information. Hopefully Starscream hasn't already come up with some half-witted scheme to usurp me. Megatron thought, amused. In the meantime, he could only wait. He could only wait for whatever would come to him... In another world, much like our own... "...and my past does not define me, 'cause my past is not TODAAAY!" Sunset Shimmer sang at the top of her lungs as the song ended. "Whoo!" Rainbow Dash cheered. "Good work, everybody!" she said. Sunset Shimmer smiled as she set her guitar down. The Rainbooms band had just finished their daily practise routine. They had been rehearsing their songs vigorously for the past few weeks, ever since it was announced they'd be playing in the new and improved Friendship Games. Ever since the disaster that was the last Games, the staff of Canterlot High and Crystal Prep worked to make them slightly less...bizarre. Their first decision was to make the games a tad more inclusive, inviting more schools to compete instead of only two. Their second decision was to make the Games annual instead of occurring every 4 years, since some students might not even see one Friendship Games in their time at either school. In hindsight, the whole setup really made no sense. "I'd say we're sounding better than ever!" The human Rarity commented, setting down her keytar. "I know, right!?" Pinkie Pie squealed. "We've been practising soooooo hard lately and it's really paying off!" The pink girl was practically bouncing in place as she said this. "I can't wait to perform for 6 schools at once!" "It's definitely gonna get our band some more notoriety." Rainbow Dash said, sipping from a water bottle. "We're gonna get a lot more gigs after this. I can feel it!" "Oh, really?" Fluttershy asked quietly and somewhat nervously. "Totally!" Rainbow confirmed. Fluttershy gulped. Being onstage was hard enough as it was, but to do it on a regular basis... "Let's not get ahead of ourselves, y'all." Applejack said. "Maybe our gig will get us more offers, maybe it won't. But let's not forget the reason we're doin' this." "Yeah, yeah. Spirit of competition and all." Rainbow commented. "I'm just thinking about what's best for the band." Their conversation was interrupted by a knock at the door. Standing in the doorframe was Twilight Sparkle, the most recent addition to their little group. "Hey, guys." she greeted. Twilight received a chorus of greeting from the Rainbooms in response. "I heard you guys playing. You sound really great." Twilight complimented. "You've got a great voice, Sunset." Sunset smiled and blushed slightly at the compliment. The other Rainbooms noticed and giggled slightly. "Anyways," Rainbow Dash "did you ask Cadence about who we'll be competing against?" Twilight nodded. "According to her, we'll be competing against Crystal Prep, Primus Academy, Nemesis High, Appaloosa High, and Trottingham Institute." Rarity whistled. "It seems we'll be facing some stiff competition this year." she acknowledged. "Heh. Don't make me laugh, Rares." Rainbow Dash proclaimed. "That doesn't mean anything. 'Cause they aren't Wondercolts!" Rainbow Dash was met with a round of cheers. At another school... In another town, several miles away from Canterlot city, there was a prestigious high school known as Primus Academy. The school held a plethora of students just as colourful as any school, not just in personality but physical appearance as well. The students learned to be professionals at this school, whether they be professional athletes, doctors, lawyers, engineers, politicians, or whatever else they could ever aspire to be. Among the many students enrolled at this academy, one of the most hard-working was none other than Optimus Prime. The Prime family had a long line of successful businessmen and politicians, and Optimus hoped to honour his family name. The student was currently making his way out the red truck he drove so often to get to homeroom. His red complexion made a sharp contrast to his blue hair. He adjusted his jacket as he walked towards the front door of the school. "Yo, Optimus!" A high-pitched voice called. Optimus looked to see a much shorter boy with a bright yellow complexion and black hair run to his side. Optimus smiled. "Hey, Bee." he greeted. "What's going on?" Bumblebee smiled, and began talking. "Well, I just found out that Pipes' collection of useless junk got raided last night and he's taking it pretty badly but it's hard to feel sorry for him considering it had exactly ZERO value which brings up the question of who exactly felt the need to sneak into Pipes' garage to steal it in the first place. Pretty weird, right? Anywho, I just found out they're making a movie based off the Circuit Breaker comic series! How weird is that? There's only so much material you can get out of a chick who hates giant robots, but I've seen weirder concepts get made into great movies. The Mega Blox movie, for example! That was awesome! Who knew a toy could make a great movie? I mean it was fast and energized yet slow and had great character development and dadadadadadadadadadadadada...." Bumblebee's endless stream of words eventually devolved into nothing but gibberish to anybody who listened for too long, but Optimus still attempted to respectfully pay attention. Luckily, his small friend's blabberfest was cut off by a distraction. "A-hem." A boy with alabaster skin and red hair dressed in a white jacket spoke, leaning next to the entrance door. "You ever gonna take a breath, Bumblebee?" Bumblebee frowned at the remark whilst Optimus chuckled. "How's it going?" he greeted. Ratchet shook his head. "Not good, I'm afraid." he said. "I found out my final tests are going to be right after the Friendship Games. Which means I won't be getting much studying done." Ratchet sighed. "How did you convince me to sign up again?" Optimus shook his head. "Sorry, man." he said. "I wouldn't have asked if I knew." "Not your fault." Ratchet stated. "Just me complaining." Their conversation was interrupted by the ring of the school bell, signaling the beginning of first period. The friends bid their farewells and made their way to their respective homerooms. Once Optimus found his desk the morning announcements blared over the loudspeakers. "Attention, students." The voice began. "This is headmaster Magnus with your morning announcements." As if the students didn't know what was happening. "First and foremost, as you know, the Friendship Games will be starting in 2 days. Any students that will not be staying at the hotel will have to hand in letters of confirmation if you have not already done so. Second, the buses leaving for Canterlot city will be leaving at 9:00 AM Thursday morning. All students on the main and backup teams must be present at that time, or else you will need your own mode of transportation...and..." Optimus listened to the miscellaneous announcements that followed, not really paying attention as they didn't concern him. He had handed in his information note days ago. He wasn't staying at a hotel. His father's business partner was happy to let him stay at his place for a duration of time. Optimus took this time to think about the Friendship Games. His school had many accolades, and this was his chance to earn it a new one. Optimus worked his hardest to make a name for himself, and it was finally time to do something important. This is my time to shine. He thought with a smile. Meanwhile, at another school... Nemesis High was nowhere near as prestigious as Primus Academy. That much could be seen in their much lower grade average. Though it did have its share of bright students, Nemesis simply couldn't compete with its rival school. This irritated Megatron to no end. As one of the brightest students at the school, he wished to prove his worth to the world, and rub it in the face of Optimus Prime. And the Friendship Games were the perfect opportunity. The grey-skinned, dark grey-haired boy sneered as he walked through the halls of the school, students making way for the Alpha Male of Nemesis High. Though Megatron was studious, he also had a major reputation for being ruthless to anyone who crossed him. He was ambitious and unafraid to dirty his hands. A nasty combination for any high school student. After several minutes of walking he reached his destination: the Headmaster's office. The office that housed the one person at Nemesis that wasn't scared of him. Megatron opened the door to find a simple desk with a chair spun to face away from him. "You called me?" Megatron asked. The chair spun around to reveal a tall man with an angular face and bald head. His grey hair circled his head, yet didn't reach the top. It also came up as little tufts around his ears. The man had a dark purple complexion and one yellow eye, the other covered by an eyepatch. He was Shockwave, headmaster of Nemesis High. "Sit down, Megatron." he said. Megatron pulled up a chair and complied. "So, why did you call me up here?" he asked. "I've summoned you here for you to reassure me." Shockwave explained. "You will be competing in these 'Friendship Games', yes?" Megatron nodded. "Good." Shockwave said. "I just wanted to remind you of something. Though these games may be about 'friendship', know that you're not to be nice." Shockwave's eyes narrowed. "Especially towards Primus' Autobots." Megatron nodded confidently, grinning. "Long live the Decepticons." he said. "Long live the Decepticons." Shockwave repeated. Back in Equestria, at the Autobot base... "So...care to explain what we just witnessed?" Princess Celestia asked. She stared Optimus Prime in the face, using her wings to stay at eye level. Luna did the same. "Yes." she agreed. "Who was that...thing you fought? Why is it here?" As the Princesses interrogated Optimus, Fluttershy witnessed the petrified Mirage be loaded onto what appeared to be a floating metal stretcher by Ironhide. She flew up to the stretcher, disturbed, but concerned. "Oh, my." Fluttershy commented. Mirage's face seemed to be frozen in an expression of pain. "Will he be ok?" "He'll be fine." Ratchet stated, somewhat surprised by Fluttershy's immediate concern. "Once the effects of the Null Ray wear off he'll be back to normal." He then began carting Mirage to the Autobots' Medbay, Fluttershy in tow. Meanwhile, Optimus Prime explained Starscream to the other ponies and dragon. "That...was Starscream. A Decepticon Seeker." "What's a Decepticon?" Spike asked. "Our mortal enemies." Optimus informed gravely. "Foes we've fought for millions of Solar Cycles, and now they're here..." his head lowered "...which puts every living thing on this planet in danger." The ponies' eyes widened in fear. Optimus sighed. "I should've known they'd follow us." he stated. He then turned to the ponies. "You should stay here. Stay safe." he suggested. "Wheeljack, Ratchet, find any leads you can on the Decepticons." Optimus turned to leave, but a rainbow streak quickly flew in front of his face. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Rainbow Dash called. "You just straight up say our world's in danger, and you just expect us to sit around and let YOU handle it!?" "I appreciate your bravery, miss." Optimus said. "But we know the Decepticons better than anybody. It's safer for you not to get involved." "Then educate us, Prime." Luna requested. "Tell us about these 'Decepticons' and how to fight them." "She's right." Celestia agreed. "This is OUR kingdom they're invading, and we WILL defend it." Twilight then took the opportunity to step forward. "As Princess of Friendship, I will not allow Equestria to be threatened by evil. Count me in." she said, determined. Spike nodded in agreement. Optimus looked around at the ponies, ready and willing to help he and his Autobots fight their longtime foes. "Very well. I'll tell you about the Decepticons." Optimus took the Autobot equivalent of a deep breath. "Our planet was once a powerful empire, peaceful, and just. That was until the Decepticons attacked. They wanted to rule Cybertron in a militaristic nature, but we disagreed. And so began the war. The war that ravaged our planet until there was simply nothing left. It could no longer support life, so we left. We scattered across the galaxy, hoping to find anything to help rebuild our home, or even keep us alive. But the Decepticons didn't stop hunting us. Eventually, we found ourselves coming to this planet, and the Decepticons followed. My crew and I piloted this ship, the Ark, against the Decepticon's Nemesis battleship. Both of our ships suffered critical engine failures and crashed upon this planet, sending all of us into stasis lock. It seems the Decepticons have recently awoken, and they will stop at nothing to destroy us, and enslave all living beings...and now they've come here. For us...and you." Meanwhile, elsewhere... In a rock quarry a fair distance away from the Autobot base three ponies were on the search for one of their closest friends. Applejack and Rarity had called in the help of their unpredictable friend, Pinkie Pie, to assist. The pink pony was currently sniffing the various rocks in her environment like a bloodhound in search of Rainbow Dash. Applejack and Rarity simply walked along, following Pinkie Pie's lead. "Pinkie, are you sure this is where she went?" Applejack asked. "Positive." Pinkie replied, taking a moment to lick a small pebble in her hoof. "I know rocks, and these rocks have a strong Dash-y scent about them which means..." Pinkie licked her hoof and held it high. "She went this way!" she exclaimed, dashing off. "Wait, wasn't she FLYING?" Rarity asked. "How does she leave a-" "Just don't question her." Applejack stated. Rarity just shook her head, remembering who she was dealing with. The ponies continued along, following Pinkie before she stopped abruptly. "What's wrong?" Rarity inquired. "My front left hoof is aching." Pinkie said. Applejack quirked an eyebrow. "You wanna take a break?" she asked. Pinkie giggled before turning to face her friends. "No, silly! It's part of my Pinkie Sense!" she said as if it were the most logical thing in the world. Applejack and Rarity suddenly appeared worried. "What does achy hooves mean?" Rarity said. "No, it's just my front left hoof!" Pinkie explained, holding out her hoof to demonstrate. "All my hooves hurting means that there's bugs in the kitchen. My back left hoof means that somepony's feeling stressed. My front righ-" "Pinkie." Applejack interrupted. "Front left." Pinkie blinked. "Oh yeah!" she said. "When my front left hoof aches it means that something unexpected is about to burst from the ground!" Then, as if on cue, a huge geyser of green liquid burst from the ground near the ponies, who quickly dashed for cover behind a nearby boulder. It didn't take long for the ponies to realize the liquid was some form of acid, as it ate away at whatever it touched. They were very grateful for their current cover. The flow of acid quickly ceased as all became quiet. Applejack, nearest to the edge of the boulder, dared to peek out and see what there was. She saw nothing but the mysterious hole that had just been spewing a caustic sludge. She just began to make her way to investigate when something else emerged from the hole, causing her to retreat back behind her cover. "What is it!?" Rarity whispered. "I don't know!" Applejack answered. "Well, look again!" Rarity suggested. Applejack complied, looking behind their cover. Emerging from the hole was a green cement mixer, seemingly undisturbed by the acid puddles around it. At first, Applejack was confused. She had cement mixing devices before, but done attached to vehicles. Then she became terrified. The cement mixer suddenly shifted into a giant green-and-purple robot. "Hey! Coast-coast is clear!" The mixer called down the hole. After that several more vehicles emerged from the hole. First, a front-end loader, then a crane, then a power shovel, then a bulldozer, then a dump truck. Each vehicle shared a similar colour scheme with the cement mixer, and they all changed into their own giant robot forms. "Well, what is it?" Rarity asked. She received no answer from the slack-jawed Applejack. "Applejack?" she insisted. "You...you need to see this fer yourself." Applejack said. Rarity quirked an eyebrow before moving to look around the boulder. She soon wore the same befuddled expression Applejack wore at the sight of the robots. "Ooooh! Cool!" Pinkie said, having looked around the other side of their rock. The robots seemed to be having a conversation. "So, what have we found, Mixmaster?" The front-end loader, called Scrapper, asked the cement mixer. "Easy. We found more rocks-rocks." Mixmaster replied. "Is this all this planet contains?" The crane, called Hook, complained. "Just stones?" "Not according to Megatron." Scrapper said. "Apparently this planet hosts flesh creatures." "Then why are we only finding rocks?" Hook asked, looking in Mixmaster's direction. "Hey-hey! Don't blame me!" Mixmaster defended. "You asked me to dig-dig these tunnels, so I did." "Well, look at it this way." Scrapper suggested. "At least now we know where NOT to dig. Tomorrow, we dig in the opposite direction." "But what do we report to Megatron?" The dump truck, called Long Haul, decided to speak up. "Do we just tell him we've found nothing?" "Well, what do you propose we do?" Hook asked. "Head out on the surface, maybe?" Long Haul suggested. "We might actually find something important. Besides, I'm sick of tunnels." "Long Haul's got a point." Scrapper declared. "If we head out on ground level we might actually encounter something worth mentioning." "Good." The bulldozer, called Bonecrusher, approved. "I'm bored out of my processor." Applejack and Rarity dashed back behind their rock. "Oh, this is BAD!" Applejack proclaimed. "What if those things find Ponyville!? It'd be a disaster!" "Now, now. We could be taking this out of context." Rarity tried to reassure her friend. "Maybe they're just lost and trying to find their way home." "They don't sound lost to me!" Applejack stated. "Why the hay would they be diggin' tunnels if they were lost? I'm pretty sure you ain't supposed to go UNDERGROUND when you're lost!" "Even so, we can't just jump to conclusions!" Rarity insisted. "That simply wouldn't be right! I'm just as scared as you are but we have to give them a chance at least!" The two mares continued to bicker in a fashion that they didn't even notice the power shovel robot heading in their direction. They didn't notice the robot peeking around the boulder to find them until Pinkie Pie chimed in. "Hi!" she squeaked, catching the attention of her friends. The robot, called Scavenger, reached his large hand forward and caught the ponies in his iron grip. "Hey, guys!" he called, walking over to his fellow robots. "Check it out! I actually found something!" The robots diverted their attention to Scavenger, noticing the colourful fleshies in his grip. "Well, well. You brought back something worthwhile this time!" Hook backhand-complimented. Scavenger smiled nonetheless. Scrapper leaned down to get a closer look at the ponies. "Well, well, well, what are you, little ones?" he asked. "....uh." Rarity tried to speak, but simply couldn't find the words. "Hi!" Luckily, Pinkie managed to speak easily. "I'm Pinkie Pie and this is Rarity and Applejack! We're ponies! What are you?" she replied. "Ponies, eh?" Scrapper said. "Well, we're the Constructicons." "The greatest construction team in the Decepticon army." Hook boasted, much to Scrapper's annoyance. "No big deal." "Ooooh! Neat!" Pinkie complimented. "But...what's a Decepticon?" "We are." Scrapper answered. "It's our solemn duty to defeat the rebellious forces of the Autobots." "Cool!" Pinkie shouted. "Only one question...what's an Autobot?" "They're kind of like us...but bad." Scavenger decided to explain. "We've been warring with them for millions of Solar Cycles." "Wow. That's a looooong time." Pinkie said. Applejack and Rarity were more confused by the fact that Pinkie knew what a Solar Cycle was. "Yup." Scavenger agreed. "Still, it doesn't look like they're on this planet, so you should be safe!" he lied. They were most definitely not safe. "That's great!" Pinkie exclaimed, before gasping. "I should throw you guys a party!" "Excuse me?" Long Haul wondered if he heard the pink thing correctly. "A party!" Pinkie repeated. "You guys are obviously new around here, and I ALWAYS throw welcome parties for new friends! I'll show you back to Ponyville so we can start planning!" Pinkie suggested, grinning. The Constructicons exchanged looks, all silently agreeing. "Ok." Scrapper accepted. "Sounds good. Constructicons, transform." The robots changed back into their vehicle modes, Scavenger placing the ponies down in the process. "Choose a ride and lead the way." Pinkie happily hopped into Scrapper's cockpit while Applejack and Rarity hesitantly climbed into Long Haul. The Constructicons properly introduced themselves as Pinkie rambled on about parties and whatnot. Though the Constructicons' faces were not visible, they were all smirking internally. Tiny fleshlings leading a team of Decepticons directly into their home. Sometimes it was too easy...