“I...I can’t believe it! The princesses...Twilight...sold out the Autobots?!” Rainbow Dash asked in shock.
“Hold yer horses R.D. Ah’m sure there’s a good reason they’re doin’ this, we just can’t see it yet,” Applejack assured her.
“You’re right Applejack. Look!” Starscream interjected, pointing into the city. From their angle, the three could see Bulkhead, Arcee, and Twilight crouching behind a building, which unfortunately had two Vehicons posted on top of it. “What do’ya thin’ they’re doin’?” Applejack questioned.
Starscream brought his claw to his chin, before his eyes widened in realization. “They do not know we disabled the weapons,” he reminded her.
“Well what’da we do?” the farm-pony asked again.
“Stay here, I will aid them,” he ordered, before dropping of the mountainside and changing form. Rainbow Dash carefully followed him, holding Applejack under her.
He passed over Arcee and Bulkhead’s hiding place, launching a missile at the two Vehicons blocking their way. Then he strafed the streets, clearing them of any Vehicons.
---------------
Optimus and Celestia remained hidden in the alley, the only safe haven from the hail of deadly gunfire. Suddenly, a series of energy bolts ran down the street. Not long after, the sound of a large explosion echoed through the street. Soon the fire cleared enough to allow Prime to peer out.
“Be careful,” Celestia warned.
Optimus nodded, before drawing his gun and looking into the street. “We need to move, now!” he ordered.
Prime and Celestia darted across the street, firing a few bolts of magic and energon as the moved, before reuniting with Luna, Rarity, Ratchet, and Smokescreen across the street.
“Ratchet, what happened? Who strafed the street?” Prime asked.
“As hard as it is to believe, Starscream,” Ratchet told him.
“Starscream?” Prime and Celestia asked in shock.
“I’m just as surprised as you are” Ratchet said.
Suddenly, Rainbow Dash and Applejack landed next to the group, eliciting a gasp as they surprised them. “Princesses, Optimus, y’all need to listen! The Nemesis’ weapons don’t work no more! Starscream sab-o-tadged them!” Applejack told her superiors.
“Are you saying the Nemesis is harmless?” Luna asked.
“Harmless as Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash answered.
“Well, that certainly simplifies things,” Celestia pointed out.
“Regardless, we need to move quickly,” Optimus said, before turning to the princesses. “Celestia, Luna, I need you to clear the skies. Can you do that for me?” he asked, earning a nod from both princesses. They leapt into the streets, flapping their wings as they began to ascend. Optimus kept his eyes locked on them as they rose. He closed the briefly, breathing a sigh of relief as the pair safely took flight, before turning back to Ratchet and Smokescreen. “Cover me,” he ordered.
---------------
Celestia and Luna took flight, quickly flapping their wings to gain altitude. As they rose, two squadrons of Vehicons flew towards them, unleashing a flurry of energon bolts in the direction of the sisters. Both alicorns dodged the deadly blasts with ease, before unleashing their magic on their attackers. Magic missiles flew out of the sisters’, forcing the unlucky soldiers took evasive actions. Regardless of their fancy flying, none of the Decepticons could shake the missiles, and the magical projectiles struck each of them one by one. The magic missiles weren’t meant to kill the Decepticons; rather, each was a paralysis spell that would last about a week.
With the fighters dispatched, the pair continued to rise, eventually landing on the deck of the Nemesis.
“Hello, your majesties,” a voice from behind them greeted. The sisters turned to see Megatron, with the Matrix of Leadership around his neck. “Welcome to my warship, the Nemesis.”
“Take it off,” Celestia commanded in a harsh tone that sent chills up her sister’s spine.
“Oh, do you mean my trophy? As I told Prime, it rests around the neck of its rightful owner,” Megatron told her, grinning as her nose wrinkled in anger.
“Megatron, we needn’t fight. I too know what it is like to feel anger towards a brother, or in my case, a sister,” Luna paused, gathering herself as she was nearly overcome with emotion. Her speech was taking a tole on Celestia as well, as her nose returned to its smooth, flat state. “But war is not the answer. You’ve killed your own planet, what else is there to fight for?”
“What else is there to fight for?” Megatron asked. “Freedom.” Both sisters’ eyes widened at the warlord’s words. “For centuries I was a gladiator in the pit, forced to kill for the amusement of Cybertron’s affluent; forced to kill my friends as the high council watched on in amusement. When Optimus freed me from that life all those years ago, I swore I would be slave to no one. That is why I could not accept Optimus as Prime, and why I lost a brother,” he explained his tone almost remorseful. Almost.
“You are a fool Megatron,” Celestia said suddenly. Both Luna and Megatron turned towards her, shocked and confused. “How can you not see that in your fight for freedom, you’ve become just as oppressive as those high council members you hated so much?”
“My oppression is justified! This is war! I must maintain order!” he hastily answered.
“And how many opportunities have you had to end the war? How many times has Optimus extended an arm of peace to you? How many-”
Without warning, Megatron lunged towards the solar princess sword first. Thinking quickly, Luna roughly jerked her sister aside, saving her from the blade. Megatron’s sword embedded itself in the Nemesis’ hull hilt-deep, pushed in by his own weight. He quickly withdrew his sword, using his immense strength to draw it out of his ship like it had never been stuck. “This little chit-chat is over.”
---------------
Starscream turned back towards the Nemesis for another straif, observing the battlefield during the turn. As he did, he found Bumblebee locked in combat with Dreadwing. The scout unleashed a flurry of blows against his attacker, but the larger Decepticon shrugged each off, and retaliated with an overhead slash. Dreadwing’s sword cut into the surface of Bumblebee’s armor, drawing energon and sending sparks flying. Bumblebee fell to the ground, clutching his chest as energon trickled down his arm. As he feel, Dreadwing lifted his sword into the air, readying to deliver a final blow.
Starscream knew he had to act quickly. He immediately changed his vector, plotting a course directly towards Bumblebee. Despite his speed, Starscream was still to slow. Luckily, Arcee intervened, using her arm-blades to perry Dreadwing’s attack. Enraged, Dreadwing kicked Arcee, forcing her to slam into Bumblebee. The two created a mass of metal and energon, one Dreadwing was ready to cut apart. He raised his sword yet again, only to have Starscream catch it in his hand.
Arcee and Bumblebee looked up at the two Decepticons, completely dumbfounded. “Starscream?” Arcee asked in shock.
The former Decepticon didn’t answer her question, rather he dropped a syringe of a red liquid. Arcee picked up the strange device, looking it over curiously. “Don’t just look at it,” Starscream shouted impatiently, his knees buckling under Dreadwing’s might. “use it!” Rather than injecting herself, Arcee placed the syringe to Bumblebee’s arm, directly thrusting red energon into his veins. In a split second, both she and Bumblebee disappeared, the power of the red energon rendering them nigh invulnerable.
---------------
Dreadwing paused for a moment. His quarry had escaped. Yet again, he failed to avenge his brother and it was all Starscream's fault. Unadulterated rage flowed through him as he returned to reality, where he realized Starscream had fled. “Coward,” he spat as he gave chase.
Starscream panted as he ran, carefully going over his life choices. “Now I remember why I’m not a hero,” he said as he scurried away from his closing assailant. As he passed a stack of boxes, he pushed them over to block the street. The wooden crates were little more than paper before the furious Decepticon. He splintered them effortlessly, continuing his chase unimpeded.
“Starscream!” Upon hearing his name, the Decepticon to see Optimus running towards him. He froze, holding out his hands as he waited for the savage beating Prime would no doubt unleash upon him, and waited, and waited. Suddenly, he heard a loud thud from behind him. He finally found to courage to uncover his eyes, and he was shocked by what he beheld
Optimus had kicked Dreadwing into a building, sending shattered bricks and deformed pipes flying, though the strike failed to daze dreadwing for long. He renewed his assault, this time focusing his wrath on Prime. He unleashed blow after blow upon Optimus. The Autobot was able to block each blow with his hastily drawn blade, but just barely. Forced to think quickly, he grabbed a nearby piece of pipe and, with one strong thrust, lodged it’s jagged tip into his adversary’s chest. Dreadwing howled in pain as he felt the pipe rip and tear his chest. In spite of Prime’s valiant effort to achieve the contrary, the strike was not fatal, though it did buy him valuable time to distance himself from Dreadwing.
The Decepticon lurched forward, bent on continuing his assault, only to find himself in great pain. The piece of bumbling embedded in his chest had wedged itself between him and the street. He tried to use his free hand to remove the pipe, but it wouldn’t budge. Finally, out of desperation, he cut the pipe, leaving only a fraction of it in his chest.
As the pipe rattled against the ground, Dreadwing lunged forward, swinging his blade wide and from the right. Optimus raised his own blade, deflecting the blow. Suddenly, Dreadwing’s fist came from the left, sending sparks flying as it collided with his face-plate. He raised his sword and swung down from the right. Optimus leapt backwards, but not in time to avoid the blade. The tip of the sword cut through sun visor on his chest and the metal frame around his window.
Suddenly, a loud scream echoed through Canterlot. Something fell from the Nemesis, which Optimus instantly recognized.
Seeing Prime distracted, Dreading raised his blade yet again, but Optimus was too fast. He delivered a blindingly fast kick to the pipe embedded in his opponent's chest. Dreadwing’s sword instantly fell to his side as he used his free arm to clutch his chest in pain. Seeing an opening, Optimus quickly drew his ion cannon, firing several times into Dreadwing’s shoulder. Each bolt melted and battered the shoulder, ripping the metal flesh apart until the sloppily severed arm fell to the ground. The one armed Decepticon knelt to the ground, clutching the stub of his severed limb.
With his opponent defeated, Optimus retracted his sword and gun. Dreadwing glared up at the Prime, releasing his wound and slowly reaching for his sword. “Dreadwing,” he said as he turned away from the Decepticon. “do what your brother could not, and stay down.” He changed forms and drove away, leaving the wounded Decepticon in a growing pool of his own energon.