Optimus’ eyes widened as Cadence finished her story. “By the Allspark,” he muttered in shock. He froze for a moment, his eyes darting around as he processed what he’d been told. Finally, he asked the important question. “Is she still alive?”
“The sun and the moon are still coming up, so yes,” Cadence answered. "but she's on the Decepticon flagship."
Optimus sighed, placing two fingers to his forehead. “This complicates matters,” he said. “Where is Luna? I need to speak with her immediately.”
Twilight and Cadence exchanged an awkward glance. “That’s going to be a problem,” Cadence told him. Optimus cocked an eyebrow.
“She disappeared after Celestia teleported her out of Canterlot. Discord’s been able to narrow her location down to the Everfree forest, but we’ve had a few expeditions in and couldn’t find her, even when Flutters used a pack of wolves!” Twilight explained.
Optimus sighed again, placing a hand on his chin as he formed a plan. “Jazz, bring your team to the deck immediately,” he ordered, before raising a finger to his com-link. Jazz snapped to attention, then ran into the Nemesis. “What else can you tell me about the Decepticons?” he inquired, turning back to the alcorns.
“The entire force is stationed around Canterlot, but they bombard us every day at noon,” Twilight explained.
“Noon is in an hour, correct?” Prime asked again, Twilight nodding in acknowledgement. “Then that is our chance.”
Before either alicorn could question what it was their ‘chance’ for, Jazz returned, along with a new green and yellow Autobot. His face was nothing really remarkable; silver and noseless with blue eyes. He was shorter than Optimus, but fairly beefy. His chest was to be a yellow plate with a grill angled downward,while his abdomen seemed to be very, very flexible glass, not unlike Starscream’s belly-cockpit. His knees were grey with two wings protruding from them, and his legs were green with black vents near the feet. His helmet was green, similar to that of a samurai, but with a crest on its top. “Reporting for duty, Prime,” he said, his voice exceeding youth, as well as a sense of duty.
“At ease, Springer.” Optimus said, setting the other Autobot at ease.
Cadence examined the pair, confused about one small detail. “I’ll admit I’m not too familiar with how your kind works, but isn’t this a little small for a ‘team?’”
Suddenly, a loud crash startled the pink alicorn. Something or someone was dragging something metalic up the deck, creating a terrible scraping noise. “Come on Grimlock!” someone shouted from inside the ship. A pair of massive forms emerged from the Nemesis, one of them dragging the other.
“Princess Cadence, meet the rest of team Skyfire, Jetfire and Grimlock,” Prime said.
Jetfire was a massive bot, at least two times taller than Optimus. He was mostly white, with red and blue accents dotting his body. His chest armor extended out at the top, shielding his neck. A cockpit lay in his abdomen, flanked by two red streaks, and his shoulders were shielded by two shoulder plates, the tips of which protected the upper corners of his chest. Lower arms’ armor curved outward, while his shin’s armor curved in.
The other ‘bot he was pushing out was far more interesting. His head was black and mouthless, with a single visor instead of eyes. His arms and legs were silver, while his chest was gold, with a black plate in the middle. He was also a sizable ‘bot, his head falling halfway between Optimus and Jetfire’s.
“Me Grimlock no take orders from anyone! Me Grimlock king!” the dino-bot protested. Jetfire growled, tugging on his teammate again. Jazz shook his head, striding up to the two and placing a hand on Jetfire’s shoulder. The Autobot nodded in understanding, before releasing Grimlock.
“You got that right, Grimlock,” he said. The dino-bot beamed with pride, quietly giggling happily. “Course, there are some ‘bots who might not believe ya.”
Grimlock audibly gasped. “Who?!” he demanded.
“The Decepticons, man. They’re wack,” Jass told him. “In fact, I heard one of ‘em call you weak,” he added with a smug grin that evaded the Dinobot's detection.
“Weak? Weak! Me Grimlock show them!” he exclaimed as he beat his own chest with his fist. Suddenly, Grimlock realized one slight problem. “Uh, where Dee-cep-tee-cons be?” he asked.
“They’re hidin’ on their ship, and Jetfire’s gonna take ya to ‘em,” Jazz explained.
Grimlock pushed past the smaller Autobot, making his way towards Jetfire. “You take me to Dee-cep-tee-cons! Now!” he demanded. Jetfire rolled his eyes, before changing into his jet form.
“Excellent work Jazz,” Prime complimented his soldier. Jazz coolly nodded at Optimus as he boarded Jetfire. The ‘bot’s inner compartment was large by pony standards, but the already fairly short Autobot had to crouch to fit inside.
“Where are you going?” Twilight finally asked.
“We are going to rescue Celestia,” Optimus answered.
“In that case, I’m coming with you,” Twilight said.
“No, you are not.” Optimus knelt down to Twilight’s level, looking the mare in the eyes. “I have another in portal task for you, Twilight. I need you to find Luna. Take any Autobots you need. Smokescreen will guide you through the ship,” Prime told her. Twilight nodded, newfound resolve filling her heart, before she galloped towards the ship entrance. “Smokescreen, report to the flight deck,” he ordered.
As she watched her sister-in-law, Cadence giggled to herself quietly. "Wow Optimus, are you sure you can't do magic? I haven't seen her that happy since the Decepticons first arrived," Cadence said.
Optimus chuckled at her remark, though his smile faded soon after. "Cadence, I need you to hide the Nemesis. Can you do that for me?" he asked.
"I once shielded an entire empire from an evil unicorn smoke-monster for days strait, I can handle that," she said as her wings instinctively flared.
"Good," Optimus said as he boarded Jetfire. "Once the Decepticons are over Ponyville, drop the illusion. Ultra Magnus will know what to do from there," he instructed, the princess nodding in understanding, before taking off. With everyone loaded, Springer changed forms, becoming an attack helicopter. The pair of Autobots took flight, speeding towards the Decepticon warship.
---------------
Starscream cracked open his eyes. The last time he felt like this was when he’d gotten over energized at a bar on Cybertron. The entire world looked fuzzy. Everything sounded like static. His entire body felt light. “Get up, you waiste of spark!” Except that. The Decepticon leapt to his feet, shuffling backwards as quickly as his feet would allow. Megatron stood before him, his piercing, burning red eyes fixed on Starscream.
“M-Megatron? How? Prime vanquished you!” the Seeker insisted.
“Yes, he did, and I killed you as well,” Megatron pointed out, forcing Starscream to freeze in place.
His eyes widened as he realized what Megatron was suggesting. “I...I’m dead…”
“Of course you’re dead; we both are,” the larger ‘bot spat.
“How is this possible?” Starscream asked, still shocked at his own unlife.
“I do not know, nor do I care,” Megatron shouted as he scowled in frustration. “Now come on, we have work to do!”
“We?” Starscream questioned. “In case you’ve forgotten, I’m an Autobot now,” he reminded his former master.
“In that case, you have even more reason to aid me,” Megatron said as he strode away.
“And why is that?” Starscream asked. Megatron paid him no heed. In response, Starscream scanned the area, searching for anyone else. Unable to locate another life form, he chose to follow Megatron. He caught up with the Warlord surprisingly easily; without a body, he felt no fatigue from sprinting. “Well? Why should I help you?” he asked again.
Megatron couldn’t help but growl in annoyance at his former second in command. “If you must know, Shockwave plans to revive me. I plan to stop him,” he explained.
“And you want to stop him?” Starscream questioned, cocking an eyebrow at Megatron.
“Yes, I do!” Megatron insisted. “I was slain by not the mighty Optimus Prime, or another great warrior, but by a multi-colored equine monarch who shot me in the back. I cannot possibly face my loyal Decepticons now.”
Starscream stood in shock, then laughed hysterically. “Princess Celestia did you in? After so many centuries of battle a horse finally did you in?” he shouted.
Megatron sighed, allowing his head to rest in his palm. “How did I sink to this level?” he pondered. “Well, are you going to help me?”
“In the interest of preserving Equestria, yes,” Starscream answered. “So, what is your plan?”
“Shockwave plans to create a sparkless body and insert the dark-energon shard from my corpse,” Megatron explained.
“Create a new body for you? How does he plan to go about doing that?” Starscream asked.
Megatron hesitated for a moment, refusing to took Starscream in the eyes. “The body is techno-organic,” he finally confessed. He growled as Starscream erupted into laughter.
“Oh, how the once mighty Megatron has fallen,” he said.
Megatron groaned as the two continued down the hall. “Perhaps I should allow Shockwave to revive me! It would be half the insult of sharing the rest of eternity with you!” That managed to shut Starscream up, rather quickly, too.
Starscream recoiled at Megatron’s display, wisely giving him some space; it was more of a jester, since they “So, what exactly is your