//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Friendship is Prime // by Gammerick //------------------------------// "Sister, they have arrived," Luna informed her sibling. "Very well. Send them in!" She gave that last instruction to one of the guards near the door. As the big, palace doors swung open, six young ponies walked through. The first was a purple unicorn with a mane of a darker shade. The next was a timid yellow Pegasus with pink hair. Then came an orange earth pony with a cowboy hat. Fourth to enter was a regal white unicorn with a luxurious purple mane. Fifth was a sky blue Pegasus with a rainbow colored main. Lastly, a pink earth pony with a poofy dark pink mane skipped along behind her friends. "Princess, we came as soon as we got the message," Twilight Sparkle, the purple unicorn addressed to her mentor. "What's the emergency?" "It seems that Discord…is gone," Celestia said with a cold, flat tone. However, at this seemingly casual statement, the six ponies couldn't help but let out a huge gasp of terror. "Discord's ESCAPED?" Twilight couldn't help but scream in surprise. "Oh no, not again," Fluttershy, the yellow pegasus, muttered as she crouched down to the ground, shivering with fear. "No way!" cried Rainbow Dash, the blue Pegasus. "The elements should have taken care of him. Now you're telling us he's on the loose again?" "We are not sure anymore." Luna answered Rainbow Dash. "Now what is that supposed to mean?" Applejack, the orange cowgirl pony, asked with concern. Celestia decided to inform them of the situation. "About a week ago, we discovered Discord's statue had gone missing. Since then however, nothing has happened. There hasn't been the slightest bit of commotion anywhere in Equestria." "Wait a minute," Rainbow Dash inquired. "He's been gone for a whole week and we're just learning about this NOW?" "We wanted to be sure what we were dealing with," Luna replied. "It is not in Discord's nature to sit around and do nothing. We wanted to try and figure out what he was planning." "Ooooh, maybe he was planning a SURPRISE PARTY!" Pinkie Pie, the pink pony, giggled with delight. "I love surprise parties. Especially when there's cake involved. You think maybe he got a cake for us? Or maybe he spent all week making a big chocolate ice cream cake, or maybe-" but before she could prattle on further, Rarity, the white unicorn, decided to close Pinkie's mouth with her hoof. "What about the elements?" Twilight inquired. "My sister and I have been guarding over them day and night," Celestia informed her. "However, in the event Discord may be planning something after all, we decided you should take charge of the elements. That is why we called you here today." At that moment, Luna used her magic to levitate a prestigious chest adorned with royal jewelry over to between where she and the 'mane six' (as they were sometime referred to) stood. She opened the chest to reveal five necklaces and a tiara, each embedded with a gem that matched each of the mane six's cutie marks. Pinkie received a necklace with a blue balloon gemstone. Rainbow Dash's had a red lightning bolt. Applejacks's had an orange apple, Rarity's had a purple diamond, and Fluttershy's was adorned with a pink butterfly gemstone. Twilight received the tiara, which had a star shaped jewel on top to match her cutie mark. "Thanks, princess," Twilight responded gratefully to her mentor. "If Discord pulls anything at all, we'll be ready." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The strange creature laughed, floating in midair. "Oh, it feels so good to be out again," he said smoothly while stretching and apparently trying to work out a few cricks in his body. Off to the side, the Autobots couldn't help but gaze at this being with perplexed looks on their faces. "Ratchet, what is this thing?" Arcee radioed back to her ally at the base. "I honestly haven't a clue what I'm looking at, and I doubt the computers will have anything on him either," Ratchet replied factually before averting his gaze over to where the children were standing. "Any ideas?" he asked them. "Don't look at me," Jack replied. "This isn't something we learned about in class." "Maybe that crazy artist was actually some crazy scientist?" Miko based her guess off her earlier theory about the statue. "Hmmm. He looks like something out of mythology," Raf hypothesized. "He looks like some kind of chimera." Back at the battlefield, Optimus decided to take the initiative and approach the creature. He was a fraction of Optimus's size, but this monster didn't seem to notice him yet. "Excuse me, strange creature, but what exactly are you? And why are you here?" He asked inquisitively. The beast finally turned his gaze in Optimus's direction, and he looked quite suprised. "I'm the strange creature?" it responded. "Perhaps you should speak for yourself, I've never seen anything like you at all. Definitely not what I was expecting." "I am Optimus Prime, an Autobot." He addressed himself. "Who are you?" "I suppose you wouldn't have heard about me, would you?" Discord pondered to himself out loud. "Very well, I'll tell you. I'm Discord, the spirit of chaos and disharmony itself." Optimus couldn't help but widen his eyes at such a response. "I…do not understand. If you really are such a powerful being, why are you here?" "Well aren't you the formal one?" Discord teased. "Fine I'll humor you. I decided that it was in my best interest to start somewhere fresh, maybe meet some new faces, and that I should go and cause as much chaos as possible." Optimus was starting to feel a great sense of unease the more he conversed with Discord. "Oh please," Megatron, who had suddenly approached the two, interrupted their conversation. "Legend tells of only ONE chaos-bringer. You are just some insect who decided to interrupt my fight with Optimus." Megatron now had the laser cannon on his hand aimed at Discord and ready to fire. "And now I'm going to squash this bug so that we can continue." "Hmm, the way I see it, the only bug around here that needs to be squished is you," Discord responded coyly before snapping his fingers. At that time, a large white light flashed in the sky, and the very next moment, what appeared to be a giant flyswatter had landed on top of Megatron. Everyone was stunned with shocked expressions as the swatter immediately disappeared in another flash of white light. "Lord Megatron!" Breakdown screamed as he rushed to the side of his leader. "He's out cold," Breakdown informed his partner. "We better get him back to the Nemesis." At that moment, a green portal identical to the one of the Autobots' Groundbridge appeared in front of them, and Knockout and Breakdown entered the portal, carrying their unconscious leader. Immediately after that, the portal disappeared. "What…what was that?" Arcee said in disbelief. "By the Allspark…" Ratchet muttered under his breath. "Did he just – squish Megatron with a giant flyswatter?" Jack asked in disbelief. "He took King Con down in one hit!" Miko couldn't help but scream with amazement. "I'm pretty sure chimeras could never do that!" Raf referred to his previous guess about Discord's identity. "It was probably just some stupid trick you guys," Bulkhead tried to reassure his comrades. "I've got this." "Bulkhead no!" Optimus cautioned his friend as Bulkhead approached the monster. "Don't worry. I bet I can take him out with one hand behind my back," Bulkhead proclaimed proudly. "I'll do you one better," Discord responded. "I'll take you out with both of my hands behind your back!" As he said this, his arms disappeared in a white flash. "Uh, don't you mean your back?" As soon as Bulkhead finished the question, he noticed a finger tapping on his shoulder. He turned to see Discord's eagle claw on Bulkhead's left shoulder, which then pointed to Bulkhead's other shoulder. As soon as Bulkhead turned his head to the other side, he received a punch to the jaw from Discord's lion paw, attached to Bulkhead's right shoulder. The punch was strong enough to send Bulkhead flying into a nearby rock wall. "No," Discord said flatly as his arms reappeared at his side. He then proceded to laugh hysterically at the pain he just caused. "Bulkhead!" Arcee screamed. She transformed into a motorcycle and attempted to charge Discord. However, as soon as she got close, she lost control of her steering. The ground beneath her had suddenly been covered in a slippery, soapy material. She transformed back to normal to try and regain her balance, but she ended up tumbling right into Bulkhead. "Ratchet, we need a Groundbridge!" Optimus instructed his friend. Shortly after that, another green portal opened up nearby. "Autobots, fall back!" he commanded. He, Bumblebee, Arcee, and Bulkhead immediately made a dash for the portal. "Leaving so soon? The fun's just getting started," Discord teased as he was just about to chase after the Autobots, but then he had to dodge a red laser that shot past him. "Decepticons, surround the monster!" It seems a group of about ten Vehicons had survived the previous battle and had just arrived on the scene. Now they had Discord completely surrounded. "Ready!" The Vehicons all lifted their blaster arms and aimed at the beast. "Aim!" They were charging their weapons and about to shoot. Suddenly Discord snapped his fingers again, and every single blaster arm on the Vehicons disappeared in a white flash. As the Vehicons were trying to figure out what was happening, their arms had reappeared in another white flash, floating right in front of them… and aimed at their heads. "Fire," Discord finished the statement coldly. Suddenly ten shots went off at once, and every Vehicon surrounding Discord dropped to the ground, permanently incapacitated. Unfortunately for Discord, the Autobots took this opportunity to retreat, for when he looked around, nobody else was there. "Oh well, I suppose that's enough games for now," Discord said to himself. "After all, there's plenty of chaos to wreak."