Operation: Patriotism

by Darkryt Orbinautz


XIX: Operation: Godslayer

Optimus looked around at the crowd.

“Optimus?” An Insecticon of all people raised its claw. “Now that you’re back, and we’re beginning to reject and tear down the Technoist mantras … what do we do now?”

“We rebuild.” Optimus said. “We renew our alliances with the Equestrians and people of Earth, and we go out into space to spread a message of peace and harmony throughout the universe.”

The ground rumbled beneath them, perplexing Optimus and his team. The ground shook again, and not a light shake, no, a tremor, an earthquake, a verifible earthquake which could very causes fissures in the ground unlucky Cybertronians could fall in if they didn’t watch their step.

A massive shadow peaked out from the distance and fell over them.

The crowd screamed and scattered, scrambling to disperse and get to safety.

Optimus looked up. Few things could make Optimus’ wizened, ripe-with-age optics widen in shock, but this was one of those things.

“By the AllSpark ….”

Metroplex appeared to menace them, his massive figure casting an imposing, threatening shadow over the land.

“Decepticons! Technoists!” Galvatron shouted, relaying a broadcast of his own through Metroplex’s internal communications hub. “This is your leader, Galvatron, speaking! Track the signal of this broadcast and come forth! Come together against the Autobots, the Imperials, and all their organic allies for one last push! The fate of Cybertron, of the Decepticons, of the universe will be determined today by the results of this battle! Come forward! Come hither! Stand with us! And I promise, all who fight with us and follow under the Decepticon banner on this day will be able to reap the reward of seeing their own world - their own Cybertron, just the way WE want it, and no one else! Come! Fight!”

Inside Metroplex, standing at attention at a terminal, Blackout shook his head. “This isn’t what I wanted … this was never what I wanted. This wasn’t what I thought I’d been promised at all … marching into the streets atop a zombie Autobot titan …”

“Are you having doubts, Blackout?” Galvatron asked with an understood tone of menace, his blade unfurling slicing through the air, ready to turn on Blackout at a moment’s notice if he wasn’t with them, and if he wasn’t with them, he was against them.

Blackout stood tall. “I apologize, Lord Galvatron, just … mumbling to myself. I assure you, Galvatron, I am committed.”

“Good.”


“Even if it’s not to the cause I thought it was …” Blackout murmured. “But it’s too late to turn back now.”


“And I promise, all who fight with us and follow under the Decepticon banner on this day will be able to reap the reward of seeing their own world … ”

Bludgeon and Starscream, in their mountain base, had both their arms crossed as they listened to this broadcast. Bludgeon reached over and turned off the device catching the signal.

“What do you think?” Bludgeon asked.

“I don’t know …” Starscream cupped his chin. “Sounds risky.”

“Risky? Oh, pfft. Don’t tell me that the new, cautious you is getting too soft, Starscream. Don’t you think a Decepticon world, a world all to our own, is worth the risk-reward ration?”

“I am not getting too soft. I simply want to weigh the benefits of all our options against their potential drawbacks.” Starscream insisted. He flicked his hand. “Assuming we did go, what could we even offer them they that don’t have themselves? Troops? Footsoldiers? I’m sure they have that to spare, if they’re making such a bold claim.”

Bludgeon raised up a finger. “Allow me to answer that for you. I have a little project I’ve been working on, let me show it to you …”

Bludgeon led Starscream out of their base and into a crater. There, Thunderwing’s lifeless body had towed, hauled up to their base.

“Thunderwing?” Starscream asked, dubious. “I don’t understand. What is a giant, lifeless, motionless corpse going to do for them?”

Bludgeon raised his finger again. “Watch … and observe.”

Bludgeon pulled out his sword, the sword glowing a faint purple from the energies of the Dark Spark. Bludgeon touched the blade to Thunderwing’s arm, and a faint, light humming could be heard.

“Ooh.” Starscream cooed in understand. “I see … well, in that case, allow me to make a few arrangements before we leave.”

Some time later, Shockwave walked through the base, observing as troops marched around, carrying out orders and getting ready to join the fight on Cybertron, ferrying boxes of weapons around. After being assured everything was running smoothly by what he saw, Shockwave walked up to Starscream, who was standing in front of Soundwave, streams of code flashing across the latter’s visor.

“Starscream, what are you doing?” Shockwave asked. “I thought we were supposed to be preparing our departure to leave for Cybertron.”

“We are.” Starscream said.”Soundwave and I are simply taking care of some things first. If something this big is about to go down, Soundwave wants to have a backup plan, just in case things don’t turn out quite liked we hoped.”

“I see. And what is this backup plan?”

“Nuclear missiles.” Starscream said. “The humans are inferior and backwards in several things, but you have to give them credit where credit is due - they sure know how to make things that blow stuff up but good. It even puts some Cybertronian weapons to shame.”

“I did not nuclear missiles had intergalactic launch and travel capabilities.” Shockwave leaned in.

“Well … they don’t. That’s where Soundwave’s Space Bridge ability comes in. He’s quite handy with them, you know.”

“I am aware.” Shockwave’s optic narrowed, expressing his annoyance.

“Ah.” Starscream gestured to Soundwave’s visor. “And here it is now. Soundwave’s already found one of the human computers to hack into.”

Indeed he had. Soundwave, after combing through the endless network of data he had access to, had found and zeroed in one human-built computer. A special human computer, one in particular …


Ratchet tapped his thumb against his pen, practicing for his upcoming test on the human skeletal system. “If the patient has a hairline fracture in their lower femur, what is the proper course of action? Ha, well, that’s easy, you simply put them into power-down mode to install a new filling … no, that’s for Cybertronians.” Ratchet shook his head and sighed, placing a tablet down on the table and resting his head against his hand.

“Is something troubling you, Ratchet?” Vigil asked.

“No, it’s nothing …” Ratchet sighed again. “It’s just that I can’t seem to get this test on the human system right, and it’s … very important to me that I get it right, after … something that happened to a friend of mine.” Ratchet picked the tablet up.

“I see. You have my condolences.”

Vigil buzzed, let out a high-pitched whine, and made a whir, his display going on the fritz, the red line of his ‘mouth’ bouncing all over his display. Crackling static could be heard coming from him.

“Vigil?” Ratchet leaned over, tossing the table aside. “Are you alright?”

“N-no …” Vigil stammered out. “I feel … p-p-paaainful. R-Ratchet, what-what’s … happening to meeee?”

Ratchet squinted and leaned forward. “By the AllSpark...”

“Hey!” Galloway’s agents entered the building. “What’s going on here?”

“Someone’s trying to hack into Vigil. And I think I know who.” Ratchet got out his tablet and etched some numbers onto it with his stylus. He handed it to the agent. “I need you to call this number?”

“Oi, what kind of scam are you trying to pull on here, eh? You don’t think we’re just gonna let you pull wool over our eyes and call whoever you want, maybe let ‘em track a signal?”

Ratchet stomped on the floor, putting himself to eye-level with the agent, which unnerved him. “Do you want a mad, dangerous Decepticon possibly in control of your nuclear launch codes?”

“Have you met Vigil? This computer’s as hack-proof as can be, thanks to the top scientists in Griffin Rock.”

“That does not exactly fill me with confidence, given Griffin Rock’s reputation.”

“WARNING!” Vigil shouted. “Firewall breach imminent. Suggest taking counter-measures.”

Ratchet glared at the surprised agent, thrusting the tablet into his hand. “Call this number, now.”


Back onboard Fortress Maximus, Raf was sitting on the floor, amusing himself on his laptop, while Miko sulked.

“It’s not fair.” Miko whined. “We’ve been on plenty of dangerous missions. Why do we have to stay behind for this one?”

“Because this one involved the Bots going into space, and we don’t have enough spacesuits to go around for the three of us?” Jack suggested.

“I’m good right here, thanks.” Raf said. “No action or fighting or blasting for me.” He had enough of that for one lifetime. He was more of a background, operation management sort of guy. Raf’s phone rang, to his confusion. He couldn’t imagine who could be calling right at this moment in time.

“Well, answer it!” Miko said. “It could be someone important!”

Raf answered the phone. “Rafael speaking.”

“Raf,” Ratchet spoke from the other end, “Soundwave is trying to hack into Vigil.”

“Vigil?”

“An experimental supercomputer Galloway put me in charge of monitoring and mentoring the A.I of. He’s tied into several U.S defense systems. Soundwave is trying hack into him and gain access to those codes and other things he doesn’t need access to, understand? I need you to hack into Vigil and help me fight him off.”

“Got it.” Raf cracked his knuckles, sitting the phone on his shoulder and glancing at Jack and Miko. “Well, lady and gentleman, it looks I’ll be seeing a little action of my own after all …”

“To get into Vigil’s network, you’ll need to …”


“Ratcheeeet … it hurts.” Vigil whined.

“I know, I know.” Ratchet placed a hand on Vigil’s keyboard. “Stay strong, my friend. Help is on the way.”

“Ratchet … I-I-I’m detecting another intruder in my systems.”

“Ha!” Ratchet pumped his fist. “Yes! He got in! Don’t worry, Vigil. That’s Raf. He’s my friend. He’s going to help you through this, okay?”

“Okay …” Vigil paused, his screen whirring and warbling. “I do feel better. The firewalls and encryptions are building back up. Tell Raf I said ‘thank you.”

“I will.”


In the Forged base, Starscream and Shockwave grew puzzled when Soundwave’s head jerked, a line of code disappearing from his visor.

“What’s happening?” Starscream asked.

“It appears a new player has entered the game.” Shockwave observed.

Soundwave righted his head and clenched his fists. He recognized this new player, and he would not be denied by him. Soundwave got ready for a hacking war.


“Oof.” Vigil groaned, his display becoming erratic and panicky again. “Ratchet, it-it-it’s back …”

“Soundwave’s not giving up.” Ratchet shook his head and scoffed. “What am I saying? It’s Soundwave. Of course he’s not giving up. Soundwave doesn’t give up.” Ratchet placed a finger to his comm. “Raf!”

“I’m on it.” Was Raf’s quick reply.

Vigil whined and warbled, a battle going on in his insides, his internal systems, as Raf and Soundwave vied for control of him, each of them setting up firewalls, encryption, and false loops and redirects to keep the other from gaining any control, any advantage in their duel.

“Vigil! Vigil!” Ratchet slammed his hands on Vigil’s keyboard. “Listen to me. You have to fight it. You have to fight it, okay?”

“O-o-okay … I’ll try.” Vigil said. An ear-splitting screech came from him as he attempted to remove the intrusion himself.

“That bought some time and stalled him, but it’s no good. Soundwave’s entrenched himself in, and he’s not stopping anytime soon.” Raf informed Ratchet over the phone.

“What do we propose we do?” Ratchet asked.

“My suggestion? Go on the attack. Whatever it you and Vigil did just now, keep doing it. Hold Soundwave at bay. Keep him occupied.”

“Raf, you can’t be seriously suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?”

“That’s right.” Raf cracked his knuckles. “I’m gonna try and hack Soundwave himself.”

“Such a thing can’t be done! Surely if it could, Autobot codebreakers would have done it during the war!”

“Do you want me to save your friend or not?”

Ratchet sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, pessimestic about the chances of this going over well. “Alright. Vigil, do you think if you focus, you can keep Soundwave out a little longer?”

“I will try.”

“I need you to do better than try!” Ratchet slammed his fist down on Vigil. “I’m sorry … I didn’t mean … I just lost my temper.”

“I understand. Deploying anti-virus scans … running options … setting up new encryptions …”

“Good, good, keep at it,” Raf said. “I’m almost in.”


Soundwave jerked and twitch, feeling that little scoundrel of a hacker play and buzz around inside his head. Well, not if Soundwave had anything to say about it, which, aside from being a voluntary mute, he most certainly did. Soundwave begin to engage Raf in a network duel, turning his attention to focus on his efforts to hack in. As he did, however, he played right into Raf’s hands. He lost some of the processor power he had been dedicated to hacking Vigil, doing exactly as Raf had wanted.

Soundwave’s fingers tensed up, fighting with Raf’s programs to keep them out of his head. Raf bombarded him with more and more programs, viruses, malware - everything Raf had to throw at Soundwave, he did. It eventually overwhelmed Soundwave, through sheer volume and basic attrition. He couldn’t focus on hacking into Vigil and keeping all of Raf’s attacks out at once, and it began to overload him.

Soundwave blew out, blowing a gasket - quite literally, as sparks of electricity buzzed around his head, a thin wisp of smoke coming off.

“Soundwave?” Starscream asked, approaching him. “Are you alright? Do you require medical assistance?”

Soundwave held his hand out, stopping Starscream. Soundwave stood up and nodded. He raised a finger and pointed to the hangar door of the base, gesturing for them to go.

“You heard the mech, Shockwave. We’re ready to go. Let’s move out.” Starscream and Shockwave marched over to join the troops preparing to leave.

Soundwave lagged behind. He turned to the empty wall, a thought crossing his normally impenetrable to read mind.

Rafael Fairechild … worthy opponent.

Raf knew he had a chance and seized it. He pressed his advantage, hacking into Soundwave's mind, downloading Autobot propanagda and pro-peace messages practiced by the prancing ponies. Maybe he could reprogram Soundwave, hack him, redeem him.

Soundwave lurched, clutching at his head. He would not be having any of that. No reprogramming, no redemption for him.

An annoying, irritating marketing jingle about some insipid unicorn wondering what 'friendship could be' began to blare out from Soundwave's steroes.

"Er, Soundwave?" Starscream came back, noticing Soundwave was lagging behind. "Are you sure you're alright?

A piece of peaceful pony propangda played on Soundwave's visor. Soundwave played back other audio over it to explain to Starscream what was happening.

"Kzzt... the enemy is... enemy playing is hacking the code! - kzzt - fight back, men! You must resist the alien mind control! Kzzt!"

"Oh," Starscream said, "I see... I've seen that movie. With Knock Out one time, the pop-culture loving fool...do what you have to do, Soundwave. I will remember you as you were."

Starscream saluted. "Decepticons forever," and he left the room.

Soundwave produced a blaster from his arm. He repeated, both himself and Starscream.

"Rafael Fairechild... worthy opponent."

Soundwave put the blaster to the side of his head.

"Decepticons forever."

Right as a smiley face appeared on his face-screen, accompanied by a little ditty about the joys of love and friendship, Soundwave pulled the trigger, blowing his head wide open into pieces, leaving nothing behind by a few sparking, hissing wires and smoldering slivers of scrap metal where his head used to be. His body fell down onto the side, Energon leaking from the newly made spout located in his torso where his neck used to be.


Optimus spread out his wings and boosted up to Metroplex’s face, blue fire trailing from his ignition.

“Metroplex!” Optimus shouted. “Recognize your former Prime, the Last Prime! Recognize … your friend.” Optimus put a hand over his chest. “I know this is not what you desire in your Spark, Metroplex. The giant I knew who willingly, gladly sacrificed himself to allow me and my fellow Autobots to escape a dying Cybertron would never consent to participate in this unnecessary opposition! I urge you, I beg, I command you now, Metroplex … stop this mad crusade! Put an end to the senseless violence which has plagued and ravaged our homeworld for so long! You have the power to do so just by refusing to take another step! That alone will put an end to Galvatron’s and his followers’ dreams of Technoist expansion!”


Metroplex paused. He reared up his hand and swatted Optimus away as if he were no more than a fly to him, sending Optimus tumbling through the air, hurtling through a building, stopping only when he had been lodged into the supporting structure.

Still broadcasting his voice live from inside of Metroplex’s chambers, Galvatron laughed. “Ha ha ha! There is no trace of your old friend, Optimus Prime! The Metroplex you know is gone!”

Deep inside Metroplex’s bowels, Starlight Glimmer tended to Trixie, lying unconscious next to Metroplex’s core after Galvatron had gotten through using her like a battery.

“Don’t worry, Trixie.” Starlight assured her, rubbing Trixie on the shoulder. “I’m here for you. I won’t abandon you in your hour of need. Not at a time like this!” Starlight looked around her, worrying as she felt Metroplex move.

Trixie groaned, scrunching up her closed eyes. “Thank … you, Starlight. Ooh …” Trixie woke up and rolled onto her belly, to Starlight’s delight and relief.

“Oh! You’re okay!” Starlight exclaimed. Trixie felt awkward when Starlight pulled her into a hug.

On the ground, a Space Bridge opened next to Metroplex’s leg, moments before said leg took another step. The Forged poured through the Bridge, led by the famous Starscream and Shockwave, though they were oddly missing Soundwave, the third member of their trio, soon followed by Fearswoop and Bludgeon, riding Thunderwing’s body, chained to Thunderwing’s chest and kept aloft by a harness, purple beams of energy coming from Bludgeon’s Dark Spark-empowered hands and operating Thunderwing’s lifeless body, puppeting it, Bludgeon still able to make use of Thunderwing’s considerable powers despite his passing.

The Imperials began to fret and worry, Twilight and Rarity chief amongst those who felt a small sense of absolute panic set in. Just a teeny-tiny touch of total terror, nothing to worry about.

“Twilight, darling, what do we do? We can’t possible fight a zombie Metroplex and a zombie Thunderwing at the same time!”

“I don’t know!”

“Keep it together, my little ponies!” Optimus announced, flying down to them. Coming from the mouths of most, those words together would sound ridiculous, but Optimus spoke them straight-faced and made them seem cool at the sametime. “Our first priority is focusing our efforts on finding ways to combat Metroplex. That is the task I have set for you.”

“Of course, darling...” Rarity muttered, still shaken.

“Yes, Optimus, but -”

“Finding ways to combat Metroplex.” Optimus insisted, cutting off Twilight. “Those are my orders. Follow those orders. Now go.”

Twilight and Rarity saluted, calmed down, if only slightly. “Sir, yes, sir!”

“Do we still have contact with Omega Supreme?” Twilight asked.

“Omega? You bet!” Ultra Magnus answered her. “Omega would never abandon us. I’ll take you to him.”

“Imperials, roll out!” Optimus ordered, sweeping his hand through the air and pointing his finger.


Twilight Sparkle and Ultra Magnus went up to Omega Supreme, who had returned to his roost on Cybertron after, in his mind, acting out the extent of his usefulness to the Imperials after his duel with Thunderwing.

“Omega Supreme.” Twilight said. “Omega, can we talk to you? I want - we need your help again.”

“Acknowledged.” Omega said. “I have already sensed something wrong, though I cannot ascertain what for myself.”

“Metroplex has been corrupted by Dark Energon.” Twilight said. “He’s been led on a rampage by Galvatron and his sect of Technoists and whatever marauders he can scrounge up. We need your help to stop him.”

“I am sorry, Twilight Sparkle.” Omega said. “I recognize the situation is dire, and Cybertron is in peril, but I cannot help you. Metroplex is kin to me, my brother and my forebear. We belong to the rough same generation of ancients. I cannot bring myself to fight him.”

“And after what I just said, too … disappointing.” Ultra Magnus said.

“Alright, fine, I understand that.” Twilight said. “What about Thunderwing? He’s back again … well, in a sense.”

“Thunderwing, you say?”

Twilight smiled when she heard the whirs and grinding of Omega’s gears as he transformed out of ship mode.

“You have piqued my interest.” Omega raised up his arms, inspecting his systems and testing if they were still in tip-top fighting shape, clenching his claw and charging up his arm-cannon, firing out a massive energy shot into the sky.


Lazerback, meanwhile, watched the situation on Cybertron, develop and unfold, seeing tensions rising and violence escalating from behind the safe cover of a building. It might have been a perfect time to make a move for some sort of power play, but he was more concerned with saving his own hide.

“Oh, looks like things are getting pretty intense around here.” Lazerback said to Dragotron. “We should while the going’s getting good, run and cut our losses while we still can.”

“What?” Dragotron reeled back in disgust and surprise. “You want to turn your back and flee? Are we not Predacons? Are we not warriors? Yet, you want to run with your tail tucked between your legs!”

“You’re not … saying what I think you’re saying, are you?” Lazerback rolled his eyes, rubbing his temple. “Oh, for Spark’s sake … you’re not supposed to think for yourself! you’re supposed to do as I say and follow my lead! You’re a fall guy! Someone to take the rap and keep the heat off my back, you’re not supposed to be having these independent thoughts and … thoughts of independence.”

Dragotron gasped. “I’m … what?”

Lazerback grimaced, realizing he had let something slip which perhaps he shouldn’t have.

“Is that what I am? A tool, a pawn for you, a weapon for you to point and fire, and then discard when it runs out of fuel no longer serves its purpose?” Dragotron.

“Well, I …”

Recognizing there was no way he could salvage this to where it wasn’t going to turn out badly for him, Lazerback tried to preemptively strike and make the first move, pulling out his Toxic Strike Blaster. Dragotron roared and charged at him, grabbing Lazerback by the wrist and twisting it around, causing the Blaster’s shot to hit Lazerback, acid splashing all over his chest, Lazerback’s armor hissing as it was melted.

“Argh …” Lazerback groaned, shaking Dragotron off and backing away. In a moment of thoughtlessness, he clutched in pain at his chest, reeling back when he dipped the tips of his fingers into the acid. “You know … I was wrong about you, Dragotron.” Lazerback exchanged glances with Dragotron. “You’re more like your template than I thought.”

Lazerback reverted into his beast mode and fled the scene, though he wasn’t as fast as he would’ve liked, having one of his arms ripped off, leaving him with a limping three-legged beast mode.

One of the Crystal Predacons approached Dragotron. “Dragotron … you are our leader, sir. What do we do now?”

Dragotron thought about it. He turned his gaze on the Imperials in the distance, opening fire on Metroplex and engaging with the Technoists, valiantly trying to stop the titan even though there was truthfully nothing they could - a warrior’s determination, which touched Dragotron’s Spark and earned them his respect.

“I will take Lazerback’s words to Spark. Perhaps I am more like my template Predaking than first thought. I say ...”


“Imperials!” Dragotron shouted, earning the attention of a squad of Imperials, marching up to them with his Crystal Predacons.

The Imperials focused their attention, turning to him and training their weapons on him even though they were supposed to be fighting Technoists.

Dragotron bowed, getting down on his knees. “I have had a realization, and my optics are open now. I will swear myself to you, and you will have my sword with you … if you will have me.”

The Autobots exchanged glances. Magnum came forward and offered his hand to Dragotron, helping him to his feet to show they were accepting him.

Dragotron turned to Predaking. “I … apologize about the things I have said to you before.”

Predaking glared at him and blinked, thinking about it before answering. He shook hands with Dragotron. “I accept your apology. Now go and make us proud.”

Dragotron parted hands with Predaking and reverted to his dragon mode, letting out a roar and flying up to Metroplex, spewing and pouring fire breath onto his shoulder.

Omega Supreme arrived on the battlefield, flying to the scene of the battle. He engaged the Bludgeon-puppeted Thunderwing, grabbing Thunderwing’s arm and knocking a shot from Thunderwing’s arm cannon off course. Thunderwing swiped his claw Omega’s head, which Omega blocked.

Metroplex’s shoulder cannons adjusted, lowering to point the barrels down at the Imperials. He opened fire, shooting Dragotron point-blank with the full brunt of Metroplex’s air-strike levels of firepower, blasting Dragotron into bits. Dragotron’s burnt body began to fall, descending to the ground, the fire-cloaked shadow plummeting, pieces of his body flying off, his wings, arms, and claws falling off as his body smashed into the ground, his appendages rolling away.

Predaking watched this happen and gasped when Dragotron’s body hit the ground. He always had confidence in the hide of his Predacon species to be able to stand up to even the most devastating of attacks, the bitterest of blows, but Metroplex’s cannons had shredded through Dragotron as if he were confetti. It shook Predaking to his core.

Omega Supreme grappled with Thunderwing, throwing Thunderwing’s arms off himself, Thunderwing firing both his arm cannons and clipping Omega Supreme in the shoulders. Omega grit his teeth from the pain, but remained focused and charged his blaster, taking aim at Thunderwing’s chest and firing. A massive orange beam cut through, emerging out Thunderwing’ back and tearing up the base of his wings. Without the wings to keep him aloft, Thunderwing fell to the ground.

“You fool!” Bludgeon shouted, defiant and confident in himself even though he was about to be buried under Thunderwing’s massive body. He raged and raved..“Do you know who I am? Do you know what I have? I am Bludgeon! I wield the Dark Spark! I cannot be defeated! I am invincible! I am destined to rule!”

Metroplex took a step forward his, his colossal foot coming down on Thunderwing, crushing Thunderwing’s body and Bludgeon underneath, Metroplex’s bulk dwarfing even a giant like Thunderwing. Thunderwing’s body cracked under the pressure, dust, smoke, and electricity floating off as he was crushed under Metroplex’s heel. Thunderwing’s wings were the first to fly off, followed by his chest cracking and crumpling up, his head developing a crack before splitting into pieces as Metroplex’s foot finished coming down on the ground, Thunderwing’s fingers giving one last twitch of death in his death throes before they flew out of their sockets, Thunderwing’s arm following not long afterwards. Thunderwing and Bludgeon were both crushed, destroyed utterly under Metroplex’s stomping, rampaging, uncaring boot.

Smokescreen surveyed the damage, ducking as a shot from a Technoist-wielded cannon went off right next to his feet. He cupped his chin, getting an idea. Snapping his fingers and smiling, he turned and ran in the opposite direction. Smokescreen could be criticized about many things - his eagerness, his inexperience, his ability to get starstruck easily - but none could deny he was fleet on his feet.

Twilight and Rarity noticed him running in the opposite direction, away from the looming problem of Metroplex, and were none too happy about.

“Smokescreen!” Rarity whined.

“What the frell are you doing?” Twilight shouted.

“I’m going to go get a child soldier!” Smokescreen answered enigmatically, confusing Twilight and Rarity and not actually answering their question.


Snowdrop felt around with a white cane, tapping the desk of the vendor she was going to buy some fruit from for a snack.

“Hey, Snowdrop.” A familiar voice called her.

“Mister Smokescreen?” Snowdrop asked, turning to the sound of his voice.

“Yeah, it’s me. It’s Smokescreen. Hey, listen. You want to save the universe?”

“Oh, I don’t know, Mister Smokescreen … that sounds like an awful lot of work for a little filly like me.”

“Oh, come on! It’ll be fine. You’ll do great, I know. I promise.”

Snowdrop blushed and shrugged.

“Well, alright then … if you’re so sure of me, then I guess it can’t go completely wrong.”

“Great to hear! That’s the spirit.”


Inside the Oval Office, Galloway sat on the desk, Mearing sitting next to him, cozying up, leaning into him and purring. They sat there, admiring the hologram of Mearing’s proposed device.

“Magnificent.” Galloway said. “Its looks even better everytime I look at it.” Galloway glanced down at his shoulder, at Mearing. “Just like you.”

“Oh, stop. You’re too kind.” Mearing waved her hand.

“So, can I … touch it?” Galloway raised a finger to the hologram, though Mearing thought he might have been referring to something else. “Is is one of those interactable holograms I’ve been hearing so much about, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” Mearing said, taking a hold of his hand. “Here. Let me show you. Like this.” She guided his finger to the hologram, pressing her palm onto the back of his hand as she made him gently touch the hologram, causing it to swivel and spin around 360 degrees. “Mmm.” Mearing cooed, nuzzling her head on Galloway’s shoulder, exchanging smiles with him as the hologram rotated over their heads, completely forgotten.


Hydia led Celestia out into the garden of her castle.

“I must say, Hydia, I’m surprise you decided to invite me to your castle after all this time. You’ve once mentioned it.”

“Oh, sure, sure.” Hydia said. “It took me a while to warm up to you, of course, but now that we’re friends, hoo hoo hoo …” Hydia rubbed her hands together in a rather overtly sinister manner. Celestia raised a brow, thinking she was acting like a cartoon villain.

“I’m also curious why you insisted this visit couldn’t wait …” Celestia said. “I’ll have you know I’m a very busy Princess, with a lot on my plate right now.”

“Oh, of course, of course. I didn’t mean to intrude upon your busy schedule, Princess. I just thought I could lure you away and give you a break for a change.”

“Well, I …”

Celestia felt a cold shiver run through her bones.

“There is a presence here.” Celestia said. A presence she recognized, an evil, powerful presence of dark intent. Looking around, she saw a hooded figure hiding in Hydia’s garden, trying to cover himself up with various flowers, but Celestia wasn’t fooled.

“Princess?” Hydia asked, doing her best innocent tone.

“I sense the presence of an old foe of mine. An ancient evil by the name of Tirek.” Celestia spread her wings and flew up. “I’m sorry, Hydia, but I must go. And something is telling me you have been lying to me and that you’re not all you have claimed to be.”

Celestia turned and flew away, her white form fading into the clouds into the distance.

“Drat.” Hydia snapped her fingers, while Tirek moved out of the flowers. “We were so close to letting you drain her, too … it’s your fault.”

“My fault?”

“Your body is too big! If it were smaller, you’d hide in the flowers better!”

Tirek growled. “If I didn’t still need to steal that root for you to finish our deal, I’d be tempted to call off our partnership here and now!”

“Oh, quit whining! You’ll get your magic like I promised! Just … not from Celestia.” Hydia looked up at the sky, with just a touch of remorse. “Some of the things I told you were true, Celestia …”


“Metroplex!” Optimus shouted. “I ask you once again, I beseech, end this mad quest of Galvatron’s! End the cycle of hate and retribution which has doomed our planet! You are in a unique position, and have the power to stop all of it at once!”

“Do you not understand?” Galvtron’s voice came through a P.A. “Metroplex cannot hear you. He can only hear me. Metroplex obeys only my command now, not yours, Optimus Prime.”

Optimus narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists. Screaming in battle-ready fury, he flew towards Metroplex’s arm.

Metroplex made a fist and backhanded Optimus, sending him tumbling out of control through the air. Optimus was able to recover and right itself, dodging an energy blast fired from one of Metroplex’s many cannons in the nick of time.

“Okay.” Optimus said. “It appears I shall have to take a different tact.”

“What’s your plan, Optimus?” Twilight asked, while climbing to higher ground and shooting a Technoist Vehicon in the face.

“I will make my way inside Metroplex. I will climb to his core and attempt to purify it of Dark Energon with the Matrix of Leadership. And then I will make my way further up and deal with his operator, Galvatron.”

Optimus flipped himself and nosedived, flying to Metroplex’s knee and pulling himself up on his flight path. The Star Saber warbling in his hand, Optimus swung the blade, shooting out a crescent beam powerful enough to punch a hole in Metroplex’s dense armor, giving Optimus an opening to fly into his leg.

“What he is up to?” Galvatron asked, watching Optimus enter from a monitor inside Metroplex’s cockpit. “Somebody find out what he’s doing and put a stop to it. Actually, no, don’t bother to find out, just stop it.”

“I’m on it.” Blackout announced, getting up from his chair and leaving the room.


Elsewhere, a green light formed in Cybertron’s sky. It built and built, growing larger and larger before exploding in a brilliant display of light, energy flying away from it in the form of visible mid-air shockwaves. Fortress Maximus came crashing down the light, his feet causing tremors and the clanging of metal as they dug into Cybertron’s steel soil.

“Awesome.” Smokescreen said, resting in the cockpit. “You know, come to think of it, I have to wonder why we didn’t think to bring this guy with us in the first place.”

“Uh, cause he’s way too big?” Miko suggested.

“Don’t sass me, Miko. I’m not in the mood for your sassy … sassiness.” Smokescreen said.

“Because it was the only safe place to keep the three of us?” Jack asked.

“Yeah, okay, that’s an acceptable answer.”

“Optimus probably won’t be happy when he finds out you brought Max with us onboard.”

“Probably not.” Smokescreen admitted, shrugging and casting his gaze out the window. “But desperate times for desperate measures.”

“Um, Mister Smokescreen?” Snowdrop asked, sitting in Fortress Maximus’ chair. “Um, I’m no expert, but wouldn’t it have made more sense to teleport in the middle of the battle, instead of away from it?”

“No. Because if we showed in the middle of a battle with a target as big as Fortress Maximus, we’d instantly put ourselves in every ‘Con’s and Technoist’s crosshairs. They’d focus all their firepower on bringing us down.”

“Not that they’re not going to do that anyway.” Jack said, being realistic.

“This way, at least we have a chance to sneak up on them.” Smokescreen said.

“Or, we would, in theory, but since Fortress’ feet are so huge, they’ll probably hear us coming.” Jack added.

Smokescreen glared at him. He pointed the window. “Snowdrop, march!”

At Snowdrop’s bidding, Fortress Maximus began to move, the ground shaking, rattling, and clanging with his every step, the metal of Cybertron groaning from having to endure Fortress Maximus’ immense and enormous weight upon it.


Optimus Prime made his way through Metroplex. Making his way into a room, he was greeted by an array of Decepticons, Vehicons, Insecticons, and Leapers.

“Well, well!” a Leaper taunted. “If it isn’t Optimus Prime, the bot of the hour!”

Optimus brandished the Star Saber, the blade giving off its distinct blue glow. “Stand aside or risk destruction.”

“Sorry, Prime, no can do.” The Leaper taunted. “Galvatron wants your head on a platter, and we intend to deliver it to him!”

“Then I am afraid both he and you are going to be sorely disappointed.”

The Decepticons opened fire, raining a hail of lasers on Optimus. Optimus used the Star Saber to shield himself, which deflected most of their shots. Spinning and twirling the Saber around to respond from shot to shot, Optimus walked forward. Tucking the sword under his arm, Optimus picked up two Vehicon and bashed their heads together before flinging them aside. He staggered back when a third Vehicon got in a good shot on his midsection, but Optimus shrugged it off and fired back, shooting a massive hole into the Vehicon, who fell to his knees.

An Insecticon roared and charged at Optimus, claws ready as it shrieked. Optimus grappled with it, interlocking his hands with its claw, wincing when it sprayed Energon from its spitting maw into his face. Jerking one hand free, Optimus shifted to blaster configuration and aimed it square into the Insecticon’s mouth, shooting a plasma burst straight its maw. The Insecticon reeled back from the blow, smoke coming out of its mouth. It shook its head. Optimus charged it, lifting it up by the chest and hurling the Insecticon into a wall. Another Insection marched forward to take its place, and Optimus pulled out his Hunter weapon and fired, shooting a missile which cracked and shattered the Insecticon’s chest.

“Huyaaaaah!” A Leaper charged at Optimus, accelerating with the rocket in its back.

“I’ve spent quite a bit of time fighting with Leapers.” Optimus said, ducking under the Leaper. “And I am well aware of their weaknesses.”

Optimus wrapped his arms around the Leaper and twirled around before hurling the Leaper into a mass of Decepticons.

“Including the unfortunate tendency of the rocket engines on their back to overload and explode.”

Optimus fired a shot from his arm-cannon into the Leaper’s back, straight into the rockets. The Leaper let out a groan, and every Decepticon in range tried to get clear before he went off. Few, if any, got out of the way in time, and were caught in the explosion and blown away by the blast.

The company of Decepticons taken care of, Optimus continued on his way through the upper levels of Metroplex’s hull.

Reaching an empty chamber leading into multiple corridors, Optimus remained on edge, keeping his head on a swivel to look out for any trouble. He heard something go clang in a nearby hall.

Optimus readied his arm-cannon, the whir of it charging being the only sound in the room. He set his back against the wall leading into the hall. He heard footsteps echoing from inside.

Optimus rolled into the hall, landing on his knees and aiming his weapon.

“AAAAH!”

Starlight and Trixie hugged each other, holding for dear life.

Optimus needed a moment to process before his optics fully registered he was looking at two ponies, and not Technoist servants.

“Oh.” Starlight said. “It’s okay, Trixie, it’s just Optimus Prime.” Starlight pursed her lips, recalling how Optimus had almost fried her. “Well, mostly okay. Trixie? … Trixie, you can let go now.”

“Huh? Oh, sorry.” Trixie rubbed her hooves together nervously.

“What are you two doing here?” Optimus asked, getting to his feet.

“We were admiring Metroplex when we thought the fighting was over, after you killed Nova.” Starlight said. “Trixie and I were discussing the idea of resurrecting him with Dark Energon, we’d figure he’d be fine, since he wasn’t truly dead, just out of fuel, right?” Optimus did not approve of the idea regardless, as he made clear in his expression. “Well, anyway, Galvatron found out about and co-opted the idea and, well, here we are! We couldn’t make heads or tails of the place after Metroplex got up, and Trixie was weak since Galvatron used her blood for its Dark Energon, and we’ve been trying to make our way out of here since.”

“I see.” Optimus walked by them. “Come with me. Stay close be my side, and keep out of the fighting. I will take you out of Metroplex after my business here is concluded.“

“Or … or!” Starlight said, she and Trixie walking behind Optimus’ heels like puppy dogs. “We could help you get through! We have our magic. We can be of assistance. Please, Optimus?”

Optimus glared at them. Starlight hooked a leg around Trixie and smiled, Trixie doing the same.

“I have often found you Equestrians to be unexpectedly resourceful and resilient soldiers. Very well.” Optimus said.

They came upon a door. Trixie and Starlight, eager to prove their usefulness, walked up to the door and blasted it with their magic, creating tow ropes out of arcane energy which they used to pry the door open.

Waiting for them on the inside of the door was Metroplex’s core … and Blackout, standing in front of the core with his arms crossed.

“Hello, Prime.” Blackout greeted them.

“Stand aside, Blackout.” Optimus said. “Or be destroyed, like those who came before you seeking to challenge me.”

Blackout hung his head. “I’m afraid I can’t do that, Optimus Prime. I’m sorry. None of this … none of this was what I wanted. What I was promised. I just wanted to return the Decepticons’ to their former glory. I never asked for this. I never meant for this gross perversion of one of Cybertron’s noblest warriors.” Blackout gestured around him, referring to the Dark Energon inside Metroplex. “But though I was not given what I was promised, I am still duty-bound to fight you, Optimus. It is my responsibility as a Decepticon … and my honor.”

“Blackout, if you fight me, I will kill you.” Optimus said. “That is not a threat. That is fact. With my upgrades, my Beast Hunter weapons, the Star Saber … I will kill you. It doesn’t have to be this way. Stand aside, and you can live. You can be a part of our post-war society and help rebuild.”

“There’s no place for a soldier like me in a world without war.” Blackout tossed his hands in the air. “Death by the hands of the great Optimus Prime himself? A Decepticon could not wish for a better death.”

“So I see. That is the way it is.”

Blackout opened the fight, getting in the first strike aiming his arm-mounted chainguns at Optimus and firing. Optimus was pummeled without relent and without remorse by a storm of lead from Blackout’s weapons, but he absorbed the hits and struggle through, spreading his wings out and charging towards Blackout. Optimus jetted towards him, grabbing Blackout and slamming him against a wall.

Blackout took his fist and slammed it into Optimus’ back, getting a good blow in on Prime. Blackout lifted Optimus off and hurled him to the side.

“Hey.” Starlight bopped Trixie on the shoulder, watching the shadows fly across the room as Blackout and Optimus tossed each other around. “I have an idea. Come on.”

Trixie and Starlight crawled across the room, crouching down almost to their bellies, keeping an eye out on Blackout’s and Optimus’ fight, their bodies thumping against the floor walls as they repeatedly slammed and threw one another.

Starlight and Trixie reached the base of Metroplex’s core, a spherical device like an oversized water valve.

“What’s your plan?”

“Well, there’s Dark Energon in Metroplex, right? Dark Energon Galvatron took out of you. We want to take it out to stop Metroplex, So I figure, we can take the Dark Energon out of Metroplex and put it back into you.”

Trixie’s face scrunched up in disgust. “Trixie does not find your … palatable, but she is willing to give it a try for the greater good.”

Starlight nodded. She aimed her horn at the core, a thin stream of white and green magic rising from her horn’s tip. The magical tether was able to suck out some of the Dark Energon, which took the form of a glowing purple energy sphere in Starlight’s row. Starlight lowered the rope and touched the sphere to Trixie’s horn, where Trixie’s body absorbed. Trixie gritted her teeth and shivered, getting an unpleasant buzz from it. Starlight repeated her little trick, pulling out and feeding another sphere to Trixie, and another, and another, until Trixie finally had to put a stop to it.

“Enough!” Trixie swiped her hooves. “Loathe as I am to admit, the Great and Powerful Trixie is feeling .. overwhelmed.” Trixie sat up her back against the core, panting. Starlight grimaced. They had barely made a dent into Metroplex’s Dark Energon reserves, and Trixie was already out for the count? Starlight wasn’t willing to take it into herself … but knowing she wasn’t, if they couldn’t make her plan work, she began to wonder what they could do to help.

Blackout and Optimus engaged in a slugfest, each of them pounding the other in the face and knocking them off-balance before they regained their footing and countered.

“Rrraah!” Blackout, shaking things up a bit, grabbed Optimus by the waist and hurled him into the wall, where Optimus slid and fell on the floor, an echo sounding as his body hit the metal.

Blackout lifted his foot up and stomped, specialized generators in his legs allowing him to cause a shockwave throughout the entire floor. Trixie, Starlight, and Optimus were all thrown up in the air. Blackout stomped again and again, sending out wave after wave and juggling the three of them in the air. Starlight’s face turned green. She was pretty she was going to be sick.

This lasted until Optimus whipped out his Hunter weapon and fired, delivering a blow to Blackout’s chest which caused it to crack like an egg, but Blackout remained standing. Blackout reached behind his back, detaching his rotor assembly, repurposing the chopper blades of his vehicle mode as a spinning bladed weapon.

Optimus unsheathed the Star Saber. He charged at Blackout, jamming the Star Saber between the blades of Blackout’s rotors, causing the blades to stop up. The weapon creaked and groaned, attempting to turn anyway despite the mass of metal blocking it - it had evidently no motion sensors to detect for intrusions.

Optimus pressed his sword forward, inching the tip of the blade closer and closer to Blackout’s head.

Blackout roared and lunged forward, pushing back against the Star Saber. Blackout’s and Optimus’s arms were shaking as they pushed back against each other, the Star Saber inching ever towards the air, pushed up by Blackout’s resistance. When the Saber was pointed directly at the ceiling, Blackout was close enough to get in another hit, slugging Optimus in the head and throwing him back.

Not giving Optimus the chance to recover, Blackout unfolded a missile rack from his shoulders and fired, launching a rocket at Optimus. Optimus saw it coming, and though alarmed, ducked while still putting his arm up to brace for impact. The rocket flew by, narrowly missing his shoulder and exploding against the wall. Optimus stood up and growled. Blackout was going to pay for the destruction and desecration of Metroplex’s inner walls.

Optimus pulled back his Hunter weapon, shooting another shattering missile into Blackout’s chest. The cracks spread, and pieces of Blackout began to peel and fall off, but still the Decepticon juggernaut remained on his feet.

Blackout countered with a quake of his own, slamming his foot into the ground. Optimus wobbled from the tremor, but was able to stay upright. He fired another shot into Blackout’s chest from his Hunter gun, pushing Blackout back. Blackout raised his leg up to send out another shockwave, but Optimus was getting tired of the quake duel and rocketed towards Blackout, grabbing him and lifting him up.

Optimus flew up, slamming Blackout into the ceiling. Keeping him pinned, Optimus began to pummel Blackout in the face. Blackout’s head rocked around until he took his claw and grabbed Optimus’ arm, and kicked Optimus in the stomach with a seismic stomp, throwing him off and sending him careening to the ground, the windows in his chest shattering on impact.

Optimus landed on his back, another rattle echoing through the complex. Blackout dropped down from the ceiling, claws bared and ready to strike, his rotor weapon in one hand. Optimus rolled out of the way, causing Blackout’s claw to hit nothing and the blades of his rotor to strike the ground, kicking up sparks.

Blackout and Optimus walked around in circles, sizing each other up for a good advantage. Blackout continued to drag his weapon across the ground, trying to use the sparks it was kicking up for intimidation. Blackout lunged forward and successfully dug the rotors into Optimus’ shoulder, shredding his armor and beginning to cut at the wiring keeping Optimus’ arm connected. Optimus had already suffered losing his arm once already recently, and he was in no hurry to repeat the experience. Reaching down, Optimus pulled out his Hunter weapon and fired it into Blackout’s shoulder, causing Blackout to wince, but he remained standing and retaliated by firing another shoulder rocket, which Optimus ducked to avoid, forcing the rotor blade down and causing another hole to be punched into the wall.

Optimus followed up by shifting into his integrated arm cannon and firing into Blackout’s face, before getting back out the Star Saber and jamming it once again into Blackout’s blades. Blackout again pushed back, but this time, the force they put into pushing each other became so intense it launched both weapons into the air, out of their hands.

They watched as the weapons flew up. Blackout seized the chance, utilizing the distraction to roundhouse Optimus with a seismic stomp, sending him flying into the wall.

Optimus groaned, but pulled himself out and flew towards Blackout. Looking up and taking note of the weapons’ position, he spread his arms out, timing it just so both the Saber and the rotor fell into his hands.

Blackout didn’t care, catching Optimus mid-flight and grabbing him by the head. Dragging Optimus along, Blackout marched up to a wall, which he pounded Optimus’ head into. Blackout took Optimus out and slammed him again, before beginning to apply pressure with his claws, digging his nails into Optimus’ helmet, which began to crack.

“Aaarrgh!” Shouting, Optimus raised up the Star Saber and brought it over, slicing Blackout’s arm. The arm fell to the ground with a clunk, and before Blackout could fully recover from the blow, Optimus, now free, whipped around and stabbed the Star Saber into Blackout’s stomach. Optimus added insult to injury by driving Blackout’s own rotor weapon into the same area. Using the blades as leverage, Optimus lifted Blackout off the ground, spun around, and slammed him into the wall, where Optimus drove the blades in further, up into Blackout’s chest and through his very Spark.

Blackout’s eyes widened in pain. The lights of his optics dimmed. He went limp, his arms becoming slack and dropping.

“I am sorry it had to end this way.”

Optimus yanked the swords out. With nothing to support him, Blackout’s body fell on the ground.

Optimus threw the rotor weapon down with him as one last respectful gesture. He couldn’t use it anyway. Though … Optimus got the distinct feeling had he a mouth to do so, Blackout would have a smile on his face.

Optimus proceeded to the core, where he saw Trixie sweating, panting, and winded. Starlight wasn’t too much better, but it was hard to tell when she was mostly keeping her efforts on not throwing up.

They looked up at him. Realizing this meant he won the fight, they proceeded to scoot out of his way of the core.

Optimus walked up to the core. He opened his chest, revealing the Matrix of Leadership within. Holding his hands up to the Matrix, Optimus unleashed its energies. The room was bathed in a blue light. Hoops and loops of divine energy swam and circled about the room and began to close in on the core. They coalesced, seeping into the core. The blow glow faded.

Nothing happened. The inside of Metroplex remained lined with purple lighting.

“No …” Optimus muttered, despondent. The core was too corrupt; The Dark Energon had taken root, and it would not let go. Perhaps if Optimus could have gotten there sooner, it might have worked, but it was too late now.

“Ha ha ha ha!” Galvatron taunted Optimus through the speaker system.

“Are you surprised, Optimus?” Galvatron asked, his body lining up with Dark Energon glow. “Are you disappointed? The Dark Energon has too strong a hold on your friend. His core is too tainted for your feeble Matrix to work now. Your friend is gone. Under my command now, and mine alone, because I hold Dark Energon with me. The only you could get him back would be take the Dark Energon into yourself, and we both know you would never stoop to that - not the great noble Optimus Prime!”

Optimus clenched his fists. He walked from the core, his head wrought low.

“AAAAAAAH!”

Optimus’ cry echoed through the room as he lost his temper, punching a hole in the nearest wall with his fist. Optimus closed his eyes, needing a second to grieve, to mourn, to just hide his optics and make it all go away, if only for a little while.

When he opened his eyes, Optimus turned to his hand, lodged in the wall. He took it and examined his palm. And he had gotten so upset with Blackout when he put a hole in Metroplex. Some friend he was.

The entirety of Metroplex rocked, making Optimus, Starlight, and Trixie wobble on their feet.

“What was that?” Trixie asked.

“It appeared to be some sort of quake, as if Metroplex was moving.” Optimus said. He looked around. “But Metroplex is not moving, or we would be experiencing the same sensation over again.”

Whatever the occurrence was, it repeated. With his attention more focused on it now, Optimus noticed it felt … off. As if was not Metroplex himself moving, but picking up the vibrations of something akin to Metroplex moving.

“Optimus?” Twilight chirped through Optimus’ comm.

“I am here, Twilight Sparkle. What is it?”

“Smokescreen went and did something to bring the odds closer in our favor and give us an edge. Fortress Maximus is here. You might want to get out of Metroplex.”

“That would explain the rocking … tell the others I am on my way.”

“Time to leave.” Optimus scooped Trixie and Starlight up into his arms. He readied his jetpack and flew out of Metroplex, taking advantage of the holes he had punched into Metroplex’s knee on his way in and deftly making his way out.

Galvatron, watching from the monitors in the cockpit, saw this and got suspicious … and angry. “What is he doing now? Leaving without purifying Metroplex or confronting me… that makes no sense. Stop him!”

“Uh, maybe in a minute, sir.” A Vehicon operator said. “You’re gonna want to take a look at this.”

Galvatron sighed and turned his chair. “What is it?” As stony faced as he’d been most of the time when he wasn’t taunting Optimus, Galvatron’s surprise and alarm was apparent when he saw the black and green form of Fortress Maximus approaching from the Vehicon’s viewscreen.

“I am sorry, my brother.” Fortress Maximus said, rearing up a fist. “But I must do what must be done.”

Metroplex raised his own fist. The two launched at each other, their colossals fists colliding in the air. The ringing, screeching noise of their metal colliding echoed across Cybertron, and could be heard for miles and miles, all the way up into the upper atmosphere, until it got to beyond the atmosphere, where sound failed to carry.

Fortress Maximus launched a barrage of rockets from weapons mounted on his chest and shoulders, shattering one of Metroplex’s windows and causing an explosion on Metroplex’s shoulder. Metroplex let out a groan of pain, Dark Energon dripping down his chin.

“Did I do good, Smokescreen?” Snowdrop asked.

“You’re doing great.” Smokescreen gave her a big thumbs-up.

Metroplex responded in kind with a barrage of his own, shooting rockets and lasers at Fortress Maximus from his shoulder-weapons. Fortress Maximus staggered back, a massive pillar of smoke and fire erupting from his chest when the missile hit.

“Aaah!” Snowdrop closed her eyes and clutched at the control chair as Fortress Maximus began to rock.

Smokescreen grabbed the chair and braced his hand against Snowdrop until the shaking stopped. “You’re still doing great! You’re doing great, okay?”

“Okay …”


Twilight Sparkle watched the two titans duke it out. She cupped her chin, trying to think of a plan. She gazed off to the distance, where the Omega Lock was still visible orbiting near Cybertron’s atmosphere.

“Ah!” Twilight broke into a gallop towards the Omega Lock.

“Twilight?” Rarity asked. “Where you are going?”

“Come on, girls!” Twilight replied. “I have an idea for something that just might help us win this!”

Twilight lead the girls to Omega Supreme, who was idly blasting Technoist rioters in between checking in on how the fight between the titans was going.

“Omega!” Twilight shouted. “I need you to stop what we’re doing and take us to the Omega Lock!”

“Does not compute. I failed to comprehend how this will help us achieve victory.” Omega said. He looked down and kicked aside a Leaper who had been fruitlessly banging on him with its rams.

“Just trust me, okay?” Twilight said.

Omega nodded. “I do, Twilight Sparkle.” Omega Supreme converted into his ship mode. Twilight teleported herself onto a hatch, and helped her friends climb inside from there, grabbing them by the hooves and pulling them up. “Go, go, go!”

Once they were all piled in, Omega took off his, his engines humming, his rockets belching out blue fire as he flew in the direction of the Omega Lock.

The girls looked out from his cockpit. From there, they could still watch the duel between Fortress Maximus and Metroplex.

Fortress Maximus backed away from Metroplex. He reached behind his back, which transformed, splitting open and revealing panels, ejecting a large black pole from inside. Fortress Maximus grabbed the pole and lifted up, pulling it out to reveal it was a humongous black sword with red detailing. Fortress spun the sword around, adjusting it and stretching his wrist. He pointed the sword at Metroplex.

“Did we know Fortress Maximus had a sword?” Fluttershy asked.

“We better hurry.” Twilight said, still looking down at the fight. “If he’s starting to pull out things we don’t know about, he’s probably getting desperate.”



Omega Supreme docked by the side of Omega Lock. Twilight and her friends, changing into their space suits, dismounted, and her friends followed Twilight as she ran towards a pylon.

“What’s the plan, Twilight?” Applejack asked.

Twilight forced open a panel, revealing the Elements of Harmony all jammed inside, stacked carelessly atop each other in a pile. “We use the Elements of Harmony on Metroplex.”

“Oh, are we sure that’s a good idea?” Applejack asked.

“If we’re using the Elements to power the Lock, then removing them will depower it, and then we can’t use the Lock for anything. We couldn’t use it restore Cybertron like it was intended to …” Fluttershy glanced down at the planet.

Twilight Sparkle placed her hoof on the pylon. She took a deep breath, also glancing down at the planet.

“It won’t matter whether or not we can restore it if we don’t stop Metroplex.”

Twilight reached in and took the the Elements out. The pool in the Omega Lock’s ring let a whir before fading away, disappearing into nothingness. One by one, Twilight flung them towards their respective bearer.

“Let’s go!”

The girls galloped back into Omega Supreme, who carried them down the planet where the fight between Metroplex and Fortress Maximus was still going strong.

Fortress Maximus raised his sword up and attempted to bring it down on Metroplex’s shoulder, but Metroplex got a handle on him, literally, as he grabbed Fortress Maximus’ wrist and kept the sword from connecting, their metal groaning and creaking as Fortress tried to push the blade in, and Metroplex pushed back to prevent him from doing so.



Dismounting Omega, the girls rendezvoused with Optimus Prime, who was standing on an upturned sheet of metal, watching the titans duel, unsure what to do.

“Optimus!” Twilight shouted to get his attention. Optimus turned and jumped down from the sheet. “We have the Elements of Harmony. We’re going to try to use them on Metroplex.”

“You are?” Optimus asked. He made an uncertain gesture, rubbing his fingers together before placing his hand on his wrist. His optics lit up. Twilight knew what was going through his head - she made the same expression when she had a brilliant thought. “My little ponies, I have an idea. Follow my lead.” Optimus turned back to the battle, hefting the Star Saber over his shoulder.

“What are we going to do?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“We are going to kill a god.”

“Oh, gee. That sounds like a tall order, Optimus. You want fries with that?”

Everyone, Optimus included, glared at Pinkie Pie.

“What? I’m hungry!”

“Wait for my signal.” Optimus told them. Flexing his wings, he flew up to Metroplex’s face, where Metroplex remained engage in his struggle with Fortress, ignoring Optimus.

“Metroplex!” Optimus shouted. “I must make one last request of you.”

“This again? Don’t you ever get tired of trying the same old thing, Optimus?” Galvatron asked.

Optimus raised the Star Saber up. “Now!”

“That’s our cue, girls. Elements, ready … and fire!” Twilight ordered.

The Elements glowed their signature colors, lifting the girls up into the air with their magic. Their eyes turning blank white with power, their necklaces shot out beams of rainbow-colored light which twirled through the air and around each other, wrapping and intertwining like the banners on a maypole.

The rays of light went straight up into the air, beaming directly into the hilt of Optimus’ Star Saber. The Saber, receiving their blessing and their power, began to hum as its blue glow was replaced by a shifting prismatic hue.

“I ask you now, Metroplex, for the last time, as your leader, as your friend … to end the violence here today once and for all for the good of us all, for the future of all our kind … for peace and harmony throughout the universe …”

Optimus raised the Saber up and swung it through the air, shooting out a massive rainbow-colored crescent beam larger than anything the Star Saber had produced before.

“FALL!”

The rainbow beam struck Metroplex clear across the chest, and some of his shoulders, and was enough to make him stagger back, causing the Technoist forces marching behind him to scatter.

Metroplex reeled from the blow, his upper body shaking back and forth. Fortress Maximus’ hand shook as he tried to press the temporary advantage and get his sword in, but Metroplex tightened his grip around Fortress’ wrist and stopped him.

Metroplex paused, holding still. He moved his other hand to Fortress Maximus’ arm, grabbing the hilt of Fortress’ sword. Metroplex pulled on it, prying the sword out of Fortress’ hands and delivering into his own. Twilight and her friends gasped.

Metroplex spun the sword around and adjusted it in his grip until it was where he could swing with it ease.

“Hahahaha!” Galvatron laughed. “Yes! Take the sword, Metroplex, and plunge it straight through Fortress Maximus’s Spark!”

Metroplex did nothing.

Galvatron looked around. “What’s happening? Why is Metroplex not responding to my command?”

“We … we don’t know, sir.” A Vehicon answered him.

“Metroplex!” Galvatron snapped, his body pulsing with Dark Energon. “Obey me! I am your master now!”

Metroplex wrapped both hands around the sword. His visor cleared up of its dark fog, a little sliver of red light showing through the purple which clouded it.

“Metroplex … heeds the call of the Last Prime … one last time.”

Metroplex turned the sword downward, pointing it at himself. He thrust the sword inwards, making to impale himself on it.

Inside, Galvatron’s forces panicked, and they were right to do so. A Vehicon stood up from his chair.

“ABANDON TITAN!”

They opened fire on Metroplex’s windows, converting into their jet and insect modes and flying out, scrambling to get away. Desperate to escape before the blade hit, the Vehicons incapable of flight crawled out the shattered windows and began climbing their way down.

Galvatron stood up from his operating chair, sneering and snarling. He watched as the obsidian blade drew closer and closer to Metroplex’s body, facing the approaching sword with nothing but a glower.


Deep inside Fortress Maximus, Steeljaw and his Pack had been rounded up and put into cells which Fortress had in his walls, kept in separate cells so Steeljaw couldn’t pool their resources for another dastardly escape plan.

Steeljaw took notice when his arm began to turn transparent and flicker.

“No.” Steeljaw raised his arm up, his eyes turning into pinpricks. “No. No!” He bashed the buttons on his arm. “Snowdrop, show me the timeline! Snowdrop! Snowdrop!”

“What’s happening, eh?” Thunderhoof asked as the same malady began to affect him, his entire body flickering in and out.

“It’s .. it’s the timeline.” Steeljaw buried his head into his claws. “Twilight Sparkle and her friends did it. They changed the future. They’ve erased our timeline. We’re starting to be erased from the timestream and soon, we’ll fade out of existence.”

“Didn’t they already change the future?” Fracture asked. “Why are we only fading just now?”

“Consider two things; chaos theory … and a non-Cybertronian vehicle.” Steeljaw said. “If you replace one part of the vehicle, it’s effectively still the same vehicle and still reaches the same destination. Replace another part, and it is still the same vehicle with the same destination. But if you keep replacing parts, eventually it will no longer be the same vehicle, and possibly no longer have the same destination. That’s what happened. That’s what happening to us. There have been little changes throughout the timeline here and there, things that don’t ultimately matter too much in the grand scheme of things that the timestream will figure out and sort over, such as Rampage’s untimely death, with the ultimate destination - that of our Decepticon-ruled Cybertron - remaining the same. With the consideration of chaos theory, where action can have untold and unknown consequences our timeline still remained possible, if with … one or two minor changes here and there.”

Steeljaw rocked his head.

“But now … now, Twilight and her friends have reached a tipping point. Now, the course of history has been changed so much, radically altered to the point that our timeline - the time we traveled back from - is no longer possible in any manner, shape, or form. And since the time we traveled back from no longer exist, soon we won’t either! Oh, sure, our present counterparts on the Alchemor will remain, but we, as we are, can no longer be allowed to continue existing in this universe. The stream of time demands our erasure.”

Steeljaw clenched his fists, baring his teeth through his muzzle. “We’ve lost. We’ve lost … arrraagh!” Steeljaw let out a howl of anguish and began slashing at this cell bars. “NO! NO! NO! NO!” Steeljaw kept banging his claws against the doors until they no longer produced sparks, his fading-in-and-out arms finally flickering out of solid matter and staying that way.

Steeljaw shook his head and chuckled. “Well, I’ll be. You did it, Twilight Sparkle. The nerve of you. Jack! JACK! JACK DARBY!”

“Gee, you don’t have to shout.” Jack said, walking into the brig and to Steeljaw’s cell. “What do you want with me … ooh, you’re not looking so good there, big guy. Eat a bowl of intangible soup or something?”

Steeljaw chuckled. “Well, aren’t you charming. But no. We’re … fading from existence. I figured I … ought to let you know that the future’s changed, so you can … tell Twilight Sparkle she’s … done well.” Steeljaw crossed his arms and turned his head.

“Oof. That must have hurt to admit.”

“You have no idea.” Steeljaw grumbled.

“Well, will do.” Jack said, offering Steeljaw a smile and thumbs-up.

Steeljaw grunted, moments before he and his Pack finish fading, blinking out of existence and out of the room.

Jack pulled out his cell phone and dialed. “Twilight? I don’t know if your comm can hear me right now, with all the fighting going on, but Steeljaw told me to let you know that the timeline’s changed. He’s … faded out of existence ... we did it, Twilight. We did it.”

On the other end of the line, though Jack couldn’t hear through the explosive background noise, Twilight let out a relieved sigh.


“Twilight?” Fluttershy asked.

“That was Jack.” Twilight replied. “He was calling me to let me know what happened to Steeljaw. He’s gone now. He’s faded away, and now that horrible future that ‘Johnson’ and Captain Bumblebee came from will never come into existence.”

“Oh, really? That’s wonderful to hear!”

“Tell me about it. I actually saw it, so you can imagine how glad I am it’s gone!”

“Uh, this is nice and all, but we should still be worrying about all the bad guys in the present.” Applejack said, pointing her hoof at the battlefield still raging around them.

“Right.” Twilight scratched herself behind the ear, grinning nervously.

The girls turned their attention back to Metroplex as his body fell backwards.

Optimus watched him fall, lowering the Star Saber, which lost its rainbow glow.

“Farewell, my friend.”

Galvatron smashed his way out of Metroplex, bursting out of an unbroken window in his jet mode and flying straight towards Optimus. “PRIIIIIIIIIME!”
Optimus responded to Galvatron’s challenge with nary more than a slightly tilted brow.

“You want me, Galvatron? … HERE I AM!”

Optimus adopted a fighting stance as Galvatron came towards him, meaning to impale Optimus on the nose of his jet mode.

Optimus flew to the side seconds before Galvatron would have made contact, and grabbed Galvatron’s nosecone. Optimus lifted Galvatron up in the air and twirled him around, spinning circles before tossing Galvatron to the ground, where he spun out of control before crashing into a pile of debris, which collapsed and fell on top of him, burying him.


Optimus lowered himself to the ground, landing in front of Galvatron. He got ready for a fight and braced a fist as Galvatron pushed himself up, struggling and straining against the debris, but succeeding in shaking it off.

“Optimus!”

Optimus turned to see Spike waddling towards him.

Twilight flew down to join them. “Spike? What are you doing here? It’s not safe!”

“I’m the royal messenger!” Spike answered, pointing a thumb at himself. “It’s what I do. Uh, Celestia has a message for you, Optimus.”

Spike pulled out a holosphere, which floated up and projected a hologram of Celestia.

“Spike, how’d you even get here?” Twilight asked.

“Teleport spell.”

“Ah. Of course …” Twilight glanced to the side. “So obvious …”

“Optimus.” Celestia’s hologram spoke. “A situation has come up on Equestria. A dire foe of mine, a powerful and evil centaur known as Tirek has escaped his prison after a thousand years. How he got out, I do not know, but what I do is this; he is easily among one of the greatest either I or Equestria has ever faced, and without your help, Optimus, and the help of your soldiers, Equestria may not survive.” The hologram looked over its shoulder, as if jumpy.
Its message concluded, the hologram disappeared.

Optimus drew away from the sphere and groaned. “Spike, tell your Princess that I am busy.” Optimus turned back to face Galvatron, but when he did, Galvatron was nowhere to be found, the pile of debris no longer occupied. “Dammit.”

Optimus clutched his forehead crest. “Twilight Sparkle, you and your friends return to Equestria to help Princess Celestia and tend to her needs. I will remain here and search for Galvatron before he is able to recover and make another major move against us. I will scour the planet for him, if need be.”

Twilight saluted.

“Primus be with you.” Optimus said before blasting off into the air.

Twilight chuckled and shook her head, giving Optimus a smile. She wasn’t sure Optimus knew about certain recent conversations of hers. “He already is.”


Twilight Sparkle and her friends hitched a Space Bridge and went to Canterlot, where they met Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Shining Armor in the throne room. Shining Armor remained awkward and looked away from his sister the entire time.

“What all do we need to know about Tirek, Princess?” Twilight asked Celestia.

“Tirek is from a foreign land. The same one Scorpan was from. They were brothers.” Celestia said. “Tirek had wanted to steal the magic of all Equestrians and claim their power for his own, but Scorpan had a change of heart and helped us stop him before his plan could succeed and he could grow strong. My sister and I use our magic to trap him inside Tartarus. But he’s escaped.”

“We suspect it was when Cerberus left his post some years ago.” Luna said.

“Years? But why wouldn’t have Tirek began making movements before now if he had all that time?”

“We believe it is because he needed to regain what little strength he had, and he kept a low profile to avoid drawing attention to himself during that time.” Luna said. “But now he’s recovered, and he is ready.”

“I almost fell into a trap laid by him and Hydia.” Celestia said. “Thankfully, I was able to detect what was happening and escape before he had the chance to steal my magic. Make no mistake, Twilight Sparkle. If Tirek is able our magic, or enough magic from the ponies of our fair land, it will mean ruin for Equestria and the lands beyond it, possibly the entire planet.”

Twilight looked at the carpet, considering the seriousness of the situation. “What do you want me to do?”

“I want you to do the same as you always do, Twilight Sparkle.” Celestia answered.

“And that is?

“Plan.”


Out in the Everfree Forest, Zecora was out gathering herbs, digging her hoof through the dirt in search of hidden treasures. She noticed a figure walking by the trees, wearing a hood.

“Hmm?”

Zecora followed the hooded stranger to a part of the forest, where she found them reaching out to grab a weed with an eggplant-like stalk at the top.

“Oh hoo! You do not want to touch that, my friend. That is a Phlume root, and it will tear and rend you if you do not handle it wisely.” Zecora said.

“I know what it is.” The figure said, grabbing the root and and lifting it out of the ground, bulb and all.

“Very well.” Zecora said. “Perhaps my warning could have been more timely, but if you are certain, I suppose there’s nothing I could do to deter.”

“Hmm.” The figure turned to Zecora, his yellow eye glowing underneath his hood. “Actually, perhaps there is something you could for me …”

Tirek faced her, pulling off his hood.

“Hold still.”

Tirek unhinged his jaw, and Zecora was caught in his spell. Her eyes widened, and she dug her hooves into the ground as she tried to fight it off. A red aura wrapped around her, pulling a green mist out from her mouth which traveled into Tirek’s jaw

Tirek moaned, gulping down her magic. When he was finished draining her, Zecora fell to her side, her eye glassy and having lost all its color.

“Ugh…” Tirek groaned in disgust, walking past her. “Zebra magic is so weak, especially when they’re alone … but still, I suppose, is it better than nothing.”

Tirek walked along, leaving Zecora lying where she was on the ground.


“Hydia!” Tirek shouted, walking up to Hydia as she watered her castle garden. “I have the Phlume root you asked for.”

Tirek presented Hydia with the flower. Hydia took the root and took a big whiff of its scent.

“Ah! Smells absolutely disgusting, just the way I like it.” Hydia began to stroke the weed, chuckling over it. “Excellent, excellent … Lord Tirek, with this, I declare our deal done. We have no further need of interaction with each other.”

“Finally.” Tirek said. He turned to leave.

“Oh, before you go … I suppose I might as tell you … I hear Canterlot is vacant right now. Apparently they emptied the city of its residents, and the Princesses are alone in their castle. They’re doing some kind of … meditation or ceremony or something which requires they be alone.”

Tirek’s eyes bugged out. He tapped his fingers together, grinning and chuckling. The Princesses, all alone in their castle, just waiting for him to waltz in and suck their magic out of them … it almost sounded too good to be true, but Tirek wasn’t going to risk passing up the opportunity this presented him.


Tirek arrived at Canterlot. It was empty, deserted as Hydia had said. Nopony was out. No lights were on in any home. A tumbleweed passed blew past Tirek’s hoof, prompting a confused look from him. He digressed.

He moved on, going up to the castle.

“Princesses!” Tirek shouted, raising his voice, which echoed across the town. “I demand to see you!”

The Princesses appeared in the window of the castle. Celestia swung the window open, and the three of them flew out from the window, landing in front of Tirek, their hooves shattering the ground.

“Tirek.” Celestia said.

“Princess Celestia.” Tirek said, giving a faux subservient bow.

“What do you want?” Celestia asked.

“It should be obvious what I want.” Tirek said. “I want to rule Equestria with an iron fist!” Tirek clenched his hand.

“Ha.” Luna laughed. “Well, that is not possible. You clearly do not have the necessary qualifications.”

“Ruling Equestria is a lot of work.” Cadence said. “We already have three Princesses just to handle everything. The moon, the sun, not to mention the Crystal Empire. Do you really think you can handle doing everything you need to by yourself?”

“Give it to me, and we will find out.” Tirek said, continuing to tense his fingers.

Celestia sighed. “Some ponies never learn.”

The Princesses spread their wings and took to the sky. Tirek growled, growing agitated when a large, trapezoidal wall of fire appeared behind him, showing the desolate land of Tartarus inside.

“Loose!” Celestia ordered, their horns shimmering. Each Princess fired a spell from their horn. Tirek tensed up, waiting for the perfect moment to strike, and when he saw it, he opened his mouth, sucking their spells in and swallowing them. His body glowed with a red aura, his muscles bulged, and he grew in size, his dull red skin becoming a shade more vibrant.

Celestia growled and conjured a golden hammer with her magic, which she hurled at Tirek. Tirek caught in his hand, snatching by the handle moments before it hit his face, and bit the hammerhead off as if it were a popsicle before tossing the handle into his mouth, gulping the spell and absorbing its magic.

“It’s not working.” Luna said. “We can’t get him into the Tartarus portal when he keeps absorbing our spells like that.”

“Hold!” Celestia announced.

The three of them flew down to the ground, landing in front of Tirek.

“Tirek.” Luna said.

“Lord Tirek.”

“Lord Tirek, we wish to negotiate and discuss the terms of your willing surrender.” Celestia said. “You want our magic, but we will not be so foolish as to continue feeding you. End this stalemate. This will be your only chance to cooperate and come along quietly. I cannot guarantee you will be safe from dire repercussions and painful retribution if you do not take it now.”

“Surrender?” Tirek asked. “Surrender? When you three are powerless to do anything to me for fear of making me grow stronger? This is hardly what I’d call a stalemate! Here are the terms of my surrender!”

Tirek unhinged his jaw. The Princesses were caught by his spell, trails of gold, purple, and blue light travelling from their horns and into his mouth, his skin becoming more and more colorful and his size increasing. They tried to resist, digging their hooves into the dirt to resist as Tirek’s magic pulled them forward.

“TWILIGHT! NOW!” Celestia shouted.

This was enough to startle Tirek and cause him to to stop draining. “Eh?”

Tirek looked up as he heard a whir from the sky. His eyes widened when he saw a blue portal split the sky open. A massive blue pillar of a beam came down from it, blasting the ground around Tirek and the Princesses, It cut a circle around them, tearing through the dirt and blinding Tirek with its intense illumination.

When Tirek could see again, everything around him was dark, though he could still see a little. He looked around, feeling what was around him. His hand touched a metal wall, and his hooves felt metal underneath him.

“A box?” Tirek asked. “You think you can contain me with a metal box? A crate?”

“We do not think.” Luna said, moments before the wall in front of Tirek slid away and revealed her behind it.

They were in an enclosed space with nowhere to go. Tirek grinned and move forward to absorb Luna’s magic, but the wall slid back out, and Tirek felt the floor under him drop like an elevator. Tirek looked up when a panel in the scene moved to let sunlight, showing Celestia looking down at him.

“We know.” Celestia said. Tirek shot a spell at her, a fireball formed between his horns, but the panel slid out to block it. Tirek ducked as the floor underneath him rose up, almost crushing him against the ceiling.

Another wall opened, showing Cadence. “We knew there was a chance we wouldn’t be able to send you back to Tartarus ourselves, so we called Twilight Sparkle for help.”

As Tirek swiped his claw at Cadence, the same process repeated, the walls rearranging to block him and moving the floor around under him.

“She came up with a plan.” Celestia said. “She repowered the Omega Lock, which you might know about if you had shown your face in public more,” Celestia’s taunt caused Tirek to scowl, “and our signal, fired it down at Equestria, creating this shifting maze you’re now in.”

The walls showed Luna.

“It was Twilight Sparkle’s idea to evacuate the citizens for their safety and then lure you here, to us, by passing off a ludicrous notion of us having to meditate for a ceremony.” Luna bragged, smiling. “The transforming, randomizing nature of this maze means you, Tirek, will be unable to escape. Each time you think you make progress, the walls will change, the ceiling will become the floor, and so on.”

“Leaving us free to leave and go deal with Hydia.” Celestia said. “We will come back for you and deliver you to Tartarus properly after we have dealt with her.”

“Don’t go anywhere!” Cadence taunted him.

All the Princesses were hidden from him by panels, and Tirek screamed in rage. He heard the wings of the Princesses flapping as they flew away.

Tirek tapped his fingers together, sighing. With nothing to distract him, he took a deep breath. He chuckled.

“Heh heh heh … you have underestimated me, Princesses,” Tirek said. An orange light formed between his horns. The light fired a concentrated, heated beam out, which began to melt and cut through the metal walls of the labyrinth. Tirek moved the beam around, cutting through all the surfaces.


Outside her castle, Hydia stood by a cauldron, stirring the purple goop inside with her daughters by her side,

“Okay!” Hydia said, taking out her stirring spoon. “Now the Phlume root!”

Draggle tossed the Phlume into the pot.

“Hydia!” Celestia shouted, descending from on high with Luna and Cadence. “I hereby formally accuse of you being a liar and a traitor to the throne of Equestria given your alliance with Tirek, and a manipulator who’s been trying to control strings to come out on top.”

“How do you plead?” Luna asked.

Hydia shrugged. “Guilty as charged!” She waved a hand at them. Celestia and Luna frowned at her arrogance. The purple goop inside the cauldron began to bubble and boil over, spilling out of the pot and growing in size. It grew eyes and mouths, faces which melted together like tortured souls stuck in constant agony from their punishment, its mass growing and growing, smothering the grass and land. Hydia and her daughters hopped into a wooden mast like one from a ship.

Celestia grimaced, disturbed the goop’s many faces, popping their mouths like breathing fish. She fired a beam from her horn and made it cut across the sludge, but her attack had no effect.


Optimus Prime walked through an alleyway, the dim glow of the Star Saber being his only light in the darkness.

Hearing a noise scuffling, Optimus Prime swung around and aimed it his sword’s tip, but whatever scurrying critter it was that made the noise had scurried away by now. Optimus furrowed his brow and moved on, continuing his search by going deeper into the alley.

“Optimus?” Twilight asked through a comm.

“Yes, Twilight Sparkle?”

“Princess Celestia needs your - and our - help to deal with a little problem.”

“Twilight Sparkle, I assigned you with this task. I must remain on Cybertron and find Galvatron.”

“Oh, trust me. You’ll realize how bad the problem and how much we need your help when you see it.”

Optimus found an image being broadcast from his arm. It showed a projection of a massive purple muck spreading through the land.

“This is the Smooze. Hydia made it in a magic cauldron. It’s smothering all the land and local wildlife, absorbing them and sucking them up, trapping them inside.”

Optimus watched the Smooze move and spread, taking a deer into its body. He sighed and buried his head in his hand. “I suppose it cannot be helped … tell Princess Celestia I am on my way.”

“Will do.”

“Autobots! Imperials!” Optimus ordered, changing the link on his comm. “Assemble a squad to search for Galvatron in my absence. I will be going to offer my assistance to our allies on Equestria to deal with problem which has arisen.”

Optimus spread his wings and took off into the air.

In the hallway, Galvatron emerged from the pile of junk he was hiding under and observed Optimus leaving. “Hmph. Am I not good enough for you, Prime? Not worthy of your time? And you were so close, too … it’s a pity your men won’t be able to find me, either. Otherwise I might have a sense of satisfaction.”


Twilight’s friends, the Beast Hunters, Predaking and Grimlock arrived through a Space Bridge on a cliff at Hydia’s continent. They let out a gasp seeing the Smooze as it covered the land. It was one thing to see from a distance, it was another to see it in all its horror up close, with its gasping, hundreds of faces and unrelenting appetite for whatever was in front of it, from grass to animals to rocks and whatever was in its way. Hydia and her daughters rode atop on their mast, singing a jubilant song which contrasted sharply with the horrible image.

“Nothing can stop the Smooze!”
“You can’t win!”
“Just pack it in!”
“Nothing can stop the Smooze!”
“You can’t beat me!” The Smooze boasted.

Predaking grimaced, unnerved by the witches’ jolly singing.

Grimlock cupped his chin. “Predaking?”

“Yes, Grimlock?”

“Do you know what happens when an unstoppable force … meets an immovable object?”

Predaking thought about it. “I do not know, Grimlock. What?”

“Let’s find out.”
Grimlock whipped out his sword. Predaking, getting his meaning, grinned. The two of them jumped off the cliff, diving straight into the Smooze and converting into their beast modes. Landing inside the Smooze with a massive splash and swimming to stay afloat, the two of them let loose their breathes of flame, blasting the Smooze back with the sheer force of the jets of their flame. The Smooze was pushed back and divided into pieces, but the pieces swam around and evaded the fire, meeting up away from the flame’s heat and merging back together with no damage done to their cells.


“Alright, girls.” Twilight said, adjusting the crown of the Element of Magic on her head. “I’ve taken these things in and out of the Omega Lock twice today, and I’m already getting sick of it, let’s make this worth it.”

Twilight’s friends activated the Elements, flying up into the air and shooting their rainbow beam into the air, where it arced down, curving towards the Smooze. The rainbow hit the Smooze dead on, in the center of its mass, but the Smooze was unaffected. It kept roving through the landscape.

Optimus opened his chest, the Matrix glowing furiously inside. He willed the Matrix to fire, shooting out laser beams of the purest blue color at the Smooze. Pieces of the Smooze were flung into the air by the blasts, but when they fell back to earth, they merged back with the Smooze with no difficulty.

“What?” Twilight expressed, confused, while Optimus stubbornly kept firing his Matrix blasts.

“Ooooh hoo hoo hoo!” Hydia applauded, chuckling. “See? We TOLD you, nothing can stop the Smooze! The Phlume Tirek got for us makes it invincible - even to your petty artifacts of light and goodness like the Elements or your petty Retrix!”

Twilight corrected her. “Matrix.”

“Whatever!”

“It was an unwise move to tell us that, Hydia.” Optimus said. “You should never reveal to your enemies the source of your strength.”

Hydia frowned, realizing Optimus’ point and she made a mistake. “Oopsie. Oh well! No matter. Even with this knowledge, you can’t do anything with it! The Smooze is still unstoppable! Nothing can stop-”

“Yeah, we get it, Nothing stops the Smooze, shut up already.” Rainbow Dash said.

“It’s not like the Phlume is still solid inside the Smooze, so you couldn’t pluck it out!” Draggle said. Hydia and Reeka made cutting motions with their throats, piquing Optimus’ interest.

“Imperials!” Optimus shouted. “Dive into the Smooze! Dig through its mass until you can find the Phlume root and pluck it out from its body!” Twilight saluted, and Predaking and Grimlock jumped into the air, diving straight in. Optimus turned back to the witches. “The sad thing is, if you had not reacted to her statement, Hydia, I might not have thought twice about it, and your victory would still be assured.”

Hydia slammed his fist on the side of her raft.

“Arlight, Hydia. I said I would make you pay when you showed your true colors at my base.”

Twilight flew up to their raft and got behind Draggle, wrapping her legs around Draggle’s neck.

“I can’t think of a better way to do that than to hurt your daughter.”

“No!” Hydia shouted, reaching her hands out. “Please don’t!” Twilight smirked, satisfied to see Hydia lose her cool.

“Twilight …” Cadence said. “You’re not … actually going to hurt her, are you?”

“Mmm, depends on a few things.” Twilight replied.

“YO, PRIME!”

A pillar of flame rose up, ripping through the Smooze. Grimlock, in robot mode, flew out astride Predaking’s dragon mode, holding up the eggplant-like root in his hand and raising it up.

“I think we’ve that Phlume root!”

“Hey!” The Smooze protested. “I need that!”

Twilight grinned. She pushed Draggle, shoving her into Hydia’s arm.

“Alright girls, let’s try this again and get it right this time.” Twilight flew back to her friends and they activated the Elements again. The Elements shot out their rainbow, which came down on the Smooze.

“Noooooo!” Hydia screeched, scrambling to get out of her raft and do something, but her daughters held her back, keeping her from tipping over.

The rainbow struck the Smooze, and the area where it hit turned into granite. The petrification spread, the Smooze’s faces being locked into their expression as the massive beast was turned, piece by piece, into stone. Hydia’s raft was stuck inside the stone.

Predaking, Optimus, and Grimlock gathered together on top of the Smooze. Nodding to acknowledge each other, they whipped out their swords and brought them down on the Smooze, shattering it into pieces, Optimus’ Star Saber making the biggest impact by splitting a crack a mile wide on his first blow.

“It is just me, or does that Star Saber give you an unfair advantage, Prime?”

“Grimlock, it is not a contest.”

“Sure it is.”

“Hmph. If that’s the case …” Predaking lit his blade on fire and struck the Smooze again. They repeated this process until the entire structure shattered and fell apart, humongus boulders of stone falling and rolling around the place, the wildlife the Smooze had consumed thankfully unharmed inside, and eager to make their escape from their stony prison when the destruction gave them an opening.

Hydia’s raft timbered over and fell on the ground, dumping Hydia and her daughters down on the grass. “Oof!”

Hydia got to her feet, only to be met with the sight of Optimus and the other Autobots, Twilight’s friends, and the Princesses looking down at her.

“Thank you, Optimus Prime.” Celestia walked up to Hydia. “I think we can handle this from here. You, Hydia, are going to have to answer for your crimes.”

“And rest assured, you will be answering for them for a long time.” Luna said. “Giving aid to Tirek cannot be forgiven.”

“You’ll look nice decorating Canterlot’s dungeons.” Cadence said. “We hardly ever get the chance to use them.”

“Oooh …” Hydia’s family let out a collective groan at their defeat.

Optimus Prime walked away from the scene. Twilight Sparkle grew curious and followed him.

Optimus tapped his finger to his comm. “This is Optimus Prime to our forces on Cybertron. Report. Have you been able to locate Galvatron?”

“No, sir.” Drift answered. “We’ve been looking for him thoroughly, but he’s almost as if he’s nowhere to be found.”

“I understand. Keep looking. He is bound to turn up eventually. An ego like his will not able to hide for a sustained period. Optimus out.”

Optimus took his finger off the comm and looked down to Twilight.

“Well, Twilight Sparkle, given that we cannot locate Galvatron, all of Equestria’s villains are accounted for the time being, and we have the Artifacts of the Primes …” Optimus held up the Star Saber.” What say you that we put them together and use them to locate the AllSpark and restore Cybertron, as it was intended to be healed? No Changeling Batteries. No shortcuts.”

“Sounds good to me, Optimus.”

Optimus reached behind him and pulled out the Forge of Solus Prime. The two weapons reacting to the presence of the other, the Forge’s gears whirring and the Saber warbling - almost with excitement, but it was a sword - Optimus touched the two together. Together, they produced a blue screen which showed a map of the cosmos.

“Well?” Twilight asked. “Is that it? Do we need to go get the other Artifacts we salvaged to complete the map?”

“That is it, Twilight Sparkle.” Optimus said. “This reveals to the location of the AllSpark. Theta-Scorpii. It is an unstable region of space, prone to odd, bizarre, random … and beautiful occurrences. Asteroids, solar flares, coronas, random magnetic fluctuations, and even a black hole has been known to form there, only to disappear.”

“So, kinda like the Bermuda Triangle on Earth?” Rainbow Dash asked, joining Optimus and Twilight with the other bearers. “But in space.”

“Something like that, yes,” Optimus said. “We will need Omega Supreme. As a precaution, we will need to brace him with additional padding for the trek.”

“Extra padding for huge bulky Omega Supreme? Eesh. That doesn’t sound like fun.” Rainbow Dash said.

“Few necessary things are fun, Rainbow Dash.” Optimus said. “That goes doubly so when it comes to trying to save a planet.”

“Hmph. The humans could learn a thing or two about that.” Twilight said.

“Perhaps,” Optimus said, “but instead of discussing the flaws of others, we should get moving.”


Omega Supreme was briefed on the mission, given the additional padding to his hull in ship mode, and boarded by Optimus and Twilight’s teams.

Taking off Cybertron and leaving the conflict there behind, Omega Supreme flew towards the destination given to him of Theta-Scorpii. Reaching the location occurred without incident, save for a comet which passed them by. Going through the location was going to be another challenge, as a stream of comets were flying by. They would be mistaken as a harmless meteor shower to anyone viewing them from the atmosphere of a planet, but up close, they were dangerous rocks the size of houses.

“Do you see the AllSpark, Omega?” Optimus asked, sitting in the captain’s chair.

“Scanning … AllSpark detected, Optimus Prime.” Omega’s viewscreen focused on an area, zooming in to show the AllSpark - a blue cube set in an incredibly ornate and intricate chalice, with braces circling the sides of it and prongs forming a stand underneath it. Unfortunately, it was far behind the passing asteroid storm.

“We can’t get through there.” Twilight said. “There’s too many comets. We’ll never make it.”

“The life of one is less important the restoration of our planet.” Omega said.

“Omega, you’re not…?” Fluttershy asked.

“Hold onto something!” Optimus shouted as Omega began to accelerate forward. Twilight’s friends grunted, holding onto their seats as Omega Supreme pushed his way through the asteroid swarm, breaking through a comet and shattering it in half before another smashed into the top part of his hull. The comet dinged and scraped, scratching him up, breaking through and breaking off the extra padding he’d been given, sending it to drift aimlessly in space.

“I almost have it.” Omega Supreme announced, his passengers shaking as he collided with a large comet.

“Omega Supreme…” Twilight said. “I’m not sure you can make it through all this!”

Omega shut Twilight up by placing a tractor beam on the AllSpark, a yellow cone of light pulling the container in.

“Whoo!” Everyone inside cheered. Optimus stood up from his chair, fists pumped in anticipation.

“AllSpark retrieved.” Omega said.

“Wonderful.” Arcee said. “Now let’s blow this joint and go home.”

Omega Supreme turned himself around, everyone inside swinging around in their seats as he did, and he blasted off back towards the direction of Omega Supreme, pushing his way through the comets.

They got within visual range of Cybertron, the Omega Lock still orbiting around the planet. Twilight wore a smile on her face, but it went away when she saw Optimus leave the room.

“Where are you going?”

“It is imperative that we get the AllSpark to the core of Cybertron as fast as possible.” Optimus answered, resting his hand on a letter, the AllSpark curled up in his arm. “Omega Supreme will not fit into the core’s chamber. I know the way. I will fly down to the planet myself and make a straight course from the planet’s orbit to its center.”

Twilight nodded and saluted. “I understand. Good luck, and Primus be with you.”

“In a way …” Optimus held the AllSpark up. “He is.”

Optimus crawled up a hatch. Emerging on top of Omega Supreme’s hull, Optimus climbed to his feet. He took in the view of Cybertron before spreading his wings and rocketing towards it, his engines whistling.

“Yeah! Woo!” The ponies cheered him on.

“Go Optimus.” Bulkhead said, Arcee and Bumblebee smiling.

They watched Optimus fly towards the planet. They were all shocked and jumped out of their seats when a white blue came flying in from thin air and struck Optimus, tackling him off-course and throwing him aside.

Optimus, clutching onto the AllSpark, found himself met with the hate-filled eyes of Nova Prime’s visage.

“Did I not kill you already?”

“You know what they say about we Primes, Optimus -- we’re like roaches!”

With that, Nova backed away from Optimus and kicked him in the stomach, causing him to drift. Optimus looked down at his arms, his first concern being the Omega Lack, which was still intact after Nova’s kick.


Twilight got in her spacesuit and went out onto Omega’s hull. “OPTIMUS!”

Optimus looked at her. He lifted the AllSpark up, pushed it aside, and twirled over before kicking it, launching it towards her.

“Get the AllSpark to the core!” Optimus said.

Twilight grabbed the AllSpark with her magic. “But what about you?”

“I will be fine!” Optimus said.

“But -”

“GO! That’s an order, Twilight Sparkle!”

Twilight fell silent. Summoning her courage, she gave a salute and a nod before heading back into the ship.

“Make course for Cybertron.” Twilight ordered.

“But what about Optimus?” Applejack asked.

“He and I already had that conversation. Go.”

With some reluctance, Omega Supreme flew towards Cybertron, passing Optimus and Nova. Nova got behind Optimus and wrapped his arms around Optimus’ midsection, lifting him up and hurling him. It sent Optimus spinning through the ‘air,’ but it was a much less effective move than it would have been if they were fighting somewhere with gravity and solid surfaces.

Nova created a sphere of dark energy in his palm, which he flung at Optimus, hitting him in the back and making him arch. Optimus let out a pained groan.

Twilight, inside the ship, looked down and away.


Galvatron climbed atop some rubble and addressed the Technoist/Decepticon forces.

“Decepticons!” Galvatron shouted. “The Autobots are returning to Cybertron with the AllSpark! We cannot allow this to happen! If they bring it to Cybertron’s core and restore, they will be hailed as heroes and saviors! Public opinion among the outsiders will turn further against us! For the good of the Decepticon cause, we must take the AllSpark from them, and we must be the ones to restore Cybertron!”

“Are you kidding?” A Vehicon General asked, putting away his arm-cannon. “I’ve had enough of this. We’re not gonna win. We’re never gonna win. If we would have won, we’d have won by now! Slag this. I’m going to go find a bunker and hunker down until this all blows over. Maybe if I’m lucky, I can go to Optimus, and get on my knees and beg for community service as my only punishment.”

The Vehicon walked off.

“Yeah.” An Insecticon said. “This was fun, at first, and it seemed like we might have had a shot at winning, but with no Metroplex, and the fact we kept losing, and they still have Fortress Maximus … fun’s over. This is getting too much. I’m out.”

“Yeah, me too.” A Leaper said.

“Me too.”

“Count me in!”

“Wait for me!”

A number of Decepticons left the area, walking away.

Galvatron scowled and growled. “Does anyone wish to leave? If so, I suggest you do so now - further desertions will not be tolerated.”

A trio of Vehicons looked uncertain, glancing at each other, but they converted into jet and helicopter modes and flew away. Another Insecticon and Leaper joined them.

“Anyone else?” Galvaton asked with growing exasperation.

“No way!”

“We’re with you, Galvatron!”

“Decepticons Forever!”

“Excellent.” Galvatron said. “As I was saying, we cannot allow the Autobots to be the ones with the honor of restoring Cybertron! That honor should belong to the Decepticons’ alone. If they pull it off, Cybertron will never truly belong to the Decepticons! Not to mention, it will threaten my master …”

“Your master?” A tank Vehicon asked. “Unicron?”

Galvatron chuckled. “I can see why you would think that, but no. Besides … there are lots of things besides healing Cybertron we could with the AllSpark if we were the ones in possession of it.”

“Yeah!”

“Let’s go and git ‘em!”

“Decepticons Forever!” Was chanted through the ranks, Galvatron’s soldiers pumping their fists. Galvatron pointed them to the east, and they marched, shouted an abbreviated version of their chant. “Decepticons! Decepticons! Decepticons!”


Omega Supreme docked, and the Autobots began climbing out.

“Okay.” Twilight said, levitating the AllSpark with her magic, Bulkhead and Arcee following her out with their weapons primed. “We just need to get this to the core of Cybertron, and virtually all of our problems will be solved.”

“Including undead Nova Prime?” Arcee asked, skeptical.

“I said virtually.” Twilight said. “But it should take care of any remaining Changeling Batteries, and it’ll rob most of the Technoists of their fighting spirit.

A shot was fired which struck the side of Omega’s hull, narrowly missing Twilight and the AllSpark.

“DECEPTICONS!” Galvatron shouted, his weapon smoking as he stood atop rubble. “CHARGE! WE CANNOT ALLOW THEM TO PASS! THIS WILL BE OUR LAST STAND!”

“Didn’t we already do the big, very-definite final all-out battle sequence already?” Applejack asked.

“And they don’t even have a Titan with them this time! Some bots never learn. That, or Galvatron just has a selective memory.” Twilight said. She tapped her comm. “Smokescreen? Could you track my current position and have Snowdrop bring Fortress Maximus over here and have him blow these slagging Technoists away?”

“Sure thing, Twilight. Will do.”

“Okay.” Twilight said. “Let’s move. Remember, our first priority is getting the AllSpark to the core. Everything else is secondary.”

Decepticons and Technoists stormed the field, opening fire, raining lasers down on Omega Supreme, converting into tank modes and firing shells and mortars. Arcee, Bulkhead and Bumblebee returned fire while trying to get to cover. Omega Supreme transformed into robot mode and fired off a massive shot, but fell on his knee, still recovering from the comet storm he had pushed himself through.

“Twilight!” Arcee snapped, pulling the string on her Echohawk. “Get to the core! We’ll cover you!”

Twilight saluted and galloped off. Carrying the AllSpark with her, she naturally becoming the target and focus of all Technoist laser fire. She dodged one laser which almost tripped her hooves, and froze and cast a force field up to defend herself from another. When she saw her chance, she dismissed the shield and kept moving.

Arcee fired a shaft from her bow to the side of Twilight, causing an explosion which gave Twilight some cover.

Twilight kept moving, coming up on a trench where a thin trail of Energon ran through. Twilight suspected it might have been a full-fledged Energon river when this area had seen better days.

She moved one hoof forward, easing her way into the trench. An explosion rocked behind her, throwing her off balance and tumbling into the trench, rolling around with her hooves splaying out.

“Waaa-oof!” Twilight groaned as she came to a rest. She got up and rubbed her head, groaning. She gasped when she saw the AllSpark roll up to next to her. The blast had damaged, giving it a crack at the top. Blue-colored ancient Cybertronian characters were leaking out of the crack of the AllSpark, flying up into the air and dissipating. “Oh no!”

“Twilight Sparkle!”

Twilight turned around and was quite surprised at who she saw. “Megatronus?”

Megatronus nodded. He glanced towards the fractured AllSpark. “This is the moment we have been preparing for, Twilight Sparkle.”

“You knew this was going to happen?”

“We knew something like this was a possibility, yes.’ Megatron emphasized. “A possibility which we took every step we could to prepare for. That is where you come in, Twilight Sparkle. This is why we needed you. Having been possessed by Unicron, you have experience with having the essence of a god of Cybertron inside you. Do it, Twilight Sparkle. Take the AllSpark into you. Absorb into your body, so that you may carry it safely to the core.”

Twilight grimaced and stepped back, unsure about the idea, especially when it was being compared to being possessed by Unicron as a point of reference - it was an unpleasant experience, and not one Twilight was eager to repeat.

“Do it!” Megatronus snapped. “It is the only way! Or would you rather let the AllSpark’s energy leak out and be lost to the air? Nice as it would be if it did, it will not simply disperse itself over Cybertron like this! It must be contained”

Twilight took in a deep breath. She steeled her resolve, and hardened her expression. “Okay.”

Twilight turned to the AllSpark’s damaged container. Her horn glowing, she cast out a thin tendril which looped and curved through the air, touching the AllSpark and reaching inside its box.

The Cybertronian characters began to congelate and gather around Twilight’s magic fishing line. The AllSpark’s energy traveled up the line, going straight into her horn. Twilight absorbed the first few shocks of energy without much problem, only jerking a bit the first few times.

“Well, that wasn’t so bad.”

The energy continued to flow, pumping into her horn. Twilight grimaced and jerked, her eyes being consumed with the glow of the AllSpark, Cybertronix flashing in random patterns across her eyes.

“It - It’s too much! I can’t - I can’t possibly do this! I can’t … think.”

Twilight sat on her haunches and went limp , the code continued to flash and swim in her eyes.

“It’s … beautiful. So much … knowledge. It’s... it's... 0001 1110 011- 00011 00111 0111.”

Twilight sat there and let the energy flow into her. Her horn produced a white sphere, which grew and engulfed her and the AllSpark’s box in its all-consuming light before exploding, covering the whole area with its brightness.

Bulkhead and the other Autobots noticed.

“What was that?”


Nova Prime prepared another dark bolt in his hand and flung at Optimus, hitting him square in the back again.

“Urrgh …”

Optimus groaned and rolled himself around, turning to face Nova. He pulled out the Star Saber and the Forge, and crossed the two together.

Nova scoffed.

Optimus charged forward, the jets on his back spewing massive blue flames, and rammed into Nova. Optimus charged them down towards Cybertron’s surface, the two of them turning red as fire engulfed them during orbital entry.

Nova struggled and grappled, grabbing at Optimus’ face. Optimus didn’t let himself be deterred by the fingers covering his vision, and pressed forward.

Steering himself up, Optimus continued accelerating forward, throwing himself and Nova Prime through the walls of a skyscraper. Nova Prime was thrown off and sent flying backwards in the air.

The Saber and Forge glowing in his hands, Optimus swung both weapons in a cross formation, sending out a blue crescent beam and a golden crescent beam which made an ‘x’ as they met up and propelled forward, tearing an x-shaped hole into Nova, crushing his chest, cutting it into quarters, and severing his arms. Nova was thrown out the other side of the building and sent crashing to the ground. Optimus peeked his head over the hole and watched as Nova’s body hit bottom and shattered into pieces on impact.

“One would hope that would take care of him.” Optimus murmured to himself, pessimistic about his prospects. If Nova could survive being cut in half by the Star Saber, Optimus was doubtful simply adding the Forge onto that would be enough to truly vanquish him.

Optimus heard a roaring, distracting him. He investigated the source.

Bulkhead saw the same thing. “What … is that?”

Off in the distance, a massive horse was rearing up and whinnying, bucking up and down all over the place. The size of Omega Supreme, it had the build of a Princess, with large wings and slender legs, a pointed horn and graceful neck and mane, made up out of the floating symbols which adorned and marked the presence of the AllSpark, its body made transparent as the AllSpark source code flashed in random patterns, blinking in and out and moving up and down and around. If they focused, they could see a very faint view of Twilight Sparkle inside the beast’s core, right around where its heart would be, a stream of data flying up from the tip of her horn, AllSpark binary in her eyes.

“Is that Twilight?”

“If I had to guess,” Ultra Magnus said, I'd say the AllSpark broke, and to keep it safe, Twilight's taken the AllSpark into herself and is being overwhelmed by its power. You know, it's just kind of the way the things have been going today."

"The Primes did contact us in our dreams for our help…” Rarity said. “This was probably why. They realize something like this was going to happen."

"What do we call her, huh?” Smokescreen asked, joining the group. “AllSparkicorn? ... Twilight AllSparkle?"

“Okay,” Ultra Magnus said, “ One, when you did you get here? Two, that name is terrible. Three, where’s Fort Max? Four, we need to move out and deal with this, and five, that name is terrible.”

“He’s running behind me. I went ahead.”

“Couldn’t he just use the Space Bridge and teleport over here?”

“You’d think, but that fight with Metroplex really took a lot of him.”


“Autobots!” Optimus shouted, flying up to the Data Princess. “Clear the way!”

“Clear the way for what?” Ultra Magnus asked.

Optimus positioned himself on the Data Princess’ head and wrapped his hands around her horn, using it as leverage to steer her where he wanted her to go. “I will guide Twilight Sparkle to the core!”

“What, are you kidding me? Really? This is what we’re doing?”

“I know the way, Ultra Magnus! This is not open for discussion. I require your assistance!”

Ultra Magnus sighed and buried his head into his hands. He brought his hands down across his face and took a breath. “Okay. Autobots! Roll out! We need to clear the way for Optimus and ... Twilight ... AllSparkle.”

“See?” Smokescreen said. “I come up with the best nicknames.

Ultra Magnus Magnus lifted Smokescreen up by the head. “MOVE IT, SOLDIER!" Magnus tossed Smokescreen into the dried river trench before jumping down himself.

Magnum and Crosshairs searched around. Finding a crashed dropship, they pried the open the hatch and went inside.

“Will it still fly?” Magnum asked.

“I can make anything fly.” Crosshairs flipped through some switches, and lights hummed as they turned on. “But yes, it’ll fly.”

“Optimus,” Magnum contacted him, “we’re going to lay down some cover fire for you.”

“Much appreciated Magnum.”

“Man the turret.” Crosshairs ordered as the dropship achieved lift-off.

“I outrank you, soldier.”

“Yeah, well, I’m flying.” Crosshairs replied, and Magnum, though grumbling, took hold of the turret controls.

Optimus steered the Data Princess down the trench, the wild horse galloping through the dry river with quake-inducing hooves.

The Technoists got wind of what Optimus was trying to do, seeing the Data Princess coming, and began lining themselves along the inside and the outside edges of the trench, spacing themselves out and lining up their shots.

“Hold your ground! Do not allow them to pass!” A Tank Vehicon General ordered. “OPEN FIRE!”

The Technoists let loose with a barrage of red, orange and blue lasers, sniping at the Data Princess, taking potshots at potential weak points, such as her ankles, her chest and the tip of her horn. The Princess let out a distressed whinny, dismayed at all the blaster fire she was taking.

“Autobots …” Optimus said. “We are in need of backup.”

“Hang in there. We’re on it, hold your horses, Prime.” Crosshairs said. “Pun may or may not be intentional. I’ll never tell.”

Crosshairs piloted the dropship to go ahead of the Data Princess, with a clear view of the Technoist littering the trench.

“Got a clear shot?” Crosshairs asked. “Or do you need to me to bank some more?”

“Oh yes, I have a very clear shot. Good job, Crosshairs.” Magnum pulled on the dual triggers of the turret, and chainguns deployed from beloew the dropshop, firing off a steady stream of bullet rounds at the Technoist, blowing the Technoists away, knocking them onto their backs with smoking and sizzling craters in their chest.

“Bank right!” Magnum shouted. Crosshairs and him wobbled as the dropship was turned over. Magnum fired more rounds. “Left!” More rounds. “Right!” More rounds. And so on, until Optimus and the Data Princess’ path were cleared of Technoists troopers.



With the road now clear before them, Optimus straddled his legs around the Data Princess’ neck, tightening his grip on her horn and pointing her head down. “Forward!”

The Data Princess let out a protesting whinny, but galloped in the direction Optimus wanted of her. At the end of the trench, they arrived at the entrance to a tunnel which the Data Princess entered without stopping, like a speeding bullet, or a train. Her wings began to shear off the structure inside, but Optimus was more concerned with getting to their destination than any collateral damage to the walls.

“Come on … just a bit further …” Optimus murmured.

They continued on, the walls dimming, before reaching an area cast in a sickly green hue by the Changeling-powered lights running through it. Galvatron’s sabotage hadn’t gotten here yet, it would seem .

Optimus’ optics went wide when he saw their end goal, the final goal post before them - the Core of Cybertron, a massive spherical machine with a green light glowing faintly inside. It let out a mechanical hiss of steam which sounded more like a sick old man gasping for breath than any machine Optimus had ever heard.

Optimus tightened himself around his steed’s neck for the last stretch. The Data Princess continued on, marching ever forward, letting nothing stand in her way to stop her. She smashed into the Core. The instant the tip of her horn so much as grazed the light inside, Optimus was thrown off by a flash of light, being flung into a wall.

“Ooogh …”

The Data Princess was frozen still, shivering and shuddering as she disappeared into the core, her data being absorbed and sucked up inside of it. The green light died out, and was replaced by a brighter blue one, which grew in size and brightness until the entire room was almost white. The blue light spread out from the Core, replacing the green power lines and power chords Optimus and Twilight had passed on their way in.

The blue lights continued spreading outward, reaching out from the Core, destroying and replace any Changeling influence - or any other influence - wherever it encountered. The river outside began to fill up with bright, healthy premium liquid Energon. In a matter of minutes, all of Cybertron was enveloped in the blue glow, which make the planet light up like a Christmas ornament when viewed from space.

All across the planets, the restraints holding the Changelings trapped were broken and shattered as the Core severed the connection between itself and the Batteries. The Changelings buzzed and hissed, happy to be free, and flew off to rejoin their sisters.

Twilight Sparkle groaned, lying on the floor. She looked around and saw Optimus lying against the wall.

“Oh … um … sorry about that, Optimus. Are you okay?”

“I am unharmed. You were cognizant and aware of what was happening while the AllSpark was in you?” Optimus walked over to her.

“A little.” Twilight said. “It’s … blurry, but I can sort of make it out.”

“Twilight Sparkle!” A boisterous voice boomed, so loud it threw Twilight sliding across the floor. Optimus reached down and stopped her with his hand. The Core flashed as it spoke, and it projected a light. Sparkles flew around inside the light, dancing in the air before coming together in a rough humanoid shape. The shape emitted a blinding flash, and when it cleared, Primus was standing before them in his fully-repaired body.

It retained the same blue glow as the Core and the AllSpark, but with a faint silver outline making his features easier to see. His body was constructed much like Optimus and Nova’s, with a faceplate, antennae, a headcrest, grating in his legs and windows in his chest, differed by the crown-like shape of his forehead, and the large silver swan-like wing mechanicals wings hanging from his shoulders.

“You have done well, Twilight Sparkle.” Primus said. “Extraordinarily well. Thanks to you, and the efforts of you and your friends, I am whole again, complete once more. Cybertron is fully healed, able to produce Energon and support all the biomechancial life which inhabits its surface with no difficulty. The future where I cannot see and the Decepticons and Technoist rule Cybertron will now never come to pass. And it is all thanks to you.”

“Ahem.”

“And you two, of course, Optimus Prime, my disciple.”

Optimus Prime bowed, humbled to be acknowledged by Primus himself. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

“Please, Optimus, we’re all friends.” Primus said. “There is no need for such formalities. I have one thing I’d like to say. Twilight Sparkle, are you familiar with multiverse theory?”

“I am.”

“Well, trust me when I say I can see into multiple different universes, each of them featuring you going on different, parallel paths … and I can safely say that the you of this universe are among one of the greatest of them.”

Twilight Sparkle got stars in her eyes. “Really?”

“Yes! … Well, except for in this one universe where -”

“Yeah, yeah, okay, don’t spoil the mood. You’re ruining my big moment.” Twilight covered her mouth when she realized she had just taken such a casual, flippant tone with a living god. “Um, is is alright if I talk to you that way? You’re not gonna like, smite me or anything?”

Primus gave a jolly laugh. “Ha ha ha! No. You’re entitled to say what you’re feeling. You are free to be casual with me, Twilight. Both of you are. Truth be told, I wish some people (cough, Megatronus, Micronus, cough) would do it more often. It gets tiring when everyone thinks they have to be all business with you, all the time just because you happen to be a god. A sentiment I’m sure Celestia can sympathize with.”

Twilight gave a smile.

“Now, why don’t we head out and unite our fractured Cybertronian brethren?” Primus asked.


Chrysalis watched and smiled as Changelings began pouring and buzzing to her hidden hive. “So, it would seem Galvatron kept his word after all!”

Her smile faded when she heard a hoof step in, sloshing through the muck on the ground.

“Who are you?” Chrysalis asked. It did not appear to be a pony, or a human.

“I am Lord Tirek.” Tirek said, bowing. “I saw your minions flying here and became intrigued. I followed them,”

“How do you get here?”

“I escaped from the box the Princesses tried to put me in on Equestria, and I was able to … convince a, what’s it called, Space Bridge technician to bring me to Cybertron … shortly before draining him of his magic.”

“Ha!” Chrysalis laughed. “Well, I don’t know what you think we have for you here, but whatever it is you’re offering, we’re not interested. My Changelings and I, with our magic, will be able to conquer Equestria by ourselves.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes. First, we’ll infiltrate their government … then we’ll impersonate the Cybertronians and start sowing seeds of distrust, and propose they be banned. We’ll grow and nurture the conflict until the Cybertronians are forced to leave, leaving Equestria defenseless!” Chrysalis raised her hooves in the air, unaware of Tirek sneaking up behind her. She blanched, feeling a dark and heavy presence behind her.

“Changeling magic, you say? Don’t mind if I do.” Tirek unhinged his jaw. Chrysalis let out a gasp when her magic went out from her horn and into Tirek’s maw. Her Changelings were caught up in his spell, too, hundreds of green trails of misty vapor flying into Tirek’s mouth.

Tirek’s body increased in size, his muscles bulging on as he put on more bulk. His horns grew larger and curved inward before going out again, and his skin became a lively, fresh shade of red. Chrysalis’ limp body fell onto its side, buried half deep in green liquid, and Changelings dropped from the ceiling likes flies.


Optimus, Primus, and Twilight emerged from the tunnel, wading through the Energon river. Twilight flew above their heads to keep from swimming.

They had just succeeded in their goal and were abuzz with good feelings, so was it a most unwelcome check back to reality when the first thing they saw upon emerging was a massive plasma burst rip through Magnum’s dropship and sent it hurtling towards the earth.

“MAGNUM!” Ultra Magnus shouted. He whipped out his boomstick and took out the offending Vehicon with a headshot, shooting the Decepticons adjacent to him in the head for good measure.

Magnum’s ship crashed, and it did not crash well. The ship skidded along the ground, friction sparks flying off. The entire front half of the ship was crunched in, crushed, and crumpled up. When it finally came to a stop, Crosshairs was dangling out the side of the front, and Magnum was splayed across the top, enmeshed with the ship’s internal wirings with a sizzling smoking hole in his chest, the metal still orange and hot. The Autobots and ponies surrounded the ship on either side.

Optimus and Ultra Magnus went up to the sides of Magnum.

“Cousin Magnum …” Optimus took Magnum’s hand.

Magnum wheezed and coughed before opening his eyes, glancing up at Optimus. “Orion Pax … Ultra Magnus ... “

“What do you need, buddy?” Ultra Magnus took Magnum’s other hand, curling his fingers around it. “Just tell me what is it and I’ll get for you, Magnum.”

“I don’t think I need anything, solider.” Magnum shook his head and focused his gaze at the sky. “Just a nice quiet view of the sky is enough for this soldier. You know… everything I did, I did it to try and get out of you guys’ shadow. To make a name for myself. To distinguish myself. Becoming a soldier… enlisting in the Elite Guard, rising in the ranks to become its commander … all so that I could make the most of myself. So I could be more than just a poor man’s Ultra Magnus. Heh.” Magnum coughed. “So I could be … myself, instead of living with always being compared to you.”

“Crosshairs …” Drift walked up and took Crosshairs.

“Aw, what the hell.” Crosshairs said, his voice breaking up. He might even got a bit teary-eyed, but he would have denied it. “I’ve been a selfish jerk for almost all my life … to make the ultimate sacrifice … feels nice to give something for a change, especially something so … big.”

“Crosshairs …” Drift shed an oil tear. “Please. Don’t go.”

“Heh …” Magnum smiled and chuckled, closing his optics. He rested his head back. “Looks I found a way to distinguish myself … after all.”

Magnum’s hands lost their tension and fell out of Optimus’ and Ultra Magnus’ grip as his Spark expired. Crosshairs did not tarry long behind.

“Sleep gentle, sweet soldier. You’ve earned it.” Optimus said.

“You …” Ultra Magnus huffed, turning to the Technoists still surrounding the area. “You … GLITCHHEADS! YOU KILLED HIM! I’LL KILL YOU! I’LL KILL EVERY SINGLE LAST SLAGGING OF YOU THERE IS! I DON’T CARE IF I HAVE TO WADE NECK DEEP IN SLAG AND OIL TO DO IT!”

“AAAAAAH!” Ultra Magnus readied his gun and began pumping lead into every single slaggin’ Technoist he could lay his eyes on, screaming in fury all the while.

While Magnus went on his rampage for revenge, Primus walked up and reached a hand towards Magnum.

“You know, I am a god. I could-”

“No.” Optimus raised his hand out, looking at Magnum’s body, which still had a smile on its face. “Something tells me he … he would want it this way.”





Elsewhere, Starscream and Shockwave observed the battlefield, Starscream growing nervous when he heard but couldn’t see from his position the distinctive sound of Ultra Magnus’s weapon going off.

“This isn’t going well.” Starscream said. “We’ve lost Bludgeon. We’ve lost Thunderwing. The Terrorcon Metroplex idea of theirs didn’t work out. We should consider a tactical withdrawal.”

“For once, Starscream, I find myself agreeing with your suggestion. Is it most logical.” Shockwave said. He and Starscream turned around.

“HEY!”

Grimlock shouted at them, accompanied by Predaking.

“Aww, leaving the party so soon?” Grimlock asked. “Why don’t you stay awhile? Kick back, relax … chew some metal … after I force-feed it down your throat.”

Shockwave raised his arm-cannon, but Starscream grabbed it and pulled it down. “No.” Starscream said. “He’s not worth it. We must retreat.”

“You are, once again, correct, Starscream.” Shockwave said.

“Grimlock …” Predaking placed a hand on Grimlock’s shoulder. “Perhaps we should let them go. There’ll be more chances to apprehend them.”

“No.” Grimlock shook Predaking’s hand off. “No, no. I have missed enough opportunities to get revenge on Shockwave already. I’m not waiting for one more. I’m tired of waiting. Hey! Oh, come on, One-Eye! Turn around and give us a little action, a little show.”

Shockwave sighed. “Grimlock, your childish taunts will no nothing to deter me from my current course of act-shnn!” Shockwave stumbled when a piece of metal him in the back of the head, thrown by Grimlock.

Shockwave turned around and aimed his weapon again, but Starscream talked him down. “Shockwave, don’t. Think logically.”

“You are … correct, Starscream. Let us proceed.”

Shockwave and Starscream continued on.

“No.” Grimlock said, scooping up a pile of scrap metal, crunching into a ball with his hands. “I’m afraid you’re not getting away that easy.” Grimlock bounced the ball in his hand before tossing it at the back of Shockwave’s head, making him stumble and growl.

“Hey, what about this?” Grimlock picked up a piece of sheet metal and flung into Shockwave’s back.

“Ooh … this ought to do nicely.” Finding a fallen pylon of some kind, Grimlock hefted it up over his head. He tossed it at Shockwave and Starscream, knocking them over. The pylon shattered and crumbled into pieces, burying Shockwave and Starscream under rubble.

Shockwave, having had all he could stand, burst out of the rubble, digging his way out like a worm. “THAT IS ENOUGH! DO YOU WANT A FIGHT, DINOBOT? I SHALL GIVE YOU THE FIGHT OF YOUR LIFE!”

“Shockwave, no!” Starscream latched onto Shockwave. “Use logic! Use logic!”

Shockwave glared at Starscream, and batted him away with his arm-cannon. “GO SCREW YOUR LOGIC! AAAAH!”

Shockwave began firing blast after blast from his cannon at Grimlock, charging towards him. Grimlock, shrugging off each blast as it hit him, met Shockwave head-on and punched him in the face. Shockwave staggered, but before Grimlock could follow up with a slug, Shockwave bashed him in the head with his cannon, and followed it through by blasting Grimlock in the stomach.

Grimlock staggered back, and Shockwave dashed up to him, slashing Grimlock’s face with his claw. Grimlock groaned and clutched at his wounds. Shockwave converted into tank mode and fired another shot into Grimlock’s belly, throwing him into the air and onto his back.

Shockwave drove up Grimlock, trying to grind Grimlock’s body beneath his treads. He reached Grimlock’s face and began spinning his wheels.

Grimlock groaned and grunted, his arm flailing on the ground as he tried to reach out to Shockwave. Getting an idea and reaching up, Grimlock was able to jam his palm onto Shockwave’s wheels and stop them, using his strength to hold the wheels in place. He reached around the other side of Shockwave and did the same to his treads there.

“ Yaah!” Grimlock grunted and lifted Shockwave off his body. Getting to his feet, Grimlock spun Shockwave around before hurling him into the ground. Shockwave’s vehicle mode bounced and tumbled, and rolled over, going a full three-hundred sixty degrees before Shockwave transformed and managed to catch himself, digging his feet and his claw into the ground, leaving scratch marks where his nails caught.

Grimlock charged and ran up to Shockwave just as Shockwave was getting to his feet. Grimlock punched him in the face, shattering Shockwave’s mono-optic, and ran Shockwave through with his sword. When Grimlock yanked his sword, Shockwave fell to his knees, Energon leaking from his chest.

“Well?” Shockwave asked, looking at up Grimlock. “Go on! Do it then! This is what you’ve been wanting for, isn’t it? This is what you wanted! Then do it! Do it! Just do it and finish me off already!”

Grimlock wrapped his hands around Shockwave’s head.

“With pleasure.”

Grimlock applied pressure, going slowly, slowly as he crushed Shockwave’s head in with his bare hands, digging his fingers in. The fins on Shockwave’s head were the first go, cracking and falling off. He crushed Shockwave’s head thoroughly, splashes of Energon splashing out between Grimlock’s fingers when the head was totally destroyed. Shockwave’s body fell, with only sparking wires and leaking Energon spurting from where his neck used to be.

“Well … as loathe as I am to return to my old ways … I do believe this calls for a good old-fashioned cowardly retreat.” Starscream said. He ran away from Grimlock, stumbling on his toes in his panic to get away, and converted into jet mode and flew off.

Predaking walked up to Grimlock and looked at Shockwave’s corpse. “So … you finally did it. After years of waiting, wanting, burning with the desire for revenge for what he did to you all those eons ago, you finally have it. You finally killed Shockwave and realized your vengeance. Tell me, Grimlock, do you really feel better? Do you really?”

Grimlock paused, looked at Shockwave’s corpse, then looked at Predaking.

“Yes, actually. I do.”

Grimlock walked off, leaving behind a very puzzled and confused Predaking. This was at odds with several things Grimwing had taught him.

"Hmm." Predaking nodded his head and shrugged it off. Sometimes, as Grimwing would say, one just has to accept strange things happen in life.


Thundercracker and Fractyl, despite thinking the battle was effectively over, found themselves met and accosted by Heavy Load and Fearswoop

“Well, well, well.” Fearswoop said. “If it isn’t Fractyl and Thundercracker, YOu know, I gotta tell ya, Thundercracker, I never thought I’d see the day where one of the Decepticons’ most respected heroes turned turncoat and joined the pony-living, socialist bleeding heart liberal Autobots in hopes of trying to make their sparkly candy-coated utopia a reality!”

“That is … not remotely accurate to the Autobots, socialists, or bleeding heart liberals. Or even non-liberal bleeding hearts.” Thundercracker said.

“Yeah, yeah.” Fearswoop said. “Are we going to argue about sceptics”

“You mean semantics.”

“Or are we gonna fight?”

“Fearswoop, look around you.” Thundercracker said. “Your leaders are dead. All your heavy weapons have been exhausted and expired. A literal god is with the Autobots. Give up already. Surrender.”

“Decepticons don’t know the meaning of the word surrender!” Fearswoop said.

“Or giving up!” Heavy Load said. “Fractyl! I’ve been waiting a long time for this, you pathetic excuse for a Decepticon!”

“Charge!”

Fearswoop and Heavy Load engaged Thundercracker and Fractyl. Fearswoop swiped at Thundercracker, trying to get him with the flames spewing from his claws, but Thundercracker evaded him with a ninja-like precision.

Heavy Load attempted to smash Fractyl over the head with his cement drum, but Fractyl was able to dodge it, if out of panic more so than skill. The sound of Thundercracker’s chaingun firing bullets distracted both of them, but Heavy Load regained and refocused his attention first, attempting to shoot Fractyl point blank in the chest. Fractyl, though not a seasoned warrior, was not going to let that happen, and ducked, causing the shot to miss.
“Rrraaah!” Heavy Load growled and rammed at Fractyl, engaging him in a grapple as Fractyl fought with his arms to keep Heavy Load from closing in. Heavy Load fired a shot, which missed Fractyl and struck Thundercracker, shearing a hole in his side.

“Auugh!” Thundercracker cried out, and Fearswoop was able to smack him on the head and bring him to knees before shooting a burst of flame straight at his face.

Fractyl let out a gasp. He narrowed his optics at Heavy Load.

“Ooh, I shot our mentor!” Heavy Load said. “What’chu gonna do, Autobot pony-hugger? Cry about it, snivel into a pony’s shoulder, maybe?”

Fractyl said nothing. He backed away and reached behind him and pulled out a vial of blue liquid, which he splashed onto Heavy Load’s face.

“Aagh! What the?” Heavy Load tried to wipe the fluid off his visor, but his sensors were still scrambled by whatever it was Fractyl had cooked up. He was seeing triple, and he was hearing faint, distracting static buzz. Was it some sort of magnetic solution or something? “What’s in this? Dissolved hematite?”

Fractyl pulled out another vial, his expression serious and unreadable. He uncapped it and splashed the purple liquid onto Heavy Load’s chest, melting through with it acid eating away at it. Heavy Load screamed in pain, and Fractyl closed in for the kill, jabbing his sharpened claws through Heavy Load’s chest and softened armor, stabbing him straight through the Spark. Fractyl’s claw emerged out from Heavy load’s back.

Heavy Load lurched.

“Well … I’ll be.” Heavy Load said. “Looks like … you’re a Decepticon … after all.”

Fractyl jerked his claw out, leaving Heavy Load’s body to fall on its knees and topple over.

“No.” Fractyl said. “I’m an Imperial.”

Fearswoop, realizing Fractyl was now an opponent to take seriously, turned and hightailed it out of there. He converted into jet mode and took off. Fractyl raised an arm over his shoulder, firing and striking Fearswoop without ever looking back, blowing off one of Fearswoop's wing. Fearswoop stalled and crashed to the ground, but he turned to robot mode and fled on foot.

Fractly didn't bother pursuing him. Instead, he went over to Thundercracker’s body, kneeling beside his fallen mentor, putting a hand on him. Thundercracker reached up and took Fractyl’s hand, wrapping his fingers firmly around it to let Fractyl know he was alright.


“Technoists! Decepticons! Forged!” Optimus Prime shouted. “You should - you must surrender now. Your leaders are either all dead, or have abandoned you. You have no further weapons of mass destruction, no Thunderwings, no zombie Metroplexes. No more trump cards. Unless you have one last trick up your sleeve, I’d advise to lay down your weapons and surrender now.”

All the Technoists, Decepticons, and Forged still standing looked at each other, considering the idea of continuing to fight to the bitter end. But they realized it was over - all any further fighting would do would be to result in their deaths. So most of them stored their weapons, retracted their integrated weaponry, and got down on their knees. The few they didn’t let out battle cries and were swiftly put down by Ultra Magnus’ expert marksmanship.

“Well done, Ultra Magnus.” Optimus said, becoming dismayed when Ultra Magnus kept firing. “Ultra Magnus. Ultra Magnus! You can stop shooting now.”

“What? Huh?” Magnus asked, firing off one last shot. “Oh. Sorry. I’m just still mad about … you know.”

Optimus put a hand on Magnus’ shoulder. “I know. We will have time to mourn and grieve for him properly later. For now, there is still work that must be done …” Optimus gazed to the sky.


Optimus, Twilight Sparkle, Primus, and all the other Autobots and Twilight’s friends and Imperials returned to the stage where Optimus had made his speech calling for an uprising and rebellion against the Technoist regime. A crowd was gathered.

“We’re getting tired of always gathering up like this.” A Cybertronian said. “What are we gathering here for this time, Prime?”

“My fellow Cybertronians …” Optimus said. The crowd let out a collective groan, realizing this was going to be one of those long speeches. Optimus ignored. “Today, we are here to celebrate a momentous occasion. Millions of years in the making, this will be the final step towards reunifying our fractured and divided kind. Today, we put an end to conflict, to factions, to the divisions within our ranks that threaten to divide us. Today, we will do something that will it make unjustifiable for any Cybertronian to keep fighting against their brothers and sisters.”

“Today, Cybertronians …” Twilight Sparkle said. “We will return your gods to you.”

The crowd let out a gasp.

“What? Really?”

“The Thirteen Original Primes?”

“No. That’s impossible.”

“LIARS! HERETICS! HERESY! HERESY, I SAY!”

Optimus and Twilight’s team turned around were as surprised as they were annoyed when Nova Prime walked onto the stage.

“How are you still here?” Optimus asked. “I understand the Saber and Forge have been insufficient to destroy you and terminate you fully, but why eludes me.”

“Does this guy ever give up?” Twilight asked.

“Do not believe these charlatans and their lies!” Nova Prime said, sweeping his arm out. “They are heretics committing the ultimate heresy! Heathens! Blasphemy! No one can bring back the Thirteen Primes! No one! If it were possible, someone would have done so already!”

“Au contraire, my friend.”

“Eh?”

The crowd let another gasp when Alpha Trion walked onto the stage, unmistakable with his beard, red and purple helmet, and cape.

“It has not been possible to resummon the Primes before now.” Alpha Trion said. “It takes a very specific and key set of circumstances, one no one has been able to recreate until now. It requires the Artifacts of the Thirteen be present. But Twilight Sparkle and her friends have the Artifacts of the Thirteen, don’t you?”

Twilight Sparkle nodded. “Optimus, if you would?”

Optimus hefted up the Forge of Solus Prime and the Star Saber. He laid them on the ground, crossing each other. Fluttershy pulled and dropped the Enigma of Combination on top, and Predaking and his Predacons airlifted the Requiem Blaster in, setting it on the back of the stage and rotating it until its thinner barrel touched the edge of the pile. The other Artifacts were thrown in as well.

“It is good to see you again, Alpha Trion.” Optimus said.

“And you too, Optimus. My, look how you’ve grown.”

Alpha Trion walked forward, placing what appeared to be a stylus and tablet on the pile.

The pile glowed with a whitish blue light. The light spread around on the stage, forming a neat, even circular shape before firing off into the sky, becoming a massive pillar. A portal like a Space Bridge, but blue, appeared in the sky, and eleven lights came raining down from it like reverse fireworks, striking the stage, leaving impact craters on the stage as the Primes were formed in corporeal bodies, draped in the smoke from the crater made during their landing.

They certainly knew how to make an entrance.

“Ladies and gentlemen …” Twilight Sparkle said. “Allow me to present to you … your Primes!”

The Primes walked forward on the stage, standing in line, joined by Alpha Trion. The crowd gasped and murmured.

“So it’s true!”

“The Thirteen Original Primes, with all their Artifacts!”

“Wait, why are there only ten of them?”

“Don’t you get it? Alpha Trion is one of them!”

“Okay, but where are the other two?”

“Elsewhere!” Alpha Trion said.

“We would prefer not to talk about them.” Megatronus said.

Nova shook his fists in rage. “Aaaaaaaaah!” Turning his rage on Optimus Prime, Nova created purple and black fireballs in his hands which seemed to distort the air around them and hurled them at Optimus Prime, knocking him onto his bottom.

The Primes noticed, whipping around. They aimed their weapons at Nova.

Nova realized he made a mistake, attacking Optimus while the Primes were present.

“Oh. Oops.”

Nova spread his wings and took flight, dodging as the Primes let loose a barrage of energy shots at him. They aimed their weapons up at Nova as he took off.

“I am on the case. Leave this to me.” Optimus said, spreading his wings and blasting off, chasing Nova down.

“Uh, he does realize you’re, like, gods, right?” Rainbow Dash asked Megatronus. “You would basically have this in the bag?”

“You would think.” Megatronus said. “But the truth is … it is somewhat more complicated than that.”

“Huh?” Dash asked, but Megatronus declined to elaborate any further.


Optimus Prime chased Nova through the air, swerving, ducking, flying under and over buildings, going around in loops, until Nova surprised Optimus by turning to face him while still flying backwards.

Nova held his hand out. Purple sparkles of dark energy began gathering around in his palm, forming the rough shape of a sword before emitting a bright flash and becoming a solid sword - a huge sword, with a jagged, zig zagging blade made of Dark Energon, an evil purple mist trailing off the blade, and hilt with a spider’s shape. Optimus gasped. It was like a dark, twisted perversion and mockery of the Star Saber, with the size to match.

“You like it?” Nova asked. “I call it a Dark Star Saber. And you know what the best part is?”

Nova held his other hand out, summoning another blade.

“I can make more than one.”

Nova sliced the blades through the air, sending out dark crescent beams which were provided a twisted counterpart to the Star Saber’s own sword beams. The beams struck Optimus Prime and sent him hurtling backwards through the air.

Optimus was able to recover and primed his integrated blaster, shooting at Nova Prime, hitting him square in the chest. Nova did not seemed too perturbed by it. Optimus fired again, and this time Nova crossed his Sabers across his chest, deflecting the blade.

Nova sent another beam out after Optimus, who flew below it and evaded it.

“Arrgh!” Optimus cried out when an agonizing beam of heat and fire struck him square in the back.

“I cannot say I fully understand all the mechanics of this new world …” Tirek said, levitating over Optimus’ head, now in a huge form which made stand as tall, if not taller than a particularly bulky Cybertronian. “But I do understand if I wish to conquer both it and Equestria, I must start with eviscerating you!”

“Hey,” Nova said. “Back off, buddy. He’s my kill.”

“I am not your buddy,” Tirek said before shooting a beam into Nova Prime’s chest, melting the metal. Nova shook his fists, clutching his Sabers, and swung at Tirek, blasting him back with a crescent beam.

“Grr …” Tirek growled before firing back, shooting a beam through Nova Prime’s shoulder and severing it at its connection. The arm and Saber plummeted and tumbled to the ground below.

And so they exchanged blows back and forth, volleying blasts and shooting blasts at each other. Tirek, utilizing the Changeling magic he had, turned himself into a flying dragon and began breathing fire down on Nova, who blocked his flame breath with a Saber, which glowed bright-red and began to melt.

Optimus clutched at his shoulder, nursing the sore spot there. Seeing Tirek and Nova were too preoccupied with fighting each other to notice him, Optimus began to think. He turned to slink away from the fight unnoticed, having an idea on how to combat both of them.


“Twilight Sparkle!” Optimus shouted, returning to the stage.

“Yes, Optimus?”

“Do you still have the Elements?”

“We still have them.”

“Good, then we still possesses the means to … Twilight Sparkle, I need you to locate Princess Celestia and bring her here. Smokescreen, Bumblebee, Arcee, Bulkhead! I need some equipment.”

“I’m sorry. The means to do what, Optimus?” Twilight asked.

“Make ‘Harmonized’ Energon.” Optimus said.

Twilight’s mouth formed a little round ‘o,’ realizing what Optimus was planning to do it. “You got it. Coming up, boss.”


Nova Prime was sent hurtling through the satellite panel of a building by Tirek’s latest attack, the two of them moving beyond his dragon form. The satellite curled up, unable to support his weight, and came curling down on him, burying him.

Nova lifted the satellite up and spun around before hurling the panel at Tirek, who fired a beam and cut the panel in half, the pieces falling to ground.

Nova summoned a Dark Star Saber in his grip and threw it at Tirek, who flew out of the way. Tirek grabbed the top of a building with telekinesis and tore it off its foundation, hurling the building’s roof at Nova.

Nova summoned another Saber, swinging it and cutting the roof in half with its beam. Nova waved his hands, creating star-shaped bolts in them, and fired at a barrage of warping, multicolored stars at Tirek, who dodged and weaved through them, until one hit its mark and knocked him off-course, sending him into the side of a building, punching a hole in it.

Tirek got back on his hooves, standing up and holding onto the sides of the destroyed wall for support. He reared up and hopped out, levitating. Nova Prime flew down to face him.

“Accursed Prime!”

“Thrice-damnable centaur!”

Tirek fired a massive blast from between his horns, which Nova met with another barrage of stars, summoning up and mixing meteorites in for good measure. Their attacks repelled each other, preventing the other from gaining any advantage and maintaining for long.

Tirek and Nova growled.

Both were blown away by twin golden rays of solid sunlight, which struck them and sent them flying into the sides of buildings.

“What the-?” Nova asked when he saw the source of the attack.

“Tally-ho!” Optimus cheered, flying in on feathered wings. He had used the - for lack of better term ‘Ponymaster’- process and merged with Celestia! His legs ended in furry hooves, a majestic white horn appeared in place of his crest, and he rode on wings, with feather tufts around his wrists, Celestia curled up and visible through a circular window in his chest.

“What in the name of …” Tirek said.

“Hi there!” Optimus said, flying up to Tirek and punching him right in the gut to knock the wind out of him. “I’m an Optimus Prime/Princess Celestia hybrid brought about by tampering with forces never meant to go together, but you can just call me “Person Who Is Going To Kick Your Butt.’”

“You insolent-” Tirek a beam from his horns, which bounced off Optimus’ chest.

“Hey, are these important?” Optimus said, grabbing Tirek’s horns. “They’re not important, are they?”

Before Tirek could protest, Optimus pulled, breaking off Tirek’s horns, shattered pieces of bone falling off to the concrete below.

“NO!” Tirek screamed, clutching at his face as he looked up and saw his beautiful horns had been destroyed.

“Such a drama queen.” Optimus said, giggling. He beat on his chest. “Celestia, I do not what you are up to in my chest, but tell your personality to quit influencing mine!”

“Ha.” Tirek laughed. “A little trouble in paradise?”

“How ironic.” Nova added. “Spousal disharmony from the Princess who practically embodies harmony.”

“Perhaps I am having a … domestic dispute, but at least I know I will not be sent back to Tartarus at the end of it!”

“Neither will-” Tirek’s boast was cut off by Optimus punching him the chest. Optimus grabbed him, lifted Tirek up, and then threw him to the ground, where he landed with a thud, groaning before falling unconscious.

Optimus waved his hand, burning with golden fire, and the trapezoidal portal opened beneath Tirek, dropping him in and sealing him away.

That done, Optimus turned his attention onto Nova, tackling him and smashing him through several buildings in a row, entering one end and smashing their way out the other until they reached an open, elevated platform, probably meant for sporting events commentary, where Optimus and Nova hit the ground and skidded along before screeching to a halt.

Optimus pushed himself up, shooting a rainbow blast from his fist before Nova could recover. Optimus was not going to let him reclaim the advantage again.

“Ugh …” Nova groaned and shakily got to his feet, wobbling. “Wait. So let me get this straight. You have, somehow, through some miraculous processed, combined with a pony.”

“Yes, that is correct.”

“You … combined. With a pony.”

“Yes.”

“Combined.”


“Yes.”

“With a pony.”

“What is it about this that you are not getting?”

“Combined … with a pony.”

“Yes sir.”

Nova paused. He blinked.

“That’s bull-”

Optimus Prime cut Nova short by firing a massive rainbow laser blast from both his hands, smashing into Nova and destroying the floor he was standing, the blast pushing him with extra force to the ground, and it was a long fall.

Optimus Prime flew down, landing next to the fallen Nova, who had already gotten to his hands and knees despite falling back-first.

Optimus raised his hand to strike and fire another blast.

Nova, recovering with the speed of a cheetah’s paw, and striking just as quick, He smashed his fist through the window on Optimus’ chest and grabbed Celestia, pulling her out and severing the cords connecting her. There was a flash of light, and Optimus was restored to his normal form.

Optimus staggered backwards, but planted his foot down and recovered his bearings. He saw Nova holding Celestia by the neck like a freshly-killed goose, covered in (hopefully Optimus’) Energon, which dripped from her body.

“Aww, how sweet. You two are great together. I think I’ll start torturing you with killing your little Conjunx Endura here!”

“I am not about to let that happen.”


“I don’t recall giving you a choice in the matter, Optimus!”


Optimus whipped out the Star Saber, producing it from behind him. “Neither do I.”


Optimus swung the Saber, slicing Nova Prime’s arm off with the crescent beam before he could twist and snap Celestia’s neck. The arm hit the ground, and the bonk Celestia received to her head was enough to bring her back to consciousness. She got to her hooves and adopted a fighting position.

“Yaaaaaah!”



Optimus charged and ran forward, stampeding on his foot. Nova Prime planted his feet in the ground and crouched, ready to grab Optimus as if he were a charging bull (not an unfitting comparison, given his current mood) and stop him dead in his tracks.

Optimus swung the Star Saber, cutting Nova Prime in half at the midsection. His vivisected corpse was thrown back and fell off the edge of the platform they were standing on.

Optimus walked to the edge of the platform, looking down over the ledge to see where Nova’s body landed and what happened to it. But there was no body. It seemed to have gone as soon as it went over the edge. As if it had just … poofed.

Optimus felt something bull-like strike him in the back and send him tumbling over the edge. He turned around as he fell to be met with Nova Prime, fully restored, undamaged, in one piece, looking down at him from the ledge, with Princess Celestia covering her mouth in shock. As Optimus continued falling, he saw Nova’s gaze shift from him to Celestia.

I said … I would not allow that to happen!

Optimus twirled around and righted himself, jetting up and punching Nova across the face before he could lay harm to Celestia.

“Stay strong, Optimus!” Celestia flew away. “I’ll go get reinforcements.”

Nova aimed at Celestia, preparing his star spell again. Optimus ran up to Nova and clocked him on the head before he could get it off, and prepared to belt Nova again. Nova turned around and grabbed Optimus around the waist, tackling him off the side of the platform they were on.

They both hit the ground and rolled along, each of them trying to get pin the other, Optimus’ hands on Nova’s shoulders, Nova’s around Optimus’ throat. They stopped with Optimus on bottom, running out of momentum. Activating his rockets to push him up and give a little extra push, Optimus kicked Nova in the gut and kicked him off, then jumped to his feet.

Nova flicked his hand, readying another Dark Star Saber.

Optimus unsheathed his Saber.

They roared and charged at each other, their blades warbling as they clashed, each strike producing waves of energy, spectrums appearing in the air, fields of power waving in and out, giving peeks into hidden workings of the universe whence the blades hit each other, only to disappear into nothing when the blades were separated.

The two combatants backed away from each other. Nova summoned an extra Saber in his spare hand. Optimus met this by pulling out the Forge of Solus Prime.

They charged at each other, both swordfighters crossing their weapons in an ‘X’ formation, banging them up against each other as if they were shields. A massive hemisphere of conflicting, battling blue, gold and purple energy formed above their heads as they pressed against each other.

Optimus saw a flicker of a tail up ahead on a building’s balcony. Starlight peeked her head through the bars, almost falling over before she was caught by Trixie. On another roof, Arcee and Bumblebee walked along, flashing Optimus thumbs-up and drawing the tension on the strings on their Hunter bows. Ultra Magnus took position, as did Celestia and Twilight’s friends with the Elements. Predaking, Grimwing, and Grimlock lined up in their beast modes, preparing fire bursts in their mouths. Fractyl (and Thundercracker?) readied a vial. And on and on it went, with every soldier and volunteer the Imperials had and could find lining up to take their shot at Nova.

“What are you looking so pleased about?” Nova asked, Optimus letting his pleasure show in his eyes. Optimus tried not to answer, but he couldn’t ignore it and keep quiet anymore when the tardy Fortress Maximus and the Primes arrived on the scene.

Nova looked up, and his eyes bugged out of his head at Fortress Maximus.

“NOW!” Optimus shouted, swinging the Star Saber and Forge at Nova, shooting their beams.

And so everyone present let loose with their strongest attacks, from Beast Hunter weapons, to fire breaths, to the Magnus Hammer, to engineered vials of superacid and Celestia’s magic to the Elements of Harmony. One by one, each attack struck Nova, each taking a piece of him, escalating the attacks in a roaring sequence before they finally capped it off with the Primes opening fire and Fortress Maximus shooting his weapons at Nova, engulfing him in a great big ball of fire which exploded, raining burnt chunks of Nova all over the smoking ground.

“So … let’s see …” Ultra Magnus said, counting on his fingers. “That’s the Hammer, our Beast Hunter weapons, Fractyl’s acid, the Forge, the Star Saber, the Elements of Harmony, Predaking, Grimlock, Fortress Maximus, Princess Celestia, the Primes themselves and oh yeah, every single of our troops shooting him at the same. Surely … surely that was enough to put him out of commision, right? … Right?”

Ultra Magnus’ hope proved misplaced, as Nova’s body began to reconstitute and repair itself. Cables sprouted from the neck which reattached it to the body, pulling it towards his body. Its arms flew to its torso, its legs to its abdominal region. The shambling homunculus began to stand, the damage done to it healing, the burn scars and blackness fading away, its shattered optic reforming from nothing.

“What?” Ultra Magnus said. “How did he do that? How does he keep doing that? Keep … repairing himself?”

“It’s a shell.” Optimus realized. “We have not been fighting Nova Prime at all all this time. All along, it was an empty, hollow shell controlled by him.”

“Ha ha ha ha!” Nova gave a hearty laugh. “Perceptive of you, Optimus Prime! Or Orion Pax, whichever you prefer. You will never be free of me, Optimus Prime. We will duel for all eternity. You will never able to truly vanquish. You will never free the universe of the blight that is me. We shall be stuck here, on Cybertron, fighting and fighting, with me ‘dying’ over and over, always rebuilding and repairing myself through even the most seemingly final of my deaths, and one day, you will give out. You will give up, and give in. Your actuators will begin to fail, your gears will rust and stop up, your processor will clog and be in need of a reboot and defragging, and your servos will not be as steady as they used to be. And long after you’ve rusted away, and crumbled into dust and have been blown away by the wind … I will still be here. I will still - be - HERE.”

“An impressive taunt, and even more impressive boast, Nova Prime.” Primus walked forward. “However, at long last, after that last regeneration, my colleagues and I were able to track where it was coming from. We’ve found the seat of your power, the source of your seeming immortality.”

Nova seemed plussed by this statement, but he didn’t let it faze him.

“Hmph! Very well. Optimus Prime! Have you and whichever of your soldiers and so-called friends come in and enter my lair … if you dare. You seriously risk losing them if you do.”

Nova Prime jumped into the air and was cloaked in a starry, inky blackness which swirled around him in a whirlpool which covered him and swallowing him whole. It disappeared into thin air, and Nova Prime disappeared with it, without a trace.

“Optimus Prime, my disciple.” Primus said. “Are you and your team ready to go to the Dead Universe, where Nova Prime awaits at both his most vulnerable ... and his strongest? It is the seat of his power, as I said.”

Optimus nodded. “I am. Autobots! Ponies!”

Loyal as loyal could be, Optimus turned around and found Team Prime and all of Twilight Sparkle’s friends standing behind, ready to go this dangerous expedition, as evidenced by their saluting, stiff postures.

“Are you ready?” Optimus said.

“We’re ready, Optimus Prime.”

“Wills? Last testaments and all that? Say goodbye to your loved ones?”

“Oh, pfft.” Rainbow Dash scoffed.

“Really, now, Optimus, darling, you don’t really think we need all those things, do you?”

“Yeah!” Dash said. “We always come out on top!”

“She has a point.” Twilight said with a sheepish smile.

“Better safe than sorry.” Optimus said.

Primus and his Primes got together in a circle. Focusing, chanting and concentration, one Prime stepped and cut the air with his sword, which created a vertical slit which then spread out into an ovoid shape. A portal to the Dead Universe, showing a peek of the Dead Universe inside. It appeared to be nothing but an a mixture orange, purple, and blue starry backdrops mixing and swirling together.

“Alright ... ponies … Beast Hunters.” Optimus acknowledged his team. “Forward into the breach.”

Optimus led his team in as they stepped through the portal.