Tales of An Iotaverse

by Darkryt Orbinautz

Alliance

Lavender hooves clinking, Twilight found her brother's corpse with the street lamp light's shining on him, showing his body to any who would be so inclined as to see it. Over to the right, his blood had leaked to the point it touched and mix with his discarded cider.

Twilight choked back a sob. "Shining...my B-B-B-F-F..." She dabbed at her eyes with her hoof.

Twilight laid down by her brother's side and hugged. "The last thing I said to was 'I don't want you here' while mentally altered, and now you're gone..."

Twilight sobbed and sniffed. The weather was seemingly empathic with her mood and let down a drizzle that began to wash away the split blood and cider mix.

Twilight sniffled and got up. It was best she broke the news to Cadence so they could start on funeral arrangements. As she turned to walk away, her hooves made plop-plop-plop sounds on the mixture of blood, cider, and rainwater. Hearing the splash of liquid gave Twilight an idea...

Twilight went back to him, and worked her brother's corpse upwards, her legs wrapped around his neck to stable his head.

Sounds like boiling water came from Twilight's stomach.

Twilight kissed her dead brother on the lips.

Dark Energon bubbled from Twilight's mouth into Shining's, covering both their muzzles with foam.

Shining's eyes shot open, shimmering violet with un-life.

---

The Reign of Starscream

Chapter 2

Alliance

Episode Synopsis: Shining doesn't react well to being an Terrorpony; Luna's brigade goes to Cybertron; Smokescreen reveals something much worse then the Changeling Queen is after Big Macintosh.

---

"I can believe you turned me into a- a-" Shining looked at his hoof, the blue coat on it now purple. And he also looked at the Dark Energon crystal sticking out of his back. "What am I, anyways?"

"Terrorpony." Twilight helpfully answered.

"What?"

"Terrorpony. Dead Cybertronian's revived by Dark Energon are Terrorcons, so ponies resurrected by them would be Terrorponies."

Shining shook his head and whinnied. "Whatever! I'm still mad you did this to me!"

"You were dead! What I was supposed to do?"

"I don't know! Bury me, maybe!? That would've been nice!"

"Shining, you were killed out in the street while you were drinking, and the last words I said to you were 'I don't want you here'! How do you think I could have lived with myself knowing that if you were dead!?"

"Oh, I don't know! Here's an idea; you could just go kill yourself and come back as a Terrorpony! You wouldn't be 'living' with it anymore!"

"Can you do that?" Cadence asked. "Can you die, come back, die again, and then come back again?"

Twilight shrugged. Looking to the side, Twilight could see Optimus looking reserved, but he hadn't said anything. "Optimus?"

"Twilight Sparkle, when it was revealed that Unicron had been nurturing himself in the back of your psyche, I was of the opinion it was his presence that allowed you to retain your sense of self. Your resurrection of your brother calls this into question."

Twilight laughed. "Oh, well, that's easy! Limbo! If you can get to the deceased pony in question before an certain amount of time, you can ressurcet them as themselves! I don't really know how exactly long, but... "

"Twilight Sparkle," Optimus interjected. "I am concerned that you and Shining Armor both having the Dark Energon integrated into your being will induce the need for symbiosis beyond what your Tracer therapy will allow."

"I think, Optimus, if me and Shining combine our magic, we can use that instead."

"I don't want to 'achieve symbiosis' with you! I don't want to symbio...sis...-i-size with anypony!"

Before Twilight could explain symbiosis was inevitable as a Terrorpony after a certain point (and that 'symbiosis-i-size' wasn't a word), Spitfire, Soarin' and Fleetfoot of the Wonderbolts trotted before them in purple spacesuits with green helmets.

"The Wonderbolts?" Twilight questioned. "What are you doing here?"

Before Spitfire could answer, Princess Luna and her bat-winged, reptilian-eye Night Guard came crashing down in the same suits.

"Forsooth!" Luna declared. "We art here to travel to Cybertron and locate Our Prime's brother! Prepare the Space Bridge!"

After Optimus lead Luna and her troop away, Twilight walked up to her brother and nuzzled him in the neck.

Shining sighed and nuzzled back. "I'm sorry, Twily...I didn't realize what I was saying. If I lost you...I'm just a little overwhelmed." Shining raised his hoof again. "It's just...what AM I now!?"

Twilight smiled and hugged him. "You're my B.B.B.F.F., and nothing will ever change that."

"...Thanks, Twily."

---

Smokescreen pulled up at the Train Station and rolled his window down to let Apple Bloom do the talking.

"Hey, everypony!" Apple Bloom said, lopped her legs over the window. "Ah'm looking for mah brother, Big Macintosh? Big red stallion? Doesn't talk a whole lot?"

"Yeah." one passerby said. "He just took the last train with some Earth pony mare."

"Oh no! We'll never catch them in time!" Apple Bloom exclaimed.

"Yes we will!" Smokescreen countered.

He revved up and drove through the railings meant to keep ponies off the tracks when the train wasn't there, breaking a bunch of laws in the process- more out of ignorance then malice- and began speeding down the train tracks. The fact Cybertronian wheels hovered was a great help to him here.

Smokescreen wasn't shy about putting his fuel gauge to the max, so the train came into sight reasonable fast.

"Hey! Big Macintosh!" Apple Bloom yelled, waving her hooves out Smokescreen's window.

On board the train, Big Macintosh responded instantly to the sound of his sister's voice. "Apple Bloom?"

"I'm sure you're just hearing things, sweetie." Cheerilee assured him.

Big Macintosh peered out the window. "Eeenope."

"What?" Cheerilee poked her head through the window, and seemed displeased to see Apple Bloom waving from the window of a rather-nice looking car. "Unngh!"

Cheerilee bucked some litter on the floor, causing to clang against the trash can. "Big Macintosh, can you go see what clanging was?"

"Eeeyup." Big Macintosh entered the next cabin over, thinking the noise had come from there.

'Cheerilee', meanwhile, stuck her head out the door and used some green magic to unbolt the last car in the train from the second-last, causing it to careen backwards towards Smokescreen.

"Uh, Smokescreen?" Apple Bloom said. "Is it jus' me, or is that train coming' towards us!?"

"No, no, I think you're right. Hang on!"

Apple Bloom was surprised when the seat she was sitting in began moving backwards. She was also alarmed when leather straps began shooting around her, and disoriented when the entire room seemed to rise up in height.

Smokescreen, in robot mode, ran towards the train car and grasped it's sides with his hands, trying to slow it down. He was successfully, much to the relief of the passengers inside.

Smokescreen leaned down to check on them. "Everyone okay in here?"

The two passengers in the car saw him and nodded, their hearts pounding too much to question that they had just been saved by a Decepticon- as far as they knew.

Smokescreen did a handstand and flipped onto the car, then off it to the other end. The tiny size of the train whistle and it's inability to be found told Smokescreen it had escaped.

"Oooh!" Apple Bloom whined. "We'll never catch up to 'im now!"

"Oh yes we will!" Smokescreen said confidently, transforming to vehicular mode and speeding down the track.

Apple Bloom was starting to feel sick from all the rising and lowering that happened in Smokescreen's transformations. "Could y'all open a window? Ah don't feel so good..."

"Yeah, sure." Smokescreen rolled his window down, allowing Apple Bloom to perch out of it.

---

On Cybertron, the Space Bridge opened. Luna's vanguard and the Wonderbolts all flew out of it onto the metal planet's landscape.

Spitfire and Soarin' took a look around and were awed. Particular at the two moons in the sky compared to Equestria's one. Even with the half-destroyed buildings and disorganized shrapnel everywhere...

"This place is beautiful!"

"And it's supposed to be dead?"

The question crossed both Wonderbolts mind that if Cybertron looked liked this while it was dead...how beautiful did it look while it was still alive?

Spitfire, Soarin' and Luna all landed on the ground below. Which turned out to not be a good idea, as the scrap gave out beneath their hooves and fell down into a near-bottomless pit.

"Whoa there, stranger!" A cocky voice greeted them. "Watch your step!"

Three Cybertronian's appeared around them on fine-cut cliffs in the area. One was green and old with some sort of cigar in his mouth. Another was blue and looked a near-dead ringer for Bumblebee except for his head and paint job. The last one was tall and mighty-looking, a different shade of blue with wheels in his calves and truck-cab's on his shoulders and a hammer stored on his back. In fact, if Luna didn't know better, she'd say he had some family resemblance to Optimus Prime...

"Oh! Thoust there! With the hammer on their backside! Art thoust Ultra Magnus, the brother of Optimus Prime?"

The blue mech chuckled. "As a matter of fact, I am." Ultra Magnus bowed. "Ultra Magnus, leader of the Wreckers, and yes, Optimus' brother. These two are my goons and best buddies, Kup-" He gestured to the green one. "and Hot Shot." He gestured to the blue one.

Hot Shot beamed and waved. "Hi!"

Kup sneered at them. "Eh...whazza bunch of four-leggers doin' on Cybertron?"

"For thoust knowledge, Kup, we were volunteers of Equestria who have been sent here to Cybertron to aid in it's restoration in whatever way we can. And to find Optimus Prime's brother."

Ultra Magnus scoffed. "Wha- really?"

"Yes! He seemed most concerned over thy's well-being!"

"Concerned over my-!?" Ultra Magnus put his hand on his head and laughed. "Do you realize how silly you sound right now!? Optimus? Concerned? Like, stoic, never laughs and doesn't party Optimus!?"

"Well...yes!"

"Aaah hahahaha! You're kidding..." Ultra Magnus shook his head. "Well, far be it me to turn down some extra hands around here, but I gotta admit, unless you can all sponge up Dark Energon like water, I don't think there's a lot you can do for us...what's your names, by the way?"

"Spitfire!"

"Soarin'!"

"Princess Luna of Equestria!"

"Ooooh!" Kup said. "A Princess! Shockwave will be shaking in his tower now!"

"Easy, Kup, easy." Ultra Magnus waved his hand to try to get his snarking soldier to ease off. "They're here to help. Can't just shoot them down like that, can we?"

Kup raised a very big black cannon that looked too big to hold with one hand, yet he managed. "Can we?"

"NO!"

---

In the towers of Kaon's remnants, Shockwave was looming over a computer, attempting to sketch out ideas on how to best reboot the deactivated Core of Cybertron. He had a gotten makeover as well. The purple window that made his chest had turned into a black one on his chest, his triceps and calves were silver. He had treads in his legs and his hands were now clawed, as well as height upgrade to his stature. He was now ready ready to the look the part of 'Decepticon Lord.'

"Hey, uh, Shockwave?" Barricade asked, in another corner of the room monitor the, well, monitors. "We got something over here..."

"Not now, Barricade! I am trying to develop the means with which I will revitalize our planet!"

"Yeah, but Shockwave...these readings are really intense! Like Space Bridge level!"

"Bah! Take Lugnut and investigate, if it concerns you that much!"

---

Back on Equestria, Starscream was supervising as Flim and Flam finished using their technical expertise to build detector devices at the Ex-'Con's instruction.

"Annnd...finished, Lord Starscream!" Flam announced, using her magic to twist the last screw in.

"Excellent!" Starscream bent down to pick the remote. "Assembled properly, this device will allow us to locate any more stray Artifacts..." Starscream looked at his claw, which had a pony-sized oven mitt on the top of the finger. "And now that the issue of Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle has been taken care of..." He flicked the mitt off. "I can trust you, Gilda and Trixie?"

"Yeah, sure."

"But of course, oh most gracious Lord Starscream!" Trixie tipped her hat to him.

Starscream laughed. "Ha! Gracious Lord Starscream...I like it!"

Flim looked over the Dark Energon strapped to Trixie's wagon with concern. "I must say, Lord Starscream, this...Dark Energon material is giving my horn odd feelings."

Starscream responded with sarcasm. "Perhaps then, you should remove your horn from it...what's this now?"

Off in the distance, Starscream could a crowd of ponies gathering around a stage just outside a town that looked it been plucked straight outta tha' Old West. On the stage was some weird creature with horns, a snout and hooves, but also hands that stood upright like a Cybertronian. The detector also began reacting in that directions.

"Interesting..." Starscream pointed his long finger. "That way, my armada!"

---

Ultra Magnus and his Wreckers led Luna and her small army towards the general direction of their base. (As much as Kup protested the idea)

"So this Iacon of which thoust speaketh...why would it's ruins be the ideal place for thoust castle?"

"Castle? Who said anything 'bout a castle?" Kup questioned.

"That's just the way she talks." Spitfire assured him. "She means why do you keep a place that's in ruins as your base?"

"Well, it's because it's ruined. It's the very last place Shockwave's goons would think to look for us."

"And now that you've so gracefully let the secret slip..."

Luna and the Wreckers found to their horror Barriacade and Lugnut standing on a rooftop nearby.

"We'll be sure to tell Shockwave where you've been hiding when we report to him about your new pets! Hah!" Barricade laughed mockingly. "Has the great Optimus Prime really sunk so low in he sends in imported wildlife from other worlds to help out his l'l bro?"

Luna charged up her horn and unleashed at barrage of lightning bolts at the two Decepticons, who managed to flail their way out of being hit despite their surprise at the display of power.

"Me and my big fat mouth..." Barricade muttered. "Come on, Lugnut! Let's get the scrap outta here!"

He and Lugnut jumped off the rootfop and transformed into their respective vehicle modes and took off.

"We can't let those two get back to Kaon! Shockwave will be able to blast our base to smithereens if they do!"

The slow-but-surely forming Wrecker/Pony alliance all took off after them, Luna's guards and the Wonderbolts flying after Lugnut and Hot Shot and Kup transforming after Barricade.

Ultra Magnus neglected transforming however in favor of jumping onto the rooftop and attempted to leap onto Lugnut's back- with mixed results. He got on there, but was left dangling from Lugnent's engines.

"Worry not, Ultra Magnus!" Luna shouted. "We-" She turned to Sptifire. "Line?"

"'We got you covered.'"

"We've haveth thoust' backside obcsured!"

Luna shot another lighting bolt out, which struck one of Lugnut's engines and disrupted the Decepticon's ability to keep steady in the air. The shaking allowed Ultra Magnus the opportunity to pull himself onto Lugnut's back. Lugnut tried to shake Magnus off him, but was unsuccessful. Magnus pulled out the hammer on his back which activated, crackling with electricity. He swung into Lugnut's back, blasting a hole into it and sending him crashing.

Most unfortunely, despite Magnus being able to jump off Lugnut before he crashed, Lugnut crashed just in front of Kup and Hot Show, preventing them from being able to pursue Barricade.

"Scrap!"

"Magnus, we lost Barricade!"

"Everyone get to Iacon NOW!" Ultra Magnus ordered. "Once Shockwave knows we've been hiding in Iacon, he'll send everything he's got to blast it off the map! We need to get there and get as many thing as we can out of there! Move, move, MOVE!"

Shockwave had his claw to his chin- in so much as a someone who's entire face was a black hole with an eye could have a chin- examine his most recent computer simulation for what would bring Cybertron back from the brink.

Exactly what was going on Shockwave's hologram screen wasn't clear, showing only Cybertron and it's rotation, but given how Shockwave growled and slammed his palm into the keyboard, it wasn't successful.

"Shockwave!" Barricade yelled, running into the room.

"What now!?" Shockwave was clearly displeased Barricade had interrupted him again.

"I found out that the location of the Ultra Magnus' base! We can take all the troops that came from Earth and stomp those blasted Wreckers out of existence!"

"Yes..." Shockwave noted, still more interested in his computer then Barricade. "Of course..."

"Uuuh...you okay, boss? You don't seem as...enthusiastic as I thought you'd be."

"I am quite well, Barricade." Shockwave waved his hand to dismiss him. "Go. Carry out the destruction of the Wreckers."

Barricade raised a browplate. He didn't believe Shockwave was okay. He seemed to be obsessing over how he could restore Cybertron.

"Come ON, people- Pony or Autobot- MOVE IT! Shockwave's army will be here any second, and I want all the important supplies in the base out!"

"You know," Hot Shot said to Magnus while carrying a crate. "If you really want it all out that bad, why don't you do something about it?"

"Something like this?" Ultra Magnus swung his hammer into Hot Shot's back, sending him and the crate flying like a golf ball.

Luna observed the exchange with a reserved amusement. She had carried out as many crates as she could with her magic while her Night Guard used tether to carry some on their own.

She dropped the crates when she heard a really strange pinging noise.

"Your Highness!" One of her Guards said at her sudden stop. "What's wrong?"

"It's that pinging noise." Luna answered.

The Guard seemed concerned.

"What's troubling thoust?"

"Princess...I don't hear any pinging noise."

"Thou does not?" Luna looked around. The pinging noise did nothing to let up after being told Luna was the only one to hear it. "Hmm...stay here and continue assisting Ultra Magnus! We will investigate this anomaly..."

The Guard nodded, and Luna descended into a stray alleyway where the pinging got louder the closer she got.

Landing gracefully in the alleyway proper, Luna looked around for the noise's source.

Then she heard clanging footsteps from a Cybertronian.

"Halt!" Luna shouted. "Whom goes there? We, Princess Luna of Equestria, art here to assist the Autobots stationed on Cybertron and we shalt not abide intruders in their space!"

The intruder didn't seem to care much for having been discovered, so Luna took it upon herself to chase after him. Turning a corner, she heard his footsteps again, but still couldn't see him.

This continued on for a while until Luna found herself out of the alley and standing before a a large, curved building that was obviously something of cultural significance.

Realizing that she must've been incredible far off from where the Wreckers and her knights were attempting to carry as much as they could, Luna entered the building to find her culprit- and perhaps because she was curious as to what was inside.

Ultra Magnus handed a crate to the Guard's tether. "Okay...I think that's the last of it."

"An' just in time, too." Kup remarked. "Look!"

A marching mass of purple and green that could only be Vehicons and Insecticons was fast approaching.

"Scrap..."

Kup put up his boomstick to his eye to gaze out his scope. "Look like Blackout, Barricade and the Combaticons are all wit 'em too!"

"Wow. Shockwave's really not holding anything back, is he?"

"Whadda ya excpect? He knows this is where we been hiding. He gets us now, it's all over."

"I'm sorry..." Spitfire said. "We're supposed to be helping you rebuild Cybertron or something like that, but I'm not sure how we're supposed to help you with this big of a Decepticon movement."

"Any way you can think of!" The Wreckers transformed and drove off to meet their enemy head-on.

"Ahh..." Blackout said at the sight of them. "Look, Barricade! The Wreckers are eager to meet their doom!"

"Far be it me to deny it to them!" Barricade converted his hand into a saw.

"Autobots, roll for the wreckage!" Magnus commanded.

Transforming back into robotic mode, Ultra Magnus, Kup and Hot Shot all pulled their weapons out to deal with Blackout and Barricade.

"YAAAAH!" Spitfire led her teammates and the Guards into a Vehicon, eventually taking him down throught a combination of bucking and swarm tactics.

"P-p-PONIES!" Onslaught shrieked.

Spitfire and Soarin' looked at each other. "Um, yeah."

"What about us?"

"Because of your kind, me and my Combaticons ended destroying Kaon's pyramid! It took us WEEKS to repair that thing!"

"Uh...it wasn't us?" Spitfire innocently tried to say.

Onslaught turned to Vortex and Brawl, conferring how to feel about that.

"Better safe then sorry!"

"Combaticons, TRANSFORM INTO BRUTICUS!"

And so, the Wonderbolts and Guards got to experience the fear, the terror, the atrocity of witnessing a Gestalt merge. It was easy to tell how the Combaticon's bodies were fitted into forms that shouldn't have been there for them to fit in. When the end result was complete, Energon was leaking out from all over various parts of Bruticus' body. Not from wounds, but because the pipes they were supposed to carry fuel from one member to the others didn't work like they were supposed to.

"Okay...Magnus, that is something ponies would call 'bad'. What do Autobots call it?"

"Very bad."

Luna cautiously strode down the halls of the building, finding a dome-like room at the building's center that connected to a bunch of other hallways. Although she wasn't familiar with Cybertronian data storage, she felt rather like she was in a library of some sort.

She heard the clanging footsteps again, followed by clinking like somepony had just dropped a key...and then that pinging again!

Darting her head to and fro, Luna saw a glowing metal thing on the floor she could swaear wasn't there before.

"Hmm..."
Curious, she approached the thing. It was some sort of device that was almost a third her size, hand an arched handle on end and a pointed bit on the other. Given how loud the noise was now, she was certain this thing was the source of the ping that had been plaguing her.

She picked it up in her mouth. Her eyes dilated, her horn began to glow.

Luna rushed off into one of the other hallways in some sort of trance induced by the little thing, her horn begging to be used.

And in one of the other hallways, amidst the now empty library, a pair of blue optics watched her go.

Seeing her as having took the device, the optics revealed it's mouth in a grin, which strangely, was also glowing. It was common for Cybertronian's to have glowing eyes, but a glowing mouth?

Outside the building, Luna ran for another building just behind the library, totally ignoring the clusters of Dark Energon all around her.

Getting inside, Luna headed straight for a room with a gold and red pedestal in it's center, totally dominated by the device in her mouth.

Luna's paced slowed as she approached it, and it put the device inside the pedestal. Her trance lessened slightly, but it was still there.

The pedestal transformed, rearranging itself into a taller, narrower form. A small hole like a keyhole formed in the bottom.

Luna, still hearing the pinging, but more quietly, put her horn into the hole and began charging her magic into the pedestal.

"GAAH!" The pedestal started charging back, pumping Dark Energon energies into the source of her magic. Luna's turned the purple associated with the Unicronian Blood, but she refused to let it control her.

"We-are Princess Luna of Equestria! Our will is NOT to be subjugated!" Grunting in focus, Luna blasted even more magic into the pedestal, expelling the Dark Energon while she was at it.

Having just donated so much energy into the receptacle, and having just did a self-exorcism of Dark Energon on herself, Luna fainted and collapsed.

The entire building began shifting and rearranging. The Dark Energon clusters outside were exploded by pillars of Night magic bursting through them like impaling tools.

The building shifted itself upright, the ground around it attaching to it's sides.

"Come on, you measly metal-munchers!" Ultra Magnus yelled, swinging his hammer into Insections. "Put some hydralic pressure into it!"

"We're putting some!" Hot Shot protested while he and Kup kept shooting their weapons at the encroaching army.

"Give up, Autobots!" An Insecticon yelled. "You can't beat us all!"

"We're Wreckers. We're supposed to beat down hordes!"

"BRUTICUS...BLAST WRECKERS." Bruticus hissed, lowering Onslaught's cannons on his back over his shoulders.

A fleet of rockets fired into the army, punching pockets of unconscious Decepticons in the otherwise imposing army.

Spitfire and Soarin' looked at each other. Neither of them had done that.

"...Holy-!" Hot Shot yelled. "Look!"

Everyone did.

"...What...is that?" Soarin' gasped.

"It can't be..." Kup muttered.

"Hey." Hot Shot counterd. "You complainin'?"

Even Bruticus seemed afraid as a towering, golden Autobot with a claw for a hand and solar panels for an arm.

"OMEGA: ONLINE. MISSION: DEFEND RUINS OF IACON." The hulking giant stated.

All the Decepticons began tensing, and then ran for the hills.

"Stand and fight, you cowards!" Blackout scolded them.

The solar panels on Omega's arm fired a golden beam at Bruticus, which picked him and dragged him into Omega's claw. Omega proceeded to crush the Combiner in it, crumpling him and his components into a heap. Omega hurled the scrapheap into back into the battlefield, where it's impact shook the ground around Blackout.

"...On second thought..." Blackout muttered, transforming and joining into the retreat.

The Wreckers, Wonderbolts, and Night Guards all gathered around Omega's pillar-sized feet.

Luna popped up out of his shoulder, lopping herself over it.

"Hello...everypony." Luna waved weakly at them. "We have...made a friend."

"I see that." Soarin' commented.

"Luna, how did you do this?" Ultra Magnus questioned. He didn't seemed angry at her, but there was an urgency in his tone. "How did you get Omega Supreme back online?"

"Put a...bronze device inside a pedestal...charged it with magic..." Luna managed to gather the breath to explain.

"Bronze device?...An Omega Key?"

"We...suppose."

"Luna, the only bot on Cybertron who could've given you that...is Alpha Trion."

"Oh. Is this 'Alpha Trion' on our side?"

"He's dead, Luna."

"...Huh."

Back at the Kaon towers where Shockwave was runing yet another fruitless diagram, Barricade limped into the room.

"Report, Barricade." Shockwave instructed, still more concerned with his computers then his soldiers.

"The ponies..." Barricade stammered.

"What of them?"

"They- Shockwave, they brought back Omega Supreme!"

Shockwave froze, seemingly caring again. "That is impossible. Omega Supreme's systems were violated by Dark Energon eons ago."

"Yeah, and they managed to do the impossible! What do you want to do, Shockwave?"

Shockwave stood there, looking at his holograms with a claw on his chin in thought. "Prepare the Space Bridge."

"Space Bridge?" Barricade questioned as Shockwave approached the door. "Where we goin'?"

"Why..." Shockwave answered, heading for the door.

"To get the ponies that will revitalize Cybertron, of course!"

"Hmm..." Starscream mused as the detector appeared to go haywire. "Magnetic anomalies...like these could only be caused by the presences of Mini-Cons!"

"What're those?" Trixie asked. Starscream ignored her, too focused on the stage ahead of them to care.

"And that, my little ponies, concludes Iron Will's session for today." The Cybertronian-sized creature- an Minotaur, said, closing up a suit and beginning to walk off-stage.

"Excuse me!" Starscream said, raising his claw and stepping on-stage. "Mister...Iron Will, was it? Would you mind so badly were I to borrow your stage before you depart?"

"Uh..." Iron Will stammered. "Sure...I guess?"

"Thank you." Starscream bowed. "My little ponies, I am Lord Starscream, and I believe there are powerful weapons buried beanth the housings of your fair town."

The crowd of ponies all looked to each other.

"In my authority as Emperor of Destruction, I demand you excavate this relics and bring them to me!" Starscream demanded.

"Hey now!" One crowdgoer said. "Why should we have to dig up our houses just to please you?"

"That's right!" Iron Will added, getting back on-stage to challenge Starscream. "Why should they?"

Starscream leered. He converted his arm into cannon-mode and shot a red laser straight through Iron Will's left ab, buring a hole into it which smoked. The minotaur fell to his back with a groan.

Starscream pointed his cannon at the crowd. "Any more questions?"

The crown shook their head and scattered to start digging.

Trixie, Flim and Flam all concernedly looked over Iron Will.

"Is he...okay?" Trixie asked.

"Who cares?" Starscream spat, making the unicorns uncomfortable with his callousness.

The Friendship Express carried on it's pre-set path, the conductor and most of the passengers unaware of the secret the cute couple in the back were hiding and that the entire train was the target of a war-mongering robot from outer space.

Said robot was tailing them as best he could.

"C'mon, Smokescreen!" Apple Bloom exclaimed. "We'll never catch them this way!"

"You sure? I can go preetty fast!"

To demonstrate, Smokesceen increased his speed.

'Cheerilee' poked her head out the window to see if her pursuers were still there. "Grrr!" She fired a green laser at Smokescreen, causing him to spin out.

"Aww- Scrap!" Smokescreen swore, trying to steady himself. "Uh...Apple Bloom? Don't repeat that. Ever."

The train was pulling up near a drawbridge that would have to be lowered.

"Oh no! We'll never get them if they get to that bridge!"

"I say we make sure they don't then!" Smokescreen transformed, tumbling Apple Bloom around in his internals again, took a few running steps forward, then jumped into the air, converting his arm into a tiny stealth-like blaster that he used to blow the tracks in front of the train.

The conductor, reacting quickly, pulled the train's brakes.

Cheerilee got suspicious. "Why are we stopped?"

"Attention, passengers. The tracks have been sabotaged. Repeat, the tracks have been sabotaged." The conductor informed them through an intercom.

Cheerilee went 'raaah!' in frustration and quickly led Big Macintosh out through the back cabin's rear exit, heading for the nearest town with her captive in tow.

Everypony else exited to inspect the damage to the tracks. Who did this?

Smokescreen was running towards the stopped train, and he jumped into the air and on to it, rolling forward so he could get the attention of the stopped ponies.

"Hey, you!" Smokescreen pointed at them. "We're looking for a big red Earth pony stallion and a pink Earth pony mare. Have you seen them?"

"Uh, yeah." The conductor said. "They went that way."

Smokescreen made a frustrated noise. "Really!? I'm starting to think he WANTS to be killed!"

Apple Bloom gasped. "Not Big Macintosh!"

"You know, Appleloosa's about that way." The conductor told them. "I'm sure you can get them there, if ya hurry."

Smokescreen nodded. "All right. Thank you!" The rookie Autobot transformed off the train and sped for his quarry.

In his seat, Apple Bloom silently prayed for her brother's welfare.

In Ponyville, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were batting a ball between the two of them when Cheerilee approached.

"Girls? Have you seen Apple Bloom?"

"No." Sweetie answered.

"Last we heard, she was looking for you and Big Macintosh."

"Wha- me and Big Macintosh? What on Equestria for?"

"She said you were looking to starting a 'real' relationship with him." Scootaloo answered.

"A real relation- after that love poison you three used on us!?"

"Well...yeah."

Cheerliee got worried. "Oh, I hope everything's okay..."

Cheerliee's hopes were in vain, however, as everything was most assuredly not okay.

"Ah..." Cheerliee's duplicate said as they pulled up into an old town where all the ponies were scurrying around. "My, my, these ponies certainly seem busy, don't they dear?"

"Mh-hm." Big Macintosh nodded.

"Pity it'll all be in vain."

"Mm-hmm."

"Hey!"

Cheerliee did a double-take, looking for who it was that said that. A yellow Earth pony in a hat and vest jumped in front of her and Big Macintosh.

"Oh...hello...?"

"Braeburn!" He introduced themselves. "And Ah'm here to WELCOME YOU TO APPLEOOSA!"

"AAh!" Cheerliee covered her ears. "Could you possibly be any louder!?"

"Ah'll try." Braeburn took in a deep breath. "WELCOME TO APPPPPPPPPLOOOOOOOSAAAA! That better?"

"Much..." Cheerliee responded airily, her and Mac's manes blew askew.

"Why...Cousin Big Mac?" Braeburn questioned. "What are y'all doin' in mah little slice of Equestria?"

Big Macintosh was silent.

Braeburn shook his head and chuckled. "Y'all always were the silent type. Ah'm afraid things haven't been so good around here, though."

"Oh really? Well that's too bad, we really need to be going now!" Cheerliee said quickly, tugging on Big Macintosh's leg.

"Eeyup. Some nasty feller calling 'imself tha' 'Emperor of Destruction' is demanding we dig up a bunch of ol' relics, an' we ain't got the guns to argue wit 'im."

"That's too bad." Cheerliee said.

"There you are!"

Cheerliee huffed. "What now?"

"We've been looking all over for y'all!" Apple Bloom explained. "Me and Smokescreen have gotta get Big Macintosh outta here!"

Braeburn looked at Smokescreen. "Hmm...say there, big fella, y'all wouldn't be interested in helping out a poor little town, would'ja?"

"Oh, I would!" Smokescreen assured him. "But I need to get Big Macintosh to safety first. He's in danger!"

"Danger?" Cheerliee laughed. "Danger? Hahahaha! Well, I suppose you can't fool everypony..."

An eruption of green fire burst out of the ground around Cheerilee, and when it had gone, in Cheerliee's place was a sea-green blackish pony the size of a Princess with a twisted horn, hair like seaward, bug wings, a odd bend in her hole-covered hooves and mesmering green snake-like eyes.

"The Changeling Queen!" Apple Bloom exclaimed.

"Yes!" The Queen hissed in her voice that sounded like two ponies talking over each other. "I've been trying to feed off Big Macintosh's love for Cheerlieee, but he doesn't appear to hold as strong feelings for him as I would like...certainly not Shining Armor's love for Cadence."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay okay, whatever. We need to get out of here!" Smokescreen yelled. "Big Macintosh is in serious danger!"

The Queen scoffed. "Serious danger? Do you realize who you're talking to? The only danger here is ME!"

"Uh...no it's not." Braeburn said. "That feller over there doesn't look too pleasant, either."

"What feller!?" The Queen demanded. Everypony looked at the outskirts of town...where a very nasty Decepticon was approaching.

He was big-shouldered, and purple. His absolute loyalty was made clear by the fact that his face looked like the Decepticon insignia stretched over it. He didn't just have treads in his shoulders; His entire shoulders were made out of folded-up treads! A large cannon was on his arm that had two barrels, one behind the other.

He raised the cannon and shot into the air, the skidding, thundering boom of it's recoil making sure he had everypony's attention. And when he spoke, it was like the drum of his voice was banging on the souls of everyone hearing it.

"The Decepticon Justice Division has come for the head of Big Macintosh."

Author's Note:

At the time, I thought I was the first pony to use the Decepticon Justice Division in a Pony-Crossover fic.

As far as the Crossovers Category on Fanfiction is concerned, I totally am! NYAH! And I don't care what you have to say to support evidence otherwise! LET ME HAVE MY DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR.

In my universe, the Omega Keys, while still mysterious objects of mysterious power, are not finite in number, nor they do activate any Omega Lock. (As they would completely defeat an upcoming plot point in The Reign of Starscream which will later be relevant to 'Infiltration'.

Shining is kinda dense in my stories.

Shining Armor IS dense, and you cannae convince me otherwise!