Operation: Patriotism

by Darkryt Orbinautz

XIV: Out of Time

On Cybetron, Bumblebee, and his teammates Side Swipe and Strongarm, were holed up in an abandoned building. Strongarm rested by the wall while Side Swipe sat on a crate.

"You think Jack will pull through?" Side Swipe asked.

Bumblebee sighed. He walked up to the windowsill and rested his hands on it. "Honestly, Side Swipe. I don't know."

"We should have at least sent him in there with back-up." Strongarm said.

Bumblebee shook his head. "We couldn't have. We didn't have enough juice to power the machine long enough to send a second person through. All we can do now is sit here … and hope Jack can pull off a miracle."

Side Swipe groaned. "I hate sitting. Hey, what's that?" Side Swipe pointed out the window.

Bumblebee lifted his head up. Off in the distance, there was a tower. A blue light was emitting from the tower, flashing and fluctuating.

"Wait a minute ..." After staring at the tower, Bumblebee recognized it as the one they had taken over when they sent Jack off. "Scrap! The Decepticons must have figured what we did! Strongarm, Side Swipe, assemble a team and get ready to storm that tower."

"Who should we get?" Side Swipe asked as he climbed off the crate.

Bumblebee thought about it. "Grab the rest of our team, Starlight Glimmer, the Rescue Bots, and anyone else who's available. And team, I don't think I need to stress to you how important this mission is. We need to take that tower. We have to make sure the Decepticons don't send someone after Jack."

Side Swipe and Strongarm saluted.

"Roll out." Bumblebee ordered. The three of them marched out of the room.

Inside the tower, Steeljaw admired the machinery he had found. "Well, I'll be. Isn't that something." He basked in the blue glow filling the entire room. It was a device akin to a Space Bridge, with a large, circular terminal, connected to various improvised batteries through the room.

"Yeah." Steeljaw's solider, Thunderhoof, agreed. "Them Autobots did this?"

"Never underestimate an Autobot's ingenuity, Thunderhoof." Steeljaw said. "They can be devious when they need to be. Now, let us go through this … Time Bridge and ensure the course of history remains on track!"

There was a boom, which caused all the Decepticons in the room to tense. A crab-robot was sent flying into the room.

"We got … Autobots." The crab weakly alerted them.

Steeljaw turned his attention to the door, where Bumblebee and his team were coming through.

"Sorry, Steeljaw." Bumblebee pulled out a baton, which sprouted a sword blade from one end. "Your trip's been canceled."

Steeljaw was not happy with Bumblebee's raiding party, but he hid it behind a smile. "Oh, really? Decepticons, attack!"

On the Decepticon side, Thunderhoof raised his hoof and stomped the ground, sending out an energy surge towards the Autobots. A Decepticon turned into Ankloysaruus and charged the Autobots. On the Autobot side, a green charged, meeting the Anklosaurus, and Bumblebee planted his sword into the ground, interrupting Thunderhoof's energy surge and cutting it in half.

The crab Decepticon stood up. He ran at Bumblebee, swinging his claws wildly. Bumblebee brought his sword down on him, slashing through him and knocking him backwards.

Another Decepticon in the room pulled out a massive rocket launcher and fired. Bumblebee ducked to avoid the missile, which it kept going and hit the wall, sending pieces of the wall crumbling and falling.

"Starlight! You're up!" Bumblebee called.

A pink unicorn entered the room, to Steeljaw's horror. This was Bumblebee's plan – to wear the Decepticons bit by bit, and pull in reinforcements from as they were needed.

Starlight's horn shimmered. Her horn shot out a multitude of blue lightning bolts, each of them striking a Decepticon in the room. The crab Decepticon tumbled over, and Steeljaw and Thunderhoof staggered from the blow, but they remained standing.

"Rescue Bots!" Bumblebee shouted. The walls of the building were demolished as an another , this one red, a Triceratops with drills for a horn, a pterodactly, and a stegosaurus stampeded into the room.

"Through the portal!" Steeljaw ordered. "Quickly!"

"Go on, boss!" The crab-Decepticon insisted to Thunderhoof. "I'll cover you!" He was both brave and sturdy to stand up after the beating he had taken.

"Thanks, Clampdown." Thunderhoof said. "You're a good friend."

Steeljaw jumped into the Time Bridge, Thunderhoof not far behind. The rocket-wielding Decepticon also joined them, as did a saurian purple Decepticon.

"Slag!" Bumblebee swore. "Autobots, into that portal!"

Bumblebee made a run for the portal. Clampdown tried to stand in his way, but Bumblebee flexed his leg and jumped over him, flying into the Time Bridge.

"Sorry, Scowl." The green growled, grabbing Scowl by the head and tossing him to the side. "Looks like you and I will have to tangle some other time." He marched into the portal.

"Hey, no fair!" Scowl protested. "You owe me this dance, Grimlock!" Scowl attempted to give chase, but was interrupted by the green Triceratops ramming into him and goring Scowl with his drills.

Strongarm, Side Swipe, and an orange Mini-Con headed through the portal. Despite the efforts of others to make through with them, none of them, as the Time Bridge soon ran out of power and closed. The battle between the remaining Decepticons and Starlight and the Rescue Bots continued, with the pterodactyl charging Clampdown and biting one of his eyes off while Starlight fired a lightning bolt into Scowl's side, making him easy prey for the Triceratops to flip over to his side.

"Gee, Blades." Starlight said upon seeing Clampdown's broken form, with sparks coming off him and an eye removed. "I know we're at war, but did you have to do that?"

"One less 'Con to worry about." Blades said before spitting Clampdown's eye out. Starlight winced.

()()()

Bumblebee and his team emerged from the Time Bridge in the Nevada desert. They converted to their vehicle modes and drove down the road, going as fast they could to try and find Steeljaw.

"It's no good, sir." Strongarm said after they had been driving for fifteen minutes. "We've lost them."

Bumblebee stopped and reverted to robot mode. "Scrap."

Strong reverted to robot mode and went up to him. "What do you want us to do now, sir?"

Bumblebee brushed his chin, going over his options. "The only thing we can do. We need to find our past selves, explain what's going on, and forge an alliance with them and get their help."

"Shouldn't be too hard." Strongarm said. "How hard can it be to find a bunch of Autobots?"

"Trust me, it could be hard." Bumblebee said. "Do you have any idea what my past self was doing at this time? I was part of the Autobots Imperial. Not a group that wants to be found."

"Well, in that case, sir, I suggest we'd better get started."

()()()

()()()

Out in the vastness of the cosmos, through outer space, on the distant planet Messatine, Tarn and Kaon of the Decepticon Justice Division were walking around on a routine scouting mission of the planet for resources.

Tarn stopped walking, confusing Kaon. "Is everything all right, Tarn?"

"Kaon … tell me." Tarn said. "Do you think we've been acting … unusual? As though we were softer and nicer than we really are? My mind keeps going to back to Dreadwing and those four-legged creatures that were here sometime ago. After we gave Dreadwing his honorable suicide, we let those creatures go without a word or pursuit. That's not like us. We hate organics. Don't we?"

"Hmm." Kaon said.

Unseen by Tarn or Kaon, a camera hidden in the rocks some distance away whirred and clicked, observing them.

On the other end of the camera, where the recording feed was being sent to across distance, creatures hiding in a shadowed room watched Tarn and Kaon. Shadowy creatures who roamed on beds of tentacles. The dim lighting in their room wasn't by choice because they were villains who wore their evil on their sleeve; they were strapped for resources and energy.

"It appears the subjects of our experiments are beginning to catch on." One of the creatures said.

"Yes. Our pacifying device has nullified much of the Justice Division's violent impulses. In that regard, it has been a success."

"But now they are becoming aware of they are under outside influence. What shall we do?"

"Wait." Another voice spoke. "Our instruments are detecting a ship approaching Messatine' orbit. Scans show that is not a Cybertronian vehicle."

High in the orbit, out in the black sea of space, the ship of the Star Seekers, the Tidal Wave, cast its mooring near the orbit and outer edges of Messatine.

"Captain Thundertron," A pirate on board the ship addressed his captain, "our sensors show Cybertronian lifesigns on the planet below. Six of them. What do you want us to do?"

"What's one detour on our way to Earth? Blast them with our weapons. Making it so there's fewer of those Cybertronian scum wandering the universe is always a good thing, as far as I'm concerned."

"Firing." The pirate pushed a button. Whirs and hums came from the ship.

Below, the Decepticon Justice Division were taken by surprise when hails of fireballs and lasers began to rain down from the sky. Tarn followed his instincts and tackled Kaon to the ground, using his bulkier body to shield his fellow Decepticon from the surprise attack. The bombardment continued until the entire area around them was covered in craters, little wisps of smoke rising up from the scorched ground.

"That ought to do it." The pirate said. Thundertron gave the signal for them to seperate from the planet and continue on their way to Earth.

On the planet's surface, Tarn pushed himself up. "Are you all right, Kaon?"

"Think so. What was that?"

"I do not know." Tarn offered his hand to Kaon and helped him to his feet. "But what I do know is … " Tarn paused. His optics shined an intense red, as did Kaon's. They were both overwhelmed by a surge of violent impulses, impulses they had had and were suppressed for far too long. The temptation to stop what they were doing, aim their weapons on the ground, and engage in a rampage of mindless destruction was overwhelming. But Tarn resisted. Though he was a violent Decepticon by nature, he could do long-term planning.

"Is that whatever was pacifying us and suppression our natural aggression must have been destroyed in that attack! Get to the ship." Tarn ordered, swiping his arm. "We're going to go find those four-legged organics, revisit the terms of their crime, and execute them, like we should have when we had the chance!"

Kaon nodded. The two of them ran back to the location of their ship.

The shadowy creatures examined all this.

"It appears our pacifying device was destroyed in that attack by the ship."

"It should be noted that our device is weak to fire from ships in orbit above the planet. We should install the next one deeper into the planet's surface and amplify the signal."

"What's the point?" A tired one among them asked. "This pacifying device program was one of last and best hopes, and this test run has gotten us nowhere. Even if we do install another, the Decepticons will be expecting it this time and destroy it. Accept it. We are doomed! Our kind is doomed to extinction!"

"Perhaps not." Another one said. "Did anyone catch any information about that ship? It appears they fired solely because they were Cybertronians on the planet's surface. Whether they distinguish between Autobot and Decepticon is unclear, but either way, I believe we should reach out to that ship. Contact them, and ask for their aid with and protection from our ... Cybertronian difficulties."

"That is … an acceptable proposal."

()()()()

In the Imperial base, Twilight Sparkle was watching the news on television, looking for ideas for how she could plan her next strike against Galloway. A crowd began to build up around her as soldiers walked by her, saw what she was doing, and sat down with her.

"There is unrest and uncertainity in the streets of America regarding Galloway and what is happening inside the White House." A female news reporter said. "Some are merely expressing criticism of Galloway. Some have gone so far as to start riots in streets. One such riot was a march on D.C which was defused by an "Americon" and some tear gas. Another one is underway right now in the state capitol of Utah."

The screen changed to show a bunch of humans marching on the streets, carrying signs and placards. Most prominent was a banner saying "Tell the Truth!" with a crayon drawing of Galloway's face.

"We've reached out to some of them for comment."

The screen changed again to focus on a man in the crowd with a microphone being held up to him.

"It's like, if you're gonna stage a coup and take over the United States, then stage your coup, but actually call it a coup. Not this "state of national emergency" Galloway keeps trying to push on us. The Autobots have in the public for three years, and I've never heard of them attacking anybody. Where's the President, Galloway, huh? Where's the President?"

Twilight smiled, satisfied in the knowledge this human man saw through Galloway's lies and wouldn't tolerate them.

"Others have expressed the desire for things to simply go back to normal and to carry on with their normal lives. Some of those we interviewed have even suggested the idea of armed resistance to take back the Capitol Building, but so far no sign of weapons have been reported."

"Hmm." Twilight said. "Make a note of that. If these enterprising humans go through with the idea of making armed resistance cells, they could use a friend like us, and we could use some extra friends."

Magnum nodded his head.

"We now to go an exclusive interview with Dylan Gould, head of Gould Enterprises." The female newscaster said, and the screen cut to a male newscaster in a cut-out window, with Dylan Gould in another cutout next to him. Twilight Sparkle and some others make grumpy faces at having to see Gould's face again.

"Hello, Mister Gould. It's good to have you on the show."

"Hello! It's great to be here, Frank. I understand you have some questions for me?"

"Yes I do." Frank pulled out a sheet of paper. "Some have suggested that you are in bed with Galloway and have been providing for him during his coup. What do you say to that?"

Gould seemed taken aback by this direct line of questioning, but he reacted and played it down. "Well, as a businessman, I have several lucrative contracts with a variety of employers, including the government. It makes sense then that Galloway and I would have met each other a few times during meetings, doesn't it?"

"Prior to recent events, he was a Senator. Wouldn't he have had people to contact you for him?"

Gould bit his lip. "Perhaps."

"Another thing. What do you say to those who have been alleging you've building your own knock-off Decepticons called "Stingers"?"

Gould was again taken aback. "I would probably ask them how they knew that, as that was supposed to be classified information."

"One of these "Stingers" were allegedly seen during the Pink Moon Festival on Equestria. Some have proposed this done deliberatley was an early preview of the drone before its actual business release."

"Well, in that case, I suppose the cat's out of the bag now. Yes, Gould Enterprises are working on a unique line of Stinger model drones, fit for a variety of purposes."

"Would one of those purposes be to supplement and ultimately replace the Autobots, as some claim?"

Gould did not look too pleased at this question.

"What do you say to your critics who suggest this Stingers are intended to be part of a drone army to enforce Galloway's tyrannical regime?"

"I would say these people are luddites afraid of the march of technology and progress." Twilight Sparkle rolled her eyes. What a load of hot air. "The Stinger drone is perfectly safe to use for a variety of purpose, and will be available to both corporations and individuals for purchase. The Stinger drone can be used as a security guard, transport, and other things. Why, Equestrians could buy one and use them to practice and experiment magic spells on!"

"That's another thing." Frank said. "I have this essay here, it's actually quite an interesting read, outlining a plan where you sell Stinger drones to the Equestrians under the guise of protection from renegade Decepticon attacks, and then one thing leads to another and bam! The Equestrians are under the watchful eyes of Gould and Galloway's Stinger police."

"Wasn't that basically Shockwave's plan for the Predacons?" Applejack asked.

"That's probably where the author of the essay got the idea." Arcee answered.

This was the last straw for Gould. "All right, that's it, this interview is over. No more question. No more questions!"

"Didn't we see this "early preview" Stinger at the Pink Moon Celebration?" Magnum asked.

"You're right." Twilight cupped her chin.. "I hadn't thought of it before. Gould probably is building an army of Stingers for Galloway to use. We can't let that happen. An army of mindless drones under Galloway's command who can go toe-to-toe with an Autobot is the last thing we need. We need to sabotage Gould's operation."

"How?" Arcee asked. "If we try to get near his buildings, Galloway will send the Americons after us, and I doubt Gould is just going to invite us to his doorstep. 'Hey, can we borrow a cup of sugar, oh by the way, we need to destroy this drone army you're making, hope you don't mind!'"

"You're probably right." Twilight rubbed her chin. "We need to get inside somehow. We need to infiltrate Gould Enterprises. We need someone on the inside. We need … a spy."

"Ooh!" Miko raised her hand. "Can I do it?"

Twilight looked at her with concern. "Miko. I'm not sure you're really the best choice for this."

"Please?" Miko begged. "I promise I'll be careful, and you guys know I'm great at sabotage!"

"Ain't that the truth." Jack remarked.

"I don't know, Miko." Twilight said. "You are great at destroying stuff, true, but being a spy is also being to lie and bluff your way into the enemy's good graces. You need to be subtle. You need to have a good poker face."

"Pleeeease?"

"I still don't-"

"Pleeeeease?"

"Fine!" Twilight caved into Miko's begging, unable to stand her whining any longer. "You can go and be a spy, Miko."

"Yes!" Miko pumped her fist in the air. "You won't regret this decision, Twilight."

"I'd better not."

"Come along, darling." Rarity said. "I'll give you a makeover for your mission. By the time I'm done with you, your own mother won't recognize you."

"Hmm. Now is that my birth mother, or my host mother? Because, you know, I think my host mother would be easy to fool."

"Miko!"

Miko turned around, and was startled by Twilight's hoof grabbing her by the shirt.

"If you get yourself hurt out while you're out there, I'm going to kill you. Understand?"

Miko smiled. "You're such a great mother hen-slash-general, Twilight." Miko saluted, and Twilight let go. Rarity grabbed Miko and the two went to give Miko her makeover.

"'Mother Hen General' … hmm." Twilight chuckled and smiled, turning back the television. The thought of being a mother figure to Miko and the others flattered her. "I suppose I am, aren't I?"

()()()()

Miko, having gone through Rarity's makeover procedure, was driven to and dropped off at the Gould Enterprises building. While the Stinger project was supposed to be a secret, the location of the building was public.

A Vehicon drove up to the curb and opened its door. Miko stepped out.

"Good luck." The Vehicon said, driving off before it could be spotted.

Miko was dressed up as a scientist, with a white labcoat, a clipboard, and glasses. Rarity had washed out the pink dye in her hair, which Miko didn't appreciate, and pulled her hair back in a nice, professional ponytail, which Miko also did not appreciate, even if she accepted it was necessary for the mission, and had applied some cream to her cheeks to make her face seem paler.

Miko took a deep breath and walked up to the building's entrance.

A woman saw her and opened the door to greet her. "Can I help you?"

"Um, yes, actually." Miko said. "I'm ..." Miko paused. She hadn't thought of a good alias. "Sari Sumdac. I'm looking for Mister Gould for an internship?"

The woman smiled. "Ah, yes, of course! Mister Gould is always looking for new talent. I'll go get him for you." The woman left and went back into the building.

Miko clutched her clipboard. So far, so good.

"I don't remember scheduling any appointments today ..." Miko could Gould mutter as the woman brought him to the entrance.

"Here she is, sir." The woman gestured to Miko and left to return to work.

Gould came out onto the steps and examined Miko. "So, you're Sari, huh?"

Miko was about to correct him about her name being Miko before catching herself and reminding herself she was supposed to be a spy. "Yes sir, that's me!"

"I understand you're looking for an internship?"

"That's correct."

Gould crossed his arms. "You have to understand, Miss Sumdac, I have certain requirements someone has to meet before I even consider hiring them."

Like putting up with your overly-greased hair? Miko thought.

"I'm ready do whatever it takes to make the grade, sir!" Miko said.

"I admire your enthusiasm. Question one." Gould held up his finger. "Why do you want to work at Gould Enterprises?"

"Why else? To contribute to march of technology and usher in a new era of technology!" Miko didn't know much about technological research. This was more Twilight's domain. But she figured if she threw enough buzzwords at Gould, he'd be impressed.

"All right." Gould smiled. "Next question. Why should I hire you over any other potential interns, and in addition to the employees I already have?"

"I, uh, I ..." Miko hesitated. "I'm a blunt speaker! I always say exactly what's on my mind, and I'm not afraid to voice my opinion."

"Hmm. I suppose every group does need its own critic. You know, someone to make them think twice and reign in their egos when they're getting out of check. All right, question three … are you a spy!?" Gould pointed a finger at her.

"What?" Miko almost dropped the clipboard. She bounced it on her hands, trying to catch it before it hit the ground.

Gould laughed. "I'm just messing with you. Although you never can be too careful. And rest assured, if you are a spy, I have ways of dealing with that ..."

Miko tried to resist swallowing the lump forming her throat.

"All right, I think that's everything. Normally, I'd ask you what your skill sets and educational background are, but I think you can answer that in the paperwork. Come on." Gould gestured for her to follow him inside.

Miko went inside with him. The inside of the building was neat and polished, with a shiny white floor and enormous, clear windows. Miko had to admit, she wasn't expecting a place run by such a dirty scoudrel to be so clean.

That's how they get you. Miko thought to herself.

"You wait right here, and I'll go get the forms." Gould said. "Oh, but don't go wandering off. We have some very sensitive projects in the works right now, and you need security clearance to get into several areas."

"Will do." Miko saluted. Gould left. Miko observed the area, taking note of what appeared to the receptionist desk.

"That is to say, I will do exactly that." Miko muttered to herself and begin walking around. She avoided eye contact, was quick to say "excuse me" and move away when she bumped into someone, and kept an eye out for anything which looked suspicious.

Hello. Miko thought, noticing three entrances next to each other, with the third one from the right being black while the other two were normal silver colors. What do we have here?

An employee went up to the black door. He looked over his shoulder at Miko with a look of contempt, but continued his business. He pulled out a security card and swiped into the keypad by the black door, which beeped and unlocked. The employee opened the door and went through.

Miko kept her distance for a minute. When she thought the coast was clear, she ran up to the door and stuck her foot in, keeping it from closing. She pushed the door open and entered the room. She was greeted by a spiraling onyx staircase, and she could the footsteps of the employee ahead of fading into the distance.

She went up the stairs, going slow to avoid any unwanted encounters. There were quite a few steps, which her a bit of a workout, but she managed to reach the top.

Phew! You'd think they would, like, have an elevator or a ramp or something …

Miko arrived at a large, double-set of doors plastered with warning signs on them. "DO NOT ENTER" and other phrases were pasted across the door.

Ah, clever. Miko grabbed the door handle and pushed. You put in a lot of warning signs so people who aren't supposed to be here won't risk coming in and learning about your super-secret project, but the people involved actually know what's on the other side!

Miko opened the door and went in.

The room she entered was huge, large enough to hold a few Cybertronians. There were people scattered across the room, all of them attending various stations. But when Miko entered the room, they all stopped what they were doing and turned to look at her. They knew she wasn't supposed to be there.

What struck Miko most was two humans and two robots standing in the epicenter of the floor. Galloway, Attinger, Ratchet, and Stinger had all taken notice of her, with Galloway and Ratchet giving her bewildering looks while Attinger glared at her. Of the four, Attinger was the only to make Miko feel uneasy.

Seeing they were all staring at her, Miko raised her hand up and waved.

"Hi?"

()()()()()()

()()()()()()

At the Imperial base, an Imperialcon was monitoring his post when he picked up a signal.

"Commander?" The Imperialcon turned and raised his hand, getting Twilight's attention as she happened to be passing by. "I'm picking up a distress signal in a harbor not far from Jasper."

Twilight Sparkle entered the room and climbed up onto the machine. She looked at the distress signal. "Interesting. Let's check it out. I'll assemble a team."

After assembling the team, (Bulkhead, Arcee, Magnum, Bumblebee, Fluttershy, and some Vehicons) Twilight ordered a GroundBridge to be opened to transport them there. Her team went through and arrived at a dim-lit port with crates all around.

"Spread out." Twilight Sparkle ordered. "We'll cover more ground that way."

Her troops nodded and spread out across the port. Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Arcee converted to their vehicle modes and drove throughout the area.

Bulkhead entered a section with the crates close together. Seeing how dark it was, he turned on his headlights. Gee, I wonder if the humans here even pay for the lights. He kept moving, keeping his optics peeled, though the crates were beginning to make him feel claustrophobic.

"Hi-yah!" was all the warning Bulkhead received before an armored SUV rammed into him from the side, pushing him across the ground.

"Hey!" Bulkhead swerved and reverted to robot mode, converting his arms into blasters. "What's the big idea?"

The light from Bulkhead's chest generated by his headlights fell on a police truck. It was about the same size as Bulkhead's vehicle mode.

"I can't believe it." The truck said before reverting to its robot mode, a burly, bulky female Autobot with a samurai crest on her head. She put her hands to her face in amazement. "You're Bulkhead!"

"Uh, yeah?" Bulkhead said, perplexed by the fembot's reaction. "Do I know you? Have we met?"

"I am one of your biggest fans." The fembot said, crossing her hands over her Spark. "I've never met you, and you probably don't know me, but I'm still a fan! I'm Strongarm." Strongarm extended a hand to Bulkhead. "Oh, and I'm sorry about ramming into you earlier. Considering where I come from, you can never be too careful."

Bulkhead was still confused, and suspicious of Strongarm. "I don't even know you. Why should I trust anything you say?"

"She's right. You never met. But you should trust her."

Bulkhead saw a yellow Autobot approaching them. His design was reminiscent of a Vehicon, with a sleek build, strong, reinforced legs and wings sticking off his back.

"Because I do." The yellow Autobot said. "And that's always been good enough for you, Bulk."

"Captain Bumblebee, sir!" Strongarm saluted and took up a military posture.

"At ease, Cadet."

"Bumblebee?" Bulkhead asked.

"I'm here, Bulkhead." Bumblebee, in his muscular car vehicular mode, pulled up behind Bulkhead and reverted to robot mode, drawing his Beast Hunter bow.

"Bumblebee?" Bulkhead looked at the black-coated, bow-wielding Bumbleebee, and he looked at the yellow, sleek "Captain" Bumblebee. He kept looking back between the two of them. "This guy over here says he's Bumblebee. You can't be both Bumblebee!"

"No, no, he's Bumblebee." Captain Bumblebee said. "And ... I'm Bumblebee."

Bulkhead and the "normal" Bumblebee exchanged confused glares. Bulkhead looked at Captain Bumblebee again.

"Oh, no." Bulkhead realized what had to be happening here. "No, no, no. I am not putting up with more confusing time travel."

Bulkhead began to leave, but Bumblebee threw himself in his friend's way, grabbing him by the shoulders.

"Bulkhead, wait." Bumblebee said. "I know you and Rarity have a … history when it comes to travel, but we should at least hear what they have to say."

Bulkhead sighed. "Fine. But when this all blows up in our faces and causes a reality-ending paradox, or makes Twilight Sparkle into her own grandmother or even into our mother or something, don't say I didn't warn you!"

Bumblebee activated his commlink. "Bumblee to all units. We've found the source of the distress signal. You're gonna want to come to take a look at this."

Captain Bumblebee did the same. "Side Swipe, Grimlock, Fixit, converge on my position."

Each Bumblebees' respective team arrived. Twilight, Magnum, Arcee and the others joined Bulkhead and Bumblebee while Captain Bumblebee was joined by a red Autobot with a Mohawk and Japanese symbols on his chest, a green Dinobot, and a tiny, orange Mini-Con with claws for hands and a pair of wheels instead of legs for locomotion.

"Everyone, this is Captain Bumblebee, myself from the future." Bumblebee introduced his future self.

"Is that so?" The War Princess asked.

"Yes." Captain Bumblebee said. "Believe me, Twilight, we wouldn't have come here if the situation weren't desperate."

Twilight, hearing her name, retracted her Vehicon mask. "Your situation?"

"Yes." Captain Bumblebee said. "A few days ago, well, a few days ago to us, we sent Jack Darby back in time to try to change the course of history."

"Ah, yes, Jack." Twilight rolled her eyes, remembering how well her last meeting with Jack went.

"You've met him?" Captain Bumblebee asked with hope in his voice. "Do you know where he is?"

"Yes, we've met. He put a knife to the neck of a hostage we had just rescued and asked to GroundBridge him to Jasper."

Captain Bumblebee chuckled. "That's Jack. Always so resourceful. Please, you'll have to forgive him."

"Forgive him?" Twilight exclaimed. "He put a knife to a woman's throat!"

"The future we live is pretty rough." Captain Bumblebee said. "The apocalypse makes for strange bedfellows. Lots of allegiances have shifted and alliances have fractured. So you'll have to excuse Jack for thinking he's seeing the enemies he has in the future instead of potential allies in the present."

Twilight looked to the side, considering this, before turning her attention back to Bumblebee. "I'll think about that. Your future must be pretty bad to have Jack … act the way he is."

"You have no idea." Captain Bumblebee said.

"So, what do you want to tell us?" Twilight asked.

"There's a couple of things." Bumblebee said. "If today's the day I think it is, then if you include the reason we're here, you have three fronts you have to do battle on. First, the Decepticon Justice Division. They're going to be coming to Earth, looking for revenge, and they're going to attack Gould Enterprises. You'll need to send a team to fight them off to keep Miko safe."

Twilight looked at Bumblebee with a renewed concern for Miko's safety. "Is that was Jack was talking about? Is this how Miko died in the future?"

"No, but a lot of humans did, including Galloway." Bumblebee said. "Without him doing his fake President act, and no one knowing where he was keeping the real President, the country fell apart and was vulnerable when the 'Cons made their big push. Oh, and Twilight? You're going to want to send that team with a Beast Hunter weapon. The drill. Just … trust me on this." Captain Bumblebee smiled.

Twilight nodded. "What else?"

"There's a Decepticon. His name is Steeljaw." Bumblebee said. "He figured out what my team and I were up to and traveled back in time to the present, to here, so he and his Pack could find Jack from our time and stop him from altering the flow of time. My team and I followed him here, and we need your help to make sure he not only doesn't find Jack, but doesn't keep history the way it is … or change it so that it's even worse."

Twilight nodded.

"One more thing." Captain Bumblebee raised a finger. "Later today, a group called the Star Seekers are going to attack Earth in their ship, the Tidal Wave."

"The Star Seekers?" Twilight rubbed her chin. "Where have I heard that name before?"

"They won't cause a lot of damage today, but they will do everything they can to kill as many Cybertronians as they can from the safety of their starship with their ship's weapons, and few Cybertronians are going to be capable of withstanding a direct hit from those laser cannons."

"Understood." Twilight said. "But why are you telling us all this? Isn't a bit risky with the timeline to let us know about these events before they happen and let us change them? Rarity traveling back and keeping Bulkhead from dying is one thing, but you're talking about altering events from recorded history in what's at least fifteen, if not twenty years into the future!"

"Trust me, Twilight." Captain Bumblebee said. "Any change you make will ultimately be for the better. Anything is an improvement over what we currently have."

Twilight furrowed her eyebrows. The future Captain Bumblebee lived in must have been horrible if he was so willing to causally volunteer events in the hopes she and her friends would try to change them, altering history and messing with the timeline.

"That bad, huh?" Bulkhead asked.

"Yeah. That bad." The red Autobot accompanying Captain Bumblebee answered.

()()()()()

()()()()()

Attinger was the first to approach the mysterious woman who had intruded on their secret Stinger project. "Can I help you, miss? Are you lost?"

"Lost?" Miko said. "No, no, I'm not lost, I'm just, uh … looking for the little girls' room?"

"I see." Attinger said with a warm smile. "Well, I'm sure someone can help you there once we've clear this up and determine whether or not you're a security risk. I'm sure this is all a big misunderstanding." Attinger pulled out his phone and called a number. "Gould, it's Attinger. We've got someone in your secret project room."

Miko heard footsteps echoing on the stairs from behind the door. Gould burst into the run, out of breath, having rushed in here. The employee paperwork was in his hands.

"Oh!" Gould exclaimed upon seeing Miko. "Oh, it's just you. For a second there, I thought we might have had a serious security breach. Attinger, this young woman here was speaking to me about a job. Nothing to worry about here."

"Is that so?" Attinger raised his eyebrow, keeping his eyes on Miko. "And what are we going to do about the fact she's seen the Stinger project?"

Gould scoffed. "Have you seen the news today? The project's already all over the media. Might as well let her see it. After all, the public already knows. What's one more?"

Attinger glared at Gould. "That's not exactly safe security practice, Gould. Have you even run a background check on this woman?"

"I was about to, yeah, when I got your call upstairs." Gould said.

Attinger nodded his head. "What's your name, miss?"

"Sari." Miko answered. "Sari Sumdac."

Attinger cocked his head in a way which reminded Miko of a parrot. "Sari, Sari … in my personal experience, that is an Indian name. But you are clearly of Oriental descent."

Miko laughed, trying to think of a convincing cover story. "Uh, well, one of my parents was an immigrant?"

"That sounds more like a question than a statement." Attinger said. "Miss Sumdac, I have spent my entire life learning to look for cues and spot tells in a person. I can be in another room, and I can tell you the difference between the ethnicity of an African and an Indian just by listening to their breathing. Just by examining the way she walks, I can tell when a woman is three weeks pregnant before she knows it herself. I am a nightmare fusion of James Bond and Sherlock Holmes the likes of which you have never seen before, and will not see again. So, Miss Sumdac, if that is your real name, trust that if you're lying to us, I will know."

Miko gulped. "Okay, Mister Crazy Man. Can I take a look at this "Stinger" I've been hearing so much about?" Miko made her way past Attinger and looked to the red robot in the center of the room. Stinger was not as attention-grabbing as the robot next to him, Ratchet, who Miko recognized.

Ratchet, not appreciating interruption into his work, gave Miko a glare. His face softened and showed visible surprised when he recognized Miko's face.

Attinger took notice. "Ratchet, do you know this woman?"

Ratchet shook his head to clear it. He did what he could to keep Miko safe. "I've never seen her before in my life!" He returned to working on Stinger. "Okay, Stinger, if you'll face left so I can work on your shoulder joints ..."

"Well, this has been fun!" Miko said and walked to the door. "But I think I'm ready to for Mister Gould's paperwork now. I'll just sign a non-disclosure agreement and be on my way!"

"Sure, sure." Attinger said. "It's tiring working with the Autobots ..."

Miko passed Attinger.

"Isn't it, Miss Miko Nakadai?"

Miko froze. Ratchet's face betrayed his worried.

"I-I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about ..." Miko said.

"Simple process of elimination." Attinger said. "First, when you and Ratchet saw each other, despite trying to deny it, he clearly recognized you. Second, the affiliation of one Miko Nakadai with the Autobots was a well-known and well-publicized fact after the Autobots had been outed from hiding on Earth. If I simply divide the all known associate of the Autobots by all women of Oriental descent who were known to spend time with the Autobots, I arrive at Miko Nakadi as the quotient."

Miko sighed. "Well, I guess you got me." She took her glasses off and crossed her arms. "Now what are you going to do with me?"

"Attinger, don't you go near her!" Ratchet said.

Attinger, Galloway, and Gould all looked at Ratchet with confused looks.

"If you put so much as a hand on her, all deals are off!" Ratchet said. He looked around the room.

"That's cute. You want to protect your friend." Galloway said. "But Ratchet, you don't have that much negotiating power here. Your knowledge is valualbe, sure, but somehow I get the sense we could manage without you."

Ratchet looked around the room. A female scientist was walking by, examining Stinger's leg, oblivious (or perhaps just desensitized, given who she was working for) to the dangerous situation unfolding in the room. Ratchet bent down and grabbed her, holding her up. He converted his other hand into a blade and put it in front of the woman.

"Let Miko go, or I will cut this woman in half." Ratchet said.

"He's bluffing." Gould said. "He tried to pull this trick once already, and he couldn't go through with it. He's too good and noble an Autobot to do something like this."

"I am not bluffing!" Ratchet said. "I will kill this woman! How do you think her family will take it when they hear she got killed by an Autobot because she was working at the wrong place a the wrong time, hmm? Or better yet, Galloway, how many of your financial backers and allies will stay with you when they learn you couldn't even keep a doctor from killing someone?"

Galloway scowled.

"No, that's so bad." Gould said. "I mean, if you're going to kill someone, why not have a doctor do it? I mean, a doctor is a profession that is most likely to to know exactly what it would take to kill a person. Think about it! Use your logic and critical thinking skills, people!"

Galloway continued his scowl. Attinger maintained a neutral expression, refusing to let Ratchet read his face for tells. Miko grimaced, worried Ratchet might go through with his threat, which wasn't at all like the grouchy but well-meaning Autobot she had come to know.

To Miko's, and unknown to them, Ratchet's relief, they weren't going to have to find out whether or not Ratchet would go through it, as there was a explosion caused by a sound recognizable as a fusion cannon, and one of the tall windows in the building shattered, its pieces falling to the ground in a crystalline rain of shards.

Tarn appeared in the widow, holding the sides of the wall for support before climbing inside the building. Kaon, Vos, and the rest of the Decepticon Justice Division followed him in. Ratchet let out a gasp as seeing them here. What some of the mightiest, craziest killers in the Decepticons could want from Gould Enterprises, he didn't know, but it couldn't have been anything good.

"We were on our way to Equestria to revisit certain Equestrians when we were contacted by Soundwave." Tarn said. "He shared with us information revealing Optimus Prime had been keeping Megatron's body inside his Earthern base … and now that Earthen base has since been destroyed, Megatron's body along with it. This desecration and illegal cremation cannot go unpunished. I am to led to believe the humans responsible can be found here?"

"He's the one you want." Galloway pointed to Ratchet. "After all, he was part of Optimus Prime's team. They were the ones responsible for keeping Megatron's body in the base where it was destroyed."

Ratchet wanted to be disgusted Galloway would volunteer him in such a manner, but it wasn't surprising.

Tarn aimed his cannons at Ratchet.

"Wait!" Ratchet yelled, raising his hands up in surrender. "Yes, it's true Optimus kept the corpse in the base because we couldn't trust that some loyal Decepticon would make an ill-conceived attempt at bringing Megatron back from the dead again, but we are not responsible for the body's destruction." Forced with a choice between defending himself and being blown to pieces by Tarn, Ratchet had little alternative other than to direct Tarn's anger at Galloway. Although he'd be lying if he said he felt guilty about it. "If you're looking for the ones responsible for the destruction, you need look no further than right here." Ratchet pointed to Galloway. "Megatron's cremation was caused by the actions of the agents of this man."

Tarn alternated gazes between Ratchet and Galloway. He turned away from them, crossing his hands behind his back.

"What you two say contradicts what the other claims." Tarn said. "I am a Decepticon of the law. After all, without the laws that guide us, we would be no better than the disgusting organics the Decepticons hate.

"Hey! We have laws, too!" Miko exclaimed, though perhaps she might have held her tongue if she knew what Tarn was capable of.

Tarn looked at a clock on the wall.

"Very well. We'll settle this in an improvised courtroom debate." Tarn said. "The trial will last two hours. Each defendant," Tarn pointed to Galloway and Ratchet, "will have to make their case as to why the other party should be held responsible." Tarn snapped his fingers.

The Decepticon Justice Division began to prepare the room. Picking up various items, such as chairs and flowers, they made rough analogies of witness stands for Galloway and Ratchet to sit in. Kaon converted into his alternate mode, a Decepticon version of an electric chair, and Tarn sat on him, using Kaon to substitute for the judge's seat and trusting that Kaon would not accidentally electrocute him.

"Let the trial commence!" Tarn shouted, gesturing for Galloway and Ratchet to come forward and make their arguments.

()()()()()()()()()

Out on an open highway in Nevada, Johnson – Future Jack raised up his cell phone and dialed a number on it. When there was no reply, he hung up and dialed again.

Come on. Come on … Jack thought to himself, the phone beeping in his ear. He hung up and dialed again.

He looked around for his targets.

"Yes!" He pumped a fist, spotting a quartet of vehicles approaching his position. A grey off road vehicle with sweptback fins resembling wolf hairs, a blue tractor, a purple, Cybertronian hover-bike with no wheels, and another, larger purple vehicle resembling a hybrid between a drag racer and an armored military vehicle.

The quartet of vehicles pulled up to Jack and reverted to their robot modes. Jack counted them off by name as they transformed. They surrounded Jack.

Steeljaw. Thunderhoof. Fracture, and Underbite. Jack thought.

"Hello, Jack." Steeljaw greeted him in the friendliest of voices, but Jack knew well the posion laced on Steeljaw's words. "Beautiful day, isn't it?"

"Cut it out, Steeljaw." Jack said. "What do you want?"

"I want to talk to you." Steeljaw said. "I have a suspicion you were went back in time to try and change the past. Am I right?"

Jack crossed his arms and glared.

"No, of course you wouldn't answer that. Well, supposing that I am right, I was wondering if there was any I could talk you out of it? One must think of the fragility of the timeline, after all. Or am I going to have get more … physical?" Steeljaw flexed his claw.

"If you want to get physical, take it up with us!"

Twilight's team, consisting of herself as the War Princess, Ultra Magnus, Magnum, Grimlock, Rarity and Fluttershy, appeared from their hiding place, jumping and rolling out from under the highway bridge.

Steeljaw growled. "How did you know we'd be here?"

"It was all part of the plan." The War Princess said. "Have Jack call a blocked number on his cell phone until you picked up and traced his signal. Worked like a charm."

"That it did." Steeljaw admitted. "Though you may as well drop the mask and the voice changer, Twilight Sparkle. I know who you are, War Princess."

"Noted, but I think I'll keep the helmet on. It's more than just for show." Twilight said.

"Now, Twilight ..." Steeljaw. "I'm not an unreasonable Decepticon. I don't want to fight you, and if I know ponies as well as I think do, you would rather not fight, either. We can work something out."

"You mean you don't want to fight us when we have superior numbers, don't you, darling?" Rarity commented.

Steeljaw frowned, but he turned it upside down and chuckled, laughing it off. "You're a sharp one … Rarity, was it? Do excuse my unfamiliarity, You see, from my perspective, I was stuck in a prison cell on board a transport ship, and you ponies … well, you were long dead by the time I got out. Now, Twilight Sparkle, could I interest you in a deal where we agree to leave peacefully to fight another day, and I warn you about the dangers to come?"

"Don't waste your breath, Steeljaw."

Captain Bumblebee and his team stepped out from under the highway bridge. Captain Bumblebee unsheathed his baton and deployed the blade inside. Steeljaw saw his reflection in the blade's edge.

"I already told her about the Star Seekers, and the Decepticon Justice Division." Captain Bumblebee pointed his sword at Steeljaw.

Steeljaw chuckled again. "I see, well in that case, perhaps we'll just be on our way – GWARRR!" Steeljaw roared and charged, and the battle was on.

Twilight ran to the side to avoid Steeljaw's claws, swooping in like a hawk's talons.

"Remember, everypony. We set up our own roadblocks, so we're free to use the highway without worrying about cilivans!" Twilight shouted before using her magic to teleport herself onto the bridge. Rarity went run around and ran up the hill to give Twilight back-up.

Steeljaw growled. He joined Twilight on the bridge with an impressive leap into the air, landing in front of her.

On the lower ground, Thunderhoof raised up his hoof, which glowed glow with power.

"GET DOWN!" Captain Bumblebee warned his teammates. Everyone ducked for cover as Thunderhoof brought his hoof crashing down, sending out a pulse of energy which would have bowled them over had they not gotten out of the way.

"Is this really necessary, Twilight Sparkle?" Steeljaw asked. "Put yourself in my shoes for a minute. From where I'm standing, you failed at all of the goals you set out do when you made the Imperials. From my perspective, you have already failed. From my perspective, you. ARE ALREADY. DEAD."

Steeljaw converted into his vehicle mode. He revved his engine, let it warm up, and accelerated down the road, meaning to run Twilight over.

Twilight Sparkle stood in place, standing her ground. She wasn't going to let Steeljaw get into her head. She wasn't going to succumb to his negative talk and despair.

"I'm alive now, and that's what counts." Twilight said. Her horn hummed as a pink glow surged from it. She fired a laser from it, striking Steeljaw in the hood of his vehicle mode and hitting him with such force it sent him flying, smoke billowing off from the side of his hood. He flipped over at least four times through the air before landing on his side, dragging across the ground, sparks flying off him as he was scraped across the pavement.

Steeljaw groaned and reverted to his robot mode. "Not bad for a four-legger." Steeljaw flexed his claws, deploying three blades from each set of knuckles.

"Why does a robot who has claws for hands need claws on his claws?" Twilight asked, incredulous. Steeljaw chose not to answer her question, running after her and attempting to slice her with his bladed gauntlets.

Below the bridge, the fight between the Autobots and Steeljaw's pack continued.

Underbite, the saurian Decepticon, picked out his rival from the crowd, the green Grimlock from the future, and made a beeline for him. "Howdy, Grimlock! Ooh, and it looks like I got two for the price of one! Past and future Grimlock buffet for me!"

The grey Grimlock of the here and now stood up, having dodged to avoid Thunderhoof's energy pulse. Grey Grimlock stretched his shoulders and prepared to engage Underbite. "This should be good."

"What are you doing?" Green Grimlock asked. "You can't just fight Underbite! You gotta play it smart, or he'll crush you!"

Grey Grimlock gave Green Grimlock an annoyed stare. "Kid, let me show you how it's done ..."

Grey Grimlock balled his hand into a fist. He ran towards Underbite, ready to strike. Underbite, undeestimating his opponent, continued his gallop towards Grey Grimlock.

Grey Grimlock slid on the desert sand, going underneath Underbite and slamming his fist into Underbite's chin. Underbite was sent flying into the air by the force of the impact.

"Whoaaaa!" Underbite struggled and flailed to find solid ground. As he fell downwards, as any airborne object which goes up must inevitably goes down, Grey Grimlock struck him again, slamming his fist into Underbite's nose. Underbite went rolling through the air until he landed on his back. Underbite groaned before falling unconscious.

Green Grimlock was impressed. "Whoa. Can you show me how to do that?"

Grey Grimlock turned to him. "I just did."

Rarity reached the bridge. "Be patient, Twilight! Like a charming prince, I am on my way to your rescue!"

Fracture noticed Rarity trying to go up the bridge to aid Twilight. "Can't have that, can we? Airrazor, Divebomb, take that pony out." Two pods separated from Fracture's shoulders, firing under a rocket-propelled propulsion to fly onto the bridge.

The two rockets flew in front of Rarity, converting into purple and red Decepticons which reminded Rarity of gremlins, with one having large claws and the other having four legs.

"Mini-Cons." Rarity rued. "Why did it have to be Mini-Cons?" The Mini-Con Airrazor pounced on Rarity, meaning to tackle her and slash her with his claws, but Rarity's training with the Wreckers gave her the expertise she needed to counterattack, rearing up and bucking the Mini-Con in the chest with her front hooves. Airrazor grunted in pain. Rarity grabbed him with her magic, lifted him up, and tossed him over her shoulder, taking him.

Seeing his Mini-Cons in need of aid, Fracture jumped into the air and bounced off the hill, joining the fray on the bridge. He pulled out his rocket launcher, aimed at Rarity, and fired.

Rarity, thinking fast, grabbed Divebomb with her magic and held him in the air, using him as a Decepticon shield. The rocket hit Divebomb in the back and detonated, leaving burn marks on Divebomb's back and knocking him out.

His usefulness to her at an end, Rarity dropped Divebomb, allowing to see Fracture's horrified face.

"You made my shoot my own Mini-Con." Fracture pumped the gauge on his bazooka. "I admire your deviousness in that regard. However, I'm afraid that means I now have to devise an exquisite and painful for you to die, Rarity. No hard feelings. It's just revenge."

"I'm not sure you grasp how the concept of "revenge" works, darling." Rarity said, hiding her fear. An Autobot rule Twilight had shared with her echoed in her mind; Autobot Rule Number 45: When the Decepticon address you by your proper name, you know you've made an enemy of them.

Rarity grimaced and stepped away from Fracture. She turned around and fled as Fracture went on a crazed firing spree with his bazooka, firing at her without regards for aiming or potential damage to the surrounding area.

Below the bridge on the ground, the Autobots prepared to handle another energy surge from Thunderhoof's hoof.

"You know what? I'm tired of this." Ultra Magnus reached over his shoulder and pulled out his hammer. The hammerhead crackling with electricity, Ultra Magnus slammed it into the ground, sending out an energy surge which met Thunderhoof's and caused both surges to fizzle out.

"Eh?" Thunderhoof expression confusion. "That shouldn't have worked, should it? Eh, no matter. Old Hoof's still got a trick or two up 'is sleeve, eh? AYAAAAAH!" Thunderhoof lowered his head and charged at Ultra Magnus, aiming his antlers at the Wrecker.

"Come on. You've got to be kidding me. Surely you can do better than that?" Ultra Magnus asked. He grabbed Thunderhoof by the antlers, picked him up, and tossed him to the side, Thunderhoof landing face-first into the dirt. Before Thunderhoof could pick himself up and brush the dirt off, Ultra Magnus lifted his hammer and brought it down, delivering a crippling blow to Thunderhoof's back.

Ultra Magnus heard the sound of explosions behind him. He turned and saw Fracture's haphazard firing at Rarity. "Hey! You quit firing at Bulkhead's favorite pony!" Ultra Magnus twirled his hammer, converting into its boomstick configuration, and aimed at Fracture. He fired, landing a direct hit on Fracture's chest, taking him out with one shot, Fracture going down as smoke flew from his chest.

Meanwhile, Twilight continued to evade Steeljaw's claws, having to time what few shots she could fire off carefully to prevent Steeljaw from taking advantage of an opening where she left herself vulnerable.

Steeljaw reared up and roared, growing tired of the game of "dodgeclaw" he was playing with Twilight. He received help in trying to end the game, but not the kind he was hoping for. Captain Bumblebee, roaring in fury, jumped up from behind and slashed him in the back.

Steeljaw staggered and turned around. "Attacking a 'Con while his back is turned? I thought you were better than that, Bumblebee."

"Remember the golden rule, Steeljaw. Do unto others as you would have done unto you." Captain Bumblebee said. "Would you have done any different?"

Steeljaw chuckled. "No, I suppose not."

"Steeljaw!"

Steeljaw faced Twilight.

"Since you're so opposed to being hit while your back is turned, I thought you might like it if I said something before I blasted you." Twilight shot another laser beam at Steeljaw's chest, cracking the window-screen in Steeljaw's chest and sending him skidding along the pavement.

"Grrr!" Steeljaw growled, digging his claws into the asphalt to slow his momentum. He stood up and prepared to fight both Bumblebee and Twilight.

"Fixit." Jack turned to the orange Mini-Con. "I need you to transform."

"Certainly, Mister Darby." Fixit said and converted into a vehicular mode, something which resembled a tiny version of an Energon Driller, though with two drills instead of one. Jack climbed onto the platform and took hold of the handles, driving Fixit up the hill and onto the bridge.

Jack revved the handles and lifted Fixit up. Accelerating the Mini-Con's speed, Jack launched himself and Fixit into the air and at Steeljaw, diving into his chest, and shoving Fixit's twin drills through his chest like lances.

"Ah ... clever, Jack!" Steeljaw groaned, clutching at the two puncture words in his chest. He stiffened his posture and turned to face Bumblebee and Twilight, but the two them struck first, with Bumblebee slashing Steeljaw's already-injured chest with his sword and Twilight, no longer having to dodge his claws, was free to blast him with magical bolts with impunity. The two of them kept this up, taking turns between Twilight's magic blasts and Bumblebee's sword until Steeljaw could no longer stand, falling to his knees.

With the Decepticons defeated, Ultra Magnus and the others gathered up Steeljaw's Pack and slapped them all into stasis cuffs.

"Nicely done." Captain Bumblebee complimented Twilight once the Decepticons were captured.

"I couldn't have done it without you." Twilight said.

"Don't pat yourselves on the back just yet. You think you're so smart." Steeljaw growled. "Well, let me tell you something, Twilight Sparkle. Even if you do change the past, you still can't accomplish everything you set out to do! You want to wage this little "Freedom War" of yours with minimal casualties? News flash, TWILIGHT SPARKLE; you can't save them all! DO YOU HEAR ME? YOU CAN'T SAVE THEM ALL!"

"SHADDUP!" Grey Grimlock punched Steeljaw, crushing his face in. Steeljaw's face was mangled, with his optics cracked and, his ears bent backwards, and the sides of his snout dented, giving the impression of swollen cheeks.

"Thank you, Grimlock. Even if I do wish you wouldn't have mutilated him ..."

"Sorry."

Twilight looked away from Steeljaw and gazed at the empty Nevada desert. She had been ignoring what he had to say during the entire time they were fighting, but now … now he had said something which pierced her and struck her to the core. Could she fight Galloway and Attinger and Gould and all their agents without letting anyone die senselessly on her watch?

She had promised several of her troops she would get them home after they had won the war – the war she had declared, she reminded herself – but how long would it be, and could she get them home … alive?

()()()()()()()()()()

()()()()()()()()()()

Tarn drummed his fingers. "Okay, gentlemen. We're approaching the end of our time, so make your closing arguments."

Ratchet stood up. "I believe, if you examine everything I've told you, Tarn, you will reach the same conclusion as I have that Galloway and his agents are responsible for destroying Megatron's corpse. Yes, the Autobots kept it hidden, but we would have, after a few years, after the Decepticon political party had time to fizzle out, have released the body for a proper Cybertronian burial; melted down into material for new protoforms."

"I beg to differ." Galloway said. "It is the Autobots who are responsible. In their … pretentiousness, their self-righteousness, their belief that they know what is best for everyone," Ratchet couldn't help but scoff, "they assumed custody of the body, thinking it was the right thing to do. I'm not going to admit that I sent any agents, but if I had, their mission would not have been to destroy Megatron's body. It was … collateral damage."

Tarn stood up. "I am not satisfied with either of your arguments."

Tarn looked at the clock.

"And you are both out of time."

Kaon reverted to robot mode for the coming execution. Tarn aimed his fusion cannon at Galloway. The cannon hummed as a purple light filled up its barrel, charging up a shot. Galloway trembled, staring down the barrel of the cannon which would end him. Ratchet closed his optics, hoping to accept death with grace.

There was a crash, and another of the windows broke, the glass shards sprikinling the floor and making it a terrible unsafe place for humans to walk.

"What?" Tarn exclaimed before a black-and-orange blur tackled him, sending him stumbling backwards. "Who are you?"

"I am Predaking, the king of beasts." Predaking answered. "You are Tarn, yes? Much has changed on Cybertron during your long stay on Messatime."

Tarn fired his cannon into Predaking's side. Despite the immense power within the fusion cannon, it did little other than leave a thin trail of smoke off Predaking's side.

Tarn's optics widened in shock. He had never seen anyone brush off a blast from his fusion cannon before. Predaking took advantage of his state of confusion and punched him in the face.

The rest of Predaking's reinforcements entered the building, following Predaking's example by crashing through the windows. Grimwing, Smokescreen, Side Swipe from the future, Strongarm, and Magnum, They engaged the Decepticon Justice Division, with Grimwing taking on both Helex and Tesarus, Strongarm opening fire on Vos, and Side Swipe attempting to take Kaon's head clean off with a sword. Kaon was too quick and ducked before shooting out a stream of electricity from his hands into Side Swipe's chest.

"I'm going in!" Stinger announced. He ran up to Tarn and attempted to electrocute the Decepticon with his stingers, but Tarn could handle him even if he was struggling with Predaking. Tarn grabbed Stinger by the wrist and hurled him into nearest wall.

"Whoa ..." Stinger expressed his awe of Tarn as he pulled himself out from the wall.

Smokescreen saw Ratchet. Ratchet saw him as well and didn't know what to make of it. Smokescreen smiled, heaving up a large green drill in his arms. Now Future Bee's advice to take a Beast Hunter weapon made sense.

Smokescreen dashed his way over to Ratchet, avoiding the attention of the Justice Division and the shots being exchanged.

"Hey." Smokescreen greeted Ratchet and presented him with the weapon. "A version of Bumblebee from the future traveled back in time to the past and told me to give you this."

Ratchet placed a hand on the weapon. "Are we sure taking actions based on the advice of a bot claiming to be from the future is wise? We could disturb the flow of history. Haven't you heard of the butterfly effect?"

"Hey." Smokescreen shrugged. "We need every advantage we can get, right?" Smokescreen thrust the weapon into Ratchet's hands. "You take that. I'll grab Miko."

"Hmm." While Smokescreen went to rescue Miko, Ratchet inspected the weapon. He found writing on the side which identified it as a Dragonshredder Drill, which Ratchet thought was a rather pompous name for a weapon. Spying a lever, Ratchet assumed it was the trigger to spin the drill and pressed it. He worried when instead of spinning as he expected, the drill sprouted steel cables which proceeded to wrap his arm and go up his shoulder before subsuming his entire body.

The battle raged on around him, with Predaking and Tarn taking turns punching each other and not feeling much effect from the blow, drawing near a stalemate. Side Swipe took another hit of electricity from Kaon's palm and went down. Strongarm overcame Vos by grabbing him, and when Vos attempted to escape by converting into his gun mode and slipping out of Strongarm's hands, Strongarm picked him up and tossed him out the window.

Ratchet emerged from his cocoon, transformed by the Beast Hunter metamorphosis. His body was craggy and covered in a rock-like plating, with orange, beige, and white parts running down his body. It made Ratchet think of clay and limestone. A green orb was in his chest, with a green "monocle" (in truth a targeting system) covering his right eye, his head having a skeletal appearance.

With the Drill mounted to the side of his right arm, Ratchet joined the fray. Willing the drill to spin, Ratchet slammed into Tarn's side, scratching the Decepticon and stripping his armor plating off.

"What? How?" Tarn exclaimed at the hole in his side. "My armor is impenetrable!"

"Obviously not, or I wouldn't have been able to penetrate it just now, would I?" Ratchet said.

"Bah! You're just a medic." Tarn scoffed. He turned his cannon on Ratchet. Ratchet aimed his drill at Tarn, which split open like a clam's shell to reveal a chain gun inside. The drill spun, firing shots from the chain gun into Tarn, pushing him back with their force. As the drill spun, it generated a vortex, pulling Tarn in and holding him in place as the chain gun changed ammunition. No longer firing lasers, it instead fire canisters which Ratchet aimed into the hole he made on Tarn's armor.

"Gah!" Tarn exclaimed and stumbled back. "What's happening to me?" Tarn clutched at his sides. It felt like insects were crawling over his insides. Disgusting, filthy, organic insects.

"Nanobots, Tarn." Ratchet said, smiling. "Nanobots which will crawl into your insides and disable your internal systems from within. You should surrender, Tarn. Even if you gun me down, the nanobots will still dissemble you."

"How …?" Tarn said. "How could I have lost to you? You're just a medic!"

"Indeed. I am a medic. And you, Tarn, have been threatening my patients." Ratchet growled.

"RRAAAAHH!" Tarn screamed and lunged at Ratchet, his hands reaching out to grab Ratchet by the head. Ratchet reacted by instinct, stepping backwards and firing a green laser from his monocle, hitting Tarn directly the optic and halting his charge. As Tarn howled and clutched at his wounded eye, Ratchet fired the laser again, this time into Tarn's chest, blasting him with force to send him falling out the window.

"Huh." Ratchet tapped a finger to his monocle. "That's new."

"Well done." Predaking congratulated Ratchet's work. "I will deal with the rest of them."

Predaking turned around to face the remaining members of the D.J.D. Running towards his opponent, he grabbed Tesarus from behind and lifted him up.

Grimwing, free to focus all his attention on one Decepticon instead of two, followed Predaking's example, grabbing Helex by the waist and lifting him up. Both Predacons tossed their captives out the window, sending them hurtling onto the concrete ground which lined the outside of Gould Enterprises.

Kaon, the last Decepticon standing, aimed his palms at the air and prepared to shoot out electric arcs. If he was going down, he was going to take everyone in the building wit him.

Grimwing aimed his Mini-Con and fired a grappling hook from the Mini-Con's beak, wrapping the cable around Kaon's arm. Kaon struggled and tried to pull free from the binding, but Grimwing wrapped his end of the line and pulled, pulling Kaon forward. Grimwing swung the cable around and hurled Kaon out the window, yanking on the tether and freeing Kaon to join his brethren on the ground.

"You should go." Ratchet said to the Imperials. "If I know as much about the Decepticon Justice Division as I think I do, then a simple fall isn't going to stop them for long. You should try to get them away from the city."

"Come on." Smokescreen held out his hand to Ratchet, Miko riding on his shoulder. "You can help us deal with them, and then we're taking you home."

Ratchet looked at Smokescreen's hand, tempted to take it. At this point, Galloway and his men couldn't stop him. But he thought about Vigil.

"No." Ratchet said.

"What? Ratchet -"

"Trust me." Ratchet said. "I can be of more help to you from the inside. Besides, I have a friend who I owe another round of chess who can help. I know he can. Go."

"Are you sure about this?" Smokescreen asked. "We might not get another chance to rescue you again for awhile."

"Yeah, doc-bot!" Miko said. "Are you sure?"

"I am." Ratchet said. "Although … tell me one thing. Fluttershy. Is-is she with you?"

Smokescreen smiled. "She's safe, Ratchet."

"That's all I need to know." Ratchet said. "Now go."

Predaking put a hand against the wall, leaning out the window to survey the ground. "The Decepticon Justice Division is no longer here."

"What?" Smokescreen rushed to the window. "How?"

"I suspect that while you and Ratchet were talking, they retreated to lick their wounds." Predaking said.

Smokescreen sighed. "Add another group to the list of Decepticons we need to watch out for. I'll call base and get a Bridge." Smokescreen tapped the side of his head.

A GroundBridge opened up beneath the window, suspended horizontally in the air. Predaking, Smokescreen, and the others jumped into it, the Bridge disappearing once the entire team had entered.

"You ..." Galloway said, crawling out from his cover now the danger was passed. "You stayed with us, Ratchet. You had a chance to leave and you chose to stay with us. I didn't hear what you said to your friends – were they your friends? - but that must be some form of loyalty."

"Maybe he's developing Stockholm Syndrome." Gould suggested.

"Yes." Ratchet said, giving Galloway a wary eye. "Loyalty." And absolutely not as a way to sabotage your operations, he thought to himself.

"Did you see that?" Stinger said as he got to his feet. "That Tarn guy – he was awesome! He wasn't taking any disrespect from anyone! And the way he shrugged off that huge dragon-bot's punches? MAN! What a trooper!"

Ratchet raised a browplate at Stinger, growing concerned about Stinger developing a strong admiration for a Decepticon, but he said nothing.

Stinger, meanwhile was re-evaluating Galvatron's invitation . . .

()()()()()()()()()()()

At the Imperial base, Captain Bumblebee's team regrouped and gathered with Twilight and Magnum to watch as guards carted off Steeljaw and his Pack into prison cells.

"Nice work out there." Captain Bumblebee said to Twilight.

"We couldn't have done it without your help." Twilight said. "So, that's Steeljaw captured and the Decepticon Justice Division defeated. Now we just to deal with the Star Seekers and we'll have taken care of everything you told us about." Twilight said.

Bumblebee gave an approving nod.

"So, Future Jack ..." Twilight put a hoof on "Johnson's" shoulder. "Since you're here, would you like me to GroundBridge Adagio Dazzle back to base so you can apologize for putting a knife to her throat?"

"Not really, no." Jack answered.

"Huh." Twilight was a little put off by his reply. The Jack she knew in the present was much nicer.

"So ..." Grey Grimlock walked up to Captain Bumblebee, joined by Green Grimlock. "I notice you got a Dinobot on your team by the name of Grimlock."

"That's right." Captain Bumblebee said.

"Is he ... like, me or something? Did I get hit by something? Or he just some kid who took my name?"

"Honestly, Grimlock ..." Captain Bumblebee said with a smile. "We don't know. If any of us knew, we would tell you."

"Captain Bumblebee." Twilight asked, turning back to him. "We know the Decepticons rule Cybertron in the future. Do we know they got that way? How they came to power? What happened that made it all go so wrong?"

Captain Bumblebee shook his head. "I don't know. No one does. There was … something that turned all the humans and some ponies into zombies - not actual zombies, mind you, with the rotting flesh – just mindless, unthinking drones, and it caused pain to Cybertronians." Captain Bumblebee looked away. "Eventually, it became too much for most of us to bear, so when the Decepticons made a resurgence and suggested that we start killing the organics to get rid of … whatever was causing us pain, some of us listened. Even a few Autobots did. They couldn't take it anymore."

Captain Bumblebee rested his elbow on the wall, covering his face.

"They were good Autobots, Twilight. Sure, some of them were a little triggerhappy, but they were good bots, good people." Captain Bumblebee's voice cracked. "Like Warpath. You know Warpath? Like I said, triggerhappy, but a good Autobot. I watched … I watch as the Decepticons taunted and goaded him, until finally he had enough of whatever the organics were doing that was hurting us and he … he fired into the crowd and killed humans and ponies. I could see it on his face as he realized what he done … and I could see it on his face as his Spark, his soul, died."

Twilight gave Bumblebee a look of worry and horror.

"Some of the "big names" were the first ones to die." Captain Bumblebee said. "Before the rest of us realized what was happening and banded together to fight the Decepticons. You know, people like Bulkhead, Arcee, Ultra Magnus, you, Twilight Sparkle, and … and Pinkie Pie." Captain Bumblebee's optics widened as he realized something.

Twilight saw it too. "Well … Pinkie Pie is alive now, if you want to see her."

"Could I? And … and Raf, too?"

"Of course." Twilight smiled and activated her comm. "Pinkie Pie, Raf, I need you in here."

"Here we are!" Pinkie Pie and Raf soon arrived, Pinkie cartwheeling into the room. "What do you need, Twilight?"

"Pinkie Pie ..." Captain Bumblebee went down on his knees. "Raf …" Captain Bumblebee's optics leaked oily tears.

"Hi, Future Bumblebee!" Pinkie Pie waved. "Any fun future stories you want to share with us?"

"Hi." Raf waved a bit more awkwardly. It was odd for him to see a future version of his friend.

"It's so good to see you again." Captain Bumblebee said. "I … in my timeline, Pinkie Pie's dead and Raf is missing, presumed dead. I ..."

Captain Bumblebee broke down into tears, wrapping his arms around Pinkie Pie and Raf and pulling them into a tight hug.

"I don't want to lose you again!"

Strongarm comforted her commander, patting him on the shoulder. "There, there, sir. They're here now, see?"

"Don't worry. You won't." Twilight said. "We're going to figure out what went wrong in the future and keep the Decepticons from taking over Cybertron. I promise."

Captain Bumblebee looked at Twilight, his tears drying up. "You-you mean it?"

"Of course I do!" Twilight said. "You know me, Bumblebee. You think I can't keep a promise?"

"Thank you, Twilight Sparkle." Bumblebee put Raf and Pinkie down and wiped a tear from his eye. "I know you can keep a promise, Twilight. It's just … after everything I've been through, I guess it's hard for me to believe someone like you could, would step up to the challenge and try and change the way things are in my time."

Twilight chuckled. "After what you've been through, who could blame you? But don't worry, Bumblebee. We've got all the time in the world." Twilight wiggled her eyebrows.

Bumblebee chuckled. "Heh heh. Time travel jokes."

Elsewhere in the base, inside Steeljaw's cell, the wolfish Decepticon was not going to accept defeat so easily. Sure, he may have been captured, sure, he may have his face smashed in by the Grimlock of the present, but he still had a trick or two up his sleeve.

Steeljaw raised up his arm. "Show me the timeline, Snowdrop."

A hologram of Snowdrop projected from Steeljaw's arm. Aside from the obvious difference of being an adult where the present Snowdrop was a filly, the Snowdrop projected, instead of the pure, icy orbs the present Snowdrop possessed, instead had two dark, glowing red Decepticon optics for eyes, which were a bit too small for her eye sockets, creating an eerie look of a red glow coming from inside an empty eye socket. The image was best compared with a Halloween skull.

"Yes sir, Master Steeljaw - what happened to your face?"

"Never mind that." Steeljaw said. "The timeline?"

"Yes sir!" Snowdrop saluted. Her appearance was replaced by a projection of code. "The course of history has so far not been altered. The timeline is intact. None of the actions taken by you or the Autobots have had any temporal repercussions … yet."

"It's not going to stay that way. Keep me posted on any new developments." Steeljaw said and dismissed the hologram. "Boys, we're going to break out of here, and we're not just going to make sure that the history stays the same, we're going to change it so the Decepticons achieve complete and total victory."

"Now how are we goin' to do that, Steelie?" Thunderhoof said. "We're locked up! Boxed! Caged like a bunch of – of -"

"Criminals?" Fracture suggested.

"I wasn't goin' to say it." Thunderhoof said.

"I tell you how, Thunderhoof. We're going to improvise. I'm going to need everyone to donate some parts ..."

Fracture and Thunderhoof sighed. This wasn't the first time they had to cannibalize parts of themselves for one of Steeljaw's schemes, and they doubted it would be the last. Nonetheless, they complied with Steeljaw's request, digging out and ripping out the non-essential parts of their bodies and donating them to Steeljaw.

Steeljaw, like a maestro of technology, assembled the components into a device. A device which would carry out a transmission with a signal boosted enough to breach whatever protective shielding Twilight might have installed into the Imperial base.

Steeljaw adjusted a dial on the side, trying to key the device to the right frequency. He soon got it, as a projection of Tarn appeared from the device.

"What's this?" Tarn said. "Who are you? How did you get this number?"

"Hello, Tarn." Steeljaw said. "I am Steeljaw."

"Steeljaw. Steeljaw … aren't you currently imprisoned on the Alchemor?"

Steeljaw chuckled. "No. Well, yes. It's a bit hard to explain. But trust me when I tell you that all you need to know is that I know the location of the Imperials' base."

"Imperials?" Tarn questioned.

"They're a neo-Autobot group founded by a pony by the name of Twilight Sparkle to fight both "renegade" Decepticons and the compromised government of the planet Earth." Steeljaw said. "Their ranks include Autobots, humans, Equestrians, … and former Decepticons."

"Former … Decepticons?" Tarn said. "Do you mean tell there is an entire organization filled with Autobots and organics working together, and that there are not only Decepticons who abandoned the righteous way of the Decepticon cause, but sighed up with the Autobots to work with filthy organics?"

"Yes." Steeljaw said. "They even have a city."

"You MUST tell me the location of this city, Steeljaw, so the Decepticon Justice Division may punish these Decepticons who abandoned the ways of the Decepticons and betray their Cybertronian heritage by allying with organics!"

"In due time." Steeljaw said. "Before I do that, however, I need something from you."

Tarn sighed. "What is it?"

"I know you don't like organics, Tarn, but I need you to send a message to one in particular with these instructions … "

"It will be done. The treason committed by these Decepticons cannot go unpunished!"

Elsewhere in the base, Twilight and Captain Bumblebee were engaged in a discussion, trying to figure out what happened in the future to cause it to become so horrible and ravaged. Maybe Bumblebee had seen something without knowing it. Maybe he was forgetting something.

"Commander?" A Vehicon said, interrupting their conversation. "We're picking something up on our sensors."

Twilight and Captain Bumblebee went with the Vehicon to the control room.

"On-screen." Twilight ordered. An Autobot pushed a button and brought up on a screen a display of what they had found.

Hydia was standing in the desert, looking ragged and tired, with her clothes ripped in places. She was down on one knee and seemed week, drawing the word "Sanctuary" into the sand with her finger.

Twilight narrowed her eyes. "Hmm."

"What are you thinking, commander?" The Vehicon said.

"She seems to be asking for sanctuary, but … I don't like it." Twilight said. "Not after what happened with Percy and Johnson. Er, Future Jack. Captain Bumblebee, what do you make of this?"

"I don't remember her." Captain Bumblebee said. "I'm not sure I've seen her before."

Twilight tapped her chin. "Something about this still doesn't seem right. I've got it. Open a GroundBridge near her location and invite her, but I want at least four guards on her at all times."

"Sir?" The Vehicon asked.

"I think something fishy is going on with Hydia." Twilight said. "And I intend to find out what by letting her in and letting her think she's in control."

The Vehicon looked to Twilight. "A double bluff? I like it."

"Exactly."

The Vehicons set out do as she ordered. Opening a GroundBridge near her, Hydia jumped up at the sight. A Vehicon went through the Bridge and invited her up. Hydia got to her feet and waddled through, the Vehicon close behind her.

Hydia emerged on the inside of the Imperial base, coming face-to-face with the masked War Princess.

"Greetings, Hydia." The War Princess said with her distorted voice. "We saw your request for sanctuary and invited you here. You will find everything you need here while the danger passes."

"Oh, thank you, thank you!" Hydia exclaimed, getting onto her knees and kissing the War Princess's feet. "I don't know how I can repay your generosity."

"No payment necessary, ma'am. Now tell me, what troubles you?"

"Troubles?" Hydia asked.

"You were asking for refuge. I presumed something must have been troubling you which you wanted to hide from, or you wouldn't have asked."

"Oh, yes, yes, of course! It was a horrible monster." Hydia said. "It chased me through Equestria while I was trying to arrange a meeting with Princess Celestia to discuss Equestria's relationship with my homeland. I tried to escape through the Space Bridge system, but it followed me here to Earth!"

"I see." The War Princess said. "Well, until we either disable this monster or it goes away, you are welcome to stay here. Under guard, of course. It's nothing serious, just a security measure." The War Princess assured her as four Vehicon appeared to serve as Hydia's escort.

Hydia seemed displeased. "Yes, of course ..."

"If you'll follow us, miss, we'll take you to the guest quarters." One of the Vehicons said. The Vehicons ushered Hydia out of the room.

"See if you can get into the travel log for Equestria's Space Bridge." The War Princess ordered a Vehicon once Hydia was out of earshot. "Check to see if it was opened recently and if her story checks out. I want no security breaches today. Either this monster is real and needs to be stopped, or Hydia is lying and about to become Steeljaw's cell neighbor."

The Vehicon nodded and left to carry out Twilight's orders.

Hydia walked with her Vehicon escort. She seemed displeased and uncomfortable.

"Hey." She stopped at a hallway. "What's down this hall?"

"That?" One of the Vehicons said. "That's where we keep the prisoners. Trust me, you don't want to go in there."

"Oh, I think I do." Hydia said, and dashed towards the hall, abandoning her Vehicon escorts

"Hey!" One of the Vehicons shouted. "Stop!" The Vehicons primed their blasters and chased after her, firing at her.

Hydia outran their blasters, an easy feat, as the Vehicons were exercising restraint and only trying to shoot to incapacitate rather than kill.

Hydia arrived at Steeljaw's cell, sliding on her feet and skidding to a stop. The Vehicons soon caught up with her, training their blasters at her.

"You're coming with us." A Vehicon said.

"Oh, but sir!" Hydia pointed into the cell. "Those prisoners are attacking each other!"

The Vehicons looked up from Hydia at the cell, where Thunderhoof was throttling Steeljaw and Underbite had Fracture pinned underfoot.

"You!" Thunderhoof yelled. "Youse got us into this mess!"

Hydia looked at the Vehicons. "Well?"

"Well, what?"

"Aren't you going to help them?" Hydia asked.

"Oh, what, we're supposed to fall for this?" The Vehicon said. "The prisoners pretend to attack each other in their cells, and we're supposed to go in to break it up, and then they hit us in the back and escape and lock us in the cell? They were getting along just fine earlier. We're not falling for it."

"Don't you have an obligation to help your prisoners?" Hydia said.

"Yeah, but they don't need any help." The Vehicon said.

Thunderhoof and Steeljaw looked at the Vehicons for a split-second, upset to see the Vehicons were onto them. Thunderhoof roared and threw Steeljaw into the wall, trying to make it more believable. Thunderhoof ran up to Steeljaw and grabbed him by the neck, pinning him against the wall.

Underbite, also trying to get the Vehicons to take the bait, pressed his foot harder onto Fracture. Fracture frowned at being used in such a manner and fired a rocket from his shoulder. The rocket hit the ceiling of the cell and ricocheted, bouncing around the cell.

"Rocket!" One of the Vehicons exclaimed.

"Okay, now we have to help, because for all we know, that rocket is going to go off any time now and take out half the base with it!"

The Vehicons unlocked the cell door and went in to capture the runaway rocket. The rocket, however, redirected itself, reverting into Airrazor and leaping onto a Vehicon's face.

"It's not a rocket, it's a Mini-Con!" The Vehicon exclaimed as Airrazor scratched his face. He fired his blaster at random trying to get the situation under control. One of the other Vehicons went to help him, but Divebomb dropped down from the ceiling and landed on his back, wrapping his tiny arms around the Vehicon's neck. The second Vehicon also fired at random in hopes of getting the situation under control.

Steeljaw's Pack, seeing their chance, struck. Thunderhoof let go of Steeljaw and charged, goring one of the Vehicons with his antlers. Underbite let go of Fracture and swatted the remaining Vehicons with his claw, tossing them around and scattering them across the hall.

"Good work, everyone." Steeljaw said, stepping out of the cell. "And thanks to you too, Hydia. "

Hydia bowed.

One of the Vehicons reached up, trying to pull the alarm to let the base know about the jailbreak. Fracture noticed and stomped the Vehicon's hand into the floor.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." Fracture said. "Didn't anyone ever teach you not to be a snitch?" Fracture kicked the Vehicon in the head, knocking him into his back. The Vehicon groaned in pain.

"Quickly." Steeljaw said. "We need to get to their GroundBridge terminal before they know we're out."

Steeljaw's Pack, with Hydia, ran out of the hall and headed for the Bridge control room. Before they reached their goal, they ran into a room where the War Princess, Captain Bumblebee, and Magnum were having a discussion.

The two Autobots and pony looked to the quarter of escaped Decepticons and their human partner. Both sides needed a minute to process what they were seeing. The Autobots needed a minute because they couldn't believe Steeljaw's Pack had gotten out of its cells. The Decepticons needed a moment because they couldn't believe the Autobots were in front of them right as they were almost to the Bridge control room.

Both sides recovered, and the Autobots prepared the weapons. Hydia produced a handful of purple powder and threw it to the floor, creating a cloud of smoke which obscured the Autobots' vision. Steeljaw's Pack pushed their way through the smog, though Steeljaw did have to push Magnum of the way.

"Security breach! Escaping prisoners!" The War Princess shouted, giving chase to Steeljaw. "All units, converge on the GroundBridge control room!"

The War Princess, Magnum, and Captain Bumblebee pursued the quintet of crooks.

"Whatever you're doin', you better do it fast, Steelie." Thunderhoof said. "They're comin'!"

"I need a little more time!" Steeljaw said, his claws inside the GroundBridge's internal wiring. "Reroute that here … direct that subroutine to here … and plug this in here."

The War Princess, Magnum, and Captain Bumblebee arrived at the GroundBridge control room.

"I don't know why Hydia is helping you, or how she manged to get you out of your cells, but you're going right back in there, Steeljaw!" Captain Bumblebee unsheathed his blade. Side Swipe, Strongarm, the orange Mini-Con, and Green Grimlock entered the room.

"Perfect!" Steeljaw said. "Thunderhoof, would you do the honors?" Steeljaw lifted two wires out from the GroundBridge and plugged them together. The GroundBridge activated, droning as a Bridge opened in its terminal. Only, the portal it generated was blue instead of the correct green color for GroundBridges.

"What is that?" The War Princess asked.

"That's a Time Bridge." Captain Bumblebee said. "It's a hotwired GroundBridge. It's what we used to send Jack back in time, and how Steeljaw and my team got here to your present."

"Indeed!" Steeljaw said.

Underbite charged at the Autobots, headbutting Magnum and tossing him into the room. Twilight Sparkle fired lasers at Underbite's chin, but Underbite took his massive claw and swatted her, sending her into the wall.

Underbite turned tail and cleared the room. Captain Bumblebee and his team tried to chase him, but the reason he was leaving the floor became clear when Thunderhoof stomped, sending out one of his energy pulses and knocking all of Team Bee onto their backs.

With a psychotic, fang-bearing grin, Steeljaw pulled another wire out from the GroundBridge's wiring. The Time Bridge began to hum and generated a vortex, sucking Team Bee towards it.

"This must have been Steeljaw's plan, sir!" Strongarm shouted as she was pulled towards the Bridge. "To use a Time Bridge to send us back to the future so we couldn't change the past!"

"Ah, Strongarm! You are ever so perceptive." Steeljaw said, clinging onto the side of the GroundBridge terminal to keep from being sucked into the Time Bridge along with Team Bee.

While Fracture and Thunderhoof hid behind Underbite for cover, and Underbite's massive girth let him keep himself rooted by planting his feet down, Team Bee tried to avoid getting sucked in by digging their hands into the floor. When this didn't work, they linked arms with each other, hoping their combined weight would be enough to keep them down.

It wasn't.

"Twilight Sparkle!" Captain Bumblebee shouted. "I'm sorry! It's pulling us in! We're going through, whether we want to or not! I'm sorry we couldn't have been of more help!"

"Don't be!" Twilight shouted back. "You were a big help, and now we know! Don't worry, Bumblebee – we'll find out what went wrong and keep it from happening!"

Even as the Time Bridge pulled him and his team in, Captain Bumblebee smiled at her. "I know you will." Bumblebee and the others grabbed the sides of the GroundBridge terminal, holding on as long they could, but they couldn't resist the pull of the Time Bridge forever.

"Wait!" Twilight shouted. "I thought of something! Is there anything you can tell us about the future in the time you have before you get sucked in!?"

"I'm not sure!" Captain Bumblebee closed his optics to think. Time was running out. "Oh! There is one thing! Whatever you do, DON'T – TRUST - "

Bumblebee's hand slipped from the edge of the terminal, and he his team were pulled in. Steeljaw disconnected the wirings, deactiving his improvised vortex and the Time Bridge.

"Don't trust who? Or what?" Twilight exclaimed, desperate for answers.

"And just so you don't get any ideas about trying to use the Time Bridge to fix things, Twilight Sparkle!" Steeljaw said before punching his claw into the GroundBridge's wiring, tearing it apart and preventing Twilight from studying the fixes Steeljaw applied, preventing her from learning how to make her own Time Bridge.

By the same token, Underbite punched out the GroundBridge's log recording the last set of coordinates were inputted. Even that was too big a hint for Steeljaw's Pack to allow.

"I ..." The War Princess stood up and looked at Hydia. "There was no monster, was there, Hydia?"

Hydia chuckled. "No."

"Oh, yes." Steeljaw chuckled, "Hydia will become quite the helpful little quisling to the Decepticon cause in the future."

"While we're at it, I suppose I should mention... those dragons that attacked Cybertron? I gave those to Sunset Shimmer. They did so at my bidding," Hydia smiled.

Twilight was enraged by this. She was going to find out if there was a monster or not from agents she sent out, but they had left and hadn't come back, and Hydia had carried out her sinister plan in that time. She had tried to take precautions, to verify what Hydia told her, but it was too late and her efforts amounted to naught.

"You'll pay for this, Hydia. I will give your scent to the Predacons and hunt you down to the ends of the universe."

"Hmph."

Steeljaw's Pack gathered around Hydia. Magnum stood up and aimed at them, opening fire. Hydia threw another handful of purple powder into the floor, creating a cloud of purple smoke. When it clear, both she and Steeljaw's Pack were gone.

Magnum looked at Twilight Sparkle. "'You'll pay for this'?"

"What else was I supposed to say? 'I completely and totally forgive your betrayal, and am in no way mad at myself because I could have prevented you from doing any real damage if I had just been quicker on the draw'?"

Magum frowned. "Twilight Sparkle, I thought the purpose of recruiting Decepticons into the Imperials was to give them a chance to redeem themselves and reform them, not become them."

Twilight glared at him.

"And you can't take your anger out on Hydia just because she blindsided you-"

"But that's just it! She didn't blindside me! I was expecting something like this and took measures to prevent it, and it happened anyway! Come to think of it, we should check on those Vehicons I sent to guard Hydia and make sure Steeljaw didn't kill them."

Magnum nodded.

"We also need to hunt down Steeljaw. With his knowledge of the future and my identity, who knows what kind of havoc he could wreak?"

"Uh, guys?" Raf walked into the room, carrying his laptop. "I know you're kind of the middle of something, but I thought you might want to know about this."

Twilight groaned and rolled her eyes. The last thing she needed was more problems. "What is it, Raf?"

"Well, after what Bumblebee said, I've been monitoring satellite communications for any sign of the Star Seekers, and …" Raf opened his laptop, pulled up the relevant data, and spun it around to show Twilight. "I think I've found them. New satellite images coming in show a huge ship approaching Earth, and it doesn't look Cybertronian."

Twilight scrutinized the imagas on Raf's screen. "That ship looks a little familiar … I'm going to bet it's probably them. Magnum, assemble a strike team, and make sure they're space-worthy. We're going to keep the Star Seekers far away from Earth."

Magun nodded. "And … what about the Vehicons?"

"Well, make sure they're okay, obviously! Then assemble the strike team."

()()()()()()()()()()()

()()()()()()()()()()()

Out in space far above Earth, a Space Bridge opened, depositing a team of Imperials around the area of the ship. The team included Grimlock, Ultra Magnus, Arcee, Crosshairs, a few Vehicons, and Twilight, wearing her exo-suit with some modifications to seal in air.

Twilight Sparkle saw the ship, the Tidal Wave, and her memory was jogged. "I remember now! The Star Seekers! My friends and I met them when we first went into space. We liberated the Junkions from them before they shot our ship down."

"The Junkions, huh?" Ultra Magnus said. "Nice to know they're doing all right."

"Let's move in." Twilight ordered.

On top of the ship, two Star Seekers were standing guard, acting as sentries. A bulky, black and yellow one and a lanky, skeletal white and blue one.

"Did you see something?" The white one asked. "I think I saw something."

"We're in the vastness of space, Axer." The bulky one said. "No one knows we're here. Look, there's Dirt now."

"Earth." Axer corrected him. "It's Earth, Cannonball."

"Whatever."

Cannonball should have put more faith into Axer's concerns, as Grimlock and Ultra Magnus dropped from above onto the ship in front of them.

"What the-?"

"Good morning." Grimlock greeted them.

Grimlock and Ultra Magnus raised their fists and slugged Cannonball and Axer, using their above-average strength to knock both of them out. The two guards went down like a house of cards.

"And good night." Ultra Magnus quipped.

"Good job. Now they can't raise the alarm. That should give us an element of surprise ..." Twilight gestured for the team to move into the ship.

Inside the ship, Thundertron, along with his first mate Brimstone and technician Sandstorm, was on the ship's bridge, viewing Earth from the canopy as they got closer to their destination.

"Ah, there's Earth now." Thundertron said. "The first planet in this … triple planetary alliance we will free from the Cybertronian infection. Like a bad case of rust, we will strip away the Cybertronians from these planets, one by one." Thundertron reached out towards the screen and clenched his fist, creating an optical illusion of him crushing the Earth in his hand.

"Hmm." Thundertron's eyes shifted. "Cannonball and Axer haven't reported in."

"I'm sure Axer and Cannonball just got into a fight again." Brimstone said.

"No. I gave them strict orders to report in on a regular basis." Thundertron said. "Go see what's happening."

"Captain." Brimstone stood at attention, going over to a security. "I think I know." He moved to let Thundertron see. Thundertron was appalled to see the Imperials on the screen, running amok on his ship.

"Cybertronians!" Thundertron exclaimed. "How did they get on board?"

"I suspect they took out Cannonball and Axer and made their way in." Brimstone said. "I told you we should have installed cameras on the outside of the ship ..."

Thundertron smacked Brimstone on the head. "Never mind that now. Stop them!"

Brimstone nodded, used to Thundertron losing his temper and lashing. He pushed a button on the console. He and Sandstorm got up and rushed out of the bridge to engage the intruders.

In the hall of the ship, the Imperials were about to turn a corner when the walls in the hall broke apart, unfurling mounted, automatic sentry guns which opened fire at them. They retreated to behind the corner, and the guns stopped when they could no longer detect them.

"What's this?" Twilight asked.

"A security system. No good ship should be one without one." Crosshairs said. "Honestly, Twilight, I thought you knew about this sort of thing.

"I know that. I meant, how do we get past it?"

"Have no fear. Let the missus and I take care of it. After all, that's what you brought us along for, isn't it?" Crosshairs twirled a pistol while Arcee pulled the drawstring on her Echohawk Bow.

"Ladies first." Crosshairs said, moving aside and bowing.

"Who says chivalry is dead?" Arcee quipped, moving into the hall. The turrets fired at her, and she slipped back behind the corner.

"Motion activated." Crosshairs said. "Good. We can use that to our advantage."

Crosshairs and Arcee scooted into the hall, moving their feet by bare inches to avoid triggering the motion sensors.

"Baby steps ..." Crosshairs said, his foot sliding on the floor. "Baby steps … okay, now!" Crosshairs and Arcee aimed their weapons and opened fire, shooting the turrets out. Some of the guns deeper into the hall prepared to react, but Arcee and Crosshairs took them out before they could fire back.

Brimstone and Sandstorm entered the other end of the hallway. Brimstone was agahst to see all of their turrets destroyed.

"Grr!" Brimstone and Sandstorm pulled out their weapons, a flail and a semi-automatic machine gun, respectively.

"We'll take care of them." Crosshairs told Twilight. "You go on ahead."

Twilight nodded. She, Grimlock, some Vehicons, and Ultra Magnus shoved their way past Brimstone and Sandstorm, bowling them over. The two Star Seekers recovered and prepared to give chase.

"Hey, uglies! Over here, eh?" Crosshairs shouted, getting Brimstone and Sandstorm's attention. The two Autobots, joined by the remaining Vehicons, fired, pummeling Brimstone and Sandstorm with lasers from Vehicons, bullets from Crosshairs, and missiles from the bow.

Twilight and her two bruisers made their way to the bridge. When they found the bridge, the way in was barred by a closed door. Grimlock dug his hands in and pried the door open, opening the way to the bridge and Thundertron. He looked different from the last time Twilight saw him, though it had been three years.

Thundertron turned to them. "You … how did you know we were here?"

"Sorry. That's a secret." Twilight told him. "What do you want with Earth, Thundertron?"

"What else? To cleanse it, to rescue from its Cybertronian infestation." Thundertron said.

"Infestation?"

"The Cybertronians are a plague to the universe at large." Thundertron said. "Their war has spread to countless worlds, including mine, ravaging planets, stripping them of resources before moving onto the next world, like vampires. When the Cybertronians left my home planet in ruins, I swore I would make the whole Cybertronian race pay for what they did. There will be a reckoning for your kind, Cybertronians!" Thunderton pointed at them.

"You're probably right. There will be. But not today, and not by you." Ultra Magnus said.

The Vehicons moved in to arrest Thundertron. Thundertron easily took them out, kicking one in the stomach before twirling around and punching another in the head. When a third aimed its blaster at him, Thundertron revealed a blade on his arm and slashed the Vehicon in the chest.

Grimlock pulled out his own spiky sword to challenge Thundertron. Thundertron, accepting the unspoken challenge, removed the sword from his arm and held it in his hand.

"Oh, that's a neat trick." Grimlock said. "It can either be an arm-mounted or hand held sword. Most Cybertronian weapons can only be one or the other."

"Yet another way my kind is superior to yours." Thundertron said.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Grimlock engaged Thundertron, bringing his sword down over Thundertron. Thundertron blocked Grimlock's sword, pushing Grimlock's sword back. Grimlock separated and attempted to strike from a different angle, but Thundertron was able to adjust and counteract it, parrying Grimlock's sword again. Thundertron wrestled with Grimlock's sword, pushing on it before being able to force it out of the way.

Thundertron raised his sword to strike Grimlock on the head, but Grimlock recovered and guarded against Thundertron's overhead strike. Grimlock, seeing this sword duel was going nowhere, took the initiave and kicked Thundertron in the gut, sending him sliding across the room into the control console.

Thundertron groaned. He looked to his side and saw a lever. Rolling over to reach it, Thundertron grabbed the lever and pulled it down.

A whir carried out throughout the ship.

"That sounds like a Space Bridge." Grimlock noted.

"It is." Thundertron said. "I have one installed on my ship."

"You say you hate Cybertronians so much, but you're willing to use their technology?" Grimlock asked.

"Regardless of its origin, one doesn't let a potential asset go to waste." Thundertron pushed himself up. "In a few minutes, the Bridge will power up and teleport the ship to a random location in space, taking all of you with me."

"That doesn't sound like a very good plan." Twilight said. "After we teleport, we would still be here, and it won't take us long to defeat you and we can just summon our own Space Bridge to escape."

"Ah, but are you willing to risk it?" Thundertron said. "I have set my Space Bridge to continue warping the ship to random locations. Even if you do defeat me, the ship will keep teleporting, and your friends will never be able to get a fix on your location. You'll be somewhere one minute, and somewhere else the next. Are you ready to risk potentially being stuck warping randomly in space forever?"

"No." Twilight answered, realizing the implications of Thundertron's threat. Even if they defeated Thundertron and took control of the ship, it could be days before she figured out how to hack into the ship's controls and get the Space Bridge to send them back to Earth. Galloway could gain huge advantages in the time, and the Imperials could panic over the disappearance of their leader.

"No, I'm not. We need to get out of here!"

"Here." Ultra Magnus aimed his boomstick. "Have a parting gift, from me to you." Ultra Magnus fired. The explosive shell from his weapon hit Thundertron, shredding his sides into pieces and leaving the side of his body with a smoking hole in it. Grimlock picked up the Vehicons Thundertron had incapacitated, throwing one over his shoulder while holding the other two in his arms.

Twilight Sparkle and her team raced back into the hallway, where Brimstone and Sandstrom were lying defeated on the floor.

"Hello, Twilight. How are ya, love?" Crosshairs waved.

"We need to get out of here!" Twilight told him. "This ship is about to go on a tour of the cosmos, and we don't want to be here when it does!"

Reuniting with Arcee, Crosshairs, and the remaining Vehicons, Twilight's team escaped the ship through the same entrance they used to get in. Once out of the ship, they propelled themselves forward, "space-swimming" to get as far from the ship as possible before it warped.

The Tidal Wave was submersed in a green glow. Rocking and rumbling, the ship released a circular pulse-wave of green energy into the space surrounding it before disappearing in a blinding flash of light.

Inside the ship, with the Imperials off his ship and with several light-years between them, Thundertron pulled the lever, deactivating the Bridge before it war

"Raf." Twilight activated her comm. "The Star Seekers just used a Space Bridge to teleport their ship. Think you can use our Space Bridge and track down where they went?"

"Um … maybe I could, Twilight. But you need to get back here. We have bigger problems. The Decepticon Justice Division are here at the base!"

"What?" Twilight screamed into her helmet. She shook her head. "There's never a moment of peace for us, is there?"

"No." Ultra Magnus said. "Shall we?"

()()()()()()()()()()()()

Twilight and her team stepped out of a Space Bridge into the Rainbow Principality's central building, where Tarn and the rest of the Justice Division were being disgusted by the Principality's aesthetics. They had somehow broken through the nested force fields. Twilight would have bet, given what she had heard about the Division, was they had simply pushed their way in.

"What is this?" Tarn questioned, pointing at a decoration. "What is this?" Tarn pointed at a different decoration. "This entire city is decorated in a disgusting blend of Cybertronian and Equestrian sensibilities! And this!" Tarn walked up to the statue of Optimus riding an enlarged representation of Equestria. "Is this even to scale? There's no way this can be to scale. No pony I've seen so far has been that big!" Tarn struck the statue, lopping the Optimus head off. He readied his cannon and fired at the statue, shattering the headless Optimus portion of into pieces.

'This is the Rainbow Principality." The War Princess answered Tarn's question. "It's a place to prove Cybertronians, Equestrians, and humans can learn to live and work together in peace and harmony."

"Oh, is it? Is that what it is?" Tarn asked. He climbed up the stairs and raised his voice. "If you ask me, every Autobot and Decepticon here is a traitor, sullying the good name of the Cybertronians and insulting our kind by spending their time and bedding with these lesser organics."

"No one cares about your opinion, Tarn." Ultra Magnus said.

"Is that so? Well, riddle me this. I haven't been on this planet for very long, so I can't say for certain if this is right, but I see very little human cultural influence in this city." Tarn said. "I see plenty of Equestrian decorations, which I recognize by the shape of ponies, and Cybertronian decorations. I do believe I see more Cybertronian decorations than Equestrian! Even the city itself is made more from Cybertronain architecture that I recognize instead of Earthern or Equestrian construction that I don't!"

Tarn couldn't know this was due to using the Omega Lock to generate the city.

"Do I detect a form of postive bias from you, War Princess? Do you prefer the Cybertronians over that of your kind and humans? Not that I would blame you. We are technologically superior to most others."

Inside her armor, Twilight was wounded by what Tarn had to say. Sure, he was a clear Technoist, but his words had merit. How come she hadn't put more human and Earthern decorations in the city? Why didn't she reprogram the Omega Lock to generate Equestrian buildings, or at least an Cybertronian approximation of one? Was it because she still had residual resented the human species? Did she develop some distaste for her own kind after Celestia sided with her enemies?

Did she have some unconscious, positive bias for the Cybertronian form? She was a scientist who valued technological progress …

Twilight shook her head. She could worry about all of this later, when her city was safe. "Imperials, take them out!" Every soldier brave enough within range converged on the Decepticon Justice Division.

"Are you sure this is a good idea, War Princess?" Ultra Magnus whispered to her. "Some of us are pretty tough, but the Decepticon Justice Division will chew through our ranks, especially the Vehicons, if we let them."

Crosshairs shot at Helex. Helex reached over and picked Crosshairs up, using him as a weapon to knock Arcee and Smokescreen down. Grimlock marched towards Tarn, his shield raised up, but Tarn fired a barrage from his fusion cannon, pinning Grimlock down – he couldn't risk moving his shield, or Tarn would get a shot in.

"Where's Predaking?" Smokescreen shouted. "He handled these guys pretty well earlier!"

"He's on his way!" Arcee assured him.

"You're right." The War Princess said to Ultra Magnus, seeing her forces get pinned down by the Justice Division. "We need a plan."

Twilight looked around the city, trying to think of plan. Maybe she could find somewhere to have her troops sneak around and snipe the Justice Division from afar, shooting them in the back.

She looked up and saw a Decepticon ship floating outside the force field. She recognized as the Justice Division's ship from when she was on Messatine.

"Say ..." Twilight said. "Ultra Magnus, re-route Predaking and the Predacons to outside the city. Get any fliers and dropships that we have. I have a plan."

Tarn batted Grimlock and grabbed Magnum by the throat, throwing him to the ground. Tarn bent down, picked Magnum up by the head, and applied some pressure, meaning to crush Magnum's head in. Magnum's helmet had began to crack when Kaon interrupted for Tarn's attention.

"Tarn! Look!" Kaon pointed to the sky.

Outside the force field, the Decepticon Justice Division's ship came under attack by Predacons, Vehicons, and dropships. Predaking and Grimwing spat out fireballs at it while the Vehicons blasted it with lasers.

"Our ship!" Tarn exclaimed. Tarn dropped Magnum, and he and the rest of the Division ran to the edge of the city.

"Just as planned." Twilight observed to herself.

Tarn blew a hole into the force field with his cannons, which might have explained how he got in, though blasting out of a force field was easier than blasting into it.

Tarn and the rest of his team stood below the ship, taking aim at the enemies who threatened it.

"Now." Twilight ordered over the comm.

Predaking and Grimwing latched onto the ship, digging their talons into it. The dropshops fired beams of energy, tethering themselves to the Division's ship. The fleet brought the ship down and pointed it at the Justice Division, pushing it forward.

Tarn's optics widened when he realized their intent. The Imperials were going to ram him and his team with their own ship. Tarn opened fire, attempting to blast the ship into more pieces before it hit him, but he couldn't inflict enough damage before the bow of the ship rammed into him, the rest of the ship catching the other Division members as the Imperials pushed it along.

As the Imperials pushed the ship forward, the Decepticon Justice Division caught on its front, the ship crashed into and scraped along the ground, kicking up huge clouds of dust as the ship was dragged through the earth to at least a few miles out from the Imperial base.

The ship came to a stop when the Decepticon Justice Division was driven and embedded into the ground. With the Division incapacitated, the Imperials released their hold on the ship.

Tarn let out a groan before closing his optics, his neck going limp. His damaged ship lay on top of him and his injured team.

Twilight Sparkle, Magnum, Ultra Magnus, Fluttershy, and others came to see whether Twilight's crazy plan worked. It did.

"What do we do with them?" Ultra Magnus asked. "I don't think we build a cell strong enough to hold them. You think Steeljaw was bad? Wait until these guys shoot their way out and kill anyone in their way. But we can't just leave them. They know the location of our base."

"Hmm. Somepony call Prowl and Chromedome. We need their assistance." Twilight ordered. A Vehicon nodded and left.

Twilight and Fluttershy walked up to the ship.

"Twilight, who's that?" Fluttershy asked, pointing up at the ship.

Twilight looked up and saw a boxy Decepticon hanging out from the side of the window. It was blue, and Twilight could it was a female, based on her face. She wasn't much larger than a Mini-Con.

"I don't know." Twilight said. She narrowed her eyes at the female. "But I can definitely see a Decepticon symbol on her. She must have been in the ship and tried to jump out the window when it crashed."

Fluttershy looked at Tarn. "Do you think Tarn was so quick to leave when he saw his ship being attacked because he wanted to make sure she was okay?"

"Maybe. That doesn't sound like Tarn, though, given how he's been acting towards us. I'm not sure he has that kind of compassion."

"Do you remember when we went to Messatine?" Fluttershy said. "He let us go. He's been much more violent today. What do you think happened to him?"

Twilight shook her head. "I don't know, Fluttershy. I don't know."

A Space Bridge portal opened up behind them. Chromedome and Prowl stepped out from it. Twilight put her helmet back on.

"You need me for something, War Princess?" Chromedome said.

"Yes." The War Princess answered him. She pointed to the Decepticon Justice Division. "The Decepticon Justice Divison has somehow learned the location of our base. I need you to wipe their memories of it."

"You want me … to wipe the memories of the Decepticon Justice Divsion, some of the firect, crazier, most murderous Decepticons to have been constructed?" Chromedome asked.

"You're not going to do it, are you?" Prowl asked.

Chromedome rubbed his hands together. "Are you kidding? A chance to mess with brains like that? How could I pass up a golden oppurtunity? Okay. I'm going to need some drills, five-"

"Ahem." The War Princess cleared her throat and pointed at the mysterious blue Decepticon female.

"Six cortical psychic patches, and some carbonated Engex."

"Engex? What's Engex?" The War Princess asked.

"It's a Cybertronian drink."

"What do you need that for?"

"For drinking, obviously. You expect me to memory-wipe the Decepticon Justice Division without something to stiffen my nerves?"

The War Princess pointed a hoof. "See to it Chromedome is provided with everything he needs." The Imperialcons nodded and left to retrieve Chromedome's instruments. They soon returned with the drills, the cables of cortical psychic patches, and a glass full of a bubbly pink liquid.

"Perfect." Chromedome said. He took the glass and took a sip of the drink. "Let's get to work." He picked up the cortical psychic patches and carried them to the Decepticon Justice Division.

"Twilight ..." Fluttershy whispered. "Are you sure this is … right? Do we have the right to wipe their memories?"

"I don't know, Fluttershy. I'm not condoning it. I'm not sure it's right, but it's necessary. We can't let them know the location of our base."

"Couldn't we use this on those humans who want to leave?" Fluttershy asked. "Wipe their memories and let them go back to their families?"

"I'm not sure." Twilight answered. "Chromedome specializes in Cybertronians. There's no telling what kind of effects it would have if he tried to memory-wipe an organic. I'd rather not risk it."

"Do you think you could learn a memory-wipe spell?" Fluttershy said. "So they can be with their families?"

"Hmm. I hadn't thought of that. I'll do some research and see if I can find anything."

"It's done!" Chromedome announced, patting his hands together. "Six Decepticons, memories wiped of anything to do with the location of the Autobots Imperial's base. Although there may be some side-effects, and they may forget or misremember other things as well, or remember things which never actually happened. Say, I got a question. Why you call it the Autobots Imperial? Why do you parse it like that? Why not 'Autobot Imperials?' or something that makes more sense?"

"It's in the naming scheme of the earthen group of the Knights Templar."

"Oh."

"Thank you, Chromedome." The War Princess said. "I appreciate this. I owe you one."

"No problem." Chromedome said. "It's nice to be appreciated. Prowl."

"What?" Prowl said.

"I'm just saying, you could a better job of a Conjunx Endura. Maybe a thank-you note every once in a while."

"Don't you start with me." Prowl said. He and Chromedome left through the Space Bridge, bickering like a married couple.

"So now what do we do with them?" Ultra Magnus asked.

"I don't know. Arrest them?" Twilight answered.

"Do you see the problem with that? What if they escape? Then they'll know the location of the base, and we'll have to go through this all over again!"

"You're right." Twilight said. "There's got be something we can do ..."

Twilight froze in place, getting a terrible idea. She sighed. "I can't believe I'm going to do this, but unless somepony has a better idea ..."

Twilight gathered some parts from the fallen ship and created a communications device.

"Hey ..." Twilight greeted, activating the device. "Shining Armor? Can you pick up this signal? It's Twilight Sparkle … it's Twiley.

"Twiley?" Shining Armor's voice came through the box. "Yeah, I'm picking up. I was meeting with Witwicky, so we'll have to make this quick so they don't know you're the – well, you know. What's up?"

"I have a few rogue Decepticons here that I don't have the means to arrest and imprison." Twilight explained. "I was hoping you and … Witwicky might be able to."

"Yeah, sure! Just send us the coordinates."

"Sending them now." Twilight pressed another button on the device. "And Shining Armor? Thanks for picking up. I know we didn't leave on good terms the last time we talked … so it means a lot to me that you would reply."

"Of course. Anything for my little sister."

Twilight smiled. "Good-bye, B.B.B.F.F. No matter what happens, I love you."

"I love you, too."

Twilight Sparkle hung up the device. "Imperials! Let's go. We're done here."

The Imperials packed up and returned to their base.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

At the base, Twilight retreated into her office, downcast and weary from the events of the day. Steeljaw's words were ringing in her ear.

You can't save them all, Twilight Sparkle! Do you hear me? You can't save them all!

Twilight thought about the Decepticon Justice Division's attack on Gould Enterprises. If Captain Bumblebee hadn't traveled backwards in time to warn her, she … she might have lost Miko.

She couldn't stand the thought. She was going to do something about it. She was going to protect them all. She was going to make sure they were all … safe.

Twilight pushed a button, causing a computer screen to raise up from her desk.

Twilight swiped her hoof across the touchscreen, activating the computer. Touching her hoof to a certain file, a schematic of a Morbot appeared on the screen. She opened other files, these ones showing scans of COBRA Battle Android Troopers taken from a Vehicon's optic memory, and pictures taken of the Pink Moon Celebration where Stinger was visible.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Out in the desert, by the wrecked Decepticon ship, the amnesiac Justice Division awoke.

"Where … where are we?" Tarn asked, putting a hand over his optics to shield them from the sun.

A convoy of military vehicles pulled up, including jeeps, cars, and two tanks. Shining Armor and General Witwicky were inside one of the jeeps and parked in front of Tarn.

"Attention, Decepticons!" Witwicky shouted at them through a megaphone. "You are all under arrest."

Tarn glared at him. "You, filthy organic, dare to claim to arrest me? To arrest the Decepticon Justice Division? Your arrogance insults me."

Tarn raised his cannon and fired at the jeep. Shining Armor and Witwicky tried to bail out before the blast hit.

Shining Armor made it a safe distance before the jeep was blown up.

Witwicky … didn't.

Comments

[PrincessLaLa]

This chapter was okay ,caught my attention but dulled me near the mid -end.