Ch1: More than Meets the Eye
(A/N: This story takes place after issue 10 of the My Little Pony Comic Book and the Cutie Mark Crusaders Micro Series comic. This story also does not officially recognize any events of Season 3 onward. The story primarily takes place in the Transformers Aligned Continuity Family with certain smaller inspirations taken from the Transformers Animated and G1 continuity families.)
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Applebloom: Transform and Rollout!
by Dusty the Royal Janitor
Chapter 1: More than Meets the Eye
The wagon was on fire.
The three little fillies, scuffed and bruised from their recent fall down the steep hill could only gape. Sure, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were well known around the town of Ponyville for causing trouble. Who could forget the time they accidentally set off twelve crates of fireworks in the middle of the town square? Or the time that they brought a second wave of parasprites upon the town in an attempt to get their cutie marks in supernatural entomology? And Ponyvillians still can’t help but shudder whenever anypony brings up the artichoke incident.
But it was doubtful that one could easily explain the Crusaders’ current predicament. Indeed, the three of them had gone to Whitetail Wood that day in an attempt to not cause trouble. After all, Whitetail Wood was expressly known for being a particularly peaceful spot. Unlike its sister woodland, the Everfree Forest, Whitetail Wood was the picture of serenity. Birds would sing their cheerful tunes, and bunnies would skip and play between the earthy old-growth trees. Squirrels and raccoons would forage for food, storing it for the winter, and the titular White-tailed deer would flit mysteriously from tree to tree. Brooks babbled and leaves rustled calmly in the breeze. Yes, Whitetail was the perfect place to have a picnic, or take a nature hike and appreciate the beauty nature, or let your foals out to play and have a good time with little chance of them running into anything dangerous.
But then the wagon caught on fire.
“How?!” Sweetie Belle shouted, poking her head out from under a pile of twigs and leaves she’d fallen into. “How does this sort of thing always happen to us?”
Applebloom shook her head, trying to orient herself after the tumble. At the first sign of fire, the three of them had panicked and accidentally driven right off of a tall ledge, landing in a deep ditch. Now, the poor wagon was lying in a puddle of mud in a crumpled, twisted heap, still smoldering with flame; its occupants strewn all over the forest floor in front of it.
“Don’t ask me.” Scootaloo shrugged, picking herself up off her scooter, which remained astoundingly unharmed after the fall. “The thing just went up in flames!”
“Things don’t just spontaneously combust, Scootaloo.” Sweetie Belle deadpanned.
“Sponta-what now?” Scootaloo cocked her head.
“It means catch on fire for no reason.”
Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Whatever, miss dictionary.”
Applebloom approached the tangle of metal that was once her trusty wagon with a sad sigh. Applejack had given her that wagon for her last birthday and it had been through a lot with the three of them. “Maybe we were goin’ too fast?” she suggested.
Scootaloo patted her chest. “Ha! That’s probably it! My super-slick moves were too much for it!”
Sweetie Belle shook her head. “No, that can’t be it. It’s never caught fire when we’ve gone that fast before.”
“Yeah,” Applebloom agreed. “’Sides, the wagon was made of metal! Metal don’t just catch on fire for no reason, ya know.” She quickly turned and started beating out the fire with her tail. Thankfully, the fire had started dying down on its own and she quickly managed to pat it out. Once the fire was out, she sniffed the air, her nose wrinkling in disgust. “Ugh! What’s that smell?!”
“What smell?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Smells a little like paint thinner...” Applebloom mused, sniffing the air. Applebloom looked around for a few minutes before finding the source. She curled her body around and brought her red tail to her face, sniffing it. “Yuck!” She shouted. "Whatever it is, it’s all over my tail!”
Sweetie Belle trotted over to her, inspecting the wagon. She quickly rubbed a white hoof over the wagon’s bent wheel. It came away with a slick, gray, oily substance all over it. Sweetie shook her hoof, trying to throw it off. “Ewwww! What is this stuff?!”
Scootaloo perked up. “Oh that!” She said, trotting over to the others. “Yeah, the wagon was a little squeaky this morning so I oiled the wheels with something I found in Big Macintosh’s shed!” The little pegasus cocked her head. “But that can’t be what set off the wagon.”
“How do ya figure?” Applebloom raised an eyebrow.
The orange filly scratched her chin. “Well, I don’t remember exactly what the stuff was, but I remember that there was a big red word all over it.”
Applebloom’s eyes narrowed. “And that word was...?” she prompted.
“Inflammable!” Scootaloo said proudly with a stamp of her hoof! “That means that it can’t catch fire!” She stuck a tongue out at Sweetie Belle, “See? I can figure out words too!”
Sweetie Belle slapped a hoof to her face. Applebloom grunted and started pacing. Scootaloo blinked.
“What?” Scootaloo asked. “‘In-’ as in ‘not,’ and ‘flammable-’ as in ‘catches fire!’ So it’s something that can’t catch fire, right?”
“No, Scootaloo... just... no” Sweetie Belle groaned, rubbing the bridge of her muzzle.
“Ah can’t believe you!” Applebloom shouted, advancing upon Scootaloo. “Y’all don’t just rub down other ponies’ stuff with things ya randomly find in a shed!” She poked a hoof into the pegasus’ chest for emphasis. “’Y’all probably were going so fast that we made a spark when we went over a rock or something!”
“Applebloom, take it easy!” Scootaloo said, backing up a few paces. “I messed up, okay? I’m sorry!”
The yellow filly grit her teeth for a second and sighed. “I liked that wagon, Scoots.”
Scootaloo frowned, her ears folding back. “Look, I’m sorry, Applebloom. I messed up, yeah, but it’s just a wagon.”
Sweetie Belle stepped in between the two of them. “Hold up, girls. Let’s not start a fight, okay? Crusaders, right?”
“It was a gift from my sister!” Applebloom stamped her hooves on the ground.
That was when the earth gave way.
As if commanded by the stomp of her little hoof, the ledge the three of them were standing beside started to groan and crumble. The three little fillies shrieked and jumped back, just as dirt and rock began tumbling down from the side of the hill. Soil shifted and stone bounced out of the way, as something silver revealed itself embedded in the hillside. The cutie mark crusaders rocketed behind a large boulder laying nearby in an attempt to hide themselves from the newly revealed object, the recent confrontation all but forgotten.
“What in Equestria was that?!” Sweetie Belle stage whispered to the other two.
“Don’t know...” Scootaloo replied. “It looked like a big silver disc suddenly popped out of the ledge when Applebloom stomped her hoof.
Applebloom poked her nose out from behind the boulder. “It didn’t pop out, y’all.” She said, softly. “Darn thing was buried there. The landslide just uncovered it.”
“What do you think it is, Applebloom?” Scootaloo asked.
The little yellow filly shook her head. “Dunno,” she replied. “But it don’t look like it’s moving or nothin’. Let’s go check it out.” She said, tentatively stepping out from behind the large rock. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle tiptoed close behind her, taking care not to disturb the soil around them too much, lest they cause another landslide. The trio quickly made their way up to the newly revealed object.
“Whoa...” Scootaloo mouthed, in awe of the towering silver disc embedded in the hillside. It was at least sixty feet tall, by Applebloom’s best guess, and just as wide. Applebloom trotted over to inspect the soil around it, tapping at the earth lightly with her hoof. The dirt around it was loose and crumbled away with the slightest touch.
“From the state of the earth around it, don’t look like it’s been here long.” Applebloom mused. “Soil’s loose and thin over it. Probably why it slid just from our argument and a little hoof stompin’. Reckon it’s been here a bit over a decade at most.”
Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. “How do you know so much about dirt?”
“Ah live on a farm, Scootaloo,” Applebloom said, rolling her eyes. “Iff’n I didn’t know nothing ‘bout dirt, I sure wouldn’t make a good farmer, now would I?”
The orange filly shrugged. “Fair enough.”
“But what is it?” Sweetie Belle insisted, walking up to the silver monolith and placing a hoof against it. “Why would a great big metal thing just be lying under a patch of loose dirt in the middle of Whitetail Wood? And how did nopony notice it until now?”
Scootaloo came up beside her, tapping the metal object with her hoof. “We did end up going way off the trail when the wagon caught fire. We must be in a place ponies just don’t usually explore.” The orange pegasus suddenly did a 180 and gave the metal object a strong buck with her hind hooves.
“Scootaloo!” Sweetie Belle and Applebloom both cried, jumping back away from the filly and the mysterious object.
“What?” Scootaloo said dispassionately.
“Why would you just buck something like that? Who knows what could happen?!” Sweetie Belle cried.
“It’s just a lump of metal in the forest.” Scootaloo shrugged. “But listen to this!” Scootaloo stood back up on her front legs, giving another swift buck to the disc. A ringing sound resounded from the impact, causing all three fillies’ ears to twitch. “It’s hollow!” she shouted. “There’s some sort of cave or something under this!”
“A cave?” Applebloom said, cocking her head. “That’s strange. This don’t seem like the place a cave would form. And who would cover one up with a big metal thingy like that?” Applebloom trotted up to the disc alongside Scootaloo, who was still trying (and failing) to buck the object into oblivion.
“Who cares?!” Scootaloo chirped, a great big grin, plastered on her face. “Let’s find out what’s inside!” She said with another buck to the metal disc.
“I don’t know, girls...” Sweetie Belle murmured, shuffling her hooves. “If somepony went to the trouble of rolling a big metal disc in front of a cave, maybe whatever’s inside was meant to stay hidden?”
“Ah, don’t be such a scaredy pony.” Scootaloo said, with another buck. “Whatever’s in there is probably way cool! Remember, the last time we explored a random cave we met Imp!”
“Imp was cool...” Sweetie Belle muttered, tapping her chin.
“Hmmmm...” Applebloom said, tapping her chin. “I reckon we ain’t gonna be able to knock this outta the way, girls.” She said, pressing a hoof to the cold, metal object. “It seems really solid and hea-WHOA!!”
A deafening hiss came from the thing as it suddenly split down the middle. Pressurized gases burst free from the newly made crack running straight and smooth as an arrow down the middle of the disc, creating a huge cloud of steam that knocked Scootaloo right off her hooves and into Sweetie Belle. Applebloom managed to hold her ground, but still ended up being pushed back a few inches, her hooves digging grooves into the ground.
The crack widened with a screech and a squeal, as the space between the two halves of the disc broadened ever so slowly. Ear-splitting grinding noises echoed through the clearing as the three little fillies watched in awe as the disc halves receded into the earth surrounding it. The rumbling vibrations knocked more loose dirt from around the disc, revealing sheets of metal over a hundred feet high embedded in the soil. What they had previously thought to be a metal disc buried in the dirt was now revealed to be a door! Not just a door, but a door that slowly opened for them automatically, with no handles, knobs, or magical auras to propel it. It receded into the metal walls surrounding it with a rusty groan and a mechanical shudder, and with a final creak of submission, the door slid all the way into the metallic walls.
The three little fillies gaped in awe at what they had uncovered. The metal structure, whatever it was, stretched at least a hundred and fifty feet above them. The metal was somewhat rusted and worn in some places, but for the most part was still a sturdy dark gray, like tempered steel or titanium. It had obviously held up for however many years it had spent buried, as there was not a single crack or crevasse running through it. Metal ridges ran horizontally along the metal walls, all of which were inlaid with some sort of blue glass and led to the door that had just opened in front of the stupefied crusaders. A low hum could be heard emanating from inside the dark metal cavern, never ceasing for a moment as the three little fillies stood there, gazing into the pitch blackness of the structure’s interior.
“That’s no cave...” Applebloom whispered under her breath.
Scootaloo turned to look at the little earth filly. “How did you do that?!” she stage whispered, pointing at the gaping maw of the metal structure. “I was sitting there bucking it for like five minutes, but you came over and just tapped it and it opened up!”
“I don’t know.” Applebloom muttered, her gaze locked on the darkness and stepping forward.
“Whoa whoa whoa!” Sweetie Belle yelped, cantering up and blocking off Applebloom’s path. “You’re not actually thinking about going in there are you?” She stood up on her hind legs and held her forelegs out to her sides. “I mean, a cave is one thing, but this is something else entirely, Applebloom! We should get a grown up to come check this out, like Big Mac or Rarity!”
“Are you kidding, Sweetie Belle?” Scootaloo scoffed. “If we went and got an adult, they’d just tell us to stay away while they explore it for themselves, telling us it’s ‘too dangerous’ or something like that.” She waved a hoof dismissively. “Besides, if it was buried for ten years, there can’t be anything living in there, right?”
“I don’t know...” Sweetie Belle muttered. “There are some weird things living in Equestria. Dragons can sleep for over a hundred years, after all.”
“If it were a dragon, there’d be smoke coming from the cave,” Scootaloo argued. “Besides, dragons don’t live in caves of metal. Now let’s go! We’re Cutie Mark Crusaders, not namby-pamby pansy flanks!”
“Scootaloo, I really think that we should go get somepony!” Sweetie Belle protested. “It could still be dangerous!” She turned to her other friend. “You’re with me, right, Applebloom? ...Applebloom?”
The yellow filly stood stock still, staring off into the darkness. Her amber eyes were unfocused and her breathing was slow and shallow.
Scootaloo stopped in her tracks and turned back to her farmer friend. “Applebloom? You okay?” she asked, putting a hoof on the yellow filly’s shoulder. This seemed to snap her back to reality.
“Y-yeah...” she stuttered, quickly straightening up. “I’m fine, I just got a little... distracted for a moment.”
“How could you get distracted from the greatest discovery of our lives?!” Scootaloo joked. “C’mon Applebloom, let’s go get our archaemonology cutie marks or whatever! There HAS to be something interesting to find in a place like this!”
“I still think we should go back to Ponyville...” Sweetie Belle said.
“No.”
Applebloom’s voice was neither angry nor loud, nor even directed at anypony in particular. But there was a definite firmness in her statement. “No. We need to check this out.” She said, stepping forward.
“Are you sure, Applebloom?” Sweetie Belle whimpered. “It could be dangerous.”
“It won’t be, Sweetie Belle.”
Sweetie looked at the yellow filly, confused. “How can you tell?”
“Just... a feeling.” Applebloom replied slowly. “It’s safe. I know it.”
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked at each other and shrugged. “Well, if you’re sure...” Sweetie trailed off, following the little earth pony, Scootaloo not far behind her.
Applebloom looked around the dark metal interior as she crossed the threshold from warm, sun-touched soil to cold, shadowed steel. The moment her hoof touched the floor, though, she couldn’t help but stumble back, as lights started to come alive along the walls. One by one, lights flashed into existence with loud bangs, leading down the hallway into the distance, right up to another door.
“Yikes.” Scootaloo commented, her eyes wide. “This just gets weirder by the minute!”
“Yeah...” Applebloom said, wiping sweat from her brow. “C’mon, let’s go.”
The trio marched forward through the cool metal tunnel. The air was silent between them but for the persistent hum that permeated the area, and the whistling of the wind along the tunnel mouth. The three looked around at the walls and ceiling around them, all made of the same shining metal as the door had been, and all inlaid with the same blue, glasslike substance that had run along the walls outside. The glasslike stuff ran along the walls, connecting to where the lights lit the path, giving the area an eerie blue tinted glow. The ceiling towered at least a hundred feet above them, likely more. The hallway was completely vacant but for the lights along the walls and the second door at the end of the tunnel.
It didn’t take but a few minutes before the trio reached the other door. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle looked at each other for a short moment, shrugging to each other silently. The orange pegasus stepped forward and tapped it like Applebloom had the door outside. Nothing happened. Sweetie Belle tried to do the same, with exactly the same results.
“Applebloom?” Sweetie Belle asked with a little shrug, looking to her earth pony friend. Applebloom gave a little shrug herself and stepped towards the door, tapping it gently with her hoof. The door immediately swished open to let them in, revealing an enormous, spherical room.
“This is getting weirder by the minute,” Applebloom said softly. She stepped forward onto a metal catwalk and gasped as the room lit up into a dim, dull light. Hesitantly, she looked around the gigantic room. Across the catwalk there lay another door, and halfway across the catwalk there was a cross junction, leading to another, circular walkway that wrapped around the perimeter of the room. There also appeared to be an elevator that led down to the base of the room in the very center of the catwalk junction. The walkway led them across an enormous chasm that dipped down like a bowl below them, and above them, was a dome, creating a sphere. But most notably, along the spherical walls, the fillies noticed strange pods decorating the shining chrome of the structure’s interior.
Sweetie and Scootaloo stepped forward into the catwalk that led into the center of the room. The chamber was utterly still. Not a single sound could be heard in the chamber, save for the footsteps of the little fillies who had intruded upon it. Even the persistent hum that permeated the last hallway was gone. It was a rare moment of complete and utter silence.
“Whoa...” The pegasus filly gaped, looking around the gigantic dome, her voice echoing softly around the room. “What is this place?”
“I don’t know,” Sweetie Belle said, softly. “It’s bigger than any room I think I’ve ever been in. Even that time we went to Canterlot Castle for the Royal Wedding!” She looked around the room slowly. “What do you think it is, Applebloom?” She paused. “Applebloom?”
Looking around the room, the unicorn and the pegasus spotted their earth pony friend walking along the catwalk around the perimeter of the room, observing the pods that adorned the walls. The pair of fillies quickly backtracked and ran around the perimeter to meet her. “Applebloom!” Scootaloo snapped. “Don’t run off like that on u- Applebloom? What’s the matter?”
The little yellow earth filly was gazing deeply into one of the pods along the walls, a forlorn look on her face. Her ears were turned down and her eyes watered as she stared into the glass of the capsule, gazing at a pool of silvery liquid settled in the bottom of the tank. It shimmered and shone, like liquid mercury at in a test tube. And as she gazed at the puddle of goo, Applebloom couldn’t stop a tear falling from her eye.
“Applebloom?” Sweetie Belle asked, nudging her friend. “Are you crying?”
Applebloom shook her head, breaking her gaze from the alien sight. “No.” She said, wiping her eyes with a hoof. “No, I’m not crying. This place is just creeping me out is all.” She cleared her throat.
Scootaloo nodded. “Yeah, let’s just keep moving. I’m getting a seriously weird vibe from this place.”
“Me too...” Sweetie Belle murmered. “It feels like walking through a graveyard for some reason.”
Applebloom soldiered on, leading the other two fillies around the catwalk. The trio had gotten about two thirds of the way around the perimeter to the other door when Scootaloo pointed a hoof up towards the ceiling. “Look!” She gasped, causing the other two to gaze up immediately. “One of the tube things is missing!”
Sure enough, about a quarter of the way up the domed wall, there was a hole where a pod should have been. The crusaders all blinked. “What do you suppose could have happened to that capsule?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Not sure,” Applebloom muttered. “But if there’s some alien running around here, we don’t want to be around for it to find, I reckon.”
“Alien?” Scootaloo asked. “You think there’s aliens here?”
Applebloom shrugged as she continued around the walkway towards the other door, the other two crusaders following closely behind. “Well, you tell me where y’all have ever seen anything like this in Equestria. No pony made a place like this, I can tell you that. And I don’t think a griffin, minotaur, or diamond dog could make something like this place either.”
Sweetie Belle tittered. “But aliens, Applebloom? That’s your first assumption?”
The earth filly chuckled. “Well come on, Sweetie Belle, y’all don’t think it’s possible? Applejack has told me lots of stories about aliens swooping down from the sky and nabbing country folk like us.” She lifted a hoof to her cheek and whispered to the other two. “Between you girls and me, I think she’s secretly terrified of aliens.”
“And besides,” Scootaloo continued, “It wouldn’t be the weirdest thing we’ve seen. Living in Ponyville we’ve seen new and strange things nearly every week!”
The three all shared a laugh, their spirits slightly lifted, as they reached the other door. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle nodded to Applebloom, who swallowed a little and then tapped the door again. Like the two before it, this door obediently whooshed open at her command.
“So why do you think the doors open for Applebloom and not us?” Sweetie Belle asked Scootaloo.
The pegasus filly shrugged. “Maybe it has something to do with her being an Earth Pony?”
Sweetie’s nose crinkled. “Why would the doors open for an earth pony but not a unicorn or pegasus?”
“Magic maybe?” Scootaloo said, waving a hoof around nonchalantly. “Maybe this isn’t an alien place as it is some lost, ancient earth pony temple from before Hearth’s Warming with technology lost to time or something, like in the Daring Do books.”
“But that doesn’t make any sense,” Sweetie protested. “There weren’t any ponies in Equestria at all before Hearth’s Warming Eve, were there?”
Applebloom ignored the other two’s bickering as she stepped forward into the next chamber. Once again, the moment her hoof hit the floor, the room sprung to life with light. Immediately, all three crusaders gasped and ducked for cover, any argument that may have been brewing between Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo lost to what they saw.
Oh, the room was only somewhat different from what they had seen in the previous chambers: Sleek metal, with pipes and mechanisms of unknown purpose running across the walls, and a thick pane of glass at the end of the room. Desks covered in unknown buttons and levers ran along the perimeter of the room with another, smaller desk at the center, and bright lights embedded into the ceiling. It was what was in the room that startled the fillies...
A giant. There was no other way to really describe it. It had two legs and arms and hands like a minotaur, but everything else about it was entirely outlandish. First and foremost, the behemoth looked to be made of metal. Most of it looked to be a dull grey or black, but there were patches of dull, tarnished looking gold and what might have once been the purest white here and there. It was facing away from them, sitting in a monstrous, metal chair that would be at least five times too big for any adult pony. Well, perhaps sitting was too generous a term. It was more like it was slouched in it. Perhaps it was asleep?
Cautiously, Applebloom snuck as quietly as she could into the room behind the metal monster. Sweetie Belle tried to hiss out a protest, but Scootaloo slapped a hoof over her mouth before she could make a noise.
Treading as softly as she could, Applebloom approached the thing from behind, getting closer and closer with every step. Looking behind her, she noticed Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo waving their arms in a panic, trying to get her to stop moving closer to the thing. And yet she kept on moving. Turning her gaze back to the giant, she couldn’t help but feel something well up in her breast. A tense, disquieting feeling that made her more uncomfortable than she had been in a long time. It was like a sick combination of the deepest sorrow, frightful loneliness and longing, and perhaps... even a touch of love? And yet, nowhere within her did Applebloom feel afraid. Not once did she feel the need to turn back from the behemoth metal creature.
Despite her friends’ protests, Applebloom soon found herself on the other side of the chair, standing under a gigantic desk of some kind. She looked up from under the desk and tried to catch a glimpse of the thing’s face. There were large, winglike protrusions jutting out from the creature’s shoulders and things that looked like gauntlets just above its hands. It seemed to have a breastplate and was wearing armor of some kind, complete with a helmet that looked similar to things the ancient Japonyse wore. Two golden horns rose from the helmet just above its eyes.
Its eyes...
Its eyes were translucent, as though a light should be shining from them, like a lightbulb or a lamp of some kind. And yet, they were dark. Dark as the most lonely night Applebloom had ever experienced.
She couldn’t begin to tell why, but seeing those eyes made her want to start crying again.
“Applebloom?” Scootaloo whispered from across the room. “Is it safe?”
The little earth filly shook herself out of her reverie, looking over to her friend. “Yeah, it’s safe.” She looked back up at the metal titan. “I think... I think whatever it is, it’s dead...”
The two other fillies scampered across the metal floor over to Applebloom, skidding to a halt under the button-covered desk with her. They both looked up at the creature along with her. “What do you suppose it is... was?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Looks like a giant robot!” Scootaloo said excitedly.
Sweetie Belle made a little “pfft” noise and waved her off. “Giant robots only exist in cheesy sci-fi stories, Scootaloo. How would anypony ever build one?”
“Well,” The pegasus huffed. “I don’t know, maybe it’s an alien giant robot!”
“Okay, now you’re just being ridiculous.”
Applebloom sighed. She wasn’t in the mood for another argument. Still, she found herself troubled. This place was inspiring such strange feelings in her from the very moment they’d uncovered the door outside. And this imposing robotic figure that loomed above them was the strangest of all. She felt almost like she knew him from long, long ago.
The farm filly felt compelled. She needed to get to the bottom of all this. What was this place? What was it doing in the middle of the Whitetail Wood? What was this titanic robot she stood before and why did it and this place inspire all these strange emotions deep in her belly? It was a mystery she’d only just uncovered less than an hour ago, and yet it was driving her batty, like Twilight Sparkle after a week’s worth of study with nothing to show for it.
She had to know more. She had to get to the bottom of it all.
So she decided to climb to the top of the robot.
Applebloom hefted herself onto the robot’s ankle and started climbing up its outstretched leg. The action abruptly stopped whatever the other two crusaders were debating, causing them to call out to Applebloom again.
“What are you doing now?!” Sweetie Belle cried out.
“You’ve been acting really weird since we found this place, Applebloom.” Scootaloo said, suspiciously. “What’s the deal?”
“Sorry, girls.” Applebloom said, as she jumped into the robot’s lap. She looked up at its chest, noticing a horrendous gash in its side, a dull blue liquid having long since congealed along the side of its chassis and a plethora of gears, wires and tubes exposed and hanging out of its midsection. “I know it’s strange and all, but this place and this here robot are making me feel all balled up in the head.”
“Balled up?” Scootaloo muttered.
“It means confused.” Sweetie Belle whispered back.
“I know it seems odd, but I need to get a closer look at this stuff. I wanna know why it’s making me feel this way.”
Scootaloo blinked. “So to find out why you’re feeling all wonky... you’re climbing up a giant robot?”
Applebloom nodded as she carefully scaled the robot’s arm up to its shoulder. “Eeyup. That’s about the size of it.”
The orange pegasus shook her head, looking at Sweetie Belle and making a circular motion with her hoof next to her head. Sweetie Belle nodded in agreement.
The farm filly ignored them, straightening her bow on her head and leaping from the robot’s shoulder to a ledge on the robot’s armor. She made the jump, easily, then quickly managed to pull herself up directly under where the robot’s collarbone would be (if it had bones in the first place).
The other crusaders sighed in relief as Applebloom looked up into the robot’s face. Climbing up onto the collar, just under the robot’s face, she lifted a hoof to poke at it. The surface was cold, and yet oddly pliant, giving to Applebloom’s touch. It was obviously metal of some kind, she could tell that from its texture against her hoof and its temperature ,yet it moved around in her hoof like a layer of moist clay.
Applebloom drew her hoof back. Whatever substance made up the robot’s face, it made her very uncomfortable. She pressed against the face again, harder this time, and found that only about a third of an inch under the layer of more pliant metal, there was a solid, unmoving layer of metal, much more like other metals in the world: Solid and unyielding. Applebloom then tried to pull a piece of the pliant metal from the robot’s face to inspect closer, but found that doing so was impossible. Flexible and elastic or not, whatever the pliant metal was, it was firmly attached to the robot’s face and was not coming off.
Applebloom sighed. The claylike metal that made up the robot’s face was certainly interesting. She was sure that Twilight would love to study a material like it at some point. But it didn’t bring her any closer to understanding why she was feeling so strange in this place. Perhaps she needed a greater look around?
“Come on, Applebloom!” Scootaloo shouted from way down below. “Get down from there! You’re going to hurt yourself.”
“In a bit!” Applebloom shouted from atop the robot’s chest. She waved to the two crusaders, telling them to be patient. She looked around the room a little more, trying to find something that might give her a better answer when she saw something glinting on the desk in front of the robot. Something, for just a split second, shifted on it.
Applebloom blinked. It would be quite a leap to make it all the way to the desk from atop the robot’s chest. She’d have to account for at least a twelve foot drop as well. Nevertheless, she felt she had to know why this place made her feel so funny, and she was honestly getting a touch desperate for answers now.
She could make the jump. She knew she could. She was Applejack’s little sister! Sibling to some of the most athletic ponies in Ponyville, and arguably all of Equestria. She could make this jump easy.
The little filly backed up a bit, getting ready to make a running leap. “Applebloom?” She heard Sweetie Belle call from below. “What are you doing? APPLEBLOOM!” She paid her no heed though as she charged forward and leaped through the air.
She barely made the jump, but only just barely. Her front hooves managed to land on the desk, but her hind hooves dangled off of the edge precariously. She scrabbled for purchase, attempting to pull herself up.
“It’s okay, Applebloom!” Scootaloo shouted from below her. “If you fall, I’ve got you!”
It turned out to be unnecessary though. Applebloom had dealt with more taxing challenges in her life than a pull up or two. She finally managed to get a good grip on a button or something and pulled herself up all the way onto the desk. She heard the other crusaders sigh with relief somewhere below her as she began to explore the vast, oversized desk.
The landscape around her was covered in buttons, levers, and switches. Applebloom understood none of their functions, nor the strange language they were all labeled with. And frankly, she didn’t particularly care. She was transfixed on a sight about a hundred feet away from her. A shimmering pool of liquid metal, much like what seemed to make up the robot’s face and perhaps what made up the stuff in the pods that were in the previous room. She approached the pool of liquid metal quickly, not listening to the protests of the other crusaders below her.
“Applebloom, come on!” Sweetie Belle cried up to her. “This isn’t funny anymore. Come down from there!”
The yellow filly ignored them, instead finding herself at the edge of a pool. The pool was about six foot by six foot wide, about as big as one of the fancy bathtubs in the Ponyville spa. At least two full grown ponies could fit in it comfortably. What was strangest, though, was that the surface of the pool was not smooth, but rather, had a depression in it in the shape of a hand. His hand to be precise. Applebloom looked over towards the dead robot and frowned.
“Applebloom!” Scootaloo shouted.
“Give me a minute!” Applebloom shouted back.
With a huff, Applebloom turned back to the metallic pool, only to find herself astonished. The pool had changed! The depression in the shape of the robot’s hand was no longer there. Instead, the surface of the pool was completely smooth and still, as though it were a perfectly smooth sheet of metal.
Well, almost.
There was one little dip. A small, cylindrical depression in the metal, right at the edge of the pool where Applebloom was standing. It was small enough that at first, Applebloom didn’t even notice it. It was innocent looking enough. Small, and familiar, like a hoof.
...no. Not just like a hoof. Like a filly’s hoof.
‘Like MY hoof...’ she thought...
Applebloom lifted her right hoof slowly. Every rational part of her brain told her to stop. They were in unfamiliar territory, in a ship that could be hostile. She could be stepping right into a trap. She could get sucked into the pool and drown or be trapped in a tube and turned to silver goo or something. There was no way she could know what might happen if she stuck her hoof in that...
...And yet, through all of that, there was a voice that insisted that everything would be alright.
She chose to listen to the voice. Applebloom placed her hoof right into the little slot.
She immediately regretted it.
A horrible crackling noise rung around her as an electric shock burst from the pool, electrocuting the little filly. Applebloom screamed through her teeth as her whole body seized up in alarm and excruciating pain. She faintly heard her friends calling out to her from under the desk, but she couldn’t make out anything they were saying. The crackling noise of the electricity and the ringing in her ears was far too great. The shock of the contact couldn’t have lasted more than ten seconds, but to Applebloom it felt like hours. She shrieked in pain , when suddenly it all stopped... and suddenly got worse.
Something in her body... shifted
There was a clanking, shifting sound, coming from her lower body. It felt like her bones all twisted out of alignment and started spiraling and sliding all over her body. She gasped as she felt her spine extend, her chest suddenly pulling away from her hips and barrel and her legs stretch out like pistons. Her hips flipped backwards ninety degrees, forcing her onto her hind legs and changing her center of gravity. Her front legs stretched out like her back ones did and out of the front, five strange little tubes appeared. Slots and cuts opened all over her body and things that should have been inside her body were suddenly on the outside. Applebloom screamed as she felt her face split right down the middle and slide off her head, coming to rest down at her chest. In all of the pain and panic, she stumbled, losing her balance and falling right off the edge of the desk, hearing her friends screaming in terror below her, she fell to the ground below, her vision dimming and finally going black as she hit the ground.
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than she turns into a gun lol remeber back than they turn into radios and almost anything we use in the 80s lol
Scootaloo needs chemist lessons, how she could think "inflammable" means "no flammable"?
Beside, you have just posted this story an hour ago. Give the time necessary to start getting readers before throw it awat.
3526897
To be fair, it's actually a mistake I made a lot as a kid. I broke it down into two parts. "In" and "Flammable." As a kid, I assumed that the "In" meant "not," since, well, it would be just silly to have the words "flammable" and "inflammable" be synonyms, wouldn't it?
I was using my brain and drawing logical conclusions and using root words and stuff... sadly, I still reached the wrong conclusions. I just had Scootaloo do the same thing. Luckily for me, I never did anything quite like what Scootaloo did.
3526908
That's what I said about chemist lessons 'cause six years ago my brother did something liked what Scoot did, luckily, the only thing what ignite was mah little sis' favoritve blanket.
@Dusty the Royal Janitor...
1. First off and very importantly, if you are going to use the "Transformares" series of fan-artwork from the talented DeviantArt(ist) Inspectornills for your inspiration and cover-page, you should credit him for it.
2. A correction... It is Apple Bloom (two words), not Applebloom (one word). I never understand why so many get that wrong. It is listed as Apple Bloom in the show credits, in the MLP:FiM wikia & official site, and even in the Closed Captions (for those who watch the show with such).
3. Another correction... Optimus Prime's trademark line is "Transform, and roll out!" Two words for "roll out!" as well.
4. Those critiques aside, I like your CrossOver story-premise. Though personally Transformers Animated (which the fan-artwork series is based upon) was my second-least favorite Transformers series {The Pokemon-based anime, Tranformers: Robots in Disguise, being the bottom-most on the list.}, I can see the story-potential here. Hopefully you will have more Transformers other than Decepticons included in the cast, either PonyBots or traditional AutoBots, to provide mentoring &/or guidance to PonyBot Apple Bloom.
3527040
Thanks. I looked up and down DeviantArt for this picture but I couldn't find it there. (For some reason none of his art showed up when I tried to do a search for it), so I just went and put the search parameters into Google Images and found it there. Thanks for telling me who made it so I could find it and credit him.
I fixed the title as well.
As for the Applebloom/ Apple Bloom discrepancy... I know that "Apple Bloom" is right, "Applebloom" just rolls off the keyboard better for me and I like it a little more. It feels closer to Applejack what with being all one word and I just think it looks nicer. I'll change it if enough people point it out, though.
Thanks for reading! And the story is actually set in the aligned continuity family, though certain elements will be lifted from Animated here and there. As for Transformers we may see... I'll just have to keep that a secret for now.
3527057...
5. Glad to help with finding DeviantArt(ist) Inspectornills. It is always important to credit the artists who provide inspiration &/or cover images.
6. As a creative suggestion, you could have Derpy Hooves be a PonyBot (since she is also listed & depicted in the "Transformares" fan-artwork set). More specifically & in-depth, Derpy would be an AutoBot Scout sent to stand vigil over Equestria for Decepticon activity, many years ago. AutoBot Derpy would be a highly intelligent operative and skilled combatant, only adopting the mundane & incompetent façade as a cover to exist in the background (pun intended
) for observation. This would give PonyBot Apple Bloom a Mentor-figure to teach her about her Transformer nature and Cybertronian heritage.
Please continue writing more!
About time there's a fanfic based on this piece of fan art.
Firstly: this is great!
Secondly: While listening to music and reading, The Touch came on about half way through. The win was through the roof.
This is awesome! People need to create more Transformers/MLP crossovers. I find them extremely interesting. But anyways, this is really good!
Ha ha! I knew that blog post would bear fruit in time!
Eagerly looking forward to more. I grew up on Beast Wars, so I definitely welcome Maximal Bloom. And really, if you're going to make a pony a Cybertronian, who better than the Apple family engineer? (Well, not that Apple family engineer... you know what I mean.
)
oh THIS has possibilities
Apple Bloom is two words, not one.
Also, haven't seen you comment on Pirene in a while! Come on back.
A extremely good start.
I must admit I'm primely a G1 fan, but you got my interest.
Question: Is Apple Bloom whatever they call Micromasters or similar nowadays? I'd normally wouldn't ask something like that on chapter one, but if she turns out to be a normal transformer... Well, I don't think much dramatic tension would survive that size upgrade.
As hilarious as Chrysalis showing up again and getting flicked towards the horizon would be...
I knew what that foreshadowing with only AB activating stuff probably means... but no chance at all of this happening?
fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/213/d/6/transformares_cutie_mark_crusaders_by_inspectornills-d59ewpx.jpg
fc01.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/181/c/4/cutie_mark_crusaders_unite__by_inspectornills-d6bfg2r.jpg
3527900
Thank you!
It's a little early to start spilling things, but I can tell you that Applebloom will NOT be going through a massive size upgrade. In bot form she'll be taller than pretty much any pony (including Celestia), but she's not going to be as tall as the average transformer.
And sadly, no. No Cutie Mark Crusader Combiners.
3527611
Indeed! Thanks a bunch for bringing this back to life in my head. :) People seem to enjoy it so far.
3527907
Ah, OK. That sounds like a good compromise.
...
Cutie Mark Crusaders Targetmasters (Jay!) then?
You did say some stuff from G1 would show, after all...
Holy beast core! This is an amazing story and not to mention intresting idea. But applebloom can't face decepticons herself she needs a team. And if I know scootaloo and sweetie they will want to help out their friend. And I'm sure the mane six will help but fact is they can't do much against decepticons. Unless you go with the headmaster aspect. That would solve the problem. Just my opinion here.
Ha. Beast Wars! Although the silver puddles and Apple Bloom's background more closely match Transformers:Animated's Sari Sumdac, and the robot in the chair sounds awfully like a description of Samurai Prowl (although he died) or Yoketron (also dead). If it's an Aligned continuity, though, it could be Rewind, or maybe Darksteel.
*cue sweetie belle being turned into one and multipule sweetie bot jokes*
Interesting premise!
3527907
Is Applebloom a pretender like Alice, or a technorganic like Sari Sumdac? I mean, she drinks eats, and seems to have survived years without energon.
I'm lovin this fic!!! KEEP IT UP!!!!!
Why not AutoBloom?
3528449...
The fan-artwork by DeviantArt(ist) Inspectornills is based upon Transformers Animated, which in turn inspired this fan-fiction. So it is a safe assumption that PonyBot Apple Bloom is more like Sari Sumdac in being a techno-organic Transformer in the same vein.
Whether this means PonyBot Apple Bloom can replenish herself via both energon &/or organic food is up to the Author [Personally, I would say both, as with the TF:An series.]. Though as a Transformers Animated canon side-note, Sari also had a mystical link to the near-infinite energy of the Allspark as well, which may (or may not) have been a sustaining conduit to her Transformer nature as well.
~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~
3527907...
Personally, I always disliked the "mass-shifting" of G1 Transformers, even way back when I was young. I would play with G1 Megatron and Soundwave, then compare their sizes with G1 Optimus Prime and Jazz, and then say out loud, "This makes no sense!" My folks were also answerless when I would shake Soundwave & Jazz at them saying, "This makes no sense!"
. This is also why my love of Transformers was born again with Michael Bay's "no mass shifting" interpretation of Transformers, and its follow-up series of Transformers: Prime.
The brief toy run & storyline with the Headmasters, Targetmasters, & Powermasters Transformers at least gave a plausible storyline angle for the Transformers being able to able to interact on the smaller human scale [Sadly the writing was terrible and the toys were poor quality, which is why it was short-lived.]. I might suggest using that angle for PonyBot Apple Bloom, for when you want to shift the scenes to the giant robot scale.
3528811
Following the Sumdac´s example, Maybe AJ´s parents found the autobots´ installations and made contact with a protoform, giving it their DNA.
Note: According with my personal headcanon, technorganical can survive for a long time (in human years) with normal food as long as they stay in organic mode. If they transform regulary and make use of their other mods (like energy weapons), they will need the energon (or in Sari´s case, the All-Spark inside) or will risk entering in stasis.
Congratulations on being featured!
3527907 So then is Bloom a minicon?
This looks awesome!
Oh sweet GOD!
Imma go ahead and fave this so I can remember to read it later!
When i get the Time, i am going to read this so hard you'll FEEL IT!
Oh man this is going to be cool, can't wait for an update! :D
this is AWESOME! I cant wait for more, but i gotta say, what made you choose Applebloom and not the obvious choice, Sweetiebot? XD
This fic so much remind me that I'm a transformer fan,( I had been disconnected, I have so much to catch up
) and has so much potential, continue it please.
Holy shiiit.
I've been a huge Transformers collection since I was a little kid. My room is literally filled with the toys.
I don't have enough boxes or shelf space anymore!
I look forward to reading this when I get around to it.
oman have applebroom been a CYBERTROIM this whole time
applejack is going to faint when she see applebloom.
Just tell me this now. Is Optimus Prime going to be in this at any point? That's a deal maker or breaker for me. If you don't want to tell me that's fine, but I won't be reading it without that info. Good luck with the story either way!
What Apple bloom will be exactly?(beside the fact of be a transformer) The only transformers that I know with the enough body size to interact with pony's are: Mini-coms of Transformers Armada; Tecno-organic beings like Sary of Transformers Animated and maybe Transformers of Beast wars but they seem more larger(with the little point of reference that is possible to see).
Huh, yet another intriguing crossover idea from you. I've been a transformers fan a bit longer than I have a pony fan, so it's really good to see what looks like a very promising crossover story. Again, good luck with your stories, you seem to have some good stuff going!
so far it's looking great and very promising keep up the fabulous work and im curious will applebloom be able to shift her form back and forth between her pony form and robot form like sori from transformers animated or is she stuck and out of luck as a robo applebloom?
Found this in the featured box. I think this story has lots of potential and will not be abandoned.
3529563 You're not the only one who wants to see Prime in this fic.
I noticed a couple of typo's, but the story as a whole was entertaining enough to make me lose track of said typos. All in all, I'd say that's a fairly good compliment.
I was able to track down one of the perpetrating articles though! Hope you don't mind the nit-pickyness.
3529783 given that she is a transformer, it could very well be that its more like Beast Wars, in the very beginning they all very closely resembled animals...
GOOD LORD, I HAVE OPENED PANDORA'S BOX! SO MANY PEOPLE SPECULATING ABOUT THE NATURE OF APPLEBLOOM AND STUFF AND I'VE ONLY POSTED ONE CHAPTER. I HAVE NEVER GOTTEN ANY RECEPTION LIKE THIS TO ANYTHING I'VE EVER MADE IN MY LIFE EVER.
...I'm so happy
twentypercentcooler.net/data/87/d3/87d385115eadd220fe3127b7095cee54.jpg
I haven't even read this yet and I've already followed you.
Will comment when read.
3526908 Here is what confuses me.
When a person says that there was injustice, it means "no justice"
Inflammable means "Can burn"
Unless I got that wrong.
Also, I always thought that robots turning into animals were more Beast Wars to me. I know that Transformers has robots that become animals. but they look more robotic.
Don't get me wrong, I like it, (and hope that more ponies become transformers, probably not though) it just my opinion and such, and what I saw in the series.
This reminds me of the the origins of Sari sumdac from transformers animated. also i got a question, is this gonna be an invasion fic where the decepticons invade equestria in giant robot forms and not use disguises. or are you going the traditional route where they disguise them self's. the first idea would make more sense since Equestia doesn't have ANY macines for them to disguise as.......Now if this story was a BEAST WARS fanfic it would make a great story. I mean ideas for the forms alone is just blows my mind. i mean its Equestria they could take the forms of a Manticore, Griffin, Diamond Dog, Hydra, Timber Wolf, Dragon, Cockatrice,Minotaur, Quarray eel, Sea serpent, Ursa, Cragadile, Cerberus or any number off Beings living in Equestria. or this could become an alternate origin story of how the Maximals and Predacons came to be. Its your story i'm just saying my thoughts at the moment..
Amazing start by the way