The Throne of Tirek

by drunkenpandaren

Big Stompy Robots

Ground-bridging, Twilight decided was not a pleasant experience. It was hard on the stomach, making it twist and turn, to say nothing of the shaking of the bones. And yet, she snapped to full awareness as she found the Crystal Empire in chaos. Guardsmen in both royal colors and the silvery metals of the Empire fought the hulking beasts that resembled dragons.

The dragon-like creatures were more than Twilight's worst nightmares, twisted metal and bone, glowing, pitted violet eyes. One snapped up a guardsman and tried to crush down, but was quickly subdued by several trained Vehicons wearing Autobot symbols.

Snagging a passing by guardsman with her magic, Twilight demanded, "Where's Shining Armor?"

"Two blocks down the way, Princess," responded the guard, pointing north. "He and Autobots Jazz and Prowl are holding the line."

"I know those two, good 'Bots." Bumblebee nodded. "Arcee, take Lyra, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Rarity, go left and cut down as many 'Cons as possible that are unmarked. Princess, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Spike, you're with me. Autobots, transform and roll out!"

Charging down the path that was covered in chaos, Bumblebee was a whirlwind of blades and firepower as each pony did what they did best, making their way towards the giant spire which marked the center of the city. Terrorcons screeched, swooping down from the skies as ponies ducked and retaliated with burst of weather, lightning crackling as they fired back at them.

Applejack yelled, "Get down, Twi!" And Twilight dove for cover instinctively as Applejack leaped up and landed heavily on a Terrorcon's neck. "Yeehaw! Git along there, doggie!"

Yanking on its faceplate, Applejack drove it into another, leaping off seconds before the collision, the impact shattering old bones and parts to dust. Spike belched a gout of flame, searing another Stratodon as it turned around at him with a glowing angry glare. "Heh, uh, claw-hoof?"

A statue crushed its head and the monster died under the impact as Twilight had levitated one of the massive marble decorations that still remained and used it as a weapon. "Wow... that was amazing!"

"No time for that now, let's keep moving!" Spike rode along Twilight's back as Bumblebee was up front, slicing through several limbs. Sending an unfocused beam of energy, she sheared off a wrist, causing the nearest enemy to collapse under its weight.

On the other side of the battlefield, Team Arcee was doing its best but were also running into complications, Arcee handling it just fine but the rest of them doing fair to middling.

"Rainbow Dash, a little help please?" pleaded Rarity as she struggled with the giant jaws of a Stratodon who had her pinned.

"Don't worry, Rare, I got you!" With a flying kick, she ploughed hooves first into its face, knocking the Terrorcon prone. "Take that; nopony tries to eat my friends!"

Lyra was doing fairly well, using pinpoint magic beams to knock them down when she bumped into Fluttershy, who was floating backwards from several lurching undead. "Oh, I'm sorry," said Fluttershy. "I'm not used to dealing with zombies."

"They're just reanimated bones, Fluttershy, buck them!" exclaimed Lyra, pausing to smack one in the face.

"But I can't do that, what if they have feelings?" asked Fluttershy, flinching when one snapped at her wings.

"Listen to me, these used to be innocent butterflies."

A pause. "What."

"That's right. Tirek turned them from innocent butterflies into monsters. And then RAISED THEM FROM THE DEAD. Are you going to let that big meanie win?" Lyra was hoping this would instigate some kind of fighting spirit into Fluttershy. She had no idea what was coming next.

"That. Big. Dumb. MEANIE! NOW LOOK HERE YOU BIG MEANIES! You might be mean and scary, half metal and undead, but inside you are all innocent butterflies just waiting to be loved. But nopony, and I mean nopony hurts anyone because they want to; they're forced to!"

The Terrorcons paused, confused, bewildered, and kind of off-balance as Fluttershy advanced angrily on them, jabbing a hoof into a confused Terrorcon who tried to snap at her but only got a gentle smack on the nose for its trouble. "But you don't have to follow him because some meanie says so, get it? Stand up for yourself! Otherwise everypony will walk over you."

Arcee leaned over to Lyra. "What's going on, why are they--"

"Shhh," said Lyra, popcorn bucket in action. "It's getting good."

"Now, you have to be assertive in what you want, but not if it means hurting other ponies in the name of a big dumb meanie. You have to stand up, and tell him that, and make sure not to be walked all over! Now, apologize to the rest of the ponies you hurt, and go to the corner and think about what you did! Do I make myself clear?!"

The Terrorcons nodded, their undead bones crumbling into nothing. Fluttershy sighed. "I hope they passed the message on."

"My dear have you ever considered talking to Iron Will again? Maybe as a co-novelist?" inquired Rarity as the whole street had been cleared by Fluttershy's rampage. Rainbow Dash was sharing popcorn with Lyra.

"Just when I thought I've seen everything. C'mon, let's get to the main tower," said Arcee.

=====

The Palace Tower was littered with dozens of Terrorcon bodies, but the amount of injured ponies was a thankful minimum as Twilight hurried through the ranks. Two Autobots, one of them wearing the skin of a blue sports car, the other, a black and white patrol car nodded curtly. "Yo, Bee," stated Jazz. "Glad you could make it."

"How's the situation?" inquired Bumblebee as Arcee and her team ran in.

"Seventeen injured, no dead, all civilians evacuated to the caves. These Terrorcons keep rising, like someone's fuelling them. Megatron?" inquired Prowl hopefully.

"Not that we've seen, but we've got a hunch." replied Bumblebee.

"This is not my first way I thought I'd spend my first mission out from the home planet, but hey, I'll make due. Beats paperwork," snorted Jazz as Twilight looked around frantically.

"Where's Shining Armor?" she asked. "Where's my brother?"

"Shining went to the front lines, and hasn't returned. He took the Apex Armor with him though, so he'll be fine," stated Prowl.

"The Apex Armor? What the hay is that?" asked Applejack.

"Really big suit of armor we found years ago," replied Lyra. "Shiny loves that thing. He had to fight so hard to let him keep it when he transferred his station here."

"Heads up!" exclaimed Arcee. "Ponies, get behind us!"

Opening fire, the remaining Terrorcons kept swarming, some of them pulling themselves back together after they had been smashed apart. "Slag," growled Jazz, backing up. "We've got to hold the line, the Crystal Heart's behind us. Without it, the Empire'll vanish!"

Firing on several more, they never noticed the three swooping from the sky until Rainbow barked a warning. As Arcee raised her weapon however, it was too close and she braced for impact.

A sickening crunch was heard as Bee yelled, "Arcee!" But instead of mangled blue armor, a huge pony-shaped armor stood there, gripping the Terrorcon before smashing it into the ground. The two strafing ones were blocked by a pink wall of energy, which turned into lassos.

Whipping around the necks of the Terrorcons, the driver of the Apex Armor whirled them around before throwing them magically into the remaining zombies with a sickening crunch and the shattering of old bones.

Silence. And then a rousing cheer went up among the ponies and Autobot warriors, as the haggard Vehicons joined them. "Now that was some mighty fine ropin' there, Shining Armor," exclaimed Applejack.

"That was so awesome! Did you see him just whip those guys around with the magic and slammo!" squeaked Rainbow Dash.

"I dare say it was quite fabulous, and quite the performance, wouldn't you agree?" Rarity said, Pinkie nodding.

"Shining, you rock. Whoo-hoo," put in Fluttershy.

Twilight was silent as Spike looked over at her. She was tearing up as he asked, "Twilight? Are you okay?"

"It's nothing, Spike, I'm just glad my brother was there to save me. That's all," said Twilight, wiping her eyes. "He kept his promise he made to me as a filly. I'm so glad."

"Actually, your brother is over there," spoke the driver of the Apex Armor, and all jaws dropped as Princess Cadance grinned from inside the armor's viewpoint. The armor retracted as Shining hobbled up to her, his leg in a splint. "Shiny, I'm so glad you're safe!"

"I'm glad you're safe too, Cadence." He embraced her as Twilight rewound her jaw. Turning to Twilight, he blinked. "Twilight? What's wrong?"

"You... you.... you big DUMMY! THE ONE TIME! THE ONE TIME YOU CAN HEROICALLY SAVE ME LIKE YOU PROMISED WHEN I WAS A FILLY, AND YOU BLEW IT! Oh, I can't believe you, isn't it everypony's dream to be heroically saved, just ONCE?!"

As Twilight ranted and raved at her brother, who flinched several times, Bee leaned over and said, "Siblings."

"Makes me glad I don't have 'em," muttered Arcee, as she punched Bee in the sides.

"And another thing, you got a broken leg! HOW did you get a broken leg?! You can't have a broken leg; you're the perfect Royal Captain of the Guard---!" As Twilight continued her rant, an ancient set of eyes stared down at her from a crystal ball.

"Yes... perfect. She's the one. After all these centuries, I finally have the perfect pony to drive my chariot. The Age of Eternal Night will begin, so says Tirek."

=====

Cutting his engine, Wheeljack returned to robot mode as he stepped through the Mushromp, pushing aside the huge fallen mushroom with ease. "Huh, this place has really gone to the pits."

It was just how he left it, or hadn't. While he had located the Mushromp years ago, he never took up the Moochick's offer in visiting. Now he was seriously regretting not coming to visit at all. The once majestic mushroom forest looked old, decayed and run down. The grassy fields had turned into swampland from the years under ice from the Windigo storms that had ravaged the cold north half a year ago. In the middle of the clearing stood a house made of mushrooms, a huge cap forming the roof. But it was old, the door off its hinges, and signs of life were lacking.

Wheeljack retrieved a device and ran it around, not finding anything. Not that he expected to, this was the Moochick after all. "Better go say hello," he said to himself, stepping forward through the muck as he rapped on the side of the house.

"Hey, Moochick? You there? Moochick! Hey!"

The sky darkened and he whirled around as a large form hovered overhead with a sinister grin. Wheeljack snarled. "You..."

"How good it is to see you again, Wheeljack," sneered Tirek as he landed. The once-simple centaur was now a hissing violet color, his body outlined with veins most notably running with seams of Dark Energon as he held up a hand. "Where is the Moochick?"

"Not here. You have me as a welcoming committee, though," said Wheeljack, drawing his katanas. "You know, I've been thinking about what you did, and why Celly didn't let me kill you years ago. She said it was a mistake, and we should seal you up."

"And now?" taunted Tirek. "Now that my Stratadons ravage this land, you want revenge for your fallen allies?"

"They say revenge is a dish best served cold, but Wreckers play for keeps." His faceplate locked into place and he charged at an alarming speed as he brought his swords down in a double-swing. "And I've always wrecked something I didn't like."

Tirek responded, bringing his arm up as a blade of pure Dark Energon formed from his wrist, blocking it. The pair fenced back and forth, streaks of light clashing off each other's bodies. A slash slipped in between Wheeljack's sides, glancing off his armor as he responded in kind, cutting into Tirek's body.

"First blood," he smirked as Tirek chuckled. His wound hissed and dripped Dark Energon. "Slag, you're laughing. That's never a good sign."

"Even now you hasten your death, Wheeljack," laughed Tirek as he spun around. "Your time will come, but not today. Today, you face one of my creations. BEHOLD!"

Driving the Dark Energon blade into the swamp, a monster ripped itself out of the ground. "Arise, my Smooze, arise!"

A amorphous blob pulled itself out of the swamp, taking on a hulking form as it opened a "mouth" and roared, pushing Wheeljack back. "I'll leave you two to play for now. I will see you again at Nightmare Castle, Wheeljack. That is, if you survive."

Taking wing on his chariot, Tirek sped away as Wheeljack gripped his weapons as the Smooze advanced on him. "Well... There's always room for jello."

Charging the beast, he ducked under its feet as he slashed at the legs, dealing critical wounds. But the large slash quickly healed up as the Smooze pulled itself inside out and about and thrust out its arm, slamming into the ground. The ground hissed and boiled as it burnt away and Wheeljack flipped away.

"Okay, new plan." Replacing his swords since clearly blades weren't going to do much against it, he charged again, this time going into vehicle mode. Engines roaring, he kicked up dust and mud, spraying it into the Smooze who thrashed about. "Yeah, how do you like that now? That'll slow you down while I get something bigger. Like a giant cosmic spoon."

In response, the Smooze slammed a double-fist against the ground, throwing up a shockwave that threw Wheeljack head over heels with a yell. He bounced once and returned to robot mode to skid on the ground. "Ow. Okay, new-new plan."

Retrieving his grenade, he looked around for something, anything that would help. "Gotta make this one count... but how to...?"

Then he spotted it; a chunk of Energon crystal which had been dragged up from the swamp into the Smooze during its creation. But it was deep, too deep for a throw. Grimacing, Wheeljack got to his feet and stated, "This one's for you, Optimus."

And with a yell, he charged the Smooze, which thrust its arms at him. Several times, it caught him on the legs and arms, his body hissing as the paint and finish cracked. Leaping off a rock, he thrust his arm out as the Smooze extended its mouth and clamped down with a enormous bite.

"Gotcha," said Wheeljack, his voice muffled by being half chomped by the Smooze as he triggered the grenade.

The explosion could be seen for miles as the Mushromp was covered in Smooze, and Wheeljack was thrown across the way into the Moochick's house, collapsing it around him. He came to a screeching halt, groaning as he struggled to keep conscious, looking at the Smooze which was vainly trying to pull itself together. But the light of the Energon crystal had gone out, and quickly as it began, the fight was over as the Smooze dissolved into the swamp.

Satisfied, Wheeljack sent out a distress beacon, and decided it was a good time for a nap.

To Be Continued