Queen of the Predacons.

by Gyvon

Chapter 9: Broken Arrow

Chapter 9

Broken Arrow

---

The next day, Ponyville awakened to clear blue skies as dawn approached. The previous day's storm had moved off sometime in the night, leaving a mess of puddles and wet, muddy streets. That was the last thing on John's mind as he stepped out the door with Twilight following close behind. The sun had begun evaporating the rainstorm's aftermath, creating a muggy atmosphere. It reminded him of his childhood, growing up along the Gulf Coast of Texas. Ponyville never got that humid, thank god, and by mid-morning the day would simply be pleasant.

John had asked Twilight to go out for a walk in the park with him, and later out to lunch, which she had readily agreed to. Spike had spent the previous night with Rarity and they would pick him up later. John was worried about what the little Dragon would think about his relationship with Twilight, but knew that the mare would eventually bring him around.

But that was something to be dealt with later. Right now, he would just enjoy the day. For once in his life, John was truly at peace.

---

Fillydelphia, along with Manehattan and Canterlot, had become a bit of a tourist's hot-spot recently. Only a couple hours south of Ponyville by train, it was reasonably close to the 'Bridge between Equis and Earth and, therefore, an easy destination for visitors, unlike Trottingham along the eastern border and Stalliongrad in the north. Nobody believed that either city's tourism trade would pick up until Equestria developed mass air-transit. Sure, Equestria had airships, but those were mainly luxury-liners for the elite, and ticket prices reflected that.

But, for now at least, Fillydelphia would enjoy a booming industry for as long as they could. And so, the residents and shopkeepers of Fillydelphia began their day, expecting a long, fruitful, albeit boring one. Little did they know that events would take a turn for the exciting.

---

To the west and a bit north of Fillydelphia , along the southern marches of the Everfree Forest, the small, sleepy farming community of Saddlebrook would be the first that day to realize that something unexpected would happen. The citizens were rousted out of bed by the town's gong signalling everypony to assemble in the town square. This was strange, because the sun had barely risen, and nopony should be up at this time of day.

When the Ponies left their homes, they were shocked to see the black, insect-like forms of Changelings roaming the streets alongside Predacons. All of the Ponies were frightened of what this could mean, and many tried to retreat back into their homes, only to have their doors broken down by the invading force and forced back out. The few that actually tried to flee the town were gunned down mercilessly.

It took half an hour for all ponies to be corralled into the town square, where a stage had been hastily constructed. Standing at a podium atop the stage was what the residents of Saddlebrook could only assume was the leader of the invasion force. He was a wood-brown Predacon with what looked like a Timberwolf's head protruding from his chest. To his left was the town's mayor, an aged stallion who was now shaking with fear. To his right, another Predacon stood, this one red, ant-like body, a bluish, triangular-shaped head and holding a large gun. The Ponies began to murmur amongst themselves, and the leader let it go for a few minutes until he raised his hand for silence, which the residents swiftly complied with.

"Good morning." he said, his voice smooth as silk. "I am General Fang of the Predacon Army, and I am now in charge of this city." The residents murmured amongst themselves again, and Fang once again let it continue for a few minutes, finally silencing the crowd with a raised hand. "Now, first off, I would like to apologize to anypony that was hurt this morning, and I deeply regret that some were killed in this debacle."

The crowd's angry shouting interrupted the General and drowned out all sound. The other Predacon on-stage cocked his gun and aimed for the crowd, only to have it knocked down by General Fang. "Not now, Inferno." he whispered. "We need them alive." Inferno only nodded in reply, though he wished he could give the General a piece of his mind. He wanted to kill, to burn, but that was unlikely when he was stationed out in the boonies.

Eventually, the crowd quieted down on its own, and General Fang spoke up once again. "Now, I need everypony to return to their homes and stay there until further notice. We have a large force moving through here soon, and I do not want anypony to be hurt unnecessarily. Do not try to communicate with the outside world. All phone lines have been cut and radio signals have been jammed. Cooperate, and no harm will come to you. Resist and, well, it won't be pretty."

---

"Knock knock, anypony home?" called John as he stuck his head inside Carousel Boutique. The sight that greeted him almost made him laugh, but he caught himself and only a snicker escaped his lips. The usually immaculate showroom was covered in stray bits of fabric. Rarity was busy working on a dress clearly meant for a woman, and not a mare like her usual clientele. Most hilarious of all, however, was Spike standing next to the unicorn, ramrod stiff and stuck full of pins. The baby dragon shot an annoyed look at the alicorn poking his head in the door.

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up, fuzz-butt."

"I'd make an acupuncture joke, but that'd be too easy." replied John. "Hey Rarity, why not give your pincushion a break and join me and Twilight for lunch? We're going to that new café."

"That sounds just lovely, John," said Rarity. "Just give me a minute here. I've almost reached a stopping point."

True to her word, Rarity only needed a moment before rushing off to touch up her make-up, leaving Spike to remove the pins himself. One good shake got most of them, but one determined bugger was stuck deep. Unfortunately, it was stuck in a place that the young dragon just couldn't reach.

"He're, let me get that," John offered, taking pity on Spike. One good telekinetic yank later and that dastardly pin was free.

"Thanks man, you're a lifesaver," said Spike. "So, how're you holding up?"

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" John sighed. "I'll be fine, really. This is not the worst thing to ever happen to me."

"Yeah, and now you can date Twilight without worrying about your whole 'interspecies relationship' problem," replied Spike, wearing the world's biggest shit-eating grin.

"God damnit!" cried John. "Did everyone know?"

"Oh yes," Rarity piped in, having returned from upstairs. "It's not like you weren't obvious about it, even if you didn't know yourself at the time."

John just sighed, but soon was laughing softly. "Yeah. Looking back, I can't believe I didn't realize it sooner. But let's worry about that later. It's lunch time."

---

It was already a long day for the Sun Diarch, even before Blueblood decided to grace her court. She loved her nephew dearly, but he could be a complete pain at times.

Right now, he was once again petitioning the Princess to evict the humans from Equestria for good. To use a somewhat crude human expression, he had a bug up his ass ever since a Marine had knocked him out for being an idiot one day. Despite the fact that Blueblood was the aggressor in that case, having thrown a Marine through a statue, he felt that humanity was a blight that needed to be purged from Equestria.

Unfortunately, he did have a few good points. Humanity had a much higher predisposition to violence than ponies. In the past half-century alone, Earth had played host to more conflict and strife than Equestria had in a millennium. She couldn't blame the humans completely, however. They were a product of their chaotic world. Deep down, Celestia knew that her ponies wouldn't be so different were their world the same.

However, despite their violent nature, humanity always strived to better themselves, no matter how many times they stumbled.

"I will take it under advisement, Prince Blueblood." It wasn't a lie. Not really, at any rate. Celestia had taken his petition under advisement the first time. However, nothing had changed in any of his other positions. They were almost the same word for word.

The fact of the matter was that, at the end of the day, Equestria needed humanities help. The Decepticons were still out there somewhere, and the Predacons had been a thorn in everypony's side since the Siege of Canterlot. Equestria had skilled soldiers, but Earth had the know-how to defeat both foes.

Plus, their technology was pretty neat.

"Is there anything else, Sunrunner?" asked Princess Celestia as she turned to her advisor.

"Just lunch, your highness," replied the Unicorn Mare. "After that, there're a few more petitions that need adressed.

The Princess barely suppressed a displeased groan as she was reminded of another colorful human expression. Same shit, different day.

---

The Gilded Griffon was the newest eating establishment in Ponyville, and the only one run by a non-pony. Chef Augustus saw a grand opportunity when Equis and Earth were linked, and moved from the Griffon Kingdom down to Ponyville to cater to the new omnivorous species. Granted, the only meat he sold was seafood, but it was all of the highest quality and drew large crowds of humans. Even a few local pegasi, a species that had evolved to eat seafood as part of their bodies' large protein requirement, enjoyed the chance to dine on a delicacy they'd have to usually fly all the way to Cloudsdale for.

Currently sitting at an outside table, Rarity and Twilight were munching on their salads, while Spike practically inhaled his order of hay fries. John, on the other hoof, was chowing down on a pound of crawfish, much to Rarity's disdain.

"Honestly John, how can you eat something so disgusting?"

"Like this," he replied, giving the head of a mini-lobster a loud suck. Rarity cringed at the display, but John merely grinned. "I haven't had good crawfish in a long time!"

"Was that really necessary?" asked Twilight.

"Yes," replied John as he levitated a mud bug over to her. "Go ahead, give it a try."

Twilight hesitantly took the crawfish in her magical grasp and began to peel the shell off the tail. When the meat was free, she popped it into her mouth, and a pleased smile crept across her face. "Delicious," she stated before sucking on the head, much to Rarity's chagrin. "May I have some more?"

"Waiter!" called John, getting the attention of a white pegasus with a ram's head cutie mark. "Another half-pound for my lavender friend." The waiter wrote down the order, and promptly left. "You sure you don't want to try just one, Rarity?"

Before she could answer, a distant boom sounded, as if a thunderclap had struck off in the distance. The only problem was that the skies were clear as far as the eye could see. "What was that?" asked Twilight.

As if in response, a missile streaked overhead and careened into the town hall. It exploded violently, sending wood, metal, and glass flying. Ponies began to panic, some running hither and yon, while the more level-headed ones tried to get indoors as quickly as possible.

The humans, however, had much different reactions. They were off-duty military for the most part, and as such sought out the nearest available cover. The few tourists followed the smart ponies' example and took shelter.

"We're under attAUGH!" cried John, holding his head in between his hooves as loud, piercing screech assaulted his audio receptors. As quickly as it started, the noise was silenced. "Signal jammer. We can't call for help. Get to cover you three." John transformed into his combat form and, with a flap of his great feathery wings, took off.

As soon as he was airborne, John got a sense just how screwed the small town of Ponyville was that day. Predacons were pouring out of the Everfree by the hundreds. Amongst the horde of synthetics, he could also make out the black, chitinous forms of changelings as well. "I wasn't expecting that."

The invaders' front line began to approach the town center, and began to meet stiff resistance. Despite regulations, some of the Army personnel had carried their sidearms off-base. Under other circumstances, John would reprimand such an act, but now he had other worries. A few Beretta M9's would not drive the Predacons and changelings off.

So John did what he did best, and dove straight into the middle of the action. He unsheathed his armblades and bisected a 'Con as he landed. Recovering from his abrupt landing, John swung his blades around in a wide arc. They cleaved through Pred and Changeling with ease, but there were too many, and he was slowly pushed back.

Luckily, however, he was being pushed towards the town's center, and therefore to friendly lines. At least, that's what he expected. When he breached the Predacon front line, however, John was in for the shock of his life.

The changelings had managed to capture the town center. The few human defenders had been rounded up and placed against the wall of town hall. Luckily, there appeared to be no fatalities. However, that was not what drew his attention. Standing before John was Megatron himself, holding Twilight Sparkle in his T-rex head, her mouth blocked with a rope-gag.

"Ah, the noble hero at last. Drenched in the life-blood of his fallen enemies, yes."

"What's the meaning of this, Megatron?" asked John, tensing up to spring into action at a moment's notice.

"Isn't it obvious, whelp? After months of dithering, I have finally made my move. Yes," Megatron crowed. "It is high time that the Predacons took their proper place in this world." He began to laugh triumphantly. "Now I have control of Ponyville and Fillydelphia, and with my little prize here..." he Twilight high above his head for all to see. John noticed that there was a ring of some sort over her horn, and assumed that it suppressed her magical ability. "The Elements of Harmony have been effectively neutralized, even if three of the bearers still escape my grasp."

Despite the desperate situation, despite Twilight somehow getting blind sided, John couldn't help but smirk. He knew that somehow, someway, Pinkie and Rainbow had escaped capture. he had no idea who the third escapee was, but he had other matters to deal with "What makes you think I won't just blast you right here and now?" To emphasise his point, John retracted his right arm-blade, and activated his fusion cannon.

Megatron merely laughed the threat off. "Because, you wouldn't want to hurt miss Sparkle here would you?" He pulled the lavender alicorn in close, holding her in front of him.

John hesitated, unsure of how to proceed. "Have you no honor?"

"Ha, honor? What use is honor? It only makes you weak. Now, I have a proposition for you."

"And that is?" asked John.

"Quite simple, Prime," said Megatron. "Take your soldiers and leave, and I won't hurt your little friend here." He grinned malevolently, and squeezed Twilight. Her muffled screams of pain tore through the air.

As much as John wanted to tear Megatron limb from limb, his hands were tied. Twilight Sparkle, personal student of Princess Celestia and the love of his life, was being held hostage, and he couldn't risk it. "You'd just let us go, just like that?"

"I have no quarrel with humanity or the Autobots, Prime," Megatron stated matter-of-factly. "Consider it a gesture of good faith."

John considered those words. Megatron should've known that, even if he had no bone to pick with Earth, with the recent treaty between NATO and Equestria, their combined might would come down on him hard. Surely Megatron couldn't be this stupid.

Then he realized that Megatron was desperate. His power base was tenuous at best. He needed a victory to keep the rest of the Predacons from assassinating him. Then there were the changelings to consider. What did they gain from this? Revenge? Resources? The insectoid race was a complete enigma to everyone.

John took one glance at Twilight's fearful face, and knew his decision was already made for him. He closed his eyes, bowed his head, and sighed. He looked once again at Megatron with a steely glint in his eyes. "If you harm one hair on her head..."

"Must you be so clichéd? Leave us, and no harm will come to the young alicorn." He reached over with his free hand and stroked her chin. "Oh, one more thing. The dragon..." A pair of changelings walked forwards, hauling a struggling, cursing Spike behind them. "Take him with you," he said dismissively as they set him next to the Predacon leader. With a wave of Megatron's hand, the Predacons holding the humans prisoner led them to the train station.

John took one more tear filled look at Twilight, and bowed his head, before turning to follow his men to the train station. He had a duty to fulfil now, and he would make sure they would return home. As he stooped down to pick up Spike, John had to say something. "I'm sorry," he whispered, knowing that Megatron would still hear it. The Predacon smirked, earning a venomous glare from Prime.

He cradled the weeping dragon in a vain attempt to calm the poor thing as he made his way to the train station. John was surprised to see a locomotive waiting, but wrote it off as a part of the Predacons' game plan. He stepped onto the nearly empty train just as it began to depart, heading for Canterlot Airbase. He set Spike down on a bench, and gave Ponyville a last glance before declaring "I shall return."

Comments

[Assasin_Asha]

DAMN YOU TO PIECES MEGATRON!
Gilded Gryphon? Ohhh... those subtle references. ... it is a reference to someone blue, brave as hell and not really flying now, right?
Oh, Is the title of the chapter somewhat releveant to the action? As in is it a military term or something? Sorry if it's something obvious but English is not my first language.
Aaaaand that's a nice cliff... wait, is it? It's simply the end of the chapter... they lost, end of story. Whatever.
Now I'm torn between this and Angels... what's better? Hmmmm... nah, can't decide.
Bored Celestia is best Celestia! Or is there a better word than bored?
Keep up the good work!

[warpd]

Is it really such a good idea to take a small town so close to Canterlot? Whatever Megatron. Have to say though, his troops move fast. Really fast.

[Gyvon]

1144841

Look at it this way, it takes the Elements of Harmony out of play.

[Soundwave G1]

YOU UPDATED!?!

On another note: Good 'ol Megs, always using the hostage tactic.

[Grey Warden]

John whenyou come back kill megatron rip of his head then burn is body to ash!!!!!!!!!

[Fetch]

The airbase is in Canterlot. A quick visit to the Princess to give her a sitrep, then a quick call to Earth for some reinforcements.

Megatron just told John to leave. He didn't say 'leave Equestria'. He just said to leave. Bad call Megs.

(btw, I share my name with a transformer. one of the minicons is named Fetch. he's a dual missile launcher tank http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Fetch )

[kilmontro]

Chapter name confuses me, it had been my understanding that the broken arrow call was essantially "I'm overrun bomb my position"

[Deathpony]

hmmm very very good chapter cant wait for the next

[primeoetgrunn]

I like it
raingeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/2012-03-20-megatronyes1.png

[Zninja94]

I demand the immediate return of this fic!

[StormingIsraphel]

Something i thought that would've been epic, is well three things
One- the predacons had the Predaking from prime with Skylinx and Darksteel
Two- if the FoC or AoE Grimlock made an appearance
Three- if Stratosphere had shown up

[StormingIsraphel]

To inform on who i mentioned- Stratosphere is a massive autobot who debuts in between ROTF and DOTM

[bendude10]

WHEN THE FUCK ARE YOU GONNA UPDATE?!?!?! ITS BEEN TWO YEARS GODDAMMIT!!!!!!!!!!

[Hopelight]

7290957
Real Life writes the plot.

[Andonexus13]

Are you alive & kickin' pardner?

[sinewystatue382]

update it