More than Meets the Eye pt. 2
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" The red-and-white Autobot asked his leader.
"I wouldn't be doing this if I believed otherwise, Ratchet." Optimus replied.
"But what if they turn on us?" Ratchet inquired. "They'll know exactly where we are, how we work and-hey! Stop moving!" Ratchet commanded his current patient: a white and dark grey Autobot with a blue visor named Jazz.
"C'mon, doc." Jazz said. "You're being paranoid. We can't pass judgement on 'em before giving them a chance."
"It's being paranoid that's kept me alive this long." Ratchet replied.
"I'd say it's more 'being able to take a punch' that's kept you alive this long, Ratchet." Jazz said. "That, and awesome Autobots like myself that keep you from being-OOOW!"
"I told you not to move." Ratchet said, fighting the urge to grin. "Besides, it's that attitude that got you on the operating table in the first place."
"How was I 'sposed to know that thing could breathe fire!?" Jazz retorted.
"Enough." Optimus declared. "What's done is done. We shall meet with this world's leader and explain our presence here."
Ratchet just grunted and continued working on Jazz.
"I know you have your doubts," Optimus continued. "but I feel that this is the best way to go about this. No misunderstandings. No major surprises. Straightforward and friendly. Besides, they might even be willing to help us."
"I hope you're right, Optimus." Ratchet said. "They'll know where we are and we won't be able to fight back...unless..."
"Ratchet!" Optimus scolded. "You know our policy regarding innocent species!"
Ratchet grimaced. "Sorry. That was wrong of me."
Jazz shook his head. "Dude. That ain't coo-AAHOOW!"
Meanwhile, in Canterlot...
Princess Celestia, Monarch of the Sun, was sitting upon her throne in the grand Canterlot castle. It was another long day of nobles and various political matters that the princess was more than used to at this point. Still, it was nice to have a distraction once in a while.
That's exactly what she got.
"Sister. You summoned me?" Princess Luna, Monarch of the Moon, stepped through the grand doors leading to the throne room. "What is wrong?"
Celestia smiled. "Luna, I'm glad you're here." Celestia levitated a scroll from behind her. "I just received this letter from Twilight Sparkle. It's...interesting."
"Let me see." Luna requested. Celestia obliged, and Luna read:
"Dear Princess Celestia,
I have some rather...odd news for you. As you know, the map in my castle will occasionally call some of the Elements of Harmony to a certain location to solve a friensdhip-related issue. This happened to Fluttershy and I before, but now it's happened again. At the discovery of this, I went to inform Fluttershy of the map, but that's when things got strange. Fluttershy was talking to what appeared to be some sort of vehicle, but it turned out to be a giant robot in disguise! The robot introduced itself as Bumblebee and offered to take us to the location the map was calling us to, which happened to be its home base! We then found out that there are a ton of these robots here. We met with their leader, Optimus Prime, and learned that they call themselves Autobots and come from another planet! Needless to say, I was baffled at this. The Autobots ate requesting an audience with you so there aren't any misunderstandings should anypony come across them. I've sent a map along with this letter marking the location of the Autobot base. I hope you can take time out of your busy schedule to come here.
Sincerely, Princess Twilight Sparkle."
Luna spend a good minute trying to comprehend the letter that she had just read. Re-reading it, staring at it, thinking about possible metaphors the letter could mean. None came to mind. "...Is this letter serious, Tia?"
"I believe so, why?" Celestia answered.
"...Giant alien robots?" Luna questioned.
"Yes." Celestia reaffirmed. "Twilight hasn't lied to me yet. Though it is...unusual I still believe it warrants an investigation. Are you up for a trip to the Everfree Forest?"
Luna raised an amused eyebrow. "Ok, Tia. But I'm still skeptical."
Back in Ponyville...
Rainbow Dash's concentration was intense. Her eyes locked on her target. The cold of the clouds sending a chill through her body. Her wings flared as she reared back and took off. As quick as a flash she zoomed through ring after ring made of clouds at top speed with unparalleled accuracy. Target after target with no misses at all like a streak of coloured lightning.
Observing Rainbow Dash's stunts were two of her friends: an orange earth pony named Applejack and a white unicorn named Rarity.
"Hoo-whee! She sure can move!" Applejack commented.
"It never ceases to amaze me how fast she flies." Rarity said.
"Let's just hope she doesn't meet the ground head-on this time." Applejack said, Rarity giggling at the comment.
Rainbow Dash was very determined to NOT crash this time. She had it all planned out. There was no possible way she could screw this up. Nothing would interrupt her. Nothing would prevent her from preventing this stunt. At least, that's what she thought.
It started with an unfamiliar roar filling the air. It was distracting , but not enough to shake her. What came next was. Something big, and something fast zoomed into her at an incredible speed. The sudden force knocked Rainbow Dash off-course and tumbling to the ground.
Applejack and Rarity immediately came running. "Rainbow! You alright?" "Darling, are you ok?"
Rainbow Dash shook her head. "I'm fine." She grumbled, glaring in the direction of whatever knocker her off-course. "I'll be right back." With that, she flew off to chase after her new adversary.
The first thing that struck her as odd was the speed of her new rival. The thing was fast. Very fast. Almost as fast as her. The second thing: it wasn't a pony, nor a griffin, nor a dragon, nor any species she could recognize. It was a bizarre, winged, metallic thing with jet boosters on its rear. It was what we would recognize as a jet fighter plane.
This was no ordinary plane, however. Within the plane was the spark of a Decepticon. Particularly, one called Starscream. He wasn't sure what he would find when he was sent off to do recon for Megatron on this strange new world, but what he wasn't expecting was a fleshling that could fly as fast as he could!
What in blazes is that thing!? he thought. How does it move so fast?
"HEY! Whatever-you-are!" Rainbow Dash called. "Why did you mess me up? Are you trying to mess with me?"
Scrap! Starscream thought. How do I lose this thing? Starscream swerved and dove in an attempt to lose his colourful pursuer, but to avail. Rainbow Dash was just too fast and frankly annoyed that Starscream wasn't replying to her. If this chase went on for much longer, Starscream would have to reveal himself...
Twilight Sparkle sat eagerly sat in the canyon just outside the Autobot base. Her hoof was tapping and her grin was wide. She was awaiting the arrival of Princess Celestia so she could show her her grand discovery.
I wonder what she'll think. Twilight thought to herself. I mean, I've just discovered ALIEN LIFE! Will she be surprised, excited, scared? Pff, what am I thinking? Princess Celestia isn't scared of anything. So long as none of the Autobots spook her anyways. I'll have to make sure that doesn't happen. Don't want to make a bad impression. Twilight's smile faltered slightly. Then again, what if the Autobots are actually bad guys? What if I've been wrong this whole time?
Twilight was torn from her negative thoughts by a bright light above her. After shielding her eyes, she saw a large silhouette descending from the sun itself. A silhouette she knew well. Princess Celestia descended gracefully down from the sky and landed right in front of Twilight.
Twilight bowed. "Princess Celestia. It's great to see you again." She greeted, looking up to meet Celestia's gaze.
Celestia chuckled. "Twilight, you need to stop bowing every time we meet." she said. "You're a princess too, remember?"
Twilight smiled, embarrassed. "Right, sorry. Force of habit." she apologized.
Celestia smiled. "No need to apologize." she said.
Just as Celestia finished her sentence, the sky began to darken. Clouds began to gather above the pair of alicorns. Lightning flashed in every direction as the winds began to pick up. The clouds parted, and from them descended a shadowy figure. The figure slowly descended from the cloudy mess above it until it landed several feet behind Princess Celestia. A bright flash of lightning revealed the figure to be...
Princess Luna.
Celestia sighed. "Was that really necessary?" she asked.
"What?" Luna said, quickly dispersing the clouds with her magic. "If you get a big, dramatic entrance then so do I."
Twilight laughed. "Anyways, I'm glad you're both here. You're gonna love this!" she said, grinning. Twilight then turned to the rock wall behind her she trotted toward it as if it weren't there at all, only to hit her nose on the solid stone.
"What?" she said. The princesses watched with amusement and concern.
"Twilight? Over here!" The recognizable voice of Spike called. Twilight slowly made her way towards the voice, feeling the rock with her hoof the whole way. Eventually, she came to a point where her hoof passed right through the stone. "Yes! Found it!"
The princesses were surprised. An illusion? How had they not sensed it magically?
"C'mon!" Twilight called eagerly. The princesses heard Twilight talking to someone behind the fake wall. They then cautiously stepped through to find who exactly Twilight was talking to. Behind the wall was Spike, Fluttershy, Twilight, and a few giant robots looking down at them. They were completely dumbfounded.
"See!? Isn't this awesome!?" Twilight asked. She received no answer.
"Greetings, your majesties." Optimus Prime said, leaning down to meet princesses' levels as best he could. "I am Optimus Prime, and these are the Autobots." he gestured around him to his fellow 'bots standing around him. He then proceeded to introduce each one.
"My first lieutenant, Jazz." Optimus introduced.
"Nice to meet 'cha." Jazz said, waving.
"My top scout, Bumblebee." Optimus introduced.
"Hi." Bumblebee beeped.
"My medical officer, Ratchet." Optimus introduced.
Ratchet gave a simple nod.
"My weapons specialist, Ironhide." Optimus introduced.
A rust-red Autobot stepped forward and spoke in a hoarse voice. "How're ya doin?"
"My chief science officer, Wheeljack." Optimus introduced.
A grey and red Autobot with lights on each side of his head spoke next. "Hi there." His lights blinked with each syllable.
"And my battle strategist strategist, Prowl." Optimus introduced.
The final Autobot; black, white, and thin compared to his colleagues, stepped forward. "Hello." he said.
"We hoped to meet with you and discuss our presence here." Optimus explained. "To avoid any misunderstandings or bad first impressions."
Celestia shook herself out of her shock. The Autobots raised their equivalents of eyebrows.
"Sorry, it's just that...I've never seen anything like you before." Celestia said.
"Yeah, we kind of figured." Jazz commented.
"So...um..." For the first time in a long time, Princess Celestia was speechless. What does one ask a bunch of giant alien robots?
"Um...I have a few questions if nobody minds." Twilight called.
"By all means." Celestia said.
Twilight smiled widely again, squeeing in a very filly-like manner. "Wheredidyoucomefrom?Howdoyouwork?Howmanyofyouarethere?Whyare-"
"Whoa, whoa." Ironhide said. "One at a time."
"Right. Sorry. Got a bit excited there." Twilight said, calming down. "Ok...where did you come from?" she asked.
"We're from Cybertron; a planet many light-years away from this one." Wheeljack explained. "It used to be pretty great planet until we, uh, sapped it of all its resources."
The ponies present looked at Wheeljack, somewhat concerned.
"Hey, to be fair it was over a course of several million solar cycles." Wheeljack defended.
Twilight looked away, trying to figure out what a 'solar cycle' was. "Anyways...How do you guys work, exactly? How do you transform?" she asked.
The Autobots looked to their medical expert.
"Well, it's a fairly simple process." Ratchet finally spoke. "First, we scan an altmode (in this case, some vehicles we've come across on alien planets), then our mechanics shift about so we have most of the same parts, at least aesthetically. Then we're able to change at will. There are lots of technical details that I don't have time to go into right now but that's the basics."
"You'll have to fill me in later!" Twilight said enthusiastically. Ratchet said nothing, but was slightly glad someone was taking interest in Cybertronion biology.
"Now for the most important question." Celestia spoke up. "Why are you here?"
"We were on our way here to search for an artifact from our home planet." Optimus Prime explained. "Our ship crash-landed, however, and we went into stasis lock to preserve power. Something activated our ship's computer and woke us up. Probably seismic activity of some sort."
"What kind of artifact?" Luna asked.
"It is..." Optimus suddenly looked distracted. "One moment." he politely excused himself before bringing a finger to his audio sensors. "Yes?" he said. He listened to someone over his internal radio, then his face grew angry. "What?" he demanded.
Several minutes ago...
"...and so that's why high-grade energon should be a higher priority on our list these days." A purple-and-white racecar was driving through the canyons alongside a blue motorcycle.
"That's...real convincing, Mirage." The motorcycle spoke in a feminine voice.
"I'm just saying, with the Decepticons not being a major threat at the moment there's no reason we can't relax a bit." Mirage stated.
"Heh. Try pitching that to Optimus." The motorcycle, known as Arcee, jokingly suggested.
"Well, who's to say he won't go for it?" Mirage said. "I'm sure he likes to relax as much as any of us."
"I think there are more important things to worry about than appeasing your taste in energon." Arcee said.
"C'mon. It's not like we're in any hurry." Mirage persisted. "Like I said, no Decepticons around, so what's stopping us?"
Just then, a jet plane followed by a rainbow streak flew overhead.
"...Was that?" Mirage started.
"Looks like it." Arcee confirmed.
"Of course, OF COURSE!" Mirage growled. "I HAD TO FRAGGING SAY IT!"
"Cool it!" Arcee commanded. "I'll get a hold of Optimus. You disappear."
"Right." Mirage complied, suddenly vanishing.
Arcee activated her internal radio. "Arcee to Optimus. Do you read me?" she called.
"Yes?" Optimus answered.
"Bad news: Mirage and I found Starscream." Arcee informed her leader.
"What?" Optimus sounded angry.
"Yeah, Starscream's here." Arcee confirmed. She could hear Optimus grumbling on the other end. "You alright, sir?"
"What is your situation?" Optimus asked.
"I'm pursuing him through the canyon." Arcee explained. She then managed to get a better look at the rainbow streak following Starscream. A pit formed in her fuel tank. "More bad news: a civilian's also pursuing him."
"Immobilize Starscream. Do not harm the civilian." Optimus instructed. "We're tracking your coordinates. We'll send help when we can."
"Got it." Arcee confirmed, continuing her chase.
Meanwhile, Starscream was ready to end his. "That's it!" he yelled out loud.
"Huh?" Rainbow Dash was a bit taken aback after finally hearing her target speak, and stopped in mid-air.
Starscream pulled up and transformed, revealing his true form: a red, blue, and grey robot with red optics which were focused on Rainbow Dash angrily.
"Stop. Following. Me!" Starscream yelled, aiming a cannon at the annoying little fleshling.
"Uh oh!" Rainbow Dash had a lot of things running through her head at that moment, but the most prominent was: HOLY CRAP LASERS MOVE!! Move she did, dodging every blast sent at her by her Decepticon enemy.
"How do you move so FAST!?" Starscream shouted angrily. Before he had time to contemplate that, a blast came from within the canyon, sending him to the ground.
Rainbow Dash looked down to see a blue robot aiming a laser pistol at the robot that was attacking her. The blue robot looked up at her and shouted "Get out of here!"
Starscream came back in his jet form and made a beeline for Arcee who changed back into a motorcycle and revved away from Starscream's missile barrage, just barely dodging.
"You think you can beat me, two-wheeler?" Starscream mocked, pulling up and changing back to robot mode. "You're just a scout! What makes you think you're tough enough to take me on!?"
"Maybe it's because she's not the only scout here." A smooth voice commented.
"Who said that-" Starscream was blasted in the back by an unknown force and sent tumbling back into the canyon.
Mirage smirked at the humiliated Decepticon in the canyon.
"Nice shot." Arcee called up.
"Naturally." Mirage replied. Suddenly, he was struck by a blast from Starscream. Mirage dropped to his knees, every system within him ceasing to work as the effects of Starscream's null ray kicked in.
Arcee glared at Starscream, who was getting up while aiming his ray at Arcee. "Now what, scout?" he asked.
Starscream's question was answered by a large portal opening up behind Arcee. Starscream's face fell as the Autobot reinforcements came running through, blasters held high. Optimus, Jazz, Bumblebee, and Ironhide.
"Your move, 'Con." Jazz said, smirking.
Starscream looked around. He measured his options, weighing his chances of success. In the end, there was only one logical thing to do: he transformed and flew away.
"Good move." Jazz said, holstering his blaster.
Arcee turned to look at her comrades. "What took you so long?" she asked.
The sound of a throat being cleared was heard and the Autobots looked back. Their guests had followed them through the ground-bridge.
"Them." Ironhide answered.
"That. Was. AWESOME!" Called an enthusiastic voice from above the Autobots. It was Rainbow Dash.
"Scrap." Arcee said.
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Will the Starscream vs Rainbow Dash Death Battle be referenced in this story?
7015763
Eventually.
Pretty good work so far. I think Ratchet's discomfort with the situation works well though you somehow drop it mid-story. I don't think he would go giving out information on Cybertronian biology to organics he just met. Is the Ark's crew based of the cartoon complement or your own line-up? What sort of character is Prowl? Will he be a morally grey figure doing dubious things for the greater good as in IDW G1 or a simply an officious prick?
Is the Autobots and the Decepticons gonna meet there other selves in this story?
7016146 The crew of this Ark is my own, though it is heavily influenced by G1.
I'll be trying to make Prowl a morally grey, cold, calculating strategist.
Thanks for reviewing!
7016320 Oh, yes.
7016967 Nice
i would really like to see the eg cybertronians hopefully sometime soon
7038331 Oh, don't worry. I plan on introducing them veeery soon.