Maximares Rising

by Cydra

Maximares Reunite

Maximares Rising

Chapter 8: Maximares Reunite

Departing from Axiom Nexus on an NSC cruiser put Twilight and her friends in a better position than they were before. Not only was the ship much easier to pilot, but they shouldn't be immediately targeted by anti-Autobot/Decepticon guns. The hard part was figuring out where to go next.

"Ok...where to next?" grumbled Matt, sat at a control station and happy that their new ship was a NSC model, meaning he and Dante didn’t need their mechs to control things.

"Well...I'm tryin' ta get the same feelin' Ah had when we went lookin', but I ain't feelin' it," said Applejack.

"Great, the satnav’s broken. We should be reporting in," said Dante in a grumbling tone.

"Give her time. Magic doesn't come easy to earth ponies," said Twilight.

"Why don’t you try?" said Dante rudely, before yelping as his seat suddenly tipped back, Matt smirking as he took his button of the copilot seat adjuster.

"Uh, Rarity, give me your hoof. Maybe if we all tried to channel it, we'll be able to find them," said Twilight.

"You gonna use the magic of friendship?" mocked Dante, getting back into his seat.

"Yes," said all three mares.

Dante blinked as the trio linked hooves, Matt yelping as the screen at his station was flooded with Cybertronian glyphs, a few systems sparking. "Hey, hey! You cut that out!" snapped Dante.

"I feel them," said Twilight.

"And two of them are together," said Rarity.

Matt yelped as a screen exploded, a klaxon beginning. "System overload! Reactor breach in 1 minute," said a calm male voice.

"We gotta stop them," said Dante, pulling out his gun.

"Dante, no!" snapped Matt.

Dante however, flipped his blaster in his hand so he was holding the barrel before cracking it across the back of Twilight's head.

Twilight grabbed the back of her head and snapped, "Ow! Why did you hit me for?"

"Overload ended. Reactor temperature returning to normal," said the computer at that, Dante waving a hand to reference to it.

"Did we do that?" asked Rarity.

"Almost did," said Matt.

"So why did he hit me for?" asked Twilight.

"Eh, you looked like you had the softest head," said Dante.

"I assume you meant hardest," said Matt in an aggravated tone.

"I know what I meant. Did these little saboteurs do anything else?" said Dante to Matt who turned to the navicomp.

"Got jump coordinates. Two of them, both in dimension F-449," he said. Then he frowned and said, "Wait, this can't be right."

"What?" asked Dante.

"Well, it's saying Earth, somewhere in North America specifically," said Matt.

"Why am I not surprised?" asked Dante dryly.

"Yeah, but the time coordinates puts them right in the Pleistocene Era," said Matt.

"Oh for god's sake. Now we’re gonna have Temporal Division down our throats. Let's do that one first," snapped Dante, glaring at the girls, "Unless you three wanna try and make the ship explode again."

"This ship can travel through time?" asked Twilight.

"Standard chroniton reactor and drive," said Matt, selecting the controls, "That said...no messing with anything. You see anything that looks like a human, run away." before adding "Everyone hold on."

Twilight had experienced time travel before, her friends hadn't. And in Twilight's experience, this method was a lot rougher.

There was also the fact Dante tried, in futility, to get to his seat before everything turned white, and he was squished against the back wall, and suddenly the ship was over a planet the girls could almost mistake for Equus "Here..." grinned Matt.

Dante groaned "I hate you soooo much." as he squeaked down the wall.

Matt looked at the planet, "So, this is Earth before the rise of Man. Full forests, polar caps completely frozen, ozone and greenhouse gas levels at acceptable levels...man, we've run roughshod on this place."

"Not all Earths..." muttered Dante, checking a scanner, "Bingo, Cybertronian signals, North American quadrant. More than 2 that's for sure."

"Think there's more Decepticons or Predacons?" asked Applejack.

"No way to tell from orbit and I doubt the Axioms left the probes stocked," said Dante.

"Still, how much trouble can they be on a world that hasn't even invented the wheel yet?" asked Dante.

"Space plague, radiation, wiping out the first human ancestors in the crossfire of their stupid scrap," said Matt, listing things on his fingers.

"How's the ammo situation?" asked Dante.

"2000 slugs for the mech coilguns each, 30 Anti-armor rockets..." said Matt, adding, "And those are the weapons I know. A lot of those weapons on those Headmaster mechs are weird. I'm sure we'll have plenty of fun figuring them out."

"Ok, I vote we send the ponies down and wait. A warship hovering overhead might send the wrong message," said Dante.

"That sounds like you're using us as cannon fodder," said Rarity accusingly.

"No, you're just scouting," said Matt, "We'll be right behind you to back you up if things get hairy."

"Yeah..." said Dante

"It's ok," said Applejack, "It ain't like we're unarmed."

"Once you found them, you call us and we'll pick you up," said Matt, Dante opening his mouth before pausing as Matt glared.

"We'll be here," he said reluctantly.

---

The trio walked out of the shuttle in their pony forms, the only forms that had fitted the small dropship. Happily, Matt had been able to fly it remotely, landing it a mile from the signals.

"I hope they haven't gotten too big," said Rarity, "That shuttle was cramped enough as it was." Rarity winced as she stepped in something that went 'gloop' that made her shudder. "The sooner we find them, the better," she managed.

"Should I set up a beacon or try a locator spell?" asked Twilight.

"How about we try just lookin' for them?" suggested Applejack, "They can't be too far."

"Anything’s better than here," said Rarity, wincing as she lifted her hoof up out the muck with a sucking sound, before there was another 'gloop’ behind them, the trio turning to see three logs behind them...logs with eyes. The girls screamed and ran for it just as the 'logs' decided to see what they tasted like and opened long tooth-lined mouths.

---

Pinkie Pie and the Mutants could have moved into the Maximal base if they wanted to. But considering the Mutants’ dual beast modes felt more comfortable in the wild, they seldom left it. And while Pinkie did pop over to the Maximals' every once in a while, she felt that the Mutants needed her around more. Besides, ever since she became part alligator, she found she loved spending most of the day in the water.

It also helped she was the only one the big prehistoric alligators ignored. As such she was the first to hear three screams she knew very well. Pinkie lifted her head out of the water and said, "I know those screams anywhere! They're here!” She transformed to robot form calling Dash, "Dashie, the others are here. I think they just ran into Gummy’s cousins." More screams were heard and Pinkie’s left thumbs twitched. "Yup...we'd better get to them," she said.

Rainbow Dash dropped out of a tree she was napping in. She wasn't sure if it was her metal body or there wasn't enough magic on this world, but she couldn't really lie on clouds like she used to. "Sounds like they're heading towards terror bird territory too," she said.

---

Twilight and company ran to a halt just on the edge of the swamp, before turning to face the gators, who seemed to give off an air of smugness as they slowly sank back down below the water, though their eyes were still above the surface.

"How can anything live here? It's worse than the Everfree!" snapped Rarity, a little manically.

"Don't worry. They've just run out of water for them to swim through and we're much faster on land," said Twilight. Just then, they heard something in the tall grass, something that sounded like either an angry pig or a bigger, angrier chicken.

"Y'all had to say it, Twi," said Applejack dryly before a large avian, easily the size of a minotaur came out of the grass, its head turning from one side of the next, and its large beak opening with each curious squawk. After a minute, two more joined it. Judging by their long, strong legs and tiny wings, these were obviously flightless birds. But the huge ax-shaped beaks on their heads that were attached to long necks did not look friendly at all.

"Erm...nice birds," said Twilight nervously, noting that the two newcomers seemed to be looking to the biggest for orders before they began moving in opposite directions, the trio slowly surrounding them...rather like...oh horsefeathers.

"Twi?"

"Yes, Applejack?"

"Them oversized turkeys are wantin' ta gobble us up, aren't they?"

"I think we can assume so."

"And bein' robots ain't likely to deter them, right?"

"Not right away."

"Thought not," said Applejack, as the leader bird gave a loud caw, the others charging before a rainbow blur knocked one on its side.

"That'll teach you guys to give up flying," said a familiar voice.

The other two birds took a few steps back as their fellow got up unsteadily. The girls meanwhile quickly spotted the voice’s source, a robotic pegasus in a very familiar color scheme. "Dash!" called Twilight happily, one of the birds taking advantage of her distraction to lunge, only to be grabbed round the leg.

"Sawwy, na panies faw lanc," said a half-green alligator/half-pink pony that had the bird's leg in her mouth.

The terror bird turned to glare. These two shining prey things had constantly messed with him and his flocks hunting for months...and he’d had enough. He reared his head back before lunging forward only to give an undignified squawk when the little thing had vanished and was somehow a few feet away, waving with that inane grin that frustrated it.

However, Twilight cut the battle short by just levitating the terror birds off the ground before teleporting them about 50 miles south.

"Pinkie? What happened to you?" asked Rarity.

"Same thing that happened to you," said Pinkie, "Except I became a Fuzor and you look like a Transmetal. Dashie's a Transmetal 2."

There was a pause before Rainbow Dash said, "I don't get it either. It looks cool though. What happened to you guys? Were you stuck here too?"

"We just got here," said Twilight, "We were scattered across different worlds, probably different times. And Rarity was in a separate universe altogether."

"You got a ship?" siad Pinkie cheerfully.

"Right now we have a shuttle," said Rarity before looking at her friends' bigger forms, "One I don't think will be quite big enough for all of us."

"Oh, we can get smaller too," said Pinkie cheerfully, adding "It'll be nice to meet Matt."

"Wait...how..." began Twilight.

Pinkie grinned, "Oh, I just read the earlier chapters..." The other ponies blinked. Robot or organic, Pinkie still regularly violated the laws of physics. At least that was confirmation this 'Fuzor' really was Pinkie. Nopony else was that random.

"Wait a minute," said Rainbow, "We can't leave the others behind."

"Others?" asked Applejack.

"Yeah, we've got a bunch of Maximals here that got left behind," said Rainbow.

"And don't forget the Mutants," said Pinkie, "I bet they want to leave too."

"How many?" asked Twilight carefully.

---

"Wait...we're taking on 11 more? No, Miss Sparkle. It's your two friends or nobody, including you," snapped Dante at a communication holo of Twilight.

"We can't just leave them behind on a prehistoric planet," said Twilight.

"Yes we can. In fact, I'll show you how easy it is. Lynch, take us out of orbit," snapped Dante, smugly, before frowning as Matt yawned. "Lynch, I just gave you an order!" Dante snapped only to glare as Matt said "No speaky ze english."

"Oh come off it. You're English for crying out loud!" snapped Dante.

"Send the heavy duty cargo shuttle down? Yes, sir," said Matt, giving a mocking salute cheerfully, and pressing a few buttons, Twilight unable to stop herself chuckling.

"What is this, Opposite Day? I said take off!" snapped Dante.

"Shoot you in the nuts? Are you sure, sir?" said Matt, in a tone that was full of warning.

"That didn't even sound close!" snapped Dante.

"Well, orders are orders." said Matt, drawing his blaster and firing a stun shot exactly where he’d said, Dante squealing and passing out. "Oh, no court marshal will convict me after this week," he muttered happily before calling to Twilight, "Send the big shuttle down. Like I'd obey any order to leave you behind. You’re civvies It’s illegal to maroon civilians."

"Ok, but it's still going to be crowded," said Twilight.

"This is an old recon ship, usually has a couple of recon tanks. I’m sure there's room," said Matt, 'accidentally' kicking the stirring Dante unconscious again. "Oops," he said unconvincingly.

"Ok, we'll start bringing up bots," said Twilight.

"There aren’t really 11 extra bots, are there?" asked Matt, dragging the groaning Dante over to a seat and starting to duct tape him to it.

"I'm afraid so," said Twilight, "And some are bigger than others."

"Erm....we do have a weight limit..." said Matt, finishing off his Dante duct tape cocoon masterpiece by cutting some eyeholes and nostril holes, Dante's eyes narrowed.

"We're trying to work out our options right now," said Twilight, "I think you should talk to them in person."

"Oh hell no. That’s a disaster waiting to happen. Hand them the com. I'll talk up here," said Matt, looking at Dante before starting to spin the luckless Black 13 merc’s seat.

Twilight sighed and said, "This will take time to organize."

---

Twilight had not been exaggerating. In addition to the Mutants, Primal Prime's team had grown since Rainbow Dash first arrived. First there was Spittor, who had defected during the final battle with Tarantulas. Another Predacon, Fractyl, had come out of the wilds, but he was a peaceful geologist at spark. Certainly better company than the Maximal thief, Packrat. And finally, there was Sonar, an inexperienced and sensitive Maximal whose stasis pod had been found after Rainbow Dash arrived.

They'd actually been working on their own escape plan, a transwarp portal direct to Cybertron, but they'd been having trouble finding a way to ignite the system.

There was some talk about how the NSC ship could help them jumpstart the portal, but most of it was technical terms that were well above the ponies' ability to comprehend. So right now, they were mingling with the other Maximals.

"So...what's your homeworld like?" Twilight asked one of the Maximals, whose animal form was a white tiger.

"I honestly can't tell you," said Tigatron, "Earth is the only planet I've ever known. It feels strange to even leave it." His tone turned sad, "But there is nothing left for me here now."

"You lost someone?" asked Twilight sadly

"Yes, one who I shared my spark with. In a very literal way," said Tigatron.

"What was her name?" said Twilight.

Tigatron just hung his head at that. "You'll have to forgive him," said Rainbow Dash, "Just thinking about her name makes him blue."

"So what happened to her?" asked Rarity.

"Well, after I beat Starscream, which was pretty awesome by the way, there was an even bigger battle," said Rainbow Dash.

"Tarantulas had brought in reinforcements which we long thought were destroyed," said Tigatron, "One was Terrorsaur, with a Transmetal upgrade. The other was Scorponok..."

Twilight gulped at that, remembering her run in with the city-sized Cybertronian.

"Just how big was he?" asked Applejack.

"Not as big as the Scorponok you guys fought," said Pinkie, "And he's not nearly as smart either."

"But Tarantulas upgraded him into a real Triple Changer," said Dash, "He was almost more than Prime could handle."

Twilight paused. "Wait, how do you know how big...no...no, not gonna question it. Not after last time," she said, pausing halfway and waving her hoof in dismissal as she bowed to the age-old saying, 'it’s Pinkie Pie, don't question it'.

"Scorponok would have won the whole battle for Tarantulas, but my beloved used what remained of her Vok power to send him away. Unfortunately, she was taken with him," said Tigatron, "Tarantulas and the rest of his Predacons were all defeated, but we would not have prevailed if it weren't for the sacrifice of Airazor."

Twilight paused at that before saying "I think we met her..."

"What?" asked Tigatron.

"There's this other Cybertron, one that has never had a civil war," said Rarity, "The capital city is Axiom Nexus and there were many Cybertronians from different universes. And I think the Airazor we met is the one you knew."

Tigatron stared at that, part of him wanting to believe it, but it sounded so...unbelievable.

"She said to tell you that she's still alive, but she can't reach you. She might find a way back or find a way to bring you to her, but you'll be together again one day," said Rarity.

Tigatron paused, before he said softly, "Th...thank you."

Just then, Matt called on the girls' comms. "Ok, girls, we've got it sorted out," said Matt, "The ship has an auxiliary jump engine, so we got it hooked up to that portal. How long till you girls come back up? Dante, if his glare is accurate, wants to eat me."

"I think we're just about finished up," said Twilight.

"Good, then don't do anything that could alter history," said Matt.

Just then, a large fly buzzed close to Applejack. "Dang horseflies," she said before swatting it.

"Did I hear a swatting? No swatting!" snapped Matt.

Applejack turned to the others and said, "But that was just an insignificant horsefly. That can't change the future, right? Right?"

Dinobite, who was passing by, just shrugged his shoulders and mumbled, "I dunno."

"No more swatting! You might accidentally delete someone from history!" snapped Matt. There was a pause before Matt asked, "Uh, where'd Dante go?" The girls gasped before Matt said, "No wait, there he is. Funny, thought I taped him to the other chair."

Dante was heard snapping "When I get out of here, I am feeding you feet first into the coffee machine you two-faced-" before Matt said "Hold on, he's managed to slip his gag. Call you back later." the line going dead.

"Is anyone else feeling like the sanity is starting to wear thin in our group?" asked Rarity.

"Only the humans," said Twilight absently to herself

---

A short time later, the Maximals and Mutants were ready to go through the portal. "The time has come for us to depart," said Primal Prime, "Now that the menace of Tarantulas is gone, we must ourselves leave to prevent contamination to the timeline. Now we can finally return home."

Packrat groaned. "Do all Primes need to make speeches? I dunno how long before this thing explodes," he said, pointing to the drive core, which was glowing orange.

"Shut up, Packrat," said Ramulus.

"He's not wrong though," said Icebird, "We need to leave while we still can."

On cue, the core began to spark a little. Primal Prime spotted this and said quickly, "And with that, we must depart. Maximals, it's time to go home."

With that the Mutants and Maximals headed through. The last one headed through just as the core exploded, the girls jumping back as a small globe of energy consumed it and part of the gate before vanishing; it, the ground, and the section of portal its energy globe had taken gone, the cut parts smoking.

"Well, we ain't goin' that way no more," said Applejack.

"But we still need to find Fluttershy," said Rainbow Dash.

"Are you guys finished down there?" snappd Matt, making them all jump.

"Yes, we'll be coming back up," said Twilight.

"Ok, grab a copy of the ship's computer. A road map for the area would make things easier," said Matt.

"What roads?" asked Rainbow Dash, looking at the uninhabited area.

"Ok, who wants to fly into a black hole on the way to the local wormhole? No takers? Then get a copy of their navicomp," said Matt in an irritated voice.

---

Some time later, the ship was leaving Earth's atmosphere. "Ok, so where to now?" asked Applejack, "We got Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, but we're still short one Fluttershy."

"Oh cry me a river," snapped Dante, from his chair. He had foiled attempts to re-gag him by biting, Matt kicking his chair into a spin.

"Any ideas where to start looking? That won’t make the ship explode?" asked Matt.

"You know, I've been thinking about that," said Twilight, "Vector Prime told us that we'd find Pinkie and Dash on Cybertron."

"Yeah. I think he got it wrong," said Dante smugly.

"Maybe he wasn't wrong," said Twilight, "Maybe he was showing us where we'd all be after we found Dash and Pinkie. Which means we'll find Fluttershy on Cybertron."

"Oh no, no, no, no. We're at war. Going to the enemy’s homeworld is not usually a good idea," snapped Dante, struggling in his bonds.

"Maybe you're not at war with this Cybertron," said Pinkie.

"And if you're wrong, we're all dead," snapped Dante.

Just then, the girls' Cutie Marks started lighting up. "Oh no," muttered Matt as the screens began to light up again. Thankfully, probably due to being in the same universe, it wasn't as severe as last time. Though there was a lot of static electricity building up. "Make it quick..." said Matt with concern.

A hologram appeared of Cybertron, with one part of it highlighted. The tricky part was that it was set about 10,300 years in the future. "Nice...bit off, girls," sneered Dante.

"That's what the time drive's for," said Matt.

"Well we're not using it!" snapped Dante.

Matt grinned, "Activate the T-Jump drive? Yes sir."

Dante snapped, "OH COME ON!"

"Buckle in, girls. There may be some time turbulence," said Matt.

"I HATE YOU!" yelled Dante before the drive engaged...

---

10 and a bit millennia later as the NSC starship flies...

Cybertron...a machine world. A few years ago, it had been bustling, an uneasy truce between Maximal and Predacon. Now that was gone, erased by Megatron's viral weapon and Vehicon armies. Just a small group now fought him, and Megatron's ego would not allow him to be concerned. He controlled the entire planet and its orbital weaponry. He could crush them at his leisure...

Only the occasional straggler ship disturbed the peace of his harmonic world, but the automated space-cannons could easily bring them down and his Vehicons could pick off the survivors. Speaking of which, something just appeared in orbit just now.

His scanners picked up the outer defense satellites firing, the shots converging on the new ship. After a minute, the shots connected, only for the ship to still be there, two objects shooting back and destroying the satellites.

"Looks like this ship has its own defenses," said Megatron, "No matter, it can't fend off the entire orbital array."

A minute later, the dot faded from scanners. Megatron, however, wasn't satisfied. Something was amiss. And the last thing he wanted was more Maximals appearing.

---

"Ok, cloak’s up. Little gits almost scratched the paint," snapped Matt.

"We're all gonna die. I told you so," snapped Dante.

Everyone yelled, "SHUT UP!" Dante just muttered to himself.

"Why did they fire at us?" asked Twilight, "We're not showing any factions. They should have at least sent us a warning first."

"Yeah, I think we shouldn't land at their spaceport. Might be safer to land in the sticks," said Matt.

"Let me find a good landing spot," said Rarity before she turned on her radar. Immediately, her sensors detected hundreds of thousands of empty spots moving around, some above the buildings or moving along its streets at varying speed. Rarity shook her head and said, "I don't suppose you're picking up any life down there."

Matt rolled his seat over to a scanner checking it. "No...nothing...planet’s dead," he muttered, scanning for sparks.

"I'm still detecting activity though," said Rarity.

"What sort of activity?" asked Matt carefully.

"It's...I'm not sure. Like hundreds of empty shells running around," said Rarity.

Dante perked up at that. "Zombies?" he said in a terror-filled voice.

"No, more like...drones," said Rarity.

"Ok, anywhere we can land? These old scanners track energy, not movement," said Matt, slapping the scanner as it flickered.

"Over there," said Rarity, pointing.

Matt looked over at a huge building. "Oh good, I hope the roof’s rated for 30 tons," he muttered, setting the controls.

Dante snapped, "I am not leaving this ship if there's robo zombies."

"They've got robo-zombies? Cool," said Rainbow Dash.

"Not as cool as you may think," said Rarity.

"Ok...aaand we've landed," said Matt with a sigh of relief.

Dante muttered, "A safe landing...first for everything..."

"Ok, let's find Fluttershy before something finds the ship," said Rarity.

"Don't worry. We've got a cloaking device. Dante, you guard the ship," said Matt, Dante opening his mouth to yell, only for Matt to spray riot foam over it. "That's the spirit, stealth," said Matt with an evil grin before following the girls.

---

This Cybertron was very different from Axiom Nexus. It was...too quiet. A city devoid of any people. Matt, for one, didn’t like it. Maybe Dante had a point about the zombies? The city fitted the bill. "Tell me there's something out there," he asked his mech AI.

"No energy signals detected," said Serina, "I bet this is how those Cybertronians feel around us."

"There must be something..." snapped Matt as the group headed along a street, Matt hanging back.

"There are traces of...something...it's partially biological..." said Serina before pausing, "Motion sensors have several targets closing fast."

"Probably our cue to run," said Twilight.

"Let's get off the street," said Matt cautiously.

Matt and the girls headed down one of the alleys. They soon found an entrance to the subways.

It was just in time too, as several vehicles shot past the alley, before the last few paused, and headed into the alley too, transforming into drone bots.

"Registering zero spark signatures," said Serina.

"Ah, so I don't have to feel guilty about scrapping them," said Matt.

"Maximals sighted," intoned one of the drones, readying some sort of canister.

"GIRLS!" snapped Matt, seemingly getting their attention before his mech’s coilgun tore the canister drone to pieces. The canister released a green gas, which Matt was pretty sure no one wanted to breathe.

The other drones began firing at the group, the girls scattering and Matt unbothered too much as, as usual, his mech proved harder to hit then a mosquito in a hurricane. "Get underground!" called Matt.

The girls didn’t need telling, heading down the stairs, Matt going last, firing back. "Ooh...almost forgot to close the door," he muttered, slamming a demo charge on the wall. His mech made it down to the tunnel with the girls just as the charge exploded, collapsing the entrance.

"I hope those things didn't get Fluttershy," said Twilight.

"Well, let's see if I can find her here," said Rarity before turning on her radar.

"No radar. You might as well yell 'here we are' to those things if they're looking for us," said Matt, shining his mechs searchlights down a tunnel.

"Then how are we supposed to find her?" asked Rarity.

"That I don't know..." said Matt reluctantly.

"Hmm...you think we can try and sense her together again?" asked Rainbow.

"We head deeper first. If we're being tracked, I'll feel happy with a few dozen feet of bedrock blocking the scanners," said Matt.

"Cybertron has bedrock?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Let’s just go this..." began Matt before pausing. "Girls? When I say run...run..." he said, his mech sensors detecting more movement.

"What?" asked Pinkie before she felt a twitch.

"RUN!” yelled Matt, turning to fire down the tunnel, several of the bike drones being torn apart.

Twilight fired a few blasts before she and the other girls ran.

"Hey...where you going?" sneered one of the biker drones, before yelping as Matt’s mech grabbed it.

"Hey, we haven’t finished our discussion," Matt snapped, throwing it at its fellows.

Meanwhile, the ponies had fled further down the tunnel. "We're going to need to break off somewhere," said Twilight, "Or we'll just be running in a straight line and they'll be sure to catch us."

Rarity paused at that, a faint signal coming from a side tunnel. "That way," she called, pointing. Rarity headed down the side tunnel, the others following.

"What about Matt? Ah don’t think he can handle alla them varmints," said Applejack.

"I'd be surprised if he couldn't," said Rarity.

The group headed round a corner and ran into another group of bots, who were hauling several energon cubes "What the-" was all the time one of the bots had to say before there was a pretty massive collision.

The group rolled to a halt against the side wall, Pinkie bouncing on top, having somehow avoided being tangled. "Hi," she said cheerfully to the newcomers.

"Someone lose their herd?" asked a voice near the bottom.

Twilight teleported herself free before using her magic to help everyone up. "I'm sorry. We were trying to lose some robot bikes..." she began.

"Wait a nanoklik," said a familiar voice, "Twilight?" A yellow cybertronian walked forward at that, a happy smile on her face.

"Fluttershy!" said Twilight happily before running over and hugging her friend. She was soon joined by the rest of the mares.

Matt looked over. "Oh that was quick. Dante, we got her, we're coming back...Dante?" he said into his com, only getting dead air.

"What's a human doing on Cybertron?" asked a female voice.

"Well he's certainly more evolved than the last bunch of humans we met," said a male voice.

Matt turned to face the voices and stared. In front of his mech was the largest rat and more important to his primal terror, SPIDER, he'd ever seen. Matt didn't have a particular fear of spiders, not like his sister. But when a spider is above a certain size limit, then anyone would be scared.

Before his brain could reboot, his mouth decided to ask "Are you gonna eat me?" in a small voice.

"And get indigestion?" asked the spider derisively.

"Cute," said Matt icily, before checking his mech’s scanners, "Let's continue this reunion where we aren’t sitting ducks."

"Another energon run left undone," said a huge bat with annoyance.

Matt fired a few disks into the wall, already shaking as the Vehicons on the other side were digging through. "Lead the way," he said.

The group quickly headed on. Presently, some Mole Drones drilled through a wall before going in their direction.

"Don’t worry, they won’t follow for long," called Matt, the drones approaching the disks he'd dropped, said disks glowing before a grid of thin red beams shot across the tunnel, the lead drone going through them before falling into pieces.

"You were aware those were drones before you set those traps, right?" asked the gorilla.

"They're drones?" said Matt, firing a micromissile at another drone that had gotten the uncharacteristically good idea to try and drill a trench under the laser disks.

"Er, he's jokin'...mostly," said Applejack, "He knows ta hold back with sparked bots."

"Don't hold back on our account," said the cheetah, "There's nothing but sparkless drones here. Except for Thrust."

"Which one's Thrust?" asked Twilight.

"Get them!" yelled an angry voice.

"That'll be him," said Cheetor.

"I've got this," said the condor before in a flash of yellow light, he shifted to an avian robot mode with a rather prominent topknot. He pulled out several feather-shaped knives before throwing them.

He sent them out with neat throws, hitting a drone each, before they exploded. "Niiiice," said Matt, aiming his coil gun and firing a shot that went through one drone and took the arm off one behind it.

Somewhere in the back, a Cycle Drone with yellow markings decided to back up. This was way too many for him to handle, even with the Vehicon armies at his command. "Megatron isn't gonna like this," he muttered before changing to bike mode and driving off.

---

As the group headed deeper, Matt managed to get some introductions. Cheetor was the cat one and apparently, he and Fluttershy were an item. The rat was called Rattrap, was annoying and apparently from Cleveland. The spider was called Blackarachnia and was gonna haunt his nightmares forever and the gorilla, whose name he hadn’t gotten yet, was in charge. The bat who reminded Matt of every whiny, angsty teen he ever met was Nightscream. The brooding condor was Silverbolt, even though he wasn't very silver. Apparently, he and Blackarachnia were also an item, but going through a rough patch right now.

Matt tried his com again. "Dante...pick up..." he said nervously.

There was a crackle before a voice that wasn't Dante's said, "It was bad enough when Maximals brought organic trash to Cybertron. But now they're bringing humans?"

Matt paused, switching on the scrambler before he said, "Is this the speaking clock? I'd like to lodge a complaint."

"You realize you have no chance of escape," said Megatron's voice, "I control the entire planet. And there is no place on it for organics."

"I assume you're the one who fired ion cannons at my ship? Didn't even break a plate in the break room," taunted Matt.

"Your ship? You mean the one my Vehicon army has surrounded?" asked Megatron mockingly.

"How many haven’t come out?" asked Matt evilly...

---

Dante had almost gotten free, buoyed on by the thought of what he'd do to Matt once he got his hands on him when the doors to the bridge exploded inwards, several bike drones coming in. "Lemme guess, surrender?" said Dante in a dark voice.

The drones didn't speak, just aimed at him. "Oh, no witty banter? Good, I'm sick of it," said Dante.

He 'accidentally' flicked a switch, a hatch in the roof opening. The drones aimed at it before pausing as a small turret, barely handheld lowered. The drones looked at one another before their shoulders shook, apparently laughing, even as the turret began to make a rapid clicking noise. The laughing ended when a blue bolt shot out, blowing one drone in half. The other readied its blaster before shaking as a 'braaaaak' noise was heard and it fell forward, revealing a multi-barreled weapon and its back looking like it had lost a fight with an industrial can opener.

"Some assholes just don’t knock," muttered Dante, sitting back in his seat.

---

"Here's my advice, speaking clock. Back off. I'll be gone with my associate and if I'm very happy, I won’t recommend a sanitization fleet come pay you a visit," said Matt with an evil little chuckle. It was, of course, a bluff. All the fleets were assigned at the front, way out the way, but the voice didn’t know that.

"This will not go unanswered," said Megatron's voice before he hung up.

Matt rolled his eyes. "Guys? I just got a call from an angry voice," he said, switching back to speakers.

"Let me guess. Organic filth, blah, blah, blah. Single elegant machine, blah, blah, blah. Destroy us all, blah, blah, blah," said Nightscream.

"More or less. Apparently some of his gents boarded our ship. They're gonna have a reallllly bad last few minutes," said Matt.

"Even so, I think it's best that you get off this planet as soon as you can," said the gorilla.

"Optimus is right," said Cheetor, "Megatron has the numbers. And he might bring even bigger guns."

"Wait a minute," said Matt,

"You're Optimus?"

"Yes," said the gorilla.

"I thought you were a truck," said Matt.

Optimus cleared his throat in an annoyed way and said, "You're thinking of Optimus Prime, my predecessor. I am Optimus Primal."

"And fer the record, Megatron ain't the original Megatron neither," said Rattrap.

"Dimensional travel is a migraine maker," muttered Matt.

---

Once Thrust had gotten a safe-enough distance, he shifted back to robot mode. "Megatron, we've got a serious problem," he said.

"And you ran away instead of fighting? Remind me...why do I keep you around?" snapped Megatron.

"Are you kidding? There's about twice as many of them now," said Thrust, "I'm only one bot. And those drones aren't enough."

"Indeed, given that the Vehicons I sent to take their ship have vanished. It’s just as well I know someone more competent," said Megatron.

Just then, an alert from the planetary defense grid caught Megatron's attention. "As if all that weren't enough, now there's a ship coming in," snapped Megatron.

Megatron acted immediately, moving the orbital weapons to target the ship, before a smug voice came over the communication channel. "Megatron...is this how you treat an old friend?" said a familiar voice.

"Cyrotek..." snarled Megatron.

"It's been too long, hasn't it?" asked Cryotek, "Well, longer for me than it has for you."

"Why are you here and why shouldn’t I vaporize you?" said Megatron darkly.

Cryotek laughed, "Oh please, I'm simply here to pick up some of my property."

"Your equine, I presume," said Megatron.

"More than her," said Cryotek, "In fact, my lost herd has all gathered here. How convenient for me."

"That's if I let you. Why should I?" asked Megatron before the beeps of more ships was heard...alot more ships.

The smugness was clear in Cryotek’s voice as lock-on warnings were heard, "Because...I’m going to say...please."

Megatron snarled. There were enough ships that they could take down much of the planetary defense grid before they were destroyed. That could tip the balance away from him. "Oh, Megatron, so grim and serious," said Cryotek, "Whatever happened to the Machiavellian Predacon who laughed with his minions and took enjoyment from his work?"

"You betrayed me, Cryotek. Did you really think I'd welcome you into my domain?" snapped Megatron.

"As I recall, you betrayed me as well," said Cryotek, "But you ended better off with the Golden Disk."

"This has nothing to do with the Golden Disk," said Megatron, "You think I haven't forgotten what you did when I returned to Cybertron?"

"Megatron, I warned you, more than once that your little virus was unstable. Any effects you didn’t want are your fault," sneered Cryotek.

"Such as when you tried to turn me into your dog while you stole my beast mode?" snapped Megatron.

"Well, I think I wear it much better than you," said Cryotek, "I can't believe you were in such a rush to get rid of it."

"You were the one that showed me organics had no place in our people...or that I could trust anyone else," snapped Megatron.

Cryotek laughed. "I never said anything about you trusting me," he laughed before he said, "Now then...business. My far superior Vehicons are more than capable of rounding up my wayward experiments. If you want to help, help. If you get in my way then...well, I’ve found some wonderful new weapons that could turn the Grand Mal into vapor."

"Still relying on underlings?" asked Megatron balefully.

"Oh, as if you've gotten your own servos dirty recently. If you still have servos," said Cryotek.

"Fine, send your troops. But when they fail, and they will, you have to do your own dirty work," sneered Megatron.

"Oh, Megatron. You always did sell your own pawns short," chuckled Cryotek.

"Well? Do you accept my conditions?" snapped Megatron.

Cryotek said, "Part of me is hoping my team does fail. I've been itching to stretch your...oh, I mean my legs."

Megatron glared. He had half a mind to shift the Grand Mal to ship mode and remove Cryotek from the universe. Megatron shut down the cannons before saying, "If this is just a waste of time, I will destroy your fleet and take the damage."

"Oh, Megatron, when was the last time you entertained yourself?" asked Cyrotek in a pseudo-jovial tone.

"I really hope Primal kills you," snapped Megatron, shutting the line down.

---

Matt's team and the Maximals were making their way back to where the ship was. However, they had to go through a few detours first.

"If I have to go down one more side tunnel..." muttered Matt, checking his mech’s scanner.

"It ain't that bad," said Rattrap.

"You're a rat, you thrive in mazes," said Matt flatly.

"I only look like a rat," said Rattrap icily.

Matt said, "Whoopty do. Any more detours?"

"Pardon me, Matt. It is Matt, right?" asked Fluttershy.

"Yes," said Matt.

"You really need to be more considerate of your allies. You don't always get to choose them and you'll need them even if you don't want them."

"Pardon me, I'm on the homeworld of a race that turned 15 border colonies into so much radioactive slag," said Matt icily, checking a side tunnel.

"Not these particular Transformers," said Fluttershy, "They haven't done anything to you."

"Yeah...it’s just got a psychopath who literally sucked the souls out of his entire race," said Matt smugly.

"Which we're trying to restore," said Optimus.

"And making great progress," said Matt. Matt yelped as his mech was pulled aside.

"Matt, a word," said Fluttershy, sounding angry.

"Huh, Fluttershy's stronger than I remember," commented Applejack.

"I’m not in the mood, Fluttershy," snapped Matt before yelping as all his controls lit up with error messages, the screens glowing green. "Hey...what the..." he snapped.

"Now listen here," she said angrily, "These Maximals have been risking their sparks to stop Megatron, even if it seems like a lost cause. They're all that stands between Megatron and complete domination. And do you think Megatron would settle for just ruling Cybertron if he wins?"

"Cut it out! You're frying my systems and I don’t wanna find out if the local air is good for me," snapped Matt, trying various controls.

"You want to be mad at Transformers. Fine. But only be mad at the ones who deserve it. There are good robots among them and you shouldn't be judging everyone before you actually get to know them," snapped Fluttershy.

There was a spark next to him, the cockpit shorting and opening. "Oh shi..." began Matt before coughing and hacking, the air, as he'd feared not being exactly...suitable. He paused before sniffing. The air was a little stale, considering this was a tunnel, but his nanites were telling him the oxygen was at an acceptable level.

"Oh thank God," he managed. Then he turned to Fluttershy and snapped, "Do realize what could have happened? My eyeballs could have been sucked from their sockets! It’s ok for you. You guys can cope in vacuum."

"Well, I'm not really one of them," said Fluttershy.

"Could have fooled me," said Matt, "You've gotten pretty close to them, haven't you?"

Fluttershy blushed at that, nobody missing when her eyes went briefly to Cheetor.

Matt sighed and said, "You realize you have to go back with your friends and you can't take him with you."

"We don’t even know where home is. All we have are some vague memories," said Fluttershy, calmly.

"I suppose your planet hasn't done much space exploration yet," said Matt.

Pinkie Pie said cheerfully, "Applejack lassoed the moon once and we went there to rescue Rarity...I think. It’s hard keeping track sometimes."

Matt managing "What?" in a confused tone before shaking his head. "I'm betting astrophysics aren't a thing on your world either," said Matt.

There was a pause, Matt saying, "I rest my case. No way you'd be on the NSC radar even if there wasn't a damn war on."

"So we can't count on their help when we take on Cryotek," said Twilight.

"That depends. So far you and your buddies are the only ones who haven't shot at us on sight," said Matt.

"Well, ya'll ain't really the neighborly types," said Applejack.

"Erm...first contact, your 'enemies' nuked a farming colony with 900,000 people on it for that energon stuff," said Matt coldly, his eyes narrowing.

"Again, you're associating the entire race with the bad individuals," said Fluttershy.

"Those 'bad individuals' make up 50% or more," said Matt, "And quite often, the 'good guys' are a very small minority."

"Ah suppose that’s something else those varmints are guilty off,” said Applejack.

Matt sighed and said, "You know, I do want to help. But have any of you thought of what you'll actually do when you're back together?"

"We'll get those meanie pants off our home and turn ourselves back," said Pinkie cheerfully.

Matt said, "And if this is permanent? Even the NSC hasn't worked out how to put AI's in organic bodies."

The girls hesitated at that. "Well...I'm sure we'll find a way to adapt," said Twilight.

"I have to be in a 2-story high combat mechanoid to look you in the eye..." pointed out Matt.

"We're not that tall," said Rarity.

"Well, I'm sure you're still giants among ponies," said Matt.

"I...I don’t want to go..." said Fluttershy in a small voice.

"Fluttershy, I know you care about Cheetor, but we can't just leave Equestria in the hands of Cryotek," said Twilight.

"I might never see him again," said Fluttershy sadly.

"I know, but we can't just leave everyone in Equestria behind," said Twilight, "What would Angel Bunny do without you?"

The others behind Twilight got distant looks as their imaginations went into overdrive.

---

Angel laughed maniacally as he forced the other animals to till his carrot fields. All who dared oppose the great Angel Bunny would suffer until they begged for mercy.

---

"Bad example?" asked Twilight.

"Bad example," confirmed Rainbow Dash.

"He's not that bad..." Fluttershy began before she admitted, "We need to find a way home soon."

"Right, so are we any closer to our ship yet?" asked Matt to the Maximals.

"Pretty close, but there’s no tunnels into the building you want. We'll need to cross a square," said Blackarachnia.

"Good spot for an ambush," muttered Matt.

"Agreed," said Primal, the group looking at the bare huge square, the building they wanted at the far end.

Twilight levitated a piece of scrap metal up before tossing it into the square. The metal clanked along before sliding to a halt in the middle...nothing. "Ok...I'll go first," said Matt calmly, moving his mech out. He was halfway across the square before a blue beam lanced down and through the mech, sending it sprawling.

"Matt!" yelled the girls.

A black and white racecar and a small blue jet went over to Matt's mech before transforming into Mirage and Dirge. "It's not one of the ponies," said Dirge.

"It's one of the bots who busted them out," said Mirage, kicking the mech before peering closer, "Hey...this ain’t a bot."

Dirge peered as well before aiming his blaster at the hole, a semi-conscious Matt just visible. "Ok, girls,” he called, “You led our boss quite the chase. Come on out now or your organic pet gets turned to jam."

There was a long quiet moment, though Mirage kept his optics on where Matt had come out. "I really suggest you give out now. We're the polite invitation for you to return," Dirge called. He sighed as there was no reaction.

Mirage said, "Guess they have a spare human." The two aimed and their guns started to charge.

There was a small salvo of gunfire shot at them, forcing the two of them to duck down.

"Maybe they do care," laughed Mirage, firing back till Dirge shoved his aim up.

"Don't be an idiot. Boss wants them alive," Dirge snapped.

"I was only going to hobble them," said Mirage.

"You wanna risk your aim being off, be my guest. They clearly want the human safe," snapped Dirge before he yelled, "You gonna surrender peacefully or do I stomp your human? As for you other Maximals, we haven’t got any scrap with you. We just want the equines. Just turn around and walk away."

"We don't let Vehicons hurt innocent bots!" called Cheetor.

"Vehicon? You're comparing me to Megatron's vegetables? I'm insulted," yelled Dirge.

"They're still slicker than you," said Mirage.

"Oh, what would you know, you mass-produced cannon fodder?" snapped Dirge.

"Hey, still smarter than those morons," snapped Mirage.

---

"We oughta hit them fast before they know what happens," said Rainbow Dash.

"But they have Matt right there," said Rarity.

"Maybe Twilight can immobilize them," suggested Pinkie.

"No, as soon as they notice you trying to stasis lock them, they'll shoot," said Primal.

"Maybe we should circle around," suggested Nightscream.

"Same problem," said Cheetor before all their coms came to life.

"Girls? Dammit..." hissed Matt’s voice in a desperate whisper.

"Are you ok?" asked Twilight desperately.

"Barely. Everything's rebooting and there's a leak in the reactor and I just bet the minute I move these gents stomp on me," replied Matt.

"Should I teleport you out of there?" asked Twilight.

"No, I got an idea. I'll be along to you in a second. Be ready to catch me," said Matt.

---

There was a click from the mech, Mirage looking down in time for the foot-mounted jump boosters on Matt’s mech to ignite, one plume engulfing Mirage’s foot and the mech shooting back across the square in a shower of sparks.

"MY FOOT!" screamed Mirage.

"What are you waiting for? Get after them!" snapped Dirge.

"On this?" snapped Mirage, holding up his half-melted leg, "I can't even transform with this!"

"Urgh...all units, take the subjects," snapped Dirge into his com, several squads of Cryotek’s Vehicons opening fire on the cover. A few Chase Drones zoomed into the building as Demolition Drones started taking the walls apart.

A hail of energy fire sent them running back, another mech firing. Dirge groaned and said, "The boss isn't going to be happy about this."

"Just shut up and help me hop out of here!" snapped Mirage.

The new mech stomped out, peering around before Dante's voice said, "Lynch, you and those brats better be here or I swear I will carpet bomb this planet till I find you..."

"Sorry, Dante, couldn't find the key for the back door," called Matt.

"Saw that tin can nail you. You moving?" snapped Dante, heading over and pushing Cheetor aside rudely to examine Matt’s mech.

"Nothing the ship's repair bay can't fix," said Matt, "But it's not fully operational until then."

Dante turned to look at the others. "You guys are not getting a ride, 6 berths only. No freeloaders," he snapped.

"Our war with Megatron isn't finished," said Optimus, "Not until the sparks are free and the balance between organics and technology is restored."

"Great...robo-hippies. Well, we're stuck for a few more hours. Last break-in forced the engine coils to reset," said Dante, seemingly being rude just on purpose. Cheetor growled, but Fluttershy put a hoof on his shoulder.

"That damn lab ship we were on when we ran into AJ is in orbit, with what looks like several full battlegroups," continued Dante

"So even if we can get the ship flying, we'd have no way out," said Matt.

"We could probably get past 'em," said Dante, adding, "But after that, I bet whoever’s running that fleet is gonna be pissed."

"If Cryotek chased us all the way here, I doubt he will give up so easily," said Rarity.

---

Cryotek glared at Mirage and Dirge. "You had 3 squads. There's just 6 of them. 8 if you include those damn humans with them...and you failed," he said coldly.

"One of those humans just melted my foot," said Mirage.

"And you let him. What do I even keep you around for?" snapped Cryotek.

"I think you need to take those humans more seriously," said Dirge, "The only reason we're having to round up these experiments is because they got onto the ship in the first place."

"Yes, but that was an army. This is two of them...just...two," said Cryotek warningly.

"Equipped with exo-suits, I might add," said Mirage.

"Urgh...if I ever find out how those humans got old tech. Dirge, take Mirage to the repair bay. I have an appointment planetside," said Cryotek calmly.

"Don't tell me you're going to fight them yourself," said Dirge. "Of course I will...after I have Blastcharge soften them up first," said Cryotek.

"How are we gonna find them? The tunnels of this Cybertron are scanner-shielded," said Dirge.

Cryotek smirking and calling up a screen. "You really think I don’t tag my experiments?" he sneered, a cluster of blips on the scanner.

---

Fluttershy was in a dilemma. She knew she had to return to Equestria with her friends. But she felt like her spark belonged here with Cheetor. She knew she couldn't abandon her friends, but how was she going to tell Cheetor?

Of course, Applejack, Element of Honesty, had told her what to do. "Just tell that you have ta go. Tellin' truths like this is like rippin' off a bandage: it stings, it'll leave a mark, but it needs ta be done."

Of course, it still didn't feel right. Part of her still wanted to stay. But as she reminded herself, kindness wasn't always about being nice to people. Sometimes, you have to be a little tough to do what was best for them. And that included herself as well.

She spotted Cheetor at that, gulping before heading towards him. "Uh, Cheetor," said Fluttershy.

"Yeah?" asked Cheetor.

Fluttershy sighed and said, "We need to talk."

"This is about you leaving, isn’t it?" said Cheetor sadly.

"I'm afraid so," said Fluttershy.

Cheetor sighed with a smile. "Man...I just keep having the worst luck," he said wistfully.

"I'd stay if I could. I almost feel a part of this world," said Fluttershy.

"Maybe you'll be able to come back?" said Cheetor.

"I hope so," said Fluttershy, "I'd like to see Cybertron after you've restored the balance of nature."

"How touching," said a smug voice apparently in her ear.

Fluttershy turned around and asked, "Who was that?"

"Don't bother. I’m not there yet, Subject 4, but I’m coming. Your human friends won't protect you or your fellow subjects this time," sneered the voice.

If Fluttershy's face could go pale, she'd already be white by now.

"Did you really think I didn’t know exactly where you were? That there's anywhere you can hide?" sneered the voice, "I may have allowed you some slacks, but I'm putting you on much shorter leashes. Or should I say, lead ropes?"

Fluttershy whimpered at that, Cheetor looking at her with concern. "What's wrong?" asked Cheetor, "Is it Megatron?"

"No...it's worse," whimpered Fluttershy, shaking in his arms as the voice laughed.

"Maybe I'll deal with that Maximal pet of yours first? Mirage and Dirge gave you my gentle invitation. My next messenger is going to be rougher." Just then, Cheetor and Fluttershy heard the roaring of a loud motor coming.

"I thought I'd send a friend of mine. I hope you give him a warm welcome. He has a...temper," sneered the voice, an explosion heard.

The two looked up the tunnel to see a large tan armored truck with red stripes, six wheels, and a turret on its roof barreling towards them. "Gotcha now!" yelled the truck. The two Maximals scattered as the truck's turret fired, the shots narrowly missing to hit the far end of the vast room. "Get back here, you stupid little animals!" snapped the truck.

"This guy’s new. Friend of those other two?" called Cheetor as the truck tore after them, firing indiscriminately.

"Probably," said Fluttershy, "I think I'd remember someone as loud as him."

"Boss wants you! Boss is gonna get you!" yelled the truck before a blast hit it in the side, though it barely dented it.

"Hey guys," called Matt, "Who's the Humvee with the volume control problem?"

The truck's turret rotated to fire at Matt at that. "Boss doesn’t want you!" it snapped as Matt’s mech threw itself to the ground.

Just then, a few shots hit the truck's rear. "Take that, you gas guzzler!" snapped Rarity.

"Gas guzzler?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"When you've been in Axiom Nexus long enough, you pick up a few things," said Rarity.

Dante yelled, "Just shoot the asshole!" firing a hail of micro-missiles.

The missiles didn't do so much as ding the paintjob. But it did tick off the truck enough to transform. The rearmost pair of wheels form the legs while the front of the truck became the back, the turret now sticking out the robot's chest. "There's a reason I'm called Blastcharge," said the robot before firing his turret.

"Oh shit," muttered Dante before two shots sent his mech flying.

"Boss only wants the ponies. You guys are just bonus points," said Blastcharge.

"Then let's make the game harder," called Rainbow Dash.

Matt saying, "Oh, that’s a good line." before they both fired a barrage.

However, what Blastcharge clearly lacked in processing power, he more than made up for in armor plating. "You guys can't even tickle me," he said.

"Light this creep up!" yelled Matt.

Rainbow Dash shot some lightning bolts at Blastcharge, which caused electricity to dance over his metal surface. But it seemed to slow him down a little bit. "Ha, nothing you guys got can stop me!" boasted Blastcharge.

Dante and Matt looked at one another, Dante saying "Challenge accepted." before they both fired.

Blastcharge just laughed as their attacks bounced off. "Dammit, he's armored everywhere!" snapped Matt.

"Except for that tiny little brain in there," said Dash.

"That's it!" said Twilight, "Guys, don't look directly at me."

Blastcharge laughed as his enemies ducked down, Fluttershy tackling the confused Cheetor down into cover.

Then Twilight emitted a bright technicolor blast of many dazzling colors. "Heh, pretty. So what?" asked Blastcharge before taking a step forward. Then it felt like the room started spinning around him. "Hey...hey, stop that!" snapped Blastcharge, staggering.

"What did you do?" asked Applejack.

"I just took out his inner gyroscope," said Twilight.

"How about something more disorienting?" asked Blackarachnia before throwing a web mine which covered Blastcharge's upper body with sticky green silk.

"Hey, you damn Maximals!" snapped Blastcharge, trying to get the webmine off.

Nightscream sent a sonic blast at Blastcharge. Blastcharge was a little too heavy to be knocked over, but it did rattle his audio receptors fiercely.

"When I get my hands on you..." yelled Blastcharge, trying to move and staggering.

Blackarachnia threw out a webline near ground level. Quite predictably, Blastcharge came stumbling over the line. Blastcharge yelled angrily as he went over. The impact of him hitting aground nearly knocked the nearest bots off their feet. But Blackarachnia quickly webbed down the big bruiser. "The bigger they are, the harder they fall," she said smugly.

Fluttershy flinched as the voice came back, she saw Rainbow Dash pause too. "Congratulations. You beat a barely-sentient siege weapon."

Blastcharge, apparently heard it too as he went gloomily, "Aw..."

"Yeah we did," said Rainbow Dash, "We can take anything you throw at us. If you really want us, come get us yourself."

"Well, if you insist," sneered the voice.

"Dash, has anyone told you the dangers of boasting or challenging villains?" asked Matt.

"He said he knows where we are..." said Fluttershy shakily before taking a breath, "We need to go. If they come here..."

"At least we're not at the base," said Cheetor, "Anyways, it would still take time for Cryotek to catch up."

"He could be calling from anywhere. We need to move now," snapped Dante.

"Yeah, someplace a little warmer," said Pinkie, "Being half-reptile makes me more cold-blooded."

"It is getting cold," said Rarity, Matt yelping as frost formed on his viewports.

"Move!" yelled Optimus.

The group scattered as a big drop pod smashed through the now-frozen roof. The big drop pod opened, releasing icy mists. The bot who stepped out looked like, to Optimus's team, a near-exact copy of Megatron with his unaltered dragon body. The big difference was that Cryotek had a different head and a blue, teal, and purple color scheme.

"Now then, my subjects. I would prefer you not make a fuss," Cryotek began.

"You're not taking anyone," said Optimus.

Cryotek looked at him. "Ah, Optimus Primal, we meet at last. I've heard so much about you from Megatron. Here are his regards." With that, he shot freezing spray from his dragon head. The blast glanced on Optimus as he dived, flash-freezing his right side. "Dear me. I wonder if technorganics can get frostbite," said Cryotek with mock concern.

"Optimus!" yelled Cheetor.

Cryotek smirked, "Oh, I wonder how it works on fur?"

"No!" screamed Fluttershy. She jumped in front of Cheetor, her wing shield in front of her. Cryotek's ice blast hit the shield, but it wasn't stopped. The coldness spread over the shield, quickly covering up her arms before reaching her body. The others stared in horror as the ice covered her, before she fell backwards, rigid, Cheetor catching her.

"Oh, you are deaaad..." said Matt, aiming his coilgun, though Cryotek looked even more annoyed.

"This is the human who threw a monkey wrench into my designs?" asked Cryotek.

"I assume Captain Hot Foot’s yours, you overgrown toaster oven," snapped Matt.

Cryotek said, "Oh please."

"Toaster oven? He's clearly a walking ice cream machine," said Dante.

"First one to blow off an arm is right," said Matt.

Cryotek sent two blasts of concentrated cold that froze up the exo-suits’ right arms. "I am always right," said Cryotek. Several blasts shot at him at that. "You know, you can waste your time fighting me, which will only end badly for you. But the technorganic will be past hope by the time we're finished," said Cryotek.

"Never!" snapped Twilight.

"I'm sure the hypothermia disagrees with you," said Cryotek. Applejack glared as Cryotek kept them from getting to Cheetor and Fluttershy. "Of course I have a store of treated energon on my ship," he sneered

Then Applejack spotted a small energon cube cluster, noticing Matt saw it too. His mech nodding at her before he switched to a private channel. "I dunno if you can swap frequencies so don’t reply. Tell me, you people know baseball?" he said. Applejack gave a small but perceptible nod.

Cryotek, unaware of the exchange, continued his talk. "Now, really, girls where did you think you were going to go without me?" he sneered.

"We were going to come back and kick your skidplate," said Rainbow Dash.

"Oh please. Even if you found your seventh, I'm still lightyears ahead of you," said Cryotek.

"Seventh?" said Rarity.

Cryotek paused before he began laughing. "Oh by the Allspark. I suppose he really was a pet if you don’t remember your...what did you call him when you begged me to let him go...your little 'Spikey-Wikey," he sneered at Rarity.

"You're lying! You never-" snapped Rarity before wincing as she grabbed her head.

The others did too...

---

Ponyville was in chaos as the alien invaders strafed the town or combatted the guard as a small dragon ran through the chaos, headed for the crystal castle. The radio was mentioning that attacks were being reported all over the planet, as far north as the Crystal Empire and as far south as the Dragon Lands and Zebrica. An alien drone ran round the corner at that, chasing Bonbon and Lyra before it skidded to a halt, looking at him. "Unit 334 to control...got a sighting on a new lifeform..." it said coldly, aiming at him.

"We've got the six we've come from. We don't need any extras," said Cryotek's voice.

"Roger...terminating tar-" began the drone, aiming only for a blast of green fire to hit it and causing it to vanish with a pop.

"Thanks, Spike," said Lyra.

"You guys really need to get out of here," said Spike, "It's not safe on the streets."

"No offense, but it's not really that safe for you either," said Bonbon, "You should be running too."

"I have to find Twilight and her friends. I can't find any of them. I'm heading for the castle," said Spike, the three jumping as a fighter fell out the sky, apparently courtesy of Discord given one of its engines was now a giant cola bottle.

"Spike, they wouldn't want you getting in danger for their sake," said Lyra.

"You saw how I dealt with that guy. I can help," said Spike.

Bonbon sighed before saying, "Ok, the castle’s probably one of the safer places."

"Just don't try to start a fight with these things," said Lyra, "Hit them before they know you're there."

"No problem there," said Spike, waving to them before heading onto the castle. He turned the corner in time for three fighters around a larger ship to fly overhead, the fighters starting to fire on the castle doors. Even Spike knew this was complete overkill. How many ponies were even capable of putting up a fight to these machines?

Several more of the drones were jumping out of the larger ship, as well as a much larger one, looking like it was part truck. "Hurry it up!" snapped the robot, "The boss wants this dumb place secured."

"Energy field’s too strong," said one of the other drones.

The bot snapped, "Out the way, weaklings!" aiming its cannons at the door and firing, the door and surrounding frame blasting to shards. "There, you see? It's just a bunch of crystal. Spread out, secure the area and blow away anything that tries to stop you!" he yelled, Spike glaring at that.

This alien invasion had already wrecked a lot of his town, but now they were breaking into his own home. And Spike may be a little dragon, but even he had to feel territorial about that.

One of the drones turned as he ran out of cover, and screamed as he spat a fireball into its face. The others, including the bot, turned in surprise before he snapped to his troops, "Why are you standing there? GET IT!"

The drones aimed their blasters and fired at Spike, who ran around the blasts. "What's wrong with you? Can't you hit something that's right under you?" snapped the robot before aiming the turret on his chest.

The bot’s turret fired, three thermal shells shooting out and causing a fireball that took out several abandoned buildings near the little runt. "That's how you do it," he sneered, before three green fireballs shot out, taking out a further two of his drones and knocking the blaster arm off a third.

"Blastcharge, what's going on down there?" snapped Cryotek’s voice.

"I'm taking care of an annoying little runt. Looks like it has a heatproof hide," said Blastcharge.

"That's impossible. Your charges are as hot as molten rock. He should be dust. New orders, I want it alive. Something that can survive three Cybertronian cannon shells is worthy of my attention," said Cryotek, silencing any objection with, "I trust you won’t let me down..."

"You want me to grab that annoying little squeaker?" asked Blastcharge, "You know these drones aren't great grabbers, right?"

"That's why you have gas shells. Did you already forget?" snapped Cryotek.

"Urgh...knockout gas is a Maximal weapon," muttered Blastcharge, not noticing a fireball that scorched his armor before he switched to the hated non-lethal rounds and fired them into where the fireballs were coming from.

---

Suddenly, the scene cut to Cryotek addressing the girls in pods. "The problem with harnessing that energy you have is that your organic bodies do not mesh well with my instruments," said Cryotek, "But in robotic bodies, you would be far more compatible."

"What?" yelped Twilight, trying to summon a spell only for the pod to shock her and break her concentration.

"Oh, and I added energy sensors for you and the other horned one." said Cryotek, not looking up before adding, "Of course, you need to be alive at the end of it. So I think a little test is in order." Just then, Blastcharge stomped in, holding Spike. "Put him in pod 7," said Cryotek calmly.

"You leave our little Spikey-Wikey alone!" yelled Rarity.

Blastcharge laughed and said, "Spikey-Wikey? Boy, that would not be what I want to hear last."

"Really, my men found a well-equipped laboratory in the purple one’s home. As a fellow scientist, she can respect that everything needs testing," said Cryotek smugly as Blastcharge threw Spike into an empty pod, sealing it.

"I wouldn't worry too much. We dragons are hardy creatures. I think he has a good chance of surviving. That said...it might...sting," Cryotek sneered, pressing a few buttons and a modified spark extractor lowering.

Energy arched inside the pod, zapping Spike. The edges of his form became blurred as body seemed to convert into energy. "TWILIGHT!" Spike screamed.

Twilight tried to blast free again, only for the pod to shock her again. The other girls got similar shocks as they tried to get free. All they could do was watch as the screaming Spike turned into a glowing orb that the claw grabbed. "Process complete...cerebral activity at 89%," said the computer.

Cryotek clapped his hand and dragon head together. "Far better than I expected," he said.

"So what are you gonna do with him?" asked Blastcharge.

"Hmm...I do know someone on a Cybertron who needs protoforms for his work. Put him in one of them and have him sent in a supply pod," said Cryotek, "Now then, let's prepare the other subjects."

Twilight snapped, "You'll pay for this!"

Cryotek laughed, "Lady, if this works properly, you won’t even remember your name."

---

As the girls snapped out of their collective memory shock, they saw Cryotek with an infuriatingly smug look on his face. "You...you..." said Twilight, barely able to process her anger.

"Really? You're the ones who forgot he even existed," sneered Cryotek.

"You blocked that from our memories!" snapped Pinkie.

"Did I? Perhaps your own psyches prevented you from remembering so you wouldn't have to deal with the trauma," said Cyrotek before laughing, "Oh, who am I kidding? Of course it was me."

"Where did you send him, you brute?" snapped Rarity.

Cryotek yawned. "To an associate of mine. He needed some test subjects. He does go through them," he smirked. The girls screamed in rage before they all opened fire on Cryotek. Before their blasts could hit, a personal forcefield appeared around him. "Oh please. Like I wouldn't come prepared," said Cryotek.

Matt and Dante, meanwhile, headed towards the energon cubes. "Dante, you distract him," said Matt.

Dante snapped, "Why?"

Matt shrugged, "Cause nobody likes you."

Dante opening his mouth to reply only to pause. Then he yelled at Cryotek, "Hey, Mr. Talking Refrigerator. If you're prepared for everything, how comes your subjects kept getting away from you?"

Cryotek turned to glare. "They wouldn’t if your people hadn’t interfered. I'm not part of your little war," he said darkly to Dante. Matt carefully picked up the energon cluster and throwing it over in front of Cryotek’s feet. Cryotek looked at the webbed sack and asked, "What's this? Your lunch bag?"

Matt sneered. "Yup...and it’s really spicy. Watch," he said, aiming his mech’s sidearm at the cluster, a bit slipping aside to let Cryotek see the energon cubes, just before Matt fired.

Cryotek only had time to say "Oh no" before the shot hit the cubes. Quite predictably, the energon exploded, quite loudly. Loud enough for the ceiling overhead to come crashing down.

Everyone else got to their feet after a second, Matt yelling "Think that got the little shit?" before a small piece of the rubble moved slightly.

"Hmm...let’s just run. We're leaving, let’s go. Someone grab the icicle. We got antifreeze on the ship," Dante snapped.

Optimus and Fluttershy were carefully picked up before they all ran.

---

Optimus had managed to thaw his side by the time they'd reached the ship, though Fluttershy was still mostly frozen. Dante yelled from the cargo ramp, "We're outta here in 5! All aboard who's coming!"

"W-w-w-wait," said Fluttershy, who shivering from her coldness, "I w-w-w-want to s-s-s-say..." Cheetor ran over to her at that. "Ch-Ch-Cheetor, I would st-st-stay, b-b-b-but..." started Fluttershy.

"I know," said Cheetor, "Your friends need you. So does your world."

"I-I'll come b-b-back...s-s-s-somehow," stammered Fluttershy.

"I know you will. And I'll be waiting," said Cheetor.

Dante yelled, "Get her tailpipe on board! We got a small window!"

The girls looked away as Fluttershy and Cheetor shared one last tender moment. "I wonder what would happen if their lips got frozen together," muttered Pinkie.

Dash almost snorted before saying, "Not now."

---

The escape had been close, too close for the two humans liking. Fluttershy had recovered, though a repair drone kept following her around with an antifreeze drip. She was simply looking out the window to the multicolored void of Nullspace when she heard the hatch open behind her.

"Ya'll alright?" asked Applejack, walking in.

"Not really..." said Fluttershy sadly, waving the drone away again, "I was there for a long time. I was happy. I actually didn’t feel scared anymore."

"Yeah, it's been different fer all of us," said Applejack, "Some of us have been in metal bodies fer longer."

"Cryotek made us forget Spike. He made it so I had to leave Cheetor without a proper goodbye..." Fluttershy said before she added darkly, in a tone that reminded Applejack of the Gala incident, "I hate him..."

It was hardly a sentiment unshared by the others, but hearing it from Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness herself, really set the level for how much they despised him.

"We'll get home...and we'll deal with that varmint," said Applejack.

Fluttershy said, "Then I'll go back..."

"Ya really want ta leave Equestria for him?" asked Applejack.

"Yes, I love him," said Fluttershy, with her confident tone again.

"Well, Ah'm happy for ya," said Applejack, "Ah just hope it works out."

"Me too," said Fluttershy sadly again before Matt’s voice came over the intercom.

"All hands to the bridge...IT’S JUST A SAYING, PIN-." before it cut off.

"Is it...hard to get along with Matt and Dante?" asked Fluttershy.

"Matt’s ok. Dante, he's a jerk," said Applejack honestly.

---

"Ok...good news and bad news," said Matt, looking at the girls, who were in their pony-sized forms, Dante duct taped to the seat again and glowering through his gag.

"What's the good news?" asked Pinkie.

"We found your friend. Something’s messing with a timeline in dimension D-8912 and it could be your little friend," said Matt, showing an image of a Cybertron on the screen, though it looked...dead. "Yeah, apparently this Cybertron has been through one of the roughest wars," said Matt.

"That sounds more like the bad news," said Twilight faintly, Matt shaking his head before pressing a button, causing it to zoom out to show a huge map, three large colored blobs, red, blue, and green, on it and labelled in splitter, their destination pulsing in the red one. "It’s slap bang in one of the most paranoid and vicious factions in Nullspace: the Combine Confederation. We go there and they catch us, me and Dante will be shot and you'll all be stripped for parts...if we're lucky," Matt said grimly.

"But Spike is there," said Twilight.

"He's most likely there," amended Matt, "We're mostly conjecturing based on-"

The screen flickered as the girls began to glow. "Oh not again," muttered Matt, before a beam shot out and hit the pulsing destination. "Lemme guess, the magical GPS says we're going right into the dragon’s den," said Matt.

"That's right," said Twilight, "Spike is definitely there."

"Great..." muttered Matt, the girls noticing his left hand shaking.

"Well, if that's our destination, I say we move along," said Applejack, "Saddle up, Ponybots."

There was an awkward pause before Rainbow Dash said flatly, "We are not calling ourselves that."

"Why not?" asked Applejack, "It's what we are."

"It's the most basic description," said Rarity, "We need something with more...panache."

Dante managed to chew through his gag and snapped, "Kidnappers? We are not going into Combine territory. And for once I bet Matt agrees, after the last time they grabbed him."

Then Fluttershy said quietly, "Maximares..."

"What's that?" asked Rainbow Dash. "Ooh, Maximares, I like that," said Pinkie Pie, "It suits us just find. I mean, we're closer to Maximals than Autobots anyways."

"Ok...into the depths of hell we go," said Matt nervously, entering in some commands.

"You know, as long as we're setting up our own faction..." said Twilight. She projected a hologram of the Maximal insignia in front of her. "How about we personalize it a little more?" she suggested. With a flicker, the Maximal insignia how had a more equine shape, with bigger eyes and rounder ears.

"Great, now you have something to put on your tombstone," mumbled Dante. With that, the ship's rip engine activated and the Maximares left this universe for one that will be more hostile.

---

On Cryotek's ship, Dirge walked up to a C/R Tank, one that's larger than the standard size. Which befitted a bot as big as Cryotek who was currently being repaired in it. Dirge checked on the Tank's readings before saying, "Computer, access core consciousness of Cryotek."

"Acknowledged," said the computer before a holographic image of Cryotek's dragon head appeared.

"How....long till I'm...repaired?" said Cryotek.

"Despite the extensive damage you took, you should be fully repaired in less than a solar cycle," said Dirge.

"Good...are the subjects’ tracking devices still working?" Cryotek asked.

"As strongly as ever," said Dirge, "It appears they're heading straight for Subject 7."

"Good...good. As soon as they're together, we'll have everything we need," sneered Cryotek.

"So you say..." said Dirge.

"What was that?" growled Cryotek.

"Well, you had them right where you wanted them and yet they blew you up and left you buried," said Dirge.

"I made the mistake of toying with them and their human pets. I won't make that mistake again." said Cryotek coldly.

---

There’s another chapter at last. I would have posted this sooner, but things have become more complicated these days, thanks to the pandemic. At least now I have more time to post this before the MLP/Transformers comic launches, which will be June 3rd now.
Anyways, this chapter was originally supposed to be part of the last chapter, but things became more complex than I expected. This comic derives a lot from the first issues of The Wreckers comic ‘Departure’. We also have a more in-depth explanation of what became of Airazor. And Blastcharge appears as another of Cryotek’s lieutenants, though obviously not the same Blastcharge from The Wreckers Comic.
So now that our ponies, or should I say Maximares, have all reunited, it’s time to find an unexpected seventh member. That chapter will be coming a lot sooner than this one. Keep an eye out for it and please review.

Comments

[Roboman3000]

The mane 6 are back together