War in Equestria

by FlamingSamurai

Chapter 11

Steeljaw, leader of the Decepticon Mayhem Squad, drove across the grassy terrain beneath him, with several Decepticons next to him. Along with Shockwave, Knock Out, and Breakdown, Steeljaw had fallen to this new world, when the Nemesis was destroyed and the Ark fell into Earth's orbit after its engines were sabotaged. Once they woke up, they were retrieved by Dreadwing, Skywarp, and Soundwave, who were on the Ark when it crashed. Knock Out revived and repaired the five Decepticons his allies had brought with them - Skyquake, Rumble, Airachnid, Lockdown, and Fracture - and immediately began scanning for any signs of their three missing comrades: Thunderhoof, Barricade, and the Decepticon leader, Megatron.

Instead of any of their allies, however, the Decepticons found something else: an Autobot energy signature close nearby. Whoever this Autobot was, Dreadwing decided, the Decepticons couldn't allow them to reunite with their allies. Having Soundwave continue to scan for any sign of Megatron, Dreadwing led his brethren towards the lone Autobot. Soon, they would have one less threat to worry about.

While Knock Out finished repairs on Skywarp, Dreadwing had Soundwave send his surveillance drone, Laserbeak, to scout out the area and report back on who the Autobot was. That was five minutes ago. Laserbeak was fast enough that he could've flown to whoever the Autobot was and come back in half that time. All without being seen. Something was wrong.

At this point, the other Decepticons were getting restless. There was another Autobot out there and they wanted his head on a silver platter.

"Scrap this." Fracture transformed into his Cybertronian hover bike mode. "I'm not waiting around for the prey to come to us." He then took off into the forest towards the signal. Before Dreadwing could say anything, Lockdown transformed into his car mode and followed after him. Rumble and Breakdown followed suit.

"Fracture, all of you, get back here!" Dreadwing shouted. "Steeljaw! Control your team!"

Steeljaw simply nodded, transformed, and drove after his allies. It didn't take long for him to catch up to them.

"What's the matter, boss? Were we not waiting around enough?" Fracture sarcastically asked.

"You fools clearly don't know what you're getting yourselves into", Steeljaw said. "We don't even know who that Autobot signal belongs to. For all we know, it could be Optimus Prime that we just found!"

"So, what?" Rumble piped up. "I ain't scared of that walking scrap pile. I say we pulverize him and serve his head on a platter for Megatron!" This earned Rumble a cheer of approval from everyone around him but Steeljaw.

"Don't be stupid, Rumble. Optimus Prime is not someone you want to mess with. Back on Cybertron, many Decepticons ended up in the scrap pile because they underestimated his strength", Steeljaw explained. "Remember what happened to Demolishor during that prison break in Kaon City?"

Breakdown shuddered. "Don't remind me. Optimus made him into iron filings. It took Knock Out solar cycles to piece him back together again."

"We're approaching the target!" Lockdown announced. "Optimus Prime or not, it's now or never."

Steeljaw sighed. "Fine, but I'm calling others. Someone has to pull our tailpipes out of the water if it turns out we're in over our-"

"Look out!"

Steeljaw was cut off as a small, metallic object came hurtling towards them. Steeljaw, Lockdown, and Breakdown transformed and jump to the side as Fracture screeched to a halt and ducked as the object flew over him and crashed into the ground behind him. Rumble transformed and executed a backflip, sailing over the object and landing on his feet in a squatting position.

"What the spark was that?!" Rumble turned around and went over to the object to get a closer look. Once he got close enough, he took a step back in horror. "Holy scrap..."

Breakdown walked up next to him. "What? What is it- Oh..."

The other Decepticons got close enough to see what freaked Rumble out. Lying on the ground before them was the mangled form of Laserbeak. The condor-like Decepticon's tail was burning, his wings were twisted up, and the light in his eyes were faint. Steeljaw went over and picked him up as gently as he could, inspecting the damage done to him.

"Soundwave is not gonna like this", Rumble muttered.

"How bad is it, Steeljaw?" Fracture asked.

Steeljaw sighed. "He's still alive, but only just. Looks like the Autobot did a good number on him." Steeljaw then took another look at Laserbeak's torso. There were several dents, armor breaks, and scratches, but they didn't look like anything caused by a regular blaster. These injuries seemed more concussive and had been inflicted on Laserbeak multiple times.

"Laserbeak's one of our smaller and more weaker soldiers. Something's definitely burnt into him, but whatever it was, it doesn't look like it was from a typical Autobot weapon", Steeljaw explained. "If it was an Autobot, all it would've taken was one shot to bring him down."

Lockdown seemed surprised. "So, what? You think something else did this to him? If it wasn't that Autobot, what was it?"

"I believe that was our doing."

The voice that spoke was feminine. The Decepticons, puzzled, looked around, but saw nothing but trees, rocks, and logs.

"Uh, is it just me, or is this forest talking to us?" Rumble asked.

The female voice giggled. "Oh, no. We're all right here!"

Suddenly, in several flashes of green fire, the rocks and logs changed. In an instant, a swarm of small, black, organic beings appeared in their place. They hovered into the air, grinning slyly. From what Steeljaw could observe, these creatures all seemed to look alike... except for one. It was tall, had a large, jagged-looking horn protruding from its forehead, a set of bright green armor on its legs, face, and torso.

"Oh, great. We went from one planet infested by insects to another", Fracture grumbled. "We've got a lot of rotten luck, huh, guys?"

The taller organic seemed insulted. "Insects!? We are the Changelings, the fiercest and most cunning beings in all of Equestria!"

Breakdown scoffed. "Please. We're bigger and stronger than any of you. What could you possibly do to us?"

Chrysalis smirked. "Why don't you ask your little friend? Laserbeak, was it? We were preparing for our attack on Baltimare when one of my drones noticed him flying overhead. Our friend Ultra Magnus told us he was an old enemy of his, so I decided to let my drones have a little fun with him. Oh, the bird bravely tried to fight them off, but it looks like they were just too much for him. You all don't fall as easily as he did, now do you?"

Lockdown cocked his head. "Wait a nanoclick. Did you say 'Ultra Magnus' spotted Laserbeak?"

Chrysalis looked like she'd forgotten something. "Oh, didn't I say?" She cleared throat before calling out, "Oh, Magnus!"

From out of the trees to their right, the Decepticons were shocked to see Ultra Magnus emerge in robot mode, no expression whatsoever on his face. His eyes were a sickly green, rather than the light blue normally associated with the Autobots. Lockdown turned back towards Chrysalis. "What in blazes did you do to him?"

"It's simple really", Chrysalis explained. "He told me all about this little war you've got going on, and I decided to give him a little help in exchange for his servitude. With his help, I will conquer Equestria and crush all who dare oppose me!"

Fracture responded to this bold claim by extending two blades from his wrists. "Oh, yeah?" he asked, putting his fists and blades up. "I'd like to see him try! I'm not scared of no good-for-nothing Autobot!"

"Uh, Fracture?" Rumble piped up. "I'm starting to think just 'cause it's not Optimus doesn't mean we can take him. Magnus has his own kill count, too, y'know? Nobody except Megatron or Shockwave would be willing to go servo to servo with him!"

"Then today, I become the exception to the norm", Fracture replied. "Hey, bug queen! How about after I'm done with your new pet, I come over there and make you into a new wall decoration?"

Chrysalis rolled her eyes. This robot's tough guy act wasn't doing him any favors. "Magnus, do me a favor and take out the trash?" Chrysalis called over to her Autobot slave. "It's becoming a bother."

"As you wish, my queen", Magnus droned. The lack of emotion in his voice cause Steeljaw, Breakdown, and Rumble to step back in fear. Lockdown stepped into a combat stance, showing off his hook arm activating a chainsaw from his left arm.

"Oh, I've been waiting for this." A confident smile flashed across Fracture's face. "After this, there's gonna be one less Elite Guardsman to worry about."

Lockdown moved next to his fellow Decepticon. "We'd better take this guy together", he whispered. "Flank his right side, while I-"

With a wild battle cry, Fracture charged towards Magnus head-on before Lockdown could finish his sentence. "Scrap", Lockdown immediately thought. "He'll be lucky if he doesn't get himself killed."

Ultra Magnus wasn't even fazed by Fracture's sudden charge towards him. Instead, as Fracture lunged at him, Magnus quickly took the hammer he stored on his back and swiftly swung it. The weapon connected with Fracture's torso, sending him flying several feet before he crashed into the ground. Fracture tried to rise, but quickly lost consciousness, his entire body crackling with electricity. Knowing that Magnus would most likely attack them next, Steeljaw turned to Breakdown and Rumble.

"We need to get Laserbeak and Fracture out of here. Breakdown, you're with me", Steeljaw quickly ordered. "Rumble, shake things up a bit!"

As Steeljaw and Breakdown ran towards their fellow Decepticons, Steeljaw still holding onto Laserbeak, Lockdown just barely avoided a strike from Magnus' hammer that struck the ground hard, sending a large tremor through it. The shockwave of the strike knocked all four Decepticons off of their feet, and Lockdown found himself landing a small distance away from Fracture. Quickly getting back up, Rumble's arms became a set of pile drivers as he activated his battle mask.

"Get ready to crumble... before RUMBLE!"

Rumble's pile drivers struck the ground fast and hard. All around the Decepticons and Changelings, the ground shook, some trees nearby toppled over, and Ultra Magnus fell to his hands as Lockdown fell onto his rear. But Rumble didn't stop there. As he continued pounding, the ground beneath Magnus opened up and he found himself holding on to dear life to prevent falling into the newly created fissure.

Hovering in the air, Chrysalis scowled. "Changelings, attack!" she cried. "Defend Ultra Magnus!"

The drones did as they were told, immediately swarming around Rumble's face, breaking his concentration and stopping his pile driving. Rumble began flailing his arms around, trying his hardest to get the Changelings away from him. Then, groups of Changelings started to ram into his head from all sides with their bodies, knocking Rumble all around. One group of changelings hit him in the back of the head so hard that he found himself falling flat onto his face, at which point the swarm of changelings around the Decepticon dispersed.

Rumble got onto his hands and knees, rubbing the back of his head as he groaned in pain. Who knew organics that small could hit so hard? Suddenly, he felt something worse: Ultra Magnus' hands wrapping themselves tightly around his wrists and hoisting him upwards. Rumble looked into the normally stoic Autobot commander's face, and was horrified to see something he had not seen before: primal fury.

"You will not interfere with my queen's work, Decepticon", Magnus droned.

"N-No way", Rumble stammered. "Y-You ain't gonna kill me. You hero types don't have the ball bearings for it!"

Magnus said nothing, simply staring back into Rumble's terrified eyes for a moment. Then, suddenly, Magnus pulled Rumble up so high that he was dangling in the air. As he did, Magnus also began pulling Rumble's arms outward, squeezing his wrists harder as he did so. Rumble began to yell in pain. Not only was he helpless in the Autobot's iron grip, but he feel his arms expanding, metal creaking, cracking, and tearing.

A few yards away, Lockdown watched in horror. Realizing what was about to happen, he scrambled back to his feet and bolted towards Magnus and Rumble. But, just before he could reach his ally, Magnus fully extended his arms. Rumble screamed as his arms were torn from their sockets, causing energon to spew out. As Magnus held Rumble's arms in his hands, Rumble fell onto his back, squirming on the ground in pain and still screaming. Chrysalis laughed with sadistic glee.

Lockdown skidded to a stop. Magnus was a force to be reckoned with, for sure, but he was never known for this level of brutality. Slowly, Magnus his head in Lockdown's direction. Lockdown thought he was the next target, but then, he noticed the sound of vehicles driving up and flying down, followed by numerous transformation sounds, all coming from behind him.

Lockdown turned around and saw all of his fellow Decepticons standing around Fracture, Steeljaw, Laserbeak, and Breakdown. All of them were shocked to see what Ultra Magnus had done. Lockdown cautiously backed up to his allies as Chrysalis and her Changelings swarmed around Magnus, with Chrysalis facing the front.

"Oh? You have more friends? I was hoping there were more", Chrysalis said, a sick grin on her face. "Ultra Magnus has told me so much about you Decepticons. Your thirst for destruction and conquest will serve the Changeling Empire very well! Hahahahahahahahahaha!"

Dreadwing scowled and pulled out his cannon. "You presume far too much, insect!" the Seeker captain shouted. "Decepticons, attack!"

The Decepticons immediately pulled their weapons out and opened fire. Several Changelings were blown out of the air instantly in an explosion of green liquids, but Ultra Magnus dropped Rumble's arms, transformed his hands into blasters, and charged towards his foes with a wild roar. Chrysalis followed suit, leading the rest of the Changelings at the Decepticons like a large black cloud.

"Scatter!" Dreadwing cried. As most of the Decepticons ducked out of the way, Dreadwing threw down his cannon and braced himself as Ultra Magnus tackled him to the ground as the Changelings began to swarm the other Decepticons. Magnus then began punching Dreadwing in the face over and over again with both hands until Skyquake, Skywarp, and Breakdown intervened and tore him off of their commander. Magnus fought his way out of their grasp and found himself surrounded by all three Decepticons.

"Ultra Magnus! What has gotten into you?" Skyquake called out.

"I think crash-landing on this planet scrambled his processor!" Skywarp quipped.

"No. The insect queen is controlling him!" Breakdown answered. "Look at his eyes!"

"Worry less about my eyes, Decepticon", Magnus snarled, "and more about your own!"

Raising his left blaster, Magnus fired a single shot that hit Breakdown in his right eye, sending him to the ground while clutching his head in pain. With an angry roar of his own, Skyquake fired his gattling gun, but Magnus jumped out of the way and fired his blasters back at his, knocking Skyquake's weapon out of his hands. Skywarp teleported behind Magnus and kicked him in the back, but Magnus then turned around and fired two missiles from his shoulders back at the Seeker. Before Skywarp could teleport out of the way, the missiles hit him right in the chest, knocking back through several trees and into unconsciousness.

As Magnus rose to his feet, Dreadwing and Skyquake each pulled out a sword and charged at him from two sides. Unfazed, Magnus ducked and allowed the two brothers to clang together. Turning his hands into blasters, Magnus fired at both of their chests, sending them flying away from him.

Steeljaw appeared behind Magnus, jumping onto him and slashing into his back with his claws. Magnus screamed before grabbing onto Steeljaw, tearing him from his back, and pinning him onto the ground. Before Steeljaw could swipe upward with his claws, Magnus put one of his blasters to his chest plate. From a few feet away, Skyquake got up just in time to see Steeljaw on the ground and his chest exploding in a display of fire, metal, circuitry, and energon.

Bare-handed, Skyquake ran at Magnus, narrowly dodging the shots that Magnus started firing at him. As soon as he got close enough, Skyquake started swinging at Magnus' head. In response, Magnus retracted his blaster and swung his own fists back at Skyquake like a mad dog. Soon, both of them were trading blows with one another, with neither combatant able to get a clear hit on the other.

Meanwhile, Dreadwing got up, still clutching his chest from his blaster wound. He looked around the battlefield and saw Breakdown struggling to get up with his right hand over his smoking eye. Steeljaw's body lay on the ground a few feet in front of Dreadwing, his chest still smoking, sparking, and leaking energon. Behind Skyquake and Ultra Magnus, the rest of the Decepticons blasted and swatted at the Changelings, while Airachnid transformed into her helicopter form and engaged Chrysalis in an aerial battle. Rumble now lay motionless and silently next to a fissure of his own creation and in a pool of his own energon, his severed arms lying nearby.

Dreadwing then noticed Skyquake's weapon on the ground near him and Skyquake himself swinging at Magnus. The two Decepticon brothers briefly made eye contact with one another, Dreadwing silently signaling Skyquake to start backing up and lure Magnus away. Slowly, Dreadwing reached down and picked up the gattling gun. Despite his chest injury, Dreadwing worked through the pain and hoisted the weapon up before aiming it at the slash marks Steeljaw had left on Magnus' back. For the Decepticons that Magnus had either wounded or killed, Ultra Magnus and these so-called "Changelings" would pay with their lives.

Just before Dreadwing could pull the trigger, however, Magnus finally landed a hit on Skyquake, grabbing onto his head with his left hand and punching him square in the chest with his right. Magnus punched Skyquake's chest a second time. A third. A fourth. A fifth.

Finally, on the sixth hit, Magnus forced his hand directly through Skyquake's chest, causing him to yell in intense pain. With two pulls, Magnus ripped a blue, pulsating orb from his body, along with some wires. Several feet away, Dreadwing felt a shudder through his body that paralyzed him. Then, Magnus crushed the orb in his hands, and Skyquake dropped to the ground, dead. Dreadwing dropped his brother's weapon and collapsed onto his knees, closing his eyes clutching his chest as a jolt of pain went through it.

Dreadwing then heard another explosion, followed by Ultra Magnus screaming. As Dreadwing looked up, he saw Magnus had also fallen over onto his knees, his back now smoking and burning. "Someone else must've shot Magnus' back scars", Dreadwing thought. "But who?"

Dreadwing soon found his answer. He felt someone placing a hand on his shoulder and a familiar, gravely voice speaking to him. "Gather yourself, Dreadwing", it said. "I will avenge your twin."

Dreadwing looked up. Standing next to him was the mighty leader of the Decepticons, the cannon mounted on his arm smoking from a single shot. He calmly walked towards Ultra Magnus, pulling a large, jagged sword from his back that glowed a sickly purple at his touch. He showed no fear at the swarm of insects that took notice of him and began flying in his direction. Tired, but content, Dreadwing smiled, knowing that Queen Chrysalis would soon get her just desserts.

Megatron had arrived.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Little does anyone realize, however, that something has come to Equestria, something which when discovered, will shake the foundation of the country to its core and turn the tide of victory in favor of either the Changelings or the newly established Guardians of Harmony. Which will it be?

You're talking about humans, right?

[OP Omni God-Emperor Doom]

10222522
Actually this is a Transformers Crossover. But the Author didn't put the Crossover tag. 😕

[FlamingSamurai]

10222522
No, the Transformers.