• Published 4th Aug 2012
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Predator's Moon - Atomic Chinchilla



A crossover between MLP and Transformers: Beast Wars. Pony/transforming robot shenanigans ensue.

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Chapter 2: All Quiet on the Equestrian Front

PREDATOR’S MOON
A My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic/Transformers: Beast Wars
Crossover
By Atomic Chinchilla

Chapter 2
All Quiet on the Equestrian Front

The sun rose gloriously into the dawn over Canterlot. Princess Celestia sighed contentedly as she basked in its radiance. Her mind was drawn back to last night’s events and the incredible victory Twilight Sparkle and her friends achieved. All was well again when they parted ways in Ponyville and the two princesses returned to their palace. Despite Celestia’s insistence that she was fine, Luna had doted on her all night. True, the Nightmare’s touch had left her drained of strength and in dire need of a bath, but she assured her sister that the darkness didn’t have time to sink its teeth into her before her light burned it off. Even so, Luna wouldn’t take no for an answer and she tried to make Celestia’s night as restful as possible. While she appreciated the gesture, Celestia had enough when Luna started singing traditional Royal Canterlot lullabies in the traditional Royal Canterlot voice. She shooed her sister out and managed to spend the rest of the night in peace before waking again to bring the sunrise.

She stood on the billowing clouds bathed in golden light and looked down over the valley below Canterlot and over towards Ponyville. She decided then that Twilight and her friends deserved something special as thanks for their heroic efforts. Why, they had saved Equestria three whole times now! That should merit some kind of reward, at least. But what to give them? She’d have to think about it.

She sighed and looked back to Canterlot. It was Monday and oh, how she hated Mondays. Mondays always meant conferences and meetings with the stuffy nobles and snobbish diplomats from the neighboring kingdoms. Mondays meant having to sit through hours of argument and debate, while having to smile and pretend to be interested the whole time. What fun.

“No sense in getting my mane frazzled already,” she said to herself, “I still have a few hours left to myself before the fur starts flying.” She leapt up and back-flipped off the cloud, diving and spreading her wings through the warm sunlight. She swooped and arced gracefully down until she alighted softly upon a palace balcony. She tiptoed across the bedroom and began to quietly get dressed, taking care not to wake Luna in the adjacent room. Donning all her royal garb, she exited out into the hall and walked toward the stairs past Luna’s room.

She decided to just peek in and check on her sister. Magically pulling the latch, she silently opened the door a crack and looked inside. Luna lay splayed across her bed, snoring loudly, with a little stuffed toy tucked under one hoof. Celestia fought to stifle a giggle. Her horn glowed softly and Luna’s blankets straightened themselves and lay back over her.

“Sweet dreams, Lulu,” Celestia whispered, “See you tonight.” She closed the door and trotted downstairs to the dining hall for breakfast.

****

As the sun rose higher into the sky, its rays crept across the surface of the sea and filtered down through its murky depths. A school of fish had gathered around an unfamiliar sight: a large, blue-silver, metallic humanoid with a manta ray motif that was lying upside down against the coral reef which spread across the seafloor. The robot slowly shook his head as his red eyes fluttered awake.

“…I feel like I just had an EMP grenade shoved up my aft,” Depth Charge groaned. He shook himself off and groggily picked himself up, standing atop the coral bed. He winced in pain and grabbed his shoulder. Quickly examining himself, he discovered his armor was riddled with blast damage (from Rampage’s missile spree, no doubt) and some of the deeper wounds had harmed his internal systems. The armor couldn’t be helped but his internal damage could begin the slow repairs in beast mode.

Beast mode!” His body twisted and folded up into the form of a huge, metal manta ray. He initiated his repairs as he drifted aimlessly through the water, attracting some small fish in his wake. He sighed with frustration as he recalled his latest memories: flying over the Preds on the ridge, saving the spider-femme, getting shot up by that gun-happy crab…and that Alien globe thing Tarantulas had. That’s right, the little…whatever it was had sucked him and Rampage up into it before he blacked out. He looked around at the dimly lit sea, shaking his head with equal confusion and annoyance, wondering “So where the Pit am I?”

No one answered, unsurprisingly. He’d have to find out where he was, how to get back, and the fate of Blackarachnia and the Predacons on his own. Depth Charge rolled his eyes and sighed again. He really hated scavenger hunts.

****

Megatron stood over the smoking carcass of Optimus Primal, bellowing in victorious laughter. His Predacon forces gathered around him and fired their weapons into the air in a victorious cheer. He raised his dragon arm to the blood-red sky and spewed a gout of flame into the heavens, spreading his jagged wings and eclipsing the cowed, pathetic Maximals below in his shadow. He cackled and pointed at his foes, and the other Predacons flew down upon them like ravening wolves. As his minions gleefully routed the Maximals and tore them limb from screaming limb, he threw back his head and laughed again. His victory was complete, his godhood was secure, his mastery of all time itself was within reach, his—

“My Queen!” Inferno shouted as he jarringly shook his adored leader, “Wake up, my Queen! Are you injured? Oh, say it isn’t so!”

“…Ya do know Boss-bot’s just in stasis lock, right?” Quickstrike said flatly, shaking his head.

“Be silent, Fuzor! The Royalty may have let it pass for now, but I have not forgotten your recent treachery! Dare to cross our Queen again and you shall burn!

The yellow scorpion skittered back a step as his cobra tail-head gulped. “You, uh, won’t tell him about it, right, pal?” he chuckled, his pincers clicking nervously. Inferno merely narrowed his eyes and resumed trying to wake his “queen.” Megatron lay on his back in a field of tall grass. The loyal fire ant knelt at his side and continued to shake him while Quickstrike and Dinobot stood back in beast mode.

“Terrain unfamiliar,” Dinobot hissed as his skeletal raptor snout sniffed the air, “Location unknown.”

“Figure that one out all by yerself, didja?” Quickstrike snarked. A snarl and eager twitch of Dinobot’s claws silenced him.

“Please wake up, Royalty!” Inferno continued to shout, “The colony needs your direction! We—Ah ha! The Royalty stirs! The Queen is alive! Oh, what a joyous—URK!” Megatron’s dragon mouth clamped around Inferno’s neck. His eyes fluttered open and he sat up with a growl.

“I was having the most delightful dream,” said Megatron, glaring at his troops, “This had better be good.” He then looked past them and noticed the surrounding valley. He raised a brow, saying “…Where are we?”

“D-Don’t ya remember, Boss?” Quickstrike stammered, “That Alien doohickey went and sucked us all across the stars!”

“Affirmative,” Dinobot stated, “Our current location is unknown. Contact with the base has been cut off. Comm. links and sensors are down from unidentifiable interference.”

“Hmm, that Alien device. I remember now, yesss. Tarantulas said we could be anywhere in the entire universe.”

“Good thing we landed on this rock!” said Quickstrike, “…Wherever it is.” Megatron stood up, towering over his soldiers. Inferno still squirmed in his grip.

“There’s nothing to fear now that our Queen has revived! She will lead us to—GACK!” He was silenced by Megatron squeezing his head once more.

“Inferno, you may be the most dependable of my troops, and for that I give you a lot of slack,” Megatron said, rubbing his forehead, “But I have told you time and again: don’t call me that.

“Yes, my Que--acklggh! I…I mean yes, Royalty.” Megatron released the sycophantic fire ant and looked around. To the east were high mountains that blocked the rising sun, casting most of the plain in shadow. To the south was a sprawling forest stretching to the horizon.

“Have you made contact with the others?” he asked.

“Affirmative,” said Dinobot, “We briefly hailed Waspinator and Rampage before the signal was lost from interference. There has been no word from Tarantulas.”

“That treacherous Unicron’s spawn,” Megatron growled, “If he somehow planned this, I’ll…”

“Oh, you wound me, Megatron,” Tarantulas snickered as he slinked up the hill behind them, his Transmetal spider mode showing like a black stain through the grass, “I assure you none of this is my doing. Whatever instigated our arrival happened here, on this world.” Megatron scowled and leveled his weapon at the spider, saying “Then your assistance is no longer needed.”

“Ah ah!” Tarantulas giggled, “Are you sure you want to destroy your only hope getting back to Earth?” Megatron lowered his arm just slightly and narrowed his eyes with a glare.

“Wherever we are,” the spider continued, “this planet has also been touched by the Aliens and contains their technology, otherwise we would never have been pulled here. Tell me, Megatron, do you know anyone besides me with the knowledge or means to manipulate it, to replicate the rift event and send us home? I think not.”

“The spider seeks to trick you, my Queen!” said Inferno, drawing his giant pistols and pointing them at Tarantulas, “I’ll destroy him for his impudence!” Megatron rolled his eyes and smacked Inferno with his dragon arm, sending the ant sailing across the hill.

“Tarantulas is too smart to betray me again, yesss,” the dragon sneered as he loomed over the scheming arachnid, “At least…you’d better hope you are.”

“You have absolutely nothing to fear, Megatron,” the spider chittered, “And if my sensors are correct, Waspinator and Rampage should be arriving just over there!”

Megatron turned to the forest, his own sensors finally getting signals through whatever was clouding them in this infernal world. A low rumble swept up the hill under their feet as trees began falling over, some massive force plowing through them. Waspinator flitted out from the trees in beast mode, buzzing loudly when he saw his teammates up ahead. Behind him rolled Rampage in his vehicle mode. His beast mode body was warped and twisted into a horrifying cross between a crab and a tank. Not one for subtlety, Rampage apathetically smashed through all the trees in his way, clearing a new road through the forest. Upon reaching the open field, he shifted back into beast mode and scuttled up the hill with Waspinator.

“Wazzpinator happy to see Megatron again!” the hornet squeaked, “Wazzpinator wake up all alone with Crab-bot! No idea where Wazzpinator is! Then Wazzpinator get message from Ant-bot so Wazzpinator and Crab-bot come! Crab-bot run over many small animals along the way, and threaten to eat Wazzpinator! Crab-bot is not ideal conversationalist.”

“Be quiet, you brainless insect!” Megatron barked.

Waspinator hung his head sheepishly. “Wazzpinator shut up,” he meeped. The crab meanwhile looked away from the group with a very bored expression.

“I assume you have some ‘brilliant’ plan to get us off this rock?” Rampage sighed, “Or are we just going to sit around on our afts all day while you prattle to yourself like usual?”

Megatron leered at him. “I don’t much like your tone, Rampage, nooo.” He turned to Dinobot, who smiled devilishly and transformed to robot mode. Rampage’s eyes widened, knowing what was coming.

“Wait! Wait, you—“ He lunged at Dinobot with his gargantuan pincers, but the clone leapt over them and landed on the crab’s metal carapace. Dinobot snickered as his chestplate opened and his own pulsating spark was revealed. With a laugh he plunged his claw straight into the glowing orb. Rampage spasmed and writhed beneath Dinobot, howling in agony.

“S-Stop!” the metal crustacean seethed, “You’ve made you-your point!” Dinobot looked to Megatron, who nodded with a smirk. The raptor hopped to the ground and removed his claw from his spark, ending Rampage’s torture. Megatron knelt down in front of the twitching crab and patted his head.

“I’m surprised we still need these lessons, Rampage, yesss. Your ‘brother’ will torment his half of your spark every time you so much as sneeze without my approval. Are we quite clear?” The crab simply grunted in reply.

Wholly uninterested in his cohorts’ activities, Tarantulas sprang up from the ground into robot mode and drew out a handheld scanning device. He paced around the hilltop, flicking switches and turning knobs, chittering to himself as he observed the readings on the small screen. His eye widened as a particular line flashed across the monitor.

“Hmmm,” the arachnid snickered, causing the other Predacons to all turn to him in unison, “Now this is intriguing.”

Megatron cocked his head to the side and stomped over to Tarantulas just as the spider drew his gun. The Predacon leader stopped and smirked, growling “And just what, pray tell, do you find so interesting?” Tarantulas turned away from his commander and chuckled, aiming his weapon to the ground and firing a shot. A green energy burst hit the dirt, scattering fragments of earth and kicking up a small cloud of dust. The spider’s comrades looked at him in confusion as he then knelt down and withdrew a small object from the crater at his feet. It was a gleaming, sky blue stone, neatly cut and polished and about the size of an apple. He held the gem up to the scanner in his other hand, humming to himself as he read his machine’s findings.

“…Well?” Megatron asked, tapping his foot impatiently.

“This is the source of the interference on our sensors and comm. systems,” said Tarantulas as he tossed the jewel up and caught it again, “These stones are littered all across this field, and even beyond my scanner’s range.”

Megatron scowled. “How wonderful. What are they?” the dragon asked.

“Hard to say at this point. Their radiation fields don’t have any effect on the biological life here, but they play havoc with our own systems. My scanner can’t get much decisive data.”

Meanwhile at the bottom of the hill, Inferno pulled his head out of the dirt and shook himself. A glint of light and color in the distance caught his eye and his optics zoomed in on the spectacle like binoculars. He gasped and hopped back up the hill to the others, crying “Royalty! Royalty, I found something! Look there! Look!” He pointed, and all Predacon eyes followed his gesture.

To the northwest was a great cliff wall carved out of the mountain range and crested with a spired city. Towers and domes crowned the high walls. Banners and standards flew in the breeze and large airships drifted through the clouds. They could even make out small winged beings flitting through the air from rooftop to rooftop. Megatron grinned.

“Well, well, well. So this place is inhabited, after all. I think we should have a word with them about these irritating stones. And while we’re at it, we can inquire about the Alien technology that brought us here.”

“Mmm, How fascinating!” Tarantulas chortled, twiddling his fingers giddily, “A chance to meet a new sentient race.”

“Heh heh, Yeah!” Quickstrike hooted, his pincers clicking eagerly, “And then slag every last one of ‘em!”

“Wazzpinator love new targets!” the hornet buzzed, “Especially ones that don’t shoot back!” Dinobot stood silently but his twitching claws and creeping smirk betrayed his blood thirst. Rampage simply grumbled under his breath and glared at Megatron from behind his back, his fangs grating together in rage.

“What is your command, Royalty?” Inferno asked with a salute, “If you desire, I will take Waspinator and fly over for a preemptive strike!”

“Let’s not be too quick to rush into things, my dear Inferno,” Megatron chuckled, taking to the air and transforming to his Transmetal dragon beast mode, “We must always be civil when greeting new neighbors, yesss. Come along, everyone. Let’s go…introduce ourselves.” Inferno’s ant abdomen split open like a lotus pod and he took the sky on his jet thruster with Waspinator. Dinobot returned to beast mode while Rampage and Tarantulas shifted to their Transmetal vehicle modes, a tank and motorcycle, respectively. Together the seven Predacons tore a dark swath across the green valley, laughing ominously on their way to the city on the cliff…

****

If Depth Charge’s beast mode had teeth, he would have been grinding them in annoyance. In addition to drifting over coral reefs and between rocky hills through the sea for several hours with no signs of intelligent life or even a shore, some kind of pervasive energy field was blocking his onboard comm. system and sensor array. So not only was he swimming lost, he was basically swimming blind, to boot.

“When I get my hands on those slagging Preds…” he grumbled as he rode the currents, “I’ll tear each one of them a new tailpipe, and that spider, too. The Pit was she thinking, trying to tangle with seven Preds at once? If I hadn’t found her, she’d be an oil stain on the dirt…And now I’m talking to myself. Out loud. Sweet Primus, if I don’t find a way out of this fragging ocean soon, I am going to—“ He stopped suddenly, hearing a sound travel across the current. Despite his unfinished repairs, he transformed to robot mode anyway and drew his rifle, ready for anything. The sound came nearer, clearly someone’s voice. It was coming from the other side of a high wall of undersea rock. It sounded like…singing?

Shoo be doo! Shoo shoo be doo!” sang a small creature as it swam around the ridge into the dumbfounded Maximal’s view, “Call upon the Sea Ponies when you’re in distress! Helpful-as-can-be Ponies, simply signal S—Oh, hi!” The little…thing whirled over to Depth Charge and swam all around him, eyeing him curiously. She was about three or so feet long, dwarfed by the Maximal’s size, with mint-green skin. She had an equine head with a whitish mane flowing in the current, two little fins at her sides, and a curled tail. Depth Charge did a double-take. It was a seahorse…a literal seahorse.

“My internal damage must be worse than I thought,” the Maximal muttered before shaking his head and looking again. She was still there; he wasn’t hallucinating.

She floated up to his head and stared at him with bright, golden-orange eyes. “Wow, I’ve never seen anything like you before!” she said inquisitively, “What’s your name? Where are you from, across the sea? What’s it like over there? Is everyone a giant, metal, fish-person-thing where you come from? How do you talk with that thing over your mouth? Do you have a mouth? What’s that big thing in your hand? Looks pretty cool, what does it do? Are you just visiting Equestria or are you planning to move here? How big is your—“

“Please, for the love of Primus, stop talking.” Depth Charged groaned, his hands tempted to clamp around the little thing’s throat. The seahorse gulped and backed up a pace before chuckling nervously.

“Sorry. I get a little carried away when I see new things sometimes. Bon Bon’s always getting on my case about it.”

Depth Charge blinked. “…Uh-huh. Look, just let me ask the questions now, got it?” The seahorse nodded with a smile, so he continued. “Where am I?”

“Oh, that’s easy!” she replied, flicking her tail happily, “You’re in the ocean!”

The Maximal slapped his palm against his forehead with a sigh. “Yeah, I figured that part out. I mean what land is this ocean a part of, what planet?”

The seahorse blinked in confusion, saying “You really don’t know?” The robot nodded impatiently, and the seahorse shrugged as she continued. “Well, we’re about a mile offshore from the kingdom of Equestria. That’s my home! Well, the town of Ponyville is technically my home, but that’s in Equestria, and it’s not too far from the beach, which is why I like to come out here and swim a lot. My name’s Lyra Heartstrings, by the way! What’s your name?”

“Okay, let’s stay on topic here!” Depth Charge sighed as he looked around, “Equestria, huh? Never heard of it. Must be a lot farther out than Cybertron’s ever explored. That doesn’t bode well.” He then turned back to the seahorse and asked “Does your planet have interstellar travel or at least radio telescope communication? Do you know what that fragging radiation is that’s messing with my scrap onboard systems?” The green fish-pony stared at him like he had just asked her what the square root of the circumference of a slightly cloudy afternoon was.

“…I don’t know what that means,” she eventually said.

“Which part?”

“All of it.”

Depth Charge grumbled an intelligible curse under his breath and palmed his forehead again. “…Okay,” he sighed exasperatedly, “Okay. Can you at least direct me to your government, or whatever’s in charge on this planet?”

“You mean Princess Celestia?” Lyra asked, perking up, “Oh, sure! It’s just that way! You can take a train from Ponyville straight to it!” She pointed her tail to the East and the Maximal immediately swam past her in that direction.

“Thanks. I guess,” he said. Lyra pulled up alongside him and kept up with his pace, humming that irritating tune. Depth Charge grumbled “I don’t need any more help. You can stop following me.”

“You don’t know your way around Ponyville! You’ll need a guide! Oh, can you breathe air? Because Ponyville is above the water.”

“Yes, I can breathe air, when I need to breathe at all,” the robot groused, “…Wait, how do you live there, if it’s above water?”

“Huh? Oh, right! This is just a spell a nice bookworm named Twilight taught me, based on some of our old legends. I’m normally an ordinary unicorn pony. My name’s Lyra Heartstrings, but my friends just call me Lyra.”

“You said that already.” The Maximal quickened his stroke, trying and failing to outswim the little seahorse. She frowned at him, griping “That’s because you haven’t told me your name yet!”

“If I tell you, will you go away?”

“Sure!”

“Fine, it’s Depth Charge. Now, go away.”

“Pleased to meet you, Mr. Charge!” As they continued down the current toward the shore, Lyra neither slowed her pace nor left, causing Depth Charge to wish he had teeth to grind again.

“You said you’d go away if I told you my name…”

“Well, I’m going home now, and home just happens to be this way. So technically you’re following me now. Say, I know what’ll lift your spirits, Mr. Grumpy Gills!” She then began to sing that song again, it’s saccharine melody piercing into the Maximal’s grating ears.

“What in Primus’ name is that?!” he said as he cupped his hands over his receptors, “Some kind of audio torture?!”

“It’s an old nursery rhyme about the Sea Pony legend!” Lyra replied in-between lines, “And I happen to love this song. Call upon the Sea Ponies, they’ll see you to shore! …What are you doing?”

“Putting my rifle to my head. I’m trying to kill myself…”

****

Celestia sat at the head of the conference table like she did every Monday morning during political negotiations. She rested her head on one hoof, her elbow propped up on the table. She had long since given up on pretending to smile. Every time she tried to interject, the Griffon ambassador or the delegates from Appleloosa would just cut her off and keep the argument going in a perpetual loop of circular debate. She had tried forcing herself into the issue and making the others listen to her a few years ago, but that only helped fuel that annoying “Tyrantlestia” urban myth. So she mostly kept out of it nowadays and let the others bicker all they wanted until lunchtime. She then thought about moving the sun to its noon position, but that always confused the poor ponies outside. She found herself nodding off from sheer boredom while the others continued to yell and squabble. She gave a half-hearted shrug and dozed…

Celestia dreamed of flying. She wheeled and looped between the stars, soaring through the cosmos far above Equestria. She arced over the whole of the planet until she came to her sun. With a daring smile, the white alicorn rocketed at impossible speeds and dove headfirst into the frothing ocean of fire. She laughed like a schoolfilly as she swam through its flames and backstroked through it like it was no more than a swimming pool. Launching herself up, she flipped around and swan dove into the blaze. She descended deeper into the golden radiance, laughing in delight.

But a darkness suddenly grew, an ink-like swell rising up from the core of the sun. It stretched long arms with reaching hands upward, pulling and tearing at the star. More of them grew as the blackness ascended towards her, straining and grabbing at her mane and tail. Celestia recoiled in disgust, and beat her wings to get away from them, but they held her fast. They clung to her wings and dug their fingers into her flank. She screamed and struggled furiously as the arms pulled her down through the sun, toward the expanding black core. The darkness split open beneath her like a waiting mouth, and a pool of black ichor churned inside. The forms of six terrified ponies writhed and screamed in the slurry, choking and drowning in its lather. They all looked up and raised their hooves pleadingly to the princess as the black hands brought her closer and closer to them.

Celestia fought and cried in horror, all her power and strength suddenly drained from her. Panic overtook the alicorn as a great form rose out of the miasmic broth, sloughing off the fluids. It extended long, hoofed legs and stepped onto the ponies beneath it, crushing them down to lift itself. It spread its raven wings and shook its starry mane with a hideous cackle. It took flight from the black mouth and ascended towards the horrified princess. But as it drew nearer its form no longer was that of a black alicorn; it twisted and contorted, reshaping itself into a gleaming, obsidian dragon. Its jagged, metal wings eclipsed the light of the sun and it stretched its maw wide enough to swallow all of Equestria in a single bite. The serpent roared triumphantly, a piercing cry that shattered the heavens, and it brought its mighty head crashing down on the alicorn, who could only watch in helpless terror. Its rows of teeth slowly closed around her, covering her in darkness until—

“Princess? Princess Celestia? Princess!” shouted a pegasus guard as he shook the alicorn anxiously. Celestia snapped her head up and gasped, sweat rolling down her face. She trembled for a moment, looking around. She was still in the council hall, still seated at the conference table. She took a deep breath, assuring herself that it was only a harmless nightmare. That, and nothing more…

“…I’m sorry if I startled you, Captain” she said to the worried guard, “And I do apologize for falling asleep. This is inexcusable behavior. I’m afraid I had a rather long night last…Where is everyone?” She looked around, eyeing the vacant conference table in the empty council room.

“Princess, they all fled as soon as the blasts started!” the captain said worriedly, “I’ve been trying to wake you for almost ten minutes!”

“Blasts?” Celestia said with a raised eyebrow as she stood up, “Captain, what’s going on?”

“We…We have no idea, your majesty!” said the pegasus as he flew toward the door, “It all happened so suddenly! Now please come with me, Ma’am! We need you at the front! Your royal sister’s been looking for you!” Celestia paused in confusion, but then spread her wings and dashed after him. They raced down the corridor and up a flight of stairs toward the battlements of the palace. Tremors rumbled through the castle and muffled explosions rang in the distance.

“They just appeared from nowhere about ten minutes ago!” the captain explained as they rounded a corner and shot down the next hallway, “No word, no warning, they just waltzed up to the city gates and started blowing everything up!”

What?!” Celestia said in shock, “We’re under attack?! By whom?! How many?! Are the civilians safe?! What about—“

“Ma’am, please! I don’t know much more than you do! What I do know is there aren’t many of the attackers, but they have some kind of ballistic weaponry unlike anything we’ve ever seen! Fires are tearing through the whole city! The whole southern quarter has already been leveled!” Celestia jerked to a halt, gasping sharply. Her mouth hung open as she looked to the waiting captain with dread.

“…Casualties?”

“We…I’m afraid we just don’t know at this time, Ma’am. We’re trying to save everyone we can. Your sister is directing the troops in evacuating now, but she’s been waiting for you.” Celestia tensed and blasted forward, leaving the captain spinning in her dust. He shook himself and flew after her up the next flight of stairs.

“Of all the stupid times to fall asleep!” Celestia cursed herself under her breath. She beat her wings as hard as she could, all the panic and fear from her dream bubbling back to the surface. The two equines flew through the tower door out onto the terrace. The captain bowed to the princess, then darted over to rejoin his battalion. Luna stood atop the forward wall, shouting orders to the frantic soldiers. The pegasi were flying like maddened bees, some of them carrying civilians, while the unicorns lined up into their regiments and charged through the palace gates into the city streets.

As the soldiers exited, crowds of civilian ponies were pouring in. Many were wounded, some were carried on stretchers or the backs of other ponies, but all of them were wide-eyed in terror. Even from Celestia’s position, she could see the sky was blackened from billowing clouds of smoke on the other side of the walls. The air rippled with heat and a red haze glowed through the open gateway. The screams of panicked ponies filled the morning.

“Luna!” Celestia shouted as she teleported up to her sister’s side, “Luna, what’s happening?! Who’s done this?!” Her sister turned to her in surprise.

“Celestia!” Luna cried in relief, “There you are! Thank goodness you’re here, everything is going insane!” She turned away from her white sibling and shouted down commands to the soldiers on the ground below them.

“Why are the citizens running into the palace?” Celestia asked, looking down at the horde of ponies running like up the street from the city to the palace gates, “What happened to the evacuation procedures?”

“We didn’t have time!” her sister replied, pointing to the northwest, “Their fliers shot down all our ships before we could even get them into the air! We don’t have any way to get the civilians out!” Plumes of smoke rose from the shipyards littered with smoldering wreckage.

“Fill me in on the details,” Celestia said anxiously, placing her hooves on Luna’s shoulders, “And hurry!”

Luna swallowed and nodded. “The scouts reported seven of them, four on the ground and two in the air. They’re advancing through the fashion district now, on a straight line toward the castle! Our stallions can’t stop them!”

“Only seven?!” Celestia shouted in disbelief, “Seven invaders did all of this?!” She swept her hoof out over the devastation, glaring in her sister’s eyes.

Luna could only nod. “Our soldiers’ armor can’t take much of their weapons before the enchantments break. I’ve ordered them to retreat as soon as that happens, but our squads are falling back before we can even send new ones in! We can barely slow the monsters down!”

“Monsters? What are they, Luna? What are the invaders?”

“I…I don’t know,” said the dark alicorn as she shook her head, “I only know what the wounded and retreating tell me. They’re not like anything in Equestria or any of the other kingdoms! They’re part animal…and made of metal!

Celestia walked to the edge of the wall and looked out over the burning Canterlot. A few miles to the south she could see flashes in the streets, bright streams of magic lobbed from unicorn soldiers at the attackers. More flashes flew back, and more explosions shook the earth, tearing through the adjacent buildings and blasting them to rubble. She looked down. The droves of frightened ponies continued to flee the streets and pile through the gates.

Turning around, she saw the whole of the palace courtyard filled to the brim with them, so full that the doors into the castle itself were opened and bringing ponies inside to make room. The guards and castle staff were running through the crowds, taking the most seriously injured ponies and ferrying them inside to the infirmary. As Celestia looked through the crowd, she could see all the pain and fear in their eyes. Some were talking with one another, others were holding each other for comfort, still others were simply huddling themselves to cope with this madness. She blinked with a start as she saw a pair of eyes looking right into hers. They belonged to a small filly hugging her wounded mother tightly. Tears ran down the child’s face as her eyes pleaded silently at the princess.

Celestia turned again to the city as her sister continued to shout orders to the troops. The princess surveyed all the destruction these…creatures had wrought in only a short time. Homes destroyed, lives ruined. She clenched her teeth. How many innocent ponies were left out there, alone, terrified? How many were too hurt to escape on their own? How many were…dead?

“Not in my kingdom,” the sun princess said softly, shaking intensely, “Not to my ponies.” All of the fear and dread which her nightmare had caused and this morning had strengthened were now gone, replaced by a warm, pulsating anger. She trembled, her muscles tensed and her eyes flared wide. The stone floor under her hooves split and cracked as her rainbow mane flourished violently. Her horn sparked and gleamed with a golden light as her eyes flashed. The very sun above her grew in brightness and intensity in union with her fury.

“T-Tia?” Luna stepped back, staring at her sister in fearful awe. Celestia turned to her sister, looking into her eyes sternly but calmly.

“Recall the guards. Have them focus on getting the ponies out of harm’s way and putting the fires out. Make no further attempt to stop the trespassers. I will deal with this.”

“But-But Sister! You don’t know if even you can—“

Luna. Go. Please.” Luna gulped and nodded, sweating bullets. She gave a last fearful look to her sister and then dove over the wall, calling the new orders to the soldiers below as she passed over them. Celestia stepped up onto the turrets of the wall and spread her shining wings with determination. She leapt from the wall and rocketed through the sky like a fiery bullet, ready to unleash all the blinding rage of the sun itself upon those who would attack her home, who would dare to harm her people.

“…Not to my ponies.”

****

“Fire!” called the unicorn captain. The phalanx of horned soldiers lowered their heads in unison and fired a spectrum of thunderbolts from their horns. The arcs of magic raced down the ruined street and exploded together, covering the path in clouds of dust. The captain raised his hoof and the squad readied another volley. But as the dust settled, they saw nothing but an empty road. The soldiers all gave a cheer and stomped the ground in triumph.

“…Did we…Did we get ‘em?” said the captain. A raspy giggle came from the shadows of the alley behind him.

“You tell me!” Tarantulas cackled, launching streams of missiles from his shoulder armor. The rockets exploded into the squad, knocking the unicorns off their hooves and scattering them across the street. The captain shook himself and staggered to his hooves, his armor shining weakly. The other soldiers groaned and struggled to get up.

“What fascinating devices you creatures have!” the arachnid chortled, stepping out and aiming his gun at the captain’s head, “Personal force fields? I’d love to study those! …Why don’t you give me yours?” The unicorn bucked hard, kicking the spider in the gut. The Predacon flew off his feet and crashed against an abandoned cart.

“Come on, colts!” the captain shouted to his troops, “Get your flanks off the ground! We can take ‘em if we split ‘em up!”

“Think so, do ya, pardner?!” Quickstrike hooted as he jumped off a rooftop in beast mode and landed on the unicorn’s back, “Giddy up!” He clamped his scorpion pincers around the captain’s neck and dug his spiked legs into his flank. The unicorn bucked and jerked wildly, trying to throw the hideous creature off of him. The scorpion merely snickered, waving his cobra-head tail around like a lasso, laughing “YEEHAW! Just like a rodeo!” A magic bolt stuck the small Predacon, blasting him off the captain. The other soldiers ran to their officer’s side as he panted for breath.

“My armor’s almost out. I can’t do much more,” he wheezed. The other unicorns stood in front of him, forming a wall between him and the two invaders.

“You fall back, sir. We’ll handle them!” The captain shook his head and stood his ground.

“Didn’t say I’d run. No way I’m letting you pansies have all the fun. Now form up!” The soldiers obeyed and took the phalanx position again, their horns leveled at Quickstrike and Tarantulas.

“Little buggers are tougher’n they look,” Quickstrike said as he sprang up into robot mode. Tarantulas was unfazed and simply raised his weapon with a snicker.

“Fire!” shouted the captain.

“You fools don’t know what fire is!” bellowed Inferno as he flew down from above, “I will show you fire!” He pointed his guns down and shot a rapid volley of fireballs into the unicorns, blasting them all to the ground once more. The fire ant spun around in the air gleefully, laughing insanely and shooting more fireballs wildly into the city. As the soldiers tried to stand once again, several shadows appeared over them: The hulking Rampage, the spiked skeleton Dinobot, the buzzing Waspinator, and the towering, demonic Megatron.

The Predacon leader reached down and clamped the mouth of his dragon arm around a soldier’s throat, lifting the unicorn into the air and holding him aloft. The Predacon leader gave a low chuckle as the pony squirmed and choked in his grip.

“You diminutive equines are much more resilient than I first gave you credit for, yesss,” he said, turning back to the other unicorns glaring at him defiantly, “But a backwards civilization like yours would never be a match for the might of the Predacon race. I suppose this is all your army is capable of, then? Of course, a group of you can injure one or two of my weaker troops, but ultimately all you are is nothing more than a slight bump in the road. And I am so weary of road bumps. Now, can any of you fine steeds tell me where the Alien sites on this planet are located? Or perhaps what these are?” He held up the small sapphire Tarantulas had picked earlier and held it high for all to see. The unicorns all looked at the Predacon leader in bewilderment.

“That’s just a gemstone!” one of them spoke up, “You can find them anywhere!”

“What value do they have?” Tarantulas asked as he leered over the speaking soldier, “What is their purpose?”

“They…they don’t have any monetary value! They’re so common, they’re worthless as money. They’re simply prized for their beauty and used for decoration!”

“And what of the energy fields they radiate?” The spider leaned closer, running the edge of his gun down the soldier’s cheek, “Do you really expect us to believe you know nothing about that, as well?” The unicorn’s baffled look was all the answer they needed.

“Well, this group isn’t very helpful,” Megatron sighed with a smirk, “Let’s be rid of these road bumps and move on to the next bunch. Predacons…?”

The six Transformers all aimed their guns at the fallen ponies, laughing in celebration of inevitable victory. A searing heat emanated from Megatron’s dragon mouth, building up a blast of fire to incinerate the unicorn in its jaws. The soldiers did not scream or cry for mercy, as the dragon half expected. They stared death in the face with silent defiance. He was almost touched. But such moments passed quickly and he smirked, ready to immolate the pony in his clutches.

A blinding burst of light suddenly flared over them all. The Predacons staggered back, shielding their eyes. Megatron growled, dropping the unicorn and covering his face. He lashed out with a roar and fired beam after beam of searing plasma in the direction of the light. His minions followed suit and all shot a spray of missiles and energy bolts wildly into the dazzling radiance. The blinded Transformers heard their projectiles make contact, and the earth trembled and shook from the impact of the blasts. The light slowly began to fade, and the Predacons uncovered their eyes to inspect the damage.

A calm breeze drifted gently down the devastated road, lifting the fallen leaves and dust and carrying them through the shining light radiating from her. The rainbow luminance of her mane and tail flowed freely in the gentle wind as it ruffled the feathers of her outspread wings. Princess Celestia stood before the Predacons, bathed in a white light brighter than the sun itself. Her stance was stern and determined, yet at the same time tranquil. But her eyes. Her gleaming eyes made no attempt to hide the roiling sea of rage behind them. Just looking her in the eye made the stunned Predacons feel an intense heat. The injured soldier ponies were all lying behind her, completely unharmed by the invaders’ last attack, staring up at their princess with awestruck wonder and joy.

“And what are you then, my dear?” asked Megatron with a raised eyebrow. The other Predacons all glanced between each other and this tall, new pony with unease and confusion. The shining alicorn said nothing.

“You’re obviously quite different from these other creatures, yesss,” the Predacon leader continued, “Are you their leader? Their queen, perhaps? Can you tell me what I want to know?” The white pony still did not answer.

“She…” said the unicorn captain as he struggled to sit up, “She is Princess Celestia! Ruler of the Equestrian Day! You metal motherbuckers are in for it now.” The Predacons all howled with laughter, slapping their knees and firing their guns into the air. Even Megatron chortled at the apparent absurdity of that statement. The princess turned her head to face the soldiers behind her, the fury in her eyes lessening only slightly.

“You have performed beyond what anyone can ask, my brave stallions. Now fall back and regroup with your battalion at the palace.” The soldiers all looked at each other nervously, then shook their heads.

“No can do, Ma’am,” said the captain, “All due respect, but we ain’t gonna just turn tail and run to leave you all alone against these things.” The anger in Celestia’s eyes grew again.

“That was not a request.”

“…Yes’m,” the captain replied sheepishly. The guards all gathered themselves up and helped each other to hobble back up the road toward the castle while the Predacons continued to laugh and jeer.

“Oh, as if we’d let you walk away,” Megatron sighed as he raised his arm. A beam of plasma lanced from his weapon, slicing through the air toward the retreating unicorns. There was another blinding white flash, and the bolt exploded in mid-air as soon as it passed Celestia. The white alicorn took a step forward, and the cobblestone under her hoof burst and cracked at her touch. Her eyes blazed like twin stars.

“I don’t know what you are or why you think it was a sensible decision to attack this place,” said the princess, her wings curving up at her sides, the tips of her feathers touching above her head, “And truthfully I don’t much care. You will not hurt one more of my ponies. Not one more.”

Tarantulas, Waspinator, and Quickstrike took a cautious step back. Inferno laughed giddily and readied his guns. Dinobot snarled, ready to laser a hole through the alicorn’s head. Rampage sighed uninterestedly and raised his mammoth rocket launcher. Megatron laughed heartily and shook his head, saying “Well, you’re no more intelligent than the rest, nooo. Predacons do not scare so easily. And Megatrons do not yield…We conquer! Open fire!”

The street was ablaze with missiles, lasers, plasma streams, fireballs, energy bolts, and bullets screaming through the air at Celestia. The sun princess did not flinch, a towering wall of golden radiance appearing in front of her. The Predacon assault washed against the wall like a tidal wave, decimating everything around it, yet the wall did not break. The princess closed her eyes and raised her head skyward, her horn shining with dazzling gold.

In the crux of her raised wings she conjured a great circle of shimmering, solid diamond, which hovered in place facing the alicorn’s assailants. The wind grew into a fierce tempest, blowing away the smoke and the clouds and releasing the light of day from behind them. The sun itself was aligned perfectly with the giant lens, enhancing its rays a hundredfold and directing them right into the Predacons’ eyes. They howled once more as they stopped their attack to shield their faces.

“This trick again?!” roared Megatron from behind his hand, “Do you really think the mighty Predacons can be stopped by such a pathetic joke?” The lens continued to build in power, growing brighter and brighter with each second. Normal sunlight on one side was magnified into a blinding beam of burning solar rays. The smaller Predacons started to smoke and sizzle as they all screamed and staggered back.

“You are not mighty,” said Celesta as she turned her head back to face them again, her eyes blazing like fire and her voice echoing on the wind, “You are ants. This is a lens. And I am the sun.” The very air burned and sizzled as the amplified sunlight grew to full power. Megatron himself fell to his knees, bellowing in raging agony as his armor was seared and scorched.

The Predacons all writhed and shrieked, some on their knees, some cowed on the ground, squirming like burning worms. The alicorn princess was blind to their pain and deaf to their cries. Her heart and mind were drowning in a raging fire as all the negative emotions stirred up by her dream frothed to the surface. The image of the Nightmare, the screams of the six ponies drowning within it, an inescapable blackness creeping out from the heart of the sun. Then those thoughts were buried under new ones. These animal-metal monsters, these creatures that had so callously brought such ruin to her people. Her face twisted into a furious snarl.

“How many of my ponies did you kill?!” she raged, her voice deep and booming over the sound of the scorching Predacons, “How many homes have you destroyed, how many lives torn apart?! And for what?! For what?!” The Predacons could not answer as they burned in agony. The princess did not let up, standing tall over her twisting foes. She looked down on them without pity and without mercy. They deserved none, so she would give none. They deserved everything they received, after all. She was wholly justified in punishing them so. She turned up her nose at them, ignoring any pleas they might cry through their screams. And then, just for a second…she smiled.

TIA!” cried the voice of Luna. The azure alicorn landed behind her Celestia, forced to shield her eyes with her hoof to block her sister’s blinding fury. The day princess did not acknowledge her. Luna stamped the ground and shouted angrily “Tia, stop this right now! You’re killing them!”

“…And so what if I am?” Celestia said coldly, barely audible over the throbbing rumble of her spell, “It’s no more than they deserve.”

Luna’s mouth hung open, taken aback. “What has gotten into you?! Since when have you gone for the kill before finding a peaceful answer?!”

“Since these animals killed my ponies!” Celestia seethed, flames leaping from her eyes, “They have attacked what I love and have therefore attacked me. They have trampled and spit upon our peace and our lives! For that they will suffer as my ponies have! For that they will die screaming at my hooves! For that—“ The day princess was silenced as her sister slapped her across the face with her hoof.

Celestia stumbled back, her concentration broken. The lens immediately stopped its assault and hovered motionlessly in the air. The seven Predacons lay twitching and gasping on the singed earth, their smoking armors blackened and charred. Celestia turned back to her sister in a flaming rage but was gripped tightly in Luna’s hooves and shaken hard.

“Stop it, Tia!” Luna cried as she shook her maddened sibling, “Stop it and listen to me! I don’t know what has possessed you, but no amount of pain or grief justifies torture like this!”

“Let go of me!” Celestia screamed as she wrenched herself free, bitter tears suddenly streaming from her eyes, “You know nothing, you stupid little foal! Who are you to stop me?! The welfare of my ponies is my responsibility during the day! I don’t see your moon shining anywhere! So stay out of this!”

Luna stepped back, completely dumbstruck by her sister’s words. “Listen…Listen to yourself!” she found herself sobbing back, “You think those are the words Equestria’s most beloved princess would say? You think your ponies want to see their adored Princess Celestia become a heartless murderer for nothing?!”

The white alicorn’s face froze in an expression of furious shock. “…Nothing? Nothing?! How dare you call the deaths of my ponies nothing?! How dare you?!” She stomped towards Luna, her hooves making craters in the street. She raised her front hoof overhead, ready to strike. The night princess did not budge.

“I want you to know something, Tia,” she said sternly as her sister loomed over her furiously, “It’s what I was coming to tell you before I found you…like this.” Celestia held her hoof still, but continued to glare at her sister while she continued. “Listen to me, Tia, and stop being blinded by needless rage. Our people--your ponies--are safe. Through the quick direction of the night princess, the swift response of the Royal Canterlot Guard, the rapid service of the royal physicians, the decisive action of the day princess, and perhaps by some great miracle we’ll never truly deserve or understand…We did it. We saved them, Tia. No pony has died this day.

Celestia’s eyes grew wide as her face flew in a storm of emotions. Her knees began to knock and she slumped to the ground, breathing hard. She looked down at her own hooves, then to the lens still waiting patiently in the air, then to the charred Predacons in the dirt, and finally to her sister’s worried face. Her breaths became forced and ragged as tears started to push out from her eyes.

“But…I don’t…Oh, Luna, my dear Lulu, what have I done?!” Her face fell into her hooves and she started to sob uncontrollably. She wept and bawled, shuddering with disgust at her own actions, the words that had come from her own mouth. Luna knelt beside her sister and threw her hooves around her in an embrace.

“Lulu, I’m-I’m so sorry!” Celestia wailed, “What I said, I-I don’t know why I--I don’t know what’s come over me. I was just so…so angry.”

“I think, dear sister,” Luna said softly as she stroked Celestia’s mane, “that maybe you weren’t as unaffected by the Nightmare as you thought. And its evil touch was brought to a boil by these attackers and your own fears.”

“I wanted to kill them,” the white alicorn sniffled, “And I was enjoying it. What kind of princess would use the pain of her people as an excuse like that?”

“What…” hissed a voice behind them, “What, indeed?”

The two princesses spun to see Megatron staggering to his knees. A glowing sphere shone through his chest, and coils of energy snaked from it around his wounds, slowly healing and closing them. The alicorns leapt to their hooves as the blackened Predacon coughed out a weak laugh.

“I like…your style, Princess…yesss. So bloodthirsty, so ruthless…You would make an excellent Predacon.”

Luna glared at the dragon, but her sibling placed an assuring hoof on her shoulder. The princess of the day then slowly stepped forward, still weak in the legs and hobbling ever so slightly, and returned to her position under the waiting lens. Luna opened her mouth to plead with her, but fell silent when she saw her sister’s face. Celestia’s expression was calm and composed, infinitely unlike how she acted only moments before. She closed her eyes as her horn glowed softly.

“I believe you said you were called a Megatron,” she said to the recovering robot, “You have failed in whatever pointless desire brought you here. You now know the power I wield, and that fighting is futile. I will give you this one chance to leave on your own. What is your answer?”

“I said it before, O Princess Celestia,” Megatron said as he staggered to his feet and stood up, towering over the alicorns, and aimed his dragon weapon at them, “Megatrons do not yield…We--“

Celestia then reared up and stomped her hooves to the ground, smashing through the stone. “I gave you a chance to leave peacefully. Now GET. OUT. OF. MY. HOME!!!

The lens exploded in a starburst of power, the beam of sunlight shining through it expanding into one mighty blast. The burned Predacons were engulfed in a dazzling explosion, the shockwave shaking Canterlot to the foundations of the mountain itself. A tower of smoke rose into the sky as the blast wave rolled across Celestia and Luna and everything around them, leveling the entire square to dust. Seven streaks of flame were hurled across the countryside like scattered meteors, their smoke trails disappearing over the horizons. All that was left of where the Predacons stood was a smoking crater of glassed earth, over twenty feet wide and twice as deep. Celestia stood still as the rushing force of the blast slowly subsided to a hot breeze. She then bowed her head as the ambient glow around her faded and her horn’s light dissipated. Her wings fell limply at her sides, brushing along the ground. Waterfalls of sweat rolled down her whole body and her knees wobbled until they finally gave out. The princess collapsed to the dirt as she panted for breath.

“Are…Are they…?” Luna asked hesitantly as she knelt at her sister’s side.

“They are very hardy creatures, whatever these ‘Predacons’ are,” Celestia wheezed, “I don’t doubt they survived. But I will not be so gentle if they dare attack my ponies again.” She lay her head on the ground, spending the next few moments in silence. Something cold and wet suddenly touched her back. Looking up, the two alicorns saw great storm clouds rolling in overhead, guided by the hooves of the pegasus soldiers. Sheets of rain poured across Canterlot, washing away fires and cleansing the desecrated streets.

“…Lulu?” the sun princess asked at length.

“Yes, Tia?” the moon princess replied.

“…Thank you. We may have saved my…our ponies today, but you saved me.” A soft nuzzle caressed her cheek in response.

“I’m glad I was able to return the favor after you and the Elements of Harmony saved me. Now, what do you say the victorious princesses return to their waiting subjects?”

“Not just yet. Can we…Can we just stay here like this? Just for a moment?” Luna nodded with a beam and the two sisters embraced. Celestia sniffled and blinked in an effort to retain her composure in front of her smiling sister. But the more she fought against it, the harder it became. Succumbing to her tears, she broke down into uncontrollable sobs of joy in her sister’s embrace. She trembled and bawled into Luna’s mane, the night princess joining in as they held each other tight in the fading rain. Ahead of them, in the courtyard of the royal palace, the crowd of both soldier and civilian ponies cheered and clapped, throwing their helmets and hats into the air. The unicorns launched blooms of fireworks into the sky as the pegasi cartwheeled and looped between them. They danced, they sang, and they cried in their victory. The rain clouds slowly parted and drifted away, their work complete. The fires were washed away and the great city still stood proudly in the growing light despite is many wounds, ready to be rebuilt even better than before. And high above them all the glorious morning sun bathed Canterlot in its warmth once more.