Freedom's Last Stand

by TheOneWhoWanders

Its definitely a civil war

The ride was silent along the highway heading out of Canterlot. The two humans were too busy thinking to speak and the robots with them gave no indication that they were all too chatty either. The silence was broken when a swirling green vortex opened up in front of them, startling Sunset and Twilight, and the cars drove through. To say the experience was disorientating was would be an understatement. Ever had really bad vertigo? Take that, times by a thousand and through in some whiplash for good measure. Twilight had to cover her mouth to stop herself from puking up everything she'd eaten that week. Sunset was more composed but her face did take on a slight green tint.

The doors of the car they were in opened and they rushed to get out as quickly as possible. They heard the sound the aliens made when they transformed while they tried to compose themselves. Soon, they felt a number of eyes on them. They looked up and saw a group of the robots watching them. Each had a different color and all had the same red, glowing face-like symbol somewhere on them.

Twilight raised a hand and let out a shaky "Hi?" to break the awkward silence. The largest one raised its own hand and replied to her.

"Hi! I'm Orion Pa- uh, Optimus Prime." He (as the voice indicated) said. This one was mainly red with blue arms, a blue kind of helmet thing and white legs with blue markings above the knees. The one stood next to him patted him on the shoulder and whispered something along the lines of 'you'll get it eventually' before returning its attention to the little organics.

"Thanks, Ratchet. Anyway, yeah, I'm the current leader of the Autobot resistance. This is my team." He continued with a gesture at those gathered.

The one called Ratchet was mainly white with red highlights running down his limbs and chest. He looked older than the rest and, seeing as how Optimus had already said his name, appeared to dismiss himself to a console near the other side of the room. The next along in the line was mainly red and yellow. Flame decals ran up his arms and legs. He had a large smile on his face and looked very excited.

"Hey! My names Hot Rod! I'm the team sniper!" He said, clearly holding back on what he could have continued with.

Another bot, this one smaller and yellow with black stripes, stepped forward. His parts indicated that he was the one who rammed the cop car previously chasing them. He got down on one knee before introducing himself as Bumblebee, an Autobot Scout-Captain. After him, his partner introduced himself. He was entirely red and called himself Cliffjumper.

The last bot in the room let out a humph and crossed his arms, looking away.

"Longarm, come on." Whined the Prime.

"Fine, I am Longarm, Autobot intelligence chief. If you have to be here then please, don't bug me." The dark green and black Autobot spoke with a condescending tone of voice.

"Autobots, you can go back to what you were doing. I'll answer any questions these two might have." Ordered Optimus. The others all spread out amongst the area, talking and using consoles. Optimus gestured for the two humans to follow him. "You don't have to introduce yourselves. We've known who you are for a while."

"How, exactly?" asked Sunset, not really trusting the situation.

"We've been tracking a strange energy source found in a few select areas of the planet. You and your friends are apparently some of the only humans who know about it and the only ones in the public eye." Optimus explained. He stood by a console and brought up a map of the world. Some areas where highlighted in red. "We think the reason Barricade, the bot who looks like a police car, was chasing you is because the Decepticons know this as well."

"The Decepti-whats?" Inquired Twilight.

"The Decepticons. They're the group that we are at w-"

Optimus was interrupted by a continuous beeping coming from Ratchet's console. The medic called out to the rest.

"Someone is contacting us. Its an Autobot signal!"

"Patch 'em through then, Docbot." Responded Hot Rod, eager to hear from some of the others.
Ratchet pressed a button on the console and sound began to filter into the room.

"This is Autobot Unit-Captain Arcee transmitting on all Frequencies," a female voice was heard. She sounded panicked. Fighting could be heard in the background "The Decepticons are breaking through our lines on Caminus. If anyone can hear m-" The voice let out a pained scream as the sound of metal tearing and denting filled the room.

A malicious laugh could be heard in the background as the sound of a body hitting the floor was heard. A scratchy, male voice spoke up after.

"If anyone can ME, feel free to listen in as I execute your comrades!"
More gunfire, screams and laughter echoed after that. Ratchet, quite calmly, turned the broadcast off.

All the bots in the room looked both horrified and unbelievably furious. Hot Rod could be heard muttering 'Starscream' with murder in his voice. Both Twilight and Sunset saw the pure emotion in each bot. Sure, they could see that they were sentient and could feel pain but actual emotion? Neither actually believed they had that until that moment.

"Uh....anyway. The Decepticons are our enemy. We've been fighting them for millions of years in an effort to stop them from conquering the universe and enforcing tyranny upon everyone who lives in it." Continued Optimus, sadness creeping into his tone.

"Why are you fighting though? If these 'Decepticons' are trying to conquer things for your species, then why fight them?" Questioned Twilight, clearly disturbed by what she had heard. Before Optimus could answer, Longarm did.

"Because the Decepticons are a band of rebels who got lucky! The only, ONLY, reason we're know as the 'resistance' is because the Decepticons took Cybertron and killed it! Our home is dead and our 'glorious' leader, Optimus 'Prime', Isn't even a real Prime! Megatron has the Matrix which gives him more right to the title than YOU, Orion Pax!" He shouted with fury and accusation in his voice. Everyone was silent. Longarm turned and stormed out of the room.

Optimus sighed before apologizing for Longarm. He explained how the intelligence chief was a staunch traditionalist and was put under a huge amount of stress on an almost daily basis. Part of that stress was the fact that his beloved commonwealth (the name the Autobots had when they were winning) had been fractured by the war. He also told them about how Longarm was very much against the reforms the Autobots had adopted.

Twilight looked at the time and asked if there was a way that the Autobots could get her home. Her curfew was coming up soon. Bumblebee offered to drive her back. Sunset opted to stay and learn more about the extraterrestrial visitors, citing the fact that she lived alone as her reason for staying.

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The ride was quiet. Twilight couldn't think of anything to say and Bumblebee didn't want to say anything. They pulled up at a red light and it felt as though they were sat there for hours. The light simply would not change. Then they heard the sound of an engine speeding forward. Another car smashed into Bumblebee and pinned him to a wall. The sound of a transformation could be heard and volts of electricity ran over Bumblebee, forcing him into stasis and knocking out Twilight.

Stepping away from the two forms, the white and navy blue Decepticon shut down his energon prod and activated his comlink.

"This is Deadlock. Mission accomplished, send me a bridge. I've captured both one of the human females and an Autobot!"

Author's Note:

New chapter! Yes, it is late and yes I am terribly sorry for that. I've been pretty busy lately and have decided to begin writing in bulk. There will still be a chapter a week but if there is a time when that deadline is missed then just assume that I don't have a chapter for that week.

Thanks to the people liking and favoriting! Love you guys!