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Blackout or Grindor

As the Apple Blooms

Respite 4; Blackout or Grindor?

Canterlot High…

“Unleash the magic! Unleash the magic!” The students of Crystal Prep sang out as they pressured Twilight Sparkle to release all of the Equestrian magic she’d gathered. Behind the lavender girl, Principal Abacus Cinch gave a wicked grin as her prized pupil opened the device, all the while imagining the looks on Principal Celestia’s face when her school won the Friendship Games.

But from the other side of the field, Applejack and her friends watched in horror as this Twilight Sparkle, someone who all they knew was a naïve and innocent identical clone of their friend from Equestria, break under a kind of peer pressure they couldn’t even imagine and release something none of them even fully understood.

“Ah gotta stop her!” Applejack finally blurted out as she charged towards Twilight, hoping she could save her. To her surprise, Sunset Shimmer had seemingly come to the same conclusion, and was now racing towards her, flanked by two of the Wondercolts, Misty Fly and Surprise.

Unfortunately, Twilight’s hands were just a little bit faster. The instant she finally opened her device, the magic escaped, forming a light blue orb around her hands. The shockwave it produced not only blew her hair back and glasses off, but it actually managed to throw both Sunset and Applejack back.

Soon the orb of magic grew in size, rising into the air as it carried Twilight upward with it. As the purple girl was consumed by the magic, she turned to face Principal Cinch and, reaching out one of her hands, begged, “Help…. Me….” Instead, the cerulean principal backed away in fear, abandoning Twilight to her fate.

Within seconds, the orb of magic had consumed Twilight Sparkle completely. All Applejack could see was her silhouette as, well, something happened. ‘Hold on!’ She thought to herself. ‘This looks like when Sunset tried to wear Twilight… Our Twilight’s crown back at the fall formal.’ From behind her, the farm girl heard Rarity desperately ask, “Applejack! What’s happening?” Rising back to her feet, she could only answer, “Somethin’ horrible.”

Before anyone could do anything else, the orb grew so bright that everyone had to look away as it unleashed another shockwave. When Applejack managed to fix her sight on Twilight, only to be horrified by what she was witnessing.

There, floating in the sky was Twilight Sparkle. However, she had been transformed; her skin was a march darker purple, she was now dressed in a purple/pink strapless dress, her eyes were now a menacing turquoise, a light blue crooked horn formed on her forehead as flame markings of the same color did around her eyes, and she now sported dark indigo wings from her back. All in all, it was Twilight had been fused with Sunset Shimmer’s demon form.

Letting out a terrifying cackle, Twilight turned to Sunset Shimmer and gloated, “You were right. I didn’t understand magic before, but I do now!” As she gloated, her horn began to glow as she held out her hand towards the statue that sat atop the portal. From her hand, magic shot straight out and towards the statue, shattering it to pieces.

As Sunset Shimmer ran up to the portal, she was horrified to see that, growing where the statue once stood, she witnessed a purple circle grow, revealing a vaguely familiar village in an idyllic countryside with ponies of many different colors.

“Equestria!” Sunset exclaimed as her eyes widened with horror. Somehow, Twilight had found a way to rip a hole between Equestria and this world. ‘This is impossible!’ She thought to herself. ‘Not even Princess Celestia could do something like this!’

Soon Twilight was ripping tears into reality all around her. One was a portal straight to Cloudsdale, one to a farm that vaguely resembled Applejack’s family farm, one to somewhere else in Equestria, one to a great city under a starry sky and….

That last one stumped both Sunset and Twilight. The large purple she-demon angrily bellowed, “What is this? There is no magic coming from this place!” Sunset, however, remarked, “This can’t be Equestria. I’ve never seen anything like this!”

Indeed, rather than a scene of tranquil peace, this portal revealed a horizon of hexagonal structures under a starry night sky, the closest one revealing a futuristic city skyline. Throughout the horizon, large orange, purple, and red explosions dotting the skyline as jets and other aircraft flew by. All in all, it was something that no one could take their eyes from.

Twilight rolled her eyes as she complained, “If there’s no magic then I’m not interested!” She then turned to focus on one of the many other portals, only for her and everyone else to be distracted by a sound no one expected to come from the warzone; Helicopter blades whirling.

Sure enough, emerging from the portal was a massive gray helicopter. While Applejack and everyone else were no strangers to these kinds of airborne vehicles, this one was far different. It was far larger than any helicopter anyone had ever seen before, the front was a smooth rounded cockpit with many windows, and perhaps most terrifying of all; there was a long tube that stuck out from the cockpit’s lower right side.

And now that it was here, the helicopter was just floating there, staring Twilight down.

Groaning to herself, Twilight growled, “I don’t have time for this thing if it doesn’t have any magic!” She then turned to prepare her another beam of magic, intent on opening yet another portal to Equestria.

She was completely caught off guard when the helicopter’s machine guns began to fire right at her.

As Twilight recoiled in pain as she was received the hailstorm of fire from the large helicopter, Sunset Shimmer couldn’t help but desperately call out, “TWILIGHT!” Sadly, only Applejack could make out what she was saying as they were both being silenced by the thunderous whirling of the helicopter’s blades churning.

Turning to Applejack, Sunset ordered, “Get everyone away from this thing!” While hardly happy that one of the few things she’d heard from Sunset in the last few months was an order, the orange farm girl didn’t hesitate as she gave a determined nod as she turned to return to her friends.

Once she made it back up to her friends, Applejack found herself shouting, “We gotta get everyone away from that thing!” While Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie only gave worried nods in response, Rarity asked, “What about that ghastly helicopter?” Before Applejack could answer however, Rainbow Dash shouted, “Look!”

Turning to see what her friend was pointing at, Applejack witnessed Twilight shooting a beam of magic at the helicopter, only for the magic to just deflect away off into the horizon. Her face turning red with frustration, the lavender she-demon growled, “What is this thing?” As she said this, the helicopter began to menacingly descend towards the ground.

As the helicopter descended, Applejack turned to the many students from both Crystal Prep and Canterlot High and shouted, “Get away from that thing!” No one needed any further convincing, and soon students began to flee in every direction. Heck, even Dean Cadence, Vice Principal Luna, and Principal Celestia were trying to get out, albeit while making sure everyone else got away first. Upon seeing her principal, Applejack ran up to her and desperately asked, “You alright Principal Celestia?”

The pale white woman shook her head and replied, “And to think portals from another world were enough trouble!” Applejack found herself letting out a gentle chuckle as she reassured the older woman, “Don’t worry. It ain’t nothin’ we can’t handle.”

And then, the whirling from the helicopter just stopped.

Turning to face the helicopter, Applejack found that indeed, its massive rotor blades had just suddenly stopped. While she was no expert on helicopters, she knew that the blades were supposed to gradually slow down, not stop at a moment’s notice.

Before anyone could say anything else, the rotor blades began to fold up behind it. Soon other pieces of the helicopter began to rotate, change position, and move all over the vehicle. As the vehicle made an otherworldly, five tone mechanical sound, Pinkie Pie tiptoed up to Applejack and nervously whispered, “I don’t think that thing is a helicopter.”

And just when it seemed nothing could possibly get any weirder, the helicopter began to transform. All of the pieces of the helicopter simply relocated from one part of the vehicle to another until it no longer resembled a helicopter.

There before them, pushing itself up with two brand new arms was a giant robot. The helicopter’s cockpit had now formed its chest, the bulk of the chassis was had transformed into the robot’s arms and legs, a large circular device rested above the machine’s head (most likely the engine), and the rotor blades rested on its back as if it were a cape. With all of this and a face that resembled an insect with drooping wires, this robot suddenly found itself drawing more attention that Twilight or the many portals that now decorated the courtyard.

Furious at this, this thing for attacking her, Twilight angrily asked, “Who or what are you?!” The machine let out a low, guttural growl as he charged right at her, catching her completely off guard. Unable to react, she found herself getting slammed into the school’s wall as the robot stared her down with its piercing red eyes.

As the robot held its massive three fingered hand to Twilight’s throat, it furiously bellowed out, “Where is the artifact, human?!” The machine’s voice was deep and booming, the kind of voice one expected to come out of a monster in an old movie. Still, Twilight wasn’t intimidated by this metallic menace. After all, now that she had the power, she wouldn’t let anything intimidate her, especially this piece of tin.

“You think you can challenge me?” Twilight mocked the massive robot. As she managed to wiggle its hand away from her throat, she continued, “I have the magic of another world. And why would I give you anything, let alone your so called artifact?”

As the massive robot let out a furious bellow, he slammed Twilight into the ground as he pulled something out from his body and growled, “Tell me where the artifact is or I’ll cut you open!” It then flicked its wrist, revealing four smaller blades emerge from its device, the same number of blades as the helicopter’s tail rotor. As the new blades began to rotate at increasing speed, the robot cruelly taunted, “Better make up your mind fast!”

From behind Applejack, Fluttershy stepped forward and challenged the machine with a stern, “Hey! Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?” Turning around to face the group, the robot began to slowly march up to them in the way a predator taunted its prey. As Fluttershy realized what she’d just done, the machine taunted them with a sadistic, “Well then, how about I just deal with you insects first?!”

The robot then charged towards Applejack and her friends, its rotating blades barely missing Fluttershy by mere millimeters. As the pink haired girl narrowly escaped a serious injury, Applejack found herself screaming, “RUN!” She and her friends found themselves being chased down the street by a giant homicidal robot.

Luckily for them, after a few minutes, the massive machine growled, “I don’t have time for this!” As Applejack dared to allow herself a moment to peak behind her, she found the robot leapt into the air as its parts began to shift and dislocate again, transforming back into a helicopter. The large aircraft then veered off towards its right as it rotated itself and prepared to return to Canterlot High.

Stopping to catch their breaths, the reality of their situation began to hit all five teens. Fluttershy was barely able to keep herself together as she asked, “What was that thing?!” Rainbow Dash then added, “Yeah! There’s no way that thing was from Equestria!” Even Pinkie Pie couldn’t help but allow her hair to droop as she began, “There is no way we can do anything to that great big meanie of a robot! It’s too big and mean and angry and grumpy and it has that scary blade thing and…..” As tears began to drip out of her eyes, the pink girl couldn’t help but scream, “WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!”

Applejack did something she’d never expect she had to do as well as something she’d hate herself over; she grabbed Pinkie by the shirt, slapped her in the face, and had to practically order, “Get a hold of yourself!” As the other girls stared in shock, the blonde farm girl let out a shameful sigh and explained, “Ah’m sorry Pinkie, but now’s not the time to panic. We have to do something.”

Rainbow Dash walked up to Applejack and asked, “You saw what that thing can do! How are we gonna even put a dent in it, let alone beat it?” Applejack felt her heart sink as she realized she didn’t have a plan. Sighing, the farm girl answered, “Ah dunno.”

Rarity then stepped forward and began to speak. “Darlings, I know this seems bleak, but remember. We’ve dealt with situations like this before. If we can stop the dazzlings, we can surely stop that giant tin can!” Fluttershy then added, “And we have to save Twilight. Sunset can’t do it on her own.”

Letting out a deep breath, Applejack then turned to her fashionista friend and asked, “Anythin’ you have in mind?”

Elsewhere…

As Sunset helped Misty Fly get the remaining students away from the courtyard, she looked up to see Twilight was opening yet another portal. The transformed teen was groaning, “There has to be something that can stop that infernal machine!”

Turning back to Misty Fly, Sunset sternly ordered, “Get the others out of here. I think I can get Twilight to stop.” The blue haired Wondercolt gave a confirming nod as she warned, “Don’t get yourself killed. I’d hate to have to explain that to Soarin.” The two teens shared a brief hug before Misty Fly ran off to warn the other Wondercolts to flee.

Once she was gone, Sunset turned her attention back to Twilight and called out, “Twilight! You have to stop this madness!” The lavender she-demon rolled her eyes as she asked, “Why should I? I’ve spent all my life looking for answers, and now I have the power to find them all.” As another portal opened, the red haired former equestrian asked, “So you’re willing to destroy this world to get it?” Floating down to the puny human, Twilight menacingly asked, “Who cares?”

Both girls were distracted when the sound of a helicopter’s rotors began to ring in their ears. As Twilight’s pupils shrank in fear, Sunset turned to see that the massive helicopter had returned and was now charging right at them. As it approached them, the vehicle began to transform back into the terrifying robot. Once its feet hit the ground, the machine began to charge Twilight, only to find itself on the receiving end of a blast of magic.

The machine growled, “This is your last chance Insect! Surrender the artifact or perish!” As Twilight prepared another beam of magic, the robot extended its arm as a device with three barrels emerged. Before the lavender she-demon could unleash her power, the robot’s device began to release a terrifying output of firepower, forcing Twilight to duck out of the way.

Sadly, some of the robot’s bullets hit Twilight’s wings, forcing her down to the ground as she screamed in pain. Chuckling to itself, the vile machine gloated, “Just like the rest of your race, weak and easily broken.” It then began to slowly stomp towards her, once again brandishing its rotor blade weapon.

However, something caught the monster’s attention. Sunset followed the machine’s line of sight right to something she hadn’t even thought about; Twilight’s talisman. ‘The talisman!’ she thought to herself. ‘That thing wants the talisman!’ Realizing what was happening, she ran towards the discarded relic, careful to avoid any portals that had formed on the ground.

Sadly, the mechanical monster was quicker, and scooped it up in its giant, three fingered hand. As Sunset gulped in fear, the machine brought the talisman to its optics. To both her and Twilight’s surprise, the machine growled as it suddenly closed its hand into a fist, grinding the trinket into dust.

“Rrraaaaggghhh!” The robot growled with fury. “The artifact is worthless! It’s lost all its power!” The giant machine began to tremble with rage before it stopped and turned to Twilight. When the purple teen turned demon gave a confused look, the robot flicked its wrist and brought back the rotor blades as it spoke again.

“You! You have the artifact’s power!” As the machine stomped up to Twilight, it continued, “If you have the power, then you have to die!” It then stopped before its terrifying face formed what could only be described as a warped attempt at a smile as it said, “I’m gonna love tearing you apart.”

Leaving no time to react, the machine charged towards Twilight, slashing her chest with its rotating blades. As Twilight screamed in agonizing pain, Sunset ran up to the machine and began to try and climb its leg, only to find herself swatted away like a fly. The large robot let out a cruel cackle as it belittled her, “You better try a lot harder than that insect!”

As Twilight struggled to free herself, Sunset rose back to her feet and, taking a deep breath, felt something change in her. She felt the spark of determination return to her heart as she remembered how she helped save Twilight, or rather the other Twilight, and her friends from the Dazzlings. But this time, it was up to her and only her to save this Twilight from this malevolent machine.

Taking a final deep breath, Sunset Shimmer allowed the magic to flow within her, and with a blinding flash of light, she felt herself transform. As the light consumed everything, she felt the warm embrace of Equestrian magic consume her.

Once the light died down, Sunset floated towards Twilight and the giant robot. Both beings were surprised to see that the fiery haired girl had also transformed, but this time into an angelic being, far more noble in appearance than the she-demon Twilight or the mechanical monstrosity of the giant robot.

Extending a hand, Sunset faced Twilight and empathetically said, “Twilight, there’s another way to understand the magic. I can help you.” As the purple teen turned titan contemplated what she’d been offered, the giant robot sarcastically asked, “What, you think some sob story can turn me into a weakling?”

Shaking her head, Sunset bluntly answered, “Not you. You threatened to kill her.” The giant robot simply shrugged as it grumbled, “Since you put it that way……”

Without warning, the malevolent machine charged Sunset and pulled out its helicopter blades. As it began to swipe the weapon towards the angelic teen, it growled, “Then you shall die!” As it attacked her, all three beings heard something no one expected; the sound of cars approaching.

Holding the mechanical monster’s blades at bay, Sunset found that three vehicles were speeding towards Canterlot high. One was a white ambulance, one was a white sports car with green and red stripes, and the final vehicle was a red van right in the middle. ‘Ugh, first Twilight, now this giant robot, now these guys.’ Sunset internally grumbled to herself. ‘What else is new?’

Instead, the large gray robot pulled its blades back as it turned to face the three approaching vehicles. It then shouted one word in surprise and anger, a word that would stick with both Sunset and Twilight for a long time.

“AUTOBOTS!”

The moment the monster uttered this single word, the three vehicles transformed, producing the same mechanical five-toned sound it had. The ambulance became a robot with a helmet with gray horns on the front, the sports car was a machine with a mask over his mouth and eyes and large trapezoidal prisms where his ears should be, and the red van was a tall and proud robot with the windshield on his chest and wore a helmet not unlike the centurions of centuries past.

As the three new robots stopped themselves, the red one stepped forward and warned, “Stand down Decepticon! We have you outnumbered!” The helicopter robot adopted a defiant stance as it angrily replied, “But not outgunned Autobot!” As it said this, the large rotor blades rotated themselves so they didn’t block its back. It was at this moment something shot out of its back, revealing itself to be a smaller (but still gigantic) robotic scorpion.

Turning to his companions, the red robot ordered, “Wheeljack! Ratchet! Take care of the bug boy! I’ll deal with the big guy!” The one with the masked face, this Wheeljack if Sunset heard correctly, nodded as he replied, “You got it Ironhide!” With that, the large robotic scorpion charged at Wheeljack as he and the third robot (The one called Ratchet) transformed again and drove off into the distance, evil arthropod in tow.

The final red robot, the one called Ironhide, then pulled out two silver laser guns and taunted the gray monster with a cocky, “Your move Decepti-chop.” The helicopter robot then charged right at Ironhide as it pulled out its rotor blade and let out a guttural bellow. Soon both mechanical titans were punching, striking, and damaging each other as Ironhide’s windshield chest cracked as the other robot’s larger blades were snapped and the machine gun pulled out of its chest.

As the two robotic titans fought, Sunset found her eyes drifting towards Twilight, who was looking away in shame. When she floated over, the lavender teen sighed as she explained, “It’s my fault those things are here. If I hadn’t opened the portals, if I hadn’t been so focused on understanding the magic….”

Sunset knew that the weight of everything that had happened was finally hitting Twilight. She continued, “I’ve made a horrible mistake.” As tears began to form in the purple teen’s eyes, Sunset extended a hand and reassured her, “Its ok Twilight. I know what it’s like.” Twilight hesitated for a moment before asking, “You do?”

Taking the lavender she-demon’s hand, Sunset gave a warm smile and reassured her, “I do.” The instant both hands made contact, a bright light began to engulf both girls as they found themselves gently descending back to the ground.

Once they were back on solid ground, the light faded, revealing that not only had the many portals closed, but both girls had returned to normal. Letting out a nervous sigh, Twilight tearfully asked, “Do you think everyone will forgive me for….” She then motioned to everything around her as she finished with, “….This?”

Resting a hand on Twilight’s shoulder, Sunset reassured her with a gentle, “Trust me, they’ll forgive you.” The purple girl then wrapped her in a massive hug, one which she happily returned. Once they finished, Sunset then gently began, “Now then, all we have to do is…..”

She was interrupted when the gray helicopter robot returned, grasping for both girls as it furiously shouted, “It’s over humans!” Both Sunset and Twilight found themselves screaming in fear as they tried to back away, only to find themselves pressed against the brick walls of Canterlot high.

As the helicopter robot grasped, however, both girls were surprised when the red robot called Ironhide popped up behind it and began to pull it away as he groaned, “Leave them alone you Decepti-chop!” The crimson machine found himself losing his balance and falling backwards. Lying on his back as the Decepticon pulled out its rotor blades, he taunted, “Looks like you’re stuck here now. How are you gonna get back to Cybertron?”

Preparing to lunge the rotating blades into Ironhide’s face, the gray menace angrily replied, “It doesn’t matter. For Megatron!” The vile machine then raised its weapon as it prepared to lunge it into Ironhide’s face. The red Autobot was barely able to hold the spinning blades back, his own arms struggling to keep the weapon from turning his face into sharp pieces of scrap metal.

Turning to Sunset Shimmer, Twilight asked, “What do we do?” Sunset pondered for a quick moment before her eyes noticed that one of the evil robot’s knees looked like it had been slightly damaged. Growing a cocky smirk as she straightened her jacket, Sunset answered, “Let’s give this guy a Charlie horse.”

The two teens then snuck up to the gray behemoth and prepared to reach up to its knee and inflict what damage they could. Taking a deep breath, Sunset asked, “You ready?” Twilight let out a sigh as she answered, “I’m ready.”

Before either teen could do anything else, however, the large helicopter robot snapped its head towards them and taunted, “Did you really think I wouldn’t notice you insects?!” Both Sunset and Twilight yelped in fear as they jumped in the air and began to back away. Neither they nor the mechanical menace noticed the latter ever so slightly loosening its grip on the rotor blades.

With a great yell of determination, Ironhide shoved the spinning blades right into the gray Decepticon’s head. The instant the blades made contact, they began to tear its head apart piece by piece. As hunks of scrap began to fly all around them, Sunset found herself sidestepping to avoid one of the monster’s red eyes squashing her.

As Ironhide rose back to his feet, he pushed the Decepticon’s body aside as he grumbled, “To say this guy was a piece of tin is an insult to tin.” Swiping the dust and scrap off his arms, the crimson robot noticed the two humans near his feet and gently greeted them with a simple, “How’s it going?”

Stunned by the machine’s surprising civility, Sunset awkwardly answered, “Uh, not to bad?” Ironhide let out a sigh of relief and replied, “That’s good. Sorry about this punk ass Decepticon here.” He then motioned to the lifeless body of the helicopter robot and continued, “I don’t know how he got here, but I doubt he’ll be any more trouble.” As Twilight looked away in shame, Ironhide, not even noticing, quickly changed the subject as he introduced himself. “Oh, where are my manners? The name’s Ironhide.”

“I’m Sunset Shimmer.” The fiery haired girl explained. “And this is Twilight Sparkle.” As the lavender girl gave a meek nod, Ironhide gave a respectful nod of his own as he made the motions one did when they tipped their hat.

At that moment, all three were distracted when they heard five female voices shout, “CHARGE!” Turning to see what the commotion was, the trio found Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy charging at them, each one holding either a piece of rubble or even a trash can lid. As they approached, however, the quintet began to slow down as the rainbow haired girl deadpanned, “Looks like everything got sorted out. I think.” Applejack then looked up to Ironhide and asked, “Whoa. Who or what in tarnation are you?” The crimson Autobot answered, “I’m Ironhide.”

Applejack’s eyes shrank when she heard that name. After all, it couldn’t be him, could it? Then again, this giant machine did bear an uncanny resemblance to her honorary uncle. Maybe he was from Equestria like Princess Twilight? Of course, the Princess never mentioned anything about giant robots before.

She was distracted from her train of thought by the sound of pitter patter of tiny feet. Turning to see what it was, she was pleasantly surprised to see the puppy Spike running up to Twilight, carrying her glasses in his mouth. As the little purple dog let out an adorable yelp as he leapt into the lavender girl’s chest, more and more people began to return to the courtyard. First Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna, then Dean Cadence, then the Wondercolts, as well as both students from both Canterlot High as well as Crystal Prep.

From behind the Shadowcolts, however, was a furious Principal Cinch. Stomping up to Twilight, the cerulean teacher began to mercilessly berate her pupil. “YOU! I don’t know what was going through your head young woman, but THAT….” She pointed to the corpse of the Decepticon as she angrily continued, “….Bringing that thing here is something absolutely unforgivable. Not only am I not approving your transfer to Everton, but you are officially EXPELLED from Crystal Prep!”

As Twilight’s eyes shrank in horror, Sunset stepped forward and challenged the older woman. “Really? Because YOU were the one who kept pushing her to gather the magic and unleash it, allowing all of those portals to open. You were the one who’s responsible for that monster arriving, not Twilight!” As Cinch glared daggers into Sunset’s eyes, Ironhide gave a confused look as he asked, “Wait, you opened a portal to Cybertron?”

Before anyone could say anything else, the sound of impossibly heavy footsteps distracted everyone. Turning to see what it was, the crowd was surprised to see the other two Autobots approaching, with the white one that resembled Ironhide hiding something behind his back.

Stepping towards his comrades, Ironhide asked, “Well?” The white Autobot, Ratchet if Sunset remembered correctly, gave a small smile as he revealed what he was hiding; a giant, motionless, metal scorpion. Tossing the deceased machine to the ground in front of the group, Ratchet replied, “We won’t get any trouble from this little bugger.” The third Autobot, Wheeljack, added, “This little prick was a pain in the afterburner.”

Ironhide then let out a worried sigh and asked, “And the Decepticon we were looking for?” Ratchet shook his head as he answered, “Signal’s gone. He must have fled while we were distracted.”

Applejack stepped towards the red Autobot and asked, “Ok, Ah don’t understand a lick of what you three are sayin’. Would ya please tell us all what’s goin’ on here?”

Ironhide let out a gentle chuckle as he shook his head and explained, “My colleagues and I were tracking a Decepticon.” He then turned to the corpse of the helicopter goon and continued, “Not this one.” Taking another deep breath, he continued, “We got distracted when this Decepti-bum here popped up on our radar.” Ratchet then interrupted him with a simple, “And the signal we were following, our Decepticon’s signal, has disappeared.”

All eyes began to drift towards Principal Cinch. Confused, the older woman asked, “Why are you looking at me?” Sunset walked up to her and explained, “Like I said, you pressured Twilight into unleashing the magic, which led to the portal that Decepti-thing emerged from.” As Cinch began to put the pieces together in her head, Wheeljack approached her and, in a voice full of frustration and anger, continued, “Not only did the Decepticon only get here from the portal, but because of you, we had to abandon our investigation! Our target escaped because of you!”

Principal Celestia then made her way up to Cinch and began berate her in her own way. “And I’ll be honest with you, what you’ve done to Twilight alone is borderline abuse.” Dean Cadence then joined in with a far more furious, “I knew you weren’t the most pleasant person in the world, but this….” She pointed her arm to the scene of destruction around them as she finished with, “You’ll be lucky if you ever get a job in the FOOD INDUSTRY!”

Growing a cocky smirk on her face, Principal Cinch replied, “Really? In that case I shall be going to the school board about this.” Principal Celestia shook her head as she asked, “You think they’ll believe you about the magic portals?” Vice Principal Luna then asked, “Or about the giant robots?”

As everyone began to stare down Cinch, the cerulean woman simply huffed, straightened her coat, and stormed off. Once she was gone, Sunset turned to Twilight as she reassured her, “Don’t worry. I think everything’s gonna be fine.” The lavender girl, still holding spike tightly, gently replied, “Thanks.”

Meanwhile, Ironhide knelt down to Principal Celestia and asked, “You seem to be the commanding officer here, am I correct?” When the muted-rainbow haired woman nodded, he continued, “Then if you don’t mind, my teammates and I need to dispose of the bodies.” He then turned to the deceased Decepticon and explained, “We can’t afford someone getting hurt or setting off a booby trap.”

Principal Celestia gave a confirming nod as she answered, “I understand.” With her approval, Ironhide and Ratchet picked up the Decepticon and began to move the body as Ratchet picked up the super sized scorpion.

As the Autobots began to carry the corpses off into the difference, Applejack, Sunset, and everyone else, couldn’t help but feel that things were never going to be the same. Their world had been transformed.

Somewhere in Canterlot City

Walking down the street of the city, Principal Cinch was grumbling to herself. “Ugh. Why couldn’t I have taken my own car?” She asked herself. Now, the Principal of Crystal Prep was going over scenario after scenario in her mind as she tried to think of how to get her revenge on those girls.

“And to think you were my prized pupil.” Cinch said to herself, or rather an invisible Twilight. “I’ll make you pay for embarrassing me. You’ll wish that expulsion will be the worst thing that will happen to you.”

She was interrupted by the sound of a police car blaring its siren for a brief moment. Turning to see who it was, Principal Cinch found that she had just passed a black and white police car. Though momentarily worried that she would be arrested for her actions, Cinch realized she had been handed the perfect opportunity.

Running up to the police car, Cinch began to speak. “Officer, something has happened at Canterlot High School. Their students have cheated in the Friendship Games, and….” She stopped herself when she realized that the officer in the car wasn’t reacting to her at all.

“Are you hearing me officer?” Cinch shouted. “Something is going on at Canterlot High!” Again, the officer did not move. Loosing what little was left of her patience, the cerulean principal began to slam her fist into the police car’s hood as she lost all composure. “There are monsters at Canterlot High!”

Without warning, the police car scooted forward, forcing Cinch off her feet and onto her back. The car then repeated this, intimidating the Principal as she screamed, “What’s going on? Have you lost your mind?!”

Then, the police car began to transform. The vehicle made a series of metallic clinking and clanging noises as it grew arms and legs. Too overcome with horror and fear to even consider fleeing, Cinch thought to herself, ‘Oh no. Another one?’

Finally, as the machine stood tall like a rogue golem, a head sprouted out of the hood, a sinister black face with what seemed to be four bright red eyes, two in each socket. As the machine grabbed Cinch in its circular hand, it began to speak in a deep, silky smooth and sadistic voice.

“Hello there human.” The police car machine greeted, sarcasm oozing from its voice. As Cinch gulped in fear, she asked, “What do you want with me?” The monstrous machine simply answered, “Lord Megatron will have use of you.”

With that, the machine transformed back into a police car, taking the screaming Principal Cinch off to somewhere she would never escape from.

That Morning, Pinkie Pie’s Room…

Rising up from her bed in a mild sweat, Pinkie Pie shook her head as she turned to her stuffed alligator Gummy and remarked, “Whoa, I had the craziest dream in the world Gummy.” Of course, the stuffed animal didn’t respond, only staring back at her with his beady eyes.

Taking a deep breath, Pinkie Pie explained, “It was about last night and how the other Twilight turned into something like Sunset did at the fall formal and opened a lot of portals and that there was that giant helicopter robot.” She then leant into her toy alligator and whispered, “You know what was different?” Again, the stuffed animal didn’t reply.

Shooting out of her bed, Pinkie Pie explained, “There were more of them. Not only were there more robots than the helicopter one, but they were good guys who stopped him! The best part was that they had the same names as Applejack’s uncle and his friends!” She then found herself softening her voice as she asked, “Speaking of her uncle, I wonder what Apple Bloom is up to.”

Before the stuffed alligator would have answered (if it were actually alive to anyone other than its master) Pinkie Pie’s eyes drifted over to the cupcake shaped alarm clock on her wall as she exclaimed, “Oh, I gotta get ready for school!”

With that, the poofy pink haired girl got herself dressed for the day, scooped up her backpack, and left her room, though not before shouting, “I LOVE YOU GUMMY!” Once she was gone, the stuffed toy simply sat on her bed, wondering just how much Pinkie actually understood the world around her.

Author's Note:

APRIL FOOLS!

In all seriousness, we will return to normal next week.

And to answer the title, the giant menace is the one who's vehicle form is a horse pun.

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