The Darkest Hour

by TheClownPrinceofCrime

Chapter 13: Crossing Paths

Rodimus drove through the woods as he checked everywhere around Mount Everhoof for any sign of Lout. To his frustration, he had no luck. Even as he was driving, he still could not find any sign of the escaped prisoner.

As he reached to a random dead end, he noticed pillars of smoke rising to the sky. He transformed to robot mode and saw the arising smoke and the sky being crimson. "No... please no," he muttered. He ran up to a hillside and saw with his own optics the land being conquered. His worst fears became a reality: Equastria was under attack.

In addition to his horror, he spotted a vast army of Decepticons killing dozens of citizens and even taking hundreds of them prisoners. Megatron himself flew on top of the School of Friendship in his glorious, upgraded form and wickedly laughed.

"No! I'm too late! I hope he didn't get to Twilight and the others!" Rodimus lamented. "I have to do something to stop those Decepticon scum, but how?"

Suddenly, he heard loud cracks of wood behind him. He instantly readied his bow and arrows as he turned around. "Who is there? Show yourself!" he demanded.

After a couple of seconds, Skywarp jumped out from the trees while screaming in fear. "I felt something behind me! Get it away from me!" He accidentally fell down before Rodimus whereas a hawk confusedly stared at the robots; it flew away to another tree.

The Autobot lieutenant stared at the ex-Con in shock and confusion as his body type looked similar to Starscream's. Nevertheless, he regained his focus and aimed at his head. "You! Stay where you are, Decepticon!"

"Wait! Wait! Don't shoot me! I mean you no harm!" Skywarp shouted, putting his hands up.

"Pfff, all of you 'Cons mean harm! What is Megatron up to? I will not ask you again!" he roughly demanded.

Skywarp crawled backwards as the Autobot commander advanced toward him. "I don't know! I swear I know nothing of his plans; I mean, I was here the whole time before he showed up. Plus, I am not a Decepticon anymore. I am... one of you now."

"I don't believe you for a second," Rodimus scoffed. "I know how you creeps play tricks on us. Tell me what Megatron's endgame is or else I'll-" He interrupted himself as he recalled how ruthless he was while interrogating Lout back in Cybertron. Not wanting to repeat that mistake, he calmed himself down. "Things are at stake here; thus, I will only ask you one more time to tell me what you know."

"Autobot, I am telling you the truth when I say that I didn't know any of this would happen! My new pony friends would understand that, and I would never let them get hurt!" Skywarp explained.

That caught Rodimus off-guard once he heard the last sentence. "Wait... what? Those ponies are your friends?"

Skywarp nervously nodded.

"Are you sure you are not trying to deceive me?" Rodimus asked, arching his brow.

"Rodimus! Wait! He is telling the truth!" two young voices shouted. Both Cybertronians looked toward the source of the voices and saw Spike and Rumble flying to them.

"Rumble?" Skywarp muttered.

"Spike?" Rodimus likewise muttered.

"Rodimus, it's okay! Skywarp is our friend; he really means it when he says he is innocent," defended Spike.

"Yeah, just lower your weapons. He is on our side," Rumble added.

Rodimus gave one last look of scrutiny at the Seeker before he lowered his weapons; he bent down and embraced his friends. "Thank the Allspark you two are okay. I was hoping you were unharmed, but where are the others? Are they safe where they should be?"

Rumble sadly looked down as he relayed the news. "I can't say for sure if Twilight, her friends, or my brother are okay, but... one of them didn't make it. Starlight is... dead." Spike, Rodimus, and Skywarp gasped in shock.

"WHAT?! NO!! Who killed her?!" Spike cried out.

"Megatron killed her, and he defeated Celestia and Luna too before he got the Elements of Harmony. He is now more powerful than ever," Rumble dejectedly replied.

"This is entirely hopeless; there is definitely no way we can stop him. We are doomed!" Skywarp cried in defeat.

The four lowered their heads in discouragement as Equastria was being conquered by their enemies. However, Rumble heard whispers of Primus in his ears saying, "Do not be faint-hearted, for my light shall guide you in darkness in spite of the circumstances. Go forward, my child. Fight till the end."

Nodding in understanding, Rumble smiled in determination. "We won't give up that easily, guys. As long as we work together and fight those bad guys with the power of friendship, none of them will stand. We will rescue our friends and family and bring Megatron down once and for all. Today, in the name of freedom, we take the battle to them!"

Encouraged by his words, they smiled in unison. Skywarp stood up and replied to the colt, "I think it was wrong of me to flee from the problem whereas I should have confronted it. You showed me the value of courage and friendship which has truly changed my life. It would be an honor fighting by your side as long as my spark burns."

"Me too," Spike agreed.

"You three surely made a connection, huh? Heh, looks like I missed out all the fun. Nonetheless, I believe you now... Skywarp, is it? Any friend of the Equestrians is a friend of mine," said Rodimus, offering a handshake. Grinning confidently, Skywarp and Rodimus shook hands.

"We must defeat Megatron... no matter the cost," Rumble said.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Spike said. They left the hillside and proceeded their way towards the forest once more.

However, as soon as they began travelling, Discord and Starlight appeared in a white flash before them. The foursome instantly halted their tracks. "Hello there! I hope we didn't interrupt your errands, did we?" Discord asked, smirking.

"Guys, thank Celestia you are okay! Have you heard any word from the princesses?" Starlight asked.

The foursome however gazed at her in bewildering shock. "Starlight... you are alive!" Spike shouted.

"But how?! I literally saw you die!" Rumble added.

Then Starlight realized what they were getting at and nervously giggled to herself. "Um... I think I can explain that. It's a little complicated."

---

Flashback

In the Castle of Friendship, Twilight, Spike, Starlight, and the Mane Five ran toward the window as they saw chaos and destruction everywhere in Ponyville. They watched in horror while many ponies ran for their lives and tried to escape the onslaught.

"The Decepticons are back?!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"It's a disaster!" Rarity said, fainting.

"This can't be happening! Not now!" Applejack shouted.

"We got to do something, Twilight! We have to save everypony!" Spike urged.

"You're right, Spike! We will definitely need the Elements of Harmony to defeat the Decepticons, but first, we have to rescue
everypony from danger. Spike, write a letter to the Princesses and alert them of the invasion. Starlight will help them protect the Tree of Harmony until we get there. Let's move out, everypony!" Twilight commanded. She teleported herself and the Mane Five away.

After Spike wrote the letter and blew it away with his fire breath, he turned to the unicorn. "Will you be alright, Starlight?"

"I'll be fine, Spike. Although I am worried of one thing: I think Megatron is behind this."

"You really think so?"

"Yeah! I mean, who else is perfectly able to summon an entire army of giant mass-shifting monsters?" Starlight wondered.

"Hmmm, good point. Let's just hope he isn't back," Spike replied.

"Me too. You should get Red Alert and Skywarp to help; I'll go help the princesses defend the Tree," Starlight advised. Spike nodded before he left the castle.

Starlight ignited her horn, but some thoughts came to her head. She ran to the window again and saw the damage the Decepticons had done so far; in confirmation of her fears, Megatron landed on the ground and gave his menacing speech to his army. As her heart was beating rabidly, she backed away from the window.

"I never thought this day would come; I'm not even sure if I can survive this invasion," she panicked. Then she got an idea.

Grinning to herself, she stood still as she reignited her horn. She created three duplicates of herself before she finished the spell. Her clones looked at her with brightening confidence.

"This should work well. One of you go help the princesses, and the other two can evacuate the residents while I call Discord for assistance," Starlight ordered. The Starlight clones teleported away at the same time.

---

Flashback Ended

"So that's how the real me survived this so far. I didn't expect one of my clones to be killed so soon," Starlight finished.

"Indeed, it would have been a real shame if the real you was actually dead; many of your fans would have been really upset if that happened," Discord said, silently chuckling.

"Yeah... wait, I have fans?"

"I'm very happy you are alive and well, Starlight, but there is no time to lose. We must create a plan to defeat Megatron and fast," said Rodimus.

“But how are we gonna get past his troops? I am not much of a strategist honestly, and I know very little how we could infiltrate their new territory,” Skywarp confessed.

“There has to be somepony who knows how Megatron thinks and acts but who?” Starlight said.

“I may not be a pony... but I can help,” said a voice. The group turned their faces to Dead End who slowly approached them from behind.

“A Stunticon? Here?” Rodimus asked, surprised.

“Whoa... who are you supposed to be?” Skywarp asked.

“You may call me Dead End; I know this may seem surprising to you all, but I know exactly how Megatron functions. If you just hear me out and listen to me, you might have a chance against him.”

“Wait... you are actually going to help us? So you’re not gonna destroy us?” Rumble asked.

“If I were to harm you, I would have done so already. No... I don’t want anything to do with those lunatics anymore,” Dead End replied.

“Why? Why the change of spark?” Rodimus asked.

“Because they never treated me with any respect or dignity; they cherished a lot of ways I find to be repulsive and boring; and they are simply losers who cannot accept the hard reality that they are no better than everyone else. Plus, I... never enjoyed being a Decepticon to begin with,” Dead End confessed.

“If that was the case, then why did you join them in the first place?” Starlight asked.

“Megatron promised me peace, prosperity, and that I would gain respect from my enemies if I joined his cause. Instead, he paired me with the worst gang and worst boss of the entire universe and made my life a living pain. Instead of receiving the blessings, I ended up getting curses. In all honesty... I hate my life.”

The group was silent for a few moments. As they reflected on this information, Rumble, Starlight, and Skywarp went forward.

“I’m sorry, Dead End. As someone who knows what it’s like to live a miserable life, I know how you feel,” Starlight comforted.

“So do I; in fact, I can feel your pain. No one wants that kind of life and misery, but you don’t have to live that life anymore,” said Skywarp.

“Plus, you just need better friends. Together, we can make a change in the world through the magic of friendship,” added Rumble.

“Hey, hey, hey, don’t get all too sappy and softy on me. I wasn’t asking for that... but thank you for the kindness nonetheless,” Dead End said, slightly smiling.

“Wow, that’s two Decepticons with a dramatic change so far, huh? I wonder who’s up next?” Discord randomly asked.

At that moment, a cuffed Starscream was thrown to the ground not far from them. He struggled to be free from the stasis cuffs. “Release me at once, you crazy mech! I demand to be free!”

“Oh, pipe down, Princess, stop acting like a baby!” Lout spoke, approaching from the woods. “What? You want to vent your frustration over your obsessive love for Megatron? Or is it something—?”

He saw the group looking straight at him with mixed reactions of confusion, amazement, and curiosity. “Uh, hello there?” Lout awkwardly waved.

Comments

[Darth Wrex]

Wow, I expected Skywarp's encounter with Rodimus to a lot worst. Still, nice twist.

[ChazMLPFIM]

Nice. Not only I'm glad that Starlight's alive, but also Dead End don't want anything to do with the Decepticons. This's going to be awesome.

[nightshroud96]

Didn't know Starlight had a clone die in her place like that.
I knew something felt pretty off about her "death" like that.