The Darkest Hour

by TheClownPrinceofCrime

Chapter 18: The Darkest Hour part 3

Rodimus Prime gazed his optics in amazement as he slowly arose from the crater whereas multiple Decepticons looked on in shocking terror. Red Alert was likewise surprised at first until she smiled, seeing all of Cybertron fully united to stand against the evil Decepticons.

"Wooooow! Everyone is here! They're actually here to help us! I can't believe they're all here!" Rumble joyfully shouted.

"At last, there is hope after all," said Red Alert, sighing in relief.

"ULTRA MAGNUS?! HERE?! WE'RE DOOMED!" Breakdown fearfully shrieked, running around Motormaster. Annoyed and enraged, the Stunticon leader grabbed him by the neck and held him up.

"We will NOT cower before a bunch of wimpy Auto-bums and their worthless leader! I'll show them who's the real deal around these places!" Motormaster yelled.

Suddenly, Megatron shocked him with his purple lightning bolts, causing him to shriek in pain. "Know your place, Motormaster. There can be only one leader." With that said, he thunderously landed on the field and fiercely glared at the Autobot armada. "Well, well, it appears that the Elite Guard Commander has decided to get his servos dirty instead of hiding behind his precious protégé as he always does," he sneered, glaring at Magnus and Optimus.

"It's over, Megatron. Your reign of terror must come to an end once and for all," declared Magnus.

"Don't you see, Ultra Magnus? I have all the power of this pathetic planet which I will use to decimate the likes of you weaklings. You will fall before my infinite might and bow to my will!" Megatron proudly exulted.

"Ugh! Spare us the chit-chat, will ya? Come on, let's do this!" Lout shouted, posing in a fight stance.

"I will rip out your sparks and destroy the lives of every organic in this—!"

"Ugh, chit-chat! Chit, chat!" Lout complained.

"In this—"

"Chitty, chitty, chat, chat! Chitty, chat, chitty, chatty, chat, chat, chat!" Pinkie and Discord joined in, dancing in circles.

"In this primitive—" Megatron growled in annoyance.

"Chit-chat, Meggy! Chitty, chatty!" Lout finished, mocking with his hand gestures.

Snarling furiously, he grinded his teeth in silence until they were finished. After a few seconds, he attempted to speak again. "In this—"

"Chit-chat!" Pinkie added.

"ENOUGH OF THIS! DESTROY THEM ALL!" Megatron indignantly commanded.

Then Ultra Magnus nodded to Optimus. On cue, the latter lifted his battle axe and shouted saying, "Autobots, CHARGE!" The entire Autobot army shouted their battle cries and ran forward while the opposing side likewise advanced forward to attack once again. Thus, the Autobots and the Decepticons calshed against each other for once last time for all ages; only one faction will emerge victorious.

Rumble grew a huge grin as he watched his fellow Autobots battle against the Decepticons for the fate of Equestria and Cybertron. As he was watching in awe, he looked back at his cutie mark; desiring to participate in the fight, he flew up high in the sky until he was merely above the clouds. Then he focused his sight on the unsuspecting Decepticon leader.

“You’re going down, Megatron,” he muttered, narrowing his eyes on him. Within an instant, he flew downward while spinning.

He steadily increased speed as he kept up the pace and concentration on his enemy. As he got closer to him, his smug smile grew larger. “Come on, cutie mark, don’t fail me now!”

Suddenly, a lightning bolt struck the colt which sent him crashing down the field. Once he weakly rose up, he noticed the tyrant extending his fingers toward him. “A valiant effort, little one, but ultimately futile,” he taunted. He lifted his sword from his back and prepared himself to strike him with it.

However, Optimus Prime tackled him to the ground and impaled his axe on his shoulder. “Not so fast, Megatron! You’re gonna have to deal with me first!”

“Ahh, if it isn’t the persistent little Autobot. It appears we are destined to battle each other in this pathetic excuse of a world.” Megatron kicked him off and threw his axe back to him.

“My name is Optimus Prime, and if persistence has taught me one thing, it’s that it always pays off especially when it comes to saving the universe.”

“How sentimental... and predictable. Let’s finish this once and for all,” Megatron said, generating laser blades from his arms.

“Don’t mind if I do,” Optimus grinned. Both robots swung their blades towards the other and fought.

Rumble recovered from his attack as he stood back up on all four. He took off to the skies again to check on the others.

Bulkhead slung his wrecking balls on a few Decepticons, knocking out their heads. He jumped on one of them and sliced his head in half with a buzzsaw; he then wrapped the rope of his wrecking ball around another Decepticon and swung him in the air until he smacked other Decepticons with him.

Ratchet activated his magnets while Bumblebee activated his battle-grade stingers; together, they combined their power to generate a bigger blast. Thus, they blasted multiple Decepticons in their path. As they did so, one of them snuck up behind them and attempted to grab them. However, an energon hammer struck his head which made him fall unconscious.

“Don’t mind me! Just taking out the trash!” Sari chuckled, lifting her own hammer.

“Nice one! How about we take them out together?” Twilight asked.

“Definitely!” Sari replied. They flew together towards another group of Decepticons.

Prowl jumped high above four random Decepticons before he unsheathed his discs and threw them at their optics, painfully blinding them. While they were staggering around and plucking out the discs, they were met by scorching flames. They ran off screaming.

"Impressive," Prowl remarked.

"I know, right? Gotta let 'em burn! Burn, baby, burn!" Hot Shot commented.

Motormaster, Wildrider, and Breakdown fought multiple Autobots who were at first surrounding them. Breakdown nervously pointed his blades at some of them until he wildly swung them. "Get back, you freaks! I have deadly blades, and I'm not afraid to use them!" Just when Warpath aggressively moved toward him, Breakdown yelped and ran off. Warpath chuckled in amusement before he decided to battle another opponent.

Wildrider grabbed a few grenades and threw each of them on the ground. Before the other Autobots could reach him, the grenades exploded in front of them. Not too long after that, he transformed to race car mode and drove through the fire, running over the Autobots in the process. "Taste my hot wheels, slow pokes! Bet ya can't beat that, huh?!"

Motormaster sliced through two Autobots before he tripped a third one over and stomped his feet into his head, crushing it to bits. Then he activated his sword into a laser-empowered type; he swung his sword around which created a massive energy wave. It swiftly extinguished several Autobots running towards him before it disappeared. Just then, another Autobot jumped on his back and tried to blind his optics with his bare hands. Unfortunately, the Stunticon leader stabbed his sword into his face, the energy burning through his chassis. He fell down offline.

"These Autobots are so feeble and stupid. It makes me wonder why they keep fighting," Motormaster grumbled.

At that moment, Dead End rammed against him in vehicle mode. The Stunticon stumbled as the ex-Stunticon transformed to robot mode. "Ha, took you long enough..."

"This ends now, Motormaster. I will ask you one last time to stand down and knock it off," Dead End demanded, clenching his fists.

Motormaster laughed out loud. "Oh, really?! And what will happen if I don't comply, eh?! What are ya gonna do? Fight me? Oh wait, I remember... you can't. You won't do scrap."

Dead End took out his mace as he got slightly closer to his former boss. "This is your last warning."

Maliciously smirking, Motormaster picked up his sword and pointed toward him. "I'll stand down... only if you fight me to the death. That is... if you have the gall to do so."

Dead End was silent for a few moments; tightly gripping his mace, he lifted his head and posed a fighting stance. "So be it." Thus, they ran forward and commenced their dual.

Megatron fired his cannon at Optimus before the latter ducked beneath the blasts and lunged toward him with his axe drawn. Instantly, the villain raised up his force shield, blocking every attack from the Autobot commander. Then he pushed him back with the same shield.

But that didn’t stop Optimus there; he fired a grappling hook around Megatron’s legs and pulled them with all his might. However, the ropes immediately snapped after three pull attempts. Grabbing one of them, Megatron swung Optimus around as it was still attached to his arm. Prime was slammed from one area of the field to another until the tyrant tossed him aside.

“Is this all you can do, Autobot? I expected a bigger challenge from you,” Megatron taunted.

Suddenly, he got blasted in the back which made him stumble to the dirt. Looking back, he saw Celestia and Luna glaring at him while their horns were sizzling with magic. “You shall indeed have a greater challenge, fiend!” Luna shouted.

“Pathetic insects... time to join your species in extinction!” Megatron declared, stomping his foot. A massive shockwave pushed back the alicorns and Optimus with sheer force.

Getting back up, Optimus transformed to fire truck mode and drove as fast as he could. He sprayed oil out of his hose which went straight at Megatron’s face, blinding him. Just as the Royal Sisters shot their magical beams at him, Optimus rammed against him with brute force. The Decepticon leader crashed to the ground.

“Give it up, Megatron! You can’t beat us all at once!” Optimus said.

“On the contrary, I can and I will,” Megatron retorted, evilly grinning. He shot purple bolts to the dark clouds, making large fireballs to fall out of them. The fireballs struck the ground where Optimus and the alicorns stood, forcing them to escape the onslaught.

Meanwhile, Rumble flew over several offline bodies of Cybertronians without casting his eyes on them. Instead, he focused on trying to reach to Red Alert and see how she fared against her opponents in battle. He increased his speed as he flew across the clouds, lightning striking and thunder cracking in the background.

Drag Strip deactivated her buzzsaw that was dripping with energon as she sadistically smirked over the shredded remains of several Autobot soldiers who dared to stand up to her. Then she heard a voice behind her, filled with deep anger. “This ends here, murderer.”

Knowing who it was, the wicked Stunticon chuckled before she turned to face her arch-nemesis. “You’re such an emotional piece of scrap metal, you know that? Are you still mad about me killing your dear old partner?”

Clenching her fists, she got into a battle pose. Seeing that made Drag Strip laugh even more even as she unsheathed her own swords. “You’re really serious about this, dear? Okay...” she mischievously mocked. Then she abruptly glared at Red Alert as she twirled her swords. “Let’s have some fun.”

Rumble watched from above as he witnessed Red Alert and Drag Strip beginning to fight. Then he turned back to Megatron as he was still occupied in engaging Optimus Prime and the Royal Sisters. He stood down and started to think of a plan.

“I have to do something to help my friends! If I don’t act now, Megatron will win! Primus, I need your help! Can you grant me new powers?” he called out. Surprisingly, he received no answer from above.

“Primus, please, I need to be certain my cutie mark can do something for me! Please answer me...” Rumble begged, tears falling from his eyes. Depressing thoughts crept into his head as his emotions started to cloud his judgement.

“What if we don’t make it? What if Megatron wins? What am I gonna do?!”

Then Primus appeared before his eyes with a look of compassion. He gently lifted Rumble’s head with words of hope and strength, “Fear not, my child. Remember, I am with you until the end. As long as you collaborate with your friends, you shall obtain the ultimate victory. Do not lose faith, Rumble. Never forget: friendship is magic. Only then, you will obtain your true strength that represents your cutie mark. With it, you shall defeat Megatron.”

Rumble reflected on those words and recalled the conversation they had within his dream. Encouraged, Rumble nodded his head and grew a brave smile. “I won’t let my friends and family down. Right now, they need my help.”

Primus gave him a smile of approval just before he disappeared. Rumble opened his wings and zoomed off to help.

Meanwhile, Motormaster and Dead End both struggled to catch the other off guard as they fought to the death. As time went on, Dead End finally got the upper hand. The ex-Stunticon leaped over with his leg drawn out, managing to kick his face. With him distracted, Dead End grabbed his mace and smote his back. It forced him to drop the sword.

Dead End swiftly picked up the sword before he tripped him and held him down, pointing his own weapon at him. Motormaster was taken by surprise at first until he smirked at his victorious traitor. “What are ya waiting for, hero? Finish me. You think that’s gonna make you a bigger bot now, don’t ya? Well, do it.”

Dead End pondered on his next move. This provoked Motormaster to tauntingly laugh at him, but the victor payed him no heed. However, while he was laughing, Dead End broke his sword in half and threw them on the grass. Motormaster’s laughter instantly transitioned to shouts of dismay.

Then Dead End transformed and drove off, leaving Motormaster shocked and alone. After a full minute, the Stunticon leader wrathfully screamed in defeat.

Red Alert and Drag Strip likewise battled to the death with neither one losing the advantage. However, as they kept on fighting, Drag Strip decided to get a little dirty with some little tricks up in her sleeve. She clashed her own blades together and spun them like a rotor. It blew out so much wind that it pushed the Autobot medic off the area and tossed her towards the other side of the torn field.

Transforming, Red Alert circled the place Drag Strip stood on and fired several blasts toward her. The latter deflected the blasts with her swords and threw her blade at one of Red Alert’s tires. It forced her to halt and transform back to robot form.

The medic tried to reach for her blaster, but Drag Strip impaled her blade into Red Alert’s leg. “How does it feel to lose, Red Alert? Does it... hurt? Just like how Siren was hurt?” she taunted, sinking her sword deeper into Red Alert’s leg, making her wince in pain.

“Pathetic. I might as well put you out of your misery,” Drag Strip grinned, raising her sword.

Suddenly, Rumble zoomed by and kicked her right optic so hard it broke to pieces. Drag Strip screamed in pain as she held onto her broken optic. Taking the opportunity, Spike flew over her and breathed fire on her chassis. Thus, the Stunticon rolled over on the grass. Meanwhile, Red Alert pulled out the sword from her wounded leg.

“Are you okay?” Rumble asked.

“No, but I’ll survive, little one. Thank you both for saving me,” she replied, smiling. Rumble, Spike, and Red Alert hugged each other for a brief moment before the colt took off again. Then she pointed the blade toward the injured Stunticon with a hard glare.

“Go ahead... take me offline. You would love that, wouldn’t you?” Drag Strip sneered, struggling to get up.

“I’m not like you,” Red Alert retorted.

“How sad,” Drag Strip frowned. She grabbed another sword and ran forward. But as soon as she got near her, a chained hook wrapped around her which took her by surprise.

“What the?! NO!!” she yelled. It forcefully pulled her back which allowed the hook to impale her torso. It then sliced her head in half upwards. Her body fell apart, energon spilling around it.

“You just couldn’t help yourself, could ya? Always gotta be the merciful one, huh?” Lout frowned, retrieving his chains and hooks.

“Was that really necessary?” Red Alert asked, taken aback by her violent death.

“Hey, she murdered your friend, didn’t she? It’s called karma. Karma is a... you-know-what. Learn from it, sweetie,” Lout advised, winking at her.

“Ah, come on! Really?! Drag Strip was one of the hottest fembots around! Why kill her?!” Wildrider complained from a distance.

Celestia and Luna combined their magic and sent a large beam toward Megatron; he crossed his swords and shielded himself from their power. While he was countering their attack, he looked around and saw his own army progressively being defeated by the Autobots one by one. He even noticed multiple corpses fallen on the ground, most of which were Decepticons. Enraged by the outcome, he pushed their magic back and shocked both alicorns with lightning. The duo fell on the grass.

Before he could slice them to pieces, Optimus tackled him and punched his face repeatedly. However, the tyrant grabbed Optimus’s face and slammed him hard on the mud and then stabbed him with an energon blade to the thigh. The Prime struggled to stand as bits of energon were dripping.

“Your time is up, Autobot. It was fun while it lasted, but it is now time to move on. Say goodbye, old friend,” Megatron wickedly smirked, loading his fusion cannon.

“No you don’t, Megatron!” Rodimus shouted. He jumped on his back and tried to cover his optics.

“Rodimus, NO!” Optimus shouted.

Megatron grabbed Rodimus’s left leg and ripped it off with his bare hands. The latter screamed in agony before he was smitten to the ground. He pointed his cannon to Rodimus’s chest as it ignited again.

At that moment, Ultra Magnus lifted his hammer and swatted Megatron away. He jumped in front of the wounded Autobots while glaring at the Decepticon leader. “It’s over, Megatron. Your forces are falling, and your lust for power are at an end. Surrender now, or we will show you no mercy.”

Megatron evilly laughed as he stood upright. “Ultra Magnus, you and I know very well that this battle isn’t over until one of us remains standing. As you can see, I am just getting warmed up. Taste and see what true power really is.” Lifting his hands to the skies, his spark chamber opened up and emitted a purple essence which surrounded him completely. Five seconds later, purple fire engulfed him and sparked hundreds of bolts as he groaned out loud.

“What’s happening?!” Luna shouted.

“He must be powering up! The Elements of Harmony are becoming even more corrupted than before!” Celestia replied.

“How are we gonna stop him now?! He’s getting too powerful!” Thunderlane panicked. As he looked at everyone around him, he noticed his brother was not with him. Sweat formed in his forehead the moment he instantly spotted him flying towards the enemy. “RUMBLE! NO!”

“TREMBLE BEFORE ME!” Megatron demanded, surges of energy pervading his chassis. Once he ascended to the skies, he saw Rumble standing before him. “Ah, my little friend. How kind of you to stand before me...”

However, the colt simply stood there without moving a muscle. He then closed his eyes, opened his wings, and held his fore-hooves together while he relaxed his face. “Spike, Thunderlane, Red Alert, Skywarp, Rodimus, I need you guys to join me. Only the magic of friendship can beat him.”

All five individuals were hesitant at first, but as they saw Megatron become stronger, they nodded and stepped forward. Optimus had to help his younger brother walk with one leg whereas Ironhide helped Red Alert walk with a functioning leg as well. Thus, all five were accounted for.

“I need you guys to hold each other’s hooves—or hands. Since Twilight and her friends cannot beat him without their elements, we’re gonna have to do this in a different way,” said Rumble.

“But how does that work? We don’t have elements of our own either,” Spike pointed out.

“That’s why I said ‘in a different way’. We have to think back on all the good times we had together as friends; remember all the lessons we learned in regards to friendship and how we met. With those memories in mind, we may emit the magic of friendship that can counter Megatron’s power,” Rumble laid out.

As the group thought on this, they nodded approvingly. With that, they joined hands/hooves and closed their eyes/optics. Megatron, however, remained floating in the air with his arms crossed. “This is amusing yet futile at the same time. Let’s see where friendship gets them.”

However, just when he was smug about the situation, the gathered six began to glow with pure white energy. They also ascended to the skies up to Megatron’s level and each had a unique color that all blended together. Skywarp was indigo, Red Alert was orange-red, Rodimus was golden yellow, Thunderlane was turquoise, Spike was light green, and Rumble was white.

The ponies and Cybertronians gasped in amazement at what they were seeing.

Megatron’s face went from smug to downright terrified. He angrily shot lightning bolts at them, but they had no effect on them whatsoever. Then he grabbed his swords and tried to slice them into pieces, but both swords were broken in half.

“HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?! WHAT ARE YOU?!” Megatron bellowed.

“You may not understand, Megatron, but we do. Rumble here showed me the true meaning of friendship when I was a lost Decepticon like you. Because of him, I have real friends who stand by my side. He helped me understand... bravery,” said Skywarp.

“Rumble is a gentle, tender pony who will do everything in his power to help others despite dangerous circumstances. That type of trait is more powerful than fiery adversaries like you,” Red Alert added.

“Friendship can do many great things that I’m sure Twilight would explain more. But if I learned one thing, it’s that it will save us from trouble every time,” Thunderlane spoke.

“Through the magic of friendship, we will triumph like always before!” Spike exulted.

Enraged, Megatron lunged at them. However, Rodimus punched him in the torso and then drop-kicked him.

Skywarp flew over to him and swung him around like a rag doll. He tossed him to the dark clouds, sparkling with lightning. A few seconds later, the clouds burst to atoms with Megatron seething in anger. However, a cloudy mustache was formed on his face along with a cloudy beard. He blew them away before facing his enemies.

“You won’t make a fool out of me! I will destroy you all even if it takes me forever!” Megatron shouted.

“This ends here, Megatron! None of your victories last! You think of nothing but destruction, and you care about nobody but yourself! Well, guess what? No one cares about you either! The time has come to end your struggle!” Rumble declared.

Snarling, Megatron lunged at them while firing his fashion cannon. At that moment, Rumble flapped his wings so rabidly that rumbling winds with bolts erupted from the air and smote Megatron. The colt looked at his wings in amazement.

“Did he just...?” Twilight muttered, jaw dropping.

“I... don’t believe it!” Rainbow added.

“Whoaa... nice one, kid,” Lout said, whistling.

“Wooowww!! That’s so cool! I can do that now?! AWESOME!” Rumble squealed.

Once all six occupants reunited, they fastened their eyes on Megatron who was recovering from his injuries. “Time to finish this...” Rodimus uttered. They began to form another beam the moment Megatron flew back to them in full fury.

“You want our power so bad? Then you can have it all,” Rumble said. With that, they all shot their massive beam of magic towards Megatron.

The tyrant received a full dose of their magic within his spark chamber. Seeing this made him evilly smile in satisfaction. “Yes... the magic... is mine!” Suddenly, the Elements of Harmony separated themselves from his body and returned back to normal color.

Horror filled his face as the magic began to overwhelm him every second. “No... NO... NOO!! THIS CANNOT BE! ARRGGAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!” he agonizingly screamed as the magic engulfed his entire body. Then he exploded into pure light with particles of dust flying everywhere.

The explosion of magic soon grew larger and more global. It expanded so far and wide that it even reached for the by-standing armies below. “Take cover!” Optimus commanded. All the ponies and Autobots jumped out of the way from the explosion’s path.

It caught the Decepticons by surprise as it began to wipe out all the remaining troops on the field. “This is NOT how I wanted to go out!” Swindle cried. He uttered his last scream as the explosion took him out.

“Being nuked by friendship is the best death ever!” Sunstorm yelled right before he likewise was taken.

“I’m not afraid! This is my least favorite demise ever!” Ramjet bragged, dying in the explosion.

Lugnut sat in a praying position as the explosion got nearer. “My loyalty to Megatron will remain forever! DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR!”

“Going out in a blast! A sitting duck like you should be running! Thiz is infamy at itz finest,” said Blitzwing. Both Decepticons died together in the explosion.

All the Decepticons were destroyed in the explosion, vanquishing them forever. The entire planet was engulfed in a magical light for a moment until it finally faded.

Equestria was finally at peace. Megatron and his Decepticons... were no more.

Author's Note:

PHEW! This was a long chapter to make! It took me at last two weeks to work on this. I haven’t even wrote a chapter like this since I wrote the climatic chapter for The Dark Knight Triumphs.

Anyway, I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. Only one chapter left: the epilogue! Stay tuned!

Comments

[ChazMLPFIM]

Sweet. Megatron and his Decepticons are no more, this time for good. That's what I called a awesome victory.

Good work, Rumble.

[Darth Wrex]

WHOO-HOO! THEY DID IT! Shame about Sunstorm. Oh, well.