Transformers: Deep Space Exploration Team

by TcogArchitect

Chapter Twelve: The Royal Treatment

Published January 15th, 2013

Chapter twelve: The Royal Treatment

"So, Dark Lance, where are you from? I'm anxious to hear how you found our planet."

Dark Lance and Skybreaker were now sitting across from each other one seat away from Princess Celestia, allowing a respectful distance while simultaneously letting Twilight sit next to her mentor. The three ponies were all politely eating their food, while the two Autobots simply sat and watched.

"My team and I, including Skybreaker here, are from a world called Cybertron. We're one of the deep space exploration teams moving across the galaxy, looking for new energy sources. We only happened to come across this planet by chance." The princess hummed slightly while she chewed, thinking over what he said.

"That must be lonely for you, being away from your homes and families for so long. I... actually have some experience with that, unfortunately." She looked down at her food for a moment, and Dark Lance could see, in his peripheral vision, Princess Luna doing the same, although with a much more saddened, almost guilty, look. He made a mental note of it, and moved on.

"Actually, it's not that bad. We aren't actually born, you see, so the families we have are our friends, with an occasional set of twins caused by a split spark during the creation process. We still have romantic relationships, but usually not offspring."

"Creation process? You make it sound like you came out of a forge or something." Dark Lance turned towards the new voice, and saw a white unicorn stallion with a blue mane walking in. Next to him was another alicorn, pink this time with a three-colored mane and tail. Unlike Celestia and Luna, however, her hair did not flow in an ethereal wind, and was much more solid-looking.

"Shining Armor!" Twilight suddenly jumped down from her seat, ran towards the unicorn, and practically tackled him with a hug. "How are you? I haven't seen you since the wedding! You too, Cadence! It's great to see you again!" She and the pink alicorn then did a short song and dance, which Dark Lance recognized as their version of a secret handshake, before Cadence spoke.

"We're doing well, Twilight. I'm interested in your new friends, though. I didn't realize there were alicorns other than myself, Luna, and Celestia." Twilight suddenly seemed to remember that the Autobots were still there and returned to her seat, blushing and smiling apologetically to them as she passed. Shining Armor sat down on Skybreaker's other side, while Cadence sat across from him, next to Dark Lance.

"Shining, Cadence, this is Dark Lance," she gestured with a hoof, and the commander nodded to them in greeting, receiving nods from each in return, "and this is Skybreaker." She gestured towards the scout, and he waved at them, grinning. They responded in kind, before using their magic to put together salads of their own. After a few seconds, Cadence glanced at the empty platters of her sister-in-law's new friends, and grinned slightly before swallowing her food to speak.

"You two are allowed to eat, you know. We won't think you're rude if pick up the wrong fork. A lot of ponies get confused, sometimes even me," she said with a sheepish smile. Dark Lance chuckled lightly and shook his head.

"It's not that. Skybreaker and I actually aren't able to eat this food. Our bodies won't process it like yours will. Thank you, though." At this, every pony at the table except Twilight gave the two of them confused looks. Celestia was the first to speak after this.

"If you want, I can call for other foods. We have quite a few options, due to guests of other species that occasionally visit," she said, a concerned frown on her face. Dark Lance chuckled lightly again before answering.

"As much as we appreciate the gesture, princess, I don't think you have anything we can eat. We actually aren't ponies at all. We just use these forms to protect and disguise ourselves." She cocked her head slightly, and he noticed that the other ponies at the table had stopped eating.

"So if you're not ponies, than what are you?" she asked conversationally. Dark Lance could detect the slight trace of caution that now tinged her voice, though. "You aren't Changelings, obviously. You wouldn't have come here if that was the case."

"No, we're not. We are actually machines, capable of rearranging our bodies to take on other forms. Typically, we would have vehicle-based alt-modes, but this planet has so much raw Energon that the radiation it gives off requires us to use organic-based forms to protect ourselves. Otherwise, our bodies undergo stasis lock, which disables all of our systems, and we basically go into a coma." The others were speechless at this explanation, and even Celestia didn't seem to know what to make of them anymore. Her look of surprise, however, quickly changed to one of curiosity.

"Would you mind showing us? I'm very curious as to how this transformation works." Dark Lance nodded once, and stood up. He moved a few steps away, then turned around to face them before activating his t-cog, and slowly changing into his robot mode. Once again, he received looks of amazement from his audience. Shining Armor's jaw had even fallen, although he quickly closed it after a small giggle from Twilight. Luna was the first to speak this time.

"That was easily the most amazing thing we have ever seen!" she proclaimed loudly. Dark Lance stretched slightly, his plates somewhat stiff after being in beast mode for so long. While he was doing this, Shining Armor got up from his seat to get a better look at the Autobot.

"That's incredible," he said, wide-eyed. "I don't think anypony would have guessed that you were actually something else entirely. And you said you can both do this?" Dark Lance nodded, and looked at Skybreaker. The scout got out of his chair, and took a couple of steps away as well before also changing to his robot mode. Shining Armor let out a small breath of amazement before continuing. "Do each of you have a different transformation like that?" He asked.

"Mostly," Dark Lance responded. "Some of us are the same models as others, or suffered a split spark when we were created, resulting in the same alt-modes and transformations, but most of us have unique bodies, so our mechanisms don't function identically."

"So, how many of you are there?" Luna asked. She was obviously curious about this amazing new species. Mechanical aliens that could change form without magic. Who would've guessed?

"Our team consists of four members: Skybreaker, myself, as well as Bunker and Burnout, who stayed behind at our ship. There is also a Decepticon team, which also has four members: Bloodwing, the leader, Fireburst, Crosswire, and Sharpedge. Before we were shot down, we also had about 50 stasis pods with protoforms in them. I was able to eject them before we entered the atmosphere, though. They're currently in orbit around the planet." This particular statement caused Luna's eyes to widen.

"Did thou just say 'in orbit'?" she asked. She was trying to keep her voice calm, but Dark Lance could hear that something was about to cause problems for him. "As in 'in orbit around the planet in space'?" He nodded once, and the night princess's eyes went wide. "I scheduled a meteor shower for two days from now," she said, still slightly in shock.

"What do you mean, 'scheduled'? You make it sound like you can control meteors," Dark Lance said, obviously somewhat confused.

"Actually, I control all of the night sky, as well as dreams, to a certain extent. I am the princess of the night, after all." She puffed out her chest slightly near the end with pride, but Dark Lance noticed a slight falter in her movements, giving away the insecurity she forced it past.

^Whatever happened, it still bothers her. Not unlike my own ghosts....^ He kept his expression neutral, not giving away what was going through his mind as he continued. "What do you mean, you 'control the night sky'? That would take phenomenal amounts of power, and while you obviously are more powerful than other creatures on this planet, I don't think you're quite that powerful. Either of you." He turned towards Celestia as he said this while he sat back down to drive his point home. The white alicorn gave him a small smile and nodded once.

"You are correct, Dark Lance. Mostly, at least. Luna really is capable of controlling the planet's moon, and I am fully capable of controlling our sun, but neither of us is able to control the stars. Luna uses very powerful illusion magic to change the appearance of the sky, allowing her to create different constellations and effects. However, she is able to use her power to occasionally summon various stellar phenomena from great distances. It's quite impressive, really." Luna blushed a little, before Skybreaker decided to ask a question of his own.

"You also said something about dreams. What did you mean?" Luna seemed to perk up a bit, like he had asked about her favorite hobby.

"Yes, I also use a type of advanced illusion magic to influence ponies' dreams. It's easily my favorite kind of magic, because it allows me to help our subjects with their problems, and it allows them to see me more often." She gave a wide smile at that, and Dark Lance could see that this particular subject was able to distract from whatever self-doubt was eating at her. Before they could continue, though, Celestia changed her posture slightly, and he could tell it was time for business.

"So, Dark Lance, you mentioned in your letter that there was something you believed you need permission for? What would that be?" She gave that same gentle smile, and he suddenly realized something that had not even occurred to him yet.

^She's old. Far older than any of the other inhabitants of the planet, possibly the oldest. She isn't going to give anything away unless she is truly taken off-guard. And that is obviously not easy to do. I guess I'll just have to pay more attention than normal to how she acts. Hopefully I'll find out more than just her name by the time we leave.^

"We were wondering if we could start a small mining area. Your planet has massive amounts of Energon, which we use as fuel, but it has to be mined and refined first. Otherwise it's just a volatile shiny rock that gives off a light radiation. Speaking of..." He stood up, and transformed back to his alt-mode before sitting back down, with Skybreaker mirroring his movements.

Celestia gave him a curious look before speaking again. "You know you don't have to change back on our account? We don't mind your normal form." This was followed by nods of agreement from the others.

"As much as I appreciate that, princess, we actually do have to. Remember I said that Energon gives off a light radiation? Well in large enough quantities, raw Energon radiation is capable of putting us into stasis lock if we stay out of beast mode too long. It doesn't affect organic creatures, so as long as we aren't in robot mode, we aren't subject to its effects." This was met with a thoughtful hum from the white alicorn, before her sister began speaking again.

"But doesn't it hurt when you change like that? Your entire body shifts and moves in very uncomfortable-looking ways." She now had a slightly worried, cringing look on her face, like she had just seen someone's arm get broken. Dark Lance, however, merely shook his head.

"Not in the least. It's kind of like your wings. All of our parts just move into different places. Nothing actually gets changed, it just has new positions. They just move, they don't break." Luna appeared satisfied with his explanation, and he turned his attention to Shining Armor, who had a look of intense, almost angry focus on his face. "Yes?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. The white unicorn was quiet for a couple more seconds, slowly chewing his food.

"Your horn. When you changed, it flipped onto your back, like a weapon. Why would an explorer need a weapon for peaceful endeavors?" He kept his eyes locked with Dark Lance's the entire time, driving home the point that he wasn't going to let this drop. Dark Lance looked down at his plate sadly, a small sigh escaping him.

"Unfortunately, the galaxy isn't as safe as most of us would like. We've come across several planets with animals capable of putting us off-line for good. Also," he paused, a small look of anger coming over his features, "there's the Decepticons. We can't afford to go unarmed while they still function. If we did, we wouldn't even last a megacycle."

"So why can't you come to an agreement or truce of some kind? I'm sure that these-'Decepticons', was it?-would be willing to end this peacefully if you talked to them." Shining Armor said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world (which to him, it was), slightly confused as to why explorers would be embroiled in a war of any kind. Dark Lance sighed, and looked over at the stallion, using his sensors to do a cursory scan of his body, and finding that the unicorn had no kind of permanent physical damage. Which meant he had no real combat experience.

"You've never been in a war, have you?" the Autobot asked.

"Well, we had that Changeling invasion a couple weeks ago..." Dark Lance sighed, wishing he didn't have to say what he was about to say.

"So that's a 'no', then. I didn't think so. You don't seem like the type of beings to go to war. The Decepticons won't just let it all end at this point. They've invested far too much time, effort, and Energon to get anything less than everything they want. At this point, only two options remain: the destruction of the Decepticons, or the destruction of the Autobots, followed by the enslavement or extinction of every other living thing in the galaxy." This was followed by slack jaws and shocked stares from every pony at the table, even Celestia. Cadence was the first to regain the use of her voice this time.

"But, if that's how far they're willing to go, then you must have been fighting for an incredibly long time. How long has this war been going on?" The others had finally regained their composure, but Dark Lance couldn't help but think that it was pointless for them to calm down now.

"We've been fighting for almost as long as I've been online: 5 million years." At this, he could swear he heard bones clack under flesh as the ponies' jaws dropped again, this time with no semblance of self-control present. Celestia, in particular, looked like she had been shocked beyond all logical boundaries, and her entire body had relaxed slightly, her wings drooping and her legs bending slightly as her eyes unfocused and seemed to stare off at the unseen horizon beyond the castle walls. Shining Armor had a look of pure horror on his face, his eyes flicking back and forth like he was looking over an intricate map of a battlefield. The faces of Twilight and Cadence were suddenly filled with realization, but still seemed unable to grasp the full scope of his words. Luna, however, had a look of sudden awe, the idea of a war capable of being fought for that long would not have seemed possible even ten minutes ago, but with the number of unbelievable things he had said already, she didn't have any trouble accepting this. Before she could say anything, though, Twilight perked up like she just realized something and started speaking.

"Wait a second. You said the war has been going on almost as long as you've been online. Just how old are you?" The other ponies at the table once again turned toward the commander expectantly.

"5.5 million years old. Most of that time has been spent in stasis, though. Moving from star to star takes a very long time, and attempting to stay active during that time is a waste of Energon, as well as dangerous to one's mental health." He then gestured to Skybreaker with his head. "Skybreaker, however, is only 2.2 million years old. He was brought online accidentally by a younger inhabitant of one of the planets we visited. Gave us quite a bit of trouble during that time, too." Skybreaker rolled his eyes at his leader's light teasing. "Anyway, you've probably already figured this out, but our species matures on a completely different scale from organic creatures. Our bodies don't age or decompose as rapidly as carbon-based life forms, so our minds don't either."

"Fascinating." Celestia said, obviously impressed with their longevity. "But I feel we've gotten a bit off-topic. How about we return to the business of your mining request?" she asked gently.

"Agreed," Dark Lance said, chuckling slightly at his own digression. "Let's get back to business."

Comments

[Uzume Tennouboshi]

Damn, Dark Lance and Skybreaker gave one shock after another to the Princesses, Shining Armor, and Twilight!

Also:

chzbronies.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-brony-first.gif

[SonicStreak5344]

1965588
Yeah just wait until they cross paths with Megatron!