Transquestria

by Spiderprime1

6. The Transforming

Smokescreen went flying through the forest, pursued by two black cars, the Vehicons. Spike was in the front seat giving Smokescreen directions to Canterlot castle, the pen and parchment he brought with him lay forgotten in the seat in all the excitement. Pinkie Pie was in the passenger seat, also giving directions, conflicting and horrible though they were. Rarity was sprawled across the backseat being thrown from one side to the other at every turn they took. She finally got the courage to try to stand up and look out the back window. She wasn't pleased with what she saw, the two Vehicons had now been joined by a red car and a large flying silver...thing.

"Um, Smokescreen, we have some MORE unwanted company." reported Rarity.

Smokescreen shifted his rear-view mirrors out, then up, then he kicked up what little extra speed he had left.

"Oh this day just keeps getting better and better." he groaned.

-----

"Sister, what have you done?" asked a desperately confused Celestia.

"I've decided to follow my own intuitions rather than your false accusations, sister dear!" Nightmare Moon replied snidely.

"What false accusations?" Celestia asked.

"Accusations villainizing Starscream! He's a lost soul, like I was, not a monster, which you turned me into, and are now trying to turn him into!" she seethed.

Optimus walked out into view of the semi-large crowd around Starscream and Nightmare Moon.

"You are mistaken, Starscream is a master manipulator, he will use anything or anyone to serve his own goals. I am sorry to say, it seems he has done the same to you. Your sister was wise to warn you away from him, if only you had listened."

Nightmare Moon was taken aback by this, then she stomped her fore-hoof down, cracking the floor, and shouted at Optimus.

"Who are you to say he is the enemy, who's to say you aren't the enemy? Who's to say you aren't here to kill him and then all of us?"

Before Optimus could answer, all heads turned towards the source of a loud growling-like noise which turned out to be a sleek, white and blue sports car as it ramped over a hill with its engines roaring louder than any dragon could. Then three other cars appeared after him; two black, one red, and they were followed by a silver flying craft, firing at the first car.

"That would be their job." said Wheeljack as his mouth-plate slid across his face and he drew his twin swords.

Arcee turned to Bumblebee and shot him a quick look to which he nodded and they both transformed and sped off towards the incoming menagerie. Optimus then turned his attention to Twilight and her friends and tried to usher them into safety while Nightmare Moon took flight and shouted to Celestia,

"Let's take our discussion somewhere more private!" and she took off towards the look-out tower adorned with a telescope.

-----

"Pinkie! Stop shouting, you aren't helping, I know I'm being shot at and you grabbing my wheel is only making things harder!" cried out a very annoyed Smokescreen.

Smokscreen then turned sharply, knocking Pinkie into the passenger seat, then seat belted her in to keep her from hurting herself, or himself for that matter. In the back seat, Rarity and Spike were also belted into their own respective seats, Rarity holding on to hers like a life jacket and Spike digging his claws into the seat backing. Just then Smokescreen saw a yellow car and a blue motorcycle heading his direction.

"Alright! The calvary has arrived!!" cheered Smoke.

Bumblebee beeped at Arcee as they rounded around Smokscreen to put themselves between him and the Decepticons, to which Arcee popped a wheelie, placed her front tire on Bumblebee's trunk, then transformed and crouched on Bee's roof and started firing at the Decepticons. One Vehicon got hit right away, his tire blowing out and swerving away from his double and Knockout. Megatron, having given up on trying to hit the Autobots, kicked in his afterburners and flew off for the palace.

-----

Celestia landed on the balcony of the tower and walked into the dark room with determination. What had made her sister act so foolishly? Celestia brushed aside a curtain and saw Nightmare Moon standing there.

"What happened? Why have you turned into Nightmare Moon again?" asked Celestia.
"Starscream has shown me the light, your light, the light that cast this accursed shadow over me one thousand years ago, and again this day!"
"What are you talking about? What light?"
"Funny enough, your light is so blinding that you love to hide secrets behind it, how many have you kept from me 'dear sister'?"
"I still don't understand..."
"Oh, do let me 'enlighten' you, sun raiser. You never cared to tell me why Starscream shouldn't be trusted, you never told me of the caves behind Canterlot or what treasures they may or may not hold. You never tell me anything!"

At this, Nightmare Moon started to fade from jet black, slowly turning a lovely shade of midnight blue, until Princess Luna stood before her sister, tears streaming down her face, her eyes locked with Celestia's.

"Wait, how can you.." started Celestia.
"Oh please, I can change my appearance at will, I did it last Nightmare Night. But that's not why I brought you up here my sister." Luna replied.
"Then why? To 'enlighten me' as Starscream did to you?"

Luna stomped her fore-hoof down on the floor,
"UGH!! There you go again, you do not trust me to take care of myself! I knew Starscream was a liar and would try to coerce me, he's worse than Discord was and just about as subtle. But you did not trust me to know what you were planning to do with him, so I made my own plan, to let him think he had turned me against you, then I put on a show by turning into Nightmare Moon and bringing him to the castle, where I knew the Autobots would be, and then they would take him back to their home. But I also put on the show to get your attention, to show that without you trusting me with all the details, of course he would have turned me against you. I have paid for my sins, now I all I want is for you to respect and trust me."

She finished her speech starring Celestia in the eye, tears still streaming down her face. Celestia returned her gaze, she too with tears in her eyes.

"Forgive me sister, I may not always make the best decisions under pressure or facing potential threats, but know that I will always Love you and from now on treat you with the respect you deserve."

Luna smiled and ran to her sister, hugging her tightly,"Thank you big sister, now, let us help our new comrades!"

-----

"Incoming!!!" Shouted Pinkie Pie out Smokescreen's passenger window.

Smokescreen launched over the hill and landed in front of Optimus, Wheeljack and the ponies. Bumblebee closely followed with Arcee, hopping off his roof so he could transform. The ponies and Spike piled out of Smokescreen and ran to their friends giving hugs and shedding tears of joy at being reunited.

"Optimus! I tried to hold them off as best I could, but.." started Smokescreen, breathlessly.

Optimus held his hand up to stop him,
"It's alright Smokescreen, together we can keep Megatron from reaching Starscream or the Princesses."

Just then, the Autobots and the ponies all realized that something had been missing during all the commotion. They all started looking around for what it was.

"Wait, where'd Starscream go?" asked a bewildered Wheeljack.

-----

Starscream had slipped away during the commotion with Celestia and Nightmare Moon, and was now searching the side of the mountain behind the castle. The data pad acting as his compass, he soon found himself at the mouth of a giant cave, even at his size it was huge. He walked slowly forward into the darkness. He pulled out a pair of night vision goggles so he could see where he was going. He walked for what felt like ages, but it was only because he was walking so slow, jumping at any and every little noise that spooked him. After regaining his composure for the sixth time, he finally came upon what he was searching for. Starscream looked at the giant canister and marveled at it. He had heard tales back on Cybertron of how Shockwave had managed to loose multiple prisoner capsules at the hands of Optimus Prime and the Autobots. Stories of Shockwave failing were his favorite stories as it was, but now he'd be able to use this capsule as a way back into Megatron's good graces and put down Shockwave's memory even more, it was a win-win.

"So, this is the illustrious 'missing capsule' that was lost to the void of a black hole eh?" said Starscream to himself. "You may be the best part about this whole universe hopping debacle."

He grinned ever wider as he got closer to the glass that showed who was inside, but it was covered with dust and cobwebs and small rocks shaken loose from the mountain cave over the years.

"Get off there! I want to see which prisoner I have the honor of returning to 'lord' Megatron." he proclaimed as he wiped the glass clean.

However, in his haste to move the debris away, he accidentally knocked against the key pad on the door of the capsule. Suddenly a loud hiss erupted from the capsule and steam shot out of the seam in the door of it. Starscream, living up to the second half of his name, fell back against the floor screaming in terror and scooted away from the canister. The steam finally died away and the door began to swing open, slowly on its hinges. Starscream's eyes widened as a small figure stepped out onto the cave floor. It was hunched over, he was a dark, gun metal gray, with yellow and orange patches over his chest and arms, his head was round with a silver face, and a green substance was oozing out of his eyes, mouth, chest, and hands. Starscream began to panic even more.

"No! No! Not you! Not Dead End!"

Dead End looked down at Starscream, reached up, behind his back, and drew two swords. The blades of the swords glowed and oozed the same green substance. A gurgling noise came from Dead End as he began to speak, pointing one of his blades at Starscream.

"WHERE...IS...MEGATRON!?!"

Comments

[dragotron24]

Well look whose back. I thought you were one with the all-spark. Love the new chapter.

[Eliseo221]

Glad you are back! I'll be reading this chapter as soon as I wake up