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Legend12,271 words

Nightmares Do Come True

-CHAPTER XI: NIGHTMARES DO COME TRUE-

"Real Decepticons roll on treads."

-Brawl

INTEL: As a member of the Combaticons, Brawl enjoys the destruction he causes on his own, but always looks forward to the devastation caused by uniting into Bruticus. Brawl has the shortest temper out of all the Combaticons, making him a deadly opponent in battle.

____________________

“Ready the train at once!”

The six Elements stood at the Friendship Express while Princess Celestia and Luna had stood by to wish them good luck. And they were going to need it. Twilight’s mind was a buzz as she was trying to comprehend what was truly happening. The Changelings were attacking the Crystal Empire for pony sake! If they didn’t get there fast and fix all of this…something bad was truly going to happen.

Optimus Prime stood by the train with Jazz, Cliffjumper, Jetfire, Sideswipe, Warpath, Hound, Bumblebee, and Ironhide by his side. Each of them watched Twilight and her friends enter the train. Celestia and Twilight shared a quick nuzzle before she left.

“Good luck, my pupil,” Celestia cooed, “Please be safe.”

“I will, Princess.” Twilight smiled and entered the train. Optimus watched as Celestia trotted up to him and gave him a sorrowful and pleading look, as if this was bad history repeating itself and she felt horrified.

“Please protect my student, Optimus Prime, my sister and I must stay in Canterlot to warn the pony folk.” Celestia practically begged at Prime’s feet. Optimus could only nod.

“I swear they will be fine,” Optimus said and faced his Autobot squad, “Autobots, transform and follow the train!” Each Autobot formed into their vehicles while Jetfire zoomed across the sky. Each of the massive vehicles waited until the train started.

With a loud hiss, the train’s wheels spun to life and began to leave Canterlot with the Elements inside. Optimus Prime and his small team followed by driving on the outside of the tracks. Both Princess Luna and Celestia watched as the train left Canterlot…..and headed for the Arctic North.

“Good luck.”

___________________

It was quite a long ride.

Minutes turned into hours as the train kept getting colder and colder by the second. It wasn’t hard to know that they were getting closer to the Arctic North. Each pony could see their own breath as they cuddled up for warmth.

Fluttershy was a shaking mess that couldn’t even move because she was probably frozen to her seat. Her forelegs were practically strangling her own body to try and keep warm. It wasn’t only the cold that made her shiver….it was also fear.

Rarity was sitting glamorously on her little seat with a long scarf covering her body. Her head was lifted triumphantly while the rest of her friends nearly froze to death….which sparked another argument.

“Dog g-g-g-gannet, Rarity,” Applejack shivered through clattering teeth, “ya mind givin’ us some scarves?! We’re practically frozen back here!” She looked back to see the Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash cuddling each other for warmth…well Pinkie just hung onto the Pegasus while Rainbow looked as if Pinkie was just extra weight.

Rarity flipped her mane. “You all called me crazy for bringing scarves! It serves you right,” Says the ‘Element of Generosity’. After she had said that, Applejack looked as if she was going to blow a fuse, but Twilight interrupted them before it could get ugly.

“Girls, please be quiet.” Twilight sternly said and faced her head out of the window again.

Fluttershy took quick notice of this and asked, “What are you doing, Twilight?”

Twilight didn’t answer her shy little friend and kept her head facing the window. Her mind was only focused on the falling snow and the Autobots driving right on their side. Ironhide and Jazz were in her vision while Jetfire zoomed right over them. It was quite an amazing spectacle.

The violet unicorn herself did feel a slight chill run across her spine. But this wasn’t from the cold, it was like something from her past was coming back to haunt her…and her friends.

She closed her eyes.

‘Yeeeeesss….come to me…come to me, my slaaavesss…’

That same horrible feeling gutted her stomach and almost made her pass out as that dreaded voice continued.

‘It won’t be very long now….come to me and face your demise…’

‘…I want your blood….”

“No….” Twilight silently whispered as her eyes suddenly bugged out of her head, “NO!”

Each of her friends screamed. Fluttershy leaped and clutched onto the ceiling for dear life, she couldn’t stop shaking. Applejack and Rarity stopped arguing and looked at Twilight. Their eyes all full of confusion. Rainbow Dash lifted up her tired neck from Pinkie’s grasp.

“What the hay has gotten into you, Twilight?” Rainbow asked as her teeth chattered quietly.

Twilight didn’t answer as she gripped her seat. Her hooves were scratching the leather seats as Applejack approached her.

“You okay, sugercube?” Applejack asked with her voice as sincere as could be. Twilight looked around the room and saw nothing, the voices had stopped in her head and all that was left was the bright light coming from outside the window.

Twilight pushed her face towards the window and almost gasped when she saw it…

The Crystal Empire.

Twilight crawled away from the window and fell out of her seat.

“Twilight, dear, are you feeling well?” Rarity asked as she got out of her seat to help her up. But Twilight was already standing and heading straight for the door.

“We have to head back.” Twilight muttered and pushed on the door. The train suddenly hit a screeching stop causing the unicorn the head-butt the door with quite a lot of force. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy couldn’t contain their giggles as Applejack and Rarity helped their friend to her hooves.

Applejack looked outside to see the green Autobot already walking passed the window. She sighed, “Ah guess we’re here.”

____________________

Bumblebee squinted to see a small light coming from afar.

“I wonder what’s out there.” Bumblebee asked no one in particular as the other Autobots finally approached. Optimus, Ironhide, Jazz, Hound, Warpath, Jetfire, Sideswipe, and Cliffjumper approached from behind in their robot forms.

Jazz lifted up his hand and felt the soft white particles landing on his hand, they melted on his deadly fist. He chuckled and said, “I’m really diggin’ this stuff.”

“What is all of this?” Warpath asked and kicked the white ground. Optimus truly didn’t know either, none of this stuff had arrived when they were on Earth, and these two planets shared a lot in common. And this stuff definitely didn’t exist on Cybertron.

His thoughts were once again interrupted by the door of train opening.

Optimus Prime turned towards the open door to see the six shivering mares exit the train and slowly approach them. Twilight was possibly shivering the most as she faced the light source from the far distance to travel.

She looked up at Prime and yelled over the winds, “Optimus, we need to go to the light! The Crystal Empire is there!” She pointed her purple hoof towards the light covered by the storm.

Optimus narrowed his optics and shouted, “Autobots, transform and roll for it!”

Once again, each Autobot transformed into their vehicle forms, all except Bumblebee and Sideswipe. The two Autobots watched the light source grow dimmer with each passing second. Sideswipe punched Bee in the shoulder playfully and shouted, “Let’s do this, ro-bro!”

Bumblebee turned his head towards Sideswipe as if he couldn’t believe what he just said. He asked, “Ro-bro? You gotta be kidding me.”

Sideswipe chuckled, “What? We can’t just call you Bee all the time. That gets boring!”

Bumblebee shook his head with a soft smile as he and Sideswipe both transformed. Each of them drove right past the trembling equines while Optimus stayed behind. He did catch a few of his soldiers gliding on the white grounds. He revved up his engine and blasted his tires across the ground.

Nothing happened.

Optimus Prime did it even harder and he still didn’t go forward.

“UGH,” Optimus grunted, “I can’t a grip on this ground!”

Twilight’s eyebrow slowly rose as she came up to Optimus’ side. “ Really, Optimus? You’ve never seen snow before? You can’t really GET a grip on snow. It’s very slick.”

Optimus stopped and said, “I see,” He opened up his car door and said, “How about you all hop in? It seems you don’t take kindly to this kind of weather.”

“Wow…thanks, Optimus.” Twilight smiled as she was about to step inside.

“Outta my way!” Rainbow Dash screamed and blasted inside. Twilight opened her eyes to see Rainbow chilling in the backseat with a satisfied smile on her face. When she finally stepped inside, she could see why Rainbow acted like this.

It was so warm inside Optimus Prime.

As Twilight took the passenger seat, the rest of her friends pilled inside and got comfortable as the doors shut on their own. Optimus Prime spoke.

“Hold on tight.”

Nopony got a chance to react before their heads hit the backseats.

____________________

The sound of tires running over snow was filling the inside of Optimus Prime. All the mares kept to themselves as the silence overtook the ride. Usually it was faster to get to the Crystal Empire…why was it taking so long?

The dark windows offered no assistance in seeing outside so looking around was hopeless. Twilight looked over to see Fluttershy trembling with her eyes darting back and forth. Claustrophobia must be kicking in.

The silence continued.

“Twilight…?” Optimus’ stern voice came.

The unicorn’s ears perked up as she lifted up her head. “Yeah, Optimus?” It was a short silence before he answered.

“….Why did Celestia look so worried? What is it about this….Crystal Empire that is so important?”

Twilight finally realized it was about time Optimus knew the truth of the Crystal Empire and its past. But before she could explain…her nightmare had come true…

A deep howling scream came from outside.

Each of the mares flinched from inside the Autobot leader as Twilight darted her head back and forth. The howl continued for a few seconds until it finally stopped. Twilight pressed her hooves against Optimus’ dashboard and screamed, “Optimus, you have to go faster!”

“Why, what is going on?!” Optimus asked with just as much urgency in his voice as was Twilight’s.

“NOW!!!” Twilight screamed.

Optimus didn’t ask any more questions and activated his nitro boosters. The six mares hit the back of the seats from the intense speeds of the great Optimus Prime. Pinkie Pie screamed joyfully as Optimus just kept on going faster and faster.

It wasn’t long before the sound of snow stopped.

Optimus hit the brakes so hard that each mare flew out of their seats and hit the front window. Their bodies painted the window as they all slowly fell off with a little bit of drool sticking to the window.

The doors opened as a bright light entered. The six mares stumbled out of Optimus’ vehicle form with their eyes dizzy and bodies falling all over the soft grass. Optimus transformed back into robot mode and saw all the angry glares he received from the mares.

He nervously rubbed his neck and apologized, “Sorry, my bad. Nitro boosters tend to control themselves.” Twilight wasn’t angry anymore. The warmth of the sun felt so good.

She slowly turned around to see the two red crystals standing proudly with the three small crystals floating above them. Beyond the entrance was not the beautiful sight they had seen before…this was truly worse than the attack on Ponyville.

Several hundred screams came from the crystal city. Smoke was rising to the air as several hundred black dots soared across the sky. The Crystal Castle stood through the apocalypse while the black dots started to crawl all over the outside of it.

The invasion had begun.

“By Primus…” Ironhide muttered as he and the other Autobots began to walk forward. Twilight still couldn’t believe the Changelings had gone this far. They had once tried to attack Canterlot and that failed horribly. But now that they were attacking the Crystal Empire, Twilight didn’t know how to stop them.

But Optimus did.

A loud cocking sound came from behind as each pony turned their heads to see Optimus Prime with his path blaster in tow. He lifted up his weapon and faced the battlefield ahead; he heard the screams of several ponies coming from the city.

Pointing forward, Optimus yelled, “Autobots, roll out!”

Jazz whipped out his scatter blaster while Cliffjumper activated his subsonic repeater. Bumblebee and Sideswipe both activated their neutron assault rifles while the bigger Autobots pulled out the heavy weaponry. Ironhide, Warpath, and Hound’s right hands transformed into Cybertronian heavy weaponry including: the A-4 Pulsar Cannon, the Thermo Rocket Cannon, and the Chaos Rift Combustor. Jetfire didn’t choose a weapon and instead transformed into jet mode as he hovered above the ground.

“I’ll take care of the Changelings in the air!” Jetfire screamed and soared off. The rest of the Autobots sprinted for the Empire under attack. Optimus stayed behind with the ponies looking at him with intent.

Fluttershy gulped and stammered, “Optimus…w-what do we do?”

Optimus looked down at the shivering Pegasus and softly rubbed her mane. He stood back and said, “Stay close behind me…we’re going after Chrysalis.”

____________________

To say that fear can take control of one’s body…it did.

The Changelings attacked with no remorse and absolutely no mercy. The crystal ponies were scattering across the ground as the black bugs tried to bite them. They were even more frightened to see giant monsters enter their home.

The Autobots charged forward with guns blazing and gears grinding as they shot away at the nearest Changelings. They would get lucky and actually hit a few of them…Changelings were hard targets to hit. There they ran. The Autobots followed the tiny ponies that were leading the way to the Crystal Castle; they must’ve known that Chrysalis must be there.

“How many are there?!” Cliffjumper screamed as even more and more Changelings obscured his vision in a black swarm. Jazz used his shotgun to clear a path for his friend. When the Changelings fell to the ground, Jazz chuckled.

“It doesn’t matter how much there are, it matters how many you kill!”

Hound rolled to cover behind a crystal house and fired several missiles from his A-4 Pulsar Cannon. The sticky bomb stuck to a large group of Changelings as they all exploded from the power of the cannon.

“Changelings on your right!” Optimus shouted. But these were not Changelings.

The Autobots stopped in their tracks…as did the mares. What was standing before them was like a mirror. More like a gigantic mirror! Right in front of them were complete copies of the Autobots and their leader. Optimus Prime tilted his head as did his double ganger; Bumblebee slowly approached his twin and reached out his hand. The copy did the same and right before their hands could touch…he punched the original across the face.

Bumblebee and his clone battled on the ground while the Autobots fought their copies. The six mares screamed and got closer to a small crystal house to watch the battle unfold.

Ironhide punched his twin across the face causing the clone to fall on his chest. Sideswipe had to fight at least three of him which was very confusing to keep track of which was the real Sideswipe. Optimus Prime gripped the throat of Optimus Prime and violently jammed a sword straight through his optics.

Optimus Prime fell to the ground with his head torn apart. It soon revealed itself to be a dead Changeling allowing the mares to sigh with relief. The massive double ganger shrunk down from Prime’s size and returned to its original once it had died.

Another clone of Optimus Prime attached himself to his back. Optimus ripped the clone off of him and chucked him across the hard gravel. He faced the Crystal Castle and yelled, “We don’t have time for this! Autobots, follow me!”

Only Jazz, Bumblebee, and Ironhide managed to escape the battle and follow their leader closer to the castle. Bumblebee looked back and shouted, “Come on, ponies! We need you!”

Twilight didn’t know for sure but….why did it feel like that truly meant something this time?

With as much courage as they could muster, they ran out from their hiding place and into the war-torn battlefield of the Crystal Empire.

____________________

Queen Chrysalis’ plan was finally coming together. Step one and two were completed. Step three was getting close and closer as she heard the explosions of and cries of certain ponies. She smiled with her fangs showing.

There she stood, in the center of the Crystal Castle with several of her guards protecting her from any unwanted guests. Nopony had even tried to attack her…but she knew they were coming. With her was the possibly one of the strongest devices ever in Equestria history…her plan involved it.

This was going to change Equestria…the Changelings WERE going to rule this land!

A slight whimper caused the Queen to open her eyes to see a bloodied Changeling in front of her. He coughed up more green blood and said, “My Queen, they’re coming!”

Queen Chrysalis smiled.

“Excellent.”

____________________

They fought through even more Changelings. But the four Autobots fought proudly and didn’t stop their train of destruction. They had cleared a path for the six equines with ease as they all approached the Crystal Castle.

Twilight’s face was trapped in horror. The once glorious empire they had saved was under attack. This time they couldn’t save everypony that ran pass them, screaming as they did so. All they had to do was suck it up and gallop forward to the Crystal Castle.

Optimus stopped just a few hundred feet away and walked. The Changelings had stopped attacking them which was the smartest thing they could do right now, allowing Optimus Prime to observe this castle more and more.

He got a bad feeling. Something in the near future would involve this castle…and the Autobot traitor.

Twilight was terrified out of her mind. This once peaceful empire was infested with the plague of war…she felt as if the fate of Equestria would begin in this very empire. She looked up and saw the Crystal Castle getting closer.

“OPTIMUS! It’s Queen Chrysalis!” Twilight screamed.

____________________

The Queen of the Changelings couldn’t stop smiling as the four towering aliens approached her and her guards. With them were the six ponies. She smiled even wider and shouted, “Oh, it’s so good to see you all again!”

“Buck you!” Rainbow Dash screamed. The Queen didn’t do so much from the insult. Her smile kept getting bigger as the laughter soon started.

“I see you have all come to see the resurrection unfold before your very eyes!” Chrysalis laughed at the expressions of the Element Bearers.

The orange one stepped forward and pawed at the ground. “Ah’m gonna buck ya inta next Tuesday if ya don’t give up now!” She screamed.

Queen Chrysalis paid her no heed and looked at the purple unicorn. Her expression was a mix of horror and anger which made the Queen laugh with delight. She lifted up her black hoof and yelled, “This is the beginning of our legend! This day shall be remembered in all of Equestrian history!!!"

“Not if we stop you first.” A deep and stern voice came. Chrysalis looked up to see the aliens point their weapons at her. The six Elements pawed at the ground except for Fluttershy who just wore an expression of pure terror.

Chrysalis opened up her wing.

“Try and stop us now.” Chrysalis hissed as she pulled out the relic between her wings.

Twilight’s heart skipped a beat as she watched in horror as Chrysalis pulled out the Crystal Heart from underneath her wings. She levitated it to the ground in front of her as her laughter drowned out the screams from the crystal ponies.

“What are doing with that, you cur?!” Rarity wailed as she looked at the Crystal Heart with big teary eyes. She never wanted to return to dreaded warfare. She just wanted to go home and let all of this be over with…

….but what Chrysalis did next…would spark a new war.

Her eyes grew a little brighter than normal as she levitated a broken shaft from underneath her wing. The shaft was a black with a hint of red at the tip. Twilight’s eyes grew so wide that they would pop out of her head if she didn’t stop herself from screaming first.

If her heart skipped a beat…she almost had a heart attack when she finally realized what the shaft was.

It was a horn.

Right before any of the ponies could react, or before the Autobots could fire, Queen Chrysalis screamed a battle cry and drove the horn straight into the Crystal Heart.

It was all too silent.

Twilight felt a gust of wind and turned her head to see the bright blue skies suddenly going dark brown. The snow started to fall on the empire causing each mare to shiver in both cold and fear. That same screaming howl came back even louder as Optimus Prime and his small team of Autobots looked around frantically.

They had no idea what was going on.

But Twilight did.

She looked back and saw the Crystal Heart with the horn dug deep inside of it. The heart began to break as little cracks formed all over the peace-keeping relic. That horrible howl filled all their ears as Queen Chrysalis laughed in total victory.

It all happened so fast.

The Crystal Heart shattered. A dark shadow overcame the entire castle until it made its way downwards and onto the horn. The shadow rose so high that the pieces of the Crystal Heart fell on each equine.

She couldn’t help it. Twilight screamed in horror as the shadow erupted and those glowing green eyes with dark red iris’ remained floating above the darkness. All that was heard was this new laughter filling the howling winds along with Chrysalis’.

It was a dark….evil laugh.

Optimus Prime couldn’t believe his optics. He watched as this new….unicorn slowly descended to the ground with a trail of darkness following behind him. It was obviously a male. He had a long red robe on his back along with several pieces of silver armor on his legs and chest. His mane looked as if it was made of pure shadow along with his tail. His mouth opened revealing sharp fangs and a long tongue. When he opened his eyes, a purple trail of smoke escaped as he glared straight ahead.

After what felt like many years, Twilight Sparkle actually whimpered when he looked at her.

He spoke.

“Yessss…..revenge…is……MINE!!!!!!”

His green eyes exploded with dark lightning spreading across the ground. Optimus Prime, Jazz, Ironhide, and Bumblebee were blasted back by this strange energy and hit several crystal buildings. Twilight and her friends scattered as the dark lightning nearly singed them. When Twilight looked up from where she was laying, she gasped when she saw the lightning creating several dark pillars of crystals to rise out of the ground.

“CRYSTALS!!!!!”

Optimus Prime stood back up and shouted, “Autobots, attack!”

The shadowed creature watched as those strange monsters started to run forward with powerful blasts soaring from their arms. He looked back to see the creature that had resurrected him. He wasn’t yet at full power and needed a place for refugee to regain his strengths.

“YOU,” The creature pointed at Queen Chrysalis, “YOU’RE COMING WITH ME!!!!!”

Queen Chrysalis couldn’t stop smiling as the shadow creature shot a blast from his eyes that struck the Queen. Chrysalis laughed manically as both she and the shadow flew out of there in a large dark wave of energy. The Changeling army followed close behind the shadow as the Crystal Empire was abandoned…..leaving only the shivering ponies.

Silence was all that remained along with the howling of the heavy winds.

Twilight Sparkle’s chest rose and fell. Her eyes darted back and forth. Her fears had grown so large that she could barely stand up. The snow fell on her back causing the trembling unicorn to shiver profusely.

But she stood up anyway.

She looked around to see the snow falling at a fast rate and the sun gone. The peace that held this empire together was gone….leaving only chaos. The rest of her friends came to her side as Twilight trudged forward to the remaining shards of the once active Crystal Heart.

She looked down to see the destroyed Crystal Heart about to be concealed by the falling snow. Her eyes began to burn despite the freezing temperatures and she let the dam break. Her cries alerted her friends to quickly comfort her.

“Sugercube, it…it’s okay…we’re gonna be fine.” Applejack said with her voice trembling.

Rarity heard Twilight wail in despair and press her hooves against her eyes. She embraced her hurting friends in a tight hug so that she could calm down. But she didn’t.

Twilight wouldn’t stop crying. The Crystal Heart was destroyed. And now….HE came back to seek revenge. They had failed….they failed the crystal ponies….they failed the Princess….they failed Equestria.

Her ears flinched when the sound of footsteps came to their side. Twilight looked up with teary eyes to see the Autobot leader and the rest of his team kneel down to her level. Her face was freezing…the tears had probably begun to freeze at this moment when the snow had hit her face.

Optimus Prime gently stroked Twilight’s head and looked down at what remained of this so-called Crystal Heart. There was nothing left. All that remained were several shards on the ground.

Twilight’s delicate little voice entered his hearing processors.

“O-Optimus…please….can we go back to Canterlot now?” Twilight whimpered as her lower lip began to quiver. Optimus looked back to see the six equines in a group hug to hold together their body heat.

He nodded. “Yes…” He turned back, and in a defeated tone spoke, “Autobots, head back to Canterlot…we have failed.”

Jetfire led the way with his head low as the towering giants slowly left the Crystal Empire. Applejack picked up the crystal shards and placed them in her hat right before Optimus picked them all up. His gentle grasp around them caused the six mares to stop shivering.

As they were leaving, Twilight looked back from Optimus’ hand to see the crystal ponies surrounding the new dark crystals that stood in front of the Crystal Castle. Their skin wasn’t bright or shiny….it was dull.

She heard them speak.

“He’s back….I can’t take this anymore!”

“What are we gonna do? Without the Crystal Heart….we’re hopeless.”

“Were those giants trying to fight the King? They didn’t do a very good job.”

“It’s hopeless….he’s back…I don’t wanna be put into slavery again!”

“Celestia help us.”

Twilight allowed another tear to fall from her face as they abandoned the Crystal Empire. Throughout the long journey back to the train, Twilight couldn’t get the feeling of guilt out of her stomach….and the feeling of fear as well.

And she should feel this way.....because King Sombra had returned.