Aerial Assault
-CHAPTER XXIV: AERIAL ASSAULT-
“I wear the Autobot insignia with pride!”
-Jetfire
INTEL: Once a Seeker who served alongside Starscream, Jetfire broke rank during the early days of the war to join Optimus Prime and the Autobots. With a background in science, Jetfire warned the Decepticons of the dangers of Dark Energon and was ignored. Jetfire is one of the few Autobots with flight capabilities, which makes him an important resource in the war for Cybertron.
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Jazz no longer lay on his deathbed. He got back up despite the obvious pain.
With his best friend, Cliffjumper, aiding him, Jazz limped out of the crystal house that he had once believed to be his eternal resting place. Cliffjumper had Jazz’s arm slung over his shoulder, keeping his friend up on his feet as they both moved slowly out into the open.
Behind them were the obvious Elements of Harmony; Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie. Rainbow Dash was gone…her mission to save the Dinobot leader had been placed into effect.
Along with the other Autobots, Cliffjumper and Jazz pushed forward, Jazz’s grunts of pain causing him to lower his hurting friend to the ground. Once Jazz had taken a seat on some fallen debris, Cliffjumper stooped to one knee, placing his hand on Jazz’s shoulder.
“You okay, buddy?” Cliffjumper asked with his optics saddening to see Jazz in so much pain.
Jazz slowly nodded, clutching his abdomen once the infection had slowly began to spread. He had lied so that Cliffjumper didn’t have to worry about him much, he didn’t want anyone to know that he was infected.
The dark energy that had entered his spark had slowly spread to his central power core, breaking off the streams of fresh Energon to allow his body to function normally. Jazz knew that his fate was sealed; he was to die in a few hours flat if the infection kept at it.
Jazz looked around, noticing the raining ashes falling from behind him and landing on his lap. He took this time to observe the destruction the Decepticons had implanted on this world.
The sun was completely gone; all that remained were several lightning-filled clouds and the raging fires that burned up the melting crystal houses. Decepticon starships bathed the skylines as well as more and more Decepticon Jets that soared over them. Ashes fell like snow against the ground, the entire empire now colored a dark brown.
The infection of dark crystals had spread amongst the houses, slowly going up the legs of the Crystal Castle. The Castle! Jazz looked back, his mouth open wide to see the Crystal Castle only a few thousand feet away. They were so close!
Suddenly, a tiny whimper came from behind him.
Jazz turned back, glancing at the five mares that had huddled together in fright. Applejack rubbed Fluttershy’s back in hopes of calming the Pegasus down. She lowered her head and whispered calming words into her friend’s ear.
A quick glimmer caught Jazz’s visor sensors.
He leaned in, staring at Applejack’s hat until another glimmer was seen. Grunting a bit, Jazz used the willpower to lift his hand forward, breathing heavily, “…A-Applejack…come here, girl.”
The farm pony glanced at the injured Autobot, slowly nodding and breaking her grip around Fluttershy’s neck. Trotting forward, Applejack looked up at Jazz as if he was father-figure to her. Her real dad died when she was a foal...
Jazz grunted again, holding out his shaking hand towards her.
“…Can…can you take off your hat?” He asked.
Applejack took a step back, not really comfortable with the situation. She looked back at her friends, watching as Twilight nodded her way. Nodding as well, Applejack turned up towards Jazz, smiling softly.
“Uhhh…sure Ah guess.” She mumbled, slowly lifting off her hat and flipping it quickly so the crystal shards didn’t fall out.
Jazz looked down at the hat for a few moments, coughing again and asking, “Can I have the crystal shards? I’ll be sure to give them-“
Applejack lowered her hat to the ground, her eyes shifting to an unsure glance. She looked back up at the injured Autobot, slowly shaking her head. “Um! Ah don’t think that’s a very good idea, Jazz. Mah friends and Ah are supposed ta use the crystal shards ta-“
“I know!” Jazz shouted before his pain quickly took over. He hunched his shoulders forward, grasping his abdomen in pain. Applejack continued to stare at Jazz, unsure of what to make of the situation.
Jazz looked back at her, his visor almost in a pleading look.
“It’s just….it’s just that I don’t wanna see you or any of your friends getting hurt anymore. After that little experience with that unicorn demon, I found out….I found out that that was too close of a c-call. You ponies…are our one priority…and nothing else. I can’t have anything happen to any of you….and those crystals are what are driving those Decepticons to try and kill you.”
Holding out his shaking hand, Jazz gazed into her emerald eyes and pleaded, “Please…I’ll pass on the crystal shards to….to…to Hound how ‘bout that? Yeah….yeah that’ll work. I’ll give them to Hound, you and your friends can sneak over to the castle where Hound will pass on the shards to you. Everything can work out….if you just trust me.”
It was a long shot. Hound could be anywhere in the empire. But despite the others; Sideswipe, Ratchet, Perceptor, Blaster, Ironhide, and Wheeljack, Jazz knew for a fact that Hound wasn’t busy. He had received a comms message through all frequencies; it was Perceptor who said that he and his team were assisting Wheeljack, Sideswipe, and a few others. He had also said that Hound had gone out on his own.
Applejack continued to stare in Jazz’s visor, saddened to see it beginning to flicker. She thought of the offer and knew that it could work. She held her hat close to her chest, thinking if what she decided would ultimately decide the future of her home. She suddenly gazed back at Jazz, frowning to see him in so much pain.
That’s another thing she didn’t understand. Why was Jazz risking so much when he had already been through enough? Everypony had a breaking point…but Jazz just didn’t seem to have one.
Almost coming up with a decision, Applejack looked back at her friends. Twilight and the others looked at one another, slowly nodding in agreement. Applejack sighed, facing Jazz once more.
“Okay...” she quietly said, “Ah trust ya, Jazz, ta do the right thing. Here, take ‘em.” She held out her hat, watching as Jazz lowered his hand underneath it. Dumping out the twelve shards into Jazz’s palm, Applejack placed her hat back on her head, gazing longingly into Jazz’s visor.
Jazz closed his fist, tightening the precious shards so that they were secured. He looked back at the ponies, seeing as Applejack backed away to stand next to her friends.
Nodding, Jazz pointed his closed fist towards the castle and muttered, “Get goin’ now. We’ll contact Hound right away so that he knows the plan,” He looked back at Bumblebee and Cliffjumper, smiling softly, “Bee and Cliff will stay with me…the others…you guys already know….I’m done talkin’.”
Jazz lowered his head to the ground, breathing heavily and tightening his fist. Cliffjumper scowled, not really keen with the plan. But if it was Jazz’s way of saving this planet…then he would give his best friend one last dying wish.
Glancing towards the other group of Autobots, Cliffjumper stomped towards them, planting his hand on Ultra Magnus’ chest. In a not-so-friendly way, Cliffjumper shoved his face in Magnus’, scowling the entire time.
“You know what to do, Magnus,” Cliffjumper growled, “You better protect those ponies with your lives, because if I see one hair messed up in any of their manes,” Cliffjumper pointed to the five mares, completely ignoring that their manes were already tattered. He leaned in, narrowing his optics as he finished, “you’ll end up regretting it.”
Ultra Magnus didn’t even feel bad. He slowly nodded, taking steps back which created space between him and the angry Autobot. Cliffjumper looked over, pointing towards the silent Dinobots and shouting, “You three are with Magnus and his team! Bumblebee and I will help Jazz get to Hound!”
Swoop and Snarl nodded in unison, Slug just staring off into dark space.
Cliffjumper still looked angry, shouting at Ultra Magnus, “Well what are you waiting for?! GET GOING!!!”
Ultra Magnus nodded, turning towards the five mares below him and calmly saying, “Alright, you five come with us,” He faced his team, nodding slowly, “Autobots…let’s roll.”
Magnus led the way with Arcee, Springer, Hot Rod, Kup, and Blurr on his trail. Snarl and Swoop both directed Slug where to go, struggling to keep up with the group. The five mares looked at each other, nodding slowly to one another.
They each got up from where they were sitting, Rarity dusting off her bum where several ashes remained. But Twilight stopped, her head slowly turning towards the three lone Autobots.
Jazz sat on the small pile of rubble, keeping his hand clenched tight to keep the crystal shards secured. She knew darn well that Jazz would keep his promise and give the shards to Hound. Once they get to the castle, they would all need to look for that green Autobot.
Cliffjumper stood by Jazz’s side, mumbling something into his ear that Twilight couldn’t hear from her distance. Bumblebee moved back and forth in a straight line, his blue eyes gazing up into the heavens. He caught the glance of Celestia’s student and looked down at her, nodding once.
“Get going, Twilight,” Bumblebee muttered, “The world needs you now.”
Twilight Sparkle gulped, a sudden heavy weight being placed on her shoulders.
Facing forward, Twilight galloped full speed, struggling to keep up with the group.
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The skies were so dark…that even the most skilled of flyers couldn’t keep their vision clear.
Lightning began to strike, signaling the massive storm that would soon enter the Crystal Empire. Keeping their air dominance, the Decepticon Jets soared across the Equestrian skies in groups of six to take out any unwanted visitors easily.
The jets were shot down in a bright fury of lights, allowing six other jets to fly out of the debris.
These six sported red symbols on their wings….obvious Autobots.
The jet that lead the way sent a message to the five others behind it, telling them what was needed to be done to protect this world.
“Aerialbots, Jetfire on all comms, I got a message from Optimus Prime himself. He says he spotted the Nemesis actually flying towards the Crystal Castle! Now I’m not the one to be questioning the last Prime, but if the Nemesis is here then it is going to cause a massive amount of damage, specifically on and or around the Crystal Castle! Our mission is to take out the Nemesis before it has the chance to even reach the castle, everyone got that?”
A smaller jet soared pass Jetfire, chuckling in his comms, “Hehe…uhh…you lost me after the Nemesis is flying towards the Crystal Castle.”
“No time for jokes, Air Raid, this is serious!” Silverbolt shouted in his comms, flying next to Jetfire.
Jetfire’s voice echoed over everyone’s comm link, “Silverbolt’s right, Air Raid, this job needs to take precise planning and it needs to be finished now!”
Another jet swooped downwards towards the group, this one being more blunt and rude. “Okay, how the scrap are we supposed to take down a ship of that amount of power? You saw what that thing could do to the Ark; just imagine what it could do to the castle!”
Jetfire sighed, fully knowing that they might not return from this airstrike. But if it was to save this world and the ponies he loved then he absolutely would be fine with that. Answering him, Jetfire spoke in a tone that seemed almost devoid of emotion.
“I know, Slingshot, just trust in one another….we’ll get through this.”
It was pretty quiet, despite the explosions blasting throughout the skies from the flying starships bombarding the grounds. The Aerialbots flew back and forth, keeping their locaters focused on anything that moved.
After several more minutes of continued silence, a dark presence soared right over the six Aerialbots, causing each of them to recoil and fly backwards. The massive ship flew right by them, keeping its destination focused on the towering castle ahead of it.
Each Aerialbot stared at the massive vessel passing them, each of them gasping once the large Decepticon insignia appeared on its side.
“It’s the Nemesis!” Fireflight screamed.
Jetfire powered up his thrusters, quickly taking off towards the escaping Decepticon ship.
“Alright, Aerialbots, let’s turn and burn!”
All six of them; Jetfire, Silverbolt, Air Raid, Slingshot, Fireflight, and Skydive rocketed forward, their thrusters creating a red trail in the air. The Nemesis was so much faster than them, obviously from its massive size, but that didn’t stop the Aerialbots.
Jetfire led the way, firing several missiles to where he presumed to be a weak point on the ship. The missiles had no effect, only scratching the heavy armor this vessel had.
“How do we fight this thing?!” Skydive shouted, obvious worry in his voice.
Slingshot grunted after his missiles simply exploded on the outside of the hull. “I don’t know just start shooting stuff!” He screamed, reloading his missile capacity.
“We HAVE to find a way, Aerialbots,” Jetfire shouted in his comms, “Optimus is counting on us!”
So they continued, only wasting precious ammunition against this behemoth. The skies became a warzone, infected by dust and fire as more and more missiles rained down upon the Nemesis, no damage being inflicted upon the flagship. Soon enough though, Fireflight got lucky and struck a small sliver in the armor, causing the ship to rumble.
“Did ya see that?! I hurt it! I HURT IT!” Fireflight screamed feeling overexcited of himself.
Suddenly, the outer ridges of the ship opened up, allowing several serpentine tow cables to traverse the Equestria skies in search for their targets.
“Great job, Fireflight.” Air Raid shouted with obvious sarcasm.
Instantaneously, the tow cables swung back and forth for the evading Autobots. The skies had erupted into a full-blown battle zone, with flying tow cables and constant explosions. The Aerialbots dodged and spun out of the way of the attacking tentacles. It was as if an amazing performance was displayed along the heavens. Although no one would be able to witness this amazing feat, the skies were far too dark for anyone to see. Jetfire swooped downwards, a large tow cable on his tail.
Jetfire pushed his nose upwards, doing a large front flip. The tow cable couldn’t keep up and flew right passed him, this allowed Jetfire to fly back down and shot away at the cable. It disintegrated in mere seconds from his machine gun.
It wasn’t long before another tow cable came rushing towards him.
Jetfire groaned, finally realizing that this wasn’t worth it. “We can’t waste any more time with these tow cables, Autobots. We need to find a way inside the Nemesis!” He shouted, trying his absolute best to lose the tow cable chasing him down.
“Here,” Skydive shouted, “let me try something!”
Skydive flew away from the battle with a tow cable chasing him. He turned around, the tow cable doing the same, and flew right back towards the large Decepticon vessel. Skydive flew faster, knowing the tow cable was right on his tail.
Right before he would ram the side of the ship, Skydive swerved to the left which allowed the tow cable to crash right into the Nemesis itself, creating a large entrance.
“There! Not too shabby if I do say so myself!” Skydive gloated, eventually following Jetfire and the others towards his makeshift entrance. Together, the six Aerialbots escaped the tow cables and made it inside the Decepticon vessel.
Jetfire transformed first, perfectly landing on his feet once he was safely inside the Nemesis. The others followed his lead, transforming back to robot mode and taking this time to observe the inside of Megatron’s ship.
“Nice flying, Autobots.” Silverbolt congratulated the group.
Air Raid chuckled, “Silverbolt, do we even HAVE a plan?”
Silverbolt frowned, turning towards his companion and beginning to explain, “Well I was hoping Fireflight could answer that.”
Everyone turned towards Fireflight, whose attention seemed to be on the insides of the flagship. Finally giving up at him, the others looked around the ship, fully observing the insides.
It was dark; actually a dark purple color filled almost the entire room. Turns out, they weren’t even in a room. They were in a launching bay. Jetfire and the others faced the large tunnel in front of them, the long entrance leading to the deeper levels of this massive flagship.
Computers and other mechanisms lined across the walls, although they didn’t really serve a purpose since there was not a living spark inside the ship. They knew this because of Fireflight’s scanning.
Fireflight lifted up his wrist, an entire hologram of the Nemesis appeared where six red dots were located on the side. He pointed to the dots and said, “This is us. To get to the central power core we must go down this tunnel and arrive to the beam conduits. Doing this will grant us access throughout the entire ship and eventually our destination.” Fireflight explained, deactivating the hologram and staring down the long tunnel.
Silverbolt stepped forward, looking back at the group and shouting, “Kick in those afterburners, Autobots! Every second counts!”
He transformed into jet mode, taking off towards the seemingly endless tunnel. Jetfire, Air Raid, Fireflight, Slingshot, and Skydive followed close behind, each of them in vehicle mode. Once they had all caught up to him, Air Raid flew right beside his fellow Aerialbot.
“Silverbolt, I gotta say I wasn’t thrilled when Optimus named you the leader of the squad instead of me.” Air Raid said, feeling a bit drowsy by the utterance of his voice.
Silverbolt groaned, “Oh not this again, Air Raid. You pick NOW to talk about this?”
“No, no, hear me out. What I MEAN to say is…you don’t entirely suck at the job. Y-you know for a guy who’s afraid of heights and all.” Air Raid commented, receiving a few stern glares from the other Aerialbots behind his back.
“Very funny, Air Raid.” Silverbolt muttered.
“It’s a compliment!” Air Raid retorted.
Jetfire flew right between them, eventually cutting off their conversation.
“Cut the chatter you two, we have to finish this now! Optimus is counting on us to stop the Nemesis before it does anything drastic.” Jetfire explained, flying right passed the two and making his way down the long tunnel. The others simply pushed forward, their afterburners helping at that.
It was a quiet flight, the six Aerialbots simply trying to fly straight through the tight tunnel. That is until Slingshot’s confusion was aroused. He flew by Jetfire’s side, eventually asking the one question that seemingly didn’t make sense.
“Hey, Jetfire, I’ve been wondering…how does this ship continue to fly without anyone piloting it?” Slingshot asked.
Jetfire remained silent for a few moments, remembering the events that had transpired before he and the others had been sucked into Equestria for a second time. They were all inside the Nemesis, the bridge to be exact, where Jetfire had clearly heard the ship speak into that terrible voice he had almost blocked out of his memory core.
Trypticon.
He didn’t want it to be true but it was. The Nemesis was Trypticon. He didn’t know how but didn’t want to ask since nobody would know. Instead, he sighed heavily, finally answering his fellow Aerialbot.
“We’ll find out soon enough.” Jetfire lied, knowing the others can’t take in the truth as he has.
Silverbolt and Air Raid sighed; they along with Jetfire were the only Aerialbots to know that this ship was alive and controlling itself.
They all flew down the tunnel for a few more minutes, eventually arriving to the end of it. Once there, all six of them transformed at the end of the tunnel where they arrived to an even large room than before.
This room was actually brightly lit, not being dark purple but white. The interior design flawed what they had once seen in the launching bay. The bay was dark and had a very evil design to it, this room seemed calmer and more peaceful. Of course it wasn’t. Little paths paved the ground while the rest of the ground was covered in tattered pieces of debris and such.
Jetfire walked forward to where he had spotted a large tube of some sorts. The tube contained a massive amount of raw energy from when Fireflight began analyzing it.
Fireflight backed away from the tube, gawking in awe. “From my scans, it says that these are definitely the power conduits. We have to deactivate each one so that the entire Nemesis can malfunction.”
“Well, how do we do that?” Skydive asked.
Silverbolt whipped out his assault rifle, shrugging his broad shoulders. “I don’t know…just start blasting stuff I guess.” Silverbolt ventured.
Air Raid smiled deviously, activating his own assault rifle. “Yeah! Now you’re talkin’, Silverbolt!” Air Raid shouted, shooting away at the power conduits. The other Aerialbots did the same and soon destroyed the large tube with ease.
Instantly, the ship trembled, causing each Autobot to nearly fall on their faces. A painful growl reached their hearing processors, bringing up more questions.
“Did you hear that?” Slingshot asked, eyeing the large room, “Did this ship just…growl?”
Silverbolt, wanting to change the subject quickly, turned to Jetfire and shouted, “Jetfire, how long before the ship hits critical?!”
Jetfire slowly stood back up, deactivating his assault rifle and turning towards the Aerialbot leader. “Every nano-click counts! But we can accelerate the process by overloading the ship’s nerve center! That would definitely finish this vessel off!”
“Well then lead the way!” Silverbolt shouted, waving Jetfire forward. Jetfire acknowledged, taking flight and morphing into jet mode. He took off with the others following close behind him.
As they all sped through the tight tunnels and shifting passageways, the entire ship began to tremble, receiving more painful growls from the ship itself. Slingshot really needed to know why this ship was growling, but decided against it knowing Jetfire would just ignore him.
“Ya see this? The entire ship is falling apart!” Air Raid shouted, dodging the falling pieces of ceiling debris.
“This is good…right?” Fireflight asked.
Jetfire grunted once a large piece of debris hit his engine, almost causing him to flail around in mid-flight. Shaking it off, he answered, “It’s not good enough! When we get to the nerve center we can REALLY cause some damage!”
But no one got a chance to cheer at that…for a massive tow cable crashed right through the tunnel.
The Aerialbots scattered, nearly smacking into each other when they tried to dodge the squirming tow cable the almost hit them. Flying right past it, Slingshot flew right by Jetfire and shouted, “What the scrap was that all about?!”
“The Nemesis is trying to defend itself from us!” Jetfire answered.
“How do we fight an entire ship?!” Skydive shouted, obvious fear in his voice.
His answer didn’t come from Jetfire, nor did it come from any other Aerialbot…it came from above….below….and all around him. Each Aerialbot froze in place, their engines dying down once that deep, wretched voice began to speak.
“AUTOBOT FOOLS. DID YOU REALLY BELIEVE YOU COULD KILL ME FROM ATTACKING MY NERVE CENTER? MERE CHILD’S PLAY! NOW…LET ME SHOW YOU ALL HOW YOU FAILED TO SAVE YOUR PRECIOUS PONY ALLIES….AND YOUR LEADER. ADJUSTING REALIGNMENT. INITIATING ORBITAL BOMBARDMENT OF CRYSTAL CASTLE!”
Slingshot turned to Jetfire.
“I’m starting to get the feeling that this isn’t just a ship.”
Jetfire began to panic, his fears of losing the Crystal Castle were nothing compared to losing Twilight and the Element Bearers…along with the last Prime. He turned his nose towards the others, quickly shouting, “Forget the nerve center! We NEED to take out the orbital strike cannon before it destroys the castle!”
Before anyone could object to that, Jetfire spun around and took off towards where he presumed to be the cannon portion of the ship. The others followed, although none of them caught up.
“Jetfire,” Fireflight screamed, “Keep going! The orbital cannon is dead ahead!”
Jetfire didn’t answer and merely went faster than before. He turned corners, he blasted away walls in his way, and he finally made it. The Autobot transformed and landed perfectly in a room of massive proportions.
This room was by far the largest with a massive cannon in the center. The cannon hung above a large hole in the ground, the hole had to be at least the size of an Autobot Titan. Jetfire looked up, almost gasping in horror to see the large cannon glowing a bright yellow.
“DESTRUCTION OF CRYSTAL CASTLE AT 93% COMPLETION. CALCULATING ANGLE FOR MAXIMUM DAMAGE TO POINT TOP OF CASTLE. DIRECT HIT TO CASTLE TO CAUSE AN EXPLOSION SO MASSIVE RESULT WILL BE CATASTROPHIC. DESTRUCTION OF CRYSTAL CASTLE AT 95% COMPLETION.”
Jetfire gasped, running towards the massive hole laying in the ground. He looked over the edge to see the very top of the Crystal Castle right under him. He backed away, his mind too terrified to come up with a solution before it was too late.
“We’re here, Jetfire! What’s going on?!”
The Autobot turned around to see the other five Aerialbots enter the orbital cannon room. Their presence meant nothing to the Nemesis as it merely laughed at them.
“HAHAHAHA! ENTER FREELY, AUTOBOTS. ALL YOU SHALL FIND IS YOUR DESTRUCTION!”
Slingshot spun around in surprise, although he already knew that this wasn’t just a ship. Turning towards Jetfire, Slingshot was ready for an explanation.
“You mind telling me what’s REALLY going on here, Jetfire?!” Slingshot shouted with obvious anger present with his assumptions.
Jetfire finally realized that if he was going to tell them, then he would have to tell them all fast because the cannon was almost charged up. Facing Slingshot, Fireflight, and Skydive, Jetfire looked at each of them with wide optics.
“Fine! The Nemesis is really Trypticon!”
The three Aerialbots took a step back, surprise striking their minds. Skydive took a look around him, shrugging casually. “Well that explains a lot,” He said. But before long, another thought popped into his mind and into words, “Hey, I thought Trypticon was on Megatron’s side? How come Megatron turned him into a ship?”
Another rumble in the ship brought each Aerialbot to stare at the ceiling, the deep voice of Trypticon answering his question.
“I NO LONGER SERVE MEGATRON OR ANYBODY FOR THAT MATTER! I AM TRYPTICON! AN UNSTOPPABLE KILLING MACHINE! YOU AUTOBOTS DON’T STAND A CHANCE, JUST LIKE THE REST OF THIS PITIFUL PLANET AND IT’S SPECIES! ZEROING IN ON COORDINATES NOW! CRYSTAL CASTLE IS LOCKED ON! POWERING UP ORBITAL STRIKE CANNON FOR MAXIMUM IMPACT! DESTRUCTION OF CRYSTAL CASTLE AT 99%!”
Silverbolt, along with every other Autobot gasped in terror.
“We gotta shut this thing down NOW!!!” Silverbolt screamed and activated his assault rifle. Facing the cannon, Silverbolt fired an entire clip at the cannon which only seemed dented from the weak bullets. Soon, every other Aerialbot joined knowing that they had run out of time, and that anything they did to attack the cannon would have to be done now.
When their bullets did nothing to the heavy armor of the cannon, Jetfire stepped in and pushed Silverbolt aside. “It’s no use, Silverbolt! Our weapons can’t take down this-!”
“ORBITAL STRIKE CANNON AT 100%! IMPACT COUNTING DOWN IN THREE…”
Jetfire faced the cannon, his optics wide with horror.
“TWO…”
The cannon glowed bright yellow.
“ONE…”
Jetfire lowered his head to the ground, his hope lost. He had failed Optimus Prime…he had failed Equestria….he failed the Autobots. Looking at the cannon one last time, Jetfire just prayed that no one important would be harmed when it happened...
BANG!!!!!!
The cannon exploded downwards, sending a massive yellow beam of raw energy directly towards the Crystal Castle below them. A powerful shockwave was created from the blast, sending each Aerialbot back and hitting the far wall.
Darkness overcame their vision.
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-30 MINUTES EARLIER-
IDENTITY: CONFIRMED
SPECIAL OPERATIONS MISSION EXPERT JAZZ
YOUR ENERGON LEVELS ARE DANGEROUSLY LOW
I pushed forward, turns out that was the only thing I really knew what to do right now.
Everywhere where I looked, everywhere I went, I would always see that fracking symbol everywhere. Decepticons had already begun their rule over Equestria; the streets were filled with dead bodies of deactivated Decepticon troopers. Stupid ‘Cons…always trying too hard.
Their undying loyalty towards Megatron met no ends. They didn’t care who they killed or how much pain and wretched suffering they caused. Houses, small little buildings with innocent lives living inside of them were gone in an instant when just one missile would strike the housing. Even though they were nothing but a pile of debris now…I could hear the cries of the crystal ponies inside the rubble. They were begging for someone, anyone to save them from these monsters.
The mark of the Decepticon…the mark of chaos.
A painful quake raged in my lower abdomen, causing myself to release a painful grunt and nearly fall flat on my face. Luckily, my old friend…Cliffjumper caught me and helped me back to my feet.
I could always count on Cliff to be there for me…along with Bumblebee.
The pain I felt was too much, my legs already gave out from the lack of Energon to work properly. Thanks to Cliff and Bee, they slung my arms over their shoulders and dragged me across this tattered landscape. Funny, just a few hours ago this place was bright and sunny.
Now look at it.
No light came from the sun; in fact the sun was gone. The entire empire was colored an eerie dark brown, followed by more ashes falling at a very slow pace. Lightning began to strike in the clouds above, the thunder echoing along with the orbital strikes from the starships.
That was another problem. The starships still sailed above the empire, resupplying the Decepticon army every time they lost a few soldiers. Words cannot describe how angry I was…but they could definitely describe the pain I was in.
I hunched over, Bee and Cliff catching me and lifting me back to my feet. The pain in my abdomen was too intense, the infection of dark crystals had almost reached my power core…it wouldn’t be long before the truth had to come out…
I was gonna die.
Clenching my right fist, I knew I had a lot more to live for. Saving this world and all its inhabitants was my top priority, always will be….always is. The crystal shards that would hopefully rebuild the Crystal Heart remained in my hand; no one was touching these until we reached the right Autobot.
Cliff and Bee continued to pull me across the warzone, my vision beginning to go static for how low on Energon I was. Several if not many explosions hit the ground in front of us, indicating that the Decepticons were hot on our trail. My friends didn’t care about that and pushed forward.
“…Come on, Jazz! We’re almost there! Stay with me, buddy! STAY WITH ME!” Cliffjumper shouted, firing several blasts from his repeater behind us.
I looked up, although didn’t have enough time to whip out my scatter blaster when a Decepticon Jet transformed and landed in front of us. Thankfully, Bee pointed his right fist forward, the hand transforming into an assault rifle as he blasted the head off the ‘Con.
“Yeah! Taste that, Decepti-creep!” Bee shouted with glee, struggling to hold my weight around his shoulder.
Suddenly, my head perked up when the recognizable, deep, and friendly voice came from in front of us. I smiled…fully knowing that we have finally arrived to our destination.
“Is that who I think it is?” Hound’s voice came from the shadows ahead.
Soon enough, we all saw those twin blue optics glowing in the distance. Once the dust cleared and we all moved forward, I finally caught a glimpse of our comrade, Hound.
The battle seemed to not take so kindly to him at all. His armor plating was shredded, Energon was leaking out of his legs, and his face bore only a smile as he waved us forward to him. He welcomed us closer with open arms and a….smile?
Something was off….it was that smile. I’ve never seen Hound smile like that all open mouth showing us his teeth and all. Usually back on Cybertron he just gave us a little smirk or if he was really happy, a closed grin.
I ignored that, knowing that the pain I felt and the mission were far more important than some stupid observation gone wrong.
Looking over to my left, I heard Cliffjumper shout, “Did you get our message?!”
Hound nodded, continuing to wave us towards him. “Don’t worry, just give me the shards and I’ll take care of everything!” Suddenly, Hound’s expressions turned dark, and his optics began to fade from its once glowing blue color.
“You do have the crystal shards, right?” He asked in an even deeper voice than I remembered.
I nodded, wincing in pain as I shoved my fist towards him.
“Yeah! I-I got ‘em!” I managed to shout, nearly a few feet away from my Autobot brother.
Once Cliff and Bee lowered me down to Hound’s height, Hound looked me over and caught me by my shoulder, making sure I didn’t fall flat on my face. I looked at his expression, wanting to thank him for taking this daring mission in the first place and give him the shards…..
….but I finally realized something.
Hound smiled, his optics flashing red for a spilt second.
“Good….now there’s just one more thing to take care of…”
Before I could react, my expression changed to shocked terror when I looked down and saw Hound morph his right fist into a path blaster, aiming right at my chest.
An ear-cracking bang echoed through the air, followed by my painful cries. I couldn’t help it, the amount of pain I felt right now had increased to an all new level. Along with the feeling of pain…the pain of betrayal had befallen not only me…but my friends….and the Autobots.
I flew backwards, landing hard on my back. My vision flickered before my sight. Even with the newly made hole in my chest, sending sparks and Energon and such across the ground, I looked up to see Hound finish what he started.
“NOOOOOOO!!!!” Cliffjumper screamed, although he didn’t have any time to react as well.
Hound spun towards him, aiming quickly and blowing off Cliff’s right leg. Energon splattered across my vision, but it wasn’t nearly as terrifying to see Hound shoot his fellow Autobot in the back…just like that.
Cliffjumper’s shoulder exploded, causing the young bot to fall forwards and land flat on his face, his severed right leg following him.
Bumblebee activated his assault rifle and pointed it at the traitor. But Hound was too fast, smacking Bee’s gun away and shooting him in the throat, causing the yellow bot to fall backwards just like I did. Bumblebee melted to the ground, his entire body falling limp.
The amount of pain and betrayal I felt was nothing compared to this new feeling: fear.
I looked forward, my vision static to see Hound casually walk over to me, his hand morphing back to normal. He slowly approached me, taking a knee right by my side and opening my fist by himself.
What could I do? My life was slipping away from when I was infected by Sombra, sealing my fate to slowly die from infection. But Hound…he quickened the process…by shooting me square in the chest.
Soon enough, Hound opened my hand I tried so hard to shut, taking out each crystal shard. Hound chuckled a bit, taking the biggest piece and looking it over. I almost gagged on the Energon in my throat to hear him talk.
“Wow…ain’t she a beauty?” Hound smiled, eventually taking his optics off the crystal and onto me. He leaned in and smiled broadly, finishing his statement, “Oh and don’t worry about a thing, I’ll make sure our pony friends get them…they’ll get them alright…hehehehe...”
I really wanted to punch that rust bucket right in his face, but I couldn’t move. My arms wouldn’t obey the commands I gave them. All I could really do was lay there in the wasteland once known as the Crystal Empire and watch as Hound got up…and walked away.
Each of us laid there.
Cliffjumper with his leg blown off along with his shoulder.
Bumblebee with his throat torn apart.
And me…with my vision finally failing and my life slipping away every astro-second. I laid on these tattered battle grounds….my breathing finally slowing down.
I felt guilty knowing I let him get away and kill my friends. I felt sad that I never could’ve saved this world and the ponies I loved.
But worst of all…I felt betrayed, finally realizing that Hound was the Autobot traitor.
____________________
END TRANSMISSION
-IDENTITY: UNKNOWN-
Twilight Sparkle pushed forward, turns out that was the only thing she knew what to do right now.
Ultra Magnus and his brave team of Autobots led the way and cleared the five mares a path. Decepticons rained from the dark skies, which created fear in the hearts of the brave equines. Rarity along with Fluttershy had already begun to cry, their tears paving the crystal road all of them had passed.
Running at their sides were the three Dinobots, each of them growling, ramming, and blasting any Decepticon that crossed their paths. Applejack looked up from her gallop to see Swoop fly right over their heads, clearing the air of any unwanted Decepticon Jets trying to fly towards them.
It was a horrific sight, dead bodies flying everywhere from Slug’s ramming, bullets soaring over their heads and grazing across the Autobots’ shoulders, and constant explosions falling in unison with the ashes.
The sky was burning from the earth below, creating a treacherous feeling in the five mares. Their hope for saving Equestria had almost depleted, they held onto what little hope remained knowing that Hound was going to give them the crystal shards.
Doing this would grant them access to what little hope there was…
The Crystal Castle.
The castle was merely a mile away, hanging in the distance as if threatening to fall any second. Twilight couldn’t have that happen. If the castle was destroyed….there was no hope for saving the Crystal Heart…no hope for saving their home.
“OKAY,” Magnus screamed, shooting the head off the last Decepticon trooper, thus clearing the entire street, “The streets are clear! We have the castle just a few hundred feet away! Now all we have to do is wait for Hound to get here!”
Springer pushed forward, eventually stopping by Magnus’ side and chuckling, “Yeah we all knew that, Magnus! No need to bring it up!”
Ultra Magnus turned to the green Autobot, frowning. “Okay how about this? Everybody form a defensive perimeter around this area! We don’t want any ‘Cons coming in here!” Saying this caused Springer, Blurr, and Hot Rod to groan. Arcee and Kup simply nodded, facing the road ahead and pointing their weapons in the distance.
Once his team had scattered the area, several pants of exhaustion came from behind the Autobot Commander.
Turning around, Ultra Magnus watched as the three Dinobots slowly walked right by him, their optics staring at the massive crystal tower ahead. Slug kept his head down, the migraines returning to his once-glowing visor.
Behind them came the five ponies, each of them panting profusely.
Pinkie Pie slunk to the ground while she turned to lay on her back, her tiny chest rising and falling at a quick pace. Fluttershy sat down and placed a hoof on her chest, obviously to catch her breath for running so hard. Applejack whistled slightly and wiped the sweat off her brow with a foreleg. Rarity kept her eyes shut tight, the tears staining her eyesight. Twilight Sparkle, in her leader-like stature, continued to gasp for breath, turning her head side to side in hopes of finding the right Autobot.
Magnus knew this must be hard for them…seeing their world fall right in front of their eyes.
“Woo! What a rush!” Applejack shouted, sweat pouring down her bangs. Her friends did not acknowledge her, and instead kept silent for they were too tired.
Twilight eventually gave up on looking for him and instead turned her eyes towards Ultra Magnus, her eyes beaming with hope.
“Magnus,” Twilight began, causing the Autobot to turn towards her, “can…can you contact Hound or something?”
It sounded like a command, which she didn’t like giving to Autobots, knowing that they were obviously smarter during battle than her. But she didn’t care. She needed to know where Hound was immediately. Jazz had to of given the shards to him by now, they just needed to hurry and finish this once and for all.
The skies were growing darker.
Ultra Magnus looked at her for a few seconds, eventually nodding and pressing his comms link. But he never had a chance to contact Hound…for Springer hovered right over his head in jet mode, nearly smacking the back of Magnus’ head.
Ultra Magnus bent down, looking back and shouting, “Watch it, Springer!”
Springer only responded a few seconds later.
“Hey, boss bot! We got ‘Cons comin’ our way…and a lot of ‘em!” Springer shouted, hovering back in mid-flight and preparing his missiles.
“You can’t be serious?” Magnus muttered, activating his Cybertronian binoculars and taking a look for himself.
He couldn’t believe it.
Right behind them was an army of Leapers, Heavy Soldiers, shot gunners, and many troopers, each of them sporting the wretched mark of the Decepticon. Magnus took a step back, shock taking over his personality components. The large number of Decepticons marched their way, looking as terrifying as ever.
“Oh Primus help us.” Ultra Magnus gasped and deactivated his binoculars.
Once he had muttered that, the five mares turned around from where they were resting, each of them with squinted eyes to hopefully see in the dusty air. All they could see were the numerous Decepticon insignias glowing in the distance…slowly approaching them.
Twilight silently gasped, taking several steps back and bumping into her friends.
“No…no, this isn’t how it was supposed to end.” Twilight muttered, tears forming at the rims of her violet eyes. They had come so close to the Crystal Castle, SO close to saving all of Equestria from the Decepticons…and it was all for not….there was no way they could take on army that large.
Along with her whimpering, the rest of her friends began to whimper in pity. Failure finally reaching their injured hearts and tearing them to pieces.
Their whimpering stopped once a giant, white hand appeared in front of the unicorn.
Twilight, along with her friends, looked up to see Ultra Magnus stand in front of them, his weapon at his disposal along with a terrifying glare. He looked down at the shivering ponies, nodding once.
“Stay behind me…I kept a promise and I’m not willing to break it.”
The mares stopped whimpering, watching as the massive Autobot stepped in front of them and cocked his weapon, glaring down the massive Decepticon forces heading his way. It had all led up to this moment…the ultimate choice for saving their world was on the brink.
Suddenly, Springer swooped down again, facing ahead while the five mares looked up at him.
“WAIT,” Springer shouted, “Is that…? No…no it can’t be….it’s Optimus Prime!”
Twilight’s eyes grew wide.
“Optimus…”
Ultra Magnus spun around, nodding once to Springer before finally backing away from the army. He looked up to Springer and shouted, “Where is he, exactly?”
Springer hovered above the ground a little higher, finally answering him. “He’s about a hundred feet away from the army of ‘Cons!” Springer shouted back.
Magnus nodded and faced the road again, the large army of Decepticons finally coming into view. He saw as each of them readied their weapons and smashed their fists together. Oh….they didn’t stand a chance.
He looked back up at Springer and shouted, “We need to find a way to signal him over to us!”
“Leave that to me!”
Both Springer and Ultra Magnus looked down, surprise striking their minds. For no one would have guessed that Twilight Sparkle had stood up and approached the road ahead of her, not a single look of fear crossing her face. Ultra Magnus wanted to intervene, to stop her before something terrible happened…but he finally realized something.
Twilight’s got this.
She stopped on the left side of the street, climbing up the biggest piece of rubble she could find. Once she got to the top, Twilight took a deep breath and stared down the Decepticon forces approaching her.
“OPTIMUS!”
___________________
Optimus Prime had located the Crystal Castle with no problem whatsoever.
It had been a tragic battle. Several Decepticons were murdered by the last Prime. Unfortunate…but necessary. So, Optimus drove down the longest street towards the castle once he had heard of Jazz’s plan to change the fate of this world. Jazz had announced it in his comms link…he was going to give the shards to Hound.
So Optimus drove faster, looking from his vision to see the Crystal Castle slowly approaching with every mile he drove down this tattered landscape. A terrible feeling occurred to him: this planet was becoming more like Cybertron every moment they remained here.
When it would finally come down to the ultimate decision that Optimus knew was soon…he would gladly give up his life so that this world could never share the same fate as his true home. He did it once…he would do it a million times over.
But as the last Prime continued to drive through the Crystal Empire, a terrible sight was seen.
A Decepticon army of massive proportions stood in front of him.
Optimus knew that this army was too much, not even he could strike down each of them without assistance. Whatever they were moving towards….it was going straight for the Crystal Castle.
When Optimus’ ideas seemed to be short, a new hope emerged and fueled his spark with the much needed energy.
“OPTIMUS!”
That voice…that delicate, little voice…
Optimus revved up his engine, his anger finally releasing itself when he knew that this army of Decepticons was heading right for the ponies he had sworn to protect with his life. That voice…belonged to Twilight Sparkle.
After activating his nitro-boosters, Optimus hit the nearest makeshift ramp lying in the streets and transformed in mid-air, landing on both feet as he charged headstrong into the Decepticon armada.
“I’m coming, Twilight!”
Once he had shouted those words, the Decepticons turned around, not nearly having enough time to defend themselves once the last of the Primes ran them over. They faltered beyond belief, all the training they had received over millions of years of practice back on Cybertron had never prepared them for this.
Fighting Optimus Prime.
“Behind us!” One of them shouted, firing wildly with his assault rifle.
“It’s Optimus Prime!” Another screamed, his knees buckling together in fear.
“Scatter! Scatter and defend your-GAHHHH!!!”
The next soldier couldn’t shout out the order in time. Optimus Prime had impaled him against his blade. They became sloppy, fear overcoming their circuits and eventually their minds as the last Prime tore right through their army with ease.
Optimus whipped out a path blaster replacing his left hand, his other hand being accompanied by a long, red blade. Optimus jammed the blade in the nearest soldier, using his body as a shield to deflect the incoming missiles. Using the body to hit another Decepticon, Optimus reared down and sliced back and forth with his sword, creating several more dead Decepticons by the second.
He fired several shots from his path blaster, blowing the heads off more and more grunts in his path of destruction. Optimus spun around while charging forward, dodging the deadly blasts of the shot gun. He brought his blade downwards, slicing it neatly across the shot gunner’s abdomen, thus sending the two pieces of the Decepticon skidding to the ground.
The Leapers didn’t stand a chance, swinging their fists at Prime as he ducked under them and fired from behind, killing the Leapers with ease. Optimus faced forward again, firing several shots from his path blaster which blew the head off the Heavy Soldier. To finish him off, Optimus did a small leap in the air, bringing his blade down right on its chest.
Finishing off the remaining troopers, Optimus Prime hadn’t realized he had won until he arrived to the other side…meeting a very familiar face.
____________________
Twilight had watched his path of destruction…no…she felt it.
She felt the Decepticons’ painful cries of pain; she felt every blast and every shockwave that had been created from the misty battle right in front of her. And although she never saw it, it must’ve been terrifying to experience firsthand.
Her experiences died down, happiness and relief returning to her crying heart to see Optimus Prime escape from the dust, not a scratch on him.
Jumping down from the debris, Twilight smiled broadly, fully expecting to see Optimus glad to see her alive and well. But he didn’t even acknowledge her…he kept his blue eyes focused on the road to the Crystal Castle.
Twilight looked into his eyes; she couldn’t tell what expression he was bearing. Surprise? Shock? Anger? All of these seemed to play together in those twin blue eyes of his as he continued to stare down the road.
Turning that way herself, Twilight finally found out what he was staring at.
Ultra Magnus.
Both he and Prime stared at each other, neither one of them daring to break their concentration. Twilight tilted her head, finally observing the two Autobots for the first time.
Despite the color change, these two looked almost completely identical. Their armor structure followed by their same broad appearances almost made them appear as twins. Although Optimus wore a faceplate and Magnus didn’t, these two shared something…something Twilight couldn’t understand.
Optimus Prime slowly walked forward, ignoring as the four mares in front of him slowly backed away. Ultra Magnus stood his ground, watching as Prime approached him closer and closer. Once the distance between them had vanished like the dust in the air, Optimus Prime looked him over…and spoke.
“Ultra Magnus…my old friend….it is an honor to see you again.”
Optimus reached forward and shook Magnus’ hand, Magnus responded with a firm handshake back.
“The honor is mine, Optimus Prime.” Ultra Magnus smiled.
After the handshake had swept away, Optimus looked back and noticed some other familiar Autobots from his past. It had been a very long time since he had seen them all…but he could only imagine how long it has been for this group of Autobots.
“You all came here…after all these years you had finally found the planet we had been residing on,” Optimus exclaimed, receiving several smiles from Hot Rod, Blurr, Kup, Arcee, and Springer. He looked back at Magnus, his optics narrowing, “What about Cybertron? I thought I ordered you all to defend the Autobot name and remain there?”
Ultra Magnus sighed, drooping his head to where he had found some nearby pebbles suddenly interesting. He looked back up at Prime, his optics brimming with sorrow.
“Cybertron…is no more.”
Hearing the several gasps from the five mares below them but not the gasp from the last Prime, only receiving an emotionless stare, Magnus continued, “We…we had no choice, Prime. The Autobots….I mean we…we lost the war. After the Space Bridge accident with the po-“
He stopped himself there, looking down at Twilight and her friends. Each of them gave him a hard stare, shaking their heads quickly.
“The accident with the…potential threat from the Decepticons, the Autobots were defeated once Met-“ He stopped again, thinking of an excuse, “Once…Broadside went into stasis. Without his aide, we couldn’t stop the massive forces of the Decepticons from taking back the Space Bridge.”
When Optimus didn’t respond, he continued, “Years and years went by, and we soon decided it was time to leave our dying home and find a planet elsewhere to find refugee. Luckily for us, the Decepticons had planned a massive invasion of a planet to take its resources. Stealing one of their ships, we followed the Decepticons through the Space Bridge and eventually ended up here.”
He sighed again, looking at Prime with sorrow.
“I’m sorry, Optimus, I tried my best but…I lost the war for Cybertron. The Autobots have lost.” Magnus quietly finished, deciding to look at the far ground instead.
To his surprise, Optimus didn’t lash out at him, he didn’t call him a terrible leader, instead…he brought his hand forward…and placed it on Magnus’ shoulder. Looking up, Ultra Magnus’ optics grew wide once Optimus began to speak.
“You have nothing to be ashamed of, my brother,” Optimus explained, his voice as deep as ever, “I lost the war for Cybertron, I abandoned my own home, and I have befallen the Autobot name. You were simply trying your best….something I wish I could’ve done better.”
Ultra Magnus smiled, waiting as Optimus finally finished, “Now, we have more important issues to be dealt with. This planet is in danger of extinction. Will you and your team assist my Autobots in saving this world, Ultra Magnus?”
Magnus saluted.
“I will, Prime!”
Optimus nodded as well, lowering his hand from Magnus’ shoulder and pointing it towards the castle. “We have much to get done! The Nemesis could be approaching this castle any nano-click now! I want you and your team to secure this area…” he brought his head downwards, finally acknowledging the five ponies below him, “I need to have a word with some old friends.”
Ultra Magnus nodded, backing away and returning to his teammates. Optimus finally knelt down to one knee, watching as the five ponies embraced him.
“Thank Celestia you’re here,” Twilight said, hugging Optimus’ finger, “We need to put an end to this and find the crystal ponies.”
Optimus nodded, narrowing his optics and saying, “I received Jazz’s message. Hound will be arriving very shortly with the shards. Now all we have to do is like what you had just told me: find the crystal ponies.”
Rarity stepped in, uncertainty crossing her features. “Ummm….I am still not sure this…area is still befitting to raise the spirits of these ponies.” Rarity lifted her hoof from the ground, her expression disgusted.
Fluttershy nodded, finally getting the courage to speak. “Yeah…how are we supposed to raise their spirits if they see their home…destroyed?” She asked, quivering in fear as more ashes rained down.
Lifting his hand up and watching as Twilight broke her embrace, Optimus lifted up his finger and scratched his chin, deep in thought. After several more seconds in thought, Optimus looked down at them, bearing no expression.
“You have to find a way, Twilight. I do not know.”
Twilight sighed, kicking at the ground.
“I really wish you wouldn’t say that.” She muttered, depression taking over her features. She didn’t know what to do. If the crystal ponies came out here and saw this devastation then their spirits would be anything BUT joyful. She had really wished that Optimus had the solution…he always did. But this was her home, everything that Prime and the Autobots knew about it weren’t very high, thus proving how Optimus Prime couldn’t figure this out.
After he had seen her expression change to from wonder to sorrow, Optimus sighed and reached his hand forward to the unicorn.
“Twilight…I-“
“Optimus,” Kup shouted, causing the last Prime to turn around, “you might wanna check this out.” Kup stared at the heavens above him, his face contorted in terror. Arcee, Magnus, Blurr, Hot Rod, Springer, and the three Dinobots all stared together, something obviously caught their line of sight.
Taking one last look at the five mares, Optimus stood back up and approached the other Autobots from behind. Kup pointed upwards, to where Optimus followed his hand. He took a step back, gasping in horror.
The Nemesis had arrived earlier than expected, slowly hovering above them as it approached the Crystal Castle.
In an instant, Optimus became a leader again, giving orders as quick as can be.
“Blurr, get the ponies inside to a safe building now!” Optimus shouted, watching as Blurr sped over and directed the five mares over to a small crystal dwelling. Twilight stared at Optimus the entire time, tears ready to fall.
Optimus continued, “Magnus, you and the rest of your team will provide over watch! Make sure no Decepticon comes anywhere near our position!” Magnus nodded, turning towards his team and waving them away.
“Dinobots,” Optimus shouted, “sit back and recover. I heard what had happened with the Combaticons.” Optimus stared at Slug’s dark visor, his expression brimming with sorrow. Snarl and Swoop nodded, assisting Slug over to sit down by the nearest crystal house.
After watching them recover, Optimus brought his head back and watched as Blurr directed the five mares inside the fallen structure, making sure they were secured. Once he sped off to find Magnus, Optimus stared at them and observed as they cuddled together for protection.
Wait a minute….
Five mares?
‘Rainbow Dash…? Oh no….where is Rainbow Dash?!’ Optimus screamed in his mind, fear finally overcoming his leader-like stature.
But he never got the chance to know what had befallen Rainbow Dash’s fate, for several groans came from behind the last of the Primes.
Optimus spun around, gaping in horror to see three Autobots emerge from the dust, each of them carrying an Autobot in their arms. With fear by his side, Optimus rushed forward and almost gasped to see who they were carrying.
Ratchet arrived shortly, holding the injured Cliffjumper in his arms. Cliffjumper remained functional, his right leg gone along with his shoulder. Prime looked to his right to see Sideswipe holding Bumblebee, his throat leaking several quantities of Energon. But the last one…
Optimus gasped, nearly falling to his knees to see Jazz in Wheeljack’s grasp.
Jazz was dark, his visor no longer blue but dark black. Every single light on his body had faded away, leaving only the dark crystals and the massive hole on his chest the only visible things. Optimus reached forward, placing his hand on Jazz’s own and gripping the limp limb.
He looked at Wheeljack, his expression terrified.
“What happened?” Was all that Optimus managed to ask.
Wheeljack looked up at his leader, his optics buried in sadness.
“He’s dead, Optimus…Jazz is dead.”
Optimus Prime took a step back, reality finally striking his mind and causing old memories to immediately flash behind his optics. Jazz was his oldest friend for as long as Prime could remember, and now he was gone….given up his life for the sake of this world.
He wanted to scream, shout out to the heavens above that he would get revenge on the Decepticons for doing this. But he was taught better, merely closing his optics and mourning the loss of his friend.
He placed a hand on Jazz’s chest.
“May Primus grant you eternal life, old friend.” Optimus Prime mourned in sorrow, slowly lowering his hand to fall at his side.
A quiet cough brought Prime to look to his left.
Bumblebee coughed up more and more quantities of Energon from his injured throat, trying ever so hard to say simple words. Optimus approached him, listening for what Bumblebee had to say.
“….O-Optimus….grrgrgrhh…..Hound….he…h-h-he….he’s the….he’s the tra-“
Optimus slowly lifted up his hand, silencing Bumblebee.
“You cannot speak anymore, my friend,” Optimus told him, ignoring the pleading glance he received from both Cliffjumper and Bumblebee, “Let Ratchet and Wheeljack fix you up.”
He stepped away, already suffering too much loss to deal with a painful operation at the moment. When Ratchet put down Cliffjumper to sit down, Optimus turned back, glancing up at the Nemesis as it hovered menacingly above the Crystal Castle.
Instantly, Optimus remembered the orders he had given to a certain Aerialbot.
With fear growing at the astro-second, Optimus pressed his comms link quickly and shouted, “Jetfire, we need the Nemesis offline! It is directly above the Crystal Castle! Jetfire, do you read me?!”
Nothing.
Optimus grunted, pulling his hand away and muttering, “Ugh…no answer.”
The other Autobots finally piled into the center of the street, each of them directly in front of the last Prime. Their optics were focused on Megatron’s vessel as it hung above the air directly above the castle. None of them knew what to do, none of them have known how the Nemesis had arrived here except for the Dinobots.
But they definitely knew what it was doing now.
The underbelly of the ship opened up, revealing a dark hole that seemed to be glowing bright yellow on the inside. The Autobots gasped, taking several steps backwards, fully knowing that the Nemesis was preparing an orbital strike.
Panic quickly took over, causing Optimus Prime to lose patience. The Nemesis was right above them, preparing an orbital strike on the Crystal Castle with Jetfire and his team being the only ones capable of taking down the ship from the inside, and now they weren’t responding.
The Nemesis would be only seconds away until it had become fully charged.
A sudden idea sprung into Prime’s head.
Pressing his comms link, Optimus had already lost all patience, letting fear and panic take over his words.
“Hound, we need an immediate air strike from Warpath and his main guns to destroy the Nemesis’ orbital cannon!” Optimus knew that Warpath’s weapon systems were probably too weak to destroy that cannon, he also knew that Warpath had become so deaf that contacting him would be a waste of time. Hound was the only answer, with his expertise in mortar warfare and him being familiar with Warpath’s main guns. None of the other Autobots could answer where they were.
After several more seconds, the cannon was fully charged, sparking Prime’s fears to the limit.
Pressing his comms link even harder, Optimus shouted, “HOUND! Respond! The Nemesis is directly above the Crystal Castle! We need an air strike NOW!”
Still nothing.
Right before the flagship had the chance to fire; Optimus pressed his comms link again, his fears begging Hound to answer his cries.
“I repeat, Hound! The Nemesis is going to destroy the castle!!!”
This time, however…..Hound answered….but it wasn’t what Prime wanted to hear.
“Good…now nothing can stop the Decepticons.”
Optimus recoiled, shock and terror taking place at the same amount of time it took for Prime to glance at the Nemesis one last time. At any given moment in time would Optimus want this moment to happen, to find out who the traitor was and stop him…
….now was not the time.
“WHAT?! NO! No, no, no, no, NOOOOO!!!!” Optimus Prime screamed, glancing in shocked horror as the Nemesis fired one massive beam below it.
The yellow beam of destruction hit the top of the castle, decimating the very top and quickly making its way downwards to the ground. The sides of the castle exploded, thousands of pieces of crystal debris to fly outwards and hit the Autobots below. The beam continued down to where the rest of the castle fell apart and instantly exploded. Once it hit the ground, however; it caused such a massive shockwave that Optimus almost fell back for how powerful it was.
With the castle gone and only a large red ball of fire remaining, Optimus could only stare at the wave of dirt and debris quickly rushing forwards, taking everything in its path.
Twilight Sparkle watched in horror as the Nemesis struck down the only hope they had left for saving their home: the Crystal Castle. She was even more terrified to see it crumble in seconds and a large dirt wave rush towards them at a fast pace.
Backing away into the crystal house, Twilight looked back at her friends who had already begun screaming their heads off.
“HOLD ON!” Twilight screamed, flaring up her horn and creating a powerful magical dome around her and her friends. The dust quickly entered the house, along with the piercing cries that followed from outside.
Optimus only had one chance at this.
After watching as his Autobot brothers were swallowed up by the dirt wall, he lifted up his hands to protect his face from the massive wave. It came quickly, launching the last Prime backwards.
He spun around in mid-air, optics wide with horror to see Cliffjumper quickly approach him. No…he was approaching Cliffjumper. A sudden smack sent Prime into unconsciousness…followed by the eerie darkness that fell upon the empire.
Nothing remained in the cataclysm…
…all except for the lone Autobot symbol glowing in the darkness.
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Just as I thought. Hound is really Makeshift. But how are the Autobots supposed to stop the Decepticons now?!
2951883 All you have to say is "Just as I thought"? No shouts of surprise? No cries of sorrow? Nothing...?
Alright...now everyone should go back and re-read chapter 1. It all plays in. 
Huh? HUH? HUH?!?! I'll be quiet now. 
2951883
Hound being Makeshift is taken from the Transformers Exiles novel, isn't that right JD
2952149 No I got it from the Transformers wiki.
2952171 which is originally from the novel
Yay,
we are almost caught up to the beginning of the story. Hopefully, we see Superion taking on Trypticon in one of the coming chapters. That would be awesome.
So much Shit has hit the fan, Jazz is dead, Hound is the traitor, the Nemsis destroys the castle. So much shit in one chapter.
I am curious what exactly does Sombras crystals do to Cybertronians, Makes me wonder what would happen if Sombra got his hooves on Dark Energon. Speaking of dark energon, where is Megatron? Supposedly he went chasing after Sombra for revenge and hasn't been seen since, and in that short time Sombra now controls the changeling army.(Wheres Chrysalis?)
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Was anyone thinking of this when the castle was destroyed?
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2952051 I'm sorry. It's just, I long suspected the traitor so I was satisfied that I figured it out. I didn't say anything else because I couldn't put into words how I felt. Everything seems so hopeless now. Part of me fears that the Autobots aren't going to win.
I was taken completely by surprise when I read that Hound was the traitor. You're gonna get it now, Makeshift!
(Sniff) I'm gonna miss jazz
Scrap we need back up..... or a escape shuttle or a spell to turn cybertornians in to ponys or vice versa... Rainbow dash as a seaker no con would be left in sky after 10 seconds
2954568 Well you were the first and the only person to guess it right....I think.
So good job! 
2954334 Megatron got seemingly lost in the hunt for Sombra. He's probably still basking in the glory if the Decepticons conquering Equestria.
Chrysalis on the other hand is....well.....she's....um....somewhere. 
I don't know where she would be hiding out, probably the edges of the empire. But yes, if Sombra got his hooves on Dark Energon.........
.......it would be catastrophic.
Dammit.....to tell ya the truth....I was thinking more of the empire state building exploding scene more than the white house. But it was still the same movie!!!
2955430 We all will, ro-bro.....we all will.
2957492 Oh ho ho ho! Just wait till you read chapter 29!
2955189 Everypony thinks it's Makeshift.
Why not just an Autobot that just betrayed the cause? Because that would be stupid. 
Makeshift is a much better choice.
2959767No going based of g1 like the games where in dsing megatron could have used that reprogrming thing he hist the constrctacons with... also thundercracker, skywarp, and starscream where all aotubots ine the biging in g1 they wher just NAIL's (non-alined Indigans liforms) but in all other vertions they where arigaly autobots.
2960114.....Okay but it's still Makeshift in disguise.
2962728 ahhh thats a bummer i was hoping for more complex story behind it.
Jazz dies (like his movie version)
Optimus was right in that there was a traitor in the Autobot ranks. It was assumed to be Grimlock, but it was never him. It was another Autobot.
I had a feeling it was Magnus, boy am I Happy I was wrong.
And also poor jazz. WHY!!!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CADENCE SHINING ARMOR RIP THEM I'M SAD NOW
No... no! Jazz is dead and the castle is destroyed! But the worst part was discovering that Hound was the Autobots traitor the whole time! Everyone kept thinking it was Grimlock, but it was never him, like I knew it couldn’t be. I hope Makeshift dies a worse death than he did in the Prime cartoon, because he deserves it for this.