> Ponies/Transformers: Cybertron Boys
>  by Quick-5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> More than Meets the Eye
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Dear Princess Twilight," Twilight Sparkle read,

"The Dazzlings have recently come to us seeking shelter since...well, they've been living on the streets since the Battle of the Bands. We agreed to help them if they agreed to try and change, and they did. At least I hope they did. Sonata is staying with Pinkie Pie and the two of them seem to get along well. Aria is staying with Applejack and she says that Aria is somewhat cooperative. I can't say the same for Adagio, though. She's staying with me and she is an absolute pain. She's pushy, arrogant, and her hair constantly clogs up my drains. I know, I know 'love and tolerance' and all that jazz, but I'm seriously concerned that Adagio will never change. Any ideas?

On a side note, I hope you and your friends are doing well. How is the rehabilitation of Starlight Glimmer coming along? Given what you've told me about her, I wonder what she'd be like in this world. Food for thought I suppose!

Your faithful student,
Sunset Shimmer."

Twilight rubbed her chin with a thoughtful expression on her face. The Dazzlings, she mused.  of course Adagio would be the impossible one to work with.  Twilight pondered for a brief moment before levitating a nearby quill. 

 "Dear Sunset Shimmer,"  she wrote,

 "Thank you for informing me of your current state of affairs. I'm glad the Dazzlings were willing to own up for their actions. If you want my advice on dealing with Adagio, try appealing to her ego when dealing with her once in a while, while still being firm when holding your ground. Trust me, I know what it's like to deal with an egomaniac you're trying to help."  Twilight stopped writing and chuckled to herself for a moment, thinking of her encounters with Trixie.

 "As for Starlight Glimmer, her rehabilitation is going better than I expected. I assigned her to helping young foals learn about the significance of Cutie Marks in Trottingham! I think she'll find the experience enlightening. Since humans don't have Cutie Marks, it would be interesting to see how Starlight is on Earth, wouldn't it? 

Remember, don't hesitate to contact me if you ever need advice. Unless I'm stuck in a time loop again, but hopefully that won't happen! Good luck!

Sincerely,
Princess Twilight Sparkle." 

Twilight signed the letter to her pupil before closing her magic book. Twilight sighed wistfully as she placed her book in her saddlebags, grinning to herself. Writing to Sunset Shimmer in such a way reminded her of when she used to write to Princess Celestia as her student. She smiled wider realizing that she was in the role of the mentor. It was an odd, but wonderful sensation. 

Twilight was snapped from her thoughts by a frantic knocking at her door. "Come in." she called out.

The large door burst open to reveal a small, purple and green dragon. That little dragon was Spike. "Twilight! You've gotta see this!" he called.

Twilight's eyebrow raised. "What's going on?" she asked.

"It's the map!" Spike shouted. "It's acting up again!" he then suddenly looked at Twilight's flank.

Twilight noticed this and followed Spike's gaze. Sure enough, her starburst Cutie Mark was glowing. Her eyes then grew wide and she smiled a great toothy grin.

"Well, what are we waiting for!?" Twilight exclaimed. "Let's go see what it is!" she then bolted out the door with Spike close behind. On the way to the map, various scenarios began popping up in her mind. What sort of friendship problem could she have to solve this time? Maybe some sort of major conflict between two rival pony clans? Perhaps a society that lives without friendship? Maybe another Starlight Glimmer scenario? 

None of her questions were answered when she got to the map in the main hall of her castle. Twilight's eyebrow raised when she saw her Cutie Mark swirling around an area near the edge of the Everfree Forest. An area leading to a ravine, no less. That wasn't all, however. Alongside her starburst were 3 pink butterflies dancing about the area. 

"Uh...what kind of friendship problem's going on there?" Twilight inquired.

Spike simply shrugged. "I don't know. The map called you there!"

Twilight simply shook her head. "Oh well. I'll figure it out when we get there. In the meantime, where's Fluttershy?"

Spike's response was another shrug.

"Maybe she hasn't noticed yet." Twilight suggested, scribbling the location on her own map. "Let's go get her!" With that, she teleported herself and Spike directly in front of Fluttershy's cottage.

Ignoring the dizzied Spike behind her, Twilight happily knocked on Fluttershy's door. "Fluttershy! Have you noticed your Cutie Mark flashing? The Cutie Map is calling us to deal with a friendship problem!" she called. When she received no response, she frowned. "Fluttershy? You there?" 

Suddenly, Twilight's ears perked as she heard a bizarre sound coming from behind the cottage. It sounded like a strange...beeping. Curious, Twilight and Spike peeked around their friend's house. 





"I'm sorry, but my Cutie Mark is flashing. I wish I could stay and help you more, but-" Fluttershy was interrupted by a knocking at her door and a calling from Twilight Sparkle.

"But, what am I supposed to do now?" Fluttershy's  "guest" asked.

"Well, um..." Fluttershy began before Twilight called again. "Quick! Hide!"

"I AM hiding!" the guest exclaimed.

"Well, hide somewhere else! I don't know! Just-" Fluttershy said.

"Fluttershy?" Twilight asked, poking her head around the corner of the cottage. Fluttershy froze, nervously looking at her friend.

"Oh, hi Twilight." Fluttershy nervously said. 

"Who are you talking to?" Twilight said, raising her eyebrow. From what she could tell, all that was in Fluttershy's backyard was her yellow friend, and a large metal vehicle. We all would see it as a yellow muscle car with black stripes. Twilight didn't know that, though. 

"Well...uh...just comforting my new animal pen before I let my bunnies in!" Fluttershy lied poorly. 

Twilight and Spike just stared. "Uh...ok." Spike said uncertainly. Fluttershy smiled innocently.

Twilight just shook her head. "Anyway. In case you haven't noticed, the map is calling us!" Twilight exclaimed excitedly. "This is so exciting! The only weird thing is that we're supposed to go to some ravine by the edge of Everfree but hey, mystery right!?"

At the mention of the ravine, the car beeped, causing Fluttershy to jump.

"Uh, Fluttershy?" Spike said. "Your bunny shelter just beeped."

Fluttershy's eyes darted back and forth in a panicked fashion as she tried to think up an excuse. Before she could blurt out an unconvincing response, the car spoke.

"Well, no point in hiding anymore." The car said. To Fluttershy, the car spoke. But to Twilight and Spike, the vehicle emitted a series of strange beeps.

Before any of the ponies could respond, the car's parts began shifting and changing. The ponies looked on in awe at the convulsing mass of metal as it reassembled itself into something new. Before long the car began to take on a humanoid shape. Before they knew it, a giant yellow-and-black robot was standing before them. 

Fluttershy rubbed her foreleg before turning back to Twilight and Spike. She found the unicorn and dragon staring, mouths agape, at her mechanical guest. 

"Um... I guess I should introduce you, huh?" Fluttershy said. "Twilight, Spike: this is Bumblebee."

"Hi." Bumblebee said. Of course, all Twilight and Spike heard was a short series of beeps.

"Fluttershy," Twilight said. "you've brought a lot of strange creatures home in the time I've known you, but this definitely takes the cake." 

"Yeah, I get that a lot." Bumblebee beeped.

"Well, I found poor Bumblebee lost in the Everfree Forest, and I couldn't just leave him." Fluttershy explained.

"'Poor'?" Spike questioned.

"Ok, ok. Enough small talk." Bumblebee beeped. "Where is this ravine you need to go?"

Twilight looked into the robot's glowing blue optics that stared at her expectantly, not understanding what Bumblebee asked of her. 

"Well?" Bumblebee beeped again.

"Oh!" Fluttershy remembered that her friends didn't have her translation abilities. "Bumblebee asked where the ravine was."

Twilight pulled out her map and showed it to Fluttershy and a kneeling Bumblebee.

"Hm." Bumblebee beeped. "Why do you need to go there again?"

"We're being summoned to solve a friendship problem, apparently." Fluttershy explained, glancing at her shimmering Cutie Mark.

"Really?" Bumblebee beeped skeptically. Fluttershy nodded. "What does that even mean?"

"Well...um..." Fluttershy was unsure where to begin.

"Never mind. You can explain it when we get there." Bumblebee beeped again. With that, he quickly shifted back into his car form and opened his doors. "Hop in."

"Huh?" Everypony said.

"I know where you're headed. I'll give you a lift." Bumblebee offered.

"What'd he say?" Twilight questioned.

"He said he'll give us a lift to where we're headed." Fluttershy translated.

"Oh." Twilight replied. "Well...ok. Lead on, mysterious robot." She then proceeded to hop into Bumblebee's driver seat, Fluttershy climbing into the passenger seat.

Spike shook his head. "Uh uh. No way." he proclaimed, crossing his arms. "I'm not getting into that thing."

"Aw. C'mon." Bumblebee beeped. "You can trust this face."

"He can't see your face." Fluttershy reminded.

"Oh yeah." Bumblebee replied.

"Don't worry, Spike." Twilight reassured, levitating Spike into the back seat. "I'm sure it's fine," Twilight then turned to Bumblebee's dashboard.  "and if it tries to hurt you I'll use my immense magic power to reduce it to scrap metal." she said in a sing-song voice. Fluttershy suddenly looked quite frightened.

"...Noted." Bumblebee beeped. With that, his doors shut and he sped off into the Everfree Forest.

Fluttershy nervously leaned over to her friend and whispered "You wouldn't really do that to Bumblebee, would you?"

Twilight shook her head no, much to Fluttershy's relief and Spike's disappointment.





Bumblebee drove his way around trees and rocks, along rocky ravines and through packs of timberwolves.

"Hey Fluttershy, I've got a question." Bumblebee said. "Those woody things I just drove through...are they animals or plants?"

"I think they're possessed plants, but they're so scary they won't let me study them." Fluttershy explained.

"Was it asking about timberwolves?" Twilight asked. Fluttershy nodded in confirmation. Twilight smiled and Spike groaned. "Well..." Twilight began. "From what I gathered on my various studies of timberwolf biology, the creatures are made of plant-like material but have the spirit of an animal creature inside of them. It's bizarre considering their mating habits reflect that of animals but the actual reproduction is-"

"Oh, look! We're here!" Bumblebee beeped, interrupting Twilight's speech.

Bumblebee's passengers looked out his windows to see...just a regular ravine. The car came to a halt as its doors opened once again, prompting the ponies and dragon to exit the vehicle. Bumblebee shifted back into his robot form and climbed down the ravine wall. The ponies glided down behind him, Spike on Twilight's back.

"Sooo, where's the friendship problem?" Twilight asked. Bumblebee held up a finger in a "wait" fashion. He then proceeded to walk to the other side of the ravine. 

"What's he doing?" Spike questioned, scratching his head. Bumblebee looked like he was about to walk straight into the wall on the other side of the ravine. But just when he was about to crash into the rock wall, he vanished.

"Huh?" The ponies all said at once.

Bumblebee's upper half popped out of the rock wall, beckoning his new friends to follow. The ponies and dragon hesitantly walked to the cliff face.

Twilight tried to touch the wall, but her hoof went right through it. "An illusion! How did I not detect it? It's seamless!"

Bumblebee just shrugged and disappeared behind the fake wall once again, his passengers following. Despite all their previous adventures, nothing could have prepared Twilight, Spike, and Fluttershy for what they saw behind the figurative curtain. Behind the illusion was a cave. Within the cave was an enormous spacecraft filling nearly the entire space. Moving in, out, and around the craft were many giant robots of all shapes and sizes going about their business. 

"Whoa." Was all the ponies and Spike could say. 

Bumblebee smirked at their reaction. "Ok, you guys stay here. There's someone you need to meet." Bumblebee beeped, heading towards the ship. Fluttershy relayed the message to her friends.

"This place is so cool!" Spike commented, taking in the hugeness of the spaceship.

"I agree." Twilight said. "I mean, how long has this been here? How many robots are there? How big is this ship? How did it get here? So many questions! I mean-"

"Well, well? What have we here?" A voice said. The ponies and dragon looked to their side to see two robots looking down at them. "You fleshies lost?" asked a brownish-green robot with a cannon on his shoulder.

"W-well..u-um..." Fluttershy stuttered.

"You better be lost." The other robot said. "Or maybe you were sent here to find us and expose us to your leaders! Is that it!?" The red robot with horns on his head accused.

Fluttershy began whimpering in fear.

"That's enough!" Twilight stepped in. "Don't accuse my friend of something just out of the blue." she told off the red robot.

"Well, prove I'm wrong!" The red robot demanded.

The other robot grabbed his friend's shoulder. "Ease up, Cliff. She ain't wrong." he said.

"Cliff" snorted. "Well, I'm not gonna just let any random fleshie that wanders into our base have full access!" he said, reaching for the ponies. Spike responded by breathing a gout of flame, causing Cliff to yelp in pain and pull back his hand.

"Spike!" Twilight scolded.

"Why, you little-" Cliff grumbled, reaching for something behind his back before he was interrupted.

"Cliffjumper! Hound!" A deep voice called. The aforementioned robots looked towards the spacecraft. The ponies' eyes followed. There stood Bumblebee, and beside him was a much taller robot coloured red with a blue helmet-like head. "I trust you're not harassing our guests, are you?"

"Well, it's not my fault!" Cliffjumper defended. "The little snot burned my hand."

"He was the one reaching for me!" Spike yelled.

"Well you-" Cliffjumper began before Hound grabbed his shoulder again. 

"Just let it go." Hound suggested. Cliffjumper gave one last look towards the ponies, giving them the "I'm watching you" gesture before walking off, nursing his burn. Hound followed after silently apologizing to the red and blue robot.

Spike stuck his tongue out at Cliffjumper, Fluttershy began to breathe normally again, and Twilight just shook her head, happy the dilemma was over. She then turned to the red and blue robot. "Thanks for that mister...um.." she thanked.

"My name is Optimus Prime." The robot introduced itself. "We are Autonomous Robotic Organisms from the planet Cybertron."

"But you can call us 'Autobots' for short." Bumblebee added.

"Autobots?" Fluttershy asked. Optimus and Bumblebee nodded in confirmation.

"Well, Autobots." Twilight said, bowing her head slightly. "My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle-"

"HA! I KNEW IT!" Cliffjumper called before being dragged away by Hound.

"...Princess of Friendship, and this is my friend Fluttershy, and my assistant Spike." Twilight finished. Fluttershy smiled nervously and Spike waved. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine, your highness." Optimus replied.

Twilight breathed out. "Now that the pleasantries are out of the way...OMIGOSH OMIGOSH OMIGOSH!!" Twilight shrieked. "Real, sentient robots in the flesh, and from another planet no less! This is so cool!! I'm engaging in the first interaction with an extraterrestrial species! This is so exciting! Can I ask you a few questions?"

Somewhat taken aback by Twilight's outburst, Optimus replied. "There will be time enough for that later. In the meantime, Bumblebee has informed me that you were going to make your way here for an express purpose. What was it?"

Somewhat surprised by the question, Twilight answered. "Oh. As the Princess of Friendship, it's my duty to solve major friendship problems across Equestria, and my magical map pointed me to this location. So...is there a friendship problem nearby?" Twilight looked around her. "Do we just have to teach Cliffjumper a lesson?"

"Princess of Friendship? You never mentioned that!" Bumblebee beeped. "Did you hear that? I was driving royalty!"

"While there are no 'friendship problems' I can think of happening among us Autobots," Optimus said. "I am somewhat glad the first native we interact with is a figure of authority."

Twilight rubbed her foreleg. "Weeeeell, I'm not the HIGHEST authority in the land. That honor goes to the Princesses Celestia and Luna. I'm sure I could get them to see you and sort everything out."

"That would be appreciated." Optimus said. "We'd hate to cause a disturbance among the people of this planet."

"Great!" Twilight said. "Then will you answer my questions?"

"You may ask all the questions you like." Optimus agreed.

Twilight grinned widely. "Spike, take a letter." she commanded.

"Uh, Twilight?" Spike said. "We don't have any parchment."

"Oh." Twilight said. "Well, that's fixable." using her magic, she made a piece of parchment and quill appear before Spike. Twilight began dictating the letter as Bumblebee and Optimus Prime moved back to their spacecraft.

"Do you really think this is a good idea?" Bumblebee asked his leader.

"It's our best course of action right now." Optimus replied. "It's best if we let them know we mean no harm before they attack us on sight."

"It's just a good thing we're the first of our kind they come across." Bumblebee commented. "Imagine if a Decepticon showed up at Fluttershy's instead of me."

"Thank the AllSpark they haven't appeared here..." Optimus agreed.





Somewhere, in another part of Equestria some diamond dogs were digging for valuables in a seemingly untouched mine. 

The head dog overlooked the operations of his workers with detached interest. His mutts were working hard to find as many shiny things as possible. So far, the dogs had found large deposits of what appeared to be glowing pink crystals. They were really pretty, but they exploded if handled too rough. Such an odd mineral.

The head dog's attention was diverted to one of his workers calling him. The worker led the leader down a long tunnel dotted with those same crystals they'd been finding. When they got to the end of the tunnel they came across something truly astonishing. There was a large cave, and sitting in the middle of it was an enormous, black, sinister-looking spaceship. The diamond dogs were stunned by this discovery, but came to one logical conclusion: there was probably something rare and valuable inside.

With that, the head dog and some workers found a hatch on top of the spaceship and made their way inside. But what they found wasn't the shinies that they hoped for. Inside was a bunch of huge, metal, humanoid bodies just lying about. The dogs didn't give up their search, though. The dogs scattered about, investigating the bodies and whatever else was on the ship. 

The head dog was majorly disappointed by this discovery. All this digging for a bunch of metal apes. The dog leaned on a piece of metal that happened to be right beside him. Little did he know what it truly was. As soon as his elbow touched the metal piece, a beam shot out of it. The dogs jumped away from the beam which hit one of the many metal bodies littering the floor. After a brief moment, the body began moving.

The giant metal creature groaned as it awakened after its long stasis lock. It opened its glowing red optics and rubbed its head. After it managed to get on its feet it surveyed the room. It was dark, dreary, and deactivated, but that could be fixed. The creature then looked to a very particular body.

The Decepticon known as Skywarp smirked as it moved towards its master's unmoving body, dragging it towards the beam. "Awaken, Lord Megatron..."
> More than Meets the Eye pt. 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" The red-and-white Autobot asked his leader.

"I wouldn't be doing this if I believed otherwise, Ratchet." Optimus replied.

"But what if they turn on us?" Ratchet inquired. "They'll know exactly where we are, how we work and-hey! Stop moving!" Ratchet commanded his current patient: a white and dark grey Autobot with a blue visor named Jazz.

"C'mon, doc." Jazz said. "You're being paranoid. We can't pass judgement on 'em before giving them a chance."

"It's being paranoid that's kept me alive this long." Ratchet replied.

"I'd say it's more 'being able to take a punch' that's kept you alive this long, Ratchet." Jazz said. "That, and awesome Autobots like myself that keep you from being-OOOW!"

"I told you not to move." Ratchet said, fighting the urge to grin. "Besides, it's that attitude that got you on the operating table in the first place."

"How was I 'sposed to know that thing could breathe fire!?" Jazz retorted. 

"Enough." Optimus declared. "What's done is done. We shall meet with this world's leader and explain our presence here."

Ratchet just grunted and continued working on Jazz. 

"I know you have your doubts," Optimus continued. "but I feel that this is the best way to go about this. No misunderstandings. No major surprises. Straightforward and friendly. Besides, they might even be willing to help us."

"I hope you're right, Optimus." Ratchet said. "They'll know where we are and we won't be able to fight back...unless..."

"Ratchet!" Optimus scolded. "You know our policy regarding innocent species!"

Ratchet grimaced. "Sorry. That was wrong of me."

Jazz shook his head. "Dude. That ain't coo-AAHOOW!"





Meanwhile, in Canterlot...





Princess Celestia, Monarch of the Sun, was sitting upon her throne in the grand Canterlot castle. It was another long day of nobles and various political matters that the princess was more than used to at this point. Still, it was nice to have a distraction once in a while.

That's exactly what she got.

"Sister. You summoned me?" Princess Luna, Monarch of the Moon, stepped through the grand doors leading to the throne room. "What is wrong?"

Celestia smiled. "Luna, I'm glad you're here." Celestia levitated a scroll from behind her. "I just received this letter from Twilight Sparkle. It's...interesting."

"Let me see." Luna requested. Celestia obliged, and Luna read:

"Dear Princess Celestia,

I have some rather...odd news for you. As you know, the map in my castle will occasionally call some of the Elements of Harmony to a certain location to solve a friensdhip-related issue. This happened to Fluttershy and I before, but now it's happened again. At the discovery of this, I went to inform Fluttershy of the map, but that's when things got strange. Fluttershy was talking to what appeared to be some sort of vehicle, but it turned out to be a giant robot in disguise! The robot introduced itself as Bumblebee and offered to take us to the location the map was calling us to, which happened to be its home base! We then found out that there are a ton of these robots here. We met with their leader, Optimus Prime, and learned that they call themselves Autobots and come from another planet! Needless to say, I was baffled at this. The Autobots ate requesting an audience with you so there aren't any misunderstandings should anypony come across them. I've sent a map along with this letter marking the location of the Autobot base. I hope you can take time out of your busy schedule to come here.

Sincerely, Princess Twilight Sparkle."

Luna spend a good minute trying to comprehend the letter that she had just read. Re-reading it, staring at it, thinking about possible metaphors the letter could mean. None came to mind. "...Is this letter serious, Tia?"

"I believe so, why?" Celestia answered.

"...Giant alien robots?" Luna questioned.

"Yes." Celestia reaffirmed. "Twilight hasn't lied to me yet. Though it is...unusual I still believe it warrants an investigation. Are you up for a trip to the Everfree Forest?"

Luna raised an amused eyebrow. "Ok, Tia. But I'm still skeptical."





Back in Ponyville...





Rainbow Dash's concentration was intense. Her eyes locked on her target. The cold of the clouds sending a chill through her body. Her wings flared as she reared back and took off. As quick as a flash she zoomed through ring after ring made of clouds at top speed with unparalleled accuracy. Target after target with no misses at all like a streak of coloured lightning.

Observing Rainbow Dash's stunts were two of her friends: an orange earth pony named Applejack and a white unicorn named Rarity.

"Hoo-whee! She sure can move!" Applejack commented.

"It never ceases to amaze me how fast she flies." Rarity said.

"Let's just hope she doesn't meet the ground head-on this time." Applejack said, Rarity giggling at the comment.

Rainbow Dash was very determined to NOT crash this time. She had it all planned out. There was no possible way she could screw this up. Nothing would interrupt her. Nothing would prevent her from preventing this stunt. At least, that's what she thought.

It started with an unfamiliar roar filling the air. It was distracting , but not enough to shake her. What came next was. Something big, and something fast zoomed into her at an incredible speed. The sudden force knocked Rainbow Dash off-course and tumbling to the ground.

Applejack and Rarity immediately came running. "Rainbow! You alright?" "Darling, are you ok?"

Rainbow Dash shook her head. "I'm fine." She grumbled, glaring in the direction of whatever knocker her off-course. "I'll be right back." With that, she flew off to chase after her new adversary. 

The first thing that struck her as odd was the speed of her new rival. The thing was fast. Very fast. Almost as fast as her. The second thing: it wasn't a pony, nor a griffin, nor a dragon, nor any species she could recognize. It was a bizarre, winged, metallic thing with jet boosters on its rear. It was what we would recognize as a jet fighter plane.

This was no ordinary plane, however. Within the plane was the spark of a Decepticon. Particularly, one called Starscream. He wasn't sure what he would find when he was sent off to do recon for Megatron on this strange new world, but what he wasn't expecting was a fleshling that could fly as fast as he could!

 What in blazes is that thing!?  he thought. How does it move so fast? 

"HEY! Whatever-you-are!" Rainbow Dash called. "Why did you mess me up? Are you trying to mess with me?"

Scrap! Starscream thought. How do I lose this thing? Starscream swerved and dove in an attempt to lose his colourful pursuer, but to avail. Rainbow Dash was just too fast and frankly annoyed that Starscream wasn't replying to her. If this chase went on for much longer, Starscream would have to reveal himself...





Twilight Sparkle sat eagerly sat in the canyon just outside the Autobot base. Her hoof was tapping and her grin was wide. She was awaiting the arrival of Princess Celestia so she could show her her grand discovery.

I wonder what she'll think. Twilight thought to herself. I mean, I've just discovered ALIEN LIFE! Will she be surprised, excited, scared? Pff, what am I thinking? Princess Celestia isn't scared of anything. So long as none of the Autobots spook her anyways. I'll have to make sure that doesn't happen. Don't want to make a bad impression. Twilight's smile faltered slightly. Then again, what if the Autobots are actually bad guys? What if I've been wrong this whole time?

Twilight was torn from her negative thoughts by a bright light above her. After shielding her eyes, she saw a large silhouette descending from the sun itself. A silhouette she knew well. Princess Celestia descended gracefully down from the sky and landed right in front of Twilight.

Twilight bowed. "Princess Celestia. It's great to see you again." She greeted, looking up to meet Celestia's gaze.

Celestia chuckled. "Twilight, you need to stop bowing every time we meet." she said. "You're a princess too, remember?"

Twilight smiled, embarrassed. "Right, sorry. Force of habit." she apologized.

Celestia smiled. "No need to apologize." she said.

Just as Celestia finished her sentence, the sky began to darken. Clouds began to gather above the pair of alicorns. Lightning flashed in every direction as the winds began to pick up. The clouds parted, and from them descended a shadowy figure. The figure slowly descended from the cloudy mess above it until it landed several feet behind Princess Celestia. A bright flash of lightning revealed the figure to be...

Princess Luna.

Celestia sighed. "Was that really necessary?" she asked.

"What?" Luna said, quickly dispersing the clouds with her magic. "If you get a big, dramatic entrance then so do I."

Twilight laughed. "Anyways, I'm glad you're both here. You're gonna love this!" she said, grinning. Twilight then turned to the rock wall behind her she trotted toward it as if it weren't there at all, only to hit her nose on the solid stone.

"What?" she said. The princesses watched with amusement and concern.

"Twilight? Over here!" The recognizable voice of Spike called. Twilight slowly made her way towards the voice, feeling the rock with her hoof the whole way. Eventually, she came to a point where her hoof passed right through the stone. "Yes! Found it!"

The princesses were surprised. An illusion? How had they not sensed it magically?

"C'mon!" Twilight called eagerly. The princesses heard Twilight talking to someone behind the fake wall. They then cautiously stepped through to find who exactly Twilight was talking to. Behind the wall was Spike, Fluttershy, Twilight, and a few giant robots looking down at them. They were completely dumbfounded.

"See!? Isn't this awesome!?" Twilight asked. She received no answer.

"Greetings, your majesties." Optimus Prime said, leaning down to meet princesses' levels as best he could. "I am Optimus Prime, and these are the Autobots." he gestured around him to his fellow 'bots standing around him. He then proceeded to introduce each one.

"My first lieutenant, Jazz." Optimus introduced.

"Nice to meet 'cha." Jazz said, waving.

"My top scout, Bumblebee." Optimus introduced.

"Hi." Bumblebee beeped.

"My medical officer, Ratchet." Optimus introduced.

Ratchet gave a simple nod.

"My weapons specialist, Ironhide." Optimus introduced.

A rust-red Autobot stepped forward and spoke in a hoarse voice. "How're ya doin?"

"My chief science officer, Wheeljack." Optimus introduced.

A grey and red Autobot with lights on each side of his head spoke next. "Hi there." His lights blinked with each syllable.

"And my battle strategist strategist, Prowl." Optimus introduced.

The final Autobot; black, white, and thin compared to his colleagues, stepped forward. "Hello." he said.

"We hoped to meet with you and discuss our presence here." Optimus explained. "To avoid any misunderstandings or bad first impressions."

Celestia shook herself out of her shock. The Autobots raised their equivalents of eyebrows.

"Sorry, it's just that...I've never seen anything like you before." Celestia said.

"Yeah, we kind of figured." Jazz commented.

"So...um..." For the first time in a long time, Princess Celestia was speechless. What does one ask a bunch of giant alien robots?

"Um...I have a few questions if nobody minds." Twilight called.

"By all means." Celestia said.

Twilight smiled widely again, squeeing in a very filly-like manner. "Wheredidyoucomefrom?Howdoyouwork?Howmanyofyouarethere?Whyare-"

"Whoa, whoa." Ironhide said. "One at a time."

"Right. Sorry. Got a bit excited there." Twilight said, calming down. "Ok...where did you come from?" she asked.

"We're from Cybertron; a planet many light-years away from this one." Wheeljack explained. "It used to be pretty great planet until we, uh, sapped it of all its resources."

The ponies present looked at Wheeljack, somewhat concerned.

"Hey, to be fair it was over a course of several million solar cycles." Wheeljack defended.

Twilight looked away, trying to figure out what a 'solar cycle' was. "Anyways...How do you guys work, exactly? How do you transform?" she asked.

The Autobots looked to their medical expert.

"Well, it's a fairly simple process." Ratchet finally spoke. "First, we scan an altmode (in this case, some vehicles we've come across on alien planets), then our mechanics shift about so we have most of the same parts, at least aesthetically. Then we're able to change at will. There are lots of technical details that I don't have time to go into right now but that's the basics."

"You'll have to fill me in later!" Twilight said enthusiastically. Ratchet said nothing, but was slightly glad someone was taking interest in Cybertronion biology. 

"Now for the most important question." Celestia spoke up. "Why are you here?"

"We were on our way here to search for an artifact from our home planet." Optimus Prime explained. "Our ship crash-landed, however, and we went into stasis lock to preserve power. Something activated our ship's computer and woke us up. Probably seismic activity of some sort."

"What kind of artifact?" Luna asked.

"It is..." Optimus suddenly looked distracted. "One moment." he politely excused himself before bringing a finger to his audio sensors. "Yes?" he said. He listened to someone over his internal radio, then his face grew angry. "What?" he demanded.





Several minutes ago...





"...and so that's why high-grade energon should be a higher priority on our list these days." A purple-and-white racecar was driving through the canyons alongside a blue motorcycle.

"That's...real convincing, Mirage." The motorcycle spoke in a feminine voice.

"I'm just saying, with the Decepticons not being a major threat at the moment there's no reason we can't relax a bit." Mirage stated.

"Heh. Try pitching that to Optimus." The motorcycle, known as Arcee, jokingly suggested.

"Well, who's to say he won't go for it?" Mirage said. "I'm sure he likes to relax as much as any of us."

"I think there are more important things to worry about than appeasing your taste in energon." Arcee said.

"C'mon. It's not like we're in any hurry." Mirage persisted. "Like I said, no Decepticons around, so what's stopping us?"

Just then, a jet plane followed by a rainbow streak flew overhead.

"...Was that?" Mirage started.

"Looks like it." Arcee confirmed.

"Of course, OF COURSE!" Mirage growled. "I HAD TO FRAGGING SAY IT!"

"Cool it!" Arcee commanded. "I'll get a hold of Optimus. You disappear." 

"Right." Mirage complied, suddenly vanishing.

Arcee activated her internal radio. "Arcee to Optimus. Do you read me?" she called.

"Yes?" Optimus answered.

"Bad news: Mirage and I found Starscream." Arcee informed her leader.

"What?" Optimus sounded angry.

"Yeah, Starscream's here." Arcee confirmed. She could hear Optimus grumbling on the other end. "You alright, sir?"

"What is your situation?" Optimus asked.

"I'm pursuing him through the canyon." Arcee explained. She then managed to get a better look at the rainbow streak following Starscream. A pit formed in her fuel tank. "More bad news: a civilian's also pursuing him."

"Immobilize Starscream. Do not harm the civilian." Optimus instructed. "We're tracking your coordinates. We'll send help when we can."

"Got it." Arcee confirmed, continuing her chase.

Meanwhile, Starscream was ready to end his. "That's it!" he yelled out loud.

"Huh?" Rainbow Dash was a bit taken aback after finally hearing her target speak, and stopped in mid-air.

Starscream pulled up and transformed, revealing his true form: a red, blue, and grey robot with red optics which were focused on Rainbow Dash angrily.

"Stop. Following. Me!" Starscream yelled, aiming a cannon at the annoying little fleshling.

"Uh oh!" Rainbow Dash had a lot of things running through her head at that moment, but the most prominent was: HOLY CRAP LASERS MOVE!! Move she did, dodging every blast sent at her by her Decepticon enemy.

"How do you move so FAST!?" Starscream shouted angrily. Before he had time to contemplate that, a blast came from within the canyon, sending him to the ground.

Rainbow Dash looked down to see a blue robot aiming a laser pistol at the robot that was attacking her. The blue robot looked up at her and shouted "Get out of here!"

Starscream came back in his jet form and made a beeline for Arcee who changed back into a motorcycle and revved away from Starscream's missile barrage, just barely dodging.

"You think you can beat me, two-wheeler?" Starscream mocked, pulling up and changing back to robot mode. "You're just a scout! What makes you think you're tough enough to take me on!?"

"Maybe it's because she's not the only scout here." A smooth voice commented.

"Who said that-" Starscream was blasted in the back by an unknown force and sent tumbling back into the canyon. 

Mirage smirked at the humiliated Decepticon in the canyon. 

"Nice shot." Arcee called up.

"Naturally." Mirage replied. Suddenly, he was struck by a blast from Starscream. Mirage dropped to his knees, every system within him ceasing to work as the effects of Starscream's null ray kicked in.

Arcee glared at Starscream, who was getting up while aiming his ray at Arcee. "Now what, scout?" he asked.

Starscream's question was answered by a large portal opening up behind Arcee. Starscream's face fell as the Autobot reinforcements came running through, blasters held high. Optimus, Jazz, Bumblebee, and Ironhide.

"Your move, 'Con." Jazz said, smirking.

Starscream looked around. He measured his options, weighing his chances of success. In the end, there was only one logical thing to do: he transformed and flew away.

"Good move." Jazz said, holstering his blaster.

Arcee turned to look at her comrades. "What took you so long?" she asked.

The sound of a throat being cleared was heard and the Autobots looked back. Their guests had followed them through the ground-bridge.

"Them." Ironhide answered.

"That. Was. AWESOME!" Called an enthusiastic voice from above the Autobots. It was Rainbow Dash.

"Scrap." Arcee said.
> A Stage Set
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





In a dark, mysterious place...





Megatron, the Decepticon leader, sat on his throne upon his ship, thinking. He was thinking about his current situation. How did he find himself in his situation: deep underground, his battleship broken, his communications down, and his crew in shambles. He was trapped on this strange new world with no idea of what to expect from his scouts. What would this mysterious planet he found himself on hold? Perhaps some intelligent mechanical people like him? Some useless race of fleshlings? Maybe it's completely desolate? Only time would tell. 

The tall, grey robot was stirred from his thoughts by the door behind him opening. "What is it?" he called.

"Lord Megatron," a monotone, computerized voice spoke "My scouts have returned."

Megatron looked at the door to see his most loyal follower, Soundwave. The blue, expressionless Decepticon was accompanied by a black, robotic panther and a mechanical bird perched on his shoulder.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Megatron asked. "Let's see what they've seen."

Soundwave motioned for his companions to go to Megatron, which they did.

Megatron grabbed the panther and placed it on his lap. He began fiddling with some wiring behind the feline's head. Then the panther's eyes lit up, and a projection emitted from them.

"Hmmm... Interesting." Megatron commented. The projection showed a quaint little town filled with small, fleshy creatures the Decepticon didn't recognize. They were so...colourful, and happy. The sight of the jovial quadrupeds trotting along, smiling and laughing was sickening to the Decepticon leader. Though the creatures were bizarre, several things held his attention. The first was that several of the fleshlings had horns. This wouldn't have been unusual if not for the fact that when they glowed, objects seemed to move at their whim. These...creatures were capable of levitation. This was intriguing to Megatron, as he had never seen any species possess that ability naturally. There were also variations of the creatures that possessed wings for flight and could even stand atop clouds...somehow. 

"Soundwave." Megatron called. "Did Ravage tell you how these things stand on clouds?"

"Exact reason: unknown." Soundwave replied. "Current explanation: magic."

Megatron scoffed. "Magic. A likely story." he said, deactivating Ravage's projector. "Shockwave would have a field day with this. Heh Heh. Now shoo." he ushered Ravage off his lap and back to Soundwave.

"Laserbeak. Come here." Megatron called. The mechanical bird glided down to Megatron's shoulder and activated its own eye-projector. The projection that came from the bird's eyes showed a city constructed entirely of clouds with winged ponies flying this way and that. The city was adorned with waterfalls coloured like rainbows, adorned with the entire ROYGBIV spectrum. 

"Very strange..." Megatron commented. 

Laserbeak's projection changed to show another city, this one constructed of solid materials. The creatures inhabiting this city seemed to be of high status judging by their mannerisms. The city was adorned with precious metals and bright colours. But the biggest building of all was a grand castle towering above the rest of the city. The projection zoomed in on two creatures in particular. They possessed both a horn and wings. One of pure white with a rainbow mane, the other a dark indigo with a mane like the night sky. They seemed to be discussing a scroll of some kind. Judging by their crowns and other precious-lookong decorations, they obviously held positions of authority. 

"Hmmm..." Megatron hmmmed, dismissing Laserbeak. 

"What is our next course of action, Lord Megatron?" Soundwave asked.

"We wait for the Seekers to return." Megatron said. "Then we'll use whatever information they bring to plan our next move." He sat back in his chair. "You're dismissed."

Soundwave nodded, exiting the room with his minions.

Megatron was alone with his thoughts once more, awaiting his other scouts to bring him new information.  Hopefully Starscream hasn't already come up with some half-witted scheme to usurp me.  Megatron thought, amused.

In the meantime, he could only wait. He could only wait for whatever would come to him...





In another world, much like our own...





"...and my past does not define me, 'cause my past is not TODAAAY!" Sunset Shimmer sang at the top of her lungs as the song ended. 

"Whoo!" Rainbow Dash cheered. "Good work, everybody!" she said. 

Sunset Shimmer smiled as she set her guitar down. The Rainbooms band had just finished their daily practise routine. They had been rehearsing their songs vigorously for the past few weeks, ever since it was announced they'd be playing in the new and improved Friendship Games.

Ever since the disaster that was the last Games, the staff of Canterlot High and Crystal Prep worked to make them slightly less...bizarre. Their first decision was to make the games a tad more inclusive, inviting more schools to compete instead of only two. Their second decision was to make the Games annual instead of occurring every 4 years, since some students might not even see one Friendship Games in their time at either school.

In hindsight, the whole setup really made no sense.

"I'd say we're sounding better than ever!" The human Rarity commented, setting down her keytar.

"I know, right!?" Pinkie Pie squealed. "We've been practising soooooo hard lately and it's really paying off!" The pink girl was practically bouncing in place as she said this. "I can't wait to perform for 6 schools at once!"

"It's definitely gonna get our band some more notoriety." Rainbow Dash said, sipping from a water bottle. "We're gonna get a lot more gigs after this. I can feel it!"

"Oh, really?" Fluttershy asked quietly and somewhat nervously. 

"Totally!" Rainbow confirmed. Fluttershy gulped. Being onstage was hard enough as it was, but to do it on a regular basis...

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, y'all." Applejack said. "Maybe our gig will get us more offers, maybe it won't. But let's not forget the reason we're doin' this." 

"Yeah, yeah. Spirit of competition and all." Rainbow commented. "I'm just thinking about what's best for the band."

Their conversation was interrupted by a knock at the door. Standing in the doorframe was Twilight Sparkle, the most recent addition to their little group. "Hey, guys." she greeted.

Twilight received a chorus of greeting from the Rainbooms in response. 

"I heard you guys playing. You sound really great." Twilight complimented. "You've got a great voice, Sunset."

Sunset smiled and blushed slightly at the compliment. The other Rainbooms noticed and giggled slightly.

"Anyways," Rainbow Dash "did you ask Cadence about who we'll be competing against?"

Twilight nodded. "According to her, we'll be competing against Crystal Prep, Primus Academy, Nemesis High, Appaloosa High, and Trottingham Institute."

Rarity whistled. "It seems we'll be facing some stiff competition this year." she acknowledged.

"Heh. Don't make me laugh, Rares." Rainbow Dash proclaimed. "That doesn't mean anything. 'Cause they aren't Wondercolts!"

Rainbow Dash was met with a round of cheers.





At another school...





In another town, several miles away from Canterlot city, there was a prestigious high school known as Primus Academy. The school held a plethora of students just as colourful as any school, not just in personality but physical appearance as well. The students learned to be professionals at this school, whether they be professional athletes, doctors, lawyers, engineers, politicians, or whatever else they could ever aspire to be. 

Among the many students enrolled at this academy, one of the most hard-working was none other than Optimus Prime. The Prime family had a long line of successful businessmen and politicians, and Optimus hoped to honour his family name. 

The student was currently making his way out the red truck he drove so often to get to homeroom. His red complexion made a sharp contrast to his blue hair. He adjusted his jacket as he walked towards the front door of the school.

"Yo, Optimus!" A high-pitched voice called. Optimus looked to see a much shorter boy with a bright yellow complexion and black hair run to his side.

Optimus smiled. "Hey, Bee." he greeted. "What's going on?"

Bumblebee smiled, and began talking. "Well, I just found out that Pipes' collection of useless junk got raided last night and he's taking it pretty badly but it's hard to feel sorry for him considering it had exactly ZERO value which brings up the question of who exactly felt the need to sneak into Pipes' garage to steal it in the first place. Pretty weird, right? Anywho, I just found out they're making a movie based off the Circuit Breaker comic series! How weird is that? There's only so much material you can get out of a chick who hates giant robots, but I've seen weirder concepts get made into great movies. The Mega Blox movie, for example! That was awesome! Who knew a toy could make a great movie? I mean it was fast and energized yet slow and had great character development and dadadadadadadadadadadadada...."

Bumblebee's endless stream of words eventually devolved into nothing but gibberish to anybody who listened for too long, but Optimus still attempted to respectfully pay attention. Luckily, his small friend's blabberfest was cut off by a distraction. 

"A-hem." A boy with alabaster skin and red hair dressed in a white jacket spoke, leaning next to the entrance door. "You ever gonna take a breath, Bumblebee?"

Bumblebee frowned at the remark whilst Optimus chuckled. "How's it going?" he greeted.

Ratchet shook his head. "Not good, I'm afraid." he said. "I found out my final tests are going to be right after the Friendship Games. Which means I won't be getting much studying done." Ratchet sighed. "How did you convince me to sign up again?" 

Optimus shook his head. "Sorry, man." he said. "I wouldn't have asked if I knew."

"Not your fault." Ratchet stated. "Just me complaining."

Their conversation was interrupted by the ring of the school bell, signaling the beginning of first period. The friends bid their farewells and made their way to their respective homerooms. Once Optimus found his desk the morning announcements blared over the loudspeakers.

"Attention, students." The voice began. "This is headmaster Magnus with your morning announcements." As if the students didn't know what was happening. "First and foremost, as you know, the Friendship Games will be starting in 2 days. Any students that will not be staying at the hotel will have to hand in letters of confirmation if you have not already done so. Second, the buses leaving for Canterlot city will be leaving at 9:00 AM Thursday morning. All students on the main and backup teams must be present at that time, or else you will need your own mode of transportation...and..."

Optimus listened to the miscellaneous announcements that followed, not really paying attention as they didn't concern him. He had handed in his information note days ago. He wasn't staying at a hotel. His father's business partner was happy to let him stay at his place for a duration of time.

Optimus took this time to think about the Friendship Games. His school had many accolades, and this was his chance to earn it a new one. Optimus worked his hardest to make a name for himself, and it was finally time to do something important.

This is my time to shine. He thought with a smile.





Meanwhile, at another school...





Nemesis High was nowhere near as prestigious as Primus Academy. That much could be seen in their much lower grade average. Though it did have its share of bright students, Nemesis simply couldn't compete with its rival school.

This irritated Megatron to no end. As one of the brightest students at the school, he wished to prove his worth to the world, and rub it in the face of Optimus Prime. 

And the Friendship Games were the perfect opportunity.

The grey-skinned, dark grey-haired boy sneered as he walked through the halls of the school, students making way for the Alpha Male of Nemesis High. Though Megatron was studious, he also had a major reputation for being ruthless to anyone who crossed him. He was ambitious and unafraid to dirty his hands. A nasty combination for any high school student.

After several minutes of walking he reached his destination: the Headmaster's office. The office that housed the one person at Nemesis that wasn't scared of him.

Megatron opened the door to find a simple desk with a chair spun to face away from him. "You called me?" Megatron asked.

The chair spun around to reveal a tall man with an angular face and bald head. His grey hair circled his head, yet didn't reach the top. It also came up as little tufts around his ears. The man had a dark purple complexion and one yellow eye, the other covered by an eyepatch. He was Shockwave, headmaster of Nemesis High. "Sit down, Megatron." he said. 

Megatron pulled up a chair and complied. "So, why did you call me up here?" he asked.

"I've summoned you here for you to reassure me." Shockwave explained. "You will be competing in these 'Friendship Games', yes?"

Megatron nodded. 

"Good." Shockwave said. "I just wanted to remind you of something. Though these games may be about 'friendship', know that you're not to be nice." Shockwave's eyes narrowed. "Especially towards Primus' Autobots."

Megatron nodded confidently, grinning. "Long live the Decepticons." he said.

"Long live the Decepticons." Shockwave repeated.





Back in Equestria, at the Autobot base...





"So...care to explain what we just witnessed?" Princess Celestia asked. She stared Optimus Prime in the face, using her wings to stay at eye level.

Luna did the same. "Yes." she agreed. "Who was that...thing you fought? Why is it here?"

As the Princesses interrogated Optimus, Fluttershy witnessed the petrified Mirage be loaded onto what appeared to be a floating metal stretcher by Ironhide. She flew up to the stretcher, disturbed, but concerned. 

"Oh, my." Fluttershy commented. Mirage's face seemed to be frozen in an expression of pain. "Will he be ok?"

"He'll be fine." Ratchet stated, somewhat surprised by Fluttershy's immediate concern. "Once the effects of the Null Ray wear off he'll be back to normal." He then began carting Mirage to the Autobots' Medbay, Fluttershy in tow.

Meanwhile, Optimus Prime explained Starscream to the other ponies and dragon. "That...was Starscream. A Decepticon Seeker."

"What's a Decepticon?" Spike asked.

"Our mortal enemies." Optimus informed gravely. "Foes we've fought for millions of Solar Cycles, and now they're here..." his head lowered "...which puts every living thing on this planet in danger."

The ponies' eyes widened in fear. 

Optimus sighed. "I should've known they'd follow us." he stated. He then turned to the ponies. "You should stay here. Stay safe." he suggested. "Wheeljack, Ratchet, find any leads you can on the Decepticons." Optimus turned to leave, but a rainbow streak quickly flew in front of his face.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Rainbow Dash called. "You just straight up say our world's in danger, and you just expect us to sit around and let YOU handle it!?"

"I appreciate your bravery, miss." Optimus said. "But we know the Decepticons better than anybody. It's safer for you not to get involved."

"Then educate us, Prime." Luna requested. "Tell us about these 'Decepticons' and how to fight them."

"She's right." Celestia agreed. "This is OUR kingdom they're invading, and we WILL defend it."

Twilight then took the opportunity to step forward. "As Princess of Friendship, I will not allow Equestria to be threatened by evil. Count me in." she said, determined. Spike nodded in agreement.

Optimus looked around at the ponies, ready and willing to help he and his Autobots fight their longtime foes. "Very well. I'll tell you about the Decepticons." Optimus took the Autobot equivalent of a deep breath. "Our planet was once a powerful empire, peaceful, and just. That was until the Decepticons attacked. They wanted to rule Cybertron in a militaristic nature, but we disagreed. And so began the war. The war that ravaged our planet until there was simply nothing left. It could no longer support life, so we left. We scattered across the galaxy, hoping to find anything to help rebuild our home, or even keep us alive. But the Decepticons didn't stop hunting us. Eventually, we found ourselves coming to this planet, and the Decepticons followed. My crew and I piloted this ship, the Ark, against the Decepticon's Nemesis battleship. Both of our ships suffered critical engine failures and crashed upon this planet, sending all of us into stasis lock. It seems the Decepticons have recently awoken, and they will stop at nothing to destroy us, and enslave all living beings...and now they've come here. For us...and you."





Meanwhile, elsewhere...





In a rock quarry a fair distance away from the Autobot base three ponies were on the search for one of their closest friends. Applejack and Rarity had called in the help of their unpredictable friend, Pinkie Pie, to assist. The pink pony was currently sniffing the various rocks in her environment like a bloodhound in search of Rainbow Dash. 

Applejack and Rarity simply walked along, following Pinkie Pie's lead. "Pinkie, are you sure this is where she went?" Applejack asked. 

"Positive." Pinkie replied, taking a moment to lick a small pebble in her hoof. "I know rocks, and these rocks have a strong Dash-y scent about them which means..." Pinkie licked her hoof and held it high. "She went this way!" she exclaimed, dashing off.

"Wait, wasn't she FLYING?" Rarity asked. "How does she leave a-"

"Just don't question her." Applejack stated. 

Rarity just shook her head, remembering who she was dealing with. The ponies continued along, following Pinkie before she stopped abruptly. "What's wrong?" Rarity inquired.

"My front left hoof is aching." Pinkie said.

Applejack quirked an eyebrow. "You wanna take a break?" she asked.

Pinkie giggled before turning to face her friends. "No, silly! It's part of my Pinkie Sense!" she said as if it were the most logical thing in the world.

Applejack and Rarity suddenly appeared worried. "What does achy hooves mean?" Rarity said.

"No, it's just my front left hoof!" Pinkie explained, holding out her hoof to demonstrate. "All my hooves hurting means that there's bugs in the kitchen. My back left hoof means that somepony's feeling stressed. My front righ-" 

"Pinkie." Applejack interrupted. "Front left."

Pinkie blinked. "Oh yeah!" she said. "When my front left hoof aches it means that something unexpected is about to burst from the ground!"

Then, as if on cue, a huge geyser of green liquid burst from the ground near the ponies, who quickly dashed for cover behind a nearby boulder. It didn't take long for the ponies to realize the liquid was some form of acid, as it ate away at whatever it touched. They were very grateful for their current cover.

The flow of acid quickly ceased as all became quiet. Applejack, nearest to the edge of the boulder, dared to peek out and see what there was. She saw nothing but the mysterious hole that had just been spewing a caustic sludge. She just began to make her way to investigate when something else emerged from the hole, causing her to retreat back behind her cover. 

"What is it!?" Rarity whispered.

"I don't know!" Applejack answered.

"Well, look again!" Rarity suggested.

Applejack complied, looking behind their cover. Emerging from the hole was a green cement mixer, seemingly undisturbed by the acid puddles around it. At first, Applejack was confused. She had cement mixing devices before, but done attached to vehicles. Then she became terrified. The cement mixer suddenly shifted into a giant green-and-purple robot. 

"Hey! Coast-coast is clear!" The mixer called down the hole. After that several more vehicles emerged from the hole. First, a front-end loader, then a crane, then a power shovel, then a bulldozer, then a dump truck. Each vehicle shared a similar colour scheme with the cement mixer, and they all changed into their own giant robot forms.

"Well, what is it?" Rarity asked. She received no answer from the slack-jawed Applejack. "Applejack?" she insisted. 

"You...you need to see this fer yourself." Applejack said. Rarity quirked an eyebrow before moving to look around the boulder. She soon wore the same befuddled expression Applejack wore at the sight of the robots.

"Ooooh! Cool!" Pinkie said, having looked around the other side of their rock. The robots seemed to be having a conversation.

"So, what have we found, Mixmaster?" The front-end loader, called Scrapper, asked the cement mixer.

"Easy. We found more rocks-rocks." Mixmaster replied.

"Is this all this planet contains?" The crane, called Hook, complained. "Just stones?"

"Not according to Megatron." Scrapper said. "Apparently this planet hosts flesh creatures."

"Then why are we only finding rocks?" Hook asked, looking in Mixmaster's direction.

"Hey-hey! Don't blame me!" Mixmaster defended. "You asked me to dig-dig these tunnels, so I did."

"Well, look at it this way." Scrapper suggested. "At least now we know where NOT to dig. Tomorrow, we dig in the opposite direction."

"But what do we report to Megatron?" The dump truck, called Long Haul, decided to speak up. "Do we just tell him we've found nothing?"

"Well, what do you propose we do?" Hook asked.

"Head out on the surface, maybe?" Long Haul suggested. "We might actually find something important. Besides, I'm sick of tunnels."

"Long Haul's got a point." Scrapper declared. "If we head out on ground level we might actually encounter something worth mentioning."

"Good." The bulldozer, called Bonecrusher, approved. "I'm bored out of my processor."

Applejack and Rarity dashed back behind their rock. "Oh, this is BAD!" Applejack proclaimed. "What if those things find Ponyville!? It'd be a disaster!"

"Now, now. We could be taking this out of context." Rarity tried to reassure her friend. "Maybe they're just lost and trying to find their way home."

"They don't sound lost to me!" Applejack stated. "Why the hay would they be diggin' tunnels if they were lost? I'm pretty sure you ain't supposed to go UNDERGROUND when you're lost!"

"Even so, we can't just jump to conclusions!" Rarity insisted. "That simply wouldn't be right! I'm just as scared as you are but we have to give them a chance at least!"

The two mares continued to bicker in a fashion that they didn't even notice the power shovel robot heading in their direction. They didn't notice the robot peeking around the boulder to find them until Pinkie Pie chimed in. "Hi!" she squeaked, catching the attention of her friends.

The robot, called Scavenger, reached his large hand forward and caught the ponies in his iron grip. "Hey, guys!" he called, walking over to his fellow robots. "Check it out! I actually found something!"

The robots diverted their attention to Scavenger, noticing the colourful fleshies in his grip.

"Well, well. You brought back something worthwhile this time!" Hook backhand-complimented. Scavenger smiled nonetheless.

Scrapper leaned down to get a closer look at the ponies. "Well, well, well, what are you, little ones?" he asked.

"....uh." Rarity tried to speak, but simply couldn't find the words.

"Hi!" Luckily, Pinkie managed to speak easily. "I'm Pinkie Pie and this is Rarity and Applejack! We're ponies! What are you?" she replied.

"Ponies, eh?" Scrapper said. "Well, we're the Constructicons."

"The greatest construction team in the Decepticon army." Hook boasted, much to Scrapper's annoyance. "No big deal."

"Ooooh! Neat!" Pinkie complimented. "But...what's a Decepticon?"

"We are." Scrapper answered. "It's our solemn duty to defeat the rebellious forces of the Autobots."

"Cool!" Pinkie shouted. "Only one question...what's an Autobot?"

"They're kind of like us...but bad." Scavenger decided to explain. "We've been warring with them for millions of Solar Cycles."

"Wow. That's a looooong time." Pinkie said. Applejack and Rarity were more confused by the fact that Pinkie knew what a Solar Cycle was.

"Yup." Scavenger agreed. "Still, it doesn't look like they're on this planet, so you should be safe!" he lied. They were most definitely not safe.

"That's great!" Pinkie exclaimed, before gasping. "I should throw you guys a party!"

"Excuse me?" Long Haul wondered if he heard the pink thing correctly.

"A party!" Pinkie repeated. "You guys are obviously new around here, and I ALWAYS throw welcome parties for new friends! I'll show you back to Ponyville so we can start planning!" Pinkie suggested, grinning.

The Constructicons exchanged looks, all silently agreeing. 

"Ok." Scrapper accepted. "Sounds good. Constructicons, transform." The robots changed back into their vehicle modes, Scavenger placing the ponies down in the process. "Choose a ride and lead the way."

Pinkie happily hopped into Scrapper's cockpit while Applejack and Rarity hesitantly climbed into Long Haul. The Constructicons properly introduced themselves as Pinkie rambled on about parties and whatnot.

Though the Constructicons' faces were not visible, they were all smirking internally. Tiny fleshlings leading a team of Decepticons directly into their home. Sometimes it was too easy...
> The Battle Begins
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





In the Autobot Med-Bay, back at the Ark...





Ratchet wasn't usually comfortable around fleshlings. They not only confused him and slightly disgusted him with their organic nature, but no matter what kind of species they were, they never liked his kind. They responded with fear, aggression, and paranoia. 

So imagine his surprise when the tiny yellow pony called Fluttershy stayed by the side of Mirage when he was incapacitated. The little thing looked upon Ratchet's petrified patient with concern and fear for a robot she barely knew. She'd asked if she could help on several occasions, though Ratchet had nothing she could do. The kindness she displayed was both confusing and refreshing to the Autobot medic.

"Alright, stand back." Ratchet requested, walking towards Mirage holding what appeared to be a jumper cable. 

Fluttershy looked up to Ratchet and hovered away. "What are you going to do with that?" she asked.

Ratchet clamped the cable down onto one of Mirage's shoulders. "The Null Ray prevents electricity from running through his body." Ratchet explained, moving to where the cable connected. "The effects of the ray wear off eventually, but..." He flicked a switch. "...a quick jolt can snap him out if it real quick."

A jolt of electricity coursed through the cable and directly into Mirage's shoulder. Upon being shot, Mirage spasmed and jolted awake, screaming. "Wha? Where am I? What's going on?" Mirage quickly shouted.

"Easy, Mirage." Ratchet said. "You got zapped by a Null Ray. I just gave you a charge." 

Mirage frowned before placing his face in his hand. "Why did they have to be here too?" he asked no one in particular. 

"Guess that's just our luck." Ratchet sighed.

It was at that point that Mirage finally noticed the little yellow creature floating next to his bed. It was staring at him with a mixture of fear and concern with its big, green eyes. Mirage wasn't entirely sure what to say to it. "Um, Ratchet?" he asked.

"Yes?" The medic answered.

"Do you know what that thing staring at me is?" Mirage asked. At this, Fluttershy looked away, nervous.

"That's one of the organics Bumblebee brought back." Ratchet explained. "It insisted on staying while I charged you."

Mirage raised an eyebrow. "Hm." he said. "Well...thank you for your concern." he addressed Fluttershy. She simply nodded in response.

"My name is Mirage." he introduced himself. "What's yours?"

"I'm...I'm Fluttershy." she replied.

"Pardon?" Mirage asked.

"I'm...Fluttershy." she replied again.

"...Ok." Mirage said, turning back to Ratchet. "Where did Starscream go?"

"Don't know." Ratchet said. "He flew off after Arcee called for backup."

Mirage scoffed. "Typical." he commented. 

"Um, excuse me?" Fluttershy managed to speak up.

"Yes?" Mirage answered.

"I-If you don't mind me asking..." She stuttered. "what was that bad thing you were fighting?"

Mirage blinked, then frowned. "Starscream." he almost growled. "The biggest coward you'll ever meet. Embodies everything bad about being a Decepticon." 

"Oh my..." Fluttershy replied. "Only one question...what a Decepticon?"





Meanwhile, on the way back to Ponyville...





The rumbling of 6 vehicles making their way through the Everfree Forest was audible from a great distance away. The Constructicons weren't exactly known for stealth. What didn't help the situation was Bonecrusher's unorthodox deforestation technique: simply bulldozing into any and all obstacles in front of him, making a path for his fellow robots and their passengers. The ponies had initially objected to the idea, but Scrapper managed to convince them that, as long as Bonecrusher kept a straight path and avoided anything important, it wouldn't be that bad, and even beneficial should anypony wish to traverse through the forest without the risk of getting lost.

In truth, Bonecrusher was growing restless. He grew antsy moving away from the comforting emptiness of the quarry, and felt an intense need to demolish the forest before him. Scrapper allowed him to make a path in order to temporarily satisfy his appetite for destruction, as well as make their way to the ponies' settlement, but Bonecrusher hoped he'd be able to destroy whatever settlement he came to when their business was over and done with.

"Satisfied, Crusher?" Scrapper asked over his radio.

"This pleases me." Bonecrusher replied.

The rest of the Constructicons found the forest landscape utterly uninteresting. Sure, an odd creature would pop up every now and again, but they were quickly scared off by the bulldozer rampaging through the forest. They were simply eager to find whatever it was they were looking for and report back to Megatron.

Pinkie Pie chattered endlessly throughout the journey (practically driving Scrapper insane) while Applejack and Rarity stayed relatively silent. They still didn't trust these enormous machines, yet they couldn't discuss it amongst themselves. Anything they could say would be picked up by the dump truck they found themselves riding in. Still, if Pinkie trusted them...

"Oooooh! We're here! We're here!" Pinkie shouted as the robots neared the end of the thick foliage. The Constructicons came to an abrupt halt at Pinkie's declaration. The ponies quickly jumped out of their respective rides as they changed back into robot form. The Constructicons remained in a crouched position within the protective thickness of the Everfree. 

Pinkie happily trotted out of the forest with her friends, but halted when she realized that the robots weren't following her. "Heeey. Aren't you guys coming?" she asked.

"Well..." Scrapper began, trying to think of an excuse not to reveal himself to the general population.

"We don't want to scare any of your fellow ponies." Hook interrupted. "I don't think they'll be ready for giant metal creatures they have never seen before."

"Oooooh." Pinkie said. "Ok! I'm still planning the party to introduce you to Ponyville, though!"

"Pinkie, I'm not so sure that's a good idea." Applejack said.

"Why not?" Pinkie asked.

"Well, like that...crane...thing said, most folks would be scared out of their wits just lookin' at these things." Applejack replied. 

"But a party is the best way to introduce them to one another WITHOUT all the scariness!" Pinkie defended.

"We can worry about that later." Scrapper interrupted, wanting to direct the conversation in a direction beneficial to him. "In the meantime, let's talk about...that." Scrapper almost dreamily referred to an enormous, crystalline-looking castle located on the edge of the town. Its design was in sharp contrast to the overall rustic feel of its environment, yet it looked magnificent. As an architect, Scrapper was enthralled by the structure. 

"Oh, that?" Pinkie asked. "That's Princess Twilight's castle!"

"Prin-Princess?" Mixmaster asked. The Constructicons' figurative ears perked up at that. Monarchies were uncommon in their travels.

"Yupyup!" Pinkie chirped. "She's the Princess of Friendship and one of my bestest best friends! Then again, every pony is my best friend, but the point still stands."

Scrapper tore his optics away from the magnificent structure before him to look at his comrades. They all silently exchanged one silent thought: they'd stumbled across a gold mine.

"Please, tell us more." Scrapper requested.





Earlier, back at the Ark...





Rainbow Dash took it upon herself to explore the enormous spaceship known as the Ark while Twilight and the other Princesses talked to that Prime robot. As the rainbow-maned pegasus glided through the massive halls, she received mixed reactions from the various robots she passed. Most were looks of confusion and/or panic. One particularly irritable Autobot immediately went to find Optimus to "clear out the infestation". Rainbow Dash found him quite rude.

Aside from the unfortunate crew, the ship itself was amazing to Rainbow Dash! Not only was it enormous, but every room held something she had never seen before. Rooms filled with advanced computers, a map of the surrounding areas, various complex machines (which the robot with the flashing lights urged her not to touch), and even Ratchet's infirmary where she found Fluttershy talking to a purple robot who sounded like a singer. The robot (whose name escaped Rainbow Dash) seemed much more friendly than the other Autobots she'd encountered thus far, even if Ratchet seemed uncomfortable with her presence. The purple one volunteered to escort the two mares back to Optimus, but Rainbow declined.

As she hovered about, she came across a black-and-white Autobot typing on a computer console. Curiously, Rainbow approached the robot and looked over his shoulder. "Whatcha doing?" she asked.

The robot simply looked at her for a second before closing whatever it was he was doing and walking away. Rainbow Dash could handle weird looks, but this guy outright ignored her question. That angered her so.

"Hey!" she called, zipping in front of the robot. "What was that all about?" she demanded. The robot's expression remained neutral as he simply stared at his pursuer. He then proceeded to shift into a police-styled motorcycle and drive underneath Rainbow Dash, causing her quickly look down between her back legs. Once he was a sufficient distance away, he changed back into his robot mode and continued walking.

"Why the nerve of-" Rainbow Dash began, preparing to chase after the robot further.

"Don't let him get to you." A new voice said. "That's just Prowl. He's had a stick up his tailpipe ever since he was created."

Rainbow spun around to see a red and black Autobot looking at her. "Heh. I could tell." she replied.

The Autobot smiled. "I'm Sideswipe." he introduced himself. 

"Rainbow Dash." she followed suit.

Sideswipe looked around for a second before leaning in close. "You wanna get back at him?" he whispered.

Rainbow Dash looked intrigued. "How would we do that?" she asked.

Sideswipe grinned and began whispering in Rainbow Dash's ear. A similar grin spread across her face as Sideswipe spoke...





Just outside the Ark...





"WHAT!?" Cliffjumper shouted. 

"You heard me." Optimus reiterated. "You're going to accompany our guests back to their home and act as their guardians until we find the Decepticons."

"But why me?" Cliffjumper asked. "Why not...I dunno, Mirage? He hates fighting anyways!"

"Yeah, why HIM?" Spike asked, ignoring the glare Twilight shot him.

"You're a capable warrior." Optimus said. "That, and Mirage is going to help us on our search."

"Most of us are 'capable warriors'." Cliffjumper stated, turning away and crossing his arms. "Just get Brawn to do it."

"Well, Brawn doesn't know these ponies like you do." Optimus said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Cliffjumper raised an eyebrow as he looked back at Optimus. "Excuse me?" He said.

"Well, with your brilliant observations you made when you first met our guests, you demonstrated an acute knowledge of how these creatures function." Optimus said, smiling slightly. Hound and Mirage, who were watching nearby, smiled as well.

Cliffjumper's optics drifted to the ground. "Well...that is true." he said.

"Then we're settled then." Optimus stated. "Bumblebee will lead you, Bluestreak, and Jazz to the ponies' town of...what was it again?"

"Ponyville." Twilight reminded.

"Ponyville." Optimus said. "You'll be stationed there until the Decepticons are found."

Cliffjumper couldn't deny the facts, but he didn't really like them. Especially since he'd be playing sparkling-sitter to the rotten little lizard that burned his hand. 

Hound placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Hey, cheer up." he said. "It'll give you a chance to get out of the ship." 

"We should probably get going as well." Princess Celestia said. "We've been away from Canterlot long enough today. We'd better make sure no...'Decepticons' are hiding in our city."

"Indeed." Luna agreed before turning back to Optimus. "But...what should we do if we find one?" 

"Apprehend it, then find a way to bring it here." Optimus instructed. "If you can."

With that, the Princesses nodded, said their farewells, and teleported back to Canterlot.

"We should find Rainbow Dash before she gets hurt." Twilight said. 

"Don't worry. We don't hurt innocent aliens." Bumblebee beeped. "We took an oath."

After Fluttershy translated, Twilight replied. "I'm more worried about what she'll do." she clarified.

The question of what Rainbow Dash was doing was quickly answered as she dashed out of the Ark and laughing out loud. She was quickly followed by a shiny red car. The car changed into Sideswipe who was also laughing quite hard. "That was awesome!" Rainbow commented.

"Oh, that was nothing!" Sideswipe said through bursts of laughter. "You should've seen what my brother and I used to do while we were in space! Now THAT was awesome!"

They were interrupted by the wailing of police sirens coming from within the Ark. "You can tell me later, but we gotta run!" Rainbow Dash proclaimed, grinning widely.

Optimus then caught their attention by clearing his throat. Sideswipe's face immediately fell as he looked at his leader. "Sideswipe, what have you been up to with our guest?" Optimus asked.

"Uh...um...uh..." Sideswipe stammered. It was then that the source of the sirens was revealed. Prowl, in vehicle mode, sped out of the Ark and screeched to a halt just inches from Sideswipe. It was then that everyone noticed that Prowl was covered in green suds.

Prowl changed back into robot mode and glared angrily at Sideswipe and Rainbow Dash. "Prime." Prowl addressed Optimus. "These two delinquents set off an explosive filled with decontamination fluid in my quarters." 

"Did they, now?" Optimus looked back at Sideswipe and Rainbow Dash (whose smile was slowly vanishing).

"Yes." Prowl reiterated. "I believe it was some failed attempt at humor."

"Actually, it was pretty successful." Rainbow Dash said, Prowl's glare only hardening.

"Hmm." Optimus said. It was at that point he noticed Cliffjumper, Hound, Bumblebee, Spike, Twilight, and Fluttershy were struggling to contain their laughter. Mirage was just smiling.

"Well, I can't punish Rainbow Dash for this, as she isn't under my command." Optimus said. "As for you, Sideswipe, you will return to your quarters. I'll deal with you later." Sideswipe said goodbye to Rainbow Dash before proceeding back into the Ark. Prowl, seemingly satisfied, returned to the Ark as well.

Rainbow Dash turned back to Optimus. "Listen, Prime was it?" She began. "Sideswipe didn't mean any harm, he was just-"

"Calm down, I won't hurt him." Optimus reassured her. "I'll just give him a slap on the wrist like I usually do."

Rainbow Dash sighed in relief. "Thanks."

"I know he didn't mean any harm. He never does." Optimus explained. "Sideswipe just needs to learn discipline. He's always got a half-baked prank in mind."

"Well...to be fair, Prowl was being a jerk." Rainbow Dash defended.

"He's just unused to dealing with organics like yourself." Optimus said. "He'll come around...in time."

Rainbow Dash frowned, but nodded. She then floated down to join her friends.

"Now we just need to wait for your final escort to arrive." Optimus stated.

They didn't need to wait long, as a red and greyish Autobot rushed out of the Ark and towards Optimus. "Bluestreak reporting for duty, Prime!" he proclaimed.

"Wait, YOU'RE Bluestreak?" Spike asked.

"Yeah. Why?" Bluestreak answered.

"Nothing. It's just that I...uh..." Spike said.

"Expected me to be blue?" Bluestreak asked. Spike nodded. "Yeah, I get that a lot. Thinking about changing my name. Anywho, why did you call me here, Prime? Another scouting mission? New place to explore?"

Bumblebee beeped grouchily at Bluestreak's chatter. Fluttershy patted his leg supportively.

"Actually, I have something different." Optimus answered. "You're going to escort our guests back to their hometown and make sure no Decepticons attack it."

"Wait, Decepticons!?" Bluestreak asked. "They're here? On this planet?"

"Unfortunately." Optimus said. "We've only just found out."

"Oh, scrap." Bluestreak said.

"Indeed." Optimus agreed.

"Well, I'll do what I can to protect them." Bluestreak promised.

"Excellent." Optimus said. "Now, move out!"

Jazz transformed into his stylish sports car Altmode, followed by Bumblebee into his yellow-and-black form.

Cliffjumper changed into a small red automobile, and Bluestreak into his grey car form.

Fluttershy hopped into Bumblebee, Twilight and Spike climbed into Jazz, and Rainbow Dash glided into Bluestreak. With Bumblebee leading, the Autobots sped off to Ponyville.





Meanwhile, back at the Nemesis...





Megatron used his arm to block the sun from his optics as he exited the hole leading to his buried ship. It was the first time he'd seen sunlight since his reawakening, and it was refreshing, if not somewhat blinding to his still-adjusting optics. 

"Starscream, Thundercracker, Skywarp, come in." Megatron placed a finger to his audio sensor as he attempted to radio for his seekers. Soundwave was doing his best to re-establish radio communication for the Decepticons, but the process was slow. "I repeat, come in." He received no answer at first, only static. But then an answer came.

"Thundercracker, checking in." A voice spoke.

"Skywarp, checking in." Another spoke.

"...Starscream?" Megatron asked over the radio. He was answered by the familiar sound of a jet approaching. Megatron looked up to see the familiar Altmode of his second-in-command approaching at high speeds. Starscream transformed back into robot mode and landed a few feet away from Megatron. 

"Starscream, checking in." he said facetiously.

"Hmph." Megatron replied, unimpressed but not surprised by Starscream's sarcasm. "Why are you back so early?"

"I had a run-in with one of the locals, but I have some troubling news, Lord." Starscream explained.

"How troubling?" Megatron asked. 

"The Autobots are here." Starscream told.

"...What?" Megatron asked.

"Yes, I'm afraid. The Autobots survived the crash as well." Starscream confirmed. 

"Grrrr...." Megatron growled. "Were any of them...recognizable?"

"Yes, Lord." Starscream knew exactly what Megatron meant. "Optimus Prime was among them."

Megatron began growling to himself again, clenching his fist in anger. Starscream reeled back a bit in fear of Megatron's wrath.

"Then we must find them..." Megatron stated. "...and finish them once and for all."

"I agree completely, my Lord." Starscream said, still somewhat frightened. "What is our next course of action?" 

"We wait for the other Seekers to return, then we plan our next move." Megatron decreed. "We must learn all we can of this planet, what sort of energy it contains, what we can use to our advantage. Then we track down the Autobots and exterminate them."





Meanwhile, back with the Autobots...





Spike was quickly realizing that riding in one of these Autobots was a lot of fun. The machines went at a speed he'd never traveled at before except in a train. But then, he was never as close to his environment in a train. The 'bots swerved and sped about their environment at such a pace and style that was exhilarating to the young dragon.

Twilight did not share his enthusiasm, however. She still was entirely comfortable flying at high speeds on her own, so being trapped in a metal box driving about in an unpredictable style was not her ideal way of travelling. To distract herself, she tried striking up a conversation with Jazz. "So, you're the second-in-command?" she asked.

"Yup. One and only." Jazz replied. 

"What's it like, being-AH!" Twilight jumped at a particularly nasty bump in the road.

"Heh heh. Don't like the ride?" Jazz asked.

"Yeah..." Twilight admitted.

"Don't worry, I won't go too crazy." Jazz reassured. "Just be glad you ain't riding in Cliff back there."

"I can hear you, y'know!" Cliffjumper called.

"Well, your driving skills ain't exactly up to par most of the time." Jazz called back. Cliffjumper offered no response, simply grumbling to himself.

Twilight simply shook her head. Maybe Jazz was just acting upon some aspect of Autobot friendship she was unaware of. Another bump in the road caused her to squeak again, and Spike to laugh.

The remainder of the journey was uneventful. Jazz filled Twilight in on aspects of Autobot history she was curious about, Bluestreak and Rainbow Dash talked endlessly about whatever popped into their heads, and Fluttershy and Bumblebee conversed about how the latter liked Equestria so far. Cliffjumper simply sulked at the back of the convoy.

The trip would have continued as such until the group came across something quite unusual.

"...the wildlife is really tiny around here. Really delicate too. I gotta be real careful when driving about or else...what the?" Bumblebee beeped, stopping abruptly.

"What happened?" Fluttershy said softly, emerging from Bumblebee before he transformed back into robot mode.

"Hey! What's goin' on?" Jazz asked, allowing his passengers to exit before transforming. Bluestreak and Cliffjumper followed suit.

The Autobots and ponies looked to find a massive swath cut through the trees, forming what appeared to be a makeshift path. "Is this...normal around here?" Cliffjumper asked.

"No, it isn't." Twilight explained. "What happened here?"

"M-maybe it's...some kind of...new...monster!?" Spike assumed, panicking.

"It was a monster, that much is true. One that resembled those around you." An unknown voice spoke from within the trees. Cliffjumper and Bluestreak immediately reached for their weapons, but were halted by Jazz.

The ponies, however, recognized the voice quickly. "Zecora?" Twilight called.

Out of the forest stepped a zebra adorned in various pieces of jewelry. Zecora, the herbalist that the ponies present knew as a friend.

"You saw what did this?" Jazz asked.

"I saw the culprit, that much is true, but first I must ask: who are you?" Zecora replied. "The creature was savage, admit that I must, so forgive me if you do not hold my trust."

"It's alright, Zecora. They're with us." Twilight explained, gesturing to the Autobots. "This is Jazz, Bumblebee, Bluestreak, and Cliffjumper." The Autobots gestured in greeting.

Zecora looked over the Autobots, then nodded, seemingly satisfied. "The creature was large, through the trees it did barge like a very angry boar. It was coloured bright green, appeared quite mean, and was then followed by five more."

Jazz's brow furrowed. "'Bots, six green mechanoids, bulldozing whatever's in their path. Remind y'all of anyone?"

The Autobots nodded in confirmation.

"Why? W-what's going on?" Fluttershy stammered.

"Decepticons." Cliffjumper growled. "That's what's going on."

Fluttershy gulped.





Back near Ponyville...





"...and that's the WHOLE STORY of EVERYTHING Twilight's done since she moved here!" Pinkie Pie finished her lengthy story to a group of very confused Constructicons.

"I'm...impressed you managed to fit all that into only 30 cycles." Scrapper commented. "But you've been very...informative."

"Hey, anything to help a friend!" Pinkie Pie chirped.

Applejack and Rarity laid on the ground nearby, having abandoned all attempts to dissuade Pinkie from talking to the Constructicons. "Suagrcube, you've been talkin' bout Twilight non-stop for a half-hour. That don't seem a LITTLE weird to you?" Applejack said.

"Hey, we're new around here." Hook said. "We enjoy...hold on." A familiar static buzzed to life in the Constructions' audio sensors. Soundwave had finally reactivated the communications!

"Scrapper to Lord Megatron! Come in Megatron!" The titular Constructicon said, a finger to his audio sensor.

"I read you, Scrapper." The familiar voice of Megatron filled the comms of the Constructicons. "Where are you? I sent you to finish those tunnels over a megacycle ago!"

"Who are you talking to?" Pinkie asked, curious.

"Our...boss." Scrapper said. "I need to take this." Pinkie nodded in understanding and bounced over to where her friends were sitting.

"Sorry, my Lord." Scrapper apologized. "We got side-tracked, but the good news is that we may have found a potent energy source!"

"...Go on." Megatron instructed.

Scrapper smiled and began relaying all the information he'd learned thus far. "We've tricked a particularly moronic local into bringing us to their settlement. It evidently houses an important figure who's especially skilled in the art of 'magic'. It probably isn't actually magic, but this character might have the power to provide us with all the energy we could ever need!"

"Interesting...where is this figure?" Megatron asked.

"Just a moment." Scrapper requested, turning back to Pinkie. "Where is this Twilight Sparkle of yours?" He only found the other two ponies Pinkie had with her. Scrapper was confused, but then was startled when he turned to find Pinkie on his shoulder, looking like she was about to burst into tears.

"M-m-moronic?" Pinkie sniffed. "You t-tricked me?"

Scrapper growled, realizing the jig was up. "Yes, we did." he said, quickly brushing Pinkie off his shoulder. 

Pinkie landed on all fours, oddly enough. "But...but why?" she asked.

"We needed to know the lay of the land." Hook revealed. "But now that you know we're not your friends, I see no reason to be nice any longer."

"Yes-yes!" Mixmaster agreed, turning to Scrapper. "Can-can I toss them into my mix-mixer? I wanna see-see what they're made of!"

"No!" Bonecrusher shouted. "Let me crush them along with their stupid town!" 

"How about this?" Scrapper suggested. "Mixmaster, you take the creatures. Bonecrusher, you bulldoze this place."

Mixmaster grinned widely, while Bonecrusher simply changed into vehicle mode and charged towards Ponyville. 

Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie made a mad dash for town, but Mixmaster wouldn't let them go so easily. "What-what's wrong?!" He shouted, changing into his vehicle mode to chase after them. "You scared of the mix-mixer? Don't worry...It'll only hurt A LOT-LOT!" He cackled as he chased after his targets. Sure, he might have been able to catch them easier in robot mode, but the chase was so much fun.

At least it would have been if he wasn't interrupted by a charging red Autobot. The small red vehicle quickly pulled up beside him and rammed Mixmaster off-course.

The ponies stopped running, panting in exhaustion as they heard the crash behind them. They looked behind them to see Mixmaster and Cliffjumper wrestling on the ground in their robot modes. Despite Mixmaster's size advantage, Cliffjumper seemed to be winning. "Get out of here!" Cliffjumper shouted. The ponies willingly followed that order.

"NO! THEY'RE MINE-MINE!" Mixmaster yelled as he kicked Cliffjumper off of him and chased after the ponies on foot. Cliffjumper was quick to respond though, and pulled out a giant blaster from seemingly nowhere. He took aim and fired a laser blast, striking Mixmaster in the shoulder.

Mixmaster cried in pain and he grasped his injury. He looked back to find Cliffjumper firing his weapon at him, but missing. Mixmaster took out his own laser pistol and began firing at Cliffjumper. 

Back with the other Constructicons, another battle was raging. Bumblebee was engaged in a fistfight against Bonecrusher while Jazz and Bluestreak were attempting to dodge the laser blasts from the remaining Constructicons. Fluttershy and Spike were hiding in a nearby bush whilst Twilight was using magic to blast the enemy and Rainbow Dash was zooming about at high speeds in an attempt to confuse and disorient her attackers.

"So, these are the ones who tore up the forest?" Twilight asked as she dodged a blast from Long Haul.

"No doubt!" Bluestreak answered, firing at Scrapper. "They probably were too lazy to find an actual path so they cut a swath through the forest because Decepticons have no respect for-"

"Less chattin', more shootin'!" Jazz ordered, silencing Bluestreak.

Meanwhile, Bonecrusher seemed to be gaining the upper hand against Bumblebee. The Decepticon landed a hard punch on Bumblebee's face, dazing him momentarily, and attempted to ram Bumblebee into the nearest building: Fluttershy's cottage. Upon realizing where he was being pushed, Bumblebee put extra effort into slowing Bonecrusher's assault by digging his feet into the ground as hard as he could.

"I'm gonna squash you, bug!" Bonecrusher taunted. "Then I'm gonna destroy every single structure on this planet!"

In response, Bumblebee beeped an insult that was simply unmentionable, causing Fluttershy to gasp in surprise.

"Now that was just rude." Bonecrusher said.

Bumblebee activated his facemask and headbutted Bonecrusher, causing him to release Bumblebee and stumble back. Bumblebee then took out his laser pistol and blasted Bonecrusher in the torso several times sending him to the ground, smoke pouring from his wounds.

Scrapper watched Bonecrusher go down, angered. "Slag! We got a 'Con down!" he shouted.

"Of course we do!" Hook shouted. "We're engineers, not warriors!" The Constructicons watched as Scavenger spun around trying to catch Rainbow Dash, only to get dizzy and blasted by Jazz.

Scrapper growled. "We need to bring out the muscle." he claimed. "Constructicons!" he called. "Combine into-"

"Negative." The monotone voice of Soundwave rang through the comms. "Do not reveal yourselves."

"We're getting our diodes kicked out here!" Scrapper yelled.

"Suggestion: retreat." Soundwave said.

"Can we get a Ground-Bridge then?" Scrapper shouted.

"Negative." Soundwave replied. "Ground-Bridge: inoperative."

"Then what the frag are we supposed to do!?" Scrapper yelled.

"Suggestion: Run." Soundwave flatly said.

Scrapper looked around at the battle. It was going their way at all. Reluctantly, he called: "Constructicons! Retreat!"

With that order, the Constructicons capable of running changed into their vehicle modes and drove away. Scrapper loaded the injured Bonecrusher into Long Haul's dumper before changing into vehicle mode himself and speeding off with Long Haul.

"Yeah! Keep running Decepti-creeps!" Cliffjumper called after the retreating robots. The Autobots and Rainbow Dash cheered in victory while Fluttershy and Spike nervously creeped out of the bushes they were hiding in. Twilight just sighed in relief, silently thanking Celestia that was over before any pony was hurt.

Then again, that wasn't entirely true. She was unnerved when she saw Bumblebee blast Bonecrusher to the ground. He was trying to destroy Fluttershy's house, yes, but still...

Twilight put the thought aside for the moment. She decided to focus on the positives: Ponyville was safe from the Constructicons for now. That was the important part.

"Well...that was terrifying." Twilight stated.

"What are you talking about?" Rainbow Dash asked. "That was...exhilarating! So much fun!"

Jazz just shook his head. That's what he thought when the war began...but then he fought for millions of solar cycles. He didn't speak out loud, though. He didn't want to curb Rainbow's enthusiasm. "Good work, Autobots." he complimented his troops. 

"Good work? It was great work!" Bluestreak began. "We beat the 'cons without breaking anything in town! That's got to be a first for us. Usually a whole lot of destruction comes with fighting the Decepticons but hey! None this time! Awesome, huh? Not to mention..." 

The other Autobots just rolled their optics as Bluestreak went on another one of his infamous tangents. In the meantime, Jazz put a finger to his audio sensor. "Yo, Optimus..."





Back outside the Nemesis...





"Lord Megatron. Unfortunate news." Soundwave stated. "The Constructicons were attacked by the Autobots. They were forced to retreat."

Megatron simply sat on the ground, watching the setting sun. "It matters not." he said. "We have a potential power source in our crosshairs. 	This 'Twilight Sparkle' who supposedly lives in a town but a mega-cycle's trip from here...and that's on the ground." Megatron grinned, showing off his shark-like teeth. "But for now we return to our primary goal. Thundecracker and Skywarp should be back anytime now. They'll fill us in on exactly what this planet is..."