Two teenagers dressed as their favorite Transformers walk into a movie theater, before being spirited away to a land full of colorful equines! Shenanigans ensue.
Two teenagers, Alice and Thad, dressed as their favorite Transformers, Arcee and Skywarp, walk into a movie theater, before being spirited away to a land full of colorful equines! What will the two teens do?
This story is a Displaced colab written with the help of Bronyparasite, go check him out!
“Come on Thad! were going to be late!” Said a girl in a slender blue transformer costume with pink highlights.
“For what Alice!?” Thad, an average boy wearing a purple transformer costume with purple highlights on his black hair yelled as she jogged after her.
“The release of the new transformers movie!” Alice shouted back before she
“Ugh, another one?” Thad asked. “Those barely have any characters, and the ones they do have they kill off within a minute of screentime.”
“It's a rerun of one of the gen one movies.” Alice said rolling her eyes as she stopped in front of a ticket booth.
“What? I thought you meant one of Spielberg's things.” Thad said as he stretched out. “The first movie was the best.”
“That's why I wanted to hurry, I knew you would want to see it.” Alice laughed before she turned to the ticket salesman who was wearing a blue cloak. “Two tickets please.”
“Here you go. You got here just in time, these were the last two tickets.” The salesman said as she handed Alice the tickets.
“Thanks!” Alice said before handing Thad his ticket and running inside.
“Have fun kids.” The man in the blue cloak chuckled.
Thad ignored the man and focused on Alice. “So what’s the special occasion?”
“What? Can't I just do something nice for a friend?” Alice asked, oozing false innocence.
“You’re buttering me up for something…” Thad said. “What?”
“Nothing~” Alice said impishly as she walked into the theater room where the movie was playing.
Thad sighed. “You’re too easy to read… Just tell me, you’ve already paid for the tickets.”
“After the mo-” Alice said before being cut off mid sentence.
“Alice? Something wrong?” Thad asked.
Silence…
“Alice?” Thad turned to where Alice was, only to find no one there. Moments later the ticket in his hand began to glow before he was blinded by a bright flash.
Thad mentally swore as the first thing he saw was the sky. “Someone drugged me, didn’t they…?”
“I don't know… But my head's killing me.” Alice replied as she woke up as well, but the first thing she saw was grass.
“I don’t think we’ll be seeing the movie. Can you move?” Thad asked.
Alice strained to move but found she couldn't. “I can't, I think you're on top of me…”
“Sorry, gimme a sec…” Thad groaned as he tried sitting up. With multiple metal on metal sounds, he was seated. “Better?”
“Yeah… Did you gain weight or something? You weigh a ton!” Alice said as she pushed herself up but froze when she looked at her hands. “No way…”
“Wha-” Thad cut himself off as he turned his head to see a black wing on his back. “What the… No...”
“This… Is… So... AWSOME!” Alice gasped before she started looking herself over. “I’m actualy Arcee!”
“And I’m… Skywarp…” Thad said in disbelief.
“How did we get turned into the characters we were dressed as? Never mind, I don't care. But what should we do now? We can't exactly return home like this.” Alice said.
“Where are we even?” Thad asked, looking around.
“Oh… Yeah…” Alice muttered, the full situation dawning on her.
Thad started thinking. “Uh… This isn’t that bad. All we need to do is find an Energon source… That’s the first thing we need to worry about.”
“Uh… Ok.” Alice said.
“I think I can make it with energy deposits like electricity.” Thad stated, rubbing his chin. “Hopefully we’re still on earth. This is so odd...”
“Lets hope we aren't seen by anyone… I don't want to be dissected.” Alice muttered.
“How, you’re metal?” Thad asked.
“That didn't stop that one scientist from experimenting on Optimus’s corpse.” Alice reminded him, remembering a episode from generation one of Transformers.
“Then transform.” Thad said, shrugging. “I don’t think they’d dissect a motorcycle. And besides, I’m a military vehicle.”
“I… Oh yeah. Hehe…” Alice said blushing from embarrassment.
“It’s okay Alice, I’m a bit disoriented myself.” Thad said. “Try transforming.”
“How do we transform?” Alice asked.
“Uh, maybe it’s like a muscle?” Thad suggested.
“They were able to transform because of something they called a T-cogg so I guess it's like a muscle… But how do we activate it?” Alice wondered, putting her hand to her chin in thought.
“I don’t know. Try feeling it, you know, like a muscle.” Thad suggested again. “You know where it is?”
“I think it's inside our chest next to where the spark is?” Alice said as she concentrated. A few moments later she felt something inside her click like a switch was being flipped on and her body started to shift and rearrange itself, and when her body stopped shifting she had turned into a blue racing motorcycle. “Okay, I think I figured it out… But I hope it isn't always going to be so disorienting...”
“We’ll see…” Thad said, crossing his arms. “Let’s start looking.”
“Ok.” Alice replied before mentally grinning, she was going to love being able to go fast and explore all she liked at the same time.
Thad focused hard, and before long he transformed into his jet form and flew off. He wabbled a bit, but was able to keep airborne.
“Then let’s go!” He bellowed so Alice could hear.
“Race ya to that cliff!” Alice laughed before speeding off, wobbling a bit herself at first. The cliff she was talking about was not that far off but she didn't care.
Thad caught up to her quickly and lowered himself so he was next to her. “You’re racing a jet, sweetheart.” Thad playfully remarked.
“Bwa…” Alice stuttered smartly before she hit a rock and flipped over. “Dang it Thad! stop teasing me like that!” She said as she transformed and glared in Thad’s direction, but in her mind she was gushing over him calling her sweetheart.
Thad transformed and fell face first onto the ground before flipping onto his feet. “Well… I gotta get used to landing… Alice, are you okay?”
“I-I’m fine!” Alice said as she turned away from him as she giggled.
“Good, because we don’t have anyway to fix either of us if we get damaged.” Thad said.
“Oh yeah… I forgot about that…” Alice said as she facepalmed, “Hey, what's up with the dust cloud over there?”
“Hm?” Thad looked over to where Alice was looking. Indeed, there was a dust cloud. “I’ll go check it out, stay here.”
Thad started running before he lept and transformed again and took off to investigate. When he finally got overhead he tried to see what was happening.
Below was… Ponies fighting ponies…
“What on Cybertron…” Thad said to himself. “More Hasbro characters? I hope Strawberry Shortcake isn’t here…”
There were Pegasi in the sky, getting closer to him.
“What is that thing!?” Yelled one of them.
“It’s probably one of the Empire’s contraptions! Take it down!” Said a pegasus with a rainbow mane and a cybernetic wing.
‘Well crap…’ Thad thought, before turning around and speeding away.
“It's getting away…!” The rainbow maned pegasus shouted as Thad escaped.
Thad was snickering internally. ‘Noobs… Wait, I’m a noob…’
There was then a loud boom before a rainbow streak began to catch up to Thad.
“Sup?” Thad asked calmly.
“Bwa?” The rainbow streak said smartly before crashing into a bird and falling out of the sky.
“Well that was fun.” Thad remarked. He continued a bit, before transforming and landing slowly next to Alice. “Well, at least we know Hasbro is behind this.”
“What do you mean? And what was that rainbow streak that was chasing you?” Alice asked.
“Well, when I went to go check out what that was, I saw a bunch of… G4 ponies I think, fighting.” Thad remarked. “That rainbow was the gay flyer.”
“Seriously!? What in the world is going on!” Alice said as she started to freak out.
“I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter. Let’s head the other way, try to see if there’s a way to get energon or someone who knows.” Thad said. “Sound good?”
“Um… Sure. But what if we run into more Ponies?” Alice asked.
“What if? We’re bigger, scarier, and stronger then them. If they think they can hurt us, they’ve got another thing coming.” Thad said, starting to make his way in the other direction.
“Um, are you suggesting we pull a Beast Wars and scan animals?” Alice asked.
“What!? No! Besides, that was under different circumstances. I mean if they want a fight we’ll give it to ‘em.” Thad replied.
“Oh, ok then.” Alice said before following Thad.
The two Cybertronians walked for a good few minutes until they reached a forest.
“You ever watch G4 MLP?” Thad asked casually.
“No, you know I wasn't into that kind of thing.” Alice replied, entering the forest. “Why?”
“Well, I was under the impression that there was a male demographic who watched it. Called themselves ‘Boynies’ or something.” Thad said, shrugging. “Bunch of twenty year old guys watching the show. I was hoping you might’ve seen some of it online and we’d know more about this place.”
“Great… so we're going to have to ask for directions or a map then?” Alice groaned.
“Well yeah, we don’t know where we are… This place also seems a bit… Darker for a little girl's show…” Thad remarked. “There’s almost no color… And a fight? What did I miss back home!?”
“I don't know, but we need to be careful.” Alice said before she Transformed. “Let's see if we can find somewhere to set up camp, the sun is setting and I don't think we have night vision.”
“Right, I’ll scout out the air and see if I can find a clearing.” Thad said, jumping and Transforming. “I’ll keep close!”
“Ok!” Alice replied before starting to cruise through the forest to see what she could find from below the treeline.
After a long while, Thad returned to his robot form right next to Alice. “Hey, I think I found a town!”
“Really? Where?” Alice asked, transforming into her robot form as well.
Thad pointed in the direction she was heading. “That way, but a bit to the right. I think it’s about a quarter mile or something.”
“Then let's go… Wait, Is it inhabited by those ponies?” Alice said cautiously.
“Yeah, I couldn’t see that far…” Thad stated.
“Oh well, I guess we’ll just find out when we get there then…” Alice sighed before beginning to walk in the direction Thad indicated.
“It is going to have ponies, isn’t it…” Thad sighed.
“I hope not… Otherwise we're doomed.” Alice chuckled dryly.
Thad and Alice arrived at the edge of the forest.
“So… This is it… I don’t think we’ll find any energon here though.” Thad stated.
“Well, It’s better than nothing.” Alice replied with a shrug. It was now night and the inhabitants of the town were sleeping, so they snuck in and looked around to see if they could find anywhere to hide where they would be able power down for the night.
“Wow, this place looks like trash…” Thad remarked quietly. “Everything’s boarded up…”
“Yeah… I wonder whats going on?” Alice wondered, feeling a bit on edge. “It didn't look this bad from the forest edge…”
Thad looked into one of the windows, past the planks of wood. “Doesn’t look like anyone’s home…”
“This is starting to creep me out...” Alice muttered before she noticed a light come on in one of the windows of a house. “Hide!”
Thad wrapped his arm around Alice, before jumping onto the nearest building.
“I could have sworn I heard something…” A pony said sticking her head out of her front door before looking around and going back inside. A few minutes later the light in her house turned off.
Thad sighed in relief. “Well… At least we know they aren’t thurow…” He turned to Alice. “You okay?”
“Y-yes…” Alice squeaked, her face was red as a tomato. “U-um, You can let go now…” She added as she fidgeted in Thad’s grasp.
Thad looked where he grabbed, and stiffened. “Oh, sorry…” He let go of her chestplate, looking away nervously.
“I-it’s ok…” Alice said shyly as she fought to get her blush under control.
“Let’s… Find a place to take shelter…” Thad said, hopping off of the roof.
“Yes, let's.” Alice agreed before she noticed a small cottage on the edge of town. “Maybe behind that house by the forest? It looks abandoned.” She suggested.
Thad nodded. “Good idea. Let’s go. Oh, and did you see the name of this town?”
“No, did you?” Alice asked as they made their way towards the small cottage on the edge of town.
“Yeah, you’ll never guess.” Thad snickered. “Ponyville…”
“Pony... By primus, that is a bad pun and whoever came up with it should feel bad.” Alice groaned as she facepalmed.
“Not even a pun though, that’s like naming a town… Humansville…” Thad remembered going to a town called Humansville to visit a friend of his that moved away. “Never mind… I’ve been there...”
“I… I’m not even going to bother anymore… I just hope that the rest of the names of things around here aren't puns of some kind…” Alice groaned in response before they arrived at the cottage. “So, what now? Do we try and get inside or…”
“How would we get inside?” Thad asked.
“Point taken…” Alice chuckled, remembering how big they were now. She then started walking around the back.
“Uh… Why don’t you make first contact? Wouldn’t hurt.” Thad suggested. “You’re smaller, so you’d scare them less.”
“What!? But what would I do? What would I say!” Alice squeaked as she started to panick. She wasn't good with strangers or animals, let alone strangers that were animals.
“Improvise.” Thad said, shrugging. “Try to keep her calm, maybe start out in your other form and butter them up.”
“My other form is a motorcycle! Motorcycles don't talk!” Alice panicked.
“Neither do ponies! And did you see any vehicles on the way!? Look… You look smaller in that form. I’ll scout the edge of the forest to see if there’s a place to hide in case things go sour.” Thad said.
“But I… Fine, I’ll do it…” Alice sighed before transforming.
“Good, I’ll owe you one.” Thad said, patting her motorcycle seat.
“W-whatever!” Alice stuttered before driving herself over to the front door and parking there to wait till morning. Thad transformed and flew off.
Once day time came the front door of the cottage slowly opened and a butter yellow pegasus with a pink maine nervously poked her head out. The pegasus sighed, not seeing anything that would startle her yet before exiting the cotage.
“Um… Hello?” Alice said nervously.
“Eep!” The pegasus squeaked before running back into her cottage startled.
“...” Alice stared at the door for a few minutes before sighing. “This isn't going to work…” She muttered in defeat before noticing a window. Out of curiosity Alice slowly drove over to the window and looked inside.
Inside was a simple living room, but bland. A few pieces of furniture were strewn about, and a few small animals slept on them.
“Interesting… I should probably ask Thad about these ponies so that we can better figure out how to blend in…” Alice muttered before driving off.
When she finally found Thad, he was lying back on a cliffside. “I think this is good enough place in… It didn’t work, did it?”
“Sadly not…” Alice groaned before transforming. “By the way, how much do you know about these ponies?”
“I… May have had a buddy who got into it. He tried to show me it, explain it, but I just wasn’t into it.” Thad shrugged. “All I know is there are three races, names escape me… Some have magic, others have flight, while a few more have nothin. This is what made me want to leave the room… Their leaders control the fucking sun and moon. Sorry for cursing.”
“It’s ok… I would probably react the same way if I saw something like tha-” Alice said before cutting herself off and going bugeyed. “Wait… Their leaders can control the sun and moon!?”
“I know, retarded.” Thad snickered. “Better not cross them… Whoever they are…”
“Yeah, lets hope we never have to meet them…” Alice shuddered. “Well, shall we?”
“Ladies first.” Thad bowed. “... Shall we what again?”
Alice rolled her eyes before giving Thad an impish smirk. “We’re going to need new disguises if we're hoping to survive…”
“Oh crap… But I love my jet form~” Thad whined.
“Well too bad, survival first.” Alice said while crossing her arms.
“Fine, but I don’t have to like it…” Thad grumbled, crossing his arms in a pout. “I better not lose my lasers though, I haven’t even used them…”
“Your lasers will be fine.” Alice said, “And if it will make you feel any better I will let you decide what we disguise ourselves as.”
“No, it doesn’t. You pick yours and I will mine.” Thad rolled his eyes.
“If you say so.” Alice said with a shrug. “So what kind of creatures are there around here?”
“Heck if I know…” Thad shrugged. “Hmm… Maybe a cat of some kind…”
“What, like a Puma?” Alice wondered, not seeing why he wouldn't want to be something like a large bird.
“Ehh… I don’t know… I’d pick something flying, but… Well… I’m too big even if there’s something that big.”
“What about a dragon?” Alice asked, “I mean, this is a land of talking horses whose rulers can control the sun and the moon! Why wouldn't there be mythical things like dragons and whatnot just to top it all off!?”
“... Alice, that’s amazing! I could kiss you!” Thad said, gripping Alice’s shoulders. Alice instantly froze, her face turning as red as a tomato while she started muttering gibberish. “You okay…? Oh, sorry…” Thad moved away.
“I-it’s ok!” Alice stuttered as she began to fidget.
“I’ll go see if I can find a dragon. What are you going to choose?” Thad questioned.
“I think I’ll go with a dragon as well.” Alice said awkwardly.
“What do you think the odds of there being a dragon our sizes in this forest?” Thad asked.
“Not likely… But if there are dragons then we just have to look around mountains with giant caves to find one.” Alice said as she started geting her emotions back under control while mentally chastising herself for making the situation awkward by getting her hopes up...
“Okay… What I know of dragons is they’re hot… Not in that way… They have fire breath, so they should be south where it’s hotter…” Thad suggested.
“Ok then, lead the way.” Alice said as she transformed.
“Uh… Which way’s south?” Thad asked.
“... I thought you knew?” Alice said, mentally facepalming.
“I don’t have a compass on me!” Thad shouted.
“And that's why men aren't left in charge of directions…” Alice sighed before transforming back, “Don't you have a compass in the cockpit of your vehicle mode?”
“If I do I don't know about it..." Thad transformed. “Can you see it?”
Alice crawled onto the top of Thad’s vehicle form and looked into the cockpit, and after scanning over the controls she found the compass. “Found it!” She said before checking which direction was south on it. It was to the right of where they were.
“Great!” Thad said. Alice then blushed slightly as she noticed the position in which she was sitting on top of him.
“Hey, Should we stick with our old names or go by the names of our current forms?” Alice asked as she climbed off of Thad’s vehicle from, looking anywhere but at Thad.
“Hmm… Let’s try it out.” Thad transformed into his robot form. “Ready to go Arcee?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be, Skywarp.” Alice said, giggling at the weirdness of their situation.
“Well, do we walk or drive/fly?” Thad asked.
“Let's take the faster method for now.” Arcee said before she transformed into her vehicle mode and took off toward the south.
Skywarp chuckled as he simply flew with her, not transforming.
“Rainbow! Are you okay!?” Fleetfoot yelled as she landed next to the cyan pegasus.
“I’m fine.” Rainbow said, wincing a bit as she got to her hooves. “What the buck was that!?” She demanded.
“I don’t know. We should tell Admiral Spitfire.” Fleetfoot said. “Can you fly?”
“I think so, but I’m certain that doesn't belong to the empire now that I have seen it up close.” Rainbow said as she slowly lifted off the ground. “Though I may need a little help.” She admitted sheepishly as sparks began coming off of her cybernetic wing.
“I’ll take you back to Time Turner.” Fleetfoot said. “Hop on.”
Rainbow Dash sighed as she lay herself across Fleetfoot’s back before tucking her wings in for the ride to the repair shop.
BOOM
“I’m getting addicted to these lasers!” Skywarp laughed as he shot a tree with his laser cannon.
“Could you please cut it out? Ever since you figured out how to use them you have been destroying things left and right! I’m surprised the ponies haven’t come after us yet!” Arcee groaned, “Did you even consider that using your lasers would deplete your energon reserves? Seeing as you were the one that was the most worried about that little tid bit in the first place?”
“...” Skywarp stopped. “Right…”
“You forgot, didnt you…” Arcee deadpanned.
“I got caught up in the moment…” Skywarp looked down like a guilty child.
“Uh-huh.” Arcee said, smiling at Skywarp. “Just get your metal but over here and give me a ride across the water.” She said pointing to the ocean behind her that some mountains could be seen on the other side of if they strained their optics.
“Looks promising. Sure.” Skywarp said, landing. “Hey, do you think I could make energon with diamonds?” He then suddenly picked Arcee up bridal style and hovered to the other side.
Arcee blushed at how she was being carried by Skywarp but tried to ignore it. “Y-you should be able to… I mean, if we gain animal forms we can produce our own energon by eating what the creatures we scanned eat…” She replied, looking away from him to hide her blush.
“It works like that? Hmm…” Skywarp said. “Is something wrong? You seem tense.”
“I-it’s N-nothing!” Arcee responded, a bit of panic in her voice as she moved her hands to cover her face.
“Uh… Alice, we’re best friends, you can tell me anything.” Skywarp said. “Sorry, Arcee.”
“I-it's ok…” Arcee sighed, giving up as she moved her hands away from her face to reveal her face consuming blush. “But this goes into the territory of more than just friends…” She muttered.
“You mean like family?” Skywarp asked.
“A little different than that…” Arcee grumbled. “Could we please not talk about this right now?” She begged as she tried to give him a pouty face, sadly the look she ended up ended up with was more attractive than pitiful due to her blushing.
Skywarp would have blushed if he could. “Sure. Whatever you want, but I’m here for you. You know that right?”
“Y-yeah…” Arcee replied while thinking ‘By primus that was too close! I don't even know if he feels the same way about me as I do him yet!’.
Skywarp landed and set Arcee down. “Okay… Hey, if I’m a Decepticon and you’re an Autobot… What’s our ‘roll out’ call? Like, Prime says roll out, and Megatron says take flight.”
“...” Arcee just stared at Skywarp for a few moments as she realized what he meant. “Umm… Good question… but why do we have to be Autobot and Decepticon? It would basicly be begging for something to happen resulting in us having to fight one another…” She said as she began to panic.
“That’s not something I’m worried about… We should figure out a group name, in case there are others like us.” Thad said, getting excited.
“Why didn't I think of that!” Arcee exclaimed as she began to calm down, “We can just start our own faction! Now what to call it… It needs to be something neutral so that we don't get dragged into fights…”
“We’ll just call ourselves SkyCee for now.” Skywarp said.
“That sounds like the name to a horrible shipping pun…” Arcee commented as she started to blush again.
“I fused our names! Fine, no name. But we’ll pick this up later.” Skywarp said.
“Fine, as long as it doesn't have anything to do with deception or evil.” Arcee said, agreeing to continue the subject at a later date.
“I’ll scout up ahead!” Skywarp yelled, transforming into his jet mode and soaring into the sky.
“Wha… Wait!” Arcee shouted in vain. “Urgh, why is he always so impulsive…” She sighed, reminiscing of how they first met.
(13 years ago…)
“Stupid boys, they think I can’t explore and do cool stuff just because I’m a girl!” Alice muttered to herself as she stomped through the forest. She was so caught up in her thoughts she didn't see the cliff edge until she tripped on a tree root and fell over it. “Ahh…!” She screamed as she fell before landing on her head and blacking out.
Thad walked through the forest blissfully. He didn’t like being around others, so the forest was perfect. As he walked, he noticed indents in the soggy ground and let his curiosity get the better of him. He followed them, noticing they started to look like footprint of someone his age. Part of him wanted to just leave them, most likely being some stupid kids disturbing the peace of what he considered his forest.
He came to a stop when he saw a cliff edge. Thad took a look, and saw a girl unconscious in a shallow pond. He went down and grabbed her, before dragging her out of the ditch.
He laid her down and started poking her with a stick he found.
“Mmm~” Alice moaned as she rolled over a bit.
“Hey, wake up.” Thad said.
Alice grunted and rolled over again, this time stopping when she was facing Thad before her eyes began to flutter. “Huh? Where am I?” She asked as she groggily sat up.
“You fell into a pond. You okay?” Thad asked.
“M-My head hurts…” Alice whimpered as a trickle of blood started running down her face from the top of her head. “Who are you?” She asked as her eyes began to grow heavy.
“Thad Stive.” Thad said, pulling out a box of bandages. “Here.” He pulled one out and used in on her wound.
“Thanks...” Alice muttered shortly before passing out again.
Thad picked her up with difficulty and headed towards the exit of the forest.
As Alice began to wake up she noticed she was in a hospital room as her hearing kicked in.
“-Lucky to be alive! If it wasn't for that boy who found her your daughter would have died!” The doctor shouted.
“I-Is she g-going to be ok?” Alice’s mother asked, grief stricken that her only child could have died.
“Sadly Ms. Simmons she suffered a severe concussion, she’s not likely to ever be the same…” The doctor said, calming down as Alice’s mother began to cry.
In the meantime alice had only one thought, ‘Thad… I owe you my life…’ as she blushed at the memory of the boy...
(End flashback…)
Skywarp transformed and slammed down. “Okay, female dragons are on the farthest mountains. I suggest a teenage dragon.”
“Wha?” Arcee said before shaking her head as she snapped out of her flashback. “Sorry about that… I was remembering stuff.” She said sheepishly.
“It’s okay. The female dragons are on the farthest mountains. Find one you like and scan ‘em.” Skywarp said. “There’s a pathway along the side of the mountain. I’ll watch out in case any dragons try to kill you. They won’t last five seconds.”
“Thanks I guess…? By the way, did you scan one for yourself while you were at it?” Arcee asked before transforming.
“Nah, I wanted to get you through the path before I got a form that confuses me.” Skywarp said. “There were some weird creatures… Hey, can you use any guns?”
“I think so? But I will figure that out later.” Arcee replied as she started driving towards the path Skywarp had indicated.
Skywarp transformed and started circling her in a protective manner. After a while Arcee had managed to get to the path and slowly traversed it, though she gained the attention of many a curious dragon as she passed them as quickly as she could. If any male dragon got too close, Skywarp shot his purple lasers near them.
“Almost there!” Skywarp yelled. “Go up here and scan whichever dragoness you want!”
“I know!” Arcee called back teasingly. She then reached the end of the path and transformed before crawling over to a cliff edge.
Skywarp transformed and landed next to Arcee. “Hey, I have a question.”
“Yeah?” She responded as she glanced at all the female dragons, trying to decide which one to scan.
“Are you into girls?” Skywarp asked.
Arcee froze for a second before slowly turning towards Skywarp. “And what makes you think that?” She asked with a deadpan glare.
“You never talk about guys like most girls I know do. David, one of my friends in math class said if a girl doesn’t show interest in guys she’s secretly into girls.” Skywarp said, shrugging. “I’m no expert, but it kinda makes sense.”
Arcee’s eye twitched as she continued to glare at Skywarp. “I’m not into girls… Why are you even asking?” She demanded as she returned to looking for a dragon that suited her to scan.
“I’m only asking. I feel kinda bored being so serious all the time…” Skywarp was resting his back on the side of the mountain, hands behind his head.
“Oh really?” Arcee hummed as she decided on one of the dragons below her. “Then tell me what you think of this.” She said as she started scanning her targeted dragon. A few moments later she finished scanning the dragon before transforming...
Her scales were mostly blue, with a few of them being silver around her stomach and front neck. She had two long horns on her head which were pink, with dozens of smaller pink spikes that went down her spine. Her claws were sharper than the male dragons Skywarp saw, and her body was much sleeker and feminine. The bottom of her wings looked pointy, while the rest of them seemed slimmer. The body was small like she was, and had a teenage feel to it.
“You look like a dragon from a children's cartoon.” Skywarp teased, “You look good. Kinda sexy~” He then transformed and shot away towards the male section.
Arcee’s face flushed red after she heard Skywarp’s compliment. “Damn it, Thad!” She shouted shaking a tallon at where he had been moments before, finding it extremely annoying that he seemed to like toying with her emotions while not realising it.
Skywarp landed on the outskirts of the male dragon’s hoard. His eyes widened when he saw the teenage dragons jumping in lava.
“... The hell?” Skywarp’s head hurt. He looked around to see a dragon that matched his size. He saw one that looked like they were a young adult and scanned him. Skywarp then transformed into his new form.
The form he took was black scaled and red eyed. He had a dark grey underbelly with thicker spine spikes on his back then Arcee’s. His claws were shorter than hers, but looked tougher and more blunt. He felt the row of teeth he had were also made for a more wide damage than Arcee’s longer and sharper form.
Skywarp wasn’t that bulky either, but compared to Arcee, he was twice her size. His wings were also more mature than Arcee’s, with a purple undertone to them. All in all, he felt kind of barbaric, which he wasn’t used to… He also wasn’t that into it either. Skywarp was more of a reserved person.
At the very least, he didn’t have ripped muscles. A body builder body always looked unappealing to Skywarp. And neither did he look like a skinny freak with his ribcage showing. He already looked menacing enough.
An idea came to Skywarp’s mind, that made him grin. He ‘looked’ through his battle computer and mentally cheered.
“Flamethrower!” Skywarp shot fire out of his mouth into the air. It was oddly purple, but it looked cool anyway.
Skywarp grinned and checked his wings. After a minute of trial and error, he was able to fly. Skywarp felt a bit hollow without the speed of his jet form though.
“I… *huf* finally found… *huf* you…!” Said an exhausted looking Arcee as she flew clumsily up to Skywarp.
“You okay?” Skywarp asked, having changed back to his robot form before she arrived.
“I… *huf* will never… *huf* understand your obsession… *huf* with flight...” Arcee complained as she collapsed onto the ground right next to Skywarp before transforming back to her robot mode.
“When you don’t have to flap your wings, you’ll see.” Skywarp said. He then transformed into his dragon mode. “What do you think?”
“Looks like you.” Arcee teased as she regained her composure, “Big, blunt, and goofy.”
“I’m not blunt.” Skywarp glared slightly. “I am goofy though.”
“Uh-huh.” Arcee giggled as she rolled her eyes. She then shakily got to her feet before transforming into her dragon mode.
“Your form suits you too, small, quick, and… I suppose clumsy.” Skywarp said, bopping her on the nose with his tallon.
“Whatever.” Arcee huffed, puffing out her cheeks. She then spread her wings before smirking at Skywarp. “I’ll race you back to the forest.”
“With those flimsy excuse for wings? I could fly circles around you… But first, I’m taking some gems.” Skywarp said. “Also…” Skywarp shot out fire from his mouth into the sky. “Flamethrower!”
“...” Arcee just stared at Skywarp for a minute before her expression morphed into a pout, “Showoff.”
“Oh yeah?” Skywarp smirked. “I got it when I got this form, try it out.”
“How?” Arcee asked, tilting her head to the side.
“Check your battle computer.” Skywarp instructed.
“Battle computer?” Arcee said, blinking owlishly at Skywarp.
“It’s how the transformers fight… At least in G1…” Skywarp said.
“I’m guessing you figured out how all your new body's systems work already…” Alice groaned.
“Pretty much. But don’t worry,” Skywarp patted Arcee’s head. “You’ll get it eventually.”
Arcee just rolled her eyes at Skywarp, being too exhausted for some reason to deal with his antics. “Whatever… Let's just go already.” She sighed before a growling sound came from where her stomach would be if she was an actual dragon. “…”
“Why don’t you go to the female section and eat.” Skywarp suggested.
“I’m not hungry...” Arcee said turning her head away from Skywarp. Her ‘stomach’ then growled again, causing her to blush from embarrassment.
“Your energon is low. I’ll carry you if I have to.” Skywarp said, switching to his robot form.
“I-I’m fine!” Arcee said, stumbling a bit as she tried walking forward before falling over and faceplanting. “…” She then just laid there, glaring at the ground as her face turned red as a tomato.
Skywarp laughed. He then walked over towards Arcee and picked her up, before he tossed her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
“Not. A. Word.” Arcee groaned as she hung limply over Skywarps shoulder, still in her dragon mode.
Skywarp flicked Arcee’s tail. “I wonder if this’ll be a recurring theme.”
“I fear the day that happens…”
“You fear it?” Skywarp asked, on the verge of laughing. “It’s happening right now sweetheart~!”
Arcee silently whimpered as her blush intensified, too ashamed and weak to fight back.
“Hey, there’s nothing wrong. You must’ve been low on energon when we arrived.” Skywarp said sincerely. “One day you’ll be carrying me for whatever reason. This stuff just happens.” Skywarp patted Arcee’s rear.
Arcee suddenly flinched as what looked like steam started coming off her face. She then audibly gulped before saying, “T-thad… C-can you p-please put me down f-for a sec?” As whatever counted as her ‘heart’ started to race.
“Sure thing, Alice.” Skywarp said as he set her down so she was leaning against a rock. “Something up?”
“NO! I mean… Um… I need to pee!” She stammered before deciding to lie as she went through the motions of taking deep breaths to try and calm herself down, even though she didn't have to breath.
“Alice… Transformers can’t- oh… You want to be alone…” Skywarp stuttered. “I-I’ll just go g-get something to restore you-your energon.”
“Y-yes please…” Alice muttered as she tried to drag herself behind a nearby boulder out of shame, feeling betrayed by what was now her body.
Skywarp started hitting his head and he changed into his dragon mode and went to the dragon’s hoard. “Stupid… Stupid… Stupid… That was a stupid move… Making fun of her… Why’d I even do that!?”
He stuffed a few into his ‘mouth’ and used them to feed his hunger for energon. After he felt full, he grabbed a handful of them and ran back to Arcee.
“Hey Alice! Here are some gems!” Skywarp yelled.
“T-thanks… just set them right here…” Arcee said, one of her talons appearing from behind a boulder and pointing at a spot right next to it.
Skywarp laid them where she pointed, before making another run for more gems.
Arcee sighed as she heard Skywarp leave. “I guess I'm going to have to tell him…” She muttered to herself, feeling horrible that she upset Skywarp even if the current situation was his fault.
Skywarp finally came back with a third bunch of diamonds. “There. Eat up.”
Arcee shyly reached from behind the boulder and grabbed each of the gems one by one as she slowly ate them. After she ate the last of the gems she felt her energy reserves slowly restoring themselves before she wobbled out from behind the boulder, the time alone having allowed her to cool off and recompose herself.
“Let’s head back. Maybe we can find some more gems on the way.” Skywarp said.
“O-ok…” Arcee stammered before she spread her wings.
Skywarp took to the air. “Hey, uh… Sorry about making fun of you… I-I can carry you if you’re still weak though, I won’t even talk!”
“N-no, I’m fine… This is all my fault in the first place anyway…” Arcee sighed as she slowly started flying before managing to catch up with Skywarp.
“It’s not your fault. How the heck were you supposed to know we’d get turned into Transformers?” Skywarp said.
“But if I hadn't of taken you to see that stupid movie we wouldn't be going through all of this!” Arcee cried, “My stupid plan wasn't worth causing you to go through this…”
“Your plan?” Skywarp asked. “Oh right… I forgot about that. Hey…” Skywarp took her head in his hands. “You couldn’t have known… I’m not mad. Heck, I’ve become my favorite character! Even losing my vehicle mode hasn’t put a dampener on my spirits! Or, spark if you will.”
Arcee blushed a bit from his reassurance as she pulled her head out of his tallon, but steeled herself for what she felt she had to do next. “Um, Thad? I need to tell you something…” She said while looking away nervously, trying her best to keep flying.
“Yeah?” Skywarp asked. “What is it?”
“It’s about that plan… You see, I asked you to come with me because…”
“Go on…” Skywarp encouraged.
“U-um… A-a-after the m-movie I…” Arcee stuttered, her blush beginning to grow.
“If you don’t want to tell me, it’s okay.” Skywarp said.
“It’s about that plan… You see, I asked you to come with me because…”
“Go on…” Skywarp encouraged.
“U-um… A-a-after the m-movie I…” Arcee stuttered, her blush beginning to grow.
“If you don’t want to tell me, it’s okay.” Skywarp said.
“I WAS GOING TO TELL YOU THAT I LIKED YOU!” Arcee shouted, covering her face with her talons.
“... I like you a lot too… Why is this so important?” Skywarp asked.
“Because I like you as more than just a friend...” Alice whispered.
“What was that, Alice?” Skywarp asked.
“I like you as more than just a friend...”
“One more time…” Skywarp said. “I’ll try listening more.”
“I LOVE YOU!” Arcee shouted, tears streaming down her face.
Skywarp suddenly transformed into his robot form and fell out of the sky, faceplanting onto the sand after having just finished crossing the ocean. He pulled his faceplate away from the ground.
“What did you say!?” Skywarp yelled. His servos were doing overtime.
Arcee went to repeat herself but fainted, having short circuited from the emotional overload. She then subconsciously transformed back into her robot mode as fell to the ground, crash landing in the sand right next to Skywarp.
Skywarp’s processors then slowly began to grasp what Arcee had said. “You… Love me…?”
‘It must be a mistake! She’s been my friend since I was a lot younger… Uh… When was tha- Nevermind… I’ll just wait for her to wake up and we’ll get this misunderstanding sorted out…’ Skywarp thought to himself. He stared at Arcee for a minute before dragging her body into his lap. ‘I do care about her… And she is cute…’
‘What are you thinking!? She’s your friend and you’re checking her out!?’ Another voice yelled at Skywarp. The cybertronian shook his head.
‘She likes you, go for it! You know you like her, the only thing stopping you is your friendship! Make it more!’ Another voice said. Skywarp’s inner turmoil made it so he didn’t realize he was hugging her.
‘It wouldn’t work! You’re a robot for crying out loud
‘Fuck her!’ A third voice shouted.
‘Shut up…’
‘Yeah, nobody likes you…’
‘What is wrong with me…?’ Skywarp mentally sighed.
‘What does it matter if you love her and she loves you back? If you both care for one another, then make it official! And you don’t have anyone here who cares about you as much as she does. No mom, dad, or cousin/sister Jill.’ Skywarp was leaning towards the darker voice now.
‘Have you seen what happens when best friends fall in love? Bad things happen, and they break up, and then their friendship is gone… Your friendship will be gone…” Now Skywarp was back to his in between stage again.
‘Look, two out of three voices say yes, so just kiss her when she wakes up…’
‘That’s… Actually pretty smart…’
‘What…?’
Arcee groaned as she began to reboot. “What hap-” She said as her eyes slowly opened before trailing off.
“Well…” Skywarp muttered, staring down at Arcee. He had just realized he was hugging her close to him. “This is awkward…”
Arcee squeaked before pushing herself away from Thad, her face instantly turning bright red. “W-w-what’s g-going on!?” She demanded.
“Uh… You said you… L-love me…” Skywarp said weakly.
“I… Confessed?” Arcee asked as she started staring off into space.
“I… Think… Unless I heard you wrong, in which I am deeply sorry!” Skywarp sputtered.
“By the allspark… It's over… It's all over…” Arcee muttered, curling up into a ball. “I’ve gone and confessed like an idiot and ruined our friendship by making it awkward…” She continued as she started rocking back and forth.
“No, no…” Skywarp said. “I… Just let me think it over, okay? This is… It’s new territory for me…”
Arcee immediately stopped rocking and slowly turned to look Skywarp in the eye. “Y-you mean it?”
“Yeah… This is just… It’s so sudden…” Skywarp said, looking away.
Arcee simply nodded in response before slowly getting to her feet. “T-take your t-time…” She said sadly.
Skywarp nodded silently as he himself stood up.
“Captain Rainbow Dash reporting in after receiving repairs ma’am!” Rainbow said, saluting to her commanding officer after entering the room.
“At ease, Dash.” Spitfire stated. “What do you have to report?”
“Yesterday afternoon I made contact with an unidentified flying object admiral. I didn't get a very good look at it but whatever it was, it didn't belong to the empire.”
“Hmm… I’ll warn ponies of it’s existence.” Spitfire said. “So, how’s your squad? Any casualties?”
“None to report ma’am.” Rainbow replied.
“Good, we lose too many ponies as it is, it’s good to hear nopony died.” Spitfire said. “I heard your team got a lot done. Freeing ponies in concentration camps, destroying enemy barricades, and even liberating Las Pegasus… You have quite the track record…”
“I’m just doing what I can ma’am.”
“I know. That’s why you and your group is going to be elevated to Beta Squad.” Spitfire said. “Tougher missions, better funding, etc...”
“I won't let you down.” Rainbow said, saluting again before leaving.
“So…?” Fleetfoot asked.
“We've been promoted to Beta Squad…” Rainbow sighed as she walked towards the barracks.
“What!? That’s amazing!” Fleetfoot said, trotting with Dash. “Beta Squad can help us a lot! It’s almost as good as Alpha Squad, and that’s Soarin’s squad!”
Rainbow Dash suddenly froze in place as she did a double take. “Wait that’s Soarin's squad!? I totally forgot!” Rainbow shouted, a blush spreading across her muzzle.
Fleetfoot’s energy faltered. “Y-yeah… It’s his…”
Skywarp was testing out his flamethrower as he ate a red gem. “Man, this world is full of gems. Won’t be hard getting energon, eh?”
“Y-yeah… You know, this kinda reminds me of Beast Wars, where the Transformers had to take on beast modes to survive because they landed on a planet that was literally covered in energon crystals!” Arcee said, starting to feel slightly less awkward.
“Yeah… Only things are different here.” Skywarp remarked.
“Definitely, mostly in the part that these gems aren't pure energon and that the creatures are of mythical origin though.” Arcee giggled.
“Yeah… What are we going to do after this? I mean… We’re Transformers…” Skywarp shrugged. “That’s about it…”
“We’ll find something eventually…” Arcee said, looking away with a slight blush from the thoughts running through her head. “Anyway! What should we do first? Try befriending the ponies? Or find somewhere to set up a base?”
“Well… Hmm… A base. We’ll need a ‘fallout shelter’ in case things don’t go smoothly.” Skywarp said.
“Ok then, where would be a good place to start?” Arcee asked as she transformed into her dragon mode.
“Well… I think there was a cave on a mountain near Ponyville… There was a dragon in it, but I think he’s gone.” Skywarp said, remembering seeing little bits of Dragon Shy when he visited his brony friend.
“Lead the way then fido!” Arcee joked as she took flight.
“Don’t call me fido…” Skywarp grumbled as he took flight as well.
“Whatever you say~” Arcee sang before turning around and following Skywarp.
Skywarp glared. “You weasel...”
“How and why am I a weasel?” Arcee asked as she returned Skywarp’s glare with her own.
“... No comment…” Skywarp looked away, realizing what he said.
“Oh no you don't… You are explaining yourself right now mister.” Arcee said, speeding up until she was flying right next to Thad.
“Why?” Skywarp asked. “You explain why you called me fido!”
“Because you are leading us to something that I don't know where it is.” Arcee said, giving Skywarp an impish smirk. “Now it's only fair that you tell me since I told you.”
“Because you…” Skywarp groaned. “I don’t know why I said it… It just came out.”
Arcee just stared at Skywarp for a moment before sighing. “Your such a dope.”
“And this is you hitting on me?” Skywarp slipped up. “S-sorry!”
Arcee blushed as she swiftly looked away from Skywarp. “N-no… I-If I was hitting on you I would be… NEVERMIND!” She stuttered before shouting and speeding up, leaving Skywarp behind. She then spotted the cave he had mentioned and flew as fast as she could towards it.
Skywarp facepalmed. “Stupid…” He then quickly flew over and landed in the cave before gasping. There was so much treasure that even a billionaire would freak.
There was then a loud crash as one of the many massive piles of treasure collapsed. “Help~?” Arcee then said, her voice sounding like it came from under the recently collapsed pile of treasure.
Skywarp rushed to Arcee, where he saw her completely buried except for her tail under the mass of gold and gems.
“Hmm… This is a good look for you.” Skywarp teased, yanking on Arcee’s tail lightly.
“Ack! Don't pull my tail!” Arcee shouted in pain. “And being buried alive is NOT funny! I feel like I’m being crushed down here!”
“Okay, okay, gimme a second.” Skywarp said, activating his canons and aiming. “You might want to brace yourself...”
“Wait, what are you doing?” Arcee asked nervously as she started to hear Skywarp’s blasters charging up. “No, no, no! Wait!”
Skywarp shot the top layer of treasure out, eliminating half of what was burying her.
“Can you get out now!?” Skywarp asked.
There was then a loud rumbling sound as the other piles of treasure in the room began to shake from the shockwave created by Skywarp shooting the pile of treasure on top of Arcee.
“We’re doomed…” Arcee whimpered from under what was left of the pile that covered her.
Skywarp yelped as another pile fell on him. “Gah! Son of a-”
“I tried to warn you…” Arcee grumbled as she tried and failed to dig herself out.
“All you said was wait…” Skywarp grumbled.
“Emphasis on tried.” Arcee grumbled, “Now what are we going to do?”
“Well… We could talk about why you like me… Or we could test ways to get us out of here…” Skywarp suggested.
“Erm… Um… I… Uh…” Arcee stuttered as her mind ground to a halt, her face turning crimson.
“You already told me you love me, I wanna know why.” Skywarp said calmly.
“...” Arcee just stared off into space at this unexpected question. “Um… I-It’s a l-long story…”
“I think we have time…” Skywarp said.
“W-well… Um… Where do you want me to start?”
“When you first really felt it…” Skywarp said.
“W-well… I-I don't really know to be honest…” Arcee admitted. “B-but I think this all s-started when you saved my life…”
“That means… This whole time… You’ve been in love with me?” Skywarp asked.
“Pretty much, you could almost call it love at first sight.” Arcee chuckled nervously.
“...” Arcee was slightly confused by the sudden change in subject but complied, attempting to see if she could wiggle out. After a bit of struggling she eventually succeeded in freeing her head before remembering something. “Hey… Can’t you teleport?” She asked, slightly annoyed that she had just spent over an hour just to free her head.
“I haven’t tried that, and… I’d rather see where I’m teleporting…” Skywarp replied. “I don’t want to end up in a wall.”
“You have a point…” Arcee sighed as she continued trying to wiggle free.
“Once you’re out, dump the gold. We don’t need it, so get it out of the cave or move it to the back!” Skywarp yelled.
“Well I don't know about you but I’m keeping the gold for now! You never know when it may be useful!” Arcee shouted as she finally got free of the shiny prison. She then proceeded to start moving the gold to the back of the cave while letting Skywarp stay buried for a bit just to get back at him for pulling her tail.
“Separate the gems from the gold why don’tcha?” Skywarp added.
“Yeah yeah…” Arcee muttered, rolling her eyes as she started to dig Skywarp out. After a minute she got him free before transforming back into her robot mode. “No more blasters indoors for you.”
“Now where’s the fun in that?” Skywarp asked, booping her nose.
“...” Arcee just stared at Skywarp for a minute before sighing and walking away.
Once they were done, Skywarp yawned. “Wish there were beds up here…” He then plopped down onto his rear and leaned against the gold pile.
“We’re *yawn* cybertronians… We don't need beds…” Arcee said sleepily as she sat down next to Skywarp.
“I know… S’pose I’m just used to beds…” Skywarp sighed, leaning back. “You gonna miss anything from back home…?”
“Maybe a few things…” Arcee said as she leaned against Skywarp, “But at least I have the most important thing~” she then fell asleep while leaning on his chest.
Skywarp felt his spark beaming in his chest. Most important thing. For some reason, he felt like it was him she was talking about. But he didn’t want to assume. He wrapped his arm around Arcee and fell asleep himself. There was only one thing he worried about...
Arcee yawned as she woke up, not remembering when she fell asleep as she tried to get up… Only to find herself held tightly in Skywarps sleeping embrace.
“...” Arcee just stared silently, her face turning bright red. She then tried to slip out of his arms or escape from his grasp in any way she could think of to no avail as she started blushing more and more. ‘Oh scrap… I can't get out!’ She thought while panicking, her emotions threatening to overwhelm her.
Skywarp groaned as he slowly woke up. “Eeehhh…” Skywarp stretched his arms out. “Morning Alice…”
“G-g-good m-morning...” Arcee squeaked before trying to hide her face.
“So… What’cha wanna do today?” Skywarp asked. “Brand new world, brand new bodies, and brand new experiences await us.”
“W-well we could-” Alice stuttered before she was cut off by something making a loud thunk sound as it landed on Skywarp’s head.
“Ow!” Skywarp yelped. “What the heck was that!?”
“What was…” Arcee asked as she shifted into her dragon mode before noticing the thing that fell on Skywarp’s head.
“What is it…?” Skywarp asked, transforming to protect himself.
“I don't know…” Arcee said as she crawled over to it and started poking it.
“Don’t touch it!” Skywarp yelped. “You don’t know where that came from!”
“Oh come on, what's the worst that could happen?” Arcee said as she decided to pick up the object. A moment later an arc of electricity came off the object and zapped Arcee, causing her to drop it. “Ouch!”
“You okay!?” Skywarp asked, worried.
“The stupid thing zapped me!” Arcee complained as she backed away from it towards Skywarp.
“You shouldn’t-” Skywarp started, but was cut off by a vortex appearing below them. Skywarp and Arcee stared at the portal for a moment as they hovered over it before falling in.
Arcee landed on something, and Skywarp landed on her.
“Ow…” Skywarp groaned. “You just had to play with the thing, didn’t you Arcee...”
“Sorry… I couldn’t help it, you know how I get when I’m curious…” Arcee complained as she got up.
“You know,” someone said, “I’m doing just fine, thank’s for asking.”
“What the-!?” Skywarp yelped.
“You know,” The voice said as its source got to its feet from where Arcee and Skywarp had landed on it, “next time you should watch where you’re going when you pass through a portal.”
“Eep!” Arcee squeaked in surprise as she noticed the blue bipedal canine.
“I’m not saying I’m mad, I’m just saying,” The creature replied, “name’s Cruger, mind if I ask who you are?” Looking up, he saw a pair of Dragons, “Well, can’t say I’ve seen whatever you’re bases are.”
Arcee quickly hid behind Skywarp, who seemed stunned. “What kind of name is Cruger?” Skywarp asked.
“It’s mine,” Cruger said, “and I noticed that you didn’t give me yours.”
“I don’t give my name to just anyone…” Skywarp said, eyes narrowing. “What’s going on? Where are we?”
“Well,” Cruger said, “you piggybacked on my token’s portal, long story short, you just jumped from your Equestria to mine.”
“Uh… There are more…?” Skywarp asked. Arcee poked her head out from behind Skywarp, confused as to what was going on.
“You’re new to this whole Displaced thing aren’t ya?” Cruger asked.
“Disco- what?” Skywarp said.
“Displaced,” Cruger said, “let me guess, you were at a convention in costume, bought something that was part of that costume, then appeared in your Equestria five seconds later.”
“Nope…” Skywarp replied. “Went to a movie, bought a ticket, now here we are.”
“Which one?” Cruger asked.
“A rerun of the first Transformers movie…” Arcee replied.
“Nice, love that one,” Cruger said, “so, I’m guessing that you were still dressed up as a Cybertronian anyway, right?”
“Who says we were transformers?” Skywarp asked, but sighed. “Ugh… Fine, we were… Now tell us how to go back home.”
“To be honest, I’m not one hundred percent sure how,” Cruger said, “you two piggybacked on my Token, which has only happened to me once before, though not in quite the same way. Either way, I’m going to need to know your names before I can even start, it’s part of the void magic that Tokens use.”
Skywarp growled. “Skywarp…”
“I’m Arcee…” Arcee replied shyly as she started to come out from behind Skywarp.
Cruger sighed, “Not my first choice for my first Transformers Displaced, but I’m glad to meet some all the same.”
Skywarp transformed into his robot form and pointed his arm cannon at Cruger. “What was that? Are you making fun of my choice?”
“No,” Cruger replied, pushing the gun away with a finger, “just saying that my favorite Transformer is Metroplex. By the way, I must say you have some nice taste.”
Skywarp rolled his optics as he lowered his cannon. “In any case… What’s a Displaced?”
“It means Dimensionally Misplaced, or something along those lines,” Cruger replied, “and I already told ya the standard version. Guy goes to convention in costume, buys something from a shady vendor…”
“Okay, okay, I get it.” Skywarp interrupted. “Who exactly are you? I get your name, but that’s just that, a name.”
“Well, to be honest my name used to be Scott,” Cruger said, “but I decided to change it to match my base. Maybe this’ll ring a bell, Power Rangers SPD?”
“Power rangers?” Arcee asked, Transforming into her robot mode. “I heard of it…”
“I watched a couple of them… Meh…” Skywarp shrugged.
“I take back what I said about your taste,” Cruger said, “so, ready to head home?”
“Wait, you said this is another world right?” Arcee asked, a glint in her eye.
“If you want to stick around for a bit, I don’t have a problem with it,” Cruger said.
“... What have you done…?” Skywarp said.
“You’re a Displaced,” Cruger said, “visiting other Displaced in their Verses is kinda our stich.”
Arcee then transformed before flying off at breakneck speeds.
Skywarp transformed himself, groaning. “Now I’ll never catch up…”
“Don’t be too sure,” Cruger said as he hopped on top, “you’ve got a teleport ability if I’m not mistaken?”
“I’m not wasting my energon. And it’s only for short range.” Skywarp said.
“Then you are an amature,” Cruger said, “let me show you how to port.” With that, Cruger generated a blue aura around himself and Skywarp. With a flash, they appeared directly in front of Arcee.
“Wha!” Skywarp yelped, before Arcee crashed into them.
“I got ya,” Cruger said. With another flash, they all appeared on the ground, unharmed. “Probably should have mentioned that I’m a master of Dimensional Magic.”
“Oww… My head…” Arcee groaned as she got to her feet, “What's the number of the bus that just hit me?”
“Uh… Dunno…” Skywarp said. “Do I have a number?”
“I said you could explore,” Cruger said, “I didn’t say I was done talking.”
“She does that a lot…” Skywarp stated.
Arcee shoved Skywarp before turning to face Cruger, “Sorry, so what were you saying?”
“Well, I was going to give you two a tour,” Cruger said, “Twilight loves meeting new Displaced.”
“Well, okay… But I want to make the introduction to this… ‘Vampire’…” Skywarp said. “Wait… That can’t be right… Who the blizzard is Twilight?”
“Don’t mention that book,” Cruger said, “anyway, my Twilight is an alicorn princess, though she might not be one in your verse, and a good friend of mine. By the way, I’m putting even money on her geeking out over the two of you, but not because you’re robots.”
“Why then?” Skywarp asked.
“Because you’re living robots, I don’t really use AI myself,” Cruger said, “not to say I don’t like AIs, EDI’s one of my favorite Mass Effect characters, but I’ve watched Terminator.”
“We’re not AI.” Skywarp said. “Lead the way.”
Cruger opened a portal, “After you.”
“Ladies first. Arce.” Skywarp bowed, gesturing to the portal with his talons.
Arcee looked towards Skywarp before raising an eye ridge before rolling her eyes, “Uh-huh, Whatever ya big goof.” She said before walking through the portal.
On the other side was a large service bay. “Hope you don’t mind,” Cruger said as he stepped through, “but I’d like to let the rest of Ponyville know you’re friendly before we go sightseeing.” With that, he walked up to a phone set on the wall and started talking.
“Ooh! What's that?” Arcee asked as she poked around the service bay, not paying attention to Cruger in the slightest.
“A pneumatic wrench attached to a robotic arm, might want to leave it alone,” Cruger said before turning back to the phone, “yeah Twilight, similar to Kats, no they didn’t bring their own you.”
“You’re not gonna leave it alone, are you?” Skywarp asked.
“Leave what alone?” Arcee asked as she messed around with the pneumatic wrench. All of a sudden it started up, and moved around, darting at Arcee and pulling back. She squeaked in surprise before backing away from it, deciding to leave it alone as she started messing around with something else.
“What did I say?” Cruger said, “you’re just lucky it was just looking for a tire to change, you might not have been so lucky with the plasma cutter.”
“Then I’m glad I don't transform into a motorcycle anymore...” Arcee shuddered as she walked over to Skywarp, having decided against messing around with anything else for now.
Cruger hung up the phone, “Twilight’s expecting you, think you can handle getting there on your own? Her place stands out like a sore thumb, so odds are you won’t get lost.”
“What is it?” Skywarp asked.
“A giant tree shaped castle made of crystal,” Cruger said, “like I said, sore thumb.”
“Your friend lives in a castle!?” Arcee said in shock.
“What part of her being an alicorn princess did you not hear?” Cruger asked with mock incredulity.
“The whole Alicorn, Princess, and the point of all of those.” Skywarp said. “But I assume Princess means she’s a damsel… So I’m gonna look for a dark castle for her kidnapper.”
“Her name’s Twilight, not Peach,” Cruger said, “she actually has combat experience, went full on DBZ level smackdown with a pseudo demon who eats magic.”
“So Zelda…” Skywarp said, his face totally serious.
“Pretty much,” Cruger replied.
“Uhh… What just happened?” Arcee asked, having zoned out the moment Skywarp started talking.
“I was making fun of Cruger’s damsel.” Skywarp said. “Oh, Mulan!”
“Oh, ok.” Arcee said as she started to turn around before freezing, “Um, where do we go?”
“Skywarp knows the way,” Cruger said, “I need to take care of something before I catch up with you.”
“... I know the way?” Skywarp asked.
Cruger facepalmed, “I told you what her castle looks like.” He then opened the outer door and pointed, “I think you can find it.”
“You… Didn’t… All you said was it was weir-”
“Last one to the castle is a rusty piece of scrap!” Arcee called as she ran out the large garage doors.
Skywarp flew out in a flash and headed for the castle. “Winner makes loser do whatever they want!”
Cruger sighed before opening a portal, “Kids…”
After Skywarp made his little input to the wager Arcee’s face turned bright red as she put on a extra burst of speed to try and stay ahead. Sadly, she got distracted the moment she saw the castle… Allowing him to pass her. “Whoah thats huge… Scrap!”
“Haha!” Skywarp laughed.
“Oh no you don't!” Arcee shouted as she started catching up with Skywarp as they passed over the village next to the castle.
“Are you serious!? Yes I do!” Thad gained an extra burst of speed. To add to that, he teleported farther ahead. He finally landed at the castles doors and face planted into it.
A few moments later Arcee darted over before panicking, not knowing how to stop. She then crashed into the stairs just behind Skywarp, face planting as well.
“I win!” Skywarp triumphantly declared. “Now you gotta be my blanket!”
Before Arcee could retort, the door opened. “Hey, watch it!” said Spike.
“You watch it!” Skywarp growled.
“My head…” Arcee whined.
Spike stared, “Woah, Twilight said something about new Displaced coming over, but I didn’t know they’d be dragons.”
“We’re not dragons… We only look like Dragons.” Skywarp said. “Mind letting us in?”
“Sure,” Spike said, “Twilight’s in the library, follow me.”
Skywarp picked up Arcee and placed the disguised Transformer on his back before following. “So who are you?”
“Name’s Spike,” Spike said, “I’m Twilight’s number one assistant.”
“Skywarp.” Thad stated. “And this is Arcee.”
“Cool names,” Spike said, “here we are.”
“Uh-” Skywarp cut himself off as he shot a flame out of his mouth by mistake.
“Excuse you.” Arcee said from Skywarp’s back, still dazed from her crash.
“Spike,” called a voice from within the library, “I thought you were over your cold.”
“It wasn’t me,” Spike protested, “it was one of those Displaced that Cruger mentioned.”
“Really!” With a bang, Twilight burst out of the library, “oh this is so exciting, there are so many Displaced to meet!”
“That won’t be fun…” Skywarp grumbled.
Twilight blushed, “Sorry, I’m just so excited. Cruger said that you were new at this whole Displaced thing, ask me anything.”
“You you have any gems?” Skywarp asked.
“A few,” Twilight said, “Spike, think you can bring some?”
“No problem,” Spike said, before running off.
“Look at the pretty birdies~” Arcee giggled before falling off Skywarp’s back. “Ouch! What the… where are we? Weren't we just outside the castle…?”
“You were out of it… By the way, you’re gonna be my blanket for a week.” Skywarp said, sitting down.
“W-w-what!?” Arcee stuttered, her face turning bright crimson.
“I won the race, now you’re going to be my blanket when I shut down… But way better.” Skywarp stated.
Arcee grumbled before sitting down next to Skywarp.
“So,” Twilight said, “do you have any questions about Displaced?”
“What exactly is a Displaced…” Skywarp asked.
“Well, I don’t know all the details,” Twilight said, “nobody really does, but Displaced are people that are taken from their world and sent to an Equestria with the powers, and sometimes appearance, of a fictional character, usually whichever one they were dressed up as at the time. Most are Displaced by a real jerk called the Merchant, but some Displacers can be rather nice.”
“... They steal people? And they’re nice?” Skywarp crossed his arms.
“Usually the nice ones give the Displaced to be a choice of whether or not they want to be Displaced,” Twilight explained, “one Displaced Cruger knows for example was in a mental hospital after her brother disappeared. It was a choice of either being locked up, or be Displaced and try to find her brother, who was Displaced as well. To be honest it wasn’t much of a choice, but she’s very happy in her new life.”
“Is there something we should be worried about?”
“Not that I know of,” Twilight said, “but most Displaced usually need to deal with things from their base’s universe.”
“Is there a way to keep them out of our Universe?” Skywarp asked.
“Not sure,” Twilight said, “although there is a way to make fighting them off a bit easier.”
“Yeah?” Skywarp asked.
“You can make a Token,” Twilight said, “Tokens allow Displaced to call up other Displaced, whether to talk or if they need a hand.”
“... Nope.” Skywarp said, crossing his front legs.
“Why not?” Twilight asked.
“I don’t like people…” Skywarp explained. “If people can piggyback on a token into our world, then I don’t want one.”
“But what if you know who is in our world? We could use all the help we could get.” Arcee pointed out.
“No we don’t…” Skywarp grumbled.
“You’re not Optimus Prime, we’re going to need backup no matter what you say. ” Arcee stated.
“That you will,” Cruger said as he walked in, “morning Twilight.”
“Morning Cruger,” Twilight replied.
“I’m not! It’s going to just be distracting! Plus, who knows how many bad… Displaced there are!” Skywarp transformed into his robot form, causing Twilight to gawk.
“That there might be,” Cruger said, “but there are also a ton of good ones. Trust me, there are far more pros than cons.”
“I don’t like people…” Skywarp growled, crossing his arm.
“Very well,” Cruger said before turning to Arcee, “would you like to make a Token?”
“Sure,” Arcee said before transforming into her robot mode, “And yes you are Thad, I don't want you getting yourself killed because you didn't want to make friends.” She then added while staring down Skywarp defiantly.
“The dragons turned into robots?” Twilight said, “how is that possible?”
“We’re robots in disguise.” Skywarp said, getting up before walking away. “I’m gonna take a walk…”
“You might want to stick around for a minute though,” Cruger said, “one of the steps for making a Token is that you have to add a message that everyone who picks it up will hear.”
“I don’t care. Arcee can make a Token but I’m not.” Skywarp said, leaving the castle.
“Get your antisocial butt back here!” Arcee shouted as she chased after Skywarp.
“Arcee… Just don’t…” Skywarp said. “I can’t take any of this… The only reason I’m not freaking out is you. I need to take a walk...”
“Fine… but you are making a token thingy with me whether you like it or not once you get back.” Arcee huffed, tripping Skywarp over before going back inside.
Skywarp glared at the ground. “I hate my life…”
“No you don't~” Arcee called from inside.
“Well,” Cruger said, “I suppose his can wait. How about I show you how to do it and you can teach old grumpy gears later.”
“Sure.” Arcee replied, giggling at Crugers joke.
“Well, step 1 is to choose an object that represents you to serve as your Token,” Cruger said as he reached into his pocket, “I hope you don’t mind, but since you two don’t really have pockets, I took the liberty of creating something suitable.” Cruger pulled out a pair of pewter keychains. One had the Autobot symbol wreathed by a pair of dragon wings, the other was the same, only with the Decepticon symbol.
“Um… Maybe?” Arcee replied with a shrug, “Though we were planning on making our own faction separate from the Autobots and Decepticons…”
“Oh,” Cruger said, “it was just an idea, if you don’t like them we can go with something else.”
“We can figure this out later…” Arcee groaned, “Why don't you show me around? I’m curious as to what's around here… And we should probably find Skywarp while we're at it…” She then transformed into her dragon mode.
“Not a problem,” Cruger said as Spike walked in with a bowl of gems, “mind if we take those to go?”
“Sure,” Spike said as he handed it to Cruger, “just bring the bowl back.”
“Aww~ Is he a baby dragon? He’s so adorable!” Arcee said, forgetting what was going on the moment Spike walked into the room.
Spike scowled slightly, “I’m 13, I’m not a baby anymore.”
“Oh… Sorry?” Arcee said, chuckling nervously. “Um, what were we doing again?”
“Looking for grumpy gears,” Cruger reminded.
“Oh! Right…” Arcee said, rubbing the back of her neck before walking out of the castle.
“Let’s see,” Cruger said, “normally I’d start with Sugarcube corner, but I’m not sure in this case. It tends to attract a lot of ponies, something that Skywarp will probably avoid, and I’m not sure if you and Warp eat cupcakes.”
“We could probably try and eat them… Though they wouldn't do anything for us.” Arcee said, frowning as she realized that most of the foods that she used to eat she wouldn't be able to anymore.
“Maybe, maybe not,” Cruger said, “we’re going, might as well see if you can still eat regular food. That and Pinkie might be upset if there were new Displaced in town and she didn’t get to meet them.”
“Pink what now?” Arcee asked, pausing to give Cruger a confused look.
“Pinkie Pie, Ponyville’s Premier Party Pony and unofficial welcome wagon,” Cruger said, “she makes it a point to meet everyone who at least passes through. In fact, I’d bet good money that she and Skywarp have already met.”
“Oh slag…” Arcee said, her eyes reducing to pinpricks before darting off.
Suddenly, an explosion was heard.
“And that would be Pinkie,” Cruger said, following after.
Arcee and cruger quickly made their way through the town as they searched for where the explosion came from until they came across a rather irate Skywarp and a cheerful Pinkie Pie.
“No… We aren’t going to be friends…” Skywarp snarled.
“Not yet,” Pinkie said, “but give it time. I’ll be throwing you a party soon anyway, I’m sure you’ll make some friends there.”
“Please tell me she didn't say what I thought she said!” Arcee said as she started panicking.
“Rule number 2 when dealing with Pinkie Pie,” Cruger said, “a party’s never far away.”
Arcee then grabbed Cruger suddenly before jumping behind the nearest cover. “Hit the deck!”
Skywarp threw Pinkie and shot her with a laser, sending her off towards Cruger and Arcee.
Cruger looked down at Pinkie, “How’s it going?”
“This guy’s a toughie,” Pinkie replied chipperly, “I haven’t had a challenge like this since Cranky.”
Skywarp transformed and flew away.
“Fly away for now,” Pinkie said, “but know that one day, you and I will be buddies.”
“You do know you're going about befriending him the wrong way, right?” Arcee said, not registering that she was talking to a pony. “Anyway… I should go after him.” She then jumped into the air and flew after Skywarp.
Arcee flew as fast as she could, trying her best to catch up with Skywarp. After a short while she eventually reached him and proceeded to latch onto his leg out of exhaustion.
“Arcee… What are you doing?” Skywarp asked as he stopped.
“... Okay, catch your breath.” Skywarp said, petting her head.
Arcee smiled at Skywarp before crawling up his leg and onto his back. “So, feeling better?” She asked nervously.
“Yeah… Why?” Skywarp asked.
“That's good…” Arcee sighed, “So, you want to go look around with me?”
“Fine…” Skywarp grumbled.
“Come on, don't bee like that… Think of it like…” Arcee said, trying to think of something. “A date!” She then blurted in desperation before freezing, “Erm…”
“Sure.” Skywarp said.
Arcee stared at Skywarp for a bit as she blubbered incoherently, before proceeding to faint with a goofy smile plastered to her face…
Skywarp grabbed Arcee before she fell and landed quickly. “Alice… Wake up.”
“He said yes~” Arcee giggled incoherently before she began to come back to her senses.
“Yes he did, now get up before you miss your first date with the guy you’ve crushed on forever.” Skywarp said.
Arcee quickly snapped back to her senses as her face turned bright red. “Erm, Uh… Yeah…” She said nervously as she slipped out of Skywarp’s grasp and got to her feet, “Sorry about that…”
“It’s okay, you’re cute when you do that.” Skywarp said, grinning.
If Arcee had a heart it would have skipped a beat at that moment as her legs went limp. “M-me? C-c-cute? H-he things I-I’m c-c-cute…?” She muttered to herself.
“Yep. I do.” Skywarp said. “You were always cute… I just thought you’d never think of me the way you do.”
“Well,” Cruger said, “looks like somebot’s not a total grumpy gears after all.”
“Now can you see why I don’t want to be alone?” Skywarp asked, crossing his front legs. “What do you want Cruger…?”
“Just wondering why you went all super laser on Pinkie,” Cruger said, “you’re lucky she can defy the laws of nature.”
Skywarp cleared his throat. “I. Don’t. Like. People. Only seven people have gotten through to me, including my family and Arcee.”
“Well, I guess I’m going to need to bring my Dremel next time,” Cruger said, “why don’t I send you off and tell Pinkie you had to go. If you stick around when the Pinkie Party starts, well let’s just say you’d have an easier time escaping a black hole.”
Arcee managed to get herself together before facing Cruger, “Well, Could we look around and possibly get sent back at the last minute? I still want to wander around and where we come from we have yet to meet the inhabitants…” She said in an attempt to play it cool.
“You want some cake don’t you?” Cruger said.
“No.” Skywarp said.
“What he said…” Arcee said, chuckling weakly.
“Well, why don’t you tell me what you’re verse is like,” Cruger said, “no two Equestrias are exactly the same.”
“Well, could you explain what we've seen so far?” Arcee asked Skywarp.
“War, some pegasus with a metal wing, no castle, kinda all looked brown.” Skywarp said.
“So you’re in one of those verses,” Cruger said, “I don’t have any firsthand knowledge of it, but I know enough to get you started. First off, the pegasus with a metal wing? Help her out. Trust me, she’s one of the good guys, helping her out should make things easier for ya in the long run.”
“Okay…” Skywarp said, tapping his foot.
“Second, here’s two names I want you to remember, Celestia and Luna, they’re the Diarchs of Equestria and basically in charge. Get on their good side, you’re going to have an easier time settling down.”
“Great…” Skywarp groaned.
“Oh hush, I agreed to handle all the up front stuff with the natives for you.” Arcee said as she playfully shoved Skywarp while rolling her eyes.
“Don’t worry, you’re going to like this last one. There’s this Unicorn called Sombra, he’s a grade-A big bad, evil enough to make Megatron look like Prime material, one of his pastimes is enslaving innocent ponies to do his bidding. I don’t think I need to explain what I think you should do when you meet up with him.”
“... By brony friend complained about how lame Sombra was… Said even G1 Megatron was more menacing.” Skywarp said.
“Seriously? Didn’t G1 Megatron turn into a pistol or something?” Arcee said, confused as to what was going on.
“He turned into a pistol weaker than his own weapon, which Starscream uses…” Skywarp said.
“Season 3 premier Sombra maybe,” Cruger said, “but the Sombra you’re facing, not so much. He singlehoofidly plunged all of Equestria into war, that takes a badass.”
“Megatron single handedly plunged his entire homeworld into a war that spanned eons…” Arcee pitched in, struggling to keep up with the conversation.
“The Sombra you’ll be facing has helmets that brainwash their victims into mindless troops for his army,” Cruger said, “do your verse a favor, remove him from power.”
“...” Arcee tried to come up with a counter but decided to give up, “Ok…”
“Why don’t his enemies take the helmets away?” Skywarp asked.
“Even if they could remove the helmets from those already wearing them, all Sombra has to do is make some more helmets and put them on some more victims,” Cruger countered, “like I said, I don’t have any first hand intel on it, but what I do know makes me want to bend my 1 rule.”
“What's that rule?” Arcee asked.
“Same as Batman’s,” Cruger replied, “thou shalt not kill.”
“Thou?” Skywarp asked.
“Shut up,” Cruger said.
Skywarp transformed and aimed his cannons at Cruger. “Make me pretty boy!”
“I once turned an asteroid to dust with one hit,” Cruger replied, fingering his sword, “I think you’ll take 2.”
“I opened a pickle jar in two seconds!”
“Ok! Break it up!” Arcee shouted, the situation going over her head. “You need to take a chill pill, and you… Touch one servo on him and you will regret it for the rest of your life.” She then said to Skywarp before threatening Cruger.
“Chill pill taken.” Skywarp said, moving his hands away.
“It wounds me that you would think I’d attack unprovoked,” Cruger grinned, “all I was saying was that I would win if he started anything.”
“You are a huge show off…” Skywarp said.
“Not showing off if you can back it up,” Cruger replied, “so, ready to go, or shall we continue our sword measuring contest?”
“I don’t think you know what ‘show off’ means…” Skywarp said.
“Lets just go…” Arcee whined, clinging to Skywarp’s leg.
“Oh come on, you enjoyed me being a fool.” Skywarp whispered to her.
“Anyway, call me up when you’ve figured out your new symbol,” Cruger said, “I’ll help you make your Token.”
“Ok, but until then… Adventure awaits!” Arcee shouted, crawling onto Skywarp’s shoulder before transforming into her robot mode.
“Good luck, Skywarp, Arcee, our contract is complete, don’t lose my Token.”
“Wait, what?” Arcee asked, staring at Cruger for a minute as nothing happened.
“Need to give a kickstart then, fair enough,” Cruger said as he drew his sword and slashed at the air, opening a portal, “that way leads home.”
“But I wanted to look around before we left… We haven't even been here long.” Arcee complained.
“You can come back when you’re ready to make a token,” Cruger said, “and if you can get grumpy gears to not be grumpy.”
“I’m up!” Arcee yelped in surprise, jumping to her feet as she snapped back to her senses. “Um… Did I faint again?” She then asked sheepishly.
“Yeah… So, what do you want to do?” Skywarp asked.
“Umm… I don't know…” Arcee replied.
“... Uh… What kinda date doesn’t have a plan?” Skywarp asked. “You know what? Let’s just spend some time together.”
“Ok…” Arcee said, not knowing what to do.
Skywarp sat down and patted his lap. “C’mere.”
Arcee complied, sitting in Skywarp’s lap. She then began to fidget with her hands as she snuggled in, her face turning a light shade of pink.
Skywarp’s arms wrapped around Arcee as he leaned back. “We could just sit like this…”
Arcee nodded in agreement as she got comfortable, not trusting her voice in her current situation.
An hour or so later Arcee decided to say something. “Um… Skywarp?” She said sheepishly
“Yeah?” Skywarp asked.
“What should we do now? Though personally, I would like to make a token so we could go on adventures together...” She said, hoping she wasn't annoying him.
“So that’s why you want to make a token…” Skywarp internally groaned. “Fine… We can make a token.”
Arcee grinned, mentally cheering over her victory. “Great! So until we come up with something to make a token with you want to go try and make friends with the pony that lives in the cottage at the edge of that town again?”
“Sure. Lead the way.” Skywarp stated.
“... Um, which direction was the town again?” Arcee asked sheepishly.
“Look down and we’ll find it.” Skywarp said.
Arcee looked up at Skywarp inquisitively. “Were inside a cave and I’m in you grasp… What's to look down at besides…” She said before blushing.
“We’re in a cave… On a mountain…” Skywarp deadpanned, letting go.
“Hehe… Yeah…” Arcee said before getting up, still blushing. ‘Bad thoughts! Bad!” She mentally berated herself over the thoughts that started spawning.
“Okay… Let’s go.” Skywarp said.
Arcee quickly transformed into her dragon form and walked to the entrance of the cave, once she spotted her target she spread her wings. “Ready when you are.”
Skywarp did the same as her, but nodded instead of spoke.
Arcee then began flapping her wings as she jumped into the air before flying towards the cottage on the edge of the forest with Thad, the sun was slowly rising which meant they had to fly close to the treeline to avoid being seen and causing a panic but they eventually reached the house and landed behind it. “Lets hope this works…” She sighed before slowly making her way around to the front, leaving skywarp to wait for her to give the all clear.
As Arcee approached the front door she tried to calm her nervousness before she knocked three times on the door.
There was the sound of hooves running about inside and animals making noise before the sound of the door being unlocked was heard. “W-who’s there?” A female voice asked from behind the door.
“Um… Hi? I’m not from around here and I was wondering if you could help me?” Arcee said sheepishly to whoever was behind the door, causing it to slowly crack open before slamming shut and locking once whoever was inside saw her. “What just happened?”
“Dragon!” Whoever was inside shrieked quietly.
Arcee huffed before knocking on the door again. This time the inside of the cottage fell silent, causing Arcee to start getting frustrated and start constantly knocking on the door. Sadly after ten minutes of this Arcee snapped and roared, “What's wrong with you!? I just want to talk and you slammed the door in my face and hide! Fine be that way, see if I care!”. Arcee then stomped around to the back of the house before climbing onto Skywarp’s back, laying there with her cheeks puffed out in frustration.
“What?” Skywarp asked amused.
“She… I… Argh! ” Arcee shouted, waving her talons in the air.
“I think my friend said her name was Fluttershy…” Skywarp remarked.
Arcee stopped her flailing and gave Skywarp a deadpan glare. “Is that supposed to be some kind of joke?” She asked.
“No. There’s also Twilight Sparkle which we met, Pickle Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack Daniel.” Skywarp said. “I think.”
“This is giving me a headache…” Arcee said, dramatically laying herself out on Skywarp’s back while raising a tallon to her forehead.
“Hey, look on the bright side.” Skywarp remarked.
“What bright side?” Arcee asked, removing her talon from her forehead.
“You can call Rainbow gay pride.” Skywarp said.
“That joke was bad and you should feel bad.” Arcee laughed.
“I should, but I don’t.” Skywarp smirked. “So… We failed to ma-” And evil grin formed on Skywarp’s face.
“... Skywarp?” Arcee said, confused and slightly worried as to why Skywarp stopped talking mid sentence.
“Hehehehehehe~” Skywarp chuckled evilly. “Oh we’re going to make friends with her alright…”
“Skywarp? What are you talking about?” Arcee asked, getting a bad feeling about what was about to happen.
Skywarp went over to the door and transformed. He then knocked on the door. “Miss, would you please open up? I wanted to see if you’d let me and my girlfriend stay here!”
“What are you doing!?” Arcee screeched in panic as she plopped onto the ground, staring at Skywarp as he tried to get the owner of the cottage’s attention in his robot form…
“Hmmm…” Skywarp teleported inside. Once inside, he immediately transformed to his dragon mode. “Good miss, please, I’m not a carnivore. I only eat gems.”
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” Quiet screaming could be heard from outside as the house's owner shot out from under the couch next to where Skywarp now was before she flew upstairs.
“Miss, we’re both civilized creatures! Look, what is it going to take for you to calm down!?” Skywarp shouted.
A small white rabbit then hopped down the stairs against the homeowner's protest and glared at Skywarp, waving a carrot in its paw at him in defiance.
“... Am I supposed to understand what you’re saying?” Skywarp asked. “Wait… You’re sapient? Nevermind that… Please tell your mistress I only wish to be friends.”
‘You’re being an ass.’
‘He’s right.’
‘Shut up…’
The rabbit continued to glare at Skywarp for a minute before flipping him the bird and jumping up the steps with his nose stuck up.
“Did he just…” Skywarp glared. “Why that little-”
A moment later a small yellow equine head peeks out of the stairway, it's pink hair covering half its face.
“Sorry if I scared you… I’m kinda born like this…” Skywarp whispered in order to not scare her. He somehow fit in the cottage. “Uh… I’m Skywarp. You are...?”
“... I’m Flutershy…” The pony responded nervously, her pet rabbit trying to push her out of the stairwell towards Skywarp.
“I’m sorry… What?” Skywarp asked. This felt like deja vu to him. “Speak louder please.”
“... I’m fluttershy...” The pony repeated as her rabbit left to go get help from the other animals.
“Nice to meet you Fluttershy. My girlfriend, Arcee, tried meeting you a bit ago.” Skywarp said.
Fluttershy didn't respond, frozen in fear. Her rabbit then returned with some of the pony’s other animals and they then proceeded to push and pull Fluttershy into the livingroom.
“Look… I’m not even a real dragon…” Skywarp said. “I swear.”
Fluttershy still wasn't responding, her eyes seeming to have glazed over. And her rabbit wasn't helping by jumping up and down in front of her face to get her attention.
Skywarp poked Fluttershy’s muzzle with a talon. “Hey…”
Fluttershy still didn't respond as she fell over like a petrified statue, causing her rabbit's eye to twitch.
Skywarp scratched his head. “Look, I just wanted to see if you’d like to have a picnic with me and Arcee. If you don’t want to that’s fine, I’ll leave.”
The rabbit turned to Skywarp and held up a paw before hopping into the other room. A short while later he returned with a bucket of water and dumped it on Fluttershy’s head.
Fluttershy snapped out of her fear induced shock from being doused with water before noticing Skywarp was still there. “P-please don’t eat m-me…”
Skywarp internally groaned. “I only eat gems. I’m a vegetarian.”
“But gems aren't vegetables… how could you be a vegetarian if you eat rocks?” Fluttershy asked, now more confused than scared.
“It means I choose not to eat meat.” Skywarp explained.
“... Ok…” Fluttershy responded, deciding to just roll with it.
“Am I wrong?” Skywarp asked. “The whole vegan and vegetarian thing always confused me… Wait, vegan is where I wouldn’t eat anything that comes from animals… Anyway, look, I don’t want to hurt or scare you. Arcee and I just moved to this land and are currently living on a mountain nearby.”
“Oh… I see…” Fluttershy said as she looked Skywarp up and down. “How did you even get in here…”
“I teleported.” Skywarp said. “Watch.” He then disappeared and reappeared outside. Only to reappear inside.
“How did…” Fluttershy muttered, now simply confuzed.
“It’s an ability I have. You see, I’m not really a dragon.” Skywarp said. “Come outside and I can show you. If you want that is.”
“A-are you some kind of changeling?” Fluttershy asked, now more terrified than before.
“No… What’s a changeling?” Skywarp asked.
“You… Don't know what changelings are?”
“No… I’m not from this land. You could say I’m not of this world.” Skywarp said.
“Not of this world?” Fluttershy said, now more confused than she had ever been before.
“Uh… I’ll tell you when you’re ready. So… Friends?” Skywarp asked.
“I... guess?” Fluttershy said nervously, not knowing what to think about the dragon she was looking at anymore.
“If I didn’t look like a dragon, would you feel more comfortable?” Skywarp asked.
“What do you mean by don't look like a dragon?”
“Don’t freak out.” Skywarp said as he slowly transformed, but stopped when his head was free. “See? True form.”
Fluttershy promptly fainted, making a sound similar to a sheep in the process.
Skywarp blinked outside, then went back to his dragon form. “It didn’t work… It did not work…”
“...” Arcee stared at Skywarp for a moment before sighing, “Of course it didn't work! You told her to much too soon!”
Skywarp shrugged. “So? We thought these bodies were fiction!”
Arcee held up a talon to try and make a witty comeback but couldn't come up with anything, so she then decided to just sigh again and slump to the ground.
“It’s okay Arcee.” Skywarp said. “We’ll come back later. We’re trying to do a date, right?”
“Oh yeah… I almost forgot…” Arcee said meekly, her face turning bright red.
“So… How do we start?” Skywarp questioned.
“Hmm… Well, we could go exploring possibly?”
“I suppose. What direction though?” Skywarp looked around.
“Well, why don't we start out over there?” Arcee asked, pointing to a mountain with a castle sticking out of it in the distance. “After all, we’re eventually going to have to figure out the layout of this world eventually. And since we can transform into dragons, a castle is the most logical place to start!” She then added with a sly grin.
“I suppose…” Skywarp sighed, spreading his wings. “Fine.”
“Something wrong?” Arcee asked as she spread her wings as well.
“That castle doesn’t look safe.” Skywarp said.
“How does it not look safe? The most dangerous things we know of in this world are probably the dragons, and there is most likely not any dragons there guarding a sleeping princess.” Arcee teased.
“I mean look at it! It’s on the side of a flippin mountain!” Skywarp gestured to it.
“So?” Arcee asked.
Skywarp groaned. “Let’s go…”
Arcee simply rolled her eyes at Skywarp before she began flying towards the castle, Skywarp not far behind her.
“Full house!” Fleetfoot triumphantly shouted as Flitter, Thunderlane and Limestone Pie groaned.
“You cheated, seven wins in a row is impossible!” Thunderlane glared.
Fleetfoot snickered as she took the pile of bits in front of her. “My brother got all of my bad luck.”
Limestone snatched whatever bits she had left. “I’m getting a drink.” Flitter nodded and followed.
“Hey Captain!” Thunderlane called out to Rainbow Dash. “Something on your mind?”
“Its nothing… I was just thinking about that thing from the other day.” Rainbow sighed as she reflexively stretched her robotic wing.
“Dash, don’t dwell.” Flitter said. “Dwelling clouds your head.”
“But I can't help it!” Rainbow groaned, “I mean, what was that thing!?”
“Looked like a giant kite.” Fleetfoot suggested.
“It talked… and was made of metal…” Rainbow said as she started to zone out again.
“Well, let’s not focus on it like that. Let the eggheads figure it out.” Fleetfoot said.
“Yeah, featherhead is right.” Thunderlane nodded.
“I guess…” Rainbow groaned as she got up from her seat, “Anyone want to go a lap around canterlot with me?”
“Sure!” Fleetfoot said, her wings spreading.
“Alright, see you out there.” Rainbow said with a smirk before she zoomed out the entrance to the bar.
“Hey Featherbrain, nice wingboner!” Thunderlane laughed. Fleetfoot blushed and looked away, before flying out.
“She’d never like me…” Fleetfoot whispered to herself. “Wait up Dash!” When Fleetfoot caught up to Rainbow she cleared her throat. “So Rainbow, I was thinking maybe later we could-” Fleetfoot was cut off though as she and Rainbow noticed two dragons flying towards Canterlot.
“Dragons!? What are they doing here!” Rainbow shouted, “We have to tell the princess!” she then turned around and flew straight for the castle.
“I’ll see if I can hold ‘em off!” Fleetfoot shouted.
Rainbow flew swiftly as she headed towards the castle, fearing the worst as civilians began to notice the pair of dragons and panic. Moments later she swiftly made her way through the gates and halls of the castle before crashing into the throne room where the princess was currently holding court. “Princess! We have an emergency!” She gasped from the spot on the ground where she had landed.
“What is it?” Celestia asked. Her face portrayed sorrow and alertness, but also, from what Rainbow could see, a loneliness.
“We have dragons approaching from the south!” Rainbow reported as she caught her breath and bowed.
“Thank you my little pony, I’ll deal with it myself.” Princess Celestia said, standing up. She then vanished in a blinding flash of light.
Skywarp was trying to ignore the white maned mare as best he could with how she was shooting something at him.
“Can I shoot her?” Skywarp asked.
“No, you can not shoot her…” Arcee groaned as she tried to ignore the mare as well, though her patience ran out when the mare blasted her in the face... “Ok, that's it! Either you stop shooting at us or I’m going to personally tear you to pieces!” She roared.
Fleetfoot yelped and retreated several feet.
“I think you scared her.” Skywarp teased.
“So what if I scared her a little!?” Arcee whined, “She hit me in the face! And it's much better than you blasting her out of the sky.”
“Fine.” Skywarp rolled his eyes. “We’re almost there anyway.”
“Hey, is it just me or is it getting warmer?” Arcee asked as she looked towards the castle, completely forgetting about the white maned pegasus that was just attacking them.
“Holy crap!” Skywarp yelped, grabbing Arcee and diving to dodge an oncoming yellow beam that was hotter than fire. “Hey Arcee...?”
“Y-yeah?” Arcee asked, a little shaken from the sudden attack that almost hit her.
“I think we should explore another castle…” Skywarp said.
“That's probably for the best…” Arcee chuckled weakly as she hung in Skywarp’s grasp.
“Leave now dragons!” Princess Celestia yelled as she appeared before Skywarp and Arcee.
“... Uh, Skywarp? Is it just me, or is that a pegacorn?” Arcee asked, her eyes starting to sparkle for some reason.
“Looks more like a Unicus.” Skywarp replied. The princess glared.
“I’m Princess Celestia. Last remaining Alicorn of Equestria.” Celestia said in her royal tone.
“Pretty… Pony… Princess…” Alice said as she twitched a few times in Skywarp’s grasp. Not a moment later she was suddenly behind Celestia, and glomped her… “Cute!”
“... Holy mother of a goat…” Skywarp said dumbfounded. he had never seen this side of Alice besides when he got that puppy… It was soon her dog.
“Is she…?” Fleetfoot trailed off, unable to comprehend what Arcee was doing.
“Can I keep it? It's so fluffy and adorable!” Arcee squealed, her entire appearance somehow morphing into a child like state.
“Arcee… She shot us…” Skywarp said. Celestia herself was stunned. This was new territory for her.
“But… But… It's adorable!” Arcee whined as she gave Skywarp the puppy dog eyes.
“‘It’ has a name and gender…” Celestia deadpanned.
“I think it is getting pissed…” Skywarp said nervously.
Arcee stared at Celestia for a few moments as the things she was just told started to register… Before she resumed cuddling the princess. “So fluffy~”
“Unhand me!” Celestia yelled. She couldn’t attack Arcee with her magic due to the dragon disguised robot being behind her.
“Hm? Do you not like cuddling?” Arcee asked blankly, tilting her head to the side. She then thought for a moment before starting to scratch behind Celestia’s ears playfully. “Is this better?”
“I command yo-” Celestia was cut off as she started purring into Arcee’s claw. Skywarp and Fleetfoot stared in awe, and some terror.
“Arcee… How did you…?” Skywarp stopped himself. “Pony’s with cat-like attributes, cartoon world war, and unnaturally small wing that work… Why am I surprised?”
“Something wrong Skywarp?” Arcee asked with a innocent yet foreboding smile.
“Uh… Nope!” Skywarp said, terrified for some reason.
“If you say so~” Arcee chirped as she returned to cuddling Celestia while still scratching her behind the ears.
“Don’t you think we should… You know, leave?” Skywarp hinted.
“But why would we leave?” Arcee asked.
“Unhand the princess!” Someone shouted before a rainbow streak shot past Arcee and Skywarp.
“Oh great, it’s the skittles retard.” Skywarp groaned.
“What did you call me!?” Rainbow shouted as she finally came to a stop before turning around and hovering in front of the two dragon disguised robots.
“A skittles retard.” Skywarp shrugged.
“... I’m sorry… I belive I misheard you?” Rainbow said as a vein in her forehead began to visibly pulse.
“A: used to indicate membership of a class of people or things. Skittles: a type of rainbow colored candy. Retard: a mentally handicapped person.” Skywarp said insultingly slowly. “Was that slow enough for you?”
“I’ll kill you!” Rainbow shouted as she charged towards Skywarp at full speed.
Skywarp smirked and transformed. Rainbow, before she could register, smashed into the Decepticons chestplate.
“What the buck!?” Rainbow shouted as she quickly recovered from crashing before looking up at Skywarp’s face, causing her jaw to drop.
“Miss me?” Skywarp asked, grinning madly. He then noticed a dent in his chest. He also noticed the area got… Colder.
“You tried to hurt my Skywarp…” Arcee said, her playful and childish disposition suddenly nowhere to be seen as she dropped Celestia like a rock.
“W-what?” Rainbow asked, unable to register what was going on.
“Oh… Shit…” Skywarp said, shaking a bit.
Arcee’s scales darkened slightly as her eyes began to glow bright red, she then slowly began to flex her talons as she aimed herself at Rainbow.
Sensing something bad was about to happen Rainbow immediately took off, screaming like a little girl as Arcee chased her down like a rabid dog chasing a cat.
Celestia glared at Skywarp. “Who are you!? What are you!? Why are you here!?”
“One question at a time!” Skywarp said, “My name is Skywarp… It’s a long story…”
Celestia glared at Skywarp. “Who are you!? What are you!? Why are you here!?”
“One question at a time!” Skywarp said, “My name is Skywarp… It’s a long story…”
“Start talking…” Celestia ordered as she flew up to eye level with Skywarp, having barely kept herself in the air after being dropped. “And call off that dragon chasing Rainbow Dash while you're at it.”
“Judging by appearance are we pegacorn?” Skywarp teased, grinning sadistically. “And it’s not like I’m in charge of her...”
Celestia’s eye twitched as her horn flared with magic. “I’m an Alicorn. Now chose your next words wisely or I will throw you into the sun before frying you creature.” She warned.
“Wow, what a buzzkill… Arcee, play nice with the gay pride!” Skywarp called over to his friend turned girlfriend. “If you wouldn’t mind, that is!”
The only response he seemed to get was Arcee roaring like an actual dragon before she broke the sound barrier to keep up with Rainbow Dash who had decided to try and escape via a sonic rainboom.
“Uh… Does that count?” Skywarp asked nervously.
“... Fine, I can see you can't control it so begin your explanation…” Celestia groaned, deciding best not to comment on what Skywarp called Rainbow.
“Okay… I’m Skywarp. And she’s Arcee. We are Cybernetic organisms from the planet Cybertron.” Skywarp replied, trying to sound like Optimus Prime. “We were sent here against our will by an as of now unknown force. Since we’ve been here, we’ve been attacked by your armies, and probably hunted… That sum it up, princess?”
“... you're… an alien?” Celestia stuttered, twitching a little.
“No, I’m a horse made robot that can disguise myself as an organism, with lasers, and can teleport.” Skywarp deadpanned. “Of course we are.”
Celestia smiled nervously as she cleared her throat. “W-well then… um… Sorry about if you've been attacked, would you like to discuss this further somewhere else?” Celestia asked nervously, having no clue how to act around aliens and actually being a tiny bit scared now.
“No.” Skywarp growled, before teleporting away. He appeared next to Arcee. “C’mon, let’s go. Hopefully that’ll keep these horses off our backs.”
“Hm?” Arcee asked as she turned to face Skywarp, showing him that she had caught Rainbow Dash… and was currently holding the both traumatized looking and very much unconscious mare in her mouth.
“Arcee! You don’t know where that’s been!” Skywarp shouted, panicking. “Drop it!”
Arcee looked down at the rainbow maned pegasus in her mouth before promptly dropping it at Skywarp’s feet as she nuzzled up to him like a cat. “I’m so glad that you're okay!” She purred.
“No thanks to you.” Skywarp rolled his red optics. “Let’s go home… Have we made that token thing yet?”
“... I don't think so? You want to?” Arcee asked, her sapphire blue dragon eyes gaining a mischievous glimmer to them.
“Might as well see who’s out there in case we need bigger guns.” Skywarp replied.
“Ok!” Arcee said, prying herself off of Skywarp before getting ready to take off again. “So, want to race to see who gets to decide the design?”
“Sure.” Skywarp transformed into his dragon mode before teleporting ahead of Arcee and speeding off.
“Hey! That's not fair!” Arcee shouted in protest as she charged after him, flying as fast as she could… which was for some reason not as fast as when she was chasing down Rainbow.
Skywarp landed on the mountain, transforming back into his robot mode. He waited for Arcee to land. “I win.” He declared.
“You… *Gasp* Cheater…” Arcee pouted, transforming into her robot mode before collapsing onto the floor from exhaustion caused by trying to catch up.
“Why’re you tired? We’re robots.” Skywarp asked, confused.
“Just cause I’m now technically a robot does not change the fact that I’m a girl…” Arcee whined as she pulled herself into a sitting position.
“I meant why are you out of breathe. You don’t need it.” Skywarp stated.
“... I forgot…” Arcee said, blushing a little as she fidgeted. The former jet transformer laughed.
“You know what? I’ll let you pick the design. I did cheat, and that means an instant lose.” Skywarp said, playfully patting Arcee’s head.
Arcee stuck her tongue out at Skywarp playfully, before tapping her chin as she thought. “Why don't we combine the autobot and decepticon insignias? Then use our token for our new emblem that way we can chose our own way of going about things, and not be restricted to the ways of either the autobots or decepticons?” She suggested.
“Sounds perfect. But how do we change our symbols, and make one that’s for our token?” Skywarp asked, scratching his chin.
“... Uhm…” Arcee droned as she stared off into space as sparks started to come out of where her ears would be if she was still human.
“Maybe we could ask that guy we met awhile ago?” Skywarp suggested.
“You mean Cruger?” Arcee asked.
“Whatever his name was, maybe he could help… And maybe we could make a faction name!” Skywarp added, mentally drooling at the idea of leading a faction.
“Alright, let me just figure out where I left his token…” Arcee said, before diving into the pile of treasure that filled up a portion of their cave.
“We need to organize this better… Later…” Skywarp said. “I’ll go look for some extra gems. I’ll be back soon.” Skywarp stated, before transforming and taking flight.
“Ok! I think I should be able to find it by the time you get back!” Arcee called from the cave as Skywarp left.
He had no idea what he was getting into.
Skywarp sat cross legged in an empty field in his disguised mode. He was stumped. He never knew where to find gems, or even if the same logic applied to this world.
“Why’d I think I’d just bump into some gems?” Skywarp grumbled to himself as he stood up and began wandering the open fields.
“I hate this… If I had my way I would be in canterlot designing dresses and suits for the nobles but noo~ I just had to get stuck with spending my days digging for gems just for them to be used to make those hideous contraptions used to repel that tyrant Sombra!” Skywarp someone rant nearby. Skywarp snuck in that direction, curiosity getting the better of him. He soon saw a white and purple Unicorn mare with a cart of gems. Skywarp’s eyes squinted as he hid behind a boulder
‘I need to start making… Friends outside of Alice… Might as well try to make friends with this thing. Might be beneficial.’ Skywarp thought. He then cleared his throat.
“Mind if I help?” Skywarp asked, coming out of his hiding place.
The pony immediately froze before she slowly turned around to see Skywarp towering over her. “D-d-dragon…” She squeaked.
“Don’t worry… I’m a pacifist.” Skywarp lied.
“W-w-what d-do you w-want?” The pony asked, nervously inching back a few feet so that the cart of gems was between her and Skywarp.
“Friendship…” Skywarp said, though he had difficulty in doing so. “I’m not even a dragon. This is just a disguise. A dragon’s the closest thing to my size with intelligence.”
“Y-you're not a dragon?” the pony stammered, “Then what are you… and why would you ask me of all ponies for friendship?”
“Because I can’t go into town without scarring the local. My plan is to make friends one at a time.” Skywarp said. “You’re the closest, basically.”
“I see… That's actually, very logical.” The pony admitted, somewhat understanding his point and somewhat disappointed that she was only chosen by coincidence.
“My cousin taught me that. You seem a lot nicer than the ponies I’ve met so far though. Most of them have attacked me.” Skywarp stated.
“Well what would you expect a simple gem collector to do against a big bad dragon looking thing like you?” The pony asked grumpily.
“Call for help. Alert your ruler to send heroes to slay me. Band the town together to kill me while I sleep? And so on and so forth.” Skywarp listed off. “But anyways, what’s your name?”
“My name’s Rarity, and do you seriously think they would bother? Their in the middle of war efforts for your information.” The pony said, rolling her eyes at Skywarp.
“That’s rude.” Skywarp stated grumpily. “I’m Skywarp. I’m new to this… land. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“So, what were you doing wandering around here Skywarp? Sightseeing?” Rarity asked, deciding that if Skywarp wanted to be friends she might as well give him a chance.
“I was actually looking for gems. I use them as a food source, but I can’t eat anything else to my knowledge.” Skywarp said. “Don’t worry, I won’t take your jewels. I have enough for now, I’m just taking precautions while my friend looks for something.”
“Your friend? Is there another of your kind around then?” Rarity asked as she hitched herself to her cart and started pulling it towards town as she continued talking to Skywarp.
“She’s back home looking for a… gift, a friend gave her.” Skywarp answered. “Her name’s Arcee.”
“Oh? A female of your kind?” Rarity said smirking, “I’m guessing by the way that you speak about her you’re not relatives, so is she your mate by any chance?”
“... Y-yeah…” Skywarp was glad he couldn’t blush. “It’s recent…”
“Oh my, how interesting! So what's she like?” Rarity said, hooked onto the subject like it was a tasty treat.
“She’s… It’s hard to actually say. She’s kinda- Why am I telling you this!?” Skywarp looked away.
“Because we're friends now and we were having a conversation?” Rarity said with a smirk.
“You’ll just have to meet her later. I can say she can be very childish and in general very… adorable in the way she acts. She’s more friendly than I am, too.” Skywarp explained.
“I see, I wonder if she’s into fashion?” Rarity muttered to herself. “So where do you two live? I just might come by with some gems as a welcoming present for the two of you.” she then commented to Skywarp.
“On that mountain over there.” Skywarp pointed to the mountain. “A dragon moved out awhile ago and we moved in.”
“Hmm, I think I may have time to come pay you a housewarming visit in a couple of days then since it's not too far…” Rarity said, “Oh, we're almost to the edge of town. seeing as you don't want to cause a panic, I’ll see you again when we next meet... but until then I’ll try and spread a rumor that a friendly dragon like creature moved in nearby so that the other towns ponies won't freak out whenever you do manage to come to town sometime!”
“Don’t say where… But I suppose Arcee would like that. If you need help with getting any more gems, I wouldn’t mind helping.” Skywarp replied.
“The offer is certainly appreciated and I will certainly take you up on it sometime.” Rarity said, bowing her head before going through the treeline that separated them from town with her cart of gems.
Skywarp mentally groaned as he flew away. ‘What have I done?’
Rainbow Dash groaned as she awoke, her memory of the past twenty-four or so hours a complete blur as she opened her eyes to find herself in the medical wing.
“Oh my gosh! Thank Celestia you’re okay Rainbow!” Fleetfoot cried out on the verge of sobbing, hugging her captain.
“Gah! Fleetfoot!? What the hay is going on?” Rainbow Dash gasped, both surprised that Fleetfoot was there as well as the fact that her subordinate was hugging her.
“One of those things near killed you! The doctor say it was a traumatic experience and that you wouldn’t remember.” Fleetfoot said, gesturing to Dr. Redheart, who was reading a chart.
“Ms. Foot was worried about you.” Redheart said. “But you should be fine.”
“Don’t call me foot!” Fleetfoot growled.
Ignoring Fleetfoot, Rainbow turned to the doctor. “What happened?” She asked, still not having any clue as to what happened… and starting to get annoyed.
“The best way to describe it, is that a blue dragon chased you and nearly killed you. Ms. Fleetfoot here brought you to safety.” Dr. Redheart stated calmly, yet emotionlessly.
“Uh… Yeah, that metal thing returned, and now Celestia’s… troubled.” Fleetfoot added. “She hasn’t even said why.”
“Metal… Thing…” Rainbow said as her memory slowly started to return to her thanks to Fleetfoot, before her eyes shrank to pinpricks...
“You’re safe! That thing won’t harm you!” Fleetfoot said, attempting to calm her superior. “Celestia’s even assigned you guards incase they return! Those Pie sisters that we work with often!” She then realized how unprofessional she was acting and backed off.
“Quick get the defibulators!” One of the medical ponies shouted as Rainbow went into shock, hundreds of scenarios of what could've happened to her flashing through Rainbow's mind.
Fleetfoot suddenly slapped Rainbow, glaring at the cyan mare. “Rainbow Dash, you’ve survived losing your bucking wing! And you're freaking out about a dragon chasing you and letting you go!?”
“But I could have died…” Rainbow said, looking a bit pale but no longer on the verge of having a seizure, causing the medical ponies to calm down as well but also left them more on edge. Although Redheart seemed pissed off at Fleetfoot’s action.
“You’re a soldier, we fight, we die. You’re alive and unharmed, which is… Which is more than some of us can say.” Fleetfoot said. “I don’t doubt that it was scary. But I know one thing. Thinking what could happen, instead of what did happen, isn’t gonna help. You’re safe, so worrying about what could’ve happened isn’t something my superior is know for.”
“Could you have been more cheesy?” Redheart asked, glaring at Fleetfoot, who blushed in embarrassment.
“Y-you're right… j-just give me a minute.” Rainbow said meekly as she took a deep breath and tried to pull herself together.
“You have all the time you need, boss.” Fleetfoot said, smirking playfully. “I’m gonna go have some dinner. It’s been a long day.”
“Ok, and… thanks.” Rainbow said to Fleetfoot with a troubled smile.
“Don’t forget, the team and I are here for you.” Fleetfoot said, before walking off.
Dr. Redheart cleared her throat. “If you’re ready to go home, please fill out the paperwork there,” She pointed to the bedside table, which had papers on it. “And then your guards will take you home.”
“Oh, thanks…” Rainbow said, blinking at the doctor before filling out the forms as quickly as she could.
“So, when are you going to tell the captain?” Flitter asked Fleetfoot as they ate supper in their uni’ mess hall.
“She’s not even into mares. She likes that Soarin guy!” Fleetfoot replied, then strted scarfing her salad.
“That hunk? Wow, you’ve got no chance.” Fitter teased.
Fleetfoot sighed. “I know… That’s why I’m not telling her.”
“I was joking… Just do what I did to get my coltfriend. Keep dropping hints if you’re scared to confront her.” Flitter suggested. Fleetfoot rolled her eyes.
“Flitter… Thanks, but she won’t ever catch the hints. What do you think I’ve been doing since I met her?” Flitter winced at that.
“Uh… Yeah, she probably thinks you’re a flirty pony…” Flitter replied. Little did they know somepony picked up on part of their conversation.
Pinkamena Diane Pie and Maud Pie helped Rainbow to her room. “Is that all, Captain Dash?” The pink one asked.
“It will be all for now Pinks, thanks for the help.” Rainbow said with a smile.
“We’ll be on watch out here for the next two weeks. We’ll try not to bother you.” Pinkamena stated coldly. Her reputation for being the most violent and held back rogue in Celestia’s army proceeded her. Maud simply nodded as she followed her sister out to the front door of Rainbow’s room before they spit up, going their separate ways for patrol.
Rainbow sighed as she detached her robotic wing and set it on the side table as she curled up into her bed, it wasn't as comfy as a cloud but it couldn't be helped due to the weight of her prosthetics rendering her unable to stay on top of clouds anymore except for when she was awake. Moments later she fell into a fitful sleep as she had nightmares of the night she had lost her wing… and her encounter with the blue dragon.
Chapter 7 - Apologies, mad shugar rushes, and finaly making a token!
“Aha! Found it!” Arcee said as she finally located Cruger’s token after having searched throughout the entire cave. “I should really clean this place up… Nah, who am I kidding? I couldn't clean anything up to save my life!” She then laughed to herself.
“Me neither.” Skywarp said as he landed outside of the cave. “You find it yet?”
“Eyup! And welcome back, find anything interesting?” Arcee said, acting like a housewife for some reason.
“I met a possible friend. She could help up with the gem thing.” Skywarp said with a shrug. “Or she could be the end of us.”
‘Dumbass…’ A voice in Thad’s head grumbled.
“Oh really what was…” Arcee started to say when she sniffed... she then suddenly appeared right next to Skywarp before sniffing him all over. “Who was she… and what were you doing?” She asked coldly when she finally stopped.
“Looking for gem in a field and so was she. Her name is Rarity, and she’s a pony. I don’t like women that were never human.” Skywarp droned, absolutely not affected by her glare. This was routine for him whenever he met a female when by himself.
“... Good, then we can be friends!” Arcee said, her mood doing another one-eighty as she returned to being friendly.
“Oh really?” Skywarp smirked. “Then I suppose you wouldn’t want a kiss?” He teased.
“Why would I want a kiss from a pony?” Arcee asked, confused.
“From… Me…” Skywarp groaned. “I meant a kiss from me.”
“O-oh!” Arcee stammered, her face turning crimson. “I-i-i um… uh…”
“You said we can be friends, even though we’re… Y’know…” Skywarp sighed.
“I was talking about the pony… sorry for the confusion.” Arcee said shyly, realizing her blunder.
“Oh…” And awkward silence descended on the two for minutes, before Skywarp asked. “So… Do you think anymore people are ‘displaced’ in our world?”
“In all likelihood? Yes, it would probably be in our best interest if we found them first if they're out there.” Arcee said.
“Uh… So… We should call Cruger.” Skywarp nodded to himself. “R-right?”
“Y-yeah…” Arcee said before holding up the police badge token. Nothing happened.
“Uh… I think it’s broken.” Skywarp muttered.
“Oh scrap, I hope not. It would realy-” Arcee started to say before the token zaped her again. “Ouch! Oh no, not again!” She then shouted before a portal opened under her and she fell through while transforming into her dragon mode, the token falling from her hands and bouncing out of their cave.
Cruger was fine-tuning the designs for the Aqua-Base for an upcoming project, when he felt a rip in reality. “Let’s see what noob landed in my dimension this time,” he said to himself as he opened a portal. On the other side was a small crater, and a rather familiar looking dragon.
Arcee crawled out of the crater, looking like she was muttering something to herself as she shook a tallon at the sky. It didn't help her situation that where the crater was now a house had been standing moments before. Luckily, there wasn’t anyone there, and it was condemned anyway.
“So, you didn’t even make a Token yet, how’d you get to my verse this time?” asked Cruger.
“Huh? Oh hi Cruger!” Arcee said a she noticed him. “Um… Personally I have no clue how I got here but I think your token thing hates me…” She then added sheepishly, responding to Cruger’s question.
“Might need to update it again,” Cruger mumbled to himself as Rainbow came down to land beside him.
“Anything we need to worry about?” she asked.
“Not really, just Token trouble again.”
“... Um, did you by any chance ever have a cybernetic wing or walk on four legs before by any chance?” Arcee asked the prismatic haired pegasus as she pointed at her, tilting her head to the side out of confusion.
“Uh… no?”
“I see you’ve met your verse’s Dash,” Cruger said, “how’d it go?”
“Wait... that was the Rainbow Dash pony you mentioned?” Arcee asked as she began to sweat. “Scrap…”
“What happened?”
“Um, I may have… Hehehe… Possibly snapped at her?” Arcee said sheepishly, an apologetic grin plastered across her face.
“And…”
“May or may not have… Traumatized her? I don't know, she was unconscious when Skywarp told me to spit her out…” Arcee confessed before holding up her talons defensively, “B-but I acted in self defence! She attacked Skywarp because I was cuddling some pretty white pony with wings and a horn that had been yelling at us for some reason!”
Dash’s eye twitched, as Cruger facepalmed, “That was probably Celestia.”
“Celestia? It said that was its name but I don't understand the significance. Also, would you like me to demonstrate how I was cuddling it to prove I was doing nothing wrong?” Arcee said innocently.
“No,” Cruger said as he grabbed her where her ear would be if she had one before turning to Dash, “let Pinkie know that I’ll be back with her and Grumpy Gears soon.”
“I don’t think she deserves her party, but I get that you don’t have much of a choice,” Dash said.
“Owowowow… What's going on? Did I do something wrong!?” Arcee asked, not understanding what was happening.
“What’s going on is that you’re going to go apologize to your Rainbow Dash,” Cruger said as he opened a portal back to her Equestria.
“Why!?” Arcee whined, believing that she did nothing wrong.
“As if you have to ask,” Cruger said as he stepped through the portal into Arcee and Skywarp’s cave, before getting his bearings, “you met your Dash in Canterlot correct?”
“I don’t know what canterlot is, but if you're talking about that castle on the side of a mountain she attacked us when we were flying in that direction to have a look around…” Arcee whimpered as she was dragged through the portal, though Skywarp was nowhere to be found when they arrived.
“That’d be Canterlot then,” Cruger said as he looked through the walls of the cave, “there you are, know that massive presence anywhere.” With that, he opened another portal straight to Canterlot palace.
“Halt! Who goes there!?” Shouted a white unicorn in purple plate armor as Cruger pulled Arcee through the portal only for them to be surrounded by a well armed contingent of guards.
“Ah, Captain Armor, Commander Cruger, SPD,” Cruger saluted with his free hand.
“How do you know my name Diamond Dog!? And what is this SPD that you claim to be a commander of?” The unicorn demanded, glaring at Cruger through his helmet.
“One, I’m not a Diamond Dog, I’m a Sirian, and calling me a Diamond Dog is something I take offense to. Two, I know you because we’re coworkers in another dimension, feel free to be present when I brief the Princess. Three, SPD is a special division of the Royal Guard of that dimension tasked with guarding against threats to the entire planet. As to why I’m here,” Cruger brought Arcee forward, “I’m here so that this little troublemaker can apologize for traumatizing Rainbow Dash, forgive me for not using her rank but I am unaware as to what it is.”
The guards all looked at one another in confusion as Shining Armor just gaped at Cruger, his left eye twitching. “I don’t even…”
“What is the commotion out here?” A regal voice shouted before Celestia stepped out of the front entrance of the castle to investigate personally.
“Ah princess, pleasure to meet you, before we continue however,” Cruger pulled out an ornate looking medal that resembled a golden sun wreathed by wings, “perhaps this could serve as my credentials?”
“How did you get that? And what's that thing doing here!?” She demanded before going into shock when she noticed Arcee.
“You gave it to me, well, the you from another dimension did anyway,” Cruger said as he put it away, “and she is here to say sorry, aren’t you?”
“But all I did was cuddle her!” Arcee whined, causing all the guards to gawk as the princess blushed at that certain memory.
“I was referring to you using Rainbow Dash as a chew toy. Speaking of which, would one of you mind fetching her? We have another appointment that I dare not miss.”
“General Armor? Please fetch Captain Dash, it looks like it’s going to be a Long day…” Celestia groaned, facehoofing. Shining armor swiftly saluted before teleporting away. “Now, Since I can tell you're most certainly not of this world please explain to me what the buck is going on?” She then asked Cruger, since he seemed to be more friendly than she remembered Skywarp to be.
“Short version, Arcee here was trying to contact me and in the process I discovered her, shall we say treatment, of you and Dash. As such, me being the lawman that I am, decided to bring her here so she could apologize. If you would like the long version, could we perhaps go inside? Nothing personal, but standing out in the broiling heat isn’t the best idea.”
Celestia sighed as she motioned for Cruger to follow her as she re entered the palace before heading to the throne room where she went up and got comfortable before speaking. “First of all, I would like to apologize for the heat, it has been getting harder and harder to control the day and night cycle as of recent years and my lack of sleep. Now would you like to fill in any details about the situation?”
“Of course,” Cruger said as he released Arcee, “well to start, there’s something you should know about my dimension. Aside from a few cosmetic differences, let’s just say the main difference is that, the Elements have their bearers.”
“I knew I should have listened to Starswirl…” Celestia muttered to herself, not paying attention to Arcee who was creeping behind her throne for some reason since she believed Cruger had the dragoness under control.
“Well, now, lets see what I need to cover… how much did Arcee’s companion explain?”
“That the two of them are sentient alien machines…” Celestia managed to tell him before Arcee pounced “Noo!” She shouted in surprise, attempting to escape as Arcee started petting her and cuddling her again.
Cruger sighed as he opened a portal and pulled Arcee through it, “Excuse me, but we’re trying to have a conversation. Now, are you going to behave, or do I have to start practicing my sealing spells?”
“But… She’s so cuddly!” Arcee whined, giving Cruger the puppy dog eyes.
“You’re not Agnes, now behave or get a timeout.”
Arcee merely continued to pout as she crawled into a corner and curled up, glaring at Cruger the entire time as she continued to pout.
“Apologies,” said Cruger, “now where were we?”
“Ahem…” Celestia said as she cleared her throat, attempting to salvage what was left of her dignity. “The one calling himself Skywarp said that they were alien machines with sentience that also had similar capabilities to Changelings, though those were not his exact words that's about all I managed to get out of him before he vanished…” She said, eying Arcee nervously.
“Don’t worry, I know the species, and they’re generally limited to two forms,” Cruger said, “anyway, what he didn’t mention is that, via a rather mysterious being that I am currently investigating, he was ripped from his home and brought here, as were countless others across the multiverse, including myself.”
“What!? How is something like that possible? And who would be mad enough to send creatures like those two here? It's bad enough with Sombra’s legion of slaves and cyberponies!” Celestia groaned, dreading the thought of more beings like Skywarp and Arcee showing up.
“As I said, I’m investigating him. I’m probably the multiverse’s foremost expert on Displaced, what we call ourselves, and even I know next to nothing about him. By the way, in case you were wondering, the Merchant only sends one set of Displaced to each reality.”
“Who’s the/this merchant?” Celestia and Arcee asked in awkward unison, causing them to stare at one another.
“The guy who sends at least 80% of all Displaced to their Equestria, so named because he appears in the guise of one, and his victims are sent after purchasing something from him.”
“But there wasn’t anyone dressed like that around when we wound up here…” Arcee stated, looking at Cruger with a confused expression as Celestia became curious.
“Then that just means you’ve been Displaced by someone else, I did say 80% did I not?”
“Great, that means that I have more chaos to look forward to…” Celestia groaned.
“Could be worse, he could be up and about.”
“Who’s this he?” Celestia and Arcee asked in unison again.
“Okay, that’s just freaky,” Cruger said, “and while I can understand Arcee not knowing, you don’t remember our friendly neighborhood draconequus?”
“There hasn’t been a draconequus in Equestria since long before my reign so whomever you're speaking of I do not know.” Celestia said, shaking her head.
“Consider yourself lucky,” said Cruger, “now, two more things I should mention about Displaced. While we all have our home dimension, we have our ways of visiting one another, as you can see. Second, while I’m good, as Arcee and Skywarp are also good, not all Displaced are.”
“We prefer neutral.” Acree interjected.
“My point is, just because someone is a Displaced, doesn’t mean that they’re on the side of Alicorns, especially this guy,” Cruger pulled out a wanted poster of Bosco, “this guy handed his Equestria over to an alien invasion, and is currently going on a multiversal sightseeing trip, and murdering every Displaced he comes across. Do us all a favor, you see him, contact me immediately, then run.”
“Will do, especially since that being you just described sounds similar to a spy that we failed to capture years ago before he managed off with many important documents as well as General Armors infant sister as a hostage.” Celestia said remorsefully as she took the wanted poster in her magical grip and handed it to one of the guards before he ran off to put it away for his princess.
“Damn it, how’d it end up for her?”
“We do not know, but the last trace of him we ever found lead over the border to the Crystal empire.” Shining armor said, sounding very upset as he entered the throne room with a certain Rainbow maned pegasus.
“My condolences General, and apologies for referring to you as Captain before, it was your rank back where I’m from and was unaware that it wouldn’t be here.”
“It’s alright, it’s nothing more than a title, I wouldn't expect a foreigner to be able to guess it.” Shining armor said forgivingly before bowing to his princess along with Rainbow Dash.
“Speaking of apologies…” Cruger turned an eye to Arcee.
“But!” Arcee whimpered, causing Rainbow to take notice of her and start to go pale.
“No buts, you traumatized her, now say you’re sorry.”
“Fine… I’m sorry pony that tasted like skittles…” Arcee said to Rainbow Dash, who simply stared at Arcee in confusion now, though still not moving an inch out of nervousness.
“Okay…” Shining Armor said, “First of all, what are skittles? And what the hey did that dragon do to our best flier?”
“Skittles are a rather delicious fruit flavored candy that comes in a rainbow of colors, although personally I prefer Reese's Pieces,” said Cruger. “As for what she did to Dash, ever seen a dog chase a ball? For all intents and purposes, that.”
Shining Armor at first just gaped at cruger before turning to face Rainbow and Arcee… Before reluctantly snorting as he tried to hold in his laughter as he imagined Arcee as a giant dog and his subordinate as a candy flavored ball. “I hate to say it, but while I feel bad for you Dash, the way Mr Cruger has described what you went through is quite silly.” He said, causing Rainbow to blush.
“I-it’s not that funny! She somehow caught up to me despite using my sonic rainboom! It was terrifying!” Rainbow defended, though was more embarrassed than terrified now. She wasn’t the only one as Celestia couldn't stop imagining a large dog whenever she looked at Arcee now.
“Um, what's going on? And why is everyone looking at me funny?” Arcee asked, unable to understand the situation.
“Let’s just say I was successful in ending Dash’s trauma,” Cruger said as he tried to hold back a laugh himself.
“... Ok?” Arcee said, deciding it was best to give up on trying to figure out the situation. “Can I come out of the corner now though? I’m starting to get a cramp…”
“I never sent you in there,” Cruger said, “come on out. By the way, I completely forgot to ask, why were you contacting me again?”
“Oh, me and Skywarp were ready to make our token! But it seems I’m stuck handling it by myself…” Arcee said before pouting again.
“Token?” Shining armor asked.
“Don't ask, even I can hardly understand it.” Celestia said, shaking her head.
“Remember when I said we Displaced had ways of visiting each other? That’s how,” Cruger said as he turned to Arcee, “so, do you just need my instruction, or would you like the services of my pewter smelter?”
“Um… I don't know what a smelter is, but we don't have a way to make our token on our own.” Arcee admitted.
“Back home it is, by your leave princess?”
“You may go, I think we have had enough for one day.” Celestia sighed, preparing herself for the large amounts of paperwork she was expecting to come in the near future due to these Displaced.
“Very well, oh before I go,” Cruger pulled out a notepad and pencil and jotted down a spell formula, which he handed to her, “a sealing spell of my own design, easy to cast, but incredibly effective, might come in handy.”
“Why thank you.” Celestia said, accepting the second piece of paper with her magic but tucking it under her wing instead of handing it to a guard this time.
“So…” Arcee said, crawling out of the corner and around the room until she was standing next to Cruger. “Shall we go?” She then added, not comfortable with going back through the main entryway or getting dragged again.
“We shall,” Cruger said as he opened a portal, “ladies first.”
Arcee rolled her eyes as she started to go through the portal… before a pair of pink legs stretched through it and grabbed her and Cruger before yanking them through. Causing the Princess, Shining Armor, Rainbow, and the guards in the room to all simply stare at the portal before it closed like a zipper. “What was that!?” A random guard then said in surprise, speaking everypony’s mind.
“What the!?” Arcee sputtered, suddenly finding herself somehow sitting in front of a large picnic table with Cruger next to her and a pink pony standing on the table in front of them.
“Hi, it’s about time we met, I’m Pinkie Pie, Ponyville’s Premier Party Planner! I had a whole Welcome to our Ponyville Party for you and the other guy but you left before it started. Luckily I hadn’t sent out the invitations yet so I could cancel without making anypony feel bad and there was a birthday party I could use the cake for so it didn’t go to waste but I made Cruger Pinkie Promise to bring you here the next time he saw you and you do not break a Pinkie Promise.”
“Believe me, you can’t, it’s been tried,” Cruger said as he dusted himself off.
“... Okay? So whats going on then? I’m confuzed…” Arcee said, only catching the part about promises from Pinkie's rant.
“That’s pretty standard when you meet Pinkie Pie for the first time,” Cruger chuckled, “short version, when someone new comes to Ponyville, Pinkie throws them a party. Since you and Grumpy Gears left before you had yours, she made me promise to bring you for yours the next time I saw you. And trust me, breaking a Pinkie Promise ranks in the top ten of things it would be a very bad thing to do, right under ignoring her Pinkie Sense if I’m right.”
“Huh, that's interesting… So, what do we do then? Go to this party then make me and Skywarp’s token, or the other way around?” Arcee asked, though she did hope she would have time to poke around a little later.
“Party first, or did you want the cake to go stale?”
“Um… Cake can go stale?” Arcee asked, having honestly never had cake before.
“Duh, yeah it can!” Pinkie said, “if you leave it out to long it get’s all dry and bleagh, you need to eat it while it’s nice and moist.”
“Oh, ok then. Though I don't know if I can eat cake… not as I am now that is.” Arcee said before transforming into her robot mode as she stood up, causing her to tower over the pink mare.
“Can’t eat cake!!” Pinkie exclaimed as she pulled Arcee’s head into her face, “this is serious! We need to determine your cake eating capabilities, STAT!”
“Wha?” Arcee asked, startled and now also a bit intimidated by the strange mare, before she was yanked unceremoniously off. After a few minutes, or seconds, she found herself in a chair, sitting in front of a massive slab of chocolate fudge cake.
“Well… give it a try!” Pinkie said, grinning.
“Um… Where are we?” Arcee asked first, looking around in confusion.
“Explanations later, now eat!”
Arcee shrugged before transforming back into a dragon and taking a bite out of the piece of chocolate cake in front of her, she chewed it for a bit then swallowed as she stared at the cake.
“And?”
“I… Honestly haven't tasted anything like it before…” Arce said before taking another bite, then another, and then another until she couldn't stop stuffing her face uncontrollably. “It tastes too good!” She shouted, her eyes became overly dilated for some reason.
“Aww, they’re so cute when they have their first slice,” Pinkie said as she wiped a tear from her eye.
“Must… Have… More!” Arcee practically roared, drooling energon uncontrollably as she gave Pinkie a crazed look.
“And then they go crazy and aren’t cute any more,” Pinkie said as she slowly pushed the rest of the cake towards her.
Arcee scarfed the rest of cake down uncontrollably until there was nothing left, after which she started sniffing the air in search for more.
“Need a hand?” Cruger asked from the doorway.
“Yes please, she’s worse than a parasprite, at least those’ll stop when I bring out the bagpipes.”
“No problem.” Cruger waved his hand, and several magical circles appeared on the walls of Sugarcube Corner, which then shot chains that bound Arcee securely.
At first Arcee merely stared at the chains, but then she began to thrash and gnaw at them as she tried to get lose and find more chocolaty treats.
“Normally this is where I bring out the sedatives, but I don’t think morphine works on robots.”
“More chocolate!” Arcee roared, before suddenly biting a chunk out of one of the chains holding her.
“I’m impressed,” Cruger said as he conjured more chains, including three which wrapped around her mouth, “those are pretty sturdy.”
Arcee continued to thrash, and attempted to open her mouth to no effect. Geting both annoyed and hungry she continued to thrash harder and harder, attempting to get loose while whimpering for more sweets.
As she struggled, Rainbow entered, “So, how did… woah, do I want to know?”
“Apparently she has a thing for chocolate,” Pinkie said.
Suddenly there was an explosion as the energon that Arcee had been drooling ignited from a spark produced by her claws scraping at the chains, resulting in her getting free...
“Note to self, Chain Glyph can be countered by energon detonation,” Cruger said as he pulled a red blaster from a portal, cocked it, then used it to spray down the flames with fire retardant.
At that moment, there was a loud crash as Arcee suddenly started raiding the counter of all its cakes uncontrollably, leaving a trail of energon drool in her wake.
“I got this,” Dash said. As a result, Arcee’s head immediately shot up from the now empty counter and looked towards Dash, her stomach gurgling.
“Skittles…” Arcee droned, almost sounding like a candy crazed zombie.
“Looks like it’s sugar that set her off,” Dash said as pulled out her blaster, “stand down or you’re going through the wall.” Arcee in response simply appeared in front of Rainbow Dash before eating her blaster.
“THAT’S IT!!!” Dash yelled before delivering the Hadoken she was charging in her other hand in Arcee’s face, sending her through the wall and into the streets. Moments later it was followed by the sound of citizens screaming in fear and a dragon roaring “More candy!’’ as what sounded like the window to BonBon’s candy emporium next door was shattered.
“Sure you got this?” Cruger asked.
“Just get me a new blaster.”
After Cruger passed her a new blaster, Dash charged after Arcee.
As soon as Rainbow Dash showed up, her new blaster in hand, Arcee had already started chowing down on all the candy she could find… Bonbon and Lyra cowering in a nearby corner.
“Hey, Sugar Wings, over here!”
Arcee turned her head to face Rainbow, tilting her head to the side in confusion.
“Don’t ya want some Skittles?”
Arcee looked like she was thinking for a minute, but when her stomach gurgled again her eyes suddenly shrank to slits, her full attention now on Rainbow.
“Then come get it,” Dash said before flying out of the store at full speed.
Arcee didn't waste a second, her wings springing out as she charged after Rainbow, before flying through a couple buildings that were in her way to catch up.
‘That’s right, follow me’ Dash thought to herself as she made a beeline for the Everfree.
At that moment Arcee roared as boosters folded out of her shoulders, she then activated the thrusters causing her to break the sound barrier and start swiftly catching up to Rainbow faster than she could reach the Everfree.
‘Not bad, that might’ve worked on the old me, but I’ve got way more than just speed these days.’ Just as Arcee reached her, Dash grabbed her by one of her arms and used her own momentum to slam the dragon into the ground.
Arcee roared in pain but ignored it as she pulled herself out of the crater she had made, the synthetic skin on her back now missing as well as the membranes from her wings as sparks arced across her back. Attempting and failing to get lift off again, Arcee resorted to running after the pegasus on the ground, breathing pink fire at the pegasus at the same time to try knocking her from the sky.
“Come on, is that all you’ve got?” Dash taunted as she dodged the blasts, turning so that they were head to the base.
Arcee suddenly paused... then holding her maw open, started gathering energy as a pink sphere began to grow in the back of her throat.
“I should probably have kept my mouth shut huh?”
As if in response, the energy gathered at the back of Arcee’s throat fired out of her mouth as a large pink laser with electricity arcing along its trail as it sped towards Rainbow Dash.
“Yeah, should have kept my mouth shut,” Dash said as she dodged it.
The laser arked past its intended target and speed straight towards SPD base… before impacting and exploding, punching out a window or two and leaving a huge scorch mark. At which point Arcee had started running after Rainbow again, roaring in hunger.
“Guess I can’t just tire you out,” Dash said as she charged her blaster with her magic, “say cheese!”
Arcee, noticing the blaster charge up, started running faster, intent on disarming what looked to her right now like a flying bag of skittles.
“See ya when you wake up,” Dash said before firing a massive bolt of energy at Arcee, causing an explosion that both sent her flying back a couple meters as well as pass out, even more of her synthetic skin now missing as well as chunks of her cybernetics.
Arcee’s body twitched a few times from the shock before her eyes opened as they turned a dull solid grey, energon leaking from her wounds as she went still.
Arcee’s eyes suddenly flickered back to normal as she regained consciousness… “Ow, my head…” She groaned as she tried to look around but was unable to move her body for some reason. “Um, h-hello? W-what's going on!?” She demanded, fear surging through her functioning circuits.
“What’s going on is that Dash had to subdue you after you went on the mother of all sugar rushes,” said Cruger from outside of her line of sight, “by the way, don’t have candy again, ever.”
“Oh, I always wondered why mom never let me have candy again after my fourth birthday.” Arcee said, calming down now that she had been told what happened... and knowing that she wasn't being dissected. “So, why is it that I can't move for some reason?”
“Same spell that I gave Celestia,” Cruger said as she noticed the ethereal chains binding her, “Chain Glyph, easy to cast, but so versatile.”
“Oh, Um, could you let go of me please?” Arcee asked, finding the restraints very uncomfortable.
“No problem,” Cruger said, dispelling them, “to be honest I used it mainly since I was a bit out of practice with it, Dimens Pin kinda made it superfluous.”
“I have no idea what that is, but ok.” Arcee said, attempting to stretch after being freed from her restraints only to flinch in pain. “How exactly did you say I was ‘subdued’ again?” She asked, moving as slowly as she could to avoid irritating the area’s of her body that were stinging.
“In her defense, her first idea was to lead you around until you crashed on your own, but after you shot a laser cannon at the base she decided to take you down hard.”
“Laser cannon? I can do that?” Arcee asked, somewhat surprised before the rest of the sentence registered. “Um, define hard? Because I feel like I was hit by a transport truck and then left to a group of not very hungry piranhas...”
“Supersonic faceplant into the dirt, followed by pegasus-magic infused laser blast. On a related note, your synth-skin’s growing back nicely.”
“Wha…” Arcee slurred in shock before looking herself over, and then squeaking as she tried to cover her circuitry that was exposed with a blush.
“Anyway, why don’t we get back to the reason you wanted my aid?”
“C-can I have some privacy to cover myself first?” Arcee asked nervously, her face red as a tomato.
Cruger simply exited the room.
With no one looking, Arcee quickly transformed into her undamaged robot form, making herself much more comfortable now that her innards weren't being shown off to the world. She then walked out of the room to where Cruger was. “Ok, I’m ready. I just hope your staff doesn't overreact to a sentient robot twice as tall as them walking around.” She commented, stretching a little to get any leftover stiffness out of her servos.
“We’ve had a drunken Kitsune running amuck in these halls, trust me, you’re nowhere near the weirdest thing SPD’s seen, or the largest.”
“If you say so, though a sentient robot does stick out like a sore thumb…” Arcee said, looking around to make sure. While a few glances were shot her way, they were more taking note of her presence than gawking at her.
“Anyway,” Cruger said as he passed her a tablet, “mind drawing out what you’ve picked? Kinda hard to make something if I don’t know what it looks like.”
“Oh, ok… I’ll try?” Arcee said, accepting the tablet which fit into the palm of her hand before attempting to draw something on it. After a bit, she then handed the tablet back to Cruger, a drawing that could have belonged to a three year old covering the screen in the form of a combination of the Autobot and Decepticon symbols in the form of a badge.
“Let’s take a look,” Cruger said as he accepted it back. After a glance, he brought up an official image of the Decepticon and Autobot symbols. With a few button presses, he cut them up and put them together like Arcee tried to do. “Is this what you were going for?”
“Yes.” Arcee admitted, fidgeting with her fingers a little as she looked at her feet.
“Don’t worry, I’m not the best artist myself, why do you think I Shopped it? By the way, you want those dragon wings?”
“Which dragon wings?” Arcee asked, knowing that he wasn't referring to her own.
“The ones from my previous work,” Cruger said as he pulled out the pendants he made for her and Skywarp before.
“Hmm, no thanks. After all, these dragon forms might not be used by all the members we may get in the future.” Arcee said, a glint in her eye as the image of a future much brighter than her past flashed through her mind.
“I meant just for the token, but if you don’t want it, it’s your commision.”
“This token is going to be used by our entire faction, like I said.” Arcee said with a shrug.
“Very well,” Cruger said as they arrived at a small workshop, “stand back please.”
“Gladly.” Arcee said, making sure she was way out of range of the equipment inside the workshop.
Cruger set the tablet on a stand and cracked his knuckles before surrounding the station in a blue bubble. Inside, Cruger was a blur, metal melting, being poured into a handmade mold, and cooling in less than 30 seconds. Once he was done, he dispelled the bubble, “Time dilation fields are so handy don’t you think?”
Arcee merely gawked in amazement, unable to verbalize her opinion. “H-how!?” She eventually managed to say.
“My signature technique is Dimensional Magic, further detail would put you to sleep. So, like it?”
“Yes, thank you.” Arcee said. “Though, me and Skywarp had one thing we couldn't figure out… How do we change the emblems on our bodies?”
Cruger tapped his chin, “Not sure, you could try scanning it perhaps?”
“Hmm, I’ll try that when I get back… so what is there to do around here? I want to take a quick look around before I have to go home this time.” Arcee commented before a portal opened next to her and spat Skywarp out, still in his dragon mode. “What the… Skywarp!? Where have you been?” She asked in bewilderment.
“Oh my gosh!” Skywarp screamed, before transforming into his robot mode. “Run!”
suddenly, a very pissed off green dragon came out of the portal, it’s yellow eyes burning in rage.
“Let me guess,” said Cruger, “you forgot to check that the previous tenant had moved out before you moved in.”
“No! I dropped the token once Arcee used it and it somehow landed in the Everfree.” Skywarp explained, before running.
“So why is the dragon chasing you?” Arcee asked as she and Cruger jogged alongside Skywarp down the halls of SPD.
“Let’s just say, anything in a dragon's territory is apparently owned by said dragon!” Skywarp shouted back.
“You know you’re handling this the completely wrong way,” Cruger said.
“Oh yeah!?” Skywarp screamed.
“Running just makes them think you’re weak, you want him off your tail permanently you have to show you’re the alpha. Besides, you’re an alien robot dragon, I think you can take him.”
“Personally, I think I’m done running for today.” Arcee said, stopping and turning to face the angry dragon.
“That thing’s ten times bigger than me!” Skywarp glared, “I’m not strong!”
“Well, then I guess I just have to defeat it then?” Arcee asked, a dangerous glint in her eye as her hands morphed into blasters. “Huh, so that's how I do that…”
“Alice, you can’t! I tried blasting it and all it did was bounce off!” Skywarp tried to reason, his cowardice getting the better of him.
“Then I better not set mine to stun then!” Arcee giggled dangerously as her blasters charged up and she stepped in front of the mad dragon’s path.
It instantly breathed fire hotter than Skywarp’s flamethrower directed at Arcee, engulfing the female robot in the flames...
Arcee’s laughing instantly stopped as she coughed up some soot before looking down at her soot covered armor, she then looked back at the dragon as her eyes started to glow red. “You didn’t… you did NOT, just burn, MY PAINTJOB!” She snapped.
“My condolences buddy,” Cruger said as he erected a barrier, “but like they say back home, ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’.”
“She’s… She’s… Ugh…” Skywarp rubbed his faceplate in annoyance. “Nevermind.”
The dragon began closing in on Arcee, but Skywarp began blasting it. The lasers didn’t bounce, but they barely did anything, as the energy used to power them was almost nothing.
Arcee, running off of pure fury, charged her blasters to their limit and then aimed right at the dragon’s face, killing intent oozing from her circuits. “I have two rules, just two rules, you want to know what they are mister?” Arcee hissed at the dragon. “One, you never touch my Thad without my permission. And two, you never mess with what I find cute!” She then screeched as she fired the her blasters, filling the area where the dragon was with pink light...
When the light cleared, there was only a pile of ash left in the hallway. Skywarp stared at the ash, petrified.
“Uh… Thanks for the save, Alice.” Skywarp said, shaking a bit in exhaustion.
“I think I’ll take a nap now…” Arcee said, plopping onto her metal butt in exhaustion due to low energon levels.
“Not bad, for a rookie,” Cruger said as he passed her a sugar free energy bar.
“I need energon…” Skywarp groaned.
“Try this,” Cruger said as he handed him an energy bar, “we’ve already determined that you can eat regular food, and I think the sugar thing was just her.”
Skywarp ate it, but didn’t feel any different. He then spat it out. “... Nope.”
Cruger shrugged, “Just trying to help, I’ve got degrees in Forensic Science and Theoretical Magic, not Cybertronian Biology.”
“Shut up, or I’m leaving with Arcee.” Skywarp snarled.
“Someone’s touchy,” Cruger mumbled to himself, “anyway, I’ve finished up your Token, we were waiting on you to do the finishing touches.”
“What finishing touches?” Skywarp asked.
Cruger held up the pendant, “Nothing much, just need to infuse it with some of your energy to prime it, add a message, and send it out into the void.”
“I’m… Low on energy.” Skywarp muttered. “If you haven’t noticed.”
“Doesn’t take a lot, about as much as you’d find in a AA. Besides, since you’re sharing, you two should charge it together.”
“Fine. But first, I want a few gems.” Skywarp demanded.
“Might as well see how well they charge you up,” Cruger said as he tossed him a few rubies from Rin’s fine.
Skywarp transformed and ate them, charging up a bit.
“You want some?” Cruger asked Arcee, holding up a sapphire between his fingers.
Arcee instantly dived for the sapphire, consuming it in her now fully repaired dragon form as she purred.
“Well then, I suppose you’re ready to charge it. Just touch it while imagining some of your energy going into it. And don’t forget to add your message if you have one, just speak it while you’re charging it.”
Arcee looked at Cruger as he explained how to finish the creation of their token before turning to Skywarp expectantly. “What would we put for the message?” She asked, nibbling on a couple more sapphires she had grabbed.
“We’re more than meets the eye?” Skywarp suggested.
Cruger chuckled, “You might need a little more than that, but maybe put it at the end? Just introduce yourselves, and say what you stand for, or something along those lines.”
“What we stand for? Like a faction motto?” Arcee asked, now nibbling on a ruby after having finished the sapphires.
“I’ll tell you mine, might give you some inspiration,” Cruger said before clearing his throat, “I am Anubis Cruger, the Shadow Ranger. If you require my aid, or merely my counsel, call on me. But be warned, you, as well as your foes, shall face my Judgement.”
“Huh, how about… We are the, whatever we call ourselves. call upon us if you are on the side of equality and either want to make a new ally or require assistance, but call upon us at your own peril for we are more than meets the eye?” Arcee suggested, her head feeling a bit numb afterwards.
“Good framework, although you might want to polish it a bit,” Cruger said.
“Why equality?” Skywarp asked.
“Because we’re neutral!” Arcee stated. “And would you honestly help anyone who looked down on others?”
“I look down on a lot of people.” Skywarp stated emotionlessly. “Anyways, equality doesn’t mean neutrality.”
“To be honest, equality might be the better option,” said Cruger, “less likely to run into crazy hermits who want to eat your face. Although Starlight wanted equality… never mind.”
“I already dislike you, so I’ll ignore any advice you have. The way you talk bugs me.” Skywarp glared. “Not to mention you’re extremely unhelpful in every way, say things that don’t matter like with whoever Starlight is, and act as though you’re better than us.”
“And you wonder why I call you Grumpy Gears,” Cruger mumbled to himself, “so, you want to figure it out here, or should I make you a do-it-yourself kit to bring home?”
“Oh, and another thing, you talk like a six year old.” Skywarp added, crossing his arms.
“I’m over a thousand years old, I reserve the right to hold onto any vestige of my youth I see fit. But if you want me to act my age, Arcee can vouch for my ear-tug and scold.”
“I find pinching her nose easier.” Skywarp stated, matter-of-factly. “Anyone can scold, I’m a year or two older than Arcee and I do it. That doesn’t make you act your age, or any age beyond ten. Now, neutrality sounds nice, equality sounds dumb since I doubt there’d be many equal rights idiots that we’d get along with. So how about we leave it vague who we’d help?”
“Sounds reasonable,” Cruger said, “What you think Cee?”
“Ok, I was never the best at coming up with things anyway.” Arcee shrugged, pointedly ignoring the part of the discussion about them scolding her.
“Aw, don’t say that. You came up with most of it!” Skywarp said, slinging an arm around Arcee in a one armed hug.
Arcee blushed as she tried to come up with a protest, and failed miserably as she fidgeted with her claws.
“Okay, so which one of us should relay the message?” Skywarp asked.
“W-well, I could if you want?” Arcee offered, currently trying to get her wings to fold up.
“Sure, you have a better voice than I do.” Skywarp declared, then flicked one of the wings playfully... causing her to flinch and blush harder before she managed to wiggle out of his grip.
“S-so! Let’s g-get to that!” Arcee stuttered, trying to get ahold of herself as she swiftly walked over to cruger and retrieved their token.
“Well, just think of a good thing to say, touch the Token, and say it,” Cruger said, “then we can go to the last step.”
“Which is?” Skywarp asked.
“Let’s get this step out of the first if you don’t mind,” Cruger said.
“Alright.” Arcee said, managing to finally fold her wings away despite her face still being as red as a tomato. She then walked over to Skywarp and held out the emblem so that he could hold onto half of it while she held the other half. He grabbed it, and two sparks of energy left their hands and went into the emblem. “So, what are we going to call our faction anyway?” She then asked.
“Cybertrons perhaps?” Cruger suggested, “just a thought.”
“How about Autotrons then? It sounds interesting enough.” Arcee then asked, combining the two suggestions.
Skywarp mentally groaned, but didn’t want Arcee sad. “Sure.”
“Ok then!” Arcee chirped, before reciting the message for their token. “We are the Autotrons. We are a neutral group but if you wish to make allies with us or simply wish for assistance of some kind call upon us. but if you have bad intentions call at your own peril, for we are more than meets the eye!” Once she finished, the token began to glow bright blue before turning into a sphere of energy and shooting up through the ceiling and into the sky. “Uh, was that supposed to happen?”
“It’s unique, I’ll give you that, but it looks like it just did the last step on its own,” said Cruger.
“Now I have a request. Can you replace our symbols with the shape of our token?” Skywarp asked in the nicest voice he could muster.
“We can try my original idea in 3, 2, 1.” Cruger held out his hand, as a beam of light shot down into it, before turning into their Token, “Try scanning it.”
Arcee, shrugging, transformed before she scanned the emblem token… moments later her autobot emblem dissolved as the new emblem took its place. “Huh, so that does work…” She muttered before noticing her still burnt armor. “I think I’ll need to get myself a new paint job before we leave…”
“We’ll see what tickles your fancy,” Cruger said as he scrolled through his tablet, “I know you can scan a paint job without changing your alt-mode, so that’s not a problem.”
“Hey, do you have any F-15 Eagles?” Skywarp asked.
“Sorry, but how about one of these?” Cruger turned the tablet to show him one of their new drop ships.
“... Nah. Maybe I’ll find one some day.” Skywarp said coldly. “Let’s go home, Arcee”
“Aw, fine… See you later Cruger!” Arcee said, pouting over having not been able to explore this equestria for a second time in a row.
“Feel free to call, and don’t forget your trash,” Cruger said as he held up the remains of the dragon.
Arcee rolled her eyes and took the bag of dragon ashes, wondering what she would do with them. “And don’t you forget to call should anything happen that you need the expertize of your local transformers for.” Arcee said, standing next to Skywarp and waiting to be sent back to their Equestria.
“Or if I just want to talk,” Cruger said as he opened a portal, “see ya later.”
“Or not.” Skywarp replied grumpily, before walking into the portal. Arcee waved as she and Skywarp went through the portal before it snapped shut, the only sign that they had ever been there the damage that Arcee left behind.
Skywarp sighed contently as he finished refueling himself on gems. “I don’t like Cruger...”
“Oh come on, he’s not that bad.” Arcee commented as she snuggled up next to him, “After all, he did help us with our token and our emblem… By the way, when are you going to change yours?”
“Oh, right. Where’s the thing?”
“Uh… It shot off into space? I guess you have to scan mine…” Arcee said as she started to blush, various thoughts of what would happen when he scanned her flying through her head.
Skywarp scanned her emblem without second thought, and his morphed into the same shape.
“Hello~ anyone home?” A mare’s voice called from the entrance of the cave. “I came to deliver that housewarming present I promised!”
“Oh, that must be Rarity.” Skywarp remarked, before transforming into his dragon mode. “We’re here!”
“Why hello there!” Rairity said cheerfully as she entered before seeing Arcee. “Oh! So this must be your mate that you were telling me about!” Arcee immediately went bright crimson from head to toe as she stuttered in shock.
“Yeah… Arcee, this it Rarity.” Skywarp said, pointing a talon at Rarity. “Rarity, this is Arcee.” He did the same thing for Arcee.
“H-hi...” Arcee managed to squeak, snapping out of her shock before starting to wrestle with her wings which had fully extended themselves reflexively again. Rarity giggled as she watched the embarrassed Arcee’s shenanigans while taking off her cloak and walking further into the cave to give the poor girl some assistance.
As this was going on, outside the cave on the branch of a small tree was a small red and black metal bird, it blinked its glowing yellow eyes a few times before flying off without being noticed. Intending to inform its master of what it found.
“Well, it's been nice meeting you Arcee, and it's been nice seeing you again Skywarp. But I have to go now, it's getting late and I would hate to leave my sister alone overnight.” Rarity said as she put her cloak back on, preparing to leave.
“Indeed we will, have a good night.” Rarity said before she walked out of the cave and down the side of the mountain back to ponyville.
“She was nice, though what I want to know is why she always referred to me as your mate…” Arcee said, leveling her gaze at Skywarp.
“I said you and I were a thing.” Skywarp explained half-heartedly as he walked over to lay on the ground.
“Ah, that explains it.” She said with a smirk. “So, you going to use me for a blanket? Or are you going to sleep without one?”
“The former.” Skywarp pulled Arcee onto him causing her to blush though she continued to smile at him as she got comfortable and went to sleep on top of him as if he were a giant body pillow.
Skywarp looked outside of the cave, an air of anxiety washing over him as he held Arcee close to him. Something inside of him was scared.
The next morning, Skywarp and Arcee began redecorating the cave. It looked much neater afterwards.
“There’s… Nothing… To do!” Skywarp cried out in anguish. “Arcee, what do we do!?”
“Explore?” Arcee suggested, as usual.
“You’re all about exploring… Ugh, fine. Let’s go.” Skywarp yawned, before taking flight. “Where to?”
“...Well, do you want to go see what we can find off in the east?” Arcee asked out of curiosity.
“I don’t know… Let’s go and see.” Skywarp stated, before heading in that direction.
Arcee simply smiled as she followed after Skywarp, excited to see what adventures they would possibly find.
“Hey Rainbow, you ready for the next mission?” Fleetfoot asked as she knocked on Rainbow’s door.
“Huh? Oh, give me a moment!” Rainbow shouted before the sounds of someone stumbling around as if they were caught off guard started coming from the other side of the door.
Fleetfoot tapped her right forehoof as she waited. She turned to Pinkamena and said, “Lovely day, huh?” No response. Pinkamena only glared ahead of her. “Yeah…” Fleetfoot awkwardly looked away.
“Sorry about that.” Rainbow said as she stumbled out of her room with her new prosthetic wing attached and her uniform on. “I kinda lost track of time while polishing my wing again…” She then added with a nervous chuckle.
“It’s okay cap. Wish we knew what we’re doing though.” Fleetfoot sighed.
“The princess will probably give us the details when we report for duty.” Rainbow said waving off the other mare’s concern. “Now, let's get going before Shining Armor or Sunset start getting ideas to punish us for being late.”
“They wouldn’t punish us… Right?” Fleetfoot asked nervously as she and Rainbow made their way to the strategy room, Rainbows new guards following suit.
“They probably would.” Maud commented.
Once they arrived at the room and entered, they saw Sunset Shimmer wearing her signature cloak, eating something that looked less than appetizing. Shining Armor, looking as pristine as ever in his golden armor. And Princess Celestia.
“Princess.” Fleetfoot acknowledged with a quick bow.
“Hello my little ponies. You arrived just in the nick of time!” Celestia said in her usual motherly tone.
“Three point five seconds late, but who’s counting…” Sunset grunted, flicking her grease cover mane with her hoof.
“Sorry, had to get Dash. She was polishing her wing.” Fleetfoot stated truthfully, causing Rainbow to facehoof.
“S’okay. Not like there’s a war going on that could end in everypony becoming enslaved…” Sunset muttered. She then swallowed the unknown food into her mouth. “Sro… You frirees redry tro harpe uth-” Sunset coughed. “Sorry, choked a bit. So, you fillies ready to help us deal a major blow to Sombra?”
Fleetfoot looked to Rainbow questioningly.
“Uhh… So what's the plan?” Rainbow asked nervously.
“It’s simple. Your flight team sneaks into Sombra’s base. There aren’t many Pegasi in his army, so you should get the drop on him.” Derpy Hooves, a pegasus general wearing a similar armor to Shining’s, but with the addition of an eye patch, said as she walked into the room. “You’ll enter the base by nightfall.”
“Shiny’ll distract Sombra’s forced via Sky Force tech. It’ll be night, so you guys shouldn’t be noticed until it’s too late.” Sunset added.
“Why haven’t you done this before?” Fleetfoot asked.
“Simple. Because we didn’t see a way to get past the barrier around the Crystal Empire. Until now.” Derpy pointed at a map of the Empire on the war rooms table. “We finally found what makes the barrier and keeps them working. There are pillars, that keep it up and sustain each other. Take one out, and then the domino effect takes it’s tole. Getting the blimp there will be tough, but we found a way.” Derpy gestured to Sunset.
“I’ll sneak over there and open up a two-way gateway. Celestia will be here and open the second half. We’ll transport the blimp there through that portal, and do the same thing if there are any complications.” Sunset explained. “I haven’t told Celestia this though, so it’s a longshot even if you agree.”
“So that was your plan my student.” Celestia mused as Rainbow Dash looked between herself and her subordinates.
“You guys feel like we could pull this off?” Rainbow then asked her team.
“I know we can.” Flitter said, smirking.
“YEAH!!!” Snowflake shouted. Surprise was busy placing exploding powder in Thunderlane’s uniform.
“What do we do once we’re in?” Fleetfoot asked, ignoring Thunderlane’s girly scream as the powder explodes and Surprise burst out laughing.
“Simple, Sombra still has needs. You simply need to kill him in his sleep.” Sunset said, pulling out a flask from her cloak with her magic.
“Uhh… You sure this plan will work?” Rainbow asked nervously.
“Nope. In fact, I have a feeling you’ll mess it up.” Sunset said, before taking a swig from the flask.
“Shimmer, no alcoholic beverages befor-” Derpy started but Sunset cut her off.
“Cool your socks- or lack thereof, it’s just grape juice cyclops.” Sunset shook the flask a little. Derpy glared with her one eye.
“O-kay… We’ll be going now then.” Rainbow said as she turned around and started making her way towards the war room’s exit.
“Good luck my little ponies.” Celestia said as she tried to ignore the catfight that had broken out between Derpy and Sunset.
“If that yellow mare is supposed to have our backs, we’re screwed.” Flitter whispered as they left.
Once the team was gone, Sunset turned to Celestia. “The darkness… It’s getting… Closer.” Sunset sighed. “I’m not sure I can make sure they’re safe… Even if Sombra’s dead, what can we do about his apprentice?”
“The most we can do for now is hope for the best until either a champion rises to save us from peril or a miracle happens.” Celestia sighed, “After all, according to what you have told me his apprentice is only getting stronger as time goes by.”
“Go take a shower, Shimmer. You look like a mess and you smell like sewage…” Derpy growled.
“Thanks. It means I’m not wasting a resource.” Sunset sneered, taking another swig of her grape juice.
“Just go take a shower Shimmer.” Shining Armor grumbled, having decided to not get involved until the discussion changed to his friend's health.
“Whatever, Shining… I do what I want, you aren’t my boss.” Sunset grunted as she stood up. “I have to go take care of the blimps preparations.”
“No, Shining can take care of that. I may not be especially close to you, but I don’t like seeing you degrading.” Derpy said sternly. Sunset sighed.
“Fine… If you’re going to nag me like that I might as well.” Sunset groaned.
“If it helps, I could bathe you like when you were a filly if you don't want to do it yourself~” Celestia teased. Sunset rolled her eyes.
“How funny…” Sunset trotted off.
Derpy rolled her eye. “That mare puts too much stress on herself. I haven’t seen her in three months, and during that time she’s been off on one of her goose chases for the Crystal Heart… She may end up a liability in this state.”
Celestia sighed as she slumped on her throne. “I hope that day may never come… I just wish things could go back to how they used to be before the empire had returned.”
“Its nothing like I had hoped… and the only things I have seen so far are those funny looking birds that seemed to be part feline.” Arcee pouted, disappointed in what they did manage to find.
“What?” Skywarp asked.
“Didn't you see the flying catbirds that we passed over a short while back?” Arcee asked as she looked at Skywarp as if he had grown a second head.
“Are you… High on something?” Skywarp asked.
“No, are you?” Arcee deadpanned.
“What’s going on?” He inquired. “Like… Really… What have we gotten ourselves into? And what do we do…? I don’t want to hide in a mountain forever...”
“Well don't ask me, you're the only one who has any clue what half the stuff around us is.” Arcee pointed out with a sigh. “You know what? Screw it, I'm going to go see if there are any more talking animals nearby.” She then added as she decided to land and poke her nose around the mountain range below them out of complete and utter boredom before descending from the sky.
“Alice!” Skywarp yelped, panic engulfing him.
“What?” Arcee called over her shoulder as she turned her head to look back in his direction.
“Dch-ch-ch-! Don’t go looking for… Things that might be dangerous!” Skywarp hissed. If he was more honest, he’d say that he just didn’t want to socialize with talking animals… Or period. “This place is a wasteland! It reminds me of Fallout or New Jersey…”
“Oh don't be such a party pooper, it's not like we're going to be attacked by radioactive zombies, mad cultists or somethin…” Arcee said rolling her eyes as she landed at the edge of one of the mountaintop forests.
“Don’t jinx it…” Skywarp sighed. “Ugh… This is going to be my whole day, isn’t it…?” He then flew down, following her lead.
But as soon as he was near the ground, a beam of light blinded him and a pain shot through his chest, and the sound of an explosion greeted him as he lost consciousness.
Arcee was shocked when she heard a ‘boom’ behind her. Quickly jumping in the air and spinning around to face the direction the sound came from out of reflex, seeing Skywarp with a smoke cloud billowing from his chest as hey laid on the ground. “THAD!?” She shrieked before racing over to him.
A purple energy bolt zipped by her head as she ran. Once she made it to that, relief took over her. His armor was mangled, but from what she saw, his internal circuitry was intact.
“Who’s there!?” She demanded as she looked in the direction that the energy bold that completely missed her came from.
A small transformer with a purple frame and red eyes popped out of it’s hiding place. A blaster in one hand while the other arm looking like a piston.
“You!” Arcee snarled, baring her fangs as pink energy began to gather in her throat, “How DARE you!”
The minicom only smirked. “You’re a crazy one! Just makes more sense why the boss wanted no one around.”
“Well, too bad because that also means I don't have to hold back now do I?” Arcee asked in a tone that sent shivers down the spine or circuits of whomever heard her before opening her mouth wide as the pink energy formed into a giant ball of laser-fire. “Now turn to scrap you bug!”
“Oh crap!” The minicon screamed, ducking under his cover… Sadly it didn't help as the beam of flaming energy burnt right through it and everything around it by three meters and kept on going till it went over the edge of the mountain and continued into the sky, leaving nothing but ash, charred dirt, and a heap of molten metal in its wake...
“I know you're listening! The next minicon you send after me and Thad will be the last you hear me? Because you won't survive to the next day afterwards, so back off!” She shouted out in warning, her eyes glowing a deep crimson as she looked up towards the sky… having known exactly who the ‘former’ minicon was.
“Destruction of Rumble was not necessary, Alice.” A metallic, feminine voice replied from a cave where ‘Rumble’ once was in front of. Red eyes glowing from the darkness.
“So you know my old name? Then you should know that the only one of Soundwave’s minicons I cared for were Laserbeak and Ravage. Now who are you?” Alice demanded as she aimed herself at the source of the voice, her currently red eyes glowing brighter.
“I wasn’t under the impression that you were here. Rumble was simply guarding the base.” Soundwave replied simply as she stepped out of the cave. “I have been following you and Thaddeus’ actions for a while. I tried to discern the most opportune moment to reveal myself.”
“Huh I suspected that me and Skywarp weren't the only ones… But I never imagined a female soundwave…” Arcee muttered, her fury wiped out my pure confusion… But that was understandable for someone like her and was obviously nothing new either.
“My original gender was female, and I was wearing a Soundwave shirt when I entered the movie theatre.” Soundwave added calmly as she ejected a pair of tapes. “Frenzy, Ratbat, mission: retrieve Rumble for potential repairs.” One was a black and red humanoid robot like Rumble, while the other one looked like a yellow and black bat.
“Wait a minute… you said when you entered the movie theater… were you following us even back on earth!? Wait you used to be human too!?” Arcee said, her voice becoming somewhat shrill as all kinds of crazy thoughts began to flood into her unstable mind.
Soundwave didn’t react other than speaking. “I was...”
“Stalker alert! Stalker alert!” Arcee yelped as she hid behind the unconscious Skywarp as she tried shaking him awake. “Skywarp wake up! I need your help, I can't remember what I'm supposed to do when a stalker approaches me!”
“I am not a stalker. I was merely observing you on your date with my cousin.” Soundwave replied, causing Arcee to freeze.
“R-Rani?”
“Affirmative.” Soundwave replied.
“Whaaa~~?” Arcee shouted out stupidly as her mind ground to a halt, her jaw hanging open as her eyes bulged and she slumped onto her sizable draconic rear.
“I shall repair Thaddeus’ damaged exterior. I apologize for my inconvenience.” Soundwave, or ‘Rani’, grabbed Skywarp by his legs and dragged him into the cave while Rani lit up the cave.
Arcee just continued to stare into empty space with a blank expression, lost to the world in her confusion as to the current turn of events.
Skywarp jerked awake, his vision returning quickly. He was laying on a rocky surface in a dark cave. And above him was Soundwave.
“Forgive me, I was unable to stop what my cassette did to you.” Soundwave said. Skywarp wanted to scream, but seeing that whoever this was hadn’t killed or took him apart had to mean that they were friendly, and based on what his mother taught him, screaming at friendly people was rude, and rude meant bad. So he just stared at the female Soundwave in horror. “I’ve completed your repairs. Though I believe you’d function more effectively without an animal form and just a hologram as a way to blend in better.”
That… Made little sense to Skywarp. He didn’t have one of those, and neither did Soundwave. So he replied, “I… Don’t have one of those.”
“I had some spare time to tweak with some cybertronian technology.” Soundwave answered. “I can install it into you if-”
“No thank you! I’d rather not have someone poke around my insides!” Skywarp said, shoving Soundwave aside and standing up, before speed walking out of the cave.
“Skywarp!” Aree yelled as she came flying at Skywarp in her robot mode, crashing into him and causing him to fall backwards as she landed with his head smothered in her chest, causing him to internally blush.
“L-let’s get outta here, Arcee.” Skywarp said weakly.
“No! You need to recuperate fully first! And then you're going to scold Rani for shooting you and then drag her along with us.” Arcee said, having decided on something during the time she had been outside the cave after coming back to her senses.
“Rani…? But she’s back on Earth.” Thad was confused. “Oh, Soundwave? I know she seems like Rani, but you’re just drawing from a dry well…”
