Chapter 4: Returning what was Lost
Hot Spot lunged at Onslaught with all his might tucked in a fist, but the Combaticon commander knocked the less-experienced gestalt leader with a swipe from his arm and knocked him to the side. Onslaught then kicked the downed Protectobot in the chassis, cracking the armor. Hot Spot's leg shot up from underneath Onslaught and kicked him straight in the mouthplate. Onslaught had barely any time to recover before Hot Spot lunged again and tackled him into the streets of Iacon.
Swindle and Brawl had ganged up on Groove and Streetwise. Streetwise was currently finding himself under extreme fire from Swindle's machine guns, leaving the motorcycle to attempt aggression on an already angry tank. Brawl fired an energon shell from his main cannon and knocked Groove from his spot. The Protectobot scout easily avoided another blast and fired at Brawl with his blaster, but the small gun did nothing against the tough armor on the Combaticon.
Vortex and Blades, being rival helicopters, already found themselves exchanging blows even before shooting each other. Blades had his rotor swords out and sliced at Vortex, but said Combaticon was swifter and ducked at the last moment, leaving Blades wide open for a counterattack. Vortex took the opportunity and punched Blades in the face, knocking down the Protectobot.
"And here I thought I would have some fun," Vortex sneered above Blades.
Blades responded by socking Vortex with a mighty sucker-punch across the helm. Vortex, more startled than hurt, tumbled over his own feet trying to regain some ground. Blades refused to back down and fought Vortex again.
First Aid was in serious trouble. Blast Off had relentlessly tried to bomb her into scrap, but narrowly missed because of the amount of rubble inside the large laboratory. First Aid was barely a fighter; hell, she was a battle-medic. Holding a gun was so alien to her. Blast Off had of course used that to his advantage and nearly blasted apart the femme, but First Aid was too addicted to living than dying at his hands. Biding her time, she jumped at the diving Blast Off who was preparing another bombing run. She gripped onto his wing and shoved his wing flaps down, sending both into a spiraling mess. Blast Off quickly transformed with First Aid still clinging onto his sides and touched down before knocking away the Protectobot. Bringing out his ion rifle he charged the dazed femme and fired off several rounds...
...which was blocked by a purple wall of magic.
"What on Cybertron?" Blast Off croaked, and took off to help Onslaught.
First Aid pondered what had saved her life, for she never had any sort of shield mechanism before. When she merged with the others to form Defensor, then they could form force-fields. Purple was Decepticon-related, all the time. Maybe a rogue Decepticon had saved her?
"Are you an Autobot?"
Looks like her savior wasn't a Decepticon at all, or even a Cybertronian. What really saved her was a small four-legged animal about the size of her foot. She had purple and pink hair, along with what looked like a star on her flank. On her head was a small horn, which glowed a purple hue.
"Y-Yes?" First Aid answered somewhat coherently.
"Good. Looks like I saved you from Blast Off, so now you owe me something."
The creature was being very blunt. First Aid wondered how it even got onto Cybertron, but then again they inside Shockwave's lab. Who knew whatever experiments he ran. She (the creature had a feminine voice and hips) looked rather desperate to get off Cybertron. Even then, how did she know Blast Off's name?
"What do you want?" First Aid asked, half-heartily knowing the answer.
"Get me off Cybertron. Get me back to Equestria!" She yelled out her answer, as if she had to repeat it multiple times.
First Aid had never heard of a place called Equestria before. It might be the creature's home planet. Though she cared for all life, First Aid barely had any info on whatever or wherever this 'Equestria' place may lie in space. There was no way she herself could find the creature's home planet.
"I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about." She answered.
"First Aid! Over here!" Hot Spot called over, and First Aid ran to his location, but not without taking a double-look at the small purple horse creature. Hot Spot raised his arm, and yelled out a simple command.
"Protectobots, combine into Defensor!"
To Twilight's complete shock, the five Autobots combined into one giant metal being, just like the Combaticons. The 'Protectobots', as they were called turned into a gestalt known as Defensor, somewhat of an opposite of Bruticus. He looked more peaceful and gentle than his Combaticon counterpart.
Onslaught leered at Defensor, and shouted his own command.
"Combaticons, unite into Bruticus!"
Twilight saw dark memories returning as the huge Decepticon reassembled itself before her eyes. His massive head turned at Defensor and rushed him, striking a massive blow on the chest and knocking down the Autobot gestalt. Defensor scrambled back up and kicked Bruticus in the gut, sending him back away. Bruticus rushed Defensor again and prepared to smash the Autobot titan into paste, but Defensor had a trick up his metal sleeve.
At the last moment, he stuck out his hand. In the palm of said hand was a glowing blue orb, and pointed itself at Bruticus. As the Decepticon gestalt's fist came raining down, a brilliant white force-field came out of the orb and stopped the strike completely. Bruticus' fist smashed onto the field, but did nothing to Defensor. Using this as his advantage, he disengaged his force-field, whipped out his heavy atom-smasher rifle and fired at Bruticus. The shot hit the gestalt in the chest and knocked him down hard.
But Bruticus wasn't so easily defeated. Clutching a huge steel I-beam, he smacked it straight at Defensor's head and toppled he Autobot like a logger would a tree. Twilight jumped out of the way before Defensor came crashing down near the wall she hid behind.
"BRUTICUS CRUSH DEFENSOR!" The Combaticon gestalt raised his foot straight above Defensor's head, the Autobot knowing there was no time to escape fate at the receiving end of Bruticus' boot. Defensor waited for the inevitable...
...which never came.
Instead, Bruticus' foot was caught in what looked like a purple sparkling cloud. The cloud suddenly whisked to the side and Bruticus was on his back. Defensor saw something climb onto his chest, and it was revealed to be a small equine creature. The creature had barely begun to speak before Bruticus rode again, this time with his fists clutched together. The creature's face turned from hop to fury as it faced the Combaticon combiner.
"Pick on someone your own size, Bruticus!" She yelled. Defensor gawked at the little thing that spoke with such anger at the combiner, like they had an ancient history.
"THEN PREPARE TO DIE, TWILIGHT SPARKLE!" Bruticus roared and brought both his fists down on the creature. And sure enough, to Defensor's ultimate surprise, she summoned her own force-field, which barely stood against the gestalt's double-fist attack. Defensor, knowing that Bruticus would do the same attack to break the force-field, tucked the small creature in his hand and reactivated his own force-field, which promptly threw Bruticus off his offensive move. Defensor stood with his organic in hand as Bruticus arose tall and angry again.
~Shockwave's Tower~
"This is most interesting." Shockwave concluded as he observed the ongoing battle between Defensor and Bruticus, the Autobot gaining Twilight Sparkle in the process. Though interesting, Shockwave concluded that she was no longer necessary to his objective and terminating her would prove no faults in his experiments. Shockwave also guessed that Optimus Prime would have also fought with Defensor, but the Prime had fled into the ruins of Altihex. Altihex was the last known location of the Female Autobots, and the equally elusive Alpha Trion.
Shockwave knew very little about Alpha Trion, and the hopes of breaking his hold onto Vector Sigma was always a possibility for Shockwave.
"Shockwave, we've got something coming into Cybertronian orbit." Shockwave turned to see Hurricane and Acid Storm on the monitors next to his.
"Very well Hurricane, put on the main terminal." Hurricane complied and pressed several buttons, and the screen cut to mostly heavy amounts of space. There was, however a small twinkling object in the dead center of the screen. Even with his superior vision due to the empurata surgery eons back, Shockwave could barely make out the small object.
"Zoom in, Hurricane."
"Yes sir."
The object, upon closer inspection, was revealed to be a starship similar in size and shape to the Combaticon shuttle weeks earlier. Except for the Decepticon purple, the ship was gold and white, with a much larger cockpit window. It was tinted silver, so Shockwave couldn't see the inside. However, long range scanners indicated eight life forms inside.
The same design of the crashed Combaticon shuttle and familiar colors let Shockwave conclude only one thing; the ponies had indeed returned. Despite her sudden uselessness, Shockwave believed that further examination on Twilight Sparkle would be a huge breakthrough in Decepticon technology. The others would only provide a distraction, and their termination would help the Decepticons greatly. Maybe the domination of the infernal place known as Equestria could be assured.
"Notify the sentries. Try to make them turn back." Shockwave commanded to the Seekers.
"And if they don't?" Acid Storm asked.
"Then tell the gunners to fire at will."
~Luna 2~
Barricade and Triggerhappy stood idle at the huge laser cannons in front of them. Triggerhappy was eager enough to try it on the incoming spacecraft and blow them into subatomic particles, but Barricade didn't really care. If it was to be destroyed, so be it. Shockwave's orders came crisp and clear. Barricade had Slipstream and Blitzwing intercept the craft and maybe persuade them to turn back.
But why Cybertron? Maybe Shockwave knew something. Blitzwing guessed that they had a missing relative that Shockwave captured, but Slipstream dismissed it as a rather small invasion force.
"Triggerhappy, get on the cannon. Blitz and 'Streamer are gonna notify us soon." Triggerhappy complied vigorously and practically launched himself at the gunner seat and raised the barrel at the starship.
Now, it was all a waiting game.
~Inside the starship 'Harmony'~
Celestia never saw Cybertron before, but the huge metal planet took a breathtaking size. It was beautiful, lights of all colors eminating from the surface and glimmering silver lands for miles across. Cybertron had no atmosphere or a sun, but it did have two moons. One had the shape of an erratic orange, it's surface dipping inward at a point below the equator. The other moon looked like a smaller Cybertron, except with small spires branching out.
"It's so pretty." Rarity gasped, enjoying the great view of Cybertron.
"Don't let that get to yer head Rarity, there're still Decepticons down there." Applejack said next to the astonished Element of Generosity.
"Um, girls...?" Fluttershy squeaked.
"Who cares? Let's get down there and pound some Decepti-creeps!" Rainbow snarled and slammed her hooves together.
"Girls..." Fluttershy squeaked again.
"What is it Fluttershy? You got us an invite?" Pinkie asked eagerly.
"W-We've got company." As if on cue, two Cybertronian jets transformed in front of the starship. One was purple and lime while the other was purple and tan. Both of the Cybertronians were Decepticons, as seen by the purple badge on their chests and shoulders. The green and purple Decepticon was sleek and thin, unlike it's tan counterpart which had huge bulk and treads on it's shoulders. It's red visor reminded the pink mare inside the craft of her late friend Brawl.
"Attention incoming craft, you are entering Cybertronian airspace. Turn back or we will fire." The message was broadcasted throughout the entire ship. The ponies grew wide-eyed at the two Decepticons in front of them.
"They'll shoot us?" Rarity croaked, obviously scared for dear life.
"There's only two of them; we can take 'em on." Rainbow bashed, but was silenced by her superior.
"This ship was designed only for exploration, not combat. We have no offensive weaponry on this ship." Celestia announced.
"But we can't turn back now; Twilight's down there!" Applejack cried out in fear of losing all of their progress. The trip to Cybertron hadn't been the smoothest or the most fun. The short effects of zero gravity gave all the mares a scare, but the artificial gravity built into the shuttle quickly ended that episode. Pinkie Pie nearly had the Harmony crash into a gas giant, and Rainbow nearly got them blasted to bits by annoying some space pirates.
"Despite the fact that I would rather turn this ship around and listen to the Decepticons, I will not tolerate my student being subjected to endless torture at Shockwave's hand." Celestia said.
"But what can we do?" Fluttershy asked.
"Attention craft, this is your last warning. Turn back or we will open fire." The second message came alive inside the ship, prompting Celestia to start her plan.
"Rainbow, thrust forward. We're going to Cybertron." Rainbow responded by kicking the exhaust lever at the end of her chair. The ship's boosters went overdrive as it lurched forward. Rarity was knocked off her own seat by the extreme force. Around the ship, a brilliant white force-field kicked in, absorbing the ship inside. This was of Celestia's origin, a field of her own design encasing the ship. Knowing Decepticons by her encounters with both Onslaught and Soundwave, she deduced the fact that a good defense is also a good offense.
"Let's see the Decepticons shoot us now." Celestia smirked, enjoying their now entirely new path towards their lost friend. The two Decepticons in front easily avoided being hit and returned fire, which didn't penetrate.
Meanwhile, on Luna 2, Triggerhappy aimed the anti-matter acceleration cannon at the speeding ship as the smaller guns kicked in.
"Way to go Celestia!" Pinkie cheered on, seeing as the shells exploded in front of the ship in vibrant reds and yellows.
"Yes, way to go." Came a sarcastic voice on the opposite side of Celestia. The Sun Princess leaned around in shock to see only one figure leaning on a computer terminal drinking a mango smoothie. Said figure's body coiled like like a lazy "S" shape, it's limbs different each side.
"DISCORD?! HOW?! WHAT?!" Celestia nearly fell off the command chair in sheer surprise as she saw her old nemesis in the same ship as her. The ponies stared in horror as the Spirit of Disharmony made his return. Spike stared in wonder at Discord.
"Seems as though you've been busy, Celestia." Discord mused, pressing buttons left and right. "Though I've never been outside of Equestria, I imagined space being a little more, oh what's the word, fun?"
"I have no time for fun while Twilight is on Cybertron!" Celestia responded angrily.
"Y'know, that actually kinda rhymed." Discord made his approval by clapping his multi-animal hands. "See? Space can be fun. Just like this!"
Discord snapped his fingers. The ponies went wide-eyed, for the last time they fought the happy-go-lucky spirit the snapping of his fingers meant something really bad was just around the corner. And sure enough, a dull whine was heard around the ship. Celestia waited for everything to vanish into something ridiculous, but it never came.
"What did you do?" She asked fearfully of her ponies.
"Why deny our metal friends their fireworks?" Discord sneered, and gestured to the glowing light on the orange moon of Cybertron. Celestia paled as she realized what he did.
The shield protecting the ship was gone.
And on Luna 2, Barricade ordered Triggerhappy to fire directly at the incoming starship. He pulled the lever, and a massive pink light emanated from the thick rectangle barrel at the end of the gun. Celestia could only watch as the shot impacted the very front of the ship, completely destroying the bottom half of the ship. The engines flickered and died as the Harmony began it's crash-landing onto Cybertron.
"It's like a roller coaster!" Discord snapped his fingers and a comfy sofa appeared behind him, as he was completely immune to the effects of rapid planetary descent. Celestia fumbled through the ship as it rocked back and forth furiously to get to her ponies.
"Celestia, help!" The Sun princess hopped towards the voice, which revealed to be all five ponies and the dragon.
"HOLD ON!" She screamed as the ship disintegrated as it entered the gravitational pull of Cybertron. Meanwhile near the inner commune of Kaon, Wayward and Shortcut witnessed a blinding shine near Luna 2, and what looked like flaming wreckage descending towards Iacon.
Optimus Prime and Elita-1 also looked up to see the crashing ship heading towards the former Autobot capital. They were near the ouskirts of Iacon, with the rest of the Female Autobots and Alpha Trion. The old librarian demanded to be taken to Iacon, though he never gave his reasons. But Optimus knew fear when he saw it, and Alpha Trion was terrified of something he didn't know about.
Hot Spot and Onslaught looked up to the burning carcass of the ship heading straight towards them while they were fighting. They instantly looked at each other and disengaged, knowing that continuing this fight would bring the death of them all.
"Combaticons, fall back!" Onslaught thundered and transformed, his team following suite.
"Protectobots, retreat! Retreat!" Hot Spot yelled and ran to avoid the incoming craft with his fellow squad.
And just in time too. The ship crash-landed straight onto the street in front of Shockwave's Tower, pieces and rubble flying through the air around Iacon. Skidding along for several miles, it smashed through several buildings in front of the space bridge. The white-hot metal, nearly melted by the extreme friction of the crash-landing roasted the streets of Iacon to several hundred degrees as it continued on it's swath of destruction and chaos, leaving flames in it's wake.
The ponies inside were strewn about the ship, violently shaking as it skidded across Iacon. Celestia clung on to her ponies for dear life while Discord watched in his chair.
The ship's deadly endeavor into Iacon ended when the front of it's hull crashed into Shockwave's Tower, causing the front of the heavily fortified building to shudder and windows to crack. Acid Storm and Hurrican had watched the entire thing with awe, while Shockwave took mental notes.
'Seems the anti-matter accelerators are better for surface-to-air combat.' Shockwave reminded himself.
Shockwave peered closely to see a group of animals crawl out of the wreckage.
Celestia was among them.
'This just got very interesting' Shockwave turned around and walked out of the control room and leaving the two Seekers. He descended down the elevator with the single objective of capturing Celestia, or killing her. But he could not do this alone.
-Onslaught, this is Shockwave. I have spotted Celestia and her band of other equines leaving the wreckage.-
-We'll meet with you in about 300 astroseconds. Onslaught out.-
Shockwave exited his fortress laboratory and stepped outside, easing over metal wreckage and pylons that were blasted out of the ship's external impact with his tower. Though it was easy finding them when he was up on the deck, the constant flames did deter his vision slightly. Many pieces of rubble and debris did have an equine or an alicorn shape to it.
But as he began to hear voices, he slowed to a crawl and began to advance...