DARK ENERGON
SWEETIE BELLE COULDN'T GET TO SLEEP. THE HUMANS HAD OFFERED THE EQUESTRIANS air mattresses to sleep on during their stay, and the one that she was on was extremely uncomfortable. It didn't help that it was the middle of the day – everypony had stayed up after Wheeljack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy came back – and the sunlight coming in through the window was filtering into Sweetie Belle's closed eyes.
Ah, the hay with this, she thought as she opened her eyes. She rolled off of the tiny mattress and onto her hooves. The curtains were closed, but that didn't stop the sunlight from coming in. She opened the curtains, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the change in the lighting. Judging by the position of the sun, it was close to noon.
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were sleeping on separate mattresses in the room. Apple Bloom looked rather content, but Scootaloo was thrashing around. She thrust one of her front legs into the air, like she was punching something.
"Take that, you big mean Decepticon," she muttered.
Scootaloo's dreaming about fighting the Decepticons. Just as long as she's doing it in her dreams.
Apple Bloom moaned as she opened her eyes. "What time is it?"
"Almost noon," Sweetie Belle replied. "We didn't get to bed until five in the morning."
Scootaloo had woken up. "Five? Wow, we were up pretty late. Anyway, how do you think Rainbow Dash is doing? I saw her leg last night. Ouch."
"She was doing fine when Wheeljack brought her and Fluttershy and Rarity back," Apple Bloom said. "Wanna go check up on her, Scootaloo?"
"Gotta make sure my idol is doing A-OK," Scootaloo replied. She quickly galloped out of the room.
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle followed Scootaloo into the main atrium. None of the Autobots were around – Must be out on patrol or just drivin' around, Apple Bloom thought.
In fact, there was no one around. It was like the entire place had been completely abandoned. There were no Autobots – they were probably out – there were no humans, and the older ponies weren't around either – they were probably asleep.
"Hello!" Scootaloo called. "Rainbow Dash! Bulkhead! Smokescreen! Miko!"
"They're probably still asleep," Sweetie Belle guessed. "You probably shouldn't be yelling like that, Scootaloo." Scootaloo galloped down the hall, where she knew the humans and the older ponies were sleeping. "And there she goes."
"Come on, Sweetie Belle," Apple Bloom said. "Gotta make sure she don't wake nopony up before they're ready." The two fillies followed Scootaloo down the hall.
Scootaloo was running from door to door, clearly unsure which one led to the room Rainbow Dash was in. Apple Bloom mentally shook her head; Jack's mother had said that Rainbow Dash needed rest, which meant that she didn't need Scootaloo bothering her right now. Sure, the older Pegasus loved the little filly, but given the extent of her injuries, Rainbow Dash didn't need to be bothered right now.
They caught up to Scootaloo as she banged a hoof on a door. "Rainbow Dash, are you in there?"
The door opened; Miko was standing on the other side. She rubbed her eyes; she was clearly tired. "Scootaloo, do you mind? We barely got any sleep last night. Whatever it is, can't it wait until later?"
"Sorry, Miko," Scootaloo said. "But I was looking for Rainbow Dash. I wanted to make sure that she was doing okay."
"I'm sure she's fine, kid," Miko replied. "She's probably just sleeping."
"Where?"
"I don't know, one of these rooms. Look, why don't you three go find something to get into."
"Like what?" Sweetie Belle asked. "The Autobots are out and everypony else is asleep."
"I don't know," Miko said. She was starting to get frustrated, but managed not to show it. "Find a way to beat up Megatron or something, just let me get some sleep." She closed the door, making sure not to slam it in the fillies' faces.
The three fillies sat in the silent hall, quietly thinking to themselves. Apple Bloom tapped a hoof to her chin in thought. "Y'all thinkin' what I'm thinking?"
"Yeah," Scootaloo said. "You guys know how to work the Ground Bridge?"
"No," Sweetie Belle replied. "And I don't think we should even bother trying."
"You're no fun, Sweetie Belle," Scootaloo said. "Think about it – we get onto the Decepticon warship, we beat the living pony feathers out of Megatron, and we get rid of your sister's nightmares."
"D'ya really think it will be that easy?" Apple Bloom asked. "'cause I don't."
Scootaloo thrust a hoof into the air. "Come on, Crusaders. Let's go show those Decepticons that the Cutie Mark Crusaders mean business."
Apple Bloom tapped a hoof to her chin. "Well, since I AM thinking the same thing – "
Sweetie Belle sighed. "Oh, all right."
The three fillies brought their hooves together. "CUTE MARK CRUSADERS DECEPTICON FIGHTERS! YAY!" And with that, they started making their way to the main atrium.
APPLEBLOOM, SWEETIE BELLE, AND SCOOTALOO: We're the toughest little ponies in town
Got the moves, got the mojo, no harder working ponies around
We are a trio, work as a team
We'll be the first ponies out on the battlefield
We get going when the going gets tough
We know our very best is just never enough
We're kinda short, but so what? We don't get defeated
We could take a little break, but we don't need it
We've got hearts as strong as horses
We've got hearts as strong as horses
We've got hearts as strong as horses
We've got hearts, hearts strong as horses
When we put our minds together, we can achieve
We're the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and you should believe
We've got determination to represent the nation
For the win
We've got hearts as strong as horses
We've got hearts as strong as horses
We've got hearts as strong as horses
And we're fighting to win as we gallop to glory
We can conquer any challenge we're in
We've got hearts, hearts strong as horses
Hearts strong as horses
The Ground Bridge controls stood high above their heads. Apple Bloom studied the control panel, trying to think of a way to reach the controls.
Problem is, though, how are we going to even activate the Ground Bridge? I can't read Cybertronian.
Scootaloo climbed up a stack of boxes to reach the control panel. "Hey, I made it!" She studied the controls. "Wow. This looks tricky." She turned to Sweetie Belle. "Hey, Sweetie Belle, think you can work this with your magic?"
"I don't think so," Sweetie Belle replied. "I can only move small objects. Anything larger than a broom is hard. Twilight's still teaching me, but right now, I can't. Sorry, Scootaloo."
Scootaloo banged a hoof against the control console. "Shoot."
Something beeped, startling Scootaloo. She turned to the computer screen as what looked like a list appeared. A list she could read.
"What's it say?" Apple Bloom asked.
Scootaloo studied the list. "It looks like different places the Ground Bridge can go. There's a white house, Hong Kong – whatever that is – a valley of death, and something called a Nemesis."
"Wait a second," Apple Bloom said. "Applejack said that Nemesis was the name of the Decepticon warship."
"Well then, Crusaders, that's where we're going," Scootaloo said. She pressed a button on the control console, highlighting the word "Nemesis". Turning, she leaped off the control console, grabbing the lever with her front hooves and pulling it down. She let go of the lever, dropping to the floor as the green vortex appeared in the tunnel behind them. "You two ready for this?"
"I'm starting to have second thoughts about this," Apple Bloom said.
"Same here," Sweetie Belle added. "Sweetie Belle, I'm really nervous. You've heard the stories the older ponies have told us. Aren't you worried?"
"Worried about what?" Scootaloo asked. She started trotting towards the vortex. "Come on, Crusaders. Let's go fight some Decepticons."
The Ground Bridge let them out in a long, dark hallway. Scootaloo looked around, making sure there was nothing around – no Decepticons as far as she could tell. She motioned for Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle to follow her.
"So, where do we go from here?" Apple Bloom asked.
"I'll let you know, if we can ever find a map," Scootaloo said. She stopped walking and held up a hoof, signaling the other two to stop. Her ears swiveled around as she listened.
"What's the matter, Scootaloo?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"I thought I heard something, that's all," Scootaloo replied. "Come on, let's keep going." They continued walking forward.
Sweetie Belle felt her trepidation growing by the second. She couldn't help but look around at the wall and the roof, expecting to see guns come out and start shooting at them; she listened, waiting to hear a Decepticon approaching – Megatron, Knock Out, Starscream, Airachnid, she was expecting any one of them to appear and shoot them.
None of them noticed the cameras in the walls, observing their every move.
######################################################################
Megatron stood in front of the cluster of Dark Energon, the purple crystals casting an eerie glow on the store room. Dark Energon, the blood of Unicron the destroyer, the very core of a nightmare – as Megatron had found out from personal experience. He had no intention of ever allowing himself to be possessed like that again, not while his Spark still pulsated.
He heard the door slide closed as Starscream entered the room. "Lord Megatron," he said in his raspy voice. "It appears that some intruders have infiltrated the ship."
"Autobots?" Megatron asked. He wouldn't have been surprised if Optimus was leading the charge. But why hadn't an alarm been sounded.
"No, not the Autobots, My Liege."
"Then their human allies."
"No, not the case, Lord Megatron. These intruders are much smaller – and furrier."
"The Autobots' pet rats! They would even dare come aboard this ship, knowing full well what happened last time, how close they all came to losing their pathetic lives? They're braver than I give them credit for. That would account for an alarm not being sounded, given their small stature." He scratched his chin in thought.
"Give the order, My Lord, and I will execute it."
"I would rather deal with this myself, when I find them," Megatron said. "You could say that I have unfinished business with at least one of them." He reached towards the cluster of crystals, pulling one off. "And this time, I will see our business to the end." He turned and started walking towards the door.
"And how shall I aid you, Master?" Starscream asked.
Megatron pushed past his smaller servant. "Take Knock Out and Soundwave and search the ship. And quit groveling!"
He stormed past Starscream, and out the door.
###########################################################
Apple Bloom looked around the corner, checking to see if the Vehicon had left. She watched as it went through a door and into another room.
"He's gone," she whispered to the other two Cutie Mark Crusaders. "Let's go." They slipped out from around the corner and started walking down the hall. "This is Megatron's ship. You'd think we'd have seen him by now, right?"
"Well, it's a pretty big place," Sweetie Belle said. "Are you surprised?"
"Not really, no."
Another door opened; the three of them stood in place – there was no place for them to run and hide. They could only watch as a large Decepticon they didn't know came out of the room.
Fortunately, it didn't seem to see them. It turned and walked down the hall.
A smile crossed Scootaloo's face; this Decepticon may know where Megatron was! She galloped towards the Decepticon, stopping when she was close to its foot. She turned around and bucked its foot with her back hooves.
The Decepticon stopped walking as Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle joined her. "I don't think that was a good idea," Apple Bloom said.
"Why not?" Scootaloo asked.
The Decepticon turned around and looked down to face them. This one was massive, about as tall as Megatron – maybe an inch or two shorter. Its shoulders were broad, spanning half the hallway. Its dark purple coloring seemed to blend in with the dim light in the hallway. One arm was normal, the other one looked like a massive gun attached to the Decepticon's back thanks to a long tube. But perhaps the most disconcerting – and frightening – feature of this Decepticon was its head; there was no face, just a single red eye that seemed to glow with a demonic light none of the Cutie Mark Crusaders had seen outside of their dreams.
Scootaloo couldn't help but laugh nervously. "Hehe – hi there, big guy." Apple Bloom just planted a hoof against her face.
The Decepticon spoke, its deep voice echoing off the hallway walls. Its eye blinked on and off as it spoke.
"I assume that you are the equine creatures that the other Decepticons spoke of before," it said. "Though your arrival in this world without the assistance of a Ground Bridge is highly illogical. Tell me, why are you here?"
"We're looking for Megatron," Scootaloo said, trying to hide her fear – and surprisingly succeeding. "You know where he is?"
"Small beings such as yourselves would not last a moment against Megatron," the Decepticon said. It raised its gun, aiming at them. "Perhaps I should save him the trouble."
"Oh pony feathers," Apple Bloom cursed. "Scootaloo, look what you got us into now!"
"Whoops," was all Scootaloo could say. "RUN!" She turned and galloped away, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom following after, just as the large Decepticon fired. They heard and felt the blast hit the floor behind them.
##############################################################
Shockwave watched the three tiny figures run down the hallway, galloping as fast as their tiny legs could carry them. He could chase after them, but he had other matters to attend to, and chasing three little ponies was not among his priorities.
I will let the Vehicon drones deal with them, he thought. Unless they run into Predaking first.
#####################################################################
They kept running, not stopping, not slowing down, despite their burning lungs. They rounded a corner, slipping into another room as the door opened. The door closed behind them. The three of them took a moment to calm down, taking deep breaths, trying to regain their breath and slow their heart rates.
Apple Bloom slapped Scootaloo on the head. "Nice, Scootaloo. That big Decepticon almost blasted us."
"Look, I'm sorry," Scootaloo said. "I just thought he could tell us where Megatron was."
"I doubt he would have helped us even IF he didn't shoot at us," Sweetie Belle said.
The room began to shake as thundering footsteps echoed off the walls. They looked around, looking past the large boxes, squinting their eyes to see in the dim light –
And spotted Megatron standing not fifty feet away, a purple crystal held in his massive hand.
################################################################
Applejack was feeling anxious. She had been looking for Apple Bloom for almost an hour, and she couldn't find her little sister anywhere in the base. And not only had Apple Bloom gone missing, but so had Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.
Smokescreen had figured that maybe the fillies had gone for a walk around the nearby city, despite how unlikely that seemed. They didn't know anything about that town, and for all they know it was crawling with Decepticons hunting the Autobots.
She paced around the central atrium, a feeling of dread filling her chest. What if the fillies had gone out? What if they had encountered a Decepticon, or a human who didn't know what they were or where they had come from? They had seen firsthand just how dangerous humans could be – sometimes, even more so than any Decepticon. Fluttershy herself had almost been cut open by a group of humans, and she would have been had another human not interfered – he paid for the deed with his life.
The Autobots came back from searching the city. They rolled into the room and transformed into their Robot Forms.
"Did ya find them?" Applejack asked as the humans and the other ponies joined her.
"You'd think it wouldn't be so hard to find some little hairballs," Wheeljack said. "You'd at least think they'd stick out a little bit."
"You're really surprised?" Smokescreen asked. "They're tiny. Kind of hard to spot."
Applejack's ears drooped. "You didn't find them?"
Optimus just shook his head. "I'm sorry, Applejack. But perhaps we may be able to find the children if you can remember when you last saw them."
Applejack tapped a hoof to her chin in thought. "Not since early this morning." She turned to the others. "Y'all seen the fillies since then?"
Rainbow Dash shook her head. "Sorry, AJ."
"I haven't seen them either," Raf added.
"Same here," Agent Fowler said. "Not since they hit the sack."
"Nope," Jack and June said at the same time.
"I really wish I could answer you, Applejack," Fluttershy said.
Rarity's ears drooped. "I'm just as worried as you are, Applejack. After all, Sweetie Belle is missing as well."
All eyes turned to Miko; she was the only one keeping quiet. "What?"
"Miko, if you know something about where the fillies are, please, tell us," Optimus said.
"Well, I – that is, you see – I haven't seen them, not since they came to me earlier asking if I could help them figure out some way to help Rarity," Miko said.
"And what did you say?" Arcee asked.
"I…sort of mentioned that they could go fight Megatron," Miko said.
Rainbow Dash's eyes went wide and her wings flared in shock. "You…did…WHAT?!"
"I only meant it as a joke! Besides, what makes you think they took me seriously?"
Optimus turned to Ratchet. "Ratchet, check the Ground Bridge logs."
"You seriously think that they figured out how to work the Ground Bridge?" Ratchet asked. "I find that highly unlikely, Optimus."
"Unlikely as it may be, Ratchet, the possibility remains."
Ratchet sighed. "Fine." He walked over to the computer and pressed some buttons, bringing up the Ground Bridge log. "The last time the Ground Bridge was used was an hour and a half ago. And it went to the Nemesis."
Twilight slapped a hoof against her face. "Those little fillies – don't they know – " She turned to Miko. "You have no idea what you've just done."
"I didn't think they would take me seriously!" Miko cried.
"One thing you should know about the Cutie Mark Crusaders," Rainbow Dash said. "You never, never, ever ever ever EVER give those three an idea, because they will follow through with it!"
"And telling them to go fight Megatron?" Twilight growled. "You've sent them to their deaths!"
Rainbow Dash turned to Ratchet. "Ratchet, open up that Bridge thingy! We're gonna go rescue our sisters!"
"Forget it, too dangerous," Ratchet said.
Rainbow Dash flew up to Ratchet, pressing her face against his. "Open. That bridge. Right now!"
"Ratchet, do it," Optimus said. "We're going to rescue the Cutie Mark Crusaders."
"We're coming with you!" Applejack yelled. "I, for one, am not leaving my sister on that deathtrap!"
"Nor am I," Rarity added. "I won't let them hurt Sweetie Belle."
Optimus turned to Ratchet again and nodded. "Do it."
Ratchet sighed, but complied, pulling the lever and activating the green vortex.
"Let me come with you!" Miko cried as they walked towards the Ground Bridge. Optimus just turned to look at her. She knew the look on his face – it may have appeared calm, but she knew that he was angry with her. No, not just angry, but furious, even though he wasn't showing it. "Look, Optimus, I know that I put them in danger, so please, let me help rescue them."
Optimus didn't reply; he just kept staring at her. Miko shrunk back. It was obvious by now that the answer was no.
Optimus, the Autobots, and the ponies all turned to the Ground Bridge. "Let's rescue the Crusaders."
#############################################################
They could only stare in horror at Megatron, the massive Decepticon who was responsible for nearly destroying their home and scarring Rarity, probably for life. The purple crystal in his hand resembled what the older ponies had told them was Energon, but how could that be? Energon was supposed to be blue, not purple.
"Oh, um….Hi," Apple Bloom said.
Scootaloo slapped her on the back of her head. "'Hi'? Is that all you can say?"
"The three of you must be extremely brave to board my warship by yourselves," Megatron said, his voice resonating off of the walls and boxes in the room. "Either that, or very foolish. Didn't the older equines tell you about how dangerous this ship is? And yet, you willingly came aboard knowing full well that you could possibly perish in the attempt."
Scootaloo scraped at the floor with her hoof, doing her best to hide her fear. "We're only here because of what you did to Rarity last year!" She reared up on her hind legs and held her front hooves up in a fight pose. "So put up them dukes, pal!"
Megatron couldn't help but chuckle. "You're joking. You must be." He held the purple crystal up to them. "Look at this. Do you know what this is?"
"It's a purple crystal," Sweetie Belle said.
"True, but what you are looking at, my little ones, is the crystalized essence of the substance known as the Blood of Unicron."
"That thing's made out of unicorn's blood?" Sweetie Belle asked.
Megatron kept speaking, ignoring the young unicorn. "Plucked from cosmic shores, gaze upon Dark Energon." He tightened his grip on the crystal. "A much more dangerous form of Energon, the only form of Energon that can raise the dead." He gestured with his hand in a wide sweeping motion. "Look around you. These boxes are not cargo boxes, but rather, caskets holding the bodies of my dead soldiers. But they will not be dead for long, noo." He tossed the crystal at some boxes near the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
A dark light was emitted from the crystal as it melted into the boxes. The boxes began to vibrate, shaking as though something inside was trying to get out.
A metallic hand burst from one of the boxes, followed by an arm, and then, the broken body of a large Decepticon. More dead Decepticons burst from the boxes in the room, until the room was full of these hulking, shuffling monsters. The monsters growled and hissed like zombies. One of them lunged for the Crusaders.
The three fillies moved out of the way. The zombie 'Con slammed into the door, knocking it down.
"Come on!" Scootaloo yelled.
The three fillies ran past the zombie, out into the hallway. They ran, ran as fast as their small legs could carry them.
"BEHOLD!" Megatron cried from behind them. "THE POWER OF DARK ENERGON!"
#########################################################
Their lungs were burning, their legs were hurting, but they couldn't stop, not with those…monsters right behind them. Those creatures, they must have been the zombie robots that the Autobots told them about – the Terrorcons. They knew that if they stopped, the Terrorcons would get them, would probably eat them, or something worse.
Sweetie Belle's hooves slipped on the floor as she rounded a corner, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo following a second later. They kept running, coming to a room at the end of the hallway. The door opened, and they galloped into the room, stopping only when they heard the door slide close.
For a moment, the only sound in the room was their heavy breathing.
Until something banged against the door, startling them so much that they actually screamed.
The door began to buckle. They could hear the growls and roars of the Terrorcons on the other side, trying to break through the door to get to them.
The room was a dead end. Everywhere they looked, there were only walls; the only door in the room was the one they had just come through, the same door with the Terrorcons on the other side.
A hole appeared in the door as a Terrorcon thrust its claws through the steel. It stared at them with its lifeless red eyes. The banging continued against the door, buckling it even more.
The three fillies huddled together, closing their eyes and waiting for the Terrorcons to break through the door.
"Well, girls, it was nice knowing you," Sweetie Belle said. "We had a good run as the Cutie Mark Crusaders." She could feel tears stinging her eyes. Rarity, I'm sorry. We wanted to help you, we really did.
There was still so much I wanted to learn from you, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo thought.
Apple Bloom silently cried. Applejack, Big Macintosh, Granny Smith, don't be mad at me, please?
The room was illuminated with a green glow as the Ground Bridge opened up behind them. They turned and looked, just as one of the older ponies came galloping through the vortex.
"Is that Twilight?" Apple Bloom asked.
Twilight's horn began to glow as she readied her magic, and she fired a blast of magic through the hole, the beam tearing through two Terrorcons and ripping the door off of its track, crushing three more Terrorcons.
The other ponies came galloping through the vortex. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity rushed over to their sisters, pulling them in for a tight hug.
Optimus and the Autobots came through the Ground Bridge next, their weapons flipping out. Optimus took aim at the nearest Terrorcon and fired a shot through its head. Arcee took aim and fired, shooting another Terrorcon, before turning to the fillies.
"You three are totally fragging nuts, you know that?" she hissed. "You should never have come here."
"We know!" the fillies cried. "We're sorry!"
"You can apologize later, furballs," Wheeljack said. He took out his swords and rushed at the Terrorcons.
"Stay behind us," Optimus said. "We will kill them all."
"But they're already dead," Apple Bloom said. "Megatron said so!"
"M – Megatron?" Rarity asked. She glared at Sweetie Belle. "What were you thinking?!"
"Scream at them later!" Smokescreen cried. "Just stay back and out of the way!"
Optimus opened fire, the bullets from his multi-barreled machine gun tearing through the Terrorcons. Wheeljack's swords moved like extensions of his own body, slicing cleanly through the Terrorcons' bodies, cutting off heads and limbs.
The ponies hung back. To the older ponies, this may as well have been a repeat of when they stormed the warship to rescue Rarity last year. They huddled around the fillies, Twilight putting up a protective barrier for safe measure, and listened to the chaotic sounds outside. The sounds of metal hitting metal, the gunshots, the bodies hitting the floor….
"Oh, the hay with this!" Rainbow Dash cried. "I'm going in there!" She flew out of the barrier, streaking into the hallway.
"Rainbow! Don't!" Twilight cried.
Too late; Rainbow Dash was already in the hallway, weaving between the Autobots and slamming into the first Terrorcon she could, her front hooves smashing through its rusted faceplate. She banked, slamming into the next Terrorcon she saw, hitting it so hard she tore off its head.
Arcee replaced her blasters with her arm blades and sliced a Terrorcon's throat. She leaped at the next one, putting her feet on either side of its neck, and twisted, separating its head from its shoulders. She kicked another one back, then – grabbing the severed blade arm of a dead Terrorcon – bludgeoned it, tearing off parts of its armor before impaling it.
"Optimus, there are too many of them," she said as she dodged an attack from a Terrorcon. Rainbow Dash slammed into the Terrorcon from the side, slamming it against the wall. "We have to get out of here!"
"We can take these things," Wheeljack said as he sliced a Terrorcon in half. "What do you say, Big Red?"
"I say we take the little ones and retreat," Optimus said. He looked into the room, keeping his finger on the trigger of his machine gun. "Princess! We're getting out of here!"
"You heard him," Twilight said as she lowered her magic barrier. "Go! Out! Run!"
"Let's get to it, y'all!" Applejack cried.
"Hooves, don't fail me now," Apple Bloom said as they started galloping.
They ran through the throng of robots, dodging the massive legs and the corpses that continued to fall to the floor. Parts of Terrorcons' bodies hit the floor around them, some coming within mere feet of crushing them. Dark purple liquid oozed out of the dismembered limbs, leaking onto the floor, causing them to slip.
The liquid covered the bottom of Apple Bloom's hooves, causing her to lose traction. She slipped and fell onto the floor. She tried to get up, only to slip and fall again.
She felt something wrap around her and lift her off the ground. She looked, saw that she was in the metallic, decomposing hand of a Terrorcon, which was now holding her above its head, ready to drop her into its open mouth.
Apple Bloom thrashed around, trying to get out of the Terrorcon's grasp. "Applejack! Applejack, help!"
Applejack galloped as fast as her four legs could carry her, hurrying to get to the Terrorcon before it could swallow her little sister.
"I'm-a coming, Apple Bloom!" She skidded to a stop, turning around and digging her front hooves into the metal floor as much as she could, before slamming her back hooves into the Terrorcon's leg.
The Terrorcon lost balance, dropping to one knee and losing its grip on Apple Bloom.
"Somepony catch her!" Applejack yelled.
Smokescreen lunged, snatching Apple Bloom out of the air. He held her close to his chest as he ran, firing at the Terrorcons.
"Don't worry, half pint, I've got you." He fired another shot, hitting a Terrorcon in the face. The undead 'Con fell to the floor, parts of metal flying everywhere.
Arcee slashed a Terrorcon's head in half with her arm blades. She turned to Optimus. "Optimus, we're getting covered in too much Dark Energon. It's sapping our strength."
"I have noticed, Arcee," Optimus said. He slammed his machine gun into a Terrorcon, smashing its head.
Two Terrorcons fell to the floor, cut in half from behind as Megatron stormed down the hall, the blade protruding from under his arm cannon dripping with Dark Energon.
"Sending equine children to attempt to exterminate me, Prime? This is low even for you."
"Know this, Megatron. I did not order the Cutie Mark Crusaders to storm your warship," Optimus said. "Call off your Terrorcons, and we will leave."
"You know the Terrorcons, Optimus. Once they have set their optics upon their prey, they do not stop. Not even when someone with a symbiotic relationship with them such as myself is controlling them."
"Wait, he's controlling the zombie 'bots?" Pinkie Pie asked. "How's he doing that?"
"I think we have more important things to worry about," Wheeljack said. He turned, slicing two Terrorcons in half. "Optimus, forget him, we have to get the scrap out of here!" He took a grenade off of his waist. "Give me the word and I'll toss the bomb!"
Optimus raised his machine gun and opened fire. The bullets tore into some nearby Terrorcons; parts of the undead robots bounced off of Megatron and the nearby walls. "Autobots, fall back! Wheeljack, throw the bomb!"
Wheeljack pushed the button on the grenade. Rainbow Dash's eyes went wide.
"Okay, not going through this again."
Wheeljack threw the grenade and transformed into his Vehicle Form. He opened his doors, allowing Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and Fluttershy to climb inside.
The other Autobots transformed, all but Arcee gathering up the ponies. Their tires squealed, leaving black marks on the metal floor as they sped down the hall.
The ship rocked as the grenade went off. The fireball spread through the hall, the heat of the explosion quickly catching up to the Autobots.
"Optimus, we're gonna be flash fried if we don't get off this ship!" Twilight cried.
Optimus activated his radio. "Optimus to base! We need an emergency Ground Bridge – NOW!"
The air split as the green vortex opened up. The Autobots sped through, coming out in the central atrium of their base, the last bits of the explosion residue following. The blast was cut off as the Ground Bridge closed.
The Autobots opened their doors, allowing the ponies to climb out before they transformed.
"What was that explosion?" Raf asked.
"There were…zombies," Sweetie Belle said, her voice cracking with fear. "And Megatron….And this other Decepticon….And shooting, and Dark Energon, and we….We…." She ran over to Rarity, throwing herself against her older sister. She started sobbing, unable to hold it in any longer.
Apple Bloom nuzzled against Applejack. "I'm sorry, sis. Me and the other Cutie Mark Crusaders should never've done something that stupid."
"Y'all are right about that one," Applejack said. She was relieved that her sister and her friends were safe, but she was also angry. Angry at Apple Bloom, angry at Miko. "When we get back to Equestria, you are grounded."
"As are you, Sweetie Belle," Rarity said.
Rainbow Dash put a hoof around Scootaloo. "Yeah, I'm a little peeved myself, but gotta admit, that took some serious guts." She turned to glare at Miko. "But if you ever plant another idea like this into their heads again, I will not hesitate to buck you in their face so hard that you will be an unrecognizable mess. You got that, Miko?"
Miko opened her mouth to say something, but quickly shut it. She had nothing to say; nothing she could say would ever mitigate what she had done. For the first time since Bulkhead was almost killed by Hardshell, she felt tears stinging her eyes, felt one run down her face. She was the one who had almost gotten the Cutie Mark Crusaders killed.
She would make sure to never let it happen again.
