Neo-Equestria
Queen Celestia sat on the Solar Throne as Shining Armor finished his report about the disastrous conversion attempts by the pegasi. With every word he spoke, every report about those killed or missing, the temperature inside the room rose. Even her bodyguards shifted as the heat increased. Twilight's coat was matted down with sweat, but Nemesis Prime seemed undisturbed.
“And with the final tally, less than one hundred of the pegasi managed to return,” Shining Armor reported, weariness laced through his voice. “They were unable to convert any humans into ponies, either. According to reports, the humans suffered no casualties.”
Queen Celestia slammed both fore hooves down, cratering the stone floor in front of the Solar Throne. Her coat shimmered and brightened as her mane and tail crackled, snapped and popped. “We are trying to help them! Their soldiers, their politicians and President, all are blind to our purpose! Our words are twisted, our help seen as hate and hurt. If the population at large only knew! We must reach them!”
Twilight spoke up. “But how, Queen Celestia? They've got the barrier surrounded. And they won't listen to reason, either.” She straightened up. “Are you recovered enough to begin expanding it again?”
Queen Celestia glanced down at the floor for a moment, then slowly shook her head. “I could expand it a few meters, Twilight, as well as the gateway between Equestria and this new Earth, but not much more than that. I need to fully open myself up to the power from the Heart of Ponyland once more, and I haven't had any time for that.” She looked down at Shining Armor and Nemesis Prime. “And I need that blockade taken down, so mankind will be able to come forth and be converted into ponykind.”
Nemesis Prime smashed his fists together, sending out sparks. “Consider it done!”
Shining Armor's eyes went wide. He looked up at Nemesis Prime. “You and what army? There's only twenty-two of you metal minotaurs against an entire planet's worth of humans and their own mechanical allies.”
Nemesis Prime tossed his head back and laughed, then looked down and pointed at Shining Armor. “I like you, Shiny! You're funny. I'll kill you last.” He turned and his optic sensors lit up. Three thirty-foot tall holograms, each of a different style of robot, appeared in front of the Solar Throne. “The Ark has one hundred-fifty sentinel drones. We were originally going to use them to conquer this mudball, but unleashing them upon that other Earth will do.”
Queen Celestia's eyes narrowed, but she eventually nodded. “Very well, Nemesis. Prepare your sentinels. Captain Armor, ready the Royal Guard for support.”
Shining Armor straightened up and saluted before turning and trotting off.
A silver Datsun 280 ZX Turbo and pink Cybertronian open-top sports car wound their way down the abandoned streets of the small Kentucky town, passing by buildings not yet destroyed by the barrier. The Datsun spun about, leaving tire tracks on the asphalt. It quickly transformed into Bluestreak, Autobot gunner. The sports car rolled to a halt, transforming into Arcee, Autobot warrior.
Bluestreak's shoulder-mounted missile launchers swiveled about. He turned and looked down the street at the great dome of the barrier, rising above the buildings on the horizon. “Okay, yesterday they launched an air raid. What do you think, unicorns this time? Maybe both at once?” A light-blue visor slid down over his optic sensors. “Primus, I thought we were done with this sort of dross, at least on Earth. No more invasions, no more big fights.”
Arcee reached behind her head as shoulder-mounted pods opened up, allowing her to extract two rather large laser pistols. “I was getting used to it too, 'Streak. Being part of Hot Rod's staff was pretty fun.”
Their comm systems crackled to life. “Hello, this is your eye in the sky, Powerglide! Get your skidplates in gear, folks. Major activity inside the dome! Looks like, sweet Cybertron, those ponies aren't playing around this time!”
Arcee touched the side of her head. “Powerglide, what's going on?”
“One second, pretty lady, going down for a closer look. That barrier's still scrambling sensors. Holy Primus, I was right! It looks like they're sending out Decepticon-style sentinel drones!”
Bluestreak and Arcee exchanged a look of bafflement. “Come again?” they both asked.
Hot Rod's voice came over the signal. “All available Autobots, transform and roll for the barrier. They're bringing out some– Oh, that's how you wanna play? Fine, you tin-plated toy soldiers!”
“Hot Rod, get back here! Okay, 'Bots, Jazz here as our fearless leader zooms off. Like he said, get to the barrier and stop whatever Neo-Equestria's doing cold. Artillery's gonna bring the rain while tanks and human soldiers move in for support. Now transform and roll out!”
Arcee holstered her pistols and ran forward. “You heard him!” She hopped up, transformed and landed on all four tires, bouncing a bit before speeding off down the street. Bluestreak followed suit, and the pair sped down the street. A building to their left shook itself apart and collapsed forward. They sped up just as the debris slid into the street, blocking any path of retreat.
Arcee and Bluestreak quickly transformed back to robot mode and readied their weapons. Bluestreak held his electron rifle up high and Arcee aimed her laser pistols as eleven robots approached. Ten were sentinel drones, boxy and basic humanoid machines with exposed joints, small laser rifles for weapons and clear domes for heads. Bringing up the rear was what appeared to be Hot Rod, if Hot Rod had a black-and-purple color scheme and a goatee bolted onto his face. “Well, the big cheese told us there'd be Autobots on this side of the barrier,” Rodimus said, spreading his arms wide and smiling. “I guess he and sunbutt know what they're talking about.” He dropped his arms and the grin vanished. “Scrap them!”
Before the words had finished leaving Rodimus' mouth, Bluestreak and Arcee were in motion. Bluestreak dove to the side, his electron rifle spitting azure bolts at the sentinels and striking two of them. Electricity crackled and flashed around their limbs. Their servos and circuits shorted out, sending them tumbling to the ground as their limbs spasmed and jerked about.
Arcee, meanwhile, spun about and dodged back and forth as several other sentinels targeted her and shot at her, missing by several meters. She raised her pistols and fired, striking them. With each shot, chunks of armor or even limbs were blown off. One sentinel's legs were shot out from under it. It toppled over, laser rifle firing and blowing the head off the sentinel next to it.
Bluestreak's missile launchers swiveled and locked onto the closest sentinels. They shot at him, one managing to score a glancing hit on his chest armor. Bits of metal flew off and Bluestreak staggered back a few steps. He squelched a cry of pain as he launched two incendiary missiles at his foes. They crossed the gap between within a second, blowing apart two of the sentinels and sending shrapnel flying in all directions.
Rodimus' optic sensors brightened as his force was reduced to less than half-strength in less than two minutes. He backed up, raising his right arm and readying his thruster-cannon. “Come on, you empties!” He fired a few sporadic shots, all of them going wide, but still managing to send Bluestreak and Arcee scrambling for what little cover was available.
Bluestreak dove behind a comparatively-small mound of rubble as Rodimus' shots tracked him. He looked over and spotted Arcee inside of an alley, her head ducking out at intervals. “I think we got him mad!”
Arcee's optics dimmed for a moment as the remaining sentinels added their own firepower. “You think so, 'Streak?” She leaned out of the alley and fired several shots, damaging a sentinel but not destroying it. “If you have any ideas, I'm all audio receptors!”
Bluestreak's neural processors kicked into overdrive, but before he could say anything, his own audio receptors picked up the faint thumping of rotors. Two seconds later, the wind kicked up and a green helicopter with black armor plating flew over. The helicopter, the Autobot Springer, had a large double-barreled laser cannon slung underneath his yellow cockpit, and various weapons attached to hardpoints on his wings. The sentinels barely had time to register Springer's appearance before he rained missiles and laser bolts on them, blowing them to a fine metal mist.
Rodimus' optics widened. “Springer? What the slag?” he raised his thruster cannon, but a stray shot struck his weapon, blowing it apart and the hand holding it. His vocal synthesizer screeched as he reared back, the twisted stump spewing out sparks and smoke. Rodimus turned and, with some effort, transformed into a Cybertronian-style roadster and sped off down the street.
Bluestreak and Arcee emerged from their cover as Springer hovered over them. “Thanks for the assist!” Arcee shouted, waving at him.
Springer's voice boomed out. “Well, I was in the neighborhood. Figured I'd drop in. Who the slag was the Hot Rod knockoff?”
Bluestreak shrugged. “Not a clue. Hey, maybe if there's evil Equestrian ponies, there's evil Autobots over there, too? Oh, maybe the Decepticons are the good guys over there!”
Arcee patted him on the shoulder. “Maybe we can save the speculation until after the fighting's done, okay?” She looked up at her old friend. “Care to give us a lift?”
Springer hovered closer to them and two rails extended from his wings. “Gladly. There's some psycho version of Optimus tearing scrap up. Hot Rod and Jazz are trying to stop him, but that's clear on the other side of the barrier. I'll get you to the closest fighting.”
Both Bluestreak and Arcee grabbed onto the rails. Clamps extended and locked around their forearms, and poles tipped with steps extended for them to step on. As soon as Bluestreak and Arcee were secure, Springer flew off towards the barrier, even as explosions blossomed around the dome. Ponies clad in armor and war machines emerged as shells and lasers homed in on them and the barrier.
Springer flew around, finally flying towards a quartet of French-built AMX Leclerc main battle tanks and two supply trucks. They were strung out in a long stretch of relatively clear street in the downtown area of the city, rubble hemming them in and forming a winding path. American and French soldiers dug into the debris as best they could for cover, even pushing automobiles around. They set up machine gun emplacements, two man-portable laser cannons, and other weapons and readied themselves as best they could.
Springer hovered close to the lead tank. Bluestreak and Arcee hopped off and landed next to it with mild thuds, while Springer transformed into robot mode.
The tank's hatch popped open and an officer of the French Army emerged. He looked the Autobots over and flashed a rakish smile at them. “Bonjour, Autobots. It is good to see you. I am Lieutenant Phillipe Lafayette.” He turned and looked to several soldiers near the far end of the rubble pile. “Henri, set up the heavy weaponry for intersecting fields of fire! Our best chance is to blunt their advance at the bend, then and there! We cannot give a millimeter!”
Springer reached behind his back and unclipped his rotor blade from his back. It folded up into a sword as he brought it forward. “You the ranking officer, Lieutenant?”
Phillipe nodded, the smile falling away. He rubbed his eyes with a gloved hand. “We rushed to the blockade as quickly as possible upon arrival. The LeClerc, it is the best for rapid deployment, but that does not leave much time for rest on the flight over. We'll let those at the command post hash things out while we hold the line.” He clenched his hand into a fist and thumped his chest. “And we will hold the line against these false Equestrians and fake Autobots.”
Bluestreak straightened to attention and saluted. “We're with you!”
Phillipe returned the salute. “Together, we cannot fail.”
Several bolts of magic shot past the rubble, followed by laser beams. Phillipe leaned to his side and peered into the tank's interior. “Let's go!” He turned to the three Autobots and the smile returned, along with fire in his eyes. “Today, humanity stands with you in defense of our home.” He turned and jabbed his arm out, but glanced to the side and winked. “Roll out!” With that, he slid down into the tank, closed, and locked the hatch.
Phillipe's tank surged forward, followed by the three behind. They spread out as much as possible in the narrow street as Bluestreak, Arcee and Springer followed along.
Ten sentinel drones emerged from the bend in the rubble. In contrast to the ones encountered earlier, these were little more than boxes on tank treads, their arms tipped with various weapons. Their 'heads' were squat rectangles with sensors jutting out from all sides. Ponies in plate armor galloped along, unicorns in front with shields up. Even before they fully cleared the mountains of rubble, the tank cannons roared and launched hypersonic darts of face-hardened tungsten at the drones. The air rang as they impacted, carving huge gashes in their armor plating and obliterating arms or sensor heads. The next salvo managed to blow holes clean through the two lead sentinels. Internal fuel stores and power cells ignited and they exploded, sending shrapnel and debris flying.
Bluestreak dropped down and rolled, narrowly avoiding several plasma bolts aimed at his head. He rose to one knee and his missile launchers returned fire. The incendiary missiles struck the nearest sentinel, and it quickly became a rolling conflagration.
Springer and Arcee stood side by side, laser cannon and laser pistols firing in support of the tanks' right flank. One of the sentinels managed to score a glancing hit on Springer, scorching his armor but doing little, if any, damage. Arcee knelt and managed to blow the tank treads off of two of the closest sentinels, sending them them toppling to the asphalt and blocking the path of the remaining five sentinels. They turned on their axis, providing broad targets for targeting systems.
The American and French soldiers, meanwhile, concentrated on the ponies. They hunkered down near any available cover, weapons firing at the ponies. Several unicorns had their heads down and shields extended, overlapping for as much coverage as possible. Other unicorns farther back began firing bolts of magic from their horns, while some earth ponies used crossbows. More than one human was struck by a blast of magic, although most all of the crossbow arrows fell short or even misfired. Bullets and lasers raked the unicorns' shields. At first they managed to hold, but they eventually turned from a brilliant-white to a sickly-yellow. The unicorns collapsed from the stress and their shields quickly failed.
The human soldiers started moving forward in small groups, each one providing cover fire for the others. The ponies huddled together, the unicorns firing back, but they were quickly cut down, their plate armor providing neither adequate coverage over their bodies, nor able to prevent penetration when struck. Very quickly they broke ranks, turned and galloped as fast as they could, jumping over flaming debris or managing to thread their way around the remaining sentinels. Most were cut down as they fled, but some managed to slip away, fleeing back to the barrier as fast as they could gallop.
The five sentinel drones left fired every laser and missile launcher they had. One of the tanks had its cupola blown off, and all of them had their armor scored, scorched and pitted. Springer suddenly jumped up towards one of the more intact buildings. He hit the wall and rebounded, jets in his legs adding momentum. One of the sentinels managed to train its weapons on him as he landed amongst them. He swung his sword in a tight arc, slicing deep into the armored body of one of the sentinels, while his laser cannon blew apart another. Two of them crowded around him, but he pulled his sword free and stabbed it deep into the body of the one on his right. Springer dropped his laser cannon, grabbed the hilt with both hands, and sliced up, bisecting the sentinel. He then turned to his left and brought the sword down onto the sensor dome of the other sentinel. The trilithium-steel sword met little resistance as it sliced the boxy body in two. Both halves shuddered, then slowly pulled apart and toppled over.
The remaining sentinels were quickly reduced to so much scrap by concentrated firepower from Bluestreak, Arcee, the tanks and the closest soldiers. As the last of them blew apart, Phillipe emerged from his tank, an almost feral grin on his face. “As I said, my friends! The line was held!” The grin fell away and he touched a headset attached to his helmet. “Get the wounded sorted and brought back behind the lines. Shore up the defenses. We'll need resupply as well.” He looked up as Springer rejoined Arcee and Bluestreak, and the three walked up to his tank. “Thank you. We have held, and shall do so again, no matter what!”
Springer tossed him a quick salute. “Happy to oblige, Lieutenant.”
Nemesis Prime sped forward in semi truck mode, casually ignoring the lasers and other puny small arms fire from the humans. A pair of tanks loomed ahead, their turrets swiveling towards him and firing hypersonic darts made of depleted uranium at him. A half-second before the turrets fired, small thrusters in his undercarriage fired, sending him into the air and causing the shells to shoot under him. He transformed in midair, spinning about as he sailed over the tanks. His right hand retracted and an energon-powered ax emerged from his wrist socket. With a single swing, he sliced one of the barrels clean off the turret.
He landed behind the tanks and spun about, even as their secondary weapons began spinning around. He howled and brought a trilithium-steel fist down on the laser turret, smashing it in. Nemesis Prime's ax retracted back in and his hand reappeared. He reached back, pulled out a double-barreled laser rifle from his subspace storage pocket and fired, spraying the two tanks with concentrated bursts of plasma. His optics gleamed with an inner fire and he howled inarticulately.
The plasma blasts first bounced off energy shields surrounding the tanks, but they quickly overloaded and failed. The armor plating lasted a little longer, but the hulls were soon penetrated from back to front. Smoke poured from the rear engines and the holes as the crews were quickly and mercifully killed. Nemesis Prime continued firing, stepping back and spraying the hulks until they started smoldering.
Shining Armor and a contingent of unicorns trotted up. Shining Armor's cheeks turned green at the wanton destruction. His horn glowed and Nemesis Prime's laser was shoved up by his magic. “That's enough!” He looked back at the swath of destruction carved through the human's defenses, then up at the sky and a group of sentinels flying off in a southeasterly direction, towards some target called 'Autobot City'.
Nemesis Prime turned his optics on Shining Armor and the other ponies. “Weaklings.” He spun about and raised his laser rifle once more. He fired at a nearby artillery emplacement, blowing apart the sandbags around it. He walked forward, firing short bursts that destroyed the howitzer itself and sent any surviving crew scattering.
One soldier tripped on a piece of debris and fell to the ground. Nemesis Prime chortled as he approached the human. “Oh, look! One of the squishies who like to play with toys.” He loomed over the soldier and laughed as he pulled out a pistol and fired it, the bullets bouncing off his armor and not even marring his finish.
Two cars raced towards Nemesis Prime at full speed. He barely had time to look up before Hot Rod barreled into him, knocking him off his feet and to the ground. Jazz swung about, leaving tire tracks as he opened his door and let the soldier inside before speeding away.
Hot Rod transformed and raised a pair of laser pistols. He pointed them at Nemesis Prime, his arms barely shaking. “Optimus?”
Nemesis Prime rose to his feet and laughed. “Nemesis Prime, nowadays. My future bride likes the name a bit better.” He rushed forward, brushing past Hot Rod's arms and landing a solid punch right to the jaw.
Hot Rod flew back and landed on the street, gouging out a two-meter trough in the asphalt. He shook his head and spat a bit of oil from his mouth. “Not Optimus,” he muttered, before raising his right arm and firing two quick shots. Both struck Nemesis Prime, sending him back a few steps and damaging his armor slightly.
Nemesis Prime tossed his laser rifle away and charged, his ion ax flashing into view. Hot Rod sprang to his feet and backed off, firing at Nemesis Prime with every step, but quickly dropped his pistols. His right hand retracted and a circular buzzsaw extended. He swiped it, slicing a shallow groove in his opponent's right arm. He ducked a wild swing and fell back, too busy evading Nemesis Prime's wild swings to be able to mount any sort of comeback.
Meanwhile, Shining Armor and his contingent marched forward. Shining Armor's horn blazed as he projected a shield around the group. They slowed to a halt as Jazz drove up them and transformed into robot mode. “Stop!” he shouted, holding his arms out in front. “Hit the trails back to your own Equestria, or else there's gonna be trouble!”
Shining Armor pawed the ground and snorted. “What trouble? There's no way you'll be able to penetrate my barrier.” He raised a hoof and jabbed it at Jazz. “Fire at will!”
The unicorns lowered their heads and began firing blasts of magical energy at Jazz. He raised his arms as several of them struck, pinging off his armor but doing little damage otherwise. “Hey, cut that out! Okay, two can play!” He leaned forward and transformed into his Porsche alternate mode. His doors swung open and large speakers and spotlights extended. Loud, loud music began playing and dazzlingly-bright lights lit up, two feet from Shining Armor and his group.
Shining Armor cried out. He screwed his eyes shut, covered his ears and hunched down into the fetal position, his shield disappearing. The other unicorns followed suit, with one exception. He held his hooves up high and rocked his head back and forth. “Rocking tunes! All right!”
Soldiers from the Earth Defense Command, clad in deep-blue powered armor, descended upon the unicorns. Some had their arms held high and lasers extended from their bulky gauntlets, while others held laser rifles and even a rocket launcher. They jumped in and quickly surrounded the unicorns. “Quick, while they're distracted!” Half of them ran in, the others covering them. Even with Jazz's distraction, it took some delicate work, but they managed to slap thick metallic rings around everyone's horns. As soon as the rings clamped shut, lights along them lit up and a low thrumming could be heard.
Jazz retracted his speakers and lights and transformed back to robot mode. As he did, Shining Armor blinked rapidly and shook his head. His head darted back and forth at the soldiers surrounding his group. His eyes narrowed and his horn glowed, but he cried out in pain and dropped to the ground. “W-what the hay?” he asked, pawing at the ring around his horn.
One of the soldiers spoke up. “Thaumic-disruptor rings.” At their blank stares, he groaned and rolled his eyes behind his faceplate. “You can't use magic with them on.”
The unicorns all crowded together, flank to flank. Several of the unicorns reared back and kicked the air in fright, but Shining Armor's voice rose above their panicking nickering and whinnying. “Calm down, calm down!” He turned his head and glared at the soldiers through the eye slits in his helmet. “Act like the ponies you are, not like foals.” He leaned back and pulled a bottle of potion out of an armored saddlebag. With a sharp jerk, he tossed the fragile container at one of the soldiers.
The container shattered against the hermetically-sealed body armor and dribbled down. The soldier assaulted looked down at it, then at Shining Armor. “Full NBC-protection. And no, you don't get an explanation this time.” She raised her arms and two bolts of blueish-white stun blasts fired from her gauntlets. They struck Shining Armor and exploded, sending electricity crackling around his body. He spasmed and cried out, dropping to the ground in a drooling heap. The soldier's gauntlets rotated and the barrels extended. “Next shots are lethal. Drop to the ground and place your hooves behind your head, or else.”
The unicorns all knelt down and complied. Several soldiers moved in amongst them and undid the buckles holding their saddlebags in place. With care, they stepped back, holding the saddlebags and potion as far away as they dared.
The soldier tapped a panel on the side of her helmet. “Command, this is Lieutenant Mizuno. We have prisoners, including what appears to be their version of Captain Armor. We are bringing him, eleven other unicorn soldiers and more potion for study in. Over.”
Any response was lost as Hot Rod suddenly sailed overhead. He landed, rolled and soon came to a stop in a three-point stance, his buzzsaw held up high. Bluish fluid leaked from his mouth and a few other wounds, but he still managed to be smiling.
Nemesis Prime stalked forward, energy ax twitching. Like Hot Rod, he had several leaking wounds and dented armor. The EDC soldiers all looked up as he loomed over them. As one, they raised their arms and started firing, peppering him with blood-red laser bolts. He snarled and looked down at them, optic sensors narrowing. “Puny blobs of flesh! I'll crush you under my feet, then scrape you off on the ground! I'll burn you to cinders and–”
Jazz tackled Nemesis Prime, wrapping his arms around his midsection and pushing with all his might. Hot Rod leaped over the soldiers and unicorns, buzzsaw whirling as he brought it up and over his head.
Nemesis Prime brought his ax up just in time to block the blow, while his other arm swung at Jazz. “Stupid piles of scrap! I'll rip you into tinfoil!”
Jazz grunted as Nemesis managed to strike him a few times. He let go with one arm and struck Nemesis Prime in his midsection with short, sharp jabs. He let go with his other arm, knelt down and shot up, striking Nemesis Prime in the head with a vicious uppercut. Even as he reared back, Hot Rod snuck in and swung his buzzsaw at Nemesis Prime's chest armor, slicing a shallow gash in it and exposing circuitry.
Nemesis Prime howled in pain and anger as he stumbled back. He spotted his laser rifle, scooped it back up and brought it around. He managed to fire two short bursts at Jazz and Hot Rod, damaging both and sending them reeling. He pressed the trigger again, but the barrel started glowing cherry-red and smoke poured from it. With a scream, he tossed the useless weapon away and advanced upon the injured Autobots. His ax twitched from side to side. “Which one gets turned into metal shavings first?”
Lieutenant Mizuno looked around at the other soldiers before raising her arm and waving motioning to the battle. “Masterson, Roberts, get the prisoners out of here. The rest of you, come on! Hot Rod and Jazz need our help!”
One of the soldiers suddenly looked up and pointed to the sky. “Lieutenant, I think help is on the way.”
Mizuno looked up and spotted a tan-colored MiG-25 fighter jet in a steep dive, nose aimed at the battle. She nodded as her throat went dry. “Nice catch, Roberts. Okay, everyone. Get the prisoners and ourselves out of the area. Let's go!” She and the other soldiers herded the unicorns together and moved them off as quickly as they could, one of them scooping Shining Armor's still-unconscious form up in a fireman's carry.
The fighter jet swung around one hundred-eighty degrees. Its wings folded forward, revealing tank treads, while the cockpit and nosecone folded into its body. A pod on what was once the bottom rose up and a long barrel extended.
Nemesis Prime looked up just as the tank crashed to the ground a half-dozen meters away. His neural processors barely had time to register what was going on before the tank's turret rotated and the barrel raised. The tank shuddered as it fired an explosive shell at Nemesis Prime. The shell hit him in the chest, exploding and sending him flying back.
The tank split apart as it transformed into robot mode. The treads folded out from the main body into legs, while arms emerged from the wings. The cockpit of the jet mode ended up on the robot's chest, and the tank turret was on his back. The Decepticon Blitzwing straightened up, gyro-blaster in hand and aimed right at Nemesis Prime. “Okay, this wasn't in the slaggin' mission briefing.” He grinned. “I like it!”
Hot Rod barked a laugh. “I thought you weren't due here for another eighteen hours or so!” He held up a hand and waved Blitzwing off. “Not that I'm complaining.”
Blitzwing shrugged as he kept his weapon trained on Nemesis Prime. “I know a shortcut and backdoor through transwarp or two. Plus, the traffic controller at Tranquility Base owes me a couple favors. Of course, if you'd like, Astrotrain and I could go back into lunar orbit and fill out about fifty pages of paperwork, then come back down and help out with whatever the hell is going on here.” He tilted his head. “Is that some knockoff version of Optimus Prime?”
Jazz held up a hand. “We'll take the help, thanks. As for him, well, if there's evil ponies, maybe evil Autobots?”
Blitzwing grinned. “Works for me. Probably works even better for the others.”
Nemesis Prime groaned and rolled onto his stomach. His chest armor was rent, with an even larger crack than before running diagonally down it. Circuitry sparked and sizzled through the gap, along with fluids that leaked out all along it. He slowly rose to his feet, stumbling a bit. “This... isn't over,” he wheezed out, his words laced with static. He slowly transformed into semi-cab mode and drove off, shaking and shuddering with every bump.
Blitzwing held his hand out and help Hot Rod, then Jazz, to their feet. He pointed to the sky and a heavily-modified gray space shuttle orbiter flying through the air. “We spotted a large group of what looks like old-style Decepticon sentinel drones headed to Autobot City. That's odd enough. What's odder is they're being led by a gray Grimlock with neon highlights.” He leaned in close. “I've heard of April Fool's Day, but is there another prank-based holiday the humans celebrate?”
Hot Rod shook his head. “Primus knows we wish it was that.” He pointed up at Astrotrain. “I can't believe I'm about to say this, but send Astrotrain and his group over to help defend Autobot City. We can handle things here, at least for the moment.”
Blitzwing touched the side of his head. “You get that, old buddy?”
Astrotrain's somewhat high-pitched voice came over their comm systems. “Loud and clear, Blitzwing. Just tell them not to shoot us down!” With that, the shuttle swung about and flew off in a southwesterly direction, quickly dwindling in size until he disappeared over the horizon.
Okay, it looks like things are looking up for the good guys. Almost too easy, so of course something's gonna happen to make things more difficult. Looking forward to it either way.
The main reason to have France lose a war in fiction is because somebody has to start La Résistance.
Glad to see this update, and finally some Transformer action.
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Also because Americans were pretty salty about France not getting involved in the Middle East way back when. France Leroy Jenkins'd their way into Libya but by that point the France=surrendering trope was already established.
Also because France got utterly shitstomped by Germany in the last big war they were involved in, and most don't really care about the details.
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Anyone who thinks the French are sissies have never heard of the Maquis.
See, that's how you can tell he's evil.
Would he happen to be related to that universes Vinyl Scratch? Neon Lights maybe?
I've got to agree this seemed a little easy really, sure the drones are canon fodder, but you'd think Nemesis would be a bit more formidable.
Wait a moment... I just realised something.
If there are evil mirror ponies, evil mirror Autobots and maybe good mirror Decepticons on the other side of the mirror does that also mean there is, or was a mirror humanitarian organisation that specialised in covertly toppling totalitarian regimes that went by the name... Cobra?
A shame all the humans in the mirror verse got converted. We might never know for sure... unless the evil ponified equivalent of the Joes got rounded up by evil Celestia to use as a special forces team. And maybe the good mirror Cobra organisation even got in contact with the good mirror changelings and worked out a way to immunise against evil mirror Celestia's magic and have been in hiding waiting for their chance to take her down.
Oh and thank you for teaching me a new word; Conflagration! Didn't know that one.
Oh yes... You've really showed them how "noble" your purpose is
The battle was intense. I loved that you gave TCB unicorns a limit to their magic. They're strong, but they tire easily.
Seriously..? Earth-Ponies use crossbows? That's the best you can come up with?
Sigh... I know they are not supposed to be invincible, but... COME ON! They KNOW who they are fighting!
Is a bulletproof armor too much to ask for?
In any case... Aside from those points, this was a fun read
I mean, it's all of Earth united after the events of G.I. Joe (cartoon), the Autobots at their absolute peak, multiple planets and orbital fleets against a starved-out Equestria with less than two hundred knock-off Auto-bads.
It's kinda hard to see this war turn in Neo-Celestia's favor for even one battle.
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Queen Celly is a fanatic, she insanely out numbered and outclassed but it will never occur to her that her plan could ever fail. She assumes she can convince the Equestrias to join her and that humans are just ignorant of how they are trying to help. The Shattered Mirror Autobots are severely outnumbered as they are facing not just their heroic twins, some of whom are stronger than their evil twin, but additional autobots and allied decepticons who don't need to watch their backs. Every powerful or brilliant pony from Neo-Equestria has their own Equestrian counterpart, and Twilight is powered by friendship meaning she's ever stronger then Queen Celly's Twilight thanks to her additional autobot and human friends. Queenie has bitten of much more than she can handle. The biggest threat is what Queen Celetia will do once it becomes clear she can't win.
7144771
Lets not forget that the SG bots have only just been awoken so the tech is rather outdated as they are using the same stuff they where using pre-crash while the main verse bots have had several decades to advance and refine theirs.
Guess good old Nemesis and Xenolestia are gonna end up pinning their hopes on some kind of wunderwaffe (Omega Doom I'm looking at you), that is if they don't end up back stabbing each other first... okay people bets.
I can't see Neo-Grimlock having much success taking Autobot City, by rights they will have fair warning that he is coming, and Megatron himself had enough trouble taking the place even with the element of surprise and actual crack troop Decepticons rather than outdated sentinels to the point where relief had time to arrive. If they have enough warning to be ready for him Neo-Grimlock doesn't stand a chance.
Woohoo, GO HASBROVERSE!
Autobot City? What does Neo-Celestia have that could possibly take on Omega Supreme and Metroplex?
7145156
The Magic of Rigidly Enforced Conformity. Which is so much like friendship, you guys! Even
puppet-Twilight agrees, it's totally the same thing!7145156
and Superieon and Defensor, the SU Autobots are freaking doomed. Queen Celestia is going to end up doing something really really stupid to try and win. I Mean good grief what is she finds out about the inhumanoids and tries to free D-Compose or Metelar? And does the hasbroverse include the 80's D&D cartoon? poking her nose in on another alternate universe full of world concurring monsters would just make even worse shenanigans! We might end up with Tiamat rampageing around the US, heck her trying those plans and just failing would be fun.
7145615
Actually... I'm pretty sure it does include D&D...
Almost positive they were referenced by name, if not deed, earlier in this series...
Either here or possibly in some of the Hasbroverse non pony stuff over on fanfiction.net.
Almost every name dropped is a reference to someone in a Hasbro franchise, either directly or direct relation to.
Of course D&D was YET ANOTHER instance of cross dimensional travel, so I would doubt Tiamat would come to visit...
But Equestrian Imperials visiting her realm through a magically saturated roller coaster?
That would be par the course at this point.
Not sure how far afield Queen Clueless would be willing to go though.
7144547
Yeah, it's starting to look like this version of TCB Equestria only won before because of the barrier and the humans having no outside help, magical or otherwise, whereas this Earth has the G1 Autobots and a good Equestria on their side. Also these definitely aren't the endless hordes of Other Side of the Spectrum either. Until Xenolestia can get the barrier going again, they're definitely out matched, even with Ax-Crazyus Prime on their side.
7146061 No doubt the Barrier played a huge part in their victory, but that's still no excuse for their inept ability to properly wage war.
Unless all of humanity on that other Earth allowed Equestria to roll over them without a fight, I wonder why Queen Celestia still didn't assimilate human warfare into her own military? Or at least improve on it?
Cannons are canon in MLP.
7145998 Preston, the guy called in to brief the president on magical stuff, used to have the nickname Presto.
7146168
Because this Celestia rejects anything human, even their tactics, no matter how smart it would be to learn from them.
7146168 Weather manipulation would be one heal of a weapon in war.
7146168
She is a racial purist in the worst sense, running an empire of racial purists.
Even their spoils of victory, the newfoals, are considered tainted goods.
They have billions of acres of land and a slave class, yet both are left to rot.
All while trueborn ponies ignore the mountains of corpses piling up.
7146592
It would lose its potency quick though.
After the initial advantage, the quick adaptation would diminish its value significantly.
Add in the amount of weather manipulation required to put humans at a disadvantage would also be an indiscriminate one on the battlefield.
Based off Hurricane Fluttershy, a storm big enough to hurt an entrenched military would toss ponies around as well.
As an indiscriminate weapon of shock, awe, and terror used on large civilian populations, it would be devastating.
As a small scale weapon it would be a hilariously poor choice.
Given Shiny tried to chuck a potion at the lady in Spartan armor... it would not surprise me it they whipped up at category 5 and demolished their own front. Mother Nature doesn't play favorites.
7146582 Of course she rejects humanity and its tactics. So why not ponify it?
7146592 They actually try that in an earlier chapter and it's something I really believe they would have in their arsenal
7146808 That's TCB Celestia for ya She cares enough to make a pony out of you, but she doesn't have the love or intelligence to help guide you through your new Equestrian life Truly a benevolent "savior"...
7146889
Because that would force her to acknowledge, even if only to herself, that humans were superior to ponies on some level, and doing so would probably break her tyrannical little brain.
7146987 It would force her to acknowledge that they're advanced, not good.
Loving the Autobot action! Roll out!
Battle! Aside from the very beginning, this is probably the most un FIM part of this story to date. Aside from Shining Armor helping with the assaults, there's practically nothing in terms of pony presence. Just robots, men and warriors all locked in glorious battle. Which, in a way, doesn't make it quite as interesting for me. But aside from that, the action scenes were pretty well written, and I look forward to having Nemesis and Optimus duke it out in the future. But until then, the waiting game continues. And if Autobot City is next under attack, that means that the others are in for some frontline action. Danny, Michelle, Molly and Mike are there after all.
7145615
The largest thing Xenolestia has native to her world seems to be the Ursa Majors (unless she's wiped them out). I would guess that the combiners like Superion and Defensor could easily take one on, and the combiners' might is probably dwarfed by the two Autobots who have been referred to as their last line of defense. Unless she's got at least two dozen of those bears ready to go, I expect a curbstomping.
7148089 Weaponized Ursa Majors? Seriously, why isn't THAT a thing in these TCB fics? Oh right...
"I have an idea princess! We can use creatures like Ursa Majors, Cockatrices, Manitcores and Hydras to fight for us."
"Twilight, Twilight, Twilight... If it's not a pony, it's not useful for anything."
"Not even Dragons..?"
"ESPECIALLY Dragons!"
7144547
Effective bullet resistant armor that's light enough to actually move in requires multiple synthetic materials to make.
The barrier destroyed all synthetics and the infrastructure to make more.
How, exactly, would they make bullet resistant armor?
7149334
By equipping the soldiers with mithril chain mail (or whatever that passes as a strong, light metal in Equestria these days...) and upgrading their armor with more damage resistance.
It wouldn't keep them alive indefinitely. Just long enough to show that they are somewhat competent.
7149445
Strong, light metal chain mail should manage a class 2A ballistic armor, class 2 at best.
Stopping (or for that matter, noticeably slowing) a military rifle round takes at least class 4A body armor.
To manage that with a strong, light metal would take plate armor at least 1/4 of an inch thick, minimum.
More importantly, these ponies are too arrogant to consider magic-less humans a threat, regardless the evidence to the contrary. It will be quite some time before they begin to consider coming up with countermeasures to human technology aside from the barrier itself.
7150658 They already conquered one race of humans. I think they would've learned from their previous experience...
7150706
If the first world was taken in the usual manor, then they showed up, claimed the barrier was an uncontrolled side effect, and BSd the various governments to convert their own people rather then get killed by the steadily advancing barrier. No military activity required on their part.
This time, the humans didn't buy their BS. Hence, this is their first attempt at using force to convert a population against their will. Worse, they are attacking a world where Energy Weapons Are Standard Issue for many troops, and which faced multiple threats on an even greater scale in a single decade. Thus, the ponies have absolutely no idea what they are getting into.
7150727 Then why attack at all? Why not just sit back and wait for humanity to plead for conversion?
Also, not buying it. Someone would've opposed it. Someone would've fought back.
7150733
Why? Because, perhaps due to dimensional distance or because this earth has it's own Equestria, expanding the barrier is harder this time. Also, these humans have made a claim that implies they can somehow counter the barrier if given time. In other words, things aren't going according to the script, and so they are trying force. Finally, they are on a time limit; how long before the local Equestria can intervene?
As for those who resisted on the other earth... once the barrier crossed their position, they ceased to be an issue. Those humans lacked either the magic or the allies to counter the barrier.
7150764
The idea that Equestria might intervene at any moment is a strong reason, but why attack Earth when they could more easily attack the other Equestria?
And even if it's harder for Queen Celestia to spread the Barrier (which I find rather doubtful), why are they still concerned that they'll find a way to stop it? It's invincible.
Or maybe it's not invincible? Maybe there IS a weakness...
So... No attacks were made on Conversion Centers? No ponies were threatened? No humans tried to kill Newfoals or themselves? No human scientists tried to analyze and counter the effects of the Barrier?
Simple. The basic ideology that is driving this action is that humanity is evil and ponies are good. Since the other Equestria is populated by ponies, there's no need to "improve" them. Just be done dealing with all those evil humans before the misguided ponies interfere.
Without a point of reference, science would not be able to solve the riddle of the barrier in time. As for the rest... if it happened on the human's side of the barrier, then it was the human's problem.
7150805
So they would much rather focus their attention on humans that can't reach them and ignore the "tainted" ponies that can?
Pending on how fast the Barrier spreads...
So humans attacking Equestrian ponies, from Equestria, is a human problem?
7150823
With the ponies being ponies, physical conversion would be impossible; also, it's harder to get support to invade misguided but basically good ponies then to invade... sorry, to "help" the poor, suffering humans. Even now, the invaders think their on a mercy mission.
As for law enforcement on the other earth... since the governments were convinced the options were convert or die, and since the ponies were the only source of the conversion potion, of course the various governments were providing all appropriate protection for the ponies. After all, if the ponies couldn't safely bring over the potion, then they themselves would die, along with their families and loved ones. Quite the incentive to co-operate, isn't it?
7150854
Queen Celestia could easily say that the ponies of the other Equestria have been duped by evil humans and are not thinking straight. And that they should "help" them see the "truth" about humans.
While it's not an impossible scenario, it's still highly unlikey that every government went along with this without looking for other solutions. Or suspecting that something sinister was going on.
Without the magical conversion with built-in brainwashing, trying to win over the ponies ruled by The Royal Sisters would have to be done the hard way; by actually convincing them that the Queen is right and the Princesses are wrong. Further, doing so and gaining control without seeming to be a hostile invader would have been near impossible in any timeframe under a generation. As far as expanding her own power without damaging the faith her ponies had in her, "helping" humans was the easier choice for the Queen.
Besides, the most important, key detail is this: these are anti-human zealots. They have no real issue with the other ponies, they just want to turn humans into ponies.
Those that did not cooperate didn't get access to the potion. Without the shear chaos that defined the Hasbroverse in the '80s, this new target would lack the tools needed to find a solution. Most likely, without the tools needed, no solution could be found before the barrier finished spreading. Without a solution, no amount of suspicion would have truly mattered.
I imagine in the last days, as the area not within the barrier closed in to the last mile, that catapults could have delivered the potion to the last remaining humans, who by then would have been packed in like sardines as they fled the barrier. By then, there would be little threat remaining of real resistance.
7150972
Riiight... "Easier"...
If they're anti-human zealots, then they wouldn't tolerate ponies that like "evil" humans.
Because they got converted by force.
Not to mention the ponies wouldn't even try to help them solve the problem. Since the Barrier was magical in nature, and they appearantly had humanity's best interest at heart, they would've co-operated to find a way to help stop it while using the potion as an alternative last solution.
Instead, they pretended to help...
Wouldn't cannons have been a better choice?
And thus we get to the basic premise of the plot: since the ponies wanted to convert the humans, they claimed they were unable to stop the barrier. How would the humans know the difference? Also, the potion may have been offered initially as a stopgap measure, with the little detail that there was no reversal potion in existence.
Go look up the original Conversion Bureau or some similar stories for the ponies initial approach. Did things go smoothly? No. Did the ponies need to use military tactics instead of coercion and threat of annihilation? No. This new world has things go differently from day one, but the ponies think if they can convert those keeping them from the bulk of humanity then their old tactics would work. Mostly because they don't realize just how jaded and untrusting humanity has become thanks to a decade of non-stop threats from beyond. In other words, after an unusually easy victory, they decided to try again, but chose a target that none of their tricks have any real chance to work on.
7152124 It's still no excuse for them for not upgrading their tactics.
Which is the reason why I think they should've been more prepared. They knew their tricks wouldn't work and that these humans wouldn't simply let them convert them without a fight.
Even if their attempt to convert the first Earth went flawlessly with no incident, they still knew how dangerous humans could be in a fight and going against them without being properly prepared is a dumb move. Even for a group of self-rightous fanatics it's a dumb move.
I mean... really? Crossbows against guns?
7152140
You underestimate the arrogance and overestimate the intelligence of these ponies. They are used to humans rolling over when they are threatened by the barrier. They are not used to dealing with those who fight back.
Besides, what makes you think the ponies have the tools needed to make the tools needed to make a gun that is any more effective then a crossbow? Queen Celestia actively shuns human-style technology, and making a gun barrel that can actually, safely, stand up to the pressures generated when used takes no small amount of skill and some fairly advanced tools and techniques. The only gun-like objects in the show are low pressure party cannons; they don't count.
It's likely these ponies are from a less advanced version of Equestria, and with the few remaining tools and the knowledge base of the newfoals, it's unlikely they can quickly come up with anything better then muskets. Since the ponies seem to treat newfoals as if they were uneducated children, that knowledge base would be left untapped, and even muzzle loaded muskets would be beyond them.
Most importantly... the ponies do not want to actually hurt or kill the humans; they want to convert them. For that, they already have the best available superweapon in the potion. The fact that they don't know/comprehend NBC gear only highlights how unprepared they are.
7152159
I just find it really hard to believe that they would know that much about humans and not about how they fight. It makes no sense. If they were aware of how dangerous it would be to confront them head to head, then why not take better precautions?
The episode Hoofields and McColts from season 5. The McColts had cannons. And besides, ponies are creative. A saddlemounted miniature cannon would be very useful.
But, in order to convert them, they have to get near them. And that's a little hard when they're armed to the teeth.