Transformers: Friendship In Disguise

Chapter 4

"There he is!" Bumblebee screeched to a halt and popped up into his robot mode. Sure enough, Grimlock stood near one of of Canterlot Castle's walls, resting his massive hands upon the battlements as if they were no more than a guide rail.

"Whew!" Applejack galloped up next to Bumblebee. "He ain't doin' nothin, ain't he?"

"Doesn't look like it. He's just looking at...something." Bumblebee sauntered up next to Grimlock and rapped him on the shin. "Hey! Big guy! Whatcha looking at?"

"Decepticons." Grimlock rumbled. He narrowed his visor and tightened his fingers, cracking the stones of the walls. "Big fight. Me go."

"What Decepticons? There can't be Decepticons here!" Bumblebee sputtered. "I thought that's why we came here!"

"You Bumblebee look." Without taking his optics off of his target, Grimlock grabbed Bumblebee by the helmet and hoisted him up to a precarious perch on the castle wall. Bumblebee flailed helplessly for a few undignified moments, and finally regained his footing. He squinted into the distance where, sure enough, an easy dozen shadowy silhouettes circled around dark columns of smoke like so many sleek-winged vultures.

"I hate it when you're right," said Bumblebee.

"'Bout time stupid trip no be boring. Me Grimlock go fight now!" Grimlock declared. He lowered his shoulder and pushed forward, shattering the ancient stones with terrifying ease. Grimlock drew a blazing red sword and a double-barreled cannon as he stormed down the streets of Canterlot with all the murderous purpose of a natural disaster.

"Uh." Rainbow Dash stared at the Canterlot Castle's newest entrance. "Now what?"

"Whaddya think?" Bumblebee stepped from his perch and transformed in midair, landing effortlessly on all four wheels. "We follow Grimlock!"

"What?" Applejack said.

"Who else is gonna watch his back?" Bumblebee peeled out again, and zipped off after the dinobot warrior.

"Hey, Rainbow?" said Applejack, "Them Autobots is supposed to be on our side, right?"

"Probably?"

"Just checkin'."

"Cyclonus! Report!"

"The indigenous organics have offered no resistance, as expected, Lord Galvatron."

"They never do!" Galvatron melted a storefront with a casual blast of his arm-mounted cannon. "I'd feel disappointed, if I wasn't having so much fun breaking things! Bwa ha ha!"

"Yes, lord Galvatron." Cyclonus rumbled. "The troops are gathering what energon they can- primitive as these organics may be, they've at least mastered a rudimentary electrical grid, which Soundwave has been able to tap into. We're siphoning as much energon as we can. It...may be enough for our purposes."

"Pah! Logistics!" Galvatron turned his cannon on another building (and one of his own troopers who wasn't able to get out of the way fast enough). "If I wanted to be bored, Cyclonus, I would have stayed on Chaar!"

"That might have been the wiser course of action."

"WHAT?"

"Nothing, Lord Galvatron."

"That's what I thought!" Galvatron seethed, "Has there been any resistance to our assault?"

"None as of yet, Lord Galvatron."

"NYARGH!" Galvatron leveled a (thankfully evacuated) franchise coffeeshop with a dismissive wave of his cannon. "You said there would be autobots, Cyclonus! You said there would be conquest!"