It took Twilight Sparkle some time to find the right trail to Zecora's hut; she was used to coming to the zebra's abode from a far different direction. She tried not to dwell too much on the thunderous footsteps of the giant metal creature following behind her.

"Okay-" Twilight said, and looked over her shoulder towards Grimlock. "Why...why don't you wait out here, Grimlock? Zecora's pretty knowledgeable about...well, everything, but I don't want to scare her. Not right away, at least."

"Hnf. Okay." Grimlock said. "Me Grimlock say hurry up! Me hate waiting." Grimlock's massive tail swung from side to side behind him, already restless from the pause.

"Don't worry," Twilight said, "We won't take long!" She walked over towards the door.

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Twilight?" Applejack fell into step beside the purple unicorn, while the other ponies (and baby dragon) stayed back to keep an eye on Grimlock.

"No." Twilight said. "But the Everfree Forest is dangerous enough without a grumpy metal dragon following us around. Besides, Zecora knows everything that goes on in the forest. With her help, we'll be able to find Grimlock's friend in no time." She knocked a hoof on the door.

"And then what happens?" Applejack said. "Then we'll have two of those things to deal with."

"We'll deal with that later." Twilight said.

"Someone's here, that's for sure. / I hear them knocking at your door." A voice said from within the hut.

Applejack frowned. "That weren't Zecora."

"Zecora must be having company." Twilight said. "Maybe we'll be able to get some extra help-"

"Well, if this isn't a welcome sight." Zecora opened the door. "Please come in, my friend Twilight."

"Thanks, Zecora. I know you're having company, but-" she froze in her hooves as she saw Zecora's guest.

The creature was slim and bipedal, looking like some kind of long limbed primate. Instead of fur, its body was plated in scuffed orange metal. Blue optics looked out of an expressive grey faceplate- which, thankfully, happened to be smiling. It had a red sigil on it's chest too, identical to Grimlock's.

"That's the dern funniest lookin' Zebra I ever seen." Applejack said.

"Today's surprises are without end!" The orange thing chirped. "Zecora, who is your purple Friend?"

"Um. Hi." Twilight shook her head to clear it of her shock. "My name's Twilight Sparkle. What's yours?"

"Wheelie is my given name." He waved Twilight closer. "Now don't look scared, I'm really tame!"

"Y'know, I reckon ain't none of these metal critters gonna talk normal-like." Applejack whispered to Twilight.

"Quiet, Applejack." Twilight said, and gave her friend a meaningful nudge. She then turned to Zecora and Wheelie, smiling. "Well, uh, nice to meet you, Wheelie. What are you doing here?"

"I found Wheelie in a tree." Zecora said. "From a rust monster, he did flee."

"That bug set a cunning trap," Wheelie held up one arm and unwrapped a cloth tied around it. The orange metal was marred by an ugly streak of brown rust. "If it weren't for Zecora, I'd be scrap!"

"Wow." Twilight Sparkle's eyes went wide. "You are lucky. A metal-eating rust monster would be pretty much the worst thing you could run into, wouldn't it?" she glanced over her shoulder, "We should warn Grimlock-"

"Did you just say Grimlock's here?" Wheelie sprung to his feet, eager, "That's the best news I've heard all year!"

"Yeah-" Twilight Sparkle said, "He's waiting outside. I'm sure he'll be thrilled to see you-"

A bone-rattling roar echoed from outside, loud enough to shake the rows of bottles on Zecora's shelves.

"Aw hell," Applejack said, "Rainbow Dash must be tryin' ta pick a fight again!"

"I dunno, Applejack." Twilight Sparkle peered out the window, "I don't think that sounded like Grimlock- the roar was a little too high pitched. It sounded more like a-" the purple unicorn felt her mouth go dry as she saw a serpentine green form wind its way through the trees.

"Dragon!" Fluttershy said as she bolted through Zecora's window at Rainbow Dash like speeds. Pinkie Pie and Rarity scrabbled through the open window soon afterwards, dragging a struggling blue pegasus along with them. Spike came in last, and slammed the window shut behind him

"Agh!" Rainbow Dash kicked her legs indignantly. "Lemme go! I'm not scared of some lame-o dragon!"

"The metal one, or the scaly one?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"Either!" Rainbow Dash broke free. "Or would it be neither? Or, uh...well, I bet I could take them both."

"I assure you, Dash-" Rarity tried to keep her voice steady, with some degree of success."You do not want to be out there, not with those two brutes." The other ponies crowded around Zecora's windows and peered outside, where Grimlock and a green dragon even bigger than he was circled around each other, wary.

"Don't worry, it's alright!" Wheelie said. "Grimlock's sure to win this fight!"

"Wow." Pinkie Pie looked over at the orange metal monkey-thing. "That's the weirdest zebra I've ever seen."

"That's what I said!" said Applejack.

"I'll make introductions later." Twilight rushed over towards the door. "Right now, we've got to think of a way to help Grimlock so nopony gets hurt!"

"I'm telling you, help's not needed!" Wheelie sat casually upon a large, iron-banded trunk. "Listen well- my words should be heeded."

Before Twilight could argue any further, the two titans outside began their battle.

The green dragon bellowed a hateful challenge to Grimlock, and spat a stream of hellish flame at the creature that dared to step into its territory.

Fire licked over Grimlock's grey armor, and the dinobot looked down at himself. "Hnf. That best you do?" he said. "Maybe me Grimlock need show you how burn stuff!" Grimlock opened his jaws, and a column of flame roiled out, striking the green dragon dead center. The ponies watching from the theoretical safety of Zecora's hut shielded their eyes against the heat.

"No way!" Spike climbed onto Twilight's back for a better look. "That dragon's still standing!"

"Makes sense." Twilight said. "Dragonscale is known for its fire resistance, and the bigger and older a dragon is, the tougher it'll be."

"So someday I'll be that fireproof?"

"Let's talk about that later, Spike." Twilight shot the baby dragon a meaningful Look, and then returned her attention to the melee outside.

With both combatants' flame weapons out of play, the fight became a purely physical one. The green dragon launched itself into the air with a few beats of its wings and lunged at Grimlock. He snapped his razor-edged jaws at the dragon, but the green beast was able to fly out of the way just in time. The dragon wheeled around for another pass, slamming Grimlock hard enough to make him stagger, and then soaring out of the way before the mechanical monster could sink claws or teeth home.

"Oh man, Grimlock's screwed." Rainbow Dash said. "There's no way he can win against someone who's got wings!"

"'cuz that did ya a lotta good." Applejack said.

"I know!" Rainbow Dash beat her wings a few times and peered out the window. "I mean, he didn't eat me, and he's like a jillion times bigger than me. If he's fighting a guy who's the same size as he is, and has wings? Game over man! Game over!"

"Are you listening, or are you thick?" Wheelie frowned. "'cause Grimlock's got another trick!"

"Somepony tell that zebra to shut it!" Rainbow Dash said without taking her eyes from the brawl outside.

"Um. I'm not sure if zebra's the right word." Fluttershy murmured.

Before anyone could tell Rainbow Dash how wrong she was, the dragon swooped down for a third attack on Grimlock. Grimlock turned, calmly staring down the diving beast-

At the last moment, Grimlock transformed.

Like the pieces of some enormous puzzle, Grimlock's form split, folded, and re-arranged itself entirely within seconds. Grimlock took the form of a hulking, solidly-built biped.

The dragon's eyes went wide in surprise, and it tried to halt its dive with a few beats of its wings, but it was too late. Grimlock smashed the dragon out of the air with a coal black fist. The green beast screeched in pain and bounced off the ground, but Grimlock kept up his relentless assault, raining blow after savage blow on the writhing dragon.

Grimlock reached forward and caught the dragon by the neck, holding it effortlessly at arm's length with one arm. He reached back with his other hand, and drew a glowing red sword the size of a barn door from behind his back. The dinobot twirled the sword into a downward-pointing grip and raised it high for a killing blow-

"Grimlock stop!" Twilight Sparkle said as she rushed out of Zecora's hut. "Don't kill it!"
"Huh?" Grimlock turned his featureless faceplate towards the little unicorn. "Why not? Stupid monster try hurt me Grimlock, so me Grimlock destroy!"

"Er, did it hurt you, Grimlock?"

"Nope! Me Grimlock too strong!"

"And...did it hurt any of my friends?" Twilight looked over her shoulder at Zecora's hut, where five ponies, a zebra, a baby dragon, and a...whatever Wheelie was watched.

"Uh." Grimlock shrugged. "No? Me Grimlock wasn't paying much attention."

"And you-" she pointed to the stricken dragon. "Have you learned your lesson, not to bother giant metal things or the ponies that hang out with them sometimes?"

The green dragon managed a nod, then spit out a few of its teeth.

"I thought so." Twilight tilted her head upwards. "So Grimlock...why don't you just let the dragon go? Didn't your friend Optimus tell you to be nice to smaller, weaker creatures?"

"Hnf. Probably." Grimlock grumbled, but still lowered his sword. He released the dragon, and the beast immediately flapped its wings as fast as it could, fleeing like a startled bird. "Him was too squishy for fun fight anyway."

Slowly, Twilight's friends crept out from their hiding places. "Is it over?" Fluttershy squeaked. "It was just so scary, I couldn't watch."

"Be glad Twilight was able to talk this brute down, or else things would get a bit...messier." Rarity shuddered at the thought.

"Grimlock, yay!" Wheelie pushed his way past the ponies and rushed over to the larger mechanoid. "We've made lots of new friends today!"

"Wheelie!" Grimlock crouched down and offered his free hand to the orange one. Wheelie immediately clambered up the length of Grimlock's arm and perched comfortably on his shoulder. "Me Grimlock glad you okay."

"I'm hardly even shook. / You know I'm tougher than I look!" Wheelie beamed.

"So..." Rarity began, and pulled Twilight aside. "We've helped him find his friend, so that means we can go home now, yes? Lesson learned, letters sent, and all that?"

"Not yet, Rarity." Twilight shook her head, and waved the rest of her friends over. "But you're right about the letter. I should've sent one earlier, but I never had the chance. Spike, go get a pen and some paper, and fill Princess Celestia in."

"Got it!" Spike rushed off into Zecora's hut.

"Paper and pen, he will bring." The zebra said, "But I'll make sure he doesn't break anything." She trotted off after the baby dragon.

"Now then...I know Grimlock and Wheelie are kind of...odd, but this is Equestria's first contact with otherworldly aliens, so it's our responsibility to make sure it goes well." She paused, then looked over at the furrow in the earth the dragon made when Grimlock slammed it to the ground. "Or, uh...at least not-terribly. I don't think it's a good idea to leave them alone in the Everfree forest."

"Why?" Pinkie Pie said. "Didn't you see that? Grimlock can take care of himself!"

"It's not Grimlock she's worried about." Fluttershy mumbled. "It's the rest of the animals! Who knows what kind of damage he'll do on his own?"

"Exactly, Fluttershy." Twilight stroked at her chin. "But it's not like we can take Grimlock into Ponyville. He'd cause too much of a panic. What we need is someplace far enough from Ponyville, but still without any other giant monsters to deal with. Preferably somewhere with a large building or something we could hide him in..." She trailed off.

"Aw hell, why's everybody lookin' at me?" Applejack took a step backwards.

"I'm sorry, Applejack- but it's the only way!" said Twilight.

"Fine, fine...but we're gonna haveta get my family outta there, first. Maybe Granny Smith can go n' visit Apple Strudle or somethin'."

"Of course!" Rarity said. "And I'll have my sister invite Applebloom over for a sleepover or something-"

"And Big MacIntosh can crash at my place, right?" Rainbow Dash chimed in, entirely too loudly. Five ponies (and a zebra) stared at her, silent. "Oh, wait." Rainbow Dash said. "No wings, right. Well, Twilight, you just need to do that spell thing on his hooves, and-"

"Big Mac can take care of hisself." Applejack said, and continued to glare at Rainbow Dash.

"Oh." Rainbow Dash cringed, just slightly. "Alright."

"'sides, I told you 'bout my brother n' the mailpony."

"I just thought he wrote a lot of letters!" Rainbow Dash said.

"GIRLS." Twilight glared at Applejack and Rainbow Dash both. "Stay focused. The last thing we need right now is to get sidetracked."

"Twilight!" Spike ran out of Zecora's hut, clutching a scroll. "Princess Celestia sent you a letter! It's got the special seal on it!"

"You mean..." Twilight gasped, and her eyes went wide. "The one with the gold wax?"

Spike nodded.

"Well, you'd better give it here, Spike." Twilight levitated the scroll in front of her, and, taking a deep breath, she broke the seal.

"Oh." Twilight said, very quietly. "Oh no." She read the short letter a second, then a third time, just to make sure her eyes weren't playing tricks on her.

"What's wrong, Twilight?" asked Pinkie Pie.

Twilight lowered the scroll and shared a worried glance with her friends.

"Princess Celestia wants to meet Grimlock."