- Carousal Boutique, Six hours ago
“Hurry UP Rarity, we don't have all day!”
Rainbow Dash found herself yelling at the fashionista's second floor window once again. It only took them around a half hour to get back to Ponyville, yet she had been pacing back and forth enough times that she was more tired now than she was at the Ark. The morning sun peeking over the horizon didn't do much for her mood either. The more time they wasted here, the worse the situation could get. Having enough, the cyan pegasus flew up and pressed her face against the circular window...and let out an exasperated groan that fogged up the glass. She couldn't believe she was seeing this, and yet somehow she also expected it; Rarity was standing over her bed, mulling over an open suitcase. The fate of Equestria was at stake, and she was concerned about what to pack. Throwing up the window, Rainbow bolted in and landed on top of the suitcase, clasping it shut and eliciting a quick scream from the snowy unicorn.
“Are you seriously thinking about packing...scarves?! Actually, why are you even packing at all?! We don't have time for this, there's no telling what'll happen with those two robots on the loose! We've gotta get the lead out, NOW!”
Rarity huffed, moving her head back in disgust. She tapped the bottom of her mane with her eyes shut, “Hmf, how rude! The compass Twilight gave me is clearly pointing north. Do you honestly expect moi' to rough it in the frozen north without proper winter wear? Not only that, I've got to worry about my complexion drying out, the rugged terrain chafing my hooves, and my horn is still hurting mind you – WAH!”
“Hey Jazz, I got her! Let's get goin'!”
Normally she wouldn't resort to such forceful actions with her friends, but Rainbow knew that she probably would've droned on for another hour about how harsh the trip was going to be. Taking the compass in her mouth, she grabbed Rarity by the waist and flew out the window without letting her get another word in edgewise. Outside the front door was a Cybertronian in vehicle mode, a greyish-white car with red highlights in his wheels and headlights. His top panel slid forward, revealing the riding space they'd have to share for the next few hours. She dropped the shrieking unicorn inside from the second floor before landing next to her with a thud, the panel sliding back into place.
“Alright, floor it! There's no time to lose!”
“You're the boss!”
Jazz's tires screeched as he kicked his nitro in gear, the sudden momentum throwing the ponies aboard into the back of the seat. He was already aware he was supposed to remain as subtle as possible, but judging from his irate passengers, the sooner they got going the better. At the moment, he didn't care how much noise he made. Rubbing the areas around her horn softly, Rarity scowled in the pegasus' direction.
“What has gotten into you, Rainbow Dash?! This is rather extreme, even for you! I haven't even got a chance to rest my poor horn, and now I won't even have a way to keep warm...”
“Never mind that, just get that gem finder spell going, pronto!”
Looking into her eyes, Rarity could see that her pupils were twitching. Not only that, but her body was quaking ever so slightly like a metronome – it was probably her heart beating like a drum.
(“Wait...is something actually wrong?)
Putting her own problems and concerns aside, she sighed internally. This night had been stressful for everypony, and it was starting to show.
“Oh, fine.”
In the back of her mind, she was afraid something might happen if she used magic, but the familiar spark and glow of a gem finder spell put her worries to rest.
“Alright then, the compass is pointing...that way. Now Jazz, I would like you to be a tad more genTLLLE...!”
A sudden left turn threw both ponies into the right passenger side, Rainbow catching Rarity and cushioning her impact, the cold metal sending a shiver down her limbs.
“OHH, how am I supposed to get some beauty sleep like this...?”
“Did...did you just make a square turn?!”
“Sorry gals, guess I don't know my own strength! I'll try to take it easy next time around!”
Flipping back into a standing position, the poor unicorn slammed her hooves onto the flashing dashboard. She didn't even notice her teeth grinding and her voice cracking. “And just what do you mean by 'next time'?! Why, I am starting to think you're the real menace we ponies have to worry about!”
“Hey, take it easy! Ain't nothing to stress yourself over! Just trying to take some of the heat off of your pal there!” Approaching an open path, Jazz revved his engines, their speed starting to surpass 100 mph. “Speakin' of which, she's starting to remind me of another hothead I know. Everything okay there, Dash?”
Rarity sat back down and looked at her friend, her concern once again on her overtly pushy mood. She was staring at the flashing dashboard in front of her with a creased brow and her hooves set at her sides, her hindquarters idly bumping the bottom of the seat every so often with a metallic tap. After a short moment, she scrunched up her face and flicked her head away from the display.
“Don't worry about me, okay? Just...just try not to toss us around too much.”
“No problems here! It'd be hard to warm up to the locals if I wasn't polite!”
Even somepony without Rarity's perception could see the chip on Rainbow's shoulder. She was expecting her to still be distrustful, not overbearing and dodgy. Something else must be bothering her, but what exactly? And how was she going to bring it up? Deciding to put a pin in that problem for another time, Rarity changed the subject.
“Ah, well then...wasn't there supposed to be another Autobot joining us? I'm fairly certain Twilight and Ironhide agreed on teams of two each...”
The voice in front of them sounded nervous. They could almost imagine him rubbing the back of his head. “Uh, yeah, about that...”
----
- The Ark, 2nd team's time of departure
“Wheeljack? Fancy meeting you here. And here I thought you were heading out with Jazz' search party.”
Beachcomber found the aforementioned Autobot standing just outside the Ark, at the foot of the ruined gate. His arms were crossed and his optics stared down the ravine.
“Still am, I just got out here. Had to finish doing a head count inside the ship first.” He was tapping an index finger against his arm. Contrary to what he just said, his tone and mannerisms were showing some impatience, like he had been standing here for a while. “You seen him around? I don't wanna waste too much time enjoying the scenery.”
He chuckled, “Not sure you're gonna have much of a choice. Him and the two ponies helping with the search already left around a megacycle ago.”
“What?!” Wheeljack took a single step around to face him, one of his optics larger than the other. “He just ditched me?! What's he gonna do if he's the one to run into Soundwave?! There's no way he can deal with him and keep those ponies safe!”
“Actually, if I know Jazz, I'm going to guess he's counting on running into Soundwave.” Beachcomber stepped down from the stone mound and put a hand on his shoulder. His calm demeanor hadn't changed. “Cliffjumper's been his partner for a long time. It makes sense that Jazz would want to cover for him. All we can do now is hope that compass works.” He raised a finger, “A storm in one's spark clouds their judgement. If there's any Autobot that can handle Soundwave, it's him. Now, would you like to join me? I hear Pinkie Pie's wanting show some of us around.”
Defeated, Wheeljack huffed, “Yeah, yeah sure...” His head was lowered and his fists were clenched at his sides. Kicking a boulder out of his way, he continued, “I still can't believe that guy got sub-commander...eh, fine. Guess I can use this time to tinker...”
----
- The Crystal Mountains, Late Afternoon
“Ooo, Rainbow Dash, you're really going to get it this time...!”
Rarity glared at the gray skies and falling snow, her anger the only thing keeping her warm and alert. She had been mentally counting every last second the pegasus had been gone, eagerly awaiting any sign of reprieve from this all-encompassing blizzard. It had been exactly fourteen minutes and thirty six seconds since she saw her rainbow colored tail disappear past the overcast of clouds, and no change whatsoever had occurred. Just the same fierce winds freezing her eyelashes, and the same cold snow pounding her coat.
“It's Rarity, right?! You sure Dash can do something about this storm?!”
Between her chattering teeth, the howling wind, and her eyes never leaving the skies, she barely heard him. “Weather management is supposed to be her job, though she is being rather rude for making us wait this long, ESPECIALLY after this morning! I can't imagine the last time I've been forced into such horrid conditions!”
“Yeah, well, you'll have to excuse me for holdin' my enthusiasm, cause' I'm not buying it! Even if I'm supposed to believe, uh, 'pegasus' ponies can move around air currents, what's a small thing like her gonna do about a storm this big?!”
(“You know, I think I am starting to agree with you...”)
Fifteen minutes and forty seven seconds now. At this point, her forelegs were getting sore from being wrapped around herself for so long. Just as she was about to complain some more, a thundering boom resonated throughout the mountain range. Looking behind her, she spied a spiral-shaped mass traveling through the gray cumulus clouds like an auger drill. Several moments after it passed over them, the overcast smoothed out and the blizzard lightened, reduced to a gentle snowfall. Rarity sniffled and shook the snow from her coat as she stood, squinting even harder at the harsh skies. Sure enough, a streak of rainbow light burst from the clouds with a flashy skydive, the pegasus stopping in front of her partners. A triumphant grin was plastered on her face as she floated there, her forelegs on her hips.
“See that? Even a miles long blizzard like this is nothing to me!”
Her friend was not impressed. It took some willpower not to sputter while she yelled out, “Honestly, Rainbow Dash! Do you have any idea how many hours of rehab I'll need at the spa after this little nature romp?! Why, it'll take a miracle to fix the damage done to my poor mane!”
“Hey uh, you do remember the real reason why we're all out here in the cold, right?”
Both pairs of eyes were on Jazz as he dusted the snow off himself as well. Now that the snowstorm had cleared up, they were able to get a better look at his robot form. His wheels were tucked in his shins and set on top of his forearms, making his limbs look bulky. The front portion of his vehicle form made up his torso, and the top part of his face was obscured by a blue visor. They were beginning to think that at least half the Autobots had visors instead of eyes. Still, he also had what looked like a nose and mouth.
“I know I haven't. Time to get that compass goin' again, Rare.”
It's like her plight didn't even matter. She stuck out her bottom lip as her glare intensified, the rest of herself shaking ever so slightly. Coherent words couldn't even come to mind as she stood there.
“...hmf!”
Rather than risk making a spectacle of herself, Rarity simply turned away from the two of them without another word. Levitating the compass in front of herself, she trotted off by herself, not even bothering to give the others any prompt. Jazz grimaced and placed his right fist on his hip, following after her.
“Think it just got even chillier around here. You sure you two are friends? All this lady's been doing so far is complaining about pretty much everything.”
Rainbow matched his walking speed and floated at shoulder level with him. “Rarity can be a little uppity sometimes, but she's cool. Maybe she'd simmer down if you gave us a ride again? Your other form was a lot warmer.”
“No can do. Terrain's too rough, so there's no telling what I might run into. That and this is supposed to be a covert mission. Can't keep quiet with squeaky wheels.”
“Alright...” She looked ahead, watching her friend stomp further away. “That reminds me, how are you so sure this 'Soundwave' is gonna be all the way out here? Rarity wouldn't have given me this headache if we ended up going to the beach instead of Fluttershy...”
“Soundwave is the Decepticon's communications officer. Right before Teletraan-1 got unplugged, I took a quick look at the most viable relay points around the continent, ones with the biggest transmission radius and least interference. Near as I can tell, the best one was somewhere north. Wasn't able to get a decent fix on where it exactly was though. I'm gonna have to ask Perceptor to follow up on that later.”
She squinted an eye as she looked up at him. “Okay, hold on. How exactly is he gonna contact anyone? Actually, who is he gonna talk to? The Decepticons are sealed away behind one of those huge gates.”
“Yeah, but he doesn't know that...” Jazz stopped mid sentence, looking around the skies. “...best we keep quiet about that too. You never know if the hills are listening.”
Rainbow had no idea what that entailed, but decided to believe him. He continued, “As for how he's gonna pull it off, it's his specialty. Soundwave's got two alternate forms, one for getting around, and another that's tailor made for communications. I'm guessin' he's gonna try and see if Megatron's still kicking.”
She slowly floated to the ground, feeling a sudden urge to get her legs moving. As she fell behind in her stride, Jazz spotted her chewing on her bottom lip out of the corner of his optics. He slowed down as well, scraping some ice off the side of his head with an index finger.
“...that was a real show you put on a second ago. How'd you manage to pull that off anyway? Last time I checked, atmosphere couldn't be pushed around like that.”
She looked up at him, but kept her wings folded. “Oh, that? That was just a quick smoothing job. Me and my team of pegasi are used to clearing up skies this thick back home. You shoulda seen us wrap up winter last season!”
(“You guys are makin' less and less sense...”) He brushed another tuft of snow off his shoulder. “Don't get all high and mighty on me now. You can break the sound barrier, but you can't stop this stuff from falling?”
That was enough to invigorate her again. She flew up a few feet away from his face, “Hey! I'm not a miracle worker! This was the best I could on short notice, okay?!”
“Uh huh. Tell that to your purple-headed friend stompin' away!”
A corner of his mouth was creased into a grin. Rainbow crossed her forelegs and continued to float in front of him, flying backwards. “You still on about that? She'll be fiiine! She knows I can only do so much!” She put her hooves together. “Me and Rare? We're like this. We understand each other, inside and out!”
*pomf*
A cold feeling smacked against her head and backside. Looking ahead, she saw Rarity turned toward the two of them, her eyes narrowed and her pout from earlier still there. She was holding another snowball next to her with blue levitation.
“Yeah, reaaal close, Dash.”
She wiped the snow off with a sheepish grin. “Uh, eh heh...I better catch up with her...”
Rainbow left him behind and joined the irritated unicorn. She had stopped at the top of a steep hill overlooking a small, concave clearing. There was an icy wall to the left of them, a smaller part of the snow capped mountain they had scaled. The rest of the path gave way to a jagged cliff, reminding them of their current elevation. The compass in front of Rarity pointed downward into the clearing, flashing at a steady rate. Now that they had finally reached their supposed destination, she was able to take her mind off the past six hours.
“Now, what did Twilight say again...the faster this flashes, the closer we are?”
“Forget the compass Rarity, look!”
While trying to make sense of the compass in hoof, she had failed to notice the red Cybertronian lying face down in the snow. He was in bad shape; even from a distance, they could see parts of his armor were either iced over, or riddled with black welts and gunshot wounds. Rainbow Dash was already flapping her wings.
“Hey, whoa!”
Just before she could fly down, she felt her tail being grabbed again, painfully pulling at her spine. Jazz had caught up to them and clutched her extremity before she hit top speed.
“Hey, let go! That's Cliffjumper, right?! What are you stopping me for?!”
He let go of her and leaned in close, keeping his voice down. “You gotta play it cool, Dash. Take a good look around here – a wounded teammate in the middle of a clearing. No other options of escape, cept' down. This whole situation's screamin' trap.”
She exhaled from her nose harshly, the cold air making it look like steam. She glared at him while yelling out, “Who cares if it's a trap or not! You said Cliffjumper's your partner, right?! A real partner would never leave them out in the cold like this!”
Rarity spoke up, “Rainbow Dash, please be reasonable for once! You can't just - ”
The pegasus wasn't listening to another word. With her tail free, she flew down the hill to the downed Autobot's side, flapping her wings to blow the loose snow off of him.
“UGGG, yoooou...!”
“Hey – hold up!”
Too late. She was already galloping down the hill to join her friend. Bringing a palm to his forehead, he groaned, “Wonder if spec ops involves dealing with these two...”
Only thing he could do now was roll with the punches. Transforming his right hand into a long-barreled firearm, he slid down the hill by his heels to join the three of them. The ponies stood aside as Jazz slowly rolled his partner onto his back with his free hand to assess his damages.
“(sigh)...looks like he's gonna be fine. He's not quite in stasis lock, but it looks like somethin' disrupted his electrical relays. Gotta pretty good hunch as to who...”
He grabbed Cliffjumper by the waist and hefted him over his shoulder, much to the shock of his two other partners. Rarity stepped back with her mouth wide open, while Rainbow Dash flew up next to his head, practically yelling into his auditory sensors, “W-what do you think you're doing now?! Aren't you supposed to, like, not move him?! What if you're making his injuries worse?!”
He heard her, but didn't slow down. “Relax Dash, most of this damage is just on the outside, he can walk it off later. What we need to worry about is gettin' outta this clearing before somethin' bad happens.”
They made it halfway up the hill before a sudden quake threw the ones on the ground off balance. Rainbow flew down to help Rarity stay on her hooves, while Jazz fell forward, grinding the barrel of his weapon into the ground for support. He could feel a rhythm to the tremors, a rhythm he was all too familiar with.
“Dash! Take Rarity and get outta here!”
She was already holding her off the ground by the waist. “Ugh, didn't you hear me! I'm not leaving anyone behind!”
“You're not gonna have much of a choice! Soundwave's tryin' to create an - ”
“AVALAAANCHE!!!”
Rarity shrieked and pointed her hoof at the top of the icy cliffside. Rainbow was already cold from the climate, but one look at the unstoppable wave of snow tearing down the mountain froze her nerves from the inside as well. Her grip on her friend's waist tightened, and she could feel her pupils contract. Her composure was immediately shot; she was left with mere seconds to fly herself and Rarity to safety, but leaving behind Jazz and Cliffjumper was something she could never do. She started making anxious moans and squeaks, her head darting between the avalanche the Autobot. Thankfully, or unfortunately, Jazz made the decision for her.
“HEY! Let go of me!”
“Sorry Rarity, looks like I'm gonna have to be rough with you all again!”
He transformed his hand back to normal and grabbed both ponies, throwing them away from danger like a baseball. Keeping the grip on her friend steady, Rainbow expertly righted her wings in mid air to stabilize herself.
“You two find Soundwave and keep an eye on him! Me and Cliff will catch up later!”
It was the last thing they heard before the two Autobots were swept away by the onslaught of snow. Rarity looked away with a cringe. Rainbow was forcing herself to flap her wings. Her jaw was set and her eyes were screwed shut. It was all she could to not fall into shock. Snapping her eyes open, she yelled out, “Hang on, I'm coming!”
“Rainbow Dash, STOP!”
She was about to argue back, but one look into Rarity's pleading and misty eyes stopped her. “I'm...sorry. I know this is the hardest thing you'll ever have to do, but...we have to do as he said.”
Her reaction was expected. “NO! I - I can't! And you can't change my mind, not even you - ”
“I lost the compass down there! If we don't go after Soundwave now, we'll never find him!”
It was now that she realized the compass that was supposed to be levitating next to her definitely wasn't. She took another look down the mountain as she continued, “Listen to me...this is the absolute worst day of my life. But the reason I'm still here is because it's all for a good cause. We must find Soundwave before it's too late.”
She was right. Deep down in her heart, she knew she was right. But this was still an impossible decision. It was either leaving those Autobots to die, or leaving a dangerous Decepticon on the loose to hurt other innocent ponies. No matter what she did, someone would suffer. Her thoughts once again turned to the sight that had been plaguing her mind ever since she saw it; the Ark's sickbay. All of those Autobots injured and mutilated. It didn't sink in at first, but realization eventually came. This is what they lived with day to day. This pain, be it experiencing it or seeing it, was something they were accustomed to. And it terrified her. When they started this journey, all Rainbow could think about was stopping Soundwave before the same thing happened to Ponyville. Or Cloudsdale. Or Canterlot. Or any part of Equestria. She looked up the cliffside with strained eyes, saying something she thought she'd never hear herself say.
“Let's go.”