//------------------------------// // Shaken, pt 2 // Story: Transformers: Ancient Legacy // by Goldymarg //------------------------------// “Heh heh! Have a nice fall Auto-dweebs! All fifty stories of em'!” “Rumble, return. All hindrances should be neutralized.” “Sure thing, boss.” “Grrr, I still don't get why you didn't let me scrap him! I woulda been done REAL quick, just one good stab in da spark and BAM!” “Priority will be given to the operation, Frenzy. No other distractions are acceptable at this stage.” “Yeh, whateva ya say...” ---- - The Ark, Late Afternoon “Are you certain, your highness? It is against standard protocol to leave you unattend - ” “Please, lieutenant. Allow me to be a little selfish, just this once. I'll be fine, I promise.” “...as you wish.” Princess Celestia thanked her escort and stepped down from her chariot, breathing a soft sigh as her gaze was set on the 'behemoth' she had personally sealed away all those years ago. The sight was just as imposing as she had remembered it; the pinnacle of technology and artistry, a massive vessel capable of carrying an entire civilization across the stars. And as she had been informed by her sister, the last hope of a dying race. (“I have to make things right...for the Autobots, and for myself.”) Not wasting another moment, she flew over the stone mound and onto the upper decks, searching for some sign of activity. As she trotted along the uneven and scarred floors, she wondered to herself just how anything could have survived such an ordeal. No matter where she looked, the scars of warfare made themselves known. Collapsed structures shedding its debris everywhere, gashes in the hull that seemed to span for miles, the scent of ash and copper permeating the air and filling her chest. If it were not for the faint sounds of movement below, one would assume this place to be nothing more than a dead ruin. *scrrrch* Celestia stopped, looking under her hoof. She had stepped onto a brittle and rusted shell casing, crushing its center to pieces. A familiar ache tugged at her as she stared at it. (“Negligence...I could have done something, and yet...”) She placed her right foreleg over her heart, eventually closing her eyes to hold back the tears. All the Autobots had wanted was a new home, someplace far away from the constant threat of destruction, and yet she denied it to them. Instead of helping them, she forsake them without even knowing who or what they were. For all the good she had done over the millennia, she was guilty of the one thing that started wars and created strife since the beginning of history. The fear of the unknown. (“Those that have power and do nothing are just as guilty as those who do harm...do I really deserve to wear this crown after all I've let happen...?”) No, she couldn't worry about that right now. She came here to speak with the Autobots. She needed to better understand all that has happened in this short amount of time. Raising her head, her ears flicked about, listening intently to the nearest commotion. Thankfully, she didn't have to listen for long. “Sideswipe, how's the excavation coming along?” It was faint, but Celestia could hear a distant conversation overlapped by an unusual humming noise. Outstretching her massive wingspan once again, she fluttered over to the edge of the ship with the grace of a swan, making as little noise as possible. Down below, she spotted three Autobots conversing. She couldn't make out two of them from the height she was at, but they looked nearly identical, save for one being red and the other being yellow. The third on the other hoof, explained where the humming noise came from. He was mostly white, with red highlights on his shoulders and legs. His head was a spherical helmet, and his eyes glowed a bright blue. The noise came from the jets in his feet, keeping him suspended in mid air. He spoke with a slight cockney accent. “Alright, no sense wasting time here. Go and help Blaster calibrate line of sight transmissions, we'll need to be prepared when they get back. I'll try and cue up some heavy machinery.” The other two acknowledged him and transformed, speeding off inside the Ark. The third cranked up his thrusters and reached the same floor as Celestia, eliciting a quick gasp from her at his display of speed. The moment they made eye contact, the Autobot jerked backward, surprised by her visage. “What's this? We weren't expecting company again so soon. Who might you be?” Luna had already told her of the Cybertronians, but seeing one up close made her feel somewhat self-conscious. His appearance and size was nothing short of intimidating and fascinating. She placed a hoof over her mouth and cleared her throat, “I am Princess Celestia, the ruler of Equestria. I've come here to...personally ask several questions about the current state of affairs.” He glided to the left and shut off his thrusters, landing some distance next to her with a metallic clang. It was hard to carry on a discussion with such noise going on. “Royalty I see. That would explain the regal air you have about you. You'll have to forgive us for our rudeness then, quite literally all of the Autobots are working round the clock to get the Ark somewhat functional again.” He placed his right forearm over his midsection and bowed slightly. “My name is Jetfire. I'm currently overseeing excavation of energon deposits that have accumulated over the decacycles passed. Power right now is a serious issue, and we need to gather what we can.” He gestured to the surrounding area below, with Celestia's attention following suit. Sure enough, there were more Autobots down there digging around with rudimentary tools, without much success. “This job requires my full attention, so we can continue our conversation if you don't mind walking.” He began moving towards a large ramp in the floor before he finished speaking. As she flew up next to him to catch up, she responded, “Not at all, Jetfire. It would be best if I got to know you all better, regardless.” He typed a few keys on his chestplate before continuing, “So what's on your mind, Princess? Coming to the Ark alone just to chat is rather bold of you, considering you're the leader of your race.” She kept her head forward. “Indeed, it was a risk. But I had to see with my own eyes the civilization that I...” “What was that? I couldn't hear you.” Her lips were pressed together ever so slightly. “...it is nothing. I – I understand that the energy source you call 'energon' can be fashioned from the jewels and crystals of our world?” He had an eyebrow raised as he looked at her, but let it slide. “...that discovery shocked us all when word of it spread around. From what we've been told, these minerals occur naturally in the planet's crust, and in abundance no less. Further experimentation will be needed for safety reasons, but if luck keeps swinging in our favor, we should have more than enough energon for our needs.” Jetfire saw her gaze becoming sterner as he spoke. “Ah - don't get me wrong. We only intend to produce enough energon for subsistence. We are guests on this planet, after all. The last thing any of the Autobots want is conflict with innocent beings.” There was a nervousness in his voice, the same kind Celestia would notice when ponies spoke to her in an overtly proper manner. Just like how they were afraid of disrespecting royalty, it seemed like Jetfire was afraid of coming off as possessive or callous. Instead, she could feel a genuine concern for the well-being of everyone around him. Her eyes downcast, she replied, “It is comforting to know the Autobots are capable of such compassion...” She frowned, starting to fear the worst. “Please forgive me, Jetfire. When I came here, I was not entirely sure what I could accomplish. Perhaps I...” He held a hand up, “I'm sorry to interrupt Princess, duty calls. Gears! Has Wheeljack given you his report? I need to know what Decepticons we have in the brig.” Looking around, Celestia saw that they had come to the entrance of a narrow corridor on the right. A much smaller Autobot was standing guard, tweaking a few wires in the wall. Most of his body was red, save for his arms and feet, which were dark blue. His head was shaped like a wide dome, and his mouth was creased into an irritated scowl. He spoke without turning away from his work, “Just got it half a cycle ago. A lot of the Autobots had to be put into stasis, the crash really did a number on em'. As far as the scum we've got locked up goes, there's Skywarp, Thundercracker, Dirge, Ramjet, and Thrust. Only other seeker we couldn't find was Starscream. Knowing him, he probably bailed right before the oil hit the fan.” “Were there any others unaccounted for?” “Wheeljack's given me a full clear on the Ark. If there were any other Cons' hiding around here, they'd have to be cloaked.” “Nice to hear some good news for a change. Make sure to keep some energon manacles on hand, we should be expecting some more 'arrivals'.” Gears shut the panel harder than he should have, denting the wall. “Mind telling me why we didn't just scrap them to begin with? Keeping those filthy Cons' alive has got to be the dumbest - ” He stopped short at seeing the alicorn floating next to his colleague, not really sure what to make of her. He raised an eyebrow, his scowl not disappearing. “Say, who's your sparkly friend there? Some kind of cyber fairy?” Jetfire stepped over to him, trying to make his response private, though Celestia could still clearly hear him. “Be careful what you say around her, this is the native species' leader, not to mention royalty on this planet. You need to show more respect than that.” “Wait, so you're the one who put that wall up?” He stepped past him, standing before her with a clenched fist in front of him. “You know how much the Ark's degraded over all these past decacycles?! We probably could've salvaged the fuel tanks and turbines if we weren't in stasis! Now we're stuck on some backwater planet with no way back to Cybertron!” “Stop that this instant! You don't have any right to say that, Gears!” “Course' you'd side with the light show floating there. You were always too soft. Go get Huffer to stand guard, I'm gonna go help dig.” He stormed off without another word. Celestia landed and sat down on her haunches, his words affecting her deeply. Gears was a stark contrast to Jetfire. His disregard for life didn't say much about his character, but blaming her for not being able to leave Equestria had some painful layer of truth. He was an example of her failure to help and protect the Autobots. “Please Princess, don't let what he said get to you. Gears is always in a foul mood.” It was too late for that. She replied with closed eyes, “Jetfire...do all the Autobots hold such contempt for me and my decision?” He walked over to her and knelt down, trying his hardest to sound sympathetic. “I'm sorry, I can't exactly speak for the rest of us. But if it means anything to you, I don't blame you for sealing the Ark. To you, we must have seemed like the greatest threat your world has ever seen. And in many ways, you might have been right.” He extended his hand, gently placing a finger under her chin. She raised her head and looked into his optics. “Believe me, the Autobots aren't exactly saints either. We've done much worse over the course of this war.” Celestia closed her eyes again and spread her wings. “...thank you, Jetfire. I believe I've heard what I needed to hear. My apologies for distracting you from your work.” “Anytime, Princess.” She flapped her wings, about to backtrack her way out. Just when she was almost out of earshot, she heard him yelling down the corridor, “Oh, one last thing! You should speak with Optimus once we find him! I'm certain there'll be plenty for you two to talk about!” ---- They found him. With his tracks still fresh in the snow, it wasn't hard. He was about two hundred meters down the narrow cliffside path they were on, keeping a finger pressed on his chestplate whilst speaking to apparently no one. As he turned in their direction, Rarity pulled Rainbow Dash further behind the rock they were hiding behind, fearing they might be noticed. She was becoming even more difficult to restrain, especially after what happened. The act her friend was forced to endure went against her very nature, and she was lashing out the only way she knew how. “Will you let go a' me already?! That Con' ain't getting away with what he did!” She's even taken to calling them 'Cons' now. Keeping her forelegs wrapped around her waist, she retorted, “And just what do you expect the both of us to do?! That fiend will shoot the both of us down for sure if we blindly charge in!” “There's no way I'm just gonna sit here and do nothing!” “Calm down, will you! Do you honestly think I don't want the same thing?! This is the same monster that attacked my poor, sweet, Sweetie Belle! But even so, we can't just – omf!” She was flailing even harder now. “Rainbow Dash, you must stop this madness at once! I'm trying to tell you there's something wrong about all this!” Her friend hadn't cared to listen, but when they reached the upper cliffside, Rarity noticed two other sets of tracks in the snow. They were much smaller, but the squarish shape of the prints indicated they were Cybertronian. It was evidence that Soundwave had backup somewhere, and in the worst possible place. A place they couldn't see. “Can you please listen to reason, just this once?! Can you PLEASE trust what Jazz told us?!” In the back of her mind, she knew she should be listening to her. That she should have faith that Jazz and Cliffjumper were going to be alright. Unfortunately, it was only in the back of her mind. The rest of her conscious thoughts screamed louder than a banshee. She wanted payback, no matter what. “I've got Soundwave DEAD in my sights! He's not...getting away from me!!!” Rainbow tucked her powerful wings under her friend's forelegs and threw her off, moving them with such violent fervor that she generated a powerful gust, dwarfing the previous blizzard's wind speed ten fold. Rarity tumbled backwards at the sudden shock, spitting out dirt and snow like it was scalding poison the moment she righted herself. “Hey Soundwave!!! Heads up you walking trash can!!!” Her face was flushed and red. Her eyesight quivered. She didn't even know if she had to strength the do what she planned, nor did she care. All she could think about was making the Decepticon in front of her hurt. Flying just under mach speed, Rainbow flipped around and stuck one of her hindquarters out. Soundwave had just enough time to turn his head around before the cyan pegasus kicked him square in the face, causing a metallic clang to ring throughout the mountain range. The blow wasn't enough knock him over, but he was forced to roll with it, throwing him off balance. “Ug - OW!” Kicking him like that felt just like she should have suspected. It was like bucking a slab of granite. Her leg stung and throbbed with pain, but that wasn't enough to stop her. As he turned to face his attacker, Rainbow's confidence swelled. She succeeded in cracking his visor. “Frenzy, eject. Operation: Disorientation.” Turning to face her, Soundwave pressed the side of his chestplate, causing it open up like a tape deck. A strange, square object ejected from the compartment, instantly transforming into another Cybertronian as it landed. The pegasus moved her head back in confusion; he was no larger than herself, but looked just like any other bot she'd seen so far. He was mostly colored black, and had red highlights lit up in his limbs and torso. Much like his apparent master, he had a two piece visor instead of eyes, but had a mouth instead of a faceplate. Rainbow shuddered internally when she saw him smile. Even from a distance, she could see him subtly grinding his jaw in anticipation. “Nice head ya got dere, freak! It's gonna make shootin' ya down all da easiah!” The moment he went for the handguns protruding from his back, every red flag went up in her mind. Pushing her wings even further than before, Rainbow was forced to bob and weave through Frenzy's line of fire, performing aerial feats that even she couldn't come up with in her dreams. Bullets whizzed by her head, and the sounds of gunfire echoed throughout the air, like they were threatening to create another avalanche. Her flight patterns were taxing and all she could do was dodge, but she had no choice. The last thing she wanted was to know what a gunshot wound felt like. (“This...this is insanity! There isn't anything the two of us could do to those monstrosities!”) Rarity peeked out from behind the rock, doing everything in her power to keep the rest of herself hidden. She could only watch as one of her best friends risked her life in a haze of rage. And the longer she watched, the faster her heart beat. Her thoughts were awash of grim possibilities and raw emotion. She was dodging bullets sure, but the rainbow trail she left behind gave her attacker a pitifully easy way to track her movements. What if a shot grazed her wing? What would they do to her if they managed to shoot her down? Would they torture her? Beat her? (“Are we...are we going to...die?!”) Rarity put her hooves over her head and crouched down further behind her hiding spot, no longer caring about the dirt mussing up her coat. At this point, not even screwing her eyes shut could stop her tears from falling. Her limbs were quaking uncontrollably, and every breath she took stung. She had never been more terrified in all her life. (“I - I don't even belong here! I'm just a fashion designer, not a fighter! Rainbow, they'll...!”) “GAAAHH!!!” Rarity could feel her pupils contract and her tears sprinkle across her face as her eyes snapped open. That scream belonged to Rainbow. Scrambling to her hooves, she rushed out from behind the boulder to get a clearer view, her right hoof shooting to her mouth to stifle a gasp. The pegasus lay before the two Decepticons, lying face down in a mound of dirt and snow scraped up from a hard landing. A loud and consistent noise could be heard, coming from Frenzy. Soundwave merely stood there with his arms at his sides, watching his underling take his time walking toward his prey. “What's the mattah? Don't like my taste in music? S'alright, I'll make it all bettah, heh HA HA!” This was it. That monster was going to kill Rainbow Dash, just as she feared. He was already pointing the barrel of his handgun at her head, and all she could do was cover her ears, uselessly trying to drown out his sonic attack. (“...I – I have to do something. I'm the only one who can.”) Yet she couldn't move. Her hoof was still over her mouth, and her breaths were shallow. Her legs felt stiff and rigid. Her heart was the only thing that she could feel, thumping faster than ever. Her fear had frozen her in place, in the same position she was in when she left her hiding spot. Rarity had only seconds to act before the Decepticon blew a hole in her head. Moments until her friend was gone for good. “NOOO!!!” The imagery alone pushed her over the edge. She began galloping down the cliffside path, without even the slightest idea of what to do once she got there. All she knew was that she had to do something, anything to stop him before it was too late. “Alert, Frenzy. Disable the magic-user approaching from the rear.” “Wha – huh?” Sadly, Rarity found herself repeating the same mistake she just advised against. Now aware of her presence, Frenzy simply turned to face her, hunched forward with his fists tightened around his handguns. She saw the air distort for half a second before her eardrums were pounded with the most deafening screech she had ever heard. Screaming in agony just like Rainbow, she fell forward and slid a small distance, her hooves immediately squishing her ears down. The noise rattled her skull like a jackhammer, her attempts to protect herself all for naught. “Ooo, decisions, decisions...” Now she understood why Rainbow couldn't move. This was the worst pain imaginable. She couldn't even form a coherent thought. All she wanted was to make the screeching stop. “Ya know what? I think I'll blast da purple one, I wanna see what ya insides look – URK!” “Don't you DARE hurt her you no good Con'!!!” Taking attention off of his first target was an arrogant mistake, one that he would soon pay for. Rainbow Dash was still enraged, and aside from a ringing in her ears, had no debilitating injuries. Grinding her hindquarters into the ground, she stuck her forelegs out in front of her and took off directly into Frenzy's backside, tackling him hard enough to shove him off the mountain path. Soundwave reflexively held a hand out in his direction the moment she struck him, but couldn't react fast enough. He was only able to listen to his profanities as he tumbled down the cliff. “Hey! No one tosses my brotha' off a cliff and gets away wit it!” The larger Decepticon's chestplate opened up once again, ejecting another robot of the same size. He was nearly the spitting image of Frenzy, save for having dark blue highlights in his limbs. What truly set them apart were the massive, four pronged piledrivers he had instead of forearms. Slamming them together, he shouted, “Get ready to crumble! *CLANG, CLANG* Before RUMBLE!” “Rumble, your actions are unauthorized. Return immediately.” Unfortunately for him, Soundwave's droll orders were ignored. His twin brother was just shoved off of a jagged cliff, and not even his boss could stop him from getting revenge. Feeling just as much rage as Rainbow, the minicon jumped into the air and raised his arms above his head, attempting to flatten her cranium. The pegasus was forced to ignore her sound-induced migraine and push her already exhausted wings even further just to stay alive. She could see strands of her mane get clipped as she flew out of harm's way, Rumble's attack smashing a piece of the path and sending massive cracks through the cliff face. “Get back down here ya lousy, good fa nothin' - !” She could hear him speaking, but his words felt garbled and distant. Her attention was focused solely on the unicorn struggling to get to her hooves, sliding on melted snow and falling all over herself. Rarity was nowhere near as resilient as herself, and it showed. She flew to her side as if the Decepticons attacking them didn't even exist. There was no way she was going to let anypony get left behind again. “I gotcha Rarity, just hang on tight!” Her ears folded over at the sound of her shouting. “Too...noisy...” Rainbow pulled her friend's foreleg over her shoulder and threw the rest of her onto her back. Her wings were a little restricted from having a passenger, but were still good to keep her in the air. “You think this is some kinda joke?! You ain't gonna be laughin' after I drop the rest a' this mountain on ya heads!” Soundwave looked down at him, “Structural integrity of the path has been compromised. Use of your seismic attack is ill-advised.” Once again, he wasn't listening. Rumble banged his arms together again, releasing a little steam. “Time ta shake things up, ya stupid lookin' softies!” It was now that Rainbow found out how that avalanche was caused. He spread his shoulders out and faced his piledrivers towards ground as they began moving like well-oiled pistons, slamming the earth in rhythmic tandem. She nearly lost her balance before taking to the air once again, giving him a curious look. This creep knew she could fly, so what was the point of this? “...uh oh! Not good!” She then remembered the last threat he made, and with the way the cracks in the earth were creeping up the mountain, he was going to make good on it. There were probably seconds before another, even larger avalanche of snow and rubble happened, and there was no way she could dodge it in time with Rarity on her back. “Happy landings!” Do or die time. Either she acted now, or they both got flattened. And with no means of retreat, the only option left was to charge in one last time. ---- “Look Jazz, just go on without me! I'm only slowin' you down here!” “Yeah, and look what happened the last time I left ya alone. Lying face down in the snow cuz' of an obvious trap.” “Hey, I don't wanna hear that coming from you! Besides, Frenzy blindsided me, it could've happened to anyone!” Cliffjumper wiped his optics of snow as he looked up the mountain. From down here, it didn't seem like they were making any progress scaling this cliff. He couldn't even see the peak, much less any sort of path. Sighing for the umpteenth time, he said, “Listen, my name's Cliffjumper, not Cliff-climber. You'd be making a lot better time with that grapple beam of yours. And didn't you say those natives went on ahead? What if Soundwave finds out he's being tailed?!” Jazz looked down a bit, clutching the cliff with one hand while his other was idle. “I'm no Ratchet, but I can tell when someone's taken a beating. Like it or not, Frenzy's battle cry knocked you out, so your circuits could be fried for all I know. I ain't takin' the chance a' you fallin' over like a crate a' nuts and bolts.” It was true, even if he didn't want to admit it. The shock of the avalanche may have given him a kickstart, but his limbs felt like they were rusted over. Just scaling this cliff was taxing, like he was trudging through polluted oil. Looking back up the mountain, he gave up the argument. “Suit yourself, partner. But I'm still saying – WHOA!!!” Cliffjumper let go of the left part of the wall and flung himself sideways, digging his right hand into the rock moments before a smaller robot fell past him. Looking down, he caught a quick glimpse of him before he flicked his head towards Jazz. “That was Frenzy! Hey, you don't think…!” His partner slid down the cliff, holding out his hand. “I don't think, I know! Grab on Cliff, looks like we're gonna have to risk it after all!” Jazz wasn't sure if the cliff face was capable of supporting the weight of two Autobots, but it looked like time wasn't on their side. Frenzy falling down the mountain could only mean one thing; those ponies were fighting Soundwave. They had to take him down now, before they got themselves killed. Cliffjumper grabbed his hand and let go of the wall as Jazz fired a straight beam of white energy from the top of his right wrist, grappling it to a much higher point. He breathed a sigh of relief as he reeled the two of them upward. (“Shoulda done this sooner. Hope we ain't got much further to go...”) Right before he was about to fire his grapple once again, Jazz felt a shock through his arm, causing him to hesitate. Looking up the mountainside once again, he was met with the same problem he had just dealt with moments ago. “Change of plans, Cliff! We're gonna have to make a detour!” “Wait, what?! What's going on?!” With his grapple still attached, Jazz dug his feet into the wall and jumped as far left as he possibly could, using the extra boost to fire his grapple to a new spot further off to the side. Cliffjumper's grip on his hand was starting to slip, so he used the momentum of the swing to throw his partner ahead of him, trusting him to find a new spot to cling to. He ground his fingers into the wall, sliding down some distance, but was otherwise okay. The white Autobot grappled to a point next to him seconds before a torrent of snow and rubble came crushing down the mountain, mere inches from the two of them. Cliffjumper held a hand in front of his face, shielding his optics. “Hey, Jazz...that isn't good, is it...?” Jazz said nothing. He simply hung from the wall by his grapple beam, staring at the avalanche. They were too late. From the looks of things, those two ponies were probably buried under tons of snow and rock by now. “Jazz! Cliffjumper! You're alright!” The Autobot's attentions were brought above them, putting their fears at ease. Rainbow Dash floated down next to them with a weary smile, with Rarity still on her back. Her eyes were shut tightly and her hooves were wrapped around her neck. “So you're, uh, Rainbow Dash? What the scrap happened up there?!” “Heh! We kicked Decepticon butt, that's what happened! Right, Rare?!” She wasn't making a sound. Giving her a worried look, she rubbed the back of her head before continuing. “A-anyway, this tiny Con' tried to drop that avalanche on us, so I had to rush him before he could finish. That's when Soundwave finally tried to shoot us down, but get this! Rarity put up a barrier spell at the last minute! Blocked all those bullets AND clocked that dumb Con' right in the face! I threw him off so bad, he ended up smashing the path! Serves them right for trying to blast us!” Cliffjumper stared at her in disbelief, his grip on the wall loosening. He couldn't process just how something of her size, with no apparent combat training, was capable of taking out one of the most infamous Decepticons known. Just what exactly were these creatures called 'ponies'? “I'm not finished, though! No one gets away with trying to hurt me, or my friends! I'm going down there and taking him - ” “STOOOP!!!” Rainbow's angry tirade was interrupted by the unicorn on her back yelling into her ear. She turned her head, prepared to demand why she would do something so rude, only bite her tongue the second she got one look at her. She hadn't noticed it before now, but Rarity was still trembling. Her eyeshadow was streaked across her cheeks from silent tears, and her mane was a disgusting mess of mud and tangles. “Rainbow...you're scaring me. Why are you acting like this...?” Her voice was so small and meek. She didn't sound anything like her usual, haughty self. “Rarity, I...I'm just trying to...uh...” What exactly was she trying to do? Kill him? Just like what Soundwave tried to do to them a moment ago? “...please take me home, Rainbow Dash. I don't want to be here anymore...” Her last words were forcefully squeaked out, like she was doing everything she could to not start sobbing. Rainbow grimaced, her eyes downcast and looking at nothing. Seeing one of her best friends in such a pitiful state because of how she had been acting all day hit her like a ton of bricks. “Look, I'm gonna go on ahead...you guys can take care of those three Cons', right?” Logically, it wasn't the best decision. Anyone could see just how ragged they both looked, especially Rainbow. Her breathing wasn't stable, and the way she flapped her wings made it obvious that she was straining to stay afloat. With what he knew, Jazz made what he thought was the best call. “No problem, Dash. Just make sure you get home safe, alright?” “I'll manage.” With that, she flew off. Rarity was right earlier, she wasn't acting like herself. All day Rainbow was thinking about was taking out Soundwave before someone died, and yet she ultimately was the one who put both of them in danger. Because of her angry zeal, somepony she deeply cared for was nearly killed. As for Rarity herself, she feared she may have been traumatized by this whole ordeal. She couldn't stop shaking and crying, nor could she stop thinking about the implications this single day had. What if Rainbow Dash ended up just like Warpath, violent and unfeeling? What if she hadn't taken out Frenzy in time? How many other Decepticons were out there? (“No one was coming to our rescue...”) Her mind was a jumble of bad emotions, but those last words burned with the most truth. For all intents and purposes, they were helpless against Soundwave. He didn't even bother to do anything himself until the very end, as if whatever they did to him didn't matter in the slightest. Like he was toying with them. Like they were insignificant. The very thought was horrifying. The Decepticons were monsters, and Equestria wouldn't stand a chance against their might. Even now, she could still hear his discordant monotone. (“Alert, Frenzy. Disable the magic-user approaching from the rear.”) Wait. He called her a 'magic-user', yet she never actually performed any spells beforehand. How did he know about magic? ---- [“Ja – krzzzz - Jazz can you read – krzzzzz...”] Shortly after landing at the foot of the mountain, Jazz' comm-link activated on its own. He tapped the side of his head a few times before saying, “This is Jazz, do you copy?” [“Roger. This is Blaster, I've just got finished calibrating line of sight transmissions.”] “Aw man, got my hopes up too. Thought you tech heads got Teletraan-1 workin'.” [“Perceptor's saying he's still got at least another megacycle on that. What's your status?”] “Well, Cliff got trashed. Tell Ratchet to get his medkit ready. On the plus side, we've got Soundwave, Frenzy, and Rumble buried under a couple clicks of snow. Any way we can get some aerial support out here, and fast?” [“I thought we all agreed not to dispatch fliers. Something about keeping a low profile?”] “Yeah, well we also don't have any way of getting past all this ice without some heat. I ain't chancing the Decepticon's communications officer getting away again.” [“You've got a point...I'll send Powerglide. He can at least run in silent mode.”] “Hey thanks Blaster, I owe you one. By the way, you talk with Ironhide and Prowl yet?” [“I got word from Ironhide that he just completed his mission. Says he's got a surprise waiting for us. As for Prowl...”] “Lemme guess, you got chewed out for not using a secure line?” [“Well, no...there was some strange interference, and then we...just lost contact with him. Haven't heard from him since.”] ---- - Horseshoe Bay, Dusk “Get outta my way Fluttershy, I'm puttin' an end to this war, RIGHT NOW!” “Absolutely not! I won't let you hurt this creature!” “Do you have any idea what you're doing?! Do you know how many Cybertronians this guy's killed?! I ain't lettin' you stop me!” Trixie sat on her haunches with her mouth agape, watching that scardy pony stare down the barrel of a hovertank with her forelegs out in a protective manner. How in Celestia's name did she end up in here anyway? That crazy robot was prepared to blow all of them to bits, just so he could make sure that other terrifying robot suspended in black crystal died. Just what exactly did he do? Was Warpath just insane? “It ends here! Even if I'm goin' down with him! Megatron's gotta die!” ---- [Shockwave's Case Files, Entry #: 118] Elita-1 has been captured and sent to processing. Her forces have been scattered, most likely to avoid drawing attention. Unaccounted for are the Dinobots. As such, developmental efficiency has increased 43.88%. What intrigues me was their choice of hiding places – the ruined hall of records. My sentinels are investigating the area as I speak to confirm any possible variables. Space bridge functionality has been upgraded to allow for more stable transport, as well as compacting the bridge itself in order to localize it on the planet's surface. When the time comes, my forces will be prepared to depart for the target planet.