As the Apple Blooms

by The FraudulentBrit

Ratchet's War Story

If there was one day that truly made all of the work Apple Bloom did during her stay at the chop shop worthwhile, it was payday. Even though she was ostensibly there as punishment, Ironhide still felt it was appropriate to pay his employees, and as long as she was here, Apple Bloom was included as well.

Three days earlier, Apple Bloom garage sat for Knockout and Breakdown, and it was during that time that she found herself bonding with Sideswipe. While it was fantastic to see she could also dance and educating to see what kind of stuff she liked to watch and listen to, what really mattered was the bonding they had over their siblings. While they may have met as friends, now it seemed that left as sisters.

Of course, now Apple Bloom had to focus her attention on the present. As the clock ticked closer to the end of the day, she could barely contain her excitement for the moment she had been waiting for all week.

“Alright everyone!” Ironhide called out as he entered the front of the shop with Chromia and Wheeljack. “It’s payday!”

Wheeljack pumped his fists as he happily exclaimed, “Alright! Validation for a seemingly meaningless life!” Chromia simply rolled her eyes as Apple Bloom giggled at her co-worker’s enthusiastic remark. Realizing he had become the center of attention, Wheeljack gave an “indignant” response. “Oh come on. Just because I have a lot of energy doesn’t mean I’m stupid.”

“Ah just didn’t think you were one for fancy words.” Apple Bloom quipped. Wheeljack feigned insult as he retorted, “My dear little Apple Bloom, there is a lot you don’t know about me.”

Chromia immediately interrupted with a stern, “Wheeljack, don’t take that tone with my niece.” The mechanic simply replied with a guilty laugh and a meek, “Heh heh. Sorry.”

With that little bit of humor wrapped up, Ironhide began to hand out the envelopes, each filled with a check. “Alright, here is yours dear.” Ironhide said as he gave Chromia her pay before turning to Wheeljack, “And here’s yours Wheeljack.” He then gave his friend a smirk as he added, “Do me a favor and don’t spend it all in one place.” Wheeljack simply threw his hands down as he complained, “Oh Primus that was one time!”

Ironhide then walked up to his niece as he said, “And here’s yours Apple Bloom.” As Apple Bloom took the envelope, she thanked her uncle.

“Thanks Uncle Ironhide.” Apple Bloom said. Ironhide simply replied, “No sweat kid.” He then turned around as he said, “Last but not least, Ratc……”

Suddenly Ironhide realized something; he had five checks for only four people. Confused, the patriarch asked, “Uh, has anyone seen Ratchet?” Apple Bloom began to look around as she realized that, indeed, Ratchet was not there. Now that she thought about it, she hadn’t seen the older medic while she was moving scrap from the junkyard the smelter’s shed, cleaning the shop front, or even when the family had breakfast or lunch breaks.

This was when Wheeljack spoke up. “Don’t you remember? He called in this morning. Said something about aching all over.” With this information, Ironhide let out a sigh of relief as Chromia added, “So that was why you were on the phone this morning.”

Apple Bloom then asked, “What’s goin’ on with mister Ratchet?” Ironhide turned to his niece as he replied, “With age catching up to him, Ratchet’s muscles and joints have been aching and acting up a lot lately.”

Apple Bloom felt her heart sink at hearing this. Ratchet was hardly the image of youthful innocence, and hearing this reminded her of how Granny Smith often found herself plagued by aching joints. She was only brought out of her contemplation when Ironhide dejectedly said, “I guess we’ll just have to give this to him when he comes back.”

“Wait a minute.” Apple Bloom spoke up. As all eyes began to descend upon her, the young girl offered, “Ah could drop it off for ya.” Once the words escaped her lips, Apple Bloom began to feel as if she had said something foolish. Now starting to regret what she’d said, she nervously replied, “Ah mean it was just a suggestion.”

Ironhide then replied, “Now that I think about it, that might not be a bad idea. Hold on for a second Apple Bloom.” With that, the older man departed the store front as he disappeared into the rest of the house. After a few minutes, he returned with a post it note. Handing it and the final check to Apple Bloom, Ironhide informed her, “This is Ratchet’s address. I expect you back in ninety minutes.”

Smiling, Apple Bloom nodded as she replied, “Ah won’t let you down sir.” With that, the young girl made her way to the door, making sure she grabbed her helmet, and set off for Ratchet’s home.

Apple Bloom was pleasantly surprised by Ratchet’s residence. The old medic lived in a simple, two story house covered in a coat of white paint. In the drive way, there was a white van almost identical to Ironhide car, save for the lights on the roof and red crosses painted on the doors. All in all, it was a quaint little place to live.

Once she made her way to the front door, Apple Bloom knocked three times. There was no response. Worried, she knocked on the door again as she called out, “Mr. Ratchet? You in there?”

From inside the house, she heard Ratchet’s voice call out, “I’m coming. I’m coming. Don’t get your gears in a gasket.” The door opened, revealing Ratchet, still dressed in his pajamas and sporting a medical cane. “Apple Bloom?” The old medic asked. “What brings you all the way out here?”

“Uncle Ironhide wanted you to have this.” Apple Bloom said as she handed the check to the older man. Taking the check, Ratchet’s eyes widened as he said, “Oh, I forgot today was payday.”

This was when Apple Bloom and Ratchet heard the sound of thunder off in the distance. Worried, Apple Bloom began to speak. “Well, Ah guess Ah better start…..” Before she could finish, however, she began to feel raindrops dropping onto her. She continued, “….. Headin’….” Sadly, she couldn’t finish before the rain truly began to come down, and come down hard.

Luckily, Ratchet managed to pull the young girl into his house before she could be drenched by the oncoming maelstrom. Taking a deep sigh of relief, Apple Bloom gave a very enthusiastic, “Thanks Mr. Ratchet!”

“Don’t sweat it kid.” Ratchet warmly replied as he rubbed the young girl’s hair. He then said, “I’m gonna call Ironhide, see if he knows how long the rain is gonna last.” He then managed to straighten himself (complete with awkward old-man groaning) as he added, “In the meantime, make yourself comfortable. Just don’t break anything, ok?”

“Ah understand sir.” Apple Bloom enthusiastically replied. With that, she began to make her way to the living room as Ratchet gave a gentle chuckle.

Apple Bloom was impressed by the modesty of Ratchet’s home. There was a small couch, a reclining chair, a coffee table with several medical journals, an entertainment system centered by an old television, and a few other items that one wouldn’t think twice about seeing in an older gentleman’s living room. However, that wasn’t what had caught the young girl’s attention.

That went to the many photos that adorned the walls. The first one that caught Apple Bloom’s attention showed a group of roughly fifty young men, including Ratchet, all clad in graduation robes. ‘Huh.’ She thought to herself. ‘Must be him graduatin’ from medical school.’

Apple Bloom then continued to make her way through each of the framed pictures. One depicted Ratchet in front of a hospital labeled, “First day on the job,” one had him with someone Apple Bloom didn’t recognize, and one was a newspaper clipping of war in Southeast Asia. ‘That must have been the war Uncle Ironhide was in.’ Apple Bloom thought to herself.

This was when she found a particularly interesting picture. As she walked up to the photo, she found it was a photo of several men gathered around a tank. Ratchet himself was sitting on the back of the tank behind the turret. One of the other men, riding the tank’s barrels like a horse, couldn’t have been mistaken for anyone other than Wheeljack, something that made Apple Bloom giggle.

Of course, the one person that really caught Apple Bloom’s attention was the group’s leader. The leader was a man leaning against the war machine with his arms crossed. All in all, he gave off this aura of confidence and trust that Apple Bloom knew could only be one person.

“We took that photo after knocking the tank out.” Ratchet said behind Apple Bloom. The girl turned to see the older man walking towards her, his cane being used to support his body. “Ironhide says it’s raining like hell over at the Chop Shop, so he says just to come home when the rain stops.” He then asked, “Found your uncle?”

“Ah did.” Apple Bloom replied. “You, him, and Wheeljack were in the same team or somethin’?” Ratchet nodded as humbly replied, “Yup. Were the 84^th infantry, or as we liked to call ourselves, the Wreckers.” He then made his way up to the photo and began to point to everyone in it. “There was me, your uncle, Wheeljack, Huffer, Springer, Crosshair, Mirage, Trailbreaker, Firefly, and Roadblock.”

“Whoa.” Apple Bloom said in awe. “So you guys were like the best of the best?” Ratchet paused for a moment before he replied, “You could say that.” However, Apple Bloom remembered the photo she had seen earlier of him becoming a doctor, and asked, “Then how come you were a soldier if you trained to be a doctor?”

Ratchet let out a guilty chuckle as he replied, “It’s a funny story really. I did work in a mobile army surgical hospital, or a MASH, but I had an “altercation” with another surgeon regarding the right to treat heavily wounded prisoners. The little twit complained to someone with a lot of influence and before I knew it…” He paused to catch his breath and, if Apple Bloom wasn’t mistaken, calm himself down, continued with a bitter, “…. I had my medical license revoked and was forced to join the Wreckers as the team medic.” As Apple Bloom took in what she heard, Ratchet added, “Luckily Ironhide was willing to help me get acclimated to being a commando.”

“That’s good. Ah think.” Apple Bloom said with relief. However, something else caught her attention. Behind Ratchet, above the fireplace, was an olive-khaki cap with a red star on it. Curious, she asked, “Mr. Ratchet, is that your hat?”

Turning to face what had caught his guest’s attention, Ratchet replied, “For the most part. It did belong to…..” He stopped himself as he began to recall the events related to the hat before him. Walking up to the piece of headwear, the old medic began to explain, “Well, this hat has a long story, and I got a feeling we have plenty of time to explain it.”

Ratchet then motioned towards the couch, signaling to Apple Bloom that she should take a seat. As she sat down, the older medic sat down next to her as he began, “Well, it started after we chased off some enemy troops from an anti-air battery. I got separated from the others and….”

“Guys?” Ratchet asked out loud as he picked up his first aid bag. Earlier that morning, the Wreckers had been given orders to take out a group of anti-air guns threatening helicopter deployment. Just as they had done several times before, the tight knit unit of commandos performed their task admirably and without suffering any casualties. Unfortunately, during the confusion and explosions, Ratchet had been separated from the rest of the team, and he now found himself surrounded by endless jungle full of people who would kill him in an instant.

All in all, it was a pretty typical day for anyone in the 84^th Wreckers.

“Anyone?” Ratchet called out again. “Ironhide? Wheeljack? Huffer?” There was no response from anyone. Once a few seconds passed, seconds passed, he sighed as he said to himself, “Ok. Looks like I gotta find a way to link up with….” He briefly paused as he pessimistically finished with a simple, “….anybody.” With that, Ratchet bent down to grab perhaps the two most important pieces of equipment he had, his helmet and his medical bag.

“Dong cung!” a voice shouted from behind Ratchet. The medic began to slowly turn his head to see who it was, but the voice repeated, “Dong cung!” Ratchet immediately rotated his head back to the front as he raised his hands. He was terrified to feel something sharp poking from behind him, almost certainly a bayonet.

Sure enough, Ratchet found himself face to face with his new captor, an enemy combatant clad in an olive khaki uniform, black boots, an olive khaki cap with a red star, and most terrifying of all, an assault rifle with a bayonet blade under the barrel; a bayonet that was now pointed at Ratchet’s throat.

The enemy soldier then motioned to his right as he barked, “Di chuyen! Di chuyen!” Ratchet’s eyes darted between his captor and the direction he was pointing to before nervously pointing to himself. The Soldier then extended the blade closer to his throat as he once again shouted, “DI CHUYEN!”

“Ok! Ok!” Ratchet nervously replied as he began to slowly walk in the direction the soldier wanted him to. He turned to see the soldier grabbing his helmet and bag before re-aiming his weapon at him. He would have said something in confusion, but his captor’s angry expression and the weapon pointed at him gave Ratchet second thoughts. Instead, he simply continued to be led by the soldier.

After roughly five minutes, Ratchet and the soldier arrived at their destination. It was an opening in the jungle, a small swath of green grass. And in the middle of the swath was another enemy soldier, except this one was lying on the ground, moaning and writhing in pain. Considering how little they had traveled and how long it had been since the skirmish, there was no doubt in Ratchet’s mind that these soldiers were stationed at the anti-air position.

The armed soldier then stepped next to Ratchet and, pointing to his comrade, ordered, “Giup anh ta!” Ratchet struggled to comprehend what the man was demanding from him, especially since he didn’t understand what he was saying. The soldier then gave Ratchet his bag as he repeated, “Giup anh ta!”

Ratchet finally caught on what his captor was demanding him to do. Taking his bag, he replied, “Alright. I’ll see what I can do.” He tried to approach the wounded man, but the armed soldier stopped him and gave him a death glare as he shook his head and ran a finger across his throat. Ratchet didn’t quite understand what he was implying, but he figured it wasn’t worth arguing over.

Walking over to the wounded man, Ratchet was horrified by what he found. The wounded soldier was clutching his stomach, which had several holes in it, and blood was coming out of his mouth. Perhaps the worst part was the fact that this soldier, who would otherwise try to kill him, couldn’t have been older than his early twenties.

Ratchet then opened his bag and pulled out a small syringe. He turned to the armed soldier and said, “I’m gonna give him some morphine. It will make him stop hurting.” The soldier gave him a suspicious as he tilted his head. Ratchet realized he didn’t understand him as he said, “Morphine. Good.” Taking a deep breath, Ratchet removed the protective casing and injected the needle into the wounded boy.

The injured soldier groaned with intense pain, forcing the armed soldier to grab Ratchet by the collar and pull him away. Thinking quickly, Ratchet pleaded, “Please don’t! The medicine does that!” The armed soldier gave him a confused yet angry look as he kept his weapon pointed at the medic as he turned to check on his companion. The young boy was no longer writhing and instead simply lying there and breathing. Realizing his prisoner had done something right, the soldier stepped back and motioned to Ratchet to return to his friend.

Ratchet then returned to the wounded man and began to slowly unbutton his uniform. Once it was off, he began to inspect his patient. The poor boy had at five bullet holes on his chest, and one of them had, if his understanding of anatomy was correct, had likely gone through his right lung. Given where they were, Ratchet realized the soldier would probably be dead within a few hours.

Of course, he didn’t say that out loud. Ratchet knew his captor was forcing him to heal his friend, but he didn’t have the resources to save him here. Sighing in resignation, he turned to the armed soldier and said, “I can’t help him here, but if we can get him to our base, we can stabilize him for….”

“Chua lanh anh ta!” The armed soldier shouted. “Chua lanh anh ta!” He then re-aimed his rifle at Ratchet, absolutely refusing to budge. Ratchet didn’t know what exactly he said, but he figured out that they wouldn’t be moving anywhere.

“Ok.” Ratchet solemnly replied. “I’ll see what I can do.” With that, he turned around to resume his work on his patient.

Ratchet sighed as he removed the third bulled from the wounded soldier’s stomach. The unfortunate soldier had a stick in his mouth to bite down on since his “surgeon” didn’t have any anesthetic (and wouldn’t dare try with the armed soldier watching him) and was forced to give him more morphine. Of course, there was still the bullet in his lung, and Ratchet realized that the poor boy was starting to suffer from internal bleeding. This, including shock from the experience, forced Ratchet to accept that he had done all he could do.

Of course, when the poor soul began to slow down in breathing, Ratchet began to panic. “No no no NO NO!” He screamed as he tried to do something, anything, to keep the wounded soldier alive for just a few more minutes. The soldier then began to cough up more blood as he started shaking uncontrollably. ‘Forget minutes.’ Ratchet thought to himself. ‘This kid may not even have seconds.’

Now that it was clear what would happen, Ratchet did the only thing he could. Taking a third needle of morphine, he jammed it in the kid’s neck, hoping he could at least ease the pain. Sure enough, the young soldier closed his eyes and let his head fall to the ground as his breathing continued to slow down.

And then, he just stopped.

Ratchet just held his head low and sighed. He did everything he could, but he couldn’t save the boy. Like so many others, this young man was now just a name on a list of the dead.

He wasn’t too surprised when he was shoved out of the way by the armed soldier as he shook the now lifeless body. The solider cried something out, but Ratchet wasn’t paying attention. He was just trying to slowly inch away, hoping he could finally escape.

“Dong cung!” The armed soldier screamed. “DONG CUNG!” Ratchet froze as he raised his arms again. Turning around slowly, he found his captor once again had his rifle aimed right at his head. What was different this time were the tears streaming down the soldier’s eyes and an expression that could only be interpreted as pain and grief.

Ratchet knew this was it. He had failed to save the boy, and now he was going to answer for his incompetence. He was going to die. The medic closed his eyes as he heard thirty loud banging sounds, each followed by thuds into the dirt around him.

When he opened his eyes, Ratchet realized two things. One was that he wasn’t, indeed, dead. The second was, as he looked around him, that there were small smoking holes all around his feet. Looking up, he found the solider just standing there, his weapon, now with smoke rising from the opening of the barrel, and his head lowered.

Then, raising his head, the soldier looked Ratchet straight in the eyes and simply muttered, “Di.” The soldier then pointed to behind Ratchet. He turned to see what he was pointing to, but there was nothing but the seemingly endless jungle. Turning back, Ratchet tried to speak up, but the soldier pointed again and, with new tears in his ears, shouted, “DI!”Ratchet found himself quickly backing away in fear.

Ratchet made his way to pick up his medical bag and helmet, hoping he could just leave and lock this day in the deepest reaches of his memory. However, he was distracted by the sound of what could only be described as a soft scratching.

Turning around, Ratchet found a truly heart breaking sight. The soldier had removed his bayonet and was using it to dig into the ground next to his now deceased comrade. With each little bit of dirt scraped away, the soldier lost more and more of his composure.

Ratchet turned to leave, slinging his pack over his shoulder and prepared to put his helmet on. However, something in his head was telling him not to put it on just yet. He turned to look at the soldier time, then back to his helmet.

Part of him wanted to just leave, but part of him wanted to do something. Part of him wanted to kill the man, but part of him wanted to give him a taste of his own medicine while he was distracted. In the end, Ratchet took a deep breath, said, “To hell with it.” and did the only thing he could.

He walked up to the now crying man, knelt down, removed his helmet, and began to help him dig, hoping they could at least give their now deceased companion a proper burial.

Apple Bloom found herself absolutely heartbroken by Ratchet’s story. She tried to keep herself composed, but couldn’t help but let a few tears slip through her eyes.

Realizing his guest was about to breakdown, Ratchet let out a resigned sigh and simply said, “You can let it all out.” With this signal, Apple Bloom prepared to ball her eyes out. While he somewhat regretted causing his young co-worker to cry, Ratchet also couldn’t help but let out a small, guilty chuckle as he said to himself, “Happens every time.”

Managing to regain her composure, Apple Bloom was able to say, “That’s just…. Absolutely horrible! Why would people do that to each other?” Ratchet could only give a defeated, “I don’t know. In our missions, I knew that other than our objectives, there were only two rules.” Apple Bloom asked, “And what were those rules.”

Raising his index finger, Ratchet answered, “One; during war people die.” He then raised his second finger as he dejectedly replied, “And two; nothing, and I mean NOTHING, changes rule one.”

Apple Bloom then turned back to the hat and asked, “So, was that the guy who forced you to do everythin’s hat?” Ratchet made his way up to the hat as he took a deep breath and replied, “Actually no. It was his friend’s. His friend forgot it and, before I could do anything, he was gone.” He then let out a brief chuckle as he remarked, “Of course your uncle and Huffer showed up almost immediately. I forgot about this little thing until we got back to base.”

Apple Bloom then turned to the window and realized that the rain had stopped. “Oh mah!” She exclaimed. “Ah gotta get back home. See ya tomorrow?”

“See you tomorrow kid.” Ratchet said. With that, Apple Bloom made her way to the front door, grabbed her helmet, and departed the house, hoping to make her way to the Chop Shop, hoping she wouldn’t be too late.

Apple Bloom entered the front of the Chop Shop, only to be greeted by Ironhide and Chromia. “Hey kid.” The older man said. “Heard Ratchet was having joint pain again.” Chromia, however, noticed the faded tear marks on her niece’s face and asked, “Apple Bloom? You alright dear?”

“Ah’m fine.” Apple Bloom replied as she gave a small but noticeable sniffle. “Ratchet just told me a story about him and two fellas during the war.” Ironhide took a deep breath as he walked up to his niece as he knelt down, placed a hand on her shoulder, and said, “Not quite much of a bedtime story is it?” Apple Bloom let out a guilty chuckle as she replied, “Ah guess not.”

Chromia then joined the two and said, “So Apple Bloom, you want to help me make dinner?” Apple Bloom nodded as she enthusiastically replied, “You bet.” With that, both women made their way to the kitchen, hoping to whip up something delicious for the residents of the Chop Shop. Ironhide simply let out a gentle chuckle as he followed his wife and niece, hoping they wouldn’t make too much of a mess.