Applejack slowly entered the pretty dusty but also rustically charming barn on her family's apple orchard. One of her hands was holding a plate with two slices of apple pie and a fork on it, while the other was holding a wooden tankard full of apple cider. Inside the barn, there was a a heavily modified red 1970 Dodge Challenger with two horns on the front of the hood and zoomie style side exhaust on both sides. It had arrived there with her the previous day and just happened to be the alternate form of her new extraterrestrial friend Cliffjumper. Also, there was an immensely loud mixture of laughter, cheers, and arguments coming from just outside the barn, which indicated a pretty large gathering of friends or family members.
Upon entering through the front door and moving closer to the car, Applejack sat down on a nearby bail of hay and placed the items on her hands right beside her. Then, she took a sip from the cider and asked, "Howdy, Cliff? You doin' okay here?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm great here," Cliffjumper replied. "I mean, sure, the place is a lot more dusty and primitive compared to the base, but it's still pretty comfy. In fact, I think I can even fit here in my normal form."
Immediately after saying that, he started transforming back into his robot mode. However, as he stood up, the horns on his head got stuck on the ceiling of the barn and while he struggled to remove them without causing any damage to the said ceiling, Applejack noticed his plight and started climbing on his back in order to help him out.
After reaching the top of Cliffjumper's head and some assistance from her super strength, she finally managed to free the horns with little to no damage to the ceiling. As she jumped back on the ground, her new friend crouched in front of her and sheepishly admitted, "Well, I can ALMOST fit here in my robot mode."
Applejack chuckled at that statement before proceeding to sit back on the bail of hay. She then grabbed the plate with two slices of apple pie on it and inquired, "You sure you don't wanna come outside and join the Apple Family Reunion? I'm sure all of my relatives would be thrilled to meet someone like you. Besides, even if you can't eat all the tasty treats, you can still have fun in a couple of activities we got goin' on outside."
As she started eating a piece from one of the pies, an extremely nervous expression appeared on Cliffjumper's face. He started scratching his head and his optics even began shifting back and forth before he managed to say, "Um... Maybe it's best if I stay here. We may both know that your siblings and grandmother got used to me fairly quick, but let's not forget that seeing me for the first time in this form was a bit of shock for them. Can't risk the same thing happening to an even larger crowd, now can we?"
As soon as she heard this explanation, Applejack stopped eating her pie and gave a very suspicious look to Cliffjumper before asking, "Is that that really the reason you don't wanna go outside and spend time with my family? Or is there somethin' else goin' on here?"
"Uhhh... Yes... Yes, that's the whole reason," Cliffjumper declared with a nervous tone. "Why would you even think there's something else?"
"Let's just say super strength ain't the only special ability I've got," revealed Applejack. "I can also tell whenever someone's tellin' a lie or a half-truth and you, sir, are definitely tellin' me a half-truth right now."
"Yeah? Well... What if I am?" Cliffjumper tried to retort. "What if there are ugly parts about my past that I'm not at all comfortable with explaining to any bot or human?"
Hearing this caused a shocked expression to appear on Applejack's face. The said expression soon turned sad and she curiously inquired, "Sooo... You don't like spendin' time with other people 'cause of somethin' bad that happened in your past? Did you lose someone close to you?"
Immediately after she asked that question, Cliffjumper gasped in pure terror and even hit his own head with a fist before yelling, "STUPID! STUPID! Why in the name of Primus did I say that?!"
He then quickly transformed back into his vehicle mode and declare, "If you'll excue me, I'm going back to sleep. Wake me up when the Decepticons come knocking."
Even though he tried to fool Applejack by making snoring noises, she let out a deep sigh and proceeded to sit right next to the car while leaning back against the left door. Then, she began to explain, "Look, Cliff, I get why you don't wanna talk about the one you lost. You're thinkin' a human teenager like me would never understand somethin' like that, but believe me, I do understand what that's like. I've also lost people I cared about and loved with all my heart."
As soon as he heard that, Cliffjumper stopped snoring and began to listen more intently to what Applejack had to say. So, she somberly continued, "Both of my parents died when I was about Applebloom's age. I know that must be an unfamiliar term for you Cybertronians, but it basically means the humans who give birth to and care for new humans. Anyway, I lost mine about ten years ago and shortly afterwards, things didn't look so good for our family. Granny Smith became so sad that she wouldn't move from her chair, Applebloom was barely a couple months old, and the only ones left to take care of the farm were me and Big Mac. Though both of us were really sad about what happened, we also knew we couldn't do nothin' to survive."
"So, while Big Mac took over the job of harvestin' apples, I took it upon myself to raise Applebloom. Well, at least for a while. After a few close calls, I finally decided to get in touch with a whole bunch of relatives and ask for their help in how to properly raise a kid. Gotta tell ya, they were real life savers. They gave me and my brother solid advice, answered every question we had, and didn't ask anything in return. That's family for ya. They might be a bit overbearin' and drive you crazy sometimes, but you can always count on their love and support when you need it the most."
"I guess what I'm tryin' to say is that although I did lose two people I really loved, I had a lot more people I really loved to help me, my brother, my sister, and my granny get through the difficult times that followed and move on from our loss. I still miss my parents every day, but I'm also mighty thankful for the support we got from the other members of my family. In a way, this loss helped us become a lot closer and made our bond stronger than ever."
As she said all this, several drops of tear began running down her cheeks and upon hearing her sniffle, Cliffjumper transformed back into his robot mode and proceeded to gently wipe the tears from her eyes with a finger while also giving her a warm smile. Then, he said, "Well, I guess Applebloom is really lucky to have a sister like you. Kinda like the one I had."
Hearing that caused Applejack's eyes to be widened with shock and herself to ask, "Wait, you're sayin' you lost your sister?"
"Well, not my actual sister, but she was the closest thing I ever had to one," Cliffjumper began to explain. "Her name was Arcee and she was my partner. We went on dozens of combat and sabotage missions during the war, and completed every single one of them with success. Sure, we didn't get along that well at first because of our differing personalities, but we eventually warmed up to one another and even became pretty much inseperable. Then, shortly after the final battle in our capital city of Iacon, we both traveled to this planet in order to meet up with Prime's team and although we were actually successful in our first few missions here, the last one we went on together sadly resulted in complete failure."
"We were attacking an Energon mine infested with Decepticreeps, hoping to drive them away and take the Energon for ourselves. However, we soon realized that the place wasn't just a mine. It was also a hidden research facility run by Shockwave; the incredibly spooky chief scientist of the Cons. As you might imagine, he wasn't happy at all to see us and started attacking us while using the large number of troopers by his side to seperate me from Arcee. I was surrounded by an entire legion of Cons, and she was outmatched by Shockwave's insane durability and firepower. I could do nothing but watch as he tore her apart limb from limb... and then took her parts with him on his way out. No doubt, he's using them for one of his unholy experiments as we speak."
As he started talking about Shockwave, both his facial expression and the tone of his voice became significantly angrier, and he even began to clench his right fist extremely hard. Applejack soon heard the sound of grinding metal coming from that fist and proceeded to place her left hand on it, causing the Autobot to stop clenching his fist and look at the farm girl in confusion, who gave him a very concerned look in response.
Upon seeing her face, he let out a deep sigh and continued to speak with a much more sorrowful tone in his voice, "I would've most certainly met the same fate as her if Optimus and Bee hadn't shown up a few seconds later. They managed to fight off the entire legion and carried me back to the base so that doc could fix me up. Though my physical wounds completely healed in a matter of days, the emotional one still haven't."
"Ever since that horrible day, I decided to roll solo in any future missions and refused to work with any bot, because I simply can't bear the pain of losing another partner. I also never opened up to the team about any of this. They all have enough problems of their own and I just didn't want to trouble them with mine."
"After listening to your story, however, I've actually begun to think that I might've been wrong to do so. Family is a notion as sacred to Cybertronians as it is to humans and though our team is far from a traditional family, we've all been through so much together in both our planet and this one. Besides, no matter how much they irritate me at times, they're still the only bots left in the whole universe who actually care about my well-being. It would be stupid of me to not seek their help in coping with the loss of someone who also mattered a lot to them, right?"
When he finally stopped talking, he gave another warm smile to Applejack, who both smiled back and gave him a nod of approval. However, her smile soon turned into a nervous expression before she asked, "Um, I really hate to ask you this, but that Breakdown fella said Arcee made the mistake of refusing to join the Cons. What exactly did he mean by that?"
Upon hearing that question, Cliffjumper let out another deep sigh and revealed, "Well, like I just said, I was surrounded by a huge number of soldiers at the same time she was fighting Shockwave, but I did manage to hear bits and pieces of the conversation they had when he finally beat her to the ground. He tried to convince her that 'joining the winning side is the most logical choice' and every time she said no... he blasted off one of her limbs. For a cold and calculating genius solely motivated by logic, torture always seems to be his favorite method of manipulation... and if it doesn't get him the results he wants... he has absolutely no qualms about blowing the heads of his victims to pieces."
Immediately after saying that, he covered his face with his left hand, as Applejack began to stare at him with a completely horrified expression on her face. It took her nearly half a minute to process everything Cliffjumper had told her and once she had done so, the expression on her face turned into a determined one and she even declared, "Don't you fret, Cliff. Next time we come across Shockwave, we'll make him pay for everything he's done to you and Arcee. That's a promise right there and any one of my friends or relatives would tell you that I always keep my promises."
Hearing this caused Cliffjumper to remove his hands from his face, let out a dry chuckle, and say, "Really appreciate the spirit, kid, but you should know that my partner was one of the very best fighters in the entire Autobot army. In fact, the only Autobot I know who could ever best her in combat was the boss bot himself, which means she's a way better fighter than you and I combined. If she couldn't take down Shockwave, what chance do we have?"
At that point, Applejack actually gave him a smirk and revealed, "Oh, I wasn't talking about just you and me when I said 'we'. In case you forgot, there's one more member in our little team and I have a pretty good feeling that she's gonna burst through the front door right about..."
"HELLOOOO!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie as she did exactly what Applejack had just said.
Although this captured the attention of both her and Cliffjumper, she quickly turned back towards the Autobot and confidently said, "Now. Told ya."
As he looked back at her with an incredulous expression, Pinkie merrily skipped towards the two while asking, "WHOA! Haven't you guys noticed how dusty and cramped this place is? How could anyone possibly have fun being here?"
"Well, let's just say we haven't exactly been havin' fun here, Pinkie," Applejack began to explain. "Cliff was just tellin' me about some of the ugly parts of his past and I reckon he's gonna need some cheerin' up after that mighty depressin' story. Say, is your family at home, by any chance?"
"Hmmm... Let's see," Pinkie began to think. "My parents are out visiting my nana today, but my sisters are all at home and I'm absolutely certain they would love to meet you, Cliff. By the way, I wouldn't be too depressed if I were you. You'll most definitely be alive by the end of this story, since nearly all the fans are tired of you constantly dying during the last decade."
Immediately after she said all that, a completely flabbergasted Cliffjumper began repeately looking back and forth between her and Applejack before the farm girl asked, "Hey, don't you remember what I said about her?"
Hearing that question caused the Autobot to stop moving her head, let out a loud groan, and reply, "It's Pinkie Pie. Don't question it."
"Exactly," declared Applejack while nodding in approval. "I know she looks like she's a few apples short of a bushel sometimes, but just like me and the rest of my friends, she's always there for when you need help. Plus, she's technically part of my family (kinda) and I can say without one shred of doubt that she's exactly the kind of help we need to bring down Shockwave for good."
Cliffjumper thought for a few moments about what she had said and then, a smile formed on his face before he asked, "Well, if you're as honest as everyone says, I don't really have any reason not to trust you, now do I?"
Shortly after Applejack smiled back, he transformed into his vehicle mode and opened both of his doors upon doing so. Then, the two girls very excitely hopped into the car and the said car started driving out of the barn and towards the residence of another branch of the Apple family.