The next day, inside the secret Autobot base on Earth, medical officer Ratchet was wearing a pair of protective goggles and standing beside a metal table in the middle of the command center with all seven of the geodes, a flask full of liquid Energon, and a pair of tweezers on it. He proceeded to pick up one of the geodes (Rarity's geode, specifically) with the tweezers and drop it in the flask before starting to observe the resulting reaction.
Much to his surprise, dozens of bubbles were released from the geode, made their way towards the surface of the Energon, and the Energon itself started to change color, turning yellow in a matter of seconds. Ratchet took a moment to process what had just happened and then carefully picked up the geode once again with the tweezers. However, his hand accidentally touched the Energon in the process and as he started to examine the geode, he also noticed a significant change on his hand: the tiny cracks on his fingers that he got during the war were rapidly healing on their own.
As soon as he noticed this change, he dropped both the geode and the twizzlers on the table out of pure shock, and began to inspect his hand while also staring at it in awe. He was having so much trouble comprehending what he had just witnessed, as this was something he had never encountered or even heard of in his entire life. The only thing he could think of that was remotely similar to it was a series of myths and legends he had read in his youth about Cybertronian artifacts containing the power of regeneration. Unfortunately, he had become a much older and experienced bot since then, and learned that it is not wise to believe every story out there.
Then again, he also knew that all stories are based on something that had happened in real life and thus, he began to contemplate on whether or not the phenomenon he had just seen was the inspiration for any of the stories he knew of.
His train of thought was suddenly interrupted, however, when he heard a familiar voice in his commlink that said, "Hello? Are you there, Ratchet? This is Twilight Sparkle. If you're hearing this, can you lock on to our coordinates and open a ground bridge, please?"
Upon hearing this, the medic let out a small sigh and replied, "I'll get to it momentarily, but first, tell me how in the name of the AllSpark did a human like you manage to access this frequency."
"Oh, it wasn't too hard, actually," Twilight admitted. "After all, I learned how to hack into cell phones when I was still in third grade. That's what we humans normally use as long distance communication devices, by the way."
Ratchet was about to say something snappy as a retort, but stopped himself at the last second upon considering Twilight's words and instead, slightly chuckled before saying, "Not bad at all. Please, stand by for the ground bridge."
Immediately afterwards, he turned around, walked towards his computer console, pushed several buttons on it, and finally activated the ground bridge by pulling a nearby lever. As soon as the said bridge came online, Bumblebee arrived inside the base in his vehicle mode, and both Twilight and Fluttershy got out of the car. However, Bumblebee himself only transformed back into his robot mode after another girl and a dog got out, which caused an extremely shocked expression to appear on Ratchet's face.
"What?! What do you think you're doing?!", he frantically asked. "You can't just bring every human or animal you see on the street to this secret outpost. The last thing we need is more exposure."
"Whoa, easy there, doc bot," Twilight began. "Spike has been part of my family since middle school, and Sour Sweet is a really good friend of both mine and Fluttershy's. You can absolutely trust them to keep your existence on Earth a secret."
In response, Ratchet took a quick look at the said visitors (who were visibly awed by everything around them), let out a deep sigh, and said, "Since you and Fluttershy haven't really done anything to break my trust in you, I will let this slide for now. If I see a single photograph of an Autobot or a Decepticon on your worldwide web, however, there will be extremely severe conseqences. Understood?"
Twilight responded by nodding and then announcing, "So, um, I think a quick introduction is in order. Spike, Sour Sweet, this is Ratchet. He's the medical officer of the Autobots. Ratchet, this is my dog Spike and my old friend from Crystal Prep, Sour Sweet. Crystal Prep is where I went to school before Canterlot High, by the way."
"Pleasure to meet you, sir," Spike said while wiggling his tail.
"Yeah, same," added Sour Sweet while nervously waving at the medic, due to the fact that she was a bit intimidated by his size being even larger than that of Bumblebee.
However, upon seeing the geodes on the table right next to Ratchet, she pointed at them and asked, "Hey, aren't those the same gems that give Twilight and the others their magical superpowers?"
"Hm?", asked Ratchet before turning towards the direction Sour Sweet was pointing towards and noticing the geodes. "Oh. Yes. I've been running some experiments on them in order to learn more about how exactly this so-called 'magic' works."
"Experiments?", Fluttershy inquired with a concerned tone of voice. "Oh, my! I really hope they're not broken. I can't ever imagine losing the ability to talk to my friends at the animal shelter."
"Please, have no worries," Ratchet replied as he placed her and Twilight's geodes on his left palm with his twizzlers. "As far as I can tell, they remain completely undamaged. With that said, I strongly recommend that you test them out before making assumptions."
Right afterwards, he crouched and extended his palm towards the girls so that they could pick up their respective geodes. Once they placed them on their necks, Twilight used her magic to lift Bumblebee's entire body a couple feet off the ground (much to the Autobot scout's shock) and Fluttershy managed to gather a huge swarm of ants around her with just a few kind words, making Ratchet sigh in relief.
After putting Bumblebee back on the ground, Twilight gave Ratchet a content smile and said, "Well, you're absolutely right. There seems to be no problems with our magic whatsoever. Were you able to discover to learn anything useful from the experiments?"
"Oh, I did discover something useful, alright," revealed Ratchet. "However, I'm not entirely sure about the reason behind its occurence. I must consult with Optimus when he returns here. Speaking of which... "
He then pressed on the left side of his head to activate his commlink and said, "Autobot outpost Omega One to Optimus Prime. Can you hear me, Optimus?"
"Loud and clear, Ratchet," responded Optimus. "I was just about to contact you to request a ground bridge near my coordinates. What is your status?"
"Bumblebee and his human partners have just arrived here, along with a couple more guests," Ratchet began. "They've brought another human and a pet animal with them, though Twilight insists that they can be trusted with our secret and I want to believe her. Also, I've made a significant discovery regarding the geodes and would like to hear your opinion on it."
"Understood, old friend," Optimus confirmed. "I shall return as soon as you activate the ground bridge. Optimus Prime out."
Immediately after hearing that, Ratchet promptly carried out his orders and watched as his leader arrive to the base in his vehicle mode. However, he once again became extremely shocked when he saw not just Sunset Shimmer, but also a male human about her age get out of the truck before Optimus transformed back into his robot mode.
"Miss us, doc bot?", Sunset asked.
Upon noticing Ratchet's widened optics and mouth hanging open, however, she facepalmed and said, "Oh, where are my manners?! I should introduce you two!"
She then grabbed the left arm of the boy (who was admiring everything around him), pulled him close to herself, and announced, "Flash, this is Ratchet. He's the medical officer of the team. Ratchet, this is Flash Sentry, a good friend of mine from school."
"Hi there, sir," Flash said as he waved towards the medic. "Real pleasure to meet you."
Ratchet, meanwhile, finally managed to compose himself when he heard those words and though he stammered a bit, he managed to reply, "Um, same here. Forgive me, but I've noticed that, unlike Sour Sweet over there, you don't seem very intimidated by my appearance."
"Yeah, the thing is, I already saw a much bigger and scarier Autobot yesterday," admitted Flash while gesturing towards Optimus. "No offense, but compared to him, you honestly don't look all that imposing."
"I see," Ratchet said a he nodded a few times.
Then, he turned to Optimus and asked, "Is it alright if I have a quick word with you in private?"
"Of course," Optimus replied.
He then turned to his left and said, "Bumblebee, could you please give our guests a tour of our base in the meantime?"
The Autobot scout silently saluted him in response and motioned the humans to follow him towards a room at the other side of the command center. As soon as they were out of sight, Ratchet began to explain, "I have always respected your skills as both a warrior and a leader. However, you of all bots should have realized that revealing our existence to this many humans will put all of us at great risk. I have studied their entire history, Optimus, and believe me, they almost always try to destroy anything they see as different from themselves. Yes, the humans we have met so far seem friendly and kind, but what about the rest of their species? Do you really think none of them will try to exterminate us when our existence on this planet is revealed, even by accident?"
After hearing all this, Optimus took a few moments to process Ratchet's words before taking a deep breath and saying, "Were we so different? They are a young species and they have much to learn, but I have seen goodness in them. Much like us, they are capable of not just great violence, but also great compassion. In fact, one of them in particular has helped me realize something I should have realized a long time ago. That we cannot allow our past to dictate who we are today and that we must be willing to change if we truly want to atone for our past mistakes."
A surprised expression once again dawned on Ratchet's face when he heard his leader's words and after taking a handful of seconds to think hard on them, his facial expression became solemn and he placed his left hand on Prime's right shoulder as he replied, "Never mourn the past, young warrior. Thanks to you, our race has survived this long and I have no doubt that it shall be you who will lead us to victory. Like I said, I have tremendous respect for your leadership skills, but I also urge you to not let your personal opinion of merely a few humans to influence your judgment on the rest of their species. Most of them could be just like them, but it's entirely possible that the rest are the complete opposite."
Optimus once again took some time to ponder on what Ratchet had just said before placing his right hand on the medic's left shoulder and announcing, "I promise to carefully consider your words, old friend. As always, I am truly grateful for your honesty and counsel."
In response, Ratchet gave him a warm smile and said, "My pleasure, Optimus. Now, I think it's time I showed you what I've discovered so far about the geodes."
Optimus nodded in approval and followed Ratchet to the table near the computer console. Once they reached it, Ratchet grabbed the flask containing the altered liquid Energon and revealed, "I had been conducting an experiment to study the effects of the magic inside the geodes on Energon and the results are fascinating to say the least. When a geode is exposed to liquid Energon, the proceeding reaction causes the Energon to change both color and properties. I have run the same experiment seven times and though I used a different volume of liquid Energon each time, the result hasn't changed at all."
"With that said, the most interesting part of this discovery is the change in the properties of Energon. When I inserted the first six products into test engines, they not only worked, but also worked much better than before. Then, when I accidentally touched the seventh product, it quickly erased every trace of the damage my right hand had sustained during the war on Cybertron. It seems that this new type of Energon has some kind of regenerative abilites, but I have no idea on how to explain the reason behind it."
Right after Ratchet finished his explanation, Optimus began to stare at the flask with great interest while also pondering the mystery behind the new properties of the Energon it contained. A few moments later, he motioned Ratchet to give the flask to him and once he complied, he started taking a closer look at the product and continuing his mental contemplation.
Then, after several seconds of complete silence, he finally said, "Perhaps, there is a connection between our world and the one these geodes hail from. It could be a shared history or something much deeper. Whatever the case may be, I suggest we figure it out as soon as possible. It could very well be holding the key to restoring our civilization."
"Agreed," Ratchet replied as he nodded in approval. "I'll be running more tests for the next few days. If I don't discover anything solid in the meantime, then maybe we should- "
Before he could finish his sentence, the computer started beeping, and when he ran towards it in order to see what is going on, he saw a rather large purple dot on the southeastern part of North America. Upon seeing this, his eyes widened with horror and he managed to say, "No... This cannot be... According to these readings, our scanners are picking up a small concentration of... of... "
"Dark Energon," Optimus finished that sentence as he came close to Ratchet.
The medic then turned towards his leader with a bewildered expression on his face and asked, "How is that possible? We haven't detected a single trace of Dark Energon since we arrived to this planet."
"That may be so, but it is possible that some outside force has brought a sample here," declared Optimus. "I have a feeling that Megatron is the one responsible for this, but I cannot be certain until I see it for myself."
He then pressed the left side of his head and spoke to his commlink, "Wheeljack, this is Optimus. We have discovered a potential clue to a Decepticon scheme. I need your help in the investigation."
"Roger that, Prime," Wheeljack responded. "Sending my coordinates now. You can transport me back to base whenever you're ready."
"Very well," stated Optimus. "Stand by for ground bridge. Optimus Prime out."
Immediately after he said that, he pressed some buttons on the console and pulled the neaby level to activate the ground bridge, allowing Wheeljack to enter the base in his vehicle mode. Right before the said mechanic transformed back into his robot mode, Rainbow Dash and Rarity got out of the car, and started happily waving at the two Autobots before them.
"What's up, doc?", asked Rainbow during Wheeljack's transformation, which caused Ratchet to let out a slight groan.
"Aren't you humans supposed to be at school today?", he inquired.
Rarity replied, "Oh, we were, darling, but our classes are over for the day. We were on our way to Rainbow's house to finish up our science project when Wheeljack received your call."
"Yeah, that pretty much sums it up," Wheeljack said as he crossed his arms. "So, what exactly is this 'potential clue' you've found? Better be somethin' big."
"It appears to be so," revealed Optimus. "We do not yet know what exactly we have detected, but we do suspect that Megatron has something do with its appearance on Earth. That is why I want you to accompany me to its location and use your devices to determine its exact designation."
"I see," replied Wheeljack as he pondered this information for a few moments. "I'll make sure to gear up for the mission. My swords might also come in handy in case we run into either old Megs or one of his cronies."
Upon hearing this, Optimus and Ratchet briefly looked at each other in confusion before Optimus inquired, "I thought you were retired from combat. Have you changed your mind, by any chance?"
Wheeljack responded by giving a warm smile to Rainbow and Rarity (who were smiling back at him), and then declaring, "Well, let's just say, I've been recently reminded that I need to stay loyal to this team in more ways than one and that my generosity shouldn't be so limited."
Right after he said that, both Rarity and Rainbow started cheering for him while Ratchet once again gave a confused look to Optimus, who had started contemplating Wheeljack's words. A handful of seconds later, the Autobot leader stated, "Very well. You may bring any weapon you wish. However, since you have not been in a combat mission for almost a millennium, you may require some assistance in case you are injured."
He then called out to the room at the other side of the command center, "Bumblebee, come over here at once. We are going on a mission with Wheeljack."
As soon as he said that, the Autobot scout started running towards his leader with the humans and Spike not far behind. Once he reached Optimus, the two Autobots saluted one another before the aforementioned organics arrived at the scene.
"Hey, Sour Sweet!", exclaimed Rarity upon seeing them. "Long time no see. What have you been up to since last year's music video contest?"
"Oh, nothing much, Rarity," Sour Sweet replied. "I participated in a few archery tournaments, but only managed to win second place at best. There's another tournament next week and I'm training really hard to win that one right now."
"Well, best of luck to you with that. I am fully confident that you'll win the gold medal this time," Rarity assured as she placed her right hand on Sour Sweet's left shoulder, which caused the Crystal Prep girl to blush a bit.
"Thanks, Rare. Really appreciate it," she said. "Oh, and more thing. I don't usually brag, but I also can't help but feel pride for being someone who played a big role in helping Bumblebee finding his voice again. Isn't that right, Bee?"
The Autobot's optics widened with shock when he heard that and he even started scratching his head when all the eyes in the room were directed at himself. A few moments of silence later, he managed to use songs playing on his radio to state,
"Hey, hey, everybody
We've got something to say
(Look...) Look how we've all come together
(Things...) Things are only just starting to get better
Utterly flabbergasted expressions appeared on everyone's faces (except those of Twilight, Fluttershy, Sour Sweet, and Spike, who were all smiling innocently) as soon as they heard these lyrics and the silence that followed continued for a handul of seconds before Rainbow broke it by asking, "Um, why is he playing the parts of our songs?"
"Well, that's actually how he's trying to talk to us," Twilight explained. "You see, he's using the words spoken on his radio to form sentences, including song lyrics. Of course, this is just a temporary solution to his voice problem until we can find a permanent one, but it's definitely an improvement over using buzzing noises to talk, don't you think?"
Then, much to everyone's surprise, Ratchet started laughing with pure joy, picked up Twilight with his right hand, and started hugging her while also exclaiming, "GENIUS! ABSOLUTELY GENIUS! PRIMUS BLESS YOU, HUMAN!"
Twilight, meanwhile, was literally being crushed by Ratchet's hug and soon started banging on his left shoulder in a desperate effort to make him release her. Thankfully, a few moments later, Ratchet noticed this and hastily put her back on the floor and as Twilight began to cough really hard, he nervously said, "Uh, my sincere apologies. It's just that I got a bit excited upon seeing one of my former patients make a giant leap towards recovery. I hope you can understand."
As she continued to cough, Twilight managed to smile at Ratchet and give him a thumbs up, which caused the medic to sigh in relief. Wheeljack, on the other hand, still had an utterly puzzled expression on his face and thus, he admitted, "I think my brain module has short-circuited a bit. If you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go drink some Energon and gear up for the mission."
While he started walking towards the same room that Bumblebee, the humans, and Spike had been in earlier, Optimus turned towards Ratchet and declared, "Though it pleases me to see that our valiant scout has managed to overcome his greatest obstacle, we still have one more problem to deal with. We need to find someone who can help you watch over the humans during our absence. Any ideas?"
As the two started pondering this, Flash suddenly interrupted their train of thought by asking, "Um, you guys do know that we're not kids, right?"
"Yeah, we're nearly adults!" Rainbow added. "We can take care of ourselves!"
Ratchet then sternly replied, "That may be true, but it still doesn't chgange the fact that seven humans and a dog are way too much for me to keep track of by myself. I need an extra set of optics to make sure you don't wander into a potentially hazardous section of the base and get yourselves hurt or worse."
Even though the organics were about to protest to that statement, they all realized at the last second that Ratchet had a point and thus, decided not to say anything. After a few seconds of contemplating who should be the one to help him out, Sunset explained, "Well, looks like the only Autobot available right now is Cliffjumper. Before you say anything, yes, we all know he can be really thick-headed and braggy sometimes, but he does seem to have a good heart and since he's paired up with Applejack, I bet he's learned a great deal about responsibility and honesty in the last two days."
Despite everyone around her visibly agreeing with her, Ratchet simply scoffed at these claims and said, "Please, the day he learns to be responsible is the same day Soundwave defects to the Autobots. Besides, even if what you say is true, bringing him here will also add two more humans to the base, making our job even harder than before."
In response, Optimus once again placed his right hand on Ratchet's left shoulder and replied with an comforting tone, "No sacrifice, no victory, old friend. I promise, we will try to come back as soon as possible."
Upon hearing this, the medic took a few seconds to consider his leader's words before turning towards him and nodding in approval. Immediately afterwards, Wheeljack came near them with swords on his back and some gadgets attached to his waist, and revealed, "Alright, I've got everything we need. Now, let's go and see what you've found before it gets dark."
"Go get 'em, Jackie!", Rainbow exclaimed, which prompted the engineer to crouch before her and extend her fist towards her, motioning her to fist bump himself.
After she proceeded to do just that, he stood back up, started walking towards the ground bridge, and declared, "I'll do my very best, kiddo. Who knows? I might even bring you and Rarity a souvenir when I return."
"Really?! AWESOME!", shouted Rainbow, which caused Rarity to giggle at her friend's childish but undeniably cute behavior.
Meanwhile, Bumblebee was crouching in front of Fluttershy and Twilight, as the former said, "Good luck, Bee. I really hope you come back in one piece."
The Autobot scout then responded by using some song lyrics to say,
"Ya better believe I got tricks up my sleeve
See me dominate 'cause I'm powerful and grea-ea-eat!"
Fluttershy giggled at that while Twilight and Sour Sweet high fived Bumblebee before he began to follow after Wheeljack.
While all this was happening, Sunset was asking to a crouched Optimus, You know, I'm kinda bummed that I won't be able to see you in action, but this mission really is too dangerous for humans, right?"
"I am afraid so", admitted Optimus. "Try not to worry, though. I shall tell you and your friends about every single part of the mission as soon as we return."
Sunset responded by giving Optimus a thumbs up before he turned towards Flash and asked, "Flash Sentry, can I trust you to watch over Sunset Shimmer during my absence?"
"Oh, absolutely, sir," declared Flash. "Also, technically, she's the one who saved my life on more than one occassion in the past. So, I think she'll be just fine on her own."
As Sunset blushed at that statement, Optimus gave the boy a nod in approval and proceeded to join his comrades near the ground bridge. Once all three of them were right in front of the said bridge, Ratchet activated it and announced, "I shall contact Cliffjumper as soon as you pass through. Good luck to you all."
"I doubt we will need it today, old friend, but thank you regardless," replied Optimus. "Autobots, transform and roll out!"
Immediately after hearing that order, both the soldiers and their commander transformed into their vehicle modes and drove through the portal in mere seconds. As soon as the trio disappeared, Ratchet turned off the ground bridge, but just as he was about to press the left side of his head to activate his commlink and contact Cliffjumper, he heard Spike ask, "So, uh, Mr. Ratchet... I heard you're the oldest and the most experienced Autobot around here."
In response, Ratchet gave him a somewhat irritated look and replied, "Yes, that's true. What about it?"
"Well, I just thought you'd have a lot of cool stories about the war on your planet and was wondering if you could tell some of them," Spike admitted.
The expression on Ratchet's face turned curious upon hearing this suggestion and he proceeded to inquire, "You want me to tell you about what I've been through during the war for Cybertron?"
Then, when everyone nodded at the same time, a smirk appeared on his face.
Meanwhile, inside a large and desolate canyon, a ground bridge popped up before Optimus, Bumblebee, and Wheeljack emerged from it in their vehicle modes. As soon as the portal closed behind them, the three Autobots transformed back into their robot modes and started walking along the canyon, while also activating the headlights on their chests so that they could see better in the cloudy and darkened afternoon sky.
While they continued onwards, they could not help but notice several limbs and other kinds of body parts of Cybertronians sticking out of the ground they were walking on. Every single one of them seemed to have gone offline a long time ago, since none of their optics were glowing and their entire bodies were covered in rust. In fact, all of them had agonized and/or horrified expressions on their faces, implying that they were all slain in battle.
As for the still-funtioning Cybertronians walking through this graveyard, Bumblebee and Wheeljack were both visibly disturbed by the corpses around them while Optimus had a much more somber facial expression. After nearly half a minute of marching forward and observing the graveyard, Wheeljack asked to his teammates, "Dear Primus. What happened here?"
Though Bumblebee responded with a simple shrug, Optimus explained shortly afterwards with a solemn tone of voice, "The most fierce battle between Autobots and Decepticons that has ever taken place in this galaxy."
Hearing this caused his subordinates to pause their march and look at each other in extreme shock and confusion for a short while before running to catch up to Optimus, who had already gone at least a few dozen feet ahead of them. Once they both reached him, Wheeljack curiously inquired, "Why would the bucket-head's plan involve this of all places?"
"I do have a theory, but I am also hoping for it to be proven wrong," Optimus replied with a hint of dread in his voice.
"Oh... That bad, huh?", asked Wheeljack.
However, before Optimus could answer that question, they all heard the sound of an aerieal vehicle coming from behind and turned around to investigate. Immediately afterwards, they ducked for cover as a gigantic Cybertronian jet flew past them at incredible speed before moving upwards and transforming in mid-air, revealing itself to be the vehicle mode of none other than Megatron.
Soon after the Decepticon leader completed his transformation back into his robot mode, he starting falling towards the ground and landed on top of a dead end in front of the Autobots without a scratch.
As his enemies began to stand back up, they saw that his normally crimson optics were now glowing purple and a devilish smirk appeared on his face before he proudly announced, "Welcome to your legacy, Optimus. It has been quite some time since we met face to face. I must admit, I have missed you."
"I wish I could share that sentiment, Megatron," the Autobot leader replied. "What are your intentions towards the burial ground of our fallen brothers and sisters?"
His nemesis responded by letting out a menacing chuckle and revealing, "I think we both know the answer to that question, old friend. You and your comrades will soon witness the incredible power of Dark Energon, or as the legends call it- "
"The blood of Unicron," Optimus finished the sentence as a horrified expression dawned on his face.
"Wait, you mean Unicron the Chaos Bringer?", asked a frightened Wheeljack. "I thought he was nothing more than a myth."
In response, Megatron retrieved a small shard of purple-colored Energon from his back and as his purple optics glowed brighter than ever, he stated, "Oh, he is very real, Wheeljack. His blood is now coursing through my veins. I can even hear his very thoughts in my mind."
Even though Bumblebee gestured to his teammates that their greatest enemy has gone crazy, the Decepticon leader continued, "I finally possess the key to achieving the triumph I have sought for eons. Now, it is time to give you a glimpse of both the power I command and the destruction I will soon bring upon this world!"
Right after saying that, he threw the Dark Energon shard towards the valley floor and as the energy emitting from the shard spread throughout the said floor, the corpses of the deceased Cybertronians began glowing purple and rise from their graves. On top of all that, they started growling like a bunch of wild animals and slowly advanced towards the Autobots with their arms stretched out in their direction, similar to how a starved or dehydrated person would act upon seeing food or water for the first time in an immenstely long time.
As they continued their advance, Megatron's entire body started glowing purple and he shouted, "ARISE MY LEGION! DESTROY EVERYTHING YOU SEE!", while the Autobots converted their arms into blasters and formed a small circle in an attempt to defend themselves.
"Are those what I think they are?", Wheeljack asked.
Optimus promptly replied, "Yes, I am afraid so. Megatron is using Dark Energon to bring the bodies of both our soldiers and his own back to life as mindless creatures bent on destruction."
While the said creatures got closer and closer, the Autobots started firing on them, but unfortunately, their shots did little to no damage on the re-animated corpses. In fact, the only real effect they were having on the undead Cybertronians was making them stagger a bit.
"Well, if all they care about is destruction, why aren't they climbing up the valley and attacking Megs?!", an extremely worried Wheeljack frantically asked.
"He must have established some kind of connection between himself and the horde by introducing Dark Energon into his body some time ago!", Optimus explained. "He will pay dearly for dessecrating the resting place of these brave soldiers!"
"Agreed, but we've got bigger problems to worry about right now!", Wheeljack exclaimed before one of the undead tried to grab him and he started struggling against it. "Blaster shots are barely slowing these things down! At this rate, they'll tear us apart in a matter of moments!"
Upon hearing that, Optimus turned his blasters back into fists, and started punching and kicking the oncoming undead while also shouting, "They cannot be invincible! Try looking for another angle!"
Wheeljack nodded in agreement, and knocked the undead he was struggling with both a headbutt and a front kick. He then retrieved the swords from his back and started slicing the oncoming undead into several pieces. Much to his relief, all of those pieces stopped glowing and moving upon falling to the ground.
"I've figured it out!", he announced. "Splitting the bodies into multiple parts should nullify the corruption for good! Smaller the pieces the better!"
As soon as he heard this, Optimus turned his hands into swords and doing as his engineer friend had instructed, soon achieving the same result.
"Excellent thinking, Wheeljack!", he declared. "We just might survive this ordeal after all!"
While he continued implementing the plan, Bumblebee was completely surrounded by the undead. Even though he was punching and kicking them away as quickly as he could, a number of them soon grabbed him from all sides, and started piling on top of him, clawing and biting his chassis in the process. As he struggled extremely hard to get them off of himself, Wheeljack suddenly came to his rescue by slicing up a handful of the undead with his swords and grabbing Bumblebee's left hand before pulling him out of the pile. Despite the fact that nearly the entirety of the Autobot scout's body was covered in scratches and dents, he was otherwise alive and well.
Wheeljack then gave his friend one of his swords and placed a hand on his shoulder while also saying, "See you on the other side."
Bumblebee responded with a nod of approval and the two of them started slicing up the undead together, even fighting back-to-back in an effort to repel dozens of them coming from all directions. As they, along with Optimus, continued their struggle against the horde, Megatron was watching everything from his spot at the top of the valley. As soon as he saw all three of his enemies start using blades to hold off his new army, a smirk full of confidence appeared on his face and he even let out a small chuckle, making it clear that he was finding what he was seeing very enjoyable.
Right afterwards, he pressed on the left side of his head to activate his commlink and declared, "They are distracted. Commence attack."
Back at the base, all the humans were sitting on the floor and their attention was entirely focused on Ratchet, who was standing before them full of pride.
"And then, as Optimus and Bulkhead held off the oncoming Decepticon soldiers, I carried Bumblebee all the way outside the stronghold and together, we boarded a transport that took us back to headquarters," he explained. "Though I couldn't restore his voice box, I did heal every single one of his injuries and saved him from becoming another causalty in our gruesome civil war."
Upon finishing that story, the entire audience clapped and cheered while the Autobot medic took a bow in front of them.
"WOW! That was an awesome story!", exclaimed Rainbow. "You're an actual war hero, doc!"
"Indubitably", Rarity agreed. "You really deserve all the praise and recognition you got in your world."
Fluttershy added, "We owe you many thanks for saving Bee's life. Without you, we would've never had the pleasure of being friends with him."
"I completely agree with Fluttershy," declared Twilight. "Your knowledge on Cybertron's medical science and technology must be quite extensive if you were able to heal all those injuries. If you don't mind me asking, could you please share some details on the kind of tools and techniques you used on this operation?"
While this got a lot of groans from the rest of the audience, she nevertheless retorted with some annoyance, "What?! I wish to learn as much as I can about this strange new world and medicine is a honestly a great subject to start with."
As for Ratchet, he started grinning like an idiot as soon as Twilight brought up medical knowledge and it was clear that he was really eager to share with her all he knew about the said topic. It was as if he had been waiting his entire life to talk about his knowledge and experience with a like-minded individual, and the opportunity to do so had just arrived.
Right after Twilight proclaimed her desire to learn as much she could about it, he declared, "Well, in that case, I would be honored go into great detail about the medical science and technology I studied back on Cybertron."
The second Twilight heard that, a gigantic smile appeared on her face, and she quickly pulled out both a small note book and a pen from her backpack (which was right beside her) and prepared herself to take notes as soon as Ratchet would continue talking.
Upon seeing this, Ratchet let out a small chuckle, cleared his throat, and began, "So, the first thing you should know about our medical practices is that- "
Suddenly, an alarm started blaring across the room and Ratchet quickly ran towards the computer to see what was going on outside. The moment he activated it, however, he became utterly horrified by what he saw:
A General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon was flying right towards the base at incredible speed and even breaking the sound barrier in the process. When the humans came beside Ratchet and looked at the screen in front of him, Sunset asked, "What's the Air Force doing here?"
Ratchet replied with a voice full of dread, "That is not the Air Force," which caused distress among the group.
Then, as soon as he saw the jet arming each of its wings with dual missiles that had the Decepticon insignia on them, he shouted at the humans, "RUN!", before the said jet took aim at the top of the base and opened fire on it. Though the missiles failed to do much damage to their target, they did cause the inside of the base to shake a bit. To make matters worse, the jet increased its speed and once it was right on top of the base, it dropped a handful of bombs on it, causing an even bigger tremor inside.
In response, Ratchet quickly typed something on the computer and pulled the nearby lever to activate the ground bridge. Then, he ran towards the operating table, carefully placed all the geodes on his right palm, and handed them to the humans while exclaiming, "Quick! Take these and get out of here! I'm right behind you!"
They, in turn, immediately grabbed their respective geodes (with Sour Sweet and Flash grabbing Applejack's and Pinkie Pie's geodes respectively) and made a run for the ground bridge. However, they all suddenly stopped upon seeing a figure as tall as Ratchet emerge from it. When the said figure did come through the bridge, the entire group became immensely terrified by its appearance and began to slowly back away from it.
"You?! But how?!", asked an equally frightened Ratchet upon taking a good look at the new intruder:
Soundwave.