//------------------------------// // Truth // Story: Cybertron Girls // by SonicSpeedster97 //------------------------------// It had been a day since the incident at the park and the girls had resolved to keep the details of what happened between them, and to try to avoid those machines to the best of their abilities. Unfortunately, the girls found it difficult to focus on their studies since their minds were so preoccupied by what had happened the day before. Not to mention the others’ concern for Pinkie and AJ to blow the whistle on what had happened. At the end of the day, the girls simply stepped out of the school, having decided to forgo band practice for now. Sunset had finally gotten rid of her broken motorcycle and was forced to carpool with her friends until she got a new car. Unfortunately, as they were making their way to their vehicles, Applejack saw something unusual. “What in tarnation?” The jet-fighters from yesterday were flying over the area, apparently circling over the school. “What’s goin’ on here?” Rainbow glanced off to one side and was surprised. “I think I might have an idea.” And sure enough, there were the two Autobots they had seen earlier, rumbling up in their vehicle-modes. She looked at them dead-on and pointed upward. “Friends of yours?” Bumblebee just rumbled closer, opening his doors. “Get in.” Arcee did something similar, simply collapsing her convertible roof. “I’ll take that as a no.” Sunset shrugged. “Well, Rarity and I still need to drop our rides off at home.” Applejack brought up. “Alright. We’ll ride with you on the way.” Unfortunately, the girls knew that comment from Arcee was the best they were ever going to get. With little else in the way of argument, Pinkie and Fluttershy climbed into Arcee as Sunset, Twilight and Spike, and Rainbow boarded Bumblebee, the two driving to escort Applejack and Rarity. Once they had both dropped off their vehicles, the two climbed into Bumblebee’s back-seat. Once all aboard, the two bots roared across town out to the hills, all while followed by the jet-fighters. “Now what?” Arcee asked. “We can’t risk leading them back to base.” “I got this.” Bumblebee smirked, apparently turning on some sort of communication device. “Bumblebee to Jetfire, we’re almost at the base and Starscream’s still on our tail. Mind dealing with it?” “I’m on it, Bee.” That voice was suddenly met by a large white and red jet-fighter flying from the hills, firing on the three fighters following the other two Autobots which evidentially scared them off, prompting the bigger fighter to turn around and fly back towards the hills. “Alright, Starscream’s heading home. And so am I.” “Think they found us?” asked Arcee. “No way to know for sure. But I doubt it.” Bumblebee noted. “Hang on, we’re almost home.” Though to the girls, it didn’t really look much like a home. It looked more like the foot of the volcano outside town known as Rockfoot Mountain, extinct since it was discovered in the 19th Century. “You guys live in a volcano?” asked Sunset. “Close.” Bumblebee smirked. “Red Alert, drop the gangway.” With that order given, a large patch of rock in the mountain shifted and a ramp dropped from it, allowing Bumblebee and Arcee to drive aboard as Jetfire flew in through the top of the mountain, allowing the girls to really see that which the Bots called home; a massive starcraft embedded in the volcano’s wall with almost orange walls and large blue computer terminals. “Whoa…” Twilight was in nerd heaven right now, surrounded by highly advanced technology and – evidentially – giant alien robots, including a large white and red one with what looked like a fire chief’s car as his alternate-mode, along with what looked like a large missile-launcher on his shoulder. And he looked twitchy, especially when he saw the girls disembark their rides. “You brought organics onto my ship?!” he asked angrily. Bumblebee and Arcee just transformed, Bee rolling his eyes at the bot. “Relax Red Alert, we’ll keep them away from your station. Most of the time.” “And anyway, we didn’t have a choice.” Arcee shrugged. “We have our orders. If Optimus wants to talk to them, we bring them to the ship.” “Alright fine, I’ll- I’ll add them to the security system.” Red Alert relented… only to get more worried when he looked at the girls. “Wait. Wasn’t there one more here earlier?” The girls looked and saw he was right; somehow Pinkie Pie had disappeared. Looking up, they saw her near Red Alert’s console. “What’s this button do?” “Don’t touch that!” Red Alert growled, trying to swat her away only to miss as she dashed over to another console. “What’s this button do?” “Don’t touch that either.” Arcee warned. Then Pinkie’s eyes locked onto something terrifying; a big red button. “Ooh, shiny! What’s this button do?” “You really don’t wanna touch that one.” Too late, Bumblebee; Pinkie had already pushed the button, triggering an almost deafening klaxon alarm which blared through the entire ship with red lights flashing through all the rooms, apparently startling several other bots into action. Finally, Bumblebee tromped over and pushed the button, disabling the alarm. Once it was off, he simply glanced down at Pinkie and smirked. “Toldja not to touch it.” With the alarm off, Red Alert sighed and turned on a p.a. system on his console. “False alarm, everyone; one of Prime’s guests got excited. We’re not in any danger; return to your posts.” Practically every bot in the base went back to their positions grumbling. “Sorry!” Pinkie called down the hall. “Don’t worry; it happens to the best of us.” Bumblebee assured. “Anyway, introductions. Girls, this is Red Alert; our chief of security. You’ll have to get used to him; he’s a little… skittish.” Arcee scoffed. “Don’t sugarcoat it, Bee; he’s totally paranoid.” “What?! Says who?! Gah, it’s that Swerve again, isn’t it? I swear, this time-!” His rant continued in the background as Arcee turned down to the girls. “Point proven.” “And taken.” Sunset remarked as Bumblebee lowered his hands, allowing the girls to climb into his palms before he lifted them up to stand on the console. “Now lemme see if I have this right; Bumblebee and… uh…” “Arcee.” the fem-bot nodded. “It’s okay; I understand that you’re probably not used to bots’ names yet.” “Not used to how we like to keep things clean either, I suppose.” a crabby voice down the hall grumbled, revealing a bright white ‘bot with a silver brow and what looked like red crosses on his shoulders as the source, swiftly moving to clean the consoles Pinkie Pie was standing on earlier. “Honestly, your organic oils get everywhere.” Bumblebee rolled his eyes as he turned back to the girls. “And that’s our medic Ratchet. You can just ignore most of what he says; he’s practically got one servo in the scrapheap anyway.” It was exactly then that Ratchet smacked Bumblebee in the back of the head with a loud clang. "OW!" “I may be old, but I can still hear just fine.” Ratchet reminded. “Yeah-yeah, whatever old-timer.” Bumblebee rolled his eyes. “This is incredible.” Twilight remarked, looking around. “Robots with personalities that can turn into vehicles? What are you?” “Specifically speaking, we’re a species of autonomous robotic organisms from planet Cybertron.” Ratchet explained, having finished his cleaning. “Uh-huh. And now in non-nerd speak, please?” asked Rainbow. “It means that biologically speaking, they’re practically identical to us.” Twilight explained, in awe of her own words. “They can grow, reproduce, everything humans can do.” Ratchet seemed interested as he stood up. “You’re a sharp one.” “Star pupil at our school.” Twilight smiled proudly. “Pfft. Teacher’s pet, more like.” Rainbow muttered. “I heard that.” Twilight remarked. “Ten-hut!” That voice echoed through the room, prompting all bots in the room to stand at attention as the voice was revealed to come from a large black-and-white bot who appeared to transform into a police interceptor. And behind him, a massive red bot with a blue head, hands, and legs who appeared to transform into a big-rig of some sort. “You’ve heard of our drill sergeant Prowl.” Bumblebee noted, pointing at the police-bot before shifting his hand up to the larger one. “And this is our leader; Optimus Prime.” Optimus was rather imposing, especially given the girls’ small size relative to him. As predicted, Fluttershy was especially frightened – obviously – as Spike huddled behind Twilight’s legs when Optimus’ bright eyes glided over them. “Are these the lifeforms you told me about, Bumblebee?” “That’s them, Optimus.” Bee nodded. “Only got a few names though.” “Well then, I guess it’s our turn for introductions.” Sunset smiled. “My name is Sunset Shimmer, and these are my closest friends; Twilight Sparkle, her dog Spike, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy.” “Welcome to the Ark.” Optimus nodded. “‘Ark’?” asked Sunset. “You’re refugees?” “That’s a polite way of putting it.” Arcee shrugged. “In truth, we Autobots are here because we are embroiled in a brutal war with our adversaries; the Decepticons.” Optimus explained. “Like that Barricade fella yesterday?” asked Applejack. “That’s the guy.” Prowl nodded. “He was my partner… before he betrayed me to the ‘Cons.” “So why are you fighting? What’s this war about?” asked Sunset. “A fair question Sunset Shimmer.” Optimus nodded. “Though the answer is a long one.” “As long as there isn’t a test at the end, I’m happy.” Rainbow shrugged. “Don’t worry, this is a simple lecture; no test.” Bumblebee assured. With that, he led the girls across to another terminal where Optimus brought up a video-collection of a massive metallic planet. “Eons ago, our homeworld of Cybertron was once a peaceful empire; a world whose greatest contributions were of science and culture.” Optimus explained. “But in time, our ruling body; the High Council, became corrupt and imposed a strict system of social castes, elevating themselves while only forcing others lower down. In time, a system of rebellion began… in the form of Megatron.” The image on the screen displayed a massive gray robot with a giant cannon mounted to his right arm, and burning red eyes, frightening the girls with his very visage. “Megatron swore to unite all of Cybertron in equality, doing away with the old guard. As he entered the political arena, I worked with him and considered him a brother. But it was in the Council chambers that he began to show his true colors as he proclaimed the need to overthrow the Council with force and demanded he be named ruler of all of Cybertron. “I thought otherwise and for that, I was struck down as Megatron rallied his followers to conquer Cybertron and exploit its rich veins of Energon; the fuel and lifeblood of all Cybertronians. In time, our world itself died and we Autobots were forced to flee. This Ark was merely the last Autobot ship to leave the planet, though Megatron chased us here, intent on ending the war the only way he knows how. By ending me.” With that, the video ended, leaving the girls in awe. “After we left Cybertron, the Ark ended up getting caught in your planet’s gravity-well and we crash-landed here. We’ve been here ever since.” Bumblebee finished. “The Decepticons followed us here, and the war has been ongoing ever since.” The girls were still amazed, but equally sad for the ‘Bots having to leave their homes. “And since Bumblebee and Arcee defended us yesterday, Megatron must think we’re on your side.” Sunset rationalized. “Precisely why we must protect you.” Optimus nodded. “Though that is not the only reason.” “I was wondering when we were going to get to this.” Twilight nodded, pulling the small meteorite from her pocket. “Bumblebee and Barricade both seemed pretty interested in it.” “And for good reason.” That voice belonged to a bright white Autobot with green and orange stripes along his body, metal fins on the sides of his helmet and a strange bug-eyed expression on his face. Bumblebee chuckled as he walked in. “Girls, this is Wheeljack; the Autobots’ resident tech-inventor and mad scientist.” “Ha! Funny.” Wheeljack snickered humorlessly. “Anyway, there’s a very good reason we’re all so interested in that item. That is a special system of Autobot weapons tech created by Solus Prime called the Spark-Shift Armor system. There are seven original components – not counting any knockoffs the Decepticons may have built – and each of them have to link with a certain Spark before they can be activated.” “What do you mean Spark?” asked Sunset. “This.” Ratchet explained, pressing a button on the console to reveal what looked like a Cybertronian anatomy model, highlighting a blue glowing object in the model’s chest. “A Spark is the raw essence of Cybertronian life. Destroy the Spark, destroy the bot." “So what makes these Armors so special?” asked Twilight. “They contain fragments of a map of this planet, which will allow us to locate the wellspring from which all Cybertronian life is born and ultimately returns to; the AllSpark.” Optimus explained. “Megatron wished to use the power of the AllSpark as a weapon to use against the Autobots, so in a bid to keep it from his hands, my mentor Alpha Trion elected to send it off-world to this planet. Unfortunately, that proved to be a mistake as once the AllSpark left, Cybertron truly died. Now, I wish only to correct my mentor's mistake and restore Cybertron.” “So we just need to get this map?” asked Rainbow. “Piece of cake. Who wants a suit of armor?” “Sorry, doesn’t work like that.” Wheeljack brought up. “Solus Prime infused the original armor-units with the energy of one of Cybertron’s most sacred relics; only they can decide who’s worthy of their power.” “And when will that happen?” asked Twilight. Wheeljack just snickered. “Are you kidding? Solus cobbled those things together from scrap metal and magic reliquary energy; how the frag am I supposed to know when they’ll turn on?” “Language, Wheeljack.” Prowl ordered. “Whatever. I gotta get back to my maintenance run.” Wheeljack shrugged, locking a banded mouthplate onto his face. “You need a hand?” asked Bumblebee. “Nah, I got it.” Wheeljack assured, the fins in the sides of his head flashing blue with every syllable. “So wait, this thing is supposed to be armor?” Rainbow asked, grabbing at the meteorite… accidentally pulling a small ring of metal off. “Oops. I think I broke it.” “No you didn’t.” Twilight noted, pulling off a disk for herself. “Wheeljack said these things are all individual units. Maybe we should all take one.” The girls couldn’t argue with that and all took one unit of metal from the meteorite, revealing them to be small metal disks. But something surprised them as they were divvying up the units. “There’s one left.” Twilight was right: she had two units in her hands; one she had chosen and one from the last of the meteorite itself. “That must be the prototype.” Bumblebee noted. “Solus always made them, to test the feasibility of her inventions.” “Hm. Maybe you should hold onto it, Spike.” Twilight noted, kneeling down to her dog. “It looks like it’ll fit on your collar.” “Not to mention it looks cool.” Spike smirked as Twilight linked the small metal ring onto his collar. As for the other units, the girls quickly slipped them into their pockets. “So now what?” asked Sunset. “We can’t be seen outside with these or the Decepticons will go after us.” “Yeah, but our families will worry if we’re not back before dark.” Twilight pointed out. “Shoot, you’re right; it’s almost curfew.” Rainbow noted, looking at her stopwatch. “Human customs.” Optimus noted. “I had not considered. Though you are correct, Sunset; your safety and that of the Spark-Shift Armor remains. Thus you may each select an Autobot accompaniment.” “Dibs on Arcee!” Pinkie smiled, jumping to the pink convertible. “Pink sisters!” “Not to mention her vehicle-mode is rather stylish.” Rarity noted. “You want stylish, dear?” That pompous voice made Bumblebee roll his eyes as a large blue Autobot with a red face and white helmet walked over, his large white wings drawing attention. “You obviously haven’t ridden in true luxury before.” “Spare us the routine, Tracks.” Bumblebee smirked. “We all know you think you’re the hottest bot on this ship.” “Aren’t I?” With that, he swiftly transformed and revealed his alt-mode; a blue 2019 Corvette Stingray with a yellow and red wing design on the hood. Rarity seemed impressed. “Well, this is fashionable.” she smiled. “Very well then, uh… Tracks, was it? I will be riding with you.” “As expected.” Tracks smirked, opening his driver-side door. “Shall we?” “Let’s. Don’t wait up, girls.” Rarity smiled as she carefully climbed down from the console and moved to board Tracks. “Wait a sec there partner.” Applejack pointed out. “What if you fellers have work when we’re busy? Ya can’t just go drivin’ round town with no one behind the wheel.” “Well, we can’t bring you with us into the field either.” Prowl pointed out. “You’d be liabilities.” “‘Liabilities’? Prowl, Applejack’s the one I told you about; the one who punched a dent into Barricade’s leg without even trying.” Bumblebee pointed out. Prowl seemed impressed. “Is she now? Well then, I’d say you’ve got offense down. You just need someone to help with defense. Trailbreaker!” On that prompt, a large sheer black Autobot with a blue visor and several red and yellow slashes on his lower extremities emerged. “What’s up Prowl?” “You’re on curbside duty, guarding Applejack here.” Prowl ordered, pointing at the country girl. “Ah man, curbside duty? Really? Alright.” Trailbreaker rolled his eyes and transformed into a black 2016 Toyota Hilux truck. “Not bad. I always liked trucks.” AJ smiled as she climbed down from the console. “But I don’t exactly see how this feller’s gonna be in charge of defense.” “I can generate energy shields, and my Magnawheels let me drive on any surface, even upside-down.” Trailbreaker said simply. “Well, that’s kinda awesome.” Rainbow remarked. “I agree. But I ain’t talkin’ about you bringin’ us with you into a fight.” Applejack assured. Twilight smiled. “I think I see where you’re going with this.” She turned to Ratchet. “Can you generate holograms?” “Sure; holomatter generators are a must for Cybertronian explorers.” Ratchet shrugged. Optimus smiled. “I believe I understand what you are implying, Twilight. We will remodulate our holomatter avatars to allow us to blend in easier with this world.” “First thing tomorrow.” Twilight smiled. “We don’t have school so we’ll be here straight away.” Suddenly something exploded down the hallway. “OW!” That was definitely Wheeljack, blowing something up by accident. With that occurrence fresh in her mind, Twilight simply turned up to Optimus. “Can I not be partnered with Wheeljack?” Optimus simply smiled. “I believe that can be arranged.” Eventually it was decided that, instead of Wheeljack, Twilight and Spike would be joined by Bluestreak; an ironically silver Nissan Fairlady 280Z and Rainbow would be joined Cliffjumper; a red 1970 Dodge Challenger with a hood-ornament shaped like two silver horns. Finally, Sunset and Fluttershy were left, though Fluttershy was a bit nervous. “Can we get someone small and non-threatening for Fluttershy?” Sunset asked. “Hey, I think I got that handled.” That voice sounded almost like a hippy, and when the source of it made itself known, everyone actually thought he was a hippy, given his simply blue paint and silver visor over his optics. “Name’s Beachcomber. I’m all about takin’ it slow and easy.” “I- I don’t know; I think I can handle myself.” Fluttershy muttered, recoiling in fear. “Ey, I’m not forcin’ anything.” Beachcomber assured. “I just wanted to have someone else to talk to besides the bots and local animal life.” That seemed to pique Fluttershy’s interest as she looked up at Beachcomber. “You can speak to animals?” “I’m still learnin’ bird, but yeah.” Beachcomber shrugged. “So Whaddaya say? Up for a drive?” As if not even waiting for his answer, Beachcomber swiftly transformed into a Polaris RZP XP 1000 dune buggy. Fluttershy was still a bit nervous about him not having any doors, but still climbed aboard and strapped in. Sunset looked around and didn’t actually see anyone else around, aside from Bumblebee. “What do you say, Bee? Up for being my ride?” Bumblebee smirked. “Why not? You need one, dontcha?” He simply transformed and allowed Sunset to climb into the driver’s seat. “All set, Optimus.” “Very well.” Optimus nodded, prompting Red Alert to open the gangway. “Autobots, Roll Out.” With that order, the seven selected Autobots revved out of the ship back toward town. They may not have known what the future held for them, but they were ready for it either way.