At the end of the day, Sunset was just heading out of the school as she looked over her own Armor unit, flipping it like a coin. She knew she was right about the Geodes representing the Elements of Harmony in this world, but one thing didn’t make any sense; in all her readings, she’d only ever heard of six Elements, so the question on her mind was how could her Element – which she’d always considered to be the Element of Empathy – exist in either world? And if it did, how could it possibly activate her Armor?
She ran out of time to contemplate that as she left the school, where she found the other girls and their bots waiting. With little trouble, she jumped into Bumblebee and he revved up, rather quickly from Sunset’s perspective. “Whoa. What’s the matter, Bee?”
“I just heard from Jetfire; he’s been observing some pretty strange Decepticon movements since that ‘brawl’ outside town the other day.” Bumblebee explained. “He thinks he might’ve found a Decepticon Energon mine.”
“Energon? On Earth?” Sunset was reasonably surprised to hear this as the girls all drove off toward the Ark.
It was then that Wheeljack came in over the coms. “Ratchet and I have run studies, and they’ve shown that Energon is a naturally occurring phenomenon across the universe, unlike in the old days when we thought Energon could only be found on planets similar to Cybertron. The Decepticons have set up several mining operations across Earth to extract as much Energon as they can. We Autobots, on the other hand – given our limited workforce and no access to any mines – have been forced to make do with the bare minimum of Energon reserves.”
“So we’re raiding a mine? Awesome.” Rainbow grinned.
“No, we’re raiding the mine; you’re staying on the Ark.” Cliffjumper corrected. “Prowl’s orders.”
“Ah, what Prowl doesn’t know won’t hurt him.” Rainbow was swiftly corrected when she heard a police siren blare behind Cliffjumper. When she looked out the window, she saw a very familiar black and white 2010 Ford Taurus police interceptor roar up alongside… with a familiar red symbol on the hood and a very familiar person behind the wheel. Who then reached down to his CB.
Which connected to Cliffjumper’s com-unit. “You’d have to get up early in the morning to even try and pull a fast one on me, kid. And even then, you wouldn’t succeed.” With that, Prowl drove on ahead of the group, leaving a stunned Rainbow in her Challenger.
And she wasn’t the only one surprised. “How did he do that?” Sunset asked genuinely, pointing behind the convoy.
“He’s a cop-car; he has patrols.” Bumblebee shrugged. And that was the last thing stated before the Autobots arrived back on the Ark, once again welcomed by Red Alert’s jitters and Ratchet’s pleasant bedside manner.
The girls were relieved when they saw Optimus arrive in the hangar. “Autobots, Jetfire has uncovered the possible location of a Decepticon Energon mine.” he briefed. “We cannot allow this chance to bolster our holdings to slip from our grasp. Ironhide, you will lead the assault.”
“I hear ya, Prime.” Ironhide nodded as he stepped forward. “Alright Autobots, let’s go to work. Jazz, Cliffjumper, Trailbreaker, and Smokescreen, let’s roll.”
“You got it.” Jazz smirked, looking over at Smokescreen. “Hey Smokey, you wanna bring your bumper-buddy?”
Bumblebee and Bluestreak laughed like crazy when Jazz said that, while Smokescreen and Lifeline just looked embarrassed. “Wha- Dude! I told you not to say that in front of Optimus!”
“I doubt bringin’ a distraction on this mission would be a good idea.” Ironhide scowled.
“How about a field medic?” Lifeline brought up, raising her eyebrow as well as her medkit.
“Ya never know when one of us might get hurt.” Jazz brought that up.
Ironhide glanced at Ratchet, who just shrugged in response, leaving the old bucket to sigh as he looked back to Lifeline. “Alright, alright. Just make sure you’re focused on medicine…” He smirked here. “And not your ‘bumper-buddy’.”
Now Wheeljack and Cliffjumper were laughing along with the others, leaving the bots in question embarrassed and the girls confused. “I don’t get it; what does ‘bumper-buddy’ mean?” Sunset asked seriously.
“I think I have a hunch.” Rainbow smirked, wiggling her eyebrows knowingly.
“Ohhhh…!- I still don’t get it.” Pinkie remarked, only resulting in Rainbow facepalming.
Trailbreaker smirked as he looked at the girls. “That reminds me; why not bring along our ‘secret weapon’?” He pointed at Applejack, letting the others know exactly who he was talking about.
“Thoroughly out of the question.” Prowl countered instantly. “We’re trying to keep Megatron away from the AllSpark, remember? If she’s taken prisoner, the Decepticons will have access to her fragment of the map.”
“Ah can take care of myself just fine, sheriff.” Applejack proved this by swiftly activating her Armor with a simple click, as it was now locked around her Geode. Once clicked, the Armor formed around her via simple shifting of plates, allowing her to step off the console to the ground as she switched to bot-mode. “Especially with this.”
Tracks smiled. “I’d suggest not arguing with her, Prowl. You heard what she did to Barricade without that Armor.”
Prowl sighed. “Alright, fine. Just make sure the Decepticons don’t see your data-drive.”
“Piece of cake.” Applejack smirked, though she wasn’t expecting a small, armored cuff to form around the drive. But it wasn’t unwelcome either. “See? Outta sight, outta mind.”
“Very well. Applejack will accompany the away-team to the mine.” Optimus nodded.
“Seriously? AJ gets to raid a mine, but we don’t?” Rainbow asked indignantly.
Ironhide ignored her and turned to Applejack. “I suppose we could use the extra hands to carry any Energon we get away with.” He turned up to Optimus. “But she’s gonna need an alt-mode before she goes anywhere with us.”
“Agreed. Applejack, you have your choice of any vehicle in Teletraan’s database. Prepare to scan.” On Optimus’ order, Teletraan brought up a large variety of human vehicles on the screen.
Applejack cycled through various vehicles until her optics locked onto a 2016 Dodge Power Wagon with raised suspension and decided that she would take it… as soon as she figured out how.
She tried to focus on the image of herself as that truck, and as it turned out, that was what it took as two strange green beams shot from her optics and scanned the vehicle data on the screen, loading it into her system.
Then things started getting really crazy as her bot-mode’s armor suddenly took on the appearance of various parts of the truck, including halves of the grille shifting into her breastplate and headlights on her shoulder-plates. “Whoa nelly.”
Trailbreaker raised an eyebrow as he looked her over, giving a low whistle at her new appearance. “Not bad. Heavy-duty; I like it.”
“Keep it under the armor, Trailbreaker.” Ironhide ordered. “Wheeljack, open the GroundBridge.”
“Comin’ up.” Wheeljack noted, pressing a specific button on the console. On the order, a large panel in the ceiling opened and allowed a large ring-like construct to slowly swing down until it was right in front of the team.
“Whoa. What is that thing?” asked Rainbow in awe.
“That, my dear, is a GroundBridge.” Wheeljack smiled. “Basically a scaled-down form of Cybertronian SpaceBridge transportation technology, granting the capability for us to move from here to anywhere else on the face of the planet.”
“And now, we’re gonna use it to get to that mine in time.” Ironhide assured. “Autobots, Transform and Roll Out!” On that order, his entire team switched to their vehicle-modes, including Applejack, which surprised her since this was the first time she’d ever done this.
It surprised her even more when she found she was in the driver’s seat of a fairly normal-seeming truck. Still, she quickly followed the white Porsche Panamera with blue and red racing stripes down the middle in front of her that transformed from Jazz in driving through the GroundBridge.
And to say it shook her up was an understatement; it felt as if her entire skeleton had been fitted with miniature vibrational motors, which seriously hurt for a few seconds before they calmed down and she was able to transform back to bot-mode, letting her hat jump up from her truck-bed onto her head. And around her was an impressive display; massive blue crystals jutting from the earthy walls of the cavern. “Whoa, nelly.”
“You said it, kid.” Ironhide remarked. “Looks like the ‘Cons have been drillin’ here for a while.”
“Man, are they gonna be ticked when we take this place for ourselves.” Trailbreaker smirked.
“You want my Energon, Autobots? You’re more than welcome to take it. If you can.” The team looked up and saw the source of that voice was none other than Starscream himself on a higher level of the cavern.
“Well, if it ain’t Ol’ Screamer.” Ironhide smirked, raising a blaster that resembled a sawed-off double-barrel. “What’d ya do to piss off Megatron this time?”
“Silence, you old fool!” Starscream snarled. “Lord Megatron positioned me here to oversee your deaths because he trusts me so.”
“Whatever helps you recharge at night, Starscream.” Smokescreen smirked, suddenly flipping a large cannon-like weapon out of his back and onto his shoulders, aimed right at the Decepticon before two rockets fired from it and flew toward him… before they were suddenly exploded in the air just short of Starscream, letting out a small cloud of smoke. “Well, that wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“Yes it was.” That voice came from behind a rock nearby, revealed to be a very familiar Humvee-bot.
Trailbreaker scowled. “Swindle.” And not just him; Blast Off was there as well, and a large green bot with a tank barrel on his back, a gray bot with helicopter blades, and a large blue bot with two huge cannons on his back.
Jazz addressed the largest of them, clearly the commander. “What’re you doin’ here, Onslaught? I thought you and your team were paid too well to guard mines.”
“We’re not here on sentry duty, Autobot.” Onslaught countered. “We’re here to crush you. Combaticons, obliterate!” On that order, all of Onslaught’s men raised large blasters and opened fire, only hitting the large blue barrier Trailbreaker emitted from his hands as the Autobots dove for cover.
“Alright, two can play at this game.” Ironhide snarled from behind cover. “Return fire!” On that order, all the Autobots but Applejack and Lifeline started shooting back at the Combaticons, most of their blasts only missing or reflecting off small overshields.
Applejack just smirked. “Alright, time to have some fun.” She cracked her large metallic knuckles and dashed toward them, her hair suddenly condensing into a battle-helmet under her hat as she charged.
“Oh scrap. Onslaught, that’s her!” Swindle called in concern, pointing at her.
“Then it’s time to stop holding back.” Onslaught smirked, causing his back-mounted cannons to lock next to his head, firing large blasts at Applejack, swiftly knocking her back a few yards. “I’ll admit I was impressed by what you did to Breakdown. Wildrider said it was like a Combiner stepped on him.”
“Well?” Applejack asked seriously.
“Well, if you’re supposedly as strong as a Combiner, then why not test yourself against one?” Onslaught smirked. “Combaticons, Combine!”
On that order, Onslaught’s soldiers all put away their weapons. Swindle and the tank-bot charged forward, jumping before transforming mid-air and deploying large constructs from their rear ends which they landed on, confusing Applejack. “Are those… feet?”
It only got weirder when Onslaught jumped up onto his soldiers, folding his arms and head away in favor of a large tan chestplate, allowing Blast Off and the copter-bot to jump, transform and lock into the large bot’s shoulders, before a large silver head deployed out of the top of the whole construct. “Bruticus, armed for battle!” this new bot roared as it attacked.
“Aw scrap, we weren’t countin’ on this!” Jazz remarked.
“No, we were not.” Ironhide nodded. “Grab as much Energon as you can and get ready to run. Wheeljack, we need a GroundBridge. AJ, fall back; we’re outta here!”
“Don’t gotta tell me twice!” Applejack nodded and dashed around Bruticus, dodging massive punches and blasts into the ground… until she had an idea. “Hey fellas, over here!” She leaped into the air, surprised by the altitude she got from her new leg-servos. But her plan worked perfectly; Bruticus’ cannons locked onto Applejack and fired, but she started falling just as the blasts approached… and flew toward Starscream.
“What?! No!” he yelled and ran for his life, only to be blown into a wall by the blast, cracking the stone with his face.
Applejack laughed happily as she tossed her hat over to a large crystal, slashing a large chunk of Energon off and sending it falling to the ground. As soon as she grabbed her hat, she picked up the large crystal in her hands and ran toward the GroundBridge vortex, delivering a quick backhand to Swindle on her way past, knocking Bruticus apart before she transformed to truck-mode. “All set; let’s roll!”
“Not just yet.” Smokescreen smirked, holding a large detonator. “If we can’t have this Energon, then neither can the Decepticons. Fire in the hole!” Pressing the button on the detonator, several small red lights appeared on numerous Energon crystals around the cavern, beeping loudly… which in-turn revealed them to be bombs.
“Good call, Smokey. Autobots, return to base!” Ironhide ordered and everyone quickly transformed, driving through the vortex.
Starscream was naturally terrified at the sight of the bombs all around him. “Soundwave, get me a GroundBridge!” he ordered onto his com. “Combaticons, retreat!” Onslaught and his team separated and did as they were ordered, racing through their own vortex back to the Nemesis, just as the bombs went off, triggering a massive blue explosion out the top of the mine, like a huge volcanic explosion.
Thankfully, the team was spared this madness as they returned to the Ark and closed the GroundBridge behind them just in time. “Yee-hoo! Man, that was fun!” Applejack laughed as she transformed, grabbing her crystal under her arm.
“Ho-ho! And you brought back quite the score, I see.” Wheeljack smirked, looking at the Energon the team had brought with great interest. “Blue, Bee, help me get it to the refinery. This stuff oughtta keep us running for months.” Bluestreak and Bumblebee quickly did as they were told, grabbing the crystals from the team and walking down the ship’s hallway with Wheeljack.
“I gotta hand it to ya Trailbreaker, you really made a good call bringin’ this kid in on the mission.” Ironhide smirked, patting his dark-armored friend on the back.
“I am inclined to agree, Ironhide.” Optimus nodded. “Applejack, while your safety and that of your friends will always be our first priority, we would welcome any aid you may provide.” Applejack smiled at that as Optimus turned to the other girls. “And I extend that same offer to all of you, present and future. Any aid you may make to our cause, we will gladly accept.”
“Thank you, Optimus.” Twilight nodded happily. “We’d be glad to help in any way we can.”
“Why not start in town? We can introduce you around the school.” Pinkie smiled jovially.
Prowl just raised an eyebrow. “Exactly what part of ‘Robots in Disguise’ do you not understand?” he reminded.
Rainbow rolled her eyes in response as Applejack reverted to human-form and climbed onto the console. “Buddy, we’ve dealt with mind-controlling Sirens, a ridiculously competitive rival school, a forest camp-monster, a thief turned fame-hungry giant with a magic mirror, a memory-erasing rock, getting trapped by a crazy social media mogul, a time-loop caused by two perfection-obsessed pop stars – apparently-”
“I swear that did actually happen.” Sunset assured; she still remembered the insanity that was the PostCrush reunion concert.
“Hey, I believe you; I’m still allowed to rag on stuff I believe, right?” Rainbow countered, turning back up to the apparently disturbed Prowl. “And as if all that wasn’t already enough, these two turned into full-on magic she-demons!” She pointed over at Twilight and Sunset, before realizing her words. “Uh, no offense.”
The two simply smirked. “None taken.” they jinxed.
Prowl just blinked in shock, as did several of the other Autobots. “Yeah, and if the entire town can see stuff like that and be cool, I don’t think you guys have anything to worry about.” Rainbow finished.
Prowl was still a bit awed and cleared his metallic throat. “Well uh, you present a… very strong argument.” He resumed his composure as he looked at her. “But I stand by my decision; the rest of humanity isn’t ready to know about us yet.”
“I am afraid I must agree with Prowl.” Optimus nodded. “While I welcome the aid of humanity, I know they are not yet prepared to know of our existence.”
“Understood, Optimus.” Twilight nodded. “We’ll keep your existence secret until you think you’re ready.” Optimus nodded in response as the girls left with their partners, blissfully unaware of what would happen soon.