//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: Friendship is Prime // by Gammerick //------------------------------// "You two KNOW each other?" Pinkie gleefully asked as she stood between the 2 medics, who were too busy giving each other the death glare to pay too much attention to the pink pony. "We've met," Ratchet muttered angrily under his breath. "Oh no need for the cold shoulder, Doctor," Knockout teased. "Remember that time you helped me make Synthetic Energon? We go way back, don't we?" "That whole experience was a pain in my side!" Ratchet responded to Knockout's mockings, placing his hand over the left side of his body as he remembered the damage Megatron had inflicted on him that day. "Oh my gosh, this is PERFECT!" Pinkie exclaimed with joy. "We should totally throw a 'I just reunited with my old friend' party! We'll need some cake, some confetti; oh we'll need to invite plenty of guests…" "Pinkie," Ratchet tried to interrupt the pink chatterbox. "I could always use the party cannon; but we still need some fun games…" "Pinkie!" Ratchet raised his voice slightly to try and get through her constant yammering. "And some music! But do we have any mariachi bands out here?" As she went on and on, it finally wore down Ratchet's nerves until he snapped. "PINKIE!!" He shouted. "He's not my friend! He's one of my worst enemies! We HATE each other!!!" Pinkie gasped in surprise when she heard this. For a few short moments was actually left speechless, but then she soon replied, "Oh hate is such a strong word. I'm sure you two just need to get to know each other better. I bet a big party would help! We'll need some cake, some confetti, and plenty of guests…" she blathered on as she started walking down the maze once more, leaving the other two behind. Seeing her unfazed by his remark left Ratchet in a state of bewilderment followed by disgruntlement. He let out another sigh of exasperation. "Wow, this one is an absolute riot," Knockout remarked snidely as he walked up to where Ratchet was standing. "Wherever did you find a gem like her?" Ratchet said nothing as he glared angrily at Knockout. They then proceeded to walk down the maze shortly behind the pony that had yet to cease talking. "I'm sure I'll find somepony who knows how to play the maracas…" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Excuse me sir," Rarity remarked at the strange man lying on the ground in front of her, "Is there something I can help you with?" Starscream let out a small shriek as he quickly stood up and regained his composure. "Eh-heh, no I'm fine thank you." He responded in slight embarrassment as he dusted himself off. "You're one of those strange creatures from earlier, aren't you?" "Ah yes, where are my manners? I am Rarity, and I'm not a strange creature. I am a unicorn, but more importantly, I am a lady!" Rarity presented herself with an air of regality. "Who are you?" "I am Commander Starscream," he proclaimed as he extended one of his fists towards the heavens. "Second-in-Command of the mighty Decepticon Army!" His aura of pride was broken when he looked over to see Rarity with a bewildered expression on her face. "Well, I'm sure that is very… impressive, Starscream," Rarity replied with obvious obliviousness to the situation. "Shall we continue our journey in this maze together?" "Well it's not like I had anything better to do," Starscream replied with minimum interest. And so the two set down the labyrinth once more. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As Megatron eyed his surroundings he finally made eye contact with Jack, Miko, and Raf. "I was hoping at the very least that I would find an actual Autobot, but instead I get stuck with their underlings." The three children gave him angry stares as he went on insulting him. Then he turned his gaze toward Twilight. "And just what exactly are you supposed to be?" He asked fiercely with an intimidating glare. "Well, like I said before, my name is Twilight Sparkle, and if you must know I came here from Equestria with my friends to stop Discord." Twilight responded boldly. "Interesting," Megatron's curiosity rose about a land that could hold such mysterious beings like Twilight and Discord. "And where exactly is this 'Equestria' supposed to be?" "I don't know," Twilight replied. "Optimus says this world is a parallel dimension to our own, whatever that means. Aren't you one of his friends?" But before Megatron could give an answer, Jack came in between the two and pushed Twilight away from Megatron. "No!" Jack said. "He's Optimus's biggest enemy. The two have fought more times than we can imagine." "We should probably get going now," Raf observed. "Adios, King Con!" Miko shouted tauntingly at Megatron. "Good luck getting out this maze!" But after she said this, they were all surprised to hear Megatron let out a small laugh. "Do you really think it's that easy?" "What do you mean?" Jack asked curiously. "Haven't you figured it out yet?" Megatron inquired. "Don't you think it's odd that sometimes you are allowed to go down one path, but if you take a different path, it either gets sealed off, or you end up back where you were before? The one who made this maze has been controlling your directions from the start. If we made it to the center of the maze, it's only because Discord planned it to happen." "But why?" Twilight asked eagerly. "What does he get from doing this?" "As if I have the answer to a question like that," Megatron responded harshly. "Now we had better get going." "We?" Miko asked rebelliously. "What makes you think we're just going to follow you around all of the sudden?" As soon as she asked this, however, the ground began to shake violently. Multiple stone walls rose out of the ground to close of most of the exits out of this circular opening. By the time the ground stopped shaking, only one exit remained open. "Like I said," Megatron said sternly. "Discord controls this labyrinth, which means he planned for us to join together as a group." As he reached the open exit, he turned around to the kids and said, "And do not speak on my behalf again! You would not know if I had been friends with Optimus!" With that, he turned and walked out the exit, and back into the labyrinth. The four others all looked at each other before deciding it would be best to take the exit and follow Megatron. As soon as they left, the opening was sealed off by another stone wall rising out of the ground. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Funny how we keep running into each other, isn't it Bulk?" Breakdown taunted his rival. "Hilarious," Bulkhead replied in a clearly unamused manner. "Well howdy stranger," Applejack rushed over to Breakdown and offered a hoof. "I don't know who you are, but a friend of Bulkhead is a friend of mine." At the sight of being offered a handshake by a talking pony, Breakdown simply raised an eyebrow and said, "You know I should be more freaked out by this, but after everything that's happened today, this is only slightly surprising." The he just brushed past her and continued to make his way towards Bulkhead. "I know these little human bodies aren't as good as our normal ones, but I wouldn't mind the chance to break it in right now," he said as he slammed his fists together. "Bring it on," Bulkhead said as he took his own fighting stance. "Just don't cry too much when I beat you, since now you CAN cry." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "So, Rarity, you say you can defeat Discord?" Starscream asked as the two were casually conversing while walking through the maze. "I find that hard to believe." "Well you'll be in for a big surprise then," Rarity responded. "Once I find my friends, we can unite and stop him once and for all with these." She said as she stuck out her chest to show off the necklace wrapped around her neck. Starscream couldn't help but laugh. "An old trinket like that? That's your big plan?" "Oh make no mistake, the Elements of Harmony hold a lot of power," Rarity explained proudly. "They defeated him before and they can do it again." "Really?" Starscream asked with growing interest in these so-called elements. "Yes, with the power of the elements combined, I dare say it's possible to do anything you can think of," Rarity happily replied as she trotted along. "How very interesting," Starscream hissed coyly with a dark smile widening across his face. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "AIRACHNID!" Arcee screamed as she charged toward her nemesis. She lunged forward with a punch, but Airachnid was quick to react. She sidestepped the attack while grabbing the fist and wrapping it around Arcee's back. "You remember me, how sweet," Airachnid taunted her sweetly. "Unfortunately for you, I don't feel like toying around with you right now." Airachnid then kicked Arcee away from her, but Arcee quickly regained her composure and turned around to face Airachnid again. As she made another charge, Rainbow Dash flew in between them before the fight could continue. "Whoa there, time out!" She said extending her front hooves to push the two away from each other. "I don't know what's going on here, but I think getting out of this maze is a bigger problem right now, don't you?" "She's right you know," Airachnid chimed in. "The sooner we get out of her, the sooner we can get our old bodies back. And I would much rather have my real body when I carve out you spark, wouldn't you agree?" "So you're just going to stand there and not attack me?" Arcee panted in anger after working herself up. "Consider yourself lucky, I don't give my prey a chance like that too often," Airachnid teased her back. "Then why shouldn't I finish you right now?" Arcee stood ready to engage her foe once more. "Go ahead then, and extinguish my spark right here," Airachnid teased Arcee once more. "I'm sure it would be quite the sight for your new friend here." Arcee looked over to Rainbow Dash and clenched her fists, attempting to bottle up her anger over the situation. "What's she talking about, Arcee?" Rainbow Dash asked in complete obliviousness to the true conflict between them. Arcee unclenched her fists and took a deep breath as she tried to calm down before answering Rainbow Dash. "Nothing," she said in a begrudging tone. "Now let's get out of here." "Going somewhere?" Airachnid called out to Arcee as she started walking away. "I may not fight you, but I don't have to follow you either," Arcee replied seconds before a stone wall rose up to block off the direction she was walking. "You said it yourself dear," Airachnid taunted. "The maze is being controlled so that we're forced into certain groups. Which means you and I are stuck together for now." Arcee faced Airachnid once more, but she said nothing and simply gave Airachnid an intense glare as the three of them set down the only open path left in the labyrinth. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Excuse me Optimus, but is he a friend of yours?" Fluttershy muttered timidly. "That is Soundwave, one of Megatron's highest ranking officers," Optimus replied informatively. "He and the other Decepticons are a threat to the safety of humanity." "Good to know, we should probably get going then!" Fluttershy cried out in a hurried panic before turning to run the other direction. She only took a few steps before looking back at Optimus and realizing he hadn't moved at all. "Optimus, are you okay?" Optimus seemed to pay her no mind as he proceeded to address Soundwave. "Soundwave, why are you here?" He shouted firmly. "How did you find us?" However, Soundwave only stood motionlessly in place and said nothing. "Have you come to help us?" Optimus continued to attempt to get a response from Soundwave. "Or are you here to attack me?" No matter what though, Soundwave remained unresponsive. "Soundwave!" Optimus shouted. "Silence…" Optimus and Fluttershy heard a quiet voice hiss from almost nowhere. It took Optimus a moment to realize Soundwave was the one talking. "I wasn't sure he could talk," Fluttershy muttered to Optimus. "He has always been silent for as long as I have known him," Optimus replied. "It seems becoming human has taken an effect on him. "I can hear everyone…" he uttered in a near mechanical tone. "Knockout, Breakdown, Airachnid, Starscream, I can hear all of their voices…." "Uhh, Optimus, what is he talking about?" Fluttershy asked in complete confusion. While Optimus was similarly surprised at these turn of events, he was starting to piece things together. "It seems Soundwave managed to retain his ultrasonic hearing from his robot form," Optimus observed. "Which means he can tell where everyone else is locate in his maze. If we can get him to cooperate, we can find the rest of our friends." "Soundwave!" Optimus called out to him as he began to walk away. "We need your help. If you can help us locate our other team members, we can get out of this maze and stop Discord. But we need your cooperation in order to locate them." Soundwave turned to face Optimus and looked right at him. Despite the fact that there were no eyes on Soundwave's featureless face, Optimus could feel his stare go right through him. "I refuse," He simply muttered in response. "I must find Lord Megatron…" He proceeded to walk away only for Fluttershy to fly in front of him shortly afterwards. "Um, Mister Soundwave," Fluttershy began sweetly. "I know you and Optimus aren't exactly good friends, but if you could find it in your heart to help with this teeny, tiny favor, then"- but before she could continue, Soundwave simply continued to walk forward and pushed her aside as he once again uttered "I must find Lord Megatron…". Optimus ran up to Fluttershy and held out a hand in assistance to help her up. "I'm sorry, Optimus," Fluttershy wimpered. "I thought if I asked really nicely, he would agree to help." "We can't give up Fluttershy," Optimus replied sternly. "Soundwave may be the key to reuiniting us with our friends." The two of them then proceeded to follow after Soundwave.