Act III: Burning Chrome
Darkryt Orbinautz presents...
Starscream, Silas, Twilight, and a bunch of MECH troopers stood on a harbor, prepping supplies to be transported. Adam was nowhere to be found. The broken, sparking Nemesis Prime was covered under a beige tarp, laying flat on it's back. Silas had told Twilight that, if she wanted to go Griffin Rock, then there was someone she wanted to meet.
"I'm sure, given your fondness for technology, Twilight Sparkle, that you will appreciate our escort." Silas assured her while the crisp sea air blew.
"Ugggghck!" The recently revived Twilight Sparkle groaned, levitating a window-cleaner on her body. Trying, with difficulty, to remove her crusted dried blood off her legs before Silas' contact arrived at the pier. "I'm sure I will, Slias, but I don't think he'll want to shake hooves with me when he sees them covered in blood!"
Starscream crossed his arms and huffed. "I still don't understand why we don't just fly to Griffin Rock. I am rather eager to experience the feeling again..."
Silas' emotion remained stoic as he answered. "That would be far too conspicuous."
"We'd be spotted and shot out of the sky." Novo added.
Off in the distance, the droning hum of a schooner sounded as a boat became visible. Twilight started scrubbing at herself even harder, now making the dried blood peel off in flakes. Eventually, she got one of her hooves' clean enough for shaking, so she levitated a wipe and some cleaning spray Novo had been so kind to give and squirted the nozzle at her hoof, then wiping the spray off with the wipe.
MECH agents guided the schooner into a docking bay, where they helped tied a rope to a post on it to keep it from floating away. A steel bridge folded out from the boat's side and set up on the pier.
A man appeared from the boat and began walking down the bridge, so sharply dressed he'd meet -and maybe even exceed- Rarity's high standards. He was tall and just a little bit attractive. Wearing a purple brooch, dark grey pants, a red shirt that was just barely visible under his snazzy dark gray coat and strange, two-piece light gray sleeves that seemed to be their own article of clothing. A purple monocle was hung from his eye, and a two-piece mustache adorned his lips.
"Ah, Bishop!" He called out in a classy, drawling voice as he approached. "How has my favorite chess piece been as of late, hmm?"
"Just fine." Silas said, not showing any indication of irritation at being called his birth name.
"I do so hope you've been making good use of those sabots DeCobray ordered..." The man turned his monocle over to Starscream, then to Twilight. "Ah! I take it this is the unicorn you've told me so much about."
"Silas has told me a lot about you, too." Twilight informed him, offering her clean hoof for him to shake. "Twilight Sparkle, at your service."
The man extended his gloved hand and without concern for the fact she was a bleeping' unicorn, grabbed her hoof and shook it.
"Doctor Morocco, at yours."
FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC: PRIME SURPRISE TRACK:
The Rescue Bots Theme Song:
Length: Short: 45 seconds.
Performers: Solo male background singer.
A routine patrol with four bots in stasis,
years later awoke in the strangest of places,
Earth was their home now and in addition
OPTIMUS PRIME gave them this mission!
Learn from the humans, serve and protect,
live in their world and earn their respect!
Family of heroes will by your allies,
To others remain, RO-BOTS IN DISGUISE!
RESCUE BOTS!
Roll to the rescue!
RESCUE BOTS!
Humans in need!
Rescue Bots!
Heroes indeed!
Res-cue Bots!
With Cody to guide them and show them the way,
Rescue Bots will be saving the day!
Rescue Bots!
Ro-bots to the rescue!
Res-cue- Bots ( (Echoes) Bots-Bots-Bots)
'Nieeee-OOoop!'
"When you want to know how things really work, study them when they're coming apart."
Friendship Is Magic: Prime: Act III
Chapter VIII: Burning Chrome
Episode Synopsis: The Autobots and The Ponies have a falling-out over Miko's actions, unaware of Twilight's machinations on Griffin Rock.
Ratchet stood there in the cavern, face still covered with by his hand in exasperation. "...Why? Just...just why?" he asked, not really knowing what it was he was questioning. Why was he here in a underground cavern with a pony, her Insection, and a bunch of underage Insecticon hatchlings that come out of their stasis pods prematurely? Why was said pony helping to take care of them until they were old and big enough to slaughter Autobots on their own? Why did he turn into an ambulance, and not something cool, like a tank or a fire truck or a...a fire truck with a cannon on top?
"Oh, poor babies..." Fluttershy muttered as the hatchlings started clicking and squawking in distress. Bob squealed back at them, trying to comfort them.
"Ratchet?" Fluttershy asked pleadingly. "We need Energon."
"What?" Ratchet replied, throwing his arms wide in a gesture of surprise. "Why?"
Fluttershy blinked. "To feed the hatchlings...why else?"
Ratchet stammered in Angrish before taking in a deep breath. He put his hand to his forehead, trying to think of how to gently explain to Fluttershy what was wrong with this. "Fluttershy...theses are Insecticons! I cannot fault you for wanting to help, but when these hatchlings are mature, they'll attack me and Optimus and the others the same as the ones that just left!"
Fluttershy looked away worriedly. "Oh...I guess you're right..."
A echoing, distorted screech sounded out. Ratchet tensed up, expecting an attacker to pop up out of nowhere.
"Oh, Ratchet!" Fluttershy exclaimed suddenly and despairing. "The Queen! She wants to be sure her babies are okay, and she can't do it herself!"
Ratchet gritted his teeth. "And why, exactly, can't she?"
"She can't feed them unless they're in the stasis pods." Fluttershy explained.
"So put them... back in the pods!"
"Oh, I will!" Fluttershy smiled, then her frowned. "But the pods programming needs to be reset properly before we can do that."
Ratchet grumbled under his breath, but relented, walking over to one of the opened pods and converted his right to it's blowtorch mode. "All right, now how do I..."
Fluttershy zoomed over to the edge of the "Oh, like this!" she tapped her hooves against the edge of the pod like somepony clacking on a keyboard. When she finished, one the hatchlings jumped in, and the pod closed on it.
Ratchet's lower jaw rotated around in bewilderment. "H-how did you know to how to do that?" and why do you know so much more about Insecticon biology than I do? Ratchet wanted to add.
Fluttershy shrugged. "The Queen told me."
Ratchet rolled his eyes at this Of course the Queen would like Fluttershy enough to trust with that sort of knowledge. "Of...course she did." he turned around and began walking away.
"Are you going to go get the Energon?"
"What? Why do we still need it? You know to reset the pods, don't you?"
"Well, yes, but, there's a lot of pods, and in the time it'll take me to reset all of them, the hatchlings could starve!"
Ratchet grumbled and fumed, his shoulder antennae writhing in frustration. "Fluttershy, I don't want to help to raise Decepticons."
Fluttershy quivered her lips. "Ratchet, I don't know where else to find Energon other the base!"
Ratchet turned back around and raised a scolding finger, but the Queen let out another shriek before he could say anything.
Fluttershy started jumping around all excited. "Oh! Oh! She says we can modify the pods so that the hatchlings'll obey us!"
Ratchet's optics widened. "Really?...She'd let us...do that?"
The Queen, from her unseen post, screeched some more.
Fluttershy nodded enthusiastically. "She says as long as we take care of them, yes."
Ratchet's jaw hung limp as he considered the possibilities this presented. Insecticons, not just Bob, but Insecticons under Optimus' command! It might not be enough to put the war to an end, especially since Megatron had his own Insecticons, (and more of them), but a Vehicon mining patrol would back off at the mere notion of going up against one of the beetle juggernauts.
A beep-beep came out of Ratchet's arm, and Optimus' voice came out of it. "Ratchet, are you all right? What is your status?"
"Edd deh dhu..." Ratchet stuttered, abruptly taken out of his daydream. He answered the comm quickly. "Er, yes, right here, Optimus! Do you recall the Insecticons we saw following Megatron out of the mine?"
"Yes. Why?"
"Fluttershy and Bob found their hive. The Queen has offered that we can adopt them for own use in exchange for nurturing them."
"An Insecticon Queen? Here, on Earth?" Optimus questioned.
"Yes." Ratchet answered. "There is. Now, I repeat, Optimus, she's offered us the chance to adopt her children. It would be quite a desirable reinforcement to our small ranks...but I understand if you're unwilling."
Optimus was silent for a moment, no doubt debating whether this was something he wanted to go through with.
"I will allow it."
"Great!" Ratchet smiled and clapped his hands together eagerly. "Requesting Bridge back to base. We need some Energon to feed the hatchlings."
Far away from Nevada, or even the main island of America at all, lay a technological wonderland. An island so large that it had the space -and materials- to build and use all it's own buildings. Dams, windmill farms, power plants and the like, to the point that it's interactions with the mainland were scarce and not often. The island of Griffin Rock.
The most recent and unusual advancement, (discounting the often bizarre productions of the otherwise brilliant Doc Green) was the local rescue service's new Rescue Robots, with the ability to transform into piloted vehicles, complete with the ability to receive and execute remote commands. When asked, the rescue service would say the Rescue Robots were foreign in origin. This seemed to strange, as Griffin Rock prided itself on it's own technology. But hey, since the Robots were good at what they were designed to do, and did it well, no one was eager to complain.
However, the Robots weren't programmed: They were trained. They weren't Rescue Robots either: They were Rescue Bots, a sub-set of Autobots whose ship had left Cybertron in pursuit of other planets in need before the War and Fall happened. Their ship picked up a broadcast sent out to the stars by Optimus Prime and immediately headed to Earth, as instructed. There, Heatwave, Boulder, Chase and Blades adopted local altmodes of a fire truck, bulldozer, police car and a bubble helicopter (much to Blades' contempt) and pretended to be nonliving machines as part of a slow plan to gradually get humanity used to the presence of the metal aliens. Once they had been adjusted to the machines, the government could safely reveal the aliens for what they were.
Heatwave and Chase in their vehicular modes, responding to an emergency call. Chief Charlies Burns in Chase, his son Kade in Heatwave, and his younger son Cody in Chase's passenger side. Of course, if it was such an emergency, then why weren't the sirens blaring?
Because it was just Mister Pettypaws, a cat that the Burns family had become extremely familiar with, as his owner, Miss Nederlander, would always call them when the cat got up in the tree...which was...all the time, really.
Heatwave and Chase pulled up adjacent to the sidewalk, and orange haired, sports jock Kade, greying, aged Charlie, and young, blonde Cody all got out.
"All right, cat." Kade growled, rolling up his sleeves. "The only reason I'm here is because there's nothing better to do, so you better make this worth it! Now get down here!" Kade pointed at the cat and started barking at to get down. Pettypaws meowed.
"Uh, Kade?" Cody tried to get his attention. "I don't think that's gonna work-"
"Yeah, yeah, not now, Cody." Kade dismissed him.
Cody grunted in frustration. It was always like this. No matter what he did or problem he'd solved, the rest of his family dismissed him for being a child.
"Get-down-here!" Kade snarled, banging his fists on the tree.
"You're scaring him!" Nederlander scolded.
Kade huffed. "Ma'am, I'm a professional: I know what I'm doing-" Kade turned away from her back to the tree, only to see Pettypaws no longer on it. "Hey! Where-" Kade saw his dad handing Pettypaws over to Nederlander. The old lady thanked him and retreated back to her home. "how'd you do that?"
"While you telling Miss Nederlander you knew what you were doing..." Chief Burns emphasized the last six words. "I went up and ask Pettypaws to get down for me. Nicely."
Kade looked offended, then grumbling, went back into Heatwave and drove off. Cody could hear Heatwave start giving Kade sass as they rolled away.
Chief Burns shook his head in exasperation, then lowered himself and put a hand on Cody's shoulders. "Cody, it's too late for Kade, but I want you to try to learn something."
"What, dad?"
"True heroes are strong enough to be gentle." Charlie got up and pulled opened Chase's door. "Always remember that."
Cody nodded. "I will, dad." then got back into Chase's passenger side.
"It has been my observation that others are indeed more willing to follow instructions when requested to execute them in non-confrontational tones." Chase said through the dashboard as Cody climbed in. "Where to next, Chief?"
"Back home." Charlie replied. "Dani said she had a surprise for us for lunch."
Ratchet, Fluttershy and Bob trudged through the GroundBridge back into the control room, where everypony else was gathered (though Wheeljack had since left, much to Miko's disappointment and Rarity's approval.) They left the control room to get to the Energon storage.
"Can't say I entirely like the idea of letting some underage Insections into the base." Arcee quipped with her hands on her hips.
Optimus acknowledged her with a shake of his head. "While I understand you concern, Arcee, this is a unique opportunity that has been presented to us, and it would be unwise not to give it at least some degree of thought."
"What's to keep Megatron from hacking into them and finding out exactly where the base is?" Bulkhead growled, banging his fists together.
"First, once they have matured, Ratchet will perform the same modifications to them as he has made to Bob." Optimus answered calmly. "Secondly, we will not allow them into the base proper until their reliability has been tested and proven."
Bulkhead grumbled while Arcee pursed her lips, but they both dropped the subject.
Miko looked around. The 'Bots were just standing there, like they always did when there wasn't a situation to deal with. Rainbow Dash admired and groomed her gun, Rarity was fussing over her mane, and the Earth ponies were laying on all fours in the video game area. Seeing her chance, Miko crept towards the wall and started sneaking alone until she was in the hallway.
She started walking with her head hung low and her arms crossed together in uncertainty. She was hoping she could sneak by Ratchet, then talk to Fluttershy alone.
Fluttershy...the only pony who could relate to what Miko was going through.
"What am I going to tell her?" Miko thought to herself. "Oh, hey Fluttershy, nice weather we're having, isn't it? Oh, and by the way, I killed your best friend!"
She started imaging to herself how she might be able to soften the blow.
Twilight and Miko grappled on top of the warehouse, slipping and sliding on the well-polished roof.
"You little foal!" Twilight chided as she got the better of Miko and wrapped her front legs around her throat, choking her. "Did you really think you could beat me?"
Miko gasped for air and try to wrest Twilight's legs off, but thankfully, an explosion went off, blowing the warehouse to smithereens and blasting the both of them off the roof. They both landed perfectly on their feet, and Miko twirled her ax in her hands while Twilight snarled and growled.
"You little...ARRRGH!" Twilight let out a scream of rage and charged at Miko, horn glowing intensely and crazily with power.
Miko clenched the ax in her hands, waited for Twilight to be in range, and did the only thing that came naturally...
Miko signed and facepalmed. Fluttershy wasn't going to believe that. She didn't believe that. Twilight wouldn't use her legs to choke her opponent, she'd use magic. It was funny that was the first thing she thought wrong with the scenario.
The thoom of Ratchet's heel struts echoed through the halls, snapping Miko to attention. She looked up to see Ratchet's arms stacked full of Energon cubes. Miko dashed to the left and tried to go behind him, thankfully finding Fluttershy and Bob following behind Ratchet with thier appendages full of the same. "Uh,
Fluttershy? Can I talk to you alone?"
"Oh, of course!" Fluttershy said happily, Energon cubes toppling over in her grasp. "Go on, Bob. I'll just be a second..."
Bob kept walking, as instructed.
"So..." Fluttershy stopped mid-sentence, trying to keep the precarious stack of cubes in her legs from falling over onto the floor. "What did you want to talk about, Miko?"
Miko scuffed her foot against the floor in nervousness. "You...killed Airachnid, right?"
Fluttershy shuddered. "Oh, please don't remind me."
"Well...that you means you know what killing is...is like, right?"
Fluttershy reluctantly said yes. "Yes, I do."
"So...how do you deal with it?"
Fluttershy seemed hesitant. "Well...I'm not sure. I still feel bad about killing Airachnid...but I do feel better about it."
This got Miko's attention. "Better? What do you mean better?"
"Did Arcee tell you about Tailgate? About what Airachnid did to him?" Miko nodded.
Tailgate was Arcee's partner on Cybertron a long time ago...until Airachnid gave him the shish-kabob treatment.
"I'm still not happy that I killed her...nopony should ever be happy about killing...but I'm glad I could make Arcee feel better, and that makes the guilt not as bad."
Miko instantly felt even worse. At least Airachnid had a bad rap. What had Twilight done? Lock her in a garage and...what? Walk around circles, ask condescending questions, and hold up the Spark Extractor tauntingly, that's what. Why couldn't's and what if's began to plague Miko's mind. What she had thrown her ax slightly lower and just injure Twilight's leg? What if she had aimed it higher, and the pole of the ax would've smacked Twilight's head and just knock her out? What if-
"Miko, are you all right?" Fluttershy's questioned snapped her back to reality. "You're tearing up."
Miko put a hand to her face, and tears were starting to leak from the bottom of her eyelids.
Fluttershy realized what was wrong and gasped. "Miko...did you kill someone?"
Miko weakly nodded.
"Who?"
Miko tried to form Twilight's name, but her emotions were so wracked that no noise could come from her lips.
But Fluttershy could read lips, if her shocked expression and abrupt dropping of the cubes was anything to go by.
Raf sat there, frozen, having just lost in a video game to Pinkie Pie. He was confused. On one hand, how many humans can say they lost to a alien pony? On the other one, how much did he have to fail to lose at a video game to someone with no thumbs?
Optimus was sitting down on one of the elevated platform normally used to let the non-Cybertronians see from a Cybertronian-eye view. There was a small, brown, leather object held carefully and firmly in his hands.
Applejack raised her eyebrow at him. "Say, Optimus, wha'cha got there?"
"A literary work by a human." Optimus answered.
"Literary?" Rarity questioned. "I must admit, Optimus, I didn't take you for a bookworm!"
Ratchet spoke up, the cubes in his hands rattling he talked. "It may interest you to know, Rarity, that back before the war, Optimus was the data clerk for the Iacon Archives."
Dash stifled a derisive laugh. "So, what, Optimus was... a Cybertronian library's assistant?" Instantly, her imagination drifted to an image of a younger Optimus, overworked from having to drive from place to place delivering letters for Cybertronain equivalents to Twilight Sparkle and Princess Celestia.
"The Autobots weren't always the good guys." Bulkhead said. " and just think. A data clerk from the middle caste became the Prime who turned the tide of the war and set them back on the right track!" he smiled and chuckled at Optimus' direction.
"Thank you for your flattery, Bulkhead." Optimus said stoically.
Applejack put her hoof to her chin in thought. "Say, back on Equestria, Twilight's the librarian. You think if Optimus wasn't around and she wasn't...know, convinced we were brainwashed and all that...Twilight could be a Prime?"
Optimus maintained a neutral expression, but there was a slight delay in his response..."Prime is a Cybertronian exclusive title."
Applejack narrowed her eyes at him. "Ah think yer tryin' to avoid the spirit of the question, Optimus."
Optimus lowered the book and raised his hand to answer, but a sudden scream of "IT DOESN'T"T MATTER!" blasted through the room before he could.
Everyone whipped around to see Fluttershy standing and huffing in the doorway, her normally green eyes died blue from tears. "TWILIGHT'S DEAD!"
Every pony's jaw dropped.
"What?" Rarity cried in disbelief.
Applejack whined and put her hat over her chest. "No. No, it can't be true!"
"How?" Dash questioned.
"MIKO KILLED HER!"
This time, the shocked reactions were shared by the Ponies, humans, and Cybertronians.
With timing most unfortunate, Miko made herself visible in the doorway. Seeing everyone looked at her in disbelief, she tried to smile as best she could and weakly waved her hand. "Hey, guuuuys!...Nice...weather we're having, right?"
"Is this true, Miko?" Optimus asked calmly. "Did you execute Twilight Sparkle?"
Miko looked away and scrunched her eyes shut in guilt. "Yes."
Dash, Pinkie, Rarity, and Applejack were still too floored to do anything, so Ratchet pressed further. "Did Twilight Sparkle...attack you, Miko?"
Miko shrugged. "Uh...yes?"
The Autobots all gave off looks of uncertainty, but Dash finally recovered from her denial and quickly went into the next stage of grief: Anger. She jumped into the air and landed forcefully in front of Miko. "How could you? She wasn't evil, she was just being lied to! You knew that! YOU KNEW THAT!"
Miko flinched and threw her arms into the air defensively. "I know! I know!" the normally brash Asian girl started breaking down into tears. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
"Sorry?" Dash repeated. "Oooh! Did you hear that, guys? She says she's SORRY! I don't know how sorry you think you are..." Dash pointed her tail-held rifle at Miko and began charging up a shot. "But I'm gonna make sure you're as sorry as you're gonna get."
Seeing the human under his watch about to be harmed, Optimus tossed his book aside and readied his Ion Blaster, but Jack beat him to it, tackling Rainbow Dash and climbing onto her side.
"Urrrrgh!" Dash snarled and flailed about, trying to shake Jack off. "Jack-get-OFF!" Fed up, Dash reached over her back with her front legs, grabbed Jack, and threw him onto his back. Jack got up quickly and stood up between Dash and Miko.
"Get outta the way, Darby." Dash warned, charging her rifle back up. "Or I'll shoot you too."
"Dash, don't!" Jack swept at the the air with his hands. "I understand- you're upset. If someone killed Raf or- or Miko, I'd be upset too! But you can't shoot Miko!"
"She killed my friend, Darby."
"Oh, and shooting her is going to bring your friend back?"
No one noticed Raf muttering with a finger to his chin. "Bring...your friend...back? Hmmm..."
Dash looked angry, but she seemed to concede to Jack's point and turned away. "Come on, guys. Let's go. Doc bot, pull the Bridge."
"Pull the Bridge?" Ratchet repeated in the form of a question. "What do you mean, pull the Bridge?"
"I mean, Bridge us back to where our ship is. Without Twilight, we can't use the Elements of Harmony. Can't use the Elements of Harmony, can't imprison Discord. Can't imprison Discord, no point in being on this world anymore."
"What are we gonna tell Celestia?" Applejack questioned.
"That a human-" Dash shot Miko a dirty look. "Killed her most faithful student."
Ratchet's mouth worked up and down in consternation. "Optimus, say something!"
"Say what, Ratchet?" Optimus countered, maintaining a neutral tone of voice. "Their friend and their leader is dead. As they can no longer complete their mission. They cannot be faulted for wanting to return home. Rafael, activate the GroundBridge. Set coordinates for the last recorded location of the Ponies' ship."
Raf nervously and uncertainly punched a keys on his laptop, which sent a linked signal to the GroundBridge terminal, activating and causing the green portal to form.
Dash, Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie were halfway towards it when they realized Fluttershy wasn't following them. "Come on, Fluttershy!" Dash snarled.
"But...the hatchlings!" Fluttershy stammered. "I-I promised the Queen I'd help with them!"
They rolled their eyes and made frustrated noises. "Fine! Go help the stupid Queen with her stupid hatchlings! You be at the ship in a half-hour, Fluttershy, or we leave you stranded here."
On that, the four of them finally departed through the Bridge. "So," Bulkhead noted on the Ponies departure. "What do we do now?"
"The same thing as we have always done, Bulkhead." Optimus answered factually. "We protect Earth and it's inhabits from the likes of MECH and the Decepticons."
Fluttershy cleared her throat for attention. "Uh, Raf? Would you set the Bridge for the Hive?"
Raf gave a thumbs-up and punched another key on his Bridge dissipated, then rematerialized.
Fluttershy turned around and started trotting back into the hall to pick the cubes she had left there. "I'm still mad at you, though!" she snarled at Miko as she walked by her.
"So, Dani," Kade questioned as he shoved the door to the Burns family home/rescue station complex. Cody and the Chief walked in behind him. "What's this surprise I keep hearing about?"
Brown-haired, cherry-faced Dani, the pilot of the team, walked into the living room and clasped her hands together. "Why don't you come inside the kitchen and find out?"
They did so, and found to their surprise the engineer of their team, Graham wearing an apron and serving some delicious-looking stuff onto plates onto the table. "Hey, guys!"
"Graham?" the Chief questioned. "Did...you cook?"
"Yeah." Graham answered bashfully, preparing another plate. "Dani talked me into it. Said I could 'use science' to make it taste better."
Kade went and pulled up a chair. "Well, let's see how good science is, huh?" Everyone followed suit, taking their seats. They were about to dig in when there was knock on the door.
"I'll get it!" Cody announced, jumping off his seat and bounding out of the room.
"We'll wait for you." Chief said, but Kade had already stuck his spoon in his mouth before the sentence was formed.
"Say," Kade took the spoon out of his mouth and dropped it to wait. "This is pretty good, Graham."
Graham chuckled. "Yeah, well..."
He was prevented from adding anything else by Cody coming back and tapping him on the shoulder. "Uh, Graham? I think you should see this..."
Graham got up off his seat and followed Cody to the door. "Okay, Cody, what do you want me to...see."
The door ajar, Graham could see something standing in front of the entrance, waiting amiably. He was hesitant to say, but it seemed to be a purple unicorn with large, expressive glowing eyes, a brushed mane and tail that was also purple with a streak of pink in them, and a pulsating crystal in her chest.
She waved her leg to Graham. "Hi!"
Graham blinked before waving back. "...Hi. Could you excuse us just a second?"
The unicorn nodded. "Sure! I know that this is kinda sudden..."
Graham closed the door and bent over to talk to Cody. "Cody, what am I looking at?"
"I was hoping you'd know!"
Graham adjusted his glasses. "Well...it seems to be a unicorn with a crystal in her chest."
"So what do we do?"
Graham paused. Then he whipped around and pulled the door back open and extended a hand to the unicorn. "Sorry about that. Graham Burns. This is my brother, Cody. What do you want, miss...?"
"Twilight Sparkle. I read a newspaper about this thing called the Morbot..."
Graham and Cody began to get worried at this. Understandably so, considering the experience with the Morbot. A machine built by Doctor Morocco to replace their Rescue Bots and get him back into the gullible Mayor's favor. For a time, it worked, until Cody and his friend Frankie Green found compelling evidence of Morocco's illegal activities.
"It said that you confiscated its parts after your Rescue Bots tore it to pieces..." The unicorn continued. "I was wondering...would you be willing to let me buy them off you?"
Graham bit his lip. "Oh, gee, I don't know...it would so expensive!"
"I have my sources." the unicorn informed him.
"Uh...let me just check something real quick..." Graham fibbed.
"Take your time."
Graham quickly slammed the door on her and turned to Cody. "We need to tell dad about this."
Cody nodded. "Mm-hm!" They ran back into into the kitchen, yelling for the Chief. "Dad! Dad!"
Chief Burns snapped to attention at their distress. "What is it?"
"There's a unicorn outside the door that wants to buy the Morbot parts!"
"What?" the Chief got up out of his seat, Kade and Dani followed suit and they all went back to the door together. Chief opened it.
"Hello again! So...what's the pricing?" Twilight asked perkily.
"The Morbot parts aren't for sale." Chief told her forcefully.
"Oh. So I can have them for free then?"
Chief Burns shook his hands. "No, no no. Why do you want them anyway?"
"To rebuild it, duh!"
"Why would you want do that?" Kade demanded confrontational, pointing an accusing finger.
"Why?" Graham questioned. "The Morbot is destructive. It follows its instructions to the letter without accounting for variables. It's a terrible rescue vehicle."
"Oh." Twilight remarked. "I don't intend to use it for rescues..."
Chief Burns curled his lips at this, catching that this unicorn wasn't going to use the Morbot for anything good. "We are not selling OR giving you the Morbot parts."
Twilight made a irritated noise. She leaned her head through the door and snorted in Chief Burns face. "I will have those parts, Chief Burns, one way... or another."
Kade and Dani readied their fists for a fight, but Twilight just turned around and started trotting away menacingly.
"Someone tell the Bots about this." Chief Burns instructed. "And use the security cameras to keep an eye on her."
The Burns family members nodded, then departed and split up to do their tasks. Chief Burns shot a dirty look at Twilight Sparkle, then closed the door.
Twilight continued trotting on. Had a Griffin Rock pedestrian seen her, they would've screaming to the Burns family. Thankfully, the streets were bare, likely from lunch hour.
There by a bush and some other foliage was a conspicuously-placed trash can. Twilight walked up to it and tapped it gently on the side, revealing it to be a hologram concealing Doctor Morocco within, crouching so that the hologram covered him completely.
"So," Morocco answered in his classy sneer, standing up. "How did your efforts go, Twilight?"
Twilight shook her head. "About as well as you said they would...let me check in with the troops, will you?"
Morocco pulled a remote out of his pocket, similar to the one he used to control the Morbot, and held it out for Twilight to take. Twilight opted to use her magic, which made Morocco's eyebrow rise.
"Twilight to MECH. Have you found the Dark Energon yet?"
"No." buzzed out through radio static.
"...No? What do you mean, no?"
"I mean, we haven't found the Dark Energon deposit you said was here yet."
Morocco grew concerned as Twilight's eye twitched maniacally. She started chewing out the MECH agent.
"That Dark Energon deposit is so huge that with my magic, I could see the name of the location, GPS that location and detect the presence of Autobot Sparks through it! HOW HAVE YOU NOT FOUND IT YET!?"
"I'm sorry, Twilight." The agent said sheepishly. "Griffin Rock is a big place!"
"Not to mention..." Morocco added. "There's a variety of locations that hamper electronic devices...the lead mine. Griffin Crest...the Sanctuary shelter...that was a bust, I'll tell you."
Twilight narrowed her eyes and rather forcefully threw the device back to Morocco, who it hit in the stomach, before she took a few angry steps forward.
"I say, Twilight Sparkle, you seem...frustrated." Morocco noted.
"I AM!" Twilight screamed, snorted, and took in a few heavy breathes with a distressed look on her face.
Morocco found this disconcerting. "Err...are you in good health, Twilight?"
"No." Twilight answered. Her next words were Fluttershy levels of quiet. "I'm undergoing withdrawal...I need to achieve symbiosis...and without the Dark Energon deposit..."
"Pardon?"
"Quick! Morocco, is there somewhere around here with small pieces of technology? Like, handheld levels of small?"
Morocco showed hesitation, then pointed upwards to the mounting that shadowed the town of Griffin Rock. "There is the...Griffin Rock laboratory."
Twilight looked up at the huge building mounted on the mountain. "Great! We'll go there."
"Da-eer..." Morroc stuttered. "Given my...recent history, Madam Sparkle, that may not be the wisest of choices."
Twilight nodded. "Right. I'll go to the lab. You go help Starscream and the others FIND- MY-... ahem...our Dark Energon."
Before Morocco could protest, Twilight took off galloping. Standing there alone, Morocco grumbled and shook his fist at her. "I'm your escort, not your lackey!"
Rainbow, Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie somberly walked out of the GroundBridge and climbed up the traditional bridge to the inside of their confiscated craft. Their heads were hung low, and the knowledge they would, in all likeliness, be leaving Fluttershy alone tugged at their heartstrings, which were already worn with the knowledge that the Element of Magic was dead.
In spite of all that, they found the strength to get inside the ship. Rainbow flying, Rarity levitating herself, Applejack using her athletic legs in a jump and Pinkie being Pinkie to stand on top of the huge control panel. They trotted and climbed over the buttons until the ship whirred online.
Aboard the Nemesis...
Soundwave stepped into the bridge, looking for Megatron. He was there, Dreadwing by his side, presumably discussing matters that were discussed by Second-In-Commands.
Megatron's optic drifted to Soundwave, and he paraphrased those words he normally said. "What do you have to show me, Soundwave?"
Soundwave's screen-face flashed a distinct signal.
Megatron examined it and recognized it. "Ah...Shockwave's 'just-in-case' ship that the Ponies liberated..." he turned back around and snapped. "Dreadwing!"
Dreadwing saluted. "I take it you wish to me to destroy them while they are on the move, my lord?"
Megatron chuckled. "You know me so well, Dreadwing!...Go."
Dreadwing exited the room, passing Soundwave along the way.
Back in the Ponies' ship, the four remaining Ponies remained depressed and saddened. They started spouting theoretical things they'd give for Twilight, having advanced on to the next stage of the Kubler-Ross model: Bargaining.
"If I could never join the Wonderbolts, it would be worth it to have Twilight back." Dash moaned.
"I'd sell my store to Jet Set and Uppercrust for Twilight to be alive again." Rarity pursed her lips. "No, I'd sell them my soul if meant Twilight's lungs breathed air again."
"Ah'd give my hat up for good for her." Applejack added.
The other girls eyed her for her minimal offering.
"Wut? Sweet Apple Acres ain't mine ta' give!"
Rarity and Rainbow tilted their heads upward in thought, then admitted that was true.
Pinkie swept her hoof across the controls, uncharacteristically quiet.
"What would you give, Pinkie Pie?" Rarity questioned, sliding onto her belly.
Pinkie weakly lifted her head up at her, then turned her attention back to the controls. "Nice ponies go to special places when they die...so...Twilight would go there, right?"
"Eeeyup. She would..." Applejack looked the bridge window. "Say, does anypony else see...we're headed for tha' cave we hid with Starscream in?"
Rairty and Rainbow Dash jerked their heads upwards to see that the ship was indeed heading towards the mountain they hid, and was going to crash headfirst if they didn't alter the course.
"Why is the ship..." Everypony's eyes drifted towards Pinkie, standing on the controls and smiling with a highly relaxed look in her eyes.
"Pinkie...?" The three asked worriedly.
"Twilight is a good pony. Good ponies go to special places when they die. We're good ponies...aren't we?"
"Eeerr...yes?"
"Yeah!"
"Of course, dear."
"So..." Pinkie continued. "We'd go to those places too, right? So if we die...we can see Twilight again." She smiled, a peace in her eye like she had transcended this plane of existence.
Everypony was mortified.
"Pinkie, that's insane!" Dash protested. "Well, I guess since you're Pinkie and all that..." Dash shook her head to clear it. "No. No! THAT'S INSANE!"
"Pinkie, darling, Ah appreciate that ya want to see Twilight again." Applejack assured her. "Really, Ah do...but this isn't the way to do it."
"I know you feel that way, Applejack." Pinkie's tone was that of a mother comforting her child. "But everything will be okay...we'll see Twilight Sparkle again, and we'll wait for Fluttershy to come join us." Pinkie whirled around and started advancing towards a different control panel. "I know you'll try to change the ship's coordinates, so I'm locking them in."
Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack's eyes widened.
"Quick!" Applejack barked, taking control of the situation. "Grab her!"
Rainbow Dash leaped up into the air and used her wings to propel herself at Pinkie. She tackled the Earth pony to her side.
"Get off, Dash!" Pinkie yelled.
"No!" Pinkie twisted her neck around to look Dash in the eye. "Dashie, don't you want to see Twilight again?"
Dash faltered. "...I do..."
"Don't listen to her, Rainbow Dash!" Applejack commanded. "She's nuttier then a peanut spread!"
"Right!" Dash said, but her moment of hesitance gave Pinkie enough room to buck her off. Pinkie jumped into the air, trying to get at the control panel, but thankfully, Rarity grabbed her by the tail with magic before she could complete the jump.
"Come on, Rarity!" Pinkie protested. "Do you not want to see Twilight?"
"I do want to see her, Pinkie!" Rarity whined. "But this...this isn't the way."
Applejack gave Pinkie an angry glare which slowly gave way to a concerned grimace. "Uh, we may not have a choice." She pointed at the window. "It's Dreadwing!"
Sure enough, the form of a dark navy blue F-35 Lightning jet was rocketing about in front of the ship. Dreadwing swerved around in their field of view before blasting upwards out of their sight.
The four of them tensed up, expecting Dreadwing to come crashing through the walls of the ship. The sound of metal grinding alerted them that he was coming through the ceiling. They looked up to see not Dreadwing, but his two swords stabbing through the ceiling like a predator's incisors into it's meal. The two swords dragged through the ceiling with a screeeeeeeeiiiiiiiinnk, forming an 'X'. The two swords pulled back out, and Dreadwing punched his fist through with something clenched in it, which he dropped- a plated bomb!
Before anypony could react, the bomb hit the floor, it's fiery explosion tearing the ship in three- the front part they were in, the rear half which was removed from the middle, and the middle part that was blasted into burnt metals. The shock wave blasted Pinkie out of Rarity's magic grip and separated the rest of them from grabbing distance of each other. The ship third they were began plummeting, having lost it's ability to ascend.
"Everypony grab onto me!" Dash yelled.
Rarity and Applejack exchanged non-assured looks.
"Hey," Dash attempted to comfort them. "I held Rarity and three unconscious Wonderbolts, didn't I?"
The two of them nodded. Rarity jumped from where she had been tossed and used her magic to catch herself mid-descent and levitate over to Rainbow Dash. Applejack followed suit, leaping and attaching herself to Rainbow Dash with a single bound.
Dash was ready to take off when she noticed somepony missing. "Pinkie, come on!"
Pinkie hugged the steel rafter she been thrown next to and looked at them disappointingly. "I'll tell Twilight you said hi."
"Pinkie-"
"Forget it, R.D." Applejack reprimanded, gently smacking Dash's head. "She's not having any of it."
Dash started stammering and stuttering. "But...I'm loyal...I'm loyal! I won't leave you here to die, Pinkie!"
"You won't." Pinkie assured Dash, her tone still serene. "You're not leaving anypony, Dash. You're just taking two ponies out of somewhere they don't want to be. I want to be here, Dash."
Dash pouted, but conceded to this and started beating her wings, flying out of the wreckage of their ship without looking back.
If she did, she might've noticed Dreadwing flying over the ship part Pinkie was in and dropping another bomb on it, utterly obliterating into smithereens.
The beat of Dash's wings were slow and mournful, just barely enough to keep her and her passengers aloft. Eyes closed in blind denial of it all, she gently floated down to the ground, where the burning shrapnel of what was thier ship awaited them.
Applejack and Rarity got off her and took a moment to gaze out at the ruins in longing. Dash brought her head up to join them.
"Celestia sent us here for nothing." Dash griped.
Too beaten and worn from the loss of another friend, Applejack and Rarity couldn't argue with this. Two of them dead, and one another of them probably off telling bedtime stories to Insecticons, and now they had no way off this planet, short of hijacking the entire Decepticon warship.
"Urrgh...Twilight? Are you there?"
The three of them turned their heads to see a scorched-mark covered hoof that seemed a raw shade of red from burns weakly raising out of the wreckage. The rest of it climbed up to reveal a similarly burnt Pinkie Pie.
"Pinkie!" Dash screamed. Pinkie responded to the sound, and her eyes widened at the realizing she had survived Dreadwing's bombing. She looked out to the fire and rushed towards, no doubt intending to throw herself into the fire. Dash tackled her and pinned her to the sandy dirt.
"Let me go, Dash!" Pinkie exclaimed, struggling to throw her off. She burst into tears. "I WANT TO SEE TWILIGHT AGAIN!"
Dash patted her on the back. "I know, I know..."
Applejack ran up to them and pulled out some rope from her saddlebag of holding and started tying Pinkie's legs together.
"Twilight..." Pinkie cried while Applejack fiddled with the knots.
"Come on." Applejack commanded, throwing the bound pink pony on her back. "We should call the 'Bots."
"What?" Dash snapped, turning defensive. "Why? So Miko can throw an ax into Pinkie's chest too!?"
Applejack took in a deep breath and signed. "Ah don't like it either, Rainbow Dash, but if there's another way to get off of this here world, then the 'Bots will know about it."
Dash bared her teeth, but remained silent.
Applejack put her hoof to her earpiece. "Applejack to Omega One...come in, Omega One..."
There wasn't any response.
"Scrap! They must not be willing to talk ta' us after the way we left..."
Rarity signed. "I don't suppose that hive Fluttershy was taking care of is in walking distance?"
Back in the Outpost, Jack and Miko sat on the couch with their arms crossed while Bulkhead and Arcee looked at them uncertainly, unable to really to say anything of merit.
"Jack, I would like to talk to you about your behavior." Optimus said suddenly, walking to join the two 'bots.
Jack got up and held up his hands. "I know, I know. Jumping in the way like that was-was stupid and irresponsible. It won't happen again, Optimus, I swear."
"Is that so?" Optimus questioned, raising a browplate. "A shame you feel that way, Jack. It takes some courage to stand up to our enemies and tell them that their goals are wrong. It takes substantial more to do the same to those we consider our allies."
Jack's mouth hung agape in surprise.
"and Miko..." Optimus added, turning to her. "While I do not condone the loss of life, I have experience firsthand the need to choose between myself and another...has Ratchet told you about Drixco?" Miko shook her head no. "Drixco was the first Decepticon I ever killed. I reduced him to his base components in a single shot. It was several years after this that I ever even learned his name."
Miko turned her head away, but she did feel a little better.
"Um...Optimus?" Raf piped up nervously. "Could I talk to you about something?"
"Of course, Rafael."
Raf shifted nervously. "Well...you remember earlier when Jack told Rainbow Dash wouldn't bring Twilight Sparkle back?"
"Yes."
"Well...that got me thinking...maybe...we can? You know what I'm talking about, don't you?'
Optimus kept a neutral face as he flash-backed, knowing full well what Raf was referring to.
Dark Energon...the substance which Megatron had used to raise an army of dead Cybertronians, Autobot and Decepticon alike, which had been buried on Earth and Cybertron each, and Raf had witnessed, brought Megatron himself back from the brink of death.
"No." Optimus said after a moment's consideration. "I am sorry, Rafael, your goal is noble, but I cannot support the usage of Dark Energon for any reason."
Raf 'hmm'ed. "Okay, Optimus...I understand."
Ratchet humbly carried the Energon cubes from hatchling to hatchling while Fluttershy continued fluttering from wall to wall, resetting the pods.
Static started buzzing. "Fluttershy, it's Applejack. Can ya hear me?"
Fluttershy removed her hoof from the pod she was working on and put it to her ear. "Yes, Applejack, I can hear you."
"Dreadwing blew up the ship! Can ya send Bob over to pick us up?... We'll help with the hatchlings."
"Oh, of course! Bob, did you hear that?"
Bob shrieked affirmatively, then transformed and took off through the hole in the ceiling.
Ratchet shifted nervously as he gave another hatchling a cube. "..."
Fluttershy noticed. "Is something wrong, Ratchet?"
Ratchet signed. "I just don't feel comfortable with seeing your friends again after...after Miko."
"Oh, Ratchet!" Fluttershy whined. "I know that wasn't your fault...and, I may have lost a friend on this mission..." she smiled warmly. "But at least I got a few new ones. Bob and-"
Fluttershy looked to see Ratchet had left.
"...You."
Inside the Griffin Rock laboratory, Frankie Green wandered through the impressive array of shelf's filled with technology left there by not only her father, Doc Greene, but by the scientists who had preceded them as head scientist of Griffin Rock.
"Daddy, where are you?" she called out.
"By the tables, dear!" Doc Greene responded.
Frankie hurried over to the tables to see her father messing with a toaster, trying to use tongs to shove a green sticky substance into it.
"Daddy, are you experimenting with the Squilsh again?" Frankie asked with concern.
"Don't worry, my little Einstein." the Doc assured her. "I've taken all the precautions! It should be fine!"
Frankie frowned, not at all assured. She pointed towards the door. "I'm going to see Cody." and warn him you're messing with the Squilsh again... she added mentally.
She made her towards the door, but just as she reached her hand out for the knob, the doorbell rang. Frankie put her ear to the door. "Who is it?"
"Twilight Sparkle!"
"I've never heard that name before."
"Oh, that's okay. I only just got here to Griffin Rock. I was told this place was the laboratory? I was hoping there would be some scrapped tech here I could have."
Frankie nodded and opened the door. "Well, I don't see why...not."
There was a purple unicorn in the doorway. She seemed to have white bloodshot in her eyes, and her mane and tail were all frazzled, and she kept making erratic twitches, taking heavy breaths like she was undergoing...withdrawal? Unicorns don't get withdrawal! Frankie thought to herself. Do they?
The unicorn waved. "Hi! You're..."
"Uh, Frankie Green...You're a unicorn."
"Yes, yes I am." Twilight told her proudly. "May I come in?" Frankie said nothing, but moved aside, allowing Twilight to trot in.
"So, anything here?" Twilight questioned, walking to the shelf area and levitating miscellaneous items off them. "Anything...broken or outdated?"
"Frankie," Doc Green questioned, walking towards the source of noise. "I thought you said you were going to see...Cody." Doc bumped into Twilight levitating the various devices and was slightly flabbergasted. He pointed. "You're a unicorn!"
Twilight lowered her eyelids irritably. "Yes, yes...I thought we went through this already. Twilight Sparkle."
"Er, Doc Greene... Can I help you?"
"Yes. I'm looking for some broken machines that I can-...salvage for spare parts. Do you have any here?"
Doc Greene cupped his chin, then snapped his fingers. "The Tracers!"
"The what?"
"The Tracers are robot bugs designed to teleport the island's inhabitants to safety during a disaster." Frankie explained. "Unfortunately, they just have an on/off switch; They don't know if there's a disaster actually happening, so when daddy accidentally activated them, we had to smash them all to get them to stop."
"I'll go get them." Doc announced, Twilight and Frankie walked behind him as he led the way to the shelf containing the Tracers' canister, Twilight's labored breathing giving Frankie
"So, Twilight Sparkle..." Doc Green questioned as they walked. "Where exactly did you come from?"
"The country of Equestria." Twilight answered. "It's, uh...really far away."
"How far?"
"Very far. You humans probably couldn't get there."
"We should tell Chief Burns about this!" Doc exclaimed. "Their Robots have proven able to overcome difficult terrain. I'm sure they wouldn't have any problem getting there."
Twilight grit her teeth. "Eh, I'd prefer if you didn't do that. The less humans that know about me, the better. The only reason I'm even showing myself to you at all is out of... necessity. Uh, complex unicorn laws."
Doc's and Frankie's mouths curled into 'o's of surprise, but they nodded and crossed their chests with their arms. They had read stories about unicorns before, and if unicorns themselves were real, who's to say that the rules of fae folk in those stories weren't?
"We understand, Twilight Sparkle. Your secret's safe with us."
"Here it is!" Doc green announced, pulling a canister off a shelf. He uncapped it, showing the contents to be smashed, purple robotic beetles with yellow heads and four yellow legs with a dark blue underbelly.
"AH!" Twilight exclaimed, backing away. "Why do you have Parasprites in your container?"
Doc Greene and Frankie exchanged concerned looks. "Er, Twilight Sparkle, these are the Tracers." Doc tried to assure her.
Twilight eyed him suspiciously, then approached the container to look inside of it, eventually seeing the differences between the Tracers and Parasprites. "...So they are."
"Here." Doc Greene closed the canister and offered it Twilight, who took it with her magic. "Be mindful of their programming, Twilight Sparkle. We don't need a repeat of the incident."
"I will keep that in mind, Doc." Twilight assured him. "And thank you for keeping me a secret."
"No problem!" Frankie assured her as she left. Just after she did, Frankie got a call on her phone. "Hey, Cody! What's up?"
"You just gave that unicorn the Tracers!" Cody yelled with panic through the phone.
"How did you know that?"
"Security cameras."
Frankie facepalmed. The cameras, of course. "Well, why is that a bad thing?"
"She wants to rebuild the Morbot!"
"What? Why?"
"I don't know. But I do know it's not for anything good. Can you follow her? Maybe find out what she's up to?"
"I'll try." Frankie hung and snapped her cell phone shut, then bolted out the door in pursuit. Now outside the lab, she heard tiny metal clanging from behind the bushes. Tiptoeing in her sneakers, she cautiously push the bushes to see Twilight Sparkle laying on her haunches, the canister upside down in her hoof, dumping the Tracers on the ground in a pile.
Frankie raised her eyebrow. What was Twilight doing?
To Frankie's surprise and horror, Twilight raised her hoof to her head and skewered it with her horn, allowing fresh, Dark Energon-tainted blood to flow from it freely. Twilight held the bleeding hoof over the Tracer pile and began flaining it like a salt shaker, causing the purple ichor to drop down from it and cover the broken Tracers in the foul substance. It absorbed into the Tracers, and they whirred to life. They started flittering about in a swarm in front of Twilight's face.
The Dark Energon crystal in her chest started glowing and pulsing, and Twilight's heavy breathing started lightening up. She gasped in relief. "Oooohhooo...Symbiosis...achieved." The Tracers, now bound by the D.E. to Twilight Sparkle, rested themselves on her mane, tail, and back.
"Symbiosis?" Frankie questioned. "What does that mean?"
Much to her dismay, Twilight getting up and turning around to face her made her realize she asked that out loud. "Symbiosis;" Twilight answered. "A state in which two items are interdependent on each other."
There was a beat as the two of them realized that Frankie had been witness to to Twilight's 'resurrection' of the Tracers.
Twilight's horn started glowing, gathering light and energy. Frankie threw her hands up in surrender, thinking Twilight was about to blast her, but a flash of purple magic blinded her instead, and when everything quit swimming in her vision, Frankie could see that Twilight -and the Tracers- were gone.
Frankie whipped her cell phone back out, intending to call Cody back and tell him what happened, but honestly, she wasn't entirely what had happened. She put it away and ran back into the lab. "Daddy?...We got a unicorn to catch."
Doc Greene looked at her disbelievingly, then held up a net. "I'm inclined to agree, my dear...There is less Squilsh on the table than before Twilight Sparkle walked in."
By the abandoned lead mine, Slias and some MECH agents were patrolling, having adopted the mine as a makeshift base. Morocco came walking up to them, not entirely in a good mood. "That unicorn of yours doesn't exactly know her place, does she?" Morocco snarled at Silas.
"She does know her place. She's just used to operating under different principles than the ones you or I use." Silas answered.
Before Morocco could complain further, the sounds of a jet engine alerted them to Starscream's approach. The Seeker floated in the air before transforming and landing gracefully on his stiletto-like feet. "Nothing! Not a single scrap of Dark Energon anywhere on this blasted island! Silas, I really must request we call this mission a failure and refocus our efforts on repairing Nemesis Prime!"
Silas cold demeanor was unfazed. "Twilight assures me that completing the the first objective will lead to the completion of the second."
"I'm sure it would, if the first objective could be completed to begin with!" Starscream tensed his claws in agitation. "There's no Dark Energon on Griffin Rock!"
"Twilight assures me there is."
"Well, She's wrong!"
"I'm wrong about what now?"
Starscream turned around to see Twilight Sparkle approaching, covered in...robot...ticks? "Oh, Twilight!...How long have you been standing there?"
"Not long enough." Twilight answered. "What's the problem?"
"Starscream has been unable to locate the Dark Energon you say is here on Griffin Rock." Silas answered.
Twilight groaned in frustration. "Uuuggghh! You too, Starscream? I might've thought a Seeker would know how to...well, seek!" Twilight shook her head. "Never mind that now. I think we should get Morbot parts now. I want 10 men to raid the rescue station-"
"Er," Morocco spoke up. "Madam Sparkle, you are ordering..a raid?"
"Yes. Why?"
"Well, a raid to acquire the Morbot parts? Why use force to achieve your goal..." Morocco held up a golden sphere with a purple band on it, a red circle with a spike inside of it and a curved line running through the spike imprinted in the purple band- Morocco's stylized 'M' logo. "When you can use subtlety?"
Twilight eyed the sphere curiously. "What did you have in mind?"
Morocco smirked and pressed a button on the sphere, and it started beeping.
"Jailbreak."
The Burns family and their Bots rolled (or flew) over various parts of Griffin Rock, all on edge after their encounter with Twilight and communicating their findings.
"I still don't understand why you didn't arrest that unicorn when you had the chance." Heatwave grumbled through the dashboard.
"Dad says it's because 'a conservation is 'insufficient evidence'..." Kade irritably answered, feeling quite the same way about the situation as Heatwave did. "
"Hrrrn..."
"I feel I should point out that this 'Twilight Sparkle' did not actually say what she was going to to use the Morbot for, merely that she did intend to use it for rescues; For all we know, she meant to use educate aspiring engineers or for a recreational activity." Chase interjected.
"I'm not getting anything." Dani reported.
"Same here. No sign of Twilight or anything." Graham added.
"Cody," Chief Burns addressed through his comm-piece. "Do you see anything on the cameras?"
"Yeah, I do! Twilight was just at the lab!"
The Burns family had the natural reaction of concern.
"Are Doc Green and Frankie all right?"
"They're fine, but Twilight tricked them into giving her the Tracers and she did-something to them, then she just...disappeared into thin air!"
"Disappear?" Kade asked incredulously. "Cody, unicorns don't just disappear into thin air!"
"Maybe not." Graham agreed. "But Cody said she had the Tracers, remember? She could've used them to teleport."
"Wouldn't that put her in the unstable shelter?" Blades inquired.
"It would." the Chief agreed. "Let's head to the shelter and see if we can figure out her next move."
"Uh, that may have to wait." Cody said.
"Why?" Kade snarled.
"It's Doctor Morocco! He's back!"
Heatwave grit his teeth. "Morocco must have some pretty big brass coming back."
"Yeah, he does, and he's about to blow up the jail!" Cody yelled.
"What? Why?"
"Never mind that! Everyone get to the jail, now!"
Outside the jail, Morocco sneakily slid against the outside wall, not being noticed once on the prison's cameras by Barney, Chief Burns' incompetent lackey. Once he had reached a part he deemed ideal, he whipped his spherical grenade and dropped it, then calmly walked away, waiting for it to explode.
The Rescue Bots quickly converged onto the jail, looking for any sign of Morocco. With the exception of Blades and Dani, everyone got out of their Bot, and the land vehicles transformed to their robot modes with their optic guards down.
Chief Burns instantly took charge to the situation. "Graham, you take Boulder and use his sonar to check if's anything underground. See if Morocco used an deep-boring device. Heatwave and Chase, you stay out here and catch any prisoners that Morocco may have already let out."
Kade pointed to himself. "I'll go inside and make the prisoners still there don't get any ideas."
Chief Burns nodded. "Good idea."
Unfortunately, just as Chief Burns was about to give Dani and Blades their instructions, the grenade went off, startling everyone and blasting apart a side of the jail.
"New plan:" Chief Burns announced. "Everyone get inside and make sure everyone's okay!"
"Everyone, Chief?" Chase questioned. "I don't understand. Aren't the prisoners inside jail the law-breakers?"
"Yes." Chief Burns answered. "But if they deserved getting blown up, we would've done that in the first place. Now let's move!"
They quickly marched their way over to the side of the jail that was on fire, Dani directing Blades so that his downdraft started clearing the smoke. Heatwave and Kade wasted no time in getting their hoses ready and blasting at the fire full-force. When they gotten enough cleared, they could see Barney laying on his stomach with limbs sprawled out.
"Barney!" Chief Burns rushed over to him and tried to shake him awake. Thankfully, Barney quickly came to with a cough.
He looked up at the Chief. "Chief Burns! Evan and Myles! They used the -hac-haff- explosion to cover their -gaph- escape!'
Graham scratched his head. "I don't understand. Are Evan and Doctor Morocco working together?"
"Maybe, maybe not." Chief Burns answered. "Evan doesn't strike me as the type to pass up the chance to get out of jail, however it came about. We need to find them."
"Chief, over there!" Chase announced, pointing over yonder, where Evan and Myles in their mobster sweaters were running off, laughing in their freedom.
"I'm on it!" Boulder started running towards and he leaped into the air and transformed, landing his heavy tractor mode on the ground. When the shock wave from that didn't prove enough to stop the thieves, he raised his scoop and slammed it. That was enough to knock Evan and Myles off their feet and onto their bums.
Before they could get back up, Chase tromped over and grabbed them both by their collars. He started talking to them in his 'robot' voice. "I feel the...need to inform you that the more you attempt to escape your sentence it will be extended when you are inevitably caught."
"Put them in another cell for now, Rescue Ro-Bot." Chief Burns instructed. "Theirs was caught up in the explosion."
Chase nodded, and walked back towards the hole in the jail wall while Graham and Kade made sure Barney was okay. Then, Chief Burns' comm beeped.
"What is it, Cody?"
"It's Twilight Sparkle and Doctor Morocco!" Cody yelled. "The explosion at the jail was a distraction so they could get to the base! They're looking for the Morbot parts now!"
"Cody, are you all right!?" Chief Burns demanded, his concern for his son being more important than anything else.
He didn't respond.
"Cody? Cody? CODY!"
There was a thump through the comm which sent chills down Chief Burns' spine.
The comm beeped, hanging up. Chief Burns looked towards his team and saw them approaching.
"We heard everything." Kade said. "We need to get to the station!"
"That's right..." Chief Burns looked around. "Where's Dani?"
"She already left." Graham answered.
"Hrrnn...We need to stop talking and start rolling." Heatwave snarled, banging his fists together.
Cody winced, Morocco grabbing him and carrying him by the shoulder from room-to-room as he and Twilight looked for the parts. "Ow-ow-ow!"
"Easy with him, Morocco." Twilight said, using her telekinesis to pry open a kitchen cabinet and looking inside it in search of it of some sort of secret entrance to where the parts might've been. "He's only a foal."
"I'm a what?" Cody questioned.
Morocco sneered. He didn't have any qualms manhandling Cody, especially with his role in Morocco's defeat, but Silas had warned Morocco that Twilight was a 'valued asset' and to tread lightly on her moral ground, lest she start to question MECH's purpose.
Twilight whipped and whirled about the station, not finding anything on the parts' whereabouts. She started giving instructions from another room. "...Morocco. Bring Cody in here, would you?"
Morocco begrudgingly did so, bringing Cody into the room Twilight was in and dropping him to his knees in front of her. Cody looked up at Twilight with a grimace.
"Thank you, Doctor...now, I'd like to talk to Cody alone."
With a curious eyebrow, Morocco left the room.
Now alone, Twilight used her magic to pull the door closed and lowered the lights, turning the glow in her purple eyes into the only source of light. Cody was, putting it lightly, totally freaked out. He backed away on all fours. Twilight took a step forward, resetting the distance between back to what it was.
Cody took in a deep breath. "W-what do you want?"
Twilight smiled comfortingly. "All right, Cody, I'm going to tell you something very alarming, and I want you to not be alarmed, okay?"
Cody could only nod.
"You know those transforming rescue vehicles your family uses? They're alive and thinking."
The first thought to cross Cody's head at this was "Oh scrap, she knows!" the second was "Okay, Cody...just play it cool."
Courage returned to him by the knowledge the Bots' secret was depending on him, he got to his feet and pointed at her. "That's ridiculous!"
Twilight's smile flickered. "I know it sounds silly, but look!" Her horn started glowing, and a light shot off it that turned into the Autobot insignia. "See this? This is the symbol of the Autobots. The Autobots are a race of giant, transforming robots waging their war on your planet, battling with their enemies over who gets to be dominant." Twilight's horn glowed again, and the light turned into the Rescue Bots insignia- exactly the same as the Autobots, except with the addition of a life-saver shaped silver ring around it. "The symbol of the Rescue Robots." Twilight explained, even though Cody already knew.
"But there are some humans who are trying to keep either side from taking over." Twilight said. "MECH, a group of crusaders dedicated to the protection of the Earth from all Cybertronians. Morocco's a good friend of theirs."
Cody couldn't suppress a scoff. Morocco, a friend?
Twilight started trotting in circles around the room. "Now, there's something I need from Griffin Rock, Cody. You know what that is?" Cody shook his head no. "Dark Energon! Me, Morocco and Silas haven't been able to find any of it on Griffin Rock...but I KNOW it's here! That's why I need the Morbot, Cody. The more hooves I have looking for it, the sooner I'll find it."
Cody pursed his lips, uncertain. "Say, is Dark Energon the stuff you used on the Tracers?"
"Why yes, yes, it is."
"And the thing in your chest?"
"Mh-hm."
Cody curiously raised his finger to fiddle with it, but Twilight's hoof stopped it midway. "I'd prefer if you didn't touch it, please."
Cody drew his hand back. "O...kay. Sure."
Twilight suddenly shivered violently.
"Hey, are you all right?"
"No, Cody, I'm not. See, I died, then I came back to life through the Dark Energon. Ever since, I've been having these horrible cravings- the need to achieve symbiosis with other Dark Energon-infused beings. I need the Morbot to find the Dark Energon! Its destructive proprieties should reveal the Dark Energon's hiding place!"
Cody tilted his head. She died? But the question that came out of his mind was "You know, if you haven't found this...Dark Energon stuff yet, how are you sure it's on Griffin Rock?"
"Because!" Twilight snapped, turning violent. "I can sense it! It's here! I know it's here! I can feel its presence through my magic! It HAS to be here!"
Cody waved his hands. "No, no, what I meant was...are you sure it's now somewhere off the island? Like in the sea or something?"
Twilight paused, then got stars in here eyes. "Cody, that's brilliant!" she scooped him up into her hooves and gave a smooch on the cheek, which made him feel all kinds of awkward. She put him down and started ambling about the room. "The sea...that's it! That must be the answer!" She stopped walking and cast her gaze back towards Cody. She turned back around and approached him, cupping his chin with her hoof. "You know, Cody, MECH and I could use a smart kid like you..." she took her hoof and teleported behind him and curled her rear legs and tail around him like a snake. "What do you say?"
"I say-" Cody paused. He was going to say that she was crazy if she thought the Rescue Bots were trying to take over Earth, but something prevented him. Something in his head which was telling him to say yes.
But why yes? he asked himself.
Two words. A voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Frankie's answered. Covert...Ops.
"Uhh...yeah! Here," Cody said, brushing Twilight's tail off his shoulder. "Come on. I'll show you where the Morbot parts are."
Twilight turned the lights back and let Cody guide her out of the room, and subsequently showed where the Morbot parts where- somewhere in the garage she would've had to slide down the firefighter pole to get to. She did so, and while she was down there, Morocco came up to him.
"Hmmm...so, you've decided to help me and Madam Sparkle with our efforts, have you?" It was clear from the way he spoke he didn't believe Cody one bit.
"Uh, eeeeyup!" Cody said, giving Morocco two thumbs-up in a laughable attempt to convince him.
"Cody, Morocco!" Twilight called out. "I found the Morbot parts, but I can't get them up through the post! Go outside and I'll teleport there with them!"
Morocco eyed Cody, but they both complied, navigating their way through the rescue station and onto the lawn. They stood there waiting until Twilight appeared with her flash of purple light. The Morbot parts were coalesced into a convenient ball of scrap that was easy for her to hold in her magic. "Now all we have to do is-" Twilight was interrupted by a large scoop claw swooping down from the sky and grabbing the parts.
"Hang in there, Cody!" Dani yelled from Blades' cockpit. "We're here now!"
Blades rose up, but stopped suddenly.
"Blades, pull up!" Dani demanded.
"I can't!" Blades gasped. "There's-something holding me!"
Below, Blades' scoop claw was enveloped in the glow of Twilight's magic.
Twilight forcefully took a step forward, like Blades' scoop claw was dragging her down.
"Hang on, guys!" Twilight told them. The Dark Energon in her chest started pulsing...and the runic lines that so often adorned Megatron began appearing on Twilight, highlighting the exact pathaways of her veins and making her look like some two-tone purple ghost.
Cody's mouth formed into an 'o' at the spectacle. "Noble!"
Energy began gathering on the tip of Twilight's horn, and it expanding into a huge flash of light that when it had gone, so had Twilight, Cody, Morroco, Blades, Dani, and the Morbot parts.
Heatwave, Chief Burns and the others pulled up just afterwards.
"Dani?" Chief Burns questioned. "Blades? Cody?"
"Cody!" Kade screamed.
"You don't think that Twilight and Morocco...got him, did you?" Graham asked, stepping out Boulder.
"No way!" Kade insisted. "Dani and Blades were already here! They would've had to gone through them before they got to Cody!"
"Allow me to attempt communications with Blades." Chase said. Whirs and boops sound out from his dashboard, but that was it. "I'm sorry to report, Chief, that Blades isn't responding."
"No. No. NO!" Kade shrieked in denial.
"Easy, Kade. Dani's tough and while Cody's not a genius like Graham, he's pretty smart. As long as they're together, they'll be fine."
Chief Burns climbed back into Chase, where the Rescue Bot had a choice question for him. "Another white lie, sir?"
"No, Chase, it's not." Chief Burns told him forcefully. "At least...I hope it isn't."
At the lead mine, Blades and Twilight engaged in a tug-of-war while Morocco, Cody and company watched. The sun hung overhead, casting an ironically bright and cheery light on the scene.
Blades swerved. Twilight Tugged. Twilight tugged. Blades loop-de-looped.
"Grraaah! ENOUGH!" Starscream, frustrated at the stalemate, fired his arm-rocket, which hit Blades dead-on and sent him tumbling to the ground, the Morbot parts dropping out of his scoop claw. He transformed into his robot mode to ease the pain, Dani safe in his cock-pit.
"Uooog..." Blades groaned, rubbing his head sorely. "Are you okay, Dani?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
Twilight, seeing the parts scattered on the ground, but in MECH reach, took off. "The Tracers! Where are the Tracers?"
"Wait," Cody questioned. "Didn't she teleport on her own? Why does she need the Tracers?"
"I'm not sure." Morocco answered. "Something about...symbiosis."
"Cody!" Blades exclaimed, letting Dani out and rushing over to him, but the MECH agents pointed their sabots at him.
Blades and Dani entered fighting stances while Cody tried to think of hands signals for 'undercover'.
"Okay, okay...I'm back." Twilight announced, reappearing, sounding very relieved and the Tracers hugging her like she was their hive.
"You let my brother go right now!" Dani demanded.
"Let him go?" Twilight questioned. "I think you misunderstand, ma'am, see, Cody's agreed to help me and MECH with our efforts here on Griffin Rock" Twilight scooped Cody up with her leg and nuzzled his cheek. "An intelligent mind like his could be better used outside of that stuffy base."
"Cody?" Dani asked, hurt. "Is this true? I mean, I know Kade gets dismissive with you sometimes, but..."
"Uh, eeeyup!" Cody answered, then started dancing weirdly. "MECH! Hee-he! Hoorah! Sis-boom-bah!" Unbeknownst to Twilight and Morocco, Cody had remembered the hand signals and worked them into his dance.
Twilight giggled. "Hmhmhmhmh...Cute dance, Cody."
Dani, catching on to Cody's scheme, put her arm over her forehead and did a mock-swooning motion. "Oh, Cody! How could you?"
Blades, not knowing the hand signals, reached his hand. "There is no way I'm letting you go through with this, Cody-!" Starscream came over and menaced at Blades with his claws. Even accounting for his hunch, Starscream was actually shorter then Blades, but that didn't make the Rescue Bot feel any better.
"Hmm..." Starscream wrapped his claw around Blades' face and sized him up, tilting the Bot's head back and forth for Starscream to examine. "It's been quite some time since I've last seen an Aerialbot..."
"Nnngh..."
"Put them in the lead mine." Twilight instructed. "Their partners will likely coming looking for them...but if everything goes as planned, we should be long gone by then."
The MECH grunts pointed their sabots and other guns at Blades and Dani, and they both threw their hands in the air and obeyed as they pushed the two into the mine proper. Dani slickly turned her head back and winked at Cody.
Cody felt a heavy sign of relief pass through him with the knowledge that at least one of his family members knew he hadn't betrayed him.
"Sooner or later, the others are going to come for the Copter-Bot." Twilight said.
"His name is Blades!" Cody snapped, forgetting his cover. Morocco gave him a sideways glance.
"Before they come for Blades." Twilight corrected, not hearing the defense in Cody's voice, then turned towards the Morbot parts. "Let's get to work."
Morocco and Twilight approached the parts, with Cody hanging back to watch. The Tracers flitted off Twilight and started swarming the parts, teleporting them into a more manageable mess.
Cody gasped. "The Tracers!"
"Hmm?" Twilight said, briefly raising her head away from the parts. "Oh, yeah. I modified them. Now they can teleport anywhere at my command." Twilight's horn lit up, and in response, a Tracer flitted over and attached itself to Cody. It teleported him from where he was to about four feet to the side.
"Noble!" Cody picked the Tracer up and examined it. He looked around at the MECH troopers...and a terrifying thought occurred to him. The reality of what he was doing just came crashing down on him. He was working with armed men who probably wouldn't have any problem shooting him the moment his true loyalty showed, and the unicorn (who seemed nice...just kinda completely insane) had modified the Tracers to no longer have a pre-set destination...these men could use the Tracers to get into a bank, rob it dry, then get out before authorities could respond.
Faced with this, Cody hid the Tracer in his pocket so no one could see him crush it in his started walking backwards and bumped into something. He looked up to see it was Silas.
"Ah, Cody Burns." Silas greeted in his brisk, to-the-point voice, putting a hand on Cody's shoulder. "Twilight told to ask you about where the Dark Energon was."
"The Dark Energon?" Cody questioned. "Well, I don't actually know where it is...I just thought you guys should expand your search. You know, look in the sea."
Silas seemed to consider this. "Cody, would you come with me and draw up a nautical map?"
"Uh...sure!"
Silas turned Cody around and started wheeling him towards the side of the lead mine's entrance, where a computer and some other miscellaneous tech was set up.
Blades paced in the mining chute MECH had dumped him and Dani in. "I can't belive Cody would go through with this..."
"He's not, Blades." Dani assured him, sitting on a rock. "You saw that dance he did?"
"Uh, yeah." Blades snarked, crossing his arms. "The sis-boom-bah?"
Dani nodded. "He made some hand signals while he was doing it. Burns family code for 'Working undercover.'
"So, you mean...Cody hasn't abandoned us?"
Dani shook her head.
"This is great!" Blades raised his hand to his cranial module. "I'll inform the others!"
"No!" Dani yelped. "You can't! Those goons up there could intercept it and blow Cody's cover! Besides, comms don't work in the lead mine anyway."
Blades groaned and let his arms fall limp.
Twilight Sparkle and Morocco continued working on repairing the Morbot. They had gotten it's huge cylindrical blaster ready, laying like a felled log next the lower half of the robot, which was also completed, but only up to the waist, making it look like a pair of robot pants. Twilight shuddered forcefully, more so then before.
"Need to experience symbiosis again, Twilight?" Morocco questioned, banging a wrench on a part that would become the Morbot's claw-hinge.
"Actually, no..." Twilight said worryingly. "Something just happened to me...something strange...something about the Dark Energon..." Twilight quit her work and took a few paces away. "It's so weird! I mean, if didn't sound so ridicoulus I'd almost say-"
"-I'm hearing someone else's thoughts!" Megatron snarled, purple eyes glowing and claw tensely clamped on the Bridge's guide railing.
"Someone else's thoughts, My Lord?" Dreadwing questioned.
Megatron adjusted his grip on the rail. "Yes...Twilight Sparkle's, no doubt. Her connection to the Dark Energon grows stronger with every passing minute."
Dreadwing put his thumb to his mouth in thought. "Perhaps you may wish to send a dispatch to remove the Dark Energon from her, lest she reveal your secrets to those who do not need to hear them..."
Megatron glared angrily at nothing in particular. "I have already sent my troops after her once, and that ended in my Spark being extracted! Tell me, Dreadwing, what has changed between then and now?"
"The addition of the Insecticons, my lord."
Megatron nodded, then closed his optics in concentration, trying to 'hack' into his mental link to ascertain the location of his target.
"Dreadwing, dispatch an Insecticon...to Griffin Rock's lead mine."
At Autobot Outpost Omega One...
Arcee kept her servoes waved over the computer's keyboards, having taken up Ratchet's normal post of moniter.
On the couch in the human dwelling area, Jack and Raf attempting to comfort Miko. Jack just patted her on the back and stroked her hair while Raf pulled up online copies of books written by people who had themselves been forced to kill.
Bulkhead and Bumblebee rested their arms on a railing.
"You know," Bulkhead said in a low tone. "As much as Rarity hated getting down and dirty...now that she's gone, I kinda miss her."
Bumblebee agreed, dejectedly beeping out compliments on Pinkie. He had appreciated having somepony who not only could understand his bleep speech, but could talk back to him in it.
Beep Bleep Beep Beep Beep Deeeeee Deep Do-ouut Do-ouut-Wheeeoooo.
"Well, I don't miss Rainbow Dash all that much." Arcee said hardily. "How she acted first, thought later, and- was always ready to throw her life on the line." Arcee turned her head away. "...Just like I do."
"How about you, Optimus?" Bulkhead asked. "You miss Applejack?"
Optimus was upfront in his response. "While I do not regret the loss of Applejack herself, I am remorseful she and her friends could not have left us on better terms."
Miko sniffed, no doubt guility. Jack hugged her in an attempt at comfort.
A very distinct sounding niieeee-oop sounded from somewhere. "What was that?" the kids exclaimed.
"That is an alert to an incoming call which I must now address." Optimus explained and started walking out of the room.
"Uh, Optimus?" Raf asked, raising a hand. "...Computer's that way."
"I am aware of that, Rafael."
Optimus tromped out of the room, leaving a confused Rafael entering the orange halls of the Outpost. He walked through the halls to a path the others hadn't been in. It lead to a narrowing sidewinding corrider that eventually took him to a desolate room with a computer in that looked older then the ones in the control room.
The computer he used for contact with the Rescue Bots.
Optimus had valid reason for trying to keep the Rescue Bots a secret- if Miko knew, she wouldn't shut up until Optimus had reassigned them to work with Team Prime, and they were far too young for that. Agent Fowler would probably feel the same way. In addition, the Rescue Bots mission on Griffin Rock was important if the Autobots were to remain here on Earth.
With a bleep, the computer screen showed Heatwave. "Greetings, Heatwave. To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"We got a situation here on Griffin Rock." Heatwave answered. "I was hoping you might have some advice on how to deal with it."
"Is there something happening that Cheif Burns is unable to instruct you in?"
"Yeah. Try 'unicorn arrests.' You have anything like that back on Cybertron?"
Optimus' browplates shot upward. "...Unicorn? Unicorns are a human myth, Heatwave."
Heatwave 'hrrn'ed. "Tell that to Twilight Sparkle."
Optimus looked at Heatwave gravely. "...I'm sorry, Heatwave. There is something which I have not told you...we are no longer alone on Earth...and Twilight Sparkle is dead."
"All due respect, Optimus, your dead unicorn botnapped my pilot."
Optimus stared in confusion for a second, then a thought crossed him; What if Rafael's idea to use the Dark Energon had been accomplished by MECH?
"Heatwave, there are extenuating circumstances involved." Optimus told him. "For your own safety, I must ask you and your team to stand down." Optimus cut the call off before Heatwave could protest.
He then hurried to back to the control room.
"Optimus?" Bulkhead asked, noticing his pace. "Something wrong?"
Optimus nodded. "Indeed there is, Bulkhead. Arcee, prepare the GroundBridge...we are going to Griffin Rock."
At the Rescue Station...
"Stand down!?" Heatwave exclaimed, banging his fists on the computer in a fruitless effort to get Optimus to respond. "Stand down!? Maybe you didn't hear me, Optimus Prime: Blades is being held hostage!"
Chase held up a finger. "If I may, Heatwave, despite common misconceptions, giving a machine an impact blow will not improve its technical performance."
Heatwave clenched his jaw. "Looks we're our own on this one."
Chase stammered. "Heatwave, Optimus has requested us to stand down."
"That's one way to look at it. Another is doing nothing."
Boulder rose his hand up. "Chase, Cody, Dani, and Blades could all be hurt."
"I am aware of that, Boulder, and while I agree that standing down is the...absolute last course of action I want to take, I mustn't let my personal feelings come before obeying the instructions given by my superior officer."
"So don't."
The Bots looked to see Chief Burns standing in the doorway.
"Chase," he said. "You and I are going to go on patrol until we find some trace of Blades and my kids." he turned his to Boulder and Heatwave. "Same goes for you two and Kade and Graham."
"Cheif Burns, Optimus' intentions were made quite clear-"
Chief Burns crossed his arms. "I'm sorry, Chase...were mine not?"
Chase opened his mouth, then closed it and nodded at Heatwave.
Heatwave banged his fists together. "Rescue Bots, roll to the rescue!"
In the pit of the lead mine they had been thrown into, Dani and Blades had traded places. Blades sat on a large rock while Dani paced.
"Uuuughh!" Dani groaned, raising her fists into the air. "I'm so bored!"
"We could play a game..." Blades suggested bashfully, tapping his fingers together.
"Like what?"
"...Hide-and-go seek?"
Dani rolled her eyes. "Blades, I don't want to play-wait-"
"What?"
"Be quiet for a minute, Blades!"
Blades covered his mouth with his hand, silently wondering what was making Dani so upset. It became apparent soon enough though.
"Right, right..." Twilight Sparke's voice could be heard echoing down from above. "So this is the lighthouse..."
"Yeah." Cody's answered. "A lighthouse is a building that-"
"I know what a lighthouse is."
"And over here is the Griffin Rock Triangle..." Cody continued.
"Oh, please." Morroco's voice scoffed. "Everyone knows the Triangle is a ghost story."
"It's not, actually." Cody said. "The Rescue B-Vehicles helped find out what it really was."
"Cody? Remember when I said I knew what a lighthouse is? I don't know what the Griffin Rock Triangle is."
"Right, it's this area where ships mysteriously sunk. The ships were just fine, there was no bad weather or anything. The ships were just sinking. Eventually, me and my family found out it was a pocket of methane that was releasing pressure, causing a disruption in the tide that brought ships all the way down."
"...Methane?" Twilight questioned.
"Do you know or not know what methane is?" Cody asked, having apparently caught wise.
"...Cody, that's it." Twilight said with realization.
"What's it?"
"The Dark Energon is underneath the methane!"
"What? That' s crazy!"
"Excuse me, Cody, who's the unicorn with the Dark Energon and vast reserves of magic? Is it you?"
"No..."
"I thought so."
"But...the methane's been sealed off! How are you supposed to get it under it?"
"We'll tear the seal off, then put it back once the Dark Energon is our grasp."
Blades gasped. "Twilight's going to completely undo all of Baranova's work!"
Dani snapped her fingers. "At least now we know what her plan is...but that doesn't do us a whole lot of good if we can't tell the others!"
"Dani, look out!"
"Huh?" Dani looked up to see an object falling down the pit, which would've landed on top of her if she hadn't tucked-and rolled away just in time. When the dust had cleared, she could see it was Twilight Sparkle with Cody clucthcing on to her back. Cody and Dani smiled awkwardly and forcefully at each other to let them Cody was on their side.
"Dani Burns!" Twilight squealed in greeting. "I need something from you."
"Oh yeah? Spill." Dani growled as she got to her feet.
"I need Blades' scoop claw." Twilight told her. "It has the just right weight-lifting capacity I need for the Dark Energon deposit."
Dani eyed her. "That's it?"
"That's it!"
"You expect me to just let you use my Rescue Vehicle, just like that?"
"Well, as you're not really in a position to argue..." Twilight said.
"Oh yeah?" Dani snarled, raising a fist. "How's this for an argument?" Dani shot it forward, sucking punching Twilight in the cheek.
Twilight's head remained turned away from the impact for a minute.
Cody whistled, making his way off Twilight's back. "Dani, you're my sister and I love you...but that was...not smart."
Dani scoffed. "I just punched a unicorn in the face! What could she do?"
As in in answer to Dani's question, Twilight turned her head back, lowered her horn at Dani, and blasted into a rock.
"Ooogh..." Dani groaned.
"Conuterargument." Twilight said pointedly.
"Fine..." Dani grunted, using the rock for support as she tried to get back up. "We'll cooperate."
"Glad to hear it!" Twilight clopped her hooves together.
Blades transformed into his helicopter mode, and Cody helped Dani limped into the cockpit. "Twilight, do you mind if I ride with my sister?"
"Not at all!" Twilight assured him before using her Dark Energon enhanced acrobatics to start leaping on the walls and jumping upwards like a monkey.
Inside Blades' cockpit and nestled snugly in the seats, Dani grumbled about the stupid lead keeping her from contacting the others. She made a weird noise afterwards.
"Are you okay, Dani?" Blades and Cody both asked.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Dani insisted. "Blades, start flying."
Blades' rotors started rotating, and he lifted off, navigating his way out of the pit and the mines, were the Morbot, now completed and in it's vehicle mode, was parked alongside a good helping of MECH's green cars. They couldn't see Morocco or Silas, but they were probably inside a vehicle. Starscream transformed and reluncantly let Twiligh inside his cockpit. Over a comm, Silas gave the word for them to move out.
There was a beeping noise. Cody and Dani scrambled about, eventually realizing it was Cody's comm.
"Cody?" Frankie asked through it. "What's Dani's Rescue Vehicle doing over at the lead mine?"
"Uh..." Cody stammered, looking to Dani for an answer. Starscream pulled up in the air beside them, and they could see Twilight giving a concerned look through the black plexiglass.
"...I don't know." Cody fibbed, then hung up. Twilight smiled at him, which didn't make him feel better.
Down below, some distance away in the streets, Doc Green and Frankie, in safari hats with butterfly nets, binoculars to their eyes, observed as Blades, a grey jet, and a detachment of green cars left the lead mine.
"I think you do." Frankie muttered.
"We should call Chief Burns about this." Doc said, pulling out his own phone and dialing the Chief's number. "Charles? It's Greene. Hm-hm, yes. Are you aware of the presence of a unicorn on Griffin Rock?"
"Well, I, uh, I've heard some rumors, but..." the Chief said, trying to keep discreet.
"Well, Frankie and I were hunting for her, see, she stole something from the lab, and we found your family's helicopter departing the lead mine along with a jet and some green cars I've never seen before!"
"Green cars? A jet? I'm sorry, Doc, but I'm have to ask you and Frankie to back off while we investigate. "
"But what about the unicorn?" Frankie whined.
"Uh, we'll nab her if we see her. "
Doc Greene wrapped his arm around Frankie's shoulder. "Don't worry, my Curie, we can rely on Charles." He started guiding her away as the sirens from Chase and Heatwave approached, followed by the sirenless Boulder.
"All right team," Chief Burns instructed. "I want to know what those cars were, and what Twilight was doing at the lead mine."
"Right away, Chief." Chase saluted. The team rolled up the hills from the lane to the entrance of the mine, the Rescue Bots jettinsioning thier humans and transforming upon arrival.
"Fan out." Chief Burns instructed. "If there's any evidence about what Twilight and Morroco are up to, we'll find it faster if we split up."
Boulder and Graham went to the left of the cave, while Heatwave and Kade went to the right. Chief Burns and Chase remained outside.
Graham knelt down and examined the dirt. "There's definietly been some activity here. The ground is shifted from someone walking on it."
"Fat lot of good that does us." Kade snarled. "'Ooh! There WAS someone here!'"
"Come on, let's go." Heatwave snorted out. "There's nothing in these caves, and no sign of Cody...Boulder, quit trying to talk to butterflies!"
There was a fluttering noise that could be heard, which gave Heatwave reason to snap.
"Heatwave, butterflies don't like caves." Boulder told him. "And even if they did, I've learned that I have to use nonverbal communication with them."
"Then what's making that noise?"
"Chief!" Chase shouted from outside the cave. "Look! Up in the sky!"
Kade, Heatwave, Boulder and Graham all rushed outside to see what Chase was pointing at.
"Is a bird?" Graham questioned.
"Is it a plane?" Kade suggestioned.
"No..." Heatwave drawled. "I think it's...a giant beetle?"
There, up in the fading light of the sky, a shape of indeed, a green beetle twice the size of a bus was barreling towards them, it's holographic-looking pink and blue wings moving up and down at rates that blurred their appearance. It touched down some distance away, it's wings slowing down until they stopped and folding back into it's carapace.
"This area is currently under investigation." Chief Burns tried to inform it. "We're going to have to ask you to leave."
It stayed put.
"Sir and/or ma'am" Chase said in his robot voice. "If you do not turn your vehicle around, we will confiscate it."
The creature reared up and shrieked, parts beginning to unfold and shift around on it's body until a hunchedbacked robot with a demonically pointy appearance and large enough to overcast all three of the Bots stood before them.
Heatwave, Boulder and Chase exchanged looks.
"Did anyone invite a friend of theirs over?"
"Not without authorization."
"Wasn't me." Boulder took another look at it. "Though maybe we should welcome it..."
"Boulder, that's-" Heatwave's sentence started too late, as Boulder had already began to approach.
"Hi!" Boulder said with open arms. "Welcome to Griffin Rock!"
The creature leered at him for awhile, before roaring and charging at him. It flung him off to the side with a single swipe of it's huge claw.
"Boulder!" The rest of the team exclaimed.
"Hide!" Chief Burns ordered his sons. The three of them ran over to some rocks and ducked behind them.
"That's it!" Heatwave aimed his wrist-mounted water cannons at it and started blasting at it full-pump. The massive pressure of water didn't seem to even faze it. It lumbered forward and smashed it's claw against Heatwave as well, causing him to slam agaisnt the outside cave wall. Then it turned to Chase.
Chase readied his fists. "You are interfering with a police investigation-" It batted him aside as well.
"A direct assult doesn't seem to be working." Graham observed, he and the other humans peering from behind the rocks.
"Yeah, I got that." Kade growled, tossing his hands in the air. "So what do you have mind, Genius?"
"Kade, don't talk like that to your brother." Chief Burns scolded.
"Actually, Dad, I have an idea...Boulder, can you stand?"
Boulder groaned and pushed himself up. He rubbed his head sorely. "I...I think so."
"Can you jump?"
Boulder looked confused.
Heatwave and Chase, having recoved from the bot-beetle's intial assault, roved about the field, trying to keep the thing from hitting them again while they figured out a new tactic. They drove circles, so as to confuse the beast.
"Heatwave, Chase!" Boulder exclaimed, rushing over. "Lure that thing into the mine! Graham has an idea!"
"It better be a good one..." despite his grumbling, Heatwave did as told, swerving so that he and Chase rolled back into the mine's entrance. The demon followed them.
"All right, Boulder, we're in. Now what?" Heatwave demanded through the comm system.
"Get it confused, then get back out of the cave."
"I must inquire, Boulder, if we are to leave the cave, then what was the objective in putting us in it in the first place?"
"Not now, Chase!"
The two Rescue Bots began blaring thier sirens as loud as they could, which made the creature bring its claws to its head in pain. Outside, Boulder, in tractor mode, attempted to use his caterpillar treads to put him himself on the cave walls.
The beast still disoriented from the loud noise of thier alarms, Heatwave and Chase rolled out of the cave. The creature stumbled, still dazed, then shook it's head, apparently regaining it's bearings. It noticed the lack of prey, then turned around and galloped on all fours to the cave's exit.
"Whatever it is you're planning to do, Boulder, you better be ready to do it quick!"
The creature jumped up, intending to lunge at them. Boulder raised his scoop and slammed it agaisnt the cave's wall, causing a tremor that made it crack and crumble right down on top the creature, burying it beneath the rock and gravel.
"You are under arrest." Chase told it.
Heatwave crossed his arms. "...Yeah. What he said."
"Rescue Bots..."
Heatwave, Boulder and Chase looked to see who said that. To the left, nothing. To the right, nothing. Somewhere down the lane, Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Arcee and Bulkhead stood, their blasters half raised- or half lowered.
Optimus retracted his faceplate and converted his hands out so he could clap. "Well done."
"Y-you saw that?" Boulder questioned.
"Just the ending." Arcee answered with a smile as the four of them walked up the hillside to meet.
"How come you didn't help?" Heatwave demanded, finger pointed and hand on his hips.
"We were gonna, but by the time we got here, you already had the Insecticon...heh, eating dirt." Bulkhead quipped.
Roaring, the Insection burst out of the rubble, claws bared and mouth wide in fury, but Bulkhead introduced it's head to his mace, knocking it unconscious.
"Not that it's my place to question an veteran Autobot such as yourself, Bulkhead, but at no point did the Insection engage in the consumption of dirt." Chase informed him.
Bulkhead tapped his chin plate with an uneasy expression. Looking at Heatwave, he pointed to Chase. "He always like this?"
"Yeah. Better get used to it if you're gonna hang around." Heatwave turned away from Bulkhead to Optimus. "So, what brings you to Griffin Rock?"
"When you told me that Twilight Sparkle had taken Blades hostage, I realized that she must have been brought back from the dead." Optimus explained. "I asked you and your team to stand down because you lack the experience to handle the sitchuation. Had you followed my orders, you would not have had to engage the Insecticon."
"If you're gonna start reprimanding anybody, Optimus, it should be me." Chief Burns said, gesturing to himself and getting from the rocks. "I ordered them back out into the field after you told them to stand down because I wanted to find Cody. Blades isn't the only one Twilight's been keeping hostage."
Optimus nodded. "Understood, Chief Burns. We will focous all of our resources on locating them. Autobots, transform and roll out!"
All seven Autobots present shrunk down into thier vehcular modes.
"Heatwave, I told you-" Optimus started.
"Optimus!" Chief Burns yelled over him. "Please."
Optimus turned silent for a moment...
"...I understand, Chief Burns."
A pi-ping-pi-ping sounded out. Chief Burns answered his commtab. "Hello again, Doc. What's up?"
"What is 'up'" Doc Green answered. "Is that we hadn't heard from you in so long, we decided to follow those green cars, and you'll never guess where they're going!"
"Where?"
"To the docks! It appears that some men in gray suits seemed to be preparing an expedition out into the ocean."
"Men in gray suits?" Arcee inquired.
"MECH." Optimus quickly deducted. "Chief Burns, tell this 'Doc' to evacute the premises. MECH will not hesitate to open fire."
Chief Burns nodded. "Doc, those men are criminals. You and Frankie need to get out of there, now!"
"Oh! Understood, Chief! Come along, my little Einstein..." Doc Greene hung up.
"Optimus, we have a boat that we can use. It's able to bear the Rescue Bots' weight. A few more robots shouldn't be a problem."
"Thank you, Chief Burns...may I, Heatwave?"
"It'd be an honor to hear you say it, sir."
"Autobots...Roll to the rescue!"
At the docks, the schooner that once was Mayor Luskey's was quickly becoming crammed between Twilight, Morocco, Blades, Dani, Cody, and the Morbot. Starscream, Silas, and Novo all hung back to guard the rear.
Twilight chipperly doubled checked preparations. "So, is everypony clear on the plan?"
Everyone nodded.
"My bombs will be used to weaked the seal on the methane..." Morroco started.
"Exposing the Dark Energon (that I'm still not sure is actually there)..." Cody contiuned.
"Which Blades and the Morbot will work togethter to lift..." Dani added.
"And then, just to be nice, we'll seal the methane back up." Blades finished. "...Right?"
"Of course, Blades! Somepony went through some effort to plug up that hole! I would never be so rude as to completely undo it without fixing it!"
Dani raised a hand. "Then...why not just leave it alone?"
"Because right now, that Dark Energon is more important to me!" Twilight roared. She seemed to catch herself and took in a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Dani...that was uncalled for."
"At least you admit...urrooogh..." Dani groaned, wrapped her arms around her stomach, falling to her knees on the boat's surface.
"Dani?" Twilight and Cody both exclaimed, rushing to her aide. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Dani insisted, gripping the edge of the boat to help herself back up. "We ready to take off?" she asks as she climbs into Blades' cockpit.
"Err, yes." Morroco said in his sneering drawl, turning the ignition on. The boat moved and sped out of the docks and onto the open ocean currents.
Inside Blades, the Rescue Bot couldn't help but disagree. "Are you sure you're okay? You're turning pale..."
As they drifted, seemingly aimlessly, but completely with the goal of the Griffin Rock Triangle in mind, Cody rested his arms on the boat's edge.
Twilight noticed and came over. "Is something wrong, Cody?"
Cody signed. "It's my sister...She says she's okay, but I know her. She could be dying and insist she's all right."
"Mmm...I'll look into it." Twilight lifted her neck over Cody's shoulder and nuzzled his cheek. "I really appricate everything you've done for me and MECH, Cody."
"Uh...you're welcome." Cody uncertainly replied.
Twilight removed herself from him and stared off into the distacne. "...Cody? Can I...tell you something embarassing?"
"Sure."
"Um...I was at the Griffin Rock laboratory, right? Well...I saw this green stuff..."
"Green stuff?" Cody raised an eyebrow. "Squilsh?"
"I don't know, maybe. But...something weird happened. It, like, hypnotized me, and I couldn't help myself...I...I..."
"You what?"
"I ate it."
Cody's mouth contorted in disbelief. "You...ate it."
Twilight turned herself away ashamedly. "Yes. Um, could you tell Doc Greene what happened if you see him?"
"...Suuuurrrrre."
"We've arrived!" Morroco announced, putting an end to the conversation. "The Griffin Rock Triangle!" Twilight and Cody walked up to the steering wheel to observe, not that there was much to look at.
"I'll get the bombs." Morroco told them and walked away.
Cody's eyes blinked involutarily. "Twilight? You said you were gonna have Morroco open the methane deposit up?"
"Yeah..."
"The methane deposit...that had to be sealed off so ships would stop sinking in the area?"
"Yeah...I was gonna seal it back up when we done!"
"And...in between then and now?"
Twilight, seeing Cody's point, had her irises shrink in alarm. "Morocco! Stop-"
"Stop what?" Morocco questioned, his surprise causing him to drop his payload into the seas.
"Scrap!" Twilight and Cody swore. Within minutes, an explosion went off beneath them, making the ship rock gently. The sinking caused from the disruption of methane that soon followed, however, was not so gently.
"Morocco, Cody! Can you swim?"
"Yeah!"
"Can you?"
"I sink..." Blades said. "But I don't need to breath, so..."
The ship submerged into the water, taking the Morbot with it. Twilight, Morroco and Cody floated there on the surface while Blades took to the air.
"Dani, what do we do?" Blades shrieked through the dashboard.
"We..." Dani stuttered, her complexion going from pale to near-purple. "We..." She lost conciousness, her arms falling limply against the chair.
"Dani? Dani? DANI!" regaining his compusore for those in need, Blades lowered his winch so Cody could grab on to it. Cody reached his hand out and grabbed, and Blades pulled it up before Twilight or Morocco could latch on behind him.
"...Cody?" Twilight questioned.
Cody grit his teeth. "...Twilight, I have a confession; I was only pretending to work with you so I could help my family."
"Aha! I knew it!" Morocco snapped. "Well, obivously, I didn't know it...but I highly suspected as much!"
Twilight nodded. "Okay."
"Okay?" Cody repeated. "So...you're not mad?"
"How could I be mad?" Twilight questioned, smiling. "You were trying to help your family."
Cody smiled back at her. "Thank you for understanding." Cody tugged on the winch's rope, signalling for Blades to take off.
The lights of the Darby Eva, the Burns family's ship, came casted shadows over the mismatched duo. The shadows of the Autobots and Rescue Bots could be seen on it.
"I feel I should inform you, Twilight Sparkle, that I lost the Morbot's remote control when the ship sunk." Morroco said bitterly.
"Not to worry, Morocco...we can still turn this around." Twilight assured him, ducking her head under the water. As her tail floated there on the open water, Morroco could only wonder what it was she was doing. He might've said he heard a laser fire and a winch detach.
The Darby Eva got closer.
"Doctor Morocco and Twilight Sparkle!" A powerful, aged voice boomed at them from the ship. "Surrender now and come aboard."
Doctor Morocco looked at Twilight's bobbing tail, came to the conclusion whatever she was doing wasn't working, and threw his hands into the air. Twilight popped her head back up just afterwards and started laughing manically.
"Hahahahah...Hahahah...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-HAAAAA A!"
"What are you laughing about?" Morocco sneered. He suddenly felt something rising up underneath him- the Morbot! It was using it's foot rockets to propel itself out of the water, and its blaster arm had caught him! It grabbed Twilight Sparkle in its claw and started flying higher upwards.
"I say, yours and my weight, Twilight Sparkle, shouldn't be making the Morbot's acceleration this slow..." Morroco noted the delayed rate at which the Morbot was rising. However, it became clear what was holding the Morbot down...was the giant cluster of Dark Energon hanging from it, its winch wrapped around it over and over and over and over and over and-...A humongous cluster the shape of the one Megatron had flung into Cybertron's surface, with the size to match.
"Autobots," The powerful voice from earlier commanded. "Open fire!"
"Sorry, Optimus Prime!" Twilight mockingly apologized at the direction of the Eva, blowing a mocking kiss at thier direction. "I win this round!" Energy began to swirl and coalsce on Twilight's horn, and she and everything attached to her-The Morbot, the Dark Energon, and Moroco via Morbot- disappeared in a blaze of violet light.
On the Darby Eva, Team Prime and the Rescue Bots looked onward at where the Morbot had been, then turned thier attention to Blades as he descended on the ship. The Copter-Bot transformed to his robot mode, Dani in his arms.
"Dani's hurt! What do we do?" Blades flailed.
Arcee gave Dani a scrutizing look, then gasped she recognized her problem. "Optimus! Dani's been infected with Dark Energon?"
"Ener-what?" Kade asked blankly.
"Never mind that!" Chief Burns swept at the air with his hand. "Arcee, how do we stop it?"
"We're gonn have to expose her to normal Energon." Arcee told him.
Optimus put his finger to his head to activate the comm in it. "Rafael, lock on to my coordinates, and prepare the GroundBridge."
"You got it, Optimus." The signuatre green portal appeared on the ship. Bulkhead and Bumblebee went on through it.
"Can I come with you? She's my partner!" Blades exclaimed.
Optimus slowly nodded. "Of course, Blades. Chief Charles Burns, I want you to know that we will heal your daughter's ailment at any cost."
Chief Burns tilted his head. "Thank you, Optimus...that's good to hear."
Optimus, Blades, and Arcee went through the Bridge, and it dissipated behind them.
"Uh, guys?" Boulder said, rasing a hand. "How much you do think they saw?"
"Think who saw, Boulder?" Cody questioned. Boulder pointed to the east. Everyone turned their heads to see a gray boat...
With Doc Greene, Frankie, and Professor Baranova standing on its edge, all staring with wide-eyed expressions.
"Thanks for lettin' us bunker down with y'all." Applejack thanked Fluttershy as she and the others made thier way from pod to pod.
"Oh, it's no trouble!" Fluttershy assured her. "You are my friends, after all." She looked away. "I just wish Ratchet..."
"Wut?"
"Oh...Nothing." Fluttershy assured. Some spot away, neatly bound with rope and gagged with her own confetti, Pinkie Pie grumbled something muffled.
Fluttershy delicately floated to another pod, worked her magic on it, then turned to her friends with an extremely proud expression. "Done! Now all the pods we need are reset, and a few extre just in case. Now the hatchlings can go back into hibernating and mature into beautiful Insecticons like Bob!"
Dash eyed Bob, noting his pointed features. "Yeaah...Bob's...beautiful is the word that comes to mind about Bob."
Two of the hatchlings fluttered to Fluttershy.
"Oh, hello!" Fluttershy greeted them. "Are you two still looking for a pod of your own? There's some right over there..."
They started squealing and chittering.
Fluttershy put her hooves to mouth in surprise. "Oh my goodness, really?"
"Fluttershy?" Rarity questioned. "Do be so kind as to translate for us poor folk who don't speak Insecticon."
"They say the Queen is so grateful for everything I've done she wants to adopt me!" Fluttershy told them.
"Adopt ya?" Applejack questioned. "Doesn't adoption require y'all not have parents?"
Fluttershy ignored her. "I'd be honored." The two Insecticons flanked her on opposite sides, grabbed her with thier mandibles interlocking, and began carrying her towards the ceiling.
"Can you imagine?" Rainbow said, throwing her hooves into the air. "Fluttershy's going to be a Princess! She'll have tea with Celestia and be all casual with her without it being rude and a whole bunch of other, Princessey stuff!"
"Uh...say...exactly what part of the adoption' process is this?" Applejack inquried, pointing upwards where the hatchlings were carrying her.
"I don't know!" Fluttershy shrugged, more happy and honoured about being an Insecticon Princess to really pay attention to what Applejack was pointing.
Applejack's face lowered in concern. It looked like the hatchlings were carrying to one of the pods. If she didn't know better, she'd say...
Cables like microphone jacks shot out of the open pod and ensnared Fluttershy, taking her from the hatchlings' grasp and retracting themselves until she on the pod's inner top. (which was the bottom, but since it was on the ceiling...)
Fluttershy's words were perhaps the most appropriate.
"Uh-oh."
With a chee-chee-choo-chee-chink, the pod closed in on her.
"Fluttershy!" Everypony exclaimed.
"Get me out of here!" Fluttershy shouted through the pod.
"Wait," Rainbow Dash objected. "I thought you wanted to be an Insecticon Princess?"
"I didn't know that meant turning me into an actual Insecticon!"
"Well, what do ya want us ta' do, Fluttershy? You're the one the Queen entrusted with all that super-secret Insection know-how!"
"Find Ratchet! He'll figure something out!"
Dash bared her teeth. "Yeah! He'll figure something out! Like getting an nice, little ax annnnd..."
"Rainbow!" Applejack snapped. "We both know that wasn't Ratchet's fault. Now go find 'im!"
Rainbow crossed her legs and huffed, but relented, blazing up through the holes in the ceiling.
"Don't worry, Fluttershy!" Applejack attempted to comfort her. "We're gonna getcha' outta there!"
"Please hurry..." Fluttershy whimpered.
Up in the upper levels of the mine, Dash flew in and found nothing there (discounting Airachnid's corpse, which had started to crack) so she flew up out of the mine and took the skies over the forest. She flew back and forth, loop-de-looped and whirlwinded until she caught sight of a slowly-moving white and orange ambulance.
"There you are!" Dash muttered to herself. She braced herself, then came crashing down onto his hood.
"DAAAAAH!" Ratchet exclaimed, spinning out from his surprise. After he regained enough compsure to hit his brakes, his hood anteanne started pulsing, like it was taking deep breaths. Ratchet transformed to his robot mode and glared at Rainbow Dash. "By the AllSpark, Rainbow Dash, DON"T DO THAT! I could've crashed into something, and then where would you be?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, not important." Dash dismissed him. "Fluttershy needs your help!"
"MY help?" Ratchet questioned, putting his hands to his chest. "What could she possbily need me for?"
"She's being turned into a Insecticon!"
Ratchet raised a browplate. "Is that even possbile?"
"Apparently! Now get a move on, doc bot!"
"Exscuse me?" Ratchet asked, turning away. "What do you mean to do, exactly? She knows more about Insecticon biology then I do!"
Rainbow Dash flew around him until she was in front of hims. "She needs her friends, Ratchet."
"I thought you were her friend?"
"Yeah...I thought you were, too."
Ratchet's mouth hung open. "Rainbow Dash, I..."
Applejack and Rarity rose and lowered thier hooves, alteringly placing them on the ground in anxiety. Pinkie, still bound, couldn't do anything, but her eyes said enough.
"Oh, R.D...hurry up." Applejack muttered.
Ratchet came crashing through the roof, clearly tensed and ready for action. Rainbow flew in behind him. "Rarity, brief me!"
"The Queen's adopting Fluttershy and trying to turn her into an Insection! She's in that pod there!"
Ratchet looked at where Rarity was pointing, and began running to the pod in question.
"Fluttershy, hang in there! I'm going to get you out!"
Silence.
Ratchet bent his legs, then with a mighty bound, wrapped his limbs around the pod. He started pounding it with his fist repetiviely. When it became clear that wasn't going to work, he raised his right arm, transformed into his blowtorch, and applied the sparking bit to the pod's shell, eventualy burning a hole into it. He thrusted his fist with all his effort through it and into the pod and started reaching around for Flutteshy. He found her, then proceeded to yank her out of the pod, the stasis equipment leaking Energon as Ratchet's arm brutally tore it out of it.
"...Ohhh my." Ratchet said.
"What? What?" Everypony exclaimed.
"Is she okay?" Rainbow Dash meekly questioned.
"She's fine...I think." Ratchet dropped off the pod and held his hand out, letting them see Fluttershy in it. She seemed...different. Her tail had a streak of neon blur running through, her fur, now Insection hide, was a green color that changed to bronze as it went down her legs, orante, golden carvinsg running down her sides to her ribs. Her wings were now much larger, and the holographic wings of an Insection, rather then her own pegasi ones, her hooves had clamps around them, and her eyes were now diamond-shaped and orange, though they still had that round and adorable quality to them. Mercifully, her Cutie Mark was still visible.
She tried to hide behind her mane. "...Hello."
Rainbow Dash flew over and tried to comfort her. "Fluttershy, I want to you to know even you're some sort of...Insection-pony...thing, we'll always love you." Dash gave Fluttershy a hoofbump, intending to assure her, but instead, it startled her. Parts began folding out from under her and over her, her body began shifting, and when it was all over, there was pony sized metal ladybug standing in Ratchet's hand.
Ratchet's jaw dropped. "Amazing..."
Applejack pouted. "Amazin'?"
Ratchet scoffed and looked offended. "Do you not realize-no, wait, of course you don't, you're not from Cybertron-...we are in the presence of Cybertronian myth given form! A technoorganic being with the capability of transformation!" There was an undeniable SQUEE in his voice. "The possiblites! Quick, let's go back to base and we can start studying-"
Ratchet noticed Pinkie, Dash, Rarity and Applejack give him disapproving looks.
"Oh..." Ratchet said, squee now gone. "Right." ...Back to base with Miko...with Twilight's killer. "I'll just, uh, I'll just leave Fluttershy with you and be on my way, hmm?"
Optimus voice suddenly spoke through Ratchet's comm.
"Ratchet, locate the ponies! Twilight Sparkle is alive!"
Everypony's jaw dropped.
Ratchet put his finger to his head to respond. "Uh...located them!"
At the new MECH base, Silas and Starscream observed Nemesis Prime, still broken and unrepairable.
"Twilight Sparkle, you said once we had the Dark Energon, Nemesis Prime would be repaired."
"He will be, he will be, hold your ponies, Bishop..." Twilight assuaged him. "Bring it in, boys!"
Adam and Novo began wheeling in a huge trolley into the room. The cart had the huge Dark Energon cluster Twilight had liberated on it.
"So, Adam..." Novo whispered in an extremely hushed tone. "I noticed you weren't with us on Griffin Rock today..."
"That's because..." Adam stopped pulling for a moment and pulled out a pair of blueprints. "I was working on the eponymous Project: Discord."
Novo took the blueprints and examined. "Ooooh! I like." He gave them back, and the both of them started pulling the trolley again.
"That's good enough." Twilight told them. She gripped a part of the cluster with her magic and starting jerking at it, prying it free from the rock. She levitated over from the rock and above Nemesis Prime.
"Uh, Twilight?" Starscream asked with concern. "You're not doing what I think you're doing, are you?"
Twilight plunged the Dark Energon into Nemesis Prime's chest.
"You...are."
The Dark Energon crystal sunk into the doppelganger, and it was in no time at all the Nemesis Prime's optics, now purple, whirred to life. It-he stood up off his tray and began to gives his unused joints a work-out. "I-I-I-am-am-am-am-Neme-Neme-Neme- I AM NEMESIS PRIME, THE ULTIMATE IN HUMAN FIGHTING TECHNOLOGY."
"This is a bad idea..." Starscream quietly whispered to himself.
"Now, Bishop..." Twilight said to Silas. "With Nemesis Prime, repaired, we can begin prepations to-"
"Locate and attack Twilight Sparkle." Megatron rasped.
"Why?" Dreadwing questioned.
"Because, Dreadwing..."
"Because, Starscream...
"The Dark Energon..."
"Can only have..."
"ONE master!"
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This really is one of the best chapters you've written. It shows the Rescue Bots at their best and gives them the validation from the main cast that they always kinda needed. Very touching. And we get Biomechanical Fluttershy and Crazy Twilight, the two best original ideas from this series.