BACK TO LIFE

by CROSSOVER KING

It keeps you and me intertwined

When the sun was close to reaching its peak position in the blue cloudless sky, a veteran Autobot scout named Bumblebee was waiting in front of a popular bakery called, "Sugarcube Corner", for his human companions Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle to exit.

Since he was given a direct order to watch over these girls during the next few days, he had spent the previous night inside Fluttershy's garage while she and Twilight had a sleepover, and in the morning, he had suggested taking the girls on a city-wide tour. That way, he could both keep an eye on them and stretch his tires for a bit. The girls, in turn, had readily accepted this proposal, since it was a great opportunity for them to get to know their Autobot guardian better and for him to learn more about their culture.

Shortly after the trio had set out to begin their tour, however, the girls wanted to make a quick stop at the Sugarcube Corner to pick up coffee and pastries so that they could "begin their day", so to speak. Bumblebee had granted their wish and, therefore, was currently waiting for them to complete their purchase while remaining in his car mode just outside the said bakery.

Unfortunately, the girls were standing in a long line inside the building and the line itself was moving very slowly. After observing that his companions were only taking a couple steps per minute, the Autobot scout realized that he would have to maintain his position for a good long while. Therefore, in order to pass the time, he decided to partake in one of his favorite hobbies:

Listening to popular human music on his radio.

Specifically, he started listening to the songs made by the Rainbooms; the very same band that Twilight and Fluttershy were in. He had become a big admirer of their music since arriving on Earth and acquiring his alternate mode, and his favorite song happened to be a certain solo number from Fluttershy.

Coincidentally, that same song was playing in one of the channels at that moment and listening to it filled him with so much joy that he started dancing to it by swinging left and right. This caused the nearby pedestrians to give him brief confused looks and a certain cross-eyed teenage girl with yellow hair even stared at him in disgust for a few seconds before quickly walking away.

However, once Bumblebee noticed that his companions were finally exiting the bakery, he immediately stopped dancing, turned off the radio, and continued to wait for them in silence. Shortly afterwards, the girls did exit the building and made their way towards Bumblebee before getting inside his car mode (with Fluttershy sitting at the driver seat and Twilight sitting right next to her).

As they started taking sips from their cups, Twilight asked, "So, Bee, which part of the city would you like to visit next?"

Bumblebee responded by making a series of buzzing noises and Fluttershy translated them to Twilight, "He doesn't really have a preference. Since we've been living here a lot longer than he has, he thinks it only makes sense that... Wait a minute. How do you know I have an amazing singing voice?"

In response, the Autobot scout began searching through various radio channels until he found one that was playing the same song he was listening to earlier and once Fluttershy heard it, a cringed expression appeared on her face and she also covered her face with both hands before letting out a small groan.

On the other hand, Twilight had a big smile on her face and shortly after Fluttershy's groan, she happily exclaimed, "WOW! They're already playing your song on the radio? It's been less than a week since you sent that recording to the studio."

Upon hearing that, Fluttershy removed her hands from her face, and replied with a worried tone, "You know, I actually kinda regret letting Vinyl talk me into doing that. I mean, this isn't even my best singing, anyway."

Immediately afterwards, Bumblebee made another series of buzzing sounds, causing Fluttershy's eyes to widen and her jaw to drop. Then, she asked, "Really? This is you favorite song of all time?"

The Autobot scout responded by making buzzing noises that sounded a lot happier than the previous ones, which made Fluttershy happy in return and even caused her to gently stroke the dashboard before saying, "Awww... Thanks for that compliment, Bee! I promise, the next time I sing a solo number with 'the sweetest voice you've ever heard', you'll be the first to hear it."

Bumblebee's response was even more happy-sounding buzzing noises and after Twlight watched all of this with a big smile on her face, she heard a text message arrive to her phone. Upon opening it, she let out a gasp and announced, "It's from Sour Sweet. She's practicing archery at Crystal Prep and wants to meet up there."

"Isn't that the Crystal Prep girl who was really mean to you during the Friendship Games?" asked Fluttershy.

"Well, yeah, but ever since the music video we did with her and the other Crystal Prep girls, she's been a lot nicer," Twilight revealed. "In fact, I asked her to look after Spike during the weekend, since my brother was busy planning his wedding with Cadance and our parents are on a cruise ship at the moment. Anyway, I told her last night that we had to cut our trip short because of a flat tire making us late to the concert, and she said I could pick Spike up whenever and wherever she would be available today. Guess that means we have to make a quick stop at Crystal Prep."

Then, she turned towards the dashboard and asked, "What do you say, Bee? Wanna take a look at my old school, and meet both my dog and a new friend of mine?"

In response, Bumblebee made buzzing noises that sounded like an approval and started his engine before driving towards their next destination.

---

Upon arriving at Crystal Prep, the Autobot scout parked himself in a completely empty parking lot that was situated right beside an equally empty track and field stadium. Then, Twilight and Fluttershy got out of the vehicle, and began walking towards the entrance of the stadium and once they went through it, they saw a girl standing in the rectangular grass field located at the very center of the stadium, holding a bow with both hands, carrying a quiver with at least a dozen arrows on her back, and repeatedly shooting arrows at three spinning targets directly in front of her.

She had pale, light grayish gold skin, moderate indigo eyes with grayish aquamarine eyeshadow, and moderate rose hair with lighter moderate rose and grayish aquamarine streaks. Moreover, she was wearing a reddish-purple vest over a light blue t-shirt, a dark-blue bow tie, black shoes, a reddish-purple tartan skirt, and indigo knee socks.

After repeatedly hitting each of the targets right in their centers five times and emptying her quiver, she took a moment to wipe some sweat from her brow and drank an entire bottle of water next to her. Just as she was about walk towards the targets and retrieve her arrows, she noticed Twilight and Fluttershy coming closer to her.

Therefore, she happily waved at them and exclaimed, "Hey, girls! Over here! Wanna practice with me before you go? I've brought a spare bow with me."

"No, thanks, Sour Sweet," Twilight replied. "If you don't mind, we're just gonna pick up Spike and be on our way. Also, thank you so much for looking after him yesterday. I hope it wasn't too much trouble."

"Oh, no trouble at all," revealed Sour Sweet. "I mean, sure, him talking was disturbing at first, but we got along quite well."

"Yep, we sure did," a voice coming from the ground told them and once the girls looked down, they saw a purple dog with green eyes, green hair, and green underbelly staring at them and wiggling his tail. Upon taking one look at him, Twilight excitedly grabbed him with both hands and gave him a big hug while he started licking her face.

"Spike! It's so great to see you again!" she exclaimed. "Did you have a good time with Sour Sweet?"

"Oh, you bet I did," replied Spike. "I can't wait to tell you guys all the fun stuff we did yesterday."

"Well, we have so much to tell you too, actually," Twilight explained. "So, let's go home quickly and exchange some stories."

Spike responded with a nod of approval and Twilight started carrying him outside the stadium, with Fluttershy and Sour Sweet following them from behind. Once they walked through the entrance and started heading towards the Camaro only a few feet away from them, a confused expression appeared on Spike's face and he asked, "Um, since when do you or Fluttershy have a car as fancy as this? Or does it belong to a new friend you made in Baltimore?"

Upon hearing that, Sour Sweet let out a loud gasp and exclaimed, "Oh, my gosh, Twilight! Did you meet a celebrity there? Who was it? A movie star? A pop singer?"

Twilight and Fluttershy both stammered a bit, but before they could give a proper explanation, Bumblebee started its engine, tranformed into his robot mode, and pointed one of his fingers directly towards Spike while making buzzing noises that sounded both excited and concerned at the same time. Sour Sweet and Spike began screaming in pure terror at this sight, with being Sour Sweet frozen still and Spike jumping off of Twilight's arms before hiding behind Sour Sweet's legs. Meanwhile, the remaining girls held out theirs hands in front of Bumblebee in a desperate effort to calm him down.

"WHOA! Bee, please calm down!", Twilight frantically shouted. "Fluttershy, what's wrong with him? What is he saying?"

"He's asking how could a dog be able to talk when none of the animals on this planet are intelligent enough to do so," Fluttershy replied. "He also wants to know if what made Spike talk in the first place could help him talk normally too."

Upon hearing all that, a shocked expression briefly appeared on Twilight's face before she started thinking about what she should say to her Autobot friend. After several seconds of deep contemplation, she took a deep breath and asked, "Bee, what exactly do you mean by 'talking normally?' Did you lose your original voice some time ago?"

The second she said that, Bumblebee's optics widened exponentially and he stared at Twilight in complete silence for a few seconds. Then, he looked away from her and his facial expression visibly saddened while he started scratching his head.

Seeing him like this made Twilight walk closer to him, touch his right leg, and softly say, "Hey, it's okay. We're your friends. You can tell us anything."

The Autobot scout stared at her for a few more seconds before he took a deep breath, kneeled before her, and started making a long series of buzzing noises while Fluttershy translated each sentence.

"It happened during the final chapters of the war on Cybertron," she began. "He was on a scouting mission in a ruined settlement called, 'Tyger Pax'. While sneaking into a secret Decepticon outpost there, he was spotted and captured by soldiers, who brought before their leader, Megatron. He interrogated Bee for information and when Bee refused to do so, Megatron became furious and..."

Suddenly, she let out a horrified gasp, covered her mouth with both hands, and even started shedding tears. A concerned Twilight then placed a hand on her friend's shoulder and asked, "Fluttershy, what is it? What happened next?"

Fluttershy turned her tear-soaked face directly towards her, removed her hands from her mouth, and revealed, "He... He ripped out Bee's voice box... and left him for dead. Sometime later, the Autobot leader Optimus Prime led a raid on the outpost, rescued Bee, and brought him to Ratchet for treatment. Although Ratchet healed his wounds, he couldn't do anything about his voice. It's... been like this ever since that day."

Upon being finished translating this tragic tale, Fluttershy continued to sob and Twilight gave her a hug in order to calm her down while also shedding a few tears herself.

She then looked directly at Bumblebee's equally saddened face and managed to explain, "I... I'm so sorry to hear that, Bee. I can't possibly imagine how painful this experience must've been for you. If there was anyhting I could do to help you regain your voice... Believe me, I would start working on it in a hearbeat. Sadly, I know next to nothing about Cybertronian biology and learning everything there is to know about it could easily take several years. Also, Spike gained the ability to speak through an accident involving Equestrian magic and even if we successfully recreate that accident, we have no idea how magic will affect your body. It could very well tear you apart. I'm sorry. I truly am."

Bumblebee listened to all this very carefully and when Twilight finally finished talking, he hung his head in defeat and nodded a few times, indicating that although he was sad that Twilight was unable to help him, he did understand the reasons for it.

Twilight tried to think of something comforting to say to him and eventually came up with, "Hey, come on. I know this really sucks, but it's not the worst thing in the universe. I mean, the other Autobots can understand you clearly, right?"

Hearing this question caused the Autobot scout to contemplate on Twilight's words before gently touching his throat and making another series of buzzing noises full of sorrow. When he was finished, Fluttershy slowly let go of Twilight and tearfully translated, "All the other Autobots do understand him, but Bee still misses the sound of his own voice. When he first tried to speak without his voice box, he felt like a piece of his identity had been stolen from him."

That revelation made Twilight first widen her eyes and open her mouth in pure shock and then hang her head in remorse while managing to say, "Oh... I see... "

Shortly afterwards, she felt something touching her right shoulder and when she looked to see who or what it was, she came across Sour Sweet, who also had a sorrowful expression on her face. She handed Fluttershy a pair of napkins and as her friend blew her nose on them, she stated, "But, Twi, you are the smartest person I've ever met. Can't you just figure out something that can help this poor thing speak with actual words? Heck, there's an even entire song about you inventing stuff like that."

The second Bumblebee heard that remark, he remembered the song Sour Sweet was talking about. Then, he started searching through the radio channels to find it and when he finally did, he played the part with the lyrics:

"Here I go, not looking back
Working hard and right on track
It's meant to be, all will see
It fits together perfectly"

However, it only caused Twilight to facepalm and exclaim with great annoyance in her voice, "Okay, stop! Both of you, please stop! First of all, I may have an IQ score higher than everyone in both Crystal Prep and CHS, but I am not smart enough to invent stuff like alien voice boxes or sentient robot dogs overnight. Secondly, you cannot justify this claim by playing a generic pop song that I- "

Just then, she was silenced by a sudden realization dawned on her mind and she remained completely siilent for at least a couple of seconds while a huge smile formed on her face. It was only after Sour Sweet asked, "Um, you okay, Twilight?", that she regained her senses.

Then, she declared, "Yeah... Yeah, I'm fine. I just had an idea that's a bit crazy, but there is a possibility that it could work. Bee, let's say I'm about to study for a really hard exam. What would you say to motivate me to study harder?"

Though he was rather surprised by that question, Bumblebee thought about its answer for a few moments before an idea popped up in his mind, and he once again began to search through various radio channels until he found and started playing a particular song Twilight had sung while she and her friends were studying for their finals last year.

"Yes, that's it!", Twilight joyfully exclaimed. "Now, try to tell us your name and where you came from by using the words you hear on the radio."

Bumblebee initially looked at her with some unsurety, but he eventually nodded in approval and began to do what she had asked. Using the words uttered by various people on the radio, he formed the sentence, "My name is Bumblebee. I come from a distant and desolate world IN SPAAAACE!"

Hearing this made all three of the girls gasp in pure excitement and Twilight exclaimed, "Yes, yes, YES! You did it, Bee! You just formed a full sentence by speaking through the radio!"

Just then, Bumblebee's optics widened with realization and he touched his throat once again before stood back up, jumped up in the air while raising both of his fists and shouting, "I can talk! I can talk! I CAN SIIIIIING!"

Although the ground shook a little from his jumping and made it difficult for the girls to maintain their balance, they still continued to smile at this miracle and he eventually stopped jumping. Unfortunately, he then grabbed Twilight and Fluttershy with his hands, and began hugging them while he repeatedly said, "Thank you!", six times. It was only after he heard their painful winces and the sound of a few bones breaking that he finally realized he was close to crushing them, and frantlcally placed them back on the ground. He even tried to tidy up their hair in an effort to make it up to them.

After the girls corrected their backs, Fluttershy stated, "Well, Bee, it's wonderful to see you learn to talk in a way that everyone understands. Do you think it's a good substitute until you get your original voice back?"

Bumblebee replied, "Well... Yes, I think it is. I still miss the real deal. But this suits me just fine for now."

Then, Twilight added, "Well, I really am glad we were able to help you."

In response, the Autobot scout gave her a thumbs up, transformed into his vehicle mode, and opened all four of his doors before he started playing a song with the lyrics,

"Looking forward to some fun
Knowing all our friends will come
'Cause we're here to spend the day
Everybody come and play"

Upon seeing this, all three of the girls and Spike looked at each other before they all nodded in approval at the same time and quickly got on the car (with Twilight and Fluttershy sitting at their original seats, and Sour Sweet and Spike sitting at the back). Once they were all inside, Bumblebee closed its doors and started driving away from Crystal Prep, intent on taking his new friends to wherever they preferred and spending the rest of the day doing fun activities with them.

Comments

[BlackBlackwatch]

Finally a new chapter. It was cool. I love it. Looking forward for the next.

[CROSSOVER KING]

10712791
Glad to hear that. The next chapter is coming soon.