The girls' eyes gazed in both amazement and wonderment at the shining blue-green light of the so-called "bridge". Sure, they have seen portals before but this one was way different, even bigger. As the yellow and red car kept their speed, a distant aperture appeared in front of them. When they passed through it, the vehicles hit their brakes and the portal closed right behind. Shortly after the ride, the teens began to hold their heads and all of them groaned out of instant pain.
"Ughh-- where did this horrible headache came from?" Rarity complained while rubbing her forehead.
"This is even worse than that carnival ride we went on last year..." reminded Rainbow, trying her best to get rid of the dizziness.
"It was fun though--! Ouchie." Pinkie involved optimistically but then she instantaneously laid her head on her palms again.
"For you, maybe." Rainbow murmured.
Applejack closed her mouth with her hand to prevent herself from almost throwing up inside the car, "Hold it right there, cowgirl! Don't you even think about messing up my interior!" Sideswipe abruptly warned.
"Wasn't plannin' on it, bud." she answered through her exhale.
"Sorry about that girls, the Groundbridge can be a bit discomforting to humans." Bee informed.
"I think it will pass in a moment." reassured Sunset, her eyelids flickered and she observed their surroundings, "Where are we anyway?" she asked, then both cars opened their doors. The girls were unsure if it was safe enough for them to get out just yet, they had no clue if it was a trap either.
It didn't take long enough for Bumblebee to notice their apprehension, "Hey, it's okay. I assure you that you are completely safe now. You can come out." he guaranteed calmly. They rethought about it to some extent but eventually, they decided to trust him.
When the group hopped outside, they were stunned. It seemed as if they were in some sort of military base, it also had a mountainous appearance. Parts of the rocky walls were covered with concrete along with the whole floor, several tunnels could be seen around the large area, it was also equipped with unfamiliar technology. Not only the screens were enormous compared to their heights but they were placed up so high that it couldn't be possible for a human to reach.
"Wowie, this place is so huge! Perfect spot for a party if you ask me!" Pinkie implied.
"Hm, in my opinion, it needs a little rearranging and freshening up here and there but oh well, I suppose it looks rather nice." Rarity advised.
"Where have I heard this before..." Sideswipe muttered to Bee.
While they were walking around the big empty area, the silence got unexpectedly interrupted, "Ah, lieutenant! I see you have brought us guests!" a mysterious delighted voice was heard from behind.
When they turned to see who it was, they saw three giants and one small robot standing at the other side of the base.
The largest one was green and black all over, he had pointy claws and his face was light orange color along with his blue optics. The 'Bot standing near him was slightly shorter, he was mostly white and had parts of an orange paint job on his body. Right next to him was even a smaller robot with a female form. She had small wings and a tire in her back, a built-in skirt and her midriff was a dark grey color. She also had blue armor and a red sliver on her head crest. Lastly, the tiniest of them all, which appeared to have similar height even as a normal human, was a fully orange-colored robot with big circular hands, three fingers on each and little wheels instead of legs.
Everyone stared at each other in awkward silence.
"Well, isn't this surprising." the female one broke the tense situation and put her hands on her hips.
The white-orange giant stepped towards the small squad, he seemed furious, "By the Allspark you two, how could you be so reckless?!" he snapped at the cars, "Violating one of our most important rules since we set our pedes on this planet, by not only interacting but even BRINGING humans into our very own base! What were you even thinking?!"
Subsequently, both automobiles transformed into their robot modes only for a split second.
Bumblebee was mostly yellow with several rims of black and had car doors on his back that appeared like wings. Sideswipe had a black helm, a completely red colored armor, two tires instead of shoulder-pads and one tire on each leg.
Once they stood up, Sideswipe went to the grumpy 'Bot and tried to reason with him right away, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, calm down, will ya? First off, Optimus' orders, and second, it's not like we had much of a choice back there either, they already saw everything because of those scrapheads!"
"For once, Sideswipe is right Ratchet." Bumblebee continued.
"Of course I-- Hey!" Sideswipe's proud expression quickly changed into an offended one as he slightly nudged Bee.
"We had huge luck getting there on the spot before it was too late, otherwise we would have much more serious issues than this." Bumblebee reassured Ratchet who only huffed in annoyance, then he turned his attention to the small-sized group and crouched down to their height level, "No one is injured, right?" he asked concernedly Fluttershy who was the nearest one standing in front of him.
She checked on her friends to make sure if they were indeed unharmed, all of them nodded back at her as a sign that they were completely safe and sound, "Oh- I think we are okay. Thank you, for saving us, um-- Bumblebee, am I correct?" she asked him shyly unsure if she properly remembered his name.
The yellow soldier gave her a gentle smile, "That's right, but you can call me Bee, for short, and there is no need to thank me uh-- miss...?"
"Fluttershy. My name is Fluttershy." she beamed with pleasure, then she began to indicate the others by listing their names, "These are my dearest friends, Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Spike." all of them politely waved and the dog let out a happy bark.
"And they say we have weird designations." Sideswipe snickered.
The blue one quickly elbowed him in the tanks, "Be nice." she told him sternly and the red mech glared at her. Afterwards, she went to the group, kneeled next to Bumblebee and greeted them with a smile, "Glad to have some more female company around here, the name is Arcee. These are Sideswipe, Grimlock and Fixit." she gestured towards the rest who waved back and Sideswipe gave a two-digit salute, "Sorry for the unexpected outburst back there, that's Ratchet, our medic." she slightly bent down and whispered, "He can be quite snarky sometimes."
"I heard that!" he shouted from behind.
"See? If I was with ya, none of this woulda happen'!" the green one exclaimed, "Givin' them some of my good ol' punches on their face-plates woulda teach them a lesson." he grinned and bumped his fists intimidatingly.
"Ahem, Grimlock?" the mini-con coughed to bring his attention, "I don't want to lower your self-esteem but your height and appearance would be exposed for less than a nano-klik."
"He's right Grim, maybe next time." Bee suggested while patting the sad-looking giant on the back, "Anything from the others?" he asked the femme.
"They are still patrolling through the whole area but for now there are no Decepticons in sight." she responded briefly.
Applejack finally ran out of patience and decided to interrupt their conversation, "Alright y'all, I dunno what's happenin' right now but we need some explainin' here."
"Yeah, where the heck did you guys come from, why were we attacked by those freaks and what exactly is this place?!" questioned Rainbow while raising her hands in the air, somewhat annoyed by the fact that they still had no information whatsoever since their arrival.
"One by one human, one by one." Ratchet ex-vented and began, "We are autonomous robotic organisms, coming from a distant planet called Cybertron. But you can call us Autobots."
"Basically, the good guys." included Sideswipe.
"This is our hidden base 'Autobot Outpost Omega One.'" Arcee explained, "It used to be a Cold War missile silo before it was converted and restored."
"Thankfully, we were able to upgrade it with all of the Cybetronian advances we could get, that human tech was getting on my last nerves..." Ratchet grumbled at the last sentence, "It's shielded against radio signals and there are several defense systems around so you might better watch where you are going." he pointed out.
"Since our arrival, we try to maintain our existence from any human life forms as much as we can. For their safety and not to cause any panic of course!" Fixit continued.
"You sure are doing a pretty good job." Rainbow sarcastically replied with crossed arms.
"Rainbow Dash!" Rarity hushed her right after.
Twilight put Spike down on the ground and went near the robots, "Although it sounds really fascinating, why are you here and how come you are not threatening us like those robots that we encountered first? Not that I am complaining!" she waved her hands nervously.
Before anybot could respond to her question, a noise was heard from the computer systems and an image of the blue-helmed robot that the teenagers met on the battlefield appeared on one of the giant monitors.
::Optimus Prime to base, we are ready to return.:: he reported from the screen.
Fixit hurriedly went on the small ramp which was attached to the high platform with his tiny wheels and clicked a random button on the giant console, "Coming right up, sir!" he answered without delay as he pushed a few more controls and pulled up a small nearby lever.
"Keep that thought." said Bumblebee to Twilight and went to the activating Groundbridge along with the others. While they waited, two silhouettes appeared out of the light. The group of humans immediately recognized the other robots from before.
"Welcome back." greeted Ratchet.
══════════════════
Somewhere, very far away, a portal appeared within entire emptiness and darkness, rocky walls could be only spotted all over the place due to its glow.
When the sports cars came out of the portal and sharply put their brakes on, it finally closed and disappeared. They transformed into their thin robot forms and went further into the darkness, their shining red visors lightening up the path. With each passed step, a sudden light began to emerge from the inner side.
In a very short amount of time, they entered an enormous secret facility. It contained all kinds of equipment and other unknown tools, there were several large empty glass cylinders, gigantic mine carts filled with blue crystals, and a huge monitor which appeared to be the main control system. While they slowly and nervously walked along the dimly lit laboratory, they also passed through a gigantic circular structure made entirely of metal.
When they finally came to a halt, they heard a voice, "You have returned empty-handed." the 'Cons flinched out of surprise and turned around, only to be greeted by a big shadowy figure, much taller, and wider than them.
"Commander Shockwave, sir! We had an encounter with the--!" one of the robots saluted and tried to explain but as soon as the dark figure approached the light, they became completely silent.
The large mech was entirely purple colored, he had one right hand and an ammunition belt attached from his back to his left arm cannon, and a few long antennas on each side of his helm. The only thing he had as a face was a red optic sensor.
"I presume the mission was rather... unsuccessful." Shockwave surmised.
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[Author's note]
Dun dun duuuun! An old familiar face, or I would rather say "optic" has returned!
Before we continue though, I want to clarify some things here:
- as Arcee mentioned earlier they were able to restore their old base since the whole team was getting bigger and it was kind of hard for everyone to stay hidden in the scrapyard and while everything was going somewhat calm for the time being they managed to reconstruct it (I know, I'm being very nostalgic here)
- If you wonder why Fixit doesn't glitch like in the series, thanks to Ratchet, his little problem has been solved
- I've decided to keep the whole team's original designs from TFP and RID 2015, except for these three:
As time passed I realized their 2015's designs were kinda off so the best solution I thought would work if I somehow combined both Prime and RID together (and a bit of G1 for my boy Sideswipe)
Probably could've been drawn better than this but ehh this is all I got.
Also,
When Optimus returned to the base, Ratchet scolded him right after:
Ratchet: How many times do I have to tell you?! We are NOT a kindergarten! You can't adopt every human you see!
Optimus: I'm sorry old friend. ><'