My Little Pony & Robot Friends: Infiltration

Into the mercy seat I climb, my head is shaved, my head is wired, and like a moth that tries to enter the bright eye, I go shuffling out of life, just to hide in death awhile... -Johnny Cash, "The Mercy Seat"

INFILTRATION

Story 2

TERMINATION DAY

(With a Decepticon Symbol in place of the 'A' In "Day".)

Twilight watched with fascination at the plant before her on a dissecting tray, watching as it grew right before her eyes. "Wow...isn't science amazing?" Twilight oohed to herself, putting her knees on the table to enjoy the sight. The two human scientists next to her nodded. Unlike Lucy and Sumdac, they weren't so big on having a pony – an undead pony with magic that quite easily kill them at that – helping out with what was supposed to be their project. Before either one of them could express disapproval and upset Twilight, Lucy burst into the door.

"Hey, Sparkly!"

"Hello, Doctor Suzuki." Twilight greeted mechanically, too enamored with the plant to care much. "Have something for me?"

"No, not really..." Lucy answered as she waltzed into the room. "And please, call me Lucy."

"Uh-huh..." Twilight nodded, eyes still more on the plant. The plant was starting to grow a little beyond what the scientists had prepared for.

"Uh, Miss Twilight?" One botanist raised his hand. "The plant's not supposed to be growing that large..."

"It'll be...fine." Twilight attempted to assuage his worries, but the plant's vines began growing larger and thickening. It also began to make noises that Twilight was sure would turn from what they were into snarling if the plant was allowed to grow. Seeing the potential danger, Twilight relented. "Okay, okay, I can fix this." She beamed the plant with her magic, setting it aflame. The plant shrieked, its vines curling from dehydration as the flames burned through its veins. The fire alarm system went off, subjecting Twilight, Lucy, and the two botanist to an unwelcome shower. Twilight, not wearing clothes anyway, only found it mildly annoying that her damp hair drooped into her eyes. The botanists in the room grumbled about their lab coats being wet. Lucy airily laughed it off and draped her arm around Twilight's neck.

"How about we go find something else for you to do?"

"Sounds good!" Twilight eagerly agreed, making an observation that, if that little burnt pile where the plant used to be was the result of her working on a plant, she'd probably do better with something else.

They walked out of the botany lab to be welcomed by the sight of Shining Armor wandering around, being at the same time fascinated by the scientific innovation going around him and intimidated by the science-y science his puny knight in shining armor mentality didn't really understand.

"Shining Armor!" Twilight exclaimed, happy to see her brother here. She ran up to and they embraced in a hug. "What are you doing here? You were supposed to be backing up the others' against the Division!"

Shining chuckled awkwardly. "Heh-Heh...yeah...that didn't go so well, so I left. I heard you working at a facility, so I thought I might as well visit."

"Oh..." Twilight looked down. She had known him long enough to understand what he meant when he said certain things, and she knew he was talking about the Dark Energon. Somehow, it wasn't up to snuff. "Yeah..."

Twilight removed herself from him, then trotted away slowly. Shining grew concerned, as her legs were moving stiffly as though her body was numb. "Twiley, what's wrong?"

Twilight ignored him and continued on her way. Shining sighed and trotted the opposite direction from her. Lucy noticed the cloud of depression hanging on between the two siblings, and resolved to treat at least one of them, so she ran up to Twilight to take her turn at asking what was wrong.

"Hey, Twilight! What's wrong? Seems like Shining said something that upset you..."

"He did." Twilight admitted, coming to a stop for her new friend. "He resigned from a fight with some Decepticons who were causing some trouble, and I told Optimus I was scared to see them again."

Lucy put her hand to her chin. "Were you?"

"Yes...but not for the reason Optimus and the others think." Twilight answered, and Lucy could tell Twilight was feeling guilty about something. "It's because I did...something for the Decepticon in question and I couldn't think to bear what would happen if Optimus found out, and especially from that Decepticon, out of them all."

Lucy put a hand on Twilight's back and rubbed it comfortingly, hoping to sooth the horse and assure her she was among friends and could talk freely without judgment. "Would you like to talk about it?"

"No. Come on." Twilight tore away from Lucy and pointed a building that had a plastic sign in the shape of a Tesla coil mounted above the door. "I want to go see what's in there." Twilight, regaining her enthusiasm at all the wonders Sumdac Systems' advanced technology had to offer her, quickly dashed towards the door.

"Ah," Lucy sighed in relief and clapped her hands together, happy to see Twilight could shake off her depression so quickly. "The electricity building..." Lucy ran after her into the building.

Shining Armor watched them go, equally glad that Twilight could get so happy so quickly. He then felt the familiar feeling of somepony bumping into his chest. He and it were well-acquainted with each other, as he couldn't count on his tail hairs the number of times Twilight had ran straight into his chest because she wasn't looking in their childhoods.

"Oh, I am so sorry!" The human that ran into him said, throwing his arms and backing away. "I wasn't looking where I was going, and-"

"Hey." Shining Armor put a hoof on the human's shoulder. "It's okay. Used to happen to me all the time. Brought back some good memories..." Shining Armor rubbed his chin, reminiscing of better times with his sister. He then noticed the distinctive 'S' logo on the uniform of the human. "Hey, aren't you Issac Sumdac?"

"Hmm? Oh. Yes, I am."

"I heard about what you did for Twiley..." Shining told him. "It's good of you to give her a chance."

"Oh yes." Sumdac nodded, agreeing with Shining Armor's statement. "I read her military file, and I have no doubt whoever wrote was extremely biased about it."

"Wha-Twiley has a military file?" Shining questioned.

"Yes." Sumdac rolled his eyes. "You should have seen it. 'Insane Pony fanatical to the Canterlot cause only granted amnesty by virtue of serving the Autobots'." Sumdac scoffed. "Unbelievable."

Shining's interest was piqued, as he was fairly sure from Sumdac's sample of the file's writing that he knew was behind it and its obviously slanted view. General Madison. A human military commander Shining had yet to meet himself, but going from Twilight and her friends' reports, he was a real piece of work with a grudge against whoever looked at him funny. He dismissed the thought, as inspiration to investigate a human General was not what he came here for. "Excuse me, Mister Sumdac."

"Professor Sumdac."

"Professor." Shining nodded his head. "But you know about Twiley being infected with Dark Energon?" Sumdac nodded. "Good. I want you to remove it."

"What!?" Sumdac exclaimed. "But according to my sources, who I assure you, are not only very reliable, but law-abiding, removing the Dark Energon from Twilight Sparkle's body could kill her!"

"I know." Shining Armor said. "But I read about the work you do, and I think, I think if anypony can do it, it would be you."

Sumdac shifted his eyes away. "It doesn't seem particularly right to do this."

"Listen to me, Professor." Shining said, raising his hoof. "Dark Energon is an evil, evil substance, and the less of it there is in the universe, the better. Don't you think that's worth doing, if you can do it?"

Sumdac rubbed the back of his head, agreeing with Shining's sentiment, but also still thinking of his own strict set of moral values.

Shining Armor kept on pestering him, though, telling Sumdac all about horrible experiences Shining Armor had because of the Dark Energon infusion in his own bloodstream, trying to press upon Sumdac the need for this to be done.

When he was done, Sumdac crossed his arms. "From the sound of things, Captain Shining Armor, sounds as though you are looking to expunge the Dark Energon from yourself, and your sister is merely a test subject."

Shining instantly moved to defend himself from his accusation, but as soon as he adopted his defensive stance, he found his mouth couldn't form the words to express how this was not a selfish attempt at regaining his own normalcy.

"Well?" Sumdac questioned.

"Just-just do it!" Shining snapped, shaking his hoof, intimidating Sumdac into submission, as Sumdac did not think he would be able to last long in a fight between the two of them. "The Dark Energon NEEDS to be gone! You understand me!?" Shining turned around and stomped towards the exit, his tail whipping back and forth in rage.

Sumdac pulled out a cell phone and dialed a number on it. "Hello. It's Sumdac. Yes. I need an experiment arranged. We're going to remove the Dark Energon from Twilight Sparkle. Yes. Yes...don't you think I know it's her life support!? She'll be in danger if we do, but I have just avoided a confrontation with her brother, and I have no doubt he will petition Celestia to bulldoze the whole facility if we don't!"

Sumdac didn't know Shining Armor that well. As upset and resentful as he was, Shining Armor wouldn't go that far, and if he did, Celestia would never approve. But Shining's outburst had scared Sumdac.

Inside the electricity building, Lucy sighed and hang up the phone. She pouted, seeing Twilight, unaware her brother had, for all intents and purposes, authorized for her to be sent into the mercy seat. Twilight was playing with a plasma ball, touching her hoof to it and being absolutely enthralled with how the electric currents responded to her hoof, forgetting she was here to work and not play.

Lucy cleared her throat and prepared herself for what she just been ordered to do. "Hey, Twilight Sparkle?"

"Yes?" Twilight answered automatically, but remembering what happened with the plant earlier, she turned to Lucy sooner. "Sorry, yes, Doctor Su- I mean, Lucy?"

Lucy smiled warmly. "Could you come with me? I just got a call for another experiment we want you to do..."

"Ooh!" Twilight squealed and clapped her hooves, excited at the idea of further experimentation. "What is it?"

"Follow me, please." Lucy gestured towards the door. Twilight followed eagerly. As they walked across the courtyard of the facility towards where the extraction process would be set up almost as soon as it had been ordered thanks to the lightning-quick staff of the Sumdac industry. Hearing Twilight's gleeful pitter-pats behind her, Lucy reflected that it was uncannily like leading a lamb into the slaughterhouse. Only, while the lamb being slaughtered was unfortunately the only way to get a commodity- lamb meat- this, was just luring a pony into a pointless experiment.

Once inside the building with the required equipment, Twilight could instantly tell something was up. Inside, there were half-circle computers set up, blinking shadowy green, blue and red lights. There was a seat, presumably before the test subject – Twilight's eyes widened when she realized the test subject was her- and a variety of manipulator arms with pointy things attached to their ends.

"Into the chair, please..." Lucy said.

"W-what's this test about?" Twilight stuttered, no longer so confident and happy in her pursuit of science. Before anypony could answer her questions, a trio of lab assistants ran up behind her and shoulder-charged her, sending her flying into the chair. Automated restrains on the chair began activating, pinning Twilight to it. The chair elevated into the air and adjusted herself. The manipulator arms began moving, clicking their claws and testing their syringes.

"W-what are you doing!?" Twilight screamed.

"Your brother really wants us to remove the Dark Energon from you." Lucy sadly informed her.

"WHAT!? You can't do that! That will kill me!"

"I know, I know. But Professor Sumdac told us to go ahead and do it." Lucy covered her face, unable to bear seeing what she was overseeing any longer. Her voice started breaking as the full implications of the betrayal she had just made occurred. "I'm sorry...I'm so sorry."

"You can't- urgh!" Twilight grunted when a syringe stabbed into her chest. "You can't do this to me! I may not have wanted it when I knew all the facts, but the Dark Energon is a part of me now!"

Lucy started crying. Feeling the tears build up in her hands, Lucy took them off her face and realized all she had to do was say one word to make this right. "Stop. Stop the experiment, right now."

A machine operator whistled. "Sorry, Lucy, no can do. Ain't no stopping it once its started."

The syringe pulled back, drawing Dark Energon blood from Twilight's chest.

"No! No!" Twilight flailed and struggled, slamming her hooves against the restraint. "You can't do this!" Her veins started glowing. Emanations of energy like purple braziers began to swirl around her body. Her voice took on multiple tones and timbres, taking up different pitches for each syllable, sometimes repeating like an echo. "It-it-it-it is a part of me (part of me)..."

The operator raised an eyebrow. "Okay. She's on purple fire and talking in multiple voices. Should we be worried?"

Twilight jerked, and broke free of the restraints. She wrapped her hoof around the manipulator arm that took her blood sample and pulled it, tearing it from the base with superhuman, (superpony?) strength and tossing the humongous piece of machinery aside like it was just a loose tiny gizmo. Seeing this brightly-colored, big-eyed pony lift up an expensive and heavy piece of technology without any effort, everyone in the room reasonably concluded the answer to the operator's question was-

"Yes."

Rainbow Dash sat on the Autobot-sized work table, looking up at the computer monitoring Dreadwing's slow decline into complete death. Optimus and Bulkhead had helped Dreadwing up and brought him to the nearest Autobot infirmary, where a middle-sized, red and white, polite, chipper Autobot by the name of -get this- First Aid set him up and diagnosed him. Dreadwing was bolted to the table by metal plates, his limbs were still sparking, and his face looked like it was wearing a stupid, gaping expression because his limp jaw was hanging loose.

"He's lucky. He's still alive...for a few megacycles, anyway." First Aid had said. "Make due with what you have."

Climbing their way up, Applejack and Rarity got onto the table with Rainbow Dash. Seeing the way Rainbow Dash's eyes were nearly taped onto the monitor, Rarity and Applejack gave worrying glances.

"Ah'm sorry, Rainbow Dash." Applejack brought her hat over her chest. "We all did our best, but sometimes our best just isn't...enough."

Rainbow Dash continued watching the spikes in the display of the monitor, acting like she didn't hear them, or that they didn't even exist. Applejack and Rarity decided to leave her alone to mourn.

"Hey." First Aid greeted, walking back into the room. "Question for you, Rainbow Dash."

Like her friends before him, Rainbow Dash ignored him, focused on the monitor.

"What was your relationship with Dreadwing?"

First Aid thought she was going to continue ignoring him, so he turned to leave the room.

"He was my wingpony." Rainbow answered at last.

"Ah. So, your..." First Aid took a stab in the dark to guess what 'wingpony' translated to Cybertronian terms. He was fairly good on the mark, too. "Flight partner, then?"

"Yeah..."

Rainbow Dash was startled when she felt a cold presence around her back, but relaxed when she saw it was just First Aid's metal hand on her back, fingers wrapped around her shoulders to comfort her.

"I am so sorry for your loss."

Rainbow Dash would've dismissed him. She wanted to swat his hand off and tell him he had no idea what kind of loss she was going through right now, seeing Dreadwing, a proud warrior, slowly die on a medical table. She couldn't bring herself to, as First Aid sounded so...sincere.

"You know what it's like to lose a partner?" Dash questioned him.

"No." First Aid took his hand off her back, and headed towards the door, presumably to attend to other patients. He stopped at the door and rested his hand on the frame.

"But I do know all life is precious."

He left, finally leaving Rainbow Dash alone. Rainbow Dash sniffled, not because she was alone, but because she was alone with a chassis that was soon due to be a corpse. Cybertronian funeral rites would dictate Dreadwing's body would be either launched into the nearest sun, or melted down into scrap metal to make new protoforms. It was beautiful, in a way. Several Pony and human cultures had beliefs that the passing of old life lead into the creation of new life, but Cybertronains malleable metal frames could be melted down and used to carry out that belief.

Rainbow Dash sighed, and looked to a second medical table, stationed opposite the one she was using as a perch. She noticed a large purple device with yellow paint on the end, just before it turned into a claw.

"Huh." Her attention finally turned away from the monitor, Dash wondered what the device was. She shouted. "Hey, First Aid? Could you come back here?...Uh, please?"

"Please wait a moment! I am in the middle of a delicate operation!" First Aid yelled back. Rainbow Dash heard a surge of coursing electricity, followed by what was probably a pained shout, but she wasn't sure. "Uh...guess now I'm not! Just hold in there, solider; the random shocks should stop in a while."

First Aid came back into the room with her, leaving his other patient to recover. "What's wrong, Rainbow Dash? Monitor show something unusual on the monitor?"

"No, no." Rainbow Dash shook her head. "I was just wondering what that thing there on the table was." She pointed the claw device.

"Oh. That." First Aid realized, and Rainbow Dash could hear a definitive drop of politeness in his tone, disappointed Rainbow Dash would notice that device of all the things on either table. "We call it the Spark Harvester. Came from The Institute."

"Spark Harvester?"

"Yeah. It..." First Aid paused, not comfortable with telling Rainbow Dash about what the device did, given her current emotional state and her partner's current physical state. "It harvests the Spark. We tend to use it only in the worst cases, as a humane to euthanize patients unable to be saved."

Rainbow Dash frowned. That had to be one of the worst things she ever heard...yanking a Cybertronian's Spark out – ripping their soul – as way to humanely put them out of their misery.

First Aid nervously tapped his index fingers together. "Would you...would you like me to use it on Dreadwing?"

"No."

First Aid exclaimed in relief, pretending to wipe sweat off his brow. "Whew! That was close. I thought you were gonna say yes, which would be bad, 'cause I wasn't gonna do it anyway."

"Yeah..." Dash muttered, looking down and seemingly not caring about what First Aid had to say. She jumped down and flew onto the floor, looking up at Dreadwing. For some reason, even though she said she didn't want First Aid to use it, she kept looking at the Spark Harvester.

"Hey...does it just extract the Sparks, or does it extinguish it?"

"It just extracts them." First Aid answered. "Extinguishing is usually done by external means like crushing between a vice...wait, why?"

"Just wondering..." Dash lied through her teeth, an idea forming in her mind. "Could you use it to move the Spark to somewhere else?"

"I...don't see why not." First Aid answered.

"I'm...gonna go for a walk." Dash said, trotting towards the door and walking past First Aid's leg.

"Good idea." First Aid made a thumbs-up. "Go do that. Get some fresh air before you get any crazy ideas."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie all sometimes had crazy ideas, but Rainbow Dash only ever had 'awesome' ideas. Sometimes she would go down as far as displaying that she only had 'cool' ideas, but never so low as 'crazy'.

Stepping outside the sliding doors of the infirmary, Rainbow Dash stopped and took in a deep breath, appreciating the fresh, clean, crisp air after being stuck inside the stale, stuffy infirmary for so long. She stepped in place a bit, stretching her wings and legs before she began her actual walk. She flew up straight into the air and crash-landed her way down to the nearest lower level of tiered Cybertronian city.

From up above on the nursery, the place below didn't look so bad, but actually on it, Rainbow Dash found it was lit rather dimly, looking almost like it was night. She felt rather liked the suspended bridge – a different one from earlier. Cybertron had a lot of suspended bridges. After all, its original inhabitants could turn into cars at the drop of a hat! But it seemed rather like going under it would be like going into a sewer entrance.

Not one to let an unsettling atmosphere scare her away from the promise of an adventure, Rainbow Dash reared up and charged at the bridge.

Rainbow Dash was expecting it to actually be a sewer. To have a bunch of unpleasant smells and rivers full of run-off from factories coursing through, stinking it up, but she found on such thing. It was more like an underground highway, with street lamps lighting up the way.

She walked through the street, feeling actually rather bored by it. What she wouldn't give for something exciting to happen, for something to pop out of the ground and scare her, give her a fight, and have her trounce it...

Something to keep her mind off Dreadwing...

"Ow! What the-!?" Rainbow Dash bumped into something heavy, solid, and metal. Looking at it, she found it was a leg like a Cybertronian. At least at first glance. Taking a closer look, Rainbow Dash could tell it wasn't Cybertronian. She knew Cybertronians came in all shapes and sizes, but there was something off about this one. For one thing, it had a beautiful, almost haunting sheen to its golden color.

Looking up, Rainbow Dash saw the head and torso of the strange robot thrown back against the wall. It's head was simple in design, having no features beyond its smooth roundness and a zigzagging maw for a mouth. There was a hole in its chest like someone had just stabbed it. Rainbow Dash worried she may have just come across the corpse of a murder case, when she heard a noise.

"Hey! What's the big idea-!?"

Rainbow Dash saw the shadow of...some Cybertronian running off into the distance, a humongous sword hanging off his unknown shoulders. He looked extremely sharp and angular.

Rainbow Dash decided she didn't want to go after him. She was afraid that the assailant may decide to have her join this strange golden robot. At least, that's what she told herself, but in truth, seeing Dreadwing nearly bite it had robbed her of her aggressive, fighting spirit.

Rainbow Dash looked around again and saw two huge swords lying, just out of the gold robot's grasp, with Energon and a weird light green substance that must have been the gold robot's fuel bled out onto the concrete. Seeing all this, Rainbow Dash figured there must have been a fight -not necessarily a murder- and relaxed a little bit.

She climbed up the golden robot's leg, then noticed something shimmering on its chest. She flew up to take a closer look and saw it was some sort of screen flashing information, green text on a black background.

"Legislator..." Rainbow Dash read out loud. "Extremely powerful, excellent fighter... non-Cybertronian, but has trans-formative abilities...can be deactivated and used for spare parts as you like."

Rainbow Dash was surprised by the next bit of text that flashed. The text turned red.

"Defective unit...best left for scrap, as per instructions of...Drift?" Rainbow Dash read aloud. Dash didn't know any Drift, Autobot or pony, but if he was willing to leave his name on something he killed, there must have been some murky water she didn't know of that made it 'okay' for him to commit roboticide.

Rainbow Dash considered all the possibilities for this thing. Despite how little she knew, despite the moral implications, she kept coming to the same conclusion.

Using the Spark Harvester.

Rainbow Dash exercised an unusual for her amount of caution, to make sure no one saw her bringing a Legislator into the building. It was definitely challenging, as the Legislator was not only huge, would clonk loudly when moved, but Rainbow Dash loved a good challenge.

After getting some tow cables that put out enough work to overcome her lack of sufficeent strength, some dragging and too close for comfort encounters that nearly resulted in her being found out, Rainbow Dash finally managed to bring the Legislator into Dreadwing's assigned room.

Rainbow Dash, pulling the inactive Legislator by the arm in her mouth, dragged up it to the medical table and propped it up against it. Once the Legislator was rest, she took a moment to breath. She beat her hoof against her chest. Rainbow Dash closed her eyes to think about her plan, then opened them to observe the Legislator. To observe what would be...

Rainbow Dash rubbed the Legislator's shoulder.

Dreadwing's new body.

"Rainbow Dash, what is that, and what are you doing with it?"

Rainbow's eyes widened. Oh scrap! She turned to see Rarity standing in the door. Rainbow flew up, trying to use her wings to hide the Legislator from view. "What's what, Rarity?"

"That...thing." Rarity moved her head to see what parts Rainbow Dash was blocking, but Rainbow Dash kept moving.

"Slag it, Rainbow Dash! Let me see its face!" Rarity, infuriated, activated her magic and threw it Rainbow Dash aside, putting Rainbow Dash on her head and allowing Rarity to see the Legislator's face in full view. "I repeat..." Rarity drawled. "What is that?"

"It's...It's something called a Legislator." Rainbow Dash answered. Rainbow Dash pointed to the Spark Harvester. "See that tool on the table? It's called a Spark Harvester. I thought- I figured that I could use the Harvester to put Dreadwing's Spark inside the Legislator and-and keep him alive."

Rarity's jaw dropped. "Rainbow Dash! That is – is wrong on so very many levels!" Rarity turned around to leave. "Using a device to remove a somepony's Spark...unacceptable! I don't care what your excuse is, Optimus would never allow such a-"

"Can you honestly tell me you don't know what it's like to know you might be able to save a partner and not even try it?" Rainbow Dash shrieked.

Rarity froze like someone in the hallway had just thrown a sword into her chest. Rarity then looked over her shoulder at Rainbow Dash, giving her an extremely disapproving glare.

"I know more about what's it like to nearly save a partner than you will ever know." Rarity gritted her teeth and hissed in a way Rainbow Dash didn't think was possible for ponies to do.

Rarity stood there in the hallway for a little while, leaving Rainbow Dash to wonder what Rarity was talking about.

"That...hey, are you talking about that time Bulkhead got injured our first time on Earth and you went back in time heal him?"

"Yes..." Rarity rasped, too quietly for Rainbow Dash to hear. "Injured."

Rainbow Dash scuffed her hoof. "So, uh. What- what do you-"

Rarity turned around. "I will help you."

Rainbow Dash blanched. "What?"

"I will help you transfer Dreadwing's Spark into that...thing." Rarity explained, trotting back into the room. "Just tell me what you need me to do."

"Oh, uh, okay." Rainbow Dash completely lost her train of thought, really not expecting Rarity to say something like that. Rarity walked to the base of the medical table the Extractor was. Rainbow Dash pointed to Dreadwing's chest, where his Spark lay. "Push his chest until you find the button that opens it, and work on pulling his Spark while I try to open the Legislator."

"Legislator." Rarity corrected.

Rainbow Dash pulled up her hind legs and bucked the Legislator square in the chest. Rarity was about to scold her for treating Dreadwing's new host body so abusively, except the Legislator's body seemed to sense Rainbow Dash's intent, its chest letting off steam and hissing before opening like the same way a Cybertronian's would.

Rarity grabbed the Extractor in her magic, and tapped the butt of it to Dreadwing's chest. Dreadwing's chest-cockpit pulled back like a windshield, and his own engines pulled away, revealing a bright, blue glowing orb levitating inside Dreadwing's internal systems. Rarity sang about her feelings.

Because that's what they do in the show.

Rainbow, Darling,

I know what it's like to see a partner harmed

With my help, we'll keep your wingpony from buying the farm

I still remember that cold night,

With that dark crystal's cursed light...

Way up high on the clifftop,

A little boy tried to stop me,

And then...then I couldn't make the blood stop.

It all fell apart.

A titan appeared before me and exiled me to a rock where the grpyhons roam,

An isolated land filled with sea and sea foam.

I thought I was alone, but then I found my friend.

And with her help, I made my nightmare end.

That's what happened back then.

That's why I'm helping you now.

I will help you up on your hooves,

I will show you how.

How to keep your wingpony with you,

Without that friend's help, I don't know what would have become of me.

That's what happened then.

That's why I'm helping you now.

I will help him on his feet.

I will make him shout out loud!

No pony knows what I did to make things right,

No, no one understands what I did that night.

It was a painful lesson to learn.

Everypony is bliiind to

The turmoils

In a so called 'Wrecker Pony's' mind...

It took awhile to for me to understand...

We shouldn't revive our friends, just because we can.

Just because we can revive them,

Doesn't mean we should.

(But Rarity!

If we don't try,

How will we know whether it's bad or good?)

(I know, if we pop his hood,

We'll see his Spark is still pumping.

We'll see his Spark is still aliiiive!

Annnndd...that's all we need...

To make sure he survives.)

...

Just a little working together,

(Working together!)

We'll make everything better, yes,

Yes, we shall scrub off all that rust,

(All that rust!)

We'll keep him from biting the dust!

I see his optics...so lifeless and dark...

(We see his optics!)

But we will bring power (Power!) back to this departing Spark!

Levitating the Extractor to it, the machine knew what it had to do, and instantly extended its claw out to grab the Spark and take it from Dreadwing's chest without Rarity telling it to. It was somewhat unnerving.

Nervously, and increasingly losing her confidence that this was the right thing for her to do, Rarity levitated the Extractor to the Legislator, where once again, the Extractor knew its goal and extended, inserting the Spark into the Legislator's chest. The Spark fidgeted and shook almost in protest, before the Legislator's panel closed.

The Legislator picked up where Dreadwing's Spark left off, fidgeting and twitching and jerking. Electricity began jumping from its shoulder to its arms to its knees.

As the sparks' burning got brighter, Rainbow Dash and Rarity turned to each other.

"Perhaps this wasn't the best idea, darling."

"What are you talking about? It totally is!"

"Rainbow Dash, do you realize what I mean?"

"Oh. Oh, no, I thought you meant "Best Worst Idea Ever", like, as in, the best of your worst ideas."

"Oh, well in that case, yes."

"Is this getting confusing?"

"A little, darling."

Before their confusing conversation could get more so, the Legislator reacted to the infusion om Decepticon life-force, blasting them both away with a huge blast of unstable electricity, sending them flying onto their sides against the second medical table.

After a moment, the white flash cleared from their eyes, and they could the results of their handiwork. The Legislator was standing, and its optics were glowing a deep shade of carmine. Dreadwing's eye color.

"Rainbow Dash? Rarity?" The Legislator droned at them, speaking in a robotic, emotionless tone that had Dreadwing's voice running through as some sort of undercurrent. Dreadwing raised his new arm, observing his new hand, twisting it at the wrist.

Rainbow Dash beamed and rushed up to hug her creation's leg. "Dreadwing! You're alive!"

Dreadwing did not share her enthusiasm. "Rainbow Dash...are you sure of that? Are you certain that I am...alive?"

"You're talking, aren't you!?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, a tear in her eye. She moved herself from him a little, and rubbed her hoof along his ankle. "You're alive...you're alive, I'm so happy..." She hugged him extra tight. "We're gonna have so much fun together...I'm gonna show you all the things we never did...teach you to play horseshoes..."

There was a clonk, startling Rainbow Dash. She pulled away to look at him, and his optics turned from carmine to cyan.

"Pony detected." A computerized, soulless voice bleeped at her in a tone without fear or empathy. "Prepare to be...Legislated."

"Who in the Pit are you, and what did you do with Dreadwing!?" Rainbow Dash demanded, bucking the Legislator by in its boot. The Legislator, in response, punted her across the room.

"I am a Legislator."

"Oooh...kaaay." Dash drawled. "You know what? For simplicity's sake, I'm gonna call you 'Larry.'"

"Legislator units do not respond to individual names-!"

Rainbow Dash flew up and bucked the Legislator hard across the cheek, making its head do a 360 degree spin.

The Legislator became much more cooperative. It raised its hand like it was preparing for a handshake. "Hi! My name is Larry!"

Rainbow Dash smiled. "That's better."

"It still doesn't solve the real problem, here." Rarity reminded her. "I believe the problem lies within this Legislator's … own Spark. " Rarity raised an eyebrow. "Is the root of the problem. We should try to figure out a way to disable it."

"How are we gonna do that?" Rainbow Dash questioned, holding Larry by the neck as causally as Fluttershy holding one of her choir birds on her leg. "I didn't see a Spark in there!"

"I was speaking figuratively, darling. I believe Shockwave should hold the answer." Rarity suggested. "He is a Decepticon most in tune with his 'logical side', as it were."

Rainbow Dash shuddered. "That computer on legs? I know he's complying with Celestia, but he still gives me the creeps."

"I know, darling, but he's our best bet right now."

The Legislator's head jerked, electricity sparking from its neck as the two different AI's within competed for dominance.

"Rainbow...Daaash." Dreadwing's voice came out of the Legislator, and he sounded quite pained. "What's happen...niiiing?"

"Don't worry, D.W!" Rainbow Dash insisted, flailing her front legs around, calling Dreadwing by his nickname. "We're gonna make you better, okay? It'll be all right, you'll see!"

"Hmm...we'll need someway to get him out of here with anypony noticing." Rarity realized.

Rarity gazed upwards at the Legislator's massive, towering frame.

"That could prove difficult."

Rarity's ears flattened against her head when she heard footsteps come from the door.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash!" First Aid shout cheerfully. "I was hoping to get your mind off things, so I went out and-" First Aid saw the Legislator, which looked at him balefully, as though it had no thoughts of its own. "Okaay!" First Aid threw his hands in the air and slowly backpedaled out of the room. "I can see you lovely ladies have everything under...control...here..."

First Aid took off running down the hallway, his arms flailing behind him in a panic.

Rainbow Dash looked at the Legislator's face, and grimaced. "I'm sorry, Dreadwing...I didn't think it would turn out this way."

Dreadwing said nothing, but that could have been because he was preoccupied fighting with the Legislator for control of its body.

Rarity put her hoof to her ear, pressing and activating her Commtab earpiece to the nearest 'public access' frequency. "Hello? Decepticon HQ? Come in, Decepticon HQ. This is Rarity Belle of Equestria. We have something of a situation. What kind? Well, uh...we have a very strong, very proud Decepticon' Spark stuck inside a new body, and it's...it's not working as well as we hoped."

Rarity proceeded to provide a more detailed explanation of what was going on.

"You'll send somepony right away? Really!? Thank you so much, darling! … No. No, sir, I am not flirting with you. It's just a little speech quirk of mine."

Rarity took her hoof away from her ear and exhaled. "Guess what? They don't really have anything bothering with them, so somepony should arrive right away!" Rarity smirked to herself. Just as she predicted, using the words 'strong' and 'proud' to describe him made the Decepticons, otherwise chafing under Shockwave's truce agreement, much more willing to help,

They heard a GroundBridge's telltale whir hum open and then close outside.

"Come on, come on..." Rarity motioned for Rainbow Dash to hurry, and both ponies ran up to the Legislator's legs to stabilize Dreadwing as he staggered his way out the door. They didn't really support him, due to their weight difference. But the feeling of warm hooves on his otherwise cold boots gave the dazed and disillusioned Dreadwing a sense of direction for where he needed to amble about.

They managed to get out through the medical facility. Sometimes passing doctors or exiting patients would stop and stare at the Legislator, but they would think better when they caught Rarity giving them an evil eye like a woman scorned.

"Well, doctor?"

"What are you looking at, huh?"

"Nothing to see here! Move along!"

Once they got outside, Rarity was elated to see Shockwave had been kind enough to send Blackout, a large, hefty olive green Decepticon that could throw down with the best of them. Blackout tried to make a human gesture with his round claws, but he didn't do it the right way and just made himself look silly. Rainbow Dash didn't understand why Rarity was so happy, forcing her to explain that with strength like Blackout's to help, they could get to Shockwave's laboratory in no time.

Blackout converted to his six-bladed helicopter mode and lowered a winch for them to use. Rainbow Dash took the tensile cable into her mouth and flew it around her Legislator buddy's arms and legs, tying them together, before placing the hook of the winch into the Legislator's back. Rainbow Dash signaled to Blackout for lift-out, and Blackout shook like he was nodding his head before lifting the Legislator up and flying in the direction of Kaon. Rainbow Dash helped Rarity up and hitched a ride onto the Legislator's boots. Normally, she would've just flown by herself alongside Blackout, but Rainbow Dash didn't want to be any closer to those rotors than she had to. They were kinda loud, and she didn't want to hurt her ears.

"Rainbow Dash..." Dreadwing's distorted voice droned from under the rotor's incessant whirring. "Why would you do this to me?"

"What?" Rainbow Dash's mouth hung limply, confused. "I-I was trying to heal you! To patch you up!" Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and sniffed, holding back a tear. She wanted to say "Don't worry, D.W! Everything will be all right!" but honestly, she didn't know anymore how all right everything was going to be.

"We're here!" Blackout's low voice shouted at them as the looming grey tower of Kaon's chieftain became visible in the distance. Even though Cybertron was alive and well, producing Energon and everything, much of Kaon, including the so-called throne room, still looked barren and undecorated. Deteriorated from misuse. The Decepticons liked it that way.

At the bottom of the tower, Shockwave himself was waiting outside the doors, ready to tackle whatever problem that had occurred.

Blackout lowered himself down to the tower's property and retracted his winch suddenly, causing Dreadwing, Rainbow, and Rarity to drop the ground clumsily.

"You could have given us a warning, darling!" Rarity protested, rubbing her sore...Cutie Mark. "Oooh..."

"Well?" Shockwave demanded, ignoring the oh-so-pressing needs of Rarity's ever so delicate bottom, darling, and getting straight to business. "Who and what is the patient?" Shockwave pointed at the Legislator. "Is this it?"

"Yeah." Rainbow confirmed. "It's Dreadwing. Some really uncool Decepticons tried to send him to the scrapheap, and I tried to fix him by transplanting his Spark into another body..."

Shockwave glared disapprovingly. "Illogical. How much do you understand of Cybertronian biology? You should not have attempted such a complex operation without the proper training."

Shockwave moved towards the Legislator and silently regarded it for a second. He walked around and slammed the barrel end of his arm cannon and started pushing the Legislator into the tower.

"I have set up an emergency lab on the ground floor of the tower." Shockwave explained. "There, we can examine this creature and prevent it from going amok the populace."

It took Rarity a moment to catch the way Shockwave was speaking. It was almost...urgent. "Lord Shockwave, darling, what's the rush? You seem eager to strap Dreadwing to an operating table."

Shockwave stopped. "I am concerned of a greater threat here than an mere surgery gone wrong. You explained to my secretary on the commlink that we do not know the origins of this golden robot. It is a logical cause for alarm."

Shockwave resumed shoving and pushing the Legislator through the doors of the tower, into the lobby where some medical tools, monitoring equipment, and an operating slab had set up. Shockwave pushed Dreadwing into the slab and activated it.

Beams of light-blue energy appeared, wrapping around the Legislator's wrists and feet, binding to the to the table.

Rarity worriedly put a hoof to her chin, while Rainbow Dash kept gazing at the Legislator's face, wondering if her wingpony was going to make it.

Shockwave wasted no time. He quickly set to work, hooking up a helmet with blinking lights typical of mad science experiment subjects to the Legislator's heads. The lights blinked out in a sequence, and data began streaming onto a computer monitor.

Shockwave examined the computer's received transmissions, and appeared to not really understand what it was saying. "Illogical."

"What? What is it?"

"This creature has no Spark." Shockwave answered, raising his cannon-arm for a gesture. "Only an an advanced artificial intelligence. Logically speaking, that should mean Dreadwing's Spark should not have any difficulty in assuming control of the body."

"But..." Rarity supplied for Shockwave to continue.

"The artificial intelligence continues to reject the new matrix introduced by the Spark. Which … is not...possible." Shockwave blinked, his large, red optic gazing at the computer screen. An illogical conundrum the likes of this one had never grazed Shockwave's being before, and it infuriated him he could not deduce what the root source of the problem was.

"I will need to conduct further research." Shockwave said, dashing towards the table and sifting through the medical tools. Shockwave picked up a short black tool that ended in an open hole and tilted in his claw.

"Rainbow Dash..." Dreadwing groaned.

"I'm here, Dreadwing." Rainbow Dash leaped onto the bottom of the slab.

"I was going to redeem myself..." Dreadwing said weakly. "Through my death, I was to become a Seeker again, renouncing the Wonderbolts...and instead of dying like a warrior, you've condemned me to this miserable half-life."

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to say something, slamming her hooves on the slab, but nothing came out. Dreadwing turned his head away and rested his optics.

There was a furious, pounding knock on the door to the tower. Whoever was on the other side wanted in, and they were mad.

"Who could that be?" Rarity used her magic to push the deployment button, allowing the doors to unfold to reveal their mystery uninvited guest.

He was an Autobot. Average sized, turned into some kind of sports car. His shoulders were ridiculous long in the back, and his entire frame was angled and pointy, making Rainbow Dash think of a samurai. His head had a crest with a yellow paint app, his helm was white, and his face was silver. His paint was white, excepting for the silver on his joints, and covered in red splotches meant to resemble various Japanese characters, including katakana and kanji. Why an Autobot would choose to dress himself up in human characters he probably couldn't understand...Rarity had no idea.

"Where is it?" He demanded. "Where's the Legislator?"

Shockwave quit fiddling with his tools and turned to glare in the Autobot's direction. "Why do you want to know? What is your name?"

"Drift." The Autobot said rudely. "I'm sort of...in charge of this Legislation unit, and I heard about it being carried off."

"Yeah." Rainbow Dash stepped forward, irritated that Drift was trying to get in the way of Dreadwing's recovery. "I'm using it to fix up my buddy! You got a problem with that?"

"Yes, actually!" Drift shouted. "There's a reason I diced that unit up and left it for scrap! It's defective!"

"Wait..." Shockwave held his hand out. "So you know where this Legislator creature came from?"

Drift scowled. It was obvious to Rarity that question led into territory Drift wasn't willing to explore. "Yes...yes, It just so happens that I do."

"What threat does it pose to Cybertron and my Decepticons?"

"Absolutely none...unless it goes haywire." Drift glared at Rainbow Dash. "Which it did. Now, if you would kindly surrender that unit back to me, I would be more than happy to take off your hands and dispose of it properly."

"Legislate..." The Legislator growled, shaking under its restraints and attempt to wriggle free.

"Ah, shut up!" Dash barked at it. She turned back to Drift. "And you! You... I'm trying to fix my wingpony using your – thing!"

"My 'thing' is dangerous and unhinged!" Drift pointed a finger for emphasis. "It doesn't respond to orders! If it got loose, the results could be disastrous!"

"Legislate..." The Legislator growled, a little louder this time.

"Um...everypony?" Rarity said quietly, hoping to draw attention to the Legislator before something bad happened. "I really think we should-" Rainbow Dash and Drift's argument continued to escalate. "No, no, darlings, I really think we should-"

"LEGISLATE!"

The Legislator broke free of the energy shackles binding to the slab, raising its fists into the air in triumph of its escape.

Shockwave raised his cannon and fired, but even though his Hyperflux Cannon was incredibly powerful, and the shot landed a direct hit into the Legislator's waist area, it didn't do a thing to the haunting gold armor, except for a few clouds of smoke.

"Hold that thing!" Drift ordered, overestimating his authority.

"No!" Dash protested. "That-...my wingpony is inside that 'thing'!"

The Legislator had other ideas, uncaring for the fact it carried Dreadwing's Spark within itself. "LEGISLATE!"

Drift drew two short swords and charged at his malfunctioning servant, leaping into the air with impressive hang time, but the Legislator caught him by the leg and hurled it him against the wall.

The Legislator stomped towards the door, knocking Shockave to the ground along the way, and stopped just short of Rarity and Rainbow Dash. Rarity froze from fear, while Rainbow Dash didn't want to hurt her wingpony. It looked at them, then appeared to decide the two cowering mares weren't worth its time. It resumed its march and punched its massive fist through the door, making the entire wall around crumble down into dust. It marched outside, regarded its surroundings, and then jumped off and transformed into a simple 'spaceship' looking jet with four engines that somewhat resembled the oringial Ark in appearance.

Drift, recovered, ran outside with Rainbow Dash and Rarity following, just in time to see the Legislator's jet flames billow out behind it in the wind as it flew out of their reach.

"Slag!" Drift swore. He looked at Rainbow Dash accusingly.

"What?"

"This is all your fault."

"Well...yeah, but..."

"We need to find that thing before it hurts someone!" Drift transformed into a white car with a short roof and very long hood and front, with a spoiler on the rear and his Japanese paint details in full view. He popped his doors open for the ponies to climb inside. Once Rarity was in the driver's seat, Rainbow in the passenger's and they were all buckled up, Drift put his pedal to metal and burned rubber as he drove in the direction they had saw the Legislator fly to.

"Why'd you do it, Dash?" Drift questioned from his dashboard display.

"I...what!? What do you mean!?" Dash punched said dashboard.

"How do you know our names?" Rarity asked. "We didn't introduce ourselves to you..."

"Please." Drift dismissed the forming implication he might have some bad company supplying his information. "Elements of Harmony. You're famous! Anyways, why did you try to bring your wingpony back to life like that?"

"Well, I...I thought I could resurrect him..." Dash admitted.

"Just because you can, doesn't mean you should."

Dash turned her head away, looking out the window at the fading blurs of Cybertronian buildings as Drift passed them by, trying to think of anything else but what she had done. She sighed. It was hard for Rainbow Dash to confront the reality of what was happening.

Death, while not unheard of, was nowhere near as common on Equestria as it was on Earth and especially as it was on Cybertron.

"Got him!" Drift exclaimed as the golden spacecraft the Legislator's turned into appeared in the reflection of his windshield. Drift opened his car doors and ejected both pony passengers before transforming and drawing his swords.

The Legislator rocked back and forth, unsure where it was supposed to go. The ship ultimately decided to go downwards and swerved down to a lower level, where innocent human and pony tourists were attempting to enjoy Cybertron's natural landscape. The Legislator transformed and landed forcefully on the ground, causing a tremor that knocked all the puny organics off their feet.

"Scrap." Drift swore under his breath. Not waiting up for Rarity or Rainbow Dash, Drift jumped down to confront the Legislator.

"Don't hurt him!" Rainbow Dash shrieked. "Dreadwing's still in there!"

"He shouldn't be." Drift growled, charging at the Legislator with his swords raised. While appearing well cared for and sharp to the common pony's eye, the blades did little besides produce golden Sparks from the Legislator's frame.

Rainbow Dash picked Rarity up and flew downwards to the scene of the battle. Rarity prepared a spell in her horn and started blasting away at the Legislator, trying to subdue it without harming it too badly, as per Rainbow's request.

"Rrraah!" The Legislator screamed in rage, having enough of these petty organics fruitlessly efforts to harm itself. The Legislator grabbed Drift by the head and tossed the Autobot into a nearby wall, causing the wall to crumble away and collapse on top of Drift. Amazingly, Drift never let go of his swords even as he was thrown against a building and buried under rubble.

"Dreadwing!" Rainbow Dash called out. "Dreadwing, I know you're in there! Fight it! Fight if off and take control!"

"Eeerrr..." The Legislator turned its empty blue gaze on Rainbow Dash, and Rarity got the feeling Rainbow's attempts to appeal to Dreadwing's Spark wouldn't work.

The Legislator began to march towards them. Rarity gritted her teeth. Her spells didn't work, and her hooves weren't strong enough to give a good enough buck, and Rainbow Dash was without her rifle. Looking at Rainbow Dash, though, Rarity couldn't help but feel that even if Rainbow Dash did have her rifle, it wouldn't do much good, as she too much in denial to move.

Before the Legislator could raise its fists and pound them both into paste, they were rescued by a most peculiar savior; a piece of music being played from somewhere above in the several towers overlooking the streets.

The Legislator suddenly stopped in its tracks, frozen by the music and its eerie beauty.

In Rarity's opinion, it was a pretty piece. To Rainbow Dash, it wasn't much to throw a fuss over, as she was more into rock tracks and guitar solos than classical pieces and long-winded crescendos.

The more it played, though, the more they felt like listening to it. It really was a beautiful piece.

Drift's optics widened in horror, as he recognized the piece that was playing. He looked upwards and saw the vague silhouette of a Decepticon-built robot playing a violin in the suspended bridges of the district.

"The Empyrean Suite...Rarity! Rainbow Dash! Cover your ears!" Drift struggled, trying to tear free from the rubble. The rocks began to shift, and scraps of plasters began to tumble downwards, giving Drift some hope of success.

"Oh...my." Rarity muttered, eyes turning dull and started to wobble in place. She fell against Rainbow and wrapped a hoof around Rainbow's neck. "Rainbow Dash, I'm sorry!"

"I'm sorry, too!" Rainbow Dash screamed back, wrapping her hoof around Rarity.

"What for?"

"I don't know!"

"Oh, I'm so sorry you don't know!"

"I am too!"

The two mares cuddled their heads together and began to cry, while the Legislator stood there. Made into motionless from the Empyrean Suite and its strange, ill-defined power.

"Rrrah!" Drift shouted and was able to tear himself free of his plaster prison. He got to his feet and narrowed his optics at the spiky shadow on the bridges above.

Calculating the exact trajectory of where he needed to be to do what he needed to do, Drift put one of his swords away and flipped the other over in his hands so he was gripping it by the blade like a throwing knife. Taking precise, deliberate aim at the shadow, Drift hurled his sword upwards with all the force he could muster. The blade missed its mark, and the shadow moved deftly to avoid being grazed by it, but Drift's goal had been achieved; it stopped playing the Suite, and, recognizing that its presence had been spotted and its musical talents was unappreciated, the mystery newcomer ran away to cover. Rarity and Rainbow Dash slowly began to crawl of their trance.

"Uhh..." Rainbow and Rarity rubbed their heads, confused about why they couldn't remember the last few minutes, aside from some odd feelings of sorrow and remorse for things they were sure weren't their fault.

Rainbow Dash immediately noticed that the Legislator's optics had changed from the Legislator's own aimless blue to Dreadwing's focused carmine red. Dreadwing's optics were glowing with a new found clarity.

"Yes...I realize what I must do." Dreadwing said weirdly. He transformed and flew off.

"Dreadwing!" Rainbow Dash cried with alarm. She galloped forward and flew up herself, her rainbow trail burning behind like angsty chocolate candies. "Wait! We can still talk things out, can't we!?"

"Rainbow Dash!" Rarity exclaimed, worried what Rainbow Dash would do with herself or Drift to hold her back from doing anything stupid. Rarity looked to Drift as the Autobot walked into her peripheral vision. She looked up to him, pleading he might have something to help them out now.

"It looks like Dreadwing is heading towards the medical facility." Drift observed. He put his hand to his head. "Drift to Commander. Requesting GroundBridge to nearby triage facility."

A GroundBridge opened up near them, only something was off about it. It wasn't green with energy swirls of pink in it. Instead, it was dark red with darker reds that were nearly black on it.

Rarity looked to Drift.

"What?" Drift questioned. "It's, uh, powered by Red Energon."

Rarity pursed her lips, almost certain Drift wasn't telling the whole story about his red Bridge, but she did not have the time or resources to grill him about it now.

"Dreadwing!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, still following the golden spacecraft closely behind. "Dreadwing, pull over and land! We can talk about this...can't we?" Rainbow Dash's eyes got a little watery, but she did not cry. Rainbow Dash was a tough pony who did not cry, no matter how horrible of a condition her wingpony was put in, trapped inside a body not his own, sharing it with one of the most single-minded AI's Rainbow Dash would ever meet. Rainbow Dash was focused on following her wingpony, she didn't even register they heading back to First Aid's workplace.

Dreadwing transformed and went charging inside. Rainbow Dash landed in front of the entrance and just stared at the door while Dreadwing went further inside.

"This is all my fault..." Rainbow Dash admitted, having a moment of realization brought on from the sight of the medical facility where this misadventure and descent into madness started. "I couldn't just let him die like he wanted! I couldn't let him redeem himself, because I was...what? Too selfish to not like letting one of my most unexpected friends die? Oh!" Rainbow Dash groaned, while Drift's GroundBridge materialized next to her, Rarity and Drift stepping out of it. "Hey, guys..." Rainbow Dash weakly waved at them.

"You can wallow in self-pity later!" Rarity snapped at her. "I don't know what Dreadwing intends to do inside there, but we can't let him any of the patients inside!"

"Right..." Rainbow was motivated to take action, but only barely. Rarity ran forward and nudged her head against Rainbow's back, pushing her inside while Drift dashed ahead of them to deal with his wayward Legislator.

In the hallway, First Aid was walking along, checking off his cyber-clipboard, not really in a hurry. All the patients currently in the building were either recovered or in a comatose state after a delicate surgical operation. He paused when he heard loud, clanking footsteps and looked up from his clipboard and saw the Legislator's highly motivated marching.

"You're...back." First Aid noticed. He turned around and ran down the hallway, hoping to avoid unintentionally earning the Legislator's wrath.

"Dreadwing grunted, irritated at this Autobot medic who wasn't really helping him with his plans. Groaning like an organic zombie with a thorn in its foot, Dreadwing slowed his march and limped down the hallway, the Legislator's zigzagging mouth opening vaguely, not truly with or without the intent to speak.

"Dreadwing!"

Dreadwing turned around at the sound of his name, but he only briefly glanced back at the pony who had been, for a brief period of time, his aerial captain.

"Stop where you are, defective unit." Drift growled darkly, advancing with his swords raised. Rarity was starting to get the idea that Dreadwing or no, Drift intended to cut the Legislator up into little tiny pieces small enough to be melted in a human-scaled incinerator.

Dreadwing backed away from Drift, then took off running down the hallway, swerving into a room.

Rarity blinked as she realized the room he was heading in...was the room his old body was in.

"Oh dear." Rarity murmured, starting to think of what Dreadwing intended to when he got there.

The trio ran after him, and found him there, standing over his own body while absently grasping at the medical table.

Rarity gasped, her fears confirmed. Rainbow Dash was probably going to break down when she realized it on her own.

Dreadwing continued grasping, and he turned around when he figured that the reason the tool he was looking for wasn't there. "Where is it?"

"This?"

Drift, Rarity and Rainbow Dash turned around and watched as First Aid came into the room, carrying the Spark Extractor in his arms.

"This..." First Aid reflected, looking down at the horrible machine. "This was given to us by The Institute. Called it a 'good will gift'. We put it to use to euthanize patients too damaged to be saved... you want it, don't you?" First Aid held the Extractor up for Dreadwing to see. Dreadwing's optics were glued to it, and he nodded. "Mh-hm. So you can use it on yourself?"

"And end this torturous half-life, yes." Dreadwing answered.

"Hmph." First Aid lowered the Extractor. "Well, I suppose I can understand that you're suffering...but I don't believe in mercy killing."

Dreadwing's shoulders sagged. "I...see. I..." Dreadwing raised his hand. "I commend you for sticking to your world views."

"Thank you."

Everyone sat in silence, contemplating what this meant, and how Dreadwing wold learn to cope with his new body.

Dreadwing took them all by surprise, lunging at First Aid and yanking the Extractor out of the medic's servos, shock factor keeping anypony from reacting and doing anything. Rainbow Dash was helpless to do anything but watch as Dreadwing took the Extractor and jammed into his chest, forcing the Legislator's panels to open and reveal his Spark, which the Extractor reached out for and grabbed without even needing to be told. The Extractor's claw began to pull the Spark out, but was jammed by the wires surrounding it. The claw continued, determined to fulfill its task, and continued pulling, slashing and cutting the wires. The Legislator's body fell down, the wires that were severed vital enough that the Legislator couldn't continue to support itself without them. The Extractor, falling out of the Legislator's hand, acted on its own and began to crush the suffering Spark by squeezing around it until it dissipated into the ether, to join the AllSpark with Dreadwing's departed twin, and all the departed Decepticon Sparks Dreadwing had fought with millions of years ago during the War for Cybertron.

Rarity turned to Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow Dash turned away and walked outside of the room. "I...I need to think. I'm going to fly around." Rainbow Dash did exactly as she said and flew up, her rainbow trailing leaving behind a flash was still beautiful, but not nearly as sparkling as it usually was.

At Outpost Omega One...

Shining strolled into the room, whistling a tune.

"You seem happy." Ratchet grumpily muttered.

"Yup!" Shining proudly answered, flailing around and pushed himself up against the guide rails. "Got Professor Sumdac to take the Dark Energon out of Twiley, and I'll be next!"

Shining's eyes widened when he heard glass shattering and hooves banging. An uneasy of air of accusations from the smoke of the Aubobots' combined exhaust and judgements from enraged mares began to form around the room in a fine, invisible misty veil.

"W-what?" Shining asked. "Did I do something wrong?"

"I still can't remove the Dark Energon from Twilight Sparkle, even WITH CYBERTRONIAN technology available to me!" Ratchet shrieked, crushing the tool he was holding in his hand as he spoke. "What makes you think a bunch of humans can do any better with their own!?"

"I..." Shining stammered, not expecting such a violent response to what he thought was doing the right thing. "I didn't mean...I thought Twiley..." Shining fell silent when he saw the angry glares Pinkie, Applejack and Fluttershy were giving him.

"Of all the scrapbrained, smeg-headed, ponyfeathered and tarred ideas..." Ratchet muttered, giving Shining a dirty look. Optimus seemed strangely unconcerned.

"Okay, okay..." Shining admitted. "I'll go round up a few Guard buddies...go to Sumdac Systems, stop the operation, apologize to Twiley..."

"You'll need to do a lot more than apologize," Ratchet growled, "but I'll prepare a GroundBridge for you."

At Sumdac Systems, the GroundBridge opened up and Shining came bounding out, a small group of troops behind him, apologies already pouring out from Shining's muzzle. "Twiley, I'm so sorry for trying to have Sumdac do that- I just thought maybe I could remove it from myself and-"

"Uh, sir?" One Guard said, trying to interrupt Shining Armor.

"I was so excited that I could be maybe be normal again that I forgot about your feelings and-"

"SIR!"

"What?" Shining snapped, but taking the time to chew out his subordinate made him realize what was wrong.

Twilight Sparkle was standing in front of them, her Dark Energon in maximum effect, her usually hidden bony wings in full view, her back to them and her view on the Sumdac System's entrance.

Or rather, where the Sumdac System entrance used to be.

Where once stood proud steel building gleaming in the daylight as the future of science was propelled forward, instead there were burning piles of smoking ash as the rubble began to burn into ash. The rising pillars of metal were replaced, one by one with twisting towers of smoke. The soft, gentle crackle of the flames contradicted against the enormous burning inferno they were making. The once bright green grass was now a field of dried out, shriveled burnt husks of lawn. Shining couldn't see the passed out bodies of the humans reaching out to comfort their coworkers, lying on the grass without no movement whatsoever, but his imagination stepped in and provided them well enough.

Shining Armor blinked, realizing all the potential casualties and in denial his little baby sister could cause so much destruction on such an intense scale.

"Twiley?" Shining Armor spoke up quietly.

Twilight turned her head slowly toward them, her Dark Energon eyes glowing dimly, but glowing none the same with the utmost disregard for any life that she dubbed beneath her, and at the moment, it seemed that Shining Armor was one lifeform who was indeed beneath her.

"I want to thank you, Captain." Twilight said to her brother. She got up and began to trot towards him. He backed as she got closer. "For this reminder. Every time. Every...single...slagging...time I put my trust in a human, it backfires. I get betrayed, backstabbed, and just generally not treated very kindly."

Shining didn't even try to defend himself. He simply nodded and let Twilight talk.

Twilight raised her hoof, and a sickle of Dark Energon formed from it which she pointed quite emphatically at Shining Armor.

"How an emotionally insensitive pony like you got to be Captain of the Guard is something I will never understand. Hmph." Twilight huffed and threw her nose in the air, galloping towards the still-open GroundBridge. "I...tried to keep anything fatal from occurring."

Shining collapsed on his haunches, gazing into the endless flames.

"Sir?" One of the Guard's questioned, concerned for Shining's emotions and sanity.

Shining sighed and put a hoof on his head. "Just...just recover all the humans in there and make sure they're safe. Go...just go."

Twilight stepped through the GroundBridge, and from the way her wing was bouncing, everypony could tell she was upset about something.

"Twilight?" Applejack spoke softly. "What's wrong?...Aside from yer brother being an idjit, of course."

Twilight kept walking, ignoring her friend and not in the mood to talk.

Shining Armor trotted in from the Bridge, grimacing. "Twiley-"

Shining Armor ducked suddenly as spikes of Dark Energon flew towards him with the intent to cut.

"I don't want to hear a word from you." Twiley snarled.

"But Twiley!"

"What did I just say!?"

Another Bridge whirled open in the middle of the base while Shining kept trying to voice his protest.

"Hmm? Strange..." Ratchet looked at the base's internal monitors, and judging from the readings that it was an Autobot Bridge from Cybertron, Ratchet pulled up the lever for their own Bridge, closing it before they crossed streams and caused an accident.

An Autobot walked out of the Bridge. He was somewhat similar to Smokescreen in build, but his colors were much less flashy. A simply black and white color scheme with a most peculiar badge on his chest; a white Aubobot symbol inside a police star. He only had three fingers plus thumb, and two rockets were mounted over his shoulders. His head a red crest, and his face an orange visor, but no plate.

He looked down at Twilight. "Twilight Sparkle?"

Twilight looked up at the sound of her name. "That's me. Who are you?"

"Officer Prowl, member of the Autobot Secret Police." Prowl answered in a matter-of-fact tone that told Twilight he was not going to be easy to socialize with.

Prowl raised a small, elongated pistol at her and pulled the trigger. Rather than a bullet or laser, a glob of orange goo shot out and smashed into Twilight's hooves, binding them together so she couldn't move. "Hey!" Twilight prepared a spell.

"I wouldn't do that." Prowl warned her. "The Investigator Special is perfectly harmless by itself, but highly conductive. If you'd like to electrocute yourself, fine. But more importantly, you, Twilight Sparkle of Equestria, are under arrest for reckless endangerment, industrial sabotage, arson, for the destruction of Sumdac Systems. You are set for trial by Chief Justice Tyrest on Cybertron."

Twilight could only blink and stare.

Prowl raised his free hand, which converted into an odd device. Two black ridge-covered prongs forming the shape of hoof, ending in little silver balls. Opposing arcs of red and blue electricity traveled between the balls, and Twilight was lifted up from the ground onto them. She quickly realized the prongs were suitably altered to be magnetic to the gel Prowl had splashed her with.

"Oh...well..." Shining muttered. "Maybe I did something wrong today..."

"Maybe!?" Twilight growled.

"But at least nothing I did was this bad!" Shining Armor boasted as Prowl turned to reenter his own GroundBridge.

Prowl stopped suddenly and turned back around. "About that..." Prowl fired his gel gun at Shining Armor, slathering him in the same gel. Prowl aimed the prong device and magnetically brought Shining up to it as well, where the Captain and Twilight had to very uncomfortably sharing their hanging space. "You, Captain Shining Armor, are under arrest for unauthorized experimentation and failure to represent rights. Your own sister. How could you." Prowl spoke like he was trying to be scolding, but his tone was so bland and flat it was hard to realize that was what he was doing.

Shining Armor sighed. He supposed he deserved this.

"Optimus!" Twilight protested, flailing and struggling on the Prowl's prongs for Optimus' attention. "Optimus, do something!"

Twilight watched as Optimus' crimson silhouette got smaller and smaller as Prowl walked further and further into the Bridge.

"Optimus!"

…

"OPTIMUS!"

Twilight sniffed. Optimus wasn't going to help her this time. It was on her own that she destroyed the facility. It was by her own initiative that Sumdac Systems was no more.

The GroundBridge swirled shut, whirring as it did.

Everypony and bot gathered stood in silence, in complete shock and awe over what just happened over the last twenty minutes from Shining going out to rescue Twilight, to Prowl arresting them and Optimus' total lack of reaction to Twilight's desperate pleas.

"Optimus..." Ratchet turned to his commander, a slight note of grief in the medic's tone. "I understand if you are upset by Twilight Sparkle's actions, but how could you stand there and do nothing!? Not even a word!?"

Optimus shook like he just came out of a trance. He reached his hands over the sides of his head and tugged, pulling out some ear buds that had been attached. Optimus pressed a button the computer, and the soundtrack he had been listening to stopped. The Prime turned to his distraught medic.

"My apologies. I was listening to music. What is the status?"

Ratchet's mouth contorted in ways it probably wasn't supposed to, words insufficient to fully describe his disbelief that the reason Optimus Prime had done nothing was because he was distracted, listening to music.

Ratchet groaned and put his hand over his head crest. "You've been spending far too much casual time with Princess Celestia..."