Author's Notes:

So... yeah. Punch is now dead. Show of hands, how many of you saw it coming a mile away? Also seriously, get your lists out, there's gonna be quite an amount of people being killed in this fic, mark them down.

And another question, would Twilight be considered OOC in this chapter?

Friday, 8:00 PM

The group of Autobots made it back to Canterlot safe and sound, and they made sure their human companions made it back as well. Everyone was exhausted, tired, and felt like they were going to collapse. They had been through several hours of battling, and all of them were in desperate need of a break. Luckily with the orders that were placed on them, they could calm down for a few days and keep an eye on their human friends for the time being before they needed to be summoned back to the others sometime soon.

Smallfoot got Sour home without any issues whatsoever, but Sour was silent the entire time. She was scared out of her mind with the events that had happened today, and she could barely get herself to speak to her own girlfriend about any of her issues.

Smallfoot pulled up onto the driveway, and Sour stepped out of the truck, closing the door. She turned around and watched as Smallfoot use laser beams and used levitation to float down a gray metallic body down onto the ground in front of her, followed by a few electricity surges from a few wires that stuck into the body.

Once the wires were connected onto the metallic body, a burst of electricty zapped through the wires going onto the metal form. The metal body's eyes opened up, and the feminine figure got up on her feet. But when she looked at Sour, a look of concern drew her face.

"Sour? Are you okay?"

Sour said nothing but just walked inside to her home, not saying a word. Smallfoot was now starting to grow worried. She stomped after Sour and closed the door behind her. Looking around, she found her in her kitchen, slamming cabinets and pulling out a glass for a drink.

"Sour come on, talk to me. Something's obviously bugging you," Smallfoot said.

Sour said nothing... for about a few seconds, "What makes you so sure? Don't you know I always get peeved after a long day of battling?"

"Sour, just talk to me. Please?" Smallfoot grabbed Sour by the shoulders, getting her to look her in the eye. "Please?"

Sour didn't want to talk but she couldn't resist. How could she resist talking to a cute face? Sour just sighed. Her fists were clenched tight, and she felt her blood boiling on the inside.

"Okay, you want to know what's wrong? I'm scared, okay!? I was scared when you left Earth to go back to Cybertron, I thought someone was going to kill you, I thought you'd be dead and you'd never return back! And if something happened to you then... I... I..." Sour bit her lip, and tears were forming in her eyes, "I don't know what I'd do!"

Sour began to bawl, breaking down and her head lying on Smallfoot's shoulder.

"Oh no Sour, don't cry," Smallfoot pleaded, wrapping her arms around her, "Its okay... its okay I'm home."

"I don't want to lose you like how we lost some of our friends... or my mom..." Sour cried.

"Don't think about that Sour. Shh.... Shh...," Smallfoot cooed as she rubbed her girlfriend's back, "Its okay..."

Smallfoot held her tight for a good few minutes, and continued to rub her back as she cried on her shoulder. She never saw her girlfriend so distressed before, outside of the night on their third anniversary.

Once she began to calm down, Sour pulled away rubbing at her cheeks. Her face was red, tear-stained, and her eyes were bloodshot.

"Baby, look at me," Smallfoot said raising her chin, "I am so sorry I left you. But... I haven't seen Cybertron in a long time and... I just wanted to visit my old home one last time."

Sour nodded, "I... I understand."

Smallfoot's hand stroked Sour's cheek, getting her to give a small but sincere smile. At least her girlfriend was home.

"I promise I won't leave you like that again. You're my girlfriend... I guess I should have invited you to come," Smallfoot said.

"I... I would have wanted to come. I was kind of interested to see your home," Sour said.

"Well how come you didn't say anything?" Smallfoot asked.

"I... Well, Sunset and her friends were going and I thought you guys didn't want any more humans you'd have to take responsibility of. And... I thought you girls wouldn't want me to come because of my problems..."

"Baby, look at me." Smallfoot said. "You are not a problem. Whatever issues you have is what makes you you. Its okay. I would have loved to take you with me. I wish I asked you sooner."

"Its okay," Sour said.

"But I did get some cool photos though. The girls were kind enough for me to take some photos to take back home," Smallfoot said.

"Can I see them?" Sour said with some excitement.

"Of course, I have the camera with me. Just help me open up my truck form and I can pull out the camera," Smallfoot replied.

A smile came onto Sour's face, making Smallfoot feel warm inside. This night wasn't going to be bad after all...

Some of the other Autobots were much more calm when they brought their human partners home. And Jazz was one of them. When he returned home with Pinkie Pie, he was nothing but happy. He was just happy Pinkie made it home safely and okay.

And right now, Pinkie Pie was focused on showing Jazz all of her cool photos she took while she was in space with the girls.

"-And this is Rainbow Dash doing the moonwalk on the wing," Pinkie giggled as she showed the photo to the Autobot.

Jazz chuckled, "I'm surprised she didn't fall off the wing while you were still on your way to Cybertron."

"Neither did I. Ooh, I forgot about this one," Pinkie said, switching over to the next photo on her laptop. The picture showed Pinkie Pie looking like she was roadkill on the cabin window, acting like she was a poor animal who got hit by a truck.

"How did you take that photo?" Jazz asked.

"I asked Fluttershy to take while I was on the cabin. You should have seen the look on Bolt's face!" Pinkie snickered.

Jazz smiled in return. Pinkie certainly knew how to shock people.

"You didn't end up getting yelled at by Sentinel Prime again, did you?" Jazz asked.

"Nope. The big meanie yelled at all of us," Pinkie said.

Jazz groaned and shook his head, "I hate that guy. He really needs to take a chill pill."

"No kidding. In fact, I think I saw Rainbow Dash fall asleep while he was ranting at us. Even the Dinobots were looking bored," Pinkie Pie replied.

Jazz scrunched his eyes, "That bot never shuts up."

"No kidding!"

Some of the others had more bigger concerns though. Ironhide was one of them. The entire time that he drove Applejack home, he was constantly checking everywhere around him making sure no Renegades or Decepticons for that matter were gonna try and hunt them down. Needless to say Applejack wasn't liking his overprotective security measures he was performing.

"Ironhide, I promise you I'm fine," Applejack said.

"Applejack, I know you may say you're fine, but there may be something that isn't fine," Ironhide argued.

"Ironhide! I swear, I'm alright. Honestly," Applejack replied. "You don't need to be worried for me."

Ironhide's vehicular form came to a slamming halt, right in front of Applejack's home.

"Applejack, I need to be worried. I am your guardian, I'm responsible for your own safety. What if those Renegades hurt you? What if you didn't have any help getting back? If you didn't make it back then... I don't know what I would do. I would never forgive myself if something bad happened to you."

Applejack paused to let that sink in. He was right. He wasn't there to give them a hand when they were escaping back to Earth. He had every right to worried, especially after an attack they weren't at all prepared for.

Applejack sighed, "You're right. I'm sorry for snapping at you. I guess maybe I should have asked you to come with me."

Ironhide paused, "I would have loved to come with you. At least that way I could have helped you beat up Decepti-chops. And I could have shown you some old Wrecker spots on Cybertron."

Applejack smiled, "Maybe you can show me that. I only saw a little bit of your home, and most of the time it was dragged to science buildings that only Twilight and Perceptor were interested in."

Applejack couldn't see it, but Ironhide was giving a smile in return, "Perhaps I can show you around once we can get a new ship up and running again."

"I would like that," Applejack replied, rubbing her hand on Ironhide's steering wheel. While she wasn't thrilled about the attack from the Renegades, she was just happy to be back on good old Apple family dirt again.

Twilight however, in all of this wasn't in her best shape. When she went through the portal, she just walked back to her own house and said nothing. She didn't look back to say goodbye to anyone, she didn't call anyone, she just walked by herself. Not a soul, nor sight to be seen. Her mind was lost in her own thoughts. Punch was... dead. Gone. Exterminated. Terminated. Perished. Kaput. No more. What could she do now?

Her thoughts however were put on pause when the sound of stomping feet where right behind her. She looked back and saw a familiar face with the black helmet piece and the microscope on his shoulder.

"Perceptor? What are you doing here?" Twilight asked grumbling.

"I'm making sure you go home safely," Perceptor said.

"I don't need anyone to look after me," Twilight said.

"I beg to differ. After the events that occurred on the shuttle, I think protection is necessary. Please Twilight, just let me make sure you come home alive," Perceptor offered.

"Perceptor, I'm fine," Twilight said stomping off. She stopped to look back and saw Perceptor wasn't straying away from her. He was still walking after her.

"You're not going to go away, are you?" Twilight asked.

Perceptor shook his head. Twilight groaned.

"Fine," Twilight said.

Perceptor continued to walk behind Twilight. But he wasn't sure about how to get her to talk. She didn't look okay in the slightest, and he knew he had to protect her. But how could he tell her about what Punch said on his deathbed?

The two made another turn around a corner and eventually stopped to the location of Twilight's household. No cars were in the driveway. Maybe Dean Cadence and Shining Armor were busy tonight.

Twilight walked forward and unlocked the door, entering inside leaving Perceptor outside for a bit. Looking to his arm, he found a button colored in blue.

"Lets see if this shrinking technology works," Perceptor said to himself. He pressed the button, and in a flash he found his entire body shrinking down to Twilight's size. Perfect. Now he could walk inside without any issue whatsoever. His red feet walked forward, and he opened the door going inside Twilight's home.

"Fascinating... so this is what you humans call, a home?" Perceptor asked.

"Yes. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going upstairs," Twilight snarled as she stomped upstairs.

Perceptor was left on the main floor concerned.

Twilight slammed her bedroom door open and she tossed herself onto her bed tired and exhausted. She scrunched her face and groaned for a bit. But her groaning stopped when she looked and saw Spike licking her face and wagging his tail.

"Twilight! You're back!" Spike cheered with excitement

Twilight sighed, "Hey Spike."

Spike's tail stopped wagging when he looked at how Twilight was looking.

"Twilight, are you okay?" Spike asked.

"I'm fine Spike. We just took a while to get back here thanks to the Decepticon's new leader, Punch is dead, end of story," Twilight grumbled.

"Wait, what!? You're... you're kidding right?"

"I'm afraid she's not kidding," a voice said from the outside door. The door opened up and the Autobot scientist entered in still with concern on his face.

Spike tilted his head looking at the new figure.

"Who are you?"

"My name's Perceptor. I'm looking after Twilight for the time being," Perceptor said.

"I don't need to be looked after, Perceptor. I'm fine."

"Twilight...," Perceptor interrupted. Twilight looked back to see Perceptor's concerned face, "I know its rough. Believe me, I do."

Twilight didn't comply, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I know how you feel about Punch. Really, I do. But you cannot keep all of your emotions locked up inside. Closing yourself off from others, won't help anyone," Perceptor said.

"Perceptor, I don't need to talk about this," Twilight huffed as she turned herself away from the scientist.

"Twilight. Listen. I've lost many friends during the war, I've lost those I called my family. But closing myself off from them didn't help any of them. I may not be a human, but I certainly know that if you keep these emotions bottled up, you won't help yourself or your friends. Just talk to me. I know Punch is dead, and I know he's your friend, but you can't stay silent about this."

Twilight didn't reply. She was silent as she was turned away from the Autobot.

"Twilight?" Perceptor asked.

Perceptor walked over to the bed and listened in. All he heard was a sniffle.

"Twilight? Are you alright?"

He looked over some more and saw her face buried in her arms and clutched around her knees, crying silently. Perceptor moved himself over and he pulled Twilight close, holding her tight in a hug. She opened her eyes to see a pair of red and blue arms wrapped around her.

"W-What are you doing?" Twilight sobbed.

"Those who are hurting feel better when comforted by family and loved ones. And I am not leaving your side until you are okay," Perceptor replied.

Twilight just cried some more and she wrapped herself around the Autobot, bawling on his shoulder. Perceptor just stayed by her side and rubbed her back.

"Twilight, I am very sorry for your loss," Perceptor said.

"It... its not your fault..." Twilight wheezed.

"Shh... its okay. I'm here if you need someone to talk to. Scientist to scientist," Perceptor replied.

Twilight pulled away, wiping some tears from her face. Perceptor raised her chin to look at her.

"Twilight, I understand you are hurting. You cry all you need to. But I want you to know if you want to talk, I'm here for you. Your friends are all here for you," Perceptor said with a warm smile.

Twilight sniffled, "T-Thank you..."

Perceptor pulled her in for another hug and continued to pat her back as she was slowly starting to calm down. Once Twilight began to calm down, she pulled herself away and blew her nose into some tissues that were on her night stand.

"Twilight? Alright if I may tell you something?"

Twilight slowly nodded.

"You want to know why I've been staying here with you?" Perceptor asked.

Twilight nodded again.

"I... I promised Punch I'd look after you."

Twilight was taken aback, "W-What?"

"I promised Punch while he was on his deathbed, that I would look after you, as his final wish," Perceptor explained, "But I understand if you don't want--"

Twilight didn't let Perceptor finish his sentence, for instead she moved in and pulled him in for another hug, catching him by surprise. He wasn't sure how to react, but he pulled Twilight closer and provided comfort.

"Twilight? Are you sure you're alright?"

Twilight said nothing, but she held her new friend tight.

"Thank you...", Twilight whispered.

Perceptor said nothing. In fact, he didn't need to. He just simply smiled and continued to give Twilight comfort. At least she was calming down now.

Twilight felt warmth from the Autobot's spark. She had herself a new friend, someone to comfort her in her time of grief, someone she made a friend with while she was on Cybertron. Someone to help her deal with the Decepticon crisis. While she was still upset about Punch gone, she was glad someone made a final promise to watch over her.

"P-Perceptor? C-Can I ask you something?" Twilight asked.

Perceptor nodded.

"C-Can you stay with me tonight? A-At least to make sure there aren't Decepticons around?"

Perceptor smiled, "I will stay for as long as you may require me."

Twilight felt tears forming in her eyes. But these tears weren't sad, these were happy.

"Thank you, Perceptor," Twilight whispered.

Perceptor wiped another tear off from her face and grabbed the tissue box from her night stand, passing it to her. She wiped some more tears off and blew her nose again. From inside her coat pocket she pulled out the blue microchip that was passed down to her by her former Autobot guardian. She watched as part of it sparkled in the light from her ceiling.

"I think we might be able to put that component to some use. Maybe we can use it for a new power suit for you?" Perceptor offered.

Twilight looked back to the scientist, "I would like that."

Twilight gazed back to the chip one last time, a smile on her face. Her friend may be gone, but not in her heart nor her mind. She would do what she could to keep his legacy on. She wasn't going to let his death be in vain. She was going to do everything in her power to make sure that more of her allies didn't perish the same way he had. And this time, she was going to put her all into it.

"Thank you Punch. For everything."