Author's Notes:

Is the pacing still going good? We're just a chapter away from finally getting to the real action in this story. And I apologize for this chapter not being very much added to the story, we'll get back to our main action soon.

After returning back to the base, the girls were taking the rest of the day off to do what they wanted. But they didn't goof off in their lounge room, but instead they were planning on taking this time to help the Autobots around the base with chores, along with fixing Ultra Magnus's ship. They still needed to get themselves off Earth to alert the forces on Cybertron about the impending danger.

Everyone put their hard work and effort to try and repair the ship, and each person was assigned a different position on the ship.

Twilight, Grapple, Hoist, and Perceptor ended up working on some panels built into the ground, and so Twilight went into the bottom of the floor, working on the wirings underneath the floor above them.

"Don't worry about the wires, its not going to a problem," Perceptor said.

Grapple groaned, "Ugh, she doesn't know what she's doing. You don't know what you're doing, do you Twilight?"

"Guys, I've been studying blueprints, manuals, and I've taken auto-body shop classes at Crystal Prep," Twilight said while fusing wires together. She stuck her head up and flipped her welding mask up to speak clearly, "I think if we can re-route all of the energy to the satellites and communications, we might have a chance to call Cybertron for help."

Twilight followed that up by pulling out a circuit board and showing it to them, "Do we need this piece?"

Hoist shook his head, "Nope."

"I don't think we need that piece anyway," Grapple said.

Twilight just shrugged and put the piece to the side, "I guess I'll put this here for a bit."

Twilight ducked her head back under to continue working on the wires.

"Just cut the big red cable, try that," Perceptor said.

"So why does Ultra Magnus want to leave so bad? He just got here," Grapple asked.

"Well Grapple," Twilight said as she fused more wires together, "I think it should be quite plain to see. He wants to leave, so he can put an end to Cy-Kill and those Renegades. I'm with him on this, I think we need to leave for Cybertron as quick as possible to stop him."

"Right... Hey, how about we change the subject?" Hoist asked.

"I suppose that would be okay," Twilight said as she cut some more wires in the floor.

"How did you find your first trip on Cybertron to be?" Hoist asked as he offered her a drink.

Twilight pulled herself up and flipped her mask up, accepting the cup filled with milk. She took a sip.

"Well... it was... interesting, to say the least," Twilight hesitantly said.

Hoist and Grapple stayed silent for a bit. They knew what she was thinking.

"It was terrible, wasn't it?" Grapple replied.

"No! No, it wasn't. Its just... well... I didn't expect to see Cybertron so... lifeless," Twilight replied.

"Millions and millions of years of war are the reason for our planet being nothing but a lifeless shell, nothing but a field for more battle and destruction," Grapple replied.

"Oh you're right. I'm very sorry about-- Hey guys?" Twilight interrupted.

"Yes?" All three bots replied.

"Its a mess down here. I don't know how rough this ship crashed, but it looks like a bunch of supplies fell in here. There's old guns, and there's one, two, no there's four tools down here--" Twilight said as she began pulling some of the tools out and putting them out of the shaft, "Did you guys even see that?"

"Um.... sure," Hoist replied.

"And... wait, did you two work on this ship in the past?" Twilight asked.

"Yes, why?"

"And there's... there's a dozen copies of blueprint material tossed down here. Hang on... oh there's one for a solar power tower!"

"Hey that one's mine! Its going to be valuable one day!" Grapple snapped.

"Just cut the big red cable Twilight, just cut it!" Hoist interrupted.

"Which one, there's 20 of them!" Twilight asked.

Perceptor just moved himself and he ducked his head into the shaft that Twilight was in, trying to see where Twilight was looking at.

"That one," Perceptor said, his voice echoing in the duct.

Twilight snipped a wire, and a big zap of electricity zapped, flashing a bright light from the duct and into the room for only a millisecond. Once the light was gone, Twilight slowly pulled herself out from the vent, revealing her welding mask was off, covered in black dust, and her hair was now all frizzy and sticking up in the air.

Twilight's eyes opened in the black dust, and she coughed heavily.

"Guys... I don't think we're gonna be able to get a signal out to Cybertron with our limited equipment," Twilight said trying to keep herself balanced.

"No, its quite alright Twilight. We don't have all of the proper tools anyway," Perceptor said, helping Twilight out from the shaft.

"We had better tools on Cybertron," Grapple complained.

"All of our things were better on Cybertron," Hoist grumbled. "At least they were before Megatron and his goons turned it into a wasteland."

They heard Perceptor mutter an ahem, urging them to stop and think. What were they saying? They were being rude to Twilight!

"Not that we don't like Earth!" Hoist said quickly, "We aren't saying that, its just... we miss the glory days of Cybertron."

Twilight coughed heavily as more smoke cleared from her body, "Its... its fine."

"Perhaps you should take a break Twilight, you've been working yourself the bone. You should take some time off, maybe even try to get Perceptor to take control of his new levitation powers," Grapple said.

"I... I suppose you're right," Twilight said, clearing more black dust off her body.

"B-But Twilight, I barely know anything about this Equestrian magic. I don't even know what damage I could cause! What if I do something that could blow up the base?", Perceptor started pacing back and forth and biting his nails just thinking of various situations, "Or worse, I destroy something that belongs to someone else, and then soon before you know it everyone's going to be fighting, and then I'm going to feel guilty to the point where I snap and then everyone yells at me, and then I'll be kicked out of the Autobots, or I'll--"

"Perceptor!" Grapple yelled as he grabbed his shoulders, "You must get ahold of yourself!"

Grapple's hand slapped Perceptor across his face.

"OW!" Perceptor said feeling the pain of the hard slap, "That wasn't necessary..."

"Perceptor. Look, I understand having these new powers is terrifying, but its going to be okay. You can trust Twilight. We've worked with her for a long time now, she knows what she's doing. Just calm down, and you'll be alright."

Perceptor began to calm down, and he let out a sigh. "Alright, you're right. I should probably practice my new abilities. I can barely lift anything without panicking under stress."

"You'll be alright Perceptor," Twilight said patting his hand, "Come on. I'll find us a safe place for you to practice so you can't hurt anyone."

With a smile, Perceptor walked with Twilight off the ship to go for some more magic practice.

While everyone was performing their daily chores, the former Guardian commander Leader-1 was busy working in a gymnasium room in the base, working out and practicing his skills. And standing with him was Indigo Zap and Rainbow Dash who were helping him own.

The first skill they were trying was push ups.

"5... 6... 7... 8..." Rainbow said as all three of them kept going down, and pushing themselves back up, and lowering themselves back down. Rainbow Dash and Indigo Zap were sweating through their foreheads, but Leader-1 looked fine. He wasn't breaking a sweat.

"You're doing good Eagle Robo!" Indigo joked.

Leader-1 chuckled, "Just call me Leader-1, Indigo."

"Keep it up, you're doing great!" Rainbow said.

Leader-1 continued to push down, and push up, push down, push up. He felt his strength growing stronger ever since he came with Sunset Shimmer and her friends down to Earth.

"Okay, and stop!" Rainbow said halting the two.

All three got back on their feet. Sweat was visibly running down the foreheads of the two athletes, while Leader-1 twisted his neck around and stretched his arms and legs.

"You're getting stronger Leader-1," Rainbow stated, "And just based off the fact you aren't out of breath, I say you should have enough strength to kick Cy-Kill's butt."

Leader-1 smiled, "Thanks. But I can't just be strong in this form, I've got to get stronger with my flight mode too."

"Good thing we've called the professionals on this one. Rest Q, Rocketman!"

Coming from the entrance into the room, were two Guardians. One was colored in white with a red medical symbol on his chest and a red visor, while the other one was colored in green with a few shades of orange, and with rockets on his arms.

"Can you two bring out his new rockets? We've got to take him out for some flying lessons."

"We're already on it," Rest Q said before leaving with the other Gobot next to his side.

"Wait a minute. That was Blaster, but why did you call him a different name?" Leader-1 asked.

"Oh, that, well... it kind of got confusing with the two Blasters we have in our base, and he asked that we name him something else, so he decided to go with Rocketman. Since he's got missiles on his arms?" Indigo explained.

Leader-1 nodded, "I see. Now about the flight modifications? Are you sure it'll be a good idea to modify them on me? I can already fly without being a vehicle, I don't see the need to have more modifications."

"Well its to help you move faster. Besides, the Decepticons and the Renegades are pretty tough. They've gotten stronger, and we've got to bulk you up," Indigo said.

"And I know just how to do so," Rainbow smirked. "Follow us!"

As everyone kept on working, Sunset Shimmer kept herself occupied with another task. This time, she along with Sugarcoat and Sunny Flare were judging their new trainees in an obstacle course and training arena in a lower part of the Autobot's mountain base, trying to get them all to become better for out in the field. The only ones in training were Strongarm, Tracks, Wasp, Road Rage, including a few Crystal Prep girls; Lemon, and Sour Sweet.

In the arena, there were tons of walls and turrets set up all around, along with some drones that were wielding guns ready to start moving. And far across from them, were a few test dummies that they built for the test, taking the shape of Optimus Prime and a human. And a few feet in front of them was a giant wall, set up as a barrier shield.

"Okay everyone, here's your mission. You have to get the shield down to get inside the building and save Optimus Prime, and the human, that's supposed to be one of us. But you have to get in their fast and safely, or else the bomb strapped to them is going to explode, killing them all. Get past the enemy lines, and disconnect that bomb. Ready, and... go!"

In one group on the field, there was Road Rage, Sour Sweet, Wasp, and Lemon Zest. All of them nodded.

"Alright, lets do this!" Road Rage said as she held a hand out. All of them huddled and put their hands together.

"Ready! Break!" They said in unison.

Sunset watched from above as the group began to make their move. They slowly moved from barrier to barrier, staying hidden so they wouldn't be shot. Lemon Zest grinned as she looked forward.

"Wasp, Road Rage, we've got an open space!" Lemon said.

"Lets go! I'll take lead Wasp, cover us!"

The group of four ran into the open, avoiding sight from any of the drones, and they all moved behind another barrier, staying hidden.

"No one spotted us," Sour said checking around, "Now we just keep a look out and await orders."

Sunset smiled as she watched them work together as a team. They were working so well, they weren't snapping at each other, and they weren't being caught. She could only hope the same would be okay for the other team.

From the sides, the footsteps of a robot were heard, and she got a glimpse of who stepped into her view.

"Hello Ultra Magnus. How are you?" Sunset asked.

"I'm alright, thank you for asking. What are you doing?"

Sunset looked back at Ultra Magnus, then back down at the new recruits.

"I'm teaching our new recruits. They're down there in the training course, trying to go through another test. I just hope they can do alright. Strongarm and Tracks keep on fighting, and they have nothing to fight over."

Ultra Magnus nodded, "So I've heard."

He looked around some more, and noticed Lemon Zest and Sour Sweet in armored suits, covering every inch of their body as they moved with their team.

"Are you sure its wise to have your fellow civilians be part of this test? They don't have armored skin like the Cybertronians or the Gobots, they're small, and they can easily be crushed."

"So am I, along with the rest of the girls. And yet we've been fighting with them for a year and several months," Sunset said.

Ultra Magnus raised a brow, "True as that may be, I still don't understand why Optimus Prime made you his second-in-command."

Sunset looked up to the older commander.

"Well I see why. For one, I'm a representative of this planet, and I've been teaching them about all the life and how this world works. Plus, Optimus Prime taught me things. Everyone has a chance for redemption, and every ounce of life should be valued. Because of his teachings, I carried them down to some of the Cybertronians, and I've even made some new friends. I turned a few of our enemies into friends with what he's taught me. Like, oh what's an example..."

Sunset snapped her fingers and pulled up a small console, showing a bio file belonging to a Cybertronian with a wolf like structure.

"This Decepticon here? Weirdwolf? He was a Decepticon, but I made friends with him. Me. A human. And he's happily enjoying his new life here on this planet in complete peace. Except for the occasional Decepticon who keeps on bothering him, but aside from that, he's doing alright."

Ultra Magnus was silent, politely listening to what Sunset had to say.

"Another example. Road Rage down there? Former bounty hunter, but because she made friends with us, she chose to stay here and become part of the Autobots again. Because of us. And there have been several times with the Decepticons, I can tell there are some who want to change but they don't."

Ultra Magnus looked back to Sunset.

"Like who?"

"Well, when we were in another fight with the Decepticons, there was one who was kind to us. He had orders to kill some of us, but he didn't. Instead he just let us go. I do wish I could have recruited him to join us."

Ultra Magnus nodded, "There is something you must understand though. Not everyone changes. Not Soundwave, not Starscream, not even Megatron. There will always be others who won't change, no matter how hard you try to persuade them to join you in peace and harmony. I know from experience. The day that Megatron chose to become a Decepticon..."

Sunset looked back, "Wait... were you there when he changed?"

"I saw everything," Ultra Magnus said. "Megatron and Optimus were brothers once. But when the Decepticons forces grew stronger, so did his lust for power. He believed that Cybertron would only be ruled by one leader, and it was his twisted arrogance that led to his downfall as an Autobot. I watched as he slaughtered innocent warriors and civilians, trying to take the staff. But it was Optimus Prime who stood and wouldn't let Megatron take it. And it was there, that Megatron left and took control of the Decepticons, leaving Optimus to take position of the new leader of the Autobots. But he never gave up on him. But ever since, he still hasn't been able to get Megatron to put an end to the war."

Sunset had a sad look on her face. It was hard to hear a sad story about her Autobot mentor.

"I see."

Ultra Magnus looked back at Sunset, "But I can see Optimus still hasn't given up. If he's managed to keep his team together after a few decades from Cybertron, including taking in some new teammates like yourself, he may be able to make up with Megatron. And I surely hope you'll be able to deal with any new threats that may come our way."

Sunset grinned, "I'm positive I'll be okay. Besides, this isn't the first time we've dealt with threats. And we've dealt with the forces of evil even before we met the Autobots."

Ultra Magnus had a confused look, "Wait... what other forces?"

"Well for starters, I was actually kind of evil at the start until they showed me another way around, and then at somepoint at our school, these three sirens who had magical singing--"

An explosion interrupted Sunset before she could even finish explaining. Down below, they watched as the simulation began to die down, and the power began to turn off.

"Oh great," Sunset groaned. She hit her finger on a little wrist communicator to talk to someone down below, "Sugarcoat, let me guess. They failed?"

"Yes they did for the upteenth time. They disobeyed orders, left teammates behind, and they just blew up Optimus, the dummy of you, themselves, and their teammates outside. That's more penalty points than I've seen the last time."

Sunset scrunched her face, "I'll go talk to them."

Walking down several flights of stairs that were built into the underground walls, she made it down to the ground and gave a disappointed look to her students.

"So let me get this straight. You disobeyed orders, you ran out early, and you left teammates behind?"

The group of teammates looked at each other and nodded nervously.

"That has to be the worst rescue scenario in any of the training courses I've seen," Sugarcoat said shaking her head.

"But Sunset, it was all Ms. Police Academy's fault," Tracks snarled.

"Mine!? If you followed orders, we could have won!"

"Ahem," Sunset said loudly.

The two stopped and stood straight as they looked to Sunset and the few girls that were with them.

"The first principle is to work together as a team, and unfortunately it seems that's still something you two need to work on. And I need to keep my eye on you two from now on if you're going to do nothing but fight," Sunset said.

"No Sunset, you need to take a break. You've been working too hard, when's the last time you had a break?" Sunny said with worry.

"Sunny, I can't just ignore this problem," Sunset said.

"Sunset, let us handle it. Just go hang out with your friends to calm down for a bit. You need to detox for a bit. I don't even recall the last time you've relaxed."

"As second-in-command, I don't relax. Its my job to make sure everyone is alright and is working okay," Sunset said.

"Sunset, I believe the girl has a point," Ultra Magnus said taking a few steps down to where they stood. "From the little bit of information Optimus has given me about your species, you all need to have breaks to calm down from high anxiety and stress. I can handle this for you."

"Ultra Magnus, I'm not sure... I know them well and--"

"Sunset. I've worked with these trainees back on Cybertron. I know how to work with them. Just take a break," Ultra Magnus said, "And that goes for all of you humans."

Sunset sighed, "Very well. Just... just be easy on them okay? They're just kids."

Ultra Magnus nodded, "I know."

Not wanting her to waste any more time, Sunny pulled Sunset with her as the girls walked off to go up the insane amount of stairs that they had to walk up on to go take a break.

"I don't know, I can't just walk away from this, they need help. They need guidance," Sunset said.

"We know, but you need a break. You can't work yourself to death, you're not a machine. Unlike them, you need sleep, food, and a stress relief," Sugarcoat bluntly said.

"But...", Sunset pleaded.

"Sunset. Just go take your friends out for some fast food and go for another sleepover. We'll join you, besides we can all use a break." Sunny said.

"Yeah dude, you look pretty uptight. Have you considered getting a massage?"

Sunset looked back at Lemon, "No..."

"Oh. Well you should, they are amazing... especially chilling out in the hot tub, ooohhhh that feels so nice..." Lemon sighed.

"I suppose you're right. Besides, we haven't heard anything new in a bit. Maybe we can go chill for a bit. Besides, I still have homework to do."

"Now you're talking," Lemon smiled.

With a group of smiles, they walked up the stairs, on their way up to the door leading back to the rest of the base to go meet with their friends. Surely a break must help them from a hard day of work.