Author's Notes:

Honestly, I was going to put in another musical number for this part here, but I think I can save a song for the next chapter or much later.

And I spent a good amount of time watching Transformers Headmasters. My god that dubbing is so terrible... Spaceship Bruce? Really?

The very next morning was much more bright and cheery than it was the day before. Everyone around the base was feeling much more happy and upbeat now that Sunset Shimmer was awake.

Within the infirmary, the morning sun shined right through a window that was built into the base, casting its light over Sunset's yellow body. She slowly opened her eyes when the morning light cast into her room, and she stretched her arms as she yawned. She smacked her lips and rubbed her eyes as she attempted to wake herself up, and when she looked, she saw Twilight Sparkle asleep in a chair right next to her bed. She didn't know why she was there, when the memories of the night before flooded back into her head.

She remembered that after a while, Twilight had stopped crying into Sunset's shoulder out of joy to see her friend was alive. But at that point, the effects of the caffeine she had taken were wearing off and she slowly fell asleep in that chair. Soon enough, Twilight yawned and she slowly opened her eyes as she woke up.

"Morning Twilight," Sunset said with a warm smile.

Twilight couldn't help but smile back, "Morning Sunset. How are you feeling?"

"Okay, I guess. My arm's a little stiff though," Sunset said, trying to adjust her arm which was hooked to an IV unit, "Were you sitting there all night?"

"I wanted to make sure you were okay since you were awake," Twilight said.

"Oh, well, thank you," Sunset grinned.

From the sliding doors, entered in the rest of the girls; Sunset's friends. And in Rarity's hands, was a tray table which had pancakes, milk, and some bacon.

"Morning darling! I'm so happy to see you up in your lively self again," Rarity beamed.

"Morning bacon-hair," Rainbow joked.

"Morning Rarity. Morning girls," Sunset said, letting Rarity rest the breakfast tray down in front of her.

"I'm so glad to see you're okay," Fluttershy grinned.

"I think we all are," Applejack said.

"I made a celebratory 'Welcome Back To Your Health' cake last night!", Pinkie squeed.

Sunset giggled, "Thanks Pinkie."

"Eh, its what I do," Pinkie shrugged.

Sunset took a sip of her drink and took a bite of some of the bacon on her plate.

"So...", Sunset swallowed, "What's happened since I was out?"

"Well... not a lot, actually," Fluttershy replied.

"Except for our entire base now on lock down to keep the Decepticons from detecting us, everyone getting mad during the night and flinging their clothes at one another. Oh and Twilight showed our friends from Crystal Prep some of our dead people, but specifically Brawn, Windcharger, Gears, Huffer, Inferno, Skids, and Sunstreaker!", Pinkie squeed.

Sunset paused with confusion.

"Uh..."

"Don't question it. We were up late at night, we couldn't sleep, and we drank a lot of coffee," Twilight replied.

"Got it. But what about everyone else? Is everyone else okay?"

"Well... yes, and... no," Rainbow said, rubbing the back of her head.

"What do you mean?"

"Well--"

"I strongly suggest you just get straight to the point, and don't sugarcoat it."

The girls looked to the door, and standing in it was Sugarcoat, along with the rest of the Crystal Prep girls.

"How long were you standing there?"

"Long enough for Pinkie Pie to spell out the names of the Autobots we were most interested in learning about," Sunny Flare replied.

"But getting to our main point, we are standing with only a few Autobots remaining, and barely any of them can stand against an entire army."

"Dude, don't be so negative," Lemon said, "We can still do this!"

"I'm not being negative here. But, hypothetically speaking, just based on our numbers, adding on the amount of students from Canterlot High and Crystal Prep Academy, along with those who don't attend either of those schools, we won't last more than a few hours against the Decepticon army."

"I think we can make through it Sugarcoat, we always, agh, ow...," Sunset winced as she moved herself around. Something hard was under her back.

She slided her hand underneath her back and felt something metallic behind her. What was behind her? With what strength she had, she pulled out the strange object and put it in her lap which sparkled in her eyes.

"The Matrix... I remember now. Optimus passed it down to me for me to protect from... Megatron."

"I think you mean, Galvatron, darling. Although that's a very peculiar name," Rarity corrected.

"Yeah, it is. Oh wait, I almost forgot! I forgot your clothes!"

Pinkie zoomed out of the room and came back within seconds, holding Sunset's clothes in her arms. In her arms were the normal pair of jeans, the blue blouse, and the short black jacket she now wore nowadays. And without any warning, she chucked them into the air at Sunset, landing on top of her tray which still had her breakfast on it.

"Oh, oops...", Pinkie chuckled hesitantly.

"Its fine Pinkie," Sunset said, "Although I can't really put them on with, uh... well, being attached to the uh..." Sunset urged her head to the IV unit next to her.

Twilight paused for a moment.

"I'll go get Fixit..."

After their Mini-Con friend named Fixit came back and helped patch up Sunset's wounds and removed the IV unit from her body, and wrapped up her arm with some bandages. Later, Sunset got a fresh set of clothes that weren't covered in any maple syrup or egg yolk, and she came out of the infirmary as fresh as a daisy.

And as she walked out with the Matrix gripped in her arms, she was met with friendly smiles and admiration from her friends and close allies.

"ZOWIE! BAM! Glad to see you back on your feet again Sunset, KABLAM!" Warpath boomed.

Sunset giggled, "Thanks Warpath."

"Me Grimlock glad to see you back!"

"Thank you Grimlock," Sunset smiled.

"Top of the morning to you. Pleasant to see you up and at em again Sunset."

"Morning to you too, Quickshadow. And good morning to you all!"

Sunset stood with her friends near the command console and looked around at the remaining crew that was still standing before them. And as they stood near her, she slowly glanced from the left to the right, mentally counting who was remaining. Humans included.

"Hm... not a bad number. We've still got some people left."

"Sunset Shimmer. I'm glad to see you're back in good health," Ultra Magnus spoke up, moving in from the crowded people. And moving through the crowd moving in and standing next to him was Leader-1.

"Good morning Ultra Magnus. And good morning Leader-1."

Leader-1 gave a friendly smile and nod.

"So... how has the operations been going while I was... out?"

"So far so good. No signs of the Decepticons. And although I'm a little hesitant about this... I'm willing to give this a try."

Sunset tilted her head in confusion.

"I don't understand."

"I understand I've been a little... difficult in the past few days--"

"--Even though we really haven't seen you do that a whole lot, just being yesterday you were difficult", Pinkie interrupted.

Ultra Magnus could only glare at Pinkie Pie, but he turned his attention back to Sunset.

"Anyways... what I was going to say was, if Optimus Prime appointed you as second-in-command of the Autobots, then I suppose I can give your leadership a chance."

Sunset smiled, "Thank you, Ultra Magnus. That's very big of you."

Ultra Magnus nodded.

"Okay. So," Sunset looked around, "Based on what I'm seeing, we're short on troops and bots, but I think we can still work with this. But first thing I need to talk about."

Sunset presented the Matrix of Leadership in her hands.

"I understand Optimus passed down the Matrix of Leadership down to me to protect, which contains all of the wisdom of your elders from Cybertron. And as second-in-command, my number one duty will be to protect and keep an eye on it at all times."

Everyone looked at each other with smiles and agreeing nods.

"Which brings me to the daring question I have to ask.... how do you open this thing?"

Sunset's hands grabbed the gray handles as she pulled, but it wasn't opening. She grunted as she pulled hard on the relic.

"Come on... open... open! Dang it, open!"

Pulling on the edges wasn't working. Maybe from the interior of the hull?

She moved the Matrix around and dug her fingers into the hull of the orange shell and pulled once more, but she still wasn't getting the Matrix to open. The others could only either snicker, giggle, or cringe over her failure.

"Am I the only one that finds this quite embarrassing?", Quickshadow said.

"Its kind of funny though," Sandstorm stifled a snicker.

After a few more seconds, Sunset stopped and took a moment to breathe in and out.

"Okay so... trying to open this thing... isn't going to work."

"Sunset?"

Sunset glanced up to Ultra Magnus.

"Did you try using the finger grooves along the handles?"

Sunset looked at the Matrix once again, and her eyes widened and her face heated up.

"Oh... right...", Sunset blushed, "Sorry..."

Sunset adjusted the Matrix once again, turning it so she could slide her fingers into the holes. Luckily for her, since the Matrix was now to the size she needed, she could slide her fingers into the holes without any issues whatsoever.

Gripping it tightly, she used all of her strength to pull on the Matrix, once again. Maybe this time it would work. But as she pulled hard once again... nothing happened. The magical item still didn't respond to her will.

"Oh come on!" Sunset screeched.

Sunset sighed and she set the Matrix on the ground next to her, turning her attention back to the Autobots.

"Okay, so obviously I can't open it. No big problem... I hope. Anyways, I think there's something I need to address to you all. As you know, Megatron is now back, and he's now taken on a new form. One he calls Galvatron."

Everyone nodded.

"And as you all have seen, he now has some new troops. Although some of them I'm not really familiar with. Did anyone at any point in time get some photos or some images of some of their new warriors?"

"We all got photos during the battle, and we uploaded them into Teletraan-1," Arcee interrupted.

Sunset and the girls turned around and backed up so they could get a clear look at the big screen. Soon the main computer began to flick through several stilled images that were taken during the battle.

"Wait. Teletraan-1. Pause right there."

The picture paused in place, displaying a singular frame of action. In that photo was a yellow Renegade, with gray arms and a gray head, along with a pipe sticking out from his back going up, and with red eyes.

"That's a Renegade Gobot...", Sunset interrupted. "None of you saw any Renegades or even Cy-Kill during the battle, did you?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"But if there weren't any Renegades... how come this one stayed with them?" Sunset asked.

"Does anyone even know this Renegade?" Twilight asked.

"Nope."

"Nada."

"Zlich."

"I've got nothing."

"Wait... I know this Renegade," Smallfoot interrupted. "The Guardians and I met this guy several times during our wars on Gobotron. It was... what was it... Roller? No, that's not it..."

"Do you remember what he converted into?" Sunset asked.

"Yeah, he turns into a steamroller... wait, that's it! Steamer! That's his name, Steamer."

Sunset and the other girls stifled some snickers.

"Wait, wait, wait... he's a steamroller, and his name is Steamer?" Sour giggled.

"What kind of name is that?" Lemon chuckled.

"Hey guys, look out! Steamer's in town! You better run!" Pinkie laughed.

Smallfoot just glared at them with a frown.

"I'm not sure whether or not I should be offended that they're mocking our names... or that they think its hilarious to make fun of someone based on their name."

The girls all stopped laughing when they noticed the frown upon on her face. Taking a moment to clear their throats, they compsed themselves and stood back up.

"Sincerest apologies Smallfoot. That was highly immature of us. We wouldn't make fun of anyone for having a different name," Rarity said, clearing her throat.

"But what if its someone who was named Spike but was renamed Sparkle?" Pinkie grinned.

"No, no, wait! Even better! What if you changed an awesome name like Fortress Maximus into... Spaceship Bruce?" Lemon snickered.

Smallfoot's hand slapped her own face and she groaned.

"Sunset, I don't mean to interrupt, but is there any chance we can wrap this up?" Smallfoot asked.

"Right, right, sorry."

Sunset cleared her throat.

"Teletraan-1, go to the next photo."

The next photo displayed in front of them, revealing snapshots of Cyclonus and Scourge; the two Decepticons who chased Sunset and Optimus Prime.

"Does anyone know who those two are?" Sunset asked.

The Autobots looked at the picture closely, but all of them just shrugged and gave confused grunts.

"I'm not even sure who those two are," Wheeljack said.

"We did get their names during the battle. They said their names were Scourge and Cyclonus."

"Actually... now that I think of it, I don't recall there being any Decepticon warriors with those names," Ultra Magnus spoke up.

"Really? No one?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"Okay... But there's one thing I think is probably the most important thing I have to bring up here. Something that not only I saw, but the rest of my friends noticed as well."

The next images began to appear, and soon a whole bunch of cropped images folded together revealing very familiar faces. Extremely, familiar faces...

"Whoa... what the heck are those guys?" Sugarcoat asked.

"I think its time you all know the truth about those Decepticons. All of those Decepticons are based off magic-based creatures that me and friends have dealt with in the past. All of them are metallic incarnations of our enemies from the past."

The Autobots stayed silent and put all of their focus onto them.

"Please, Sunset, continue. You have our undivided attention," Ultra Magnus said.

Sunset nodded, "The first one I noticed was her..."

The image changed to reveal a dragon-like Decepticon standing in a bipedal form, with teal eyes and red and black skin, with streaks of fiery-like paint.

"That Decepticon looks a little like me back at the Fall Formal... the very night that the girls helped me become a better person that I am today," Sunset said with complete seriousness.

"That's not it though, is it?" Indigo asked.

"I wish I could say that was it, but its not."

Another image appeared, in the form of the three Sirens who were hovering in the air with angry expressions on their faces.

"The Sirens... three beautiful but dangerous creatures that were banished from Equestria. They tried to take over our school with their singing which hypnotized everyone around us... except for us. All because of the Equestrian magic that connected all of us together," Sunset stated. "We defeated them... but we never saw them again."

The next image flipped up, revealing the image of Jet Black Spark; the closest thing to Midnight Sparkle, Twilight's sworn nightmare.

"Lastly, this Decepticon. This Decepticon looks exactly like Twilight was at the Friendship Games. Consumed by magic, she turned into a power-crazed demon who wanted to tear the threads of our world apart to understand its magic... until we put a stop to it."

The final images appeared before them, the Shadowcons.

"Do those Decepticons look familiar to anyone?" Sunset asked.

Indigo and the Crystal Prep girls let out a gasp of shock.

"No... is that?"

"Our suits... they're... they're..."

"They're awesome!" Lemon grinned.

The Crystal Prep girls glared at Lemon with cold faces.

"What? Oh come on, don't tell me you don't think those Decepticons look cool! They look like us!"

Indigo Zap blinked before rubbing her eyebrow.

"Lemon... think about this. There are Decepticon versions of us that are made from our suits that are now part of Megatron's team..."

Lemon took a moment to think about the thought that Indigo put in her head. The only look she could give was a disturbed look.

"Oh... right."

Lemon Zest cleared her throat before giving a grin and turning her attention back onto the fiery-haired leader.

"But something doesn't make sense. Meg-"

"-Galvatron!" Pinkie interrupted, making everyone jump out of their skin.

"Sorry, Galvatron... he comes into battle looking for me and the Matrix of Leadership, and now he has warriors who are Decepticon manifestations of everyone we've faced in the past. Me at the Fall Formal, the Dazzlings, Midnight Sparkle. That can't be a coincidence."

"But how would they know all of that?" Sour asked.

"The Decepticons have been on Earth for a long time with the Autobots. You don't suppose they could have seen everything we've done while they were here. Megatron did see what happened to me at the Fall Formal. How he did, I won't understand, but he did see it." Sunset suggested.

"Its a possibility, but why would they make Decepticon duplicates of all of them?"

"I don't know. But that's something we're going to have to worry about later. Our top priority is getting the Matrix of Leadership out of here before the Decepticons find us," Sunset said.

"And yourself, ma'am. Optimus Prime was very strict," Strongarm interrupted.

"And by strict, she means protect you at all cost," Tracks replied.

"But still, how are we going to keep those despicable creatures away from Sunset?" Rarity asked.

"Hm...", Sunset scratched her chin, thinking deeply.

Everyone else was pacing back and forth, tapping their feet on the ground, and scratching their chins as they were thinking. What could they do to keep Sunset safe?

"You know what I would do? I'd throw a big party to distract them!"

"Is everything about parties with you? Even then, I doubt they would fall for it," Sunny Flare replied.

"Wait... maybe Pinkie's onto something."

"Really?"

"REALLY?", everyone replied.

"Distraction. That's it. We need to have them distracted long enough for us to leave. And I think I know just how to keep them distracted...", Sunset stared down at the Matrix with a smirk.

"Hoist, Grapple. You two are good with construction and crafts, correct?"

"Yes we are," Grapple smiled.

"I would like you to make duplicates of this for me if you can. And when you form the hollow insides, just put some material within it to make it glow. Make it shiny."

Hoist and Grapple looked to each other, both with sharing grins (even though Hoist didn't have a mouth on his face).

"We'll get right on it Sunset. But maybe it'd best if it was full size first."

"Right. Wheeljack, put the Matrix through the enlarger. Make it back into the size it was before. Now as for everyone else... we have a lot of work to do. Ratchet, is that Groundbridge repaired?"

"Almost."

"Then finish fixing it. We need it repaired. Wheeljack, I want you to help him as soon as you're done. More hands make less work."

"Understood Sunset," Wheeljack said.

"Crystal Prep girls, Hound, Outback. Blaster, Highbrow, Smallfoot. I want you 10, including the Cassettes, to finish repairs on Ultra Magnus's ship. You're taking that ship with you, along with the Dinobots."

"Got it!" Indigo Zap said.

Sunset then looked to Twilight and the girls, along with their guardians.

"Girls. I want you all to pack up anything you took with you, any belongings you have here, and any material that you need to survive," Sunset replied. "Perceptor and Twilight, you two are coming with me."

"Aw, why?" Pinkie asked.

"If they're after me, there's a good chance they'll probably want all of our magic. But if we split up from them-"

"-they can't get all of our magic," Fluttershy finished.

"Sunset, you're a genius!" Pinkie squeed.

"So, are we all on board then?" Sunset said.

"I think everyone is willing to go through with this," Sunny Flare smiled.

"Okay. All those in favor in going forth with my plan, say Aye!"

Everyone all let out a big cheer.

"AYE!"

"And against?"

No one made a sound. No one said a word. They were all on board.

"Perfect! Everyone's on board! Now, lets get to work!" Sunset ordered.

Without question, everyone began to move around the base, going off into different directions to go and do the tasks they were assigned to do. And they had to move fast, who knows what the Decepticons were up to? And who knows if they were nearby? And as everyone rushed to get going, various conversations overlapped with one another, making it hard to hear anyone through the crowd.

The crowds began to clear out, and it left only a few people in the control room. All of which stood in awkward silence. What could they say to one another?

"So...", Strongarm began, "What do we do now?"

What no one knew was that outside of the base, there was someone who was listening very closely to them. A yellow and pink metallic bat had been sitting perched near a satellite that was sticking out of the base, listening very closely. A few wires had dug into the satellite that were from the same bat which were patched into a little bit of the inner parts of the satellite.

The cords began to slowly pull out and go back into the place of the bat. The bat let out a squeak, and then it slowly flapped its wings as it swooped up into the air, departing from the spot where the satellite was sticking out, and going off into the sky to seek his master.