Friendship is Prime: Chapter Six

As Twilight took her first steps down the labyrinth, she began to go over these recent events in her head, trying to make sense of her current situation.  Eventually she came to a forked path and stopped to ponder out loud, since she really didn't have anyone else to talk to at the moment.

"What's Discord up to?"  She asked herself.  "He can't break us like he did last time, so why put us in another maze?"  Twilight knew just asking herself these questions wouldn't really get her anywhere, so she decided to get through this maze as quickly as possible.  She turned to the right and dashed down her chosen path.

Soon after that, however, a stone wall rose out of the floor at that fork and sealed off the path Twilight had just taken.  From the left path, the one Twilight chose not to take, Starscream walked into the fork Twilight was just at.  However, with the road Twilight just took sealed off, Starscream only had one direction to go.  Starscream, though, was none the wiser to these changing walls, so he just walked along and bemoaned to himself.

"It feels like I've been walking for hours.  Oh what I'd give for my vehicle mode.  Or maybe just my old arm.  I could blast a hole through these walls and be done with this."

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In a different section of the maze, Arcee was also attempting to make her way through the maze.

She held her index and middle fingers to the temple of her head, but nothing happened.  "No comm link to talk to the others," she noted to herself before extending both her arms out in front of her, hoping her hands would transform into blasters like they normally would.  "No weapons," she muttered again.  This time she extended her arms out to her side and concentrated on turning into a motorcycle.  Sadly, nothing happened this time either.  "No motorcycle.  I'm basically unarmed and completely defenseless.  But other than that, being human isn't so bad."  Arcee added that last part with a bit of obvious sarcasm.  "Well, standing here whining about it isn't going to help."  After this, she picked up her pace and continued through the maze.

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Rainbow Dash was running through the labyrinth at full speed.  She was zipping down corridors and making rapid turns left and right.

"Ha!  I'll be out of here in no time." She congratulated herself out loud.  However, when she came up to the next fork and was about to go right, a stone wall rose out of the ground and blocked her path.  Her expression swiftly went from surprise to annoyance before deciding to go down the left path instead.  She made it to a 3-way fork when more walls rose up to cover the left and right paths.  Annoyed by this, she turned around and was about to go back the way she came when a third wall sealed off that path as well.  Her anger rising, she bolted down the only path left and eventually came to a dead end.  Her face was read with anger at this point.  As soon as she turned around, she heard the walls move again.  She turned again to see she suddenly had 3 paths open to her.  A small smile finally ran across her face, but as soon as she moved toward the left, that path closed up again.  Rainbow's smile was gone and she finally screamed to the sky in anger.

"HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO GET THROUGH THE MAZE WHEN IT KEEPS CHANING?!?!"

"Is that you, kid?"  Rainbow Dash heard a familiar voice echo from the center path.  She soon saw a small blue figure walk into sight.  Even though this girl wasn't human the last time she saw her, Rainbow Dash could recognize the smug tone in her voice and look of confidence her eyes.

"Arcee!"  Rainbow Dash squeed in delight as she ran over to her friend.  "You have no idea how good it is to see a familiar face.  Well, sort of familiar, but you know what I mean."

"The feeling's mutual, but we can't celebrate just yet.  We still need to find the others," Arcee responded.

"Right, let's go!" And with that, the two continued on down the labyrinth.

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Ratchet was doing his best to navigate the corridors as well.

"Hmmm, if I'm right, I should turn…here!"  Ratchet muttered to himself as he ended up turning into a dead end.

"Ugh, why did he even bother with this stupid maze in the first place?!"  Ratchet sighed in exasperation.  Suddenly, he started hearing a fain, high pitched noise.  "Who's there?"  Ratchet asked aloud only for no one to answer.  As the noise drew closer, however, he noticed that it was changing pitch at different rates.

"Is someone…whistling?"  He pondered out loud.  Shortly after that, the noise became so loud, Ratchet could tell the source was just around the corner.  As that source turned the corner to face Ratchet, he let out a small gasp of horror as he realized what he was dealing with.

"Well hi there, Mr. Ratchet!"  Pinkie greeted her newest friend.  "Fancy running into you in a place like this, huh?"

"Not you again…" was all Ratchet could muster in an annoyed tone.

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Applejack was cautious treading the labyrinth, looking in all directions for anything that stuck out of the ordinary.

"If Discord tries that trick with the apples again, I swear I'll buck him into next Tuesday."  Unfortunately as she was saying this, she did not have her gaze in front of her, and as such did not see the figure standing in front of her.  She ended up colliding into the backside of this person and knocked him over.  "Hey watch it!" He shouted out as he turned around to find out to see who hit him.  Once he saw her however, all he could say was "Applejack?"

As Applejack regained her composure from the collision, she finally saw who she met.  "Bulkhead, is that you?"  She asked in uncertainty after gazing upon his human form.

"In the flesh," Bulkhead responded.  The irony of that statement was not lost on either of them, but they both still let out a chuckle from the much needed joke.

"Now what?"  Applejack asked in uncertainty of their next move.

"What else?"  Bulkhead responded with confidence in his voice.  "We find your friends, my team, and then we tan Discord's sorry hide."

"Yee-haw!"  Applejack exclaimed in delight.  "That sounds like a plan to me!"

"Then let's get moving!" Bulkhead added in.  Then the duo set forth to reunite with their comrades.

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As Fluttershy made her way through the series of twists and turns, she kept her head held low, timidly treading at a slow pace, her nerves just about ready to explode with fright.  She was looking around her surroundings, approaching everything with caution, when she suddenly heard faint footsteps in the distance.  As she continued to listen, she realized that they were getting louder, and that whoever it was was closing in on her!  Fluttershy did not want to take the chance.  She sprinted away as fast as she could.  But no matter how quickly she ran, the noise still wouldn't get any quieter.  The next thing she knew she was in a dead end corridor.  She turned around to see a shadow looming over the wall, and the footsteps were even louder than before!  At this point she could only drop to the ground and huddle up in fear and hope whatever was coming would ignore such a small and insignificant creature.  But her fear turned to delight as she heard the voice coming from the figure approaching her.

"Hello, Fluttershy.  I trust you are doing well?"   Fluttershy looked up to see the face of none other than Optimus Prime standing over her.

"Oh, Optimus, thank goodness!"  Fluttershy exclaimed in absolute joy.  "I was so worried that I was going to be all alone again in another one of Discord's games."

"That won't happen," Optimus replied sternly.  "I made a promise that we would protect you and your friends, and I intend to keep it!"

Fluttershy saw the determination in Optimus's eyes and gave him a big warm smile, the kind of smile she only comfortable giving around her closest friends.

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"Which way do you think we should go?"

As Jack, Miko, and Raf, came to another series of turns in the labyrinth, Raf had decided to ask for Jack's advice on the next route to take.

"I don't know, you've been doing a good job of picking so far.  Maybe we should ask Miko."  But as he and Raf turned around to ask her opinion, they were surprised to find her with her arms wrapped around herself as she looked around with a rather nervous expression on her face.  "Uh Miko?"  Jack asked with a curious look on his face, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Miko responded in a jittery voice, not even bothering to look Jack in the eye when she answered.  "Is it me, or are the walls closing in?"

At this Jack and Raf looked to each other in confusion, and then looked around to see that the walls were sitting perfectly still.

"Miko," Raf inquired, "are you claustrophobic?"

At this Miko seemed to temporarily forget her fear and address Raf, even if it was due to confusion.  "What does Santa Claus have to do with any of this?"

"What he means is," Jack cut in, "you've been acting weird ever since we got into this maze.  Are you afraid of closed up spaces?"

"What, me? No!"  Miko replied in obvious denial.  "Just because I was trapped under an avalanche for six hours with Bulkhead that one time and almost ran out of oxygen doesn't mean I'm claustio-whosit now, does it?"  She recounted the recent traumatic event with apparent ease, but she soon started hyperventilating and was on the verge of panic.

"All right, take it easy.  We'll be out of here soon," Jack attempted to reassure her, "We just have to find the others."  As soon as he finished that sentence, he heard a familiar voice ring out in the distance.  "Jack?  Is that you?"

Jack and the others turned to see the purple unicorn Twilight Sparkle heading straight towards them.  "Oh, this is wonderful, I'm glad to see- wait," Twilight quickly gave Jack, Miko, and Raf a hard look-over.  "You didn't run into Discord by any chance, did you?"

The three looked at each other in slight confusion.  "Uh, no.  Why?" Jack responded.

"Well, you aren't gray, so you might be telling the truth," Twilight muttered to herself.

"What are you talking about?"  Raf asked inquisitively.

"Oh, nothing," Twilight answered.  "It's just that last time we fought Discord he did something just like this to turn us against each other."

"But you seem to have overcome that," Jack pointed out.  "Does he really think the same trick will work twice?"

"I'm not sure," Twilight answered, "Which is why we have to get everyone else back together again as quickly as possible!"

"Then let's get going already!" Miko shouted with determination, apparently having temporarily subdued her fear.  The four of them now resumed their journey together.

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"I'm impressed you managed to find me so fast, kid," Arcee gave the compliment to Rainbow Dash.

"No sweat," Rainbow Dash replied as nonchalant as possible.  "I probably could have found you in ten seconds flat if the walls would have stopped changing."

"Wait, the walls are moving?"  Arcee inquired.  "How come I never saw them do that?"

"I was probably going too fast for them to keep up," Rainbow said in a rather bragging manner.  "It's probably just some dumb trick to make this maze a little harder."

"Or maybe Discord's trying to control how we go through this maze."  Arcee hypothesized.  "Maybe he wants certain individuals to meet up."

"But why?" Rainbow Dash asked with curiousity.

"Why indeed…"  The voice that answered Rainbow Dash did not come from Arcee but rather right behind them.  They turned to see a dark skinned woman facing them.  Rainbow Dash did not know who she was, but Arcee could instantly recognize that venomous voice of hers.

"Airacnid!"  Arcee yelled with great malice.

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"…And then I said, 'Oatmeal?  Are you crazy?'"  As Pinkie Pie bounced along with Ratchet, she decided to regale him with some of her stories to pass the time.  Sadly, Ratchet did not seem interested, as he dragged himself behind her with a look of pure exhaustion on his face.

"Oh merciful Primus, what I would give to find somebody else to talk to right now," he muttered to himself in deep exasperation.

"Well you're in luck, mister, because I see someone up ahead.  I think he's one of those new friends of yours we saw earlier," Pinkie replied while extending her front hoof to point to the man in front of them.  He was clad in mostly red to match his hair.  "HEY!  OVER HERE!  HELLO?!"  She screamed while waving at the mysterious man.

As he heard this loud noise, he finally turned to face them.  He gained a smug look of glee on his face as he greeted them.  "Well, if it isn't the good doctor," he addressed Ratchet.

"Hello, Knockout," Ratchet replied softly yet angrily.

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"It feels like we've been going around in circles," Applejack mused as she and Bulkhead continued to drudge through the seemingly endless assortment of walls.  "You sure you know where we're goin'?"

"Don't sweat it," Bulkhead replied with vigor.  "I'm one of the team's best navigators.  I know exactly what I'm doing."

"Really?"  Applejack raised an eyebrow as she called Bulkhead's bluff.

"Well…no," Bulkhead responded, slightly deflated.  "But how hard can it be to just keep walking around a bunch of walls?  We'll make the end eventually if we just keep going."

"You never were very good with directions were you, Bulkhead?"

At this Bulkhead and Applejack turned around to see a surprising new figure stand right behind them.  It was hard to tell at first, but Bulkhead could recognize the menacing glare of his rival anywhere.

"Breakdown," Bulkhead muttered in quiet anger.

"In the flesh," Breakdown replied, ironically echoing Bulkhead's joke from earlier, but with a much more malicious tone.

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Optimus continued down the path ahead of him, he occasionally turned back to check up on the companion slowly tagging along behind him.  "Fluttershy, I understand you are upset by our current predicament, but we must pick up our pace if we wish to reunite with the rest of our friends."  He addressed her in such a dire yet calm manner.

"I know, I'm sorry Optimus," Fluttershy replied while keeping her head hung low to the ground.  "It's just that I feel like we're being watched."

"Since this maze is Discord's creation, it's possible he may have found a way to observe all of us as we go through this labyrinth together."

"Oh dear," Fluttershy slightly recoiled as she listened to Optimus's hypothesis.  "But that isn't actually what I meant.  I think someone is nearby, and I'm pretty sure that person is watching us right now."

At this, Optimus looked around to observe the surroundings.  He noticed a slight movement around the corner they had just turned.  "Identify yourself!"  Optimus ordered in a stern yet fierce tone.

As the mysterious stranger turned the corner, he revealed himself to be a featureless body, nearly completely covered in garments from head to toe with the exception of a blank mask covering his face.  He stood there in complete silence, but Optimus managed to recognize him as the former Cybertronian Soundwave.

"Oh dear," Fluttershy quietly murmured to herself.

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Starscream drudged on ever further into the maze, not sure how much farther he had to go.  He shuffled his legs somberly, just about ready to collapse from exhaustion.

"Oh, what's the point?"  He bemoaned to himself as he fell on his back and lay on the dirt beneath him.  "No weapons, no communication, no Energon, and no way out in sight.  I might as well just sit here and wait for the end." He looked up to the blazing sun shining down on him, then closing his eyes and hoping his spark would leave his body peacefully, assuming he still had his spark, that is.

Not too long after that, however, a shadow loomed over his head and blocked out the sun from his view.  He opened his eyes, and was quite startled to see a white horse with a horn and purple mane looking down on him with curiosity written all over her face.

"Excuse me dear, but is there something you need help with?"

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Twilight galloped forward, leading the charge, as the four of them attempted to make their way to the rest of their team as soon as possible.  Eventually they came to a massive circular opening that had several other exits along the perimeter.

"We reached the center of the maze," Twilight squeed with joy.  "If we wait here, it's only a matter of time before we find the others!"

"Awesome!  And it's such a wide open space, too!" Miko exclaimed as she took in a big breath and let out a sigh of relief.

"I'm going to try and go get the others," Jack said as he ran off to different exit from the center.

"But wouldn't it just be easier to wait?"  Raf asked with deep concern.

"We need to find everyone ASAP," Jack responded.  "I'll make sure to mark which paths I've taken so I can find my way back.  For me and for anyone else I can find.  I'll be back soon!"  And with that, Jack ran off into the maze once again.

Several moments later, however, Jack ended up running back into the center from a different location.

"Wow, that was soon!"  Miko snided sarcastically.

Jack started to look around in extreme confusion.  "But how!?!  I never took any turns!  I shouldn't be back here!"

At this, Raf and Twilight looked at each other in concern.  They both decided to take new exits and ran through them as soon as they could.  Within minutes, they ended up back in the center once more.

"That's impossible!"  Twilight shouted.  "It was just a single path.  How can it curve back around into the center without intersecting anything?"

"It happened to me too," Raf added in with a hint of panic.  "It's like we're being trapped here in the center."

"We're STUCK here!??"  Miko panicly shouted before making small hyperventilating noises.  Just then though, they heard the sound of footsteps echo loudly through their corridor.

"Did you hear that?"  Jack silenced the rest of the group as the footsteps grew louder.  "Someone's coming!"  The others let a smile light up across each of their faces, but as they ran toward the opening where they heard the footsteps coming from, the smile slowly fade from their faces as they saw just who was coming toward them.

Out of the exit stepped a tall old man in a black overcoat, but the distinct red glare from his eyes made it perfectly clear who it was.

"Megatron…" Jack uttered in near silence.