Cold metal surface. That's what Sunset felt when she started waking up. She groaned as her eyes began blinking slowly, her vision was blurry but with each passing second it was coming to normal and she began to observe her surroundings more clearly. There was a balanced light inside wherever she was, so at least she did not get blinded by brightness straight up after opening her eyes. She looked around and thought she was in some sort of a cave, considering the rocky environment, but that wasn't the only thing that caught her attention. There was huge technology equipment that was similar to the Autobots' in their base, along with large machines and tools that she had never seen before. Come to think of it, it appeared more like a facility, a lab to be exact.

"Where... am I?" Sunset murmured as she supported her body with her arms to sit on her knees and rub her temple.

Suddenly, she heard a loud gasp next to her, not further away from where she was already standing, "Sunny! You are awake!" she recognized that high-pitched and cheerful voice right away. Her gaze focused on the other side and saw Pinkie Pie and the rest of her friends.

"Oh goodness, Sunset darling! Are you alright?!" Rarity asked with worry.

"I-I think so..." bit by bit she started to get up from the hard surface. As she tried to balance herself, she accidentally leaned on the glass so she could stand up straight.

Hold on-

Glass?!

That's when she saw her reflection on the hard transparent material. She was trapped in a human-sized cylinder placed on a large table, with no way of escape, "What the... What is this place?!" she gazed at the rest and finally realized that they were separately trapped as well.

"Might be their stupid secret lair or something!" Rainbow Dash assumed as she continued to kick and hit the hard surface so she could break free.

Fluttershy's body was trembling as her eyes were looking around at the gloomy environment that they were currently stuck in, "Why it must be so scary..."

Applejack, on the other hand, had her arms crossed, her body leaning on the glass. By the look of it, she seemed pretty irritated with the loud banging noises that Rainbow continued to make, so she finally snapped at her, "Dagnabbit, Dash! Will ya stop with that bumpin' n' hittin' already?! Can't you see it ain't working?"

Rainbow turned her face at her and angrily answered back, "Well, I ain't giving up! Who knows what those creeps are doing to the others right now!"

"The others?!" confusingly repeated Sunset.

"Those meanies got Bulkhead, Sideswipe, Knock Out and Bumblebee too!" Pinkie informed her friend. Upon hearing their names, Rainbow became even more frustrated and began kicking the glass even harder.

"Even if ya escape, watcha gonna do, huh? Fight them on yer own?!" Applejack wrathfully asked.

"If I have to!"

"Are ya hearin' yourself?!"

"Girls-"

Additionally, Rarity decided to join in complaining, "Not only I'm stuck in this container and now I have to listen to your unnecessary argument!"

"Do you have any better ide-"

"ENOUGH ALL OF YOU!" Sunset finally yelled, making everyone shut up and look at her, "Just quit it! Don't you see this fight won't get us anywhere?!" as all of them became silent they unexpectedly heard slow metal clapping sounds from the other side of the facility and all of their gazes turned at the dark tall figure which was coming closer to them. Stepping into the light, Starscream appeared with a devious smirk.

Rainbow Dash glared at him and gritted her teeth, "You..."

"My, what amusing entertainment we have here." the seeker involved and held his arms behind his back.

"Where are they you freak?! What did you do to them?! I swear when I get out of this stupid cage, I will make you regret even being created!" Rainbow threatened the giant.

Sunset immediately recognized the gray mech from her vision, "That must be Starscream..." she whispered to herself, examining his appearance.

"So brave yet so naive you are, pest." the high-heeled robot loomed over Rainbow, "Ah, but don't you worry, very soon this act of heroism and courage of yours will vanish. Your powers will be mine and once I gain full control of them, every human, Cybertronian and all of the other living beings will kneel before me! Not only I'm going to be the leader of the Decepticons, I will be the leader of the entire universe!"

"More like the leader of the morons!" insulted Rainbow while Pinkie stuck out her tongue at him, "I would rather die than kneel before you, jerk!"

Far from carefully, Starscream lifted her container in front of his face-plate, "I will personally make sure your dream comes true, dear Rainbow Dash." he hardly scratched the glass with his sharp digits, causing the rainbow-haired girl to grimace and cover her ears from the loud disturbing noise.

The seeker snickered in satisfaction until someone asked, "Why are you doing all of this?!" he glared at the girl who threw the question, apparently it was the one named Sunset Shimmer.

"Why? " he laughed again and put Rainbow down with no thoughtfulness, "Tell me human, have you ever felt underestimated? Or perhaps, neglected? Have you ever been told that you are nothing but a failure?! Nothing but а incompetent and a miserable coward, who is only good for nothing but scrap!" he yelled the last word and slammed his fist which shook the whole table, "Even though all your life you've been fighting to prove them wrong. To show them how wrong they were about you. And no matter how hard you've been trying, you always end up in their shadows."

"I know what it feels like. I've been there. But this is not the way!" Sunset involved, "Not so long ago... I was unwilling to open myself up to anyone. I was... prideful and overconfident like you and because of my rebellious and untrustworthy actions, that only brought me to my misery. I was striking to gain more power too once, I desperately tried various attempts to steal it. But in the end, my friends showed me that all of that was wrong... that there is another path," she glanced at her friends and smiled at each other, "and I realized it as well. It's never too late to change Starscream, everyone deserves a second chance."

The seeker stared at her in silence for a bit, until he abruptly burst out laughing and covered his face-plate with his clawed servo, he wiped a small lubricant tear off his optic and lowered his helm on her level, "You truly believe that your little sappy story would change my mind? Please, you only overestimate yourself, organic. You may have been beaten but I am not, I am still standing with full pride. And everyone will pay for that mockery. I fought my way to achieve what I have dreamt of all this time and there is no going back. Not now, not ever." right at that moment, all of them heard heavy metal steps approaching. Starscream turned and saw a small group of Vehicon soldiers entering the laboratory, "Ah, there you are! I was becoming quite impatient here. What took you so long?" he inquired.

"Apologies sir, the prisoners are here." the front soldier reported and moved away from the entrance so the captured Autobots, all with stasis cuffs, could pass through. The girls gasped in shock when they saw their robot friends and guardians.

One of the Vehicons ruthlessly nudged Knock Out on the back to move faster, the medic gave him a death glare and warned, "Watch the paint!" only to be shoved again in response.

"Guys!" Pinkie joyfully exclaimed.

"You are okay!" Rainbow said in relief.

Sideswipe saw his charge the instant he heard her voice, "Dash-!" the red mech cracked a smile until a servo, which belonged to one of the drones, pushed him hard.

"Move it." all of the captives were forcefully gathered at one side of the facility. Subsequently, Soundwave appeared, Ravage stepping in, close to his master. The faceless Decepticon made the girls shiver in fright, especially Fluttershy. She slightly whimpered and hid her face behind her hair nervously, that robot gave her a scary and unsafe feeling. Even without eyes, it felt as if he watched right into her soul.

Starscream nodded his helm as a greeting, "Soundwave." the black and purple robot didn't do anything except to ignore him and pass by like he wasn't there, the seeker rolled his optics in annoyance.

Subsequently, the one-eyed scientist Shockwave came last of them all. The teenagers stood frozen and stared with frightened expressions at the wide purple Decepticon due to his terrifying form, "Eugh, these fellas give me the creeps." Applejack whispered with a grimace.

The soldiers ordered the four Autobots to finally halt in one line and not to move. When Shockwave drew near them, Bumblebee questioned, "What is all of this Shockwave?!"

"You Autobots are subjected as an auditory for the upcoming process of my creation." the scientist explained, "Do not worry, after the operation I doubt that any of these human life forms would be able to survive. You will get the opportunity to be our following objectives."

Bulkhead scoffed, "Yeah, sorry 'bout that Red Orb, but I ain't givin' scrap about your stupid creation. Let the girls outta here and you can experiment on us for yer own joy as much as ya want."

Knock Out had to double-take what he said, "Experiment?!"

"We are captured, aren't we?" Bumblebee joined, "You guys can let all your anger out on us and leave the girls be. They have nothing to do with this war, there is no point in making other innocent lives to suffer."

"Can I have a say in this?!" the red medic wanted to object.

"Or  let us all go and I will try my best not to crush your only optic into pieces. How about that?" suggested Sideswipe.

"As if." Starscream walked to them, "How could we miss such satisfaction, to watch how you fools suffer from the sight of your failed attempt of trying to protect those pesky little creatures? Most of all, I cannot wait to see your own personal torment and sad misery."

"You winged piece of-!" before Sideswipe could draw any nearer to him, one of Soundwave's tentacles zapped him behind his back, making him fall to the ground.

"SIDES!" Rainbow cried out, "You are hurting him!"

Starscream let out an evil chuckle, "Oh, this is just the beginning."

"How could you be so cruel?!" Rarity angrily yelped at him.

"You are not going to get away with this, the others are looking for us!" threateningly alerted Sunset.

"With no doubt." Shockwave agreed, "Alas, they will not be able to detect our presence in this facility any time soon. It will be excessively late till their arrival."

"Gah! Enough with this pointless babbling, we are wasting time! Make that thing work already!" the already impatient Starscream requested. The six element holders nervously peeped at each other, they had to find a way to spare some more time, so they could reach the rest of their teammates.

Shockwave nodded his helm, "Affirmative. We should begin our process with-"

"W-Wait!"

All robot and human beings focused their faces on the shy girl who so abruptly and rudely interrupted their procedure, "You can't do that!" Fluttershy objected, their stares made her gulp out of fright, "Y-yet..."

"Oh? And why not?" curiously asked Starscream who raised his optical ridge.

"I- um... because..."

"Because you don't have all of us!" Pinkie loudly inserted.

Starscream's optics widened in disbelief, "What?!"

Rainbow smirked at him, "Sorry to disappoint Screamy, the magic ain't gonna work if ya don't have the seven elements of harmony."

Shockwave's antennas slightly lowered down and directly eyed the seeker, "Where is the last one?"

Starscream confusingly stared at him back, "The last one?! We captured every human that we saw with those Autobots!" Soundwave nodded as an affirmation too.

Shockwave turned at the rest of the soldiers, figuring out he was waiting for their explanation, the closer one answered, "These were the only humans they had, commander."

"Where is this seventh element?" the scientist's red optic focused on his tiny hostages.

"Like we are going to tell you, you big-eyed freak!" boldly replied Rainbow.

Sunset followed, "You are never going to find her!"

Shockwave stood motionless until his antennas lifted back up and briefly responded, "Very well. I will make it come to us itself." he turned his back on them, going to the main control system.

The seeker stared at him confused, not being able to figure out what he had in mind, "And how exactly are you planning to do that, Shockwave?" he watched how his purple comrade went to the large console and began typing several numbers of coordinates which appeared on the giant monitor.

══════════════════

In the Autobot's base, Twilight Sparkle was pacing impatiently back and forth, her pet Spike was sitting close, following her movements. She was pretty worried that her friends might be in great danger, he could tell. No matter how much Ratchet and Fixit searched and tried to reach the other team members, their desperate attempts became completely useless at this point. Judging by everyone's faces, they were all troubled by their disappearance.

But Twilight couldn't wait any longer, she stopped her pacing and turned at the mini-con, "That's it, I'm going after them. Fixit, open the portal."

"I will have to stop you right there, Twilight." the white-orange medic interfered, "Please be reasonable, I know you are in great distress regarding the well-being of your friends but it's not very smart of you to go there by yourself against the Decepticons."

The girl faced him with a fuming expression, "And you want me to stay here and wait?! Well, you know what? I can't. It is obvious they need more backup, otherwise they would have called or returned already!"

"And how exactly are you planning to help them? Even your telekinetic abilities are not strong enough on the battlefield."

"I don't know and I don't care how! Fixit, open the Groundbridge!"

Fixit nervously glanced at her and tapped his digits, "I-I don't think it's-"

"Do not." Ratchet directed and raised his servo at him, his gaze focused on the female teen, "Twilight, please listen to me, I cannot let you go there unsupervised, a human being like you can't just-"

"Then come and help me find them!"

"Me?  I'm just a simple medic. My place is here, not on the battlefield. My fighting abilities are not as great as you think they are and definitely not enough for a combat. I won't be able to protect you out there."

In the middle of their argument, Fixit interrupted as he raised his servo to grab their attention, "Um, my apologies for disturbing your not-so-calm-conversation but-- I think I was able to detect a Decepticon signal."

Both the medic and teenager's eyes widened in shock, "You have?"

"I'm afraid it's only this, our teammates' status still remains unknown." the mini-con replied.

Seeing the distressed look on his owner's face, Spike slowly approached her, "Twilight..."

She didn't answer.

The element of magic held her geode tight, it had become a habit of hers whenever she felt hopeless. She didn't know what to do. Ratchet wasn't far from the truth, she was just a simple human being, with or without her powers, it wouldn't be enough to save her friends, but she couldn't just sit and wait either. The situation was so complicated even she, one of the smartest people among her friends, couldn't find a solution. And she always finds one for every problem. But not this time. Yes, they were on dangerous events before but this went off the chart. Various petrifying thoughts and panic began to overtake her mind.

Soon, the medic noticed her silent behavior and felt bad. Ratchet himself was pretty anxious about the whole team, but at least he was good at hiding his emotions in front of others. He ex-vented, trying to find an alternative way to help, but there were only two. Either to continue their attempt of trying to locate their allies while waiting for some miracle to happen and to receive a message, or  to use the Groundbridge so they could go investigate and hopefully find their friends. Both were very risky. Not only he was ordered to remain in the base in case of an emergency but to keep an optic on Twilight as well. If they continued to waste more time, things would probably become more hazardous, he only hoped they wouldn't be-- or... were not already late for whatever danger the others were currently dragged in.

"Alright," the girl, her dog and the mini-con focused on Ratchet the second he spoke up, "We will go. But only on one condition," he pointed his index finger at Twilight and then at the more miniature orange robot, "Fixit will navigate the coordinates near the Decepticon signal, but once we encounter danger, you are going straight back here. Do you understand me?" he cautioned with a serious tone in his voice.

Twilight nodded her head in confirmation, "I do." as they agreed with each other, the old doctor tilted his helm to Fixit as a sign for him to open the portal.

The mini-con hesitated for a bit, "Ratchet, s-sir, perhaps if we wait a little longer-"

"If we wait it might be too late for all of us. We don't have any other options but to go to that source and... to pray to Primus it helps us find our comrades and return them in one piece. Any other suggestions? I'm all audials." the medical officer waited for his response.

Fixit nervously answered, "N-no, sir."

"Groundbridge us to that signal then." told Ratchet. The tiny robot slightly nodded to him, he clicked several buttons on the console and pulled up the lever to activate it, soon the light of the Groundbridge finally appeared. Ratchet transformed into his ambulance form and opened his front door so Twilight could get inside.

The girl quickly went to him and sat down on the driver's seat, but before the door could shut, Spike cried out, "Wait! I'm coming with!" he ran to them, and hopped inside the ambulance, settling himself on the seat next to Twilight.

The element of magic looked at him troubled, "But Spike it may be-"

"Don't worry, I won't get in the way." he assured. Ratchet murmured something quietly so they could not hear and turned on his engine.

Before going through the portal, Fixit shouted, "Please be careful! And please return unharmed!" in the blink of an eye, they completely vanished out of his sight.

══════════════════

A number of vehicles were in a hurry while a giant robotic T-Rex was trying hard to catch up. All of them were driving (and running) up to one of Canterlot's uninhabited hills as they passed through the wild living forest. Earlier, they decided that it would be better if they get as far as they could from the locations they had fought with their enemies, thinking that the Decepticons may have set up more than a few signal blockers around the areas where they were patrolling earlier.

"Something? Anything?!" questioned loudly Grimlock, he sounded exhausted from all the running after his teammates.

Keeping her increased speed along with the others' while also attempting to reach any signal in order to call the other members of their team, Strongarm replied, "If we had, we would've told you already, Grim!"

Driving next to her was Smokescreen who