When it was barely first light on the day of the race, some bots had already started crowding outside the stadium, waiting for the doors to finally open. 

A few hours later, Y/n awoke to the faint cheering from outside the tower.  When she walked out of her quarters, Airachnid, standing near the hallway, knew it was her by the sound of her footsteps.  Y/n looked at her curiously, then began to wonder why she wasn't with Sentinel.

"Airachnid," she said as she walked towards the lieutenant, "where's...Sentinel?"

Airachnid turned to face Y/n, all of her optics following suit. "Sentinel told me it's your first time going to see the race with him. He asked to accompany you towards the stadium," she said, smiling. 

"Oh? I thought he would come with me." Y/n felt a small feeling of sadness. As this was her first time not watching the race live on television, she thought Sentinel would at least walk with her toward his podium and introduce her; she rarely went out. She'd love to, at the very least, be known by the city. Perhaps she should go out more. 

"No worries, we'll be entering through the back of the stadium, my lady," Airachnid told her.

---

A small building could be found behind the stadium, and the trails leading up to it were practically empty as everyone else was entering through the front. A trio of bots were waiting for Airachnid and Y/n and the building's entrance. When they arrived, the trio immediately began to shower Y/n with compliments and ushered her in. Airachnid casually followed the group to the front of the building, where there was a catwalk towards Sentinel's podium and the leaderboard. 

A few minutes later, the announcer spoke, "Welcome to the Iacon 5000! There they are--put your hands together as today's competitors are taking the field!"

The racers began to make their way onto the race tracks. Y/n stepped out of the building to watch the racers with flying alt-modes going towards said tracks. As she stood near the building's entrance, Y/n noticed a bit of movement coming from the race's symbol above the starting line. She stared at it before brushing it off.

From above, two spotlights proceeded up to the top of the stadium, and everyone followed the lights as the announcer's voice boomed, "And now, for the moment you've all been waiting for, The icon of Iacon! The Savior of Cybertron! Quientessons fear him, but we love him!"

The spotlights illuminated the silhouette of Cybertron's leader. 

"Our leader--the one and only--Sentinel Prime!" 

Just as the announcer said this, Sentinel extended his wings and swooped down from where he stood, soaring right above the crowd as it cheered before he came to a hovering stop. He smiled at the crowd's enthusiasm as the lights in the stadium began to dim.

"My friends, my Cybertronian family.." he began, and the crowd began to quiet down. "It has been precisely fifty cycles since the Quientessons attacked our home. Fifty cycles since we lost the Matrix of Leadership and our energon supply dried up..."

As Sentinel continued the beginning of his speech, Y/n began to notice more movement in the giant symbol of the race and focused her gaze on it. 

Is...were those miners?

"Fifty cycles since the battle that killed the other Primes, my brothers and sisters in arms."

Suddenly, giant holograms of the rest of the Primes began to appear all around the stadium, making Y/n direct her gaze away from the symbol. The stadium was filled with the blue light that the holograms emitted, it gave Y/n chills. The light was even more beautiful than what she'd seen on the television!

"Today, Sentinel continued, "we honor the Primes who gave their lives for ours, and we show them that the strength of Cybertron will never be diminished!"

The hovering stop made its way down to Sentinel's podium, from which he stepped off. Y/n wanted to go up to him but didn't know she actually should; the huge crowd made her nervous. One of the bots from earlier ushered her to start walking towards the podium. With one of the corners of her lips lifted, she did.

Sentinel noticed her and grinned, "Before we begin, I'd love to introduce you all to my lovely spouse, Y/n."

Sentinel took her servo and stood her next to him. Y/n felt her spark pulsating as the crowd slowly began to cheer again. Squealing and whistling could be heard all over the stadium. She smiled as a sign of greeting. 

"Now, racers," Sentinel said and gestured toward the competitors at the starting line, "On your marks!" 

Y/n looked back up at the symbol, which now seemed a lot closer than before, viewing it from the back. She could definitely see two miners.

"Get set!"

What were they doing up there? How'd they even get in there?  

One of them had jetpacks for both of them.

One of Sentinel's arms turns into a cannon, and he blasts it in the air in unison with the green light at the starting line, indicating the race has now begun.

"And they're off!" The announcer comes back.

As the racers transformed into their alt-modes, Y/n saw the two miners fall from the symbol and land directly above the starting line. She widened her optics, and her mouth was slightly agape as the miners activated their jetpacks, and the red and blue one began to carry his screaming friend as they swifted towards the racers. 

The racetrack shifted into a curve as the competitors went ahead. The miners spoke to each other; it could barely be made out what they were saying from the platform. 

"Are you crazy?" One said.

"Sure feels like it!" said the other.

"The Iacon 5000 has officially begun!" 

From his place at the podium, Sentinel leaned forward to see the track better, an incredulous look on his face.

"I'm sorry--are those... miners in the race?" He said.

Just as he said that, the crowd seemed to notice them as well, the miners in the mass of spectators seemed to cheer at seeing two of their comrades in the race. 

The announcer had a tone of surprise in his voice, "I can't believe what I'm seeing! Miners are trying to run in the Iacon 5000! This is insane!" 

Hearing the excitement in the announcer's voice, Y/n grew more concerned. Why wasn't anyone trying to stop those two? They could get hurt! 

She turned to Sentinel next to her, but he seemed just as absorbed in the race as everyone else was. All she could do was hope none of them ended up seriously injured or worse. 

As she viewed the rest of the race on a live broadcast on the platform, Y/n saw how the miners were trying their best to keep up with the racers. What could they possibly be thinking? 

The leaderboard that towered above the platform displayed every competitor's name. After a few seconds, the word "MINERS" was added to the bottom of the list. 

"This is the first in Iacon 5000 history," the announcer chirped in, "how are they going to survive?"