A birthday present for my good friend, Soultail Omega-Light. This story is based on the role play forum that the both of us are part of, called the Beast Wars Bed and Breakfast. By all means, feel free to give it a look around. The Beast Wars Bed and Breakfast is owned by Airrizzon, Soultail Omega-Light is owned by herself, Transformers and Beast Wars is owned by Hasbro, and if I tried going into the rest of the character disclaimers, I'd die. There's a lot.

"Birthday is the name given to the day that some people in many cultures celebrate the anniversary of the day they were born. It is often marked by a birthday party and/or friends when gifts are given to the person celebrating the birthday. It is also customary to treat people specially on their birthday, either generally acceding to their wishes, or subjecting them to a rite of transition…"

~Wikipedia

i

Whenever everything got too crazy for her, Soultail Omega-Light sat alone on the mountain top.

Today was no exception. Especially for what it was the anniversary of. It was her birthday and - consequently - the same day as her mother's death. The worst kind of birthday anyone could ever have.

She was not a solitary person by nature, but she could not help but want to get away this one time. No one - not even Airrizzon - had wished her a happy birthday. All she had gotten were a few glances, stares, and saddened looks.

They knew her mother, the legendary Reploid by the title Iris Throne, had died on the very day she was born, but they did not have to remind her about it. Everyone knew about her past demons, but she coped and ignored up until the point where, once she asked Cheetor about getting a birthday kiss, he had stared at her blankly in surprise as if he had no clue it was her birthday and not just the death of her mother. Now that the ignoring was not enough, she retreated to her mountain top lair while simultaneously ignoring the pleas of her friends to stay. Truth be told, it was not even really a lair. At least, not that she could think of. Then again, Shockbox claimed her personal lair to be under the couch or under Terrorsaur's recharge berth so she could bite at his heels in the morning when he woke up and tried to stand. Come to think of it, this could be her lair. Her domain where only she was allowed.

Her stasis pod - what remained of it anyways - was surrounded by energon crystals and she knew she should not have been so close to them, but she could not help it. This was her home in a sort of cold sense.

Though, home would've been with her mother. Either that or on the streets or, reluctantly, at P.E.L.M. Primus, how she hated that forsaken place. "Preparation for Exceptionally Learned Maximals" her skid plate. The acronym was clever, true, but the true meaning for the letters - "Physic Experimentation Laboratories for Maximals" - fitted much better anyways. It ruined her life. That place had exposed her to so much energon as a child that she now suffered from her occasional energon attacks. Damn them for doing that to her.

She shifted uncomfortably and tucked her knees to her chest, feeling the cold winter air whip around her already freezing body. This cold would not help for her baby in the slightest - she was due March in Earth time - but she had done greatly stubborn things while pregnant. Everyone knew she was a hothead, but she promptly ignored them. Ignoring was the best she could do.

She could not allow herself to be weak.

She realized, quite awkwardly at fact, she did not want to be seen as weak. Not in her mother's eyes at least. Then again, her mother was dead. Why the slag should it have mattered? It should not have.

She snorted and kicked her foot out; hitting the edge of the rock she was sitting on. The sheer cold made it chip of slightly, but that was the most damage done. Scowling, she sat up and jumped off the rock, looking at it sternly. It was flanking her stasis pod ever so slightly - she assumed randomly that this was perhaps the rock that redirected her pod into the large deposit of energon - and, without thinking, she punched it.

Had she been feeling better any other day, she would have instantly shattered it. It would have exploded in a mass of debris and fallen to her feet as rubble. Frankly, given her pregnant with spark state however, she did not. She could not. Emitting a shrill screech of frustration, she kicked and punched at the rock again. And again. And again. And again, and again, and again.

Her mother had died twenty Earth stellar cycles ago on this day, she had energon based attacks because of being exposed to so much when she was young, she was more or less cursed, she was raped, pregnant with Tarantulus' child, and her life was a downward spiral.

She kicked and punched at the rock, fueling her frustrations further as it did not shatter. Primus, she wanted so badly for it just to smash to smithereens and be nothing more than a heaping pile of rubble, but nothing happened. It chipped slightly, but that was all.

Screaming, she dropped on her knees and slapped her hand against the rock feebly, her tails wrapping around her slightly. "Why! Why did you do this to me, mother! Why did you leave me!"The wind swallowed her cries and, ultimately, she could barley hear it herself over its howling roar. There was one thing she did hear though…

"Wazzpinator freezing his butt off! No one ever listens to Wazzpinator…"

Soultail stopped for a brief moment and, before she could stop herself, whipped her head around and stood swiftly. Waspinator usually flew everywhere but, considering it to be freezing without the wind chill, the wasp's wings were effectively frozen. He had managed to climb up the cliff wall face - it was only a slight slope, but Soul had only managed to reach it via-beast-mode - and was barley making it up. He looked up when he had managed to haul his upper torso up the side and, blue optics flashing brightly, he buzzed at the sight of the Maximal femme.

"Fox-bot! Wazzpinator looking everywhere for fox-bot!"

Soultail sighed and, more or less against her will, walked over, grabbing the wasp's wrist and helping Waspinator up. Curiously, neither Shockbox nor Terrorsaur where nowhere to be seen - the three were practically never seen without each other for some reason - and Soultail was momentarily concerned. "Where are-?"

Waspinator made a razzing noise as if he was blowing a raspberry and made an unhelpful twirling gesture with his hand. "Not here. They is back at Bed and Break-"

Soultail did not give him enough time to finish. Instead, she turned away and began kicking at the rock again. The gold Transmetal wasp jumped at the sound of her smashing her foot into the cold, hard stone, but he buzzed in slight irritation after a few moments of Soul repeating her abusing treatment on the boulder.

"Hello! Earth to fox-bot!" Waspinator waved his hand at her out of her line of vision, but she ignored him. Before meeting the crew at the Bed and Breakfast, she would not have hesitated to shoot him but, given the fact he was more or less one of her closer friends now, she did not. Still, she felt the slight urge to shot something over his head just to drop the hint. She was not in the mood to deal with him or anyone else for that matter.

And to think they sent Waspinator up instead of coming to see her themselves. To think they had the nerve to do that.

And not even Cheetor had come up to see her.

"Where's Cheetor?" She asked tartly, ignoring the sharp tone to her voice as she stopped kicking and punching at the stone so she could turn to face the golden wasp.

Waspinator recoiled slightly, mandibles drawing themselves up and his body stiffening. "Er… Cat-bot sort of tied up right now…" Waspinator trailed off nervously, though the Predacon was hiding something, but she ignored that too. "…Literally," he added just under his breath, but Soul's exquisite hearing allowed her to pick that up. The joys of being a nine-tailed fox.

There was silence between them for a few seconds.

After a moment, Soul shifted to beast-mode and began to walk off towards her stasis pod, sitting down close to it in an attempt to absorb some of the heat radiating from the crystals. There was not any wood that she could have used to make a fire and, quite frankly, it would be suicide if she tried sparking any sort of flame anywhere near the energon. Blowing yourself up was not good for your heath anyways. Especially not for her baby.

She heard Waspinator shift to beast-mode after a moment and crawl over to where she sat, tucking his wings close to his body as to keep him futilely warm. As he scurried next to her, Soul looked away. She was not in the mood to deal with whatever it was that he had to say. She loved the wasp to pieces, but she was not in the state of mind to answer to him.

What Wazzpinator said next surprised her. "Wazzpinator and Soul-bot in same boat," he said softly. "Wazzpinator lost mom-bot too. Trampled to death… said so in P.E.L.M. report. Trampled by other Predaconzz in Maximal raid. Wazzpinator kidnapped off streets to P.E.L.M. after that."

Soultail sighed, remembering the P.E.L.M. reports. She had only skimmed through a few of the files - she had been looking for more information on her and her mom more than anything else - and had been surprised when she read up on the female Predacon that was killed when trying to escape thirty or more Maximals when they attacked the Predacon slurs. "…I never realized that was your mother until you mentioned it to us. At least you got over it."

Waspinator shook his head and laughed dryly; a gesture not used by the wasp very often. "She used to let Wazzpinator get good box to sleep in. Would not let us in homeless shelter because we was Predacons." He shrugged then, but it looked suspiciously like a shudder. "After she die, Wazzpinator all on his own. Lived in P.E.L.M. for long time until Wazzpinator escaped. Back on streets again…"

Soultail laughed. "Weird we never ran into each other. I was out on the streets when you were."

"Wazzpinator was in Betacron. You was in…?" His tone was inquisitive, and Soultail had to smile at his curiosity.

"Can't really remember right now. Too damn cold," Soultail admitted, shrugging her shoulders and wrapping her tails around her tighter. "I just focused on my street performances."

"At least you get money," Waspinator said openly. "Wazzpinator picked through trash for forever until Terrorsaur found Wazzpinator when Terrorsaur's mate was murdered. Or Wazzpinator found Terrorsaur. Wazzpinator can't remember…" He scratched a clawed wasp paw to the side of his face and chipped away a piece of ice that had begun to form. His movements were almost catlike, and it briefly reminded Soul about her fiancé, Cheetor. "After that, Wazzpinator and Terror-bot got hired by Lizard-bot."

Soultail smiled, though distantly as she stared ahead at her stasis pod. "You know, if the Predacons did not steal the Golden Disk and the Maximals did not chase them, we would not be here."

"And Bed and Breakfast not exist," Waspinator stated matter-of-factly, looking at her as seriously as an insect could. "Then Avalon not be launched to retrieve Axalon and the escaped P.E.L.M. students and fox-bot would not end up here either." He paused. "Not meet fox-bot's fiancé-bot. Cat-bot really worried about you…"

Soultail let her tails go rigid. "…Cheetor can deal with it. I'm not in the mood."

Waspinator snorted, a sound that sounded like a choked buzz than anything else. "You know, Wazzpinator not supposed to say thizz but…" he leaned forward towards Soul's beast-mode ear, as though someone would overhear them over the roaring wind. "…Everyone pretend not to know it was Soul-bot's birthday because we was getting ready to throw surprise party. Then Soul-bot ran out and they sent poor little Wazzpinator to go fetch since they not trust Wazzpinator and Shockbox alone in one room with huge birthday cake and other treats."

Soultail snapped to attention and snapped her head towards Waspinator.

"What?" She felt momentarily stupid for saying such a thing, but she felt suddenly very stupid all together. The whole 'pretend to forget insert-name-here's birthday so you can throw a surprise party' gig never really dawned on her, and she felt suddenly ashamed for shutting out her friends like that. "Are you serious?"

Waspinator nodded vigorously. "Of course no one trust Wazzpinator and Shock-bot alone in room with goodies! Remember time when-?"

"I was talking about the surprise party! Are you serious!" Her tone was not mad, but she was suddenly very happy that her friends hadn't forgotten her. She should have known that they would never forget about her!

Waspinator, realizing what she was talking about, quickly went back on subject. "Uh-huh. Lizard-bot and Water-bot even try to wrap Cat-bot in big red bow for present. Do not even ask Wazzpinator how they do it, they just do."

Soultail was at a loss abruptly. "So you weren't ignoring my birthday because my mother died twenty years ago?"

"Slag no!" Wazzpinator seemed genuinely surprised. "No one do that to Soul-bot! Why would we-?"

Soul felt ashamed at random, and she bowed her head. "I just assumed…"

Wazzpinator noticed immediately. "Don't cry on Wazzpinator! Wazzpinator not mean to-"

"It's okay," Soultail said, wiping them away with her paw before they could fall. "I was just thinking about my mom. I miss her." She looked over at Waspinator and smiled. "Well, let's head back. I'll still pretend to act surprised even though you told me."

Waspinator looked like he was smiling back to, but Soul had no clue how with his awkwardly formed insect mouth. "No problem. Just not tell anyone Wazzpinator tell. Sky-bot and Blaze-bot kill Wazzpinator…"

Soultail pawed at Waspinator's head and ruffled his antennas playfully. "Let's go then," she said as she began walking away.

There was another brief moment of silence between them. "Soul-bot?"

Soultail looked around at the Wasp. "Yeah."

Waspinator was definitely smiling. She could tell by the way his antennas had perked up. "Happy birthday."

ii

"I'm bored! Is Waspy back with Soul yet?

"Shut up, Shockbox."

"Ow! Who the slag just kicked me!"

"Sorry, Terr. I thought you were Rat-Ow! Hey!"

"You were askin' for it, Shockbox-Ah! Tri! Don't turn to water on my like that! Geez, you just dripped all over me! Do you have any idea how weird that feels!"

"So much for trying to get Rattrap to shut up."

"Hey!"

"Tri! I swear, if you get the banner wet, I will kill you. I vow it on my honor!"

"Bro! Chill! I won't get anything wet, I promise! 'Side, you don't have the guts to kill me."

"Can't we just keep the lights on or something! My wings are getting crushed…"

"Sorry Auntie Sky."

"Rashad? Since when did you weigh-?"

"Hey! He's not Rashad! I'm Rashad!"

"Yeah! I'm Zaron!"

"Well, then where's Ion?

"On my tail…"

"Sorry Darktide. You know how my sons-"

"Don't worry about it. I had to get used to it with Bullet."

"Friend likes this game, friends! Sitting in dark with colorful string is fun!"

"It's not a game!"

"Then what is it, Auntie Leppender?"

"It's called May-I-Please-Set-The-Moron-Who-Keeps-Touching-My-Wings-On-Fire-Now?"

"Blaze, that's me!"

"Oops. Never mind then. Sorry, Sky."

"I'm going to drown myself in the punch."

"I want to buurrrnnnn something…"

"I swear to Primus, if you set the gifts on fire, I'll throw a bucket of water on you."

"Tarnation! Why ain't she comin' yet? I swear, if 'ol bug-face got distracted by something shiny, I'll kick his-"

"Hey! Watch it! That's my Waspy-"

"Waspinator and Shockbox sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

"Rattrap and Scorponok and MEGATRON sitting in a tree. F-U-C-K-I-N-"

"SHOCKBOX!"

"WHAT THE SLAGGIN' PITT!"

"…Sorry, Scorpy. Not sorry, Rattrap."

"That was freaking awesome."

"Darktide…"

"Sorry, Air."

"Meowrph!"

"…Bullet, please stop chewing on my foot…"

"Sorry Optimus. You know he's teething."

"Dark poison of my heart, if I would propose-"

"No children. No, no way, zip, zero, zilch, no."

"Blackarachnia, another youngling to add to our, well, already large family would further promote peace and-"

"Tigertron, seriously, shut up. No more kids."

"Blues! Be nice!"

"Sorry, Cinny."

"Geez, the dark must be doing something to our heads…"

"I have to live in it!"

"Azfal, I have no clue how you can live like this."

"For once, Airrazor, I agree…"

"Shut up Scorponok."

"Bite me!"

"Where and how hard?"

"…Where did we find Shockbox, again?"

"In the dark of the nifhr, evil will find her! Dun dun DUN! In the dark of the night-"

"No more singing!"

"…Can I whistle?"

"No."

"Hum?"

"No."

"Dammit."

"Hmmm… I sense a feminine personality approaching…"

"Here come's Megatron, here comes Megatron, right down Moron Lane!"

"I said no singing!"

"I was stating a fact!"

"I'm sensing Soultail, you idiotic insect."

"…Oops."

"Shockbox, did you have sugar for breakfast?"

"No."

"Airrizzon, do not let her have any cake. If she's this bad when she's not on a sugar high…"

"Soul's back? Ultra-Gear! Now I can get out of this-?"

"I swear to Primus, if you take it off, I'll make sure you die without honor!"

"But it's itchy!"

"It's for Soul, dammit! So keep it on! I spent three hours trying to tie that thing. Three hours!"

"Aw… is Dinobutt gonna cry?"

"Shut up Rattrap!"

"But-"

"Seriously. Shut up. Soul's coming…"

"Can I have some sugar, now?"

"I can't wait to start the foam machine."

"Shush."

"Nom."

iii

For one thing, it was entirely dark inside the Bed and Breakfast when she walked in with Waspinator. Then, as Waspinator said, the lights suddenly went on.

"SURPRISE!"

Even though Soultail knew what to expect, she hadn't realized this was going to happen on such a large scale. She covered her mouth with her hands in surprise and stared around the room. Shockbox, Terrorsaur, Rattrap, Triassicus, and Dinobot were all lying bunched together on a large branch overhanging the large dining room table holding a huge banner with the phrase "HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOULTAIL" scrawled across it. Darktide was sitting on the couch with Ion sitting on his tail and Rampage sitting on the opposite end of the couch with Rashad on his shoulder. On the other side of the room, Leppender, Blaze, and Skyfire sat conveniently on another couch with Zaron sitting on the head of the couch on the upper part of Skyfire's wing. Friend sat behind the huge dining room table with Quickstrike on his right shoulder and Inferno on the other while, standing in front of the dining room tables were Scorponok, Cinnamon, Blues, Zero, Alia, Axl, Forte, Azfal, Tigertron, Airrazor, Depthcharge, Pegasus, Leppender, Optimus, Bullet gnawing on Primal's foot, PinkPanther, and Airrizzon, all grinning brightly and smiling.

Sitting on the dining room table, amidst the pile of brightly wrapped presents, food, and in front of a huge birthday cake, was Cheetor wearing a bright red bow. Soultail was not sure weather or not the bow or Cheetor's face were redder.

"Happy birthday Soul!" Cheetor called out nervously, smiling innocently at his bride to be. Just as soon as he said it, Friend threw a bunch of streamers around the room and several of the others popped confetti poppers.

At that point, Shockbox lost her balance and fell off the branch she was on and face first into the floor. Terrorsaur and Waspinator cringed slightly, but that was most of the reaction the wasp femme received. "Don't worry guys! The floor broke my fall!"

Soultail, in combination of everything her sergeant family was doing for her, she burst out laughing in joy. "Primus and Gaia, thank you! I can't believe you did all this for me!" Soul was smiling brightly, and her grin made everyone in the room look slightly less nervous.

Waspinator was grinning. "Wazzpinator gets second piece of cake after Soul!"

Shockbox looked up at him. "Wrestle you for it!"

Even as everyone began to settle into the party somewhat and Shockbox abruptly tackled Waspinator to the floor where they proceeded to play wrestle, Airrizzon approached Soultail. "Sorry about upsetting you earlier. I was afraid this was going to happen." The owner of the B&B looked apologetic and, without a second thought, Soultail silently forgave her and everyone else.

Cheetor trotted over in beast-mode, the red bow still around his neck. "Yeah. Sorry for denying you that birthday kiss too and making you feel so upset about your mom. If you want though…"

Soultail was smiling brightly as she glanced over at Waspinator. The wasp Predacon glanced up at her before Shockbox nipped at his antenna playfully and he had to try to force her off him, but the look he had managed to give her was that of understanding.

"It's okay Cheetor. A friend of mine managed to convince me I'm not the only one who misses their mother. 'Sides, I like surprises."

Cheetor, without another word, transformed to his robot-mode and kissed her. His red bow brushed against her chest in the region of her spark chamber as it brushed up against her.

Whenever everything got too crazy for her, Soultail Omega-Light sat alone on the mountain top.

Today was no exception. Especially for what it was the anniversary of. It was her birthday and - consequently - the same day as her mother's death. The worst kind of birthday anyone could ever have.

For it being her birthday and the death of her mother, it was the best birthday she ever had.

Fin