I don't own Transformers, but I do own my laptop where I watch the episodes.
This is just an idea that's been bugging me since I saw the G1 episode War Dawn, (and while I should work on my otherstories, Plot bunnies seem to pop out of nowhere, some being really mean and sending the others away till I write them down.)
What happened to Dion?
Silverbolt idly stared up at Earth's night sky. It had all been sureal, meeting Orion Pax, an innocent dock worker, secure in the ignorance that war could never happen. It was strange to think Optimus Prime had started out like that, just an ordinary bot. Ariel, his sweet girlfriend, who listened to rumors, but never quite belived them. Eventually turning into Elita-1, one of the most capable warrior femmes he'd ever met. Then Dion, who loved to joke- What had happened to him? Silverbolt shuttered his optics a moment. Optimus had never said . . . had he offlined permanetly? Surely Alpha Trion had saved him too . . .
"Silverbolt, what's up?" Air Raid looked at his leader. He'd been outside for a while.
"Remember how we met Orion?"
"Yeah." Fireflight spoke up. "Why?"
"What happened to Dion?" None of the aerial bots knew. "I know we told Alpha Trion about him."
"Maybe he offlined." Slingshot offered.
"No . . . Optimus would have told us . . . But his name would have changed . . . Maybe even his attitude."
"If that's the case, then maybe it's Ironhide." AirRaid offered. "He has the same ort of helmet."
"Or Ultra Magnus." Fireflight offered. "He and Optimus are pretty close."
"Not as close as Optimus and Ironhide are."
They began to argue, Slingshot and Fireflight leaning towards Ultra Magnus, Air Raid and Sky Diveleaning towards Ironhide.
"What's wrong?" Optimus looked at Silverbolt. They all froze. They hadn't heard him approach.
"We were trying to figure out what happened to Dion. We don't know . . ."
"I see . . . " Optimus just nodded, though his optics gave away his smile. "Figure it out yet?"
"No. We think it's Ironhide or Ultra Magnus."
"Well, you're close." Optimus turned to head in.
"Hey, wait a second won't you tell us?" Slingshot was annoyed.
"You didn't meet him, but there was a another friend of mine in there when Megatron gave the order to offline us all." (1) Optimus glanced over his shoulder. "He and Dion were rescued by Alpha Trion at the same time. One became Ironhide, the other Ultra Magnus."
"So which one is which?!"
"Optimus, hurry up, Decepticons are attaking a powerplant!" Ironhide's gruff voice sounded. Interupting the conversation.
-I can't believe Optimus blew us off!- Slingshot felt frustrated.
-I don't think he did, Slingshot . . . I think Optimus might not know which one is which either.-
-No, he does, and I bet Dion is Ironhide. The two look similar enough. And Alpha Trion kept Optimus and Elita looking somewhat similar to Orion and Ariel.-
-We're back where we started aren't we?-
-At least we know he survived.-
-Maybe when he got shot he lost his memory of being Dion?-
-Still doesn't answer that fragging Question! Which bot is Dion? Ironhide or Ultra Magnus?!-
-We may never know.-
-We could ask Chromia.-
-She and Ironhide met during the war, from what I understand.- Silverbolt ignored them, and focused on the seeker signatures.
-Heads up.- As he dodged Starscream's null rays, Silverbolt ignored Slingshot's last few words on the subject.
-I still want to know.-
(1) During the Episode War Dawn, when you see Dion get shot, there's another mech (that's not a decepticon) behind him that gets shot as well. One argument that I've heard, but wasn't able to write into the story, from a Friend for Dion to be Ultra Magnus is that Alpha Trion could be translated/broken down to 'lead three', Optimus prime can be loosely translated to 'the best one' and Elita-1 is close to 'elite one' and if that was the case then Dion had to become Ultra Magnus, or 'very great'. Her words, not mine, I've always thought Dion became Ironhide, due to how similar in appearance they are. In the end though, I have no clue. Hence why the aerialbots don't figure it out.
If anyone wants to give their view, I'll be happy to see it.
ShivaVixen, signing out!