Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.


Pandimala: So...are we going to talk about it?

Authoress: *guilty*...I tried.

Pandimala: *vents* I know. Work has been crazy for you.

Authoress: *nods* At least I have a couple of chapters ready.

Airachnid: *huffs* Fine, I guess it is an understandable excuse. Just...try not to let it get to you again.

Authoress: *shrugs* No promises.


Chapter 4: A Needed History Lesson

Airachnid's 1st P.O.V.

I smirked as I listened to Entom lecture Pandimala about the history of Cybertron so she would be prepared. Like many bots I knew, the femme was not taking well to sitting through Entom's class. While she did seem interested in the subject, the mech's vocals seemed to be causing the femme to shift her focus from him to whatever thoughts she seemed to be having. I remembered quite a few lessons where Entom had to wake me and Tarantulas up because we couldn't stay focused. The femme seemed to be on that same route.

"The Age of Wrath started when the Quintessons came to Cybertron posing as benevolent beings who wished to help the Cybertronians rebuild their homeworld. While this worked for them for a few million stellars, the Prime of the time, Zeta, realized that they were planning on subjugating our species and gathered followers to overthrow the Quintessons. Even to this solar, the Quintessons hate us for foiling their plans. What is worse is that they are forbidden in interfering with any of Cybertron's work due to a decree from the Galactic alliance, of which they have a seat."

That seemed to interest Pandimala enough to have her sit up and speak. "Wait, how the frag do the Quintessons have a seat on this Galactic Alliance thing and Cybertron doesn't? I mean, I know that Cybertron has its fair share of problems, but the Quintessons are a tyrannical race that wants to subjugate the entire universe. Just how does anybot think that they should be in that sort of position?"

Entom seemed surprised at her reaction, as was I. She seemed emotionally invested in this question. "It is because the Quintessons are better at hiding their evil from the universe. All anybot has to do is go to Cybertron to see that not all of our citizens are being fairly treated. If bots go to Quintessa, though I don't know why anybot would want to, they find bots who are happy with their lot in life and more than content in being ruled by the Quintessons. To the Galactic Alliance, the Qunitessons are fair rulers to their subjects. That, despite their urge to conquer other planets, puts them far ahead of Cybertron in the books of the Galactic Alliance and thus earned them a place on their ruling council."

"And speaking from a purely economical point of view," I decided to join the conversation. Both of them turned to me as I continued, "The Quintessons have holdings over so many different planets, with so many different goods, that they could cause trouble for the rest of the Galactic Alliance. They would need a new member state who was just as influential in trade markets to start questioning the Quintessons at any point."

"That's a load of slag," Pandimala grumbled with a shake of her helm. "If they truly are the neutral state that they claim to be, then this Galactic Alliance should investigate all of their members and make sure that the citizens of those states aren't being manipulated by greedy beings out for themselves only." She then let out a vent.

Her reaction to this had me curious. "Pandimala, what can you tell us about the Quintessons from your realities?" Entom asked her with a curious look. "You have some knowledge of them or you wouldn't be as upset about their admittance into the Galactic Alliance."

To my surprise, the femme gave a so-so motion with her servo before she answered. "It's complicated. It seemed like neither the fans nor the creators of the shows could pin down a base role for the Quintessons when it came to their history and connections. There was even one dimension where they were the creators of the Cybertronian race and not Primus." I felt my spark race at hearing those words. A place where Primus didn't create our ancestors but those squids? It had to be the Pit to have that as a reality. "In another reality that shares that same distinction, Quintessa is the name of their goddess who created both the Quintessons and the Cybertronians and she can control them, to an extent, through the creator-creation link." She then shrugged. "To be fair, it's not one of my favorite tellings of our species." She then continued to answer Entom. "The one thing that most of the tellings agree with is that they are only out for themselves and, once something stops being of use, they get rid of it so it doesn't hurt them later on."

That sounded like the Quintessons. "Interesting," Entom agreed before he motioned to me. "You might as well join us Airachnid. A refresher never hurt anybot."

Slag it. I should have kept my vocals silent.

"Welcome," Pandimala whispered as Entom picked up speaking of the Age of Wrath. "Get ready for cycles of droning vocals."

"I'm used to it. This is round two for me." I grumbled as Entom continued to talk. "How did I get into this with you?"

Pandimala smirked. "Because you opened up your vocals. Maybe we can get the next bot to come by to join us. We could get a whole class in here before my class ends."

Wait…which lesson was this? Depending on what Entom was planning on talking about, this could be a very long class. "Which lesson is this?" I was hoping it was just the lesson on the Quintessons. That would explain the pre-talk he had been finishing with Pandimala when I had first walked up. But, if this was the one I was thinking it could be, I knew my luck fragging hated me.

"I think Entom introduced it as 'The Rise and Fall of the Title of Prime in Modern History," Pandimala whispered.

Fragging slagging creation of a glitch. This was his longest lecture and we were going to be lucky to get out of here with our sanity. And I was here for the beginning. When historians thought of Cybertron's history, they usually grouped it in terms of three to six Primes depending on what significance they imparted to each other. The grouping of modern history grouped Zeta Prime, Nominous Prime, and our current Prime, Sentinel, together so far. If we were just at the part with the Quintessons, then that meant he was building up for Zeta Prime to be forced the mantel and then the battles against them would show the rise in the influence that Cybertron had started to gain under the Prime. The last of the good Primes in this trio of time so far. Then after he got through Zeta Prime's time as leader, we were going to start the beginning of the slag that we were now in.

Nominous Prime and his false pride.

Due to the efforts of Zeta Prime winning the fight against the squids, and the fact that he rejoined the Well only a few solars after the Quintessons were defeated, Nominous Prime was able to reap the benefits that came with victory without having to lead Cybertron through the struggles of the actual fight. Oh, Nominous had fought, but he had been a general who stayed behind the lines instead of being in the thick of the fighting like Zeta had.

My audios caught Entom mentioning Zeta's programs being set to the wayside by Nominous and I felt a tick of anger. Those programs were meant to help bots learn how to do function as engaging and helpful members of society without getting rid of what made that bot who they were. Nominous got rid of everything that helped keep Cybertronians unique and growing. There were programs to help a flyer learn about mines with care for the claustrophobia that most of them had, there were even programs to help larger ground-based bots learn how to be light on their pedes to help them take jobs in Vos, the flying city, so they wouldn't be a hindrance and provide strength that most flyers did not possess to help the city grow. These programs would have moved Cybertron into a new wave of growth and development that would have made the supposed 'Golden Age' of Cybertron a truly golden age.

But, that didn't fit into Nominous' view of how the universe should work, and so they were removed as soon as they were able to. In its place, Nominous brought forth his version of the 'Golden Age' that we were currently in supposedly. If you were the right frame type and caste, then you were truly living a great existence. However, for those who were not so fortunate in how they were created, and what frame type they had, starved. Starved and struggled just to survive. Either that or they had to risk spark and limb in those gladiatorial pits that Nominous repurposed from the entertainment venues that Zeta had built.

Nominous Prime's entire reign could be described as tearing apart all of the good things that Zeta had built while taking credit for what Zeta Prime had accomplished. Unfortunately, this situation only got worse when Sentinel Prime took over for Nominous after the mech got too aged to continue his work. Even though it seemed impossible, the situation only got worse for Cybertron when Sentinel took the helm.

While Nominous would, at the very least, be lenient with bots who tried to better themselves from the lower castes…and would occasionally allow one to 'move up' if he saw promise in those bots, that was an unheard-of occurrence now in Sentinel's regime. The only way for a lower caste bot to move up was to win an impossible match in the Pits against foes that could not be beaten by normal Cybertronians. In the hundreds of stellars that had passed since Sentinel's reign of terror began, only one bot had been victorious in those matches.

During the first few stellars of Sentinel's reign as Prime, a large triple changer known as Bermuda was in the rings to better his status and escape the pits that his every-solar life had turned into. From what records told us, he was created with a blessing from Primus that gave him partial coding from the time of the ancients. The mech certainly looked the part from the few images that were recorded during that time. I was sure that the mech was large enough to transport an army in his alt mode. For Bermuda's match, they even needed to do a remote viewing because he needed to use the moon as his battlefield. It was the only match the mech ever fought. But, the viewing on it had set the match to be one in a lifetime. So, Sentinel allowed it.

The footage that we still had from that fight was brutal. Bermuda's size was no joke, but the creature that Sentinel and the council found to fight him was one that even the giant triple changer appear to be insignificant. Energon and lifeblood were spilled as Bermuda and the monster he was fighting took pieces out of each other.

In a turn of surprising events, though, the battle didn't go as Sentinel and the council planned. While the creature and Bermuda fought, something must have caused them to have a camaraderie with each other and, in a show of defiance, both escaped. The last clicks of the footage from that time show Bermuda, in all of his injured glory, smiling and laughing while riding atop the space goliath's back as it flew them away from the moon to parts unknown. No bot knew if either the creature of the mech were still online, but I think everybot who knew the tale secretly hoped so.

Sentinel and the Council, of course, had to move to create a cover story. They broadcasted that they had talked to Bermuda before the fight and agreed that, if the mech was somehow able to tame the creature who they hadn't even been able to calm, then that would count as his victory. Most bots doubted that explanation but nobot was going to risk their spark and say otherwise. Now, of course, the council made sure to keep barriers up that prevented escape as Bermuda did.

Now, everybot who took a turn in those fights met the same, gruesome end reaching for a hope that didn't exist.

"And I think we will stop there for now," Entom said. Glancing over, I saw that Pandimala's optics were focused on the mech. Since she did say that the bot who started the uprisings against Sentinel Prime and the Council came from the gladiator pits, then she would be interested about the beginning of the gladiatorial pits to begin with. "Any questions?"

"Of course I have questions," Pandimala said with urgency in her vocals. "Why would the bots of Cybertron even allow the gladiatorial fights in the first place? They were in a golden age. While I know that the citizens of Kaon and Tarn have especially suffered from this, there would have to be bots who had credits to support and see the shows so that they could continue. How did they even get bots to want to see such gruesome spectacles?"

Entom looked surprised at her question for a nano. It was a pretty fair question though, and not one that was easily answered. Most would think that the average Cybertronian would be able to see how monstrous the gladiatorial pits are. But, our existence was not always that simple…as much as certain bots wished it was.

"In short," Entom started with an annoyed look. I was curious as to how he was going to answer this with the tone he had. "Politics and social status. Bots who support the decisions the Council makes have a higher chance of getting certain things that they want. The political minefield that is around the Pits is enormous. Some of the bots that have tried to get out of the Pits through the final fight, especially the Pits of Kaon, are usually sabotaged because the Council doesn't want to lose such a large profit. Nine times out of ten the bot trying to leave has gained a reputation to even be suggesting it."

"But how do they convince bots to go and see them?" She then shook her helm. "My planet had…will have…gah, I hate travel talk." Pandimala seemed frustrated for a nano before she continued. "My planet had a similar system but the number of citizens who needed distraction was higher. Plus, the gladiators consisted of either criminals, people in debt, or prisoners of war. From what I understand, the gladiators in the pits are regular citizens who are trying to improve their lot in life. But, how would they draw in enough spectators to make them cost-effective?"

She made a good point, and it wasn't one that I had thought about before. How did Cybertron convince the hordes of bots that came to the pits to watch to do just that? They had to have better ways of occupying their time than watching lower-caste bots murdering each other for their entertainment. Pandimala was right to ask this. It didn't make sense.

Entom paused, allowing his digits to dance across his datapads full of notes before he paused. "How do they do it?" He asked in a whisper. I knew that despite being in the hive, Entom personally felt a connection to Cybertron's history the more he studied it. Sometimes, he didn't understand why they did things sometimes, and it confused the historian more and more. "If I had to guess, it was because the Pits were the place to mingle with anybot of higher standing. The Council, at the beginning of the Pits, made sure that bots knew that only the best of the best would go watch the fights. So, anybot who wanted more standing made sure that they went to the fights and made sure that they were seen."

"And let me guess," Pandimala interrupted with a knowing look. When Entom motioned for her to continue, she did. "Once bots were regularly attending the matches and making them a vital part of Cybertron's social scene, true bots of higher standing stopped attending all but the most important matches?" Entom nodded and Pandimala growled. "Of course. They wanted to make sure that bots with working processors were too busy to see what they were doing."

Entom nodded. "Precisely," He then shut off the monitor in front of him. "Take a break to stretch your joints. I'll expect you both back in about fifteen clicks."

Great, I wasn't getting out of this. Standing up, I stretched a little before I turned and realized that Pandimala was already leaving the room. How had I missed her standing up? I was hoping to talk with her a little during this break. She was getting really upset while Entom was talking about the gladiator pits.

Following her out to the hall, I watched as she turned around the corner. If I had to guess, she was heading toward the closer breakroom to that classroom. Since I had an idea of where she was going, I stopped trying to catch up to the larger femme and instead cut my way across the base on the faster route. Sure enough, after a few clicks of moving, I arrived at the breakroom doors as soon as Pandimala arrived. I jumped slightly when the femme suddenly jerked back at the sight of me. What was that about?

"Sorry, Airachnid. I was in my processor and didn't realize that you were there," She apologized with a shake of her helm before she seemed to pause. "Wait, how did you get here before me? I left before you did?"

I smirked as the two of us walked into the room. "I have lived here my entire existence. I know every path and side path to get to where I want to go."

"Right," Concern started to creep into my systems when I heard her still-distracted response. While I hadn't known the femme long, we had made a connection during my questioning of her. It didn't feel right to hear her sound so despondent. "It's sometimes hard to remember that given…well…just given."

Even though she was getting better at keeping her spark off of her shoulder, I could still read the femme as easily as taking an intake. I knew exactly what she was going to end that sentence off on. It was hard for her to remember that I had an every-solar existence given the monster that she knew me as before. "You know," I started while moving to sit on one of the couches here. "I don't mind if you talk about the other…me. I know that you are struggling to accept that I am me and not her. Perhaps talking about her more would help you?"

"No,"

I jumped at the cold edge Pandimala's vocals took. Focusing on her faceplate, I realized that the femme's optics were cold and devoid of any of the tells that I had seen before. "What do you mean? You talk about the other parallels just fine Pandimala. Even ones you don't care for. Mine shouldn't be any different to,"

"But she is!" I flinched and slid slightly away from the femme as she interrupted me. The anger in her vocals. Like when I questioned her that first time, Pandimala tended to get a little heated when she was invested in her conversation. We were working on that but, for now, the femme could be a grenade in a room of hooks. One wrong move and she went off. "She is the exception. You don't understand. Still! That Airachnid, she was as vicious as anybot would ever come. There was never a bot she would hesitate in tearing apart, metal shaving by metal shaving, should it suit her fancy,"

I felt my spark skip a beat as Pandimala slammed her servo on the table. It was hard to remember at times, but Pandimala was a large femme who did not know her strengths and that could be dangerous to all of us. All she needed to do was swing out once in the wrong direction and she could hurt somebot without meaning to. And, unlike the hardcased and Astrotrain, not all of us could take a hit from a bot her size unexpectedly without consequences. I needed to get her calmed down, and quickly.

"I get that Pandimala, but that is not me,"

"Don't you think I know that?" She yelled while stepping back away from me. That was at least a good sign. The femme, while getting angry and focused on that anger, seemed to at least realize that her strength could be a problem. "I see it every fragging time we are together. How kind you are, and how thoughtful you are of others despite what you might think. I know that the other one would have had my spark flickering out before I could get more than a few words strung together. I know that you are not her. But, that doesn't help the fact. It doesn't help at all!"

"Hardshell, I might need you and Astrotrain down here in the rec room by Entom's class. Pandimala seems to be out of focus and she's angry," I sent to the two as I kept an optic on Pandimala.

"Every time I see you, I see that monster and I don't want to! I hate being burdened with the facts of a different timeline and having to balance the two of them. I hate it! And what's worse is that I have no idea what I am doing!" She was pacing now as she flexed her digits. One of the habits we had all observed of the femme when she was anxious or high-strung. "I can only fake what I am doing for so long. I don't have any idea about the basics of surviving, and I am supposed to survive through a fragging war? A war that is political as well as literal. Where I am going to be going against beings who are far older than I ever imagined getting…and that are still young compared to the majority? I keep seeing these comparisons here with you…and especially with the other you. If I can't get past it here then what the frag am I going to do when I finally go to Cybertron? While your other part made a big impact on me personally, there will be many others who will make even larger impacts on me…yet I can't separate you from her!"

Hearing the doors open, I glanced to the side and saw that both Astrotrain and Hardshell were standing there. Good, Pandimala seemed to be devolving more and more inside her helm. "Pandimala, that's what our training is for. We are going to make sure that you can survive. But, you can't panic like this. It won't do anybot any good." I spoke up again.

"I can't do anything else!" She yelled, her optics focusing on me. "I'm not ready for this. I wasn't prepared to face any of this. I was just supposed to come and fix some small things with a god helping me. Instead, I've been plunged millions of years into the past with only my knowledge and bots I can't tell everything to get me through all of this!" She was panicking and I was pretty sure that she couldn't hear me. She was having a panic attack.

"Pandimala calm down!" Hardshell yelled at her as he stepped forward. "You are doing fine. Better than fine!"

I moved slightly away from the femme when she turned and glared at Hardshell with a look that would put most in the Well. "It isn't enough. I have to get stronger. Be stronger! I can't fail!"

She wasn't listening. Not truly. I was pretty sure that she was saying things on repeat at this point, just in response to each question. Scuttlebug, thankfully, must have been not far behind Astrotrain and, in seeing the state that Pandimala was in, didn't waste a nano in walking up to her and stabbing her shoulder with a sedative. "You need a rest femme. Astrotrain, Hardshell; help me get her to the med bay." To my surprise, he then glanced at me. "You should come too. The second round of her deep scans just came back and it explains this more than I was hoping it would."

Wait…what did he mean? If I was going to find out, then I was going to have to go with him. "Alright," We all then followed Scuttlebug out of the rec room, Pandimala's being carried by Hardshell and Astrotrain.

After a few clicks of walking, Scuttlebug finally started to speak again. "Airachnid, what were you and Pandimala talking about before she went into that state?"

Was Scuttlebug truly implying that I purposefully caused Pandimala to react like this? I had only caused her to panic before because she did not know who I was and had been comparing me to another version of myself. I would tear this medic apart if that was what he was implying, only medic left or not. "Are you saying that I caused this on purpose Scuttlebug?" My voice came out as a hiss in the end.

A vent came out of Scuttlebug before he threw a glare at me. "Put your poisonous bite away femme, that wasn't what I was saying. I need to know this answer before I tell you the results of the femme's scans. Now, are you going to tell me, or am I going to have to wait until Pandimala wakes up and risk sending her into that same state again?"

I flinched at the tone he took. I hadn't heard him talk like that for quite some time. He hadn't even been that mad when I had questioned Pandimala before. The last time he had referred to me as 'femme' was back when carrier and sire had first offlined. I had lashed out at everybot who so much as looked at me wrong. Scuttlebug had sat me down and had a long…a very long lecture for me about how stupid I had been back then.

To hear it now from the mech meant that I was missing the point. "Fine." I then motioned to the femme. "Entom had us taking our first break for his class that I joined in on this solar. He is on 'The Rise and Fall of the Title of Prime in Modern History' and Pandimala was more than invested in it. Given what we know about her, that makes sense."

"Yes, but how did that devolve into this?" Astrotrain asked with a motion toward the femme he was helping to carry.

I shook my helm. "I saw that Pandimala looked upset when she left for the break and figured she was heading to that break room. So, I took the shortcuts and got there at the same time she did. She was surprised that I beat her until I told her that I knew some shortcuts. She sounded detached when she voiced her realization of that fact. Then she admitted that it was hard for her to remember that I grew up normally given…and then she stopped there. I figured she was talking about that alternate me and so I advised her that it might help her separate me from that Airachnid if she talked to me about that Airachnid."

"I'm guessing that was what started this?" Hardshell asked.

"Started is probably the best word for that." I partially agreed. "But, she was more disconnected and confused when she was talking about me and the other me. It was as if she was conflicted but didn't know where to start working on that. No, what seemed to get her to break down like that was when she started to compare that uncertainty with how she ended up here as a whole. From what I got from all of that, she is afraid of failing. She feels alone, even though we've told her plenty of times that we will help her."

We then arrived at the med bay and so talking ceased until Pandimala was placed on one of the berths and Scuttlebug started his scans. I had never seen Pandimala get so unhinged at something. Of course, I had only known her for a few solars. However, at that time, she didn't seem like the kind of femme to freak out like that. She had seemed so put together when she had woken up here, given everything that we now knew happened.

Once Scuttlebug started to upload the results of the scan into the computer, he turned to the three of us. "That makes a lot of sense, given what I found from that latest deep scan and what I know of her frame types…now that I know what that truly is."

Wait…what was he talking about? She was a large grounder. That was obvious to all of us. They weren't that uncommon. But, he was sounding like he had only seen a few of her frame types in the past. "She's a grounder…isn't she?" Hardshell asked the question that was bouncing in my helm.

To my utter surprise, he shook his helm. "If she was, then this would be an easy fix that we could take care of within our confidants. However, since I am sure that the only bot who could help her will agree to call in an expert for this, I think it is time to make an interplanetary call to Vestium Major." My optics widened when he turned to Astrotrain. "Isn't that right, Astrotrain?"

The triple changer's optics widened at the implication that we all picked up on. "Wait…are you telling me that Pandimala is a triple changer?"

"Yes," Scuttlebug confirmed Astrotrain's question.

Frag, she was a triple changer? That did explain the way that she exploded. Every triple changer had a trigger point. Astrotrain's, as it was with many triple changers, was his superiority complex. He used to get set off if any bot implied that he wasn't capable of doing something. He had to learn the limits of his chassis and that he was not Primus' gift to us all. According to what he told us about his training, that had been a lot of lessons.

Glancing at Astrotrain, I saw that he looked deep in thought. I would give my left servo to know what he was thinking about. "I'll give him a call now. I'll let Orbweaver know when we should expect him and the excuse we will be giving the exploration team about his arrival here." He then walked out.

"Scuttle," The medic turned to me as I motioned to the femme. "Where are her wings at in development?" I was assuming that they weren't visible yet because they weren't ready to pop. We were going to have to be wary about when they did, though. If her wings popped in the wrong scenario, then she could be mentally damaged for the rest of her existence.

His shoulders relaxing told me that there was at least good news on that front. "While they could pop as soon as thirty solars from now naturally, I don't think we will have to worry about them popping for another stellar at the least. The femme's wings, while fully developed, seemed to be firmly placed in their growth casing. No signs of movement at all. Somebot would have to force them out and I don't plan on doing that."

I nodded in agreement. "Given what just happened, that is probably a good idea. Make sure you send a report to my siblings. They will need to be kept in the loop about this." I then shook my helm before leaving Hardshell and Scuttlebug behind.

Not to my surprise, Shrapnel was not far behind me. "My Lady, what would you like me to do?"

"Help me prepare. We are going to have a guest arriving soon and we need to make sure that everything is set up for him to work as quickly as he can. Pandimala has done much for us, and it would be an insult for us to not do the same for her. If she is supposed to be ready for Cybertron in time, then we need to make sure training goes as smoothly as possible."


Authoress: *happy*

Tarantulas: *confused* Why are you so happy?

Authoress: *holds up living candle with blue flame* I got a shiny one!

Tarantulas: *even more confused: O...Kay...?

Pandimala: *sighs* Just go with it.

Orbweaver: *grins* I want to hold the candle!


AN: And here is the next chapter! I hope you all enjoyed this! Sorry again for the delay. This chapter is starting to move us toward Cybertron, one step at a time. How will Pandimala's training go? And who is getting called in? The next chapter will answer at least the last one, and it may surprise some of you, though maybe it won't. We'll see. And yes, the next chapter is written. I'll just need to find time to get it up here and edited.

Until then though, here are the names of the next chapters!

Chapter 5: Unexpected Arrival

Chapter 6: Triple Changers

Chapter 7:...(find out next time!)

And that's all for now. Again, thank you for all of your support. If you wouldn't mind dropping a review or saying hi in one, that would be appreciated. Well, until next time, TTYL! *looking for more shiny living candles*