Back at the cave lair…

"BLITZWING!" Fireblast heard Starscream yelling. She went into the kitchen and saw Starscream by the refrigerator, looking annoyed.

"What happened, Dad?" she asked.

"Blitzwing was supposed to do the shopping this month and he forgot!" yelled Starscream. "Now all we have is that Autobot motor oil that tastes like water."

Fireblast walked over to the fridge and picked up one of the Autobot oil canisters. It was full, and had the red Autobot insignia on the side. Feeling thirsty all of a sudden, she opened it and started to drink.

"Seriously, I don't know how you can drink that stuff," said Starscream. "And don't drink too much, dinner's in only an hour."

…

At dinnertime, Fireblast was sipping the leftover Autobot motor oil, as was everyone else. Fireblast thought her father was right—this oil did taste gross…but Skydive and Swordslash didn't seem to mind. Like usual, they were flirting with each other.

"Anyway, my dear," said Swordslash, putting his arm around Skydive, "I love you more than anything or anyone in the whole universe."

"I know…I'm an interesting femme," Skydive giggled, and Swordslash kissed her on the head.

"Yes, you are," he told her.

"Oh, don't worry, I love you best too," she reassured him.

"I love you more," said Swordslash.

"No, I love you more," protested Skydive.

Oh, great, thought Fireblast. Now they're going to start arguing about which one loves the other more again. How annoying!

"Making you my girlfriend was the best decision I ever made in my whole lifecycle." Swordslash grabbed Skydive and the two of them started making out with each other (AGAIN), obviously not thinking about others that might be watching them.

"Well, I want to be your girlfriend forever and ever!" Skydive cooed, breaking the kiss for a split second, then plunging straight into it again.

"And I can make all your dreams come true," Swordslash told her. "And that reminds me…"

Swordslash suddenly stood up and walked over to Starscream, who was drinking Autobot motor oil with a grimace on his face. Most Decepticons preferred the Decepticon mixture—Megatron's "own special mixture", as he put it. Autobot oil just wasn't strong enough. And right now there wasn't any energon, either, which made it even worse.

"What is it, Swordslash?" asked Starscream, pushing away the Autobot motor oil. Until they got ahold of energon and/or Decepticon motor oil, he would only drink what was necessary.

"I humbly request your oldest daughter's hand in marriage," said Swordslash politely, bowing.

"What?" yelled Starscream and Spaceflower at the same time. Predictably, Flyboy (who was sitting in his mother's lap) started wailing.

"I wish to marry Skydive," Swordslash repeated. "I promise I will take good care of her."

Starscream and Spaceflower looked so shocked. Finally, Starscream took a long sip of the Autobot motor oil and replied, "Well…if it's okay with her…I don't see why not."

Fireblast looked over at her sister, who looked even more shocked than her parents. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was open. The oil canister she had been holding had dropped out of her servo and spilled all over the table, but nobody noticed.

"Skydive…" Swordslash slowly walked over to his girlfriend, got down on one knee, and pulled out a sparkling diamond necklace. "You are an accomplished, confident, funny, kind and beautiful young femme. I always feel complete when I am with you and I am so glad I met you. Will you marry me?"

Swordslash was looking up at Skydive, optics full of pure love. Skydive's optics were full of love too as she gently took the necklace from her boyfriend, fastened it around her neck, and cried, "Oh, Swordslash, of course I'll marry you!"

Everyone cheered as Swordslash picked Skydive up and kissed her. Even Fireblast was cheering because she had never seen a marriage proposal before.

"I love you, Skydive," Swordslash told her passionately, still not letting her down.

"I love you too, Swordslash," Skydive whispered happily.

"Are you done with dinner, my love?" asked Swordslash. "For I wish to start planning the wedding…in my bedroom."

Swordslash's room used to be Blackarachnia's, but once she moved out, the room had been given to Thundercracker. Then, once Swordslash joined the Decepticons, Thundercracker had to move back in with the other Seekers.

"Looks like we've got a lot of planning to do," Skydive giggled, and pulled her husband-to-be out of the kitchen.

"Oh, like they're actually going to be planning," Fireblast said sarcastically, after a long silence.

"They're young and in love, Fireblast." Spaceflower gently patted her daughter's shoulder. "Just let it be."

About two Earth weeks later…

Wedding plans were now in full swing. Everyone was rushing about, doing everything in their power to prepare for a big wedding.

Consequently, though, this meant that the bride hadn't been out to fly in a while, which meant she was susceptible to "Flying-Deprivation Syndrome". FDS was a nasty condition that plagued Seekers who were grounded for long periods of time. It caused violent mood swings, cravings for energon, dizziness, and aching body parts.

Skydive was drinking some of their energon. She had been complaining of aching wings, the body part that hurt the most for the unfortunate Seeker who had FDS. The fact of the matter was that she didn't have time to get out and fly—so maybe energon would deaden some of the pain.

"How long has it been since you've done any flying, my love?" asked Swordslash carefully.

"About four days," replied Skydive sullenly. "That's why I don't feel well."

"Why don't you get outside and fly?"

"I can't, don't you see?" Skydive cried. "I'm too busy! I'm going to be married soon!"

"Exactly, it's supposed to be a happy thing," Swordslash reminded her.

"Femmes don't just see weddings as the bondage of two 'bots in love, we see it as a huge social event, too," Fireblast informed her future brother-in-law. Typically, she found Swordslash annoying, but right now she was feeling just a little sorry for the Decepticon warrior. "I'm not surprised at all that she's feeling stressed."

"Please, my love, try to calm down," Swordslash begged.

"Just leave her be, Swordslash," Fireblast insisted.

Skydive was, indeed, looking stressed. "I have so much to do! I have to pick new colors for my wedding paint job, I have to figure out my guest list, I have to—"

"Skydive, listen." Swordslash held his spark-mate's servos in his and whispered, "Everything's going to be fine. I promise."

Later that evening, at dinnertime…

Fireblast was feeling pretty sulky. There had been a lot of wedding planning going on, and for the whole solar cycle she had to listen to her older sister's complaining. The only reason Fireblast hadn't retorted was because she knew better than to fight with a victim of FDS, but she was getting to the end of her string.

What did Skydive have to whine about, anyway? After all, she had a boyfriend who really cared about her—and soon, he would be her husband. Fireblast, on the other hand, knew she would end up alone…and dreadfully lonely.

"I have so much to do," Skydive was saying, sounding even more stressed-out than before. "I don't know what I'm going to do about it, it's making me go insane, I just don't—"

"Would you shut up already?" Fireblast suddenly blurted. "You don't have anything to complain about! The only thing you're whining about is the fact that you have a boyfriend who loves you. You're so ungrateful for everything you have. Just SHUT UP!"

"You know, Fireblast, you are hardly ever nice to me!" Skydive retorted, springing out of her chair.

"Skydive, please," said Swordslash, but his bride paid no heed.

"I put up with your rudeness to me because you're my sister and I love you!" Skydive shouted. "But even I have my limits!"

"And what in Primus is that supposed to mean?" Fireblast asked angrily.

"It means that you're a jealous little wench who wants everything to go her way and a disturbance to the peace!" Skydive told her. (Skydive normally never would have said something like that, but the circumstances were not influencing her mood in a good way.)

"I can't believe you would call me that!" Fireblast felt hot tears brimming in her optics, but turned away so Skydive couldn't see. "You're the worst older sister ever! I-I hate you!"

With that she stood up and ran all the way to her room, servos over her face. Once she got inside she locked the door and collapsed on the bed, weeping bitterly. Yes, the room belonged to both her and Skydive, but the door was locked, and the only one who could override the codes on these doors was Megatron (Fireblast was pretty sure Megatron didn't want to get in a fight with two quarreling sisters).

Soon enough, though, Fireblast heard knocking at the door and Skydive calling, "Fireblast? Fireblast, please open up! Are you okay?"

"W-What do you c-care?" Fireblast sobbed. "I'm just a jealous little wench!"

"I'm sorry about saying that!" cried Skydive. "I-I didn't mean it!"

"Just leave me alone!"

"No, I won't leave you alone!" Skydive kept pounding on the door. "Please, Fireblast, listen. I'm really sorry."

"GO AWAY!" Fireblast told her. "Go take out your FDS on somebody else—like your stupid boyfriend!"

"Fireblast!" said Skydive exasperatedly.

"I SAID GO AWAY!" Fireblast hollered.

"You know, if you're going to be that way, then you can just stay there and cry!" Skydive hollered back, her mood changing again, and then there was silence.

…

Eventually, Spaceflower got Megatron to override the code on the door's lock, but that didn't mean Skydive and Fireblast had to speak to each other. It was nighttime, and Skydive was turned towards the wall, fitfully sleeping. Fireblast, though, couldn't sleep. This fight proved it—that no one wanted her or would ever want her.

It wasn't fair. Skydive had everything she wanted and Fireblast had nothing. She was just a loser-bot who would never find her purpose—if she even had a purpose, that is. And she probably didn't.

Fireblast thought of all the bad times she had at the cave lair. Finally, she got out of bed and found herself walking to the door.

"I'm not going to stay somewhere where I'm not wanted," she muttered to herself. "They'll be happy when I'm gone."

As quietly as she could, the young femme headed out the door. The cave lair was, unfortunately, on an island, so it wasn't going to be easy for her to hitch a ride. Yes, she could try to fly, but she knew that would only turn out badly.

Fireblast crept through the bushes until she saw the water—and a boat that read Sumdac Systems on the side. This could come in handy.