Good evening, young ones. It's only me today, I'm afraid. As it happens, Aspen had to leave this morning on a historical tour of the Beast Wars for a project of hers. She sends her apologies and asked me to address you directly today rather than tell a story through my grandsparklings or the little red sparkling or my little human friend. Yes, I know you are there. I can see each of you; hello! Now then, Angel Heart, I believe you asked that I tell the story of Sunstreaker and Sideswipe and the Energon House? Very well, are you all comfortable? Good. Let me see...it happened a long time ago...

The Story of Sunstreaker and Sideswipe

Once upon a time, there were two little mechs named Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. They were twin brothers, and beloved of all who knew them. Almost all. You see, their Carrier had died in a tragic accident when they were just sparklings, and their grief-stricken Sire worried that he wouldn't be able to properly care for his sons on his own. When Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were younglings, their Sire asked his late sparkmate's sister to come and help him raise the twins. At first, the two little mechs were excited that their aunt was coming to live with them, but they soon discovered that she was a sour-tempered, jealous femme. She couldn't stand that their red and yellow finish was so much brighter and shinier than hers, and that the twins' Sire always saw to their needs before his and hers. She tried to make life miserable for the younglings, but Sunstreaker gave her as much grief as he got, and Sideswipe had a way of making the unexpected happen.

There came a time when the province ran dangerously low on energon. Every family was forced to ration their supplies as much as possible, and some died of starvation. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe's Sire began giving his sister-in-law and his sons all of his portion, and his processor began to grow as weak as his frame. The aunt took advantage of his lack of clear judgment to enact a terrible scheme. "Brother of mine," she said, "Look at your sons. They will starve soon, and we after them, because there is not enough energon. We must take them to the outskirts of town and leave them there. Perhaps they will come across food if they don't have to worry about us." Little did she know that Sideswipe had overheard every word she said. He ran back to his brother and the two whispered long into the night about what ought to be done.

The next morning, the femme, the mech, and the younglings set out on an expedition to the edge of the province. Every few moments, Sunstreaker would turn around and drop a pebble on the ground. "Sunstreaker, you lazy youngling! Why do you dawdle?" his aunt called. "Oh, I am waving goodbye to my Cyber-cat!" the crafty child answered, "See her on the roof?" The angry femme frowned at him. "That's nothing but sunlight on the metal! Keep up with your brother!" And so it went until they reached a deep canyon and stopped for energon. The twins were exhausted and low on reserves, and soon fell into a recharge to preserve their supply of energon. As soon as they were asleep, their wicked aunt dragged their Sire back to the homestead, leaving the younglings behind. When the two little mechs awoke and found themselves alone, they were not worried. "Come, brother," said Sideswipe to Sunstreaker, "We will follow your trail of pebbles!" What neither of them knew was that only hours before, a Seeker with a fondness for shiny things had been flying overhead. When he saw the trail of pebbles glowing like pearls in the moonlight, he stopped and gathered up every single one.

Upon realizing that their way home was gone, Sunstreaker raged and swore vengeance on their aunt. "Patience, my brother," Sideswipe cautioned, "First we must actually get home without starving on the way." Aimlessly, they wandered in the dark for some time before they found themselves walking in the canyon. For many miles, there was nothing, but then they caught a glow of blue ahead. They hurried towards it and found the unbelievable: a little hut made completely of sweet energon cubes! The little ones whooped with joy and began cramming the treats into their mouths as quickly as they could. Giggling, the younglings brushed energon crumbs from their armor and painted each other's faceplates with the sticky blue liquid. Suddenly, a soft voice floated out of the window.

Nibble, nibble, Scraplet small,

Who's that nibbling at my wall?

At first, they said nothing, sitting quietly in fright. Then Sunstreaker, who thought himself enormously clever, answered, "'Tis nothing but the tempest wild, the rain's mother and the wind's own child." He was answered with a laugh, and an odd femme hobbled out to meet them. She was bent over so they couldn't tell her height, and walked with the help of eight thin legs. "Well, well! Visitors!" she smiled and held her arms out. "Do come in, my little friends! Oh, but you look half-starved. I'll soon fix that!" She invited the twins into her cottage and soon had them sitting down to the heartiest meal either of them had ever had. After they had refueled completely, she carried them both to a spare room and showed them two recharge bunks. "There now, I'm sure you'll be sleepy with your tanks so full!" she cooed, "Would you like me to tuck you in?" Well this was something they hadn't had since their Carrier was alive! They shyly agreed, and the strange femme soon tucked them in with unusual web-like blankets. She sang a haunting lullaby that made no sense to either of them, then left them to sleep.

When Sunstreaker awoke, his twin was no longer beside him. Nervously, he struggled out of the sticky wrapping around him and tiptoed into the next room. To his horror, his brother was trapped in a cage suspended from the ceiling! "Brother! What has happened!" he cried out. Their hostess appeared behind him and shoved him away from the cage, scowling. "Here, get cooking!" she growled at the little yellow mech, handing him a recipe holopad and a bucket of raw energon. You see, the strange femme was one of the Thirsty: a twisted, corrupted spark that lives on the energon of others. She planned to pump Sideswipe's frame full of energon, then consume both younglings. She forced Sunstreaker to make meals for his brother, while he was barely given enough to survive.

Then one day, she decided that she was tired of waiting and ordered Sunstreaker to prepare a stasis pod, so that she could drain their energon without them struggling. The little mech had been waiting for a chance like this. He dawdled, not having to feign exhaustion, and pretended to struggle with the mechanisms. "I don't know how to check the levels!" he said innocently, "What am I supposed to do?"

"Oh, you little idiot!" the femme snarled, "Watch what I do!" She bent over and leaned into the pod. Swiftly, Sunstreaker pushed her the rest of the way in and closed the pod. He freed his brother and they gathered as much energon as three cargo units could hold before making their slow way home...in the daylight, this time. When they arrived home, their Sire was overjoyed to see them, having regained most of his mental stability, but he had been too weak to go and search for them. As it turned out, the wicked aunt had died of energon deprivation while they were gone, having ensured that her brother-in-law survived in her fit of remorse.

The Thirsty Femme was reported to the authorities, and a band of warriors from a distant world arrived within days to end her terrible ways once and for all. The energon in the house was distributed to the poor and needy in the province, and Sunstreaker and Sideswipe and their Sire lived in peace thereafter.

My goodness! Is that the time? How ever did it get so late? Well, I fear I must return to the archives for a time, my friends. Have you any other tale you wish me to tell? If you tell me before I go, I can look for it while working in the library. Mind you all get some sleep: I know that humans require a fair amount of it. I find myself having to get after Aspen continuously for dodging her recharge cycle. Good night, human friends, and no dreaming about vampire femmes!