On My Spark

War: part one

Ember Flux. That's my designation. I've been here since the very beginning, or, well, at least since it all started. I am over 9 million cycles old, and a proud friend of Orion and Ratchet.

I watched Megatron, or, as he used to be known, Megatronus, fight and win countless battles. I saw his rise from the very pits of Ka'on, to the streets of the civilians, to the stand under the court. I saw his courage and strength, but also his uncontrollable pride. He was a revolution. Giving us subtle, yet destructive ideas. Those ideas, those simple ideas that seemed so harmless; the tiny specks of emotion that he filled so many bots with, were just the beginning. The beginning of the war, and the beginning of the end of our world.

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It was a simple and regular day at Iacon, with Orion Pax and Ratchet beside me. Orion was a clerk, at the Iacon hall of records, an important task that he enjoyed very much. Ratchet was a junior medic, a very proud and humorous one at that. Very peaceful, they were. As long as you didn't count Ratchet's pranks of course.

I, on the other hand, was a member of the cybertronian guard, charged with protecting the bots and objects of great importance to Iacon. Kind of like a higher ranking police bot but with more formal training, and respect.

I met Orion when on a patrol around the Iacon hall of records. He was kind of small, and energetic, but genuine and respectful. We accidentally bumped into each other when I was distracted by the relics, and him by the map on his tablet. He was new to Iacon, and was trying to find his way around. Harder task than you'd think. We clicked immediately. He was quiet and respectful, but definitely had a fun side, that was easily revealed. Since I was older by almost 24 vorns, he and I were kind of like siblings. He was my younger brother, and I, his older sister.

Ratchet and I weren't much different either. See, I had known Ratchet since he was a sparkling, since our carriers were good friends, and decided to meet together a few times. I was a regular aged bot at this point, just helping my carrier, so, I was much older than Ratchet. Older by about 80 vorns. He was still in his primary stages. But we've been inseparable ever since.

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We were all walking down the hall, Orion telling Ratchet and I about all the great things Megatronus promised to do when he became a Prime. I was rolling my optics, knowing that Megatronus would never get that honor. His pride was too great and it was clouding his judgement. He would fall, just like the rest of the ones who tried.

Orion was completely infatuated with Megatronus, seeing him as a mentor, and friend. Even supported him in the changing of his designation from Megatronus to Megatron.

Ratchet was our inbetween. He didn't really hold an opinion on any of the matters. He was more interested on the evolving of our medicines and healing abilities through the ages. Orion and I would only ever talk about Megatron when Ratchet was around, since he was always able to stop the conversation before it escalated too much.

I noticed that Orion was beginning to show a true passion for the topics Megatron covered. He was always trying to tell us about the faults in the current political system, of how putting flawed bots in the position to decide what to do with energon, and to choose who the Primes would be was not wise. He was practically radiating good ideas that brought hope to my heart, and Orion did it peacefully. He didn't want the glory of being a Prime, he just wanted to make our world better.

On this specific day, he was especially passionate on the topic of energon, but was also telling Ratchet and I of how he was beginning to notice more of the flaws in Megatron. His tendency towards violence, for example, was especially prominent in the current time.

Megatron was beginning to resort to violence to prove his points. Some bots still refused to accept him, and that was, to him, unacceptable. Ratchet and I were part of the group that didn't blindly follow him. Orion was starting to see that Megatron would constantly threaten those who disagreed with him, or did something wrong when they did follow him. He would demand things, instead of asking for them, or become physical if you disagreed with one of his ideals. Orion begun to spend less of his time with Megatron, and more of it with Ratchet and I, which was something that we were all happy about. Especially Ratchet, since it gave him another bot to prank.

Eventually, Orion came to me with information about the next council meeting Megatron planned to attend. This one, one of the many he had gone to, was going to be Megatron's last meeting, even if none of us knew it. He was talking about Megatron's growing impatience and violence towards them, and how it would lead to Megatronus making mistakes. Mistakes that Orion was not prepared for. Orion told me that he would stand against Megatron, alongside me during the council meeting, even though Megatron and he were still good friends.

During the council meeting, the council constantly refused Megatron's demands, infuriating him. He immediately started yelling at the council, telling them about the mistakes they were making. He turned to the crowd, and explained that energon should be free for the bots, not kept contained and hidden away. Most bots jumped up and begun to agree with him. They were ready to use force to get what they wanted. But Orion wasn't having it. He may agree with the idea of free energon, but he didn't agree with Megatron's way of receiving it. He thought that it should be shared evenly, not just put out in the streets for the strongest to take and the weakest to die out.

Orion caught the attention of the council, speaking gently, and with conviction. He talked with passion, and respect for the council. Everyone was moved by his words. The council were especially pleased. Here stood a bot worthy of the title of Prime, and everyone knew it, except for Orion, of course.

The council sent Orion Pax on a quest to find the Matrix of Leadership. The council told him that while he was on the mission, he would become a Prime. Megatron had had enough. He was furious that Orion Pax had managed to sway the council with just a few words. He became obsessed with trying to prove that he was better than Orion. While he was stronger, older, and had more experience, Orion was smarter, kinder, and fought for the good of all, weak and strong. Bots started to abandon Megatron as soon as they realized that he was not going to be the next Prime, and that Orion was definitely going to be a better leader. Still, Megatron's team continued to grow as he became more violent, using force to bring bots to his side.

It got out of control. First, Megatron started attacking bots on the street randomly. But then it started to escalate. He started organizing attacks. Starting with random bots that followed Orion. Then the more important ones, like, just for a random example, the High Council members.

Offlinings were beginning to occur more rapidly. Orion's team, which I had affectionately started calling the Autobots, were getting too scared to leave their recharge chambers. I was out trying to find bots willing to fight back against Megatron. We grew, and became a team. Unfortunately, so did Megatron. He grew an army, and called them Decepticons. He started doing more than mere injuries. He begun killing innocent bots. He killed one of the High Council members, creating riots through out all the cities. He became angry, uncontrollable, and thus, the war began.