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One of Cybertron's seasons involves cold weather. There was a traditional where in cold weather, a bot will mysteriously come and will send bots gifts as to persevere through the cold weather. To celebrate the mysterious bot, a festival was made called "Perseverance Day". One of the traditions is to decorate the tree with ornaments that can shine to let the bot easier to see and come through.
In Iacon, there was a tree that is a mechanical illusion. The illusion makes those little trees increase in size as it spins, eventually those trees became large on top. the top large tree has a star shaped ornament that is bright. To light that tree, one must place a light ornament around one of the little trees for it to spin.
One day a young bot named D-16 traveled around Cybertron and found a little star shaped ornament in the dense forest. It was small and gray. D-16 was so happy that he can be the one that can active the mechanical tree at Iacon this year. To come here, alone, though, must be very lonely, and that reminded him of Orion Pax, his friend that is happy, cheerful, a bit mischievous, but would always be there no matter what. He put the star ornament into his subspace pocket and traveled back to Iacon.
“Hey, Dee! Found something interesting in the forest?” Orion asked once D-16 was back, he was excited to see his friend again. “Did you find a treasure? You know those old tells that have an ‘X’ for a spot! Ooh! It's interesting! Maybe it was the Matrix that Sentinel was looking for?” Orion gleemed with joy in his optics has he was thinking of being the ones that became a legend in Iacon due to helping Sentinel.
“Nothing much, Orion… It's just a normal trip to the forest, stop thinking so optimistically,” D-16 replied, jokingly about how Orion seemed to think so positively all the time, like where do Orion Pax get his energy from? That's one question D-16 doesn't seem to understand. However, he thought of that star ornament, he might want to surprise Orion later when it's actually Perseverance Day. For now, he kept it a secret.
“Oh, yeah, Perseverance Day is coming up, any plans to exchange gifts with each other?” Orion asked. To which D-16 replied, “Yes, I will… but don't ask me to get you Energon powers. I swear to Primus last year you somehow made them explosive!”
Preserverance Day arrived. Orion brought D-16 a box of Energon confectionaries for D-16. He arrived at D-16’s habsuite and waited. The door opened to a slightly sleepy D-16. No matter, D-16 got gifts for Orion Pax too. “Happy Perseverance Day, Dee! I… I got you some Energon snacks. Sorry it was not exquisite this year, hope these will help you through the harsh cold weather,” Orion said. D-16 gave Orion a gift. “Here, Orion. Some books about characters and history. I think you needed some knowledge,” D-16 said as he gave Orion a huge box. “Hey, maybe let's go to that mechanical tree, let's make today feel… special.”
“What do you mean ‘special’?” Orion asked with confusion.
“You'll see,” D-16 said will a smile that suggested something was about to happen, but Orion trust D-16 to not do something bad.
Both young bots arrived at the mechanical tree. The tree was stationary, not even moving. The slot to insert the star ornament is missing that item. Not a huge deal, it was a tradition for a sort of scavenger hunt to find the ornament and light up the tree. That bot would be the hero of the day.
“Well, Dee. I don't know how you'll make this day ‘special’,” Orion said.
“Remember the time when I was at the forest?” D-16 said, “Well, I found this.”
D-16 took out the star ornament from his subspace pocket, to meet an optic gleaming Orion Pax. “Oh wow! Why didn't you tell me about that Dee?” Orion asked with joy.
“Happy Perseverance Day, Orion!” D-16 said as he puts the ornament into the slot, and the tree sprung to life. D-16 returned back to Orion Pax, he held Orion’s servos, and both smiled.
Seemingly, under this special day, under the special, illusionary mechanical tree, two bots, one blue and red, one gray and white, were unstoppable. Both sparks shine brighter that day. And it seems both don't want the day to end.
A few years later, a bot named Optimus Prime came back to the exact same spot. Not with joy, but this time with sadness. On one servo is a star ornament. He took a sigh and placed the star ornament into the slot. The tree sprung to life, but something was missing to him. The blue and red bot, but without his gray and white friend. Optimus looked at the tree, and a sigh through his vents as he enjoy this Perseverance Day, alone.