//------------------------------// // A New Direction // Story: We Need A Medic // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// A New Direction Fluttershy mostly had pleasant dreams. That was mostly because she was a naturally pleasant person. Her dreams weren’t grandiose or filled with what she wanted to be like. Most of the time she simply dreamed about with her friends or taking care of some animals. But sometimes, when she was under a lot of stress, she had terrible nightmares. And if being blasted at by giant alien robots and having to perform a surgery she knew little about to save a life didn’t cause her to freak out, then she wasn’t human. Inside her dream world, Fluttershy instantly knew that something was wrong. For one thing, she was aware that she was dreaming. That never meant good things. The second was that her entire dream was one dark room, with neither friend nor cute little bunny to make this a happy dream. All Fluttershy could do was look around with nervous eyes, waiting for the nightmare to finally reveal itself. “Target acquired.” Fluttershy whipped her head around to see a shape moving towards her in the darkness, a shape of a Con she had become all too familiar with. Soundwave emerged from the darkness and stared past Fluttershy, almost as if he didn’t recognize she was there. Fluttershy was debating if she should bother running, since she knew it was a nightmare and logic didn’t always work in those, when heavy footsteps shook the ground behind Soundwave, who turned as another, far larger shadow, stood in the darkness behind him. “How goes the procedure?” the shadow asked Soundwave. Despite it being a nightmare, despite knowing full well that she was asleep, Fluttershy felt her soul chill at the sound of the shadows voice. It was similar to Optimus in a way. It was full of leadership, power and an unquestioning obedience. But there was no warmth in this being’s voice like there was Optimus. When Optimus spoke, his voice sounded like a being that would lead you into battle then take a bullet for you. The shadow sounded like he would pull you into the bullet’s path. “Procedure difficult. Magic and science integration illogical,” Soundwave replied in numerous different voices. Fluttershy looked a little closer and saw that he seemed to be hunched over something and typing away, getting her to assume he was on some kind of computer. “There is no need to worry Soundwave, I know that you will find a way to make it happen,” the voice spoke once more and Fluttershy felt her skin crawl. “What about our operations to secure the other sources of power? I heard that you nearly had a third in your grip, but were foiled by Optimus Prime.” Fluttershy took a bit of enjoyment in how silent Soundwave stayed after that was said. “Well no matter. All six of them will belong to us soon enough. The Autobot’s still do not know how we are tracking their movements, even if they have hidden their ground bridge signal for now. Nor do they have any idea what we plan to use these bags of flesh for…Megatron would be proud of you, Soundwave. You were always the most loyal Con. I am sad he will not be here to see you destroy the Autobots.” Once again Soundwave chose to let silence answer for him, continuing to type away. The there was a flash of light from somewhere in the darkness, followed by a scream of pain that caused Soundwave to glance up. But the moment after she heard the cry of pain Fluttershy knew what was going on. All Soundwave lifting his allowed was for Fluttershy to confirm her fears. There, reflected in his face plate, was Sunset Shimmer. And they were draining the life out of her. [=O=] Fluttershy awoke with a yelp, scaring the hell out of Pinkie who had been sitting next to her as she had slept. Fluttershy glanced around with panic in her eyes while Pinkie held a hand to her heart, who was realizing that all her heart couldn’t take both the sugar she enjoyed and scares like that. “What’s going on? What happened?” Fluttershy asked as she swiftly rose to her feet. A glance downward showed that she had been laying on one of the tables that the Autobots had, one that was off to the side and out of the way. “What happened? What happened Fluttershy is that you nearly performed a miracle in saving Curbcheck’s life,” Pinkie exclaimed with amazement as Fluttershy shook the cobwebs loose. “First you removed all the shrapnel, then you went into essentially his heart to remove the rest. Then somehow you managed to get his spark to start working again, and even Ratchet doesn’t know how-“ “I need to speak with Ratchet. Or Optimus. Both would be best,” Fluttershy cut off before she turned to where the bots were standing. She called over to them a few times but they were too lost in their conversations. It was only when Fluttershy whistled into her communicator, getting Ratchet to give her a nasty look, did the Autobots walk over to the pair. “Well now one of my audio receptors has gone deaf. Thank you for that, Fluttershy,” Ratchet dryly said as he poked at the side of his head with his finger. “Optimus, you will want to listen to this,” Fluttershy said before she began to recall the events of her nightmares. Ratchet and the other bots weren’t impressed at first, though Optimus listened intently, until she got to the part where Soundwave began to torture Sunset. Then they all paid much closer attention. “It is as I feared,” Optimus muttered ominously when Fluttershy was finished. “Ultracon is trying to use the magic within you and your friends for something. But as to what that something is, I cannot begin to guess.” “Oh I think we can assume perhaps a weapon or a doomsday device. Those seem to be popular among evil villains,” Ratchet snarked. “It is a nightmare, nothing more. And while I do have some concerns about the amount of stress Fluttershy is under, I think we should not pay…we should not take this dream as fact until we have further evidence to validate her words.” “You don’t believe me? You, of all the bots here, don’t trust me?” Fluttershy asked, not bothering to hide her hurt tone. “I believe that you believe what you saw as real. But I am a bot of science and facts. And while…dream visions are not an impossibility, almost a hundred percent of the time they are only done by those with an incredibly close bond, such as twins. And while I don’t doubt you and Sunset are close, what I do doubt is that you are close enough to see in your dreams what she is seeing right now.” “That was a lot of words simply to say that you don’t believe me,” Fluttershy bitterly said. “You rarely listen to me, always thinking you know best. With Twilight, with the people that called for help and now. You’re supposed to be my friend.” Fluttershy regretted her words the moment she said them, for she saw Ratchet’s face fall in response. But then he returned to his normal annoyed glare and shook his head with a sigh. “Regardless of dream or connection, the fact still remains that the Deceptacons have both Rainbow Dash and Sunset Shimmer and are trying to use their magic to achieve something,” Optimus cut in, deciding that it was time for him to speak. “So we must now, more than ever, protect the remaining four girls with everything that we have. Fluttershy and Pinkie are safe for now, but I worry for Applejack and Rarity. I want two more Aubobots added to their protection, so that situations like this-“ “I’m sorry, but, that’s not going to work,” Fluttershy cut in. Optimus turned and looked down at the girl, with no rage in his eyes for being interrupted, but was instead curious to hear what she had to say. “Because it hasn’t worked so far. The Cons know what we’re up to and so far, they’ve always managed to find us and outnumber us. Adding a few bots to protect us isn’t going to help.” “Perhaps, but right now it is our best course of action until we can discover where the Deceptacon base is,” Optimus replied. “And how long will that take? And how many more Autobots have to give their lives until we’re finally safe?” Fluttershy asked Optimus, who once again allowed her to continue on to hear her out. “We’ve already lost Taillight, RV and…Stickshift and the Cons have still taken two of my friends. The Autobots plan so far isn’t working, so we need to change it.” “An interesting idea. And what would you recommend?” Optimus curiously asked, holding up a hand to silence the other Autobots that tried to speak. “That we don’t search for the base. We capture a Con and ask him, politely, to show us where it is,” Fluttershy replied. Optimus raised an eyebrow at her words before he crossed his arms and shook his head. “I have had the same idea, Fluttershy, but sadly the Cons are too smart for that. The only time they are sent out to leave their base is when they know where one of you are and have every intent to take you. And the Cons never travel alone. Even if we could lay a trap for them, it would be too hard to get them to come out in a group of five, let alone one.” “Well, the first part is the easiest. We’ll use me for bait,” Fluttershy said with conviction. Ratchet let out a curse and began to walk towards Fluttershy with a list of a hundred reasons that was a bad idea, but once more Optimus held up a hand to silence him. “I will not endanger your life to take another step closer to defeating these Deceptacons,” Optimus told Fluttershy in a tone that informed her that he would not be swayed on this matter. “If the plan was to go wrong, you-“ “We can spend this time worrying about what could or might go wrong. Or instead we can do something to help my friends,” Fluttershy cut off. While to the bots it looked like Fluttershy was standing her ground against Optimus, internally she was freaking out. But she knew that her friends were in danger and that all Optimus’ plan would do was get more bots killed. And she couldn’t, wouldn’t, allow that to happen. Not for her. “Optimus, please. I know that there is a huge risk with this plan. But if we don’t do something, maybe Sunset and Rainbow won’t make it much longer,” Fluttershy pleaded, her voice soft but her eyes determined. “You once told a friend that it’s not about what we could have done, it’s what we can do. And this, being bait, is what I can do. You’ve all risked your lives for me. It’s only right I do the same.” Optimus lowered his head for a moment and lost himself in though, clearly not keen on the idea of Fluttershy being used as bait in a war she shouldn’t have any part of. Then Ratchet stepped forward and stood next to Fluttershy. “I agree with her, sir. I believe that her plan is the best course of action in quickly learning the location of the Deceptacon base,” Ratchet said to Optimus, who gave his medic a look. “You believe that using her as bait for a foe as vile as the Deceptacons is a good idea?” “Oh no, I think it’s a terrible idea. But it would be the fastest way to find their base,” Ratchet replied, before a smirk crossed his face. “I don’t believe in the plan, Optimus. I believe in the person who came up with the plan. She saved Curbcheck against all odds. Perhaps…she can make this work. And besides, I’ll be part of the bait with her. The Cons will get suspicious if she’s off by herself without me.” “…very well Ratchet, we shall give her plan a try,” Optimus replied, though his tone told them that he wasn’t happy about it. “However, we shall leave as little chance of risk as possible. I along with our best snipers will go along with you to make sure that the Cons cannot lay so much as a finger on the both of you. And if things do go wrong, then you are to both immediately ground bridge to safety. Am I clear?” “Yes sir,” both Ratchet and Fluttershy said at the same time. “Autobots, we have had a change in plans,” Optimus said as he turned to address every bot in the room. “For the past month we have silently watched the girls and protected them. But the time for stealth has passed. Now…we go on the attack. Ratchet, snipers…with me. We must construct a flawless trap that no Con can escape. Girls, wait here.” Ratchet and the other bots followed Optimus to a different part of the base, leaving Fluttershy alone with Pinkie. Fluttershy sighed as she thought about what she had just said, hoping that her plan would work. She had just wanted to be bait by herself, so Ratchet’s inclusion bothered her. But she also assumed that Ratchet had added himself in there because Optimus wouldn’t have gone with the pan otherwise. “So what happens if things go wrong?” Pinkie asked her friend, finally speaking at last. “Then the Cons capture me and I find out where my friends are. Either way, I kinda get what the Autobots need,” Fluttershy replied as she reached up to wipe hair from her eyes, only to remember that she had tied it back into a ponytail. “Huh…y’know, I really like that look for you.” “You mean the ponytail?” “I mean your attitude. Because ever since you tried it out you’ve been driven and determined. Honestly…it’s kinda cool.”