Down Time
One of the changes to Fluttershy’s plan that Optimus had made was that they wouldn’t start it right away, but would wait for a little bit just to make sure the Cons guard was lowered. Of course, that’s what Optimus told Fluttershy, but she was fairly certain he had made that plan so that he could buy himself more time in looking for a better solution to locating her missing friends.
Fluttershy tried to pretend that her life was normal. She went to the medical classes she had been signed up for, and had to come up with a quick explanation as to why she was driving around in one of their ambulances, hung out with her family and went about her everyday life like nothing was wrong and she was a normal teenager. Except her talking ambulance kinda shattered that illusion.
“Optimus has given the order to wait three days until we go with your plan. And he’s still not happy about it, but with the life of your captured friends on the line he’s realized that speed is essential,” Ratchet told Fluttershy one afternoon as they sat in a parking lot. Fluttershy was reading a holodocument on transformer biology and how their bodies worked while waiting for Pinkie to show up.
“I agree with that. From what I saw of Sunset, she was not doing well. We need to find her and quickly if we hope to save her and Rainbow before the Cons figure out what to do with them,” Fluttershy said while she continued to read. Ratchet noticed where her interests were and a chuckle escaped from him.
“With how interested you’ve been in our science and biology, I might have a new trainee to take under my wing,” Ratchet said as a joke, but then for a moment Fluttershy seemed to be considering his offer. “That was a joke, Fluttershy. We have those where I come from. Honestly though you’ve been spending an awful lot of your free time studying, whether it be about human biology, animal medicine or even the way we transformers work. Something bothering you?”
“Nothing that I would wish to discuss,” Fluttershy replied. Her tone told him that was all he was going to get out of her, so Ratchet figured that he might as well change the subject.
“So how are your little animal friends doing? I see that you’ve stopped bringing them with you to annoy me with.”
“I leave the with my parents now. After the one’s I had with me were caught in that battle between you and the Cons, I figured that they would be safer if I left them at home. We never know when we’re going to be attacked,” Fluttershy said and Ratchet agreed. “Was the war with Megatron like this? Constantly waiting to be attacked and try so desperately to fight back?”
“Yes and no, Fluttershy. Megatron was a vicious and merciless transformer, but the fights with him were never…like this. Once in a while he would learn about our location or manage to mount a surprise attack against us, but, aside from the numbers disadvantage, the war was more or less fought on equal terms. What Ultracon is doing…is new and I don’t like it.”
“Why do the Deceptacons have such a massive army? I would think if you had a jerk like Megatron in command that others would be less inclined to join up,” Fluttershy muttered.
“You would think so, but you didn’t know how bad things were for the less than fortunate on old Cybertron. There is an Earth expression that says the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. That was Cybertron in a nutshell for a while. Those in power, like myself, lived the perfect life, while those beneath us were treated like your doormats. Ignored, stepped on and constantly casted down in the mud. So while Megatron might have been evil to the spark, for many he was their only hope at no longer being stepped on.”
“Is that how the new Cybertron is as well?”
“I wish I could tell you no, but the old ways are persistent. The new high council of Cybteron has tried to deem us Autobots that helped end the war on Earth criminals and arrest us. That is one of the reason we have more bots here than before. Because they don’t want to deal with the BS that is Cybertron politics. Can’t say I blame them.”
“Isn’t Optimus a Prime, one of the most influential and power transformers in the world? Can’t he do something about this?”
“You are correct in saying Prime has both power and sway over the council, but even that is not enough. Not to mention that he has been so busy with this new uprising of Deceptacons that he hasn’t had the time to devote himself to uncovering the truth behind the council. It’s a bad situation and I fear each cycle that something isn’t done about it the situation grows worse.”
“Oh…I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Forget about it for now. Our biggest concern is finding your friends and making sure that nothing bad happens to you when we put this crazy plan of yours into motion,” Ratchet smirked in reply before Fluttershy’s door opened. “And speaking of friends, I see that Pinkie has just arrived with Prime. Remember, you are to stay in our line of sight. Do not wander off on your own or you will be joining Rainbow and Sunset quicker than you would have imagined.”
“I got it. Thanks, Ratchet,” Fluttershy said as she hopped out of the ambulance. Fluttershy spied Pinkie walking towards her and noticed that Optimus was starting to leave as well, leaving Fluttershy to wonder why he wasn’t sticking around. Then she glanced around and realized that not only was Optimus way too large for the small park where the girls were meeting up, but that he was also drawing a lot of attention to himself.
“Robots in disguise,” Fluttershy muttered to herself, but even though she knew that the Autobots were right in wanting to stay hidden, she still felt bad for not being able to tell Twilight the truth.
“Hiya Fluttershy. What’s up?” Pinkie said cheerfully as she and Fluttershy met up near some benches.
“Not much, just trying not to freak out over what’s been going on,” Fluttershy said truthfully, but she left out the part at how impatient she actually was at wanting to put her plan into motion. “It’s been quite a journey this past week and I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around some of the things that have happened,” Fluttershy admitted. “How are you? Did your family get back safely?”
“Yup, although they are just the teensiest bit confused about where Optimus came from, but I told them that I entered a giant robot sweepstakes and won the grand prize! They rolled their eyes at me and left it at that. It’s funny what you can get away with when no one takes you seriously,” Pinkie explained with a devious smile. “How about you? Did sweet Fluttershy bend the truth to tell her family what she’s doing?”
“Not exactly. They asked why I was staying out so late, what was I doing and had I gotten mixed up with “the wrong people”. I told them I was out with friends, which is true, I was studying about medical procedures, which is also true, and that the bad people had messed with me, but good people helped me out. Which, as the Cons are bad and the bots good, is true as well. So I haven’t lied at all.”
“Oooo, look at you, being all sneaky. Meeting the Autobots has really changed you, hasn’t it?” Pinkie asked. Fluttershy responded with a stare of confusion getting Pinkie to roll her eyes. “You’ll figure it out soon enough. In the meantime, why did you want us to meet up out here of all places?”
“Because the squirrels will be really busy today and I wanted to watch them work!” Fluttershy said excitedly as she pulled a small pair of binoculars out of her pocket. “We can each pick a squirrel to watch and see which of them gathers the most food. It will be fun!”
The look on Pinkie’s face showed that to Pinkie it would be anything but fun, but, having nothing better to do, she shrugged her shoulders and sat down on the bench next to Fluttershy, who immediately began to scan the trees with her binoculars in hopes of spying their inhabitants.
While the girls sat and enjoyed their day away from the battle between the Cons and Bots, Ratchet had no such luxury. As he kept an eye on the girls, he set his radio to Optimus’ frequency, preparing to discuss more of the battle strategy with him.
“I am glad to see that the girls have not been affected too badly by this whole ordeal,” Optimus told Ratchet with a sigh of relief. “With all they have been through it is amazing that they still hold onto their joy and kind personalities. They are stronger than most.”
“Well from what Fluttershy has told me, thanks to their magic they’ve had to deal with some dangerous foes in the past. Perhaps that is why the whole giant robot’s idea doesn’t bother them too badly,” Ratchet told Prime, before his tone darkened. “But Fluttershy has been affected by our war. Ever since the death of Stickshift she has been…driven. She is determined to learn about transformer medicine and surgery, as well as human surgery as well. And I fear the reason she volunteered to be bait is because she fears risking our lives for her sake. She hates it when others get harmed, so I can only imagine what having another being die for you must have done to her.”
“I remember the first time I lost a soldier in battle. The shock and pain of it all is beyond words,” Optimus agreed with a sigh. “But to have something like that happen at such a young age…I blame myself for this, Ratchet. Had I taken a more serious approach to dealing with the remaining Deceptacons, perhaps our battle would have never returned to Earth. Then none of these girls would have to suffer through what they had suffered.”
“Perhaps, Optimus. But what’s done is done and all we can do now is focus on what we shall do next. Tomorrow I vote we put our plan into motion. Each day we wait is a day closer to the Cons unlocking the secret of the girl’s magic…and ending their lives.”
“I agree old friend, I…did you feel that?”
“Feel what?”
“For a brief moment, I thought…someone was listening in on us.”
“A con?”
“No…a human.”
“Please Optimus, we are aliens from another world. What kind of human would be smart enough to build a device to listen in on us? You are just letting the stress get to you.”