Fowler (2)
“It is no use. We cannot seem to match the way Fluttershy and Ratchet achieved their combination,” Prime finally admitted after spending thirty minutes trying to combine with Pinkie. Of course, Pinkie had only been trying for about fifteen minutes before she had gotten bored and just lay on Optimus’s shoulder, drawing images onto his armor.
“That is odd, Optimus. You have done everything exactly the way Fluttershy and I achieved our combined form,” Ratchet added from the side, as he had been making slight adjustments to Optimus’s stance or form when it was off. “And I am certain that you and Pinkie are just as close as Fluttershy and I.”
“There I feel I must disagree with you, old friend,” Optimus said with a shake of his head. “While Pinkie and I may be bestest friends forever, we have not gone through and overcome all of the trials together that you and Fluttershy have. From fighting with each other to fighting together with each other, the two of you have done much to strengthen your bond. Perhaps that is what my combination with Pinkie is lacking.”
“So what I’m hearing is that Optimus and I need to go take on the entire Deceptacon army by ourselves!” Pinkie exclaimed with excitement as she hoped to her feet and started air boxing. “Put me in Prime, I can take them. Those Cons will have no idea what to think when they’re up against me.”
“Well, she’s right about that,” Ratchet replied with a smirk.
“No Pinkie, I will not be bringing you to the front lines,” Optimus said in a serious tone, which actually managed to get Pinkie to stop being silly. “I do not want to put the lives of you or your friends in harm’s way because of our war. I am already against Ratchet and Fluttershy fusing together to fight unless it is a last resort.”
“Aw come on, Optimus, we never get to do anything fun anymore,” Pinkie huffed as she crossed her arms and sat down. “On our way here we had all sorts of fun, but now it’s all work work work with you and I’m just thrown off onto the sidelines to be forgotten.”
“Pinkie, you know that is not true,” Optimus replied to Pinkie, who avoided looking him in the eyes. “I am doing everything in my power to ensure the safety of you and your friends so that you will have many more party nights for the years to come.”
“She may have a point, Optimus,” Ratchet added on, getting both the human and the Autobot to look over at him. “You ask why your combination may be working and this might be it. Yes, Fluttershy and I may have overcome many trials together, but we also spent plenty of time hanging out and getting on each-other’s nerves. You’ve never been mad at Fluttershy until you’ve had to scrape baby bird poop off of your stuff.”
“Can confirm. Hate it when her animals mess up my room,” Pinkie agreed.
“What are you suggesting, Ratchet?” Optimus asked Ratchet.
“I’m saying that you and Pinkie should go hang out. Have some fun and learn some more about each other,” Ratchet said plain as day. “After all, Fluttershy and I had to learn to put up with the other for us to combine. Give that a try and see if anything changes. You won’t know until you try it.”
“I shall…take your advice under consideration.”
“That’s his way of saying no.”
“That is not true, Pinkie. There are just far more pressing concerns at the moment,” Optimus corrected, only for his words to get Pinkie to stick her tongue out at him. “I am concerned about the Deceptacons and what their next move may be. We did not encounter Ultracon at the Deceptacon base and Soundwave was with you. Neither of the most dangerous Deceptacons were protecting the girls that they had fought so hard to captured. That doesn’t sit well with me.”
“And Soundwave seemed more interested than afraid when Fluttershy and I managed to pull off our combined form,” Ratchet added on, getting Optimus to place a hand under his chin as he began to think. “Perhaps that is where Ultracon was, Prime. He was trying to figure out a way to combine the girls magic with his own spark to make himself that much stronger. And he realized that since he couldn’t do it by force, there was no point holding onto them for the time being.”
“An interesting theory, but sadly one we can neither confirm nor deny until Ultracon makes his next move,” Optimus said with a shake of his head. He then glanced over to where Rainbow and Sunset were talking to Fowler, while Fluttershy sat close by and seemed to be waiting. “Very well Ratchet, I shall listen to your advice. Pinkie and I will go into town and bond with one another.”
“Really?! You really mean that Optimus?!” Pinkie exclaimed happily, setting off her party cannon when Optimus nodded. “YAHOO! I hope you’re ready for the most fun filled, exciting day of your life because we are going to go NUTS!”
“I think you’re already there,” Ratchet added with a smirk.
“Contact me at the first sign of trouble or Con activity,” Optimus instructed Ratchet before he lowered Pinkie to the floor and transformed into a semi-truck. Pinkie hopped into the driver’s seat and pressed down on the horn, causing a loud honk to echo throughout the base. Optimus and Pinkie took off through the exit, leaving Ratchet in command for the time being.
“Air Raid, follow Optimus from your cloaked form. Tell him that your doing so on my orders,” Ratchet said to Air Raid after a moment of thought. The flier nodded before he transformed and took off after Prime. “Better safe than sorry,” Ratchet muttered as he headed for the command station.
While Ratchet took command of the base, Fluttershy was sitting off to the side where Fowler was talking to Rainbow Dash and Sunset Shimmer about what they had gone through while in Deceptacon captivity. She had positioned herself far enough away so that she couldn’t hear the conversation, but she could still feel the pain and sorrow radiating off of her friends.
She spent her time waiting practicing with her magic. She focused on making the magic within her into numerous shapes and tools. She created a drill of magical energy with one hand while lifting some stones with the magic in her other. Even though she had gotten better at controlling her magic, it still took a considerable strain on her body and mind to maintain her magical tools for longer than a few minutes. Fluttershy wondered what her limit was.
“I feel for you guys.” Fluttershy looked up over her shoulder to see Fowler standing beside her, his head hung low and his eyes burning with hatred. “May I sit?”
“Go right ahead,” Fluttershy replied.
“You’re all too young to have to go through all of this,” Fowler continued on as he sat down, pulling out a thermos of water and downing half of it in a single gulp. “Bad enough that the Cons are back on Earth, but the fact that they’re dragging in innocent civilians that have done nothing to anyone makes my blood boil.”
“Sometimes you don’t get to decide whether or not you fight in a war. Sometimes the war gives you no choice,” Fluttershy said sternly as she continued shifting the magic in her hands. Fowler watched her do this for a moment before he said,
“That magic of yours comes from a place called Equestria, right?” Fluttershy’s wide eyed response answered for her. “Oh don’t look so surprise, you really think after all the weird, magical stuff that’s gone down at your school that the government wouldn’t be looking into it? You had a vortex to another world open up in the front yard.”
“Yeah…guess that wouldn’t stay secret for long,” Fluttershy admitted with a bitter smile after a moment of thought. “So are you the government agent that they sent to keep an eye on us? Because if so, it’s an amazing coincidence that your formers enemies came after your newest mission.”
“I found over the years that I believe less and less in coincidence,” Fowler said with a smirk and a shake of his head. “I volunteered to keep an eye on you girls and your friend from another world. After all of my good work done with the Transformers, I’m kinda the specialist in dealing with beings from another world. The second Twilight, the one without glasses, is from that other world, right?”
“Yeah, she is,” Fluttershy admitted, figuring if the Autobot’s trusted Fowler she could too.
“And so is Sunset?”
“Yep.”
“Heh, aliens living under our noses all this time and it took giant robots before we wised up to their presence,” Fowler said with a chuckle before giving another look at Fluttershy, almost as if he was trying to place her. “You know, Optimus told me all about you and everything that you’ve gone through. Including…Stickshift. I can offer you the same chance to talk I did for Sunset, Rainbow and Twilight. If you need to talk to someone who knows what it’s like to watch somebody die while they couldn’t do anything…”
“Thank you for your offer, but I’m…I’ll be fine when all of this is over,” Fluttershy admitted truthfully and Fowler nodded respectfully at her words. He then stifled a small chuckle, but Fluttershy gave him a look asking what it was about. “I don’t know what it is about you teenagers, but you seem to get stronger and stronger every generation. I thought Jack, Miko and Rap were the strongest kids I met until I met you, Ms. Medic.”
“So you knew them as well? Ratchet only gave me a bit of information about them, but not much,” Fluttershy said.
“That’s for security reasons. The less people know about them the less of a chance they can traces them back to the Autobots,” Fowler revealed. Fluttershy nodded to show that she understood.
“Do you still keep in contact with them?”
“Once in a blue moon I see what they’re up to, but other than that we haven’t spoken in a long time. I know they used to keep in contact with one another often, but I think they’ve drifted apart as time moved on,” Fowler said.
“That’s sad. Friend’s shouldn’t stay out of contact with one another.”
“That’s the way of the world, Fluttershy. Relationships change and people move on,” Fowler admitted with a shrug of his shoulders. The two sat in silence for a little bit after that, watching the Autobot’s move around the base, before Fluttershy asked the question she had wanted to know the answer to for a while.
“Rainbow and Sunset. Are they going to be alright?” she asked in a whisper.
“Hard to tell. Everyone reacts to these kinds of situations differently. You watched an Autobot die before your very eyes and you reacted to it by driving yourself to be better, so that it would never happen again. I know a soldier who watched an ally lose his head and it broke him for life. People react differently. I’ve done the best I can, but the rest is up to them.”
“I see. Thank you for trying to help them.”
“Not a problem. Here,” Fowler said as he pulled out a card and handed it to Fluttershy. “You ever need any help, or a friend with some connections to get you out of a bad situation, free feel to give me a call.”
“Thanks Agent Fowler, I will,” Fluttershy said with a smile. Fowler rose to his feet and, after whistling for an Autobot to give him a ride, waved to Fluttershy as he was escorted to the exit. Fluttershy waved back before she stared down at the card he had given her, thinking about what he had said.