DILLEMA

SMOKESCREEN SPED DOWN THE ROAD. HE WAS GLAD THAT APPLEJACK'S SISTER pulled through her ordeal, but he figured that they needed some time to regain their composure. So he had gone out for a drive. Normally he'd go by himself, as it gave him a chance to reflect on not only his time on Earth but also his time on Cybertron, back when he was one of the last guards for Alpha Trion.

But he wasn't alone this time. The white unicorn, Rarity, had asked to come along.

They had been going along in silence for several minutes, until Rarity spoke up.

"How long have you been with the Autobots, Smokescreen?" she asked.

"I think it's been a few months," Smokescreen replied. "I showed up a couple of weeks before the Decepticons torched our old base. That's why Optimus looks a bit different than before."

"I see," Rarity said. She was quiet for a moment; she stared out Smokescreen's window, watching the town go by. "What were you doing before this?"

"I guess you could say I was an intern under Alpha Trion. He's – "

"Optimus told us," Rarity said, interrupting him. "He said that Alpha Trion was the oldest and wisest of all Cybertronians."

"Leave it to Big Red," Smokescreen said with a chuckle. He came to a stop at an intersection. "Man, I hate red lights."

"I see it's the same in this world as it is back home," Rarity said. "Only Manehattan and the other large cities like Baltimare and Fillydelphia have flags. Red for stop, yellow for slow down, and green for go."

"Yeah, pretty much. It's kind of like that back on Cyberton, too. Or at least, it was." He idled for a moment, waiting for the light to turn green. After what felt like an eternity, the light finally changed. "Finally." He revved his engine, spinning his rear tires on the asphalt, and sped forward.

Rarity was thrown back against the front passenger seat she was sitting in. "Whoa! Smokescreen, what was that all about? Don't you think you're going a little too fast? That sign said to only go fifty-five!"

"Rare, sometimes you just gotta let loose," Smokescreen said. "And the best way to do that, sometimes, is to just go as fast as you can. You can't constantly go slow in life; sometimes you just have to speed up."

"So this whole thing with you speeding up like this is a metaphor?"

"You could say that," Smokescreen replied. They finally left the town limits and sped down the open road. "So what do you say to just sitting back and enjoying the ride. Don't worry, Rarity; I'll do what I can to make the ride as safe and enjoyable as possible. And yes, I'll get you back to base in one piece. If not, I think your sister would probably kill me."

Rarity couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Sweetie Belle may be just as sweet as her name suggests, but I have seen her go on at least one angry tirade and she can be quite destructive."

"I can believe it. Now hold on. I'm gonna speed up a little bit." He pressed down on the gas pedal, speeding up to close to one hundred miles an hour. Rarity could feel the speed, hear the power under Smokescreen's hood, felt the road pass under them at an incredible high speed. She had never gone so fast before! It was exhilarating. It was amazing.

It was the greatest feeling in the world.

For a moment, she forgot about her fear. Forgot about the Decepticons. Forgot about her nightmares.

That feeling disappeared when Smokescreen slammed on the brakes, nearly throwing her through the windshield – the only thing stopping her was the seatbelt. She put her front hooves out in front of her, planting them against the dashboard as she stopped and slammed back against the seat.

"Ouch! Smokescreen, darling, what was that all about?"

"Police," Smokescreen whispered. "Didn't think they'd be this far out. You might want to hide."

"Where?"

"The back seat. Get back there and duck down. Maybe the cops won't see you." He unfastened the seat belt, allowing Rarity to climb into the back seat. She got down on her belly, making herself as small as possible, praying that the human in the black uniform wouldn't see her.

Rarity held her breath, watching silently as the human made his way to the driver's side. She saw a dumbfounded look appear on his face as he looked in and saw no driver.

"Wait a minute…." He walked to the back of the vehicle. Rarity tried to make herself lower than she already was.

"He's heading back to his car," Smokescreen reported in a hushed voice. "He must be running my license plate."

"Is that good or bad?" Rarity asked.

"Don't know, and I don't intend to find out," Smokescreen said. "Climb onto the seat. We're getting out of here."

Rarity climbed up onto the back seat. Smokescreen wrapped the seat belt around her, the belt clicking home in the buckle. He shifted gears, pressed down on the accelerator. His back tires spun, kicking up a cloud of dust before he sped off. Rarity felt herself get pulled back against the seat, the seat belt tightening around her.

"Smokescreen!"

Smokescreen saw the cop's red and blue lights in his rear view mirrors. "Scrap. Rarity, hold on!" He turned the steering wheel to the right, going up an On-Ramp onto the Interstate.

There were vehicles all around them, some vehicles swerving to get out of Smokescreen's way as he sped onto the road. The cop was right behind him. Smokescreen swerved between the vehicles, trying to shake the cop. The whole time, Rarity dug her hooves into the leather seats, trying to keep from sliding out of the seat belt.

"Smokescreen, I honestly do not believe that this is a good idea!"

"Neither do I, but what else are we going to do?"

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This was perhaps the strangest vehicle Officer Reyes had ever seen. No driver, and yet it seemed to be moving on its own. Maybe it was a remote control vehicle? If that were the case, then there had to be someone nearby controlling it, but he didn't see any signs of that.

Then again, he had been hearing stories about vehicles that drove themselves. Stories about some vehicles – cars, trucks, and planes – turning into giant humanoids. For all he knew, this was one of those vehicles, but what were the odds of that?

Pretty good, it seemed, since this vehicle was moving on its own with no human input.

He picked up his radio to call dispatch. "This is Officer Reyes on I-99, requesting backup in pursuit of a blue Ferarri with red highlights. Nevada plates. No information on the driver at this time." What else was he going to say, that he was chasing a ghost vehicle? Yeah, that would go over real well.

Several other police cruisers were already on the Interstate, speeding ahead of the suspect vehicle. The car swerved between cruisers, sideswiping one of them and narrowly avoiding slamming into the back end of a pickup truck.

Reyes moved up to get into formation with a few other cruisers. They formed a blockade around the suspect vehicle and slammed on the brakes, trapping the car and forcing it to stop.

Reyes climbed out of his cruiser, his weapon drawn. Slowly, cautiously, he made his way to the driver's door of the vehicle and pulled it open. Once again, the vehicle was empty, save for the small white horse in the back seat.

"What is it, Reyes?" another officer, Morgan, asked.

"Looks like there's a baby horse back there," Reyes replied.

#################################################

Baby? Rarity could not believe that this human had just called her a baby. She was nineteen years old; not even Sweetie Belle was a baby anymore. Who was this human to call her a baby?

The human, a male from the look of it, pushed the front seat forward and climbed in. He reached out for her, slowly, trying not to frighten her. But how could she not be frightened? This human was wearing a uniform similar to the ones that nearly dissected Fluttershy; she didn't trust him, she was afraid of what he would do to her.

"Hey there little horsie," the human said. "It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you." Rarity could hear the soothing tone in his voice, but she still didn't trust him. The human clicked the seat belt button, unbuckling her, before gently putting a hand on the side of her neck, slowly caressing her, but she still couldn't help but feel a little fear. "Hold on."

She watched the human crawl out of the car and turn to the other humans. "Okay, there's something weird about that horse."

"How so?" another human asked.

"Either that's a birth defect or I'm looking at a unicorn. Here, look." He took out a flashlight and shone it towards Rarity. The light hit her in the eyes, blinding her for a second. She turned away, putting a hoof over her eyes to block the light.

"Do you mind turning that light someplace else, please?"

"Holy crap! That horse just talked!"

"Okay, we're getting out of here," Smokescreen said. "Hold on, Rarity." He closed the door and pressed down on the accelerator, speeding forward. "Autobots, this is Smokescreen. Me and Rarity could use a Ground Bridge now." The green vortex opened up in front of them, and they sped through it.

Reyes and the other officers watched as the car sped through the green vortex, which closed as soon as the car had gone through.

Reyes turned to one of the other officers. "You, uh, you want to call that in?"

"Call what in?" the officer asked.

Smokescreen skidded to a stop in the middle of the room. He opened his door, letting Rarity out before he transformed into his Robot Form.

"Hey Smoke, what happened out there?" Arcee asked.

"Things got out of hand," Smokescreen said.

"How so?"

"Well, there we are, minding our own business, and when we get to an empty stretch of open road I figured that I could speed up a little bit, but then a cop showed up. Pulled me over. I – I was worried about what he would do if he saw Rarity, so I took off. I know I shouldn't have done that, but –"

"Smokescreen," Optimus said. "While I understand that you were concerned for the well-being of our small friend, you still should have thought twice before engaging in a pursuit like that."

"I know, Optimus," Smokescreen said. "And it won't happen again." He raised his right hand. "I give you my word as a Cybertronian Guard."

Rarity turned away from the Autobots and looked over to the medical ward. Applejack was still looking through the window at Apple Bloom, who was still lying on the table. It looked like the little filly was sleeping. She walked over to join Applejack.

"How is she doing?"

"Well, she's sleepin'," Applejack said. "Nurse Darby says she should get a few more hours' rest before she can get back on her hooves."

"Which is just fine," Twilight said as she joined them. "Because I've been doing some thinking."

"About what?" Rarity asked.

Twilight turned back to the room. "Everypony! Everypony, gather around!" Spike, the other ponies, even the humans and the Autobots, joined her. "Everypony, I've been thinking about something. I've decided that as soon as Apple Bloom's able to get back onto her hooves, that I'll be taking us back home."

"Hold on, go home?" Miko asked.

"Yes, Miko. Back to Equestria," Twilight replied. "As much as I loved seeing all of you again, I think that coming here was a bad idea. I mean, think about it – Fluttershy was trapped in that cave with the Predacon, Rainbow Dash almost lost her leg trying to rescue her, Apple Bloom was almost poisoned to death! And now, Rarity was involved in a high-speed pursuit." She turned to Rarity. "I know we came here to help you get over your nightmares, Rarity, but I'm starting to see that this was a bad idea."

"Why are you beating yourself up about this, Twilight?" Rainbow Dash asked. "I mean, I'm the one who planted this hair-brained idea into your head. Remember?"

"Yes, Rainbow, I remember. But you're not the one who cast the spell, you're not the one who put our friends in danger. I am." She turned to Applejack. "As soon as Apple Bloom's released, we're going home."

"Twilight, please, think about this," Rarity said. "Why did we come here in the first place? To help me."

"And a lot of good we're doing, Rarity," Twilight replied. "A lot of our friends, our little sisters, have been put in mortal danger. I don't want to lose any friends." She turned to the Autobots. "I loved seeing you all again, but I don't want my friends to be in any more danger." She started climbing the stairs, heading for the living quarters. "I'm going to get ready to go home. My magic's replenished enough, so we'll be able to make it."

"Princess," Optimus said.

"Yes, Optimus?"

"The decision to leave is your right," Optimus said. "If you truly wish to leave before you are ready, we will not stop you. However, before you finalize your decision, I ask you to consider this: What if you leave, and the nightmares never go away?"

Twilight looked back to Rarity. She was the reason they had come here, to help her with her nightmares. They had hoped that seeing the Autobots would help alleviate her of the mental turmoil; perhaps if she had faced her fears she could overcome them. But they all had been put in danger. Twilight didn't want to lose any of her friends. The last time they met the Transformers, they almost lost Rarity; before they helped Isaac and Doris fix their world with the Dragon Balls, they almost lost Fluttershy; and now, not only had they nearly lost Fluttershy, but also Rainbow Dash and the Cutie Mark Crusaders – Apple Bloom was still recovering from her Dark Energon poisoning.

"Twilight!" Spike called up to her. He bounded up the stairs to join her. "Twilight, we can't leave yet. We still have to try to help Rarity. Isn't that what we wanted to do in the first place?"

Twilight was silent. Perhaps she was jumping the gun a little bit; if they left now, the nightmares would continue, Rarity would never be fully healed.

She took a deep breath. "I suppose we could stay for a little bit longer," she said. "I…don't think my magic's fully replenished anyway."

(AUTHOR'S NOTE: SORRY THIS CHAPTER IS KIND OF SHORT AND ENDS SORT OF ABRUPTLY. I WAS RUNNING OUT OF TIME AND HAD TO END THE CHAPTER AS SOON AS I COULD. HOPEFULLY YOU STILL ENJOY THIS ONE AS MUCH AS THE OTHERS )