Hey all! I know a lot of you are waiting for the BTR sequel, and I have some news.

THIS AIN'T IT! I'm working on it, but it won't be out for a while. Sorry guys.

ANYway, I don't know where this idea came from, but I absolutely HAD to get it all down. I'll update where I can, so sit tight and please enjoy my latest brain fart!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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Chapter One: Curiosity

There are no foolish questions, and no man becomes a fool until he has stopped asking questions. ~Charles Proteus Steinmetz

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He liked the dark. It was great for hiding. Not that he was hiding, but he didn't exactly want to be seen. Prowl had been coming to this place for the past few weeks. How he found it was some stroke of luck. One wrong turn and he found himself half an hour from Detroit, along a scenic road lined with trees, past an old stone house, over a covered bridge and there he was. A horse sanctuary and training facility. The ninja bot didn't get to see horses that much. He loved the powerful creatures.

Nellie looked around her, keeping Shylock steady. The Arabian wasn't exactly good with bareback riding yet, but she was working on that. After he flipped her on her back some odd times, the trainer thought it best to wear spurs. She hadn't used them yet, and she got the feeling the gray beast beneath her hips knew she had them on. He was still young and pretty cheeky. The grass was wet, so going into a canter wasn't on the agenda. A nice trot would have to do until the hill got too steep. Like Shylock ever did what she wanted him to do...

Prowl ducked low when he saw someone on the horse. He and the creature didn't exactly get along. At least it stamping the ground and snorting when he came into view was all it did. Beautiful animal though. If the horse acted up, he might be found. He wasn't sure the human would know it was an Autobot watching, but he backed up a bit to be safe. And stepped on a branch. Prowl moved behind the nearest tree, the fading sunlight glinting off his visor. Slag, he'd been seen.

Shylock snorted and backed up, head to the side. Nellie squeezed her legs, hardly touching the smooth nubs of metal into the belly of her companion. "Easy Shy..." The woman dismounted, and carefully removed her gun from its back holster. She cleared her throat and raised it to her shoulder. "Alright! I see you there! Come out or I swear I'll shoot!" Nellie yelled out. She wasn't a good shot, but she heard a twig snap and something shiny had moved. Someone was in the trees. "I mean it! You have until three!" She really hoped she didn't get to three!

Shoot? Was the human armed? The ninja bot turned his head slowly to see that she wasn't bluffing. The human had what looked like a shotgun, but shorter than it should have been. It may have been an earth weapon, but he wasn't going to risk it being fired. "...Alright, I'm coming out. Please, hold your fire. ...and try to remain calm." Slowly, hands raised to his head, Prowl stepped into the open. And looked down at a rather short human. She had ash-brown hair, a toned frame, olive skin, and light amber eyes. She looked pretty thin.

Nellie blinked. She lowered the gun and looked at what had stepped into her vision. The robot had to be thirteen or so feet tall. Over twice her height, which wasn't saying much. Mostly black, with tan upper legs and what looked like boots for feet. He also had gold markings on his legs and chest, with two tall stack-like things sticking from each shoulder. There was a blue visor covering his eyes...sensors? Whatever they were. "...okay, you were not what I was expecting." That didn't even cover it. She'd met some of them before but . . . but what were they called again?

Prowl lowered his arms, somewhat relieved. "That tends to happen a lot. My name is Prowl." He had never been good at introductions. "What may I call you?"

"Nice name. Sure live up to it, getting Shylock all freaked out..." Said horse was now grazing several yards away. Damn cheeky boy probably freaked out to go graze. She turned her attention back to the bot. "My name is Nellie. I live here. How'd you find this place?" She really wanted to know. She wanted to know a lot about this bot.

"I was heading somewhere, and I must've taken the wrong turn." He lied. He knew the way from here to the base backwards and blindfolded.

"Hmm, okay then." Nellie slid her gun back in its holster, hands on her hips. "That doesn't explain why you were hiding though. You wanna explain or let me guess?" The short human raised her hands a bit, giving him a warning that she was rethinking putting the gun away.

"Humans don't always approve of our kind." The sad part was that it was true.

"...hmm, been there." She nodded, moving her hands to cross her arms over her small chest. She looked at the bots legs, frowning at the mud coating them. "Man, you got dirty in there." She said quietly. Shylock whinnied and circled the ninja bot. He sniffed the mud coated legs, and did another circle around the bot. Prowl moved his head to watch the creature move. Shylock shook his head, and stood next to Nellie, nuzzling her temple. She put her hand under his chin and said "Stop it you. C'mon, time to go."

"Do you think I could borrow a towel?" Prowl asked quietly, frowning at his legs.

"Sure, follow me. Just watch out for the land mines."

Prowl froze mid step, the side of his visor going up in question. "Did you just say 'land mines'?"

Nellie turned to look back at the ninja bot, and put her hand to her forehead. "Aw crap, sorry. I meant, uhm..." She looked at him rather helplessly, snapping her fingers to try and help her remember. "Scat? Fecal matter? Uhm... horse poop! That's it. Watch out for horse poop." She continued toward the barn, a little embarrassed.

"Oh..." Prowl followed the woman, glancing at the horse. If he didn't know better he'd think he was smirking at him. He looked at the woman walking ahead of him, and at the barn they were heading to. It was big. Very, very big. It was, in short, huge. He could step through the threshold without ducking down. There were several horse stalls on each side, but only a few were occupied. One had a very fat donkey, who was busy eating hay.

A few over was a horse just rippling with muscle. She was a strong palomino mare, and very well groomed. She, like Shylock, turned her head sideways at the sight of him. But instead of stomping at him, she came toward the bars of the stall, sticking as much of her face out as she could to reach him. Prowl leaned down, stretching out a hand, but stopped. He looked over at Nellie and asked. "Is it alright if I touch the horse?"

Nellie looked up, peaking over Shylock's backbone. "Sure thing. Lil's a sweetheart." And she was back to checking for ticks. Prowl turned his attention back to the mare, and let the backs of his fingers come into contact with the soft and warm mouth. Lil, as she had been called, nudged the foreign metal with curious flare, ears forward, breath hot. Her whiskers wiggled with her mouth, before a very rough and hot tongue licked him. Lil then pulled back, swishing her tail and getting a mouth full of hay. "Lil's full name is Little England. She's a racehorse sent here from Ohio. The owners plan on racing her in the Kentucky Derby next year. I have her until then."

"Fascinating." He said, smiling. Then there was a loud clanking noise behind him. Prowl straightened, and turned to meet a very large, very angry looking horse. Its ears, though small, came up to the bottom of his chest plate. The horse turned several times in its stall, before stopping to stare at the now bent-over bot, almost challenging him. The chestnut coat was paired with a short flaxen tail and crew cut like mane. It made loud breathing noises, nose pressed against the bars but not fitting through. The second Prowl moved, the beast brayed at him, jumping upwards a bit, making him straighten again.

"Careful with Champ. He's not too keen with strangers." Nellie said, removing her spurs. "Don't take it too hard, he doesn't like anybody..." The horse...Champ, turned his massive chestnut head to look at the ninja bot. He let out a low rumble-snort and turned his back end to him as if to say, 'Yes, I WILL fart.' "He, Shylock and Brandy are mine. Brandy is the donkey." She said. "Okay, just let me put Shylock away and I'll get you a towel..." She stared for a moment, then pushed the horse into his stall, latching the door.

The mud had hardened, cracked on the edges. The woman went around the corner, and came back with a towel and a hose. "Gotta hose you down, k? Otherwise that'll be a pain to get off." And she sprayed his legs. He backed up from the shock at first, but then let the cold water rinse the mud away. After a minute, the water stopped, and Nellie handed him the rather large towel. He rubbed his legs dry, handing the towel back to Nellie when done.

"Thank you...Nellie."

"Anytime. And feel free to call me Nell." And with that, she was off again, climbing up a ladder to the hay loft. He had to admit that it was making him a little uneasy to watch the woman throw a hay bail to the floor. It was a long fall, for a human at least. But she did seem to know how to throw it without going to the floor with it. Still...

"Do you need any help up there?" Prowl asked, going to stand by the ladder. He felt kind of useless just standing there, watching her.

"Nah, I got it. Watch your head!" And another bail hit the floor. Prowl watched, arms crossed. "Okay, looks like enough." Nellie came down, and loaded a wheel barrel. She went to each stall, shoving hay through the bars of the stalls. Shylock shook his head, taking a mouthful. Lil didn't have much interest in it. He couldn't see Brandy, and Champ was... glaring at him.

"Do you do this every day?" He asked. Nellie looked up, pushing the wheel barrel back where it came from.

"Yep. Everyday. For the past five years. And probably a few dozen more."

"With all these creatures to take care of, when do you find time to recharge?" He asked. He hadn't seen a house on the property. A silo, a shed, a few open air buildings and some sort of concrete pad where the hose came from, but nothing else.

"Hmm?" Nellie turned around, latching Shylock's door. "Recharge? You mean sleep, right?" She put a hand on her hip, and pointed up at the hayloft. "...up there."

Prowl looked up, and back at Nellie. "You... sleep on the hay bails?"

"Uh... you know, I should show you..." She climbed up the ladder, and turned around halfway, looking Prowl at eye level. "...you're tall but thin. If it can hold all my crap, it can hold you too." She turned and continued up, only to see a black blur shoot past her. She looked up, and she saw a blue visor peak over the edge at her. "Show-off..." She said with a smirk.

The ninja bot pulled back, standing up to look around. The boards creaked under his feet, but it was expected. Basic set up he was guessing. A bed, a lamp and table. On the left there was a fridge, a table and a coffee maker.

"Not much to look at is it?" Nellie said, pulling herself up. "Hmm, thought I took this off..." The woman mumbled. She pulled the strap on her back, letting the holster and gun slide down her arm to her hand before walking over to the bed. "But I like it this way. This place was dirt cheap, too. I didn't want to build a house for no reason, seeing it's just me out here..." Nellie hung the holster on a hook, crawled over the bed and turned on the lamp. "Well, not including the horses of course."

"So I see..." He looked at the human sitting on the bed, legs crossed and head tilted to one side. She was pretty small, but not a weakling by any means. He could tell by her stance. And the fact that she had muscle tone. "I have a few questions though, if that's alright." He said, crossing his arms over his chest plate.

"Shoot."

"Alright. How old are you?"

Nellie smiled slightly. "I'm twenty-six. I know, my size is kinda throw-offy. I'm a shorty at five feet even." She came up to his fingertips when relaxed. Damn, he wasn't even that tall. She was used to being dwarfed, but not like this.

The side of his visor went up again. "Really? You don't look over twenty."

"Yes, really." She blinked. "Thanks …. so, anything else?"

"Actually..." Prowl said, glancing at the gun on the wall. "Why do you have a gun?"

"Protection." Nellie frowned. "I'm a horse trainer, so my work's not cheap. People have tried to steal horses from me before. One time it was the guy who hired me. Good dressage mare and all. Thing was the guy couldn't pay me, so I just had him clean stalls for a month." She ran a hand through her hair, and gave the bot a lopsided grin. "It's a twelve gauge sawed off shotgun." Nellie looked at the rafters above her head, looking for a trapped bird or something. "Sorry about... pulling it on you. Can't take chances out here, y'know?"

"Understandable..." Silence.

"So Prowl, what are you exactly?" Okay, now that felt rude.

"I'm an Autobot. A cyber-ninja to be exact." He said.

Nellie blinked. "That actually clears some things up... like the whole hiding and jumping thing... huh, cool. I met a ninja today."

"And I met a horse trainer." He said, smiling slightly. And then, his comm link went off. With a quiet sigh, he answered. "This is Prowl."

'Prowl, where are you? You should have been back here and hour ago.' Came Optimus Prime's voice. He didn't sound happy. Honestly though, he never did. He could sound interested or angry or tired, but happy... he needed to work on that one.

"I'm not far. I'll be there soon."

'...good. The Elite guard have landed, so you need to get up here.'

"Fine. Prowl out." The bot looked back at Nellie, who seemed pretty confused. "That was my commander. He needs me back at the base." He walked over to the edge of the loft, and turned around to face her. "Sorry about the intrusion." He didn't know why he was apologizing. She didn't seem to mind.

"Don't be sorry, I liked meeting you. You're free to come back any time. Just don't sneak up on me, okay?" She said with a wink.

Prowl nodded, and jumped off the hay loft, transforming by the time he landed, his tires screeching as he peeled out of sight.

"...Never did get robots..." Nellie mumbled to herself. Well, even if he didn't come back, she had a good time meeting him. But right now she had to work with Lil. Evening runs were fun, and the mare did need the work. The practice track was probably dry by now. Yeah, sounded like a plan.

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Hehehehe! Stay tuned, there's a lot more coming. Read and review!