//------------------------------// // Escape // Story: Iron Mare // by Plain Hunter //------------------------------// Creating the armor hadn’t been easy for any of the three kidnapped friends, but they were careful only to build the armor in parts, building each part a single piece at a time, building each piece as small as possible. The three of them had all grown paranoid that their captors would soon find out what they were doing and come in to put a stop to it, possibly harming one of Twilight’s friends in the process... Or worse. But thankfully they never did, and Twilight had to thank Celestia for their captors’ ignorance to what they were doing. But that didn’t mean they built it in the open, no, they built the pieces in the open, while putting the suit together behind a large, whiteboard on the other side of the room from the camera that stayed as the all seeing eye to the three. Speaking of the camera, Twilight shifted herself to the left, looking past the whiteboard and to the camera, turning back in front of the whiteboard as soon as she saw the familiar, red blinking light of the camera. She turned her head to the fireplace and saw Spitfire and Hooves talking as they melded more titanium together to the mold Twilight had made. “So, we’re almost done with our project. Got any stories for us good doctor?” Spitfire asked as Twilight looked back to the pieces on the table next to her that she was responsible for bolting together. “Hm.... I’ve shared all the stories I have with you all that I think you both should hear.” Dr. Hooves said, taking the newly made helmet out of the mold and throwing it on a nearby table and blowing on his hooves from having to hold the still burning hot metal. “That wasn’t very smart...” “Oh, come on! You’ve told us all about these awards you’ve won for this whole college graduate stuff that you, for some reason, quit for charity and support businesses, but what about you? You’ve told us all about what you’ve done, but you haven’t told us what you like to do when you get home from work. What about family? Do you have one?” Spitfire said. Hooves’ eyes widened as he heard the word ‘family’ come out of Spitfire’s mouth, gulping down a large lump in his throat and looking down as a sad smile formed on his lips accompanied with a single tear that flowed down his cheek. “Uh.... Doc? Are you okay?” Spitfire said, reaching out and putting her hoof on his shoulder. “Huh? Oh. Right! Yes, I’m quite alright. Don’t worry about me.” Hooves said. “Okay.... You don’t have to tell us about your family if it’s too uncomfortable a topic for you.” Spitfire said. Hooves looked back to Twilight, then his gaze moved to looked at the pieces of the armor they were making, his eyes filling with tears slowly as he did. “Thank you... Spitfire.... I’d much rather not talk about them....” Spitfire smiled softly and nodded her head. “You’re welcome Doc. Now come on. Let’s keep working so we can get out of here.” “Yes. Out of here. As soon as possible!” Hooves wiped his eyes, walking over to Twilight and began grabbing pieces of the armor to begin bolting it together before a loud knock was heard at the door. Ahmed, the zebra who had welcomed them the first day walked in, behind him were two large zebra bodyguards. Ahmed gave the three a warm smile, one that made Twilight’s skin crawl as she stared at the paranoid eyes of the zebra. “Hello Ahmed,” Twilight replied, her voice coming out as calm and relaxed as she could muster, “what is it you need?” Ahmed said something in a foreign language, keeping his smile as Hooves translated for the two mares. “He said he’s just checking on how the Hydra Cannon is coming along.” Spitfire softly growled at the sight of Ahmed, Twilight and Hooves being the only ones who had heard, with Hooves hitting the side of her front arm, silencing her. “The project is going by great! We’re-We’re building it slowly. One piece at a time, you see? It’s-It’s how I always built my projects back home in Ponyville.” Twilight gave off a nervous smile as Hooves translated for her. Ahmed spoke and Hooves translated without missing a heartbeat. “He said ‘that is good. And thank you clearing up your construction methods, as we had not been able to recognize the machine’s build.’” Twilight nodded, smiling still, “Don’t worry Ahmed, we’re working on the Cannon.” Ahmed nodded, smiling still as his guards moved around the room to the back of the three, slightly shaking ponies. Ahmed said something, making Hooves grow a bewildered expression, replying back to him without even telling the mares what he had said. “Wh-What did he say?” Twilight asked. Hooves gulped after Ahmed replied, turning to Twilight and shakily replying to her. “H-He says that the invention we are building looks like it would n-not.... Make the Hydra Cannon when they are put together....” Twilight turned to look at Ahmed, sweat going down her brow as she swallowed a lump in her throat, responding to Ahmed as best she could, “W-We’re working on it! It’s just.... Smaller now, you see? It’ll be much bigger when it’s all complete!” Hooves translated for her and Ahmed just chuckled deeply, his chuckle making Twilight’s skin crawl and her blood freeze. She softly and slowly turned her head, seeing Ahmed’s guards looking around the room, both of them searching through everything as if they were looking for something specific, making Twilight’s previous fear grow even more as she thought about something they might be looking for. Hooves bumped her shoulder and Twilight turned her attention back to Ahmed, doing her best to smile naturally and not come off as the nervous wreck she probably looked like. Ahmed just looked to the three with his warm smile as they all stood there in complete silence, Ahmed’s guards continuing their search through. Ahmed began tapping his hoof softly, calling out to his guards and yelling something to them. When they responded Ahmed turned back to the three and kept his soft smile, gesturing for his guards to follow him through the door. As his guards walked through the door Ahmed turned to the three and smiled, waving to them as the doors shut behind him. A long moment of silence fell upon the three, broken by Twilight making sighing deeply and running to her bed, reaching her hoof deep inside a tiny slit in the bed and looking for something. She sighed and pulled out a small, metal and glowing object that looked just like the main star in her cutie mark. “Uh.... What the hay is that?” Spitfire asked, walking next to Twilight and looking at the device in her hooves, “It looks like the magnet in your chest.” Twilight sighed and put the metal object back in. “The one in my chest isn’t going to keep me alive forever... So one night I did some tinkering and made a new one, one that can keep me alive longer than this one.” “And what will you do when it’s time runs out?” Spitfire asked. “I’ll build another one if we get out, one that’ll-” “When.” Spitfire interrupted. “R-Right.... When we get out of here.” Twilight said, doing her best to sound hopeful and optimistic, but the back of her mind was still haunted by the idea of them failing and living their days in the prison. Twilight sighed as she saw Spitfire and Hooves went back to work on the nearly finished armor. “So what next Twilight?” Spitfire asked, picking up a large gauntlet for the suit, Twilight seeing the large cylinder object on the bottom of it, shivering slightly as she began to remember how Spitfire and Hooves had to practically get on their knees and beg for Twilight to allow them to add flamethrowers to the suit. She had held her ground, saying they weren’t going to become just like the terrorists who are holding them, but Hooves and Spitfire eventually won her over by swearing to her that they wouldn’t use the flamethrowers on anypony, and just use them to burn any tech that they have. The three began working on putting the armor together, making sure to hide behind a large board so they wouldn’t get caught, but all three of them stopped dead as their blood froze upon hearing the sound of the door knocking. “Oh buck,” Spitfire swore, “what do we do?” Hooves thought for a moment before turning to the mares. “You two keep working on the armor, I’ll talk to them and hopefully get them away.” The mares nodded as Hooves walked to the door, the two continuing to work on the armor as Hooves began opening the door slightly. “Ah! H-Hello sirs,” Hooves said in a foreign language, “C-Can I help you with something?” Ahmed stepped forward, the same small smile on his face as he spoke. “We are just here to check on your progress with the Hydra Cannon. We hope that’s not too troubling.” Ahmed said, Hooves nervously chuckling and looking back slightly. “W-W-Well c-could you m-maybe come back later? I-Is that an o-option?” Hooves said. Ahmed began chuckling, a deep chuckle that made Hoove’s body freeze and his bones to shiver. Ahmed turned to his two bodyguards and nodded, both of them beginning to walk to the door before Hooves got in their way. “T-T-The Hydra C-Cannon i-isn’t done yet! W-We need more t-time!!!” Hooves said. “And we’re here to check your progress.” Ahmed said in the nicest tone he could muster before harshly ordering the two men to force him out of the way. Hooves began protesting as one of the guards picked him up, moving him out of the way as the other opened the door, only to be met with a rock thrown by Spitfire. “Ms. Sparkle, down!!!” Spitfire shouted as she threw another rock at the guard holding Hooves, the rock missing and just grazing off the guard’s shoulder as he growled, turning his body to show an assault rifle, branding with the Sparkle Industries logo, aimed right to Spitfire. The guard prepared to fire, but was stopped by Hooves as he threw his head back, connecting his head against the guard’s jaw. The guard groaned out in pain and turned, his assault rifle firing out at the wall of the caverns, forcing Twilight to lower her ears and cover them from the loud echoes through the cave. Twilight kept her ears down as she returned to working on the armor, Hooves freed from his captors’ grasp as he ran to Spitfire, who had already thrown another rock that smacked directly into the guard’s face, a loud crunch echoed through the caves that made Twilight squeal softly before a dull thump was made by the body falling to the floor. Spitfire trotted to the two bodies and lightly poked them with her hoof, Hooves walking slowly behind her to see the body. “A-Are they… Dead?” Hooves asked hesitantly as Spitfire turned, nodding before walking back and helping Twilight with the armor, “Good riddance...” Hooves moved over to a large battery, plugging it into the suit’s back and neck. “This’ll power the suit for just an hour! Which means we have that long to get the buck out of here! “Those were ponies… Living, breathing ponies...” Twilight whispered, putting the helmet onto the armor, completing it. “And they would have killed us if we didn’t kill them! So it was just a matter of us or them!” Spitfire shouted, entering the suit’s legs through the torso and beginning to strap herself in, Twilight entering the suit through the torso to the head. “Hooves! You next!” Spitfire shouted. Hooves looked to the two mares as Spitfire strapped herself to the bottom half, the two of them waiting for Hooves to enter in the middle, but he wouldn’t move. “Hooves! Come on, it’s time to get moving!” Spitfire said, fastening the armor plating over her, Twilight grabbing onto the large head of the suit and strapping herself in, setting her hind hooves down on the little platforms she had made for herself and Hooves, so the two of them weren’t standing on somepony. Hooves looked at the suit, and then back to the door, then to the battery that was connected to the suit. “We’re not going to have enough time....” Hooves muttered. “Did you say something Doc?” Spitfire said as the suit was then covered with a veil of darkness as Hooves shut the middle section of the armor. “I’m sorry girls, but I’ve got to make sure that you two get out of here safely.” Hooves said. “DOC!!! What the tartarus are you doing?!?!” Spitfire shouted, her voice painfully echoing in the titanium suit. “I couldn’t help get my two girls out of here, so now I’m making sure that you two do,” Hooves said, looking into the eye slots of the head part of the suit, “Twilight! You need to get you and Spitfire out of here! Use the flamethrowers on the suit to burn everything that they have in this cave! Don’t let a single one of the tech they have here to remain intact! Please... Please get out of here safely! I can’t let you two die in this awful place too!” Spitfire continued shouting as Twilight nodded tearfully, knowing that Hooves couldn’t see her nod, but watching as he disappeared from sight, the sound of gunfire confirming he had stolen a gun from one of Ahmed’s guard’s bodies and was trying to buy them time before the suit would be operational. “No!!! NO!!! Dammit!!! Ms. Sparkle, we gotta get out of here!” Spitfire said, struggling to remove the straps holding her to the suit in the darkness. “No! We.... We need to wait for the suit to be done downloading! Then we can use the suit to help him!” Twilight said, tears filling her eyes as she held her gaze at the eye slots, hoping that Hooves’ face would appear on the other end of them at any moment. “Dammit, Ms. Sparkle! No! We need to rescue him! By the time the suit’s done it’ll already be too late!” Spitfire said, but she was silenced as the sound of gunfire that echoed through the cave suddenly stopped. Twilight choked back a sob as the silence filled the cave, the only sound being the sound of hooves clopping on the floor of the cave, the sounds coming closer with each second. “Dammit.... Dammit....” Spitfire kept repeating softly, not wanting to alert the guards that were coming. Spitfire made one last tug at her restraints, successfully freeing herself from them as she climbed up to the middle section of the suit, putting her front hooves in the arms of the suit and holding her hooves above the flamethrower trigger buttons, her hind hooves reaching down as she strapped them into the buckles so she could still walk the suit, Twilight still sobbing uncontrollably and staring out the eye slots. She covered her face with her hooves, her breathing as violently shaky as her hooves as her mind flooded with the thought of what the guards would do to them if they were to be discovered, while Spitfire continued to swear under her breath, barely audible to Twilight. Then, in the blink of an eye, everything went silent as everything in the room shut down as Twilight’s breathing got quiet, her body staying still as she stared back out the eyes of the mask, seeing the lights of the guard’s flashlights illuminate the room, the lights moving across the area as the guards searched for them. One of the guards walked in front of the armor and looked to it, shining their flashlight into the eye slits, but not before Spitfire sent the arm forward into the guard, sending him flying backwards to the wall of the cave. The sound of two more guards coming echoed through the room as the suit lighted up, a large star shaped symbol on it’s chest, the symbol illuminating the path ahead of the armor as it turned to face the two guards who were shaking as they watched this larger than life Minotaur looking monster walk up to them and throw them away with a single swing of it’s arm. Twilight winced as Spitfire swung the suit’s arms about to attack the guards, but could do nothing about it as Spitfire made the suit move deeper into the caves, both of them hoping to find a way out. “So which way next?” Spitfire asked, her voice echoing through the armor. “Uhh..... I-I think... Maybe a left?” Twilight hesitantly said as she saw the split hallway. “Is that a question or a statement?” Spitfire responded, turning the armor left. “A-A statement?” Twilight responded. Just then the girls heard shouting from their side, making Twilight turn the suit slightly to see what was going on. And as soon as she did she saw a large group of ponies stopping at the end of the right hallway, firing their weapons at the two of them. The suit stood still, taking the abuse from the bullets before they stopped, all of the guards slightly shivering as the suit stood there, seemingly unaffected by the bullets fired at it. Spitfire looked out the tiny hole in the torso, going close to see the guards standing there, watching the armor as if they wished it’d fall over comically for show them dead, but it didn’t. So Spitfire grew a grin on her face. She used all her strength to lift the armor’s right arm, pointing it’s hoof to the guards and preparing to pull back the trigger in the arm. “W-What are you doing??” Twilight said. “Ms. Sparkle! It’s either US! Or them!” Spitfire shouted. “B-But they’re ponies! Living, breathing ponies!” Twilight said back. “And they’re not going to stop until I’m dead and you’re still stuck here,” Spitfire shouted back, “so it’s us or them!” “But if we kill them then we’re just like them! Murderers!” Twilight said back. “And if we don’t then you’re still stuck, I’m dead and Hooves will have sacrificed himself for nothing! Twilight looked to the guards, who were visibly nervous from the arm’s sudden movement up. She gulped and closed her eyes tight, nodding slightly. “Go ahead...” She said quietly. Spitfire gulped, grinning and looking back out to the guards through the hole as they sent over one member to check the suit out. She readied the flamethrower, but froze before she could pull the trigger back with her hoof. She looked back to the guard, seeing him walk closer, and sighed. “Dammit...” She muttered before sending the right arm quickly left, sending the guard flying to the wall before the other guards charged forward, stopping a few steps in front of the suit and preparing their weapons, Ahmed behind them grinning. “You are surrounded my friends. Behind us is the exit, but as you can see you are clearly blocked. So just give yourselves up now. Or my men will fire through your mask.” He said, still with the grin that replaced his normally friendly smile. “Go buck yourself Ahmed!” Spitfire shouted, Ahmed chuckling deeply and shaking his head as he did. “Men... Fire.” Ahmed said. The guards turned their body’s slightly to show their assault rifles, pointed to the mask of the suit before they pulled the trigger.... Only for nothing to happen. The men, confused, looked to their weapons, taking out the clips to show them empty. “YOU FIRED YOUR FIRST CLIPS AT THEM ALREADY?!” Ahmed shouted. The men chuckled slightly and began reaching for their spare clips, Spitfire scoffing at their unprofessionalism. “This is getting ridiculous. Time to move along.” She reached the right arm back and then brought it back, swinging the first row of guards before bringing it back again to knock back the second row. Ahmed screamed in a pitch so high that nopony could hear it at he ran back with the others to the exit of the cave. Twilight smiled softly as she saw the guards groaning on the ground, Spitfire moving the suit’s legs to move them after Ahmed, knocking back more guards in their way. “Sorry for hurting you!” Twilight said as they moved through the cave. The two reached the end of the cave to see Ahmed standing behind a large group of men, all of them aiming their weapons to the mares before opening fire, this time for real as they had made sure to check to see if they had full clips. Twilight squealed and covered her eyes, lowering her head away from the slits as the entire suit was assaulted by the seemingly endless barrage of bullets. When the bullets had stopped Spitfire looked out, Twilight still covering herself and asking what she saw. Spitfire scoffed quietly, “Our turn.” She raised the armor’s arms and immediately pulled the triggers back, sending large flames to the men who all began running, those who didn’t make it burned along with the weapons they had. Twilight looked around before seeing the flames, seeing they had a camp that was filled to the brim with her company’s tech, not just from her weapon’s division. But her vision was obscured when she saw large flames erupt from them, setting everything ablaze as Twilight covered her eyes and lowered her head again, not wanting to see what was going on. Spitfire began taking control again as she moves the armor forward to make sure she got every last bit of tech and every last guard, shouting and swearing at them as she did. She watched a couple guards running away, Ahmed with them, and prepared to burn them as well. But her burning was stopped when Twilight screamed for her to stop. Spitfire looked up to see Twilight had turned the head of the armor slightly, Spitfire doing the same to see what Twilight was looking at, seeing a familiar brown Earth Pony laying on the ground. Spitfire immediately moved the legs of the suit quickly to get to Hooves as he lay on the ground, three blood covered holes in on his side with one more in his gut. Twilight raised the mask of the helmet and shouted Hoove’s name, causing him to stir slightly and groan. “Come on! Get in the torso! We can all get out of here! We can get you help! I can keep you alive until then!” Twilight shouted, tears welling in her eyes as Hooves shook his head. Spitfire brought the suit down to it’s joints in it’s legs to look closer at Hooves, who began coughing slightly, rolling to his left side to show burn marks on his back, the burns so bad that the skin had been completely melted away and his muscle was the only thing showing. Twilight covered her mouth to hold back her bile from the sight as Spitfire choked back a sob, her eyes welling up as well. “T-T-T-.... W-We can’t just leave you!!!” Twilight screamed, Hooves shaking his head again. “You have to Twilight.... I’m not going to make it....” Hooves said weakly. “NO! Don’t say that! We’re not letting you-” “I’ll be with my family Twilight...” Hooves said. “W-What do you mean Doc?” Spitfire asked. Hooves sighed and looked up to the sky, a tear falling from his eye as he breathed a shaky breath. “I had a wife... She and I... We were expecting a beautiful little filly soon,” he begun, “but, during a ride home from a road trip to the absolute worst pile of filth of a city in Equestria, we got into an argument... I-I don’t even know what we were arguing about!” Hooves choked back a sob as he kept looking to the sky, seeing the sun shining bright in the center of the sky. “... And then we crashed into another carriage... I hope it was something important.... Because the next thing I knew these monsters were dragging me away, kicking and screaming, from my carriage.... My wife still inside as she screamed and banged on the window for me to help her....” Twilight began sobbing loudly and wiping her eyes as Spitfire shook her head, wiping her eyes as well while Hooves groaned softly. “I don’t want you girls.... To die because you waited for me.... So please.... Please go.... Get back home....” Twilight wiped her eyes again and nodded, hesitantly putting the mask back onto the helmet. Spitfire straightened the armor’s legs as she prepared the triggers on the feet, looking back up to Twilight, who was still wiping her eyes. “Ready?” Spitfire said. Twilight nodded as Spitfire stepped the armor back a couple feet from Hooves, Hooves watching as the armor’s feet began emitting smoke and flame that began rising the armor slowly up to the ground. “Go girls.... Be free....” Hooves said, turning his gaze back to the midday sun and closing his eyes. The two mares began soaring through the sky, soaring far from the caves, from their captors, and from their friend, as they began soaring to their home, Equestria, or to any town they can find to help them get there.