Grow a Pair
Her voice was muffled as she bent over to weld two metal joints together with a sparkling needle. "And I've told you time and time again, if you wanna kill yourself..." She lifted up and raised her goggles, revealing a pair of jaded brown eyes in the center of a square, red face. "...do it on your own damn time!"
"My time is your time, Imre, you Searo-forsaken runt!" A Searonese mare growled. She sat on a table in the middle of an infirmary smelling of disenfectants and copper blood. Her metal joints were exposed to the pale blue manalight as she leaned over and snarled in the surgeon's face. "If my rear legs fail me for the fourth time in a row, I am going to take your spine in my last two good hooves and—"
"—what? Gag me to death?" the surgeon droned back. "Cuz your smelly flank is doing enough of that for the two of us." Imre's shaved brow furrowed. "Would it kill you to believe in hygene as much as you believe in crushing skulls?"
"Bah!" The mare hopped down from the table, shifting her weight to test the structural durability of her freshly fixed limb. "I don't see why I should listen to you! You're no warrior, Imre! You've never tasted of fresh blood."
"Uhhhh..." Imre wore a frown that could cut glass. She pivoted aside to point at a veritable basin full of bloody rags and red-stained surgical tools. "Would you care to run that by me again?"
"Hmmph!" The bounty hunter began attaching her armor, turning up an indifferent nose. "Don't act as if you have something to be proud of, servant! Putting bodies together is a weakling's craft!"
"Yeah, well, this 'weakling' has single-hoofedly fixed your mana-powered joints three times consecutively!" She frowned and slapped her instruments down in a tray before folding her scarlet forelimbs in indignance. "One of us is doing her job. Wanna guess who? I'll give you a hint—it's not the dumbflank meathead who keeps charging muzzle-first into a furious gang of Diamond Dogs with futile desperation to nab their leader!"
"Rrrgh! I will get that mangy hound!" The mare roared, slapping on her helmet. "And when I bring back his head on a pike, I'll shove yours on a rod next to his so you can stare at my glorious triumph!"
"You'll much sooner be roasted over a spit for the dogs to devour," Imre droned. "Look, I frankly don't care if you wanna kill yourself. Just try and make my job a little easier by banging up your joints less. Is that really too much to friggin' ask for?"
"A servant has no say! You should know that by now." The mare brushed rudely past her with an armored shoulder as she made for the exit. "Why Lady Pestiferous tolerates you, I'll never know."
"Jee... maybe it's because I keep her 'fellow sisters' alive long enough to earn her more plunder?" Imre growled over her shoulder. "That wasn't free, by the way! You'd better get your flank to the treasury office or I'll personally tell Terra to rip your ovaries out through your nostrils!"
"Yeah, yeah..." The mare strolled by two figures on the way out.
"Mmmmph..." Imre fumbled over her instruments, carting them over towards a pale sink for "sterilization"... or else the next best thing. "If I'm lucky, she'll trip on her own hooves, if she can even find them from behind her ego..."
"Ahem..." Roarke's voice coughed from the far end of the infirmary. "Hello, Imre. Long time no see. I need a favor from you."
"Nnnngh..." Imre rolled her eyes with an undeniable grown. "I swear, one of these days, I'm going to shoot myself in the head."
Icily, Imre twirled around with a glare that was as cold as the metal scalpels lining the counter beside her.
"You've got a lot of nerve showing up here, Roarke," Imre said in a dull tone. "You've still haven't paid nearly half the bill you owe Lady Pestiferous for that metal job on your ribcage."
"The Lady and I are on good terms," Roarke said. "Terra can vouch for me."
"Terra can eat a hippopotamus and crap out wild boars. What's your point?"
"Point is, I may be in debt for the rest of my life," Roarke said. "But I still won't be as low in the food chain as a scalpel-sucking slave like you." Roarke's helmet parted ways to show her scowling face beneath a pair of lenses. "I'm here. You're here. Let's get to work."
"On what?" Imre's lips showed the faintest hint of a smirk, and it was most definitely venomous. "You?" She brushed a scarlet hoof through nonexistent hair, a noticeably lingering habit. "You hardly seem worse for wear. Don't waste my time. I've got two limb-cannons and a tail-lash to prepare by tomorrow or else my womb gets eviscerated and sold for chump change by the end of the week."
"I need you to fix a limb for me."
"Is that so?" Imre's brown eyes squinted. "You seem to be standing just fine. What's the matter, Roarke? Has chasing all those ghosts in Ledomare made you dizzy?"
"Something like that." Roarke reached back and yanked a stumbling figure in black armor into the infirmary.
"Ow ow ow—Must you always grab the left side?"
"Shut up." Roarke slapped the top of Rainbow's helmet.
The panels in the headpiece opened up, revealing an awkwardly blinking pair of ruby eyes and a twitching mouth beneath it. "What the—?! How the hay did you do that?"
"I need you to fix her," Roarke said. "And what's more..." She reached over and slapped a hoof on a panel, shutting the metal doors behind them. All three were alone, locked away inside the infirmary. "...I need you to do it without telling any of the other mares," Roarke said.
Imre squinted. "What is this?" She looked Rainbow over. "A half-blade? Roarke, since when were you taking up training a runt?"
"For the love of Celestia—I wish everypony would stop calling me a runt!"
"Shut up, runt."
"No!" Rainbow Dash batted Roarke's hoof away and stepped aside. "Enough hauling me around like I'm cargo! Should we forget that I'm the one who totally owned your flank!"
"You didn't own my flank," Roarke droned, nevertheless hiding her disgruntled expression. "You came upon me with tricks I'd never seen before."
"Oh, so now you're saying you meant for me to get the upper hoof on you!"
"I see..." Imre folded her forelimbs and smirked bitterly. "Not an apprentice, but a filly friend."
"NO." Shouted two voices, followed by the exchanged glances of Rainbow and Roarke, momentarily startled to have bellowed the same word at the same time. Rainbow brushed Roarked aside and limped towards Imre. "Look, you're a doctor. I see that. Can you help me out here? How I got to this place doesn't matter anymore. But I have friends out there who need me to find them and—" She froze, blinking. "You're a unicorn."
A blood-red horn stuck out of Imre's skull, slicing through the thinnest strip of purple mane hair. The rest was stubble over a shaved head... with a face that was caustically frowning at the bumbling outsider.
"Yeah, and you're an idiot." Imre hissed. "Small world, huh?"
Rainbow Dash gulped. "Not really." She squinted curiously at Imre, then flashed a confused look at Roarke. "What... wh-hat is this...?"
"Imre's talents have been... acquired... through various means," Roarke said, strolling over to the group. "What matters is that she's here—"
"Under protest," Imre grunted.
Roarke sighed, pausing in the middle of grasping Rainbow Dash's armor to glance Imre's way. "If you wanted to kill yourself by now, I'm sure you would have."
"I just like sticking around to give you and Terra and everypony else an earful," Imre droned.
"No, you're waiting for something, and until you tell us what it is, you're more valuable here than as a bounty." Roarke snapped a metal panel loose from Rainbow's armor and lowered it. "Why you haven't bothered to 'fess up is a mystery to me..."
"Pfft! Like you're one to care," Imre said, then blinked. "Wait... what's going on here? It's not like you to worry about another metal mare, Roarke. Do you owe her bits?"
"Just look at her limb, will you?" Roarke grumbled.
"Her legs look fine!" Imre stammered, pointing with an errant hoof. "I don't see why you're wasting... my... time..." Her voice trailed off as she blinked.
Rainbow Dash was wincing heavily. Nevertheless, she allowed her battered, bloodied wing to hang in full view of the surgeon's gaze.
Imre ran a hoof over her chin, chewing on her lip. "Hmmmph..." She glanced at Roarke, then back at the injured pegasus. "Yes... most definitely a small world..."
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Hooo boy, has Imre got some blackmail on Roarke now!
Where shall the pair go next? Diamond dogs? There's bounty there, but I don't suppose the plot would be so convenient.
All these insults! Such goodness!
So, Imre is a slave... or rather she's a captive for some reason. Hmm...
Two sets of twenty-five pushups, ):(. One for the intrigue, and one for not knowing the names of great actors in Star Trek. Knock 'em out!
Celestia's light is so hard to see from this far away. The world keeps getting colder, more cut throat. Maybe its a good thing though. Rainbow's steady descent into darkness is preparing her for the pitch blackness that waits on the other side of the world.
It makes you wonder how mucu worse will things get. Will society continue to dissolve as she travel. Will it come to a point where the only ponies are vicious savages and barbarians. And if so, how can rainbow hope to make it all the way without becoming a bitter, jaded pony devoid of innocence.
Also, this new setting would make a great RPG
2293998
She's a captive, and wouldn't that be just the thing to win her freedom, catching the unique bounty that is Rainbow.
2293975
I still say it's the girls, but they are consciously helping. Harmony, or whatever force is behind everything, knew that Rainbow needed to make this journey, but also knew that she would need the help of her friends to do so. Since they would never make it to the end in time if they had physically came, it dissolved them into magic, the "aether," so they can help Dash while not hindering her speed.
Sounds like Imre is Innavedr?
welp you would have thought that the Imre would have been respected. guess if you don't kill any pony your hated .
Damn, it's like Vault 99 all over again.
Not entirely sure if Imre can be trusted. Sure, she's a slave/captive, but that only increases the chances that she'll betray Rainbow Dash and Roarke for a chance at freedom. If she does turn out to be trustworthy, I have a feeling that she will be a useful ally.
Hmm... "a small world," huh, Imre?
Also:
Should be "hygiene."
I have a feeling that Imre is destined for something more than a quick heal.
2293998
My best guess is either there's a caste system even among the mares, or Imre is a captive Ledomaritan.
who was that first pony imre was working on? Honeytiger is confused. Will she get a name?
Well. She seems slightly nicer than most of the ponies in Searo, given that she's griping constantly and shoving out insults rather than brutally assaulting everyone for giggles. Probably because it's a little counter-intuitive to her profession.
Like it or not, Imre's suddenly involved in this gratuitous misadventure. And lets hope for Dash's sake, this world is as small as she believes.
2293998
I feel this is a pretty accurate summary of what you do here. Am I at least somewhat correct?
i.imgur.com/vyPCeWH.gif
2294216
No, that is me watching you drop down and kiss Momma Earth until she asks for your hand in marriage.
2294231
Well, if push ups are actually requests for marriage, why has Momma Earth rejected you so many times?
And kissing people repeatedly really isn't the way to begin a relationship with someone. Now that I think about it, got a pretty good idea why you were rejected.
Hm, I've never really considered relationship prospects with the metaphysical manifestation of a planet before. You've opened my eyes, friend.
So many slaves. :(
Roark and rainbow sittin in a tree...
2294856
*whistles*
I have caught up!
Yayy.
Wait...... Now I must wait for chapters.
Noooooo!
Do they know each other?
I have a feeling that Imre knows about a certain legend about a certain pegasus...
Searo must be really hard up for doctors if Roarke is willing to take Rainbow to Imre. The slave/captive doctor has every incentive to slit Roarke's throat by revealing Rainbow and collecting on the bounty. There must be something else in play - possibly the thing Imre is waiting for. My bet's on that "something" showing up before Rainbow and Roarke leave Searo, and I'll put extra money on it being bad news for the unlikely allies.
Damn, I really wanted to comment on every chapter I've read...but I couldn't. I ran through 415 chapters of story...I couldn't stop to comment but I'm caught up now. This has been one of the most amazing journeys I've ever read. I liked some, disliked some , but mostly I've loved this.
I love that you don't explain much outside of the story. No words, just "here it is" and that's it. I like that lack of interaction outside the story. It makes the reader HAVE to pay attention and think. I like the stakes I like the characters. I like speculating in my head on things and seeing characters evolve. It's been a really fun ride so far.
Gotta love the angry doctor character.
The 'small world' comment has certainly caught my attention... anyway...
I have observations to share about our esteemed author!
Each installation of this tale is more captivating than the last. Not only is the quality of the writing, plot, pacing of the story, et al superbly executed; Mr Colon is also remarkably prolific. I don't think I've ever seen a body of literature so briskly written... unless...
Hmmm! If Mr Colon is not actually Stephen King, then Mr King might have some serious competition!
Tee hee.
Don't you be getting any ideas, Imre. Turning Rainbow in is a big no-no. Also, small world? The past four hundred odd chapters beg to differ. Oh, and Roarke totally wants Dash's flank
Whether Dash is OK with this remains to be seen (meaning she's likely more focused on rescuing her friends and whatnot at the moment, but...romantic/violent shenanigans has not been totally ruled out yet, I say). Until tomorrow!
well, this should be interesting.
Are all slaves' mane in Searo shaved?
'Small world', huh? I wonder what she means by that.
My money is on a connection to the dead pegasus in the ruins.
2295579
That, or Rainbow isn't the first one she's ever met.
2295579 I'd simply say she is surprised by seeing Rainbow there of al places. After all, she knows about the winged pony that has been told to be on the loose in Ledomare.
Alright, so Imre is a captive, but still proud and confident. Ah yes, I can see it now... she has connections to some underground rebel force. And now with Rainbow there, they will team up and combine their powers for unlimited awesome. They will storm the walls, capture the city, smash every power core in range AND BRING THOSE METAL-HUMPING MOTHERF
ERS DOWN! DEATH TO SEARO!!
THIS! IS! SPARTAAAA!!!
....sorry. Got a little carried away. Did I mention that I don't like the Searonese?
Chapter 15, in which Terra gains new and previously unheard-of powers
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
So we meet Imre here. After seeing those stallions with their heads shaved, I imagine that Imre, with his shaved head must be a slave too. Prisoner of war, maybe. Anyways, it's a good thing she's a medic, or the metal mares would've killed her immediately. She's got some serious dirt on Roarke now, though, which will probably play into the story later on. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
"grown" should be groan.
Imre has blackmail material now.
Besides that, IC is really good at making all these insults. 
How does he crank them all out so fast? 
-SPirit
Who is this Irme character really?
So irme is introduced here and I guess she's a docter--slave---bounty----prisoner? Either or. Shits about to go down though.
Hm, now why would Dashie be surprised by a unicorn? I get that most of Searo is earth pony, but unicorns are not unheard of there...
Ho-lee Shit.
5770430
iambrony.steeph.tp-radio.de/mlp/gif/tumblr_m0coh2W2nd1r18bi7o1_500.gif
Everyone keeps saying that 'small world' thing. I still stand by what I said in Eljunbyro: Dash has covered only about 6-9% of her journey thus far unless Cold Canter's outpost was considered the edge of a continent
Haha, I ship it.
Imre sounds like an interesting character too.
They are not fillyfriends....yet
So with all the talk of diamond dogs, I think the dogs, or someone else, wants to use those crystals against Searo.
Also, we see that Searo's dogma extends to unicorns as well, though Imre seems to have it better than the breeders.
Imre is awesome.
Hah!
you know, I wasn't so keen on it before, but now? I can ship it.
oh god... you planned this all along...