Do No Harm
"Well, first off, you can get her off her hooves and onto my table," Imre grumbled, trotting across the infirmary. "Spark knows how infected she might be with you hauling her around inside that garbage pail you call armor with a broken limb."
"The other option would have been leaving her to rot in the hooves of the Ledomaritans," Roarke said.
"Yeah, why didn't you leave me to rot in the hooves of the Ledomaritans?" Rainbow asked, then winced as she was practically shoved onto the table. "Ow! Ow ow ow ow—Watch it!"
"Don't tempt me," Roarke muttered, then turned towards Imre. "You ever worked on wings before?"
"In my glory days of sleeping through half of my introductory med classes at Blue Peak University, I recall one or two autopsies on albatrosses." Imre trotted back over with a tray full of syringes and scalpels. "Whatever the case, when I'm not slapping metal death machines onto your bone-headed 'sisters' here, I'm eagerly reading up on all manners of biology, including avian." She leaned in and squinted at Rainbow's left side. "A giant wing is still a wing, nevermind the fact that it's attached to an equine body." She reached in and pressed a part of the feathery mass. "Does this hurt?"
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaugh!" Rainbow shrieked.
Imre jerked back and exhaled. "Yes, I do think this will take some meticulousness." She glanced up at Roarke. "You do realize that it will cost a fortune from the Treasury to cover the materials I will be using."
The bounty hunter nodded. "Yes, yes..."
Imre's brown eyes narrowed coolly. "And... it will take even more for me to cover exactly why I am using the materials and for what."
"I get it," Roarke grumbled. "Just fix her wing already."
"Wait!" Rainbow wheezed, squinting at the two ponies. "Don't talk like I'm not here! Why are you going through all of this for an outsider like me?! And is she even registered—?" She turned and looked to see a cutie mark in the form of a razor sharp bonesaw on Imre's flank. "Daaa-gi-gi-gi!" She hopped up. "On second thought, who needs to fly? I-I'll just frolic east for the rest of my life."
"Look. You're here. I'm here." Frowning, Imre shoved Rainbow back down onto the table. "And, believe it or not, beneath all of this pretty exterior lies a unicorn who wants to help others get better, no matter how abrasive or... mmm... fantastical."
"Fantastical?!" Rainbow Dash made a face.
"How long do you think you will be at this?" Roarke asked.
"Assuming I can figure out an appropriate operation to tackle, she will need to recover for the better part of a day. Maybe two."
"I am not fantastical!" Rainbow Dash pouted.
"And then you will have to keep her off her wings for even longer."
"Nnnngh..." Roarke face-hoofed. "Then how am I supposed to get rid of her?"
"Okay... maybe I'll settle for 'fantastic' but not 'fantastical'..."
Imre sighed and leaned past Rainbow Dash. "That's none of my concern, Roarke. You dragged her here. She's your burden, not mine."
"Yes, well, you were once my burden too," Roarke said.
Imre rolled her eyes. "I would like to think that all of my hours of slavery have earned my way out of your good grace. Besides, I answer to Lady Pestiferous now. And so do you—though for some infernal reason you're too proud or distracted to admit it."
"I have things to do, Imre. I'm a busy metal mare."
"Doing what?! Chasing crystal huffers in Ledomare? Face it, Roarke, you have no business flying around in the Confederacy. It's going to suck your share of the Treasury dry and soon Terra and the rest of the metal mares here will tear your impoverished flank apart."
"Hey... uh..." Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. "Do you two mares need a room?"
"Nnnngh..." Roarke turned away, folding her forelimbs. "A crematorium comes to mind."
"Stop being melodramatic, Roarke," Imre droned as she grabbed a syringe. "It doesn't suit you." She then jabbed the needle straight into Rainbow's shoulder.
"Owwwwwwwwww!" Rainbow hissed then jerked as the needle was pulled out. "Ow ow ow ow ow! Unnngh..." She flung daggers through her eyes at Imre. "The heck was that for?"
"For the pain that might follow."
"P-pain?"
"Oh... uhm... by the way..." Imre fidgeted where she stood with the empty syringe. "Do you have any allergies—?"
"Buh..." Rainbow's eyes rolled back and she collapsed with a clang on the table.
"....well, then." Imre turned to Roarke. "I'd better get to work. Do us all a favor and close the infirmary doors behind us on the way out."
"You will do your best to fix her, yes?"
"Absolutely, Roarke. What do you take me for?" Imre's shaved brow furrowed. "And why do you do this to yourself?"
"Hmmm? What?"
"You only hurt yourself when you do things like this," Imre muttered, lying Rainbow on her side so that her left wing was exposed. "You lost half your arsenal when you pulled me from the Xonan prison camp. Or have you forgotten?"
"You were worthless there, Imre," Roarke said. "You were just wasting away, contributing nothing. I figured that you could be of much greater worth to my sisters and I here in Searo's Hold."
"Hmmph..." Imre's lips curved bitterly. "And in all the time it took you to pierce Xonan airspace and grab me from their clutches, did it ever occur to you that I'd be in just the same misery either way?"
"No, but it did occur to me that a mare as resourceful as you only ever got herself captured by the Xonans because she wanted to be."
Imre said nothing.
"Nnngh... Look, just patch her up, and I'll take her out of your hooves," Roarke said. "Nopony needs to know. Not even—"
"Lady Pestiferous?" Imre glanced up. "She's been asking for you, you realize."
"What?!" Roarke's lenses shrunk back. "Since when?! Terra didn't tell me..."
"Between you and me, Terra would like to see you digesting in the translucent belly of an Ursa Major." Imre stretched the unconscious pegasus' wing out. "She's next in line for ascending to the seat of Searo. Though you've lost several fortunes as of late, you're potential competition, Roarke. I know for a fact that there are a lot of mares out there who would relish you crashing and burning before you even get there."
"Jee... thanks for keeping an ear out for me."
"Roarke, go see Lady Pestiferous," Imre droned. "At the risk of sounding sappy, life here is a little bleaker without knowing you're around for me to throw insults at."
"Hmmph. If it makes things easier for you, I'll see if I can poke my head into her throneroom." Roarke started trotting away.
"Damn it, Roarke," Imre suddenly spat. She reached for Rainbow's pendant. "I thought you had the good sense to remove all of her armor—"
"Do not touch that!" Roarke shouted.
Imre froze in place, blinking.
Roarke sighed, then more calmly said, "Believe me. There is... erm... an enchantment about her. Bad things will happen if you remove the pendant from her body. Trust me on this."
Imre glared. "You brought an enchanted pegasus into my infirmary?"
"Suck it up, princess." Roarke turned with a swish of her metal tail. Her helmet closed as she made a cold exit. "I'm off to stare Madame Death in the face."
"You do that."
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Hmm, I find myself more and more curious as to the true connection between Roarke and Imre.
Ten burpees. Knock 'em out!
I really hope she touches the pendant.
...I'm a bad person.
Okay
1. how much you want to bet that imre is a princess.
2. RD our heroine has found herself on metal lesbo island. as a prisoner.
We need some bondage jokes stat.
2298267 Tuna tacos for everybody!
I immediately regret this.
Great dialogue in this chapter. Snark between begrudged friends, with Rainbow clueless in between them.
Also, Imre's cutie mark was a nice touch.
Roarke next in line for a position of power? Oooh...this could be interesting...
2298267
I wholeheartedly support this idea. Nothing beats that "dress me up like a blacksmith's wet dream" quip that Rainbow made earlier, though.
So they do have cutie marks this far East.
I was wondering about that.
Madmare Death? That doesn't bode well.
i at least like the fact that Roarke cares about others to a certain extent.
Man, took me a month or two, but i finally caught up with the storry!
lolwut? Honeytiger should be writing now. Curse you IC!
Oh yeah, Imre's definitely been expecting something. I wonder how much she actually knows about it, though.
Under The Blade - Twisted Sister
This will only end poorly.
Ooooooooh. Roarke seems like she's been a good person/pony all along. Clearly this means that she gets the throne.
I'll be willing to bet that some pony barges in on Imre fixing up RD and beats the Roarke out of her while our favourite metal mare is in the throne room. Hopefully not, though.
Little do you know that Roarke is actually a male in disguise!
So a Metal mare with a heart? Who woulda thunk it.
Oh boy. Roarke needs to learn that racking up a lot of debt to powerful, angry people is a terrible idea. So is losing their money. She can kick 17 different flavors of ass, but if you put a checkbook in front of her, she'll freeze up at the prospect of balancing it. Also, Imre is definitely going to touch the pendant. It's just going to happen. No sense fighting it.
2298248
Pre-emptively done. Also, I had one of the freshmen practically turn the unit building upside down today looking for 50ft of shore line after he pissed me off. Am I a bad person?
2299640 That's a very good observation. Thanks.
Altruism, or pragmatism?
Am I the only one not immediately trusting Roarke, here?
Doesn't it seem just as likely, if not more so, that Roarke is attempting to gain Rainbow Dash's trust in an attempt to capture not just her, but the Franzingtons, along with Ding-Dong and Stripey, so she can have a big payday, and mitigate her debts, thereby saving her own punctured hide?
I consider it a possibility.
I imagine bringing in Mrs. Doktor unicorn won her back some favour. I'm not ready to believe that Roarke is doing things that aren't self-motivated. She is suddenly not the same mare who battled RD, and I am very suspicious of her motives.
2299443
She got it from the wizard of Oz...
You will see her appear in the new movie coming out...
Aw, Roarke isn't a complete douchewaffle after all! Apparently she has a habit of taking in strays - potentially powerful strays, whether they be warriors or surgeons. I'm liking this arc more and more. For some reason it feels more like Austraeoh. Don't ask me to pinpoint why, but it does. Well, until tomorrow!
I'm gonna tell y'all a story. My pa told this'n to me back when I was a little bitty foal.
Not so long ago, there was a little robin chick, what fell outta the nest, and ended up on the cold, hard earth. He cheep cheep cheeped for his mamma, because he was afraid and cold.
So, along comes mrs. Daisy the cow. Poor thing! she says. With nothin else she can do, she turns her wide cow backside around and lets a cow-pie down on young mr. robin, a'cuz at least that way he'll at least be warm.
So now mrs. Daisy goes ambling off, to mind her cow business. The little robin, why, he's feelin so warm an' happy now, he starts to sing. Cheep cheep cheep!
Presently, along comes mean old Mr. Manticore. He sees 'n hears the lil' robin, singing from his cow-pie. Quick as two flicks of a lamb's tail, he pulls him out and gobbles him up!
The moral of the story is three-fold.
First off, not everypony what messes on ya' wants to hurt ya'.
Second, not everypony what pulls ya' outta a mess wants to help ya'.
Final and thirdly, if you're neck-deep in crap and you're happy, keep yer' blame mouth shut.
So, pardon, but guess how Roarke figures into alla' that mess? I'm a mite worried.
2298267 you mean Roarke?
Imre is a slave
2299773
Absolutely not. I think there's still a private at Fort Hood looking for a box of chemlight batteries.
2300958
I mean theres more to Imre than we know about.
I'm guessing she's somepony important.
And roark calls her "princess"
Pure speculation at this point though.
Hey Rainbow! All I can tell you about zis next procedure is zat it will be... excruciating!
th02.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2012/356/a/e/prepare_for_your_examination__by_dharthez-d5osl8x.png
So there is something about Imre. Alright, alright, revolution, here we come!
Gah!
You are just so good at character interaction.
You write some of the best dialogue around, to be sure.
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
So we learn a bit more about Imre here. Apparently, she was a Xonan who was rescued by Roarke in order to be a Searonese medic. I like the banter between those two in this chapter - they sound like they hate each other, but you can just tell that they respect each other, deep down. Also, as a note - not too long ago, Roarke and Dash fight in a really epic battle. Seeing Roarke in this sort of position with ponies like Terra and Imre talking down to her is kind of strange. Just a thought. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
So, I'm getting the impression most if not all Searos are earth ponies.
*Catches up*
*FORGETS to click the Fave button.*
yayy, now I have more to catch up on!
Absolutely loved the way these three bounced off eachother.
Roarke is next in line to get a position of power?
Good, and bad, I don't know. 
-Spirit
2301070
You're a terrible person. This is why I love you.
Well, this is an interesting development.
Irme is reassuring alright...
Aha! So Roarke's actually got a soft spot! She just doesn't save those who best her in battle.
Insults... insults never change.
derpicdn.net/img/view/2014/2/23/559795__safe_solo_rainbow+dash_animated_clothes_cute_smile_happy_costume_adorable.gif
5922053 I like it
So Roarke is not only high-ish ranking in Searo, but also uncharacteristically "soft" on occasion.
Ha ha! EE and Imre ship!
Too many mentions of Imre having some secret reason for hanging around Searo, it's gonna be important in some way.
How did you know I gave Imre Princess Azula's voice?
XD oh boy, doesn't that bring back memories?
Remember when Dash said she thought an Earth Pony just tusseld with an albatross?
I just know this is gonna be a thing now
Yeah, like turning into a chaos spawn able to bear the hulk of a tree in one hoof, and a battle cruiser in the other.
WHILE drop kicking cyborg ninjas.
Well Rainbow has her own conversation while the matured mares have a discussion. Seems legit.
09/02/2019
02:27 UTC
It’s been a while, but I still remember this story! Mostly.
Roarke has her eyes set on the throne of Searo, she’s ambitious. This is probably important to note.
This is still a great chapter, though.
8645431
Could be the end of this nation.