Twilight Sparkle was in the zone.
Rock music beat out of the radio, the guitar riffs sending her heart racing. It helped her keep focused as she worked on her armor, re-forging connections and attuning enchantments. She nodded to herself as she checked each box on her mental to-do list, finishing just as the song came to a close.
“And that was Under My Iron Skin, by the band Miracle of Sound. In the news this hour, what was thought to be rumor has finally been confirmed: Iron Mage is real! Last night she broke into a secure Seapony research station near their capital of Atlantis. Authorities responding to the scene found evidence linking the facility, as well as the company owning it, to Arcane Incorporated Mechanics. This finding has sparked renewed tensions between the Sea Ponies and Equestria, and the AIM scientists are currently being held by a neutral party: the recently crowned Dragonlord Ember.”
“Good,” Twilight muttered. The last thing she needed was some terrorists getting off because of some legal trickery. She began to put her tools away and clean up her work-space, leaving the radio on as she did.
“Very little is known about this armored avenger, other than her personal vendetta against AIM. She was originally credited in an attack on Twilight Sparkle, C.E.O of Spark Industries. While this was later attributed to a lab accident, many doubted the story, and there were rising reports of a red and gold figure attacking anyone connected to AIM.
There are very few details open to the public, aside from her initial attack on Spark Tower. Twilight Sparkle required medical attention, and the sensitive information Iron Mage made public cost the company and Ms. Sparkle herself a great deal of money and led to the arrest of dozens of terrorists. She also stole several pieces of advanced technology from the facility and fled.”
Twilight snickered. “You never did return those, did you?” She playfully rapped her suit’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, I can cover it.”
“The current discussion is whether her vendetta is causing more good than harm. Tensions between Atlantis and Equestria have never been higher, and some are wondering if she’s really on the side of—”
“That’s enough.” With a flick of her field, the radio was silenced, and Twilight was left with only her own thoughts.
She sighed. This is so much more complicated than it should be.
Twilight Sparkle was a straightforward sort of pony. She found a problem, and she fixed it. Fixing problems wasn’t supposed to make new problems, they were supposed to shut up and stay fixed. She levitated the helmet in front of her, looking at her distorted reflection.
Twilight wasn’t wearing any of her make-up spells, so her frazzled face was perfectly visible. She brushed her mane back, looking at one of the scars on her neck. AIM terrorizes ponies because they think they’re saving the world. What if I cross the same line they do? Who’ll stop me?
What she needed was a break. Since becoming the Iron Mage, she’d needed to balance her time as CEO with her nights as a vigilante. She couldn’t trust anybody with her secret after—
—Lights. Flashing, beating their way into her head.
A voice. Cruel and conceited.
A splash of red.
A voice screaming—
The loud clatter snapped her back to reality. Her heart pounded in her ears, and the scars around the Arc Reactor felt like they were on fire. She let her back legs give out, as she sank to the floor. It’s okay. I’m okay. I have the suit now. I can do this. I’m okay.
Slowly, far more slowly than she felt comfortable with, her breathing evened out. The trembling stopped. She could bring herself to open her eyes again. She wasn’t sure how long she sat there, but eventually, she almost felt normal again.
She let out a shaky breath. “Right. I need a break.” Some fresh air would do her good. With a smile she knew looked unsteady, she put the last of her tools away and regarded her armor. The red and gold always shone, no matter under what lighting. Just looking at it made her feel better.
It reminded her of an old friend.
“Twilight?” a voice snapped her out of her reverie. “Are you here?”
I forgot to lock the door! “Uh, one sec! Hang on!” Lowering her voice, she hissed, “Armor: Energize.”
The suit lit up with magic, disappearing into the space unicorns travel between when they teleported. Her armor would stay there until Twilight called it back. Too busy to appreciate her own genius, she began rushing around the room. What can connect me to Iron Mage? There was the freeze ray she’d taken from Blizzard, some of her high-yield explosive potions... The heat ray was more of a curiosity than anything, but would it be recognizable?
“Twilight, will you please just open the door?”
“Just a minute!” Giving up on being subtle, she threw a tarp over the entire table and leaned casually against it. “Okay!”
Her personal assistant and secretary Spike the Dragon walked in, raising an eyebrow at the mess. Twilight smiled disarmingly. “Aaaaayyyy.”
Spike crossed his arms. “Okay, you’re clearly hiding something. Spill.”
Horseapples. “Nothing important. It’s just, ya know, a thing! But not like a bad or dangerous thing, it’s just a super-normal average thing that is no way scary at all!” She smiled wider. “Heh.”
Spike was not reassured. He took a step forwards, and Twilight had to stop herself from taking a step back. She didn’t think Spike noticed, but the drake still looked hurt. “Look, Twi… I get that coming back after everything that happened is hard. I can’t even begin to understand what you’re going through. But I want to. Won’t you please tell me what’s going on?”
Twilight felt the remainder of her good mood vanish. She turned away from Spike and began double checking her tools, heedless of the fact that she’d already put them away. “It’s nothing bad, it’s just that... “
It’s just that the only ones who could have betrayed me to AIM are my family.
It’s just that I can’t trust anyone anymore.
It’s just that I’m more alone now than when I was a prisoner.
“It’s just something I need to do,” she settled on. “I’ll tell you when I’m ready, I promise..”
Spike was in no way pleased by that, but he reluctantly accepted it. “I brought a list of some stuff that’s been waiting to get done. You asked me to come by so we could work on your schedule?”
“Right.” Twilight closed her eyes, trying to shake away the sick feeling of fear in her stomach that had persisted since the cave. “Right, sorry. What do you have?”
Spike flourished the papers from the clipboard, which Twilight took with minimal reluctance. “The M.I.T thing is coming up—”
Twilight winced. “Can you push it back to… I don’t know, June? I don’t want to stay away from the house for that long.”
“Oookay… the lab asked for a consultation on this weird flame from space they found in—”
“I don’t have time to get into a research project,” Twilight said. She frowned, sorting through the papers to avoid making eye contact. “They can get along fine without me.” There has to be something worthwhile in here.
“Come on, Twilight!” Spike tossed the clipboard on a table and took a step forwards. Twilight flinched. Spike froze, caught between an almost parental look of concern and almost parental look of anger. “...Twilight, look. I’m not going to force you to do anything you don’t want to do, but this isn’t good for you. You can’t stay locked up in this musty old lab all day!”
“I get out!” Twilight protested.
Spike’s expression officially settled on ‘parental anger.’ “When?”
Twilight opened her mouth to retort and paused when she found she didn’t have one. And hadn't she just been thinking of taking a break? “Okay… what about the Spark Expo? Anything low-key?”
Spike bit his lip. “Well, Starlight is demonstrating something for SHIELD. They’re Golems. She’s emphasizing how they’re, uh…” He closed his eyes to try and remember, “tools that are only limited by the imagination, or something.”
“That sounds perfect!” Twilight suddenly noticed she put away the same welding torch twice and sat it down for good. “It’s a crowd, but most of those ponies pay just to have stuff with my name on it, some interesting technology, good food—”
“I cook better for us than any of those half-rate vendors!” Spike snapped. “Lousy jerks. They just dump grease all over everything and expect ponies to be impressed. I’m a real cook!”
Twilight nodded, only half listening. “I’ll just shower, put on a vest, maybe a tie… how many emergency speeches do I have left?”
Spike sighed. “Seven, not counting the ones with keywords swapped out using a thesaurus.”
“Well of course not! Those are just back-ups, counting them is cheating.” Twilight smiled. “That was a fun afternoon, we should do that again sometime.”
“Wait, you don’t even want to write a new speech?” Spike almost took another step forwards but settled for rocking forwards on his feet. “Twilight, are you sure?”
“Positive! It’ll be a surprise for everyone. Super safe. Besides, isn’t Sunset Shimmer running security?”
“Uh… I think so?” Spike shrugged. “I mean, I haven’t seen her in a while.”
“Then I can check on her too!” She didn’t know who’d betrayed her, but she wasn’t sure it was Sunset, and Twilight missed seeing the mare. Come to think of it, it’d be good to see Starlight and the rest of Applied Sciences too.
Twilight trotted past Spike and headed up the stairs, pausing and waiting for the dragon to follow. She took a second to magically scan the wards protecting the hallway, wishing she had time to adjust the settings. She was supposed to get an alarm every time someone approached.
With a sigh, Spike turned to follow her. “What time do you want to meet?”
Twilight nearly dropped the lock. “Huh? Oh, I thought you had…” She suddenly realized she had no idea what Spike did right now, “business… things… to do.”
“This is one of my days off.” Spike stared at Twilight with an odd expression. “Besides, you’re my business. I’m your assistant, remember?”
“Yeah, I just…” That kind of emotional honesty wasn’t something Twilight was good at. She wasn’t good at anything that couldn’t be fixed with a wrench. “So… uh… like, seven?”
Spike nodded. “Seven o’clock it is. Will that be all?”
“Yep, that’s…” Twilight waved her hoof in a way she hoped counted as actual words, “yep.”
The bureaucratic center of SHIELD at least tried not to be soul-sucking, which was more than most offices did. The walls were a soothing blue, and cheerful music piped up from the background. There were small knick-knacks dotted across the cubicles, though nothing enchanted was allowed this deep in the Triskelion.
The office workers greeted Sunset with smiles and pleasantries but watched her carefully as she approached the Director’s office. A faint sense of pride filled her; she’d overseen much of their training and felt glad it stuck.
The main office had enchantments ensuring that only someone summoned by the Director herself could find it, so once Sunset stood near it the other ponies began ignoring her. She waited as a second set of spells analyzed her magical signature and told the Director she was outside. The door slid open sooner than Sunset had thought it would, and she cautiously slipped in.
Sunset nearly stopped in the doorway when she saw that the meeting was still going on. She stepped inside anyway; after all, she wouldn’t have been allowed in if Sunset wasn’t supposed to overhear.
Director Tempest Shadow sat at her desk, listening to a series of crystal balls. It was hard to tell, but Sunset thought she recognized one as Queen Novo of Atlantis. “—Invaded our sovereignty and endangered our city in capturing a group of terrorists we haven’t even been allowed to question or punish ourselves! Irate is an understatement.”
Director Tempest nodded. “And SHIELD is doing its best to locate the Iron Mage, but these things take time.”
Queen Novo actually hissed with rage. “No excuses!”
Tempest didn’t move an inch. “None were offered.”
“I feel like we’re getting distracted,” came the blue blur on the leftmost crystal. Sunset hesitantly moved closer, letting the image resolve itself into Dragonlord Ember. “I can’t help but feel like AIM is the bigger problem here. They were experimenting with ways of neutralizing dragon flame and apparently none of us knew they were there.”
“Apparently?” Queen Novo rounded on the Dragonlord. “Do you mean to imply something?
Dragonlord Ember snorted, a small cloud of sparks betraying her fraying temper. “I’m just saying that lots of people would be interested in buying what they’re selling.”
If Queen Novo hadn’t been underwater, Sunset felt sure she’d have burst into flames. “You dare insinuate a lack of care? You’ve barely had that staff for a year! I’ve been defending Atlantis for centuries, whelp.”
“And both AIM and the Iron Mage managed to—”
“Can we all please just settle down?”
The words shouldn’t have commanded the attention that they did. They were softly spoken and polite, but everyone immediately silenced themselves. The voice wasn’t loud, but something about it made it feel huge. It didn’t command attention so much as own it. Sunset took a step to the left, trying to see who was in the third crystal ball.
Her breath caught. Princess Celestia?
Both Novo and Ember remained silent, and Princess Celestia sighed. “Now I know this is a troublesome discussion, but we’re a part of the greatest alliance in history. We can’t let the stress get to us.”
Ember refused to look up, and Novo growled again. “I don’t have time for your surface world nonsense. Atlantis has troubles of its own. AIM is a pony problem and doesn’t concern us, just like the Storm King’s attempt to destroy us have barely concerned you.”
A flash of guilt crossed Princess Celestia’s face, but Novo didn’t give her a chance to speak. “If AIM crosses our borders, we will deal with them, but as things stand we have no reason to assume they are the threat you tout them as. They threaten some of the rich, they steal some inventions, they are but a nuisance! Meanwhile, this Iron Mage can tear down buildings, wields the power of all three pony tribes, and can sneak onto the doorway of my city without detection! Just because you don’t want to help—”
“That’s it!” Director Shadow slammed her hoof down, rattling the crystals and silencing the queen. “SHIELD is doing its best to find Iron Mage as well as the Storm King, to say nothing of the aid we’ve sent your city already. If you really find us so distasteful, I’ll happily cut you loose, but until then I won’t sit here and be insulted!”
Princess Celestia nodded. “Though we have many different priorities, we are doing everything we can to help you, and frankly I thought our friendship meant more to you than this. Are you giving up on us, just like that?”
The room stayed silent for a moment, the nervous beat of Sunset's heart the only thing audible in the room. “You have my deepest apologies, Princess Celestia,” Novo finally said. “Recent events have had me out of sorts. Atlantis appreciates all that you’ve done, and owes you many debts.”
Director Tempest nodded. “SHIELD will contact you when we have more information,” she said through gritted teeth. “Will that be all?”
Novo signed off without replying. Tempest closed her eyes and concentrated on her breathing, and anyone who worked for SHIELD knew that you left her alone until she calmed down. Sunset quietly shuffled backward.
“Okay, so,” Ember started awkwardly. “I might have come on a little strong back there.”
Tempest gave her a Look. Sunset felt impressed; when before she’d said the Look could make dragons nervous, she hadn’t expected it to be literal. “You didn’t help. Where are we with the prisoners?”
Ember shrugged in the casual manner of those who don’t want anyone to know how frightened they are. “Nothing yet, but give it time. Dragons have ways of persuading others.”
‘No, Dragons have ways of intimidating,” Director Tempest corrected. “And that doesn't stretch as far as you'd think.”
“I’d take it as a favor if you’d let me talk to them,” Princess Celestia added.
Ember looked between the two of them and sighed. “When do you want to meet?”
“I’m afraid I’m in space right now and it could be a while before I’m back. Would it be alright if I contacted you when I returned?”
“Yeah, it… uh…” Ember hesitated. “I’m sorry, where did you say you were? Your Highness,” she added after a second.
Princess Celestia snorted. “I’m just doing some routine maintenance on the sun. It’s aggravating, but obviously, I want to keep it running as long as possible.”
“Yeah,” Ember said faintly, “that’s a normal thing for someone to worry about.”
Director Tempest chuckled. “It is when you have this job. Welcome to the frying pan. I’ll give you a heads-up if it looks like we’re going to fall into the fire.”
Ember opened her mouth to say something cool, realized she had been completely out-cooled, and gave up. “Just call me when you’re ready,” she said as she signed off.
Princess Celestia sighed. “Is there anyone else?”
Those four words sounded so exhausted that it gave Sunset pause. Princess Celestia was always so strong, so noble, that hearing anything that sounded mortal felt bizarre.
Director Tempest looked up and frowned at Sunset. “The agent who first encountered Iron Mage is here. Do you want to interview her later?”
“No,” the Princess said, almost snapped. “No. I can go for a while longer before the strain starts to get to me. Bring her forwards, please.”
Director Tempest nodded. Sunset stepped forwards and tried very, very hard not to twitch or look nervous. “Agent Sunset Shimmer. It’s an honor to meet you, your highness.” As she bowed, spells in the desk and crystal scanned her appearance, sending the data to Princess Celestia.
“At ease, my little pony. Just tell me what happened.” Any trace of weariness left her voice, and Sunset tried very hard to forget they’d ever been there. “I can see you now. I’d put my appearance in the ball, but I’m inside the sun right now, and I understand that mortal eyes aren't adjusted for seeing in such places.”
Sunset smiled at the weak joke and nodded. “I was overseeing a shipment of Sparktech heading to an outpost in the Frozen North. It was late, around 2100 hours.” It had seemed normal, boring even. The season was turning warm and there was even a pleasant breeze blowing across the dock. “I heard an explosion on the top floors. I didn’t know it was Twilight’s office until later, but I remember having time to worry about her before another spell struck the gate. It was powerful enough to transmute it into a stone wall. We had to tear it down later; the enchantments were aggressively strong. And then she crashed into the ground in front of us.”
“The Iron Mage,” Director Tempest supplied.
“That’s correct. She took hold of the train car and shifted gravity around it, gluing the other guards to its sides. I dove out of its range and drew my weapons.”
“Were any of them effective?” Princess Celestia asked.
“No, your highness.” The words stung; they nearly left a bad taste on her tongue. “I’m not sure how well protected the mare underneath was, but nothing I had kept her down. I’ve been planning new arrowheads since then, like maybe one that could overload one of the enchantments. Maybe short out the whole thing.”
Director Tempest shifted some papers around her desk, trying to find something. “Global Dynamics has been speculating that she’s somehow compartmentalizing the enchantments in the suit, so just disrupting one won’t undo the others. Striking her power source might bring it down, but that’s so obvious there must be a system in place protecting it.”
Sunset nodded. “Plus, it’s the only suit like it in the world There’s no telling how exactly it works,” she said before remembering that she was just an agent speaking with two of the most powerful mares on the planet.
Neither seemed to be that displeased with her. Director Tempest just waved her forwards. “Finish your report. You were about to get to the interesting part.”
Sunset found her mouth growing dry. She swallowed. “After I hit her with a stormcloud arrow, she opened the circle in her chest and it… took my magic. It—” Sunset broke off, not sure how that sentence was even supposed to finish.
“Take your time,” the Princess said soothingly. Sunset heard pity in her voice, and it made her square her shoulders.
“It hurt,” she nearly blurted out. She was an agent of SHIELD, and SHIELD agents weren’t scared of talking. “It, uh… It could have hurt more. I don’t think she was trying to drain me, I think she was just trying to knock me out. It still… wasn’t great.” Sunset forced herself to take a deep breath. It was like her lungs were filled with sand; breathing shouldn’t be this hard. “And then she finished taking the truck apart and teleported away.”
“And what did she steal from the trucks?”
Sunset shrugged. “Not much. The components she used to build the wings we’ve seen her in, some metal plating based on Changeling Hive architecture… I thought the stuff left behind was more interesting.”
“Contraband.” Director Tempest slid a paper underneath the crystal ball, and Sunset knew a copy of it would appear before Princess Celestia. “Illegal weapons, some SHIELD gadgets, and Sparktech that they’d deemed too dangerous to use. All incredibly dangerous.”
“And we’re incredibly fortunate that Iron Mage stopped them,” Princess Celestia said thoughtfully, “And that she didn’t steal them for herself, without injuring anyone permanently. What other harm did she do?”
“She nearly killed Twilight!” Sunset snapped. “Uh. Your Highness. Ma’am.”
Director Tempest grunted. “While Sparkle was injured, Iron Mage didn’t actually kill her. Scared her half to death.”
“And could have done worse. Twilight’s begging changed her mind, but it could have gone either way.” Sunset wasn’t entirely sure how forward she could be, but she needed them to understand. “Twilight had severe bruising, a mild concussion, and even some electric burns. If Iron Mage was willing to go that far for someone so,” do not say adorable, “defenseless, then what is she willing to do to others?”
Director Tempest nodded. “She could have started a war between us and Atlantis. She’s doing some good, but she’s still dangerous.”
Princess Celestia held her silence for a moment, considering her options. “Then we shall proceed. We capture the Iron Mage to study her armor and consider AIM to be a secondary concern. As powerful as they claim to be, Queen Novo is right. They have yet to engage in anything more dangerous than some thefts and they don’t seem to be that far-reaching.”
Director Tempest stood up. “I’ll start working on a task force to catch the mare. Agent Shimmer, do you want in?”
Sunset blinked. “Of... course, I just… Yes, ma’am.”
Director Tempest nodded. “I’ll give you a roster to start working through tomorrow morning. I want you to have a functional team selected within the week. Can you do that?”
Command. She’s offering me a command. “Yes ma’am!” Sunset had been after something like this for years! It was a chance to prove herself, one she hadn’t been sure she’d ever get. “I’ll start, uh…” She belatedly realized that she couldn’t start on anything until after the Director gave her the roster. “‘l will start going through the other reports on Iron Mage and see if I can find any other clues.”
Director Tempest grunted, not even looking at her. “You don’t need to worry about anything before your shift at the Spark Expo tonight. Just worry about making that run smoothly."
Crap! Sunset froze in place as she remembered that she’d intended to ask the Director if she could switch with Mockingbird so Sunset could try and see Twilight. The stallion ranked higher than Sunset and had wanted to see the Expo anyway, but Sunset couldn’t get off now. “That won’t be a problem, Director.”
“Good. You’re dismissed.”
Sunset saluted and left, thoughts crowding her head. Twilight’s been avoiding people ever since Iron Mage’s attack. She’s hardly left the manor except to go to work. Someone needs to make sure she’s okay.
Hopefully, she could leave it in Spikes claws for a little longer. At least the Expo will be an easy assignment.