Iron Mage stood before Sunset, weapon ready.
No, that’s not right.
Twilight Sparkle stood before Sunset, hoof outstretched.
But that’s not possible.
Iron Mage was a violent criminal. Twilight got panic attacks from littering. They couldn’t be the same person. “This is some kind of trick!”
Iron Mage frowned. “How?”
“Because Hypnotia said so!” Sunset exclaimed, “and I have to believe everything she says because—” the sentence abruptly faded from her mind before she got to the end. What had she been about to say?
“Look at me!” Iron Mage snapped. “I’m not casting a spell! This can’t be a trick!”
“That doesn’t…” Sunset shook her head. “The first night… you hurt her…”
“Oh!” Iron Mage exclaimed, “that’s what she meant! No, I was fine. I mean— okay, I did get hurt, I lowered the defenses so I’d have some wounds for the doctors to look over, but it was mostly acting.” She shrugged. “Some of those scars were from when I escaped AIM originally anyway.” She looked back at Sunset and immediately lost the off-kilter smile.”Look, I can tell you all about it later. Why don’t you put the knife down and we’ll talk all about it?”
“No.” She desperately backed away, pressing the knife harder against her own throat. “I’m not… There’s not—”
Why am I holding a knife to my throat?
With a clang Sunset threw the knife as far away as she could. She backpedaled away and jumped when her flank touched the cold metal wall. Rational thought warred with animal instinct. I have to run enclosed can’t be enclosed controlled have to run—
A metal hoof, still warm from weapons fire, brushed her own. Sunset looked up into Twilight’s eyes and immediately felt more steady. “It’s okay,” Twilight said. “Just look at me and breathe. You’re going to be fine.”
Sunset took a deep breath and held it. Slowly exhaling, she let her legs go limp and slid down the wall. Twilight knelt beside her. “Are you okay?" she asked. "Can you recognize me?”
“Y-yeah. Yeah,” she said more forcefully. “I’m fine. I don’t feel woozy.” Sunset could still feel Hypnotia’s words in her head, but now that she could acknowledge them, she could ignore them. “Twilight, what… how? Why— no, how. How are you the Iron Mage? She tried to kill you!”
“No, I tried to kill me.” Twilight winced. “No, wait. I mean I staged the attack.”
“But—” Sunset shook her head, woozily trying to concentrate. “The doctor’s checked you out. You had—”
Severe bruising. A concussion. And electrical burns…
In her mind's eye, Sunset could see her fight with Iron Mage playing out. The volley of arrows designed to break apart stone. The explosives. And most of all, a huge bolt of electricity striking the metal figure…
Twilight put up a fragile grin to shield herself from Sunset’s stare. “Um,” she began, “I needed proof that I wasn’t Iron Mage, so like I said, I lowered the suit’s defenses—”
“You tricked me into hurting you.”
Twilight winced. “And I’m sorry, but the point is that it was necessary—”
“You tricked me into hurting you.”
“Hooboy.” Twilight lay a hoof on Sunset’s shoulder but the older mare shrugged it off. “Sunset, I know that can be upsetting, but if I could just explain—”
Sunset reared back, put both hooves on the shorter mare shoulders, and just barely kept from yelling “You tricked me into hurting you?!”
Twilight opened her mouth but Sunset wasn’t listening. She stepped back and began to pace. “You could have been killed! You scared me half to death! I thought Iron Mage had killed you! Do you have any idea what’s that like— and what if I had killed— Oh stars,” and that thought forced Sunset to the ground again, “by the stars, I could have killed you. I pushed for SHIELD to hunt you down and— and you know what, forget SHIELD. Do you have any idea how many people want to kill you right now?”
“...Some?”
“All of them!” Sunset said as she began to work her way towards actually shouting. She glanced at the door and lowered her voice. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because of Hypnotia,” Twilight said quickly. “I didn’t know who to trust after AIM attacked me.”
Sunset froze, her line of thought derailed. “You said that the attack was a coincidence.”
“I need AIM to think I thought it was a coincidence,” Twilight corrected. “So Iron Mage can investigate while Twilight Sparkle remains clueless and above suspicion.”
Twilight had a huge number of annoying habits, and the worst one was the ability to make sense. Sunset shook her head. “And what exactly was your plan?’
“AIM is working outside the law,” Twilight said, “and they’re small enough that they’re hard to pin down by something spread as thinly as SHIELD is. And since Hypnotia’s invented a new way of controlling people's minds, we need someone outside the system—
“To do what?” Sunset stood up and jabbed a hoof into Twilight’s chest. “You can't just kill them, you can’t arrest them—”
“I can stop them!” Twilight said. “Destroy their equipment, expose their plans, make it easy for SHIELD to—”
“Easy? You could have started a war!”
“That’s not my fault! I’m not affiliated with Equestria, they had no grounds—”
“Novo is insane, Twilight!” Sunset snapped. “You have no idea what you’re doing, you have no training—”
“That training didn't do you much good, did it?” Twilight stormed forwards, the heavy suit making each step land like a hammer. “I just saved you, woulda ‘thank you’ be too much to ask—”’
“You left me behind!”
Twilight froze for a moment, face abruptly frozen in worry. She looked away and picked up her helmet again. “I didn’t know if you were working for Hypnotia before. What did you expect me to do?”
Sunset’s teeth ground so hard together that she thought she heard them creak. “You. Are. Impossible to deal with, you know that? You always do this! You get an idea and you’re just so sure you’re the smartest so you just run off! You can’t do this!”
Clang!
Sunset didn’t flinch as the blunt metal sound slowly faded, or at the impression in the steel floor that Iron Mage’s stomp had made.
Iron Mage said, “I have to,” and the bitterly quiet tone made her shiver.
Sunset stared at the glowing eye-slits that hid her friend’s eyes. This wasn’t how Twilight was supposed to sound. Twilight was warm and open and didn’t keep secrets, not like this.
She could feel a gentle tug underneath her thoughts. As Sunset resisted her programming it had gotten softer, but now it began to rise again. This couldn’t be Twilight, could—
Stop.
She knew this was Twilight. She could trust her.
Sunset reached out a hoof that was shaking from fear that she had to believe came from Hypnotia, and gently lay it on her shoulder. “Twilight. Talk to me.”
Iron Mage moved like a different person underneath the armor. Each motion was deliberate and inequine. But if she strained, Sunset could hear a familiar exasperated sigh from behind the helmet. She smiled, and Hypnotia’s words fell silent.
“There’s a lot,” Twilight finally said, “And we don’t have a lot of time right now.”
Sunset had expected that and nodded. “And I don’t need the whole story. Just tell me why you think it has to be you.”
“That’s not what I meant!” Twilight predictably tried. “I didn’t mean ‘have to,’ have to, I just…”
“Twi.” Sunset interrupted gently. The helmet shifted away from her face, and Sunset lightly wacked it with her hoof. “Twilight,” she said again, “it’s me.”
The moment was at least as quiet as the first pause had been, but Sunset didn’t feel Hypnotia’s pull again. She knew who this was.
“...I shouldn’t be alive,” Twilight whispered. “I wouldn’t be, except for— except someone saved me. From my own weapons, my own inventions turned against good people who hadn’t done anything wrong. I saw people die because of me, Sunset.”
“And you want to make up for it?”
“I can’t make up for it.” Twilight stepped back. “I just want to keep it from happening again.”
It was a better answer than Sunset had given when she’d joined SHIELD. She nodded. “Alright. I’m with you. Do you know where my bow and arrowheads are?”
“Downstairs.” Twilight glanced to the side as if she could see through the wall. “I think I have a plan. How attached are you to that jacket?”
Spike jerked awake as he stopped walking. Hypnotia was talking to… someone. He couldn’t concentrate well enough to make them out. There was more than one of them, and he thought they were messing with some big metal thing in front of the airship. He gave up and focused on what Hypnotia was saying.
“Walk in first, to make sure Iron Mage isn't free. Don't speak to… what’s her face, the agent. Do you understand Starlight?”
Spike heard giggling and some kind of answer, but a shifting ring of yellow and red caught and held his attention. He stared until Hypnotia snapped at him. “Hey, idiot! I need you awake!”
“I’m sorry, miss,” Spike said.”It’s all just so…”
She held up a hoof to stop him. “Look, I love how much you love me, but we don’t have time right now so why don’t you concentrate on holding this,” she floated over a crystal ball, “for Miss Hypnotia, alright? Stay awake just enough to make sure you don’t drop it.”
“Yes, miss!” Spike took the crystal ball and held it gently in his hands, careful to keep his claws from leaving scratches.
He stumbled a little going up the steps to the airship and had to bend his neck uncomfortably under the low ceiling. Spike had never been the right height; up until middle school he barely came up to his classmate’s shoulders and now he had to stoop everywhere he went.
Spike forced himself to pay closer attention to the world outside Hypnotia’s spirals as they headed deeper inside the ship. That is Starlight, he noted. I’ve never seen her so relaxed. Watching Starlight smile was usually like watching someone bend a wooden board. It could get into position, but it was clearly about to snap.
Behind them marched two AIM guards, and in front, the liquid metal golem oozed ahead. The AIM agents made him uncomfortable, but he kept his mouth shut. Hypnotia worked with AIM, how bad could they be?
They’re terrorists.
Spike shrugged. Hypnotia was loving and wonderful. She could keep anything in line.
The golem began to flatten itself and ooze along the ceiling. As Starlight opened the door, it crept across the ceiling unbeknownst to those inside. Spike followed Starlight in, shifting his body carefully to ensure that the crystal ball faced Starlight at all times. Hypnotia herself strode in and walked past Spike, allowing him to turn and see Iron Mage.
Iron Mage was shorter than he’d expected. She stood barely as tall as Hypnotia, so without the armor, she’d come up to his stomach. She was a few hoofsteps away from Sunset, horn softly glowing as her sharp blue field tried to overcome the soft green one. In Sunset’s field was grasped a serrated knife.
The lights from their fields lit the room much better than the smokeless torch on the wall, throwing Iron Mage’s shadow into sharp relief. The knife trembled but didn’t move.
Spike found that he was holding his breath and slowly let it out. “What—”
“No interruptions,” Hypnotia said. “Let me talk. I’m very good at getting people to agree with me.”
“Somehow,” Iron Mage curtly said, “I don’t think that’s going to work with just your sparkling personality.”
Hypnotia scoffed. “Once you take off your helmet, I’m going to turn you into my own personal lapdog. After the headache you’ve given me, I might even make you drink from a little bowl.”
“No wonder you have so many friends.”
“Agent,” Hypnotia growled, “has she done anything?”
“No miss.” Spike shivered at Sunset’s eerie expression; Starlight might look creepy because of her unnatural smile, but there was something particularly wrong with the way the spirals floated across Sunset’s eyes. “She tried to convince me that Twilight Sparkle was working for you, but I ignored her.”
“You’re still on that?” Hypnotia scoffed. “I wish you would kill her, it’d make my life a lot easier.“
“Ah-huh.”
Hypnotia frowned. Spike shivered too; it felt like there was something wrong that he couldn’t place a claw on.
“Dragon,” Hypnotia said, “I want you to walk over to Tin Mare. If she refuses to stop casting, cut the helmet off with your claws.”
What?
“I can’t hurt anyone! I’m— gh.” The world suddenly felt distant as Hypnotia stared directly at him. “Dragons can’t... I’m not...”
“You are what I say you are,” Hypnotia intoned, “and I say you’re going to cut the helmet off. Is that understood?”
“...Yes, miss.”
He surrendered the Crystal Ball, and he turned to face Iron Mage. Slowly, he put his talons around her throat. He tried to think, to move his hand away but in between every thought were Hypnotia’s spirals, sucking them down. “T-take off your helmet,” he asked.
“Miss,” Sunset began, “are you sure—”
“You will speak when spoken to!” Hypnotia snapped. “I am in charge here! You can’t do anything without my—”
Hypnotia shut her mouth. Spike hadn’t heard her do that before, so he turned to check on her. He couldn’t concentrate on her face through the spirals, but he noticed an expression. One of fear.
“Starlight,” she said. “Jam their magic. Now.”
Starlight’s teal magic wove it's away around Iron Mage’s, disrupting it. The field around the knife fell away, along with the image of Sunset herself.
An illusion.
“There’s two in the hallway!” Iron Mage called. Spike ducked as an arrow streaked overhead and was caught in Iron Mage’s field. Starlight’s magic brightened as the two of them struggled for it.
Spike stared down the hallway. Sunset stood behind the group, her bow gripped from three places in her field and a strip of cloth around her eyes. She grabbed four small arrowheads from inside her jacket and placed them against her bow. They grew arrow shafts as she placed them against the bowstring. Two concussive arrows flew down the edges of the hallway, driving the guards towards the center and into her second volley. They were smacked backward against the doorframe, and Sunset smirked as she aimed for their pained cries. She drew and fired a longer arrow with a shaft from her quiver, one that transformed into a net as it neared her prey and wove itself into place around them.
Hypnotia hadn’t even seen Sunset, she was pointing at Iron Mage and shouting as the armored warrior smacked Starlight aside and stabbed the arrow into the crystal ball. The arrow was strange; it looked like a normal glass bottle with an arrow sticking through it longwise. The bottle flickered green as it struck the ball, most likely because Sunset had enchanted it to ensure it didn’t break before Iron Mage could grab it. Her blue field reached around and crushed the bottle, unleashing—
SCR-eEeEeSCH!
Spike fell to his knees, Hypnotia forgotten in his blind terror. When it was done he couldn’t recall what it sounded like, only the blind terror of prey caught be the ultimate predator.
G-griffon. Just a griffon scream.
Spike sucked in a breath, trying to get himself under control. I’m not gonna die. It was just a griffon scream trapped in a bottle. I helped Sunset make that one. I have to—
Hypnotia!
Spike immediately slammed his eyes shut. He held still, hoping she wouldn’t notice. He heard Iron Mage say “Wait—” and a huge bang! There were frantic hoofsteps, the quiet pop and smell of a smoke bomb, then silence.
“Did she leave?” Sunset called. “I didn’t feel her rush past me!”
“She slipped by me.” Iron Mage said. “Starlight panicked and threw me against the wall.”
Spike opened his eyes. Starlight lay against the door, unconscious. Iron Mage walked to the center of the room, flexing her wings. “I’m going after Hypnotia. You stay—”
Spike saw a glint of metal moving over Iron Mage’s head. Before he could shout a warning a jet of liquid metal smashed itself across her right side. She tried to shake it off, but it burrowed itself into the ground and held her fast.
Her left wingjets flared as she pushed against the golem, but it didn’t fight back. Instead, it went loose and pulled with her, sending them flying through the wall. Spike winced as a successive series of crashes and bangs indicated they kept going until the breached the hull.
Spike shivered. “Sunset? Are you okay?”
“Of course I am! Where’s Iron Mage?”
“Outside! We had a golem with us.” Spike cautiously stepped towards the huge holes the two had torn through the ship. The outer hull was far enough away that he couldn’t see them. He heard a low fizzling boom and then the ship shook. “I don’t know where Hypnotia is. Starlight’s unconscious.”
“Good,” Sunset said. “I’m going after Hypnotia.”
Spike spun around. “Wha— Sunset, you can’t go after her alone!”
“Don’t worry, I’m blindfolded!”
“What, that’s not worrying?” In the seconds it took Spike to get to the door, Sunset was already gone. Spike swore at empty air until he felt better. She always does this. ‘Hey, I’m a SHIELD agent, I don’t need to listen because I'm smarter!’ He sighed. At least Twilight is still safe.
He looked across the room again. Starlight looked fine other than the small head injury, and neither of the guards could break through the net. He shoved his shoulder and arm through the hole and began working his way out towards the fight. They can do what they want. I'm going for help.
Panic gripped Iron Mage as fiercely as the silver golem. Intense pressure spread across her back and side as it squeezed, the metal protesting as the spellwork tried to keep up. She felt it stiffen as the mobility enchantments gave up entirely and heard a groan as it began to cave in. Desperately she flipped her left-wing around and fired all jets, sending herself into a spin. There was a hideous screech as it tried to dig into the wing until—
Reeee—eech!
It dug in too deep and tore the wing off entirely. Iron Mage didn’t feel pain; the connection to her mind was one-way but that didn’t help her calm down as the suit flew wildly out of control.
She cut all power to flight systems, and felt up and down orient themselves as down began to pull her. She rolled around, catching herself with her boots and taking a moment to catch her breath. “Okay,” she said. “Okay. I can do this.”
FZZZ—BOOM!
The first impact struck her so hard she wasn’t immediately aware she’d been struck at all. It was the second bout of pain that registered, a splintering sort of pain across her head and back as she was sent into the airship's envelope. There was a brief moment of blackness that gave her enough time to be confused before she emerged through the other side, and then the final impact came as she struck the far wall with a wham!
Iron Mage came to as she was falling, blinking away stars as the suit tried to keep her conscious. Stars gave way to swiftly-rising concrete as she approached the harsh ground and then with a final crash she lay still.
Don’t blackout. I can do this.
She lay, trying to breathe. Iron Mage directed the healing spells to her head and nowhere else; between whatever had hit her and the illusion power was at 47%.
Iron Mage didn’t move her head but looked towards the AIM soldiers. There were only four of them, and two of them were manning the cannon she’d seen earlier. They’re not gonna shoot again… need me intact. Need the suit intact. Hit ‘em hard, hit ‘em fast.
She lit her horn and began to teleport. She heard them shout and the sound of the cannon charging, but she knew the model—
It’s another one I designed, of course it is—
—And she could cast faster than it. She appeared in a flash of light behind them as a humongous pulse of magic tore its way through the stone where she’d been. Even though the armor she could feel the magic as it floated through the air.
Iron Mage didn’t waste time with anything complicated; she grabbed the two armed guards with her telekinesis and flung them in the air as she charged the cannon operators. One of them tackled her and began trying to strangle her, which she ignored. She kicked the other one under shoulder, wincing as the motion was slower than it should have been. He skidded across the floor and began to stand up, pointing a weapon at her.
Iron Mage switched to Pegasus magic and shot him. She pointed behind her and shot the one on her back, using her left foreleg because the right was too stiff to move correctly. Power had dropped to 37% after her teleport, which was a little more than it should have been. I need to go over the schematics again, consider reforging the base of the suit instead of just tweaking—
Focus. If I lose focus I’m dead.
She leapt into the air and hung there as she searched for the golem. She drifted up and down as she looked; even though it had no long-range weapons, Iron Mage wasn’t going to be caught unawares again.
The cannon shifted, and she saw the golem just as it pointed the huge cannon at her and began to fire. She cut the jets and dove underneath the beam, blasting it away as she landed. The golem dove across the floor towards her, but a repulsor-backed jump carried towards the airship. She switched to Earth Pony magic as she fell, examining it as much as she could before she hit the ground.
Its spell matrix looked bizarre compared to the other golems; it was like someone had attached a mess of insect limbs underneath the liquid and used them to shape it as the thing crept forwards. It was more complex than most pieces of spellwork and it’d crumble if she could hit directly. They were all tied together at the center of its mass, but that center was constantly moving.
She caught herself with her bootjets above the ground and began to fire on it. It was hard to predict its movements from the brief glimpse she’d seen; it’d have been easier if she had both of her wings, but her three remaining repulsors fired too slowly to hit something that small and fast.
It paused for a moment to weave its way under the ground. Iron Mage clipped it once before it hefted a segment of the cement and threw it at her. She blasted it down the center with two repulsors in tandem, and let it pass safely by her on either side.
She grinned as she readied her kill shot, but the golem wasn’t where it had been standing a moment ago. The rock was a cover, it jumped behind it! It's behind—
Iron Mage didn’t have time to spin around as it clung to her once again. She cut power to the bootjets and crashed, before triggering the ones on her left side and dragging herself across the ground. The suit protested with a loud screech of scraping metal, but the golem worked its way around to her left side and carried on.
She took power away from the healing spells to buff her remaining wing as she skidded to a halt. “Electrify suit!” She snapped. It’s mundane energy, not mana but maybe…
It didn’t work. The golem, frustrated that it couldn’t hurt her wing, wove around and grabbed her throat. Iron Mage changed her defensive spells to reflect this and switched to Unicorn magic to use her field. It grabbed her horn and disrupted her magic, then smashed her head against the floor.
Her head lay in a small crater and vision was beginning to go again. The world was blurry and dark. She was losing her ability to feel. She tried to remember if that was good or bad, before deciding it wasn’t relevant. This will not be how I die!
“Hypnotia… won’t want the suit hurt,” she gasped. “She’ll be… displeased…”
It’s grip loosened as it contemplated this. She coughed, felt something warm and sticky come up, and resolved not to worry about that until later. Come on, there must be something—
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something tall and purple hovering a safe distance away. “Spike!” She shouted with sudden inspiration. “Set me on fi—”
The golem heard this and grabbed her neck again. She got her hoof under its silvery grasp and tried to pull it away. "Fire! Just do it!” Iron Mage shouted. “Hurry!”
There was a very scary moment, where she wasn’t sure if he’d heard— or if he’d even help— but then hot pain smacked across her chest and helmet. The enchantments compensated for fire before she was seriously hurt, but she was sure she’d have burns to fix before she could appear as Twilight Sparkle again. The suit would have given way to the Golem’s strength, but it leapt away from the fire immediately.
It rolled away from Iron Mage, trying to restore itself as it began to lose cohesion. It tried to form a body and lunge at her one last time, but it fell to pieces just as it reached her.
Iron Mage fell on one knee as it dissolved into a puddle under her. She gasped for breath, suddenly aware of just how much she needed to breathe. The rest of her injuries crashed over her, and she fell.
Okay. Okay. Just take deep breaths. Healing spells. Okay.
Power at 29%
Any internal bleeding is corrected and repaired. Can’t mend the broken bones, just stick them in place...
Ignore the bruising, it’s not important. I can deal with pain, just fix whatever is keeping me from working.
The armor plating gave way around the ribs. I’m having trouble moving my right side, that’s from where the enchantments were exhausted. Right-wing is gone. I need to fix that and soon.
Power at 24%
Okay. I’m okay.
“Are you okay?”
Spike was looking at her,
Her hooves didn’t shake under the armor. No one could see her eyes, or hear her ragged breathing. Iron Mage was invincible.
"Yeah," she said. "Yeah. Just one thing left."