//------------------------------// // Out of the Blue // Story: Iron Heart: Age of Iron // by Adamverse //------------------------------// I was proud of Fancy Pants, he’d turned over a new leaf; now his company to benefit the world without blowing it up. He’d left all his mistakes in the past…. I just wish they’d have stayed there. 4 Months Later… Cruising through the sky, a private jet was soaring towards its destination; on this plane, Rarity was in her seat. Fancy Pants had some business in Las Pegasus, he had invited Rarity to accompany him there; and something else was planned. Fancy Pants was opening a new music house, and he needed a band to play the opening night; Rarity had provided the answer. Ever since the Battle of the Bands at Canterlot High, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had put together their own little band; they’d played a few shows for the school, this was their first big performance. It took some convincing, but Fancy Pants agreed to it; CMCs would be flying out to meet Rarity tomorrow and would arrive the next day. The fashion girl was sat on her phone, with it in flight mode of course; her attention then turned to the brief case she kept with her. It was lying on the table in front of her, Rarity decided to check the cargo; using her thumb print, she opened the lock on the case. When the case opened, it revealed the Iron Heart armour; folded and contained in the briefcase. Suddenly, out a nowhere; someone appeared next to Rarity, “Incredible as always, Miss Rarity.” The woman said. Rarity turned to her and replied, “Thank you, Darling.” This was Fancy Pants’ new AI assistant, Coco Pommel; like Capper, she was a hologram, of a human this time. Her entire body was a bright teal colour and she could be project from any device owned by Fancy Pants. Coco and Rarity got along very well, despite Coco being an AI; Rarity even intrusted her with her little secret. Coco promised to keep it from her boss, despite it being against her programming; she was as alive as any human being. That’s when she was reminded of something, “Have you seen the news, miss?” Coco waved her arm, the two TVs across the cabin turned onto the news, the report was about Fancy Pants. “It has almost been four months since millionaire, Fancy Pants, came on the air and announced his company withdrawing from the weapons manufacturing business. Leaving that line of work in the hands of his father’s oldest partner, Silvermane.” The reporter explained. When the report was finished, Coco disappeared out of sight, then reappeared in the chair opposite Rarity; the AI said, “You can’t help but be proud of him.” “Yeah, he’s done well for himself now.” Rarity replied. As she said that, the pilot’s cabin door opened and the man himself stepped into the cabin; Fancy Pants walked into the room, looking all smart and confident. Rarity said to him, “You seem cheerful.” Coco decided to leave them alone, she fazed out of the room. Fancy Pants replied, “I have every reason to be; I have a successful business, and beautiful girl accompanying me to one of the greatest cities in the world, and the auto-pilot has just enough power to get us there.” He then walked over to Rarity, took her hand and kissed it. “I just hope this girl returns my affections.” “She does. As long as you keep your word and all your promises.” Rarity stated. The millionaire walked over to the coffee machine, he poured the two of them a drink; Fancy Pants took the two coffee over to the table, he handed one of the coffees to Rarity when… All of a sudden, the plane started shaking, causing Fancy Pants to drop the coffees; that’s when Rarity noticed something out the window. “Is that a…. drone?” she asked. Fancy’ looked out the window, he saw it to; Rarity was right, it was a Mark 7 Combat Drone. The millionaire stated, “A combat drone, my company doesn’t make combat drones anymore.” Suddenly, the window blind came down, blocking their view of the drone. After they were sitting in the dark, something appeared on the TVs and Rarity’s phone; it was a hooded figure. “Do we know you, Darling?” the fashion girl asked. The figure on the screens began to talk, her voice sounded mechanised, “Not you, but I know Fancy Pants all too well.” “I’m sorry, my dear; but I’ve never seen you before in my life.” Fancy’ replied. With her eyes glowing red, the figure replied, “I’m just a ghost from your past; and trust me, the past is coming back to haunt you.” The blinds on the window on the other side of the cabin began to raise, giving the two passengers a good view of the combat drone now flying on the other side of the plane. The two of them watched a shield form around the drone, Coco Pommel came online and explained, “It seems the drone has encased itself in a hard like shield; and it’s charging up its turbo-laser.” The drone aimed its cannon at the side of the plane, once it was fully charged up; the drone fired. “Time to die.” The mechanised voice was heard saying. A green laser was fire at the plane, blowing a hole in its left side; all the air was being suck out of the plane. Rarity and Fancy Pants had their seatbelts strapped in tight, but the same couldn’t be said for Rarity’s case; the pull from the gravity sucked her briefcase out the hole in the plane. Rarity said to Coco, “Darling, your airline just lost my luggage!” “Well, file a complaint when we land.” Coco joked back. The fashion girl whispered this next bit, “Override my safety belt.” Rarity had to make this look good; when belt came undone, she shouted to Fancy’, “Help! My belt came loose.” She pushed herself off, making it look like she was being pulled out; she pretended to scream as the air pulled her out. “No!” Fancy Pants yelled as she was pulled away. Rarity was now falling through the sky; luckily, she was wearing her sunglasses. These sunglasses had wireless tech in them, connecting her to Coco; she said to the AI, “Coco, I’m feeling a little vulnerable out here.” Coco replied, “Understood.” The briefcase that Rarity was chasing after was seen in front of her, the case then began to transform; the armour inside gave to the outside, it opened up and allowed Rarity to fall inside it. Once the armour closed around, it came online; the thrusters activated and elevated her in the air. “That was a close one, Darling.” Rarity said to Coco. Suddenly, three Mark 4 Combat Drones shot right past Iron Heart; they were heading right for the plane. Iron Heart ignited her thrusters and flew back up towards the plane; it was time for her first solo mission as a superhero. Back inside the plane, Fancy Pants had managed to escape the cabin and make into the cogpit, the autopilot was failing, he would have to take control of the aircraft himself. Once h sat down on the pilot’s seat, he received communication from something nearby. “Craft in distress, can you hear me?” the disguised voice asked. Fancy’ replied, “Yes, I can hear you; who is this?” “This is Iron Heart, the superhero, coming to aid you in your time of need.” The millionaire said back to her, “Please, you have to help someone; Miss Rarity was sucked out of the plane, it might be too late but you have to…” Iron Heart cut him off, “You have nothing to worry about sir; I already found Miss Rarity falling from the plane. She explained your situation and I’m here to help.” “Oh thank goodness; thank you ever so much.” Fancy Pants replied. “That’s quite alright, my good sir; just stay where you are and I’ll take care of the rest.” Iron Heart explained. Iron Heart was flying circles around the plane, she was scanning it for weak structures and anything that required her attention. Coco, who was speaking to her through the comm device in her helmet, was telling her the problems that needed to be resolved. “Miss Rarity, there’s an engine fire that could cause the plane to lose altitude.” The AI explained. Rarity replied, “I’ll take care of it.” She flew over to the flaming engine; her repulsers switched to her new fire-suppression mode. The hero aimed her palms at the fire and released fire-extinguisher; the flames were gone in a manner of seconds. The hero flew away from the plane to get a better look, Rarity then said to Coco, “Scan the plane for Fancy Pants.” The AI ran the scan, it located him in the cogpit where he was before; but then the systems in Rarity’s armour began to glitch. The computerised voice from before was then heard through Rarity’s comms, “You’re one of those superheroes that works for Spiderman.” Iron Heart replied, “I work with Spiderman, not for Spiderman.” “It doesn’t matter, this is none of your business; stay out of my way or I’ll have to kill you to.” The voice explained. Mark 4 Combat Drones then flew into the scene, they had their weapons aimed at the plane; Iron Heart noticed this and flew down towards them. Using a powerful punch, Rarity hit one of them away, causing it to explode. The other three noticed this, and began attacking the threat; the three drones began chasing after Iron Heart. The drones fired laser blasts at the hero, trying to knock her out of the sky; but Rarity used her repulsers to blast them away. When the last one exploded from her blasts, she turned her attention back to the jet; Coco had run another scan. She explained, “Miss Rarity, Fancy Pants is having trouble piloting the plane; one of the wings has been damaged which are locking the controls in place.” Rarity flew to the left wing of the plane, a piece of debris was locked in the joints; using her armour’s strength, Rarity pulled the broken joint back into its right place. She then radioed to Fancy Pants, telling him to regain control of the plane. “Mr Fancy Pants, you should be able to manually control the aircraft.” She explained. He replied, “Yes, I have it; and there’s a runway I can make a safe landing on just ahead of us.” Iron Heart radioed to Coco, “Activate the landing gear for him.” She did as commanded, the landing gear for the plane began to open up; unfortunately, the wheel at the front was stuck. “Miss Rarity, the front landing gear door is jammed; I can’t override it.” The AI explained. The hero decided the only way to get that thing open was for her to pry it open herself, she explained, “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.” Rarity flew to the landing door, she grabbed the hatches and used the suit’s strength to tear it open; that did it, the final landing wheel was down. Rarity flew up and landed on the roof of the plane, she believed everything was going to be alright now; but she celebrated too soon. Suddenly, all the systems in Rarity’s armour began to shut down; the grip she had on the roof of the plane was lost, the gravity pulled her away. The only system that was still working was the comms, and from them she heard, “I warned you, Iron Heart; now you get watch and see how you failed.” The mysterious voice somehow got Rarity’s thrusters to work, leaving her hovering in the air. “Coco, you have to get my systems back online.” Rarity cried. Struggling to comply, the AI system replied, “I working hacking my way through the block.” Coco then detected something else as well, “Miss Rarity, the Mark 7 Drone is back.” Rarity saw the drone teleport out of nowhere beside the private jet, the machine charged up its laser cannon, before firing a bright green beam at the undamaged wing; now there was nothing keeping the plane in the air. “Ah!” Fancy Pants screamed into the comm. The situation just became more serious, Rarity was now yelling at Coco, “You have to get my suit back online.” There were some beeps and clanks in the armour, but the suit eventually came back online; Rarity ignited her thrusters to full max and blasted after the plane. As the plane was falling out of the sky, Rarity needed a way to get Fancy Pants out of there; she managed to reach the jet, and landed on top of the cogpit. Using one of her repulsers, Iron Heart started cutting a hole in the roof; she ripped away the metal and saw Fancy Pants in the pilot’s seat. “Time to go, my good sir.” The hero stated. She picked him up by his back collar and pulled him into her arms; once she had him, they both flew away. Unfortunately, they were unable to save the plane; they both watched as it exploded before their eyes. Pieces of debris were falling to the ground, the entire jet was gone. Iron Heart flew Fancy Pants to Las Pegasus herself, so she could drop him off at the hospital; then she could figure out what the heck just happened.