"And the winner of this very nice Apogee Award, please welcome my friend, Miss Rainbow Dash!" Spitfire said, enthusiastically. The spotlight moved over the seat were Rainbow dash should have been. "Rainbow?"
Shining Armor shook his head and rose, moving over to the stage. Hewalked up the stairs and stood at the podium. "Hello, everypony," he said. "Now obviously, I'm not Rainbow Dash."
A chuckle came out from the crowd. "If I were, I would probably say something about how I guessed this would happen and what an honor it is," he continued. "Now one of the most interesting things about Rainbow is her positive additude towards everything."
*********************
Rainbow dash rolled a three and lost 2,000 bits. She hit her head on the table. Spitfire walked up behind her andcleared her throat loudly. "You were supposed to recieve an award," she said.
"Yeah," Rainbow replied. "When is that?"
"It was a half hour ago," Spitfire replied dryly. "You said you would be honored to recieve it."
Rainbow looked at Spitfire for a moment. "So, will I get to redo it?"
"No," Spitfire replied. "I've got it right here."
"And what an honor it is to recieve such a beutiful award," Rainbow said, scooping up the dice with a wing. "Blow on it," she said.
"I am not going to blow on some dice for you," Spitfire said.
"Just do it," Rainbow insisted.
"No." Spitfire hit Rainbow's wing, knocking the dice out to reveal two ones.
Rainbow hit her headon the table again and scooped up themoney she still had from gambling. "You should've blown on it," she said.
As Rainbow was walking out, a lone reporter whipped out a tape recorder and caught up to her. "Miss Dash," he said. "Would you be willing to answer a few questions?"
"Yes," Rainbow replied. "That's one."
"What do you think your public nickname should be, considering what you do for a living?" he asked quickly.
"Well I haven't really thought about it much," Rainbow admitted. "But what are they calling me?"
"The public thinks you should be dubbed the 'Merchant of Death'," he said. "How would you respond to that?"
"That does sound pretty good," Rainbow said. "But I'm just the genius that designs the weapons. I have only made three weapons in my life. And those are the three latest ones. I don't control the weapons afterwards, so I don't know if that's very fitting."
"What name do you think would fit then?" he asked.
"I told you, I haven't thought about it much," Rainbow said. "I don't think about my job too often. Most of the time, I just relax. It's how I came up with the ideas that I have."
"That sounded rehearsed," he commented.
"Probably because it was," she replied cockily.
"How much?" he pressed.
"Every morning, first thing when I get up," she answered. "It helps to have something prepared."
"That sounds a little tiring," he continued.
"Do you want to see what it's like?" she asked. "I could give you a behind-the-scenes experience. Of course, I would have to know your name first."
The reporter quickly put away the tape recorder and introduced himself. "I'm Faith Starlight, reporter for the Canterlot Times."
"That name sounds like it-"
"Was meant for a mare, I know," Faith said. "My parents were expecting one, not me. I was stuck with that name."
"I'm guessing by your reaction before that you want that behind the scenes tour, then?" Rainbow asked.
The Next Morning
A groggy Faith Starlight woke up in abed that was not his own. He looked around, wondering where he was until he remembered the events of the previous night. Taking a second look, he started thinking about what to do in a millionare's house.
"Nice to see you up," Rainbow said from behind him.
Jumping, Faith fell out of the bed and landed on his back. "Do you have to do that?" he asked.
"Of course," Rainbow replied. "I do have a reputation to maintain, after all."
"Of course you do," he commented.
"A car is ready for you outside," Rainbow said, turning around. "You should probably get back to your publisher before they fire you."
As Rainbow left, she felt a greeat amount of satisfaction that she had once again, stopped a snooping reporter. Too much publicity about her job was something she couldn't handle without some other kind of publicity.
Grinning, she made her way down the hall to her office where a small project lay. Picking up the device, she began to look over the original blueprints. Placing a few components in place, it started whirring, slowly filling the room with light.
Gasping, Rainbow dropped the small device. It bounced twice and stopped in a small crevice in the floor. Slowly approaching this magnificent thing, Rainbow began to realize why Shining Armor had wanted this on the down-low. If something like this were to reach the public, a new power struggle would begin, just like the one that got her into the weapon-making business back when Twilight had made that giant AKRCS. It revolutionized Eqestrian technology.
Hearing somepony coming down the steps, Rainbow quickly hid the device under a previous machine that had been built. She then covered the blueprints with some magazines and started working on a car she had been rebuilding.
"Miss Dash?" Soarin called out. "Wher are you? You're going to be late for that demonstration scheduled for today."
As Soarin rounded the corner, he saw Rainbow working on the car and began to wonder what she was hiding. She always played music when working on that thing.
"Thank you for reminding me," Rainbow said, moving away from the car. "Which path are we taking?"
"The fastest one, ma'am," Soarin replied.
"Good to know," Rainbow said. "How about you take a few days off. I don' need any help in demonstrating the weapons I designed."
"Thank you," Soarin said. "Now what is it you're hiding?"
"What would make you think I'm hiding something?" Rainbow asked.
"One of your first machines is slightly raised on something, your magazines are scattered more than usual and there was no music playing when I came down here," Soarin said without hesitation.
"It's just something Shining Armor wanted me to work on," Rainbow explained. "I'll work on a new one later."
"Is it some sort of lantern that doesn't need batteries?" Soarin asked. "There's some light coming from under that machine," he explained after seeing his bosses reaction.
"Yeah," Rainbow lied. "I'll make a new one when I get back." She moved over to the machine, pulled out the device and threw it in her home incinerator. "You said I was already late?"
*********************
"Four hours," Spitfire complained on the aircraft. "You left me waiting there for four hours."
"With this being my plane, I would think it would adjust to my schedule," Rainbow said.
"With only the two of us going there, I would think we would just use our wings," Spitfire said. "Why are we in this jet?"
"With my publicity?" Rainbow asked.
"Which one?" Spitfire questioned.
"Both of them," Rainbow said. "When did you get all concerned about how we get there?"
"The same day my partner lost most of his flight ability," Spitfire said.
Rainbow Dash looked away for a moment. "I told you, that was an accident."
"Yet here you are, building weapons," Spitfire pointed out. "Your job doesn't help your case."
"I used to think you were cool," Rainbow said, changing the subject.
"Another consequence of what happened," Spitfire said. "I know he works for you now, but you really should talk to him about it sometime. It might help."
At that moment, a flight attendant walked back and silenced their conversation. "We will be landing in twenty minutes," he said.
"Thank you," Spitfire replied.
As he was walking away, Spitfire took out a card. "You'll need it later," she said.
*********************
"Would you please direct your attention to the hills," Spitfire said, gaining the attention of everypony there.
Rainbow Dash stood in front of the crowd wearing a business suit. "Many ponies have thought that we should never have to fire a weapon. They think we can just negotiate d that wilmake us all safe. They want to have a simple weapon destruction. I think we should only have to fire a weapon once," she began. "If you will please direct your attention to the hills behind me."
A device on the side rotated and positioned the missiles on it. "Using Sparkle Industries technology, we can now pinpoint any location and fire upon it. But what's to keep the bad guys from moving back in after all is said and done? One of these."
Nodding to the ponycontroling the missiles, he hit a button, launching one.
The missile began to flatten out when the outer shell burst off. Dozens of tiny missiles launched from it, widening the blast radius to hundreds of yards. Every piece of missile hit and ruptured the ground below, causing a massive sinkhole. Residual explosions sent shockwaves across the landscape.
"Mares and gentlecolts, I introduce, the Leviathan."
Wind stirred up from the blast blew past her. Hats went flying and uniforms rippled from the force. A new cliff going several feet deep stopped forming right behind the suited mare.
*********************
Spitfire walked up to her friend. "That was impressive," she said. "How did you build it?"
"I designed it on the same science that explains earthquakes," Rainbow answered. "I'll see you on the plane back."
"You're not riding with me?" Spitfire asked.
"I plan on having a good time on my ride home," Rainbow explained. "I don't want it dulled by your words of wisdom."
"Just make sure you get back," Spitfire said.
"Hey," Rainbow replied, "I have a reputation to maintain."
*********************
Rock music was playing in the armored car, barely lightening the tense atmosphere. Rainbow looked around between the soldiers in the car with her.
"What did I do?" she asked. "I feel like I'm being sent to a court martial. I've avoided those for a reason."
The stallion next to her let out a low chuckle. "Go ahead, laugh," Rainbow said. "It's good for you."
"Ma'am," said the stallion, "Could I ask a question?"
"You just did," Rainbow replied, gaining a snort from the front seat.
"How do you think of these weapons?" the one next to her asked.
"The ideas just come to me," Rainbow said. "Anything else?"
"Could I have a picture?" he asked. "To show my friends and family back home."
"Go for it," she said. "There's plenty of me on the internet that's much more incriminating than a simple picture with a soldier."
Before the stallion could pull out his camera though, the car in front of them exploded in a giant ball of flame.