Rainbow woke up and felt a slight warmth in her chest. She looked down and saw the glow of the new device in her chest and grinned. Now she would have plenty of time to figure out how to get out of this place.
She looked around, wondering what she could do to get out. Its not like she could just walk out of here and fly away.
Wait a minute.
"Fencin, how much do you know about building and engineering?" Rainbow asked.
"Not much," he replied. "Why do you ask?"
"I have an idea," Rainbow said with a grin.
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Rainbow looked over the plans. It wasn't going to be pretty, but it would get both of them out of there. It was a longshot, with Fencin's lack of experience, but it was still possible. And it was the only option.
"How did you know I was captured?" Fencin asked later that evening. "I never told you."
"It was easy," Rainbow replied. "You weren't treated much better than me, so logic goes to show that you were probably captured a while ago." I've been spending too much time around Twilight, she thought.
"You are much more observant than your reputation gives you credit for," Fencin said.
"Which one?" Rainbow asked automatically.
"Your professional one," he replied. "Although I have heard some good things about you. Professionally speaking, of course."
Rainbow could barely hold back a small fit of giggles at the stallion's slight blush. She was actually having a pretty good time, considering the situation. She was eating dinner with somepony and wasn't planning on sleeping with them.
"How does this thing work?" Fencin asked, changing the subject back.
"It's powered by the reactor I have here so it can move without too much hindrance," she explained. "But it will work better for you since you have better control over that type of power. It has enough armor to protect but enough mobility to move quickly."
"And what about offensive?" he asked. "They aren't going to let two armored ponies just walk out the front door."
"There are weapon modifications I'm working on," she answered. "It won't be that comfortable either. That's why we need the base layer of rubber."
They both looked over the table to the empty bowl of soup. A guard would be coming by soon to collect it, then they would start working.
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It had been about a week and a half since Fencin and Rainbow had started work on their separate machines. Rainbow would help Fencin whenever he ran into a problem with the building so it didn't fail when they needed them. And their backup plan would be in place as well as a way to ensure nopony would ever be hurt by these griffons again.
Rainbow was working on something that started to resemble a Leviathan missile, but only Fencin and her knew what it really was. They would have to set the timer perfectly once everything was done so nothing went too horribly wrong.
*******************************
Some time had passed since everything had been set in motion. Almost everything was set up. All they had to do was suit up and get out of there before the griffons found out. Rainbow looked back over and made sure everything was perfect before tossing the new blueprints into the fire. Nobody could figure out how this worked. Not here.
She walked over to the wall and began to strap into the harness. "Get the programs set up and set on a delay before strapping in," she said. "That will help keep everything operational."
Fencin walked over to the computer and started the sequencing. After asetting the delay, he started to strap himself into his own harness. "I really hope this works," he said.
"So do I," Rainbow replied.
things shifted and the various pieces were lowered and placed where they were needed. Rainbow double checked all of the bolts to make sure everything was secure and made sure Fencin did the same. After a few moments, The entire suit was released and under the control of the two ponies.
"I'll set the timer," Rainbow said. "You double check the halls and make sure it's clear."
"Got it," Fencin said, moving over to the door. He removed a bolt they had been using to keep an eye on things outside and saw everything was clear with the exception of the two guards in front. "There are two guards standing in front of the door," he said after replacing the bolt. "The shift change should be soon."
"It's set," Rainbow said turning back around. "Just tell me when and we'll be on our way out."
Fencin nodded in his suit. The large plates of metal were definitely not going to be comfortable. He counted down to the approximate timing and nodded again, signaling Dash.
She nodded her reply and looked at the door. She turned around to face away from the door and gave it the best buck she could muster.
With the strength of a trained Pegasus and the weight of metal behind it, the door didn't stand a chance. It flew off the hinges, imbedding into the far wall.
The guards that it missed stared in shock at the iron pony now standing tall. Rainbow took advantage of their confusion and moved past them quickly. She had barely gotten past them when gunshots echoed in the hallway. Rainbow looked back and lifted a hoof, triggering a small machine gun on the limb. The guards fell down and Rainbow continued her escape.
She was beginning to have trouble walking in the heavy suit when she saw the light. The mouth of the cave was right in front of them.
And so was Saarken.
"And where do you think you're going?" he asked. "Leaving before finishing my little project?"
"We have to move quickly," Fencin said.
Rainbow gave him a quick glare through the mask before remembering she had it on. She then turned back to the griffon in her way and saw that he was bringing up a weapon.
"It's not enough to kill you," he said. "But it will hurt."
Rainbow moved to the side, pushing Fencin against the wall. The gun sent enough power through the air to make it hot. The beam of energy barely missed the two escapees before Rainbow moved back, raising her other hoof. She twitched it slightly and sent a similar beam of energy down at Saarken, who was blown off to the side.
Rainbow then decided to live up to her name and dashed through the opening as quickly as she could, waiting for the opposing weapons fire. Nothing started bouncing off her armor; nothing was even there to aim at her.
"Something's not right," she said, feeling a slight tension in her back. "It can't be this easy."
Fencin hadn't noticed she had stopped and nearly ran right into him. He looked around, then back at her. "Nopony or griffon is here to stop us. Let's go."
He took a step forward only to be stopped by rainbow's hoof. She motioned toward a glinting object in front of them.
"It's one of my trip-mines," She explained. "Armor piercing technology. It would fly right through us."
He backed up a couple of steps, making sure he was far away from the device. "Thank you for stopping me," he said.
"Don't thank me yet," Rainbow replied. She moved the dirt around it and picked it up. Taking aim at one of the weapon caches, she threw the mine as hard as she could. In the few seconds before it hit, she shifted her wings in her armor and activated the flight mechanism while simultaneously doing the same to Fencin's armor.
The two rocketed into the air as the explosion rocked the camp below. Other weapon's caches were hit by debris, causing them to do the same. Rainbow glanced behind her, counting the last few seconds.
"Three, two, one." the entire area trembled with the detonation. A small explosion could be seen from the caves, but it wasn't the explosion that really did it.
23 Hours Earlier
"So how are you going to keep them from stopping you after?" Fencin asked. "Even without your weapons or the designs, they could find a way to build their own suit."
Rainbow groaned. "I already know that," she explained. "Even if they manage to build a suit, modifying it to fit griffons, mind you, they won't have a power source strong enough to power it."
"But they could design one," Fencin said.
"Stop your worrying," Rainbow replied. "I have a plan. What do you think I'm building to keep their suspicion off of us?"
Now
They saw the sinkhole bury the entire area, destroying anything within the ten-mile radius. It was finally over. There was nopony around to stop them.
But there was also nopony around to save them.
Rainbow felt the familiar sensation of gravity taking over and realized she hadn't put in a landing system. "Uh-oh."
Fencin glanced over to her and noticed the jets failing and looked to his own. He saw the sputtering and quickly cast a levitation spell to keep him from falling to his death. He tried to do the same for Dash, but she was already falling too quickly.
When Fencin finally touched the ground, he looked at the pile of metal. He began to take off his suit when he heard a voice from the pile. "Usually I'm the one who does that," Rainbow said, sticking her head out of the pile.
"You survived?" Fencin asked.
"Of course I did," Rainbow said. "The armor didn't, though."
"Good to know you have your priorities straight," Fencin said. "Let's get moving. There's a town about 30 kilometers south. We can get you a ride home from there."
"Just get me out of this pile of metal first," Rainbow said.