//------------------------------// // Captivity // Story: MLPU: The Invincible Iron Mare // by TheInvincibleIronBrony //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash’s eyes opened slowly. The world around her seemed to be spinning wildly, as if she were trapped inside a clothes dryer. Her vision was fuzzy and she felt confused and frightened. The last thing she remembered was an explosion of sound and a sharp pain in her chest. Her vision steadily cleared she looked at her surroundings. The room she was in appeared to be a part of a cave system, the dusty brown walls surrounding her. She tried to sit up properly on the cot she had been laid down on. The pain in her chest was still there, but had subsided somewhat. Now it was more like someone had punched her in the chest with all their might. To her left was a small table which caught her attention, more specifically the cup of water on it. It was then she realized that her mouth was parched. She reached for the cup and lifted to her face, hesitating when she caught sight of the islands of dirt drifting in the water. Gross… she thought as she slowly lifted the cup to her lips and took a sip. The water tasted foul, like someone had poured liquid iron in it, but her growing thirst forced her to down the rest. She grimaced as she set the cup back on the table. As she set the cup down, her hand brushed against a large object on the table. She looked at what appeared to be a car battery. Attached to the battery was a thick black cord. Rainbow followed the length of the cord with her eyes until it disappeared out of her field of vision. She searched the room for a mirror, spotting one on the wall behind her above a broken, rusty sink. Grunting in exertion, she picked up the battery by a strap attached to it, and she walked over to the sink, stumbling most of the way. Her legs felt as if they were made out of jell-o. She set the battery in the basin of the sink as best she could and propped her arms on the edge, leaning on it for balance. Her eyes widened when she saw her reflection. Her chest was wrapped heavily in bandages, beneath a dirty brown shirt. The cord attached to the battery disappearing beneath the wrappings. Rainbow started to undo the bandages, her heart beating faster with every layer removed. After about a minute she had removed just enough of the bandages to reveal a circular device implanted in the center of her chest. It was about the size of her fist and looked like it had been welded together in a hurry. Rainbow began to hyperventilate as she tried to figure out what the object could be. Had they implanted a bomb in her? And what kind of bomb? Was it on a timer? Would it explode if she moved again? Before her thoughts could wander any farther, a door she had failed to notice in her dazed state opened on the far side of the room and in marched a pair of heavily armed Diamond Dogs, escorting her father between them, his business attire in tatters and covered in dirt. “Dad!” she shouted, as she began to stumble in his direction. His guards raised their weapons before she could take a second step. Rainbow halted; fearful they’d shoot her if she moved closer. Comet looked at their captors with disgust. “Oh, what is she going to do in her state? She can’t even go anywhere without lugging that battery around with her,” he said, sounding vaguely disappointed. The Diamond Dogs seemed to agree with him as they relaxed and lowered their weapons. “You will start work in the morning. We will have everything you need by then,” one of the guards said as they exited the room, closing and locking the door behind them. Once they were gone Rainbow looked at her father in confusion. “Dad, what’s going on? What do they want from us?” she asked nervously. Comet held up a hoof and sat down. “They want me to build weapons for them,” he stated bluntly. Rainbow was shocked. “That’s crazy. Why would you make anything for them? You said no right?” she asked. Her father didn’t respond. “Right?” she repeated. “They have us at gun point. I don’t exactly have an advantage here,” he said, looking somewhat tired. Rainbow gave him an angry look, but didn’t respond. Instead she turned her attention back to the battery in the sink. “What is this?” she asked, catching the stallion off guard. Her father glanced towards the battery. “Oh that? Well, when we were attacked, you took a large amount of shrapnel in the chest from the first explosion,” he began. “It was deep and most of the shards were making their way to your heart. The doctors, and I use that term very loosely, implanted an electromagnet and it’s being powered by that battery,” he informed her. Rainbow looked at the battery and glanced at the reflection of the device in her chest. “How long is it going to last?” she asked quickly figuring out that a motor battery isn’t a sufficient power source for an electromagnet. “I’m not sure. Maybe a week, maybe less,” Comet answered vaguely, looking down at the ground. “They’ll be bringing in my equipment tomorrow. I could really use your help,” he said, almost looking desperate. Rainbow glared at him. “You want me to help you build weapons. Weapons that’ll most likely be used against Equestria,” she said, her voice beginning to rise in volume. She stared at her father for a few minutes before answering. “No.” With that Rainbow grabbed her battery and walked over to the cot she had woken up on. She lay down and turned so that her back was to Comet. ///////////////////////////////// Rainbow Dash was jolted awake the next morning by the sound of the doors bursting open with a loud clang. She propped herself upright as Diamond Dogs started carrying in equipment and supplies that she assumed were for her father. She scanned the room for him, spotting him sitting at a table near the center of the room, a thin trail of smoke rising from his work place. Rainbow got up from her cot, grabbed her battery from the table and started to approach the table. Before she’d made it halfway another pony stepped in her way. He wore a white full body suit with a matching cloak. Rainbow couldn’t see his eyes, but she knew he was glaring at her. “Is there something about this situation that makes you think you get to make decisions?” he asked, calmly. Rainbow looked at him unsure of what he was getting at. “I don’t understand,” she said, the pony’s presence making her nervous. “Apparently. You see we captured you. We have guns and explosives,” he spoke calmly as he began circling her slowly. “Now we want you to make more, because we are in charge. You do as you are told. You don’t get to say no,” he said, stopping in front of her. Rainbow was about to speak but was interrupted. “You don’t need her to do anything, I can handle this by myself,” Comet Dash said, without looking up from his task. “I don’t care,” the white clad stallion said. “She works or she dies. That’s the deal.” “From what I hear, I’m already dying,” Rainbow said reaching back to hold up the battery to the mystery pony’s face. “So make all the threats you want, you’ve got nothing on me,” she pointed out, smirking at her victory. The mystery pony walked across the room to Comet Dash, pulling a long sword out from under his cloak as he walked. “What are you doing?” Rainbow asked concerned. The tone in her voice caught Comet Dash’s attention. He turned around to find the strange pony approaching him. “You say we have nothing to persuade you with,” he said raising his sword, high as he came to stop in front of Comet. “You know I wonder how exaggerated your hate for each other is,” he said as he brought the sword down. “STOP!” Rainbow shouted. The white clad pony stopped the sword an inch from Comet’s face. The older stallion’s eyes were wide with fear. The tormentor turned to face Rainbow again. “I’ll help make the weapons, on one condition,” Rainbow spoke, her confidence shaken but slowly coming back to her. The masked pony nodded, seemingly agreeing to whatever the condition was. “You let my dad go when the power runs out,” she said indicating the battery. The white clad pony stared at her for a minute. “Agreed,” he finally said, sheathing his sword and making his way to the exit. “Now get to work,” he said coldly as he left. Comet looked at his daughter, staring at the ground in her defeat. “You know they won’t let me go right?” he asked, as the Diamond Dogs finished bringing in the supplies. Rainbow waited for the last one to leave before she answered. “Yeah…I know. That’s why we’re going to make a way out,” she added, walking over to the table. She picked up a pen and some paper that Comet had been using for designs, making a few quick sketches. After nearly an hour of sketching Rainbow slid a small stack of papers to her father for him to inspect. He looked through the sketches, raising an eyebrow at them. “None of these are whole,” he said, sounding disappointed. “Did you want me to complete them?” “No. It’s a complete design, just drawn in pieces,” Rainbow said, a smirk appearing on her face. Comet looked back at the sketches. Once he realized what he was looking at he glared at his daughter. “Are you serious? This is insane!” he told her incredulously. “Well we don’t really have a lot of options. Plus this is like walking out in tank armor. We just follow my specs and we’ll be fine,” she said, very sure of herself. “That’s not the problem. We don’t have a sufficient energy source,” he reasoned. “We can’t power it.” Rainbow lowered her gaze defeated. “We can figure something out. Maybe if we got more car batteries or something,” she suggested. “Oh please, your magnet is simple compared to this,” he said pointing at the device in her chest. “Twelve batteries like that one couldn’t run this contraption for more than a few minutes,” he scoffed. “Fine then you come up with something,” Rainbow challenged, turning away in frustration. Comet sat back at the desk staring at his daughter’s sketch in thought and then glanced at the device in her chest. “I have an idea, but I’ll need your help,” he said. Rainbow perked up. “Seriously? You need my help?” Comet nodded. “Yes, I do.” “Alrighty than, what do you need?” Rainbow asked, secretly eager to get started. “I need you to go through the materials in those boxes,” he said pointing to a few crates, “and start making a power transfer conduit for an energy storage crystal. Make it so that it can fit into your magnet,” he instructed, as he started digging through some pre-made designs. “Here are the blueprints you’ll need,” he said handing her the paper. Rainbow looked at the designs in confusion. “Wait, back up. Are you building a replacement battery?” she asked, pointing to the one she already had. “Something like that,” Comet commented. “Now get to work. We need to get this finished before you die,” he said as he started digging through a box of artificial crystals. “But it doesn’t matter if you store a bunch of energy in the crystal, it’ll run out eventually,” Rainbow pointed out. “Let me handle that part, you just work on the conduit,” Comet instructed tersely as he pulled out a roughly circular crystal. “Fine,” Rainbow said, irritated at her father’s dismissive response. She started digging through the boxes pulling out the tools and materials she’d need. She started connecting a few wires the way they were in the designs she was working off of. She and her dad worked in silence, the buzz of power tools and the hiss of the soldering iron was all that could be heard. Rainbow looked up from the conduit, gazing at the finished product. She could have done better at home, but this would do for now. She looked up to see her father working on the other side of the table. He’d been cutting the crystal into the right shape and looked like a jeweler, occasionally stopping to sharpen his tool. “I finished the conduit. How much longer is that going to take?” she asked pointing at the crystal. “I’m almost done. I just need to install the vibranium,” he said as he pulled out a ring of some dark metal. It was just large enough to fit around the top of the crystal. He laid the ring in place and then picked up a clamp and a set of small steel staples. “Vibranium?” Rainbow asked. “What’s that for?” “It’s a natural shock absorber. Any energy that touches it gets thrown back out with more force. With this crystal,” he said picking up his creation, “the energy output will be stored and then absorbed back into the vibranium and then the process repeats over and over again endlessly,” he explained as he finished bolting the ring onto the crystal. He grabbed the conduit Rainbow had made and placed the crystal into the contraption. “Now we just need to give it life,” he said as his horn began to glow, a silvery light enveloping it. The light extended to the glorified battery. The vibranium ring absorbed the magic and pushed it into the crystal, creating a bright white glow from the object. “Whoa,” Rainbow said impressed. “So what is that?” she asked pointing at the replacement for her car battery. “I call it an Artificially Refined Crystal Reactor. It’s an idea I had after the Minotaur war,” he explained, a touch of pride in his voice. Rainbow cringed at the name. “That’s a little long. Why not just call it an ARC Reactor?” she asked. Comet’s blinked in surprise. “That’s… actually not bad,” he said smiling at the idea. Rainbow smiled at the compliment. As far as she remembered it was the only one he’d ever given her. “Now,” Comet said, grabbing her attention, “let’s put it in shall we,” he said a little too cheerfully, “just lie down on the cot and we’ll get started.” “Umm… is this going to hurt? Should I be knocked out for this?” Rainbow asked nervously, eyeing the reactor. “Yes it’s going to hurt and, yes, you probably should be on some kind of anesthetic, but we don’t have anything to put you under so you’re just going to have to deal with it,” he said bluntly as he pushed her towards the cot. Rainbow lay down hesitantly. “Ya know I’m suddenly not so sure this is a good idea. I mean if that’s powering my magnet than what are we going to use to power the suit?” she asked, quickly growing nervous at the idea of her father playing surgeon on her. Rainbow pulled the neckline of her shirt down to expose the adapter in her chest. “That’s why we’re going to need to leave it uncovered. So we can hook a power cable to it,” he said as he started inspecting the device that was already in Rainbow. “My Celestia, this thing is going to be difficult,” he muttered. He grabbed the clamp he’d used earlier and latched it onto the device and started trying to twist it. “GAHH! Careful, that’s delicate!” his daughter shouted at him as a spider-web of pain shot through her chest as the device twisted around. Comet rolled his eyes as he unscrewed the battery adapter the rest of the way, Rainbow letting out a gasp of pain. Without the magnet being powered she could feel the bits of shrapnel as they carved a path slowly towards her heart. They felt as if volcanoes were exploding inside her chest and spilling lava all over her body. “Hurry, put it in, put it in!” she yelled urgently, teeth gritted in pain. Comet quickly connected the wires to the magnet at the bottom and inserted the reactor. Rainbow gasped, her whole body twisting and contorting as her father twisted it into place. She started breathing heavily as the pain in her chest subsided; telling her the shrapnel had stopped traveling through her body. “How do you feel?” Comet asked, nervously as his daughter sat up in the cot. “Like I just got electrocuted,” she said, beginning to calm down. “Next time we stick the experimental tech in your chest and see how it feels.” Comet laughed. “That sounds like you’ve made a full recovery,” he said helping her up. They made their way to the mirror so Rainbow could see. She stared at the mirror. “I’m not gonna lie,” she said, tracing the edge of the Reactor with her hoof. “This is kinda cool,” she said with a smirk. All of a sudden Rainbow found the world around her spinning as she slipped to the ground. She all of a sudden felt as if something had sucked the air right out of her lungs. “Ooph,” she grunted as she hit the cold stone of the floor. Comet dashed to her side, helping her up. “Come on you’ve had a long day. Let’s get you to bed,” he said as he guided her to her cot and laid her down to rest. As sleep began to claim her Rainbow looked at the blurry sight of her father. “Thank you…” she said sleepily as she drifted off. Comet’s eyes widened. That was the first time he’d heard her thank him. In fact if he recalled this was the first time they had worked together to create something and he had to admit it wasn’t a bad feeling. He smiled softly as he watched the cyan mare sleep. Then she started snoring like a buzz saw. Comet let out a sigh as he lay on the ground. “Another restful night for me,” he said wryly as he closed his eyes.