Rainbow sat at her desk, looking at what she had. It was perfect, except the colors were off. She really didn't like how bland the silver gray looked. It wasn't really her style.
A knock at her door made her look up to see Twilight standing in the doorway.
"Hey, Twi," Rainbow said.
"You wanted to see me?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah," Rainbow said. "I wanted to thank you for convincing me to get that voice-notepad thing installed. It really helps."
"I told you it would," Twilight said. "Though, I was hoping I could talk to you about something else."
"Really?" Rainbow asked. "Shoot."
"I was just contacted by Princess Luna," Twilight explained. "She said there was something she wanted my help with. She didn't want to say anything over the phone, so I'm heading to Canterlot for a while. I don't know how long I'll be gone."
Rainbow thought for a moment. It would have to be a pretty big deal to call Twilight into a secret project. "Well, I guess I'll see you when you get back, then," she said. "Have a good trip. And try not to get into any trouble without me."
"That'll be easy," Twilight said jokingly as she left. Rainbow watched her leave and then returned to her screens.
What she saw was a surprise. The diagram had some new paint applications on it that actually looked good. The deep red looked perfect matched with the golden color from the new metal.
"When did I do that?" she wondered aloud. It was odd that it appeared while she was talking. "Maybe I did it without noticing I was doing it."
Rainbow pushed the execute button to start the building of the new suit. She looked around and decided the best way to kill a few hours was to watch some TV.
As usual, there wasn't much on. It was mostly that reality stuff and news, so she decided to watch the latter and at least get something out of it.
"I am standing outside the Mareiott in Las Pegasus as we all wait for the festivities to start," said the reporter. "If you're just tuning in, this is the outside of the party for our recent return from captivity, Rainbow Dash.
"From what I've been able to gather, there will be representatives from Sparkle Industries with a few exceptions. Rainbow Dash and Miss Sparkle will not be joining us tonight, much to the dismay of the crowd."
Rainbow looked at the screen for a few seconds before checking her computer for an invitation. Surprisingly, there wasn't one. "I wonder why I wasn't invited to my own party."
She glanced at the clock and at her cars. "I've got time," she said.
*******************************
Rainbow Dash pulled up to the building, barely stopping before passing it. Stepping out of the car, she tossed the keys to a pony in a red vest and walked up to the building. The crowd started to cheer as she purposefully moved forward, barely keeping her injured wing at her side.
Walking into the hotel lobby, she immediately wondered if she should have grabbed something a little nicer than her casual business suit.
She trotted to the bar and ordered a quick drink while she looked around. Most of the faces were from other meetings or something like that. That's when someone else came up behind her.
"I heard you weren't going to show," said the griffon from behind Rainbow, making her jump.
She turned to face the golden creature. "I saw something on the TV and thought, 'Maybe I should crash my own party.'"
"You're doing a great job of it," he said.
"What are you doing here?" she asked. "I thought Hammer industries was trashed, and there's no way you would get a job at my company, seeing as you seem to have something against us."
"Not against your company," Hammer said. "Just you. And maybe that unicorn friend of yours. How close are you two, anyways?"
Rainbow laughed. "Are you really buying into that? You of all creatures should knowhow I roll."
"As I recall, it was very quickly," Hammer replied. "If I remember your phrasing, it was exactly ten seconds."
"I was also drunk," Rainbow said, grabbing her drink from the bar with her uninjured wing. "I'm like that a lot. It takes the memorable ones to really get me to remember. Or a news crew right outside my door."
"Who told them about that, anyways?" Hammer asked. "Because I know I didn't. I wasn't expecting the resident genius to try anything."
"I am a genius now, aren't I," Rainbow said, thinking back to everything she had done.
However, her trip down memory lane was cut off by Shining Armor's appearance and approach. Rainbow downed her drink and tapped the bar for another one before he got there.
"I wasn't expecting you," Shining said. "I thought you were going to be busy all night."
"I finished for the night," she responded, watching her drink. "Then I found out about this party."
Shining shook his head. "You should have stayed home tonight, Dash."
"Why's that?" Rainbow asked as she picked up her second drink. "It is my party."
"You don't know how to handle yourself properly in such a vulnerable situation for the company," Shining explained. "I can handle it."
"I don't remember giving you second point," Rainbow said. "I guess I could have been drunk, but I don't do that too often anymore."
"Just let me take care of this," Shining said.
Rainbow looked around and grabbed her drink before heading toward the balcony. She wasn't going to tell Shining he could. He was smart enough to pick up on a simple tip.
She looked out across the landscape in front of her as the breeze cut through her suit and coat. Taking a deep breath, she walked to the edge of the balcony to get a better view.
She could see all the buildings from here to Canterlot. Everything was in twilight hues. The spaced out areas looked perfect for foals to play in.
And the glint of metal was she needed to see before heading back in.
Unfortunately, the sniper was faster than she thought, though not as good a shot. The bullet grazed her injured wing and buried into the ground in front of her. Rainbow jumped through the door to hopefully get out of the sights of the sniper, but was surprised to see no reaction to the shot. All the ponies were looking at her like she was crazy.
Rainbow looked around a bit, dusted herself off with her good wing and held up her drink. The others cracked small grins, some even chuckling, before looking away.
"I love being able to blame the alcohol sometimes," Rainbow said before making her way toward the door.
As she left, she turned around and said to the crowd, "You ponies don't know how to throw a real party anymore! Maybe you should go to Pinkie Pie and learn something!" Wherever she went, Rainbow added mentally.
She quickly got her car and left before anypony could stop long enough to ask her questions. She had an assassin to find.
*******************************
Shining Armor's phone went off in his pocket. He excused himself from the reporters and stepped off to the side. "Hello?" he said into it.
"I thought you said you had this under control," Came the gruff voice of Saarken.
"And I do," Shining replied coolly. "Rainbow will be distracted by whatever project she's working on long enough for us to finish our arrangement. Either that or her newest mystery."
"And what mystery would that be?" asked the griffon.
"You suggested precautions before this started, and I've taken some," Shining answered. "As long as we finish our agreement, I see no reason to fully disclose my methods."
"You know exactly how this will effect everything," Saarken said. "Just be careful in what you're doing. You've almost given us away once. We wouldn't want a repeat of that, would we?"
"It's taken care of," Shining said firmly, hanging up. He shut off his phone for good measure and walked back out to make a statement for the press about the possible future of the company.