//------------------------------// // Investigations // Story: The Iron Mare // by FanofAwesomeness //------------------------------// Rainbow walked over to her desk and started looking over the files. There was somepony in her company that wanted her scared, somepony who was giving weapons to the enemy. There had to be an answer somewhere in these files. Rainbow groaned as she looked at all of them. "Twilight was always better at research than I was," she muttered to herself. "This is going to take days to figure out." "Figure out what?" came a voice from behind her, causing Rainbow to jump. She turned around and saw Shining Armor standing there. "You really shouldn't sneak up on ponies," she said. "It's a bad habit to get into." "Sorry," he muttered. "I do have to ask, though. What are you trying to figure out?" "It's nothing," Rainbow said. "Just one of those puzzles that takes a while. I'll be able to do it on my own. What did you come down here for?" "I was just wondering if you still had my designs for the reactor unit," he said. "I need to look over them again and see if I can figure out what you did to make it work." "I thought I gave those back to you," Rainbow said, moving the files to look. After a minute or so, she said, "Yeah. They're not here. I guess you need to check your inbox more often." "I guess so," Shining said as he walked away. "Sorry to bother you." Rainbow just watched as he walked off. There was something different about him lately. Maybe it was just the stress of being put under a new boss and having his sister taken to Canterlot in the same week. Maybe it was something else. Rainbow didn't have the time to ponder it right now, though. "So," she said as she turned back to the files. "Which one of you has what I need?" ******************************* It took hours, but Rainbow had finally gotten through most of the files. Only a select few were left sitting there. "That wasn't as long as I thought it would take," she mumbled. "But I'm still not any closer to finding out who you are." Rainbow closed her eyes and rubbed her temples for a minute. All of the reading was starting to hurt. Maybe just a little break and she could finish it later... Maybe a little time away would help, anyways. Having made up her mind before thinking about it anymore, Rainbow moved over to her closet, grabbed a coat and went outside for a walk around town. A little fresh air always helped. It was only a couple of minutes into the walk when she started to realize something. Maybe if there was someone sneaking around her company, they wouldn't be noticeable in any sense related to the business. Maybe she was looking in the wrong place this entire time. Which meant she had just spent hours wasting time. Rainbow picked up her pace some, trying to let her thoughts flow a little more. She couldn't get upset about this right now, especially not with herself. She paused in front of a TV set in the window in town. The news was on, showing the latest forecast and stories. There usually wasn't much to see, but sometimes there was something interesting. "Expect light showers in rural areas within the next few hours. In other news, reports have said that the town was raided by griffons only yesterday. The towns ponies have been forced into a walk across the landscape toward the shore, 150,000 miles away." Exactly like that. Rainbow stared at the screen, wondering where exactly this was happening. She didn't have to wait long, though, nor did she have to think about the landscape. It was a little too familiar. Rainbow spun around and sprinted back to her house where she started warming up the machines for her suit. She took off the coat and threw it into the corner of the room. She walked up and stood in place, feeling each piece of metal move into its spot. ******************************* It didn't take too long for Rainbow to reach the town. Even without the rockets, she would've been able to make it there fast enough. But fortunately, she got there while there were still some ponies being led through the town and divided up. The mares and foals were separated from the stallions, most of which were bound tightly in a truck. The buildings were almost all in ruin, with a few exceptions. The entire town was being ransacked and destroyed, its inhabitants being moved places they should never be, and there was nopony doing anything to stop them. Except for Rainbow Dash. Rainbow dropped out of the sky and landed on one of the griffons behind some of the stallions, and he was crushed underneath the weight of the suit before he could get a shot off. Quickly trying to use the few precious seconds she had, Rainbow spun around and let a blast of propulsion hit another one. Using that to move herself, Rainbow flipped in the air and used the side-mounted machine gun to take out the sniper on one of the few remaining roofs. Retracting that, she turned to the remaining visible griffons. All of them were crouched behind ponies with various weapons pointed at the living shields. Thinking back to the previous night, she carefully targeted the griffons and used the tranquilizer darts on them. Without waiting for anyone to say anything, Rainbow turned around and flew up a ways before pausing to look for any that she missed. After clearing it, she glanced around to find the right direction to go. Until she ran into a little trouble. "Unknown aircraft," said the voice of one of the flyers behind her. "You are in restricted airspace. Identify yourself, leave immediately or be fired upon." Rainbow glanced behind her and saw two of her own style of jets coming in from behind her. Both seemed to be closing fairly quickly, so she could do one of three things: leave like they said, which was never going to happen, take out the jets and let the pilots parachute safely down, until they're found by enemies, or try to outrun them. Already accelerating, she brought up her phonebook and started to call her old friend. "What?" came Spitfire's voice on the other end. "You guys just can't leave me alone, can you?" she asked. "What?!" Spitfire yelled. "What are you doing?!" "There were some griffons that needed taken care of, I took care of them, and now some of yours are chasing me!" She quickly turned around the corner, barely faster than the missile that had been launched at her. "And apparently now I'm being shot at!" "I'll call you back," Spitfire said, hanging up. A minute later, the jets veered off, only for the phone to ring again. "There." "I owe you one," Rainbow said. "Actually, you owe me two now," Spitfire responded. "Now get your flank back here before they start questioning things." "I have one more thing to do," Rainbow said. "Just keep the skies clear for me." Spitfire groaned and hung up. Rainbow reassessed her surroundings and made sure she was going in the right direction before flying in the same direction she had been walking away from not too long ago. ******************************* Saarken waited carefully on his phone for his associate to pick up. There was trouble coming his way, and he needed more time before he could do anything. "Hello?" Shining Armor asked when he picked up the phone. "Have the pieces arrived yet?" Saarken asked. "Yes," Shining replied. "But they're absolutely useless without a power source, and I don't have anything that powerful. I don't see what you want me to do with it." "You know exactly what I want you to do with it," Saarken said. "And the power source is easy enough to get, if you're willing to take it." ******************************* Rainbow saw the ruined remains of the camp ahead. The entire area had collapsed and nobody could have survived it, pony or griffon. But if that was the case, who else had access to that kind of weaponry, the knowledge on how to use it, and would pull something like this? She was snapped out of her thoughts when her helmet began to ring. "Hello," she answered. "Rainbow!" came Shining Armor's voice, panicked. "You have to get over here! Soarin's been hurt!"