Act 0: Avengers Initiative
Chapter 1: The Invincible Armored Iron Mare
It was a relatively sunny day in the city of Manehattan. The city was still in constant motion with the hustle and bustle the big city was well known for; Ponies making their way to work on the street; Street performers making spare change in the park and lines for taxies around virtually every corner; Today seemed like a very typical day in the loud metropolis. However, unbeknownst to the city ponies something was stirring down by the boardwalk at the Manehattan bay.
Two earth pony stallions were strolling along the pier melding into the other civilians around them. One had a dark brown coat with dark brown hair with a Video camera for a cutie mark holding a Video camera in his right hoof, while his companion had a light caramel coat and a light blue mane with a scene marker cutie mark who wore a directors hat and sun glasses. “Okay, Snap Shot, we need a really good movie idea this time, our last film barely broke even in the box office.” The Caramel stallion proclaimed, stomping his hoof angrily against the wooden boards.
“I know, Picture Perfect, but I got nothing,” Snap Shot said as he continued playing with his Video Camera, looking around at all the passer byers, catching them all on film. “I’m open to suggestions.”
“Well, whatever it is has to be BIG! FLASHY!!! It has to make the crowd go-”
“AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!”
“Yeah, like that, but little less horror movie-ish.” Picture Perfect
“No, that was somepony scre-” Snap Shot was cut off as some sort of energy beam came from out of nowhere, blasting the street behind the boardwalk.
Ponies began screaming and scrambling as another beam came and shot a hole in the pier; all the while, Snap Shot continued to film the devastation erupting around him. “Snap, are you getting this!!!” Picture asked frantically, getting into the line of Snap Shot’s view.
“Yeah, I’m getting the Tartarus out of here!!!” Snap Shot said as he tried to make a run for it, but found himself running in place.
“No, this is what we’ve been looking for,” Picture Perfect said, through a mouthful of Snap Shot’s tail. “We gotta get this on film!”
“Are you crazy? We gotta-” Snap Shot was cut off when an explosion went off in the water next to them, “Maybe a quick look, then we’re gone.” He groaned.
Picture Perfect let go of his friends tail and the two ran toward the end of the pier and out toward the open ocean where they found a few more curious ponies looking out toward the sea at something. “Whoa, what is that,” Said a fellow onlooker.
Snap Shot turned the lenses on his camera to get a better look at what he was seeing. A little far out at sea stood a massive figure thrashing around in the sea. It looked like a pony, but it was certainly too big to be one. Snap Shot focused his lenses a little more and saw the figure to be some sort of giant golden robot pony. Suddenly an explosion erupted from the back of the robot’s neck as something went flying around to the front of the Robot pony as it flailed its neck around. The Robot pony made a swing at something that was too small for Snap Shot to make out from the distance, but whatever it was dodged under the attack and blasted the Robot pony in its face.
The Robot pony brushed off the shot with a shake of its head as its eyes began to glow and it released an energy beam, obviously trying to hit its assailant, but failed to do so, shooting it off into the ocean. The beam came up to the bottom of the pier before stopping, causing a geyser of water to shoot up, drenching Snap Shot and the other civilians. Whatever was attacking the Robot Pony flew up into the air just above it and released a massive lavender energy beam, far bigger and stronger than the Robot Pony’s, hitting its target dead on, causing it’s to explode into pieces.
The explosion caused a strong shockwave to reverberate through the air to toward to pier, causing everypony to brace themselves and shield their eyes. “Everypony run!!!” Somepony shouted.
Everypony looked up to see the Robot Pony’s giant flaming head soaring right toward them. Snap Shot, Picture Perfect and the other onlookers screamed and scampered away for dear life. Snap Shot knew he should keep running, but the urge to catch the display on camera was too great. He turned to catch the debris fall, but as he did, he saw the Robot Pony’s head coming straight for him. Not paying attention to where he was going, Snap Shot tripped back on his right foreleg and landed on his back, his eyes widened in shock as he continued to film the instrument of his death hurtling straight for him.
At the very last second, something flew in between Snap Shot and the Robot head stopping it in its tracks, causing his eyes to widen so much, they might have poked cleared through his Video Camera. Holding up the Robot head in her front hooves was another robot. The other Robot was actual pony sized with its entire torso and hooves were lavender purple and its upper thigh and legs were a light hot pink. Its three distinguishing features were the unicorn horn atop its head, the bright pink star cutie mark on her flanks and the lavender glowing sphere in the chest plate.
Snap Shot knew better that this wasn’t a robot, but his muzzle couldn’t form the words to address his savior. The Lavender robot was staying in midair on her rear hooves pushed off the ground with the same lavender energy as the energy from before. The Robot forced more energy into its rear hooves, pushing the debris further away from Snap Shot as he began to stammer, “You’re I-I-I-,”
“Oh, yes, I’m Iron Mare, sorry about this,” Said Snap Shot’s savior in a female tone.
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Four Hours Later
Out on the freeway, among the array of magically powered chariots, a pair of mares sat in a luxury sports chariot flying down the road. The passenger Pegasus mare had a light brilliant gold coat, while her mane and tail was a mixture of light orange and amber, giving it the appearance of flames. She wore a blue suit littered with medals and badges of all sorts with a white dress shirt and black tie underneath. The driver was a lavender unicorn, who had a mane that was a darker purple with a rose pink streak going through it. She wore a plan white dress shirt with a plain brown dress skirt and in the middle of her chest was a light glowing sphere underneath her shirt.
The two mares sat together watching a news report on their portable crystal ball projector. A gray newsmare on the crystal ball continued her report as the driver and passenger listened intently. “And that stunning footage came to us live from Manehattan bay this morning, what fellow witnesses are calling-”
“A giant robo-pony, really” The Pegasus passenger complained as she touched her hoof to the ball, causing it to turn the crystal ball off and retract into the dashboard of the vehicle as she glared at the mare driving. “You know, you could’ve called me Twi, I do have this contraption called a phone. It’s used to communicate with your friends so they can, oh, I don’t know . . . help you.”
“First off, I know what a cellphone is, Spitfire, I invented it, secondly, I did leave a message in your War Horse armor; you know, the armor I gave you. Honestly, if I didn’t know any better I’d say you keep it around just to attack dust bunnies in your office. That’s not what I built it for.” Twilight Sparkle replied in a somewhat hurt fashion. “Also, it wasn’t much of a problem. I handled it, even though I don’t think that video captured how big the thing was, but who cares.”
“That’s not the point, Twilight,” Spitfire practically snapped. “You and I shouldn’t even be fighting giant robots in the first place, that’s SHIELD’s job,”
“And here I thought the Captain of the Wonderbolts Ariel Forces didn’t like SHIELD?” Twilight said with a smirk as she looked at her friend.
“Not much more than you do, mainly because of the secret opts stuff they work in, but this is what they do; they’re not the bad guys, Twi, let them do the dangerous stuff and you just help them.” Spitfire told her as she crossed her arms.
“You know I can’t do that; I’m out of the weapons business and I can’t . . . no, I won’t give him anymore of my tech.” Twilight said in a sterner tone. “You’re looking at a kinder . . . gentler Twilight Sparkle.” She said in a more chipper tone.
“That fights super villains.” Spitfire finished for her in an irritated tone.
The lavender unicorn ignored her compatriot for a second as she focused her magic. Her horn began to glow and the chariot made a sharp right turn into the next lane and sped up to pass the chariot in front of her by and from there, she saw it . . . Sparkle Industries Tower; Her company builder standing as the tallest skyscraper in all of Manehattan with her last name running down the builder side in build bold letters and her trademark cutie mark at the very top of the building.
Her home away from home; at the top was her office/mini lab where she tinkered with her Magical tech inventions or held her board meetings, as well as kept a few of her Iron Mare armors stashed. Being a business mare wasn’t easy, but Twilight Sparkle was known for making it seem that way. Even between her little vigilante escapades, she was never late for her meetings or appointments and she took great pride in that. “. . . ight . . . .Twilight!” Spitfire’s voice came roaring through her mind, pulling her back to reality.
“Spitfire, you know I love you, but we’ve had this discussion before. I’m not helping SHIELD” Twilight told her.
“Fine, but what about the Spike Buster Unit? Even if you won’t-”
“I’m not going to help them either,” Twilight snapped, anger clear in her eyes, causing Spitfire to flinch a little, but quickly composed herself.
“Twilight, I know you feel guilty about him more than anything, but you can’t just ignore what he’s done.” Spitfire told her.
“No, I can’t, but I can’t help General Belle in his Dragon hunt either. He should just be left alone.” Twilight said as her anger subsided and was quickly replaced by its sister emotion, sorrow.
Twilight felt her mind returning to fond memories of a time long ago when she had two brothers. Her older brother, Shining Armor and her younger brother, Spike the Dragon. She quickly shook her head, trying to keep back the pain and tears. “I can’t help them, Spitfire, I just can’t.” Twilight told her as she stared ahead at her tower.
Spitfire sighed heavily and dropped the subject altogether as Twilight picked up speed, wanting nothing more than to be in the safe haven of her sanctuary.
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Elsewhere, beneath Sparkle Tower stood a mare with a tan coat and bright orange mane; she wore a slightly darker suit with a white dress shirt underneath and a long black dress skirt as she held a clipboard in hoof tapping her free hoof on the ground impatiently. She stood in a well-lit, wide garage surrounded by a menagerie of different chariots owned by Twilight Sparkle; that mainly sat around collecting dust if it weren’t for the valets that kept them clean for her.
The mare’s ears perked up as she heard the sounds of tires coming from the entryway before her. Right on cue, a luxury lavender sports chariot rode in and stopped a few feet away from her. “Note Pad,” Twilight exclaimed happily as she exited the vehicle with Spitfire in tow. “You didn’t have to come and greet us.”
“I didn’t, Ma’am, I came because you weren’t answering your phone,” Note Pad responded in an irritated tone.
“Oh, she doesn’t use one of those; did you leave it in one of her armors?” Spitfire said sarcastically as she draped her arm around Twilight shoulder.
Twilight ignored her friend and brushed her away as she asked, “Sorry, Spitfire and I were having a redundant conversation. Why, what’s the problem? I made all of my appointments for the day, right? I didn’t miss or overlook something, did I!?” Twilight said as she began to freak out.
“No, you made all of your appointments, that’s not the problem. HYDRA just attacked the United Nations!” Note Pad told her.
Twilight and Spitfire shot each other a shared horrified expression as Twilight turned back to her assistant and asked, “What’s happening?”
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In a quick flash of her magic, the three mares were teleported to Twilight’s top office. The room was vast and wide; the floor made of polished marble and the walls made of a special proof and durable material for some of her tech experiments. Her desk stood in the center, in front of a giant window where she had a perfect view of the city; but that wasn’t where her gaze was now. Twilight lit her horn in magic once more and levitated a remote control into her hoof.
She pressed one of the buttons as she and the other mares turned to the right wall of a room that held a large oil panting that covered up most of the wall, causing a crystal ball projector to rise up, just under the painting. With another push of the button the projector quickly activated and projected its image on to the painting like a screen. Twilight eyes widened in horror as she watched the video feed show the United Nations building near the eastern bay of the city.
From the angle, the ocean could be seen and from there a large shadow was moving under the water, towards the shore. After a few minutes, the figure breached the surface of the water, revealing what seemed to be a large mechanical Hydra head with a large menacing energy cannon mounted atop of it and two pairs of missile launchers mounted on either side of its maw. As the head rose up higher, its mechanical tentacles reached up from the waves and touched down on the shore, pulling itself from the water.
As the machine cleared the water and was over solid ground it stop; opening a hatch underneath, causing ponies clad in camouflage suits and helmets, wearing yellow combat boots, wielding dangerous heavy weaponry. Twilight’s brow furrowed in anger at the scene. “And this is happening right now,” Twilight asked, without taking her eyes from the screen. “Where’s SHIELD?”
“Forty minutes out, I’m afraid,” Note Pad answered. “There’s a military detail at the U.N., but they can’t hold out for long. Ma’am, that’s a full assembly, every world leader in Equestria is attending, including the President.”
That’s all Twilight needed to hear. She turned and started walking toward the other end of her office, which seemed to lead to another hallway. “Twilight, where are you going?” Spitfire asked.
“Note Pad, when’s my next meeting?” Twilight asked, ignoring her friend.
“At five thirty, you’re meeting the Flim Flam Brothers for dinner at the Rising Dragon restaurant for a business proposal.” Note Pad answered, looking at the clip board she held.
“Five thirty? I should be back in plenty of time.” Twilight said in a satisfactory tone.
Twilight levitated the remote back onto her desk as she passed it, leaving her friends behind. Spitfire tried to follow, but was stopped by a hoof in her path by Note Pad. “She shouldn’t be doing this?” Spitfire said as she looked at Twilight’s assistant.
“You know as well as I do that nopony can stop her when it comes to things like this. This is something she feels she has to do to fix her mistakes.” Note Pad told her.
“But she can’t do it all alone, she’s just one pony.”
“Then why won’t you join her?” Note Pad asked.
“I’m her friend, I try to help her as best I can, but I can’t do that out there with her, it’s just encouraging her.” Spitfire sighed stressfully.
“Then don’t encourage her, just support her, like I do.” Note Pad said, placing a hoof on the Pegasus’ shoulder.
Spitfire took a deep breath and sighed as she turned from where Twilight had now disappeared back toward the projector as they watched the HYDRA soldiers continue their assault.
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Twilight stood before a large door, the size of a safe vault. She had her mane tied back and up out of her face with her casual attire discarded. She now wore a skin tight black suit that had lavender strips going along the outlines of her shoulders, flanks, neck, sides and from the Arch Mage reactor in her in chest. This was her Mana conduit suit; a special suit she had designed to help her control the mechanics of her armor to properly and effectively channel the magic from the Arch mage reactor in her chest to not only amplify her own magic, but distribute the magic throughout her armor.
As she walked into the heart of the dim room, she stopped before a large metal cube container that housed the tools of her trade. “BARB, are we ready?”
“Of course, Ma’am,” Said a young female teenage voice with a slight digital tone to it filled the room. “The flight plan has been completed, systems are fully operational and the suit is fully charged.”
Twilight smiled at her Best Assistant Replacement Besty (BARB). When Twilight couldn’t count on Note Pad for things that involved her projects and experiments, BARB was always the A.I. she could rely on, her true partner out in the battlefield. “Good, fire it up.” Twilight said happily.
“Initiating the Mark VI,” BARB announced as the container opened.
The container opened up, revealing the main segments of her armor. Twilight stepped into the base of the container where the boots of the armor lay. She placed each hoof in each boot, allowing BARB to begin assembling the armor. The plating of the boots rose up and stopped at her knees, placing the shock absorption plating beside her knees. The shoulder and back plates came down and were quickly fastened in place. As she listened to the repulsors in her hooves hum to life, the chest plate came down, fastening to the back plate, causing the Arch Mage reactor to brighten as it let the magic flowing within release and began to bring her suit to life. And at last, Twilight’s favorite part, the helmet came from the sides, fastening along her jaw and finally the face plate came down.
With her armor now complete the holographic interface activated, displaying everything from energy levels to weapons systems. With everything set, hatch doors opened up directly above her, allowing the sun to shine down on her. Iron Mare looked up and without another word, her repulsors roared to life under her forelegs, allowing her to fly up and out of the Sparkle Tower.
Iron Mare soared through the air with a trail of lavender energy at her hooves at speeds she knew full well beat any jet plane she built for Spitfire’s Wonderbolts. The unicorn did her final systems check when a picture of Spitfire appeared in the lower right corner of her screen, telling her her Pegasus friend was calling her. “Hey, be careful out there, Twi,” Spitfire told her.
“You make it sound like I never am,” Iron Mare stated.
“If you were, you probably wouldn’t be flying into danger right now, Ma’am,” BARB chimed in.
“Nopony asked you, BARB,” The unicorn retorted. “At max speed we should be ten minutes out, fifteen at the most.”
Iron Mare focused her magic into her back plating, activating the extra set of repulsors. Two flaps opened up and spread out revealing two pairs of repulsors under each, making it appear as if she had just grown wings. The repulsors activated and Iron Mare shot the sky, toward the battlefield.
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Elsewhere, at the U.N., the small military unit was vigorously fighting, trying to fend off HYDRA. Unicorns were laying down suppression fire and protection, while Pegasus and Earth ponies were moving the wounded and securing the building. As the Unicorns continued their efforts of defense, the Hydra headed robot loomed over them. It aimed the Cannon on its head at the barrier some of the unicorns had put it and began to charge to fire.
The unicorn’s eyes widened in shock and terror, knowing full well that their barrier wouldn’t possibly survive and attack from such a weapon. Just as the cannon was about to fire, another lavender energy blast appeared, hitting the Hydra head right between the eyes, causing an explosion to erupt from the back of the machine.
The lavender beam continued to fire, causing another explosion to ensue behind it, destroying another portion of the Hydra’s head, until another explosion erupted, destroying the rest of the mechanical menace, leaving a giant hole right through its face. The destroyed machine collapsed with the sound of metal bending and falling until it finally dropped back into the ocean and sank underneath the waves. The military and Hydra soldiers stopped as they followed the dying attack back to its source and found the armored clad mare hovering upright over them. “Timber,” She said in a happy tone. “Talk to me, BARB”
“Well, the armor is down to forty percent after using the Uni-beam, which I highly recommended against,” Answered in a somewhat sarcastic tone.
“Sarcasm aside, I meant on the ground.” Iron Mare clarified.
“Oh, yes, we have fourteen HYDRA soldiers, all heavily armed, Ma’am.” The A.I. responded.
“Hm, maybe I should’ve had Spitfire tag along,” She muttered to herself as she scanned all surrounding targets. “BARB, activate external speakers at max.”
Without another word, the A.I. responded to her Mistress’ request. “Attention all HYDRA personnel, you’ve been trying to take over Equestria for the worst part of sixty years. Now in terms of statistics of your success rate over such a time, I believe it is safe to say it just isn’t going to happen.”
As the armored pony began to ramble on about redirecting their efforts to a more peaceful direction, a HYDRA pony soldier pulled out a massive Mana launcher and hauled it onto his shoulder, aiming for armored unicorn. Once Iron Mare was in the crosshairs, the Hydra solider pulled the trigger, firing a large blast of magical energy.
“WARNING: HIGH MAGICAL SURGE IMBOUND.” BARB warned her.
Twilight let out an audible yelp as she dodged the shot and watched it fly passed her and explode outward, creating a wide arch of raw magical energy. No way, that kind of tech is . . . no, it can’t be, it’s impossible, She thought to herself as she turned her attention back to her attackers who finally opened fire at her. “Fine, I was trying to be nice about this, but if you want a fight, I’ll give you a fight!”
Iron Mare reared back a little before diving down toward the enemy. As she weaved through enemy fire, she focused her magic into a compartment opened up on her right hoof, revealing a small rocket with even small bulbs around the barrel. The rocket fired, but after it made it a good ten feet from Twilight, the smaller bulbs fired from the barrel, causing the rocket to fall lifelessly to the ground.
The bulbs spun around in a small spiral as Iron Mare swooped down between the soldiers, before arching back up into the sky. As she did, the bulbs latched themselves onto the enemy’s weapons. All the soldiers stared at their weapons in confusion, while Twilight smirked deviously at them. “Now, Ma’am,” BARB asked.
“Yes, please.” Twilight answered.
With that said, small purple lights lit up atop the bulbs, causing the small contraptions to arm and seconds later, detonate, blowing up the soldiers weapons, knocking them all to the ground with appropriate concussive force, leaving them stunned and dazed as they dropped to the ground. Two remaining soldiers were hiding, kneeled behind a turned over armored chariot. Suddenly, the chariot rose up, levitating off the ground, revealing Iron Mare standing over them, when her horn aglow. The soldiers stared in fear.
“Hi,” Iron Mare said politely before she raised her left hoof and focusing her magic, causing her left repulsor to release a powerful concussive blast of magical energy, knocking the two remaining soldiers out cold.
Twilight looked around her, making sure no other enemies were hiding. “See, this is what I meant, track record: zero success rate. I guess they don’t make evil terrorist organizations like they used to.” Twilight said to nopony in particular as she lowered the chariot to the ground.
Suddenly, alarms began to sound off inside Twilight’s suit as BARB quickly sounded, “WARNING: INCOMING PROJECTILE!!!”
Twilight instantly erected a barrier around herself as something crashed into the ground making three strong impacts a good ten feet in front of her, causing dust to rise up and obscure her vision. Twilight groaned as she shook off her shock and looked into the dust to see three figures rising before her. “BARB,” Twilight quickly called the A.I. up wanting answers as her barrier dispelled.
“Ma’am, armor energy readings are down to thirty-two percent. Recommend recharging.” BARB responded in a worried tone as Twilight continued to eye the figures now bearing down on her.
The three figures seemed to by HYDRA robots, but their makes were something new to her entirely. They stood upright on their hind legs, their upper bodies wide and stocky, while their lower halves were cylindrical and thin, but still big enough to support their massive frames. Their right arms hand five elongated claws, while their left appendages were all two-foot long menacing drills. Their heads were that of Hydra’s with their maws hung open and eyes gleaming an eerie sick, yellow-green. “Target acquired. Designation Iron Mare,” They spoke unison as they raised their drills, activating them as the sound of their buzzing hummed through Twilight’s ears. “Destroy.”
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Elsewhere, just outside the shores of Manehattan, a large ship was moving inbound for the mainland. It was a massive Marine warship, but along the four corners sat wide wings, each with a powerful turbine engine keeping the ship afloat and steadily moving the ship forward. Atop the surface of the ship sat an aerial runway, fitted for fighter jets to take off at a moment’s notice and etched into runway was the symbol of a shield and a hoof print in the center; the symbol that stood for Equestria’s greatest military asset; its first and last line of defense; the Supreme Headquarters, International Espionage, Law-Enforcement Division (SHIELD).
Beneath the hull of this massive vessel, at the head of it all, among an assortment of ponies known and trained to be the best of the best stood a snow white Unicorn stallion. His body had lean, but firm build from his many missions and battles. His mane was a blend of sapphire, cerulean and dark blue. He wore a black turtleneck shirt, with matching black pants and combat boots topped with a black leather trench coat. His most notable feature was his right cerulean eye and the black eye patch that covered his missing one. “Agent Lulamoon, Update.” The Stallion ordered, not taking his visage from the wide open array of windows that gave him a view of the Metropolis before him.
The stallion’s right hoof was an azure coated Unicorn mare, manning a computer, with a communication headset in her right ear and clad in a black skintight leotard with the SHIELD insignia embroiled on her flank turned to respond, “The Helicarrier is maxed out at top speed, we should be five minutes out tops.”
“Were any other SHIELD units able to respond?” The Stallion asked, still refusing to take his gaze from the U.N. building.
“Negative, sir,” The mare answered as she quickly went back to the computer to give her boss a proper answer. “All other SHIELD units appear to be under attack and cannot respond. It doesn’t make sense, what the hay is going on?”
“Then that’s five minutes too long, Lulamoon,” His voice practically boomed, causing the mare to shudder as he half turned his head, focusing his gaze onto her. “Got any news that’s actually useful for me?”
“I-I-“ She stammered in fear for a moment, before static began to fill her headset, pulling her from her stupor as a pony began to inform her of something that would answer her boss’s question. “Sir, Iron Mare has arrived on the scene and has engaged the enemy threat.”
The stallion turned his gaze from the mare and back to his view, narrowing his eye and stealing himself for what he knew would be a powder keg scenario.
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Back at the U.N., Iron Mare was for lack of a better term, getting her flank kicked. The lavender Unicorn found herself being hit with blast upon blast of energy, each shot attempting to knock her back on her hooves. Twilight tried to weather the attack until one landed a solid hit in her chest, sending her flying a good ten feet in the air until she landed head first into the ground. She groaned as she forced herself up and eyed the enemy drones as they stopped their barrage and stalked forward, barring down on her.
“BARB, talk to me, I need some info,” Twilight told her partner as she managed to get her hooves under her again. “Divert all magical reserves to a barrier and analyze that blast of theirs, something isn’t right about it.”
“Impossible, barrier app is not responding.” The A.I. responded in an apologetic tone.
“That’s . . . not good.” She thought aloud. ‘Also not plausible, those shots just dispelled and disabled my barriers. Breaking a barrier is one thing, but disabling it is something else entirely so how are these things-‘
“Ma’am,” BARB called to her, pulling her from her inner thought and back to the Hydra drone now looming over her with its drill arm pulled back.
“Oh, right,” was all Twilight could say before activating her repulsors and taking flight as the drone brought it’s drill down and dug into the ground as it missed her.
The drone looked up at its fleeing target and cylinder hatches opened up on the drones back as it released a volley of rockets to attack. Twilight steeled herself as she aimed her forearms at the projectiles and firing consecutive shots, destroying some of the rockets. After the explosions ensued, the mare turned to see the ones she missed coming at her. Knowing her barrier wasn’t working, she leaned down and flew off as the rockets gave chase.
She headed for the multitude of flag poles that arched around the drive way, weaving between them as the rockets tried to follow. As she did, she looked back to see the rockets losing synch with her rhythm and not before long did the two hit a couple of flag poles and detonate, destroying said flag poles, causing them to topple over.
Just as Iron Mare swooped upward and righted herself in midair, her alarms quickly began to sound again as BARB announced, “Alert: New contact!”
As if on cue, Iron Mare cried out as something slammed into her, knocking her out of the air and smashing her into the building. The sound a shattering glass filled her ears, before whatever hit her released and fell to the ground with her following behind it as the two splashed down into the large ornate fountain. Iron Mare forced herself up to see her assailant was one of the drones that was already back to its feet looming over her with its drill humming and closing in on her head.
The unicorn acted as quickly as she could, pulling her fore hooves up grabbing the weapon and trying to stop it from piercing her faceplate. “Blast analysis complete, Ma’am.” BARB told her.
“Finally, this thing’s about to pierce my head and I could really use some good news.” Iron Mare stated as the drill was slowly closing the distance.
“The targets are HYDRA Dreadnaught class robots, but have been upgraded with repulsor tech weaponry.” BARB explained as the drill closed in another few inches; just a hair’s breathe from its target.
“That’s my tech. HYDRA’s using my tech, against me?” Twilight started as her eyes and horn began to glow a strong lavender hue just as the drill finally closed the distant and nicked the top of the faceplate.
With all her strength, she pushed the drill aside, pulled her hind legs under her and bucked forward, kicking the Dreadnought a good five feet from her. The Mare quickly got to her hooves as the drone started to stand as its other two companions came to join it. “BARB, give me an electromagnetic pulse; that should fry them.”
“Negative, not enough power,”
“Then divert all power to repulsors.” Iron Mare demanded as she felt her magic channeling into her fore hooves.
Iron Mare quickly stood on her hind hooves with her fore hooves and horn aimed at her enemies and began a barrage and concentrated magical blasts. Sadly as the blasts made contact, the Dreadnaughts erected a barrier, protecting them from the mare’s wrath, causing her to stop her assault and access the problem. ‘That’s my barrier! Of course, to break a barrier, you need more energy than the unicorn erecting it is putting off, even my shields aren’t invincible, but to disable them, you need to be able to match that unicorn’s mana frequency to cancel it out and cripple it which is something only highly skilled unicorns can do. My blasts aren’t getting them because they’ve changed their mana frequency, if I can match it, I can break it.’ Twilight thought to herself as an idea began to form.
All the while, as she thought the Dreadnaughts were closing in on her. Before she was surrounded, Iron Mare took to the skies and eyes her enemies, keeping them in view. “BARB, I need my barrier back up,” She told her partner.
“Repulsor barrier reboot system is already in progress.” BARB responded.
“How much longer until the Uni-beam is recharged?”
“Current power levels are at twenty-two percent, if you don’t sustain any more damage or waste too much more energy, five minutes max.”
“Good, in the meantime can you to scan their systems and find the mana frequency those barriers are using and when you do, match the frequency to the Uni-beam, I’d like to take them out in one shot.”
“As you wish, ma’am,” AI stated as it went to work.
With that decided, Iron Mare dove down toward the Dreadnaughts with her fore hooves aimed forward as she flew between them, keeping their attention on her. As she swooped up, she lit her horn in magic and wrapped one of the Dreadnaughts in her magical grip pulling it into the air along with her. As she righted herself, she twisted her legs and spun herself around, sending the Dreadnaught careening in a wide arch as she spun. “I don’t know which one of you slammed me into the building, but let’s see how you like it!” The Mare shouted as she spun completely around, bending her head horn down, causing the Dreadnaught to go flying toward one of its partners.
The flying Dreadnaught slammed head on into another, sending them crashing a good twenty feet from each other; the remaining watched as its cohorts slid to a stop atop each other, but as it’s turned its attention back to its target, it saw she was gone. “Hey, down here.” It heard.
The mechanical menace looked down to see the Iron Mare with her back turned to it. She then pulled her hind hooves up and just as she bucked, released a powerful burst of repulsor energy to its chest. Even though the barrier took most of the impact, it was still enough to send the brute flying through the air and crashing into the U.N. lobby.
Iron mare quickly flew up into the air and eyed the two drones she first put down and saw them already trying to stand. She quickly dove and crashed down atop of them, stunning them long enough to do a X-Ray scan until she found a component reading ‘Sparkle Industries’ in its back. She then raised her left fore hoof and jammed it through the Dreadnaught’s hull and pulled out the piece of tech that rightfully belonged to her. The Dreadnaught jerked and sparked as it slowly shut down; just as the unicorn quickly pulled it out of the way with her magic and was about to repeat the act with the Dreadnaught underneath, when she was interrupted with a blast to her back.
She groaned in pain as she turned to see the last Dreadnaught blasting her as it came walking out of the lobby. “You’re going to regret that mistake.” The Mare said as she charged the robot.
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Elsewhere, among the unconscious HYDRA soldiers, with the blasts and rumbling going on, one pony came to his senses. He groaned pain as he rubbed his head as he slowly began to remember what had happened as an explosion went off behind him. He looked to see Iron Mare battling against the HYDRA Dreadnaughts. Next to him sat the Mana launcher he fired earlier still in working condition. He picked it up, hauled it over his shoulder and aimed it at the oblivious Iron Mare. With the enemy in his crosshairs, he went to pull the trigger when a sharp searing pain hit him from behind, knocking him out again.
The culprit, another HYDRA soldier whom was lying beside him with pistol in hoof still smoking from the fire that was shot. “Not yet,” The pony said as he dropped the weapon and went back to feigning his unconsciousness.
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Back on the battlefield, Iron Mare continued to dodge the Dreadnaughts attacks when BARB responded, “Ma’am, I’ve isolated the HYDRA Dreaknaught’s mana frequency, however, the Uni-Beam will not be full charged for another two minutes.”
“That’s fine, with the mana frequency alone a highly concentrated repulsor blast should be enough.”
Iron Mare then flew a good distance above the Dreadnaught and charged the repulsor in her right fore hoof as she flew down and punched her hoof into the instantly erected barrier. The barrier held only for an instance before Iron Mare pushed off and it quickly dispersed. “Ha, no more barrier, how do you like that?” Twilight boasted, however was quickly answered by a punch to the face, knocking her to the ground ten feet away.
“Ma’am, I must advise that you not continue to ask questions like that, they appear to be getting departmental to your health.” BARB stated.
“Dually noted,” Twilight groaned. She quickly felt the thumping of the drone’s footsteps and when she looked up; she found it hovering over her with a strong flame erupting in its maw. “Oh great,” She sighed heavily in annoyance.
The Dreadnaught leaned down to eye level, but Iron Mare quickly brought her hind hooves up and placed them on its shoulders, trying to hold it back. The attempt seemed to no avail as the Dreadnaught released a torrent of flames right in her face. Iron Mare screamed as her armor sent off alarms of danger. “Let’s see how you like it.” She groaned as she pulled her hooves from its shoulders to its face and released a powerful repulsor blast, causing the flames to cease.
When she deactivated the repulsors, the Dreanaught’s face was melted down as well as a good portion of its hull, revealing wires and framework as it sparked; fell back and shut down. Iron Mare stood up and examined her work for a moment as she said, “Two down, one to-”
“WARNING: WEAPONS LOCK DETECTED!” BARB interrupted, but before she could respond, Iron Mare was bombarded by rockets to the back, knocking face first into to ground away from the Dreadnaught.
Iron Mare took a quick second to retrieve the wind that was knocked out of her as she slowly forced herself up. Just as she turned to see Dreadnaught closing in with it drill buzzing to life, it was halted by an array of energy blasts, knocking it away from the armored unicorn. The unicorn looked in surprise as the blasts continued to push the Dreadnaught back, but a few stray shots landing around her, forcing her to cover her head. The Dreadnaught was finally knocked off its feet and one final shot took it down. As the onslaught finally stopped, she then looked up to see the source of the barrage and saw the famous Helicarrier looming over her.
“Oh sure, now you finally get here.” Twilight said as she glared at the vessel, finally getting back to her hooves.
She looked on as she saw a hatch opening up beneath the ship and saw figures falling out of it. As the figures fell, she quickly saw flashes of light from their backs as their decent to the ground began to slow. Finally when they landed with a strong thud in front of where the Dreadnaught once stood, Iron Mare found herself faced with five slightly stockier looking versions of her suit. The only differences being that their armor was wider, bulkier, and thicker around the chest and hooves, probably to hold much heavier weaponry; the color scheme was dark and navy blue and the SHIELD insignia in the center. “Iron Mare, by the authority of the Supreme Headquarters, International Espionage, Law-Enforcement Division, you are here by ordered to stand down,” The Forefront armored soldier stated as he and the rest of his group activated a pair of wrist mounted blasters and took aim. “Iron Mare, I repeat stand down, by order of SHIELD.”
Iron Mare slightly crouched down, preparing for the attack as she thought, ‘Really, we haven’t seen each other in so long and this how you greet me after helping you. Some big brother you are, Shining.’
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Meanwhile, atop the bridge of the Helicarrier, Shining Armor, Director of SHIELD stood watch over the whole ordeal, monitoring everything from a set of monitors with Iron Mare in center focus. His computers registering and monitoring her armor and weapons for any and all information it could use. All the while, his gaze never furrowed as it seemed the armored mare on the screen was glaring right at him. “Sir, your orders,” Agent Lulamoon asked.