Trixie rubbed her temples and groaned, the lack of sleep finally getting to her as her eyelids were starting to droop, and she would doze off at random.
She turned to look out her office’s window, seeing several workers surrounding the giant, silver suit they had recovered, along with the arc reactor they had found with Whoo-.... Weapon Y’s... Help...
Trixie’s mind kept going back to thoughts of what exactly her boss had done to Whooves to warp him into this new thing. This... Shell of what he once was. She could remember sitting in the cave, looking for the arc with her team, and then seeing the brown stallion walk directly to her, his eyes searching the entire room, as if there was something he was specifically looking for.
She could see his eyes were blank, and his mind was clearly broken by whatever her boss had done to him. She couldn’t bring herself to think about what he had done. He had already showed how ruthless he was when he ordered Twilight’s horn and wings to be sawed off.
She stared intensely at the desk, remembering the day she and her boss first met. The promise of revenge on Twilight Sparkle was an enticing offer, and so she agreed. But she shouldn’t have... She should have listened to that tiny voice at the back of her head that was telling her to turn away and decline, but was now telling her, ‘I told you so’.
The next thing she knew she was being forced to run a group of terrorists, fillynapping scientists to create weapons, soldiers, anything that could be used to overthrow Equestria.
Trixie was just a normal mare, one who was working on getting past what had happened, but still felt the burning anger and the looks from ponies. The looks that would tell her they remembered, they remembered the day Twilight embarrassed her in front of the whole town.
She was just promised a little bit of harmless revenge, a little poke in Twilight’s back for what she did... But that wasn’t what he had planned at all.
She turned back to her desk and continued watching the footage her boss had sent to her, with the simple text next to it saying, "I'll call you when I'm free". The footage was just the same thing, a shaky camera from one of her Four Rings' henchmen as they ran through their compound, but it occasionally stopped and looked around, allowing Trixie to see a figure fly by quick, looking almost like a bullet flying by the screen through the sky. The footage then shows the figure land, a multi-colored pony made of metal standing on it's hind legs in front of the henchmen, then it raises it's arm and hits them with a beam that knocks them back
The camera can still see a minute more of footage, as it shows a tank drive over to the pony as it flies through the air, but then is knocked out of the sky and crashes hard against the ground. The pony quickly gets up and turns, lifting up and flying to the tank, landing on it and ripping the door open as it throws the door to, and past, the camera. The pony reaches in and somehow manages to grab the pony inside with it's hooves.
It flies off and lands in front of the camera, putting the pony down and then turning around, shooting something from it's shoulders that eventually causes the tank to explode after a few seconds. And then the footage cuts right there, only to repeat the footage again.
Trixie was about to stretch when she heard her desk begin to whirr softly, Trixie jumping up from the sudden noise. Her desk then showed a screen, showing the dark silhouette of her boss.
“B-Boss... I... I wasn’t expecting to hear from you for a couple days.” Trixie said, sitting straight up, “I-I would have-”
“What have you been doing??” The figure began shouting, making Trixie jump nearly a whole foot out of her chair, “I thought I told you I don’t tolerate failure!”
“I-I don’t-” Trixie began.
“You don’t what?? Clearly even you can’t be so unintelligent that you cannot even recognize several of your own headquarters are all disappearing!” The figure shouted to her again, a few of Trixie’s workers outside her office faintly hearing this shouting and turning to see where it was coming from, but eventually they just shrugged it off and continued their work.
“Oh... You mean that iron pony...” Trixie said, then she jumped as a newspaper dropped down on her desk, the scientist who dropped it quickly leaving the room as soon as Trixie looked up to him.
“This “Iron Mare”, as the newspapers have so lovingly decided to call her, has constantly been assaulting your bases, turning your soldiers into the authorities!” The figure said, their anger beginning to grow to the point where Trixie thought that she would start seeing steam emanating from their head at any moment, “what have you been doing???”
“W-Well we’ve been so busy with the suit and the arc... I-I’ve been sending more troops to each base, b-but they’re always stopped by this iron pony!”
“I don’t care about your excuses! I’ve had it with them!” The pony leaned back, taking in a deep breath, calming himself down, “Trixie... When you and I had our little agreement to work together, you promised me that you would work to the best of your abilities. Now, does THIS SEEM LIKE IT’S TO THE BEST OF YOUR ABILITIES?!”
Trixie sighed and remained silent, simply shaking her head as a reply. “But how do you know this pony is a mare?” She asked.
“Because Twilight Sparkle’s AI is the only AI in the world who could possibly hack into our computers that fast. But... It still isn’t fast enough before it activates our failsafe systems.” The figure explained.
“So... It’s... Twilight Sparkle? She’s this ‘Iron Mare’?” Trixie asked.
“Precisely.”
Trixie sat back, letting out a breath she wasn’t aware she held in, and turned from the screen, wiping her eyes of tears that were beginning to form, and then turned back to the figure.
“Now, I expect Twilight Sparkle to be dead by tomorrow! You’ll finally get your revenge I promised you. And... To make sure you won’t slack off, I’ve sent a little somepony there to greet you.” The caller ended the call before Trixie could even have the chance to think about what her reply would be.
“Who could they have sent to help me?” Trixie thought to herself. Just then, she heard a knock at the door. Deep and heavy, as if the pony on the other side was trying to hold back punching the door off the hinges.
The door opened and Trixie’s eyes grew, her pupils shrinking to the size of small dots as she saw Dr. Whooves, her boss’ latest slave walk through, a dead and evil expression as he walked in, looking around at the room, a large bag strapped to his back.
He walked to her desk, and grabbed the bag with his teeth, putting it down on her desk, then opening it, showing a large arsenal of guns, each of them made with designs similar to weapons Twilight’s created. Trixie looked up from the weapons to Whooves, who just sneered at her.
“The boss already sent a letter to the target, whoever it is, to meet for a party at the Council building. So get ready for tomorrow.” He said in a dead, monotone voice.
“T-Tomorrow,” Trixie said, “why didn’t he give me more time??”
“He expects you to always be prepared. So shut up, get there, and tell me who to shoot. And here,” he passed a note to her that was in his bag, “boss wanted you to read that over.”
Trixie took the note with her magic and opened it, Whooves grabbing his bag, closing it, and leaving.
”Trixie,” the note read, “I have sent Weapon W over to you to help you get rid of our problem. I expect you to keep Twilight Sparkle’s back turned to him so he can properly take the shot without the possibility of remembering her. He’s a tricky one to keep on our side, but since he’s the only available assassin we have, he’ll have to do. Now don’t fuck this up.”
Trixie gulped as she finished the last line, then placing the note down on her desk in its envelope. She turned to her workers and saw them continuing to work on the suit, seeing they were nearly complete. The whole suit was built, and now they were just ready to put the arc reactor on as well as the rest of the helmet and left arm.
She got up from her chair and walked to her closet, opening it and she began searching through her dresses to find a dress to set aside for the party, praying that time would slow so the party wouldn’t come as fast.
Much to her pleasure, the days seemed to come and go quick, and it wasn’t long before Twilight found herself putting on her old Gala dress, her and her friends each trying on their dresses for the party at Moondancer’s house, who was also trying on a dress Rarity had made for her.
“Oh, we all look simply divine darlings! Our dresses from the Gala never cease to amaze me!” Rarity said, her eyes sparkling as she continued to gaze at her friends in their Gala dresses.
“Yeah, the dresses are beautiful Rarity,” Moondancer said with a smile, “thank you for making this for me.”
“Oh, of course darling. Anything for a dear friend of Twilight.” Rarity replied with a point to Twilight, smiling softly as she saw Rarity pointing to her.
“Though I really wish you’d keep your work at home Twilight,” Rarity said, nodding to Spike, next to AIVHA’s holographic ball, both of which were next to a large curtain made into a cylinder shape that, little to their knowledge, held Twilight’s suit inside, “this is a party Twilight, a time for you to celebrate being back home in Equestria!”
“I know girls, but it’s almost done. I swear.” Twilight said, turning to AIVHA, “right computer?”
“Yes, Ms. Sparkle. Your prototype is nearly complete.” AIVHA responded.
“Alright, now let’s hurry and get to the party! It’s going to be so awesome!” Rainbow said, jumping up and down excitedly by the door.
Twilight and the rest trotted over to Rainbow, each checking their dresses to make sure they were on properly.
“Twilight,” Spike said from behind, running up to Twilight.
Twilight leaned down and Spike whispered in her ear, “what do you want us to do with the suit after AIVHA is done updating it and fixing it up?”
“Just keep it where it is, and don’t touch it.” Twilight whispered back into his ear.
“Uhhh.... What are you two whispering about?” Rainbow asked, each of Twilight’s friends looking at them.
“Ah, Spike was just asking about the new weapon that I’m making to show the Council tomorrow. Asking stuff about where to store it when the computer is done creating it.”
“Ah, well come on! The party’s going to start soon!” Applejack said, Rainbow opening the door as they all run off without Twilight to the carriage.
“Alright, don’t worry, I’ll be back.” Twilight said, turning and trotting to the carriage with her friends. The door closed as soon as she entered and sat down, and it begun on it’s way.
“Why did you not wish to go to the party, Spike?” AIVHA asked.
“Well there’s gotta be someone to open the door for Twilight next time.” Spike simply said, causing AIVHA to grow confused as to what exactly he meant as he walked away, whistling, “because she doesn’t do well under pressure sometimes.”