The Iron Mare

by FanofAwesomeness

Defending Her Country

Rainbow Dash moved over to her console. "Start tracking that reactor."

Spitfire looked at her questioningly. "You built in a tracker?"

"Of course not," Rainbow responded. "But it has a very unique energy signature that I've been working on masking for a while. I can track it down that way since I know the type of signature to look for."

She had to move quickly. There had to be something bigger going on here. Spitfire had a point when she said Shining didn't have a reason for doing this. He had been captain of the royal guard! He was married to the Princess of Love and the two of them had banished Changelings! What was his motivation for all of this?!

The computer beeped, snapping Rainbow out of her thoughts. Then she saw where the signal was coming from and froze.

The source was in Canterlot, heading right for the castle.

"Get the suit ready," Rainbow said, watching as the machines started moving around to assemble it.

"What are you doing?" Spitfire asked.

"I'm stopping Shining Armor from doing something he's going to regret," Rainbow said as the suit was being put on.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Spitfire asked.

"Do exactly what you were doing before," Rainbow replied, the mask closing over her face. "Keep the skies clear."

*******************************

Shining Armor was in the air when the call came in. "I thought you would take care of her," Saarken said.

"I did," Shining said. "I pulled the reactor from her chest."

"Then why am I reading another one moving quickly toward you?"

Shining paused, hovering in the air. "She must've lied to me when I asked her about the second reactor."

"And you didn't look for it anyways?" Saarken demanded. "Take care of her, or I will take care of your mare on this side."

Shining didn't get a chance to respond before the griffon hung up. Of course, it wasn't long after that he heard some jets coming up on him.

"Don't do this," Rainbow Dash said, her voice altered from inside the suit.

"You really think I want to do this?" Shining replied, turning to face her. "I have no choice!"

"Even when you were under the spell of a Changeling, you had a choice!" Rainbow yelled. "You chose to fight it! You can go back and I can forget you tried to kill the Princesses."

"I'm sorry," Shining said, bringing up his hoof to point an automatic weapon at her.

"What would Cadence think?" Rainbow said before he could open fire.

Shining paused, thinking about her. He thought about her smile, her laugh, her cheer. Then he thought of where she was. He saw the video he was sent and the fear in her eyes.

He opened fire.

*******************************

Rainbow had gotten to him for a few seconds, she was sure of that. But something about what she had said had also pushed him far enough to shoot at her. There had to be something there she could use to convince him to stop.

Of course, it was a little hard to think about while being shot at.

Rainbow weaved, trying to avoid the shots. That gun wouldn't get through her armor easily, but she didn't want to risk a lucky shot that could take out her systems. Coming up behind him, she spun and kicked his suit, hoping to stun him enough to think for a few seconds.

As usual, it worked. She got a few precious seconds and went through the brief conversation. "What's going on between you and Cadence?" she asked, hoping it would get through to him.

"Nothing," Shining said. There was something else in his voice, though.

"What happened to her?" Rainbow asked quickly, trying to keep him talking.

Shining lowered the gun he had been raising. "She's in trouble," he said. "If I don't do this, she'll die. And then, even more will. These griffons, they have connections everywhere. They can get to anyone, any time. I'm sorry, but I don't have a choice." He brought up the gun again, but waited before shooting, as if he were waiting for Rainbow to say something.

"I can help you," she said. "I can get Cadence out of wherever she is and you can go home. We can save her together."

"No, we can't," Shining said. "It's not just a threat to shoot her. It's an explosive implanted in her. If she leaves the room she's in, if the trigger is pushed, she dies. I have to do this. He promised to release her once it was done."

Rainbow had to duck once she realized he had fired a missile instead of bullets. There were too many weapons on each leg and his back to tell which one was going to go off. But, she had found what she needed. Now she just had to stop Shining.

"I'm sorry," Rainbow said, firing a blast of energy from her suit. "I can't let you hurt anyone."

"And I have to finish this," Shining said.

That's when something hit Rainbow from behind, throwing her forward with an explosion. She stopped herself from falling, but only that before she was pelted with bullets from the other suit.

That's when he did something else. The rest of the missile fired at her and he turned toward the castle, almost upright doing so.

"Flares!" Rainbow yelled. The bright lights of explosions came up quickly as the flares set off the explosives. She faced where Shining was going and extended a hoof, pushing power through it into another blast of energy that knocked Shining off course.

He turned to face her again. "Don't you understand? I have no choice in the matter! Not any more."

Rainbow stopped, struck with the realization. The only reason he had told her what was really going on was because he could. He had to be careful of what he said, though, or Cadence would die.

"Run an encryption check," Rainbow whispered to her suit. "I think I know what's going on here."

Numbers started scrolling down her visor and she could barely keep up with Shining still there. He hadn't attacked yet, but she wasn't going to take her eyes off him anytime soon.

Soon enough, though, her suspicions were confirmed. "I can help you a lot more than you might think, Shining."

"You really shouldn't have said that," Shining said as his forehooves lifted and weapons started powering up.

She dropped right before they could fire, sending a hail of bullets and explosives flying over her head. She moved around behind him hoping she could stand out long enough. The decryption program had already started working on his suit, but it was a little more complicated than she was used to facing.

She fired from her hoof-mounted submachine gun and weaved to avoid being targeted. All she had to do was slow him down long enough to-

DECRYPTION STATUS...........COMPLETE

EXTERNAL ACCESS BLOCKED

SYSTEM REBOOTING

Rainbow had forgotten about that last part. She barely had enough time to register it before Shining dropped from the sky, the multi-ton suit weighing him down. She dove, barely catching up and grabbing onto his suit. She used as much power as she could in the thrusters, but was only able to slow them down. "Open flaps! Do something to stop us from falling!" she yelled. The suit complied, but it was so sudden, Rainbow lost her grip on Shining and he fell the thousands of feet to the ground.

"No," Rainbow whispered. She felt her heart drop. Shining Armor may have tried to kill her, twice, but he was still a friend. He had done all of this for his family, so he could keep them safe. He had done so much to help.

"Well don't get sappy on me now, boss," he said from behind her.

Rainbow spun around and saw Shining's face inside the suit hovering in midair. "But- you fell- thousands- How?!"

"Cushioning system," Shining said casually. "Also, I never actually hit the ground. The reboot wasn't that long."

"It worked!" Rainbow yelled in victory. "Everypony's safe now."

"Not quite," Shining said. "We have to move quickly before he gets back into the system or worse."

Rainbow didn't need to ask what that meant. She just looked at him and said, "Lead the way."

*******************************

Rainbow had to keep constant check with Shining's suit. Whoever was working on it knew what they were doing. They were making progress with hacking into the suit, even with her interventions. But they were on their way to where Cadence was being held. They were probably close by, which meant once they got there, Rainbow had to find a way to disable the explosive and get all three of them out of there.

Easier said than done, she thought.

"We're almost there," Shining said over the wind.

"I was afraid of that," Rainbow said under her breath. They were right in the area she had escaped from. That explained the timing of everything. Whoever this griffon was didn't want her to stumble onto what they were doing and used their blackmail on Shining Armor to do so. It made sense. It was tactical. It was smooth.

And now both of them were on their way.

Rainbow picked up another computer signal and paused, looking at the location for it. "What are you doing?" Shining asked, panicked. "We have to move!"

"You have to move," Rainbow told him. "I can give us more time."

"How?"

"By stopping the griffon with the trigger," Rainbow replied. "My guess is that he's the same one hacking into your suit right now."

Shining sighed. "Please be quick."

"Speed is what I do," Rainbow said, blasting forward toward the source of the signal.

*******************************

As soon as she touched the ground, griffons opened fire. She moved behind a wall and stayed there for a moment before moving back out and taking them out before one of them could get a lucky hit. She hit another wall and paused, checking her power supply. The older reactor wasn't exactly designed for powering a suit, nor was it designed for combat.

Stealth, she thought. I need stealth. Maybe next time, I'll think of doing that before painting this thing red over gold.

She glanced around the corner and saw a few griffons at a table playing cards. They were all facing away from her, making the quick flight into the cave much easier. Even after gunfire, griffons loved their cards.

Rainbow checked the source again before heading down a passageway. It was close, and it was going to be gone soon. Everything was working perfectly.

Until the wall exploded in her face.

The force was enough to throw her into the other wall. She had barely realized what had happened when she heard the shouting griffons. Evidently, explosions bring more attention than bullets.

She barely had enough time to duck into a room before a dozen or so griffons flooded the area. Then she heard the sound of a hammer being drawn back on a pistol.

"I'm personally surprised you made it this far undetected, Ms. Dash," came an all-too-familiar voice. "A shame it has to end like this, don't you think?"

"I thought I had killed you," Rainbow said. "How..."

"You're not the only one who can fly," he replied. "Now why don't you play nice and sit down before things get ugly."

"They already have, Saarken," Rainbow growled. "You have no idea what's going on, do you?"

"You and your friend are taking this place, you coming after me, and him by saving his beloved," Saarken said, a grin on his face. "But I have other plans for you two, starting with death."

Saarken pulled out a button and pressed it.

Rainbow chuckled. "You really shouldn't use such a simple signal for a detonator."

Saarken stared at her, eyes filled with rage. "You are much more clever than I had thought you would be. Unfortunately, that leaves me with little choice. Goodbye."

Rainbow ducked as he pulled the trigger, the bullet skimming her helmet and taking off a small strip of metal with it. She hit the ground and angled her hooves to fly right underneath the griffon, toppling him over. He rolled to the side and lined up another shot, firing three more times at Rainbow.

A yelp came from Rainbow as one of the shots hit her in the side. It wasn't much, but it was more than enough to slow her down. "You are limited," he said, standing over her. "I am not. When the jamming signal wears off, she dies, especially if I do."

"I don't think so," Shining said from behind him. He shot Saarken once in the leg and again in the wing before walking over to Rainbow. "You OK?"

"That wouldn't be the way I put it," Rainbow replied. "Did you get to her?"

"I'm lucky he did," Cadence said from the doorway. "Now can we please get out of here?"

Rainbow got up, wincing at the pain in her side, and walked over to her friends.

"You can't win this," Saarken said from behind the three of them. "This is above all of you."

Shining raised his hoof to shoot at Saarken, but Rainbow stopped him. "He said something about Cadence dying if he did, and I get the feeling it's something much worse than an explosive."

Shining hesitated, but lowered the gun. He turned around saying, "Let's go home."

"Home it is," Rainbow said, walking toward the cavern entrance.

It didn't help that there was a griffon waiting just outside for them. He got off a few shots before Rainbow could shoot him, but they weren't at her.

Shining Armor looked at his chest, a small trickle of blood coming from bullet holes in his suit. Rainbow moved over to him, watching as he collapsed. "You are not dying on me," she said, laying him down.

Rainbow pulled a few wires from her suit and put them in Shining's. "You are getting back alive, alright?"

"That'll be a nice trick," he said. "I'm surprised I made it this far without being shot. Take her back."

"You're going to live," Rainbow said as her power level dropped steadily. "You remember the teleport spell, right?"

"Of course," Shining replied. "But I can't cast it right now. I don't have the strength."

"You don't need it," Rainbow said. "When I say to, cast the spell and make sure to aim for a hospital."

Shining grimaced, but nodded.

"Now," Rainbow said. A flash blinded her for a moment, but when she could see again, Shining was gone. She hoped he was at least close to a hospital.

She turned and took off, only to fall to the ground a few yards later. Her visor was flashing 'EMERGENCY POWER' and she could feel the drain. It wouldn't take long for the rest of the suit to shut down so it didn't drain the reactor and kill her. Of course, even then, she would only survive for a few more hours before it failed.

That's when Cadence limped over to her and smiled, casting a spell that blinded Rainbow before she blacked out from the power drain.

*******************************

"Iron Mare," Rainbow read as the light fell across her face from the window. "Catchy name."

"Yeah," Soarin said from behind her. "You really think it's fitting?"

"It works, though it's not actually iron," Rainbow said. "It's much lighter and helps with higher altitude temperatures since it has a lower freezing point."

"And now you're starting to sound like Twilight," Soarin commented.

"It does help that she's a genus as well," Rainbow said.

"Ms. Dash?" said somepony from behind. Rainbow turned around to see a unicorn in a suit standing there with cards in his magic. "I have a speech here for you."

"And you would be...?" Rainbow asked.

"Agent Coltson with Solar Homeland Intervention for Equestrian and Lunar Defense," he said. "You can call us S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Alright," Rainbow said. "I'm guessing it's some sort of government speech, then?"

"Something like that," Coltson replied. "Try to stick with the cards."

"Will do," Rainbow said. Coltson gave her the cards and turned to leave. Rainbow did the same, putting the cards in her pocket and walking out to the waiting ponies in the conference room.

She stood there next to Spitfire looking out over all the ponies there, spotting Shining Armor in a wheelchair and Cadence right beside him, both of them smiling. She grinned before turning her attention to the cards in her jacket pocket. She pulled them out and set them on the pedestal in front of her.

Rainbow cleared her throat. "It's been a while since I was in front of all of you, and considering that didn't exactly end the way I was hoping it would, I'll just stick with the cards this time.

"I know you're all wondering exactly what was happening a few days ago when there were interesting events happening between here and Canterlot."

"I'm sorry, but do you really expect us to believe that was a guard in a suit?" asked a reporter.

"Questioning the official story is one thing, but insinuating that I'm a superhero is just ridiculous," Rainbow replied. "I've changed a lot since my earlier days, but not that much. I'm just not the hero type."

"I never said you were a superhero," the reporter said.

Spitfire nudged Rainbow and whispered, "Stick to the cards."

"Right," Rainbow said to both of them, looking back at the cards. "Well I'm here to set the record straight. The truth is..." She paused for a moment, wishing she had had a moment to read over the cards before.

"I am Iron Mare."

Comments

[theponymaster]

I actually just notice, there is no word in S.H.I.E.L.D's name in this universe that starts with an E. The name is cool, don't get me wrong, but it was just something I had to point out.

[FanofAwesomeness]

6474909 Thanks for pointing that out. Missed that one. I'll fix that now.

[Ares Olympian]

Ok what the fuck really you go to make an equestrian version of SHIELD that is just da fack?