The doors to the infirmary echoed with a resounding thud.
Rainbow Dash gasped and spun around.
"Hey! Puny servant!" A mare's voice roared from the other side of the entrance. "Why's this door closed, runt?!"
"We're in need of new leg joints here and we haven't got time to waste!" shouted another.
"Ah jeez..." Rainbow Dash hissed through clenched teeth. "They sound mad."
"When are they not?" Imre muttered. Clearing her throat, she turned from her hard work and spoke loudly to the walls of the place. "I am sterilizing my utensils! I didn't want any of you armor-rattling vessels of filth stampeding in here and ruining my work!"
"Let us in this minute or we'll ruin your face!" the voice shouted. "We demand parts fixed!"
"Whelp, that was fun while it lasted." Imre slapped the helmet together and thrust it into Rainbow Dash's hooves. "Put this on." She trotted over to a metal grated panel and began prying it open with telekinesis. "There's a somewhat secret passageway here that will take you out into a hallway that runs parallel to the main chamber."
"Wait wait wait!" Rainbow frowned, waving her forelimbs as the entrance door pounded and pounded from the other side. "I can't leave you alone with those jerkfaces! They might beat you to a pulp!"
"No, I'm too valuable to them," Imre calmly droned. "They've relied on me for the past few years to lick their wounds clean. The last thing a warrior is ever going to admit to is weakness. That's why I'm still around." She finally yanked the grate open and motioned towards the thin crawlspace beyond. "You, on the other hoof..." Imre glared. "...would only be a challenge to them, with—measuring your most basic armor and their advanced weapons—will likely end with you becoming the new seatcushion for their manaship cockpits."
Rainbow Dash blinked. She raised the helmet over her mane. "Yeah, I think I'm going now."
"Don't worry about me," Imre said. "I know how to look out for myself. I've survived stuff worse than Xonans and Searonese combined."
"Mmmmf—Wh-What could be worse than those two?!" Rainbow's voice echoed through the helmet.
Imre sighed long and hard, her brown eyes cold and distant. "You don't want to know."
"Gah!" Rainbow Dash suddenly floundered in her armor, tossing her head back and forth. "What the crap are these things st-sticking into my muzzle?"
Imre had to speak over the loud pounding of the door. "I had to fashion basic training armor for you. It's the same kind of stuff a young Searonese filly uses before she can harness the power of her manacore. There are five levers positioned in front of your mouth. They control the rocket thrusters built into your suit."
"The rocket-what now?!"
"The ones on the left control horizontal pitch. The ones in the middle control vertical. The centermost lever is thrust—"
"Now hold on a dang second!" Rainbow's voice cracked as her helmet rattled around. "This is waaaaaaaay too much info. Centermost... does... thrust—"
Her head tilted forward, and almost instantly her suit opened up four panels burning with hot orange flame. She was propelled forward into the claustrophobic chamber with a warbling shriek.
"Yaaaaa-aaaaaaa-aaaaaaaaahh!"
Imre gazed lethargically after her, wincing only from the sound of an epic thud as it rang throughout the entire infirmary's foundation. "Ehhh... she'll be fine." That said, she calmly shut the metal grate, swiveled around, and trotted towards the entrance to let the two patients in.
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was scrambling to yank her skull out of the deep dent her helmet had made with the back end of the passageway's wall. She collapsed on her side, wincing from her freshly mended, still-bandaged wing beneath all the armor.
"Unnngh... I think I felt b-better in one of Rarity's stupid frilly corsets." She stood up straight, shook the cobwebs out, and paused for a few seconds. "The hay am I saying?"
With an echoing groan, she clanged-clanged-clanged forward in her dark black armor, navigating the winding, dimly-lit shaft. Every now and then, she'd stumble through a stretch of passageway lit intermittently by revolving fan from beyond a vent. The stone and metal bowels of Searo's Hold rumbled all around her as she pressed on.
"Cave is still a cave," Rainbow Dash muttered. "I don't care how many moving parts it has—" A stretch of metal paneling fell out from underneath her. "—oh Luna poop!"
Rainbow Dash collapsed into a concrete chamber framed by jagged arches. When she landed, it was with a thunderous crash, followed by several lengths of metal filament.
"Nnngh..." She stumbled to her hooves, wincing all over. She had to raise her forelimbs up and twist her helmet to the side so that she could see straight through the glossy visor. "The heck am I supposed to go?!" She looked down the far end of the hallway. "There's gotta be a way to get out of here and get back to finding Belle and Pilate. I guess I could fly in this darn thing, but for how long?"
She heard a shuffle of hooves behind her.
Rainbow Dash gasped. Without hesitation, she spun and flung a metal hoof. "Nnnngh!" Her limb slammed across an unarmored face. "Haaugh! Blood for Searo—" She froze in place, blinking beneath her helmet. "—oh?"
"Mmmmf..." A stallion winced, lying sideways on the floor, still reeling from her blow. He wasn't just any normal male pony, but one with polished, shiny, almost reflective skin. In fact, it didn't even look like skin.
"What... the...?" Rainbow murmured.
"Hey!"
Rainbow's gaze followed a lease around the crystalline equine's neck and towards a quartermaster. The tall mare opened the panels of her helmet to glare down at Rainbow. "What's the big idea, runt?! You'll damage Searo's resources!"
"Re... sources?" Rainbow Dash muttered. She could only stumble back as the mare dragged the breathless stallion to his hooves and escorted him even further down the corridor. Rainbow felt her heart beat increasing, and she grinded her hooves against the floor. "That's it. I've seen enough. I wonder how these mares would like a leash shoved down their throats...?" She made to gallop after the slave-keeper, when a metal hoof held her in place. She spun around. "Huh?"
Three mares towered over her, their helmets reflecting her petite body in their presence.
"Are you Roarke the Most Rare's half-blade?!"
"I dunno, am I?" Rainbow Dash received a mighty punch across the helmet. She smacked into a wall, groaned, and rubbed her skull through the metal. "For Celestia's sake! Learn a new tune already!"
"Are you or are you not Roarke's apprentice?!" The mares growled once more.
"Yeah? What about it?!"
"You are to come with us..."
"Huh? What for?"
"Let's just say your skills and honor are about to be put to the test, runt."
"Oh really?" Rainbow Dash braced her hooves against the floor. "What if I've got things to do, huh?!"
The centermost metal mare loomed ominously. "It would be wise not to cross us..."
"You and whose army?!"
Six sets of crimson-red miniature rockets graced the air, along with three tasers, two mana cannons, a tail-whip, and a chain-saw.
"...yeah, that's a pretty nifty army." Rainbow Dash gulped and raised her hooves. She was yanked off towards the opposite end of the corridor, emitting a sound that may or may not have sounded like a yellow pegasus with butterflies on her flank.
I wonder when the next full moon is.
Oh god, round 6?
Well, the situation's a bit contrived, but it should be pretty amusing to read regardless.
Also, could Imre's history perhaps have anything to do with Madame Nightshade?
I hope Dash learns how to use her new-erm- propulsion system? She's probably going to need it.
2412133 My thought exactly.
Whatever crap is about to go down, I am getting the feeling that Imre was in on it.
Also, it seems like Rainbow is going to need to get acquainted with those flight controls pretty darn quick.
With all the weapons and experience that the Searonese have, its a wonder that they haven't conquered the world already. Even Shell would have his hooves full taking one of these guys on.
oh, rainbow is going to fight.
2412135
In a shocking twist, this has been Roarke's plan all along. /s
Should be an interesting exercise in loyalty, none-the-less.
Shit's about to get real...
Are they getting back at Roarke by taking it on Rainbow or is this Roarke's doing?
I don't like this....
How much do you wanna bet that she just punched Tweak's brother in the face?
2412215
Or, in a truly shocking twist, they call Roarke out on her bullshit.
Maybe they finally caught on that she's been taking prisoners, rather that bounties. Whose to say RD and Imre were the only ones?
In which either a) Pesty praises her for her forward thinking, b) Pesty get pissed off and kills them both, c) Pesty gets really pissed, they fight back, escape, back going eastward.
Freedom Or Fire - Fear Factory
2412464
All of my money. Well, maybe not all of it, but plenty of it.
A chainsaw. Of course there had to be a chainsaw somewhere in there.
Rainbow has kicked Roarke's butt before, and that was before they turned her into Iron Mare. But my money is on Crimson saving the day anyways - with him underway and Rainbow about to fight, it's way too convenient to not end like that.
Do it, filly. Ceterum censeo Searinem delendam esse.
you know... it has occurred to me that we STILL don't know why the Xonan's are so bad...
Who's RD going to fight? I get the feeling that she won't be quite so great without her wings. I'm also pretty sure the new flight system will only get in the way.
Dun-dun-DUUUUNN!
Well, we all know where THIS is going.
I'm guessing the flight controls near Rainbow's mouth are a reference to the Iron Man suit from the comics.
But I've been wrong before...
Remember, there's no such thing as overkill.
2412120 I was just thinking the same thing.
yayy, rocket propelled dashie!
Oo
Dash is gonna have to get used to those mouth controls quick if she doesn't want to wind up a pile of pony paste. I'm still predicting several faceplants before she figures things out, of course. Jet propelled Rainbow Dash has too much potential for shenanigans for her not to. Oh! What if Rainbow is getting beat up really badly and is possibly going to kick the bucket, and Searo's test is to let it happen rather than saving her? To see where her loyalties lie? Eh, who knows. Onward!
oh sh*buysomeapples*
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
This chapter...I find it kind of weird. It doesn't seem like something the Imploding would write and the Fluttershy and Rarity references feel a little forced. I...I'm sorry, but I really don't know what to make of this. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
Awwwwwww shiat..... Dash is gonna be forced to fight for Roarke.... That plan backfired...... GG........
Onwards!
Uh oh. Bad. Very, very bad. Dash doesn't even know how to use the bloody thing.
Well, Roarke picked a bad day to have an apprentice.
aw hell.....
Oh-ho-ho, more of the element blending showing through?
I actually doubt it; it was most likely put in for comic effect. But hey! A man can dream...
Also finished disk four of the rainbow tapes. On to number five...
Better not be to hard, or Dashie will open up her nuclear option.
Uh oh. I think Dash will have to fight for Pefisterous... and she'll probably break her armor and cause quite a stir with having wings.
Roarke may not be fighting, but I fear her life is on the line.
Rocket powered Rainbow Dash? What could possibly go wrong?
Oh, wait, looks like wrong has arrived before she could even make use of those new rockets.
I feel a bad-ass escape attempt coming on.
"I'm a rocket mare!"
She must have hit her head harder than she initially thought.
05/10/2017 16:56 UTC
Well that answers the question of who is fighting.
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Yup, thought so.
7384553
Que the badass battle music! Vroom vroom!
Don't see you referring to Fluttershy a lot in your series... Weird.
Sometimes a pony's just gotta go "Eep!".
"You and what army." Is my favorite joke set up in fiction. The pay off is always grate.