Iron Mare: Armored Adventures

The following day, Rainbow Dash was getting ready to go with her Dad on his private plane over to the testing grounds in the San Palamino desert. Already she was visualizing her Dad's expression when he saw her wearing the Dash Exosuit, which would allow personal flight and protect miners and archilogogists while they worked deep underground.

Although, there was something bothering her... The suit had "weaponizable" written all over it. What was it her father had said about weapons?

Weapons don't fix problems, they create more, recalled Rainbow. Rainbow shrugged off her worries. Worst thing that could happen was that she'd have to scrap the suit. Then she'd move on to the next project. Such was the life of an inventor.

Well, I suppose I'd better meet Dad at the air field, thought Rainbow. She looked around the room, checking for anything she'd forgotten. Then she left for the air field.

Little did she know that her life was about to change forever...

~

Upon arrival at the air field, Rainbow saw someone she didn't expect. A certain griffoness she'd been friends with since Flight Camp.

"Gilda? What are you doing here?" asked Rainbow.

Gilda jumped as she turned around to face Rainbow. "Holy Faust, Rainbow! You scared me!" she said.

Rainbow put her hands on her hips. "Granted, but that doesn't answer my question. Why are you here?" she asked.

"Oh, uh, well, I did some research on my ring, and it looks like you were right. Turns out there's five of these... makuluan rings. But, I still don't know where they are... save for one, which I'm about to aquire very... soon," said Gilda as she looked out at the Dash International private jet.

Rainbow started to feel a little awkward. "Well, okay... I gotta go get on Dad's plane," said Rainbow.

Gulda wheeled around. "You're going where?!" she cried out.

Rainbow Dash was taken aback by Gilda's exclaimation. "Uh... I'm going on my Dad's plane to the testing sight to see the Earth Movers..." said Rainbow.

“Oh uh… well I-I hope you enjoy it.” Gilda stammered as she gave a nervous chuckle. Rainbow just raised an eyebrow but before she could find out what was making her friend nervous she saw that she was about to be late.

“Oh well. See you around Gilda!” Rainbow said as she ran off. Gilda smiled and waved but once Rainbow was out of sight she pulled out her cell again and punched in a number.

“Yes Mistress?” A voice asked at the other end.

“Abort the mission! My friend is gonna be on that plane!” Gilda shouted at the phone.

“Impossible Misress. The bomb has been planted. We cannot stop it. If you want to say good-bye to your friend now is the chance.” The voice told her. Gilda started to panic. She had just sent her friend into a death trap with no way to escape….. except one.

‘No… no I won’t put it on. I… I can wait.’ She told herself but even that seemed doubtful and besides, It was just one time.

~

"All righty, now, we've got a while before we reach the site where we found the ring," said Blaze. "So, tell me, what's got you all excited?"

"Well, sit tight and I'll show you. This new toy might just be my crowning achievement," said Rainbow as she got up and went to the back room.

No sooner had she gone than did Blaze hear a whoshing sound from behind him.

What in the- thought Blaze, before he saw what was behind him.

He tried to grasp how it made it on board but standing behind him was a Griffon wearing black armor with some yellow coloring in certain areas. The helmet seemed to have to prongs sticking but not like a beast. If anything the prongs almost made the helmet seem like a crown and it had two white spots where the eyes normally went. It’s hands were clawed but Blaze saw on the right one the unmistakable look of a makulaun ring.

“Where is she?”The Griffon asked him.

“Rainbow? I don’t know and even if I did I wouldn’t-”

“I don’t have time for games. In a few seconds a bomb will go off and I don’t think you and your daughter want to be here for the explosion. Now tell me again. WHERE. IS. RAINBOW. DASH?”The Griffon demanded from Blaze.

"What do you mean, a bomb? Who'd put a bomb- Blueblood... of course," muttered Blaze.

"Uh, yeah, sure, let's go with that, but I'm serious, I need to find Rainbow Dash-" said the Griffon, but was cut off by Rainbow's scream.

"Dad! One of the engines just blew up!" yelled Rainbow.

“No… I don’t have much time, Blaze.” growled the Griffon.

Unfortunately, the worst possible thing happened. Some of the embers from the destroyed engine found its way into the other one, causing it to start to catch fire, before it too exploded.

And then things went from bad to worse. The whole plane started to rumble despite them not hitting turbulence. Blaze assumed that Rainbow would be safe where she was but instead she heard a cry of pain.

“AAAARRRGGHHHH!” Rainbow shouted in pain.

“RAINBOW WHAT’S WRONG?!” Blaze shouted as he tried to get up only to lurch forward, thanks to the shaky plane, and fall back.

“MY…. MY WINGS ARE BROKEN! AND IT FEELS LIKE MY HEART IS ON...OH, SHIT! I'M HURT PRETTY BAD!" yelled Rainbow.

"CAN THAT TOY OF YOURS SAVE YOU?!" yelled Blaze.

"YEAH, BUT, WITH AS BAD AS I'M HURT I DON'T KNOW HOW LONG I CAN LAST!" yelled Rainbow.

"THEN TAKE IT AND GET OUT OF HERE! NOW!" yelled Blaze.

"BUT, DAD-" said Rainbow.

"NO BUTS! JUST DO IT!" yelled Blaze, before he turned to find the Griffon... gone.

Please, Faust... make sure Rainbow is okay... even if I'm not around for her anymore, prayed Blaze, before the plane hit the ground...

~

Meanwhile, down on the ground, the Griffon, or to be more accurate, the Mandarin, was kicking the ground and discharging energy blasts.

How could I be such a fool! I should've known Rainbow would be on that plane! thought Mandarin.

Looking up at the sky, The Mandarin thought she saw something... some kind of metal pony with rocket boots.

Could that be...? No, it can't be... she's gone. I've killed my best friend... and to make matters worse, Blaze didn't have the ring! Now what do I do? thought the Mandarin.

Still, I guess it can't hurt to check it out.

The Mandarun then took to the skies in pursuit of the metal pony. It was pretty fast, but thanks to the ring, she could fly much faster than she could without it.

Mandarin pulled up to the metal pony. It seemed to be some sort of red and golden robot.

Whoever built this must be the smartest pony in the world, thought Mandarin who then smirked under her helm. I think Rainbow’s gonna be just fine but I'd better disappear before somepony rightfully decides to pin the plane crash on me.

With that the Mandarin took off, leaving the metal pony behind...