Iron Mare: Armored Adventures

Rainbow Dash groaned as she opened her eyes. It had been six months since that plane crash. The plane crash that had resulted in the amputation of her elegeant, beautiful wings, the severe damaging of her heart... and the death of her father.

A pulsing blue light was blinking around the room. Rainbow looked down at the navy colored sports bra she was wearing. Surgically attached above her breasts was a pulsing blue orb of some kind. It was a special designed pacemaker to help keep her heart beating called the ARC Reactor. Granted she had to recharge it every so often, but it was either that or die. There was something else the ARC Reactor powered, but it was something Rainbow was keeping close to the chest.

Rainbow sat up in her bed. Six months ago, this wasn't her room, but rather a guest bed room in the Sparkle home. The worst part of it was now that her father wasn't around, she had to go to real school. Luckily, it was the Tomorrow Academy, the very same school that Gilda and Twilight went to.

"Rainbow! Breakfast is ready!" called Twilight's mother, Twilight Velvet.

"Okay! I'll be right down!" called Rainbow.

And with that, Rainbow Dash got up, got dressed, and headed downstairs.

~

"Hey, Rainbow!" said Twilight Sparkle as Rainbow made her way to the breakfast table, now garbbed in her signature outfit, only now there weren't any wing holes, since Rainbow no longer had wings, of course.

"Hey, Twilight.” Rainbow said with a small smile as she sat down. Twilight raised an eyebrow before she saw the date on the calendar.

“Oh um….. how did you sleep Rainbow?” Twilight asked nervously.

“Me? I slept the same as always. Awesomely.” Rainbow said with a smirk as bowl of cereal was placed in front of her.

"Okay, you two, once you've finished up breakfast you can head over to Dash International. Then off to school," said Velvet.

"You got it," said Rainbow Dash as she cast a sad look at her cereal.

Velvet placed a comforting hand on Rainbow's shoulder. "Don't worry, Rainbow. It'll be just fine," she told Rainbow.

“Thanks Mrs. Velvet.” Rainbow said as she began eating her cereal.

~

Deep in a cave buried inside a mountain rested the lair of a legendary and infamous group of thieves, assassins, and saboteurs. The group consisted of mostly pegasi or griffons and were named The Tong but they themselves pale in comparrison to their master. A criminal named  The Mandarin based on the title of ancient Griffonese lords that once ruled the land.

"My lord, you wished to see us?" said a Tong member.

"Yes. We have at long last located the second Makulaun ring. It seems that a fool named Obidiah Blueblood has it. We must... relieve him of it," said The Mandarin.

The foot soldier paused for a moment. "But, my lord... I thought you knew this already. After you tried to rescue Blaze and his daughter-" said the soldier.

"What? I did no such thing... unless-"

“You didn’t father. I did.” A voice said from the shadows. The two turned to face the location of the voice and saw a tawny griffoness walk out from it.

“..... leave us.” The Mandarin ordered his soldier who nodded and returned to his post. “You dare take the ring from me without conesnt?”

“I didn’t DARE anything Shen Long. I just DID. You were taking your sweet time with your little empire you didn’t even notice your single ring missing so I… took it out for a test drive and found another ring.” said Gilda who was looking rather smug before The Mandarin stood up and walked over to her.

“I see.. and where is this… second ring then?” The Mandarin asked in a polite manner but Gilda could tell that there was venom in his voice.

“I-I couldn’t… find it there was too little time-”

“You’re so weak.” The Mandarin said before slapping Gilda into a wall. "Face it, girl, you will always be weak, and you will never know what true power is! Now, if you'll excuse me, I must attend to Mr. Blueblood."

With that, The Mandarin walked off, leaving his step-daughter, who had a black eye, behind.

I'll never know what true power is, eh? Well, we'll just see about that... once I have all five rings on my claw... well, I'll be the one to show you what true power is, thought Gilda. But first, I must get to school.

~

“Remind me again why I thought this was a good idea?” Rainbow said as they stood in front of a rather tall imposing building.

“Because you said, and I quote, ‘that big headed son of a nag isn’t going to control my father's company’. Or something along those lines.” Twilight said casually.

"Right..." said Rainbow Dash as she walked into the building to find the place had a totally different  atmosphere than she remembered.

Back when Blaze was in charge, the Dash International building had a more hopeful and optimistic impression. Now, with Obadiah "Prince" Blueblood in charge, it felt like a third world dictatorship.

Your reign isn't going to last forever, Blueblood, thought Rainbow.

As if on cue, a security guard stepped in front of Rainbow. "Rainbow Dash, right?" he said.

"Yeah," said Rainbow, thinking she was about to get the boot.

The guard smiled, much to Rainbow's dismay. "Yeah, Blueblood thought you might stop by one of these days. He said to bring you to him if that was the case," he said.

"Well, then, what are we waiting for?" said Rainbow.

With that, she and the guard made their way to the CEO's office.

~

A few moments passed and they soon arrived at two familiar huge doors.

"Hey, Fluttershy," said Rainbow.

Fluttershy whimpered and muttered, "Mr. Blueblood will see you now."

Rainbow entered Blueblood's office, where Blueblood was in the middle of a vid-phone conference.

"Tell them to begin the repurposing. You have my authorization as CEO," said Blueblood as Rainbow sat down in the chair across from him.

“But sir-” the voice started before Blueblood ended the call.

"Ah, Rainbow. Good to see you. I'm truly sorry that we didn't have time to talk more after your father's funeral. It hit everypony so hard," said Blueblood.

"Hate to break it to you, but this is my office you're sitting in. My father told me that when he was gone, I'd be running this company, not you. This isn't what he wanted," said Rainbow.

Blueblood smiled. "You're so right. This isn't what he wanted for you at all. He wanted you living with the Sparkles and going to school like a regular young mare. Trust me, you take the reins now, you'll be bored to tears in a month," he said.

"Well then, in that case I want everything my father and I worked on back," said Rainbow.

"Sorry, Rainbow, but I can't do that even if I wanted to. It's company property," said Blueblood.

A buzz came from the intercom. "Mr. Blueblood, your sister is here," came Fluttershy's voice.

"Which one?" asked Blueblood.

"The high-school one, Rarity," said Fluttershy.

Blueblood took a sharp intake of breath, his hand moving instinctively towards his wallet.

On that hand, Rainbow saw something: her father's ring.

"I'm glad we had this talk, Rainbow, I'll see you again when you're 18," said Blueblood.

"Come on, Rainbow, let's go," said the guard, who escorted Rainbow out of the building.