Act III - 11 - And in The End

Act Three:

"I Am Iron Mare"

Chapter Eleven

"And in the End"

As the pegasi hefted the glowing unicorn into the air and flew off, Rarity let out a sigh.

“Well,” she grunted as she stood back up. “I really must be going. It’s quite late actually and I feel like I got hit by a train today.”

Twilight nodded. “Yeah, I think you might call today a full day.” She glanced towards the departing pegasi. “I think the boys can handle things here? Right Spike?” she looked down at the dragon.

Spike nodded. “Yeah of course. We’ve already got a cover story and everything, you can go now.”

“Well, then, Rarity I think I’d better go over and report back to my boss. I can teleport you back home first if you want.” Twilight said, turning towards Rarity.

Rarity thought for a moment. The thought of being zapped through time and space just to travel across town wasn’t exactly the most comforting.

“No, no I think I’m good.” She said.

Twilight shrugged. “Okay then.” Her horn glowed briefly and she suddenly disappeared into a burst of purple light, leaving Rarity and Spike alone.

“Well,” Spike turned to Rarity. “I believe this is where I hand you this.” He whipped a business card out of his suit.

“It’s our number. I have a feeling you might need that a lot in the future.”

Rarity levitated the card over. “Why thank you. I’ll be sure to contact you if I need to.” And with that she closed her helmet and ignited the rockets, blasting off into the air.

/////////////////////

The flight back to her house, however, was nowhere near as smooth as she thought it would be. Her suit had taken quite the beating from Living Laser and now was constantly shorting out. She hoped that the suit would make to the house, since the idea of plummeting to the ground in a giant metal can to her doom wasn’t exactly the most comforting thought.

But, thankfully, she was able to reach her house. “Okay…” she muttered as she pulled in towards the opening for her work shop. “Let’s try and make this a smooth landing…”

And that’s when her suit thought it would be a good time to finally quit.

She dropped like a stone and fell straight through the ceiling. And into her living room.

She let out a groan. “Ugh…that just might be my worst landing…” she slowly got back to her feet and scanned the room.

Nopony was there. The room was completely bare.

Strange. She thought. Where is everypony?

“Spark Plug? Braeburn?” Rarity called out.

Suddenly something caught her ears. It was coming from the general direction of the workshop. It sounded like power tools.

Rarity slowly followed the sound, her armor’s boots making the only other noise in the house.

She made her way down the hallway towards the workshop. “Spark Plug? Twilight? Is there anybody home at all?”

She finally reached the workshop and was about to try the knob when something caught her ears. It was music and the sound of tools and magic. That could mean only one thing. Spark Plug was working on something.

Rarity let out a sigh of relief, content with the fact that she wasn’t suddenly alone in her home. She was about to open the door when she heard something else. It was Spark Plug and she was talking to somepony.

“Hold on there Sweetie Belle and stop fidgeting.”

Suddenly Rarity remembered a little thing Braeburn had told her earlier.

“Sparky took her shopping. We were outta flour or something.”

Rarity’s jaw tightened and her eye twitched. All the evidence suggested one thing and one thing only.

Sweetie Belle was in her workshop with Spark Plug and they were building something.

Just as she was about to go in and wreak her horrible wrath upon the two ponies, another voice caught her ear.

“Y’all sure this is a good idea? I think Rarity just got back and she’d hate tah find y’all in here…”

It was Braeburn.

Rarity’s pupils shrank to pinpoints. Was Braeburn in on whatever Spark Plug and Sweetie Belle were doing? Unacceptable.

Rarity tried to magic the door open. The door knob glowed blue before suddenly the aura changed to that of Spark Plug’s red. As if on cue, Rarity could hear Spark Plug’s voice coming from behind the door.

“Don’t worry, I took precautions Braeburn. I sealed the door shut with a special spell.”

Rarity simply growled to herself and then began to fight with the knob with her hooves. She forgot, of course, that she was still in her suit and all she managed to do was break the door knob off.

Suddenly the music inside the workshop quieted down and the sound of working stopped.

“What was that?” Rarity heard Braeburn say.

“I think someone’s at the door.” The distinct voice of Sweetie Belle replied.

“I’ll go check.” Spark Plug was heard saying.

There was the sound of hoof steps. Rarity tensed up, the sudden fear of getting caught coming to the forefront of her mind. As if to confirm her worst fears, the remains of the door knob suddenly glowed red and the sound of locks tumbling came from behind the door.

The door swung open and revealed Spark Plug, who’s eyes instantly widened as a look of pure shock came across her face. “Oh snap.” She said before trying to slam the door in Rarity’s face.

Rarity, however, seized the chance to see exactly what was going on and pressed her advantage, using her armor’s enhanced strength to shove the door open.

Spark Plug however, put up quite a fight, pushing back against the door with all her might.

“SPARK PLUG LET ME IN THIS INSTANT!” Rarity shouted.

“NO!” Spark Plug shouted back, underlining her point with an extra hard shove.

“SPARK PLUG YOU LET ME IN THIS INSTANT OR I’LL BLAST THE DOOR DOWN!”

“Fer Faust’s sake Sparky, let her in!” Braeburn could be heard shouting from inside the workshop.

Rarity continued to push against the door when suddenly, Spark Plug relented and the door flung open, which only managed to slam directly into her muzzle.

“OW!” Spark Plug shouted as she stumbled down the staircase and back into the workshop, rubbing her nose.

Rarity ignored her and stomped down the stairs, her boots making loud metallic clangs with each step. She finally reached the bottom of the staircase and took in the scene before her.

Spark Plug stood awkwardly in the corner, still rubbing her slightly bloody nose. Sweetie Belle stood on stop of a small pedestal, completely incased in a smaller version of Rarity’s armor, with only her head exposed, with her face looking like she just got caught stealing from the cookie jar. Meanwhile, Braeburn simply stood in the other corner, a tired look on his face.

“What. Is. This?” Rarity spat, eying daggers at Spark Plug.

“Well…” Spark Plug started to say before Sweetie Belle cut her off.

“No, Sparky. It’s my suit, so I should tell her.” With that she gingerly stepped off the pedestal, making sure not to tangle up the dozens of cables that ran from the suit into the large computer next to her. Once she was on the ground, she gently disconnected the cables and walked over to Rarity, the gears in her suit making quite sounds as she quietly walked over to Rarity, head held low.

"Rarity, I just want to say that this is all my idea, i made Sparky build me this. I'm sorry. I just wanted to help you. Do you forgive me?"

Rarity simply stared down at Sweetie Belle, unable to quite wrap her head around what had just happened. One part of Rarity wanted to ground Sweetie Belle forever and lock her away for her abject defiance. And yet, another part, not quite as obvious as the first wanted to pull Sweetie Belle into a bear hug and squeeze her like a toy.

Sweetie Belle looked up expectantly, her green eyes shifting into full blown puppy dog mode.

Rarity glanced down at Sweetie Belle and could feel herself begin to fall under the sway of her puppy dog face. No. Rarity thought. I mustn't give into her wiles. She disobeyed my direct orders. Time to put my hoof down.

"Sweetie Belle, I will not forgive you until you take that damned suit off." Rarity ordered sternly.

"B-but, i wanted to help." Sweetie Belle whimpered. "Why won't you forgive me? I said i was sorry." She started to cry.

Rarity shook her head. "Sweetie Belle, you have blatantly defied my direct orders. Take the suit off. Now." she spat out the last word.

There was a deafening silence in the workshop, only broken by the occasional beep from a computer. The silence only managed to increase the already high levels of tension that where in the workshop. Rarity's face was the very picture of boiling rage while Sweetie Belle's was that of shattered dreams.

Suddenly, without any warning, Rarity exploded. "Sweetie Belle, TAKE THE SUIT OFF NOW!!!!"

"NO!" Sweetie Belle shot back. "IT'S ALL I'VE GOT AND I'M NOT GOING TO LET YOU TAKE IT!"

Rarity took a step back, shocked and angered all the more by Sweetie Belle's sudden outburst. "How. Dare. You..." was all she managed to say before Sweetie Belle cut her off.

“No, how dare you! I try so hard to be a good little sister, to help you with your work and to be nice to you when Mama is mean but you still hate me!” she spat out, tears welling her eyes. “All I’ve wanted for forever is for you to be my friend but you know what, you’re a rotten pony and you’d be an awful friend and a terrible big sister! I hate you and you can’t tell me what to do!” she closed her suits helmet and suddenly blasted off into the air.

“YOU COME BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!” Rarity shrieked as she grabbed her helmet and put it on, blasting after Sweetie Belle. Her suit groaned in protest and its rockets coughed and choked as she blasted off.

“No!” Sweetie Belle shouted over her shoulder as she dodged and weaved low over the streets.

She nearly slammed into a low flying pegasus, who spewed a long series of colorful expletives as Sweetie Belle whizzed past.

“SORRY!” she called behind herself. She cast a glance over her shoulder to see if she might have clipped the pegasus, only to see Rarity coming in directly behind her, like a purple missile that simply would let her alone.

“SWEETIE BELLE! STOP THIS INSTANT!” Rarity’s voice suddenly came over Sweetie Belle’s intercom. “You’re going to hurt yourself!” she actually sounded concerned. Sweetie Belle shook her head in confusion. On the one hoof, Rarity was obviously pissed and would probably ground her for life or send her to the moon or something for what she had done. On the other hoof, however, her strange sudden concern wasn’t normal.

Sweetie Belle turned to look ahead and was greeted by the sudden appearance of the headquarters of MagiTech.

“OH NO!” She screamed as she tried to dodge out of the way, but it was too late. She blasted clean through the glass window of one of the offices as if it where paper. She went tumbling and spinning through the inside of the building, narrowly missing several dozen office ponies who went sprawling as she blew through like a hurricane.

Rarity meanwhile, whose anger and rage had been quickly replaced by concern, managed to circle around the building and come around to the other side, hoping that Sweetie Belle would emerge from the other side. She flicked on her infrared, internally cursing the building’s tinted windows, which prevented her from seeing inside.

Once the infrared was online, however, everything became disturbingly clear.

Inside she could see a reddish blob in the shape of a pony flying around the inside of the building, blasting through cubical and up through the relatively thin floors, nearly hitting several dozen other blobs that Rarity assumed were the building’s office works.

All this did was confirm all of Rarity’s pent up aggression. Sweetie Belle was most certainly grounded when this was over. She braced herself and was about to go into the building herself when the blob suddenly came flying in her direction.

She dodged as Sweetie Belle exploded and missed her by mere inches, as she pulled up and soared skyward.

“Sweetie Belle! COME BACK!” Rarity shouted as she pulled up and followed, climbing higher and higher and higher into the cloudy skies.

She followed Sweetie Belle through the cloud layer like it was paper and emerged on the other side, where finally, Sweetie Belle leveled out.

“Sweetie Belle! Please! Stop!” Rarity called out over the intercom. Sweetie Belle simply sped up even faster, creating a cone of water vapor in front of her. Rarity sped up as well, following after Sweetie Belle like a hound dog, a cone of her own quickly forming.

Suddenly, without warning, a massive explosion of noise and static came over Rarity’s intercom. It quickly cleared however as Rarity saw the spectacular sight in front of her.

Sweetie Belle had managed to break the sound barrier and produce a beautiful shimmering ring of silvery light.

Rarity’s own suit began to shake and vibrate like it was a toy being shaken by an overeager dog. The cone of water vapor became thicker and thicker as Rarity came closer and closer to the sound barrier. Suddenly, all the shaking and vibrating stopped and everything became very quiet. She glanced behind to see that she had made her own sonic rainboom, which was a brilliant mix of purple and silver.

Rarity, however, didn’t have the time to appreciate the beautiful sight, and she quickly turned back to follow Sweetie Belle, who was now diving again.

Enough of this cat and mouse game. Rarity thought as she kicked into high gear and blasted closer and closer to Sweetie Belle. Sweetie Belle however, had seen her and tried to dodge and weave again.

“Oh no you don’t!” Rarity grunted as her horn glowed and Sweetie Belle’s leg glowed a familiar light blue aura. She mentally tugged on Sweetie Belle’s leg, causing Sweetie Belle to lose some of her momentum. Finally, Sweetie Belle’s leg was close enough for Rarity to reach out towards with a forehoof.

Here goes nothing. She thought as she grabbed on to Sweetie Belle’s leg.

Suddenly Sweetie Belle’s voice came over the intercom. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! LET GO!”

Rarity shook her head. “NEVER!” she gave one mighty tug and finally was able to grab the back of Sweetie Belle’s armor. She pulled her into a death grip and tried to bank back towards home.

That’s when, out of nowhere, a pigeon came into view.

“OH NO!” Was all Rarity managed to say before she slammed head first into the poor bird, which spattered all over her armor in a disgusting mess.

The shock of hitting a bird at such high speed was simply too much for Rarity’s already battered systems. Everything suddenly went black as her armor completely shut down, and she began to fall like a stone. She forgot of course that she had Sweetie Belle in her grasp and the two armored ponies started tumbling where they slammed into Canterlot Park.

The impact finally broke Rarity’s grasp and Sweetie Belle went tumbling into a grove of trees.

Rarity bounced like a rag doll along the park grounds, until she finally came to a stop by a park bench.

“Ugh…” was all she managed to say as her body was enveloped in a cocoon of pain. Her suit finally decided to come back online and her eyes were assaulted by the sudden reappearance of her heads-up-display.

She slowly got back on her feet and looked around. Besides the nice little trench she had carved out when she landed, she saw another trench dug into the dirt where Sweetie Belle must have landed.

“Oh no…” she gasped and instantly tried to take to fly over to investigate and check if Sweetie was okay. No such luck. Her heads-up-display showed that the suit’s replusors where too damaged from the day’s events.

She let out a frustrated groan and started run over towards the destroyed grove of trees, her boots making loud metallic thunks.

She stumbled over towards the trench, praying and hoping that Sweetie Belle was okay.

She mentally cursed her suit for shutting down, since now she couldn’t see a thing in the darkness. She popped her helmet open to get a better view. Luckily, the moon was full and it bathed the park in a bluish glow. She could see that the trench continued through a small patch of trees, several of which were damaged and broken.

She must have come through here. Rarity thought as she shifted from a canter to a gallop, as her mind replayed every possible horrible outcome that might have happened.

Suddenly, however, the path opened into a small clearing, and Rarity’s worst fears were apparently realized.

There was Sweetie Belle, laying in the middle of a small crater that had formed on impact. Her armor was dented and looked as if it had gone through hell.

Rarity practically ripped her own helmet off and tossed it aside. All of her anger and rage had disappeared, replaced instead by concern. After what seemed like miles, Rarity finally reached Sweetie Belle’s body and ripped Sweetie Belle’s helmet off with her magic.

Sweetie Belle’s eyes were closed and she looked almost as if she was asleep.

“No-no-no-no-no-no-no!” Rarity repeated as she looked over Sweetie Belle. “Please be alive, please be alive.”

Suddenly a sound that until now had been the single most mundane sound in the universe caught Rarity’s ear. The sound of breathing.

She was alive!

Instantly Rarity began to remove Sweetie Belle’s armor with her magic to try to give her some air. She pulled Sweetie Belle up into a tight hug.

“Please wake up please wake up please wake up please wake up…” Rarity whispered, hoping that this was all just a very bad dream.

Suddenly Sweetie Belle started to hack and cough. Rarity let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding as Sweetie Belle’s eyes fluttered open.

“Ugh….my head…” Sweetie Belle groaned. “Rarity?” she gave Rarity a quizzical look.

Rarity nodded rapidly. “Yes! It’s me.” She gave Sweetie Belle another tight hug. Sweetie Belle instantly hugged her back, and started to cry herself.

“Oh Rarity I’m so sorry about taking the suit…”

“No no no! It’s all my fault, all my fault.” Rarity said, her voice overcome with emotion. “I was so cruel to you before, I shouldn’t have treated you like that. You were right, I’m just like Mother. Oh please forgive me.”

There was a long pause between the two of them as Rarity waited for a response.

“I…I…” Sweetie Belle stuttered.

Rarity’s heart sank like a stone. She could already guess the answer. It would be a solid, resounding-

“I forgive you Rarity.”

-Yes? How could Sweetie Belle say that? After all the ways Rarity had mistreated her, how could she find the ability to forgive Rarity?

“W-what?” Rarity asked, her eyes now red and puffy from all the crying.

Sweetie Belle nodded, her own eyes red and puffy. “I forgive you Rarity.”

“B-but why? I don’t deserve this…”

Sweetie Belle pulled Rarity in for another hug. “It’s cause you’re my sister. I love you so much Rarity. Please, please forgive me.”

Rarity returned the hug just as tightly. “Oh thank you Sweetie Belle, thank you so very much…”

And there they sat, hugging each other tightly, and everything seemed right in the world.

///////////////////////////////ONE WEEK LATER:

It had been a hectic week to say the least. The media had certainly taken notice in two ponies in robotic suits fighting each other all over town. They didn’t know who were in the suits, but all reports had said that the two ponies came from the home of premier fashion designer Rarity Belle.

So, now, a veritable army of news reporters, reality TV show producers, gossip columnists, and the simply curious were camping out in front of her home, looking for some answers.

Inside the home, in Rarity’s room, four unicorns were getting ready to face the hoard.

“Okay” Twilight Sparkle levitated a clip board in front of her. “You’re supposed to say that the suit was a bodyguard you’d hired and that Sweetie Belle was a drone that had malfunctioned.”

Rarity sat in front the mirror applying make and glancing at the newspaper, where a report of the nights events was on the front page.

“‘Iron Mare’. Interesting.”

Spark Plug shrugged. “Well, actually the suit’s made out of a silver alloy and NOT iron-”

Rarity cut her off. “Nevertheless, I love the name. Anyways, Sparky, it’s certainly a better name than say ‘Silver-Alloy Mare’, I mean seriously Sparky, you have no sense of advertising.”

“Regardless, N.E.I.G.H.S. asks you stick to the story as presented on the cards. Last thing we need is any more terrorists’ attempting to kill you.” Twilight said, writing on a flash card.

Sweetie Belle took a glance at the flash card. “You sure you want her to say this? I mean seriously, who’ll believe it?”

Rarity turned to look at Sweetie Belle. “Don’t worry dreary, I assure you that they will believe it. It’s certainly more believable then it being either of us being in the suits.” She returned to the mirror fix her make up.

Suddenly Sweetie Belle spoke, “Well, isn’t saying you’re not Iron Mare lying?”

Rarity suddenly stopped. “Um…well…” she started to say, searching for the right response.

Twilight Sparkle took notice of Rarity’s loss for words and picked up the conversation. “Well, Sweetie Belle, sometimes someone has to lie in order to protect those they hold dear. Am I right?”

Sweetie Belle looked up at Twilight. “Well, I guess…but we had a big fight and everything. Wouldn’t they find out anyways?”

There was an awkward pause. Everypony could see that Sweetie Belle had a good point. Twilight sighed. “Well, let’s hope not.” She gently patted Sweetie Belle on the head. She turned to Rarity “You ready?”

“Yes dear, I always am.” Rarity responded with confidence.

“Alright then.” Spark Plug said, trying to steer the conversation away from the white elephant in the room.

Just then there was a knock at the door.

“Who is it?” Rarity asked, now concentrating on fixing one of her false eyelashes. Braeburn opened the door, looking like he came out of a war zone. His hat was lopsided and his hair looked like it had just been hit by it’s own micro-hurricane.

“Wow Braeburn, what the heck happened to you?” Spark Plug said.

He panted for a second, rasing a hoof. “Hold on gimme a sec….” he took several deep breaths and sat down.

“Okay, I just want ya to know that I can’t hold them off any longer. Them reporters just about ran me over.” He said, still panting.

“Well, then, no use to keep the media unhappy.” Rarity said, getting up from her vanity and walking over to Braeburn, giving a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “If you want, I can let Twilight handle the mob if you want.”

Braeburn thought for a second. “Well…I think I can handle them. I’m yer secretary after all, I should be able to handle a few dozen mad ponies. Just like a day at the office really.”

Rarity chuckled. “Well, if you say so hon.”

She helped him up and they both turned towards the door. They could hear the muffled sound of cameras and generic babbling behind the door.

They paused, preparing themselves for the worst.

“Um…Rarity.” Braeburn suddenly said, turning to look at Rarity.

“Yes?” Rarity replied.

“I’d just like ta say I’m really proud of ya.”

Rarity turned to look at Braeburn, somewhat surprised at the statement. “Really? How so?”

Braeburn awkwardly looked at the ground, as if searching for the right words.

“Well, all these years I’ve been workin’ fer ya, I hoped that someday you’d do somethin’ that everypony could benefit from….” He started to tear up. “…and here ya are, a superhero and everythin’.” He wiped a tear from his eye. “Oh look at me, cryin’ like a foal…”

Rarity smiled warmly. “Oh Braeburn, that’s okay,” she hugged him. “I feel the same way.”

Sweetie Belle could be heard in the background expressing her dislike of all this emotion. “Ewww….sappy.”

“Well…” Braeburn said, taking a breath. “Here goes nothin’”

They opened the door to be greeted by a barrage of paparazzi and news reporters, all assaulting Rarity with various questions. Braeburn did his best to talk over the crowd, but the mob was quickly overwhelming him.

Twilight, seeing that Braeburn didn’t stand a chance, stepped out in front of the reporters. “Okay, she’s ready to take your questions. But please one at a time.” Twilight shouted over the din of reporter’s questions as she led Rarity over the podium. The crowd of reporters fell silent.

Rarity stepped behind the microphone and cleared her throat with Twilight standing next to her. “Good morning everyone.” The reporters all gave various murmurs in response.

“It has been seen in recent news reports a certain character that you’ve all come to call Iron Mare.” She said, doing her best to remain nonchalant.

A reporter suddenly raised a hoof.

“Ah, yes, you. What is your question?” Rarity said, turning to look at the unicorn reporter.

“Hi, I’m Walter Clopwrite, from the Equestrian Inquirer.” The pony replied.

Rarity’s shoulders drooped. This pony just kept following her around didn’t he.

“And your question, Mr. Clopwrite?” she said.

“Well, it has been rumored by some eye-witnesses that the pony in the suit looked an awful lot like you and all reports say that it came from your home. Care to comment?”

Rarity gave him a condescending look. “Well, I about to get to that my friend.” she cleared her throat once more.

“So, to answer both Mr. Clopwrite and everypony else, I know there's been some speculation that I was involved with those events that happened last week...”

Clopwrite once again raised his hoof. “I’m sorry, Ms. Belle, but do you seriously expect us to believe that this was just some random bodyguard that appeared out the ether like magic?”

“Now hold dear...” Rarity said raising a hoof. “I know it might be a little frustrating and confusing to some, and it's perfectly natural to question such a thing, we all tend to do that, but it’s a totally different thing to make such wild and need I mention, baseless accusations and insinuate that I'm some sort of superhero or vigilante. Heaven forbid.”

“I never said that.” Clopwrite said, somewhat indignant.

“Never said what?” Rarity replied, pushing a stray bang of hair out her line of vision.

“I never said you where a superhero.” Clopwrite responded, still indignant.

“Oh, well, good.” Rarity said, relieved. “Because you of all ponies would know that that would simply be impossible, knowing my character. I've got an ego the size of a small country and I've made mistakes, many very, very public.”

Twilight leaned over to whisper in her ear. “Remember the cards.”

“Of course, dear.” Rarity whispered back. She turned back to crowd of reporters. “Anyways, I'd like to dispel these rumors.” She levitated the notes in front of her and put on her reading glasses. “The truth is...”

She was suddenly reminded of what Sweetie Belle had said. ‘Wouldn’t that be lying? Wouldn’t they find out anyways?’ Rarity suddenly felt guilty. Was she just going to deny responsibility for her actions like before? Or would she take responsibility for her gift like how Kili would have wanted? As much as she wanted to just keep up a charade and live a normal life, it was obvious that that couldn’t be possible anymore…surprisingly, Sweetie Belle was right.

She took a deep breath, and bracing herself, put the cards down and took off her reading glasses.

“The truth is...” The reporters all leaned forward in sync and hundreds of camera’s started to take pictures. “The truth is….I am Iron Mare.”

And then the dam broke. The reporters exploded into a complete and total frenzy, firing off a thousand questions a minute.

"And in the end

The love you take

Is equal to the love

You make."

The End by The Beatles