Iron Mare

"Okay, day three, test, uh...  twenty seven," began a nervous Rainbow Dash.  "I think I've finally got the hind leg stabilizers balanced right so I won't be doing anymore flips in the air, I hope..."

She gulped at that last statement.  Until now, she had been consistently crashing less than a second after activating the launch mechanisms.  It was always either the power being too high or low, the balance between her front and hind legs being off, or both in especially painful cases.  At this point, Rainbow Dash's entire body was covered in a layer of bruises, scratches, and aching pains.

She stood in the same spot she always did when testing.  She swallowed again before licking her lips.  "Let’s, uh...  let’s start off nice and easy with forty percent coolant and sixty percent thrust capacity so I don't go flying again. Okay, launch begins in three, two..." Rainbow Dash squeezed her eyes shut before finishing her countdown.  "One!" With that, she heard the sound of the Dazzler Launchers under her hooves activate and, seconds later, felt herself being slowly pushed off of the floor.

"T-T.A.N.K.?" she called out, still keeping her eyes shut.  "Is it safe to open my eyes yet?"

"Congratulations, Miss Dash, you have performed a flawless liftoff."

Upon hearing that, Rainbow slowly began to open her eyes, finding herself hovering just inches off the ground.  She smiled, looking down and around. The energy output of the thrusters that kept her afloat gave off a very soft, pure white glow.

"Okay!  Test over!" she called out, her voice cracking as it always did when she grew excited.  Rainbow Dash dropped back to the floor.  She stumbled for a moment, catching her balance.  An enormous grin spread across her face.  "It works!" she cried out.  "It works!"

She had been flying! The Crystal managed to sustain the initial kinetic energy from the toned-down take off and keep her afloat in the air.  And, for once, the test didn't end with her smashing into the ceiling or crashing into a wall.  Though the amount of power she set it to wasn't nearly enough to get her flying above the clouds, she was sure she had figured out the balancing issues she had faced in previous tests.

"Do me a favor, T.A.N.K.," said a very giddy Rainbow Dash.

"Ma'am?"

"See of you can assemble the outer layer of omnium armor.  Just like we simulated earlier."

"As you wish, madame"

Rainbow Dash trotted over to the middle of the mat once more, where four hoof marks were spaced equally apart from one another.  From the ground underhoof came several mechanical arms that reached out and began to assemble the glossy silver armor all around her body.  Sparks flashed as pieces of metal were welded together for the first time.  The armor whirred as tiny screws were twisted together.  Metal was connected and fastened all around her.  Two gleaming pieces of the omnium metal were placed at the sides of her head before the last piece was finally was finally positioned over her face.  The world darkened around her, as the two eye holes in the mask allowed just a smidgen of light from the outside world to seep in.  Seconds later, a miniaturized three-dimensional projection of the environment around her flashed to life before her eyes.  Rainbow Dash had always specialized in miniaturization; it was the first thing she had experimented with as a filly. To her, taking something and making it smaller was a piece of cake.  While making her own three-dimensional projection smaller was a bit of a challenge, it no doubt worked perfectly; and most importantly, it looked awesome.

The projector displayed the entire Boom Room in front of her face.  Off to the right side of the display was a slightly enlarged rotating image of the newly-assembled suit of armor she wore.

"T.A.N.K., old buddy, you there?" she asked.

Seconds later, the familiar computerized voice echoed within the helmet.  "At your service, madam, I have indeed been properly uploaded into the armor."

"Peachy.  Now let’s run some tests, huh?"

"Yes, Miss Dash.  Preparing to power down and run flight simulations to make calculations for further reference."

"Yeah, about that..." said Rainbow, her voice sliding into T.A.N.K's sentence.  "Let’s check up on the weather outside and do a straight-up flying test around Las Pegasus.  Give the ponies something to see."

"Ma'am, I must protest as there are still hundreds of calculations that need to be completed, in addition to the fact that there are no-"

"One, two three, GO!" shouted Rainbow Dash before T.A.N.K.  was able to finish.  Seconds later, Rainbow Dash had crashed directly through the ceiling of her Boom Room, through the floor above and directly up into the sky above.

"-windows or doorways in your present location," finished T.A.N.K.

Rainbow flew through the air, going higher and higher into the night sky.  She looked down below, barely able to make out the hole she had left in the roof of her house.  The flight stabilizers left behind a white trail in her wake.  Rainbow Dash couldn't stop herself from grinning like a fool as she came to a halt in midair, hovering for a few moments in order to look around her.  She had done it!  She had singlehoofedly spat in the face of medical science and gotten herself back in the air.

The sound of thunder in the distance slowly rolled into her ears.  Turning to her left, Rainbow Dash was barely able to make out a large mass of dark clouds forming against the indigo night sky.

"T.A.N.K., how long until that sucker hits us?"

"Calculating," said T.A.N.K with a pause.  "ETA is twenty minutes.  However, several DashCo weather balloons are

reporting that sudden lightning-"

"That's more than enough."

With that, Rainbow Dash sped away as fast as she could toward the Las Pegasus skyline.  Thus far, her suit had been handling itself quite well.  There were no malfunctions, the in-helmet projector was working properly, T.A.N.K.  had been properly uploaded, and the flight stabilizers were working like a charm now that she has perfected the balance between each hoof.  The only thing that Rainbow Dash was uncomfortable with was flying with her wings pressed flat against her back by the suit; but aside from that, going through the sky was an all too familiar sensation.

She zipped through the night sky, the glowing trail she left behind catching the eyes of onlookers below.  Ponies on the streets looked up to catch a glimpse of what looked to them like a shooting star.  Fillies and colts were awoken by the whooshing noise she made as she flew on.  It was a remarkable sight to behold.  So remarkable, in fact, that some ponies questioned if they had seen anything at all.  But they had.  They had caught their first glimpse of the brilliant pony who had beaten all odds and regained her ability to fly.  They had seen, for the first time, the pony that would later come to be known as the Iron Mare.