Iron Mare

"You want to what?" asked an understandably astonished Spitfire.

"I want to end the war with it, Spitfire.  We can go out into Saddle Arabia and take out the Diamond Dogs with no problem.  But I need—"

"And who do you expect to fly this thing?"

"Me, of course.  And if—"

"Absolutely not.  I'm not letting you do that."

"You don't get it, Spitfire—"

"No, I get it perfectly.  You think you can suit up, fly out, beat up some bad guys and everyone goes home happy.  Well, you know something?  You won't.  You'll get killed.  And I already went through the grief of losing you once.  I don't plan on doing it again."

Spitfire looked around the room before settling her gaze on the silver suit of armor behind Rainbow Dash.

"I don't care how amazing that thing is.  I'll call the Canterlot Royal Guard before I let you out into Saddle Arabia."

With that, Spitfire turned around and began storming out of the room, pausing only to look back at her friend for the briefest of moments before continuing out the door.

She'd lost Rainbow Dash once in Saddle Arabia; the idea of her best friend wanting to fly back into a war zone downright scared her.  She couldn't lose her again, and she was willing to do anything to ensure that she wouldn’t.

*                               *                               *

Rainbow Dash merely stood alone in silence after Spitfire had stormed out of the Boom Room.  "That, uh...  That could have gone about twenty times better."

Rainbow turned around and began to tinker with the dial of her radio once more.

"I don't suppose you intend to attend the DashCo Charity Fundraiser tonight then?" inquired T.A.N.K.

"The what?" asked Rainbow, still trying to find the ever-elusive balance between volume and clarity.

"The fundraiser at DashCo's headquarters, madam.  The very same one you announced several months ago."

"Hey, T.A.N.K., I don't know if you've picked up on this one yet, but I've been sort of...  out of town for a few months.  Why

didn't you tell me?"

"You didn't ask.  As I was saying, the fundraiser will begin in half an hour."

"How much longer ‘til the new model is complete?" Rainbow asked the computer.

"Estimated time remaining is three hours."

“It's been a long time since I crashed a party,” Rainbow thought to herself mischievously.  She picked up a small silver watch from a nearby table and slipped it around her hoof.  "Don't wait up for me, honey," she said as she left the Boom Room, grabbing her coat.

*                               *                               *

The Diamond Dogs all stood perfectly in a line, heads bowed and eyes closed.  All were unworthy to even look at their master as he passed them one by one.  At the end of the line was Rover, the only one brave (or perhaps foolish) enough to keep his eyes open.  Though his eyes pointed downward, he was easily able to distinguish the blue and black figure of his master approaching along the dim rocky corridor.

As his master came closer, Rover bit down on his lip.  They had pieced together the suit of armor Rainbow Dash left behind as best they could, and yet he still was not sure if it was enough to please him.

As Ahuizotl finally came to a halt, Rover couldn't help but find himself shaking in fear.

"Where is it?" said the blue- and black-coated creature in a hushed voice that shook Rover to his heart.  Without a word, Rover turned around and led his Master into the next chamber of the cave, where Rainbow Dash's original suit of armor stood assembled.

For the past month, his Diamond Dogs had worked to put the machine back together.  Even though Dash had left the original schematics behind, their complexity and the overall difficulty of figuring out which bit connected to what made the task much more difficult.

"Relax, my friend," whispered Ahuizotl.  "I have not come to punish you.  In fact, I believe congratulations are in order."

Rover managed to pull his mouth up into a nervous smile.  His master had praised him.  Surely he was pleased with their progress.

"And now...  destroy it," his master said simply.

"E-excuse me?"

"Destroy it.  We do not want such a machine used against us again."

Ahuizotl turned and began walking out of the chamber without another word.  Rover followed and fell into step alongside him.

"B-but, master, I thought we were going to use the machine ourselv—"

Rover was thrown to the ground after a sharp blow by Ahuizotl to his face.  As he got back up, he found his master to be

nowhere in sight, the only sign of him being a trail of prints that simply came to an end.

Rover had no intention of destroying the original suit of armor.  He had plans of his own.