A new day was dawning upon Equestria, the Sun’s light warming the landscape gradually, and drying it off after the scheduled rains soaked it over. The first rays of light shone through the windows, revealing the ponies that slept peacefully. It also served as a natural clock for the pony farmers, who have to wake up early to work the fields.

Applejack woke up slowly, rubbing her eyes and yawning. It was the ‘ Late Applebuck’ season, so she had to prepare for the day and start working. Stretching a little, she trotted over to the mirror and brushed her mane and tail, then tied them. Giving herself a double check, she smiled, satisfied with her work and grabbed her Stetson hat that stood on the door knob. Down stairs, she met with her brother, who was already preparing breakfast for both.

“Howdy Big Mac, startin’ early today, huh?”

“Eeyup. Them apples won’t buck themselves.”

She sat at the table and ate her breakfast with her brother, discussing future plans for the expansion of the orchard. Minutes later, Applejack finished her meal and left the house. She stood a few minutes, bathing herself in the sunlight, the warm feeling giving her a sense of relaxation. She closed her eyes and raised her head, enjoying the few moments of peace. Upon opening them, her eyes rested upon the cloud home of her best friend, a certain stubborn cyan Pegasus. ‘Ah suppose she’s gonna sleep until afternoon, like always…’ She smiled to herself and trotted away towards the orchard.

---

High above the ground, resting on her soft cloud bed, Rainbow Dash snored away, tired after the wedding party. Despite being away in Canterlot for a while, she made it in time for the cake and ate heartily, spending her time with her friends and having fun. At the end of the party, she gathered her friends and told them what transpired in Canterlot, earning gasps and congratulations.

Still sleeping, she sniffed something strange in the air. Smoke.

“Huh, what… Oh horseapples, where did this smoke come from!?” she yelled and jumped off her bead, landing on her flank. Looking around fast, she found the source of the smoke being the strange black box that appeared in the middle of her room. Her eyes caught sight of her special necklace, glowing a soft blue.

“I think it’s time for me to work. But it’s sooo early…” She sighed and paced towards the mysterious box. Opening it, Rainbow found inside a blissful black uniform, adorned with several royal markings. Picking it up, she placed it upon herself and headed towards the mirror in the corner. “Wow… now this is what I call an AWESOME uniform… It’s so… tight, yet so flexible at the same time.” Moving a hoof along her back towards her flank, she grinned like a wolf. “If this doesn’t make Soarin’ drop his jaw… I don’t know what will.” Picking up her necklace and placing it on her neck, she started hearing voices.

“Good morning Captain Dash! Beautiful day isn’t it?”

“Who’s there!? How did you enter my house?” she raised her fists expectantly. She immediately dropped them when she heard chucking and snorting.

“Calm down, Dash, it’s me, Soarin’. I’m talking to you through your necklace. Get dressed up and lets meet up at the training camp north of Canterlot. You need some combat expertise and hoof-to-hoof lessons. After all, you are the new Captain!”

“Oh… oh, I get it. I’m already dressed up so I’ll be on my way.”

“Alright, see you there.” With that, she no longer heard anything. Standing upright, Rainbow bolted out of her house towards Canterlot, mentally preparing for her new type of training. 'Ugh, sooo sleepy...'.

---

In the other part of Equestria, at the Manehattan Institute of Technology, Sundancer and Tony were attending the first class after a few days break. Tony’s presence was received with cheering and hoof-clapping, congratulating him for standing up to Spectrum for his marefriend. He never felt so good before, blushing from all of the attention. He was brought back to reality by Sundancer, who whipped his flank with her tail, giving him a warm smile.

“Sorry, I lost myself there…” he grinned sheepishly.

“It’s okay, I was just teasing you. Let’s go find our seats, before we end up split again.”

He simply nodded and trotted alongside her. Turning left around the corner, they bumped into Spectrum’s friends, who immediately made way for the two ponies, who bore confused looks on their faces.

“It’s rather strange, getting respected all of a sudden, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, it’s quite concerning. Just, don’t lose yourself into it, alright?” she gave him a peck on the cheek and entered the classroom.

Finding a decent spot in the rows, they sat down and were having a small chatter about his plans for a flight suit.

“So, did you think of how are you going to power it? I don’t think you will have a place to hold a fuel tank or anything like that.” She chuckled lightly.

“Not at all, I got this” he pointed at the arc reactor, now fully visible to the other students, who gasped in astonishment. “As for the propulsion method, I read an article about those new electrical energy-based rocket propellers. They seem quite efficient.”

“What, you mean the repulsor technology? Isn’t that a bit too hard to control?”

“Well, I think I could manage to create some sort of an energy resistance calibration unit, that acts upon the way I move my hooves around. Sounds complicated, but it isn’t that hard. It just takes time. Still, if there’s one thing bugging me about flying, it’s the air currents. I am sure that I will encounter strong air currents that will either knock me of my track, or just burn my face when moving. I need to find a way to fix that…”

“Hmm… I think there is a way… let me show you something.” She pulled out a magazine out of a stack that rested inside her notebook. With a satisfied grin, she showed the cover to her friend. “Check this out.” The cover of the magazine revealed a massive earth pony adorned in a new, lightweight armor, strong enough to repel any melee attacks, but light enough to run in it. The title read 'Titanium & Light Mithril: Newly discovered alloy. Light as a feather, strong as Black Steel!'

“Umm… Sundancer, I doubt that I can fly with that thing on me… I mean, look at the size of that stallion! He’s twice my size! I only look big because I’m fat right now…” he looked away, embarrassed.

She snickered and nudged him on the shoulder. “Oh Tony, in your first day, here at the Institute, you said you are interested in robotics, didn’t you?” She gave him a wink.

He thought for a second, wanting to reply that he needs a powerful software base for such a complex machine, but dropped his idea when he thought back to the Doctor and his contraptions.

“Armor… robotics… Jarvis. That’s it!”

“What's it? And who’s Jarvis, sweetie?”

“It’s an autonomous software created by the Doctor. I think I can use him and your idea for the project! Say, are you busy in the weekend?”

She smiled and shared a soft kiss.

---

Two days later, Tony and Sundancer were on their way to Ponyville, to visit his friends and to recover the Doctor’s inventions and tools. The train was speeding towards its destination, puffing smoke and howling occasionally. During the trip, Sundancer was napping on his shoulder, while he was drawing different schematics of the upcoming flight suit. None seem to work out. Sighing in defeat, for the moment, he closed his notebook and rested his head upon hers, slowly drifting into a dream, only to awaken suddenly at the sound of the train pulling to a stop.

‘Wow, it was way slower when I came first…’

Nudging the sleeping mare gently, she woke up and yawned, accidentally hitting him in his left eye.

“Ouch… Watch where you’re stretching, will you?” He retorted playfully, rubbing his swollen eye.

“Sorry sweetie, sometimes I forget how soft you truly are,” she replied, craning her neck upwards, to bear an air of superiority.

“Soft? I… well… Never mind, let’s go.”

Exiting the train, he trotted directly to the former Clockwork Shop, to prepare the machines for moving, while Sundancer flew above him. Fifteen minutes later, they arrived at the shop. ‘Didn’t change one bit.’

“Is this the shop where the legendary Whooves worked?” she stared in amazement, that such an incredible pony would just run a clockwork shop. “Maybe he wasn’t right in the head, you know…”

“Oh, I know what you mean,” he said, rolling his eyes and thinking back to the moment when he met him. “Let’s go, we need to pack things up then head for the Library. I only hope my friends are home today.”

“Alright, lead the way, ‘Iron Pony’…” she snickered and sighed happily, landing besides him.

“Iron Pony? Not bad.” He returned the smile and entered the shop.

---

Several hours later, in the Canterlot boot camp for the Royal Guard, one very exhausted cyan Pegasus was panting heavily after such a long and harsh training It’s been several days since she started this kind of training, and it was very exhausting to say the least. Soarin’ wasn’t doing any better, so they called it a day and went to take a shower.

“Hey Soarin’, do you wanna… uh… do you wanna go have a coffee, some time?” Rainbow asked the blue Pegasus trotting next to her.

“I’d like to. Hey Dash, let me show you around the scientific compound just beneath the camp. It’s so awesome to see the new experimental weapons! It’s rumored that Doctor Whooves is assisting the scientific team in some ultra-secret project revolving around some kind of a large bomb.”

“Uh-uh…” she replied with disinterest, science being something she despised. Taking the elevator down, they trotted along a very large corridor, littered with large windows and metallic doors. Taking a peek through the windows, Rainbow could see ponies assembling different weapons, armors and magical tools, such as staves and wands. Why did they even bothered with magical weapons it was beyond her imagination. Soarin’ went ahead of her and headed right. She didn’t notice this and bumped straight into a unicorn mare carrying a large number of files and documents. Rubbing her head, she stood up and noticed the chaos she created.

“Ohmygosh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean it.”

”It’s okay, happens from time to time. Can you help me put them back?”

“S-sure thing.” She then kneeled over and started stacking files and documents, occasionally reading the contents. Boring scientific schematics, personal records and weapon designs. She then reached out a file and read it prematurely. Rainbow hushed a gasp and covered her mouth with her hoof. ‘No way am I letting this slip away.’ Looking around quickly, she searched for a way to distract the unicorn mare, long enough for her to fit the file inside her suit.

“Hey, is that the Doctor in that room?”

The mare rose and starred through the windows behind her, allowing the cyan mare to hide the file in her suit. “No, it’s your imagination. Besides, he isn’t working here.”

“Oh, sorry then… Here, all done.”

“Thank you for helping me, Captain. Have a nice day.”

Rainbow nodded and left the building through the elevator, setting out for Ponyville as fast as she could. ‘This has something to do with that thing in him… I can feel it!’

---

Back in Ponyville, Tony and Sundancer were heading towards the Library, hopping to find Twilight home. It was already sunset when they finished packing the equipment.

“As I was saying, these mares are the Elements of Harmony, and they banished Nightmare Moon and Discord, the Lord of Chaos. Twilight Sparkle is Celestia’s prized student, and represents the element of magic—“ he continued detailing his friends to Sundancer. “—and Rainbow Dash is the element of Loyalty. She’s quite a nice girl, but a bit too active…”

“Rainbow Dash?! THE Rainbow Dash? The one mare that won the Young Flyer’s Competition a few years ago by performing a Sonic Rainboom?!”

“Yep, that’s Rainbow alright!”

She gaped in amazement and squealed in delight. “I want her autograph!”

Tony smiled and looked upon the library built into the massive tree. “I will do what I can, but I can’t promise anything. Here we are, Ponyville Library.”

Knocking on the door, a voice from behind it answered swiftly. “Coming!” The door opened slowly, revealing … nothing? They looked around confused, until something poked their legs. “Hey, I’m down here!”

“Huh? Ohmygosh, Tony what is that?!” Sundancer leaped in his arms.

“Calm down sweetie, this is Spike, Twilight Sparkle’s number one assistant, isn’t that right?”

Spike blushed and puffed his chest. “Well of course I am! Come in, Twilight is upstairs, I’ll go get her.” With that, the small dragon ran away from the door and yelled for the lavender mare. “Twilight! Somepony’s here for you!”

“Coming, Spike!”

Several moments later, the lavender mare noticed the ponies present in the library and recognized the stallion.

“Tony! Welcome back!” She trotted up and hugged him, then turned and greeted the mare next to him. “H-hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle, I’m a friend of Tony’s.”

“Nice to meet you, Twilight. I’m Sundancer, Tony’s soon-to-be fiancée.” At this, Tony's mouth dropped and gasped loudly, while blushing furiously.

“Congratulations to you two! I'm happy for you, Tony. Come, we have much to talk!”

“We sure do Twilight, we sure—“ their discussion was abruptly ended by a cyan Pegasus mare that crashed through the windows upstairs and tumbled on the floor next to them, panting. The three ponies were shocked and stared at the pegasus that laid on the floor, looking towards Twilight.

“Rainbow! What happened, you look like you saw a ghost!”

“Sorry Twi, but we gotta talk! I found something that’s probably related to that pony from Manehattan.”

“Ahem.”

Rainbow, looking around, locked eyes with two pairs of confused eyes, staring directly at her. ‘Buck’

“Hey Tony, how’s it hanging?” She tried to change the subject.

“Hi Rainbow, nice to see you too. If you don’t mind, you were saying something about a pony from Manehattan. Can I see it too?”

Rainbow gulped and frowned. “Sorry, but I am not allowed to share such information. Twilight is Celestia’s student, so I can tell her everything security related.”

“Since when do you handle security, if you don’t mind?” he huffed, a bit irritated by her reply.

“Oh, you haven’t heard of my promotion to Captain of the Royal Guards, did you? Also, I was accepted into the Wonderbolts in my free time, isn’t that awesome!?” At this, Sundancer's eyes widened.

“WOW Rainbow that’s soooo AWESOME!!” Sundancer squealed and leaped at her, hugging her tightly. “You must give me an autograph! Please!” She begged the cyan Pegasus, overwhelmed by her enthusiasm.

“S-sure thing… but where shall I sign?”

Thinking quickly, she turned around and patted her rump. “Right here, if you don’t mind…”

Tony was shocked and stared in disbelief. ‘Is this mare for real?’ Rainbow blushed slightly and signed herself on her rump.

“Thankyou thankyou thankyou! You’re the best!”

"Well, I almost forgot the reason I came here. Twilight, can you please send a letter to Doctor Whooves and ask him to send me 10-no, 20 missile repulsors, along with their schematics? Just tell him I need them for an experiment, nothing dangerous."

"Alright. Spike, take a letter please!"

In the meantime, the cyan pegasus sighed in relief, having avoided a possible fight. 'He's not ready... No, he will have to wait.'

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