(Takes place immediately after "Spider-Man: Homecoming")
Earth, New York, Queens
Tony Stark casually strolled through the fairly cozy apartment buildin for only the second time in his life. In his hand was a bulky suitcase, carrying his current armor, collapsed for easy transport. He'd been spending a normal day at the compound, having a small meeting with Pepper, Twilight, Applejack, and Pinkie. The topic of the day had been more ideas concerning the introduction of Equestria to the nations of Earth, something both parties had been excited for. The idea of forging a diplomatic relationship between two planets was definitely intriguing. The problem was, naturally, there were no examples of such diplomacy before, so nobody was certain how to proceed. Hopefully, the friendly nature of Equestria would calm some of the xenophobia.
However, that conversation had been halted by a call on Tony's cell phone, courtesy of Peter Parker. The ponies had been forced to return to their own planet, while the billionaire visited the Avenger-in-progress. Tony wouldn't readily admit it, but he really did care about the kid, despite all the hassle he caused. Now, even after deciding he truly wasn't ready to be a full-time Avenger, Peter apparently had a problem only Tony could help with.
After the Sombra fiasco, Tony had wanted Peter to return to low-level street crime for a while, before easing him into the more difficult stuff. Unfortunately, Peter wasn't keen on the training wheels, managing to not only override the blocking protocols in his suit, but uncover a crime ring that had apparently been operating since the Battle of New York, stealing technology from the aftermath of superhuman conflicts, and building weapons to sell to criminals (which Tony was grateful for). This had resulted in an elevator accident at the Washington Monument (in which Peter had thankfully managed to save everybody), the Staten Island Ferry getting sliced in half by lasers (which Tony'd had to interfere in), and Peter getting into a fight with Adrian Toomes, a guy with mechanical wings that made Sam look like a pigeon. Peter had been beaten up, had a chunk of building dropped on him, and survived a plane crashing off the edge of Coney Island, all in his homemade costume. The kid deserved some credit, that was hardcore.
All the same, Tony would be lying if he said Peter wasn't a concern. The kid was was brave, intelligent, and hell, he was stronger than Steve, but he was still a kid. Letting him come along to fight Sombra had been one thing, considering there were over a dozen people (and ponies) who were capable of watching his back. But out there, Tony couldn't always be on standby to save his hide. Sure, after he'd learned about the whole uncle thing, it was a bit easier to understand Peter's need to dive into dangerous situations, but he needed time to learn. He needed to train for the times when he'd be forced into life or death fights without backup.
Reaching the apartment he knew, Tony raised his hand to the door. His knuckles had barely rapped on the wood when the door opened, revealing a rather irate May Parker. What really surprised Tony was that she was utterly unsurprised to see him.
"Well, come in," she grunted. "I'm fighting the urge to punch you right now, and it's probably better the less I have to do it."
Tony raised his eyebrows, confused. Peter hadn't given any details in his call, claiming Tony should see it for himself. Apparently, it had something to do with May. That, and the fact that only Tony could solve it left only a handful of possibilities, none of which were optimal.
Tony stepped into the apartment. His first discovery was Peter, sitting quietly on the couch, hands together in front of him. Of course, that wasn't what caught Tony's attention. What did catch it, of course, was the fact that Peter was wearing his whole costume, with the exception of the mask.
"You TOLD her?!" Tony shouted, jaw dropping as he stared at the kid.
"What do you think, Sherlock Holmes?" Peter quipped, but his tone was clearly disgruntled. Tony didn't blame him.
"No, he didn't tell me," May continued. "He didn't tell me that you were helping my teenage nephew go jumping around off rooftops at night getting shot at. So, Mr. Stark," she planted herself in a chair, facing the two of them, "why don't you explain why I shouldn't call the cops?"
"I'd kind of appreciate it if you didn't," Peter chimed in. "Y'know, secret identity—"
"Peter, be quiet," May snapped. Peter shrank back in his seat, looking down at the floor.
"Well, uh..." Tony stumbled over his words. He was starting to wish Peter hadn't called him. Then again, May had probably forced him to.
"It doesn't take a genius to figure out what the whole 'internship' thing was," May continued, glaring at the billionaire. "What I don't know is where you fit in the whole Spider-Man thing. Were you the one that encouraged him to go jump in front of criminals guns, or—"
"For the last time, no!" Peter protested. "I was doing this months before I met him! All he did was give me the suit, which makes me quite a bit safer, by the way!"
"Peter!" May turned on him, looking furious, but the teenager pressed on before she could interrupt him.
"I told you we didn't have to contact Mr. Stark, because I could explain everything by myself, but you wouldn't listen! And now you're freaking out and you won't listen to anyone because of it, like you always do when you're really stressed, and I know you only do it because you care about me, but you're making everything really difficult, and this is why I didn't tell you, because I didn't want to worry you, and..."
Peter had to stop at that point, so he could inhale again. "Sorry, forgot to breathe there."
May sat back in her chair, looking rather shocked. Not bad shocked, as though Peter had slapped her, but just surprised. Tony was glued to his seat, wide-eyed, glancing back and forth between the aunt and nephew, afraid to break the silence.
Eventually, he managed to conquer that fear. "Uh...should I step outside? I understand this is kinda personal for you..." He slowly reached for his briefcase.
Naturally, none of them were prepared for the case to start shaking of its own accord. Something inside the case popped, and the lid swung open, revealing Tony's armor compressed into the square shape. Something beneath the armor pushed it out of the briefcase, dropping it onto the carpet, revealing a pink blob beneath. The blob suddenly sprouted four long legs, climbed out of Tony's briefcase, and untwisted itself with a yawn.
"Phew!" said Pinkie Pie, stretching all the cramps out of her body. "I can't believe I managed to fall asleep in that thing!" She turned around. "Hi, Spidey!"
"Wha—PINKIE?!" screamed Peter, as Pinkie leapt into his lap, settling down like a rather large cat.
Tony's flabbergasted face swept back and forth, between the earth pony, and the briefcase she'd been occupying mere seconds ago. "What...how did you fit in that thing?!"
"Believe me, it wasn't easy," Pinkie replied, as though this were an everyday, normal conversation. "I had to cram in while you were distracted talking to Twilight. Don't worry, I put a sticky note on Rainbow Dash's flank, so they'll know where I went." She gave her widest possible smile, oblivious to the struck faces of the three humans in the room.
One of those faces happened to belong to May Parker, who'd never lain eyes on an Equestrian before. She could only stare, her jaw dropping as low as it possibly could, before managing to make eye contact with her nephew.
"Peter. Explain. Please," she managed to get out. It was intended to be a command, but May was so stunned it came out completely monotone. Not that anybody would blame her in this situation.
Pinkie's ears twitched and she sat up in Peter's lap, noticing the woman for the first time.
"Oh! You must be Peter's aunt!" she exclaimed, leaping off of Peter and over to May. Peter grunted from the force of Pinkie launching herself from his body. The pony was remarkably strong. Pinkie, meanwhile, grabbed May's hand with both of her forelegs, wringing her arm.
"Hi I'm Pinkie Pie from planet Equis! My friends and I were visiting with Tony earlier today and then he got a call from Peter and he had to go see him so we had to leave, but I haven't had the chance to write in the journal with Peter yet! And then I was like 'Huh!' because I realized I could sneak along to visit Peter! So here I am! Nice to meet you!"
May blinked, staring at the living cartoon character in front of her, her mouth frozen in an open position.
Peter sighed. "I'm gonna be honest, Pinkie," he muttered. "I don't think she understood one word you just said."
"Really?" asked the pony. "Was I talking too fast again? Sorry, my bad. Let me try again." She stood up on her hind legs in front of May, and began speaking again, slowly waving her forelimbs as if to emphasize. "Hi. I'm. Pinkie. Pie. From—"
Tony tried to groan under his breath, not wanting to offend the party pony in some way. "Let me explain, Pinkie. It's easier that way.
"Basically, some time ago, the Avengers were confronted by creatures from the planet Equis that warped to our planet, and stole our stuff. We followed them to get it back, and we befriended ponies from that planet. Now we visit across the two planets, and we were talking today, when Peter called me. And somepony apparently decided to hitch a ride in my case." He glared at Pinkie, who laughed it off.
"For the record, he didn't take me," Peter spoke up. "I followed him, because I wanted to talk about the thing in Germany, and he wasn't answering his phone." He chose to leave out Clint and Rhodey, knowing it would raise even more questions nobody wanted to deal with right now.
"You're telling me...on that one weekend where you were 'interning'...you were on a different PLANET?!" May's voice boomed throughout the apartment. Upon reaching the end of her scream of disbelief, she slumped back into her chair, completely worn out.
"Well, now you know why I couldn't call," Peter deadpanned. "We don't exactly get cell reception outside our solar system."
"Aw, it's not so bad!" said Pinkie, bouncing up to May again. "He helped save Equestria from that big meanie Sombra! And he makes funny jokes in the middle of fights and he was really nice to us and—"
"Pinkie, please stop talking," Peter moaned, hoping to cut her off before she informed May that he'd been in mortal peril at least once during his trip to Equestria.
"But your web tricks were so much fun!" Pinkie protested. "And when you told us about your uncle, because you wanted everyone to stop fighting." Her smile faded, and some of the poof dropped out of her mane, as she looked down sadly. "Even though it was so sad that you had to go through that..."
"Ben...?" May interrupted, having caught the word "uncle."
Peter sighed. Pinkie was leading the conversation down a path he didn't want to go, but in a way, he was grateful to her. If he was being honest with himself, the topic was probably inevitable, and it was better to just get it over with.
"When I got my powers," he started, apprehensive, "I went to a place where I could use them to earn some money. It was for you and Uncle Ben, not me. But the guy tried to screw me out of it, and then he got robbed. I was so angry at him, I let the burglar go. That burglar...was the same guy who killed Ben."
May gasped, but she didn't take her eyes off her nephew.
"That's why I started doing this. I couldn't stand by...and let something like that happen again. Not to somebody else," Peter continued, unable to take his eyes off the floor.
"Yeah...and he showed that back home," Pinkie chimed in, looking somber.
May Parker sat quietly for a moment, before getting to her feet. Then she walked over to Peter, and put her arms around him.
"I'm so proud of you..." she mumbled, a tear dripping from her eye. "And I know Ben would be, too." Peter hugged her back, smiling with content. Tony and Pinkie both beamed at the heartwarming sight.
"You're still grounded, though," May chuckled.
"WHAT?!"
"Aw, really?" Pinkie whined, bouncing up to May again. "Can he be ungrounded, please? I wanted him to come to Equestria and help me with one of my super Pinkie Pie parties, because his webs are so much fun, although somepony might be scared of spiders, but it might be good for a Nightmare Night party, and..."
Tony groaned again. They were gonna be here for a while.