Infinity Era

by JDPrime22

Chapter 117 – My Greatest Creation

Afternoon sunlight spilled forth from the heavens and gleamed across the lake. Within the warming forests of North America, a lone cabin stood near the lakeside and spread a blanketing shadow across the waters. Ripples from tadpoles, from fish, from insects upon the surface made the waves dance a harmonic and rhythmic tune no man could play. The light from the sun showered down, broke through the towering tree lines, and rested upon the lone, humble abode.

Anthony Edward Stark stepped out of it and breathed in. Took it all in. Let it all out in a long, winded, and satisfying exhale. He wore a soft, black coat and green T-shirt, black pants and shoes to boot. Pun intended. Tony had come to truly appreciate puns more often in his retirement. And that retirement showed, slivers of gray in his dark brown hair, aged but satisfied wrinkles tugging at his facial features. He was a man who stepped out of a great storm and smiled to see another day.

As the birds chirped in the tree above and the sun shone heavy in his eyes, Tony Stark made his way over to the recreation area. It was a little spot for him and Mrs. Pepper Stark to sit back, cook some cheeseburgers, and spend countless nights gazing into the campfire or onto the moonlit water’s edge. Only, it seemed to be that his recreation area was infested with an invasive intruder. A tiny playhouse, a colorful tent, no taller than his waist, amongst a strewn collection of toys, dolls, and crude crayon drawings.

Tony pursed his lips at that, shaking his head as he turned about absentmindedly. He looked anywhere else except where he knew she would be. “Morguna!” Tony called out, clapping his hands three times as he took a seat on the log resting by the doused campfire pit. “Come on, Squirt, I’m not playing hide-and-seek right now; it’s time for lunch.”

The flap of the tent was pushed aside, revealing the gold and blue Iron Man mask upon the small offender. “Hand over the juice pops, or prepare to be vaporized,” the child declared, pointing an innocent repulsor light right to Stark’s face.

Tony Stark smiled to his daughter.

“Listen, you can kill someone with that. You’re lucky its set to stun,” he explained, watching as the child slowly stepped fully out of the tent to rise up to his eye-level. He lifted the helmet from her head, allowing the dark brown bangs to fall from it and rest softly on the sides of her face. “Well, at least someone appreciates my work. Where did you find your mother’s mask?”

Morgan Stark played with her fingers, smiling innocently to her father. “In the garage.”

Tony thumbed over the Rescue mask, exhaling through his nostrils in an almost-scoff, shaking his head as he did so. “Funny, that’s usually where the junk goes, and last time I checked… everything I make…”

Morgan knew what was coming, beating him to the punch. “Is worth it.”

“Worth everything,” Tony mused, gazing longingly to the child no older than five, his own flesh and blood standing right before him with that curious and innocent smile on her lips, just as so in her two, shimmering eyes. If there was ever a chance to be living that perfect dream he had so many times before, Tony was glad that he lived to experience it in full. Through every storm, every war, every decision he made that threatened his life and the ones he loved, he was grateful to know there wouldn’t be any more of that. He had her to remind him of that.

More musing. Tony blinked, shifting on the log and resting his palms on Morgan’s shoulders. “Now come on, how ‘bout it? What’s rumbling in that tummy of yours?”

Morgan bit her lip, standing uneasily. Knowing he would never approve. “Popsicles.”

“Popsicles?! For lunch? Come to think of it, I’ve been craving some juice pops as of recent. Wow, great minds think alike, is that right?”

“I don’t know,” Morgan softly said, shaking her head and letting her head dance back and forth.

“Well, I know,” Tony exclaimed, reaching forward and scooping his child into his arms, “that Mom… is gonna be very upset if we don’t eat the sandwiches she prepared for us. So how ‘bout we sneak some juice pops out of the fridge for later?”

Morgan nodded her head excitedly, wrapping her arms around her father’s neck and resting her head just beside his. Stark smiled, facing forward and proceeding back to home. But not before he could let loose a sneaky quip, muttering, “God, I’m a great influence.”

It was a smile, a moment that he wished could last forever.

Nothing ever did.

He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the black car pull up to his dirt driveway. The sole reason he didn’t proceed directly towards his house was when his eyes met that of the driver’s, locking hardened gazes with the First Avenger himself. Steve Rogers stepped out of the vehicle, hand on the open door, staring straight ahead and meeting Tony’s worrisome eyes.

It was not uncommon to get a visit from Steve every now and again. Last time he dropped by was a summer back when he wanted to catch up, fish with Morgan, and just spend some time reconnecting with Tony and adjusting to the new lives they both decided to live. It wasn’t what truly worried Stark. When Natasha Romanoff, Matthew Murdock, Sunset Shimmer, Starlight Glimmer, and Twilight Sparkle stepped out of the same vehicle, that was when Stark started to question things.

His heart stopped when Scott Lang was the last one out of the car. Out in the open and up from the grave Tony thought he was forever resting in.

His agape expression would not last, Morgan fumbling in his arms as she gasped and cried out, “Auntie Twilight!”

Tony was forced to let her leave his arms, setting Morgan down onto the dirt and grass to allow the child to run forward. She shot past Steve and Natasha’s towering legs, impacting the group of mares and practically slamming herself face-first into Twilight’s chest and neck. Her tiny arms wrapped tightly around the Alicorn, Sunset and Starlight cooing adorably as Twilight couldn’t help but let a few out herself. She could hardly ever keep them contained whenever she saw Morgan Stark.

Her niece. Not by blood, of course… but by something deeper.

“Oh, Morgan…” Twilight sighed, eyes already burning. She forced the tears to stay, once again forcing a smile as she raised her wings and wrapped Morgan in a warm bundle of feathers. The two eventually broke, Twilight patting Morgan’s bright red nose with the tip of her hoof, playfully asking, “How’s my favorite niece doing?”

Morgan’s smile didn’t last forever, a confused furrow growing in her brow. She played with her fingers, standing awkwardly as she asked, “Thought you weren’t coming until Thanksgiving?”

The innocence and confusion in her voice alone was enough to make Twilight break right then and there. She sounded so painfully concerned that it broke Twilight’s heart knowing what would come further down the road. What was needed out of all of them. Despite that, Twilight smiled even more painfully, shaking her head with her eyes softly closed.

“Well, sweetie… things change,” Twilight explained. Tried to. She stared up to Tony standing behind his daughter, that growing concern filling him the longer they stood there. That growing concern for their presence… as well as a certain Ant-Man. Twilight smiled back to Morgan, opening her burning eyes. “We got quite a story for ya.”

It was quite a story.

Scott Lang told most of it, still trying to convince Tony that he was sitting there in the flesh and blood before them. Explaining the Quantum Realm situation, his time within it, and what he saw, Scott was further able to explain the true meaning of what the Avengers were present on Stark’s residence for. Tony sat alone upon his cushioned chair on the front porch of his home. Morgan sat on the nearby couch and played with Twilight’s mane and wings, even allowed to curl Sunset’s fiery golden and red mane. Starlight watched it all with a waning smile, the pain in her eyes evident. She turned that pain back to Stark, seeing his expression crumble when Scott brought up the possibility of time travel.

The possibility to undo the Snap.

Bring everyone back.

Quite satisfied with his final words of hope to Stark, Scott leaned back in his chair and held out his hands. “So… what do you think?” he asked, palms folding back just over his lap.

Tony played with his brown and gray goatee. Finally, after a moment to taste the information and story presented to him, and especially taking time to analyze each Avenger and pony to see if the truth was shared among them, Tony slowly nodded. “I’m thinking you might not want to run into traffic.”

Scott’s smile quickly shattered. “What?”

“Unless you’re staying for dinner, which by all means you’re welcome to,” Tony continued, practically ignoring Scott’s shock and the rest of the team’s uncertainty.

“No, Stark, are you listening to us?” Lang pressed on, leaning forward and holding out his shivering hands to Tony, real panic beginning to settle in when the possibility that Tony Stark wasn’t going to be backing them up became more of a reality. He reaffirmed his statements from earlier, emphasizing with each powerful point he made. “We can bring everyone back. None of this would have happened. It’ll all be just like a bad dream, and we can go back to what once…”

Steve laid his palm on his shoulder, cutting off Scott’s provoked plethora of words escaping his words. Prompting Scott’s eyes over to the couch, Steve turned as well to join the Ant-Man. Twilight was covering Morgan’s ears, the innocence and confusion upon the child’s face staring solely at Lang, merely catching a smidgen of what he said. Despite being so young, despite not knowing the intricacies and depth of what Scott Lang was truly describing, she still had that Stark blood in her. She was still growing. Still learning. She was a lot smarter than she looked.

And Scott stared into her large, confused eyes, seeing the innocence that was ripped away from his own daughter after having missed five years of her life. “… was,” he finished softly.

Now he could understand why everyone was so hesitant about coming to Stark’s residence for his help in the first place. Scott turned back to Stark, seeing the rising anger boil in his skin and turn it a soft pink. Not fuming by any means, but starting to heat up. He held it all in either way.

“No,” Tony softly muttered, shaking his head. “You weren’t here for this, Scott, so I’ll say it again… and just in case you all misheard me a few years back.”

Steve, Natasha, Matt, Scott, Twilight, Sunset, and Starlight all focused solely on Tony when he leaned forward on his seat, staring with rising intensity in an even more intense and fuming tone. “I’m. Done,” he growled.

Scott was unshaken, despite everyone else taking a backseat. “Listen, Tony—”

“Let me break it down for you, Ant-Man,” Stark interrupted, bringing severe attention to Scott’s ridiculous alter ego. He crossed one leg over the other, holding out his hand to Lang and staring at him with a hardened, deadpan expression. His voice only emphasized his bemusement, stating, “Your plan to save the universe and bring back trillions of lives… is based on Back to the Future?”

Scott slowly played around with that thought, shrugging in the end. “Well, it sounds stupid when you say it.”

“That’s because it is stupid,” Tony snapped, hearing a whine of distaste from Morgan. As Twilight cooed softly to her niece, Stark just sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Slowly easing himself into mild comfort. “Not only is time travel basically impossible without the Time Stone, but it’s uncontrollable. Unpredictable. You said it yourself, you were almost pulled into thousands of random timelines had it not been by that slim, pinprick of a chance that you were pulled out right at that very second. It’s a valiant effort… I’m sorry for your loss… but it’s time to move on.”

“We can’t move on from this, Tony,” Twilight weakly muttered, watching as Morgan climbed down from the couch to wish to rest in her father’s arms. Tony eased himself to her position, pulling Morgan up and hugging her softly. Cradling her and whispering words of comfort. Twilight watched it all with shivering eyelids and burning tears. “I’ve tried… we all have… but there isn’t a day that goes by where I wish we could go back and change what happened.”

She stared right at Morgan, the child’s eyes meeting her aunt’s before she shifted to her opposite cheek on Tony’s shoulder. Away from Twilight.

It was always going to be the hardest decision for Twilight to make. There was never a way around it. Even she still struggled to convince herself of that. Once Scott Lang and the Avengers brought back the possibility of time travel and undoing the events of the past to save the future, Twilight knew the burden that came with it. That single choice, one little act in the past to completely alter the future and change it from what it once was. She and Starlight knew a hefty deal about the dangers of time traveling, and especially what it could mean if they actually succeeded in undoing the Snap. Everything they had managed to build from then to that present moment could be permanently altered or even undone, never to have even existed. The butterfly effect was a dangerous and twisted game, able to create futures that were either a paradise or another version of Tartarus. In a timeline of just five years, Twilight wouldn’t have hesitated to take that chance of time travel if it meant all the heartache and the troubles that came with it could be taken away. All of it taken away if the Snap had never happened…

Even what others had built.

Even Morgan.

But even then, that was just one possibility out of the millions.

A single tear fell down Twilight’s cheek, the Alicorn quickly dropping her gaze to rub her eye. She raised them both, breathing in deeply before painfully uttering, “… No matter what.”

She almost expected to hear the inevitable lashing out from Stark for the harsh reality she and the Avengers laid before him. Twilight, Sunset, and Starlight all forced themselves to gaze into Tony’s glare, the man practically shaking with how irate he was becoming. Instead, all he did was hold Morgan tighter, pointing a shivering finger over to the couch where it hit Twilight right in her heart.

“There are certain things,” Tony shakily began, his anger steaming out through his heavy exhales out of his nostrils, “I would like to say to you right now, but can’t because there’s a child here. So, I’ll say this: I wish you all the best of luck. I hope… wherever your paths lead… are where your hearts are. Maybe then you’ll know why we can’t change the past.”

Stark got up.

“Tony…”

He wanted to curse. He nearly did, muttering that wretched word under his breath so softly that not even Morgan would have been able to hear it. She didn’t. The voice was what earned that curse out of him, Tony knowing exactly who it belonged to. He had to force himself to turn to it, face the man he was starting to grow closer to over the years, only to see that same, damning individual who helped bring down the Avengers to begin with. Tony didn’t want to see that, but it was all he could.

Steve Rogers met Stark’s eyes, the painful meeting the furious, the begging meeting the painful. All of it blending and bleeding out when Steve said, “This is our second chance.”

Tony merely held Morgan closer to his heart, tightening his arms around and beneath her. “I have my second chance right here, Cap. I’m not giving that up.”

He made his stance and would gladly fight for it if he needed to. None of the Avengers wanted one, remaining where they were with faces downtrodden but accepting nonetheless. Ignoring the rising guilt growing inside of him, Stark shook it off for the time being and made his escape back inside the cabin. But not before he could let one last statement linger in the air where he once stood.

“You’re free to stay for dinner.”

None of them stayed. They all abandoned the front porch shortly after Tony left and retreated into the confines and safety of his residence, of the life he built. Trapped in the semblance of reality and peace he had crafted for himself, away from the world and the troubles that filled it. He had found peace and that was all that mattered to him now. It was disheartening to hear that, but nothing to deter the Avengers from their goal. Even if it hurt.

“I don’t think we’re really welcome here,” Matt sighed, joining the rest of his team by the car. He laid his hands on the head of his cane, palms resting over one another as the ponies stopped shortly by his sides, Twilight continuously sniffling and rubbing at her eyes to stop the tears.

“After that fiasco?” Natasha whispered, shaking her head as she gazed back to the cabin. She sighed alongside the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen. “Kinda knew Tony would never go for this, was hoping otherwise. After what he’s built, though…”

A recollection of silence filled the group. Some pondered on the possibilities of time travel, how their effects in the past could change the future. They mostly wondered if Tony’s fears were right, that if they changed too much or too little… or just enough… that it would take away almost everything they had built in the present. That was the most important thing. The other was what Sunset brought up.

“Well, now what?” the unicorn asked, gazing to the group.

“Now…” Steve said, staring up to the falling sun, “we go home. You, me, Twilight, Star, and Scott. Banner will meet us there and will need our help with the Quantum Tunnel.”

“We’re still doing this then?” Starlight asked.

“We have a lot more work to do,” Rogers replied, eyes shifting back to Starlight in order to nod her way. Steve looked to the campfire pit, to the ensemble of toys and drawings resting near the playhouse. “If we’re going to change the past… we better learn how to not change all of it.”

“It’s a slippery slope, but we wish you all the best of luck,” Natasha said.

Twilight had ceased her crying, furrowing her brow and turning that expression up to the Widow on her right. “Where are you going?” the Alicorn asked aloud. Sunset and Starlight both followed.

Natasha turned to Matt, sending that small, sly smirk his way. Murdock smirked back, eyes unknown behind the dark red tint of his glasses. Scarred fists tightened against his cane. Both could feel the hint of sadness burrowing deep in Natasha’s smile.

They both turned in unison to Twilight Sparkle, the Black Widow stating firmly, as strongly as she could, “To save an old friend.”