Tony had to admit, he did feel slightly better having taken a bath and shaving. Felt like a few of his worries had been washed away. The sunlight was also nice, as well as the fact that he could smell no pollution in the air. That was something he could never say about New York.
He was also pretty surprised at how well the ponies had warmed up to him. Twilight had taken him to meet the rest of her friends at a café and they had greeted him warmly enough. The rest of the ponies in Ponyville, he loved that name, either looked at him with interest or outright ignored him. Which was nice, considering most times he ended up on foreign planets, most of the time he had to fight his way off of them. This was a nice change of pace.
Rarity looked to be wrapping up her long and boring story that she had been telling, so Tony refocused his attention on her and smiled as she finished. “Rarity, you are quite the storyteller. And to be able to make human sized clothes so quickly. Truly you are a gift from above,” Tony said with a wink. Rarity’s face turned crimson and she stammered out something that wasn’t in any English Tony had ever heard, so he turned towards Applejack instead.
“And Applejack, this apple juice is just divine as you are. You must tell me your recipe,” Tony asked.
“Nice try, but flattery doesn’t work on me,” Applejack said, but it was easy enough for him to tell that his words made her happy.
Stark then shifted his gaze towards the other three of Twilight’s friends, not sure how to approach them. Rainbow Dash was a competitive horse, who only seemed interested in racing Tony’s suit. Fluttershy was, well, shy, but a nice enough pony who didn’t say much. But Pinkie really interested Tony. Within two minutes of talking to her, she had teleported out of existence, appeared in several different locations at the same time and even guessed how several of Tony’s stories would end as if she had been there. She reminded him of someone.
“What’s up, Tony? You’re staring,” Pinkie asked as she finished twisting her neck around several times. Tony shook his head and broke free from his thoughts, realizing he had been staring.
“My apologies Pinkie, it’s just that you remind me of someone from my world. He’s a h…a vil…you remind me of a person named Deadpool.”
“Oh, you mean Wade? Yeah, I know him! He’s one of my bestest friends in the whole universe!” Pinkie exclaimed.
“Of course he is.”
“Yeah, we even saved Equestria from an evil pirate one time!”
“Of course you did.”
“An evil pirate? How come I’ve never heard about this?” Twilight asked.
“Come on Twilight, I don’t tell you guys everything that goes on in my life,” Pinkie said with a giggle. “A girl’s gotta have some secrets.”
“That scares me more than a pirate ever could,” Twilight sighed, before turning to Tony once again. She had opened her mouth to say something, but then she looked up at the sky and a smile crossed her face. “Ah! They’re finally here! Princesses, down here!”
Tony turned his head to see the two princesses from Canterlot landing just outside the café. The moment they touched down, everypony within sight knelt down and started to praise the princess. The white princess sighed and started to explain they didn’t have to do that while her sister told them they weren’t bowing hard enough. But Tony could tell she was joking. She was acting like he did whenever his fans adored him.
“Hello…Tony, was it?” Celestia asked as she pulled up a chair, sitting across from Tony. “It is nice to meet you face to face. I admit that you seem a much nicer fellow when you are not covered head to toe in a flying suit of armor.”
“Dress to impress, princess. I wanted to make a strong, first impression on you,” Tony said with a smile. “I hope though that we can move past what happened yesterday. You tried to have your forces knock me out of the sky and I embarrassed your fliers in front of the entire city. I’d say we’re even.”
“Even. Very well,” Celestia said with a smile. “Then if we are starting over, allow me to properly introduce myself. I am Celestia, Princess of the Sun.”
“And I am Luna, Princess of the Moon. Where is your suit, by the way?” Luna asked. “I was wondering if I could get a better look at it. Flying armor would be a great boon for our more grounded forces.”
“I let Applebloom borrow it. She said she wanted to take it crusading,” Tony said. When he saw the looks of absolute horror Celestia and Luna gave him, he smiled. “Kidding. It’s around, waiting for me to call on it.”
“So you’ve designed the suit to come at your call? How interesting,” Celestia said.
Twilight looked between Tony and Celestia, before she looked at the backpack. She opened her mouth to point out where the suit was, but Tony kicked her under the table before she could. She glared at him and he slightly shook his head. Tony wasn’t sure if he could trust these princesses yet. He remembed having issues with royalty in the past and he didn’t want to give away all his secrets right away. Twilight was a kindred spirit. These two…he needed more time.
“So why are your titles the princess of sun and moon? Aside from your names, which tells me your parents weren’t very creative.”
“It is simple. I have full control over the sun and my sister has full control over the moon,” Celestia said with a smile. “In fact, it is my power that is moving the sun across the sky even as we speak. It rises when I say it does and it sets when I say it does.”
“So you move the sun?” Tony asked. “Neat.”
“Neat?”
“Neat,” Tony replied, before turning to Luna. “So are you the reason I saw the moon doing circles in the sky last night? Because I thought I was going crazy.”
“Even I get bored sometimes. And it was worth it to see the look on my sister’s face when her counselor ran into her room, screaming about the end days,” Luna laughed.
“One day, sister. One day I will get you back for everything you have done to me,” Celestia promised, before returning her attention to Tony. “But for now Tony, I believe Twilight sent a letter saying that you are simply looking for your way home? If that is the case, then we have several ideas that may work.”
“The first is a being called Discord. He has…chaotic powers and sending somepony to a different reality does not seem out of the question for him. The other is a mirror portal that Twilight owns, but given how she hasn’t used it for you I assume it does not work?”
“You assume correctly, princess,” Twilight said.
“Then there is one other option, but honestly, it is not worth it,” Celestia began. Tony sighed. Not worth it meant that it would be the one he needed. That’s how it always went. “Deep in the forbidden lands, there are rumors of a strange source of power, one that bends the very fabric of reality. While I have not seen it myself, my sister has and can confirm that she has seen the reality distortions. But she could never find the source.”
“Why couldn’t you find the source, Princess Luna?” Twilight asked.
“Simple. Magic does not work in the forbidden lands. At least, not like it should,” Luna explained. “Spells are random, maps go blank and even the most navigation savvy pony finds themselves lost within minutes. Then there is…the wall.”
“The wall?”
“Yes, a wall of a material so strong and durable that not even on greatest spells or mightiest tools can even make a dent in it.”
“Then why don’t you just go over, around or under?” Pinkie asked.
“Well we call it the wall, but it’s more like a sphere, covering above and below ground,” Luna explained. “Digging or flying doesn’t work. The only way is through and nopony on my team was able to get through. Even I couldn’t, it was that tough. We would have stayed and run more tests on it, but the jungle seemed to be against us at every turn. Then there are the fearsome beasts around the wall. We lost many ponies out there. Too many.”
“I had planned to go with my sister the next time she went to the forbidden land, but more issues kept arising and needed our help,” Celestia finished, before looking at Tony. “I can’t promise you that an answer lies in that land and honestly, I would exhaust our other options first before I recommend a visit. However, should everything else fail, I will guide you myself to the forbidden land.”
“Well thank you princess for the offer. I think I will take your advice and go see Discord first, and then maybe mess with that mirror a bit and see if I can figure anything out,” Tony said. He smiled like there was no problem, but he was already preparing for his trip to the forbidden land. His answer would be in the hardest place to reach. It always was.
But a part of him was grateful that it would be a while. There was still the issue of Doom to deal with. Jarvis had been running worldwide scanners nonstop for the better part of a day and nothing have come up. But Doom was out there. Tony knew it. And if he couldn’t find Doom, then the next best option was to tell Doom he was there. They would find each other eventually. Why drag things out?
“Thank you again, princesses. Can either of you tell me where Discord is at the moment?” Tony asked. “I’d like to try my luck with him.”
“Oh I can,” Fluttershy said. “He’s not home right now, but he promised me he would be back by the end of the week. So in about two days.”
“Okay, two days. I can live with that,” Tony said with a smile. “So what to do for two days while I wait?”
“I’ll tell you what you can do. You can race me,” Rainbow Dash said, placing a hoof on the table and glaring into Tony’s eyes with a smirk. “Your suits supposed to be pretty face, but I’m the fastest flier in Equestria. Also, I have to avenge my Wonderbolt Comrades. So let’s race. To Canterlot and back.”
“A race, huh? What do I get when I win?” Tony smirked. Rainbow Dash blinked and thought about it for a moment, before she shrugged.
“Anything from Twilight that you want.”
“Hey, hold on a second-“
“Deal. And if you win?”
“I get to say I beat Iron Man, the so called great hero of Earth.”
“Deal,” Tony said as he stood up, with a smirk of his own.
“I did not agree to this,” Twilight argued, but neither were listening to her.
Tony shot a quick glance at Celestia and Luna, before he shrugged. They seemed nice enough and he had more tricks than this one if he needed to take them down. He pressed a button on his backpacks strap and within ten seconds, the backpack folded out around him and formed the Iron Man suit. He smiled beneath his faceplate at the stunned looks of the ponies, before he turned to Rainbow Dash.
“Alright Dash, put up or shut up.”
Tony then rocketed into the sky, Rainbow Dash right behind, yelling at him how they didn’t do a countdown. Tony smirked as he tore off towards Canterlot, a loud boom telling him he had broken the sound barrier. Yet Dash was right behind him. Impressive.
“Alright Jarvis, deploy the signal pulse. Let’s tell the world we’re here,” Tony said.
‘I would advise against that, sir. Letting a foe such as Doom know that you are alive is a very dangerous gamble.’
“He would figure it out soon anyway, if he already hasn’t. Why prolong this?” Tony asked in a dead serious tone. Jarvis said nothing in reply, but a moment later fired off a scanning pulse that would reach the entire planet. “Alright Doom, you sunnovabitch. Come and get me.”
Tony then put all power into the thrusters and shot ahead even faster, leaving a baffled Rainbow Dash to try and catch up.
“So, Stark survived as well.”
Dooms sensors had picked up the planetary scan from the Iron Man, with his own suit keeping him hidden. For a moment Doom thought Tony was a fool to reveal his position as he did, but Stark was a brilliant man. Not on par with Doom, but brilliant none the less. He had done it on purpose. To draw Doom out. To come and fight Stark.
But Doom did not come when others called. Doom would fight Stark and destroy him, but in his own time and on his own terms. Heading off to kill Stark now would mean he would be playing to Stark, giving him the advantage. Doom did not become the ruler of Latveria and a god numerous times by giving others an advantage. So Stark could send out challenges all he wanted. Doom would wait.
Ashgrove burst into the tent they had made for Doom, drawing Doom from his thoughts as he gazed upon the panting deer. The deer could hardly be called intelligent and was far too kind for his own good. It would get him killed. But he had saved Doom. And Doom always repaid his debts.
“What troubles you?” was all Doom said.
“Remember how you told me to keep an eye out for anything strange? Well there was a pony, a tan pegasi with an explorer’s outfit, who was sneaking around near our feeding grounds. I tailed her and she went to a secret area in the wood, a place I’ve never been to. There was a small hole in the ground she went down, one that goes down for a long while.”
“Did you see where it led?”
“No, I came back to tell you right away, like you asked me to.”
Seems the deer had some brains after all. Doom didn’t care in the slightest for the pony or the problems of the deer, but he had to keep appearances. And it had been a while since he had made another kneel at his boots. So he rose, ignoring the look of joy on the deer’s face.
“Lead the way.”