//------------------------------// // Options // Story: The Tin Man // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// “What do we do? That’s obvious! We have to fix what Gaea did!” Fluttershy said. “I don’t care his reasons or whatever was done to him, what he did…it’s unforgivable! We have to set things right!” “Ah agree! All those lives…we have to fix it!” Applejack agreed. “We can’t be rash,” Luna cut in, turning all eyes to her. “We are dealing with powers far beyond anything we’ve ever encountered. With a wrong thought...we could cause even worse damage.” “I…I can’t believe that everything I ever read about the history of this world…all of the culture and mysteries…they were all lies,” Twilight whispered. “Everything before Gaea he made up. The cities, the creatures that live in this world…all of us. We’re all apart of his lie. Of his sins. We are all created by the same things he used to destroy. Our power of Harmony…comes from blood and death…” “Tony, what should we do?” Pinkie asked Tony. All eyes turned towards Iron Man, who had been the only being in the room that hadn’t said anything. He had simply sat on a rock and listened, taking in everything that Gaea had written. For a long time, he didn’t even register the ponies. But then he slowly lifted his head, taking in each of the eight ponies with his hidden eyes. No pony knew what he was going to do next. “We have several options,” he said at last, no tone in his voice. “The first should be the most obvious. Gaea mentioned that he had all of the souls of those he killed inside the Soul Stone.” “Then we could use their power to recreate the Earth, at least humanities Earth, and restore them all there,” Celestia said. “We just have to put it on the opposite side of the solar system from where we are and that should, hopefully, not affect either!” Tony looked like he wanted to say something, but then he sat back down and waited. “It could work,” Twilight agreed. “If we get the other Earth’s position right…we have to try. We owe it to Tony. We owe it to all of them.” “Can we do this, though?” Rarity asked. “Can we recreate a planet and an entire species?” “We have to try.” The six friends nodded to each other before they linked hooves, the Rainbow Power, the Infinity Stones, glowing amongst them. Together they each focused on their respective stone, using all six powers to do what they wanted. “I…can feel it,” Dash said, with her connection to space allowing her to sense what was going on. “The other Earth, it’s been formed! It’s almost exactly like Equestria!” None of the ponies saw Tony shake his head in the corner. “Okay, that’s good! Now let’s focus on getting the people back!” Twilight said. The group nodded and focused, with AJ, Pinkie and Twilight focusing on rebuilding their bodies. Fluttershy was focusing on their souls. “Okay everypony, let’s all-GAH!” Fluttershy screamed, light erupting from her eyes. “N-no! I wasn’t…I didn’t…please, no! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” “Fluttershy!” Rainbow screamed, breaking the connection and dashing over to Shy. Fluttershy began weeping, rainbow tears streaming from her face as she continued to apologize. Rarity walked next to Shy and unleashed her power, freeing Fluttershy from her own mind. Fluttershy collapsed to the ground, shaking from how hard she was sobbing. “What happened?” Twilight asked. “There were…so many of them. So many souls,” Fluttershy whispered. “And they were all angry. They all wanted vengeance. And when they saw me, they made me see…everything…I can’t bring them back. I’m sorry. I’m not strong enough. I’m so sorry.” “It’s okay. You’re okay,” Rarity whispered, cradling Fluttershy’s head. “Fluttershy,” Twilight whispered, before she noticed Tony shaking his head. “Tony. What’s the matter?” “This isn’t going to work,” Tony said, his voice quiet. “What the stones can do is dependent on those who wield them. Building a world is easy with them. But restoring billions of souls who were unjustly killed…who want vengeance on your entire species…it’s a recipe for disaster. Fluttershy can’t handle it. I doubt any of you could.” “So we can’t bring them back?” Pinkie asked. “It’s more than that. The other Earth you created…Dash said it. It’s like Equestria. That’s because all you’ve known is Equestria,” Tony continued. “My world was nothing like Equestria. To bring it back, you’d have to understand everything about my world, how it worked, how the people worked. None of you know anything about that.” “But Gaea created a world,” Luna reminded him. “He created this world from scratch. He wasn’t trying to restore a world he knew nothing about, he just created a new one. One that worked the way he wanted it to. The sun and moon being controlled by Alicorns. Magic that could manipulate the weather and other fundamental forces. Our worlds work far differently than each other. And none of you know how my world worked. Only I do.” “Well…what if we gave you our power?” Twilight asked, walking towards Tony. “What if we gave you the stones and-“ “NO!” Tony yelled, backing up. The ponies (except Fluttershy) looked at him with surprise and after a moment he shook his head. “No. I shouldn’t be given the stones. No one being should ever hold all the stones. Look at Gaea…look at Thanos. That is far too much power for one being to wield. Gaea got one thing right, splitting them into six. It’s smarter that way.” “Well what if we had you use the soul stone. As one of the humans champions, maybe they will let you restore them?” Pinkie asked. “No, Gaea made it so the stones picked you. They would never pick me. As they shouldn’t. The stones are bonded to you,” Tony said. “I don’t think you’d be able to give them to me if you wanted to. Or you could, using all of them. I mean you can do anything. But you shouldn’t. I can’t be trusted with one of them.” “Can’t be trusted? Tony, you’re-“ “I. Can’t. Trust myself,” Tony finished, looking away. “Then we are at an impasse,” Celestia said, sighing. “We cannot restore humanity, as we do not know enough about your world and kind Fluttershy cannot face eight billion peoples worthy of hatred and fury.” “Even if you did, my race is a vengeful one,” Tony added on. “They would never forget what Gaea did to us. They would come after you. They would never stop trying to wipe you all out for what Gaea did. And we would find a way. It’s what we do best. Then there are the other races. The aliens. The Asgardians. Those guys would hold a grudge for the rest of eternity. I’ve seen them do it.” “Okay, but what if we erased their memories about everything that happened?” Rarity asked. “Made it seem like only a day had passed?” “We’d find out. And there are beings that wouldn’t forget. Those who are strong enough to find out. It would only end in bloodshed,” Tony whispered. For a long time, all of the ponies looked at one another, each of them trying to figure out what to do. Then Luna looked at Twilight, remember what power she wielded and an idea came to her. “What if went back in time? What if we prevented any of this from ever happening?” “Time doesn’t work like that,” Tony said. “If you went back in time to stop Gaea from wiping out humanity, then humanity wouldn’t be wiped out. Equestria and all of you would never be created. Therefor, you could not go back in time to stop him. So he would destroy humanity. So you go back to stop him. Time loop.” “…Then what if we sent you back?” Celestia asked and all eyes turned towards her. “You are from the past. You are from that time. Even if you change the past, you will still exist. So the changes will stick. There will be no time loop. You can save them!” “Yeah! Tony is from the past, so him going back shouldn’t break time!” Pinkie added, knowing more about time breaking than anypony. “You go back, stop Gaea, and then happy endings for all!” “Except it wouldn’t be,” Twilight said, turning her friends gaze towards her. “Didn’t you hear Tony? Go back and stop Gaea, Gaea doesn’t destroy humanity, doesn’t create Equis, doesn’t create…us. If Tony goes back and stops Gaea…then the past would be changed. And we would all cease to be.” “Wait…” Luna began, taking a moment to think about it. “So if Tony goes back to stop an entire species from being wiped out, his actions…” “Would cause all of us to be wiped out. Every pony, changeling, and anything else that lives in this world,” Twilight nodded, before a bitter smirk crossed her face. “Of course, in the past we never existed to begin with, so he technically wouldn’t be wiping us out as we wouldn’t exist. Nopony would ever know that we ever lived at all to be wiped out. This is probably the best out-“ “I would.” All of the ponies, even Fluttershy, turned to look at Tony. “I would know. I would know that I wiped you all out. I would be stopping one genocide…by causing another.” “Tony, you would be saving your race,” Celestia said. “You would be…saving those who are supposed to exist. You heard what Gaea had written. All of us…none of us were supposed to exist. Not naturally. We were all created because of the stones. We only live because he created us with the stones.” “But we’re still alive. Ah still have mah brother and little sister. And ah love them. Stones or not, that feeling, our love, is real,” Applejack said. She was shaking slightly, fear creeping into her eyes. “And ah…ah don’t want anything to happen to them! They don’t deserve to be erased, right?! They did nothing wrong!” “Applejack is right in that regard. We may have been created because of the stones wielded by a maniac, but do not burden his sins. Twinkle Star and Erik’s battle with the Ghost Rider showed that we make our own destinies!” Luna said fiercely. “We may not be naturally created, but we live none the less! How is it fair to us that we should be punished for the sins of our great grandfather?!” “It’s not. We shouldn’t be punished for his mistakes. But it would set things right,” Dash said. “I would rather give my life to save billions than live knowing that I could undo it, but live for my own sake.” “But it wouldn’t be just you! It would be everypony! Regardless of age, race or if they’re good or evil!” Pinkie said. “All of our families…our friends and loved ones…gone. Yeah, it would be right for humanity…but would it be right for us?” “How can we decide?” Fluttershy asked, finally lifting her head and looking at her friends. “How can we choose one over the other? Humanity or Equis? Who were unjustly killed in the past or those who be unjustly killed now? Which one is right? Do we let the billions that were lost stay dead…or do we kill billions more to save them? How can we choose?” “We…we can’t,” Twilight said, hanging her head. “We owe it to humanity to try to bring them back…but we are the defenders of our world. We swore to everypony to keep them safe. We…we can’t choose either.” “As it should be.” All eyes turned to Celestia, who had a gaze on her face Luna had only seen at Celestia’s most dangerous. “We should not be the ones to make that choice. We do not deserve it. After everything our great grandfather did, all we can do is ask for forgiveness. There is only one being on this world who should be allowed to make that choice…the only one who can weigh both options.” All eyes turned to Tony, who was staring at the floor again. “So sadly, Stark, I must leave this choice to you. Only you can make this choice. Do you go back and save humanity, only to prevent us from ever coming into being? Or do you allow us to continue to exist, and let humanity’s unjust destruction continue?” Celestia asked, before she shook her head with tears falling down her face. “I am so sorry. I wish it didn’t have to be this way. But those…those are the only two options. Those are your choices.” Tony knew she was right. He knew these were his two options. Two ironclad options. But what he didn’t know…was how to choose. Who should live…and who should die.