It was amazing to Stark how quiet the castle was with both Spike and Twilight gone. The only sound came from Tony bouncing the back of his armored head off of the floor, as well as the propellers turning on the toaster that he told Twilight he would destroy yet never did.
“You don’t have any idea what to do, do you?” Tony asked it. The machine made no reply. “That’s right, I stopped giving my machines the ability to think after the whole armor uprising thing that happened. Jarvis is the only A.I. I’ve got left.”
‘It’s for the best. Remember when Friday took control of your satellites and rained hell down on Africa? I thought for sure T’challa was going to have your head removed.’
“I would have deserved it,” Tony replied.
‘And then there was the time we accidentally uploaded Ultron to the internet and he had control of every computer on the planet. I recall you bringing back the Mark 1 to fight him.’
“When we had to have Thor fry every computer on the planet to get rid of him? Man, I remember that like it was yesterday.”
‘That was six years ago.’
“No.”
‘Correct. And since then, Ultron wasn't seen until recently. Vision got corrupted, though.’
“I’ve never seen the Hulk smash something intangible before and I hope to never see it again,” Tony laughed, before his face fell. “Man, me and the other Avengers have been through so much together. So many battles, with villains, each other…and yet we always came out stronger. Came out together. No matter what, win or lose…we did it together.”
‘Brought together to fight the foes that no lone hero could best by themselves. Earths mightiest heroes,’ Jarvis finished.
“They’re my friends…it should be an easy choice. Bring them back. Screw everything else…but I can’t, Jarvis.”
“Can’t what?”
Tony looked up to see a pony standing over him. She had a light purple coat and a purple mane. Yet Tony was drawn to her eyes. Eyes that shone with intelligence and kindness. He rolled over before his thrusters pushed him up.
“About how to save the past, future and everything in-between. You know, Tuesday,” Tony smirked.
“It’s Wednesday.”
“It’s a joke.”
“Not a good one.”
“Who are you, anyway?”
“Oh, where are my manners? I’m Starlight Glimmer. I’m a friend of Twilight’s,” Starlight introduced. “No need for you to introduce yourself. Everypony knows who you are.”
“I should hope so.”
“So you’re trying to save the past, present and future? You’ve got a problem that involves time travel?” Starlight asked.
“How do you know that? You inside my mind? Well let me tell you, get out now because that place is weird.”
“No, I mean…I’ve messed with time before. Not too long ago, as a matter of fact.”
Tony’s jokester attitude vanished upon hearing that. With a sigh he walked over to one of the couches and sat down, the armor cracking the crystal. “It’s not a guarantee, but I might be having some issues with time travel.”
“Not surprised. You either came from the past, future, or an alternate timeline. Unless a human just popped up out of nothing,” Starlight said, sitting beside him.
“Would it surprise you if I said I’ve seen that happen?”
“I would say nothing could surprise me at this point, but here you are,” Starlight said with a smirk. “So, what part of time travel has you worried?”
“The…is it the right thing to do?” Tony asked. “Change the past to save the past, but erasing the future? Or leave the future as is and leave the past in the past. What’s the right thing to do? How can I save everyone?”
“…Tony, from my experience…look, not too long ago, I wasn’t the nicest pony. In fact, I was a villain,” Starlight admitted. “And I hated Twilight and her friends. So to get rid of them, I went back in time. Back in time to erase them or at least make sure that they never became friends.”
“Wow, that is petty.”
“Don’t interrupt.”
“Sorry.”
“My plan worked most of the time. Twilight and her friends were no longer friends. They couldn’t stop me. Nor anypony else,” Starlight said, her face falling. “But each time I changed something in the past, the future grew worse and worse. Sombra waging war with the ponies for power. Discord tearing apart the world to make it his own personal plaything. Tirek straight up destroying all the magic in the world…each change to the past made a worse future.”
“I knew about none of this. Not until Twilight dragged me into one of the bleakest futures of all. A land where Luna and Celestia used the powers in the Elements to not only destroy themselves…but the whole world as well. There was nothing left. Nothing but dust and decay. All because of me.”
Tony said nothing.
“As you can see from everything around you, we undid what I had done. But I learned that sometimes what you might think would improve time…only makes it worse. That maybe the timeline we’re in is the best one…and that the others are even worse. Maybe time moves the way it is supposed to for a reason. Maybe we were never meant to mess with it.”
“You and Twilight set it right?” Tony asked, getting Starlight to look at him with some confusion. “I thought the two of you hated each other. Mortal enemies and all that.”
“We did. Kinda. But when I saw how bad everything was…and how I was the one making it worse…I agreed to work with her. To set everything right. And we did. Together we fixed the time stream. And we’ve been best friends ever since. Not to mention, she let’s me crash at the castle whenever I want. Sweet deal.”
“Why didn’t Twilight fix it?”
“Look, she has all the powers of an alicorn, but I knew more about time than her. But I lacked the power to properly fix things. So we did together what neither of us could do alone. And tada, day saved. What do you think about that?”
Tony didn’t respond. He didn’t even look over at Starlight. He had his hands under his chin, with his eyes looking off into a place only Tony could see. He didn’t move. Didn’t blink. Didn’t even breathe. For a worrying moment Starlight thought she had killed him, but a moment later he shot up and started to head for the door.
“Tony, where are you going?!” Starlight asked.
“To get somethings. Things I’m going to need,” Tony replied. “Gather all Twilight, her friends, and the princesses here by evening. I should be back before then.”
“Why are we gathering them?”
“Because they need to get ready. We all do.”
Tony closed the crystal doors behind him, leaving a very confused Starlight.
-----=====-----
“Tony, what is this all about?” Celestia asked. “We have been waiting for hours.”
She and her sister stood near the center of the room. Twilight and her friends resided on the couches and chairs. Spike was off to the side, having seen this sight many times before. And Tony stood in the center of all of them, having just arrived, with a sack in one hand and a basket of anti-magic crystals in the other.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, but I needed all of these,” Tony said, motioning to the items in his hands. His helmet retracted and allowed the ponies to see his face. “As for why I’ve called you here, it is because…I met with Doom yesterday. He offered me the same thing he did when he confronted us in Celestia’s throne room. A chance to save humanity together.”
“It’s also my throne room,” Luna added.
“In seven…six days time, he will head to the forbidden lands. There he will, most likely, open a portal to the past, go back in time and save humanity from Gaea. There’s probably bits I don’t know, but that is what he told me,” Tony informed the group. To his surprise, they didn’t look shocked or worried. They all looked at Tony with sad eyes.
“Isn’t…isn’t that for the best?” Celestia asked. “It is our fault humanity is gone. So, going back to save it, that was the plan, wasn’t it? Be it you or Doom, saving humanity from us is the best solution. I thought we were in agreement?”
Most of the ponies nodded their heads, but Tony noticed that Applejack, Luna and Pinkie averted their gaze. That sealed his decision.
“I’ve made up my mind,” Tony admitted, getting surprised looks. “Not about who to save. There, I don’t know what to do. But I do know this. I don’t trust Doom. Whatever his plan is, it’s most likely a lie. Do I believe he plans to go back in time and save humanity? Yes, I do. Do I believe he will let things continue as they were? Not in a million years. He has a hidden plan, a hidden agenda…he always does. And I can’t let him get his way.”
“What does this have to do with us?” Luna asked, stepping forward. “You wouldn’t have gathered us to tell us this unless you expected us to do something? What do you need?”
“I can’t beat Doom. Not alone. But together…we can,” Tony said, looking into each of the pony’s eyes. To see their thoughts reflected in them.
“But don’t you and Doom have the same goal?” Fluttershy asked. “Why will you have to fight him? I thought you were on the same team?”
“Just because our goals intersect does not mean we are on the same team,” Tony replied. “He has hurt so many, all in the name of doing what he believes is right. If…if I stoop to his level…if I allow all of you to die without trying everything else out just to save humanity…then I will be no better than him.”
The ponies shared looks and he could tell they weren’t entirely convinced.
“We don’t trade lives. That is what I was told by a man far wiser than I will ever be. Which means I won’t trade yours for humanity unless I am certain…unless there is no other way,” Tony said, before looking at each of them with pain on his face. “I know that I can’t ask anything of you. I’m the man who holds the fate of your entire species in his hand. All of you might not exist if I make a certain choice. But…I need your help. I need…my friends.”
For the longest time, none of the ponies moved. They didn’t speak or even look at one another. They simply took a moment to think. And then Pinkie walked forward and placed her hoof on Tony’s hand.
“Of course I’ll help you, silly. Regardless of what the outcome is, be it us or humanity, no matter what you do to the time space continuum, that won’t change the fact that we’ll always be friends,” Pinkie said with a smile, even though Tony could hear the fear in her voice. “And friends always help each other. Together.”
Pinkie’s words inspired the other ponies, who all walked over to Tony and placed their hooves over top of Pinkie’s, each of them smiling up at Tony as they did so.
“You’ve helped keep us safe.”
“Ya saved mah sister.”
“You are such a charmer.”
“You’re not too bad for a slow flier.”
“You helped reveal our past to us. And while it was painful, at least we now have the choice to set it right. To do what Gaea could not.”
“To make sure that my words about love and harmony were not based on a lie. Not based on the blood of billions. Regardless of your choice, I stand by you Stark. You are right. I would never trust Doom with a decision like this. But I trust you.”
Tony then looked to Twilight, the only one who hadn’t joined them. For a moment, all she did was stare at the floor. Then she looked up at Tony with a smirk on her face.
“Of course I’m with you. We’ll get to the forbidden land. We’ll stop Doom from making things worse. And then…we’ll make everything right. Whatever it takes,” Twilight said, walking over and placing her hoof atop the pile. “But according to you, Doom has a better suit, stronger magic and is far more intelligent. How do you plan to beat him?”
“Well having beings who can move the sun and moon and the literally embodiments of the Infinity Stones doesn’t hurt. But for everything else, that’s what the crystal is for,” Tony said, placing the basket on the table. “Cadence and Shining know enough. And they know that to do this, I’m going to need every last ounce of crystal they can spare. Enough to trick out my entire suit. And a little more…to reforge something.”
“Reforge? reforge what?” Twilight asked.
Stark smiled at her before he turned the sack over, spilling out a bunch of metal shards onto the table. Shards that had paint on one side…in the colors of red, white and blue.
“This. Reforge and make even stronger than it was before,” Tony said before looking at each of the ponies. Here they were, standing on the precipice of their entire existence. Not knowing if Tony would decide that they would live or die. And yet the stood by him. Because they trusted him. Because they believed in him. Because he was their friend. And he would not fail them. He would make sure of it.
“So Twilight, I’m going to need your workshop. I’m going to need every resource that you can scrounge up. And finally,” Tony said, as his mask slammed shut. “I’m going to need some music.”
He headed for the workshop, passing by Spike as he did so, who was reading a comic book.
“You have a plan, don’t you?” Spike asked him.
“What makes you say that?” Tony asked. Spike raised the comic he was reading and waved it. “I wouldn’t call it a plan. I wouldn’t even call it a dream. It’s an impossibility. There’s no chance in a billion years, even with the stones, that this would work.”
“Then why risk everything on it?”
“Because I have to. Because I have to try. For all of them.”
Tony walked past Spike, who smirked as he returned to his comic.
“What do you know? He actually sounded like a superhero there.”