Origin.
Anpony Stark, born the lone child of two high-class scociety unicorns.
When Stark was born, he was oddly enough born an earthpony. Lacking the family-running horn that grants the ability to use magic. Both his parents were unicorns, as had everyone in their family for many a´generations.
Stark´s mother, a caring mare who loved her odd son dearly, constantly pepped him and supported him as young. While his father, an professor at the Centerlot Academy, drilled him hard in his teachings.
"You may lack the horn, but you have the blood and brain of our families! You shall preform great feats, my son."
Young Stark grew up with this mix of parenting, a soft mother and a stern father.
However, it would not be without meaning.
At the age of ten, Stark presented for the Acedemy and it´s critical jury his idea of none-magical magic! Wishing to use knowledge beyond just magic and farming for the benefit of everypony!
With that, he presented his prototype Steamengine. While laughed at at first, being denied this silly filly-idea, he did not let himself be pushed down. It triggered a FIRE in him!
By the age of fifteen, the teenage colt had just lost his mother to sickness, and whilst the sorrow stuck deep in him, he used his love for his mother as a fuel. He was NOT going to let her kindness and support have been in vain! Five years after his first attempt, he tried again.
This time, he had improved the engine to not run on wood, coal or what other materials he had presented as child, but on magic!
Letting common crystals in a specific cut and order, a simple spell of light could create an almost eternal engine! The light would bounce between the crystals for several days before loosing momentum, and the heat from the light and crystals could fuel the engine.
This time, he was heard...
Another ten years later, Stark Strongwares was a well-known mark! Stark had with his amazing knowledge for mechanics and machienery, as well as creative understanding for magical items and their effects, created an copyrighted empire! Lone creator and sellor behinde some of the most amazing items that was becomming a average-day tools.
From his building at the edge of Canterlot, he could every day look down upon his first creation, the locomotive. It had taken several years to carve the path and lay the railroad, but the train was running dayly and had improved many pony´s life!
However, no matter how many times the colt broke through the walls of reality when it came to possabilities within the scientific, he was never pleased..
He realized that some ponies would wish to use his knowledge against eachother, that the more machienery he developed, the more would use it...
By the age of thirty, he had perfected his crystal-engines time upon time, making them smaller and more effective then ever, not that his world knew about that.
Stark had become almost paranoid, scared beyond belief of himself.
Ponies had begun using his inventions as weapons... taking his ideas, twisting them or altering their functions.
Falling into depression, and first now the sorrow of his lost mother caught up with him. The death of his father, he could handle. He missed the old coot, but not nearly as much as the comfort of his caring mother.
Pony Stark became somewhat of a playcolt, having all the wealth and freetime he wanted.
Strong ciders, martinies, young mares with beatyfull plots and admireing eyes...
You now know the backstory, and it is time to bring you to the present.
Chapter 1. A purpose.
The light burned in his face, it was on fire... His eyes were being smelted out by the lava pouring in from his window! Surely it was the truth, for he heard the mind-numbing roar of the vulcano! Pony Stark sighed deeply, he hated having a hungover...
With that, the chestnut-coloured colt crawled out of his bed, pulled the curtains to hide the bright morning sun, and gave his alarmclock a apple-buck-kick. The poor clock flew across the large room and crashed against the wall, several hooves away from the painted target.
"I need a better clock... this one is too noisy..." He yawned with great irritation.
In the bathroom he stood with closed eyes infront of the mirror, as a nearby scanner realized he was there, activating the mechanized toothbrush-arm.
Once done, he felt somewhat refreshed. Peering at the large bed, he noticed that the pretty mare that had acompanied him home was missing. Nothing but her sweet honey-apple perfume still lingering by her pillow. She had been warm, very pleasant and eager.
He shook his head and went down the stairs to get some breakfust.
A few sandwiches, a bath, some mail-sorting, a bit of tinkering on his latest version of the crystal-core, as he called his engines powersource now a´days, he ventured out to the streets. Checking in at the large shop and discussing the sales and shipments...
Just another, boring-ass day..
Some hours of work later, he realized it was evening. Normally he always went to the "Clear Crystal Café" and had dinner, a drink or ten, and possibly some company... However he did not feel like it. He was sick of it all, mostly becouse he saw the difference.
He was the complete oposit of his tech! With every day, he managed to find a way to improve his inventions and creations, make them more effective and taking up less space!
However his own life ran like a hamster in a wheel, never anything new.
Heck, he had not given the shops any of his recent inventions for years now, his paranoia prevented him from handling out what tech he thought too advanced.
Stark groaned, throwing the latest crystal-core away from him. It was not bigger then the size of his hoof, yet could power ten locomotives with the latest design and cut of the gems!
He looked at his old, old poster on the wall. A painting of their fair ruler Celestia, smiling ever so warmly on the picture. It had been an old recruitment poster for the royal guard, he had sought it up and bought it after having had the honor of meeting the majesty himself!
He had been mailed by her and asked to create a hoof-polisher, as Princess Celestia found it poorly fit to have someone polish her hooves as a job.
He smiles, the kindness of their ruler never sieced to amaze him. She did not want them graveling at her hooves, litterarly. He had put alot of extra effort into this order, as well as refused payment for his service.
He spent an hour or so, just dreamingly looking at the large, white mare on the wall, before falling asleep. Dreaming of alicorns... magic... flight...
Pony Stark woke up with a gasp! His head hurt, his chest hurt, but he was not gasping becouse of that. His dream had given him inspiration, ideas beyond his own understanding!
His dream had presented to him the secret of using magic! He understood magic, he knew the spells and how they worked, down to the smallest atom, but lacking horn made him unable to use it.
His mind was still going highwire! Ideas so complex he barly was able to follow them rushed before his eyes, the pain in his chest increasing..
At last he got a hold of himself, clutched his chest in agony and realized there was something on it! Looking down, he saw that he had fallen asleep ontop of a prototype crystal-core! The tiny, sharp crystals had penetrated his skin and pressed themselves intoo him!
This prototype was not designed for generating heat, it was designed for medical use, to cyncronicize with the heart of aging ponies to help it beat! The crystal´s own energy pulsading in rythm to the heart and adding their power to it via the enchantment on it.
He yanked it off and threw it away, clutching his ponding head as he tried to understand what was happening! Why was his HEAD hurting so badly?! Where had these ideas come from?!
The awnser came almost instantly. It was as if he had become even smarted by sleeping.
The brain of any being, sentient or not, is what runs the body. However even the brightest of ponies can not USE more then maybe up to ten percent of their brainpower, the rest is unaware and used for the body´s many autopilots and for memory-storage.
The prototype was never designed for young colts without heart-problem, it had enhanced his heart to beat alot stronger! Pumping the blood through his systems in a impossible rate!
And while being asleep, you have little contact to your brain. Whilst your body rests, the brain goes to work to process all you´ve learned and old memories... The amazingly increased pulse must have stressed his body, filling it with energy at a rate it was never designed for! Including the brain. The brain working at a rate at a houndred percent due to sleeping, whilst the body struggles to wake up from the much energy!
He gasped as he opened his eyes. In normal awakened state, he has little controll over his brain, like anypony else. However, the accident caused him to have FULL contact with his brain! Complete awareness of every detail he had ever learned, every tiny bit of knowledge and every idea ever! The clash of cleverness caused his mind to start combine and conjure up new ideas!
He pushed himself up on his hooves, looking down at the floor, still in shock over the mental blueprints hovering in his mind, he was still not sure he understood it all...
Month´s passed. Ponies had started to miss and become worried for the genious inventor.
Sure, he had locked himself up for a week or two a few times, as was known by most.
But it had almost been half a year since someone saw him last! The staff at the local restuarants and cafés missed him the most, he was almost like an attraction!
What few friends the mechanical mastermind had sent letters and knocked on his door but to no awail, there was no awnsers. Once a´week a single dove would leave the building with a grocery-list to the nearest shop, along with a payment and delivery-order.
At last, his friends and former collueges from the academy became too worried! A gathered group of guards, friends, employee´s and curious ponies marshed to the "factory" where the sole high-tech inventor had imprisoned himself.
They broke down the door, worried about what they would find. The large house was completly trashed! Burn-marks on the walls, floors and roof´s. Trashed furniture, parts and bits of tech laying everywhere! There were sounds of machinies comming from the basement. The crew became seriously worried when they noticed how the thick, securitydoor made of solid iron looked like it had been busted open from the inside like if it was thin tinfoil!
The guards went first, nervously holding their spears with their magic infront of them.
If the house was in poor condition, it was nothing compared to the basement. Cracks, holes, burns, bits and chunks of everything from concrete to metals, from wirers to oilpuddles...
Halfway down the stairs, there was a loud "BZAT" noise of magic! A stream of arcane energy blasted the remaining lightsource, causing the lamp to go out!
There were frightened murmurs from the gathered ponies, but they all kept going down, for there was still sound from deep within the darkness.
Suddenly, the machine stopped. The silence was nerve-wrecking as the ponies did not even have a source of sound to manouver by!
However, a low buzzing sound begun where the louder machine had grown silent!
The sound of something powering up, to those used too it.
Blue lights begun to glow slightly, whirring sounds acompanied the buzzing as a gust of wind started blowing agains the crowd! The guards shouted to whatever was causing it to cease emediatly!
A bigger blue light flashed slightly before glowing brightly! Causing more lights to come online, and the crew watched in horror as the lights took the form of a pony.. That begun to hoover! The lights indicated that the creature had wings, but, also... a horn?!
A mechanical voice echo´d over the sounds.
{Lights on!} With that, the platform beneath the metallic monster bursted to light, revealing the creature! It was indeed an alicorn! A mechanical one! A mechalicorn!
The creature was brightly red and yellow with small blue lights here and there.
The wings was actually just wing-shaped frames holding several powerfull yetblades that kept the creature airborn! The horn, metallic as well, sparked with energies!
"This is the royal Canterlot Guards! Land and take ground or we will force you in the name of Celestia!"
The mechanical steed looked at them, before starting to laugh happily! Landing as commanded, before ordering the "helmet" as he called it, to open.
Two women and a elder man in the crowd fainted at the sight!
The front-mask of the helmet opened to reveal the face of Pony Stark! Blood streaming down across his face as his tierd, red eyes made his joyfull grin look all the more scary!
"In the name of the Princess... Professor Stark, what have you DONE to yourself?! You are but a head!" The nearest guard, a friend of Stark by the name of Sable Shiethe, glared in horror at the seemingly decapitated inventor.
Stark laughed softly, without the mask of his helmet he sounded normal:
"No no old friend! This is not my body, it is a suit! An armor like yours! Only enhanced with technology and magical powersources! I am intact and perfectly fine inside it!"
The guard walked closer too him and touched the armor, carefully as if afraid to get burned.
"Anpony, you are bleeding... and you look horrible. Are you certain you are fine in there?"
Stark blinked as he realized he WAS indeed bleeding.
"Oh, do not wory! It is due to the implant on my forehead, for the horn! It allows me to use basic magic to operate tools and items! Even to controll the suit´s different functions with my thoughts and will alone!"
The guard was baffled by this!
"You operated a HORN onto yourself?!"
"No no no, just a implant that allows me to hook up WITH the horn on the armor, however i must have rushed it to cause bleeding..."
There was alot of talk between the guard and inventor, soon the rest of the crowd dared go closer and inspect the work. Some were scared, even in the world of magic it was NOT natural to just MAKE oneself an alicorn! Others were in awe and amaze over the feat!
A few days later, once Anpony Stark, the "Iron Mane" as people had begun calling him, had gotten some rest and nutrish, he was summoned to the royal palace. In the armor, of course.
Not wanting to put himself in trouble with the Princess, he knew she could actually disslike the idea of ponies turning themselves into the embodyment of royals, he did not use his yet-wings as he entered. Walking up the long carpet and bowed humbly for the Princess, mask up.
~Rise, Anpony Stark. It is good to see you again. Rumours in town had it that you exiled yourself in your home, and returned as an machiene. I am glad to see it is not true.~
"Your majesty, i am honored to meet you again. And no, i am no machiene. Merly a colt in an armor."
Celestia nodded, she smiled as she always did, however turned serious.
~Anpony, i would wish for you to explain yourself as well. This armor of yours is something new, and to many ponies, frightening. Some of your inventions has become tools of weaponry amongst ponies, and i would rather not see more of them out there endangering my people.~
"Your highness, i understand you more then you can possabily realize. I too, know what my inventions has caused... For years i have withheld the open market with my advanced techs and inventions, carefully picking out what i have deemed safe. Hence why the weaponized tools of mine has not advanced out there either! However i realized that there ARE forces out there, forces that wishes for Canterlot to fall into destruction or madness, if not Canterlot then other cities! And i realized that i, with my inventions, may sit on said key of destruction."
Celestia nodded and sat silent for a few seconds, before speaking again.
~Your tools and creativity with both science and magic has made the life easier for many, but i have also understood now from what you told me, that you are capable of building weapons on purpose. This is a dangerous knowledge... However, you have failed to awnser my question. Why did you make yourself this suit?~
"My princess, my ruler... i did it out of fear and guilt. If i am kidnapped, and tortured... i am not strong enough to eventually NOT spill my knowledge. I wish to bring tools that are usefull to ponies, like the train! It is an icon of my ideal... And i feel horrible for those products i was NOT carefull with when i sold, those that was weaponized. So, i have made myself this armor. It shall keep me safe, my ideas safe, your people safe! Especially the last, since i swear to you my ruler, i will stop those using my tools against those i wish well! I will stop them myself before they learn to build it themselves!"
Stark´s eyes sparked with determination, his armor buzzing as his will powers it!
Celestia nodded, stepped down from her throne and walked up to the Anpony Stark.
~So be it then. Anpony Stark, the ponies calls you "Iron Mane", a name i find fitting. Thus, for your determination and good will towards Equestria, i hereby offer you a leading role amongst my guards. Upon agreeing, you will be the elite force and trooper. Your armor will enable you to preform missions others are not capable off. You have the power of an Alicorn, and you shall be the first one in history that is NOT of royal blood, and thus not bound to merly watch and order, but to UPHOLD peace and order! Will you agree?~
Anpony looked dumbfounded by this, in direct service of the Princess as her elite? He pondered this for a few seconds before looking up at the large, white ruler.
"Would it mean that i would get to see you more often, my princess?"
Celestia could not help but smile with a slight blush from the coment, the colt was charming and he knew it. She nodded.
With that, Anpony Stark had his helmet close over his face again. The wings several yets bursting to life as he flew up in the high-roof throneroom and spoke with the robotic voice:
{Iron Mane mark one, Reporting for duty, miss!}
End of Chapter 1.