‘Sir, I would advise you to reconsider your plan.’
“It’s a great plan, Jarvis. You just don’t have as much faith in others as I do.”
‘It is not a matter of faith, sir. I just believe that these ponies will respond to you the same way those in Canterlot did. With fear, distrust and magic.’
“So just another Wednesday for us, then.”
A small town came into view on Tony’s H.U.D, with an energy that matched the two princesses nearby. Even if Tony hadn’t been a super genius, he would have still been able to figure out that the source of energy was most likely living in the giant, crystal castle at the edge of the town.
Tony could have just flown over to the castle and knocked on the front door, but that wasn’t how Tony Stark did things. So instead of heading right to the energy source, he instead cut his engines and landed right in the middle of the town…in front of the ponies who were going about their day.
“Hello, horses!” Tony said with a wave. “No need to panic, just here to talk to your princess to figure out how to get home to my own dimension. You know, regular, superhero things. If any of you wouldn’t mind pointing me in the right direction, it would be a big help.”
‘Sir, you already know where they are.’
“Yeah, but I want to see how these ones will respond,” Stark muttered. For a long minute the crowd of ponies just stared at the metal man, confusion and disbelief written on their faces. Then the crowd began to disperse, some shaking their heads with a sigh while others grumbled under their breath. Tony picked up at least three ponies saying how it was going to be another one of those days and several others were talking about how they needed to move out of Ponyville, which he assumed was the name of the town.
Once all of the ponies had gone about their day, only one, small filly was left. A yellow pony with a red mane with a bow in it looked up at him, awe and amazement written on her face.
“Well welcome to Ponyville, stranger! Yer here looking fer Twilight, that right?” she asked with an accent.
“That’s right, my little friend. This…Twilight is the princess around here?” Tony asked. He got down on one knee so that he could be eye level with the filly, who was gazing in awe at his faceplate. “Would you mind taking me to her? It’s a matter of great importance.”
“Of course, just follow me!” she replied. The foal began walking towards the crystal castle, confirming what Tony knew, before she looked over her shoulder and smiled. “Ah’m Applebloom, by the way! Cutie Mark Crusader and sister to Applejack. And ah gotta say, ah love yer armor. Especially the coloring ya gave it.”
“I can see why,” Tony said with a smile. He then glanced around at the ponies they were passing by, who either didn’t pay any attention to the metal man or simply gave him a look and moved on with their lives. “So are you the only friendly face in this town or do the rest of the horses just reserve the silent treatment for their guests?”
“Oh don’t mind them, they’re pretty used to strange things happening in Ponyville,” Applebloom said. “A long time ago they would all panic over the slightest thing, but after Discord, Chrysalis, Tirek, and all of the other crazy things that have happened, they’ve grown numb to the weirdness. Maybe if ya started flying around and blasting them they’d show a bit more interest.”
“Wow, sounds like New York,” Tony replied.
“And ya were flying, right? Ya didn’t just fall out of the sky and manage to land perfectly, did ya?” Applebloom asked. She heard a quick roaring sound and spun around to see that the metal man was hovering above the ground, blue fire erupting from his hands and feet.
“I don’t know. You tell me.”
“That’s incredible! How did ya manage to generate enough propulsion to overcome the weight of you and the armor without the need for a massive engine?” Applebloom asked, circling Tony and staring in awe at his thrusters.
“That would be the result of the arc reactor in my chest,” Tony replied. “This little baby right here generates enough power to fuel this suit for nearly a day, provided I don’t do anything too dangerous. Which is almost never.”
‘Sir, should you really be telling her about how your suit works? You know nothing about her.’
“Come on Jarvis, These are the people…ponies of tomorrow. What kind of scientist would I be if I didn’t feed her hunger for knowledge?” Tony asked.
“Who are ya talking to?”
“A little voice in my helmet that yells at me whenever I do anything. I call it Jarvis. Say hi, Jarvis.”
‘Hello, Applebloom.’
“Hi, Jarvis! Are ya really small or something?”
‘Or something.’
“You are taking meeting an alien awfully well for someone so young,” Tony said.
“Yer not an alien, yer a human. At least, I think ya are. Hard to tell with the armor. Twilight’s told me all about your kind! She used to go see them all the time, but she got busy lately and had to stop.”
A smile crossed Tony’s face at Applebloom’s words. Twilight had visited humans before, meaning that she had a portal or some kind of spell that could travel between dimensions. Tony would be back in his world before the day was done and without having to fight his way through another reality to do it. That was a first.
“Your instincts are right. I am a human,” Tony said, before his faceplate moved up and allowed Applebloom to see his face. “I’m Tony Stark. A.K.A. Iron Man. But please, call me Tony.”
“Okay, Tony, but why would others call ya Iron Man. Ah mean, ah can see why, but why?”
“That’s my superhero name. And what my enemies call me.”
“Oh mah gawsh, yer a superhero?! No way!”
“Flying armor, on board A.I., incredibly good looking…what more is there to say?”
“What’s yer superpower?! Is it super strength? How about metal manipulation? Energy pulses?”
“That’s the coolest thing about me, Applebloom,” Tony said with a smile. “I don’t have a superpower. All I’ve got are my wits, my will and this suit I’ve built. And I’m still one of the best.”
Applebloom’s jaw dropped at that revelation, but any further conversation was cut off as the two reached their destination. A massive, crystal palace that shimmered like rainbow up close. Tony didn’t need his sensors to feel the magical might radiating off of this place as well as the faintest trace of an energy that his sensors couldn’t identify. Something unique to this world?
“Don’t feel nervous, Twilight is super friendly! She’s the princess of friendship, after all.” Applebloom then raised her hoof and banged it against the door. “Twilight! It’s me! Applebloom! Ah’ve got something ya will want to see!”
“Applebloom, if you’ve brought me another weird looking apple,” the voice of Twilight said as she opened the door, revealing a purple unicorn with wings who stopped dead when she saw Tony. She looked like a small version of the princesses up at Canterlot, telling Tony that his scanners had been on the mark. For a long moment Twilight just stared at him, before she sighed and glanced at AB. “No, you can’t keep it. Put it back where you found it.”
“What…no, that’s not what-“
“Come on Twilight, she’d make a great owner,” Tony added, getting Twilight to snap her head back towards him. “And I don’t need much. Some food, water, multi-billion-dollar tech workshop. See, I’m easy to take care of.”
“Great, not only did a human somehow end up on my doorstep, it’s a human that thinks he’s funny. This is going to be a long one,” Twilight sighed, before she moved to the side. “The two of you better come on in. I have a feeling this is going to take a while.”
Tony made himself right at home.
At first, he had been somewhat surprised to see that not only was the interior of the castle crystal as well, but so was the furniture, the stairs…everything really. Even the couches that Twilight motioned for him and Applebloom to sit on. He did so, imagining that they would be very uncomfortable if he wasn’t already wearing a suit of armor. He popped open his helmet so Twilight could see his face, hoping that it would calm her down.
“Do you have to put your feet on the table?” Twilight asked, looking down at the two red, metal boots that were atop her table.
“I’ve been traveling for miles today, Twilight. My feet are killing me.”
“Ah thought ya flew here?”
“Yeah. And my feet are killing me,” Tony said with a smile.
Twilight rolled her eyes at Stark, but quickly her eyes returned their gaze to his armor. Tony found himself smiling as Twilight looked over every inch of his suit, muttering to herself and jotting down notes on a clipboard she had. Every once in a while, Tony would open a compartment, startling her for only a second before she rapidly observed the compartment and how it worked.
“See that, Applebloom. Here I am a gorgeous billionaire who has saved the world numerous times, yet all she cares about is my suit. I swear people are so shallow these days. Are you listening, Twilight? I’m making fun of you.”
“Hmm? Oh, sorry, I got…distracted…” Twilight muttered, taking one last look at the suit before she made her clipboard vanish in a flash of light. “It’s just that I’ve never seen a suit as advanced as this before. Even with magic we probably wouldn’t be close to making something like this for at least…another five hundred years. It’s incredible.”
“Like a caveman seeing a rocketship for the first time. He can’t even process what he’s looking at,” Tony said with a smile. “But enough studying and jokes. Twilight, I’m here for two reasons. The first is because I need to get back to my own reality. The other is because the two princesses in Canterlot made it very clear I’m not welcome there. So I’ve come to you for help.”
“I know you’re from another dimension. Humans don’t exist in this one. Can you give me any more information to help?” Twilight asked.
“Sure. I come from Earth four seven eight, a world filled with heroes, villains and everything in-between. I’m a part of a group of heroes called the Avengers, Earths mightiest heroes, yadda yadda yadda, who were taking down a supervillain when his portal exploded and dragged me to this world. That help?”
“Hmm,” was all Twilight said in reply as she started to scan Tony with her horn.
“I heard from my little friend here that you have visited the humans before and I’m guessing that you either have an interdimensional portal or are capable of creating one. If I could just borrow it, I’d be out of your hair…mane…and would let you enjoy the rest of your day in peace.”
“That’s not going to work,” Twilight said, shaking her head. “My mirror portal allows me to cross over into the human world, but that world is one dimension next to ours. Yours is however many hundreds away and that’s if my dimension happens to be one. We could be dimension one thousand or something like that. You’d have to go through hundreds of mirror portals and even then, we aren’t sure you’d be going the right way.”
“That makes sense. But if I go to your human world, perhaps I could use the tech of the Avengers in that reality to build something to help locate my own dimension?”
“Sorry, but I’ve been to the other human world many times and I’ve never heard of anyone called the Avengers…though that might have been a dvd I saw in the library,” Twilight muttered. “In any case, I don’t think that world would have the technology you would need. I mean, my human self is the smartest person in that world and what she has built pales in comparison to your suit. If you need something more advanced than what you’re wearing, she’ll be of no help.”
“I hate to say it, but what you’re saying makes sense,” Tony sighed, placing his hands together and looking at the ceiling. Then he shrugged his shoulders and smiled. “Welp, looks like I’m crashing in this dimension for a little while. So which one of you lucky ladies would like the honor of having a real life superhero in your home?”
Applebloom let out an excited squeak and raised her hoof, but Twilight lowered in with her magic while shaking her head. “Sorry Applebloom, but I’d better take this one. Who knows what trouble he’ll get into while he’s here?”
“It’s like you know me. Are you sure you can handle it, though? Even my closest allies get fed up with me at least twice a week.”
“It’ll be easy. All you need is some food and water, right?”
“And a multi-billion-dollar tech workshop. You telling me you have one of those?”
“Mine is multi-million at best.”
“So you expect me to live in poverty. Well beggars can’t be choosers. Very well Twilight, I will stay with you until we’ve figured out how to get this all sorted,” Tony agreed. He extended a hand to Twilight and she shook it with her hoof, before a devious smile crossed her face.
“And I look forward to figuring out how to build a suit of my own like that one.”
“Ah, your true motives revealed. I see now that I am at the mercy of a villain,” Tony smirked.
“Come on, let me show you around,” Twilight said with a laugh. “You too, Bloom.”
Applebloom hopped off the couch and followed after Twilight, leaving Tony alone for a moment.
‘Sir, a word?’
“Yeah, Jarvis?” Tony asked, his faceplate closing once again.
‘Sir, even if it does not have the Avengers, wouldn’t it be better to go to the human Earth and use the tools there? At least they would have technology and people that you understand.’
“I considered that, Jarvis. But remember, I wasn’t the only one that went into the portal back in Latveria.”
‘Doom.’
“He had to have survived. I know it. And from what little I’ve seen of them so far, these ponies wouldn’t be able to handle him. We could barely handle him. I brought him to their world. I will not leave them at his mercy. We both know he has none.”
“Tony, ya coming?”
“Coming. Just had to talk with the voice in my head real quick.”
So Tony can make with the smooth talk.
You know what?
The quickest way to lose a reader's interest is to use a very old and dated cliche, possibly like "The good guy is mistaken for the bad guy at first".
Best. Appleboom. EVER !!!!!!
GOSH...I love her already ! More level headed then booth sun and moonbutt together !!!!
Wait how does she know for sure she was the smartest person in that world? Granted human Twilight was pretty smart but still only a school student from one town. The whole world could be full of a few people like her for all she knows. Otherwise what's she's saying could be interpreted as a form of ego. If she simply means she's the smartest person she met there then that would be different.
I honestly don’t think Doom is a villain per say. His ego, pride, and ambitions just lead him to fight anyone against him. Despite his iron fisted rule, he is a great leader who does care and wants what’s best for Latveria, and has made it a proud self sustaining country, were poverty and crime are non existent. And the only reason he wants world domination, is cause he believes his rule is the only way to prevent humanities destruction. Hell, he’d probably rule the crystal empire and Canterlot way better the the princesses.
Red and yellow, must be a swell fellow!
Doom definitionally survived. He is mother fucking Doctor Victor Von Doom!
So a threat on the same apparent level as Tirek shows up at the capital city, beating up ponies, and Celestia just bans him from entering but leaves him free to possibly go destroy other cities in the country?
This is probably exactly what Celestia would do in the show. She only ever seems to sweep the villain under the rug to worry about later. Often times one thousand years later, but still! Show some damn initiative, princess! Take some preventative measures!
Applebloom is adorable, and it is amazing how she and Tony get along.
So are you subscribing to the theory that the many fictional universes we see our favorite media may actually be found in an infinite amount of alternate universes? In the EG world, people there watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
I can't really put my finger on it, but the dialogue between Tony and the ponies feels... clunky, if that makes any sense. I can't really back it up with examples beyond my own thoughts, but it just feels weird to me. Eh, oh well.
9836846
My assumption was that when he demonstrated both his familiarity with Tirek and his ability to easily defeat her entire Guard Force, she was taking him seriously, and saw him as a serious threat.
If she KNOWS that he isn't, that he doesn't actually know who Tirek is, and her guards just started attacking him as an unfamiliar flying dude, who has specifically asked for help, why does she act like this? Because she's upset at how weak her guards are? That's not his fault. He doesn't have to keep beating them up and could just leave, sure. But as a princess, if someone has something they need to tell you so badly that they are willing to trash your Royal Guard to get your attention? Maybe hear them out.
She doesn't know that a Murderhappy Discord tier threat is on the loose, but she very easily COULD know that if she wasn't trying to save face.
Yeah, doom really has no chill, heck, he became a god of Death in one universe.
9836598
this is a superhero crossover story. it'd be offensive not to start with a fight between the good guys.
I think Tony is funny, either that I don't have a sense of humor.
In all reality he could have handled the situation better, but then again this is Stark we are talking about so I guess that is asking to much
Though I also think the Princesses handled this entire situation wrong too, They didn't ask the questiosn they should have and just assumed he was in cahoots with Tirek and left it at that. The Wonderbolts attacked first and that falls on them that they got Obliterated, not Stark.
If anything Twilight (much as I hate to say this) deserves a reward for going into this level headed and without jumping to conclusions. Makes you really think doesn't it? The youngest Alicorn was more level headed then the some thousand year old Rulers
9837183
Oh no, I get it. But first, the Wonderbolts are an active guard unit and them getting hurt is part of the job. Second Celestia is what? 1,000+ years old? You would think that after such a long time alive, much less leading a country, she would be the last to take things at face value.
In all honesty? She acted like Rainbow, No questions asked, Not willing to listen and Jumping to Conclusions. The fact he even MENTIONED Tirek should have brought about questions like "Where is he" or "What was he doing" as he is what I would think a Omega Level Threat, in all honesty she gave up on a chance to STOP Tirek early.
As much as it Hurts, I have to Praise Twilight in this instance. She could have easily just called him a Monster and Blasted him (Like a good number of the others have done) but instead she started asking QUESTIONS and gave him the benefit of the doubt. I suspect if he told her about his encounter with Tirek she would give him a chance to explain.
9837159
Which is still silly. She should try to capture him, because one, like you said, he beat up a lot of her guards, and should be made to answer for it if he has no good reason, or at least interrogated to find out why he thought it was so urgent to get to her and maybe give her soldier's efforts some validation.
And two, he has admitted to being in contact with Tirek very recently and could potentially help them locate him, willingly or otherwise, since Tirek must have escaped from Tartarus a second time to even be able to tell Tony about her.
This goes back to what I was saying at the beginning, and it works whether she thought he was in cahoots with Tirek or not. Making him leave, or letting him leave, was not a smart decision and will have serious negative consequences, like all of the other villains she never quite gets to dealing with in a more permanent way.
9837131
Furthermore, it's pretty obvious from your comments to both me and Moonlit_Stardust, that you have a pretty strong Pro-Celestia bias. Neither him nor I are insulting her, just disagreeing with her actions in this one very particular thing that she did, and in my case the fact that she has a history of doing this particular thing because the writers need old villains to keep popping up. How much of this argumentation is really about a ruler making a good/bad move, versus it being Celestia making that move?
And your money, to afford "this suit" (and all the other suits). Just like Batman, except you don't care about secret identities and you're addicted to alcohol.
I wonder how long it'll be before Celestia informs Twilight of the commotion in Canterlot? That this human had met up with Tirek?
9836682
If I recall, most of his writers have stated that he is NOT a villain. A crazy egomaniac? Sure, but so are most of Marvel's 1% characters.
I'm gonna have to fact-check this, but if I recall, he traveled through millions of timelines and found that the only one with the Earth surviving long term was ruled by him. Putting that in the equation and adding it to his over-inflated ego, and you get why he is the way he is.
9837474
I'll agree with that. Really, when the princesses showed up and made that big show of force, they really were trying to cease hostilities first and foremost, and reminding their ponies of their abilities to protect them, despite their guards, second.
I've given this some thought, and I realized that I just don't like the Royal Guards very much. The harshness of my chosen words kind of indicates this now that I look back. I'm sure that in the world of the show, they are pretty well trained, but in the first five and a half seasons that I've watched the show, I've never actually seen them succeed at anything they've set out to do.
They flew directly at Nightmare Moon and got clobbered, the entire Wonderbolt team got knocked out by a flailing civilian falling to her death, the Wonderbolts got stuck in a water-tower trying to defeat a dragon, they couldn't repel the changelings, Spike was the one to discover Thorax in the snow and not them... Stuff like that. I understand that the show-writers were trying to show how serious the situations were that even the highly trained guard force couldn't handle them, but unless they showed the guard actually succeeding at something to show their prowess, they are just showing that the guards can't actually handle anything.
Discounting Shining Armor as a main character, the only thing they've succeeded at in the show is being messangers, checkpoint guards, and bouncers rented out by the nobility for parties.
I like to see competent royal guards in fanfics, especially to validate how much tax money must go into them and to show that the country of Equestria is safer than what you see in Ponyville, and I was a bit disappointed at their portrayal in this story, even if it is exactly what one would expect in most situations.
You really nailed Tony's ego and snark to a T.
9838547
At least the comic one. Movie one moved away from that.
Uhm. The Horror?
I understand that a hero on hero beatdown is traditional, though I dislike it. And Stark is dumb enough to say things in stupidest possible way to raise conflict.
What I I dislike the bait and switch of the Daring Do opening. What's the point when you then dump stark on his own, in a fully functional suit.
9913609
Agreed. I was actually expecting her to be the one in the sack and thus be our PoV pony for this fic, but that didn't turn out at all.
9913609
Yeah, what ever happened to Chekhov’s Gun?
10140954
That's implying it won't be brought up later in the story. Chekov's Gun does not mean that the usage of the gun itself will be expected.
When was Applebloom like this, did I miss an episode?