The Tin Man

by Onomonopia

Tyrant

“And you’re sure this is where you met him?”

“Yes Twilight, for the hundredth time, this is where I met him. I remember the place, Jarvis remembers the place and the dried up husks of ponies over there tell me this is definitely the place.”

Tony shook his head slightly as he stared down at what had once been the cult members he had defeated a few days ago. They laid lifeless on the ground, jaws slack, eyes blank and they all looked like they hadn’t taken a drink of water in a few dozen years. But what slightly unnerved Tony was that Twilight had told them Tirek had the ability to drain lifeforms of their natural magic, like a vampire would blood. That he would suck another beings lifeforce dry.

It wasn’t the idea of fighting a magic sucking vampire that bothered Tony. It was that he had a chance to stop Tirek, to save these ponies lives. And he hadn’t. More names to add to his list.

‘Sir, scans are not picking up a trace of Tirek in the nearby vicinity,’ Jarvis informed Tony.

“Alright, keep scanning. We’re not letting him get away,” Tony snarled.

“How did Tirek escape Tartarus this time?” Applejack asked. “Fluttershy trained Cerberus so that the do would never abandon their post. And how did the princesses not notice?"

"Tirek left a magical clone in his place. The moment after Tony left Canterlot where he first me Celestia, she checked up on him," Twilight said with a shake of her head. "She thought he was still there. Turns out he wasn't."

“As for Cerberus, maybe they got lonely and wanted to find somepony who would give it lots of hugs and kisses,” Fluttershy said. “For such a scary looking dog, they’re nothing but a big sweetheart.”

“Sweethearts aren’t the kind of dog you want guarding one of the most dangerous criminals in the world,” Rainbow said as she floated down from above. “Sorry Twi, but I’ve searched in every direction and I can’t find him. A few more…bodies, but no centaur.”

“Great, he’s hiding. Which means he won’t reveal himself until he believes he’s strong enough to take us on,” Twilight snarled.

“You’ve fought Tirek before?”

“Yeah, a couple times. Not only is he incredibly strong, especially after absorbing enough magic, but he’s cunning as well. He never makes the same mistake twice. One of the reasons we managed to beat him last time was because he got cocky. He won’t make that mistake again.”

“Well, you guys have nothing to worry about. You’ve got a founding member of the Avengers on your side, so you’re guaranteed to win,” Tony told them with confidence. The looks on their faces told them they were anything but confident. “Friends, I’ve dealt with everything from evil gods invading my planet to an army of killer robots that wanted to replace humanity. Trust me, a magic sucking vampire is on the low end of things I’ve gone up against.”

“Don’t underestimate Tirek, Tony. He’s dangerous. Maybe the most dangerous villain we’ve ever fought,” Twilight warned.

“He’s not Thanos, or Galactus, or Hulk. I can handle him,” Tony repeated. Twilight opened her mouth to argue, realized it would be pointless, and just shook her head before continuing to search. “Besides, it’s kinda my fault that he’s on the loose right now, so to make it up to you I’ll be the one to bring him down. Sound fair?”

“If you say so.”

Twilight broke the team into groups to better search the area. Tony was assigned to Rainbow and the two took to the skies, using a combination of Tony’s scanners and Dash’s eyesight to search the surrounding area once again.

“Think you’ll be able to keep up this time?” Rainbow Dash asked as the two flew over the land. Tony, who was more interested in watching a hoard of small, round, fairy looking things devour a garbage dump, took a moment to respond.

“You know Dash, you remind me of another asshole that I know back on my world. Quicksilver,” Tony said. “He’s very fast, very annoying and his mouth gets him into trouble faster than his legs can outrun it. And do you know how many times he’s beaten me? Zero. Because for as fast and as cocky as he is, he’s an idiot. And brain beats muscle every time. Remember that.”

“Oh yeah? Well how about you prove it and-“

Whatever Dash was going to ask Tony to do he would never know, because at that moment Dash collided head first with a blimp that was passing by. As the ponies on board began to yell at Dash and got sticks to scrape her off their airship, Tony chuckled to himself before rocketing on ahead.

‘Sir, I’ve found something down below. You…be ready, sir. It’s not a pretty sight.’

All the mirth left Tony’s body as he descended down towards a small, farming community that Jarvis had pointed out. He landed in the center of a small marketplace and looked around, his heart already sinking into his stomach. All around Tony lay ponies, in the same shape as the cultists they had found earlier. Husks. Husks of what once were ponies just living their lives.

“Jarvis, scan for survivors,” Tony instructed. He heard Dash land behind him, but to his gratitude, she didn’t say anything. She just sighed and shook her head before looking up at Tony.

“I’ll check the west side, you look east.”

“Agreed.”

Tony and Dash separated, though Tony made sure to eject a tiny drone from his suit to follow Dash, just in case she ran into Tirek before he did. Tony and Jarvis searched the village, but all they found was more of the same. Husk like ponies and some amounts of destruction, such as a barn door that was kicked in or some overturned stalls. Some of the ponies had pitchforks or sickles next to them, in a futile attempt to defend themselves. Their bodies showed the results.

‘This is not your fault.’

“How is this not my fault? I could have stopped this. I could have ended Tirek when he was weak and helpless,” Tony spat.

‘You did not know what he was capable of. You and I both thought he was just a strange being in a strange world. If you believe that you are the one to blame for all of this, then the blame should clearly fall to me.’

“Why on Earth would you be to blame for this, Jarvis?”

‘Because I am the smart one.’

Tony felt the corners of his mouth attempt to smile at that, but his guilt fought the smile back down. He heard hoofsteps and turned around to see Twilight walking towards him, a look of sorrow on her face as she gazed at the bodies.

“I’m sorry. I should have stopped him,” Tony said.

“You didn’t know. I am the one to blame. As their ruler, I should have been aware to their plight. Instead I was too busy try to figure out you,” Twilight replied with a shake of her head. “But this is bad. This is worse that just a missing village. Tirek will be much more powerful now, and the stronger he becomes the faster he’ll start to drain more magic across the land.”

“Well we know he went this way. We’ll split up and search in a triangle formation, checking nearby cities and towns to see if he’s been there. Once we’ve done that, we should be able to pinpoint his location and where he’s heading next,” Tony suggested. Twilight gave him a kind smile before she shook her head.

“It’s a good plan, Tony. But it won’t work. Tirek will be strong enough now that he can teleport. There is no pattern to learn where he is or tracking his movements. He will go where he wants to. The best course of action is for me and the other princesses to use our power to try to see if we can feel where magic is being drained in large quantities. That will be our best bet.”

“Oh. I see. That makes sense,” Tony replied.

Twilight closed her eyes and her horn began to glow. Tony stayed silent, not wanting to interrupt. But he still felt anger simmering beneath his surface. He had failed these ponies. He was a hero, a hero who battled evil on a daily basis. How could he had not seen that Tirek was evil? He had even jokingly said to Jarvis that Tirek looked evil. Just another mistake Tony made that others had to pay the price for.

“No!” Twilight screamed as she snapped her eyes open, panting heavily. Dash and Tony were both at Twilight’s side in an instant, helping her as she regained control of herself. “The princesses are under attack!”

“Tirek?” Dash asked.

“I don’t know, I couldn’t find out. But we need to get there now!” Twilight snarled. Her horn glowed with an incredible power and the next thing Tony knew, his world was filled with a flash of violet light.

The teleportation nearly made Tony throw up again, but he didn’t have time to wait for his stomach to settle down. Twilight had teleported him and all of her friends to a courtyard in the city Tony had visited. A courtyard that had guards laying everywhere. Some of them were alive. Most of them were not.

“Come on, the princesses are in the throne room!” Twilight yelled. She and her five friends charged ahead, but Tony took a moment to kneel down next to one of the bodies and examine it quickly. It wasn’t Tirek who had done this. The guard’s body was perfectly fine, aside from the scorch mark of energy on the side of it. An energy mark he knew all too well.

“Twilight!” Tony yelled as he poured everything into his thrusters and rocketed off after the ponies. He passed by more bodies on his way to the throne room, all of them in a similar state as the guards outside. He tried not to notice that the maids and staff had been struck down as well as the guards.

Tony managed to overtake the group right as they reached the final hallway to the throne room, rocketing ahead of them and landing with his arms outstretched to stop them.

“Twilight, wait,” Tony warned. Twilight and her friends skidded to a halt, the edge in Tony’s voice bring them to a stop. “This isn’t Tirek. None of the bodies have been drained of their magic and the rest of the city is untouched.”

“Okay, so it’s not Tirek. I don’t care. Somepony in is there battling the princesses and they need to be stopped!” Twilight yelled. She tried to slip past Iron Man, but he held out his arms once more.

“Twilight…I know who’s in there. So trust me when I say, let me go in first and let me do the talking,” Tony warned as he turned towards the doors. He grabbed hold of the handles and looked back at the group. “And also…shoot to kill.”

With that warning, Iron Man pulled open the doors to the throne room.

Guards were scattered all over the room, having clearly been dealt with first. The two princesses, Celestia and Luna, were both laying beaten and bruised on the ground, yet Iron Man was amazed to see that they both still breathed.

Yet it was the figure that sat on the throne that gained Iron Man’s full attention. The metal suit. The green cloak. And the eyes that looked out from under his mask devoid of any mercy or understanding.

“Tony, is that…?” Twilight began.

“Allow me to answer for you, Stark. Yes, murderer. I am who you rightfully fear,” Victor cut in.

“I am Doom.”

Comments

[Venerable Ro]

“Allow me to answer for you, Stark. Yes, murderer. I am who you rightfully fear,” Victor cut in.

“I am Doom.”

Oh dear, it's a grudge.

[TheDino27]

Someone call the Doom Slayer please ! He is more appropriately-needed than anytime right now ! And I need some epic fighting too , but I am pretty sure that'll be fulfilled anyway so I is happy !

Has a side note I can't believe how long this story has been Featured , I think it's been almost a week by now ! It shows how good that story is , continue like this , dude !

[Frazzle2Dazzle]

Shoot to kill? What a novel concept for Ponies.

[Element of Power]

DOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

[FridayPie]

So Doom again screwed up.

He could recon and find out precarious position, and go against Tony, word for word, convincing then that it is Tony who is villain and eliminate him from scene

[Not A Watermelon]

DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!

[Norwegian boy]

Wow, Doom didn't kill Celestia and Luna. He must have a good day, either that he want something from them.

[Patchwork_]

[CaxmtheNobody]

I don't remember any discussions between the chapter about the cultist Tony had first met to this chapter.

[Animatorsnake]

Yes, murderer.

Murderer?! Okay, Doom is speaking to Twilight, so why is Doom calling Twilight a murderer?! WHAT!?

[ThatBadGuy]

Oh no. Discord what did you do?

[Killjoy1221]

10029800
My theory is that he believes the ponies destroyed humanity.