From the Ashes

by Boltstrike58

Chapter 14: Even More Bonding Time

Equis, Ponyville

Bruce Banner casually washed his hands in the crystal sink, noticing how the water seemed to sparkle on the surface. The crystal was highly unusual, almost luminous in nature, and Bruce couldn't see dents on the surface suggesting the use of tools in it's creation. Then again, according to the ponies, this place had been formed entirely from the magical Tree of Harmony (whatever that was), in the space of about one minute. Bruce wondered how many of his physics papers would be disproven by the existence of magic, at least on this planet.

It was reasonably early in the morning, and every one of the Avengers had risen from their beds. The soldiers had already done their morning runs (with the exception of Barnes, who seemed like he just wanted to sleep in). Bruce walked back to the living room, where Steve, Bucky, and Sam were lounging on the couch, Scott was examining the crystal walls, Vision appeared to be meditating, and Thor was having a discussion with Princess Sparkle. The other ponies, along with the dragon, were gathered in the corner, with Applejack leading some sort of hushed conversation.

"Oh, believe me, Celestia drove the chefs of Asgard insane," Thor chuckled, fondly remembering the past. "She would always insist on desert first. Then second desert. It was ludicrous. Father completely lost his temper."

Twilight roared with laughter. "Oh, I can't wait to bring that one up!" she managed to gasp out.

"Gonna troll your mentor, Twily?" came a voice. Tony entered the room, a small smile crossing his face. Behind him came Wanda, T'Challa, and Natasha.

Twilight opened her mouth to retaliate, but froze upon seeing the mood in the room shift. Tony laid eyes on Steve's group, and stopped cold in his tracks. His expression faded to one of cold anger, and his fists clenched up as his shoulders tensed. Steve, noticing the billionaire's presence, had adopted a similar position, skirting ever so slightly closer to Bucky. Both men were clearly keeping an intense rage buried beneath the surface. Every living thing in the room could feel it, and it felt like the temperature had dropped several degrees in seconds. Bruce and Sam, seeing their respective friends approaching a rage breaking point, stepped forward to try and physically reassure them. Unfortunately, the anger Steve and Tony were putting out repelled them, as though an invisible force field were pushing them away. Steve and Tony didn't even acknowledge them.

"Uh, hey! That reminds me!" Applejack interrupted, rather loudly. "Steve, uh, we need some help pruning some of the apple trees! Maybe you and your friends wanna help?!" As if to emphasize, she quickly trotted over to Steve, grabbed him by one arm with both front hooves, and pulled him from his seat.

"Sure...sure," said Steve, barely acknowledging her. He allowed himself to be pulled by the farm pony, eventually going out the front door. Sam, catching on to her idea, followed, pulling Bucky along with him. The man went without protest.

"Hey, they can't fly! I can make it go faster!" exclaimed Rainbow, taking flight and zooming after the retreating team. She didn't know it, but in her eagerness, she would've broken quite a few Wonderbolt records.

"OOH! Does that mean we get to throw apple branches at each other again?! Wait for me!" called Pinkie, as she hopped to the door and outside.

For a few more seconds, nobody (or pony) reacted, merely standing in peace. Tony stood in the same spot, still apparently angry, while Bruce made subtle, but ultimately futile attempts to draw his attention. Fluttershy scuttled around the room, opting to hide behind Bruce so the angry genius wouldn't catch sight of her. Vision stood up, cautiously approaching Tony, but stopped just shy of putting his hand on the man's shoulder. T'Challa looked down at the floor, sighing with equal parts disappointment and frustration. Finally, Scott gave a small shrug.

"What the heck, I got nothing better to do," he said to himself. He turned to the doorway, following Steve and Applejack's group.

Twilight finally got up the courage, and walked across the room to where Tony stood. The night before, her and Applejack had agreed that, if they were going to help the Avengers with their personal problems, it would be best if Tony and Steve were kept apart for now. One step at a time.

"So, Tony?" she started hesitantly, "should we get started? We have a hoofull of projects we wanted to work on today."

"Whatever," Tony responded, somewhat harshly. Twilight felt hurt for a moment, but remembered it had nothing to do with her.

Tony turned to Bruce. "Look alive, buddy. We've got whole new fields of science to unravel."

"Sounds good," agreed the doctor, following the two geniuses. Vision came with them, apparently having nothing better to do himself. Fluttershy rejoined her friends, feeling like the danger had passed.

"So, er, Spike, was it?" asked Natasha, moving over to the remaining Elements of Harmony and the dragon. "I was wondering, does the town have a place where—"

Tony's group had almost made their way into Twilight's workshop, but upon hearing the Black Widow's voice, the billionaire turned his head to throw back a jeer.

"Better keep an eye on her, guys! She has an unhealthy habit of backstabbing."

Rarity, Starlight, and Spike all gasped in shock at the display. Fluttershy, already tense from the previous incident, merely backed into a corner. Twilight gave Tony an admonishing glare, a look that was shared by T'Challa. Bruce and Vision merely sighed in resignation, and Thor didn't appear to know how to react.

The targeted party, however, had a much more subdued reaction. Natasha didn't even turn to face Tony, merely rolling her eyes, and giving a quiet grumble of "Real mature." The redhead turned on her heel, walking to the front doors of the castle and departing, though taking a different path than Steve's group. It was evident that she had nothing more to say.

The room's remaining occupants were left alone, the silence hanging over them. Tony's group had left the room in the meantime, and some of the ponies believed they could hear the Princess of Friendship verbally thrashing Iron Man. Spike, Fluttershy, Starlight, and Rarity, desperate for something to fill the void, turned to the only being who hadn't really responded to Tony's words, Wanda. The human woman looked down at the floor silently, before turning her head up. Before Spike or the ponies could open their mouths, she spoke.

"I'd like to be alone for a while, if nobody minds," she announced, directed at nothing in particular. "If you need me, I'll be outside."

With that, Wanda Maximoff marched out the front door, selecting a direction nobody else had taken yet.

Only five occupants remained in the living room, three ponies, one dragon, one human, and one Asgardian. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Starlight looked at each other, unspoken words passing between them. Spike observed this silent conversation, wanting to join in himself, but knowing he likely wouldn't be much assistance. Fluttershy gave a quiet shake of her head, before walking off to the castle library, apparently hoping to distract herself.

The two unicorns nodded in understanding, before turning their focus to each other. Starlight seemed much more apprehensive compared to the fashionista, who put her chin up, the picture of confidence. Rarity, her resolve firm, turned and marched out the front door as well, followed few moments later by Starlight.

Left alone, T'Challa made his way to a seat over by Spike. The dragon soon took off to Twilight's workshop, hoping he could at least help there. Thor, left alone, eventually walked outside, taking off into the sky with a spin of his hammer.

---

Applejack sighed in relief as she looked over her human friends working on Sweet Apple Acres. She'd been concerned that Steve would carry his anger at Tony with him to the orchard, which was especially terrifying as she hadn't seen him angry yet. The result couldn't be predicted. Thankfully, he seemed to have calmed down, and occupied himself with the Apple family's yard work.

Rainbow and Sam, having taken to the air, carried hedge clippers, lopping some of the branches that had gotten too long off the tops of the bright trees, sending the broken pieces down to the surface. Below, Big Mac, Applejack, Pinkie, Steve, Bucky, and unexpectedly, Scott, scooped up the discarded trimmings, moving them to the compost bin.

"Remember when we were kids and we used to talk about co-owning a farm like this?" Steve grunted to Bucky. "When did we stop doing that?"

"When we discovered women," Bucky quipped, giving a small smile. He'd been pretty closed off at first, but he was a little relaxed now.

Up above them, Sam chuckled as he floated in place. "You two and your early 1900's stories," he laughed. "It's like watching the interim parts of a World War II movie."

"So y'all are all former soldiers?" asked Applejack. Steve, Sam, and Bucky nodded. "Dang. Equestria ain't had a war in centuries, it's just so odd to hear about it."

"This place really is sunshine and rainbows, isn't it?" asked Scott. "I almost wish Earth was a bit more like this place. It'd drive Cassie crazy, though."

"Well, it wasn't always peaceful," said Rainbow. "It took thousands of years for Equestria to reach a place where we're good at not killing each other. That war with Sombra a thousand years ago? That was a pretty big deal. Not to mention the three tribes of ponies all hated each other for centuries."

Applejack looked up at her friend, perplexed. "I thought you weren't into all that history stuff, Rainbow."

"Well, after I had to pass that Wonderbolts exam, I kinda caught an interest in it. Occasionally read one of Twilight's really old books."

"Me too!" chimed in Pinkie. "I tried making a record of history songs to help ponies study for exams, but they got rejected."

Rainbow grimaced, remembering Pinkie's "helpful" attempt to help her with the Wonderbolts exam. "Maybe that's for the best, Pinkie."

Sam floated over, collapsing his wings back into his pack. "Maybe our species aren't so radically different after all."

"Eeeyup," said Big Mac, hauling another mass of branches into the bin.

"You don't talk much, do you?" asked Scott, curiously.

"Nnope."

"Fine by me," replied the man. "Luis could stand to take a few lessons from you, buddy."

"So, er, Sergeant Barnes, was it?" Applejack continued, turning to Bucky. "What's your story?"

Bucky's smile faded from his face. Internally, he was having a dilemma. He'd already told Luna everything about himself, but then again, she'd seen his dreams, and there was no excuse he could come up with that would convince her. She'd agreed to keep it a secret, knowing all to well how important it was to him. This time, he was faced with a pony he could lie to (at least he thought), and Steve had told him they were keeping the whole divide between the Avengers thing a secret from the ponies. If he came clean about himself, that would probably get dragged out too. Not to mention he wanted to do not bring trouble to Steve at least once. He was so focused on himself, he didn't even noticed Steve and Sam tense up.

"Not much to tell," he settled on. "Just Steve's old war buddy. Frozen in ice for seventy years like him."

"Uh-huh..." Applejack responded. She shot a quick glance at Rainbow, telling the pegasus that the man was clearly lying. For the first time, Steve cursed Applejack's status as a living lie detector.

"Well, I'm sure there's more than that," said Rainbow. "Like where you got that awesome arm—"

"That was a gift. From T'Challa," Steve cut her off. His tone of voice carried an unspoken command, declaring that the conversation was over. This was not a topic to be pursued.

Applejack looked at Steve to protest, but the expression on his face stopped her cold. For the first time since they'd met, Steve actually looked angry. Applejack saw in him protective instincts that she herself had employed, particularly when it came to Applebloom. Steve's face could give Fluttershy's stare a run for it's money, and like Fluttershy, this was born out of compassion, and a desire to keep Bucky from harm. Applejack chanced a look at Bucky, but he didn't seem responsive to what was going on. If it bothered him that Steve was pushing him out of the conversation, he wasn't showing it.

Rainbow, meanwhile, started to speak, but Sam put a hand on her shoulder, cutting her off as well. He gave the pegasus a quick shake of his head, silently imploring her to stop. Rainbow wisely decided to pocket her confrontational attitude for the moment. This was far too serious a matter. She looked at Pinkie, hoping the party pony wouldn't miss the cue, but thankfully, she seemed to have picked up on it.

"You guys okay?" said Big Mac. Everyone jumped a bit, not because that was the most Mac had said all day, but because they'd practically forgotten he was there. Except for Scott, who was watching the group with a mixture of concern and fear.

"Yeah, yeah. We're good," said Sam.

Applejack decided to try changing the subject. "Hey, Big Mac? You seen Apple Bloom today? She was supposed to help us."

"Nnope."

Applejack groaned. "What is it with that filly and not showing up to do her share of the work?"

"Little sister?" asked Sam. "Riley had one of those. Used to drive him insane."

"I know she's got crusading to do, but still, she needs to put more time in on the farm."

"You really think so? My Cutie Mark does have an apple in it," said Apple Bloom.

Applejack jumped about a foot in the air, noticing her sister, who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo stood alongside her.

"Oh, now you show up! Where've you been?"

"We promised to help a pony who hadn't figured out what his Cutie Mark was," responded Scootaloo. "It turned out to be a chipped rock, so he went into geology. At first, he was scrubbing the toilets, because he thought it was a—"

"Okay! Okay!" Applejack insisted. "I don't wanna know!"

"Avengers!" squealed Sweetie, rushing up to the alien beings in their wake, Steve, Sam, and Bucky nearly falling on their rears in alarm. "Oh, we have so many questions!" Apple Bloom and Scootaloo joined her almost immediately, bombarding the humans with rapid fire inquisitions.

"Do humans get Cutie Marks?"

"If not, how do you know what your special talent is?"

"Do you need those wings because you couldn't grow your own?"

"Are you really a captain?"

"Are you all super heroes like the Power Ponies?"

"Why do you have that shiny arm?"

"Why do you never take your clothes off?"

"Okay, okay, tone it down, girls," said Rainbow, swooping down in front of the three fillies, joined by Applejack. "The Avengers are important guests in Equestria, and need to be treated respectfully."

"No, let 'em through," insisted Scott, coming up behind the group. He smiled looking down at the three young ponies, as they reminded him of Cassie. "We could at least show 'em some stuff."

"Ooh, what kind of super hero are you?" asked Scootaloo, eagerly.

"I," said Scott, standing up to his full height, his hands on his hips, thrusting out his chest heroically, "am Ant-Man."

At first, nobody moved, apart from Sam, who was having a small giggling fit to himself. Rainbow Dash slammed her hoof into her face, and the Crusaders just looked perplexed.

"Ant-Man?" said Scootaloo finally. "What do you do, crawl all over the food at everypony's picnics?"

Scott's bravado dropped. "Ha, ha, very funny. If you'll give me a minute, I'll show you..."

Scott retrieved his suit from Twilight's castle, donning the red garb and clamping on his helmet. Looking at him like this, the Crusaders had to admit the human did look more impressive, even if the ant-themed mask was a bit silly.

"Alright," said Scott, his voice slightly muffled. He help up one of his hands, thumb hovering over the proper trigger, "watch this, it's gonna blow your mind."

"Show 'em what for, Tic-Tac!" Sam called, encouragingly.

Beneath his helmet, Scott narrowed his eyes and glared at his comrade.

"Please don't call me that," he protested, then pressed the button.

The eyes of the young ponies widened in shock as the human seemed to lose all of his height, width, and depth. He dropped down, lower and lower into the grass, his form retracting from all directions. In less than a second, Ant-Man seemed to have vanished from existence.

"What the heck?!" exclaimed Sweetie Bell.

"Where'd he go?" asked Apple Bloom, prodding around the spot where Scott had once stood with the tips of her hooves.

"Psst...over here!" called a small voice.

The Crusaders turned in the direction it emitted from, looking low into the grass. Between the blades walked a number of small ants, and astride the back of their leader was Scott, shrunken to the size of a potato chip. The insect-themed Avenger waved up at the fillies.

"You can shrink?" breathed Sweetie Bell, staring down at the tiny human.

"Yep!" Scott replied. "And that's not everything!" He climbed off of the ant, walking over to a rock that was bigger than his current size. Placing both arms under the stone, Scott easily lifted what, to him, was an enormous boulder.

"Not only that," he continued, indicating the ants. "I can command these guys! Comes in handy!" With that, he pressed the trigger on his other glove, returning to his normal size within seconds. The rock held in one hand, Scott thrust his arms out to both sides, in a classic "Ta-da!" gesture.

"That. Is. Awesome!" squealed Scootaloo, jumping up and down. The Crusaders rushed at Scott, beginning to bombard him with questions like they had Steve and the others.

"Can you grow bigger?"

"Yes, but I can't show that. Need to save it for emergencies."

Speaking of Steve, he stood back behind an apple tree, Applejack, Sam, and Rainbow beside him. Scott continued to entertain the girls, commanding the ants to arrange themselves into the shapes of their Cutie Marks. Pinkie cheered alongside the fillies, asking if Scott could help her make giant deserts. Bucky was closer to the interspecies conversation, and found himself oddly immersed in it, so he didn't hear his friends talking.

"Fillies..." Applejack chuckled. "That Scott's got a way with 'em."

"I think it helps that he's got a daughter of his own," said Sam. "The guy's got quite a lot of experience with this sorta thing."

"Is he the only one of you who actually has children?" asked Rainbow, curious.

"No," replied Steve. "There's Clint, who's retired now, but he's a different story."

Applejack, feeling that the tension from that morning had diffused enough, decided to try bringing up the elephant in the room.

"Steve..." she started. "I know you don't really wanna talk about it, but this morning, the way Tony looked at your friend—"

"No, Applejack," Steve cut her off. He didn't even turn to her. His voice wasn't filled with rage, and he definitely wouldn't hurt the farm pony, but his tone was final.

"Steve, please," Applejack implored. "Something's going on—"

"We'll deal with it another time," Steve insisted. "And even if I wanted to, Stark won't listen to anything anyone else says." With that, he walked off, grabbing a few branches that hadn't yet been disposed of. Applejack, Sam, and Rainbow were left alone.

"What's wrong with him?" asked Rainbow, concern fully evident. "It's like he's purposefully making himself miserable."

"Believe me, if he thought there was a better alternative, he'd take it," said Sam. "But right now, he's not willing to open up. I don't think Stark would either."

"What did you guys do to each other?" asked Applejack. "What the heck happened to Barnes? He looks like he's dead inside almost all the time. The way Tony looked at him, then at Steve—"

Sam cut her off with a wave of his hand, albeit reluctantly. "I'm sorry, Applejack," insisted the former soldier, "but it's not my place to tell."

Applejack sighed, both in frustration and grief. The attempts to help the Avengers were going nowhere very quickly. It reminded her of Discord's corruption, but this was worse. Because this was willful.

---

Though she pretended not to, Natasha noticed the ponies on the street staring at her. After all, one of her most valuable skills was attracting attention, without the observers realizing that she could kill them in a dozen different ways with her bare hands. It was, of course, different on this planet, given that she was the alien in their midst. Still, at least they weren't looking at her with inherent distrust. Even when she'd worked for S.H.I.E.L.D., she'd been familiar with that assumption of her.

Running a hand through her curled red hair, Natasha sighed as she looked around at the small town. She'd left the castle because she hadn't been willing to deal with Stark and his immaturity. Not to mention that Bruce was there, and while things weren't tense between the two of them, the awkwardness was unwelcome. Unfortunately, this left her with a problem: she really had nothing to do. She didn't know any of these ponies, and she didn't feel like training at the moment. That greatly narrowed her options, leaving her wandering in a town of neon colored, intelligent horses. She was far too restless to just sit there, considering the situation.

"Miss Romanoff! Miss Romanoff!" came a voice.

Natasha turned around, finding herself facing a familiar white unicorn, with a curled purple mane, and a mark of three diamonds on her flank. She remembered the pony introducing herself as Rarity, but she hadn't had the chance to learn any more about her (or any of the ponies, really).

"Hello, Rarity," said the spy, looking down at the unicorn. "Did you need something?"

Natasha's was suddenly seized by Rarity's magical grip, materializing as a blue glow around her wrist. She yelped in surprise as she was pulled alongside the unicorn, dragged down the street in plain view of dozens of ponies.

"I don't, darling," Rarity insisted, her head held high as she carried the human towards her boutique, "But I believe I can do so much for you!"

Natasha had to admit, she didn't anticipate getting telekinetically pulled down the street of a town populated by talking horses, by a unicorn at that, when she'd woken up that morning. She probably could've resisted Rarity, or dug her heels into the ground, but she allowed it, having no better plans for the day. Besides, the pony looked like she could be incapacitated easily enough, if necessary.

Looking up, Natasha observed Rarity's intended destination. A small, cylindrical building, decked out with a shining, decorative exterior. If that was where she lived, it was a huge fit for her, all things considered.

Rarity's magical glow encased the doorknob, prying the wooden portal open and dragging Natasha inside. The spy was shoved onto a raised platform, surrounded by three mirrors. Rarity ignited her horn even further, setting up a sketch board, a notepad, and whipping out a length of measuring tape. Natasha's eyes widened as Rarity forced her arms out to the sides, levitating the measuring tape up next to her body. Rarity scribbled down numbers hurriedly as she calculated the measurement of every one of Natasha's body parts.

"I've been hoping for this opportunity!" exclaimed the posh unicorn, sketching like a maniac once she'd finished. "Don't get me wrong, your friends are all lovely, and I enjoyed creating their casual wear. But you, darling, you carry that sophistication I've so longed to see! Finally, the Rules of Rarity will be branched across the species of two different worlds!"

"I'm sorry...?" asked Natasha, unclear as to what was going on.

"Oh! A thousand apologies, dear, I haven't gotten around to explanations!" said Rarity, moving away from her sketch. She threw her hooves out to the side. "Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where everything is chic, unique, and magnifique! The premier clothing store of Equestria!"

Natasha felt the urge to laugh building up inside her like a bubble. This situation was just so bizarre by her standards, like something straight out a child's dream. She forced it back down, not wanting to embarrass the pony, who was clearly just trying to be kind. This reminded her so much of the 'pony phase' she'd had for the part of her childhood before she was raised to be an assassin. She reminded herself to punch Clint the next time she saw him.

"Well, er, listen, it's not that I don't appreciate this," Natasha insisted. "But you don't have to—"

Rarity cut her off with a wave of her hoof, her curled purple mane waving across her face. "Nonsense! Like I told Mr. Wilson, I am the Element of Generosity! And giving my time and effort to others gives me the greatest of pleasures!"

"Alright, if you're sure," said Natasha. She wasn't sure how to act around these ponies, given how happy-go-lucky they seemed to be. It felt unreal to her, almost. Realizing that she was finally free of Rarity's magical restraint, she stepped down from the platform, walking over to where Rarity continued to sketch. Peering over her shoulder, Natasha observed herself, being drawn in a rather ostentatious ball gown, though Rarity gave a grunt of frustration and crumpled the paper, before retrieving a new, blank one.

"So, you work in fashion?" Natasha asked, casually. "Wouldn't have expected that. You handled yourself pretty well back at the shrine."

"Well, I'm not generally a fighting pony," Rarity admitted. "But even a lady must be able to take care of herself! And I don't oppose a bit of roughhousing if absolutely necessary."

Natasha was genuinely interested now. At first glance, she never would've believed that any of these ponies were capable of defending themselves, no matter what Steve had told her. They looked like something straight out of a story made for small girls, all rainbows and sunshine. Remarkably, there was intelligence on par with humans within them. Certainly better than the last extraterrestrials Natasha had dealt with.

"Apologies, Miss Romanoff," Rarity said, not turning to look at her. "I'm afraid I'm not used to designing for your species. But there's no need for concern, I will figure this out."

"Hm," Natasha acknowledged. "I'm not actually sure when last time I got really dressed up was. I think it was years ago."

"Years?!" exclaimed Rarity, turning away from her sketch. "Miss Romanoff, such a travesty cannot be allowed! From the standards of humans, I'd guess you'd be considered exceptionally beautiful! How could you allow yourself to not express that?!"

Natasha shrugged. "Not really my thing, I guess. Most of my life, before the Avengers, I was a professional spy. You know, stealing information, sabotage, those kinds of things. I never really cared about looking beautiful. To me, it didn't matter."

In her mind, Rarity's thoughts began to race. She'd been trying to reach out to Natasha in the way she knew how, and while the human was being perfectly civil, they hadn't really established a connection. Natasha was kind, and hadn't complained about her treatment, but she wasn't emotionally invested in this conversation, though Rarity was unsure if the little incident back at the castle was a contributing factor. Bracing herself, she decided to just go for it.

"Miss Romanoff—" she began.

"Natasha," insisted the human. "No need for formalities. Just call me Natasha."

Rarity smiled. That was a good sign, at least.

"You say you were a spy. Is that where Mr. Stark's comment this morning came from? I couldn't believe the sheer lack of dignity he displayed with that!"

Natasha actually surprised Rarity by chuckling at the thought. "Kind of," she replied. "I did actually work for him for a while, and he didn't even know my real name at the time. I wasn't trying to kill him or anything, I promise," she added, seeing the look on Rarity's face, "but...there's also something that I did that pissed him off pretty badly. I don't regret it, though. It was the right thing, and he knows it, too."

"You don't seem particularly close to any of them," Rarity said, treading carefully. "Is there any particular reason? You seem perfectly friendly, and if you're a member of the Avengers, a hero, then—"

"It's not that they hate me or anything," Natasha cut her off. "I certainly don't hate them. They're important to me, and I would willingly give my life for them. But I'm not a person who does intimate friendships and goes out drinking with them. Just not for me."

Natasha truly believed what she was saying. Sure, she was close to Clint, to the point of being an aunt to his kids, she considered Steve to be a paragon among people that she'd met, and even after everything that had happened between the two of them, she still cared a great deal for Bruce. But even after all these years, she didn't feel like one of the heroes. She, who'd killed defenseless people before she'd even hit puberty. Not to mention that the war had basically destroyed the Avengers, ruining what friendships had managed to form, and she knew getting involved in that would only make things worse. Then there was the illogical part of her brain, feeding her guilt for switching sides during the battle at the German airport, even though she now knew for sure that she'd been in the right to do so. Natasha worked with the Avengers, but she was not one of them. Not anymore.

"But friendship is magic!" Rarity insisted. Upon Natasha giving her a deadpan look, she continued. "I know, it sounds a bit childish, but it's true! I'm sure that if I spoke to some of the others, they'd speak very highly of you!"

"Then you'd better stay away from Steve. He's not good at being impartial. He's too used to seeing the good in individuals," Natasha joked.

"Regardless, from the little I've seen so far, I have no doubt that the Avengers are heroes. And you fit that mold perfectly," Rarity continued. "Even if..."

"Even if what?"

Rarity hesitated. Applejack had spread the whole 'try to heal the divide between the Avengers' plan that morning, and the others had vowed to try their best to help with it. She'd sought out Natasha, hoping that she could establish a good impression on the human in order to get started on her portion of the work. Now that the first step was down, Rarity was unsure of exactly how to advance to step two.

"Even if the Avengers are...uncomfortable with each other, at the moment," she finally decided on. Clumsy, but safe. "It seems like your group is having problems, but—"

"Were we really that transparent?" Natasha suddenly asked, catching the pony off-guard. "Guess we should've expected that. Thanks for your concern, though."

"What's happening between you?" Rarity asked. "Whatever it is, I promise my friends can help."

"It's not that big a deal," Natasha lied. Steve had given her all the details of Siberia, and she knew exactly how heavy it was. But she'd promised not to share details with the ponies. "We'll deal with it as soon as we're done with out business on this planet. Now, how about we get something to eat? I haven't had anything since breakfast."

Rarity tried to resist, but found herself unable to oppose the human. Even during her moments of kindness, Natasha had an air of intimidation about her, something Rarity couldn't place. It was as though she somehow transmitted the thought that any attempt to stand in opposition to her would inevitably be futile. Besides, attempting to rush into this could compromise any hope the ponies had of helping the Avengers. Reluctantly, Rarity gave in, laying her sketch, yet to be perfected, on her table.

"Well, I'll admit I could go for lunch, darling," she said simply.

---

Earth, New Avengers Compound

Rhodey had been sitting in the compound's primary computer hub when the white hole had appeared. It was as though a split in reality had formed, pushing the barriers of the known world to the sides. He'd nearly choked on his sandwich at the sight, slipping in his chair. His training kicking in, Rhodey snatched up his pistol, pointing it straight at the strange portal.

And almost dropped it as Tony casually stepped out of the white void, carrying a large mirror. The portal closed up behind him.

"Hey, Rhodey!" said the billionaire, as though this were an everyday occurrence. "What's happening?"

"Tony, what—" Rhodey stammered. "What the hell?!"

"Check it out," said Tony, placing the mirror on a nearby table. He gave the object a small tap on the blue jewel located on the top of it's arch, and a brilliant beam of white light shot forth from the gem, creating an exact replica of the portal that had just disappeared. "Instant warp to Equestria! No need for Thor to give us rides anymore!"

The pony, Twilight Sparkle, poked her head out of the new portal. "All's good on this end, Tony!" she reported. "The quantum space bridge is fully functional!"

"Thank God for magic," said Tony. "And now I'll just add that to 'sentences I never thought I'd utter.'"

Bruce Banner's head appeared alongside Twilight's. "Hey, we probably shouldn't keep this thing open for hours on end, guys. Sure, the reaction is sustained right now, but I don't wanna take risks. Hi, Rhodey."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Tony acknowledged. "You're always the buzzkill, Bruce." He turned to Rhodey. "If you need anything, just poke the gem. See ya later, buddy."

With that, the genius billionaire stepped through the portal, allowing it to seal behind him. Rhodey collapsed onto the couch, before introducing his face to his palm.

"I miss when things were normal," he complained to nobody in particular.

---

Equis, Ponyville

Tony stepped back into Twilight's Castle, stretching as the mirror across from him ceased the beam of light. Two mirrors had been required in order to create doorways for the portals, so they'd simply taken one of Rarity's. Twilight had infused the crystals with a long lasting teleportation spell, helped by Tony and Bruce balancing the equations necessary to keep the portals open long enough. The ambient magic in the atmosphere would keep the portals open for as long as they needed.

"Good to know that's working," Twilight declared, scratching it off of her checklist. "Now can we talk about this morning?"

Tony frowned. The lavender alicorn had given him quite a verbal thrashing after his stinging comment towards Natasha. He'd spent most of it trying to drown her out by reciting ACDC songs in his head, though Twilight was rather loud. He thought of his action as inconsequential, of course, but she was insistent. Bruce and Vision hadn't interfered, thankfully. All three of them lecturing him would be enough to drive the genius insane. Neither had the dragon, who sat quietly, trying not to get involved.

"No," Tony replied, simply. "Romanoff didn't even care that much. Why do you?"

"I care because this fighting among your team is dangerous," Twilight insisted. "Believe me, I know. Please, let's just talk it out—"

"If you're suggesting I sit down with Rogers, you can forget it," Tony replied, clearly angry. "We have nothing to discuss. There's no problem. Not to mention, our affairs are none of your business." He pick up an unfinished iron mask the two of them had started on the day before. "Now, do I have to work on this myself?"

Twilight actually shook a little at Tony's biting words. She liked the human, and she knew he was fundamentally good, but this actually scared her. The man rarely showed any anger in the time that they'd known each other. He hadn't even gotten this irritated with Sombra and his minions. But his rage here was unexpected and somewhat terrifying. She wanted so badly to help, but he was resisting all of her attempts, and now he responded with open hostility. It was like the Hooffields and McColts taken to the extreme.

"Alright...I won't bring it up," she reluctantly conceded. She hated to do so, but to push him further would only aggravate the situation. Not to mention, judging by the looks they sent her way, she couldn't count on Bruce or Vision to back her up. The two Avengers looked at Twilight with sympathy, but their eyes carried an unspoken urge to let it go.

Sighing to herself, Twilight levitated over a set of diagrams she and Tony had drawn up, based on some blueprints from Tony's computer. Alongside the table sat a large pile of suitcases filled with tools Tony had brought from Earth Studying the details, she grabbed a loose piece of gold-titanium alloy, along with a power drill.

"So, do you need us for any more of this?" asked Bruce, looking somewhat hopeful.

"Not at the moment," Tony replied, not even looking up from his wires he held. "We'll need you to help us finalize the magic-to-electricity conversion rates, but that's gonna take a while."

"Okay," Bruce agreed, trying not show his relief. He turned to Vision, giving the synthezoid a brief nod, before stepping into the living room. Vision, not wanting to interfere in anybody's work, returned to his meditation.

Stepping into the spacious chamber, Bruce's attention was immediately drawn to the flying yellow pegasus in the center of the room, trying not to look like she'd been eavesdropping. Then again, it wasn't like she would've needed to put her ear up against the door to hear the conversation. Tony was pretty loud.

"Oh, hi, er...Fluttershy, was it?" asked Bruce.

"Um, yes," she responded. Bruce raised an eyebrow at her, realizing that he could probably guess why she was the only one who'd stayed back from the assault on the Badland Shrine. Her voice was quiet and mousey, barely audible sometimes. The physicist, not wanting to disturb her, casually made his way down into one of the armchairs.

Fluttershy watched the man curiously. She instinctively felt calm around him, her normal nerves weaker than usual, but she couldn't place why. The pegasus had been hoping for a chance to talk to this human in particular, which was the reason she'd remained in Twilight's Castle for today. She'd agreed with Applejack and Twilight that the Avengers were clearly having some sort of personal problems, and since Bruce looked like he was so close to Tony, he would be a good starting point.

"Excuse me, Dr. Banner?" she asked, floating over to him.

"Just call me Bruce, Miss Shy," responded the human. "It's honestly not a big deal."

Fluttershy smiled politely. "Then you can call me Fluttershy," she replied, amicably. "Anyway, um, I was hoping to ask you a question about, uh, T-Tony."

Bruce's shoulders slumped a bit. He wasn't angry with the pony for bringing it up, but he wanted to avoid this particular subject, unhealthy as that was. Bruce wasn't good at dealing with friendship conflicts, all things considered. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't think of a way to brush her off without being rude.

"You want to know what's going on with him, don't you?" he asked. Fluttershy nodded in affirmation. "Well, I can't help you, unfortunately. I don't actually know. I wasn't there when whatever happened happened. I haven't been an Avenger in more than a year."

"Really?" Fluttershy responded, surprised. "Why not?"

"See, my contribution to the Avengers isn't just my brain," Bruce continued. "Due to a...botched experiment, whenever I get angry, or my pulse goes fast enough, I...change. I become a giant green Hulk, stronger than Thor, and he gets stronger the angrier he gets. I say 'he' because he's got an entirely separate mind from me. I have no power over him. If I changed here, he could bring down this entire castle with his bare hands." Noticing Fluttershy's shocked response, he added, "There's a low chance of that happening, though. I'm practically a master at keeping myself calm at this point in my life. Plus, I can trigger a change, and he'll be a bit more like me, in that he won't hurt anyone I wouldn't. But still...I didn't want to come to this planet, but Tony insisted he needed me."

Fluttershy visibly calmed a bit. After all, considering everything the Avengers had shown them, this wasn't that much more to process. Bruce was definitely a trustworthy individual, and she doubted Tony would have brought him along if he were really a risk to Equestria. Suddenly, an idea occurred to her.

"Um, Bruce?" she started. "You aren't going to believe this, but I think...I think I became something like that 'Hulk' you described."

Bruce turned to her, his expression curious. He motioned for her to continue.

"A while back, Spike bought a magic Power Ponies comic book," Bruce snorted. A magic comic book. Of course. "And we all got sucked into it. We became the Power Ponies, and I became a hero called the Saddle Rager. Her power was to become a giant, super-strong behemoth whenever she got angry. Now, I know it's different from your experience, but still...I think I know how you feel."

"Were you afraid?" Bruce asked, suddenly. "Afraid of what would happen if you lost control? What you'd do to those you cared about?" Fluttershy nodded in response. "Yep. That's the feeling."

"Now that I think about it," said the pegasus. "There's another thing. When I was having trouble being assertive, I took a class to try and learn how to do better. But I was so unused to it, to feeling powerful, feeling like I was in control, that I insulted everypony I met. I was cruel to my friends, basically tearing down everything they loved and everything they were. It was the cruelest thing I've ever done in my life. In that moment, when I realized what I'd done...I was terrified of myself. I almost became a recluse, locking myself in my house to try and keep everypony safe from me. It was physically painful, I..."

Bruce was extremely caught off-guard by this. This pony, who he barely knew, was doing everything in her power to try and relate to him, make him feel better about his situation. Admittedly, her experiences were quite a bit less severe than his own, but he appreciated the attempt. It was amazing just how good these ponies were, and Bruce was reminded of the early days of the Avengers, following the Battle of New York, when everyone had liked each other for real, and there hadn't been any infighting.

"Fluttershy..." he started.

Any other words he might've spoken were lost, as a voice bellowed, "OH FOR CELESTIA'S SAKE!" a sound which reverberated throughout the entire crystal castle. The human and the pegasus had to cover their ears as speech that would've impressed Luna's Royal Canterlot voice burst out of nowhere, originating from the workroom they'd left Tony and Twilight in. Giving each other a quick glance, Bruce and Fluttershy scurried back into the room.

To their immense relief, the sight that awaited them was far less severe than they'd anticipated. Twilight was bent over the black tablet they'd retrieved from the shrine, her hooves rustling through her mane in frustration, while countless other books sat around her, the mechanical tools pushed aside for the moment. Tony quietly patted her shoulder, while keeping maximum amount of distance between the two. Spike and T'Challa had rushed in as well, looking concerned, and T'Challa was left starting in confusion at the scene, while Spike, looking as though this were familiar to him, had joined Tony in trying to calm Twilight. Amusingly, Vision had apparently been so shocked by the alicorn's outburst that he'd partially phased through the wall, before solidifying again, leaving his legs sticking out of the crystal surface.

"Calm down, Twily," Tony insisted. "It's okay."

"I know, I'm sorry," panted the alicorn, pulling her eyelids down a bit. "It's just so irritating. All of this knowledge and I still can't figure it out."

"Remember to breathe," Spike reminded her. Twilight took a deep breath, holding it for a few seconds, giving the dragon a grateful smile.

"What seems to be the problem?" asked Vision, recovering from his surprise and climbing out of the wall.

"It's this blasted tablet," Twilight responded. "I've compared these characters with every known Equestrian language, none of them match. Not even Ancient Eqoch, which predates Celestia and Luna by thousands of years. It's ridiculous!"

"Could you translate the language through magic?" asked Spike. "You've done that before with written things. You run the magic over the writing, then it gets translated in your head."

"I could, but it'll take longer, since I don't know the original language," admitted Twilight. "I don't even know how to pronounce these words."

Bruce looked curiously at the tablet. "I'm not a linguist, but I've had to learn the languages of a lot of different countries, and these don't look familiar to me either. Then again, we are on a different planet."

Twilight opened her mouth to respond, but her sensitive pony ears picked up a small scratching sound, emanating from somewhere in the room. A quick glance at Fluttershy confirmed that she'd gotten it too. The Avengers watched with confusion as the two ponies focused, their ears twitching as they tried to pinpoint the origin. Finally, Twilight stuck her head under the table, letting out a grunt of annoyance.

"Lyra!" she shouted. Twilight emerged, her horn glowing, as she telekinetically lifted up a mint-green unicorn, with a green and white mane, and a lyre Cutie Mark. She was holding a notepad and pencil, apparently listening to the interplanetary conversations, and taking notes. On her back was a set of saddle bags, filled with more notebooks.

Lyra grinned sheepishly, her gold eyes widened in an attempt to look innocent. It wasn't working.

"Uh, hey, Twi," she said, sweat dripping from her forehead. "Nice day, isn't it?"

Fluttershy gave an astonished gasp. "Lyra Heartstrings!" she admonished. "How could you spy on anypony's personal conversations!" She was tempted to bust out the Stare, believing it'd be a fitting punishment.

Tony stared perplexed at the trapped unicorn. "Wait a minute, weren't you the pony ogling Rogers yesterday?" he asked.

"What? No!" Lyra insisted, holding up her hooves. "I would never do something—wait a minute you're talking to me oh my goodness this is amazing I—!!"

Twilight gave a sigh, releasing her magical grip on the pony, allowing her to unceremoniously drop to the floor.

"Lyra, I know you're fascinated by the Avengers, but we have work to do."

Lyra got to her hooves, scooping up her notes as she did so. "I understand, I really do, but they're so interesting! I just wanted to get some basic—" She cut herself off, staring at the tablet, which lay untouched on the crystal worktable. "W-where did you get that?!" she asked in shock.

"It was in the shrine of the Badlands," T'Challa responded, speaking for the first time in the conversation. "Do you know of it?"

Lyra placed her hooves on the stone slab, her body trembling as she did so. "I-I think so. But this is the most intact one I've ever seen! It shouldn't be in such good condition..."

Even Twilight was listening now, looking over Lyra's shoulder. "Are you sure? I've had my doubts about your research before, but..."

"Uh, hello?" Tony interrupted. "Kind of in the dark here? What's going on?"

"This is human writing!" Lyra exclaimed, thrusting the tablet in Tony's face. Twilight grabbed her again with her magic, levitating the eager unicorn away from Tony.

"It's complicated," she explained. "I didn't buy any of it until I went to the other universe, and saw humans for the first time. Some archeologists believe that before ponies became the dominant species on Equis, that position was held by a species remarkably similar to humans. She went nuts the first time I told her."

"WHAT?!" shouted Bruce, Tony, Vision, and T'Challa.

"The evidence isn't exactly airtight," Twilight continued. "Nopony says they can definitively prove they existed at all. But there are unexplained fossils, and a few surviving artifacts. Lyra has a keen interest in it, and she claims to have amassed quite a collection of human cultural remnants."

Lyra reached into her bag with her own telekinesis, producing a scrap of withered, yellowed parchment. She unrolled it, presenting it to the assembled group. "Look! This writing's exactly like the writing on that tablet! And there's even a translation in Ancient Eqoch!"

Looking down at the two samples, the group did have to admit that the writing was similar at least. There were repeated characters. The Ancient Eqoch was right below the unknown language, and attached was a post-it with a translation, which Twilight remembered scribbling down for Lyra months ago.

"'We, the Bare-Fleshed, pledge this to our allies, the Alicorn Empire...'" Bruce read. "So the rest got torn off?"

"Yeah," Lyra admitted, putting the scroll back into her bag. "I haven't been able to track down the rest. But since I got the Eqoch translated, I've started working on getting the human language interpreted. I could probably get you guys a rough translation of this tablet."

"Really?" asked Spike. "Phew! That makes it easier!"

"If you wouldn't mind," chimed in Fluttershy. "It would really help us."

"If I may," started Vision. "Mr. Stark, Dr. Banner, and Princess Sparkle are working on other projects at the moment. I have considerable skill in processing of bits of data. Would you like me to assist you with the translation?"

Lyra squealed so loudly, Tony was surprised the windows didn't shatter. "YES YES YES!" she exclaimed, telekinetically grabbing Vision's cape. The green unicorn then sped out of Twilight's castle, dragging the unfortunate synthezoid with her.

Tony, Twilight, T'Challa, Spike, Bruce, and Fluttershy were left alone.

"What the hell just happened?"

Comments

[RedX-100]

And so it continues! BTW, there's a couple of spots that could use some editing. I might know someone who could help with that... *fakecough*

[Boltstrike58]

8334535
If you're interested, I'd be cool with that.
What do you think needs editing?

[RedX-100]

Bruce Banner casually washed his hands in the crystal sink, noticing how the water seemed to sparkled on the surface. The crystal was highly unusual, almost luminous in nature, and Bruce couldn't see dents formed by any tools.

Double past tense, and change the underlined sentence to "couldn't see any dents on the surface suggesting the use of tools." There's a few more errors scattered throughout, but otherwise pretty clean.

[Boltstrike58]

8337479
Huh, didn't even think of that.

[RedX-100]

8337481
Not bad for a guy who failed English, huh?

[SWEETOLEBOB18]

Applejack sighed, both in frustration and grief. The attempts to help the Avengers were going nowhere very quickly. It reminded her of Discord's corruption, but this was worse. Because this was willful.

It's considered girly to talk about your feelings. Real men DO things, they don't sit around having feelings.
80s joke "When real men want to bond, they use a glue gun"
It's a guy thing, you wouldn't understand

"I miss when things were normal," he complained to nobody in particular.

When was that? Kindergarten? Or, did I blink & miss it?

[SWEETOLEBOB18]

Bruce was extremely caught off-guard by this. This pony, who he barely knew, was doing everything in her power to try and relate to him, make him feel better about his situation. Admittedly, her experiences were quite a bit less sever (severe) than his own, but he appreciated the attempt. It was amazing just how good these ponies were, and Bruce was reminded of the early days of the Avengers, following the Battle of New York, when everyone had liked each other for real, and there hadn't been any infighting.

[Cheddarjack]

*Peter Griffin points at Rarity*
Peter: She said it! She said the thing!
Me: get out of here!
*I kick Peter Griffin out of my review*