The Hero Within

" This way. " Scotaloo's left wing showed a door.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. base surely looked like one. Only corridors, many doors and one big hall. The door next to Scotaloo was circular and had a big black X over it. Applebloom opened it and the group entered the big white hall, big enough to fit the whole group.

There was another door on the other side, but an old bald stallion in a wheelchair stood in front of it. He had a white coat. The pony smiled, his muzzle wrinkling.  Twilight nervously smiled back.

' Don't be worried, Princess Twilight Sparkle. I shall do you no harm. After all, you're real. a quiet voice echoed in her head. Obviously the others had heard something simillar, because most of them were confused. The pony smiled again and quietly spoke:

" Your friends are real, Scoot. They may come in. "

Scootaloo also smiled. This wasn't just an illusion! Her friends... were real.

After the group passed through the door, the enviroment dramatically changed. Now it resembled an old two - stories house, like many other houses in Ponyville. But before Twilight could even express her confusion, the voice spoke in her mind again:

' We have arranged our part of this building to our comfort. This is how our house in Manehatten looked like... before your friend let the Voidians destroy it. ' even now the voice was completely calm. Twilight blushed and replied,  in her mind:

' This isn't his true self... Professor Charles Xavier, wasn't it? '

' I see you have some experience in mind conversations. You are well aware of it's advantages. ' the voice became a little surprised.

' Well, you're actually the third telepath I'm speaking to, Professor. ' the alicorn answered.

' Indeed I am. ' the Professor agreed '  I felt your friend Emma before she even entered. Telepathy is a lot more common gift than it's considered.'

' Really? ' Twilight felt confused.

' Yes. But know I have some introduction to make, so excuse me. '

The wheelchair got ahead of the group and caused it to stop. A big group of ponies was now in the main room, staring at them. They probably didn't believe their eyes and Twilight knew how they felt. She was able to recognize Big Mac in that group, tough he was now even taller and was wearing a strange striped suit.

" Come hiah, big bro! Family hug! " Applejack and Applebloom rushed to Big Mac. It surely felt nice to AJ to re- unite with her family, Twilight thought. She noticed Octavia, who didn't believe what she was seeing too. Obviously, the group wasn't expected to ever return.

" I see you're eager to make a family reunion, but I am afraid I first must show you something. Follow me.  " the Professor noted and his wheelchair moved forward. When they reached a stair, that led down, two pincers got up from the floor and caught the wheels of the wheelchair. It moved down and the group followed it. The Professor stopped at the end of the corridor in front of them. There was another circular door and a pony with a red- purple helmet and cloak.

" You may find Magneto a little... strange. " Scoot whispered in Twilight's left ear. After the Professor neared him, the pony turned around, revealing the disaproof on his face. The old stallion spoke:

" The Original Avengers, huh? I've always planned of testing their skills before, but now apprently we would be joining forces. Charles told me, that there are two powerful mutants among you. Please step forward. " his voice sounded a little threatening, but mostly it was a voice of a commander.

Emma and Wanda stepped in front of the others. Magneto's face looked approving, when he glared upon Emma, but when he looked at Wanda, his face looked really strange.

" Err, why does Mr. Magnet look like he had swollen 5 cupcakes at once without chewing? " Pinkie asked.

" I guess he had swollen 5 cupcakes in the past and something caused him to remember of it. " Loky replied, whispering.

Than suddenly Magneto called:

" Quicksilver! "

Something really, really fast passed through the stairs and the corridor, making the ponies' manes wave in front of them. When Twilight turned to the front again, she saw a young unicorn with short white mane. The unicorn weared a strange green suit with a single lightning crossing it. When Wanda and Quicksilver looked at each other, their muzzles reflected a mixture of feelings, but finally Wanda yelled :

" Pietro! "

And Quicksilver yelled:

" Wanda! "

The two unicorns rushed at each other. Scoot whispered in Twilight's ear again:

" Forgot to tell you: Pietro Maximoff is Wanda's brother. They are both foals of Magneto.It's confusing, since he's an earth pony, but I guess they only got the mutant gene from him. "

" What? It is impossible, Wanda lived 1000 years ago!" it was Twilight's turn to whisper in the pegasus' ear.

" Magneto stole a vial of Hase' eternal life formula while he was being chased by the Royal Guard. Therefore he is alive since 1000 years. " Scoot replied.

Magneto, together with Wanda and Pietro, who were talking to each other, left the corridor, while the circular door behind Professor X opened.

" The space is small, I fear. Only 4 of you may enter, together with me. " Charles told the group.

After a minute of discussion, the group agreed, that Twilight, the two Princesses and Pony Stark must enter.

" That's the most circular room I've ever seen. " the playcolt commented upon entering the room. It was basically a huge sphere with metal plates on the wall. A single bridge let to the center of the room, where there was a machine with a helmet on it's top. The Professor went to it and put the helmet on his head. The wires, connecting it to the machine, shone and the door closed. The lights went out and suddenly the wall was full with images of ponies.

" I call this place Cerebro. " the Professor spoke " It amplifies my telepathic reach and helps me locate mutants. However, it requires a certain level of control, thus only I am able to use it so far. "

" Can you find normal ponies with it too? " Twilight asked.

" Yes. " the Professor confirmed and showed an image of two guards outside of the S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ. Compared to the mutants, their images were more blurred, but still clear enough to recognize what they were doing.

" Why haven't you just located Hase with this helmet? " the Iron Stallion asked.

" I'm afraid the Helmet of Supremacy makes him invulnerable to any telepathic reach. Even if he hadn't got it, it would of still been dangerous. " Professor Xavier replied.

" Why? " Twilight knew, that ponies are able to feel the telepath only if the pony reveals itself. Spying on hase shouldn't of been a problem.

" I don't know if anypony told it to you, but Hase... is something like a mutant. " Charles answered.

" A mutant? " even Princess Celestia was surprised.

" Not exactly. " the Professor noted " His mind doesn't feel like the mutant's minds. But he's got powers, that can only be explained this way. "

" You mean except the Chaotic skills. And the Weapons of Destruction.... " Twilight asked

"  ... and the power of the Dark Side of the Moon, and his power over the Essence of Death. Yes. " Professor X finished the list of Hase' powers.

" The last one's new. " Stark noted.

" Yes, but I'll leave explaining it to the Prince and the Princess. However, Hase has some other powers, about which none of his other skills provide an explanation. Like, for an example... he's able to perform magic, tough he's a pegasus. His magic energy level is greater than yours, Ms. Sparkle, actually it's equal to the one of the Princesses. Again, we have no valid explanation for this. And except that.... he can feel when a telepath is in his mind without that the pony revals itself. He is a skilled telepath himself.

Once I thought I had caught him off- guard and entered his mind with the help of Cerebro. But apparently, it was a trap. He obviously felt me and I fell for his plot. Reversing the connection, a thing impossible even for me, he managed to find out crucial details about the mutants, including our location. I struggled, but black waves inside of his mind prevented me from stopping him in any way.

In a result our mansion was destroyed, and he built improved Sentinels, even more deadly to mutants than the ones before. I fear he has unusually powerful telepathic skills, and unlike my friend Magneto's helmet, the Helmet of Supremacy stops only the ponies , who try to enter his mind. Even now he might be inside this room, spying on us, and if his skills are better than mine, he'll be able to hide this from me. I don't feel anything, so probably he's more powerful than me. I want only safety for mutantkind " the Professor looked worried " I want you to investigate how is his body able to hold so many mutations at once without he being destroyed or losing his sanity. I haven't shared this to anypony outside of the X- ponies, because this will cause panic, but I need somepony with more information about him to take on the research. I am assigning your group. If you fail... our biggest secrets will be secrets no more. " the door opened and the Professor tried to look happy, as the four ponies exited the room with Cerebro.

" Madmoiselle... " a stallion with a long coat, brown mane with small strands of purple in it and a deck of cards levitating around him was trying to speak to Rarity, but she remained resillient.

" That's enough, Gambit, we're not in New Oileans! Rarity... doesn't need your help. " Scootaloo was trying to get the lover pony away from Rarity, but even as she dragged the unicorn backwards, he continued to do tricks with the deck of cards, trying to impress Rarity. She sighed in relief, as Scoot managed to drag him upstairs.

" Remi Le Bau. A mutant, able to charge objects with energy and use them as weapons... and a lover pony. Boy, he just loves good manecuts, and he found Rarity's ... astonishing, as he said. " Applebloom cleared the situation to Twilight.

" This way, ladies and gentlecolts. " Professor Xavier stood next to another corridor, who led away from the main one. The group followed him, untill the corridor ended with another door, saying " Laboratory "

" This is our science laboratory. My friend Dr. Hank McCoy has been developing a serum, which will help block unnoticed access to our brains to prevent Hase from spying.

Dash was quietly listening to what Twilight was whispering. Her doubts became deeper and she looked at Vortex. Was he responcible to what has happened to Hase? Did he create this forced mutations? Did he make him a master telepath? On the one side, the pegasus was sure, that the villain certainly had something to do with it.

On the other side, she doubted Hase' father could of done something to him. He was probably involved, but it wasn't his fault.

The group entered the laboratory, which looked exactly like one - plenty of beakers with strange multicoloured mixtures inside them, steaming beakers and frozen beakers. A pony with a blue coat was working over them, but they only saw his back with the white apron.

" Henry, those ponies are the original Avengers.  " the Professor spoke to him.

When the pony turned around, Twilight got a little scared. The doctor's blue coat was long and his muzzle looked like a face of a beast. His yellow eyes with dagger - like pupils finished his look. When he smiled, it was revealed, that his canines were also longer than usual. The pony looked like a mixture of a blue lion and a pony.

" Dr. Furr... I mean Henry McCoy, I guess? " even Stark didn't want to mess up with the doctor, since he didn't look like a pony to be messed with. Luckily, the doctor just smiled and replied:

" I guess you're Mister Stark? We needed you. At least S.H.I.E.L.D. needs you. We haven't yet succeeded to wield the Arc Reactor technology completely, and this may prove useful, if used against our Smokey. "

" Woot! Who's Smokey? " Pinkie suddenly appeared in front of everypony else and not fearing the doctor even a little bit jumped around him. The others looked worried, so Professor Xavier had to calm them down:

" Altough his mutation makes him look a bit hostile, I assure you, that Dr. McCoy isn't of any danger to you ... "

" ... unlike somepony else, who likes to sniff around. " Scoot sighed and touched the doctor as a proof he isn't a threat. Eventually, everypony calmed down and circled the laboratory.

" You've got some excellent formulae here, Doctor. " Pony noted " Tough I don't focus over potions, I still know when one of them is good or bad. "

" It's good that somepony finds it useful. Those S.H.I.E.L.D. goons find it useless if it can't turn you to a fighting machine. " the long- coated pony smiled.

" Yeah... it's a kind of their habit. " Stark agreed.

" The serum is currently a work in progress. Luckily, this room is vibranium plated. No telepath can break through. " the doctor nodded.

" Wait... why don't wah just use vibranium helmets? " Applejack wondered.

" The amounts of vibranium ore are insignificant on a world- wide level. Our primary source, a kingdom, neighbouring to Zebrica, called Wakanda, isn't able to deliver it anymore. Hase has blocked the borders. " McCoy replied. " Prince T' Challa won't risk trying to pass them if he isn't certain... even though Storm is his wife. He must care for his country. "

" Be careful, Beast. An offence to my housband from you I have expected at least. " Zecora said him.

" I guess Beast is your code name?  " Rarity guessed and Hank nodded

" Oh, Celestia, aren't you able to come up with better names? Like Blue Furyor Furry Paw, for instance? "

" Well, Rarity, you can say that to Agent Coulson. " the Professor interrupted the mare.

" That fanboy has been coming up with ridiculous names since it all started. " Beast agreed " One more thing before the Professor takes you back to the main door. Captain, don't get too confused when he asks you to sign his Captain Equestria trading cards. "

" Trading cards? " Applejack was confused.

" It's a vintage set. He's very proud of them and he has you all. On cards, I mean. " the doctor smiled, once again revealing his sharp teeth.

" Wanda and Emma will be staying here. " the Professor spoke. The group was outside of the main door in the corridor, while Professor Xavier with Scoot, Applebloom and Sweetie were at the door. " Coulson should be arriving any moment. Good bye for now and don't forget your mission. "

" We won't . " Twilight replied.

" Aha, here you are. " Coulson appeared from out of nowhere " Thank you for finding them, Professor. "

" You're welcome. " Scoot nearly laughed as she closed the door with the big X.

" We want to meet Cadance. " Celestia spoke to the agent.

" Sure, princess. But I'll interrogate you on the way, if you don't mind. " Coulson walked and the group walked after him.