"I need a horse" - Thor, 2011

CHAPTER SIX

TWILIGHT OF THE GODS

"This could hurt. Ready?"

Tony Dash closes her eyes, apprehensive as Dr. Selvig turns on the machine. At first she feels nothing, only hearing a distant heating sound, but suddenly, it happened, a quick shock followed by a burning sensation on her chest. She screams.

"Turn it off!" Pepper yells

"NO!" Dash yells back "I can take it!"

Suddenly, the cables fall off, and the Tesseract makes a direct connection with Tony Dash's reactor as blue sparks fill the room. In the middle of the purely electrical connection, a small rift opens, and it grows, and grows, and grows…

"It's working!" Banner says, before a wave of energy breaks out, almost hits him, and collides with the ceiling, making a hole in it.

"It's out of control!" Steve shouts

"ENOUGH!" Thor says, stepping into the beam "Turn it off n—" is all he got to say before the beam engulfs him, making his whole body flutter.

"Natasha, now!" Selvig screams as Natasha complies.

The machine ceases all activity, stopping the beams and closing the rift. Thor falls on the floor, unconscious. Tony Dash tries to find the strength to get up from the chair.

"Are you okay, Dash?" Pepper asks "…are you Dash?"

"Yeah, I'm okay and yeah, I'm still me, unfortunately" Dash says, caressing her chest "What about your friend?"

The seven approach Thor, who's still on the floor "Thor, are you okay?"

Thor blinks, coming back to his senses "Uh… what?" he looks at the people staring at him. He screams "AAAHHH!"

"AAAHHH!" Tony Dash screams back, as she and the others take a step back, surprised by Thor's outburst

Thor crawls backwards until he hits the opposite wall "Stay back, you-you… things!" he says, fear and confusion in his eyes "I'm warning you!"

"Is… is he pointing his forehead at us?" Clint asks

Thor touches his forehead "W-what happened to my horn? What happened to my voice? What happened to my hooves? WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?!" he cries

"Oh, great. We have another one" Pepper says

"This is embarrassing…" Natasha says, as Thor keeps crying

"Twilight?" Tony Dash asks

Thor lifts his head "Yes? Who are you? How do you know my name?"

"Twilight!" Dash beamed "It's me, Rainbow Dash!"

"Rainbow Dash?" Thor asked, and then gave in a huge smile "Rainbow Dash! I missed you so much!"

"Me too!" Dash says and hugs her friend, Twilight Odinson

Clint regrets not bringing a camera. Thor and Tony Stark, sitting on the floor, hugging each other, their cheeks pressed together with the biggest, goofiest smiles on their faces is something that should be kept for posterity.

"Oh, Rainbow Dash, it was awful. We thought we would never see you again" Twilight Odinson told her friend "There's somepony else on your body now, some guy named Stark, and he…"

"Tony! Is he okay?" Pepper says

Twilight looks at Pepper and cowers a little bit. Tony Dash notices "No, Twilight. Don't worry. They're nice" Dash says "I'll introduce you. Guys, this is Twilight Sparkle. She's a unicorn, my friend, and the smartest pony I know. Twilight, these are Pepper, Bruce, Clint, Natasha, Steve, and Dr. Selvig. They are Tony Stark's friends"

"He has friends?! Him?!" Twilight asks Dash

"Yep. She met him alright" Natasha says

Twilight looks at the beings in the room. Tony Stark was right about something: This world is definitely less colorful than Equestria. Everypony here seems to have basically the same skin color. How odd.

"Uh… Sorry, Twilight?" Bruce chimes in "Can you tell us what you remember? How is Stark?"

"Oh, he's just great" Twilight says with derision in her voice "All I remember was powering up his stupid device and I woke up here… like this…" she says, looking at her new body

"Yeah, that's Thor" Dash says "You just swapped places with him"

"So, this 'Thor' is in my body, now?" Twilight asks "Back in Ponyville? Is he as bad as Stark?"

"What do you mean?" Dash asks, confused

"Look, Twilight" Pepper says "I know that Tony can be really hard to deal with, and I apologize for anything he may have done or said, but deep inside he's a nice guy and we are really worried about…"

"Wait, wait, wait" Dash interrupts "Is there something about Tony Stark you are hiding for me? Apologize for him? Twilight, what did he do?"

Twilight Odinson looks at Dash with a sad expression "Nothing. It's better to forget it…"

"Twilight…"

"No, Dash" Twilight says "We shouldn't be focusing on him, right now. I need to bring you back to our world"

"Well, the good news are that the machine works, Stark is indeed in Equestria on Rainbow Dash's body, and he seems to be okay" Bruce says to everyone "The bad news are that the portal is unstable, and it only made the things messier, so…"

"I don't understand" said Erik Selvig "It shouldn't be unstable. The iridium was supposed to take care of that"

"Well, we could ask Jarvis to run some tests and see what went…"

"Nopony is gonna do anything until I know what Tony Stark did to my friends!" Dash says, angrily

"Dash, no!" Twilight says "They're trying to help us!"

"But…"

"Dash, please" Twilight says "They almost did it. Let them do what they have to do"

"Well, we can't do anything here" Pepper says "Jarvis' holo-deck wasn't installed here yet. If we want a full diagnosis of what went wrong with the machine we need to go back upstairs"

"Holo-deck?" Twilight asks while they go upstairs "Hey! What are those?"

"Oh, those are 'fingers'" Dash answers "We have twenty-one of them! Ten on the 'hands' (that's our hooves), ten on the 'feet' (that's our back hooves), and one in the middle of our legs. Don't look, though. The 'people' (that's how they called their kind) here are very uncomfortable about being naked for some reason" she finishes as they arrive on the penthouse.

"Amazing!" Twilight gasps at the skyscrapers outside of the penthouse's window "This… this city looks bigger than Canterlot!"

"It's a weird place, isn't it?" Dash says

"How's it going, Jarvis?" Banner asks

"I've completed the scan, Dr. Banner" Jarvis said "I will show a complete holographic breakdown of the process"

"Who's that?" Twilight asks, confused

Dash chuckles "That's Jarvis, he's a…" before she could finish, Jarvis' holograms invade the room, showcasing an interactive, graphic representation of the machinery, the Tesseract and the reactor "WHOA! That's new!"

Twilight steps forward, fascination on her eyes "Who did this?"

"That would be me, Ms. Sparkle"

"You… I don't know who or what you are, but… this is the most impressive display of magic I've ever seen!" Twilight says "Mr. Jarvis, sir, if you won't mind, I would love to study your spells"

"I'm sorry, Ms. Sparkle" Jarvis says "I'm afraid those aren't 'my spells'. Mr. Stark is the one responsible for my abilities"

"He is?" Twilight says, astounded "But… he said he didn't know anything about magic… He was being modest! He must have felt really bad for hurting my intellectual pride earlier, that he didn't want me to feel left out, so he pretended he needed me when actually he could do this all along. How thoughtful! And here I thought he was just a self-centered, arrogant jerk! I made a horrible misjudgment of his character!" Clint snickers.

"This is not magic, Twilight" Pepper says "It's technology"

"Jarvis is a computer" Dash says "I know, I didn't believe it either"

Twilight looks at them and gives a skeptic laugh "C'mon, this isn't technology. It's too fantastic, even for magic standards. Computers can't do that. It's magic!"

"Stark's computers can" Steve says

"A-are you serious?" Twilight says

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic-Arthur C. Clarke" Selvig says with a smile

"Well, then, I guess he really is all that…" Twilight says with a sad tone on her voice.

"Twilight… Seriously, what did he do?" Dash asks

"Oh, nothing… He just made me feel stupid, that's all…" Twilight says, bitter

"Twilight, look" Steve says "You probably won't believe this, but I'm over 90 years old. I got frozen 70 years ago. I lost my friends and my place in the world. When I first met Stark you know what he told me?" Twilight shakes her head "He said I was old and that I lost a lot being a Popsicle. He insulted me and mocked the most traumatizing event of my life"

"That's awful!" Twilight said

"What a jerk!" Dash says, not believing what she just heard

"Yeah" Steve says "But that's just how Tony is, he says what he wants disregarding other's emotions. But he's not bad, and he does care, even though he pretends he doesn't. When a close friend of his died trying to protect us, Tony called him an idiot"

"What?" Twilight said

"What's wrong with this guy? How can you be his friends?" Dash asks, confused and angry

Steve makes a hand motion for her to calm down "Tony doesn't believe in sacrifices. He thinks they are unnecessary, that no one should have to do it if there's an alternative. I mistook that philosophy for selfishness, just like you, but the opposite is true: Tony saw too many people, good people, die on his place, trying to protect him. And he feels guilty. He can't stand the thought of people trading their lives for his, so when came his time to make a sacrifice, he didn't even blink. He went through a suicide mission to save us all. He should be dead. It's a miracle that he isn't"

Twilight and Dash just stare at Steve, not knowing what to say.

"I have a condition" Banner says "Under certain circumstances it's dangerous to be around me. Very dangerous. That's why I've been alone for the last six years. Because I was afraid I could hurt people and people were afraid I could hurt them. When I was brought here with the Avengers, because they needed my help, there was only one person that didn't treat me like a monster, one person that didn't think I was a liability, a bomb that would explode in any second. That person was Tony Stark. He was the only one in that entire ship that wasn't afraid of what I could do, and that includes me. He treated me as a friend from the very beginning and I'm grateful, very grateful for that"

"Tony can be really rude, I know, but believe me, when the time comes, he will move mountains to help you" Steve says

"He can move mountains?" Dash asks

"It's a figure of speech"

"I think what they are trying to say" Pepper chimes in "is that is not easy to be Tony's friend, but it is worth it"

Twilight looks at the ground, thinking. Could Stark really be just masquerading his good intentions with rudeness? Why? Why would he do that? But… this 'people'… They seem so loyal to him… they miss him. He has to be somewhat good to warrant this devotion. Twilight thinks of how she was before she went to Ponyville, always avoiding other ponies, finding excuses to not talk to them. Was she like him? She doesn't remember ever being as disrespectful as Stark, but she could have been a little rude sometimes, couldn't she? She remembers how she dismissed everypony who was trying to be her friend on her first day. She never said it on her faces, but she did think they were all crazy or stupid… Is this how Stark saw her? And her friends? Crazy and stupid? Is this some kind of curse that befalls the intelligent? That we all act arrogantly until we change our ways? Until we're proven wrong? Twilight thinks that maybe, just maybe, she should give Tony Stark a second chance…

"I don't get it" Erik Selvig said, analyzing the graphics Jarvis showcased "There's nothing wrong. It should have worked"

"Magic"

"Excuse me?"

"Magic" Twilight Odinson says "Stark hit the same brick wall with his device back in Equestria. Science wasn't working. Magic is the answer"

"Well, in that case we're screwed" Clint says "Because I don't know anyone who can do magic around here. Well, besides Loki"

"Loki?!" Twilight asks, as she remembers how Tony Stark freaked out at the mention of his name IT MEANS SOMETHING! For me. Something bad "Who's Loki?"

"Well, technically, he's your brother" Clint says with a smirk

"My brother?" Twilight asks, confused

"Thor's brother" Natasha explains "He's a trickster. He caused a lot of chaos, and he enjoys it"

'Laughter and Magic'? We had a guy who did magic and liked to laugh back in my world, harmony wasn't his thing

It's Loki! ENOUGH OF YOUR GAMES! Take me out of here!

Twilight sweats a little as she remembers Tony's outbursts. She's almost afraid of making the next question "W-was Loki behind this?"

The room fell silent. Everyone simply trade glances. "I can't believe I didn't think of that…" Banner mumbles

"Of course it was Loki!" Natasha says "Messing with people's minds? This fits his twisted idea of a joke. How come we didn't realize that before?"

"We need to interrogate him" Steve says "Barton, contact Fury. We need to come aboard the Helicarrier"

"Where are we going?" Dash asks

"Uh… I think it would be better if you two stay here"

"What? No way?" Dash protests "If this Low-Key can bring us back home, we're coming with you"

"Yeah" Twilight says "Besides, he's my brother, right? So, wouldn't it be easier if I talked to him?"

"Actually" Barton chimes in "The last time the two brothers had a talk, Loki stabbed him in the gut"

Twilight gulps. Dash's eyes widen with shock "What the hay is wrong with this world?" she shouts

"Too much to count, Rainbow" Banner answers

"Doesn't matter" Twilight says with determination "We're still going"

"Well, in that case, you better bring your hammer" Natasha says "In case things get ugly"

"My hammer?" Twilight asks, confused "What hammer? Why do I need a hammer?"

"Mjolnir" Erik Selvig says "The source of Thor's power. That one over there" Selvig points at a hammer near the wall.

That hammer is huge. That's the first thing that passed through Twilight's head upon seeing Mjolnir. The second was Tony Stark laughing at her for some reason. She shakes her head, and moves towards the hammer. How can a hammer be useful in a time like this? What's so special about it? She grabs the handle. She pulls.

"What the?" Twilight says, trying to lift the hammer to no avail "HNNNG! I-I can't! Is this a prank? This hammer is glued to the floor!"

"Let me try" Dash says

"Don't bother, Rainbow" Bruce says "Only Thor can lift the hammer"

"…and Thor is no longer Thor" Natasha concludes

"Okay, so our resident genius is no longer a genius, and our God is no longer a God" Clint says "Am I the only one worried that our team seems to become more useless by the minute?"

"Wait, how does this work?" Dash asks

"The hammer is enchanted" Erik Selvig explains "Only those worthy of its power can wield it. I guess your friend is unworthy. Just like all of us who aren't Thor"

Twilight bites her lip. Any other day, she would have been fascinated by this enchantment. But, right now, only two words pass through her head. Two words that were spoken by Clint and Selvig…

Useless

Unworthy

She fights back her tears. Twilight has never felt so… so… so irrelevant as she did today. It wasn't enough that Stark insulted her intelligence… Face it, Sparkle. Magic is the only thing you have going for you. Now, not even that. She can't do magic. Not anymore, not on this body. But, then, turns out this new body has advantages, it can wield a weapon that is, supposedly, very powerful. So, she could be useful that way. No, wait. She can't. Because she's unworthy, which means she's useless. Her friends have never faced a challenge as strange as this one, and there's nothing, absolutely nothing she can do to help. Useless.

"Twilight, are you okay?" Dash asks

"Yeah, yeah. I'm alright" Twilight lies, drying a lone tear from her eyes "Who needs this stupid hammer anyway?"

"You know, Twilight" Steve says "If you wish to sit this one out, you can stay here with Dr. Banner, Selvig, and Pepper. We can handle it for you"

Twilight remembers saying something similar to Rainbow Dash yesterday. Dash refused. She wouldn't let her friends do all the work while she sits back and watches, and Twilight would gain wings before she does the same.

"Stay here and wait? Sorry, but no. I don't take backseats" Twilight echoed Stark "I'm a proactive kind of mare"

"Very well, then" Steve said

A few minutes later, Steve Rogers, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanoff, Tony Dash, and Twilight Odinson were aboard a Quinjet heading towards the SHIELD Helicarrier. Twilight has to admit she's really impressed with this world's technology. Even though she can recognize many similarities between 'man' tech and pony tech, theirs are still decades, if not centuries, ahead of Equestria's. Twilight wonders if all this advance was due to the fact that magic seems so scarce in this world, forcing them to come up with all kinds of contraptions to compensate for it. Necessity is the mother of invention, after all. Twilight also couldn't help but notice that the clouds move on their own here, just like in the Everfree forest. If this behavior is the same in the rest of this planet, it will mean that 'people' never had to worry about changing the weather and the seasons, which is very time-consuming, providing them with more time to dedicate in advancing their science. This world and its science are so fascinating! Twilight wish she could have more time to study it…

"Fasten your seatbelts, people and ponies" Clint says "We're about to land"

Tony Dash and Twilight Odinson look through the window and are astounded by what they see.

"Holy spit!" Dash says

"Okay" Twilight says "There's no way you're gonna convince me that's not magic!"

Outside the window was a huge construction made of metal simply floating in the air. There's no way something that huge and heavy could be sustained in the air like that without magic. It's just impossible! Still, there it was, challenging everything Twilight believes with its mere existence. "Welcome to the Helicarrier, folks" Clint says

"Sir, we're still trying to take down all the Rising Tide videos from the web" Maria Hill, the second-in-command of SHIELD told Nick Fury "But they seem to be counter-attacking with spywares. Our firewalls were able to detect and destroy them before they could cause any damage, but still…"

"Hill" Nick Fury said "I think we have more things to worry about right now than some internet conspiracy theorist"

He barely finished saying that when the Quinjet group arrived at the bridge, with Dash and Twilight looking at everything, bewildered.

"Avengers" Fury addressed them "You contacted me saying that you had some progress with the inter-dimensional brain swap problem. Did you succeed in bringing Stark back?"

"Why is that man wearing an eye-patch?" Twilight asks Dash

"I think he's a pirate" Dash answers

"I'm not a pirate!" Fury says, annoyed "Excuse me, Barton, but I'm not seeing any 'progress' here. In fact, I'm seeing the opposite"

"Actually, sir" Steve intervenes "We now have confirmation of where exactly Tony is, and how to reach him. The only problem is that the process seems to be only worsening rather than reverting. But we may be able to fix it if we can talk to the prisoner"

"Loki?!" Maria Hill chimes in "Are you crazy? Do you really think we'll let you…"

"Hill" Fury interrupts "I can handle this"

Maria looks at Fury with as if to say 'but'. Fury stares back at her. Finally she says, almost begrudgingly "Yes, sir"

"And what do you need Loki for, may I ask?" Fury asks Steve

"Loki is behind this" Natasha says

"We don't know that" Steve corrects "But whether he is or not, it definitely has to do with magic, and Loki is the only with any kind of knowledge on the subject"

"Magic?" Fury asks "And who came with that conclusion? Banner?"

"Actually, that was me… uh, sir"

"Thor?"

"That's… not actually Thor, sir" Clint says

"Oh, right" Fury says "Now we have two inter-dimensional aliens here… in the body of another inter-dimensional alien...What was your name, again?"

"My name is Twilight Sparkle, sir" Twilight Odinson said "and this is Rainbow Dash. We are sorry for all this mess and we swear we want to sort it out as much as you do"

Fury stares at Clint "Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash? Those names don't sound very alien to me, Agent Barton"

"They are tribal names" Natasha lies "They're from an indigenous society"

"No, we're n-OW!" Tony Dash says, as Natasha kicks her in the ankle

"Twilight is very knowledgeable in magic, sir" Clint says "She says that Stark was trying to open a portal back in their dimension and he only succeeded using magic"

"If he succeeded, why he's not here?" Fury asks

"The portal is unstable" Steve says "We hope Loki may help us with that"

"So, if Pocahontas and Sitting Bull here convince Loki to help them" Fury says "they will be back to Pandora, Thor and Stark will be back to us, and this whole mess will be over?"

"That's the idea" Natasha sighs

"Sir, you're not considering…" Maria Hill says

"Quiet, Hill" Fury says "Okay, I'll give you access to our prisoner, but be warned, if you two try anything funny, you'll be detained for an indefinite time"

"Understood. Thank you, sir" Clint says, as the group moves toward the detention area

"They are hiding something, sir" Maria Hill said after they left

"I know that, Maria"

"You shouldn't have allowed them to go to Loki's cell" Hill continues "They could still be under his spell. Loki may be planning his escape"

"He wouldn't be stupid to make them refer to themselves as Twilight and Rainbow if that was the case" Fury says "Still, there's something fishy going on. So, when they convince him to help them, and they will, I want you down there with them to keep an eye in Loki and report everything to me"

"But, sir…"

"That's an order, Hill"

Maria seems like she's going to protest further, but she just swallows "Yes, sir" she says, half-heartedly

"Remember" Natasha tells Twilight and Dash "Loki is very dangerous. Don't get too close to the glass and don't let your guard down"

The five approach the glass cell, in which a defeated man in green sat, his head laid back, staring at the ceiling "Hello, Avengers. Came here to gloat, I presume?"

"That's your department" Steve replies

"We want to know what you did" Natasha says

"Why? Something's wrong? Why do people always assume I did something when something goes wrong?" Loki says with a wry smile "No. I'm afraid I haven't done anything in the past 22 hours"

"Cut the crap, Loki" Natasha says, slightly angrier "We can see your fingerprints all over this mess"

"Why so fierce, Agent Romanoff?" Loki asks with a smile "Your lover was returned unharmed, was he not?"

Natasha shows no reaction, but Clint smiles.

"Uh… Excuse me, Mr. Loki, sir?" Twilight chimes in as Loki looks at her with a raised eyebrow "Did you do anything with the cube or the Elements of Harmony that could have caused an inter-dimensional portal?"

Loki is confused. Why is Thor acting like he doesn't know him? "Did you call me 'mister'?"

"Just answer the question, lame brain" Tony Dash says

"Rainbow Dash!" said Twilight

"What?"

"I… this… what…" Loki stutters "Is this some bizarre and pathetic Midgardian method of interrogation?"

"Loki" Steve says "Did you or did you not program the Tesseract to open a rift?"

"Opening portals are the Tesseract's whole purpose, soldier" Loki answers "I don't need to do anything for it to open a rift... wait… is there another portal?"

"Not exactly" Twilight answers "But there was a rift. And now, my friend, Rainbow Dash, and I ended up trading bodies across dimensions with Tony Stark and your brother"

"You're not my brother"

"Yes, exactly" Twilight says, smiling because Loki seemed to understand "We think, if you help us, we could infuse the cube with magic so to reverse the rift effect and bring your brother back"

"You're not my brother" Loki repeats

"Uh… yeah, we already established that" Twilight replies, unsure "I'm sorry, are you having problems following what I said?"

"Stop insulting my intelligence, Thor. Trickery is not your domain" Loki says "While I'm not surprised you would come up with such pitiful attempt at a gambit, it baffles me that your Midgardian companions would agree to your moronic plan. I thought not even them could be that stupid. And you're not my brother"

Twilight is confused. She thought Loki understood, but now he says he doesn't believe her, yet still claims that she's not his brother. What's going on? "I'm sorry, but… How can you not believe I'm Thor and believe I'm Thor at the same time?"

"Don't be dense" Loki says "I know you're Thor. Never said otherwise"

"Okay… my brain hurts…" Twilight says

"This is not a joke, Loki" Steve says "It's true. What would we gain by telling this to you if it wasn't true?"

Loki stops to think. The soldier's words carry the truth. "So, Thor is another person now?"

"I'm a unicorn, actually" Twilight says "We're both ponies"

Loki stares at Twilight for a couple of seconds before laughing out loud. "So, you still don't believe us?" Twilight asks

"No, no. I believe you" Loki says, drying his tears of laughter "You do sound not as dimwitted as Thor"

"Uh… thanks, I guess" Twilight replied, unsure

"And you" Loki addresses Tony Dash "sound slightly stupider than the metal man"

"HEY!" Dash yelled, insulted

"Yes, I believe you" Loki concluded

"So" Natasha asks "You really had nothing to do with this?"

"No" Loki answered "But I wish I did"

"So, you're gonna help us?" Twilight asks

"Why should I?" Loki answers with a soft smile "When this is so entertaining to watch?"

"Oh, yeah? And how you're gonna watch anything trapped in there like a cookie?" Dash says with a cocky smile

Sudden and quickly, Loki gets up from his seat and knocks hard in the glass causing Dash to jump back, surprised.

"I've escaped from a jar like this before, my little pony" Loki hisses "There was someone who was just as confident as you are that I was cornered. You know what happened? I impaled him with my spear and watched as the little worm bled to death"

Dash looks horrified and so does Twilight.

"Step away from the glass" Maria Hill steps into the room, holding a remote control on her hand "or you're gonna be knocked out faster than you can say 'daddy didn't love me'"

Loki complies, moving his hand towards the metal shock collar that Twilight just now noticed he had around his neck.

"Hill? I didn't know you had a sense of humor" Clint says "What are you doing here?"

"Fury sent me to keep an eye on him" Hill says "Also, he ordered me to tell you that we may drop some charges against you if you decide to help them"

Loki laughs "Do you actually think I worry about that? I won't be prosecuted by your mortal courts"

"Are you sure about that?"

"Of course" Loki answers "Thor would never let me be dealt with by mortals. He wants to take me to Asgard. I know that"

"Yeah, but Thor isn't here, is he?" Hill says with a smug smile

Loki's smile fades.

"If you really hope to go back home, Dorothy" Hill continues "I suggest you accept our offer"

Loki looks angry. While it's improbable that Midgardian punishment would be more severe than Asgardian justice, being sentenced by such lower creatures is simply too humiliating. "Very well, I agree to your terms"

"Twilight, do you really think it's a good idea to let him help us?" Dash whispers to Twilight "He's scary"

"I don't like it either, Dash" Twilight whispers back "But he's our only hope to stabilize the portal. Our hooves are tied"

"Remember" Clint warns him "If you try anything funny, I still owe you an arrow to the eye socket"

Loki smiles "When do we start?"

Back in the tower, Selvig, Banner, and Pepper were back into the R&D department, preparing the machine for a second try.

"Do we really need to connect it back to the chest reactor?" Pepper asks Banner "Couldn't we just use the tower's main reactor?"

"I'm sorry, Pepper, but I don't think so" Banner answers "The event was specifically triggered by Tony's chest piece. I know it doesn't sound scientific, but I think that the reactor's connection with Tony's heart may be essential for this to work"

"You sure?" Pepper insists "I really don't want to subject Tony, I mean, Rainbow Dash to that pain again"

"Sure, no, I ain't" Banner says "But the last two times the Tesseract operated on its own it opened a portal to the Chitauri world and the last two times it operated with Tony's arc reactor it opened a portal to Equestria, so…"

"So you need my help to put the horses back in the stable"

The three turn their heads to see Loki arriving in the room followed by Maria Hill, the 'humanized' ponies, and the other three.

Pepper feels her stomach churn. She has never seen Loki before. She feels fear, for this man is powerful and dangerous. She feels anger, for this man is responsible for all that death and destruction and he also almost killed Tony. And yet, she feels relief and gratitude, for this man may bring her Tony back.

Selvig looks away, while tucking his shirt over his chest. Bruce simply raises his eyebrows, almost indifferent "So, our mighty ruler decided to be kind enough to help us" he says to Loki

Loki smiles "Is not very wise to provoke those who are willing to help, Doctor. Especially, when they're your only option"

"Willing? That's a good one" Banner replies "Does that collar itch, little puppy? How does it feel to be ruled? Is it as wonderful as you promised us?"

Loki gives in an angry look "You tell me, Doctor. How it feels to have your life controlled by that mindless beast inside you? You like to pretend you are a scholar, when in truth you are a creature of the basest mind, a drooling simpleton. You may be presently in a position of power, but do not forget that I am still superior to you in all aspects"

Banner chuckles "Oh, Loki, you don't give up do you? Look, you can believe whatever you want, but be warned, if you try to escape, if you try to harm my friends in any way, I will imprint your face in every single tile on this floor" Bruce says in a very serious tone, while Loki takes a step back, slightly shaken "Do you understand? Good"

Dash had to pick up her jaw from the floor. Ever since she woke up here, Bruce Banner has always been the friendliest, shiest, most comforting, understanding, and, seemingly, most harmless of all the people she met so far. But here he was, not only talking smack, but downright threatening the super-creepy, mega-dangerous psycho, and the super-creepy, mega-dangerous psycho actually cowered! That was AWESOME! And disturbing, but in a cool way. Once she's back in Ponyville, Dash will start a Bruce Banner Fan Club.

"Virginia Potts?" Maria Hill addresses Pepper "I'm Deputy Maria Hill from SHIELD. We're sorry for all the inconvenience the last days' events have caused you and we want to assure you that SHIELD is doing everything possible to stabilize the situation so you can proceed with your usual routine"

"Huh… ok, thanks" Pepper says, trying not to roll her eyes at that bullshit bureaucratic apology. Inconvenience? Really?

"We're losing time!" Selvig says "We better start this"

"Ok, Rainbow" Bruce addresses Tony Dash "I'm sorry, but we're gonna have to ask you to take your shirt off and sit on the chair again"

Dash gulps, but complies.

"What's the problem?" Twilight Odinson asks

"Well, it's a very painful procedure" Banner explains "We need to connect the cube to Tony's chest reactor. It will hurt, but there's no other way"

"Can't you take it off her chest?" Twilight asks, already moving her hand towards the reactor, but Pepper catches her hand midair.

"If you take it off, she dies" both Twilight and Dash stare at her "That thing is what keeps Tony alive"

"Why?" Dash asks "Am I… He's a robot?"

"No" Pepper says with a soft, sad smile "But that thing keeps his heart beating"

"If Dash died in Stark's body" Twilight ponders "Would Stark die in her body as well?"

"I don't think so" Selvig says "But this is uncharted territory, anything is possible"

"Once his body died, your spirit would probably try to find its way home" Loki chimes in "It probably would never find it, and if it did, it would have to wrestle Stark's consciousness for the dominance of the body. Whoever lost would either be expelled or locked in, forced to watch, helpless, as the winner would use their body and live their life. But that's just conjecture"

The room fell silent for a minute, while Dash and Twilight exchanged looks of worry and attempted reassurance. Bruce breaks the silence "Well, I have experience with being locked in, helpless, in something else's body. It sucks, but you learn how to live with it. Don't worry, though, Rainbow. We're not gonna let anything happen to you. And YOU" Banner points to Loki "You will use your magic to keep the portal stable"

"Certainly" Loki says with a smirk

The cables are connected once again. Natasha grabs Loki's scepter. Loki eyes the scepter. Natasha gives him a 'don't even think about it' look. Both Pepper and Twilight hold Dash's hands. Selvig turns the machine on.

Tony Dash's body jerks with pain as Twilight and Pepper tighten their grip. The energy once again escapes the cables and forms its own independent stream. "LOKI! Stabilize it!" Banner yells. Loki closes his eyes and stretches his arms forward, the inside of his hands facing the stream, concentrating. The portal begins to open.

"Yes, yes" Banner whispers

The portal stops growing. It's stable.

"YES!"

Suddenly, the portal shrinks. It stays the size of an apple. It shoots a beam of energy, hitting Steve who convulses.

"NO!" Banner yells "Shut it off!"

Natasha does her thing, and the machine 'dozes off'.

"Dash, are you okay?" Twilight asks "That was awful"

"Yeah, I'm okay" Dash said, feeling nauseous "Oh, darn. I'm gonna have to past through this yet again, won't I?"

"Steve, are you okay?" Natasha asks her fallen Avenger "Are you still Steve?"

"Yeah, I'm fine" Steve says, a little dizzy

"Do you feel like eating hay?" Clint asks

"I'm not a pony, Clint" Steve answers while getting up, annoyed

"Hey, it's no crime to be sure"

"Hmm, interesting…" Loki says

"What did you do?" Bruce asks

"I did nothing, Doctor" Loki answers "You didn't need me. Your machine works perfectly"

"Oh, yeah. I can see that" Banner replied, sarcastically

"The problem is on their side" Loki points at Tony Dash and Twilight Odinson

"Excuse me?" Twilight says

"Portals are doorways. Doors can be opened from both sides" Loki smirks at Clint "Doors can be jammed from both sides as well. Your side is jammed"

"Jammed?" Dash asks "Jammed by what?"

"Chaos"

"Chaos?" Banner asks

"Yes, chaos" Loki says "When I was stabilizing the portal, I sensed a strong aura of chaos coming from the other side, disrupting the portal"

"But why? How? I mean, it can't…" Twilight stops, suddenly having a disturbing revelation "Discord"

"Discord?" asks Hill

"Discord. He's a horrible being who only brings misery and disharmony everywhere he goes"

"An entity of chaos called Discord?" Hill continues "What is this? A videogame?"

"Primitive civilizations tend to anthropomorphize what they can't understand or control" Selvig tries to explain "So they create deities to represent the most abstract aspects of their lives. In this case, Discord"

"Hey! Whose civilization you're calling primitive?" Dash yelled

"Discord isn't a 'representation'" Twilight says "He's very real and he's very dangerous"

"But, Twilight" Dash says "Discord was defeated. We defeated him"

"I was defeated once" Loki smirks

"Twice" Barton says

"But we imprisoned him in the statue!" Dash protests

"Well, I don't think he's in the statue any more" Twilight says, turning to Bruce "We need to go back as soon as possible! Equestria needs us!"

"I'm sorry, Twilight" Bruce replies "If Loki speaks the truth, then our hands are tied. It's on Tony's, Thor's, and your friends' hands now"

While the group argued, Loki walked away. Facing a wall, he closes his eyes and concentrates. To everyone in the room, Loki was still there. His body was there. His mind, however, was in the other side of the universe, on a rock floating in space, where a hooded creature stares at him with hatred.

"You dare contact me?" the Other hissed "You have failed!"

"Your army failed" Loki rebuts "But that's irrelevant right now. I came with glad tidings"

"Save your breath, Asgardian" the Other interrupts "Your eloquent speeches have no effect here"

"I do suggest you hear what I have to say" Loki insists "Thor's brain has been traded with those of an equine creature, a considerable improvement I might add, and he's not the only one. The armored one too, and he has had a significant decrease on his ingenuity as a result. If this ripple effect continues, the Avengers will be neutralized, and the moment will be propitious for a second attack"

"You take us for fools?" the Other asked "Expecting us to believe such nonsense?"

"It is rather ridiculous" Loki admitted "Which proves I would never tell you if it was a lie as I would gain nothing with something this unbelievable"

The Other pauses "How?" he asks

"Apparently, the Tesseract opened a second portal when no one was looking" Loki smiles "It caused two of Earth's defenders to change bodies with beings from another dimension that seem to be even meeker than those of Earth. I suspect the changes will continue"

"The Earthlings didn't seem so meek in the battle" the Other hisses "Can you guarantee that their forces will be subjugated by the time of the second attack?"

"The only way they can fight us is if they're here, and an aura of chaos is preventing anyone to come back. It's a very faint aura. I could easily dissipate it if I so wish" Loki smirks "but why would I do that?"

"Very well, Asgardian" the Other says "Do not fail this time. The master seldom gives second chances"

"Hey! What are you doing?" Maria Hill asks Loki

"I'm… meditating" Loki says with a mischievous smile

"Yeah, right" Hill says "Go back to the group, Ipkiss"

After a few minutes of pointless discussion, the group decided that there was nothing they could do, it was getting late, and they should rest. Accompanied by Barton, Deputy Hill brought Loki back to the Helicarrier, saying that they could try again tomorrow, maybe.

Pepper invites everyone (and everypony) for dinner, just realizing that they skipped lunch. Everyone goes back to their bedrooms (with Natasha having to guide Twilight to Thor's room) to clean up and get ready to eat.

Steve was sitting in the bathroom, feeling ill. He hasn't felt ill ever since he took the Super Soldier Serum, but now he was dizzy, nauseous, and sweating cold. Something's wrong.

Steve tries to get up, but he feels weak "Help…" he tries to say, but falls unconscious on the floor.

Seconds later, he recovers. Still dizzy, he gets up, trying to recognize his surroundings "Wha… Where am I?" Steve ends up facing his own reflex on the mirror and is completely taken aback by what he sees.

"What in darnation?" he says

Author's Note

Something that just occured to me while rewatching the Iron Man movies:

In IM2 Tony compares himself to the myth of the Phoenix, so...

Which two colors are usually associated with a Phoenix?

Which two colors are usually associated with Iron Man?

I wonder if it was intentional, probably not, but still cool.