Harmonic Vengeance

Discord laughed and teleported away. Tony, who had caught himself with his wings, watched the other ponies pick themselves off, struggling to untangle the heap they'd landed in. They dusted themselves off and looked around. Nopony seemed to have anything to say. Tony was pretty sure he knew what they were thinking, though: What happened? Why didn't it work? What did Discord do?

Applejack spoke first. "Excuse me fer a minute. Rainbow, Ah need to talk to ya, alone."

Confused, Tony followed her a distance from the group. He could feel the stares of the others on him, wondering what Applejack was doing. Did she know he wasn't Rainbow? Did she blame him for the failed attempt to use the Elements? How would she react if she thought he was an imposter? Would she try to attack, or would she talk first? Would she accept his explanation? If it came to a fight, could he take her? What about the others? If all else failed, he could simply run away. Or fly away, that is. Only Fluttershy could chase him in the air, and there was no chance she'd catch up. Then, of course, the Princess would be alerted, and whatever energy could be spared from the Discord situation would probably be spent tracking him down, and the whole thing would be pretty terrible.

All these thoughts went through his head in a fairly short time, before Applejack even started to speak. By the time she opened her mouth, he was very on edge, his muscles tensed in preparation. "When the magic faded out," she said, "it didn't cut off all at once."

"It... didn't?"

"Nope. The fading started in one place. That one place was you."

His heart thudded loudly in his chest. Applejack stepped closer. "And Ah think Ah know why. Yer not Rainbow Dash at all..."

PANICPANICPANICPANIC-

"...are ya... Tony?"

His mind blanked, then started racing faster than ever. "How- what- who-"

"Ah'm Steve."

Tony blinked a few times, then started laughing.

"What?"

"Captain America... with a Southern accent... oh, it's too hilarious."

"Can we focus, please?"

He sat bolt upright. "Capplejack."

"We are not calling me that!"

"We are totally calling you that."

"Maybe ya should focus on the creature of chaos intent on destroying this entire world."

His mind was still racing, connecting dots. "Hold on... if I'm the cocky, brash one, and you're the one with as much integrity as the entire state of Texas, honest to a fault..."

"What?"

"Think about it. Who else is here? The incredibly scientific nerd. The feminine one, who's also manipulative. The exuberant one. The shy one."

"Oh my goodness."

"We need to get you some swearing vocabulary," Tony muttered, taking off back for the main group. "I figured something out," he announced, on arrival.

"What?" Twilight asked. (Though a little hesitant--almost like someone not used to being the leader of a team?)

He pointed to her, Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy, one by one. "Banner. Thor. Romanov. Barton. Correct?"

None of them acted like he was spouting nonsense. Not one of them asked, "What even are those words?" Instead, every one of them nodded.

"Yes! Four for four!"

Capplejack, who had joined the group by now, said, "That's great that we've figured that out, but... what do we do now?"

The silence stretched out painfully. Finally, Twilight--Bruce--admitted, "I don't think there's anything we can do. You saw what happened out there. The Elements don't work for us. The only thing that would help would be if we could get the original Bearers back, but how would we do that?"

"And if they come back, what'll happen with the Loki situation on Earth?" Natasha added. "They probably replaced us just like we replaced them, and if we bring them here somehow, Earth will be unguarded."

"If it comes down to saving Equestria or saving Earth, I think I'd have to choose Earth," Clint said, in Fluttershy's soft tones.

Steve looked like he wanted to object, but instead, he merely said, "It probably won't come to that. An' if it does, we probably won' get ta choose anyway. We don't have a way to get back to Earth, we don't have a way to get the Element Bearers back here, and we don't have a way to switch bodies. There's no use worryin' about what we can't fix."

"Then what do we do?" Tony asked.

"I was gettin' to that. Natasha, do your thing. Get Discord to gloat, so that he slips up and reveals something. Bruce, Twilight can pull the answer to just 'bout everything out'a that library. Tony, Thor, Clint, and I will work on keepin' the effects of the chaos from killin' somepony. I doubt even the Elements can reverse that. Got it?"

They saluted and galloped off in different directions.