Harmonic Vengeance

Twilight knocked on the office door. "Director Fury? We need to talk to you."

There was a deep sigh from within, then footsteps. She felt her heart pounding wildly. How would he react? Bruce hadn't interacted with him a lot, but from the memories of the times he had, her impression was of a hard and determined man who didn't like surprises.

"Maybe we'll get lucky," Rainbow whispered. "Maybe he'll be Celestia."

Before Twilight could respond, the door swung open. "Come on in," Fury said, gesturing inside, "but if this is about the weapons I already told you that wasn't my idea."

"It's not about that." Twilight took a deep breath, trying to compose herself and explain. "It's... well, I'm not sure how to explain this, but-"

Pinkie jumped in. "We're actually horses from another world but our brains got switched with your Avengers and it was us taking down Loki yesterday, not them, and now we need the tesseract so we can get home to our world and switch back and then you'll get your actual Avengers back!"

"Concise," Rainbow approved.

"Thanks!"

Fury shook his head like a dog ridding itself of water. "Say that whole thing again, but slowly."

"Weeee're aaactuuuallyyyyyy..."

"Just let me," Twilight interrupted. "Director Fury, we're not the Avengers. We're... people... from another world, whose minds somehow ended up in their bodies. We're pretty sure they're in ours. We need you to lend us the tesseract so we can go home, find the actual Avengers, and switch back."

"Wow. Just as concise, but also way easier to follow."

"Hey!"

Fury rested his head on his hands for a while, thinking about something. Finally he muttered something about the Council, and a word Twilight would never, ever use. Then he stood up. "All right, follow me."

They walked down to the basement of the SHIELD facility and arrived at one of the highest-security areas any of them had ever seen. Fury scanned his eye, the palm of his hand, and his whole face, then entered a very long passcode. The door slid open smoothly, revealing a small vault. The tesseract stood alone on a stand within.

Without a word, Fury turned and walked away. "Where are you going?" Rainbow called after him.

His voice echoed back as he rounded a corner. "Somewhere with plausible deniability."

Twilight shrugged, then opened the bag she was carrying and examined its contents. "All the science books I can carry... check. Rainbow, do you have the blueprints for the Iron Man suit?"

She waved a handful of papers. "Stayed up all night to get all the details from Jarvis. I should be able to recreate the whole thing."

Twilight swung to Rarity. "Design ideas from Earth fashion and the supersuits?"

"Check!" she sang, waving a small notebook.

"Was anybody else bringing anything?"

Fluttershy and Applejack shook their heads, but Pinkie jumped up and down, lifting a giant bag into the air. "I got TEN POUNDS OF STREAMERS!"

"Pinkie, you already have lots of streamers!"

"Yeah, but these are Earth streamers!"

"But- but they're exactly- you know what? Never mind. Are we ready to go?"

Pinkie Pie gave a huge gasp. "Wait! I almost forgot!"

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "What now?"

"Quick, everyone look at that guy!"

They turned, following her pointing finger to a stranger walking past. He was short, with a round face, white hair, and a mustache. "What's he even doing here? Why did we need to look at him?" Twilight asked.

"Obligatory Stan Lee cameo!"

"THAT EXPLAINS NOTHING!"

Pinkie pulled a glass container from somewhere and scooped the tesseract into it. "Everybody touch me!"

They complied, and she twisted one side. There was a flash of light, and then they were gone.