The name's Tony Sparkle Stark

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter 1- Sand and armor
Chapter 2- A horse girl? Uhh...
Chapter 3- A day in the desert
Chapter 4- Trotgier
Chapter 5- Well, that was easy
Interlude- One week later
Chapter 6- The great, powerful, and broke Trixie!
Chapter 7- Stark's train trip.
Interlude- A letter, and a dream
Chapter 8- On the road again
Chapter 9- Klugetown
Chapter 10- Friends!
Chapter 11- Attack on hippogriffia, part 1
Chapter 12- Attack on hippogriffia, part 2

Prologue

"That'll be fifteen dollars sir. Will that be cash or credit?" Asked the cashier as she finished scanning my items, which were some snacks that I had just run out of, being chips and soda.

"Cash" I reply as I hand her the money. Even though I usually wait until I get groceries to get more junk food, I had planned to do nothing but play videogames and watch TV this weekend, and I hadn't expected to run out of chips tonight.

"Alright" The cashier replied as she took my money and finished bagging my items. "Here you go sir. Have a good night."

"You too" I said as I walked out of the gas station toward my car.

As I got into my car and started it to head back home, I began thinking about the interaction I just had. Why did it make me feel so old? Is this how my dad feels like? Who knows, I'm barely twenty years old and I already feel ancient. That's probably not good.

"I'm probably just overthinking it" I say as I drive towards my apartment.

Am I though? I mean, my life has been kind of... Slow these past few years. It seems that ever since I graduated highschool life's gotten boring. And more than usual.

"It could just be me though" I tell myself as I stop at a red light.

I mean, maybe, but I have to admit that I haven't really done anything major since moving out. I haven't even left the state in years. When's the last time I even left the city?

"I probably just got used to going somewhere new every year" I reason as the light turns green.

That could be true. Back when I was younger, my parents would take me to another state every year. What was the last trip? Oh yeah. They took me to D.C on my seventeenth birthday.

"Jeez, that feels like it was yesterday" I say to nobody as I take a right turn.

Maybe I should go somewhere. That'll probably get rid of these negative thoughts I have. But where? Another state? Maybe another country? I've never left the United States. Maybe it'll be cool to visit a different country.

"But that will probably have to wait. I've got college." I say to myself as I enter the apartment complex parking lot.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. College. I enrolled right after highschool, and so far.. it's been fine. But you know, boring. So then what can I do? I've gotta do something to get out of this monotonous cycle I've got going here.

"I am about to play videogames all night" I tell myself as I park my car.

That will only help for so long and you know it bud. Ya gotta travel. Ya gotta go somewhere interesting.

"Why am I even arguing with myself about this?" I ask myself as I shut the car off.

Who knows. Maybe you finally lost it.

"...I've gotta stop getting overly dramatic." I say as I grab the bag with my snacks and exit the car. The walk to my apartment is short, as my apartment is situated on the second floor of a four story building. So far I haven't had trouble with rent, or with money in general. Gotta thank gramps for that.

I approach my apartment door while taking my keys out of my pocket. After picking out the door key, I unlock said door and head inside.

My apartment is small, having a living room, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. I don't think much about this as I go straight to my room to start my night of gaming.

As I set the bag's contents on my desk I start deciding on what I'll play first. It doesn't take me long to decide, as I choose smash bros.

"Some poor saps bout to get forward Ariel'd" I joke with myself as I sit down and boot up my Nintendo switch. But as I was about to connect it into my TV, I felt my pocket vibrate.

....

It vibrates again.

"Who's calling me?" I ask myself as I pull my phone out to check the number.

"David? Huh. Wonder what he wants." I say as I answer the call from my little cousin, David.

"Hello?" I answer. "Hey cuz!" David answers excitedly. "Hey David, how's it going? Do you need something?" I ask. "Na, just wondering when's the next time your visiting" replies David. "Oh? And why the sudden interest in my visiting schedule?" I ask. "No reason, except the next time you come, I'll be able to show you my favorite show, and I'm pretty excited for that" replied David. "Ah. Well what show is it? Gotta make sure I haven't watched it already you know" I asked. "It's called My Little Pony" replied David.

...

"My Little Pony? That sounds.. interesting" I reply with a smidge of doubt. "Don't worry, I didn't expect anything either. But once you actually watch it, you'll get why I like it so much. You'll especially like Twilight" replied David. "Twilight?" I asked. "yeah, Twilight Sparkle, she's the main character, and my favorite character" ..."Ah, care to tell me about her?". "Sure, well, I'll only tell you that she's the protege of a princess, you'll get to actually see more when you visit, and speaking of, when are you visiting?" Asked David. "I honestly don't know dude. Maybe next weekend? I'll let you know" I replied. "Alright. Well that's all I wanted to ask, so good night!" Said David. "Night" I replied as I ended the call.

"My Little Pony huh? Wonder what it's about" I ask myself as I finish setting up the switch into my TV. "Twilight Sparkle.... I feel like she's important... I mean she's the main character so no shit she's important... But I can't help but feel like she will be even more important in the future...

...

"Maybe I should go to sleep early tonight" I tell myself as I create an arena.

After a while of playing smash, I decide to switch to the Xbox to play some Avengers. Not the best game, but it's the best iron man action I got in a game, so beggars can't be choosers.

As I start up a mission as iron man, I think of how awesome it would be to have real iron man armor. It'd be so badass.

Iron man was and will always be my favorite superhero. He's just cool, what do you want me to say?

As I continue thinking up a fantasy where I've got iron man armor and am a fuckin badass, I don't notice time slip by, and start falling asleep while playing.

"Oh shit... Dam time went by fast... Whelp, I'm going to bed" I say as I turn off the console, throw away my trash, and head to my bed.

But before I lay down, I look out my window and see the night sky, and I think back to the conversation I had with myself in my car.

"...I just wish my life was a bit more interesting. That too much to ask?" I say to the night sky like it'll answer me.

After a moment, I decide to just go to sleep. Ready to start another normal day tomorrow.

...Oh if only I knew.

Author's Note

Well there's the prologue of my first story. Hope you liked it.

Chapter 1- Sand and armor

"Hgrhhhh" I groan as the morning sun hits me in the face at full force. Geez, since when is the sun so bright? Did I leave my curtain open? Probably.

"Eh" I grunt as I reposition myself on my comfy sand bed to get some more sleep.

...

Wait....

I open my eyes and instead of seeing my room's ceiling, I see a clear sky, alongside the sun.

"Uhhh, what? The hell am I doing outside?!" I say as I sit up. Did I sleepwalk? No. That's impossible, I've never sleepwalked.

I look around at my surroundings.. sand. Nothing but sand for what looks to be miles.

"The fuuck?" I check myself for any injuries or anything, and to my surprise, instead of wearing the clothes I went to sleep with, I'm wearing a simple grey T-shirt with a blue circle insignia on the chest. and dark grey pants.

"Huh, now that I'm really looking at it, this get up kind of reminds me of-" I begin to say but stop as I tap the insignia on my shirt.

'clink clink.

...

"That doesn't sound like wool, the hell?" I ask as I lift my shirt up. And what do I see? A dam iron man ark reactor lodged in my chest!

What the hell?! I scream as I tap the ark reactor eradically.

'Clink Clink Clink!

...

For all intensive purposes, this thing is real.

"Okay, fuckin... Let's not freak the fuck out yet..." I try to tell myself as I stand up.

Sand, sand, and more sand is what greets my vision.

"It's fine. It's fine! I'm just dreaming!" I say as I pinch myself.

'pinch.

"Just gotta wake up!"

'pinch pinch.

"Shit!!" I scream as I slap myself a couple of times for good measure.

...

"So, this isn't a dream?... What am I supposed to make of that?" I ask myself as I turn around to see even more sand... And some things on the ground in front of me.

"Huh? The hell is this?" I ask as I approach the items. Being a large black duffel bag, a familiar looking watch and a very familiar looking briefcase.

"No way..." I say as inspect the briefcase, knocking on it a few times.

'thunk thunk.

Metal.

"Could this really be?" I ask myself with rising hope and excitement as I pick up the watch and put it on.

...

I know how the watch works, i don't really know how to explain it, but I know what to do to summon the glove, just by looking at it.

"Ho- Holy shit!! Ha! I've got fucking iron man armor!!" I scream as I grab the duffel bag and zip it open. Inside, was a familiar looking set of basic armor parts, a couple of business suits, and some water canteen's.

"Huh, was kind of expecting better armor.. but Who cares! It's fucking iron man armor!!!" I scream to the heavens as I jump and flail my arms excitedly like a child.

"Wait" I say as I stop jumping.

"the wish..." I say as I remember the wish I made last night. Did it come true? Who knows. All I know is that I wished for my life to be more interesting and now I'm in the middle of a desert with iron man armor.

I guess my life is more interesting now...

"Well, what now?" I ask myself as I zip close the duffel bag.

Well, I guess finding civilization would be a good start. And also finding out where the hell I am.

"What direction to go in..." I say as I sling the duffel bag over my shoulder and grab the briefcase.

"Guess I'll just go straight" I say as i start walking.

As I'm walking, I decide to let what is Happening fully sink in. I'm in the middle of a dam desert, I have no fucking idea how big it is, i don't know if I'll find civilization, if there even is any around here, and on that topic, I've got no clue on where I am. I'm hoping I'm still in America, but that's probably unlikely, and I've only got water for like, a day and a half tops. Things are looking pretty bleak for me here.

...

"But I've got iron man armor"

...

"I'll probably be fine" I say as I continue walking straight.

I think I underestimated how much this trek was going to take out of me.

"There's gotta be something out here..." I say as I take a swig of water from one of the canteen's.

I've only been walking for probably twenty minutes, but it feels like I've been going at this for hours.

"Maybe I should change direction?" I ask myself as I continue walking.

That probably wouldn't be a good idea, I'll probably get even more lost than I already am.

"So what? Just keep on walking until I run out of water and die of thirst?, that doesn't seem like a good plan" I tell myself.

But what can I do? I can't really do anything but keep walking.

...

"Wait a minute! Of course!" I scream as I place the briefcase on the ground and sling the duffel bag off my shoulder.

"Might as well find out if this is really real" I say as I zip open the bag.

As I take the peices of incomplete armor out and slip them on, I start thinking of what I'll do once I find civilization. What should I say? What should I call myself?

"I think I'm just gonna call myself Tony Stark, Might as well right?" I tell myself as I adjust the skeleton of a gauntlet on my arm.

"I wonder what I'll find, am I in the still on earth? Was I teleported into the MCU? Did I actually become Tony Stark? But then why would I have video game armor? Who knows" I say as I adjust the straps of my other arm's gauntlet.

"Maybe I'm not in the MCU, and in some other movie, or series... Or thing" I say as I slip the boots on.

"Well, there's only one way to find out I guess" I say as I put the helmet on.

"Ok, let's test this out" I say as i rise my arm with my palm facing forward..

"How do you control this..." I ask myself as I try to make the gauntlet shoot out a blast..

...

'BAM!!'

"Holy shit!" I scream as I jump back from the repulsuor blast.

...

"It worked!" I scream as I rise my other arm and shoot another blast into the air.

'BAM!!'

"It fuckin works!!!" I scream into the heavens as I shoot some more blasts.

After a bit of fooling around with repulsuor blasts, I pick up the briefcase and shove it into the duffel bag, zip it, and sling it over my shoulder.

"Alright, now to see if I can fly" I say as I lower both of my arms with my open palms facing downward.

...

Even though I should have probably expected it, I was still surprised when short trails of fire erupted from my hands and feet.

"Ah hell yeah" I say as I gain some more altitude.

After I reach the air, I stop. Don't know how I stopped myself from going higher, I guess I just did.

"Hopefully Now I'll be able to find civilization faster" I say as I start hovering forward.

As I'm gaining speed, I can't help but think back to my wish, I wished for my life to be more interesting, and appeared In a desert with iron man armor. Is this supposed to be the start of my adventure?

...

"Who knows. Guess I'll just have to see what this place has in store for me" I say as I continue forward.

Author's Note

If your curious, the armor he's starting this story with is the starting iron man armor from the Avengers game, the mark five briefcase armor, and the civil war gauntlet watch. As the story goes on, he'll get access to more suits. (I wanted to add images but it didn't let me. Too bad so sad.)

Chapter 2- A horse girl? Uhh...

"I think I'm getting the hang of this" I say as I continue flying forward, I've angled myself to have my stomach facing the ground, as my gauntlets and boots propel me forward.

"Still no sign of anything yet"

That was a bummer, I've been flying for a bit now, and yet all I've seen is just more sand.

"There's gotta be something out here right? I'm not in some post apocalyptic wasteland am I?" I ask myself as I keep flying forward.

"Hopefully not" I say as I look around for anything.

"But there's nothing out here! There's just sand and some more san-... Wait", I say as I stop flying and start hovering in the air.

"Is that?..." I ask as I see what appears to be a person in a cloak taking a stroll through the desert.

"The hell is that guy doing out here? No matter, at least I finally found somebody" I say as I start to head their direction.

Then the person fell. And was not getting up.

"Oh shit" I say as I speed up.

As I finally arrive and land next to where the person was face first on the ground, I notice that their probably my height, maybe even a head taller.

"Well, gotta make sure their alright, I mean they literally collapsed in a desert so they're probably not fine but-..." I start saying but stop as I flip them onto there back.

...

Now, I was expecting a multitude of things really.... What seems to be a horse person? Was definitely not expecting that.

"What in the actual-" I start saying but stop as I notice that this... Person, might actually be a female, if her breasts are anything to go by... And also that she was looking at me with the biggest eyes I've ever seen on a living thing.

"Uhhh, oh, right" I say as I remember the predicament she's probably in.

Placing the duffel bag on the floor and zipping it open, I take one of the water canteen's out and open it, giving it to the.... Mare? That's what female horses are called right? I don't really know much about them, especially one that's a mix of horse and human.

The mare in question grabs the canteen from my armored hand and starts taking big swigs from it. As she's drinking, I start inspecting her further, she's wearing rags, got what appears to be dark grey fur, a black...mane? Yeah I'm pretty sure it's mane. And instead of feet, she's got hooves.

She also appears to be kind of malnourished, and from the looks of it, thirsty as shit. Probably not good.

As I'm pondering this, I see that the mare had stopped drinking, and had laid her head back down into the ground, she also had her eyes closed and was breathing slowly.

"Dam, must have been so tired she fell asleep on the spot" I say as I wonder what I'll do now.

I can't just leave her here... No, I'll just stay until she wakes up. Seems like the sun will set soon anyway, might as well call it a day right?

"Yeah, might as well" I say as I start taking off my armor, since I don't intend to sleep with it on. I take out the briefcase from the duffel bag and place the armor inside, then place the bag a bit farther away from me as I prepared to use it as a pillow.

"Hopefully it's comfortable" I say as I Lay my head down on the bag after laying down.

...

"Eh, it's fine" I say as I place the briefcase on my side.

"I don't think my situation has really hit me yet" I say as I start drifting off to sleep. I mean, why the hell was my wish granted? And why the iron man armor? Was it because it was the last thing I thought about before going to sleep? Who knows, I ain't complaining.

*The next morning*

"Ugh, fuckin, bright" I say as I start waking up. "I think I took my curtain's for granted" I say as i sit up.

My stomach growls

"Oh man, I'm hungry, do I even have anything to eat?" I say as I zip open the duffel bags other pockets.

"Maybe there's something in one of these pockets" I say as I look through each one, and sure enough, I eventually find some granola bars.

"Granola bars? Well beggars can't be choosers I guess." I say as I take one and start ripping the packaging.

After eating the bar, I decide to start putting on my armor.

"Might as well put my armor on"

As I'm doing this, I look to the right of me and see that mare from yesterday, and she was looking at me.

"Mornin" I say as I zip open the duffel bags main pocket to take the pieces of armor out.

*/---*/

"Ugh, fuckin, bright"

I wake up to the sound of a male voice near me.

I'm still alive? How? I was sure I wouldn't last out here in the desert, and who is that? Surely it can't be the prince, I had not stopped running since I escaped the capital, but did he find me?

Hopefully not

"I think I took my curtain's for granted" I hear the stallion say.

Well he doesn't sound like the prince, or anyone I would recognize for that matter. So then who is he? And why is he out here?

"Oh man, I'm hungry, do I even have anything to eat?" I hear the stallion say. I turn my head to the left, and I see the stallion on his knees rummaging through a strange looking black bag, and a red and silver briefcase next to him.

That's a bit odd.

"Maybe there's something in one of these pockets" the stallion says as he continues looking for something in his bag.

The stallion in question, is a very peculiar looking one, as he doesn't appear to have a muzzle, nor hooves, and his ears are shaped strange, plus, he doesn't appear to have fur.

He's probably not from around here. Which brings me back to my question of why he's here.

"Granola bars? Well beggars can't be choosers I guess" I hear the stallion say.

I look over the stallion again, he's wearing black pants and a grey shirt with a simple blue circle design on the chest.

Wonder what it means.

His clothes look like they have probably not been washed in a while, yet he doesn't seem to smell bad.

Weird.

"Might as well put my armor on" I hear the stallion say.

Armor? Is he some sort of knight? Or guard? No, that's unlikely, they're wouldn't be a lone guard out here. Maybe he defected from his kingdom? And stole his armor?

As I'm pondering what this stallion might be I notice that he's looking at me. I hadn't even thought of it yet, but this guy must have saved me, why? Does he want something?

...

Maybe if I serve him...

"Mornin" the stallion says, most likely to me.

*/---*/

"M- morning" the mare responds.

"You hungry?" I ask, to witch the mare nodds.

"Thought so, here, have this" I say as I hand her a granola bar.

The mare takes it, and looks at it with a questionable look on her face. I guess they don't have wrappers where she's from?

"This is edible?" The mare asks me as she looks at the wrapped bar.

"Well, yes. But you need to take the wrapper of first, here, let me show you. I say as I bend down and grab the bar from her hand

"Like this" I say as I tear the wrapper off.

"Oh"

"Now that the wrapper is off, it can be eaten now!" I say as I hand her the unrapped bar.

"Thank you" the mare says as she takes a bite of the granola bar.

"Thirsty?" I ask the mare, to wich she nods again, and I hand her a canteen.

"Who are you?" The mare asks me after taking a drink of water.

"Call me Stark" I reply.

"Oh, well, hello Stark, what are you doing out here?" The mare asks.

"I should be asking you that question, I mean, I at least had some water and a bit of food with me to take on this desert, but you have nothing!" I say to the mare, who looks away.

"i- I did not really have time to get anything for this trip, as it was spur of the moment" the mare tells me.

"Spur of the moment?"

"Yes, it was a sudden opportunity I was not expecting, and I took it. The mare says.

Sudden opportunity?

"Opportunity for what?" I ask.

The mare turns to face me again

"To escape"

Escape? Escape from what?

...

Wait a minute, I start thinking as I take another look at this mare, she's wearing rags, her mane and tail are disheveled, she appears malnourished, and her fur in unkempt. Plus, whatever she escaped from, was apparently bad enough that she'd go through a dam desert with nothing to get away.

...

Was she a slave?

"Um, if you don't mind me asking, what is it that you escaped?" I ask.

*/---*/

"Um, if you don't mind me asking, what is it that you escaped?" The concerned looking stallion asks.

Should I tell him? Could this stallion possibly bring justice to the prince and his father? I can only hope, since, what could he possibly do? He did say he has armor, but he's only one stallion, against the king and prince of Saddle Arabia...

I already owe him my life, it would be selfish to ask him to do the impossible.

But it can't hurt to at least tell him what I ran away from.

"Th- the prince" I tell him.

"The prince? Of what?" The stallion asks me.

"Saddle Arabia, the kingdom were in right now"

*/---*/

"Saddle Arabia, the kingdom were in right now" the mare tells me.

No fuckin way, Saudi Arabia?! Wait, hold on. Did she say saddle? I must have heard wrong.

"Saudi Arabia?" I ask.

"No, Saddle Arabia" the mare responds.

Huh

"Never heard of it" I say, to witch the mare looks at me with mild shock.

"Anyway, why did you escape from this prince? We're you his slave or something?" I ask the mare, who looks away from me again.

"Yes, I was his slave, something I never wanted to be, but ended up being" the mare tells me.

Dam, that sucks. If the prince has slaves, then most likely the king and rich if this kingdom do as well.

Something's probably gotta change.

...

Well it's a good thing I've got iron man armor.

"Well miss..." I start saying.

"Amira" the mare tells me.

"Amira, nice name. Anyway, miss Amira, I am not from around here as you could probably tell, but where I'm from, slavery is heavily looked down on. And I can't on good conscious do nothing as more slaves are probably treated horribly. So I shall go and speak with the king and this prince, and hopefully convince them to abolish slavery" I say.

The mare looks at me stunned, in disbelief, but I can see some hope in those eyes.

"R- really? But how will you-" she starts saying, but I cut her off as I could tell what she was probably going to say.

"Don't worry about it. I'll figure it out.

"Ok, well, I can tell you where the capital is, since that's where the king and prince reside" the mare tells me.

"Great! Come along then, you can tell me more about this place on the way" I say as I start putting on my armor.

"What?" The mare asks.

"What? You're coming with me of course!" I tell the mare. Of course I'll have her tag along with me. I want her to be there when I put the prince in his place.

*/---*/

"What? You're coming with me of course!" The stallion tells me excitedly.

Go with him? I mean I guess he would want his new slave to accompany him, but of what use would I be? I'm too weak right now to help out in combat, which is something he'll probably get himself in.

Wait, why aren't I feeling sad that I'm a slave again?... Maybe it was his attitude. This stallion not only saved my life, but was nice to me...

...

Maybe it won't be so bad serving him?

Author's Note

Another chapter.

Chapter 3- A day in the desert

"Ok" I say as I start standing up.

"Great! Let me just put on my armor and we can go" Says Stark.

I take a closer look at Stark's armor as he's putting it on.

The first thing I notice however...

"You don't have hooves?" I ask as Stark puts on a metallic boot that goes up to his knee.

"Uh, no. My people don't have hooves, we've got feet" Stark replies.

I decide not to ponder that further as I see stark put on his other boot.

Going back to examining his armor, I see that he had just finished putting both boots on, but instead of starting to get the armor for the rest of he's legs, he takes out a silver metallic gauntlet. doesn't seem that he has armor for the rest of his legs, just up to his knee.

Odd.

"Is your armor incomplete?" I ask Stark as he's putting on the metallic gauntlet on his right hand.

Said gauntlet went up to his elbow, and had a blue circular insignia on the palm, pretty much exactly as the one on his shirt.

Are they related?

"Incomplete?" Stark says as he looks over himself.

"Oh, no it's actually complete, this is just mark one" Stark says as he starts putting on a brown glove with another insignia strapped to the palm on his left hand.

"Mark one?" I ask.

"Yeah, mark one, I actually make all of my own suits of armor, and this one is just the first version" Stark says as he slips multiple metallic rings through his arm that should probably not stay in place, but do.

I stop examining his suit to ponder what he just said, it was literally His suit, Stark made it, he makes his own suits it seems.

Does this mean he will make more? A mark two? Three?

I go back to examining his suit, which he seems to be finished putting on, the final piece being his helmet, which was white with black covering for his eyes.

"Alright, I've got my armor on, we can head out now" Stark says as he grabs his briefcase and stores it inside of the bag, then slings it over his shoulder.

"So where's the capital at?" Stark asks me.

"Trotgier is that way" I reply as I point in the opposite direction I was coming from.

"Trotgier? Weird name. Well, c'mon Amira" Stark says as he starts walking towards the capital.

"Alright" I say as I start following behind him.

*/---*/

I should probably start up a conversation, can't hurt to get to know Amira more right? I mean she's probably the first friend I'll make in this weird place.

"So, how was life in Trotgier?" I ask as I look behind me at Amira.

"Um, it wasn't really good since, you know... Slave..." She replies somberly.

Nice going dumbass.

"Right, sorry, dumb question" I say as turn my head to face in front of me.

"Change of subject then, what about you Amira? Do you perhaps have any skills that could help me out in this endeavor I've gotten myself into?" I ask.

"Well, I am good with swords, but I don't have any, and even if I did, I am physically too weak to help out in combat at the moment" she replies.

"Swords huh? I wouldn't have thought you would have been a swords wom-... Swords Mare.. who taught you?"

"I taught myself"

"That's pretty cool, I assume you practiced during your free time?"

"Yes"

"Alright well, don't worry, I'll get you some swords" I say as we continue walking.

I mean why not?

"I uh, I actually haven't used real swords yet, I just practiced with brooms" Amira tells me.

"Eh, don't worry about it, both of those things are rather similar, so if you're good with the broom, you're probably good with a sword" I say.

Logic one hundred.

"If you say so" she says.

We've been walking through this desert for a few hours now, I'm not actually sure though, it certainly feels like it. I swear, don't know how people living in South Western states can do it.

I look behind me, and see that Amira is walking slower, guess she's tired.

Might as well take a break.

"I think we've walked long enough, how about we take a break?" I ask as I fully turn around and stop walking.

"A break sounds good" She replies.

"Alright. We should probably sit down" I say as I start doing just that.

After Amira and I sat down, I decided to try and find out more about this strange land. Sure Amira was a slave, so she probably wouldn't know much, but she was a slave to royalty, maybe she heard something?

It couldn't hurt to ask.

"I'm assuming there's more kingdoms out there right? Do you happen to know any of them?" I ask.

"Yes, there are more kingdoms, but I don't know how many, or anything about them for that matter" she replies.

"I have sometimes overheard the prince and king talk about the pony kingdom, I think both kingdoms have good trade relation's with each other" Amira continues.

Nevermind.... Wait, ponies? Wasn't I thinking about ponies a short time ago?

...

Hold on...

"Really? Do you happen to know anything else about this pony kingdom?" I ask.

"Well, from what I've heard, the kingdom is called Equestria, and is ruled by their princess, princess Celestia" Amira starts.

Princess...

"By any chance" I start a bit nervously, "Does this princess have a protege?"

"Um, yes I think she does"

No way...

"And do you by any chance, know this proteges name?" I ask with rising anticipation.

Amira places a finger in her chin as she ponders her response.

"I believe her name is Twilight Sparkle, why did you want to know? Are you looking for her?"

...

..Wait! Brain, before you freak out, ya gotta think of a response bro. We've just been asked a question that could potentially shape our damm future in this place!"

"Uh, yeah actually, I'm her cousin"

Nice.

"Cousin??" Amira ask me, guess she doesn't buy it.

"Yes"

...

"But your not a pony"

Shit!, Brain! Alibi!

"It's a long story, but to make it short, basically my father, which in this case would be Twilight's uncle, was a pony who accidentally found my homeland and my people" I start saying.

From the looks of it, Amira seems to be paying attention to the bogus story, doing good brain.

"After a bit, he fell in love with one of the ladies there, had me, settled down, and began to raise me" I continue.

"... Eventually though, both of my parents got ligma disease and fuckin perished. In his final moments, my father told me to seek out my cousin, he didn't tell me where the hell to go to though, just gave me the name and died" I finished.

Amira seems a bit surprised from my story, at least the final part.

"Is that why you are here? You're looking for your cousin?" Amira asks me.

She believes me? Let's go.

"Yes, but since I didn't know where Equestria was, I decided to just look everywhere I guess. This was my first stop" I say as I zip open the duffel bag and take out two canteen's of water.

"I'm almost out of water, how much is left until we arrive to Trotgier?" I ask Amira as I hand her a canteen.

"It should not be too far, if we don't stop walking after this break, we should arrive by sundown" She replies.

"Great!" I say as I take a swig of water "well guess we should start walking again, the sooner we get this business over with the better" I say as I shove my canteen inside of the duffel bag.

*/---*/

"Well guess we should start walking again, the sooner we get this business over with the better" Stark says as he shoves his canteen inside of the bag.

Wait, he's still going through with this? He just found out his cousin isn't in this kingdom, why is he still going to try and confront the king and prince?

"You're not going to leave?" I ask as I take a quick sip of water, hand him the canteen, and stand up.

"Leave?, why the hell would I do that?" Stark asks as he places the other canteen inside of the bag and stands up.

"Well you just told me the reason you're out here in the first place was to find your cousin, and now that you know that she's not in this kingdom, I thought you would have left" I say somewhat somberly.

I know I probably shouldn't get my hopes up, but I can't help it, I'm quickly getting used to being around Stark, I kind of don't want him to leave. And I can't help but hope that he'll somehow pull this off.

But at the same time, if he stays and does this, he could get hurt, captured, or even killed! I haven't seen him in battle yet so don't know if his suit will really help him.

He would probably never find his cousin.

"Really? You thought I was just gonna leave the first chance I got? Man you think low of me" Stark says in a lighthearted tone.

I can't help but cringe a bit.

"No Amira, I'm not leaving until I've at least tried to get rid of slavery here, otherwise I'd feel like a dickwad who could have probably done something about this, but didn't" Stark says as he starts to walk.

"So c'mon, we've got an appointment with the king, it would be rather rude to keep him waiting"

"Ok" I say as I start following him.

I smile to myself as I follow behind him.

Stark certainly sounds determined for this. I can't help but respect him, even if he doesn't succeed it seems he's going to at least try.

It is a shame he won't stay if he succeeds in doing this, he still hasn't found his cousin.

Maybe he'll let me join him?

...

"So is Trotgier big? Like am I gonna be able to see it from the distance?" Stark asks as we continue walking.

We've been walking for another good chunk of time, and the sun will be setting soon.

"Yes, it is fairly large, you should probably be able to see it soon" I reply.

"Good, cuz we're probably gonna sleep another night out here, and tomorrow we can talk to the king" Stark says as he looks up to the sky.

"Alright" I reply as I look around at my surroundings, which was just more sand.

And what seems to be a carriage approaching us from the distance.

Oh no...

"What is that?" I hear Stark say.

I look over to him, he's looking at the approaching carriage as well, guess he noticed.

"I think it is a guard carriage" I say.

"Guard's?" Stark asks.

"Yes, it seems we are closer to Trotgier than I thought, if were already seeing guard patrols" I reply.

I was gonna tell Tony about this once the city was in viewing distance, but I guess it's too late for that, since this patrol squad has probably already seen us.

"I should probably deal with them no?" Stark asks.

"Well, probably.." I say.

"Yeah, I probably should" Stark says as the carriage approaches us.

When the carriage arrives, four armored and angry looking stallions step out and start eyeing us up, but mostly me.

I instinctively move closer to Stark.

"Heh, I knew it, boy's, we've found the prince's favorite slave" says one of the guards.

"Ugh, finally, hopefully we'll get a raise from this" says another guard.

"Well, c'mon slave, you're coming with-" the first guard started to say, but was cut off by Stark.

"Sorry, but I'm afraid she's not going anywhere with you, but, you can give us a ride to the capital, We would greatly appreciate it." Stark says as he steps in front of me, blocking me from the guards view.

A third guard came up next to the first one.

"And who are you supposed to be?" The guard asks.

"Me? I'm Stark, it's a pleasure. But anyway, as I just said, you can take us to the capital, but she's not going anywhere with you, and especially not back to the prince" Stark says as I start to build up a nervous sweat.

The fourth guard comes up.

"And what do you plan to do? Stop us? You can't, were part of the kings royal guard, you would be starting a war with him, and even if you tried to, you would fail, I mean do you see your armor? It's not even complete!" The guard says as he lets out a short laugh.

The other guards chuckle as well.

"Uh, yeah, that's exactly what I'm planning to do" Stark says as he raises both of his fists.

Guess I'll finally see how well those gauntlets really protect him.

The first guard lets out a loud sigh as he unsheathes his sword and starts walking towards Stark.

"Don't worry, I'll make this quick" the guard says as he raises his sword for an attack.

"No, actually I will" Says Stark as he takes a step back and opens up one of his fists, specifically his right one, to where his palm is facing the guard.

And it was from said palm that a short but very bright beam of light shot out and hit the guard straight in the face.

"Augh!!!" Screamed the guard as he was sent to the ground.

Before any of the other guards could react, Stark was already engaging another one, punching him hard in the gut, emitting an audible crunch sound, then headbutting him, sending a second guard to the ground.

If the crunch was from his armor, his ribs, or both, i couldn't tell.

I looked over to the two other guards, who seemed to have finally snapped out of their shock, and had taken out their swords, with one guard advancing over to Stark with his blade.

The guard stabbed forward, but missed as Stark dodged the attack.

With the guard exposed, Stark shot him with another beam of light from his right palm towards his chest, which sent the guard to the floor.

The fourth guard tried chopping Stark, almost successfully slicing him, if it weren't for the fact that Stark just grabbed the sword with his
right gauntlet, and closed his fist, breaking it in half.

"Whoa, can you imagine how screwed I would be if I wasn't wearing this?" Stark calmly asked the wide eyed guard.

"Eh" Stark says as he opens his hand to presumably shoot another beam of light at the remaining guard, who was taking several steps back.

But instead of a powerful beam of light, only sparks of light erupted from his palm.

"The hell?" Stark asks as he looks at his palm. "Oh, guess you actually managed to do something" he says as he lowered his right arm to the side, and raised his left one.

"Wait!" Screamed the last guard, but before he could say anything else, a beam of light had already hit him in the chest, knocking him onto the ground.

"Oh, he was gonna say something.. probably wasn't important" Stark says as he goes towards a downed guards body and grabs his sword.

I'm still processing what I've just witnessed, what were those beams of light from his palms? Attack spells? I do know that there's magic in Equestria, but don't you need to be a unicorn to utilize it?

I think back to the information master Stark has given me so far, his cousin is Twilight Sparkle, who I'm assuming is a very powerful unicorn.

So master comes from a unicorn family, but isn't one...

Oh, of course, his mother wasn't a pony. I don't actually know what his people are called though, I'll need to ask him later, but from what I can probably deduce, his people from his mother's side must have been smart as well if he was able to create his armor.

Of course! Stark adapted! He wasn't born a unicorn, or a pony for that matter because of his mother, but must of still had powerful magic from his father.

And without a horn to channel it, maybe his suit does?

...

Wait, Master Stark? Where did that come from?

...

And why am I already accepting it?

"Yo... Amira?" I hear Stark asking.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, I guess I zoned out" I reply.

"All good, anyway, here you go" Stark says as he hands me one of the guards swords.

"You can start practicing with a real sword now, at least until we actually find you a good blade" Says Stark.

"Thank you" I reply.

"Your welcome, now c'mon, suns setting, we should probably get a bit far from here in case they wake up" Stark says as he points behind him to the guards bodies.

"There not dead?" I ask.

"I mean... I don't think so... There, fine... probably" Stark says with some uncertainty.

"It's fine" I say.

I don't really have trouble if master Stark kills anyone, I mean, the guards did attack him.

"Aight, well c'mon Amira, let's find a spot to snooze the night away" Stark says as he starts walking towards the capital.

"Man, I don't think I very much like deserts" Stark says as he lays his head down onto his bag.

The sun has fully set, and we're pretty close to the capital now. Were currently sleeping on sand again, but it's not so bad.

"Well, good night Amira, see ya tomorrow" Stark says as he closes his eyes.

I'm left pondering to my thoughts, if I was a bit skeptical before that Stark was gonna be able to possibly pull this off, then that skepticism has evaporated.

With that suit, i think there's a very real chance Master will be able to do this.

...

Guess only tomorrow will tell...

Chapter 4- Trotgier

"well, good night Amira, see ya tomorrow" I say as I go to sleep.

...

Wait, I haven't actually freaked out over the events that have transpired today.

I think right now is as good time as any to do that.

WHAT!?!?.

There we go.

"Good night Stark" I hear Amira say near me. Guess she thinks I'm already dozin.

Where was I? Oh yeah, freaking out.

So.. Twilight Sparkle huh? What are the damm chances I'm transported into the show my actual cousin told me about before all of this?

Actual cousin... Right, I told Amira I was Twilight's cousin, and I guess she believed me.

What should I do now?... I guess I'll just commit to the lie I've started, I mean, if I truly am in that pony show David told me about, than it would be in my best interest to not have beef with the fuckin main character right?

Right.

...

Now that I'm thinking about it, this is one fucked up kids show to have slavery in it.

I'll just not think about that for now.

On a different note, I absolutely kicked ass today!!! I didn't even know I could fight like that.

Must have come with the wish I guess.

My armor did get damaged a bit though, my right palm repulsor got scratched when I broke that dudes sword in half, and now i can't use it anymore.

Bummer.

I wonder if I'll get more suits, I mean I've got mark five, but there's so many other suits, am I gonna get any? Or am I just stuck with these two?

Who knows.

I should probably go to sleep, I am gonna be confronting Saddle Arabia's king tomorrow after all.

"That aughta go well" I whisper as I close my eyes and drift to sleep.

I slowly open my eyes, so they can adjust to the bright morning sunlight easier.

Last night's sleep was, alright, at least as good as sleeping on sand gets.

"Good morning" I say to nobody in particular as I look up at the sky.

"Oh, master, your awake" A voice, who I recognized as Amira responds.

I look over to my right, and see Amira standing there with the sword I had taken from one of the guards.

...I think I'm missing something... Oh yeah, she just called me master.

Wait what?

"Master??" I ask as I start standing up. "Where did that come from?"

Amira tilts her head to the side a bit.

"Well, you've done so much for me in such a short amount of time, serving you is the least I can do" Amira tells me.

"And in the case you succeed in this current quest you've thrust yourself upon, I would like to join you in your search for your cousin. Please, master Stark, let me accompany you, I'll help out in every way I can" Amira asks, almost pleadingly.

"Whoa whoa whoa, hold on, two things, first of all, if you think you owe me anything, well you're wrong, because you don't, and second, serve me how?" I ask, a bit flabbergasted.

I mean why wouldn't I be? Amira literally just escaped from being a slave, and now all of a sudden she's calling me master?

It doesn't make that much sense.

And besides, I can't even accept her offer, those practices were abolished after the civil war and are unconstitutional, and I don't want to go against the godamm constitution now do I?

I mean, I'm not even in America anymore but... You know... Morals.

"Well, I would serve you in anything you needed, you would just need to ask, and I would do my best to complete your request" Amira says.

"I would also like to help you out in combat, I feel like I could learn to fight with blades rather quickly, and I want to be able to defend myself and help you out in more dangerous endeavors" She continues.

"Ok, well, um, I'm gonna go ahead and politely decline to the whole servant thing, I ain't your master Amira, all this stuff I'm doing isn't so you can serve me, I'm just doing this because I want to help out, and besides, you don't have to be a slave to be able to accompany me, you could have just asked, I'd be happy to let you come with me" I say as I bend down and grab my helmet, putting it on.

A moment passes before Amira talked again.

"Thank you, master Stark" Amira says as she bows a little.

I literally just said I wasn't her master and yet she still calls me one anyway.

Hopefully this little change isn't permanent...

I let out a small sigh before talking. "Well, c'mon, we should probably get going, Trotgier isn't far now right? I ask as I grab my duffel bag and sling it over my shoulder.

"No, we should arrive shortly" Amira says.

"Great" I say as I start walking.

*/---*/

/---/

Princess Cadence wasn't the happiest mare at the moment, even though she very well should be.

How could she not be happy? I mean, Shining Armor had just proposed to her a week ago, she was certainly happy then.

So why wasn't she happy now?

The answer was simple, instead of being home, planning her wedding with shining like she wanted to be doing right now, she was busy attending political meetings in Saddle Arabia because apparently, she needed to practice her political skills for when she would take a bigger part in ruling Equestria.

"Or maybe auntie's just lazy" Cadence says to herself as she looked over to one of the palace's entrances from her rooms balcony.

It was a good thing she was finally going home today, after one final meeting later of course.

"Hopefully shining's talked to Twilight about this, he's been putting off telling her about our relationship for too long, I don't want twilight to find out the until the wedding" Cadence says.

It was true, Shining Armor was procrastinating on telling his younger sister about it, Cadence would have already told Twilight, but she felt it was better for her brother to tell her.

"If he hasn't told her yet by the time I return, I'll just tell her myself"

Cadence was about to head back inside her room, when she noticed a group of guards approaching the entrance she was currently looking at.

Some of those guards weren't looking so good.

"What happened to them?" Cadence asked herself as she tried to get a closer look at them.

Not being able to see them clearly, she decided to fly down over to them, this could be something big for all she knew.

...

"What happened?" Cadence asked as she landed near the guards.

One of the guards turned his head around to face her.

"Ah, it's just you princess cadenza, you startled me" the guard said as he turned his head forward again. "Apparently these four were attacked during their patrol" the guard said, pointing at the four guards who seemed to be heavily injured.

"Attacked?" Asked Cadence.

'Who would attack the Saddle Arabian Royale guard? From what I know, Saddle Arabia isn't in a conflict with any other kingdom at the moment, and raiders don't get this close to the capital' Cadence thought to herself.

"That's what there saying"

"Do they know who attacked them?"

"There saying they were attacked by somebody who knew powerful combat magic"

"Really?" Asked Cadence, a bit curiously.

'There aren't many unicorns out here, and even if there were, usually only unicorn guards would learn combat magic, so just who did these guards encounter?' Cadence thought to herself.

"Yes, and I can't help but believe them, their injuries speak for themselves"

"Did they find anything out about this individual?"

"No, not much, all they got was his name, and the fact that the prince's prize slave was with him"

Cadence cringed a bit at the last comment, she hated slavery, and she wished it would be abolished here in Saddle Arabia, but from the looks of it, that wouldn't be happening anytime soon.

And from what she's hearing, it seems this mystery stallion has taken the prince's slave as his own.

"And what is the name?" Cadence asked.

"Stark"

"Stark? That's a peculiar name"

"I know"

"Well, do you need any help with the injured?"

"No thank you princess, were fine"

"Alright then" Cadence says as she starts heading back to her rooms balcony.

...

"Hopefully this Stark, won't cause too much trouble" cadence says to herself as she lands on the balcony and heads inside her room.

*/---*/

/---/

"Is that it?" I ask as I see some structures in the distance.

Hopefully it is, I'm tired of all this dam walking, I wanna take a break.

"Yes, that's Trotgier master Stark" Amira says from behind me.

"You know you don't have to call me master right?you can just call me Stark, without the master"

"I don't mind"

Apparently not...

"Well, no use in taking a break now since we're close, so c'mon" I say as I continue walking.

"Alright"

We arrive at the outskirts of the city, and I can see what I'm only assuming is the palace near the middle of said city.

Finally!! After like two days of being out in this fuckin desert, we've finally arrived at Trotgier!

Of course, Trotgier isn't the endgame, I'm just here to kick some kings ass, the endgame is finding Twilight and convincing her I'm family.

Shouldn't be too hard.

"Alright Amira, before we confront the king, let's first go get something to eat" I start saying as I look behind me at Amira.

"And get you some actual clothes and a better blade" I finish.

"Ok, but, I don't really know the layout of the city, so we're going to have to look around for those items" Amira says.

"It shouldn't be too hard, at least for the clothes and food, hopefully we can find them as we go to the palace" I say as I start walking towards it.

"Wait, what if there's guards, and they recognize us? The guards you fought yesterday must have gotten back here if they weren't dead, and they must have told the rest of the royal guard about you" Amira says, stopping me in my tracks.

"Well, let's just hope we don't encounter any until we've at least eaten, and gotten some strength and energy back, and in the case we do, then, I'll probably be able to deal with them"

"Very well master Stark, let's head out" Amira says as she starts walking towards the palace.

Now, I don't really know anything about Saudi Arabia's capital, so I can't really compare it to Saddle Arabia's capital.

But so far, Trotgier kinda sucks.

"You know, I would have expected the capital of a kingdom to look nicer" I tell Amira as we walk through a street.

It was actually a bit crowded, with small stone buildings lining it.

And the people,

...

Horses, were dressed a bit similarly to Amira, not in rags, but it did look like their clothes were very worn out.

"The city works In a wealth system, so the farther away we are from the palace, the poorer the city will be." Amira tells me.

"Oh, and, if you live in these poorer areas, can you visit the richer areas?"

"Usually not"

"Thought so, this is one weird city, capital no less"

"I assume it doesn't work like this in your lands capital?"

"No, people can usually go wherever they want, even if they don't have much money"

"Oh" Amira says as we continue walking.

After walking some more through the city, we arrive at what I can only assume is the richer area, as the palace is actually quite close now, and the buildings look nicer, with yards, fences, curtain's, the hole shabang.

Plus, the citizens are dressed better.

There are a couple of them dressed in rags though, hm.

"Hey Amira, I assume those are slaves?" I say as I motion towards a couple of mares in rags following a better dressed stallion.

Amira turns her head and scowls at the stallion.

"Yes, those are slaves" she says a bit sadly.

"Don't worry, once I've confronted the king about this, hopefully slavery won't be a thing around here anymore" I say as I look around for any establishments selling food, clothes, or weapons.

"Hopefully" I hear Amira say as we continue going through the city.

We arrived at a building that seemed to be a restaurant, if the people,

...

Horses, man I'm gonna keep forgetting that.

Anyway, if the horses that were currently eating at tables near the entrance of the place were anything to go by.

"Does this place serve food?" I ask Amira as we stop in front of the buildings entrance.

The building itself, was a bit large, and it did have this fancy feel to it, like, if I lived here, I probably wouldn't be able to afford it.

Good thing we're dinin' an dashin'.

"I think so, master Stark"

"Well then, let's go in shall we?" I say as I open the doors and head in.

"Wait, what shall I do with this sword?" Amira asks me, gesturing towards the sword I had given her.

"Oh, uh, just throw it aside I guess, besides, you weren't gonna be with that blade for long anyway" I respond.

"Alright" Amira says as she throws the sword away, and follows me into the restaurant.
...

The inside of the building was, well, kinda what I expected.

Relatively large space, circular tables, waiters, this place was certainly a restaurant if I ever saw one.

"Do you have any money on you master? This place looks a bit expensive" Amira asks as we walk towards an empty table.

"No, but don't worry, I wasn't even planning on paying anyway" I say as we arrive at a table, and sit down.

I look around for any waiters as I place the duffel bag under my seat, soon seeing one who was walking with an empty tray on her hand.

I snap my fingers to try and get her attention, and since I still had my gauntlets on, my snaps were rather loud, causing patreons near us to look at us and eye us down.

'At least it got her attention' I think to myself as the waiter walks over to us.

"Hello, can i- ... Sorry, but you can't eat here" the mare says, gesturing towards Amira as she arrives at our table.

"And why can't she?" I ask the waitress.

I'm pretty sure I know why, but I just want to be sure.

"Well, she is a slave" the mare tells me, giving me a confused look, as if what she was saying was supposed to be abuious.

Which it probably was on any other occasion.

I let out a small sigh as I think of what to do.

...

The answer comes shortly as I decide to just threaten this poor bastard into serving us.

I wonder if I'll have to do that a lot in this strange land...

If I continue adventuring without money, probably.

"Listen, your going to give us the food we want, or," I start saying as I lay my armored hand on the table with the palm facing the ceiling.

"Something bad is gonna happen" I say as I get the repulsor on my palm to start glowing.

The waitress mare looks at me, then my palm, and her eyes widen significantly, almost like she knew what I was gonna do.

Strange.

"V-very well, w-what would you like?" The mare asks, visibly worried now.

"Hmm, you got sandwiches?"

"Y-yes"

"Great, gimme two"

"H-how would y-you like them?"

"Uh, surprise me, how about that"

"A-alright then" the mare says as she hurries off towards the kitchen.

"Man, she certainly seemed worried, I mean all I did was make my palm glow" I say to Amira.

"Well, it isn't everyday this city is visited by someone of your capabilities" She tells me.

...

What the hell is that supposed to mean?

Our food eventually arrived, and even though my sandwich tasted a bit odd, I was too hungry to really care.

Hopefully it wasn't poisoned.

"Amira, is it just me, or do these sandwiches taste a bit odd? You don't think they did something to them do you?" I ask as I finish my food.

"No, I don't think they did. Do they not have daffodil sandwiches where your from master Stark?"

...

"Daffodil? Like the plant? Um, no, no we don't"

"Then that must be the odd taste you are getting" Amira says.

So plant sandwiches are a normal thing in these parts? I guess I should have seen it coming, with the whole equines being the inhabitants of this place.

Wait, equines don't eat meat.

...

Does that mean?

...

Dear God...

Before I can start freaking out over the very real possibility that I'll never be able to eat bacon again, my attention is drawn towards the front entrance, where I see two guards speaking with the waitress who served us.

Guess it's time to dip.

"Alright Amira, looks like the fuzz is here, we should probably go" I say as I stand up, grabbing the duffel bag and slinging over my shoulder once more.

"Fuzz?" Amira asks as she stands up.

"Yeah, you know, the cops" I say as I point at the entrance.

Amira looks at the entrance, then at me.

"Is that what they call guards where you are from?" She asks.

"Yeah" I reply.

"Oh" Amira says as the two guards approach us.

"You there, by the order of-" one of the guards began to say as he started to unsheathe his sword, but was cut off by a repulsor blast hitting him in the chest, knocking him back towards a table.

"Sorry, couldn't really hear you well man, by the order of whom?" I say as I point my palm towards the other guard, but instead of shooting him, I instead block the incoming slice of his sword with my arm.

"What is your armor made of!?" The guard growls out as he struggles with my arm turned shield.

"Probably American steel" I respond as I punch the guard square in the face with my other hand, knocking him out.

I turn around, and see Amira bend down and grab the first guards sword.

"We should leave master, no doubt the entire Royale guard knows we are here, and the palace will be on lockdown by now" Amira says as she walks over to me.

"Then we'll just have to attack the palace to get to the king then" I say as we head to exit out of the back exit.

After exiting through the back, I sling the duffel bag off my shoulder and place it in the ground, I then start to take off the armor I'm wearing currently as fast as I can.

"Master Stark, what are you doing? Aren't you going to need your armor for this attack?" Amira asks me as I take off my gauntlets.

"Well, yes, but not this armor, your wearing it"

...

"What!?" Screamed Amira as I took off my armored boots.

"Yeah, I mean, you'll only be wearing the gauntlets, but they should be enough" I say as I take off my helmet, and place it on the ground alongside the rest of the armor.

"B-but master, you need your armor!"

"It'll be fine Amira, don't worry, I'll wear the mark two" I say as I zip open the duffel bag and take out the briefcase.

"Mark two? Oh, so you have made more armor?"

"Yeah, even though I haven't tested it, it should be fine"

"Then, where is it?"

"It's right here" I say as I show her the briefcase.

"The... Case?"

"You'll see"

"If you say so, master"

...

"So, what is the plan master Stark?" Amira asks me.

I stop to think for a moment, I don't actually have a plan, and Amira probably can't help out much now, she's still dressed in rags.

...

Guess I'll just wing it.

Author's Note

Another chapta.

Chapter 5- Well, that was easy

'Guess I'll just wing it' I think to myself as I place the mark one boots and helmet inside of the duffel bag.

"Alright Amira, before you put on the gauntlets, I'll give you some new clothes for you to change into" I say as I rummage through the bag.

"I don't think we have time to look for a clothing store master Stark"

"It's fine, you'll wear this" I say as I take out one of the business suits out of the bag and hand it to her"

Now that I'm actually looking at these clothes, I'm pretty sure there the suit Tony Stark wore In iron man one.

"Oh, um, very well then" Amira says as she grabs the clothing articles.

"Ok, I'll turn around so you can change, then you'll do the same for me aight?" I say as I grab a second suit and pants.

"Ok" Amira says as I turn around.

These suits are the only clean and new clothes I got, hopefully the one I gave Amira fits her.

...

"I am done, master Stark" Says Amira after a short moment.

"How is it? Did it fit you?" I ask as I turn around to face her.

"It did" Amira responds as she tries to put on her tie.

It certainly did, and yes, I was right, these clothes are the ones Tony wore in the first iron man movie.

Black pants and jacket suit, with a white button shirt and tie underneath.

"Great, now turn around so I can change myself"

"Ok" says Amira as she continued to struggle with her tie.

After Amira turned around, I quickly got rid of the clothes I was currently wearing, throwing them onto the duffel bag and started to put on my own suit.

...

After a bit, I finished dressing by tying my tie, rather quickly I might add, didn't even know I could tie ties, and buttoning my suit jacket.

"Ok, I'm done as well, now, try to put this on" I tell Amira as I hand her one of the gauntlets.

Amira however, seems to still be struggling with the tie, can't really blame her.

"I apologize master, but-" Amira started to say, but I cut her off.

"Don't worry about it, here, hold this" I say as I give her the gauntlet and start working on her tie.

"So, master, what will you tell the king once we meet him?" Asked Amira as I finished with her tie, and straightened it.

"I'll tell him to get rid of slavery, and have former slaves be treated like normal citizens" I say as I take a step back from her, bending over and place the rest of the mark one armor, except for the other unfinished gauntlet, inside of the duffel bag.

"And if he refuses?" Amira asks me as I zip close the bag.

"Then I'll probably just blast him" I say as I sling the bag over my shoulder, grab the second gauntlet and stand up.

"Now, let's get these gauntlets on you so we can go" I say as I take a step towards Amira.

For the next few moments, I help Amira put on both gauntlets, and thankfully, both seen to fit her, albeit a tad loose.

It's a good thing the straps are adjustable.

"How do they feel?" I ask as we finish getting the gauntlets onto her arms.

"They feel alright" Amira replies as she moves her hands around.

"Great, now c'mon, grab your sword and let's go" I say as I bend down and grab the briefcase"

"So, you asked about the plan right?" I ask as we begin sprinting towards the palace.

"Yes"

"Well, I don't have one, but don't worry, we'll just improvise as we go!" I scream as we now begin to run.

"Master, Is that really a good idea?!" Amira yells from behind me.

"Who knows!" I scream as we continue running.

The city was definitely In a bit of chaos at the moment, I could see multiple guards seemingly looking for us, but because the public was in a bit of a panic, probably from the restaurant incident, we weren't spotted as we ran through the crowd.

As I saw the palace getting nearer and nearer, I looked down towards the briefcase I was holding.

Man, I can't wait to wear this thing.

...

Hold on, now that I'm actually thinking about it, I haven't actually thought about the potential consequences this entire fiasco could potentially bring me.

If I fail, then I would most likely be executed, simple as that.

But if I succeed, then word about me will definitely spread, I mean, the kingdom I want to get to, Equestria, apparently has good relations with Saddle Arabia, and if I successfully coup this king, then Equestria will know about me, and probably put me on a red list.

It'll definitely make finding Twilight harder.

...

Eh, who cares, I've got fuckin iron man armor and I'm gonna go bonkers with it!

"Master.." I hear Amira say in a somewhat hushed tone, which brings me back to reality.

As I look around us, I see we've actually made to the entrance, or at least, one of the entrances to the palace, and we're getting approached by a group of four guards.

"Oh, sup fellas?" I say as I gently place the briefcase on the ground, prepared to begin the suit up sequence.

"By the order of the king, surrender now!" One of the guards yells at us as they slowly got closer.

"na" I say as I sling the duffel bag off me, twirl around and throw it at the guards, hoping it would distract them for a few moments.

And it did, because I actually hit one of the guards on the helmet, disorienting him just enough for his comrades to turn to face him with worry, which was all the time I needed.

I press the activation button on the briefcase with my foot, and watch as the briefcase opens up and reveals all of the wiring and metal inside it.

And the slots to place my hands in.

'Just like the dam movie...' I think to myself as I insert my hands into the slots, tighten, then bring the entire thing up to my chest.

'Hell yeah' I think to myself as I spread my arms and feel the suit fully assemble itself around my body.

And apparently, I didn't even need to throw the bag as a distraction, since the guards and Amira just stood there slack jawed as they watched the suit take shape.

During this entire time, I've had a shit eating grin on my face, and it only grows as the suit finishes the sequence with the face plate, and a hud appears on my vision, with it already targeting the guards as threats.

Well, let's see what this suit can do.

The guards seem to finally snap out of their trance after i extend my arm and shoot one of them with a repulsor blast, sending him flying backwards.

I can already tell this suit is stronger.

The guards rush me, and I take one of them down with another blast, but can't stop the other two from slashing me with their blades.

'Clang! Clang!

...

Which did absolutely jack shit.

"W-what!?" One of the guards says, but before he can do anything, I punch him in the gut, then send a repulsor blast to his chest, taking him out.

I turn to my right to face the last guard, who looks terrified let me tell ya, and raise my arm, shooting him with a blast.

"That should take care of them" I say as I lower my arm and turn around to face Amira.

"We should go, there's bound to be more and we need to get to the throne room" I say, my voice sounding a bit more robotic because of the mask.

"Yes, master Stark" Amira says as she begins waking inside of the palace.

"So this is your mark two? It certainly is more powerful" Amira says as we head deeper into the palace.

Several guards confronted us of course, but a simple repulsor blast took care of them.

I'm really op...

"Yep, and you know, if I can, I plan on making more" I say as I blast another guard who had tried rushing me.

Even though I have absolutely no idea how the hell to make more suits, I'm just saying this in the case more just magically appear.

Hopefully.

"You know Amira, I thought we were gonna have more of a challenge, I certainly thought raiding a place would have been harder" I say as another guard tried stabbing me with his sword.

I instinctively dodge, even though the blade was probably not even gonna do anything, then blast him in the chest, sending him to a wall.

"Well, Saddle Arabia doesn't have much magic compared to other places, especially Equestria" Amira starts saying as we continue walking.

"If Equestria sees you as a threat, then the danger and difficulty of your journey would certainly increase" Amira finishes as she places an armored hand on her chin.

"Makes sense" I say as I start looking around, this palace was certainly... Boring? Is that the word? I just feel like it's trying too hard to be fancy, like, cool it down with the jewelry man, dam.

I look behind me, and see that my repulsor blasts have damaged most of the interior of this place, leaving scorch marks pretty much everywhere.

And also a bunch of guard bodies.

I'm still wondering if my blasts are enough to kill them, I'll need to check at a later time.

...

Wait, magic? The hell is That supposed to mean!?

"It looks like we are here" Amira says, before I try end deduce what she meant by magic.

I look forward, and see three more guards standing in front of a large set of doors, seemingly guarding them.

They didn't look very confident, hell I think I even see one shaking.

"Alright guys, am I gonna have to blast ya? Or are you surrendering?" I ask as I lift up my right arm, pointing my open palm at them.

They look like they don't want to fight, but they don't back down, and slowly raise their swords up.

"W-we will never surrender to you, whoever you are!" Says one of the guards as he rushed forward, and tried slicing me down.

Of course, I dodged, and of course, I blasted, sending the guard backwards with a scorch mark on his shoulder and chest.

Even though it might be getting repetitive, I don't mind, Im literally iron man! Besides, if this is the best Saddle Arabia's got, then I shouldn't be too worried if Equestria deems me an enemy.

Right?

*/---*/

"W-we will never surrender to you, whoever you are!" I hear one of the kings guards tell Stark from where I'm standing in the throne room.

I guess I should have known Stark would've been bad news, if he attacking the palace and the magical blasts are anything to go by.

But, I can't help but feel he has an ulterior motive for all of this, I mean, the prince's prize slave escaped, then comes back with a seemingly powerful unicorn who attacks the palace?

It can't be a coincidence.

...

After a few more magical blasts, someone tries to open the door, but fails.

"It's locked? No surprise there I guess" I hear a voice, who I presume to be Stark say as he seemingly tries to open the door.

He certainly sounds a bit strange.

"Princess Cadence, are you sure this is a good idea?" Asked a voice next to me, I turned to my left to see it was one of the four royal Equestrian guards that were part of my escort, being two pegasi, and two unicorns.

The one who just asked me the question was a unicorn, and was currently channeling a stun spell through his horn.

"Not entirely, but I need to find out as much as I can about him, we don't know if he'll pose a threat to Equestria" I say.

If he does, then that would most likely be the first thing I'll tell auntie when I return, heck, for all I know, the Elements of Harmony will be needed to defeat Stark.

"It's fine, I'll just kick it open" I hear Stark say from the other side of the door, as he starts kicking the door.

"Do you have your stun spells ready?" I ask, a bit nervously.

"Yes, your highness, when are we to use them?"

"If Stark were to attack us" I say.

There was certainly something to be nervous about, and that was probably Stark's magic, I can feel his magic, and even though it's not the strongest I've ever felt, it must be something if he's effortlessly taking out the kings guard.

And speaking of said king, he was sitting in his throne, visibly worried.

The king, had a dark brown coat, with grey mane, tail and beard.

his son was standing next to the throne, looking frustrated as he crossed his arms.

The prince, had a lighter shade of brown as his coat, and yellow mane and tail.

He was wearing his battle armor, though, I don't think he'll be able to much against an experienced unicorn, which is what Stark seems to be.

'Hopefully he doesn't make things worse' I think to myself as another kick rings out through the throne room.

The kings son was certainly a character, he actually reminded me of my cousin, Blueblood.

My thoughts are cut short however, as the throne room doors burst open, and two individuals walk in.

I immediately took note That the first individual, who I assumed to be Stark, did not have a horn.

So how can he cast magic?

The next thing I noticed about Stark was that he was wearing a red and silver suit of armor that completely covered his entire body, leaving no skin exposed.

It probably gets really uncomfortable in there..

Before I can examine Stark more however, I am drawn to the second individual, the mare, Amira, if I am correct.

She, for some reason, was wearing a suit, one that would be pretty common somewhere like Manehattan, but not here.

Odd.

And surprisingly enough, she was also wearing armor, but only on her arms, the armor looking more like Stark's than any guard's.

Maybe Stark had extra?

"Yooo what is up guys!" Stark yells, bringing me back from my thoughts.

"Alright, where he at? Where the king at huh? I wanna talk to him" Stark says as he looked around the room.

"Ah, there you a-..." Stark began to say as he walked toward the throne, but stopped when he spotted me.

"Who the hell are you? Hey Amira, does the king have a daughter?

"No, master Stark" Replied Amira.

"Ok, so... Who are you?"

I was a bit surprised by this, almost every pony, even those from other kingdom's knew about me, after all, it wasn't every day a pony ascended to alicornhood.

"I am princess Mi Amore Cadenza, but I prefer Cadence"

"Princess? Of what?" Asked Stark.

My confusion only grew.

"Of Equestria" I reply.

...

"Oh, the pony kingdom?" Stark asks.

"Yes"

...

"Great! I've actually got some questions bout that place, so if you can sit tight while I do ma business that be great" Stark says as he turns toward the throne once again.

That was certainly odd.

"Alright! You two! I've come to make a request!" Stark exclaimed, spreading his arms wide, almost like he was acting in a play.

The king and prince, for their part, had stayed silent during Stark's entrance.

"And that is?" The king asked, a bit hesitantly.

"Don't worry, it's a pretty simple one, all I ask is that Saddle Arabia gets rid of it's slavery, and treats slaves as regular citizens" Stark says.

So there was another reason, it seems Stark did not know about Saddle Arabia's practices, otherwise he would have probably already have done this.

But, if he is against slavery, why does Amira call him master?

"What!?" Both the king and prince scream at the same time.

"Geez, you're acting like that would be a bad thing to do." Stark says as he crossed his arms.

"Because it would be! You do not understand, slaves are not worthy of living or being treated equally amongst the superior of us!" Exclaimed the prince.

...

"Not even trying to be subtle, dam" Stark says as he lowers his arms.

"Oh well" He says as he raises one of his arms, with his palm pointing at the prince.

And said palm was beginning to glow brighter.

Before I could even attempt to diffuse the situation, Stark sent a bright beam of light at the prince, hitting him on his chest, sending him flying backwards.

And, as expected, my guards engaged Stark.

'Just what I didn't want to happen ' I think to myself as my four guards approach him.

*/---*/

"Oh well" I say as I raise my right arm and prepare to blast the prince.

I blast him, and, as expected, his ass goes flying.

I smirk to myself as I see the king's eyes widen in horror as I move my palm towards him.

But before I can do anything...

'Bam!

Something bright hits my right shoulder, making me take a step back.

The hell was that?

I turn around towards the direction of whatever hit me, and see the four guards that were with Cadence, the pony princess, they were approaching me, seemingly ready to fight.

And now that I'm actually getting a close look at these pony's...

What?

Two of these guards, have wings, which, I'm pretty dam sure pony's don't usually have.

The two other guards, have horns, so there unicorns? Man what the hell, I thought this place couldn't get any weirder.

And Cadence, had a horn and wings!?

Maybe it comes with being a princess? Who knows.

All I know, is that these four guys are approaching me, and I need to deal with them.

I point my palm towards one of the unicorn guards, and shoot a blast, but, surprisingly, he jumps sideways, dodging it.

Looks like the Equestrians are somewhat competent.

No matter.

I notice that one of the... Pegasi, if I'm correct, was dive bombing me, with his sword ready to strike.

I try to raise my arm, but suddenly can't move it as a weird white glow surrounds it.

The hell?

I look forward, just before the pegasus landed his sword at me, and see that the horn of one the unicorn guards was glowing the same color.

Was he doing this?

'Clang!!

My attention is brought back to the pegasus, who had just struck me with his sword at my arm, which, as usual, didn't do anything, except create some sparks.

All four guards just stare at me dumbfounded.

I use this distraction to struggle harder with the weird glow that took my arm hostage, which after a bit, I break free from, which causes the guard who's horn was also glowing to grab his head and weeze, seemingly in pain.

Weird.

I raise both of my hands and blast the pegasus in front of me, sending him towards a wall.

I also blast the guard who had seemingly immobilized my arm, sending him backwards too.

I turn around, and the first thing I see upon doing so is something bright hit me In the face, making me stumble backwards.

Before I can blast the guards, the other pegasus rushes me, with the intent of tackling.

I try to raise my right arm to shoot him, but again, a white glow surrounds it, and I struggle to move it, which gives the guard rushing towards me enough time to reach me.

The pegasus tackles me, sending the both of us to the ground.

Before he can do anything however, I headbutt him, then punch him in the jaw with my left hand, knocking him out and sending him to the ground next to me.

I sit up, still not being able to move my right arm, so I start lifting my left.

But as I am doing that, I notice out of the corner of my eye that Amira was slowly approaching the guard, who had his eyes closed, seemingly in concentration as his horn glowed.

I continued to struggle with my right arm as Amira got closer to the guard.

Eventually, she reached him, pulled her arm back, and punched him in the gut, causing the guard to fall to his knees and gasp for air.

It seemed that even Amira herself was surprised at the strength of her punch, as she looks at her armored hand.

"Yeah, pretty cool right?" I say as I stand up.

"H-how did I do that? Im not this strong, and even if I was, I'm still relatively weak from my time as a slave, why was my attack so effective?" Amira asks as she walks towards me.

"It's because of the armor, even if your weak, the armor itself is pretty strong" I start saying.

"Now, where was I? Oh yeah the king" I say as I turn to face the throne.

Which was now empty.

...

Cadence was still there though.

"Damnit! Dude must have booked it while I fought with the guards" I say as I start waking towards the princess.

"It's fine master Stark, you at least sent the message, and a pretty loud one at that" Amira says as she starts walking behind me.

"Yeah" I say as I walk up to Cadence.

"So, why didn't you leave?" I ask as my mask lifts up.

*/---*/

"So, why didn't you leave?" Stark asked me as his mask lifted of his face on its own.

His face was certainly, peculiar...

But In all seriousness? I was pretty certain he wouldn't do anything to me, he didn't come to overthrow, he wanted to get rid of slavery, and, if his confusion about who I was was saying anything, he didn't seem like he would deliberately cause Equestria any trouble.

And even though he did beat down my guards, well, they did attack him first...

"Well, you said you had questions for me" I say.

"Oh yeah, thanks for actually staying then" Stark started to say.

"Well then! First question, Equestrian is ruled by a princess Celestia right?"

"Yes"

"And princess Celestia has a student called Twilight Sparkle right?"

"..Yes"

"Perfect, well, if you can tell me where to find her that be great"

"...Find who?"

"Twilight Sparkle"

...

I think I'm gonna retract my previous thoughts.

Why was Stark looking for Twilight specifically?

"You're looking for Twilight?" I ask.

"Yeah"

"May I ask why?"

"Master Stark is Twilight Sparkles cousin" Amira speaks up from behind Stark.

...

"What?" I ask, utterly confused.

There was no feasible way Stark could be related to Twilight, so why was he claiming to be her cousin?

"Yeah, so, can you tell us where Equestria is? Cuz I actually don't know where it's at" Stark says.

He definitely has an ulterior motive to find Twilight, and I can't let him find her, at least not till I have informed the princess's back in Canterlot.

I could buy them some time to prepare for him.

"Yes, go south and you'll eventually reach Equestria" I lie.

From what I know, there shouldn't be anything down south, except the badlands.

Hopefully it will take him a while to figure that out.

"South? Aight, well, no use in staying here, c'mon Amira, guess were going south. Stark says as he takes a step back.

"Very well Master Stark"

"Oh, and Cadence" Stark begins to say, catching my attention.

"If you see Twilight, and I'm not there by that point, tell her Cousin Stark is looking for her" Stark finishes as his mask closes over his face again and starts heading for the exit.

I just stand there in silence as I watch Stark and Amira leave the throne room.

...

"It's been a long day" I say as I head towards my guest room.

Author's Note

Anotha chapter.

Couldn't add some images I wanted to. Bummer.

Interlude- One week later

*One week after the attack on the Saddle Arabian Royale palace*

*/---*/

It's certainly been a long week...

Basically, after the whole thing at Saddle Arabia, me and Amira got ready to go to Equestria.

Problem was, all Princess Cadence actually told me was just to go south, that's it, and from where we were at the time, south just looked like more desert.

In hindsight, I should have probably asked for more information, but I guess it slipped my mind.

I had decided to go back to the throne room and ask her, but she and her guards were already gone at that point.

So, what we did was wait for some of the guards I had knocked out to wake up and interrogate them on how to get to Equestria.

It was surprisingly easy, just one glow of the palm and we got our answers.

It turned out, that Equestria and Saddle Arabia were actually separated by an ocean, so we had to find a port.

Wich took two days, because apparently Trotgier was smack dab in the middle of the dam desert, so, I had to threaten a poor guy to give us a ride in his carriage.

After this trip, we had arrived at a port, where, yes, I had to threaten yet another dude to give us a ride, but in his boat, to the closest port to Equestria.

I should probably get some money soon, I mean, I can always just continue threatening these horses and pony's to get what I want, but that will probably bite me in the ass later.

Anyway, the boat trip took three days, Wich were undoubtedly some of the slowest of my life.

Eventually, we reached another port, apparently called horseshoe bay.

We asked the guy sailing the boat if he knew of a way to get south, and it turned out that he was actually from Equestria, and told us to head to a city called Baltimare.

There, we could take the train to Dodge Junction, then, we could just head south.

Well, wherever the hell we were now, was probably this worlds equivalent to America, if those two city's are anything to go by.

So, is Equestria like, Mexico? Who knows.

'guess I'll just have to see' I think to myself as I walk through the grassy plains with my briefcase in hand.

"Master Stark, I think I see the city up ahead" I hear Amira say from my right.

I look next to me, and see Amira, who was no longer wearing the mark one gauntlets on her arms.

She was carrying the duffel bag on her hand, since she offered to carry it, and, to be honest, I wasn't gonna refuse that offer.

She also had a sword sheathed onto a holster that was strapped to her back.

We had looked for a better sword back at the palace, and had eventually found a relatively decent one, and, all things considering, I think it was the prince's.

"Great, let's try to speed up if we can" I say as I continue walking.

And now here we where, on our way to Baltimare, to catch a train, and go south.

Should be simple enough.

"Do you think they'll recognize you Stark?" Amira asks me.

"Recognize me? I don't think so, I mean it's only been five days since that whole palace thing" I respond.

I didn't see any phones, television's, radios, or cameras in Saddle Arabia.

How fast could news really spread?

*/---*/

/---/

"And you are sure of this?" Princess Luna asked one of her thestral night guards, specifically, one that had been sent to Saddle Arabia to try and gather information on an individual she has learned was named Stark.

When she had first learned of this attack, she didn't worry much about it, after all, every kingdom had it's problems, and since, from the looks of it, the attack wasn't even that bad, it even looked like it had failed, or so had said the condition of her niece, who had recently returned from some meetings at the other kingdom.

Cadence seemed to be perfectly fine when she had returned, she had even mentioned how well the meetings went, but the guards that had been appointed as her escort were another story.

They were all heavily injured, and had told Luna that the one who had attacked the palace knew powerful combat magic.

This certainly sparked the moon princess's interest.

Even more so when Cadence apparently knew nothing about Stark, even though she was the last pony to speak with him before he left, at least from what the guards appointed to Cadence said.

Her niece seemed genuinely confused when she had asked him about Stark, and she couldn't help but think that maybe this individual had used some sort of mind magic on her niece.

It didn't help that Cadence had been acting a bit differently ever since her return.

"Yes, princess, Stark is headed towards Equestria" the guard said.

That certainly wasn't good, and Luna knew that whatever Stark's reason was for coming here, couldn't be good.

"And did they find out anything else?" Luna asked.

"I'm afraid not, all Stark had asked them was on how to get here it seems" The guard responded.

Princess Luna though about what to do for a moment, she decided to try to find and aprehend Stark.

"Send groups of night guards to every mayor city, and try to find him"

"Yes princess!" The guard saluted, before walking off.

Luna wouldn't bother her sister about this, after all, it could be a minor issue, and, if need be, she could assist her guards in cathing this individual.

Even then, if it turned out that Stark proved to be a real threat to Equestria, then, Twilight Sparkle and her friends would probably handle it.

"Let us hope it doesn't come to that" Luna says to herself as she heads towards her chambers.

Author's Note

Just a short interlude, honestly couldn't really find a place for this in the next chapter, so I made this.

(If your wondering, ye, after Stark left cadence, and she went to her guest room, that's where chrysalis ambushes her)

Chapter 6- The great, powerful, and broke Trixie!

You know, if I didn't know any better, I would say I was already in Equestria.

There's just so many pony's here! It looks like there the only species living in this city.

I wonder if Cadence lied to me.

She wouldn't right? Princess's don't usually lie, at least from what I know.

'i'll just continue south for now' I think to myself as we walked through Baltimare.

The city itself, was definitely a lot more modern and familiar looking than Trotgier.

'And a lot busier too' I think as we crossed a street alongside many other pony's.

We were getting some glances, wich, I couldn't really blame.

We were certainly a peculiar looking duo.

"He said it was... That way right?" I ask Amira as we reached the other sidewalk.

"I believe so master Stark"

Currently, we were looking for the train station, so I could ask how much it would cost to buy two tickets to Dodge City.

We had asked some random ... stallion, where it was, and he just pointed north and told us to fuck off.

He didn't actually say that, but it certainly felt like it.

"Well then, let's find this station" I say as we continue walking.

*/---*/

To say Trixie Lulamoon was having a bad time would certainly be an understatement.

In fact, ever since the ursa minor debacle in ponyville, it seems that Trixie's life has been nothing but one bad thing after another.

Not only was her home and only source of transportation destroyed, but apparently, news about the incident had seemingly spread throughout the entirety of Equestria in what felt like a week.

Trixie had tried to go back to doing magic shows, but everywhere she went, every pony seemed to already know about her.

And not in a good way.

And now here Trixie was, stuck in Baltimare after yet another failed show.

And not only that, but she had just ran out of the little money she had left.

Great.

So, yes, Trixie was not having the best of days.

Or, weeks for that matter.

And it was all because of Her.

' Twilight Sparkle '. Trixie thought to herself as she walked down a sidewalk.

Just thinking of that mare infuriated Trixie, and how could it not? Twilight Sparkle had humiliated her!

Trixie wanted so badly to just go back to ponyville, and beat Twilight in a magical duel, to prove she was the superior magic caster!

...

But she couldn't.

On top of all the reasons why she did not want to go back to that town, and why she couldn't, it seemed that deep down, Trixie knew that Twilight Sparkle was magically superior compared to her.

And she just couldn't accept that.

But, she couldn't really do anything about it at the moment.

And at this rate, she would need to work in a rock farm to earn a living.

That would definitely not be humiliating...

She had heard rumors though, of a supposed amulet, one that would increase your magical prowess ten fold.

Sure, they could only be rumors, but, what did Trixie have to lose at this point?

...

'Trixie has decided then!' she began to think to herself as she continued walking.

'Trixie will work only the time she needs to at the rock farm! and once she has enough bits, she shall scour and find this amulet! And with it finally teach that Twilight Spar-' She continued, but stopped when she suddenly walked into some pony, and fell back to the ground.

"OOF!"

"AH, shit!"

...

"Trixie believes that this stallion certainly has a mouth on him" she thought to herself as she began to stand back up.

Trixie was about to chew out this stallion for rudely bumping into her, but didn't as she got a good look at him, and his companion.

There were two, the stallion, and a mare.

Both of them looked like they weren't from here.

The stallion, was wearing what looked to be a business suit, as was the mare.

The stallion was definitely more peculiar than the mare, as he had no muzzle, no hooves, and also appeared to have no fur.

Except for some on the top of his head, and his face.

"Master Stark, are you alright?" Asked the mare as he helped the stallion, who was apparently named Stark stand back up.

'Master?' Trixie certainly believes that that is a bit strange...' she thought to herself.

"Ugh, yeah, I'm fine Amira, what the hell did I walk into?" Stark says as he grabs his briefcase, Wich was red, silver, and appeared to be metal.

Odd.

"You walked into a pony, Stark" Amira said as she looked towards Trixie.

"Oh, uh, sorry about that, miss.." Stark began to say as he also looked at Trixie.

"You are currently speaking to the great and powerful Trixie!!" She exclaimed as she puffed her chest out.

...

"Eh, heh heh, but, right now it is just Trixie" she said as she visibly deflated.

"Oh, and why were you called the great and powerful before?" Stark asked.

"Trixie does magic shows, or, at least she did, and the great and powerful was what she called herself on stage" She answered.

"Ah, ok, and, why aren't you calling yourself that anymore?" Stark asked.

"Because, some time ago, Trixie was humiliated! And ever since, has been ridiculed everywhere she goes! Trixie can't do her show's anymore! And now, Trixie is broke!" She yelled, causing some passerbys to glance at the trio.

"Well, that sucks, but hey, were broke too! So how about we work together to make some cash?" Stark asked, wich caught the blue mare by surprise.

'Stark was broke? He certainly doesn't look to be struggling with money' Trixie thought to herself.

"Very well then, Trixie shall help you two aquire some bits, but, she doesn't exactly have a way of getting any at the moment" She said.

...

"I mean, we can beg?" Stark suggested, while shrugging his shoulders.

"Trixie will Not beg!" She screamed.

"I can beg" Amira said while raising her hand.

"Uh, no your not, I was just joking anyway" Stark began.

"Well, didn't you say you did magic shows Trixie?" Stark asked.

"Yes, Trixie did say that" she responded.

"Then why don't we just do that? A magic show? I think we should be able to make at least a bit of money" Stark said.

Trixie facepalmed.

"Did you not hear what Trixie just said? She cant do shows anymore! No pony will take Trixie seriously! She exclaimed.

"Yeah, well, now you've got us, or more specifically, me" Stark began saying as he pointed at himself.

"I'll be your, special, guest feature, and I'll show off my magic!" Stark exclaimed excitedly.

"You have magic?" Trixie asked, skeptically.

"Y-yeah, I do" Stark responded.

Trixie looked over to Amira, silently asking for confirmation.

"It is true, Stark possesses magic" Amira says, seemingly hearing Trixie's silent question.

This surprised Trixie, i mean, Stark doesn't even have a horn.

"If you both claim this to be true, then Trixie will believe you" she says.

"Then it's settled, we'll do a show, and hopefully make some good cash out of it" Stark begins to say.

"So, where should we do it? I mean, I'm down to do it right here right now, but it seems that you may be more familiar with the city Trixie, do you know a spot we could do the show?" Stark asked.

Trixie thought about it for a moment as she placed a hand on her chin.

"Well, we could do it near the train station, it is usually busy around there" Trixie suggested.

"Near the train station? That's perfect actually" Stark began to say.

"You can lead the way Trixie, since we don't actually know where the stations at" Stark finished.

"Oh, ok then, follow Trixie new companions!" Trixie exclaimed as she started walking down the sidewalk.

*/---*/

After some walking, we finally arrive at the place that we'll probably put this show on.

In fact, I can see what looks to be the train station from here! This is definitely the spot.

"So, Stark, what field of magic do you work with the most?" I hear Trixie ask.

Trixie...

She was fun, I've only known her for like thirteen minutes but I could already tell I was gonna enjoy her company.

That is, if she decides to join me on my epic quest to find Twilight.

Honestly? Considering the situation Trixie seems to be in, I think she will.

"Combat magic" I reply.

Oh yeah, did I forget to mention? Apparently, there's magic n' shit here, and I guess my iron man suit helps me channel my magic, at least that's what Amira thinks.

Of course, I'm rolling with that.

"Combat magic? It's not everyday Trixie meets some pony that knows much about combat magic, let alone be the field you know most of"

"Yeah, you know, Arkansas can get pretty violent at times"

"Arkansas?" I hear both mares ask.

"Yep, that's where I'm from" I reply.

"I've never heard of that place" Amira said.

"Neither has Trixie"

"Eh, I'll tell you two about it another time, right now, I'm pretty sure we got a show to get started" I begin saying as I place the briefcase on the ground.

"How much should we charge? I say ten bucks a person" I suggest.

"Bucks? ... Do you mean, bits?" Trixie asked.

The hell is a bit?

"Is that what they call the currency here?" I ask, to Wich I receive a nod from Trixie.

"Oh, then yes, I meant bits" I say as I press the activation switch on the briefcase, opening it up.

"What are you doing?" I heard Trixie ask as I place my hands into there respective slots and tighten.

"I'm putting my suit on, you know, to do my magic, my suits, uh, help me channel it since I don't have a horn" I say as I bring the suit up to my chest.

"Oh, Trixie finds that very interesting! How were you able to compress a metallic suit to the size of a briefcase?"

"I just, did it I guess" I say as I stretch out my arms to the sides and let the suit connect over me.

Still don't really have a reasonable explanation to how the hell I made this suit, cuz in fact I didn't, it literally just appeared.

As the suit is forming, I notice that Trixie, and some passerbys were staring at me.

Hopefully I look cool...

" Amazing " Trixie mutters to herself.

After the face plate closed over my face, I look over to Trixie.

"So, what magic do you usually do?" I ask with my slight robotic voice.

"Trixie typically does illusion magic"

"Oh, that's pretty cool, can you like, levitate stuff?"

"Yes"

"Nice, alright, here's what I've got planned for this gig, Trixie will levitate stuff into the air, and I'll blast em with my magic"

"What shall I do?" I heard Amira ask from behind me.

"You, Amira, are gonna make sure everyone pays the damm fee, if someone stops to watch, charge em" I respond.

"Very well master Stark"

"Alright then, let's get started shall we?" I ask as I walk over to Trixie, who seems a tad nervous.

"Are you sure this is a good idea Stark? Trixie had just attempted to put on a show before she encountered you, safe to say, it failed" She said.

"Don't worry about it, it'll probably be fine" I start saying.

"So, why don't you get it started? I'll help out." I finish as I point my arm up to the sky, and shoot a repulsor blast, cathing everyone who was near us their attention.

"Alright! Everybody listen up! Trixie about to have a banger magic show! But it ain't gonna be free! Ten bits a pony!" I exclaimed, my voice sounding louder because of the mask.

I hear several pony's groan.

"Another show Trixie? Really?" I heard some random stallion say.

"Hey! Be quiet! It's gonna be cool as shit!" I yell as I turn to look at Trixie.

"Alright Trix, start levitating things, and you said you do illusion magic right?" I begin asking.

Trixie nods.

"Great, then try to add some pizzazz to whatever your gonna have floating, I'll blast em" I continue saying.

"And Amira? You can go and start charging them" I finish.

"Yes master Stark" Amira says as she walks towards the small crowd that was building up.

"Well Trixie, let's see how this goes" I say as I look back at the crowd.

'BAM!!'

The crowd cheered as the watermelon exploded in the air from one of my beams.

So far, so good.

Me and Trixie were doing well it seemed, Trixie levitated a bunch of fruit and started spinning them around as I blasted them from the ground.

She also added fire works n' shit, Wich was petty awesome.

She also got a cape and a fuckin wizards hat.

When the hell did she put those on? I swear she didn't have those five minutes ago.

I noticed out of the corner of my eye Amira seemingly asking someone for payment, then shoving it in the duffel bag.

Good, we getting paid.

"Guess she wants the Gallagher!!" I scream as a unibeam comes out of my chest, destroying the carriage that was in front of me.

I just had to scream that, c'mon, no way I was passing on that!

Anyway, the show is actually going pretty well now, Trixie was really getting into it, adding more special effects with her magic, and I was getting presented with more and more items to blow up with my repulsor beams.

All around, a pretty good time.

But, I feel like we should probably rap this up soon, I don't really want to draw too much attention, just In case they are in fact looking for me. I just want to get south and find Twilight.

But how to finish this show...

Hm.

"Hey Trixie!" I yell, catching the mares attention.

"I got an idea to rap this up, I'm gonna fly us up to the air, and you send some big ass fireworks! It'll be awesome!" I say.

"Fly? How will you do that? Trixie can believe you can channel your magic through your suit, but flight? Trixie is pretty sure you abligatory need to have wings for that" She says.

"Don't worry, just trust bro" I say as I start walking behind her.

*/---*/

"Don't worry, just trust bro" Stark says as she begins waking behind Trixie.

'What is he-' Trixie began to think to herself before she was cut off by Stark.

"Alright Trixie, gonna need you to spread your arms, I'll hug you from behind, and as you dismiss the audience, I'll fly us up, then you'll finish off with some Kabooms, aight?" Stark said.

"O- ok then" Trixie said.

Trixie felt as Stark's cold armored hands wrapped around her.

She was a bit surprised at this, Trixie expected the suit to be at least warm, those spells looked powerful.

"Ready" Asked Stark.

"Trixie is ready!"

"Alright, let's hope this works!" Stark exclaimed as his fire ignited under his boots.

Trixie was certainly shocked when she felt herself lift off the ground, and from the looks of it, so was the crowd.

'Trixie shall give the crowd a spectacular farewell!' She thought to herself as she lit her horn to produce the effects and stroke the best pose she could while wrapped in Stark's arms.

"That was pretty fun" Stark said as the crowd started to disperse and his mask lifted off of his face.

"It certainly looked impressive" Amira said as she approached Trixie and handed Stark the black bag.

"Well, Trixie believes this was fantastic!" She exclaimed as she walked up to Stark and gave the armored man a hug.

"Trixie must thank you, sir Stark, this was Trixie's best show in Celestia knows how long!" She said as she broke said hug.

"It wasn't a problem, like I said, it was pretty fun!" Stark said as he zipped open the bag and took a look at the contents.

"Whoa! Gold!? Holy shit! We're rich!" Stark exclaimed excitedly.

Trixie quizzically looked at the inside of the bag, then at Stark.

"This looks like several hundred bits, it certainly is a lot, but we aren't rich"

"W- what? What do you mean? It's literally gold" Stark said as he pointed at the money.

"Yes, but that is the currency here, how can Trixie explain, um, you could consider one bit" Trixie started to say as she grabbed one of the coins and showed it to Stark.

"As one Arkansan... Buck" Trixie finished.

Why would the Arkansas government name their currency after a swear?

Stark blinked twice as he stared at the bit.

"So you're saying everyone here pays in gold?"

"Yes"

...

"How has the economy not collapsed?" Trixie heard Stark mutter under his breath.

"Well, how much do you want Trixie? I think me and Amira should be fine with like one hundred, we just need to buy some tickets after all" Stark said.

"Tickets? For what?"" Trixie asked.

"The train" Stark responded.

"Your leaving?" Trixie asked, saddening a bit.

Just as Trixie was getting used to the idea of being around these two.

"Yes, we are going to Dodge Junction" Said Amira.

"Dodge Junction? Can Trixie ask why?"

"Yeah, it's actually like, my epic fuckin quest I'm going on, trying to find my cousin" Stark said.

"Cousin? And this individual is in Dodge Junction?" Trixie asked.

"No, at least I don't think so, we think she may be further south" Stark responded.

Further south? Trixie is sure there should be nothing down south from Dodge Junction, except the badlands.

But maybe, there is something out there, maybe Stark's cousin? Arkansas?

Trixie won't know unless she accompanies Stark.

But will he even let Trixie join him?

"Yo, Trix, you zonin out on me here" Trixie heard Stark say.

"Ah, Trixie apologizes, she was just thinking about your quest"

"Really? What about it?"

"Trixie was thinking if perhaps she could join you on your search for your family member Stark" She said.

"Oh, uh, sure! You seem like a good friend Trixie, it be great to have you tag along!" Stark says.

Friend...

Yes, Stark and Amira are Trixie's friends! And she shall assist Stark on finding his cousin!

And who knew, maybe Trixie's new friends could help her get back at Twilight Sparkle for what she did to her.

She guessed that only time would tell...

Chapter 7- Stark's train trip.

*/---*/

"yeah, gimme three tickets straight to Dodge
Junction please" I ask the ticket pony, with my slightly robotic voice.

The ticket pony just stares at us for a moment.

"O-ok, that will cost you forty five bits" The mare said.

"Ok, gimme a sec" I says as I turn around towards the girls, who were already getting the necessary bits out of the duffel bag.

"Here you go, master Stark" Amira says as she handed me a handful of coins.

Man, whatever this country is should consider changing their currency to bills, I feel like hogging a bunch of dam coins around wouldn't really be convenient.

"Is this enough?" I ask the ticket mare as I hand her the coins.

After a few moments, she nodded and smiled.

"Yes, this is enough, here you go sir" She started to say as she handed me three tickets.

"Have a good trip!" The mare said as we made our way to the train.

Now, I've never actually been on a train, but so far, the friendship express ain't that bad.

Also, friendship express? Type of name is that?

"Stark, you're really going to be wearing that the entire trip?" Trixie asked from her seat next to me, gesturing towards the armor I was still wearing.

"Yep" I reply as my mask lifts off my face.

"To be honest master, your suit doesn't look to be very comfortable" Amira said from her seat across from us.

"Believe me, it's comfy" I start saying.

"Anyway, Amira, can you pass me the bag real quick?" I ask.

Amira nods and hands me the duffel bag.

I unzip one of the bigger pockets and start rummaging through it.

"What are you looking for?" Trixie asked as she looked over my shoulder trying to see what I was digging for.

"Looking for... Ah, here we go" I say as I take out another of the multiple business suits that were in the bag.

Wonder why the wish granted me so many spares?

"Here you go Trixie, your, uh, complementary suit!" I say as I hand her the jacket suit and pants.

"Oh, Trixie thanks you?"

"Your welcome, try them on once you get the chance, I've got a couple extra so I guess I'm just handing one out to each new bud I make"

"Well, Trixie appreciates the gift" She said as she laid the clothing down next to her.

"Alright then, listen girls, I'm gonna try to take a nap, so, wake me up if something comes up aight?" I say as my mask slips back down and I lay my head back on the seat.

"Trixie will also indulge in some quality sleep, perhaps a nap? Celestia knows she hasn't had one of those in a good while as well" she said as she laid back onto her seat as well.

"I'm not very tired at the moment master Stark, I'll stay wake and notify both of you if anything happens" Amira said as I close my eyes to hopefully sleep for a bit.

*/---*/

I watched as both Master Stark and Trixie fell asleep.

Trixie...

She was certainly interesting, as she also possessed magic, like Stark.

...

Maybe that's why master Stark took a liking to her so quickly?

...

I'm gonna need to work harder to prove I'm worthy of being by his side, especially if he meets more unicorns and they decide to accompany us.

I don't want to seem like a burden to Stark.

...

Well, I could try and get some practice with my sword done now, the train car were in right now was empty anyway.

'Yes, that's what I'll do' I think to myself as I stand up and grab my sword from where it was, laying against the wall.

After some time of, I'll be honest, mostly just swinging the blade around, I notice that it had darkened outside.

How long have I been practicing? It didn't feel like that long, but I guess I was wrong.

'maybe I should get some sleep too' I think to myself as I sheath the sword and sit back down.

But maybe I should wake up Trixie, so at least one of us can be awake if something happens.

I lean forward and poke her arm.

'Poke.

...

'Poke, poke.

"Ugh, what is it? You are disturbing Trixie's sleep" She said a bit groggily as she woke up.

"Oh, its just you Amira, did you need something from Trixie?"

"Yes, it looks like some time has passed, and i was planning on getting some sleep too, and it would be good if you stayed awake, to be able to tell us if anything happens"

Trixie let's out a small sigh.

"Very well then, Trixie will keep a lookout for whatever it is you two seem to be wary of" she said as she stretched her arms.

"Thank you" I say as I lay my head back and close my eyes.

*/---*/

I slowly wake up from my nice nap-

'Thunk thunk thunk.

...

Did someone knock?

I open my eyes and am greeted with the hud display of my mask, and two mares standing in front of me.

What the hell was happening again? Oh yeah, I'm in a train, god, I'm gonna have shell shock every time I wake up it seems.

'Thunk thunk thunk.

"Mr Stark, are you awake?" I hear Trixie say after she knocked on my head.

My mask lifts off my face.

"Yeah, I'm awake" I say as I raise my hand and wave it gently.

"Good, because were nearing our first stop" Trixie says.

"There's gonna be stops? How many?" I say as I start standing up.

"Only this one... Ponyville." Trixie says, scowling a bit as she said the name.

Ok, something must have gone down there.

She did say she was humiliated... Maybe whatever happened, it went down in ponyville?

Also, Ponyville? Really? Great name guys.

"Well, I guess we'll just wait at the station while they do.. whatever they need to do" I say.

"We should start heading towards an exit then, it seems we're arriving master Stark" amira says as, yes, we start nearing what looks to be another train station.

"Aight" I say as we head for some doors.

Man, this town is drastically different compared to Baltimare.

Straight up feels like I'm in a different fuckin time period.

Honestly, from the looks of it, this town doesn't really look that special.

...

Which makes me think something big went down here with Trixie.

I mean, c'mon, there's magic in this world, no place gonna be normal man.

"Well, Trixie will find somewhere to change into the suit you gave her, she might as well right?" Trixie says while she's holding said suit.

"Sure, go for it, try not to take to long though, don't know how long they'll take to start the train" I say.

"Don't worry, Trixie will not take long, will you stay here?" She asks.

"Yeah, most likely" I reply.

"Great! Trixie will see you both in a bit then" she says as she walks off.

...

"Master, it seems you are getting some looks" Amira says, gesturing towards multiple ponies who were taking glances at me.

That definitely won't get old.

*/---*/

Twilight Sparkle watched as spike left the library.

He went to run some errands, and now, twilight was alone.

With nothing to do.

Something that was pretty odd for some pony like twilight.

Thankfully, in situations such as this, she was always prepared with a book she hadn't finished yet.

So that's what she decided she was going to do, read a bit.

'Knock knock knock.

At least, she was going to, before she heard knocking at the door.

"Who could that be?" She said to herself as she made her way to the door.

'It can't be spike, he just left, maybe it's one of my friends?' Twilight thought to herself.

But as she opened the door, she was greeted by some pony she definitely didn't expect.

"Trixie?" Twilight asked after opening the door.

"Yes, it is i! They great and powerful Trixie!!!" She exclaimed.

"What are you doing here? I haven't seen you since the ursa minor incident, where have you been?" Twilight asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Trixie responded with malice in her voice.

Malice that Twilight noticed.

"Trixie, i-" twilight began to say, but was cut off by said mare.

"Quiet! Trixie does not want to hear you gloat about your victory! She just needs to use your bathroom for a moment" she said as she shoved her way passed twilight into the inside of the library.

"My bathroom? Why?"

"So Trixie can change into her new suit!" She said, showing twilight the suit.

"Oh, sure?"

"Thank you, now, where is it?"

"It's over there" twilight said, pointing towards the direction of her bathroom.

"Alright then" Trixie said as she made her way to the bathroom.

...

This was certainly an odd visit.

But, twilight would make the most of it, after all, she noticed that Trixie seemed angry about the incident ursa minor incident.

So maybe she could use Trixie's unexpected visit to apologize for whatever she did, and properly befriend her.

I mean, she didn't have anything to do at the moment, so maybe she could-

"Well twilight, thank you for at least letting me use your bathroom, but don't think I'll owe you, besides, I'm not staying in ponyville for long" Trixie says, stepping out of the bathroom, interrupting Twilight's thoughts.

"Wait, what? Where are you going?" Twilight asked, getting a look at Trixie, who now alongside her hat and cape, wore a business suit.

"Trixie is headed south, beyond the badlands!" Trixie says excitedly.

"What? Why? From what I know, there shouldn't be anything out there, except well, the badlands.

"If you must know, Trixie is headed south in what you would call, an adventure, yes, with her new friends!"

"New friends? That's great! Was it there idea to go out there?"

"well, it's more Stark's plan, and were accompanying him"

"Stark? Is he one of your friends?"

"Yes, he's actually rather interesting, you would probably get along with him"

"Really? And why's that?

"He possesses powerful magic, like us, and he has created a suit that I feel only you could understand"

"Oh, well, what kind of magic does he use?"

"He claims to specialize in combat magic, now, if you'll excuse Trixie, she needs to get going if she doesn't want to miss the train" Trixie says, as she heads for the library's door.

"Combat magic?" Twilight says to herself, a bit nearvously.

Why would Stark need to know combat magic? And specialize in it no less?

'Might as well try and find out, the princess might want to know about him' Twilight thought to herself as she followed Trixie outside.

"Trixie, wait!" Twilight yells as she closes the door and hurries after Trixie.

"What is it?"

"Well, I thought I would accompany you to the train station, so I could maybe meet Stark"

Trixie sighs.

"Very well, just try not to bother Trixie on the way"

"Where could they, ah, there they are" Twilight heard Trixie say as she heads towards a bench.

In that bench, sat a mare, and standing next to her, was a stallion, who Twilight presumed to be Stark.

A pretty interesting stallion from the looks of it.

From the conversation Twilight had with Trixie on there way to the station, she found out that Stark didn't have a horn, yet still possessed magic.

She wondered how that worked.

Stark was also wearing armor, wich definitely didn't look like any armor Twilight had ever seen.

Red, silver, and fully encompassing his body, except for the mask, Wich seemed to be off his face at the moment.

"Oh, Trixie, there you are, just in time too, there calling us in, trains gonna leave" Stark says he begins walking towards the train.

"It seems you won't be able to meet him after all" Trixie says as she also began walking towards the train.

...

Twilight watched as Trixie and the other mare entered the train, leaving only Stark, who was also about to go in.

'Maybe I can find something out?' Twilight thought to herself as she approached him.

"Wait!" Twilight yelled, causing Stark to turn around.

"Yo, what's up? Listen, whatever you want, make it quick, trains gonna leave"

"Sorry, um, I was just wondering what your, uh, name was?" Twilight asked.

'Really Twilight? His name? You already know it!' Twilight chastised herself.

"My name? Well, Its Stark, but if you're curious about my full name, it's.. Tony Sparkle Stark"

...

"Sparkle?... Like, Twilight Sparkle?" Twilight asked, a bit confused.

"I guess her reputation travels far, Anyway, yeah, I'm actually her cousin, and I'm looking for her, I just don't know what she looks like" Stark says, making Twilight's eyes widen significantly.

...

"What?" Twilight mutters to herself.

"Well, trains gonna leave, so I'm off, good to meet you, whoever you are, I would talk more, but, you know, gotta find my cousin!" Stark says, fully walking inside of the train.

...

It takes a moment for Twilight to snap out of her frozen state.

"What!?"

*/---*/

"Do you girls think they serve food or something? I'm kind of hungry" I ask.

It's been, what, a day since I've eaten anything? Kind of surprised I'm not starving to death.

"Hopefully they do, Trixie is hungry herself"

"As am I" Amira says.

...

"Welp! I don't think they'll be any waiters, might as well look for the spot they serve food at" I say as I stand up from my seat.

"You guys gonna stay here?" I ask, to wich they both nod.

"Yes, we will stay here master Stark"

"Alright, well, I'll be back with some food then" I say as I start walking towards the front of the train car.

If they served food, they would serve it near at one of the first cars right?

I wouldn't know, never been in a dam train.

As it turns out, they don't serve food here.

'Just great' I think to myself as I look around the train car I'm currently in.

Bunch of ponies who were pretending not to notice me.

Christ, is this what it feels like when a foreigner visits China?

'Who knows' I think to myself as I start making my way back to the train car the girls are at.

'Clunk.

It probably wasn't even twenty steps before I accidentally bumped into someone, or, some pony I guess.

"Oh shit, sorry about that" I say to the mare I bumped into.

She had white fur, a pinkish mane, and had a horn.

She was wearing a white dress, and, I could swear to god spot a tattoo on her thigh.

"No need to apologize, I wasn't really paying atten-" she started to say, but stopped after she got a good look at me.

"Oh, what do we have here? I have never seen a suit of armor such as yours, much less some pony like you, are you from around here?" The mare asks.

"No, from Arkansas, I'm Tony Sparkle Stark by the way, but you can just call me Stark" I say as I raise my hand to her.

"Fleur de li, a pleasure to meet you Mr Stark" the mare says as she shakes my hand.

"Fleur de li? Sounds French" I say, with a bit of a jokingly tone.

...

"Do you mean Prench?"

"Um, yes" I say, as I snap my fingers.

"Ah, well, do you want to sit and talk for a bit? I would like to learn more about you, and your suit"

"..Sure?"

"Excellent! Follow me Mr Stark"

"Ok"

*/---*/

"So, Amira, can you tell Trixie some more about Stark? You have known him more right?"

"Yes, what do you want to know?"

"Hm, do you know anything about his homeland? What was it again? Arkansas?"

Amira shakes her head.

"I know nothing about his homeland, maybe we can ask him after he returns?"

"We might as well"

"Do you want to know something else?"

"Uh, aha! Yes, his magic, do you know how that works?"

Amira places a hand on her chin.

"From what I know, his father was a unicorn, but not his mother, so he was born without a horn, but I guess he still had large amounts of magic due to his father " Amira started to say.

"You mentioned that Stark created his suit himself right? Does that help with his magic?" Trixie asked.

"Yes actually, his suit is what channels his magic for him" Amira finished.

"Ah, and do you know why he only seems to focus on combat magic?"

"He did mention that Arkansas was rather violent"

"Do you think we'll get to visit it? Maybe it's somewhere deep beyond the badlands?"

"It would be nice to visit Stark's homeland, but, as I said, he said it was violent, we would probably need to defend ourselves"

"Well, maybe Stark can teach Trixie some of his combat spells"

"Maybe"

...

"Master Stark is taking a while, maybe we should look for him?" Amira says as she stands up.

"Sure, Trixie will accompany you" Trixie says as she also started to get up.

*/---*/

"So your a model? You must be pretty loaded then" I say.

"Yes, I'm quite, .. loaded, as you say" Fleur started to say.

"Well, Mr Stark, what can you tell me about yourself? You must have a good amount of bits to be able to afford that" She finished, pointing at my armor.

"Oh, uh, yeah, I actually made this armor, second version, or, mark two" I started to say.

"And uh, well I had a company back in my homeland, uh, Stark industries, it helped me fund the making of my armor"

"Really? And what brings you here?"

"I'm looking for my cousin, it was uh.. my father's last wish, you know, for me to find her, so I'm heading down south"

"South? Past the badlands?"

"Yes"

"That's a bit surprising, there shouldn't be anything out there"

"Well, that's where the pony princess told me to go"

"Princess? The princess told you to go south?"

"Yeah"

"Strange"

"So Mr Stark, you said this was your second version of your suit? How strong is it?"

"Well, it's relatively durable"

"And will you make more?"

"Uh, yeah, most likely"

"How powerful do you think you can make your suits of armor?"

"I mean, I guess I can eventually make some very powerful suits"

"Hm, I noticed that your suit seems to channel magic, I assume it's combat?"

"Yes"

...

After a moment, Fleur speaks again.

"Well Mr Stark, in case you ever come back, you can find me in Canterlot, I would like to continue our conversation regarding your armor" Fleur started to say as she got up from her seat.

"But I need to get going, it seems we'll be arriving at Dodge Junction soon" Fleur finished.

"Oh, dam, already? Time went by fast" I started to say as I stood up.

"Good bye then, I guess if I'm ever at Canterlot, I'll look for you Fleur"

"Farewell Stark, and good luck in finding your cousin" Fleur says as she starts walking towards the direction I was coming from.

"Thanks" I say as I start walking towards the train car I was sitting at.

After some walking through the train, I spot the mares also walking, towards me.

"Oh, hey girls" I say as I approach them.

"Stark, there you are, did you find out if they served any food?" Trixie asked.

"No, they don't" I respond.

"Oh, that's a shame, guess we'll have to get something to eat at Dodge Junction"

"Guess so, anyway, I was just talking with someone, and they said that were about to arrive, so we should probably go back and get the bag"

"Very well, I'll get the bag master Stark" Amira says as she turns around and heads back towards the direction she came from.

...

Well, were about to arrive to Dodge Junction.

Guess my Little quest is going good so far.

Interlude- A letter, and a dream

Dear Princess Celestia

I'm going to be honest, this isn't a friendship report. Earlier today the show mare Trixie visited my home just to use my bathroom to change into her new suit.

It was already weird enough that she was wearing a suit, but as it turned out, she wasn't planning on staying in ponyville.

I had planned on trying to befriend Trixie, but it seems she wasn't going to give me the time of day, and besides, she mentioned that she had made new friends

But one of her friends in question is why I'm writing this letter to you.

His name is Stark, or, at least that's the shortened version.

His full name, is Tony Sparkle Stark, and, apparently, he's my cousin, and was in fact looking for me when I met him.

He claimed that he doesn't know what his cousin, or, I guess I look like? This is really confusing.

Kind of embarrassingly, I froze when he told me that, and he left before I could say anything.

From what I found out, he, for some reason thinks I'm south, beyond the badlands, and has ventured out there in the hopes of finding me.

So, I guess I have a cousin? I mean, he did sound pretty certain that I was his cousin.

Anyway, that's kind of why I've written this letter, do you think you could maybe help me find him? I would ask my brother, since this seems to be a family matter, but he hasn't really spoken to me in a while.

Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle

P.S I think he'll take a break at Dodge Junction, maybe you could send some ponies to find him there?

Princess Celestia lowered the letter from her magical grasp.

Already, she didn't really like whoever this, stark was.

She had already known of him, as he was apparently the one who successfully attacked the Saddle Arabian royale palace.

For what motive? Celestia didn't know.

And now, he claims to be her students family member?

...

"What are you scheming, Stark?"

*/---*/

...

I take a look at my surroundings.

...

Darkness.

...

Uh, ok, I'm not dead right? No, no I'm not.

Let's see, what was the last thing I did? That's right, go to sleep.

Where was I? Dodge Junction.

Me and the girls had spent the rest of the day after we arrived just walking around, getting something to eat, and eventually took out a room at an inn or something.

So, is this a dream?

...

If that's the case, then, one, this is a pretty boring dream, and two, why haven't I woken up yet?

Im pretty sure I shouldn't be self aware that this is a dream and not wake up.

...

"So, thou art the one calle-"

"Holy fucking shit!!" I scream as I turn around to face whoever the hell just spoke to me.

...

"Christ, you almost gave me a fuckin heart attack!" I exclaimed as I got a good look at the mare standing before me.

She was a tad tall, and had both horn and wings.

She had what looked to be dark blue fur, a mane that straight up waves without wind and looked like it had stars in it.

She was also wearing what looked to be regalia, and had what looked to be a crescent moon tattoo on her thigh.

"Wait, who are you? Dawg, am I already dreaming about pony women? That sure didn't take long" I say, Wich causes the mares eyes to widen a bit.

"Ah, I am princess Luna, and thou must be stark, are you not?" the mare asks.

"...Yes?"

Luna nods her head.

"I have heard much about thou, sir stark"

"You have? Wha- wait, hold on, what's going on? Who exactly are you?"

"Did I not just inform you of who I was?"

"W- well yeah, but, like, where am I? And why are you here?"

"Thou art in your dream, stark"

"I gathered that much, and why am I dreaming about you? Am I supposed to know you?"

"I am not very surprised you don't recognize me, after all, it has not been that long since my return"

"Return from what?"

"Don't worry about it, and as for your question, I entered your dream to-" Luna began to say, but I cut her off.

"Wait Wait wait, you, entered my dream? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what you think it means, I can freely travel the dream space and enter the dreams of anypony, as it is my duty to watch over them"

...

"Ok, I'm not even gonna try and comprehend how that works, anyway, you entered my dream, for what?"

Luna squinted her eyes a bit at me.

"Why, to try and learn about thou of course, we need to know everything before we capture you"

...

Ah hell nah.

"Capture me?! F- for what!?"

"Is it not obvious? You are considered a threat, sir Stark, it's as simple as that"

"So what, you sending the damn swat team at me? Hell nah, where your warrant!?"

"My, what?"

"Your warrant, you know, government papers giving you the green light to capture my sorry ass"

Luna just blinked at me.

"I doth need a, warrant sir Stark, that is not the way we do things around here"

Godammit.

"Ok, well, I already don't like you luna, and from the looks of it, you're gonna be the next royal I piss off" I start saying.

"So, I'm gonna wake up now to book it south, if you don't mind" I say as I close my eyes.

...

Any moment now...

"I'm afraid I can't let you wake up, you are dangerous, and I would much rather not have my guards injured"

"So your locking me inside my own head? That's messed up yo, there's gotta be a rule against that in the dream handbook"

Surprisingly, luna looks down, a bit downtrodden, as she sighs.

"Yes, usually, I do not do this, but I just do not know what thou are capable of, I am doing this for the safety of everypony involved"

"Well, sorry Luna, miss moony, madam lulu, I'm gonna get out of here bro" I start saying as I start fnicking with my arc reactor.

I guess something I said must have struck some cord with the princess, as she visibly gets angrier.

"How did thou-... What are you doing?"

"I'm gonna give myself a little zap, that's sure to wake me up right?" I say as mess around some more with the arc.

"Yes, but how will you accomplish such a thing? And, what is that? She asks as she points at the reactor I'm currently turning Ike a nob.

"Uh, it's kind of like a electric heart, or something, anyway, good seeing ya Luna! I'm gone!" I exclaimed as I finished messing with my arc, effectively shocking myself.

"Wai-" Luna started so say, but was cut off by a sudden shock throughout my body that woke me up.

Chapter 8- On the road again

'Zap!

"Ah!"

I jolt awake as what feels like a bolt of electricity shoots through my body.

"Wow, it actually worked" I mutter as I start standing up from the floor.

Time to get the day started then.

"Alright! Time to wake up girls!" I exclaim as I start clapping my hands.

Both mares just groan.

"C'mon! Rise and shine! We gotta go!"

"Stark, can this not wait? what is all of this about?" Trixie said a bit groggily as she stood up from the bed she was sleeping in.

"W- what is happening?" Amira mumbled as she also stood up.

"I think we're getting swatted, anyway, we gotta go, we're going south remember?"

Trixie glances over to the window.

"But, stark, it is still night out, and, what does swatted even mean?"

"It means there gonna try to capture us, and we can't let that happen, now, up and at em!" I say as I walk over to where I left my briefcase armor.

"Capture us? Master Stark, do you know who?" Amira asks.

"Yeah, some, princess Luna or something, I think she sent some guards over here" I reply.

"Princess Luna? Why does she want to capture you?" Trixie asked.

"I don't fuckin know, I must've done something though" I reply as I grab the briefcase.

"Alright, you guys get ready, I'm gonna put this on" I say as I head outside of the room"

One mark five suit up later, I head back inside of the room, to find both mares dressed in the suits i gave them.

Nice.

"We are ready, master stark"

"Great, Trixie, quick question, do you know how to fight?"

"Well, no"

"really?"

"Trixie has not needed to learn anything combat wise"

"Oh, well, I guess I'll teach you when we get the chance, for now, just grab one of the gauntlets from the bag and put them on" I start saying.

"Amira, you grab the other one"

"Yes, master"

"Wait, gauntlet? Of your creation stark?"

"Yeah"

"Ah, excellent!" Trixie says as she digs through the duffel bag and takes out one of the gauntlets.

As the two mares each put on one of the mark one gauntlets, I zip close the bag and sling it over my shoulder.

"You girls ready?" I ask, to wich they nod.

"Great, then let's head out!" I say as we leave the room.

"Trixie is certain she can see the outskirts of the city" she said as she pointed in front of her.

"Alright" I say as we continue walking.

But as we're walking, my hud display finds several unidentified things hovering near us in the air.

"Hold on..." I say as I raise one of my arms up to the air.

Both mares looks at me.

"Sir stark, what is it?" Trixie asks.

"I think there's something up there" I say as I shoot a repulsor blast to one of the things.

"Ah! Dammit!" I heard someone scream as they fell to the ground.

"Yep! Knew it! Alright girls, prepare for a fight, the fuzz is here!" I scream, to wich amira takes out her sword and trixie enters her best possible fighting stance and lights her horn.

Just then, a group of some rather interesting looking guards entered our view.

Even though it was dark, I at least was still able to see them.

They were all pegasi, they wore dark colored armor, and their wings...

I swear to god those are bat wings or some shit, pegasi don't have those right?

I lifted my hand up to one of them and shoot him with a repulsor blast, Wich he dodged, quickly drawing his sword and slashing my armored chest, making me stumble back.

Oh damn, looks like these guys ain't playing.

I shoot him again, but he dodged and slashed the hand I used to shoot him, disabling it.

Dam these slow repulsors of the older marks!

I'm pretty sure I saw some chunks of armor fly off my hand.

"Jeez, the hell is that blade made of?" I ask as I dodge a stab attack.

The guard doesn't answer, he just continues to attack me.

Dark and serious huh? I guess I shouldn't be surprised, if his armor's color scheme is anything to go by.

The guard brings his sword down onto me again, but I dodge and punch him in his head, knocking him back.

Before he can do anything, I blast him on the chest, knocking him onto the ground.

I turn to check how the girls are doing.

Surprisingly, they seem to be holding their own quite well.

Currently, the two of them were fighting one of those guards, as amira slashed him, and trixie restricted movement of multiple of his limbs with her magic.

"Doing good girls! Wait, weren't ther-" I begin to say, but get interrupted by a dagger slashing hard at my mask, and a kick to my chest, making me trip onto the ground.

Yep, there was another guard.

I try to get up, but get interrupted by the guard chopping my neck with his sword, causing sparks to fly of my armor.

Thank God I have this armor, and also, weren't they supposed to be capturing me?!

I see the guard raise his sword again, but I shoot him with the palm that still works before he can do anything.

The guard falls back, giving me enough time to push myself back up and kick him in the head, knocking him out.

I look around, and see all of the guards on the ground, most likely knocked out.

Well, another successful fight with iron man armor!

"Ha! Did you see that stark? The great and powerful Trixie knows how to fight!" She says triumphantly, as she pumps her armored hand into the air.

"I guess so, as I said, I'll teach you some things I know when we get the chance, but for now, let's get out of here shall we?" I say as I head the direction we were walking to.

"Very well" both mares say as they start following me.

As it turned out, the badlands were just more desert.

Great.

"I see your armor was damaged master Stark" Amira says as we walk through what looks like endless desert.

"Huh? Oh, yeah I guess it did" I say as I look myself over.

My armor was damaged, it kind of looked how it did after the first whiplash fight.

"Will you be able to fix it?" Trixie asked.

"I don't know, probably not, but don't worry about it, I'll figure it out" I try saying reassuringly.

In reality, I actually don't know what I'm gonna do, since it turns out this weird ass world seems to be more dangerous than I thought, and now with my mark five damaged...

No, it'll be fine! Probably.

"Well, I think we've walked enough, we should probably get some sleep right?" I ask as I sling the bag of my shoulder and drop it into the ground.

"We probably should" Amira replied as she starts taking her gauntlet off.

"Alright, Trixie, how do you feel about sleeping on the ground?" I ask her, to wich she sighs.

"It won't be the first time trixie has to" she says as she starts to sit down and take off her own gauntlet.

"Welp, good night girls, or, morning? I think the suns rising soon" I say as I lay down.

"Good night Stark" both mares say as I close my eyes and drift to sleep.

I slowly start waking up, to the distinct feeling of the sun on my bare face.

Wait what?

I sit up, and see that I'm no longer wearing the mark five armor, I'm just wearing my business suit.

Where the hell is it?!

I look to my right, and only see Amira and Trixie sleeping as best they could on the sand.

I turn to my left, and am greeted by desert.

And two bracelets on the ground next to me.

"Huh?" I ask myself as I grab them.

Wait a minute...

"Oh!" I exclaim, probably waking up the two mares, but I don't really pay attention to that as I place the one of the bracelets on my wrist.

These are the mark seven bracelets from avengers! So I'm getting the mark seven?

Let's go.

I go to place the other bracelet on my other wrist, but see that I'm already wearing the glove watch.

I take it off, and replace it with the bracelet.

"W- what? Is it morning?" Trixie asked as she sits up.

Whoops, guess I woke them up after all.

"Hey trixie, yeah, it's morning. Can you wake up amira? It's time to head out"

"Sure" she says as i start standing up.

After the two mares fully woke up, we started walking deeper into the badlands.

There, is something out here right? I didn't get duped by cadence right?

"Stark, where is your armor?" Trixie asks, interrupting my thoughts.

"I was wondering the same, where is your briefcase?" Amira added in.

"I, got rid of it" I say.

Now that I'm actually thinking about it, where did the mark five go? It just disappeared.

"What? But, how will be able to channel your magic?" Trixie asked.

"As I said, don't worry about it, I made a new mark! The mark three" I say, to wich both mares stare at me with a surprised look on their faces.

"What? When?" Trixie asked.

"Uh, today?"

They just stare at me blankly.

"Here, check it out" I say as I show them my bracelets.

"What are those?" Amira asks.

"There my mark three bracelets, I uh, made them back home, and they should summon my suit over to fly over here when I need it.

"Oh"

"Also, trixie, put this on" I say as I hand her the glove watch.

"What is this?"

"I teach you all about it at a later time, for now, just put it on"

"Alright then" Trixie says as she tries putting it on.

"Here, I'll help you" I say as I help her put the watch on.

"Ok, I'm starting to think that there's maybe nothing out here" I say as I sweat my ass off.

We've been walking aimlessly for god knows how long, and there has been nothing but desert!

This desert is definitely worse than saddle Arabia, I feel like I'm about to pass out from this damn heat.

"Master, do you think the pony princess lied to you?" Amira asks.

"Probably" i respond as we continue walking.

"Wait, Trixie sees something!" She says, making us turn to where she's facing.

And there, in the distance, was the weirdest looking... Town? I have ever seen.

"What is that place?" Asked Trixie.

"Don't know, place looks crazy though" I say.

"Should we head over there?" Amira asks.

"I mean, why not? We might as well see if there's water or someplace to rest or something" I say as we start heading over to the strange looking town.

*/---*/

Princess Luna read the report the thestral squad that was sent to apprehend Stark sent her.

They failed, but they were at least able to gain more information about him.

Mainly, that he had magically capabilities, but no horn.

He had a suit of armor that seemed to channel his magic, wich were mostly combat spells.

And, he was traveling with two mares, and heading south, beyond the badlands.

She didn't know why he was heading out there.

"Unless..." She said to herself.

"No, no pony should know of them, right?"

Even if he did, why would he seek them out?

...

Before Luna could continue her thoughts, she was interrupted by a knock on her rooms door.

"Who is it?" Luna asked.

"It is me sister" Celestia responded.

"Oh, you may enter" Luna said as celestia opened the door.

"Did thou need something dear sister?" Luna asked as she stood up from her desk.

"Actually, I do, have you by any chance heard of an individual named Stark?"

"Y-yes, he was the one that attacked the Saddle Arabian royal palace, was he not?"

"Yes, well, I was wondering if you could perhaps seek him out? Maybe in his dreams? He is claiming some, interesting things, and I would just like to know why, but I don't know of his whereabouts"

"Oh? What is he saying?"

"He claims to be twilight sparkles cousin"

"Your prized pupil?" Luna asks, to wich her sister nods.

"Well, I have actually visited his dreams once before, i had sent a team of my lunar guards to capture him, and I was going to lock him in his dream" Luna says, making celestias eyes widen a bit.

"I thought you said-" Celestia began to say, but was interrupted by Luna.

"Yes, i know, I said I wouldn't do that anymore, but, I just did not know what he was capable of"

"Well, if you captured him, where is he?"

"No, the capture failed, as he was able to wake himself up from his dream and fight off my guards"

"What? How was he able to do that?"

"He gave himself an electrical shock, with, I think it was an electric heart, as he called it"

"Electric heart?"

"I do not know, don't ask"

"Well, as I said, he claims to be twilights cousin, but apparently, he has no idea what she looks like, or where she is, as he met her in ponyville, but did not stay"

"Well, he's currently heading south, beyond the badlands"

"Yes, he thinks twilight is there"

"Oh, that's why he's headed there?"

"It would seem so"

"Hm, what should we do if, no, when he comes back and seeks out twilight?"

"Hopefully, he would be captured before he can interact with her"

Chapter 9- Klugetown

"So, what are we gonna be doing again?" Grubber asked as he walked beside Tempest shadow.

Tempest just sighed.

"For the last time, were going to be preparing to infiltrate a city"

"Oh, didn't we do that already?"

"That was Abyssinia"

"Ok then, well this should be a piece of cake too right?" Grubber said as he flashed a cheeky grin.

"We can't get too cocky, especially with the hippogriffs" Tempest said as she looked down at grubber.

"Eh, it'll be fine, you're too awesome to fail!"

"Whatever" Tempest said as she walked through the crowded and cramped paths of Klugetown.

Out of all the cities and towns she had assisted in taking over, this was definitely her least favorite.

But it was one of the more important ones, since it was relatively close to mount aris, and the city at its peak.

"Alright, we'll be heading out later tonight, hopefully we'll get there by morning, do you remember your cover story?"

"Um, no"

'sigh

"It's fine, we'll go over it during the trip"

"Ok.. hey, tempest, you think we could stop by somewhere to grab a snack?"

"Didn't you just eat?" Tempest asked a bit irritated.

"I said a snack, not a meal"

...

"Fine, maybe they serve something here, try not to take too long, ok?" She asked as they approached a local pub.

"Don't worry, I'll be quick!"

"Really? A bowl of nuts?" Grubber asked as he grabbed said bowl.

"It was the only thing they had, now eat them, we need to prepare for the mission"

"Alright, at least it's something" Grubber said as he grabbed a handful of nuts.

Tempest decided to look around the bar they were in as she waited for grubber to finish eating.

The tables in the establishment had customers that were common to Klugetown.

...

Except that table with ponies.

Wait.

Tempest focused her gaze on the table with the ponies, spotting three individuals.

There were two mares, one with a blue coat, and the other with a grey coat.

But the third individual was the one that catched tempest's interest the most.

All three of them were wearing what looked to be business suits, something tempest hadn't seen in a while.

In fact, she was pretty sure the last time she saw someone where something like that was in Equestria.

...

What were they doing all the way out here?

"Stay here" She told grubber as she got off her seat.

"Ok"

...

As tempest got closer to the table the three were sitting in, she could faintly hear the conversation they were having.

"This place is, rather interesting" said the blue mare as she looked over to the stallion.

"Dude this place fucking sucks, I'm pretty sure I got pickpocketed by a cat" The stallion started to say as he grabbed a glass of water.

"Is this water even safe to drink?" He finished.

"I'm not sure master Stark" said the grey mare.

'Master?' Tempest thought to herself as she reached the table.

"You three don't look like your from around here, may I ask what your business is out here?" She asked.

*/---*/

"You three don't look like your from around here, may I ask what your business is out here?" A feminine voice asked.

I look over to where the voice came from, and see a pony mare.

A rather tall one too.

She had purple fur, and a darkish pink mane and tail.

She was rocking a mohawk, and was wearing what looked like a dam combat suit with a weird symbol on it.

But the features that are probably the most notable, are the scar on her left eye, and her broken horn.

She looks kinda badass not gonna lie.

"Well?" The mare asked as she crossed her arms.

Oh yeah.

"Um, why do you want to know?" I ask idly, wich was probably the wrong move, as it looks like she just gets irritated.

"Just. Tell me"

"Alright, jeez lady, you a fed or something?" I start saying as I raise my hands.

"We're just headed south, alright? Were looking for a place, more specifically, my cousin" I finish saying as I take a swig from my water glass.

It sucks.

"Is it good?" Amira asked as she raised her own glass.

"No, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna have a parasite now"

"..oh" Amira said as she slowly placed her glass back on the table.

"There is nothing out there" The newcomer said.

"Oh yeah? Well we found this place, how much would it hurt to venture out there a bit more? Besides, I was told my cousin was out there" I say, to wich the mare squints her eyes at me.

"Whoever told you, is wrong, there is nothing out there, so you will head back the way you came" She says as she starts heading back from wherever she came from.

"And what if we don't?" Trixie asked, making the other mare stop in her tracks.

"You will do as your told" she said as she started walking again.

...
*/---*/

"Are you done?" Tempest asked as she returned to her table.

"Yeah" Grubber responded.

"Good, let's get going then"

"Who were those guys?" Grubber asked as he hopped of his seat.

"Don't worry about it"

"Do you think we should take them to the big guy?"

"There not worth his time"

"I dunno, I've got a funny feeling about them" Grubber said, making tempest eye the table with the trio again.

That stallion character did look rather interesting...

"If they try anything, then we'll capture them"

...
*/---*/

Trixie snorts as the other mare returns to her table.

"What's her problem?" I ask.

"Maybe she lives here? And has ventured out south as well?" Amira suggests.

"Trixie doesn't think that she lives here, shes the only pony we've seen out here"

"Yeah, and what about that suit she was wearing? I don't know about you girls, but that looks secret police to me" I start saying as I get up from my seat.

"And that's probably not good, so I think we should probably head out now" I said as I grab the duffel bag and hand it to Trixie.

"It's your turn to hold the bag Trix" I finish saying as I hand Trixie the duffel bag.

"Master, are we still going to head south?" Amira asked as trixie slings the bag over her shoulder.

"Uh, yeah?" I respond.

"Why wouldn't we?" Trixie added.

"Well.." Amira says as she gestures behind her, to the table where that other mare was sitting.

She was currently watching us like a dam hawk.

I'm probably not gonna like her.

"Eh, it'll probably be fine, c'mon, let's get out of here" I say as we head towards the entrance of the bar.

"This place is like a maze" Amira says as we walk through the crowded and cramped paths of whatever the hell this place is called.

"Don't know why, but it kind of reminds me of the Middle East" I say as we continue walking.

Is that racist to say? Probably.

"The middle East?" Trixie asked.

"I'll tell you about it later, right now, let's find the exit to this place, this is the way we came from right?" I ask as I suddenly stop walking.

"Yes?" Trixie said.

"You don't sound very convinced"

"Well, it was your idea to come here, were you not paying attention where we came from?"

"Uh, yeah! Yeah, I was, we came from over there" I say as I point down another path.

"Or, wait, was it over there?" I ask as I look at yet another direction.

...

"I think we may be lost" Amira pipes up.

"Jeezus christ, how the hell did that even happen? We weren't even walking for five minutes here!"

"I'm not sure master, this place is rather confusing"

"It's fine, well just uh..."

...

"This isn't good" Trixie says with a monotonous tone.

"Ok, what if we just find that purple mare again? Maybe she can tell us how to navigate this place?" I suggest.

"I'm not sure that's a very good idea master"

'sigh

"You're right, don't worry, we can figure this out..." I say as I look around my surroundings.

Bunch a weird, crocodile people?

"What if we get one of those?" Trixie said, pointing at the air.

"One of what?" I ask as I look to what she was pointing at.

...

Blimps? At least that's what I think they are.

"Jeez, where those always there?"

"I'm pretty sure they weren't" Amira said.

"Don't matter, let's get up to one of those, and.. borrow it" I say as I start looking around for any way of getting up to the ports.

"Excellent! Trixie will get an airship!" She exclaimed.

"Master, do you think there's a way to get up there?"

"I mean, they wouldn't park them up there if they couldn't get back right?" I ask, to wich both mares nod.

"Then there should be a way to get up there, we just gotta find it" I say as we start walking again.

...
*/---*/

"Wow, there gonna borrow one of the bosses ships? Do you think he let them?" Grubber asked as he poked his head out of the alley they were hiding in.

'sigh

"Of course he didn't! There planning on stealing one" Tempest replied.

"Stealing? From the boss? That's pretty bold"

"And stupid" Tempest said as she exited the alleyway.

"Grubber, get going over to where we agreed to, and wait for me there"

"Ok, what will you do?"

"I'm going to capture some inconveniences"

*/---*/

"So, you don't know of a way to get up there?" I ask what I can only assume is an anthropomorphic crocodile.

"No" He said quickly, then fucked off.

"Dam" I mutter to myself as I head back to where my friend's were at.

"Did you get anything?" Trixie asked.

"No, it's like there afraid to talk about them or something" I start saying.

"Hey, where's Amira?" I ask as I look to Trixie's side.

"Trixie saw her walk down there" She said as she pointed down an alleyway.

God dammit.

"I swear to god, if they try mugging me again..." I say as we start heading down said alleyway.

...

"Amira! You down here?!" I exclaim as we walk through the alleyway.

"Hopefully nothing happened to-" Trixie started to say, but was interrupted by a voice we didn't recognize it.

"Whoa! Alright, alright, let's not be too rash here"

...

British accent?

We hurry over to where the voice came from, and eventually come across Amira, as she held the other individual at sword point.

Probably the most British thing I have ever witnessed.

"What's happening here?" I ask, making Amira and the other guy look over to us.

"Oh, master, your here, good" She says as she holsters her sword, then grabs the guy by the shoulders, and throws him to the ground in front of me.

"Oof! You, are stronger than you look" The individual said.

"Who's he?" Trixie asked as I got a better look at the guy.

Red coat... Cat....

"Hey! Your that asshole who tried pickpocketing me!" I yell as i point at him.

"Well, I mean, can you really blame me? You're wearing some expensive looking clothing!" The cat said as Amira placed one of her hoofs on the dudes chest.

"What should we do with him?" She asked, making the cat guy look at me with what looked like a pleadingly look.

"I don't know, uh, how much do you like your spine?" I ask the cat, making his eyes widen significantly.

"I'm joking, I'm joking.." I said as I think of what to do with him.

"Who are you anyway?" Trixie asked.

"Names capper, and I sincerely apologize for trying to snag ya pockets, but this is a bit of an overreaction, isn't it? Capper asks as he gestures towards amiras hoof on his chest.

"I mean, this is the way we deal with trouble makers down in Arkansas" I say with a slight southern accent.

"Really?" Amira asked.

"Yeah, good job by the way" I say as I give amira a thumbs up.

She smiles, aw that's cute.

"Maybe we should steal from him? Make it even?" Trixie suggested.

"Na, look at him, he's probably got nothing of value" I say, making capper frown.

"Now that's just hurtful"

"Maybe he knows of a way to get to the airships?" Amira suggests.

"Hm, hey, garfield, you know a way to get up to one of those?" I ask, making capper raise an eyebrow.

"Garfield? I just said-" Capper started to say, but stopped after I interrupted him.

"Don't care, do you know how to get up there? Or not?"

"I do, why do you want to know?"

"Why do you think? We're taking one!" Trixie said excitedly.

"Stealing? You do know who those airships belong to right?" Capper asked.

"Who? The government? Believe me, we've already pissed off two other kingdom's, I think we'll be fine" I respond, making capper stare at us blankly.

"What? Listen are you going to help us out? Cuz if your not im fine with just beating you up and finding some other guy to help us" I say as I pretend to walk towards him in a threatening manner.

"Yes! I'll help, just calm down, alright? And, can I get up first?" He asked.

"Sure, amira, you can let him up" I respond, making amira remove her hoof from his chest.

"Thank you kindly" Capper said as he got up and dusted himself off.

"Now, If you'll follow me-" He began to say, but stopped when I interrupted him"

"Hold on, just so you know, if you try anything.." I start saying as he looks over to me and I make my way next to Trixie.

"Gimme your hand real quick" I ask her in a whisper.

"Oh, ok?" She responded, also in a whisper as I grabbed the hand that was wearing the gauntlet watch.

Capper, Amira and Trixie watched with curiosity and confusion as I stared at the watch I had given to trixie.

"what are-" Capper began to ask, but was interrupted when I suddenly pressed on the watch, and a small compartment sprung out.

All three individuals watched with astonishment as I clicked on the compartment, then expanded the glove over Trixie's hand.

It was practically instant, and trixie was left with a fingerless, metallic, and red iron man glove.

"Then my friend here will probably kick your ass" I finish saying.

...

"Yes! Trixie will mess you up!" She exclaimed with pride as she pointed her open palm at capper.

"Hey whoa, not yet, he's gotta do something bad first" I say as I lower her hand.

"Oh, sorry" Trixie says as her cheeks redden a bit.

"Isn't that a glove from your suit master Stark?" Amira asked as she approached trixie.

"Yeah, that's a prototype of something I've been working on, cool right?"

"Very" Trixie says as she closed and opened her hand.

"If I may interject, what exactly is that? A glove?" Capper asked.

"Yes, it's a glove that will blind and deaf you, so don't try anything funny" I say, making everyone's eyes widen a bit.

I'm pretty sure I saw trixie smile deviously.

"Alright, I won't argue with the magical glove, just follow me" Capper said as he started making his way deeper into the alleyway.

"Should we trust him?" Amira asked as we started following capper.

"Maybe not, but, as Stark said, if he tries anything, I'll blind him!" Trixie says.

Probably a bit more happy than she should be.

"You sound way too excited to do that" I say, causing trixie to blush lightly.

"Hey, It is not my fault I want to try out your prototype" She said as amira placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sure you'll get to use it" she says as we continue following capper.

"Yo, heathcliff, we almost there yet?" I ask as we climb another ladder.

"Funny you should ask, because in fact, we are about to arrive" Capper started to respond as we arrive at the top of the platform.

"Also, my name isn't heathcliff" He finished.

"He knows. Where are we now?" Amira asks as she gets to the top of the ladder.

"As far as I'm taking you. you can reach one of the airships if you continue straight, but I'm gonna head back, because frankly, what you're planning on doing is stupidly dumb" Capper says as trixie makes it atop the ladder.

"Ok fuck you too" I say as capper gets back on the ladder.

"So vulgar..." He said as he climbs back down, eventually leaving our view.

"Well he's gone now" I say as we start walking straight.

"At least he didn't lie, I can see one of the airships from here" Amira says.

"Great" I say as we make our way to said airship.

"You know, now that I'm actually looking at this ship, it looks very military to me" I say as we make it to plank connecting the ship to the platform we were standing on.

The airship was colored in mostly dark colors, like black, and grey.

As we walked up the plank, I noticed all of the wooden crates on the ships main area.

They looked like supply crates, and they all had a weird looking blue symbol on them.

It looked exactly the same as the symbol on that purple mares suit.

"Uh oh" I say blankly as we reach the middle of the airships main deck.

"What is it?" Trixie asked.

"I think we may need to get off this ship" I say.

"That wont be happening" A familiar sounding voice said behind us.

The three of us turn around, and see the same purple mare from the bar, and two creatures standing at each one of her sides.

Whatever those creatures were, were big as hell, had a lot of dark fur all around their body's, wore armor and a mask, and had that same symbol on them.

"Aw, fuck" I say as the purple mare starts approaching us.

"I didn't actually think you would go through with this, but apparently your dumber than I thought" She said as she and the yeti looking guys got closer to us.

"Whoa, whoa! Let's try to calm down first and talk this out alright?" I say as Amira takes out her sword and trixie lights her horn and points her open palm to the other mare.

"Sure, we can talk, after your in a cage of course" The other mare said as she lit her own broken horn, Wich started to spark bits of what I assume to be small sparks of electricity.

But before she can do anything, trixie suddenly shoots a disorienting wave of energy out of the glove she was wearing, making the three arriving individuals stumble.

"W- what the?.." The purple mare asked, but before she could try to do anything, Trixie's glove shot a bright flash of light, acting as a flash bang, disorienting the three other individuals even more.

"Ah!" The purple mare screamed as she and the yeti guys covered their eyes.

I took this opportunity to run up to the purple mare, and punch her straight in the face.

I succeed, but it seems to only help her get her bearings back faster, as she throws the coldest death stare I have ever seen.

...

"Sorry?"

The mare proceeds to hit me in the gut with her knee, then punch me in the face, throwing me to the floor.

"God.. dam.." I say as I try to catch my breath and stand back up.

The mare doesn't let me, as she grabs me by my shirt collar and brings me up to her.

"You know what? Maybe I will take you to my master, you've proven to be more annoying than I thought" The purple mare started to say as she relit her horn, but stopped when she was tackled by amira.

Both mares exclaimed as they hit the floor.

I take this chance to quickly get up, and spot trixie levitating multiple crates with her magic, and slamming them onto the two yeti looking guys, knocking them out.

I see her smile as she looks at me, but it quickly turns into a worried look as she spots me struggling to get up.

"Stark, are you alright?" She asked as she hurried over to me.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I just underestimated that girls punch is all" I say as I fully stand back up.

It's not for long though, as amira suddenly was thrown and slammed into the both of us, making all three of us fall to the ground.

"I'll say this, you three are definitely the rebels who've put up the best, and worst fight" The purple mare says as she makes her way over to us again.

"Deploy" I say as the three of us start getting back up.

"What?" The purple mare asks as she stops in front of me.

"Deploy!" I exclaim again.

Hopefully the mark seven doesn't take too long to get here.

"Deploy, what?" The purple mare asked as she lit her horn and crossed her arms.

"Uh, something very awesome?" I say as I start seeing something flying towards us in the distance.

...

"What is he talking about?" The purple mare asked trixie and amira.

But before they could answer, the object flying towards us gets closer, catching the attention of all three mares, making them turn towards it.

"What is-" Amira started to say, but stopped when I started booking it towards the ships railing.

Then jumped overboard.

"HOLY SHI-" I scream as I start falling.

I could faintly hear all three mares scream something too, but I couldn't make it out as I started falling straight down.

I try not to freak out, as I had planned to do that, and am proved right as I see both red lights scan my bracelets.

I sigh a breath of relief as I feel the mark seven confirm the scans, open up, then start closing itself over my body, covering me with my new iron man armor.

"Awesome" I say to myself as the armor finishes it's suit up sequence, with the face plate.

Almost instinctually, I point my hands in front of me, and activate the repulsor and boot thrusters, making my way up to the airship again.

*/---*/

Tempest watched the other two mares run to the railing.

"Stark!" They both yelled as they looked down.

"Why did he do that?" Tempest asked, as another thing suddenly flew above her, then straight down, almost as if it was following whoever stark was.

The other two mares don't answer her, in fact, it almost looks as if they start smiling.

"Hey!" She exclaimed, making both mares turn towards her.

"Why did he do that?" She asked again.

Both mares just flashed grins at her.

"You'll see" said the blue mare.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Tempest asked, and almost as if answering her question, a third individual rose up from the air.

"What's up" The stallion, who tempest could only assume was stark, said.

He was now wearing a suit of red and gold metallic armor, wich was covering his entire body and somehow allowing him to fly.

"How-" Tempest started to say, but was interrupted by stark raising one of his hands and shooting her with a short beam of light, hitting her in the chest, sending her back towards the ground.

*/---*/

"Hey girls" I say as I land next to them.

"Stark! Your alright!" Trixie exclaimed.

"You gave us a scare master" Amira added.

"Sorry about that, I'll try not to do anything like that again, no promises though" I start saying, but stop when I notice the purple mare start to stand up again.

"how about we get the hell out of here?" I ask, to wich both mares nod.

"Ok, both of you hang on to me tight, ok?" I say as they both hug me from each of my sides.

"Ready?" I ask.

"Ready" Both mares respond.

"Alright, let's go!" I say as my boots light up and I start to fly off in a seemingly random direction.

*/---*/

"Oh, your back! Took you long enough" Grubber started to say as he got off his seat.

"Did you catch the guys you went after?" He finished.

"No"

...

"No? What do you mean no? Nobody has ever escaped you before!"

"I know"

"Well, what are you gonna do now? Are we still gonna infiltrate that city?"

Tempest takes a minute to think of a response.

"Yes, this Stark, could very well be a threat, but he's only one stallion with a few companions, I can deal with him later.

"Ok, and what if he goes to the city we're supposed to be going to, and warns them about the attack?"

"He doesn't even know about the attack, and even if he did, I don't think he knows where the city is"

"Ok"

"C'mon, we need to head out" Tempest says as she grabs the bag with their supplies and starts walking out in the direction of mount aris.

"Hey, wait up!"

Author's Note

(Glove watch)

(Mark seven suit up)

Chapter 10- Friends!

*/---*/

"So, this is your mark three?" Trixie asked as I landed us in a beach.

"It's actually-" I start saying, but stop myself as I remember the lie I've been going on.

Even though I'm currently wearing the mark seven, I'm calling it the mark three, cuz, well it's the third suit I've gotten in this place.

"Yeah, it's my mark three" I answer as my mask lifts off my face and I look around my surroundings.

Yep, a beach of some sorts, with a mountain nearby, neat.

"I'm assuming this one is more capable than the mark two?" Amira asked as she knocked on my shoulder with her knuckle.

'knock knock.

"Yes"

"You know, I think I prefer red and gold, more flashy" Trixie says as she gestures towards my new color scheme.

"Thanks, anyway, where do you girls think we are?" I ask, making both mares give me a slightly confused look.

"I thought you knew, you are the one who brought us here after all" Trixie said.

"Ok, well, I wasn't really paying attention, I was too busy just getting out of there"

...

"So we're lost in a beach now?" Amira asked.

"Uhhh, yep" I answer nonchalantly.

...

"At least we aren't prisoners" Trixie started to say as she unslings the duffel bag off her shoulder, then drops it on the ground.

"Well, we might as well call it a day right? It looks like the sun will set soon" She finished as she pointed at the sky, wich was starting to darken.

"Another night of sleeping on sand huh? At least it's a beach now" I start saying as I sit down on the ground.

"Welp, good night girls!" I say as I lay onto my back and close my eyes.

"Good night stark" Both mares said as I quickly drifted off to sleep.

Im awoken at what looks to be the middle of the night, to the sound of... Singing?

"The hell?" I mutter as I sit up.

I wait for a moment.

...

I hear the singing again.

"That's definitely not strange" I mutter as I fully stand up and have my mask close over my face.

"Girls, hey, girls, wake up" I say as I shine the two sleeping mares with a flashlight coming from one of my gauntlets.

"Ugh, again with the waking up and interrupting.." Trixie said as she blearily opened her eyes and sits up on the ground.

"Huh? What's happening? Are we getting swatted again?" Amira asked as she quickly sits up.

"No. Can you two hear that?" I ask as both mares rub the sleep out of their eyes.

...

"Is, some pony singing?" Trixie asked as she stood up.

"I think so, or maybe it's a demon"

"Why would somebody be singing out here? And at this hour no less?" Amira asked as she also stood up.

"Like I said, it's probably a demon, a siren, or something"

Trixie just stares at me blankly.

...

"What? I'm just saying..." I say as we started walking towards where the singing was coming from.

....

After a bit of walking, we eventually reach another part of the beach, and my hud display spots an individual on the shore.

I look closer, and see a bird, horse.. human looking...

I don't know what the hell I'm actually looking at, but I'm probably gonna find out.

"Hello?" I ask out loud, causing the new individual to immediately stop singing, and turn around to face us.

"Ah!" The mare, if the voice is anything to go by, screamed as she extended her wings, probably to fly away.

"Wait!" I scream as I stretch my arm out and shine her with my light.

Surprisingly, the individual actually stops, if it was because of me screaming or the light I don't know.

Now that the individual was fully visible, I was able to get a good look at her.

She had yellow fur and wings, a blue mane and tail, hoofs instead of feet, talons, and a beak.

She was actually a bit taller than all of us, and looked like she was a bit skinny.

"Who are you?" I ask the female, to wich she looks to the ground and plays with her fingers nearvously.

"Um, uh.." She said as she looked around her, almost like looking for a way to escape.

"Hey, we're not gonna hurt you, we're friends" I say in my best soothing voice.

"Friends?" The female said as she looked back at us.

...

"Ahh! Friends! Awesome!" The female exclaimed excitedly as she suddenly ran up to me and gave me a hug.

Talk about a one eighty mood shift holy shit.

"I've always wanted friends! My name is skystar!" She screamed as she broke the hug and looked me dead in the eye.

"Good to meet you, I'm tony sparkle stark, and these are my other friends, amira, and trixie" I say as I gesture behind me.

"hi!" Skystar said as she energetically waved at the two mares.

Both mares waved back.

"So, skystar, what were you doing out here?" I ask.

"Oh, I was just singing, I like to do it out here since I have some privacy" She started to say, but interrupted herself as she continued talking.

"Wait! Now that I'm actually thinking about it, I've never seen anybody else out here! What are You guys doing out here?" She asked as she pointed at me and squinted her eyes a bit.

"Don't worry, we're not doing something evil or anything, we're just lost, and I'm looking for my cousin"

"Oh.. well, I want to help! Can I? Please? C'mon, can I?" Skystar asked as she nudged me with her shoulder.

"Sure why not"

"Yay! C'mon, I'll take you back to my home! We can rest for the night then do friend stuff tomorrow!" Skystar exclaimed as she grabbed my hand and started guiding me towards the mountain.

"She's certainly energetic" Amira commented.

Trixie nodded.

"So, if I got this right, your a princess?" I ask as we continue walking.

We've been walking towards the mountain for a bit, and during the walk, I've been having a conversation with my new friend.

"Yep" Skystar responded.

"So if your a princess, how come you've barely talked with so few strangers?"

"Well, my homeland is kind of secluded, and my mom is a bit overprotective.."

"Oh, and is she gonna be cool with us strolling Into the palace? Or hanging out with you?"

"Uh, I don't actually know, but don't worry! We're friends now, she's gotta let you in!" Skystar said happily.

"If you say so. anyway, what can you tell me about your homeland? Do you have a sister called celestia or something?" I ask, making skystar and trixie look at me quizzically.

"No, I don't have a sister, and Celestia is the name of equestria's princess dummy!" Skystar responded as she giggled.

That. Is adorable.

"So we're not going to equestria?" I ask.

"Nope" Skystar responds.

"Oh, guess we're gonna have to keep looking then"

"Wait, your looking for equestria?" Trixie asked as she walked up to my left side.

"Yeah, that's where my cousin is at, did I not mention it before?"

"No, you didn't"

"Well now you know"

"Um, Trixie has to say.. that we've already been in equestria" She says, making me stop walking.

"... Really?" I ask, to wich trixie nods.

"Well shit, guess we should-" I begin to say, but stop as I suddenly spot something flying towards me.

I'm not quick enough to do anything, except tank whatever the hell rammed into me.

Whatever this thing is, must be the same species as skystar, as I can feel talons gripping my shoulders.

I also notice that this individual is strong, as it drags me through the rocky sand, than lifts me into the air, spinning once and throwing me hard onto a rock wall.

"You will not touch my daughter again, metal being" The female says as I pick myself up.

Doing some quick maths, I deduce that whoever this is, must be the queen.

A very strong queen dam.

So she won't mind if I fight back right?

I notice the queen turn around, presumably to leave, but before she can, I raise my arm and shoot a repulsor blast, hitting her on the back.

I take this chance to quickly get up and fly over to her as she turns back around, throwing a punch to her chest, knocking her back into the ground.

She quickly recovers, sending a glare my way as she gets back up and spreads her wings, flying towards me.

I raise my left arm to shoot her again, but can't as she was already on me.

She knocks my arm away and throws a right hook at my face, making me stumble backwards a bit.

She sends another punch, this time with her left hand, but I catch it, and throw my own right hook, wich she catches.

We struggle for a moment, before she headbutts me, yanking her arm away from my grasp, using it to grab my throat, and slammed me onto the ground.

She gets up, but I activate my glove and boot thrusters, flying off from under her, making her fall down onto the ground. I pick up a bit of altitude, before flying back towards her, shooting a repulsor blast, wich she dodged as she got back up.

But she wasn't quick enough to dodge the punch I threw at her face as I flew to her.

I landed back on the ground, turning back to face the queen as she picked herself up.

"Yo, can you like, chill my guy?" I ask as my mask lifts off my face.

"I won't Chill" She said as she fully stood up.

I try to get a better look at her now, and see that she was like, eight feet tall or something.

She had light pink fur and wings, and a purple mane and tail, which honestly looked more like long feathers to me.

"I don't know how you kidnapped my daughter without alerting the entire palace, but be assured, you will be punished" The queen says as she gives me another glare.

"Whoa, hold on, your making a wild accusation dude, maybe if we talk about it?.." I start saying as I wave my hand around, but get interrupted by the queen.

"Quiet, we will speak once you are subdued" She says as she spread her wings again.

"Alright, have it your way then" I say as my mask recloses over my face, and I ignite my thrusters, flying into the air.

The queen also flies up to the air, colliding into me, sending us flying straight towards a rather tall rock wall.

My back collides with the ragged rock, causing sparks to fly off as my boot thrusters continue our ascent.

I try to pry the queen off of me, but can't as she held onto me and kept herself balanced with her wings.

She digs her claws more onto my shoulders, causing even more sparks to fly.

We eventually reach the end of the rock wall, and I take the chance to point one of my palms at her face and shoot a repulsor blast.

It hits her, forcing her to let go and fly back a bit.

I begin to fly towards her, but she quickly twirls and kicks me in the chest.

I hover back a bit, and before I can do anything, the queen flies into me again, making us descend.

I flail my legs around in an attempt to shake the queen off me, but just make our descend faster.

Which turned out to be bad, as we crashed hard on the ground, making the both of us bounce once, then slide through the rocky sand.

I stand back up, and see the queen had also gotten back up, and was quickly approaching me.

I throw a punch, which she dodges, and responded by throwing her own at my chest, than an uppercut, making me take a step back.

She takes the chance to grab me by one of my arms, twirl around and throw me hard towards another rock wall.

I ignite my thrusters before I hit the wall, and fly back at the queen, grabbing her by her shoulder's and slamming her onto a rock wall behind her.

As my feet land back on the ground, I pull my arm back to throw another punch, but can't as she kicks me off of her, sending me back a bit.

She spreads her wings again, and I raise both of my arms.

Both of my palms begin to glow as I'm about to shoot her with repulsor blasts.

But before we can do anything...

"Stop!!" Screamed a voice, who I recognized as skystar, making the both of us look over to where the voice came from.

I see skystar, and my friends hurry over towards us.

"Stop fighting!" Skystar pleaded as she ran up to us.

"Mother! These are my friends!" Skystar said as she gestured towards me, and the other two mares.

"Friends?" The queen responded in a scoff.

"Well, one of your "friends" has been currently occupied in a fight with me!" She exclaimed as she gestured at me.

"Hey, you know you started it right?" I say as my mask lifts off my face.

The queen just glares at me.

"He is kind of right you know..." Skystar said, making the queen squint her eyes at her.

"Can you two make up? Trixie would like to go back to sleep" She said as she yawned.

"Yeah, can we discuss things tomorrow? I've been sleeping on sand for like a week straight, and skystar offered a place to stay so.." I say, making the queen sigh.

...

"If my daughter trusts you"

...

"Then, I suppose I can give you all a chance" She says, making skystar smile widely.

"Yay! Thank you mother!" Skystar exclaimed as she ran up to me.

"Oh, I've got so much to show you mr Tony!.. after you've had a good night's sleep of course" Skystar said as she flashed me a smile.

I can already tell she's gonna be a good time.

*/---*/

My most faithful student

You shouldn't worry about this Tony Sparkle Stark, as he could very well be lying about being your family member.

That is something I should have probably told you about when you became the welder of the element of magic, and, well, the savior of Equestria.

There would be individuals who would probably lie about that type of stuff, for their own personal gain.

So for now, you should just forget about Stark, and if by chance you ever meet him again, please notify me immediately.

Your teacher, Princess Celestia

...
Twilight Sparkle lowered the letter from her magical grasp.

"So what's it say?" Spike asked from his basket.

"It says.. I shouldn't worry about Tony"

"Oh, well, that's good right? If the princess says you shouldn't worry about it, then issue solved!"

'Sigh

"It's not that easy spike, I mean, what if he actually is my cousin?! And, I didn't say anything? And now he'll be searching all of equestria for some pony he already met!"

...

"I think your freaking out over nothin" Spike said as he got in a more comfortable position.

"We'll, I'm going to sleep, good night twi" Spike said as he closed his eyes.

"Good night spike" Twilight said as she turned off the lights and laid down on her bed.

...

'i mean, if the princess says I shouldn't worry, than it's fine right?' Twilight thought to herself as she tried to go to sleep.

...

'but, what if he actually is my cousin?... And why do I need to notify the princess if I speak with him again?'

...

'Gah! So many questions! I'm not gonna be able to sleep tonight!' Twilight thought to herself as she grumbled.

Author's Note

Did the Iron Man vs Queen Novo fight go hard? Hopefully it did lol :twilightblush:

Chapter 11- Attack on hippogriffia, part 1

*/---*/

"You won't believe what I just saw!" Grubber exclaimed as he ran up to tempest.

"What" Tempest replied in an uninterested tone as she looked over at him.

They had been walking for multiple hours, and eventually made it to the beach near mount aris.

They were going to camp out there tonight, and would continue to venture out into the city at first light.

The plan was that they should arrive at hippogriffia by tomorrow afternoon.

"Ok, so, 'pant' I was looking for a spot to take a leak right? 'pant' and I was about to-" Grubber began to say as he catched his breath, but was interrupted by tempest.

"Just get on with it"

"Ok, well, that queen novo lady that you mentioned we were gonna be stealing something from, I saw her!" Grubber said, making tempest actually start paying attention.

"You saw her? Why was she out here? Is she still out here? What was she doing?" She asked quickly.

"Uh, I don't know why she was out here, but I did see what she was doing! She was in a fight!"

"A, a fight?" Tempest asked, a bit confused.

"Yeah, it was totally awesome! They were throwing each other around, throwing punches, attack spells, man, you shoulda seen it"

"Did you see who she was fighting?"

"Uhh, I couldn't see that well since it was dark, but I'm pretty sure it was some guy in a metal suit" Grubber said, making tempest's eyes widen a bit.

"Grubber, were you able to see what color the suit was?" Tempest asked with a serious tone.

"I actually did yeah, his suit had some glowy parts on it, so I was able to see it was painted red and gold"

"And who won?"

"Nobody, some other girls showed up and stopped the fight, that's when I decided to come back"

...

"Change of plans, were heading out now" Tempest said as she started standing up.

"Wait, what? why? I thought we were supposed to do it later, so it would coincide with the attack"

"Well, not anymore, the hippogriffs might acquire a powerful ally, we need to weaken them now"

"An ally? You mean the guy she was fighting? Why would they work together?"

"Right now, I'm not sure, but he's the same stallion who escaped me, so he might be warning them about me, or the fleet" Tempest said as she started walking towards the mountain.

"So c'mon, might as well knock two birds with one stone"

"Alright" Grubber said as he started to follow tempest.

*/---*/

"I must say Mr Stark, your armor is truly impressive, to come out of a fight against me with only scratches and dents" Queen Novo said as we climbed quite possibly the longest staircase ever.

We had arrived at the foot at the mountain, and started climbing the staircase embedded in it, because apparently skystar's home is at the peak.

It kinda feels like the stairway to heaven.

"Honestly, I should be the impressed one here, you've got to be the most badass queen I've ever seen man" I say, making novo chuckle.

"A charmer are we? Hm"

"So, I'm curious, why were you out there in the first place? If you thought your daughter had been kidnapped, why didn't you send guards or something?" I ask, to wich novo sighs.

"I felt it would have been faster if I went and confronted the alledged kidnapper myself, wich in this case, was you. Again, my apologies for attacking you"

"All good, I would have probably done the same"

"Oh? Do you have children?"

"No, but uh, I do have a cousin, she's actually why I'm out here in the first place, I'm looking for her"

"A cousin?"

"Yeah"

...

"Well, we can speak more in the morning, we're here" Novo said as we arrived at the end of the stair case.

I couldn't see much, since it was still dark, but I did notice a bunch of .. trees? Why are there a bunch of trees and grass at the peak of a mountain?

"Finally, will we be going to the palace?" Trixie asked as she walked up to us.

"Yes, just follow me" Novo said as she continued walking straight.

"Ohh I'm so excited! You guys will love it here!" Skystar exclaimed as she walked up beside trixie.

"Man, todays been crazy huh?" I ask amira, to wich she nods.

"Yes, it's certainly been hectic, I am just looking forward to a good rest" She said as her eyelids drooped a bit.

"Yeah, me too" I say as I continue walking.

That definitely sounds like a good plan, leave all of the discussions and talks until after I've slept.

...

I look around my surroundings.

Darkness.

Wait...

"Stark" A voice speaks from behind me, making me turn around and face a familiar looking dark blue pony.

"Oh great, it's you again, listen, I'm pretty sure I've already hopped and skipped your countries border so you can't do shit to me, so what do you want now?" I ask as I cross my arms.

"I just want answers, stark, I doth not want any conflict"

"Ok, I can maybe do that, what do you want to know?" I ask.

After a bit, Luna speaks up.

"Why are thou claiming to be twilight sparkles cousin?"

"Uh, cuz I am? Duh?" I say with a bit of a mocking tone, making luna squint her eyes at me.

"Do not try fooling us stark, you cannot physically be her cousin"

"Us? Dude we're the only ones here. Uh, anyway, you believe whatever the hell you want, but I'm telling you right here, right now, I'm twilight sparkles cousin, on god" I say.

Luna just sighed.

"You are truly a confusing one stark, but be warned, whatever scheme you are planning, will not work"

"Scheme? Man, I'm just trying to find my long lost family member, is that so wrong?"

...

Luna shakes her head.

"Well, I will leave you to your dreams, I leave thou with another warning, if you come back to equestria, you will be captured, understood?"

"Yeah, whatever, listen, if your anything like queen novo, than I'll actually take your threats seriously, cuz she can throw some hands bro" I say, making luna eye me questionably.

"Novo? You've met her? You're in hippogriffia?"

"Yeah, we fought you know, it was pretty cool"

...

"T- thy fought Queen Novo?! Y-" Luna began to exclaim, but stopped when I interrupted her.

"Wait! Quiet! You hear that?" I ask, to wich luna grumbled in response.

"Hear what?"

"Nunya"

"What is-"

"Nunyabuisness!!" I scream as I quickly mess with my arc reactor to shock myself awake.

'Zap!

"Ah!" I scream as a quick yolt of electricity courses through my body.

"That Luna lady better stop trying to interrogate me in my dreams man, this shit doesn't feel good" I say to myself as I sit up from the bed I was currently sleeping on and rub my face.

I wasn't wearing my armor anymore, as I had unceremoniously shoved it in my rooms closet.

Speaking of rooms, I had my own private one, as did trixie and amira.

The guest rooms of the hyppogriffian royale palace were pretty nice, all things considered.

I stand up and walk over to the window, seeing that it looked a bit early in the morning.

"Might as well check this place out' I say to myself as I walk over to my rooms door.

"This place nice as hell" I say to myself as I walk down another corridor.

The palace was a bit similar to the saddle arabian one.

But like, ten times better.

...

After walking for some time, I eventually come across a set of doors.

I head inside, and see that I've walked into what looks to be a dining room.

I look around the room, seeing that it was empty, and a long rectangular table in the middle.

I walk over to the table and take a seat at one of the chairs at the end of it.

I look around the room again.

Is a waiter gonna like, appear, or do I have to call them?

"Waiter?" I ask as I snap my fingers.

...

"Probably asleep" I say to myself as I sink into my chair.

...

I decide to take this moment of solitude to think back on recent events, like, say, my iron man armor.

Why did I get the mark seven, but not the mark six? Where did my mark five go? Will I know when I'll get new armor? Who knows.

And what about that purple pony from that weird ass town? Is she part of an army or something? Why was there a fleet there? Are they planning on invading a city?

...

Hyppogriffia is kind of close..

"Oh, stark, what are you doing here?" Asked a voice, that I recognized as queen novo, making me look over to the rooms entrance at the other side.

Queen Novo was standing there, giving me a curious look.

"Uh, I had a weird dream, so I decided to walk around a bit, and I eventually found this room, so I decided to chill here" I say as novo walked over to the chair at the other end of the table.

"Hm, well, I usually wake up and eat early here, I wasn't expecting company"

"I can leave..." I say as I point behind me at the door.

"No, it's fine, we might as well chat a bit, I do have some things I want to ask you" She said as another hyppogriff walked into the room.

"What can I get you?" The hyppogriff asks me.

"I don't suppose you have popeyes.. right?"

...

"Yeah, figured, just.. just get me a dam salad..." I say in a morbid tone.

The other hyppogriff nods, then leaves.

After a moment, novo speaks up.

"So, mr stark, you mentioned you had a cousin that you were looking for?"

"Yeah, shes kind of the reason why I ventured out here in the first place"

"I assume shes also of your species?" I must say, I have never seen someone like you, might I ask what your kind is called? And where your from?"

"We're called Humans, I'm from Arkansas, and also, my cousin is actually a pony"

"Really?"

"Yep, her names twilight sparkle, she's the protege of some, princess celestia or something"

"Celestias protege?.. your her cousin?" Novo asked as she raised an eyebrow.

"yep"

...

"Hm"

...

After an awkward moment of Novo staring at me with the calmest scrutinizing stare ever, the hyppogriff from earlier reentered the room with two plates.

As he laid my salad in front of me and left, I look over to see what Novo got, and see that she also got a salad, except hers had what looked like chicken in it!

"Wait, you guys eat meat?" I ask as novo forks up some of her salad and eats it.

"Yes, we eat meat, why, do you not?" She responds as she swallows her serving.

"I actually do, godammit I wish I knew that so I could've had that added in my food" I say as I fork up some of my own salad and eat it with a sigh.

.....

"I'm curious mr stark, who made your armor? They must be of unique talent to make suit of armor that channels magic" Novo asked after some time of eating our meals.

"I made it myself" I say, to wich novo hums in response.

"Is that so? What use do you have for such powerful armor?"

"Uh, to be awesome?" I say, making novo chuckle.

"You are an interesting one tony, you remind me of my daughter" Novo started to say as she finished her meal.

"Well, I'll be attending my duties then, hopefully we can talk more later. Skystar should awake soon, maybe she could give you a tour?" She said as she headed out of the room.

"Sounds good" I say as I stand up from my seat.

*/---*/

Princess skystar woke up in a chipper mood that morning.

She had friends! Actual friends!

They were nice, interesting, and awesome!

'Especially Tony' she thought to herself as she practically jumped off her bed.

He had that cool suit of armor! And he fought her mom, and didn't lose!

Skystar left her room and headed over to tony's guest room.

On her way though, she could have sworn she heard someone walking behind her.

"Huh?" Skystar said as she turned around.

She didn't see anything, except a flash of what looked to be purple.

...

"It's probably nothing" She said as she resumed her journey.

Eventually, she reached tony's guest room, and knocked on the door.

"Tony? Are you awake?"

There was no answer.

Was he still asleep?

...

"Wake up sleepyhead! We've got so much to do!"

...

She turned the nob, and found the door unlocked.

She opened the door to find the room empty.

"Oh, he's not here?" Skystar asked herself as she walked into the room.

'Does he wake up early like my mom?' She thought to herself as she looked around the room.

She noticed the closet door seemed to be bulging a bit.

Curiously, she walked over to it, and opened it.

She was met with Tony's armor, as it started falling forward.

"Wah!" Skystar screamed as she moved out of the way.

The armor fell with a loud :Clang!; Onto the floor.

To wich it proceeded to break apart into multiple pieces.

"Oh no!" Skystar exclaimed as she went up to the disassembled suit and bent down over the parts.

She broke Tony's armor! Now her new friends would be mad at her!

'Its fine, I can fix it!' Skystar thought to herself as she got to her knees and picked up two parts of the armor.

"Uh, this goes, here, and this goes, here!" She said as she tried remaking a leg.

It immediately fell apart.

"Hnnn" Skystar whined as she felt the beginnings of tears welling up in her eyes.

She finally got friends, and now she was gonna lose them! And they would hate her!

As skystar started to panic more, she heard hoofsteps approaching the room.

She looked over at the door, and saw stark standing there.

"Oh, hey sky-" He started to say, before skystar interrupted him.

"I'm sorry! I- I didn't mean to break it! It fell and.. please don't hate me!" She screamed, making stark go doe eyed for a moment.

"Hey, calm down, I'm not angry, it's fixable anyway" He says, making skystar break into a tearful smile and rush over to him.

"Oh thank goodness! I promise I'll try not to make you angry mr tony!" Skystar exclaimed as she gave him a hug and pushed his head into her chest.

After a bit, she broke the hug, and noticed that stark's cheeks were a bit red.

"Ai carumba" He muttered, making skystar raise an eyebrow.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Huh? Oh, nothin, don't worry about it" Stark said quickly as he waved one of his hands around.

"Anyway, your mom said something about a tour?..." Stark said, making skystar gasp as her eyes went wide.

"A tour! That's the perfect way to start the day! C'mon!" She said as she grabbed stark's hands and started to guide him through the castle.

*/---*/

'Trixie has finally gotten a good night's rest!' Trixie thought to herself as she stretched out her morning tiredness.

As she started changing back into her suit, she noticed the fingerless glove still on her hand.

"Ah, yes, tony did not teach trixie how to take this off" Trixie said to herself as she flexed out her fingers.

...

"Eh, it's fine, trixie doesn't mind it"

It could help her in a potential rematch with twilight.

Trixie smiled at that thought.

...

"Still, trixie should probably learn how to remove it"

She would like to take baths without a metal glove on.

Trixie decided that would be one of the things she finds out today as she finished slipping on her suit, cape and hat.

As trixie exited her room, she decided to wake up amira.

'Might as well' Trixie thought to herself as she walked over to the room across from hers.

'Knock knock knock

"Amira, are you awake?"

...

A response came after a moment.

"Yes, I am awake, do you need something?"

"No, I was just gonna ask if you would accompany me to find stark, I think he should be awake by now'

"Oh, yes I'll go, just let me put my clothes on"

"Alright" Trixie said as she leaned back on the wall next to the door.

...

After a bit, amira exited her room fitted with her suit, as she rubbed her eyes.

"Good morning amira, sleep well?" Trixie asked as she walked up beside her.

"Considering this is the nicest room I've ever slept in, and actually had a nice bed, than yes"

"Isn't that a bit morbid?" Trixie asked.

Amira just shrugged.

"Well, that doesn't matter, let's just try to make our way through this palace" Trixie said as they started walking down a seemingly random hallway.

The two mares continued to walk for a while.

They eventually came across somebody, more specifically, a hyppogriff guard, who was currently on the ground.

"That's probably not good" Trixie said out loud as the two of them approached the fallen guard.

Amira crouches down and places two of her fingers on the hyppogriff's neck.

"Is he?.." Trixie asked, a bit hesitantly.

"He's fine, just knocked out it seems" Amira says, as trixie let's out a sigh of relief.

"Thank Celestia, well, lets try to find stark quickly, huh?" Trixie asked as amira stood back up.

"Yeah, we probably should" She responded as the two of them started resuming their trek down the hallway, now at a faster pace.

*/---*/

"Oh, and this is one of the balcony's of my house! You can get a pretty cool view from here" Skystar says as we step into said balcony, and, yeah, views pretty cool.

"Looks nice" I say as we look out into the city.

Those trees I saw last night? There actually tree houses.

Like, literally tree houses, I'm pretty sure homes are embedded into the inside of the tree.

How does that even work?

"So what's next in the tour?" I ask as I look over to skystar, who was funnily enough, already looking at me.

"Um, how about the throne room?" She responds as she looks away.

"Isn't your mom like doing her queen business right now? Can we just like, walk in?"

"I'm pretty sure we can, yeah"

"Alright, let's see what this throne room about" I say as we head back inside the place, and start walking deeper into the palace.

"Hopefully this isn't rude to ask, but, what exactly is that glowy circle in your chest?" Skystar asked as she pointed to my arc reactor.

"It's uh, kind of like my second heart? It helps me live, and, it stores my magic" I say, coming up with that explanation on the fly.

I don't actually know how this reactor works In terms of my body, like, if something happens to it, am I dropping dead?

I guess considering I have an arc reactor lodged in my chest, I'm assuming that it's vital to my health.

"Oh, really? That's cool!" Skystar exclaimed happily as we continued walking.

"Yeah, guess it is"

"You'll love all the stuff we get to do here tony!" Skystar exclaimed as she pressed her face against mine.

We were currently in what looked like a courtyard, since we were walking to another part of the palace.. castle... Is there a difference?

I noticed that there seemed to be dark storm clouds in the distance.

Probably gonna rain later.

"I'll bet, but uh, I'm actually gonna leave, like, later" I say as we kept walking.

"Y- your leaving?" Skystar asks in a distraught tone as she walked up infront of me.

"Yeah, I gotta continue my little crusade to equador.. no, sorry, equestria, and find my cousin" I say as I stop walking.

"Oh.." Skystar said sadly as she looked at the ground.

...Man, now I feel ba-

"Can.. can I go?" Skystar pipes up after a bit, interrupting my thoughts.

"Go where?"

"With you! You know, on your adventure!" Skystar said with a cheery tone as she pressed up against my side.

"Um" I said, before skystar spoke again.

"Please?" She asked as she gave me the saddest face ever.

You would need to be a war criminal to say no to that.

"I mean, I would probably let you, but like, what about your mom? I'm assuming she won't be too eager to sign the permission slip" I say as I raise an eyebrow.

"I'm sure I can convince her!" Skystar exclaimed in a happy tone.

"Alright, if you say so" I say as we started walking again.

I notice the clouds were closer.

Is it me, or are they moving kind of fast?

As were walking, I catch what looks like a flash of purple quickly hide behind a pillar.

It almost looked, like a tail.

I stop walking and stare.

...

"Tony? What is it?" Skystar asked as she stopped walking and turned around to face me.

"Uh, I don't know, maybe it's just me" I say as I stretch one of my arms out and my bracelets started glowing.

"Oh, what are your magical bracelets doing?" Skystar asks, and almost like an answer, multiple pieces of my armor flew over to me, and started forming my armor.

Being my boots, chest plate, back plate, and gloves.

I didn't call the entire suit, since, well, I could just be imagining things.

"Whoa, you can summon your armor?" Skystar asked.

"Yeah"

"That's awesome!.. Why'd you do it?"

"I thought a saw someone" I say as I gesture towards the pillar and start walking towards it.

"Is someone there?" I ask as my gloves finish forming.

...

I slowly walk towards the pillar and raise one of my arms.

I shoot a repulsor blast at the pillar, receiving no response.

...

"Guess I was just imagining things" I say as I lower my arm and turn around.

"You weren't" said a familiar voice, making me quickly turn around and raise both of my arms.

Standing there, was that same purple mare from before, now joined by, .. what, an anthropomorphic possum?

"You again?! Did you follow me all the way here?" I ask as skystar walked up next to me.

"Who is she?" Skystar asked as she gestured towards her.

"She's some crazy lady who tried to attack and arrest me and my pals" I say, making skystar gives a small gasp.

"Why would she do that?"

"I don't know, she crazy or something" I say as I shrug.

"I'm standing right here" The purple mare says, making us turn back to face her.

"What the hell are you even doing here? Wouldn't this be like out of your jurisdiction if your a cop?" I ask, making the smaller guy grin at us.

"We're here to invade ya suckas!!" He says, making the purple mare slap him upside the head.

"Quiet!" She exclaimed as the smaller dude rub the back of his head.

"What?!" Skystar exclaimed as her eyes went wide.

"Invasion? Fat chance crazy s.o.b" I say as I raise one of my arms and have my palm start glowing.

"Skystar! Go get yo ma bruh! Warn her the russians attacking!" I scream as I shoot the purple mare with a repulsor blast, wich she dodged.

"Ok!" Skystar exclaimed as she spread her wings and quickly flew off.

*/---*/

"Can you explain what you saw?" Queen Novo asked as she walked down her thrones steps over to where stark's companions were standing.

"We found one of your guards unconscious on the floor" Amira said.

"You did? By chance did you see what happened?" Novo asked.

"We did not see anything, but trixie is certain he was attacked!"

"Well, this is rather confusing, from what I know, few kingdoms know of us, and even fewer consider us enemies" Novo said as she placed a claw on her chin.

...

"Maybe-" Amira started to say, before skystar suddenly burst into the throne room in a panic.

"Mother!" Skystar screamed as she flew over and practically crash landed next to novo.

"Skystar, what is it?" Novo asked with genuine concern.

She doesn't really see her daughter like this.

"It's tony! He's fighting someone!" Skystar exclaimed, making everyone else's eyes go wide.

"Who is he fighting?" Novo asked.

"Uh, he said they were russians or something? It doesn't matter! They said they were going to invade us!" Skystar responded.

"What?!" All three other individuals responded.

"Yeah! C'mon, follow me!" Skystar said as she took flight once again, while being followed by novo, amira and trixie.

*/---*/

Tempest shadow narrowly dodged the multiple beams of light that stark shot at her.

She noticed that his armor wasn't actually complete, and she had seen how it just flew over to him.

She wondered how that worked.

After dodging another beam, tempest rushed over to tony, sending a kick to his left side.

The kick connected with a :klang; making tony stumble.

Tempest winced a bit at the pain, but otherwise ignored it as she threw a punch to tony's exposed face.

He narrowly dodged it, but tempest just threw another punch, hitting him on the cheek.

Stark stumbled backwards as tempest quickly lit her horn and sent a short bolt of purple lightning at his chest, sending him backwards.

Before he could hit the ground though, stark ignited his thrusters, catching himself.

Before either could do anything else, a bright flash of light blinded tempest for a moment, before she was tackled by novo.

*/---*/

I watched as the purple mare was tackled by queen novo.

"Stark!" Exclaimed three voices, making me turn around to face my three friends approach me.

"Hey girls" I said as they walked up to me and I raised hand to rub my cheek.

That girl packs a good punch...

"Stark, are you alright?" Trixie asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine" I try saying reassuringly as I wince from the bruise on my cheek.

"Are you sure? It looks like you have a bruise tony" Skystar said as she gestured towards my cheek.

"Yes, I'm good, I'll just walk it off or something"

"Who attacked you?" Amira asked.

"You remember that purple mare from that weird town?" I start saying, to wich trixie and amira nod.

"Well, It was her" I finish as I turn around and see that multiple hyppogriff guards had joined in on the apprehension of the purple mare.

"Really? She followed us all the way here?" Trixie asked as novo started approaching us.

"Stark, do you know of that mare?" Queen Novo asked as she walked up to us.

"I know shes of some military, and an asshole"

"Skystar mentioned something about an invasion?.." Novo asked as she looked over to her daughter.

"Yep, her little friend said that they were going to invade us!" Skystar responded.

"Speaking of, where is that little dude? Your guys catch him too?" I ask.

"No, we've only apprehended the mare, we haven't seen any.. little dude" Novo responds.

"Oh, well, we should ask her right?" Trixie asked as I noticed that the storm clouds from earlier were practically on top of the city now.

It almost looked like there were... Things inside of the clouds.

"Uh, yo, novo, you might wanna mobilize your national guard my guy" I say, making all four females look over to me.

...

"The military" I say, making all of the females give an :o; of understanding.

"Why?" Novo asked.

"Cuz I think the invasion force is right there" I say as I point towards the clouds with one of my hands and stretch my other out to call the rest of my armor.

Author's Note

https://youtube.com/shorts/BDo8JJ8eKtU?si=K6Ivi3Al0faHUcum
(Mark seven partial suit up)

It was literally like the only video I could find of that clip.

https://images.app.goo.gl/KbLbdwxeXe8VqA118

(Iron Man mark seven)

It did not let me add the image, so I just put the link.

Chapter 12- Attack on hippogriffia, part 2

"I swear to god there's something lurking in those clouds man" I say as the rest of my armor flies over to me.

Novo takes a glance at the stormy looking clouds, then back at me.

"I think you may be right" She started saying as she let out an audible sigh.

"This is not how I expected this day to go..." She finished as she walked back toward her guards struggling with the purple mare.

"Ok guys, game plan" I say as I turn towards my three friends.

"I'm gonna go try to attack or at least distract the enemy in the clouds" I start listing off as I point my armored thumb towards myself.

"Amira, you go find the purple mares friend, he's a rodent or some shit, and little, but he can probably be a nuisance, so we might as well find him" I say as I point towards amira.

"Trixie and skystar, you guys help detain that mare, and take her to a prison cell so they can interrogate her later" I say as I gesture towards both females.

"Got it?" I finish saying.

"Yes sir!" Skystar said as she threw her hand up in a salute.

I return the gesture.

"Alright, let's do it then!" I say as I activate my glove and boot thrusters and fly off towards the clouds.

"Lets see what this suit can really do" I say to myself as i fly straight into the clouds.

Wich had what looked like a group of the same airships I had seen before coming out of it.

I also notice a bunch of those yeti lookin dudes hopping off the ships, onto the city.

"Probably not good" I say to myself as I fly over to one of the airships.

My hud scans the airship, finding that it was mostly made of wood.

"Then it shouldn't be a problem" I say out loud as I raise my arm and a compartment opens up from my wrist, holding a small missile.

I shoot it at the airships side, and as expected, it detonates and completely rips the side of the ship apart, slowly making it descend.

"Woo! Fuck yeah!" I exclaim wildly, as I pump my fist into the air.

"Alright, wich ones ne-" I start saying, but get interrupted as something hard crashed into me.

'Klang!

and sends me crashing down to the ground.

*/---*/

"A little guy..." Amira said to herself as she walked down one of the palace's hallways.

"Where could he be?" She asked herself as she took a corner.

After some moments of aimlessly walking, amira was debating on giving up, when she suddenly heard a door being opened near her.

"Oh yeah, tempest gonna be so happy.." a voice said, making amira turn towards the direction she heard it from.

Exiting a room, was a rather short individual, probably the one she was supposed to be looking for, holding what appeared to be... A necklace?

The male turned around, spotting amira and stopping in his tracks.

...

"Crap!" He said as he started running for his life in the opposite direction.

"Hey!" Amira exclaimed as she began chase.

*/---*/

I land hard on the ground, scraping my armor along the dirt as I crash into a tree.

"Did they shoot me with a fuckin cannon ball?!" I ask the air as I get back up.

I look around, noticing that I'm actually inside of the tree, and spot a startled hyppogriff family in a corner of the room.

I also spot one of the yeti guys bust in through the actual entrance.

He seemingly prepared to rush the family, not noticing me, so I quickly raise my hand, shooting him with a repulsor blast, sending him back outside.

"That was close, you guys good?" I ask as I fully stand up.

The hyppogriff's slowly nod.

"What's going on out there?!" Asked who I assumed to be the father.

"The cities being attacked" I say, making all three hyppogriff's gasp.

"Yeah, I know, its awful, but don't worry, I'll try my best to fuck em up" I say as I turn around and head to the hole I made on the tree.

"Wait!" Exclaimed a voice, making me turn around to face the smaller of the three hyppogriff's, presumably the daughter.

"Mr metal dude, w-who are you?" She asked as she looked at me with awe.

She was shorter than skystar, had pink fur and wings, dark pink claws and hoofs, and her mane and tail were a mix of blue and light blue.

I think of a possible badass response for a moment...

"I'm the iron man kid" I say as I ignite my thrusters and fly out of the home.

*/---*/

"Trixie has had her fairshare of invested fans, but you take the cake!" Trixie exclaimed as they walked down a corridor, gesturing toward tempest, who was currently chained up.

She just grumbled in response.

"So, your a russian? what's that?" Skystar curiously asked.

"I. Am not. Russian. I don't even know what that is!" Tempest exclaimed as she glared at skystar.

"But tony said your russian" skystar said.

"Tony's an idiot"

"Probably smarter than you, and whoever you work for" Trixie remarked snarkly as she waved her gloved hand infront of the mares face.

"May I remind you that this glove, and the armor he used to beat you in a fight are of his design?" Trixie said, making tempest raise an eyebrow in response.

"Really?" She asked.

"Yeah! He made them himself!" Skystar said, making tempest turn her head towards her.

'That's interesting..' Tempest thought to herself as she faced forward again.

If tony made his armor himself, than he very well could be smart, and even more of a threat than tempest though.

...

The storm king could possibly become unstoppable if he could get their hands on starks designs.

...

Hell, stark doesn't even have a horn, or wings, and yet made a suit that channels magic, and let's him fly? could he possibly make something to help with her horn?

...

'In the case the storm king doesn't keep his promise..' Tempest thought to herself as the three females continued walking.

*/---*/

I shoot a repulsor blast at another one of the yeti guys, sending him backwards.

I turn around and shoot two repulsor blasts out of both hands at another soldier.

I face a different direction, pointing my wrist at the air as a compartment opens and shoots a missile at another airship, destroying its front with the explosion.

Before I could pat myself on the back though, something hits me in the back, making me stumble forward.

I quickly turn around to face another soldier, pulling his arm back for another hit.

He sends it, but I dodge to the side and send my own punch as little boosters light up in my wrist, speeding up my hit as it connects to his gut.

As he clutched his gut in pain, I send a repulsor blast to his face, sending him backwards.

I turn around to-

'Klang!

"Not again!" I say to myself as I recover from the second cannonball that hit me, and notice the ships have started to basically bombard the city with even more canons.

'Dammit' I think to myself as I ignite my thrusters and fly into the air again.

*/---*/

"Gotcha!" Amira exclaimed as she threw herself in a tackle catch at the individual she was chasing.

"OOF! Dammit!" Grubber screamed as he started to try and struggle out of amiras grip.

"What even are you?" Amira asked as she stood up and stretched out both of her arms infront of her, while holding grubber.

"Ngh! I'm a hedgehog! Put me down!"Grubber said as he continued to struggle in amiras hold.

"I won't be doing that, master stark would like to speak with you" Amira said as she started turning around to head back the way she came from.

But as she took her first step, a cannonball crashed through the castle, passing what felt like inches from her, making her stumble and trip backwards, dropping grubber.

As amira tried getting her bearings back as she sat up, grubber rushed over to her and threw a punch at her face.

For a second, amira was dumbfounded, the next, she threw grubber her best glare.

"Uh, sorry!" Grubber said as he ran past her, grabbing the necklace and continuing his journey through the castle.

"Master Stark was right, little guys are pretty annoying.." Amira sighed to herself as she got back up and followed grubber, quickly cathing up to him.

"Your too fast this ain't fair!" Grubber screamed as amira grabbed him again.

*/---*/

A cannonball crashed into the corridor that trixie, skystar, and tempest were walking in, making trixie and skystar stumble and trip backwards in surprise.

Tempest wasn't really shaken by the crash, taking the chance to charge up her horn and zap her chains, quickly shaking them off, and made her way out of the castle through the hole erected from the crash.

"Ugh, what was that?" Skystar asked as she sat up.

"Trixie does not know.. wait, where is the mare?!" Trixie asked as she stood up.

"She must have escaped! We gotta catch her!" Skystar exclaimed as they exited through the hole.

*/---*/

I fly over to another one of the airships, raising my wrist, as small red lasers shoot out of it, easily making a small hole in the ship and causing it to catch fire.

I fly over to another ship, lighting it up with the lasers as well.

"Those are dunzo" I say to myself as I look around my surroundings.

There aren't many ships left, that's good.

"Lets bring em d-" I start saying, before something with incredible speed hits my shoulder.

'KLANG!!

I fall down for a moment, but catch myself with my thrusters.

I look over to my right shoulder, seeing that a small chunk of my armor from my shoulder had been torn off.

"Oh shit, the hell did they hit me with?" I ask, as another large spear looking thing flies over and narrowly misses me.

"Whoa!" I exclaim as my hud scans one of the still airborne ships.

"Harpoons? There shooting me with harpoo-" I start asking, but don't even get the privilege to finish as another one of said harpoons impacts me straight on the face, sending me down onto a different airship.

I crash on the deck, startling all of the soldiers that were there.

"Dam.." I mutter to myself as I sit up, rip my face plate off, and throw it aside.

I stand up, just in time to move out of the way of a tackling soldier.

He crashed into two other soldiers that were running towards me, sending them to the floor.

"Bozos" I say out loud as I ignite my thrusters and fly into the air, shooting a missile down at the airship as I do so.

*/---*/

'How is the attack failing?' Tempest thought to herself as she ran through the battle ridden city.

Even though they had the element of surprise, and a sizable attack fleet, it looked like they were currently losing.

If the multiple airships currently destroyed on the ground were anything to go by.

She was about to berate herself for somehow allowing this to happen, before a bright flash of light blinded her for a brief moment.

"For fu-" She briefly muttered to herself before getting tackled by skystar, and falling to the ground.

Tempest attempted to fight the hyppogriff off, but couldn't as her movement was restrained by trixies magic.

Then a punch hit her in the face, knocking her out.

...

"Wow, you've got a strong hand trixie!" Skystar said as she stood up.

"Uh, I guess trixie does? Hm" Trixie said as she flexed her gloved hand.

"Oh, do you think starks glove had something to do with it?"

"Maybe? We should ask him later, he's barely told trixie what this glove can do!"

"That sounds good! But, what do we do about her?" Skystar asked as she gestured towards tempest, still knocked out on the ground.

"What was stark's order again? Ah yes, we needed to take her to a prison cell" Trixie said, as skystar snapped one of her fingers.

"Right! How could i almost forget? Silly me!" Skystar said as she grabbed tempest's hands.

"Here, let trixie assist you" Trixie said as she grabbed tempest's hoofs, and they hoisted her up, making there way back towards the castle.

*/---*/

I land in front of a group of hyppogriff guards, startling them a bit.

"Hey guys, I took down all the ships, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem to take care of the few soldiers that are left"

"You took down all of them?" One of the hyppogriff's asked.

"Yeah, spread the word, we won" I say as I ignite my thrusters again and fly off, this time heading for the castle.

...

"Who was that guy?" Asked another soldier.

*/---*/

Queen Novo looked upon her damaged city from one of the still intact balcony's of her castle.

'My city almost fell..." She thought to herself.

An unknown enemy attacked them by surprise, and said enemy had full intention in taking them out.

And even though they very well had the capability to have an easy victory, the enemy still lost.

Just then, she spotted the very reason they probably didn't lose flying towards the castle, more specifically, her.

Novo took a few steps back as stark landed on the balcony.

His armor was damaged, having many scratches, dents, and was missing small chunks on his shoulder, his sides, and was fully missing his mask.

"Hey Novo, glad to say we aren't boned!" Stark said as his armor opened up, and he stepped out.

"So I see..." Novo said as she looked off at the city.

...

"Something wrong?" Stark said, making novo look back at him.

"Hm? Oh, no, don't worry about it, we'll talk later" Novo said as she placed a reassuring claw on my shoulder, then walked into the castle.

*/---*/

I watch as novo goes into the castle.

...

"Probably nothing" I say to myself as I walk up to my armor.

I stare at it for a moment.

...

I am literally iron man, and I defended a city of mythical creatures from an invasion holy shit.

...

"Things can only go uphill from here!" I say as I laughed to myself and walked into the castle.