The name's Tony Sparkle Stark

*/---*/

"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.