After being satisfied with his fishing session, the dark man now stood outside of Ponyville's local library, briefcase in hand as he knocked on the door.

It opened, revealing spike, who looked up at the man, asking "Can I help you?"

"Yes, is Twilight Sparkle here?" The dark man responded.

Spike looked back towards their room, saying "Yeah, but I think shes bus-"

The dark man interrupted, saying "Can you send her down? I need to speak to her" As he pushed spike out of the way and walked into the library.

Spike frowned, whispering "Rude" To himself as he fetched the lavender unicorn.

A moment later, Twilight walked down the stairs,
asking "Good afternoon, spike said you wanted to see me?"

The dark man nodded, answering "Yes, I needed to talk specifically to you, as i felt you were the only person I could tell this to, since it involves the safety of the princess" Causing Twilight to gasp.

She exclaimed "What?! What do you mean?!" As the man reached into his coat, and pulled out a photograph.

He presented it to the mare, asking "Have you seen this man?"

Twilight looked at the picture, recognizing the face of Tony Stark, answering with "I have, yes, what about him?"

The dark man placed the photo back in his coat, saying "He has been sent here on a mission to assassinate Princess Celestia, and to establish the traitor Nightmare Moon as the ruler of Equestria"

Twilight reeled, saying "T- that's impossible! I didn't know Stark from long, but I know-"

"When was the last time you saw him?" The dark man asked, interrupting someone else once again.

"Well, Just before me and my friends went to confront Nightmare Moon, right here"

"And was she defeated?"

Twilight lied, saying "Yes" Since that's what Celestia had ordered her to do incase any pony asked, as to not cause a panic.

The dark man turned around, saying "I know she wasn't, if your not willing to work with me, than it's obvious you don't care about the princess, even though you may be the only one able to save her" As he began to walk towards the door.

Upon that accusation, Twilight easily folded, exclaiming "Wait!"

The dark man stopped, as Twilight began debating with herself in her mind.

'Who even is this guy? How do I know he isn't lying about Stark? Then again, I didn't know him for long, there's no way I could know everything about him, so maybe he is evil. He.. was the only other person to know where Nightmare Moon was... And this guy doesn't have a tail or mane, is he a human too?'

The dark man spoke up, saying "Well? Are you truly worthy of being her faithful student?" Snapping Twilight out of her thoughts.

"Of course!"

The dark man then dropped the briefcase to the floor, saying "Good. I'm sure somebody as smart as you can figure these out" As he opened the door, leaving with "Don't fail your princess"

Outside, the dark man looked up to the sky, thinking to himself 'Im sure Stark will appreciate it'

Once the man was gone, Twilight dropped to her knees and opened the case, finding multiple blueprints inside, which showed the prototype of some type of strange suit, named-

"Whiplash"

Two weeks later

Tony sat inside of his office in the newly founded Stark Industries, skimming through multiple holographic blueprints and plans being presented by Jarvis, thanks to a pair of glasses he materialized.

They varied from the creations of washing machines, cellphones, cars, to weaponry.

He sighed, saying "If only we could print these" as he then accessed his watch menu, hoping to find a printer.

He didn't.

Rubbing his temple, Stark continued with "Jarvis? You mentioned that Equestria had more technologically advanced cities, right? I don't think Canterlot is going to cut it if we want to produce things"

"Yes sir, if you want the best city to have a factory, it would be Manehattan"

Stark chuckled at the pun.

"Ok, then we'll just have to go there. Is there a reason the nations capital is so far behind?"

"That would be because it is where the princesses reside, they need to keep certain appearances up you know"

"It's also probably because the city's built on the side of a damn mountain. Who thought that was a good idea?" Stark began to say as he leaned back in his chair.

He continued, asking "Do we have anything else other than guns to show at the presentation next week?" Referring to a showcase he would do outside of the building to the public, showing them some of the products the company would make.

One of them being guns, since that is something he could conjure, thanks to the War Machine armor being technically Tony's.

"If we can get the necessary equipment, we could use this building to produce lightbulbs, allowing you to showcase them"

"For this world? That's probably going to be revolutionary, so that's fine" Stark said, just as a stallion, one of the many workers Prince Blueblood provided, knocked on the door, before opening it.

"Mr Stark? There's somepony here to see you"

Stark leaned forward, asking "Who is it?"

The worker looked behind him, answering "I'm not sure.. only that she asked to see you"

'Maybe an applicant?' Stark thought to himself as he said "Let her in"

The worker nodded, allowing a mare who wore a brown cloak to enter the room.

Stark greeted her, asking "Good afternoon, ms..." As he waited for the mare to say her name.

Instead, she just removed the hood, revealing the face of Nightmare Moon.

"Oh! It's you!" Stark exclaimed, as he stood up from his seat and approached the alicorn.

"Are you ok? You kinda disappeared on me back-" He began to say, but stopped when Nightmare Moon interrupted him, saying "I'm here for only one reason, Stark" As she crossed her arms.

Stark arched an eyebrow, asking "O- oh, and that is?"

The mare then pointed at the man's arc reactor, answering "You will teach me how to use that"

Stark looked down at his arc, saying "Ah, that? You don't technically use it per sey, it's kind of just acts as a second heart basically, so don't break it" As he tapped on it.

Nightmare Moon furrowed her brow, asking "T- that can't be it!"

Stark placed a hand on his chin, answering "I don't know what to tell ya, I guess it does make someone stronger, just automatically" As he then approached the mare, saying "Well, if that's all you were here for, then I'll accompany you to the exit, since I'm heading out myself" As he approached the exit to his office.

The alicorn stayed standing where she was, exclaiming "Hey!" At the man, in a much more higher pitch voice than she intended.

Stark turned around, as Nightmare Moon cleared her throat, saying "I'm sure your aware that because of your actions, I'm now in a far worse situation than when I returned from the moon" As the man rubbed the back of his head, saying "Right, sorry about that, you were threatening to get rid of Saturday mornings though" Making the alicorn scoff.

She continued, saying "So, as your rightfull princess, I command you to provide me a roof to sleep under!" As she crossed her arms once again, with an added grin.

Stark smiled, saying "Gotta say, your a lot cuter in this new form of yours" Which left Nightmare Moon absolutely dumbfounded.

The man continued, ignoring the blushed scowl the alicorn was throwing him, saying "Anyway, sure, you can stay here in my office" As he pointed to a couch nearby, saying "It ain't much, but that's gonna have to be your bed for now" As he turned to the door, leaving with "If you need anything else, like food or water, just ask Jarvis, he's in the back"

A moment after Stark had left, Nightmare Moon punched the nearest wall, leaving it cracked.

She then brought her fingers up to her cheeks, feeling that they were still warm.

"Ugh..."

Outside of the building, Stark turned his head towards the direction the train station was located.

"Jarvis? Have one of the workers send a letter to Blueblood, tell him to meet me at the station, and to bring some money"

"Yes sir"

Just as the man began walking, he was stopped when someone tapped his shoulder.

Turning around, Stark saw a white coated, blue maned royal guard.

"Something I can help you with officer?" Stark asked as he placed his hands on his hips.

The guard responded "The princess wishes to see you" As he then turned around, and began walking away, saying "Follow me"

'I probably should, it wouldn't benefit me to piss of the monarchy, especially now that I'm harboring Nighty' Stark thought to himself as he followed the guard.

He was led into an alleyway, where a fancy looking carriage was parked, the guard walking up and knocked on it's door, saying "Your highness? Mr Stark is here" To which he received an inaudible answer, afterwards saying "You may enter" As he opened the door.

Stark nodded, as he climbed inside, seeing Princess Celestia sitting on one side of a small table.

He sat across from her, asking "Princess, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

Celestia smiled, offering the man a cup of tea as she said, "When I heard that a member of a species i had never heard of moved to Canterlot, and had already established a business, I had to see for myself who exactly this man was"

"The drink is safe sir"

Stark accepted the cup, asking "Well your looking at him, but that can't be the only reason someone like you had to take time out of their day to see me, right?" Receiving a hum from the princess.

"No, and as much as I dislike prying, I must know where exactly your getting your funding from, since you didn't go through the common process to found your company" As Stark took a sip of his tea, thinking to himself 'I've had worse'

He then answered the question with "My funds? Your nephew's providing it" Much to the surprise, and possible dismay to the alicorn.

"Is he now? Well, that's very generous of him" Celestia started to say, as she offered a plate of cookies with her magic, which Stark happily accepted.

She continued, asking "If I may ask, what exactly is the purpose of your business?" As Stark took a bite of a cookie, answering "It's a tech company, so we'll basically make many devices that would benefit many pony's day to day life" As he took another sip of tea.

Celestia thought to herself for a moment, decided to check something by asking "Technology? By chance, will you be making weapons as well?"

Stark only nodded as he ate another cookie.

'Thought so. Just what are you planning Blueblood?' Celestia thought to herself.

The alicorn wished Blueblood did infact fund this company because of the kindness of his heart, but she knew better.

With a small sigh, Celestia said "Thank you for your time, Mr Stark, that will be all" To which the man took one final sip of tea before stepping out of the carriage, leaving with "Thanks for the snacks!"

Once outside, Stark began making his way to the train station.

The dark man stood outside yet another home somewhere in the Equestrian countryside, he wasn't bothered to know exactly where, all he cared about was how well the inhabitants inside would play their part.

He knocked on the door, with it opening a moment later to reveal an earth pony mare, who had a yellow coat, alongside a white mane, who whore a pair of grey pants and white shirt, her cutie mark being a pot and a pan, and a depressed expression.

The mare said "Sorry, I'm not interested" as she went to close the door, but couldn't as the dark man placed his hand on the door, not allowing it to be closed.

He said "Your father is sick, right?" Causing the mares eyes to widen like dinner plates, as she squeaked out "W- what?"

The man continued, saying "It's a real shame, really, your father's illness is probably lethal. If you were a unicorn, you could fix it just like that!" As he snapped his fingers, all the while the mare closed her eyes, tears threatening to slip out.

The dark man then said "But, you aren't. Your just an earth pony" As the mare chocked out a sob.

He then placed his hand on the mares shoulder, saying "But don't worry, I will help you" Making the mare open her eyes and face him.

"Y- you will? How?" The mare asked.

The man responded "I shall grant you a gift, do my best in teaching you how to use said gift, and all I ask in return, is a promise that I can count on you with a favor when the time comes"

The mare decided to trust the man, mainly due to her desperate situation, saying "Please, come in, you can tell me more about this offer inside" As she fully opened the door to let him in.

The dark man walked inside, thinking to himself 'To make such an innocent and vulnerable mare into another adversary for Stark, that will truly be Nefarious'

"Might I ask what this is about? I was a bit busy before the letter arrived" Blueblood asked as he and Stark both sat down inside of a train carriage.

As the train began to move, Stark answered "It's about production, Canterlot isn't going to cut it, so I'm headed to Manhattan to purchase a factory"

"Ah, of course, I'm assuming that's why you need money?" Blueblood asked, receiving a nod from Stark.

Blueblood continued, saying "Well, if it will benefit your company, then I'm more than glad to provide the necessary funds needed" As Stark leaned back into his seat, saying "Right, hey wake me up when we get there alright? Gonna take a nap"

"Very well"

Author's Note

Another short chapter, but hopefully good build up.

https://youtu.be/yr8cDwAqfoo?si=73tcvmuW0uTqBHO3