Iron Pony

Iron Pony

Chapter 1

In the ‘Alexandrite's Palace’ cosine in Las Pegasus, an Earth Pony with a light brown coat and a black mane that's the same length as Big Mac’s and a light blue glowing circle for a cutie mark, is gabbling. It’s Tony, and he's surrounded by mares and body guards. He rolls some dice and when they stop, he says, “Work it! Come on!” A mare then walks up to Tony and touches him slightly. “All right. Hey!” Tony said to the hot mare.

“So you really have the Rain Colt suite?” She asked.

“Shhh ... Don’t discuss...”

Just then, a zebra, who’s name is Zephyr then walks up, with a Air Force uniform on, showing his rank being Lieutenant Colonel, interrupting the tow. “Excuse me. Can I get in here please?”

“Hey! Gosh, I can’t believe it.” Tony said when he sees his freind. “They rope you into this?” Tony asked Zephyr.

“Yeah, they said you’d be deeply honored if I presented you with the Apogee Award, here, in Equestria.”

“Yeah, yeah, okay. Hey, just a couple more and then we’ll get going.”

“So, here you go.” Zephyr said as he gives Tony an acrylic trophy with a globe at the top.

“Oh, jeez.”

“To Stark Jr, the Apogee Award.”

“I ran a little late ‘cause they don’t have clocks up in here.” Tony the takes the award and places it in his saddle bag. “I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah, it’s okay.”

“Wow! Would you look at that? That’s something else.” He then give it to a unicorn mare to hold with her magic. “I don’t have any of those floating around.” Tony said as he reaches out to some cosine coins and continue playing. “We’er gonna let it ride!” He then takes the dice and places them in front of the mares mouth. “Give me some help, will you? Give me a little something-something.” The mare then blows on the dice. “Okay,” Tony then places the dice in front of Zephyr, “you, too.”

“I don’t blow on a colt’s dice.” Zephyr firmly said.

“Come on, honey bear.” Zephyr then knocks the dice out of Tony’s hoof onto the table. “There it is. Lieutenant Colonel Zephyr rolls! And...” When the dice stop, they land with the ones up.

“Snake eyes. Line away.” The head gambler pony at the table said.

Zephyr then shrugs at Tony’s lost. “That’s what happens.”

“Worse things have happened. I think were gonna be fine. Color me up, Wild Bill.” Tony said. “Okay. We’re gonna double up. Right here. Red or black?” Tony asked one of his guards. “You got a chance in this race. What do you think?”

“No, sir.”

“All right, it’s on you, Zephyr. Red?”

“No. It’s not my...” Zephyr began, only to be cut off.

“Black? Red?” Tony said as he places 3 million bits on the table in the red on the Roulette side of the game table.

“It’s 3 million bits, man. I can’t do that.” Zephyr pointed out.

“No offense, but you weren't exactly...” Tony began, only to be cut off by the game owner.

“Sir, that bet exceeds the table limit.” He said.

“Bubble Berry, this is still Alexandrite's Palace?” Tony said to a guard across the table, who nods a yes. “Then were good.”

“It’s a bet.” The game owner said, slightly terrified of the guard behind him.

“That’s 3 million right there.” Zephyr pointed out.

“Yeah.” Tony casually said as the game owner rolls the ball. “You ready for tomorrow?” Tony asked his Air Force Zebra friend.

“It’s a hot zone, man. Right in the middle of Afghanistallion” Zephyr pointed out. “I don’t think we should be going...”

“No, I want a live demo in a live theater. It adds immediacy, and...” Tony then stops when the ball lands on...

“Eleven, black.”

“Bubble Berry, can we comp the room? Maybe some eggs? Let’s hit the slots.” Tony said as he and his body guards head for the slot machines, with an unwilling Zephyr following.

“No slots. Come on. Tony!” Zephyr called out, and after some negotiation.

“What’s better, winning all that money or not caring about it?” Tony asked Zephyr as they head for the exit.

“Nothing’s real with you.” Zephyr pointed out. “You got the world. I’m out.”

“All right.” Tony said as the two friends shack hoofs.

“Tomorrow, don’t be late.”

“Yeah, you can count on it.”

“I’m serious!”

“I know, I know.” Tony then walks by a few ponies that are dressed like Alexandrite. “Render unto Alexandrite that which is Alexandrite's. There you go.” Tony said as he gives the Apogee Award to the pony dressed up like Alexandrite. Outside, before Tony can reach his limo, he and his guards are stopped by a unicorn reporter. She has a blond mane, a light yellow coat and a reporter’s microphone with stars for a cutie mark. She also has a blue dress on.

“Mr. Stark!” She said as she ran up to them. “Excuse me, Mr. Stark! Starphone, Vanity Fair Magazine. Can I ask you a couple of questions?” She said.

“She’s cute.” One of the guards told Tony.

“She’s all right?” Tony said as he turns around. “Hi.”

“Hi.” Starphone said back. “It’s okay?”

“Yeah. Okay, go.” Tony said.

“You’ve been called the Star Swirl of our time. What do you say to that?” Starphone asked.

“Absolutely ridicules. I’m not a Unicorn, I can’t use magic.”

“And what do you say to your other nickname? ‘The Merchant of Death’?”

“That’s not bad. Let me guess. Berkley?” Tony said.

“Brown, actually.”

“Well, Ms. Brown, it’s an imperfect world, but its the only one we’ve got. I guarantee you, the day weapons are no longer needed to keep the peace, I’ll start making bricks and beams for baby hospitals.”

“Rehearse that much?”

“Every night in front of the mirror before bedtime.”

“I can see that.” Starphone said.

“I’d like to show you first-hoof.”

“All I want is a serious answer.”

“Okay, here’s serious. My old colt had a philosophy, ‘Peace means having a bigger stick then the other guy.’”

“Thats a great line coming from the guy selling the sticks.”

“My father helped defeat the Nazis. He worked on the New York Project. A lot of ponies, including your professors at Brown, would call that being a hero.”

“And a lot of ponies would also call that war profiteering.”

“Tell me, do you plan to report on the millions we’ve saved by advancing medical technology or kept from starvation with our intelli-crops? All those breakthroughs, military funding, honey.”

“Wow. You ever loss an hour of sleep your whole life?”

“I’d prepare to loss a few with you.” Tony said, wiping off the smile from Starphone's face.

==================================================================

After a wild night, Starphone is sleeping in Tony’s bed. “Good morning.” An electronic voice said as the room lightens up, startling her awake. “It’s 7:00 a.m. The weather in Malibu is 72 degrees with scattered clouds.” The windows completely clear, showing the ocean outside. “The surf conditions are fair with waist-to-shoulder high lines. High tide will be at 10:52 a.m.” Christine is no longer in Equestria, she's in Malibu California, USA.

In the living room, which has a piano and a circular couch and some modern art, Charm is looking for Tony. She is also wearing a bath robe. “Tony? Hey, Tony?” She finds a blue control panel and when she touches it, it shocks her slightly and turns red.

“You are not authorized to access this area.” The same computer voice that woke her up said.

“Yikes.”

“Thats JARVIS. He runs the house.” An Earth Pony mare said, startling Starphone. The mare has an orange mane, a light orange coat and a rose for a cutie mark. “I’ve got your cloths here. They’ve been dry-cleaned and pressed, and there's a car waiting for you outside that will take you anywhere you’d like to go.”

“You must be the famous Sundancer.”

“Indeed I am.” The earth pony known as Sundancer said.

“After all these years, Tony still has you picking up the dry-cleaning.” Starphone said as she picks up her cloths from Sundancer.

“I do anything and everything Mr. Stark requires, including, occasionally, taking out the trash. Will that be all?”

==================================================================

In Tony’s workshop, he is listing to punk and is taking apart the engine of a hot rod. He then looks at a screen in front of him. “Give me an exploded view.”

“The compression in cylinder 3 appears to be low.” JARVIS said.

“Log that.” Tony said as Sundancer enters the code and turns down the music, while talking on a cell phone.

“I’m gonna try again, right now.” She said on the phone.

“Please don’t turn down my music.” Tony said as Sundancer walks behind him.

“I’ll keep you posted.” Sundancer said as she puts the phone up. “You are supposed to be half way around the world by now.”

“How’d she take it?” Tony asked about Starphone.

“Like a champ.”

“Why are you trying to hustle me out of here?”

“Your flight was scheduled to leave an hour and a half ago.”

“That’s funny, I thought with it being my plane and all, that it would just wait for me to get there.”

“Tony, I need to speak to you about a couple of things before I get you out of the door.”

“Doesn't if kind of defeat the whole purpose of having your own plane if it departs before you arrive?” Tony said as he finishes and gets up.

“Barry called. She’s got another buyer for the Jackson Pollock in the wings. Do you want it? Yes or no.”

“Is it a good representation of his spring period?”

“Uh ... No. The Springs was actually the neighborhood in East Hampton where she lived and worked, not ‘spring’ like the season.”

“So?”

“I think it’s a fair example. I think it’s incredibly overpriced also.”

“I need it.” Tony said as he walks by Pepper. “Buy it. Store it.”

“Okay. The US MIT commencement speech...”

“Is in June. Please, don’t harangue me about stuff that’s way, way, down...”

“Well. There haranguing me so I’m gonna say yes.”

“Deflect it and absorbed it. Don’t transmit it back to me.”

“I need you to sign this before you get on the plane.”

“What are you trying to get rid of me for? What, you got planes?”

“As a matter of fact, I do.”

“I don’t like it when you have plans.”

“I’m allowed to have plans on my birthday.” Sundancer said.

“It’s your birthday?” Tony asked.

“Yes.”

“I knew that. Already?”

“Yeah. Isn't that strange? It’s the same day as last year.”

“Get yourself something nice from me.”

“I already did.”

“And?”

“It was very nice.”

“Yeah.”

“Very tasteful. Thank you, Mr. Stark.”

“Your welcome, Miss Dancer.” Tony then drinks some coffee Pepper brought and leaves.