Sunlight beamed through the window of the crystal castle, bathing the sleeping alicorn in its warm glow. Twilight let out a small yawn before she opened her eyes, stretching out her limbs as the warmth filled her body. A small smile crossed her face as she listened to the sounds of the morning. Chirping birds, laughing foals and…power tools?

Her eyes snapped wide as she realized what that meant and she leapt out of her bed, racing towards the door. She just barely registered that Spike’s bed was empty as well as she passed, the sound of the tools getting louder as she raced down the hallway. The sound was coming from her own personal workshop, which she threw open the doors to and rushed inside.

The culprit of the noise was one Tony Stark, who was not wearing his armor. Instead he was wearing a black shirt with the name A.C.D.C on it, while black sweatpants covered his legs. A welding mask was down over his eyes and both gloved hands held a power tool, a drill in one and something she’d never seen before in the other.

And on her workbench lay the Iron Man suit, completely taken apart and laid out in some kind of order. It took Twilight a second of looking to realize the parts were split up by anatomy, arm pieces in one pile, leg pieces in the other, before she noted that Tony was currently working on the helmet.

Finally, she spied Spike sitting in a chair not far from the door, a drink in one claw as he watched the genius work. Twilight walked over to him and sat down, a nod from Spike showing he had noticed her.

“So, how long has he been in here?”

“Since two in the morning. Woke up to use the bathroom had found him hard at work,” Spike replied.

“How did I not hear him before now?”

“He only started with the power tools a few minutes ago. He spent most of the night taking apart the suit and looking over the pieces, before conversing with his…Jarvis about what needed to be done,” Spike said, before he looked at Tony’s face and stroked his chin. “You think I could grow a beard like that? And do you think Rarity would like it?”

“Socket wrench, size six, if you wouldn’t mind,” Tony said. Twilight looked from the man to Spike, not sure what to do.

“Um, is he talking to you, or…”

“Oh no, he’s talking to somepony else. Wait for it, you’re going to love this.”

A whirling sound grew closer and a moment later a small, mechanical device hovered into the room. To the unobservant it would look like a metal rectangle with helicopter blades, but Twilight’s eyes widened when she saw what it was.

“Is that my toaster?!” she half screamed. Her toaster floated into the room, lowering a small claw that held a wrench at the end of it. Tony snatched the wrench and went back to work, with the toaster hovering next to him as he did. Deciding she had enough for one morning, Twilight stood and walked over to Tony.

“Tony, a word if you wouldn’t mind,” Twilight asked through gritted teeth. Tony stopped his work and raised his mask, the grim and sweat covering his face telling Twilight he had indeed been at this all night. “Tony, I am more than happy to have you in my home as my guest while we focus on getting you home. However, we need to establish some rules.”

“Ask before you touch my things. Check with me to make sure that it’s alright to use my shop. Talk to me if you have any questions about the world. And for the love of Celestia, don’t turn my toaster into a floating kill bot!”

“Kill bot? Scorcher? Nah, he’s my little assistant,” Tony said and Scorcher let out a beep. “I built him when I needed help getting a tool, holding something or to get food from the fridge and was too lazy to get it myself. By the way, there is way too much healthy stuff in there.”

“Where did you even get the materials to build a…helicopter toaster?” Twilight asked.

“Well, your toaster, for starters. But pretty much everything else I needed was in a strange device I found collecting dust in your closet. Took it apart and repurposed it.”

“The Pinkie sensor? You took apart the Pinkie sensor?”

“Yeah, it was clear you weren’t using it,” Tony said, before he lowered his mask and fired up his tools once more. “Now if you excuse me, I’ve got to get back to work. There are numerous structural fails and openings in the suit thanks to my battle with Doom. You can watch if you want, but I need to focus.”

Tony returned to his work, ignoring all the other questions Twilight put forward. After giving up, she walked over to Spike and sat down next to him. “Why didn’t you stop him from taking apart my appliances?”

“Look Twilight, I do a lot of things around here, but fighting toasters is not one of them. And I know better than to interrupt mad scientists. I live with one,” Spike said with a smile. “Besides, watching Tony work on that suit is…fascinating. I’m not one for science, but what that thing can do is…amazing. You know that early he had each individual piece fly around by itself? How do you make something that can do that? And without magic, no less.”

Even Twilight had to admit that it was impressive. The two watched Tony work for a while in silence, Twilight learning far more than Spike. The way the Iron Man armor was put together, the way it could fold and bend without compromising integrity, all of the little pieces that made the whole work. It was fascinating to her. The pair lost track of time as they watched, until finally, Tony reassembled the suit, smiling down at his work before he pressed a button and the eyes and chest of the suit lit up, showing that Iron Man was alive once again.

“And that takes care of that,” Tony said. The man took off his welding mask and wiped his brow, smiling over at Twilight and Spike. “Hope that wasn’t too boring for you two.”

“It’s incredible,” Twilight replied, walking over to the suit and looking over it. If she hadn’t seen it disassembled with her own eyes, she never would have believed that it came apart. Now that it was whole, it looked like the most solid suit of armor she had ever seen. She was about to compliment Tony on his suit, but then her nose picked up on another issue that needed addressing.

“Ugh, okay, you’re suits fixed, but now we need to fix you,” Twilight said with a slight gag. “When was then last time you bathed?”

“Um, considering the attack by Doom, our counterattack, being blasted to this world…three days, at least. And I’ve been doing a lot of fighting since then,” Tony added up. Twilight gagged in response before using her magic to throw open the door.

“Alright, come with me. We’re taking you to the spa so you can get yourself cleaned up. I’ll contact Rarity and see if she can get you some clothes made in the meantime,” Twilight said, before looking at the armor. “Um, do you just want to leave that here or…?”

“Hang on. And now for my next amazing trick,” Tony said, pressing a button on the suit. To the amazement of both Twilight and Spike, the suit began to fold and collapse, in ways that Twilight had never thought possible for armor. The limbs retracted, the legs folded in and even the helmet came apart into numerous pieces. And when the armor was finally done compacting, all that was left was a metal backpack resting on the table with the same colors as Iron Man.

“Pretty cool, huh,” Tony said. He picked up the backpack and swung it over his shoulders, before motioning to Twilight. “Alright, princess, I believe we were going to visit the spa?”

Twilight led the way, leaving Spike in the castle to watch over it. Twilight tried to ignore the fact that Spike was riding around on the toaster after they left and decided to talk with Tony while they walked.

“So you said you were fighting somepony called Doom before you came here,” she began. “Is Doom like their supervillain name or is it their actual name?”

“Victor Von Doom. That’s right, his family name is literally Doom. Poor guy was pretty much doomed to be a supervillain from the day he was born,” Tony said. “But yeah, he’s a real bad customer. Tyrant of a foreign nation, one of the most powerful suits on the planet, master of both technology and the mystic arts. He’s not a villain I would ever want to go up against by myself unless I had to. And even then, I would want every advantage I could get.”

“Is his suit better than yours?” Twilight asked, goading Tony on a bit.”

“Yes,” Tony replied without any hesitation. Twilight’s eyes widened a bit at his honesty, before she tried changing the subject.

“I’ve sent a letter to Celestia explaining your situation and why you’re here. She sent me one back, asking me to tell you she apologizes for the way she treated you yesterday. After seeing you defeat the Wonderbolts and hearing the name Tirek, she assumed you were bad news.”

“Please Twilight, what she did was far from the worst thing a woman has done to me. One time a woman stole nearly all of my suits and brought down my building on top of me to try to bury me with my legacy. And that was just the first time my suits got stolen.”

“You’ve had your suits stolen before? That’s terrible.”

“Yep, one of the worst things to happen to me. As well as had my friends mind controlled to attack me, being mind controlled myself, fighting alien invaders, fighting the actual Invaders, a civil war between heroes, not proud of that one, battling cosmic horrors, Thanos and his gauntlet, that was a day, Galactus, the Living Tribunal and the One Above All. So yeah, good times.”

“And you’ve gone up against all of this, from aliens to cosmic beings, with just your suit?” Twilight asked. “No magical powers, no super strength…just you in a suit of armor against the cosmos?”

“Yep. Alongside the other heroes, of course. I may be a billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, but I’m no idiot. Alone, I’m pretty great. But with my friends, we’re unstoppable.” Twilight gave Tony a smile at that, the most genuine smile he had seen out of her yet.

“You know, I think I get what you mean,” Twilight said with a nod. Tony’s further questions were cut off when he realized they had reached the spa, a large building where he could see two mares standing inside, inviting the pair in with large smiles.

“Think this is how a horror movie I saw started,” Tony muttered, before Twilight pushed him through the door.

“The only horror around here is how you smell. Now come on, we need to get you cleaned up. The second half of Celestia and Luna’s letter said they were coming to visit this afternoon and we’ve got to get you decent.”

“So keep pants on then?

It was a better day than Ashgrove could had hoped for.

He was sitting at a massive, oaken table with the other deer from his village all around him. All of them were drinking, eating and singing out as one, with laughter filling the air all around them. To his left sat Serenity, who rested her auburn head on his shoulder, smiling up at him with her hazel eyes. For today was a day of celebration, as their greatest foe had been slain.

The elder at the head of the table, a massive, leaf green buck with huge antlers, stomped his hoof and the table fell silent, all eyes on him. He cleared his throat before he lifted a wooden mug, a smiling spreading across his face.

“My friends, it gives me great pleasure to sit here with you today. For our greatest foe, the Chimera Devil, the beast that has claimed so man of our own, is finally dead. From this day forward, we are free of its evil!”

The whole table let out a cheer at that and the elder had to bang his hoof again to get them under control.

“There are numerous beings that deserve a toast, but first, let us start with our guest, the one responsible for saving us. The man in the metal mask, Doctor Doom!”

The gathering of deer all cheered together as one and looked towards the other end of the table. Sitting at the end was the man in the metal mask, his green cloak fully restored and his armor shining. He nodded his head at the cheers but said nothing otherwise.

“Thank you, stranger, for all you have done for us in such a short time,” the elder said, before turning his head towards Ashgrove. “And let us raise a toast to Ashgrove, who not only found this savior from another world, but, despite Doom being an alien, chose to show mercy instead of fear and risked his own life to save Doom’s. And in doing so, save all of us! To Ashgrove!”

The deer’s let out another massive cheer for Ashgrove, who wasn’t sure if he was blushing under all the praise. Then Serenity kissed him on the cheek and he knew his face was red. But suddenly the cheering stopped and all had gone quiet. For at the end of the table, Doom had risen to his feet and was staring at Ashgrove.

“Yes, you, young deer, aided Doom in his hour of need, risking yourself for Doom. Doom knows this. Doom will remember it,” Doom began, before he lifted his own mug towards Ashgrove. “And know that just as you aided Doom, one day Doom will aid you. For Doom always repays his debts.”

“This is Doom’s promise.”

Next Chapter: Stark Talks to Royalty Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 54 Minutes