Yes, Tony is a hippocampus. Why? Why not.

Howard Stark did not know what he was getting into when he "accidentally" used the summoning spell with Peggy Carter. Tonillus had answered the call since none of the others had seemed interested in leaving the ocean, and he had always been curious about the human world.

So when Howard was dramatically reading aloud out of the ancient tomb that the director and founder of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division had brought over, due to the fact that Stark was one of the few people she knew that could read ancient Greek, they did not expect anything to come from it. They certainly did not expect a wave of water to appear from nowhere, directly in front of Howard. From the water, a mighty stallion formed, complete with the scaled bottom half of a large fish.

"Oh my god, I've summoned a mermaid," Howard exclaimed, and the shiny black stallion snorted.

"Not quite. But I'm definitely prettier than a mermaid," Tonillus tossed his head in a dramatic hair flip, and adjusted his front legs as his useless tail shifted, unused to being on land. The thick fins that were usually at the end of his legs were now hooves, and he found the air to be odd to move around in. Tonillus still had his gills, now closed and almost invisible on the side of his furred neck.

"What are you?" Peggy asked, a good deal of wonderment covering her voice, but also still very cautious.

"I'm a Hippocampus," Tonillus replied. His voice was accented oddly compared to the humans', but he was well skilled in English. "What was your purpose for summoning me?"

The humans looked at each other then. As it turned out, they had not actually summoned him on purpose. That was a bit disappointing, seeing as it was the first summons in decades, but Howard offered for him to stick around for a bit nonetheless.

The female human had jumped at the chance to talk to him, asking all sorts of questions, the answers to which humans weren't allowed to know. He gave her what he could, and distracted her from the missing pieces of information with clever horse puns. She seemed to catch on to what he was doing, but thankfully didn't pry.

Howard's questions were more geared towards how Tonillus could even exist in the first place, and when they got into an argument over magic, Tonillus discovered something that beat even the greenest of seaweed.

Howard started rambling about science, evolution, biology, anything he could think of to explain what Tonillus was. Tonillus, in turn, told him he had no idea what he was talking about and explained that he was but a humble seahorse that could only do a bit of illusion magic.

"You don't know anything about science?! Did you even go to school?" Howard paused when Tonillus got a gleeful twinkle in his eyes, "...please don't make a fish joke."

Tonillus laughed, "if science is so much better than magic, why don't you teach me?"

And so he did. Peggy had long gone by this time, tired of their debate. Howard brought out multiple thick textbooks, a chalkboard, and a pointer, then proceeded to give Tonillus a crash course on grade school to high school science and math. It didn't take long. It turned out that Tonillus actually learned quite quickly, and soon they found themselves doing college level equations.

The next day, both of them woke up on the floor of Howard's lab, the man himself slightly groggy and sore while Tonillus was in some serious need of water.

"What's wrong?" Howard asked in concern when Tonillus had tried and failed for the third time to pull himself up off the ground.

"I need water," he rasped, his rich voice now coming out scratchy. Howard's eyes widened, seeming to realize that Tonillus was, in fact, a sea creature, and he rushed to the bathroom and came back a moment later with a cup of tap water.

He held it up to Tonillus' mouth, but the seahorse just knocked the cup over with his muzzle, spilling the water all over his pelt. He sighed in relief was the water sunk into his skin. It wasn't as good as sea water, but it would do.

All in all, it was an awkward morning after that. Howard offered breakfast, but Tonillus told him he probably wouldn't have anything that was in his diet. Tonillus kept waiting for Howard to show him to the door, and Howard kept waiting for Tonillus to bring up the fact that he probably wanted to leave.

It was Howard that broke first, "we're acting like middle school lovers, avoiding each other like this. If you want to stay, I could teach you some more about science. The mansion has plenty of room, and plenty of water." He had started off strong, but ended a bit embarrassed. Tonillus, however, jumped on the offer.

"Sure! If you wouldn't mind. This is the most interesting thing that's happened in centuries."

Howard smiled, and it was the start of a beautiful friendship.

If the rest of his species could see him now, they would probably be nickering in disappointment. Usually, Hippocampi tended to stay far away from humans and their problems, but Tonillus wasn't exactly a usual Hippocampus. Sure, he traveled with the heard, he socialized, hunted for food, did all the normal Hippocampus things; but Tonillus would often be gone for days, even weeks, off on his own adventure. He grew bored of monotony easily, and often found himself making trouble or exploring places he really shouldn't be exploring. It had gotten him in trouble with the other Hippocampi on numerous occasions, but eventually they had given up trying to make him conform. They would probably not be too concerned with his absence, giving the old excuse of, "Well, that's Tonillus for you!"

What they would be concerned of, however, was the fact that he was living with humans. Many humans, actually, since it turned out that Howard had a mate and was some kind of royalty, with many servants working in his large house.

Tonillus, who had been dubbed the nickname 'Tony' when Howard grew tired of saying his full name, was first introduced to Maria Stark. She was a kind soul and gazed at him with wide amazed eyes, gently stroking him mane. Tony, naturally, ate up the attention, even joking that Maria might just leave Howard to become Tony's mate.

It was longer before he was introduced to the servants. The first two weeks of his stay were spent soaking up as much information as he could from Howard. Howard was happy to oblige, glad to have a student that could keep up with him, and even started to learn a thing or two about Tony.

He quickly learned of Tony's diet, consisting of sea plants and animals. Usually, Tony was given sushi, but they were trying to get him used to land plants like apples and carrots. Tony still couldn't stomach any land meat.

He also learned that like an amphibian, Tony could not survive without water for long. It rejuvenated him and healed his injuries, and while seawater and salt water worked best, plain old tap water was just fine.

Howard ached to perform experiments on Tony's magic, but unfortunately, like all Hippocampi, Tony was not very adept at it. His specialty lied in illusions, tricking the mind, but Tony could not do tangible things like transformation or element bending. That was fine though, since Howard was still able to pick up some traces of an unidentifiable energy signature, which kept him occupied.

After their 'learning high', when the novelty presented to both of them had worn off a bit, Tony was presented to the trusted staff of the mansion. Some looked a bit freaked out, but most took it in stride. Especially the butler and his wife, Edwin and Anna Jarvis.

Tony made quick friends with them, enjoying Edwin's quick sarcastic quips and Anna's natural grace and widened. Jarvis, as Tony had taken to calling Edwin, took it upon himself to remind Howard and Tony to eat every once and a while when they had gotten a bit too caught up with whatever they were doing in the lab.

While with Howard, Tony had a teacher and a person to pit his brains against, Maria took to mentoring him in a different way. She would tell him human stories and explained how the world worked on a social level, teaching him what human's meant when they said and did certain things, and how to respond. She was quite a successful socialite, and Tony could see how she and her husband worked well together as a team.

While Howard taught him science, Maria told him stories, and Jarvis took care of all of them, Tony took it upon himself to pay them back. He would help Jarvis out in the kitchen and while cleaning without being asked, putting a smile on the man's face. He would give Maria his own, much older and fanciful, stories, that she would enjoy and listen to with rapt attention. As for Howard, he would provide magic whenever the man asked, sometimes even using his illusions to help out with the budding Stark Industries, making it seen like there were more inventors than reality, which in turn encouraged inventors to sign up. It was a bit underhanded, but what they didn't know couldn't hurt them, and it only helped Stark Industries in the long run.

All in all, Tony liked his new life. It was much more exciting than the ocean, and he had more people that understood him. Of course, just when he was settling in, things had to go changing again.

It had been almost a year now that tiny had been living with the Starks. Business was booming, Tony was now making his own inventions, and the staff had long since gotten used to seeing him around, sometimes running around in the yard for exercise.

However, Tony had noticed Maria becoming more and more asked with the press lately. Finally, when she came back from a gala looking all sorts of annoyed, he asked her what was getting to her.

"They keep asking me about having a child."

"Well… do you want a foal?" Tony rolled his head. He wasn't quite sure how to go about this conversation. Hippocampi did not often have foals, but it seemed to be a common occurrence for humans. Apparently, it was expected of them to have at least one. No wonder there were so many of them.

Mafia pierced her lips. "No, I don't think so. I wouldn't have enough time to give the baby, and Howard certainly doesn't. It would probably end up feeling neglected, and I don't want that. Plus, you're practically my child already," she ended on a joking note.

Tony's ears perked up at that, an idea thing through his mind, "why don't I do it?"

"Do what?"

"Be your child," Tony knickered in excitement. At Maria's look, he explained, "All you need is to get the press of your back, right? And you say I'm practically your child? Well, I also happen to be skilled in the art of illusions."

Maria's eyes widened in understanding and he leaned forward excitedly. Slowly, she nodded, thinking the plant over in her mind. "It… might work. Can you truck the cameras?"

Tony huffed and tossed his mane, "You have so little faith in me! Don't worry, I can truck the cameras, but I'd have to physically be there. And it's important to remember they're illusions, not solid, so if anyone touches me they'll still get a hands full of beauty, fur, and scales."

Maria nodded, now also gaining an exciting light in her eye, "Oh, this will be fun. I like a challenge."

Tony have her a horsey grin, bumping her with his muzzle.

Howard was dubious at first, but after Tony showed him his illusion- a perfect combination of Maria and Howard- he was more on board. It took Tony a bit of practice, but eventually with Maria's help he got the illusion to stop sinking into the ground and perfected the mannerisms of a child.

The first time Tony had to go out in public, he was nervous. He had never had to twist so many minds at once before, not to mention alter the light that the cameras picked up. He was less concerned about the people, he could do that in his sleep, but the cameras were a different story. They didn't have brains where Tony's magic could influence the visual centers, instead he would have to alter the light the camera picked up with its lenses.

It was difficult, and draining, and by the end of the day Tony was more than ready to hit the sack. Maria thanked him profusely, preparing him a large bathtub full of salt water to regain his energy.

Of course, their little stunt did not come without consequences. The next day, there was a sharp knock on the door, answered by Jarvis.

"Hello Ma'am. Mr. Stark is in his lab, would you like me to bring you?"

"That won't be necessary Jarvis, thank you," Peggy Carter replied, striding into the mansion like a woman on a mission. Tony lifted his head from the large, plush, couch he had been resting on, and neighed out a greeting.

"Hello, Tonillus," she said with a smile, slightly caught off guard to see him still in the mansion, but not completely surprised given that she knew what Howard Stark was like.

"Call me Tony," he replied easily, dragging himself off the couch with his front legs, red and gold tail dragging on the ground as he approached her. Peggy was still a bit disconcerted when confronted with a horse that was able to open its mouth and speak English, but she found Tony's personality and charm to be distracting enough. "Not that I'm not glad to see you, but what brings you here, oh mighty Director?"

Upon being reminded of her purpose, Peggy scowled and strode off again without replying, leaving Tony to awkwardly gallop after her.

"Howard," she called out in a commanding voice as she entered the lab, "you have some explaining to do."

Said man cautiously looked up from the project he was working on, looking ready to retreat at a moment's notice.

"I do?" He asked, trying to sound innocent but mostly succeeding in sounding fearful.

"You did not tell me you had a son," she glowered.

Both Howard and Tony paused at that, before letting out eerily similar snorts of laughter, considering Tony was a horse.

"Peggy, Peggy, I don't have a son," Howard laughed, trying to sober up when her glare intensified.

"Explain."

"Okay, okay! The media was bothering Maria, so Tony decided to use his 'magic' to pretend to be a human child. It's fascinating stuff!"

He then went on a tangent about the energy readings he was able to pick up when Tony was using his magic on a large amount of people. Tony, as always, rolled his eyes at how Howard always inserted imaginary air quotes whenever he said the word 'magic.' It was an old argument, and one they both knew would probably never be settled.

Peggy interrupted his rambling, "You're saying that you brainwashed the world into believing that Tony, the mythical creature that lives in your mansion, is actually your toddler aged son?"

He might have been wrong, but Tony thought he detected a healthy amount of incredulity and exasperation in her tone. "Hey, it's not brainwashing. They just aren't seeing what's really there."

"And what happens when this blows up in your faces?" She admonished them, crossing her arms.

"It won't," Howard assured her confidently, but she didn't look convicted. "We've planned it all out. We'll say he's home schooled and we'll only take him out in public every once in a while, when Tony's sure he can handle it. He can even manage touching!"

Peggy looked back and forth between the two of them, finding herself sandwiched between double puppy dog eyes, and she sighed in defeat. The reaction of triumph was immediate, and she was sure that if they could, the man and horse would be high giving each other.

This was only supposed to be a one shot, but I got carried away... oh well.