Infinite Harmony

Chapters

The meeting of the gods
Assemble, heroes of Courage!
Arrival of Death
Meeting of the heroes

The meeting of the gods

A soft fluttering of purple wings could be heard through the large library as the young alicorn flew around circles in what the outside observer can only describe as ‘maddened glee.’

“Heheheheheheh!” she giggled.

In truth, however, she was merely enjoying one of the perks that came with being a royal goddess in Equestria. For now, the royal decree by Princess Celestia that made certain corners of Castle Canterlot’s library inaccessible, was lifted.

Once, where there were the biggest and meanest looking of royal guards guarding locked doors of the purest ivory in stone silence, there was now only squeals of joy. The kind only the extremely bookish get when tomes whose names had never even struck their ears suddenly become available to them.

After five straight minutes of happy flying, Twilight Sparkle finally landed on the marble tiles of this particular formerly-forbidden wing of the Royal Library, and sat at a desk there.

“Alright Twilight. Get hold of yourself! Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.”

She closed her eyes. For several seconds, Twilight repeated this until, she thought, she had reached a state of calm.

“Now--” she opened her eyes.

She couldn’t help herself.

She began tapping her forehooves together so fast that they became a blur and the shockwaves from them were causing the entire room to shake and buckle and she was giddy with excitement all over again.

“Which one should I read first!?”

Before her laid shelves with rows upon rows of brown tomes and binding books. The manner in which they towered above her made her release another small and quiet squeal of glee. As her eyes gazed over the shelves, she noted one particular book that seemed to glisten beyond the others as well as call to her. Her eyebrows arched in a curious fashion and she flew up to one of the top shelves and grabbed the book with her magic.

“Hmmm…” she said, rubbing her chin. “ ‘The Infinitus Acorum’…”

On it was the title and, emblazoned in gold, there was an infinity symbol that looked like a two headed snake eating itself beneath said title.

Sitting back at her desk, she plopped the gleaming tome onto it and began leafing through the pages containing the title of the chapters within, foregoing the Table of Contents or the Index because, hey, when you can process information at super-speed, looking at those things isn’t as fun as watching the pages flap from the right to the left and then from the left to the right at speeds that should, by all rights, cause them to combust.

Deciding on a section of the book to actual start reading in earnest, she stopped her leafing and said aloud the name of the section she decided to stop at.

“Hrmmm…‘The Legend of the Infinity Gems...’ ”

“Long ago, before time, before space, before all physical laws and everything they govern as we know it, there existed a being. An anomaly. One with might enow to bend all known fragments of reality, harm all souls within, crush all minds within, warp all space within, empower those within, and bring an end to all time within.

“It would not be boasting to call this being, this anomaly, God. The One. The True. The Absolute. The Only.

“But, this being, this anomaly, was unaware of its creative gifts, its potential. Unaware that it could split the lonesome void in which nothing but it existed in with but a thought and give birth to myriads of reality fragments that mortals could only dream of and that many of whom, were incapable of.

“Instead, as time, or whatever it’s successor was before it, passed, this being, this anomaly, God, succumbed to the lonesome void, the nothingness.

“In its never ending grief, with but a thought, it killed itself.”

Twilight’s eyes widened in shock at this. She took a step back and trembled at what she had just read, “Wh--what type of pony could do that to himself? Why would anypony take their own life? It’s unbelievable,” the purple mare thought to herself as she looked at the pages, a hoof to her mouth in horror at the idea. She was always taught that life, ANY life, was a precious thing and to take it was to lose a piece of yourself. Not in any tongue she knew, not in Equestrian, Germanian, Sponish, Prench, Griffonian, or Minotaurian, was she aware of any word or series of words that could adequately convey how heinous of a crime such an act was.

She was beginning to suspect that whoever had authored this book was a special kind of deranged, even more so than Ponyville’s famous ‘Barking Mare.’

And yet...her curiosity got the better of her. As morbid as it was...she found herself drawn back to her desk with the intent of continuing to read about this macabre legend.

She had to know what would happen next and how it would all end.

“Though from such an entropic action, the first act of death in creation, a paradox arose.

“For it was from such an entropic action, the first act of death in creation, that creation itself and all of its fragments began, along with time, space, energy, matter, and the physical laws as we know them today.

“In this being’s death, came life.”

Twilight lifted her muzzle from the tome and rubbed her temples, still trying to reconcile that somepony’s suicide could have such a positive effect.

Yet she kept on reading.

“In this being’s death, arose six gems. Six gems said to contain the fractured remains of this being and all of its creative abilities within.

“Yet make no mistake: whomsoever wields all six gems will not use them for the purpose of construction. Rather, their power will corrupt their wielder, if said wielder is not already corrupt, for the sole purpose of wasting such potential for destruction instead.

“For the stench of the original being’s death is strong in its six remains and in all mortal hands, it WILL turn the wielder towards embracing death as the ultimate absolute of reality like the original being did long ago.

"Beware of these gems of death. Beware of them, these gems of death that bend reality, hurt the soul, crush the mind, warp space, bring power, and end time. Be wary of them, these Infinity Gems, for in all mortal hands, they will doom all fragments of reality to die.”

Twilight sat the book down from her magic, her eyes still in shock about what she had just read. Could it be true? Could there be a pony just wishing for death on a universal scale? Could there be a pony resourceful enough to gather these gems and accomplish such a macabre goal?

She shook her head at that question.

Of course there was. There was a being bent on chaos after all who could warp reality to his whim on a planetary scale.

Narrowing her eyes in determination and the desire for knowledge, she took off to where Celestia was holding court, wanting to find out more about these stones and creature.

However, she was unaware of events transpiring elsewhere.

For in this vast multiverses of worlds and beings, there were places where the destinies of man and equine were being played out by creatures with powers far beyond those of mortals.

**********************************************************************************************************

A few short hours ago...

Deep in space, within a dimensional partition separated from the rest of the universe long ago, there laid two distinct worlds ruled by a great yet divided race called, The New Gods.

The first was a planet of infinite beauty, pristine goodness, and ruled by a benevolent people. This world, New Genesis, was an Eden for all who came with heroism in their hearts and a burning desire to see light prevail over the cosmos.

The second, was an inverted and distorted mirror image, known as Apokolips. A literal hell on earth, with massive torrents of flame belching into the atmosphere from firepits in the ground that dotted the landscape with frightening frequency

The people here suffered from being enslaved by a monster who fancied himself not ‘a’ god, but THE GOD.

THE NEW GOD OF EVIL!

This creature was known as Darkseid. “Desaad, turn the scanner to quadrant 615,” he said, leaning forward as he sat on his throne, putting a hand to his chin.

“Yes, lord Darkseid!” a man in a purple cloak said as he raced to the side of his keyboard and began to type the sequence into the keyboard that sat next to a spherical holographic display, showing stars of many bright colors swirling around one another.

Silently, the mad god watched as the globe zoomed in on one of the stars, showing images of men in costumes fighting criminals and standing against beings in grab just as strange. As his red eyes gazed at the world that unfolded before him, his mind was taken back to an event that happened only a few years ago.

Of a war between two massive titans that were much closer to having the divine right to call themselves God than even he, though he would not admit it to anyone and would reduce any being he told this to, to their base atomic components with his O-Mega beams if he did. A war between his Universe and another, similar one. These two ‘Gods’ had set up a competition between their champions to determine which Universe would live and which would die. He had no part in that war, nor did he care.

The war, however, introduced him to a being with just as much ambition as him and just as much of a great desire to see them carried out. Though they had a fight over...certain ideological differences, he had discovered a fact about that world that had piqued his curiosity.

When the two Gods had left this world and separated the Universes again, he had thought the item he wanted to gain was lost to the ages.

Recent events proved him wrong though.

“S--sire! It seems that this universe is slowly dying from an unusually powerful zombie infestation!” Desaad said, cowering in fear as Darkseid glared in anger. “b--b--but it seems that this universe is very close to the one that we’re searching for! I believe that if we go to the next one, we’ll find the main one you seek.”

“Very well then. Continue your search for Universe--616,” Darkseid commanded, his voice low and deep. Smiling, he admired the bright red gem that sat in the middle of the device as it glowed brightly in the center. He would have to thank whoever sent that gem here to Apokalips, for it was that gem that had sent him on his quest the being similar to him.

“Sire! We have found him!” exclaimed Desaad as the screen zoomed in on a large starcraft shaped like an alien skull.

“Excellent,” Darkseid said, leaning back in his chair. Letting loose a low chuckle, he smirked devilishly. “Hack his comm system. It is time to have a conversation with the ‘Mad Titan’ once again. If all goes well, perhaps it might even by me more time before we inevitably clash once more.”

**********************************************************************************************************

On board the ship, within the command center, a large purple man dressed in a blue outfit stood vigilant in front of a window to the side of him and his command throne. His black eyes gazed across the lifeless landscape of space as it passed by the window. “Isn’t lovely, my lady?” he asked of no one in particular, placing a yellow gloved hand onto the window. “An endless void of death and dying that stretches out for miles. A potential graveyard of death all ours to enjoy,” the man continued to say, just stealing a glance over his shoulder at a statue of a female grim reaper. “Tell me, lady death, what can I do to please you?”

The statue remained silent, keeping a quite look upon the purple creature before ‘her’.

“What’s that, my love? There’s a new player in all of this?” the man asked as he walked up to the statue, caressing its chin softly.

“Lord Thanos!” yelled a soldier as he ran into the chamber.

“What is it, fool?!” Thanos boomed, looking down at his little lackey.

“There is a man on the comm link! He says that he has something you might want,” the soldier said, leading Thanos into a large room that had a holographic display in the center.

“Put him on,” Thanos said, looking at the display in the center.

With a light fuzz and static, the holographic image came into view, revealing Darkseid as he stood with his hands behind his back.

“Greetings, Thanos.”

Thanos’s eyes opened wide as the memory of the battle between him and Darkseid came flooding back.

“Darkseid! Prepare all batteries for fire!”

With a cold calmness, Darkseid raised his hand, “Parley. I trust you have rules of engagement in your Universe?”

“Of course. After all, it is those rules that say it is better to fire first upon a known enemy and make inquiries later.”

“Hmmm...while I cannot deny the logic of such a strategic and tactical policy, in fact, I myself could have benefitted from its use in the past, what would you do to yourself if you later found out that killing me now would ultimately bring you two steps back from embracing your ‘Lady Death?’

Thanos stared at the screen, into Darkseid’s soul-less red eyes with a gaze equally as soul-less.

Neither of them blinked.

After ten seconds though, Thanos let out a sigh of disappointment. He rationalized that firing upon Darkseid would leave a bad taste in his mouth because he did not like the idea of using his weapons on a fool. Especially a fool leading him into something he’d likely regret like a moth to the flame.

“Very well. Why have you requested an audience with me, Darkseid?”

Darkseid smiled as he lifted up a red gem from the device and held it in his palm, “I figured, this may interest you.”

“An infinity gem! But, how?!” Thanos asked, “I thought that those ‘heroes’ had taken the gauntlet away from Adam Warlock and split the gems up a year ago.”

“Ah, so that is what happened,” Darkseid said, looking deeply into the gem before him. “It seems that a powerful mage of yours split the 6 gems off into three universes to prevent them from joining onto the gauntlet once again. It so happens that the power gem fell into my plane of existence and through trial, error, and the sacrifice of many of my slaves, we were able to access its unfathomable power to peer through realities and talk to--”

“--good for your slaves,” Thanos said, waving off their memory. “Now give me my gem and I will search for the other five on my own. You’ve surely leached off of it enough to have energy reserves that would allow you to send it to me without needing it to power the machine you’re presently using to have this conversation. The fact that you’re holding the gem now is evidence of that. ” Thanos demanded, holding out his hand.

“No. I have a different offer,” Darkseid pulled the power gem away from the screen. “You see, I have a more enterprising offer. What if I were to tell you that, while using the power gem to scan the multiverse, I had found a similar power source in another plane not too far from here?”

“What!?” Thanos asked, shocked at the news as he rose from his chair.

“Yes...it seems that, while my men were peering through multiverses, they discovered gems that have similar energy to

the Infinity Gems. Ones that represent life as much as these gems can be used to represent death. They are called...the elements of harmony,” Darkseid said, standing to the side of his screen to show an image of five necklaces and a tiara with six gems inside them. “The items that they adorn are of little consequence. What is important are that those six gems resonate with the virtues of life: Honesty, Loyalty, Laughter, Kindness, Generosity, and Magic.”

“I care not for life, only death,” Thanos said, showing not an ounce of kindness in his words.

“I am quite aware of your hopeless Nihilism, Thanos,” Darkseid said. He rubbed his jaw with the back of his hand as though it was sore. “In fact, I can still feel the blows we exchanged when our conflicting mindsets lead our bodies to conflict. That being said, I seek to RULE life, and those gems will be useful in that goal,” Darkseid said, bringing up an image of the elements next to him on the screen.

“Appropriately managed, I could force all of my slaves, to bow before me in undying loyalty even the best of my indoctrinators could not achieve. To force the people of any world to give themselves to me and so much more. Picture it! The virtues of life all at my command! The seeds of Yargsil at my fingertips! Such a tool would be better than the anti-life equation itself! And that, is where you come in.”

Thanos leaned forward in his chair with his chin in his hand. He looked to the side for a moment in consideration before facing the screen again. “I am listening,”

“I will have my men come to you and upgrade your ship for multiversal travel. Afterwards, you will go into this world of harmony, and simple pluck the elements from whatever meager defense the natives can bring forth,” Darkseid said, bringing up an image of the world in question from orbit.

“And how exactly do I benefit from all of this?” Thanos asked, sitting back in his chair.

“You? Why simple,” Darkseid said. “Once you give me the elements, I will give you my universe's infinity gems and allow you to return to your world with those gems. I will have the power to dominate life in my universe and you will be a few steps closer to annihilating all life in yours. As...intriguing as it is, I care not for your universe or what you do there. I only care about ruling and dominating my own. See how we stand benefit mutually?”

Thanos sat in his chair for a few moments and smiled. “Yes, I do. Send your men over, and we can begin.”

“You are so kind,” Darkseid said as he terminated the transmission.

**********************************************************************************************************

“Sire? Why are you letting that mad man have the gems so easily?” Desaad asked.

“Simple. I love bringing a man to the heights of happiness and joy, only to take it away from him at the last second as his hopes and dreams crumble. When our Mad Titan presents the elements before me, I will succeed where last I failed, and bring him to his beloved lady death. With him departed, the elements and the gems, will be mine and I will possess all facets of life and death.” Darkseid said, as he sat in his throne.

He watched three separate events from the projector unfold before him. The first was of his Parademons appearing next to Thanos’s ship via boom-tubes with the necessary equipment to upgrade his ship. The second was of two Equines, one purple with wings and a horn, and the other with wings and a Rainbow mane leave a train station and enter a city with an immaculately white palace. The third was of Superman and Wonder Woman fifteen into their charity contest of strength.

“I will rule over all.”

**********************************************************************************************************

As Rainbow Dash waited for her friend to finish up with her business in Canterlot, she turned her eyes to the local

Wonderbolt hangout. A smile came to her lips as she walked to the bustling bar and grill place, listening to the sounds of the ponies as they mingled and talked about their routines and their daily lives. As she neared the door, she was stopped by a very large pegasus, “Excuse me, but Wonderbolts only, kid.”

“Look, I was told by Spitfire herself that I could come and visit anytime I wanted,” Dash said, a defiant look in her eyes.

“Look, kid, if I had a nickle for everytime I heard that old story I would--” the bouncer was about to begin but was interrupted by a feminine voice.

“You would have enough to buy me the palace itself. Yeah. We all heard that one Dad!” Spitfire said, using her light-yellow hoof to push aside the large pegasus, “ Welcome to club Sky-high, Dash.”

“Thanks,” Rainbow Dash said, smiling at seeing the fiery-maned pegasus, “I’m glad you invited me.”

“Hmmm, lets see: Top graduate at the academy, best young flier, and you the second fastest flier I’ve ever seen. Yeah, you might as well be a Wonderbolt now, so why wait to let you in the best club in existence,” Spitfire said, placing a hoof onto the shoulder of the blue pegasus.

A cocky smile came to Dash’s lips as they walked into the bar, glad to be complimented. However, her basking was quickly interrupted by a table being thrown over and a large yell being heard.

“I SAW IT, I TELLS YA!”

“Yeah, yeah. And I bet you saw Tirac dancing with muffins too. A lot of people see things when they are near death and crashing at that speed,” a pony with a yellow mane and blue coat said, drinking her cider, “It’s a natural reaction, Streak.”

“I’M NOT CRAZY BLAZE!!” The white pegasus said, thrusting out his hoof at his squad mate, “I swear to Celestia that before you caught me, I saw it! It was heavenly, with ponies, creatures I had never seen, and other things all running around me like they were in a race for their lives! And I was there with them! I didn’t make it UP!”

“Ok, I think you had enough to drink man,” a light blue pony said as he took the leg of the rambling stallion and took him out of the club.

“I’m telling the truth! I touched the Speedforce! Its real! The Speedforce is real!” Streak yelled as he was dragged away out of the bar. “IT’S REAL I TELLS YA! REEEEEAAAAALLLLL!”

“...The Speedforce?” Dash asked, looking at Spitfire curiously.

“You never heard of the legend?” Spitfire asked.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “I think mom told me about something called the Speedforce, years ago, but I forgot it.”

“It’s an old speedster’s legend. About as old as a pony’s been running,” Spitfire said as she offered a seat to Dash and ordered some drinks, “Everypony who has ever run extremely fast, flew fast enough to create sonic booms, or has moved fast enough to leave a trail owes their energy and lives to the Speedforce. We get our energy from it, it helps us move so fast, and it keeps us going. When we die...we’ll go back into the speedforce and continue running for the rest of eternity, like a heaven for runners.”

“Wait, I remember now,” Dash said as she took a long drink of her cider, “Mom said once that when we see a lightning bolt, it’s a runner breaking through the Speedforce to have one last race.”

“My mom told me that too,” Spitfire said with a smile, “There’s another part of the legend that says, if a pony were to become fast enough, break through every barrier in existence, that she or he will be able go into the Speedforce and race all of the fastest ponies who have ever lived, there. Of course, he or she would have to live as well.”

“Wait, you’ve broken into the Speedforce?” Dash asked, her excitement peaked.

“Thats the legend, though all who’ve tried have failed and ended up like Streak over,” Spitfire said, pointing towards a window where the aforementioned white pegasus was leaning against.

“IT’S REEEEAAAAALLLLL!”

“The fastest ponies in history are running there,” Dash though to herself, “Excuse me, I’ve got to go!”

“You’re not seriously planning on trying to go through all that, are you?” Spitfire asked, once again pointing toward Streak.

“REEEEAAAAALLLLLL!”

“Hey, you said second fastest. I need to be the best. And if anypony can make the impossible real, its me!” With that, Dash ran out of the bar.

“I was just joking when I said you were the second!” Spitfire yelled after her before looking at her cup with sullenness, a hoof on her chin. “You are the fastest.”

Dash, however, could not hear Spitfire as she ran to the training grounds, determined to prove herself to be the best.

********************************************************************************************************

Several miles off the eastern seaboard, between Metropolis and Washington D.C. to be specific, the ocean was awash with yachts, cruise vessels, pleasure boats, and motor boats. Big or small, rich or poor, they had all assembled beneath a cloudless quilt of skyblue and had encircled a small island no wider or longer than the Nimitz Class-Aircraft carrier that floated on stand-by along with dozens of coast guard vessels.

After all, even at a peaceful international charity event where all of the spectators were armed with mere binoculars, spy-

glasses, and monocles, it paid to have back-up ready to rescue civilians in case the superheroes they were watching were otherwise preoccupied by sudden and hazardous developments.

It also, paid for the heroes to have some semblance of back-up, even though the odds of the heroes in question needing help from mere mortals like the U.S. Military was nil.

Said heroes stood at opposite ends of the small island that was drawing so much attention. As the sun was a few minutes rose to its highest point in the sky, they both stretched out their muscles until they felt limber. Once they did, they walked towards the center of the island, both not daring to take their respective eyes off of the other.

Upon reaching the center, they stopped before a table, carved from the rock of the island.

They continued to stare at one another.

The first hero was Friedrich Nietzsche's fantasy incarnate, wrapped in a red, yellow, and blue.

The second was Susan B. Anthony’s fantasy incarnate, wrapped in red, white, and blue.

Superman’s facade of seriousness shattered and a warm smile grew from ear to ear on his face.

Wonder Woman’s serious facade of seriousness shattered and a warm smile grew from ear to ear on her face.

“Diana! It’s been too long,” said Superman.

“Likewise, Clark.”

The two of them leaned over the stone table and gave each other a big hug. Perhaps hugs that were a little too big. Both felt the other’s arms dig rather uncomfortably into their respective spines.

“So--how was--your latest--swaray--into--space--Diana?” Superman asked in between breaths.

“Eh--you know--topple one--Inter-Nebular--Totalitarian--Regime--and you’ve--pretty much--toppled them--all,” Wonder Woman said, also in between breaths.

“That--good to--UH--hear,” Superman said, sweating. “WHEW! You’ve been--working out--haven’t you?”

“Yep--unlike---some men--I could mention--I can’t just--take a--dip in the sun--to maintain my--physical--fitness. I actually--have to--work at it,” said Wonder Woman, also sweating.

“That’s--not what--Shayera--told me.”

Wonder Woman huffed. “Fine--it’s easier--for me--than a--typical--mortal woman--but--it’s still harder than--what you--have to do.”

Both of their backs made a cracking sound at that very instant, eliciting gasps of pain from the both of them.

“What--do you--say--we--save our strength--for the--arm wrestling--competition?” asked Superman.

“Sounds--fine--with--me,” said Wonder Woman.

The two immediately let go of the other and stumbled a few steps back as though their backs were hunched. After a few moments spent catching their second winds, they stretched themselves out again till they could once more stand fully erect and went back to the table. They both placed their right elbows on it and locked their right hands together.

“Ready?” asked Superman.

“Does Hermes like skirt chasing Iris?” said Wonder Woman, smirking.

“You know, this is just for a charity. There’s no need to be so competitive.”

“Don’t let that stop you from giving it your all. I know it won’t for me.”

Superman, despite himself, returned the smirk. “Alright. Just don’t get upset with me if you end up losing on international television and your rogues make cracks at you for it.”

“Pretty big ‘IF’ if you ask me.”

The seconds ticked by.

A cool wind had descended upon the area, chilling all except the two heroes on the small island.

The sun had reached its Zenith.

And Superman and Wonder Woman gave it their all in the greatest arm wrestling match the modern world had ever seen.

For one whole hour, every man, woman, and child, including the Coast Guard and Navy, gazed in abject awe. Bets had changed and altered faster than a certain Scarlet Speedster and few people dared to look away from the inspiring spectacle lest they miss any sudden upsets.

For the first fifteen minutes, they noticed how both of their arms had not bunched an inch from being parallel to the table head.

In second quarter of fifteen minutes, they saw Wonder Woman begin to falter and come half-way to losing.

In the third quarter of fifteen minutes, they observed Wonder Woman make a tremendous come back and force Superman’s hand to come half-way to losing.

In the fourth and final quarter of fifteen minutes, Superman and Wonder Woman had once again returned their hands to where they were in the beginning of the match.

Once more, it was anyone’s game.

“Wow--I’m--impressed Diana,” Superman said through gritted teeth. “You’re--strength--has really--improved.”

“Thank--you--but I--think--you’ll be--REALLY impressed--when--you’re-- beaten.”

“Huh--last--I--checked--I’m still--a long way--from--”

Simultaneously, a voice sounded in both of their ears via their JLA communication devices. A familiar, dark, and brooding one.

“Superman. Wonder Woman. Get to the Watchtower. Now,” said Batman.

The two of them placed their free hand onto their respective ears and in unison, said, “Kind of busy now!”

“Now!”

The two of them sighed.

“How--serious--is it?” asked Superman.

“Clark...when has something I’ve ever had to call you and Diana up to the Watchtower for ever NOT been EXTREMELY serious?”

“Yeah--guess--that was--kind of a--dumb question--wasn’t it?” asked Superman.

“I--agree,” said Wonder Woman. “Though--I fear that--if Clark-- and I--don’t settle this--charity--business--once and for--all--we--never--will.”

“Whatever. Just make sure that you end it within the next three minutes, or I’m having J’onn port you up here with or without your consent. Batman out.”

Superman and Wonder Woman grimaced.

Wry grins were next to appear on their faces.

“Well--you heard--the man,” said Wonder Woman.

“Loud--and--clear,” said Superman.

“So--what--say--we--finish this up--quickly?”

“I’d--say--that I’m--more than--happy--to--oblige!”

Two heroes struggled to use up what strength they had left in their respective right arm in a minute.

One hero, through sheer attrition, managed to break this stalemate in the following thirty seconds.

The other, in the following thirty seconds, attempted to turn the tides and ended up having to cede more and more ground…

until…

in the following two minutes...

in a triumphant shower of rock, dust, and water…

the first hero, had won.

Not a second afterwards, and they both disappeared in an aura of cerulean light.

In their wake, they left the table and the entire island beneath splintered in half.

They also left behind a minor tidal wave that shook all of the ships floating around the island, including the Nimitz class air-craft carrier...

Assemble, heroes of Courage!

Chapter 2

A marshmallowy white unicorn strolled through the large Jewelers building, enamored by the sight of the many jewels, gems, and crystals that laid about. The way that the gems would sparkle and shimmer gave the entire building an almost ethereal feeling that caused the fur on her skin to stick up, as if she had stepped into one of the older princess’s mane. “My word! All of this is absolutely amazing!”

“Yes, miss Rarity,” the jeweler stated, his uptown voice matching the air of superiority that he carried about his person. “We do pride ourselves on being one of finest jewel crafters in all of Manehatten. Why, we have even made pendants for Celestia herself. But, I must interject and remind you that I did not ask you here to admire our gem cutting skills.”

“Of course, Mr. Cutter,” Rarity responded to the teal green unicorn before her, “Your letter said that you had need of my ‘talents’?”

“Yes, that is true,” Gem Cutter said as he led Rarity to the back room of the building to a large vault. “You see, I had noticed the unique placement of jewels that you had put into your dresses and figured that you must have a unique gift when it came to jewelcrafting. I figured you might be able to help with our latest ‘acquisition’.”

“Acquisition?” Rarity asked as she watched the vault door open slowly.

“Yes. It is a most unique item. One of our unicorns had found it on a rock farm not too far away from here. It was buried deep under some rocks when we had discovered it,” Gem said as he led Rarity deep into the vault, to a pedestal where a bright green gem sat upon a small cushion. As it sat on the soft red cushion, it glimmered and shone as if it was calling to all who could hear it.

“You said, you found this?” Rarity asked, walking closer to the gem.

“Yes, quite odd I know,” the jeweler said as he watched Rarity walk closer to the gem. “The cutting of it, the shape, and design all show the craftsmanship of one of the best jewelers in Equestria, but it was in the ground.”

Rarity paid no heed to the stallion as she placed her white hoof onto the gem, admiring the finish. As her hoof lightly touched the green oval, her head pulled back as she let out a blood curdling scream. Pure purple light flowed from her eyes as she stumbled back away from the gem, unable to hear the screams of help coming from the jeweler. After stepping back a few feet, she collapsed to the ground, her eyes slowly closing.

In her head, she could hear a small voice coming from the jeweler. “If I had one wish...it would be to get a moonstone for Luna and show her how much I appreciate her night.”

****************************************************************************************

A few short hours ago...

The sounds of sparks and gears permeated throughout the small room as several machines began to craft their work on a suit of red and gold armor. The source of the sparks pulled himself away from the suit and wiped the sweat off of his brow.

“Ok Jarvis, I need you to set up the superconductor lightning gun,” Tony Stark said, taking the breastplate of the suit and placing it over his chest, the bright light in the center glowing luminescently.

“Sir, I’m afraid I must warn you that--” a british computer voice said over a set of speakers in the room.

“--yeah yeah yeah. What’s the human tolerance for electrocution again?” Tony said as he put on a pair of gloves.

“Around 300 to 500 mA, sir. As I was saying though, electrocution is far more dangerous with your condition,” Jarvis said.

“Eh. I’ve put myself in worse situations,” Tony said, taking off a panel of the lightning gun and adjusting the wires. “And I’m not exactly using a normal pacemaker, so in reality, the worst that’ll happen is that the reaction caused by my electrocution will cause a massive explosion.”

“Of course. That makes it so much safer.”

“Ok Jarvis,” Tony said, standing in front of the gun, his eyes squinting with confidence, “hit me.”

“Yes, sir,” Jarvis said, making the gun glow with white hot energy. “Firing.”

Bracing himself, Tony stood his ground as the gun fired a surge of pure white lighting energy straight at him. Flowing through the air at an unbelievable pace, it struck him hard in the chest and sent him flying back towards the wall. After the gun successfully fired, it slowly turned off, cooling down to a low glow of fading energy. Slowly, Tony Stark got back to his feet and looked down at his smoking chest plate, a cunning smile on his lips as he looked at a meter on his gloves with a smile. “Whaddya know? It worked.”

Just as Tony began to remove his chest plate, he heard an alarm sounding all throughout the room. “Jarvis, what is it?”

“It seems sir...that Sword has been picking up spatial anomalies all across the solar system sir and there is a message feed being fed in from the X-mansion.” Jarvis said, showing different monitors of small spacial tears popping in and out of space.

“Patch me in!” Tony said as he walked to one of the monitors, waving a few holographic displays away.

The voice on the other line came in garbled and static. “X--x--x--avier, Lyandra....Sh----ar-----, ne-eed help. Sp--- inini--- war--- te---- cal---.”

“The Shi-ar, but me and Charles were having some of them,” Tony’s eyes opened in horror as the realization came to him.“Oh god, no! Jarvis! Get any available on-duty Avengers here, NOW!”

“Yes, sir,” Jarvis said as one of his screens began to light up with the word ‘ASSEMBLE’ followed by the images of five people sprawling across the screen.

Tony, meanwhile, ran to the back of the room to a small door with a panel. Pressing the bank side of the wall, the real keypad flipped open to Tony. Pressing his fingers along the keypad quickly to write down the message ‘TSRULZOVRDKR2012’, the man with the goatee placced his eyeball to a retinal scanner. With these codes in place, the door slowly open the massive doors to reveal a walkway leading to a hall of armors. “Now then...what to take out?”

**************************************************************************************************

A few miles away, at the offices of IDW, a blond man sat in front of the desk of an slightly older gentleman as he began to look over a briefcase of illustrations. “Hmmmm, I see you have done plenty of excellent art work for Captain America comics back at Marvel Mr… Rogers, is it?”

“Yes sir,” the blue-eyed gentleman said.

“And your portfolio on DC comics is also spectacular, so I must ask, why are you interested in working with us?” the editor asked, looking at Steve.

“Well, I kind of wanted to broaden my horizons a bit and I was a little tired of how Marvel was treating some of the other heroes besides Captain America in the comics. I felt like there needed to be a better representation in the comics than what they get. After that, I left to work at DC, found out they were doing the same thing, so I wanted to be here.”

“I see. Well...” the editor said smiling, “welcome to IDW, Mr. Rogers. We happen to have a position open for an artist on our latest property. Maybe you have heard of it? My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic?”

“Uh....yeah,” Steve said sheepishly as he showed a picture from his portfolio. “I am a bit of a fan.”

The editor looked down at the photo and smiled at the picture of Applejack holding Captain America’s shield, smirking as her friends stood behind her, each dressed in a costume similar to an Avenger, “Applejack fan huh?”

“Yeah,” Steve said, smiling.

The editor smirked and showed off his Luna is best pony shirt. “I think you’ll do fine here. You can start tomorrow.”

Steve smiled as he felt a light buzzing in his pocket. Pulling out a small card, his eyes narrowed as he looked at it. “Excuse me, I need to go. I’ll be back!”

“Alright. Just have some art for me by the end of the month!” the editor said as he watched Steve running off.

Ducking behind an alleyway, Steve took a quick look around before pulling off his shirt.“ Excuse me, but I was using this alleyway,” called a voice next to Steve.

As he put on his gloves, Steve turned to look at the man next to him. “Oh. Sorry, Spider-Man. I didn’t see anyone using this alley.”

Putting on his red mask, the young hero smiled. “No problem. Always wanted to share an alley with an awesome guy.”

“Hey! What about me?” asked a voice from Steve’s right.

“Oh, hi Matt,” Steve said as he put his boots on. “You heading to Hell’s Kitchen?”

“Yeah, as soon as I...OOF!” Matt Murdock said as he bumped into a large orange person.

“GEEZE! Can’t a guy read and enjoy his paper in peace without a super-hero barging in and changing?” the orange guy said, balling up his paper and walking away. “Stupid town and stupid can’t walk five feet in town without bumping into a freakin hero.”

Steve, Matt, and Peter all looked embarrassed as they put the last bits of their costumes on. Underneath his mask, Steve shook his head and chuckled as he reached into his bag and pulled out a red, white, and blue shield. Standing up, Steve immediately went into his mission mode, now ready for anything as Captain America.

**********************************************************************************************************

Dr. Donald Blake was primarily a physician. Oh sure, he was more familiar with surgery than the common man given his background in medicine, but he was no Stephen Strange of the New York Metropolitan area.

Still, he had a big heart. Some people would say a ‘godly’ heart, and when an impoverished single mother had come to him, asking if he could please perform an operation on her daughter that she couldn’t afford or wait for, those people were proven correct. After a grueling three hours, he exited the operating room and faced said single mother.

Sighing, he took off his blood stained procedure mask and said, “She’s going to be okay.”

After a rather spine crushing hug from the mother, Donald told her that it would be a few hours before her daughter would be upright and walking again and changed back into a cleaner pair of scrubs.

On his way out of the changing room his nurse and secretary, Jane Foster, approached him and gave him another spine crushing hug. “Thanks big guy.”

“Any--time--Jane,” he said between gasps for breath. “Any--HUH--calls while I was working?”

She let go of him and he stumbled backwards against the door to the changing room. “Oh! Now that you mention it, there’s someone waiting to see you in your office.”

“Really?” Donald asked, massaging his aching ribs. “I’m not scheduled to see anyone else today.”

“Oh, it’s not about a check-up, Doc. Guy says he’s an old college friend of yours here to catch up on old times.”

Donald quirked a brow. “Who?”

“He says his name is Dr. Stephen Strange. You know: used to be the best Surgeon this side of the Washington bridge?”

“Strange?”

Funny that.

His a look on his face that telegraphed his immense curiosity, Donald walked into the office and saw his chair facing him. “Greetings, Thor. Oh. Sorry,” Dr. Strange, clad in a business suit, said as he turned around in the chair to face Donald Blake, waving his hand to close the door, “I forget that you prefer to be called Blake when you are mortal.”

“Strange. What is this about? Why are you here?” Blake asked.

“I am here, because there is something urgent that concerns every multiverse out there,” Strange said, standing up from the chair to allow his cloak to flow down to the ground.

“What is it?” Blake asked.

“It’s something that concerns Yggdrasil, or rather,” Strange looked down at his fingertips, looking at some of the magic flowing in between them, “some of the fruits of its saplings.”

“Yggdrasil had saplings?” Blake asked, gripping his cane.

“My dear friend,” Strange said, looking at the doctor in front of him, “do you think that the tree of life only sprouted in one world?”

“No, but I never would’ve have guessed,” Blake said, his mind brimming with questions.

“Well, as a matter of fact, one of the saplings is in the land called, Equestria, and it is there that a sapling is in the most danger,” Strange said, looking down at Blake’s pocket, “As a matter of fact, I do believe that you will have a call from one of your teammates about such an emergency.”

Blake was about to respond when he felt a vibration in his pants. “How did you--” Blake quickly stopped his questions when he considered who he was talking to. “I’m sorry. I forgot who I was talking to.”

With a smirk, Blake grabbed his cane and raised it up in the air. Then, with a swift movement, he slammed his staff to the ground to cause a lighting strike to surge forth and cover him in a blinding light. After a few moments, Blake had disappeared and in his place stood a tall muscular man. “Now then, shall I meet thee at the tower? Or shall we continue our talk on the way?”

Strange held up his hand in protest. “I am sorry, but I must decline. I have no desire to talk while flying next to a man with a hammer.”

“HA! You know not what you are missing my dear friend,” Thor said, smiling as he opened the window. Grabbing his hammer by the thong, he spun it in a circle until it became a blur. The mighty god then threw his hammer out the window, holding onto the thong as the hammer flew off into the air, taking the god off into said air with it. Strange watched and calmly put up a portal to teleport him to his location.

**************************************************************************************************

Elsewhere in New York, a geeky man man dressed in a trenchcoat and a hood feels a vibration in his left pocket. Pulling out a small card, a frown comes to his lips as he sighed, reading the message “Assemble” on the front. Getting up, he placed a ten on the table and walked for the door. As exited the door, a large buff guy entering it pushed the geeky man aside rudely. The geeky man growled, but held his wrath in check as he turned to the mirror reflection of the slamming door to see himself...and the monster that he must always control.

His name is Bruce Banner, but what Stark needs is the creature of rage and anger inside of him.

The Incredible Hulk.

**************************************************************************************************

On a grassy knoll, a jet cycle was parked next to a picnic basket. A young blonde woman watched an archer ready his bow in admiration and love. She watched in fascination as the archer stretched his muscles taut, flexing his pecks as he released the arrow from the bow, sending it flying into a tree a hundred and fifty yards away.

A smirk came to the archer’s lips as he walked over to his wife and embraced her, kissing her deeply.

A small vibration is felt in his pocket that breaks his kiss.

He shot his lady a confident smile before walking to his bike and pulling out a purple uniform. The woman smiled back and blew him a kiss, to remind him of what he was coming back to.

The lady is code-named Mockingbird, currently off active duty for SHIELD.

Her husband, Clint Barton, is codenamed: Hawkeye. He is currently ON SHIELD’s active duty list, but more than that, perhaps more than even his husband-hood, he is an Avenger.

**************************************************************************************************

A red-head crawled through the ventilation system of an old building, keeping herself as quiet as possible. A sly smile graced her lips as she found her opening, a grate, and looled down at a bunch of men dressed in bright yellow uniforms plus a few men dressed in outfits that she had never seen before.

Ready to stealthily remove the grate and make her way into the room, she felt a small vibration in her pocket. Pulling out the card, she rolled her eyes as she read the words ‘Assemble’.

Forgoing all pretenses of covertness, she kicked the grate open and landed in the center of the room of thugs, looking at the men dressed in the uniform of yellow and the uniforms of the men that had the words “COBRA” on it with a look of exasperation and boredom.

A few minutes later, the redhead walked out of the building with the men all lying broken behind her. Relaying a communication to one of her superiors, she looked up at the tower before her with a smile.

Her name is Natasha Romanov: Black Widow, an Avenger.

Though a mere mortal like Hawkeye, she too is destined to be a prominent player in the games of gods and men...and women...to come…

****************************************************************************************

Rarity’s eyes opened to find herself floating in a green void, surrounded by blue spectral ponies. Swishing her head back and forth, she could hear the voices of each pony making a small wish to themselves or a small desire known.

“I hope the stallion on level three asks me out.”

“I hope it’s a unicorn or maybe a pegasus! Oh, I hope my husband will be happy!”

“Please let me get that promotion, please let me get that promotion.”

“I wish that my girlfriend will get better, please...”

“Oh, I do hope that I will graduate with honors!”

“W-What’’s going on?” Rarity asked herself as she looked at all of the blue spectral ponies, “Why am I hearing all of these ponies? What’s going on here? Oh, I wish Twilight could help!”

As if the world could hear her prayer, the land beneath Rarity sped past her, taking her across the land, to the castle of Canterlot, and to a small purple specter in the shape of an Alicorn. “I wish that my friends will always be ok. I hope that we all stay together no matter what.”

“Twilight! You’ve got to help me! I touched this stone and--” Rarity explained as she reached out to touch Twilight,

only to her hoof pass through the Alicorn’s body. “--WHAT?!”

**************************************************************************************************

Twilight suddenly felt a small pain in the side of her wings, soon becoming an electrical tingly feeling on her neck. “What was that?!” Twilight asked, looking around her. “Rarity?” she whispered under her breath

****************************************************************************************************

“What’s happening to me?” Rarity asked, looking up to see a passing by red specter. An eyebrow raised in curiosity. Rarity whispered, “Rainbow Dash.” Much like before, she found her body being flung through the walls and into the sky. As she soared, she found herself hovering next to the red specter.

“Come on, Dash! You can do this! Break the speed barrier and you can break into the speed force! You can do it!”

“The speed force? Rainbow, what are you talking about?” Rarity asked, putting a hoof onto Dash’s back.

******************************************************************************************************

With a combined yelp of surprise and shock, Rainbow Dash’s flight was abruptly stopped, causing her to stop her high speed flying and begin to descend in a tailspin. Seeing Dash fall like a rock, Spitfire flew up high into the sky with the speed of a fireball to catch her. Grabbing the cyan mare in the air before she could crash into the ground, Spitfire looked down at her with a concerned look, “You ok kid? You almost took a nasty crash up there.”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just ticked that happened before I could hit mach three and...”Rainbow Dash stopped herself as her eyes opened up in fear. “RARITY! She’s in trouble! Sorry, Spitfire, I gotta go!” With that, Dash brushed the Wonderbolt to the side and flew off into the sky.

********************************************************************************************************

“How odd,” Rarity said as she looked down at her hooves. “I said Rainbow Dash, and I was sent to her. I wonder...” She looked up and towards the direction of Ponyville and then commanded, “Show me Pinkie PIE!”

Following her command, the power of whatever it was that had held her, flew her off to the direction of the small town that she had called home. It then took her to a small gingerbread house in the middle of town and to a bright blue specter of a bouncing pony, “Oh,I--hope--that--Rainbow--Dash--and--Twilight--get--home--soon--so--I--can--welcome--them--back--and--have--a--big--party--for--them. I--want--the--cakes--to--be--successful--Alchemy--student--to--finish--his--stories--by--the--end--of--next--year--I--hope--that--the--readers--like--this--joke--I--want--a--cake--full--of--sweets--I--want--a--huge--plushie--for--my--sisters--my--friendst--to--be--happy...”

Rarity giggled as the blue specter rapidly went through a mountain of wishes. “Oh Pinkie, you must slow down. I could barely hear you.”

With a smile she put a hoof through the bubbly mare.

******************************************************************************************************

Pinkie Pie let out a giant shudder as her body shook and spun in place for a few seconds before her mane began to bounce around and then her hoof began to itch. “That was a new one! I never had a Pinkie Sense...OH MY GOSH! I need to go!” Pinkie Pie said, putting down her cake making tools and running out the door.

*******************************************************************************************************

Rarity closed her eyes and smiled. “Now Applejack.”

Once again, the world below her zoomed past in a high speed flight through the town and to a large apple farm. It allowed her to hover there for a few moments before taking her to an orange specter, kicking a few trees. “All of these changes lately. Twilight becomin’ a princess, that new empire out there, Rainbow’s almost a Wonderbolt now. It just seems that the world is changing too much and too fast for mah taste buds and its done leaving me behind. Ah hope that our friendship’ll stay strong and that we won’t split up.”

“Oh Applejack, don’t worry. We won’t forget you, ever. And we will never break up,” Rarity said, wrapping her hooves around Applejack and giving her a hug.

********************************************************************************************************

Applejack stumbled back, her eyes wide in shock as she felt a weird electrical feeling course through her body. Turning her head to the train station, she adjusted her hat to put it over her eyes. “Rarity! HANG ON GAL! AH’M COMIN!”

********************************************************************************************************

Turning her head towards a small forest, Rarity let out a small contented sigh. “ I should check up on Fluttershy and Sweetie Belle.” Smiling, the white unicorn felt as her body was sent flying to a small cottage where a light violet pegasus specter sat in front of a small light blue unicorn filly as she began to sing in front of her birds. Landing next to the pegasus, she could hear the soft voice coming from her, “I just want everypony to be happy and to be all right.”

“I hope that when I get my mark, we’re all going to stand together,” the light blue specter said.

“She sings so beautifully, Fluttershy,” Rarity said, smiling and putting a hoof to Fluttershy’s back.

********************************************************************************************************

“Oh my,” Fluttershy said, feeling a small electric shock going through her body. “Sweetie Belle, I am so sorry, but I need you to go home now.”

“Is something wrong?” Sweetie Belle asked, as she watched Fluttershy taking off.

“I don’t know,” Fluttershy said, her voice unsure. “But I need to head to the train station. I hope you don’t mind.”

Sweetie Belle shook her head and ran off in the direction of home as Fluttershy flew off in the direction of the train station.

As she flew to the station, she saw two of her friends standing at the platform and waiting for the train themselves, “Fluttershy! There you are! Ah guess you felt something too?”

“Yes,” Fluttershy said, nodding softly. “It was weird, like somepony was shocking me a little and then I had a feeling that Rarity needed my help, like she was in trouble.”

“Ah felt the same thing. It was like, if I didn’t get to her soon, ah would never see her again.”

Pinkie Pie jumped in between the two friends. “It felt different to me. It as more like a voice telling me that Rarity needed a pick-me-up, so I decided to head to Manehatten to see what was wrong.”

“Seems like we ain't the only ones,” Applejack said as she looked to the sky to see a blue dot followed by a rainbow contrail. “Ah hope Rarity’s all right.”

********************************************************************************************************

Twilight made her way to Celestia’s throne room, the thoughts of the book still strong on her mind. However, she also had the feeling of something bad happening to her friend now coupled with such thoughts. Being a mare of logic and reason, she was not one prone to giving into unexplained intuitions of worry and dread, but she couldn’t help feeling like Rarity was in trouble. With a quick shake of her head, she quickly shook the feeling from her mind as she walked into the royal throne room.

“And so, it is with my deepest regret, I must rescind the proposal from Cloudsdale,” Celestia said as she dictated to a nearby pegasus.

“Princess, can I talk to you?” Twilight said as she walked into the throne room.

A smile graced the sun queen’s face as her student walked in, trying her best to not show her appreciation for Twilight’s interruption of the doldrums of royal duty. “Of course, Twilight. I always have time for you.”

Twilight watched as Celestia waved a hoof to dismiss the petitioners from the room. Walking into the room with apprehension and a pensive look about her, Twilight looked over her shoulder before speaking to her long time mentor. “Prin--” Twilight stopped herself, still having problems seeing Celestia as an equal and not a mentor. “Celestia, I’ve discovered something in the library that I need to speak with you about.”

Celestia looked deep into her student’s eyes and noticed something in them that told her more than what Twilight was saying. “What is really troubling you, Twilight?”

“Wh-what do you mean, Princess?” Twilight asked, looking over her shoulder.

“The look in your eyes, the way your wings flutter, and how you look over your shoulder...they are all tell tail signs that you have a heavy weight on your shoulders,” Celestia said, a soft and comforting smile on her lips as she looked down at her former student. “It is just like when you were a little filly and would hide a mistake from me.”

Twilight blushed at the memory. “I-I can’t hide anything from you, can I?”

Celestia stepped down from her throne and walked to the new princess. “Now, tell me what is the matter.”

Twilight let out a sigh as Celestia put a wing over her body. “Before I came here, I felt a weird tingly feeling on my back, plus a jolt of pain near my heart. Since then, I can’t help but feel like that Rarity is in trouble and needs me.”

Celestia looked down at her little Twilight. “What do you think about these feelings, my dear Twilight? Do you think there is something to them?”

“I don’t know princess. I’ve never felt something like this before,” Twilight said. “My friends have been in trouble before, but I never felt it like this. It’s like...Rarity went away. Gone! Vanished! Like, one second, she just poofed away from Equestria...but at the same time, she hasn’t and she’s still here and she need my help and--”

Twilight, overcome with emotion, broke down into a sob. Celestia quickly put a comforting hoof onto Twilight’s shoulder before pulling her into a full on hug. “It’s all right, my faithful student. I can understand these feelings well. Sometimes, I can feel that you are in trouble and worry about you when you go off on an adventure. The important thing you must do is prioritize what you want to do. What you feel is right.”

Twilight let out a sigh and wiped her tears away. Her mind began to think of a lesson she learned not too long ago, about how a lady can handle herself, even from a pack of greedy diamond dogs. “Rarity is strong enough on her own. I’ll just have to believe that she can handle whatever problem she’s facing right now. I trust her.”

Celestia smiled at her former student, a sense of pride beaming from her, “The trust you have in your friend’s strengths is remarkable, my dearest Twilight. I could never be more proud.”

“Thank you, Prince--Celestia.”

“Now,” Celestia said, looking down at her student with a smile, “what was this other matter you wanted to bring up.”

“Oh, yes,” Twilight said, bringing out her notes from before. “I found out about these stones and this...creature--”

Arrival of Death

High above the pacific, above a rather large squall line in the air above the scenic Big Island of Hawaii to be precise, was a jet. Sleek, aerodynamic (as comes with the territory), and extremely fast, the jet was as top of the line as they came. The Ferris Aircraft logo was prominent on either side of it as it flew through the air at mach five, pushing itself to the limits of what it was capable of.

Funnily enough, this was not necessary. The real test was just for maneuverability, not speed.

That fact escaped the man inside the plane. He was all for pushing things to their limits and beyond. He was always for taking the risk of flying and seeing what he could live through. This was how the man, Hal Jordan, lived. This was he lived for.

“Ok, Hal, just a bit more. Lets see what this baby--” He was knocked out of his reverie by a beeping in his ear. “What is it, Bruce?”

“I need you to report to the Watchtower, now,” the dark voice commanded, the reverbations of his tone making it sound like he would kill if he was disobeyed. Hal knew better though. “And don’t EVER call me that on this frequency again. We’ve been over this.”

…

…okay...maybe he didn’t know better.

A bored sigh escaped the pilot’s lips. “Fine, I’ll be there.” Raising his right hand, the pilot began concentrate on a ring that laid miles away in a locker. Glowing, the ring lifted itself up and flew off into distance and landed onto the pilot’s hand, soon covering his body in an emerald glow. Within moments, Hal Jordan pilot was gone, and in his place was Hal Jordan, Green Lantern. “Just let me park this thing before you ‘port me up there this time, please? Last time Carroll gave me an earful when this bird’s prototype suddenly found itself crashing in Baja without a pilot.”

**************************************************************************************************

If there are two things that one can count on in Central City, it’s:

1) The comic book shop will always get the latest issues a day late.

2) To be mindful of very sudden wind gust at 12:30 when lunch break arrives.

The latter was something to pay special attention to, for that’s usually a sign that the city’s resident hero was passing you by. Said hero, of course, is the fastest man alive, The Flash! Or, Wally West to his friends and family, and he was currently on his other important job beyond being a hero to the people: being a good father. “So, the twins still haven’t told you what they wanted for their birthday?”

“Nope,” his wife, Linda, said on the other end. “They just keep saying to ‘surprise them’.”

“Well, that leaves it wide open,” Wally snarked as he felt a beeping in his left ear. “Sorry, Linda. Work’s on the other line. Talk to you later.”

“Fine,” Linda sighed, “Talk to you after you’re done saving the world from another apocalypse, eaten by a sun eater, trapped in the future with your uncle’s grand-children, stopped a mad former hero from resetting the universe, or stopping a resurrected demon from using his daughter to gain control of the world.”

Wally could only smirk as he signed off. “You forgot to add: ‘mentor replaced with evil double to frame him’. Bye.” Turning a corner, the fastest thing alive went through a small park, pressing the button on his left ear.“Titans or JLA?”

“JLA,” a feminine voice from the other line said. “Bruce is busy getting Hal, so I thought I would relay the message to you.”

“Did Bats say what the deal was?” Wally asked, pulling out a ring from his pocket.

“No,” Oracle said. “Just that he needs the on duty JLA members to meet at the watchtower, yesterday.”

Pressing a button on the ring, a scarlet costume unfolds before him and in a second, he puts on the garb. “Ouch, testy. Old Bats being grumpy today?”

The red-head chuckled. “No more than usual.”

“Right, I’ll be right there Babs. Nice cookies by the way,” Wally said, dressed in the red garb of the flash, as he stood behind Oracle.

“Try to leave some of those for Dick,” Barbara said, not turning around to look or ask at how the speedster was able to get to her secret HQ so fast or know where her cookies were.

“RUGH,” Wally said, muffled by a mouth full of cookies before being beamed out.

Oracle rolled her eyes as Wally was beamed out, not noticing the blue and black gloved hand taking one of the cookies and sneaking out.

************************************************************************************************

Legend has it that it was Sir Francis Drake, not Ferdinand Magellan, that was actually the first to circumnavigate the globe. Of course, it was only considered a legend because Drake’s ship sunk before he could make it back to Europe to brag about his accomplishment. That is, until today, at the bottom of the strait of Gibraltar.

For it is there that Aquaman has discovered Drake’s long lost ship, and along with it, a treasure trove of jewels and gold deep within. However, this paled in comparison to the information that was in some of the books that could be conceald. Granted, it would take time to repair the books and to fix them. Some might even say it would take magic to do so. So, it was lucky then, that the king of Atlantis knew several mages and had a few in his court. Not so fortunate though, was the psychic message that his mind had just then to received. “Arthur, are you there?

“What is it J’ohn?” Aquaman asked, swimming under the wreckage and lifting it towards the surface with his bear hands.

“Batman is calling for a JLA meeting in the watchtower, and he is expecting all available on-duty members to be there,” the psychic voice of J’onn J’onz, the Martian Manhunter, said on the other line.

“Understood. Just let me finish raising this ship and I’ll--”Arthur responded, only to be interrupted.

“Batman has said he has it covered,” J’ohn said.

Aquaman raised an eyebrow at this before turning his head to see a sub coming close to the wrecked ship with a giant ‘WT’ logo on the side. “Thanks Bruce,” he said with a smile before swimming up to the surface.

Green Lantern, Flash, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and Superman, Batman, The Martian Manhunter...

Alone, these people are heroes. But together, they are legends to man known as the Justice League!

They are guardians, selfish beings meant to bring the triumph of hope to a world filled with the follies of darknesses.

And they too, will have an effect in the upcoming between men, equines, and gods.

After all...they are like unto gods themselves.

******************************************************************************************

Twilight was unsure of how her former teacher was taking the news she had delivered to her thanks to the book. That was something about her Twilight had picked up long before becoming a goddess herself: when Celestia was mulling over information brought to her, nopony could ever tell if she thought it was important, silly, bad, good, or nothing to be concerned about until next she spoke. The centuries of study and politicking she had over Twilight had made her a master of masking her true feelings on the fly and, as Twilight was also reminded of when she arrived in the throne room a few minutes ago, of ferreting out the true feelings of others despite the mask they themselves wore.

Twilight, for all the wisdom and knowledge she had accrued over the past few years, was still a rank amateur to Celestia when it came to those two subjects amongst friends, complete strangers and even worse, enemies. She hoped to have a poker face and eyes that could gleam through poker faces like her some day.

“Twilight...prior to today’s sojourn into the royal library, tell me, what is it you knew about death?”

Twilight struggled to look at her former teacher for a second before turning her head to the side and toward the ground. Such an inherently morbid topic wasn’t something that made her feel the warm fuzzies. She hadn’t ever met anypony who would feel that way about it.

“It’s quite alright with me if you don’t wish to get too...personal, Twilight. I would not ask such a thing of you if you felt uncomfortable.”

That was good. That meant Twilight could do her best to suppress the funeral processions at Ponyville Old Folk’s home and Applejack sobbing as quietly as she could in front of a picture of her parents from her memory. Now, shejust had to give technical, textbook like information. She was good with textbooks. Comfortable with them. The topic at hoof...not so much.

“Well...I know that it has numerous natural causes like diseases or somepony just simply growing too old...”

“And?...”

With even greater trepidation, Twilight said, “And...I know that accidents and...killing can cause it…”

“Go on…”

Twilight found the ceiling and the double doors adjacent to her and Celestia rather interesting as sweat began to pour forth from her brow and she gulped. “But in all of my studies, all of my experience, and all of my imaginary speculation...I never...never...EVER…”

“Ever what, Twilight?”

“Ever could imagine a point in my life when I would...take my own,” Twilight let out a sniffle as she wiped a tear from her eye. “You’ve always taught me that life is important, that no matter how small a life is, or how big it may be, living is one of the greatest things on Equestria. Pinkie,” Twilight chuckled, “once told me that, ‘To live, is thee greatest adventure of all.’ ”

“So you have never thought about suicide?”

“Never! I’ve never even heard the word or thought of the concept until today! Now, I can’t stop thinking about what happen if I took my own life, but then I remember what will happen. Sure the rest of the world won’t notice a princess dying. Maybe I’ll get a footnote in the books or something.”

Celestia let out a small gasp as she heard her student say something so belittling about herself, and pulled Twilight in a little closer and embraced her in a motherly hug, saying all she needed to with that small gesture. Despite herself, she had to do her best to keep from crying like Twilight was.

“What about you? Shining? My friends? If I were to die, then all of you, would be sad. I would hurt you so much, I would break your hearts worse than anything somepony would throw at you. I could never bear the thought of never seeing you guys again, that while I was gone, you would be in so much pain. It hurts too much. It doesn’t make any sense,” she sniffled into Celestia’s fur. Gently, she pulled herself out of her mentor’s embrace and looked up at her. “Yet, despite all of these negatives associated with it, I still can’t shake the idea out of my head, because I know from that book that somewhere, sometime, somepony, another living thing, committed it, and the thoughts start cycling all over again!”

This time, it was she who embraced Celestia.

“And to make things worse, I also can’t stop imagining what it would be like to be the type of monster that would have such a burning contempt for life that it would snuff it all out if it acquired those gems no matter how hard I try not to, either!”

Celestia looked down at the mare that was snuggled into her side, and smiled softly. For a brief moment, she did not see the strong mare that helped to free an empire, topple chaos, and bring her sister home. She saw the little filly who would run to her at night when the nightmares became too much. the little filly who wanted to know everything about magic.

Her little filly.

Letting out a sigh, she brushed a hoof along Twilight’s back comfortingly. “You have just spoken of that type of monster, my faithful student, and why you can NEVER become like it,” Celestia said, as she wrapped a wing around Twilight. “The entities you mentioned were filled with so much loneliness and rage, that they sought and seek out death as a substitute for living. For them, death was the only solution left.”

Celestia gently broke off from Twilight’s embrace and placed both of her hooves on her shoulders.

‘That is where you differ from them and why such a thing would never happen to you. The friendships that you have made, the bonds of love and togetherness that have been forged around you are the exact opposites. In turn,” a smile crossed her face, “you have become the opposite of death: life. They couldn’t understand why life was worth living, but you do. Your friends: Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Spike, your parents, your brother, your sister-in-law, and so many more. I once worried that you would fall into that hole because you focused so much on your studies that you would never live or worse...become like Sunset. But you did not, and that is why you make me proud everyday. Because you have learned how to live, and bring an inner light to so many. Besides...it is an old legend, right?”

Twilight wiped what was left of her tears, sniffled what was left of her snot, and smiled, genuinely, for the first time in what felt like the longest time.

“It was an old legend that led me to getting these!” Twilight snarked at her mentor, flapping her wings for emphasis.

Celestia giggled a little as she nuzzled Twilight again, “Yes, that is true.”

“And lets not forget, for a millenium, your sister--”

Before she could finish, Twilight was then interrupted by the incursion of a tall light blue alicorn into the center of the throne room via teleportation spell.

An Alicorn that began walking towards the other two in the room with what looked like a rather severe limp to her gait.

“Princess Luna?” Twilight asked.

“Sister? What is--?” Celestia asked.

After taking no more than five steps, Princess Luna collapsed, wordlessly, a few feet away from the hooves of Twilight and Celestia. It was then that they noticed that the Lunar princess was afflicted with looked like rather severe bruises, cuts, burns, and gashes. She looked like she went three rounds with her darker and former alter-ego, and lost. A lot.

They each let out a gasp of complete panic and shock.

“Princess!”

“Luna!”

With a leap, the two of them were by Luna’s side, and supported her with their bodies to allow her to stand up again.

Perhaps this was a bit premature, as their proximity to Luna meant that their coats were speckled with warm blood coughed forth from her throat as she attempted to speak in a hoarse voice. “I’m sorry sister…” Luna said. “I attempted to...combat him...combat IT…but I was too weak...far...far too weak…”

Now, both Celestia and Twilight shared equally in how broken the flood dams holding back their reservoirs of tears were.

“Though he broke my body...I thought my mind could hold out…” Luna said, her words getting fainter and fainter with each wheezing breath she took. “I was more right on that assumption...but still wrong...so...so...wrong...far...far...too...weak…”

With one final inhalation, Luna’s entire body slackened and lay limp in Twilight’s and Celestia’s hooves.

Motionless.

“Lu--Lu--Lulu?” Celestia asked, the tears blinding now.

It was then that a voice was heard, seemingly echoing off of the very castle walls as it cackled with sickening, bone chilling glee.

“I’m sorry,” the voice said. Suddenly, the glow of something else teleporting into the Castle could be seen. Instead of depositing an Alicorn, though, this time, something much, much, much different was left.

To Twilight and Celestia, it looked like an oversized gorilla with rough, deep purple skin and a frilled chin. It was covered from head to toe in armor that was primarily blue with golden shoulder pads, golden boots, and a golden helmet. It sat upon a gold throne that somehow floated off the ground through some unseen means they knew not of. The side of its head rested upon one of its fists, both of which were clad in golden gauntlets.

It stared at them with an empty look in its eyes as cold and merciless as the grave, a grim smile plastered on its face. “Is this a bad time?” it spoke with the same voice from moments before, save the echoing quality. With said quality, they might have been able to dismiss the creature as a mere figment from some long forgotten and twisted nightmare, rather than the horrifying reality he was.

*************************************************************************************************

In the city of New York, a giant mansion laid before its famed Central Park and towered above the trees and small houses that surrounded it. To the passerby, it might seem to be just a large mansion belonging to a guy with a huge ego...and they would be right. However, the public at large knows the mansion to be home to the team known as The Avengers. At the moment, the mansion was housing a meeting of this group of heroes.

“Glad you all could make it,” Tony Stark said, his work clothes now replaced with a black full body suit.

“What’s the emergency Tony?” Captain America asked, watching the screen come up behind Tony.

Tony wiped his hand across the holographic screen to show a few images of satellites. “About a few hours ago, the SWORD satellites began detecting small disturbances in space, and with a few minutes of research thanks to Jarvis, I found out that they were transdimensional warps.”

“How did you figure this out before SHEILD, Stark?” Black Widow asked.

Tony only had a small smirk on his face as he continued, waving another picture across the screen. “Jarvis then intercepted a call to the X-mansion from the Shi'ar, something that I had him keep an eye on, just in case anyone was going Gem hunting.”

Bruce had a look of shock on his eyes as Tony mentioned the word ‘gem.’ “Gem...you don’t mean that--”

“Yeah.” Tony looked down as he swiped his hand to a small pedestal on the table. “Someone is hunting the infinity gems.”

“I had thought you said that they were lost to the ages, Stark,” Thor said, standing in the back with his arms crossed.

“They sort of are, and sort of aren’t.” Tony activated a hologram of him and Strange fighting a large titan. “A few months ago, me, Stephen, and Richards, fought a galactic madman named ‘Mongul’ who had gained the gems. Luckily for us, and the universe at large, the guy didn’t know how to properly use them. Otherwise, we probably wouldn’t even exist much less have this conversation.” Tony then wiped his hands over the hologram to show him and Strange at a portal. “Me, Reed, and Strange figured that the best way to keep everyone safe was to--”

“Allow me Anthony,” Stephen Strange said, small bits of magical energy fading as he teleported in. “We decided to split the six gems up across three Universes in three multiverses...”

********************************************************************************************

“Whoa, Whoa...hold it! Three multiverses?” Wally West asked, looking confused at the man dressed in a bat suit.

“Yes, three,” Batman stated, his deep gravelly tone never changing as he pressed a button on the computer’s console. The computer hummed to life as a blaze of blue flashed across the screen, showing a map of Earths circling each other. “This is a map of our multiverse. There are hundreds of them, all centering around one focal point. However, transdimensional theory states that there can be more than one multiverse out there. Whoever Darkseid is helping came from one of these multiverses: one that we’ve had encounters with before.”

As Superman looked at the second multiverse that appeared on the screen, this one tinged with red, he said, “Bruce, how do you know its Darkseid?”

A tall green man, The Martian Manhunter, stepped forward, looking at the table full of heroes. “Because Orion informed me via psychic link. He saw some increased activity coming from Apokolips and after acquiring information from one of Darkseid’s drones, he discovered that Darkseid had recently discovered a powerful gem from another dimension known as an ‘infinity gem.’ He’s been using that gem, it seems, to communicate with his equal from that multiverse to hunt down the rest.”

************************************************************************************

“Wait, so you’re saying that whoever this putz is that’s helping Thanos find the gems already knows the location of the other gems? How can you be sure that the gems here are safe?” Hawkeye asked.

“Because while he might know our two are in this universe, he doesn’t know their exact pinpointed locations inside,” Tony said. “Believe me: the Space and Time gems here in a place no one is going to steal them.”

“How can you be sure?” Captain America asked.

“Because I gave the Shi-ar the space gem and had Namor bury the time gem deep within the Marianas Trench AND THEN had Strange put enough security spells on the area that it would make the Hulk wince,” Tony said with a smirk. “They’re both safe. What worries me is that, according to a trace spell, Thanos is going to another multiverse and ignoring the gems here.”

“But why would Thanos ignore the gems here? Would not they be an easier boon than gems that lay universes away most literally?” Thor asked, looking at the map confused.

“That’s what worries me,” Tony furrowed as he looked at the others, “IT could only mean that he made a deal with whoever gave him the location of those two gems he’s after in exchange for something just as powerful...”

“Or more,” said Dr. Strange.

“So, where did you send those?” Captain America asked.

*******************************************************************************************

“A multiverse called, ‘Equestria,” Batman said as he brought out a map of another multiverse, this one tinged in purple.

“Equestria...” Wonder Woman said to herself before asking, “You mean as in ‘horse’?”

Batman solemnly nodded. “From what I’ve gathered, this multiverse is high in magical energy like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”

Superman looked closely at the purple tinged multiverse before him. “How can you be sure that whoever this guy is, he’s heading there?”

“Because I Batman had my aid,” a voice said as a chair teleported into the tower. “Before you arrived, I came into the tower to help Batman with tracking the man that Darkseid helped.”

“Metron,” Hal said as the man made himself known.

Metron nodded in response before looking back at the map, “I was curious as to where the man that Darkseid was talking to was headed and what Darkseid was planning, so I followed him to the outskirts of that particular multiverse and watched as he warped to the asteroid belt of a particular world. Apparently, this ‘Thanos’ is not just going to grab the gems, but something even more important.”

“If Thanos is anywhere near the monster that Darkseid is, we need to go that world in order to stop him right now,” Superman said, placing his palms on the table and getting up from his seat.

Flash turned his head to look at the man in blue. “Ok...HOW? The cosmic treadmill can only go so far and not even the Justice League ‘porters can get us across the multiverse.”

“I have seven such teleporters that can get you to Equestria,” Metron said, producing seven small bracelets with a series of buttons on it. “They were ‘gifts’ from a friend of mine who can travel the different multiverses almost as freely as myself, despite his assertions to the contrary. In any event, they’ll allow you to go into the world and travel back. But I should warn you--”

*******************************************************************************************

“--That when you go there, it’ll take a few moments for your body to get used to that world,” Dr. Strange said as he stood in front of a large gleaming portal.

The others nodded as Tony placed the last piece of his red and gold armor on. Like a machine several times its size, the armor hummed to life as the faceplate of Tony’s helmet came down. “Right. Now don’t forget that comm I gave you will alert you to when it’s time to get us home. If the locals are as creepy looking as Beta Ray Bill’s folks, I’ll wanna get out as soon as we’re done...no offense Thor.”

“None taken to myself,” said Thor. “If Bill were here though, I cannot guarantee that your armor would be as...clean as it is now.”

“I wish you luck Avengers,” Dr. Strange said as he moved to the side to allow the team to walk to the portal.

Hawkeye smirked, “Hey, traveling to another world, fighting mad gods...typical tuesday for us, right?”

Captain America could only smile, the fact that he was excited to be heading into the world that he had been sketching and watching hidden deep within his stoic face as he lead his team through the portal.

And thus did the heroes of this world: The knight, the captain, the thunder god, the behemoth, the archer, and the spy, walk off into the portal and into a grand adventure.

***********************************************************************************

Elsewhere, the seven gods of another world: The god of light, the god of vengeance, the goddess of truth, the god of emerald will, the god of speed, the god of the sea, and the god of the mind, activated their devices to descend upon Equestria for a battle of both death...

************************************************************************************

“...and life,” a tall man with a large head said as he finished his narration, turning to see Metron at the other side of the chessboard. “This meetings between the three worlds will be quite interesting, won’t it Metron?”

Metron smiled as he placed his piece down, “Indubitably, Uatu. I cannot wait to see how these three worlds will benefit from each other. For better... or for the worse.”

Meeting of the heroes

Much faster than by train, Rainbow Dash had reached the bustling city of Manehatten. With the dazzling grace that her own ego lived off of, she dived and weaved between its skyscrapers, so tall that they gave Canterlot Castle a run for its money, and its busy streets as well. She was searching for whatever building Rarity had said she would be at, while simultaneously wracking her brain to try and remember where the building was in the first place, and what is was.

“Butter’s Flower? Rutter’s Tower? Fluttershy’s Coroner?” she asked herself, as she tried to remember the name. “Aw, the hay with it!”

Abandoning her quest of trying to remember the name of the joint Rarity had gone to and searching for it, she decided to search for the fashionista herself. Maybe she’d get lucky.

In about five minutes, she spotted many ponies with luxurious white coats, white horns, fantabulous deep violet manes, immaculately manicured hooves you could eat off of, diamonds on their flank, prissy diva fashionista attitudes, generosity, and who were mares. But she couldn’t find the one pony she knew that combined all of these attributes to form her friend. The closest she got was some stuck up stallion that had everything above except being a mare, and boy was that an awkward situation.

As she flew around the city for what must have been the jabillionth time, reminding herself never to perform a flying tackle hug on a pony unless you have absolute confirmation that he or she is your intended target, she thought about high-tailing it back to Ponyville to maybe see if Fluttershy or Twilight or somepony knew where Rarity was heading to in this crazy town. Or better yet, maybe she could go back to street level and maybe ask Manehattan's locals if they knew. After all, so long as she didn’t call their crazy town a crazy town, maybe they wouldn’t be as hard to open up as she heard Scootaloo and Applejack say Babs was.

Her hooves had no sooner touched onto the asphalt of a side-walk, when she noticed an usual scene for her. An ambulance carriage was parked out in front of some store while an older Unicorn stallion, the store owner, she presumed, stood to one side of the entrance to his place of business with sad, dejected look on his face and his head hung low.

Rainbow looked up at a side above his head that read, ‘Cutter’s Corner.’

“Cutter’s Corner?” she asked to herself, fore-hoof on her chin. She smiled. “Maybe this is the place!”

With renewed enthusiasm, she trotted off toward the presumed owner of the store. “Hey you! Have you seen my friend?” she yelled out, causing his ears to go up and his head to turn towards her. “Have you seen--”

“Oh, I am so sorry,” the older unicorn said, his head down as he gave Rainbow a hug, holding in his own tears.

“Sorry? Sorry for--” Before she could ask further, Rainbow Dash caught the sight of a couple of EMT ponies wheeling out a stretcher with a pony on it, draped in a white sheet. She did not know how, but something told her that she knew who was on that stretcher. “Oh Celestia no.”

Yet still, Rainbow had to confirm her suspicions. In a frenzy, with her teeth, she lifted off the portion of the sheet covering the body’s face.

No.

No no no no no, “No no no no no no no,” she said, backing up as the tears began their unencumbered descent down her face.

The older unicorn placed a gentle hoof on her shoulder. “There...there are no words to express--”

Her sorrow turned into rage at his voice. In one swift motion, she knocked his fore-leg, and pinned him against the wall behind him. With lightning in her eyes, she said, “WHAT HAPPENED? WHAT THE HAY DID YOU DO TO HER!? IF YOU KILLED HER I’LL--” Dash raised her hoof ready to strike.

The unicorn nervously held up his hooves in utter terror as he looked into Dash’s eyes. “No, wait! I didn’t anything to her! I promise! I only called her here to examine this stone that some of my workers had found. She touched it and the next the thing we knew, she let out this horrifying scream and collapsed to the ground! Honest!”

“LIAR!” Dash yelled. Her blood boiled as she was about to deck the older unicorn into next week when the two EMT ponies, done loading Rarity’s body into the carriage, came and pulled her away from the frightened older unicorn. “Let me go! He killed my friend!”

“Mam! Calm down!” the brown coated earth pony EMT said.

“I said let me go!” Rainbow Dash said, flapping her wings and trying to buck with her hind legs as hard as she could to break free of their grip on her.

“Mam! We haven’t found any proof that this gentlecolt did anything that smells like foul play!” the teal coated earth pony EMT said.

Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth as her adrenaline went as far as it would go. With one final effort to break free, she said, “Let. Me. GO!”

Suddenly, the two EMTs tripped backwards and Rainbow Dash found herself free in the air at last. That was good. She wasn’t sure even with the adrenaline surge that she could overpower to full grown earth pony stallions with those two’s build. She gained enough altitude to where she was sure the two couldn’t just jump up and grab her again, and looked back down, eyes zeroing in on the older unicorn.

On any given normal day, Rainbow would have tackled the gentlecolt, grabbed a hold of him, and took him somewhere safe to beat a confession out of him for what she was so sure he had done to Rarity, and say later on that, ‘Justice was served.’

However, before she could dart off towards the older unicorn and properly execute her plan, she saw that, on the ground, things weren’t so normal.

Down below, things began to shake, as though someone below had begun to jostle the ground with one hoof. The road, the street lights, the carriages, the road signs, the trash in trash cans, the trash littered on the street, everything. Not even the ponies were immune to being shaken and jostled about, tripping over their own hooves or falling flat onto their faces. All around her, she watched as the normally sturdy buildings that had made Manehattan the jewel of New Rich Equestria began to sway like a deck of cards just waiting to topple over. The streets themselves began to form little spider-web like fractures on the surface like a cracked mirror. Heck, the glass on the buildings and the mirrors inside began to look like a cracked mirror.

Rainbow Dash stopped slowly turning around in place in the air and looked back at the carriage carrying Rarity. Her friend.

“Earthquake!” said the first driver of the ambulance carriage.

“In Manehatten!?” asked the second driver.

Dash looked towards the stretcher, Rarity’s body becoming jostled a little by the rumbling. “Rainbow Dash...please...help me.”

“What was that?” Dash asked, hearing a ghostly version of Rarity’s voice coming from the body. “Wait...was that…Rarity? She’s alive? SHE’S ALIVE?!” she exclaimed, her eyes opening wide in shock.

Not bothering to ask the how or why (after all, she and her friends battled chaos and one changed her entire species. It was kind of easy to allow a little leeway), she quickly flew into middle of the commotion and grabbed the lying form of her friend before the EMTs knew what was happening.

With Rarity in hoof, Dash turned her head south-westward, towards Ponyville. “Don’t worry Rare! If anypony can figure out how to help you, it’s Twilight!”

She high tailed it to the library, going faster than even she thought was possible with a passenger onboard. Hopefully, a live passenger…

*****

“Greetings,” said Thanos.

“Who--WHAT--are you?” Celestia all but whispered.

“The name is Thanos, and as to what I am, well, look no further than what remains of your sister...Celestia…”

At this, The Solar Princess and her former student’s eyes widened to saucers and their pupils became like pin-pricks.

“Oh yes. I know a great many things. Though Luna put up the most refreshing mental battle, I’ve had in a long time for a creature as...aesthetic as her after I overpowered her in that asteroid field, I was able to get enough from her ultimately little cranium to know who you and Twilight Sparkle are and a great many other things with...impeccable familiarity,” Thanos leaned his head towards the two conscious Princesses. “Now, unless you desire for you or your ‘prized pupil’ or your kingdom to resemble Luna, might I suggest you hand over the elements of harmony as a gesture of...‘friendship?’ ”

The mad titan grinned toothily.

Celestia eyed Thanos for a few moments, gazing into his eyes for any glimmer of mercy or kindness. She found, only a black abyss.

Turning her head towards Twilight, she asked, “Twilight, is Luna’s heart still beating?”

Twilight merely stood where she was, frozen, a far off look in her eyes.

“Twilight!”

The newest Princess of Equestria was immediately shaken out of her stupor and placed her ear against Luna’s chest. She waited and listened for the rhythmic beating of a living heart.

Thump.

It was faint, but it was there.

She looked up to Celestia and said, “Yes...she’s still alive…”

Celestia looked away from her former protege and lowered her head, sighing deeply as the tears from her eyes stopped flowing. “Good,” she said, her eyes opening now with an expression of fierceness burning with the intensity of a thousand white suns aimed towards the monster who almost took her dear sister away from her a second time. “Take her and run, Twilight.”

“Wh--what?” The younger Princess stammered out. “But...I can’t! I can’t leave--”

Celestia turned her head backwards and turned her expression upon her former student. “Twilight Isabella Sparkle! Take Luna and get somewhere safe this instant young lady!” she said like all of the times she had to seriously discipline Twilight back when she was a filly.

Like those times, Twilight immediately did as she was told, placed Luna on her shoulders, and teleported out, but not before sharing one final sad look of concern with her former teacher.

Celestia turned back to Thanos, sniffling a little and wiping away the remains of her tears and her mascara. Her expressions since she last opened her eyes hadn’t changed. In fact, it had grown, and if one looked closely, they might be able to see twin pillars of fire in either of her eyes.

Thanos let out a moan and sat back in his chair, the side of his face resting on an open palm. “Oh, please don’t tell me you seriously intend to clash with me,” he said in a rather bored tone of voice. “Considering that your sister failed to even make a small rend in my hide, what mad hope do you think you have?”

“As much as I love her, I am not my sister,” Celestia said in a low, menacing tone.

“True, but from her memories, I know that even the power boost she had in her possessed form was still far weaker than I, yet it was enough to almost kill you and forced you to resort to using the elements.”

Celestia leaned down towards the ground and began scraping her front hooves in succession against the marble floor, gouging out large chunks of it. “I’ve gotten a lot more powerful in the intervening millennia.”

Thanos raised an eyebrow. “Really. Exactly how powerful is--”

In the span of a microsecond, Celestia did something rather un-princess like. She took in a deep breath and snorted a rather sizable cloud of steam from her nostrils. Then, with a single flap of her alabaster wings, she charged Thanos so quickly that he had never even had the time to yell out ‘THHHHHAAAAATTTTT!’ and finish his sentence. Instead, with Celestia’s front hooves planted firmly in his chest, he was lifted out of his hovering golden throne and the two of them cut clean through the ceiling above the throne-room, made an arc through the air, and obliterated several of The Crystal Mountain’s tallest peaks as they bore their way through the crust then the mantle then the core...all at the speed of light.

In a second, the entirety of the planet, but especially the Kingdom of Equestria, would feel the aftershock of such a tremendous event…

*****

“WHAT THE HAY!?” yelled out Applejack.

The train ride to Manehattan up to that point had been as pleasant a ride as Applejack could remember her and the girls ever having. And right quick too! This new Super Speedy line made all the old lines she and they had ever been on look like a snail trying to climb up Canterlot Castle when placed side by side!

At the moment, though, Applejack was thinking that it might have been a little too fast because, for no other good reason she could gather, the train car she, Pinkie, and Fluttershy were in was shaking like a can of oats her sister was trying to pry open. Applejack, her friends, and the other ponies inside were the oats.

“WHAT’S GOING ON!?” squeaked out Fluttershy, who sat in between Applejack and Pinkie as she clutched onto the former for dear life.

“OH OH! Maybe the train decided to eat its extra peppy pills today, or maybe the ground is having a tummy ache, or maybe the conductor is a friend of Rarity and he thinks something really bad is happening too!”

Between gasps for breath due to Fluttershy’s death like vice, Applejack said, “I...hope so...Pinkie…”

Her hopes were silenced by a sound. A most troubling sound. The screeching sound of the car behind them breaking it’s link with their car, toppling over to one side, and careening off of the train tracks and down a green knoll.

Fluttershy had given Applejack a respite to watch this event along with all of the other occupants in their train car. Applejack sucked as much air as she could greedily.

“Whoopsie. Never mind. PANIC!” said Pinkie Pie.

As Pinkie began yelling at the top of her lungs, joined in by a choir of the other occupants of the train, Applejack immediately felt the wind squeezed out of her by Fluttershy once more. In her desperate search for air, her head went out of the window, which had been lowered the entire ride, and that was when she saw it. She watched in utter horror as the bridge leading from the Equestrian mainland to Manehatten began to sway back and forth, bits and pieces of it beginning to crumble and fall apart. Letting out a gasp, she darted her eyes back and forth, searching for someway, ANYWAY, to prevent the disaster playing on repeat in her head from actually manifesting itself.

That was when she saw something else: a train switch in the middle of the tracks, just lying in wait for her to lasso it in.

Smirking wryly, she struggled to break free of Fluttershy’s grip. At first, she tried to gently nudge her aside and tell her to stop, but Fluttershy was glued to her like ugly on an ape and Pinkie and the other ponies’ screams drowned out her voice, no matter how loud she raised it. As the switch grew ever nearer, Applejacks attempts to get Fluttershy off of her became ever more frantic and powerful until, with desperation in her face, she decided that she’d rather have Fluttershy crying and angry with her later on than being lowered in a casket six feet into the earth.

She headbutted Fluttershy in the head and off of her. As the butter yellow pegasus landed on Pinkie Pie, Applejack took her hat off and stuck her head outside once more. With a hood, she rummaged through the space inside the hat as she looked at the approaching switch with her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth.

And that was when she realized something.

Her hoof wasn’t touching anything but hat.

Startled beyond all get-out, she put her head back into the car and looked back into her hat, ignoring Pinkie as she tried to shake Fluttershy awake as well as the enormous bruise on her forehead.

Nothing.

There was nothing in her head aside from a few strands of pure blonde hair that had gotten loose and stuck to the fabric.

If her eyes would have widened anymore, they’d be in serious trouble of falling out her sockets and rolling on the floor. If her jaw had dropped any lower, it would have fallen off and rolled onto the floor too. If her pupils had dilated anymore, they would have been visible only by microscope.

She turned her head back out the window just in time to see the switch zoom on by at Celestia knew what speed.

She stuck her head out of the window to see the bridge zooming dead ahead right at them and give way to gravity right down the middle.

In the seconds she had left before the train would inevitably plummet, she thought about a lot of things.

She thought about her friends, all of them, but Rarity in particular, and how they remaining three, hopefully three, would keep Equestria safe without her, Fluttershy, and Pinkie.

She thought about Winona and Sweet Apple Acres and how the two would ever get along without her.

She thought about Granny Smith, and if the money would ever come so she could get that new fangled hip replacement she’d been needing for a while now.

She thought about Big Macintosh and Applebloom and the weddings she’d miss from those two.

She thought about the fact that she would never get to have her own wedding.

She thought about how many ponies would be attending her, Pinkie’s, and Fluttershy’s funeral. Would it be a simple local affair just attended by Ponyville folk? Would their reputations precede them and would folks from all over come and give the funeral the attention befitting the loss of three elements of harmony that never seemed to get a whole lot of credit in life despite how many times they saved Equestria?

Out of all these thoughts vying for her ultimate attention, though, only one managed to reign supreme over all of the others and take up her thought space.

With a dejected sigh, Applejack put her head back inside the train and hugged both Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie with all the strength she could muster, which turned out to be at least enough to stop Pinkie from yelling.

“Ma, Pa, I’m ah coming home. I’m ah coming home…”

*****

In a flash of magenta, Twilight reappeared at the center of her home and Ponyville’s lone library.

“Hiya Twilight, back already?” Spike asked from his and Twilight’s shared room upstairs. He climbed down the ladder and landed on the first floor with a thud, not looking Twilight’s way the entire time. “How was--”

This time, he did look Twilight’s way and what he saw of Luna made him slap both claws against the side of his face. “Whoa. Somepony sure did a number on her. Twilight, what--”

“--There’s no time Spike!”

Twilight ran towards her number one assistant and placed both of her fore-hooves on Spike’s face. “Spike, listen to me very, very, carefully! Where’s RD, Pinkie, AJ, Rarity, and Fluttershy?” she said with the most desperate look on her face Spike could ever remember seeing there.

Spike walked over to Luna, noticing her wounds in more detail. “Well, Rarity went off to Manehatten. Something about a jeweler that had a rare jewel that he wanted to show her. Then I saw AJ, Pinkie, and Fluttershy just leave on a train a few hours ago. And didn’t Rainbow Dash leave for Canterlot with you?”

Twilight lowered her head a bit as she remembered, quietly cursing her panicky nature. “You’re right, I’m sorry! Look, I need all the books we got on--”

It was then that an earthquake hit and began shaking the library like a giant snow globe in the claws of an even bigger Ursa Major. Stacks and stacks of books filed neatly under Twilight’s favorite organizational system of the day crashed onto the ground and piled up like so many dead, papery animals. If this were any other day, Spike would be throwing his arms in the air and shouting at the heavens, knowing that he’d be the one to have to reorganize all of them back into whatever proper place Twilight decides they belonged in.

Instead, he merely yelled out, “GAAAHHH! EARTHQUAKE!” He jumped onto Twilight’s back and pressed his snout against her mane for safety.

“IN PONYVILLE!? HOW!?” Twilight said, her body not nearly as affected or in danger of losing its balance as Spike’s was by the shaking ground.

Soon, the book shelves tumbled towards the center of the room, but Twilight’s magic put them back in place and kept them there.

Then, Twilight and Spike heard and saw something slam through the balcony window and crash into the couch, knocking it over to one side. Lifting the couch up, Twilight and Spike blinked twice.

Lying there, on the ground, was a familiar cyan pegasus who had a familiar alabaster unicorn's body held tightly in her hooves.

Shaking her head of grogginess, Rainbow Dash yelled out, “TWILIGHT! I NEED YOUR HELP! Something bad’s happened to--Luna?” Turning her head, she looked at the fallen, barely breathing alicorn. “What happened to her? What happened to you!? You look like you just watched Celestia get eaten by some sort of monster!”

“Oh, Rainbow, it’s horrible! Luna was beaten nearly to death by some...THING and Celestia is trying to fight it!” Twilight wept a little as she went over to Dash to hug her.

“And I can’t seem to find--” At this point, she noticed Rarity lying at Rainbow’s side. “OH GODDESSES! What happened to Rarity!?”

“What!? Rarity!?” Spike said, jumping off of Twilight’s back and kneeling next to the body of his love. He grabbed one of her hooves in both of his claws. “Rare---Rarity?” he whimpered out, before his eyes began bawling out and two cascades of tears crashed against the wooden ground.

“I don’t know! I flew over to Manehatten because I felt something bad was happening to Rarity and I went over to check up on her and I found her like this,” Dash said, pointing to Rarity.

“Oh, Rarity...no,” Twilight said, tears like her assistant’s coming to her eyes as she leaned down to place a hoof on Spike’s shoulder.

Just then, a surge of energy began to form in the center of the library, knocking over a table and the horsehead statuette atop it to the side.

“WHAT NOW!?” Dash yelled at the top of what was left in her lungs as she watched a blue portal form.

Twilight perked her head up and wiped her tears away from her eyes. “Oh no.”

She grabbed Spike, Rarity, Luna, and Rainbow Dash in her magical grip, much to the latter’s discomfort, and raced into the basement, shutting the door behind her.

“Twi! What gives!?” said Rainbow Dash, now fluttering freely in the air.

“Whatever’s coming through that portal might not be friendly, Rainbow. It might be Thanos--”

“--Thanos?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“--That monster that beat up Luna and that Celestia is supposed to be fighting. Or, it could be something else that might be in league with him.”

“So? Why don’t we just go back up there and beat whoever or whatever comes out to the same pulp Luna was beaten to?”

“Rainbow!”

“What!? Whatever’s coming can’t be friendly! You said so yourself!”

“I said whatever’s coming might be Thanos or in league with him! Until we know for sure though, we should just stay still, stay silent, and listen!”

Dash let out a small growl. Hiding was not something she enjoyed, unless it was for a prank, but definitely not when it might be from a monster that could hurt her friends and not when another could be dead.

“Fine,” she grumbled. She and Twilight flapped towards the top of the staircase leading up to the main floor as quickly as they could, landed, and pressed their ears against the door.

Spike, for his part, relegated his crying to a soft, barely audible sob.

“Sleep tight, my love,” he said so low that nopony could hear him.

*****

“I’m ah coming home, I’m ah coming home, I’m ah--”

“--errr...Applejack?” asked Pinkie Pie.

“I’m ah coming home, I’m ah coming home, I’m ah--”

“No offense...but...you’ve been...repeating that...over and over again...for the past...minute...and...though I’m ALL about hugs...it’s sort of hard to...breath…”

Pinkie Pie’s words managed to penetrate Applejack’s skull. She let go of her friends, Pinkie taking in a large gulp of air as normal air circulation filled her lungs. Applejack muttered, “Huh?” and let go of Fluttershy and Pinkie, looking around like she was utterly lost. “Who? What? Where?”

What should’ve felt like the train falling to it’s death and the death of everypony on board actually felt like it was floating in the air. Curiously, Applejack leaned her head out of the window and over the side to see what had happened and was shocked to see the car was indeed floating in the air. “What the--?”

“Just remain calm, everybody. I’ll have you back down soon,” called a commanding voice, though it did carry with it a sense of kindness.

“Back down? Every’body’? Who...” Applejack was about to continue but soon felt the train being gently lowered to the ground by some weird force.

Turning her head, she looked at two small figures that looked like dots from way up in the air near the soon-to-be collapsed bridge. She dropped her jaw as she watched green energy flow from one dot, making a pair of forceps to hold the bridge down while the other dot seemed to fly about and fix the bridge.

When the train landed, she noticed that around it, a red blur passed by, dropping ponies left and right that had tried to jump the train in an effort to save themselves.

After the blur stopped running around the train, she heard the train door open. “It’s all right,” said a figure, one almost completely alien to the ponies onboard, standing in the doorway, highlighted by light, “you ponies should be safe now. I know that trains can seem unreliable to you all now, but statistically speaking, they are a safe way to travel.”

“Uh, excuse me pardner? But...who are you? In fact, now that I’m thinking clearly again...what are you?” Applejack asked, getting out from her seat and ignoring Pinkie as she fell to the ground and flopped like a fish out of water still in need of air. Applejack walked up their savior and got a good look at him, knitting her eyebrows together, and scrunching her mouth to one side of her face.

From what she remembered about Twilight talking about after that whole hullabaloo with the mirror to another world and Sunset Shimmer, from the moment Applejack saw him, she had a deep suspicions that he might have been human. The bipedal structure, the arms and hands like a minotaur’s, the lack of any real amount of fur except on their heads, and the general ape like appearance all screamed just screamed and pointed to that direction. However, she thought that he might be human because she didn’t recall Twilight saying that humans could fly or lift up dozens of tons with ease or were anything more than on par with the typical earth pony in terms of physical power at best.

“I’m Superman,” the alien said, looking at the ponies, not phased by what he was talking to. “I’m a friend.” Slowly, he reached out a hand to shake with the orange mare.

Despite all of her nagging questions, there was something about this feller, this ‘Superman’ that immediately dug through the core of AJ’s defenses.

Calmly, AJ smiled and put her hoof into Superman’s and thus, a new friendship was born.

*****

“ARRGH! I can’t hear a thing! What’s going on?” Dash asked, vying for room with Twilight.

“Shh! I’m trying to hear,” Twilight said, putting her ear to the door.

From behind the door, Hawkeye could be heard saying, “There has to be a better way of traveling than magic!”

“Shining Armor?” Twilight asked, hearing the voice.

“Calm down, Clint. It’ll get easier,” said Black Widow.

Twilight arched an eyebrow at that last voice and looked at Dash weirdly.

“Jarvis, can you confirm that we’re all here?” Iron Man said, checking out his hub from inside his helmet.

“All Avengers signs are reporting in, sir,” the computer voice said.

From behind the door, the last bits of Dash’s patience wore out, and she let out a yell of frustration. “ARGH! I can’t take this! I’m going out there, NOW!”

“No, wait, DASH!” Twilight yelled out, only to watch in vain as Dash blasted through the door and flew right at the first one of the intruders in her way. Sadly, this was Captain America. With her hooves up front, she slammed both hooves into the Captain's stomach, sending him flying into a wall.

“FOUL BEAST!” yelled Thor as he took flight and turned to the young pegasus, an angry look in his eyes. Lightning began to crackle and surge across his hammer as he pointed at the cyan mare, sending bolts of lightning at her.

A weather mare at heart, the nimble pegasus heard the cracking of electricity behind her and took an evasive maneuver. Smirking, she prepared herself to fly at the thunder god, but was suddenly stopped by a rope arrow. “Hold little missy. At least...I think you’re a chick. Well, I hope you’re a chick, cuz if you aren’t, then you must have been picked on a lot growing--UGH!” Hawkeye yelled as he felt a bolt of magical energy hit him.

“LET HER GO!” commanded Twilight, her horn fully charged as she stared at the archer before she had to jump out the way of an energy blast. With a quick turn of her head, she looked and shot a magic bolt at the red and gold metal being in the air, who dodged.

“Magical energy. Interesting. I guess I shouldn’t be too shocked considering we just got attacked by a pegasus,” Iron Man snarked as he fired another shot at Twilight.

As the small battle waged in the library, Bruce Banner was busy helping Captain America to his feet. “Come on, Steve.”

“Ugggh, my head,” Captain America said, rubbing his head from where he collided with a wall. Looking up, he saw the battle waging. Looking closely, he could see one of the ponies. “Wait...Rainbow Dash? Twilight Sparkle? Hold on. Everyone, HALT!”

It was said by some, that the voice of Captain America was one that could command gods. At this moment, the entire library found out that description paled in comparison to how commanding the Captain's voice really was, as everyone stopped what they were doing immediately and turned to face the source of the voice.

Slowly, with his commanding presence firmly established around him, the Captain stood to his full height and looked to the two ponies. “Rainbow Dash, Princess Twilight Sparkle, I apologize for us surprising you two like this.”

“YEAH! You better be sorry! Barging in here on us like this! What are you chumps doing here? Who are you anyway?” Dash asked, a little annoyed by the situation, “Wait...how do you know our names?”

“The name is Captain America. We are the Avengers,” Captain America said, and began pointing to his companions. “This is Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Bruce Banner. As for how we know your names...”

A pause came to Captain America, as he wondered how they were going to take to the idea that in one world, they were fictional. With a sigh, he figured he might as well explain the best he could, “In our world--”

“In our world, we have televised adventures of you and your friend’s adventures. Interestingly enough,” Bruce said, looking at Twilight and her wings, “the writers of our world seemed to have gotten certain details--like personality and back stories--100% correct. I can only imagine it was either luck on their part or Lauren Faust had a portal to your world to be able to find this out. Not surprising, there was a story like this in a Darkwing Duck cartoon.”

Bruce then looked at the shocked looks from his teammates. “I watch the show from time to time. It’s quite interesting.”

For a few moments, the fact that one of her best friends was badly hurt and bordering on death completely left Dash as she began to realize, “Wait...you’re telling me that there’s a world where I’m famous? SWEET!”

Twilight, doing her best to ignore Dash’s fame inflated ego, looked to the 6 before her. Having dealt with their species before, she could recognize them when she saw them. “But...you’re humans! Wow could you enter our world without a mirror or not become ponies like us?”

Iron Man looked towards Captain America and Bruce. “Yeah Steve, Bruce, how?” he said, snickering.

Bruce Banner looked a little confused. “I can only guess it must have something to do with Strange’s spell--”

“Magic BS!” coughed Tony under his breath.

Bruce continued, ignoring Tony’s comment. “--that must have allowed us to traverse here without changing our base molecular states.”

“Huh?” Clint asked.

“The spell must have allowed us to remain humans when we came here,” Bruce finished, before getting to a look past Twilight and Rainbow. “Oh my God Luna! Rarity! What happened to them!?”

Twilight looked back at the fallen alicorn, Spike standing in front of both Luna and Rarity. “Wait, don’t go near,” Twilight said.

“Princess, you have my assurances as a Prince of Asgard and Son of Odin, that my comrades and I are only here to help, if you would have us,” Thor said, kneeling before the princess regally.

Twilight looked at the strangely dressed man and then to the fallen mares and then to Dash. Finally, she nodded in acceptance and placed her hoof into the hand of the thunder god and shook it, forging a new friendship with the brave mortals...plus one thunder god...that had entered her home.

*****

The griffons of the kingdom from across the ocean preferred to build their homes on clouds and with clouds. They were very much like Pegasi in that manner, save that they also had imagination and intelligence to match the unicorns and still possessed something of a warrior’s and soldier’s spirit...even if their population was suffering from rates of something that was colloquially known as ‘Equestrianization’ for centuries now. Further removed were they from the Pegasi, in that they were not typically adverse to the ground or making dwellings on the ground, though they could not denial the strategic and tactical advantages of building high up into the air.

It is in the air, from a tower jutting out from Castle Griffhala, the palace of the Griffonian Capital of Griffhala, on the very tip of the troposphere that a V.I.G., a very important Griffon, rests upon a seat. In his metal clad claws lies a spyglass of his own design, one which such range and capability that he spent quite a few sleepless nights making notes on the various sunspots of distance stars with frightening accuracy.

A ‘Macroscope,’ he called it.

With this Macroscope, he gazed down at the ground some many miles below, his piercing through layers upon layers of cummulus, stratus, cirrus, and nimbus and down upon the ground on which many Griffons who worked in the Capital resided.

With a curious brow, he saw that much of the land below was covered in viscous molten rock emanating from a crater as near to being a perfect circle as possible with a diameter of about five miles across. He could imagine that whatever dwelling were not already submerged in boiling lava would have been destroyed in the immense geological upheaval that caused the lava to come surging to the surface in the first place at the beginning of this event.

He gasped beneath his dark green coat.

For he had found what he was sure was the culprit.

One of them.

*****

Above a veritable sea of lava, Celestia fluttered. Shaking herself clean of molten rock in a manner more befitting a wet dog than a Princess of Equestria, Celestia surveyed the surrounding area.

Desolation. Immolation. As far as the eye could see. Celestia could also spot the roofs of houses that had not let succumbed to the fate the rest of the structure had, but would inevitably sink anyways. On one such roof sat a weather vane made of gold. Instead of being molded in the shape of a rooster, however, it was made in the shape of a Griffon with two ruby eyes that glowed eerily in the light given off by the lava.

In her haste to see the monster that had done such a terrible thing to her sister, Celestia just created what was sure to be the international incident of the century, and she would know, she’d seen quite a few. Even worse, she was certain that she and Thanos had come back to the surface of the planet with such speed that most if not all of the Griffons in their homes, males, females, young and old, had no chance to take to the air before being turned emulsified and turned to vapor.

She sighed and said, “Great.”

In a millennia, she had lost her cool twice and both times had produced fruit most rotten, though this was by far worse than her getting her flank handed to her by Chrysalis. So

He ears perked up, however, when she heard something. A cry for help that sounded like it belonged to a year old hatchling filly. She turned her head, and discovered a house a mile away, made completely of diamond, with a large tower coming from the center, that weathered the lava flow quite well. The cry came from there over and over again.

With one flap of her wings, Celestia was half way there in less than a second, the displaced wind rippling the surface of the molten rock below.

“Hold on young one!” Celestia said as she flew up towards the house’s central tower.

She hovered over said tower for an instant, finding no stranded baby Griffon.

In the next instant, she heard a familiar throaty chuckle in the back of her mind and a powerful violet beam of energy ascended from beneath the waves of the lava and struck her with such force that in the following instant, she had already made it to the top of the troposphere.

*****

Back at his perch with his macroscope, the V.I.G. yelled in surprise as what he was sure was Equestria’s Princess Celestia slammed through the tower he was on with such force that it dissipated back into the formless mass of cloud from which it was formed. After flapping his wings frantically and getting his baring back, he looked up and over his shoulder.

Celestia was already out of his sight.

With his Macroscope, he found that that she was now completely out of all of the layers of the atmosphere and just floated there, in low orbit over the world, rubbing a hoof over a rather noticeable burn mark on her stomach and staring back down at something back on the ground with a look that, if it were a weapon, could kill off all life on an entire continent.

“Hrmmm…” said the V.I.G. “What could possibly harm an Alicorn goddess and make her furious in such a way.”

He turned back towards the ground below, where the violet energy blast he had seen cause Celestia’s extra atmospheric journey had originated from.

“I wonder…” he said as he placed his eye back on his Macroscope to see who, or WHAT could possibly seem to be giving Celestia of all ponies a run for her money.

*****

“You know, I don’t recall any memory I siphoned off from your sister that said anything about you EVER being so brash like when you charged me,” said Thanos, standing waist deep in the flow of lava. He wiped off lava that was still molten and that had solidified into a crust, from his face. “Fortunately for me then, that I at least know from her that your sense of compassion is great, and ever so predictably easy to exploit.”

Hanging from her spot hundreds of miles above him, Celestia glared Claymores at him as she huffed soundlessly in space due to her wound and clutched it.

“Ohhhh…I know that look. I’ve seen it hundreds of times on thousands of worlds, Princess, so don’t try masking the pain wracking your equine form with anger at me,” he said, pointing a gauntleted finger up at her. “Well guess what? That energy blast was only a fraction of my total power, and the pain it’s inflicted upon you is only a fraction of what you’ll feel before this day is done.”

To Thanos’s confusion, Celestia closed her eyes, held her head up high, and looked like she was laughing in the vacuum around her.

In his mind, he heard her say, “HA! ‘AND THE PAIN INFLICTED UPON YOU IS ONLY A FRACTION OF WHAT YOU’LL FEEL BEFORE THIS DAY IS DONE!’ THAT IS THE EPITOME OF COMEDY!” She then brought her head back down and looked back at Thanos with a dark frown on her face in an instant, all traces of humor gone. “Because, I could say the same about you. The difference? I. MEAN. IT.”

Thanos watched in curiosity as a bright ball of light began to form on the edge of her horn. From the outset, it looked like a twinkling star that then grew more and more until it became the size of a large beachball. Lifting her head up, three more balls appeared around her horn, each the same size. With a grunt, she threw her horn down and yelled, “SOLARIS TRINITY!”

The three balls flew forth from her and towards Thanos.

Thanos shook his head in a smug superiority, letting out a chuckle as he held up his hand to block the three shots.

As the first of the sun orbs hit his hand, he let out a yelp of pain. Looking down at the burn mark, he turned his head back up to the other two as they came streaking towards him. Smirking, Thanos decided to dodge the shots by leaping away. However, instead of hearing the sounds of lava splashing violently from the two explosions he hoped to avoid, to his shock, the two orbs of solar energy swerved up to strike him in the back as he was about to land. He was further shocked when they began propelling him up towards Celestia.

Celestia flew down at him as his ascent grew ever higher, her back hooves pointed forward and bucking into his stomach hard. In control of their flight, Celestia caused her and Thanos to swerve forty-five degrees from their fall, and they flew parallel to the ground across the sky. She began repeatedly slamming each of her forehooves into his face hard with enough force to create lakes that could support Manehatten.

Thanos, meanwhile, let out a grunt with each strike of Celestia’s hoof and looked at her with annoyance. Holding his fists together he slammed them both in a double axe-handle again and again onto the solar diarch’s back, intent on crushing her spine. Seeing that this was proving ineffective, he grabbed ahold of her back hooves and lowered her to the point where he could slam his knees into her stomach hard enough to cause a shockwave in the sky and send them both into the stratosphere.

Spinning around, he let go of her back hooves and delivered a backhand into Celestia’s face, allowing gravity to let him free fall back towards the surface afterwards.

After tumbling in the air for a few moments, Celestia shook her head and righted herself in the air before glaring at Thanos. Again, her horn glowed brightly, now becoming enclosed in a bright halo of light.

“SOLAR FLARE!”

“A move meant to blind the opponent. Quite useless against someone as experienced a fighter as I.” Thanos smirked as he looked up towards Celestia and charged another energy blast to send at her, his eyes closed. However, so bright was the solar light that it burned through his eyelids and into his eyes. This stopped him long enough for Celestia to dive towards him and slam all four of her hooves onto his skull and send him barreling into the surface.

“One more warning Thanos,” Celestia said as she lowered herself to the ground away from the crater that Thanos had made, walking with a slow pace as he began to get up. “Even if you THINK yourself to be a god, there are six young mortals back home who possess more power than ANY single god. You, OR me. And if I fall today, they will ensure you never rise, for I have instilled in one of them the two most important rules of godhood.”

“And what would those be, Sun Princess?” Thanos asked, now standing straight, any wounds sustained now seemingly non-existent on his body.

“Rule 1: Even though one is immortal against time’s ravishes, someday...death in some form will come regardless, and two...”

“Just two?” Thanos asked.

Celestia smirked. “Gods are easy to kill...when you know how.”

Celestia then lowered her head to point her horn at Thanos, a column of fire encircling her horn, blazing a bright azure flame. “SOLAR STORM!” Rushing forth, the solar tornado flew out from her horn and at Thanos, wreathing him in its torrents.