Twilight rolled into a thriving battle on a motorcycle. She was kinda terrified, but it was just like her fight with Nightmare Moon: she had important knowledge that could save the day, and she was the only one who could use it. The world was in danger; she had to do something.

Natasha looked up at his approach. "There's Banner! Cover us!" she called to Steve, then ran to Twilight without waiting for a response. "You're alive! Are you here to help?"

"No, but I figured out how to stop the tesseract." Natasha gaped, and Twilight continued, "I planned to do it before it opened, but I think I still can. It's a matter of resonance--something with a similar frequency is better at cancelling out-"

"What do we need to do?" Natasha interrupted.

"Right, sorry. The scepter, Loki's scepter. Just touching the tesseract with it should be enough, but I'm not sure."

She nodded and touched her ear. "Bruce thinks Loki's scepter can close the portal. Does anyone see it?" Twilight couldn't hear the response. "Gotcha. I'm on it." Without further ado, she turned and sprinted away.

She watched her go, trying to think. What if that doesn't work? What's another way we can close it? Steve barely reached her in time to shield her from falling rubble she'd barely even noticed. "Thanks," she panted, a little breathless from her close scrape. "I really- DEAR CELESTIA WHAT IS THAT THING?"

Steve didn't notice the epithet she'd chosen, probably because he was so distracted with the creature that had appeared in the sky. It moved like an eel through water, but it was moving through the air. She mentally called it "skyworm" because everything needed a name, even giant flying alien snakes of death. She had no idea how it was flying, but guessed it was probably something similar to Iron Man's propulsion devices.

"Doctor Banner?" Steve said from behind her. "This seems like a really good time for you to get angry."

"No- I can't- I-"

The skyworm was charging her. Steve grabbed her wrist and dragged her to the side, the massive creature missing them by inches.

"We could really use the Hulk right now!" he shouted, blocking a blast of some kind of purple light.

"No! You don't need a green monster that's just as likely to attack you as he is to attack those things! You need someone who can figure out how to deactivate the tesseract!"

"First of all, you'd have a much higher chance of hitting those guys, simply because there are way, way more of them. Second, didn't you already find a way to close it?"

She ducked as a flying-alien-motorcycle went whirring low over her head. "Yes, but what if it doesn't work? I need to have something else planned! And another plan in case that one doesn't work! And if I become the Hulk, I won't even know if it worked or not! I have to be me, I have to have my brain, so if the portal doesn't close I can find another way! I need to-"

Steve shushed her. "Bruce. Listen to me. It will work."

"How can you know that?"

"Because I know you. And I know that you're not going to be wrong, not about something as important as this. And I know that as the Hulk, you'll tear through those aliens like paper. If you go into it deliberately, you will have control. It's all the difference between falling into a pool and diving off the diving board. Bruce, I trust you. I trust you to be right, I trust you to be able to maintain control. Do you trust me?"

She hesitated. Did she? "Yes. I do."

"Then let go."

A memory flashed through her head.

Let go.

Are you CRAZY?

No I ain't. I promise you'll be safe.

She swallowed hard. "You know, you remind me a lot of a friend of mine."

Then she took a deep breath and allowed rage to fill her. Rage about library books with ripped pages or drinks spilled on them, books returned late and overdue, books that sat on shelves and looked nice, but were never read. Everything that made her most angry filled her brain, and she began to swell.

I'm losing myself! I can't do this!

She wanted to grab onto the thread of herself, or of Bruce, that remained. She wanted to cling to it. But she couldn't do that.

She let go.

Applejack stepped back several steps as Bruce Banner became 'The Hulk'. She did trust him to handle it, but it was still disturbing, watching that happen. The green creature looked up at the skyworm, the animal the size of a train, approaching at the speed of a train. Applejack prepared to run. There was no way even the Hulk could stop something that big, that quickly.

A green fist met the creature, right in the center of its face.

It shuddered to a halt.

Applejack didn't stick around to watch the rest of the conversation. She'd been slacking off chatting while the rest of the battle raged on; it was time to kick some alien flank.

Rainbow Dash couldn't deny that this battle was pretty awesome, but even she was starting to get tired--and so was her suit.

"Power at 10% capacity," Jarvis warned her.

She looked up at the sky. "And they're not even slowing down." Then her eyes flickered with the light of a sudden idea. "Remember two days ago, when I fought Thor?"

"Yes, but what- oh. Oh no."

"Hey Thor! Hit me!"

WHAM.

"IIII MEAAANT WIIIITH LIIIGHTNIIIIIING!" she called as she flew through the sky.

"Then why didn't you just say so?" Thor demanded, flying after her. A crackle filled the sky, and suddenly electricity was surging through the suit and across her body. She'd known it would hurt, but it was still all she could do to keep from screaming.

"Power at 350% capacity," Jarvis reported.

"Good, 'cause that hurt a lot."

"Guys?" Clint asked through the comms, so softly Rainbow could barely make him out.. "I'm out of arrows. Now what?"

Rainbow paused to spot his location. "Hold tight, I'll come pick you up."

"Uh, how literally do you mean that?"

"Very!"

"Wait!"

She didn't.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-"

"Where do you want me to leave you?"

"-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-"

Shrugging, Rainbow dropped him near a building. "You can hide out in here. Probably in the basement." She'd barely finished talking before he scampered inside. "Huh. Well, fighting isn't for everyone." She kicked off into the air when Fury's voice sounded in her comms.

"Tony, you've got a nuke incoming."

"A WHAT? You can't be serious!"

"Yes I can. The Council wants to cut our losses before the invasion overwhelms all of you." A picture of the position and velocity flickered onto the screen on Rainbow's helmet.

There are still so many people here. I promised I wasn't going to let anybody die. If she put it underwater, would that keep it from going off? If it went off anyway, would it destroy the city, or "just" poison the whole ocean with radiation? Would that be better? Maybe she could send it through the portal and destroy some forces there. The fallout, and maybe the explosion, would still hit the city, but it would do a lot less damage. Okay. If it'll explode when it hits the ground, I can drop it in the ocean so it doesn't impact anything hard enough. If it's a timer, or altitude trigger, I'll send it through the portal. That'll minimize the damage.

"Will it explode by a timer, an altitude trigger, or impact?"

"How should I know what kind of bomb they sent?" Fury demanded.

Rainbow groaned, trying to think, when yet another voice entered her comms. It was Natasha. "I can close the portal, can anyone copy?"

Perfect! She could send it through, then close it off before the explosion. "Hold it open a little longer."

"Tony-"

"No time to argue, we've got a nuke. I'm gonna send it through. Then close it--fast."

"All right, but hurry!"

Thor's voice entered the helmet now. "Let me do it."

"Huh? Why?"

"Just trust me. Close it as soon as I go through. Don't wait for me."

"No! Thor, you can't-"

"Yes I can. Trust me, Rainbow. I have to be the one to do this."

Thor whooshed past him, scarlet cape flapping in the wind. Rainbow fought down a lump in her throat. Every inch of her was screaming, No! Stop him! You can't let him die! You promised yourself nobody would die! You have to DO SOMETHING!

But he had chosen this. And he had told her to trust him.

He came flying back the other direction, one hand holding Mjolnir, the other steering the nuke. Something wiggled at the back of Rainbow's brain. Something was strange. But he couldn't figure out what it was.

She turned and followed him to the portal, taking down a few alien motorcycles halfheartedly along the way. She was still missing something. Something wasn't right, didn't make sense.

The nuke! He's never seen a nuke, how did he know what to grab?

Another part of her replied, It wouldn't have been hard to spot the big grey thing flying towards the city and assume that was it.

Fine, she conceded. But there's something else... I just can't put my hoof on it. Or my finger, I guess.

He shot through the portal. Natasha, swallowing hard, jabbed Loki's scepter onto the tesseract. The portal cut off abruptly, and the aliens suddenly powered down. Some kind of signal from the other end must have been keeping them going, and the portal's close had cut it off. That, or Thor had hit whatever was sending it. Maybe both.

She sniffled as she landed next to the rest of the group. I knew all along, you can't get through a conflict on Earth without casualties. Tony's known that since he was a kid. How did I delude myself into thinking we could all make it out of this okay?

They stood there in silence for a long moment. Rainbow wished that at least that feeling of something she couldn't put her finger on would go away. It kept eluding her, and she wondered if it was something that could've saved Thor. Had she been inches from figuring out a way that Thor would make it? If she'd figured out what it was sooner, would Thor be here right now?

Part of it clicked. He called me Rainbow. HE CALLED ME RAINBOW!

"Hey guys! Did I miss anything?"

She whirled around, jumping feet in the air. Thor was sitting there right behind her, looking casual. And suddenly she knew. She realized what she hadn't been able to put her finger on.

"...Pinkie Pie?"

"You betcha! Sorry it took so long. I had to wait a while before I showed up, to make sure there was proper comedic timing."

"I- but- what?"

"I can only do it if it's funny, silly!"

Rainbow blinked as yet another realization slid into place. "Wait. Six of our friends, six of this team... we all got brain-swapped, didn't we?"

"Yeppers!"

"You gotta stop saying Pinkie Pie-ish things in Thor's voice, it's weirding me out. Also, you knew this whole time?"

"You didn't?"

"Well- I-"

"Eeexactly."

"What?"

Pinkie plowed on as if there had been no interruption. "Now come on! We need to go get Loki, and then we can use the tesseract to go home!"

Use the tesseract to go home.

She could barely even process the words. All the hope that Loki had dashed flooded back into her. Her friends were by her side, they'd all made it out alive, and they had a way home! "Let's go!" she shouted, taking off at lightning speed.

"Hey, wait!" Captain America called behind her. "Not all of us move that quickly!"

She didn't even notice.

Author's Note

Starting to wrap up! Woo!