Interlude: Messagesby DragonGeekChaptersPrologueCaptain America: Civil WarSpiderman: HomecomingThor: RagnarokEndgameCaptain MarvelPreviously, On...PrologueTwilight's library was empty and quiet. Not a sound disturbed the silence, not a pony disrupted the endless rows of books. Until a loud Whoosh resounded, bringing with it a group of chattering ponies... and humans. "Hah!" Rainbow Dash was shouting. "I told you I was faster than Pietro! Totally whooshed Clint out of there." Twilight, intent on her teetering pile of books (the souvenirs of their latest excursion), didn't even look up. "Yes, Rainbow." "Hah, I bet he'd have done something dumb like just running in front of the bullets." "Yes, Rainbow. You've been talking about nothing else for three days straight." "Yeah, but still!" she cried, stepping out of her armor, which was approximately like Iron Man's, but adapted for a pony. "Why'd you insist we stop here instead of just dropping you off?" Tony asked, interrupting Rainbow's ego trip. "Well, I wanted us to have a way to get in touch. You know, so we don't end up having no contact for three years until you guys decide you need our help again." Tony sighed. "Still upset about that?" "We inhabited each other's bodies. I would think that would make the Elements friends with the Avengers, but apparently you still can't be bothered to come visit once in a while!" As she talked, her horn glowed, bringing over a large stack of books. "I got this idea a few years ago, when I visited an alternate dimension. Everyone there was a human, too, only they were, like, doubles of us? It was so weird, I swear. Anyway, a girl over there had this book, and if you wrote something in that book, it would appear in a different book here in Equestria. So..." A massive stack of journals thudded onto the table with the force of an elephant. "I might have gone a teensy bit overboard, but I wanted to have a variety for different situations." The top twelve floated off the stack, surrounded by her magenta aura. Each had a symbol on it--there were the cutie marks of each of the Elements of Harmony, and symbols that were clearly intended to represent each of the Avengers. "There's a pair for each of us that got switched." As she handed them out, she listed off the pairs. "Natasha and Rarity. Tony and Rainbow. Clint and Fluttershy. Steve and Applejack. Thor and Pinkie. And me and... Oh." She glanced around the room, remembering who wasn't here. "Right, Bruce kinda went to space, huh?" She sighed. "I'll take his," Thor offered. "I am the only member who travels the stars regularly. I have the greatest chance of meeting him." Twilight nodded and floated it over, but everyone in the room knew that meeting him again was unlikely. It was just an empty gesture. Twilight cleared her throat and picked up the next pair of books. One of these was decorated with Twilight's cutie mark (a large pink star surrounded by five small white stars) but the white stars were replaced with the cutie marks of each of her friends, making it a symbol for the whole group. The other had the Avengers symbol. "I don't know how quickly those will fill up with just normal chat, so I wanted to set aside a pair for emergencies. Use these to tell us you need our help or ask urgent questions." The last six books were blank. "These are for communication between your group. Each of you gets one, so wherever you are, you can send a message to the others. I put a renewing spell on them, so when you fill all the pages, they'll erase and you can start over." She started to hand them out, then stopped. "Wait, are Wanda and Pietro part of the Avengers now?" "They need a little more experience before it's official, but yes, they're joining," Steve said. "Hmm. I guess you'll need more journals, then. In fact, I should probably make backups, in case someone else joins too." She teleported away before anyone could say anything. An awkward silence filled the room, until Tony's notebook buzzed abruptly. He glanced down at the page. It said, "Hi!" He sighed. "Rainbow Dash, I'm right here in the room." "I wanted to try it out!" Starlight looked over at Wanda. "You know, maybe we should connect a journal set for us. You know, neither of us were there when it all went down, and we both do magic." "It's not magic." Starlight raised an eyebrow. "Suit yourself. But you can't deny it's the closest thing your world appears to have." "Hey, speaking of, I was wondering," Tony said. "Why didn't your magic, or Twilight's, or even Rarity's, work well in our world? Rainbow and Fluttershy could still fly, and I remember that's magical. So how come unicorn magic is so much harder outside of Equestria?" Starlight tapped her muzzle with a hoof. "Well, Twilight never fully explained it, but I think it has something to do with Discord. Something about-" POOF! There was a flash of pink. "I'm back! And I brought lots and lots of journals!" Starlight grinned. "Great! Can I take two? Wanda and I were thinking we could have a pair too." Twilight beamed. "That's a great idea! I can't believe I almost left her out. Pietro should get one, too!" Spike bounced up and down. "Can I have it? Can I?" "Sure!" She took four journals out of the stack, handing two to Starlight. "You know the spell, right?" Starlight nodded, and both of them laid their books side by side. Their horns glowed brilliantly. Glowing lines connected each pair of books, and then the books themselves glowed briefly. Panting slightly, the two unicorns sat back and looked proudly at their work. "Now we just have to emboss them," Twilight said, waving her horn. On one book, a silver bolt of lightning appeared; on the other was a burst of green flame with a scroll inside. Starlight imitated her, placing her cutie mark on one book and a burst of red on the other. She levitated the book with her cutie mark over to Wanda. "Wait, hold on," Twilight said. "You're giving her the book with your mark on it?" "I thought it made sense. Then she can look at the book and see who it's from. Was that not how you did it?" "No, I gave each person their own symbol... I mean, that was how Sunset Shimmer's was. Her book had her cutie mark, Celestia's book had Celestia's. Now that I think about it more, I think your way makes more sense." Quickly she picked up everyone's books and switched them. "I wonder why Celestia did the other pair of books the way she did..." Starlight shrugged. "Now I guess you just have to connect the other books to each other and we'll be done." Twilight nodded and turned to the stack of journals. "A shame this spell is only usable by a single caster and not together, because this will be really, really hard." Carefully, she arranged them in a large polygon, and her horn began to glow, even brighter than before. Most of the room had to look away. It was a shame, because they missed what came next. Bright lines connected each book to each other book. It created a massive, intricate web of connections. Slowly, the connections faded as each individual book began to glow instead. Finally, all the glow faded, and Twilight sat back, sweat rolling down her face, breathing heavily. "Whoo, I haven't had a workout like that in quite a while!" Tony gathered up the books, counting them. "Twelve? When will we ever have that many members?" "It could happen," Twilight panted. "And I really... don't want to have to add more... later. It was easier to put a lot in at once than to try to add a few at a time." After a few more minutes, they said their goodbyes, Thor powered up the Tesseract, and the Avengers returned to Earth. As they landed in the new Avengers training center, Tony smacked his forehead, suddenly remembering something. "We forgot to ask them about magic on Earth!" Author's Note Rainbow Dash's messaging of Tony courtesy of how I acted when I first got a phone. Starlight's logic about the books courtesy of the fact that the movies' way makes NO STINKIN' SENSE. The ending here is a little sloppy, but I didn't have anything else to do with this chapter. The question about magic on earth will be answered in Elements of Infinity. Captain America: Civil WarAuthor's Note Takes place in the Group Journal. Captain America: Civil War Twilight, this is Tony. I need your help. Captain America has gone outside the law and is helping a murderer escape, and he's managed to talk a lot of other superheroes over to his side. We need your help to subdue him before he hurts someone--or before he tries to recruit Applejack and the rest of you. Twilight? Are you there? Will you come? No. What? Is anypony else coming? Nopony is coming, Tony. That's why I took so long to write back--we were all discussing it. Steve did try to get Applejack on his side, and we spent a long time trying to figure out who was right. In the end, we were still split, and we are NOT going to join opposite sides of the fight, hurt each other, maybe even end up with one of us killed. We're staying out of this mess. I will advise you, though. Consider this: Is Bucky really worth destroying the team you have? The friendship you have? Do you really have to go through with this fight? I do. I hope you change your mind, Twilight. Don't hold your breath. Spiderman: HomecomingAuthor's Note Takes place in Rainbow Dash's/Iron Man's journals. Spiderman: Homecoming Hey, Rainbow Dash! I made a new suit. It's some of my finest work. What's this one do? Is it like that Hulkbuster suit? Is it for fighting aliens? Ooh, or is it- Dash, stop. It's not even for me. What? I met this kid named Peter. He can do some incredible things--he's super strong and super durable, and he created this chemical formula that shoots out strands of something kinda like spider silk, that he swings on. Calls himself Spiderman. It's pretty cool, really, but his suit was lousy. So I made him a better one. It does so much! I'm going to invite him into the Avengers. Wow, that's really cool! ...Hey, do you think you can send me the schematics for that suit? There's this little filly, she's basically my sister really. She idolizes me. My Iron Mare armor was an incredible success, and I bet she'd love to go out beside me sometimes. Spider-Mare. It has a nice ring to it. Sure! It'll take me a while to get all my notes copied, though. And right now I've got to go. Peter's coming over and I'm going to ask him to join. He said no. What? Who wouldn't want to be part of the Avengers? He said he wants to stay more on a local level. It kind of makes sense once you think about it--all of us are really focused on big threats. World-ending ones. He was able to help a lot of people and shut down a black market weapons manufacturer, and he wouldn't even have seen it or considered it important enough to deal with if he was occupied with big things all the time. Yeah, I guess it makes sense. You don't think Scootaloo will turn me down, will you? I've been wanting to have her join me for a while now. Nah. When it comes to saving the world, you fight with the rest of the Elements of Harmony. She's not part of that group, which keeps her on a local level anyway. Good. I can't wait to tell her! She'll be so excited! Yeah, I bet she will. Thor: RagnarokAuthor's Note Takes place in Pinkie's/Thor's journal, and in Twilight's/The Hulk's. Spoiler if you haven't seen it! Thor: Ragnarok I met someone new today. He had magical powers of some sort--I think Twilight would've liked him. His name was Strange. Well, that's not very nice. All your names are strange to me anyway! No, no. I mean Strange was his actual name--Doctor Steven Strange. Huh, weird. Where'd you meet such a... Strange guy? Is that what they refer to as a 'pun'? Yeppi-doodles! But really, where'd you find him? On Earth, actually. I was visiting to look for Odin. Would you believe Loki was impersonating my father this whole time? What? Loki? I thought he died! I thought so too. I... I don't know how to feel about that. I know he's your brother, and I guess he helped you save the universe earlier, but... he was also a big meanie who tried to conquer the world. To be honest, I don't know how to feel either. He's my brother, and I love him, but he has a tendency to make things complicated. I'll write later, when we find my father. Pinkie... So much has happened since I wrote, I hardly know where to start. Start at the beginning, silly! Okay... It turns out I have a sister. Great! But she's evil. Oh. Her name is Hela, and she calls herself the Goddess of Death. She destroyed Mjolnir, then cast Loki and me out of Asgard. I landed on a strange planet where they force people to fight in an arena. The only way to get home is to defeat their champion, who they say is extremely powerful and terrifying. Yikes! What are you going to do? Defeat him, obviously. I'm going in now. I'll write you again after the fight. You'll never guess who I met! Ooh! Ooh! Was it Discord? Thanos? A gelatinous cake monster? Um... no. I don't even know who Thanos is. No, it's Banner! Only, he's the Hulk, and seems to have been for a long time. I don't know how I'm going to get Banner back out of him. Ooh! That's great news! I should tell Twilight! Please don't. Not until I figure out if I can get him out of the Hulk. I don't want to get her hopes up. Okay, that makes sense. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Uh... Thor gave me this journal and said that writing in it would somehow communicate with Twilight? His explanation wasn't very clear, but Twilight, if you're there... hi? Bruce? Twilight? You are there! I am! I can't believe Thor found you! Are you okay? What was that? You just took off into space! I don't know, Twilight. According to Thor, I've been the Hulk for more than two years. I don't remember anything. I didn't even remember the fight in Sokovia, or how it ended. Twilight, I'm... I'm scared. I'm afraid that if I turn into the Hulk again, I might never come back. Don't worry, Bruce. No matter what happens, we'll find a way to bring you back. I promise. I don't know if you can, Twilight. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. We will find a way. Okay? Okay. I trust you, Twilight. But you better be right. I might have to count on that. Wait, what does that mean? What are you going to do? Bruce? BRUCE? ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Sorry I couldn't write before. Things were getting too busy. I've got more time now. I had to evacuate all the Asgardians and letting loose an ancient enemy to destroy Asgard, and Hela along with it. There was nothing else to do. We've lost our home, but at least we're together. Oh, Thor, I'm so sorry! You lost your hammer, you lost your home... I wish I could just reach through this book and give you a hug. Also my eye. You forgot my eye. You lost your EYE? Hela cut it out. But the hammer isn't such a big deal anymore. I learned to harness the lightning without it. Oh, good. At least you didn't lose anything else. ...I guess I forgot to tell you. Odin died. You lost your dad, too? Now I REALLY want to give you a hug! This has to be the worst week in the history of worst weeks! Don't worry. I know what to do. The next time I see you, I'm going to throw you the BIGGEST PARTY EVER! That might be a while. The Tesseract was in Asgard, remember? Who knows where it ended up now? I don't care if I'm a little old lady in a wheelchair when we see each other next! You are going to get the party of your life! Thank you, Pinkie. You always make me smile. It's what I do best. EndgameAuthor's Note And we're back! Did you miss me? First, this chapter contains no spoilers for anyone who's seen even the trailers. If you'll recall, most of Endgame is unnecessary after Elements of Infinity. (And if you're just starting my series, which I know some of you are, this is the point where you stop reading Interlude and start reading Elements, then come back. Sorry for making the timeline weird.) Second, there's another story coming up, but it's taking way longer than it should. I finished the first draft at the end of last year. After nearly four months of this year, how much have I written of the second draft? A chapter and a half. The first chapter needs a few more edit, but as soon as I can, I'll get it posted and we can get the ball rolling on a new adventure! This chapter takes place a few hours after the end of Elements of Infinity. Endgame Hey, Twilight. I'm sure you're probably busy with cleanup and everything, but we have this teeny tiny little problem up here in space. See, that planet we were on? It's kinda a really long way from Earth. The other guys from space, the "Guardians of the Galaxy" or whatever, they say there aren't enough "jump points" in the right places. It would take us weeks to get back to Earth, if we didn't run out of fuel first. And with how many people are on this ship, the food and water won't last weeks. Like I said, I'm sure you've got a lot going on, but when you get the chance, could you maybe give us an assist? Did Tony put you up to this? Tell him it's not funny. Then get your tails down here. Pinkie Pie is going to explode if she has to wait too long to throw the "we saved the world" party. It's not a joke, Twilight. There are ten people on a ship that usually holds six, and Thor took part of their supplies already. We've got enough for maybe a few days, and we can't get back to Earth in that time. Twilight sighed and closed the book. A part of her wanted to reply sharply--"I revived half the universe and you can't even get a spaceship to earth?"--but she knew harsh words wouldn't help anything. She had to think. The range of teleportation was only a few hundred miles, and that was assuming a very powerful spellcaster. Teleporting without line of sight was already hard enough. Yet, just a few hours ago, she'd teleported a much farther distance than currently separated her from Rainbow Dash and the others. Not just within the galaxy, but actually into the galaxy from another--and from what she'd heard, even the most advanced space travel available couldn't cover that distance. But that had been with the full power of the Elements of Harmony, and so much energy flowing through her veins it threatened to overwhelm her senses. And teleporting a whole ship would be much more difficult. She didn't want to experience that again. Her eyes drifted over the Gauntlet, with the Elements still locked into place. And the second Gauntlet--or the first, really--with the Infinity Stones. If she'd thought using all the Elements of Harmony at once was awful, that was nothing to when she put on the Infinity Gauntlet in addition. While the Elements had overloaded her mind, the Stones had assaulted her body. She could still feel their power burning through her hoof, though it left no visible marks. And when she'd used the two of them together, the strain had nearly torn her very body apart. Hers! The body of an undying alicorn! The two Gauntlets were still lying on the ground where she'd flung them immediately afterwards, when she'd torn them from her hooves in anguish. She didn't want to use either of them again. But what choice did she have? She made her decision. Her horn flared to life, reaching for the Infinity Gauntlet. A pink glow surrounded the purple stone and ripped it from its casing. She'd have to return it to wherever he'd gotten it from, she supposed. She'd have to return them all. If they were spread out far enough, no one could follow in Thanos's footsteps. But that would all have to wait. The red stone fell to the ground next to the purple. The orange and green followed them. Last of all, she pulled the yellow Mind Stone from its position in the center. "Hey, Vision!" "Yes, Twilight?" He glided towards her, across the bodies of the aliens scattered all over the plain. Another thing they'd have to work on cleaning up. For another time. "I'm guessing you want this back?" She passed it into his hands. He pressed the stone into his forehead. "Thank you. I could live without it, but it's confusing... trying to understand who I am without it, whether I'm really me. Thank you." "Of course." The Gauntlet had only one stone in it now, but she only needed one. "I'll be right back, okay?" The journal had gone silent. Maybe Twilight was busy. There must have been a lot that needed done, Rainbow decided, after that battle. She still barely knew what had happened down on Earth--especially considering she'd been a little bit dead at the time. Rainbow sighed. This was boring, and taking forever. At least on the way out to Titan they'd been able to work on a plan--which had fallen apart when the Guardians attacked them and then joined them, but it had been something. Now the only entertainment was Tony's determined efforts to teach the Guardians "finger football," which she couldn't join in on, for obvious reasons. There was a whooshing noise, and a swirling blue portal opened in front of her. She sat bolt upright, her mind panicking beyond logical thought at the memory of the last time she'd seen that type of transportation. But the only purple creature that came through was Twilight, smiling and wearing a Gauntlet with only one Stone. "Hey, everyone. Ready to go home?" "Heck yes I'm ready!" Rainbow Dash blurted. "Space is either boring or terrifying. There's nothing in between. And so I would like to get out of space as soon as possible." "Aww, space is fun!" Scootaloo called from the bridge. "Look how cool it is out the window!" Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say, kid. Twi, let's get out of here." Twilight trotted up to the bridge. "Where's the captain?" Starlord left the table (where he'd been beating everyone) and headed up. "You need me to steer somewhere?" She stomped, and a huge portal opened in front of them. "Yeah. In there." He shrugged. "Works for me." "Quickly, please," she added. "This thing kinda hurts to wear. And that portal is bigger than it usually does." He pushed a lever forward, and Rainbow felt herself flung back against the wall by the acceleration. It lasted only a few seconds, and as abruptly as it had started, it stopped, dropping her to the floor. "Maybe a 'fasten your seatbelt' warning next time?" she suggested dazedly. The ship touched down, and the bay doors opened. Rainbow didn't make it two steps out onto the grass of a place she could only assume was Wakanda before being tackled into a weapons-grade Pinkie Pie hug. It was futile to resist. Starlord was looking around at the planet with a strange expression on his face. It was his first time on the planet since he was a child, Rainbow knew. She wondered what must be going through his head. Was it emotional? Was it confusing? "Man," he said. "I wish we could travel like that every time!" Captain MarvelAuthor's Note Maybe this should technically also be Endgame, considering it comes after the last chapter, but this made sense to me. So enjoy another chapter that only needed to exist for a few minutes but kept going because I couldn't figure out how to end it! PS, something mentioned roughly in this chapter is a hook for my next story. No, it's not the obvious one. Anyone care to guess? Captain Marvel In the middle of a room full of high-ranking government officials who hated superheroes, trying to defend a superhero they already hated even worse than most, was definitely not where Tony Stark wanted to be right now. Yet here he found himself, and even Fury's presence for moral support didn't encourage him much. He felt happier about the fact that at least, once it was all over, he could go grab the journal and vent to Rainbow Dash about the whole mess. "I'm telling you," he insisted, trying to remain calm and polite, "Rogers made a big difference in stopping Thanos. He and his team came a whole lot closer to saving the world than the rest of us." Ross, at the head of the long table, looked unimpressed. "But he failed." "And whose fault is that?" Tony snapped. "The Avengers were supposed to defend the world. But the Accords split us. If we were together, we would've stopped this thing in New York. We were supposed to fight together. Fail together, if it came to that, but it might not have come to that if we'd been the team we were supposed to be!" He took a deep breath, reigning himself in. "And that's why we need him back. So that we can stop the next Thanos in his tracks." "Captain America is outside of the law-" Ross began, but Tony cut him off. "The only reason the events of a few weeks ago didn't become the permanent state of affairs was because of an alien from halfway across the universe. And if you're scared of the Avengers, without accountability, being Earth's defense, then the idea of a sparkly alien princess doing the same thing should absolutely terrify you." The door burst open behind him, and he whirled around to see a woman in the doorway. Her blonde hair fell around her shoulders in perfect curls, and she was wearing a blue and red outfit that looked like either a super suit or an alien uniform, he couldn't decide which. But he shoved that question to the bottom of the priority list, because spirals of strange, colorful energy were running all over her body and her eyes were glowing, and that really seemed like what he ought to be focusing on. "Fury?" she asked. "I got your emergency signal. I also got a purple unicorn in my head fifteen minutes later, and she seemed to have a good idea of what she was doing, but I figured I should check in just to make sure." "The situation has been resolved, yes," Fury said, "but thank you, Carol. And it's not a unicorn, it's an unknown alien-" "I know a unicorn when I see one, Fury." She sighed. "But I would like to talk to her. It's not every day you see someone of that power level. She seemed like a good person, but it never hurts to double-check, and threat watch is part of my job." She gestured around the room. "You all seem like important people. You know where I can find her?" "Nobody does." Fury shrugged. "She talked to the whole universe. There's no way to tell where it started from." "Don't give me your nonsense," the woman demanded. "It happened on Earth. Over Africa. You could see the power surge from several galaxies over, if you knew how to look. Even Thanos's initial attack wasn't that visible." Tony decided it was about time to get back into the conversation. "I know where she is. She's a good friend." Every eye turned to him. "You mean to say you've been having contact with an extremely powerful extraterrestrial?" Ross demanded. "When were you planning to tell us this?" "Oh! Um..." Tony pretended to think hard. "Never." "The Accords," Ross said slowly, as if talking to a child, "require that everyone with superhuman abilities be registered-" "Guess what, genius, the Accords' jurisdiction covers Earth. Not the galaxy next door. And it requires me to talk about me, not about my friends, no matter who they may be." "You are treading on dangerous ground," Ross warned. "Then arrest me." Tony shrugged. "Or try. I'll just go hang out with Steve, and the earth's best defense will be two purple aliens fighting each other with superweapons. Sounds like a great plan. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go show--was it Caroline?" The woman folded her arms. "Carol." "I'm going to go show Carol how to talk to some aliens. You're not invited. Bye." He pushed himself out of the chair and headed past her through the door. "Come on." "You seemed busy." She hurried to keep up with his brisk pace. "I wouldn't want to interrupt." "Eh, it was a waste of time. But tell me about yourself. You were on the news in '95 or therebouts, for just a few days. Then you vanished. Now Fury knows you? What's the deal, Sparkles?" "The deal is, you call me Sparkles again and I punch you in the face." He gave her a quick sideways glance. She was dead serious. "Noted." "But if you want my story... short version? Some aliens accidentally messed me up and gave me powers, so they kidnapped me and took away my memories of Earth. I fought with them for years. Then I came down here for a while and found out what had happened, but I had to go again. Help a group of refugees escape my captors. Then... well, the universe is a big place. I did my best to keep as much of it safe as possible. But it seems like I missed a lot. What 'Accords' were they talking about?" Tony ran a hand through his hair. "The Sokovia Accords. Their job is to keep heroes accountable. It seemed good in theory... some of us didn't think it worked in practice. If we refused, we were in trouble. Some of my friends are on the run for trying to act outside of the Accords. After the whole Thanos thing--the reason Fury called you in, I'm guessing--I'm trying to get them to let my friends come back. They don't see it that way." Carol nodded sympathetically. "They seemed like stubborn people. I wish you luck. You'll need it." Tony pushed the door open, and they exited the building. "So... have you not been on Earth since the 90's?" "Meh, I pop in now and then to say hi to Fury. Last time was almost ten years ago. He said he was trying to create a team, called it the 'Avengers'. How'd that go?" "You're talking to one." They reached the car, and Carol instinctively slid into the passenger seat. Tony hopped in the driver's side. "Friday, take us home, please." "Sure thing, boss." Carol glanced at the dashboard uncertainly as the ignition started on its own, but she clearly didn't want to ask about it. Maybe she didn't want to seem out of touch with new technology, Tony reflected. Instead, she asked, "So, whatever communications device you use... it's at your home?" "No, actually, it's right here." Tony reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small journal. "Just didn't want to tell them. And there's cameras on every inch of that building. Probably bugged, too." "A notebook?" She gave him an uncertain glance. "Is this a joke?" "Nope. It's magic. Watch." "Magi-" "Watch." He uncapped a pen and scribbled: Hey, Dash, you there? Within seconds, the reply scrawled across the page in blue ink. Sure, what's up? Not an emergency or anything, but I need to talk to Twilight. How fast can you get this to her? Is that a challenge? "I don't understand." "Magic. I told you. Give it a few seconds..." Tony paused and checked his watch. "She should be there now." It had been about ten seconds. A new writing style, neat and small, began to appear. What's going on? Rainbow shoved this at me, told me you wanted to talk to me, and then darted off. Is something wrong? Not at all. There's just someone who wanted to meet you. He offered the notebook and pen to Carol. After a brief hesitation, she accepted. Um... hello? How does this work? How deep do you want me to delve into the magic theory? I could write pages! But that usually overwhelms people... "Uh..." Surface level for now, please. The journal is magically linked with one in my castle. Whatever you write appears in mine, and vice versa. It's almost like just one journal, which happens to be located in two different places. That still didn't make sense to her, but one word in particular stood out to her. Castle? Of course! How rude of me, I haven't even introduced myself! My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle. Yes, I live in a castle. It's also magical, and to be perfectly honest, it's a bit of an eyesore. Beside Carol, Tony snorted. "That's an understatement," he muttered. Carol ignored him. I'm Carol Danvers. But I don't understand what you're talking about. Magic? You can't be serious. Yeah, a lot of humans have that problem. Want to come over and talk in person? It'd be easier to explain with a full chalkboard instead of these small pages. Plus, then I could demonstrate. Sure. Where are your coordinates? If you're out of galaxy, like Tony said, it might take me a week or two- Twilight interrupted before she could finish writing. No need for that. Let me just pop over to a friend and I'll have you here in just a few minutes. Carol bit her lip. If she could do that, this really was a powerful person. She'd definitely been right to be on guard. A flash of teleportation signaled Twilight's arrival in the court of New Asgard. "Twilight!" Thor called enthusiastically, rising from the throne. "Nice to see you. You like what we've done with the place? It's almost finished!" Twilight glanced around the room. Behind the construction scaffolding, she could see white and gold climbing up the walls in intricate patterns. "It's beautiful. But I didn't come just to chat, unfortunately. Can I borrow the Tesseract? Or else Stormbreaker? I need to get someone from Earth to Equestria." Thor scratched his beard. "I trust you, Twilight, but I think it best not to let the Tesseract out of Asgard. Not after last time." "Of course, I understand. A good idea. But I promise you," she added with sudden vehemence, "I'll never let something like that... that walnut-chinned son of a grape ever happen again!" "I know. And I appreciate it." He sighed. "You can borrow Stormbreaker. If you could handle the Gauntlets of both Infinity and Harmony at the same time, you can surely handle the power of one axe." She took it gratefully. "Thank you." She turned to go, then turned back. "Oh, by the way. Have you found a student to send to the school yet?" Thor nodded. "Ingar, son of Magnus. He's only two hundred and thirty-two years old, about the right age for your school, I'd say." "Excellent. I look forward to seeing him." She waved and teleported back to her palace and the book she'd left behind. Where are you now? The car just pulled up to Stark's house. Great. Ask him to show you somewhere you can't be seen from outside, and then let me know. A few minutes passed. Twilight trotted out of her palace to a clear area behind it--according to Doctor Strange, the Bifrost had smashed right through his roof, and she had no desire to destroy the palace Harmony had gifted her, eyesore or not. In time, the journal buzzed again, and she opened it to see a single brief message. Ready when you are. Twilight lifted Stormbreaker, crackling with energy, high above her head. She focused on the magical signal coming from the book. If she focused hard enough, she could feel the location of its partner. The energy in the axe swirled, ready to be commanded. She took a deep breath, let it out. A whooshing beam of rainbow light shot into the ground in front of her. Two figures emerged from it after only a brief pause. "Hey, Twilight," Tony said. "Ross knows I know you. I was in a meeting with him when Sparkles here showed up looking for you." The woman punched him in the face. He winced and shook himself. "Yeah, I deserved that." Twilight blinked a few times, but decided to ignore it. "Don't beat yourself up, Tony, I've been meaning to make contact with Earth for a while. This just pushes it up a little." He nodded. "Don't expect an easy task. Anyway, I'm gonna go hang with Dash. Later." His suit rippled out over his body like water, and he launched into the air over Ponyville. Twilight stared up after him. "Well, he's going to freak out some locals. Humans haven't come over in a while. But, whatever. Anyway, nice to meet you face to face." She had to rear up to shake hooves with Carol. "Or... have we met before? You seem familiar. But I'm saying that to a lot of ponies lately." "Well, I've certainly met you," Carol said hesitantly. "But I doubt you'd remember me. You were talking to quite a few others at the time." "Yeah, I figured it was that. I was... aware, I guess, of everyone I was talking to. But of course I can't remember them all, trillions or more. So I just get this feeling of deja vu, like I know them from somewhere, only now it's half of all intelligent life, so I vaguely recognize complete strangers. It gets surprisingly old." "Well, speaking of... that event... that was what I wanted to talk to you about." "Of course!" Twilight reared eagerly. "I hear you're quite a hero, Carol." Her horn sparkled briefly, and Carol felt a funny feeling pass over her, a tingle that went from head to toe. "And powerful! Easily as much energy there as Starlight, maybe me!" "Maybe you?" Carol repeated incredulously. "But you brought me all the way out here in seconds! You talked to half the universe and revived the other half!" Twilight nodded in agreement. "Sure. But I didn't do any of that alone. It's not my raw power that matters, it's my friends. Together, we're strong enough to handle anything!" She posed dramatically for a brief moment, then coughed. "...and some of them were able to help me get my hooves on some incredibly powerful magical items, which, in practical terms, was the more useful part." "...magical?" Carol repeated uncertainly. "I'm still not convinced." "Oh! Yes, I remember you wanted more explanation. Again, how deep into it do you want me to go? Ponies usually complain when I go too far..." Her ears drooped against the side of her head. "I want to know everything you can tell me. Take as long as you need." Twilight perked up. "Really?" She hopped from hoof to hoof excitedly. "Ooh, I never get to do that! I've got flash cards! Pie charts! Pages and pages of notes! And I finally get to use it!" She reared all the way into the air, her wings spread wide. "This is going to be so much fun!" Previously, On...Author's Note Though this story is technically a sequel, the first story was... pretty boring, if I'm being honest. Here's a brief recap of what happened so you don't have to go read all fifteen chapters. Previously, On... Once upon a time, there was a mischievous, powerful being, bent on conquering a world, with six fighters who stood to oppose him. And far away, on another world, there was a mischievous, powerful being, bent on conquering a world, with six fighters who stood to oppose him. One noticed the other and sent out a message, and together they made a plan. They would switch the minds of their opponents, leaving them in unfamiliar worlds and bodies, to be easily defeated. Loki and Discord, however, failed in their plan, and good triumphed. The Elements used the Tesseract to return to Equestria, where their minds were returned to their own bodies. Once home, they sent the Avengers back to Earth, also using the Tesseract, and both groups forgot about the whole affair. Three years later, however, someone made the mistake of creating a homicidal robot, and the Avengers needed help. With nowhere else to turn, they returned to Equestria to request aid. After yelling at them for not staying in touch for three years, Twilight Sparkle agreed, and they left for Earth.
PrologueTwilight's library was empty and quiet. Not a sound disturbed the silence, not a pony disrupted the endless rows of books. Until a loud Whoosh resounded, bringing with it a group of chattering ponies... and humans. "Hah!" Rainbow Dash was shouting. "I told you I was faster than Pietro! Totally whooshed Clint out of there." Twilight, intent on her teetering pile of books (the souvenirs of their latest excursion), didn't even look up. "Yes, Rainbow." "Hah, I bet he'd have done something dumb like just running in front of the bullets." "Yes, Rainbow. You've been talking about nothing else for three days straight." "Yeah, but still!" she cried, stepping out of her armor, which was approximately like Iron Man's, but adapted for a pony. "Why'd you insist we stop here instead of just dropping you off?" Tony asked, interrupting Rainbow's ego trip. "Well, I wanted us to have a way to get in touch. You know, so we don't end up having no contact for three years until you guys decide you need our help again." Tony sighed. "Still upset about that?" "We inhabited each other's bodies. I would think that would make the Elements friends with the Avengers, but apparently you still can't be bothered to come visit once in a while!" As she talked, her horn glowed, bringing over a large stack of books. "I got this idea a few years ago, when I visited an alternate dimension. Everyone there was a human, too, only they were, like, doubles of us? It was so weird, I swear. Anyway, a girl over there had this book, and if you wrote something in that book, it would appear in a different book here in Equestria. So..." A massive stack of journals thudded onto the table with the force of an elephant. "I might have gone a teensy bit overboard, but I wanted to have a variety for different situations." The top twelve floated off the stack, surrounded by her magenta aura. Each had a symbol on it--there were the cutie marks of each of the Elements of Harmony, and symbols that were clearly intended to represent each of the Avengers. "There's a pair for each of us that got switched." As she handed them out, she listed off the pairs. "Natasha and Rarity. Tony and Rainbow. Clint and Fluttershy. Steve and Applejack. Thor and Pinkie. And me and... Oh." She glanced around the room, remembering who wasn't here. "Right, Bruce kinda went to space, huh?" She sighed. "I'll take his," Thor offered. "I am the only member who travels the stars regularly. I have the greatest chance of meeting him." Twilight nodded and floated it over, but everyone in the room knew that meeting him again was unlikely. It was just an empty gesture. Twilight cleared her throat and picked up the next pair of books. One of these was decorated with Twilight's cutie mark (a large pink star surrounded by five small white stars) but the white stars were replaced with the cutie marks of each of her friends, making it a symbol for the whole group. The other had the Avengers symbol. "I don't know how quickly those will fill up with just normal chat, so I wanted to set aside a pair for emergencies. Use these to tell us you need our help or ask urgent questions." The last six books were blank. "These are for communication between your group. Each of you gets one, so wherever you are, you can send a message to the others. I put a renewing spell on them, so when you fill all the pages, they'll erase and you can start over." She started to hand them out, then stopped. "Wait, are Wanda and Pietro part of the Avengers now?" "They need a little more experience before it's official, but yes, they're joining," Steve said. "Hmm. I guess you'll need more journals, then. In fact, I should probably make backups, in case someone else joins too." She teleported away before anyone could say anything. An awkward silence filled the room, until Tony's notebook buzzed abruptly. He glanced down at the page. It said, "Hi!" He sighed. "Rainbow Dash, I'm right here in the room." "I wanted to try it out!" Starlight looked over at Wanda. "You know, maybe we should connect a journal set for us. You know, neither of us were there when it all went down, and we both do magic." "It's not magic." Starlight raised an eyebrow. "Suit yourself. But you can't deny it's the closest thing your world appears to have." "Hey, speaking of, I was wondering," Tony said. "Why didn't your magic, or Twilight's, or even Rarity's, work well in our world? Rainbow and Fluttershy could still fly, and I remember that's magical. So how come unicorn magic is so much harder outside of Equestria?" Starlight tapped her muzzle with a hoof. "Well, Twilight never fully explained it, but I think it has something to do with Discord. Something about-" POOF! There was a flash of pink. "I'm back! And I brought lots and lots of journals!" Starlight grinned. "Great! Can I take two? Wanda and I were thinking we could have a pair too." Twilight beamed. "That's a great idea! I can't believe I almost left her out. Pietro should get one, too!" Spike bounced up and down. "Can I have it? Can I?" "Sure!" She took four journals out of the stack, handing two to Starlight. "You know the spell, right?" Starlight nodded, and both of them laid their books side by side. Their horns glowed brilliantly. Glowing lines connected each pair of books, and then the books themselves glowed briefly. Panting slightly, the two unicorns sat back and looked proudly at their work. "Now we just have to emboss them," Twilight said, waving her horn. On one book, a silver bolt of lightning appeared; on the other was a burst of green flame with a scroll inside. Starlight imitated her, placing her cutie mark on one book and a burst of red on the other. She levitated the book with her cutie mark over to Wanda. "Wait, hold on," Twilight said. "You're giving her the book with your mark on it?" "I thought it made sense. Then she can look at the book and see who it's from. Was that not how you did it?" "No, I gave each person their own symbol... I mean, that was how Sunset Shimmer's was. Her book had her cutie mark, Celestia's book had Celestia's. Now that I think about it more, I think your way makes more sense." Quickly she picked up everyone's books and switched them. "I wonder why Celestia did the other pair of books the way she did..." Starlight shrugged. "Now I guess you just have to connect the other books to each other and we'll be done." Twilight nodded and turned to the stack of journals. "A shame this spell is only usable by a single caster and not together, because this will be really, really hard." Carefully, she arranged them in a large polygon, and her horn began to glow, even brighter than before. Most of the room had to look away. It was a shame, because they missed what came next. Bright lines connected each book to each other book. It created a massive, intricate web of connections. Slowly, the connections faded as each individual book began to glow instead. Finally, all the glow faded, and Twilight sat back, sweat rolling down her face, breathing heavily. "Whoo, I haven't had a workout like that in quite a while!" Tony gathered up the books, counting them. "Twelve? When will we ever have that many members?" "It could happen," Twilight panted. "And I really... don't want to have to add more... later. It was easier to put a lot in at once than to try to add a few at a time." After a few more minutes, they said their goodbyes, Thor powered up the Tesseract, and the Avengers returned to Earth. As they landed in the new Avengers training center, Tony smacked his forehead, suddenly remembering something. "We forgot to ask them about magic on Earth!" Author's Note Rainbow Dash's messaging of Tony courtesy of how I acted when I first got a phone. Starlight's logic about the books courtesy of the fact that the movies' way makes NO STINKIN' SENSE. The ending here is a little sloppy, but I didn't have anything else to do with this chapter. The question about magic on earth will be answered in Elements of Infinity.
Captain America: Civil WarAuthor's Note Takes place in the Group Journal. Captain America: Civil War Twilight, this is Tony. I need your help. Captain America has gone outside the law and is helping a murderer escape, and he's managed to talk a lot of other superheroes over to his side. We need your help to subdue him before he hurts someone--or before he tries to recruit Applejack and the rest of you. Twilight? Are you there? Will you come? No. What? Is anypony else coming? Nopony is coming, Tony. That's why I took so long to write back--we were all discussing it. Steve did try to get Applejack on his side, and we spent a long time trying to figure out who was right. In the end, we were still split, and we are NOT going to join opposite sides of the fight, hurt each other, maybe even end up with one of us killed. We're staying out of this mess. I will advise you, though. Consider this: Is Bucky really worth destroying the team you have? The friendship you have? Do you really have to go through with this fight? I do. I hope you change your mind, Twilight. Don't hold your breath.
Spiderman: HomecomingAuthor's Note Takes place in Rainbow Dash's/Iron Man's journals. Spiderman: Homecoming Hey, Rainbow Dash! I made a new suit. It's some of my finest work. What's this one do? Is it like that Hulkbuster suit? Is it for fighting aliens? Ooh, or is it- Dash, stop. It's not even for me. What? I met this kid named Peter. He can do some incredible things--he's super strong and super durable, and he created this chemical formula that shoots out strands of something kinda like spider silk, that he swings on. Calls himself Spiderman. It's pretty cool, really, but his suit was lousy. So I made him a better one. It does so much! I'm going to invite him into the Avengers. Wow, that's really cool! ...Hey, do you think you can send me the schematics for that suit? There's this little filly, she's basically my sister really. She idolizes me. My Iron Mare armor was an incredible success, and I bet she'd love to go out beside me sometimes. Spider-Mare. It has a nice ring to it. Sure! It'll take me a while to get all my notes copied, though. And right now I've got to go. Peter's coming over and I'm going to ask him to join. He said no. What? Who wouldn't want to be part of the Avengers? He said he wants to stay more on a local level. It kind of makes sense once you think about it--all of us are really focused on big threats. World-ending ones. He was able to help a lot of people and shut down a black market weapons manufacturer, and he wouldn't even have seen it or considered it important enough to deal with if he was occupied with big things all the time. Yeah, I guess it makes sense. You don't think Scootaloo will turn me down, will you? I've been wanting to have her join me for a while now. Nah. When it comes to saving the world, you fight with the rest of the Elements of Harmony. She's not part of that group, which keeps her on a local level anyway. Good. I can't wait to tell her! She'll be so excited! Yeah, I bet she will.
Thor: RagnarokAuthor's Note Takes place in Pinkie's/Thor's journal, and in Twilight's/The Hulk's. Spoiler if you haven't seen it! Thor: Ragnarok I met someone new today. He had magical powers of some sort--I think Twilight would've liked him. His name was Strange. Well, that's not very nice. All your names are strange to me anyway! No, no. I mean Strange was his actual name--Doctor Steven Strange. Huh, weird. Where'd you meet such a... Strange guy? Is that what they refer to as a 'pun'? Yeppi-doodles! But really, where'd you find him? On Earth, actually. I was visiting to look for Odin. Would you believe Loki was impersonating my father this whole time? What? Loki? I thought he died! I thought so too. I... I don't know how to feel about that. I know he's your brother, and I guess he helped you save the universe earlier, but... he was also a big meanie who tried to conquer the world. To be honest, I don't know how to feel either. He's my brother, and I love him, but he has a tendency to make things complicated. I'll write later, when we find my father. Pinkie... So much has happened since I wrote, I hardly know where to start. Start at the beginning, silly! Okay... It turns out I have a sister. Great! But she's evil. Oh. Her name is Hela, and she calls herself the Goddess of Death. She destroyed Mjolnir, then cast Loki and me out of Asgard. I landed on a strange planet where they force people to fight in an arena. The only way to get home is to defeat their champion, who they say is extremely powerful and terrifying. Yikes! What are you going to do? Defeat him, obviously. I'm going in now. I'll write you again after the fight. You'll never guess who I met! Ooh! Ooh! Was it Discord? Thanos? A gelatinous cake monster? Um... no. I don't even know who Thanos is. No, it's Banner! Only, he's the Hulk, and seems to have been for a long time. I don't know how I'm going to get Banner back out of him. Ooh! That's great news! I should tell Twilight! Please don't. Not until I figure out if I can get him out of the Hulk. I don't want to get her hopes up. Okay, that makes sense. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Uh... Thor gave me this journal and said that writing in it would somehow communicate with Twilight? His explanation wasn't very clear, but Twilight, if you're there... hi? Bruce? Twilight? You are there! I am! I can't believe Thor found you! Are you okay? What was that? You just took off into space! I don't know, Twilight. According to Thor, I've been the Hulk for more than two years. I don't remember anything. I didn't even remember the fight in Sokovia, or how it ended. Twilight, I'm... I'm scared. I'm afraid that if I turn into the Hulk again, I might never come back. Don't worry, Bruce. No matter what happens, we'll find a way to bring you back. I promise. I don't know if you can, Twilight. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. We will find a way. Okay? Okay. I trust you, Twilight. But you better be right. I might have to count on that. Wait, what does that mean? What are you going to do? Bruce? BRUCE? ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Sorry I couldn't write before. Things were getting too busy. I've got more time now. I had to evacuate all the Asgardians and letting loose an ancient enemy to destroy Asgard, and Hela along with it. There was nothing else to do. We've lost our home, but at least we're together. Oh, Thor, I'm so sorry! You lost your hammer, you lost your home... I wish I could just reach through this book and give you a hug. Also my eye. You forgot my eye. You lost your EYE? Hela cut it out. But the hammer isn't such a big deal anymore. I learned to harness the lightning without it. Oh, good. At least you didn't lose anything else. ...I guess I forgot to tell you. Odin died. You lost your dad, too? Now I REALLY want to give you a hug! This has to be the worst week in the history of worst weeks! Don't worry. I know what to do. The next time I see you, I'm going to throw you the BIGGEST PARTY EVER! That might be a while. The Tesseract was in Asgard, remember? Who knows where it ended up now? I don't care if I'm a little old lady in a wheelchair when we see each other next! You are going to get the party of your life! Thank you, Pinkie. You always make me smile. It's what I do best.
EndgameAuthor's Note And we're back! Did you miss me? First, this chapter contains no spoilers for anyone who's seen even the trailers. If you'll recall, most of Endgame is unnecessary after Elements of Infinity. (And if you're just starting my series, which I know some of you are, this is the point where you stop reading Interlude and start reading Elements, then come back. Sorry for making the timeline weird.) Second, there's another story coming up, but it's taking way longer than it should. I finished the first draft at the end of last year. After nearly four months of this year, how much have I written of the second draft? A chapter and a half. The first chapter needs a few more edit, but as soon as I can, I'll get it posted and we can get the ball rolling on a new adventure! This chapter takes place a few hours after the end of Elements of Infinity. Endgame Hey, Twilight. I'm sure you're probably busy with cleanup and everything, but we have this teeny tiny little problem up here in space. See, that planet we were on? It's kinda a really long way from Earth. The other guys from space, the "Guardians of the Galaxy" or whatever, they say there aren't enough "jump points" in the right places. It would take us weeks to get back to Earth, if we didn't run out of fuel first. And with how many people are on this ship, the food and water won't last weeks. Like I said, I'm sure you've got a lot going on, but when you get the chance, could you maybe give us an assist? Did Tony put you up to this? Tell him it's not funny. Then get your tails down here. Pinkie Pie is going to explode if she has to wait too long to throw the "we saved the world" party. It's not a joke, Twilight. There are ten people on a ship that usually holds six, and Thor took part of their supplies already. We've got enough for maybe a few days, and we can't get back to Earth in that time. Twilight sighed and closed the book. A part of her wanted to reply sharply--"I revived half the universe and you can't even get a spaceship to earth?"--but she knew harsh words wouldn't help anything. She had to think. The range of teleportation was only a few hundred miles, and that was assuming a very powerful spellcaster. Teleporting without line of sight was already hard enough. Yet, just a few hours ago, she'd teleported a much farther distance than currently separated her from Rainbow Dash and the others. Not just within the galaxy, but actually into the galaxy from another--and from what she'd heard, even the most advanced space travel available couldn't cover that distance. But that had been with the full power of the Elements of Harmony, and so much energy flowing through her veins it threatened to overwhelm her senses. And teleporting a whole ship would be much more difficult. She didn't want to experience that again. Her eyes drifted over the Gauntlet, with the Elements still locked into place. And the second Gauntlet--or the first, really--with the Infinity Stones. If she'd thought using all the Elements of Harmony at once was awful, that was nothing to when she put on the Infinity Gauntlet in addition. While the Elements had overloaded her mind, the Stones had assaulted her body. She could still feel their power burning through her hoof, though it left no visible marks. And when she'd used the two of them together, the strain had nearly torn her very body apart. Hers! The body of an undying alicorn! The two Gauntlets were still lying on the ground where she'd flung them immediately afterwards, when she'd torn them from her hooves in anguish. She didn't want to use either of them again. But what choice did she have? She made her decision. Her horn flared to life, reaching for the Infinity Gauntlet. A pink glow surrounded the purple stone and ripped it from its casing. She'd have to return it to wherever he'd gotten it from, she supposed. She'd have to return them all. If they were spread out far enough, no one could follow in Thanos's footsteps. But that would all have to wait. The red stone fell to the ground next to the purple. The orange and green followed them. Last of all, she pulled the yellow Mind Stone from its position in the center. "Hey, Vision!" "Yes, Twilight?" He glided towards her, across the bodies of the aliens scattered all over the plain. Another thing they'd have to work on cleaning up. For another time. "I'm guessing you want this back?" She passed it into his hands. He pressed the stone into his forehead. "Thank you. I could live without it, but it's confusing... trying to understand who I am without it, whether I'm really me. Thank you." "Of course." The Gauntlet had only one stone in it now, but she only needed one. "I'll be right back, okay?" The journal had gone silent. Maybe Twilight was busy. There must have been a lot that needed done, Rainbow decided, after that battle. She still barely knew what had happened down on Earth--especially considering she'd been a little bit dead at the time. Rainbow sighed. This was boring, and taking forever. At least on the way out to Titan they'd been able to work on a plan--which had fallen apart when the Guardians attacked them and then joined them, but it had been something. Now the only entertainment was Tony's determined efforts to teach the Guardians "finger football," which she couldn't join in on, for obvious reasons. There was a whooshing noise, and a swirling blue portal opened in front of her. She sat bolt upright, her mind panicking beyond logical thought at the memory of the last time she'd seen that type of transportation. But the only purple creature that came through was Twilight, smiling and wearing a Gauntlet with only one Stone. "Hey, everyone. Ready to go home?" "Heck yes I'm ready!" Rainbow Dash blurted. "Space is either boring or terrifying. There's nothing in between. And so I would like to get out of space as soon as possible." "Aww, space is fun!" Scootaloo called from the bridge. "Look how cool it is out the window!" Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say, kid. Twi, let's get out of here." Twilight trotted up to the bridge. "Where's the captain?" Starlord left the table (where he'd been beating everyone) and headed up. "You need me to steer somewhere?" She stomped, and a huge portal opened in front of them. "Yeah. In there." He shrugged. "Works for me." "Quickly, please," she added. "This thing kinda hurts to wear. And that portal is bigger than it usually does." He pushed a lever forward, and Rainbow felt herself flung back against the wall by the acceleration. It lasted only a few seconds, and as abruptly as it had started, it stopped, dropping her to the floor. "Maybe a 'fasten your seatbelt' warning next time?" she suggested dazedly. The ship touched down, and the bay doors opened. Rainbow didn't make it two steps out onto the grass of a place she could only assume was Wakanda before being tackled into a weapons-grade Pinkie Pie hug. It was futile to resist. Starlord was looking around at the planet with a strange expression on his face. It was his first time on the planet since he was a child, Rainbow knew. She wondered what must be going through his head. Was it emotional? Was it confusing? "Man," he said. "I wish we could travel like that every time!"
Captain MarvelAuthor's Note Maybe this should technically also be Endgame, considering it comes after the last chapter, but this made sense to me. So enjoy another chapter that only needed to exist for a few minutes but kept going because I couldn't figure out how to end it! PS, something mentioned roughly in this chapter is a hook for my next story. No, it's not the obvious one. Anyone care to guess? Captain Marvel In the middle of a room full of high-ranking government officials who hated superheroes, trying to defend a superhero they already hated even worse than most, was definitely not where Tony Stark wanted to be right now. Yet here he found himself, and even Fury's presence for moral support didn't encourage him much. He felt happier about the fact that at least, once it was all over, he could go grab the journal and vent to Rainbow Dash about the whole mess. "I'm telling you," he insisted, trying to remain calm and polite, "Rogers made a big difference in stopping Thanos. He and his team came a whole lot closer to saving the world than the rest of us." Ross, at the head of the long table, looked unimpressed. "But he failed." "And whose fault is that?" Tony snapped. "The Avengers were supposed to defend the world. But the Accords split us. If we were together, we would've stopped this thing in New York. We were supposed to fight together. Fail together, if it came to that, but it might not have come to that if we'd been the team we were supposed to be!" He took a deep breath, reigning himself in. "And that's why we need him back. So that we can stop the next Thanos in his tracks." "Captain America is outside of the law-" Ross began, but Tony cut him off. "The only reason the events of a few weeks ago didn't become the permanent state of affairs was because of an alien from halfway across the universe. And if you're scared of the Avengers, without accountability, being Earth's defense, then the idea of a sparkly alien princess doing the same thing should absolutely terrify you." The door burst open behind him, and he whirled around to see a woman in the doorway. Her blonde hair fell around her shoulders in perfect curls, and she was wearing a blue and red outfit that looked like either a super suit or an alien uniform, he couldn't decide which. But he shoved that question to the bottom of the priority list, because spirals of strange, colorful energy were running all over her body and her eyes were glowing, and that really seemed like what he ought to be focusing on. "Fury?" she asked. "I got your emergency signal. I also got a purple unicorn in my head fifteen minutes later, and she seemed to have a good idea of what she was doing, but I figured I should check in just to make sure." "The situation has been resolved, yes," Fury said, "but thank you, Carol. And it's not a unicorn, it's an unknown alien-" "I know a unicorn when I see one, Fury." She sighed. "But I would like to talk to her. It's not every day you see someone of that power level. She seemed like a good person, but it never hurts to double-check, and threat watch is part of my job." She gestured around the room. "You all seem like important people. You know where I can find her?" "Nobody does." Fury shrugged. "She talked to the whole universe. There's no way to tell where it started from." "Don't give me your nonsense," the woman demanded. "It happened on Earth. Over Africa. You could see the power surge from several galaxies over, if you knew how to look. Even Thanos's initial attack wasn't that visible." Tony decided it was about time to get back into the conversation. "I know where she is. She's a good friend." Every eye turned to him. "You mean to say you've been having contact with an extremely powerful extraterrestrial?" Ross demanded. "When were you planning to tell us this?" "Oh! Um..." Tony pretended to think hard. "Never." "The Accords," Ross said slowly, as if talking to a child, "require that everyone with superhuman abilities be registered-" "Guess what, genius, the Accords' jurisdiction covers Earth. Not the galaxy next door. And it requires me to talk about me, not about my friends, no matter who they may be." "You are treading on dangerous ground," Ross warned. "Then arrest me." Tony shrugged. "Or try. I'll just go hang out with Steve, and the earth's best defense will be two purple aliens fighting each other with superweapons. Sounds like a great plan. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go show--was it Caroline?" The woman folded her arms. "Carol." "I'm going to go show Carol how to talk to some aliens. You're not invited. Bye." He pushed himself out of the chair and headed past her through the door. "Come on." "You seemed busy." She hurried to keep up with his brisk pace. "I wouldn't want to interrupt." "Eh, it was a waste of time. But tell me about yourself. You were on the news in '95 or therebouts, for just a few days. Then you vanished. Now Fury knows you? What's the deal, Sparkles?" "The deal is, you call me Sparkles again and I punch you in the face." He gave her a quick sideways glance. She was dead serious. "Noted." "But if you want my story... short version? Some aliens accidentally messed me up and gave me powers, so they kidnapped me and took away my memories of Earth. I fought with them for years. Then I came down here for a while and found out what had happened, but I had to go again. Help a group of refugees escape my captors. Then... well, the universe is a big place. I did my best to keep as much of it safe as possible. But it seems like I missed a lot. What 'Accords' were they talking about?" Tony ran a hand through his hair. "The Sokovia Accords. Their job is to keep heroes accountable. It seemed good in theory... some of us didn't think it worked in practice. If we refused, we were in trouble. Some of my friends are on the run for trying to act outside of the Accords. After the whole Thanos thing--the reason Fury called you in, I'm guessing--I'm trying to get them to let my friends come back. They don't see it that way." Carol nodded sympathetically. "They seemed like stubborn people. I wish you luck. You'll need it." Tony pushed the door open, and they exited the building. "So... have you not been on Earth since the 90's?" "Meh, I pop in now and then to say hi to Fury. Last time was almost ten years ago. He said he was trying to create a team, called it the 'Avengers'. How'd that go?" "You're talking to one." They reached the car, and Carol instinctively slid into the passenger seat. Tony hopped in the driver's side. "Friday, take us home, please." "Sure thing, boss." Carol glanced at the dashboard uncertainly as the ignition started on its own, but she clearly didn't want to ask about it. Maybe she didn't want to seem out of touch with new technology, Tony reflected. Instead, she asked, "So, whatever communications device you use... it's at your home?" "No, actually, it's right here." Tony reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small journal. "Just didn't want to tell them. And there's cameras on every inch of that building. Probably bugged, too." "A notebook?" She gave him an uncertain glance. "Is this a joke?" "Nope. It's magic. Watch." "Magi-" "Watch." He uncapped a pen and scribbled: Hey, Dash, you there? Within seconds, the reply scrawled across the page in blue ink. Sure, what's up? Not an emergency or anything, but I need to talk to Twilight. How fast can you get this to her? Is that a challenge? "I don't understand." "Magic. I told you. Give it a few seconds..." Tony paused and checked his watch. "She should be there now." It had been about ten seconds. A new writing style, neat and small, began to appear. What's going on? Rainbow shoved this at me, told me you wanted to talk to me, and then darted off. Is something wrong? Not at all. There's just someone who wanted to meet you. He offered the notebook and pen to Carol. After a brief hesitation, she accepted. Um... hello? How does this work? How deep do you want me to delve into the magic theory? I could write pages! But that usually overwhelms people... "Uh..." Surface level for now, please. The journal is magically linked with one in my castle. Whatever you write appears in mine, and vice versa. It's almost like just one journal, which happens to be located in two different places. That still didn't make sense to her, but one word in particular stood out to her. Castle? Of course! How rude of me, I haven't even introduced myself! My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle. Yes, I live in a castle. It's also magical, and to be perfectly honest, it's a bit of an eyesore. Beside Carol, Tony snorted. "That's an understatement," he muttered. Carol ignored him. I'm Carol Danvers. But I don't understand what you're talking about. Magic? You can't be serious. Yeah, a lot of humans have that problem. Want to come over and talk in person? It'd be easier to explain with a full chalkboard instead of these small pages. Plus, then I could demonstrate. Sure. Where are your coordinates? If you're out of galaxy, like Tony said, it might take me a week or two- Twilight interrupted before she could finish writing. No need for that. Let me just pop over to a friend and I'll have you here in just a few minutes. Carol bit her lip. If she could do that, this really was a powerful person. She'd definitely been right to be on guard. A flash of teleportation signaled Twilight's arrival in the court of New Asgard. "Twilight!" Thor called enthusiastically, rising from the throne. "Nice to see you. You like what we've done with the place? It's almost finished!" Twilight glanced around the room. Behind the construction scaffolding, she could see white and gold climbing up the walls in intricate patterns. "It's beautiful. But I didn't come just to chat, unfortunately. Can I borrow the Tesseract? Or else Stormbreaker? I need to get someone from Earth to Equestria." Thor scratched his beard. "I trust you, Twilight, but I think it best not to let the Tesseract out of Asgard. Not after last time." "Of course, I understand. A good idea. But I promise you," she added with sudden vehemence, "I'll never let something like that... that walnut-chinned son of a grape ever happen again!" "I know. And I appreciate it." He sighed. "You can borrow Stormbreaker. If you could handle the Gauntlets of both Infinity and Harmony at the same time, you can surely handle the power of one axe." She took it gratefully. "Thank you." She turned to go, then turned back. "Oh, by the way. Have you found a student to send to the school yet?" Thor nodded. "Ingar, son of Magnus. He's only two hundred and thirty-two years old, about the right age for your school, I'd say." "Excellent. I look forward to seeing him." She waved and teleported back to her palace and the book she'd left behind. Where are you now? The car just pulled up to Stark's house. Great. Ask him to show you somewhere you can't be seen from outside, and then let me know. A few minutes passed. Twilight trotted out of her palace to a clear area behind it--according to Doctor Strange, the Bifrost had smashed right through his roof, and she had no desire to destroy the palace Harmony had gifted her, eyesore or not. In time, the journal buzzed again, and she opened it to see a single brief message. Ready when you are. Twilight lifted Stormbreaker, crackling with energy, high above her head. She focused on the magical signal coming from the book. If she focused hard enough, she could feel the location of its partner. The energy in the axe swirled, ready to be commanded. She took a deep breath, let it out. A whooshing beam of rainbow light shot into the ground in front of her. Two figures emerged from it after only a brief pause. "Hey, Twilight," Tony said. "Ross knows I know you. I was in a meeting with him when Sparkles here showed up looking for you." The woman punched him in the face. He winced and shook himself. "Yeah, I deserved that." Twilight blinked a few times, but decided to ignore it. "Don't beat yourself up, Tony, I've been meaning to make contact with Earth for a while. This just pushes it up a little." He nodded. "Don't expect an easy task. Anyway, I'm gonna go hang with Dash. Later." His suit rippled out over his body like water, and he launched into the air over Ponyville. Twilight stared up after him. "Well, he's going to freak out some locals. Humans haven't come over in a while. But, whatever. Anyway, nice to meet you face to face." She had to rear up to shake hooves with Carol. "Or... have we met before? You seem familiar. But I'm saying that to a lot of ponies lately." "Well, I've certainly met you," Carol said hesitantly. "But I doubt you'd remember me. You were talking to quite a few others at the time." "Yeah, I figured it was that. I was... aware, I guess, of everyone I was talking to. But of course I can't remember them all, trillions or more. So I just get this feeling of deja vu, like I know them from somewhere, only now it's half of all intelligent life, so I vaguely recognize complete strangers. It gets surprisingly old." "Well, speaking of... that event... that was what I wanted to talk to you about." "Of course!" Twilight reared eagerly. "I hear you're quite a hero, Carol." Her horn sparkled briefly, and Carol felt a funny feeling pass over her, a tingle that went from head to toe. "And powerful! Easily as much energy there as Starlight, maybe me!" "Maybe you?" Carol repeated incredulously. "But you brought me all the way out here in seconds! You talked to half the universe and revived the other half!" Twilight nodded in agreement. "Sure. But I didn't do any of that alone. It's not my raw power that matters, it's my friends. Together, we're strong enough to handle anything!" She posed dramatically for a brief moment, then coughed. "...and some of them were able to help me get my hooves on some incredibly powerful magical items, which, in practical terms, was the more useful part." "...magical?" Carol repeated uncertainly. "I'm still not convinced." "Oh! Yes, I remember you wanted more explanation. Again, how deep into it do you want me to go? Ponies usually complain when I go too far..." Her ears drooped against the side of her head. "I want to know everything you can tell me. Take as long as you need." Twilight perked up. "Really?" She hopped from hoof to hoof excitedly. "Ooh, I never get to do that! I've got flash cards! Pie charts! Pages and pages of notes! And I finally get to use it!" She reared all the way into the air, her wings spread wide. "This is going to be so much fun!"
Previously, On...Author's Note Though this story is technically a sequel, the first story was... pretty boring, if I'm being honest. Here's a brief recap of what happened so you don't have to go read all fifteen chapters. Previously, On... Once upon a time, there was a mischievous, powerful being, bent on conquering a world, with six fighters who stood to oppose him. And far away, on another world, there was a mischievous, powerful being, bent on conquering a world, with six fighters who stood to oppose him. One noticed the other and sent out a message, and together they made a plan. They would switch the minds of their opponents, leaving them in unfamiliar worlds and bodies, to be easily defeated. Loki and Discord, however, failed in their plan, and good triumphed. The Elements used the Tesseract to return to Equestria, where their minds were returned to their own bodies. Once home, they sent the Avengers back to Earth, also using the Tesseract, and both groups forgot about the whole affair. Three years later, however, someone made the mistake of creating a homicidal robot, and the Avengers needed help. With nowhere else to turn, they returned to Equestria to request aid. After yelling at them for not staying in touch for three years, Twilight Sparkle agreed, and they left for Earth.
