Elements of Infinity

The holder of the Time Stone sat alone, looking out over the landscape. Thanos smirked. This was going to be easy.

A prismatic blur whooshed in front of him, resolving into the form of a small quadruped of species unknown to him, in red and gold armor. "Wait!"

He tilted his head curiously. "And what might you be?"

She flipped her helmet open, revealing blue fur and rainbow-colored hair. "My name is Rainbow Dash, and I would like to be your friend."

"...What?"

She took a deep breath and launched into an obviously prepared speech. "You're trying to gather the Infinity Stones to destroy half the life in the universe. I want to stop you from doing that. But instead of fighting, can't we just talk about it? If I convince you I'm right, you stop trying to gather the Stones. But if you convince me you're right..." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, as if bracing herself. "Then I'll help you."

"Really?"

She nodded seriously and continued. "The way I see it, we both think we're right, and whoever's wrong is making a big mistake. If we're wrong, we're driving the universe toward extinction. If you're wrong, you're about to commit genocide on an unprecedented scale for no good reason. It's not worth taking the risk of assuming that whoever wins the fight must be right."

He thought about this for a moment. "You know, you make an excellent point."

Doctor Strange's mouth dropped.

Rainbow's eyes widened. "Really? Oh, thank goodness. I was worried we were still going to have to fight you. I mean, not that I was worried about fighting you," she added hastily, puffing out her chest.

Thanos hid a laugh. She would make an excellent daughter, he reflected, even if she was a little older than he usually chose them. She might have more resistance, but surely over time she would come to care for him, just as the others had.

"One quick thing before we start," Rainbow added. "I know these guys who are looking for a friend of theirs. Her name is Gamora. Do you know where she is?"

Thanos's face changed. Pain wrote across it like a book. "She's dead."

Rainbow froze. No! Nobody is supposed to die! That's not how this is supposed to work!

"No!" An anguished cry came from the rocks, followed quickly by a shotgun blast, and then by Starlord.

Thanos clenched his fist around the Gauntlet. With a blue flash, Starlord's bullet vanished and reappeared on the other side of him, sailing harmlessly into the distance. His face twisted into a scowl. "So. It was an ambush all along."

"No!" Rainbow said. "I was serious!"

He smacked her away with a glowing purple hand. She tumbled through the air, but caught her balance before she hit the ground. "That's how you wanna play it, huh?"

Flapping her wings, she propelled herself into the air, higher and higher, until she could barely see the ground. Then she dove with everything she had, wings beating frantically, thrusters on full power. She'd never tried to do this in such a magic-resistant environment before. Her wings became a blur, like a hummingbird's. The barrier pushed against her, but she pushed back, harder and harder. A little further... the ground was getting awfully close... her battery power was dropping fast... just a little more...

The Rainboom echoed across the barren planet. The earth shook. It knocked everyone off their feet, even Thanos, and Rainbow herself went flying, skidding across the ground. Mentally, she thanked Tony for the nanobots. That landing could've seriously damaged her wings without them.

She glanced at her suit power meters. 5%--critically low--recharge immediately. Her suit hadn't even fully charged from the fight on the ship, and she'd just pushed it farther than she ever had before. She was lucky it hadn't completely shut down in midair. She was out of the fight for now.

Thanos picked himself up. "Impressive," he commented. "Bringing out the big guns, are we?" He raised his hand, the blue stone glowing brilliantly, and Rainbow stared in horror as a small moon plummeted out of the sky. Doctor Strange moved quickly, creating a shield in the air, but not quickly enough. It only covered him and Rainbow by the time the moon hit.

Spiderman, Scootaloo, and the Guardians went flying. Spiderman looked over at Scootaloo. "I'll take the left, you take the right."

"Got it!" Scootaloo called, giving a little salute, and then immediately went left. Shrugging, Spiderman took the right side, catching the girl with antennas, whose name he couldn't for the life of him remember. He swung, holding her, and landed outside of the range of the falling debris.

Scootaloo landed soon after, grunting under the weight of the grey alien. "He's... kinda... heavy..."

"That's why I told you to go right!"

"I did! ...Didn't I?" She held her hooves in front of her. "Left... right... oops."

"It's okay. Happens to everyone. Where's the other Peter?"

Scootaloo scanned the sky. "Up there! He's flying." She waved, and he waved back, then soared off in the direction of the fight. "He's got the right idea. We should get back. They need our help."

Rainbow watched in awe as Doctor Strange battled with Thanos. He was as good at magic as Twilight--maybe even better! She'd have to introduce them if- no, when they got out of this. But all too soon it was over. Rainbow squinted towards him, knocked aside, lying face down on the ground. Was he still alive? He was, right? She couldn't tell, and she hated that she couldn't.

Tony lunged forwards, and Rainbow watched the nanobots in action as he pummeled Thanos with a variety of blows, keeping him dazed and off guard. But that could only work for so long, and the tables turned far too quickly for her taste. Thanos knocked Tony's attacks aside, and followed with his own devastating barrage. Even the nanobots couldn't take such a furious assault for much longer. Rainbow pressed the button on her wrist to shed her suit, but it was barely even functioning anymore, and moved abysmally slowly.

Tony extended a blade from his wrist to try to stab Thanos, but Thanos dodged, snapped the blade off the suit, and before Rainbow could react, he stabbed Tony. Tony stumbled backwards, clutching his stomach, and sat down heavily.

No! No, this wasn't happening! It couldn't be happening! Her hooves moved before her mind caught up, picking up a rock and flinging it at Thanos. Her aim was true, and it bopped him right on the head.

"Ow! What-" He turned to look.

She found her voice. "Hey! Over here, ugly!"

He ignored her and turned back to Tony, raising his fist to finish him off. Not if I have anything to say about it! She threw another rock.

He rolled his eyes, turned to her, and casually fired a beam of brilliant purple light at her unprotected body-

-but it hit a shimmering shield that seemed to manifest out of thin air in front of her. She smirked. "Man, these nanobots are really cool, aren't they?"

Then she threw another rock.

He swatted it aside with the blue stone. She threw another, which was blocked with equal ease. "What do you hope to accomplish by this?" he asked. Her only answer was another rock. She wouldn't run out any time soon--the place was covered in rubble. "You are nothing but a bothersome gnat. I will crush you, and then I will finish him." As he spoke, he approached, until he was almost right on top of her.

She threw a rock at him.

He caught it easily with his bare right hand and tossed it aside. Then he swung the full might of the Gauntlet at her. The nanobots blocked it again.

The blue stone glowed, opening a portal in space and shoving the nanobots into it. Then it closed. "They're on the other side of the planet," he remarked conversationally. Then he drove the Gauntlet down. She felt her wing break with a horrible crunching noise, and she screamed with pain.

Satisfied, Thanos turned back to Tony. The blue stone flashed once more, and Tony fell through a portal right underneath him. Another portal opened up in the air next to Thanos, and Tony fell out of it, hitting the ground uncomfortably, now right next to Rainbow. Thanos raised his arm again. All the stones were glowing.

"No..." Rainbow whispered weakly.

"Wait!" Doctor Strange called. Thanos turned to look at him. "Spare his life... and I will give you the Stone."

Thanos looked almost curious. "No tricks?"

"No tricks." Doctor Strange reached up. A green glow appeared between his fingers.

"No..." Rainbow whispered again. "Don't..."

Thanos reached forward, grabbed it, and dropped it into the Gauntlet. Then he vanished into another portal.