The earth rumbled. Trees bent in a sudden wind. A bright yellow light filled the sky. Rocket whirled around. "What the flarknuggets was that?"

Fluttershy, ignoring his unusual choice of swear words, danced in place, hopping from one leg to another. "The Stone has been destroyed! We're safe! We bought them enough time!"

"I am Groot!"

But as they all celebrated, Thanos arrived.

He came through a portal with swirling blue edges, the Space Stone glowing in his near-complete fist, and glanced around the battlefield as if expecting to see Vision there. T'Challa glared up at him. "You're too late. The Stone was destroyed."

Thanos smirked. "We'll see about that." The Gauntlet glowed blue again, and just like that, he was gone.

Just a second later, Thor's axe whipped through the place where Thanos had stood. "Argh! I just missed him!" Thor's cry echoed across the landscape.

Fluttershy turned to Rocket and Groot uncertainly. "That was a little anticlimactic."

Rocket shrugged. "Hey, don't worry about it. At least he's gone, right? There's nothin' he can do now."

"I am Groot."

"You said it." Rocket cocked his gun. "Now let's go finish off those Outriders, or Thor won't leave us any!"

Fluttershy nodded and loaded an arrow, but still hesitated. "I just feel like we're missing something."

It was Rarity who first realized. "The Time Stone!" she screeched suddenly, and everyone ground to a halt, looking at her. Then it clicked, and they all whirled back towards the city. Not that they'd reach it in time, except for a silver-blue blur that sped across the ground. Fluttershy leaped into the air, moving at a rate she'd never realized she could, but she didn't think it would be enough. I wish I knew what was happening in there...

Starlight was still staring at the fragments of the Infinity Stone, a little stunned at what she'd witnessed, even after several minutes. It seemed like it wasn't really sinking in. They'd destroyed an Infinity Stone. They'd destroyed an Infinity Stone.

Wanda was off in the next room over with Vision, trying to figure out who he even was now. She had no idea how much of him was made up of the Mind Stone. He didn't either. Starlight would've joined them, but her head was still splitting from the magic overuse, and it was nice to hang out alone in a quiet room. Plus... there was something nagging at her, in the back of her mind. She felt like they'd missed something, but she couldn't put her hoof on it.

There was a flash of blue light, and suddenly a massive purple man towered over her. Even if he hadn't had the Gauntlet on his fist, she would've been able to recognize him from the description she'd been given. Thanos.

She smirked. "You're too late."

"Am I?"

The green stone on his fist glinted in the light. Time. That was what she'd been missing, what they'd all been missing. And in a flash, Starlight knew what she had to do. She could do it, even with her magic headache. It would hurt like Tartarus, though.

She teleported.

She landed on the single place Thanos would least have expected--on top of his arm. Her head felt like it would split in two with the pain, and the proximity to so many stones burned her back hooves, but she kept moving, giving Thanos no time to react. It required no magic at all. She tipped her head town and thrust forward, driving her horn into his chest.

He swung the Gauntlet, flinging her across the room. She crashed into the wall and slid down into the floor, dazed. Now, in addition to the magic headache, she had bruises all over her whole body, and she was pretty sure she also had a concussion, but all of that pain slid into the background. She'd stabbed him with her own horn, she'd felt it go in, there was blood all coating her horn and dripping down her face...

She threw up.

Movement caught her eye. Thanos was raising his left hand, slowly and painfully. "No..." Starlight groaned, but it was too late. Green light swirled around him. His blood flowed back into his body, and the wound knit itself together. Healed, Thanos turned the the Mind Stone, which repaired itself with equal ease.

There was nothing Starlight could do, but there was nobody but Starlight left. Why did Wanda and Vision have to leave? Why couldn't Applejack have stayed after she dropped Starlight off? What about Shuri, who'd removed the Stone? Someone--anyone--had to be there. There had to be someone who could stop Thanos. It couldn't end like this! Thanos couldn't-

A whooshing noise filled the room, and Pietro entered, holding Spike like a flamethrower. Spike took one look at the situation and let loose a torrent of flame. This didn't even faze Thanos--he held out the Gauntlet, which absorbed all the fire, then shot it right back out. Spike spread his wings and basked in the heat, blocking it from hitting Pietro. He smirked at Thanos. "Feels good." Then, with a flap of his wings, he launched himself into the air.

Thanos waited for him to get close, then batted him easily out of the air. Spike hit the floor, groaning. As Pietro approached, the Time Stone glowed, slowing the speedster down to a crawl. He was swatted aside as well. Finally, Thanos reached out and picked up the Mind Stone, dropping it easily into the Gauntlet.

A movement caught Starlight's eye. She glanced towards the window, and saw one final reinforcement, and an idea came to her. She had to keep Thanos distracted, just for a few minutes, but she really didn't feel up to fighting. Talking would have to do.

"You know," she remarked conversationally, though every word was an effort, "I have a close friend named Twilight, and she's kind of a huge nerd." Without even realizing it, Thanos paused, watching her. "She's always determined to use the exact right word for something." It was an unconscious bias she'd learned about. People wanted to hear the end of things--it would be strange to cut it off halfway.

"Thanks to her, I've learned a lot of new words." A silent shadow crept around the back of Thanos, unnoticed. Starlight kept talking. "For instance, did you know there's a specific word for throwing someone out a window? They call it defenestration. Neat, right?"

Thanos's eyes widened as he suddenly realized her point, but he was far too late. A pink and yellow blur crashed into him, knocking him out the high tower window. Starlight looked over at Fluttershy. "Oh, Luna, I hope that worked. Otherwise all we did was let him out of our sight."

Fluttershy looked out the window. "He's just kind of sitting there, on the ground... kinda sprawled out... I think we might have actually killed him."

Starlight tried to sit up, but her head both spun and ached, and she lay back down again. "Thank Celestia. Then it's over."

"Oh no. He's moving!"

"Shoot him!"

Fluttershy scrambled to load an arrow and aimed it down, but hesitated. This was a person, a real sentient life. The Outriders had been little more than animals, and though she certainly hadn't enjoyed killing them, it wouldn't be the first time she'd killed an animal. She often took care of carnivores, after all, and they did need to eat. But this was entirely different. So she froze.

And Thanos snapped his fingers.

Author's Note

It's about to get pretty depressing. The next two chapters detail the effects of Thanos's snap on the ponies. I almost cried just writing them. You've been warned.