"And they all thought it was a fake!" Discord laughed. "Even Odin didn't realize ol' Dinklage made several prototypes."

"Dinklage? I thought his name was Eitri."

"Never mind. Inside joke."

Twilight sighed. "Discord, is this a point to this story?"

"I'm getting there, show a little patience. So then Thor had the absolutely brilliant idea to blow up Asgard just to beat his maniac sister, which did, admittedly, work, and the contents of the treasury went flying. Now, Asgard is absolutely surrounded with wormholes--probably the result of the Bifrost, if you ask me. That thing can't possibly be good for the fabric of reality."

"Get to the point."

"Well, half Odin's treasury went flying through the space between spaces--long story, I'll explain some other time--which just happens to be where I live. And I couldn't help but think some of the things flying through my realm looked absolutely fascinating. So, long story short-"

"Too late."

"-I think you might find this useful." He whipped out a near-perfect copy of the Infinity Gauntlet.

Twilight's eyes lit up, but quickly dimmed again. "Discord... this has fingers."

Discord rolled his eyes. "Oh, excuse me. Next time I find an incredibly rare item that you desperately need that just happens to have fingers, I'll throw it aside and keep looking. I'm sure those things come a dime a dozen!"

Twilight sighed. "You're right," she admitted.

"I'm what?"

"Thank you for finding this for me. I don't know what I would've done otherwise. This might be a little awkward to use, but I'm sure I can make it work, and I shouldn't have led with the negatives." She slid her right hoof into the glove, which shrank and changed shape until it was a perfect fit. "Huh?"

Discord smiled innocently. "Did I forgot to mention that part? Silly me. Turns out Thanos never came in for a fitting, so Eitri just made it change size to fit whoever put it on."

"You could've led with that!" Twilight complained.

"Oh, but that's not as fun!" Before she could complain any further, he snapped his fingers, whisking them from her library to the Tree of Harmony. "Go on, then. Load it up!"

Smiling, Twilight grabbed the Elements from the Tree and placed them, one by one, on her hoof. They fit perfectly into the holes, to her own surprise. Last of all, she dropped the star-shaped Element of Magic into the center, and felt magical power suddenly rush through her. Even when she'd held the magic of all the other alicorns, she'd never felt so much raw energy coursing through her veins. She was dimly aware that her mane was waving as if in high wind. She felt like she could move mountains, raise the sun and moon, even teleport across the galaxy. She didn't think she'd ever have a magic headache again.

"Twilight? Twilight!" She shook her head to clear it. The cave slowly swam back into focus. "Discord?"

"Oh, thank Faust. Thank Lee and Kirby too, while I'm at it."

She must still have been a little fuzzy. "Who are-"

"I was afraid you were getting overwhelmed by the magic. It's powerful stuff."

"I think I was," she admitted. "But you snapped me out of it."

Discord looked her up and down. "Your mane looks nice."

She put a hoof to it. She could feel it waving, but not much else. "Why? What's it look like?"

He pulled out a mirror, and she looked at herself. "Woah." Her pink and purple streaks were gone, replaced with a familiar rainbow--pink, orange, yellow, white, blue, purple. She hadn't seen it in years, not since the fight with Tirek. These were the colors of Harmony.

Then Discord dropped the mirror, and it shattered on the ground. Twilight looked up at him. He'd stiffened, his ears perked to a sound Twilight couldn't hear. "Oh, no."

"What-"

He snapped, and suddenly they were in the middle of Canterlot Castle. Celestia and Luna, chatting over dinner, looked up at them in surprise.

"Shield the castle," Discord instructed urgently.

"Discord, what-" Twilight began.

"No time! Use the Gauntlet! Shield it now!"

A wave of some kind of horrible magic, moving faster than Twilight had dreamed possible, washed over them. Twilight could feel the incredible size of it--somehow, she could feel that it wasn't just passing over this area, but over all of Equestria and more. She gasped and spluttered. "What was THAT?"

Discord hung his head. "You're too late."

The guard standing at the door suddenly vanished. He just fell into dust. Then another fell. And another.

Celestia stared at them with horror. "What is-" She cut herself off, looking down at her own hooves. "Oh, no."

Luna turned her head. "What? No! NO! Tia!"

"Celestia!" Twilight teleported to her side, instinctively, without even thinking about it, but she was too late. Celestia fell to the ground, scattering dust across the pristine surface. "No!"

They stared at her and her dust for a long time. Twilight couldn't say how long. Slowly, Luna lifted her tear-streaked head and looked around the room, at the guards remaining and those gone, and then at Discord. "The wind," she choked out. "Discord, you have to go around Equestria--tell the pegasi--they have to stop the wind! Tell them the Royal Sisters say so."

"Sisters? Plural?"

"Yes. It's--it's what they need to hear." He nodded solemnly, snapped his fingers, and vanished. Luna stood up. "They must be wondering what happened. They need me." She drew herself up straight, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. When she opened them, she was the focused leader they needed, not the lost sister she'd just been. She pointed to the guards who remained. "You three! Gather her dust. We'll have to have a ceremony." She stubbornly blinked back tears. "Your fellow soldiers as well. Try to keep them separate. We'll find whoever was closest to each one and let them decide how to honor their memory." She swallowed and turned to Twilight. "Twilight, who did this? Do you know?"

Reluctantly, Twilight nodded. "His name is Thanos. He gathered the Infinity Stones and used them to kill half of all life in the universe." She raised the Gauntlet. "This might be able to defeat him. That was our hope, anyway."

Luna's eyes grew wide. "All life in..." She took another deep breath. "Can you fix it?"

Twilight's head drooped. "...No. Not even the Elements can bring back the dead. I'm sorry."

Luna shook her head. "Don't be. You can't blame yourself for the limitations of the world. But I do want you to find this Thanos. And I want you to make him pay."

Author's Note

Fair warning: Next chapter is the hardest. I'll be going over all the ponies, who lived and who died. I'm sorry in advance.