Twilight rubbed her temples. "Ugh. I don't think I've ever had a magic headache like that, even after my worst magic flare."

Starswirl nodded. "That's why I didn't recommend that spell." He placed a teacup on the table in front of her. "Try this. It's a special blend Meadowbrook sent me. It assists with magical recovery. It's not perfect, of course--nothing is. But it helps."

Twilight took a sip and hummed in appreciation. "That's good tea."

"It really is." He sipped from a mug of his own. "Is there anything else I can help you with, while we wait for it to take effect?"

"There's one thing." Twilight paused, uncertain how to begin. "In Celestia's school, we learned about the Infinity Stones, and... when I discovered the Elements of Harmony... I thought they might be a kind of counterpart. Equally powerful. Equally old. But then you told me that you and the other Pillars planted the Tree of Harmony, and now I don't know what to think, and I need to know."

Starswirl sighed. "If there's one thing you've taught me, Twilight, it's that I don't have all the answers. I will say this, however. We often felt like we were harnessing magic deeper and older than ourselves, and we tried to channel that magic into the seed, as much as possible. I do not know if it is enough to fight the Infinity Stones with. I do not know if we were even correct that the magic was outside ourselves."

Twilight nodded seriously. "I guess I'll have to take the chance. Can you gather the Pillars? If we take the Elements out of Equestria, the Everfree might go wild. We'll need you to keep it in check."

"I can do that."

"Thank you." She smiled and turned to go.

"Oh, and Twilight?"

"Yes?"

"I did some research into our Artifacts, research I hid and never published. I discovered that magical items with links to each other become exponentially more powerful the closer they are to each other. If Thanos is assembling the Infinity Stones on a gauntlet, as you have said, you may need a similar gauntlet, or another close configuration, to defeat him."

Twilight nodded. "Thank you. I'll see what I can do."

Twilight touched down in front of the Castle and galloped through it, charging into the library. To her surprise, all the Elements except Rainbow Dash were already there, as well as Spike and Starlight. Pinkie bounced over to her. "After Dash told me everything that was going on on Earth, I went out and got everypony together!"

"Great! Everypony, give me updates. Applejack?"

"Banner already talked to Steve. He and his team are watching out for Vision right now, since he's got the last Infinity Stone on Earth."

"Perfect. Let's see..." She turned to Rarity, Fluttershy, Starlight, and Spike. "Natasha, Clint, Wanda, and Pietro should all be with Steve, so they'd be redundant."

"Um, actually," Fluttershy whispered, "Clint went home."

"What? But I thought he was with Steve when they all fought each other, which means he would be on the run right now with the rest of them." She mumbled something that sounded like "Stupid Earth justice system, why can't they just..."

"He did some kind of deal with the government so he could be with his family."

Twilight shrugged. "I guess that makes sense. Find out if he's in touch with Steve. If not, ask if he's willing to help Steve out with this, and if so, get his location, because that was classified last time I heard. Any information Steve needs, pass on to Applejack so she can tell him." She turned to Spike, Rarity, and Starlight. "Anything else I should know?"

Starlight shrugged. "Wanda's not with them either, but she can be soon. She doesn't have her book with her right now, though. She's on a date and doesn't want to be distracted."

"A date?" Twilight's interest was piqued. "With whom?"

"Vision." Starlight froze. "Wait a minute! That means Team Cap is spying on her date!"

"Only because it might get attacked!" Applejack protested.

They were saved from an argument by Applejack's book buzzing. She picked it up and scanned the page. "Vision was attacked," she read aloud. "We assume they were Thanos's servants. We fought them off and have picked up both Wanda and Vision. We're heading to the Avengers headquarters to inform them of the situation and talk about what to do next."

Twilight took a deep breath. "Okay. Where were they when this happened?"

"Scotland."

"Okay," she said again. "Fluttershy, do you have a vague idea of Clint's location?"

"He mentioned a place called South Dakota once."

Twilight bit her lip. "Applejack, tell them they should go ahead and talk about what to do next now. They might not have time to wait and stop at the Avengers headquarters."

Applejack dutifully scribbled it down, then looked up. "Why not?"

Twilight lit her horn and displayed a map, ignoring the vague pain the remnants of her magic headache gave her. "This over here is South Dakota. That's New York, where the headquarters is. Scotland is way over here. That's several hours of flight time. Thanos's servants are aliens, meaning that they must have had a spaceship to get to Earth. We have to assume the spaceship is faster than a Quinjet, or it would take millennia to get anywhere. That means they could cut Team Cap off before he gets there."

"Makes sense."

Twilight shrugged. "I try. Now I need one book to talk to them with, and one book to power up a transportation device. Applejack and Fluttershy still need theirs, so..." She turned expectantly to Starlight, Spike, and Rarity.

Spike jumped on the table to volunteer. "You can use mine to fuel the portal."

"Are you sure? The portal will take a lot of power. It might destroy your book, permanently."

He shrugged. "If neither you nor Starlight are able to make a new one, I'll have bigger things to worry about than being out of touch with a friend."

She nodded. "All right, then."

Rarity shrugged. "Well, you can use mine to give them the blueprints. Anything I want to tell Natasha, I'll tell Starlight or Applejack."

Twilight took the books gratefully. "All right! Thank you both. I'll be by Starswirl's old mirror. Rarity, do you suppose you can run down to the store and buy a mirror? I need a full-length one that stands on its end. You can grab a bag of bits from my room, it should be enough-"

"No, I'll just pay for it. I have the money on me already."

Twilight smiled. "Thank you, then. When you're done, bring it back right away, then make a separate trip back to your home to assemble anything you're going to take with you. The mirror is our first priority, so there's no time for you to stop on the way. The rest of you, gather everything you need for a battle, and meet back here."

With various nods and salutes, they filtered out of the room, and Twilight turned her attention fully to Starswirl's mirror and the two books. I'm sending you blueprints, she began writing, for a transportation device, to be built as soon as possible...

Author's Note

I think it's dumb that Twilight has to actually suggest they try planning their next move before they get to the Avengers headquarters. I can't remember if Vision talked about the possibility of Wanda destroying the Stone before they got there, but they definitely didn't discuss going to Wakanda to get it removed until after that point, which I think is dumb. So they're going to actually plan this stuff out beforehand in this story, which may change a few things...