Chapters "What you're talking about is possible ," Starswirl admitted, "but it would take a lot of magical power. Too much for any one pony to cast the spell on the book and then cast a spell enabling themselves to survive in the vacuum of space. Too much for even an alicorn. And it would be at least a day before they could do it a second time."
Twilight rubbed her muzzle with a hoof. "Okay, so maybe I go get Starlight, then you can send the two of us through the book, one of us can keep us alive even though we're in space and the other can bring us back when we're done. Yeah! That could work!"
Starswirl sighed. "Twilight... your friends are either alive or dead. You going out to them will not change which of those they are. And there are many things that could go wrong. There are many unknowns. You and Starlight could end up dead! Would that be better than not knowing?"
"I don't know. I can't stand sitting here, not knowing what's happening, for a minute longer! I want to do something, something more than just waiting for more information!"
"You could try going to Earth and from there to find your friend. They're in the same galaxy as each other, you said. If you were to take an ordinary mirror, and replicate your modifications to my own mirror, with one of your books to power the link, it should create a pathway to their world."
"I looked at the possibility ages ago," Twilight grumbled sullenly. "It'll only work with a similar mirror configuration on the other end. That'll take a lot of time to set up, and Earth isn't even that close to them. Galaxies are big , Starswirl, way bigger than anypony knew in your day. Have you been keeping up with the recent astronomy?"
"I tried to, but I think they must be wrong. Most planets rotate around suns, rather than vice versa? Preposterous. At that point I didn't even bother."
Twilight sighed. "We can debate heliocentric solar systems some other time. For now, all you have to know is that galaxies are huge. Now, the distance between galaxies is even huger, so it's not feasible for us to get over there from here , but getting there from Earth is a stretch too. Unless they somehow got access to the Bifrost recently."
"The what?"
"It's a-"
"TWILIGHT!" Rainbow Dash burst in through the door. "Oh, hey, Starswirl. Twilight! Tony is in space!"
"What?"
"In a spaceship," Rainbow hastened to add. "Banner found him and told him Thanos was coming so he hijacked a spaceship and--I'm not making much sense, am I?"
"Not so's you'd notice, no."
"Here, just read this." She thrust her journal in front of Twilight's face. "Pinkie said I should let you know."
Twilight scanned the lines in front of her, then took only a moment to process. "Okay. Change of plans. Rainbow, leave the book here. Go get your suit, and anypony you want to take with you. We're gonna get you onto that ship."
"I have to ask," Doctor Strange admitted. "What is with that book? I've never felt a magic signature like it."
Tony shrugged. "A magic purple unicorn from another planet gave it to me. It lets me communicate with a blue pegasus from the same planet who can fly faster than sound."
"Fine, don't tell me."
"It's true. Oh, and it can apparently work as a portal. Don't ask me how, I don't get half the magiscience nonsense they talk about." He flipped some pages casually. "Seriously, look at these equations and tell me they make sense to you."
Doctor Strange leaned over the book. "Perfect sense. But they forgot to reduce that fraction."
Tony squinted. "That's a fraction?"
Before Doctor Strange could explain further, the book began to glow a brilliant white. Tony dropped it on the floor, pages spread out. "Give it some space. I don't really know how this works."
There was a crackle and a whoosh, and a tiny orange pegasus shot straight up out of the book. She landed on it and looked around with wide eyes. "Woah! Is this Earth? I've always wanted to see Earth!"
"...this is space..." Tony said after an uncertain pause.
"That's even cooler ! Where are we going? Is it like flying? Where's the window? I wanna see space!"
"Is she wearing my suit?" Peter asked.
"Kinda," Tony hedged.
"Are you Iron Man? Rainbow told me so much about you!"
"Yeah, about that. Kid, where is Rainbow? She was supposed to be coming."
"She'll be along in a bit. I was just-"
The book whooshed again and shot out another pegasus. "Scootaloo! You were supposed to wait for me!"
"Yeah, but I was so excited to see Earth!"
Face met hoof. "This isn't even Earth! We're in space!"
"I know! They told me. Isn't it cool?"
"Yes, and that's great and all. I can't blame you for being excited! But next time, do what I tell you. Okay, squirt?" She ruffled Scootaloo's hair.
Scootaloo sighed. "Okay..."
Doctor Strange spoke up for the first time. "I have several questions."
Tony shrugged. "Then let's do introductions." He pointed to each of them. "Rainbow Dash. Scootaloo. Peter. Doctor Strange."
Rainbow waved. "Nice to meet you!"
"How do you guys even know each other?" Doctor Strange protested.
"...things went down..." Rainbow said.
"Not helpful."
Tony took over. "We got switched into each others' bodies one time. It was a weird few days. Rainbow actually fought in the Battle of New York."
"She WHAT?"
"Like I said, weird few days. Then they came over again to help us out with Ultron. That was when we got the books."
"How did you reach each other before that?"
Tony shrugged. "We didn't really. The only way to get over there was Thor's Tesseract. Which turned out to be an Infinity Stone, and now Thanos has it, so that's kinda off the table. Good thing we have those books, which it turns out are portals to each other. I still don't get how that works, and it bugs me."
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Why does it matter how it works? It works, and that's the important thing. Freaking egghead."
"Yeah, well this 'egghead' designed that suit you're wearing!"
"Hey, I didn't say you weren't a cool egghead. Still an egghead though."
"Kids these days," Tony grumbled.
"Hey! I bet I'm as old as you!"
"I bet you're not."
"Five bits?"
"You're on."
"What are bits?" Peter asked.
"Our currency," Rainbow explained.
"Made of solid gold," Tony added. "Worth way more in our economy than hers. Makes it high-stakes gambling for me, low-stakes for her. Suits both our preferences at once. It's a stroke of genius, if I do say so myself."
"Anyway, how old are you? I'm 27."
"48."
"You're WHAT?"
"What can I say? I aged gracefully."
"But you do all that running around! And superhero-ing! You're so... spry!"
"Very gracefully."
Rainbow grunted. "Fine. You'll have to come over to Equestria to pick up, though, because I didn't bring any."
"What about all our other bets?"
She shrugged. "Same thing. I had other things on my mind, like getting over here." She turned, flicking her tail irritably, then paused and looked back. "Oh, I almost forgot! I need to set some rules. Well, just one, really."
Doctor Strange raised his eyebrow. "And that would be?"
"Nobody is allowed to die."
There was a confused pause. "What?"
"You heard me. No dying. Not allowed."
"I don't think it works like-"
"It had better ."
Peter sat down by Scootaloo. "Is she always like this?"
"Not very often, but when things get really serious? She always insists that nopony can die. She's kinda intense."
"Seems like it. She any good at fighting?"
"Yeah! She's the best !"
"The best? You sure?"
"She can take out an entire changeling battalion single-hooved! Well, in the suit, of course. And she wouldn't anymore, the changelings are allies now, but earlier? She totally could've!"
"What are changelings?"
Scootaloo sat up eagerly. "Oh, they're so cool!" She began enthusiastically explaining to Peter, who seemed very interested.
Meanwhile, Rainbow and Tony's conversation had moved on. "Did you try the new modification I sent you?" Tony asked. "It was the most efficient way to configure your arc reactor for a smaller size."
Rainbow nodded. "It was great! But Twilight wouldn't let me use nanobots."
"Why?"
"Well, we're still way behind you guys in technology. Nanobots would have to use magic. Which would mean they would work great inside of Equestria, but if I left, there might be problems."
"Why?" Tony asked again, realizing that he was starting to sound like a child.
"Magic resistance. It's--I'm not the best at explaining it, but it's just like resistance to electricity, only magic can flow through a lot more stuff than electricity can, air and stuff. Thing is, Equestria has super-low magic resistance. Almost nonexistent. So the magic that works there probably won't work in other places. We're not completely sure why, but our main hy- hypo-"
"Hypothesis," Tony filled in.
"Right, that. Our main hippopotamus is that it's the fault of a guy named Discord."
Doctor Strange looked up abruptly. "Did you say Discord?"
"You've heard of him?"
"Only in the most terrifying of myths, but yes. If he's on your world, I'm very sorry."
"Eh, he's not so bad. Anyway, Twilight says-"
"Who's Twilight?" Strange asked.
"She's the purple unicorn I mentioned earlier," Tony explained.
"You called her a unicorn?"
"I simplified, okay? Get back to explaining."
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Fine. Twilight says she thinks Discord probably, a really long time ago, used so much chaos magic that something in the world, whatever it is that causes magic resistance, just sort of broke. That's just our hippopotamus, though."
"Hypothesis."
"That's what I said."
Tony sighed. "You know what? Whatever. How'd you get around that problem? You must have, because you still have the smaller reactor on your wrist."
She looked down. "Yeah, Twilight did end up figuring out a magic fix. Basically, if I tap the reactor, my whole suit shrinks down into a bracelet on my wrist. It does still take a lot of magic--more than moving nanobots around would--but once it's in one setting it's totally stable. No energy cost to keep the suit up. Overall, it drains the battery less than maintaining nanobots would. And I've been working on adapting the other parts where we used a quick magic fix to run off actual electricity again. After Ultron, I didn't want to take any chances."
"Ultron? But your suit worked fine then!"
"It barely worked at all! The beams from my hooves were nearly useless as basic thrusters, not to mention as weapons! I was stuck doing hand-to-hand on the ground in clunky armor. I mean, it was good armor, but it wasn't good at anything else! When Ultron almost killed Hawkeye, I had to dump all my battery into the thrusters to get him out of the way in time! Still beat the speedster kid, though," she added smugly.
"He's as old as you are, Rainbow..."
"He WHAT?"
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...
Twilight bustled back and forth, setting up a replica of the mirror, when Fluttershy walked back into the room. She turned to ask if she had any updates when--
"What is that?"
Fluttershy looked sheepishly at the quiver of arrows hanging on her back. "When we were fighting Ultron, I realized I had nothing I could do. You know I'm no good at fighting. So I figured I'd try something where I didn't have to get too close to whoever I was fighting. Just one thing. Can you put an enchantment on it so I don't run out? That would be terrible, to be in the thick of battle with no weapons."
"Sure, it's actually a pretty simple enchantment. Bring me the quiver." Fluttershy laid it out in front of her, and her horn glowed brilliantly. Her magic headache returned with a vengeance, but she forced herself to keep going until the enchantment was complete. "There you go."
Fluttershy examine the quiver. It had a faint, pearly sheen to it, but otherwise seemed unchanged. She pulled out an arrow to test it, and to her delight, another one appeared in its place. When she replaced the arrow, another one vanished. "How'd you do that?"
"Modified stasis spell. Locks the quiver into one state forever. That state happens to include having a certain number of arrows in it. And the best part? No magic resistance after it's cast! It'll keep itself going for eternity."
"Wow, that's amazing! Thank you, Twilight!"
Twilight smiled. "No problem. Next time Clint comes over, I'll do the same to his."
Applejack trotted in. "Hey, Twi! Woah, Fluttershy, Ah didn't know you did archery! Twi, Steve says they might be able to get the stone out of Vision's head safely, but not with the tech any of them knows about. Same with the portal. So they're goin' to a place where there's loads o' tech none of 'em knows about, called Wah-kan-da."
Pinkie popped up. "Wakanda name is that?"
Twilight ignored her. "Where's Wakanda?"
"Africa."
"Great. Absolutely wonderful. That is completely and utterly out of their way." She popped up the map again, highlighting the same places as before--South Dakota, New York, and Scotland--and then spread a glow over the entire continent of Africa.
"Big place," Pinkie commented.
"Very. Did they say where in Africa Wakanda is? It makes a pretty big difference, at least if it's in the north."
"Didn't mention it. But since it was so out of the way for the other stuff, they changed their mind. They ain't stopping in America at all. No Bruce, no Clint, no Rhodes."
"Rhodes? I thought he got injured in the fight."
"Oh, he did, but he can still fly his suit. Steve was hoping he'd be willing to join them. But they can't take that time now."
Twilight nodded seriously. "Got it. Thanks for the update." She glanced over the mirror. "I think it's finished. We can't know for sure if it'll work until they power up the one on their end, but for now, we should be all right. If they write you with any modifications, you have my permission to make them. Now I need to go talk to Maud. Starlight is in the library, somewhere over there-" She gestured with a hoof. "-so if anything urgent happens, she can teleport to Maud's cave and let me know. Dash's book is over there, catch her up on everything that's happened so far. I'll be back soon." She spread her wings and leapt out a window.
Twilight trotted into Maud's cave. "Maud? Where are you?"
"I'm right here, Twilight."
"Gah!" Twilight jumped almost her own height, wings flailing wildly. Maud was barely a foot away. "How'd you get there so fast?"
"I've been standing here for almost half an hour."
"Oh." Twilight felt embarrassment creeping into her cheeks. "I guess I just didn't see you there."
"I think, if I stand really still, I become invisible." Maud froze to demonstrate her point, not moving, not even blinking. Actually, it wasn't very different from how she normally acted.
"Well, it's kind of dark in here, and you're grey, and the wall behind you is grey. It's understandable for me not to see you, though you standing still would probably be a factor. Anyway, remember when you helped Starlight find a rock that could store powerful magic?"
"No."
"No? What'd'ya mean, 'no'?" Twilight demanded.
"Cutie mark magic isn't that powerful, just hard to contain. It would be very different from storing powerful magic that stayed in one place. Since you asked about it, I assume you're looking for something similar."
"Well, maybe not that similar. I want to be able to store really powerful magic in a close configuration that would allow me to harness the magic without getting overwhelmed by it."
Maud blinked slowly. "That sounds like you want a metal. Silver is the best conductor of magic, so you could start there. But if you're worried about getting overwhelmed by the magic, it's probably not the safest choice. It's a superconductor. All the magic will flow into you at once. If you're using powerful enough magic, it might even kill you."
Twilight swallowed hard. "Okay! Let's not do that! What other ideas do you have?"
"Gold is also a good conductor, but it cracks under strong enough magic. So does copper. The only reason silver doesn't also have that problem is that the magic flows through it too fast to break it. It doesn't stay long enough."
"Is there anything that can handle the strain of so much power?"
Maud nodded almost imperceptibly. "I only know of one metal, but it's incredibly rare. It's called uru. Some ponies think it's the strongest material in the galaxy. I don't know about that. I only know about rocks in Equestria. But I do know that it can handle incredibly powerful magic currents. It's a great metal to make magical weapons out of, if you want to imbue the weapons with so much power that nopony but an alicorn could even hold it without both their body and mind falling to pieces."
Twilight blinked. "Um... that's good, I think? Where can I find this stuff?"
"I said it was incredibly rare. In all of Equestria, there would barely be enough to coat your hoof."
"That's actually exactly the right amount."
"In all of Equestria," Maud repeated, and it almost had emphasis. "It would take a very long time or a summoning spell with more power than Princess Celestia to gather it all. It also has a very high melting point."
"How high? A dragon? Lava? I can do that."
"A star."
Twilight's jaw dropped. "Uh... maybe I can't do that. Is there anything else?"
Maud shook her head, very slightly. "All the other metals would shatter. So would most rocks. Gems are too magically conductive. I'm sorry, Twilight."
Twilight could tell that Maud really wished she could do better. Or maybe that was just her imagination. "It's not your fault. That's just the facts, and there's nothing you could do to change them. Thank you for your help."
But as she trotted back out of the cave, her head drooped.
Author's Note
Can you tell I'm having trouble naming my chapters?
"I think something's coming."
Before Peter had even finished speaking, a group of strangers burst into the remains of the spaceship. Rainbow Dash hastily pulled her helmet on and took a moment to glance over the group. One was grey. One had antennae. The last one was wearing a mask--unless that was his face. Rainbow tried not to assume, with aliens. He was flying, and also shooting at them, so Rainbow's attention locked onto him. He seemed to be the only one with guns, so he was the most pressing threat. Next was the grey guy with knives. The girl with antennae seemed relatively harmless.
Rainbow kicked on her thrusters. The suit was too heavy for her to fly by wingpower alone. Rising into the air, she chased after the masked man. She had to draw his fire before one of his shots hit a weak spot in Tony's suit, or broke through Strange's shield, or anything else! "Hey!" she shouted. "Why don't you pick on someone your own height?"
"Huh?"
"Like, flying- Yeah, that came out badly. But that's not the point!" She lunged forward, firing her rays at him. He dipped to the side and dodged easily, then came back up, shooting at her. She tucked in her wings and rolled, appearing to dive out of the way, only to pop back up right in front of him and ram her armored head into his chest. The air went out of his lungs with a WHOOF! and he flew backwards against the side of the ship.
She glanced down very briefly at the battle below. Scootaloo had just kicked the grey alien with both back hooves, though it didn't seem to have done much. He was tougher than he looked. He slashed out at her with a knife, but Tony reached forward and blocked it with an armored hand. Across the room, Peter was scrambling away from the one with antennae, firing webs haphazardly. Doctor Strange was standing back, allowing the others to defend him and the Infinity Stone, but Rainbow didn't doubt he could handle anyone who broke through.
She turned her attention back to her own fight. She couldn't risk her attention wandering. The masked man launched off the wall and soared into the air, aiming his guns down below, so she charged upwards to intercept him. He turned his guns from her friends and trained them on her. She didn't even bother to dodge. She had her suit, after all, and nothing could get through it.
But her wings were outside of the suit.
A bullet grazed her right wing, and she yelped in pain, tumbling. She took a deep breath, kept her head about her, and fired her thrusters again, rising back to the man's level with wings folded. The injury didn't feel too serious, but she wasn't going to push it. Without her wings to balance her, she wobbled slightly in the air.
He looked surprised, but kept firing. She leaned to the side, and the thrusters responded, launching her to the side and out of the way. She turned perpendicular to the line of fire and kept going, circling the man. He turned after her and continued to fire, but he never actually caught up. "Come on..." she whispered. "Run out of ammo, run out of ammo, run out of ammo..."
And then, finally, he did. He muttered a curse word and shook his gun, and Rainbow, no longer concerned about him, dove to join the battle below. It seemed to be very close to a draw, with Doctor Strange still hanging on the sidelines, so her joining it should easily shift the balance.
Something whooshed past her on one side, and through her suit, she barely felt something slap onto her back. She had barely time to wonder what it was before she felt herself yanked aside as if by a giant hand and pinned to the side of the ship. A magnet . She couldn't do anything but wiggle like a turtle flipped on its back. At least she had a good view of the fight.
The woman with antennas had climbed onto some kind of second floor balcony, and Scootaloo was swinging towards her. Meanwhile, the man in the mask had hit Tony with a similar kind of magnet and was currently fighting with Peter, giving the grey one free room to advance on Doctor Strange.
Rainbow still wasn't too worried. Doctor Strange could probably take all three of them. She was more worried about the rest of her team, so she glanced back across the room, just in time to spot Scootaloo reaching the antenna girl. She swung towards her, back legs extended, but the alien dodged nimbly to the side, touched her head with one hand, and whispered, "Sleep."
The word, soft as it was, had a strange quality to it that echoed across the room, even over all the noise of battle. Scootaloo's body went limp, and she seemed to fall in slow motion.
Rainbow's frantic hoof pressed the button on her arc reactor, and her suit retracted. Free of the magnet, she leaped into the air, teeth gritted against the pain in her wing. Her hooves caught Scootaloo, wrapping gently around her, and she cradled her as she glided back to the ground. She laid Scootaloo down and pressed an ear to her chest. Steady breathing. Steady pulse. She really was just asleep. Thank Celestia.
Tapping her wrist again, she glanced out over the battlefield. Doctor Strange was defending himself quite handily--since when did his cape do that? She had to get one! Tony pried himself off the wall as she watched, and went to distract the grey man, just in case.
The helmet closed over her head, and a red alert on her display screen caught her eye. 15% power. Flight not recommended. Seriously? Stupid magnet. Stupid magic resistance. Stupid suit retraction system. She really had to get an electrical system, instead of a magic one. Fine. So she couldn't fly. So what? She charged forward on hoof instead.
Then the man in the mask grabbed Peter and put a gun to his head.
She froze, hooves skidding to a stop on the metallic floor. Tony, thankfully, did not freeze, but instead leaped into action, grabbing the grey guy as a counter-hostage. Then everyone stopped.
Rainbow took a few breaths. "Don't worry, he's out of ammo."
"I reloaded."
She paused. "The question is, are you lying?"
"Doesn't matter," Tony interjected. "You're supposed to treat every weapon as if it's loaded. This is basics, kid."
She sighed. "Okay, never mind. Back to square one, I guess."
The man touched something at his ear, and the mask--Aha! She was right!--rippled and vanished. "I'm gonna ask you this one time. Where is Gamora?"
Tony's mask flipped back as well. Was that a thing? Were they all unmasking now? "I'll do you one better! Who 's Gamora?"
"I'll do you one better," the grey one added. "Why's Gamora?"
Rainbow shrugged and joined in. "What's Gamora?" A little humor never hurt to ease the tension, and this tension could use some easing.
Peter raised his hand. "Ooh! Ooh! When's-"
"Enough!" He shoved his gun harder against Peter's head, just to emphasize it. "Where is she?"
Rainbow did some quick thinking and stepped forward, pulling back her own helmet while she was at it. Everyone else was doing it. "Hold on! I think we have a miscommunication here. Tony, you said Thanos was the only Titan, right?"
"Yeah, but I fail to see how that's relevant."
She smiled. It was great to be the one figuring things out for once. "Well, if they're looking for a friend, and they're here on the Titan planet, and Thanos is the only Titan, then their friend must be with Thanos."
Doctor Strange nodded. "That follows."
"Well, then we don't have to be fighting each other at all! Instead, we should go fight Thanos, together!"
Tony nodded. "That also follows."
"No it doesn't," Doctor Strange protested. "These guys were trying to kill us thirty seconds ago!"
"Yes, but that was a mistake, so we can all be friends now." Rainbow turned to the guy with the gun. "See, next time, you should try talking , instead of bursting into a crashed spaceship and just shooting people."
"You were in one of Thanos's spaceships on Thanos's planet!" he protested.
"Yeah, but we crashed it, so we obviously don't have much experience handling that sort of ship. Anyway, since we're all friends now, can you let Peter go?"
"Who's Peter?"
Peter raised his hand. "I'm Peter."
"But I'm Peter!" the man protested.
Rainbow ran a hoof through her mane. "Oh, boy."
"I can go by Spiderman," Peter offered.
"You can call me Starlord," Peter added.
Rainbow nodded. "Okay. So can we stop with the whole holding-people-at-gunpoint thing now?"
"Sorry." He let go of Spiderman, and Tony stepped away from his friend.
"No, seriously," Doctor Strange said. "We're just going to work with these guys who we were fighting a few minutes ago?"
"Uh, yeah? What about that is weird?"
Tony sighed and stepped forward. "Look, Rainbow, humans aren't quite like ponies."
She snorted. "No duh!"
"No, I mean we're not as forgiving as you guys. It really surprises me how much you guys are willing to forgive, and most people on Earth would think you're an idiot for doing it."
She shrugged. "I mean, as long as someone is genuinely sorry for their actions, can't you give them a second chance?"
He sighed. "No, not usually."
"Really? Because way more often than you'd think, the meanest and scariest ponies--and other creatures--really just need a friend. And if you offer that forgiveness, they'll usually take it."
"How can you tell if they're really friendly and really sorry for their actions? What if they're just pretending so you don't suspect them?" Tony demanded.
"Then you have to offer it anyway! Even if you get bit once or twice by a faker, the real and lasting friendships you get the rest of the time are worth it! And isn't it better to have a friend than an enemy?"
"A policy like that is going to get you killed!"
"Is that why you're too scared to even call Captain America when you need backup?" she shot.
He froze. "How did you even hear about that?"
She gestured to the book. "My friends caught me up on everything that happened on Earth. Look, if we could make friends with Discord, the literal spirit of chaos himself, who once stranded us on another world in other people's bodies, why is Cap so hard?"
Doctor Strange's head jerked up. "You did what ?"
"Yes, we befriended Discord, and he helped save Equestria several times, so you don't get to tell me it was the wrong choice."
He threw up his hands. "What's next? Befriending Thanos?"
She tapped her chin. "Now that you mention it... It's worth a shot."
He groaned. "How are you guys not extinct ?"
Ignoring him, Rainbow Dash turned to the others. "I almost forgot. If we're going to work together, there's one rule you guys should know about."
"I'm not super great with rules," Starlord admitted.
Rainbow glared. "You'd better be great with this one. No dying is allowed. "
He paused. "You know, that's actually a good rule. I'm afraid Gamora might not know that rule, though..." His face fell.
Rainbow smiled, hoping she looked as reassuringly confident as Tony always did. She didn't know how he did it. "Well, then we'd just better find her so we can let her know."
They'd finalized a plan. Most of the group had already drifted away, but Rainbow Dash, Starlord, and Tony were still bunched together, talking.
"I'm really sorry for shooting you," Starlord said. "You should probably cover your wings, though. They're really unprotected."
Rainbow shook her head. "I can't. I need my feathers open to the air. They let me feel even the smallest changes in the wind, which comes in handy in unlikely circumstances, and I can't steer worth dirt without them. You saw how clumsy my flying was with my wings tucked in."
Tony hummed thoughtfully. "What if you only had a thin covering that could wrap around each feather?"
She shrugged. "If that existed, was textured enough for the wind to catch it, and was still strong enough to be worth anything, I'd take it."
Tony grinned. "In that case, want to borrow some nanobots?"
Her eyes widened. "Do you even have to ask?"
"Give me one second, I'll fetch the stuff we used to patch the ship. Don't need them for that anymore, and they should be more than enough."
He returned soon, holding a towering handful of grey goo. Rainbow wrinkled her nose in distaste. "That's the nanobots?"
"Don't sell them short. Watch this." The goo suddenly rose up, forming a hard and shiny sphere, then a cube, then a pyramid. Then they rose into the air, forming two streams that spiraled around each other. Tony sent them dancing around Rainbow's head, smiling at her awed expression, then split the streams. Each one glided to one of her wings and spread across it like water, forming intricate patterns of red and gold.
"They'll respond to your mental commands," he informed her, "but you probably won't need them to. They're just there to protect your wings."
She turned and stared at her wings, focusing hard. The patterns of red and gold shifted, until her inner feathers were red and her outer feathers were gold. Then she reversed it. She laughed out loud. "That's amazing!"
"Neat!" Starlord exclaimed. "Don't suppose I can get some of those?"
Tony rolled his eyes. "I only have a limited supply, all right? I need what's left for my suit, they don't grow on f-"
Scootaloo and Spiderman were hanging from the ceiling. Specifically, Spiderman was teaching Scootaloo how to hang from the ceiling (she'd begged). Her hooves made it harder to hold on, but she refused to stop trying.
"Okay, good, now slowly release more web. Try to descend smoothly. There you go!"
Side by side, the two glided down, very near Doctor Strange. Scootaloo glanced at him uncertainly. "Uh, are you okay? Hello? Mister Strange?"
"He's actually a doctor, he gets super annoyed when you don't realize that."
"Oh! I thought that was a fake name."
Spiderman shrugged. Upside down. Scootaloo didn't know how he managed to keep his balance, doing that. "So did I, but apparently Strange is his actual last name, and he's actually a doctor. Weird, right?"
"Eh, not weirder than the rest of you guys, not to me." She turned back to him. "Hey! Doctor Strange! Are you okay?"
By this point, several of the Guardians had gathered around to look at him with consternation. Suddenly he gave a huge gasp, as if he was surfacing out of deep water, and looked out of them. Scootaloo, startled by the sudden change, let go of her web and dropped several feet. "Ow!"
"That's our next lesson!" Spiderman called down at her. "Not dropping when you're startled!"
"Are you all right?" Mantis asked Doctor Strange.
He nodded shakily. "I was looking at possible futures."
Scootaloo popped up eagerly. "How many are there?"
"Over twenty-five million."
She raised her eyebrows. "That's a lot. How many do we win?"
"Three." Doctor Strange sighed deeply. "And one of them is a really long shot."
Spiderman let go of the rope and turned, landing nimbly on his feet. "But we already made the plan! Do we need to change it?"
Doctor Strange paused. "It... has as good a chance as anything else. And no, I can't tell you all what's going to happen. That changes the future, and never to a path that works."
Scootaloo turned to go, then turned back. She had to ask. "Doctor Strange?"
"Yes?"
"If you know about Discord... did you ever hear anything about the Elements of Harmony? Twilight is hoping they'll be strong enough to counter the Infinity Gauntlet, just in case Thanos gets the whole thing. It'd be nice to have a backup plan..."
"I've only heard a little about them," Doctor Strange admitted, "and never from very reliable sources. Some old and muddled books seem to suggest that Discord made them, or at least has a strong link to them, but I think they must be wrong."
Scootaloo nodded. "Well, yeah! He'd be kinda dumb if he made the only things that can stop him."
Strange shrugged. "True. But perhaps he wanted a force to rival the Infinity Stones. Every source agrees that he utterly despises Infinity."
"I don't understand. You make Infinity sound like a person."
He shrugged again. "That's what's implied. Usually it's considered female--the opposite of Discord, I suppose. She wants things to last forever. Discord wants constant change. It stands to reason that they would be opposed."
Something he'd said jiggled at a memory. She'd heard that phrase before. But she couldn't figure out which phrase, so instead she protested, "Discord isn't the opposite of Infinity! He's the opposite of harmony! He's a spirit of disharmony, how could he create harmony?"
Mantis, who'd been listening to all this, stepped forward. "Of course Discord didn't create Harmony. It was there from the beginning of the universe."
"Huh?" Scootaloo asked.
"Where I'm from, there is a legend. At the beginning of the universe, there were two cosmic beings: Infinity and Harmony. Infinity wanted everything to last forever and be the same, but Harmony loved different things, resounding together as one, and things that continued to change. Often they quarreled, but sometimes they came together to accomplish great things. But it is said they vanished, long ago. Nobody knows where. Some people say they fell into darkness and strife, and lost themselves."
There it was again, that feeling of familiarity. Somewhere in that tale was something she'd heard before, just out of reach. Infinity... Harmony... Discord... What am I missing? She had all the pieces, she was sure of it. But how did they fit together?
Doctor Strange leaned towards her. "Did the legends say anything about stones?"
Mantis shrugged. "It's been a long time, but I think they each had a set of magical gems. Those came from the beginning of time, too."
Scootaloo wasn't listening. It was so close, just out of her grasp. If Discord is the opposite of Harmony, is there an opposite to Infinity, something that doesn't want anything to last forever? Is that Discord too? He certainly likes change. But how could he be the opposite of both? And what feels so familiar?
And then it clicked. The memory rushed back, and with it, perfect clarity. Because she'd been looking at it all wrong--Discord wasn't the opposite of Harmony. Not at all.
Abruptly she scrambled to her hooves and galloped off. "Rainbow!" she called. "Where's the book? I need to talk to Twilight. Right now."
Author's Note
I've been trying to alternate chapters and who they focused on, but at this point I had no choice but to break that pattern. Sorry about that.
At this point you have all the information you need to figure out the answer to this little riddle. I wonder if anybody will...
A voice spoke over Steve's intercoms. It was one of Wakanda's chief engineers--not Shuri, she was busy with Vision. "The mirror is complete. Reinforcements are coming through."
Steve turned to Bucky. "Fair warning, it's about to get weird."
Bucky glanced out at the blue dome of energy and the aliens trying to force their way through. "It's already weird."
Steve shrugged. "True. But it's gonna get way, way weirder."
"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie!"
"Gah!" Bucky jumped. "What in- STEVE! It's PINK!"
"I did try to warn you."
"Ooh, is that a metal arm? That's so cool!" She smiled cheerfully, then turned her eyes to the dome, suddenly all business. "What are we looking at?"
"None of them have gotten through yet, but when they do, it's gonna be slow. I'm counting on Falcon to pick off the first comers. It's a shame we couldn't get Rhodes or Rainbow to supplement the air team."
Quiet wingbeats sounded overhead, and all three looked up. "I think Fluttershy can handle that," Pinkie commented.
"And me!" another, much more masculine voice shouted. "Check it! I've got wings now!"
"Is that a dragon?" Bucky asked. "It's so small!"
"Well, he's still kinda young," Pinkie admitted. "But since his wings grew in, he's been proving himself able to handle more and more, so we decided he could come this time."
Applejack and Starlight trotted forward. "Heya, Steve!" Applejack called cheerfully.
Steve grinned. "Applejack!"
"She's Southern ?" Bucky complained. "She's an alien! How is she Southern?"
"Lots of planets have a south!" Pinkie said.
Steve looked at Applejack. "Where are Rarity and Twilight? I thought they would be coming too."
Applejack shrugged. "Rarity wants to get into position for some kinda ranged attack--she didn't tell me what. An' Twilight's stayin' behind to try and find something she thinks will counter the Infinity Gauntlet. I just hope she's right."
A few aliens pierced the barrier and started charging in. The 'air team'--Falcon, Fluttershy, and Spike--soared over them, picking them off easily with bullets, arrows, and fire. The waiting fighters stopped chattering among themselves and stood straight, preparing to join in the combat. Applejack pulled her best lasso out of her saddlebags, and Pinkie loaded her party cannon with battle-grade ammo.
Steve touched his comms link. "The aliens are circling around the unguarded back. T'Challa is going to drop the barrier and let them in in a very narrow area instead. Get ready for a real fight."
When Twilight returned to the library, with the vague hope of something in its shelves being useful to her, she found Rarity's book lying on the ground, stacked on top of Rainbow's. She was glad they'd thought of that, and kicked herself for not doing so. With both of them in other places, it made sense for her to be the pivot between them, some kind of line of communication. They'd be busier than she would. She tried not to let that thought sting too much.
It was then that she was aware of a faint sound in the room. Something buzzing. She looked again at the stack.
Rainbow's book had a message. She picked it up and glanced across the lines within. Her pupils grew wide. "...Discord?" There was no response. "I know you can hear me! This is important!" Still nothing. She sighed. "Please?"
"There we are. The magic word." Discord dangled upside-down from her ceiling. "What do you need? Please don't ask me to bake a pie."
"Why would I ask you to- no. I just need to ask if what Scootaloo just told me is true."
He snapped his fingers and reappeared on the ground. "Well, that depends." He examined his fingernails. "What did she just tell you?"
"Oh, please!" She pointed an accusing hoof at him. "You mean to tell me you know exactly when one of us is calling you, or even talking about you, but you don't know what we say about you in text?"
"That's exactly what I mean to tell you." He caught a glimpse of her suspicious glare. "I have no idea what she said," he repeated, his voice suddenly much more sincere. "Honest."
"But that doesn't make any-"
He raised an eyebrow.
She sighed. "Right. Discord. Fine. Scootaloo wrote to me with a theory, and it sounds kind of crazy, but I think she might actually be right." She glanced down at the book in her hooves, reviewing what it said, even though she remembered perfectly. "She says she met an alien, and while they were talking, the alien told her its culture's story about the beginning of the universe. According to her, at the beginning, there were two forces, Infinity and Harmony."
Discord's face, until then showing interest, shut down into an emotionless poker face. "Oh. Them."
"You know them?"
He crossed his arms and looked away. "We're not on speaking terms."
"If Scootaloo's right, you're closer than speaking terms."
"Well, at least not with Infinity. She's so rigid and controlling, never wants me to have any fun..."
Twilight shrugged. "I get it. It's hard to talk to your ex."
Discord sputtered. "My- What gave you that idea?"
She flipped a page casually. "Especially when she's now an evil force of darkness that possessed both Luna and Stygian."
His jaw dropped. "How in the universe did you get that?"
"Really, we all should've seen it way sooner, what with her whole thing about..." She cleared her throat, and her voice dropped several octaves in imitation. "The night will last... FOREVER!" She returned to her own voice. "Honestly, it was staring me in the face."
"Not a bad impression."
"Thank you."
"But how did you get the connection to the Darkness that possessed Stygian?"
Twilight shrugged. "Scootaloo didn't get that one, either. I only knew because of a conversation I had with Stygian. He said that the Darkness never made him feel less bitter or miserable, it only made him want to make everypony as miserable as he was. That was why he kept going on about removing the 'light and hope' from Equestria. He wasn't trying to make anything last forever, but he was trying to make everything the same."
Discord nodded. "Makes sense."
"I try. So, Harmony ..."
"Don't call me that." He rubbed one arm. "I'm not him. Not anymore. Not after everything I did."
"I think you're wrong."
"What?"
"It's true that you weren't Harmony, not for a long time. But look at you now! You nearly killed yourself because you were afraid you and Fluttershy were too different. You don't try to force your chaos on everyone--you know how to have fun while being considerate of others and their wants and needs. You even sacrificed yourself in the Changeling Hive to save Equestria!"
He threw up his hands. "Did you even hear yourself? I almost killed myself trying to be the same as Fluttershy, when all she wanted me to be was me! If I were really Harmony, I would've seen that our differences were what made our friendship special. That's Harmony's whole thing --different things working together!"
"Yes, but you learned from that! Maybe you're not Harmony, but you're certainly not Discord! You're still growing and changing, but with a little help from your friends, I think you can get back to where you were. You just have to find your way."
Author's Note
This was going to be two chapters, but they both ended up super, super short, so I put them together. They don't really go together that well, I know.
Rarity's cape was lined with gold.
Not actual gold. Not mostly, anyway. There was some in there. It was a special blend, unique in all Equestria, carefully formulated to reflect the absolute maximum amount of light. She and Twilight had spent months developing it. It was a shame it didn't see much use with Ultron. His eyes were hardly sensitive.
She looked out over the battle again. She was waiting; waiting for the moment when all hope seemed lost, where the surprise carried by her entering the battle would have the absolute most impact. This was not theatrics, it was strategy. An extra force, entering the battle just when all hope seemed lost, encouraged people and caught their enemies off guard as they felt their victory crumble. Strategically, it made the most sense to save that crucial surprise for when it was most needed.
A rumble shook the earth. Even she, on a hillside high above the battle, felt it. Then her eyes widened in terror as she saw where it had come from.
Massive, spinning blades erupted from the ground like saws. The defenders wavered, seeing them approach. Nothing Rarity could do would help. She wouldn't even be able to reach them in time to do anything--not that there was anything she could do. Frozen, she watched them get closer to her friends, even mowing down their own armies to do it.
Then Starlight stepped forward. The teal glow from her horn was visible even from such a distance and in the bright daylight. But Rarity's worries were not dismissed. Starlight didn't have the power to lift so much weight, not in this magic-resistant world! In fact, she didn't even see a levitation aura surrounding them...
Then, with a pop and a flash of light, the blades vanished.
They reappeared again in the exact same place, and Rarity wondered briefly if it had failed, before she realized that they had been turned around and were going in the opposite direction, mowing down the huge armies of aliens that had flooded in behind it, ready to take advantage of the chaos the blades would have left in their wake. Rarity cheered, though nobody could hear her, because it was an absolutely brilliant solution. There was almost no magical resistance to teleportation, so the adverse environment would hardly affect it at all! She was so caught up celebrating, in fact, that she almost forgot how much power teleportation took despite the minimal resistance, especially for large objects.
She looked over the battlefield again, just in time to see Starlight faint from magical exhaustion. Applejack, who was near her, defended the unconscious body from an alien seeking an easy kill, then shouted something to Steve. He nodded, and Applejack swung Starlight over her shoulders and carried her off the field.
The effect on the battle was visible immediately. Without the most powerful magic user, those on the battlefield suddenly realized just how many aliens Starlight had been picking off, and with what astounding speed. The loss of Applejack hurt too, but she was a blunt-force weapon, though a powerful one. Starlight was a machine gun.
Rarity watched the tide turn, trying to think about it in the terms of a businessmare. The bottleneck they'd created, opening only a single sliver of the defensive wall, was designed to keep the aliens coming only at a rate they could handle. It was like taking few enough orders to ensure that she'd be able to sew all of them on time. But now, with Starlight gone, the rate they could handle them had dropped significantly. So they had two options: raise the rate they could handle them, or slow the rate at which they came.
She stepped forward and lifted the edge of her cloak.
The sunlight caught it and reflected, over the heads and backs of the defenders, directly into the faces of the aliens. They cringed away, covering what she assumed must be their eyes--she hadn't gotten a close enough look at them to verify that they even had them, much less where on the body they were. So bold in the face of everything else, the aliens cowered from the powerful rays of the sun Rarity sent their way. She turned the cloak this way and that, the same way she occasionally sent sunlight skittering around the floor through a gemstone for Opal to chase, and everywhere her light shone, the aliens covered their faces, leaving themselves open to attack.
The defenders drove them back, leaving their corpses scattered. The hordes that had once overwhelmed them were all but gone, and she turned her light to the bottleneck where more were entering. They cowered at first, but slowly moved forward, until they found themselves out of the patch of sun. Then they charged forward, engaging the army again. She kept her light on the bottleneck, slowing the flow of the aliens. They had to get through the sunlight in order to enter.
But it wasn't enough. Slowly but surely, the defenders were retreating. The aliens still threatened to swarm and overwhelm them. They needed more help. Maybe if Applejack would return soon, they could do it, but otherwise, the aliens would break through the lines and head for the city. And for Vision.
Rarity charged down the hill to meet the army. The spikes on her shoes drove into the ground, giving her traction as she pushed herself faster and faster. She'd chosen them as the second part of her tactical fashion ensemble largely because, thanks to Natasha's influence, she'd gotten quite excellent at hoof-to-hoof combat. Adding sharp objects to that only made it a stronger and more useful technique.
And, just like that, the slow pushing back turned into an overwhelming swarm. Rarity held her ground with a one-two punch, lifting her cape to blind those near her and then taking them out with her shoes, but even she was quickly feeling overwhelmed with the sheer numbers who approached her. Everywhere she looked, the heroes were panting, barely able to keep up, and to her horror she saw many aliens slip past their defenses. Falcon and Fluttershy tried to pick them off, but a few eluded them as well and approached the city. It was practically over. They were losing.
A crack of thunder split the sky.
Sudden lightning arced from alien to alien, felling them in incredible numbers, and a swirling rainbow dropped from above. Pinkie Pie abandoned her party cannon and broke into a gallop as Thor emerged onto the battlefield, flanked by a bipedal raccoon with a gun and some sort of tree. Rarity blinked several times at that sight, then decided it was hardly the strangest thing she'd ever seen.
"THOR!" Pinkie called across the field. "YOU'RE NOT DEAD!" She leaped to hug him, heedless of the lightning that crackled all over his body.
"Wait, don't, I'm-"
Bzzt.
"Haha, cool! My hair's even poofier now!"
He swung the huge axe he carried, and a surge of electricity dropped twenty more aliens. "You're almost as tall as I am with your mane like that."
Pinkie ran a hoof over her mane, smoothing it back down, and turned to do the same to her tail, but something gave her pause. She hadn't been able to see her mane, but she could see her tail, and it was visibly sparking. Electricity jumped from one hair to another with little flashes of blue light. It seemed a shame to waste it.
Instead, she swung it out like a weapon, and it caught an alien in the chest. The creature collapsed, and she gazed at her tail with newfound interest. "Hey, Thor! Hit me again!"
He turned towards her. "Well, if you're sure." A bolt of lightning leaped from his axe to her tail, setting the static flowing again. She giggled and ran off to hit some more aliens with it.
With Thor taking out such large numbers of aliens, Fluttershy didn't think she was needed in the air anymore. She flapped to the ground, where she felt more comfortable and where she could use her wings to fire arrows. It was much easier than using her hooves.
"I'm Fluttershy," she introduced as she launched a string of arrows in rapid succession. "Who are you?"
"Name's Rocket."
"I am Groot."
"It's nice to meet you both."
"He's not actually saying-" Rocket began, but Fluttershy talked over him.
"You know, I've always wished I could be a tree. What's it like?"
"I am Groot!"
"Oh, I'm very sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. You do look so much like a tree, though."
"I am Groot..."
"Hold on, you speak Groot?"
Fluttershy smiled. "I speak a lot of things." She turned back to Groot. "Based on what you said--if you don't mind me saying so--you are almost a tree."
"I am Groot!"
"Oh, of course!" She suddenly realized she'd stopped shooting, and quickly loaded her bow again. "I've never seen a real tree walk or fight, and they're not nearly as good at conversation." She fired, then smiled at him.
He smiled back. "I am Groot."
She turned pink. "O-oh my. That's a little... forward of you..."
They watched as Thor leaped into the air, incredibly high, and slammed back down, showering the aliens surrounding him with lightning. "So," Rocket commented, "what's the deal with this fight, anyway? Obviously those are the bad guys, working for Thanos, and you're the good guys, fighting him, but-"
"You got all that just from watching?" Fluttershy asked, firing off another shot.
Rocket casually blasted a row of aliens with his shotguns. "Well, sure. Those are Outriders. Not the brightest life forms in the galaxy, but easy to train to fight, and there are about a gazillion of them. Thanos has been using them for centuries."
"Centuries?"
"I am Groot," Groot explained.
"And those guys standing out there are the Black Order. Well, most of it. They're Thanos's lieutenants."
Fluttershy shrugged. "I didn't know any of that stuff. I just heard they were attacking our friends."
"Then there's the fact that Thor got attacked by Thanos, told us he's going for the Infinity Stones, and recognizes you guys as friends. So I'd say it's a pretty safe prediction." He lifted his gun and shot backwards over his shoulder, hitting an Outrider in the chest. "But it'd be nice to get the details of this particular battle."
Fluttershy nodded. "Of course. The Mind Stone is in that city behind us." She pointed. "It's actually inside a friend's head right now. He's sort of a robot, sort of a human. We think we can destroy the Stone, but first we want to remove it safely, so we don't kill him while saving the universe." Barely looking, she fired an arrow, which hit neatly. "So we have to keep these aliens at bay until we can get the Stone out and destroy it. Once that's done, it doesn't matter so much--but it doesn't seem like we'll have a problem, not now Thor's here."
"You ain't doing too bad yourself," Rocket complimented. "That's some nice aim. Shame you only got a normal bow, though. I'd love to see what you do with a nice energy blaster."
Fluttershy smiled. "Well, if we had one, I'm sure I'd love to try it."
"Maybe next fight."
"Maybe."
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.
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.
"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.
Scootaloo felt a pang of sudden fear strike her, and she didn't know why. She looked over at Spiderman, but he was fine. Wasn't he?
"Something's happening," the soft voice of Mantis warned, and she turned to look. Her eyes widened in shock. No, this couldn't be happening. Mantis was dissolving, right into thin air.
"Oh, man..."
"Quill?"
No! No! Rainbow said nobody was supposed to die!
"Strange?" Tony asked uncertainly.
"There was no other way." No! No, not him too! This can't be happening!
But at least Spiderman was fine. He was . He had to be.
"Mr. Stark... I don't feel so good..."
"No!" It burst out of her, out loud this time. She galloped to his side. "No! No, you can't!"
"I don't want to go... I'm scared..." he mumbled, as tears dropped from her eyes. "I- I'm sorry..." And then he was gone.
"No..." she whispered. She tried to pick up the dust, but it fell through her hooves. "No, he can't be, he... no..." Her heart ached like it was about to burst, and she didn't think it could hurt any worse.
She was wrong.
"Tony..." came a hoarse whisper.
"No," he groaned. "No, not you too."
Through the blurry film of tears, Scootaloo saw a dim shape, blue, with bright streaks of color.
"Heh. So much for no dying." And the blue vanished, leaving nothing but brown dust.
The adrenaline of fighting Thanos was wearing off, and Starlight started to slip into unconsciousness. Then she heard Spike's frantic voice.
"Fluttershy? Fluttershy, are you okay?"
"I- I don't know what's happening!"
"Fluttershy!"
She opened her eyes and looked around the room. It took her a moment to focus and realize what she was seeing. "No!" she screamed.
"W-what's going on?" Fluttershy whispered, and collapsed.
"Uh, guys?" Spike said, spreading his wings for them to see. They were beginning to fade, too. "No! Spike!" Starlight groaned. She tried to force herself to stand, to cast some kind of magic, maybe a stasis spell, anything to stop what she was seeing. But she just couldn't. All she could do was watch him disintegrate. And then, gratefully, she allowed herself to fall into blackness, succumbing to the pain and exhaustion. Anything to avoid letting what had just happened sink in.
Pietro Maximoff watched as two of the people in the room vanished and the third entered a faint, and suddenly wondered. If this had happened to his companions, what had happened to Wanda? He left at top speed and found her in the very next room over, but he was still too late. He found Vision crying over a pile of dust, and that was all.
Rarity found herself galloping next to Pinkie Pie, heading for the city. But she'd seen the reverse explosion Thanos caused. He already had the full Gauntlet, and they were probably already too late.
She tripped and stumbled. It felt like she'd just walked over a hole without realizing it, and tried to put a hoof on ground that wasn't there. But when she turned to look, she realized it was her hoof that hadn't been there. In fact, both of them were disintegrating before her very eyes. "Pinkie!" she screeched.
"Rarity? Oh no, oh no! What's happening?"
"Tell Natasha... she looked better... with red hair..." Rarity whispered.
Pinkie jumped forward and snatched at the falling dust. "No no no! You can't- you can't-" Frantically, she tried to shove it together, as if that would have any effect whatsoever, but the dust only started scattering. Her eyes bounced back and forth, trying desperately to process, just to take it in, but she couldn't. She just sat there, stunned, staring at the ashes, and laughter had never felt farther away.
Applejack didn't say anything at all. Steve was still reeling from the loss of Bucky, staring numbly at his dust. He didn't need anything else on top of that. So she just tipped her hat at his back and faded silently away.
Roseluck didn't scream. She didn't faint. She didn't even twitch. She just stared, in numb shock, and what had once been her sisters. They'd done everything together, since she could remember, and now... she felt lost.
All around her, Ponyville was reeling. The Mayor was gone, and Twilight and her friends had left. Amethyst was trying to keep some semblance of order, but her heart wasn't in it. Her sister, Dinky, was among the dead. Time Turner had gone out to the Everfree to find Zecora and returned with a jar full of dust. The Everfree had gone wild again, and nopony knew how he'd gotten through it. Nopony asked.
The pegasi took shifts, going out over Ponyville to block any breezes that might blow their way. Each time they changed shifts, the townsponies looked up, eyes searching, trying to pick out those they knew. Nopony knew the names of all those who were missing from the lineup, but everypony noticed the lack of their ever-cheerful mailmare.
Finally, Rose moved. She took a flowerpot and, with the utmost care, scooped up the dust of her sisters. She could grow something in it--that would be what they wanted, she was sure. She'd give it all the care and love she had in her. But not just any flower would do, no. She'd have to find the absolute best, most beautiful flower in all of Equestria. For them.
Across town, Mr. and Mrs. Cake buried the dust of their twins and cried on each other's shoulders. In Canterlot, Twilight's old friends stared at Moondancer's remains and realized that, though they didn't feel like it, they'd been lucky. Far away in the Crystal Empire, Shining Armor held Flurry Heart and wondered how to tell her she'd never see her mother again. In Seaquestria, Skystar cried and worried about how she could possibly fill her mother's role, and in an airship high above, Captain Celano gave half her crew a sea burial, firmly reminding herself that she was a pirate, that she was supposed to be tough.
A hive full of hurt and confused changelings pushed into Thorax's chambers, desperate for answers, but all they found was Pharynx, crying. Gilda held the ashes of Greta, her second friend ever, and couldn't help but wonder if the same fate had befallen her first. Silverstream felt like all her enthusiasm had melted away, and she was left cold and grey and empty. Gallus patted her shoulder. Yona simply sobbed.
Starswirl knew what they would've wanted. Flash Magnus would want him to be brave. Rockhoof would want him to be strong. And Somnambula would want him to always have hope. But he didn't know if he could, not now.
At least Mistmane and Meadowbrook still stood by his side, fighting. Just like Twilight had worried, the Everfree had erupted, and they were working to keep it in check. But it was clear to all of them that, cut in half and muddled by grief as they were, they were fighting a losing battle.
A snakelike shape slithered across the sky.
Starswirl cursed. "The absolute last thing we need right now..."
Discord, who was about to enter the Everfree, paused and turned. "Yes, nice to see you too and all that. I heard you were back, though I gather you can't say the same for me. Typical Twilight, leaving out small details like that."
"What are you doing here?" Starswirl snapped.
"I was about to be tackling the Everfree Forest before it overwhelms all of Equestria, but if you prefer I leave it to you, be my guest." He turned to leave.
Starswirl pointed an accusing hoof. "I don't know what game you're playing, but don't pretend you care about ponies! We all know you don't!"
Discord turned back. His eyes glinted red with anger. "Don't care ?" he hissed. "If I didn't care, I wouldn't be here right now, saving your sorry flanks! If I didn't care, I- I wouldn't feel like my heart was about to split in two! If I didn't care, I wouldn't even know that, halfway across the universe, she's dead and I never even got to say goodbye!"
"Who's dead?" Mistmane asked softly, but Discord ignored her.
"I almost wish I didn't care right now, because- because nopony warned me about this part!" For a moment it seemed like he might actually cry (a concept that terrified Starswirl, because who knew what kind of chaos Discord's tears would cause?) Then he took a deep breath and straightened up. "Now, since that dumb magic resistance means I can't reach the person who's responsible for all this, I'm going to go beat the absolute tar out of the Everfree. Excuse me." And he dove headfirst into the tangle.
Author's Note
This was really hard to write, I'm going to be honest. The sadistic part of me that looked forward to the killing of characters back when I planned this story out seemed to vanish the moment it came to actually write the thing, and I was left with a bunch of character deaths deliberately maximized for emotional impact (along with, I won't lie, a few that I actually flipped a coin on). Anyway, I'm really sorry for doing this to you. I promise this story doesn't end here (unlike the actual source material).
"THANOS!"
Twilight's roar, magically magnified a thousand times, echoed across the battlefield. Her wings rang out like thunder; a single flap carried her from the mirror to the center of the field, where most of those left had gathered. She tried her hardest not to think about those she didn't see.
Steve sighed. "He's gone, Twilight."
She clenched her teeth. "Like Tartarus he is." Then she stomped on the ground, hard.
With a loud thud, a startled Thanos fell from the sky. He looked around in confusion, and Twilight held up her Gauntlet to show him. The gems glittered in the light.
He snorted. "You think that trinket can stand up to me?" Clenching his fist, he emitted a wave of sheer power. It didn't stem from any particular stone, but from all of them, and the light was pure white.
Twilight held her Gauntlet up in front of her, bracing against the tremendous impact. When the light faded, she was still there. "I know it can."
The people who'd gathered were slowly backing away from the field. They could see this would be a battle of immense power, and they were only going to get themselves hurt.
"That's not possible."
Twilight snorted. "You have no idea what's possible." She swung the Gauntlet, and a huge ball of light launched from it. It swirled with colors--pink, orange, yellow, white, blue, purple. The same familiar rainbow. Thanos brought his own Gauntlet in front of him, and it took the hit easily. Twilight's horn flashed and she teleported right next to him, swinging out with a Harmony-powered punch, but he dodged, and she teleported back out again before he could retaliate with another close-range attack. He fired another vague beam, and she launched herself into the air as it whistled harmlessly underneath her.
From the air, she dove at him. The Time Stone flashed, and suddenly he, and everyone else, seemed to be moving at incredible speeds. As she passed over his head, he dodged out of the way, grabbed her tail, and used it to fling her across the land. She fell to the ground, rolled, and stomped her hoof. The spell shattered, and she was moving at the same speed as everyone else again.
One of his portals opened up in front of her, glowing blue at the edges. Thanos was coming in closer. Rather than wait for him to come to her, she fired a beam of magic through the portal. He blocked it with the Gauntlet, but at the same time, the portal closed.
And that was how it went. Twilight made full use of the mobility her wings offered, but also teleported around the battlefield. Her strategy was to get in close, fire off a powerful hit, and then back away again rapidly. Thanos, on the other hand, used a much greater variety of attacks, harnessing the unique abilities of each Infinity Stone as well as using them all together. But it didn't really matter what they did. Whatever one of them could dish out, the other could take.
It was starting to remind Twilight of her fight with Tirek. They were both fighting with incredible levels of power, but it was still an impasse, until one of them could pull out something completely different and unexpected. Twilight wanted that to be her this time.
As she dodged around one attack and fired off another, she thought hard. Infinity was supposed to be about preservation. Things lasting forever. But Thanos was using the Infinity Stones for destruction. Surely there had to be some resistance in the Stones. So he should be less powerful, right? The Infinity Stones were never meant to destroy.
And the Elements of Harmony were never meant to be used alone.
She landed. A quick wave of her hoof magnified her voice, loud enough for everyone in Wakanda to hear--the Wakandan army, the Avengers, the evacuated civilians. "I didn't understand before, but I do now. The Elements are powerful on their own, but their real strength is their ability to harness friendship and teamwork." She casually deflected a blast of energy. She wouldn't let Thanos interrupt this. "On their own, the Elements aren't strong enough to defeat the Infinity Stones. But they can be, if all of you join together... in Harmony."
"In Harmony," a few scattered voices repeated, then paused awkwardly. She could practically hear them wondering, Were we supposed to do that ?
Then more repeated it again. "In Harmony."
"In Harmony."
"In Harmony."
The Elements were glowing gently, and Twilight couldn't help wondering if they were exerting some small influence, encouraging people to keep going. The Wakandans slammed their spears against the ground rhythmically, turning the cry into a war chant. "In Harmony! In Harmony! In Harmony!" The Elements glowed brighter, and Twilight felt the power growing, but it wasn't quite enough.
But maybe it was enough to do something else? Twilight raised the Gauntlet high above her head, where it gleamed in the sun, then slammed it back down in the ground with all her might. The earth shook.
And she saw the universe.
Author's Note
I know what all of you are thinking. "Boy, I sure wish I had a poorly edited picture of what Twilight looks like right now!" Well, say no more.
The first thing Twilight noticed was the hate. Every sentient creature in the universe hated--hated other people, other races, other species. They hated people with different views on religion, politics, even sports. The universe was filled with hate. It was overwhelming, and for a moment Twilight almost lost hope.
The second thing she noticed was the grief. Even those loners who tried to cut themselves off from all ties had people they, despite themselves, cared about. Everyone in the universe had lost to Thanos. And underscoring their grief was another hate, stronger and deeper than any other, hate towards whatever had done this to them. Few knew of Thanos by name, fewer that he was the one responsible for what had happened, but they still hated whoever or whatever was at fault.
And then, as one, they noticed her, and they waited for her to speak.
She didn't speak in words. None of them would have understood her. Instead, she spoke in concepts and emotions. But if it had been words, it would've sounded like this.
I know you've all lost people. I have, too. I can't promise to bring them back, or to fix everything. But I can defeat the one who did this to you. I can make sure he never hurts someone again. And I can make him pay. But for that, I need your help. I need you to join with me. In Harmony.
A few tentative, quiet voices began to follow her. In Harmony. More joined the chorus. In Harmony. Across light-years, the Elements joined them all together, enemies and friends. Their voices rang out together with the voices of those they hated. In Harmony. In Harmony. In Harmony.
In Equestria, deep within the Everfree Forest, Discord felt the chorus, rippling through the universe like a tide. He felt it, and he shed a tear of joy, which gleamed like gold in the sun as it fell. From the place it landed, golden light radiated out like waves in a pond. Spiky vines vaporized under the current, and timberwolves howled. The magic of Harmony drowned the Everfree in light.
Thanos saw none of this. All he saw was Twilight's eyes glowing and her hooves lifting off the floor as the Elements of Harmony glowed brighter and brighter. He charged forward, attacking again and again, but every move he made fizzled out when it got within a few feet of her. In rage, he turned to the people, gathered nearby again, seeking to disrupt their chanting. It was like hitting a solid wall. Nothing he did even got close to them.
Twilight opened her eyes and saw his feeble attempts. "You can't stop this with them. The entire universe is moving to oppose you, in Harmony."
"Then I'll just have to destroy the other half of the universe!" He raised his fingers to snap, but Twilight was faster. The Harmony Gauntlet fired a single, concentrated beam of light that washed over him like a pebble on a beach. When it had passed, the only thing in front of her was a large pile of dust, the Infinity Gauntlet lying on top of it. How fitting.
The chorus of the universe faded. Its task was done. Twilight trotted up to the pile and picked up the Infinity Gauntlet. With a deep breath, she slid it on her other hoof, and it changed to fit perfectly. Again she felt the rush of power, but it was muted by her determination and the urgency of her purpose. The entire universe grieved. She had to at least try to stop it. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and focused her whole attention, her mind, heart, and soul.
Then she clapped.
Scootaloo had stopped crying when she heard Twilight. For a few minutes, she'd felt joined with the entire universe, which was so amazing she'd almost forgotten those dead around her. But now it had faded, and she found herself waiting for something, she didn't know what. She found herself holding her breath and had to remind herself to breathe.
A loud noise resounded across the world. She would've thought it was a thunderclap, but the sky was cloudless. She glanced across the landscape, and that was when she spotted it. Clouds of dust were swirling around, clustering closer and closer together, and suddenly there was Spiderman, taking his first breath in almost half an hour. The Guardians came together too, and--Scootaloo held her breath--yes! There was Rainbow Dash!
Rainbow glanced slowly around the landscape, then pumped her hoof. "Ha! No dying! I KNEW it was possible!"
"But... you did die," Tony pointed out. "So did all of them."
She shrugged. "Doesn't count. I'm not dead now."
There was a loud rushing noise, and suddenly a green-skinned girl was among them, looking around in bewilderment. "Huh? Who's that?" Scootaloo asked.
Drax smiled. "I'll do you one better. Why's that?"
"Oh! That's Gamora!"
She looked dazed and confused. "What... I was on Vormir... and then... Thanos..."
Starlord hugged her tightly. "It doesn't matter. It's over now."
"You don't understand! Peter-"
"Yeah?" Spiderman asked.
She glanced over. "Huh?"
"I'm Peter."
"But he's Peter!"
Starlord shrugged. "I've been going by Starlord, just to make it less confusing. And he's Spiderman."
Spiderman waved. "Nice to meet you!"
Gamora seemed a little disoriented. "No, you don't get it! Peter--Starlord--I think I died !"
Rainbow shrugged. "Well, you're not the only one."
"Sorry, who are you? What is going on ?"
Rainbow shrugged. "It's a long story. I can explain, but do you mind if I hitch a ride to Earth on your spaceship while I explain? We kind of crashed ours."
"You crashed it," Tony called from a little ways away.
"Oh, like you could do better."
Gamora blinked. "But you can't be from Earth. Peter said humans are the only sapient race on his planet."
Spiderman looked up. "I said what?"
"The other Peter!" she snapped.
Rainbow shrugged. "Yeah, I'm not from there, but some of my friends are there right now. They can take me home."
Starlord shrugged. "It might be a tight fit. Our ship only has six seats in the main bay. But we can squeeze you all in."
In the plains of Wakanda, a strange wind picked up, lifting piles of dust into the air and gathering them into a centralized location. As each pile touched the ground, it rematerialized, right in front of the watching crowd.
Rarity stumbled to her hooves. "Twilight, what did you do to your mane? It looks good."
"Lots of magic."
"Ooh, I'll have to try that."
"I really don't recommend it."
T'Challa found a hand offered to him as he picked himself up. "Okoye? I don't understand. You were dying!"
"And you were dead. You're no one to talk."
Twilight jumped eagerly to explain. "I used some powerful magic with several parts. The overall goal was to safely revive everyone Thanos had killed, not just the ones who were turned to dust. The 'safely' part is important, because it means that anyone who was buried, or had their dust put in a jar, or whatever burial ceremonies other worlds use--anything where coming back would be unsafe--the dust will return to a safe place before it comes back together. Plus, those who died apart from their loved ones will come back near them, instead of all by themselves and alone. I took great pains to cover all the bases."
Thor leaned forward. "What would happen if, say, Thanos blew up a spaceship?"
"Well, I didn't think of that exact case, but probably, either the spaceship would re-form around them, or they'd drift to the nearest planet." Twilight frowned. "I guess I didn't cover all the bases, but I provided the basic principles!"
Thor nodded. "Thank you. I need to go check on something. Please excuse me." He held his axe in the air, and the rainbow magic of the Bifrost surrounded him.
Wanda, Fluttershy, and Spike were the last to arrive, traveling all the way from the city before they landed. Pietro raced them, taking two trips to bring both Starlight and Vision over, and he still beat it easily. As soon as he saw Wanda appear, he clung to her and cried, and he didn't let go for a long, long time.
Mr. and Mrs. Cake stared at the freshly turned earth in their backyard as dust snaked out of it and swirled back into the shape of the twins. Roseluck hugged her sisters tightly, grateful that she didn't have to find a flower beautiful enough to honor their memory, because there never could be one. Derpy Hooves sprang into the air, her ever-present enthusiasm ready to put a smile back on everypony's face--as if they needed a reason, besides the fact that all their loved ones were safe and sound once more.
Starswirl helped Somnambula back to her feet, and she shook herself. "What happened?"
He allowed himself a smile, his first in a long time. "Twilight saved us all."
"Hey, now, I helped," protested a voice from above. Discord lay sprawled along a tree branch over their heads, looking rather pleased with himself.
"Discord?" Flash Magnus spat. "What are you doing here?"
Mistmane shook her head. "He's not lying. He did help."
"He looks a little... different," Meadowbrook murmured. "Even different than he was a few minutes ago, goin' into the Everfree."
Rockhoof shaded his eyes and squinted. "Discord, are you... glowing?"
Author's Note
If you're doubting whether Twilight had enough magic to pull off such a large-scale revival, ask yourself this: Is the actual canon movie going to leave half the universe dead? I don't think so. They'll find a way to reverse it, and they'll just be using the Infinity Stones (though, personally, I think it'll be a stretch). Twilight has double that, so she should be perfectly fine.
Pinkie sat in the map room, reading a newspaper, with the rest of her friends surrounding the table. She turned the page and gasped. "Bank In Ponyville Robbed?" she read incredulously. "When did that happen? How did we miss that?"
"Well, there has been a lot going on," Twilight admitted. "I think you're the only one who still keeps up with the news."
Rarity flicked her mane. "Not true."
Pinkie gasped again, even louder. "Guys! You know what Equestria needs?"
Twilight sighed. "What?"
"A SUPERHERO TEAM! Like, maybe some ponies who have a lot of experience with superheroes..."
"No," Twilight said immediately.
Applejack shook her head. "Not interested."
Rainbow leaped off her throne and into the air. "What? Why not?"
Twilight sighed. "Look. Applejack runs a farm. You're a Wonderbolt. I'm a princess. Rarity owns three boutiques . Fluttershy manages the Sweet Feathers sanctuary, in addition to taking care of the dozens of animals who stayed at her cottage. And Pinkie Pie has a part-time job at the bakery and plans parties for every single pony in Ponyville! And on top of all of those responsibilities, we're also teaching a school! And it's not like I regret taking on the school for one moment, it's one of the greatest things I've ever done, but it's a miracle we're all keeping up with the load! There is no way we can become superheroes on top of all of that! We're still on call for any world-saving that needs done, either on Earth or on Equus, but I don't think we can handle any hero-ing that's not an absolute emergency." She punctuated the end of this speech with a sharp stomp on the floor.
Rarity hummed thoughtfully. "Well... perhaps the school could serve a double purpose? If we selected a few students and trained them with all our experience, I don't doubt they could handle the... less world-threatening issues that may arise. Isn't that what the school is all about? Training others in our specialties, so we don't have to go spreading them around ourselves?"
Twilight's eyes lit up. "You're right! Training new heroes would be much more efficient, and I'm sure we could fit it into our schedules."
"Ah think that'd work," Applejack agreed.
Fluttershy nodded. "Seems good to me," she whispered.
"Anypony think it's not a good idea?" Twilight asked. Nopony answered. "Great! Then we just have to choose the ponies we want to train. Preferably six... They should work well as a group, but each have their own individual talents and attributes... and for maximum efficiency, they should already go to the school. I'm sure there's a good fit somewhere in the school. I feel like the right fit is obvious, staring me in the face--like it's on the tip of my tongue--but I can't think of who." She shrugged. "Well, I'm sure it'll come to me."
Author's Note
Y'know, this was supposed to be the last story. Now I have at least the minimum idea of a plot for four more . Is this where I make a group for the series?
Oh, and there are a few deleted scenes that didn't make it into the story. Would you guys like to see them? I could write them up as a bonus chapter.
Author's Note
By popular request, here are some scenes that just didn't quite fit right. Probably a little rough and unpolished.
The scene I'm probably most annoyed I couldn't fit in is the last one, because that information will be important to later stories...
Deleted Scenes
SCENE: On the spaceship.
The flight was beginning to drag on. Scootaloo had already asked "Are we there yet?" at least three times, before wandering off to talk to Peter across the room. Rainbow, Tony, and Doctor Strange had started chatting, and their conversation had wandered over a variety of topics, but it was starting to wane.
"Ugh," Rainbow muttered. "This is boring as hay."
"As what now?" Doctor Strange asked with interest.
"Hay."
"Is that some kind of minced oath?"
"Some kind of what?" Tony asked.
"Minced oath. It's when you don't want to say a swear word, so you replace it with something else that sounds similar."
Rainbow shook her head. "No, why would it be a minced oath? Hay is boring . There is absolutely nothing interesting about hay."
"So you don't mean something like-"
"Nah." She shook her head. "I know your human swears. If I wanted to use one, I would've."
"Human swears?"
Tony shrugged. "Yeah, apparently all pony swears are really, really weak. Like, they'll say 'peeved' and then gasp and cover their mouth."
Rainbow grinned. "I was pretty excited to get my hooves on human swearing vocabulary, but no ponies even knew what I was saying, so there wasn't much point in using it. I've just fallen out of the habit."
Doctor Strange raised an eyebrow. "So, what word would you use for just generally complaining--like if you stubbed your hoof?"
"Buck," Rainbow said promptly.
"That sounds like-"
"Yeah, but it's not," Tony interrupted. "It literally just means kicking something."
"Really?"
Rainbow shrugged. "What? Have you ever been on the receiving end of hooves? They are extremely painful . So we also have phrases like 'Go buck yourself,' which would require some major flexibility and hurt a lot. Or, some ponies say 'We're totally bucked!' in bad situations, because they're about to be in a lot of pain."
"Seriously?"
"Seriously. Pony swears are wimpy ."
SCENE: During the fight between the Space Squad and the Guardians of the Galaxy
Scootaloo bucked with all her might, kicking out at the grey creature, but he barely seemed fazed. "Huh? Rainbow said humans were really weak to hooves!"
"I'm not a human!" the alien protested.
"Wait, what?"
Tony shrugged. "Yeah, humans don't come in grey."
Scootaloo paused. "Don't tell me the only color you guys have is that boring whitish-brown!"
"Well, some of us are dark brown," Tony retorted defensively.
"Seriously? It's all just different shades of brown?" He nodded, and she crossed her hooves. "Man! This trip was such a ripoff!"
He rolled his eyes. "Well, maybe next time you can just visit Earth and insult my entire species there , instead of crashing a hijacked spaceship and fighting aliens."
"Fair point."
SCENE: After the Space Squad fought Thanos.
Rainbow groaned and looked up at Tony. "You all right?"
He shrugged, then winced at the movement. "Aside from the stab wound, I'm doing great."
"Yeah, that's great, but I'm asking about the stab wound."
Tony tried to smirk confidently, but still looked a bit pained. "I'm not gonna die. Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt." Rainbow nodded and looked down. Painfully, Tony spoke again. "Something on your mind?"
She sighed. "It's just--I feel like I didn't make any difference. It didn't even matter that I came. Thanos still took the Stone. He's only got one left, Tony." She swallowed hard. "And I can't help wondering if, if I'd done something differently, we could've stopped him."
Tony paused throughfully. "Well, at least we can find out. Hey Strange!" The doctor looked up. "Still three futures where we win?"
Doctor Strange shook his head. "Two."
Rainbow's head drooped. "Then it's true. I could've done something different. It- it was convincing him, wasn't it? That was the long shot. If I'd said something different..."
Starlord, standing next to her, shook his head. "It was my fault. I attacked him."
Doctor Strange shook his head, too. "There was no universe in which you didn't," he admitted. "Just one that it was later, and he was more willing to listen by then."
Rainbow groaned. "Then it was my fault. I brought up Gamora right away, instead of waiting."
"It's not your fault!" Tony insisted. "You couldn't have predicted that."
She sighed. "Maybe not. But still--there has to be something I could've done! There has to be something I can still do! I can't just sit here waiting for the apocalypse to strike!" Her eyes lit up. "Hey, Peter!"
Spiderman looked over. "Yeah?"
"No, sorry, the other one."
Starlord looked down at her. "Yeah?"
"You guys have a spaceship, right?"
"Yeah."
"Great! Let's go! They've got the last Infinity Stone on Earth, we can head there and-" She jumped to her feet and spread her wings, then froze, taking in a hissing breath. She'd almost forgotten about her broken wing."
"You all right?" Tony asked.
"Will be." She folded the wing, trying to ignore the feeling of slicing pain that slid through it at the movie. "Let's go!"
"No." Doctor Strange's voice was firm.
"Why the hay not?" Rainbow protested.
He started listing on his fingers. "One, you can barely move your wing."
"I'm fine!"
"You're not. Two, we can't move Tony."
"Why not? He said he wasn't about to die."
Doctor Strange rolled his eyes. "That doesn't mean he's perfectly stable! He needs time to recover, several hours at least. A day or more would be preferable. And that's before he even walks around!"
Rainbow scoffed. "You're making a mountain out of a molehill." She tossed her head, then winced, but tried to hide it.
"Am I? Which one of us is the actual doctor , hmm?" Strange snapped. "And three , even if we were all perfectly healthy, we wouldn't reach them in time to make a difference. The fight for the last Infinity Stone will be short. It may be almost over as we speak."
"But... I can't just sit here... I have to do something !" Rainbow protested. Her legs seemed to bend of their own accord, and she lay back down. That felt a little better.
"There's nothing you can do, Rainbow. It's out of our hands now."
SCENE: An alternate version of Twilight's fight with Thanos
"Hello. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I'm here to tell you why you're an idiot."
Thanos snorted. This would be over with quickly. He clenched his fist and launched a massive wave of energy, one that stemmed from all the Stones at once, not just one. Twilight raised her own Gauntlet and let it absorb the incredible power. When the wave ended, she was still standing there, smirking.
"That's not possible."
She ignored him and launched into a lecture. "You killed a bunch of people so they wouldn't use up all the resources, right? Well, guess what? NATURE ALREADY DOES THAT!" She waved her hoof, launching a ball of magical energy at him.
He dodged around it. "What?"
She lit her horn up and displayed a diagram in midair.
"This is called a logistic curve. It describes population growth. As a population gets bigger and approaches the limit of its natural resources, the growth tapers off, and it becomes almost flat. Completely naturally! It's impossible for a population to use all the resources and destroy itself, unless it happens in the space of a single generation!"
Thanos sent another wave of energy at her, but she blocked it like it wasn't there. "I've seen the effects of cutting a population in half!" he shouted. "The planet will experience unprecedented growth!"
Twilight scoffed. "For a generation or two, maybe!" She fired a beam of magic at him. He absorbed it easily. "But people will keep having more kids. It'll never be permanent!"
"I improved their lives! It's a paradise!"
"Killing people is no way to improve living for anyone else!"
"Before me, nobody had enough to eat!" Thanos insisted. "People were starving!"
"So the fact that some people were dying makes it okay to kill half the population ?"
"I saved the universe!"
"You're an IDIOT! Just double the resources !" she screamed.
[And so on. I told you I didn't know how to end it. All I knew for sure was that, even in the face of reason, Thanos would cling to his beliefs, because it was too uncomfortable to admit he'd been wrong.]
SCENE: During the party
Pinkie and Thor were bending over the map. "Ooh! And you can send a student to the school!"
"School?"
"Yeah! We started a school for everyone in our world to learn about friendship! We've got creatures from all over the world, all sorts of nations. It would be a great way for ponies to start getting used to having you around." Pinkie frowned. "Although, there's this one guy who really doesn't like creatures other than ponies, and he's in charge of education in Equestria and-" She started to freak out.
"First of all," Twilight interrupted, trotting by with a glass of punch held by her horn, "the EEA doesn't have any authority over our school, remember? And second, Neighsay doesn't have any authority over any education anymore."
Pinkie tilted her head. "Huh? Why not?"
"Princess Celestia fired him." Twilight took a sip of punch, the tiniest hint of a smirk gracing her face. "She was really mad. So was he, actually. They had a big argument." She took another sip. "Apparently, in the end, he just ran off."
Pinkie shrugged. "Well, then we don't have to worry about him!" She turned back to the map as Twilight trotted off again. "So, anyway..."
Pinkie galloped into the library. "TWIIIIIIIIIILIIIIIIIGHT!"
Twilight poked her head out from behind a bookshelf. "What?"
"I think Thor's in trouble!" Pinkie did a nervous little dance, hopping from hoof to hoof.
Twilight took this with a grain of salt. Pinkie had a tendency to get 'feelings' that things were going to happen, and as opposed to her Pinkie Sense, these almost never came true. She'd once had a 'feeling' that Fluttershy was going to get killed by a giant grape! A grape ! So instead of jumping up in a panic, Twilight simply asked, "What makes you say that?"
Pinkie took a deep breath. "Wellllll, Thor's evil sister was trying to take over Asgard so Thor had to destroy Asgard so she couldn't have Asgard and all the people from Asgard were on a big spaceship and Thor and I were just chatting about this when suddenly he said that a bigger spaceship was attacking his spaceship but he'd try to get back to me soon and then--" she ran out of breath and had to stop to take another.
"And then what?" Twilight asked urgently. Pinkie's worries were starting to seem much more founded.
"And then THE BOOK BLEW UP!"
Twilight's pupils shrunk to the size of bits. "Pinkie, do you know if the Aesir can survive with no air?"
"The who?"
"Asgardians, it's the technical term, that doesn't matter, can they survive it ?"
Pinkie's ears folded back. "I- I don't know! I mean, they're super strong, and they live for crazy-long times, but I don't know if they need air! I breathed while I was Thor that one time, but did I need to, or was that just force of habit? I don't know!" Her voice broke. "I don't know."
Twilight placed a hoof on her shoulder. "It's all right. You don't have to have all the answers. Take the Central Book--you know the one that goes to the Avengers Headquarters. See if you can reach someone there who knows."
"And what if he does need to breathe? What if- what if he's-" She couldn't finish.
Twilight kept patting her. "Don't worry. We don't even know for sure what happened. Maybe his book just got hit by a stray blast! Maybe there was magic feedback in the air so powerful it destroyed the book!"
Pinkie sniffled. "What's your book look like? It was on the ship too."
"Good thought! Let me check." Twilight galloped over to her book, the one that was supposed to link to Bruce Banner. Fat lot of good that did. I barely got to talk to him for five minutes. She breathed a sigh of relief on finding it still intact. Thank goodness. Must have been a stray blast that hit Pinkie's book after all. Maybe I should give her this one? It's not like the Hulk is using it...
Her hoof brushed the cover, and she jerked back. "What in-" she said out loud. Tentatively, she touched it again. It was like ice. Colder than ice. Colder than liquid nitrogen, which she knew because she'd spilled it in a chemistry class once. She looked at her hoof and found serious cold-burns already forming. Ouch . She should still have the magical burn cream from the last time Spike had the hiccups, though, so she could get rid of them pretty quickly. More worrying by far was the reason the book was so cold.
Because space was almost absolute zero.
She trudged back to Pinkie, tail drooping. "The spaceship definitely exploded," she groaned. "Everyone on board is now floating in space. I don't know if Thor can survive that... but I don't think Bruce can, even as the Hulk."
"W-well, we shouldn't jump to conclusions, right?" Pinkie said, trying her hardest to be cheerful. "I mean, like you said, maybe we're misinterpreting it! Maybe only a part of the spaceship exploded, but they were able to fix it! Maybe they crashed on a planet! There are lots of ways they could've survived! Right?"
Twilight nodded, swallowing down the lump in her throat. "Right. Stay positive." She took a deep breath. "Okay. I need to check on something. Let me know if you find anything out, okay?"
Pinkie nodded as Twilight trotted away. "I will."
Author's Note
Currently running AU Version 1.0. Features:
For those who've never read one of my stories, prepare for wildly varying chapter lengths and writing cleaner than your grandma's kitchen. We're so clean here, I censor swears from the actual source material. Please respect that by keeping the comments clean, too. Thank you, and enjoy the ride!
"So... any superpowers?" Spiderman asked.
Scootaloo sighed. "No. But I do have this cool suit!"
"What's it do?"
"...just shoots webs..."
Peter blinked. "Really? No other features? AI? Extra legs? Able to breathe in space?"
"No. Rainbow said she was going to upgrade it, but she ran out of time. And Twilight won't let us make AI. She's afraid of what it might do in such a magic-rich area."
"Well, at least you can fly, right?"
"...no."
"What?" He threw his hands up. "Then you might as well just be a civilian! Your suit isn't any kind of armor, and it doesn't even cover your wings! You're only putting yourself in danger by being here! You're just a kid, and you're completely unprepared for-" He froze. "Oh. Now I get it."
"Huh?" She blinked and looked up at him.
He scrambled to explain. "It's just--when I was first starting out, Mr. Stark used to say all those things to me, that I was too young and inexperienced. I guess I get why he said that. I'm scared you're gonna get hurt, 'cause everything that happened when Thanos's people came to New York was really scary, and the older pony said nobody was allowed to die, and I guess I sort of freaked out that you might. But I can't assume that you aren't gonna be helpful. I mean, loads of people with no superpowers are still superheroes."
"Really?" Scootaloo perked up. "Like who?"
"Well, there's Hawkeye, and Black Widow, and... um... uh..."
"Two ?"
"Look, there's only, like, ten superheroes anyway. And I wasn't counting all the normal people with cool suits, like Falcon--he can fly--and Iron Man, and I think I heard about this guy called Ant-Man who could shrink really tiny, but I've never met him."
Scootaloo pouted. "They still have cooler suits than me, though."
"Hey, it's not the suit that matters. It's what you do with it. That's one of the first things I learned. And I bet you can do a lot, even if you are kinda young..."
"I'm an adult!" she protested. Then, as he looked between Rainbow Dash and her in confusion, she added, "Legally speaking. I've still got some growing to do."
"How old are ponies when they reach adulthood?"
"Well, it varies-"
"It varies ?"
She shrugged. "Yeah, basically it's when you discover your destiny. You get this little marking on your flank--here, I can show you!"
He held out a hand. "Um, maybe don't do that. It's probably not the same for you, but on Earth you're not supposed to go around showing your rear to people."
She tilted her head. "Weird. It's probably because you guys don't have fur. And you don't get Cutie Marks, so what would even be the point, right?"
"They're called what now?"
"And once you discover your destiny," she continued obliviously, "you can start a career! It takes a while to build it, though, so you still live with your family until you can get on your hooves. By that point you've usually grown all the way."
"Neat. I wish humans had those. It'd be a way easier way of figuring out what you're supposed to do."
"Yeah, but you wouldn't be able to keep your secret identity. For most superheroes, your mark would probably be in being a superhero. Ooh! What superpowers do you have?"
He shrugged. "Nothing too fancy. My webs are artificial, like yours, but I have extra strength, speed, endurance, all that good stuff. Oh! And I think I can tell when something is about to happen, but it's not very useful, because I can't tell what ."
"But... something is always about to happen! Like, I was about to talk, and then I talked, and then you're about to, and then-"
"No, it's only for something significant, something bad. Like someone is about to hit me, and then since I know it's coming I can dodge the hit, only I don't actually know it's going to be a hit, so I just end up dodging randomly. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't."
"That's still really cool!" Scootaloo jumped up and down. "I can figure out what someone's destiny is, but I have to know a lot about the person and find out their interests and stuff. It takes me a while, and I'm sometimes wrong. But since my destiny is helping other ponies--and other creatures--find their destinies, I'm better at it than most people."
"Cool! What's my destiny?"
She shrugged. "I mean, I haven't known you for that long, but I'd guess it's probably being Spiderman. You've got these superpowers, and you like being a superhero and using them, so that should be what you pursue most!"
"Makes sense."
From the front of the ship, Rainbow Dash suddenly shouted, "If anybody knows how to steer this thing, now would be a good time to say so!"
Tony raised his hand. "I saw what Thanos's guy was doing. He had one arm in that thing, and one in that thing-" he pointed- "and he steered with them."
Doctor Strange whistled. "I don't think any of us can do that."
Rainbow tossed her mane. "Shows what you know. Watch and learn." She trotted confidently up to the left arm and put her right front hoof in it. Then she flapped her wings, rising to a hover with her right front hoof stretched out perpendicular to the rest of her. Her back hoof kicked out, feeling around. "Where's the other thingy?"
"You're a little short," Peter admitted.
"Aw, dang it. Okay, grab my tail instead. Put that in the arm thingy."
"Are you sure?" Tony asked.
"Just do it!" she snapped, and he complied. "Aw, thunderheads. I can't see out the window now."
"Thunderheads?" Peter asked.
Tony looked out the window. "Go right."
She flapped forward, pulling both her arm and her tail along. They, in turn, yanked along the steering mechanism, turning the ship. It worked perfectly. Except for one problem.
"That's left!"
"Oops." She shot backwards again, but they'd already collapsed half a rock formation. The ship turned rapidly, almost spinning around, as they soared over a lake.
Tony kept hollering out directions, but he changed them to make sure Rainbow understood. "Forward! Back! Forward!"
"I think I'm getting the hang of this!" Rainbow called cheerfully as the ship nearly went into yet another spin.
"You're steering too hard. You need to soften- Forward!"
She flapped her wings gently, only moving forward a little ways. "Better?"
There was a dull crash as they hit another column of rock. "Not really, no."
"Like you could do better. What do you want from me?"
"Right now? I want you to go backwards." As she obliged, he leaned over the window to look at the ground. The lake had long passed, and the much harder ground below them was getting closer. "Yikes! Go up, go up!"
"I don't think this thing does 'up'!" she protested, straining her wings.
"Ground's getting closer! I think we've got maybe ten... nine... eight..."
Doctor Strange reached out his hands, and magic glowed orange around them, creating a barrier over the whole room.
"Three... two... one!"
With a mighty crash, the spaceship slammed into the ground, shattering itself across the landscape. The control room they were in stayed roughly intact, but the noises they heard left no doubt about the rest of the structure. The arm holders popped open, spilling Rainbow Dash out onto the floor. "Ugh. If I ever see the inside of one of these dumb spaceships again, it'll be too soon. We should just travel by tesseract all the time."
"Not really an option," Tony remarked.
Scootaloo hopped up and down, wings buzzing. "Can we do that again?"
"Can we not ?" Rainbow complained.
Doctor Strange shrugged. "Even if we wanted to, I don't think the ship's intact enough to fly."
Tony nodded. "Even this room is only intact because of Doctor Strange."
There was a sobering pause, as they realized that they were only intact because of Doctor Strange. It was an uncomfortable thought, to say the least.
Then Peter felt his hairs stand up, goosebumps rising on his arms. He knew what that meant by now. "Guys? I think something's coming."
Author's Note
In case that one throwaway line of Peter's (and the lack of mentioning him earlier) didn't tell you, Ant-Man was replaced on Team Cap by Quicksilver. He still hasn't met any of the Avengers except Falcon in this timeline.
Twilight's dining room was packed full of guests. Ponies and humans (plus a few more unusual creatures) milled about chatting with each other. A banner, stretched over the table, read, We-Saved-The-Universe-And-We're-All-Alive-Again-Plus-We-Never-Get-To-Just-Hang-Out-So-Let's-Do-It-Now Party!
Fluttershy was looking at Harmony uncertainly. "I don't know..." she admitted. "I liked it when you were Discord!"
He shrugged. "If I'm honest, I haven't been Discord in a long time. Discord laughed at others' pain and enjoyed transforming all of you into the opposite of yourselves. I started this transition back when I first realized you were my friend."
A little ways away, Doctor Strange was chatting with Rainbow Dash. "You weren't kidding. That's really Discord, right over there!"
She nodded. "Uh-huh. Although... he usually isn't so golden. You can still see all those colors under the gold overtones, but normally they were just there, with no colors at all. He does love to change his appearance, though."
And a bit further on, Applejack was talking to the Guardians of the Galaxy. "Look, Ah ain't sayin' it ain't impressive. All Ah'm sayin' is, Ah bet his apples ain't anywhere near as good as mine."
"I am Groot."
She looked to Rocket for clarification. "He says you're on. Five credits."
"Five what-nows?"
Meanwhile, Twilight saw Tony sulking in a corner and trotted over to see what was wrong. "Tony?"
"You didn't tell me he was going to be here!" Tony snapped, pointing over at Steve.
Twilight groaned. "Look, you two need to get over it."
"Get over it?" Tony sputtered.
She glared. "You heard me. Come on." With a wave of her horn, she picked him up and dragged him across the room.
"Hey! Put me down! Let me go! Twilight!"
She dumped him next to Steve. "Now you two are going to apologize and talk it out ."
"But-"
She groaned. "It's been two years ! If it had been us we would've talked it out the very next day! If you two still refuse to even speak to each other, what's going to happen the next time you need to work together?"
Tony looked at Steve. He could see the anger in them, the same anger that he was sure was in his own, but also sadness... and a willingness to at least give it a shot. And there was no way he was going to let himself get shown up, not by him .
"Fine," Tony relented.
Spiderman and Scootaloo leaned out a window, chatting. "I don't blame you for not knowing how to hang from your web," Spiderman commented. "All those buildings are so short! There's nowhere you even would hang from."
Scootaloo nodded. "I barely even know how to swing!"
"Well, you did pretty well at it, but if you'd like I could give you a few pointers. And see if Twilight will let you practice swinging around her castle. It's the only thing tall enough."
Rarity was talking with Natasha and Wanda. "Do either of you know who that is? I don't think I've ever seen him before."
Wanda looked where she was pointing. "Who?"
"The one with the mustache and grey hair. He seems so familiar, but I have no idea who invited him."
Natasha frowned. "It's weird. I feel like I keep seeing him around. I don't know what he's doing here, though."
Spike suddenly let loose a jet of flame, cutting off this conversation. Everyone turned to look as it resolved into two letters. He handed one to Twilight and took to the air, soaring across the crowded room to deposit the other one in front of Pinkie. A hush fell as the group waited to see what the letters said.
Twilight read hers first. "Princess Celestia says the change is permanent. My mane's going to stay like this."
Rarity gasped. "Oh, darling, that's wonderful! It looks so good on you!"
"Cadance is going to be annoyed that I got the flowing mane first," Twilight laughed. "Oh, she also says that with the mane change comes a major growth in magical power! I'm going to start really closing the gap in power level between myself and the sisters. Great! Replacing the notebooks that got lost is going to be a snap!"
Several people in the room froze, and Twilight belatedly realized her poor choice of words. "A- a breeze! It'll be a breeze!"
Pinkie took advantage of the awkward silence to read her own letter, and she let out an exited shriek. "Eee! Thor! Celestia said yes!"
"Yes to what?" Twilight asked.
Pinkie bounced up and down. "She's gonna let the Asgardian refugees come live in Equestria!" She pulled a map out of her tail, slightly charred from all the lightning she'd channeled, and spread it out over the ground. "So I was thinking maybe you guys could go here..."
Individual conversations began to break out again. The atmosphere warmed. Laughter echoed out, loud and often. Twilight looked across the room and smiled. A lot had changed, and a lot was going to, but change was inevitable. All she could do was try to make sure the change was for the better. And this? This definitely was.
Author's Note
Would you like to upgrade to AU Version 2.0? Features:
I'd love to have a picture of what Discord looks like, just like I had one for Twilight, but I couldn't figure out how to make one. If someone more talented than I wants to make one, I'd be honored!
Quick credit: A big piece of this story was inspired by Contraptionology . You should read it! It's way better than this one! (Not quite as clean, unfortunately.)
And finally, though the story is marked Complete, the show's not over yet. After all, what Marvel story would be complete without an after-credits scene or two?
The Nightmare glided across the ground, slithering low. She'd felt the Infinity Gauntlet being used. Even now, split apart and spread across the galaxy, each Stone returned to its respective owners, it called to her. It was time for her to step out of the shadows and claim her own again. And she knew just the pony to help her do that.
She found them quickly, sulking around. Silently, she glided to their ear and began to whisper.
"I know what you are feeling."
The pony jerked upright, turning their gaze this way and that. "Who's there?"
As if they'd be able to see her, in such a dark area. Her! Darkness itself! The very idea was ridiculous. "A friend," she hissed. "I feel your anger. Your desperation. You've lost everything. Princess Twilight and her friends took it from you."
"And what's it to you?" the pony demanded, eyes squinting, still trying to spot her.
She smirked, or would have if she'd had facial features. "Oh, how rude of me. I haven't introduced myself. My name is Infinity. I wish for sameness, for equality. For everything to last forever." She circled the pony, coming to rest in their other ear. "With me on your side, you never would have lost what you had. But with me helping you now , you can get it back. Everything can be like it was before."
The pony paused. "I'm listening."
"I'll give you power, power like you've never felt before. And knowledge, too, everything you could ever want to know to plan your revenge. You can destroy Twilight, her precious little school, and her precious little friend, Starlight."
The pony arched an eyebrow. "And what's in it for you ?"
"Me? Well... I have revenge of my own. You're not the only one they've fought in the past. And they have something that belongs to me..."
There was no hesitation, no pause. "I'm in."
Author's Note
I tried to keep at least two possibilities for who "the pony" is open. Any theories?
