My Little Avengers: Part 1

While the Avengers dealt with Thanos and his followers in New York, Tempest, Sunset and their newfound companions inched closer and closer to Canterlot Castle. However, not everyone had the energy to continue their journey.

"How much farther to this…Canterlot?" gasped Rocket, falling down on his knees. "My feet can't take another step."

"Not that farther, Rocket," replied Quill. "And why are you complaining? Your feet are not that big. Get up and walk like a big raccoon."

"But they still hurt, Quill."

But Rocket's pleas fell on deaf ears.

"What is this Canterlot?" Thor asked Sunset.

"It's my former home," she answered. "In fact, I was one a pupil of Equestria's ruler, Princess Celestia. Then, I left."

"Why?"

"Because…I was impatient and greedy, Thor. We reconciled, but I wish there was only one way, one way, I could prove myself that I am not the same pony I was before."

Thor felt nothing but sympathy for Sunset, for he knew very well of how jealousy and impatience could set in on someone.

…

"We're almost there," said Tempest, looking at a compass that pointed to the north. Just over the horizon was Canterlot Castle. "Now, keep close. If anything, the security around here likely tightened since we invaded."

"What?" asked Drax. "Since we invaded?"

"No, you big lut!" remarked Quill. "We've only been here for a short while."

"You're supposed to have been here for a short while," said Deadpool. "It says in the…"

"SHUT UP!" Tempest loudly whispered, glaring at the two humans-turned-ponies. "We're here."

Standing at the edge of Equestria's capitol, the group of misfits quietly and slowly approached the castle's walls. Up above, they could see Luna's nightguards at their posts. Not wanting to attract their attention, Tempest and Sunset both casted silencer spells that covered the noise of their own footfalls.

For a while, it seemed to work, but a nightguard saw something move in the shadows.

"What the…?" she asked and turning on her magic aura, she saw the group approach the castle. "HALT!"

"What was that?" Tempest cried as she and Sunset looked up and saw the guard.

"INTRUDERS! TO ARMS! TO ARMS!"

"Oh, great!" Rocket said sarcastically while shrugging his shoulders. "We just had to go and wake up the whole town!"

Charging their horns, Tempest and Sunset looked up at the top of the castle, trying to find any nightguards. Suddenly, they heard a horn sound, meaning that reinforcements were coming. Leaping from the castle walls, the nightguards charged at the group. Not knowing how to wield his newfound unicorn powers, Thor could not fight back right away. Bruce attempted to fight back as well, but was unable to unleash the beast inside of him.

"Where's the Hulk?!" cried Thor as he struggled against the nightguards.

"I don't know, he's not coming out!" yelled Bruce and within a few moments, they were all subdued.

…

Entering the castle, the nightguards led the captured group into the main tower. Soon, they neared the private quarters of Princess Celestia and a few moments later, the door flung wide open and there stood Celestia, disheveled at having been woken up from her sound sleep.

"What is going on here?" she muttered bitterly. "If this is another false alarm…"

"It's not a false alarm, your highness," replied one of the nightguards. "We caught these intruders trying to approach the castle undetected."

"What intruders?"

Stepping back, the guards revealed Tempest, Sunset and their captured comrades much to Celestia's shock.

"Sunset Shimmer? Fizzlepop Berrytwist? What are you all doing here?"

"Princess Celestia, we are sorry for coming at this time of night," pleaded Sunset. "But, we've come to warn you about…"

"Who are all of you?" she asked, ignoring her former student and turning her attention to Thor, Bruce, Deadpool and the Guardians.

"Uh," whispered Rocket. "Quill, what should we do?"

"Are you Princess Luna, ruler of Equestria?" asked Quill, causing Celestia to get a disgruntled look on her face.

"No, I am Princess Celestia, her older sister. What do you want with her?"

"We've…come to thank her," answered Quill. "You see, she gave the spirit of my girlfriend shelter on the moon and…"

But, Celestia raised a hoof and silenced Quill from saying another word. Motioning for the guards to step back, Celestia casted a spell that caused Gamora's spirit to appear before Celestia.

"Are you Gamora?" Celestia asked.

"I am Gamora," she answered. "Your sister saved me and…"

"I know she saved you," interrupted Celestia, looking right at Gamora. "Because she told me about it. While she was Nightmare Moon, she saved you from drifting into space."

Then, she turned her attention towards the remaining Guardians.

"And is this your lover?" Celestia asked, looking at the ponified form of Quill.

"Yes."

"I'm Peter Quill, Princess," Quill answered, getting down on one knee. "Otherwise known as Star Lord…the cool dude. This is Rocket Raccoon, bounty hunter."

"Bounty Hunter?"

"Drax the Destroyer, Groot, Nebula, Mantis and…whatever this guy is."

"Dr. Bruce Banner," said Bruce, approaching Princess Celestia with a concerned look on his face. "We've come to warn you about something."

But a nudge from Quill stopped Bruce from saying anything else.

"What something?"

"It's about Thanos, he's coming to Equestria and is seeking all of the magic you have."

"That's only part of the situation," added Deadpool. "Name's Wade Wilson, by the way. But, I also go by Deadpool and in case you are aware, I've known how all this…"

Acting fast, Sunset fired a silencing spell on Deadpool's mouth. However, hearing Thanos' name caused Celestia to become concerned.

"Who is Thanos?" she asked. "And why come to me about this now?"

"Look, Princess Celestia," said Sunset. "I know that you have a lot of issues going on, but it's important that you need to know all that is happening."

"Yeah," added Bruce. "Look, your highness, Thanos is a plague, he goes from planet to planet and takes what he wants. We killed him on Titan, but now he's back from the dead."

Celestia took in what she was hearing but was still unconvinced on the whole situation. She needed more information about Thanos and could only wonder if maybe King Sombra had something to do with it.

…

Just then, a flash of white light appeared and Princess Luna emerged from the light, shocked and surprised by what was going on.

"What's going on here?" she asked, a perplexed look on her face. "Who are all of you?"

Suddenly, Princess Celestia detected another spiritual presence with her magic and once again casting the spirit summoning spell, she found the spirit of Natasha Romanoff, standing next to Bruce.

"Another deceased spirit?" Luna asked. "Sister, is she related to Red Skull?"

Natasha's eyes widened upon hearing this, remembering that Red Skull was guarding the soul stone on Vormir where she was sacrificed for the stone's access.

"What are you talking about?" asked Natasha. "No, I wasn't killed by Red Skull. Wait, how do you know him?"

"Red Skull was turned over to us by the Gods of Purgatory," explained Luna. "We split his good and bad spirits from one another."

There was more to this than met the eye and the more everyone stood around, the more skeletons came out of the closet.

…

Meanwhile, Ego and Adrian found themselves hiding in a bush at the Canterlot gates.

"This is Canterlot?" asked Adrian, trying to fluffle his vulture wings. "It looks magnificent."

"Well, don't take in the scenery too much," advised Ego. "We're here to spy my son and his galactic friends. Now, shut up and help me figure out how to get inside."

Using his newfound body, Adrian flew out of the bush and without flapping attempted to fly over the castle grounds, only to be blown back by a blowing fan.

"They got the place bugged," he whispered to Ego. "We can't get in."

"Why not?"

"They've got fans that can blow anyone from coming in from the air for a start."

"Can't we go in underground?"

"What do I look like…a gopher?"

Looking around, they noticed a small hole and sensing that it could lead to an underground passageway, decided to try and follow it. Heading underground, the two villains attempted to navigate their way through the tunnel. Finally, they found an opening and soon found themselves right in the center of Canterlot.

"Well," remarked Adrian. "That was easy. Too bad my daughter can't be here to see this for herself."

But Adrian didn't have time to dwell on the matter as he was forced to follow his new comrade around, searching for the Guardians of the Galaxy.

…

Back in his lair, Grogar was watching his new minions enter Canterlot from his crystal ball.

"Very good, you've found your way inside," he chuckled. "Now, while you spy on your son and his friends, Ego, I've got a more important matter to discuss with Thanos."

Approaching a large cave, Grogar flashed his horns and a low growling sound was heard from inside the cave. A few moments later, his pet grizzly bear, Scarface, emerged from the shadows.

"Ah, Scarface, my pet," he said. "It won't be long before we pay ourselves a visit to Thanos and get what we both want: I, his power and you, his rotting corpse for you to feast upon."

Stroking the chin of his pet, Grogar couldn't help but look forward to the moment where Thanos would be before him and he would be the one to finish Thanos off once and for all.

…

At about this time, Princess Celestia led her newfound guests to the throne room, having absorbed what she had just heard. But, Luna had her reservations.

"Sister," she whispered to Celestia. "Do you think this might have had something to do with Hela?"

"I have no doubt that it might be related to it, Luna," Celestia whispered back. "If there is any indication, I might have feeling we are dealing with more than just the return of Sombra and this Thanos creature. In fact, I'm beginning to wonder if our new security measures aren't enough."

Remembering how the installation of their new security measures went, Luna merely looked away in disgust.

Entering the throne room, Celestia gathered everyone around.

"All right," she said. "It appears to me that this Thanos is more of a threat than anything we have heard of before. However, I feel that Sombra might also return and more than likely he will be targeting the Crystal Empire again."

"The what now?" asked Rocket.

"The Crystal Empire, where our niece, Princess Cadence, her husband, Shining Armor and their daughter, Flurry Heart rule over," replied Princess Celestia. "Mr…Star Lord, do you think that you and your companions can…?"

"Hold on a minute," interrupted Quill. "Mr. Star Lord? Just Star Lord is fine."

"We can defend your niece's empire," said Thor. "By the name of Asgard, Princesses, you have my word."

Suddenly, the royal sisters were stunned to hear what had just been said.

"Thor? Is that you?" asked Luna.

"It is," answered the God of Thunder. "Sorry, for not being myself. I'm not used to being a pony like yourselves."

"Very well, then," said Celestia, firmly before turning her attention to Sunset Shimmer and Tempest Shadow. "You shall lead in the defense of the Crystal Empire. As for you two, you shall remain here and help us defend Canterlot even further."

Acknowledging the order, Sunset and Tempest accepted their assignment and using their magic, Celestia and Luna transported Thor and the Guardians minus Bruce and Nebula to the Crystal Empire. Almost as quickly as they left, they were all in the presence of the Crystal Empire's gates.

"This is it?" Rocket asked. "Wow, it reminds me of one of those planets we visited."

"I am Groot," gasped Groot.

"Guess we'd better get inside then," said Quill and they all proceeded into the Crystal Empire, anxious to meet the ponies that they were sent to protect from the approaching storm that was to come…