//------------------------------//
// Battle & Revelation 
// Story: Equestria Crisis (A Marvel/DC/MLP Crossover) 
// by Nic Nerdy 
//------------------------------//

EVERFREE FOREST

Close to Ponyville was a place of horrors and treacherous paths, the Everfree Forest. The forest also possessed a quality that allowed plants and animals to thrive without the interference of ponies, which was considered "unnatural" by many. Throughout their adventures, the ponies who protected Equestria had journeyed into the Forest for many goals, managing to overcome the many challenges within. Besides the strange creatures, there were also many plants with strange and unorthodox properties.

But as the Princess of Friendship, her friends, and the Teen Titans made their way through the Forest, they did not have to deal with any of the dangers. As they journeyed on, they spotted defeated creatures, trees that were cut down, and blast marks were left all over. If Fluttershy spotted an injured animal, she would tend to it before leaving with her friends. 

Running with his Teen Titans teammates, Robin felt he had to ask a question. "So, Twilight, all of you came together when you had to journey through here to retrieve the Elements of Harmony to defeat Princess Luna."

Running next to Twilight Sparkle, Applejack was the one to provide an answer. "Princess Luna when she was corrupted and turned into Nightmare Moon."

"But unlike now, there were challenges to deal with." Twilight Sparkle then added in as she continued running. "Enchantress and Skurge must've plowed their way through everything the Forest could through at them."

Soon enough, the two groups arrived at their destination, the Castle of the Two Sisters which was the former home of Celestia and Luna. A thousand years ago, this castle was not as damaged as it looked now. But that all changed when Princess Luna had turned into Nightmare Moon and destroyed much of it while battling Princess Celestia in a battle that ended with the elder sister sending her younger sister to the moon. Afterward, Celestia had moved her personal belongings to Canterlot in order to hide the truth of her sister from Equestria.

Looking at the ruins, Scarlet Witch was amazed. "I thought that my father's castle looked damaged after what happened on Geonosha. But this is even worse."

"Eh," Rainbow Dash shrugged as she floated up with her wings. "We've fixed some of it."

"No time to stare, we must go to the Tree of Harmony." Twilight Sparkle reminded the ponies with her as she was the first to walk down the stairs. 

Following the Princess of Friendship, the other eleven ponies made their way down the stone steps. After many steps, the two teams had arrived at the object that called them. Looking ahead, they saw crystalline tree with gemstones matching the cutie marks of Twilight Sparkle's friends on each of the branches, Twilight Sparkle's cutie mark being found on the center section of the tree. What was worrisome were Enchantress and Skurge standing in front of it.

"Wondered what was taking you dearies so long?" Enchantress asked with a smug expression on her face. Then she looked over to Scarlet Witch. "Even the Sorcerer Supreme's apprentice and her little friends came to join in on the action."

Twilight Sparkle stepped forward to address the two villains. "What do you want with the Elements, Enchantress?"

"Honestly," Enchantress began to share her response. "I'd put them on a necklace and around my neck."

"You aren't getting your hands on them, Enchantress," Robin stated as he pulled out a Birarang from his utility belt. "This doesn't have to get ugly."

"Oh, but I do, Boy Wonder," Enchantress stated as her horn began to have a green glow. 

Spider-Man felt a tingle as he stood still. Having felt this so million times, he knew what it was. "Guys, it is a trap!"

With the power of Enchantress's magic, about twenty or so guards had appeared around the two groups. Unlike the Royal Guards of Celestia and Luna, these guards wore armor that was black and spiked like the old suits of armor found in the Castle of the Two Sisters. The suits covered the bodies of the ponies who wore them, even the eyes were covered to shield them. Ten of the guards were Pegasi, the other ten were Unicorns. 

"Where," Fluttershy stuttered as she cowered in fear of the sudden enemies. "Where did these guards come from?"

"I don't know," Twilight Sparkle shouted as she was also taken aback. "Everypony, fight to defend yourselves!" 

After the order, Twilight Sparkle flew above the others and fired an energy blast at Enchantress. The Asgardian was able to block it with a protective shield she conjured. Enchantress then took to the air and fired her own energy beam at Twilight Sparkle, who also managed to block it with a shield she conjured. Twilight Sparkle flew right at Enchantress, who had caught the Princess of Friendship in the hold of her magic and tossed her at the ruins of the castle beneath them. 

In front of the Tree of Harmony, Twilight's friends and the Teen Titans battled Skurge and the guards with him. Directly attacking Skurge were Supergirl and Rainbow Dash, both Pegasi being able to land punches on the muscular Asgardian. But Skurge held his ground as he swung his ax at Supergirl and sent her flying into a wall pf the chasm. 

Meanwhile, Spider-Man kept Fluttershy safe as he webbed, punched, and kicked any of the guards who did not go down easy. It seemed that their armor was made of sterner stuff, capable of not shattering so easily. With two guards, Spider-Man webbed and sent them flying at each other until they fell down. 

At another part of the chasm, Rarity and Ms. Marvel did their best to fight back against the enemy guards. That did not go easy for them even when Ms. Marvel grew taller than the guards and kicked them away. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Batgirl did their best to survive this ambush as the three Earth ponies used their individual skillsets to beat back the enemy guards, plenty of them being unable to hit Pinkie Pie as she bounced around them. 

Robin and Scarlet Witch worked together to beat down the guards who were sent at them. Robin threw multiple Birarangs to knock down five guards while Scarlet Witch sent them at a wall. 

Scarlet Witch kept sending enemies flying while she began to speak. "Robin, go help the others," She yelled while sending a guard to the ground. "I'll help Twilight!"

"Go ahead," Robin yelled out as he kicked a guard right behind him.

Getting the go-ahead, Scarlet Witch used her magic to conjure an energy field around herself. With that energy field, she teleported herself to Twilight Sparkle's location. While she easily figured out that she was in a throne room, she quickly brought her attention to Twilight Sparkle and Enchantress, who were fighting each other in front of her. Then Scarlet Witch fired a red energy blast at Enchantress, who was sent at the center between the former thrones of Celestia and Luna. 

"Ah," Enchantress moaned as she stood back on her hooves. "The little witch has decided to join us, Princess Twilight." 

Twilight Sparkle unfolded her wings and caused her horn to glow. "Where did the guards come from, Enchantress?"

"Let's just say that I have a friend in a very high place." Enchantress grinned as her own horned glowed. "So, let's settle on who is the most powerful among us."

Working together, both the Alicorn princess and the red unicorn fired combined energy blasts and spells to fight Enchantress. But even with the rapid fire, Enchantress was able to dodge, catch, and block the attacks of the two defenders. Once when she was sent multiple blasts from the two, Enchantress caught and combined them to form an orb of energy which she threw at the two heroes. When hit by the blast, the two were sent flying out of the throne room and out of the castle. 

Flying after the two pony meteors were sent flying in the air, they crashed back in the chasm where the rest were fighting. Looking around at the fight, they both saw that Skurge had beaten both Supergirl and Rainbow Dash, both Pegasi placed on the floor. 

Floating down amist the chaos, Enchantress looked to her Executioner. "Skurge, open a portal and send these thwo through!" Enchantress ordered her servant.

Obeying, Skurge swung his ax at nothing, and a portal appeared. Putting the two fainting ponies on the ground onto his back, Skurge began to bring them through the portal.

"No!" Four voices were heard, and they belonged to Robin, Supergirl, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack.

As soon as Enchantress and Skurge walked through the portal, the four heroes had followed them through. But once they did so, the portal closed behind them and ceased its passage. Then just by magic all twenty of the dark guards had vanished with their masters. The only ponies left were Spider-Man, Ms. Marvel, Batgirl, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie.

"They took her," Rarity was in shock for what had just happened. "They took Twilight with them!"

"Scarlet Witch too!" Spider-Man was horrified as well as he could not sense the presence of any of his teammates.

Fluttershy looked worried beyond reason. "But where did they go?"





ELSEWHERE

Hellfire. That was what Twilight Sparkle smelled as she stirred awake. With her opening eyes, Twilight Sparkle saw bars in front of her and ponies standing guard, it helped her realize that she was in a cell. After she struggled to get up, Twilight Sparkle turned around and saw that Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Robin, Scarlet Witch, and Supergirl were in the cell with her.

On her friends, however, Twilight Sparkle noticed that each of them wore a silver collar on their necks. On each of the collars, there was a single glowing red light. Curious, Twilight Sparkle touched her neck with her right hoof, feeling the metal collar around her neck. Looking over at Robin, Twilight Sparkle saw that he was not wearing his utility belt. 

"Twilight," Applejack began to speak as she was also starting to come to her senses. "Are you alright?"

"I think so," Twilight Sparkle replied as she looked at those with her. Then she noticed some ponies were missing in the cell. "Where are the others?"

Robin was the one to answer. "After Enchantress knocked you and Scarlet Witch out to be carried through a portal. All of us followed you and got knocked unconscious by more of those guards."

"The others must be back in the Everfree Forest." Rainbow Dash added in before noticing the guards wearing the dark armor. She walked to the bars of the cell and hit them with her hooves. "Hey!" She yelled out to the guards. "Where the hay are we?"

"Canterlot." A gruff voice was heard.

Walking in between the two guards in front of the cell, a Pegasus stallion had arrived. With a dark yellow coat, ginger combed hair, blue eyes, and two spears as his cutie mark, the stallion in dark armor looked at the prisoners. On his officer's cap, the guard had a purple star pendent. Around his body, the lead guard wore Robin's utility belt.

"Good, all of you are awake," The guard who was clearly in charge had stated. "Princess Twilight Sparkle, I am Captain Javelin Toss. You are in the dungeons of Canterlot Castle."

"Canterlot Castle?" Twilight Sparkle asked as she was utterly confused at what the stallion said. Looking at the pendent on the officer's cap, she recognized the star as her cutie mark. "Why do you have my cutie mark on your castle?"

"Why don't you go inside and tell us what's going on?" Rainbow Dash yelled out her question as she once again hit the bars.

Then with a grin on his face, Javelin Toss pressed a button on the wall to the cell. At once, all six occupants were delivered a shock as electricity entered their bodies and made them convulse in pain. With screams of agony, the six tried to stand even while they felt their pain. After several more seconds, Javelin Toss removed his right hoof from the button, which ceased the shocks. 

Lowering himself, Robin looked over Scarlet Witch. "Are you alright?"

Scarlet Witch moaned as she looked up at Robin. "I'll manage, Robin."

"Don't think of trying to escape or I'll deliver more shocks to you," Javelin Toss threatened the six as he looked at them. "We wouldn't want to disappoint the Empress. Now, get up!" He yelled to the six ponies in the cell. 

Getting on their hooves, the six ponies waited until the cell doors were opened. Then once they exited their cell, the six were surrounded by the two guards who were in front of the bars and three more guards who had entered. Seeing that his prisoners were lined up, Javelin Toss began to lead them out of the dungeons. 

It took time and a lot of walking, the ponies making their way throughout the castle. If any of the six prisoners could look outside the windows, they would see black clouds, yellow skies, and smoke from the ground below. The escorted prisoners would even witness maids and butlers doing their tasks with very little hope and spirit. Then things started to slow down when they entered the corridor which resembled the mural corridor that Twilight Sparkle knew all too with the past victories of Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadence, herself, and her friends. 

But there were others which Twilight Sparkle did not recognize. One was Tierk, Queen Chrysalis, and a pink Pegasus filly defeated by herself and her friends. A second one was what looked like an older version of her niece, Princess Flurry Heart. A third was of a possible return and defeat of King Sombra. A fourth was of herself and her friends fighting her Canterlot High friends, them having red eyes as if they were possessed. Lastly, there was one of a team of young various creatures defeating a monster. 

"I don't know about y'all," Applejack talked to two of her friends and the three Teen Titans with them. "But I don't recognize any of those glass murals."

"Yeah, any of them with Celestia and Luna are cracked too." Rainbow Dash pointed out as she stood with the others while the guards were doing checks at the twin doors. 

Then once the inspection was completed, Javelin Toss looked over to his prisoners. "The Empress will see you now."

With two guards opening the twin doors, the six prisoners were escorted and got a good visual of the throne room. Much like the rest of the castle, all of the bright colors were replaced with dark purple and black walls, curtains, and black torches which emitted purple fire. Then at the very end of the throne room and on an elevated platform, a single throne where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna's were supposed to be. 

On the throne, there sat an Alicorn with a glowing cyan horn and what looked like glowing cyan glasses. The Alicorn had matching cyan eyes with pupils that matched the color of her coat. For her main and tail, they looked like they were the same purple and black fire on the room's torches. Then her folded wings were blackened with cyan curved lines aligning with the pointed feathers. Her cutie mark matched the same star that Twilight Sparkle had as hers, even had the symbol on a band around her neck. Lastly, she wore shoes which covered the lower halves of her legs.

Standing in front of his prisoners, Javelin Toss looked up at his master. After nodding to her, he turned to those who were present. "Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Robin, Scarlet Witch, and Supergirl. I present to you the ruler of Equestria, she who maintains the sun and the moon with her magic, and to who we serve, Empress Midnight Sparkle."

"Thank you, Captain," The Empress on the throne had declared in a familiar voice. "Welcome, my friends, welcome to my Equestria."

Hearing the voice, Twilight Sparkle and the others knew whose voice it was, it was her own. 

"I don't believe it," Applejack was in emotional shock as she registered the voice. "There is no way you're Twilight!"

"Yeah, there is no way she would be doing any of this!" Rainbow Dash yelled out as she felt like flying up and at the Alicorn. 

"I'm not going to hurt you, girls," Midnight Sparkle smiled as she walked down the ramp to her throne. Walking closer to Twilight Sparkle and her friends, she looked at Rainbow Dash and Applejack. "It is great to see you both again. If only the others could be here now."

"Then it is a good thing that they aren't," Rainbow Dash replied as she stared at Midnight Sparkle. "Otherwise, we would have stopped you right here and now."

Midnight Sparkle sighed as if a fond thought went through her mind. "I've missed your confidence, Rainbow Dash. It served us well when we went through our many victories against our enemies." Then she looked over to the three out of the six Teen Titans in the room. "Ah, Robin, Scarlet Witch, and Supergirl. It is a pleasure to meet you at last."

"So, you're the one who lent the guards over to Enchantress and Skurge." Supergirl pointed out as she stood with her friends. 

"I am," Midnight Sparkle answered the question as she stood in front of the two groups. "Since I started my regime, I had discovered ways to access more worlds in the multiverse for my plans. Through my searches, I came across Enchantress and Skurge while they were on your Earth and realizing their power levels, I made a deal with them. If they helped me gain what I set out to obtain, I would help them as well."

"What is it that you want?" Twilight Sparkle asked the pony who claimed to be herself. 

Midnight Sparkle turned to the Princess of Friendship with a saddened look on her face. "To get my friends back, even if they aren't mine from when they were alive." 

"Wait, you mean we're dead here?" Applejack asked and trembled with fear at what was said. 

Midnight Sparkle nodded with a solemn look, then she looked over at Twilight Sparkle. "Then it is to help you understand that you must turn your back on Celestia before it is too late."