There is an old saying, when elephants fight, the grass suffers. When gods fight however, the entire multiverse suffers. 500 years ago, Hercules was driven mad by the goddess Hera and killed his beloved Megara. Despite performing 12 labours in penance, his broken spirit caused him to retreat from the world. However, that all changed when the goddess Nyzx attempted to destroy millions of mortals by unleashing the full wrath of nature. However, before she could complete her plan, Hercules slew her.
This caused a rift between the gods. Some viewed Hercules’ act as justified, seeing as how Nyzx’s attack was completely unprovoked. Others viewed it as an unforgivable sin, no god, or the son of one, was permitted to kill another. This created a rift between the gods, which led to war, a war that spread beyond Olympus to the other pantheons, Hindu, Norse, and more.
However, Zeus had set rules in place that prevented the gods from fighting directly. So the gods recruited warriors from across the multiverse to fight on their behalf. Most were legendary warriors in their own right, giant robots, demons, mages, beings that could destroy planets, and many others. However, a select few were selected to lead them. These weren’t beings of incredible power, they were chosen because of a game. This game, through some quirk of the multiverse, had the exact same rules at this war, and featured the exact same warriors.
The name of this game, was Titan Clash.
Jack Carson exited a card shop, a booster pack in his hand. He grinned as he cracked it open, revealing a couple of MLP cards. “Princess Diana of Themyscira, sweet, this’ll help me with the next tournament.” Noticing a newsstand, he saw that Allintrice Xero had won the World Championship.
"That’s gonna me someday,” he said as he placed his new cards in his deck box.
"You have a lot of confidence, huh kid,” said a man in a ragged looking trench coat.
“Well, I need some practice, and my deck needs a few tweaks, but I’ve won more than a few local tourneys,” Jack replied.
"You pick out a God yet?” the man asked.
“Not really,” Jack replied, “none of them really felt, right.”
“Well, I picked this up a while ago,” the man said as he held out a card, “I don’t Clash myself, you’d get more use out of it than me.”
“O~kay,” Jack replied as he took it, “Hercules, not bad.”
“Good luck,” the man said as he walked away.
“Wonder what he meant by that,” Jack said as he placed the card in his deck box. Just then, he felt a sudden headache. “Maybe a quick nap,” he said as he sat on a bench and closed his eyes. As he drifted off, a crowd passed in front of the bench. When the crowd passed, Jack was gone.
[Equestria]
“Come on, run,” Twilight Sparkle cried out to a group of ponies just before a burst of energy blasted the road apart. Twilight looked up at the beings responsible. Both were bipedal, and ensconced in floating thrones, but that was where the similarities ended.
"Well, this is quite enjoyable,” said the one who had just fired the attack. He was purple with white highlights and black horns. “I’d forgotten what it’s like to indulge in some good old fashioned destruction.”
“Now now Frieza,” said the other, who had pink skin and wearing a black robe, “don’t blow up the planet just yet, the others need to have a turn.”
Twilight’s eyes widened, she couldn’t decide what was worse, that this Frieza could potentially destroy the planet, or that there were others waiting in the wings.
“Hold!” cried a voice from the sky. Everyone looked up to see Princess Celestia and Luna descend in a crash, before turning towards the invaders, fury in thier eyes.
“Well, it looks like we have a couple of heros,” said the stranger.
“Excellent,” said Frieza, “I was getting bored.”
“I will not permit you to harm my little ponies any longer,” Celestia said as Luna fired a blast of magic at the invaders. However, the man in the robe just smirked as he held up a card.
“Power Ruination.”
Tendrils of shadowy energy erupted from the card and ate away at the burst, eating away at it as it worked it’s way to Luna. When it reached her, it wrapped around her before seeping into her. As the tendrils set in, Luna fell to the ground, gasping.
“Luna!” Celestia said as she rushed to her sister’s aid.
“What should we do?” asked Twilight to no one in particular, “what can we do.”
“Well, isn’t this quite interesting,” said a voice from thin air.
The stranger grinned, “Well, if it isn’t the person we were looking for.”
“Well, don’t I feel like mister popular,” said Discord as he popped out from behind his throne, “and who might you be?”
“As far as you’re concerned,” the stranger said as he pulled out a card and held it front of Discord, “master.” With that, an icon of a purple cat head shot out from the card and attached to Discord’s head, causing his to scream in pain.
“Discord!” shouted Fluttershy as a vortex of energy shot from the card and sucked Discord into the card.
“Well, now that we have what we’ve come for,” the stranger said as he put the card away, “we can ensure that no other god can gain resources from here.”
“And that’s my cue,” said Frieza as he generated a ball of golden energy on one of his fingertips. However, before he could launch it, a new voice called out.
“Lunch Break!”
“Ooh, is it that time already?” Pinkie said as she pulled out a lunch box from her mane as Frieza’s attack fizzled out.
Everyone turned to see another being like the one who had captured Discord standing, a small box in one hand and a card outstretched in the other.
“Who are you?” Twilight asked.
Jack awoke, headache still intact, to the sound of screaming. Looking around, he saw that he was no longer home, now he was, what looked like Ponyville.
“This can’t be real,” Jack said.
“But it is,” said a familiar voice.
Jack turned to see the man who had given him the Hercules card, “What’s going on?”
“A war,” the man said sadly, “a war I started.”
“What do you mean?”
“Perhaps I should assume my true form, that should make things easier,” the man said before a golden light enveloped him. When it faded, the man was dressed in a very familiar looking set of armour.
“Hercules,” Jack said, “but, Titan Clash is just a card game, a TCG.”
“Where you are from, yes,” Hercules replied, “elsewhere in the universe, not so much. I need a champion, other gods aren’t so picky about who they choose, this is the result.”
“But why me?” Jack asked.
“Because you have potential,” Hercules replied, “and because you remind me of myself.”
Hercules stared at Jack, “Right now, you have a choice. You can either accept your role as my champion, and fight this war, or you can go back home, with all memory of this erased.”
Hearing a scream, Jack turned to see Discord get sealed in a card. “Someone has to do something,” he said as he tightened his grip on his deck box, “count me in.”
“It appears that I chose wisely,” Hercules said, his tone suggesting a grin beneath his face plate, “now prove me right.” Hercules placed a fingertip on Jack’s deck box, causing it to glow brightly.
Jack turned to see Frieza preparing his planet buster attack. Not knowing what else to do, he pulled out his favourite stopper card.
“Lunch Break!”
Frieza’s attack stopped as Pinkie Pie pulled out her lunch box and everyone else turned to look at him.
“Who are you,” asked Twilight.
Jack thought for a few seconds before answering, “I am Jack Carson, Champion of Hercules.”