Infinity Era

by JDPrime22

Chapter 56 – Fear

Iron Man got back to his feet.

Spider-Man swung next to him, landing on Stark’s right.

War Machine rose up from the dirt, approaching Tony from the left.

Thor wiped the blood from his lips, limping towards Stark.

Nebula and Vision both stood back up, their eyes shifting forward.

And they all looked in the same direction. Exactly where Stark was staring. His mask materialized away, revealing the desperation in Stark’s eyes as he gazed south through the sea of serpents and towards the volcano. He could’ve sworn he saw a flash of white within the twirling towers of scales and screeches.

As the smoke rose and the ash fell around him from the black smog high above, Tony Stark asked, “Homer, where’d they go?”

There was a short respite of silence before the AI responded. “I’ve located Princess Twilight, sir. She seems to have transported the target approximately 7.5 miles directly south.”

Stark’s throat became dry, his heart nearly falling. “Near the volcano.”

“Correct, sir.”

While the four Avengers gazed uneasily south to Mount Tartarus, more so at the sea of serpents separating them from a clear shot to the volcano, Nebula stood from afar, clutching her Electroshock Baton weakly in her right hand, her left holding her abdomen as waves of pain flushed within her circuits. She heard a groan to her right, the cyborg slowly turning in that direction and spotting the red android limping her way. Probably limping to his fellow Avengers, only she stood in his path.

The Vision crumbled to the dirt, yelping in agony. He clutched his abdomen with one hand, the other his forehead, his fingers so dangerously close to the yellow gem burning in his mind. Nebula stared into the light, into the gem that was infused with his very being. Her eyes widened the longer she stared, the Luphomoid’s eyes eventually falling down to the android it belonged to.

“The Infinity Stone…”

Vision looked at her. Nebula stared, her expression hardened. No sympathy for his pain or plight.

Spider-Man’s mask’s eyes narrowed shortly, returning to average size as he faced away from the screeches and the cries of the snakes. “What do we do, Stark?” Peter asked.

Tony didn’t look at him. He could only stare at the volcano. He could only think of what asinine idea was going through Twilight’s head. Facing Thanos on her own, separating her chance of receiving backup. Either she had a full-proof plan or she just signed her own death certificate. Neither seemed pleasing for Stark. “She’s gonna get herself killed,” he finally answered. “We need to get to her. Now.”

“Tony, the snakes…” James rebutted, the mask of the War Machine facing south.

“Fly over,” Tony replied almost instantly, looking from Rhodes, to Thor, and finally settling on Peter. His mask closed over his face, the eyes igniting a bright blue. “And try to keep up.”

He shot off like a rocket, the Mark 50 gone in a blaze of fire. Rhodes was right behind him. Peter bent his neck back and watched them, cracked it a little, then proceeded forward. Proceeded south. “Try to keep up,” he whispered to himself, picking up to a dead sprint directly towards the serpent army. The trails of fire erupting from both Stark and Rhodes’ exhaust seemed to grow fainter and fainter as the two men soared high above the serpents, intending to fly straight over them to reach the volcano. Peter focused forward to the approaching serpents, the nearest beasts’ eyes turning downwards away from Iron Man and War Machine… and instead focused on the young Spider-Man.

They hissed, flicked their black tongues, exposed their fangs, then shot at him.

The blues of Peter’s eyes narrowed. He shot out his hands, fired two strands of web, one hitting the serpent on his left and the other on his right. He pulled himself forward, flew feet-first right between the jaws of the beasts as they bit down on nothing but smoke and air. With them out of the way, Peter had everything he needed to ensure quick travels across the Badlands, such as plenty of towering structures to web to. The only downside was that the towers were constantly moving. And they were trying to kill him.

Trying to stop him from reaching Twilight. Always an obstacle for Parker. He mentally groaned at the thought.

The first two serpents Parker slipped past turned around to see the Spider-Man zip back and forth, flinging himself between the twirling bodies, snapping jaws, and painful screeches of the serpent forest. They nearly returned to the cluster of snakes before a second body landed behind them. Twisting their necks fully around, the two serpents gazing downwards to the lone God of Thunder.

“Wretched beasts,” Thor growled, stomping forward. His last eye shifted from the serpent on his left to the one on his right. Then to the second on his right. Then the third. Then the many, many more that rose higher and higher, all glaring down and hissing at the King of Asgard standing alone.

No matter what number stood before him, Thor showed no fear to their strength or towering height. All he knew was that they stood between him and Thanos. Between him and his friend Twilight. That’s all the motivation he needed to put an end to their wickedness. Jamming his left arm back to the skies, Thor gazed to the heavens to see an accumulation of cumulonimbus clouds bending to his will. Light blue and snow-white lightning shot across the clouds, building larger and larger directly over Thor and colliding with the dark smog. His fingertips began to electrify, those fingers shaking and forming a powerful fist.

The serpents, all ten of them, hissed in unison, launching their fangs right for the God of Thunder. Like a lightning rod, several bolts of electricity shot down from the heavens and struck Thor in his left fist. His body was nearly covered in electricity, the lightning bolt continuously falling down and striking Thor, fueling him, giving him the power he desired. With his eye a piercing blue, Thor slowly faced forward, watched as the time seemed to slow and the serpents only grew nearer, their fangs outstretched, roaring to the lone Asgardian.

Roaring in return, Thor shot his left fist right at them, unleashing a bolt of lightning so powerful it struck from one serpent to another. Like a web. Like a chain of certain destruction befalling the serpents. The lightning encompassed each serpent’s body, the beasts reeling backwards as the lightning consumed their bodies and burned them from the inside out.

Thor continued to unleash his newfound strength on the army of serpents, as Stark, Rhodes, and Parker charged straight through the sea of creatures to reach the mountain.

Thanos reappeared in a flash of white, practically flung to the earth like a discarded piece of waste. When he made impact with the dirt and sand and rock, the Mad Titan actually found it to be quite troublesome to get back to his feet that time around.

His breathing was heavy, heavier than usual. When Thanos planted his palms into the dirt and rose to one knee, he coughed. He coughed through the smoke in the air and the ash raining around him. Rubbing the sand from his eyes with his right hand, Thanos blinked several times, finally looking about to take in his new surroundings.

Looking to his right, Thanos could see nothing but miles and miles of Typhon’s beasts of war. They emerged from the earth, rose higher than nearly every mountain within the Badlands, but were no match for the mountain directly to Thanos’ left. He turned in that direction, spotting Mount Tartarus and noticing it to be even more massive up close.

With the sun on his back, Thanos leaned forward, his elbow on his knee, as he gazed to the volcano. It was still as black as the smog that spewed from its top, as sinister and gargantuan as the moment it rose that one night he gave Typhon the rebirth he desired. With every passing moment, every shriek of pain from the serpents to his right, every blood red lightning bolt shooting across the darkness, Thanos only knew it was a moment closer to Typhon’s resurrection. So much closer to the time when he would reclaim the world that was rightfully his. Which meant Thanos didn’t have much time left. All he could account for was that his Chitauri seemed to have been performing exceptionally well in dealing with the populace on Equus. Some minor hiccups here and there, but they would achieve Thanos’ desires soon enough.

Sighing through his nose, Thanos gazed longingly to the volcano, his head falling forward. He gazed to the earth, listened to the cries of the world and still closed his eyes in the end.

He was tired. Thanos almost had to convince himself of that cold, hard truth. He was tired. Weary. Weak. The ongoing battle, the seemingly endless fight just continued to push him back further and further from his destiny. He was as close as he could’ve gotten to the Mind Stone. He could’ve ripped it right from Vision’s head had the other nuisances not interrupted him again…

And again…

And again. Time and time again, he would be close and it would be stripped away, just like in the past. Just as it had cost him everything before. Thanos clenched his jaw at that thought. He promised himself there would be no power in the universe to keep him from his destiny, no power greater than the one he wields to see to it that his destiny wasn’t taken from him a second time. His body may have been weary, but his mind, his will, everything else that he controlled was just as limitless as the Infinity Stones in his gauntlet. Where he was transported would be just another minor setback in the grand scheme. And by its end, Thanos would finally find his rest.

He couldn’t rest now.

Thanos got back up to full height.

Nearly did. Starlight Glimmer lassoed his right arm in a binding stream of turquoise magic.

At first, all he felt was a flash of white on his right side, followed quickly by his right hand being yanked outwards, possibly in a weak attempt to remove his arm from his socket. Turning in that direction of the disturbance, Thanos noticed it was the same unicorn he had bested first of all. Starlight still stood determined, albeit a tad wounded from her previous scuffle with the Titan. Her horn was aglow and had wrapped several tendrils of her own magic tightly around Thanos’ right arm, only tightening further and further the longer Thanos let it persist.

Holding no stress in his situation, Thanos stared amusingly at the unicorn’s feeble attempts. He almost smiled, saying, “What do you think you’re—?”

They were done talking. Nothing but action and willpower from the opposing side was his received response. Thanos felt another tug, this time on his left arm. On the Infinity Gauntlet. Turning towards it, Thanos’ eyes actually widened when he saw Sunset Shimmer standing several yards away, the same type of magic wrapped tightly around his left hand and stopping only at the end of the Gauntlet.

And for a brief moment, Thanos actually felt something.

He ignored it at first. Furrowing his brow, Thanos pulled back, finding it to be increasingly difficult as the unicorn wouldn’t let up on her tightening grip. The Titan barred his teeth, seething harshly, “What—?!”

Another flash of light that interrupted him, this time directly ahead. Thanos turned towards it, spotting the Alicorn princess standing before him. He met her gaze, saw the glow of white in her horn. A mistake. One of many he made that day. Mistakes he couldn't afford to make any longer. Another flash of light, this time that blinded him momentarily. Thanos roared and reared his head back, his feet digging and pushing against the forces that tried to contain him, tried to keep him down.

Twilight’s horn never died. She watched for only a second as Thanos thrashed against the combined strength of Starlight and Sunset, pulling against the duo, trying to regain his sight that Twilight had momentarily stripped from him. She wouldn’t have much longer to enact the rest of her plan. She needed to act now and ignore the rest of the world.

“Applejack!” she screamed, her horn igniting brighter as she teleported Applejack right behind the Mad Titan. She charged him at a gallop, spinning accordingly when she was close enough and bucked Thanos right in the back of his leg. The strength of the buck was so strong that Thanos actually screamed at that, crumbling down to one knee. Applejack smirked. A smirk that didn’t last as she shot her head over to her left.

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight yelled. Her horn shimmered just as bright as before, and just as before, within that flash of white, Rainbow appeared. Flying straight down for his other leg, Rainbow rammed herself shoulder-first into Thanos’ left back leg. It fell just as the right had, the Titan on his knees and his arms pulled apart.

Twilight saw as Thanos shook his head to regain his senses, his eyes blinking several times and turning away from the ground, rising higher. That couldn’t happen. Looking straight up, Twilight bellowed, “Pinkie Pie!”

A flash of white appeared over Thanos’ head, the pink mare falling right for the Titan. She fell with a smile, screaming, “Weeeee!” on her descent. In her hooves, she held a massive hammer, of which she smashed right against the back of Thanos’ head when she landed on his back. The force of the impact, plus Starlight and Sunset regaining some ground and continuously pulling Thanos’ arms, pushed the Mad Titan down further. His eyes were facing the earth, slowly rising once again.

They didn’t have much of a time window anymore. Twilight had to take what she was given. With her horn igniting once more, Twilight directed the teleportation spell directly ahead of Thanos. Directly ahead of herself. Right in front of him.

“Fluttershy!”

Another flash of white, and the yellow Pegasus was standing beneath the Mad Titan. And she stood her ground. She jumped forward, ensured that her gaze met Thanos’ perfectly by the time he raised it up. When their eyes met, when their gazes connected and locked, both were seemingly frozen in time, trapped within a battle that went beyond willpower. Thanos was trapped in a power he had yet to encounter, a force he had never experienced. A strength… he was almost disgusted to have been lost in. It was beyond his knowledge, beyond his understanding of willpower.

When his eyes met Fluttershy’s Stare, Thanos froze.

He stopped struggling.

Within that piercing coolness of Fluttershy’s cyan eyes, Thanos saw nothing but approaching darkness clouding his vision. He fought back. Though he didn’t physically show it as much, Thanos fought back with everything that his mind and will were capable of. The Pegasus, in return, shot out her wings, her eyes widening even further, her glare piercing even farther. And her Stare… digging even deeper.

And Thanos was lost in it.

His facial muscles twitched, showing clear signs of struggle and fight. Momentary gasps of air and growls escaped the Titan, a cry of frustration and anger here and there, but the Titan was stuck. He was trapped. He did nothing more than that. Locked in a battle beyond everypony else’s comprehension, Fluttershy couldn’t believe she had actually managed to hold the Stare with someone as terrifying and powerful as Thanos. The Stare she used, the one she continued to hold, was unlike any other Stare she had used before. Even the one she used against Discord wasn’t as strong as the one she held now.

Just the thought of Discord… of what Thanos did to him… only further fueled her anger… and the Stare. Fluttershy unleashed all she had on Thanos, the Mad Titan’s eyes held with hers, looking nowhere else… but her. And he saw nothing, only trying to break free from that nothing. Fluttershy on the other hoof…

She saw everything.

The longer she held that Stare, the longer she did so, she only further saw deeper into who Thanos was, what he was capable of, and the past sins he had committed. Every horrible deed, every drop of blood shed, every cry and every final breath lost to the hands of the Mad Titan were visible and true to Fluttershy as she gazed into his eyes and saw him for who he truly was: a monster.

Fluttershy’s ears fell. Her wings slowly began to deflate. Her glare… began to fade.

“Is he under?!” Twilight cried out, almost begging to know.

Fluttershy blinked hard to hold the tears in, but held the Stare nonetheless. “You have to hurry!” she responded in a painful cry. Twilight watched the Pegasus struggle, Fluttershy slowly crumbling under the Titan’s horrific stare. Fluttershy’s neck bent to each side, yet her eyes never turned away from Thanos’. “It’s… too… hard!”

Already hearing and acknowledging the desperation and pain in Fluttershy’s voice, Twilight knew they had to act now. No more time was left. They needed to get the gauntlet off of him before Fluttershy gave in. With her horn glowing, Twilight teleported Rarity to her right, already galloping past her and sliding to a stop right next to Sunset. “Rarity, we need to work fast to get the gauntlet off! Fluttershy can’t hold it forever; let’s go!”

Together, the two ponies latched their magic onto Thanos’ gauntlet, whipping their heads back and pulling as hard as they could manage on the Infinity Gauntlet. It hardly moved an inch, the unicorn and the Alicorn pulling back even harder in efforts to remove the gauntlet, and in turn, remove Thanos’ power.

Yet even with their combined powers, they still struggled to even move the gauntlet, let alone take it from Thanos’ forearm. It was so tightly attached, Twilight would have assumed it was actually a part of him, actually molded in with his skin. Twilight knew better than to think that, knowing that their efforts—as minimal as they were—still managed to move the gauntlet. Only slightly.

Twilight looked to Fluttershy, watched as her forelegs trembled, as her lip quivered. As her Stare slowly began to lose its strength. Gritting her teeth, Twilight knew they didn’t have much time left. She and Sunset weren’t enough on their own to remove the gauntlet in time. Darting her head back to her left, Twilight actually had to double take when she noticed that Rarity hadn’t even moved.

Not even an inch.

She just sat there, eyes wide, shaking.

As she stared at Thanos… in fear.

Completely frozen in it.

“Rarity…?” Twilight muttered, gazing to her friend who still hadn’t responded to her calls from earlier. Neither did she respond to her calls now. Of all times. When she… when they desperately needed her most. Twilight started again, more desperation in voice. “Rarity, what are you doing? We need your help! We need your magic; we can’t do this without you!”

Rarity didn’t move.

Applejack, hopping onto Thanos’ left shoulder in an effort to weigh him down, turned to see what the commotion was about. To her left, there was Twilight and Sunset desperately trying to finish Twilight’s plan, to try and remove the glove from Thanos’ hand. Applejack furrowed her brow. Rarity was supposed to be with them, like they all agreed on. Yet instead she was sitting directly ahead, staring only at Thanos as her body shivered like a terrified foal.

Applejack shook her head, almost in disbelief, shouting, “Rarity, get yer flank over here now!”

Fluttershy cried out from down below, Applejack’s head shooting downwards to see her friend visibly struggling to keep Thanos at bay. All of them struggled. From Starlight, to Sunset, and even to Twilight. But Fluttershy was the worst of all. While the others managed to hold their ground and even slightly succeed by what Sunset and Twilight were accomplishing, Fluttershy just looked to be pushed further and further down. She was fighting an uphill battle… and quickly losing.

Rainbow Dash flew forward and landed on Thanos’ right shoulder, opposite to Applejack. “Rarity!” the farm pony cried out, Rainbow looking from her and then over to the unicorn.

She hadn’t responded to their cries. Rarity, her eyes glossed over in a fog of fear, continued to stare straight ahead, everything else being numb to her other than the single image of the Mad Titan kneeling before her. Nothing else spoke to her other than that image. Nothing else filled her mind other than seeing that Titan standing over her friends, her home, and her world as they all burned away. Nothing gave Rarity the will to act…

Rainbow gritted her teeth. They were standing beneath a ticking time bomb and continued to lose that precious time. Hearing the pain-filled whimpers below, Rainbow looked down and saw as the tears flowed freely from Fluttershy’s beet-red eyes, the Pegasus becoming smaller and smaller as time ticked away, as they lost more of that time the longer they didn’t act.

Looking from Rarity then to Fluttershy, Dash screamed, “Fluttershy, you have to hold it!”

She shook her head in response to that, crying out, “I can’t! I-I can’t!”

Though nopony else could fully understand her plight, Fluttershy knew that none of them would want to. None of them would want to see the full severity of Thanos’ cruelty. Because she saw it. Within that Stare, within that power she held over other creatures, Fluttershy saw everything she didn’t intend to. She witnessed every horrible deed Thanos had committed. Every city fallen, every body shot and torn, every life stripped away, every planet burning, every child crying, every blood drop falling, every sword raised, every war cry given, every horrible act of will… of treachery… of evil…

She saw it all.

And she couldn’t fathom it.

They were out of time. Fluttershy would give in. Rainbow could see that Rarity still wouldn’t react to their cries and that Sunset and Twilight were still nowhere close to getting the gauntlet off. Her head darted back and forth, from Rarity to Sunset, Rarity to Twilight. Down to Fluttershy and eventually taking actions into her own hooves. Rainbow kicked off Thanos’ shoulder, dashed over to Sunset’s right and placed her hooves around the edges of the gauntlet. She began prying at the progress the unicorn and Alicorn had made, Twilight turning away from Rarity and focusing on Rainbow.

“Rainbow, what are you—?!”

She didn’t finish by the time she felt a tug, a movement, one greater than she and Sunset had felt. Staring straight, Twilight could see as Rainbow’s involvement helped in actually moving the gauntlet continuously, inch after inch until it was slowly but surely coming off. Twilight’s eyes widened, focusing nowhere else but on the gauntlet. She and Sunset yelped and growled as they tugged back with their magic, Rainbow’s wings beating furiously as her hooves gripped the end of the gauntlet.

Their progress showed, the glove slipping further off. Twilight could see Thanos’ violet palm beneath. Sunset screamed, “It’s coming off! Almost got it! Almost got it!”

Her shrill cries, amplified only by Twilight and Rainbow’s own, were nothing compared to Fluttershy’s…

… when she finally gave in.

It was too much. Never in her life had she seen such cruelty, such disregard for life and bloodshed that Fluttershy felt sickened, like she was going to faint. She very nearly did, shutting her tear-filled eyes and screaming as loud as she could. As loud as her heart could express the pain she experienced, the pain the billions of lives had experienced under the wrath of the Mad Titan Thanos. But she never could fully express that pain. No one could.

Thanos blinked. His dilated eyes shrunk back to normal.

The darkness was gone.

He was free.

Clenching his jaw, Thanos took the moment he had to fully realize and react to his situation. The first thing he felt was the warm air against his naked left palm. Shooting his eyes in that direction, he could see as the three ponies very nearly succeeded in removing his gauntlet. Twisting his wrist, Thanos snatched the Infinity Gauntlet right from their combined auras and hooves. Twilight, Sunset, and Rainbow all fell back in unison from the sudden interruption. Looking up together, all three could only stare in horror as Thanos’ gauntlet returned to his left hand, his fist clenching and the Infinity Stones igniting.

The Power Stone sent a shock wave of energy that flung all three of them even further away. Reaching back with his left palm, Thanos caught Applejack by her mane and flung her right from his back, completely over him and across the valley. Her body spun madly in the air, Applejack screaming as her intended destination lied with the shattered rocks directly ahead of her.

“AJ!” Rainbow Dash yelled, shooting out her wings and kicking off from where she lay. The Pegasus zoomed across the sky, eventually snatching Applejack right before she could strike the rocks. Barely managing to hold her, both mares came to a tumbling crash safely within the sand beyond the rocks.

The others weren’t so lucky. Thanos wrapped his right hand around Starlight’s magical tendrils, the unicorn sliding forward in response to Thanos’ superior strength. Gripping onto the turquoise tendrils, Thanos yanked Starlight forward and slammed her body right into Fluttershy, the pair crashing into Rarity and the three of them rolling and separating painfully in the dirt. Starlight’s magic died, the unicorn lying cheek-first in the sand. She barely forced herself to look up to see Pinkie Pie continuously managing to allude Thanos’ grasp time and time again.

Practically appearing everywhere on his body at once, Pinkie popped up and vanished, saying “Hi!” every time she would appear. And every time, Thanos would grab her, and fail every single time. With his head turned to the right, Pinkie appeared on the left, whispering in his ear, “Surprise.”

Thanos nearly turned on her had the cream pie not been slammed right in his ear. Roaring at the annoyance, Thanos reared back on his opposite shoulder, actually managing to grab the slithering pony and bring her forward. He held her body in the Gauntlet, his fearsome glare meeting her triumphant one. “Double surprise!” Pinkie screamed, a pie in each hoof, as she slapped both of them right into Thanos’ face.

The Titan staggered back, flinging Pinkie Pie as hard as he could as far away as he could. Hearing her distant screams fade away, Thanos wiped his face clean of the pies with his right hand, slight residue and cream still remaining on his cheek and chin. Still, his vision was clear, and he smacked Twilight right out of the air with the side of his right arm. Her attempts to fire weakened spells in hopes of slowing him down only further infuriated him, Twilight falling back on all four hooves and sliding to a stop several yards away. Turning towards the Alicorn, Thanos noticed he was standing on higher ground, the ponies beneath him to his far right.

Joining Twilight, Starlight and Sunset appeared in a flash, bringing with them Rarity and Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash appeared from behind, flying forward and dropping off Applejack before landing next to Sunset and Fluttershy. Then came Pinkie Pie, bounding out of nowhere and joining the group as if nothing had happened previously, like she hadn’t just been thrown across the valley. She still wore a bright grin and a determined frown Thanos’ way.

And there they stood.

A brief moment of respite that felt like years, at least to Twilight and Thanos. For Twilight, her mind was racing, running on pure instinct knowing that her plan had failed and Thanos still held the gauntlet. There wasn’t any feasible way Thanos would fall for that again, nor would he allow them the opportunity to get close. Their only chance to end the fight in their favor as quickly as possible faded away into ash. Twilight tightened her jaw, tried not to quiver under Thanos’ wrathful glare, and did everything in her power to stand strong against him. With her friends.

And as for Thanos…

He looked down to the Infinity Gauntlet on his left forearm. Moments ago, he had witnessed his palm as naked as his right, the gauntlet mere inches from being removed and his power stripped from him. Mere inches. All of which the ponies nearly obtained. His destiny… nearly taken away a second time… by them.

Breathing heavily, trying to regulate it, Thanos slowly looked from his gauntlet to the eight mares. He witnessed their unease, their growing anxiety, their desperate hopes in searching for another solution. Thanos closed his mouth, a tight line of his lips being all that remained alongside his hardened glare. Twilight met it with forced strength, a quivering lip, and an unknown fight directly ahead of her.

She never expected him to say it. “I underestimated you equines,” Thanos admitted. He lifted the Gauntlet, clenching it slowly, all three Stones glowing softly. Thanos looked from it… down to the ponies mere yards ahead of him. Mere inches. Thanos gritted his teeth at that wretched thought. “I can assure you I won’t make that mistake again.”

The thunder from the smog growled overhead, blood red lightning clashing against the darkness. Twilight breathed heavily, almost crying out when she asked, “How far are you willing to take this?”

Thanos’ head shot back mere inches. His eyes widened at her remark, almost in disbelief. As if everything she hadn’t already witnessed was proof enough, the princess was still just as stubborn as every other fiend that stood between him and his destiny. Just like all the others, she lacked that knowledge he was cursed with, lacked the sight to see the grand picture, as well as the will to know what was needed to be done to save the universe.

He said, “Whatever is required to achieve my destiny.”

“And you’ll lose yourself because of that!” Twilight shouted, stamping her hoof forward, so hard and deep in the dirt. Thanos stared down at her, met her eyes and saw every shred of pain, of wisdom, of experience she had witnessed herself. And she said, “I know what power does, Thanos! I’ve seen it firsthoof! It corrupts! Do you really want that to happen to you?!”

Starlight looked over to Twilight, knowing full-well who she was referring to. Her eyes fell to the sand, only rising when Thanos seemed to scoff.

“You think you know what power can do?!” Thanos snapped. He suddenly wheeled back, stared off in the distance to what lied behind him. And what did… was Mount Tartarus. The tallest peak in all the Badlands. The volcano. He looked to the volcano with power radiating in his eyes, power within the Infinity Gauntlet, power that he wielded because he chose to, because he needed to, then turned back to them. To her.

And he said, “You have much to learn, little one.”

He offered no other remarks, no final statements than just that. His final act of vengeance, of retaliation against the species he no longer deemed a burden—but more so a worthy and formidable race—was set solely on Mount Tartarus. He raised his gauntlet in the air, as if he had caught something within his grasp, and slowly began to crush his fist. The Space and Power Stones ignited from the Gauntlet, their strength and supremacy shown not only to the equines, but to all within the Badlands. To all of Equus.

To all the universe of what their creations were capable of.

And the ponies watched, growing disbelief, shock, and fear gripping their features the longer they stared onto it. Onto the impossible. They watched as Thanos’ power shot across the valleys and encompassed all of Mount Tartarus within his influence. The entire mountain trembled, the very earth they stood upon shaking and refusing to end the longer Thanos kept his eyes and gauntlet to the volcano. The ground surrounding it began to erupt, geysers of steam and fire spewing out from the earth and numbering in the hundreds. The earth… began to rise… bloat like a bubble beneath the volcano.

“No way…” Rainbow Dash muttered, her eyes widened, reflecting the geysers of fire shooting up from the earth. She slowly shook her head, the others by her side doing the same. The heated wind picked up around them, blowing into their eyes, their manes, and right through their very souls.

Twilight Sparkle stood in utter astonishment. The light from the erupting volcano shimmering in her eyes, the Alicorn whispering, “In Celestia’s name…”

Thanos closed his fist.

Mount Tartarus erupted.

A shock wave so profound, so completely unearthly that it shook the entire world and their very state of being and existence. For a brief moment, none of the mares—not even Thanos—could hear a thing. They became deaf following the initial eruption. Once the shock wave passed them, so too did the sound, and it returned far more horrible than ever before. The mares stood in complete shock, disturbed at the type of power they just witnessed. But mostly, they gazed upon the ball of fire, ash, darkness, and pure whiteness shoot out from the volcano, chunks of earth ripped from the mountain and flung through the air in trails of fire. They numbered in the thousands, Mount Tartarus’ eruption blotting the skies and becoming brighter than even the sun that shone down upon them and their world. The sounds of the world ripping apart was all the ponies could hear.

And they watched as Thanos finally turned his gaze back to them, his teeth clenched alongside his gauntlet, as he bellowed out a powerful roar and hurled the chunks of volcanic rock right at them.