Infinity Era

by JDPrime22

Chapter 60 – Let it all Settle

The ash smelled of sulfur. It burned the exposed areas of his skin. He felt that. He could hear the volcano growling and spewing torrents of molten magma into the air, filling the land surrounding it in a fiery inferno. He felt the heat, tasted it, gagged on it, breathed it. All he could do was breathe it.

It was the air. Mixed in a dangerous and fatal combination of smoke and ash, the air blinded those who tried to lift their heads to the sky, to see the inevitable firestorm consume the heavens and scorch the clouds. Daredevil, needing no sight, experienced all of it. He experienced every taste, every touch, every sound, and every smell. Even though he already saw a world on fire, he feared he wasn’t alone in that regard.

Stumbling forward, the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen shakily reached upwards and removed his mask. Sweat and ash had stained his forehead, his hair a filthy mess. With the devil mask resting between his gloved-palms, Matthew Murdock limped onward, finally sitting down on a shattered stone, struggling to breathe. He gazed downwards, but he stared at nothing. All he could was feel… and experience. Luke Cage and Danny Rand were right by his side, their eyes gazing skywards, sweat glistening off their faces. Both used their shirts as a means of shielding their mouths of the ash once they turned their eyes to the remains of the initial eruption. Jessica Jones sat feet away from Murdock, her eyes shifting to him once before settling back to the ground. To the ash starting to build like snow around her boots.

Doctor Strange rose up to full height, spinning around accordingly and facing away from the equines and Stark. His eyes glazed across the large group. He asked, “Is everyone all right?!”

His voice boomed with command, vibrated with authority. The dried blood on the side of his head and the soot painted on his skin and robes meant nothing to him. His first priority—minus ensuring the Time Stone’s safety—was to ensure everyone else’s. No one seemed to be.

Aside from the eight equines, Stark, and Parker behind him, the remaining Avengers appeared just as shaken. James Rhodes stood in his torn War Machine armor, the red lights flickering, but the suit holding strong. Thor’s breathing was growing more sporadic, the God of Thunder observing his surroundings, gazing back to the blistering fires eating the horizon behind him. The air was a sick, golden orange, ash falling like snow. He saw it all and his heart raced, his breathing heavy. His coughs even more so.

The Guardians of the Galaxy fared no better. Star-Lord’s lower lip was bleeding, Peter Quill clutching his abdomen as he shuffled around, staring into the dark ash cloud trying to block the sun’s rays. He stared for a thousand miles and still saw nothing but chaos. Gamora clutched her blade Godslayer, her palms shaking despite the battle having ended minutes ago. She stared only to the ground, ignoring Rocket and Groot by her sides. The two of them observed their surroundings, Groot blocking the light from blinding him with a raised, wooden palm. Rocket nearly did the same, still holding onto rifle with a free claw. Drax the Destroyer and Mantis came together, Drax aiding the wounded Mantis and never leaving her side. She stared out into the falling ash, her eyes larger than usual. More terrified than usual.

Nebula stood in the distance, finally noticing her sister standing alongside the rest of her friends. The rest of her family. Placing her Electroshock Baton on her hip’s belt, Nebula slowly broke away from Frank Castle and Jessica, limping towards the Guardians. Towards her sister. As for Castle, he held onto his AA12 shotgun so tight that his palms shivered. His armored chest and combat pants and boots were all filthy and torn, mixtures of blood and soot painted on the white skull and black armor. His arms and biceps were free from the constriction of the trench coat, his hardened, cold-blooded stare turning from one Defender to the next, seeing nothing.

Nothing but defeat. Exhaustion. Poor bastards.

Once everyone slowly collected themselves, even slower when coming together, Quill turned away from the chaos unfolding near the eruption. His eyes lingered a moment longer on the burning corpses of the hundred-foot tall serpents scattered across the valley behind him. He shot his eyes over to Strange, to Stark, and to the ponies. A wild, almost feral expression grew on his person, Star-Lord screaming, “What the hell just happened?!”

Who could blame him? Everyone felt the same. Everyone saw and experienced the same torment, the same pain, the same battle, the same fear, the same confusion. The same everything. The Punisher stepped forward, shaking his head and growling, “We just got our shit rocked, that’s what happened.”

While the few chose to argue amongst themselves of the current and past events, the even fewer took the moments of respite to observe one another. To observe the wounded, specifically… the ponies. Once Twilight was brought back up to all four hooves, aided closely by Sunset and Starlight, the full weight of their agony and exhaustion finally caught up to them. The adrenaline each pony felt over fear of Twilight’s fate slowly began to fade, and what replaced it was the pain they all endured. Rainbow nearly collapsed, clutching onto her wounded wings and forelegs. Applejack was right by her side, the farm pony clenching her teeth to hold back the ripping pain from her hind leg muscles. She tended to her friend, trying to soothe the pain in Rainbow’s right wing. Rarity and Fluttershy took a seat in the dirt, each facing opposite directions, each facing parallel fears that still traumatized them. The meager yellow Pegasus shivered, the snow-white unicorn whimpering quietly to herself. Pinkie looked about aimlessly, to each and every one of her friends and the pain they shared. She never looked more lost, more hurt, than at that moment when she saw her friends.

Peter Parker stooped down to the three mares, asking Twilight if she was all right. Tony couldn’t hear her response. He could barely see the weak nod she offered Peter, a short and sweet smile to add to it. Yet her frame, her body, her eyes, they all spelled nothing but torment, both on the outside and deep within. Everything else became numb, deaf even. Only for Tony. The world burned around him, and all he could hear were those words. He could only hear those words…

You died.

It burned more than the ashes that hit his skin. It hurt more than the pulsating agony ripping in his abdomen from the knife wound. It slowly but surely killed his heart and wounded his spirit the more the dreaded realization came to be. Twilight almost died. She did die… for just a moment. That moment for Stark, trying desperately to kick her little heart back to life felt like light-years. It felt like a nightmare, nearly as worse as any terror in the night he ever had. When Thanos tortured him, when the constant pressure from the world and the Avengers tore apart everything Tony Stark tried to be and was.

Seeing Twilight’s body beneath him, not breathing, not living… was so much worse than any of that. So much so that he ran to her when she nearly collapsed into the dirt.

Trying to break away from Sunset and Starlight’s help, Twilight assured them and Peter of her stance, of her minimal strength just being enough to walk on her own. The first step she took sent a skin-tearing pain right up her foreleg and through her chest, the Alicorn crying out as she almost collapsed. Peter caught her, held her close to his heart, his arm draped over her withers. Tony’s damaged suit retracted back into his Arc Reactor, leaving just the silver and orange camo jacket he wore beneath to be painted by ash and smoke.

With Peter on one side and Tony on the other, the two Avengers slowly brought Twilight back to her hooves. She breathed so heavily, not pushing them away, but trying to fight her own battles all the same. She grit her teeth, pressed her hooves to the ash-covered dirt, and rose up. Her forelegs quivered, a painful exhale escaping the princess as she fell once more. Yet she got back up… and fell again with each step forward. Peter, Tony, Sunset, and Starlight never left her side. They couldn’t.

Holding her still from moving onward, Tony pressed his hand just over her heart, feeling the rapidness of it, already fearing it. The blood continued to drip from her awkwardly-angled snout, falling into the dirt alongside her ragged breaths. She coughed rather loudly, more blood spitting out and painting the sand a sickening crimson.

“You need medical,” Tony muttered to her. Twilight turned his way, the red in her eyes nearly succumbing all the white and violet. Tears of pain built in the edges of her eyes, but she didn’t object. She breathed, her expression crumbling, as she lowered her gaze from Stark.

“They all do,” Peter said, Tony looking to him and where his eyes were focused. Dead ahead. Right towards the painful cries he knew all too well. Tony forced himself to look.

They were wounded. They all were. They just showed it differently. The five mares sat or lay in the dirt, some of them wailing in pain, tears in their eyes, as the full weight of the battle finally caught up with them. Rarity and Fluttershy prodded their injuries, painful tears in their eyes, but even then the wounds weren’t that serious. There was something else in their tear-filled gazes. Rainbow and Applejack looked to be the most in pain, trying to keep the tears in as Mantis and Strange tended to their wounds. Pinkie Pie applied a smiley-face bandage on her own hoof, staring at the grin sadly, kissing it even more so. Tony turned around, watching as Sunset aided Starlight with her wounded horn. Blood coated Starlight’s forehead, both from the dangerous laceration just over her eyebrow that nearly blinded her left eye, and from the very base of her horn. Small cracks were formed there, dark crimson managing to slip through the more Starlight moaned in agony. Sunset was hurt, too, as were all the mares, but she stayed strong. As much as she could. Her bruised cheek and blood-covered lip were still evident. Still as clear as day.

Still as horrible as that day had been.

For everyone.

Especially Gamora.

As she saw the suffering, the inhumane acts of depravity of which her father was most accustomed to, the Guardian could do nothing but stand and stare. In silence. Listening to the pain, to the cries, to the world breaking apart and not being able to do a thing about it. That’s what hurt her the most. Not the wounds. Not the cuts. Not the bruises. Those healed. But standing there, letting evil persist and infect and not being able to stop it… That lasted. That burned brighter than any sun, stabbed deeper than any blade, and broke apart greater than any volcanic eruption.

Thanos came to them, obviously wanting the Mind Stone Vision held with him. And yet… he could have taken her. He had every opportunity to rip Gamora from her friends, from her family, from her team… and take her as far away as possible so he could learn from her. Discover what she knew. And find out… that she lied.

He didn’t take her.

He could have.

Yet there she was, standing by the man she had fallen in love with. Alive. Unholy knowledge still deep within her. Unholy knowledge that would never—

“Gamora!”

She knew that voice. She knew it so well. She knew it as the sister she never had, as the sister that was given to her, as the sister she fought, bested, and nearly killed time and time again. The voice that screamed of unheard pain with every loss that would follow their fights. The voice that told Gamora… it was her. She spun around, as did every Guardian, when Nebula ran for them.

“Nebula…” Gamora gasped, her voice shrill and painful. Just seeing the desperation in her sister’s steps made Gamora want to burst into tears. She held strong, limping forward and trying to meet Nebula for a hug.

She didn’t respond in kind, much to Gamora’s dismay. Instead, Nebula gripped her sister’s arms, Gamora doing the same. They stared into each other’s eyes, the Luphomoid and the Zehoberei. Two completely separate species. They couldn’t be any more different. Yet all they could see was a sibling. A sister. Family.

Tightening her jaw, even more so her grip on Gamora’s arms, Nebula told her, “Thanos knows.”

Unsure at first, Gamora furrowed her brow at that statement. Quill and the remaining Guardians piled around Gamora. They even started to earn the intrigued gazes from the likes of the Avengers and Strange, several heads piping up when the Luphomoid cyborg mentioned that name…

It only took a few seconds more for the sparks to fly in Gamora’s mind, to finally put the pieces together. Staring into her sister’s eyes, despite the machine mixed with the flesh, Gamora was still able to see it: the grimness. The dread. The unfiltered horror that Nebula could never have forced even to save her life. It was there, and Gamora read it like a book.

Like a map.

Leading to the ultimate prize, the ultimate conclusion…

“He knows where the Soul Stone is,” Nebula finished.

Lightning broke across the clouds of ash and smog, so bright it lit up the heavens, so loud it caused several Avengers and Guardians to flinch. But not her. Not Gamora. Her expression solidified into a petrified state of unholy terror, her hands falling away from Nebula’s arms, slowly falling to her sides. They continuously shivered, the assassin unable to process what would come next. She was lost in her own mind, in the terror that gripped it, the dreaded realization that came from Nebula’s truth. The only assurance she had left—the only assurance the universe had—was gone. The mystery of the Soul Stone’s location didn’t die with her as she prayed it would. It lived, and it was found.

And Gamora couldn’t even fathom the consequences that would follow because of it.

“Where?”

The voice emerged from behind—the question birthed from the King of Asgard himself—and nothing but unnerving silence followed. Everyone ignored the sounds of the volcano. Everyone and everypony turned to the Guardians of the Galaxy, all eyes landing on the two sisters. All breaths bated and waiting on Gamora.

Sunset Shimmer remained silent alongside Twilight, Starlight, Stark, and Peter. All they could do was remain silent as they stared onto the backside of the alien woman. Her black and red hair slowly whipped in the blistering wind. She cautiously turned around at long last, her tear-filled eyes finally meeting everyone else’s. She nearly shattered at their stares, at their silence, at the looks she received.

Especially from Quill. “What’s she talking about?” he asked.

Gamora closed her eyes, a tear finally slipping down her cheek.

Sunset’s eyes fell to her geode, slowly widening to see it shimmer a dull red over her heart.

Then it went dark.

Curious at that, Sunset furrowed her brow at the geode, eventually turning back to Gamora. It was the only other way she could look. Alongside everyone else. Everyone that fell silent… and listened. “I found a map... years ago. Don’t expect me to give it up, because it’s gone. I burned it,” Gamora slowly explained.

“What kind of map?” Strange asked.

His tone was harsh, hardly considerate of the pain she expressed. Gamora couldn’t blame him. They were at war. From war came suffering. They all suffered. One way or another, every last individual still alive in the Badlands suffered. Be it in the past, now, or soon to come, they had all faced trials and tribulation one way or another. Gamora would never complain nor admit to her sufferings being far greater than any others’, because she knew it was true. No one could know of her past, of its truth. Of its agony.

But if they didn’t… if she continued to lie… half the universe would perish.

Gamora kept her eyes closed tight, more painful tears managing to slip down her cheeks. Nor from her wounds, not from the cuts and the bruises painted on her green skin, but from within. From a wicked and depraved secret she would have taken to her grave. A secret that would have risked all of their lives had she told them.

But it didn’t matter now…

“A map to the Soul Stone.”

Her father already knew.

“It led to…”

Gamora stopped. Then breathed.

“Earth.”

Then stopped breathing.

Gamora sensed everyone’s eyes on her, but she could feel Peter’s stare. She felt it dig deeper, stare within, touch her heart and show to her… just how hurt he was. She knew his eyes looked nowhere else, stared only onto her with betrayal ripe in each orb. For her lies. Her deceit. After all their years together, becoming something more, and there she stood knowing something that could threaten the universe… And it remained on Peter’s home world. Quill’s expression was ludicrous, nearly lost, but mostly shocked. Pangs of hurt could be seen in his eyes as the world burned between them.

Gamora never saw it because she refused to meet his gaze. She forced herself to reveal the worst secret she ever kept, but there was no power in the universe to force herself to turn to him.

Instead, she faced Strange. “We…” Stephen growled, pointing a quivering, scar-laced finger right at her, “… will discuss this later.”

Gamora made no retort. She stared right at him, eyes burning red, wind pulling at her hair and practically melting her skin. It was all she could offer. Turning away from her, Doctor Strange stared at the dirt ground. The cut on the side of his head had already dried thanks to the scorching heat and unrelenting wind. He ignored such wounds, shaking his head as he droned on, almost letting his own thoughts out for all to hear. “Thanos has been playing us like a fiddle this whole time. He didn’t want us, he never did. All he wanted was to draw us out in the open so he could get Vision’s Stone.”

“How did he even know where to find us?” Rhodes asked, stomping forward in his hulking suit.

“Don’t know,” Strange said with a shake of his head. The Cloak of Levitation tried to clean the blood off the side of his face, but Strange waved it off. “Can’t focus on that now. Our main concern relies on getting Vision somewhere safe, getting back to Earth, and finding the Soul Stone.”

Easing himself away from Twilight, ensuring that Parker remained by her side and refusing to let her go, Tony turned to Strange, slowly rising back up. “Where can we keep Vision?” Stark asked, Strange turning his way. “There are two invasions on Earth and Equus, and Thanos’ eyes are everywhere!”

“We’ll figure it out!” Strange retorted.

“What about the volcano?” Parker asked, several heads swiveling back towards the Spider-Man. Peter nearly crumbled under their furious eyes, realizing he had breached the argument with almost completely irrelevant information. It became even more irrelevant when the pony by his side coughed rather loudly into her foreleg, heads turning her way.

The ponies turned to their friend, eyes wide and worried.

Lifting her bloody and bruised face, Twilight turned to Peter on her right, murmuring, “What volcano?”

Her tone tried to be humorous, but it lacked any and all forms of humor. Her voice scratched against everyone’s ears, telling them that the Alicorn hurt. She hurt bad. If she tried to mask it, she did a painfully bad job at doing it. They could hardly blame her, given her current, broken, battered, and beaten state. Everyone instead turned to the remains of Mount Tartarus, to the focus of Twilight’s statement. A titanic caldera remained where the largest peak in the Badlands once towered. Plumes of ash, fire, and darkness billowed in the air and blotted out all the world to the south, threatening to tip northwards. The wind pushing in their direction threatened that horrifying thought, something more to warn the princesses of when they returned. Towers of molten rock and magma shot out from within the caldera, blood red and radiating heat, death, and decay. Lightning and thunder roared from within the dark clouds above the eruption, just as red as the fires and lava consuming the lands surrounding it.

Twilight coughed, bringing everyone’s eyes back to her and away from the horrifying display. Shaking her head and lowering her shivering foreleg to the sand, Twilight gazed only to the ground, stuttering, “We’ll report… everything we’ve learned here… to Princess Celestia and Luna. I’m sorry… for bringing you all into this. If I had known… if I had…”

Her eyelids fell, the Alicorn collapsing forward. Stark shot down, helping her from falling flat on her face. “All right, princess, save your energy,” Tony warned her, watching as her pupils barely moved from between her eyelids. Her head nearly went slack. She was hardly breathing.

Lifting his head back up, Stark stared at the Sorcerer Supreme. His eyes said it all, but he still said, “Portal to Canterlot, please?”

Strange nodded, spinning accordingly so his eyes turned to everyone. Everyone and everypony. They lingered a moment longer on the mares, seeing the blood seep through the gash above Starlight’s eye, or the sickening black bruise on Applejack’s hind leg, or even the shell-shocked, million-mile stare from Rarity. They lingered only on them. “Get the wounded in first! Everyone else follow!”

Stephen watched as someone—be it Guardian, Avenger, or even the silent Defender—shakily gathered themselves and their allies. Some wrapped others’ arms around their shoulders, moving accordingly to the orange, sparking portal Strange created with a continuous wave of his hand. The Guardians were first, but Gamora was last. Peter didn’t even offer her his hand when he stepped from the sand and into the safety of Canterlot’s halls. Groot bent down, and without her permission, scooped Fluttershy into his arms. She barely objected, turning to see the adolescent’s concerned gaze focused only on her. A far cry to how he used to stare at her with detest. He and Rocket limped into the portal, the raccoon with his rifle resting on his shoulder.

Then walked the Avengers, away from the aftermath and into security. James bent down and offered Rarity his hand, to which she managed to take after breaking away from her daze. He gently led her into the portal. Thor was next, bending down and scooping up the two mares. Applejack and Rainbow objected heavily, but Thor gave them nothing, no bargaining. AJ and Dash eventually just turned to one another, then back to Thor, then eventually gave in. Each pony rested on a bicep, frowning from having to be carried. Then again, the pain in Applejack’s leg and in Rainbow’s forelegs and wings reminded them of the challenge that would come if they walked or flew themselves. They accepted Thor’s care, their frowns eventually fading. Stark nodded to Parker, telling him to get Starlight and Sunset. He nodded, retreating over to the two unicorns to ensure them of his presence, helping them step through the portal, more so Starlight than Sunset.

Then that left Stark.

He and Twilight.

There was no way in hell she was walking in her condition, and even Stark’s wavering agonies slowly began to make a comeback. Grinding his teeth, he bent further down, scooping the Alicorn as gently as he could. As carefully as he could manage. Like he would a child. With her eyes half-lidded, the Alicorn slowly relaxed her head on Tony’s bicep, her eyes gazing just below the Arc Reactor. She met Tony’s gaze, the man just as weary, beaten, and bloody as her. He really tried not to show it.

“You owe me… big time.”

Twilight breathed a chuckle, darkness slowly trying to overcome her vision. It was comforting, and Twilight nearly welcomed it had Stark’s voice not piped up, “Hey, none of that. Eyes on me. Come on.”

The two stepped through Strange’s portal, the ash raining around them as they did so, the golden sunrise burning against the side of their bodies. The two tortured minds, the wounded souls, made their way in broken unity into Canterlot. Stephen turned around, still keeping the portal open for them.

Nebula was first, not even meeting Strange’s gaze.

Then walked Frank Castle, a slight limp in his step. He grumbled to Stephen before stepping inside. Strange gazed to his backside, then slowly turned back to the last four.

Luke Cage offered Murdock his hand. Matt took it, cringing as he was forced back up to his feet. He sent a thankful nod Cage’s way, Luke nodding in return and turning to his right. He lifted her up, wrapped her arm across his shoulder, and made his way to the portal. Jessica didn’t even object. She said nothing at all. Danny Rand let his hand—his bloody fist—rest on Matthew’s shoulder, let it linger, before he let it fall.

Then Matthew put on his mask and followed right behind him, the Daredevil entering the portal.

Strange watched them. He nearly closed the portal. He nearly did… had the slight sniffle not caught his ears. He turned towards it. He didn’t even notice her.

“Pinkie…”

The lone Earth pony continued to stare out into the smoldering hellfire that once was Mount Tartarus. Her mane was nearly deflated, the cotton-like ends flapping in the wind alongside the ash that fell around her. The sunshine began to darken, the smog from the eruption finally beginning to take it. To devour it. To conquer it. And there she stood, her face away from Strange just staring in silence.

Until she turned around… and met his curious eyes.

“This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen,” she whimpered, heavy tears in her eyes.

Stephen furrowed his brow. “How was it supposed to?”

Pinkie Pie made no further remark, staring at Strange for a moment longer before eventually dragging herself towards his portal. Her mane and tail were practically flat, a slight discoloration in her coat. Doctor Strange watched her leave, enter the portal, and step into Canterlot.

And he remained.

As far as he knew, as the last soul in all the Badlands, there he remained. There he thought. There he considered the circumstances and the final words offered to him from a force he still could barely understand. Pinkie brought them there, said they all needed to be together when they confronted the volcano. Something along those lines. And now…

Stephen lingered on those thoughts, feeling the area just over his heart. His palm shivered where the Eye of Agamotto should be. Where the Time Stone should be.

Then he stepped into his portal and closed it.