//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: Something Wicked This Way Comes 
// Story: Doomwar 
// by Boltstrike58 
//------------------------------//

Earth, New York, The Sanctum Sanctorum

One thing Dr. Stephen Strange took great pride in was his ability to consider the unorthodox ways in which he could utilize his skills. This had frequently come into use during his time as a neurosurgeon, salvaging a lot of operations that many doctors wouldn't have even attempted. Now, in his new line of 'work,' Strange busied himself looking for new and creative ways to use his magical abilities. On a planet that constantly needed defending, it was a must.

Today in particular, he was busy attempting to form some sort of scrying spell, trying to scan the world for the use of dark magic. Even with Kaecillius gone, there was still the chance for people to channel magic from the Dark Dimension, or some other source of evil magic, and he needed to find some way to discover it before it got out of hand. He flipped through the current text he was reading, Advanced Scanning Spells, looking for the best way to expand his magical detection spell.

A sparking portal of eldritch magic came into being next to Strange's head, as a small pile of books dropped directly onto his head, knocking him out of his concentration. "Wong!" he protested, sticking his head through the portal.

Wong laughed quietly to himself, stepping through the portal to meet with Strange directly. "We'll call that payback for the whole library incident," he said. "In all seriousness, Stephen, are you certain you're ready for this kind of spell weaving?"

"Have I been wrong about my capabilities yet?" Strange asked, holding open a book with one hand, and form a Tao Mandala on his other. "Besides, my previous scanning spell worked to detect Loki's presence on Earth, didn't it?"

"True," agreed Wong. "Still, I think you should let me do the heavy lifting. I've been a sorcerer longer than you have, after all."

"Okay, we'll do it together," Strange acquiesced.  

The two mystics took their places, standing directly across from each other, their hands glowing with eldritch magic. Wong waved his hand in a circle, forming a holographic projection of planet Earth. Strange added his own magic to the equation, forming a golden circlet around the planet.

"First, let's look for uses of Dark Dimension magic," said Wong. He made a sign in the air, the same sign that had appeared on the Ancient One, the sign of Dormammu. "If anybody is drawing power from that cursed place at this point, I don't know what to believe anymore."

"Let's just hope Mordo hasn't gone rogue or anything," replied Strange, keeping his voice level, but secretly nervous. The last time he'd faced Dormammu, he'd had to die hundreds of times. He wasn't sure his mind could survive going through that again.

Strange's golden aura enveloped the projection of Earth, diving down into the planet projection and beginning to probe. The golden light seemed to touch every single corner of the Earth, slipping into cracks and plundering every depth it could reach. The symbol of Dormammu shimmered in the air, pulsing as the spell searched the planet for that particular magical signature. After a few minutes, the light retreated, leaving the Earth illusion the same as before.

"It seems our search is negative," said Strange, unable to keep the relief out of his voice. "So now we look for signs of unauthorized magic?"

"Not necessarily just unauthorized magic," said Wong. "The Ancient One has followers all over the planet. We could easily get a large amount of false alarms searching just for magic outside of the sanctums."

"So what, we look for other kinds of magic? The way we found Loki?" asked Strange.

"Yes. Those utilizing magic outside the Ancient Ones faction will be easier to find." Wong made another series of signs in the air, prompting Strange to cast the searching light again. "Let's begin."

Strange nodded, and with a thrust of his hands, prompted the scanning spell to begin once again. The magic washed over the globe, once again searching every nook and cranny it could reach. Every continent was scanned, and every country was probed.

Strange's attention was suddenly attracted to a small glowing, golden dot that had suddenly appeared in the middle of Europe. He reached forward to touch the dot, prompting it to pulse where it sat, sending a tingle down his arm.

"Hey, Wong," he said to his comrade. "Check this out. That look like a hit to you?"

Wong looked closely at the golden dot. "A possible hit," he admitted. "Let me take a closer look."

His fingers glowing with eldritch magic, Wong wrapped his hand around the glowing dot, closing his eyes as he did so. He hummed to himself, helping him focus, as he tried to channel all of the unusual magic being conducted at the location. Strange watched with interest, taking mental notes, making sure he would try this himself the next time they scanned the world.

Wong's eyes snapped open, and they were glowing. At first, they were a shade of poisonous green, but then a rainbow glow washed over them, covering his irises and pupils. Wong's entire body shook, and he stumbled backwards a few steps. He would've walked right into the wall in Strange hadn't sent the Cloak of Levitation over to catch him. Wong's mouth opened, and a stream of gibberish driveled out from between his lips.  

"Wong!" Strange yelled, shaking his friend. "Wong, breathe! Focus on my voice!"

Wong took a couple of deep breaths, closing his eyes again. When he opened them, they were back to their normal brown orbs. Unfortunately, they were still filled with disbelief and shock.

"Dear Lord," he whispered, as though afraid to say anything out loud. "I've never felt power like this before."

"What is it? What did you see?" Strange demanded, impatient as always.

"I saw...someone's utilizing dark magic, but there's also magic of a kind I've never encountered," Wong confessed, holding his shoulders. "It's magic not of this Earth. It's coming from across the universe."

"What, you mean like aliens with magic?" asked Strange "How would that even work—"

"There's no time!" Wong insisted, getting to his feet. He opened a portal to the library and began pulling books out, throwing them into a pile. Strange looked down at them, noticing titles such as Sling Ringing and You: How Transportation Magic Works.

"Wong, what're you doing?" he asked, puzzled at the sight. "What's going on?"

"We have to trace that magic to its origin, and warp to it," said Wong. "It could be a matter of life or death."



Equis, School of Friendship

	Twilight Sparkle stepped up to the podium in the school lobby. Gathered inside were all of the students, including Sandbar and his group of friends, as well as their parents or guardians. Even Rain Shine, leader of the Kirin village, was present, having already come as an ambassador for her tribe to the school. Twilight had wanted every able-bodied individual she could reach here for this little announcement, and she had gotten it. She took a deep breath, before beginning to speak, looking over all of the various changelings, griffons, yaks, dragons, hippogriffs, and ponies.

"Every creature, I thank you for giving me your undivided attention," she began, magically amplifying her voice so that all could hear. "As I'm sure you are all aware by now, Canterlot is currently acting as host to the refugees of the nation of Asgard. However, as of now, Equestria is currently unable to provide long time sustenance for these Asgardians, and thus, we are working closely with the Avengers of Earth in order to come up with a proper solution. In two days time, Canterlot will be hosting the first 'Conference of Friendship' talk out a plan among all of Equis' citizens as to how we may help the Asgardians, and you are all invited. Any creature who wishes to contribute any helpful ideas may do so. We thank you in advance for your help."

Twilight was silent as a small round of applause went through the crowd. She smiled happily at the prospect of so many different beings coming together, all for the sake of helping a group of people who'd lost their home. To her, this was the ultimate power of friendship, and it was the greatest power in the universe. The applause died down, and the various creatures went out to begin preparations to attend the conference. At least, that's what Twilight hoped.  

She stepped off the podium, joining her group of friends once more. "Cozy Glow, did you get all that?" she asked the pink filly, who was scribbling away on a roll of parchment.*

"Yes, Princess Twilight!" replied Cozy Glow, eagerly flipping the parchment around and showing Twilight's entire speech, copied. "It's all down for your records!"

"Thanks. And you can just call me Twilight," insisted the alicorn, igniting her horn and levitating the scroll into the air. She wound it up and sealed it, before passing it to Starlight. "Would you mind storing this with the rest of my records? Thanks."

"Not a problem," said Starlight, walking down the hall. Cozy Glow followed, eager as ever to help.  

"Princess Twilight!" came a voice. Twilight and the others looked around, discovering Thor walking up to them from the back of the room. "I was impressed by your little speech. You clearly have great leadership capacity. And I once again thank you for your commitment to the cause of my people."

Twilight smiled warmly. "Thank you, Prin—er, King Odinson. Equestria will do whatever it can to help you and your people."	

Thor waved his hand. "Just Thor is fine. There's no need for titles among friends."

"Then don't worry about calling me Princess Twilight." 

Thor turned to Spike. "I see your wings have finally grown in. I'm impressed, Spike."

"Thanks, Thor!" said the small dragon, proudly flapping his wings and coming to eye level with Thor. "They were a pain to get in, but now that I've had them for a while, they're actually pretty awesome."

"Ugh, such a sickening display," came another voice. Twilight, Thor, and the others looked over, discovering a pair of unicorns walking towards them. One had a pale gray coat, with a slick, black mane, a goatee, and a snooty red coat. He was all too familiar. The second was a slim mare, with a crystal blue coat, a tri-color mane of pink, purple and magneta wound up in a neat bun. "Honestly, Princess Twilight, if you were half the pony the Princesses claim you are, you'd be ashamed of yourself."

"Chancellor Neighsay, that was a very unkind thing to say!" Rarity scolded, glaring at the unicorn. Pinkie growled like an angry dog at him.

"Kindness is a virtue that cannot always be afforded, with all respect to the Elements," said the second unicorn. Her voice was just as haughty as Twilight anticipated, just from the look of her. "Sometimes, one must be blunt and merciless with one's words."

"And who are you that would declare this?" asked Twilight, facing down the mare.

"Abacus Cinch, Prime Minister of the Crystal Empire," announced the mare. "And don't think you are above my criticism just because your brother and sister-in-law rule the Empire."

Twilight flinched. She knew that name all too well from what Sunset Shimmer had written to her. She wasn't going to let Cinch know that, of course, but it was worth remembering exactly what kind of person/pony she was dealing with.

"Despite the EEA's disapproval, you continue to run this school, teaching Equestria's secrets of friendship to creatures who are not only unworthy of them, but may plot against Equestria," Neighsay continued, glaring Twilight in the eye, "and now you've gone and convinced the princess to go along with your ridiculous plan to aid these Asgardians, throwing away who knows how much pony aid for a species we don't owe anything. It's shocking."

Thor grunted, not even adopting an angry expression, instead appearing more annoyed than anything. "If you're trying to get a rise out of me, it won't work," he said, simply. "I already know the rest of Equestria is better than yourself."

"And might I remind you, Chancellor Neighsay," Twilight said, gritting her teeth and spreading her wings out, "that foreign aid is not your department. You have no say in the Asgardian situation. And neither do you, Minister Cinch."

"Perhaps not," replied Cinch, failing to even attempt to hide the condescension in her voice, "but our displeasure with this sequence of events will still be noted. And your corruption of our Princesses and our country's ideals will not go unpunished."

"Excuse me? Our corruption of the Princesses?" protested Rainbow Dash, flying over and getting right in Cinch's face. "First off, it was Princess Celestia's idea. Second, even if hosting the Asgardians was our idea, how is helping a homeless race of people a bad thing?"

"Yeah! And what do you mean 'We don't owe them anythin?'" snapped Applejack, glaring at Neighsay. "First, Asgard has done a lot for Equestria. King Thor here is a friend of the Princesses! Second, even if we didn't owe them a thing, why wouldn't we help them out of the goodness of our hearts?"

Neighsay huffed. "I wouldn't expect you foolish ponies to understand the intricacies of foreign relations," he huffed, "especially when you're the ones encouraging our Princesses to such reckless behavior. Rest assured, we will have our say in this affair."

"You know, you two are beginning to test my patience," said Twilight, gritting her teeth, "and you and your hateful words are not welcome in our school. Now get out."

"Do not think this ends here, Princess Sparkle," snapped Cinch.

With that, the two unicorns turned on their hooves, marching out the door, throwing disdainful looks at every non-pony they passed on their way. They remained oblivious to the angry faces and gestures Twilight and the others sent after them. With a final pulse of Neighsay's horn, the door slammed shut behind them.

"I'm sorry about that, Thor," said Twilight, after she'd taken several deep breaths to calm herself down. "I've never understood what's wrong with ponies like them, how they can be so filled with hate for creatures who've never done a thing to them. It's shameful, and it reflects badly on Equestria."

"Don't concern yourself, Twilight," replied Thor, sympathetic to her cause. "It's not the first time in Equestria that Asgard has encountered those hostile to us for no good reason. Commander Hurricane, even after the unification of the three tribes, wasn't the kindest pegasus ever."

"I'm starting to regret playing the character in the Hearth's Warming play," noted Rainbow Dash, rubbing her head sheepishly.

"Oh, that reminds me," said Twilight. She trotted over to a large, decorative box she'd set up in the corner of the room. The box had once been beautiful, with gems implanted in the edges of the frame, and gold lining the sides, but years of decay had dulled the shiny surfaces, and it looked like moss was growing inside through the gap. Twilight ignited her horn, lifting open the box. "Princess Celestia was making this for you over a thousand years ago, but then Asgard and Equestria split up, and she never had the chance to give it to you. Since you lost Mjölnir, she thought this would be a good replacement. At least for a while."

From out of the box, Twilight levitated a heavy battle axe, and moved it over into Thor's hand. The axe certainly was a beauty, with a thick, curved blade the color of polished silver. Despite one thousand years of sitting alone, the blade's sharpness didn't seem to have diminished. The handle was bright gold, inscribed with lightning bolt runes, as well as a massive sun marking, Celestia's symbol, near the bottom. Thor held the weapon with both hands, marveling at the craftsmanship, and giving it a test swing with one arm.

"It's forged of pure, Equestrian orichalcum," said Twilight. "Sharper than any normal blade, never dulls. Not quite as unbreakable as your hammer, but still, you'd need to be pretty strong to break it."

"I'm not sure if I need it, given I can shoot lightning from my entire body now," Thor said to himself. "But it would be nice to hold a weapon again." He struck a pose, holding the axe with both hands. "From now on, this weapon shall be known as Jarnbjorn!"

Nopony spoke for a couple of seconds, merely staring at Thor with what could only be described as dull surprise.

Finally, Spike broke the silence. "Er...what?"

"It's old Norse," Thor explained. "It means Iron Bear."

"Iron Bear?!" Rainbow Dash replied, trying and failing to keep the laughter out of her voice. "Seriously?!"

"Hey, let's see you come up with a better name for a weapon!" Thor retorted. "You'd probably just name it Awesome McSlicer or something like that!" 

"Or Blade Face of Death!" chimed in Pinkie Pie.

"Or Big Giant Pointy Stabber Thing!" said Twilight.

Everybody else started laughing over exactly which ridiculous name Rainbow Dash would choose for her weapon. The pegasus in question, naturally, was not amused.

"Hah hah, very funny," she quipped. "For the record, I would've come up with something way, way cooler than that."

"Sure you would, Rainbow," laughed Applejack. "Anyways, Thor, is your brother gonna be at that Friendship Conference?"

Thor looked down, a somber expression crossing his face. "I'm...not really sure about that. Loki's been having some trouble, especially since Princess Luna is still angry with him (not that I blame her, personally), and his history with the Avengers isn't the happiest. He was actually the first foe the Avengers faced as a team, when he invaded Earth. They probably won't be happy to see him, all things considered."

Twilight sighed to herself. "Well, I'm sure we'll think of something."





Earth, The Raft

	To work as a guard in the Raft generally was considered an honor. The paycheck wasn't bad either. Of course, working in a giant super prison in the middle of the ocean wasn't without its drawbacks. You had to pretty much live out there, which most people agreed wasn't much fun. There was also the fact that you worked under Secretary Ross, who was pretty universally disliked, even among his own staff. He was a bit of a slave driver, and whenever Tony Stark put him on hold, he would fly into a rage. Other than that, life as a Raft guard was pretty quiet.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case today. 

A line of soldiers primed their guns, aiming them at the woman coming from the other end of the hall. Exactly how she'd managed to get this far in the prison, nobody could say for certain. What was certain was the area she was approaching, which held the Raft's first and longest-serving prisoner. Nobody was even allowed to go directly into his room, for fear of him breaking loose. This woman didn't seem to get the memo, though, as she continued her confidant strut towards the guards.

"Halt!" yelled the captain. "Surrender, or we will shoot you-"

"Oh, be silent, you pitiful mortals," laughed Amora, her hands sparking with green bolts of electricity. "Your comrades upstairs wasted enough of my time already."

That did it. The captain didn't even have to give the order, the guards just opened fire on Amora. A blizzard of bullets flew towards her, ready to punch holes in every inch of her body. 

Or at least, that was the intent. Amora waved her hand lazily in front of her, conjuring up a green energy field that caught each and every bullet long before they ever came near her. The metal projectiles of death froze where they stood in midair, and with another flick of her fingers, Amora sent them tumbling to the ground.	

The guards weren't willing to give up there, however. Holstering their guns, they switch to melee weapons, charging towards the woman with the batons raised high. Amora let out another amused chuckle as she snapped her fingers, summoning a ball of green electricity and tossing it forward. The ball morphed into a lengthy bolt, almost serpent like, before dashing forward and phasing through the first guard's chest. It didn't puncture him, but the shock was the most painful feeling he'd ever experienced. It didn't stop at him either, continuing through his body to the next guard, then the next, then the next, as they all crumpled to the floor like rag dolls, leaving nothing between Amora and the doorway.

The Enchantress, making sure to stomp on each and every unconscious body in her path, took a moment to look at the security system. It was rather cutting edge, requiring not only two keys to be turned at exactly the same time, but also requiring the Secretary of Defense's retinal scan in order to open. Of course, it was all electronic, and therefore nothing to her.

Amora placed her finger upon the retinal scanner of the machine, drawing up her Asgardian magic. With a thought, a bolt of poisonous green energy zapped out of her fingertip, punching through the scanner and into the machine's inner workings. The entire doorway shook for a few seconds, as sparks flowed freely from the exposed circuits, before a distinct thud signaled that the door was unlocked. With a wave of her hand, Amora opened it up.

The room was rather small, barely ten feet high, naturally meaning that the cell's occupant was bumping the ceiling with his skull. Amora looked up to meet the creature in the eye. The beast was massive, with brownish-green skin, bones so thick they were pushing against his skin so that they were visible on the surface, his spine emerging from his back in the form of massive spikes, bones sticking out of his elbows, and intense, furious yellow eyes. He was bound by massive metal clamps on both arms, both legs, one around his chest, and one around his neck. The neck brace was attached to a number of gears, giving it the ability to twist and snap his neck as needed, in case he made an escape attempt. For this particular prisoner, this was vital.

"Emil Blonsky," said Amora, with her trademark flirtatious smile, "the Abomination. My employer and I been looking for you."

"What do ya want, lady?" growled the beast, glaring at Amora. "If you've come to offer me a job, or your boss sent you to offer me a job, forget it. I don't work for anyone."

"Not even to escape?" Amora replied, giving a mock pout. "Oh come now, Mr. Blonsky, don't tell me you enjoy this prison. You're caged, like some mindless beast. Why would you accept that, when you could be free to use your strength, to crush, to destroy?"

"Tried that," Abomination replied. "It didn't exactly work out for me, as you can plainly see. And don't bother trying to flatter me, it won't work. I'm not an idiot."

"Are you certain?" said Amora, a smile gracing her features. "Not even for another chance at...Bruce Banner?"

Upon her uttering that name, Blonsky's eyes snapped into focus. His teeth clenched, his muscles tense, and he began to shake with pure rage. Banner. Banner was the reason he was even in this hell hole. Banner, who didn't deserve the strength he'd been given, who had been too weak to truly use it, yet had beaten Blonsky in single combat. 

"What do you want with Banner?" he growled, through clenched teeth.

"Well, to be perfectly honest, it's the Hulk who's the problem, not Bruce Banner," Amora replied. "Surely you of all people understand that. What we need is him out of the way. You are the only one who matches his strength. Wouldn't you like another chance to humble him? To crush his skull beneath your foot?"

For the first time in years, Abomination smiled. "Absolutely," he answered.

"Excellent," said Amora, waving her hands. Green magic trailed from her fingertips, squirming over the locks that held Blonsky prisoner. With a few clicks, the clamps snapped open, and the Abomination stepped down from his prison, free. Amora made a sign in the air, and a circle of orange sparks spread to reveal a portal.

"Now, let's meet my employer," she said.