Equis, Canterlot
The Friendship Conference was in full swing, at long last. Twilight Sparkle sat on the top of the steps up to Canterlot Castle, accompanied by Tony, Thor, Nick Fury, Celestia, and Luna, overlooking all the various species interacting with the Asgardians. The current plan, though flexible if needed, was for them to meet the refugees and get to know them, before everyone moved into the great hall of the castle, where they could discuss exactly how to help them.
"This was a pretty good idea," Tony admitted, staring over the massive crowd. "Certainly better than just dropping off on Earth with no prior warning."
"Hey, why do you think I decided not to do that?" Thor protested, but he knew it was good natured teasing.
"I'm just grateful all the tribe leaders agreed to be a part of this," Celestia acknowledged, watching Ember and Thorax having a conversation with Heimdall. "With their backing, it was simple to convince every other creature to attend."
"Let's just hope we come out of this with some actually viable solutions," Fury muttered, as he itched those familiar scratches beneath his eyepatch.
Luna looked slightly offended by the comment. "Colonel Fury, whatever could you mean by that? We have so many minds here, we're bound to come up with something."
"I'm a realist, Princess," answered the one-eyed man. "There are a lot of options I've considered, but most of them just fall flat in the face of the facts. And in my line of work, people don't often come to me with ideas I haven't already thought of."
"Maybe you should have a little more faith, Nick," said Tony, smirking at the glare Fury sent his way. "After all, there are a lot of creatures here. They might surprise you."
Fury shrugged. "I've been wrong before, I guess. And don't call me Nick."
Thor glanced over by the majestic marble columns, where several attendees were hanging back from the crowd for their own reasons. There was Tempest Shadow, who he knew was still rather shy when it came to friendship, though she was currently engaged in conversation with Natasha. The Hulk was there, uncharacteristically quiet. Thor cringed internally, remembering what the green giant was going through. However, at the moment, Thor only had eyes for Loki, who sat by himself with his arms folded, sneaking glances at Luna when he thought she wasn't looking. Thor felt a stab of pity pierce his heart, even though he knew Loki probably would've been insulted by it.
"Don't bother wasting time on him," Luna interrupted Thor's thoughts, having followed his gaze. "He's just looking for attention."
"Luna, I know you're angry with him," Thor countered. "Believe me, I understand that better than anyone else here. But don't you think you're pushing it too far?"
"What are you talking about?" demanded Luna. "He tried to kill you. Several times! Then he faked his own death, and it's practically his fault your father is gone! It's his fault your sister escaped, destroyed Asgard, and poked your eye out! How can you stand by him after all of that?"
"I freely admit, I'm not proud of his actions," Thor replied. "And he has a way to go before making up for them. But he came back to Asgard to help me defeat Hela. There has to be some good in him. He wants to atone for it—"
"I refuse to believe this," Luna snorted. Turning on her hoof, she stomped off into the crowd, trotting towards Bucky. Thor sadly watched her go.
"Can't say I blame her that much," Tony muttered. "After the amount of crap he pulled on her, on you, on Asgard in general, what Loki did to Earth seems...you know what, never mind. There's no good simile there."
"I'm sorry, Thor," said Celestia. "But Luna feels betrayed by your brother. And betrayal is one of the worst things you can do to a pony. Or a person, but that's beside the point. I don't know what you could do to convince her."
"The biggest problem," Thor stated, "is that Loki won't admit he was wrong. He's going to try and stand his ground on this issue for as long as he can."
"You sure he's rehabilitated?" asked Fury. "From where I'm standing, he seems like the same mischief maker he was before. Except he hasn't killed anyone yet."
"I'll figure something out," replied Thor. "I hope."
Twilight looked down somewhat forlornly. She may have been the Princess of Friendship, but she had no idea how to solve this problem.
At that moment, Loki was desperately wishing he were somewhere else. Thor had basically dragged him to this conference under penalty of sicking Discord on him (something Loki had experienced in the past, and had no desire to relive), and then left him to his own devices. It was infuriating. Not only was he surrounded by ponies, griffons, changelings, dragons, and other creatures he had absolutely no desire to befriend, but the Avengers were here as well, and they hadn't parted on good terms. At least Barton isn't here, Loki thought to himself. Otherwise, he'd be dodging arrows.
Loki sighed to himself as he pondered his current life. He would've been lying if he claimed he wasn't happy to be back on Equis. He wasn't crazy about how touchy-feely ponies were, but the land was calm and peaceful, and the planet was admittedly beautiful. Here, he wasn't annoyed by the 'warrior spirit' nonsense that penetrated every inch of Asgard (though, with Asgard gone, that problem didn't look to be in his future). Most of all, of course, was Luna. Since they'd met at the first Asgard/Equestria alliance meeting, the two had been very close. Loki had nearly lost his mind when Celestia had banished her to the moon, and in a reversal of the norm, it was Thor holding Loki back for once. He'd hoped that when Luna's imprisonment was up, they'd see each other once again. Of course, that didn't do him much good now that Luna hated him.
Loki wiped his forehead, thinking over all the things he'd done that had earned him a cell on Asgard. Sure, trying to wipe out the frost giants was a bit of a knee-jerk, spur of the moment reaction, trying to conquer Earth was more spiteful towards Thor than anything, and faking his death, stowing Odin on Earth and taking over Asgard had resulted in the release of Hela, and by extension, the destruction of Asgard, but he didn't understand how to make up for it. What did Luna want him to do? She'd apparently been so easily forgiven after Nightmare Moon had finally escaped, but there was no way he was getting off that easy. Not even by pony standards. What was-
"Hey," came an oddly familiar voice. Loki turned around, finding himself face to face with Natasha Romanoff. The Black Widow was giving him her usual dark expression, nothing too threatening, but looking deep into her eyes, Loki could tell she wasn't pleased to see him. He groaned quietly to himself, having expected this since he joined this little event. Off to the side, the unicorn with the broken horn was watching them with interest.
"Hello, Agent Romanoff," said Loki. "I don't suppose you'd help me get out of this little party?"
"Not interested," Natasha answered. "No reason to tell you why, I'm guessing."
Loki sighed to himself. "If you're looking for an apology, forget it," he muttered. "I'm not interested. Go bother Thor or something."
"I didn't come here for that, believe me," Natasha snapped back. "I'm just here to let you know, we've got eyes on you. You so much as look at anyone funny, we'll be on you." She turned around, and began walking away. "Just because Thor's forgiven you, doesn't mean we have." She walked back over to the unicorn, reinitiating their conversation.
Loki rolled his eyes. Like he needed her to tell him that.
"Oh my. Looks like somebody's a bit of a party pooper," said a disembodied voice next to Loki's head. A popping sound was accompanied by a familiar draconequus materializing next to his head.
"Discord, please go away," Loki groaned.
"Come on, Loki, at least try to have a little fun!" Discord rambled on, wrapping himself around Loki's neck like a boa. "Even back in the old days, you were the only one who wasn't a total buzzkill. What say we get together and stir up this conference a little? You're not the god of mischief for nothing, you know."
Loki summoned both of his knives. "Begone," he muttered simply.
Discrod sighed. "Sheesh, who took all the fun out of you? Odin?" With another snap of his fingers, he disappeared.
Peter wasn't the best at gatherings involving massive numbers of people he didn't know. He'd gotten over a lot of his social awkwardness after becoming Spider-Man, but some of it still persisted. Ponies were rather social by nature, and it seemed like a lot of the other species on Equis were similar. Nervous about meeting any of them on his own, Peter had decided to hang around Captain America for the duration of the conference, hoping he wouldn't be forced into anything uncomfortable.
At the moment, the good Captain was in the middle of an extended conversation with most of the tribes' leaders. Thorax, Prince Rutherford, Queen Novo, Dragon Lord Ember, and Gilda the griffon were all talking to him, with Peter hanging back, listening to their words, wondering if he should jump in.
"I can't tell you what an honor it is to finally meet the heroes who saved Equis," said Ember, gripping the Bloodstone Scepter firmly with one claw. "We heard about the battle even over in the dragon lands. I bet you guys really were something."
"Avengers tough fighters!" shouted Prince Rutherford, prompting everybody present to cover their ears. "Like yaks! Avengers worthy of yak respect!"
"Thanks for the compliments, I guess," said Steve, taking a sip from his glass of punch. "Really, though, I should thank you for attending this conference. There's no possible way we could help all the Asgardian refugees on our own."
"Oh, it's nothing," replied Thorax, a trace of his old meekness creeping into his voice. "After all you guys have done, and all ponies have done for us changelings, there's no way we couldn't repay that debt."
"We haven't had a whole lot of contact with Equestria in a long time," said Novo. "We've been rebuilding our relationship over the last few months, and the chance to help out with this refugee crisis is too good an opportunity to pass up."
"Pretty much the same on our end," said Gilda. "We owe a lot to ponies, especially Rainbow Dash. Not that we dislike helping others, of course."
"Well, before we get to the conference, can I ask if you have any suggestions?" said Steve. "Not to pressure you or anything, I'm just curious."
"Well, we've been tossing over a couple of options," said Novo. "I know my daughter has some ideas that she wanted to throw out during the general conference. Some of us were considering bringing them to the sea kingdom we used during the Storm King's reign. Maybe we could use the pearl's magic to transform them into sea creatures, and they could just stay there for a while."
"Yakyakistan have plenty undeveloped land!" chimed in Prince Rutherford. "Yaks can take care of Asgardians."
"I don't know," Spider-Man said, speaking up instinctively. "From what I've been able to glean, your nations are all a lot smaller than those on Earth. Your ability to support them is probably diminished compared to any Earth countries."
Beneath his mask, Peter slammed his mouth shut, but it was too late. Captain America and all of the tribe leaders were staring at him, surprised at his unprompted jump into the conversation. It was making sweat drip down the back of his neck, meeting all these important figures. Even after all his adventures, he still wasn't completely comfortable with these kind of situations, even while masked. Peter briefly considered shooting a web and swinging off, but realized he probably wouldn't be getting away from these creatures for the duration of the conference. And when they did meet again, it would be even more awkward.
Captain America finally decided to break the silence. "Thanks for bringing that up, kid. Saves us a little bit of time for the conference."
"What's with the costume, though?" asked Ember, flying up to him. "Don't you want to at least take your mask off?"
"Well, um..." Peter mumbled, folding his arms in order to have something to do with his hands. He'd already unmasked in front of the Avengers, and they all knew his name, but for some reason he couldn't place, he was more nervous about showing his face to these leaders. There was no real cause for his anxiety, he knew that. After all, these creatures hadn't even seen a human before today, they had no standards to weigh against him. But still, he couldn't bring himself to do it. Mostly because he didn't want them to see the embarrassment on his exposed face.
"Maybe mask have important cultural purpose to human!" shouted Prince Rutherford. "No force human to remove if he not want to!" He compounded his statement with a hearty slap on Peter's back with one of his front hooves.
"Uh, thanks," Peter grunted, rubbing his back where he'd been smacked.
The tribe leaders returned to their conversation, leaving Steve and Peter to their own devices.
"You a little nervous, Spider-Man?" asked Steve, kind enough to avoid the usage of his real name. "There's no reason to be. You're one of us, you've got nothing to fear."
"I know, I know," Spider-Man answered, sheepishly rubbing his shoulders, "I'm just unnerved. I mean, fighting super-villains is one thing, but this is a big diplomatic event. I'm so nervous about saying the wrong thing, or some crap like that, or—"
"Hey, hey," said Steve, "there's nothing to worry about. You're a smart kid, and I'm sure you can contribute something. But if you don't wanna talk, nobody here's gonna force you to."
"Oh, good," Peter answered, relaxing again. "Thanks, Cap. This is such a big deal to Thor and all of you guys, I don't want to mess it up."
"You won't," Steve assured him. "You're a good kid, I know that by now. Tony wouldn't have let you come if he didn't think you were capable."
For the Hulk, not being on a smashing rampage was a definite oddity. It was also odd to see him out in the open for an extended period of time. Yet here he was, sitting on his rear, massive hands covering his knees in what might've been a somber expression. It was sort of surreal, seeing such a mighty figure in such a low position. Fluttershy, Tony, Natasha, and Pinkie were all standing together watching him, unsure of how or even whether or not they should approach him.
"I've tried to bring him into the festivities," said Fluttershy, her expression somewhat lost. "He ate some of the food, but he won't talk to anypony. He's convinced none of us really want him to be here."
"At least he's not angry," Tony quipped, scratching his head. "He's just sorta...depressed."
"Aw, poor guy!" said Pinkie, her mane deflating to its flat state ever so slightly. "But I bet if I whip up one of my super special Pinkie Pie—"
"Pinkie," Natasha interrupted, placing a hand softly over the earth pony's mouth. "I appreciate your enthusiasm, but I don't think big party stuff is exactly what is called for here."
"Well, what can we do?" asked Fluttershy. "He just seems to withdraw further and further inward no matter what we say."
"Let us try," said Tony, after a few seconds of deliberation. "He hasn't seen us in a while, maybe it'll help jolt him out of his funk." Natasha nodded her agreement.
The two walked over to where the Hulk sat, fumbling with his fingers.
"Hey there, big guy," said Natasha, looking up into Hulk's eyes. "How ya doin—"
"No lullaby," Hulk grunted, not even bothering to move his eyes from their current position. "Hulk just want to sit here."
"I wasn't going to..." Natasha insisted, but she faltered a little bit. She'd never heard the Hulk talk this way before. In fact, he'd never spoken more than a sentence or two in the time she'd known him. She placed a hand on the Hulk's massive arm, and he flinched away from her contact. "We just wanted to talk to you."
"You don't seem like you're having any fun," Tony chimed in, walking up next to him. "We don't want you to be excluded."
"Puny Avengers not want to talk to Hulk," replied the green beast. "Puny humans and puny ponies only want to talk to Banner. Hulk know Hulk not wanted. Thor drag Hulk away from gladiator planet where Hulk wanted. Now Hulk stuck here. Just leave Hulk alone."
"But we're your friends too," Natasha insisted. "You're part of Bruce, aren't you? You two are a team in one body. We love both of you." She looked directly into Hulk's eyes, even as the massive being tried to avert them from her. "Come on, can't you just give this party a chance?"
For a moment, the Hulk seemed to actually consider what she was saying. He shifted his gaze to Tony, who gave him a reassuring smile, hoping that would put some of his doubts at ease. Hulk mulled over exactly what was going on. True, these Avengers and these ponies had been friends to the Hulk, even fought alongside him. On Sakaar, the crowds may have cheered for Hulk, but nobody there had really known him, with the possible exception of angry girl, and she was here too. It didn't seem that bad...
"No," he eventually replied. "Just leave Hulk in peace."
Natasha sighed somberly, trying a couple more times to get Hulk's attention, but he wouldn't even respond to her anymore. Tony eventually pulled her away, reasoning that they weren't getting anywhere.
"What's happened to him?" Natasha demanded, even though she knew Tony didn't have any answers. "Why would he just shut down like this?"
"Well, according to Thor, his last shift back to Bruce was unwanted," said Tony. "Not to mention, he said that Hulk was talking way more on planet Sakaar. Maybe he was the Hulk for so long, the big guy's developed more emotions besides rage, and is actually getting smarter. He's learning things about us and everyone, and he's decided we were only Bruce's friends because we always forced him to change back."
"Well, maybe if he changes back..." Natasha rambled. "What if Wanda could—"
"I wouldn't recommend that," said Tony. "If he thinks we use him as basically a tool, and we only care about Bruce, changing him back now is not gonna help with those problems. Plus, his last experience with Wanda's powers wasn't exactly pleasant." He shook his head, resigning himself to the backlash from what he was about to say. "I hate to admit it, but maybe all we can do is leave him in his current state for a while. Let him see that we care about both of them."
Natasha opened her mouth to verbalize an angry retort, but thought better of it. After all, wouldn't she just be proving the Hulk's point by demanding that they change him back? "Okay," she finally admitted. "We have Asgardians to find refuge for, anyway."
Applejack checked the clock for what felt like the hundredth time that day. The actual conference part of the event was due to start in less than an hour, and they still hadn't arrived. It was enough to make her tremble on her hooves. They'd promised to be here, had something bad happened that caused—
"Applejack!"
The farm pony breathed a heavy sigh of relief at the familiar voice calling her from across the Canterlot pavilion. Turning around, she saw a large crowd of kirin, their antler like horns held high, Rain Shine easily standing out among them, led by a very familiar figure, making their way through the crowd. Applejack beckoned Twilight to join her, along with Star Swirl, who left his conversation with the other Pillars to welcome the new arrivals.
Autumn Blaze skipped across the concrete, enveloping Applejack in a tight hug, which the earth pony returned. "We made it!" she exclaimed, jumping up and down so hard her mane shook, "I've been looking forward to this for so long, and now the day's finally arrived, and you're here, and so are all these other creatures to talk to, and it's AWESOME!"
"Glad to hear it, sugar cube," said Applejack. "This is Princess Twilight Sparkle, and Star Swirl the Bearded. Guys, this is Autumn Blaze, the kirin me and Fluttershy helped out a while back."
"Pleased to meet you," said Twilight, shaking hooves with Autumn. "We're glad you and the other kirin could make it to this event."
"Oh, believe me, it's my pleasure," said Autumn Blaze, her smile stretching almost as long as Pinkie's. "Please, tell me everything about yourself! And feel free to pepper it with weird little anecdotes and as many tiny details as you want!" She smiled again, staring at the alicorn with wide, unblinking eyes.
"Er, what?" asked Star Swirl, perplexed.
"Oh, right. You had that little fiasco with the Stream of Silence," said Twilight. "Well, I'm glad you don't have to live without your voices anymore."
"Stream of Silence?" said Star Swirl, "Haven't heard of that in years. I thought it would've lost its potency by now."
"Indeed, Princess Twilight," said Rain Shine, joining the conversation. "Your friends did us such a great service, we are forever in your debt. Helping you out with this problem seems the least we can do to repay you."
"Oh, don't worry about it at all," Twilight responded. "And please, just call me Twilight. There's no need for titles."
"Great!" replied Autumn Blaze. "Anyway, we're thrilled to be here, and we're looking forward to contributing to this whole Asgardian situation anyway we can."
Far away from the cross-species convergence, behind one of the great marble pillars, two pairs of eyes watched the kirin walk up to Canterlot's pavilion and introduce themselves, grimacing at the way Twilight greeted them.
"Look at her," Neighsay snarled, glaring at Twilight shaking hooves with Rain Shine, "letting so many non-ponies into our midst. Sharing our secrets. Believing they won't stab us in the back the first chance they get. It disgusts me."
"I agree," replied Cinch. "But the kirin have finally arrived. The stage is set. We can begin."
"Excellent," said Neighsay. "Then—"
"Chancellor Neighsay? Minister Cinch?"
The two unicorns spun around, finding themselves face to face with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, who'd been taking a walk around the perimeter of the plaza, and had noticed the two conversing.
"What are you doing here?" Celestia demanded. "You both made it very clear that you were against this conference from the beginning. Why would you attend?"
Neighsay took a deep breath. He'd hoped to get through this without being seen by the princesses, but that was impossible at this point. They'd just have to get it over and done with.
"Princess Celestia. Princess Luna," he said, keeping his voice respectful. "There's a lot going on that you don't understand. Princess Twilight has clouded your minds. Now we have an opportunity to correct that mistake, but it's not going to be pleasant."
"What are you talking about?" Luna demanded, irritated. "Twilight hasn't done anything to us."
"Yes, she has!" Neighsay retorted, but he managed to relax his voice before continuing. "I'm sure what we're about to do may seem harsh, but we have no choice."
Neighsay and Cinch ignited their horns, before touching them together. Within a second, a pulse of clear energy flashed throughout the entire area.
Applejack and Autumn Blaze were continuing their conversation, when the strange pulse of magic washed over them. The magic carried no physical force, but even without a unicorn's sensitivity, Applejack could feel it. It didn't seem to affect her, however, but she still shivered as it passed over her.
"That was weird," she commented. "Hey Twi, did ya feel that?"
"Yeah," Twilight replied, her horn faintly sparking with loose magic, "I don't recognize the spell, but where did that come from—"
She didn't get the chance to finish that question, as a commotion soon erupted from the middle of the crowd of kirin. Twilight, Applejack, Star Swirl, and Autumn Blaze all snapped their eyes to the crowd.
"Hey! What're you lookin' at, scuzz-bucket?!" snarled one kirin.
"Looking at that rotting pie you call a face!" retorted another.
Soon, insults were flying between the kirin, and punches were being thrown. Even Rain Shine and Autumn Blaze weren't immune, diving into the angry crowd.
"Get outta my face!"
"Who'd wanna get in your face?!"
"Kirin?! You look more like a moldy timber wolf!"
"That's rich, coming from you!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" yelled Applejack. "Calm down! Remember what happens when y'all get too angry!" But she couldn't make herself heard above the chaotic screeches of rage.
Twilight paled. "That spell...that was a hate mongering spell! Somepony's trying to set off the kirin—!"
But it was too little too late. Dozens of flashes of hot fire washed over the kirin, and the smell of burning hair filled the air. The kirin began to transform, becoming creatures of pure fire and rage, raising their now burning hooves into the air and roaring with fury. The niriks had arrived.