As the titan named Thanos placed the mind stone in the final empty space on the gauntlet, the power of the universe coursed through his body before being struck with an insane blast of electricity – lightning from a flying man with an axe. And this man had a score to settle with Thanos. This man was Thor.
Thanos launched a beam of all six stones at Thor simultaneously, power, space, reality, soul, time and mind but Thor’s axe was too powerful, cutting through and destroying the beam like a hot knife through ice. The axe impacted Thanos’ chest, and as Thor met Thanos on the ground he spoke words that fate had willed for him to speak. “I told you,” said Thor, referencing the murder of his brother Loki. “You’d die for that!” And as Thor pushed Stormbreaker deeper into Thanos’ chest, Thanos attempted to speak, but was too disoriented to get it out properly the first time.
As Thor looked on, Thanos simply stated “You should have gone for the head.” Thor’s stomach dropped as he looked on in abject horror; Thanos snapping his fingers and achieving his life’s goal of bringing balance to the universe.
Galaxies away, a chimera had only one thing to say: “Oh, poo.”
Princess Twilight Sparkle was no stranger to thunder in Ponyville, at least when it was scheduled. She looked around for any signs of her close friend Rainbow Dash, a Pegasus with a penchant for startling ponies with a lightning strike nearby. Immediately, she saw Rainbow, but something was wrong. Was it the sudden strong breeze that picked up? Was it that all her friends were with her? Was it that suddenly she was in her throne room despite being on the other side of town not a moment earlier? Or was it the fact that not only were her closest friends there, but a pony – or rather draconnequus she would rather not see at that moment was with them.
“Discord, I– “
“No, Twilight,” he said in a rather uncharacteristic tone. The Lord - or even God of Chaos was usually happy, upbeat and fun. Here he sounded deadly serious…and was that a hint of sadness? “I have made a terrible, terrible error in judgement and I fear that many of us may die because of it. The odds are high that at least one of us will die – there’s a 50% chance for every individual in this room, nay, universe.”
“Discord, hold on,” said his close friend Fluttershy. “Walk us through the issue and we’ll get to the bottom of it for you. I doubt it needed everyone in this-” Fluttershy was cut off by a bloodcurdling scream from down the hall.
“It has begun,” Discord said, growing solemn. As they rushed over to the source of the noise, they caught the tail end of the most gruesome sight any of them had ever seen: Starlight’s body turning into ash and disappearing.
“DISCORD! Ya’ll better explain everythin’ right now!” Yelled Applejack at the top of her lungs.
“In a far away galaxy, an insane being named Thanos had a goal of wiping out 50% of all life to bring absolute balance to the universe. I had the opportunity to interfere with a battle in a place called Wakanda, to stop Thanos from taking the final piece needed to do it in a literal snap…the same kind of snap I use to cast magic.” Discord took a deep breath. “I didn’t, because it would mean I would never see you again, Fluttershy. Our worlds are only close enough for me to teleport once every 600 million years for a very brief time, like a 3-month window. I cannot regain the amount of power needed to get back after such a short period of time in such a magic deprived wasteland of the universe. I could view the event and hope, but I’m just no match for a commander of not only reality, but space and time too. Now because of my inaction half of Equestria is going to-” everypony gasped.
“Discord!” Shouted a tear-filled Fluttershy as she rushed over to embrace him. “Please, don’t go!”
“Oh, this is bad, this is very, very bad.” Discord contemplated. “Without an avatar to keep it in check, my chaos will spread across the galaxy, further even. Thankfully it won’t reach any other planet systems for another 10 years, but the universe is doomed in more ways than one. I’m so sorry everypony.” Discord was fully crying now, genuine tears. “Please, forgive-” he never got to finish his sentence as he crumpled into dust. Physical, tangible, magicless dust.
“Wow.” Was all Applejack could say as she took her hat off in respect. Suddenly, the castle doors opened in a wild manner as Sweetie Belle rushed in crying.
“RARITY! RARITY!” The filly yelled, trying to escape the horror of the situation. “Help, you gotta help. Scootaloo and App…” she collapsed into tears. “They’re g-g-g-gone! Vanished! As well as little Pip!” She hiccupped. “Dust! Please, you gotta believe me…” she sobbed as she hugged her sister’s leg tight. Applejack staggered.
“Ah believe ya Sugarcube. Oh, sweet Celestia. My little sis is gone!” Applejack exclaimed before suffering the same fate. Rarity disintegrated immediately after, causing Fluttershy to puke heavily before fainting. To everypony’s only mild relief, she didn’t disintegrate like the others.
“Spike, you get Fluttershy to a bed, stat. Rainbow, you go check on the Everfree Forest. Zecora knows nothing of this, and Sandbar, Yona, Gallus and what have you are in the Treehouse. Pinkie, you check on Ponyville. I’m going to Canterlot. Got it?” Ordered Twilight.
“Yes, ma’am, Twilight ma’am!” everypony chorused.
Flying over the Everfree Forest was an eye-opener for Rainbow Dash. Everywhere she looked, trees disintegrated. Timberwolves almost looked like they were burning. She could have sworn that a hydra even flaked away. Rainbow made it to Zecora’s house with little issue, however, only her home was nowhere to be seen. “Zecora!” Rainbow yelled.
“Rainbow Dash! Am I glad to see you! I-just have no idea what to do! My house evaporated in a cloud of smoke. Tell me, does it have anything to do with this Discord bloke?” She rhymed using her traditional speaking patterns.
“Kinda.” Rainbow replied. “It wasn’t entirely out of his control but I sympathise with his reason…ing. Zecora?” But Zecora was nowhere to be found. There was a pile of ash where she was standing a moment ago and that was when it hit her: Rainbow was never going to see Scootaloo again. And so, she cried.
After a solid ten minutes, Rainbow set off to complete her final task. Then she could grieve. Dash made it to the treehouse just as it started turning grey, a sinking feeling in Rainbow’s stomach as it toppled over and six screams emanated from inside. She watched in horror as despite this fact, only Ocellus and Sandbar hit the ground, the rest becoming indistinguishable from the tree dust. Sandbar and Ocellus explained that the Tree talked to them about the end of life, and the unleashing of chaos. Now without the Tree to keep it in check, Discord’s raw chaos would spread throughout the galaxy at light speed, the only universal law it obeys. Equestria was doomed, and in 13.7 billion years, so too would the universe be. As she headed to Ponyville with her students in tow, she wept. For her friends, for her nation, for her world, for her universe. One thing was certain, Thanos would die for this.
As Dashie and Twilight took off for their respective tasks, Pinkie felt a pang in her stomach. Pound – no, Pumpkin was fading. She walked slowly through town, her mane deflating with each step. Matilda hung onto Cranky as she vanished, before he, too disappeared. By the time she made it to Sugarcube Corner, she couldn’t bring herself to go in. Would Mr. And Mrs. Cake be gone, too? Would Pound also disintegrate? As she braved the threshold and stepped inside both Mr and Mrs. Cake hugged her tight. Pumpkin was gone, but at least they and Pound were safe.
As Pinkie broke away from the hug, eyes and coat wet, she saw Bulk Biceps drop his dumbbell, never to pick it up again. She saw Bon Bon hug a sobbing Lyra as the cracks flaked up her body before she disintegrated, Lyra to be gone before she even hit the ground. A streak of orange that could only be Spitfire collided with Spoiled Milk, of whom both were destroyed on impact. Diamond Tiara and Filthy Rich stood there in shock. This was unprejudiced. Pinkie noticed the alien pony, what was he again? Oh yes, the “Time Lord” disintegrate in the hooves of a distraught Derpy. His reappearance from behind a corner in which they ran back to together did admittedly shock her at first, before his space-time machine came back into the forefront of her mind. This gave her hope. Maybe she could see all her friends again. One thing was certain, Thanos was uninvited from all her parties FOREVERRRrrr…!
Canterlot was in shambles. The first thing Twilight did on arrival was to go home. Only Night Light answered the door, which was enough to make Twilight break down already. As he informed her of the state of Canterlot Castle, she wept for her friend and mentor Celestia, and even more for Luna, who now had to live an eternity without her. She cried for Prince Blueblood, her only friend during her early years at Celestia’s School. Nothing made her cry harder than when Flash Magnus arrived at the door informing her of her brother Shining Armour and the rest of the Crystal Empire. One thing was certain, Thanos had changed everything.
And that’s when the chaos became uncontrollable.