Equis, Ponyville
"Now explain yourself," Thor demanded, as he plopped the hornless Sombra onto Twilight's couch, glaring at him, along with Luna. In the aftermath of the battle, the Avengers and ponies had gathered inside Twilight's castle, not only to retrieve the remaining transport mirror, but to plan their next move. They'd decided to interrogate Sombra as well, to see what he'd managed to learn from his time as host to the Pony of Shadows.
Spider-Man and Starlight, meanwhile, had been tasked with bringing Carol Danvers up to speed on the situation. The star bound warrior listened carefully, only occasionally chiming in with a question.
"So, let me get this straight. Fury named the entire initiative after my Air Force call sign, the actual Captain America was found in suspended animation, the Avengers defended New York from an invasion by the Chitauri, Shield was revealed to be taken over by Hydra, and now Fury's been frozen solid by evil ghost horses that feed off negative emotions?"
"That's...actually not a bad summary," replied Spider-Man. "Considering you haven't been to Earth since the nineties, you're picking up on it pretty quickly."
"We're not sure how to thaw everyone from the windigos' ice," said Starlight. "Right now, we need to focus on trying to take these people down, and whoever they're working for."
Carol nodded, then looked over at Steve, who was tending to some of Applejack's injuries. "And that's the actual Captain America? Wow...I mean, I learned about him in history class."
"So did I," said Peter. "Anyway, I know you already said your name is Carol, but what's your superhero name?"
Carol blinked. "Um, I don't have one of those."
Spider-Man leaned back in his chair, the lenses of his mask narrowing as he thought. " Well, we can't have that. How about...Captain Marvel?"
"I like it!" said Starlight. "It's simple, yet memorable."
Carol rolled her eyes, but decided it was better not to argue with them over something that was, ultimately, rather trivial. "Fine, whatever," she agreed.
Meanwhile, Steve, having made sure everybody was okay, joined Thor and Luna in front of Sombra.
"For the last time, I wasn't willingly hosting the Pony of Shadows," insisted the dark unicorn, looking rather annoyed as he looked over his hooves. "They forced it onto me."
"And why should we believe anything you say?" demanded Thor, brandishing his axe. "If you don't recall, the last time we met, you tried to kill all of us."
Steve placed a hand on Thor's shoulder. "Calm down, big guy. I don't particularly care for him either, but right now, he's our only source of information."
"Besides," Sombra continued, "what would lying to you get me at this point?"
Luna took over. "Is that why they freed you from the Canterlot dungeons? Just because they needed a host?"
Sombra shook his head. "They wanted to see if I still had any of the Monolith's magic. They found some left in my broken horn, but not my body. Once they realized it was all gone, they had no other use for me."
"Who?" demanded Thor. "Who organized this attack? Who's going to all these lengths just to eliminate us?"
"I never saw his face or heard his name," insisted Sombra. "He wore an armored suit, sort of like your friend Stark. He had a green cloak with a hood. The others all just referred to him as Master. He was collecting magical artifacts like my horn and the Crystal Heart for something, I don't know what."
"Wait, he took the Crystal Heart?!" exclaimed Starlight. He head was suddenly filled with terrifying visions of Cadence, Shining Armor, Flurry Heart; all gone, taken by these...monsters. And worst of all, Sunburst...
"You can calm yourself, Glimmer," Sombra interrupted, "I heard him speaking about his plan to replace the barrier generated by the Heart, as a way to force them to hand it over."
Starlight breathed a sigh of relief. At least they didn't have to deal with that on top of everything else.
"Did they take any other magical artifacts?" asked Steve.
Sombra shrugged. "Other than those two, I only saw one," he recounted. "The Alicorn Amulet. How they managed to get their hands on that is anypony's guess, but—"
"They got the Amulet?!" Rainbow Dash shrieked, fear suddenly dawning on her face. "Hold on, I'll be back!"
The sky-blue pegasus galloped towards one of the windows, ignoring the various calls after her. Her wings began beating at full speed, as she launched herself out the window, a rainbow trail the only thing she left behind. With nothing better to do, the remaining heroes sat down, waiting for Rainbow to return.
She did, after only about five minutes, zooming back into the crystal castle with a thump.
"I just talked to Zecora," she panted. "We checked the place she hid the Amulet, and it's gone. They've got it."
"Oh, no," said Applejack. "That's one of the most powerful magical artifacts in Equestria! Whatever they're planing to do with it, it can't be good."
Steve quickly seized Twilight's copy of the red journal, along with a pen. "We'd better get a message to Tony and the others," he announced. "I just hope they've made it back to the compound."
At the same time, Starlight made a quick trip over to the pony mannequin sitting in the corner. Twilight had left the Iron Sparkle suit contained in its reactor, since no other pony could activate it. She gently levitated it off the mannequin, hoping Twilight wouldn't be opposed to using it.
Earth, Avengers Compound
Tony adjusted the mirror containing the portal magic, ensuring the gem wasn't pointed in any direction where the portal beam would be cut off. "Alright, everybody," he said. "Let's give them some space."
The gem embedded in the mirror pulsed multiple times, before the familiar clear beam of magic shot out, halting its progress halfway across the room. The beam flashed a few times, before a large, swirling portal of blue magic opened up, slowly twisting and gyrating in the air. After about a second, Steve stepped out of the portal, followed closely by the rest of his team.
"Good to see you're still in one piece, Cap," Tony declared, smiling. He turned to Peter. "Kid, you doing alright?"
"Yeah. Thanks, Mr. Stark," replied Spider-Man, blushing a little under his mask from all the attention.
Twilight, meanwhile, had noticed a few unexpected faces amongst the group. "Sunset Shimmer?!" she exclaimed, galloping over to the golden pony and giving her a quick nuzzle. "What're you doing here? And who are...the Dazzlings?!"
"Yeah," Sunset replied, shyly rubbing her head with one hoof. "I guess we didn't coordinate very well, did we?"
"Wait, what're you talking about..." Twilight froze as the realization dawned on her. "Oh, right. I completely forgot about that. I knew there was something I needed to reschedule." She turned to the former sirens. "I'm sorry you three got dragged into this."
"Eh, it's not too bad," replied Sonata. Aria elbowed her sister angrily, but she didn't even seem to notice.
"Viz!" called Wanda, pushing through several others to get to her beloved. She threw her arms around the synthezoid's neck, startling him in the process. But he soon returned the hug with just as much enthusiasm. Observing from a short distance away, Rainbow Dash groaned, while Starlight had a look of triumph upon her muzzle.
"Told ya. Pay up," ordered the pink unicorn, holding out her hoof expectantly.
Rainbow reluctantly reached into the depths of one wing, pulling out a hooful of bits and passing them to Starlight. "I can't believe we made that stupid bet."
Over Vision's shoulder, Wanda shot a glare at the two ponies, but said nothing.
Celestia and Luna greeted each other with a friendly nuzzle. "Are you alright, sister?" asked Celestia.
"Of course," replied the dark alicorn. "I believe I managed to pull my weight alongside my team." She shot a glare a Loki. "Unlike some of us."
Loki sighed to himself, looking down at the floor. Celestia couldn't think of any appropriate response.
Carol looked at the vast group of heroes, feeling a little awkward. She wasn't sure if she fit in with this team. It didn't help that the last team she'd been a part of had manipulated her for their own selfish ends, trying to finish the genocide of an entire species. As she was considering what to do, she felt a metal hand clap her on the shoulder, and turned to find a woman in a gold and blue metal suit, as well as a raspberry unicorn with a broken horn looking at her.
"You the new person here?" asked Pepper, her helmet retracting into her suit.
"Well, yeah..."
"Don't worry about it," said Tempest, putting a hoof on her leg. "You get used to it."
Carol smiled a little bit. Maybe she did belong here, after all.
"Hey! Quick question, everyone!" Thor bellowed out, attracting all the attention in the room. He held up Sombra by one leg, the unicorn thrashing about in his grip and trying unsuccessfully to escape. "What should we do with this idiot?"
"You could start by putting me down, you imbecile!" Sombra screeched, trying to angle himself so that he could bite into Thor's exposed flesh and failing miserably. "I give you information and you treat me like this?! I am a king! You should—"
Natasha sighed, pulling out a small pistol, loading it in one quick movement and firing a tranquilizer into Sombra's neck. The unicorn thrashed for a few more seconds, before passing out. Thor shrugged, before tossing him onto the couch. Spider-Man took the opportunity to throw a couple of webs around Sombra's unconscious body, keeping him bound.
"You said they were using him to host the Pony of Shadows?" asked Tony, directing his attention back to Steve.
"Yeah. But we still have no idea who's behind all this, or why," Steve replied.
"That may not be entirely true. From the description—"
"STARK!"
Tony groaned, turning back towards the entrance. Ross and his men, having awoken from their earlier encounter with Titanium Man, were standing there, weapons raised, poised to attack. Ross himself looked more furious than Tony had ever seen him.
"Everybody, all of you, are all under arrest right now!" Ross snapped, clutching his gun so hard his fingers turned white. "We have more soldiers on their way and you have no hope of escaping! So unless—"
Groaning, Wanda ignited her hands, causing every one of the soldiers' weapons to become encased in a red glow. Before any of them could even reach for the triggers, she yanked the guns out of their grips and tossed them over to Korg, who, taking the hint, stomped on the guns, crushing them into scrap metal.
"Now, you were saying?" Tony quipped, smirking.
Ross sputtered, trying to find words, but they utterly failed him. Steve walked over to the secretary, placing his shield on his back.
"Secretary Ross," he began, "I don't like to throw around the word 'hate' very often, but you are seriously making me reconsider. You vilify us for trying to protect people, and decide that I have no right to do the thing I was created for just because I wouldn't sign some paper. And you're willing to drag them," he pointed to the ponies and other creatures, "into it just for associating with us. What sort of public servant are you?"
Ross tried to resume his relaxed posture, but a keen observer would see that his fists were still clenched, clearly on edge.
"You broke the law, Rogers," he fired back. "You knew the consequences when you refused to sign. Do you deny that you did those things? Do you think you can just come back and all is forgiven?"
Steve shook his head. "No. I admit that I did those things. I broke those laws. I don't expect a pardon from you or anyone. But we came here to protect people. All of us. And if you plan on getting in our way, we'll fight you too. So what's it going to be?"
Ross opened his mouth to answer, but his jaw dropped as he stared at Steve. Everybody else was directing all of their focus onto the captain as well, considering what he was currently doing. Steve was surrounded by a bright orange glow of light, one that seemed to come from his body itself. Captain America, noticing all the eyes on him, looked down at his hands, noticing the orange light for the first time. He blinked a couple of times, noticing that it wasn't fading away, like a trick of the eyes. After a few seconds, however, the glow died out, even as Steve felt nothing from it.
"What the hell was that?" Ross demanded.
"I don't know..." Steve admitted.
"Okay, this has gone on long enough," Wanda snapped, annoyed, as she raised her hands, igniting them with pure power once again. The familiar tendrils of red light lanced outwards, zapping Ross and his men in the foreheads, causing them to glow for a couple of seconds, before they all slumped down to the floor, completely unconscious.
"Go Wanda!" cheered Starlight, throwing her hoof in the air.
"Thanks," replied the Sokovian, turning back to Steve and Tony. "I read his thoughts. Ross was lying about having reinforcements on the way."
"Figures," said Tony. He looked at Steve, who was still looking down at his hands. "What the heck was that, anyway?"
"I have no idea," replied the captain. "Spider-Man did something similar, but the situation was completely different. I don't think it's dangerous, but I know nothing about it. Was that magic? Where'd it even come from, anyway?"
Twilight suddenly interrupted. "Wait, Peter did it?" she asked, her eyes suddenly filling with curiosity. "When?"
"In the Everfree," replied Princess Luna, "we were nearly overwhelmed by D'Spairs. But Peter and Pinkie were immune somehow, he glowed blue, and—"
"There's more, darling," Rarity interrupted, shooting Luna an apologetic look. "During the fight, Yelena, that fake Black Widow, tried to convince Natasha to turn on us."
"Yeah," Natasha confirmed, "And I started glowing red, but—"
Twilight held up a hoof to silence her. An idea was beginning to form in her mind, an absolutely insane idea, but she couldn't think of many other explanations. That made a total of five times this had happened, and she was starting to see a pattern.
"I think I might know why this keeps happening," she said, "but it's just a theory now. I don't really have any solid proof."
Tony shrugged. "If it's harmless, I suppose there's no real point in dwelling on it. We'd better move on."
Twilight opened her mouth to protest, but rethought it. If what she suspected was true, there wasn't a lot she could do about it right now, anyway. Tony was right, they had an enemy to stop now, this could wait until later. Celestia looked down at her former student with an expression of concern, but Twilight responded with a genuine smile, assuring her that everything was okay.
"So," Tony continued, marching over to the computer, "the good news is that I think I figured out who our opponent is. The bad news is it's Dr. Doom."
Steve's eyes widened at those words. Natasha visibly flinched in surprise. T'Challa made no sudden moves, but he clenched his fists ever so slightly harder. Most of the Avengers reacted in the same way, either with surprise, or small displays of fear.
Of course, there were exceptions.
"Um, who?" Loki asked. Everybody glared at him. "Hey, it's not my fault I don't know everything about this dead end planet!"
Luna huffed to herself, but said nothing.
"I hate to agree with Loki," Applejack chimed in, "but we don't know 'bout everything on this planet either. Could ya give us some info?"
"Certainly," replied Tony, pressure a few buttons, bringing up a map of the world. He centered it on Eastern Europe, specifically the Banat region, before focusing in on a tiny country. "It starts with Latveria, a pretty small and relatively insignificant country, formed out of land annexed from Hungary and Serbia. Reminds me a lot of Sokovia. Uh, no offense, Wanda."
Wanda rolled her eyes, but waved it off.
"Anyway, it wasn't really worthy of note, until this guy came along." With another press of a button, he pulled up a picture of a human figure. He wore a green, hooded cloak, but his whole body was covered by gun-metal grey armor. Unlike Tony's whose mask had a fairly neutral expression, this mask was frozen in a clear grimace. Only the eyes could be seen, deep and brown, filled with something that Twilight couldn't pinpoint. Whatever it was, it scared her.
"Meet Victor von Doom," Tony continued, "and before you ask, yes, that really is his name. Nobody knows a lot about his past, other than that he was born to Latverian gypsies, attended college here in the states, and then dropped off the face of the Earth for a while. He eventually reappeared with that suit, and basically conquered the entire country. Even named the capital after himself. That's how big his ego is."
"Remind you of anyone?" Natasha joked.
"Hey!" Tony protested. "There's a difference between putting your name on a handful of buildings and naming a whole city after yourself." He pressed a few more keys, bringing up some more images of Doom. "He's one of the most brutal dictators on the planet. Even instills a curfew on his citizens. He almost never does diplomacy with other countries, calling other leaders buffoons. Word is he wants to be in charge of the whole planet, and there are rumors he's got his hands in any number of illegal operations. I caught some Latverians buying some of my old weapons once, and I'm certain they were working for him, but I could never prove it."
"So you believe this...Dr. Doom is trying to take out the Avengers?" asked Celestia.
Tony nodded. "I don't know what his ultimate goal is, but if he really wants to conquer the world, he'd need to get rid of the Avengers."
"But how'd he find out about Equestria?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"We detected the usage of dark magic around Latveria," Dr. Strange chimed in. "It's possible Doom's been using it to spy on you. That would explain why he has citizens of Equis working for him."
"So Doom's not only smart enough to build that armor, he can also use magic?" asked Rhodey. "What exactly are we getting into here?"
"I don't know," Tony replied, "but we're not gonna just wait for another attack. We're taking the fight to him." He pressed another few buttons, pulling up a picture of a rather large castle. "Castle Doom. That's where we'll find him."
"Oh, boy! Who's up for invading Latveria?!" Sam quipped.
"It's not like we have anything left to lose," said Steve. "As far as Ross is concerned, everyone in this room is already an outlaw."
Bruce was deep in thought, mulling over the events that had occurred over the last few hours. Why his transformation into the Hulk had failed. What could he possibly do to fix it. It wasn't like he could talk to the Hulk-
Realization flooded through his mind, and he turned around. "Wanda," he called out to the Sokovian woman, "can you help me with something?"
Wanda came over to him, as Bruce relayed his idea. She visibly flinched at the thought, and the two entered into a small debate over exactly how safe it was.
Starlight, meanwhile, trotted over to Twilight. "Here," she said, magically passing her friend the reactor containing the Iron Sparkle suit. "I think you may need this."
Twilight took the reactor in her own magic, surprised that she'd managed to forget about her present, even in the midst of this chaos. "I don't know," she admitted to Starlight. "I mean, I appreciate that Tony made this for me, but—"
"Twilight," Starlight insisted, "we're going up against someone who's as dangerous as Sombra was. We're gonna need every advantage we can get."
Twilight looked down at the reactor, a device of unimaginable power. Power to build, power to destroy. She stared down at it for a long time, before levitating it up and putting it around her neck.
"You know that castle's gonna have defenses, right?" Bucky chimed in. "How are we gonna get past those?"
"Well, you still have me," said Vision. "I can phase through anything. If anybody can get through and disable those traps, it's me."
"True," Steve replied, "but are you sure you can do it alone? Doom will likely anticipate you coming. If we lose you, we're really in trouble."
Scott stood near one of the back walls, thinking to himself. Suddenly, an idea hit him like a bullet.
"What if we had two people who could phase through things?" he asked all of a sudden. "There's no way Doom would expect that."
All sets of eyes focused on Scott as he spoke. Hope was the only one who understood where he was going.
"Do you really think she'll go for it?" she asked.
"Well, we've got nothing to lose by asking," replied Scott. "Besides, she owes us." He reached into a pocket, pulling out a special phone, and dialing a number. He raised the phone to his ear, listening to the tone. "Hey, Ava? It's Scott. Listen, I need a favor..."
Earth, Latveria, Castle Doom
The assembled members of Doom's legion were smart enough to know one thing: they'd screwed up. Big time. Not one single Avenger had fallen in either of the battles. They'd all been humiliated at the hands (or hooves) of their enemies, which was bad enough, but now they all had to face something they were truly afraid of.
Their master's wrath.
Doom sat casually on his throne, clad in his armor as always, looking down on them. Through the eye holes in his mask, they could see the familiar brown orbs, boring through their skulls, into their very souls. His gauntleted hands sat calmly on the armrests, but the fact that his fists weren't clenched was somehow scarier. Everyone else just stood there, waiting for something to happen. Scorpion in particular could feel the sweat dripping down the back of his neck, having been on the receiving end of Doom's displeasure once before.
"So," Doom finally spoke, and everyone flinched, "allow me to summarize what's happened thus far. Splitting into two teams, you engaged the divided Avengers as I commanded. Yet, you all failed to kill them."
With the sound of clanking metal, Doom rose to his feet. "Not only that, Cozy Glow, the walker Doom built specifically for you was destroyed."
"Well," said Cozy Glow, flapping her wings so that she was eye level with Doom, "to be fair, I'm just a kid—"
She never got to finish, as Doom's arm snapped upwards in her direction, green sparks dancing around his fingertips, the familiar Tao Mandela forming around his hand. He didn't speak a word, but the threat was clear. That shut Cozy Glow up.
"In addition," Doom continued, as though the interruption had never happened, "your incompetence allowed the Pony of Shadows to be destroyed, and the Avengers to capture Sombra, who is likely being interrogated as we speak, meaning they will now know of Doom's involvement in this affair."
"Master, it wasn't our fault!" insisted Amora, throwing herself at Doom's feet. "That warrior from the sky was the one who enabled them to kill—"
Doom's leg swung upwards, his metallic boot striking the Enchantress directly between the eyes. Amora gasped in pain as she reeled backwards. But Doom wasn't finished there, as he formed a ball of green electricity in his palm, sending it directly into Amora's chest. She screamed as the pain ravaged her body, causing her to thrash and twitch as she rolled on the ground. Nobody dared to help her, far too terrified of what Doom would do to them. After about a minute of this, Doom snapped his fingers, and Amora was released from the torture, lying on her back and panting heavily.
"Amora, you've proven your usefulness to Doom in the past," he continued. "That's the only reason you still draw breath. Remember that."
Amora nodded, still shaking in fear.
Doom walked over to a large, metallic, cannon-like device, into which they'd inserted the artifacts they'd collected. Sombra's horn, the Crystal Heart, and the Alicorn Amulet all sat within square chambers. Doom placed his hands behind his back, as all those assembled held their breath.
"The Avengers will be on their way to the castle as we speak," Doom spoke quietly, yet intensely. "Fortunately, my plan is nearing completion. We need merely to delay them for a short time. It is time for Doom to become directly involved." He turned, facing his minions once again. "You must face the Avengers once again. Be prepared to die for your master."
Everybody released their breath, relieved Doom hadn't seen fit to punish them further. In the back, Cinch and Neighsay turned to look at each other, eyes filled with uncertainty.