"You know, when I read about other worlds in the comics, it was always futuristic cities, or run down distopias," All Might told Twilight. "Or a mirror image of our world where the good guys were bad and the bad guys were the heroes. I have to admit, the last thing I was expecting was..."
"A world full of magical ponies where harmony reigns supreme?" Twilight finished for him.
"Something like that."
"Well humanity surprised me too the first time I saw them," Twilight said. All Might gave her a look and she smiled coyly in reply. "Story for another time. But I agree with you. We have all these expectations for what another reality is supposed to look like, yet most of the time it's far different than anything we could imagine. Take you for example. You look nothing like the humans that I met. But considering you come from a world of superheroes, it makes some sense that you would look so...buff."
"Princess!" Shoeshine exclaimed. All Might and Twilight turned towards the assistant, who was racing towards Twilight with over a dozen members of the royal guard behind him. Their eyes went wide when they saw All Might, but Twilight shook her had and smiled at them.
"Shoeshine. Royal Guard. This is All Might. He is a hero from another world who will be assisting me in catching the foes who attacked me in the throne room this morning," Twilight quickly explained. "All Might, this is my assistant, Shoeshine. And these are members of my royal guards. The ponies that protect me."
"Greetings!" All Might said so enthusiastically that the ponies were all blown back slightly.
"Uh, hello there, Mr. All Might," Shoeshine said with a slight bow.
"Please, no need to be so formal. All Might is fine!"
"If you say so. Princess, what do you need me to do?" Shoeshine asked the princess.
"The first thing to do is get in contact with the other Pillars of Harmony and ask them to come here," Twilight instructed. Off to her side she noticed that All Might smiled at her words, but she would ask about that in a minute. "If there are new villains on the loose, I want my friends here. After that contact Celestia and Luna, as well as Cadence and Discord. I will want all of them to search the land. Then call the contractors and tell them the throne room is in ruin...again."
"Right away, your highness," Shoeshine said with a bow. He turned and headed off into the castle, while the royal guard stepped forward and saluted.
"Princess, what are our orders?"
"Increased patrols of the city. Be on the look out for other humans dressed strangely, but if you see them do not engage. These humans posses strange powers that might be enough to overwhelm you," Twilight order. "If you find them, contact me, any other princess on seen..." Twilight took a second to look up at All Might before continuing. "Or even All Might here. But until I know more about what we're dealing with, I want to be cautious."
"Yes, princess!" the ponies all said in unison before they took off in different directions.
"Now then, where were we?" Twilight asked.
"That was some smart thinking there, Princess," All Might said with a nod.
"Just Twilight is fine. And how so?"
"You realize that the threat is a serious one, so you gather your allies and put your security to work in a way that will minimize the risk to them. I know a few heroes who could learn a thing or two from you," All Might said.
"Why thank you. So what was that smile about earlier, when I mentioned my friends?" Twilight asked. All Might threw back his head and let out a laugh.
"I was thinking it must be fate that brought us together. Here I am, the pillar of the superhuman society, meeting you, one of the pillars of harmony! It can't be coincidence!"
"Pillar of superhuman society? What does that mean?"
"It means I am the number one hero in my world! It means that I am the pillar that they rely on! It means that we all else fails, I save the day!"
"All by yourself?" Twilight asked. "You don't have any friends or allies?"
"There are plenty of other heroes fighting the good fight, but if you mean if others fight with me...it is best that I fight alone. No one else can keep up with me...and it's safer this way," All Might said with a thin smile. Then it returned to its full size as he gave her a thumbs up. "But there's no need to fear. Trust me, I am more than enough for any threat that would dare try to harm my world or yours! All of your problems are over, princess. For I am here!"
Twilight wanted to say something about that, but she placed that thought in the back of her mind as she and the hero reached the front doors to her castle. "Now before we go out there, know that the ponies can be a little...fearful and distrusting of strange beings. No offense."
"None taken."
"Alright, then let's go!"
Twilight flung open the doors and escorted All Might out into the courtyard. She wasn't surprised in the least when she saw a crowd of ponies gathered around the front gate, with plenty of reporters talking with one another. They all started to take photos of her and ask some questions when they saw here, but they all went slack jawed when they laid eyes on All Might.
"It is alright, ponies of Canterlot. This is All Might, a hero who is here to help me," Twilight quickly told the crowd. The reporters then unloaded their questions, about what had happened in the castle, where the explosions had come from or how a tornado seemed to have formed in the middle of the castle. But there was one question in particular that really caught Twilight's attention.
"Princess Twilight, what was that giant monster that was rocketed out of your castle and crashed down in the forest below?"
"Ah, right. Monstro. I had forgotten about him," Twilight muttered. "We need to go find him quickly before he hurts anypony else."
"Relax, princess. After taking a blow like that, he won't be getting up for at least a day. I've yet to fight any villain that can take one of my smashes," All Might comforted her.
"If you say so, but I still want to have him secure as soon as possible."
"That is smart. But first I think you're going to have to talk to this young...lizard first."
Just as All Might had said, a young dragon was pushing his way through the crowd of ponies to get to Twilight. He was slightly taller than Twilight, who was already somewhat taller than the other ponies, and was pretty lanky. Yet from the way Twilight smiled at the dragon, All Might figured she knew who this was.
"Twilight!" the dragon yelled. He pushed aside the last of the reporters and threw himself into Twilight, pulling her into a tight hug.
"Hiya, Spike. How's Gabby?" Twilight asked as she returned the hug.
"That's it? The throne room explodes, a massive beast is launched out of it and all you have to say to me is to ask how Gabby is?!" Spike exclaimed.
"Just another day in Equestria," Twilight giggled as she released the hug. Spike was about to answer her, but then he looked over to see All Might for the first time and his eyes went wide. He looked at the suit, the hair, the smile, and then finally looked at All Might's muscles before nodding in approval.
"Dude...nice."
"Thank you."
"Spike, this is All Might. He's a superhero from another world. A world of humans," Twilight explained. From the look on Spike's face All Might deduced that Spike had also met other humans before. Though from the way his eyes lit up at the word superhero, none like him.
"Cool! But what's a superhero doing in Canterlot...unless..."
"You've guessed it. We've got a case of supervillains. But this time they're from All Might's world," Twilight said.
"Ugh, what a great start to the week. How many?"
"Seven, though All Might has already taken down one of them. That giant monster you saw flying through the air? That was all him," Twilight said, indicating to All Might. Spike looked over at All Might in amazement and All Might flexed an arm in response. "You didn't happen to see where he landed, did you?"
"Sure did. He crashed into the forest beneath Canterlot. Impossible to miss. Just look for the crater."
"Then that's where we're going. All Might, do you mind being teleported?"
"I've never been teleported before, but I always like to try new things!" All Might laughed.
"Alright then. Brace yourself," Twilight warned, before the three vanished in a flash of light. They reappeared at the bottom of the mountain, in a clearing of trees next to a giant, and freshly made, crater. All Might placed a hand on a trunk to steady himself for a second, before he popped back up with his smile in place. "You alright?"
"I'm just glad I had a light lunch. Now then, onward!"
All Might started marching towards the crater, leaving Spike and Twilight to share a look with one another. They both smiled and followed after him. They caught up to the human at the edge of the crater, which he was looking down into without a smile on his face. And Twilight could see why. Because at the bottom of the crater...was nothing.
"Well. That might be a problem," All Might said.
====|V|====
Chronos was the first to awaken.
The old man found himself face down on a black floor, most likely marble. He scrambled to his feet and looked around at where he was at. There were numerous torches that hung from the walls, all of them blazing with a purple fire. From their light he could make out his six allies on the ground as well, including Monstro, who was drooling. Which was bizarre, because last he had seen of him he had been rocketed into the sky.
"Where are we? And how did we get here?" the old man mused aloud. The last thing he remembered he has used his Quirk to try to buy a bit of time before All Might finished the rest of them off. But he couldn't go that far in such a short time and he knew for certain that he had not grabbed Monstro. So then how...?
"You can thank me for your timely rescue."
Chronos spun around to see that a violet throne made of crystals had appeared at the end of the room. And sitting in the middle of that throne was a pony. A pony with a black coat, a black mane, and wearing silver armor with a red cape attached to the back. But it was the red horn and the smile on the pony's face that drew Chronos' full attention. For the expression was exactly the same as the one worn by dozens of villains that Chronos had worked with over the years.
"Who are you?" Chronos asked. "And why did you bring us here?"
"I am King Sombra. Lord of Shadow. Master of Disaster. And a bunch of other titles that you don't care about," Sombra laughed. "And as for why I brought you here? Because it looked like you could use a friend."