186
The Battle of Earth
7:13 p.m.
Anthony Edward Stark watched his friends die.
It was real. Not some vision, some nightmare, some past he buried into the darkest remnants of his mind. By God, it was real and there was nothing he could have done to stop it. He fought his heart out, did the best he could with the best he was given, but still came up short. Always came up short. Every tool he had, every fighting chance that was given, every plan and every step forward only yielded a step back. It only pushed him back. It should’ve been him.
Now he could only watch as others paid for his mistakes. Once again. From Natasha Romanoff, the secret agent who had caught his eye a lifetime ago and proved to be more than just a pretty face. So much more. She had become a loyal, trustworthy, loving, and close ally. And an even closer friend. Her heroism not only to S.H.I.E.L.D., but to the world, earned her a cleared debt ten times over. Her sacrifices meant more than anyone could have ever given. There she lay, her legacy and her life resting in the dirt as she gazed to nowhere.
Bruce Banner, the calm yet eloquent man having been cursed with a power beyond his physical or mental control. Stark had always been a fan of his, from his studies in radioactive capabilities and even to his most famous attribute. The Hulk was never truly Banner. One in the same, they never could have been, at least not to Tony. He always saw the mortal man behind the monster, the human who could understand, could feel, could know what it meant to be just like everyone else. When Bruce discovered himself, found the balance between the man and the monster, that alone surprised Stark. That alone made him an even bigger fan, and a much closer friend. Banner lay with his chest against the earth, unmoving, not breathing, but strangely settled. Strangely at peace.
Thor. The God of Thunder, King of Asgard, and recently crowned the Allfather. What other title was there that needed such a grander host? Thor was always the mightiest of them all. He should have been the one to deliver the final blow to Thanos like he had before. He should have been the one to survive, to carry on the legacy of the Avengers. He didn’t need any more titles. Stark realized that. All he needed was himself, his work done on the mortal plane and his spirit lifted to join his ancestors in Valhalla. Stormbreaker was buried in his heart, his back against the rock, and the torment of the past five years finally lifted from him. He was finally free.
And… Steve Rogers. The one and only Star-Spangled Man with a Plan. Sentinel of Liberty. Captain America. There was very little else to be said. There was very little else to be known about the figurehead of the spirit of America, the flag-bearing solider of freedom, and the tried and true first Avenger. Beyond all the limelight Stark had only seen him in most of his life, there was just a man underneath the star and shield. He was just a man standing up for what mattered, sacrificing his life every single day to ensure the greater good pulled through in the end. Despite all they had been through, every argument, every fight, every heartbreak, and every fall… Stark knew there was only one who could lead them. He almost lost that faith. They both did. But when it mattered, when the universe needed them to come together, they did it. By God, they did it. They brought everyone back. Steve lay with his back on the dirt. Tony watched him fall with his own eyes and could do nothing.
Clint was gone. He lost him in the madness, his fate entirely unknown.
And now, right then and there, the universe needed them again. One last time. That universe teetered on the brink of total destruction. When the Avengers failed to rise, others took their place. Others bore that name and took the fight to the greater tides that stood against them. The six mares he had known and loved for the latter portion of his life seemed to move so slowly amongst the world, amongst the battle, amongst their war with the Mad Titan and the six Infinity Stones he held. They fought to get the gauntlet off. They fought alongside each other, for each other, and for every single life that couldn’t. Thanos held them off, fought through his own ravaged pain and exhaustion to see his destiny brought back to fruition. They moved so slow and Tony just watched them from where he lay.
His friends were no longer there to help. They were not by his side when he needed them most, when all of the universe needed them most. He did not want to face reality, knew how much it hurt, but he couldn’t turn away from the truth. And it was true. He watched his friends die. That wasn’t the worst part. It never could have been.
The worst part was that he didn’t.
Under that veil of darkness, dread, and uncertainty, Tony Stark let his eyes wash across the chaos that enveloped his world. Whatever was left of it boiled with war and raged against the dying of the light. Wars were fought in the distance, lost in the smog and fire. Death filled the air. The tides, the balance, the very universe clung onto a false hope, a dying breath, for anything just to survive. The powers of the universe were held in one hand, on one glove, under the will of one Mad Titan.
And through it all, by some unknown force, Tony titled his gaze to his far left. He watched the cloaked man stumble from the gravel, only to fall again and crash on his hands and knees. Tony instantly recognized Doctor Stephen Strange amongst the burning destruction, the two of them unable to rise, unable to stand, and only lying in their own wretched defeat.
When he could not raise his body, he raised his head and locked gazes with Stark. Tony remained frozen as their eyes met and neither could look away. Neither could forcefully turn from the other when all of reality had stilled just to bring their focus to each other and no one else. In that desperate moment, Stephen Strange had seen every second play out a million times. Only that time, it truly mattered.
He pursed his lips and slowly lifted his quivering left hand, holding up his trembling finger to the skies. Just one finger.
One.
Be it a greater intuition than he would have liked to have, Tony instantly understood what that finger meant. What that number meant. It held a greater weight than anything he had ever known, a silent statement that took his breath away and pierced him through his Arc Reactor. Through his heart. The blood drained from his scratched and torn face, the realization filling what remained. His eyes broke from Strange, stared straight ahead, onto the Nano Gauntlet.
The last battle was raw and unhinged, screams from each pony sounding off as they threw their own bodies and latched themselves onto Thanos, onto his limbs, trying desperately to reach the Stones. Every single time, he would throw them off, pry them from his body and launch them to the ground, to the dirt, where they belonged. Through it all, they were relentless, unwilling to surrender and fighting through every stabbing pain.
Magic was fired in every direction, Thanos catching Twilight and Rarity by their throats as they unleashed their magic onto nothing. He tossed them each into another one of their friends, Rarity crashing against Applejack and Twilight against Pinkie Pie and her party cannon. The weapon spun and broke apart, crashing to the dirt and lying with the two mares. Fluttershy flew low and attached herself onto the back of Thanos’ neck, trying to get a hold around him, trying to keep him at bay. Rainbow Dash, after some struggle with her damaged Iron Mare, shot from the ground and rammed herself into Thanos’ sternum. His armor continued to crack. He continued to cry out from their collective assault on him. Reaching back, he grabbed a handful of Fluttershy’s mane and threw her viciously across the ground. She bounced as she hit, crying out against every tumble, eventually finding her rest several feet across from Twilight and Pinkie.
Only she was left. Only Rainbow kept standing despite the pain flushing through her systems, despite the warnings flashing in HUD. Rainbow Dash let the nanoparticles flow backwards, unveiling her ragged and bleeding face and allowing nothing else to hold her back. She threw herself at Thanos once more, each of their reverberating war cries filling the valley they battled in.
The other mares remained with the earth, too weary and too broken to stand fully once more. Especially Twilight. She garnered whatever strength was left and lifted her wings, felt the sparks fly free from her suit’s armor over her wings, and let them fall. She pressed her hooves out in front of her and managed a few short inches from the dirt. Just enough to let her see a semblance of the battle. Just the semblance that mattered. Rainbow was on her own.
Her mask materialized back and unveiled Twilight’s own broken features beneath. From the tattered mane, bloody nostril, and bruised cheeks, her torment and exhaustion were painted on every last detail. Her breaths were heavy, heaving as her chest rose and fell sporadically, uncontrollably. She tried to watch Rainbow. She tried to focus in order to bring herself back to the fight at hoof. Only, beyond her own will, she looked away. She caught his red cloak in the corner of her vision and turned right to face it.
Doctor Strange was right there, several yards to her right and staring harshly ahead of him. Almost instantly, like he knew, he twisted his neck and faced her alone. Their eyes locked, the expression on his face urging her, begging her to follow him. To trust him. With what little time either had left, Twilight took that leap of faith and followed his eyes. She followed him and turned to face forward, turned to face Tony Stark.
And without her understanding, she saw as Tony stared to Thanos, to the Nano Gauntlet on his right arm, to each and every last Infinity Stone glistening upon its surface.
And then… to her.
For the many years, for as long as they had known each other, both knew how to read the other. They were both geniuses in their own right, scientists with more mistakes than victories. Both knew the other’s strengths, their weakness, their faults and their greatest selves. They knew each other because they were friends. Because they were practically family. With a bond that close, that tightly knit, both Tony Stark and Twilight Sparkle could read each other on a deeper, personal level. So, when their eyes connected, when that moment in time was frozen just for them, Twilight let that unholy truth slowly enter into her. She let that possibility become a reality and she dreaded every second of it. Her lips parted, her jaw fell, and her eyes refused to look anywhere else, refused to blink, as the tears began to swell and build.
Stark’s expression told her everything.
Everything she didn’t want to hear, to know… and to do.
Across the torn wasteland, Sunset Shimmer stirred from her unconscious state. Her eyes slowly flickered open, seeing the blur of her world fade away and only Twilight Sparkle lying in front of her. With her was Pinkie Pie, was Fluttershy. Applejack and Rarity lay further in the distance. Rainbow Dash kept fighting, kept holding on as Thanos tried to take everything away.
Suddenly, on that thought alone, Sunset felt a swift injection of adrenaline. It wasn’t much, but it was just enough to raise her hoof and plant it forward. It was just enough to push her from the dirt, her Element of Harmony hanging around her neck. It was just enough for her to limp, to fall, and to crawl over to Twilight Sparkle and her best friends. Turning back, Twilight heard the soft groan and crawled over to pull Sunset towards hers. She held her friend with as much strength she could muster, Sunset breathing with brokenness both inside and out. Twilight never let go, never released her, and held on even as the world darkened and the universe burned away.
More groans.
More shuffles in their direction.
The two turned to it to see Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy crawl towards them, pick each other up, and ensure that every last one of them was able to join their best friends. And they did. They joined together, all six of them in a warm crowd of bodies all lying and sitting near one another. Even in the darkest of circumstances, even when all seemed lost, they were together. Fluttershy lifted her head, offered a sad but comforting smile to the greatest friends she could ever had. Applejack returned it. Pinkie Pie tried to offer her smile, her joy, and managed the best she could. Her tears blotted most of it, but they were unable to stop her smile. Rarity cried soft tears, knowing what was soon to happen, and accepting it all the same. Knowing that she would be with those she loved and loved her through it all.
Twilight could only hear her own breathing, her brow slowly hardening, breath shortly slowing. Time moved with her and flowed with her as she brought her focus forward once more. Thanos caught Rainbow in his right hand, watched as she wrapped her hooves around the gauntlet and yanked with all her strength. In retaliation to her meager efforts, Thanos tightened his grip around her, earned a scream of pain from the Pegasus as he crushed the armor she wore, and tossed her aside. Her suit and body crashed against the gravel and dirt, rolling to a halt and into the protective embrace of her best friends.
They caught her and held her, lifted her up when she could not rise on her own. As Rainbow’s strength slowly returned, her suit’s lights flickered on and off as the Iron Mare armor remained torn, dented, and shattered upon her body. She had given her all, fought her heart out, and came up short.
Thanos pulled the glove back on fully.
Always just short.
And with that, all the opposition were dealt with. They lay broken, together or not, scattered across the tattered battlegrounds and all before his great power. All fallen before him, kneeling to him, as the Mad Titan slowly gazed to the gauntlet and the six Infinity Stones still resting upon its face. His breathing grew heavier, mightier, as a tiny, transcendent grin slowly crept its way onto his lips. He seemed to be lost momentarily in another plane of existence, caught within his own holy endgame, and breathed again to know it to be true.
It had finally come at last. Destiny. He breathed aloud and spoke to them one last time.
“Here you stood… on the battlegrounds of the fallen horizon. Here you fell… for purposes greater than you ever could have known. Here I rose… among the old universe to birth anew… in my image.”
All else around them silenced as his words filled the air they breathed. In the short time span they were given, it was still a moment. It was still an opportunity to act, to try, to perform one last time. Twilight and Rainbow met gazes and both knew the same thing. Rainbow’s pained expression hardened, that steadfast and subtle nod sent to Twilight. She returned it, both reading the other’s mind and acting to fulfill it. Rainbow pushed herself up and rallied the others silently, brought them together while Thanos lived and breathed before them. She gathered them all, starting with Fluttershy, to Pinkie Pie, to Applejack, to Rarity, and to Sunset Shimmer. She brought their focus together, told them silently through her eyes what she needed from them. Just one last time to make a difference.
They followed her.
Twilight, on the other hoof, faced forward, gazed to one man.
Thanos did the same, turned away from the mares and onto him. To Tony Stark.
Lips growing into that malicious smile, Thanos spoke to him alone, yet as he continued his voice reached to all life across the unruly universe. In one last declaration of dominion, Thanos said, “What was your worth? Where do your accomplishments stand now? All your treasures, all your empires, everything you’ve ever known… all lay before me. It has all fallen to me not by your will, but by the universe. By fate. By me. In this end… I was always meant to bring this. I was always meant to be.”
Tony wasn’t looking at him. Not fully. He gazed beyond him but Thanos didn’t care. He raised his right hand and stared wholly to it, ignored all else. Ignored the seven mares united together behind him. None of it mattered. He held out his right hand, his right arm to every life so they all could see the universe made anew with their own eyes, for their last breaths, for their final waking, living moments. Thanos held out his hand, slowly pressed his middle finger to his thumb, and turned back to Stark.
He smiled.
“I am… inevitable.”
A slight pinch of pressure was added to his fingers, to his will, as he prepared for one last snap. Yet in that final second, he stopped. In that final second, the curious sound behind him caught his attention and made his blood churl, made his heart stop, and caused his spirit, his soul, his will… to halt.
All by that sound and the raspy voice that accompanied it.
“Hey! Prune Face!”
Thanos turned to face it, eyes glistening from the rainbow of burning light. The power that flowed from each mare, from all seven of them, charged the seven relics they wore and birthed the sound that caught his heart, stopped his breath, and held him in an unshakeable grip of terror. Froze him where he stood. From their unification, the seven mares remained as one, either lying or standing together as their necklaces—as her tiara—ignited.
The Elements of Harmony burst to life and fired a conjoined rainbow beam directly at him.
The magic came too fast. It neared his back, would tear through his heart, and completely obliterate him from existence. It was too late. Despite it all, Thanos fought anyway. He gave everything else he had left just to move, just to leap to his left and dodge the blast that would have impaled him through the back. Instead, the rainbow beam sliced completely through his right arm.
And severed the limb free.
He felt no pain. Not at first. Just shock. From that shock, Thanos was able to focus right away, his adrenaline rushing for one last pursuit, for one last reach. He crashed and instantly rose, watching as his right arm flung through the air and crashed just mere feet in front of him. The gauntlet was still intact. The Infinity Stones were still present and untouched. Scrambling towards it, Thanos reached for the gauntlet and grasped it in an unbreakable hold from his left and remaining hand.
A flash of light and magic encompassed the Nano Gauntlet, and in the blink of an eye, Thanos had only grabbed his right arm. He grasped only his severed flesh and bone and gazed heavily, through blurred and teary vision, to his own naked limb. He was speechless, utterly flabbergasted, until he heard her subtle breaths to his right.
Thanos turned to her and met the eyes of Twilight Sparkle. She had broken away from the rest of her friends, stood on all four shaking hooves, and stood against him, mere feet away from the Titan. Her head was low, horn cooling, and breath trembling. Yet she was awake. She was alive. And she was staring at him with every second she was given. They stared deeply into one another, Thanos seeing the acceptance on her features, in her eyes. Twilight saw the shock grace his own, staring from his breathless expression and into his quivering eyes.
Eventually staring past him.
The flash of light caught his ears, his attention, and his heart once more. Twilight held her breath and stood frozen, the shock and uncertainty keeping her restrained from acting any longer. Thanos followed her eyes, followed the disturbance, and saw the Nano Gauntlet reappear.
Directly onto Tony Stark’s right hand.
He kneeled before Thanos, slowly raising his right arm as the gauntlet shrunk around his limb and hand. It reformed to fit his arm, the nanoparticles locking in place and the Infinity Stones instantly reacting to the new user. They ignited and sent a flurry of rainbow veins across the entirety of his forearm. Tony convulsed as that overwhelming power and energy surged through him, as the universal growls of the Infinity Stones sounded off and consumed Stark under that weight, under that pressure, and merged him within the power.
Shakily, he lowered his eyes and remained as he was, almost entirely him with a stream of rainbow bolts devouring his right arm, from his fingertips and all the way up to his shoulder. Yet despite that rippling energy, that immense pressure and pain placed against him, Tony Stark breathed. He breathed so very heavily and so very slowly that he took every last second he could to lift his eyes to the Mad Titan. To his last demon.
And Thanos, breathless, met the man’s eyes and did nothing. Simply nothing.
All he could do was listen.
As for Tony Stark, he could not do much, but what he could… he made sure Thanos understood.
He made sure he heard every last word.
“And I… am…”
He gasped, almost stumbled over his words, but continued to breathe and continued to hold his quivering hand for Thanos to see. He made sure Thanos saw all six Stones. Through the tearing pain crawling up his shoulder, eating at his armor, and consuming the right side of his face, Tony Stark breathed. He smirked. It all died away in an instant, in that final word, as he proudly proclaimed it one last time. Just in case Thanos didn’t hear him the first time.
“… Iron Man.”
He snapped his fingers and all of reality turned white.