Relaxing high above it all, looking at the crystal-clear blue skies above, not having a care in the world. These types of moments were what Sunset lived for, and today, she was going to use it to relax. No responsibilities for now, no disasters, no stress of any kind. She was just going to kick back, enjoy the silence, and for once not worry about a thing. So, naturally, it was only a matter of time before that sought-after peace was shattered by the sudden bellowing of one of her friends. "SUNSET!!!"
The young goddess sat upright, turning to see Twilight running up to her, followed shortly by her other friends. Getting up fully, she looked to them all with a mix of confusion and worry. "What? What is it?"
Once they reached her, Rainbow pointed down to the Earth. "Look!"
Sunset did so, and at first it seemed that all was well. There were the odd scrapes between mortals of course but that was nothing new. And then, to her horror, she saw it. The Earth itself, the entire globe, looked like it was shrinking, as though some invisible force were constricting it. "But...what...how?!"
Rarity frowned as she turned to her dismayed friend. "I'll tell you how! It's because of him!" She angrily pointed down, giving Sunset a clear place to look, and as the latter did so, she could finally spot the culprit. There was, beneath the surface of the vast oceans of the world, some thing lurking beneath. A serpent, vast beyond imagining that, if her eyes were to be believed, was coiling all around the world.
"I can't believe Adagio would let one of her kids run rampant like this!" Applejack exclaimed.
"No! It isn't one of hers!" Fluttershy chimed in. "I know her children, and this isn't one of them!" she assured them.
"Well who the frick is it then?!" Pinkie asked fearfully.
Twilight, adjusting her glasses, narrowed her eyes. "I know who it is." After all eyes turned to her, she explained. "It's Jormungandr."
"...Who?" the other girls all said together.
Twilight gave herself a facepalm before answering. "The world serpent! But it makes no sense! He's supposed to be in the realms of Odin. Why is he here?!"
Sunset rubbed her temples. "I'm betting those realm had a bit of an administrative problem. You know, wrong message sent about wrong time to wrong person sort of thing?"
"Whatever the case, we've got to get him out of here before he causes a whole load of problems for us!" Twilight replied.
"Too late! Problems here!" Pinkie shouted.
Though confused, all looked down to see that the goddess of parties had the right of it. Jormungandr wasn't the only unexpected arrival on their world, as entire hordes of what appeared to be giants were appearing over multiple continents. Some looked like they were made of fire while others had a more chilly appearance to them. And that was just the start of it. Throughout several mortal cities there was panic in the streets as some great beast, like a wolf, was rampaging through them, angrily snarling at any man or woman who dared go near. Naturally, this was no pleasing thing for any of the deities above to see, especially Sunset. "Okay! What the heck?! Who invited all these guys?! What kind of game is Odin playing?!"
"No game, my daughter. Merely housecleaning." All turned, stunned and amazed to see that it was none other than Celestia who had spoken. All bowed to her instinctively, save for Sunset, who approached her with a face filled with concern. Seeing this, Celestia continued to explain. "All you see below are those destined to cause the end in Odin's realm. So, as a means of forestalling this catastrophe, as he is often trying to do, the chief god of that realm chose to send them elsewhere, rather than keep them within his own domain."
Sunset groaned with frustration. "Uuuuuuuugh! So he just pawned them off on us?!"
Celestia sighed. "Yes, I'll need to talk with him about being more careful about where he throws out his unwanted troublemakers. But in any case, we have work to do. There's a lot going on right now and we must act before...oh dear."
Immediately, Celestia's halted words caused fear in Sunset, who whipped around to see what had caused her to pause. And indeed it was a sight to see, as the great and intruding serpent had finally tightened its grip around the world as much as a being of its size could, and the sheer force of this embrace began to shatter the surface of the globe itself. Cracks as great as the greatest canyons began to splinter everything in sight, and soon all looked on in abject horror as their realm, their Earth, was well and truly splintered. Continent-sized chunks of rock now floated off in every conceivable direction, and the world they had ruled for so long was, in this moment, gone. Silence followed, and Sunset fell to her knees, her voice a mere whisper. "I...I...I can't believe it."
Twilight walked beside her, placing her hand gently upon her shoulder. "I know, Sunset. I know."
Then, anger and annoyance came to Sunset's expression. "Do those gods have any idea how long it's going to take us to put all this back together?!"
Rainbow groaned. "Ugh! I know, right?! All those poor mortals we're gonna have to resurrect now? Sombra's not gonna be happy! And think of how dazed they're all gonna be once they're all up and about again!"
"It'll be the worst case of collective hangover they're ever gonna know," Applejack added.
Rarity placed her hands upon her hips, letting out a sound of indignant rage. "Hmph! So inconsiderate of them! If I were you, Celestia, I'd strongly suggest they come over here and fix the place up for us!"
Celestia nodded. "I'm tempted to do exactly that."
Taking a deep breath, Sunset got back to her feet, looking down at what, minutes before, had been her world, before gaining a more determined look to her. "Well, better get started. We're the gods and we've got a job to do."
They all nodded firmly to her, and Celestia smiled warmly. "That's my girl."