All was silent, not a sound was made. The sounds of flames dancing and the whistle of the wind filled the air. Those were not the only sounds filling the air, for the sounds of someone sobbing sounded out.
Twilight Sparkle was broken. Her student, Starlight Glimmer, laid dead in her forelegs.
Peter Parker turned away, he had experienced loss his entire life. His parents, Uncle Ben... Aunt May. He knew how to process a loss like this. But did Twilight know? She had never gone through something like this before, she had never lost someone close to her. This is all new to her, and Peter knew it.
Miles placed his hands in front of him and lowered his head in remembrance. This was a painful reminder of how his father died. How Phin, his best friend, sacrificed herself to save Miles. Both Phin and Miles' father both sacrificed themselves for the greater good.
Starlight's death caused those memories to come flooding back into Miles' mind.
Tempest Shadow simply stared at the sight before her, her face unmoved. Although her face may not show it, deep inside, she was in mourning. In the time she had with the Unicorn, Tempest began to see Starlight as a friend. And her friend was dead, lying there covered in blood and ash.
Dr. Strange used to be a doctor, he was used to seeing death. He would have time to mourn later, right now he was needed to find a way to locate the other Infinity Stones. Time was of the essence, Mephiles declared that he would take the Stones already in their collection. He had to think quickly so he could formulate a plan of defense.
Sonic "Maurice" Hedgehog didn't know what to do. He knew how to deal with loss, he'd come to develop a process to deal with tragedy. He had to, considering what had happened to his mother. But he was never good at expressing comfort to those who were experiencing the death of a loved one. Those sorts of emotions weren't his style.
He went to rub Twilight's back, but hesitated. Was this the right thing to do? Would it help? Would it make things worse? He hated emotions at times like this.
What Twilight was going through, she had never experienced it before. Thoughts of self loathing plagued her mind.
"How could you let her die?"
"She was your student, YOUR responsibility!"
"You could've helped her, but you just stood there and let her die!"
"You failed."
"Some Princess of Friendship you turned out to be."
The thoughts stopped when she felt a hand touch her shoulder. She hiccupped as she slowly turned her head around. She saw Sonic with a look of loss on his face.
He opened his mouth to speak, but his words were caught in his throat. He did this a few more times before stuttering out, "I... I'm not good at- well... THIS. I don't know... What do I say? What do you want me to-"
He was cut off by Twilight, who leapt into his chest and cried into it.
He was stunned for a moment, but that didn't last long since he quickly wrapped his arms around the distraught Alicorn. He stroked Twilight's mane as she cried into his chest, her tears wetting his chest fur.
"Th... This is all my fault." Twilight spoke barely above a whisper as she sobbed into her friend's chest, "She... She's dead because of me."
Sonic shook his head as he pulled away from the hug and gazed into Twilight's violet eyes, "No. This is not your fault. Not in any way, shape or form. You did all you could to save her." Sonic cupped Twilight's face with his hands, "And you don't have to go through this alone. I made you a promise, remember?" Twilight nodded slowly as she choked back a sob, "I intend to keep that promise."
The dam broke again as Twilight fell into the Hedgehog's chest.
They didn't care for what was happening around them.
Right now, all they needed was each other.
"Guys?" The sound of Peter's voice caught their attention. They all turned and saw Peter with his fingers on his earpiece, clearly listening to a message. Peter's lenses squinted as he relayed what he had just heard, "That was a message from Shadow, things have gotten a whole lot worse."
Shadow had to move, and he had to move now!
The Ultimate Lifeform used his Rocket Shoes to slide to his left, sparks lighting up as his shoes scrapped across the concrete. He managed to avoid a Spear of Darkness, which was hurled by Mephiles. Before the dark being could make his move, Shadow boosted upwards and shoulder charged the villain.
But unfortunately, Mephiles had teleported out of the way through a mist of darkness, causing Shadow to phase right through it. Once Shadow had landed, Mephiles quickly appeared behind him and extended a beam of light with a spears head from his right hand.
He had intended to stab Shadow in the back, but he didn't anticipate Shadow jumping to the left.
While in mid air, Shadow performed a 180 degree turn and hurled a multitude of Chaos Spears at his foe, "CHAOS SPEAR!" The Chaos powered projectiles flew straight toward Mephiles, with some managing to impale the demon in the chest while the others planted themselves in the ground around him.
Mephiles groaned, this was starting to become annoying.
"A futile effort, Shadow." Mephiles declared.
He then morphed into a dark puddle on the floor while the Chaos Spears faded away. Before Shadow could react in time, Mephiles appeared behind him and charged forward. Shadow turned around and was then tackled by Mephiles. The vile Hedgehog grasped Shadow by the throat as he flew through the air.
Shadow snarled as he continuously punched Mephiles in the face, hoping to free himself from Mephiles' grip around his throat. He was then slammed into the ground since Mephiles flew downwards.
Shadow groaned in pain as Mephiles loomed over him, his reptilian eyes glaring daggers.
"You only delay the inevitable, Shadow the Hedgehog." Mephiles declared.
Shadow grit his teeth before teleporting away and appearing behind Mephiles, "I'll never stop fighting, Mephiles, you should be aware of that fact."
"Oh, I am." Mephiles replied, not turning to face his foe, "Which will make your death all the more sweeter." Mephiles then snapped his body around to face Shadow and threw four daggers of darkness at the Ultimate Lifeform.
Ghost Rider was starting to get annoyed.
Every time he killed a Mephiles clone, it would just multiply into more clones.
Ghost Rider hurled his chain into the air and wrapped it around the neck of a clone before yanking down on his chain, bringing to clone down and slamming him into the concrete road. But it was a feeble effort as the clone simply multiplied, making Rider's attack meaningless.
"It doesn't matter how many of them you defeat, you know." All the clones said in unison.
Ghost Rider used his fingers to whistle for his motorcycle.
Rider's bike rode towards its master with Rarity standing on the seat, firing blasts of magic at any clone she saw. As Rarity continued to blast Mephiles clones, Celestia and Luna were currently flying through the air, also firing blasts of magic from their horns.
Luna huffed as more Mephiles clones appeared before her, "They keep coming, sister," she said to Celestia. "Every time we destroy one, three more take its place."
"We must keep fighting, Luna!" Celestia replied as she blasted another Mephiles clone, "You know what will happen if we fail to keep those Stones secure! For the good of all, we must persist!"
Luna gave her sister a coy smirk, "Oh, I never intended to stop, sister. I'm just concerned that you've gotten soft in your old age."
Celestia gave Luna a look that screamed "Are you serious?" before smirking herself, "Old age? Oh ho ho, we will be having words after this, Lulu." The two Alicorns then resumed fighting the horde of clones before them, hoping that Shadow was faring better than they were.
"DROWN IN DARKNESS!"
Mephiles hurled two black orbs down towards the ground, intending to hit Shadow.
Shadow's hands then crackled with raw Chaos Energy, "CHAOS SPEAR!" Shadow threw his Chaos Spear at the incoming orbs. The two projectiles collided, causing an explosion of both darkness and Chaos Energy.
As the smoke cleared, Shadow curled into a ball and shot upwards, hitting Mephiles in the chest with a Homing Attack. The dark Hedgehog broke through a window on a nearby building and rolled to a stop in an office building. Shadow hovered up to the broken window as Mephiles got back up.
Shadow then boosted forwards to try and elbow charge Mephiles, but the villain quickly created a shield of darkness which protected him from Shadow's attack. Shadow tried to break through the barrier, but he couldn't.
Mephiles then spread out his arms, causing the shield to explode.
As Shadow flew out of the building, Mephiles zoomed forward to his enemy and elbowed Shadow's head, sending the hero spiraling towards the ground.
Shadow crashed, creating a crater where he landed.
Mephiles disappeared from the air and rose up from a dark puddle just beside the crater. He walked towards the edge of the crater and gazed as Shadow slowly got back up to his feet.
"While this has been a treat, Shadow, I believe it is time to get what I came for." Mephiles declared as he slowly rose up into the air, "You can play with my clones." Mephiles then disappeared in a fog of blackness as a horde of Mephiles clones suddenly appeared above the crater.
Shadow growled in frustration as the clones all darted down towards him.
(End song)
Mephiles appeared through a fog of black just in front of Stark Tower.
Mephiles could feel them, the other Stones, they were calling to him. He heeded their call and slowly descended down to the helipad. Once he landed on the helipad, he opened the palm of his hand as the Soul Stone suddenly popped into existence.
"I sense them. The two Infinity Stones inside this tower. With them, I shall rule this WRETCHED world!" Mephiles declared to himself.
Mephiles took a step forward, but a line of web suddenly stuck itself onto the Soul Stone.
The villain looked down at the Stone in shock as it was pulled out of his grasp, "NO!" He then shot his hand forward, summoning his blade of light and cutting the web. The Soul Stone spun through the air until it was caught in the hand of none other than Spider-Man, who was standing by the edge of the helipad.
"Y'know, I get the distinct feeling that this doesn't belong to you." Peter quipped as an orange spark lit up behind him. The spark then spun around until a portal was forged, and then outstepped Sonic the Hedgehog, Twilight Sparkle, Tempest Shadow, Miles Morales, and Dr. Strange.
Mephiles wasn't fazed by the newcomers, except for one.
He didn't take his eyes off of Sonic, he couldn't afford to.
"The blue savior has finally arrived. At long last, I can finally repay you for our last encounter." Mephiles stated to Sonic in a cold manner.
Sonic looked confused, "Umm, have we met before?"
Mephiles raised his arm, "Allow me to refresh your memory." Without warning, a dark, foggy tentacle shot out of Mephiles' hand and implanted itself right into Sonic's forehead. Sonic gasped as all of his lost memories came back to him. Solaris, Soleanna, Elise.
Especially Elise.
The tentacle retracted out of Sonic's head as said Hedgehog gasped heavily, falling to one knee. Twilight instantly rushed to his side.
"Sonic! Are you okay?"
Sonic didn't respond, he was in too much shock. His eyes were the size of pinpricks as his body shook violently. He panted heavily as he tried to process everything, an entire timeline erased. Moments from his life that he never experienced played through his mind. It was a lot to process.
Twilight snarled as she snapped her head towards Mephiles, she was not in the mood for this. She had already lost Starlight, she wasn't going to lose Sonic as well.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?!" Twilight demanded to know.
Mephiles chuckled as he folded his arms, "I enlightened him to the truth. Now, I can have my vengeance against him AND you, Twilight Sparkle."
Twilight's face turned to one of confusion as she asked, "What do you mean? I've never seen you before in my life!"
Mephiles laughed as his body began to morph. The cloud of black suddenly grew four legs, a long neck and a muzzle. A torso was then formed as two black wings sprouted from its back. As it opened its eyes and mouth, a horn erupted from its forehead.
Twilight took a step back in shock as a familiar foe stood before her.
Twilight shook her head in denial, "Th-THE PONY OF SHADOWS?! IMPOSSIBLE! WE SENT YOU BACK INTO EXILE!"
The Pony of Shadows morphed back into Mephiles and responded, "I was freed by that fool, Sombra! Now, I shall have my revenge against those who have wronged me in the past." Mephiles then decided to taunt her, "I must say, I recall there being another with you when you freed Stygian from my grasp. Starlight Glimmer if I recall."
Twilight's eyes shot wide open as tears brimmed her eyes.
Mephiles had her now, "I notice she isn't with you," he then gasped dramatically, "Did something happen?" He asked, feigning shock.
Twilight grit her teeth as she spread out her wings, Peter clenched his fists in anger, "I'm gonna enjoy punching you in the mouth... Or lack there of."
Sonic then stood upright, gaining everyone's attention.
Sonic grit his teeth, "I saw what you did before. I'm not gonna let that happen a second time, Mephiles."
Mephiles chuckled darkly as he rose into the air, "Unfortunately, you will not get the chance, Hedgehog." Mephiles glared at his foes as they readied themselves.
Peter and Miles crouched down while Strange readied his magic.
Tempest's broken horn sparked while Sonic crouched down into a running start. Twilight lit up her horn as she grit her teeth in anger.
Mephiles folded his arms, he was going to enjoy this.
"Time to repent."