//------------------------------// // Death To All // Story: The Strongest There Is // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// "I hate to admit it, but you did it," Chrysalis said to a smug Discord, as Nightmare Moon paced up and down at the castle where they were staying, thinking about the next step in her plan. "I know it worked; all my plans work," Discord said as he watched television in the air. "Now with the Hulk out of the way, our conquest should be-" "Yes, Discord, I knew there was a good reason I sent you to spy on them," Nightmare Moon said with a smile. "But the Hulk will not stay gone forever, for I am certain he will return when the ponies need him. We must figure out a way to get rid of him for good." Chrysalis began to laugh, causing the other two to look at her funny. "Unlike Discord, who spends his day relying on instinct, I actually created such a plan and have already carried it out," she said with a wicked grin. "WHEN it works out, the Hulk will be gone." "Oh? And what have you done that could get rid of the Hulk?" Discord asked with a sarcastic smile. "Simple. Instead of trying to break the Hulk, I'm going for his weaker side," she said with a grin, causing Discord's smile to fall...literally. "Wait, you're going after Banner?" Discord's mouth asked from where it lay, disembodied on the ground. The Master of Chaos picked it up and put it on his face. "And ponies call me crazy. He's gone, remember?" "Maybe, but if the Hulk is so desperate to protect them, there is nothing he wouldn't do." "I was not aware the beast had a compassionate side," Nightmare Moon said with a frown. "How in Equestria could you possibly get the Hulk to let Banner out and how will it drive him away?" Chrysalis began to laugh again as a changeling flew in and informed her that all the samples had been distributed. "Because, as I said, despite the little argument they just had, Hulk has seemed to become more attached to these ponies," Chrysalis said with a grin. "And he'll do anything to keep them safe. Anything." ---=-=--- "Pinkie, please let me in," Twilight said as she knocked again at the home of the usually cheerful pony with a bit of worry. Pinkie had returned to Ponyville late last night soaking wet and looking like all the fun had been drained from her life after the Hulk had stormed off. She answered none of the questions that her friends had asked her, and she had gone straight to her house, not emerging since. While most of the other Elements figured that she needed time, Twilight had been the only one who saw that she was carrying the stuffed pony she had given Hulk. She looked broken. "Pinkie, I know you're in there. Please let me in." The door to Pinkie's house opened up and Pinkie stood behind it, her eyes being the only thing Twilight could see in the darkness. "Come on in," she said in an emotionless tone, opening the door a little wider so that Twilight could enter. Twilight walked inside and noticed that all the lights were off; the party supplies were scattered across the room. Pinkie lay down on one of her couches and rolled over so that she wasn't facing Twilight. "What do want?" Twilight winced at the icy tone in her voice, but spoke anyway. "Pinkie, I know that you're hurting from what happened the other day and...I'm sorry," Twilight said quietly, unable to face her friend. "It was my fault that the Hulk got mad at us and I'm the reason that he left in a rage. I didn't mean to hurt him or drive him away, I just...I just wanted my friend back. Dr. Banner was the only other pony out there that I felt that I could talk to about science. I finally felt like I had another pony that could share in my love of knowledge." Pinkie didn't say anything for a minute; she simply continued to stare at the back of her couch. But when she did roll over to look at Twilight, her eyes held no emotion. "He trusted me," Pinkie said in a cold fury that caused Twilight to back away from her. "Hulk trusted me. I was the only pony in Equestria that he let get close to him, trusting me to never hurt him...I promised that I never would. But I failed him, I hurt him. I was the only pony he trusted and was willing to be a friend to...and I broke his trust. How can I call myself a friend after what I did?! How can I be an Element of Harmony if I hurt one who's suffered so much?!" she half-screamed, more mad at herself than Twilight. "I was his only friend, I was the one he trusted! HE TRUSTED ME! He trusted me..." Twilight didn't know what to say to her as she pulled herself back onto her hooves, since she had never seen Pinkie look so...hurt. She was about to go to her when the door was thrown open by RD. "Twilight! thank heavens I found you, we got a problem!" she half-screamed as she ran into the house. "Rainbow, what's going on?" Twilight asked her. "Ponies are dropping left and right, all of them seeming to have the same ailment," RD explained. "The hospital's already filled up, so we moved all the other cases to your house. You need to hurry!" Twilight nodded as RD raced out the door and prepared to follow her, but then Twilight stopped and looked back at her friend. "Do you want to come?" "No, just leave me alone." Twilight didn't answer as Pinkie's head sank back down. Instead, she turned to leave and raced after RD to her library, not prepared for the sight that would greet her. A huge multitude of ponies were laying in makeshift beds on her floor, each of them crying out in pain. Nurses and doctors ran back and forth trying to help the sick, but having little effect. Celestia and Luna were there as well, their magic having little to no effect on the sick. "What happened?" Twilight asked RD. "I don't know, but none of our spells are able to cure them and the potions aren't working," she explained. "Nopony knows what to do." Twilight looked at the suffering ponies with worried eyes, noticing that some of the ponies had ceased to move while others had been covered up by a white fabric. She went to work for a few minutes trying to help the doctors before an idea came to her. "Banner will know," she whispered. Before RD could ask what she meant, Twilight used one of her spells to lock onto the spell she placed on Hulk to tell her where he was and teleported away. She opened her eyes as the light died down and she looked around to find that she was standing on top of a massive mountain overlooking a ravine down below her. She looked up to see the Hulk, sitting on the edge that sat over the ravine, his arms on his knees as he stared into the void. "Hulk!" Twilight yelled as she ran over to him. Hulk didn't turn his head as she approached, but he did grunt at her to let her know he heard him. "Hulk, we need your help. Something terrible has happened in Ponyville and-" "Why you here?" Hulk asked her. "Why stupid pony bothering Hulk? Is pony trying to hurt Hulk again? Or is pony trying to trap Hulk in stone? Because Hulk will smash you if pony try." "That's not important right now," Twilight said as she floated herself in front of Hulk so that he had to look at her. "Ponies are dying in Ponyville and we have no idea why and none of our magic or potions are working. Banner is the only creature on this planet smart enough to figure out what is going on. We need Banner!" "Banner no here. Banner-" "Isn't gone," Twilight said to cut him off, not believing that she did that. "You're not the type to kill needlessly, so I know that Banner is still in there. We need him, so please, let him out!" Hulk just glared at her, remembering how she had been the one who always mistrusted him and tried to hurt him. Twilight looked into his eyes, seeing that he wasn't going to help her, that he was still hurting from the previous day. So she had to do something that she didn't believe would work. She tried to appeal to his softer side. "Hulk, I know you're mad at me and I know you want nothing to do with us at the moment, but ponies are dying. And if Pinkie was right about you, she said that you care for others even when you're enraged or hurt. So I am asking you...no, begging you, please let Banner out. We need him!" Hulk looked down at her with rage in his eyes, but she could see that the rage was beginning to subside. Hulk let out a sigh and stood up, closing his eyes as he did so. "Pony want Banner, Pony get Banner. Hulk no longer care." Twilight watched in amazement as Hulk slowly began to shrink down until he had completely reverted to a confused Banner, who looked at Twilight while shielding his eyes from the sun. "Twilight?" he asked in a weak voice. "What's going on? Where-?" "I'll explain everything later, but right now I need to get you to Ponyville," she said quickly as she grabbed him and started up her teleportation spell again, re-appearing in the library a few seconds later. Banner stood up and looked around the library, his eyes widening when he saw all the sick ponies laying on the floor--and all the dead. "What happened here?" he asked her, immediately in 'go mode'. "I'm not sure. One minute they were fine and the next-" Twilight didn't even finish before Banner had grabbed a syringe from one of the doctors and drew a blood sample, running into the basement to examine the blood. Celestia and Twilight ran after him as he started to look through the microscope. "No..." he whispered to himself, his eyes growing huge just as his face turned white. "What is it Doctor?" Celestia asked. Banner rubbed his temples with a sad expresssion. "These ponies...all have severe gamma poisoning," he replied softly. The two ponies looked at each other as Banner leaned up against the side of the tree. "So what do we do? What's the cure?" Twilight asked in desperation. Banner looked at her with hollow eyes, feeling his failures in the past coming back to haunt him. "There is no cure," he replied coldly. "No...NO! There has to be a cure! A spell! Something!" she screamed as she rushed back upstairs, leaving Banner alone with Celestia. "How did this happen?" he asked her after a moment of quiet. "I...do not know. There have never been any cases of radiation poisoning in the past until-" "Until the Hulk and I showed up," he finished for her, already knowing what the cause of the poisoning was. Celestia walked over to him and tried to wrap a wing around him, which he slapped off. "Dr. Banner, do not think that this is your fault," she said gently. "You had no idea that something like this would happen. You were inside the Hulk most of the time. You were not in control." "But I should have been!" he yelled at her, his eyes turning green. "I should have thought of the possibilty that your bodies would not be able to handle radiation! That just being around all of you could poison you just as much as it could a human!" "There was also the giant snake that attacked," she reminded him, hoping to calm him down. "It too contained large levels of radiation that was spread all over Ponyville when-" "When the Hulk ripped it apart," he finished with a growl, personally hitting himself for being such a fool. "And whose blood was it that poisoned the snake to begin with? MINE! I'm the cause of all this pain and chaos. GGGRRRAAAAAHHH! DAMN YOU HULK! DAMN YOU FOR NOT LETTING ME DIE AND FORCING ALL TO SUFFER!" Celestia backed up a bit, not used to seeing this side of Banner. He looked so helpless, so full of rage. Just like the Hulk, who hated his own existence. She started to see that maybe the Hulk and Banner weren't too different after all. "So are you just going to sit there and cry?" she asked with a growl. Banner turned to face her and she pushed her face right up to his. "You are a scientist and I am the most powerful spellcaster in all of Equestria. Together we can fix this. And don't you dare give up," she said, cutting off what he was going to say next. "Please Banner, help them. I beg you." Banner looked from her to the chemistry set on the table, an idea beginning to form in his head. "The reason that they are dying is because the amount of gamma they have been infused with is the same amount I was infused with," he told her, gathering up a number of chemicals and potions, beginning to flip through a spell book as he talked. "While that normally kills anyone but me, if we could find a way to reduce the amount of gamma in their cells, the natural ability your ponies have to heal might be able to fight off the rest of the gamma." "Where do we start?" she asked as Banner began to whip up multiple potions, each of which was a bright red. "These are the farthest that humanity has gotten in the field of radiation cures," he told her. "If you can supercharge them, they might be able to fight back the gamma poisoning. None of the ponies have the Hulk in them to transform into. It's a longshot, but-" "We have no choice," Celestia said with her regal voice, unleashing all of her power upon the potions. They changed from a bright red to a rainbow color that radiated with power. Banner quickly scooped them up as Celestia collapsed to the floor exhausted. Banner ran past her and shot up the stairs, bringing Twilight up to speed while tossing her a number of potions. He ran to the closest pony that was still moving and forced half the liquid down it's throat. It coughed horribly and then let out a sigh, its breathing returning to a regular rhythm. He sighed in relief before sprinting to the next one, repeating the process. Within a few minutes, all of the surviving ponies had been saved, allowing Banner to collapse to the floor with a sigh. "YOU DID IT!" Twilight yelled as she tackled Banner with a huge smile. Banner put a hand on her shoulder and pushed her away of him, disgusted that she would even consider thanking him after what he had done. "Don't thank me," he whispered, using all of his self control to keep his head. "I don't deserve it." He stood up and started to walk out of the library, stopping at a small colt that hadn't made it. His eyes teared up when he realized that it was the colt he had saved from poisoning when he had first arrived. Banner closed his eyes and rushed out of the building, past all the ponies that had gathered around outside. He didn't stop running until he was in a field all to himself. He then fell to his knees as tears streamed down his face, feeling his failure begin to overtake him. "They trusted you, Banner! And you failed them!" he yelled at himself in a voice that was only half his, his body shaking in rage as the image of the dead colt was burned into his mind. That colt had a future; had a life ahead of him. And now he was gone due to Banner. He let loose a cry to the sky, that if you listened closely, you wouldn't be able to tell if it was him screaming or the Hulk.