Hulk looked up towards the viewing booth, snarling at the figure who sat in the lavish chair that he had conjured for himself. Discord sat on his throne, sipping some drink and looking down at Hulk with a smirk. He snapped his fingers and suddenly the empty stadium was filled with cheering ponies, none of whom were real but only shadows and statues. He stood up and held out his hands to silence the roaring crowd while walking to the booth's edge.
"Mares and gentlecolts! Let me be the first to welcome you to Discord's battle royal!" he cried out to the crowd, who started roaring in approval. Discord held out his hands again and the crowd fell silent. "Today, for one day only, we will see if the challenger can defeat not only the creatures I throw at him, but also his demons from his past as well. So mares and gentlecolts...LLLLLLLET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!" The crowd went nuts, while Hulk started to look around for his first opponent. From a gate that opened up behind him came his foe, a creature with many different animal parts to form its shape.
"That right, the ferocious manticore will start things off," Discord said with a chuckle. "Now, how will Hulk fare against-?"
"RRRRAAAAHHHHH!!" Hulk charged straight at the manticore and shattered its face with one punch, launching it back against the coliseum wall with such force that it was blasted back into darkness. The crowd fell silent as Hulk turned to Discord with a smile.
"Puny manitcore weak. Hulk stronger than anything thrown at him."
'Careful, Hulk, he seems to be able to manipulate the reality around him to create whatever he wants,' Banner reminded him. 'Caution is our best bet for now.'
"W-well, it seems that the Hulk is stronger than I thought," Discord said with a smile. "And it seems that any of the creatures from our world that I send at him would be a waste. So, let's try something from HIS world instead." Discord snapped his fingers and another creature took shape. But this wasn't a living being, because it had purple and blue armor, glowing red eyes and was even larger than the Hulk.
'A Sentinel,' Banner said with a frown.
"Puny tin can!" Hulk responded with a roar as he leapt up at the robot. It looked down at him and shot its fist off its arm and caught Hulk in the stomach with it, launching the Hulk back into the ground. Hulk skidded a bit as the fist continued to push him along the ground, but he eventually managed to wrestle it off of him and get back up. "Puny tin can stronger than Hulk thought," he growled as the fist went back to its owner. "But Hulk smash all the same." The Sentinel opened its mouth and fired out a beam of energy towards the Hulk, but he ducked underneath of it and drove his fist into the robot's knee. Hulk growled in frustration as the metal did bend, but not enough to impede the robot. Sentinel swung with the foot Hulk had just been standing on and kicked him in the chest, sending him into the wall.
'Hulk, we need a plan of attack. 'Head on' doesn't work against Sentinel,' Banner said as Hulk pulled himself out of the wall. 'I think that you should try to go for the head and arms, that's where most of the weapons are said to be located.' Hulk focused on the right arm and leapt for it, watching as the robot swung at him. Hulk caught its arm and used it to swing himself towards its shoulder, driving both his feet into the shoulder before slamming both fists into it as well. Hulk smiled as the force crumpled the Sentinel's arm, breaking it off. Hulk kicked off of the Sentinel and landed on the coliseum floor, smiling as the Sentinel's arm hit the ground.
"Puny robot not so tough," Hulk smiled. The Sentinel looked down at its arm and looked back up at the Hulk, starting to advance towards him.
'Hulk, now try his legs. Without them he will collapse.' Hulk nodded and charged at the Sentinel, dodging its mutliple attempts to shoot him. Hulk drop-kicked the knee that he had injured earlier and shattered the robot's knee, toppling the giant robot. Hulk then leapt up onto its shoulders and tore his fingers into the robot's head, lifting up with his might. Discord's face fell as Hulk ripped the robot's head clean off and tossed it at him, snapping his fingers to throw up a shield.
"PUNY ROBOT NOT AS STRONG AS HULK!" Hulk roared as the Sentinel's head bounced off the shield, as the rest of it vanished in a puff of smoke. Discord looked at Hulk in a different light now, realizing that none of his cheap tricks were going to work against him. Time to use his big guns.
"Alright Hulk, it seems that you are indeed a much greater foe than I originally thought. But can you defeat those that have tried to defeat you for so long?" Another snap of his fingers caused even more shadows to appear, but this time they were all people that Hulk recognized: Spiderman, Iron Man, Thor; each of whom were people Hulk had fought in the past. "This is your final challenge, Hulk. If you can defeat them, then you will have the chance to personally battle the God of Chaos himself...ME!" The crowd roared in approval as Spiderman shot a bit of webbing into Hulk's eyes and blinded him, giving Thor the chance to attack him while he tried to get the webbing off his eyes. Hulk tore off the webbing to see a hammer slam into his jaw and knock him backwards.
"Oooo..." the crowd said together as Hulk picked himself up. Hulk snarled and charged towards Thor, arms outstretched to catch him if he tried to move. Thor smiled as repulsor blasts struck Hulk in the back and stopped his charge. Hulk spun around to face Iron Man who put all of his power into his thrusters and flew into Hulk's gut, pushing the giant towards Thor. Thor brought his hammer back as Hulk got closer and swung a home run hit into his back. Hulk staggered from the blow while Thor brought his hammer back and slammed it into the back of his head.
'Hulk, 'iron shield'!' Hulk barely registered what Banner said, but his body followed his words. Hulk grabbed Iron Man and placed him behind his back, smiling as the sound of hammer on metal rang in his ears. Before either could register what he had done, Hulk spun around and slammed Iron Man into Thor, tossing the both of them. He barely had a moment to celebrate as Spiderman shot webbing into his eyes again and kicked him on the bridge of his nose.
"Puny bug man should know that bug man can't hurt Hulk," Hulk growled as he ripped the webbing off.
"Yeah? Well big ugly forgot that he can only hurt others," Spiderman shot back in a voice eerily similar to Peter's. "Let's be honest Hulk, all you do is kill and destroy. That's what you are. A monster."
"HULK NOT MONSTER! HULK STRONGEST!" Hulk roared as he barrled towards Spiderman. Spidey flipped out of the way and shot two strands of webbing into the wall, using himself like a slingshot. Hulk saw it coming and spun to catch the spider as he came flying towards the Hulk feet first. Hulk grabbed both his legs and shattered them with a bit of pressure, smiling as Spiderman cried out in pain before slamming him into the ground. Hulk looked up as Mjolnir came flying into his face and knocked some of Hulk's teeth out while forcing him away from Spider-Man.
"Prepare thyself, for now you face a god!" Thor roared as Mjolnir returned to his hand. Thor lifted the hammer high as bolts of lightning came down to strike it. "HAVE AT THEE!" Thor yelled as he threw Mjolnir at the Hulk. Hulk snarled and planted both his feet into the ground while cupping his hands around his gut to catch Mjolnir. But even the Hulk's mighty strength was unable to stop the hammer, which slammed into Hulk's gut and drove him across the ground, where Hulk's still-planted feet created tears in the ground while the lightning and steel pushed him into the wall. Hulk groaned and sank to the ground as the hammer returned to Thor's outstretched hand.
"You fought well giant, but you cannot defeat a god," Thor said as he walked towards Hulk, beginning to spin the hammer. Hulk lifted his head weakly as Thor stood in front of him, lifting the hammer over his head. "Fare thee well." Right before Thor could swing the hammer, Hulk's foot shot out and caught him in the knee, snapping it. Thor cried out in pain as Hulk sprung up and grabbed the thunder god's hammer arm and threw him into Spiderman, hammer arm first, crushing the spider under Mjolir. Thor had just enough time to turn around as Hulk came crashing down from the sky on top of him, crushing Thor underneath his body.
"Puny god has fallen! Hulk face chaos god now!" Hulk roared as he held up Thor's broken body. Discord frowned and snapped his fingers again, the three heroes vanishing from sight.
"Very well, Hulk, just as we agreed, you will now face me," Discord said as he left his chair and floated down into the arena, theme music playing and the crowd going nuts for him. "But can you beat the master of disaster, the king of the ring and the boss of chaos?!" Discord asked him with a smile. Hulk's response was to roar and charge straight at Discord, extending his arms to his side so that he could catch Discord no matter which way he went. Discord smirked at the charging Hulk and snapped his fingers, a white light consuming both him and the Hulk. When Hulk could see again, he found Discord standing in front of him...and an active volcano below them. While Discord was safe from the lava since he could fly, Hulk could not. So Discord watched with a smile as Hulk fell with a roar into the lava below, watching as his green body slowly sank beneath the surface.
"Well, that was easy," Discord said with a smirk as he floated down above the lava's surface, shaking his hand at the bubbling pool. "I hate to have to burn ponies alive, but fortunately for me the Hulk isn't a pony. Welp, time to head back to Moony and-" Discord was cut off mid-sentence as a burning green hand shot out of the lava and grabbed hold of his leg, causing Discord to look down in terror at the smiling face of the Hulk that surfaced.
"Hulk burn you," Hulk said evily before he dove back down under the lava with Discord in tow. Discord howled with pain as the lava began to consume him, while Hulk pulled Discord closer to him and brought back his fist to end it. Before he could strike, Discord snapped his fingers and the scenery changed again, this time Hulk found himself floating under the sea. Discord panted heavily as the burning sensation began to die down and he glared at Hulk.
"Alright, maybe fire was too nice for you. This time I'll let the sea crush you for me!" he roared before clapping his hands together, causing the currents around Hulk to start to swirl around him. Hulk let loose a dilulated roar as the currents started to drag him under, fighting against the sea with all his might to no avail. "Finally it's done," Discord muttered after Hulk had sunk down beyond where he could see. "Darn beast, setting me ablaze like that. He really should...No..." Discord muttered as he heard the sound of plates beneath the sea shaking. He snapped his fingers to teleport down from where the chaos was coming to find Hulk still alive and pushing against the very force of the sea with all his strength. With one last push, Hulk kicked himself straight up, rocketing out of the currents and pressure in which Discord thought he had trapped him. Hulk grabbed the draconis by the tail and dragged him to the surface of the ocean in which Discord had dropped him. Hulk grabbed Discord by the throat and started to choke him, forcing the Master of Chaos to snap his fingers once again. This time Hulk found himself standing outside of what looked like Ponyville, but everything was weird and different. The buildings were floating, chocolate rained from the skies and nothing seemed to make sense. Discord stood back up, glaring at the Hulk with a look of pure rage.
"Very well creature, I wanted to do this without dirtying my hands, but it seems that I must deal with you personally." Discord raised one hand and a pillar of rock shot out of the ground, tossing Hulk into the air. Discord raised both hands and summoned two more mountains of stone, which he then forced to collide by slamming his hands together. The mountains obeyed him as they crushed the Hulk from both sides with tons of rock and stone. Then, Discord clasped his hands together and pointed them at the ground, cutting out a large chuck of the planet, which he then lifted over the mountains. "Farewell." With a yell Discord brought the chunck of rock on top of the mountain, crushing it as well as any thing inside. Discord then sighed as he turned back towards Canterlot, but was stopped once again when the ground began to shake. He spun around to see the giant pile of rocks start to leave the ground, revealing one very alive and angry giant beneath.
"Hulk see what you can do and Hulk not impressed," Hulk said with a smirk, lifting the mountain of rock over his head. "This is how you crush someone!" Discord brought his hands together as Hulk threw the mountain at him, using his magic to stop it just over his head. Discord smirked as the mountain came to a stop...only to realize that Hulk had been planning something else
"GAAAAMMMMAAAAA QQQQQUUUUUAAAAAAAKKKKKKEEE!" Discord couldn't even snap his fingers as Hulk slammed his fists into the mountain for all he was worth; the shockwave generated by the impact shattered the mountain and rained debris down upon Discord, who tried to teleport away but was quickly consumed by the rubble and debris. He managed to hold off most of the debris, but even he couldn't stop the giant green monster that drove both his feet into his chest. Hulk stepped off of the crushed Discord with a smirk while he bent down to pick Discord up by the end of his tail, an evil grin spreading on his face as he lifted Discord above his head...and dropped him back to the ground, figuring that anymore might just kill the god. However, Hulk did have one last thing to say.
"Puny god," Hulk said with a smile, walking away as Discord struggled to breathe. Hulk looked around with a smirk as Discord's world began to dissapate, returning the world to how it was supposed to look, an amazing city that was on fire with changelings flying all over the place. He was happy to be back.
"Hulk." Hulk turned to see Luna and Pinkie standing next to him, smiles on their faces. "Glad to see that you are alright. I'm even happier to see that Discord has been defeated."
"Puny god no match for Hulk! Hulk is strongest!" Hulk said with a grin.
"I'm just glad that you're alright," Pinkie said with a sigh, walking over and hugging his leg. "We managed to get most of the ponies out of Canterlot and the baddies seem to only be focusing on you. The other girls will be here soon, but there's still a lot going on." Hulk noticed that she was covered in soot, and that smile he had always seen on her was gone. Hulk looked around and realized that her home, or at least something close to it, was burning. Hulk got down to a knee and smiled down at Pinkie.
"Pony no worry, Hulk stop puny creatures," Hulk said with a grin. A gasp was heard from Luna and Hulk turned to see what she had gasped at. Nightmare Moon was standing on a balcony that came from the throne room, a smile on her face as she looked down at them.
"You did well to defeat both Chrysalis and Discord, but they played their parts," she said with a grin, looking up at the sky with a smile. She closed her eyes and let the magic flow from her horn, a magic that began to change all of Equestria, all of the planet. Everypony everywhere watched as the sun sank into the horizon, while the moon rose to take its place, leaving the world cast in a shadow that encompassed all of Equestria. Nightmare Moon let out a sigh and opened her eyes, a smile on her face. "Isn't that better? Now the night shall finally rule again! But I am not an unfair ruler. If you can manage to defeat me, Hulk, before the moon has reached its zenith, I will remove the moon from the sky. Come to the throne room when you are ready and prepare for the end."
"You plan to face her, don't you?" Luna asked as Nightmare Moon vanished. Hulk nodded and started to walk towards the throne room, but a pink hoof stopped him.
"Hulk, you're hurt," Pinkie said, pointing to wounds from his battle with Chrysalis and Discord that hadn't healed. "You can't fight her like that."
"Why Hulk not healing?" Hulk whispered to Banner.
'You've been active for far to long without your usual amount of rage to sustain you, and you haven't taken a break,' Banner said. 'You're body won't hold unless you either get really mad or switch back into me for a while.'
"But if we switch back now to recover..." Hulk began.
'Then Equestria will be placed in eternal night,' Banner finished for him. 'It will take maybe a full day to recover and that is time we do not have.' Hulk looked up at where Nightmare Moon was hiding, knowing that she had as much power as he did thanks to his blood. Hulk knew that he would be in a fight for his life. But as he took one look at the pink pony that he had decided to be his friend, he knew that it was a simple answer.
"Hulk go smash night pony," Hulk said as he walked towards the Canterlot castle, casting one last smile at the two behind him before he vanished from sight.
"I wish I could help him," Pinkie said to herself. Then an idea came into her mind and she raced off, a smile spreading on her face.