The group felt the lunar magic wash off of them as Luna's teleportation spell wound down, allowing them to take their first look at the new area in which they found themselves. The group was now at the top of a massive cavern that went down several stories, with a giant sapphire moon placed into the ceiling with love and care. From the markings on the wall and from the way the stones were cut, the first impression they had was that the chamber had been carved out of solid rock by hoof. Torches illuminated the walls in gentle green flames and bathed the group in their light, having a calming effect on the six as they saw the majesty of the room. Ryan then took that moment to hurl.
"Sorry, sorry. Still not good with magic," he apologized weakly to Luna as he placed his hands on his knees and shuddered, forcing himself back to a standing position while the other members of the group gave him a shared look. "Have to admit, I am not a guy easily impressed, but this place is effing awesome."
"Thank you for that, champion. May I be the first to welcome you to the Lunar Resistance!" Luna yelled with pride while she swept her wings back. The giant moon illuminated their world, casting a bright light that allowed them to see clearly down the hole that was in the center of the chamber, noticing how the floors went down in a spiral pattern, making all of the floors essentially a part of each other. "I take it that you know why you are here and what we must do to free this nation?"
"Don't bet on it, Princess, the mare likes to keep secrets close to the chest," Ryan spoke up before the others had time to answer. "I was the only one she shared the passcode with to access the resistance, despite the other five probably being more trustworthy than I am. She more or less explained the situation to me, but for those who don't know, how about explaining?" Luna sighed before looking over each of them.
"I will admit that despite Silver saying that you would all be strange beings, I was expecting griffons or seaponies at most. Not another who looks like Black Adam, an ogre, a bat pony...Trixie." Trixie raised her eyebrows with interest as Luna stopped at her name and seemed to glare at the unicorn before continuing. "Whatever the armored one is, and a regular human, as far as I can tell."
"That about sums us up."
"I have a question for you, though," she said with power as she turned towards Captain Marvel with her magic glowing. "You wear the same lightning bolt and similar garb to Black Adam. How do I know you are not an ally of his and are here to kill us all?!"
"Because I am the true champion chosen by the wizard!" Marvel said with a fire, almost as if he were insulted that Luna would consider him to be like Black Adam. "Adam abuses his power while I use it to protect and save others! Shazam chose me because he saw that I had a pure heart and would not be corrupted with power."
"Then prove it to me," Luna said with her horn still aglow. Ryan and Batmare both noticed a number of ponies armed with strange weaponry starting to encircle the group, but they still remained at a distance. "The one thing that Black Adam never did, in all the years he had his powers, was return to his mortal form. Show me that you can give up your power and I will believe you." The confidence fell from Marvel's face and he looked back at the group rubbing his head, not sure what to do. "What is the matter? Have you something to hide?"
"Well...ugh, fine. Shazam!" A golden bolt of divine thunder struck within the cage, despite there being no thunderclouds or a hole blasted in the roof for the lightning to answer. All who were watching shielded their eyes as the lightning descended, but when it ceased and the smoke cleared they were dumbfounded by what they saw--a small human with a red t-shirt and blue, baggy pants was standing where the great champion had once stood. "Tada."
"Oh, that's right, you were a kid," Hulk remembered with a chuckle. Luna shook her head before looking at the floor with some slight embarrassment.
"I see now. You are indeed...a child. You may change back if you so wish, I believe you."
"Eh, I don't like being in the Captain form if I don't have to," the kid said with a shrug before looking back at the other stunned members of the group. "Yo, name's Billy. You can think of me as the real form to my alter ego, Captain Marvel." They all nodded except for Ryan, who had a thin smile on his face. Trixie also caught that once again Luna was giving her a strange look, but the princess then shook her head and began to walk deeper into the cavern.
"The silver one told me that you would be coming soon, so I prepared a room for all of you to stay in," Luna said once they had gotten to a pair of doors that were large enough even for the Hulk. "I had no idea what size all of you would be, and I figured it best if I prepared for the worst. I am glad that I decided to go with a nine foot room." The doors swung back with her magic to reveal a large squared room with a number of small beds next to a very large one. A number of benches also lined the room next to the walls, but aside from those few objects there was nothing else.
"Wow, this is already better than where I stayed," Ryan said with mock amazement in his voice as the seven of them entered, Luna motioning for them to sit while she stood in the center of the room. The six of them did so, with Trixie and Batmare sitting next to each other, Mr. Bubbles sitting as close to them as he could while Hulk chose to sit on the floor, knowing better than to try. Billy sat next to him and Ryan chose the seat farthest away from everyone else, leaning against the wall and tilting his hood over his eyes.
"This is the tale of this land and how it has fallen into such a state. Thousands of years ago my sister, Celestia, and I ruled the nation as equals, one of us upholding the day while the other defended the night. You can guess which was which," Luna said with a small laugh before clearing her throat and continuing. "But then I grew jealous of my sister and--"
"And you turned on her, tried to cast the land into eternal night and she banished you with the Elements. We all come from different versions of Equestria, so I assume that we all know that much?" Ryan asked the other members of his group, Luna seeing that each of them nodded to confirm his assumptions. "How about you just start from when Black Adam showed up?"
"Very well then. I was not there at the time, so what I say now is based on records and the recalling's of others, so it might be shaky. After a horrible battle with the changeling armies my sister came across a town that had been devastated by the fighting, leaving no survivors within its walls...except for two small fillies," Luna said with pain flooding her eyes as she remembered the two, and their laughs echoed through her mind. "Due to my sister having a very compassionate heart, she took the two in and raised them as her own. That is where my sister and I have differed. I was always more a fighter for the most part, and she was always the more compassionate and reasonable of the two."
"Bullshit," Ryan muttered under his breath.
"Radiance and Sunnysmiles, those are their names, and will be key in this story. Two weeks after she had taken them in, that was when Black Adam arrived in our land. But he was mortal and trapped without his voice when my sister found him, and due to her compassionate nature she took him in," Luna said with venom in her voice. "For ten years she took care of him and in return he became closer and closer to my sister until he became a protector of the family. I will admit that back then, I never saw him as a threat and thought that he was simply an angry person. If only I had known what he would have become."
"Don't blame yourself, Princess," Billy said with sympathy in his voice, Luna noticing the emotion and turned her head to look at Billy. "The wizard who gave me my powers also gave Black Adam his powers as well, believing him to have a pure and noble heart. If he could fool the greatest wizard in the world, he could easily pull the wool over your eyes. Don't blame yourself."
"Thank you, Billy. But then everything changed when two important things happened at the same time. Sunnysmiles' disease became terminal and Discord broke free," Luna said with fire. Hulk clenched his fists at the mention of Discord while Ryan's eyes became colder. "And with my sister torn between trying to be with her daughter and having to save Equestria, she went into battle with her mind split. And during the fight, Discord took off the enchantment that bound Adam's voice."
"And that was when he called down the word."
"Yes, and with him having been returned to his true power, he killed Discord and then a few years later he killed Chrysalis when her army attacked during Shining Armor's wedding," Luna said with sadness in her eyes, but now a number of the champions were giving each other looks of confusion.
"Hold on, during his wedding?" Trixie eventually asked with confusion, Luna nodding in response. "Black Adam was there?"
"Wait a moment, when he killed Discord, do you mean the first time he broke out?" Hulk asked in confusion, tilting his head down when Luna nodded in response once again. "But that would mean Black Adam showed up before Twilight and the others became the Elements of Harmony."
"That is correct. Black Adam has been in this land for fifteen years now, ten of which he spent without his voice," Luna confirmed, helping the timeline add up. "After this, he wiped out nearly the entire griffons army, killed the leader of the dragons, decimated all who stood in his path and...murdered Twilight and the other Elements of Harmony." The room went dead quite at this point since all of the champions were struck dumb by Luna's words. Billy wore a look of both shock and horror on his face and he reached for something that was hidden beneath his shirt, while the other members looked on stunned.
"So, Black Adam has the power to destroy Harmony itself? Fucking perfect," Ryan growled with bitterness in his voice, turning some of the others' attention to him.
"What do you mean?"
"I'll explain myself later. Luna, please continue."
"I thought that would be the moment when Celestia realized what kind of man he was, but it was too soon after the death of Radiance for her to be thinking straight. She still thought of him as her champion and refused to condemn him, letting him off with an oath," Luna snarled with pain and hatred in her voice. Billy looked like he wanted to fly off and fight Black Adam that moment, but Hulk was looking at Luna with curious eyes, seeing her coat turn a shade darker and that her eyes were staring to become more cat-like. "That was when I broke off from my sister and created the resistance, to oppose Black Adam and to save Equestria from his wrath."
"That was also around the time that I met the silver mare, and she told me of her plan to gather six champions who could oppose him, those six being you," Luna continued as she turned so that she could look at all of them. "I did not believe at first that you would be enough when she spoke of you, but now that I see that one of you alone can match his power, I am starting to have hope again."
"There is a question that I must ask you, Princess, and that is why do you continue to stare at me like I am one of your foes?" Trixie asked with hooves resting under her chin, getting Luna to turn to look at her. "Is it because you have heard of my story? Or, most likely, I am still evil in this world and I have sided with Black Adam?"
"You speak the truth, Trixie. You were one of the first to side with Adam when he created the Equalizers," Luna confirmed for Trixie, but raised another question with her answer. "The Equalizers are the names of the soldiers that you fought. They wear the armor of the humans that killed Radiance and sent my sister into her depression that has blinded her judgment."
"So, humans are responsible for your world going to hell. Why am I not surprised?" Ryan bitterly grumbled under his breath, but from the look Hulk gave him he knew that his comment hadn't gone unheard.
"But at the top of the Equalizers are the five judges, those who are trusted by Adam to carry out enforcing the peace and protecting the ponies of the land," Luna said with a scowl. "They are the five that you encountered back when you fought the forces. Trixie, at least, the one I know, is the leader because she has had more victories against us then any other. Tinker is a mechanical genius who hates magic. Spike is a orphaned dragon that became completely loyal to Adam after the death of Radiance and is fueled by a portion of his magic." Billy's face turned as white as a ghost when he heard these words and he lowered his head for a moment, while Mr. Bubbles turned his head towards the mare upon hear her description. "The other two are more...mysterious. They are the most stealthy and skilled, and any of my resistance that fight them do not return to the base. We know nothing about them."
"Alright, recap time," Ryan muttered as he pulled out a red book with golden hinges and flipped it open, clicking a pen and starting to write down what had been said. "Black Adam showed up powerless before the events of most of our stories even began and stayed that way for ten years. Then during an attack by Discord, he got his powers back and killed Discord, not letting the Elements trap him like they were supposed to. He then later killed Chrysalis, who was supposed to live, before killing the Elements themselves. Now he essentially rules the land with full permission to do whatever he wants and uses an army of ponies in Dead Space armor to enforce his rule? God, I hate the multiverse."
"What happened to the Elements themselves? Does Celestia still have them?" Batmare asked, Luna shaking her head.
"No, the magic that he used to kill Twilight and her friends turned the Elements to ash. We are left defenseless against him," Luna whispered. She then looked up at the ceiling and let out a sigh, turning and heading for the door with a small smile. "It has gotten very late and if you are to start aiding us tomorrow, then you all must rest. Tomorrow I will discuss how we are going to finally fight back...and hopefully win the war." Luna nodded to them and left the room, shutting the doors behind her and leaving the group to look at one another.
"So, was anypony fully satisfied with her story?" Trixie asked as she took off her cape and rested it beside her on the floor. "Because I know I wasn't. There's more to this story than she's letting on."
"My biggest question is, where does the silver mare fit into this?" Batmare asked with a look of concentration. "Black Adam has a vendetta against her, that much is certain, but according to Luna's story she does not even appear in it? Why does he hate her so? And it can't be that she's helping Luna, because he hasn't chased her across the multiverse like he has the mare. Something's missing."
"That can be a question we ask her when she shows up again," Hulk said as he turned to loom towards Ryan with a hard glare. "You said something earlier, something about the Elements. I think it's time that you...are you sure? Really, you want to try to talk to him? In the few hours I've known him, I've wanted to smash him twice. Alright, if you want." The others had just begun to wonder who the heck Hulk was talking to when the green giant began to shrink, growing smaller and smaller until he had taken the form of a man no bigger than Ryan, a man with brown hair and some stubble on his face. To the others' surprise the shirt and pants shrunk with him and now covered the small human's body, who reached inside one of the pockets and pulled out a pair of glasses.
"Doctor Bruce Banner. Wondered when you would show yourself," Ryan said with a smirk as the doctor put on his glasses and turned his gaze to the other human with a puzzled look. "Yeah, I know the Hulk has another side, the one that controls him and holds him back. You're quite famous where I'm from."
"That was the old Hulk, he controls himself now," Banner said in Hulk's defense before casting a quick glance at all of the others. "I have been listening from within so I know what's going on. If any of you are wondering about my relationship to the Hulk, think of me as the brains to his brawn. And I have to agree with Trixie, Luna isn't telling us something, something about Black Adam."
"What do you mean?" Billy asked with a cold fury in his eyes, a look that was not lost on the doctor.
"In all of her descriptions of him, she depicts him as pure evil, yet the actions she describes aren't all evil," Banner began as he put the points together in his mind. "He killed Discord to stop him from letting chaos reign. He killed Chrysalis during Shining's wedding, a time that I was told where she defeated Celestia and Canterlot almost fell to the changeling. He has also created a team to defend Equestria and appointed those five, on the thought that they would defend the ponies. And despite being more than powerful enough to kill Celestia, which I'm guessing based on what I've seen of Billy's power, he allows her to continue ruling. I've fought many an evil over the years and that does not fit the description of one that is pure evil."
"Heh, that's a nice way of looking at a tyrant and a murderer," Billy scowled with venom pouring from his voice, getting everyone in the room to look at him. "Too bad that there's no one in this room that's fought Black Adam before and seen his true side. Oh, wait."
"Alright Billy, I take it Black Adam is your supervillain then?" Banner asked, Billy nodding as he crossed his arms. "Very well, then tell us of the Black Adam that you know of."
"Black Adam is the false champion, the one who tricked the wizard into giving him the power of the gods. When the wizard realized his mistake, he banished Black Adam to the ends of the universe. But then he flew five thousand years to get back," Billy said with a cold tone, the others looking at each other with worry at his words. "Yeah, he's pretty much immortal. So am I, as the Captain. But when Black Adam was still on Earth, he slaughtered nations and wiped out any who opposed him, including annihilating an entire nation of two million innocents."
"That does see horrible," Banner said as he closed his eyes to focus more on the problem. "But now if we take what you've said and put it into the multiverse theory..."
"Yes, I have studied that theory," Trixie continued for Bruce. "The theory that there are an infinite amount of other worlds out in different realities, some of them nearly identical to the ones we know and others that are radically different. Are you suggesting Banner than this Black Adam may not be the evil one Billy knows?"
"No, if he was a hero there would be no need for a resistance to oppose him. Luna also said that he killed the Elements of Harmony, something I will not forgive so easily," Banner said with a very controlled rage in his voice. "What I'm saying is, that this version of him might not be as bad as the one Billy's is."
"You guys are sure making a lot of excuses for a man that we know has killed six of the kindest and most caring ponies and murdered a good number of others," Billy spat as he leaned back against the wall behind him.
"For most of my life, Billy, I have been fighting; most of the times for reasons that I do not know," Banner said while images flashed through his mind. "I am tired of fighting or being manipulated into being a weapon. I am trying to learn all the facts before I decided to give Hulk the go ahead to attack a being of that power."
"There is a question that we have not brought up yet. And that is, what if the silver mare is not is as good as she claims to be?" Batmare asked, turning all of the others to look at her. "I am sure that she has saved you in your worlds as she did mine, but what if it is all an act? What if she has gathered us to overthrow Celestia and take Equestria for herself?" The group lowered their heads for a moment and thought about this, but then Ryan let out a small chuckle.
"No, what she says is true for the most part. She truly is trying to stop this world from falling apart, but Black Adam and his goons are only half of the problem. There's a monster...no, more like a force that she's trying to stop. A force that will be trying to escape soon. The force of destruction," Ryan explained with a shiver. "And I know this, because I fought one of its agents, a pony that was filled with the power of destruction. I lost a world to it."
"You couldn't stop it?" Batmare asked.
"You can't fight destruction with destruction. There are only a number of things that can defeat destruction...and I think that Banner has figured out the plan," Ryan said with a smile as he caught the look on the scientists face.
"Yes, I think I understand now, but first I'd like to speak my mind," Banner said as he looked at all five other members of the group. "I have been a part of many teams with many different heroes. I've also been sucked into multiple realities on a number of occasions. In fact, those are my vacation days. But I can tell that some of you have never been a part of a team like this before, so I have some advice. Make friends, learn who you work best with and remember what you're fighting for. It makes the long road easier to drive."
"Thanks, Banner, I feel a lot better hearing those words come from your mouth," Ryan said with a shake of his head. Banner looked at Ryan, not with anger or coldness, but instead with a hint of curiosity. "I mean really, having friends will surely win us the day. Yay, friendship."
"Would you like to explain the reason for those words, or are you going to take a page from the mare's book and not explain yourself?" Banner asked Ryan, who shrugged and stood up to leave the room.
"I think that I'm going to find the bathroom and have some alone time. If I'm part of a team now, then this might be the last time I can truly be alone. Catch you all later." Ryan opened the doors and left the room as he said this, the other members of the group splitting up as well. Batmare and Trixie went off to talk while Billy exited the room, but Banner thought about what Ryan had said.
'Out of all of us here, you are trying the hardest to hide something,' Banner thought as he also got up.
'Want me to beat it out of him?'
'No. Give me time. I have a feeling getting answers out of him will take more than force.'