//------------------------------//
// Peaceful Talks?! 
// Story: The War of Champions 
// by Onomonopia 
//------------------------------//

A hail storm of gunfire tore through the air around Ryan while he sprinted for his life to an overturned mail box, the only cover that was within sprinting distance of the human. 'On the plus side, don't seem to need to worry about collateral!' he thought quickly as his peripheral vision noticed that the rounds that failed to rip him apart didn't penetrate through any of the houses behind him. With a dive of desperation, he threw himself onto the ground and managed to use his momentum to skid right behind the mailbox, where the sounds of the rounds imbedding themselves into where he had been just a second ago caused him to shake slightly.

"Okay Ryan, I was fine with your plan up until we smashed that crystal gate, but now that your plan seems to be, 'get shot to death', you've lost me," Hulk roared with a laugh over the gunfire while he slammed his palms into the city streets, creating a tidal wave of stone and crystal that hurled the guards off of their hooves into the air, where only the pegasi members of the force were saved from crashing back down into the streets.

'This is why we didn't elect Ryan as the plan maker,' Banner pointed out from the back of Hulk's mind before warning Hulk of stasis-wielders behind him. Hulk spun with the force of a small cyclone and clapped his hands together, generating a shockwave powerful enough to blast the ponies away before they had the chance to slow him down. 'Hulk...how are you holding up? It's only been a day since you've decided to resurface again and I was wondering if-'

"Look, Ryan made some good points in his argument about me not being a total monster of destruction, but right now my only goal is bringing down this Spire and ending this war," Hulk grunted quickly in reply as he created a shield of crystal from the side of a house, stopping the stasis burst with his newfound protection. "After that's over, we can worry about whether or not I can be trusted without you."

A number of small explosions went off, and a cloud of smoke completely engulfed the main square of the Crystal Empire, leaving both Banner and Hulk confused as to what happened before a hooded human slid under the Hulk's legs and crouched beneath him while his eyes darted around.

"As much fun as you seem to be having, I found that the Spire and the Crystal Palace are one in the same, meaning that we'll have to fight our way through an entire castle filled with guards, kings, and queens if we hope to get to that orb," Ryan informed the two before giving them both a sinister smile. "And while I'm all for the idea of bringing the whole tower down and watching the ponies flee in terror, I have a feeling that you don't want to risk any casualties and that we'll have to do this the hard way."

"You're right there," Hulk relayed from Banner as the smoke began to clear, giving the three a moment to look up at the top of the tower, where a beam of magic was seen emerging from a sphere of power at the very top, surrounded by a shield. "And I can't jump to it. Alright, guess we have no choice but to take a little stroll through the Crystal Palace. Let's hope that they can accommodate someone of my size."

The smoke cleared just as the two of them began sprinting towards the entrance to the palace, yet it only took a few steps before Hulk was far ahead of Ryan, which left the human open as the perfect target. "ARGH! That was me BOOTY!" Ryan howled in pain, as one of the many rounds that were all trying to kill him struck him right in the ass, the shock of being shot momentarily turning him into a pirate before the pain made him collapse.

"Heh, they shot the ass in the ass," Hulk said with a smirk as he lunged at Ryan, coming down like a meteor over top of him and using his body to prevent any more shots from striking the cursing human. "Come on, we can't have you dying on us just yet," Hulk said as he scooped Ryan up into one of his arms like he was nothing, before plowing ahead once again through a storm of gunfire and stasis blasts, the latter of which he avoided perfectly.

"Looks like we have to let ourselves in!" Hulk yelled right before he hurled his nine foot frame right into and through the reinforced doors that shattered immediately in the face of such power. Hulk shielded the human with his arms as the two skidded across the floor, coming to a stop in the center of a large library. "Wow, looks kinda like the one back home. Hey Ryan, can you stand?"

"They shot me in the ass! What do you think?!" Ryan snarled in pain as he forced himself back to a standing position, pulling out his baton and flicking it on. Once the electricity had heated the metal enough, he drove the side of the baton onto his wound, which cauterized it and allowed Hulk to hear a number of choice swear words that Ryan had picked up across the multiverse.

"Okay...we want the top floor," Ryan panted with pain in each word while he hobbled over to the stairs, barely noticing as the Hulk used the crystal in the floor to create a barrier, which he jammed in the door to keep the guards out. A cry of sorrow escaped his lips as he saw that the stairs went up for a long time. "Hey Hulk, think you can just jump all the way to the top? Floors have never stopped you before."

"Sorry Ryan, while I could do that, Banner says that we'd run the risk of bringing the palace down," Hulk relayed as the jade giant began to march up the stairs, surprised that they held his weight as he ascended. Ryan began to swear under his breath again as he hobbled up the stairs after the Hulk as best he could. His slow, complaint-filled climb was interrupted as the guards managed to blow down the barrier that Hulk had constructed, giving Ryan just enough time to utter a few more choice words before Hulk picked him up by the back of his jacket and hurled himself up most of the stairs. Hulk crashed down near the top and had to immediately throw himself forward, landing right in front of the doors to the throne room as the whole staircase went tumbling down behind him.

"Well, that's one way to keep them from coming after us," Ryan decided as Hulk dropped him onto the floor, the both of them looking at the crystal doors before them with slight interest. "Seems this is the entrance to the throne room. Think if we kidnap Cadence we can use her as a bargaining chip? Maybe that will get those soldiers to stop shooting me."

"I don't prefer to resort to such tactics unless I'm outmatched," Hulk informed Ryan while he placed a hand on the door, getting a confused look from the human.

"But you're the Hulk. When are you ever outmatched?" Ryan asked.

"Exactly." Hulk then threw the doors open and the two walked inside, somewhat surprised by what they saw. Across the room from them were two large thrones made of crystals, with a smaller one in between the two, and in front of each throne stood the pony that sat at said throne. The duo had anticipated that both Cadence and Shining Armor would be there, but to their surprise they found a small foal hiding behind Cadence's legs, and he gazed at the two with fear written all over his face.

"Well, well, this works out nicely," Ryan said with a devious chuckle as he rubbed his hands together. "We get three hostages for the price of one. If anything will get those guards to stop shooting it will be-" Hulk smacked Ryan lightly in the back of the head to shut him up, but since he was the Hulk a light tap resulted in Ryan getting hurled halfway across the room, which introduced his face to the floor of the throne room. Everypony looked at the human laying in the center of the room on his face with no idea what to think, giving Ryan a moment to lay there before he slowly stood up and gave Hulk a venomous glare.

"You must be the false champions that we were told about," Cadence eventually said after a moment. "We figured that you would be here for us eventually." Cadence expected a number of responses to her statement, but what she didn't expect was for Ryan to throw back his head and laugh like a lunatic, the laugh scaring the family far more than the giant behemoth behind the human did.

"Here for you? No, the princess we're after is far more crazy and blast happy. The fact that you haven't tried to blast me into ash yet, shows me that you are far more restrained than any of the other rulers of this land," Ryan cackled with a large smile on his face that was so unnerving, that Cadence made sure to double the barrier that she had placed around her son.

"So, you are after the Queen," Shining Armor said with narrowed eyes, but since Ryan let out another cackle while he began to walk forward, Shining found his nerves starting to fail him a bit. 

"Oh yes, we have plans for her. First we are going to-"

"Ryan, you're scaring the kid." Hulk's voice broke through the bit of insanity that had trapped the ponies within its presence and got Ryan to turn around--to give Hulk a glare of annoyance. "Ignore him, he's a bit of a lunatic. Allow me to answer your question. No, we are not here to bring down Celestia. That's not our real goal."

"Really? Because I can't think of any other reason that you'd want to bring down the Spires and leave Canterlot open to attack," Shining snarled in reply, but as the Hulk turned his sight to him Shining nearly felt his nerves give out completely. Hulk's face thinned for a moment, as if he were coming to a tough decision, before the goliath let out a sigh and dropped to the floor, shaking the entire castle as he crossed his legs. To the ponies shock, the green goliath began to shrink down and in a matter of seconds he was a regular person not much bigger than Ryan.

"As crazy as he is, Ryan did deduce something about the two of you that I agree with. You are far more restrained than nearly anypony else we've met in this land," Banner agreed while he looked up at the rulers with far wiser eyes than the ones that looked out at them from beneath a black hood. "The fact that you also do not have one of the Judges standing guard over the Spire indicates that either you believe that you can protect it yourselves, or that you're not entirely onboard with Black Adam's plans. Given what he did to your sister, Shining, I'm inclined to think more in favor of the latter."

"You...know?" Shining asked with complete bafflement in his voice, before he quickly looked down at his son and regained his composure.

"Yes. And I am sorry. But as I was saying, it seems to me that you are not fully for Black Adam's plans. But your loyalty to Celestia prevents you from going against him entirely, since he is essentially her voice at this point," Banner mused. "Am I right?"

"That, and he saved our lives," Shining said with a nod to his wife. "I owe him that much."

"I see. So it is for that reason that you are opposing us. But what if I told you, that we are not here to defeat either Black Adam or Celestia?" Banner watched as Shining and Cadence's eyes narrowed with suspicion, but he saw also the spark of curiosity in them as well. "There is another force at work here, one with plans far darker and far more vile than you know. We call them the End of Days, and they are the reason for everything that has happened in your world, more or less." With a quick glance Banner could see both the disbelief and the curiosity in the rulers' eyes, telling him that he had them hooked.

"You sure we should give away all of our information to a pair of rulers and their brat?" Ryan asked, getting a quick look from Banner.

"Perhaps if we inform them of the real threat, then we can avoid fighting pointless battles," Banner retorted as he turned his attention back to the leaders of the Crystal Empire. "According to what we know, they have been responsible for many of the tragedies that have taken place over the last couple of years, including the deaths of the ponies that took place a few days ago."

"But we were told that your own Captain Marvel caused that," Cadence shot back, yet there wasn't so much rage in her voice as there was confusion.

"That is slightly true. Marvel did detonate the bomb that the End of Days had planted there," Banner clarified sadly. Shining and Cadence began to talk quietly to themselves for a number of minutes, giving Ryan enough time to give Banner a look of concern before the two turned back around to face them.

"Why are you telling us this?" Shining asked, getting Banner to look at him with a slightly confused look. "I mean, what is the point? I've heard of the Hulk from Adam, and I know that he is strong enough to destroy this entire castle without so much as breaking a sweat. It's clear that you are here for the orb, so why bother talking to us when the Hulk could have destroyed it ten minutes ago?"

"That's what I've been wondering," Ryan snarked, but Banner ignored him as he answered.

"Because you all deserve to know the truth," Banner replied with such strength in his voice that the rulers of the empire were slightly taken aback. "Because I want to end this pointless war, and help bring harmony back to the beings that live off friendship and harmony. But in order for me to do that, I need to break down the barriers of suspicion and hatred and help teach the ponies of your world to learn how to trust others again. So, that is why I am telling you this...so that you know, when I say that I am here to help save your world, I mean it. Now the question is, will you let me help you?"

Once again Shining and Cadence quietly spoke with each other, yet the confusion in their eyes was clear enough that even Ryan could tell that they were having trouble doubting Banner's words. 'That was some pretty impressive convincing you did back there,' Ryan whispered to Banner. 'Think they'll go for it, or will we have to fight our way to the top?'

'Considering my beliefs, I think they'll help us,' Banner whispered back. After nearly ten minutes of debate, Shining turned back to the pair with steeled eyes, telling them that they had come to a decision.

"I've talked it over with my wife and...we've decided that we'll trust you," Shining informed them, getting Banner to smile--while also getting Ryan to swear at the same time. "But, you must tell us what your actual plan is. You say that you're not taking down the shield so that you can get to Celestia, but you still need the shield down. Why is that?"

Banner looked over at Ryan, who shook his head, before answering the question. "When the shield falls, I am nearly certain that the leader of the End of Days will unleash his full forces upon Canterlot. My plan is to have Adam evacuate the city beforehand and leave it with the six of us and his own judges, allowing the twelve of us to take on the End of Days without worrying about civilian casualties. Hopefully, our combined might will be able to overpower them and we can defeat them before they use their master stroke."

Shining nodded at Banner's response before he looked at his wife, who also nodded, before the two of them walked past the two humans. "Come with us." Banner and Ryan followed without a moment's hesitation, with Ryan nearly stepping on the foal as he ran underfoot to get back to his parents. "I will admit that I do not trust you, but I trust Black Adam even less, and since no pony in your group has murdered an entire nation, I am more inclined to believe that you are the good guys than Adam is."

The five of them walked to a secret stairway that was hidden behind a picture of the Elements of Harmony, Cadence and Shining ascending with their son first before Banner followed them up, with Ryan taking the rear with cautious eyes while he glanced around for the trap to be sprung. The five silently climbed the stairs for a good ten minutes, before the stairs leveled out to the roof of the palace. In the center of the roof sat the orb projecting the beam of magic, with six heavily armored guards around it. They immediately took aim at the pair of humans as they appeared, but an order from the king and queen forced them to lower their weapons.

"Wow, if I had known that being honest and a nice guy would get you into a heavily armed place for free, I would have tried being a nicer guy years ago," Ryan said with an impressed look, before he threw back his head and cackled at the absurdity of his words. Cadence and Banner both gave him a look as Shining walked to the machine and yanked the orb free, shutting down the beam of magic a moment later.

"Here you go," Shining said with slight hesitation as he hoofed the orb over to Banner, who took it into his hands with a furrowed brow. "Well what are you waiting for? Isn't this the part where you destroy this orb like you have all the other ones?" Shining asked. Banner narrowed his eyes for a moment, lost in a decision, before he handed the orb back to Shining Armor.

"Keep it." All, including the guards, gasped at the action and Banner even got a few insults from Ryan as Shining took the orb into his hooves again with a look of confusion.

"Why?"

"Because I want to show you that not only can you trust me, but that I trust you as well," Banner said with a nod. "If you truly feel that you have made a mistake in trusting us, or you feel that the removal of the shield was the wrong decision, then you can place the orb back onto the machine and raise the shield once again. Because, out of all of the judges or rulers I have come across, you and your wife are the only ones I feel comfortable with leaving that choice. Thank you for trusting me.

Banner then turned his gaze towards the horizon with narrowed eyes, looking for something that never came. "Come on Ryan, we need to go." Banner was halfway down the stairs before Ryan caught up to him, with the look on the survivor's face matching the one that Banner wore.

"Just got word from the mare. Batmare and Bubbles lowered their tower as well," Ryan informed Banner, but there was no victory in his voice. "All of Canterlot will know that the shield is gone by now. And that means Black Adam knows as well. But he didn't come here, did he?"

"No. And that can only mean that he went to the other Spire, the one where the rest of our team is," Banner deduced with a long frown upon his face as he began to worry. "And as strong as most of them are, I do not know if they can beat him. I pray that I am wrong."

S=H=A=Z=A=M

Luna could not help but smile as she placed her armored helmet over her head, pausing to appreciate the moment before her magic reached out for the other pieces of armor that rested upon her wall. The news had come down just a few minutes ago that the shield over Canterlot had fallen and Luna had wasted no time in heading to her chambers to arm herself for the battle that was to come.

She sheathed a sword that looked like the crescent of the moon while pushing her wings through the slots in her back armor, so that her chest was protected, but at the same time it allowed her to fly, a feature that she knew she would need in the battle to come. She knew her sister well, and knew that when--and it would be when--they clashed it would take all of her skill and power to finally bring down her deluded sister--to finally free Equestria of the crazy pony that had falsely ruled for so long.

'But for no longer! Soon I will free my ponies of the pain and foolishness that my sister has cast upon them for so long,' Luna thought with a small laugh.  She looked towards a mirror resting upon her wall, looking over her armored self with a knowing smile, knowing that she was prepared for the fight. She then looked into her own eyes, eyes that were slit like cat eyes and a brilliant green, but all the reflection did was laugh, much like Luna herself did. 'Yes, you shall finally fall, Sister...and then I shall prove that I was right all along.'