We Remember Everything

by Thunderscourge

You Don't Like Being Second, I Don't Like Being Wrong

Luna had more difficulty deciding which of her many targets to focus on than actually defeating them. Instead of capitalizing on her wings and teleportation abilities, Luna stood her ground and confronted the Nobles and their allies at the front gates of the castle. She was taking effort to not mortally wound any of them, but she still was racking up quite a large body count in defeated enemies. While not dead, the corrupted ponies were none too pleased about being impaled on an Alicorn’s horn and those who then had a follow up blast of energy sent through them.

You could live with a hole in you for awhile, provided it was the right area of your body, and Luna was fine with permanently wounding and crippling them. While averse to killing enemies who were being controlled by someone else, there was word amongst the still loyal guards that the nobles intended to do this anyways and this was simply what brought them to actual action.

Luna dislodged, with a level of indifference, her horn from a Unicorn who she recognized as one of the judges who unfairly judged Trixie so long ago. If they had simply treated her fairly how different would things be? Trixie would never have fought the Ursas, been rendered comatose, been around for Thanos to kidnap, spend time in Hela’s world, and all which resulted from that whole debacle.

Luna’s thoughts would be reflected in later thought about the whole situation and the theories about what caused the ultimate climax of the family’s story.

Luna shook her head harshly from side to side to throw back the ponies dogpiling on her upper body, since the Nobles had realized that anything short of attacking her head on would be ineffective. She had reflected some of their weak spells back at them, and at ranged Luna could just blast them all away after all.

Freer from their grips and bites, Luna let out a surge of energy that blasted all the others off of her. She felt some teeth rip out and fall off her skin, though she didn’t care about the light pain she felt all over from their pathetic attempts to hurt her. A moments healing refreshed her completely, and Luna was pleased to see that she was not too far off her normal state of being despite being out of action for a year.

On top of the ponies before her was one of the athletes Trixie had been put into competition with. Luna, upon further reflection, would realize that this was also one of the crowd who had first attacked Trixie upon coming to Canterlot in the event which would draw Luna to her.

Luna scoffed as more ponies moved forward in an angry mob to climb over others, amused partially and otherwise disgusted by how they were literally climbing over eachother to harm her, “You are all lucky. If my daughter was not busy with bigger threats elsewhere, she would be able to get her own revenge on you as well.”

“She’s just a Unicorn! So what if she won some competition? She doesn’t belong in the royal court!” came a scream from the crowd, which Luna met with another burst of energy. Why pick a target when she could wipe the floor with all of them at once?

As the next wave crumbled on top of the previous one, Luna found herself laughing, “Just a Unicorn?” Trixie was an Alicorn in hiding, something that would drive these pathetic, worthless cretins insane if they really had the truth, “Oh if only you knew…”

Trixie as an Alicorn…Luna had not been able to see her daughter in the form much, but she was so proud of Trixie for having been able to reach that form without Luna’s aid. And that was in addition to having the Aether, which was seemingly an artifact as powerful as the scepter Luna had been keeping for herself, only to forget about it when she actually needed it. It was for this reason she had loaned it to Trixie, which now meant Trixie had two extremely powerful artifacts and Luna zero.

Luna knew it was wrong, but she felt jealous of not being the strongest being around anymore. On the other hand she felt proud at how she managed to create the most powerful spellcaster in all of existence, and that motherly pride ultimately made Luna ignore her other feelings and her doubts about it all. She was happy to pass along her duties after fighting so long, even if it wounded her pride a little.

“I am actually quite jealous, as is my nature unfortunately. She was deficient in her natural magical power despite having the brain to learn and perform spells,” Luna mused outloud, all the while blasting nobles back brutally with magic. She even bucked one in the face who came from behind, only to end up through a wall and some glass.

Luna stomped on the back of a pony in front of her, feeling some delight at the feeling of their bones breaking. She knew she ought not to like the carnage, but the relief she was feeling at finally being able to fight this group of ponies who had done her and her family so much harm was outweighing her natural moral compass, “But now she has a source of near limitless energy powering her, making her the most powerful pony I have ever met. I honestly wish I could have that power, but she has kept it to herself. I suppose it is her right, as she took it upon herself to spare me from it in a time of vulnerability.”

Luna felt an odd feeling about the follow up concerning the Aether…like that she had wanted to remove it from Trixie, but for some reason never followed up on it. What could have caused such negligence in her? She was hesitant to blame such a thing on her pregnancy, especially since there seemed to be a collective amnesia of those privy to Trixie’s possession of the artifact.

The princess of Equestria and Queen of Asgard turned swiftly and threw her head to the side to slam it into a leaping Unicorn who had propelled forward using magic. The impact sent the stallion flying in the opposite direction as Luna’s head collided with his side. As he fell and joined the others on the ground, Luna continued her prideful boasting about Trixie, “Take that weakness away, and you have a skilled and powerful mare who has a lot of trauma and anxiety to take out on anyone in her way,” Luna sneered, “If I had been her, in my formerly corrupted mindset, I would have invited you all there to be collateral damage.”

“And, unlike me, she has worked out her personality problems. If anything she is too meek now compared to her boisterous self previously. She has no self-esteem, and she is willing to do anything to make others like her. As such she has been quite submissive.”

Someone manipulated them, but whether that was Trixie or not had yet to be determined. But the timing was too perfect, and the situation too coincidental to be anything but a plan implemented by someone. Luna would honestly be impressed if Trixie had managed to dupe a possible security threat and then use that opportunity to empower herself to face other threats, though on the same level Luna was embarrassed she had been too out of things to see this all coming.

A pony by her hoof attempted to grab onto Luna, resulting in Luna stomping on their closest hoof and snorting down at down.

“Does that hurt?” Luna imagined the possibility that this was the first time anyone had ever hurt this doughy, soft pony in their life, as well as the first time they ever had to do some actual work for theirself, “Good. Now you realize how it might hurt being stepped upon by someone of a higher station of life, like you all do to others. I can keep going, and will so long as any of you have movement capabilities.”

Thinking about the subject of making others do work for them, Luna remembered a certain other noble who was deserving of her wrath but did not appear to be present. As Blueblood was at the top of this sick society, perhaps he had something to do with all of this. Luna would love for that to be the case, as it would give her reason to punish him and bring an end to her anti-noble sentiment.

“Tell me, fat one, where’s your little ringleader? If you tell me where Blueblood is, I may spare a leg.”

The noble wailing and whining at their broken limb beneath Luna’s hoof gave no further verbal response, their incoherent sounds expressing their supernatural anger as well as their very natural dismay at being crushed beneath a giant horse.

“No? Too bad. I would have enjoyed trying him for treason. I think it would do all of us some good to remove such toxic elements from the community, don’t you think?”

Luna removed her hoof, though the crazed screaming did not end. Luna had broken so many bones over the years that this felt a little melodramatic, but she suppose the pony had spent his whole life living off the sweat of others and being told he was a perfect little angel, so he wouldn’t know what pain was like.

That, and he was being mentally manipulated into a state of heightened emotions it seemed based off of how uncharacteristically bold they all were being. That and faintly glowing red eyes.

“Oh, right. Raving mad. My apologies.”

Loki had to leave the stadium itself to find the man who had bellowed his name, and the King had some trouble rationalizing why he actually went out to meet the challenge. He had not improved much physically since his last encounter with Thanos, and when that happened he had been hopelessly outmatched by the man in every way.

In the end Loki rationalized his meeting with the man an extension of his own loyalty to his people. Time Thanos spent grandstanding and wasting on Loki meant time that those in the stadium, Trixie included, were not subjected to the man’s fury and sadism.

While everyone else had been focused on the Sirens and what Tirek was doing, Thanos had appeared with an entire armada. While he was on the ground, his fleet was slowly approaching the planet and just breaking through the atmosphere.

For now, it would be just the two of them. But that would not last long, and soon enough Thanos would bring down every ounce of military might he had on them all.

The large purple being stood out in the open fields around the stadium with a dark aqua colored suit of armor with golden trim that reflected Loki’s own regal regalia. Unlike Loki’s less practical design with the long horns from the helmet, Thanos’s had no extra details that made it seem like anything other than a personal set of armor. The armor had one difference, however, in that its right gauntlet was golden and had empty sockets on where some of its knuckles should be as well as the back of the hand and on the lower section of its thumb.

The two sockets that were filled were what worried most, even more than Thanos himself. Thanos had managed to harness the power of two Infinity Gems and bond them to the Infinity Gauntlet he had stolen from Asgard, which meant that he had the power of twice the Aether, an artifact that on its own could destroy everything…and the Gauntlet would make it even more than twice, as it was what was meant to wield the power and could do so better than any mortal.

For someone of fainter heart, speaking to the large man would have been nerve wracking and reduce them to a quivering puddle. For Loki, it just meant hiding the fear he was well allowed to fear of the monster before him, “Thanos.”

Thanos seemed to enjoy the greeting, his large square jaw moving to a smile as he looked down at him, “Loki, it has been quite some time. I take it you received my gift in the time we’ve been apart?”

Gift…that was not the word Loki would use for it. Not after the gruesome scene he had been forced to witness and handle. He was only happy that Luna had no knowledge of it, even if it may have heralded Thanos returning.

“I have never seen anything as nauseating as that,” Loki snarled at the giant, not willing to even entertain Thanos now that the subject had been brought up, “You slew your own child, its mother, and her family. Yet you returned my spy alive.”

Maiev was still comatose, but she was lucky to only be that. With the condition she had been returned in, she was lucky she had been in Asgard and had been able to be healed quickly enough.

Thanos shrugged, not really caring what Loki thought but also finding some amusement in remembering what happened when he noticed someone spying on him, “I have no quarrel with your spy. She is a pawn belonging to another pawn. She is worthless, and I serve to gain more by leaving her alive. Instead of going on to never accomplish anything in her life, she now can herald the new, frightening strength I possess.”

Thanos lost all traces of amusement as he clenched his hands and pretended to be snapping someone’s neck, “On the other hand, that woman bore a child that served as a reminder of a time when I did not devote myself to my love. Before I knew of her I had many such trysts, and I suppose there exists many bastards who could be called my progeny.”

Obsessed with “Lady Death”…Loki had no doubt that Thanos was wholly wrong about Hela and what she stood for. To him, she was what took life, not managed it. His very basis for his obsession was wrong, but to point this out would likely cause Thanos to stop wasting any time and instead kill everyone in the blink of an eye.

It was because of this that Loki held his tongue and let Thanos continue, as part of being an expert manipulator was knowing when not to speak, “Interestingly enough, the few I sent you are all that remains of that race, even if they are corpses. I tested out my power not only on your spy, but on the planet itself. It was quite the marvel to have the world crumble around me, earthquakes radiating from a touch…”

Thanos tilted his head back and began to laugh maniacally, something Loki was not accustomed to hearing from someone with a deep voice, “I have learned to restrain my power more so since. It is quite exhausting one would imagine to hold and use the power to change the very fabric of what some would consider reality.”

“Are you here for me or the Aether then?” was Loki’s measured response, hoping fully that it was the former. He doubted Thanos would go to this effort just for him, but he would rather be the only casualty of this conflict than see Thanos kill him and everyone else.

The question brought back some of Thanos’s seeming amusement, as his features relaxed as Loki spoke briefly, “The Aether, of course, and the scepter that your wife has in her possession. I would see it returned to me after its long absence.”

“I am sorry, but the princess is in another place,” Loki smirked as he realized he might not be leaving this place. If he was going to die though he would give it his all though, and he would be damned if he did not slow down this man in his goal of galactic domination and conquest, “I could entertain you for now if you please though.”

Even if it meant putting his collection of the Infinity Gems on hold for awhile, Thanos was quite interested in fighting Loki. Loki had failed him, had turned on him, and that was only the beginning. He was a necessary example for others to go by, or at least he would be after he was mercilessly beaten and tortured, “We never did settle our business. You left my Lady’s world after all, a slight against her I will not allow.”

Loki prepared his weapons calmly all the while shaking his head sadly, “Her name is not Death. Her name is Hela, and she is my daughter.”

Even if Loki stalled Thanos, he doubted he would get to ever see the newborn grow up. He would apologize to her in Hel, where he was sure he was going to go. Not Valhalla like he expected the likes of Thor to go after death.

Still, Thanos was obsessed with his daughter, and the very thought of him taking the universe and her for himself made Loki’s blood boil to a level it had not in a long time. This was the man who turned him against Luna and his family, who killed untold billions of innocents in his endless wars to gain power and to satiate his bloodlust, and who a year ago killed a friend of Loki who he had grown to care about.

Loki decided to put his trust in Trixie to protect her sister, for Loki considered this his final fight. Thanos was the penultimate villain of Loki’s story, and he would be damned if he let the man harm his family.

“And I will see this universe burn before I let a monster like you touch her!” Loki growled, leaping forward and into battle.

Inside the stadium, Trixie was handling her own situation with greater ease than what Loki would be faced with. Trading blasts and waves of energy was favorable to her and Kael because of their power greatly outmatching that of Adagio and Aria. After their initial attacks were traded, their positions changed to account for Trixie teleporting between the Sirens and blasting them in opposite directions. To get away from her they each went in opposite directions in the hallway, with Kael joining Trixie between them.

The Sirens thought that perhaps attacking from different directions would catch their enemies off-guard, but they were stunned to find that the waves of energy created from their voices were blocked by walls of ice summoned by Trixe. The blast cracked some of the ice, but its supernatural qualities kept it together as Trixie focused on protecting herself.

The Sirens continued to try and break it, but they had to pause to breathe in after their sustained attack on it. The moment their mouths closed to do so, Trixie prepared to change from offense to defense.

Now!

With that Trixie reformed the wall of ice on either side into a tendril of water, one which she hurled forth at Adagio while Kael simultaneously let loose a stream of flame at Aria. The water slammed into its target and threw her back, while the fire rushed into and past the woman it was aimed at. Adagio fought to stop herself from being flooded down the hallway any further, using her magic momentarily to propel herself forward and away from the summoned torrent, while Aria fought to put out the fire now on her entire body that only was not lethal because of the regeneration caused by her absurdly high magic level.

Adagio coughed up water as she let loose another wave of magic energy at her foes, “Damnit, you insolent…”

Aria managed to finish putting out her fire just in time to see that Adagio was no longer waiting for her to coordinate an attack, which was what their opponents were doing and since Trixie and Kael were winning it seemed like a strategy they should continue themselves

“Adagio, we need to work together—”

The reason Trixie and Kael did not follow up was that they were ready to teleport, and did so the moment Adagio’s attack would have struck them, Adagio screaming at the same moment, “Shut up and attack!”

By dodging the strike it instead carried down the hallway and was unavoidable for Aria, who found herself blasted off her feet. Adagio growled at the sight and at the humiliation she was suffering. She had not lost in a thousand years, and she was not going to start now.

Trixie and Kael reappeared where they had been before, with the former shaking her head dismissively at the other two, “Before you two were each more powerful than an Alicorn,” Trixie let loose some of her own magic to knock Adagio back and stop her from attacking again, “After taking the power from the entire crowd you expanded that amount far beyond that point.”

With Aria finally managing to get up again, Kael reversed gravity where she was standing so that she couldn’t aim. Trixie smirked at the sight while looking at her own opponent, “You now stand as the most powerful foes who have ever attempted to take over Equestria, but sadly you will not have that honor for long.”

“What do you know, girl?” Adagio growled, not appreciating how she was being talked down to. How she was being toyed with. When had Trixie become so powerful? She had made sure to acquire enough power to defeat the woman should she prove disloyal, and yet here she was mopping the floor with them.

Trixie found it ironic that had this coup happened a year or so earlier that it would have succeeded, as there would have been little to stop them. But now they were just magic sponges that Trixie was ready to harvest for herself, so she could fight her true foe, “A man just arrived with an army tailing behind him that will soon overrun this place and impose military control on everything and everyone here, and the man is even more powerful than I am.”

Trixie pointed to herself with a small smile appearing on her face, “We’re equally matched in some regards, but he will kill us all and take everything for himself.”

The idea that not only Trixie was there to stop her, but some other being was there to usurp the power Adagio had intended to claim for herself was infuriating for the Siren. She had not waited for so long to return to Equestria just to have someone take her moment from her.

“I…you…”

The angered confusion of Adagio made Trixie happy for the first real time since she had come to the stadium. Since she had seen the twins, “What’s the matter Adagio? Upset that after all this time you have been played, manipulated, and will be defeated in the end of it all? I know I would be if I were just the puppet of someone else’s little show.”

Before either Siren could continue to try and retaliate further, Trixie grabbed Adagio telekinetically and threw her at a rapid pace into her companion, knocking each of them down onto the ground with Adagio’s body interrupting the spell done on Aria.

“You thought your charm and abilities would sway me to your side. If anything, I find you repulsive. Not only am I immune to your more physical advances, I find your personality toxic and believe it to be the cause of your group’s infighting.”

Trixie watched as the two tried to pull themselves together, with Adagio coughing up blood onto the ground and the prone Aria, while Aria strained herself just to try and get up.

Trixie snarled as she summoned forth more water to form more ice, having a less defensive intention for this set, “Infighting that will ultimately cause you to lose, as with Sonata here you could possibly overcome me. Instead you saw a chance to rid yourself of her or possibly gain even more power, and so you took it.”

Adagio rose up to try and counter what was being said to her, but found herself gasp instead at the sight of several dozen floating icicles formed to have the sharpest possible tip.

“You always talked so much before, and now you’re speechless. What a shame,” Trixie commented without emotion, prepared to literally nail her foes to the wall and render them unable to fight for the remainder of the conflict.

Trixie let loose the barrage of icicles, only to find herself surprised by a sudden shout. Aria had rushed to her feet and unleashed another sonic attack, this one shattering some of the incoming ice as she moved in front of Adagio.

Her counterattack was not fully successful and only managed to take out about two thirds of the incoming ice shards, causing her to brace herself and protect her upper body and head as the rest rushed forward and flew into her.

Trixie had aimed them all originally to pin her opponents by impaling their limbs, but the sonic attack caused them to go awry. This meant that some sailed past the Sirens, while others hit where Aria had been.

Standing behind her ally, Adagio gasped as she realized one icicle had pierced all the way through the woman in front of her’s shoulder, “Aria…”

It was not alone. Aria coughed up blood as she fell to one knee, icicles embedded all over her body and making her want to scream in pain. If she wasn’t so in shock by the pain of having an icicle in her shoulder, side, hip, arm, and both legs, she would have.

Instead, she tried to act tough and stand back up, “I’m…” she coughed out more blood and fell back down, “I’m fine…”

Adagio’s looking over of Aria ceased as she instead turned her attention to someone who had appeared behind her, along with the person behind them.

This changed everything. Adagio smirked at the sight of their first pawn, “Hello Celestia.”

Celestia and Twilight had come to where all the noise was coming from nearby, and now the former was preparing an attack. Twilight was ready to fight the Sirens, but found herself shocked by Celestia firing at attack at Trixie. Trixie did not move or try to avoid it, and it seemed to dissipate in front of her entirely, but this did not mean it shocked Twilight any less.

“Princess Celestia, what are you doing?”

To answer her question without giving the others time to reveal anything that could hurt her image, Trixie spoke up, “They have her under their control. Until they are defeated she will not be free, so I need you to restrain her.”

“Got it!” Twilight yelled back, scared at the prospect of having to fight Celestia but also realizing that she had to if what Trixie said was correct.

Aria growled as she realized Twilight was not on their team, “I thought we had the purple one too!”

Adagio snarled at the realization that a full powered Twilight could probably take on a drained Celestia, especially since the latter was not currently all-there mentally. They had accounted for this though and had planned to manipulate Twilight too, so why wasn’t she on their side?

“Sonata was the one who was controlling her—”

Adagio paused as she realized her mistake. No Sonata, no control over those she was specifically controlling. Trixie, on the other hand, felt free to talk as she frowned at the Siren disapprovingly, “Not only is she not here, it is completely possible and very likely that she is dead right now. Congratulations.”

With everything turned against them and no further cards to play, Adagio saw no reason to continue this all anymore. If she couldn’t win, she wouldn’t let Trixie defeat her and take her power. She could always come back and win another day after all.

Grabbing her partner by shoulder, Adagio pulled her to her feet and twisted her around with a tug on the arm.

“Come Aria, we’re leaving!”

The two started to leave, with Aria panting in pain as she forcibly removed the ice in her legs so they could start healing. Trixie would have gone right after them to stop them, but with the realization that they could only run she found herself more inclined to helping Twilight fight Celestia. It would only take a moment, since Celestia was a shell of her normal self in terms of power, but it would free up Twilight to her them confront the two living Sirens.

Outside the stadium, Loki was doing his best to avoid the strikes of Thanos with his supernatural speed, only to find that his foe was even faster. For every attack that Loki would almost dodge, it instead was a slight hit.

A slight hit that, for all intents and purposes, would kill most people despite mostly glancing off them. Instead Loki was knocked down and then forced himself back up, the lethality of things hitting him not quite the concern it would be for others. While afraid this would be his last fight, Loki was wholly aware of how difficult it would be for him to actually be “killed”.

Thanos halted his assault to watch Loki get back up from a hit that ought to have ended him, with his bones cracking and snapping after the strike, but Loki was twisting his body and forcefully bringing it back up onto its feet. The perseverance was astonishing to Thanos, but he realized quickly and easily that something else was at play. Thanos had been able to kill someone in a strike before being powered by two supernatural artifacts, so to have someone actually get back up meant there was something allowing them to do that.

Given Loki’s time in Hel, Thanos quickly deduced as to maybe why Loki was capable of surviving like this, “I am impressed. It seems the way my Lady altered you has allowed you some…” Thanos frowned as he thought of how unfair it was that Lady Death had not granted him any such favor, “Advantages.”

Loki fought to keep himself on his feet, eventually steadying his blades to prepare them for another attack. His previous attempts to slice into dark armor and purple skin were met with failure, with the blades formerly belonging to Illidan only once coming into contact and even that was met with failure. The behemoth had avoided the strike for the most part, and the blade that touched him only managed to scratch at his armor before it was no longer touching it. From what Loki felt the blade could do damage, but actually hitting the monster was the issue much like how others had difficulty striking Loki himself.

Thanos began to slowly approach Loki, intent on taking his time and making this enjoyable, “Even all the tricks in the world will not save you this time however. I will find immense pleasure in killing you, your race, and your entire family.”

Loki began to match the pace of his foe, only heading in the opposite direction. The more time he padded this out the better off everyone likely would be, “Do you just enjoy being the prime, quintessential example of evil?”

“Most so called villains do not think of themselves as such, as they simply are the heroes of their own stories with different objectives than the heroes more times than not,” Thanos let out a bellow of laughter as he picked up his pace slightly to offset Loki’s retreat, “I, however, do take immense pleasure in doing wicked things simply for the sake of doing them. The pain, the misery, the ruination I cause is almost as pleasing as the acts that bring them about.”

In a sudden burst of speed Thanos launched himself at Loki, attempting to grab with his golden gauntlet the man’s face. Loki avoided this by ducking and dodging to the side, though a sudden kick out from Thanos slammed into his closest leg. As Loki stumbled onto the ground his foe gave no reprieve, quickly using the other leg to punt Loki and cause the proud prince to crash into the side of the stadium and through part of the reinforced wall. Thanos had only used a fraction of his power on purpose, not wanting to end this so easily, but he was pleased with the sight of Loki in the rubble.

“I wonder though, does that animal daughter of yours share my opinion? After all, she has tasted the power of the gods as well.”

Loki would laugh if his body was not in such pain, though he supposed his head trauma from the crash was helping somewhat with that. His helmet had come off in the collision, and as such he felt partially light headed, “You desire to court one daughter and then insinuate that another is as disturbed as you are. My feelings on most people are mixed between positive and negative, but I must say I only hold the latter for you.”

Thanos gestured to the sky above them and laughed mockingly, not believing that the ambitious Loki would be so opposed to conquest, “Are you telling me that if you had her power you would not try and take everything for yourself?” Thanos shook his head before laughing further, actually finding this to be the most enjoyable activity he had taken part in for some time, “I know you lied to the others about this, but you were wholly complicit in your actions on Earth.”

Even Loki knew his next words were going to be partially false, though he had nothing else to say to save his pride as he crawled from the broken section of the stadium, “You were corrupting me with the scepter.”

“The scepter has the power of mind alteration, I will admit this much, but I never made you do anything you were not already capable of. That was you, whether you wish to admit it or not,” Thanos taunted, as pleased by breaking others with words as Loki was.

With Loki removed from the wall, the Asgardian pulled himself together to put up a better fight this time around. He wouldn’t let a change in speed get to him again.

As Loki prepared himself again, Thanos found himself distracted by the glowing green glaives in the man’s possession, “Those blades bring back interesting memories. Your friend fought valiantly, but seeing as how I stand here now and not him the outcome should be obvious.”

Loki tensed as he remembered exactly what Thanos was speaking about. The exit from Hel…and Illidan’s sacrifice to allow it to come to be.

Thanos reached down and removed something comparatively small from a part of his belt, his face smug as he continued to observe the warglaives, “I actually brought you a few gifts for this final occasion. One is waiting for you back at Asgard, in case you ran back there in some act of cowardice, while another is right here.”

Thanos tossed what was in his hand to the wind, which fortunately for Loki was blowing in his direction. The object?

Illidan’s bandana which he used to tie over his blind, shining eyes. Loki moved to catch it as Thanos laughed at the sight because of the memories it brought back. It was rare for Thanos to have a real fight, and he actually had to try when fighting Illidan. It was a shame he had proven too powerful, or else Thanos would have liked to subjugate and use him for his own ends.

“This is all that remains. After he caused me to fail in blocking your escape, I hunted your friend’s soul down for what felt like months if not years. Every time it pulled itself back together I tore it apart again, repeating the process until nothing remained.”

Loki gripped the cloth in calm fury, his anger high due to what Thanos had done to Illidan but his rational mind keeping his actions in check. Good things did not come from acting out in abject anger, “Illidan was a good friend. One of the few who have never judged or betrayed me.”

Thanos began to approach his foe again, this time with a glint in his eye showing that he was more serious now, “And sadly he will be the last. Let us continue fighting, Asgardian, lest I grow bored of you and decide to finish you.”

“Hey, purple guy with the weird gauntlet, back away from Reindeer Games!”

Thanos had just enough time to turn around and catch an assortment of laser beams to the face. He growled not in pain but annoyance as he watched a red and golden figure fly by him, with three others running towards him and Loki on the ground.

Loki smirked at how Thanos had been so busy taunting him that he had missed out on the Bifrost opening somewhere nearby, though he couldn’t say he was much better himself. He had been put through a wall, so he missed a few things understandably.

Thor, Captain Rogers, and a massive green being known to some as Doctor Banner and Hulk to others were joining the fray along with Stark, who was peppering Thanos with a variety of missiles and laser attacks to distract him with minimal success.

Thor ran to Loki’s side first at the sight of him, worried about the rough condition he was in, “Brother, I apologize sincerely that I am late, are you alright?”

Loki waved a hand as he watched with amusement Dr. Banner tackle Thanos and begin to grapple with him, “I am fine.”

“Why is this monster here? This was to be an event of peace, and he dares mock it? I have not forgotten what he did to Volstagg the last time we met,” Thor growled, revealing how ready he was for a fight. The foes he had been fighting on Earth were not worthy of his power most of the time, but this was something almost entirely in the opposite direction as that.

Loki grabbed his brother’s arm to halt him from doing anything too hasty, “Thor, with the Gauntlet and the power he has in his possession he is too much for any of you to handle.”

Having learned some degree of patience in his time on Earth, Thor paused and nodded. He would defer to Loki’s judgment, and he believed that his brother was telling the truth given his own experience with Thanos, “Is there a way to stop him?”

“Perhaps. My daughter still has the Aether, and with it she can contest Thanos and possibly defeat him,” Loki explained, not all that pleased that their only chance at winning was if Trixie could possibly defeat Thanos after dealing with all the others.

“And where is she?”

“Defeating some other villains who have similarly sought to use this event for their own gain.”

Thor turned from Loki and began to swing his hammer around, a move that would directly precede him using its momentum to carry him towards a foe and into battle, “Then let us buy her time to finish them and return to defeat this man.”

As if it was an afterthought, Thor quickly added, “Oh, and when this is over I would like to invite your whole family to join me on Earth and celebrate the birth of your children, as well as my new engagement.”

Loki rolled his eyes as he too prepared to enter combat, albeit not by using a magical hammer to fling himself forward, “Will your lover mind that you are fighting a battle against an unstoppable behemoth?”

“It comes with the whole Protector of the Nine Realms title. She is growing used to the idea.”

“Do not make me be the one to tell her you are not coming home.”

“And here I thought you didn’t share my familial love.”

“I am…growing more used to the idea.”

With that, Loki and Thor entered what they each hoped would be the last battle they would ever have to wage to maintain stability in their worlds.

Inside the stadium, the Sirens continued their retreat away from Trixie and the others. They could hear the distant sounds of Celestia being defeated, and they each knew it would soon be their turn. They wouldn’t be able to run forever from someone who could teleport.

Stopping a moment to rest and to gather herself after all the pain she had suffered, Aria coughed as she spoke, “We can’t beat her…” she wheezed as she tried to keep standing, only to fall onto one knee again, “She’s like twice as strong as either of us, and Sonata’s gone…”

Aria trailed off at the mention of that. She had hated Sonata, but for some reason the idea that she was gone was biting at her. Did she really care about Sonata after all?

Adagio knew she was right though about their situation. They couldn’t win…they would be defeated, and for all she knew they could die with everything that was going on.

The thought of dying, of losing everything, was making Adagio begin to panic. She didn’t want to die. She had never once, not even in her time on Earth, expected to perish with her nearly immortal lifespan. The humans she interacted with would serve her, even if at the time she could only control one or two simultaneously, so she never really had to fear anything.

Adagio looked back at Aria with a careful eye, and slowly she began to realize something.

Her fear evaporated as her mind began to put together a plan, “We may not be strong enough…” she smiled as she brought a hand down to touch Aria’s face, “But maybe we don’t have to be.”

Not savvy to what Adagio was thinking, Aria rose her eyebrow. What could possibly turn things around in their favor?

“Uh, Adagio, what’s with the weird look? What’s the plan?”