//------------------------------//
// Avengers Assemble!!! 
// Story: Justice and Friendship 
// by Mr-Astounding 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 4

Meanwhile, in Marvel Universe's version of New York City...

"Talk to me, Stark: how are we on pursuing Loki to…wherever it is he's gone?" Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, asked his fellow Avenger.

"That's the thing," Tony Stark, also known as Iron Man, declared, "Even factoring in the stuff that Thor's let us in on, I have NO idea where in the universe that mischief maker has gone off to."

Bruce Banner, aka The Hulk, was scanning the area with a high-tech device and suddenly asked, "What if it's not THIS universe he's in?"

"Pardon me, Dr. Banner," declared the voice of Edwin Jarvis, Tony Stark's personal butler, from another room, "but I thought that the archer was the jokester."

"HEY!" yelled Clint Barton, alias Hawkeye, "I can be serious!"

"It's true," Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, remarked going over some security footage from earlier, "Or have you forgotten who it was who got ME to quit working with the Red Room?"

"Thou shouldn't be so hard on yourself," Thor, the Asgardian god of Thunder, directed at her, "The deaths of those men and women were the fault of this 'Red Room', not you."

"I guess," she stated, not entirely convinced, only for a female hand to grasp her shoulder.

"At least YOU only have to make up for only ONE person's ill deeds," declared Betty Ross, who had been staying with them ever since an attack by MODOK had given her abilities that she was now just barely beginning to master. While it was true that only time would tell if she would EVER fully control the Harpy, everyone knew that WASN'T what she meant.

"Right, I keep forgetting that your father was in charge of trying to capture or kill the man you loved," Natasha declared.

"Even though an IDIOT could have seen that Big Green was the VICTIM, and not a TRUE criminal," Tony added.

"That's nice and all," Bruce stated in a way that you could tell he meant it, "but regardless, I'm not joking: these readings I'm getting are similar to the time we were trapped inside the Negative Zone."

"You're suggesting that Loki's on another Earth entirely?" Steve inquired, to which a NEW voice stated, "I'm afraid it's EXACTLY what happened." Turning around, they were gob smacked to discover a orangish-yellow unicorn with a yellow and red mane standing in the room, a portal closing behind it.

"Who or WHAT are you?" Betty declared, only for the unicorn to chuckle.

"I had a similar reaction once to creatures like YOU," she remarked, before continuing with, "My name is Sunset Shimmer: I was TRYING to use a portal some of my friends put together to get the world where the greatest heroes of two world's are currently gathered, but something must have gone wrong with the Dimensional Doorway."

After mulling it over a bit, Steve Rogers declared, "Maybe WE can help."

"Pardon me, but are you certain of this?" Jarvis declared, to which the super soldier nodded, "I don't think it's a coincidence that someone goes looking for a world where inter-dimensional travel has already taken place around the same time Loki steals the Cosmic Cube and suddenly vanishes. Personally, I think we're looking at a war of worlds: of PARALLEL worlds."

Everyone nodding in agreement, the head of Stark Industries took a look at the saddlebag Sunset Shimmer was wearing, which seemed to be the Dimensional Doorway mentioned earlier. "Yeah, I think I see the problem," he declared, "Not only are a few wires crossed, but the power source is shot: you're lucky you ended up here and not some hell-like dimension."

"You think that maybe…" Bruce began, to which Tony nodded, taking the saddlebag over to a computer.

"Just need to match the energy signatures and…done!" he declared, before turning back to the group, "I've connected the Doorway with the Arch Reactor here in the building. Theoretically, this'll allow us to open a portal back to our respective worlds even in these parallel worlds."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Sunset Shimmer declared, "If that falls into the hands of our enemies, who knows what they'll do."

"I know there's a risk," Tony admitted, "but we can't be certain if we'll necessarily be staying in one singular dimension, and we might need supplies from our home worlds."

"I hate to admit it, but he's got a point," Clint remarked, "I can't shoot an apple off anyone's head if I don't have any arrows to do it with."

"Do us all a favor, my friend," Thor declared, "Don't be imitating this 'William Tell' unless absolutely necessary."

"Fair enough," was the reply as the portal opened up again.

Later, in Gotham City...

Just as the Justice League and Mane 6 were about to depart to search for clues as to where Darkseid and Discord were hiding, an alarm was heard. "Warning: intruders detected in Batcave sub-basement B," the Bat computer declared.

"That's the same area that holds the back-up generators," Batman declared, using his cape to glide down into the darkness.

Flash quickly caught up to him and stated, "Whoa there; don't do anything rash: we don't know if these guys will be on our side or not."

"Just in case there not, I've already called Carol and told her to come over," Green Lantern declared, to which the Dark Knight sighed, silently praying that Star Sapphire wouldn't lose control of herself again.

Using an awareness spell on herself, Twilight gasped, "It's okay: they're NOT hostiles."

"How do you know that?" Superman inquired, to which she stated, "I know one of our new guests personally." Using her alicorn magic, she opened the bay door and ran to embrace her friend from Canterlot High.

To be continued…