//------------------------------// // Chapter 49-Big Ponies Don’t Cry // Story: A Beautiful New Age // by JDPrime22 //------------------------------// Hell on earth. That is all that could be described. The quaint—and somewhat peaceful—village of Ponyville had undergone a terrifying new change. Darkness plagued the heavens above, beasts beyond fear and terror filled the skies and roads, tearing apart anything that drew near. The townsfolk had little choice in the matter, choosing to either flee or hide. Neither seemed to help in their favor. As families scattered for their lives, others choosing to flee into nearby homes for protection, the creatures of the Underworld broke into Ponyville like a furious storm. Many took great pleasure in chasing down the fearful, others erupting near houses into flame. Demons, ranging from large serpents, gorgons, cyclopes, chimeras, and every other type of demented hell spawn tore down the very foundation that kept Ponyville together. The lone dragon, covered in every scale with a blistering, blue flame, observed the children of Typhon assimilate and destroy what remained of Ponyville. Its ferocious stare, each iris a slit burning with the strength of the deepest ember in Tartarus, narrowed below him. It dug its claws into the burning castle, releasing an ear-splitting roar to the road below. And the one who landed in it. In one, clustered unison, the creatures and demons all halted in their actions, spinning to the center of Ponyville to witness such a small creature stand so bravely, so powerful, so willing to fight. If what the glare in his eyes told, he wouldn’t be backing down so easily as the fearful ponies had. Good. A nearby chimera licked its lips. His weapon was admirable, his statue even more so. His red cape flowed in the burning winds, his long, golden hair doing just the same. The dragon covered in bright blue flames released another roar that shook the earth. It spread its mighty wings, taking flight and making its retreat. Another battle for another time. And Thor watched it leave, a small smile gracing his features. Not because the bigger threat was already gone, but because he knew what scared it off. It didn’t retreat because of him… He raised Mjølnir straight forward at a cluster of hellish monsters. They shrieked and cried, but held their ground, their fiery eyes glaring at the god. “Return to the fire pits from whence you came, creatures!” Thor shouted, his voice a loud boom to all those around him. Several ponies taking shelter popped their heads out of their cover, watching the scene unfold right near town hall. Thor’s eyes shifted from one demon to the next. He noted their teeth glistening in the fires that consumed the town of Ponyville, their claws digging into the earth below them. He frowned, gripping Mjølnir a little tighter. “If you do not heed my warning…you will urge me to use force.” A pair of demons hissed, and then were immediately stomped to death. Clusters of creatures backed away, leaving a large path open. Thor stood his ground, eyes narrowing on the one so willing to stand up to him. Though not as surprised as many of Ponyville’s citizens still hidden, Thor watched as a massive orc appeared, standing a good three feet higher than the God of Thunder himself. It sneered at him, raising its massive fists above its head. It was fully intending to bring them down on the small, puny god. Until it got the shock of its life and was launched backwards like a bullet. The sea of demons shrieked in surprise, many backing away while others were not so fortunate. They turned to watch as the orc simply disappeared once it impacted numerous others, lost in the wickedness. Slowly turning back, the beasts and creatures of the Underworld stared at the golden-haired god, his hammer lowering. He bent his neck, a satisfying crack heard only by him. Spinning Mjølnir at a rate none could keep track of, Thor glared at the many and muttered, “So be it.” Then they charged. Upon the lone god, the armies of Tartarus rushed forward in a wave that could not be held for long. Thor, however, stood his ground, spinning his hammer about as the winds began to pick up, as the cries from the demon army grew nearer. Just as they were about to strike, just as Thor was soon to unleash a torrent of heaven’s mighty power upon them, help arrived in the sense of a monster. A green, bellowing, rage monster. Impacting the earth with speeds that were almost unreal, Hulk was quick to recover and brought his palm back, smacking aside entire groups of demons. He roared, shaking the earth and terrifying the weaker, smaller hell spawn. The two went at it, taking out any creature that dared to draw near. A chimera pounced on Hulk’s back, but was quickly shaken off once Hulk snatched its serpent tail. It tried to bite him, the serpent did, but Hulk already had the creature in his grasp. It smashed the beast into the earth, spinning it and launching the chimera right for Thor. He swung his hammer, grunting as it hit its target right in the goat’s face. He sent the beast flying into others, much more rushing past and charging the Son of Odin. A cyclops, to be exact, lifted up a nearby carriage and was soon to fling it at the god, but was blinded once a golden beam impacted its only means of vision. It cried out, covering its eye as Hulk tackled it into a house. Spinning towards the location of the beam, Thor saw as a being coated in light flew down from the darkness, sending another beam of golden energy right for a cluster of demons, slicing them to shreds. Said being finally came to a rest right by Thor’s side, cringing a tad in signs of pain, before finally nodding to him. Thor nodded back. Nodded to Vision. He was not the only one to arrive just in time. Followed by several chariots, the Equestrian Army descended from the skies and touched down onto whatever piece of land wasn’t littered with bodies, fire, or debris. Once they were settled, droves of ponies covered in golden armor piled out of the chariots, wielding shields, spears, and swords alike. Without order, they charged headlong into the fray, doing battle with the enemy forces. However, Thor’s focus wasn’t on the ponies rushing past him. He turned to face the chariots once more, watching as Captain America led the charge. With his shield in tow, following the Captain were Black Widow, Hawkeye, Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, Starlight Glimmer, as well as Twilight and all five of her closest friends. He lifted his head up high, spotting Tony Stark drop off the young dragon Spike to the closest carriage before he eventually caught up with the rest of the Avengers. They grew closer. Vision saw so, as well. Thor jammed his hammer into the air, striking down lightning upon his weapon, granting him even greater strength. The Hulk flew down and captured the head of a nearby demon nearing Thor’s position. Clenching his fist, Hulk crushed the creature’s skull, flinging the dead body to the dirt. Hulk faced forward, straight to the hellish monsters doing battle with Equestria’s Royal Guard. He bellowed out a fearsome roar, one that untied and strengthened the others behind him. He charged without a second thought. Thor swung his hammer upwards, gaining flight and bringing his hammer down. Lightning bolts rained down from above, striking Mjølnir as the God of Thunder drove into the enemy forces. Clint Barton pulled out three arrows, firing all of them into three perfectly aligned targets. He ran forward, keeping up right with the Widow. Natasha Romanoff pushed forward, revealing two electrically charged batons in each hand. Captain America pulled his shield off of the magnets, flinging the disk as hard as he could. The Vision took to the air, his forehead glowing. The twins were a blur, Pietro carrying his sister as they were the first to strike the army. Tony Stark finished it by flying right past Captain America, his palms facing the enemy army and lighting up as bright as the sun. They charged together, united, and struck the enemy with ferocity beyond anything Equestria had ever seen. Beyond anything Twilight had ever seen. As for the Alicorn, she and her friends were busy aiding civilians. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, and Twilight were holding off any form of monster that drew near, allowing Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy to get ponies out of their crumbled houses. Starlight aided them, yet Twilight knew not whether to consider her a friend. In the situation they were forced into, for now she’ll see her as an ally. For now. They moved to one house after the other. Rainbow and Applejack did most of the fighting, either swooping down or bucking any creature that got too close and way too friendly. Twilight and Rarity only fired off a protective spell or energy beam when they felt they were overwhelmed, which—unfortunately for them—was every other second. In the midst of the chaos, finding a very short moment to catch their breath and allow Fluttershy to pull out a frightened family from the rubble of their home, Twilight turned her attention to the familiar sound of a repulsor blast. She stared down the road, her jaw falling. Beyond town square, Twilight watched as the Royal Guard did battle with the armies of Tartarus, but even then she wasn’t paying too much attention to them. She stared at the nine super-powered beings tearing apart the very foundation of the demon horde. Clint and Natasha were side by side, one firing off arrows and the other beating the life out of the smaller, more agile creatures. Once others drew near to Barton, he used his bow as a handheld weapon, smacking demons across the face with it and jamming the tips of his arrows into the foreheads and eye sockets of the creatures. Captain America slid across the dirt road, his shield in one hand. Dodging the swipe of a gorgon, Captain Rogers appeared behind the foul creature and slammed the edge of his shield against the monster’s back, knocking it forward. With the advantage, Steve took out the smaller demons that rushed him from all directions, either punching or launching them back with his shield. Once they were out of the way, without turning to face it completely, Steve tossed his shield behind him, hitting the gorgon right in the face, and finishing it by retrieving his shield and tackling the beast. He ended the creature by slamming the edge of his shield right in its forehead. He looked up, watching as Stark and Vision took over the skies. The two dodged and weaved like nimble acrobats, blasting apart any winged beast or harpies that drew near. Firing off a multitude of rockets from his shoulders, Stark followed the rockets’ path and landed in the dirt road. Most of the rockets hit their target—a massive cyclops swinging a tree back and forth—but Stark finished it with a repulsor blast right in its face. The beast cried out one last time before falling backwards, crushing any demon that was unlucky enough to be caught in its shadow. Stark fought from the ground, being swarmed in seconds and blasting apart any demon that drew near. Vision flew by, slicing apart the demons surrounding Stark and eventually landing next to a certain red-eyed witch. Having torn several monsters apart with her bare hands, wielding and manipulating her unholy magic, Wanda spun her neck around to see the android grab the head of a demon going for her backside. He jammed his fist into the creature’s abdomen, his entire forearm fazing through the creature’s chest until he ripped out the monster’s heart. He knocked the creature to the ground, taking flight once more. Watching this, Wanda had nearly missed the giant serpent slithering her way. She would have missed it if it hadn’t been for her brother punching it across the face. Seeing the blur, Wanda grabbed hold of the serpent, twisting her fingers until the animal was torn apart, its bloody corpse tossed aside like garbage. Pietro gritted his jaw, ignored the pain flooding through his fists, and charged on. Time was irrelevant to him, and he ran through it all as everything else slowed down so suddenly. He punched demons across the face, he shoulder-checked several others until he felt bruises on his skin, and he tore through the weaker pawn just as Hulk did with the stronger, more powerful monsters. Nothing stood in his way. Hulk was literally—and quite indefinitely—an unstoppable force not to be reckoned with. No matter how many swarmed him, jumped on him, tried their hardest to take him down, he fought back stronger, better, and more feral than ever before. He recently ripped the horns off a withering chimera, using them to impale many of the weaker hell spawn. He tossed a horn right at a cyclops’s shoulder, using the other to jam it directly into the beast’s only eye. The two titans crumbled to the ground, kicking up a mighty helping of dust that swarmed across the God of Thunder. Much like the dust surrounding his vision, several beasts circled Odinson, striking at him whenever he appeared to be open and defenseless. However, that opportunity never happened. Thor struck down just as many creatures that tried to attack him, using his hammer and fists in collaboration to the destruction of his enemies. He screamed, having a lightning bolt strike down upon Mjølnir. Thor spun around and electrocuted those behind him, taking a step back and flinging his hammer. The hammer hit many foes, breaking their skulls and pushing their tangled bodies to the dirt. However, he wasn’t aiming for them. Mjølnir hit its mark in the back of an orc’s head, an orc gripping Natasha Romanoff’s smaller frame with its mighty arms. The orc grunted in pain, allowing Natasha to strike her baton in the beast’s jaw. It dropped her, allowing Barton a perfect shot: an arrow right between its eyes. They molded, flexed, and fought together in one unit, one unstoppable team. The way they fought, the way they corresponded to one another was surreal, almost like they had practiced for such a pivotal moment. She was so astounded by their skill and ability that she almost blocked out the constant cries for help. “Hey, Twilight!” Almost. She finally allowed herself to breathe again. Having transfixed herself with the Avengers and their battles, Twilight had nearly forgotten about her friends and their duties. She spun her neck around, her gaze meeting Starlight’s halfway. The pale pink unicorn motioned her head over to the rest of Twilight’s friends, a large crowding of Ponyville’s civilians behind them. Studying them, counting how many they had rescued, hopefully many more once the Avengers clear out the town, Twilight turned back to Starlight, giving the unicorn a simple nod. As she and Starlight approached, the crowd began to grow restless, flinching at every roar that resounded through the air. Once Twilight stepped forward, however, they gawked at her, others saying her name and begging for an explanation to the madness they were trapped in. Applejack saw them approach. She took off her hat, turning to Twilight. “Twi, we rounded up as many ponies as we can. Ah don’t think there are any others we can get to until the Avengers push out these flocks of monsters.” “What about Sweetie Belle?” Twilight asked, turning to Rarity, then back to Applejack. “The Apples?” “Ah told Big Mac ta get our family as far away from Ponyville before we left. Ah told Mayor Mare the same thing, but uh…” she paused, taking a look at the remainder of Ponyville’s populace, then to the shivering mayor. “She probably couldn’t round ‘em all up in time.” Twilight nodded. “I have noticed that Ponyville does seem a bit short on ponies. Hopefully the majority of the town made it somewhere safe in time.” She turned to Rarity. Rarity bit her lip, saying, “Sweetie Belle is with my parents. They have taken Scootaloo with them to join the Apples, I presume?” Applejack nodded, earning a sigh of relief from the unicorn. “Then come on!” Twilight stated loudly, earning the interests of the large crowd behind her friends. She spread her wings, yelling, “We’ll aid the Avengers and the Royal Guard in cleaning up this town! Everypony, follow me!” Leading the charge, Twilight was trailed quickly by Starlight and Rainbow Dash. Applejack and Rarity were quick to join, Fluttershy and Pinkie protecting the injured and worried civilians through the streets. The five mares ahead of the group spotted the battle ensuing just ahead, so very close. Twilight, Starlight, and Rarity each charged up their horn, firing off several blasts of magical energy straight into any target they spotted. Rainbow Dash took the lead, making a speedy entrance and slamming into several demons at once. Applejack joined her, the five mares now headlong into the fray. Meanwhile, Pinkie and Fluttershy carefully guided the terrified group of civilians safely through the fight. That is until a pack of hellhounds caught the group by surprise. A horrifying howl broke across the air, earning the interests of Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and the rest of the ponies behind them. They turned to the street ahead, breaking their focus from the battle to their left and onto the pack of hellhounds charging them. They appeared like normal dogs, almost like wolves in a sense, except their fur was replaced by burning cinder or flaking ash. Their eyes all burned a hellish red, their jagged fangs dangling from the roofs of their jaws. Pinkie Pie yelped, hiding behind Fluttershy. The Pegasus, however, was far from backing down. She stood her ground, her focus trained hard on the approaching group of hounds. She readied herself, prepared every bit of strength she had left in performing “The Stare”. She quickly realized she had no need to. A circular disk colored red, white, and blue hit the pack leader in the side of the skull. The rest of the pack skidded to a halt, facing their crumbled leader then turning to the source of the attack. Captain America rolled forward, his shield equipped and ready for action. In no time, the remaining five hounds were on him, slashing at him, biting near his neck. The Captain countered, flinging the first hound off his back and hitting another. He flung his shield to two more, the weapon hitting each in the head and knocking them out clean. Before his shield could come back, the last hound was upon him, knocking the Captain flat on his back. He held it off, clenching his jaw as his forearm was the only thing keeping the snapping jaws away from his face. A shade of pink later, and the hound was off. Steve Rogers leaned forward and allowed the electromagnet on his forearm to attract his discarded weapon. The shield returned to him, allowing the Captain to spin around and slam the edge of the shield on the dog’s forehead, knocking it out. He stood up, breathing in heavily. Steve turned to the pony lying by the motionless hound. “Nice work, Pinkie,” Steve breathed. Pinkie Pie replied with a weak salute, collapsing on the dirt in a clear sign of exhaustion. It seemed to go around. Steve took in a few, calming breaths before he placed his palm near his ear. “Stark, what’s our situation?” he announced in his comms. He rammed his shield into an oncoming demon, knocking it flat on its back. “Nearly got the town cleared out. We’ll finish up here; you get as many civilians out as you can.” “Copy that,” Rogers replied, lowering his gloved palm. He turned back to Fluttershy, her curious eyes gazing up at him. “Are these all the civilians you could find?” he asked with his hand prompted towards the group behind her. Fluttershy nodded, though a tad on edge. “Y-yes, well, w-we haven’t really checked anywhere up ahead y-yet,” she addressed, her shivering hoof pointed forwards. Captain America nodded to her, facing forward. “Then we’ll do just that.” He took off at a fast jog. Fluttershy motioned the group to follow her, which they did without question, and continued down the road. Pinkie was reluctant to follow, but after shaking the dirt off of her like a dog would shake his wet fur, she hopped right alongside everypony else. “Stark, I got a group of civilians that need a safe passage out of town,” Steve stated in his comms. “We’re moving up now to hopefully find some more.” “We got you covered,” Tony replied. Steve looked up to see Stark’s trail of fire fly overhead, his repulsors doing a significant amount of damage to a group of orcs. He landed in the dirt road with a solid thud, blasting apart any demon that was unlucky enough to be in his line of sight. As the Avengers continued to push forward, joined by the Royal Guard and Princess Twilight, the creatures that managed to use half of their brain quickly realized it was a losing battle. Their brothers and sisters lied dead in the streets, their own deaths soon to follow if they didn’t retreat right away. With a bellowing cry, a massive orc pointed to the mountains in the distance, to the city of Canterlot, and screamed, “Fall back!” What remained of the demon army made an about-face, hissing and crying before running to their retreat. Any stragglers were instantly taken down by the powerhouse of the Avengers’ fighting force, leaving only little winged beasts actually escaping. Noticing the lack of enemies, the scattered Avengers all turned to see the enemy army drive out of the town and towards the hills. And that was it. Captain America slowed to a halt, his eyes gazing at the last remnants of the demon army quickly make their escape. He scanned the area, spotting the rest of his team surrounded by dead bodies and ponies covered in golden armor, smothered with blood. He saw Twilight and the others. He turned around and motioned Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie forward, which they agreed to with a simple nod. “Nice work, guys,” Stark announced, his glowing blue eyes scanning the battlefield and shredded bodies of their foes. “We’re not finished yet,” the Captain stated, earning the interests of many. He pointed to a group of Royal Guard, shouting, “I want you all to start digging through these houses! Find as many ponies as you can! We’re not leaving here unless everyone is accounted for!” The majority of the guard nodded, accepting the order. Steve Rogers watched as they all got to work, pushing aside destroyed lumber and housing and calling out to any survivors. He turned back to his team, to all of them minus Hulk approaching him. As for Hulk, he was busy tearing the heads off of a few dead beasts scattered across the road. Just for precaution, Rogers hoped. “Are we all good?” Steve asked, turning to his team. “Is anyone hurt?” The Avengers shared a few glances with one another, none of them nodding. “Okay, good. Now, we start looking for civilians,” Steve said, placing his shield safely on his back. He spun around, spotting the violet Alicorn sitting not too far away, her friends and Starlight surrounding her. “Twilight, I want you and your friends to—” He stopped. He quickly realized what had happened. The others did too, turning to stare into the flame. Twilight Sparkle sat silently, she and her friends all staring straight ahead. The ash rained around them, cluttering together in Rarity’s mane, but even she didn’t seem to mind much. Each one of them, even the group of ponies that were recently rescued, seemed to stare straight ahead, never blinking, never speaking. Just staring. Straight into the flames that consumed Twilight’s castle. The Alicorn remained silent, unmoving, as if the world around her didn’t matter. As if nothing mattered. She just stared in silence, the burning winds whipping her mane across her face. Even then she was unmoved, her lower lip quivering, fresh tears boiling in her eyes. The remainder of her friends shared similar—yet some being strikingly different—emotions. Fluttershy shed a few tears, her hooves rising to cover her dangling mouth. Rarity was already crying out loud, crying about the loss of such beauty. Pinkie joined her, her forelegs wrapped around Rarity as the two shared in a simple, yet heartbreaking hug. Others, including Applejack and Rainbow Dash, held looks of disbelief and shock, yet they didn’t cry. Starlight Glimmer, out of all the others, appeared to be indifferent. The Avengers watched the castle burn, the very sanctuary they were welcomed to once they landed in an unknown world. It turned them the wrong way, yet it didn’t break them, not like it did for Twilight or her friends. Their gazes were hard, their expressions even harder as they stared into the flames, the fire dancing in their eyes. Steve remained rooted on reality. He continued to breathe steadily, a pang of guilt washing over him the moment he heard the crying erupting from the mares ahead. His focus may have not been entirely focused on such matters, however; there was something else that caught his interests. Something that didn’t feel right. The Captain slowly looked to the ground, noticing a small patch of dirt pushing against the surface, small cracks forming around it. There was a slight rumble that he managed to hear, a tiny shake coursing from his feet to his thighs. It would have been easily unnoticeable for anyone else, but Captain America wasn’t like everybody else. He felt it. He knew the others did, too. “Stark…?” Steve murmured. He heard the sound of Tony’s neck twisting towards him. “You feel that?” Stark shifted his attention downwards, his blue eyes gazing to the earth below. For several seconds he was silent, studying and analyzing miles below the surface. He slowly brought his head up, gazing at the fires burning Twilight’s castle. “Oh, no…” he said. Steve spun his neck around. “What is—?” A tremor cut off the Captain’s question, a tremor so powerful it nearly knocked even the Hulk onto his back. Everyone and everypony was down, trying to find their footing, screaming out of fear, confusion, and worry. The ground continued to tremble. Steve looked up, noticing several cracks build across the road’s surface. He noticed the sheer panic everypony was in. He saw Twilight still remaining frozen, horrified by the flames covering her home. Ponies scattered back and forth, ramming into one another and tripping face-first into the dirt road. “Stark, what do we got?!” Steve yelled, finally finding his footing once the tremor began to die down. Tony hovered several feet off the ground, shouting, “Something big! We need to clear out this town now! We got the civilians, you order the guard!” “Roger!” the Captain replied. He watched as Tony and the remaining Avengers all motioned the scattering ponies to safety, herding them as they would cattle. Captain America held his ground, ran forward and shouted to the stumbling guard, “We got civilians! Get them out of here now!” Many nodded, waving their hooves over to the lines of ponies stumbling amongst the chaos. Steve watched as carriages were filled to the brim with the last remnants of Ponyville’s civilians, each carriage taking off one by one, separately and in succession. Sooner than he expected, all of the carriages were gone, leaving only one. Spike waved them all forward from the last carriage, his eyes growing wide. Captain America followed his gaze, as did the rest of the Avengers, as did Twilight’s friends and Starlight Glimmer. Twilight was the only one ambiguous to the whole ordeal, her eyes remaining glued to the fires whipping across her castle, engulfing it. She paid no heed to the rising earth directly to her left. The earth began to crack, spreading across rows of empty houses and finally stopping, cutting off a small tower in half. As the earth broke off and quickly began to rise, that tower fell apart, falling down straight for the last carriage. Steve screamed, so did many others. Spike gasped and closed his eyes, prepared for the worst. Just as the tower crushed the last carriage, Spike was yanked out of the way by a red stream of energy grabbing hold of his body. He was brought forward, directly into the arms of a young woman. The Avengers turned to her, to the Scarlet Witch. She looked to the Captain. “Got him!” Wanda said, holding the shell-shocked dragon in her arms. None of them responded, not even Stark. Another tremor shook the earth, bringing everyone’s attention back to the situation at hand. They all stared up, gazing fearfully at the rising earth carrying with it several houses. It continued to grow higher and higher, several chunks of rock breaking and falling right for them. They all easily dodged, Steve rolling out of the way of a falling rock. He gazed at the massive piece of floating land, horrible memories resurfacing. He screamed, “Stark, is the town clear?!” Tony quickly flew up about a hundred feet in the air, dodging several rocks intended for him if he hadn’t moved. He performed a quick scan of the area, looking back down to the group. “Everyone’s out!” he shouted. “Then that means we are, too,” Captain America stated, turning to the rest of his team. “I don’t care how you do it, just get to Canterlot!” He nodded to Thor. The God of Thunder nodded back, spinning his hammer around wildly. Before Wanda could react, she was scooped up in the arms of another. She turned her head to the right, spotting Vision’s eyes staring directly into her own. With the Maximoff twin and the baby dragon secured, Vision took to the skies, his destination centered on the mountain in the distance. Pietro watched them leave. He was quick to follow, speeding out of the town and over the hills with a trail of dust following him. Four down… Steve thought, turning his attention over to Twilight and her friends. His heart nearly stopped to see that Twilight hadn’t moved a muscle. “Hey!” the Captain shouted. Several colorful heads turned his way, away from the rising and earth and onto the distraught Captain. “We need to leave now!” “Working on it!” Rainbow replied, spinning back to Twilight and shaking the mare madly. “Come on, Twi! Get up!” She continued to stare blankly ahead, fresh tears falling from her cheeks. “What’s the holdup?!” Tony asked, dodging more and more falling rocks. He hovered in place, analyzing the rising rock further and further, worsening his fears, darkening his heart. Her friends screamed at her, begged her to come back to them. Twilight was lost, every shred of reality stolen from her, leaving the Alicorn in a husk of time and space. She sat gazing at the fires, contemplating just how it was possible. For her home—the home she built out of the love and friendship her friends had cherished—to burn so easily. Did it mean nothing? Did all the hard work, pain, and loss mean absolutely nothing? How could she allow something that united her and her friends burn away just like that, as if all of their past successes and failures meant absolutely nothing? As if the symbol of her hope and friendship meant absolutely nothing. That she meant absolutely nothing. Her hearing returned shortly as the ground erupted behind them. Spinning about, catching her breath, Twilight and her friends watched as Hulk bent down to their level, his arms extended. In his right arm laid Natasha, her hand held out to them. Twilight shifted her eyes from the gloved palm to the Widow, to the Hulk and back to the palm. She reached out and placed her hoof in Natasha’s hand. The rising earth broke in two. Captain America shielded his face with his arms, Thor flying down and scooping the soldier right off the ground right before a chunk of earth could crush him. Tony did the same for Clint, holding the man by his forearm and taking to the skies. Twilight’s eyes slowly glazed over each of her friends, each one of them safely secured in Hulk’s left arm. Starlight caught Twilight’s stare, sharing a surprising look of sympathy with the Princess. With Natasha holding her still, Twilight looked back to see the world behind her slowly grow smaller and smaller, the flames consuming her home growing dimmer. The rising earth falling apart, the Hecatonchires screaming its freedom cry over the burning village of the ponies.