The Strength to Rise
"How long has it been?" Banner asked the Princess of the Night while both of them looked through a small crack in the doors at the Champion of Magic, who hadn't moved nor changed back to his mortal form since returning alone. He simply sat by himself in the room with his hooded head hung in defeat.
"You do realize that I am still mad at you, right?" Luna reminded the scientist, yet a green-eyed glare from the doctor convinced her to change the topic. "Sigh...it has been three days since Billy returned alone from his escort mission. He hasn't said a word to any of us since, and he's been solitary in this room for all of that time. That room, as I already told the others, belonged to Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, none of whom have returned."
Banner rubbed his eyes with the back of his hands as he tried to think while Luna continued, "And despite Billy not saying anything, my scouts have reported that the place where the transfer was supposed to take place is now just ash. The unicorns picked up traces of divine lightning that we can assume was the cause of the destruction, so it isn't that farfetched to believe that Black Adam was the cause of all that destruction."
"No..." Banner began while he crossed his arms and thought back to how Marvel had acted over the past few days. How he looked completely defeated and how the air of guilt hung over him--a feeling that Banner knew all too well. "No, I don't believe that it was Black Adam. If Black Adam had been the reason behind the destruction of the convoy and the ponies there, then Billy would be infuriated. Not...depressed."
"Are you kidding me? My unicorns detected divine lightning at the barren hills," Luna reminded Banner with a chuckle. "If it wasn't Black Adam that decimated the land, then the only other being it could have been was..." Luna's words died as the realization struck her dumb and she slowly looked up at Banner to see him nod. "But he is one of the champions. Why would he...?"
"That's what I want to know, but right now he isn't talking and none of us are going to be able to get the answers out of him in this state," Banner said with a sigh of frustration, needing to know what had happened. 'But I also don't want to push Billy. He's clearly breaking down right now, and I don't want to hurt him by trying to get him to recall what happened. Not to mention, if he were to snap I don't know if we could stop him. Hulk can barely stop Adam.'
"So, what do we do then? We can't just sit around and wait for him to feel like talking. This is war, and every second we spend waiting for him puts more lives in jeopardy. I'm going to get him to talk," Luna began before a wave of azure magic grabbed her by the face and dragged her to the floor, where she looked up to see the disdainful gaze of Trixie looking down at her. "Unhoof me, Trixie! Do you have any idea whose face you're dragging to the floor?!"
"Yes, Princess, I know full well what I'm doing. But clearly, you do not," Trixie said with scorn in both her voice and her eyes, scorn which she then turned upon Banner as well. "You both are talking about finding a way to get information about something terrible that happened out of Billy. Something so horrible, that he has not spoken in days and refuses to leave that room."
"We have established that already, but we have to find some way to discern what happened," Banner said in a serious tone, but one that did not lack compassion. "Billy is the only one who knows what happened out there, and as painful as it is, we need to find out who destroyed the convoy. And if my suspicions are correct, I may need to..."
"Take your suspicions and shove them up your rear," Trixie said with a snarl, that caused both Luna and Banner to look at her with surprise and shock written on their faces. "I know what you're both thinking. You're both asking yourselves what if Billy killed the ponies there...if he might need to be brought down. What I'm thinking is, that there is a child in that room who is hurt beyond words because of either his own actions or the actions of somepony else. He does not need the two of you to judge him. What he needs right now is somepony to comfort him. Now, if you will excuse me..."
Trixie stalked past Banner and Luna as she said this, her tone and her words having struck both of them dumb. The anger upon her face changed to sympathy when she sat down next to the red and white champion, whose face she could not see under the hood. The two were silent for a moment while Trixie thought out what she wanted to say to him beforehoof, but then she took in a small breath and asked her first question.
"Billy? Are you alright?" The silence she got in response was to be expected and Trixie accepted Billy's answer with a nod, figuring that was how he would answer. She then asked her second question. "Will you talk to me?" Again silence was the only answer she got, but instead of asking another question Trixie gently placed her head upon the Captain's shoulder, trying her best to comfort him. "I just want you to know that I'm here for you, even if you don't want to talk."
Trixie did not keep track of how long the two of them sat in silence, nor did she care. She knew that if Billy was going to talk it would be on his own time, not hers. She occasionally caught a glance of Banner and Luna watching the two of them, with Mr. Bubbles joining them eventually. Bubbles let out a sad moan while his eyes flashed between green and yellow before he walked into the room as well, sitting on the other side of Captain Marvel without making another sound.
"Billy..." Trixie eventually said to break the silence, yet her words only gained the attention of Mr. Bubbles. "I just want you to know that whatever happened out there, I will not judge you for it. I am sure that it was not your fault." The moment her words left her mouth the air in the room changed. Both she and Bubbles looked at Marvel with surprise as lightning began to crackle along his body, while his fists were clenched tight enough to crush diamonds.
"Not my fault?" he said in a near whisper, yet there was enough wrath and sorrow in his voice that Banner and Luna were instantly on guard. Trixie and Bubbles both stayed by Billy's side but never took their eyes off of him. A surge of lightning pushed them both away from him as he floated to his feet, Trixie not certain whether he was in control of his actions or not.
"It's not my fault that I unleashed a sphere of lightning far more powerful than I could handle? It's not my fault that I did not think things through and just went in swinging?" Marvel asked them both while the whole compound began to shake from the sheer power of anger radiating off of Captain Marvel. Trixie and Bubbles backed up next to each other as lightning flashed in Billy's eyes while thunder rumbled. "It's not my fault that I killed all of the ponies in that convoy including Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and APPLEBLOOM?!" he thundered.
Trixie was afraid at this point, with no clear idea of what Billy might do next. She knew full well that even if he didn't want to hurt any of them, with the amount of lightning that was surging off of his body one of them might become Ryan's new roommate. But before she or the two standing outside of the door could act, Mr. Bubbles let out a moan and began to walk towards the raging thunderer. With most of his body covered in metal the lightning was drawn to him, causing him to roar in pain as the electricity coursed through his body and his armor. But Bubbles never slowed down nor did his eyes ever change from a bright green as he walked towards Marvel, not stopping until he was right next to him. He moaned one more time before he reached out with his arms and pulled the Captain into a hug.
Both Captain Marvel and Trixie looked at the Big Daddy with confusion for a brief second before Billy broke down completely, sobbing heavily against the iron golem who let out comforting moans while he patted the boy on the back. The lightning show stopped as Marvel's muffled sobs continued for a minute, before is heroic will fought back the sadness and helped him to regain control of himself.
"I'm sorry..." Marvel whispered as he pulled his hood down over his eyes so none of them could see his face, but no one who was watching needed to see his face to catch the shimmering tears that fell to the floor. "I just...need a minute." Banner and Luna chose that moment to try to enter, but Trixie gave them a glare so fierce that even the Hulk flinched within Bruce. Captain Marvel sat back down again with his face in his hands, trying to keep himself from breaking out into tears again. With the strength of Hercules he managed to suppress his sorrow, but he didn't speak again.
"Billy," Trixie began in a more serious tone than she had used earlier, gaining the attention of everypony in the room. "You said that the reason this...happened was because that you used a spell that you could not control, correct?" Billy nodded and Trixie placed a hoof under her chin, silently thinking to herself.
"Then, I will teach you how to use your magic--teach you how to use it on a level that you have not yet achieved," she decided with a voice of confidence, getting a look of confusion from the champions.
"But Twilight was already teaching me, and even then we had a hard time making progress because of how strange my magic is," Marvel explained with defeat already within his voice. "And that was five years' worth of training. How do you expect me to--"
"How do you expect to improve if you get so down on yourself?" Trixie cut him off before he could finish. "I know what you are going through, it is one of my greatest failures as well, but trust me when I say that you must learn from this. And you are right in saying that I am not Twilight. I will not teach as she would. I will teach you the same way I taught Starshine and the same way Sombra taught me--through the desire to protect those around you."
"What do you mean?" Billy asked.
"Starshine learned how to do magic despite being crippled because he wished to protect me. I learned spoken magic from Sombra because I sought to protect my son. Both of us learned much faster than normal, because we wished to protect those we loved. And from the little I know of you, I have seen that you wish to protect everypony," Trixie explained while a smile spread on her face as the Captain's eyes widened. "We shall mourn those who died when this is over, I promise you this. But right now, we need to help you gain a mastery over the magic that you know so little about. And I promise you, that if you take my hoof and allow me to train you, then we will make sure that what happened out there will not happen again."
Marvel looked at her extended hoof for a moment before he hung his head, getting a sad moan out of Bubbles, but Trixie continued to hold her hoof out. She did not know how long it would take, but she already knew what Billy's answer would be. Then, Captain Marvel raised his head and extended a hand to her, clasping her hoof with his hand as he rose to his full height. There were still tears in his eyes, but they were quickly burned away by the look of determination that he now wore on his face.
"Alright, Trixie. Let's do this."
S=H=A=Z=A=M
Six hooded figures walked down the moonlit streets alone, none of the ponies in the large buildings around them daring to be out at this time of night. It was the time of night when the monsters prowled, seeking innocents to be caught in their claws. But none of those monsters that lurked in the shadows dared to mess with those in the cloaks, those whom all knew to avoid.
"I still can't believe that we have to meet in such a small city," one of them grumbled from beneath his hood as he cast a scornful look at the buildings around him. "When are we going to tear down the old world and rebuild it the way it should be--with unicorns in charge just as they used to be?"
"Patience, young one. If destroying this land and rewriting it was so easy, it would have been done a long time ago," one of the senior ponies said with a cold voice, getting the other one to grumble to himself. "But we are closer than anypony else has gotten, make no mistake of that. A few--maybe one month more and then we will get what we wish."
"Feh, I do not know ho much longer I can wait. I hate having to act polite to these...inferiors," a female pony snarled beneath her cloak. The six continued on in silence until a Pegasus ran past the group and slammed into the side of the female cloaked pony, knocking her over before the Pegasus ran off into one of the alleyways. "Excuse me for a moment. This will not take long." The unicorns all snickered amongst themselves as she stalked into the alleyway after the Pegasus. A flash of magic went off to illuminate the dark alleyway which was followed by the sound of a body hitting the ground, causing the group to chuckle to themselves while the cloaked pony walked out of the alleyway with a growl.
"Infidel," she grumbled before nodding to the rest of the group to continue on. They walked in silence for the rest of the way until they came to a warehouse that seemed abandoned, with moss hanging off of the side and most of the windows shattered. Yet, it was clearly their destination for when they approached the entrance, a pony in a cloak emerged from the shadows and motioned for them to stop.
"Who will be spared in the second coming?" he asked in a gruff voice, his horn slightly glowing.
"None. All shall be destroyed, then rebuilt," the elder pony answered in a voice that told the others he had done this many a times. The guard nodded before the floor began to sink beneath the group, hardly affecting any of them as they had all done this many times. The elevator came to a stop to reveal a large chamber filled with dark cloaked ponies, though some of them had their hoods down, and were talking to others that they knew. Yet the most common factor among them was that they were all unicorns.
"Wow, this has to be one of the largest gatherings that we have had in a while," one of the group said as she looked around at the sheer volume of cloaks. "If it wasn't for these large hips, I would try to come to more of these things."
"Got a crush on a certain leader, eh?" one of the younger ones taunted her, his laugh getting cut short by a hoof to the face that drew blood. Their very brief fight was broken up by the Pegasus-killer, who snarled at the both of them as all of the ponies began to gather around a strange device in the center of the room. The six walked over as well just as an image emerged from the device, revealing a unicorn with a very large beard beneath his dark hood. The newer members gasped at the image of the unicorn covered completely in darkness, able to feel his presence through the magical image, despite him not actually being there.
"There he is--Star-Swirl the Bearded--the greatest unicorn in the history of Equestria," a voice in the crowd said with admiration as all eyes were glued upon the figure that towered above them.
"Hello, my children. How nice it is to see that those who have opened their eyes have grown in the few months since we have had one of these...meetings," Star-Swirl said with a voice the held so much power within it, that all shivered at his mere whispers. "But that is enough for the small talk, for there is work that we must speak of," he began as his eyes scanned the crowd, stopping once or twice on certain ponies before he began to speak.
"Everything is going according to plan and perhaps a little bit better. Our inside sources within Luna's army have informed us that not only were both forces wiped out during the cargo exchange, but also that Captain Marvel, one of those infernal champions who thinks he can beat us, believes that he was responsible for their sacrifice," Star-Swirl said as he wheezed slightly, the closest he ever came to laughter. The crowd laughed slightly as well, yet most of them held a fear for any that looked like Adam. "That little incident has pushed our plan ahead by a month."
"Onto other matters to discuss. Those sources within Celestia's ranks have told us that she wishes to face her sister and the champions by herself. While that would no doubt be entertaining, we must not allow them to fight until all is prepared. Then, they may unleash the destruction of the sun and moon upon each other." Star-Swirl then turned his gaze skyward with rage in his eyes, a rage that caused nearly all to cower. "Luna and Celestia--the two fools who believe themselves to be gods, are so blinded by their hatred that they cannot see what happens beneath their very noses. It sickens me."
"Sir...what of Black Adam?" a courageous pony asked from within the crowd, his words causing all who were near him to shoot away from him as fast as they could. Star-Swirl slowly turned his gaze upon the pony with a smile, a smile that was far beyond menacing while the courageous pony continued, "Just last week he attacked one of our secure locations and almost interfered with the transfer of the device. What shall we do about--"
"Do not worry about the false champion. He will not be able to stop us, not when the time is right. We have the god and the monster on our side," Star-Swirl explained to comfort the ponies, but at the mention of two such beings the gathering seemed to become even more fearful. "They will deal with Adam, just as we shall make sure that Adam deals with Luna's false champions. They believe themselves to be the kings and queens, but they do not know that they are simply pawns in our game and will be swept off the board when the time is right."
"Yet as certain as our victory seems, we must not allow any mistakes to take place. As much as a fool as he is, Adam is still strong enough to undo all of our work. Those who are carrying out the next stage of our plan know what to do next, but to those of you who are hiding with the two sisters' ranks, your objectives remain the same. Spread chaos, keep the sisters fighting and cause as much destruction as you can. For soon, all those who believed themselves to be mightier than you shall be beneath you...six feet beneath you."
Having said all he had wished to say, Star-Swirl vanished and the device shut off, leaving the ponies to talk amongst themselves about what they had just heard.
"Then, we're almost at the endgame. We mean to make our move soon," the elderly unicorn said to the others, each of whom wore smiles beneath their faces before they changed into frowns while they looked around.
"Hey, where did Grasswhistle go? She was just right here a moment ago?" one of them pointed out to their friend's sudden disappearance.
"She probably went off to carry out Star-Swirl's decree," another one of them said with a shrug. "You know how much of a fanatic she is. Makes the rest of us look normal in comparison to how far she'll take things."
"But soon we won't need to worry about the secrecy or laying low. Because we will be the ones standing above the rest," one of them said with glee in his voice as he rubbed his hooves together. "Just as it should be."
S=H=A=Z=A=M
Outside of the warehouse, past the secret entrance to the underground chamber and the now unconscious guard, walked away a solitary figure who wore a cloak over her form. But once the warehouse was out of view she cast the cloak aside with a snarl of rage and allowed her wings to stretch, having to hold them tight to her body to prevent them from sticking out under the cloak.
"So that's what all of you sickos are up to," she said with grim determination while she cast off into the night, weaving through the shadows as if she was one of them. But even though she had been trained to fight and move in the dark, the cowl that rested upon her head was what helped her navigate the pitch black streets.
'But all that meeting did was confirm my suspicions. Both sides have been compromised and it seems that the fire of war burns just as strongly from within,' she thought to herself as she glided through the streets, taking a brief respite atop a building next to some of her oldest allies: gargoyles. 'But there are far too many ponies within both ranks for me to single the spies out in the time that we have left...there is still more work that needs to be done. But I can't be away for too long, as the other still need me.'
She leapt from atop the building, her wings outstretched, silently sailing off into the night just as a bat would. 'I heard rumors about what had happened with Luna's convoy, but this confirms that Billy is not to blame. His spell wasn't the cause of those ponies' deaths.'
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Batmare, doing Batman very proud.
YES. and ALL my YES.
5758495 Proof On the earth's surface, F=mg
where
F= weight
m= mass
g= acceleration due to gravity
In fact, force is the rate of change of momentum and is given by:
F = dp/dt
where p is momentum.
F = dp/dt can be expanded to F = v(dm/dt) + m(dv/dt)
where m is mass, v is velocity.
F = m(dv/dt) = ma. This is for constant mass.
F = v(dm/dt) is used when velocity is constant but mass is changing
so in this case we apply formula F = m(dv/dt) = ma which applies under newtons second law.
Edit: what I'm saying is its like propelling a rocket. the larger the force propelling it the faster it goes.
who is the god and the monster?
5761247 Yeah but still... faster then light? If an object goes faster then light then doesnt it just become pure energy or something?
5761370 well a shockwave is already pure energy.
I KNEW it. I knew Billy didnt do it. Also that organization of unicorns are a bunch of freaking racists arent they? And are the CMC dead or just taken? Why is Star Swirl evil in this version?
5761385 Not the same kind though.
5761408 no exceptions none. and no. The object can't go ftl but vibrations aren't an object.
Okay, Star Swirl reminds me of Darth Sidious and his cult reminds me of the Brotherhood of Nod, Which could only mean one thing.
these unicorns are really awesome, and that's why i'm still routing for them.
5761416 Yeah but how do you KNOW?
5761427 atom splitters send atoms faster than light so atoms are able with enough force anything else could.
5761432 Fine even if that is the case Hulk would NEVER hit with enough force to split the earth in two. So that makes it limited.
5761453 he already did
He took one step after Rick died and nearly split the earth in two.
5761898
5761453
This argument still going on?
5761898 I meant in the story dude. I thought it was obvious? THIS Hulk would not WILLINGLY put the planet at risk with that much force.
5761904 Not for much longer.
5761912 We are talking about no banner He Will Do ANYTHING especially when mad enough to lose all reasoning.
5762338 No. I AM talking about THIS version of Hulk. And if he wants to save the planet, then the least he can do is not blow it up.
5762344 I'm not saying he WILL do it I AM SAYING HE CAN
5762349 I never said he couldn't. It's pretty darn obvious that a creature with unlimited rage has unlimited strength. I just know he WONT.
5762364 FINALLY THE WAR IS OVER WE AGREE HULK COULD BUT WILL NOT BECAUSE OF INNOCENT LIVES.
5762377 We never truly disagreed in the first place. You just misunderstood my words.
5762390 I DONT CARE ITS 3:30 AM WHERE I LIVE. I DRANK REB BULL AND AVE BEEN EATING PINKIE'S HAIR TO STAY AWAKE.
5762400 .....Why?
5762411 WHAT?WHO?WHERE?WHEN? I DONT UNDERSTAND THE QUESTION?
5762416 I mean why are you still awake?
5762419 I went to bed so yeah I'm gewd now
5762364
Your wrong. The Hulk has NEITHER unlimited rage or unlimited strength. A potential infinite is NOT an actual infinite. Please, think straight next time the moment you say something so stupid.
Achievement earned: Bat out of Hell (Infiltrate Star-Swirl's meeting)
6281074
Like you so stupid enough to jump to Luna's defense.