Chapter 161 – Not Out of This Fight
161
Upstate New York
Remains of the New Avengers Facility
5:45 p.m.
“… Twi! Dash…! Rarity!”
Twilight was the first to awaken, the first to properly react to the strained grunts directly on top of her. The blues of her mask’s eyes illuminated the smoke-filled shadows, the Iron Mare armor finally coming to and bursting to life. Beside her, Twilight noted that Rainbow Dash and Rarity lied close, their own suits beginning to twitch and stir in response to their names being called from above.
They all shifted their eyes upward, a helping of dust and pebbles falling on top of them in response to the subtle movement of Captain America’s shield pressed against the rubble. There, Steve Rogers held it, the collapsing rooftop mere feet away from crushing him and the three ponies lying beneath him. He managed to hold it still, teeth gritted and knee pressed against the floor where the mares laid. Though his eyes were shut tight, he managed to open them momentarily, finally seeing the ponies staring up at him expectantly.
“Move!” he cried.
In response to his pained efforts, the mares looked to one another and then to their side. They either rolled or crawled to safety outside the slab of rubble hovering over them. Steve shut his eyes so incredibly tight that his facial muscles even started to strain, the overwhelming weight of the roof on his arm and back finally taking its toll on him.
To his relief, he felt the weight suddenly lift from his shoulder, Steve slowly turning back to it to see the rubble be encased within a violet aura. That was all he needed in order to know who was aiding him. That was all he needed to roll out from under it and watch the rubble come crashing down. A flushing wave of dust filled their line of sight once the portion of the rooftop had finally collapsed and rested against the wretched remains of the facility’s flooring. Steve sent a grateful nod to Twilight beside him. She nodded in return, her mask’s helmet retracting back in a wave of nanobots.
Rainbow and Rarity followed shortly, their respective breaths heavy, large eyes wandering about and scanning their environment. A shattered husk of what once was the New Avengers Facility surrounded them, from the collapsing ceiling, tattered flooring, visible wiring that sparked every few seconds, demolished walls, and torn furniture. Smoke, ash, small snippets of fire, and shadow filled the air, making it difficult to breathe. Though it was also difficult to make it out from the heavy darkness, the four Avengers realized quickly they were in the War Room. They must have been thrown back into it during the first explosion. Speaking of which…
“What happened?” Rainbow groaned, voice slightly more cracked than usual. She rubbed the side of her head with her armor-plated hoof, her Arc Reactor a brilliant blue within the smoke and dark.
Captain America managed to catch his breath. His red, white, and blue suit and helmet were scratched and painted in dust. His shield, especially, was covered in similar filth, yet Rogers didn’t mind. The same fate befell each of the three mares, their suits of armor torn and covered from the aftermath of the bombardment. Their faces and manes were already beginning to accumulate a helping of dust particles that rained from the teetering ceiling, slight bruises and blood splotches painted on their cheekbones.
“If I had to guess, I’d say Clint and Nat’s warning was real…” Steve answered, the mares turning his way. His eyes were barely visible beneath the dust and ash that painted his face, yet they could clearly see the severity in each orb, the graveness he expressed when he turned to face them.
Especially when he said, “And Thanos came a little early.”
With that bomb dropping on the three mares like a bombardment of missiles on the New Avengers Facility—perhaps being even more impactful—they let it rest in the air and watched as the revelation corroded it. Each of their hearts consecutively fell when the nightmare became real, when the impossible became truth. When Thanos came back from the dead and hovered right over their heads.
To some, it meant the wretched reality where Thanos lived and continued to torture them in other ways beyond physical pain. Rarity knew such agony, the mare barely managing to hide the shiver that flushed across her body. To others, it meant the greatest hurdle had yet to be overcome, their greatest foe and deadliest adversary was just outside the remnants of the facility and searching for what they had. Perhaps that was the worst possible thought yet, the idea that they brought back the Infinity Stones fresh for Thanos’ taking. Last time he wiped out half the universe.
If he got his hands on the Stones again, he would undoubtedly use them to clip the remaining branches: The Avengers.
With that wretched thought plaguing her, Twilight’s heartbeat rose to horrid levels, the mare looking about wildly as she fell into a state of uncertain terror. “We need to find the Infinity Stones, b-b-before Thanos—!”
Steve held out his gloved-hand to stop her. “We need to find the survivors.”
Twilight opened her mouth to protest, but after meeting Steve’s gaze and staring deeply into his eyes, she knew where his priorities laid. As they should have for all of them. Yes, getting the Infinity Stones back before Thanos was important—probably the most important thing in the universe at that moment—but knowing the gauntlet was no doubt lost within the labyrinth of rubble, debris, and mountains of dust, it would be quite some time before they saw it again. Finding their team, their friends, and coming back together to collect themselves came first.
It was a nod the Alicorn sent to Rogers that brought him to his feet. With the Captain leading, the four Avengers cautiously made their way through the remains of the facility in search of survivors. Continuously checking their comms, all they received was static, an invasive airwave disruption preventing them from hearing all of the voices probably screaming for help under tons of building and Helicarrier debris.
They made their way through what appeared to be a hallway, passing the structurally sound armory that had miraculously survived the surprise attack, and came across the remains of the living room. A quick scan from each Avenger told them there was no living being within it. A toppled couch, drops of blood near some shattered glass, but nothing other than that. Steve followed the drops of blood that led to a nearby exit, his hopes falling just as the collapsed ceiling had blocked the escape. A smidgen of hope began to rise when Steve realized that someone had been in the room and lived to make it out.
“Hey, look!” Rainbow called, prompting the heads in the room to shift her way. They watched as Dash turned over the broken coffee table, falling to her haunches as she bent down to pick something up. Curious, Twilight and Rarity trotted over to her. Steve made his approach slow and steady, cautious to the growling shifts of the facility beneath their feet.
When he finally stood behind the three mares, Steve gazed down and saw the familiar hat lying in Rainbow’s armored hooves. Dusty, worn, but nonetheless intact. With the shattered gems still inside it. Rainbow managed a weak smile at that, holding Applejack’s hat out for all to clearly see the best they could in the darkened atmosphere.
“No Infinity Stones, but the Elements of Harmony surprisingly made it out unscathed,” she told them, seeing Twilight and Rarity bend in close to analyze it for themselves.
“Let’s keep it that way,” Steve said with a firm nod. He pointed back to the hallway, telling Rainbow, “Take them to the armory.”
She nodded fiercely back, her metal wings extending and the Pegasus taking off for the shadow-filled hallway. Almost immediately after she left, a slight rumble was heard directly behind them, prompting Steve and the two mares to spin at a complete 180 to face it. Before them, they witnessed slabs of rubble and concrete beginning to rise, dust and rock falling rapidly to the facility’s movements. Steve raised his shield, eyes cautiously concentrated on the movement before him.
To their shared ease, they saw the burning Arc Reactor and the blue eyes illuminating in the dust once the slabs of concrete were raised. Tony Stark stood beneath them, nearly his entire body concealed in that ravaged atmosphere. His voice was enhanced greatly by the Iron Man mask, urging them by shouting, “Hurry up! Thing’s gonna collapse on me!”
It was a mad dash for the exit, Steve rushing first with Twilight and Rarity trailing quickly behind. It was only after Rainbow Dash zoomed back into the living room did she spot Tony struggling with the rubble, witnessed most of it cracking and falling apart on top of him. She made her move and reached the other side in less than two seconds. With them safe on the same side as him, Tony released the rubble and backed away as a slab of the ceiling fell and kicked up a helping of dust and pebbles in their face.
Letting the wave wash over them and pushing the dust cloud away, Tony’s mask retracted back to reveal the black bruise on his right temple, the river of blood coated down the side of his face. Regardless of his injuries, his Mark 85 kept the rest of him safe. Turning to them at last, Stark managed a short and snarky, “You guys talk really loud. Thank God for that.”
“Tony,” Steve replied, changing the subject rather rapidly to what was important, “have you found any of the others?”
Stark shrugged his right shoulder, turning away and shaking his head. Pursing his lips, he pointed to Steve and the mares, telling them, “You’re the only ones.”
“And… the attack,” Twilight asked in her subtle approach, gazing up at Tony with wide, hopeful, and terrified eyes. “Is it… Thanos?”
Whatever blood that hadn’t leaked free from his head completely sunk back into his body, leaving just a ghost of his former self. In the seconds of unnerving silence that followed, Twilight, Rainbow, and Rarity pretty much had their worries confirmed with Tony’s lack of a verbal answer. He hardly had the opportunity to ease their rising fears. He hardly had the strength to ease his own. The flow of words that left his lips came as a sharpened whisper, the tremble on his tongue felt by each of them in different chords.
“You’ll see.”
The next thing they realized, they were following Stark’s light in order to navigate the darkness and rubble and find their escape. Just seeing the skeletal fractures of the New Avengers Facility gave an undeniable sense of loss to each one of them. For all the years they had spent within those very walls, now seeing not a single wall fully standing. Or the laughs they shared watching movies in the living room, practically the entirety of it now caved in and the movie collection destroyed. It was founded after the Ultron Offensive, meant to house the Avengers for years to come and train the next generations of enhanced individuals.
Stark could hardly believe it was still standing. Some of it, anyway. The majority of the facility lay as a smoldering ruin painting the landscapes outside. Just as they reached an open pathway of rebar, concrete, and rubble, they saw the devastation in its entirety for themselves. All of it laid before them in a mass grave of what was once the foundation of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
A pockmarked wasteland of building ruins, chunks of the destroyed Helicarrier, and scorched remnants of the nearby forest lay ahead. Fires were spreading and infecting the air in a sickening black and orange. The evening sun was hardly visible, both from the infectious air and the presence of Thanos’ lead warship hanging before them, glaring down at them with its red visors. The tips of the ship’s wings touched the ends of the horizon, so utterly massive that the five of them couldn’t help but gaze to it.
Six of them.
They brought their eyes down, forward, and finally noticed the God of Thunder standing patiently on the edge of the facility’s remains. It was only after Tony, Steve, Twilight, Rainbow, and Rarity came to his sides did they realize what Thor was staring at. They followed his lone eye, gazed out into the destruction, and saw him.
Thanos.
All was quiet on the Earthen front, save for Twilight’s rapidly-beating heart and shivering gulp.
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Now it begins
Once again, the battle for the universe is about to commence.
The question remains, will Thanos be the only one that the Avengers have to face?
Next Chapter: THE DEAD SPEAK!
The battle has begun. This will be the epic battle in all of equestrian and earths history. And I get the feeling Ultra will suddenly appear out of nowhere and fight both sides. And I think Tony will sill have issues about him and Wanda for taking her brother away. Nice chapter, keep up the great work
Keep a grip on that, Rainbow. We're gonna need those.
Thor: Let's kill him properly this time.
Rainbow: My thoughts exactly.
Do the universe a favor and kill him properly this time.
10038898
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This gonna be a 6v1? Kill him properly this time and his other self too
Good thing he's here, for there are some people who have things to tell him.
Three Avengers from the original six and three surviving mares from the main six going against the Mad Titan. The next chapter is going to be good.
But the elements are destroyed when they used it on thanos and he destroyed them
And so the battle of the UNIVERSE now truly begins....I see Rainbow has saved the elements, and i wonder what role they will play! Time for the monologue!
i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/561/446/27d.jpg
Oh boy , It really is gonna be a big fight , question is : Why would you start the final battle 40 chapters before the end ? No , I just KNOW that you have something even bigger in stock , you can't fool me (That and all the kinda-obvious hints you threw around , but let me believe I am a mastermind of guessing , ples) !
Anyway , let's appreciate the battle that is about to go down before then , shall we ?
Oh and also , for the ones that really can't bother or don't know a single word of Spanish , the note says "Six Friends".
It's good to have the original Thanos be the one who faces them. Makes the battle more personal.
Still... at least Thor knows where to aim this time.
10039313 Oh gosh haha
10039329 The biggest and baddest battle for the century!
10039554 Keep those elements close... but keep your friends closer.
10039700 6 v 1? I like those odds.
10039798 The trinities.
10039822 They ARE destroyed. Keep it in mind. ;)
10039864 Maybe a quick pep talk before the monologue.
10039966 Oh yeah. It’s all coming together.
10040060 Needed to keep the best version of Thanos!
10040094
Magic with Power
Laughter with Reality
Kindness with Mind
Loyalty with Space
Honesty with Time
Generosity with Soul
10040216
Nah I think Honesty goes with Reality, Laughter goes with Soul, and Generosity goes with Time.
Most definitely impressive!
It was then our heroes realized that Thanos and Thor were having the most intense battle of..... a staring contest.
Ohhh 😄🤩 yeah 3 mares whats left of the elements of harmony from mane 6 and 3 founding members of the avengers 😁
Those 6 better be ready for this because there gonna bleed 😬
Thanos finally shows himself. It is going to be interesting with them fighting their own version of Thanos in this scene, instead of his counterpart from 2014.
That part confused me a bit, since I thought Thanos destroyed the Elements of Harmony at the end of Infinity War, when they failed to stop him.