• Published 26th May 2018
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Infinity Era - JDPrime22



Avengers: Infinity War / Avengers: Endgame crossover. The culmination has arrived. The Mad Titan has waited so long for this moment. Long live the Infinity Era.

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Chapter 184 – Redemption

184

The Battle of Earth

7:05 p.m.

As the rest of the world tore itself apart, their own fragment of reality began to settle. Miles of scorched wasteland, shattered landscapes ripped asunder, and clashing armies continued to fill the background, with smoke and fire polluting the atmosphere and all the inhabited earth. The skies melted with chaos and warfare, the Equestrian Grand Fleet engaging the Chitauri Command Centers in one final clash for air dominance. Everything burned and died and lay before them as a husk of the horrors of war.

Yet it was their fragment of reality that remained untouched by the rest of it. In that reality, it was just them, just six little ponies standing against the most powerful being in the universe at that very moment. What he wielded in his right fist right then and there—the very powers of the universe combined—made him practically unstoppable. Through every warrior, every hero, every life he had pushed through to attain it, Thanos was already unstoppable. His body was giving in, but his mind and his will were unbreakable. The Stones only amplified that, made his greatest self even greater. They made him a god. They made him so that no life, no weapon, no being could ever harm him again.

Once upon a time ago, Twilight Sparkle just may have believed that. Before her friends were given back to her, before she realized she could make amends with Rainbow Dash, before the possibility to undo all of Thanos’ crimes were even feasible… Twilight may have believed that. She believed that Thanos was dead, that he had achieved his purpose and killed half of all life. Nothing could ever harm him again because he fulfilled his destiny. There was no possible way they could bring everyone back when he destroyed the Stones. And from that, Twilight Sparkle had given up.

She lost herself, sought only to do good for her little ponies and for as many lives as possible. She wanted to help those who survived the ashes. She wanted to forget the past and move on, build a new life for the next generation. She wanted to live. Only, there was no living without her friends. There was no living when everything she knew and loved had been taken from her. She wanted to move on from Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Spike, but she couldn’t. Being the Princess of Friendship meant more to her than she had realized, and she was abandoning the friendships she formed to create some false doctrine of peace and order for the rest of the world to follow.

When, really, all they needed… was them. All Twilight needed were her friends.

And for her, that was more than enough.

Hope didn’t die that day. The Princess of Friendship never lost herself again, because who she stood with mattered more than who she stood against. Side by side, through every storm and every blaze, they were together. With Applejack, Rarity, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy all lined up, facing down their final test, their final obstacle, and one last tribulation. Through it all, they stood together.

Against Thanos.

As for the Mad Titan, he seemed momentarily distraught, confused, taken aback by who stood against him and what they wielded. He recognized the necklaces, the colorful gems, and the tiara after his vision started to clear. They were the same weapons he destroyed so long ago, the ones Twilight and her friends used against him when he had first saved the universe. How they were back, why they were back, meant so little to Thanos. The Nano Gauntlet gripped his right forearm and the Infinity Stones burned against his skin. He could end them all right then and there, and he nearly did.

But it was her voice that stopped him. Just for a moment longer.

“I remember what you told me five years ago,” Twilight steadfastly declared. The fiery wind gripped her tangled violet and pink mane. The golden tiara atop her head remained unmoved, even as she shook her head. “About the magic of friendship… and you’re wrong.”

Thanos titled his head curiously at that. His only response was his hardened, heaving breath joined with his spiteful glare.

Twilight Sparkle continued on, seeing the tilting expressions from each of her friends shift in her direction, joining her, smiling with her. Never once leaving her. And she never left them. She proclaimed, “The magic of friendship is real. It’s here. Some of us may have fallen from it, and we know that now. We know who we are. And we know… that with our friendship… we can overcome anything you throw at us.”

She met Rainbow Dash’s eyes, and for just a moment, saw that glimmer of reclamation in the Pegasus’ gaze. For the friendship they gained again, the bond not only the two of them shared, but all of them shared. Rainbow smiled to her. Twilight smiled back. They turned to the others, soon each mare finding one another’s eyes and assuring each other of who they were. They had found one another again. Through life, through death, and life again, they were one. Six ponies. Six Elements. One infinite friendship.

They faced the universe ahead of them, their entire world standing with them, and never turned away. Their Elements shimmered, and Twilight Sparkle declared, “And we’ll do it together.”

Boldly, they made their claims and stood against him one final time. Knowing they had everything left to lose, but nothing more to gain than the friendship they had reclaimed. To see them find their purpose, their destiny, was almost enlightening for the Titan. After all the years he had seen them, watched them grow, and overcome every challenge laid before them, Thanos believed he could have shown them a different perspective, one where only sheer willpower won in the end. At a time following the Decimation, Thanos believed he had proven it to them, to her, that they were wrong, that the universe and all of its powers did not revolve around them. Yet through it all, she came out of it knowing truly who she was. For that, he could respect Twilight.

Then again, it was their destiny bound in friendship that they had achieved.

His destiny, his will, remained to be certain. To become truth.

And they stood against that. Against him.

Thanos’ expression tightened. His eyes burned and the fiery, black furnace of his heart expelled that fury. Raising his right hand, he unveiled the six Infinity Stones and flinched as their powers melted his arm. As he crushed his hand into a fist and the Infinity Stones ignited.

“Then you’ll die… together.”

A final, vengeful curse upon them, to prove that their friendship meant nothing. They, as a collective, were nothing to the universe and to him. He opened his palm and pressed his middle finger to his thumb, prepared to snap and end it all once and for all. The millisecond before he could do so, however, was stripped from him and consumed the Mad Titan in a rainbow of lights and power he had never felt before.

From the six mares, the Elements of Harmony shimmered together and expelled their conjoined streams of light. Twilight, Rainbow, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie slowly rose from the earth, the wind spinning around them, untold power and majesty flowing free from their hearts and utterly consuming them, bursting forth from their magical artifacts. From the Element of Honesty, the orange light rained free into the air. From the Element of Kindness, the yellow rays shimmered across the skies. From the Element of Laughter, the bright pink streams twirled outwards and flowed above. From the Element of Generosity, the whiteness of the blast flew forth and filled the air with beauty and grace. From the Element of Loyalty, the sky-blue light shot out with intense speed and raw strength. And from the Element of Magic, the violet radiance ruptured and joined with the others, bringing them all together to form a perfect rainbow.

It fell from the skies, the energy blast striking Thanos before he could have snapped.

He had no choice but to raise the gauntlet and block it from hitting him, from ending him with the indescribable power Thanos felt burning against the gauntlet. And it surely would have ended him had he not blocked it. The rainbow beam continued to flow from the six mares, the ponies that represented the Elements of Harmony hovering above and unleashing that otherworldly power into the heavens, letting it descend to the earth and strike down the Mad Titan. Inch by inch, Thanos was losing ground, the intensity of the harmonic blast incinerating the world around him and turning the gauntlet into red-hot metal. Through the blinding rainbow lights, Thanos could still see the Infinity Stones holding strong, unharmed, and facing the Elements of Harmony head-on.

Thanos dug his feet into the dirt. He pressed on and pressed hard, slowing molding his hand into a tightened fist. It took nearly everything out of him to do so, but he achieved it. He clenched his fist and brought forth the might of the universe upon the Elements of Harmony. All six Infinity Stones shimmered their own rainbow, responding and firing back against the light. Thanos screamed. He shot out his fist and screamed until his throat was wet with blood.

The lights they created filled the battlefield with the strength of a newborn star, shimmering fires of velvet whiteness blasting outwards and creating several auras of magic and power, streams of universal might and harmonic intensity. Smoke and dust and ash cleared from their vicinity, the falling sunlight washing over them. In ground zero, in the heart of the eruption of light, they remained. The six friends hovered in place, continuing to fire that rainbow beam onto the Mad Titan. Every single eye of theirs was piercing white, their expressions omnipotent and majestic, just as the power they unleashed. In the heart of their power, they stood together, as one source of strength. On the opposite spectrum, Thanos stood alone, only the power of the Infinity Stones and Thanos’ sheer will able to hold back against the Elements of Harmony. Even then, it was just the Stones doing his work. It was only Thanos and him alone.

Neither side gave in. Their powers clashed together and created a center so cosmically impossible that the scales of the universe could not comprehend it. The Infinity Stones were being met by a force almost equal to them and the Elements of Harmony just as well. Their collision created that array of heavenly whiteness, the streams of light bursting forth from the battlefield and pulsating shock waves shooting outwards every other second. Twilight Sparkle and her friends held strong, their expressions tightening slowly as they pressed on. Thanos, through all the pain, torment, and uncertainty, pressed on just as well. He gritted his teeth and breathed, continued to unleash that power as the Infinity Stones slowly, so very slowly, ate away at the opposing rainbow beam. And at him.

In the heart of their clash, the explosion of universal light earned the eyes of one life. One handpicked individual who by some force she did not understand turned to the light, ignored the world around her, and approached it.

Sunset Shimmer walked aimlessly through the battle, seeing bodies tear each other apart, feeling the earth around her rumble and shatter with every reverberating explosion, every blast of gunfire, and every scream. Asgardians, Wakandans, and agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. fought well against the Chitauri, Outriders, and Sakaarans. The armies of Equus stood well with their allies of Earth, every swiping blow, every falling body, and every push onwards to some distant goal seeming to move so slowly that Sunset felt she was trapped in time. The seemingly-endless horde of Ultron Sentinels filled the rest, slashing and firing and killing the enemies of Ultron: every last breathing life on the battlefield.

All Sunset could hear was her breathing. Bullets and streams of light flew over her head, fires and dust filling the air and Sunset Shimmer walking alone through it all. Everything had grown numb. She could hear only herself, only her thoughts and being, and felt little of the world around her. She could no longer taste the blood on her tongue, or the cinders in the air, or smell the bloodshed, or see clearly any longer. She could only hear herself. Her breathing.

Then soon, the subtle cries of her red geode.

It only cried to her, to the pony who bore its weight and knew of its power. Only when she gazed to it, Sunset slowly realized how little she actually knew. The geode flashed red and trembled in her hoof, fighting against the necklace it was attached to and jutting forth in a certain direction. Sunset’s brow furrowed, her eyes tilting across the battlegrounds to see the direction the geode was pointing towards. Through the smoke and destruction, across several yards of bodiless lands, Sunset gasped when she saw the piercing light shimmering across the skies. It all fell down to them, to Thanos… and her friends.

Eyes wide and expression awestruck, the unicorn quickly galloped into action for a closer look. Her hooves slid across the scorched grounds as she came to a halt several safe yards behind the Mad Titan. The pulsating shock waves were too much, the heat and light too unbearable to take another step closer. Raising a hoof, Sunset flinched against the overwhelming display of energy, cringed to the sounds of her geode’s cries, and slowly started to fall back against it all.

Then, she heard their screams.

Her eyes bulged open, Sunset facing the light and power head-on and screaming in return, “Twilight! Girls!”

Even in the piercing whiteness, Sunset could see the universal rays pushing back against the rainbow beam, and from it came the cries of struggle, of growing exhaustion, and of pain from Twilight Sparkle and her five best friends. The Infinity Stones were slowly overpowering the Elements of Harmony. Even by their combined strength, their friendship could not outmatch the very powers of the universe itself. Thanos, with that power at his will, could. And he was overcoming them by the second.

She didn’t know what she was doing. She only heard the cry of her best friends and stepped forward to help them, even when she knew she was nothing compared to the powers they were unleashing. Yet by her courage, by her heart, by the love she had for her friends, she stepped forward. That single step was all that was needed. Her geode cried out, cried louder, and shimmered so bright that Sunset could no longer ignore it.

It suddenly jumped from her neck, the necklace itself pulling Sunset all the closer to Thanos and to the confrontation before her. Though mildly shaken by it, Sunset’s expression melted from alarmingly awestruck… to harmoniously understanding. Her expression softened, grew as her eyes did, and let free the soft gasp of realization from her very spirit. Her mouth could no longer close. She could no longer contain it. Sunset had heard the cry of her geode, saw its power begging for release just as fervently now as it had once before. When Twilight and her friends tried to best Thanos with the Elements five years ago in Wakanda. Back then, she stayed away. Back then, she stood on the sidelines and watched as her friends failed.

Her brow hardened, as did her expression. The glowing determination filled her eyes, her face, and never left her. Her heart overflowed. She took another step forward and unleashed that beckoning cry from her geode.

Just as Thanos was soon to gain the upper hand and finish off Twilight Sparkle and her friends forever, he was momentarily shaken by the burst of energy from behind. Still locked in that battle of power and will, Thanos slowly spun his neck around to face that opposing force. When he saw the newest form of light and life emerge, his eyes widened. His jaw fell. He couldn’t breathe.

Twilight, Rainbow, Rarity, and the rest did the same when they saw her.

Slowly rising and hovering from the earth, Sunset Shimmer was cloaked in an array of red streams of fire and light, from oranges to yellows, to bursting reds all melting into a glowing sunset of colors around her body. All of it flowed from her heart, molded with her geode, and lifted her higher to face her greatest foe… and join her friends. Sunset was momentarily lost to the very power that filled her, gazing to her hooves and to the geode flowing wildly over her heart. But soon, she found that equilibrium, raised her eyes and locked her gaze with the Mad Titan.

Simultaneously, she stared to Twilight Sparkle. To her best friends. They all stared back.

And Sunset felt their warmth just as much as they felt hers. It felt right. It felt harmonic. Like they were almost meant to belong together. Tears started to swell on the edges of Sunset’s eyes, and the unicorn couldn’t help but gasp out a smile. Twilight shakily formed one, too. They all did.

The power filled her voice with rejuvenated strength. From it, Sunset Shimmer spoke, “I finally understand now. Every trial, every challenge, every fall… just to bring me here. To bring all of us here. Since you saved me from myself…”

She gazed at Twilight, softly said, “… and helped lead me to this moment. For every friend I’ve made, every life I’ve saved, it was all for this. My purpose. My destiny.”

The rippling energy continued to cloud around her, fusing with the unicorn until she slowly became a blinding light. A burning sunset. Her eyes fell and stared to Thanos, leaving the Mad Titan utterly awe-stricken to what he was witnessing. From the light around her, Thanos could see the slightest indication of a smile growing across her lips. In that fire, Sunset Shimmer did smile. In that inferno, Sunset Shimmer overcame and became what once seemed to be impossible.

“Now I know what I was always meant to be! An Element of Harmony!”

Her geode was encased in fire, the flames dispersing and a golden necklace left in its wake. The red stone was gone, embroidered only with her cutie mark. Thanos’ eyes widened to the breaking point. Her eyes were filled with unrelenting whiteness, her mind, her heart, her very being finding that purpose and accepting it for what it was. In that end, Sunset accepted herself and who she had become.

And it was so, so right to say it.

“The Element… of Redemption!”

He couldn’t move to face her. He couldn’t break the beams lest he lose everything. He could only watch on as Sunset Shimmer found her destiny and unleashed her true self onto him. From her Element, from its heart, a beam of red magic flowed forth and struck Thanos in the back. He cried out as the magic pelted into him, forcing the connection between the rainbow blast and the Infinity Stones to be cut. He was driven further across the gravel, grunting and roaring as the magic continued to strike him further down.

Finally, it ceased.

Finally, Thanos could breathe.

And finally…

He lifted his eyes to see the relentless light shower over him. Rising above all else, all seven ponies hovered before Thanos, all seven Elements of Harmony burning together and filling all of reality with their true power. In the heart of it all, between Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash, Sunset Shimmer led them. Together at last, their Elements fired up above and flew down to land upon their foe for one final strike. The violet, blue, white, yellow, orange, and pink rose and fell. With the red laced all around them.

Thanos raised his right hand and barely clenched it. The rainbow beam struck him.

The prior blast of the Elements of Harmony was nothing compared to this. Thanos, at least, could stand to it, could hold it back, but when all seven Elements of Harmony were unleashed, it was incomprehensible. It was unfathomable. It was power incarnate.

Laying down with only his left elbow to prop him up, Thanos managed to raise his right hand at the perfect timing. It all seemed to fall into place so perfectly. He clenched his fist just enough to bring forth the power of the Infinity Stones, just enough to protect him from the wrath of the Elements, and just enough to shield him. But not enough to push back. Not enough to hold on forever. Eyes narrowed and expression petrified, Thanos could barely see through the blinding waves of rainbow light pelting further and further against him. He thought he could hold it, that the power of the Infinity Stones was enough and that no other might in the universe could hope to stand against it.

His hand was not clenched completely. The Stones were not utilized fully. To his horror, he watched as several cracks appeared over the gauntlet. They were small, but quickly grew, quickly built over one another and consumed the Nano Gauntlet in veins of rainbow light. Their harmonic power, somehow, was breaking through. It was destroying the gauntlet.

Knowing the Stones could have no equal, Thanos realized it was the human technology of the gauntlet that was breaking, not his grasp on the Stones. Even then, he couldn’t bear to lose the glove. Without it, he wouldn’t be able to control the Infinity Stones. He would be overwhelmed by their might. Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer, they would all succeed. They would kill him.

They would take everything from him.

Dipping down into the furthest pits of his will and strength, Thanos slowly looked away. He stared only to his left arm propped on the ground, his fingers slowly curling tighter and tighter to form a fist. His left arm quivered. He closed his eyes and felt that same adrenaline and realization consume him, fuel him, and give him exactly what he needed. He opened his eyes and glared back, faced the extraordinary display of magic pressing against him and saw those cracks only grow further across the gauntlet. He bared his teeth, felt that rising pulse of energy flow from his blackened spirit and flow free from his voice, from his roar, from the actions he took to ensure his destiny was never stripped again.

He unleashed the Stones’ full power in one ringing clench.

An explosion of a multitude of colors burst forth as his fist closed fully, as each Infinity Stone brightened and expelled their forces against the Elements of Harmony. A massive blast filled the battlefield with a blinding shock wave that washed over the armies and knocked every life to the ground. It was greater and grander than any previous display of power yet seen in the Battle of Earth, destroying entire airships into blistering cinders as they fell to the battlegrounds. Chitauri and Leviathans were not spared, all of them incinerated as that pulse shocked the world. Battalions of tanks, both of Earth and of Thanos’ army, were pulled from the ground and flipped in the air. Avengers of every caliber were thrown back, joining the masses as the blast wave washed over all and consumed all. From miles above, from the War Horse and the war in the skies, Spitfire and the many ponies aboard stared to it all and witnessed that pulse of energy shoot outwards and devour all the lands below. They were speechless. Breathless.

Once it ended, once the light faded, all that remained in that confrontation were multiple bodies scattered about. The six ponies grumbled and groaned as they lay on their sides, on their backs, but nonetheless lived and breathed. Their Elements were smoking gently, shimmering softly through the darkness, but dying down considerably. Twilight Sparkle tried to stand, eyes opening but seeing nothing but darkness and smoke around her. To her right, she gazed to the limp body of Sunset Shimmer and slowly crawled to her. Gently prodded her with her hoof.

Gently called to her, “Sunset…”

But there was nothing. Her chest moved and her heat beat but her mind was gone, lost in the darkness of unconsciousness. Twilight grimaced at that, relieved to know she was still alive but saddened by the fact that she had overexerted herself. There was no possibly way she was getting back up soon. Especially when Twilight needed her most.

Because through the smoke and dust before her, he rose up. Twilight lifted her eyes to him, felt her heart fall, and stopped breathing.

He stumbled as he tried to stand, continuously falling again to his knees. Like a bleeding, broken body kept alive by sheer rage and will, Thanos emerged through it all and breathed again. He stayed on his knees to let himself come to, fully awaken to face his destiny head-on. Bruises painted his face alongside the cuts, slashes, and blood laced around his expression. His armor was scorched, shattered, and bleeding even worse, with multiple contusions and injuries filling his body both inside and out. He was hurt. Everything he was and ever could have been was absolutely hurt. But he didn’t care.

Raising his right hand, Thanos gazed down to see the damaged gauntlet and the Infinity Stones melting against it. Cracks and dark veins consumed nearly every inch, with the veins near the gems emanating the raw power and colors of each individual Stone. It wouldn’t hold for much longer, Thanos knew that. It could only sustain the Infinity Stones for one last use before it all fell apart. Seeing the rising bodies before him, Thanos knew he couldn’t risk it. One snap and it would all be over. Until then, he had one last fight left in him.

He had landed near his Double-Edged Sword. By his left, he reached outward and gripped it by its handle, planting the blade’s end into the dirt to prop himself back to his feet. He was slow in his actions, delicate in his approach, and mildly taken aback by the ones who chose to stand against him.

The metal palm reached out to Captain America.

After having been thrown about by the constant shock waves and pulsating tremors of energy, Steve was at last relieved to feel the earth around him fallen still. He was even more relieved to see the gold and red palm held to him and beckoning him to take it. He did. With his right gloved-hand, Steve Rogers grasped the hand and let it pull him to his feet. He trembled slightly, feeling the presence to his right to ensure him that he did not stand alone.

Beneath his helmet, Steve lifted his eyes and gazed to burning blue orb of the Arc Reactor. He rose higher, seeing the metallic faceplate of the Iron Man Mark 45 slide back and reveal none other than Tony Stark beneath it. Friday wasn’t alone anymore. Steve was slightly bewildered to see Stark in his old suit, but welcomed him nonetheless. And Tony nodded to him, hand slowly falling from Steve’s shoulder.

Behind the duo, Thor pushed through the smoke and dust with Stormbreaker in hand. Tony and Steve cast their eyes behind them, Thor meeting their eyes in silence. Not even a nod. The Allfather stood with them regardless.

Landing roughly on the gravel, the Hulk appeared to their lefts and paused just short of passing them. Tony, Steve, and Thor analyzed Bruce’s current stance, noting his heaving body, his scorched and limp right arm, and his torn jumpsuit. Regardless, Bruce Banner stood with him. He gave them all a lingering glance before his eyes fell forward. Passed them and onto the approaching sound of footsteps.

Her boots struck the broken gravel and rock beneath her, the black jumpsuit mixed with red and silver veins. The black and red hourglass graced her belt, graced her figure, and rose up to the Black Widow. Her ethereal beauty seemed almost unnatural to the death, ugliness, and destruction around her, yet she walked tall through it all, unscathed and unmoved. Hands clenched into fists by her side, Natasha Romanoff sent a quick glance to the others. A courageous, fearless expression of determination. To Thor, Tony, Steve, and Bruce.

To one more.

Emerging next to Banner, the Hawk stepped forward and earned their eyes. They all eased into the image of Clint Barton once more standing with them. From Bruce, Steve, Tony, Thor, and Natasha. He gazed to his right and met all of their eyes. Tightened his expression when they saw him, too. He lingered in Natasha’s gaze, the two eventually finding that ease despite the overwhelming reality of what stood before them.

And together, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow, and Hawkeye turned forward to face it. They faced Thanos as he planted his blade into the dirt and rose up, rose fully and stared to them with that burning intensity glowing in his eyes. He stood tall and ragged, broken and bleeding, with his twin-sided sword in his left hand and the damaged gauntlet in his right.

In that silent standoff, the six Avengers stared onto Thanos and said nothing. Not even their breaths could fill them, nothing but the growing dread to see the Nano Gauntlet, the Infinity Stones, in Thanos’ grasp once more. They stared on as one and looked nowhere else, until their eyes were eventually trained onto the rising forms emerging from behind.

Spinning to face it, Thanos watched as the colorful mares got back up. First with Rarity, then with Rainbow Dash, then Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and finally Twilight Sparkle. It took longer for Twilight to rise, the Alicorn forced to leave Sunset alone. Forced to move on and finish the fight that Sunset gave them. The Princess of Friendship, the Element of Magic, Twilight Sparkle was the last to join her friends, lining up and facing ahead to Thanos spinning to meet them.

He spun slowly back around. The six ponies finally noticed the six Avengers on the other side.

And none of them said a word to it.

They stood together, all twelve of them silent and still on each end, with the Mad Titan in the center of it all.

Author's Note:

Whatever it takes...

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