Avengers Vol. 1 - The Kang Who Leapt Through Time

by IndigoMoon

Issue 5 - Days of Future Kang

“You can’t be serious!” cried Starlight. “That thing is too dangerous to be used!”

Minuette scoffed. “Please,” she said. “Only those who are weak fall victim to the Amulet’s effects.”

Starlight seemed speechless, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. Firebrand spoke up, her voice quavering slightly. “It’s impossible to be immune to the Alicorn Amulet. It’s the literal embodiment of ‘Absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ It’s not a matter of willpower,” she said. “If you continue to use it, you’ll become no better than Nightmare Moon.”

Minuette’s eye twitched at that. “You’re wrong. I’m already better than Nightmare Moon. With this Amulet, I’m more powerful than her. And nopony can keep me from using it.”

Fizzy stepped forward. “Why are you using it to begin with? What’s worth the risk?”

Minuette stepped toward Fizzy in turn. “This,” she said, gesturing all around her. “Making sure this never happens. And like I said, nopony can stop me. Foster! Spitfire!”

Two ponies stepped into the cavern. One was a brown Earth pony mare with a blonde mane. The other was a yellow pegasus with a fiery mane. Fizzy recognized the latter as this universe’s version of Spitfire, the Wonderbolt. But the thing that stood out to her most of all was the Earth pony, (Foster, she assumed), didn’t have a Cutie Mark.

“Yes, Minuette?” asked Spitfire.

“Take these three and put them in a prison ce-” Minuette was never able to finish what she was saying before a loud THOOM echoed throughout the cave system. Dust and small pebbles fell from the cave ceiling. A gust of wind blew through the caverns, causing the torches lining the walls to flicker. They could hear shouts coming from the cave entrance.

“We’re under attack!” yelped Foster. Minuette snarled, before whipping around to snatch the Amulet and the scroll in her magic. She latched the Amulet around her neck and began casting the spell. Her horn began to glow with a cold, evil red as the Amulet crackled and sparked with magical energy. Fizzy recognized it as the same red color of Kang’s magic. Her eyes went wide as the pieces fell into place in her mind.

“Don’t do it!” cried Starlight, her mane beginning to wave and flap around as wind started to billow around Minuette.

Minuette glared at her, eyes glowing white, although ethereal red flames danced at the edges of her eyes. “You can’t stop me! Nopony can!” she yelled, a white light beginning to emanate from the scroll in Minuette’s magic. The wind grew stronger, snuffing out the flames of the torches, leaving Minuette the only light source in the room, causing the walls to take on a sinister red color.

“Starlight!” yelled Fizzy over the roaring wind. “Get us out of here!” Starlight gave a silent nod before quickly pulling the scroll out of the pouch on Fizzy’s suit. She began casting the spell as quickly as possible so as not to lose the scroll in the gale-force winds battering the room’s occupants, but Minuette saw what they were doing.

“NO!” she roared. “Stop them!” Spitfire and Foster dived, but before either of them could reach the trio, Fizzy saw the time portal open beneath them, and they fell through just as the crimson light from Minuette’s spell engulfed the room.

---

Fizzy rubbed her head as she stood up, thankful not to be in a pile of limbs again. “Where are we?” she asked, her eyes still adjusting from the series of bright lights that accompanied jaunts through time.

“Uh, judging from all the black crystal everywhere, the Sombra takes over everything timeline,” said Starlight. Fizzy’s eyes widened as the adjusted to see the Everfree Forest in ruins. Half the trees were gone, seemingly replaced with a stark amount of black, jagged crystals. What trees remained looked sick, with more black crystals growing off of them, like a parasitic fungus. Way off in the distance, the sounds of metal clanging on metal and voices drifted over the tortured wood.

As they approached the sound, they saw a large structure looming over where Ponyville would be. As the broke through the treeline, they saw Ponyville was no longer a quaint little hamlet. Instead, most of the houses had been replaced with factories and mills. A large skeletal structure made of metal was suspended over the town, covering it entirely.

“Is that… Kang’s ship?” asked Starlight incredulously.

“Minuette’s ship,” said Firebrand grimly, apparently having come to the same conclusion as Fizzy. Fizzy nodded in agreement. “Yeah. Pretty sure Kang and Minuette are one and the same.”

They stayed hidden behind the trees, surveying the hustle and bustle of ponies from a distance. But even from that distance, they could see a number of things. Each pony was wearing a helmet reminiscent of the ones worn by Kang’s army. They saw banners and flyers with Minuette’s face on them. Smoke was being poured into the sky by the factories, turning it a sickly brown, which resulted in Firebrand coughing violently before vomiting. The air was nearly poisonous.

“Hey,” said Fizzy. “Look.” She pointed towards town, where a group of unhelmeted ponies had gathered around an elevated platform. The group itself was surrounded by helmeted guards, making the group suspected the unhelmeted ponies were prisoners. They saw a pony step up onto the platform. They recognized her as Minuette immediately.

“I’m gonna fly in and get a closer look,” said Fizzy. She shrunk down and took flight, heading towards Minuette. As she got closer she could hear Minuette speaking. Fizzy also saw she was still wearing the Alicorn Amulet, and was flanked by Spitfire on one side, with Foster on the other.

“-and you will help in that glorious mission, by helping build my time-ship, before joining my army!”

A grey, yellow-maned pegasus mare at the front of the crowd spoke up. “Why would we join you? You’re crazy!”

Minuette’s eye twitched as she laughed shallowly. “Well, it looks like we have a volunteer who will help me answer that exact question.” Spitfire hauled the poor mare on stage and turned her towards the crowd. Fizzy could see the fear in the mare’s askew eyes, tears starting to form in the corners. Foster grabbed a helmet from a crate off to the side and lowered it over the mare’s head. Fizzy could see tears streaming out from underneath, the mare too scared to say anything. When the helmet was over her head, Foster flicked a switch, and the eye sockets began to glow green. The tears suddenly stopped, and the mare stood up straighter, sending a massive chill down Fizzy’s spine as her eyes widened in horror.

Minuette smiled cruelly over the crowd. “This is the price of freedom from tyranny. Time to pay up.” The guards moved forward, pushing the crowd up onto the platform via a side ramp, where Foster and Spitfire placed helmets on each pony as they passed. It took all of Fizzy’s willpower to not vomit in her helmet as she flew back to where Starlight and Firebrand were.

When she got there, she was met with quite a sight. Firebrand and Starlight were surrounded by helmeted ponies. Firebrand’s horn was crackling with chaos magic, randomly striking out and turning whatever it hit into rubber chickens. Starlight was also zapping the helmeted soldiers, trying to repel them without injuring them too badly. Fizzy swooped down, regrowing as she slammed into a soldier as their spear became a plush toy.

“Starlight! Get us the blazes out of here!” yelled Fizzy.

Starlight nodded, zapping an approaching soldier before pulling the scroll in front of her. She activated the spell, and the time vortex opened up beneath Starlight and Firebrand, swallowing them both. Fizzy dived in after them just as it closed.

---

As much as she hated it, Fizzy was getting more adept at the feeling of time-travel. She had recovered from the trip almost immediately, managing to catch herself before falling onto Firebrand and Starlight. As she surveyed the surrounding area, she wasn’t quite sure which timeline they were in.

“Are we home yet?” asked Firebrand, groaning as she stood.

“Nope,” replied Fizzy, landing softly next to the pair. “I’m not sure where we are though.”

“Well…,” began Starlight, rising to her hooves. “If the trend is continuing, you’re not going to like where we are.” She looked at Fizzy when she said this.

“What do you mean?” asked Fizzy.

“If my hunch is correct, this is the timeline where Chrysalis takes over.”

Fizzy’s mouth went dry. “Oh,” she said quietly. Fizzy followed Starlight and Firebrand through this dimension’s rendition of the Everfree Forest, which seemed swampier than normal, almost more jungle or marsh than forest.

Fizzy’s mind raced as she contemplated what Starlight had told her. Would they run into Chrysalis? Would she have to fight her? Would Chrysalis kill her? Force her back to the old way of things, where she was constantly starving and having to prey on innocent ponies just for a meal? Fizzy shook her head, trying to prevent herself from spiraling, but she couldn’t stop it completely. Her anxieties lurked in the back of her mind as the three of them trekked deeper into the marshy wood.

“Stop,” whispered Starlight, halting suddenly. Firebrand stopped so suddenly that Fizzy almost ran into her.

“What?” she asked. Fizzy crept up next to Starlight, the latter’s face grim. As she looked where Starlight was staring, she saw an opening in the wood that seemed to be home to a collection of ramshackle huts and shacks. When her gaze fell on the center of the area, she gasped. There was Chrysalis, flanked on either side by a Changeling guard. But what had made Fizzy gasp was that Chrysalis was prone on the ground, eyes shut, unmoving, as were her guards. Standing above her was a pony in an odd purple helmet, with a blue mask and green robes. Kang, or rather, Minuette had defeated Chrysalis, and by the looks of things, added the Changeling army to her own. Kang had a small group of her soldiers with her, all of varying races.

Kang nudged Chrysalis with her hoof, but she didn’t move. She waved a hoof and her contingent of troops followed her as they moved deeper into the woods. They heard the dull sounds of marching in the distance, slowly getting louder as Kang’s army approached the group’s position.

“We need to go,” said Starlight. Fizzy didn’t hear her. She continued to stare at Chrysalis’ unmoving body, her own paralyzed with fear. If Kang could take down the evilest creature Fizzy had ever known, she saw no chance of stopping her.

“Fizzy?” asked Firebrand, her voice concerned as she laid a hoof on Fizzy’s shoulder. Fizzy started at the contact, shaking her head slightly. “What?” she asked.

“We’re leaving,” said Starlight. She pulled out the scroll once more, and activated the spell. The vortex opened beneath them, and swallowed them once more.

Author's Note:

I got a bit of free time to do some writing, so here's a new chapter for y'all.