Timelines

by Dawn Flower

Universal Survival

“And so there Smooze and I were, in the middle of the castle treasury – the world’s largest emerald in my hands – when all of a sudden the Royal Guard bust in and yell out, ‘Freeze! Put your hands in the air!” Discord reeled off. He and Fluttershy were in the middle of their weekly get-together at her cottage, for tea and cucumber sandwiches, and he was currently in the middle of regaling her with one of his and Smooze’s exploits. “So I, in response, very politely tell them, ‘Freeze and put my hands in the air? I’m afraid that it’s physically impossible for me to do both.”

“Hahahahaha,” Fluttershy laughed good-naturedly. “Oh, Discord. You always have the funniest come back lines.”

“Right,” Discord agreed. “So anyway, there we were surrounded by eight Royal Guards, who had all been rendered speechless by my ingenious remark, when suddenly…”

However, before Discord could continue, he was suddenly cut off by a bright light that appeared in the middle of the living room, just out of his peripheral vision. Confused, and turning towards where the light was coming from, the two of them saw that the source of light seemed to be some sort of portal, in which the silhouette of a figure slowly began to emerge.

When the figure came fully into view, they could see that it was a short male, with blue skin and slicked back white hair, and both of his arms folded behind his back. He wore a dark green outfit, with an orange triangle on his shirt, a belt with a strange symbol on it, and most peculiarly, a blue halo above his head. When the mysterious individual had fully emerged from the portal, he opened his purple eyes and looked up… and Discord immediately paled.

“G-G-Grand Minister!” He stuttered, in shock. Quickly realising his faux pas, he snapped to attention and bolted up to his feet, both arms rigid at his side, and bowed in respect. “Please forgive my disrespect. It won’t happen again, Sir, Grand Minister, Sir!”

“That is quite alright, Discord,” the Grand Minister replied, raising one hand as he did so.

Fluttershy, who was even more confused at the Grand Minister’s unexpected appearance, simply looked between the two of them, noticing Discord’s uncharacteristic nervousness around this individual. “Uhhmm…”

Suddenly noticing the yellow pony in the room with them, the Grand Minister turned to address her. “Oh, I’m terribly sorry for intruding, Miss. Allow me to introduce myself: I am the Grand Minister.” He spoke in a calm and courteous tone.

“Oh, uhhmm, thank you,” Fluttershy stuttered herself. “My name is Fluttershy.”

“A pleasure,” the Grand Minister responded, placing his hand over his chest in a half bow of respect. “Discord,” he continued, turning back to the Draconequus.

“Yes, Sir!” Discord responded immediately.

“Grand Zen-Oh has called a meeting of the Gods. The God of Destruction, Supreme Kai, and angel of each universe are to report to him as soon as possible.” His proclamation made Discord look up from the ground slightly, causing him to meet the Grand Minister’s charismatic smile. The next moment, however, the Grand Minister’s expression changed, and he looked over to the side, as if sensing something in that direction.

The direction of the Everfree Forest.

Discord tensed up even more and was now visibly sweating, but didn’t dare move an inch from his bow of respect.

The Grand Minister’s expression was now scrunched slightly, ‘hmmming’ in suspicion. A moment later, he trailed just his eyes back towards Discord, who was still bowing before him. “I trust that that won’t be a problem?” He said, in an eerily calm tone.

“Oh, no, no problem at all,” Discord stammered out, with a nervous smile on his face, wanting more than anything for this conversation to be over.

“Good,” the Grand Minister replied, turning fully towards him again, now with an eerie smile on his face. “The meeting will commence in five taks. Please do not be late.” With that, the Grand Minister began fading back into the portal from whence he came, with the portal itself closing behind him.

Now that the Grand Minister was gone, Fluttershy had many questions about what had just happened. “Uhhmm, Discord. What exactly was…”

“Wellthankyouverymuchforyourhospitalityfluttershybutireallyhavetogoingnowbye!” Discord spoke in a rush before snapping his fingers and vanishing in a flash of light.

After Discord had disappeared, Fluttershy simply blinked twice in confusion. She then looked down at Angel in her forehooves. “What just happened?”

Her pet bunny simply shrugged his shoulders in response and then shoved a cookie into his mouth.

---

With a flash of light, Discord reappeared in a cavern in the Everfree Forest, desperately trying to catch his breath. “Okay, calm down, Discord,” he said to himself. He then looked to the side and saw the Tree of Harmony, and he gulped. “Okay, don’t panic. This day was always coming. You knew that you wouldn’t be able to keep this up forever. And since the alternative is disobeying Grand Ze…” He paled before he could even finish his sentence. Clutching his eyes and teeth shut tightly, he reached out his still-shaking hands and snapped his fingers.

Immediately, a bright light engulfed the Tree of Harmony, which began folding in on itself. As the light got smaller, reaching Discord’s standing height, it began to change shape, forming a silhouette of pure light.

When the light faded, a new figure stood in its place. The figure was female, with the same blue skin as the Grand Minister, though standing at twice his height. She had long, flowing purple hair that reached all the way down her back. She wore a white dress, with a gold belt around her waist, and a crown on her head that had five coloured gems and a purple star embedded in it. She also held a sceptre clutched in her right hand, and what appeared to be a blue halo around her neck.

As soon as she had come into being, the woman simply stared back at the Draconequus with a straight face and piercing blue eyes that made Discord pale almost as much as the Grand Minister had earlier. “Hello, Discord,” she spoke in a calm and quiet tone.

“Uhhmm, hey there, Harmony,” Discord responded in a nervous tone. “Long time no see?”

“One thousand and fifty three years to be precise,” Harmony responded. “I believe the last thing you said to me was, ‘Hey Harmony, check this out,’ and the next thing I know, I’m a tree.” Her eyes trailed off to the side as she was speaking, before focusing on Discord again. “So, I take it that you have a good reason for suddenly reversing your spell now of all times.” She asked, while tilting her head to the side with her eyes closed, which along with her smile gave what she said some sinister undertones.

The sight made Discord wince for a second before he could respond. “Uhhmm…” He coughed into his fist to regain himself. “Grand Zen-Oh has called a meeting of Gods, so the three of us have to report to him immediately. The meeting will begin in just under five taks.”

Harmony realigned her head before she responded, placing her hand to her chin. “Yes, I suppose that does make sense, doesn’t it? There is little else that could make you this nervous.” She then turned around so that her back was to him. “Well then, shall we go and get the Supreme Kai, then? Grab my shoulder and we’ll be off.”

Discord simply blinked in confusion. “Uh, okay. I kind of thought this moment would go a bit differently.”

“Oh, Discord. We don’t have time for anything like a harsh punishment.” She then turned around and looked him in the eye, still with that sinister smile on her face. “I’ll wait until we do.”

Discord winced for a second, but then slumped in defeat. “Fair enough.”

He then grabbed her shoulder and they both disappeared in a flash of light.

---

“… with the Parasprite infestation in Fillydelphia finally taken care of, we can expect to see a rise in both taxes paid out and tourism coming in in the coming months, which…” Fancy Pants drolled on.

Princess Celestia was in the middle of another round of Day Court proceedings, which if she was being completely honest, she found really boring and wished she could be literally anywhere else if she could help it. But ultimately, everything that was done in these meetings was for the best of her country, so she knew that she had to pay attention to what they were saying; didn’t stop it from being boring, though.

“Now, moving on to international affairs,” Fancy Pants continued. “Dragon Lord Ember has introduced new policies that will make it possible for ponies to conduct business out of the Dragon Lands, which I believe could…”

However, his speech was interrupted by a sudden flash of light from the corner of the room. While Celestia was only mostly paying attention to the proceedings, she still immediately picked up on the distraction and what it meant.

“Discord,” she began, placing her hoof to her head in annoyance at his interruption. “I have told you countless times not to interrupt these meetings…” However, she immediately stopped in her chastising when she looked over and saw, not only Discord, but the figure standing beside him – a figure that she thought she would never see again – causing her to stand up on her throne and her eyes to widen in surprise. “Harmony?”

“Greetings, Celestia,” Harmony responded. “I apologies for the interruption, but this is an important matter. Grand Zen-Oh has called a meeting.”

Celestia’s eyes widened even further upon the mention of that name. This was literally the last thing that she expected.

It took her a moment to remember the business ponies still in the room, who were even more confused than her, right now. “Uhhmm… I need to step out for a moment – Important business. Let us end Day Court for now.”

“What?” One of the business ponies spoke up. “We are in the middle of an important…”

Fancy Pants simply held his hoof out to the side to silence him. “Of course, Your Majesty. We completely understand. We shall reconvene at a later time.” He then turned to lead the rest of the business ponies out of the court room.

When the last of the business ponies had almost left the throne room, Celestia suddenly remembered something. “Raven,” she called out to the white coated, black maned unicorn that was her secretary. “I have to step out for a moment. Tell me sister, Luna, ‘Code Z’. She’ll know what that means.”

“Of course, Your Majesty,” Raven responded with a nod, and then left the room.

Once the three of them were the only ones left in the room, Celestia stepped forward, and finally managed a genuine smile. “It’s good to see you again, Harmony. I haven’t seen you since you disappeared.”

“Discord turned me into a tree,” She stated casually.

The strangeness and bluntness of the reply caught Celestia off guard. “I… see.” The two of them then turned to face Discord.

With their eyes on him now, Discord quickly turned his back to them, with his arms crossed, trying to act like he had the moral high ground. “Hey, don’t look at me like that. I was just getting tired of Harmony constantly having me destroying planets. Maybe, unlike her, I have a problem with genociding entire civilisations. Did you ever think of that, hmmm?”

“Discord, you could have turned down being a God of Destruction at any time. You just wanted the power that came with being a God without any of the responsibilities, like a spoiled child.” Harmony replied, shooting down his smug justification immediately.

Discord raised his finger to retort, but found he didn’t have one, so he just slumped in response.

Celestia just gave him what she liked to call her ‘Discord face’.

“Well, at least you managed to use my power to turn him to stone so he didn’t completely get away scot free.” Harmony continued, facing Celestia again. “Although, I do worry what a thousand years of stagnation has done to our universe, with no one to destroy planets and put up new ones.”

Celestia seemed to consider this for a moment as well.

“Excuse me,” Discord spoke up. “I’d hate to interrupt, but we now have less than one tak left before the meeting begins, and do I even have to say why disappointing Grand Zen-Oh would be a very, very bad idea?”

“Yes, you’re right,” Harmony responded calmly. She then turned back towards Celestia. “Celestia, do you mind? You’re the only one that can get us there fast enough?”

“Not at all,” Celestia said with a smile. Stepping in between the two of them, she extended her wings so that they could both grab on to one. “Kai Kai,” she uttered, activating her Instantaneous Movement and they all vanished in an instant.

---

The very next instant, the three of them had been transported out of their own universe, to the realm of Grand Zen-Oh: The Omni-King. Grand Zen-Oh’s realm existed separate from the thirteen universes. This particular area was out in the middle of space, with many swirling galaxies in the background. The space of this realm was a lot brighter and more colourful than the space of any other universe. There were several floating columns, signifying that this was the Omni-King’s palace. There were also thirteen floating platforms, each with a symbol of their respective universe emblazoned on it. In the case of their universe: a six pointed star, denoting the symbol of magic.

The Gods from the other twelve universes had all assembled, each on their own platforms, forming a ring around a large, central stage.

“Well, it’s certainly been a long time since we were last here.” Discord was the first to speak, looking around the area.

“Indeed,” the three of them heard a voice speak up, just before the Grand Minister floated into view before them.

Celestia and Discord instinctively bowed in respect, while Harmony simply gave him a warm smile. “Hello, Father. It’s certainly been a while since we last spoke, hasn’t it?”

“Yes, it has,” the Grand Minister responded. He then gave a quick glance to Discord, who immediately sweat-dropped under his stare. “I trust that everything has been going well for you,” he continued speaking to his daughter.

“Yes, it has. Thank you for asking.”

Noticing Discord’s discomfort, the Grand Minister simply smiled before returning his full attention to his daughter. “Well then, we shall have to get together later and talk all about it.”

“Why that sounds wonderful,” Harmony responded in the same calm tone.

“Pardon my intrusion, Grand Minister,” Celestia said as she stood back up. “But what exactly is the purpose of this meeting, if I may ask?”

Turning towards her, the Grand Minister’s eyes widened slightly in realisation. “Oh, that’s right. Forgive me; I was in such a rush contacting each universe that I forgot to inform you.” He then smiled warmly at them. “Not to worry, though. All will be revealed shortly.”

“Hey! Champa, long time no see?!”

All of them turning in the direction of the outburst, they saw that it came from, surprisingly, a mortal, standing on the Universe 7 platform. The mortal had black, spiky hair, and wore an orange Gi, with the angel symbol on the front and back. There were also several other mortals on the platform, one of whom looked like a big piece of pink bubble gum, while another looked like a younger version of the first.

“Son Goku,” the Grand Minister called down to him. “Your silence would be appreciated.”

Seeing a mortal here made Discord curious. “Wait, I thought this was a meeting of the Gods. Why did Universe 7 bring mortals with them?”

Whilst wondering this herself, Celestia took a closer look at the assembled universes, and noticed something else. “It’s not just Universe 7,” she said. “Universe 9,” who had brought three humanoid canines with them. She continued looking around. “And Universe 11 as well,” who had a mysterious, cloaked individual standing behind the Supreme Kai.

“Again, all will be revealed shortly,” the Grand Minister reassured them before floating away again, into the centre of the assembled universes, so that he was at the centre of everything. Raising his hand up so that he had every universe’s full attention, he continued.

“All Gods, gather here!” The Grand Minister announced, spreading his arms wide. At his signal, all thirteen platforms descended so that everyone could see the Grand Minister and each other clearly. “Supreme Kais and Gods of Destruction gathered from all universes, as you already have heard, Grand Zen-Oh wishes to hold a martial arts tournament, called the Tournament of Power.”

“A martial arts tournament?” Discord wondered quietly. He then turned towards Harmony and Celestia. “That’s the reason for the meeting?”

“Shoosh,” Harmony put a finger to her mouth. “He’s explaining it.”

The Grand Minister then waved his arm outward, as Grand Zen-Oh himself descended down on his throne. All of the assembled Gods naturally fell into a bow of respect. As Discord cracked open his eye to catch a glimpse of him, however, both of his eyes suddenly widened in shock and his mouth hung open because of the sight he was witnessing.

Zen-Oh, the all-powerful, Top God, could-wipe-out-all-of-existence-in-an-instant-if-he-wanted-to Omni-King sat on his throne. He was a short, child-like being, with a large, oval-shaped head. He primarily has teal skin, except for two sections from his ears to the middle of each eye on both sides of his head, which were purple, with small round eyes, and small rounded grey ‘ears’. He wore a magenta and yellow lined coat, with yellow pants and magenta shoes, with a black and white shirt underneath, with a strange symbol on the front. He had a blank expression on his face.

However, while Grand Zen-Oh was an intimidating sight to anyone who knew of him, he was not the cause of Discord’s shock, but the individual who sat in the throne next to him: another Grand Zen-Oh.

“T-two Grand Zen-Oh’s?” Discord gasped. “How is that possible?”

Celestia was equally shocked, though less open about it. “I’m not sure. As my sister would say, the danger has been doubled.”

Still worried, but gulping to try and literally swallow his worry, Discord continued. “Okay, no need to panic. We simply have to be doubly careful from now on not to say or do anything that might…”

“Hey, Zennie!”

Discord, along with every other God assembled immediately paled upon hearing this outburst. Looking up from their bows, they saw the spiky haired mortal from Universe 7 fly over towards Grand Zen-Oh’s throne and casually rest his arm on the side. “Thanks for lettin’ us fight first!”

“What the Hell is he doing?!” Discord screamed out in worry, tugging at his horn and antler so hard that he nearly pulled them off.

Celestia was equally worried about this mortal’s casual demeanour in front of Grand Zen-Oh, though less vocal about it than Discord.

Suddenly, the God of Destruction from Universe 7, Beerus, who resembled a large, purple, hairless cat, quickly launched himself towards the offending mortal, grabbed him, and threw him back to the platform in a loud crash.

“Sorry for the commotion.” Beerus apologised profusely, with several bows in quick succession.

“It’s fine.” Zen-Oh replied.

“Yeah, it’s fine.” The other Zen-Oh replied.

Upon hearing Grand Zen-Oh say that everything was fine and that he wasn’t about to erase everything, Discord heaved a sigh of relief. “After everything that’s happened today, I think I’m on the verge of finding out if God’s can have heart attacks.”

Once the commotion had settled, the Grand Minister again raised his hand to get everybody’s attention. Once he did, he placed both hands behind his back as he continued. “Now then, as I have said, Grand Zen-Oh wishes to hold a martial arts tournament. Before that, however, the Grand Zen-Oh from the future does not know what a martial arts tournament is. So we will hold a Zen Exhibition Match here.

“Everyone,” the Grand Minister continued. “It is thanks to the request from Son Goku from Universe 7 that the Tournament of Power came to be.” He then towards Universe 7. “Son Goku.”

“Right!” Son Goku responded, then stepping forward to address everyone. “I heard there were lots of strong guys out there in the universes. That’s why I asked Zennie: I said I wanna fight such guys!”

The two Grand Zen-Oh’s then floated down on their thrones so that they were at eye-level with Son Goku. “Say, Goku.” Zen-Oh said.

“Say, Goku,” Future Zen-Oh said.

“Show us a fight.”

“Hurry and show us.”

“Got it!” Son Goku replied, pumping his fist out towards them. “I’ll show you an amazin’ one!”

Discord stood with his arms crossed, with an irked expression on his face. “I don’t like how casual that Son Goku is acting towards Grand Zen-Oh. Doesn’t he know that you must show Grand Zen-Oh absolute respect at all times or he’s liable to erase everything?”

“True,” Celestia responded with a smile, not even turning to look at Discord. “But I don’t think Grand Zen-Oh seems to mind.”

Once the two Zen-Oh’s had floated back to their original spot, the Grand Minister then continued speaking. “Now, everyone. By Grand Zen-Oh’s request, in this Zen Exhibition Match, three martial artists from Universe 9 and from Universe 7 shall fight in order one by one. There is no time limit. Until an opponent admits defeat or cannot continue, fight using all powers at your disposal.”

“So we were called here to watch a martial arts match between fighters from different universes?” Discord said to himself, in an uncharacteristically serious tone, as he remained stock still. Suddenly, however, he piped back to his usual self. “Well, that’s a relief.” With a snap of his fingers, a lounge chair and a bowl of popcorn appeared, which he reclined back into and began eating from, respectively. “Well, we might as well get comfy.”

Glancing at Discord, but not saying a word, Harmony simply tapped her sceptre against the floor of the platform, and Discord’s constructs vanished, causing him to crash into the floor. “Ow, what was that for?” Discord asked, rubbing at his sore spot.

“You’re a God of Destruction; you’re not meant to create.” Harmony replied calmly.

Discord gave her an annoyed look, but didn’t say anything beyond that. “Fine,” he said, picking himself back up.

“And now, for the first match.” The Grand Minister continued his announcement after an interruption from Universe Nine. “Warriors, to the fighting stage.”

At their calling, both universes sent out their first competitors. Basil from Universe 9, who was a large, anthropomorphic fox, with red fur, and Majin Buu from Universe 7, who was the pink, bubble gum-looking mortal that they briefly saw earlier.

“Let the first match… begin!”

Once the battle started, Basil immediately went on the offensive, striking his opponent multiple times before he could even fight back. At first, it looked like Basil had an overwhelming advantage; however, after he unleashed a powerful move and assumed that his opponent was down for the count, Majin Buu suddenly jumped back up and began laughing uncontrollably, like the entire fight had just been a fun game.

This callous attitude seemed to irritate Basil, along with some egging on from Universe 7, who told him that his current level wasn’t enough to beat Majin Buu, as he then powered up and began firing off energy blasts, all of them hitting Majin Buu head on. After his recent string of attacks, Basil was confident that that was enough to finish off his opponent; however, the next moment, Majin Buu stood back up, with a huge hole in his chest, and not only was he completely fine, but he even seem to notice it.

“Geez, what is that guy made of?” Discord wondered.

However, a moment later, Majin Buu’s cheerful demeanour changed when he noticed that one of Basil’s energy blasts ended up hitting one of the other mortals from Universe 7. Seeing his friend hurt, Majn Buu was instantly worried, and after his friend had reassured him that he would be alright, that worry quickly changed to anger, directed at Basil.

“You no hurt, Satan!” He screamed at Basil, as the hole in his stomach instantly healed, and he began to literally steam in anger, as hot steam poured out of him.

From the stands, Discord couldn’t resist making a quip. “Well, he certainly looks… steamed.” Harmony and Celestia didn’t even dignify that with a response.

Once Majin Buu began fighting back in earnest, he quickly took the advantage, easily deflecting one of Basil’s energy attacks. The ricocheted shot flew towards the Gods from Universe 11, but it was intercepted by a mortal wearing a black cloak.

Majin Buu continued in his relentless attacks, slapping Basil around like it was nothing, and knocked him off the ring. After he had managed to climb back in, he had to resort to having the Supreme Kai toss him a power up, which caused him to beef up considerably.

Beerus tried to have Basil disqualified for receiving outside help, but the Grand Minister allowed it, since the Zen-Oh’s were entertained.

Once powered up, Basil charged at Majin Buu, who managed to counter his attacks at first, but quickly became overwhelmed. After a savage beat down – which even the God of Destruction of Universe 9 thought was too much – Basil jumped into the air and began charging up his finishing move.

“Wolfgang Pressure!” Basil shouted out, shooting a barrage of energy attacks at Majin Buu, which completely overwhelmed his opponent and tore up the fighting ring, scattering a cloud of dust everywhere.

As the dust from the attack started to clear, Basil stood with his arms crossed, confident that he had finally won. However, he immediately gawked when he saw the rubble shift and Majin Buu jumped out, having taken no damage at all. As Majin Buu stood up straight to face Basil, his face and tone were completely blank. “You’re strong,” he said. Then he opened his eyes. “…but Buu’s stronger.” He then started charging his own version of Basil’s finishing move and fired it at him, producing an explosion twice the size of Basil’s attack.

When the dust from Buu’s attack finally cleared, Basil remained standing, chuckling like a madman. However, upon taking a single step, his entire body began spasming, having reached his limit, and collapsed on the ground, defeated.

Upon his defeat, both of the Zen-Oh’s cheered.

“That was fun!”

“That was fun!”

Upon hearing their cheers, the Grand Minister raised his hand to get everyone’s attention. “The Grand Zen-Oh’s have offered their words of content. The first match is concluded! The victor is from Universe 7, Majin Buu!”

With the first match over, Universe 7 celebrated their victory, and Majin Buu went to tend to his friend. The Supreme Kai of Universe 9, meanwhile, chastised Basil for losing and making their universe look bad.

“Well, that was entertaining,” Discord spoke up. “That Majin Buu guy is a lot stronger than he looks.”

“Yes,” Celestia agreed. She then looked over towards the Universe 7 platform, where Majin Buu had finished healing his friend, Satan, who was now praising him for his victory, and the sight made her smile. “It seems that friendship is just as strong in the other universes.”

“Now for the second match.” The Grand Minister continued, and everyone’s attention was once again on him. “Warriors, please enter the fighting stage,” he continued, and with a snap of his fingers, the entire destroyed ring was good as new.

Universe 9’s next fighter would be Lavender, who looked very similar to Basil, but with brown fur instead of red, and a very deranged look on his face.

Universe 7’s next fighter looked and dressed very similarly to Son Goku, but looked younger, and had shorter, less messy hair. He also wore glasses, but took them off before stepping into the ring. Looking at him now, Celestia couldn’t help but be reminded of her own former student.

“The next match will be between Lavender of Universe 9; and from Universe 7, Son Goku’s son, Son Gohan!” The Grand Minister announced.

“Son Goku’s son, Son Gohan?” Discord parroted. “Anyone else getting dizzy?”

“Let the second match… begin!”

As soon as the match started, Son Gohan rushed Lavender, who met his attack head on. The two of them continued to trade blows, apparently evenly matched, but then Lavender suddenly jumped out of the way of Gohan’s attack, landing on his arm. Catching him off guard, Lavender seized the opportunity and blew a purple poison into Gohan’s eyes, blinding him.

Unable to see his opponent, Son Gohan was at a severe disadvantage, and Lavender seemed to take a sadistic pleasure in toying with him. However, Gohan adamantly refused to give up and continued fighting to the best of his ability; even refusing the Supreme Kai’s offer to heal him, since Universe 9 received outside help in the previous battle.

It was like he was trying to prove himself.

Without being able to see, Gohan would have to adapt in order to stay in the fight. First, since he could no longer see his opponent, he tried tracking his movements by sound. It worked at first, and Gohan was able to fight just fine without being able to see. However, Lavender caught on to his plan quickly and started flying around the stage and attacking from a distance to counter it.

With the advantage his again, Lavender continued firing his poisonous attacks at Gohan from the air, where he couldn’t find him, and Gohan was being worn down quickly. However, despite the odds being laid against him, he didn’t falter in his resolve and continued fighting; and Celestia found this incredibly admirable, which made her smile. Gohan had a fierce determination to win, while Lavender was a blatant psychopath, being open about his desire to kill his opponent. While she had simply been observing the first battle, in this one, she was actively rooting for Son Gohan to win.

Taking a knee from Lavender’s last attack, Gohan panted hard, as the poison slowly continued to build in his system. “Not yet,” he said to himself. “My power hasn’t been fully unleashed yet.” Standing back up, he suddenly powered up, and he gained a visible white battle aura, which shook the fighting stage. As his power continued to build, however, both his battle aura and his hair changed to a radiant yellow colour – instead of his usual black hair – and there was now a very noticeable difference in his power level, which many of the Gods watching were intrigued by.

Lavender, however, convinced himself that this power up wouldn’t be enough to beat him. Flying behind Son Gohan, he fired off another attack, but Gohan somehow knew that the attack was coming and blocked it. Lavender flew to the side again to repeat his strategy, but was met with the same results. Son Gohan then went on the offensive, and quickly regained control of the fight.

It turned out that what Son Gohan was doing was he was expelling his energy outward, using it like sonar to detect his opponent. However, after he slammed Lavender into the stage and went in for the finishing blow, his transformation suddenly cut out and he fell out of the sky.

The poison in Son Gohan’s body was now much more noticeable, as parts of his body were starting to turn purple, where previously, was just around his eyes.

“What’s wrong with him?” Celestia asked, in worry.

“It’s the backlash of his strategy.” Harmony explained. “Beings from different universes have different energy signatures, which makes detecting them that way difficult. Son Gohan couldn’t sense his opponent’s energy, so he powered up so that he could instead bounce his own energy off of his opponent and detect him that way; an impressive strategy. However, using that much power caused the poison to spread around his body much faster.”

Looking back down at the fighting stage again, Celestia saw Lavender quickly take back the advantage by beating on Gohan while he was still weak from the poison, and blowing more poison on him to speed it up even faster.

However, even after all that, Gohan continued fighting back, and then transformed again, despite knowing the risks for doing so. He continued trading blows with Lavender, even as the poison continued to spread throughout his body, and his skin turned purple as a result.

Knowing that he wouldn’t last much longer, Son Gohan decided on one final move and charged towards Lavender, jumping through a large cloud of his poison as he did, and grabbed him from behind. With his opponent locked in a Full Nelson, he then charged straight downwards, in a kamikaze attack, crashing into the stage, hard.

A crater formed from the impact of the crash, and when the dust cleared, Son Gohan and Lavender were both lying facing down. Unlike Lavender, Gohan – whose skin was now almost entirely purple from the poison – managed to stumble back up to his feet, and with a content smile on his face, he simply said to himself. “I won.” He then fell back down again.

The Grand Minister then floated towards the stage to determine the victor. “The second match, with both fighters down, is a tie!” He announced.

“Oooooohh!” Both Zen-Oh’s ‘oooooohhed’ in awe.

With the match over, both of Lavender’s brothers, and Gohan’s father went down to the stage to help them.

Looking down at Son Gohan now, after his father gave him some sort of medicine to heal him, Celestia couldn’t help but smile in support. “The Grand Minister may have called the match a tie, but as far as I’m concerned, Son Gohan won that fight.”

Among the assembled Gods, this fight seemed to have generated much more interest than the first.

“To all Gods gathered here,” the Grand Minister spoke up. Everyone, Gods and mortals, all turned towards him in response. “I have an announcement from Grand Zen-Oh.” Behind him, both Zen-Oh’s stood up on their thrones as the Grand Minister continued speaking. “Grand Zen-Oh is very moved that beings of the lowest mortal level rank could put on such a wonderful fight.”

That seemed to confuse many of those listening.

“Mortal level?” Discord wondered. Harmony simply shooshed him, not even bothering to say the rest.

“Grand Zen-Oh has evaluated all the thirteen universes and ranked them accordingly.” The Grand Minister continued. “The average level of the mortal-inhabited stars of Universe 7 is 3.18. It’s not good. It’s second from the bottom.”

That declaration made Beerus’ mouth hang open.

“If we’re second from the bottom, which universe is below us?” Universe 7’s angel, and Harmony’s older brother, Whis, asked.

“Surely you can tell,” the Grand Minister said, turning towards Universe 9. “That’s right. Universe 9’s average mortal level is the lowest. It’s 1.86.”

The Supreme Kai of Universe 9’s reaction was much the same as Beerus’.

“For this upcoming Tournament of Power,” the Grand Minister continued, in his usual calm tone of voice, with his hands behind his back. “Grand Zen-Oh has often said there are too many universes. And so, Son Goku from Universe 7’s proposal was the perfect opportunity. By his hand, Grand Zen-Oh will erase the universes that lose the Tournament of Power.”

There was a collective gasp from everyone assembled. Celestia and Discord both had the same reaction to hearing this: their eyes dilated and their mouths hung open in shock. “Erase?” They said in unison. “As in…” They thought of their universe, of the ponies under their care, of the other races of Equestria and beyond… of Twilight and her friends. All of that might be erased.

“Grand Minister.” The Supreme Kai of Universe 7 spoke up. “There’s something I wish to confirm.”

“Please go right ahead.”

“You said the defeated universes would be erased. Do you mean every universe that loses the Tournament of Power?”

“Yes,” the Grand Minister confirmed. “However, Universe 1 and Universe 12, and Universe 5 and Universe 8 are exempt from entering. The average mortal level of those four is over seven, so they won’t be erased.”

“So in other words,” Whis spoke up. “The low level universes were already going to be erased, but if they win, they can remain. Is that the true purpose of this tournament?”

“Well, that sums it up.” The Grand Minister confirmed. He then smiled. “Shall we move on to the third match?”

“Grand Minister!” Discord called out, making the Grand Minister face him. “If the universe is erased, what about us Gods?”

“You’ll be erased at the same time, of course,” he responded casually. “Everything but the angels.” He said, holding his hand out towards Harmony.

Discord gasped and turned towards Harmony. “Harmony? You won’t be erased?”

“It would appear so.” Harmony responded, turning towards him. She then looked further back at Celestia, who still seemed to be paralysed in shock.

“That concludes the announcement. Next is the third match. This will be the last.” The Grand Minister said, and with a snap of his fingers, the ring was repaired once again.

With the ring repaired, the fighters for the next round made their way to the ring. Fighting for Universe 9 was Bergamo, who resembled his brothers, though he had blue fur and was more muscly; and fighting for Universe 7 was Son Goku.

“Your name’s Bergamo, right?” Goku asked while cracking his knuckles. “This fight doesn’t involve erasin’ the universe, so let’s go all out.”

Bergamo sneered at Goku in response. “Shut your mouth, you scum!” Turning away from Goku, facing the assembled Gods, he took in a deep breath. “All the Gods, hear me!” He announced, grabbing everyone’s attention. “I am the eldest brother of the Trio De Dangers! Bergamo The Crusher! I am a warrior from Universe 9, a place Grand Zen-Oh said has the lowest mortal level! However!” He then pointed towards Goku. “This man’s level is far below our low-ranking Universe 9! Without his stupid wish, we could have lived in peace! He’s a fool with not a thought in his head!”

Harmony put her hand to her chin. “But Grand Zen-Oh said that he was going to erase the lower ranked universe anyway.” She said to herself. She then looked to the side, where Discord was being sucked in to what Bergamo was saying, while Celestia was still in shock from the announcement earlier. Letting out a sigh, she whacked Discord in the head with her sceptre.

Turning back towards Bergamo once again, as he was arguing with Goku when he tried to refute his claims, he then turned away once again and took a knee. “Grand Zen-Oh,” he said, addressing the Omni-King. “Once I have defeated this man, please rescind your rule to erase the defeated universes!”

This request got an immediate reaction from all of the Gods, including Celestia, who snapped out of her state of shock, and all turned towards Zen-Oh for his response.

“What of that one’s request?” The Grand Minister asked the Zen-Ohs.

Both Zen-Oh’s ‘ummed’ for a moment and turned to face each other, while every God waited with baited breath for their response.

“Bergamo, was it?” Zen-Oh spoke up.

“Yes!” Bergamo replied immediately.

“It’s already decided.” Future Zen-Oh responded.

“Yeah, it’s decided.” Zen-Oh responded.

“But your proposal is accepted.”

“It is.”

At that, every God let out a gasp of relief. They were safe after all.

The Grand Minister then turned back around to address the universes. “So if Universe 9 is victorious, the rule that defeated universes will be erased shall be rescinded. However,” he followed up with, which made everyone hold off on their relief. “Son Goku. If you should hold back because you don’t want to be erased, Grand Zen-Oh will erase all the universes immediately.”

“Right. I don’t like losing either. I’m goin’ full on.” Son Goku responded in his determined demeanour, like he wasn’t even aware of the severity of the situation.

Discord gulped hard. They weren’t in the clear yet. Bergamo still had to beat Son Goku.

“Now, let the third match… begin!” The Grand Minister announced with a wave of his hand.

As soon as the fight started, Goku and Bergamo rushed towards each other, exchanging quick blows between one another. At the beginning, they seemed pretty evenly matched, but then all of a sudden, Bergamo stopped in his latest attack.

“Hit me!” Bergamo shouted, with his arms out wide, purposely leaving himself exposed. “I’ll show you why they call me Bergamo The Crusher!”

Goku followed up his boast by punching him repeatedly in the chest, but when he did, Bergamo seemed to take the energy from that punch and use it to grow bigger, and then sent it back at Goku with a punch of his own. Goku recovered from the attack and retaliated with one of his own, but as soon as he did, Bergamo once again used that energy to grow even bigger, and attack Goku back with even more power.

The Supreme Kai of Universe 9 explained that Bergamo can take his opponent’s power and then fire it back twice as hard. However, instead of becoming dejected, Son Goku was first saying that it was boring and unoriginal to use somebody else’s power instead of your own, and yet at the same time, excited at the prospect of fighting someone with unlimited power. He then powered up in the same manner as his son did earlier and his hair turned golden. He then punched Bergamo hard in the stomach, and while Bergamo was still able to take it, he visibly winced from the impact.

As he watched the fight continue, Discord gripped his hands tightly in frustration. “Damn that Son Goku. If he’d just lose then we’d all be safe.”

“But if he loses on purpose then every universe will be erased, even those that are exempt from the Tournament of Power.” Harmony responded without initially turning to face him. When she finally did turn towards him, she only saw him bite down, hard. She then looked over towards her older brother from Universe 7. “Whis. You know Son Goku better than anybody else here. Do you think that he will win this fight?”

Whis turned towards his sister and considered her question before facing forward at the fight again. “If he doesn’t hold back and he doesn’t drop his guard, then almost certainly, yes.”

Harmony raised an eyebrow at that. “You mean he might still hold back even after being told the consequences for doing so?”

Whis simply smiled. “Son Goku is truly something. He can seem so careless and empty-headed at times, but then he can be calm and focused at others. There really no way of knowing exactly what he’s thinking.”

Bergamo kept throwing punches at Son Goku, but by now he was twenty times his normal size, and his increased size meant that it got harder and harder to hit his opponent.

“C’mon, try to get even stronger!” Goku said as he dodged Bergamo’s attacks, and shot multiple energy attacks at him, which caused him to grow even more.

Goku overpowered Bergamo with constant, quick attacks, pushing him back towards the edge of the stage. Once he reached the edge, he grew even more from the energy Goku gave him, and his increased weight caused the ground beneath him to shatter and he fell to his knees.

Son Goku then landed in front of him. “Can you still get stronger?”

Looking up at him, Bergamo just growled back at him.

“Don’t give up!” Looking up at who it was cheering him on, Bergamo saw that it was Discord. “All of our existences are in your hands now, so you’re not allowed to lose. So stand back up and smash Son Goku into the dirt, and be the saviour of nine universes.” He then pumped his clenched fist into the air and began chanting. “Ber-Ga-Mo! Ber-Ga-Mo! Ber-Ga-Mo! Ber-Ga-Mo!”

Champa, the God of Destruction from Universe Six, who looked like a fat version of Beerus, was the first to join in. “Ber-Ga-Mo! Ber-Ga-Mo! Ber-Ga-Mo! Ber-Ga-Mo!”

He was then followed by the Supreme Kai of Universe 11. “Ber-Ga-Mo! Ber-Ga-Mo! Ber-Ga-Mo! Ber-Ga-Mo!”

Then all of Universe 9. “Ber-Ga-Mo! Ber-Ga-Mo! Ber-Ga-Mo! Ber-Ga-Mo!”

Pretty soon, everyone except for Universe 7 were cheering Bergamo’s name, cheering him on.

Hearing everyone around him chanting his name gave Bergamo the strength to stand back up. “Of course. I can’t just give up; everyone’s counting on me.” He then looked down at Son Goku. “You hear that? Every universe is cheering me on, telling me to defeat you.” He then clenched his fist. “I will defeat you here and now. Everyone will get what they want, except for you.” He raised his fist high into the air. “Now die, Son Goku!” He slammed his fist down, hard.

Seeing the large fist coming at him, Goku simply smirked and leapt out of the way just in the time, backflipping through the air as he did so. When he came to a stop, he suddenly screamed and exploded outward in a blue aura that shook the entire area.

“Ber-Ga-M…” Discord was knocked out of his chant by the blast, and he almost fell over. “What?!” He shouted in disbelief, as he instinctively covered his face with his arm.

Celestia responded similarly, though found it harder to remain standing, as she wasn’t a God of Destruction. As she struggled to simply keep her gaze on Son Goku from the insane amount of energy this mortal was unleashing, she suddenly noticed how familiar it felt. Back when Twilight and her friends defeated Nightmare Moon, Discord, and Tirek, by channelling Harmony’s power. “It’s divine energy!” She uttered in shock. “But how can one mortal wield it like this?”

Suddenly, what looked like a separate aura of blue energy shattered around Son Goku like glass. He now looked similar to his first power up, but with blue hair and a blue aura instead of yellow.

“Wow! Goku’s amazing!” Future Zen-Oh said in awe.

“That’s Super Saiyan Blue!” Zen-Oh explained.

Celestia and Discord heard what Zen-Oh said. “Super Saiyan Blue?”

“Not enough for you?” Son Goku asked Bergamo. “Here, try some more. Kaio-Ken!” Suddenly, another aura, this one red, exploded outwards from Son Goku, in a wave of energy, even stronger than the first one.

The second wave of energy forced Discord to his knees, and Celestia fell over completely. Even Harmony had to raise her hand up to her head. “Such power…”

Son Goku brought his two hands together. “Ka… Me…” A bright blue orb of energy began forming in his hands. “Ha… Me…” In preparation for the attack, Bergamo began charging up his power as well. “Ha!!!” Son Goku screamed out, as he shot the beam of energy straight downwards, towards Bergamo.

As the beam of energy came towards him, Bergamo reached out with his arm to try and catch it. “Wolfgang Penetrator!” He shouted, launching his own attack with his other arm. His attack travelled through Goku’s, all the way towards the mortal from Universe 7, until it was only inches away from making contact.

Discord’s eyes widened in relief, said relief allowing him to regain his footing and stand up straight. “He did it!”

“Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Son Goku screamed, as his attack completely engulfed Bergamo’s, and travelled back until it completely engulfed Bergamo as well.

When the attack faded, Son Goku flew down to the stage, still surrounded by his blue and red auras, while Bergamo staggered towards him, with his arm outstretched. “What’s wrong? Let’s do some more.”

Bergamo just gawked at Son Goku’s overwhelming power. “U-Universe 7… unbelievable…” He stuttered as he collapsed on the ground, defeated.

The moment Bergamo hit the floor, all of the surrounding Gods were rendered speechless.

Descending down on his platform, the Grand Minister raised his hand. “That’s enough. The third match is concluded. Universe 7 wins!”

Once the battle was over, several things happened. Universe 7 celebrated their victory, Basil and Lavender mourned their brother’s defeat and went to go get him, and Discord fell to his knees.

“So that’s it then. Nine universes will now be erased.” Discord deadpanned.

Celestia was still unbelieving the power she just witnessed this one mortal possessing.

Harmony noticed her two charges reactions, but didn’t say anything.

“Zennie!” Goku called out to the Zen-Oh’s. “I didn’t hold back,” he said in a cheerful tone.

Discord simply had no words for Son Goku’s careless attitude towards these circumstances. Slowly, his hand started extending outwards, towards Son Goku, with his palm held flat. It had been over a thousand years since he had ‘Hakai’ed something, but this mortal had quickly made him think of doing so to him.

“Discord.” Harmony simply cut him off with a stern glare. Discord didn’t say anything in response, and simply put his hand down. Then Harmony whacked him in the head with her sceptre.

After Basil and Lavender dragged Bergamo back to the Universe 9 platform, during which he yelled at Goku that now every universe would be gunning for him in the tournament, Son Goku simply turned to all the assembled Gods.

“Okay! Come if you wanna! I’ll take you all on! Gather the strongest guys you can and come at me! I’ll beat every last one of them!”

That declaration of war got all of the universes riled up.

Discord gripped his fingers tightly with one hand, while rubbing his head with the other. “He really is a villain. Does he really want to erase every universe that much?”

Next to him, Celestia was still speechless. There were very few mortals that she was afraid of, but Son Goku was one of them – and not just his monstrous strength.

“How was it, Grand Zen-Oh from the future? Were you satisfied with the matches?” The Grand Minister asked.

“Yeah, they were fun!” Future Zen-Oh said.

“They were super exciting!” Zen-Oh said.

The Zen-Oh’s then high fived.

“We’re super looking forward to the Tournament of Power!” They said in unison.

“It’s as you have heard, Gods,” the Grand Minister said with a wave of his hand. “Grand Zen-Oh is extremely satisfied with the matches between Universes 7 and 9. The Zen Exhibition Match was a success!

“And now, let me explain the rules of the Tournament of Power.” Raising his hand, the Grand Minister created a projection of a large, circular fighting stage, with a large column in the centre. “This is the fighting stage that will be built in the World of Void. To win, one must knock their opponent off. Quite simple, isn’t it?”

“What if your opponent collapses on the fighting stage?” Son Goku asked.

“Drop them off the fighting stage,” the Grand Minister answered. “Also, after observing the Zen Exhibition Match, some restrictions have been put in place. First, weapons other than techniques may not be used. Second, opponents may not be killed. Third, flying skills such as Flight are nullified in the World of Void. And the time limit will be one hundred taks.”

“One hundred taks?” Harmony said quietly. “By the universal standard, that’s about forty-eight minutes.”

“Isn’t that a little long?” Whis spoke up. “Who knows how long it will take to complete every match?”

“That’s not true,” the Grand Minister replied calmly. “Every warrior will be trying to knock each other off. So it will only be one match.”

The Gods all gasped at that.

“A Battle Royale?” Discord uttered.

“Don’t worry,” the Grand Minister continued. “We will make a big fighting stage. After everyone fights to the time limit, the team with the most members left wins. Of course, if only one warrior remains with time left, that warrior’s team wins.”

Harmony placed her hand to her chin. “So it’s not necessarily the strongest mortal who will win, but the team with the most members remaining at the end. Sounds like teamwork will be an important role here.”

Hearing that made Celestia relax a little. If there was one thing their universe had it was good teamwork.

“That’s all.” The Grand Minister ended his projections. “We look forward to each universe’s good fighting, and to the victor go the Super Dragon Balls.”

“Can we really win this tournament?” Discord asked to his Supreme Kai and angel attendant. “Our universe isn’t exactly known for its martial arts.”

Celestia turned towards Discord, but didn’t say anything. Harmony placed her hand on his shoulder. “This may be a martial arts tournament, but it will test so much more.” She then smiled warmly at both of them. “We still have a chance.”

“Son Goku!”

All turning in the direction of the shout, it was the mysterious cloaked mortal from Universe 11, jumping into the ring.

“Oh?”

“Oh, oh?”

“Who are you?” The Grand Minister asked.

“I know this is disrespectful. Please forgive me,” the cloaked mortal responded. Throwing off his cloak revealed he was a rotund male, wearing a red, white and black uniform, with brown skin and a big, white, bushy moustache. “Son Goku, I would have words with you,” he spoke to the Universe 7 mortal. “I am,” he began, amidst a flurry of flashy poses. “Leader of the Pride Troopers from the brave and beautiful Universe 11! Top, The Warrior of Freedom!

“Son Goku. Fight with me! If you bear evil intent and would stand against me, my fists shall bring ruin upon you!”

“Sure!” Goku responded in exhilaration. “I wasn’t satisfied with that last guy.”

“Sounds like he can’t get no satisfaction,” Discord said quietly to himself.

“The only wish in my heart,” Top continued, pointing hard at Goku. “Is to slay evil, wherever it lies.”

“So I’m evil, huh?” Goku said with a smirk. “Interesting.”

After some convincing from the Supreme Kai of Universe 11, Zen-Oh allowed Top and Goku to fight. As the fight started, Goku powered up immediately, but Top was able to easily block and dodge all of his attacks, and completely overpowered Goku, amazing the Gods with his power.

Top then managed to grab Goku from behind and put him in a chokehold, squeezing him tightly to the point where his bones started to break. While Goku’s bones were being broken by the embrace, many of the Gods, like Discord, enjoyed seeing him in pain after everything he had done, while others, like Celestia, thought that it was just uncomfortable to watch.

Just as it looked like Son Goku was about to be defeated, however, he powered up to Super Saiyan Blue, broke out of Top’s hold, and immediately took the advantage. The tables had now been turned completely, with Top being unable land an attack on Goku, and Goku completely overpowering Top.

After one of Son Goku’s attacks had destroyed Top’s Pride Trooper uniform, and Top and Goku both started powering up even further, the Grand Minister suddenly called an end to the match, explaining that at this rate, the two of them would end up killing each other, and that they should save it for the Tournament of Power.

“And now,” the Grand Minister continued. “I shall begin construction of the Tournament of Power fighting stage. It will take a while to complete, so I will require some time until the actual Tournament of Power.

“That concludes all of today’s event. Next will be the actual Tournament of Power. On the 3,135,500,603^rd day of the King’s Calender, on the 157^th hour, we shall begin.”

“So by the universal standard, that’s about forty hours from now,” Harmony spoke up, on hearing what time the Tournament of Power would take place. “That’s how long we have to prepare?”

“Correct,” the Grand Minister answered. That caused a lot of hustle between the other universes; that they had so little time to prepare. “And now, let us reconvene in forty hours. Adjourned.”

At the Grand Minister’s dismissal, the other universes left to prepare their teams for the Tournament of Power.

After most of the other universes had left, Discord let out a breath he’d been holding in and turned towards Celestia and Harmony. “Do you really think that we can win the Tournament of Power?”

Instead of responding, Celestia simply held her gaze on Discord, with a look of uncertainty on her own.

“First things first,” Harmony spoke up. “Let’s head home.” She then turned towards Celestia, who simply nodded her head in response.

Discord and Harmony each placed one hand on Celestia. “Kai Kai,” she said, with much less enthusiasm than last time, and upon activating Instantaneous Movement, they vanished.

---

In an instant, the three of them were back in their own universe, specifically, the Sacred World of the Kais – the spot Celestia had chosen to have Twilight Sparkle become an alicorn.

Once they reappeared, Discord again looked between Celestia and Harmony before speaking up. “So then… we, by which I mean the mortals from our universe, have to win the Tournament of Power, or else our entire universe will be erased?”

“That’s what Grand Zen-Oh has decreed.” Harmony responded. “And there is no refuting his will.”

Discord clenched his fists in anger. “Damn that Son Goku. If he hadn’t given Grand Zen-Oh the idea for this tournament in the first place, we’d all be fine.”

Harmony immediately whacked him on the head with her sceptre. “Were you even paying attention? Grand Zen-Oh said that he was going to erase all the lower ranked universes anyway. This tournament will give one of them the chance to be spared.” She then squinted her eyes at him. “Perhaps if you stopped blaming everybody but yourself for a moment you would see that. Son Goku has had no effect on our mortal level, but you not doing your job for a thousand years certainly has.”

Discord rubbed at the sore spot on his head. “You know, I was turned to stone for a thousand years.” He tried defending himself.

“As punishment for turning me into a tree so that you could get out of doing your job, which you still didn’t go back to once you were freed.” She immediately shot him down.

Discord had no response to that, so he just remained silent.

With Discord shut down and shut up for the moment, Harmony turned towards Celestia, who was still silent. Before she could speak up, however, the three of them heard a voice.

“Sister!”

Turning in the direction of the voice, they saw Princess Luna appear. “I got your message from Raven. I must say that a ‘Code Z’ is the last thing I ever expected to…” She was now standing right next to Celestia, but she started to trail off when she noticed their universe’s angel attendant. “Harmony? I must say, I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

“I was actually thinking the same thing about you.” Harmony replied. “You do you know that this realm is for Supreme Kais only?”

“I, well… uhhmm,” stuttered, acting all flustered.

“You really shouldn’t be here, considering what happened last time,” Harmony continued drilling her.

“Well, what really happened last time?” Luna sweatdropped, trying her best not to look at Harmony.

“You got jealous of your sister for being passed over as Supreme Kai, and in your jealousy tried taking her out, which would nullify the God of Destruction and the angel, which would leave you as the sole God left to take complete control of the universe?” Harmony stated casually.

Luna sweatdropped even more. “Please, how much damage could a rogue Kai really do, anyway?

“And I can’t believe that we’re actually talking about this right now?!” Discord suddenly screamed out.

Harmony looked back at Discord and released a breath. “Discord is right. Our time is limited. We need to remain focused on the matter at hand.”

“And…” Luna began, carefully trying to get back into the conversation. “…what exactly is the matter at hand?”

The three of them then told her everything about the Zen Exhibition Match, mortal levels, the Tournament of Power, and the possibility of erasure.

Luna was beyond shocked after what she had been told. “E-erased? The entire universe?” She simply couldn’t believe what she was hearing; but if Harmony was here, and this came from Grand Zen-Oh himself, then it must be true. “Wh-what are we going to do?”

“The only thing we can do,” Harmony answered calmly. “Find the ten strongest mortals in our universe and win the Tournament of Power.”

“Gee, you make it sound so easy.” Discord chimed in. “And where are we even going to start looking for the strongest mortals in our universe?”

Harmony turned to look Discord in the eyes. “Discord, I think all four of us know exactly where to start looking.”

Discord held the staring match between them for several seconds before he finally sighed in resignation. “Yeah, you’re right.”

Holding her arm out, the crystal ball at the top of Harmony’s sceptre began glowing. Once that was done, she then turned towards Celestia, who had remained silent throughout. “Celestia, you can rest for now. I’ll take us there.” She then gave her a warm smile, which she knew she needed right now. “That should also give them enough time to come together.”

Harmony then tapped her sceptre against the immaterial floor of the realm, and in a bright flash of light, they were gone.

---

Twilight Sparkle stood before the Friendship Table, not believing what she was seeing: all seven of her friend’s cutie marks were being displayed on the map.

“What do you think it could mean?” asked Starlight Glimmer, who was standing behind Twilight, alongside Spike.

Suddenly, the doors to the map room were flung open, and Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy came running in. “What’s up, Sugarcube?” Applejack asked. “We all got the call and came runnin’ as fast as we could.” She said, showing off her glowing cutie mark, the same as all the others.

“Yeah, us too,” Starlight spoke up, turning so that the five of them could see her glowing cutie mark as well.

“I’m not sure,” Twilight spoke up, stepping back from the table and turning to address the room. “The map has never called all seven of us before, so it must be something really important.”

“Well, where is it telling us to go?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Well, that’s the strange part,” Starlight answered, pointing back to the map, specifically to the point where their cutie marks were orbiting. “It’s telling us to go… here, to the castle.”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow in confusion at that. “But we always meet up here anyway, to check where the map wants to send us. Why would it just call us here?”

“What could it mean?” Fluttershy wondered quietly.

Twilight didn’t have the answer to that question, however. While she was busying silently pondering, suddenly there was a bright flash of light from the other side of the room. When the light faded, she saw Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Discord, and someone that she didn’t recognise standing there.

The group of eight naturally fell into a bow of respect towards the princesses, with Twilight out in front. “Princess Celestia,” she began. Looking over at the others, she continued. “Princess Luna, Discord. Uhhmm…”

“We haven’t technically met yet. I am Harmony.” She answered.

With that answered, Twilight swept back over the other three until she was focused on Princess Celestia again, certain that their sudden appearance had something to do with the map. “Celestia, what exactly is going on, here?”

Celestia seemed to take a moment to gather her thoughts and figure out what to say, but before she could, Discord held his hand out to cut her off, and getting Twilight to focus on him. Then, taking a look around the room at the seven ponies and dragon gathered here, he simply let out a long sigh.

“Sit down. This is going to take a while.”