Starro the Conqueror has finally reached Earth and seeks to add its superpowered inhabitance to his collective control its up to Twilight and her friends to stop him, but their allies and their abilities might not be enough
A star fell from the sky, and the star was a starfish, and the starfish was Starro the Conqueror. With every hero and villain under the star conqueror's sway, the CHS eight must fight not just Starro and his herald, The Faceless Hunter, but also their friends and allies. To combat the star conqueror, Sunset and the others must forge alliances with those who they have previously fought against and some forgotten heroes. It seems that the fate of the whole world may lay in the hands of a mysterious girl called Gali. Who is she? And Where did she come from?
Sunset Shimmer was walking to school, the sun shone, the sky was blue.
"What a great day," she thought to herself, "nothing could go wrong."
Xander, headquarters of the Nova corps.
"There are too many of them!" a Nova corpsman cried, "we're being overwhelmed!"
"Stand your ground!" another corpsman shouted, as they were bombarded with laser and green energy blasts.
Earth.
Sunset walked through the front doors of CHS and headed for her first period, along with her friends: Twilight Sparkle, Midnight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and their other classmates.
Her first lesson was maths taught by Mr. Cranky Doodle, followed by history taught by Ms. Cheerilee.
"The weather forecast says at the weekend that it's nothing but sun," Applejack whispered, as they listened to Ms. Cheerilee talking about various periods in history.
"I think that'll be a good time for me to get me tan on," Rarity remarked.
"BEACH PARTY!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, causing everyone else in the classroom to look at them.
Sunset giggled to herself, only Pinkie Pie would suggest something like that.
Xander.
"They're breaking through our defences!" the Nova corpsman shouted.
He turned to another corpsman, a different one from before, this one was Nova corps member Richard Rider from Earth, the first man to take on the name Nova.
"Get out of here!" he commanded, "get to earth! Warn them! That's an order!"
"Yes sir," Richard Rider replied.
Without another he took off, one of the many powers his Nova helmet gave him was the ability to move at speeds faster than light.
"The fate of the universe is your hands, solider," the Nova corpsman said, "good luck."
Those were the last words the Nova corpsman uttered, because seconds later, a starfish latched itself into his face.
The figure from Knowhere and Oa surveyed the battle as the starfishes slowly subdued the rest of the Nova corps.
"Soon, my master," he remarked, revealing himself as The Faceless Hunter, an alien from the planet Klaramar.
"Xander and the Nova corps will fall," Faceless Hunter declared, "like Oa and Green Lanterns before them."
The Faceless Hunter looked up above the planet, revealing the identity of the his master, Starro the Conqueror.
A giant starfish hanging in the sky above Xander and raining down smaller copies of itself onto the Nova corps and the populous.
Starro noticed the fleeing Richard Rider, but did nothing, it was much more preoccupied with its takeover of Xander.
Every time the smaller starfish attached themselves to their victims face, the victims were then put into a zombie-like state.
"Soon, indeed," Starro uttered, "all things, all planets, all life, all will bend to the will of Starro."
Elsewhere, in deep space.
An object resembling a meteorite streaked across the galaxy before landing on Earth, in America, California.
A nearby family ventured out to inspect the crash site.
As the dust from the impact cleared, in the crater lay a teenage girl.
"Are you alright?" the father asked, "can you understand me?"
The girl nodded, showing that she understood.
"Are you hurt?" the mother asked, "what's your name?"
The girl was silent for a moment, "Gali," she said, finally, "my name is Gali."
"You fell out of the sky," the father answered, "can you tell us where you come from?"
"No," Gali replied, "I don't remember, I'm sorry."
"Well," the mother stated, smiling and helping Gali to her feet, "whatever you are and where ever you came from, we'll take care of you."
With that, the family helped Gali out of the crater and inside their house.
The father was a bit unsure, but his concerns were quickly squished by Gali friendly smile and eyes.
"Yeah," he smiled, "you've got nothing to worry about, we'll make sure nothing happens to you."
The girls were at school, like yesterday, nothing out of the ordinary had been or was happening, well, as normal as a day can get in a high school with super-powered students.
As the girls were heading for the cafeteria, the voice of Vice Principle Luna came through the intercom. "Sunset Shimmer, please report to the the principle's office, at once."
"I wonder what that's about?" Sunset said, confused, neither she nor her friends had gotten into trouble recently and, as far as Sunset know, there were no big upcoming events or anything happening.
Her curiosity growing, Sunset produced to the principle's office, once there, she knocked on the door.
"Come in," the voice of Principle Celestia answered.
Sunset entered the office, where Principle Celestia and Vice Principle Luna where waiting as well as a young teenage girl.
"You wanted to see me, Principle Celestia?" Sunset said, as she took a seat in front of the principle's desk.
"That's right, Sunset," Principle Celestia replied, "I called you here because we have a new student joining CHS."
She gestured to the young teenage girl, "this is Gali, I hope you and your friends will make her feel welcome."
Sunset looked over at the girl and gave her a welcoming smile, "Any powers or abilities we should know about?" she asked.
"She doesn't seemed to have any powers or abilities," Celestia answered, "but we shouldn't discount the possibility that she might develop or awaken her powers, but let us not dwell on it."
"Right," Sunset nodded, "I'll take Gali to the cafeteria to get something to eat and meet my friends before next lesson starts."
"Thats sounds good," Celestia replied, "it would be nice if Gali got to know some of the students she'll be spending time with."
"Alright," Sunset said, getting up from her seat and approaching Gali, "ready to go?" she asked.
Gali looked at Sunset, "Ok," she said, finally.
Gali didn't know how, but she got the sense she could trust Sunset Shimmer, she got out of her seat and followed Sunset to the cafeteria.
Once she had gotten the food she wanted, Sunset led her to a table with seven other girls sitting at it.
"Everyone," Sunset announced, "this is Gali, she's new to CHS."
The girls smiled, gave a greeting and introduced themselves to Gali, after which the eight girls plus Gali then turned their attention to their lunch.
While they ate the girls asked Gali various questions, especially Pinkie Pie, who was very excited to meet a new potential friend. Gali tried to answer all the questions as best she could, even though the only answer she could give was, "I don't know" or "I don't remember."
After lunch, the girls all headed for their next lesson, Sunset leading Gali to the classroom.
The rest of the day, proceeded normally and Gali felt more and more relaxed around Sunset, her friends and the other students of CHS.
Near the end of the day, the girls told Gali that they were heading to get milkshakes at the local street corner diner and they invited her to tag along.
Since Sunset and the girls were the first schoolmates she had made since she came to Canterlot, Gali was more than happy to accepted.
Headquarters of S.W.O.R.D. (Sentient World Observation and Response Department), Earth's orbit.
Since the return of superheroes and the like, the government had reinstated organisations like: S.H.E.L.I.D., The D.E.O, S.T.R.I.K.E. and Checkmate.
Even the superhero teams of different nations and countries had also been reinstated, teams like: Alpha Flight, Justice Force International, Excalibur, Titans East and the Winter Guard.
The person in charge of S.W.O.R.D. was Abigail Brand and she alone with some her subordinates were on the bridge on the orbital space station called The Peak.
"Anything to report?" Abigail asked.
"No, ma'am," a subordinate replied, "nothing to report."
"Copy that," Abigail sighed, "can't say I'm surprised."
She continued to stare out of the window at the empty void of space.
Earth, Canterlot, The Sweet Shoppe.
Gali and the CHS eight had just order milkshakes and were now sitting at a table enjoying them.
"So this is a milkshake," Gali said, siping on her strawberry milkshake.
The girls all exchanged looks with each other.
"So," Rarity asked, finally "how are you liking CHS so far?"
"It's really nice," Gali replied, "everyone is so nice and welcoming."
"Well," Rainbow Dash responded, "as it happens since the weather is going to be nothing but sun, we were planning some fun times at the beach, you interested?"
"What's a beach?" Gali asked.
The girls were shocked that Gali didn't know what a beach was, but they explained what a beach was.
"I'd like that," Gali replied, after the explanation.
"Awesome," Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
Now that was out the way, the girls continued with their weekend beach party plans.
When the topic came to what to wear, Gali mentioned that she didn't have anything, to which, Rarity responded by offering to make Gali a swimsuit.
Gali was surprised at Rarity's generosity, ever since she had met the girls she had been treated with nothing but kindness.
"Girls," she said, "why are you being so nice to me and helping me? I mean you just met me."
The girls explained that Gali was their friend and friends take care and look out for each other, it was called friendship.
Gali was a bit confused, but the girls explained what friendship was and the six aspect that make it up: Honesty, Generosity, Laughter, Loyalty, Kindness and Magic.
At that moment, Gali felt a strange feeling inside her, like something deep within her being had unlocked.
Space, unknown location.
Richard Rider a.k.a. the first Nova of Earth rocketed across the infinite void of space, using all the power of his Nova helmet to make it to Earth before Starro and his herald did.
"I must keep going," he repeated, to himself, "I can't stop."
Richard continued on traveling, every second he could feel he powers draining and getting weaker.
He forced himself onward until his body and powers finally reached their limit, he began to lose consciousness.
Noticing a nearby planet, he aimed himself at the planet, if he was going to crash at least hopefully the planet was habited so he could help or allies against Starro's coming.
"Arrrr," Richard groaned, as he regain consciousness on the surface of the planet.
Fortunately, his Nova uniform had protected him from the impact when he crashed on the planet.
Pulling himself to his feet, Richard looked around at his surroundings, they seemed familiar to him somehow.
"Hello Richard," said a voice, from behind him.
Richard turned to see who the voice belonged to and he realised where he was.
The owner of the voice was Hal Jordan, former Green Lantern and former villain Parallax, which meant Richard was on Oa the headquarters of the Green Lantern corps.
"Long time no see," Hal remarked.
"With good reason," Richard replied, "you wiped out billions of sentient lives and tried to enslave the Earth."
"That wasn't me," Hal responded, "that was Parallax controlling me, I know what you're thinking but it wasn't me."
"Yeah," Richard countered, "I'm sure you want me to believe that."
"It's the truth!" Hal insisted.
Richard was about to answer, but was interrupted by a sudden blast of green energy, which forced the two back a bit.
The source of the blast was Appa Ali Apsa, one of the Guardians of the Universe, who had remained behind to take out any survivors, after Starro had attacked Oa.
"I see Starro's already been here," Richard stated, noticing the starfish attached to the Guardian's face.
"We need a plan," Hal suggested, as he and Richard dodged the Guardian's attacks.
"You are in no position to be coming up with plans," Richard interjected.
"This really isn't the time for judging people's past," Hal replied, "I'm a former Green Lantern and the only one on Oa who isn't being controlled by Starro at the moment."
Richard sighed, he knew Hal was right even if he didn't want to admit it, even with the power of the Nova Force, the source of the Nova corps's power, it was no match for the immense power the Guardians wielded.
"Alright," he said, finally, "but just remember you're still considered a criminal and under arrest, got it?"
"Fine by me," Hal replied, "I'll draw his attention and fire, then you blast the Starro spore off of him."
"That's your plan?!" Richard commented.
"If you can think of any better ideas," Hal responded, "I'd like to hear them."
Since Richard didn't have any ideas, he didn't answer as he got into position and Hal began to execute his plan.
"Hey!" Hal shouted, "over here! Come and get me!"
The Starro-controlled Guardian turned towards Hal and began approaching him, charging for another powerful blast of energy.
But before he could fire, Nova shot a blast at the Starro spore attached to the Guardians face, hitting it in the eye, causing the spore to detach from the Guardian's face.
Appa Ali Apsa gasped for air as he was released from the mind control, once he had recovered he noticed the still alive Starro spore, writhing on the ground.
"You controlled me once," Appa Ali Apsa said, "but you will never control me again, foul creature."
Before the spore could attack, Appa Ali Apsa hit it was a blast of energy destroying it.
After doing that, the Guardian noticed Hal and Richard.
"I take it you are responsible for rescuing me, Nova Prime Richard Rider?" he asked.
"Well," Richard replied, "I did have some help."
Appa Ali Apsa then noticed Hal, "Jordan," he said.
"Appa," Hal replied.
"I hate to interrupt this little reunion," Richard interjected, "but I need to get going, Starro is most assuredly heading to Earth."
"You can't go by yourself," Hal exclaimed, "one Nova corpsman against Starro the Conqueror, thats madness."
"I'm afraid Hal Jordan is right," Appa Ali Apsa said, "as you can see, the star conqueror has already taken the Green Lanterns stationed here, so its ranks have grown considerably."
"Then what do you suggest?" Richard asked.
"I believe I have an idea," Hal answered.
He turned to Appa Ali Apsa, "but first, I'm going to need a ring," he stated.
"Absolutely not," Richard interjected, "no way I'm letting you have a Lantern ring."
"I'm afraid that is not you decision to make, Richard Rider," Appa Ali Apsa interrupted, "you alone will not be enough to take on the star conqueror, you will need allies if you are to continue your pursuit of Starro, I myself now understand better about being controlled by another's will."
Richard wanted to argue, but the Appa Ali Apsa was right, he knew all too well the Guardians of the Universe were the only ones who could decide to give anyone a Lantern ring, aside from the Lantern rings themselves.
Appa Ali Apsa headed for the central power battery and returned with a ring and a power battery, which he handed to Hal.
As Hal put on the ring he recited the Green Lantern oath:
In brightest day, in blackest night, No evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil's might, Beware my power, Green Lantern's light!
"Alright," Hal said, once his ring was powered up, "that's step one, onto the next step."
"And that is?" Richard inquired.
"Appa said you'd need allies to help you against Starro," Hal replied, "I think I might know some people who might want to help you, maybe."
"Alright," Richard said, cautiously, he still didn't trust Hal but he himself couldn't see any other option.
Hal lead Richard to the Sciencells, the prison where Green Lantern corps enemies and dangerous criminals were held.
Most of the cells were empty, since most of beings held in them were taken by Starro.
The two stopped in front of four cells, "I have a bad feeling about this," Richard exclaimed, as he recognised the occupants of the cells.
The individuals were: Lobo, Death's Head, Titus and Blackfire.
Back on Earth.
Another day at CHS, everyone in the school carrying out their daily routine, blissfuly unaware of the approaching threat.
Once the day had ended, Rarity took Gali to her her house to start designing her swimsuit.
Rarity began by taking Gali's measurements and then picking out materials and fabric to began making the swimsuit.
She let Gali pick out the colour of the fabric, who picked out purple and blue, after which Rarity began putting the swimsuit together.
After she was done, she gave the swimsuit to Gali and asked her to try it on.
"You look fabulous, darling," Rarity smiled, as she admired her handiwork, "the colours really do compliment you very well, I was right to let you pick it."
"What made you pick that colour?" she asked, as Gali changed out of her swimsuit and back to normal clothes.
"I don't know," Gali replied, "something about it felt familiar to me, for some reason."
Elsewhere, on Oa.
"I still think this is a bad idea," Richard said.
"This is the best shot we have," Hal retorted, as the others collected their confiscated items, Death's Head's array of weapons, Titus's cybernetic blaster arm and Lobo's enormous hooked chain and Space hog, Blackfire on the other hand had nothing, nothing but the clothes she wore, "if you've got any better ideas I'm all ears."
"Enough talk," Death's Head said, "there must be a reason you let us out of our cells, yes?"
"Tin head's right," Lobo agreed, "you'd better have good reason for asking the Main Man for help."
Lobo swung his chain around to emphasise his statement.
"There is a reason," Richard replied, "but first things first: I need to understand how you four weren't able to be controlled by Starro?"
"That's easy," Lobo replied, "because the Main Man's mind is ride you wouldn't survive."
"I am a mechanical being," Death's Head answered, "no starfish can control me, yes."
"My cybernetics implants," Titus growled.
"I'll need a little for details of your cybernetics," Richard remarked.
"Let me make this as clear as possible," Titus growled, shoving his face, "I am no longer a Nova corp member and thus you do not have the right to give me orders!"
"That might be so," Richard retorted, "but as Nova Prime, I am highest galactic law officer here, therefore I OUTRANK YOU!"
The two glared at each other for a few seconds, "Fine," Titus fumed, "I will work with you....for now."
"Glad we have an understanding," Richard replied, "now about your cybernetics."
"My implants include my arm cannon," Titus answered, "and my eye and thats about it."
"And what about you?" Richard continued, turning to Blackfire.
"I won't allow those filthy things to touch me," Blackfire replied, "I simply managed to stop them before they could touch me."
"Alright then," Richard acknowledged, "thats some interesting information."
"We can worry about the later," Hal spoke up, "we should probably get going, who knows how close Starro is to Earth.
"Right," Richard nodded, "we need to move."
As the six readied themselves to leave Lobo pulled Death's Head aside, out of ear shot of the others.
"Listen up," he said, "the Main Man has a plan, there's probably a reward for taking down Starro, so I'm think once we strike the final blow we split the now 50/50."
"Agreed," Death's Head nodded, "that sound like a good plan, yes."
"Alright then," Lobo said, "looks like we have ourselves a little partnership."
Without another word, the two bounty hunters headed to join Richard, Hal and the others as they prepared to move out.
But unbeknown to ether of them, Lobo was secretly planning to backstab Death's Head and vice versa.
Back on Earth.
The last day of the high school year was about to end, Gali and the other girls were really excited about their upcoming beach party and now, they were in their last lesson of the day.
"Wait for it," Rainbow Dash murmured, as she gazed at the clock above the chalkboard.
Seconds later, the clock struck the time, the final school bell rang and everyone in the classroom rejoiced, after which there was a mad scramble as everyone grabbed things they needed for the summer from their lockers.
After that, all the students streamed out of the front doors of CHS, finally free from school.
Those of the students, who had flight or levitation, Samuel Zachary Guthrie a.k.a. Cannonball and Cassandra Elizabeth "Cassie" Sandsmark a.k.a. Wonder Girl took to the sky, now free as birds.
"Wow," Gali thought, as she watched them go, "if only I had abilities like that."
Earth's orbit, The Peak.
As the station orbited the planet, Abigail Brand continued to gaze out of the window at endless void of space.
Suddenly an alarm sounded as a blip appeared on The Peak's radar.
"What is that?" Abigail asked.
"I have no idea," one of her subordinate replied, "it's too far away."
"Try hailing them," Abigail ordered.
"These's no reply," another subordinate answered.
"Alright," Abigail said, "time for plan B."
She activated The Peak's external speaker system, "Attention, unidentified object/vehicle," she stated, "you are entering secure space and we will fire if you proceed."
At that moment, The Peak's weapons were trained on the incoming object, ready to fire at it when the command was given.
"They are still not responded," a subordinate reported.
"Lock onto target," Abigail ordered, "fire at my command."
The personnel manning The Peak's weapons waited for the order to fire, fingers hovering over the button.
"Hold up," Abigail said, suddenly, "I recognise that ship, it's the Guardians of the Galaxy."
She turned to the weapons personnel, "stand down," she commanded.
"Well," a subordinate said, "what now?"
"Well," Abigail replied, "the Guardians are friends of the Justice Force so they must be a reason for coming to Earth."
"Still no response from the ship," another subordinate added, "it's not just that, they appear to be on course to dock with us."
"ETA?" Abigail asked.
"About ten or fifteen minutes," the subordinate replied, "they're moving pretty fast."
"Send some agents to the central docking bay," Abigail ordered, "once they've docked I want to them brought to me and explain why they are here and why they didn't answer when we hailed them."
"Alright commander," the lead S.W.O.R.D. agent reported, "we're at the central docking bay."
He and four other agents arrived at the central docking bay, where the Guardians of the Galaxy's ship, called the Benatar, had landed.
Abigail's voice responded through the agent's com-link, "Any signs of life?" she asked.
"Negative," the agent replied.
As if in answer, the Benatar's rear door suddenly opened.
"Ok," the lead agent remarked, "that's creepy."
He spoke into his com-link, "the ship has opened, do we proceed inside?" he asked.
"Affirmative," Abigail replied, "but proceed with caution."
"Roger," the lead agent acknowledged.
He motioned to the other agents to enter the ship, after which he and the other agents did.
The inside of the ship was empty and silent, it was surprisingly dark despite the outside being lit.
"Strange," the lead agent thought, as he looked around, "there doesn't seem to be signs of life or a struggle."
Suddenly, the ship's stereo came on blasting Hooked on a Feeling by Blue Swede, startling some of the agents.
After a few moments, the agents managed to turn the stereo off, returning the ship to complete silence.
The agents continued their search, but found no signs anyone had been on the ship.
"This just doesn't make sense," the lead agent murmured, "how does a ship fly without anyone in it?"
One of the agents was about to reply, but was silenced when a shadowy figure appeared behind him, grabbing the agent and dragging him away.
The agent tried to cry out and warn the others, but the figure placed a starfish on his face.
The other three agents were soon picked off one by one, until the lead agent was the only one left.
"I think we should..." he began, as he turned around he saw that he was alone.
"What the heck's going on?!" he said, fear rising in his voice.
He didn't have time to think or warn the command bridge, as he too was grabbed and a starfish place on his face.
"Starro lives," the lead agent and the others uttered as they, the Guardians of the Galaxy and Adam Strange exited the ship and advanced in the direction of the command bridge.
Back on Earth.
The girls and Gali were at Pinkie Pie's house, going over their final plans for their beach party which was starting the very next day.
Ever since the developments at The Sweet Shoppe, Gali had been feeling hungry and weak, she didn't know why.
"You ok?" Pinkie Pie asked, she had noticed that Gali looked a bit off colour.
"I don't know," Gali replied, "I feel really hungry for some reason."
"Well," Pinkie remarked, digging around in her hair and pulling a twickie, "maybe this will help sate your hunger."
Gali, while a bit weirded out by Pinkie's storage system, took the twickie and eat it.
Surprisingly, the twickie seemed to calm Gali's hunger.
"Thanks, Pinkie," Gali smiled, feeling a lot better now that her hunger had been satisfied.
"No problem," Pinkie replied, "I can't stand seeing one of my friends looking blue before summer fun."
Gali smiled too, whatever was happening to her she had a feeling her friends would be able to help her with it.
Earth's orbit, The Peak.
"Report," Abigail said, she had lost contact with the agents she had sent to the central docking bay, "someone report!"
Suddenly, a voice came through the agents com-link repeating two words, "Starro lives."
Right after that, the door to the command bridge opened and the agents entered accompanied by the Guardians of the Galaxy and Adam Strange.
"About time," Abigail remarked, "Why didn't you answer me when I..."
She stopped mid-sentence as she saw what was attached to the agents, Guardians and Adam Strange's face.
Abigail instinctively knew what to do, she reached for the red alert, but was stopped when a laser net that shot, seemingly, out of nowhere preventing her from raising the alarm or warning the planet below.
The one responsible for the laser net soon showed himself, the Faceless Hunter.
He turned to the rest of the S.W.O.R.D. personnel, who were all pointing guns at him and the other Starro controlled slaves, who moments ago were their fellow agents and heroes.
"Listen well," he said, "drop your weapons and surrender, this station belongs to me and my master."
The mind controlled agents, Guardians and Adam Strange all pointed their weapons at the S.W.O.R.D. personnel.
"Now," the Faceless Hunter continued, "prepared your world for my master's coming, prepare for Starro."
Back on Earth, the next day.
The girls and Gali were now at the beach, enjoying some sun, sea and chillaxing.
A boombox was playing music from the local radio station, Canterlot radio, right now it was Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves.
"Ahhh," Rarity breathed, as she relaxed in a sun-chair, "this is the life."
Elsewhere Fluttershy, Midnight and Gali were combing the beach, in case there were any sea creatures that needed help or cleaning.
"Are you sure, we should be doing this?" Midnight asked, she was getting bored, "we should be relaxing, it's a party."
"Party or not," Fluttershy responded, "you never know what kind of animal might need help."
Gali on the other hand, was feeling a bit unsure and awkward being with Fluttershy and Midnight like she didn't belong, there were so many things that were new to her that she didn't understand.
Rainbow Dash and Applejack were locked in competition with each other, as usual.
Twilight, Sunset, Spike and Pinkie were relaxing alongside Rarity.
"I've been meaning to ask," Sunset said, "how are things going with Cadence and Shining Armour?"
"He and Cadence are still planning their wedding," Twilight replied, "she's been talking his ear off about cakes and venues."
"When the wedding eventually happens," Pinkie added, "I'll speak to Cadence about recommending Rarity to make the dress for Cadence and the bride's maid dresses"
"Why thank you, darling," Rarity smiled, she was honoured to be chosen for a wondrous undertaking.
"By the way," Spike remarked, "how's things with you and Flash, Sunset?"
Sunset blushed for a second, "we have seen seeing each other for a while," she responded, "but I assure you there's nothing romantic between us, we're just friends."
"Right," Twilight replied, with a cheeky smile on her face.
Sunset's blush grew as red as her hair, which cause everyone to giggle at their friend's embarrassment.
Meanwhile, Fluttershy, Midnight and Gali had found a small group of baby turtles who were gathered round an old mother turtle.
The mother turtle looked like she had been through a lot, there were bite marks on her flippers and her shell was fort with cuts and scraps.
"Poor dear," Fluttershy said, "it must have taken all she had to get here."
The mother turtle looked like she didn't have long left, she was struggling to keep her eyes open.
Fluttershy tried using her geode's power to communicate with the mother turtle, but the turtle was too weak to speak.
This made Fluttershy sad, knowing that the baby turtles would have to grow up without their mother.
Gali didn't know why, but something told her that she could help the mother turtle.
She took hold of the mother turtle and closed her eyes, she could feel some kind of power inside her.
Fluttershy and Midnight watched, confused by what Gali was doing.
Gali tried to focus the energy onto the mother turtle, as Fluttershy watched the bite marks, cuts and scraps vanished. Soon enough the mother turtle had been restored to normal, its scars completely healed and it seemed full of energy.
"How..." Fluttershy began, as Gali put the mother turtle back next to her babies, "how did you do that?"
"I don't know," Gali replied, just as surprised as Fluttershy, "I just wanted to help and show kindness and then I felt a surge of power and then this happened."
"Do you know what this means?" Midnight said, "you have powers."
Midnight was about to rush and tell the others, but was stopped by Fluttershy as Gali had fallen unconscious.
"Arrr," Gali groaned, as she regained conscious to the smell of a twickie.
She opened her eyes to find all the girls gathered around her, the source of the twickie smell turned out to be Pinkie Pie, who was waving the snack under Gali's nose.
Suddenly, Gali felt incredibly hungry, like last time, she quickly grabbed the twickie and devoured it ravenously.
She then noticed that everyone was staring at her, "What?" she asked.
"Fluttershy told us what you did with the mother turtle," Sunset replied, "it seems you do have powers, did you know you could do that?"
"No," Gali answered, "I don't know how I...."
She stopped when Twilight put a hand on her shoulder and smiled.
"It's ok," Twilight said, comfortingly, "you should rest and take it easy, we're all here to help you whenever you need."
Just then the music from the boom box was abruptly cut off, "We interrupt this broadcast of the musical work of Countess Coloratuna," an announcer said, "to bring you a special bulletin, this looks like the end of the world as we know it, again."
"How many times has it been now?" Sunset mumbled.
"The orbital S.W.O.R.D. headquarters is under attack by...." the announcer continued, before he was cut off as the broadcast was replaced by different voice.
"People of Earth," the voice announced.
"That's an emergency S.W.O.R.D. broadcast frequency," Twilight exclaimed.
"But that doesn't sound like a S.W.O.R.D agent," Sunset added.
The voice continued, "I am the herald of the star conqueror, prepare your world for the end, prepare as my master approaches."
With that, the transmission ended and the news announcer returned, saying that the ones attacking the S.W.O.R.D HQ were the Guardians of the Galaxy, Adam Strange, the Green Lantern corps and the Nova corps.
The announcer also noted that the attackers had things that looked starfish attached to their faces, before the announcer was silenced after which the phrase, "Starro lives" started to repeat, luckily the girls turned the boom box off.
"Girls," Twilight said, "I think our down time is going to be put on hold."
Elsewhere on Earth, Genosha, an island nation built as a safe haven for mutants.
Magnus a.k.a. Magneto and his daughter Lorna Sally Dane a.k.a. Polaris gazed out at their nation.
They had just heard the broadcast from the herald of the star conqueror and now Magneto was deep in contemplation.
After a while, Polaris broke the silence.
"Father," she said, "what should we do?"
Magneto remained silent.
"Are you really going to leave my brother and sister out there?" Polaris asked, "do you not care for mutants out there?!"
Magneto still remained silent.
"What would your friend Charles Xavier think?" Polaris continued, "what would he say about you letting the world fall to an invading force?"
Magneto was about to answer, but fell silent once again, rising a finger to his lips signalling Polaris to be quiet.
"It seems that we not alone anymore," he whispered.
Right on cue, a laser blast was shot at the two.
Magneto managed to shield Polaris and himself with a magnetic field.
"Whoever or whatever you are," Magneto declared, "Genosha is under my protection, I order you to cease your actions and identify yourself."
"You presume to command me?" a voice answered, "you should be more worried about your world, you cannot stop the inevitable."
The person responsible for the laser blast stepped into view, he was holding a smoking laser rifle, the Faceless Hunter.
"I take it, you are responsible for that message just now?" Magneto inquired.
"You are correct," The Faceless Hunter replied, "my master has chosen this world as his next target and all who resist will join my master by force or be destroyed."
The Faceless Hunter aimed his laser rifle at Magneto and Polaris, ready to fire again.
But before he could fire, Polaris used her powers, causing the weapon to be wrenched from the hunter's grasp and torn apart, as if by invisible hands.
"I think you'll find," Magneto said, as the pieces of the rifle fell to the ground, "that all who live on Genosha are under my protection."
"That may have been true before," The Faceless Hunter replied, "but now, all those who live here as now Starro's loyal followers."
As if on command, the denizens of Genosha stepped out of shadows behind the Faceless Hunter.
All of them had starfishes on their faces and repeated the same phrase, "Starro lives."
Hours later, Twilight's house.
The girls and Gali, now out of their beach-wear, were in Twilight's room trying to look for allies to help and prepare for what they had heard at the beach.
"The only one I've been able to get through to is Laura Kinney and Victor Stone so far," Sunset said, as she finished a phone call, "they're on their way, but everyone else I've tried has been taken by this star conqueror thing."
"I don't get it," Rainbow Dash said, "these things only just arrived, how are they spreading so fast?"
Twilight thought for a moment, "If I had to guess," she replied, "I'd have to say it's because whatever this is, it must have infected the Flash, another speedster or someone will superspeed and that's probably how its being spread quickly."
"But why weren't Laura and Victor affected?" Applejack wondered.
"Well," Twilight answered, "it seems that because of Laura's adamantium skeleton and Victor's cybernetics, the thing that is infecting them can't get through metal or technology."
"So our only allies against this thing," Sunset responded, realising what Twilight had said, "are people who are ether robots, cyborgs or someone who's covered in metal or some inorganic material?"
"Correct," Twilight nodded, "I'll get in contact with Colossus and anyone else who's managed to avoid this thing so far."
"Sounds like a plan," Rainbow Dash smiled, "let's move."
"What about me?" Gali asked, as everyone got ready to leave, "I want to help too, I don't fully understand my powers yet, but I want to fight this thing too alongside my friends."
"Gali," Fluttershy said, "we would be honoured have you join us, if you're sure?"
"I'm sure," Gali answered.
"Then it's settled," Rarity smiled, "Gali, you're an official member of the Champions, welcome to the team."
Elsewhere, in Earth's solar system.
Richard, Hal and their ragtag group of allies were drawing close to their destination.
"Ok," Richard said, "we need to proceed with caution."
"Agreed," Hal nodded, "who knows who or what is waiting for us."
"Who cares," Lobo moaned, "as long as the Main Man can do his thing and get paid that's OK."
"Agreed," Death's Head nodded, "As long as I get paid, everything is good, yes."
"Whatever," Hal answered, "right now we need to focus on mission at h...."
Hal stopped, for what he saw was a sight like no other, it was Earth, but right now it was slowly being incased in a giant green dome construct.
"We're too late," Richard said, "The herald has already arrived, Starro is coming."
The girls and Gali, plus Laura Kinney a.k.a. the all-new Wolverine and Victor Stone a.k.a. Cyborg, walked through the streets of Manhattan.
They were looking for another potential ally, Aaron Stack a.k.a. Machine man, the last of a series of sentient robots with some abilities that would be useful against the star conqueror.
The streets were deserted, no sign of the inhabitants, but from time to time some figures were seen marching around zombie-like with starfishes attached to their faces.
Fortunately, The girls, Gali and their two allies managed to avoid them, those that did notice them were taken care of without harming them.
"Are we getting close?" Twilight asked, as they arrived on Broadway.
"I think so," Cyborg replied, "I'm picking up a signal, it's coming from nearby."
"Right," Twilight nodded, she turned to the rest of her friends and allies, "stay alert, be ready for anything."
Everyone nodded and readied themselves, Laura with her claws and most of the girls with their power rings.
As everyone continued on their way, Rarity suddenly noticed Gali was gazing around at the abandoned theatres and other popular hotspots on Broadway.
"You OK, Darling?" she asked.
"It's beautiful," Gali said, as she continued to be transfixed by the beauty around her, "really beautiful."
"Yes," Rarity agreed, "indeed it is."
The two were interrupted from their sightseeing, by a shout from the others.
The two rushed to catch up with their friends and allies.
When they had caught up with the Champions and their allies, Cyborg pointed to a nearby allyway.
In the ally was Machine Man being slowly approached by some starfish controlled people.
"I must insist that you stand down," Machine Man stated, "I do not wish to hurt you."
The people paid no heed to the warning and proceeded towards him.
The girls thinking fast, used their rings to bind the people and shove them aside, right afterwards Pinkie used her geo's powers to delay Machine Man's attacks while he, the Champions and their allies made a quick getaway.
Moments later, after successfully losing their pursuers, everyone paused to catch their breath.
"That was close," Cyborg said.
"Indeed," Machine Man replied, "but what has happened to the people? Those starfish do not match any species found on Earth."
He paused, realisation having struck.
"Forgive me," Machine Man stated, "but who are you teenagers?"
"We're the Champions," Rainbow Dash answered, "and we're here to help."
"Getting back on topic," Sunset interrupted, "we think that these starfish are a prelude to an invasion,"
"They've already gotten to most of the superhero community," Twilight continued, "we're rounding anyone we can, those who are immune or unaffected."
"You got any ideas on who else might be able to fight this thing?" Applejack asked, "besides us."
Machine Man thought for moment, "I think I might know a place that we can use as a temporary headquarter," he said, finally, "it should keep us safe and allow us to contact, locate and recruit those that are unaffected by this thing."
"Well, what are we waiting for," Rainbow Dash declared, "let's go."
Later.
"Here we are," Machine Man stated.
He had lead the others to a rundown looking manor house, the building was covered in ivy and moss.
"Are you sure this is the place?" Twilight asked, dubiously.
"I agree," Rarity added, "this place looks like it's fallen into disrepair."
Machine man simply smiled, brushed away some of the ivy to reveal a keypad, typed something in and waited.
Soon after, the front door of the manor house opened, after which everyone entered the building.
The inside of the manor house was full of cobwebs and dust, it look as though no one had lived in it for a long time.
Machine Man proceeded towards a bookcase and removed one of the books, the book being Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Right after which, the bookcase moved aside revealing a staircase leading underground.
"This way," Machine Man prompted, walking down the staircase.
Everyone followed him down the staircase, which lead to a large computer and monitors arranged around it.
"What is this place?" Twilight asked.
"It's an emergency outpost," Machine Man explained, as he pressed some keys on the computer and turn it on, "only to be used if the Justice Force was ever compromised or if any members every turned bad, there are others like this around the world."
"Ya know," Midnight said, "for a Justice Force emergency outpost, this place kinda homey."
"We can discuss that fact later," Machine Man answered, "right now, we need to contact any Justice Force member or enhanced individuals, who are immune or have managed to survive whatever this thing is."
Just as Machine Man had finished his sentence, the large computer screen lit up, displaying a world map with red dots on each continent.
"These are the locations of every other outpost across the world," Machine Man said.
"How are we supposed to get a message to anyone else?" Sunset asked.
"Not a problem," Machine Man replied, "the outposts have their own broadcasting frequency so it should be able to get a message out."
"And if we boost the signal through the telephone network," Twilight added, "we'll be able reach anyone who isn't near or at the outposts."
Machine Man consider the suggestion, "That could work," he said.
He began to press some more keys on the computer.
After Machine Man was done, he turned to Twilight and her friends.
"It's ready to broadcast," he stated, "which one of you will do the honours?"
After thinking it over for a while, Sunset stepped forward to record the message.
"This is a message to all heroes of the world," she began, "it seems that it's time to unite against a common threat..."
As Sunset spoke, her message to the world was spread across the world and those who heard it were alerted and headed for the New York outpost.
Within hours, six were assembled at the outpost
They were: Jocasta, Static, Sideways, Kitty Pyde, Colossus, Wanda and Pietro.
"Thank you all for coming," Sunset said, "Is this everyone?"
"Affirmative," Jocasta answered.
Jocasta was a robot created by the villain Ultron, who rebelled against her creator.
"We're still outgunned," Midnight said, bluntly.
"Midnight's right," Twilight nodded, "with what we're up against we're going to need an army."
"There might others out there," Kitty suggested, "people who didn't see or receive the message."
"That is a possibility," Machine Man replied, "there are some who have retired, faded or went off the grid."
"Then we have to find them," Gali said, "we need all the help we can get."
"We'll have to split up," Sunset noted, "that way, we can find those who are still out there and join up with them and meet back here."
"You should take these," Machine Man said, presenting some ear pieces to everyone, "they'll help maintain constant communication and allow me to monitor any threats to you from here."
"Right," Twilight nodded, "let's get started."
They split into teams, each taking an ear piece and being assigned an area.
Some were stationed at the outpost in case it got attacked.
After that, Cyborg and Sideways opened portals to the areas that they had been given, using their powers.
"Good luck everyone," Machine Man said, as the teams left.
Elsewhere, on Earth.
"Soon, my master," The Faceless Hunter murmured, he and his newly converted slaves from Genosha headed on their way to find more superpowered beings to controlled.
"soon, your army will be complete," he continued, "soon you will have be able to combat the one responsible for destroying your home."
Meanwhile, out in space.
"Keep fighting!" Richard cried, as he, Hal and their team fought off scores of Starro controlled Nova Corps and Green Lantern members.
"Try not to hurt them," Hal insisted, "all of them are currently possessed by one of the most powerful evils in the universe, they're still our fellow Nova Corpsmen and Green Lanterns."
"Try is not in the Main Man's vocab," Lobo laughed, as he smacked around a few dozen enemies.
"Remind me," Richard said, "why did I listen to you when you said bring Lobo again?"
"Well," Twilight said, "this looks like the place."
Twilight and her team had arrived at their destination the home of the former football player turned sports reporter Phil Grayfield formally known as the superhero, NFL Superpro.
"Honestly," Static commented, "I was excepting something a little more impressive."
"We can debate that another time," Kitty Pyde interjected, "right now we need to find this Superpro guy."
"Right," Twilight nodded, she then proceeded to ring the houses's door bell.
A few seconds later, the door was opened by the house's owner, the aforementioned Phil Grayfield.
"Mr. Grayfield?" Twilight asked.
"Yes," Phil replied, "that's me."
"We need your help," Kitty began, "I assume you heard the message that played a few hours ago?"
"Yeah," Phil answered, "it played on every station on the radio, something about an invasion."
"Thats why we've come here," Cyborg replied, "we need your help."
"Me?" Phil asked, "how can I help? I'm just a simple sports reporter."
"It's ok," Static said, "you can drop the act, we know about your secret identity."
Phil opened his mouth to protest, then stopped when he realised he had been found out.
"Please Mr. Grayfield," Twilight said, "we really need your help, the world needs someone like you."
"Do you mind if we talk inside?" Phil asked, "I'd prefer to talk about my other life in private."
Twilight and her team nodded and followed Phil inside his home.
Inside the house, the walls were lined with newspaper articles, articles featuring sports crimes NFL Superpro had foiled and Phil had reported on.
Phil lead Twilight and her team to a case containing a hi-tech looking american football suit.
"I wore that," Phil explained, as Twilight and her team marvelled at the suit, "when I was in the superhero gig."
"What made you quit?" Static asked.
Phil sighed, "I realised that," he answered, finally, "I wasn't as popular as the best heroes like those in the Justice Force, the only time I got any recognition was when I was a sports reporter so I gave up the whole hero thing and stuck to being a reporter."
"I can't begin to understand what you've been through," Twilight said, "but regardless of how the world viewed you then, what matters is you can make difference now and right now the world is in danger."
"This is your chance to make a difference again," Cyborg added, "you can prove to the world that you are just as much as a hero as Spiderman or Superman."
"It's up to you," Kitty continued, "only you can decide to step up and be a hero."
Phil didn't move or answer, it seemed that Twilight and her team's words had struck a cord with him.
"It's too late," he uttered, "I'm not a hero anymore."
Twilight and her team started to leave, seeing that Phil wasn't going to stand with them against the invading space starfish.
"Alright," he said, as they were about to leave the house, "if I'm the one who can help, then I can't let my teammates down or let a bad situation slide."
"You mean you'll help us?" Twilight asked.
Phil nodded, "I haven't worn that suit in a while," he replied, "but it should still fit, hopefully."
Seconds later, Phil was wearing his superhero outfit.
"Yep," he said, "it still fits."
"Alright," Cyborg smiled, "then let's move."
Elsewhere.
"Alright," Sunset Shimmer said, "this is the place."
Her team: consisting of Jocasta and Laura Kinney, had arrived at the home of one Rick Wilder also known as the hero Combo Man, a hero with the powers of certain heroes and villains.
Sunset knocked on the door.
After some time it was answered by the previously mentioned Rick Wilder.
"Are you Rick Wilder?" Sunset asked.
"Yes," Rick answered, "who are you guys?"
"We are heroes," Jocasta replied, "and we are looking for the one called Combo Man."
"Well," Rick protested, "you've arrived too late, there is no Combo Man here."
"Kid," Laura interrupted, "you smell like Combo snack food, you're not fooling anyone."
"I'm not trying to fool anyone," Rick replied, "I used to be Combo Man, but Combo changed the recipe for their food snacks so much that it doesn't trigger my powers anymore."
"That is very disappointing," Sunset said, "we were hoping Combo Man would stand with us against Starro."
"Starro?" Rick repeated, "Who or what is Starro?"
"You didn't hear the message that played did you?" Jocasta asked.
"What message?" Rick inquired, "I didn't hear any message."
Sunset and her team sighed and explained the situation to Rick and they were rounding up any and all heroes or anyone who had escaped Starro's detection.
"And thats about it," Sunset said, after she had finished explaining, "I was hoping you'd fight alongside me and my friends, but it looks like we were wrong."
Without another word, Sunset and her team turned to leave.
"Wait," Rick cried, as the team was about to walk away, "I want to help you."
"But," Sunset said, "you said your powers didn't work anymore."
"Yeah, about that" Rick replied, "I saved one packet of original recipe Combos snack foods, for emergencies."
Rick quickly disappeared inside his house and reappeared clutching a packet of Combos snack food.
They looked a little past her expiry date, "they may be a little bit stall," Rick explained, "but this should be just what I need."
"Alright, then" Sunset said, "show us what you've got Combo man."
Rick smiled and without hesitation popped out of the Combos food snacks into his mouth.
There was a flash and in an instant Rick Wilder was transformed into Combo man.
"Ready to rock and roll," Combo man said.
"Wow," was all Sunset could in response, "just wow."
Meanwhile, in a Florida swampland.
"I hate to ask," Rarity said, "but, WHY ARE WE IN THE MIDDLE OF A SWAMP!"
"Because," Fluttershy replied, "we are looking for the Man Thing."
"This place is kinda scary," Gali stated, as they proceeded deeper into the swamp.
"Do not worry, little one," Colossus smiled, "I will keep you safe."
That made Gali smile, she felt a little safer knowing that one of her friends had her back.
Rarity was still complaining, "Honestly," she ranted on, "I cannot believe I was talked into coming here."
"Rarity," Fluttershy interjected, "I know you're upset, but you've got to remember the situation we're in right now."
"I guess you're right," Rarity replied, "we do need all the help we can get, I suppose."
The group carried on their way, soon they reached a part of the swamp where the mangrove trees were growing closer together and the rays of the sun were completely blotted out.
It got so dark that both Rarity and Fluttershy had to use their rings to light the way.
As the team continued on, something stirred in the murky depths of swamp.
Gali, who was at the back of the team, thought she saw movement in the water on the left of the team's path.
"Hey, guys," she began, "I think there's somethi..."
She stopped as she realised that her teammates had gotten ahead of her.
Again, Gali thought she saw something moving in the water.
"Guys," she called, fear rising in her voice, "hello."
Then suddenly, from behind Gali, something rose up from the swamp water slime dripping from its body and its eyes glowing red.
Gali, suddenly aware of the shadow, turned around slowly and was greeted by the sight of the Man Thing.
Gali tried wanted to scream, but she was frozen stiff too frightened to move.
The Man Thing reached out a hand towards Gali, ready to purge the negative emotions from her.
Gali finally found her strength again and let forth a scream that alerted her teammates to her situation.
Just as the Man Thing's hand was about to make contact with Gali, the creature was hit by an almighty punch from Colossus.
"You will not harm her, creature," he declared.
The Man Thing quickly recovered from the punch, his body being made entirely of mud and swamp material, and advanced on Colossus.
"Get behind me," Colossus instructed, to Gali.
Gali coward behind Colossus as the Man Thing again reached for her, only to be blocked by Colossus.
The instant the Man Thing's hand touched Colossus's body, it started to burn, for whatever knows fear burns at the Man Thing's touch.
"Release him!" Rarity cried, charging at the Man Thing with a blade construct in hand.
She slashed at the Man Thing, blasting swamp slime all over her.
"Ewwww!" Rarity exclaimed, trying to get the slime off before it could stain her clothes.
"EVERYBODY STOP!!!" Fluttershy shouted.
Everyone instantly stopped what they were doing and looked at Fluttershy, even the Man Thing.
Fluttershy slowly approached the Man Thing, slowly moving its hand away from Colossus and looking into its eyes with kindness.
"It's ok," she said, "we're not here to hurt you."
The Man Thing seemed to understand and backed off.
"Please," Fluttershy continued, "we need your help, will you help us please?"
Elsewhere, an orange grove in Central Florida.
"Ok," Sunset said, as she and her team, along with Combo man arrived, "this is our next stop."
They all headed for the farm house that was close to the grove.
As the team approached the house, the door opened revealing John Polk a.k.a. Captain Citrus.
"I heard your message," he said, "you can count me in."
Meanwhile, in Chicago.
Twilight and her team along with NFL Superpro arrived at the front door of Kord Omniversal Research and Development Industries or Kord Industries for short.
Kord Industries was the business owned and run by the second man to take the name Blue Beetle, brilliant scientist Theodore Stephen Kord or Ted Kord to his friends.
"Let's move," Twilight said, "I hope we're not too late."
The team entered the building and headed for top floor, where Ted's office was.
"Mr. Kord?" Twilight said, looking around the office.
"Over here," a voice answered.
From out of the shadows stepped the owner of the voice, the previously mentioned Ted Kord already in his Blue Beetle costume.
"I heard your message," Blue Beetle smiled, "I'm ready to roll."
"Alright," Static smiled, "let's get back to the others."
"Allow me," Blue Beetle replied, "I believe I have something that help with that."
Meanwhile, in Canada.
"Are you sure, we're on the right track?" Rainbow Dash said, "It's freezing."
She and her team, consisting of Applejack, Wanda, Pietro and Sideways, were trekking through the snow of the Canadian highlands looking for the first man to take the name Wolverine, James Howlett (or Logan).
"Well," Applejack replied, "according to the information from Laura gave us, Wolverine's last known location was somewhere in the highlands of Canada."
"I hope you're right," Pietro commented, "all this slippery snow is stunting my speed."
"You're not the only one," Rainbow Dash added.
After a few more moments or wandering, the team came across a log cabin on the edge of a forest.
"This must be the place," Wanda said.
"How can you tell?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"There were claw marks on some of the tree in the forest," Wanda replied, "that's usually Wolverine's calling card."
"Good point," Rainbow Dash answered.
The team slowly approached the cabin, the door wasn't locked, so they entered.
"You think he's here?" Pietro whispered.
"I don't know," Applejack hissed.
There was some movement in the dark, Applejack and Rainbow Dash used their rings to light.
Only to be greeted Wolverine's claws inches away from their faces.
"Give me one reason not shred ya," he stated.
He suddenly realised that he was threatening a group of teenagers and retreat his claws.
The team quickly explained why they had come and Starro's coming.
"So that was your message that was broadcast?" Logan asked, "you kids have got guts to take this Starro thing on."
"That may be true," Applejack replied, "but to take on Starro, we need all the help we came get."
"Laura said you'd want to help us," Wanda added, "what's why we came."
Logan seemed to convinced after hearing his clone's name, "Well," he said, "if Laura is with you, then I'm with you."
"Awesome," Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
Once Logan had put his costume on, his old X-Men uniform, the team exited the cabin and prepared to radio Machine Man to transport them back.
Suddenly Logan drew his claws and sniffed the air.
"What is it?" Pietro asked.
"We're not alone," Logan replied.
Seconds later, some Starro controlled superheroes descended upon the group, they were the Canadian superhero team Alpha Flight.
"Looks like we are going to fight our way out," Rainbow Dash said, readying herself for fight.
Then suddenly the team was surrounded by a magnetic shield, soon after some of the members of Alpha Flight were telekinetically shoved into each other, knocking them out.
"Who...?" Rainbow Dash began, she was saved from pondering any further when Logan pointed at the two figures responsible for shield.
Wanda and Pietro recognised one of the figures immediately.
"I believe I just saved your life, son," Magneto replied.
"I heard all about you and your Brotherhood of Evil Mutants from Pietro," Wanda cried, "we don't need your help."
"Right," Pietro nodded.
Magneto took a deep breath, "Pietro, Wanda," he said, "we've had a long and twisted history, I done many horrible things in the past allow me to make it up to you."
There was a long silence, while Pietro and Wanda stared at Magneto.
It was Logan who eventually broke the silence.
"Who's the kid?" he asked, pointing at Polaris.
"This is Polaris," Magneto replied, he turned to Pietro and Wanda, "she's your sister."
Both Pietro and Wanda looked at Polaris in surprise and shock.
"It's nice to meet you," Polaris said, "Father has told me much about you and Wanda."
"Oh, really?" Pietro replied, "did he also happen to mention the millions of innocent humans that were caught in the crossfire of his battles to 'protect' mutant kind?!"
"Father," Polaris said, turning to Magneto, "is this true?"
"I was simply doing what I thought was right for the safety of our people," Magneto responded.
"I'm sorry to interrupt," Applejack interjected, "but we need to be getting out here before more of those starfish show up."
"If you think for one minute that me and Pietro are going to work with him," Wanda stated, glaring at both Magneto and Polaris, "you're sorely mistaken."
"Look," Rainbow Dash interrupted, "I know he's a bad guy and done a lot of messed up stuff, but he's here to help us and we need all the help we can get in order to fight Starro's invasion."
Wanda took a deep breath, "OK," she breathed finally.
"Alright," Rainbow Dash said.
"But I've got my eye on you," Pietro insisted, Logan nodding in agreement.
With that, Applejack was about to radio Machine Man to transport them back to the safe house.
But suddenly, there was a rumble of an engine and a giant metal blue beetle descended from the sky.
"What is the world?!" Applejack exclaimed.
As if in answer, the voice of Twilight Sparkle sounded from a loud speaker.
"You guys need a lift?" she asked.
Elsewhere.
"The world is now yours, my master," the Faceless Hunter declared, "though there are those in space and on the planet that are resisting."
"No matter," the voice of Starro answered, "what matters is that my army is assembled and ready."
"Indeed," the Faceless Hunter nodded, "your army stands ready, ready to wage war against the one who destroyed your universe."
Meanwhile, onboard the Bug, Ted Kord Blue Beetle's personal flying vehicle.
"Attention passengers," Blue Beetle declared, "we will shortly be arriving at our destination, please ensure that you have your seatbelts fasten, your seat tables folded up, all that jazz, thank you for flying with Blue Beetle airlines, I hope you enjoyed your flight."
As Ted prepared the Bug for landing, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and their team were explaining the presence of Magneto and Polaris to Twilight and her team.
"And that's the story," Applejack finished.
"Well," Twilight replied, "if he and Polaris want to help then I suppose we can trust them."
"If you say so," Rainbow Dash nodded.
While the girls were talking, Magneto looked at his children, thinking about what Pietro had said.
"Father," Polaris asked, "are you alright?"
"Pietro is right," Magneto responded, "I have always told you of my great battles for the freedom of mutant kind, but I have never told you of the many innocent lives I snuffed out in order to accomplish that goal."
Back at the safe house.
All the teams were reassembled and going through plans for confronting Starro and his army.
They had also added two more allies to their ranks, these being the mutants Hazmat and Sunspot.
"Ok," Twilight said, "what do we know about Starro?"
"Well," Midnight replied, "we know it's taken over all super-powered beings on earth."
"It seems to be repelled by non-organic materials and extreme temperatures," Magneto added.
"Your insight is not appreciated," Pietro snapped.
"Everyone, please," Colossus interrupted, "we should be fighting the invaders not ourselves."
"Right," NFL Superpro nodded, "we're all in this together, as a team."
"Anyway," Magneto continued, "it seems that, for these starfish things to control a host they need to attach themselves to the host's face to gains full control of said host."
"So we just have to protect our faces," Twilight replied, "we can use our rings to protect ourselves, Colossus has his metal form, Logan and Laura have their adamantium skeletons, NFL Superpro, Combo man and Magneto wear helmets, Machine Man, Jocasta and Cyborg are machine/half machine, Hazmat has her suit, Sunspot's body emits solar radiation, Captain Citrus has he energy constructs and Man Thing is....."
"Alright we get it," Rainbow Dash interrupted, "whats the plan for taking this thing down?"
"Yeah," Twilight answered, with a sheepish look on her face, "that part's still a work in progress."
"In that case," Machine Man said, "I suggest we find someone who's powers are physic based."
While the others were brainstorming a plan of action, Gali was having trouble focusing, images kept flashing in her mind, a strange spherical spaceship, a purple helmet and swirling mass of energy.
"Gali," Sunset inquired, "are you okay?"
Gali explained about the images she had been seeing.
"Maybe you should..." Sunset began, when suddenly everything around Gali seem to freeze.
"Sunset," Gali said, "Sunset?"
"You need not worry, child" a voice answered, "time has stopped."
Gali turned around to see a tall, bald figure standing a little distance from her.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"I am Uatu," the stranger replied, "the Watcher.
"Why are you here?" Gali retorted.
"I am here," Uatu replied, "because it my duty to record all events across space, time and reality and you are the most important being in the universe, because of who you, because of what you are."
"What I am?" Gali repeated, "how can I be the most important being in the universe? I don't even know who I am."
Before she could continue more images appeared in her mind.
These were new images, a planet with a futuristic city, a scientist whose face she didn't know and yet his face looked familiar to her and finally a spaceship flying into an explosion.
"Gali," Uatu stated, "these are your first steps."
"I don't know what you mean," Gali replied.
"I must go now," Uatu said, "As a Watcher, I have sworn a vow of non interference in the affairs of others and I cannot help you anymore for fear of violating that vow anymore."
"But, wait!" Gali exclaimed, "these images I'm seeing what do they mean?"
But Uatu was gone.
As soon as he had left everything and everyone around Gali unfroze.
"...have a rest," Sunset finished.
"Perhaps you are right," Gali nodded, "but I want to help you and the others."
"You won't be any help if you're not battle ready," Sunset replied, "if you need rest, then rest."
"OK," Gali agreed, reluctantly "but I don't want to be baggage for the team."
"You don't need to worry about that," Sunset smiled, "we're your friends, we'll always be there for you no matter what happens."
"Thanks," Gali replied.
Far out in space, the blue area of the moon.
Uatu reappeared in his base of operations, in which was filled with all kinds of advanced technology.
As the Watcher looked over a monitor a figure sitting in a futuristic chair appeared.
The figure was Metron of the New Gods, scientist and chronicler.
"You realise what your actions may cause?" Metron stated, "by intervening now you may have put every planet in the universe at risk."
"I believe in the child," Uatu answered, "I have faith that her friends will steer her in the right direction."
"In any case," Metron continued, "what happens next will reshape the universe going forward."
Richard, Hal and their allies were still taking on the waves of Starro controlled slaves.
"I think we're winning," Richard cried, as he and Hal used their powers to blast and smack their enemies away.
"You might want to reconsider that," Hal said, as two new figures descended towards them.
The figures were Kallark a.k.a. Gladiator, Commander (Praetor) of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard, and Kl'rt a.k.a. Super-Skrull, the Skrull empire's premiere super soldier.
"About time," Lobo smiled, "the Main Mans been looking for challenge."
"A Super Skrull," Blackfire exclaimed, "truly a worthy test of Tamaranean might."
The two rushed at Gladiator and Super-Skrull causing a huge shockwave as the as the four collided.
Gladiator and Lobo traded blows, the blows, of course, doing nothing to Lobo because of his Czarnian physiology, all the while Gladiator refused to let up.
Blackfire and Super-Skrull's battle was all over the place, with Blackfire firing her starbolts and Super-Skrull stretching his body around her attacks. Since he had all the powers of the Fantastic Four, he did manage to ensnare Blackfire by wrapping his body around her.
"Sorry to disappoint you," Blackfire smiled, "but I am stronger than I look."
And with an almighty heave, Blackfire broke free of Super-Skrulls grip and proceeded to throw punch after punch, even when the Super-Skrull shape-shifted his skin into rock, she simply punched harder and faster than his skin could change.
Hal, Richard and the others followed their teammates example and dug deep inside themselves and found new levels of strength.
Back on Earth.
"I've got something," Machine Man said, "there appears to be a signal being beaming into space."
"It must be a beacon of some kind," Jocasta suggested.
"If thats the case," Twilight said, "it would seem that Starro locates planets to conquer by homing in on radio beam."
"So if we take out the beam..." Roberto da Costa a.k.a. Sunspot began.
"Then Starro can't won't be able to find Earth," Jennifer Takeda a.k.a. Hazmat finished.
"OK," Rainbow Dash cried, "then let's find this signal thing and destroy it."
"There is still another issues we need to consider," Twilight interrupted, "if these Starro things control people by being connected to their brains, then how do we remove the starfish safety?"
"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Midnight interjected, "right now, there are two things we need to do: one, find the source of the signal and stop it, two: we need to find someone who's a good manipulating minds to make freeing everyone from Starro's control a lot easier."
"That might be sooner than expected," Machine Man said, "it seems that someone is approaching our location."
He turned on the security cameras for the mansion above the outpost, so he and the others could see who had entered the building above.
The cameras showed M'gann M'orzz a.k.a. Miss Martian with a starfish on her face, walking around the mansion looking for something.
"How long do we have before she finds us?" Quicksilver asked.
"Given that martians have nearly the same powers as a Kryptonian," Jocasta replied, "I'd say we have about...."
She was saved from having to finish the sentence, as a crashing sound was heard, as the bookcase in the mansion above was ripped out and tossed aside.
"If anyone has any useful information," Rainbow Dash said, as the sound of footsteps began approaching, "now would be the time."
"Well," Twilight spoke up, "If I remember correctly Martians are weak to fire."
"I'll handle that," Combo man declared.
"Remember," Twilight replied, "you don't want to hurt her, all we need to do is subdue her."
"Understood," Combo man nodded, covering his fists with a thin layer flame.
As the starfish controlled Miss Martian began to descended the staircase, Combo man punched her so hard she when flying back into the mansion.
"I specifically said 'subdue'," Twilight groaned, "not clobber."
"Sorry," Combo man replied, "I haven't used my powers in a while, I've forgotten how strong I am."
Miss Martian tried to counterattack, but in the presence of fire, recoiled as she began to grow weaker.
Combo man managed to counter Miss Martian as she tried in vain to retaliate, only to be hit with small blasts of fire.
Finally, Miss Martian looked like she couldn't stand anymore but the starfish on her face was forcing her to keep going even if its host was failing.
As Miss Martian tried to make one last attempt to fight back, she was hit by shot of electricity from Static, finally knocking her out cold.
Shortly after, Miss Martian was restrained on a table in the safe house control room, the room was surprisingly big and full of equipment.
Combo man and Static were keeping watch in case her tried to break loose.
"Alright," Kitty Pryde remarked, "now that we've got Miss Martian."
"Now we have to figure out how to get that starfish off her face," Sideways added.
"It's not like we can just pull it off," Captain Citrus said.
"Indeed," Machine Man nodded, "what we do know about these creatures is that, once they have found a host they become mentally linked together."
"Machine Man is right," Jocasta agreed, "I don't think I need to point out that this isn't just one alien species here it's two and we do not yet understand the manner in which they are linked together."
"So we're out of ideas," Rainbow Dash said.
"There has to be something," Rarity insisted, "we can't just leave her, with that thing on her face."
While the others were thinking and theorising on how to free Miss Martian, Sunset approached the restrained hero and reached out to touch the starfish on her face, only for Combo man to grab her hand.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"We have to find out what these are and where they came from," Sunset replied, "with my powers, I can look into this thing's mind and get us some answers."
"Maybe there's another way we can..." Midnight began.
"I'm the only one who can do it," Sunset interrupted.
The girls were about to argue, but the look on Sunset's face told them it would be impossible.
"If I might offer a suggestion," Magneto said, "one must have the right protection when performing this kind of undertaking."
He took off his helmet and handed it to Sunset, the helmet was made of an unknown metal that allowed whoever wore it to be shielded against mind reading, mental and physic attacks.
"Thank you," Sunset replied, grateful for the precaution, with that she put on the helmet.
Then, Sunset touched the starfish and her geode, her eyes flash white as she was granted access to the starfish's memories and thus connecting her to Starro's mind.
A planet, older than time it self, in another universe, were biodiversity worked in reverse where creatures emerged fully formed. Monsters of unparalleled power roamed the planet surface, until the planet was conquered one species - Starro.
Starro then when on to conquer every world in his universe, enslaving minds to his will. Until a wave of antimatter swept through Starro's world, destroying it.
Starro, by some miracle, managed to escape the wave and fled from his universe, finally ending up in the universe he was in right now.
After which he found help, in the form of his herald an alien hunter with no face.
"What did you see?" Applejack asked, as Sunset returned back to reality.
"This thing is part of a bigger creature," Sunset replied, "but it seems that the creature is only here because its world was destroyed."
"Destroyed," Static said, "destroyed by what?"
"Something bigger, stronger and more powerful than Starro itself," Sunset responded.
"What kind of being could destroy an entire universe?" Wanda said.
"We can speculate about that later," Sunset replied, taking off Magneto's helmet and returning it to him, "right now, we need focus on freeing Miss Martian."
While, everyone began to work on freeing their friend from Starro's control, Gali was still thinking about what Uatu had said.
Not only that, but a phrase kept repeating over and over in her mind, devourer of worlds.
The same phrase repeated over and over in Gali's mind and what Uatu had said, you are the most important being in the universe, because of who you are, because of what you are.
"Who am I?" Gali murmured, "what am I?"
Gali's pondering of the Watcher's words were tabled as she noticed the girls and everyone else were bouncing idea off each other in order to get the starfish off of Miss Martian, but getting nowhere.
"I don't see why we don't just yank the thing off her," Rainbow Dash insisted.
"Because we don't know what effect that would have on Miss Martian," Twilight replied, "It could destroy her."
"We could poke it," Pinkie Pie suggested.
"Absolutely not," Rarity said, immediately, "it some kind of space starfish, we have no idea what kind of space germs it might have."
"Rarity's right," Machine Man nodded, "we don't have any idea about this starfish's biology."
"I think I can help," Gali spoke up.
Everyone stopped and looked at Gali, who had joined the others in the middle of their discussion, she approached Miss Martian and placed her hands on either side of her head, carefully avoiding the starfish on her face.
"What are you doing?" Midnight asked.
"Trying to help," Gali responded.
Twilight tried to protest but was stopped by Sunset.
"We've exhausted all options," she said, "maybe Gali's power can help us here."
"Alright," Twilight relented, she turned to face Gali, "just be careful," she instructed.
Gali nodded and repeated the same thing she had done with mother turtle on the beach, reaching deep inside herself and keeping the thought of helping Miss Martian in her mind.
Closing her eyes and focusing her energy she looked into Miss Martian's mind, looking for the link between her and the starfish.
Once Gali had found the link, she disconnected it, freeing Miss Martian's mind from the starfish's control and thus free her from Starro's control.
Miss Martian let out a huge gasp as the starfish detached from her face and drop to the floor.
"Welcome back," Static smiled, as he and Combo man released Miss Martian from the restrains and helping her off the table.
"Arrr," Miss Martian responded, "what happened?"
Then she noticed the starfish which was writhing on the ground.
"What is that thing?!" Miss Martian asked.
"That thing," Sunset explained, as she, using her ring, scooped up the starfish and put it in a glass box, "is one part of larger creature, a creature which is trying to create an army by enslaving all super-powered beings on earth."
"Fortunately, we managed to free you," Applejack continued, "with a little help from a friend."
"Hi," Gali said, "it's nice to meet you."
"Well," Miss Martian replied, turning to Gali "thank you."
Gali smiled, Miss Martian seem like a kind person and she was also different, like her.
"Anyway," Twilight interjected, "now that we have a telepath on our side, we need to spilt up, divide and conquer."
Everyone nodded and Twilight began laying out the plan, the teams and each of the team's objectives.
Team one consisting of: Cyborg, Combo man, Colossus, Applejack, Captain Citrus, Wanda, Sunspot and Magneto
Team two consisting of: Static, Man Thing, Kitty Pryde, Twilight, Midnight, Rainbow Dash, Pietro, NFL Superpro, Hazmat, Laura, Logan, Polaris, Rarity and Miss Martian.
Team three consisting of: Blue Beetle, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Gali, Machine Man, Jocasta, Sideways and Sunset
Team one's objective: Find the source of the mysterious signal and destroy it.
Team two's objective: Run interference and try to free as many people from Starro's control as possible.
Team three's objective: Monitor everyone from the Bug and provide support and backup if possible.
As everyone was getting ready, Magneto pulled Polaris aside, "I know that your brother doesn't trust you," he said, "but please protect him with everything you have, just as I will do for your sister."
"I understand, father," Polaris nodded, "I will try to honour your wishes."
As soon as everyone was ready they all separated into their designated team.
"Are we all clear on the plan?" Twilight asked.
Everyone nodded, they knew what they had to do.
As Pietro was preparing himself, Polaris walked towards him, Pietro pretended to ignore her as she approached.
"I know you don't care for me or our father," she said, trying to get Pietro to look at her, "but I want you to know that I will help in whatever way I can."
"Yeah, sure," Pietro replied, "like I a told Magneto, your help is not required."
Even through Polaris didn't show any signs of reaction, Pietro's words cut deep.
Once everyone was sorted into their designated teams, they all moved out.
"This is the Bug," Blue Beetle declared, as he and his team lifted off, "you're on my screen, good luck everyone."
Moments later, Team One.
"Alright," Cyborg said, "according to my scanner, the strange signal is coming from the Madison Square Garden."
"We'd better get moving," Applejack nodded.
The team headed for Madison Square Garden, once there, they found the source of the signal, a strange transmitter device.
"Alright y'all," Applejack stated, "we've found the source.
"Now we just have to smash it," Combo man grinned.
"I'm with you," Colossus nodded.
The two charged at the device, only to stop as some familiar figures descended towards them, blocking them from the transmitter.
"I think we might be in trouble," Sunspot declared.
The figures were Superboy a.k.a. Conner Kent and Wonder Girl a.k.a. Cassandra Elizabeth "Cassie" Sandsmark.
"Bring it on!" Combo man proclaimed.
"Go!" Captain Citrus shouted to the others as Colossus and Combo man engaged Superboy and Wonder Girl, "me and Magneto will cover you."
Applejack nodded, she and the others dashing past the brawling heroes and getting up close to the transmitter.
"Okay," Wanda said, "we're here, now what?"
"Hit it with everything you've got!" Applejack replied.
Using her geode and her ring, she began punching at the transmitter.
Sunspot, Cyborg and Wanda began unloading all of their might onto the device.
Meanwhile, Team Two.
"Alright, guys," Twilight said, "keep your eyes open and remember the plan."
Her team were looking for people who hadn't been taken over by Starro or people control by Starro that could be freed by Miss Martian.
After a few minutes, the team came across some civilians being rounded up by some of Starro's mind controlled drones.
Midnight, Man-Thing, Rainbow Dash, Pietro and Kitty Pyde subdued the drones, without hurting them.
While the rest of the team freed the civilians and told them to get somewhere safe.
"Alright," Twilight declared, as Miss Martian freed the Starro drones from their mental controllers, "let's move, we don't Starro to be alerted to our action too quickly."
"Right," NFL Superpro nodded, "we gotta stay on our toes."
Lastly, Team Three.
"Everyone seems to be doing OK," Blue Beetle said.
"For now," Machine Man remarked, "we must be ready for anything."
"Agreed," Jocasta nodded.
Back with Team One.
"We're almost there," Applejack said.
She and her team had been focusing all their power and might onto the transmitter for a few hours, the material the transmitter was made of was stronger than any metal found on earth, but it was starting to give.
Combo man, Colossus, Captain Citrus and Magneto had dealt with the Starro controlled Superboy and Wonder Girl, they were now helping the rest of the team with the transmitter.
After a few more minutes, the transmitter finally crumbled and exploded.
"Well," Applejack remarked, as she and the others looked over the destroyed remains of the transmitter, "thats that."
"We are victorious," Sunspot cheered, "as soon as we tell the others it's party time."
But before anyone could continue the victory celebrations, a voice spoke, seemingly from nowhere.
"Fools," the voice said, it was the same voice from the radio when Starro had started his invasion, "did you really think that destroying one simple transmitter can stop my master?"
Before anyone could react, some invisible force began throwing Applejack and her teammates around.
"The transmitter is simply more efficient for my master to conquer worlds," the owner of the voice continued, as he became visible, revealing himself as the Faceless Hunter, "my master coming cannot be stopped, as the herald of the Star Conqueror, I am my master's eternal beacon."
Out in space.
Richard and his team were still fighting Starro's army.
"I think we're going to win," Hal said, "Starro's force seem to becoming less and less relentless."
"We can't afford to get sloppy," Richard replied, "just because there are less to fight, doesn't mean we can afford to let up."
Just after he had said that, a shadow fell over the team, a giant star shaped shadow.
"Oh no," he said.
Back at Madison Square Garden.
"Your effects are futile," The Faceless Hunter declared, "my master has come."
From the sky above, a giant star shaped object appeared.
Applejack and her teammates looked up as the clouds parted revealing Starro the Conqueror.
"I will try and access Cyborg's visual sensors," Jocasta suggested, "hopefully that will give us some information about what is going on with team one."
Jocasta stood still as she hacked into Cyborg's cybernetic vision to see what he was seeing.
She gasped and quickly returned to herself.
"We have a problem," she gasped,
"What," Pinkie asked, "what, what happened?!"
"Starro is here!" Jocasta replied, "the star conqueror has come."
Team Two.
Twilight and her team were still searching for others who hadn't been taken over by Starro when Machine Man and Blue Beetle, called them, alerting them and directing them to Madison Square Garden.
"Alright everyone," Twilight said, as soon she and her team got the alert, "let's move!"
Back with Team Three.
"We need to get to Madison Square Garden, quickly," Sunset cried, "we don't know if we're too late or not."
"The Bug's going as fast as it can," Blue Beetle replied, "she canna go any faster."
Just after that, the Bug lurched violently throwing everyone around.
"We've got incoming," Blue Beetle cried.
"Ya think?" Sideways asked.
The Bug lurched again, as it was struck again.
"This is it, ladies and gentlemen," Blue Beetle said, "we are at war."
Suddenly, the Bug's electrical systems started cutting out, the source of the attack was a Starro control Ant Man who had infiltrated the ship.
From the outside, several other Starro control superheroes surrounded The Bug.
Meanwhile, at Madison Square Garden.
Twilight and her team arrived at the location, to find an unconscious Colossus, Combo man, Cyborg, Magneto and Sunspot.
"What happened?" Midnight asked.
"You are too late," the Faceless Hunter replied, "your friends are the servants of Starro now."
As if on command, the other members of Team One stepped into view, all with Starro's spores attached to their faces.
Back with Team Three.
"Weapon systems are down!" Blue Beetle shouted, "I can't hold her, we...we're going to crash."
"Sideways!" Sunset called, "get us out of here!"
Sideways nodded, quickly opening a rift and teleporting himself and the other members of Team Three out of the crashing ship.
Seconds later.
Team Three reappeared outside of Madison Square Garden.
"Come on, guys," Sunset said, "we've got to help the others."
And without another word, Sunset and her teammates headed inside the building.
Once they reached the other teams location, Team Three were greeted by a terrible scene.
Some of the members of teams one and two stood there with Starro spores attached their faces, while the other member lay defeated on the ground.
The source of the spores floated above the building, Starro himself.
"What happened here?" Pinkie asked.
"Your allies are now the servants of Starro," the Faceless Hunter declared, "and now, you will join them."
As the Faceless Hunter advanced, Magneto, who had regained consciousness, seized the alien in his magnetic grip.
"You will release my children and their friends," he demanded, "or so help me!"
As the Faceless Hunter struggled against Magneto's hold, a recovered Man-Thing grabbed the alien with vines summoned from the nearby planets.
However, despite the two efforts, the Faceless Hunter managed to break free using some advanced weapon, releasing a powerful shockwave.
"Your resistance is useless," The Faceless Hunter stated, "in the grand scheme, you and your planet should be surrendering yourselves to my master."
"I will never surrender," Magneto retorted, "never, I will fight, for my children, for their friends!"
"How touching," The Faceless Hunter responded, as he grabbed Magneto before he could attempt another attack, "a valiant effort, but in the end, ultimately futile, now hero, prepare yourself, for your free will shall be no more than a delusional fantasy."
Magneto tried to attack, but he and Man Thing were hit my a powerful blast energy from above, the source was Starro.
"STOP!" Sunset said, finally.
"You presume to command the herald of the star conqueror?!" The Faceless Hunter thundered.
"We know why you and your master are here," Sunset replied.
"Then you must know," The Faceless Hunter answered, "why this has to be done, a storm is coming."
"It doesn't have to be this way," Sunset continued, "we can work together to stop this coming threat, peacefully."
The voice of Starro replied, one of his drones speaking for him.
"Peace?" he replied, "no peace."
Before Sunset or her teammates could react, some of Starro's spores descended on them, they didn't have time to counterattack, reducing them to Starro's obedient slaves.
The only one who remained was Gali.
"Interesting," The Faceless Hunter remarked, "you are the only one who seems to be immune to my masters mind control spores."
"If she cannot be controlled," Starro said, "then she must be destroyed."
"And so it ends," The Faceless Hunter said, pulling out a blaster, "a pity, I would have liked to take her apart to see what makes her immune."
The Faceless Hunter aimed the blaster at Gali and prepared to fire.
Gali didn't know what to do, thoughts and emotions filled her head until her mind went blank.
Suddenly, something unlocked deep within her being and finally Gali knew who she was.
A surge of energy surrounded Gali as she transformed, before a startled Faceless Hunter and Starro.
The energy soon dissipated and Gali stood revealing as her true self, Galacta, Daughter of Galactus.
Meanwhile, on the blue area of the moon.
"Amazing," Uatu remarked, as he and Metron witnessed Gali's transformation.
"Indeed," Metron nodded, "it is a birth, at the least, a powerful ally they will need to turn the tide in their battle."
Richard, Hal and their allies were still fighting Starro's army, when Starro's drones stopped, as if startled by something, then instead of continuing the fight, they started moving towards the Earth, as if the fight wasn't worth their time, even the ones projecting the dome around the Earth followed the same order.
"Hey," Richard exclaimed, "what gives?"
"Yeah," Lobo groaned, "the Main Man was just getting started."
"Richard," Hal cried, "my ring is picking up an energy spike, you're not going to believe this."
Richard took a look at the energy reading from Hal's ring.
"Impossible," he breathed.
Back at Madison Square Garden.
"What is this?" Starro asked, "some kind of joke?"
"No," Gali replied, "this is no joke, I now know who I am, I am Galacta, Daughter of Galactus, The Devourer of worlds."
"Impossible," The Faceless Hunter stated, "the world eater has the ability to conceive a child?!"
"No Matter," Starro said, interrupting his herald's shock and confusion, "she is still one, but I am many."
As if in answer, all the Starro drones that had been in orbit around the Earth finally appeared over Starro's location.
"Stand witness, child of Galactus," Starro proclaimed, "your allies have fallen, your strategies have failed and, oh, the end of all free will in the universe has come."
The drones, including some of Gali's friends, took aim at her.
Gali barely had any time to throw up an energy shield, before The Faceless Hunter, the drones and Starro all fired on her position.
As Gali was bombarded from all sides, she tried to think of want she could do to defend herself.
After a few seconds, Gali knew who to call.
As her shield slowly began to give out from the endless bombardment, she shot an all mighty blast of energy into the sky.
"I hope this works," Gali whispered, "I don't how long I can keep this up."
Somewhere, in deep space.
Galactus, Devourer of worlds, was in the process of devouring a planet when he sensed something, calling to him.
"What is it my master?" his herald, Fire Lord a.k.a. Pyreus Kril asked.
Fire Lord was a former Nova corps officer, but had agreed to become Galactus's herald after his previous herald left.
"Herald," Galactus commanded, "Galactus must travel to Earth, my child is in danger."
Back on Earth.
"Arrr," Gali groaned, as her energy shield finally shattered and she collapsed to the ground.
"It seems your efforts are futile," Starro remarked, "you have failed to harness and control your power."
"You have also neglected that you must consume worlds to replenish your powers," The Faceless Hunter continued,"what a shame, you would have been a valuable asset to Starro."
It took all of Gali's remaining strength to look the Faceless Hunter in the face, of which he had none.
"No matter how much power you had," Starro stated, "it will not be en...."
Suddenly, the star conqueror was cut off by a flash.
He and his herald look up as a spaceship appeared above the scene.
From the spaceship, the occupants stepped out, Galatus and his herald, Fire Lord.
Galatus size was immense, he towered over the buildings and entire city of New York.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Starro demanded.
"You will cease your attack at once," Fire Lord declared, "no harm shall come to the child of my master."
"Galatus has come to retrieve his offspring," Galatus stated.
"How sweet," Starro replied, "but you have arrived too little too late world eater, my army will soon destroy your offspring."
"That will not happen," Galactus replied, "Galactus will say this once: LEAVE THIS PLANET OR FACE THE FURY OF GALACTUS!"
"Your words cannot sway me," Starro retored, "I command all of Earth's superpowered population, what could you possibly do against might like that?!"
"You should not doubt the power that I wield," Galactus answered.
Before Starro could pontificate any further, Galactus fired a huge blast of energy at Starro.
Starro in response, took flight and fire off some energy blast from his tentacles.
As the two cosmic beings brawled with each other, their heralds engaged in their own battle.
Fire Lord blasted The Faceless Hunter with fire while trying to hit the his opponent with his flaming staff.
The Faceless Hunter likewise used his own arsenal to counter Fire Lord's attacks.
All this was happening while Gali watched, still utterly powerless.
"I have to help my friends and my dad," she said, "but without energy, I can't do anything."
Just as Gali was about to give up, when she noticed a twickie, which had fallen out of Pinkie Pie's pocket when she was taken over.
"Alright," Gali said, determined as she picked up the twickie, "it's time to get serious."
With that, Gali eat the twickie, refuelling her Power Cosmic and allowing her to use her powers to free her friends and their allies that were under Starro's control and reviving those that were unconscious.
"What happened?" Twilight asked, as she and the others were released from Starro's hold.
"Some of you were under Starro's control," Gali explained, "but I managed to free all of you."
"Darling," Rarity said, "where did you get that outfit and helmet?"
"Well," Gali answered, "it turns out I'm actually the daughter of Galactus and I may have summoned him to help us."
Everyone looked at Gali with a mixture of confusion and surprise, which was interrupted as the ground shook.
The source of the quake was Galactus, as he and his herald's battle with Starro raged on.
"We've got to get in there," Sunset said, as the two cosmic titans and their respected heralds continued clashing with each other.
"How can we?" Midnight asked, "no one here as any powers that even come close to Galactus or Starro's level."
"Also," Rainbow Dash added, "we are tiny, they are giant, none of us have any chance of fighting side by side with a cosmic kaiju."
"That's not strictly true," Gali interjected, "you've got me and Man Thing."
"Man Thing?" Applejack repeated, "how can he...?"
"Gali might be onto something," Twilight said, with a thoughtful look on her face.
"What are you thinking, Twilight?" Static asked.
"Well," Twilight explained, "Man Thing is made of raw material, if we could get him some more raw material he could, presumably, increase his size and mass."
"But where are we going to find raw material?" Sunspot asked.
"I think I might have an idea," Beetle Blue answered.
He outlined his plan, after which Rainbow Dash and Pietro got into position as instructed.
While everyone else kept Starro's drones at bay, the two speedsters put Blue Beetle's plan into action.
The plan involved opening all the sewer covers near and around Madison Square Garden.
"That should be enough," Blue Beetle said.
He turned to the Man Thing, "go for it, big guy," he smiled.
Man Thing seemed to understand and raised his hands.
The ground began to shake as all the raw material in the sewers rushed to the surface and was absorbed into Man Thing's body, transforming him into GIANT-SIZE MAN THING.
"Alright," Beetle Blue said, "now we have a fighting chance."
"Looks like our chances just got giant-sized," Rainbow Dash nodded.
Pietro, Rainbow Dash along with Blue Beetle quickly rushed back to the others at Madison Square Garden.
Once they had returned, Gali also grew to gigantic size and joined Man Thing, Galactus and Fire Lord as they engaged Starro and the Faceless Hunter, with Static going with Gali to act as her 'herald'.
As the titans and their heralds battled each, everyone else back on the ground, held off the hundreds of Starro drones that converged on them.
Twilight, her friends and their teammates tried their best to fight back, but slowly the drone started wearing them down.
When it looked like they were about to be completely overwhelmed, some of the drones where blasted aside and a green construct of a giant hand shoved a few of the drones aside.
Twilight and everyone else looked to the sky as the source of the two attacks descended towards them, Richard and his team.
Along with some unfamiliar faces, the girls recognised one of the members of Richard's little team and were surprised to see, Hal Jordan.
"Yeah," Hal replied, "nice to meet you and your friends, properly this time."
"Is it you?" Sunset asked, "not Parallax, this time?"
"No," Richard interjected, "he's not, anymore, I'll admit I had my doubts but Hal's actions have proved that he is once again worthy to be a Green Lantern."
Hal smiled at that, he had finally redeemed himself in Richard's eyes.
"Arrr," Lobo groaned, "the Main Man hates sappy, touchy stuff, ruins his style."
"While I agree with the Czarnian," Titus commented, "I think we have a more pressing issue at hand."
He pointed to the Starro drones as they all recovered from Richard and Hal's earlier attack.
"Alright," Richard nodded, he turned to Twilight and her team, "you guys and girls still got some fight left in you?"
"Always," Twilight replied.
"Alright team," NFL Superpro smiled, "it's time to save the world, let's play ball."
"CHAMPIONS!" Sunset cried, "TO BATTLE!"
"And Guardians of Xander!" Richard cried, "arrr......lambaste!"
"Really?" Hal said, "Guardians of Xander lambaste?"
"What were you expecting?" Richard replied, "it was all I could think of in the spur of the moment."
Hal and Richard's discussion over the team name/battle cry was tabled as both teams engaged the advancing Starro drones.
While the Champions and the Guardians of Xander battled against the smaller enemies on the ground, Gali, Galactus, Static, Fire Lord and Man Thing fought their own battle against Starro and the Faceless Hunter.
Starro was surprisingly agile, despite being a giant starfish, managing to dodge most of attacks sent his way.
His herald was likewise fast and agile, managing to dodge Static and Fire Lord's attacks.
"You cannot surprise me," he declared, "I have defeated many warriors across many worlds, there is no weapon in your arsenal that I cannot counter."
"Well, in that case," Static said, "I'll just have to think outside the box."
He throw a ball of electromagnetic energy, called a ball lighting, at the Faceless Hunter.
The projectile zipped passed the hunter, "It appears you have missed," he commented.
"I sure did," Static remarked, as the ball lighting arched back towards the Faceless Hunter.
Before the Faceless Hunter could react, the ball lighting struck him in the back.
As he tried to recover, Fire Lord hit the Faceless Hunter with a huge blast of flame, sending him crashing to the ground.
With Starro's herald dealt with Static and Fire Lord concentrated on helping Gali, Galactus and Man Thing.
The three were still trying to hit Starro, but only some of their hits were actually hitting the target.
They were hardly doing a good job of defending themselves, some had taken hits from Starro's attacks just as much as Starro had taken hits from theirs.
"You cannot stop me," Starro declared, "you and your mindless pile of slug cannot stop what must be done."
Starro fired at blast at Man Thing which hit him in the chest, blasting sewage all over Gali, Galactus, Static and Fire Lord.
Man Thing looked dead for a second, but after absorbing some more raw material, he was back to full power.
Before Starro could retaliate, Man Thing restrained him with vines summoned from some nearby fauna.
While Starro struggled against Man Thing restraints, Gali, Galactus, Static and Fire Lord combined their powers into one almighty blast of energy.
The blast hit Starro directly in the eye, ending the threat once and for all.
Starro went limp and then collapsed, after which he began shrinking until he was the size of a normal starfish, his skin dried out and his one eye closed.
Back at ground level, now that Starro was down, all the Starro spores detached from their victim's faces, dropping to the ground lifeless.
"Did we win?" Pinkie asked.
"Yeah," Rainbow Dash replied, as Gali and Man Thing returned to normal size, "I think we did."
Everyone let out a cheer, even Machine man looked like he was experiencing something like joy.
The cheer was cut short as they noticed the Faceless Hunter, who was still alive and aiming a laser rift at Twilight and the others.
"You have no idea, what you have done, what you have brought upon your world," he snarled, "without my master, this earth, all earths will burn."
"Lighten up will you?" Hal commented, "you and your master lost, the least you can do is just give up and surrender."
"Never," The Faceless Hunter declared, "I will carry on my master's work and save the multiverse, alone."
"Not if we take you in," Richard replied, "by the authority of the Nova Corp and the Green Lantern Corp, Hal Jordan and myself are arresting you for crimes against Xander and all the other worlds you and your master have invaded."
"NEVER!" The Faceless Hunter repeated, "I would rather die than be a prisoner of the Nova Corp or the Green Lanterns."
"Don't even think about it," Hal said, "we're bringing you in, alive."
"Then," The Faceless Hunter retorted, "if me and my master lose, then you are going to lose too."
He aimed his laser rifle at Fluttershy and fired.
Fluttershy didn't have time to react, so she closed her eyes and waited for the end.
But before the shot could hit, Magneto threw himself in front of Fluttershy, taking the shot that was meant for her.
Everyone was in shock, especially Pietro, Wanda and Polaris.
The shock was then replaced with anger, as Wanda grabbed The Faceless Hunter with her hex powers while Polaris snatched the laser rifle out of the alien's hands and destroyed it.
The Faceless Hunter quickly pulled out a smaller laser gun, only for Hal to slap it out of his hand.
"You're not getting off that easy," he said.
"And that's murder," Richard declared, "another charge added to your list, that'll land you in maximum security with zero chance of parole."
"Let the Main Man give you some advice," Lobo remarked, "prison food tastes like garbage, hope you have a strong stomach."
Richard placed some stasis cuffs on the Faceless Hunter, preventing him from moving.
As this was happening, Twilight and her team were gathered next to Fluttershy, while Wanda, Polaris and Pietro rushed to their father's body.
"Father!" Polaris cried.
"Polaris?" Magneto asked, "Wanda? Pietro? I'm sorry I wasn't always there for you, I have seen the evil in humanity but you have shown me that there is good and hope in humanity."
Tears formed in Wanda and Polaris's eyes, even Pietro was crying, all his hatred and distrust of his father finally disappearing.
"Can't anyone do something?!" Wanda asked.
"Please," Polaris said, "save him."
"Save our father," Pietro finished, tearfully.
There was silence, no one had the power to heal Magneto from his injury.
"Maybe I can help," a voice said, finally.
Wanda, Polaris and Pietro turned to see Gali stepping forward.
"Can you do it?" Wanda asked, "can you save him?"
"I think so," Gali replied.
She knelt near Magneto's body and placed her hands on the spot where the wound was, closing her eyes and focused her Power Cosmic on the wound, like she had done with the mother turtle at the beach.
The fight with Starro had drained most of Gali's Power Cosmic, so Sunset helped by using her White Lantern ring to help supplement Gali's energy.
Slowly but surely, Magneto's wound began to heal and Magneto looked like he was returning to life.
"I've done all I can," Gali said, stepping away from Magneto's body, "it all depends on him now."
"Please, Father," Wanda whispered, "please, I need you, your family needs you."
"Come on, Father," Pietro said, "if you leave us now, I'll never forgive you."
At first, Magneto didn't move, then seconds later he coughed and gasped for air, opening his eyes.
"Wanda? Polaris? Pietro?" he said, as he slowly got to his feet, "what happened? Why all the tears?"
Wanda, Polaris and Pietro didn't reply, they simply hugged their father.
Magneto was still a little confused, but Sunset and the others explained everything, after he'd been released from the hug, of course.
Twilight and Sunset walked to school, now that their summer holidays were over, it was time to get back to work.
The clean up after Starro's invasion had been immense, Tony Stark's Damage Control company had managed to compensate everyone who's business or livelihood had been damaged or destroyed in Starro's invasion.
Richard, Hal and the Guardians of Xander had taken the Faceless Hunter to Xander and Oa to be tried for his multiple crimes. His sentence had been life imprisonment and he had been locked up in solitary confinement in The Kyln, the Nova Corps interstellar prison.
The members of the Guardians of Xander, had been given a reduced sentence as both Richard and Hal had personally testified at their retrials and Hal's position as the Green Lantern assigned to Earth had been reinstated and had even taken over as mentor to Kyle Rainer.
As a safety precaution, in case any Earth-based Lanterns ever got possessed, corrupted or turned evil again, the Guardians of Universe had given four Green Lantern rings to four other humans, these being: John Stewart, Guy Gardener, Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz.
Starro's dried out remains had been taken by the Guardians of the Galaxy and Adam Strange and handed over to Taneleer Tivan a.k.a. The Collector, who was more than happy to pay to add a creature from another universe to his collection.
Back on the Earth side of things, Gali had convinced Galactus to let her stay on Earth with her friends, also demonstrating that twickies could sate Galacuts's never ending cosmic hunger.
Galactus had agreed, while making the Rainbooms and the rest of the Champions promise that no harm would come to his daughter, after which he and his herald had left.
"Remind me to never get on your dad's bad side," Rainbow Dash had said.
After which, everyone laughed.
Lastly, Magneto had turned himself in, after being convinced by his children, as he was still a wanted mutant criminal and had disbanded the Brotherhood of Mutants.
"We'll testify in your favour about what you did today," Pietro had said, "and we'll be waiting for you when you get out."
After serving his time and paying his debt to society, Magneto had returned to the world a new man, with a new outlook on life.
He even managed to patch things up with his old friend, Professor X, a.k.a. Charles Xavier. Magneto had even joined Charles's new X-men team, swapping out his villain attire for a white and silver look, at Rarity recommendation.
There were still were a few people who didn't trust him and were very xenophobic towards him.
But Applejack taught him to ignore them and focus on all the good in the world.
The heroes who had helped the Champions had either returned to retirement or resumed their hero duties.
Some like Logan had returned to the X-men and Laura had returned the mantle of Wolverine to its original owner, returning to her first codename of X-23.
"You done good, kid," Logan said, with a smile on his face, "you done good."
Combo man had become obsessed with finding the element within the Combos food snack recipe that activated his powers.
NFL Superpro had returned to his civilian life, but had applied to the Daily Bugle as sports journalist.
Man Thing had returned to his home in the Florida swampland.
Captain Citrus had returned to his normal life as an orange farmer, with his family.
Ted Kord had returned to his position as the head/C.E.O. of Kord Industries, while repairing the destroyed Bug, in case it was ever needed again.
Those who had been under Starro's control didn't remember anything they had done, thankfully.
"Today certainly is a beautiful day isn't it?" Gali commented, as she joined Twilight and Sunset as they walked to CHS.
"How did you adopted parents take the news?" Sunset asked, "about who you truly are?"
"It was a bit overwhelming for them," Gali replied, "but they're adjusting."
"You know," Twilight said, "when me and Midnight woke up today, we had no idea we'd become best friends with the daughter of Galactus."
The three girls smiled to each other and continued on their way to CHS.
At a prison, somewhere.
The Dazzlings, who had managed to earn a living by working for various supervillains as henchwomen, were being thrown in prison, for like the thirtieth time.
They were now being escorted by the prison guards to their cell.
"You sure it's ok to put these three with him?" the first guard asked, "wasn't the reason he has a cell to himself is so he couldn't hurt himself or anyone else?"
"The warden said he was harmless," the other guard replied, "so it must be OK."
"If that's the case," the first guard responded, "where does he get the shivs?"
"We don't know," the second guard answered, "the warden says he keeps making them, somehow."
"Creepy," the first guard shuddered.
"But the warden allows it," the second guard continued, "since he just seems content to just use them for graffiti, but if he gets violent or something, the warden wants him moved to a padded cell."
"Right," the first guard nodded.
"Do you believe half the things he says sometimes?" the second guard asked.
"You mean, about there being other earths?" the first guard retorted, "No, do you?"
Soon, the Dazzlings arrived at their cell and were put inside.
"Nice going, Sonata," Aria groaned, "now we're right back where we started."
"It wasn't my fault," Sonata retorted, "I got distracted."
Adagio was about to break up the argument when all three of the former sirens were interrupted as their cellmate made himself known, Roger Hayden a.k.a. Psycho-Pirate.
On the cell wall behind him, were strange scribbles of strange symbols and figures.
"Who are you?" Adagio asked.
"And what's with that mask?" Sonata added.
"Who I am is none of your concern," Psycho-Pirate replied.
"What does that mean?" Aria asked.
"All will become clear eventually," Psycho-Pirate continued, "the stage is set, worlds will live worlds will die, nothing will ever be the same."
