"Where there is discord, may I bring harmony" – Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi
CHAPTER ONE
A STARK RAINBOW
A magical rainbow beam shoots towards the skies, it builds momentum, and then plummets back down in the direction of a dragon-shaped creature, the beam run circles around the panicking creature as it hopelessly tries to get way. The colorful beams of light begin to involve the body of its misfortunate victim, slowly turning it into stone, as the poor bastard gives one last look of horror, a look that will be permanently frozen on his new stone prison. Unable to close his eyes, the creature sees himself doomed to forever watch the world he would never be a part of. Unable to move. Unable to die. Unable to scream.
'Twas the merciless, cold embrace of friendship.
"Alright! We did it!" cheerfully claims the purple unicorn, the leader of the bunch. Her name was Twilight Sparkle, she was the dedicated pupil of Princess Celestia, the supreme sovereign ruler of the land of Equestria who, despite that, still called herself a princess, not a queen as to not aggravate Princess Luna, her sister, whose inferiority complex already caused her to go full psycho once.
Luna was cured by the same thing that petrified the doomed creature: the Elements of Harmony, six magic jewels that were able solve any kind of problem no matter what. From curing personality disorders to imprisoning omnipotent gods, the Elements have always presented illogical, variable, unpredictable, but still, constantly satisfactory results. The Elements, however, could only work on three conditions: 1) They have to be used together; 2) They have to be used by ponies that embody the particular element they're wearing; and 3) Whoever they are, they need to be true friends, as the Elements are powered by friendship.
Twilight didn't always believe in the power of friendship, in fact, she used to have disdain for all forms of social interaction and an irrational aversion in being called a friend like she was some kind of "friendophobic". Because of that, Princess Celestia sent her to Ponyville against her will, so she would make friends and save the world. Also, being a happier pony, but that was secondary. Ever since then, Twilight writes weekly friendship reports to the princess, telling her of all the valuable lessons she learned that week. Stuff like: "Never judge a book by its cover", "Listen to your friends", "Chew with your mouth shut", and other things that everypony else already learned in kindergarten, but not her, thanks to her socially reclusive and emotionally unhealthy upbringing. She handles it pretty well, though.
The young Ms. Sparkle turns back to look at her friends, the same ones that she made on her first day in Ponyville just in time to stop Nightmare Moon, friends who just happen to be an exact number of six, two of each pony class, and being embodiments of the Elements of Harmony. You call it contrived coincidence, we call it fate! There they were:
Applejack. An Earth Pony. The hard-working farm girl. She's the Element of Honesty, because she's a shitty liar.
Fluttershy. A Pegasus. The delicate, shy animal lover. She's the Element of Kindness, because she's always gentle, loving, and friendly to all animals and ponies, except when she isn't.
Pinkie Pie. The other Earth Pony. The Happy-Go-Lucky Gal. She's the Element of Laughter, because that's a thing. She's not crazy, she's just happy. And she can warp reality at random.
Rarity. A Unicorn. The classy, "looks matter" fashion lover, high-class aspirant. She's the Element of Generosity, because writers think it's clever to challenge other's preconceived notions about attributes they normally associate with shallowness and superficiality.
Rainbow Dash. The other Pegasus. The Jock Girl. She's the Element of Loyalty, because she's extremely loyal to her friends, her princess, and her ego.
And, finally, her, Twilight Sparkle. The other Unicorn. The studious bookworm. She's the Element of Magic, because everything else was taken.
Twilight was lucky to have such wonderful and archetypal friends.
"Yay! We defeated the big meanie!" Pinkie Pie said, gleefully "You know what this calls for? A party!"
"Easy there, sugar cube!" Applejack replied "Discord turned this whole town upside down…"
"Literally" Rainbow Dash remarked
"…we need to make sure that everything is in order before we do anything else"
"Applejack is right! We need to split up and check the whole area from the main square to the Sweet Apple Acres" said Twilight "You find anything strange, you call the others. Okay Rarity I think you should start with—"
"Twilight! Twilight!" Spike the Dragon yelled, carrying a letter in one of his hands. Spike was a dragon that was hatched from his egg by Twilight herself when she was a little filly and, since then, has always been at her side, helping her with anything that she needed. Twilight has never considered him a friend though, because if she had, then she would already know what friendship feels like years before she got to Ponyville, and Princess Celestia's whole point in sending her there would be moot. "Twilight! The Princess sent another… ugh… letter congratulating you for… ugh… defeating Discord. I think I'm gonna throw up…"
"Wow! The news spread fast!" Twilight said taking the letter off of Spike's hand using her magic. She quickly reads over the letter that the Princess wrote from the comfort and security of her castle, the same place from where she sent back all the friendship reports that Twilight have send her (which probably caused severe damage on Spike's health. They need an alternate form of communication) so Twilight would remember what she was fighting for.
Even though the Elements of Harmony were no longer, well, in harmony with her, you would assume that Princess Celestia, one of the most powerful ponies alive, would try to be physically beside her favorite pupil to give support in that time of crisis, but she was too busy doing princess stuff like arranging a boring formal party that she hates, dealing with a pest problem in Fillydelphia, and other stuff that are clearly more important and deserving of attention than a vengeful, malicious and all-powerful entity that is hellbent in bring chaos and misery to everything and everypony in its path.
"Girls, Princess Celestia is inviting us for a 'Thank You' ceremony in our homage!"
"We are going to Canterlot?" Rarity asked "I can't believe it! That's wonderful!"
"But… We've just been in Canterlot this morning…" Fluttershy remarks
"So?"
"Uh… Twilight?" Rainbow Dash interrupts "My necklace was supposed to be pulsing like this?"
Twilight and the other ponies turn their attention to Dash's necklace, the one which held her Element of Loyalty which just happened to have the exact same shape as her Cutie Mark (a symbolic image that appears on the flank of every pony as soon as they find their reason of being) just like all the other Elements had the exact same shape as the Cutie Marks of their owners, because magic.
The lightning-shaped red gem was glowing on and off like a red alert sign "Huh… I don't think that—" was all Twilight was able to say before a blinding burst of red light emanated from the jewel. The red light completely took over the city, before receding back to the necklace and disappearing like nothing happened.
"Wow…" said Pinkie Pie "Do it again!"
"What in darnation was that?" asked Applejack
"I don't know…" Twilight said, rubbing her eyes "We may ask Princess Celestia tomorrow. Are you alright, Rainbow Dash?"
"Yeah… I guess…" Dash answered, dizzy
"You know… You can sit the search out and rest if you want to…"
"Are you kidding?" said Dash "I completely abandoned you guys earlier on the maze! You all had to put up with a lot more than I did today, and you're all probably a lot more tired than I am, so no, there's no way I'm walking out of this one"
Twilight smiled. It was so good to have the old Rainbow Dash back. "Okay, then. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, you two check the Sweet Apple Acres. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy will check Cloudsdale while Rarity and I check the outskirts near the Everfree Forest. After we all make sure that everything is alright, we meet up here and search the town together for anything strange. Okay? Let's go!"
The six friends searched the vicinities thoroughly for anything strange and/or chaotic. Once they were sure everything was the way it should be, they met at Sugar Cube Corner to celebrate and restore their energies. After eating, Rainbow Dash wished everypony a goodnight and flew to a soft, fluffy cloud for a good night of sleep. Today was a tough day and Celestia knows how tomorrow's gonna be, so Dash closes her eyes waiting for the wonders that dreamland will bring her…
"Good morning, sir"
"Just a few more minutes…" Rainbow Dash mumbles, rolling in bed "Wait!" she says, suddenly awake "Who's there?"
"Very funny, sir" the voice answers "Taking the physical and mental exhaustion caused by yesterday's battle into consideration, I decided to delay your wakeup call for two hours. Have I made the right decision?"
"What? I… Who are you? Where are you?" Dash takes a look around the room she finds herself in: a wide white bedroom that seemed fancy, but empty. One of the walls was made of glass and through it she could see the many unbelievably tall and dull-colored buildings of an enormous city. Everything seemed disturbingly alien, cold, and soulless. "Where am I?" she shouts, placing her hooves on her head "Where in Celestia's name am I?!" Dash was suddenly aware of two things: One, her voice didn't sound like her voice, in fact, it sounded rather masculine, and Two, her hooves didn't feel like her hooves. They were not blue, but a pale pink and had five meaty sticks coming out of each. She freaked out. "What happened to me?! What's going on?!"
"I see…" the voice says "I should have delayed it for three hours, then."
"Where are you?" Dash shouts angrily at the ceiling "Show yourself, you coward, and say what you have done to me!"
"Quite frankly, sir, I'm beginning to get worried" the voice answered "I'm calling Ms. Potts"
"And I'm supposed to be afraid of that?" Dash replied defiantly.
But there was no answer. The sudden silence made dash uneasy (more uneasy, that is). She nervously scanned the room, expecting a ninja to sneak upon her for a surprise attack. Her eyes rested upon the large door in front of her. She ponders if she should open it, try to make a run of it. She looks both sides before taking the first step…
The door opens. From it, enters some… thing. It stood on two very tall legs, was very skinny, had small eyes, two freakishly long arms, and its mane was orange-blonde. The thing spoke:
"Tony, what's wrong? Jarvis said—"
"Argh! What kind of hideous creature are you?" Dash shouts, horrified.
The thing took a step back, clearly offended. "Tony, that's not funny!"
"I'm afraid he's not joking, Ms. Potts" the voice said "I've made some preliminary checks on Mr. Stark's brainwaves and they do not fit"
"What do you mean, Jarvis?"
"Jarvis? Have you just called it by name?" Dash says "So, you're allied with the ghost, huh? Well, you two are never gonna get me alive!" Dash hops in the air, trying to fly, but falls and faceplants on the floor. "What the—? My wings! What have you monsters done to my wings?!" she cries.
"Jarvis, can you produce an anti-psychotic?" Potts asks the voice.
"On it, Ms. Potts"
"Who you're calling psychotic?" Dash protested while Potts tried to hold her steady "Take your filthy hooves off of me!"
"Jarvis! Hurry!"
"It's ready Ms. Potts" Jarvis said as a case with a syringe slid off the wall. Ms. Potts grabbed the syringe, ready to administrate it on Dash "This is for your own good, Tony"
"No! Stop! Stay away!" Dash cried as the needle hit her vein "Somepony help! Twilight! Applejack! Flutrblghr…." She mumbled as the medicine took effect. And Rainbow Dash doze off back to slumberland.
MARVEL FUN FACTS:
Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. was the codename of the S.H.I.E.L.D./NASA joint facility for the study of the Tesseract and "Dark Energy". The "PROJECT PEGASUS" name can also be seen branded on the side of one of Howard Stark's crates that Tony receives in Iron Man 2.
P.E.G.A.S.U.S. stands for Potential Energy Group: Alternate Sources, United States.
Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. debuted in Marvel Two-In-One #42 in August, 1978