Slumped on his throne, Grogar breath was labored. Not from exertions, but from his broken body. The strain of using the Elements of Harmony. His right half was blackened and burnt, the navy blue fury dark as if from fire, and his golden necklace was broken and cracked in a million tiny places, making it look ancient instead of practically new. And yet, he felt a sense of satisfaction.
He had won.
That feeling came crashing down, along with the ceiling, as a bright red and gold burst of energy came smashing through the roof. Captain Shimmer knocked down thewall then grabbed Grogar and, with surprising strength, sent him flying across the room. He was knocked cold by the forces bursting in the main entryway, including Fluttershy in the Flutterbuster armor, who cold-cocked him, sensing him crashing to the ground. The clasp on his necklace broke as Spike in his War Dragon armor launched a missile at his back, shattering it, and the whole thing clattered to the ground as Grogar collapsed under the continued assault. The other Avengers quickly converged on Grogar, daring him to move with their weapons and hooves pointed at him.
Angel Bunny hopped over, grabbing the necklace and turning it over...
... revealing nothing more than a dull golden neck accessory. With six empty slots.
And no Elements of Harmony.
Applejack rounded on Grogar. "Where are they?"
The great goat gave a dark chuckle, completely immune to her ire.
"Answer her!" Sunset snarled, shoving him forward.
"The universe required correction," Grogar said, finally deigning to respond. "After that, the Elements served no purpose. Harmony... my Harmony... has been achieved."
"You murdered trillions!" Fluttershy accused.
He gave a shrug.
"Where are they?!" Rarity shouted. "Where are the Elements?!"
Grogar fixed her with a look. "Gone. Reduced to dust."
"Impossible!" said Fluttershy, aghast at the possbiility. "You used them two days ago!"
Nodding, Grogar gestured to his right side, wrecked and ruined. "I used the Elements... to destroy the Elements. All that power nearly killed me... but the work is done. It always will be, now... I... have... won...!"
His chuckles grew until the mad goat was giving a full fledged laugh, bellowing in the confines of his home as the others backed away in horror and disgust. There could be no doubting the truth of his words. Grogar had destroyed the Elements rather than let them be used against him. He was completely insane... but he was not a liar.
Shaking her head in denial, Rainbow Dash turned... and in seconds, was bolting off in a burst of bright rainbow light. The broken doors to the hall fell off their hinges from the boom as she flew off.
"Heh," Grogar chuckled. "That's right, mare, ru-..."
He trailed off as he saw a burst of light on the horizon, in the direction Rainbow was flying... and then another boom.
Rainbow wasn't running. She was charging.
The sonic rainbow burst behind her confirmed she'd hit close to mach seven, and at such a speed, Grogar had almost no time to react, not that his battered and broken body would allow him time to. Just like in the Hive territory, Rainbow smashed into Grogar like a freight train, bringing the mad goat low. But unlike last time, this time, Rainbow's hoof smashed into his ugly face, crashing him through his ebony throne, and smashed him down into the ground behind it hard enough to splatter his goat brains all over the stones. Rainbow's hoof sunk into his cracked skull as she stood their panting, her gaze half-focused, consumed by her rage. But then her eyes came back into focus, and she recoiled in horror at what she'd done.
So did many of the other assembled heroes. None more so than Rarity. "Rainbow... what have you done?"
"I... I went for the head..." she replied numbly.
No one stopped her as she stepped out of the broken tower and back into the open sky. Not even sure where she was going.
No one was, anymore. No one knew what to do.
Only that they'd failed.
Five.
Years.
Later.
Equestria... was not a happy place.
No place was. Ponyville had all but dried up, activity wise, the whole place sullen, covered in dark clouds, buildings partially or wholly boarded up. Some stubborn residents lingered, but they were the minority, most had moved away to other venues. Like Canterlot. The city had become something of an armed fortress, with new refugees arriving to swell its ranks even beyond their original numbers, and a general atmosphere of paranoia and depression.
But some stayed in Ponyville... like Applejack, working on the farm. It was quieter, without other ponies around. But she refused to let anyone move in, sell the land, or accept assistance. She did all the farm work herself. The super soldier serum in her veins helped her do the work of a full family... and it gave her time to be by herself.
But even AJ couldn't stand being solitary forever. Eventually, she'd started up a support group for some of the ponies still around Ponyville.
Tonight they were meeting at the old Town Hall.
Sitting in a circle, Applejack, Roseluck, Lyra, Bon-Bon, Quibble Pants, Terramar, and Ragamuffin spoke of their troubles.
"So I..." started Ragamuffin. "Well I took a chance and... asked out this filly I worked with the other day. First time in five years. So there we were, sitting down for dinner and... didn't have the foggiest on what to talk about."
Applejack nodded, well aware it was difficult to find topics. "What did ya'll talk about?"
"Oh the usual," Ragamuffin replied. "How things had changed... my job, her job... how much we both missed a good game of hoofball... then... then things got quiet. She started crying, soon as they served salads."
"And you?" inquired Roseluck gently.
"... just before desert," the blonde pony confessed. He didn't need clarification, it was obvious what was being asked. The sad truth was, it wasn't uncommon for ponies to break down crying these days over the smallest thing, at all hours of the day. Everyone had lost so many close to them, no matter how many they still had, that the slightest thought or memory could set someone off.
"But it's okay, I'm... I'm actually seeing her tomorrow, so... there's that, I guess," he finished, unsure of what else to say.
Gently taking the conversation reins, AJ patted Ragamuffin on the shoulder. "That's great, Rag. Ya'll did the hardest part. Ya took the jump, not knowin' ya'll were gonna come down. That's... great."
Lyra started to sniffle, prompting Bon-Bon to shift her chair closer to the pale green unicorn, arm resting on her shoulders. The two were an item now, having decided shortly after the Stomp to stop finding reasons not to be. They'd been luckier than most, and that wasn't saying much.
Applejack continued, her message encompassing all of them. "That's them little baby steps ya'll gotta take. To try ahn become whole again. To try ahn find purpose. Ya gotta move on, ahn ya gotta keep movin' forward. Otherwise... well... might as well have let Grogar finish us all off."
Nodding, the other ponies in the circle agreed, sharing heartfelt thanks and some hugs between its more familiar members, before breaking with a promise to see one another next week. Applejack trotted back to the farm. How she wished she could've believed her own words, but as it was, she couldn't move forward. She just kept doing the same thing she'd always done. Worked the farm, protected the town, helped others where she could. It was who she was, it was what she did.
If she moved on from that... who was she?
Far away from Ponyville, on the other side of Equestria, a rocky terrain devoid of activity could be found, formerly the property of the Pie family. But with all of them vanished out of existence by the Stomp, the land had been left to tend to itself, and remained barren and lifeless. Indeed, its sole occupant was a small alligator by the name of Gummy, who remained at the old Pie Farmstead all by his lonesome.
Today, he'd mustered the energy to pad his way into the barn, where Cheese Sandwhich had parked his carriage, the very same one that the Pie family had been using for the experiments in Pie Particles, and passing into the Magical Realm of Quantum. On this very spot, Pinkie Pie had shrunk herself down to oblivion and vanished, while the remainder of her family (including Granite, Quartz, and Maud) had turned into dust. Gummy crawled up onto the carriage (no small feat for a diminutive alligator without teeth) and watched the center of the wagon forlornly. The magic circle where Pinkie Pie had vanished still remained, no sign of any change.
Idly, Gummy's tail flicked, knocking against a runestone...
... then there was a bright surge of light, so bright Gummy rolled back in astonishment, and who should appear in a bright red suit and helmet than Pinkie Pie herself, unchanged from when she had vanished five years ago. Her helmet flew open.
"I'm baaaaaack!" she announced cheerfully. "What'd I miss?!"
When no one answered but the cold winds blowing through the barn, Pinkie blinked, looking around.
"Where is everyone?"
Gummy being a great friend but a poor conversationalist, Pinkie Pie wasted no time zipping around the farm to look for her family. There wasn't a sign of any of them, but there was dust in abundance that made it look like a very long time had passed indeed. Far longer than the mere five hours she was sure she'd been gone for. It looked more like five years, but that was impossible, she thought to herself. Wasn't it?
She glanced up at you. Oh right, you guys know, but don't tell me just yet, okay?
Retracing her steps, Pinkie went back to the barn, hitching herself up to the carriage and going for a trip to find answers. Maybe she could find Cheese Sandwhich at Party Co. and see if he knew what had happened. But when she reached it, the whole place was shut down, the building abandoned. A lot of the cities and villages she passed were. Well, maybe not completely, but they looked overrun with foliage, lots of businesses out of business, people cold, quiet, keeping to themselves. Not at all like the normal happy ponies she was used to see.
She spotted one young colt passing by on his scooter, and waved over to him.
"Hey! Hey kid!"
Pipsqueak rolled to a stop, looking up at her with dull eyes.
"What the heck happened here?" asked Pinkie, pointing at all the nearby abandoned homes and missing pony signs everywhere.
The little colt just continued to stare at her, seemingly as if unsure of how to answer, but equally, as if the answer was as obvious. Like if Pinkie Pie asked what color the sky was.
Although at the moment, it was looking distinctly gray.
"So do I have to guess... or...?" Pinkie started to say, then her voice trailed off, as the colt just turned and pushed off, scooting his way down the street and away from her. Something told her she shouldn't follow. Something inside her told her things were... very, very wrong.
She needed answers, and fast.
In Canterlot, there was a memorial.
Titled "The Vanished" it listed all the ponies who had vanished during Grogar's stomp. Pinkie Pie zipped from one heavy stone to another, checking the carvings, hoping and yet desperate to see a name she recognized, or rather didn't recognize. The mourners around her barely paid her any attention, save to show some irritation when her constant movement was disrupting carefully laid bouquets and momentos from those who remained behind.
"Let's see, Cake, Cake, Cake... Mrs Cake... awww... wait a minute."
Pinkie Pie paused and did a double check, then took a long sip of a glass of water so she could do a proper spit-take.
Carved into the stone was her own name: Pinkamena Diane Pie.
"What the hay?"
Most of the Pies were gone, as well as the Cakes, Cheese Sandwhich, others. But two names she hadn't seen on the memorial, and that gave Pinkie hope as she sped towards Ponyville. She moved so fast she nearly slammed into the building she was running towards, banging her head against it in lieu of knocking.
A few moments later, the door was hesitantly opened, the knob encompassed in a soft blue glow, as a pale yellow unicorn pony tugged it open, unsure of what to make of the disheveled pink pony on the other side. But then, recognition, and the door opened entirely, revealing a filly on the cusp of her teenager years, with a cutie mark of silver horseshoe with a series of cyan interlacing lines within, making it look similar to a dream catcher. As she stepped out, another joined her in the entryway, a young colt, the same yellow coat with a darker brown mane and a pair of pegasus wings. His cutie mark was a silver horseshoe with a red heart at its center, enveloped by a pair of white wings. The two matched, making it obvious they were siblings.
It couldn't be, and yet it was.
"Pumpkin? Pound?" asked Pinkie, her lip quivering.
"Auntie Pinkie?" they echoed one another, unable to believe she was here. They'd been little more than toddlers when they'd last seen here, now here they were, five years later, having grown up so much. After so long thinking the others were gone, the three had been reunited. Pinkie Pie immediately threw her arms around both of them, tugging them close, as they did the same, all crying.
"You got so big!" Pinkie wailed, happy and sad and confused all at once.
Twilight's Friendship School had been repurposed. With so few ponies left no one had been interested in schooling, so the Avengers had re-taken it to use as their base of operations. Right now, deep in its command center, Rarity multi-tasked. Her horn was lit by a blue glow as she telekinetically knit herself a scarf, which was growing longer and longer all the time, as a means of stress relief. Meanwhile, she directed the glowing images of her comrades, who were far removed from the school at this time.
"So you boarded that warship I told you about last week?" the holographic image of Sunset Shimmer asked.
"Turns out it was just a garbage scow," Moondancer's image said, her gaze cross.
In addition to her sweater, she now sported her mane up in a messy ponytail and a pair of thick rimmed glasses. With some of her cybernetics failing and nopony on Equestria able to provide proper repairs, she'd had to resort to some odd and ramshackle means of keeping herself functional.
"So now we smell like garbage," she added bitterly. Angel Bunny crossed his arms and scowled in agreement with her.
"Sorry about that," Sunset Shimmer said, sounding for all the world sincere in her apology. "But you were closer."
Rarity glanced over at Pharanx, who was ruling the Changeling Hive was Regent (he had refused to allow them to call him King) and working to expand protection over the continent with the resources of the Hive and its vibranium.
"Did you get a good reading on those tremors that were reported in?"
He nodded. "It's a mild subduction under the coastal plate."
"Do we have a visual?" asked Rarity, suddenly anxious. "How are we handling it?"
The weary changeling gave her a look. "Rarity, it's an earthquake under the ocean, miles from civilization. We handle it by not handling it."
"Oh." She might have been getting a touch over-excited. But after months and years of dealing with problems they couldn't deal with, she'd been anxious to deal with one they could. Realizing they didn't need to bother with this particular natural disaster, she turned to check on their most wayward daughter, Sunset Shimmer. "Sunset, darling, will you be joining us here next month? We have a meeting."
"Not likely," the glowing mare replied.
"Why, too busy working on your mane?" grumbled the image of Spike, arms crossed.
Sunset glared his way. "Listen, drake, the things happening in Equestria are happening all across the universe, on thousands of planets. From Yakonia to Griffenstone to the Dragon Empire. It's a mess out here."
"... point," Spike conceded.
"So yeah, you may not see me for a long time," Sunset apologized, facing Rarity.
"Alright, alright, we understand. But this channel is always active. So if anything happens to go sideways, anyone's making trouble where they souldn't, it comes through me," the White Diamond told them.
"Got it."
One by one the images winked out, vanishing back into the ether. One, however, remained, that of the dimuntive purple dragon and his shiny steel armor, his wings idly flapping and his jetpack firing as he remained hovering in space at about Rarity's eye-level.
"Spike?"
"Saddle Arabia," he said, stating his location. "There was an ugly altercation with some terrorists... and their whole hideout was..."
He'd trailed off, but Rarity could do the math. "Rival insurgents?" she asked hopefully. Things had been a mess since the Stomp, whole governments and countries collapsing while thousands of little splinter groups and cults had been on the rise. "Maybe some of the Sphinx group?"
"It wasn't," Spike stated. "It was Derpy."
Their Hawkeye. Rarity had learned of the loss of her family, and like any good mother, the loss of her children had devastated the gray, wall-eyed mare. Something had broke inside of her. And now she was out there, taking out her sorrow on criminals and terrorists and monsters great and small. They'd even started to call her by a new, more ominous codename: the Punishmare.
"Rarity... that scene she left... I mean... part of me doesn't even want to find her."
She nodded dimly, agreeing with his reasoning. "We have to bring her in though." And hopefully talk some sense into her, she thought. "Will you find out where she's going next?"
"Rare..."
"Please?" she asked, her eyes widening as her lower lip quivered.
Unable to ever deny his lady such a request, Spike sighed, wings drooping a little. "Alright," he replied. "Signing out."
The holographic, magical image of Spike faded away, leaving Rarity alone.
Finally alone with her thoughts, Rarity allowed herself to relax. By which she meant break down completely. Hearing the report about Derpy had just been the straw that broke the pony's back, and she slumped into her fainting couch, setting aside her knitting (the scarf was now covering almost half the room, draped over various furniture) and levitated over a small tub of vanilla oatswirl. At this rate she was going to become as pudgy as a marshmallow, but honestly, did any of it matter anymore?
Rarity sniffled as she levitated the first bite to her mouth.
There was a polite knock on the floor nearby, as Applejack announced her presence. "Ya know, ah'd offer to cook dinner... but we're fresh outta apples... ahn ya'll look plenty miserable already."
Gulping down her ice cream, Rarity set aside the tub and spoon, wiping at her face, trying to look presentable. "Are you here to do your laundry again?"
"To check on ah friend," AJ replied.
"I'm fine," Rarity said, slipping off the couch and standing up, trying to project an aura of strength.
Applejack saw right through it, but changed the subject. "You know I saw a school of sea serpents when ah was comin' over the bridge."
"In the bay?"
"Fewer ships out, cleaner water. Cleaner everythin', really," she remarked.
Blue eyes narrowed. "You know, if you're going to tell me to look on the bright side, I'm going to have to hit you with my cucumber sandwhich," she levitated up the food in question, giving it a menacing shake. Applejack laughed, and after a minute, Rarity did too. A forced chuckle, but something to shake her out of her sorrow. At least for a little while.
"Sorry, force of habit," the orange farm pony said. "You know, ah keep tellin' everyone they should move on... ahn grow. Some do. But not us."
"If we move on, who does this?" Rarity asked, indicating the school. The very big, very empty school. Of course, she was also referring to the Avenger work they were still doing. Trying to keep a universe with half its population gone and the remainder a wreck was not easy.
"Maybe it doesn't have to be done," AJ suggested.
"I used to have nothing. Then I found this. This job, this family... and I was better because of it. And even though they're all gone... I'm still trying to be better... for their sake."
Sweetie Belle went unsaid, the name a ghost on Rarity's lips, afraid of being given life by voicing aloud. But Applejack picked up on it immediately. The two of them had much the same problem.
"We both need to get a lahfe," Applejack declared, giving a rueful chuckle.
One Rarity echoed. "Ya'll first," she said, with a passable imitation of AJ's southern drawl.
Together, their hearts were just a little lighter than they had been.
Authors Notes:
A somewhat messy death, I conceed, but without an axe seemed the best I could do for Rainbow Dash murdering Grogar.
With Pinkie being Ant-Man, and Maud being Wasp, the family dynamics shifted to make most of the Pies heroes, and the Cakes Pinkie's unofficial yet still beloved family of normals. Thus, Pumpkin and Pound Cake became Cassandra to show the passage of time. And maybe one day they'll be the next Ant-Mare and Wasp duo.
Someone pointed out that Hawkeye's stint as Ronan was very Punisher-esque (nevermind we have a Punisher in the netflix series) so I decided to roll with it. Sounds more appropriate than Ronin under these circumstances.
