“And with that, the last of Tirek’s evil has been undone,” Twilight said.

She and her friends were standing atop Canterlot, looking down upon the land of Equestria, whose residents had all been restored thanks to their combined powers. All of the ponies had their magic again, the buildings and cities that had been lost were restored and the Crystal Empire had finally stopped burning. It was a good day.

“Let’s hope it’s for good this time,” Rarity said, shaking out her mane and cancelling her Rainbow Power. “I hate having to fight brutes like that all the time. It is so unlady like.”

“Ha, bring em all on! Nothing like a good battle for the sake of ponykind to get the blood flowing,” Rainbow replied while taking some jabs at the air.

“I swear Dashie, sometimes you are such a brute.”

“I’m just glad we were able to save all of the lives that were lost to Tirek,” Fluttershy said with relief.

“Yeah, who knew blasting that dang centaur to ash would return all of the magic that he had stolen?” Applejack asked. “We should have done that the last time we fought him, avoid this whole mess and maybe keep our friends safe.”

“Speaking of friends, have any of you seen Tony?” Pinkie asked, looking around. “I mean, here we are celebrating our victory and yet he’s nowhere to be seen! We wouldn’t have arrived in time to stop Tirek if Tony hadn’t fended him off! He should be here with us.”

“Tony…something is wrong with him,” Twilight sighed, shaking her head. “Ever since Tirek he’s been off. He locked himself in my basement so he can repair his suit and when I teleported down there to talk to him, he gave me a look. Not cold, but…uncertain. Like he’s trying to figure something out but he doesn’t know what. But whatever happened with Tirek has shaken him.

“I’m not surprised. He was almost killed by Tirek. Even for a hero like him that has to be traumatizing,” Fluttershy said.

“Not to mention his suit, which he takes so much pride in was ripped apart like it was nothing. I now if I made an outfit like that and some manic ruined it, I’d be devastated,” Rarity agreed.

“Yer devastated if somepony says yer suits look alright.”

“How could you say that about my outfits?!”

“Pinkie’s right. Tony raced off ahead to face Tirek all on his own to protect us. Yeah, he pulled something the old me would of done, but he was trying to save us all the same,” Rainbow said. “He should be here with us celebrating.”

“Alright eveyrpony, give me a moment and I’ll-“

Twilight never finished her sentence. A flash of light went off, with Celestia and Luna appearing within it a moment later. “Ah, you are already gathered,” Celestia said. “That makes this easier.”

“Easier for what, Princess?” Twilight asked.

“Tony. He’s at our great-grandfather’s castle. And he…he seems mad,” Luna said. “He’s tearing apart the place, muttering to Jarvis about something and he won’t talk to any of us. Since you are his friends, we were hoping that you could talk to him. Maybe snap him out of this.”

“Of course, princesses. Let’s go.”

Celestia’s horn glowed once more and a moment later the eight ponies were at the castle. Twilight looked up with wonder at the ancient structure, about to ask if they could take a moment to study it. But Celestia shook her head and motioned for the others to follow her inside.

“There’s not much here, is there?” Pinkie asked as they walked through abandoned halls.

“Nearly everything of importance was moved out centuries ago, when our family left this castle for the one in Canterlot,” Luna explained. “The only reason the library was kept here was because the books could not be moved with magic and burst into flames if removed from the room. My sister and I are also the only ones that can take the books from their shelves. Apparently a kind of security feature our great-grandfather made to make sure nopony aside from family could read the books.”

“There must be a lot of important information if there are so many security features,” Fluttershy said.

“It is the history of Equestria,” Celestia said. “The history of our world and our timeline. But…there is not much information regarding before Gaea began to write down our history. The time before him…we have almost nothing.”

“Odd. Why would King Gaea not keep more detailed records?” Twilight asked.

“He was…ashamed of something in his past. What little he wrote about himself made that clear,” Luna said. “What he never said but it was there. We could read it in his notes and his words.”

“Do you have any idea what it might be?” Pinkie asked.

“All we know is that he said in his youth he acted out of vengeance and it would haunt him for the rest of his life,” Celestia said. “Alright, this is the library. Remember, my sister and I are his family, so only we can remove the books without them going up in flames. So no touching anything.”

“Why are you looking at me?”

“You know why, Dash.”

Celestia opened the door and led the group inside. The library was a two story paradise of books, scrolls, maps, letters and all other sources of paper and information that had been gathered over the millennia. Each piece was labeled and sorted with peak efficiency, with nothing out of place. None of the books even hung out of their shelves a bit. Everything was categorized so well that if Twilight had been looking at the books, she might have thought she had gone to heaven. But she wasn’t looking at the books.

She, like everypony else, was looking at the hole in the floor with a staircase that headed downwards.

“I take it that wasn’t there the last time you were here?” Twilight asked.

“Everypony behind me,” Celestia said as she took the lead. “Incredible. This staircase was hidden from all magic and senses. How could anypony find it?”

“Because they used technology.” The group all turned back to look at Pinkie, who was pointing at a boot print on the ground. A boot print that matched the size of only a single person…as their was only one person in Equstria.

“Tony found it? Figures. Let us see what he discovered.”

“I am kind of nervous, sister. If King Gaea had hidden this room, he must have done so for a good reason. What do you think it is?”

“We will find out soon.”

The group headed down the simple stairs, each of them wondering what they would find on the other side. The princesses thought of knowledge of the past. Some of the ponies thought of wealth. One hoped it was a new friend. Another hoped there was nothing at all. But all of them knew there was something down here. The staircase opened into a decent sized room, made with a stone the likes of which none of the princesses had ever seen. But, much like the library, nopony was looking at the room. The were looking at what immediately caught their eyes.

In the middle of the room sat a single table, with a single book in the center of it. A circle of magic surrounded it, preventing any from taking it. But it wasn’t the book that drew the attention of the ponies. It was everything else.

There was a map on one of the walls, a map of a world that was unfamiliar to the princesses, with cities and continents that didn’t match anything that had ever been known.

There was a glass case, with shattered shards of something metal inside of them. Iron Man was kneeling in front of this case, one hand placed up against the glass while his head was hung in grief and shame.

But none of the ponies went to comfort him or to see what was wrong. None of the ponies moved from the moment they had stepped into the room. For all at once their gaze had all been drawn by the mural that took up the entire back wall. For on that mural was an image that created an infinite number of questions while chilling the ponies to their core.

The mural was of a battle. Or rather, the end of a battle. On the right side was an alicorn of gray color with a fiery red mane and a look of absolute fury and hatred on his face. Around him floated the six Elements of Harmony, but in a shape that was unfamiliar to the ponies. They looked more like spheres or eggs. The pony looked like he was descending from above, with a beam of light shining behind him, creating the image of divinity. They all knew who it was. King Gaea, when he was very young.

But this paled in comparison to what was on the other side. The other side depicted burning cities in the background, with skeletons of humans scattered across the ground. Numerous children, some looking normal while others had mutations and powers cowered behind a single figure. A single figure who was standing against Gaea and all of his power, with a look on the humans face as if he knew this was his end, but would go down fighting regardless.

The man had white gray hair and was clearly very old. He wore a red suit with some purple armor and had a purple cape hanging behind him. In one hand he held a shield that was colored red, white and blue. In his other hand was a hammer, one that had lightning coming out of it and, even though it was only a painting, radiated a power that made the ponies shiver. And he stood alone, alone against a power the ponies knew all too well.

At the bottom of the mural, on a plate, was a single sentence.

‘The Last Stand of Humanity.’

“W-what is this?” Luna eventually managed to stammer out, looking around the room with disbelief. “What is all of this doing here? Why is there that image? And what…what is in that case? Tony, what have you found?”

Tony didn’t say anything. He simply mourned.

“Okay, let’s…let’s try to figure this out,” Celestia said, taking a breath to calm her nerves. “What we are looking at is…is a secret room that belonged to Gaea. And in here he has a book, some metal and a mural depicting him fighting humanity. If the title is anything to go by, this is…this is when he wipes out humanity.”

“But that can’t be,” Twilight interupted. “Because it looks like he’s using the Elements of Harmony to wipe out humanity! But the Elements can’t do that! They can only be used against evil or rage, and even then they don’t kill them. In the worst case all they do is turn them to stone! And it can’t be our Rainbow Power, because once again that magic only works on-“

“Not magic.”

All eyes in the room turned towards Tony, who was slowly getting up to his feet. He gazed for a moment at the glass case before he turned towards the ponies, his faceplate hiding his emotions. “Your Rainbow Power isn’t magic. Not the same kind as the Elements or the magic unicorns use. It’s so ungodly powerful and unstoppable that I’m not surprised you’d think it was magic. But it’s not, just like those six colors up there aren’t the Elements. Those are the source of your Rainbow Power. Those are what allowed the greatest heroes and villains of the universe to be defeated. Those are the most destructive and powerful sources in all the universe. Twilight, you and your friends power source is the very same thing that Gaea used to wipe out my species.”

“The Infinity Stones.”

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