"How could the elements be corrupted?" cried Celestia as she paced back and forth in front of Luna. "I thought that the tree of harmony could protect itself from even an ounce of evil! Something must have happened to it."

"Or somepony must have tried to take the elements off of the tree," wondered Luna, sitting up in her throne. "Colonel Rhodes, were you absolutely sure that the elements were indeed corrupted?"

"We are certain of it, Princesses. If there is any reason to believe, we think your cheese legs enemy is behind it."

This made Celestia growl in anger. Neither she nor Luna could believe what they were hearing in front of them.

"Chrysalis, I should have known! Luna, this time she has gone too far! I want her hunted down and brought here at once."

"Sister, she's protected by Grogar and thus, will be impossible to be stopped. In any way, we have the best chance of stopping her in the battle ahead…if it ever happens, of course."

"Then…we'll let them come and destroy them," Celestia concluded, hastily. "T'Challa has reported that his Wakandan forces are already building up their strength day by day and most ponies have already evacuated."

Luna began to grow worried of her sister's descent into madness and so was Jim. In fact, he too was beginning to worry for Celestia. He had a duty to protect her even if it was from herself. Just then, Steve Rogers came into the throne room with urgent news.

"Most of the evacuations are nearly complete," he said. "However, about 200 have volunteered to fight. Most of those who volunteered are either veterans of the royal guards or are physically fit to fight."

"What about T'Challa's Wakandan forces?" asked Celestia.

"They are taking up their positions by the end of the day," answered Steve. "In fact, T'Challa was kind enough to loan me a new shield to be used in the fighting."

And Steve showed off a new shield with his all too familiar star-shaped logo on it.

"Actually, Cap," said Jim, walking over to Steve. "If there are any more evacuations to be done, then we have to speed them up."

"Why?"

"The elements of harmony have been corrupted," answered Luna. "They can still function, but they are more vulnerable to fall into evil forces."

"The sooner we confront Grogar, the better," sighed Celestia. Acknowledging her order, Steve left the throne room to resume overseeing the evacuations.

Once Steve was gone, Celestia walked over to the window and saw groups of ponies being evacuated from Canterlot. Many of them were families, wives and young foals being loaded onto train after train to safety. Those who had chosen to fight were placing themselves on the castle walls.

"The Crystal Empire has already evacuated most of its citizens," remarked Luna to Celestia, reading a latest scroll. "What do we do now?"

"I don't know, sister. All we can do is just prepare for the fight ahead. It doesn't matter what happens now, whoever makes the first move first will start the battle."

Hearing this, Luna turned to Jim and motioned for him to come forward.

"Colonel Rhodes," she ordered. "I want you to bring Princess Twilight here at once. There is going to be an emergency meeting."

Nodding in reply, Jim took to the air and flew out of the throne room, leaving the royal sisters alone.

…

Over at Stark Enterprises' Equestrian division, Starlight continued to have her interview with Tony and Julia about piloting the hulkbuster armor.

"So you used to run a village where everypony wears the same cutie mark?" asked Tony, taking in what Starlight had said. "You must have had some pretty strong magic, I suppose."

"You might say I was gifted to have it," chuckled Starlight, nervously. "In fact, I can do anything as long as its for the benefit of Equestria and not my own."

"Well, right now, you'd be doing this for the benefit of Equestria mostly," remarked Julia. "But, as a contractor of Stark Enterprises. If we win this battle, we'll pay you well."

"I don't want money, Miss Carpenter," said Starlight, firmly. "All I want is to protect my friends from harm and nothing more."

Both Tony and Julia glanced over at each other, knowing that they had found their pony.

"Well, you will be our pilot of the hulkbuster armor then, I suppose. Can you report at sundown tonight for duty?"

"Why?"

"Because Grogar can attack at any time and we will be ready for it. Understand?"

Heeding this order, Starlight accepted her fate and walked out of the interview where Trixie was waiting.

"So, how did it go?" Trixie asked nervously.

"I got it," answered Starlight, excitedly but nervously. "But, as a contractor."

This made Trixie's grin disappear into a look of confusion.

"Uh, what?"

"That means I'm to be paid for just this one time. However, all I care about is protecting you and all my friends from harm not whether I get paid or not."

So, Trixie and Starlight both embraced the fact of Starlight's new role, but whether it would end up being successful remained to be seen.

…

Elsewhere, Twilight had Peter and all of the Student Six in her office at the now closed School of Friendship trying to process their decision to fight.

"I just can't believe you want to do this," she remarked. "We are going to be fighting against a dangerous force where somepony is going to get hurt or worse killed."

"If we die, we die together, Headmare Twilight," said Sandbar firmly.

"Yona good at fighting skills," added Yona, demonstrating some fighting moves.

"Dragons may not like ponies, but this is going to be an exception," added Smolder. "I've learned a lot in just a short time here at school. I got to meet you all and form a special bond that cannot be broken."

"Forming bonds is one thing, but sacrificing your lives for others is extremely risky," cautioned Twilight, who could feel her emotions bottle up inside of her. "If anything were to happen you, I don't know if I can live with myself."

"Mr. Stark would say the same thing to me, Princess Twilight. He once said that if I were to ever die, it would be on him. But, this is a risk I am willing to take because you can't be a friendly neighborhood Spider Man if there is no neighborhood."

Just then, a scroll appeared in front of Twilight that came from Princess Celestia. Before she could read it, Dr. Strange magically appeared in front of Twilight.

"You're needed in Canterlot," he said and Twilight got up and followed him. "Let's go."

Looking back at her students, Twilight nervously turned her attention to following Dr. Strange through the portal. Once she was gone, all Peter and the student six could do was wait for whatever was coming next.

…

Meanwhile, Rachel was aboard a train being taken to an evacuation site. Next to her were the three Cutie Mark Crusaders, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle.

"Nervous?" asked Scootaloo, looking up at Rachel.

"Very," answered Rachel. "I'm just the daughter of a Chief Operating Officer who only came here to be with my mother. Do you think I asked to fight? No, I didn't. I wonder how my mom is going to react when she finds out I was evacuated."

She would find out soon enough.

…