Summoned to the throne room, Twilight and her Avenger bodyguards immediately looked up to the worried Celestia and Luna who had also been notified of what happened to the Changelings. It didn't matter if their armor was already making them uncomfortable, the two sisters were demanding answers.

"How many are dead and how many are alive?" asked Celestia, worriedly looking over at them.

"100 dead and 100 wounded but alive," answered Dr. Strange. "This is clearly a case of trying to weaken any possible hope of us having any extra support."

"How do you know…?" Luna started to ask, but Strange gave her a look that stopped her from speaking any further. "That's right, you can see all in the future."

"The fact of the matter is that Grogar is already onto weakening us right away by attacking our allies," said Tony. "I say we strike now before it is too late."

"Remember that we cannot leave Canterlot undetected," remarked Dr. Strange, but Tony wasn't going to hear it. As far as he was concerned, he had an obligation to do whatever it could to protect Canterlot and his newly minted company building along with everypony and everycreature in it. "In light of what happened with the Changelings, I do have a suggestion for us to follow even though it won't be a favorable idea."

Hearing that it was an unfavorable idea didn't bode well with everyone in the throne room.

"We give Grogar what he wants."

"Are you insane?" cried Tony, shocked and disgusted by what he heard. "Handing everything to a demonic goat on a silver plate? I mean, have you lost your magical mind?"

"It might be the only way," replied Dr. Strange, looking back to Tony with an unfazed expression on his face. "If there is one thing I learned from our war with Thanos is that material objects don't matter."

"Yeah, well, this isn't just material objects, Doctor. These ponies have already gone through the wringer enough already. The last we want them to see is to just surrender to Grogar and his goons so easily. If there is one thing that I learned from fighting Thanos, is that these guys won't rest until they least see some bloodshed. I say, we fight until we can't fight no more. Who here agrees with me?"

Tony waited and waited for a response from everyone in the throne room with Peter, Twilight and Bruce raising their hoof and hands.

"And as for you two," continued Tony, turning his attention to Celestia and Luna. "I suggest we put you into large amounts of protection. If Grogar gets close enough to you…"

"We fight alongside you," said Celestia, firmly much to Dr. Strange's chagrin. "Not wanting us to fight is something Grogar will be expecting us to do."

"I agree with my sister," added Luna. "Besides, he won't honor his word."

Dr. Strange wanted to protest, but he knew he was hopelessly outmatched. They were going to fight whether he liked it or not.

"Very well," sighed Dr. Strange, shrugging his shoulders. "We'll do it your way. But if anything happens to you and your magic…"

But Dr. Strange couldn't finish his sentence and instead opened up the portal to return to Twilight's castle. Tony, Peter, Bruce and Twilight followed suit. However, Twilight took one last hard look at Celestia, realizing that this could have been the last time they would see each other.

Both Celestia and Luna for that matter.

…

Back at Twilght's castle, Tony was still trying to come to terms with Strange's decision.

"You really are insane, you know that, doctor?" he remarked as they stepped out of the portal and back into Twilight's castle. "Material things don't matter?"

"Don't forget I returned the favor when Thanos had you within an inch of your life," replied Dr. Strange, looking at Tony with a firm gaze. "I gave him the time stone in exchange for your life. You taught me something then, Tony and now, I am showing what I have learned."

It didn't matter to Tony whether or not Dr. Strange was showing him what he learned. He still had a matter of duty to protect high ranking creatures from harm.

"But…but, Grogar is like Thanos, but much worse."

"That's because you haven't seen how dangerous he really is. I've been looking into several futures and there is only one way to defeat Grogar…out of a million possible outcomes."

A sense of déjà vu came back to Tony for this was a situation that they were all in once before. Just then, Quill, Gamora and Drax came into the castle.

"Barriers are up," said Drax. "We should be able to hold our ground."

Quill then noticed the distress on both Tony and Strange's faces.

"Did I miss something here?" Quill asked.

"We…we were just having a normal and civil disagreement," stammered Tony, trying to cover up what was going on. "Nothing much."

"I find that hard to believe," remarked Gamora, who then noticed Twilight walking past them and into her throne room. Little did any of the remaining Avengers or Guardians of the Galaxy know that Twilight was preparing for a possible outcome: a life without her mentor or worse…her friends.

…

With her mind full of conflicted feelings, Twilight sat down in her throne room and looked up at the roots of her former home, the Golden Oak Library. All she could do was let out a deep sigh, knowing of whatever outcome was coming her way. But, her solitude wouldn't last long for at that moment, the doors opened to reveal Chancellor Neighsay on the other side.

"Princess?" he asked in a low voice, interrupting Twilight's deep thoughts. "Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you."

"That's all right, Chancellor. The barriers are up, I see?"

"They are, though I wish I could say that they were not," replied Neighsay. "In fact, I can't help but think of what the outcome is going to be myself. You know something, Princess?"

"What?" Twilight asked as Neighsay sat down on Spike's throne.

"Ever since my brother was executed," replied Neighsay. "I've been doing a lot of thinking of how low I have gotten. I discriminated non-pony creatures as threats to Equestria, tried to shut down and seize the School of Friendship from you and run it by EEA doctrine among other things. I can't help but feel of how stupid I was."

"And that is why you joined forces with Dr. Strange," wondered Twilight, guessing what Strange was telling her. "To redeem yourself for your past actions."

"For so long, I have been meaning to redeem myself in any way possible," continued Neighsay. "In fact, part of me feels like the only answer I can find is if I leave this world behind forever."

Twilight felt stunned by this, guessing right then and there that Neighsay was considering the unthinkable method of dying in order to find peace.

"Don't talk like that, Chancellor," cried Twilight, coiling back in surprise. "We're going to win this war. You've got to believe that."

"Heh," chuckled Neighsay. "That's easier said than done, I suppose."

Twilight couldn't tell the Chancellor what to say, but she could tell from his body language that Neighsay was suffering inside because of his past actions and that the only way he could be healed was not by being turned to stone like Discord or hanged like Instant Justice, but by going to the afterlie in as natural a manner as possible…