The battle to defend the Elements of Harmony from Emperor Grogar and the Mean 6 was beginning to take its toll on its defenders. Now, only Iron Man and the Hulk stood in his way with the other either also hurt or preoccupied with the remaining members of the Mean 6.

Letting out a loud roar, the Hulk charged at Grogar and threw a few punches at the demonic goat. However, Grogar merely grabbed the giant green monster with his horns and butted him several times. Struggling to get to his feet, Tony realized that unless if he did something, Bruce was going to be killed.

"Tony," gasped Twilight, her body covered with cuts and bruises. "We need to surrender."

"No," Tony gasped back to Twilight. "We do what we have to do, even if we end up dying."

Tony watched as the Hulk was beaten down while smiling evilly. With the Hulk disposed of, Grogar once again directed his attention towards the Castle of Friendship. However, Tony wasn't giving up. Activating his damaged armor once more, Tony charged towards Grogar and fired several blasts at him. In response, Grogar used the Chaos Gauntlet to protect himself from the blasts.

"You just don't know when to quit, is that it?" Grogar remarked, his patience running thin. But Tony wasn't listening. Grogar used the gauntlet to punch Tony several times, cracking his already damaged armor.

Still, Tony refused to lose as Grogar punched his armor's faceplate, revealing the wounded Tony underneath it. Quickly covering his face, Tony used his iron shield in an effort to protect himself from Grogar's blows. Twilight tried to get up and help, but her strength was almost gone. With Twilight injured, her evil counterpart headed towards the remaining defenders.

"Time to end this little farce!" she shouted and letting out a loud yell, Evil Twilight fired a powerful blast of dark alicorn magic at the remaining defenders, knocking out Quill, Drax, Gamora and Mantis. Spider Man noticed this and tried to help, but Evil Twilight was quick to act, firing a blast of her dark alicorn magic at Spider Man, finally taking him down for the count.

Seeing that the rest of the defenders were subdued, Grogar turned his attention back towards Iron Man. But no one was prepared for what Grogar said next.

"Stark," he whispered, causing Tony's eyes to widen in surprise.

"You know me?" he gasped.

"I do," Grogar remarked. "Thanos always said that you weren't the only one cursed with knowledge."

Having none of this, Tony activated a light spear and snarling like a wild animal, attempted to stab Grogar with it. However, Grogar used his magic to take the blade of the spear and stab Tony in the stomach. Gasping for air, Tony looked up at Grogar and prepared to accept whatever fate was in store for him.

"When I'm done," Grogar whispered to Tony, pulling his head up. "Half of Equestria will be under my control in Tambeleon."

"You…could…" Tony struggled to say through his pain.

"I hope they remember you."

But before Grogar could deliver the final blow on Tony, a weakened voice called out to him.

"STOP!"

Grogar turned to see Twilight struggle to her feet and walk over towards him. This gave Grogar a sense of amusement.

"Spare his life," she gasped. "And I will give you the Elements of Harmony…"

"And?" Grogar whispered, an evil grin coming back onto his face.

"Along…"

"Go on, Princess."

"…all of my alicorn magic."

"Twilight, no!" cried Tony painfully. "You don't know what you are doing."

But Twilight wasn't listening. To her, this was a matter of life and death that couldn't be ignored. Using what was left of her magic, Twilight casted a spell on the tree, removing the Elements much to the shock of Spike and Chancellor Neighsay.

"What's happening?" gasped Spike as he and Neighsay gave each other worried looks. "The elements! They're disappearing!"

With a look of defeat on her face, Twilight produced the elements in front of Grogar as Tony tried to protest Twilight's actions. Turning his attention towards Twilight, Grogar rang his bell and activating his horns, began to absorb all of Twilight's alicorn magic. Screaming loudly in pain, Twilight felt the power being drained out of her while her fallen comrades couldn't help but watch.

Finally, Twilight's cutie mark disappeared from her flank and she finally collapsed with her eyes shut. Tony and the rest of the defenders couldn't believe what had just transpired before them.

With the elements obtained, Grogar placed them in his chaos gauntlet, each one making a clinking sound.

"At last," he laughed, looking down at the Elements of Harmony now in his possession. "They are mine! The Elements of Harmony are mine at last!"

As Grogar laughed in his victory, Spike and Neighsay raced out of the castle and looked up in horror at what just happened.

"It can't be," gasped Neighsay. "It just can't be!"

"Twilight," whimpered Spike, tears forming in the corners of his eyes.

Just then, Grogar felt another series of blasts strike him and turned around to see Quill flying rapidly towards him. Having obtained the first part of his victory, Grogar casted a spell and disappeared into a vortex before Quill could catch him.

"WHERE IS HE?!" he screamed, pointing his laser wildly before realizing what had just transpired. His look of determination suddenly turned to a look of shock and disbelief.

"Did…did we just lose?"

Tony looked weakly over towards Twilight as he tried to heal himself of his stab wounds.

"Why would you do that?" he wondered in disbelief. "Seriously, Twilight, why would you do that?"

But Twilight was too weak to answer. Her magic was gone, in the possession of Grogar.

"Tony," said Dr. Strange, weakly looking over to him. "We're in the endgame now, Grogar's endgame."

…

Back in Canterlot, the defenders had been pushed back into the city and both Tempest Shadow and the Storm King continued their fierce duel against each other. Now, the Storm King had another opponent to face, Steve Rogers himself.

"Look dude," remarked the Storm King, clutching his staff tightly. "I don't know who you are or what you are, but this is between me and her, okay? Vamoose!"

"No, not until you are dead," Steve replied and charged towards the Storm King, striking him with his shield repeatedly. Tempest watched as the Storm King continued to be struck repeatedly over and over again. Finally, the Storm King grabbed his staff and slashed at Steve, striking him across the face and knocking him to the ground.

"You okay?" asked Tempest helping him up.

"This guy's nuts," answered Steve as the Storm King attempted to stab him. Suddenly, he felt the staff being pulled out of his hands. Turning around, he saw Groot with the staff in his vines.

"Hey! Give me that before I cut you down!" cried the Storm King, turning all of his attention towards the humanoid tree.

"I am Groot," Groot said, looking over at Steve.

"I'm Steve Rogers," Steve replied.

Suddenly, a loud rumbling shook the streets of Canterlot and much to the surprise of all, the invading army suddenly began to pull back from fighting. Realizing what this meant, the Storm King grabbed his staff from the distracted Groot, throwing him aside.

"What is that rumbling?" cried Cozy Glow as she and Tirek stopped fighting against Starswirl, Rockhoof and Flash Magnus. The Pegasus filly was somewhat nervous, but Tirek felt happy at what was happening.

"He has done it, Cozy Glow," he remarked.

"Did what?"

"Emperor Grogar has obtained the Elements of Harmony," added Tirek. "We must fall back now for the final act!"

"Impossible," gasped Starswirl as he and the other pillars watched them leave. "The elements are in Grogar's hooves. But how?"

"I don't know," added Flash Magnus, looking up at the darkening sky. "But something tells me we are about to get an unwelcome visitor."

…