A hushed silence fell upon Canterlot as the invaders slowly retreated much to the confusion of the defenders. They all realized that victory had not been obtained, but rather they had been defeated.

"Where'd he go?" asked Steve, walking around trying to find Grogar. "Where'd he go?"

"Steve?" called a voice and Steve turned around to see his friend, Bucky Barnes, slowly starting to disintegrate before his eyes. Before Steve could react, the resurrected World War II veteran with a metal arm collapsed with his body disappearing leaving only his weapon behind.

"No," whispered Steve, realizing what was happening. "Not again. It's Thanos all over again."

Within moments of Bucky's disappearance various legions of royal guardsponies, many of whom had been fighting to the death also started to disappear, their weapons clattering to the ground.

"Up, Spider Woman, up," whispered T'Challa, creeping over to Julia's side. "This is no place to surrender

Watching in horror, Julia saw the King of Wakanda and the warrior known as Black Panther disappear before her eyes and slowly began to feel the worst…that her daughter was also being affected.

"Oh, God," Julia whispered.

At that moment, Rocket raced over towards Groot, who was also beginning to slowly disappear.

"I am Groot," the humanoid tree whispered weakly.

"No, no, no, Groot," Rocket cried as he watched his fellow Guardian disappear. "No, not again."

But the pleas of mercy were being ignored as Shining Armor held his stricken wife tightly while Scarlet Witch, lying on the floor of Canterlot Castle, slowly disintegrated. Back outside, Sam Wilson, Vapor Trail and Sky Stinger struggled to get to their feet only for Vapor to watch in shock as her best friend and the human known as Falcon crumbled into dust.

"Sky, Sky!" Vapor screamed, crawling back against a wall and recoiling in terror. Her screams were being heard by Jim Rhodes, who dashed over to Vapor's side. The timid Pegasus pony merely buried herself in Jim's War Machine armor and sobbed. Even Jim couldn't believe what he was seeing. His comrade in arms was gone again.

Racing onto the scene, Starswirl and the rest of the pillars gathered and were horrified to what they were seeing.

"Everypony's…disappearing…" gasped Starswirl, only to turn and see Rockhoof also starting to turn into dust. "Rockhoof!"

Then, he noticed Flash Magnus also turning into dust followed by Mage Meadowbrook. The greatest sorcerer in Equestria felt his knees tremble as he raced towards Canterlot Castle and busted the doors wide open.

"Princesses!" he cried, bending down at their level. "What…are you all right?"

"Starswirl," whispered Celestia, looking up weakly at her mentor. "We're…sorry."

Starswirl's eyes welled with tears as he saw Celestia and Luna starting to also turn into dust. The two royal sisters kept their eyes on him as they disappeared and at that moment, Cadence was also disintergrating much to Shining Armor's horror.

"I…love you," whispered Cadence.

"Cadence, no! NO!" screamed Shining Armor, losing control of his emotions and sobbing over his wife's sudden departure. "NO!"

The cries of the Prince of the Crystal Empire only added to the agony of Grogar's actions and at that moment, Tempest also recoiled in horror as Razzle Fizzle also began to disappear.

"Razzle, no! Come back!" cried Tempest Shadow as she watched her flesh and blood disappear.

…

Back at the Castle of Friendship, the Student Six were helping the injured back towards the Castle when Mantis suddenly looked up at the sky.

"Something's happening," she said and disappeared. Drax was the next to disappear, his face in a blank stare and his eyes locked onto Quill and Gamora. Realizing that either one of them could be next, Quill and Gamora hugged one another before Quill was the next to disappear.

"Tony," said Dr. Strange, weakly as Tony glanced over at him. "There was no other way."

With those words, Dr. Strange joined the ranks of the disappeared.

"Mr. Stark?" called Peter and Tony turned towards his protégé down on his knees and shivering. "I…don't feel so good. It's happening again, Mr. Stark! Please, I don't want to go! I don't want to go!"

Tony limped over towards his protégé, not wanting to see him disappear again. But, it was too late, Peter leaned forwards and then on his side, his eyes locked onto Tony's. With tears still streaming down his face, the youngest member of the Avengers was gone. Tony felt sick to his stomach. His protégé had disappeared before his eyes again.

…

Seeing this, Tony turned over to the weakened Twilight who was being helped back to her castle by the Student Six.

"Hang on, Headmare," grunted Sandbar. "We'll get you help."

"Come on," cried Gallus, trying to keep Twilight off of the ground. "We're almost there!"

But before they could reach the castle, Ocellus suddenly felt a lack of feeling in the back of Twilight's legs.

"No! No!" screamed the young Changeling, followed by Silverstream and then Smolder. Watching in horror, the Student Six saw Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship and their mentor for that matter, join the ranks of the disappeared.

"What's happening?" cried Silverstream. "WHAT'S HAPPENING?!"

All Tony could do was stare at the hysterical hippogriff in disbelief and heartache. He then turned around to see Spike and Neighsay also watching the whole episode play out before them.

"He did it," sighed Gamora, also heartbroken over the loss of her lover. "Emperor Grogar did it. He carried out his threat."

…

Back in Tambeleon, Emperor Grogar returned to his throne room and immediately looked out a window, seeing his donkey minions chain and imprison the creatures transported to his kingdom. The demonic goat could only gloat with satisfaction over what he had done.

"Look down, Scarface," he said to his pet grizzly. "Do you see? What I have been waiting for over a thousand years for has finally come to pass. This is certainly a glorious day for Tambeleon."

Just then, the doors to the throne room opened and Ebony Maw slowly walked inside.

"My emperor," he said with Grogar's back towards him. "The Four Alicorns are among the captured. Shall I bring them in?"

"Yes," Grogar replied. "Bring them all in so that my trophies can be prominently displayed in my throne room."

Making a gesture, Ebony Maw motioned for several donkeys to bring the four alicorns inside. The four powerless alicorns had been turned to obsidian statues with Celestia, Luna and Cadence in the same positions they were in when they were turned to stone by Tempest Shadow when the Storm King invaded Canterlot.

"Welcome ladies," Grogar remarked mockingly towards the statues. "I warned you what would happen if you didn't surrender to me right away. Well, here you are in your new home with me as your superior! As of now, your subjects shall no longer look up to you as their savior, no. For today, Equestria has a new savior in me and a new capital in Tambeleon! So, get used to being second best or else!"

"Sire, what about the other prisoners?"

"Leave them in the dungeons for now, Ebony Maw," remarked Grogar. "I shall deal with them later. In the meantime, I must reward my comrades for all their hard work in helping me get what I want. Bring them to me at once!"

With Grogar's victory, the darkness of Tambeleon began to spread beyond its borders. Soon, all of Equestria would be engulfed in it.

…

However, at that moment in the human world, a former protégé of Princess Celestia named sensed a strong disturbance as she suddenly awoke from a sound sleep.

"Something's happened in Equestria," she cried, her eyes wide awake and her face dripping with sweat. "I haven't felt this much anxiety since…I don't know when."

Little did the former protégé know of the storm she and her human friends were about to get caught up in…