//------------------------------// // Chapter 50 - This War of Ours // Story: This War of Ours // by JDPrime22 //------------------------------// Siberia HYDRA Rocket Test Area 9:36 a.m. Captain America looked to his right to see Rainbow Dash’s broken and bloody form sprawled out and unconscious. He lurched forward, palms gripping the frozen frost accumulating on the concrete. Practically coughing out his lungs, the Captain groaned as he placed one painful leg forward, choosing to rest for a moment on that one knee. Steve had to grasp his mind on the situation, as it slowly began to fade. The edges of his vision were beginning to blacken, the only noise being that of his struggling breath trying desperately to take in that much-needed oxygen. He rested his arms on his knee, shoulders slumped, chest in pain. Through his blurry vision, he could see droplets of crimson slowly falling. Aside from his breathing, he could hear them splatter against the concrete. And he also heard Tony Stark growl, “I was wrong about you.” Looking up weakly, Steve could see Stark’s face, his eye revealed through the shattered lens. He stood tall and powerful between him and Bucky, his body limp and unmoving behind Tony. Steve coughed, his face falling, his eyes shifting right once more. A small pool of blood began to build around Rainbow Dash, all of which leaking from the cuts on her face and the snap in her wing. Steve’s eyes widened in horror, but soon fell once he saw the slightest movement of life in her chest. A breath. A heartbeat. A life. “The whole world was wrong about you,” Stark finished. He grunted, reaching for the concrete pillar next to him to prop himself up. Tony just watched, fists clenched, blue eye flickering black, the other burning. “Stay down. Final warning,” he told him, watched as Steve managed to rise up, fists held out as if he was the losing man in a boxing match but refused to surrender. And he did. He held out his fists, breathed, and said, “I can do this all day.” He refused. Tony shot him right in the chest. Steve fell backwards from the force of the shot, landing in the snow and skidding a few more inches before he finally stopped. He tried to lift up his arms. He tried to move. He just couldn’t. He lied there and breathed, the falling snow already piling on top of him. Tony lowered his glowing palm after he saw the Captain remain motionless. He spun back around to Barnes, to finish what he started. But for some reason, some godforsaken reason, he was stopped. Again. The blast hit him in the back. The strongest one yet. Stark was launched forward, flipping over Barnes and hitting the wall directly ahead of him. His back hit the concrete with a solid clang of metal against cement, the rest of him falling to the ground below. Tony yelled as the pain rocked through his systems. Ultimately through his skin and bones. He closed both eyes and gasped as the feeling in his backside finally began to come back. Whatever the blast was, it left a pretty mark. The flashing lights in his HUD and Homer’s garbled voice were indicators of that. He shot out his hand, his palm glowing. He opened his eyes to whatever the hell struck him. His hand already fell when he saw Twilight. She stood ragged, wet, the snow on her coat melting from the fire in her soul. Rivers of blood flowed steadily from her mouth and nose, large, black and blue bruises painted across her face and body. Her wings were outstretched to him, to Tony, her seething breath ragged and painful. Her eyes, though, were the worse, holding no sense of structure. Just will, fury, and determination. All directed at Stark. He watched with incredulous eyes, possibly the worst of all, as she stood between him and Barnes. In a low, defensive pounce. Defensive. Pushing himself up, fist to the ground, Stark gasped for air. “What are you doing?” he asked, voice shaking, hardly kept together. Twilight breathed even worse than him, blood dripping from her lips. With a voice almost as hoarse as Stark’s, she said, “I won’t let you hurt Barnes.” Those words pierced right through him. He stared at her with eyes that were broken, filled with loss, and worst of all, betrayal. He could still stare at her and see the pony that risked herself and her own friends’ safety to bring Barnes to justice. Just seeing her stand against Tony, stand to defend the one who took so much from him, didn’t make much sense to him. He couldn’t understand. Barnes began to groan, his head moving slightly. He didn’t need to understand right now. He just needed to get to Barnes. Pushing himself to one knee, Stark shot his palm out. Twilight’s horn ignited a deep violet, the showers of sparks flowing over her vision. “Move…” Tony muttered. She didn’t listen, instead choosing to grit her teeth and narrow her eyes. Stark’s palm grew even brighter. Her horn was twice as bright. “Dammit, move!” She never did. Stark shot at her, the repulsor beam deflected as Twilight conjured a magical shield out in front of her. That shield morphed into a violet stream of magic, shooting toward Stark. He was ready and flew over to the far left, his feet stumbling as he landed. But he stood his ground, fired another repulsor that would not kill but knock Twilight away. She flew upwards, the repulsor missing her, as she fired another magical beam right for him. Tony did his best to dodge the blasts, but found it more and more difficult to do so as the battle waged on. Fighting Steve and Barnes was no issue, and dealing that final blow to Rainbow was justice served right in his eyes. But with Twilight… he couldn’t know. He had no quarrel. They had no issues. They stood together against the Captain’s radical journey. And now here she stood, fighting with whatever fight was left in her being to defend Barnes. They were all against him, choosing to help the murderer instead of their friend they fought through fire and blood with. Stark couldn’t even believe that. That’s why it was so much harder to keep the fight ongoing. Tony fired two repulsor blasts, each of which Twilight teleported out of their designated impact. She teleported close to him, Tony swinging down with a clenched metal fist that would’ve knocked her aside. But Twilight ducked, flying up and conjuring a magical shield to which she rammed against Stark’s face and chest. Staggering back, Tony raised his palm the second he saw Twilight’s horn ignite. He was too late to fire the repulsor when Twilight destroyed the light in his palm, glass and smoke raining out of his hand. He brought his hand back, his other raising just the same. And just the same, it was destroyed by Twilight’s magical blast. That’s when he realized it. He was holding back. Despite everything that this fight and stopping Barnes meant to him, he held back. He didn’t want to. He didn’t against Steve, Barnes, and Dash, but for Twilight… he had to. He needed to. Twilight, on the other hand, didn’t. With both of his palms destroyed, Twilight moved in and struck him while he was immobilized. She fired an onslaught of magical beams of raw, unhindered energy. The first blast struck the side of Tony’s knee, ripping off the metal plating and exposing the leg beneath. Tony screamed and buckled, the loss of strength in his leg from the blast doing everything that Twilight intended. The second and third blast both struck Stark’s helmet, completely blowing off his mask and sending the helmet skittering across the concrete. Tony’s head shot backwards from that, his exposed face cringing at the continued raining fire. The fourth blast, and by far the strongest one yet, was aimed directly at Stark’s chest. Specifically, at the large crack within his Arc Reactor. Twilight screamed. The spell struck his chest with such power and ferocity that Stark bellowed a painful cry as it tore apart the Arc Reactor in a flurry of sparks and flame that shot out of his chest. Tony collapsed, falling on his backside with his eyes to the ceiling, a dark smoke trailing from the even darker hole on his chest. When the madness faded into nothing, all that was heard was their breathing. Stark’s breathing. Barnes’ breathing. Steve’s breathing. Even Rainbow’s near-silent breathing. All alive. Twilight’s breathing was heavy. Exhausted. Her horn finally died, the magic spent as she finally took the time to relax. The fight, the conflict, the war, what have you, was done. Was over. Twilight closed her eyes, let the blood fall, and took in a deep, calming breath. The calmest she’s ever had. When she opened her eyes to see the light of the Earth slip through the many pillars, she could see Stark struggling to prop himself up. With his suit just a weighty pile of metal without the Arc Reactor, Tony leaned on his elbow. He watched Twilight approach him slowly, limping every step of the way. So very slowly. He could see the heavy build of blood and bruise beneath her eyes, her ragged breath finally calm after so long. He did nothing but watch her come to his side, breathing, lips parted, staring at the floor. She looked at him. She saw the awestruck expression on his bloody and broken face. He saw the tears. She said, “I’m sorry.” And Stark said nothing. He was utterly speechless. The silent didn’t stay that way. Twilight looked behind her once she heard the painful grunts, followed by the sound of boots crushing small piles of snow. She spotted Steve gripping the edge of the nearest pillar, his free hand to his chest, his eyes to her. Even Twilight was surprised when she directed her head to the outside and said, “Just leave.” He was frozen by her statement, even more distraught to see Tony Stark lying before her, his suit torn. Utterly defeated. Steve didn’t waste any more time, his eyes turning away from Twilight’s burning ones. He was given the chance, and he wouldn’t let it slip. He never would. He helped up Bucky to his feet, his friend slowly but surely regaining consciousness and helping himself to stand on his own. He limped with Barnes to the snowy pillars, where Steve hissed in pain as he bent down and scooped up Rainbow’s motionless form. He gently placed her over his shoulder, his free arm wrapped around Buck’s. With the two in his grasp, Steve limped his way to the outside. But he stopped. Twilight watched him do so. She and Tony could only watch as he looked back inside. Looked back to his shield lying against the frozen surface of the concrete floor. He struggled to hold his friends, his gaze lingering to his shield. And they watched him leave it. The rest was history long past them, rather to be forgotten, but never will. Tony could see Steve one last time as he carried his allies, his friends out into the snowstorm. The whiteness hugged their forms until they were nothing but shadows. And even then they faded. Tony grunted and leaned forward, palm pressed down to keep himself up, holding himself to a sitting position with his legs sprawled out unevenly. He looked to Twilight. She looked back. He simply asked one question to her. “Why?” So simple. And she answered, “It was the right thing to do.” Letting that grasp his heart and tear it to shreds, Tony fell back, his hand giving out, his back quickly approaching the cement. Tony could feel as she pulled him back to his sitting position earlier. No magic. Her hooves gripped his palm, her face contorting into painful effort as she pulled him back up. As he sat back up, Tony stared down below. Straight forward. At the snow slipping inside past the pillars and landing on the bright red, white, and blue shield. The scratches, the slick surface, the bright colors. Whenever he stared at that damn thing, he always remembered that man who idolized the Captain wielding it. The man who built it. Tony looked away from it as fast as he could and stared at the floor. He didn’t know how long he stared. It wasn’t long, because he could already feel the wetness building before he looked away from the shield. The tears that started to fall came later. Twilight stared at the man sitting next to her. The broken man, his eyes shut tight, fresh tears slipping out and falling down. It was the first she ever saw from him, the first shattered expression of emotion from Tony Stark. She soon followed suit, tears mixing with the dried blood on her face and falling to join Stark’s on the bloody floor beneath him. She leaned forward and nuzzled the man for comfort. For him and herself. The snow and wind flew inside, but they didn’t care nor hear it. All Tony really heard was Twilight constantly whispering sorry to him again and again.