//------------------------------// // Chapter 38 - Visions of the Past, Present, and Future // Story: This War of Ours // by JDPrime22 //------------------------------// Leipzig, Germany Leipzig Airport 2:11 p.m.   “Nice job, kid,” Tony Stark congratulated, looking back to the Spider-Man. “Also, nice extra bit with the web on Dash’s mouth. It really ties the room together; gives a bit of peace and quiet for the time being.” Being no stranger to Rainbow’s generous glare, Stark ignored it—as well as everybody else—to turn their attention to the kid in the bright red and blue outfit. He definitely stuck out, more so than the Captain and Iron Man, but definitely not more than the four ponies. Thank God there weren’t any civilians around. They’d be crowding the airport just to get a look at the spectacle. That, and thank God they weren’t around for the inevitable conflict that the Captain knew would arise. Rising up, the Captain’s shield in hand, Peter Parker smiled under his mask, his mask’s white eyes growing at the compliment. “Thanks! Well, I was also gonna take off Daredevil’s mask, but the new suit it kinda… freaked out,” he began to explain, quickly shaking his hand to Stark. “N-not to say that the suit is bad by any means, Mr. Stark! It’s amazing, really! Thank you!” “You couldn’t take off my mask if you wanted, kid,” Daredevil said aloud, Steve’s head swiveling his way. Spider-Man turned to him, saying, “No offense, but I’m pretty sure I could. You believe me, right, Ca...?” Steve’s weak smile still held, his attention centering on him. When he didn’t answer, Peter’s anxiety began to take over at the continued silence. Standing just feet ahead of him was his idol, the superhero he would read about every day since he was kid. Heck, he still had all of the Captain’s vintage comic books and trading cards in his closet that he… sometimes read on the weekends. Every weekend. He tried to compose himself, he tried to act mature, but his inner—and outer—nerd began to leak, spilling for all the Avengers and the Equestrian Ambassadors to see. Ah, who cares? It was freaking Captain America standing right in front of him! Like the nervous wreck he was, Peter silently thanked God that he was wearing a mask so no one could see the sweat pouring down his face. He saluted like an idiot to Steve Rogers, stuttering, “Cap… Captain Am-Am-America… Big fan… I’m I-I-I-I’m S-Spider-Man. Nice to meet you, sir.” Steve’s smile grew a little bigger. “We don’t want to… conversate right now, kid,” Tony quickly told him. Peter quickly waved to the rest of the group. “Yeah, good job.” A sudden and very loud rip later, Rainbow Dash yelled in pain, clutching her lips as she dropped the strand of webbing that had previously covered her mouth. With everyone’s eyes on her, Dash turned her heated stare over to the one who had silenced her earlier. She pointed a daring hoof at Spider-Man, shouting, “Just who in the hell do you think you are, you little punk?!” “Spider-Man,” he replied. “I’ll give you my business card after we’re done here.” “You think you can just spit some webs on me and get away with it, you… you… pajama-wearing… prepubescent jerk!” “Oh, Rainbow, that hurts right here when you say that,” Spider-Man said, tapping his chest right over where his heart should be. Rainbow’s glare could melt steel. Not allowing such heat to escape further, Twilight stepped in, broke the path between Rainbow and Spider-Man, and said, “For your information, Rainbow, his suit is not some simple pair of pajamas. They were specifically designed by Mr. Stark, and myself, to allow Spider-Man to reach the full-potential of his abilities. So, next time you’re caught in a strand of highly-tensile, highly-powerful, and nearly unbreakable webbing… you’ll wish you kept that web over your lips.” “Twilight…” Tony began to say, but was instantly drowned out by the princess’ nerd side taking over. Rainbow Dash just rolled her eyes, groaning, but being sure not to keep it silent. She wanted Twilight to know she didn’t care for what she was saying, and for some reason Twilight didn’t seem to pick it up. Stamping her hoof, closing her eyes, Twilight smiled and placed a hoof on her chest. She looked quite proud of herself, saying, “And it goes to say that Tony and I did a splendid job on the suit. I think it looks very fitting! Not to mention the little spider on his chest! Ah, so adorable!” Even Stark began to groan. “Twi…” Spider-Man sighed, shrugging his shoulders. “Getting hit on by a horse. I don’t know if that’s a low or a high for me.” “I secretly hate you both… so much,” Tony said, shaking his head. Steve tightened his fists wrapped in the webs. It was actually quite difficult. “You’ve been busy, Stark,” he told him. “And you’ve been a complete idiot!” Tony barked, turning on Steve in a heartbeat. It was so sudden and so powerful each of the mares flinched, but none of the humans did. Stark continued to unload on Rogers, several days’ worth of pent-up frustration finally released. “You brainwashed Rainbow, Spike, Pinkie, and Fluttershy and dragged them into this mess! Not to mention bringing Clint out of retirement and away from his family to risk his life for you! You ‘rescue’ Wanda from the only safe place in this godforsaken world!” He snapped a little too loud. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Twilight’s worried gaze turn his way. He didn’t want to look at her right now. Sighing, Stark said, “I’m… I’m trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart.” Steve exhaled through his nose, making it almost seem like a short scoff. He replied, “You did that when you signed your freedom away.” A shared look of shock and curiosity afflicted the group. The mares looked from one another to Steve and back again. Frank Castle just crossed his arms, his signature scowl ripe on his face. Rhodey’s expression was unknown behind his mask, and Stark just stared. Just stared. He shook his head, scoffed himself, and sighed. “All right, Rogers,” he said, his tone dropping to a near-growl. And just as that short moment of animal intensity passed, another emerged, Tony shouting, “Last warning! You come with us now! You turn Barnes over to us now, or Ross isn’t gonna hesitate to have a squad of J-SOCs put a bullet into each of you if you fail to comply!” Steve’s expression remained unmoved, his hands clasped together by the webs, his frown centered right at Stark. Tony breathed heavily, somehow his breaths being the loudest thing in the world at that moment. Daredevil especially knew that. Tony’s eyes fell down to Rainbow, then to the ponies standing right in front of him. He stepped forward. “Please... they don’t want to be a part of this.” He heard yet another scoff, this one from Rogers’ right. “You don’t know anything about us,” Rainbow growled. Steve Rogers waited. His eyes fell over, washed across each mare he had come to know and love. Twilight Sparkle, her eyes heavy, her breathing sporadic, small beads of sweat growing on her forehead. Applejack, the mare’s hat nearly covering her eyes, hiding no fury. Starlight pressed her hoof another inch closer, her eyes darting from side to side, almost as if she was ready for a landmine to go off at any second. She wasn’t particularly wrong. Then there was Rarity, the unicorn struck with a constant state of worry, shock, and fear. A deadly mixture of the three. He looked at Rhodes. He looked at Castle. He looked at Spider-Man, even managed to see some form of uncertainty in those white eyes of his. Then he looked at Tony. After everything they’ve been through, here they stood ready to beat each other to death just because Steve wanted to help his friend, and because Tony wanted to lock him away. Every second they wasted was a second closer for the doctor to unleash the Winter Soldiers upon the world, and even then, Tony wouldn’t listen. He knew he wouldn’t. Dammit, he wouldn’t. “We found it,” Sam’s voice said through Steve’s team’s comms. “Their Quinjet’s in hangar five, north runway.” And that wouldn’t stop them. Raising his hands above his head, Steve saw the arrow come flying and tear right through the webbing, freeing him. Like scissors through paper. Each of the mares on Tony’s side gasped. Stark shot his gaze back to where the arrow originated, his mask closing over his head. The eyes of his mask lit to life, the bright blue spotting Clint in the distance. “Nearly unbreakable, huh, Twilight?” Steve asked, smiling. Noticing Twilight’s shocked expression, Steve pressed onto his comms. “Lang… you’re up.” His eyes shifted to his shield, spotting the nearly-indistinguishable man stand up on the shield’s edge. Spider-Man instantly shot his gaze down to the shield in his arm, his eyes narrowing. “Guys, there’s some—” Spider-Man never finished. He grunted as a powerful kick struck him at the bottom of his jaw. He fell back from the strike, looking up to see what appeared to be something minuscule grow into something large, into something that of a regular-sized man. Once more, the mares gasped. Rarity’s eyes widened at the sight of the insect-like mask, a short whimper of fear escaping her. One was severed in half, wearing an insect-like mask and a red suit to match the pool of blood surrounding its body. It was barely alive, weakly reaching out to its lower torso strewn out from its reach. “What the hell is that?!” Frank shouted, backing away. Ant-Man stood up, stood next to the Captain, and proudly handed him his rightful shield. “I believe this is yours, Captain America.” As Steve gratefully took his shield back, Tony only grumbled, rolling his eyes. “Oh, great, it’s Pym’s prodigal son,” Tony muttered. Two blips appeared in his HUD. “I got two on the parking deck, Clint and Maximoff. Rhodey, Castle, Twi and the rest, you guys get the Captain and his gang?” Breathing heavily through her nose, Twilight sighed, not even watching as Tony flew off. “If we have to,” she said, slowly taking the first few steps onward. Frank Castle cracked his knuckles, Spider-Man following by his side. While Twilight, Starlight, and Applejack slowly stepped forward, Rarity stayed right where she was. She appeared to be on the edge of yet another one of her panic attacks. This wasn’t like anything she had felt before. Before, they were just flashes, just a quick glimpse at what the unicorn would rather forget. Now, she looked over to the Black Panther, then to Ant-Man, and finally to Daredevil, blinking several times. A strange sickness burned in her gut, as if the insect-like man, the black suit, and the devil horns were the symptoms causing the darkness to crowd her vision, the viral strain that filled her body, mind, and soul with unforgettable memories. And she stood and faced them, each and every one she saw. While Rarity was lost, shaking in a daze, Rhodey hovered several feet above ground. He suddenly shifted his head to the far left, his red eyes shimmering. “Got two in the terminal. Wilson and Barnes,” he announced. Both Frank and T’Challa reacted to that, Frank stopping dead in his tracks. “Barnes is mine!” T’Challa shouted, taking off at a sprint in the direction of the terminal. Steve quickly tossed his shield up to Rhodey, the disk hitting him square in the Arc Reactor. Rhodey grunted, hovering backwards from the impact. Quickly recovering his shield, Steve turned his attention to the retreating Panther, taking off at full sprint right for him. But before he did, he shouted, “Now! Everyone, move now!” Almost instantly, a pink blur shot out from the underpass. It leapt into the air over Rainbow’s and Daredevil’s heads, revealing none other than Pinkie Pie, Spike riding on her back. Twilight gasped at the sight of the young dragon, her heart aching to see him the way he was. What he was doing. The decision he made. The fire in his eyes. Pinkie and Spike simultaneously tossed several confetti bombs directly ahead of them, between the area the two sides faced one another. In the smoke that followed, so much chaos emerged out of the madness. Rainbow Dash was the first to shoot out of the pink smoke like a bullet, ramming herself into Twilight and knocking the Alicorn flat on her back. She darted quickly over to Applejack, nearly doing the same thing had Applejack not been paying attention, much like Twilight had unfortunately done. Rainbow did manage to knock Applejack over, but the farm pony latched herself onto the Pegasus and rolled on the concrete with her, the two tumbling into the smoke. As they vanished, Daredevil emerged, flinging his baton right for Castle, who dodged it and prepared for the advance. Daredevil roared as he drove his shoulder right into Frank’s chest, knocking both of them onto the ground. Starlight lit up her horn, narrowing her eyes to hopefully clear out the pink fog. As she squinted, leaning her neck forward, a circular object was sent her way. Terrified at the thought that it could be the Captain’s shield, Starlight yelped and quickly brought up a magical shield over her own, protecting her front. The object hit her shield with a wet splat, causing Starlight’s neck to crane back. It wasn’t Steve’s shield. It was a coconut cream pie of all things. It slowly slid down her magical shield, falling and splattering all over the cement. Starlight’s dumbfounded expression was shifted behind her when she felt a sharp claw tap her shoulder. Spinning around, Starlight met a second pie directly into her face, courtesy of Pinkie Pie and Spike. Pinkie kissed her hoof and smiled brightly, vanishing through the pink smoke the second Starlight wiped her face. Growling, Starlight spun in every direction, her horn lighting her way. And every time she turned, she would meet a different flavored pie each time smacking her in the face, the back of the head, the cheek, one on the rump, and continuously in the face. The poor unicorn didn’t stand a chance. And Rarity just stood there, eyes glossed over, staring at far worse events playing and replaying in her mind. She didn’t even notice Fluttershy fly right over her and escape towards the terminal. As the smoke finally cleared, only chaos remained. Applejack and Rainbow Dash rolled across the cement, eventually breaking away when Rainbow kicked herself into the air, swooping down to smack Applejack in the back of the head. The farm pony snarled and readied herself for another Rainbow Dash dive-bomb. Starlight was busy fending off the ever-so-elusive Pinkie Pie and her unlimited amount of pies she pulled from her mane. Spike helped, digging through her mane to pull out pie after pie for Pinkie to use. In the distance, Ant-Man was engaged in hand-to-hand combat with Black Widow, to which he was at a great disadvantage. However, his shrinking abilities came quite in handy, pulling Natasha’s arm backwards and flipping her over onto her back. Daredevil and the Punisher were going at it, each delivering devastating blows but not landing them. Both were surprisingly agile enough to dodge each other’s oncoming strikes. However, they did manage to land a few, and when they did, they showed just how strong they were. Even farther away, Steve threw his shield into T’Challa’s back, knocking Panther over. He grabbed T’Challa by the neck, flinging him over his back. All to keep him away from the terminal. The only two mares still not engaged in some form of combat were Rarity… and Twilight. The Alicorn looked around through the haze, her heart racing and breaking, her throat dry and without even forming a word to describe the type of shock she felt. Her eyes said it all, constantly shifting across the chaotic battleground, the red in her eyes both from the confetti smoke and the continuous thought of Spike… She shook her head, closing her eyes. She felt like crying, but knew she couldn’t. Not now. Twilight looked to Rarity, still seeing the unicorn shaking like a leaf, her back legs nearly giving up on her. She suddenly shifted her attention right, to Peter, to hear him press down on his ear and ask, “Mr. Stark, they're using some kind of pink gas! What should I do?” In her own comms, Twilight could hear Stark’s voice say, “Great, Pinkie’s in the fight. Okay, just like we discussed. Keep your distance and web ‘em up.” “Okay, copy that!” Peter replied, leaping off the ground and firing off two strands of webs towards the terminal station. He shot forward, firing more strands of webs to get him closer and closer to Wilson and Barnes. Twilight watched him vanish out of sight. She shook her head, grunting as she stood up. Her eyes fell back to the fight, witnessing Starlight get smacked by yet another pie. Raising her forelegs, Starlight shielded herself as her horn lit up, and before Pinkie could deliver her favorite flavor, Starlight vanished in a flash of light. It wasn’t long before Twilight heard Starlight’s voice in her comms. She said, “Need some help, Tony?” “It’s always appreciated, Star,” Stark replied. “By the way, why are you covered in… Pinkie, right?” “Yeah… Pinkie.” “Got it.” The comms fell silent after that. Twilight stood up. There was hardly any smoke now, and the kind that remained merely surrounded her hooves and grew no higher than that. She turned her attention away from the constant fighting, away from the pain-filled grunts, the punches and the screams, and settled on something truly terrible, something she didn’t want to face head-on. Not in the state she was in. Sporadic. Incredulous. Lost. But she had to. “Spike!” For him. “Spike…” Twilight whimpered, noticing Pinkie Pie stop chucking pies at Frank Castle to turn her way. And the young dragon riding upon her back leaned to the side, catching Twilight’s stare. His eyes softened, his expression dying. The fire extinguishing. Twilight shook her head, her expression mirroring his. She took a step forward, a step that almost killed her, and asked, “How could you?” Spike hopped off of Pinkie’s back, approaching the Alicorn slowly. “It’s not like that, Twilight. Bucky is innocent,” he told her, stopping a good six feet from Twilight. It felt like miles for the Alicorn, and she hated that feeling of distance between the two. There shouldn’t be any distance between them. Spike was her friend! Her family! There wasn’t anything that could tear them apart! But seeing him now, seeing the short distance between the two separate them far more than the conflict ever could was almost enough to break Twilight’s heart. Nearly on the verge of tears, she asked, “How do you know?” Spike saw Twilight’s expression. He saw the break, the tears boiling in her eyes. Damn it all if Spike didn’t feel like crying too. He was basically standing against his best friend… the one who raised him since birth. He was basically standing against his mother… for someone he barely even knew. Spike closed his eyes and looked away, remembering well and good that Steve wouldn’t lie to him, especially about this. So, he said, “I trust him.” And to add insult to injury, he added, “Something you should’ve done.” A sharp tap on Twilight’s shoulder later and the princess met an apple pie to her face when she turned to face it. Pinkie leaned in, placing a cherry right on top of Twilight’s pie-covered mane. “There’s plenty of more where that came from!” Wiping her face, Twilight turned back to see Spike hop onto Pinkie’s back once more. She shot out her hoof weakly to him. “Spike… please…” She didn’t even know or care anymore if she was crying or not. The pie on her face made it hard to tell. It hurt Spike. It hurt him more than anything else to see Twilight like that. But she would see soon enough. Spike knew she would give Bucky another chance. “I’m sorry, Twilight, but this is something I have to do,” he said, jamming his feet into Pinkie’s sides. Pinkie reared up, crying out like a stallion and galloped off into the distance. Twilight watched the duo escape to spread the conflict even further. Twilight heard a whistle behind her, where she turned and felt the coolness of the cherry pie slam into her face. 2:17 p.m. Steve raised his shield the moment T’Challa drove his Vibranium claws against it. He slashed downwards, creating five hideous marks straight down on the silver star. Looking up, Steve dodged left and right to avoid the jabs and the slashes of T’Challa’s claws. Every strike he got an inch closer, closer and closer until he caught Steve’s chest with a quick swipe across. Steve yelped at the cut, quickly raising his shield when Black Panther drove both of his claws straight down on top of him. Several feet above the short skirmish, War Machine overlooked the conflict beneath him. Aside from Rainbow Dash zooming back and forth, trying desperately to catch Applejack off-guard, all the fighting took place on the ground, especially the Captain’s fight. He pulled out an electrified baton from his backside, the weapon charging up. “Sorry, Cap, this won’t kill you but it ain’t gonna tickle either.” After knocking down Frank, Daredevil turned his head to the sound of the electricity coursing through the baton. He shot his gaze upwards, seeing War Machine quickly fly over to the Captain with his back turned, having to keep his full attention on Panther. Pulling out his second baton, Daredevil screamed, “Captain, behind you!” He quickly kicked Panther aside, turning his head up to see Rhodey approaching fast. He could the weapon in his hands, the electricity practically popping from the tip. “Give me a boost, Captain!” Spinning around, Captain America acted quickly to the approaching Daredevil. He held out his shield, fell to one knee, and waited. When he felt the foot press down on his shield, Steve pressed up as hard as he could, launching Daredevil straight into the air. He stood up and watched as Daredevil surprisingly struck War Machine neatly in the side of the head, Rhodey falling and crashing into the cement. Rhodey looked to his destroyed baton, sighing and tossing it aside. Steve turned back to Daredevil, who looked to his destroyed baton, sighing and tossing it aside. 2:20 p.m. Applejack’s eyes shot back and forth, up and down, side to side, and she dodged, sliding across the concrete and doing the same thing. Watching the rainbow trail was a chore on its own, actually having to dodge it each time was beginning to wear on Applejack. She tried to calm herself, remind herself again and again that she had experienced a lot more physical torment. Facing her best friend, however, was something she didn’t take lightly. And it hurt her. Rainbow Dash shot up into the sky after another failed attack on Applejack’s right side. Applejack watched her nearly touch the clouds, shooting down so fast she could have broken the sound barrier had she reached a higher altitude. Still, the impact of the attack would be devastating, and Applejack knew this. She ducked as Rainbow came mere inches from driving her hooves into her. Rising up, Applejack spun around to see Dash come to a skidding halt on the concrete, a glare in her eyes, a ferocity in her breath. Applejack gritted her teeth. “This is crazy, Rainbow!” she shouted. Rainbow only cracked her neck, wings outstretched, ready for the next round. Applejack narrowed her gaze, adjusting her stance so she had solid standing. “Ah don’t want ta hurt ya now!” Rainbow Dash scoffed, kicking off the ground and hovering in mid-air. As she flapped her wings, she yelled, “Then get out of our way!” Applejack shook her head, much to Rainbow’s disappointment. “Ah can’t let Barnes out o’ here, Dash! Not after what he did!” she told her, a somewhat pleading tone in her voice. Rainbow bit her lip. As she stared down at Applejack, at the pony she should be flying through right about now, she found herself pausing. She couldn’t help but think back to all the good times they used to have. The friendly challenges, all the races, the times they saved Equestria together. Always together, never separated. Now, Rainbow didn’t know where they stood. It’s not like their friendship was over. It was just… strained. And it will only heal once they learn the truth, and they’ll learn as long as they allow them to get to Siberia and stop the doctor. And Applejack was standing in her way. Rainbow’s frown returned, Applejack sighing. “You won’t stop me,” Dash told her. To her surprise, though, Applejack shook her head, saying, “Ah won’t have to.” Confused slightly by that, Rainbow suddenly noticed the slight shift of direction in Applejack’s eyes, almost as if she was looking behind Rainbow. That was all she needed. Spinning around, Rainbow managed to capture a quick glance at Twilight before she fired off a spell. Thanks to her instinctive actions, Rainbow dodged the spell, flying off as Twilight flew past her. The two hovered in place, several yards apart, glaring at one another from afar. Twilight tightened her jaw, charging her horn for another paralysis spell. “Rainbow, you have to stop!” she called to the Pegasus, who just scoffed in response. “And let you shoot me?! As if!” She wasn’t giving them any leverage. No form of surrender. Rainbow Dash was still the fighter they all knew and loved. Twilight sighed, charging forward and firing another spell. Rainbow, one again, easily dodged it. She flew to the side, blasting forward and catching Twilight by surprise. She flew across Twilight’s nose, so close that the Alicorn could feel her feathers brush her face. Shaking her head, Twilight chased the Pegasus down, firing the same spell that would render Rainbow Dash immobile, and every time Rainbow dodged it easily. Twilight growled, charging up yet another spell, that, once more, missed its intended target. Rainbow smirked her way, looking down and noticing the lasso already too close to dodge. It snagged her neck, tightening and almost cutting off her oxygen. Rainbow coughed in surprise, her wings beating furiously, her eyes shifting down to Applejack’s teeth tightly gripping the lasso and quickly back to Twilight already zeroing in, a spell at the ready. In desperation, Rainbow shot downwards, directly for Applejack. Almost as instantly as she did that, Twilight cut off her spell, knowing if she missed she would hit Applejack instead. Seeing the approaching Pegasus come closer and closer, Applejack dropped her lasso and rolled to the side, coming up quickly just in time when Rainbow landed with a solid crack of her hooves against the concrete. Rainbow Dash readied herself, spinning instantly to Applejack. Twilight made her descent as well, landing by Applejack’s left. The two mares, standing side by side, held their conjoined glares for the rainbow Pegasus. And Rainbow Dash, just as furiously powerful, held her ground, glaring at each of the ponies she called her “best friends”. The three mares stood like that for several seconds, the only sounds being that of the distant skirmishes and their own breathing. Neither sounded comforting, almost deathly, pain-filled. Rainbow Dash felt the sweat pour down her forehead in streams, seeing just the same from both Twilight and Applejack. As for Twilight, she closed her mouth, her eyes burning, her heart throbbing with every painful thump. She stared at her best friend, trying to convince herself that she was actually trying to paralyze Rainbow Dash momentarily. She didn’t want to do any more than that. But as long as Rainbow stood in the way between them and subduing Barnes, she was a potential threat. No matter how she saw her, no matter the past victories, the friendship they shared so dearly on Equestria, this was Earth. This was their mission. And Rainbow Dash was standing in their way. “You give us no choice, Rainbow,” Twilight said. Her horn lit up, another paralysis spell charging. Rainbow didn’t even flinch. Neither did Twilight. “I’m sorry.” Rainbow Dash smirked, frowned, and muttered, “Don’t pull your punches.” They didn’t.