Siberia
In flight
7:45 a.m.
It was an unsettling flight. Steve’s full attention was forward, piloting the Quinjet, tearing through the heavy clouds miles above ground. He didn’t talk. He hadn’t for the past hour. Rainbow Dash had grown used to the silence, taking the time to tend to Bucky as best she could.
He sat on the bench, said bench drenched in crimson red. His vest lied on the floor to Rainbow’s right, blood coating the clothing a dark red. As for Bucky, the Winter Soldier sat on the bench, watching and helping Rainbow Dash tend to his wound. She was no doctor by any means, but Bucky had experience. He talked her through most of the endeavor. The bleeding had finally stopped, thankfully, Rainbow pressing her bloodied hooves on the sides of his exposed stomach, painfully watching as he applied the last stitch to seal up his knife wound.
Once he did, Bucky grunted, sitting up. Rainbow backed away and watched as he moved, her coat still slightly pale. He cringed as he pressed his palms to the bench and sat up fully, nodding to her. “All right. I think we’re good. Thanks for the help,” he told her.
Rainbow offered a weak nod in return, and nothing more than that. She took her seat on the bench opposite to Bucky, watching as he put his bloody shirt and vest back on, zipping up gently, still flinching at the fresh stitches. Rainbow turned her eyes right, seeing as Steve had barely turned his head their way, watching them before facing forward once more. Not a word.
Except…
“Thanks for helping him, Rainbow.”
Hearing Steve’s voice after such a long period of silence was a tad strange, but Rainbow waved it off. “It’s no biggie,” she said.
Steve was quick to reply, looking back at her. “No, it is. You went outside the law with us, went against the Avengers, attacked your…” he was saying, but stopped after seeing the crestfallen expression began to arise on her features, “your friends. And now here you are, helping Bucky and I see everything through to the end.”
He turned back to the world ahead of him. Rainbow looked away, meeting Bucky’s gaze. “We can’t thank you enough, Rainbow,” he told her, palm rubbing against his stomach.
Exhaling what appeared to be a weak chuckle, Rainbow Dash looked down to her hooves, the blood that wasn’t hers beginning to dry. She sighed. “Well, I can’t honestly say I’m all that… thrilled about this anymore.”
“You were thrilled to begin with?” Bucky asked, looking back at her.
Rainbow shook her head, exhaling softly. “I just thought I would owe it to Steve to help him get his best friend back. After everything he’s done for us.” She leaned back on the bench, staring up at the roof of the Quinjet. She sighed again, saying, “He deserved it. You deserve it. But now… after all that we did to get where we are now… after what I did… I guess…”
Steve looked back at her, saw as she closed her eyes and began to quiver. A shaky exhale escaped her nose. “I guess all I really want now is to get this over with and go home.”
Nodding, Steve turned his head back. He stared at the passing clouds. “You’re still shaken up about Rhodey?” he asked.
Dash closed her eyes at that question. She could clearly remember watching his body hit the earth with such power, she could hear him from where she was. Several hundred yards above the ground. She didn’t know what to do after that, the only thing coming to her being to get out of there. Finish the mission. When she got back on the Quinjet, Rainbow mentioned to them what she did, though a tad apprehensive. Even she couldn’t believe what she did at first.
But she did it. And she was still regretting it.
Without a word, Rainbow weakly nodded.
Steve saw it. He opened his mouth, waited a few seconds to think, then said, “You didn’t know what would happen to them. You made a mistake; we all make them.”
“Yeah, but not like this,” Rainbow exclaimed, shaking her head. She looked to Steve, who was busy staring forward. She could feel that he was listening, though. “I’d make a mistake every day if it meant messing up on a Wonderbolt routine, or forgetting the mail, or even missing lunch with my best friends. But not this. From that fall…”
Gasping, Rainbow’s head fell into her bloody hooves. “Oh, Celestia, what if I killed him?” she whispered in a haunting, panicked question.
“Don’t think about it.”
Steve twisted his neck until it hurt, staring at Bucky. Rainbow brought up her gaze, small droplets of blood painted near her eyes. She stared at the man sitting in front of her, the shadows of the Quinjet cascading over him. All she could really see were his eyes. And even then, she didn’t know if she should stare for much longer. “If you don’t think about what you did, if you just move on, you’ll get over it. If you don’t, it’ll end up eating away at you until you’re nothing.”
Bucky finished with a sigh and muttered, “Trust me, I know.”
“Trust you?” Rainbow repeated, scoffing a little. Steve looked away to focus on flying, just listening in for the remainder of their conversation. Dash stared at the man sitting in front of her, her brow furrowing, her head shaking. She asked, “Can I?”
Bucky blinked, leaning forward a few inches. Rainbow did the same, asking, “Can I trust you?”
She watched as he blinked a couple of times and made no further movement. And suddenly, abruptly, he offered his response with a simple and strong: “No.”
“Buck—” Steve began to say, looking back.
“Steve, she can’t. No one can.” The sudden interruption from Bucky caught Steve by surprise, shutting him up for a moment. Just like before, he just listened in and waited for them to continue. He heard a sigh, a distinguishable one from Bucky. “Look, I appreciate everything you’re doing for me, but I’ve done some horrible things in my life. Things I wish I could forget. You can’t trust me, and I can’t force you to.”
He leaned forward, his eyes to his conjoined hands. Both flesh and metal. Both pained with blood. “And I’m not even sure if I can trust myself.”
“What you did all those years ago…” Steve said, returning to the conversation when Bucky brought up that point. Bucky brought up his head, turning and staring at the back of Steve’s head. Rainbow did the same. “It wasn’t you, Buck. You’re not the Winter Soldier.”
Bucky blinked, then shook his head. “Then what am I?”
“You’re my friend.”
Rainbow nodded at that, looking back to Bucky to see him nod, as well. Except he didn’t. He stared at nothing, his palms lazily resting between his legs. Breathing, he asked, “And the rest of your friends?”
Steve paused. The thought of Wanda, Clint, Sam, Scott, and Daredevil being sent to a prison by Stark's and Ross’ standards wasn’t comforting, but God, the thought that Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Spike were gonna share the same fate was worse. Steve knew that Twilight wouldn’t let them stay locked up forever, her close friends, to be exact. That just left the others for Steve to worry about. Just the thought he needed when he was about to take on several other Winter Soldiers. Perfect.
He finally replied, saying, “They knew what they were getting into. We’ll figure something out.”
Bucky shook his head at that response. “I’m not worth all of this, Steve,” he said. “I’m sorry… for everything.”
For that, Steve looked back to tell him otherwise, but stopped when he watched Rainbow Dash get off of her seat and approach him. She placed her bloody hoof over his blood-covered palm. Not the metal, but the skin. She wanted him to feel her there for him. Right by his side. Bucky stared at the mare in front of him, seeing her offer a strong smile. Not too strong, but definitely not weak. If anything, it was hopeful.
And she told him, “We’re seeing this through to the end, Bucky.”
Bucky let the silence and his smile in return be her answer. Steve looked away and didn’t say another word for the rest of the flight.
HYDRA Siberian Facility
9:04 a.m.
Steve lowered the little red book to the console, checking the coordinates to see if he had made it. He could see the facility lying in the distance, but it never hurt to check. He stared at the console, at the exact coordinates it gave. He looked back to the book, and there it was. An exact replica of the coordinates displayed on the console written in black ink on the first page.
Mentally thanking Daredevil for his contribution and sacrifice, Steve landed the Quinjet onto the fresh path of snow near the facility’s entrance. He flipped a few switches, pressed a few buttons, and the engine began to die. A sudden jolt later, and they had landed. Steve placed the red book aside, getting up and nodding to his two passengers.
Rainbow and Bucky nodded back, getting up, stretching a bit, then moved on. Rainbow stretched her joints and her wings by the ramp, cracking her neck for the inevitable fight that would come their way. Bucky, on the other hand, pulled out a large rifle from the Quinjet’s storage, checking the magazine then turning towards the ramp. Steve picked up his shield near the pilot’s seat, reaching back to place it safely on his backside. He picked up his helmet, too, and placed it over his head, tightening the strap under his chin.
And just before he left, he hit the switch for the ramp, turning around to see it fall open and a fresh wave of frozen air and snow flying inside. Steve caught up with both Rainbow and Bucky, the two already stepping outside into the snow. Rainbow raised her hoof, the blood now dried into her coat, to block the onslaught of wind and snow. Bucky’s black hair flew wildly across his face. He gripped his rifle tighter. Steve joined them, pulling his shield from his back and placing it on his left arm.
The three made their way to the large stone structure, to where Steve assumed the facility’s entrance to be. It seemed he was right. Passed the large, frozen vehicles surrounding the stone structure, a pair of doors remained slightly open, nothing but pure, blank darkness inside.
Bucky peeked inside, saying, “Someone’s already been here.”
“The doctor,” Rainbow said, shivering as a fresh wave of coolness brushed over her.
Steve noticed this, taking the first few steps inside where it was arguably much warmer than it was outside. “Stay close. We’ll find him,” he said.
Bucky followed him inside, Rainbow close behind. The three swiveled their heads about as they walked deeper and deeper into the abandoned facility. Bucky raised his rifle up, across the edge of different hallways, and towards anything he thought moved. He always kept his finger off the trigger, just in case… he happened. Steve kept his focus forward, spotting what appeared to be an elevator resting at the end of the hall. The three entered inside of it, Bucky pressing the button that indicated the lowest level. He knew where to go.
As the elevator teetered and descended into the depths, Rainbow Dash stared up to the two men, then to the flickering light above their heads. So far, nothing. The facility was dead, just piles upon piles of dusty boxes and old filing cabinets on the previous floor. She was beginning to question whether or not they were even in a HYDRA facility. When the elevator stopped, all of her doubts were pushed aside. They came to the lower levels, what appeared to be cages lining the left walls.
Must be where they kept the others, Rainbow thought, a chill rushing up her spine. She fluffed her wings, staying close by Steve and Bucky as they moved down the hall, their attention shifting up to a set of stairs leading to an even longer hallway. Joy. Rainbow breathed, turning to see Steve and Bucky make their first, slow steps forwards.
But they stopped dead in their tracks. She did too when she heard the loud thump come from behind them. Spinning about, all three reacted accordingly. Bucky held up his rifle, staring down the sights to the elevator they had arrived in. Steve held out his shield, protecting not only him but Rainbow from whatever lied behind the creaking door of the elevator.
The creaking grew even louder, Rainbow flaring her wings.
“Easy, Dash,” Steve whispered to her. “On my go.”
Bucky tightened his grip on the rifle, his finger slipping down to the trigger. They watched, apprehensively, as the elevator doors opened, revealing a bright, blue light, followed by two others, and the Iron Man pushing the doors open. That wasn’t all. The cage between the floor and the elevator was raised by a violet aura of energy, revealing the Princess of Friendship directly in front of the Iron Man.
Steve lowered his shield only slightly. Rainbow’s wings fells. Bucky took his finger off the trigger, but he never turned his rifle away from Tony Stark and Twilight Sparkle.
The duo approached the trio slowly. Stark’s mask slid back, revealing an expression that seemed on edge, eyes wide and worrisome. Twilight shared the same expression as Stark, staring only at Rainbow while Tony kept his attention on the Captain and Barnes. Had it been yesterday, Tony wouldn’t hesitate to fire a repulsor into each of their chests, and Twilight would’ve fired a paralysis spell right then and there. But they didn’t. They were there on different grounds, ones of understanding, a shared mindset. The same mission.
Stark observed the cells to his left, turning back to Steve, Barnes, and Rainbow. He said, “Aren’t you three a sight for black eyes?”
Steve held his ground, his attention shifting to Tony’s right eye for a moment, noticing the heavy bruise underneath it. Holding his hand out to Rainbow, Steve began a slow approach forward, closer to Stark and Twilight. He still held out his shield in a defensive manner, still not ready to trust the man who wanted to arrest him the other day.
“I’d say the same for you two,” Steve replied, looking down. “Twilight.”
“Steve,” the Alicorn greeted, offering a helpful and assuring smile. Her eyes looked past him, her smile still holding. “Hey, Rainbow.”
Rainbow Dash’s wings folded back to her sides, her pouncing position still held, but slowly, very slowly dying. She offered a weak nod. “Hey…” Rainbow greeted. It was a lame greet by her standards, but she was still on edge from yesterday, and just seeing the two people who were ordered to hunt them standing casually in front of them was unnerving by itself.
So, Rainbow asked, “What are you doing here?”
“Currently at a cease fire. Just got word from Berlin police that the real psychiatrist who was supposed to evaluate him,” Tony was saying, pointing his metal-covered finger over to Bucky, who still hadn’t lowered his rifle, “was found dead in a hotel room.”
Steve held out his hand to Bucky, who slowly lowered his gun. Turning back to Stark, Steve watched as he leaned against the nearest support beam. “Or, in the other words, I made a mistake and you were right,” he said.
Steve narrowed his eyes. “So, you’re gonna let us go.”
“I guess I have to, considering you’d probably take me down here and now if I said otherwise.”
“Ross won’t appreciate that.”
“Ross doesn’t even know we’re here,” Tony said, scoffing.
“We’d like to keep it like that,” Twilight said, smiling to Steve, who smiled back.
His smile quickly fell, a sigh escaping as he lowered his shield to his side. “It’s good to see you both. No hard feelings, Twilight?” he asked.
Glad for the tension to be gone for a moment, Twilight smiled gratefully. She said, “It’s fine, Steve. You were just helping your friend, and that’s understandable.”
“Hey, Tony?” Rainbow added after remaining silent for so long. Tony turned her way, listening in. Pursing her lips, Rainbow looked down, contemplated for a second, then breathed. She closed her eyes, opened them to stare at Tony, and managed to ask, “How… how’s Rhodes doing?”
Stark’s expression fell. “He’ll… live.”
Rainbow breathed a sigh of relief, her stance seeming to appreciate the relaxing sensation she got from that statement. She no longer stood in a pouncing position, but stood up straight, on all four hooves, staring at Stark. “I’m sorry for what happened,” she apologized, bloody hoof to her heart, to which Twilight finally noticed and narrowed her gaze at it. “I had no idea—”
Tony raised his hand. “You can tell him that when we head back.”
It was a comforting thought to put all the bad blood behind them. Rainbow nodded shortly afterwards, turning her eyes to Steve. He nodded as well, telling Stark and Twilight to follow him. The five joined together, Twilight smiling to Rainbow as she passed her. And Rainbow smiled back. Not too big. Just a little one. But it made all the difference between them. They joined the three men down the long, empty hallway, Stark and Rogers leading.
They didn’t even notice the silver eyes of the Black Panther staring from the shadows of the elevator.
9:13 a.m.
“So, how are the others? Pinkie, Fluttershy, Spike?”
“They’re safe for now. After we’re done here, we’ll drop you off at the facility then Stark and I will get them back.”
Rainbow sighed another fresh breath of relief, breathing in and coughing when the dusty air entered her lungs. Twilight turned back to her to see if she was okay, to which the Pegasus waved her away as a response to her concern. Clearing her throat, Rainbow said, “That’s good. Gosh, don’t breathe this stuff too much.”
“Dully noted,” Stark muttered, keeping his palm pointed forward and his light leading the way.
The group consisting of Stark, Rogers, Bucky, Twilight, and Rainbow walked through the halls, broken cells, and maze-like rooms. As they got lower and lower, the temperature dropped even more, so far that Steve, Bucky, and the mares could see their own breath in the form of an icy fog. It got even darker as well, the corridors no longer supported by the functioning lights in the previous rooms. They had to rely more and more on Stark’s flashlights to find their way around.
Eventually, they came to a new room with the large doors already open for them. That didn’t spell anything good, Steve thought, making his way inside. He could hear Stark mumble, “I got a heat signature.”
Bucky looked at him, rifle held forward and away from everyone else. “Just one?” he asked.
Stark nodded, moving straight. “Just one.”
“I wonder who that could be?” Rainbow said sarcastically, trailing close behind Steve. She broke away from Twilight, the Alicorn following Stark and lighting her horn to fill the darkness of the large room with just a little bit of extra light. The second her horn lit up, she realized she didn’t need to when the large tanks that suddenly appeared out of the darkness lit up a bright, sickly orange.
As the fog began to coil around each tank, the eyes of the group watching each one carefully, a voice appeared. A voice over the intercom system. Stark, Steve, Twilight, and Rainbow barely recognized it, but Bucky knew it. He gripped his rifle even tighter, his eyes on a swivel, watching for any form of movement in the room.
“You’re all here. Good. I didn’t want him to see his brothers and sisters die alone.”
Curious, Steve and Tony led the pack forward. Passing the first tank, they finally noticed the blood stained on the inside of the tank, the small hole on the outside replicating that of a bullet. And inside, what remained was the growing corpse of but one of the Winter Soldiers. A trail of blood fell from his forehead, down his face, and onto his chest.
“They were all already unstable. I didn’t need them for what’s about to happen. All I needed was you, James Barnes.”
“What are you talking about?” Bucky asked, the mares gasping quietly at the sight of the dead Winter Soldiers within their tanks.
Then, a new light appeared, this one beyond the tanks and remaining at the end of the room, directly in front of the two Avengers. Tony reacted accordingly, his palm glowing brighter than before as he aimed for the man behind the glass window. As for Steve, he wasted no time in flinging his shield towards the man he recognized as the false doctor, the man responsible for this whole incident. Surprisingly, his shield bounced off the glass without a scratch. Steve caught it, placing it on his right forearm. Having turned away from the tanks, flinching at the sound of the Captain’s shield bouncing off of glass, Twilight and Rainbow both stopped to see the man hiding behind the glass and cement.
Twilight noticed Tony’s appearance, as well as accounting the Captain’s actions. It was the false doctor. It was Zemo, and if they couldn’t break through, maybe they could jump inside to meet him… face to face. Twilight’s horn began to glow, her wings outstretching. However, before she could teleport inside, his voice appeared over the intercom again, this time directed to… her.
“I… wouldn’t do that if I were you. You come in here, I shoot you, I say Barnes’ trigger words again, and all of this madness plays through just like last time.”
“I can freeze you before you pull the trigger,” Twilight warned, her horn glowing.
“Do you really want to take that chance, princess?” Zemo asked, his smile seen from the little light he gave to the room.
Steve held out his hand to her, the Alicorn’s eyes shifting to it instead of the man behind the bunker’s wall. “Twilight, stand down,” he told her.
Zemo smiled even greater, a sick, twisted smile that only spelt trouble. He said, “Good, Captain. You wouldn’t want anything else to happen to her, now would you?”
As the group slowly approached the chamber’s glass window, the eyes of the Black Panther stared from the entrance of the room, the man slowly sneaking in through the shadows. He watched them make their approach, his eyes landing on the Winter Soldier standing next to the Captain. His fists clenched tight, his claws beginning to extend.
However, he stopped.
When he heard: “That was quite a horrible incident in Vienna, now was it? That bomb I planted was only meant to kill half the room. I had no intention to harming you, Your Highness. But if it came to it… I guess certain sacrifices would have to have been made.”
The bomb… he planted?
That voice.
Not Barnes.
The doctor from the Terrorist Centre?
The Captain was right.
Not Barnes.
T’Challa looked away to his hands, to his claws. He could swear he saw them shaking.
As for the Captain, he stopped just in front of the chamber that contained Helmut Zemo. Stark, Rainbow, and Twilight joined him, Bucky standing back, his rifle lowering so he could watch. And Zemo just stared at them. When the Captain came up to the glass, Zemo’s smile faded like the dust from Sokovia, leaving nothing but a haunting husk of what once was.
As the Captain met his gaze, he said, “I studied you for so long. Your strengths, your weaknesses. Your history. Your friends, your family, everything. What one could find… Oh, what one could find. You see, Captain, I did not bring you all here to fail like the others have. I brought you all here to see your empire fall right before your eyes. Not by me, no.”
Steve narrowed his eyes. Zemo didn’t even flinch under his gaze, his own eyes shifting to the Iron Man standing to his right. He sneered, saying, “I promised to see this through to the end. And I intend to keep that promise… for them.”
He caught himself there, his gaze falling for a brief moment. “You lost someone?” Steve asked.
“He’s Sokovian,” Stark said, Steve’s expression turning grim at the realization.
Zemo stared straight ahead, clicking his tongue. “I lost… everyone. And so will you.”
Zemo looked down, then pressed a single switch. A short static from the disarranged TV set up lying near the center of the room. The mares flinched, spinning around to see the TV come to life, a single still image of what appeared to be another language displayed against a black background. Stark and Steve looked back, Tony approaching it. “What the hell is this?” he asked.
“December 16, 1991. A memorable day in the facility. A memorable day for Mr. Barnes… and Mr. Stark. I’m sure you both will find out soon enough.”
That date did ring a bell. Not a particularly good bell by any means, but a bell. A bell Stark would rather forget. His mask slid back revealing his startled and somewhat uncertain expression. He and Steve both approached the TV set, the mares standing by their sides, eyes watching the still image shift to a recording of a dark, lonesome road, nothing but a single lamppost to keep it bright. Bucky stayed back, that particular date already clicking in his warped mind. He took a few cautious steps away from Stark.
As for Twilight and Rainbow, they didn’t know what exactly they were looking at. It appeared to be some footage, but it was still. Nothing seemed to be…
A car came flying by, crashing and stopping just as another speeding object flew past it.
Straight past it… then came back.
Twilight’s brow furrowed, her head shifting slightly, her eyes completely engrossed with the footage and who exactly was stepping off the motorcycle. When he entered the light and approached the crashed vehicle, the footage barely gave off a clear picture, but even Twilight could see the metal arm protruding from the man. Her eyes grew, her jaw falling. Rainbow did the same. Bucky looked away.
All of them. Steve, Tony, Twilight, and Rainbow all watched as an elderly man stumbled out of the vehicle’s door, falling to his face and barely rising. He looked up to the Winter Soldier approaching him, Barnes gripping his snow-white hair coated in blood and lifting him up.
“Dad…”
Twilight gasped, turning her head just to be sure that Tony Stark had said that.
He did. He never looked away, even as the Winter Soldier drove his metal fist once, twice, and three devastating times into his face. Twilight’s hoof rose to her mouth, covering it, her eyes looking back to Stark. He kept on staring. Kept on staring. But even Twilight could see him shake. Whether it was out of fear, pain, or rage, she couldn’t tell. Maybe it was all three.
She watched the rest of the footage. Barnes picked up the man’s body and placed him back into the driver’s seat, walking around to the passenger’s, to the sound of a battered woman crying out to the man lying dead in the seat next to her. Those painful screams were silenced once the Winter Soldier came next to her, his palm reaching inside and wrapping around her throat. The cries grew into choked gasps, then into nothing.
Just nothing.
“Mom…”
Stark tried to whisper it, but he couldn’t. It came out in a gasp of air, coming in like a pain-filled inhale. Twilight’s hoof remained over her mouth, her eyes wide and burning. Rainbow Dash’s jaw wouldn’t close. She stared at the remainder of the footage as something she couldn’t believe, watching Bucky come up to the camera that captured everything and shoot it.
It didn’t matter.
They had seen everything.
She had seen everything.
Looking back to him, Rainbow Dash didn’t say a word but stared at him, a look of disbelief and betrayal in her eyes. But he brought up his gaze to meet hers, and this time he offered that same, pleading look that Rainbow had seen when they pulled him out of the river back in Berlin. When he was at his weakest. When he was free from the control over his mind. When he was Bucky… and not the Winter Soldier.
He stared at her and her alone, directing it not even to Steve. That meant something. Rainbow didn’t know what, but it did mean something. She looked away, momentarily frozen as she contemplated said thoughts. She didn’t long. She couldn’t. Stark made his move for Bucky.
Flinching away, Rainbow Dash watched as Steve gripped Tony’s arm, saying, “No, Tony.”
His voice was urgent, on edge, his own pleading eyes staring into the back of Stark’s head. He could see Twilight at the edge of his vision take a few precautious steps back, Rainbow doing the same. But for Stark, he turned around, back to him to meet his gaze with his own. His eyes almost bled pain, the red indicating that, the tightened jaw and the heated breath turning that pain into ferocity, that ferocity into a growing flame.
Staring at Rogers, Tony opened his mouth to take in a breath. But instead, he asked a simple question.
“Did you know?”
For the love of God, Steve didn’t want to answer that question.
He could see the look in his eyes, the look of betrayal. The worse he had ever seen. The longer he gripped Stark’s arm, he could feel the heat of the suit only worsening, but Steve held on. He had to. Never breaking eye contact, Steve faced the fire head on and muttered, “I didn’t know it was him.”
Stark turned on him quickly, snarling, “Don’t bullshit me, Rogers! Did you know?”
Those last three words held daggers to them, each syllable pushing the tip closer and closer to Steve’s heart. He remembered seeing that footage from Arnim Zola’s personal archive, the case files of Howard Stark assassinated by none other than the Winter Soldier. He couldn’t lie. Not anymore. The look in Stark’s eyes said it all.
With bated breath, Steve gulped, muttering a single and very painful, “Yes.”
Twilight and Rainbow both gasped. Stark took a step back, Steve having released his grip from his arm. Tony looked away, back to the TV, back to Rogers, back to nothing. Twilight could see the metal covering his hand slowly shrink down into a fist. Two of them. Reacting quickly, Twilight shot out her wings and hovered behind Tony, placing her hooves on his shoulder comfortingly. The best she could manage at that moment.
He didn’t even look at her, just barely turned his head when she said, “Tony… I know what you think you want to do is right, that you’re somehow justifying something. But don’t. Calm down… we’ll get through this together. Please… make the right choice.”
He turned his neck around to stare at her, almost like he was staring at an entirely different pony. Like he didn’t even know who he was staring at. Then he looked away, Twilight’s hooves falling from his shoulder, the mare hovering between him and Barnes. He thought about what she said, about making the right choice, about calming down and letting them solve this. Making the right choice…
He could still hear his mother’s screams as Barnes choked her to death.
Tony Stark didn’t think anymore. He shot Steve right in the heart, shoved Twilight aside, and charged the Winter Soldier. His mask closed over his face, his eyes lighting up a bright blue. But there was nothing behind them this time. Not anymore.