Infinity Era

by JDPrime22

Chapter 123 – Old Scars

Tony Stark was one of the last ones inside the hangar bay, joining the already clustered work zone with three certain mares trailing him. “How far are we along on the Quantum Tunnel?” he pointed out, finger directed to the massive time machine in the heart of the hangar bay.

Observing Rainbow Dash and Rarity testing out their new Iron Mare armor by flying around the towering expanse of the hangar bay, Twilight just chuckled and shook her head. Her Arc Reactor burned brightly just over her heart, her own nanotech suit retracted and stored safely in the Arc Reactor until it was needed. The others didn’t share her mindset and gleefully hovered and flew about above everyone’s heads.

Twilight managed to turn away and focus ahead, responding with, “We’re almost there. Just need to sync the suits in with the navigational control consoles, run a couple more diagnostics on the quantum energy, a test run, and then we’re good to go.”

The two paused just in front of the Quantum Tunnel, gazing to the size and scale of their astounding achievement. They could see Rocket tinkering beneath it with a hammer while Shuri spoke with Scott Lang and Bruce Banner near the control console, setting the coordinates and destinations in with the Time Travel GPSes. High above, they could see Carol Danvers adjusting the machinations above the machine with Friday, both hovering about and scanning for any malfunctions. Thankfully, there was none, and they could work on perfecting the time machine. Others were nearby or far-off readying themselves for the journey ahead, adjusting their weapons, armor, suits, anything they needed for the trip down memory lane. Rhodes helped Castle bring out the Punisher Armor, Frank admiring it while James settled it upon the hangar floor and began to operate on the suit, checking for any malfunctions. Others began to pile in, the noise in the facility rising with growing anticipation, apprehension, and most of all… excitement.

Especially from Twilight. “We’re actually going to do this,” Twilight whispered shakily, Stark turning down her way. The Alicorn practically shivered where she stood, that rising smile continuously growing and vanishing from her lips once the possibilities consumed her mind. All of it eventually overshadowed by the overwhelming reality of seeing her friends and family again. That alone brought that bright and burning smile back to her face. “I can’t believe it.”

“Change your mind about leaving Earth tonight yet?” Tony asked, hands in his pockets.

Then her smile faded, but only momentarily. “If things go according to plan… Yeah, I think we can start planning the next steps somewhere safe. Somewhere where all of us can be.”

By her words, Tony could assume she meant more than just the current roster of heroes within the facility. A lot more. Perhaps those that were taken by an unholy and unjust Snap five years ago. Certainly, Twilight was correct in the sense that they needed to start planning the next phase once they brought everyone back. That was a definite. There was no possible way Stark could live with himself if they failed now. There was no turning back. There was no lying down or giving in with how far they came. And when they did it, when they went back to the past to face the unknown dangers that lied within it, when they retrieved the Infinity Stones and brought them back to their time to snap their fingers, then they could rest. Rest knowing they did it.

Then they could look forward to whatever came next.

“Tony…”

A moment of peace between Tony and Twilight and then it was back to work. Back to focusing on other matters at hand and hoof. Turning about to face that recognizable voice, both witnessed none other than Sunset Shimmer slowly approaching the duo. More so, she approached Stark with a widened and breathless look, almost apprehensive in a sense, as if every step for her physically wounded or damaged her in some way. Neither one picked up on it by the time it was too late, both Stark and Sparkle turning fully to face her.

“Oh, Sunset, so glad you could join us,” Tony said, hand held out to the Quantum Tunnel behind him. “Or are you just about to get back to work on the Quantum Tunnel?”

It was too fast for him to react properly in time. Igniting her horn a brilliant red, Sunset focused on Stark’s left arm, consuming it within her aura and bringing his palm forwards and open to her. Without warning, she shot out her right hoof and touched him, open palm to the bottom of her hoof and held there for just three seconds. Three seconds for the real world and the reality they were caught in… but several, several minutes for Sunset Shimmer with what she saw.

The geode shimmered a bright orange and red around her neck.

Then a blinding whiteness filled Sunset’s eyes.

It was three seconds until Tony gasped and cried out, stumbling away and clutching his chest, his heart. He nearly fell had it not been for a certain rainbow Pegasus zooming down and catching Tony at the right moment. The entire hangar bay practically froze, that unnerving silence filling every soul as the work halted and their attention centered on the heated confrontation beginning to boil near the front of the Quantum Tunnel.

Twilight stood aghast, jaw practically hitting the floor after witnessing Sunset’s rash and protruding actions play forth before her. Before every eye. Only she wasn’t focused on the scene she had created. Sunset Shimmer gazed solely to the bottom of her right hoof, her chest rising and falling sporadically while the redness in her eyes nearly consumed the tears that leaked out of it. Nearly.

“I knew it,” she whispered under a shaking breath.

With Rainbow backing away and letting Tony stand on his own merit, Stark once more clutched his heart and faced the unicorn. “What the hell was that? What did you do?” he gasped.

“Sunset, why would you do that?” Twilight questioned, the offended scoff leaving her muzzle once the frown emerged on her features. “You didn’t even ask for Tony’s permission!”

Her harsh questioning didn’t even seem to affect Sunset in the slightest. She seemed dazed, lost in her own world while the rest of it around her was practically numb, nothing but the voices barely reaching her. “I’m done asking for permission,” she finally responded, somehow managing to look away from her hoof and face the accusing stares from everyone in the room. “I can’t sit on the sidelines anymore… and by the looks of it, I think I made the right choice.”

“I’m sorry, but how is peering into someone’s personal memories without consent the right choice in this matter?” Rarity declared, hoof outstretched frantically to the ceiling.

Sunset turned to Rarity, breathed and said, “Because he wouldn’t have admitted it otherwise.”

“Admitted what?” Twilight pushed, taking a step closer to Sunset.

“What they both need to admit…” Sunset whispered sharply through her heavy breaths. Slowly, she lifted her hardened and accusing eyes in a certain direction dead ahead, jabbing her hoof in that direction and focusing every eye in the room towards the pair of individuals she was referring to. To Tony Stark and Rainbow Dash.

“What he did to her,” Sunset finished, her tone harsh.

“What’s going on?” Barton’s voice arose, an army following him. That army consisted of Thor, Natasha, Scott, Carol, Murdock, Elektra, Starlight, Tempest, Derpy from where she flew, Nebula, and Groot. Others sat or stood further away but listened in, waited for what would occur. Steve Rogers stood in the distance, away from all others, gazing not onto Sunset Shimmer but to where she pointed. To Rainbow Dash.

With the silence persisting, Sunset turned to Tony Stark.

“You wanna say it?” she asked. Several seconds later, and not even a response. He just stood there and breathed. “No? Fine… Seven years ago… back during the crisis with the Avengers Civil War, Twilight told me as much as she could about the conflict. But I could always tell she was holding something back, something more, like it was too deep or too personal for one of her best friends and pupils to actually know. One of those things just so happened to be the confrontation in Siberia.”

Tony took a step towards her, palm outstretched as he stated loudly, “Okay, I think you need to slow down, Sun—”

Her magic enveloped his legs, sliding him across the floor and away from her in less than a heartbeat. The room flinched at that action, turning rapidly from Sunset to Tony, almost ready to act if things escalated. Thankfully, they didn’t, and Sunset assured that by stating clearly to Stark, “Don’t interrupt me again, Tony.”

Her voice was clear, concise, every syllable laid forth and fully willing to be backed. Tony didn’t move, didn’t speak out. He stood still like all the others and waited to listen again. Even if he dreaded every second of it.

Sunset continued, her eyes slowly trailing away from Stark. “Aside… from trying to kill James Barnes after hearing what he did to his parents, Tony was fully willing to go through anything and anyone that got in his way. Twilight knows this to be Captain America… as well as herself. But I don’t think any of you realize who else Tony fought through to get to Barnes…”

Twilight’s brows slowly heightened, her mouth falling and not a single breath escaping her lips.

“Sunset…” Tony whispered, his voice practically begging when he knew that nothing else could be done to stop her. He knew what was coming and it made it all the more painful to see that reality crash down upon the innocent. Upon those who heard not the truth and were spared of it. He didn’t turn to Rainbow Dash. He didn’t have that strength. He eyed Sunset Shimmer, eyes burning for her mercy. “Please…”

Yet she didn’t hold back. She no longer stood on the sidelines, kept away from the fight.

Whatever it took… Sunset would help seal the wounds.

“What I saw in Tony’s memories… was Rainbow Dash, for the moment, being that last line of defense to save Barnes’ life. And Tony… He just pushed right through her. Broke her wing… said the biggest mistake he ever made was letting her into his world.”

She turned to Twilight when she said it. “That she was nothing without Twilight.”

And there it was, laid out for all to absorb and consume, even if it hurt like hell. For the mares especially, Rarity gasping with a hoof placed over her agape mouth. Starlight did the same. Derpy placed both hooves to contain her gasps, tears leaking at the edges of her crossed eyes as she hovered just above Tempest and Maud. Both mares slowly turned to Tony Stark, Shadow slowly glaring with Maud holding that emotionless condemnation. Then there was Twilight, possibly the worst of them all as she stared with rising disbelief and hurt onto the Iron Man. Tears welled up in her eyes, as if she couldn’t even fathom the words Sunset was uttering, the words she claimed to have spoken to one of her best friends.

Rainbow was frozen, unable to speak, move, or breathe.

“I won’t judge you all for what happened that day so many years ago,” Sunset continued, pained to see those harmonious gasps and tears fill each pony she called her friend, especially those expressions of shock filling the Avengers. She stood strong and continued all the same. She needed to. “But if we want to save the universe and bring back trillions of lives, then we need to stop lying to ourselves and saying we’re fine, we’re a team, we can do this together. When I look at you two, what I see is that pain that never went away, that deep, dark wound that was never treated and will never be healed unless you face it.”

Sunset stamped her hoof on the concrete floor, raised her chin and stared solely to Tony Stark and Rainbow Dash. “So, what’s it gonna be?” she asked aloud, eyes hard and unforgiving for the time being, the mare finally bringing order amongst the chaos. “Are we doing this as a team or not at all?”

She let them decide. It was hard, one of the hardest things Sunset ever forced herself to accomplish, but she did it. One of the many trials and tribulations that remained for the unicorn to ensure their future and trillions of lives were safe and secured. One of those things that followed was letting them take those next necessary steps, letting them make that choice of whether or not they were fully committed to saving the universe and themselves. Each other. But that was the danger of it, not even knowing if they had what it took to face one another, that pent-up grudge each held and convinced themselves neither truly contained any longer. They were buried under years of deceit not only to those around them, but onto themselves. Now with the dirt spread away and the light shining in everyone’s eyes… all they needed to do was crawl out and face it head-on.

But Sunset was afraid they weren’t even capable of doing that. For several seconds, leading into a full minute, that same fear riddled her so. Heads swiveled about, eyes resting from one individual to another, all eventually falling down onto the center of the heated conflict. Until eventually, painfully, one spoke out amongst the silence, arose from the darkness and faced the light.

“Rainbow…”

She turned to him. They all did. When Tony faced that light, it burned like hell.

The man who burned slowly shook his head, staring ominously to the floor as the overbearing and painful silence battered him down and begged for him to fall back into the darkness. He fought against it, pushed out of the dark like it was a cave and entered the blinding yellow of the desert sun. “Did I wish for something to happen? Did I always want one of us to hopefully forget what happened that day? Hell yeah. But now I see…” Stark muttered, his eyes elsewhere and seeing the pain of the past while his voice spoke of other tragedies, “… that we can’t turn away from this. Even if it felt like a thousand years ago… you know, none of us want to go back. Neither of us want to face it. I can’t blame you if you don’t.”

He faced her with that same strength he used to rise up and fight his way to freedom. Right out of the cave and out of the darkness. He faced Rainbow Dash with the strength he needed but couldn’t provide, unable to stare into her rose-rimmed irises for much longer before he could finally break.

“No.”

Stark gasped quietly, containing his breathing patterns and listening steadily. Nothing else mattered. It was as if there were no others surrounding them, no other soul to witness what pain and boiling blood separated them and kept them skewed from one another. It was just them. Just Tony Stark and Rainbow Dash responding with that firm and solid no.

And she didn’t stop, shaking her head to Tony’s declaration. “No, we need to, Tony. For everything you’ve done for us, everything we’ve done together, standing together against Thanos and losing together all the same. Even with what we’ve managed to build since then… all of it done in bad blood. I don’t want that anymore. I don’t want to have to… look at you and just see pain. For seven years, that’s all I’ve been seeing. Please, Tony, I don’t want to see that anymore!”

Rainbow Dash was a mare who hardly expressed what was needed, hardly showed the deeper, more intimate emotions. But right then, when faced with the overwhelming agonies and torment of the past, all of that blood poured forth and escaped through her breath, through her heart, through her tears as she exclaimed every syllable, cried every statement, and told Tony Stark that enough was enough. For her sake, and the sake of the team… he felt exactly the same.

“No hard feelings?” Tony asked, his body shivering.

Rainbow gulped, her eyelids twitching and that single tear sliding down her cheek. “No hard feelings.”

That was as far as they got.

Tony fell to one knee. Rainbow flew into his arms. It was as far as they got before the tears came flowing freely and beyond their control.

“I’m sorry, Rainbow,” Tony whispered, soothing her heavy whimpers with his heavy breaths and the touch of his palm on the back of her head and mane. “I’m sorry for ever making you feel lesser than your friends, that you were never welcome here.”

His words were like daggers into her heart, every truth piercing deeper and wounding her more. But unlike previously, those wounds were instantly healed, the pain filled with the warmth and the agony finally being soothed. It was as if the greatest weight she carried on her shoulders was suddenly lifted, Rainbow Dash gasping a cry so profound that she couldn’t contain that tears that followed. Despite the wall she had built to trap herself, she wasn’t strong enough for that.

“I’m sorry about your parents…” Rainbow cried, holding him tight and burying her face in his shoulder. She closed her eyes tight and said it. “I’m sorry for everything.”

It was as if the two of them weren’t the only ones feeling that heavy burden be released from them. Nearly every Avenger who held that personal and unnerving connection between the two of them, knew their history and what befell the team and their friendship all felt that guilt leave. From Twilight Sparkle, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, Rarity, and Starlight Glimmer, they all slowly smiled to the warming sight of the two finally becoming one. Finally putting the pain of the past behind them and healing it in the process. Finally becoming a team once again.

Steve stared at her, at them rekindling. His expression was harder than ever, arms crossed as he eyed Rainbow Dash cautiously. With the burden she carried alongside Stark finally being lifted and forgiven, all that left was one thing. She was almost ready…

They broke away, Tony rising and Rainbow sniffling before rubbing a foreleg across her snout. “All right… I think we’re good now. No more water works,” Dash commented, rubbing her eyes to get rid of any lingering tears.

She felt a soft and warming presence on her right, turning to it and smiling. Twilight raised her hoof and laid it on Rainbow’s wither. The Alicorn smiled through the flowing tears, rubbing her own and declaring, “I’m so proud of you. Both of you… showed tremendous courage. I couldn’t have been prouder to see that and know—”

Twilight’s voice was silenced the moment the hoof was laid on her shoulder.

Rainbow’s smile vanished when she felt the other hoof press firmly against her shoulder.

They both turned and saw Sunset Shimmer standing before them, hooves pressed against them, her eyes as white as snow and jaw agape with shock. Upon her chest, over her heart, her geode hovered and shimmered a brilliant red and orange. Just like what happened when she touched Tony. The room flinched at that, shielding their eyes and backing away as that blinding light from the geode nearly filled the entire hangar bay. Far brighter than when she touched Tony. Far brighter than ever before…

Then she broke away, cried out and stumbled aside to gaze to the floor in shock. Twilight and Rainbow fell in that immediate category, each mare breathing harshly, heavily, disbelief in all of their expressions as every eye in the room once more fell on Sunset Shimmer.

Steve’s arms fell. He took a step forward, hardened gaze narrowing on the scene and waiting.

“What did you do?” Rainbow asked, clutching her chest and turning accusingly to her.

Sunset just shook her head, hoof slowly rising to clutch her geode as she firmly established her stance, her gaze rising to both Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash. And she saw it like in the pair of memories, that single fracture between them, that final wound that refused to heal.

She narrowed her gaze, frowned to them and said, “I’m not doing anything… you two are.”