//------------------------------// // Chapter 12: Are We There Yet? // Story: Doomwar // by Boltstrike58 //------------------------------// Equis, Everfree Forest "Cause I love to make you smile, smile, smile, yes I do..." Bucky couldn't take it anymore. "Dammit, Pinkie, now it's stuck in my head!" "Sorry!" Steve considered reprimanding them both, Pinkie for singing constantly, which wasn't actually improving anybody's morale, despite the pink pony's best hopes, and Bucky for lashing out, but he decided not to. After all, the one-armed soldier wasn't the only one who wasn't enjoying himself at the moment. After making their way down from the Canterlot mountains, Steve's group had trudged across the plains towards Twilight's Castle. Worried that their enemies could be tracking their moves, they'd decided to make their way to Ponyville by going around and passing through the greater Everfree Forest. Nobody was worried about getting lost, since Princess Luna had most maps of Equestria memorized, and knew which directions to take. However, the Everfree wasn't a pleasant place by any stretch of the imagination, and this trip was no exception. Everybody had been forced to wade through deep mud, push through ivy, and been harassed by flyders. As a result, everybody's spirits were pretty low. "You guys have spiders that fly on this planet?" Spider-Man had asked as he swatted at the obnoxious creatures buzzing about his head. "Why couldn't I have been bitten by one of them?" "I dunno, Pete," replied Applejack. "You'd probably have grown creepy wings or something." While the team continued to converse among themselves, Steve pulled out the pager Fury had tossed at him. It still had the symbol of the red, white, and blue star imprinted on it, and Steve guessed that it meant it was still transmitting whatever signal it had sent out to begin with. "So, any idea what that thing's for?" asked Sam, looking over Steve's shoulder. "Nope," replied Steve. "All Fury had time to tell me was not to lose it. I have no idea why, but he did, so that's what I'm doing." "You still trust him? After everything?" asked Bucky. "I'm not saying he made it easy, but yes," said Steve. The next few minutes passed in silence, as the group proceeded quietly through the woods, chopping away branches in their way. During this trip, Thor obeyed the order Steve had given him to keep an eye on Loki. He was the logical choice, considering how he and Loki had grown up together, and how familiar he was with Loki's tricks and deceptions. Thor, wanting to believe in his brother, had protested the decision, but ultimately agreed. After all, he'd been the one to go through Ragnarok alongside Loki, the others still had plenty of reason to doubt the trickster. Loki, for his part, wasn't happy about having his own personal watchdog, but his mind was elsewhere at the moment. He'd been mulling over what Barnes had said to him regarding Luna, how Loki was the one truly responsible for her current (low) opinion of him. Loki didn't like to admit it, but at the moment, he was beginning to feel like that held more and more weight. He'd done terrible things, that was for certain. He'd attempted genocide, tried to enslave an entire planet, and imprisoned his father—not his father, he corrected himself, but still the man who'd raised him—and for what? What did he have to show for it? What was left of Asgard hated him, and Luna, the one being in the Nine Realms who truly understood him, hated him as well. Loki sank to his knees, the faintest bits of tears beginning to form in his eyes. He had no place in the world, no reason to exist. Even Thor had probably given up on him at this point. What was the point of going on? They'd all be better off without him. He should never have— "Loki, what are you doing?" asked Thor, jolting the trickster out of his own mind. Loki blinked a few tears from his eyes, shaking his head, clarity returning to him all of a sudden. Why had he been thinking those self-deprecating thoughts? He didn't believe them, he knew he had value. Looking up, Loki was embarrassed to see that everyone in their group had stopped and was now looking at him with increasingly perplexed expressions. At least he thought it was all of them. A sudden fog was eclipsing his view. "Sorry, sorry," he hastily apologized. "Something came over me, I don't know what." "Well, whatever," said Vision. "Where'd this fog come from? I didn't see any clouds in the sky on our way down here." "The Everfree Forest's weather operates on its own rules," explained Rainbow Dash. "It's not even like it is on your planet, where weather at least has patterns that can be understood. Here, it can start raining in seconds, and then revert to sunny in the space of about five seconds. There's no way to predict it. Believe me, Twilight's tried enough times." "I hope we don't get lost in this crap," said Applejack, waving her hoof in front of her face in an attempt to dispel the vapor. "This place is enough of a maze with clear light." "Wait a minute," interrupted Princess Luna, igniting her horn as she looked from side to side. "Something's amiss here. This fog...this isn't natural." "Uh, didn't we just establish that this place is naturally weird?" asked Valkyrie. "Come on, we don't have time to waste." Everybody started to walk again, only to be cut off by the sound of Starlight's voice. "No, no, she's right," insisted the unicorn, her own horn blaring with magic as well. "I don't like this..." She closed her eyes for a second, focusing her magic, before they suddenly snapped open again, filled with pure panic. "EVERYPONY DOWN!" Steve's soldier instincts kicked in, as he dived onto his stomach. The others followed without hesitation, as Starlight charged her magic, sparks and white stars flying out of her horn at regular intervals. Rearing back, Starlight stomped her front hooves, sending out a wave of pure force from her horn. Nobody got hit, but the fog was blown off into the trees, clearing up everybody's vision. "Uh...not that I'm not glad we can see again," said Sam, "but what the hell was that for, Glimmer?!" "That wasn't fog," Luna interrupted before Starlight could throw an angry retort. "It is a predatory creature known as a D'Spair. It creates feelings of intense sadness and misery using a being's own thoughts, such that its victims have no will to move, and they just sit there until they die. Then it digests them." Loki breathed a small sigh of relief. So he hadn't just been having a moment of emotional weakness. That was a relief. Hearing the description made Spider-Man shiver in his costume. "So, on this planet, simple fog is trying to kill you?" he asked for confirmation. "I'm beginning to rethink my opinion that this place is some sort of paradise." "Hey!" protested Starlight Glimmer. "From what I hear, Earth is no picnic either, Spidey!" "Can we focus?!" screamed Valkyrie, pointing up at the sky. "We've got bigger problems!" Indeed, she was right, as the same patch of fog seemed to be rolling towards them faster than the wind was blowing. In fact, there were several of the blights approaching from all directions, boxing them into a corner. "Oh for Celestia's sake!" Starlight cursed. She tried to ignite her horn again, but all she got were a few fluttering sparks of loose magic. "I can't fire like that again for a minute! Everybody just try to stay calm and think happy thoughts!" "There's no need to fear, Miss Glimmer!" insisted Luna, flaring her own magical aura at maximum intensity. "I will protect us in your stead!" With those words, Luna's horn charged and fired off a thunderous beam of magic, punching a hole through one of the D'Spairs and causing the remnants to dissipate into the atmosphere. Turning her head, she fired off several more blasts, vaporizing more and more of the creatures. But as the others could see, she was fighting a losing battle from the beginning. The D'Spairs were coming in fast and furious, and Luna was expanding a great deal of magic just to kill them. "It is no use!" she finally admitted. "I cannot keep this up! They are...they are..." Bucky, realizing what was happening, charged over to his friend. "Luna! Don't give into it! Don't let it feed you those thoughts!" He grabbed the princess by the wings and shook her, but Luna failed to even realize he was there. "I should've never returned," Luna mumbled to herself, her eyes beginning to water. "I deserve to be punished...for the Nightmare..." Bucky yelled at her some more, but his will was beginning to falter as well, and he still couldn't reach her. The battle, if one could call it that, was going poorly. Thor, Vision, and Starlight, being the only ones who could harm the D'Spairs, were firing blasts of their own energy into the rolling clouds of fog, but more of the creatures swiftly rose up to replace their fallen comrades. They washed over the group like swarms of ants, and soon, the terrible plague of sadness began to affect all of them. Thor, remembering how he'd carried out the destruction of his very home. Starlight, feeling the guilt over her villainous actions return tenfold. Valkyrie, seeing her sisters slaughtered by Hela once again. Applejack, recalling the faces of her parents, faces that she knew every feature of. Sam, hearing the sound of the explosion and the smell of the fuel as Riley's plane exploded. Steve dropped his shield, falling to his knees, as memories of the war rushed to the surface. The endless chattering of gunfire. The friends who fell and never rose again. Saying good-bye to Peggy as he flew the Hydra jet into the water. What was the point of going on? What— "Hey, hey, hey!" yelled a familiar voice, grabbing Steve by the head and shaking it around, jostling his vision. "Come on, Cap, snap out of it! You gonna let some scary fog get to you?" Steve blinked, his eyes dripping as he refocused on the sight in front of him. Spider-Man was currently poking him in the side, trying to keep him from mentally drifting off (at least, that's what Steve hoped he was doing). "You can't give into the sadness, Cap!" Spider-Man insisted. "It's like the horse in that really old movie, The Neverending Story. If you give up, you'll die here!" "Yeah! And that would be a real bummer!" chimed in Pinkie Pie, bouncing around the group. She hopped over to Applejack, poking the farm pony with one hoof. "Wakey-wakey, Applejack! We've got work to do." Steve gritted his teeth, trying to suppress the painful memories that kept surfacing. Somehow, the misery that had come from the creatures seemed to be weakened. It was as though Peter and Pinkie were somehow the antidote to their poison. He managed to struggle back to his feet, as Spider-Man moved on to the others. "Come on, guys!" he shouted, pulling on Starlight's mane. "Everybody up and at 'em! We got better things to do than sit around and suffocate! We have a job to do!" "He's right!" added Pinkie, poking Thor with one hoof. "Sure, your memories are sad. But the smoke monsters are cheating! They're not letting you think of all the happy memories! The sad stuff doesn't last forever! I Pinkie Promise you!" As he blinked the last few tears from his eyes, Steve stared at Spider-Man. Through the blur of the moisture, it was difficult to be sure, but he could've sworn there was some sort of blue aura surrounding the costumed teenager, hovering around him. Behind the white lenses of his mask, Steve thought he could see more blue light glowing and pulsating. But he shook the thought from his head. Now wasn't the time to be focusing on something so small. Steve started to stumble towards his comrades, endeavoring to shake them out of the spell. "Come on, Sam," he grunted, shaking his fellow soldier, "we gotta go. The kid's right." Steve didn't notice, but the same blue glow that surrounded Peter pulsed around his hand, seeming to transfer to Sam upon contact. The Falcon shivered as the grip of the D'Spairs broke on him, looking up and becoming aware of his surroundings once again. Meanwhile, Spider-Man and Pinkie had managed to get the others out of their funk. "Come on!" Spider-Man called to the others, grabbing Steve's hand with one of his own. "We gotta get out of this forest! Everybody hold onto each other, we can't afford to let go!" The team obeyed without hesitation, even as the D'Spairs still swarmed around them. Steve grabbed Sam's hand with his own free one, who in turn grabbed Rainbow Dash's hoof, and the trend continued. Soon, they'd formed a living chain with Spider-Man at the front, and Pinkie at the back, and they continued down the path towards the forest exit. The D'Spairs continued to hound them, but somehow, they found it easier to resist the miserable memories they drudged up. Pinkie's declaration that sadness was temporary resonating in their brains, they made their way through the forest, eventually emerging at the outskirts of Ponyville, next to Fluttershy's cottage. Once they'd exited the forest, the D'Spairs seemed to shudder, as though grunting in frustration, before drifting back into the depths of the Everfree. "HA! Beat that, you foggy freaks!" Spider-Man yelled after the retreating creatures. "So long, suckers!" He pulled up his mask just to blow raspberries at the retreating creatures. Everyone else just breathed a sigh of relief, feeling silently embarrassed that they'd cried in front of all the others. Loki in particular felt rather annoyed, but he pushed it behind him. "Well, I can't say that was the most pleasant experience of my long life," said Luna, stretching her wings, "but we got through it. You have my gratitude, Pinkie Pie and Peter Parker." "Aw, it was nothin'," said Pinkie Pie, somehow making herself blush at will. Nobody could tell, but Peter was actually blushing for real under his mask. Steve, having fully recovered by now, looked back at Spider-Man, searching for that strange glow that he'd sworn he saw. There was no trace of it, but now that he looked at Pinkie Pie, the color of the blue balloons on her Cutie Mark was similar in color to the aura he'd seen. "Hey, uh, Spidey," he began, "how'd you manage to remain unaffected by those things, anyway? I mean, Pinkie Pie I kind of get, she's the Element of Laughter, but why you?" "Um...well..." Spider-Man stumbled over his words. Even after all this time, speaking to Captain America was still kind of intimidating. "I...I don't know. I just knew, as soon as all of you guys started falling apart back there, I had to do something to get us out. I could feel those things trying to invade my brain, but it's like something was...blocking it." Steve thoughtfully scratched his chin, pondering his explanation. He wasn't lying, that much was obvious. He truly didn't know how he'd managed to evade the D'Spairs. Steve decided to file that information away for later. "Well, you did a good job, kid," said Valkyrie, clapping Spider-Man on the shoulder. "You probably save our hides. Kind of embarrassing to die to evil fog monsters." Peter blushed again, but luckily, his mask hid his face from the woman. "T-thanks, Angry Girl." Valkyrie grimaced slightly at the nickname, but said nothing. "I have to give it to you, it must take some kinda crazy willpower to resist those things," Rainbow Dash admitted. "At this point in my life, Pinkie almost never surprises me anymore, but you really pulled one out of your hat, Web Head." "As much as I'm enjoying us embarrassing Spider-Man," Vision interrupted, "shouldn't we be getting into Ponyville by now?" "Probably," Steve agreed. "Come on, everybody!" "Uh, you mind filling us in on the plan, Cap?" asked Applejack, keeping herself pressed against the side of the building. The group was currently sequestered behind the Ponyville Bowling Alley, the largest building that could hide them from the sight of the town's residents. Rainbow Dash, at Steve's request, had done a quick arial sweep of the town, using the clouds to cover herself and stay hidden. She'd reported that the town looked pretty normal as far as it went, with ponies hustling and bustling around town, with no monster attacks or anything of the sort disrupting their daily lives. Still, the captain refused to allow any of them to reveal themselves. "We can't take any chances," he started explaining. "Whoever sent the windigos and all those villains to Canterlot will no doubt be trying to hunt us down and exterminate us after our little escape back there. They could have spies in Ponyville, waiting for us to show up. What we need to do is slip into Twilight's Castle and get the mirror without being spotted." "A wise decision, Captain," said Wong, giving a small salute. Steve nodded, then turned to the ponies. "Is there anyone we can for absolutely certain trust in this town? Someone who could get the mirror for us?" "Oh, I know!" exclaimed Starlight. "Cozy Glow! We left her in charge of the School of Friendship while we were away at the conference!" "That tiny little salmon-colored pegasus?" asked Thor. "Well, I suppose. She is just a child, after all." "So how are we gonna ask her?" said Pinkie Pie. "Ooh! Rainbow Dash can write a message in the clouds! Or I can spell out a message in cupcakes! Or—" "Or I can just cast a temporary cloaking spell over us, and we can walk there," Loki interrupted the pink pony. "Unless you don't trust me not to stab you." "I wouldn't put it past you," Luna grumbled under her breath, but she made sure Loki didn't hear her. "Or I could just open a portal there," Wong chimed in, waving his hands and creating the familiar orange sparks, forming a hole in the air. "I can actually see it from here, there was no chance of misfiring." Sure enough, the portal led directly outside the School of Friendship. Steve stepped through the portal cautiously, looking up at the School, along with Twilight's castle. "Handy," he commented. "Thanks, Wong." Loki sent an irritated glare at Wong, but the sorcerer either didn't notice or didn't care. The team made their way through the portal, before entering the School and heading for the main office. Thor cautiously pushed open the door, finding Cozy Glow sitting in Twilight's chair, looking over some papers. "Oh! Mr. Thor!" said the filly, looking up at the sound of the creaking door. "Welcome back! Is the conference over?" "Er, not exactly," said Thor. "There was an...incident." Cozy Glow looked past him, seeing the others peeking out from behind the door. Pinkie Pie waved politely. Cozy Glow waved back awkwardly. "Listen, Cozy Glow," said Thor. "We need you to retrieve something from Twilight Sparkle's castle for us. It's a mirror with jewels encrusted in the frame. Can you go get it and bring it to us?" Cozy Glow perked up immediately. "Sure, Mr. Thor! I'd be happy to help!" Nobody noticed that she reached into one of the desk drawers, pulling out a small, cylindrical device with a red button on top. A rather wide grin spread across her face as she pressed the button. The team made their way back outside to wait for Cozy Glow to come back. They hid behind the school, where they were unlikely to be spotted. "So are we just supposed to stand around here for now?" asked Rainbow Dash. "I don't suppose anybody brought any party games or anything." "I did!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, pulling out a loose brick from the school wall and reaching behind it to retrieve a piece of paper. "I keep 'em hidden all around Equestria in case of boredom emergencies." "Pinkie, this is sudoku!" Applejack complained. "You know I hate this game!" "Whoops! Sorry, Applejack. I guess I must've hidden the darts game over by the Ponyville Spa. Hey, Mr. Wizard? Can you warp me over there—" "Uh, guys?" Spider-Man interrupted. "Not to alarm anybody, but I'm getting that tingling in the back of my neck that signals when something bad is about to happen, and—" Spider-Man cut himself off this time, leaping away from his current position. This turned out to be a good decision, as a massive metallic leg came crashing down on the spot where he'd been standing mere seconds before. This of course prompted everybody to jump into fighting stances, as their eyes followed the metal appendage up to its point of origin. The leg led up to a large pod, with three more emerging from it. Sitting in the pod's cockpit was Cozy Glow, smiling like an absolute lunatic. "Sorry, everypony!" she snarked, raising one of her walker's legs again. "I couldn't find the mirror." "Don't worry about it, kid," came a voice. Scorpion emerged from behind a tree, clicking his pincer claws together. "After all, you did find us." More familiar figures began to come out, including Batroc, Shocker, Garble, Wind Rider, Amora, Ahuizotl, and what appeared to be a second Cozy Glow. Of course, Starlight wasn't surprised when the second one turned into Queen Chrysalis. "She's in league with them," breathed Steve. Nobody said a word as everybody turned to look at Starlight. "Okay, I screwed up! I'm sorry, jeez!" protested the unicorn. "Oh, don't be too concerned about your standing with your friends, Starlight Glimmer," cackled Queen Chrysalis, igniting her horn with sickly green light. "Soon, you'll have no concerns whatsoever." Behind Chrysalis, a swirling black portal began to emerge out of the air. Out of the portal came the silhouette of a massive alicorn, with blank white eyes, and a gigantic wingspan. None of the Avengers recognized it, of course, but the ponies let out a collective gasp. It was the Pony of Shadows. Sunset Shimmer gasped as she stumbled out of the mirror, falling off of her hooves. The now-unicorn tried to support herself with her front hooves, but she hadn't yet remembered that she didn't have fingers anymore. Her mane flipped and dangled in front of her face, blinding her temporarily. "I am never gonna get used to that," she grumbled, placing her hooves flat against the floor. With a final push, she managed to set herself right on all four limbs once again. She experimentally flexed her legs, and ignited a bright flare from her horn, her brain readjusting itself back into pony mode once again. Three more thumps resounded behind Sunset, who turned around to see what exactly the results would be. Three more ponies sat behind her, all in various states of chaotic disarray. Sunset blinked at the three forms, who were still recognizable as the Dazzlings, same hairstyles and all. Adagio now had a unicorn horn sprouting from her poof, while Sonata sported a pair of pegasus wings. Aria was an earth pony. "Huh," said Sunset. "It turned you into ponies after all. I bet Twilight will want to write this down." Adagio blinked a couple of times, as she struggled to get back on her hooves. "Every time you go through the portal, you have to deal with that light show?" she asked. "How have you not gone blind?" "I warned you to shut your eyes," Sunset quipped. "Here, let me help you." Sunset's red aura ignited around the three Dazzlings, levitating them slowly off the ground. With a few twists, Sunset re-positioned their legs, and then set them gently on their hooves. "Hey, this isn't so bad!" said Sonata, spreading her new wings, "And hey, check this out! I can fly—" She took off like a bullet, flying straight into one of the walls. Aria suppressed a laugh at her sister's antics. "I suppose it could be worse," she said, looking over her own body. "I do feel a lot stronger in this form." Adagio closed her eyes, trying to concentrate to activate her horn, but only succeeded letting off a few magic sparks. "Hm. Guess I'll need to learn how to use this thing." "Don't worry," said Sunset. "We can teach you that. I wonder why Twilight isn't here to meet us. I mean, I'm not worried, but—" And that was when the explosion outside of the castle reverberated all around them.