//------------------------------// // Desecrated Memories // Story: Oh Captain, My Captain // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// Rogers smacked the front of his shield off of the face of a gargoyle that had gotten too close, snapping its head back and leaving its midsection open for Rogers to drive his two boots right into the stomach. The gargoyle roared as it plummeted down into the city below, yet Rogers' victory was a short one since two more gargoyles landed on top of the vehicle. "How much closer are we to landing?!" Rogers called up to the cockpit as he bounced a claw strike off of the shield, before driving the edge of it into the nose of the beast. Beside him Applebloom drove her hoof into the other gargoyle's gut, but with a growl of pain she staggered back since her hoof failed to phase the stone beast. It chuckled while it reached out towards her, but twin engine fire to the face from Scootaloo's wings turned the laughter to screams of pain as it fell back. "We're still a few minutes out!" Sweetie called from the front, her eyes narrowing as the sky was becoming more and more filled with stone beings that began to bombard their aerial craft. She did her best avoid the falling stone sentinels, yet a quick glance in her rearview mirror showed that the other craft behind her weren't as lucky. "Scootaloo, the rest of the air support won't make it if this keeps up! Get out there and help them!" Scootaloo saluted to Sweetie before turning to leap out of the moving vehicle. Rogers tossed her his shield before she leapt out and in return Scootaloo gave him a smile of gratitude before rocketing into the sky battle. Rogers then stuck his head out of the moving vehicle to see that despite the hundreds of gargoyles in the sky around them, his vehicle seemed to be the only one that was being avoided. 'Sombra must want to face me personally. Either that or these gargoyles are too afraid of me to come closer.' That idea was challenged a moment later when a stone sentinel spied the Captain and hurtled down towards him, wrapping his claws around Captain America's shoulders. The creature tried to take to the sky with the Cap, yet with a grip like iron, Cap managed to grab hold of the aircraft. "Belle! Bloom! Little help?!" A blast of magical energy slammed into the face of the goyle, causing it to howl as its grip weakened. Taking the opening, Rogers brought both feet up and slammed his boots into the nose of the creature. The force of the blow snapped the stone nose right off of the goyle's face and the monster retreated with howls of pain. Bloom raced over to Rogers' side and grabbed hold of both of his arms, dragging him back into the ship. He flashed her a grateful smile while he took a moment to regain his breath, but he was only allowed that moment to recover. The next moment the ship shook as two more gargoyles landed on top of it, digging their claws into the propulsion system and they started to tear it to shreds. "Focus on flying, Sweetie Belle! Bloom and I will deal with these!" He gripped the edge of the craft before kicking off with his legs to vault himself onto the top of the aircraft. The gargoyles' eyes widened with shock as the Captain landed on the roof with them, Applebloom joining him a moment later when she pulled herself up. Both sides then charged at each other while trying to keep their balance on top of the moving vehicle. Captain America tackled the closest goyle shoulder first, stunning the beast long enough for him to leap over its head and land upon its back. His next move was to wrap his arms around its throat and its eyes, tightening his grip when he heard it bellow in rage and begin to swing its arms wildly. America pulled with all of his might to turn the gargoyle's head to the side, which in turned angled its body towards the other gargoyle that Bloom was just narrowly avoiding. "You should really pay attention to where you're going!" Rogers advised the gargoyle before releasing his grip and kicking off of its back, giving the creature just a moment to register that it was free before it crashed into its companion. The two toppled over each other into a pile, before sliding off to the side when Belle angled the ship. "We need to get back inside, Applebloom," Rogers instructed over the winds and snow that sought to drown him out, eyes narrowing as a crystal spire came into view through the snowstorm. "We're almost there." Following the Captain's advice, the both of them retreated back into the safety of the craft, where they were joined by Scootaloo a few moments later. "I took out as many of the gargoyles as I could, but we lost a good number of aircraft on the way here," she reported with a look of anger, tossing the shield back to the Captain before glancing out the side. "Almost there, huh? So what's your plan for deal with Sombra, Cap?" "The same plan I've had for every villain we've come across. Work as a team to exploit their weakness and bring them down so they can never harm another again." Scootaloo and Applebloom both smiled at the Captain's plan, but a faint gasp from the front turned their attention to their pilot. "Faust help us." The three had just a moment to register Belle's words before Captain America stuck his head out of the side to see two rays of light shooting into the sky. One of them was the purest of whites while the other was the blackest of blues. Yet even as his eyes widened at the sphere of power that was growing at the base of the two lights, he retained enough of his composure to issue an order. "MOVE!" The sky itself seemed to split apart as a beam of light erupted from the top of the spire, with Belle just barely managing to move the craft out of the way in time to avoid being completely disintegrated. Yet as Rogers heard the sound of metal being tore asunder, he knew that they had been hit and the screaming sirens and the fact that the ship started to tilt to the side proved his point. "What in the Faust was that?!" Scootaloo screamed over the sirens, but Rogers didn't answer her while he glanced out the side once more to find themselves over the crystal city. "What we are here to stop! Scootaloo, get Applebloom! Belle, with me!" Rogers didn't wait a moment longer as he raced to the cockpit and snatched the mare out of her seat. Calculations and distances were being measured in his head as he then rushed to the open side of the craft, counting the distance in his head while the doomed craft got closer and closer to the tower. "Please tell me you're not thinking what I think you're thinking," Belle asked with slight hints of fear in her voice. The smile Rogers gave her in reply caused the mare to close her eyes and pray, while Rogers crouched down. The moment they were close enough the Captain kicked off with all of his might, launching the pair out of the craft to the side of the spire. He tucked Belle close to him while extending his shield at the same time, gritting his teeth while bracing for impact. Crystal shattered under the force of the Captain's impact with the spire, the hardened material being no match for the shield, and a moment later both pony and human tumbled across the floor. Rogers quickly shot back up to his feet, gazing around the library that he had crashed into for any sign of opposition. When he found the room cleared he then knelt down beside Belle and helped her back up, checking her over for injuries before glancing out of the hole he had made. "That's where they got to," he muttered when he spied Scootaloo flying away with Bloom grasped firmly in her forehooves, three gargoyles with blazing maws chasing after them. "Seems that we're on our own for the time being, Belle. Pick yourself up and get ready to fight, because we've got quite the climb before reaching Sombra." "Did you just hurl us out a moving aircraft and tumble through a building made of crystal?" she asked with a fuzzy mind before the Captain yanked her along. Captain America kicked open the doors to the library with his shield already wound back, glad he did so as three gargoyles turned to face him the moment the doors flew from their hinges. The Captain had a brief second to glance around the circular room with the pair of staircases before one of the gargoyles cried out, "It's the Captain! Kill-!" A vibranium disc to the jaw prevented the rest of that sentence from being spoken. Rogers then vaulted himself over a crystal railing to the side of one of the stairs and dropped down onto the second gargoyle. Both boots to the face dropped the creature over and after snatching his bouncing shield out of the air, he then kept the beast down with a strike of the shield to the head. Captain America then snapped his attention to the final gargoyle, which had figured that the best course of action was to hurl itself at the Captain. Rogers had just brought his shield up to defend himself before a bluish magic surrounded the goyle and redirected it to the nearest wall. Unlike the shield, the stone head of the gargoyle was no match for the crystal wall and it shattered upon impact. "Thanks, but I had him," Rogers said to Belle, who ceased her magic and dropped what remained of the creature to the floor. "You really want to do this now?" Sweetie Belle asked with an eye roll before motioning for the Captain to follow her. "Come on, if anything I remember about this place is still right, then the way to the top should be over this way." Sweetie's way to the top involved leading the both of them through multiple rooms that were filled with gargoyles and ponies in armor, forcing the pair to fight their way through each room of the castle. Yet their reward was a circular device in the center of a room that had been guarded by ten gargoyles, bathing in a soft light that seemed to go straight up. "Huh, so Sombra installed an elevator? He really did get lazy," Belle remarked before stepping onto the platform, which immediately began to raise with her upon it. Rogers snatched the side and pulled himself up, landing next to Belle as the device picked up speed. "Stay behind me, Belle. If he has any tricks waiting for us up top, its best if they get introduced to the old gal first instead of us," Rogers instructed as he kept his eyes peeled for any sign of a trap, but when his eyes glanced down at Sweetie he saw she was biting her lower lip. "Nervous?" "Of course I'm nervous. This will decide everything," she whispered with eyes clouded by fear. "If we beat Sombra here, then we've freed our home. But if we don't...if you die...then the Crusade is over. And Sombra will win." Rogers' eyes softened as he knelt down next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Sweetie, I know that you're afraid. It's okay to be scared. Even I'm scared right now and I've done this God knows how many times before," Rogers revealed to her. "But I promise, on my life, that I won't let anything happen to you or the ponies that we are here to protect. Sombra has claimed his last life." "Your life?" she whispered in reply when the Captain lifted his head upwards with narrowed eyes. "But your life is the one that we're..." She never got to finish her sentence as the elevator came to a stop, revealing to the pair the top of the spire. From where they stood in the center of the open room, they could see all of the Crystal Empire, from the city streets where ponies and monsters battled it out, to the skies where the remaining aircraft battled against gargoyles. But Rogers didn't focus on any of that. Instead, his eyes were glued to the black stallion in the red cape that was staring off the side down at the battle below. "Sombra." With a smile carved into his face that was far colder than the blowing snow around them, the dark stallion turned around with gleeful eyes to face the heroes. Rogers watched as the king's eyes quickly glanced over Sweetie Belle and her horn with a look of amusement before turning them to Rogers, where they began to glow with excitement and joy. "Captain America. We meet again," the king smiled with a bow, his words causing Sweetie to glance up at the Captain who simply narrowed his eyes. "Don't tell me you've forgotten. The very first day you got here. Right before little miss worthless there teleported you away from the prison. I was that dark pony you saw that day." "Had I known that was you, I would have beaten you down then and there," Rogers made sure to inform Sombra, who chuckled with a shake of his head while his eyes flashed mischief. "I have no doubt you would have tried, hero. And that battle is one that has kept me up at night, going over every possibility of how it would go. I have to say that I haven't been this excited in a while," Sombra cackled, his body shivering with nervous excitement. But then he coughed slightly and regained a more regal posture, though his eyes still held danger within them. "But first, there is something that I have been meaning to do. And that is to thank you, Captain America. Thank you for coming to Equestria." Rogers' eyes narrowed even further at Sombra's words, but the dark king paid that no mind as he continued on. "Allow me to explain a bit about my group, whom you called the Five, before I continue on. They were the dumbest bunch of villains that had ever gathered around the same table, present company excluded. Do you know why? Come on, ask me why?" "Why then, you sick son of a-?" "Thank you, Belle. It's because they didn't know how to fight heroes. Can you believe that? Villains that don't know how to fight heroes," Sombra chuckled with a shake of his head. "I had come up with the perfect plan to take the world. I combined the strengths of each of us five and attacked on a day when not only everypony was resting, but when one of the Ambassadors of Harmony, one that your friend knew well, was away. The attack went off without a hitch and within ten minutes, we had captured five of the Ambassadors in Ponyville while I came to the Crystal Empire to deal with the heroes here. And wouldn't you know it? The plan worked! We won. Cadence and her husband were dead and the other princesses and their friends were ours." "But this is where things go stupid. Because do you know what the other members of the Five wished to do? They wanted to keep Twilight and her friends ALIVE! Can you believe the sheer stupidity in that? Tirek wanted to keep them alive so he could constantly drain their powers. Fair enough, but the others wished to do so just to brag! Of all the stupid..." Sombra then composed himself once more by clearing his throat before continuing. "Yes, leave the heroes alive. Alive so they could one day fight back against us. Fortunately for my allies, I was there to inform them of how stupid a decision that was and in the face of my brilliance, even their feeble minds managed to realize it was a bad idea. So I volunteered to kill Twilight and the other Ambassadors myself, which I did so with pleasure. The first to go was your sister, but I assume you already knew that?" "No. I didn't. I'll be sure to remember to show my gratitude for you telling me, when I impale you on your own horn!" Sweetie snarled back. Sombra chuckled at her response before his face seemed to fall and he gazed back at the battle below. "But only then, a few weeks later, did I realize that my brilliant idea to kill the heroes had a fatal flaw in it. See, I wished to not only have the Crystal Empire, but all of Equestria also under one hoof alone, and that hoof was mine! But that infernal Chrysalis had actually managed to join the other four members of us together in an alliance, so that they wouldn't tear themselves apart like I believed they would do! And as powerful as I am, even I couldn't hope to fight the four of them myself," Sombra groaned with regret. "She even put measures in place so that if one of us tried to pick them off one by one, they'd all know and attack the traitor as a group. I was forced to be a team with them." "So I fell into a boredom, one that was barely alleviated at all when we discovered that the Crusaders had been formed, or when Sunset Shimmer showed up to try and save her home. That lasted all of two days. And I've been bored ever since...that is, until a few months ago." Sombra then turned to the Captain, but this time there was a look upon his face that unnerved the Captain. A look of pure malice. "You showed up. You showed up and rocked our world with your skill. I am not afraid to admit that I thought you were another flash in the pan hero at first, one that would fall at the first sign of adversity. But then you beat Ahuizotl and freed some ponies. Pretty impressive. Then you killed Starlight and brought down the Starfall. You had my attention. But best of all, you managed to best and kill both Chrysalis and bring down Tirek, the two of the four that stood in my way the longest! You proved that you were what I had been praying for all this time! You are a true hero, the only thing that could have bested the Five when I could not. And that is why I thank you, Captain America. Because you have removed all obstacles that stood between me and conquest!" "Not every obstacle," Rogers reminded Sombra as he took up a fighting stance and narrowed his eyes at the unicorn, who let his demented smile cross his face once more. "You're right in saying that I helped to bring down the other members of the Five, which you might see as a benefit. But just like all of them, I'm going to bring you down too!" "Captain, weren't you listening? I killed Rarity. I killed Cadence and Shining Armor. I killed this land's greatest heroes. I am the hero killer," Sombra reminded the Captain as the smile spread from his face with a dark stare replacing it. "What makes you think I can't kill you?" "Because you've never fought a man like me." "Wait a minute," Sweetie muttered aloud, preventing the two from starting their fight. "Two ponies are missing. You said the Ambassadors, Cadence and Shining...but what about Celestia and Luna? What happened to them?" Sombra threw his head back and began to laugh at Sweetie's words, making her wonder what was so funny before something landed behind Sombra. Both Sweetie and the Captain's eyes widened as horror crept into their souls at what they saw. The creature behind Sombra had two wings that were separate colors, one white and one bluish. The wings mirrored its body, half of which were white while the other half were a bluish color. But it was the heads that the two were drawn to, two heads on two separate necks that were colored like the dual coat and jutted out of the body on the side that matched their color. But despite eyes that glowed green or the mutilation that had been done to the form, Belle knew who, or now what, she was looking at all the same. "It...can't be..." "Yes, what happened to them?" Sombra repeated as the creature bellowed with the fury of two voices, two voices Belle remembered well. "I wonder indeed?"