It had been far too long since the King of Asgard had seen the face of combat. As he drove his spear into the heart of the serpent-like beast slithering its way through the dead grass towards him, the rust that plagued his bones and muscles began to fade.
It had been far too long, but it mattered little to Odin. The foul creatures that stormed through the valleys of Equestria’s landscape were no match to the combined forces of Asgard’s finest warriors. There were losses—as expected—but for every man that fell to Hel’s demons, ten of the enemy army would fall to their knees.
Many died that day. Many more would join them.
The serpent crumbled in Odin’s grasp, and as he flung the beast into the barren road in front of him, he stopped. The likes of Fandral, Hogun, Volstagg, and even Lady Sif paid no heed to the commotion behind their backs. Their attention was forward, straight into the heat of the conflict. But with the short moment of clarity, the King of Asgard spun around.
He brought up his eye, his neck leaning back to gaze upon the city on the mountain. To his horror, he watched as an unknown force shook the city, buildings toppling over and large chunks of the mountain rolling downwards. Right for them.
Odin was quick to order an immediate scatter of his men, but not before taking one glance at the mountain. The city that crumbled.
Then he heard the single, powerful scream that came from it.
Not many things could stop Captain America in his tracks. When he was fighting, when everything was on the line, he was focused solely on the battle ahead, spotting possible weak points of the enemy, and delivering a decisive and obtainable victory. When everything relied on him and his team, he couldn’t afford to stop.
But the scream did. It was the first thing that stopped Captain America from pushing forward.
The second thing was the tremor. Following it quickly were several, more severe tremors shaking the streets and tossing weakened buildings to the ground in a cloud of dust and smoke.
The final thing that stopped Captain America was the red mist coiling around his legs.
“Wanda!” the Captain yelled, backing away from the serpent-like mist trailing him. “Wanda, what are you doing?! Attack them! Attack the ene—!”
But as he turned to face her, he was met with a sight that nearly shattered his heart. As if the scream wasn’t painful enough, Wanda Maximoff had fallen to her knees, tears streaking down her face and mixing with the black soot that painted her cheeks. All around her, her magic spread like a fog, but unnatural in every way.
The red streams of magic tore through the street, shot outwards in jagged directions, completely uncontrolled, and pulsated like a machine. Like a beast. With every cry, every ragged breath of air she took in, her magic intensified with the pain she felt in her heart. Captain America brought up his shield as a bolt of Wanda’s powers shot over to him, flinging him like a ragdoll across the street.
Everyone was quick to take notice to the sudden change of atmosphere, and the even more sudden change of their environment. The Avengers that remained grounded felt the power of the earthquake rumble beneath their feet, while those up above simply watched as Wanda’s magic tore through the street and spread like a cloud of toxic gas, moving at speeds that seemed unreal.
Tony Stark noticed it rather suddenly. While remaining airborne—albeit stuttering as he did so—he observed the fight below him, left arm outstretched, palm glowing bright. He only lowered his defenses the moment he saw Ultron’s forces be consumed by the red haze, their bodies being torn apart by the twisted magic.
As he brought his arm down, he took in the remainder of his surroundings. The fight that had destroyed the entire street they stood on now turned to their favor. What could now be described as Wanda’s magic the longer he analyzed it spread like the virus it was and infected the remainder of Ultron’s army. Demons halted in their advance once the magic dove into them, coughing up blood as their insides were ripped apart. Sentries were either shredded or fell out of the sky, filling the street with countless bodies.
“Hey!” Stark yelled, swerving to the side as a stream of red missed him by inches, instead impaling the sentry behind Tony. “Watch it!” He turned his attention back to the ground.
Below him, the remainder of his team stood scattered, shaking (due to the tremors), confused, and worried. Mostly Nat and Vision. Others like Barton, Rhodey, Wilson, Banner, Thor, and Rogers still couldn’t stand very well, but they damn sure didn’t seem that worried. Just confused. Confused as to why Wanda’s magic was currently tearing apart the street.
Others like Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Spike, Shining Armor, and Starlight represented all of the above.
None of them were fighting. They didn’t fight because they didn’t need to anymore. While it was comforting, the leisure would definitely have to wait. Everyone and everypony had kept their eyes trained on the screaming young woman, her power that was flowing through the street like rivers of red, and that same power nearly hitting them.
They saw what it did to Ultron’s army. Most of them felt that power firsthand. They sure as hell didn’t want to feel that again.
Another pulse of magic shot out from the Maximoff as she continued to scream, hands raised to her head as she slouched forward. That single pulse shot out like a wave similar to the ones Twilight had concocted earlier, accept instead of protecting her friends it pretty much annihilated anything that got too close.
Luckily, they weren’t too close.
The pulse was short, but grew every time she released another cry. The ponies and Avengers were quick to back away, the concrete ahead of them burning to a black crisp with each wave washing over it. Twilight shot her eyes away from Spike abandoning his rifle and clutching onto Rarity and turned her attention to the street. As a wave passed over, small cracks would emerge, growing larger each time. And each time the ground would split, chunks of cement shooting upwards.
They all kept backing away.
Stark remained in the air. He eyed the road ahead, yelling, “I can’t see any more of Ultron’s baddies! Wanda, you’re holding them back!” He turned his head to the sky, watching as her magic shot from one sentry to the other, from one demon to the next, killing them all. “Why didn’t you do that earlier?”
All they heard were the small whimpers.
Tony looked back, saw as his team and Twilight’s friends all stared at the young woman resting on her knees. She was shivering, muttering something incoherent, hands pressed firmly against her head. Stark hovered closer to the ground, landed next to Steve and Clint, and stood behind Twilight.
“Wanda…?”
Then the screaming.
Much more powerful and heartbroken than before. It was so strong that her magic shot out like jagged branches from a tree, forcing the Avengers and mares to leap out of the way. Another pulse followed, singing the road just feet from where Twilight had landed. She teleported back, gazed longingly with hurt in her eyes at the Maximoff twin.
She turned back to the road, noticed it break apart into even larger pieces of cement.
“Wanda! You have to stop!” Twilight cried, her voice drowned out by Wanda’s trembling.
Captain Rogers looked up from where he lay. His eyes shifted from Twilight and then to Wanda. “What’s going on, Twilight?” asked Steve.
Twilight shot her eyes over to the prone Captain, her mane flowing wildly in the sudden breeze. “She’s gonna tear apart Canterlot at this rate!” she screamed, eyes widening. She pointed her hoof up to the sky. “Look!”
Many turned to see what the princess was pointing to. To their wild surprise—both Avenger and pony alike—they watched as red tentacles emerged from the earth, dove right through the windows of a nearby tower, and quickly brought it to the ground. The same occurred to the building next to it, followed quickly by numerous others not even in their vicinity. The Avengers spun madly to observe the skies, seeing as sentries continued to be torn from the mighty towers of red that rose from Canterlot.
Like a massive beast from the seas, its tentacles rose up and struck down whatever was unfortunate enough to be flying by. Wanda’s magic was the tentacles. She was the beast. Not only were sentries dropping by the hundreds, beasts of Tartarus that controlled the skies following suit, but S.H.I.E.L.D. forces were caught.
The Avengers watched as a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicopter was yanked free from its path and thrown down like it weighed nothing. The helicopter spun out of control, impacting the gardens in an explosion of yellow and orange, its blades flying to impact a burning tree.
Tony nodded. “Right, I can see how that’s bad. Alright, Hulk, you’re up!”
Hulk smashed his fists into the earth before charging forward straight into the madness. The group turned to watch, only to watch as he failed. Hulk managed to push against the first pulse, but as he dug deeper it became increasingly difficult to move forward. Streams of Wanda’s magic ripped apart the ground Hulk dug into, the remaining power pushing him backwards. It was only until Wanda released another cry did the pulse launch Banner back, causing the group to leap out of the way.
The fresh pulse overcame the Quinjet, completely vaporizing the side of it and leaving Maria Hill exposed to the outside world. Her feet nearly scraped the ground as a portion of her chair burned to ash. She looked up, eyes widening at the sight of Wanda’s chest expanding.
Another cry. Another pulse. The strongest yet. Maria shielded her eyes as the pulse filled her vision, blocked by a large shadow looming over her. As she felt the heat burn away the remaining Quinjet, she was caught before she could fall. Looking up as the pulse ended, leaving only strands of red mist hanging in the air, she saw the red android staring down at her.
Vision quickly escaped before Wanda could release another cry, Hill in his arms. The two arrived with the rest of the team, Captain America stumbling forward.
“Wanda! Listen to me, you have to stop!” Steve yelled as loud as he could. She didn’t even listen. Just screamed, whimpered, and screamed again. “Wanda!”
Vision aided Maria to stand. Luckily, both Barton and Romanoff came to her and held her up, an arm around each of their shoulders. “It will not help, Captain Rogers,” Vision said, his sullen gaze slowly turning back to Wanda tearing apart the earth around her. “She is…unstable. Even I could barely remain close for long.”
“What do you suggest we do?” Sam asked, backing away with each pulse.
Steve Rogers slowly eyed Wanda. He nodded, though he didn’t seem quite certain on his decision. “We can’t help her. Until she cools off we need to get as many ponies out of the city as we can. At the rate Wanda is tearing apart Canterlot…we won’t be grounded for long.”
“We still need to find Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie shouted, hopping upwards. Many of her friends nodded and voiced in agreement, even Starlight grudgingly.
Natasha nodded, turning to Steve. “Don’t forget the other Maximoff.”
Steve nodded back. “We go for them first.”
Rhodes remained silent, eyeing the Maximoff with worry in his eyes, though it was hard to tell with the mask covering his face. “And what if she doesn’t cool off?” he asked.
Steve was about to answer, but a flash from above interrupted and damn near blinded him. On cue, Discord appeared out of the flash, saying, “Oh, Ms. Maximoff will! Just leave it up to your friendly neighborhood Spirit of Chaos to save the day per the norm!”
It was as if he was waiting for that moment to become prevalent again, stealing the spotlight that once shined on Captain America. It returned shortly—thank God—and Steve asked, “Are you sure you can handle it?”
Discord cracked his neck while hovering in mid-air. “Nothing a little chaos to help stem the tide.” He cracked his knuckles, sending a lightning bolt from his fingers into the road where Spike stood. The dragon yelped in fear, clutching onto Rarity for dear life.
Everyone turned to him, humorless expressions all around. Discord turned from his claw and to the group below him, his smile shifting innocently. “I’ll figure something out! Now go, don’t waste any more time than you need to!”
Sam came up to Steve’s side, whispering, “I don’t know what…that is…but you sure we can trust him?” He pointed to Discord currently performing aerobics above everyone’s head.
“What other choice do we have?” Steve asked.
“Captain Rogers!”
Though it was directed towards him, everyone turned to eye the Vision curiously. He only stared up, his cape flowing behind him, worry and fear clearly evident in his robotic eyes. It was a rare sight. That alone convinced everyone to turn their noses to the sky. They followed his gaze, truly understanding what could have made even Vision show fear.
The Witch’s magic crawled towards the clouds…straight for the Helicarrier.
“Help her, Discord!” The draconequus paused in the middle of his routine stretches to stare down quizzically at the Captain. “Now!” he ordered, turning to the rest of his team. “Come on!”
With that, the remaining Avengers followed behind Captain America. Tony, Thor, Vision, James, and Sam followed without a word. Clint adjusted himself so he was carrying Hill instead of Natasha helping. Behind the Widow, Twilight and her friends took off at a powerful gallop, each one of them screaming Rainbow Dash’s name. Shining Armor was quick to follow them.
Discord touched down, watching as they left him. However, to his surprise, he could see Fluttershy stop, spin around, and stare at him. Before he could wave, she shot over to him with surprising speeds and latched her hooves around his skinny abdomen.
“Good luck,” she whispered through the hug.
He stood dumbfounded, not nearly having enough time to return the mare’s hug before she broke off and caught up with the rest of her friends, screaming that same name over and over.
“Rainbow Dash!”
“Rainbow! If ya can hear us, say somethin’!”
“Oh, Rainbow! Yoo-hoo!”
Discord stood there, his claw rising to rub his beard in thought. He pointed to each mare’s disappearing form, each finger rising from his paw with each pony he counted. “One, two, three, four, five, six, and one baby dragon… Who am I missing?”
A light bulb appeared over his skull, quickly dying as he shouted, “Ah! Yes, of course, the speed demon herself.” He paused, tapping his chin. Chunks of the street began to rise wrapped in Wanda’s magical embrace, each piece larger than the last. “Huh. If they wanted to know where Rainbow Dash was they could’ve just asked me.”
He snapped his talons, a small portal appearing to his left. Reaching to his face, he plucked out his eyeball and shoved it in the portal. Discord smiled in victory. Below him, he could Rainbow Dash fully alive and healthy, somewhere around downtown if what he could recollect. She sat in the middle of the street, a bloody blade attached to an arm resting behind her, and…
And…
“Wait,” Discord paused, his brow furrowing. “What’s this?” He pushed deeper, his eyeball widening. Rainbow Dash sat near the bloody blade, the cement below her painted crimson, and…the other Maximoff. Resting in front of her. Except…he wasn’t resting.
He wasn’t moving.
Or breathing.
“Oh, my. Oh…no.”
He finally turned away and closed the portal the moment he saw the hole right below the Maximoff’s chest. Placing his eyeball back into his skull with a sickening sound, Discord looked just about as sick. He watched as Wanda Maximoff’s dark magic filled the streets, the winds, and the city itself, destroying every bit of with the pain she felt in her heart.
It was uncontrollable. It wouldn’t stop. Not now…
Not unless he filled that pain with something else, something she could believe in.
Discord slowly spun around, eyeing the crying Witch with a known sorrow riddled in his twisted gaze. A sorrow they could both share. With a sigh, he made his approach, stopping only as the next pulse tore through the road, burning mere inches in front of him. As he continued, Wanda’s magic pulsed through Canterlot like blood in veins, reaching up and grabbing anyone, ripping them to shreds.
Anyone.
Large pieces of road and building debris continued to float above ground, growing higher as Wanda’s magic plagued the skies like a fog falling on Canterlot. Discord paid it no heed as he broke through the dark barrier that separated Wanda from the reality of her power. Once inside, he didn’t see the beast tearing apart the city, he didn’t see an unstable monster.
He saw her, a girl. A young woman crying her heart out for the brother that would never come back.
Even when he promised…
Discord fell to one knee, gently placing his paw on her shivering shoulder. Wanda stopped hyperventilating, her hands slowly lowering from her face. Through blurred vision stained by tears, she watched the strange creature stare at her with eyes almost as painful as her own, nearly burning. It wasn’t her magic that made them burn, but something else. Something similar.
It took her a while to realize that her magic wasn’t harming him. But it didn’t take long for her to register the hug that followed.
It was soft, yet strong. Comforting, the kind that Pietro…
…Exactly like the kind that Pietro had mastered, the kind only a brother could do.
She didn’t know how the strange creature managed to mimic her brother’s exact embrace, but she didn’t care. Wanda cried even louder, her magic digging into the earth and ripping out the street. As she felt her heart breaking, the creature leaned in and whispered into her ear. What he said, the way he said, it made her catch her breath, her crying halted.
“I’m sorry.”
He said it in his voice. Exactly as Pietro would say it as he held her.
The barrier shattered, her magic fading and dying. Whatever was left fell and impacted Canterlot, but Wanda didn’t even watch. The forces that demolished buildings, tore apart legions of sentries and demons simply vanished. She rested her head in the creature’s chest, heard his heart pump slowly, and wrapped her arms around him. And she didn’t care.
Wanda really didn’t care who it was or what it was. She just heard and felt her brother.
“I’m sorry…” she whispered. “I’m so sorry.”
All around them, large chunks of earth and fallen foes impacted the ground, not one piece touching them. Not one.