S2: This is War
When the communication reached the Skrull high command that the people of Earth had a biological method of seeing through their shapeshifting, a change in combat policy was immediately engaged. If Earth was that ready for war, then war would be brought.
The armada had revealed itself, surrounding the entire planet in geosynchronous orbit. The first attack took out the satellite communications network. The second bombardment targeted every military base across the planet they had identified that possessed vehicles that could leave the atmospheric envelope, as well as targeting every source of weapon energy nuclear or higher that could be detected or identified.
The Skrull High Command was convinced that this would be all it would take to cripple this planet, enabling conquest. Though the Chitauri had given warning of how dangerous and well armed Earth was after Loki's abortive assault leading them, all investigative signs showed that there were few - if any - who could stand up to them. It was almost disappointing. However, the Skrull were to be pleasantly surprised as Earth proved more than capable of defending itself. It appeared there was an onslaught of powers rising in the planet's defense.
Nick Fury sat back in the wreck of the SHIELD air base, overseeing the defense of the planet as best he was able from where he had crashed in the middle of the Grand Canyon. The orbital bombardment had come out of nowhere, and had taken out most of what Earth had to defend itself in the conventional sense.
Thankfully, SHIELD specialized in the unconventional, and Fury had started communication with all those he'd made contact with since the Chitauri invasion on the off chance Thor's proclamation that the Tessaract experiments had drawn the wrong kind of attention proved true. While he had lost primary communication methods when the satellite network went down as they fell from the sky, the first one he'd gotten in contact with - one Doctor Strange, who "liked his style" - had come to his aid in setting up more reliable communication methods to organize a planetary defense.
He was now using a number of communication methods to keep in touch with authorities around the world, keeping track of the planet wide defense. Going over the information, he groaned. "I can't believe magical communication can be keyed to use Morse Code. As advanced as we've gotten, it feels...wrong somehow that we have to fall back on that."
"Why?" asked the new aide, who had something of an excess of naivete. "Because it's not July fourth?"
Nick stared at him for a moment, then pointed to one of the breech points. "Corner. Now." Turning back to the data, he went over the defenses.
On the West coast, the Fantastic Four - as they called themselves - were holding off the Skrull, having apparently dealt with them before. There wasn't anything to worry about on that front.
In the far East, Doctor Strange had gathered several heroes he had once worked with - along with some surprisingly advanced technology from Japan - to defend the south eastern portions of Asia. Nick made a mental note to look into that after the Skrull had been repelled.
The X-men and Mutant Brotherhood had set aside their differences, spread across most of central Asia and Russia to repel the Skrull under the leadership of the mutant terrorist Magneto. The amount of power being brought to bear there made it difficult to gather proper reports, but the size of the explosions of Skrull atmospheric fighters was visible all the way in Europe.
Ghost Rider was leading the defense of Europe and the Middle East, having apparently called up a small force of demons and angels under his leadership to repel the Skrull in those areas. Though Doctor Strange's communication regarding that had attempted to explain, Fury decided he didn't want to think about what sort of politics governed the afterlife. He had enough problems protecting Earth in this one.
In Africa, the Pyms had teamed up with Black Panther and the Wakandans, arming a large portion of the continent with advanced vibranium weaponry to repel the Skrull. From what he was able to hear from there, things were going rather well.
Oddly enough, although there weren't presently any highly empowered individuals in the American Midwest to repel the Skrull, they didn't seem to be assaulting the area very enthusiastically, leaving Nick free to try and manage the crisis as best he could. But that wasn't his main worry. What really concerned him was that from the moment the invasion had begun, he hadn't been able to hear anything out of the East Coast.
What was happening with the Avengers?
Rainbow Dash did her best to hold down her lunch as she fought off the invading Skrull as best she could. She knew she wasn't doing well, and likely was a liability to the rest of the team. Tony, Hulk, and Ultron had each already taken blows protecting her from attacks that would have been debilitating - if not deadly - to her. Still, she struggled to fight on, doing what little she could.
Being the smallest and fastest of the Avengers, she had the easiest time zipping up into the sky for an overview of the battle to let the others know where they were needed the most. Luckily - or unluckily - the Skrull were focusing their attention on the East Coast on New York, apparently determined to take out the Avengers completely, so the battle was still about containment.
She still shuddered as she remembered the harsh lesson she'd got on this form of battle.
"This is not hero work, Rainbow," Ultron had said as he'd ripped an attacking Skrull in half, a spray of green hopefully being blood spattering across her armor. "This is war, now. And in war, you kill your enemies."
Shooting once again to her aerial position, she observed the battle below.
Thor and Captain America were fighting back to back, a pile of corpses - some Skrull, some human - being the battlefield, doing their best to hold off the assault and fight back. Despite the might of Mjolnir and the strength of the stars and stripes, the assault seemed to be endless.
Black Widow and Hawkeye were attacking from building tops, Widow leaping from aerial fighter to aerial fighter, attacking as many as she could on each one before she had to leap to the next, and Hawkeye sniping at every ship that took an advantageous position, saving his arrows to take down those who were more dangerous to civilians than to the team.
Tony and Ultron were back to back, much as Thor and Captain America were. As their tech was well matched, they were able to maneuver throughout the battle far more readily than anyone else save her, and could watch each others backs as they tore into the shape changing Skrull as best they could.
Hulk was leaping into large clumps of the Skrull where they were regrouping or trying to gather up large groups of civilians as prisoners, decimating them as he landed before grabbing them and slamming them apart or into each other. He seemed to be the most in control of his battle situation...except for Zuki.
The radioactive reptile had gotten huge in the past year, and now was larger than most ordinary buildings, though he was still dwarfed by the skyscrapers he climbed, leaping from one to another as he struck down flying ships with waving claws, snapping jaws, and sometimes sheer mass and stomping feet. When he encountered large groups of Skrull without friendly targets in sight, he opened his mouth and exhaled a concentrated blast of gamma energy that reduced anything it came into contact with - stone, cement, steel, and Skrull alike - into slag. The roar he unleashed after each blast was deafening, a declaration of his combat dominance.
Pepper and Sif - who had been visiting Thor when the battle began - were in the subways, maintaining discipline along with the various civil authorities over the civilians who had fled the scene of battle to somewhere hopefully safer.
One more observation hit Rainbow that was quite worrisome. No matter how many of the Skrull they were able to take down, more flowed from the sky in an endless wave. With all this information, she dove to consult with Tony.
"Dad, they just keep coming!" she wailed. "How can we stop this?"
Tony managed to deflect an assault before blasting a Skrull right in the head. "We really need to find some way of attacking them in orbit!" he growled.
"However, the first assault took out all space worthy assault vehicles," Ultron countered. "I am the only one capable of taking the fight to space - given enough lift - but I dare not leave until the threat has abated somewhat down here."
"How many more do we need to take out before it's safe for you to take the fight to them?" Tony asked.
"Lots."
"Huh, I expected a more accurate estimate from you, Ultron."
"I'm sorry, I was under the impression that fighting the battle was more important than calculating how long we had left before we could start the next phase. I'll shut down to free up the necessary processing power right away."
"Hey, don't start giving me lip when you don't even have any!"
"Whatever you say, Mr. Snark."
Oddly, Rainbow began to feel much better. If they could find the time to joke like this in the middle of battle, maybe things weren't as bad as they seemed. She barely even noticed when an instinctive backwing beheaded a Skrull attacking her from behind. "So we need to take the fight to space to cut off their reinforcements?" she clarified.
"Sooner rather than later," Tony agreed.
"But I can go into space!" Rainbow exclaimed. "I finished the new upgrades for my suit! I can turn sunlight into magic and magic into oxygen! I just need a big enough boost to escape the gravity well!"
"Are you crazy, Rainbow?" Tony demanded, shocked. "You could be killed!"
"And I won't be down here?" she demanded, launching her new shield to scythe into another attacking Skrull. "Don't worry Dad, I got this! I just need a boost!" With that, she sped over to another combatant before Tony could give any more coherent arguments as to why she shouldn't.
"Rainbow!" Hulk called out as he crushed a Skrull skull under foot. "You alright?"
"No time to explain!" she shouted, activating the air tight modifications for her armor as she landed in his hand. "Throw me up!"
Seeing Zuki approaching the area to blast another group of Skrull, Hulk quickly sidestepped, went into a spin, and hurled Rainbow as hard as he could straight up. As Rainbow shot into the air, he tilted his head. "Where is kaboom?" he asked, noting the absence of the Rainboom despite Rainbow having hit the necessary velocities. "There supposed to be ear shattering kaboom!"
Sonic Rainboom energies stored in primary arc-battery. Anti-g field holding strong. Alert: primary arc battery at 400% capacity, structural integrity failing.
"Yeah, I didn't need that last bit," Rainbow groaned as she gunned her thrusters to maximum, shooting straight up. She hadn't known she could store the energies of a Rainboom in an empty arc battery, though from the looks of it it would be better to use four empties. It was too bad she didn't have the time to understand how it happened, or why the light pouring from the arc battery was an intense blue, when Rainboom energy was all colors.
As she shot up towards the outer atmosphere, she pushed the pain from her mind. With slight shifts of her wings, she dodged around Skrull ships coming in to disgorge even more invaders. The burning of the arc battery against her chest pushed its way into her consciousness again, and she focused her attention on other things.
Before she pulled this, her energy reserves had been close to depleted. She wouldn't have been able to fight for much longer, and when her energy ran out, the others would have tried to protect her, and then they would have been killed. She couldn't let that happen. That had been the thought in her mind when she had told Hulk to throw her...and when the Rainboom hadn't formed.
Now her thoughts turned to her friends, her family, those she was trying hardest to save. As she breached the atmospheric envelope, her thoughts turned to Hulk and Ultron. Hulk had been there since her first day, always able to put a smile on her face, never above doing something humiliating to make her laugh. The way he and Ultron now playfully - and not so playfully - fought over whose job that was now.
Sonic Rainboom energies stored in secondary arc battery. Thruster output increased 300%. Alert: secondary arc battery at 432% capacity, structural integrity failing.
She felt a burning between her wings from the secondary arc battery. A brief glimpse led her to wondering why it was shining pink, but other thoughts quickly filled her mind.
Her mind turned to Steve Rodgers, Captain America. Teacher, confidant, friend, all around cool hero...she knew he was someone she could turn to when she needed a straight answer. Someone who would never steer her wrong. As she cleared the armada and made it halfway to the moon, she thought of the time, shortly after her first fight in this armor, when he had helped her through the last of her depression over crippling the Wrecker. She smiled at the memory.
Sonic Rainboom energy stored on primary arc battery casing. Computer systems failing. Structural integrity of primary arc battery at critical.
The burning on her chest intensified, and an orange light joined with the blue shining through. Struggling against the pain as she approached the moon, angling herself to slingshot around it, she turned her thoughts away from the pain to another loved one.
Thor. He didn't even belong to Earth, but he dedicated himself to the world's protection. He'd joined the Avengers to protect the world from his own brother's madness. And he'd returned from his home to this world to help her. And he had remained for the friendships that had blossomed there. Giving so much of himself for friendship.
Sonic Rainboom energy stored in secondary arc battery casing. Environmental envelope within suit losing cohesion. Structural integrity of secondary arc battery at critical.
A white light had joined the pink from the source of the burning pain between her wings. As she broke free of the moon's gravity well, she turned her mind away from the pain and to others.
Pepper. At first she'd just been concerned about her well being, but not really connecting to her. However, as time past, she made more and more of a connection with her, eventually even becoming her mother. The gentle love she gave Rainbow had eased her through several rough hurdles in her life, moments of emotional turmoil, physical exhaustion, or just boredom. Her patient kindness bespoke a calm center Rainbow couldn't help but envy.
Sonic Rainboom energy stored in material of armor. Armor integrity failing.
She saw her outstretched hoof turn yellow as she approached the armada from the outside, the light flowing across her armor as her whole body burned. Desperate to regain focus, she turned her thoughts to one more person.
Tony. When she had shown up out of nowhere, he had taken her in. She had proclaimed him her Daddy, and he had accepted the role and the responsibility that came with it. Because she had needed him, he had loved her, cherished her. And through all that, she kept trying to distance herself.
Technological Technicolor Technomare...who was I kidding? She chuckled at how ridiculous she had been back then. Smiling through the pain, she gave herself to the love she had for her father, and his for her. "I!" she shouted over all communication channels, heard by all of Earth, the Skrull and all the way in Asgard. "Am! Iron Mare!"
Sonic Rainboom energy stored in physical body. Vital signs dropping. Alert: Harmonic Cascade detected! Energy approaching Tesseract levels. Engaging full stop.
She came to a complete halt as the purple miasma that had briefly covered her eyes merged with the energies pouring from everywhere else, and a bright flash erupted, momentarily brighter than the sun. When the flash cleared, her appearance had changed.
Her armor now flowed with constantly changing rainbow colored light, shining brightly enough to be visible from the surface. Her corona wake sprung from her head in spiked, electric rainbows that flowed all the way down to the base of her tail, and the tail corona stretched a full foot past the bottom of her hoof. An aura of rainbow power flared around her body, burning bright enough to outshine the stars.
On Earth, Ultron was able to describe what he could see in the lull the apparition had caused quite easily. "How did Rainbow Dash go Super Sayian 3?"
As Rainbow floated in space, the Skrull opened fire on her, but their weapons were absorbed into the corona of power surrounding her. Glaring down at them, she shouted across their comms. "Taste the rainbow, mother fuckers!"
Arcs of rainbow light shot out of every inch of her armored form, streaming down towards the gathered armada.
Rainbow only heard one thing from the Skrull High Commander before the impacts. "Oh, Skittles."
The beams of light punched through the gathered ships, tearing the armada to shreds as it passed through. Several arcs also shot into the atmosphere, taking down larger concentrations of Skrull fighters. The light then wrapped itself around the planet's upper atmosphere.
Completely drained, Rainbow lay back in space, her armor's appearance having returned to normal. She could see a rainbow colored shield surrounding Earth as the armada began to explode. She sent the command to activate the thrusters to take her home.
Alert: Primary arc battery failed. Secondary arc battery has lost integrity, 15% charge and dropping. Armor integrity at 75% and failing. Atmospheric envelope at 75% and failing. Vital signs at 60% and failing. Thrusters currently offline to conserve power to repair life support.
Rainbow could only stare helplessly as the exploding armada deflected off the shield, and a massive energy shockwave raced through space towards her. "Oh fu-"
The transmissions the Avengers were getting from Rainbow cut off abruptly. "Rainbow?" Tony demanded, trying to get through to her. "Rainbow, answer me! ...JARVIS, where's Rainbow?"
JARVIS was silent for too long. "...I cannot find her," he responded at last.
To be continued...
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SHIT JUST HIT THE FAN.
NO! NOT THE RAINBOW! THE RAINBOW CAN'T DIE!
This is Adult Fear at its finest. Poor Tony...
And I have a sneaking suspicion as to why JARVIS can't find Rainbow.
so rainbow warped?, maybe back to equestria?
5766544 i hope rainbow dash doesn't go back to equestria or die i don't want that stuff to happen in this story
She died a true hero's death.
Rainbow Kamina would be proud.
Her power level is OVER 9000!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When you know you are fuuuuucked
( there is a difference between fuck and fuuuuucked, like 1 to 9000 respectively)
5766538 what is it?
5766619 I'm not saying unless I get proven right in the next chapter or so.
5766636 oh ok
She either used the Rainbow Power from the Tirek battle, became an alicorn, went back to Equestria, or, a combination of the previous 3. Also, Super Saiyan 3.
RUUUUUUUUUUNNNNN!!!!!!!!!! ITS GODZIRAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!
But due to international copyright laws, it cannot be.
BUT RUN LIKE IT IS GODZIRAAAAA!!!!!!
Though it is not.
<<togther>> AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
Throw
Rainboom
Nick you KNOW you were asking for that JOKE. YOU go sit in the corner.
FIST PUMP!
Oh Skittles, funny very funny, Sadly I'm not a fan of Skittles anymore since they got rid of lime.
Oh SKITTLES
It's like she was born on Mars
All silliness aside, the chapter's ending is a good cliffhanger...
5766559 you need to read fortresshy, it seems the author is planning to do some meta crossover with all of his fics at some point and for that they all have to return at some point to equestria
that's not an inside joke--everyone makes those about Rainbow Dash
Good chapter, eagerly awaiting more.
5766811
The specific interchange of "Taste the Rainbow" followed by "Oh skittles" is an inside joke between that friend of mine and I that predates FiM.
I hate you right now, giving us a cliff hanger like that, though I have no room to speak...
"How did Rainbow Dash go Super Sayian 3?"
Good point.
5766677
i2.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/017/204/CaptainAmerica1_zps8c295f96.JPG
5148232 Actually, it would be Loki who would be a Brony. Why? Just look up Sleipnir and it should be made clear to you.
As soon as I read " I am" I started playing Iron Man by Black Sabbath. Can't what to see the fallout of the ending though.
5766901 I understood all the references.
Well, that happened. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
Was anyone else reminded of this?
did she just use the elements of harmony to go super sayan, thats kinda cool
,just sayan.
also is she the only to have used the elements power so far in these fics?
5767156 I believe so.
AWESOME!
Taste the rainbow, mother fuckers!
Best chapter so far thats not comedy:D
Awesome. Also, loved the reference to Independence Day with the whole Morse Code as the only way to communicate during the counterattack on the alien invasion during the fourth of July.
Meanwhile, in Equestria the battle rages on!
iambrony.steeph.tp-radio.de/mlp/gif/uofbw023boel.gif
So Rainbow literally overloaded every possible thing she could due to love and friendship and sonic rainbooms? Well, good news, she went out with a bang. Bad news, so did her armor..
5767032
Why do I see your profile picture whenever some awesome battle happens.
ok I love a god cliffhanger but dang this is over the top.
5767007 yeah don't forget Loki is the MOTHER in that relationship. Come to think of it, I recall a fic where this led to Loki being Celestia and Luna's grandparent, and they kinda debate grandfather or grandmother.
shit just got real
5766527 couldn't have said it better myself
5766815 Far enough, but you got to admit on a FiM Fanfiction site that's a logical conclusion.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
5766774 ok
leaving Nick free to try and manage he crisis as best he could
1. The.
I guess you could say that Rainbow... Dashed the armada.
Seems that she Rain... Boomed on their parade.
I guess their defeat is now available in... Technicolour.
It seems that the author left Rainbow... Hangin'.
I guess Rainbow had a... Tasteful entrance.
Am I terrible for these puns? Maybe. Do I regret them? Nope.
YesYesYesYesYes and Yes
5767111 yes
Please be okay Rainbow
Those absolutely made it for me!!!!
5767802
I agree
5766724
You have a messed up mind