Igniting the Fire
Magic infused knuckles rang aloud as they slammed into the vibranium disc, generating a shockwave that blew out the windows so that the sky itself would have a view to the match. Rogers clamped his jaw shut while he dug his heels in to fight against the force that drove him back, sliding across the marble floor while struggling to gain a foothold. Rogers quickly braced himself for the second assault while Tirek shook the pain out of his knuckles.
"Ah...I understand now. I now know the truth. You did not survive my magic. Had it struck you it would have killed you. What has kept you alive all this time...is that shield," Tirek figured once the feeling had returned to his hand. "It is impressive. There is not much in this world that can survive a direct hit from one such as myself. Perhaps once I have killed you I will add it to my collection, since you have no magic for me to take."
"Please. You know what happened to the last of your group that promised to take my shield? They went splat," Captain America informed Tirek before the titan swung a fist that could crack mountains towards the Captain. The super soldier managed to leap out of the way while letting his shield fly at the same time. Rogers landed and rolled up to his feet just in time to hear the sound of vibranium meeting face, along with the roar of pain that generally followed. "But if you ask real nice, I promise I'll let you see the old gal up close a few more times."
"Your attempts to convince me that you are in charge of this battle amuse me, Captain, when it is clear that your shield is all that I have to worry about from you," Tirek muttered before his horns glowed with power once more and blasts that crackled through the air tore at the Captain. Rogers slammed his shoulder into the inside of the shield just as the bolts impacted, digging in as he struggled to not be pushed off his feet.
"Yes, for the shield is what has kept you alive the entire time that you have been here!" Tirek bellowed while he charged the Captain, each hoofstep shaking the mountain city as he closed in on his prey. Rogers quickly realized that he didn't have the time to dodge, so he braced himself once more and prayed that he could take the hit. Tirek drove his twin horns that still held within them magical might into the Captain's shield, and while the force of the blow was not enough to even scratch the surface, it was enough to send the Captain hurtling across the room and into a wall. Brick gave way as the super soldier cracked stone, getting a groan from the Captain while he slid down and collapsed to his knees.
"This contest is a mismatch, Captain. For while your shield may enable you to take my hits or stop my magical assaults...it cannot protect you from my overwhelming power." To cement his point, Tirek swung his fist towards the Captain once more. Yet when the Captain raised his shield to build some defense against the attack, the blow from the back fist ripped the Captain from the ground and sent him crashing into decorations that aligned the bottom of the room.
"I am not like the other fools that you have managed to best in your time here, Captain. Starlight, while a fanatic, was a weak pony that relied on the talents of others. Chrysalis hid behind her soldiers and her shape-shifting tricks. And Ahuizotl...well, his weakness speaks for itself. And all three of them were beings that you were capable of overcoming." Tirek then reached down and grabbed the Captain by his shield, hurling him across the room where he skidded along the floor.
"But me? I am not only a master of all that is magic, I am also physically the strongest being in this land," Tirek bragged while cracking his knuckles one by one, taking his time walking to the Captain as he forced himself back up. "So throw your shield and speak about freedom all you want. You cannot harm me. You can barely even stand in my presence."
Captain America wanted to refute his point, but instead he chose to glance down at the reflection on his shield to see Belle still struggling with the cages above her. 'I can't break the locks,' he saw her mouth in the reflection, making the Captain's eyes narrow as he turned his gaze back up to the approaching Centaur. Then he took his shield in his left hand and took perfect aim before letting the shield fly. Tirek crossed his arms with a snarl, letting the shield bounce off of his muscle and it hurtled up into the rafters.
"Ah, terrible luck, Captain," Tirek taunted when the shield didn't come back down. The centaur turned his gaze to his unarmed foe, who had lifted both fists and made the motion for Tirek to attack.
"Maybe it's bad luck. Or maybe I decided to give you a handicap, since you seem to hate my shield and all." A smirk crossed the face of Tirek when he figured out what the Captain was doing.
'He wishes for me to fight him without my magic. Which would be foolish since without his shield I could crush him with ease," Tirek knew, but then his gaze glanced to the many portals that surrounded the room and the ponies that were watching the battle. 'Yet, if I do use magic when I am physically stronger, then there is a chance that they will see me as a coward. That they will not believe me to have truly crushed the Captain...well, what fun is crushing somepony if you don't do it with your own two hands?'
'Idiot took the bait,' Rogers realized when Tirek cracked his knuckles once more before giving the Captain the same motion that he had just given him. 'Now all that's left to do is stall. Got to make this look good.' Rogers then sprinted at the centaur full speed, eyes narrowed as he watched the titan for the first sign of movement. But to the Captain's surprise, Tirek didn't wind up for a punch, but instead stuck out one of his hooves. Rogers reacted just in time to vault over the limb, but the moment he landed the other hoof came crashing down right next to him.
Rogers grunted with pain as he was sent skidding once more off of the marble, which had been polished to the point that Cap was clearly able to see the hoof about to crush him when he rose to his knees. Captain America rolled to the side just in time to avoid that hoof from crushing him, but flat on his back he was able to see the other hoof descending upon him. With no other options, Rogers reached up with both hands and feet.
"GRAAAAHHHH!" Rogers howled as Tirek unleashed the full force of his girth upon the Captain, whose muscles nearly gave out with agonizing spasms while he pushed against the hoof for all he was worth. Despite being in peak, physical condition and having the super soldier serum running through his veins, Rogers found his vision turning into little black spots as his limbs were slowly forced down.
"Do you see now, ponies of Equestria? Do you finally see?" Tirek laughed as a wicked grin replaced his usual scowl, enjoyment radiating from him as the Captain struggled to push back against his power. "This is what happens to any who dare to oppose me! Who even thinks that just because they have a fancy talent or an unbreakable shield, that they can defeat me! Now watch Equestria," Tirek began with menace as he applied all of his power into his leg. "Watch as the hero you adored dies under my-"
CLANG!
Tirek unleashed a bellow that was filled with both fury and annoyance as a red and white disc caught him in the side of his head. The centaur staggered to the side from the impact, finally relieving the Captain from the pressure. Rogers let out a weak sigh before slowly pushing himself back up, but when he reached his knees he found a white hoof being extended to him.
"Need a hoof? Or how about a shield?" A chuckle escaped Rogers' lips as he glanced up at Sweetie Belle, who was holding out her hoof to him while holding the shield with her other one. Rogers took her hoof and with a grunt the mare yanked him back up to his feet before offering the shield to him.
"Did you manage to free every pony?" Rogers asked her as he turned his attention back to Tirek, who had just realized where the mare had come from and glanced up at the ceiling.
"I got some of them, but figured you needed your Frisbee back," she teased before taking a more serious look. "Bloom and Scoots should be freeing the rest, but for some reason none of them have-"
"Have what? Jumped down?" Tirek finished with a laugh as the Captain and Belle lifted their gazes to the ceiling to see that indeed the rest of the ponies aside from Bloom's friends remained still in their cages. "Perhaps that is because they have finally realized what a futile effort it was to fight against me...something that it seems you have not learned!"
The air screamed as Tirek unleashed another of his beams of black magic straight for Sweetie, yet before the blast could kill the mare Captain America leapt before her and brought up his shield. He managed to take the blast, but he didn't have enough time to brace himself so he was hurtled across the room and pinned to the wall by the sheer, unrelenting force of the blast.
"Ah Captain, ever the hero," Tirek said with approval in his voice when the Captain collapsed to the floor, his shield rolling away from him. "But as I was saying, the ponies have finally seen. They have seen my true power, seen that their Crusade was kept around simply to amuse beings such as myself. They realize now that their efforts are wasted, that they cannot do anything to stop me! For with ease I have bested the Captain, just as I easily bested their heroes when I took Equestria!"
Tirek tossed his head back and began to laugh with victory ringing in his voice. But then he heard something, and with a sigh turned to glance at the Captain, who was pushing himself to his feet once more. "Why do you bother getting up, Captain? Surely you must know by now that you are defeated."
"Because...all I can do...is keep standing up," Rogers stated as he glared at Tirek, eyes still alight with the burning desire for justice. "And you're right about the ponies. Why shouldn't they be afraid? After all, they've had to watch as you and your allies beat their heroes not only once, but twice. Why would they bother standing up to you after that?" Sweetie Belle was staring at the Captain as if he had gone crazy while Tirek had his eyes narrowed, knowing that the Captain had to be up to something.
"But you have to stand up, ponies. You have to always get up, no matter how hard evil beats you down. Because evil can only win if you choose to stay down. I know that you are afraid to stand up to Tirek after what you've seen him do, afraid after watching as he killed your heroes," Rogers stated with power building in each of his words while he grabbed his shield and slipped it onto his left arm, marching towards the centaur with eyes flashing.
"But now I ask you to stand! To stand up for not just your loved ones and friends, but for all across Equestria who have suffered at the hooves of these tyrants!" the Captain roared as he held his shield aloft, causing light to reflect off of its star and shine for all across the entire land to see. "To not watch as your land falls, but to stand and fight to keep it safe! To put an end to the tyrant that has taken so much from you! To stand with me!!"
Rogers then waited to see if the ponies would join him, would battle with him against the evil or Tirek. But after a moment of silence, the centaur began to laugh as not one of the ponies dared to move. "Do you see now, dear Captain? They know that your words will only lead them to their doom! They have chosen to live, to live under my-"
Tirek's speech was interrupted as a cage came crashing down from above and collided with the centaur's skull. Tirek bellowed with pain as the cage crashed to the floor next to him, blinking out the tears in his eyes as he glared back over at the Captain...and the few ponies that stood with him. He grunted in pain once more and again turned bleary eyes towards the Captain...to see that all of the caged ponies now stood with him.
"My turn to ask you a question, Tirek. Do you ever get tired of being wrong?" Rogers asked, before gazing down at the whole Crusade that now stood with him. Their eyes were bleak and none of them had their cutie marks, but they stood with him all the same. "Now then, Crusade! Time to take back your home!"
With a roar that drowned out the bellow of Tirek, the ponies of the Crusade all charged towards the titan. Tirek's horns crackled as he prepared to erase the ponies from existence, but his aim was altered slightly when a vibranium disc bounced off of his eye. Tirek clutched at his eye with a howl while his magic blasted into the ceiling, giving the Captain a chance to gather Bloom and Scootaloo in the confusion.
"Bloom. Can you reprogram that machine of his so that it only sucks up magic in the general vicinity?" Captain asked her.
"I...I don't know. He took my magic...he took mah cutie mark," she whimpered slightly, but the Captain then grabbed her shoulders with a look that dashed any doubt within her.
"Bloom, you are one of the best engineers that I have ever seen. You can get that machine to work, with or without your mark. You are what makes you special. Not a mark or your magic. Now go!" Bloom nodded at his words before taking off after the machine, leaving Scootaloo and Belle to gaze up at the Captain with admiration while waiting for his orders. Rogers then glanced over at Tirek, who was being swarmed by hundreds of ponies that all tried to bring him down with their numbers alone.
"Are you ready, kids?" he asked the pair of them.
"Aye-aye, Captain. What do you need us to do?" Scootaloo responded while flapping her metal wings.
"We're going to run a distraction while Bloom reworks the machine. Now come on, let's show Tirek what true heroes are made of!" Rogers charged towards the centaur as the beast smacked ponies off of him a dozen at a time, calling out Tirek's name and getting the titan to look up just in time to receive a shield to his other eye.
"GRAH! Damn that shield!" he seethed as he clutched at both of his eyes, giving the Captain plenty of time to catch his shield and leap onto Tirek's back.
"What's the matter Tirek, don't want it anymore?" Rogers taunted as he climbed up the centaur's back and slammed the edge of the disc into the base of Tirek's horn. Tirek snarled as he angled his head down and charged at a wall, hoping to crush the Captain on impact. All Rogers did was smirk before he flipped off the back of the titan, landing on the floor as Tirek plowed head first into solid brick.
Having a moment to regroup, Cap flashed a glance over at Bloom who was working with the machine. He watched her combine a few wires before turning her gaze towards him and shrugging. "Fine...Belle, go help Bloom. Scootaloo, with me."
"What for Cap?" she asked before Tirek tore his head out of the wall, eyes a pitch black inferno as he began to unleash magic in every direction.
"Because I think he's finally lost it." Rogers then ducked down behind his shield as the mad titan began to unleash torrents of dark magic in every direction, blasting the ceiling to ash before doing the same to the walls. Ponies screamed and ran for cover as Tirek began to blast at whatever was moving, before his bloodshot eyes focused in on the Captain.
"I am finished with all of you! I am done with the Crusade! I am done with you ponies! But most of all...I am done with the CAPTAIN!" Tirek shrieked with a voice that shook what remained of the room, turning both his fury and his beam of magic towards the Captain. Rogers then nodded to Scootaloo before grabbing hold of her hoof as she took to the sky. The beam of magic just narrowly missed the pair as the orange Pegasus shot into the rainy sky as fast as her wings could take her, with Tirek's beam of magic trailing after them with every intent to kill.
"Why must you infernal heroes oppose us at every turn?!" Tirek demanded to know as the pair flew right above him, getting the centaur to position himself in the center of the room as he took aim at the both of them. "Why must you be so impossibly hard to kill?! Why can you not just roll over and die?!" Tirek screamed as he unleashed all of his magic upon the pair of them
"Because I won't die until I see the world free," Rogers promised as Scootaloo spun once to build up momentum before hurling the Captain down right into the path of the beam. Rogers brought up his shield just as the magical power bombarded him. Yet despite the magic having the power to extinguish the sun and shatter the moon, neither the shield nor the man yielded as they plummeted down towards the centaur, cleaving through his magic. And Tirek's eyes widened when he saw the Captain plummeting down from the heavens towards him, like a star descending from above to strike him down. And then the Captain made impact.
"HYPER! SHOOTING! STAR!"
Tirek bellowed as the Captain descended shield first into his head, shattering both of Tirek's horns while the red, white and blue energy surrounding the Captain caused his magic to double back upon the caster. Agony coursed through Tirek's body as he staggered back from the force of the blow, the magic within him going haywire since his horns could no longer control it. And in his blind agony he never noticed the he was staggering back towards his machine.
"Now!" Bloom ordered over the sound of the raging monster, flipping on the machine before both she and Belle ran for their lives. Tirek staggered back into the machine as tendrils of energy erupted from it, digging into his body and draining the magic within him while cracks began to form along his body.
"N-no, you fools! There is...too much magic within me to absorb!" he screamed at them as parts of his form began to shatter. "If this machine tries to take it all in, it will-" The rest of Tirek's words were drowned out as the machine began to spark and smoke in a way that did not bode well with any of the ponies. They all began to run for their lives as Belle and Bloom rejoined the Captain and Scootaloo, who watched from the end of the room as Tirek began to shrink down.
"Please...somepony...help me!" Tirek pleaded amongst the pain and agony, his shrieks able to be heard over the machine. Rogers gazed upon him as he suffered, gazed upon the being that had hurt and killed so many, now finally suffering like those that he had made suffer. And then he took a step towards Tirek.
"No...he's one of our most hated enemies! The one who helped to kill everyone we loved!" Belle screamed at the Captain when she realized what he was thinking. "Do you even know what you would be doing if you save his life?!" Rogers gazed down at her for a moment, knowing that with what had been done to her and her world she would probably never understand.
"The right thing."
Rogers then took off towards Tirek, leaping over tendrils of magic and blasts of power that ripped through the air around him. As the Captain got closer, Tirek began to shrink smaller and smaller until he was smaller than the Captain. Rogers reached the machine and immediately had to raise his shield to defend himself from the magic that clawed at him as well.
"Hold on!" Rogers roared at the centaur, using the edge of his shield to slice through the tendrils of magic that were sucking the very life from Tirek. The machine began to glow with an unholy light, telling the Captain that he had only moments before it exploded. So with all of his willpower he drove his shield in-between Tirek and the machine, straining with every last drop of strength to separate the two. Despite the tendrils clinging to Tirek, the shield was beyond the magic and with one last pull the Captain freed the centaur. Rogers grabbed Tirek and rolled to the girls, just as the machine detonated.
"Behind me!" he roared as he braced his shoulder against his shield, protecting the ponies and centaur with both the shield and his body.
Rogers had been expecting the strongest wave of magic that he had ever felt, but instead what washed over him was a feeling of calm and joy. He and the ponies peaked out from behind the shield to see that a rainbow of gentle magic had been created from the explosion, one that towered into the sky like a column of peace. And while the machine was complete blasted apart into rainbows, none of the ponies paid that any mind as symbols began to rain down from the machine and onto them.
"Mah cutie mark," Applebloom pointed out as her wrench came floating down in front of her, before attaching itself to her side once more. Scootaloo's airplane returned to her in a few moments as well, and from the cries of joy coming from the other Crusaders, the Captain assumed that their marks were being returned to them as well.
"We...did it," Scootaloo finally said as she looked around at the destroyed castle room before gazing at the centaur next to her. "We finally brought down Tirek, even though I don't agree with what you did. Even on our best day, we never imagined that we'd actually be able to..."
"We didn't just beat him, we beat him in front of the entire world," Sweetie Belle pointed out as she pointed to the vortexs, the only remainder of what had once been Tirek's plan. Cap gazed into each one to see thousands of ponies smiling, holding up their hooves to the sky as their cutie marks returned to them from above. "And it's all thanks to you," Belle continued as she nudged the Captain in the leg, breaking his gaze away from the images. "Stopping Tirek, saving us...taking back Canterlot. You did it, hero."
"We did it," the Captain reminded them before he let out a small sigh and stared up at the sky. "Go on ahead and see how the other Crusaders are doing. Then find whatever weaponry you can and set up a perimeter around the castle. Just because Tirek's beaten doesn't mean that the city is ours. There's still the guards to deal with. Move out."
The three saluted him before racing off to do as he instructed, leaving the Captain alone to gaze up at the rainy sky before lowering his head and walking over to what remained of the machine. He spied a few loose wires and a couple sheets of twisted metal, but what truly grabbed his eyes were the shattered pieces of a horn that lay in the center of the floor. Rogers knelt down as he picked one up, lobbing it once in his hand before walking over to the centaur, who was just starting to move again.
"W-what happened?" he asked with a withered voice that sounded like it had aged millennia, gazing up at the Captain with confusion. "Why did you-?" Tirek's words were cut off as the Cap slammed his shield into Tirek's face, dropping the centaur without another word.
"Because the world needs to see that your ways aren't the right ones," Rogers said before gazing up at all the ponies that were still watching through the portals. "That mercy and restraint are far stronger than fear and death. And because I'm an Avenger who saves as many as he can...even someone like you."
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So the Captain is going to.... Force His Way?
Good job Cap! Celestia would approve of your choice here. Now for Sombra who will be the final villain to be defeated.
So, three down. That just leaves Sombra and Auhizotl. Although the latter may be less that keen to step forwards, so I suspect Sombra will be next.
Heroes. Blegh.
It isn't like I have something against heroes, but in our world there are no supermen nor other extremely powerful entities. Nor there are acts like mercy on war, or any other honoured, good, but ineffective actions. You know why people on war obey rules like "no chemicals, no nukes and no shooting civilians?" Because the opposite side will stop obeying these rules too if you break them. And if we look at ISIS now, the sole reason they don't use nukes is because of they don't have them, but they surely kill civilians. Or if we look at USA during Vietnam, they didn't use atomic weapons because Soviets could retaliate, but chemical weapons like Orange agent, which killed and crippled thousands of people, were used.
So the only ones who can be irrational and make acts of good will like leaving one's foe alive without somehow ensuring he won't cause harm, are heroes. It isn't bad, but this cannot be in real world. The same impossibility is villains conquering a nation WITHOUT plans what to do with conquered ponies, and nor killing them nor making them obey willingly or at least not to hate the Five. Cause IRL villains have common sense.
Just a piece of my mind, might as well ignore it.
there going to regret not killing him
6680116 But there are heroes. Moms and dads who love and teach their children to be good people. Firefighters who are often the first to save lives in a disaster. Police who hunt down criminals to protect and serve the public. Soldiers are heroes because there are those who believe in doing the right thing in the face of war.
So I politely disagree with you. Heroism comes in many forms.
Not killing him the first two times is what led to the world being in it's current state. Rorschach got it right.
On one hand, the Cap is being the Cap. On the other, he wants to just arrest the pony version of Red Skull before going after pony Hitler. There is being a soldier, and then there is being a hero, and he just broke his own claims to the contrary. But again, he is just being himself.
There will be a day when their heroics are remembered as the stuff of legends. Truly an amazing finish to a final fight.
Now there's work of rebuilding to be done. Here's hoping they can salvage what's left of the former capitol of Equestria.
Keep up the good work putting the finishing touches on this story.
6680065 Yeah, 'cause I don't think that ol' Ahuizotl is gonna have the guts to face Cap again, after the beat-down that he got from him in an earlier chapter.
Anyway, three Tyrants down, two to go.
Even if, as I figure, Ahuizotl will likely wimp out when it's his turn again.
6680253
If he has not surrendered in the next few chapters I would be surprised. With Tirek's defeat and capture he could hope for some clemency. With Sombra being compared to Loki has that battle looking to be the big final type.
6680270 Yeah, me, too.
That'd be just like him, actually. He seems to depend on magical artifacts and minions/his pet cats to win than do it on his own terms, since her strikes me as the cowardly type, when faced with someone like Daring Do (who they obviously killed) or Cap.
And yeah, I figure that Sombra is the one that Dainn saves for the Big Boss Battle at the story's climax.
So we'll see how that goes down soon enough, I hope.
That was AWESOME.
Really? I had to stop reading and take a step back after that one.
6680082 I can't HEAR you.
AYE AYE CAPTIAN!.
6680116 On September 11, 2001, 2,974 people were killed when the towers collapsed.
A hundred thousand ran in, heedless of life and limb, to try and save them.
Those are odds that I think I can handle.
BOO-YA! That's how you do things Cap style!
Okay, be honest. You wrote out this entire story just so you could use that sponge bob joke, didn't you...?
Never the less, fantastic job! I've had a lot of fun reading this one even if there has been a lot of doom and gloom. Can't wait for the finale.
~Dollars.
6680117 His horns have been shattered. He can't take magic anymore. He's no threat to anypony.
6681309 better to be safe than sorry
made me think of this.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/2e/82/35/2e8235bb4e444e2a4fb9e282c91637ea.jpg
6680082 what's the reference?
6680439 OHHHHHHH
Who was trapped in ice since the 1940s?
STEVEN ROGERS
6681755 Dressed in blue, red and white is he.
STEVEN ROGERS
6681991
STEVEN ROGERS
STEVEN ROGERS
CAPTAIIIIN AMERICAAAAA~
*plays a bit of Yankee doodle*
6685231 $5 says someone sees this and puts a version of it on youtube.
6685239 Only if I get some Marvel rights... which won't happen *sulk*
6681729 Spongebob Squarepants. It is a line in the intro of an epi.
6686556 shit. Where was my head on that one? Now I feel like a dumbass.
Once again. Fucking waiting for it!
6681755 If old-fashioned patriotism be something you wish.
STEVEN ROGERS!
(I ain't gonna let this thread die, no way. Not while I'm still laughing over this actually working)
8895310
cleanse yourself, ya nasty
That SpongeBob reference hit me harder than a brick to the head.
10675840
HOOPLAA!
I CANT HEAR YOU