• Published 14th Oct 2015
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Oh Captain, My Captain - Onomonopia



And there came a day unlike any other. A day when Equestria needed to be avenged.

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The Crusade

The faint buzzing from a myriad of insects that infested the air and the woodwork kept drawing Captain Rogers out of the conversation he was having with the mares, occasionally having to brush some of those insects off of his uniform. As the three walked down a massive staircase that seemed to be carved out of the roots of the giant tree they were under, he couldn't help but notice that while Applebloom and Scootaloo talked with him, Belle continued to stare ahead.

"So where ya from?" Applebloom asked for the second time, drawing the Captain back out from his thoughts. "And how did ya get here? Ah mean, not to sound rude but it's pretty clear yer not from round here."

"A planet called Earth, where humans like me live in harmony together, for the most part," the Captain explained, making a mental note at how Belle smirked when he said harmony. "And I got here when one of my more magically-inclined allies sent me here. I've come to help with whatever is attacking your land, but things here seem worse than I originally thought."

"You can say that again," Scootaloo muttered with a shake of her head before confusion crossed her face, and she glanced back at the Captain. "What a moment. If you come from a different world, then how the heck did you know that we need help?" It was the Captain's turn to look confused.

"We received the message for help that you sent to us," he responded, noticing the confusion in her eyes almost immediately. "I was the only Avenger on hand at the moment and was the only one who could be sent in right away. You...didn't send a message calling for help?"

"Oh, we've sent plenty of distress messages for help. Some to the griffons, some to the dragons; but it's the same response everytime," Belle snickered with venom while she used her magic to open a door at the bottom of the stairs, holding it open for her friends but letting go when Steve tried to get through. He brushed off the act, though, as Belle continued. "Tirek, Sombra and Chrysalis worked fast. It was barely a week after Equestria fell before they attacked the other nations also."

"So, every nation on this planet has fallen to this group of villains?" Captain America asked, his job getting a lot harder if that were the case.

"Not exactly. The dragons still hold out for the most part, and other nations have done a decent job at stopping their forces," Scootaloo explained when Belle remained silent. "But their forces are too busy trying to keep them out of their land, so they can't spare the forces to help us."

"More like they don't care," Belle muttered under her breath.

"What happened?" Captain America finally asked, getting the three to share glances with each other before Applebloom sighed and stared far off into the distance.

"It was a day like any other. The three of us were out playing like we always did, while the rest of the town was enjoying the day," she began with a faint sigh. "But out of the blue Tirek, a monster that can steal magic and add it to his already incredible power, appeared out of nowhere and attacked. It happened so suddenly and with no warning, so it wasn't long before our peaceful town of Ponyville was set ablaze."

The Captain remembered the sign that he had seen when he first arrived in the land, figuring that's where he had ended up. "Twilight, one of the princesses of this land, and her friends tried to fight back against him, but this time he didn't come alone."

"Both Starlight, a unicorn that can steal a pony's talent, and Chrysalis, a shapeshifter with an army of changelings, battled alongside the monster," Scootaloo cut in when Applebloom hung her head in pain. "Despite Twilight having the power of the alicorns and her friends having Rainbow Power...they were outnumbered. And it didn't help that one of the six that was needed to access the full power of the Rainbow was in the Crystal Empire, a nation that fell to Sombra on the same day."

"So against that kind of force...they were beaten. And then captured," Applebloom picked up for her friend after shaking the sadness out of her eyes. "And as Chrysalis and Starlight burned Ponyville to the ground, ensnaring ponies with their magic, Celestia and Luna, the two most powerful ponies in the land, showed up to fight for our freedom. They battled with Tirek and were evenly matched, but then a villain showed up that we didn't expect to see."

"Ahuizolt, an old foe of Daring Do and the Mane Six, appeared with a magical artifact that would block out the sun and swallow the moon in darkness for a short time. With that artifact, he managed to weaken Celestia and Luna significantly. And then they..."

"Took them. Took them and probably killed them." All three sets of eyes looked towards Belle, who was glaring back at the three with only coldness in her eyes. "What? That's what happened. What also happened--that they failed to mention--is that their sisters were a part of Twilight's group that tried to battle against Tirek. They're dead now too."

"We don't know that!" Applebloom roared with wrath flashing in her eyes, but then she remembered something and recalled her rage with an apologetic glance at Belle.

"And that was the day Equestria fell," Scootaloo continued when her two friends remained silent. "Tirek then stormed Canterlot and without the princesses to stop him, he conquered it within an hour. It wasn't until a few days later we discovered that the Crystal Empire had fallen to Sombra and that Cadence, the last of the four alicorns, was dead by his hoof. So without any of Equestria's protectors left, it only took the five villains a few days more to enslave the rest of Equestria. And that's the brief tale of how our nation that was once ruled by friendship and harmony fell to five of the most evil beings in the land."

Rogers closed his eyes after hearing the tale and spent a moment remembering the lives that had been lost to the evil, despite not knowing who any of them were. But when he opened his eyes, he glanced around at the large room they had walked into to see ponies in armor with weapons and gear, almost looking like a military.

"Yet despite Equestria falling, the three of you managed to create the Crusaders to try and free your world," he reminded them, getting nods from Scootaloo and Applebloom.

"Yep. When Sombra's forces came for us, we managed to escape," Applebloom explained before her face fell slightly. "Of course, that was also the day we got our Marks here. Ah'm able to work pretty good with any technology, so that's how ah got mine. Scootaloo over there got hers fer when she flew us out of that mess. And Belle..."

"When I used my magic to snap a pony's neck," she replied in a cold tone before smirking back at her friends. "Turns out my special talent all along was making others go to sleep forever. If this war wouldn't have happened, I never would have discovered my Mark. Guess that's one good thing to come out of this, huh?"

"So yeah, we've added more and more ponies that escaped until we made this here resistance you see around you," Applebloom said as she motioned to everything around her. "And's that our tale." Steve took a moment to look around at the faces of all of the ponies, seeing from their ragged expressions and bitter eyes that none of them had any hope within them; that most of them were pretty much beaten already.

"So...can you tell us more about yourself?" Scootaloo asked, bringing the Captain back to the conversation.

"My name is Captain Steve Rogers, but most call me Captain America. And I'm an Avenger on planet Earth that came here when I received a message that asked desperately for help," he recapped for the three of them as they walked into a nearly empty hallway that was illuminated with glowing flower bulbs on the walls. "But when I arrived, I discovered the landscape devastated and that nearly everything was covered in ash. After spying some gargoyles that were flying overhead, I followed them to the prison where Belle found me. After freeing the prisoners, I held off the gargoyles until Belle teleported me here. The rest you know."

"Wow, you've had a pretty busy first day," Applebloom said with a dry chuckle before pushing her hat back and casting Steve a confused look. "Hey, what's an Avenger by the way? Is that the name of your army or something?"

"The Avengers are a group of heroes that came together to battle threats we could not handle alone," Captain America began to explain, noticing out of the corner of his eye that both Scootaloo and Applebloom seemed to perk up at the word "hero," while Belle scowled. "We fight to save our world from the forces of evil and to keep the people on it safe. And so far we haven't failed yet."

"And you're one of them right? One of these heroes?" Scootaloo asked, her smile growing wide when he nodded. "Crusaders, group huddle," Scootaloo said, the second Captain America finished, getting him to raise an eyebrow as the three pulled themselves together. "Did you hear what he said? He's a hero from another planet!"

"So?" Belle scowled.

"So? Belle, this could finally be the answer to our problems!" Applebloom half-shouted, the smile on her face wider than it had been in a long time. "This here Avenger says that he's saved his world on more than one occasion, so maybe he's what our world needs! Equestria doesn't have any more heroes, but maybe he can take their place! Maybe he can be the hero we need!" Belle glanced from friend to friend before she slowly began to shake her head in disgust, backing away from them before glaring at the Captain.

"No...no I'm not doing this," she smirked with a small laugh while she glared down the Captain. "No, I'm not fighting alongside him, even if he thinks he's a hero. I'm not risking my life with some freak of nature that wear's spandex, fights with a Frisbee, and plastered a freaking letter 'A' on his head! Another hero? Yeah right, he's just like all the other "heroes" we had that failed. Sunset, Daring Do, and the Wonderbolts just to name a few. Thanks for freeing those prisoners Cap, but you should probably head on back to your world cause we don't need somepony like you!"

Belle then turned and stalked away from the group, both Applebloom and Scootaloo calling her out on her words as they chased after her. "You lost somepony important to you that day to, didn't you?" Belle stopped dead in her tracks as she slowly turned to look back at the Captain, who stared at her not with anger or annoyance, but understanding in his eyes. "You lost those you cared about when Tirek destroyed your home. I'm sorry."

Belle scowled with fury before she tore open a door and stalked away, leaving Scootaloo and Applebloom to look back at the Captain with sorrowful expressions. But before they could apologize, the Captain shook his head before holding a hand to his ear. "There's no need to apologize. I've seen a lot like her. Fury come in, do you read? Still static. What do we pay Stark for?"

"She's...had a rougher time adapting to all of this than either of us," Scootaloo explained in defense of her friend. "You're right, she did lose more than either of us. I...never really had a family to begin with, so I'm used to the pain of being alone. I didn't lose anypony...that close to me when our home fell."

"And ah've lost family before in the past," Applebloom added with a small chuckle. "Not to this extent, but ah'm...able to deal with it. Also mah family is so large that some of my family survived. Heck, a few aunts and uncles are down here now."

"But Sw...Belle, she'd never lost anypony before. And on that day she lost everything. Her home. Her family...herself," Scootaloo whispered for her friend, both she and Applebloom hanging their heads for a brief moment before looking up at Rogers. "I know it's no excuse for how she's treating you but...we thought you should know."

The Captain's face softened for a moment, knowing how Belle felt more than the two mares next to him would ever know. For a moment, he considered going after her and talking to her, but to the surprise of all three the belle came racing back from the door she just entered with a look on her face that meant trouble.

"We've just gotten a call from one of our teams out in the field. They're in trouble!" she quickly explained to her friends, who both shared a terrified glance before racing after her. Steve followed after them, able to keep up with their stride as they rushed through the wooden halls, eventually coming to a stop in a large, circular room with a sizeable table in the center that was already seating five different ponies.

"What's going on? Why did somepony call on the red line?" Scootaloo asked one of the older, bearded ponies at the table with a phone on his flank, but his sad eyes answered before his words could.

"We just received an S.O.S. from one of our gatherers teams. It seems...that Ahuizolt's forces found them taking food from Stalliongrad and he's captured them," the elder pony explained with sad eyes.

"Then what are we waiting for? We can go in there and quickly free them before-"

"You don't understand, Applebloom. Ahuizolt is there with them." The room fell deadly silent at the stallion's words, giving Cap a moment to glance around and take in each pony's reaction. Applebloom was steaming with rage, the kind of rage that came with being helpless. Scootaloo had a hoof around her shoulder to comfort her friend while the ponies in the chairs each began to turn back to their task. And Belle just shook her head once before turning to leave.

"Why can't you mount a rescue operation?" Steve finally decided to ask, turning every head in the room towards him. "You know where they are, so why not go now and extract them the way you did me?"

"Cap...it's not that easy," Scootaloo explained when nopony else answered. "Ahuizolt has artifacts that play hell with a pony's magic. He can stop us from teleporting, magic blasts...hell, even some of his damned items can kill a unicorn just by being too close. And without a unicorn there to teleport us out, there's no chance of getting the captured ponies out before reinforcements arrive. We can't...do anything..."

All the ponies, except Belle, hung their heads for a moment, grieving the loss of the ponies out in the field. Rogers took that moment to glance into the ponies' eyes, seeing the same look in each set of eyes. Defeat. Defeat without even trying. Right then, Captain America knew that the Crusaders didn't stand a chance against these evil forces, not when they were beaten before they even began.

"Then let me go in." The words of the Captain snapped all sets of eyes towards him, where he stood tall with narrowed eyes and determination flashing on his face. "Send me in. I'm not fueled by magic so I can get close to him. And I can more than deal with a bunch of soldiers and a tyrant that thinks he's won. I've made a career of it."

"Steve...do you understand what you're asking to do?" Scootaloo asked him. "You're asking to go in alone against one of the five villains that helped to kill the strongest beings in our land and take over the world. And unless you take Ahuizolt and his soldiers down, we can't get you or the ponies he's captured out of there. You'd have to do all this...alone."

"I understand the risks. I also understand what I'm up against," he calmly nodded before casting his eyes over each of them. "But someone needs to rescue those in danger, and it seems like I'm the only one who can. And think of it this way. When I prevail, you'll get those ponies back. But if I fail, then you don't lose any of your group trying to rescue them. It's a win-win."

He then turned his face so he was looking directly at Belle, not with anger or with pride, but with a look that she had not seen in anypony's eyes in years. "I also know that some of you have doubts about my abilities; doubt that I cannot help you in this war that seems hopeless. Let me prove that I can help. Let me show you why I am called the First Avenger."

Scootaloo, Applebloom and Belle each shared a glance with each other before they huddled up, whispering to one another in hurried voices. After a few minutes the group split apart, with only Belle looking happy with their decision.

"Alright Steve, you're clear to help. Go show us why they call you a hero."