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."
Here comes Cap to save the day! So I bet one of the four overlords is going to fall here and it should scare the remaining four.
6556263 Yep.
And let's hope so. I hate Ahuizotl even more than I do the other villains, and that's saying something.
Go give 'em hell, Cap.
R8 b8 m8 I r8 8/8
It's bloody Marvel Earth wher Eldrith abomination are Monday, Alien invasions Thuesday and Apocalypse event's Friday.
Damn that's qiute clever plan. Light years ahead of MLP vilians. So I wonder who helped them to cook it up? Maybe him?
static2.fjcdn.com/thumbnails/comments/Math+the+only+place+where+lex+luthor+steals+40+cakes+_1531e3949143131cdb5125631d7cd136.jpg
It's still better then Sombra, Tirek and co can cook up......
Bell you get this that Caps will chew you now?
Hmm Ahuizolt? A lover of strange trinckets? I think I now some simmilar person who it might be?
static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/3/36013/877133-lim_warlock_1.jpg
Adam at least has a bit better fashion sense.
Could you possibly do a Daredevil fic sometime please?
6556297 not Luthor but maybe osborn or red skull
I would like to point one thing that is great in this story. Actually, there a lot of great things here, but the major problem with Caps are his powers. It´s easy to make a strong and fast hero. No secret there. But those are not his special powers. Leadership is. Caps is not the strong and fast guy, the "tanker", ifyou want. He is the leader. And true leadership is VERY difficult to portrait in a story, specially when he is a newcomer in the world. In earth, everyone knows him, so it is easy to bark orders (although the tactical thinking he have is more difficult). But, here, we see him trying to gain not only the trust of ponies that does not know or like him. He must show that he is a capable leader, and have to use all of his tactical thinking to overcome a impossible situation with almost no resources.
And you are doing a great job. You can see Rogers checking his surroundings, making plans, knowing the moral of the resistence. He is not a dumb hero running against the villain with no reasons. Rogers is aware how low the moral is at this moment, and knows that the rescue mission is more important then only getting the group back. With that mission, he´ll gain respect, trust, and a big increase in the moral of the troops ! That´s a leader, right there, working to make his team better, and more capable. He keeps asking the right questions, he keeps gathering tactical intel. Great, great job portraiting one of his more important skills, and the one that is more difficult to show. I can say, easily, that this is your best work, using a hero in pony fiction !
So what happened to Discord?
Five villains: Tirek, Chrysalis, Sombra, Starlight and Ahizoutal, with the Princess and Mane six dead leaves a missing spirit of chaos and disharmony
If I could make a request.... Some where down the line, please, please, please bring in one more Avenger. Someone who would work well with Cap, but has some form of power. Hell, my favorite would be Wolverine, or Wade (Dead Pool).
6556297 If there is a comic book villain involved, I'd expect Red Skull.
Nice comment btw. Have a thumb.
6556519
My bet? Probablly running as fast as he can. Especially since now Hell Lords will look close to Equestria. And without SS in Equsteria...... well let just say that Dormmamu/Mephisto/Satannish/Shuma Gorath will NOM-OM this dimesnion with no time.
6556263
"CURSE YOU CAPTAIN AMERICA!"
I regret nothing.
6556519
My guess is he didn't like the brand of chaos the other big bads were selling and skipped town. He's never seemed particularly malicious to me, just bored.
I don't like this Sweetie Belle, her heart is cold.
Is it bad that with all the death and destruction in Equestria, the only bit to hit me at all was hearing that Sunset tried to come back and failed?
Ok, seriously; all the main MLP players dead or captured AND FIVE MAGIC-POWERED SUPERVILLAINS against 1 Captain America!
Onomonopia, I sincerely, truly, deeply apologize in advance if I'm sounding too vitriolic and mean and I DO love your previous stories, but
Don't get me wrong, the Cap is one of my favorite heroes, but this deck is WAY too stacked against him. And even if he does win, you're going to make him look like an utter Mary Sue (which is practically "How NOT to Write a Hero 101").
Yes, I am aware that Captain America is all about beating the odds, but the odds you're setting up are more for someone on the level of Superman, Goku, Aang, Naruto, Alucard, Neo, or even the Iron Giant, but Steve Rogers is essentially just an "ordinary" human (if stronger, faster, more agile, and smarter than normal humans) and even by "Badass Normal" standards, Rogers doesn't have Batman's resources, Stark's gadgets, the Doctor's super-cunning, or even the Punisher's massive arsenal.
At the very least, one way to help improve this fic is to CALL IN DEADPOOL NOW! His immortality, advanced-healing factor, arsenal of weapons, insane randomness, and reference-spewing rambling would not only make Cap's inevitable victory more natural, but it would provide MUCH needed levity.
Dude, marathon The Three Stooges, watch Anchorman, Jackie Chan, even a Adam Sandler flick if you're desperate but watch something funny ASAP! As a huge fan of yours, I'm starting to get concerned for your sense of humor.
I vote the Punisher gets sent in without Cap knowing about it. Someone so brutal, so lethal, and so efficient at killing even Sombra would do his best to avoid him.
6556743 there is no comedy tag but it does have the sad dark and gore tags plus tragedy, i think the story is going ok the way it is, i dont think another marvel hero will appear anytime soon since this fic is about the cap and as it has been said the cap greatest skills are his charisma and leadership pretty sure he will work into turning the resistance in a proper army able to retake the land, about this being in a different style from the author previous works i think that like the samurai jack fic he may be trying new writing styles
also on another note i cant help but feel that the reason why the cap cant communicate with fury is because equestria and earth are running on different time waves, it would also explain why the fury got the message when the crystal empire just fell but when the captain arrived everything was over and looks like several years have passed already
6556858 yeah no if your gonna send someone like that in you might as well have sent deadpool. if cap needs backup send strange or someone magically oriented.
Yeah, now would be a good,time for some Avengers backup for not even Captain America can defeat a mystical villain without some help.
Nice update, but the odds are stacked against Cap here. Unless he has a plan against the villains, right ?
Still voting that either Stark or Thor be brought in to help out Cap the people are right the deck is stacked so far against him that your either gunna have to make him overpowered or bring in help not trying to tell you how to write or anything as I am loving the fic but I just cant see where you intend to go with this
Small critiques:
-->Ahuitzotl, not Ahuitzolt. Yes, it's just a couple of switched letters. I said small critiques, didn't I?
-->Proooobably shouldn't refer to them as Mane Six in story, that's really just what the fanbase calls them so it's a bit jarring to see it in a in-universe situation. 'Elements' is a good, common go-to for the group.
... Yeah, that's all the critique I've got. So not only were they small, there weren't that many of them! Keep it up, keep it up.
There is stacking the deck, and there is this. Cap is just one man. Sure, stopping an armies advance is within his skills, but the army already won and left. So, he has to rely on just his charisma, his experience with the Avengers (a team of super heroes), and the fact that his shield can survive getting hammered by Thor without denting.
6557426 Yes, they already won, which means that they're more spread out instead of all on the front lines. They also won't expect really heavy resistance. Plus he's one man. One man that has already been severely underestimated before.
6557159 Vision
6556743 I wouldn't be so quick to jump the gun. Cap is obviously gonna win since he's the main character. However It's also not hard to tell that he's gonna be getting help as well. He had help in world war 2 and he's gonna get it in this. That simple and not hard to see.
6557636 That was when he had a squad to back him up, and then the Avengers happened. About the only thing he has going for him is an easily fragmented leadership. Five targets to take on, versus one well defended target in a fortress is easier to deal with than what he had to deal with before, when it was two targets, but one was a primary target over the other. Now he just has to track them down one at a time, and eliminate them on his own, because shape shifters, two anti magic targets and Sombra.
The bad guys are lucky that Deadpool ain't with the Cap. I hope the Avengers get sent in for a chapter or two...
6557232 I agree with both things from this person! Just felt that I had to say that for no reason.
6556666
Congratulations! Your Sweetie Belle evolved into Bitter Belle!
6557767 I'm sorry, but I was talking about when he caused the prison break, what are you referencing?
6560765 The comics and his penchant for dealing with similar situations. He kind of has a record that gave rise to the Howling Commandos being an in universe respected thing.
Awesome, awesome story so far! Just one thing: make sure you correct the villain's name to Ahuizotl. :)
I agree that Cap won't be alone for much longer, but I don't think it'll be an Avenger or other established hero. Cap inspires others, he makes them believe in themselves again, and he helps them become hero's. Equestria lost all it's hero's, but it still has ponies that are not yet captured, they're still resisting, scraping out a living and surviving, but they need a spark. A spark that'll start small, but grow in the hearts of those willing to let it. Something to push them to stand up for themselves and do more than survive, but to fight back and become the next generation of hero's.
Cap has usually worked as that spark and he'll be the one to get the ponies to make new hero's to fight for them. And I'm betting Applebloom or Scootaloo will soon become the first of Equestria's new hero's working along side Cap to take on Ahuizotl.
6542464 So all in all is this cap mostly MCU Cap or comic Cap? Both in personality and costume and capabilities.
Interesting. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
There should be more questions like this from both sides.
Yeah....I hate it when bugs distract me too.
Riiiiiiiiight.
Getting napoleonic and world war 2 vibes here.
So HE was the one. *anger rising*
So there is a possibility that Twilight and the others are still alive, but I'm preparing myself for the worst.
I was actually surprised at the appearance of the last two non-tagged villains, especially that damn monkey.
ooooo. Getting a cutie mark during war-time has got to sound conflicting and painful for them to feel.
She's vicious.
Pffft. Oh Scoots.
Jeez, she's got a serious attitude problem.
*nodding in agreement*
Hmm. I'm not sure if I should be sad or happy about that.
Bitter, but comforting at least.
Yeah....that will scar an individual for life.
Hurah. I love rescue missions. Let's go.
May the memories of the mane 6 not be forgotten
*UNSC marines fire 21 gun salute while Spartans, Space Marines and Imperial Guard salutes *
That "out of nowhere" is redundant.
oh please not Queen Chicken, the squeacky terror and the almighty applesauce.
edit: and I just noticed I posted a comment that was meant for one chapter earlier, because I used a handy to read.
Yes this quote right here