From the Ashes

by Boltstrike58

Chapter 19: The Darkest Hour

Equis, Manehattan

In her entire life, Twilight Sparkle had never been as terrified as she was right now. None of her experiences with Equestrian villains had prepared her for this. Not Tirek blowing up her home and holding her friends hostage, not Discord turning Ponyville into a wasteland of chaos, not Chrysalis brainwashing her brother, not Sombra's shadowy form bearing down on the Crystal Empire, not even Starlight Glimmer creating multiple post-apocalyptic futures.

Because now she was being forced to watch those she considered friends try to kill each other. And it wasn't a Sombra-induced hallucination.

Tony and Steve were currently slugging it out, Tony attempting to take aim at Sergeant Barnes, and Steve blocking his attacks at every turn. This wasn't a tactical fistfight, but a ruthless battle, as both Avengers hurled blow after blow, with no regard for their own safety, yelling and snarling in rage with every punch. Steve had several holes torn in the torso area of his suit, from which blood dripped. Tony didn't have any visible wounds, thanks to the suit, but Steve had dented in several spots with his shield, from which blue sparks jumped, and the occasional wire dangled. If it was affecting Tony at all, he wasn't showing it. Perhaps worse was Barnes, who made no effort to save himself, merely lying on his knees looking at the ground.

Not that the rest of the Avengers were any better off. T'Challa, like Barnes, seemed to have become catatonic under the spell's effects, curled up in a fetal position. The others weren't attacking with the killer instinct that Tony and Steve had, but were still throwing strikes at each other, with no rhyme or reason. Scott tackled Natasha to the ground, after the Black Widow had just tasered Sam. Vision and Wanda seemed to be engaged in their own personal battle, throwing red and yellow energy in a never-ending firefight, blasting buildings all around them. The shadow creatures weren't even trying to attack anymore, merely standing off to the sides, staring blankly into space.

It was the most horrible, heart-crushing thing Twilight'd ever seen. The others seemed to agree with her, as Rainbow and Applejack both began hyperventilating in sheer panic. Rarity trembled where she stood, as Starlight's eyes watered with the beginning of tears. Pinkie and Fluttershy didn't even bother trying to hold back the waterworks.

"Girls!" Twilight screamed, Sombra and his minions forgotten. "Stop them!"

The lavender alicorn dived forward, Applejack rushing up alongside her, as they rushed towards Tony and Steve. Applejack whipped out her lasso once more, spinning the loop above her head. Rearing her head back, she tossed the rope, managing to snag Steve by the wrist just as he prepared to hammer on Iron Man's face with his shield. Applejack dug all four hooves into the asphalt, pulling with every ounce of apple-bucking strength in her body, yanking the Captain off his feet. Tony, thrown off by Steve's sudden departure, was left vulnerable to Twilight, who enveloped him in her telekinesis, pulling him away from the fight.

Unfortunately for the two mares, the Avengers weren't going to be restrained that easily. Steve leaped to his feet, attempting to charge Tony once again. Applejack grunted as she felt the lasso slide across her teeth, and Steve actually managed to pull her along with him. Tony shouted and thrashed in Twilight's magical grip, forcing her to completely freeze where she stood as she poured in more energy with desperation.

"Tony, please!" she wailed, the strain causing her eyes to tear up in pain. "Stop! Sombra's manipulating you!"

Tony didn't hear her. To him, it was as though the Princess of Friendship didn't exist.

None of the others were having better luck. Rainbow had wrapped her forelegs under Sam's armpits, trying to pull him back. She'd even resorted to punching him to try and snap him out of Sombra's spell, to no effect. Rarity tried to tie Natasha's limbs with a length of thread, but the woman always managed to rip through it before she could tighten it enough. Pinkie, barely able to see through her own tears, kept trying to grab Scott, as the miniature Avenger bounced around like a grasshopper. Starlight was having similar difficulties to Twilight as she tried to magically restrain Wanda, the only difference being that Wanda's own power seemed to be counteracting the magic. Fluttershy could barely bring herself to interfere, sobbing as she pleaded with Vision, trying to grab him, but only passing through his phasing form.

Twilight suddenly screamed in agony as Tony actually managed to rupture her energy field, the magical backlash sending a shocking sensation down the length of her horn, into her brain. Steve, in his enraged flailing, bashed Applejack across the face with this shield, sending the earth pony face-first into the dirt. Tony, having apparently realized that Steve wasn't going to stand aside, now focused all his efforts on the Captain, Steve responding in kind. Punch after punishing punch found its mark on the Avengers' bodies, as Twilight and Applejack struggled to get back on their hooves, managing a pained whimper in the process.

"Twilight!" came a voice. Twilight cast her gaze in the direction opposite of the museum, where Thor, Celestia, and Luna, all battered and bloody, came rushing up to her. Twilight, on the verge of thinking how this couldn't possibly get any worse, felt her heart stop as she saw Celestia, completely unconscious, completely limp on Thor's back, her eyelids fluttering. The only source of relief was the fact that Celestia's eyes hadn't adopted the sickly green glow that came with Sombra's spell.

"What the hell is going on?!" shouted Thor, as he and Luna helped pull Twilight and Applejack back up.

"Sombra..." Twilight managed to breathe weakly, her shoulders shaking from sobs she was afraid to release. "He...he—"

"Showed her the truth," the dark unicorn smugly cut her off. The group turned towards the entrance of the museum, forgotten in the tragic chaos, as Sombra smugly stepped back out, flanked by Phobos, Deimos, and Grogar. In his purple magical grip, Sombra held a cylindrical object carved from black marble, intricate carvings coming up along the sides. With a quick spell, Sombra conjured up a dimensional pocket, tossing the key inside.

"What did you do, Sombra?!" Luna demanded, rushing over to the limp Bucky.

Sombra cackled madly, joined by Phobos, Deimos, and Grogar. "Believe me, Luna, all I had to do was toss the final feather onto the camel's back. They did the rest of this themselves. Because where ponies are naive, forgiving, and pathetic (thanks, in no small part, to you and your sister), humans can be crippled by a simple wounding of their pride. Then they kill each other for it. I'd admire their power, if they weren't so emotional."

"Your lying!" Applejack spat. "They're our friends! They wouldn't do this—"

"Don't delude yourself," Grogar laughed. "They'd already reached this point when we started using the scrying spell. It's the entire reason we knew this would work. They wanted so desperately to rip each other's hearts out, we just gave their minds the permission they wanted."

"You MONSTER!" Thor screamed as he pulled his arm back to throw Mjölnir again, but Phobos and Deimos hit him in the chest at the same time, knocking him over, onto Celestia.

"I think we're done here," said Deimos, charging his staff. "Shall we?"

Grogar rang his bell, and all of the shadow Equestrians stood at attention. Twilight, Applejack, Luna, and Thor tensed up, sensing an imminent attack, but it was futile and they knew it. They'd been too weakened by the battle, and emotionally crushed by Sombra's final maneuver. Luna protectively draped a wing over Bucky, as the super soldier didn't even notice her presence.

"Well, Princess Twilight," Sombra announced, "seeing how you've allowed this friendship problem to fester and erupt, and how your idiotic little posse has utterly failed to preserve 'harmony,' I think it's only fair that you be punished with execution. The charges: crimes against friendship—"

THWAP!

The burst of white, fibrous threads came right out of nowhere. Sombra's gloating was cut off as the material glued itself to his face, obscuring both eyes. The dark unicorn shrieked in surprise and fury, as his three henchmen began searching for the source of the attack.

"Sheesh! And people say my jokes are in poor taste!" shouted somebody. Twilight didn't recognize the young male voice, and she certainly didn't recognize the human figure in the red and blue suit, leaping across the street. He held another long line of the white substance, ending in a bag filled with chunks of asphalt blown off by the earlier stages of the battle. He swung the bag in an arc, smacking into Deimos' side, knocking him, Grogar, Sombra, and Phobos over like dominos. His momentum carried him into a wall, where he bounced off, and landed next to Twilight. "Seriously, though, is crimes against friendship an actual charge on this planet? It sounds like a joke, but I know practically nothing."

"What...who..." Twilight stammered.

"Sorry about that," said the costumed human. "I quip when I'm nervous."

"Princess Twilight," came another, robotically distorted voice, "we're here to help." Twilight looked to the sky, seeing another human, clad in a suit resembling the Iron Man armor. Unlike Tony's suit, this one was black and silver, and coated with quite a bit more armor plating, along with additional weapons, most notably the long-barreled gun on the shoulder. The face shield popped up, revealing a familiar face.

"Colonel Rhodes?" she asked.

Sombra grunted as he got to his hooves. "Okay, unexpected. Kill them."

Grogar gave the command to the shadows, but before they could even move, long projectiles came flying out of nowhere, embedding themselves in the heads of several shadow Equestrians, revealing themselves to be arrows. With a beep, the arrows exploded, wiping out a handful of shadows. Twilight, Applejack, Luna, and Thor turned to the source, as a third human walked up. This one wore simple black clothes, carrying a bow and quiver, his head topped with sand-colored hair.

"Clint?" asked Thor, surprised, as he got to his feet.

"Nice to see ya, MC Hammer," replied the archer. At the same time, a bright green storm cloud materialized into existence Sombra and his minions, before it suddenly began raining cherry pies down on top of them.

To the surprise of no one, a popping sound effect was followed by Discord teleporting into the battlefield, between Sombra and Twilight's group. What was surprising was Lyra, holding Spike aloft with her magic, the small dragon's head pointed directly at Sombra.

"Halt! I'm not afraid to use it!" shouted the unicorn.

"This is humiliating..." groaned Spike.

"The life of the party has arrived, everypony!" proclaimed Discord, waving his mismatched hands. "Thank you, thank you, don't throw flowers, just send money."

Sombra, clearly furious at this point, morphed his body into the shapeless black mass. "Discord," he snarled, "stand aside or die."

"Sorry, not interested," the draconequus quipped. With another snap of his eagle talons, he transformed himself into a small missile formed of wood, firing himself directly at Sombra. However, instead of avoiding or taking the hit, the blob of darkness wrapped itself around the projectile, which promptly rocketed upwards, away from the fight.

The man in the webbed costume turned his attention to Tony, Steve, and the others, who were still attacking each other with no diminished vigor. "Oh my God..." he breathed. "What...why?! We have to stop them!"

"That's our priority, Spider-Man," Rhodey said. "Princess Twilight, can you reverse what he did to them?"

"I-I think so..." Twilight stammered, rubbing her head. "But I can't do it by myself." She looked to Luna, who nodded before she could even ask the question. Applejack gave Twilight a reassuring stare as well.

"Okay," said Spike, rearing his claws. "We'll stall for you. You've got to try and undo Sombra's mind spell." Twilight opened her mouth, desperate to tell Spike not to fight, but her words died in her throat as she saw the look of determination on the small dragon's face. Lyra's expression was similar. Thor, clearly still in pain, nevertheless picked up his hammer, making sure Celestia was still shielded behind him.

"Web Head?" asked Clint, notching an arrow. "You need to help them. Restrain Tony and Steve as best you can."

"On it," said Spider-Man, fingers reaching for his web shooters.

Grogar huffed in cold fury, his horns crackling with black lightning. "I didn't expect to have to kill this many humans, but I suppose I can make the time."

---

Everything seemed hopeless. Vision and Wanda showed no signs of ending their battle, red and yellow energy flaring around them like a fireworks display. Fluttershy was so horrified by this that she could barely move, even as a fresh volley of tears dripped down her face. Starlight, desperate to protect the two of them, had pulled her close and conjured up an energy shield, blocking out most of the residual blasts.

"S-Starlight," Fluttershy whimpered, "w-why is this happening?"

"I don't know..." Starlight mumbled. It was all she could say. "W-we have to do some—"

She stopped, noticing something for the first time. Vision and Wanda's eyes were still filled with the same pale green magic of Sombra's spell, but it seemed to actually be dimming. Pinpricks of light gathered at the corners of their eyes, red for Wanda and gold for Vision. Their movements started to grow more slow and sluggish, and their attacks seemed to have less and less intensity behind them. Vision fired another beam from his forehead, but it missed Wanda by more than two pony lengths, and the weak beam barely left a burn mark on the building it hit. Wanda didn't even have to try to dodge.

Suddenly, both combatants froze where they stood and grabbed their heads with both hands, clenching their eyes shut and roaring in pain. Red and gold energy flared around their heads, tainted by the dark green and purple of Sombra's magic. Starlight had no explanation as to why, but she realized what was happening. Whatever their powers were, Vision and Wanda's bodies were actively trying to cleanse themselves of the spell.

"Wanda!" she shouted, dropping her shield and rushing towards the human. Fluttershy was shocked, but followed the unicorn.

Wanda managed to crack open one eye, as Starlight rushed to the front of her, putting her hooves on both of the human's shoulders. Fluttershy flew over to Vision, her compassion overriding any fear, as she tentatively touched his arm.

"Star...light..." Wanda managed to groan out, her eyes a swirl of red, green, and purple. "It's making me...I can't...help..."

"Yes you can!" Starlight shouted, igniting her horn with its familiar turquoise glow. "Don't let him control you! Fight it!"

Starlight's horn pulsed with magic, and a thin beam of energy slinked out of the tip, connecting to Wanda's head right between the eyes. Wanda had previously given Starlight access to deeper parts of her mind, albeit unintentionally, so Starlight could easily navigate into the human's brain. All she had to do was grab the spell, helped by Wanda's own powers pushing it out. Her magic trail finally found the edge of the spell, and yanked.

Fluttershy took a different approach. Vision clutched at his own head, groaning as the Mind Stone flared with golden light. Fluttershy had no unicorn magic, so there was only one thing she could think of to do. She wrapped her front legs around his neck, hugging her head against his. A few loose tears dripped onto his golden cape.

"Vision, please..." she begged. "You have to fight him, don't let him do this..."

Then, both Vision and Wanda coughed as their eyes flared with their respective colors. Both fell to their knees, pushing Fluttershy and Starlight backwards. With a retch, Wanda and Vision vomited, releasing a small burst of purple mist. The lights in their eyes died down, leaving them purged of the dark magic.

"Oh, God..." Wanda wretched, her face paling as she massaged her own pained scalp. "What was that...why..."

"Wanda!" Vision suddenly shouted, jumping to his feet. She rushed over to the woman, reaching out to her, but stopping just shy of making actual contact. Desperate, his eyes scanned over her whole body, searching for injuries.

"I'm fine," Wanda breathed. "You didn't hurt me, I think."

Vision released a massive sigh of relief, his shoulders shaking with what might've been sobs. Wanda managed to struggle to her feet, awkwardly grabbing Vision's shoulder in order to do so, and pulling her hand away as soon as possible. It seemed that the fear between them hadn't abated. Vision, flustered, turned his gaze away from her. Wanda turned to the ponies.

"Starlight..." she breathed, "what was that..."

"I don't know," the unicorn admitted, "but I think it just gave me an idea."

---

High in the skies above Manehattan, Sombra grunted as his horn released a massive shock wave of dark energy, narrowly avoided by Discord as the draconequus split himself in half, allowing the blast to pass right between his bisected body. Then the two pieces of Discord fused back together with the sound of a zipper being pulled up.

"I grow weary of this encounter, Discord," the unicorn snarled, fury evident in his voice. Discord hadn't really hurt him, but none of Sombra's attacks weren't having much effect on him. If Discord wasn't distorting reality and turning Sombra's blasts into ice cream, he was reshaping his body more than Sombra's darkness form. It didn't help that Sombra was covered in mustard, chocolate soda, and shredded coconut. "You've only become more irritating over the last one-thousand years."

"Well, what can I say?" laughed the chaos spirit. "Irritating is what I do. Though I think you'll find others enjoy the charm."

"Others? Such as those ponies who conned you into the friendship idiocy?" Sombra snapped. He morphed one of his front legs, turning it into a massive darkness tentacle. Discord was unable to react faster than the limb, but all it did was smack him across the face. "I would've though you would be smart enough to recognize the scam they pushed on you."

"You say friendship is a fool's gold, Sombra, but you're wrong," Discord replied, his voice angry, as he pushed Sombra's tentacle away. "And don't even think of going all 'You've let them destroy your passions and chain you, Discord.' I already got that crap from Tirek." He snapped his talons again, conjuring up several lengths of iron chains. Another snap caused them to launch themselves at Sombra.

"Yes, and you were gullible enough to fall for it then," Sombra mocked, deploying his scythe. He cleanly sliced the chains in half, turning the blade towards Discord once more. "You've fallen for the same lies Celestia brainwashes Equestria with. She insists on the value of friendship, the most worthless possession in this world. She is weak, and unfit to rule. You, on the other hoof, are irritating and unfit to live."

"Oh, that is it!" Discord snapped. With a wave of his mismatched hands, he conjured up several comically oversized mallets, which rotated around him in a circle. "This is for threatening Fluttershy!"

Sombra merely grinned as he powered up his horn. A small, transparent cube began to form at the tip, lines of purple light coming together in a three-dimensional shape. Pulling his neck back, Sombra tossed the small cube towards Discord, who batted it away with one swipe of his lion paw.

Or, rather, that's what he tried to do. The strange magical construct instead latched on to his finger like a trace of glue. Annoyed, Discord snapped his fingers, intending to dissipate the spell, but it had no effect. Before he could react further, the cube expanded, until it contained Discord's entire body. Then it began spinning in place, as beams of white light erupted from all eight corners, zapping Discord's body. And, to the draconequus' shock, the beams actually hurt. Discord roared in pain, thrashing inside the cube, as his magical hammers vanished into thin air. After about a minute, the cube faded, and the limp Discord was caught by Sombra's magical grip.

"I call it the stabilizer matrix," said the unicorn. "You're so incompatible with reality that both parties reject each other, enabling you to do what you wish with it. I've pushed you slightly back into sync, quite painfully. Useless against anyone else, but sufficient to cripple you." Discord glared up at him, obviously still in pain, clenching his teeth. "Don't worry, it only lasts a few minutes. Much like the rest of your life." Sombra casually tossed Discord towards the ground.

---

Spike was terrified. He wouldn't admit it to Twilight, even though she knew him well enough to automatically tell when he was lying, but he was terrified. Yes, he'd practically wished for this, but the way the shadow ponies just stared with their dead eyes was fear incarnate. He swallowed down his fear as he spewed flame over another shadow pegasus, incinerating it.

The battle (if you could still call it that) wasn't going swimmingly. Starlight and Fluttershy had brought Wanda and Vision to Twilight, explaining that their powers managed to purge Sombra's spell. Twilight had immediately agreed with Starlight's idea to use Wanda's power in a massive mind spell to fix all of the Avengers at once, but it still required time to charge the necessary magic. Meaning it fell on Spike and the others to protect them while they did so.

At the moment, Spike, Lyra, Vision, Thor, Luna, and Clint were keeping the shadow ponies at bay with projectile attacks, throwing a few at Grogar and the fauns occasionally. Unfortunately, Rhodey was stuck trying to restrain a still furious Tony, only able to spare some shots every now and then. Spider-Man had webbed up the Captain, though Steve was still fighting it, forcing Applejack to assist. Rarity, Pinkie, and Rainbow were similarly occupied, pinning down Scott, Natasha, and Sam as best they could. Luckily, the enchanted Avengers, in their wild swinging, did manage to hit one of the shadows every once in a while.

Looking over at the museum's entrance, Spike gasped in shock at the sight. T'Challa, in full Black Panther gear, was lying on his side, shoulders shaking with what might've been sobs. Phobos seemed to have finally noticed him, and decided to take the easy prey. He raised his staff and took aim.

"NO!" Spike screamed, swinging his tail downward. The appendage slapped against the ground, launching the small dragon across the battlefield. Flying past Phobos' face, Spike opened his mouth and sent a stream of emerald fire directly at the faun. Phobos managed to jump backwards, but the flames still hit him in the torso, searing his chest and burning off some of the hair. Phobos shrieked in agony, slapping at his chest as he stumbled, only for twin blasts of yellow light to send him flying. Spike looked to the source, finding Lyra and Vision.

"Spike, get him over here! Quick!" shouted the unicorn, as she bucked a shadow earth pony.

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Spike yelled back, heaving T'Challa over his shoulder. Two shadow griffins tried to dive down and claw him, but Spike was protected by cover fire from Vision and Lyra. Dragging T'Challa over, he laid the catatonic Avenger down next to Bucky, who was shielded by Luna's wings.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness," he whispered, though he didn't know if T'Challa could hear him. "But we'll fix this."

"Are you—urk—ready with the spell?!" shouted Rhodey. He had Tony stuck in a headlock, though the brainwashed Avenger was still firing off the occasional repulsor beam. Steve actually required both Spider-Man and Applejack to fully restrain him, with Spidey holding his upper half in a full nelson, and Applejack wrapping her entire body around his legs.

"Ready!" Twilight shouted, igniting her horn. Wanda and Starlight charged up as well, and Luna cast a blue aura over the team, giving their magic a power boost. Wanda's red energy snaked over, flashing onto Twilight's horn and mixing with her own magenta light. This was soon joined by Starlight's turquoise magic. Twilight shut her eyes in concentration as she charged to maximum power.

With a roar, Twilight released the spell, sending jets of the mixed magic directly into the brains of the Avengers. Streaks of multicolored light zapped onto their heads, hitting them right between the eyes and passing into their brains. Twilight and Starlight's magic guiding her, Wanda focused, her mental grip feeling around in seven different brains as the same time. Sombra's magic attempted to burrow deeper into the mental landscape, but Wanda recognized it from her own purging. She grasped with seven invisible hands at once, and pulled.

Steve, Tony, Bucky, T'Challa, Natasha, Sam and Scott all heaved where they stood, as their friends released their grips, and Twilight ended the spell. Tony, Scott, and T'Challa all removed their masks, exposing their faces, so they could vomit out the cloud of dark magic. Freed from Sombra's curse, they collapsed to the ground. Thor, bloody and exhausted, nearly dropped Mjölnir in relief.

"Thank Ymir," he breathed.

"Cute," came a voice from above. Twilight and the others looked up, in time to see a limp Discord drop from the sky. He landed with a loud thump, right next to Luna. Sombra descended as well, scythe at the ready, rejoining his henchmen.

"So, seeing as you failed to accomplish anything significant, Princess Twilight," he snarled. "I'm just going to kill you—"

He didn't get to finish that sentence either, as another blast of webbing hit him on the eyes, an explosive arrow impacted his chest, and an assault from Rhodey's sonic blaster all cut him off at once. Sombra was sent flying backwards again, though Grogar, Phobos, and Deimos all managed to dodge this time.

"Uh, guys?" said Spider-Man, dodging a blast of magic from a dark unicorn, responding with a blast of webbing. "Not to insult anyone here, but I don't think we're in any shape to win this fight!" He wasn't wrong. There were still plenty of shadow creatures remaining, not to mention Sombra and his minions were still going strong. Most of the Avengers were barely conscious, and Celestia was out.

"I agree with the kid," said Rhodey, firing a shotgun blast. "We need a retreat, now!"

Luna cursed. "None of us have the power to teleport far enough," she protested. "Even if we combine our powers, it won't be enough for all of us..."

"If...I may..." Discord croaked, his voice hoarse and weak. "I might have...just enough juice left...to get us back to Ponyville..."

Twilight clenched her teeth, but she knew it was the only option. Her magic was almost dry, and she bled from multiple small wounds. The other elements were in the same shape, and even with their new allies, they couldn't defeat Sombra like this.

"Everypony grab an Avenger!" she shouted. "We need to retreat!"

The others followed with no hesitation. Rarity levitated Natasha on to her own back, while Rainbow Dash heaved Sam up with her own strength. Thor placed Celestia on his back once more. Applejack and Pinkie lifted Steve and Scott onto their backs. Luna and Spike shielded Bucky and T'Challa with their forelimbs. Spider-Man helped Twilight drag Tony over to the group. Lyra and Starlight supported the barely conscious Vision and Wanda with their bodies. Clint and Rhodey provided a perimeter of cover fire, driving the shadows back.

Weakly, Discord snapped his fingers.

A large white light engulfed the entire team, before any of the shadows could advance on them again. With Discord's signature popping sound, they vanished, leaving no trace.

Sombra and the others were left gaping at the empty spot. Then, Sombra threw back his head and laughed with sadistic glee.

"Go ahead, and run, fools!" he cackled. "Take refuge for the remaining hours of your freedom!"

With a quick spell, he held the key to the Monolith in his magic once more. "I have what I need."

Comments

[SWEETOLEBOB18]

"Web Head?" asked Clint, notching an arrow, "You need to help them. Restrain Tony and Steve as best you can."

Trick them into tearing your limbs off one by one! That will slow them down a good 10 seconds!

Luna cursed. "None of us how (have) the power to teleport far enough," she protested, "Even if we combine our powers, it won't be enough for all of us..."