Chapter 54 - For Now
Within the Trees
The Nation of Wakanda
11:32 a.m.
“I must say, Rainbow Dash, you have healed quite remarkably. I could still remember seeing them bring you in when you were nothing but a limp form of blood… and bone.”
Rainbow Dash momentarily paused at that statement, halting in her tracks, staring straight ahead despite the King of Wakanda moving on without her. She could barely remember what had happened when they brought her in, though her memory did offer a few bits and pieces. Their Quinjet was surrounded, a voice calling to them, telling them everything was going to be okay. To follow them. She faded out after that, waking up again when and only when she saw the clouds and forests, towering structures embedded in the landscape.
Then she was gone again, waking up in a bed surrounded by several doctors and highly-sophisticated machines. Not even the machines at the New Avengers Facility were as advanced as the ones Dash woke up next to. They checked her pulse, studied the fractures in her bones, gave her blood donated by Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, and tied up her wing. The machines did that. The men and women just oversaw everything, talking to her, keeping her calm, and occasionally tending to her medical needs.
Rainbow looked back down to her wing, the white bandages keeping it immobilized by her side. She couldn’t move it, not unless she wanted to tear the stitching or cause some irritation. Instead, she gently prodded her wing, chuckling lightly. “Jeez, thanks for reminding me.”
Looking back to him, Rainbow noticed T’Challa standing by the large window that separated them from the outside. She quickly came to his side, gazing into the lush forests below, hearing the crashing of water against stone and the cries of the birds in the air. It was serene. It was beautiful. Even Rainbow could admit that. Her jaw fell slightly at the sight of it all, T’Challa looking down at her with a knowing smile on his lips.
Rainbow caught his gaze, shaking her head to toss away her awestruck look. She cleared her throat, rubbing her chest rather proudly. “It’s not all me, though. I mean, it’s a lot of me, but the doctors here did help… a little.”
King T’Challa nodded, his smile still present. He stared back to the clouds brushing against the hills. “We seek to offer the best medical personnel in all the world,” he told her, voice sounding quite distant as he continued to stare out into his homeland.
“I’ve seen it.” Rainbow’s voice also seemed to trail off, her nose practically pressed against the glass window. Her eyes were growing wider the longer she stared, a massive figure appearing out of the clouds and rising out of the earth. “I’ve seen a lot of it.”
T’Challa saw it, too. He smiled even wider. “You have only see a portion, Miss Dash.”
The two remained silent for moment, their gazes staring out into the heavy clouds, endless forests, and crying wildlife. The fog shrouded the landscape in a blanket, covering the hills, the structure, and the forests in a pale, ghostly whiteness. A few raindrops hit the window, storms brewing further out into the world. The earth was silent.
“How will he be?”
T’Challa rarely ever flinched, but he almost did when her voice broke out, asking that simple question that he surely knew the answer to. He knew who she was referring to, a sigh escaping his parted lips. Even his smile started to fade. “He will be safe here,” he said.
Rainbow nodded, looking back to the forests. Her voice mumbled, “I gotta say… I didn’t expect to see you of all people come to our aid.”
“Friendship in war is a… difficult path,” T’Challa said. Rainbow looked back up to him, seeing his eyes gaze into a different world other than the one they both saw. His voice returned, his breath heavy. “I once only saw allies and enemies… and not friends. Once I subdued the true threat behind this madness, the war was over… for me, at least. I could find comfort knowing you and your friends were no longer my enemies, nor the Captain or James Barnes.”
He looked to her. His smile was still there. Still strong. Barely. “I could find something even greater when I extended my hand to you all.”
Rainbow scoffed at that, shaking her head and chuckling. She laughed, “Don’t be getting all sappy on me, Your Highness.”
T’Challa looked away from her, a sly smile overcoming his previous grin. “Never.”
The two took comfort in each other’s attitude, finding solace and silence with the seconds that followed. It didn’t remain. The door behind them slid open, the two twisting their necks back to meet the ones who entered. One was Steve Rogers, the other a doctor of sorts holding a translucent clipboard. Rainbow smiled to Steve, spinning around to face him fully.
“Hey, Steve,” she greeted, her voice still sounding quite tired since she last saw him.
T’Challa nodded his way. “Captain.”
“Your Highness,” Steve said, nodding back. His gaze fell down to the rainbow mare standing mere feet in front of him. He turned slightly to the doctor behind him and waiting by the open door. He turned back, his smiling dropping, and said, “Rainbow… I was just informed that your private jet is ready. The girls and Spike are already on board and waiting for you.”
Rainbow’s smile broke. Just a little. It wasn’t news to her by any means. She was informed hours earlier that morning that a private jet would fly them back to the New York, where a private limousine would be waiting for them to drive them all the way to the New Avengers Facility. A lot of private vehicles. All paid for from the endless riches of the king of Wakanda. It wasn’t news to her.
What it meant was still a little harder to grasp. It meant that she and her friends would be taken away, out of the nation that held them and kept them safe when they needed it most. Once away, they would return to a world that they didn’t even think would accept them back, and if they did, what would follow? Would everything remain the same? Would it all be left in ruin?
Would their friendship still remain intact?
And worst of all, how would she approach Twilight?
One way or the other, Rainbow Dash and the ponies and dragon that followed her would find out. They would see if they could make amends with Twilight and the others. Rainbow would see if she can bring herself to mend her friendship with Twilight. After everything that’s happened, she just didn’t know. They would soon know if Tony Stark or the remainder of the Avengers would accept them as Wakanda had. And they would finally be able to return home.
And leave everything… and everyone else behind.
For how long, she didn’t know. The repercussions for her and Steve’s actions would no doubt come back to haunt them both. But Steve had assured her that he would remain hidden, and she would return home. Everything would be fine, he told her. Everything would work out in the end, he had said.
Rainbow Dash sighed, her gaze falling to the floor.
“I guess this is where we part ways, Miss Dash.” Rainbow’s head perked up at that, her neck spinning back and eyes landing on the king. T’Challa sighed, turning fully around to face Rainbow Dash. “It has truly been a pleasure. I just wish we could have met on… better terms.”
He held out his hand, to which she only chuckled and shot out her hoof. Noticing the lack of appendages, T’Challa looked to his hand, slowly forming his palm into a fist as if the action was alien to him. She drove her hoof into said fist, smiling the king’s way and winking. The king smiled back, lowering his hand.
“I’d say we’re on some pretty good terms right now,” Rainbow finished. T’Challa lowered his head to her, almost bowing in a sense. Rainbow just smiled his way and spun back around. Towards the exit. To the doctor. To wherever he would lead her to the jet that would take her home.
But Steve stood in her way.
She met his gaze, his sullen expression hardly hidden behind his smile. Rainbow wondered if it was forced or not. She couldn’t tell. She could hardly tell if her own smile was forced or not. The thought that this was the last time she would see him for Celestia knows how long made it seem that her smile was forced.
“So… this is it,” Rainbow sighed, pursing her lips at Steve. He only nodded, pursing his lips as well. “We head back to the facility, hopefully Twilight doesn’t kill me, and then we head home. You sure you don’t want to come with us and make amends with Tony?”
“Barnes will be kept safe while you are away,” King T’Challa added, arms behind his back.
Steve opened his mouth to object, finding himself pausing. He let out a sigh as his first response, his hands rising and falling to rest on his hips. He looked down, not at Dash, but at the floor. He shook his head. “It’s not that easy, Dash. Tony and I are gonna need some time apart. We’ll need all the time we can get… to heal,” he explained softly, looking to her.
To her broken expression. It was hardly kept strong, her smile starting to die, her eyes beginning to burn. “Sometimes that’s the best way to heal,” she mumbled.
Steve sighed, falling to one knee so he was closer to Rainbow’s eye level. The two met each other’s gazes, locking there, holding strong, nothing in the entire world separating them. He tried to smile, tried to prove to her that he can, and said, “I’m sorry for bringing you into this. I had no idea it would escalate so far, and… and you and your friends paid the price alongside the Avengers. I can’t even expect you or the others to forgive—”
“Hey.”
Her hoof shot out, resting on his shoulder. It silenced him for a moment, his gaze retreating to the hoof, returning to the mare. Rainbow patted his shoulder, offering a small but strong half-smile. And she finished by telling him, “We’re even now.”
He knew what she meant, and he smiled at that. “Yeah… we’re even,” Steve whispered.
Rainbow closed the distance between the two and hugged him. Steve was frozen at first, but slowly fell into the hug, his strong arms slowly wrapping around her. He made sure to watch her bandaged wing, holding onto the mare that he probably wouldn’t see for a long, long time. He could strangely feel her sharing the same thoughts, the mare whispering into his ear, “Goodbye, Steve.”
He didn’t wait to reply. “Goodbye, Rainbow.”
Not another word as she broke away from him, smiling and retreating out the room. Both Steve and T’Challa turned to see her make her escape. Rainbow followed the doctor outside of the room, the door sliding to a close behind her. And that was that.
King T’Challa watched as Steve slowly approached his side, hands in his pockets, eyes staring out into the world. He joined him, remaining silent. Just letting nature speak for once.
“I can’t thank you enough for this.”
Nothing lasted. He slowly turned to Steve, saw his gaze that was once somewhat painful after watching his friend leave suddenly shift to what appeared to be numb. Without purpose. Without a direction. Just forward into nothing. T’Challa sighed, his teeth tightening against each other. “Your friends and my father… they were all victims… in the same twisted game. We all were, in more ways than one,” he told him.
Steve didn’t say a word. “You have apologized to them?” T’Challa asked, still staring at him.
He nodded. “Yes,” Steve replied in a near-whisper. “Rainbow was the last one. I just hope Tony didn’t throw my letter away.”
“He will come around… eventually. As will Princess Twilight,” the king replied. His eyes fell slightly, a sigh leaving his nostrils. “I worry for her.”
Steve watched the birds flock in a massive pack above the clouds. “Me too.”
“What has happened was not her fault, but she blames herself. A victim of war cannot look out to the world and change it, prevent what mankind is destined to wage. They can only… heal.”
T’Challa brought his gaze back up, turning it to Rogers who could not look his way for whatever reason. He knew he heard his last statement, his expression somewhat frozen at that. T’Challa said, “As will your friend.”
Steve thought about that, about his friend. About Bucky. They had put him under for the time being, keeping him frozen until Wakanda’s greatest minds could help wipe out the remainder of the mind control that was still festering in his skull. It was Bucky’s decision, not Steve’s. Still, after seeing Rainbow leave for God knows how long, and watching his friend get put back in the ice, his mind could only wonder one thing.
“If they find out he’s here…” Steve looked to T’Challa, the king meeting his cold, cold gaze, “… they’ll come for him.”
King T’Challa did not react much, which surprised Steve. Instead, he just looked away, into his world, into the nation he helped to shape and would continue to shape the many years and many trials to come.
“Let them try,” the king breathed.
The two didn’t say another word. The king and Steve Rogers stared in silence beyond the glass window that separated them from the world. The trees covered the hills, the clouds shielding the landscape so nothing could be seen, so everything could be hidden. In that mist, in that shield of white, a massive statue of a black panther emerged, its face frozen and roaring to all the citizens of Wakanda.
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I love that line!
It's a hollow comfort Steven. Whether it's the Raft or a palace, you're all still stuck and unable to walk out and show your faces. The only difference is that the Raft was honest about what it was.
The Black Panther will return...
This is what makes T'Challa so awesome. Giving Bucky and Steve sanctuary in Wakanda, ensuring that Bucky gets the best treatment while being voluntarily put back on ice until what HYDRA put in his head is removed and that the mares and Spike are safely and discreetly taken back to Avengers Facility to go home and even giving Rainbow the best medical treatment. All of which done as atonement for having his vengeance misdirected at the wrong man and not trusting them earlier. Even so damn confident that anyone who would dare to invade into Wakanda, the most hidden and guarded nation within Africa with the most valuable resource of vibranium, would be foolish enough to try. If they do, and when they do, the Black Panther will be there waiting and ready to defend his kingdom.
8359781
Fair enough
And thus the peace is proclaimed....for now.
Awesome...can't wait to see what happens next...
Who knows...maybe when Twilight and her friends return to Equestria, they might find a world hidden in plain sight that has existed for thousands of years...yet is eerily similar to the universe that was opened to their eyes recently...
Maybe they might find out by chance, there are superheroes in their world too, much like the Avengers...
8360078
Not only Bucky and Steve mind you, all the other heroes (minus Murddock and Castle for obvious reasons) in the Raft were given sanctuary in Wakanda...
Here's something I think would be a funny thing in Infinity War.
Tony shouts: "Peter!"
Spider-Man and Star Lord reply: "What?"
Tony: "Not you, the other Peter!"
Both gained confused looks: "What?!"
Also Rocket would try to steal Bucky's robot arm.
An amazing chapter...
Star-Lord: Come on Pinks! Dance off my girl! "Oooo child things are gonna get easier. Ooo child things will get brighter".
Drax: IIIIIIIIII'MMMMM, HOOKED ON A FEELING!
Groot: I am Groot.
God, I hope so. Friendship's basically the foundation of Equstria. And without it, can they even use the Rainbow Power? Will the Tree of Harmony reject them?
CROSS-SPECIES FIST BUMP! F
YEAH!
Also:
Steve: We've gotta wait for everyone to heal. We've gotta-
Starlord: 🎤We've gotta wham, bang, shang-a-lang and a sha-la-la-la-la-a babe!
Rainbow: No, not yet!
Christ Almighty, Chadwick Boseman did such a fantastic job with this character.
Another chapter well done here. Rainbow Dash, T'Challa, and Steve were written wonderfully.
8359965 True story.
8360078 I don't know about a kiss on the cheek so soon. Maybe later...
8360248
8360398
8360647 Their friendship will need some time to heal, definitely.
8361620 Marvel casting at its finest.
8361784 Thank you!
Rainbow: Thanks for that lovely memory pussy cat.
Aw good ole Pinkie and Shy.
Of course it would.... all you gotta do is sing a song and everything will be ok. Though seriously I have a feeling the ponie's friendship will heal faster then the Avemgers. It will take a little bit, but they will get there.
Nice goodbye between Steve and Rainbow.
This is my favorite line in this chapter, not the goodbye part, well some of the goodbye part.. but still.
And crap, I haven’t even watched Black Panther yet. But had the guts to watch Infinity War. Good job!
8904266 Thanks!
I'm a little torn with Rainbow Dash getting to go back to Equestria, I feel like after all that happened she shouldn't be able to go home, at least not yet.
It'll be a bittersweet thing for the Equestrians, this I know for a fact. They may have been privately freed so they can 'go home' and leave the mess behind them. But then there's that chance, for their own safety, they can never return to 'this' Earth especially after most of them were seen as criminals. Even if they eventually do get on good terms, at least between the two worlds, almost nothing will be the same as they can only heal from what both worlds have endured. At least the ponies know that even if they have to leave all their friends behind, it doesn't have to be 'goodbye' so long as they remember the 'good times' they've had. And who knows?
Give it time, when their world needs the ponies as much as they need the Avengers, they'll be back when the moment calls. They may not be friends after this moment... But when world needs 'heroes', they'd be the next group to call.
She’ll see cap again in infinity war with his new beard 🤩
It is a bit hollow after everything they went through, but going back to Equestria may be what is best for Spike and the ponies right now.