Wake up, Cap.
Captain America is dead.
DATE: June 29 2019
LOCATION: In orbit, around Earth's Moon
MISSION: The defense of Earth and all her citizens
One June 29th, 2019 between Earth and the Moon, Chitauri forces opened a portal from Sanctuary, releasing several warships and thousands of troops in a last ditch effort to destroy the Avengers, and by extension, the entirety of the human race. The operation was a failure on the Chitauri side. The warships that were not destroyed were left limping back through the portal and nearly the entirety of their soldiers were wiped out.
While Earth's forces definitely did not get out unscathed, the Avengers had one casualty.
In the battle, the Avengers were spread thin and surrounded. Thor and Hulk were able to hold their own and clear out large swaths of the Chitauri forces. Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Vision were able to support nearly the entire force. Captain America was not so fortunate. Cut off from the rest of his team, the Cap. was surrounded and cut down, but not without putting up one hell of a fight.
The Captain killed more than 200 of the Chitauri forces singlehandedly before the 86th and final plasma bolt cut through his armor and brought him down. He never saw the Avengers victory.
>///<
Steve looked around. He was standing in an empty plain of pure white. Left, right, forword, backward, up and down, nothing but white. He was still wearing his Captain America attire and was tightly clutching his shield, standing in a battle pose. The last thing he remembered was fighting those Chitauri bastards that were threatening his home. He remembered that he was hit countless times by their plasma bolts, yet now, he felt no pain. Looking over himself, he saw that his armor seemed like it was still in pristine condition, like that battle never took place.
Tentatively, Steve unhooked his helmet's chin strap and tucked it under his arm, looking out for any hostiles as he did. "Hello?" he called. "Anyone out there?"
"Well, there's me." an elderly voice responded, directly behind him.
Quickly, Steve spun around, dropping his helmet as he raised his shield defensively. Behind him, stood and old man wearing a white dress shirt and black jacket. His hair and moustache were white and he was wearing sunglasses with the lenses shaded a dark brown color.
"Whoa, calm down there, sonny. I'm not going to hurt you." he said, holding his hands up to his chest.
The Cap. looked at the man for several moments before he finally spoke. "Who are you and where am I? And how to I get back to my team?"
The old man chuckled as he let his hands fall to his sides. "Look around you kid. You're defiantly not in Kansas anymore. You died."
Steve raised an eyebrow. "Dead? How can I be dead? I'm talking to you right now."
The man chuckled again and shook is head. "Think for a second, kid. One minute you're on a ship orbiting the Moon, fighting some aliens. And the next, you're standing here, talking to me. Speaking of which, do you know where you are?"
Steve paused before answering. "I believe I asked you that question."
"Fair enough." the man answered. "This here, is the Event Horizon. The place where everything began. As for who I am, I'm One-Above-All. Pleased to meet you Steve."
Steve lowered his arms as he listened to the old man talk. 'One-Above-All? Event Horizon? Just what's going on?' he thought.
"I thought I already told you that." One-Above-All said, snapping Steve out of his thoughts. "You died. That's what's going on."
Steve raised his arms again, holding his shield in front of him. "How did you know what I was thinking?" he demanded.
"I'm One-Above-All. I know everything." the old man smiled, showing off his perfectly white teeth. "But, you can just call me God if you want."
Steve's eyes widened as his jaw and arms fell. He closed and opened his mouth repeatedly, trying to say something but just couldn't think of anything. One-Above-All chuckled. "Now don't you be loosing your voice on me. There is something I want to talk to you about."
Steve quickly regained his composure, standing tall and ridged before the being. "Of course. What is it you want of me?"
"Don't you be getting all pious on me."
"Sorry."
One-Above-All smiled. "I like you kid. And I also think your life was cut a little short." He paused, gauging Steve's reaction. "So I've got an offer for you."
Steve cocked an eyebrow. "An offer?"
The being continued. "You're a man who believes in justice and protecting the weak. Admirable traits that I just don't see often enough these days. There is this place I know of that would just love to have a guy like you." Steve listened intently while One-Above-All continued. "So this is my offer. I'm willing to send you to this place. Start a new life. Protect it. This place hasn't seen any sort of war for a thousand years. Of course they get the occasional bad guy every now and then, but what place doesn't?"
Steve raised both his eyebrows. A world of peace? Such a place was unheard of. And it needed a guardian? To protect the weak and serve justice? Steve smiled. "Sounds like my kind of place."
One-Above-All grinned. "I was hoping you'd say that." The old man turned to his right. "FAUST! HE SAID YES!"
Right as he finished his sentence, their was a sudden white flash and a creature stepped next to the old man. Standing next to him was a pearl white unicorn with large white wings. It had a mane and tail of dark maroon and it's eyes were large and sky blue. On both of it's flanks was an image of an inkwell with a quill sticking out of it. It looked at him and smiled warmly. It then spoke in a motherly tone. "I'm glad you said yes. You're just the kind of person who would fit right into Equestria."
"Equestria?" the soldier asked.
"A country on a world that resides in my universe, much how America on Earth resides in One-Above-All's universe." Faust explained. Faust's horn glowed as she brought up several screens that showed images of several places. "These are all locations in Equestria."
Steven looked closely at the different images in front of him. He saw a tall crystal tower in the middle of a grassy field. Curiously, in a perfect circle around the field, the area was covered in snow and ice. In another image, he saw a castle built into the side of a mountain. In yet another, long lush fields of thick green grass that stretched for miles. Each of the images were filled with beauty, both natural and man-made.
Faust chuckled as she read his thoughts. "I'm afraid man-made isn't the correct phrase, Steve."
Steve turned his attention towards the winged unicorn. "What do you mean?"
"You'll see when you get there." One-Above-All chimed in.
Steve shrugged and looked back to the images. "This place certainly looks beautiful." Steve took several more moments looking to the images.
"Tell me." Steve said. One-Above-All and Faust gave him their undivided attention. "Before you brought me here, did you know that I was going to say yes?"
The two gods gave each other a knowing smile. "Perhaps." One-Above-All said.
"Perhaps not." Faust added. "We'd rather keep that as a secret between us."
Steve looked back to the images. "Will I be able to bring anything with me?"
"I will allow you to bring anything you wish with you, as long as you do not bring any weapons, or anything I would consider a weapon." Faust spoke. "But I will make an exception for your shield. I believe you may have come attached to it after so much time with it." she continued.
The Cap. smiled. "I'm glad you said that."
Faust returned his smile. "I thought you would. Now, just think of anything you need and it will appear next to you."
Steve closed his eyes and thought about all he would need. He knew he was going to travel, so he was going to pack light. He thought of his old leather jacket, a few changes of clothes, and a duffel bag to put it all in. He thought of several books he wanted to read but never got around to. He thought of several other small things before he thought about several personal items. Specifically, his locket with the picture of his old love interest, Peggy Carter.
He opened his eyes, and sure enough, sitting in front of him was his old army duffel bag. He looked down to himself and noticed he was no longer wearing his armor, rather a white shirt with his leather jacket, a pair of jeans and a pair of heavy boots. Looking through his bag, he noticed that his armor and a few extra things were in there. A few books he didn't recognize, as well as a small bag of gold coins.
"I took the liberty of adding a few extra things I thought you might need." Faust explained. Steve nodded in understanding.
Steve gave his belongings one last look before slinging the bag over his shoulder. "I'm ready."
Faust smiled. "Then lets not waste any time."
One-Above-All walked over to Steve, holding out his hand. "It was a pleasure knowing you kid, but this is where we say goodbye."
Steve stuck out his own hand and gave One-Above-All's had a firm shake. "Likewise." he said.
"I think we'd both appreciate it if you kept this whole meeting two gods thing to yourself." One-Above-All continued. "Don't want too many ponies thinking you're some kind of messiah or something."
"Yeah, that could really- Did you say ponies?"
"You'll see when you get there." he grinned.
"Come on, Steve. Lets get you to your new home." Faust interrupted.
Steve gave One-Above-All one last look before he approached Faust. The winged unicorn draped a wing over Steve's shoulder before her horn started to glow. "Alright. Equestria, here we come." Faust's horn glowed brighter and brighter until all Steve could see was white, even through his eyelids. Then he saw nothing.
>///<
In a rare moment for Rainbow Dash, she was flying low and slow, just above the tree line of White Tail Woods. At the moment, she was going through new stunts in her head that she saw at the latest Wonderbolts show. Particularly one she saw Spitfire, Fleetfoot and Wave Chill perform. It started out with Wave Chill and Fleetfoot circling each other in a tight rolling scissors technique, coming just inches from each other at their tightest. Spitfire would then fly between the two. The three fliers would then break formation with Spitfire flying straight up and Wave Chill and Fleetfoot flying at eight o'clock and four o'clock. The three would then reverse course and meet at the center again, simultaneously breaking the sound barrier.
Rainbow was thinking of a way to best that.
Before Rainbow could think of an awesome trick that would inevitably surpass the awesomeness of even the Wonderbolts, a pony leaning up against a tree came across her vision. Normally, she wouldn't pay a anypony she saw during her brainstorming sessions any attention, but she didn't recognize this pony. "Huh. Wonder if Pinkie already found him."
Slowly, she glided down to the resting stallion. Right away, she was taken aback by his size. Now, as far as ponies go, Big Macintosh is about as big as you get. The thing was, this stallion was just as big as Macintosh. Maybe even bigger. "Nuh-uh. No way he's bigger than Big Mac. That's just crazy."
The cyan mare landed a few feet in front of the resting stallion. He was an earth pony. His coat was a dark cream color and his mane and tail were a dark brown. He was wearing a light brown leather jacket and white shirt along with some jeans. To Rainbow Dash, it looked like he also had a trashcan lid on his back. Resting beside him was a dark green duffel bag. "Don't see a lot of ponies outside of Canterlot or Manehatten. Wonder what he's doing all the way out here?"
Rainbow trotted up to the stallions sleeping frame and prodded him with her hoof. "Hey. Hey buddy. Wake up." The stallion shifted and gently furrowed his brows, but remained asleep. "HEY! Don't ignore me!" She reared onto her hind legs and started pushing him with both her hooves. The stallion mumbled something and turned away from her. "Alright. That does it." Rainbow zipped around over in front of him and took in a large breath of air.
"WAKE UUUUUUUUUUUPPP!" she shouted, her voice echoing throughout the forest.
The stallion snorted as he jerked his head back and opened his eyes. Rainbow grinned in triumph. "Heh. You can't just sleep when Rainbow Dash has got a question for ya. Aap. Please hold your praise until after I've had my questions answered. Then I might give you an autograph."
The stallion stretched and looked around at his surroundings. He lingered his vision on Rainbow, much to her enjoyment, before quickly looking himself over. 'This must be what One-Above-All meant by "You'll see"' he thought.
"Ahem. Anyway, Names Rainbow Dash, buuuuuut you probably already knew that. I am the greatest flyer in all of Equestria after all." She boasted, rubbing a hoof against her chest. "So what's your name?"
Steve looked at the pegasus in front of him for a moment before answering. "My names Steven Grant Rogers, but you can just call me Steve." he said, standing up and cracking his neck. "Can't say I've ever heard of you before."
Rainbow stumbled and sputtered. "Wh-wha?! How-but-WHAT!?! YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF ME?! HOW COULD YOU HAVE NEVER HEARD OF ME! I'M RAINBOW DASH! Winner of the Best Young Flyer's competition, member of the Wonderbolt reserves, ELEMENT OF LOYALTY?! Helooooo have you been living under a rock for the past few years?!" she shrieked, her voice cracking several times.
Steve looked at her again before turning around to pick up his bag. "Lets just say that I'm not from around here." He stopped in front of the bag and looked at it. 'Lets see, I don't have hands anymore, so I probably just need to slip the strap over my neck.' he thought.
"Not from around here? Where are you from? Also, you've gotta weird name. No offense." she said, trotting up next to him.
"None taken." he replied, slipping the bag onto his side. "As for where I'm from..." he thought for a moment. 'Should I tell her the truth? Probably won't believe me even if I did. Guess I'll just tell a half-truth.' "...a far away place. You've probably never heard of it. Their aren't a lot of others like me where I'm from." While he didn't lie about their being no others like him, their were a lot of others that weren't like any others.
"Some far away land, eh? Alright. So, you a traveler or something? I've never seen clothes like that before. Also, I believe ya when you say their aren't a lot of others like you. You're like the biggest stallion I've ever seen"
He looked down at her. She was quite a bit smaller than he was. She only came up to the middle of his chest. He also noticed that she was naked. Would she be considered naked? He'd have to read the books Faust gave him. "I guess you could say I'm a traveler. As for the clothes, I guess it's a fashion statement here. Never gave it much thought. Where I'm from, everyone wears clothes."
Rainbow tilted her head in confusion. "Every...one? Not everypony? Are there a bunch of different races where you're from?"
"Yeah, I guess so. Hey, since you're here, do you think you could point me in the direction of the nearest town?"
Rainbow's ears perked at that. "Yeah. The nearest town's Ponyville." she explained, pointing her hoof east. "It's just a couple miles that way. Do you want some company? I wasn't doing anything really important when I saw you." Rainbow paused. "Saaaayyy, why were you sleeping against that tree anyway?"
Steve didn't say anything for a moment. "You ask a lot of questions. Haven't you ever decided to take a nap when you're tired?"
Rainbow grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of her head with a hoof. "I guess you've got me there. Sorry 'bout all the questions. We don't really get all that many visitors that often who don't try to cheat us or take over the town." Rainbow eyed him suspiciously. "You're not going to cause trouble are you?"
"I wasn't planning on it." he answered.
Rainbow scrutinized him for several moments before she was distracted by the shield on his back. "That's cool. Hey, what's with the shield?" Flapping her wings, she hovered over Steve, getting a good look at the shield. It was big enough to be able to completely cover Rainbow or just about any other mare in Ponyville. The shield almost looked like a target, with an outer ring of red, followed by a center ring of white, then a final ring of red again. The center of the shield was a blue circle with a large white star in the middle. "I've never seen a shield like this before. Where'd you get it?"
Steve began walking forward. "We'll walk and talk. I'll answer a few questions, and you can tell me a bit about yourself. Sound good?"
Rainbow grinned. "Any time we're talking about me is time well spent." she said, landing next to him and slowly trotting to keep up. "So what about the shield?"
Steve glanced back at the shield before starting. "The shield was a gift from a friend a long time ago. Where I'm from, the colors and design of the shield have an important meaning." he was about to continue before the mare raised a hoof to stop him.
"Might as well just save the explanation for when we get to Ponyville. I've got a friend who's a real egghead and will probably want to write down everything you say. No use in explaining it more than once."
The stallion looked down to her and cracked a smile. "I bet you'd much rather talk about yourself instead." Knowing Tony Stark for so long, he had a feeling she would much rather talk about herself than hear about him more than once. His walking partner grinned at that.
"I was hoping you would say that. Hold onto your horseshoes buddy, your gonna be in for the best story you've ever heard or had the good fortune of experiencing from a first-hoof witness."
Steve grinned. 'We'll see about that.'