From The Gates

by Dirty Bit

Chapter 30

The innocent bystanders around the unfolding scene screamed at the appearance of the changelings and moreso at Greed's transformation. They quickly took refuge inside of their homes and bolted themselves away from the battle.

Greed managed an invisible smirk through his skeletal face "Good! Now we won't have to worry about harming any innocents! This is gonna be easy!"

Lust smiled and spoke in her nonchalant tone "Indeed...Let's make this quick. I have a dress to pick up after this." The element bearers and former homunculi then began their onslaught.

Applejack had an easy time bucking away several of the changelings, but then noticed that many more began piling up on her "Ah, consarn it! Not again!!" She struggled under the piling mass of changelings until a massive wave knocked away the pile on top of Applejack in one fell swoop "What in tarnation!?" She looked around and noticed Sloth swinging at changelings left and right with his chains, knocking them away in droves. The cowpony could not help but smile "Looks like Ah was wrong about ya being completely lazy, Sloth!" She looked behind herself and snapped back into focus as she bucked away the changeling that attempted to ambush her.

Lust and Rarity were back to back when they were surrounded by changelings. Lust smirked as she shifted her gaze towards the fashionista "Rarity, I believe it's time I show you a faithful trick of mine...If you would be so kind as to duck."

Rarity looked back "A faithful trick, you say? Well, I hope it works..." She ducked down as required, and Lust activated her horn to extend into her 'Ultimate Spear'. She then spun herself around as the long horn was guided around a small radius and slashed at the many changelings that surrounded her and Rarity and sent them reeling back as they reverted to their regular form. When she stopped, Rarity looked around with widened eyes "How-...How did you-"

Lust chuckled "A talent of mine." She looked around 'I'm glad that Twilight Sparkle was not able to see it...' The lascivious mare shuddered at the thought of Twilight smothering her with amazement and curiousity over her skill.

Pinkie rode around on the top of her party cannon while Gluttony tried catching up. She turned to Gluttony and called out "Okay, Gluttony! Sniff 'em out!"

Gluttony sniffed at the air, and then pointed to an approaching pony "There!"

Pinkie then aimed and fired her cannon with a wide grin. The changeling then went flying while draped in confetti "Good job! Keep it up!"

Gluttony nodded and sniffed at the air again, then pointed to another approaching pony "Over there!" Once again, Pinkie grinned as she aimed and fired at the perpetrator. The hyperactive duo repeated the process with succession in each of their findings until Gluttony sniffed again. He noticed what appeared to be Fluttershy about to get hurt by clones of Rarity. The voracious pony grunted before he galloped over and rammed at the Rarity clones, bowling them over easily.

Pinkie held up a hoof and called out "Steeeeee-rike!!"

Gluttony then trotted over and sniffed at Fluttershy before he reared onto his hindlegs with his forelegs in the air. The timid mare squeaked and clenched her eyes shut before she was able to notice Gluttony come down not to hurt her, but to hug her "Your mane always smells nice!"

Fluttershy was happy to know that Gluttony's nose was more than trustworthy as she reluctantly returned the embrace while the battle continued "Th-Thank you for helping me out, Gluttony..." She smiled over at Pinkie with her party cannon "And you, too, Pinkie." Pinkie hopped off of her party cannon and joined the others in a group hug.

Gluttony broke the embrace as he smiled at Fluttershy "We're gonna find Lust! I want to know if I can eat the changelings once this is over!"

Fluttershy shook warily at Gluttony "Um...I dont think you can e-eat a changeling, Gluttony!"

Pinkie giggled "Yeah! And besides, we gotta beat their flanks first! Let's move, everypony!!" The trio then moved through the large skirmish.

Greed galloped through the crowd of changelings and stabbed his sharp horn at each one that chose to confront him "Yes! I got this!" He continued until he noticed a standing Twilight who cringed at Greed's pace. The avaricious pony noticed and skidded to a halt "You okay, Twi? Are you getting tired?"

Twilight looked up at Greed with concerned eyes before they turned evil. She punched at Greed's chest, but she then brought it back and yelped in pain.

Greed deadpanned "I don't know what's worse...the fact that I thought you were Twilight or that you thought you could harm me in this form..." He then stabbed at the imposter's chest to reveal another changeling corpse. Greed then jerked his head away to toss the corpse and looked around at the battle 'It is a thought, though...Where is Twilight?? She could be in danger...' He stopped his thought before he looked incredulous 'Why am I thinking like that!? She can handle herself in a fight!' He then looked around once more 'But I better make sure she's okay...Wouldn't help knowing that Celestia's student could possibly die...' The avaricious pony then galloped and fought through more of the battle.

Twilight blasted at another changeling that leaped at her "This is my brother's wedding all over again!" She said to herself as she blasted at another. She then noticed what appeared Greed approach her after shoving past another changeling and stop in front of her with a smile. Twilight smiled back "You holding up well, Greed? I still haven't managed to test your form's durabili-Agh!!" She was then tackled by who she thought was Greed, but was actually another changeling. It went to strike with a hoof as Twilight shut her eyes and awaited the blow.

Before the changeling could strike, it was tackled by the real Greed before it would notice. He then struck the changeling down with his own hoof before he gave it a mighty buck into a Pinkie clone. The avaricious pony looked over at Twilight "I thought you had experience with these pissants before! Good to know you're safe!" He managed another invisible smirk through his sharp teeth while he held out a hoof for Twilight.

Twilight took the hoof and got up and scoffed at Greed before she gave him a grateful smile "Thanks for the help! I could use it with all of these changelings around us." The two stared at each other for a moment before Twilight gasped and looked around "We have to find Spike! He could get hurt!!"

Greed nodded "Got it! Let's move!" The two unicorns then galloped deeper into the skirmish in search of the purple dragon. They noticed him being jumped on clones of himself and Greed shook his head in pity "That's low..." He then galloped over and went to knock them all off, but they were all wrapped in a magical aura and tossed away.

Twilight galloped over and comforted Spike with concerned eyes "Spike!? Spike, are you okay!?"

Spike groaned for a moment before he shook his head rapidly. He then smiled up at Twilight "I'm okay! I already told you I have thick scales, so I didn't feel all of that! Hehe-ow..." He rubbed his temple with a pained expression.

Greed chuckled "Aren't you the little fighter? What say you put that fire of yours to use?"

Twilight glared at Greed "We're not doing that, Greed! We need to keep Spike safe while we fight off the changelings!!" She looked around at the approaching changelings and groaned in complaint "We'll take turns on watching Spike while we take them on!"

Greed scoffed "The hell with that! You keep him safe, Twi!" He trotted a few steps forward as he glared at his enemies with his piercing eyes "These bastards are mine..."

Twilight looked at Greed "But what if you grow weaker? This could be too much for you, Greed!"

Greed looked back "I already told you that I'm born for this kind of thing! This is nothing! I have to keep you and the others safe, since you technically belong to me!" He then galloped forward as he impaled the next changeling "I'm a homunculus!!! I'm strong enough to handle this!" He took on the rest of his opponents without another word, leaving Twilight and Spike to watch in awe. Twilight kept her glance on Greed while he fought and could not help but smile warmly at his gesture of protection despite him sounding foalish.

Rainbow Dash was handling the airborne changelings, then yelped when she noticed one of Sloth's chains swing across the air and whack the changelings out of the sky. She dodged and glared down at the indolent pony "Watch it, Sloth! We're fighting, too!" She yelped again as she dodged another chain with which Sloth was swinging about aimlessly at the opponents around him. She groaned and decided to cope with it, knowing that he was making good progress, but then looked around in the air "Wait a minute...Where's Envy!? I don't see that pony anywhere!"

While the ponies fought their battle, Envy snuck through the crowd by changing into the other ponies when the moment called for it. The jealous pony managed to get a good few swings into the other changelings while they were caught unawares, and led them to believe one of their own was betraying them 'This should stop this problem once and for all...' It continued to jab at certain groups of changelings and caused them to go into a small state of disarray that slowly grew to scale. One of the changelings noticed and snarled before it snuck out of battle and flew off before anypony else noticed.

When the changelings were bothered enough by Envy's shady tactics, they grew agitated at each other and began fighting amongst themselves rather than the genuine articles. Rainbow Dash noticed the airborne enemies go down and join the strange mob and watched the fighting from above in confusion "Hey! I'm up here!" The cyan pegasus tried to distinguish Envy in the crowd while watching the battle 'Where is Envy!?'

Applejack and Sloth stopped what they were doing when they noticed the changelings around them deciding to attack one another fiercely "What in the name of all that is apple is goin' on with these critters??"

Sloth groaned "So I didn't have to fight at all...What a pain..." He then sat on his haunches and observed the changeling's struggle lazily.

Gluttony, Pinkie, and Fluttershy looked around in confusion at the sudden shift of battle. Pinkie spoke up "Hey! We're over here! Stop ignoring us, you meanies!!"

Fluttershy was more confused than she was scared "Why are they fighting each other instead of us?? Aren't they supposed to be working together??"

Gluttony looked around "Are we supposed to do the same to ourselves as well?" He then jabbed at himself once before he stopped and whimpered "I don't like it..."

Lust and Rarity looked around in their own confusion, but then Lust smiled to herself when she realized the cause of the sudden change 'Smart move, Envy...Let us hope they haven't discovered you yet...'

Greed fought off another changeling easily, but then noticed that they began to fight amongst themselves "What the-!? What are those idiots doing now!?"

Twilight watched "They're fighting themselves for some reason! But for what exactly??"

Spike watched as well "Whatever it is, at least they're saving us the effort of fighting! This could be over quicker than we thought"

Envy was able to go back into its original form without nopony else noticing and grinned at its handiwork "Piece of cake! Now we just gotta wait for the best moment to strike..." It then stumbled with lack of energy 'Dammit! No! Come on...'

Rainbow Dash was finally able to notice Envy looking tired and swooped down at its side "There you are! Are these guys giving you THAT much trouble or something?"

Envy managed a small glare at Rainbow Dash "You wish! I just need to find some..." It looked up at Rainbow Dash with slow realization "...energy..." The jealous pony was now torn with the thought of earning Rainbow Dash's love in order to keep itself on its toes 'This isn't fair...I don't even like her! But...she did understand me...N-NO! There's gotta be somepony else-DAMMIT! I'm talking like THEM now!!' Envy grunted and looked down "Look, I don't know what caused those changelings to fight, but we should take advantage of it! Tell the others to wrap things up so we can get a move on!"

Rainbow Dash saluted "Got it! But you gotta come, too! I'll carry you!" She then wrapped her forelegs along Envy's and lifted the jealous pony off of its feet and into the air.

Envy grunted at being carried by Rainbow Dash and weakly struggled out of its grip "You don't have to help me, you know..."

Rainbow Dash glared down at Envy "What part of 'I'm the Element of Loyalty' didn't you get back there!? I'm not leaving you behind! Not now! Not ever!" She continued her flight over the feuding changelings.

Envy stared up at Rainbow Dash in utter silence at her words 'I-...she-...' It then looked down at the feuding changelings below 'I'm one of them, and yet...' It then shifted its glance back up at Rainbow Dash 'She treats me way differently despite what we've been through...' The jealous pony pondered on itself and the cyan pegasus carrying it.

Rainbow Dash reached Applejack and Sloth and swooped down to them "Hey, AJ! Sloth!" She gently set Envy down before she trotted up to the two earth ponies "You seeing this? Suddenly, the changelings have a bone to pick with each other instead of us!"

Applejack looked at it "Ah see it, but Ah jus don't believe it! We'll jus' hafta take advantage of it, though!"

Rainbow Dash smirked "Way ahead of ya!" She looked up at Sloth "C'mon, big guy! You're needed! Get those chains moving so you can sweep this place clean!"

Sloth slowly rose onto his hindlegs as he groaned "What a pain..." He then swung his right foreleg and swept across the large group of changelings in front of them, sweeping them off to the side and knocking them out after they exerted enough energy on themselves. He then took a step forward and swung his left foreleg at the next group and knocked them off to the side as well.

Rainbow Dash watched in awe "Man, Sloth's a natural at this! He'll have those creeps taken care of in no time at all!"

Applejack smiled up at Sloth "Ah'll say!" She looked ahead and winced "Hope he don't hit Twi an' th' others, though..." Rainbow Dash and Applejack followed Sloth as he plowed through the changelings. The cyan pegasus took off in the air so it could scout out the others.

Envy caught its breath before it followed after the rest 'This sucks...' It then caught a glance of Rainbow Dash flying in the air and groaned 'So badly...'