//------------------------------// // Subtraction // Story: My Little Academia: Friendship is Heroic! // by Fullmetal Pony //------------------------------// A claw burst through the cave’s wall. A few more well-placed strikes and Spike tore his way through the stone. He shut his eyes and breathed in the air, glad to have more of it to breathe, but it quickly escaped him when he opened his eyes and was once more greeted with relative darkness. After the time he had spent plowing through the rock, his eyes had adjusted to lack of light, but that only allowed him to see that he was still in the cave, albeit in a bigger cavern now. “Crud!” he cursed. As if responding to his voice, the ceiling above him rumbled, loosening some dust and a few bits of rock. Spike raised his arms to shield his head. His eyes then widened and he scanned around the cavern until his spotted a narrow pillar. He raced over, sank his claws into it, and began to climb. ~~~ Applejack found herself surrounded by boulders the size of her head encased in a sickly green glow. Flim smirked and the boulders careened toward Applejack. She leapt just before they smashed together, but the same aura that had surrounded the boulders now took hold of her. She rocketed towards Flim, still wearing a smirk on his face. He kept it even when Applejack reared back a hindleg and angled herself to strike at Flim’s head. Just before she came into striking range, Flim arced her over himself and then struck her with a buck straight in the gut. The blow sent her flying. The changelings that circled around Flim, Flam, and the students hissed, caught Applejack and flung her back into the melee. Flim Talent- Demand: He has superb mastery over telekinetic spells. It allows him to manipulate multiple inanimate objects at a whim, which is quite handy for sleight-of-hoof tricks. Living targets are a bit harder to manipulate, but he can still spin you six ways from Sunday. “Well, you’re a little easier to handle than your brother at least,” Flim snickered. Applejack responded with a snort and rushed him. Flim did not even crouch. He just lit up his horn and chucked Applejack into the changelings again. When they caught her this time, a few opened their mouths and brought their fangs down on Applejack. A flurry of hooves batted the majority of them away, but two managed to chomp down on Applejack’s right shoulder and the left side of her barrel. She crunched her teeth together to prevent a holler from escaping her lips. Her eyes closed for a brief second and then blared open again with her focus concentrated on Flim. She forced the holler back down her throat—she was not going to allow Flim’s slimy grin to broaden any further. A hum rose off of her and her entire body turned into a stationary blur. One changeling reared back with his fangs rattling, but the other remained latched onto Applejack for a second longer. The vibrations spread from his muzzle to his hole-filled hooves. A series of cracks split the air and then the changeling dropped off Applejack, its carapace resembling shattered glass and its fangs chipped and broken. The other changelings hissed, but inched back. “Now that was something your brother never had the wits or skill to try,” said Flim. “He didn’t need to get fancy to deal with the likes of you!” Applejack shouted back and charged once more.    Nearby, Derpy rolled across the field with a hoof mark indented into her side. Flam gave his mustache a twirl while he looked over Derpy attempting to get up. She was able to raise her right legs with ease, but her left legs struggled to heft up the rest of her body. “So much for being light as a feather,” Flam snickered. Flam Talent- Supply: Anything Flam strikes doubles in weight. Its range is limited though, so only small to medium sized objects fully double in weight. He can only affect parts of livings things as well. Another great talent for sleight-of-hoof. Derpy managed to get up and spread her wings. The air around her coalesced into bubbles and, with a snort, she sent them flying at Flam. “You need a bit more pizzazz, dear,” Flam yawned. He cast a spell, lifting up some pebbles. With a wave of his leg, he brushed his hoof over them and the glow around the pebbles intensified. They went flying like scattershot, bursting Derpy’s bubbles before they even came close to Flam. Some of the pebbles zoomed forward and struck Derpy in the legs and the chest, leaving gashes and deep welts, but she managed to stay on her hooves. “Well, you certainly are a sturdy one.” Flam crouched down. “Let’s see how much weight it takes to break the pony’s back!” “Derpy!” Pinkie cried out from nearby. She swung a large cartoonish harmer to clear away the changelings surrounding her, but their ranks were too thick. She could only watch as Flam rushed Derpy and the two traded blows with Derpy forced to dodge while Flam pushed her closer and closer towards the wall of changelings. With her eyes on Derpy, Pinkie did not have time to react when a changeling lunged at her from behind and sank its fangs into her. She cried out and whipped her hammer around, but the changeling held firm. A chill spread out from where it bit into her. She flung her hammer aside, reached into her mane and pulled out a round device. She shoved into the changeling’s face and shut her eyes. The blast of light and confetti forced the changeling off of her and it staggered back. While it and the other changelings around her struggled to get their eyesight back, Pinkie picked up her hammer again and smashed it into the changeling, sending it flying. Choking down some air, she reached into her vest and wolfed down a cinnamon roll. The sweet pastry restored some warmth to her, but she had no time to relish in the moment as more changelings came rushing at her. Hefting her hammer back, she rose up onto her hind legs, reached into her mane and flung more confetti flash bangs at the changelings. This time though, they did not stop, their compound eyes were now silver and shimmering. Pinkie jumped skyward and threw more balls at the pursuing changelings. These ones exploded in a spray of what looked like silly string, but once it made contact with a changeling, it clung to their wings and chitin and sent a few spiraling back to the ground. Numbers prevailed and more changelings buzzed up at Pinkie, mouths gaping open and fangs catching the nearing flashes of lightning. Pinkie swung her hammer and threw more and more surprise balls at the changelings, but they kept coming and she was falling back down, where the rest of the changelings awaited her. Pinkie was sweating and huffing now. She reached into her vest, but her hooves only touched fabric. Her muscles tensed and she shoved her hooves in and out of her pockets, but none yielded any food. “No, no, no!” Pinkie spun in midair and reached into her mane to pull out something else, but changelings below pounced on her, while the ones above struck at her back. The two swarms converged into one around Pinkie and swallowed her up. “Pinkie!” Applejack and Derpy screamed. Before Applejack and Derpy could rush to Pinkie’s aid, Flim lifted Applejack off her hooves in her moment of distraction and clobbered her in the face. Flam took similar advantage of Derpy and sucker punched her twice in the gut. The wind was flung out of her lungs and she tumbled away. Only Applejack remained standing, but her vision swam and the ground roiled underneath her. Derpy tried to get up, but her own weight pinned her to the ground. Flim and Flam advanced on Applejack. “What shall we do, brother of mine?” asked Flim. “A black eye for you and a black eye for me to start,” Flam answered. “Ah, my head still aches just thinking about how her brother walloped us.” Applejack’s eyes darted back and forth between the brothers. Flim summoned up an array of rocks while Flam rolled his right foreleg’s shoulder. “Then I think we’ll go rib-by-rib down her side,” said Flim. Flam kept a slick smile but his eyes bored holes into Applejack. “Your brother made breathing quite difficult those first few months in the slammer.” “And finally, I think I’ll twist her right hind leg around until it stops cracking,” Flim said with a chilling gleam in his eyes. “While I crush the left until the ground craters beneath it!” Flam cackled. “What a wonderful idea!” they said in unison. “One problem,” Applejack grunted. “I’m gonna kick your flanks so hard you’ll wish my brother was here!” “Oh, Applejack, you silly little filly,” said Flam. “Your brother may have been the one to ultimately beat us down, but it took him and a whole bunch of other heroes just to get to us.” “Look around you,” Flim chimed in. “Even if you could beat us, there’s a swarm of changelings just waiting to gobble you up. Even if you were as strong as your brother, yo—” A howl of pain cut Flim off. Flam had crumpled to the ground, clutching his head. Acrid smoke boiled off the right side of his face. Whatever had struck him had already consumed half his mustache and was continuing to sizzle his skin. “Brother!” Flim cried. He raced over to Flam, but something sliced through the air to his side. His horn lit up and his magic caught a knife, its tip hovering beside his neck. Flim turned his head in the direction the knife had come from. His blood ran as cold as the rain that pelted down from the sky. Changelings lay strewn across the field. Ichor dripped from precise slices to their necks and stabs through their chest and mixed with the rain. The remaining swarm had collectively inched back. A few of them shuddered. Pinkie stood atop on changeling with a knife still buried in its side. She was covered in puncture wounds from changeling bites, but she stood firmly in place. In the rain, her mane had fallen flat and obscured one of her eyes. The other one displayed an icy blue pupil that chilled Applejack and Derpy as much as it froze Flim's blood. “Get away from them,” Pinkie muttered. Before Flim could respond, Pinkie burst off the changeling and was upon Flim in an instant. His horn flared up and a shield parried a blow from Pinkie’s knife, but blades came at him from the side, forcing him to jump back. “You!” Flim yelled. “The bugs should have sucked you dry!” “Pies do not go down easy.” Pinkie leveled her knife at Flim, but glanced at Applejack. Seeing Pinkie’s icy eyes, Applejack seized up on instinct. A look of hurt registered on Pinkie’s face for a second, before she turned away from Applejack, but her next words were still directed at her. They were like a whisper. “Applejack… I’m sorry. I need you to run.” “Pinkie, what are you talking about?” Applejack replied.  “I don’t know what’s got into you bu—” “I don’t… I can’t fight like this for long,” Pinkie said in a stern tone. “We need pros here and you’re the only one that can reach them. I know you can make it back to school, you’ve run further in worse circumstances.” “She’s right,” Derpy coughed. She was back on her hooves, her body no longer weighed down, but still aching from the attacks. “You get going, Applejack. We’ll hold them off.” “But…” Applejack protested. “Go!” Pinkie ordered and then chucked something into the swarm of changelings. It was like her earlier surprise balls, only this one was green and covered in rigid squares. The changelings transformed their eyes to shield them from the flash, but fire and pressure exploded out of the ball instead, shattering chitin, sending changelings flying, and leaving trails of ichor in their wake. The explosion tore a hole in their ranks. The world slowed around Applejack for a brief moment, but one look from Pinkie got her legs moving. Pinkie’s eyes were still icy, but deep in them was a look of desperation. Applejack acceded to her and sped off. “Dammit!” Flim cursed. “You’ll pay for that!” “Not before I’ve gotten my hooves on her!” Flam rasped. Half his face was now black and smoking with one eye forced shut, but his other blazed with anger. “You’re dead!” “Okay then.” Pinkie inhaled deeply, but in a slow manner. Rearing up onto her hind legs, she clutched her knife in her left foreleg and reached back with her right foreleg. From behind her back, she slid out a cleaver half the length of her body. “Playtime is over.” ~~~ Lyra threw her fist at a pudgy dragon and slammed into his gut. His stomach quivered, but he did not budge from his spot. Nearby, Bon Bon grappled with a smaller dragon and chucked it over her shoulder, where it crashed into a pile of dragons and changelings that were pulling against each other, but could not untangle themselves. Yet, in the fog, there were hisses and tails whipping through the air. The dragon looming over Lyra displayed his fangs. “That all you got, small-fry?” Lyra’s arm transformed back into a leg and her hind legs shifted in a split second. At the same time, the dragon swiped at her, but she sprung back at the last moment. Lyra and Bon Bon met back to back. Around them, more dragons and changelings appeared out of the fog, taking the place of their fallen cohorts. “Guh, they just keep coming.” Lyra gave her left foreleg a shake. It stung from impacting the dragon. “Well, I wanted to save this, but…” Bon Bon turned to Lyra. “Here goes!” “Heh.” Garble bared his fangs at Rarity. “Wonder how long your friends can keep this up.” He then flared his wings and dove at Rarity. She yelped and sidestepped, but Garble slashed at her from the side, forcing to raise up her legs. Sparks flew where claw met crystal, but even though Garble’s claw could not break through Rarity’s defense, his power was enough to throw her off her hooves and sent her tumbling. “Sheesh, this is boring,” Garble teased. “At least the other two know how to put up a fight, but those gems of yours look pretty tasty. And Pa never said to play with your food, heh.” Rarity shuddered and her hooves flew out. She tried to stumble away, but Garble advanced on her. He was just about to overtake her when a blast of pink aura shot up from where Bon Bon and Lyra were. “What the heck?” he shouted. In the midst of battle, Bon Bon had pulled Lyra close and locked her into a deep kiss. Pink aura flared off the two of them. A second later, they separated and burst off in opposite directions. Lyra raced at the imposing dragon from before. He bellowed and slapped his stomach with his claws. “Wanna go again? Bring i—” Lyra buried her hoof in his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Her eyes glistened with pink aura, which also swirled around her body. The same aura flared even brighter around Bon Bon. She pulled back her right foreleg and slammed into a changeling. The blow knocked it off its hooves and barreling into the rest of the swarm. The one directly hit and those closest to it let out a piercing screech as smoke rose off their bodies and their carapaces squealed and cracked. Bon Bon Talent- Bon-Bond: She can bond to anything she wants. She can also make other things sticky as well, but only for a limited time. If she shares a close relationship with somepony she can form a special bond with her and give her special somepony and herself a huge temporary power boost. Lyra grinned, having felled the large dragon. Yet, there were still more dragons and changelings in the fog. She kept up her grin. “Bring it.”