//------------------------------// // The Battle of Cloudsdale Part 1 // Story: The Abundance // by defender2222 //------------------------------// "Demons run when a good man goes to war. Night will fall and drown the sun, when a good man goes to war. Friendship dies and true love lies, night will fall and the dark will rise... when a good man goes to war. Demon's run but count the cost: the battle is won but the child is lost." -River Song, 'A Good Man Goes to War' "R-Rainbow Dash?" Scootaloo whispered, staring at her mentor, half expecting her to turn into cloud fluff and float away. The cyan alicorn was much smaller than Scootaloo remembered, standing roughly a few inches taller than the former filly. The grandur she had projected since her ascension was not there too… she was powerful, yes, but the aura that had always been about her, encouraging others to listen to her words and follow her into battle was long gone. And yet she wasn’t empty… far from it. There was something strange about her... a flicker in her eye that had not been there before. The orange pegasus was struck all at once by the sheer rightness and wrongness of the figure before her; all at once Rainbow Dash was perfection and perversion of the ideal form. "Hiya squirt," Rainbow said with a grin. The way she said it warmed Scootaloo’s heart and for a moment the mare believed that they were back in Ponyville and all that had happened was a mere dream. Then her armor clanked and Scootaloo was back in reality. Rainbow Dash looked over at the guards, who seemed utterly confused by this turn of events, and shook her head in utter mirth. "Geez, you guys are tense... why don't you scowl at me and paw at the clouds, maybe then you'll relax." "Dash, not helping," Twilight hissed, glancing at the heavily armored guards as they began to do exactly that. "Twilight Sparkle," Loyalty snapped, reminding them all that he was still standing there. He glared daggers at the alicorn that he currently saw as the cause of all his misfortunes. "The traitor." "That's right," Twilight said firmly, taking a step forward. Loyalty mimicked her actions, not about to stand down in the face of the alicorn of the stars. "I betrayed you... I betrayed your sick values... I betrayed your twisted goals... I betrayed this mockery you call 'harmony'. I betrayed it all and I would again... so go ahead and call me a traitor because I happily accept the title! And more than that… this traitor is going to kick... your... flank." Loyalty laughed. It was a biting, insulting sound that instantly had Rainbow Dash bucking to give the golden alicorn a sound thrashing. "You think you stand a chance? Against me?” Loyalty nearly doubled over with laughter. “Let us ignore the fact that I am an abstract and you are nothing more than a pathetic pony pretending to be something divine… I have an entire army at my disposal! The might of Cloudsdale will crush you like the bug you are!" "What army?" Rainbow Dash asked snidely. "I only see the rebellion and MY squad... and they follow me, not you." The guards blinked, suddenly realizing that their queen WAS standing before them and this this strange alicorn had threatened her. They turned their anger towards Loyalty, but the golden abstract showed no signs of concern. "Don’t be so quick to call them yours,” Loyalty stated before sending out golden threads at every pegasus he could find. Each fell to their knees, screaming as energy danced along the wires and fried their brains. Twilight and Rainbow focused on cutting down the threads that were headed towards the few pegasus that stood on their side, fighting against the slippery strings. Loyalty merely laughed as he ensnared more and more pegasi, trembling in almost orgasmic joy as he did so. “Ok, this is creeping me out!” Rainbow said as she sent out a quick cutting spell Twilight had taught her, just managing to stop a group of thread that had tried to wrap her up. "R-Rainbow..." Scootaloo panted before letting out an ear-piercing scream. "Squirt!" Rainbow cried out, rushing to get to her number one fan. Rainbow gathered the orange pegasus in her forelegs and turned murderous eyes towards Loyalty. "What did you do to her, you sick bastard?" "I have shown her the error of her ways," Loyalty said simply, his body lowering back down to the ground as the strings he had sent out faded. Before Rainbow could question him on his actions Scootaloo's eyes snapped open, revealing that all the color had faded, leaving them pure gold. "Scootaloo... you serve only me. You are mine… I am your god… your savior… your everything. My will is yours and you will do as I command." The abstract gave Dash and Twilight and sad smile. "It is your own fault it came to this, Rainbow Dash… I had such high hopes for her.” He casually waved a wing at the two of them. “Scootaloo… kill them all." Rainbow letting out a gagging whimper as Scootaloo began to throttle her, strangling the cyan alicorn with all her strength. Twilight used her magic to blast away the guard that was coming at her, only to look up and see that more pegasi were flying in to join the battle. She couldn't focus on the other members of her team and hoped that they would be able to manage without her aid... though, as more pegasi landed, such hopes were dashed. These were not just soldiers but citizens of Cloudsdale, young and old, who now found themselves ensnared by the deranged abstract known as Loyalty. "Did you really think you could win?" the golden alicorn asked smugly, watching Twilight and Rainbow struggle to fight off their attackers. "I control all of Cloudsdale... I am Loyalty and all rush to my aid when I give the call! What hope did you two have, trying to face me on your own? Would it not be better to give in, to accept me as your master? I am an abstract… I am an element of harmony… it is my duty to lead and your duty to follow." "Who... who said..." Rainbow, much to her shame, smashed Scootaloo in the face. "Who said... we were alone?" Loyalty turned, eyes widening as a mighty roar echoed throughout Cloudsdale. The issuer of this bellow was soon revealed: Spike, now 20 feet in length and resembling one of the mighty winged mountain dragons, was smashing his way through the ranks of Loyalty's brainwashed army. Spitfire zipped beside him, using her skill to pick off any stragglers as they rushed past. Spike let out another roar as he zeroed in on best friend and began to fly towards her. “Twilight to Spike…” the lavender alicorn said, her horn glowing as she used her magic to send a message to her #1 Assistant, “give’em hell.” The dragon roared and dipped down, leaving Twilight to her own devices while he focused on Loyalty’s reinforcements. Smoke billowed out of his mouth as he reached out a claw and destroyed a skyscraper, using to bits of cloudy fluff to obscure Sptifire’s actions, allowing her to have the chance to show everypony just WHY she was the leader of the Wonderbolts. She dipped and weaved about, bucking clouds and faces in equal messure. "This changes nothing!" Loyalty screamed, though the quiver in his voice spoke to the fact that he wasn't as confident as he wanted them to believe. "I will take the dragon for my own and I will use him to destroy you." "You will try," Twilight said, breaking free of her attackers and striking Loyalty head on. Her horn charged up and she leapt at Loyalty, driving the two of them through a cloud wall and out of the coliseum. "First you have to deal with me!" ~MC~MC~MC~ A mile away, in a small, non-descript building, a group of fillies and colts looked at the walls of their prison with fear-filled eyes. Moments ago the guards had ran off, leaving them by themselves. They had thought about trying to escape but realized that was foolish; the door was rigged that if they opened it they would be hit with a whirlwind that would push them back into the building. The whimpering cries of the panicked foals filled the air and a few of the younger ponies joined in, not caring if they look like babies. There had been a bright yellow light then all the guards had left and now the roars of a dragon filled the air. "What... what is going on?" Snips asked nervously, sitting next to a crying Snails. "Do you think there is a dragon out there?" Pip asked, torn between his desire to see the beast and his fear of being gobbled up. "No... no of course not!" Dinky said, even though she was staring at the roof of their room with wide, fearful eyes. She let out a scream and a section buckled and several of the younger fillies and colts joined the foals in sobbing. "Back up!" Dinky called out. "Back up!" "What do we do?" Rumble asked. "I... I don't know... just be ready!" Dinky commanded, wishing she could strike up a spark of magic. She refused to give into fear… her parents were never afraid and she wasn’t about to give in to it herself. She was Dinky Hooves… she was the daughter of a mailmare and a Time Lord and everypony knew those genetics spelled hero! "What does that mean, ‘be ready’?!" Snails complained. The compacted cloud began to fall apart, sending bits of the reinforced fluff down. The children screamed and stumbled towards the walls. “It means be ready!” Dinky called out, squaring her shoulders. BOOM BOOM BOOM "Here it comes!" Pip shouted, breathing fast as he prepared to leap into battle. A large chunk of the cloud roof fell down and the children shut their eyes. But instead of the bellows of some monstrous dragon, they heard something else entirely. "I told you it would work!" a jovial voice called out. "The pegasi reinforced the walls but never thought about the roof!" A second voice scoffed. "For thinking they are so wonderful for being able to fly, these pegasi sure don't think in three dimensions.” “I’ve found so few bother to think things through-” Dinky cracked an eye open and gaped at the sight that lay before her. Two stallions had dropped into the room, looking unlike any pony Dinky had ever seen. Upon their backs were beautiful butterfly wings that looked to be made of stained glass. They fluttered, as if their owners were not use to them. That might have been the case, as both ponies did not look like they normally had wings. They each hovered an inch off the ground, their hooves never touching the condensed cloud floor. The second pony, the one that had bucked in the roof, was older, with a gray mane and dark, piercing eyes and stern mouth. He looked at the foals though and instantly they felt better in his presence... he was like the stern grandfather they had never had. It was the other pony, the one that had first spoken, that drew Dinky's attention. “Hello everypony… guess who!” "DOCTOR!" Dinky squealed, racing over to him and giving him a hug. The other fillies and colts hurried over, foals on their backs as they mobbed the brown stallion. "I knew you'd come! I knew you'd save me!" Dinky shouted as the Doctor lowered his head and flipped her onto his back, the filly giggling as she watched his wings flap. The Doctor smirked. "That is right, Dinky... no one gets left behind, especially not you!" "Where's mommy?" Dinky asked, feeling more secure and safe than she had felt in weeks. The Doctor smiled. "I set her down right below Cloudsdale and told her to watch the sky... I swore that we would be coming down to see her if she waited. She misses you so I don’t think we should doddle." "Uh... Mr. Doctor?" Snails said, taking a step forward. "We get to come with you too, right?" The Doctor nodded to Clyde, who let out a long whistle. Suddenly hooks appeared and were pulling the roof from the building, revealing a squad of earth ponies with similar enchanted wings. "Indeed you are!" The Doctor proclaimed as the rebellion began to fly down to retrieve Equestria’s most precious cargo. "It is time to go children, get your coats!" “…we don’t have coats,” Rumble pointed out. The Doctor pursed his lips. “Well then… let’s just go!” He took to the air, Dinky riding on his back. “Alonsy!”