//------------------------------// // The Battle of Cloudsdale Part 2 // Story: The Abundance // by defender2222 //------------------------------// "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure." Jeremiah 17:9 Spike grunted as a pegasus soldier slammed into his side, the stallion kicking and thrashing against the purple scales. It didn't so much hurt as it annoyed the baby dragon; he had desired scales as hard as diamonds while being lighter than a feather. There was simply nothing the pegasi currently ramming him could do to injure him. Their blows, however, were beginning to wear on his nerves. It was like someone constantly poking someone in the shoulder, over and over, without rest. Of course, Spike was willing to admit that he wasn't in the greatest of moods to begin with. Taking on a larger form was always fun but it was a mental strain. He had to remain focus and ignore the naughty little voice in his head that was screaming for him to just pillage and consume and gather a great horde. It was emotionally draining and Spike felt as if he had been up for 48 hours straight cramming for finals. Adding to this annoyance was the fact that Spike truly couldn't cut loose. He could feel the fires welling up in his belly, begging for release, but he didn't dare unleash them. He knew that the ponies that were attacking him were not in control of their actions; they had been blinded by Loyalty and forced to do his bidding. They were much like him during his greed-induced rampage and he could not have lived with himself if he hurt any of them. That knowledge didn't help shrink the annoyance of having the ponies he was trying to help keep attacking him. "Stop that," Spike complained, snatching up one of the pegasi that had been attempting to buck him in the snout. The mare struggled against him and Spike narrowed his eyes, giving the struggling pegasus a 'seriously?' look. He applied just enough pressure to knock her out before tossing her into the enchanted bag Twilight had created for him. It would hold the prisoners nice and tight until Twilight could free them from whatever Loyalty had done to them. "You ok, Spike?" Spitfire asked as she zoomed around him. She was acting as a second pair of eyes, ensuring that the dragon did not miss anything. "Peachy," Spike grumbled, dipping down so low that his belly touched the peaks of several cloud towers. Another wave was coming at them and he was mentally prepping himself for the next run. "I am getting really tired of brainwashing villains... Discord, the Changeling Queen..." "Faith," Spitfire said with a smirk. Shining had shared with the rebellion plenty of stories about the mirror-winged alicorn and his role in Twilight's fall/ascension. "...ha ha ha," Spike said, fighting the urge to stick up for his friend. Faith, unlike so many ponies, had treated Spike like an adult instead of a child. Yes, Spike was a baby dragon; but mentally he was only a few years younger than Twilight. And yet every pony treated him like he was a 5 year old that was to be coddled and humored. Except Faith. It was that reason that Spike was so enraged. The other elements had trained Faith like he was a baby too; they had thought to keep him away from battle and tuck him away. When his involvement had led to the defeat of Discord, the other elements had refused to lift a hoof to help him and merely watched as Faith fell from grace and become the dark abstract Doubt. Now, they were treating Equestria as if all the ponies were naughty foals... it was sickening. "Yuh, Spike?" Spitfire called out. "Kinda getting rumbly on me." Spike blinked, pulling himself from his thoughts. "Sorry about that, I was-" His world exploded pain. Spitfire let out a cry as Spike tumbled down, his body spasming from the ravages of the great bolt of lightning that had struck him. He came crashing through Cloudsdale, taking out a good chunk of one block as he fell through the clouds and continued on towards the ground below. The former Wonderbolt dove down, preparing to check on him, only for find her way blocked by a wall of dark blue. "Hello Spitfire." "Soarin'," Spitfire whispered, staring at him as the rest of the brainwashed Wonderbolts lined up behind him, creating a phalanx of wings. "Don't do this." "You ran away, Spitfire," Soarin' stated coolly. "You abandoned you team... you have no loyalty to any of us... but you can still repent." The mare's face hardened. "Not on your life." "No no no," Soarin' teased as the Wonderbolts began to circle the two of them, their mighty wings creating a vortex that threatened to consume any that came near it, "it is YOUR life you should be concerned about." ~MC~MC~MC~ "Squirt, you need to fight this!" Rainbow Dash called out. Scootaloo showed no sign of hearing her, her eyes remaining a solid gold as she lashed out against her idol. The cyan alicorn found herself pushed back, forced to rely upon her reflexes to avoid her #1 Fan's attacks. Even though Dash had the strength and endurance of an alicorn she found that the blows the orange pegasus was directing at her still hurt... and not just her body but her heart. She looked upon her 'masterpiece' in disgust. She had twisted Scootaloo into this, warping her from a happy little filly that dreamed of flying and enjoyed riding her scooter into a violent soldier who would attack without thought... all in the name of Loyalty. "Some on Scoots, I know you're in there!" Rainbow Dash pleaded, ducking a blow that had been aimed at her head. "You need break free! I know it is hard but you can do it!" Scootaloo responded by flying around and bucking Rainbow in the stomach, causing the alicorn to cough. "I don't want to hurt you!" Rainbow shouted, batting away one of the blows. She found herself panting and wondered how it was that her alicorn form was tiring out so quickly when Scootaloo showed not even a drop of sweat on her brow. The answer was, of course, a painful one: Rainbow's body was built around power. Every muscle thrummed with the desire to unleash its fury upon those that stood against her. Her horn ached from the magic that was pumping through it, begging for release. She felt tired and dizzy and every instinct screamed at her to kill and destroy. Holding back was, ironically, killing her. 'By Celestia, is this what Twilight felt when she ascended?' Rainbow thought as she reached out and lightly struck Scootaloo. The blow, while barely glancing from her perspective, sent Scootaloo flying through the air. 'No wonder she was barely able to keep it together! It feels like I am coming apart at the seams! How the hay does Princess Celestia manage not to incinerate all of us?' Rainbow could feel her body churning with power, her nerves on fire and her brain screaming at her to kill, kill, kill. Alicorns were the alpha and the omega and though they now lived in civilized times, the drive to become the predator was strong within all of them. But when faced with an innocent who had no choice in her fights... Rainbow let out a gasp as Scootaloo slipped behind her, her forelegs wrapped around Dash's throat and squeezing the air from her. Rainbow blinked and bucked but Scootaloo hung on, her head close to Dash's ear. "No..." "What... what was..." "No... please... please Dash, don't let me..." "Scootaloo?" Rainbow managed to croak out before the forelegs tightened once again. "Don't... don't let me kill you... please... please... kill me." Rainbow Dash's eyes snapped open, the horror of Loyalty's act hitting her full force: Scootaloo wasn't brainwashed... she simply had no control over her body. Loyalty had turned her into a puppet, forcing her to watch as her own hooves murdered her idol. She was a witness to an absolute horrid act that her own body was commiting. "Kill me," Scootaloo sobbed. "Kill me..." ~MC~MC~MC~ Loyalty and Twilight crashed into each other, the sound of their bodies striking together rumbling like overhead thunder. The two of them lashed out with their hooves, trying to knock the other out and only serving to make things chaotic. Twilight pushed away and charged up her horn, sending several bolts of magic at Loyalty, the golden alicorn forced to take a page out of his brother's playbook and deflect them away. "Why do you fight me?" Loyalty asked, dodging a blast of magic Twilight sent at him before launching himself at her. "You once believed in what I seek out... has my little brother clouded you mind so much you can't even see what you have become?" Loyalty's horn flashed and a bolt of golden energy lashed out from the sky, nearly taking off Twilight's head. "I seek unity... solidarity... with those things peace will come to Equestria!" "Peace through oppression!" Twilight shouted, her mane billowing out as her eyes went black and white. Chaos magic roared from her form as her coat darkened and her wings gained an almost metallic shine to them. The sun found itself setting as there was no Celestia to aid it against the coming of the night sky that Twilight was summoning forth. "You don't want unity, you want blind devotion!" The stars gleamed and Twilight sent several of them racing towards Loyalty, forcing the abstract to twist and turn to avoid being incinerated. "You aren't really loyal... loyalty is standing with some pony, even when they are in the wrong! You abandon them the first chance you get!" "So I should just stand by and watch them sin?" Loyalty countered, his own wings stretching out as he sent countless threads at Twilight, forming a great golden web that caught her and held her tight. Loyalty pulled himself towards her and shook his head in disgust before striking her in the gut. " You refuse to fix anything because you don't want to hurt feelings! I am loyal to an ideal! If you aren't part of that ideal you are merely an obstacle in my way!" He slammed his hooves into Twilight's stomach, causing the lavender alicorn to violently cough. "You can wear the mantle of power and give these grand little displays but in the end you are still the mindless worm you always were! You fail to see the big picture because you can't handle it." "You're... lecturing me on seeing the big picture?" Twilight ground out, forcing herself not to scream as Loyalty struck her in the ribs again. The abstract, freed from Rainbow Dash's form and her conscious, was able to go in for the kill. "You keep reacting to the wrong things and only making everything worse! You abandoned Faith and let him become Doubt! You abandoned Equestria and let darkness infect it! And we finally begin to solve things on our own you throw a fit and demand you toys back! You are a monster, Loyalty, and-" "I lecture you because I am your better!" Loyalty roared in anger, punching Twilight in the face. The threads grew tight, cutting into Twilight's skin. "Your kind was never meant to rival us... you were meant to follow our lead, to listen to our words! The abstracts are the true masters of this world… it was us that threw down Discord, not you! We were your saviors and now you attempt to write off what we did! And you, Twilight Sparkle... you are nothing but a worm screaming at the bird that has come to consume it.” Twilight glared at the abstract. "I was wrong..." she said, though her tone was anything but apologetic. ”I always felt bad for Faith that you abandoned him. He spent a 1000 years without knowing his name and his purpose lost. He had no one to rely upon, no one to help him shoulder the burden. But now that I see you and see what he could have been... I am glad he was forsaken. Leaving all of you was the best thing that ever happened to him!" "Just what I would expect a corrupted witch to say," Loyalty snapped, several more threads latching onto Twilight and pulling her body taunt. "Without any of you to force him to become narrow minded he was able to explore and grow. Were those thousand years terrible? Of course... but during that time he learned about love and friendship and compassion and humility. He grew and became something better, something alive; not like you. You say I am a worm? You are a rock! You aren't able to feel, to think, to change! You might as well be dead! Faith might be an abstract but he is a pony, one of us… and he is a better stallion then you'll ever be!" Twilight forced her head forward, her eyes locking on Loyalty's. "That is your problem... you can claim to be big and powerful but inside... you are JUST-SO-SMALL!" Loyalty sneered and back-hoofed her. "Before this day is done... you will beg me to forgive you for all the lies you've said."