//------------------------------//
// The Battle of Cloudsdale Part 5 
// Story: The Abundance 
// by defender2222 
//------------------------------//

"The heavens split apart and the God of War stepped through." 

-The Narrator, God of War





The winds howled around them like hungry wolves but none of the combatants give it any heed. Twilight's sky had become a dark swirl of stars and emptiness, setting the stage for the battle. The clouds that hung about the great pegasus city had been whipped into a frenzy by the flapping wings of the three immortals that now dueled for the fate of so many. Far below, all sorts of creatures, which had been staring at the sky in amazement as the sun was snatched away, now cried out in terror as they witnessed the maelstrom that had formed over their heads. None of them realized just what was happening, but if they did it would have only made their panic more severe.

The alicorns had gone to war.

~MC~MC~MC~

"What is going on?" Scootaloo mumbled. She barely had enough strength to lift her head and Dash was thankful for her alicorn strength; it let her carry her number one fan like she was a newborn foal without costing her any speed.

Dash looked up at the darkening sky and frowned. Yes, she was glad she had her speed. "I think Twilight and Loyalty and going at it."

'Evacuate the city'

Rainbow blinked. "Faith?" She looked around but could not find the abstract.

'Rainbow Dash? Hmmm, that explains why my brother has his own body and is ranting and raving. Mouthy little git, isn't it?'

"Where are you?" Rainbow Dash said, not caring if she looked like a madpony.

'Cloudsdale, same as you... though I would suggest you not spend much more time here, as I am about to bring my full wrath down upon my brother and I fear this city will be collateral damage.'

"There are still innocent ponies in the city!" Rainbow exclaimed, banking sharply. "We need-"

'My airship is anchored on the west side... Trixie and Will now know you are coming. Get as many ponies as you can follow you. Those that can fly well must race away from this place. Any that can't will be safe with my crew. I am already sending word to Shining Armor's little rebellion to do the same-' Silence cut through Faith's comments and for a moment Rainbow feared the worst. ‘... while my brother’s control is gone they will still be under the effects of your control and will obey you; command them to help.'

"I don't understand-"

'There is no time, just go!'

"Rainbow Dash, what is going on?" Scootaloo asked as the cyan alicorn dove down towards a group of guards that were standing on a cloud, blinking as their eyes returned to normal.

"Follow my lead," Rainbow stated sternly, before calling out. "GUARD! IS THIS HOW YOU ACT WHEN YOUR QUEEN APPROACHES?!"

The guards leapt up, spreading their wings and saluting the speedsters. If they had any questions about why she was smaller or why Commander Scootaloo was on her back, they didn't speak them.

"We have been betrayed by the one called Loyalty! He lied to all of us and led Equestria into war! The alicorns Twilight Sparkle and Faith are doing battle with him now... the city is to be emptied before Loyalty strucks us down. Find all that you can and command them to fly... if they are small, weak, sick or elderly take them to the... airship..." Rainbow forced herself not to stumble over that word, wondering just how much she had missed while under Loyalty's guidance, "...where the pony Trixie will provide them shelter. Go!"

~MC~MC~MC~

Twilight's face was grim but even she was startled that Faith was the first to strike. His horn exploded like cannon fire, sending a bolt of silver chaos magic at his older brother. Loyalty dodged the attack and flapped his wings, sending out a multitude of golden thread to try and ensnare his baby brother.

Faith growled and cut the string with his metal wings, dissipating the magic and sending the remains into the vortex. He rocketed upwards, gathering lightning as he spun amongst the clouds, dodging Loyalty's attempts to strike him down. Electricity danced along his wingtips before he dived down, his body glowing until he became a living lightning bolt. The sky trembled when he collided with his brother, but when the energy faded the two of them were pressing their faces together, horns locked as they struggled for dominance.

"How you have fallen, brother," Loyalty said grunted, his wing tips becoming like whips and striking Faith over and over, ripping off hunks of his hide. Of course, the silver alicorn gave as good as he got, firing of razor sharp feathers that stabbed his older brother, drawing glowing ichor.  The two of them spun in the air and Twilight was struck dumb and mute by the show of power. "You betrayed us all and now you throw your lot in with rogues and rebels."

Faith merely smirked as he pressed back against his brother's physical assault, his hide already healing from the damage. "Ah, so you are resorting to trickery and words... a useful weapon on the weak and those outside the family." Faith slid his horn to the right, costing himself a scratch on the check but winning him a moment to slam his foreleg into his brother's ribs. "But I am not an outsider... am I brother?"

"You are no brother of mine, Doubt!" Loyalty broke free from his brother and began to send orbs of swirling magic at the silver alicorn. Faith dipped and weaved, gritting his teeth when the magic bombs would explode and release a kind of magical acid onto his flank. "You betrayed us all and now you side with this arrogant ponies-"

"I thought you would be happy," Twilight said, popping up beside Loyalty and smashing him in the face. The golden alicorn yelped in pain, sending out several threads that forced Twilight back. However, Twilight wasn't about to go down that easily and with a quick thought called upon the stars to aid her. The balls of light rained down on Loyalty, burning his body and forcing him to quickly weave a shield of golden thread to protect himself. "After you abandoned him he sought out anyone that could help him... he found me. Faith fights because I am his friend and he is mine... the very definition of loyalty." Her eyes flashed and one of the shooting stars she had sent at Loyalty burst into a miniature super nova. Loyalty roared in agony as much of his right side was burned and he fell 20 feet before he was able to right him. "Shouldn't you be proud of your brother? He is displaying loyalty."

"That is why he is such a failure," Loyalty snapped, his wounds already healing. He fired off a beam of energy that would have drilled a hole in Twilight's chest if it weren't for the quick actions of Faith. The silver alicorn leapt in the way, using his wings to shield her from the blast. He grunted as several metal feathers were blasted away but he held firm, slowly making his way closer to his brother. 

"Then tell us, brother, what grand sin have I committed that justifies all of this?" Faith and Twilight advanced, forcing Loyalty to try and intensify the blast. The magic shot off Faith's wings like water against rocks, bathing the eye of the maelstrom in a amber light. "Look at what you have done, Loyalty!" Faith shouted over the din of battle. "Take a good long look at what your actions of wrought!"

"All of this falls upon you, brother!" Loyalty screamed, sweat dripping down his brow as he struggled to keep the beam firing. "You betrayed us... you still betray us!"

"You abandoned me!"

"And you learned to FEEL!" Loyalty shouted, sending a wave of energy at the two alicorns. Twilight yelped as Faith was sent slamming backwards and the lavender alicorn just managed to zip away before Faith crashed into her. Twilight whipped around, fury written on her features as she called forth two tendrils of magic, one pure white and burning, the other as dark and cold as space itself. 

"That is your problem? That he actually has emotions?" Twilight roared, sending the whips at Loyalty and driving him back towards the wall of the storm. "You abandoned him! You all left him alone, forgotten! What did you expect to happen?"

"I expected him to die with dignity!" Loyalty snapped, grabbed the tendrils and yanking them towards him. Twilight was flung forward, unable to stop herself before Loyalty drove his hoof into her face. The lavender alicorn screamed in pain as the golden abstract began to punch her over and over and over. "We are abstracts! We are one thing and nothing more! When his purpose was lost he should have died and allowed another to take his place... instead he clung to life and took on another form! I could have forgiven this," Loyalty lifted Twilight's bloodied face up before head butting her, "but he had to develop emotions and feelings that were alien to faith itself! Such things are the coping mechanisms of you pathetic creatures! Abstracts are better than that... we are above such petty needs and you... and you... you would see us all end up like you!"

Twilight coughed, staring at him through swollen eyes. "And... and what do you call what you are feeling? That sounds like rage, not loyalty."

"It is rage born out of loyalty for an ideal and a purpose... something you would never understand." Loyalty's horn glowed and he moved in for the kill. "That is why you are weak... why you fail."

~MC~MC~MC~

Spitfire knew something was off.

One moment the Wonderbolts were pursuing her, shouting insults and trying to rip her from the sky. The next, she was flying all by herself, her attackers left frozen in place, hanging in the sky in confusion. The mare twisted, staring at them in confusion, only to let out an undignified ‘whahuh?’ when they all began to depart in different directions.

“Hey!” Spitfire shouted, trying to catch one of them and figure out what was going on. “HEY!”

“Spitfire!” Rainbow Dash called out, flying over to the confused flyer. “We need to get out of here, now! Faith’s storm is going to rip everypony to shreds!”

Spitfire glanced at the retreating forms of her team mates… before sighing and following Rainbow Dash.


~MC~MC~MC~

"Come along, children!" Clyde called out, dropping onto the deck of the airship. Pip and Ruby Punch leapt off his back, swaying as the airship rocked int the gale force winds. "Everyone down below!"

Iron Will nodded, grabbing the little ones and helping them to the door that led down into the bowels of the ship. "There are plenty of ponies down there... find some and stay with them!"

Derpy landed on the deck in a crash of limbs, Dinky rolling head over tail before ending up besides Trixie. "Again, again!" she squealed as Depry and the Doctor attempted to untangle themselves.

"Maybe later," Trixie said, motioning for the family of three to get below deck. The Doctor nodded to Derpy, nuzzling her for a moment before joining Trixie at the rail, watching as the maelstrom whirling just above Cloudsdale. "Go below."

"I have faced worse and you might still need my help." The Doctor looked at the airship and laughed. "And this is just too cool! It looks like a pirate ship but with wings! Splendid!" He began to examine every inch of the deck. "How do you make it run? I imagine it isn't a combustion engine, as the energy output would not be enough... magical, perhaps?"

Flam gripped the wheel of the airship, turning it first one then the other as he fought against the winds. "We are getting bucked pretty badly here, captain! I made her well but I doubt even she can manage to survive this storm."

Iron Will frowned. "What could have caused this?"

"Faith," Rainbow Dash said, landing on the deck, Spitfire landing a second after her. Several of the former prisoners glared at her and she held up her hooves. "Uh, he did tell you I was coming, right?"

"He did," Sweetie Belle said, emerging from below deck.  "Scootaloo!" She ran to her friend, checking her over. "You're hurt! We need to get you to a doctor!" She dragged the confused pegasus down below, leaving Rainbow, Trixie, the Doctor, Spitfire, Flam and Iron Will stare at the chaos that was Cloudsdale.

~MC~MC~MC~

Twilight shut her eyes, preparing herself for the end. It never came. Loyalty turned, only to receive a blast of silver magic right in his face. Faith rushed forward, catching up to his brother even as he tumbled, and began to lashed out with his wings, skinning the golden abstract and sending bits and pieces of his flank into the wall of the storm.

"You stupid, closed minded fool!" Faith roared in fury, grabbing his brother and slamming golden alicorn's face into his knee. "You think feeling makes me weak? Then how could I have survived these last thousand years? I am not the weak one... you are! You hide away from the world like the rest of the abstracts, trying to claim that you were better than all those you saw as below you. But you have been lying to yourself! You have learned to feel too, brother... you learned to feel fear! Fear of my power... fear of your precious ways and traditions being overthrown... fear that the ponies you thought so weak might be strong enough to cast you aside." 

Loyalty struggled to fight off Faith but his baby brother would not let him have an inch. Faith grabbed him by his dark mane and tossed him upwards before firing off a blast of magic that crushed several of Loyalty's ribs. The golden abstract groaned, only to howl as Faith leapt up and snapped his right foreleg.

"And the saddest thing of all, brother, is that your backwards, outdated views have brought Equestria to the brink of chaos! It is a wonder that Discord hasn’t broken free! Of course, that is what your master wants!" Loyalty's eyes widened and Twilight, who had landed on a cloud to heal, looked up with wide eyes as Faith delivered his most devastating blow with his greatest weapon: his words. "Oh yes, I know all about your master, the one that provided you with a way the cross the breach and return to Equestria. I know more about her then you, brother... your little mistress is the first Doubt, driven mad and seeking out all our deaths. You inadvertently pledged yourself to a madmare and she will see all of us burn!"

"You lie," Loyalty snapped. 

"No," Faith said coldly. "But you are too far committed to see the truth in the matter, Loyalty." Faith lashed out, driving his horn into the golden abstract's chest, drawing blood. He backed away, a smirk on his face as he retreated to Twilight's side and began to heal her. "You say that my emotions make me weak... I say they make me strong. I have truly lived and by doing so I have gained so much, brother... joy, sorrow, allies... and friends." Faith smirked, looking down. "Speaking of-"

A great roar ripped through the maelstrom and Loyalty screamed as Spike burst through the storm, his fires burning away the golden alicorn's wings. If it weren't for the threads that Loyalty quickly sent out he would have plummeted to his death. This quick thinking only served to bring him more pain; the moment he came to a halt Faith and Twilight fired twin blasts of magic that struck him head on, rendering the abstract nearly catatonic. Spike flew around Twilight and Faith and the two leapt onto his back watching Loyalty as he struggled to lift his head.

"This... means nothing," Loyalty snapped. "I... I am Loyalty... one of the Elements of Harmony... you... you..."

"Yes, yes, all that, brother," Faith said snidely. "You came to my home... you tried to take it from me and corrupt it. You took control of those I deem friend and you did it all in the name of a madmare." The silver abstract glared at his brother. "You are done... yield."

"It... it doesn't matter," Loyalty coughed, golden ichor staining his lips. "Even if I fall... the rest of MY family will defeat you, Doubt. You will-"

Twilight fired a blast of magic right into Loyalty's stomach.

"If all of the abstracts fail to hear reason... then we'll beat them too," Twilight declared.

Faith nodded. "Indeed... I have lived with your guilt for far enough... the time of the abstracts has come to an end." Faith turned, flicking his wings and sending two bladed feather's into Loyalty's sides, causing the gold alicorn to scream in agony. "Now... try and have the decency to die with dignity."

And with that, Spike took off, leaving the dying form of Loyalty... all alone.

~MC~MC~MC~

"Something is bursting through!" Iron Will called out, gripping the rail tightly.

"Battle stations!" Trixie shouted, steeling herself as the maelstrom split apart. "Holy-"

"Don't worry, good ponies!" The Doctor called out. "That is merely Spike!"

Rainbow smirked. "No matter how many times I see him like that..."

Spike shrank down as he approached the airship, until Twilight and Faith leapt off his back and Spike swung around and grabbing Twilight's horn, holding on tight as she landed on the deck of the airship. Trixie raced up to Faith and, to Twilight's utter surprise and horror, nuzzled him in a FAR too affectionate manner.

"Is it done?" Trixie asked.

Faith pursed his lips, slowly turning towards the city of Cloudsdale. Lightning cracked as he looked towards the great city of the pegasi, black eyes gazing at the swirling storm that lay before him. "It appears my brother refuses to listen to my advice..."

Cloudsdale seemed to stretch and contract, like some mighty giant who had been struck and forced to catch his breath. With each constriction the city changed it shape and the clouds, to those that looked upon them, looked to be made of gold. Great spires shifted and flattened and a terrible roar filled the ears of all those nearby as something rose up from the city, terrible yet broken.

"What... is that?" Trixie whispered.

"That... is Loyalty." Before the others could comment, Faith continued. "He is dying... any his last attempt to save himself is to infuse Cloudsdale itself with his essence. He wishes to place something of himself, even the smallest spark, within the clouds and the storm, so that he might have a chance to live on." 

"He can do that?" Dash said in shock.

"We all can... I attempted the same with Twilight, remember?" Faith watched as Cloudsdale began to revert to its normal form. "He will be a part of it all as long as the city stands." The silver alicorn took a deep breath. "Iron Will."

"Yes?" the minotaur called out.

"Fire on Cloudsdale."

"WHAT?!?!" Twilight and Dash shouted in shock.

"Yes, sir," Iron Will said, marching along the deck and pounding on the boards, calling for the gunners to arm their stations. "Get us the chain shot!" From the side of the great airship panels moved aside to reveal 30 great cannons packed and ready. "Flam, bring us about!"

"What? No!" Twilight turned to Faith, eyes wide with fear. "You can't destroy Cloudsdale. We’ve won… what’s the point?"

"The city is now Loyalty... I will not allow him even a hoofhold in this land." Faith turned his back to Twilight, staring at Cloudsdale.

"You... you can't!" Rainbow shouted in a near panic. "You can't wipe out Cloudsdale!"

"You said it yourself... he is only a part of it... but we can make sure he never comes back! You don't have to do this!"

Faith lowered his head. "I am sorry. Fire!"

"FIRE!" Trixie and Iron Will called out. The cannons boomed and from each three small metal balls burst forth, connected to each other with thick chain. Twilight and Rainbow could only watch, powerless as the chain shots ripped through Cloudsdale, shattering the magic that held the clouds together and forcing them to dissipate and fade. The stadium, the towers, the homes... all that had been a part of the city, which had hung above Equestria since the coming of the alicorns... all of this was wiped out with a flurry of cannon fire. The wind blew and it sounded to some like a final, mournful death rattle.

Cloudsdale was no more.

Rainbow fell to her knees and sobbed while Twilight turned on Faith, eyes burning with fury. "How could you-"

Trixie, Iron Will and Flam jumped in front of Twilight, their own eyes as deadly as daggers.

"You will show our king respect," Iron Will snapped.

"King?" The Doctor said in surprise, looking at Faith who seemed just as startled by the proclamation.

"Equestria can keep its princesses and its queens... our King is the one who saved us," Flam proclaimed. "We are his company and he is our leader... and you will not speak ill of him."

"That is enough," Faith said wearily, trudging away. "All of this silliness can be discussed later. I will be in my quarters. Iron Will, you have the command." Faith turned, his wings hanging limply at his sides. “Trixie?”

The blue mare favored him with a slight smile. “I’ll be there… give me a moment.” Waiting until Faith had left, Trixie turned to Twilight. "You would be wise to remember where you stand... this is not Equestria and though you might be his friend, we are his family… we will follow him to hell and back. He is loved… by all of us." She said the last bit awkwardly. Shaking her head, Trixie forced herself to adapt a sneer. She gave a long, mocking bow. "Welcome to The Abundance."