//------------------------------// // Bridging the Divide // Story: The Abundance // by defender2222 //------------------------------// " Le Roi est mort, vive le Roi!" -Proclamation after the ascension of King Charles the VII of France Translation: The King is dead, long live the king! "...I suppose that somepony wittier than I would cut the tension that has filled the air with a joke." Celestia shifted back and forth. “But… I am no comedian.” Twilight and Trixie remained silent, looking anywhere but at each other. It was as if they believed that even glancing at the other was the worst fate any pony could suffer and they would do anything to avoid it. Celestia and Luna, for their part, stood off to the side, awkwardly sighing and rocking from one hoof to the other. Neither was used to ponies behaving in such a way; even those ponies that served in the government, who lived for fighting and bickering, would grit their teeth and find common ground when either of the Princesses walked by. But these were not ordinary ponies: one was an alicorn in her own right; the other the de facto leader of a group of fugitive ponies and commander of an airship that could whip much of Equestria off the map. "Do you both truly believe you have nothing in common?" Luna finally asked. "What could I possibly have in common with her?" Trixie said with a scoff, sticking her nose up in the air. Twilight scowled. "Well, you aren't level-headed or rational or humble-" "I'm sorry, did the mighty purple alicorn that once had a meltdown so bad she brainwashed an entire town just claim she was level-headed?" "How do you know about that?" Twilight snapped. Trixie smirked. "Faith told me... oh, me and him spent so much time in those cells... never being rescued by you, I might add... and I learned so many things. So… many… things." "He lived in my head since I was a foal... Faith and I are closer than you could ever imagine!" Twilight narrowed her eyes in rage. "And I might add that he was never stabbed when he was with me... you did quite well helping him." "I helped him plenty!" Trixie shouted, trying to match Twilight eye to eye only to find their height too great. "Unlike you, I don't toss him aside the moment he doesn't do what I want!" Celestia frowned, her magic swirling around Twilight and Trixie, separating the two of them. "Please, that is enough." The two mares bucked and thrashed in fury. "LET ME GO!" both of them shouted at the same time. "Please," Celestia said, "just calm down and-" "Faith is hurt," Luna blurted out. The looks that passed over the feuding ponies' faces told the whole story. For Twilight, all anger and disappointment in the silver alicorn disappeared as concern became her primary focus. Everything that had happened, all the mistake she had pinned on the abstract and the many hateful words she had been prepared to lob at him were wiped away, leaving only fear. For Trixie, the raw, open pain that appeared on her features told them all the truth that even the blue showpony was unwilling to fully admit: she was in love with Faith. Not lust… not desire… love. She had fallen for Faith. What other emotion would cause somepony like her, who was use to being on her own and laughing away the concerns of others, to look as if her world had been shattered and the sun had be snuffed out? The two of them reacted in tandem, bucking once more against Celestia’s magic, wanting to break through the door and find the silver abstract. "Please let me finish," Luna said softly. "I admit it was cruel of me to say that, but sadly my statement is not a lie. Faith is hurt... not physically, though he was exhausted and fell asleep before we left him. His pain comes from his heart and his soul. Both of you… how you have acted… have wounded him worse than what this…" “Doubtence,” Trixie mumbled. “…Doubtence did to him.” Celestia gently settled down next to Twilight, locking eyes with her former student. "Do you truly believe you mean so little to Faith? He loves you, Twilight. Did he make mistakes? Of course. Does he behave in strange ways? Of course… we must remember how new this all is to him. Truthfully, he is only a few months old. He has spent a lifetime alone, making allies only to be forced to abandon them... is it any wonder that he would run and not see why that is wrong? Are you truly surprised he would not consider for a second letting you join him in battle… having somepony fight with him is completely foreign." Twilight frowned. "He... but why didn't he see how much it hurt me?" "Why did you not see that your actions hurt him?" Celestia countered softly. "Some of it, I suppose, can be attributed to being blind to what his actions were doing to you... a sin that I know of all too well." The sun goddess sighed wearily. "I lost you and Luna because I failed to see how my actions were affecting you. Faith has done the same thing... and you to him. Do not let both of you foolishly throw your friendship away." Twilight worried her lip with her teeth. "I... I can't help it... I saw how he was with Trixie and the rest of them... and I wondered..." Luna turned to Trixie, who looked close to breaking down in tears. "Do you believe he could turn you away so easily? Did you believe he would throw you away the moment Twilight was back in the picture?" Trixie's head snapped up, eyes showing the wonder and shock that Luna had guessed just what had been tormenting her. "I know the pain you felt all too well. You gained something that was your own but you feared that it truly didn't belong to you but was instead merely lent. You feared that you were a replacement for Twilight and that Faith would be done with you the moment he saw her again." "You believed that?" Twilight whispered. Trixie didn't even have the energy to make a nasty retort. It was as if all her secrets had been laid to bare and she felt the need to unburden herself of them all. "Why shouldn't I?" she asked gently, only the barest tint of anger coloring her words. "He always talked of you and told me of his adventures with you... he didn't ask me to stand by his side and fight Loyalty... he let you, though." "He didn't ask me though; he told me to run," Twilight reminded her. "You can't believe that Faith would forget about you... for a pony that spent 2000 years basically being Equestria's great seducer, Faith... Faith is loyal to a fault." Twilight scrunched her nose in distaste. "I will never be able to think of that word the same way again." Trixie closed her eyes and Twilight gently reached out, placing her hoof over the blue mare's, though she didn’t truly understand why she felt the urge to do so. "Do you know what really set me off after the battle? It wasn't even Cloudsdale that bugged me, not really... it was the fact that you two were so in sync. You said so few words but were able to understand everything. Faith and I were... are like that and I hated to think that another pony had taken my place." "And I was afraid that I was merely a stand in for you," Trixie added. "That's... that's why I was so aggressive to you." The showpony-turned-airship captain ran her tongue along the inside of her cheek. "And, I suppose, our shared history did not help anything." Twilight managed a smile at that. "Of all the ponies Faith could choose to become friends with, we are probably the worse pair." "Both of you were foolish," Celestia chided gently, like a mother playfully teasing her foals. "If there is one thing I have learned about Faith it is that he has an overabundance of love in his heart. He cares... he cares deeply and sometimes, like now, it brings him pain. But rest assure, there is simply no way that Faith could either turn his gaze from one of you solely because of the actions of the other. Each of you, in your own way, holds sway over him." "And that is why he is in pain." Trixie swallowed hard. "What's wrong?" "He is miserable," Celestia stated. She glanced at Twilight. "Do you believe that he enjoyed doing what he did?" The purple alicorn blushed at that. "Shining and I talked about that... well, he yelled at me and I didn't really talk." At the princess' annoyed looks (for they remembered all too well how things had gone the last time Shining Armor had laid into his sister) Twilight waved off their anger. "No, he was right to do that. I was in a death spiral of rage and needed to be snapped out of it. Luckily, I didn't have a certain abstract whispering in my ear when he did it, so he was able to actually get through to me. Don’t like how he did it but it worked." "How lucky for Shining Armor," Luna muttered. It was, of all ponies, Trixie that came to his aid. "Lay off him... can't be easy to find out your fiancé became a meat puppet for a crazy abstract." Twilight nodded. "Yeah, that's why there isn't a Shining Armor-sized dent in the wall right now. Still, he was able to snap me out of my rage before I fell too much." Celestia nodded, secretly glad that Twilight had matured enough that having somepony fly off the handle did not result on her going on a bender. "I think both of you have failed to consider something very important: For Faith, Loyalty wasn't some monster that had enslaved ponies and turned Equestria into a dictatorship. For Faith... Loyalty was his big brother." "By the Creator," Trixie murmured, the truth hitting her like a brick wall to the face. Luna looked at Twilight, who waivered on the edge of nausea. "I... I never thought..." Twilight's mind went to Shining Armor and for the first time in her life considered the full ramifications of murdering him. She thought of all the good and all the bad... and suddenly saw herself in Faith's place. For him it had been so much worse... he had longed for his family for 2000 years, even if he couldn't remember them, and just when he had found them he had found him twisted and vile… Faith’s own brother had screamed at him and treated him like dirt and Faith had been forced to kill him… Her stomach lost the battle and Luna just managed to bring a wastebasket over for Twilight to heave in. Trixie sat down with a 'fwomp'. "None of us... none of us even thought about that..." Celestia sighed. "I am ashamed I did not either. It is easy to forget that these are not faceless monsters that we must deal with. Our enemies are family to Faith and thus our friend has been put in the worst possible position. Faith's heart is already heavy... he fears he has lost you, Twilight, and he worries that you, Trixie, do not see him as a friend but as a leader, a role he never wanted. But the pain that came from murdering his own kin... I fear it will break him." "We need to go and see him now," Twilight said firmly. "We?" Luna said, amused. "Yes," Trixie said. She did not like Twilight Sparkle... it would take more than one talk to heal all the scars that were on their relationship, but she could bury her dislike for now, in the name of the stallion that she loved... yes, loved. It was a scary word but now that the princesses had said it she was willing to admit the truth: she loved Faith and she was going to make up for her foolish actions. She glanced at Twilight and nodded. "Yes... we." ~MC~MC~MC~ "How can you stand to be near me?" Rainbow murmured. Scootaloo stared at her idol and sighed. Several hours ago Twilight and Rainbow had combined their magic and removed the enchantments that had been on her and Sweetie Belle's minds. The orange pegasus mare had openly wept as she thought of all those she had hurt while the commander of Rainbow Dash's army. She'd held her friend as Sweetie screamed herself hoarse, crying out for forgiveness to any that came towards her. Those few remaining escapees who had not fully forgiven her had tearfully told her that she had no reason to apologize and that all was forgiven. It did little to help either of the mares, who had still found themselves swirling down the abyss of despair. When Twilight had sadly mentioned that she was unsure that she could safely restore them to fillies the two had held each other and grieved for their lost childhood. They had done all this till all but Dash had left, only to fall into an uneasy sleep. Sweetie snorted, still lost to the blissful embrace of sleep. Scootaloo had awoken to find Rainbow Dash, her eyes rimmed red from tears, standing guard over her. The cyan alicorn had moved to leave but Scootaloo had asked her to stay, causing Rainbow to be rendered speechless. Finally, after 5 minutes, Rainbow had asked her question. "How can you stand to be near me?" Scootaloo considered her answer carefully. "Part of me hates you," Scootaloo whispered. "Not because of what happened though. No... you were as much a victim as me. Maybe even worse, in a way. Loyalty clouded your mind and whispered in your ear and made you think what you were doing was right. I... I can at least use the excuse that I wasn't in control... you made the choice to be a queen... it was based on bad info, ya, but you still made the choice yourself. I don’t know how I could live with that. "I hate you... because you opened my eyes. I... I look back at how I was hours ago and want to go back to that. Everything was so wonderful and I could do anything because I knew it was right but now... now that peace has been taken away." "But it wasn't real," Rainbow whispered. "I know," Scootaloo said. "But it still hurts." Scootaloo let out a long breath. "But that is only a small part of me. The rest... the rest wants you here." "Why?" Rainbow hiccupped. If the younger Scootaloo had been there, she would have been shocked that Rainbow was letting herself act so mushy and 'weak'. But this Scootaloo was mature, and knew that such emotions were anything but weak. "I brainwashed you... I let Faith destroy Cloudsdale-" "Knock it off, Dash," Scootaloo said sternly. "You were brainwashed too, I just said that. As for Cloudsdale, I could care less!" "But-" "Cloudsdale isn't gone," Scootaloo snapped, wings flared out. She held up her hoof before Rainbow could speak. "What is Cloudsdale?" "It... it was a city... with cloud buildings and-" "Cloudsdale is pegasi," Scootaloo said. "If I made another Cloudsdale, made it exactly like the first one down to the last bench, then filled it with griffins, it would not be Cloudsdale. It would be something different. Cloudsdale is the ponies that call it home. It is the Wonderbolts and the mayor and the fillies and the colts and the hard workers at the weather factory and ponies like you and me. We are all Cloudsdale! We are what made it special." Scootaloo held her forelegs out wide. "And you saved us, Rainbow Dash! You got your guards to get everypony out! You saved the ponies and thus you saved Cloudsdale! You know what Faith destroyed? Clouds... clouds and bits of Loyalty. That is nothing! Clouds can be remade! Cities can be rebuilt! But ponies... ponies can never be replaced. Cloudsdale is right here, on this ship! It isn’t gone!" Scootaloo grinned at her idol. "And that is why I want you around, Rainbow Dash... because just like Cloudsdale, my life isn't anything without the ponies that make it special... and you are one of them. "As for the whole queen thing... I know you, Rainbow Dash... you are going to work your flank off, kick those abstracts in the rump, and make everything better... better than better! It will be... 20% more awesome! I know you are going to do it and I want to be there to help! I want to stand by you and help you out because you would do the same for me!" Rainbow shook her head, her tears drying up and a smile on her lips. "You still haven't given up on me, have you?" "Never," Scootaloo said with a grin. Then she screamed. "Scootaloo!" Rainbow shouted as the orange mare began to glow. The former filly threw back her head, going hoarse as her body trembled. The light was so intense Rainbow had to shield her eyes, but still she tried to reach her Number 1 Fan, who was crying out as she was torn to shreds. Her feathers burst into starlight, her body was ripped away, and all that remained was a swirling maelstrom of energy. The cloud shifted, changing forms rapidly… looking like an eagle, then a pegasus, then even Cloudsdale… Rainbow struggled to reach out, not know why but knowing she had to do so… and just as her hoof touched the cloud she felt something pulse in her chest. Rainbow gasped as it felt as a tether had been connected to her heart and tears formed in her eyes as every moment she had spent with Scootaloo flashed through her eyes. The energy began to condense and swirl… before the explosion set Dash flying into a wall. Sweetie Belle awoke with a start and let out a scream as she stared at the carnage that was their cabin. And then... it was over. “Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo called out shakily and for a moment Rainbow believed herself to have gone mad. Opening one eye, she let out a ragged breath as she saw that… yes… Scootaloo was still standing there. Not dead… not torn apart… but right there. But not the Scootaloo she had known. "Kid?" Rainbow asked. “Scootaloo?” Sweetie Belle murmured. Scootaloo looked down at her hoof... her orange, metallic looking hoof… The door to their room burst open, reduced to kindling, and Faith and Honesty ran into the room, their eyes wide in shock as they looked upon the metal-flanked mare. “It can not be,” Faith whispered, jaw hanging low as Scootaloo spread her wings, the ends of her feathers looking as if they had been coated in gold dust. Honesty nodded, licking his lips. “It is…” he said in awe, “…the new abstract of Loyalty.” Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash fainted.