//------------------------------// // The Battle for Equestria Part 5 // Story: The Abundance // by defender2222 //------------------------------// “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.” -Sydney Carton, A Tale of Two Cities The Gate. It had no other name and for many such a simplistic title would have been seen as a grave insult to something so majestic and wonderful. It was a shining jewel in a world already full of amazing and awe-inspiring things. To call it the Gate was to call Canterlot a town or to call Princess Celestia a mere pony of little interest. Of course, there were not many to know of its existence, let alone its name. The Gate was a well kept secret in Equestria, known only to a small few throughout the millennia that had passed since the first ponies had arrived on the shores of that land. None knew how it had come into being nor did they begin to comprehend how this magnificent structure truly worked. It was a riddle waiting to be unwrapped… coyly hiding its secrets till the day came that one would unlock its mysteries. A barrier of energy, the Gate severed as both a doorway and a wall to a fantastical world so foreign to what was known by ponykind that a mere glimpse of it would have driven even the most prolific of thinkers to spend the rest of their days attempting to capture just a percentage of its scope. For the Gate led to the world of the Abstracts, they themselves a strange race created by the thoughts and dreams of living creatures. It was these ideas that flowed through the Gate, the magics within it transforming them from shapeless desire into the manifestation of thought and the representatives and inspirers of great ideals. Of course, there were some that whispered the Gate was so much more. Rumors of other worlds and other paths had reached the princesses’ ears and they had worked hard to keep them under wraps. Normally, the Gate was unseen, one of its first lines of defense. It would be small, as clear as a gentle breeze, and draw in the thoughts and feelings of those all throughout the land with as gentle of a touch as a mother stroke her newborn’s head. Twilight Sparkle, so connected to the abstract Faith, had felt the pull and nearly been mistakenly dragged through the Gate before her brother had broken her from her trance. In times of need, however, when great forces and even greater desires rolled through the lands, the Gate was revealed in all its glory, so that the abstracts and the ponies to meet together in great waves and join forces against a common threat. Sharped like a half disc, it stood 20 feet tall and 30 feet across. The edges, rather than being smooth, were like the lapping waves of the sea, churning about as the glowing white magic that made up its form pulsed. Princess Luna, upon seeing it during the first battle with Discord, when the six elements of harmony had rushed forth to heed their call, had thought it looked like the path to the Elysian Fields and nearly ran through it in hopes of being reunited with those that had been taken from them. The Gate had been always protected by the ancient castle of the Everfree, followed by the forest itself. It had been Celestia and Luna who had enchanted the forest and filled ponies with dread about entering it... not that much dread was needed, as the ponies already feared that unnatural forest that had stood with its mysterious creatures since before the founding of Equestria. The Gate had been a secret and a path to a fantastic world. Never had it been threatened; not even Discord had dared to attack it. He had not feared it, per say, but he had respected its strength and merely decided to find his fun elsewhere. The same was true of Nightmare Moon and so many others. All had honored the Gate and made no move against it. But now... the madmare Doubt had commited the greatest of sins: she had dared to corrupt the Gate and was using it to bring about the end of all things. With chaos magic so foul it turned the stomachs of even the most vile, Doubt had attacked the Gate the moment it had responded to the call of the oblivious Faith, who hadn't realized he was stepping into Doubt's trap. The spirit of chaos had lashed out with her spells and caused the very foundation of the Gate to change, disrupting its magic and turning it from a portal to another world into a churning maelstrom that devouring all in its path with a gluttonous abandon. Even as it lashed out at the forest that had been its home and protector, the Gate called upon the abstracts and those that were connected to them, sensing the thoughts and feelings that made up their very DNA and attempting to draw them towards its maw. The ponies fought and bucked, digging their hooves into the ground in an attempt to provide themselves some form of purchase. They had no idea what was happening on the other side but their concern for the abstracts was put on hold in their fight for their own lives. The strongest of them managed better and worked to aid the weaker. Twilight and Trixie, along with the princesses, formed a magical net that Honesty and Big Macintosh took up and began to drag away from the maw. Rainbow's horn burned so hot it threatened to explode as she pulled a screaming Scootaloo away from a lashing tendril that had nearly cut her in half; the blue mare had begun to curse as she fought to save the filly that looked up to her. Faith let out a bellow as he drove his wings into the ground, using them to drag himself inch by inch away from the vortex while also shoving Fluttershy back with his forehead, the mare sobbing in pain as the suction became almost too great. And through it all... Doubt laughed. "This is how it ends, Faith!" Doubt called out over the wanton destruction. She had dug in, unaffected by the pull now that she was no longer an abstract, and merely had to avoid the thrashing magic. "This is how Equestria meets its end: the very Gate that is supposed to be its protector destroys it... and you, its noble savior, were the cause of all of this. Once again... it all falls on you... your fault... only you! All you touch turns to ashes and the last thing you will know is that you killed them all!" Faith, swallowed, shutting his eyes for a moment before he looked up at Twilight. She stared at him and for a moment the world fell away and all was forgotten. There was no Gate. There was no war. No Queens or battles or alicorns or grand speeches. It was just the two of them, alone in a void of their own making. From the moment Twilight had taken her first breath Faith had been with her… and for the silver abstract his life had only truly begun when he laid eyes on her. Countless words passed between them in that moment. Twilight, for the first time in her existence, saw how Faith looked upon the world: a moment lasting a thousand lifetimes… and a thousand lifetimes occurring in a single blink of an eye. She didn’t want it to end… because she knew in her heart what was to come. “I love you all,” Faith said softly, breaking his gaze from her and letting his eyes drift to each of them, taking them all in, drinking in their visage and committing them to memory. “FAITH!” Twilight screamed, the cry being brought up by the rest as Faith ripped his wings free from the ground and surrendered himself to the pull of the Gate. “FAITH!” The silver alicorn twisted around, driving his left hoof down and using the push to bring himself just to the left of the Gate. He could feel the heat of the magic burning his coat and smell the cooking ozone as he rocketed towards oblivion. But he wasn’t done… not just yet. Doubt’s eyes widened as Faith slammed into her, his right foreleg pressed against her throat as he brought his back hooves down onto the ground, shoving the madmare with all his strength. “Is this what you wanted?” Faith screamed as he forced Doubt to take a step back. “Life dealt you a bad hand so instead of trying to do better you want to destroy everything?!?” “Yes,” Doubt screamed, struggling to roll Faith off of her and send him plummeting into the Gate’s deadly grasp. “A thousand times yes! I suffered and so too must the world! Everything is going to feel my pain!” “You’re not insane,” Faith snarled as he pushed her back once more. “Calling you insane is an insult to all crazy ponies out there!” He grit his teeth and drove his foreleg harder into her neck. “You could have been wonderful. You could have taken all the bad that happened to you and used it to fuel yourself, to better yourself and become something more!” “Like you?” Doubt snarled, grabbing onto his wings and, with a violent tug, ripped them from his back. The silver abstract screamed as they were tossed into the vortex, blood gushing from the gaping wounds. “Faith, looking down his nose at me once again! You act like it would have been so easy!” “It was for me!” Faith shouted, despite the pain. “I’m not you,” Doubt said, punching him in the side. “Believe me… I see that clearly.” Doubt reached up and grasped his horn, forcing his face towards hers, not letting his eyes break her stare. “You want some final speech to make this all come together, don’t you? Oh, the logical little thief wants to understand why I have behaved so badly.” Doubt slammed her left leg down, nearly breaking Faith’s ankle. “You want me to reveal my motivates, my desires, and what drove me to this dark path. You are looking for the piece that will make you understand me and how I could so easily seek to kill all of existence.” She leaned in close, her lips almost touching his, a tear falling from her eye. “And… perhaps… for me to see the error of my ways… to see the madness for what it is and realize just how badly I have hurt the world, your friends, and… you. You… so like me… who should have been my ally and my lover and my companion… the one I have hurt so. You seek a moment… just one… when I have the chance to wipe away all the evil I have done and be redeemed.” Doubt pressed her lips to his, rewarding him with a tender kiss. Then… she snapped his horn from his forehead. “Sorry,” Doubt said, Faith’s blood coating her lips as it ran down the abstract’s face. “No answers… no grand gestures… no final redemption. There are none, Faith. I just want all to suffer … end of story. End of YOUR story.” “Not… not quite,” Faith said, battling through the pain. “One… one final chapter to go.” He gave Doubt a shove and the spirit of chaos let out a yelp when she stumbled back another few feet, the heat of the destabilized vortex burning her back. “We caused this… the Gate opened because of my power and it is destroying everything because of yours. But tell me, Doubt… what if my power isn’t there to keep it open? What if you aren’t around to continue corrupting it?” Doubt drove her taloned hand into his side. “You… you’ll die with me, Faith!” “I know,” Faith said, smiling as he began the final push. He saw her words for what they truly were: a final gamble by one who had suddenly seen the flaw in her plan. It was easy to want death… it was quite enough to finally face it. “Come on now, darling… now is not the time for fear… that comes-“ Faith let out a weak gurgle, eyes widening in shock. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t speak. His mouth silently opened and closed, no words passing his lips. It wasn’t from anything Doubt had done, nor was it the power of the vortex. No… Faith had lost his breath because a noose had fallen around his neck. Doubt and him, for one moment, shared an almost comical stare before Faith was yanked away from the madmare. Twilight, Trixie and the Princesses caught the silver abstract, holding him tight as the bleeding stallion stared in shock at the scene before him. Rarity lay at his feet, smaller now and less powerful, looking bewildered as Spike reached out and grabbed her, keeping her from being sucked into the Gate. Doubt still stood there, was still being shoved back… but now it was a crystal alicorn mare with jewel-studded wings who was pressing her back. “Generosity?” Faith whispered, staring at the new abstract who’d taken his place. “You were right, Spike!” the diamond-coated alicorn cried out as she shoved Doubt back, the spirit of chaos screaming in outrage. “I was being selfish… and I was keeping Rarity from you all because I didn’t want to let her go. Just like I refused to help you, dear brother, because I wanted to believe you weren’t special. I refused to see the truth… but now I do… and I know what I can give… to make all of this right.” “Generosity!” Faith, Honesty, and Kindness cried out. “This… this is such a lovely world, Doubt,” Generosity said, her wings flapping as she channeled every bit of her strength into moving forward. “I have only been a part of it a short time, even shorter when you think of how long my vision was clouded. But even in that short time, I have come to realize something important: ponies are better than us. Not because of their power or their strength or their intelligence… these don’t make them our betters.” Her horn glowed, releasing a cloud-like bloom of energy, and she could hear her siblings gasp when the spell took the shape of Loyalty and Laughter… not as they had died but as they should have been. The two phantoms took a hold of Doubt’s arms and pulled them away from Generosity, allowing the mare to push the spirit of chaos closer to the Gate. For one brief moment Loyalty and Laughter looked upon the rest and smiled sadly, silently apologizing for all that had happened. “They are better than us because despite all their limitations… they live. They live… these strange, silly, sad, wonderful lives. We’ve never lived, Doubt… neither of us. We were too busy thinking ourselves above them and making plans and playing our pathetic mind games to see we were lower than them… no more than stones under their hooves.” Generosity smiled as the tears fell. “I see now… I see why Faith chose to stay, even after he remembered. I don’t want to go either… but I have to. “It is for this reason… for their capacity to LIVE… that I give my final gift.” Generosity took a breath before locked hard eyes with Doubt, who, for the first time since her transformation… was completely and utterly sane. And she knew only fear. “I give my LIFE… in trade for theirs.” And with that, Generosity drove herself and Doubt into the Gate. The world exploded with light and the gathered ponies slammed their eyes shut and pressed their forelegs against their faces. It was blinding and painful and hot and horrid… …and so utterly beautiful. Then there was a cool darkness and a gentle thrum… and they all opened their eyes to see the Gate restored, its energy stable and its magic no longer causing such wanton destruction. And from within they heard voices… a thousand voices speaking together as one. They said no words but they all understood. It was the abstracts, those without forms or bodies… wondering if they were needed. They called to Faith, the one that had made the summons, if only by accident, asking if their world was in danger. It was Twilight who spoke at long last. “No… no… we are protected.” A slight trill filled the air, like a happy tune played upon a flute… and the Gate disappeared, quiet once more and waiting for the time it was needed to open again. “Is… is it over?” Apple Bloom whispered as the forest grew quiet once again. “I think it is,” Luna said. Overheard the cheers began to ring out, and soon all that were gathered in that clearing began to hug each other and laugh and cry. Applejack wrapped her forelegs around Big Mac, Celestia and Luna laid their heads against each others, and Cadence and Shining embraced and filled the Everfree with a pink glow of love. Up above they heard some cheers and they looked up in time to see Derpy dip the Doctor and deliver a tail-curling kiss. Flim and Flam fired off the cannons and IronWill pumped his fist and roared in delight. Only three did not join in. Twilight and her friends, along with Trixie and Spike, broke away from the crowd and joined Faith, Honesty and Kindness. The three abstracts, the last of their family, stood on the spot where Generosity had been, looking down at it with tears in their eyes and smiles on their lips. Their sister had died there, not as a monster but as a sane mare once more, doing as she always wanted: giving of herself. “She always loved to make grand exits,” Faith said, laughing weakly. He didn’t resist when Kindness reached over and for the first time in a thousand years hugged him. He looked skyward and smiled. “Her spirit moves on… to join with the greatest heroes of Equestria… and now, in their grand company… she shall feel no shame.” “Faith…” Twilight said, walking up to him. Kindness backed away and Faith looked at Twilight in confusion as she smiled… then punched him hard in the face. Before he could fall Twilight grabbed him and planted a kiss on him. “That’s for doing something so stupid!” Trixie nodded, bumping Twilight aside and kissing the lord of the gray… then belting him as well. “And that is for kissing Doubt!” “I didn’t want to kiss her,” Faith weakly protested. “Sure,” Rainbow teased, hovering above him. She leaned down and summoned a cloth, which she with surprising tenderness used to begin cleaning his wounds. “We all know what dirty fantasies you stallions have.” “What fantasies?” Faith said in genuine confusion. The others stared at him, waiting for the joke, but he just continued to look on blankly. “Why are you all staring at me like that?” Honesty glanced at Applejack and shrugged. “He fell before I could give him that little talk.” “What talk? What is everyone laughing about?” Faith asked, perturbed by how they all seemed to be taking great joy at his expense. Even Fluttershy was giggling… though only after Kindness leaned in and whispered a quick explanation. “So… what now?” Spike asked as the laughter grew quiet. The others looked at him and the baby dragon shrugged. “I mean… the war is over. The Queens are gone-“ he gave all the ponies and abstracts a hard look and they all bashfully nodded, “-are gone and there is no more Doubt… unless she is ready to spring a trap on us right now!” The others jumped and Spike looked about with wide eyes, earning some curious looks from the princesses and the rest of the rebellion. “Ok… so she’s gone for good. But all those places are still destroyed and ponies are going to have questions… so what do we do now?” The others shuffled uneasily, trying to think of something to say. Indeed, the way Spike painted it… the path before them was littered with hurdles. Faith, his body aching, took a step forward. He’d sacrificed much of his magic and now stood at Twilight and Trixie’s height, his wings and horn torn away and needs time to grow back. The two mares stood beside him as he looked up at the trees, the sun shining down upon them as Doubt’s chaos storm was blown away. “We honor Generosity’s final wish,” Faith said. “And that is?” Fluttershy asked. “We live.”