//------------------------------// // Spectrum of Guidance // Story: Purity Corruption // by TheBlox //------------------------------// Altruise’s training with Drake had come to a close shortly after her new vengeful motives were announced. She wanted a break to get some air, so she wandered off on her lonesome, and she climbed back up to the top of the mountain. Sitting on the rock at the very top of the mountain under the noon sun overhead, she turned her neck at all angles. No land was in view over any horizon from here; just pure ocean in every direction. Drake flew up to the mountain and landed next to her. “I thought I might find you here.” He murmured. Altruise paused briefly before saying anything. “You’re probably not going to want to train me any more after what I said.” She muttered, avoiding eye contact. “And why would I stop now?” Drake questioned her. “Goddess knows what I’d wish to do with my magic if I was strong enough…” Altruise grumbled, “I was raised to be a good pony; loving and forgiving…” She frowned and lowered her head, “But how can somepony forgive what he did to my home and family?” “You know, I’ve had the same thoughts my whole life since my parents were killed.” The pegasus admitted, “I’ve always wanted revenge. And… maybe you were right about what you said.” Altruise turned to look at him, “Right about what?” “I guess maybe it is because I’m too afraid to confront him that I choose to live a sheltered life. I’ve been alone all my life because I didn’t want to be known, afraid that he might find me and kill me too.” He sighed and frowned, turning away. “But I won’t lie that I’ve always wanted to kill him, so I feel your pain. But what kind of chance does a pegasus have against a unicorn with power like that.” The two ponies sat in silence, looking over the horizon. The wind rippled through their manes, and Altruise stood to trot to the ledge of the cliff in front of her. “I miss them.” She murmured in silence. “I know.” Drake replied. “Mom, Dad…” She lowered her head, thinking of everypony else, “Mila… Hearth… Mr. and Mrs. Chili and their foal…” She winced, and tears started to form, “They’re all gone… They’re dead…” Drake sighed, “Right now you’re just a foal yourself, and facing against him now would be absolutely suicide.” “I know…” Altruise grumbled, lowering her head in a frown. “But after witnessing what you are capable of, I would not doubt that when you’re older, you may just have what it takes to defeat him.” Drake exclaimed, “You know… I’m still willing to help train you.” “You’re… you’re going to help me?” The filly was a little shocked about that. “I wouldn’t say revenge is the most harmonious action, but I desire it as much as you do.” Drake looked ahead, “There’s a significant difference between right and wrong, and vengeful justice is under a debatable category.” “He doesn’t deserve to live after the things he’s done…” Altruise murmured, “I don’t even think the Princess herself would show him any mercy.” Lowering her head, she sighed, “What do I do though? I feel like I need to do this to make myself feel better; he needs to feel the same way I do now, and rot in the ground for all I care…” She looked up, her eyes still damp, “Just… I need a sign…” Drake looked down at her, understanding her troubled mindset. “What do I do?” She asked herself again, “It doesn’t feel right to want to kill somepony…” She frowned, “But he sure deserves it.” Standing tall, she yelled at the horizon in frustration, “Goddess, give me a SIGN!!” The moment that was shouted, a full spectrum rainbow emerged from the distant horizon with a loud sonic boom explosion, and it flooded the sky with brilliant colours. Altruise merely fell back in surprise as she watched the ring of colours fade into the sky. “Wh-what h-happened?!” “I don’t believe it…” Drake stood up just as shocked as she was, and sauntered to the edge of the cliff to watch the ripples of the rainbow fade in the sky, “A Sonic Rainboom… I’ve never seen one of those before…” He turned to her, “I’ve always been told that if you’d ever see one of those, it’s a sign of good luck. They’re very rare.” Altruise stood wide-eyed, and felt dumbfounded. She turned to Drake, and the pegasus looked back at her. “I want to know everything.” The filly declared, “Everything you know, from every book, from every word you’ve ever been told by your father.” She stepped forward toward the pegasus, “I want that unicorn to know what he’s done. No mercy, I want him dead!” She leaned forward for emphasis, “We can get our revenge… Train me to be unstoppable. I have to do this!” Drake turned to the horizon, and took a moment to think. He sighed, and somberly glanced back down at the unicorn. “As you wish.” * * * * * Back at their training ground in the open field, Altruise sat in the grass prepared, and Drake paced back and forth in front of her like she was a soldier. “Alright, Altruise. If you’re going to want me to train you to know everything, you need to do everything I say.” He declared, “Some of the things I tell you to do you may not like, but if you want to become as powerful as Nebulous is, you need to listen to every word I say.” He stopped and turned to her, “You understand?” Altruise nodded, “I’ll do anything.” “Good.” Drake brought out the levitation book and flipped through it. “I don’t really care to learn much levitation today.” Altruise exclaimed. Drake looked down at her with a puzzled expression. “Well what do you want to learn?” “I want to summon storms.” Altruise went right to the tricky spells, “Levitation is simple to learn, let’s start with the real thing. If I’m going to defeat him, I want to know the advanced spells ahead of time so I have time to practice and improve.” Drake smiled at her sudden optimism and closed the levitation book. “Very well, we better get started then.” Putting the book down, he trotted up to her, “Now, you said you were able to do that beforehand.” “Well… Not exactly.” Altruise winced, “The storms were unintentional, and very unpredictable. I don’t know how it happened.” “They were a result of your anger.” Drake exclaimed, “Go ahead, try casting a storm spell and see what happens.” Altruise shrugged and stood for preparation. Her horn glowed, and she focused on the sky. The white clouds in the blue sky began to swirl around at a steady pace, but this wasn’t amusing Drake. “Are you going to cast a storm or spin clouds around in the air?” “I’m trying!” Altruise grumbled, “Why won’t it work?” She turned her horn off and rolled her eyes. There was a short pause, and Drake squinted at her, “Celestia weakened you. I know you can do better than that.” The filly frowned, “What did I do different that made my magic so intense?” “Like I said. Anger.” Drake declared, “I have an idea that may get this to work.” “Um, okay?” “You’re not going to like it though.” Altruise winced, but nodded. “What is it?” “Your parents are dead.” The filly’s ears twitched when she heard that. “I know that, why are you reminding me?” “Because there’s nothing you can do about it.” Drake continued, “They are dead, and Nebulous left you all alone.” Altruise frowned, and her horn began to spark. “That’s enough, Drake, I don’t like what you’re trying to do here.” “And you know what else?” The pegasus continued on, “You’re weak. And the Princess made you useless to do anything about it.” “Drake.” Altruise’s eyes frowned heavier, and her horn was forming more electrical energy, “Stop it.” “In fact, if it wasn’t for the Princess’ training, maybe you would’ve been strong enough to stop Nebulous when you had the chance.” “DRAKE, SHUT UP!!” Altruise shrieked, and a black cloud began to form in the sky, with a bolt of lightning striking down to her horn. Breathing angrily through her nostrils, she stood on all fours in a tense battle formation, “You done?!!” Drake went wide-eyed as the wind began to pick up. He just stopped speaking then and there, and his jaw hung open. Looking up at the sky, the black clouds grew thicker, and the wind picked up even stronger. And before they knew it, it began to rain with loud echoing thunder coming from the sky. Altruise noticed what was happening, and she collapsed to her haunches, frightened. “Ah, AH!” She growled, holding her sparking horn, “I-I can’t control it. I-it hurts!—OW!!” A bolt of lightning cracked from her horn and struck a radius around her, “AaaH! Not again! I-it hurts!!” Drake backed away, and looked around him with uncertainty. “Maybe this wasn’t a good idea.” “AAAGH!” Altruise growled, holding her head, “Nebulous… I-I’ll kill him! I’LL KILL HIM!!” More clashes of lightning, and the rain turned to hail; they could hear the hailstones patter across the land, and they fell upon them like stinging needles. “Control it, Altruise!” Drake winced, “Like the fire on the coconut you did this morning, figure out why this is happening, and control it.” His shouting was being challenged by the loud constant thunder and lightning. Soon everything was going dark, and the entire sky was black of clouds. “C-can’t… turn it off…” Altruise muttered, “I…AaaAAGH!” More lightning emerged from the sky, and blew craters of rubble into the ground; a few of them almost struck Drake. “WOAH! Watch it!” Drake sneered. “AAAgh!” Altruise growled, and dropped her head to the ground, holding her head by her horn. “AAaAAH!!” Tears began to fill her eyes and she murmured, “I-I c-can’t. I… I can’t stop it… It… it hurts…” Soon, she blacked out entirely, and fell to her side unconscious. “Altruise??” Once she was out cold, the lightning surrounding her slowly faded away, and the clouds in the sky slowed their spiraling. The hail turned back to rain, and eventually the rain soon stopped as well. “Altruise, are you alright?” Once the lightning was cleared from her, Drake approached her and shook her shoulder, “Altruise?” The thunder and lightning in the sky slowed down as well, with mere echoes remaining of the thunder as the storm gradually disappeared, along with the dark clouds, slowly revealing the blue sky once more. “Ugh… Well, that went well.” Drake muttered, and picked the filly up, and he flew back to the shack. * * * * * Altruise slowly drifted in and out of consciousness with a blurred vision. Murmuring in her sleep, she finally came to, and put a hoof on her head. A grunt, and she limply sat up, finding herself on her bed of pillows. Slowly turning her neck, her blurry vision slowly regained focus, and she found Drake sitting at the table. “How long was I out…?” The filly groaned. “Couple hours.” Drake replied, “Not long. You doing alright?” “Head kinda hurts…” Altruise murmured while rubbing a hoof through her mane, “But I’m okay…” “I must admit, that was quite an impressive display you put on.” “Huh?” “Your magic.” Drake exclaimed, “Sure you weren’t able to control it, but the strength of that storm was impressive coming from a filly your age.” Altruise frowned and turned away, “If you say so.” The pegasus sighed, “I hope you’re not mad at me for the way I trained you.” “Well… I guess I am a little.” The unicorn replied, “But it worked, I guess.” “If anger is what caused your magic in the first place, that seems to be the best way to pinpoint exactly how you’re able to do it.” Altruise stood up and took a few limping steps forward, “So, what, you’re trying to piss me off to see what I can do?” “Huh?” “Anger is not something I am used to, Drake.” Altruise grumbled, “I’ve never experienced this kind of anger, and I really don’t like how it feels.” Drake sighed, “Do you want to avenge your parents or not?” “Well, yeah, but I…” “If experiencing anger is what causes your magic to outburst like that, then we need to make you feel anger. It seems that’s the best way to trigger it for now, until you can understand how you’re doing it so you can control it. Just like the coconut fire this morning.” The pegasus leaned into his hoof against the table, “I didn’t tell you it was going to be easy. I had already told you that you would not like all of my methods of training. They can be hard, and sometimes strict, but they’re going to work better than taming your mind.” Altruise sighed, “Sometimes though, my magic hurts me…” “That’s something you’re going to have to get used to.” Drake declared. The filly was a little surprised by this. “My father experienced pain when he performed the most difficult magic. No matter what, if you try to cast spells that are more designed for an alicorn’s horn, you’re going to experience at least some pain. Like summoning storms, they hurt because the magic is huge. Not because you’re not used to it, but because your horn is not an alicorn horn; unicorns are not exactly meant to be able to do that in the first place. And those who can, they experience pain, some more than others.” “But I had thought that my magic hurt because I have no control…” Altruise was puzzled by this, “You’re telling me that it’s always going to hurt?” “If Celestia told you that magic isn’t meant to hurt, she was right in some areas. It’s not meant to hurt if unicorns are doing their natural low-level spells. I suppose that is her way of telling you not to try casting high-level magic.” Drake let out a sigh, “It hurt you because that’s exactly what you were doing. The only difference is you were doing it unintentionally. If you were doing it intentionally, it would still hurt; and that is just something you are simply going to have to get used to, because the pain isn’t avoidable when performing that kind of magic.” Altruise sighed and slumped to her haunches, “Who am I kidding anyway? There’s no way I could stand a chance against Nebulous.” She lowered her head, “I can’t keep focus on my spells when it hurts like that; it makes it so hard to control…” “Practice, Altruise. And some day, I am sure the pain will be nothing but a tickle to you.” Drake reassured her, “Some day, when you’re older, you will become so powerful, even Nebulous himself will shake with fear.” “And what makes you think so…” “Your magic has only just begun.” Drake exclaimed, “You’ve got many years ahead of you to practice and train. And the very first spell you have ever performed was in fact one of the most difficult.” He leaned forward for emphasis, “You, Altruise, are a very significant unicorn. You’re more powerful than you realize.” Altruise looked up at him with reassurance. “So, really this is all up to you.” Drake declared, “I will continue training you, but only if you so choose. I can’t promise it will be simple, nor can I promise that you will like some of the methods I may use. But I assure you, that when all is said and done, you will get your revenge. That I promise.” The unicorn took a moment to put that to thought, but was silent. “I would certainly go after him myself, if I was a unicorn.” He spanned his wings with a sigh, looking left and right at his wings, “But I don’t think I can beat him with just hooves and feathers.” He put his wings back to his sides and looked back down at the filly, “At any rate, it’s your call.” Altruise stood back to her hooves and looked up to him with somberness. “My family never really did have a chance…” She murmured, “I watched the last moment of their fight with Nebulous… I watched how my mom and dad worked together like a perfect team…” Tears began to fill her eyes, “I watched him strike them when they were down and helpless…” She gritted her teeth. “He just… looked them in the eyes, grinning, and… just… killed them. Right there in front of me.” Drake felt a lump in his throat, and swallowed out of pity. “Sorry you had to see them like that…” “I know what you’re trying to do.” Altruise murmured, “You want me to pursue my vengeance so you can get yours as well.” The pegasus sighed and lowered his head, “I guess, in a way, perhaps I am a little guilty of that. I see the potential in you to be strong enough, but I can’t make you do this on my behalf. That’s selfish of me…” “No.” Altruise shook her head. “Beg your pardon?” “I wouldn’t think of that as selfish, because you and I both feel the same way.” “But you’re just a filly.” Drake muttered, “How could I forgive myself if you’d fail? And even if you weren’t in your foal years, if you died, I’d blame none other than myself.” Altruise sighed, “I know where you’re coming from, but if Nebulous and I fight, it is an act on my own decision.” She stepped forward, “So, train me. Either way, I’m going after him. So if you want me to stand a chance, push me to become stronger. At least that way, you can say you did something to help.” Drake glanced down at her with solemn eyes, “Are you absolutely certain this is what you want.” The unicorn nodded, “Yes.” That said, the pegasus stood from his seat. “Well then… If you are going to go after him, we should carry on, yes?” Altruise grinned, “The sooner we train, the sooner I can be ready.” “Alright.” Drake put a proud smile on and exit through the door, “Let’s go then, shall we?” The filly nodded and trotted after him. Trailing through the trees, they made their way to their training grounds. The sun still had a few hours left in the sky. “Uh… Drake?” Altruise murmured and sat in the grass. Drake stopped and turned to the filly with curiosity. “Yes, Altruise, what is it?” “Um… Would it be alright, if…” She looked up at him, then down to the ground. “If, I uh…” Drake stood and patiently waited for her question. “Could I call you my father…?” She looked up at him with somber tears. This question slammed Drake in the chest like a pile of bricks; he was not prepared for that. “I… beg your pardon, Altruise?” “Can I call you Father?” She asked again, this time more to the point. The pegasus stood there in silence, and the wind rippled through the air passing through their manes. It took a long moment, but with serenity, he replied. “As you wish.” * * * * *