//------------------------------// // Chapter twenty eight. Now with pictures! // Story: Shadow in the Dark // by Thestoryteller //------------------------------// Far south from the battle airships the battle between the three Sin's and the three Light's was taking place. Of course the first moments were confusing due to the fact that Cheese appeared out of nowhere and everyone inside was teleported to who knows where. But it didn't take long for everyone to push aside that moment and focus on the now. Currently Applebloom and Timor were both sparring off aways from the others. Meanwhile, the now in control of their powers, Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell faced Odium, Cupiditas, and the still mind controlled large dragon with glowing red eyes Spike. When Silver Platter vanished the crystal dome that shielded the group from Odium and Cupiditas crumbled piece by piece. With no dome both Spero and Amare gave full control back to their hosts. Now the five had landed on the ground as no one moved at all, they only stared at one another each waiting for the other to make a move. "Host Scootaloo." Spero said within Scootaloo's mind. "I understand that this may be sudden but understand that we had to remain hidden in hopes that the three Sin's would not find us." 'It's alright...ummm.' Scootaloo's thought trailed off as she forgot the name of the one inside her head. "Spero." The Element of Hope answered. 'Spero right, sorry about that. Anyways, I want to know why I was chosen as the Element of Hope and when I was chosen." Scootaloo asked. "That is unwise, our opponents are right in front of us and could attack at any moment-" 'I don't care!' Scootaloo cut Spero off. 'I want an answer and I want it now.' "...*sigh*...as you wish. You were chosen when you had faced great Fear and defeated it." 'But when did I become the Element of Hope?' Scootaloo emphasized 'when'. "It was when you had faced your nightmares and showed that you could be a powerful weapon against the three Sin's. Their were others who showed great strength but the child of light and darkness commanded that we choose you." Spero explained. 'Child of light and darkness?' Scootaloo asked. "Yes, the child of the first Alicorns that had existed in the beginning of time." Before the conversation between host and Element could continue Odium shouted, "Hey!" Everyone turned to Odium. "I've had enough time waiting for something to happen." He glared at Scootaloo. "You and I have a score to settle, Spero." "Be careful Host Scootaloo." Spero warned. "Our opponent is Odium, the Element of Rage. While he lacks in brains he makes up for it in strength." "Yeah, I think I already got that." Scootaloo said, readying herself to fight. Odium was the first to act. Motioning his hoof to Scootaloo the large dragon gave a vicious roar as it charged forwards towards Scootaloo. Now Scootaloo's first instinct was to fly upwards and dodge the attack. There was just one problem, she couldn't fly. Which sucked because she could really use right about now. "Allow me to help you." Spero said as Scootaloo's eyes glowed blue. And in almost an instant she changed. Armored Scootaloo Her body became engulfed up in a light blue aura. Blue pieces of armor began to build itself onto Scootaloo's body as it covered her back, belly, legs, and neck. From the neck piece a blue aura helmet built itself onto her head. The helmet covered the entire head and face, two metal ear-like things sprouted from the back of the head that covered her ears. The face of the helmet was a T like shape where Scootaloo was able to see out of. Two holes formed on the body sides of the armor which allowed her wings to sprout out of. The blue aura armor affected the wings as well. What was once a pair of feathered Pegasus wings was now a wing that was made of three blue blade like things. At first Scootaloo thought that she wouldn't be able to fly with such wings, but her opinion was dramatically changed as she jumped off the ground and sailed into the sky at impossibly fast speed. Spike came to a halt as his head flowed Scootaloo flying upward. Opening his mouth a large amount of green flames was fired at Scootaloo. The green inferno came so close to Scootaloo that she had no time to dodge the attack. Her only option, besides being burned to a flaming corpse, was to block it. Hovering in place Scootaloo crossed her forelegs in front of herself in hopes that it might be able to give a somewhat shield against the green flames. And just like that a large blue aura shield appeared in front of her. Once the green flames had reached to where Scootaloo was, the flames went past Scootaloo unaffected except for the flames that burned against the shield. The terrifying thought that the shield might break loomed in Scootaloo's head, but the shield never faltered or cracked. "Do not be afraid Host Scootaloo. You power is fueled by your hope, it cannot exist without it." Spero tried to reassure her Host. "Okay." Scootaloo said, pushing aside the fears and doubts that she had felt. The green flames had passed Scootaloo and evaporated into the atmosphere. All but the blue aura shield was the only thing that was hit by the green flames. Lowering her forelegs the blue shield disappeared. "Good job." Odium said from behind Scootaloo. Whipping her head around Scootaloo was met with the angered face of Odium. A red ball that pulsed violently with raged magic hovered a few inches above Odium's hoof. "Your just like Spero aren't you. Always defending, never attacking when you should." Odium spat. "It disgusts me." "Oh yeah." Scootaloo gritted her teeth. "Well if you want offense." She paused, extending her right hoof as a blue aura sword emerged. "You bet your flank that I'm gonna bring it!" Scootaloo charged. "Soooo..." Sweetie bell said. "Are we gonna fight?" Cupiditas shrugged. "Nah, will let them fight and once their done it'll be our turn." 'He's more peaceful than the others.' Sweetie thought. "That's because the Element of Greed is more manipulative than the others." Amare warned. "So be on your guard." Continues strikes and slashes were drawn as Scootaloo's blue sword clashed against Odium's more brutal looking sword. Each attack, whether it was dealt by Scootaloo or Odium, it was either dodged or blocked by the swords target. "It seems I was wrong Element of Hope." Odium grinned, savoring ever detail of the battle. "Apparently you do have a spine." "Yeah, and I'm gonna kick you back to whatever Tartarus you came from with it." Scootaloo threatened. "Calm yourself Scootaloo, if you are not careful Odium will feed off of your hatred." Spero warned. "Don't care!" Scootaloo shouted slashing her sword at Odium. Who simply dodged the easily sighted attack. "You should listen to Spero, Element of Hope." Odium grinned. "A guide is nothing but a burden if not listened to." "Shut your mouth and fight." Scootaloo growled, a faint glow of red could be seen from inside her helmet. With a roar Odium charged at Scootaloo and Scootaloo did the same. Both swords crashed against the other as Scootaloo glared at Odium and Odium glared at Scootaloo. Both tried to use their strength to overpower the other but it was no use as both became entrapped in a standstill. That is until a wicked smile grew across Odium's face as his horn lit up. Scootaloo only had a five second window to dodge the attack. Which was enough time for her to do something really stupid. She reared back her head, and headbutt Odium in the face. Odium flared back as he howled in pain from the unexpected attack. Scootaloo flew back as well, her head not in pain but a bit shaken up. Odium growled at Scootaloo in rage as he growled. The growl grew into a fully mature roar as red magic flared from his wings and body. The red magic then began to go upwards seeping into a small red ball that had formed above his horn. As more magic seeped in the larger the ball grew. And grew. And grew. And grew. Until it was the five times the size of the small ball before. Scootaloo hovered in awe at the large sphere of menacing red magic. "Oh colt." Scootaloo muttered in fright. "Do not let fear take control of you." Spero warned. "Rember that you have the light of Hope. You can do this, you must believe in yourself and in others." But how could she believe. How could she possibly believe that she could defeat this alicorn who showed incredible power. She was just a Pegasus that could barely fly, fighting against someone who was a bucking alicorn. As the thoughts of doubt and fear continued to flow through her mind the blue armor that protected her began to crack and falter. Thoughts of seeing her friends defeated and broken flashed into her head. Tears were on the verge of bursting out of her eyes at the sight of her broken friends. "Perish Element of Hope!" Odium roared as he chucked the red sphere at Scootaloo. Despite its size the sphere traveled at incredible speed. Soaring straight at Scootaloo who hovered unable to move. Her eyes flashed a bright blue before completely vanishing. "I'm afraid." Scootaloo whimpered. Unable to move Scootaloo was met with full collision with the red sphere. The sphere pushed the filly downwards towards the ground. The blue armor that protected Scootaloo was beginning to break off piece by piece. When the sphere had made contact with the ground a loud KABOOOOOM!!!! Erupted from the ground as a red mushroom cloud formed on the crater. "Scootaloo!" Sweetie Bell shouted towards the crater. "I did not think Spero would fall prey to fear." Amare said in astonishment. "Sweetie, you must fight Cupiditas. You won't be able to help your friend without defeating Cupiditases first." Sweetie was about to retort but became aware that she was no longer where she once was. What was once a rocky and grassy plane was now an empty void of total darkness. Well I wouldn't call it a void cause there was a floor. But other than that, it looked like empty space. "Hehehehehe." Cupiditases chuckle echoed throughout the void/empty space/cheeseburger. Sweetie frantically searched around the void/empty space/yes I said cheeseburger, I'm hungry. "Poor Element of Love." Cupiditas sighed. "It's such a powerful thing. But it's greatest power is its greatest downfall." "Show yourself!" Sweetie demanded. "Let me tell you a story, Element of Love." Cupiditas said, ignoring anything Sweetie said. "Long ago there were two Elements of Love. Both siblings, both cared for each other to the end. But then a certain someone came and severed that bond between the two siblings. A pony." Cupiditas chuckled as the old memories came back to him. "It's funny how a simply pony came between two powerful beings. The two Elements fell in love with the pony. But only one could have his love. And guess what? The pony chose one of the siblings while the other was left with nothing but heartbreak." Cupiditas said venomously. "But the heartbroken sibling hated his sister. Hated everything that she had. So the sibling decided that if he could not let the pony love him he would take her and make her his. And so the sibling evolved. It was no longer an Element of Love." Cupiditas said appearing right behind Sweetie and whispered in her ear, "And became the Element of Greed." Goosebumps ran all over Sweetie Bell's skin at the sound of Cupiditases words. Acting on impulse Sweetie turned around, her horn glowed pink as she was ready to send a magic blast right towards Cupiditases way. But she stopped as the one behind her was not Cupiditas. It was First Base. "Base?" Sweetie asked in bewilderment. First Base said nothing, only smiled. From behind First Base came Dinkie sharing the same smile as Base. The two locked eyes and kissed each other. Sweetie's eyes shrunk in awe and fear at the sight she was seeing. Her mind commanded that her body move, that she needed to look away. But both refused, standing still she was forced to watch the display. Cupiditas appeared next to Sweetie once again. "Love has two paths, one leads to happiness and beauty while the other leads to heartbreak." Cupiditas said. "My sister got to travel down the path of happiness while I was left to travel down the road of heartbreak. But you don't have to walk down that path Sweetie Bell." Cupiditas smiled. Sweetie's eyes became fully orange, showing her a new image. Instead of Dinkie and First Base now Sweetie Bell and First Base were kissing each other. "Abandon the Element of Love, abandon the road of heartbreak and get everything that you deserve. Go on." Cupiditas said, an orange orb appeared in front of Sweetie. "Take what belongs to you." "No!" The orange in Sweetie's eyes faded away as she shook her head. Opening her eyes she was no longer in a void/empty space/I really want a cheeseburger. Looking in front of her she saw that the one who was responsible for getting her out of the trap was a colt earth pony with brown fur and a light orange mane. "Button Mash?" One rock, two rocks, red rocks, blue rocks. Rocks of all kind fell onto the pile of rocks which Scootaloo was buried in. Without the blue light of hope to protect her, Scootaloo had taken the full amount of pain from the falling rocks. Surprisingly the large red magic ball that struck Scootaloo didn't really hurt, it just shoved her towards the ground. "H-h-h-host...Scoo-oo-oo-taloo...are...y-y-yo...yo-u-u-u...alright-t-t?" Spero's voice started to glitch inside Scootaloo's head. "Spero..." Scootaloo coughed and grunted in pain, her head turned over to her left to see a large Boulder had crushed her wing, left forehoof, and left hind leg. "I don't think I'm doing to well." "Y-y-o-our..lef-f-ft...wing...I-I-I-is dammmmmaged...hop-p-pe not deeeeeeetected..." Spero's voice said in a glitch state. Yeah, that was obvious alright. Scootaloo gazed at the empty sky above her. Not a cloud to be seen for miles. That small taste of sky was enough for Scootaloo to crave for it ten times more. But now she couldn't. Just like before, she had been chained back to the ground only able to stare hungry at the sky. Yes the light of hope was very weak in Scootaloo now. There was little chance for the small light to even be able to live anymore. But there was a chance. And somepony took it. Suddenly the large Boulder that had crushed Scootaloo's left hind leg, left forehoof, and left wing began to wiggle. Then it wiggled some more. This continued until the large Boulder was heaved forward as a Pegasus colt pushed the Boulder. The colt grunted and wheezed from the sheer weight of the large rock but he was able to push it off Scootaloo's left limbs. Once her eyes had adjusted Scootaloo was able to see the full detail of the colt. "Rumble?" The wind whistled as it blew past Sweetie Bell, Cupiditas, and Button Mash, adding more of the dramatic tension to the moment. Cupiditas scoffed then spoke, "Who are you?" "My name is Button Mash...and well...I'm gonna fight you to protect Sweetie Bell." Button said trying his best to not to look intimidated but was beginning to crack under the pressure. Cupiditas stared at Button Mash quizzically before he burst out laughing. "Pfthahahahaha!" Cupiditas laughed. "You joking right?" Cupiditas asked like he had just heard the funniest thing in his life. "Your no Elemental." Cupiditas said as he began to approach Button. "Your no Alicorn. No unicorn. No Pegasus. No." He paused stand but two feet from Button. "Your just an earth pony, the lowest form of a pony. One who was not granted magic or flight. And from the looks of it I'd say you don't even have a fourth of normal earth pony strength." "Leave him alone!" Sweetie Bell shouted. Cupiditas smiled at those words. "You care for this one don't you?" Cupiditas asked. "Good, you can watch him die." "NO!" Sweetie Bell shouted, her horn and eyes became engulfed in pink magic as she released a pink magical blast which push Cupiditas far away. Button rushed to Sweetie Bell. "Button...what...what are you doing here?" Sweetie huffed. "I came to help. Listen, you can beat this guy I know you can." Button said. "I can't..." Sweetie whimpered. "I just...I just can't." "Hey look at me." Button said, losing his hoof underneath Sweetie Bell's chin and raising it up to face him. "You need to stop focusing on him." Sweetie's eyes widened at that. "Oh don't give me that look, everyone knows that you've had a crush on First Base since the day you first saw him. But just because he loves someone else doesn't mean that you have to live with heartbreak your whole life. So come on." Button offered his hoof to Sweetie Bell. "Let's kick this bad Guy's butt all the way back to Tartarus, together." At first Sweetie just stared aimlessly at the hoof. But the thoughts of heartbreak and saddness began to slowly drift away as she took his hoof. "Love reestablished." Amare said. "What are you doing here?" Scootaloo groaned. A bit of anger/frustration inside her voice. "I couldn't leave you behind." Rumble said, carefully picking up Scootaloo and setting her back to a rock. "Why did you come to help me? You could've gotten yourself hurt. Or worse..." Scootaloo couldn't finish her sentence. "Don't go all sappy on me Scoots." Rumble said. "But it's true." Scootaloo retorted. "The red guys an alicorn who's probably twice as strong as Celestia...and I'm just a filly Pegasus who can barely fly." "Don't say things like that." Rumble growled. "So what if...whatever-his-name-is, is an Alicorn. Your Scootaloo, the mare who acted all tough in face of danger. Remember that time we all tried to get our cutie marks in animal tracking?" Scootaloo chuckled weakly. "How could I forget? Sweetie Bell and Button couldn't stop screaming when that timberwolf came out of nowhere." "Yeah that was funny." Rumble smiled. "But you didn't run, you stared down that timberwolf and didn't budge and inch." Scootaloo's eyes fell to the ground. "That's only because you were there to back me up." "Then let me back you up one more time." Rumble said. Scootaloo stared blankly at Rumble before saying, "Deal." "Hope detected." Spero said. As the battle between the Elements of Hope, Rage, Love, Greed, Will, and Fear continued on in the south, in the far north the five battle airships had entered into the cold area near the north. Due to the temperature being somewhere around negative eleven degrees Fahrenheit at the deck of the airships anyone who was made of flesh, and wasn't one of Nightwing's Guardian's, was now equipped with a warm coat that protected them from the now icy winds. Aboard the lead airship, in the second level, an unhappy looking Twilight Sparkle was marching her way to the chart room to have a lengthy discussion with Nightwing. Walking up the stairs she levitated a purple fleece coat onto herself, along with some boots, pulling the hood over her head, and a pair of ski goggles. Now fully clothed Twilight opened the door to the outside and was met with the howls of the icy winds. Twilight walked out and shut the door behind her as she made her way to the chart room. Upon reaching the chart room Twilight swung the door open and entered. Pulling up her goggles she could see that her plan had taken a major u-turn when she saw that Nightwing wasn't in the room, but rather someone else whom she wasn't really alright talking to. Fluttershy. The shy Pegasus mare held her hooves up to mouth trying to suppress her gasp by the sudden intrusion. Twilight blushed lightly from embarrassment that she had startled one of her closest friends. "I-I-I'm sorry." Twilight stammered. "I didn't mean to disrupt you." Fluttershy slowly removed her hooves from her mouth and sighed, "It's okay Twilight, you just startled me that's all." Fluttershy said softly. "Well...you wouldn't happen to know where Nightwing is would you?" Twilight asked, a distaste met her mouth upon speaking his name. "I...I don't, sorry." Fluttershy said softly once more. "Well...tell me if you see him okay?" Twilight said as she began to walk out the door. "Twilight wait." Fluttershy said a bit hesitant. Twilight stopped and turned to face her shy friend. "Yes?" She asked. Fluttershy shifted uncomfortably under the sheer weight of the suspension. But after taking a deep breath she said, "We...you and I...need to talk." "Um...okay." Twilight said turning 87 percent of her attention to Fluttershy. "It's about Flash...I'm sure he's already told you about me being his adopted sister and all. But he told me...he told me..." Fluttershy struggled to say the words. Her mind simply refused to believe that her dearly beloved friend and princess was capable of doing such an awful thing. "Fluttershy, it's okay. Take your time." Twiligh's words of reassurance barely scratched the hard metal of Fluttershy's problems. With another deep breath she said, "Nightwing has told me that you...you erased my brother's memories and replaced them with ones so that he would fall in love with you." Fluttershy's words shot straight into Twilight's heart. "I...don't want to believe it." She began to choke. "Twilight, you were one of my closest and best friends. The thought of you doing something so cruel...I just can't imagine something like that...so please." She began to to beg, tears forming in her eyes. "Please tell me you, Princess of Friendship and Harmony, didn't do something like that. Please." Twilight could no longer look at Fluttershy. Her head fell down as her eyes stared blankly at the floor, wishing that maybe it could give her an answer. And one came. She could lie. Say that Nightwing was just playing a cruel joke just to spite Twilight. But it would've been a lie, a lie to Fluttershy. How could she bare to face herself in the mirror after lying to her friend about something that crucial. She made her choice. "Fluttershy...I...I'm sorry but..." Twilight wasn't able to say another word. "So it's true..." Fluttershy's voice began to fill with hate and sadness. "You...took away my brothers memories...memories of his brother Lightning Strike...his mom and dad...even me...why?" Why? Why did Twilight do it? The answer was simple. Greed. Greed had taken over Twilight and consumed her. In that state she refused to let Flash love her, and made sure that he would always love her. But it soon turned towards guilt. She felt guilty that she had done something so horrible and wished that she could undo what had been done. But no matter what type of spell she could've casted it would result in completely destroying Flash's brain. Twilight opened her mouth to say something. But out of nowhere Nightwing appeared on the table. "Why are you two not ready for battle?" He demanded. "Did my Guardian's not inform you all that we will be arriving soon? Get ready." And with that Nightwing vanished once again.