The Poncho Chronicles IV: Through the Portal

Chapters

Passion
Reunion
Ciyelor
Training
Fear
Apollo
Wanted
Interrogation
Spark
Masquerade
Gold
Omega
Legacy
Alpha
Theater

Passion

As Patel was on his flight back home to Verona, he thought about how he would go back and stop Arlin. He thought of other ponies that would help him, but he didn’t want to reveal why he wanted to go back.

At first he thought about the Royal Guard. Obviously, that would be really weird if some random pony went to go tell them about some crazy dude in the middle of the desert who is secretly building an army to destroy you, so he excluded them from his search.

Another big topic was getting back in Area-Fifty Juan in the first place. Yarlin helped him get in, but Yarlin wasn’t with him anymore. Patel thought it would be silly if Arlin and the others just casually let him back in with open arms. He had to think of a way to sneak in, just like Arlin did those years ago.

Patel shook his head from the thoughts and looked out the plane window. He watched the plane float above the clouds and maintain the same altitude. The sky was pitch black, save for the nightly stars that scattered the sky. Patel looked at them trying to find constellations, but after failing to find a single one, lowered the window blind.

Patel opened up his notebook and scanned through his papers. Near the back, was some notes he wrote while he was in an Amsterdam museum two months ago. He flipped the page and saw the giant ‘Amsterdam’ on a page that he showed Cannon before they left. He quickly closed his notebook and took out his phone. He scrolled through his contacts until he got to the ‘The Band’ section.

After looking at the names of his friends he laughed. He did have an army. Not an actual army, but an army of goons that would help him out no matter what. Normally that would be the case, but this time it might be different. The problem for him was to get them all to agree on coming with him to the base.

For the rest of the flight back home, Patel thought of what he was going to say to the others, one by one, to make them join his attack. He wanted to be back on the flight to Pegas the next day, so Arlin couldn’t clone anymore ponies. He also thought of the ideal order of who to talk to first.

Patel arrived at the Canterlot airport at precisely seven in the evening. He went through all of the bullshit luggage retrieval and security checks, then quickly found a cab to take him to Verona. Since the cab liked to take the slow and scenic route, Patel arrived at Verona at eight. He tipped his cab and made his way past the road to Wahlburn and his house, towards the condo where four of his friends lived at. He went inside the lobby, said ‘hi’ to the receptionist who was on the computer, and galloped up the stairs. He knocked on Clyde’s door first and waited.

After two minutes, Patel sighed. “Of course he’s not here.” Patel walked over to Rivs’ door and saw a small note attached to it. He picked it up and read it to himself:

Sticky and I are in Marolina this month for Rivalry Week. Go Dook!

Patel sighed again. Before leaving, Patel checked to see if Cannon was in his room, but like the others, he was also absent. Patel went back down the stairs and back into the lobby. He walked up to the receptionist desk.

“Excuse me,” said Patel. The receptionist looked up at him and smiled. “Hi, do you know where Cannon Schultz is?”

“Mr. Schultz?” asked the receptionist. “The one who lives up on Floor 4?”

“That’s the one.”

“I think I saw him leave earlier with a bag. I couldn’t tell you where he went. Sorry.”

Patel lifted his hoof. “That’s alright, I was just wondering. Thanks.” Patel turned around to leave but stopped in mid stride. He turned back towards the desk and looked down at her again. “Do you know where Clyde is? I think I already know the answer to this, but I could be wrong.”

The receptionist giggled. “He comes around here seldom anymore. Usually he makes a quick appearance to drop off or take a bag with him. Sometimes he comes in with a mare, or she comes in alone to go and fetch him. I’m guessing that’s his girlfriend, but I can’t remember her name.”

Patel sighed for the third time in about five minutes. “Rarity, I guess?”

“Unicorn who usually always dresses up? I just adore her outfits!” The receptionist went on with her Rarity admiration speech as Patel ignored her.

“Yep, that’s Rarity alright. I guess he’s at her house then. Thanks again.” Patel turned to leave. The receptionist was still talking about one of Rarity’s appearances as Patel sighed for the fourth time and exited the building.

Patel began his journey to Ponyville to go talk to Clyde. Patel never was actually in Ponyville before, so he went by Clyde’s description he gave his friends once. As he entered the town, he saw the clock tower show nine o’clock. The town was empty, as everyone was inside getting ready to go to sleep, but the town was lit by the houses along the roads. Patel passed Twilight’s library and wondered if he should stop by to see if Spike was there. It took him a few seconds to realize Spike moved away from this town to stay with Wahlburn and him. Soon, after walking by many of the famous buildings in Ponyville Clyde talked about, Patel stood at the front door of the Carousel Boutique.

Patel saw the ‘Closed’ sign facing out towards him, but he ignored it. He could tell someone was in there, as the lights in the building were seen through the windows. He looked at the detail of the exterior and sighed. He knocked on the door with three loud taps and waited.

At first, nothing happened and he thought he didn’t knock loud enough to be heard. Before he could knock again, the handle on the door glowed with a light blue aura.

“Hello?” asked Rarity in a friendly tone as the door swung open. As she saw Patel, her friendly face dropped into a sardonic frown. “Oh, it’s you.”

Patel laughed. “I take that you still don’t like me from what I said to you back on our Seaddle trip?” Her face remained the same as Patel tried switching topics. “Anyways, is Clyde in there?”

“Maybe,” said Rarity with the same serious face and tone.

“Well, uh, could I talk to him?”

“I mean, you can seeing how you are able to talk.” She gave a sly smile then returned to her serious gaze.

Patel put his hoof to his nose. “Could I please talk to him? It’s something important.”

Rarity dropped the serious facade and smiled. “Well, I guess since you asked so nicely, and because Clyde is your friend, I’ll allow it. He’s in the kitchen.” She let him in and closed the door with magic. She quickly pranced away back towards the kitchen as Patel slowly followed her and looked around. Once in the kitchen, he saw Clyde standing over a mug of hot chocolate. As Rarity walked over to him he smiled. She pointed to the doorway and Clyde looked up.

“Patel?” he asked. “What brings you to these parts? I thought you said you would never come to Ponyville?”

Patel laughed. “I wouldn’t have had to come here, if you actually lived at your apartment in Verona.”

“Clyde would much rather stay and spend time with me than live by himself in a plain and boring apartment,” said Rarity. “I don’t blame him honestly.” She smiled and Patel looked past her at Clyde. His response was a simple nod, shrug, and grin.

“Anyways, Clyde, I need to tell you something about my trip to Area-Fifty Juan.” Patel looked down at the floor trying to go over his plan on how to make Clyde join without him declining.

“Alright, let’s go to the relax room.” Clyde left the kitchen for the adjacent room, which Rarity liked to call the relax room. In it, was two chairs and a matching loveseat sofa. Rarity levitated the mug and pranced out of the room. Patel, like before, slowly walked out of the kitchen and looked around. Once Patel was in the new room, he took a seat in one of the chairs, as Clyde and Rarity sat beside each other on the loveseat. Around them, Patel saw, in the corner of the rooms were fabric spools and other items or materials in boxes that Rarity would use for her designs.

“So, what exactly do you want to tell me?” asked Clyde. He took the mug of hot chocolate from Rarity and took a few sips as Rarity took this time to cover herself in a blanket After almost burning his tongue, he gave it back to her.

“Alright,” said Patel. “Yarlin and I went to the yearly ‘Arlin’ meeting near Las Pegas yesterday. This meeting is where, you know, where Yarlin, even Xarlin and Pharlin if they were still alive, would meet their fellow brothers to talk about life and shit.”

“Okay.”

“Well, turns out, they aren’t brothers.”

Clyde looked at him strangely. “Are they cousins then?”

“No,” said Patel. “They-”

“Is is just some coincidence they all have the same name almost so they formed an annual meeting?” joked Clyde. Rarity giggled and continued sipping her hot chocolate.

“No!” exclaimed Patel. “They aren’t brothers, cousins, or random ponies that just so happen to have almost the same name. They are the same dude.”

Clyde and Rarity looked at each other. “What do you mean ‘same dude?’” asked Clyde. “They all are different looking.”

“Is this pony a unicorn or something?” asked Rarity. “I’ve never heard of some duplication technique without magic before.”

“He’s a regular Earth pony like Clyde and I,” said Patel. “He showed us how he was able to do it. Basically, Arlin, the ‘main leader’ of them all, found this portal-type machine in the secret base of Area-Fifty Juan that was able to clone himself into different types of himself.”

“How’s that even possible?” asked Clyde. “Is there a sacrifice involved?”

“Yeah, his blood. Although the blood needed is so small, it really doesn’t matter.” Patel looked down at the nicely polished and clean floor. “He’s been doing this for three years now.”

“Why though?” asked Clyde. “What’s his motive for filling the world with all these different clones of himself?”

“His goal is,” said Patel with a pause. He looked at each of them for a few seconds then closed his eyes. “World Domination.”

Clyde and Rarity looked at each other and instead of acting like they were panicked, they frowned. Patel still had his eyes closed waiting for the reaction, but soon opened them to figure why they weren’t scared. Patel looked over and saw them frowning.

“Well that’s a lame and unoriginal idea,” said Clyde.

“I agree. He could have thought of something more productive, like hard labor or models, instead.” Rarity shrugged and sipped some hot chocolate again as she snuggled down further into her blanket.

“So Clyde, you going to help me stop him?” asked Patel while staring at him waiting for an answer. Clyde looked at him puzzled as he was deciding what to say back. He also saw Rarity look at Clyde closely fearing what he would say back. “Do you want to know why I came to ask you first?”

Clyde perked up. “Why is that?”

“I had the option to go to anybody else first, but I thought to myself, why go through that hassle at all. Why not just get the most important one first?” Patel pointed at Clyde. “I knew getting you to come was going to be hard, but I knew that if I could get you to agree, then all the others should join no problem.”

“I don’t understand what-”

“Don’t you get it?” asked Patel. “Everybody likes you dude! Your friends with everybody in this town, Verona, and Canterlot combined! It’s so hard to get your vote on something, take Amsterdam for example.” Patel frowned and talked almost in a whisper: “Also, you are sort of a leader in our group....”

Clyde looked at him without any sort of expression then looked to the ground, thinking about what to do. Rarity placed the hot chocolate down on the table beside her and moved around under her blanket so she could have her head leaning against Clyde. She looked at Patel with the same expression she had against him when he knocked on the door. “So, you came here, to my house, just so you could take my Clyde away from me again?”

Patel looked at her. “Well, when you put it that way, it sounds like I pulled a dick move. Look, all we need to do is stop Arlin. After that, you can have him forever.”

Rarity gave a ‘hmph’ and looked away from him by snuggling her head into Clyde’s shoulder. Clyde was still staring at the ground and looked down at Rarity to his left. He smiled and looked back at Patel. “Fine. I’ll go.”

Rarity jerked her head back and Patel dropped his jaw. “What?!” they both said simultaneously.

“Just because Arlin owes me for that one time I died and because if he does go for World Domination, he’ll come here eventually and I don’t want Rarity or her friends getting hurt.”

“Damn,” said Patel. “They should put up a statue of you somewhere. You are heroic as fuck.”

Rarity began to have tears in her eyes. “B-But, Clyde, darling-”

Clyde put his hoof to her mouth. “I’m not going to die. I told you before, my life is about making sure you are happy and out of danger.”

As he took back his hoof, Rarity began to pout, but stopped and smiled. “Alright....”

The three of them left the room and went back to the main room that led to outside. Clyde went upstairs to take a bag of things with him, leaving Patel and a sniffling Rarity. Patel noticed how sad she was and, surprisingly, felt bad so he wanted to cheer her up.

“Look, I’ll make sure-”

“Don’t talk to me.”

After a few minutes, Clyde came down the stairs with a lone saddlebag on his side. He walked up to them and looked at Patel. “I’m ready.”

“Alright man.” He looked over and saw the other two looking at each other. “You know what, I’ll wait outside. Take your time.” Patel quickly left the building, leaving Clyde and a sad Rarity.

“I promised already I wouldn’t die again so soon,” said Clyde lifting up her face with his hoof. “You don’t have to cry so much.”

Rarity smiled at him. “It’s not that, it’s just...it’s just I don’t like seeing you leave for dangerous and trivial situations your friends get into.”

Clyde laughed. “Yeah, that seems to happen a lot, but it happens. I can’t control what that do.”

She turned her head towards a mannequin near them. It was bare, except it was wearing a pair of necklaces around it’s neck. Rarity lifted them up and floated them over to him. She placed one over her head and lifted the other one over Clyde’s. “You remember those gems you bought me in Amsterdam? I made some necklaces with a few of them.”

Clyde looked down at his and saw that the main pendant of it was a light blue diamond shaped gem. The light blue color matched Rarity’s Cutie Mark. The string of the necklace looked like it was made out of suede leather or similar material.

“I’ll be sure to wear it everyday,” said Clyde. After a hug, some nose snuggles, and a quick kiss, Clyde said goodbye and turned to leave. Before he took a step, he saw the diamond on his necklace flash blue. He felt a warm, tingly feeling where the gem was touching him on his chest. He turned back to Rarity who had hers to her lips. She looked at him with her sultry, lowered eyes and slowly kissed the necklace. As soon as she did, Clyde’s necklace flashed again and he felt the warm feeling coming off of it.

“H-How are you doing that?” asked Clyde.

“It’s not me darling, it’s the gem,” said Rarity with a smile. “I enchanted it with Twilight’s help since I didn’t know the spell word by word. Just kiss the gem and the other’s should flash. Also, it should give off a warm feeling, which I’m guessing, is symbolic for our fiery passion towards each other. I figured, if we are ever distant from each other, we would always know that we can still spiritually feel each other.”

Clyde looked back down at his and lifted it up towards his face. The flashing gem was dying down and growing colder, as the gem would only flash for twenty seconds or so. He gave the gem a small kiss, and sure enough, Rarity’s gem on her necklace was flashing too. Rarity ran up to him one more time, for another nose snuggle, and after the real goodbye, Clyde bid farewell and exited the building.

Patel was sitting down under the tree a couple yards away from the Carousel Boutique. As Clyde walked up to him, he stood up.

“You done with your sappy shit yet?” asked Patel. Clyde nodded and began to walk away towards the town square. Patel caught up with him and walked beside him. Patel saw some sadness in his eyes. “I’m sorry I just showed up all of a sudden, but we can’t give Arlin time to grow anymore.”

“It’s whatever.”

As they passed Sweet Apple Acres, Patel spoke up again. “So, how was your holidays and whatnot? We haven’t talked since our return from Amsterdam.”

“It was good,” said Clyde. “I’m glad I finally had someone to spend the holidays with though. It was the first time I enjoyed it since I was real young.”

Patel looked at him. “Didn’t you spend it with her last year?”

“No, I had a basketball game in Detrot,” said Clyde. “Unfortunately, that whole week was away games so I couldn’t spend any time with her at all.”

“That’s sports for you.” Patel looked at the sky to strike more conversation as Clyde still seemed a little upset. “Did she enjoy your gifts from Amsterdam you gave her?”

“Yeah, she loved both my gifts. She used some of the gems I bought her to make this necklace I have on. She also loved her Hearth’s Warming gift, some diamond bracelet thing. She always said she wanted one, so I was happy at her reaction when she opened the box.”

“That’s cool,” said Patel. After a moment, he looked back at Clyde confused. “I thought you said you bought her three gifts from Amsterdam?”

Clyde looked at him. “I did. She doesn’t know about the third one yet.”

“Oh. It’s an-”

“Yep.”

“Ah. Gotcha.”

As Patel and Clyde finished their talk, Clyde’s necklace flashed blue. Clyde lifted it up and quickly kissed it and dropped it back down. Patel looked at him funny.

“What was that about?”

Clyde smiled. “It’s nothing.”

Patel shrugged and with Clyde, continued down the road back to Verona to go find the others in their quest to stop Arlin and his army once and for all.

Reunion

It was eleven at night when Patel and Clyde arrived in Verona. They went to the center of town and sat down along the fountain in the square. Patel looked around and sighed.

“I don’t even know where to start,” he said. Like Ponyville, the town was also silent as it was later into the night.

“How about Tyrone first?” asked Clyde. “He had to take care of Junior now so he should be at his house.”

“Yeah, but wouldn’t that make him have to stay if Junior is there?”

Clyde shook his head. “I don’t think so. His friend BC should be able to watch him. It’s not like we will be long anyways. All we need to do is sneak into the base and destroy the portal and get out of dodge.”

Patel frowned. “Yeah, if only it was that easy.” They got up and began walking towards Tyrone’s ghetto neighborhood. The neighborhood wasn’t an actual ghetto, it was just that a lot of Tyrone’s hood friends all lived in that area so the townsfolk referred to that section the ‘ghetto’. As they got to Tyrone’s front door of his house, they saw there were dumbbells scattered all throughout the yard.

“This is definitely T’s house,” said Clyde. “I’ll go knock on the door.” Patel waited under the tree near Tyrone’s house as Clyde walked up to the door. He knocked five times, to the beat of some song, and waited. Nearly three seconds after the knocking of the door, Junior opened up the door.

“Uncle Clyde!” said Junior. “What are you doing here?”

“Uncle?” said Clyde confused. “Sadly, I’m not your uncle, I’m not even related to you.”

Junior shook his head. “That’s not what my dad told me! He said you and him are brothers! That means you’re my uncle!”

“Well,” said Clyde rubbing his head. “I guess I can’t go wrong with that logic. Anyways, where’s your dad at?”

“He’s inside drinking some grape soda! Do you want to talk to him?”

“Yeah. Can you go and get him for me?”

“I will!” Junior gave a small salute and ran into the house. He was so excited, he left the door open. Soon, Clyde was, very faintly, able to hear Tyrone and Junior talking in a room. After some crying from Junior, Tyrone appeared out of the house. He was wearing a tanktop and curling a weight with his left hoof.

“C, my man!” yelled Tyrone. He hoof bumped him with his free hoof and looked out at Patel. “I see you there too dawg!” Patel waved from afar and went back to his notebook.

“Yo T, how you been?” asked Clyde.

Tyrone looked down as his weight and focused on it while remaining his curling motion. “I’ve been good man. Ever since I got back from Amsterdam, I’ve been curling like non-stop it seems. I think it’s an addiction, but it feels so good.” Tyrone looked at him. “What’s up with you?”

“Nothing man,” said Clyde. “Pretty sure the season is cancelled due to this lockout, so I’m kind of just chilling out with my money from last season.”

“That’s cool. Real cool.”

“Enough about that, Tyrone we need to head to the western desert.”

“You want me to tag along?”

“Yeah,” said Clyde. “It’s a long story, but there’s a guy named Arlin who is using some sort of cloning device to create an army that will eventually take over the world. I know it sounds silly, but ever since the whole Charles and Xarlin thing, I still have a grudge to settle.”

Tyrone nodded and looked back at his weights. “Shit man, I feel you.”

“You’ll come? I know it’s sudden...” Clyde stopped and looked at the ground. “But, we have to do it. To prevent danger in these parts of the country.”

Tyrone noticed the sad and serious vibe around Clyde and patted him on the back. “Dawg, I’m with you anyday of the week. Let me get a bag real quick and tell BC to get his ass up since he has some babysitting to do.” Tyrone quickly ran inside as Clyde walked over to Patel and the tree.

“He’s in?” asked Patel.

“Yeah.”

After a minute or two, Tyrone came out of the house and walked towards the others. “Alright homies, who we getting next?”

Patel looked at his notebook with a list of names he created while Clyde and Tyrone were chatting to each other. “It seems Rivs and Sticky are out of town this week, so they aren’t available. Secondly, Jeb has been gone for like two months, but honestly, who the fuck cares. That leaves: Cannon, Wahlburn, Poncho, and maybe Fluffy and Spike.”

“I bet Wahlburn, Cannon, and Spike, are a part of the crazy party at the university tonight,” said Tyrone. “I got invited to that shit, but fuck that. I had some curling to do.”

“Party?” said Patel confused. “What party?”

“Some party at the university,” said Clyde. “I was invited, but I never replied back to it.”

“What the fuck!” yelled Patel. “I even went there with you guys and I didn’t get invited!”

“That sucks,” said Tyrone. “I wouldn’t let it get to you that much though. All of the ones who went are toolbag bitches.”

“Even Wahlburn and Cannon?”

“Sometimes man, sometimes.”

They stopped chatting and followed the road to the university they all went to a few years back. They passed all sorts of shops and buildings they reminisced about along the way. At the halfway point to the university, they stopped at a particular building they never dared enter, Poncho’s house.

“Guess we should get this guy while we are here,” said Patel. “Who wants to knock on the door?”

Tyrone stepped back. “Nah man, I don’t trust that dude. He’s too sketchy for me.”

“Clyde?”

Clyde sighed. “Fine,” he said with a groan. Patel patted him on the back and wished him luck, then quickly stood beside Tyrone to watch. Clyde waked up to the door and stared at the door knocker. He grabbed it with his hoof and slammed it against the door. As Clyde waited for the door to open, he looked back at Patel and Tyrone. They were waving at him and he just turned his back towards the door to ignore them. Ten seconds of waiting later, the door slowly creaked open.

“Hello?” asked Poncho as he sketchily looked at him from inside. His head was poking out the edge of the door and he was hiding his body behind it.

“Poncho,” said Clyde. “You ready for another adventure?”

“Adventure?” Poncho slid out from behind the door and stood in the doorway. After looking around in his house to check if the coast was clear, he leaned in closer. “What sort of adventure?”

“I don’t quite know yet myself,” replied Clyde. “All I know is that Arlin took over a secret base in the desert and has a way to clone himself. We need to stop him from growing as soon as possible.”

Poncho looked at him. “I don’t know man.”

“Do you want to world to be taken over?”

“Eh...the whole world or just like this land?”

“It’ll eventually spread towards here. Patel says his final plan of attack is Canterlot. That’s too close, so I want to make sure we stop him before we have to worry about that.”

“Why do you care about the others countries so much?” asked Poncho in a curious manner. “Normally, you wouldn’t bother but you care now?”

“I already told you,” said Clyde in a serious attitude. “I don’t want Arlin attacking Canterlot, Verona, or Ponyville.”

“Ah. There we go,” said Poncho. “I knew you needed a motive to help the greater good of the world.”

Clyde looked at him with anger. “What’s that suppose to mean?”

Poncho laughed. “You know what it means. You are only doing this to protect your bitch. Speaking of that cold hearted bitch, she’s probably-”

Poncho was unable to finish his sentence as Clyde punched him in the chest. As Poncho went down to grab his chest and take a breath, Clyde shoved him against the wall. Clyde began to pull back his hoof to strike again, this time at his face. As he was about to punch, Tyrone grabbed Clyde and pulled him away.

“Damn bro!” yelled Tyrone. “Don’t do this!”

“Yeah Clyde,” said Patel. “What the hell are you doing?”

Poncho stood against the wall frozen in place as Clyde struggled against Tyrone’s grip. “Let me go...” said Clyde, still looking at Poncho. He attempted moving forward, but was held back and slowly being pulled away from him by Tyrone.

“Don’t do this Clyde,” said Poncho, breathing heavily. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“No, I’m not holding back this time, there are no witnesses,” said Clyde in full rage. Still flailing around, he managed to break free of Tyrone and charged back at Poncho. As he got close, Tyrone grabbed him again and pulled him backwards. “I told you to never defile her honor. I’m tired of you douchebags calling her names when she did nothing to you in the first place.” He looked at Patel and Poncho.

“Me?” asked Patel confused on such the sudden anger. This was the first time he ever saw Clyde get this angry before. “I did it one time and then joked about it.”

Clyde glared at Poncho. “Him though. He does it everytime we talk.”

Poncho stayed against the wall and looked at Clyde. He could see the anger in his eyes and felt a fire. Poncho knew he liked to joke around a lot, but he could tell Clyde was one hundred percent serious. Feeling bad he sighed.

“Clyde, man, I’m sorry. I know what you’re trying to say but letting it get to you isn’t helping because you don’t have to beat me up at all. You know who she truly is and don’t let some asshole like me mess with you. I’m just a fuck boy and a dick.”

Patel stared at him then began clapping. “Deep man. That was deep.”

Tyrone wanted to join the clapping but forgot he was still holding back Clyde, however, Clyde wasn’t trying to break free anymore. Tyrone let him go and began clapping. Clyde stood there for a moment and looked at Poncho. Poncho looked back and occasionally looked away so he wouldn’t start another fight.

Clyde walked up to him and extended his hoof. “No more pointless fights, huh? You are right, I shouldn’t care that much about what my friends tell me.”

Poncho grabbed his hoof and shook it. “So when are we leaving?”

“All we need is Wahlburn and Cannon and if anybody else is there at the party,” said Patel. “Hurry your ass up.”

Poncho jumped and quickly, and still somehow sketchily, ran back inside to get some things. After four minutes, He came out with a two saddlebags. One was for his items and the other was filled with chips.

The four of them continued down the path towards their old school. The closer they got to it, the more ponies they saw walking around. As they got to the entrance of the campus, the castle shaped sign that read ‘Castle’, they saw lights and lots of ponies going in and out of the main residence hall.

“Welp,” said Poncho. “I guess they are in there somewhere.”

“What kind of party is this anyway?” asked Patel. “Why are these so many here? Don’t they have something productive to do instead of this place?”

“It’s some sort of reunion thing,” said Clyde, “well that’s what my letter said at least.”

“Shit man. I haven’t been here since I walked off the court last it seems.” Tyrone wiped a small tear.

“Yeah? At least you were able to fully walk off the court,” said Clyde disappointedly.

Tyrone looked at him and patted him on the shoulder. “Shit mayne. I forgot.”

“Enough talk,” said Patel. “It’s almost midnight. Let’s extract and get out of this place.” The other three nodded and ran towards the hall. They squeezed through the crowd at the door and entered the building.

The loudness of the music, and the amount of ponies, made them feel like it was Amsterdam all over again. To make the search go faster, Patel wanted them to split up and cover the different floors. Luckily for them, there were only four floors to cover, so each of them could take one.

“Meet back outside when you are finished your floor!” yelled Patel over the loud music. “If there aren’t any questions, let’s get going!”

Poncho lifted his hoof. “I have a question!”

“What the fuck is it!”

“What if we don’t find any of them here!”

“Then we just go ourselves! We four can handle it!” Patel then quickly fled to the staircase. The others followed, except Poncho who had the ground floor.

Poncho politely asked others to move as he traveled through the hallway and dorm rooms. He searched each one and after finding nothing important, quickly fled the hall and sat down at a table. He took out some chips from one of his bags and began to eat them, waiting for the others to come back.

Tyrone walked into the first room of the second floor and looked around. The music wasn’t as loud on the second floor, as the first floor was mostly the main party place, so he could hear himself think.

“Alright, where are my homies at?” Tyrone went room to room to find that this floor was basically empty. Bored, Tyrone decided to go up to the third floor and search with Clyde. As he walked up the stairwell, he saw Clyde waiting outside of the hallway door.

“What are you doing?” asked Tyrone.

“They won’t let me in,” said Clyde. “I’m about to just call quits and go downstairs. I heard that all drugs and alcohol related events are on the fourth floor anyways.”

Tyrone looked through the window of the door. All the rooms were closed and on every door handle was a sock.

“Sheeeeit,” said Tyrone. “No wonder why this door is locked. They are all trying to get laid!”

“Well, guess we go to the fourth floor now?” asked Clyde.

“Nah, let’s just go outside. Patel can handle those guys.”

As Patel walked into the fourth floor hallway, he could smell the aroma of weed. He walked in the first open room and sure enough, Wahlburn was in the process of smoking a bong. Patel looked around the room and saw that Cannon was also in the room passed out on the floor beside him.

“Wahlburn!” yelled Patel.

Wahlburn set the bong down and looked at him. He silently stared at him and blew a puff of smoke. “Patel, brother.”

“You almost done? We need to head out west.”

“The west?” said Wahlburn. “For what?”

“Gotta stop the mass amount of Arlin clones in the world.”

Wahlburn sighed and looked at the ceiling. “Do I get to blow shit up or kill some dudes?”

“Yeah probably! We need to blow up this portal thing at Area-Fifty Juan!”

Wahlburn looked at him wide-eyed. “AFJ you say? Why didn’t you tell me!” Wahlburn quickly jumped up. “That place has got to have some crazy weapons and shit.”

“Cool,” said Patel. He looked down at Cannon. “Wake his ass up, we’re leaving.”

“We’re? Who’s all here?” asked Wahlburn.

“Clyde and Tyrone. Also Poncho.”

Wahlburn laughed. “Poncho....” After he stopped laughing, he picked up a pillow of the couch and threw it at Cannon. Cannon didn’t budge. Wahlburn sighed and picked up a book on the table beside him. He threw it at Cannon and waited for a response. Just like the pillow, Cannon never budged.

“Alright, what the fuck,” said Wahlburn angrily. He got up beside him and leaned down towards his ear. “Hey!” he shouted.

Cannon jumped up and looked around like he was in a daze. “What?”

“Get up you fuck face,” said Wahlburn. “We are leaving this joint.” He pointed to the joint on the table. “Oh, and we are leaving this party too.”

Cannon rubbed his eyes and tried forcing them open. He saw Patel and waved. “What are you doing here Patel?”

“Getting you douches. It’s time to finish Arlin once and for all.”

“Arlin?” said Cannon. “Who the fuck is that?”

“I’ll explain the whole story again on our flight there. Let’s go.” Patel walked out of the room. Wahlburn helped Cannon up and followed him.

They hustled down the stairwell and back into the bottom floor hallway. After pushing and shoving their way to the exit, the three stumbled outside and went to the table where Poncho, Clyde, and Tyrone were waiting. They quickly got reacquainted with each other and stopped to listen to Patel.

“Alright, is there anybody else we can get? Is Fluffy available?”

“I don’t think so,” said Cannon. “I think he told me last week he was going to go visit South Beach for the month due to the weather at this time of year.

“Alright,” said Patel. He looked over at Wahlburn and noticed something. “Hey Wahlburn, where’s Spike.”

Wahlburn laughed. “Well, while you were gone last week, Twilight decided to stop by and tell Spike to come back to Ponyville with her.”

“No way!” said Patel. “So he was in town when I was there earlier.”

“Yeah,” said Wahlburn sadly. “Spike obviously didn’t want to go, and I tried telling her that she just let him do what he wanted, but she kept pulling the ‘he’s only a baby’ card. I got annoyed with her, so I called her a cunt, and that...well that didn’t sit too well with her guards she had with her.”

“Holy shit,” said Patel.

“Yeah I know. I almost got ordered to get executed by a Princess.” Wahlburn laughed again. “Anyways, Spike said he would go back to Ponyville, if I didn’t die. She let me live, but now that I think about it, I don’t think she was going to kill me anyways. She doesn’t seem to be that type of pony.”

“That little fucker,” said Patel thinking of Spike. “He’s such a cool dude.”

“Yeah,” said Wahlburn. “I’ll miss him. I never saw a dragon that liked weed as much as I did. Actually, I never saw a dragon before so that was another reason why he was a cool dude.”

“Anyways, you guys ready to leave?”

“Shit man, I’m down to kill some things.”

“How do you know we are going to fight anything?” asked Cannon. “It could just be a sneak in and out thing?”

“I don’t give a shit,” said Wahlburn grinning. “There’s three things in this world I’m good at; smoking, screwing, and fucking shit up.”

“That’s a nice motto,” said Cannon hoof bumping him.

Patel sighed. “Can we just go now?”

Wahlburn and Cannon nodded. “Yeah.”

The team quickly got in two sets of cabs and ordered them to race to the airport. At first the cab drivers were hesitant, but they soon realized that it was midnight and nobody was really out traveling at this time. Instead of the normal hour it took to get to the Canterlot airport, it only took them twenty minutes. The groups of three tipped their cabs greatly and ran inside the terminal. They quickly went through the security check and ran to the gate of their flight.

Seeing how Patel went out of the way to gather them all up, he bought everybody the tickets. They settled for regular seats this time instead of First Class they bought for their trip to London and Amsterdam. Their seats were six in the row, three per side being divided by the middle aisle. Poncho sat the window seat with Cannon in the middle and Wahlburn beside him against the aisle. On the right side of the row, Patel had the window seat with Clyde in the middle and Tyrone was the aisle seat. Tyrone liked this seat a lot as he could look at the flight attendants when they walked by, just like Amsterdam.

The flight took five hours, but due to time zones, it was only two in the morning. After the whole flight disembarkment routine and grind, Patel led them outside. In the distance was the neon lit city of Las Pegas, but Patel walked away from it.

“It’s about a mile or two in the desert behind those hills,” said Patel pointing. The others looked in the direction and sighed. The mountains were still five miles away. Patel began walking as the others slowly walked behind him.

Ciyelor

“Patel, slow the fuck down,” said Wahlburn. “It’s like five in the morning.”

“Actually,” said Poncho, “it would be two.”

Wahlburn stopped moving and looked at Poncho. “Hey Poncho, remember that one time where I punched you in the face?”

“No. I don’t remember that happening.”

“Because you won’t.”

Poncho flinched and quickly ran around Tyrone to have him between Wahlburn and himself. Wahlburn laughed and continued moving. After an hour of walking through the desert, they stood at the base of the mountains.

“So, do we go up this or start heading around?” asked Clyde as he took out a bottle of water. He took some sips and placed it back in his bag.

“Well, going up the hill is a lot faster than around it,” said Patel. The rest of them groaned again and without haste, began up the narrow trail to the summit of hill. The climb itself wasn’t bad, as they all reached the top in a few minutes. Patel stood atop the hill in the spot as he did some hours ago. He looked over the barren desert and saw the secret military base in the distance. He waited for the others to reach the top to see the view.

“Mayne, this view could be on a postcard or sumthing!” said Tyrone in an excited tone.

“Yeah, if you like a big, flat land of nothing.” Cannon quickly sat down to rest. Wahlburn came up beside him and put his hoof on his head, looking out towards the flat land.

“It’s a good life we live, brother.”

Cannon looked up at him and smiled. He quickly jumped up and stood beside him. “The best, and may it never change.”

“And may it never change us.” The two looked out across the moonlit desert and felt a cool breeze in the air flow their manes. The others began laughing and sat down to rest with them. After a quick five minute rest, they got up and resumed their journey to the portal.

After walking down the slope of the hill, they decided to straight out dash to the base, taking periodic breaks to allow Poncho to catch up. In no time, or actuality in about thirty minutes, the six of them stood in front of the gates to the base. Patel looked around and saw nobody was outside any of the buildings waiting for him.

“This place is empty outside again,” said Patel. He walked over to the guard booth and flipped the switch on to open the gate. As the the gate screeched open, they ran inside and hid behind the nearest building.

“Do we even have to sneak around?” whispered Wahlburn. “Nobody is out here.”

“Sheeeit man,” said Tyrone, “I’m a boss at stealth, just follow me.” Tyrone slowly looked around the corner of the building and dashed to the wall across the path. He raised his hoof in the air to signal the coast was clear. The others crossed over to the other side and waited for Tyrone to advance again. They followed the same pattern of tactics until they reached the hangar where Patel was thrown out of. Patel put his leg out to the secret sensor and the door opened up.

As Patel led them to the room where Arlin’s meeting was, he felt weird. “Where is everyone at?” asked Patel.

“They probably are all scared bitches and ran away,” said Tyrone.

They entered the meeting room and unlike before, it was completely devoid of all of the items it had before. All except, the portal. The portal was on and still the same blueish color it was the last time Patel saw it.

“Is that it?” asked Clyde looking at the portal.

Patel nodded. “Yep.”

“I feel like it’s a trap,” said Poncho.

“No, you think?” said Cannon in his usual sarcastic attitude.

Patel walked up to the monitor beside the portal. Unlike last time, the screen was off and Patel had no idea how to turn it on. The portal continued to glow blue while the others walked up onto the stage and closer to the frame.

“What are we going to do?” asked Wahlburn. “Where are these clones at?”

“I don’t know,” said Patel. “I think our only option is to go inside and blow up the cloning machine.”

“It’s a trap,” said Poncho, “like I’ve been telling you guys....”

“We know it’s a damn trap!” yelled Cannon. “What the fuck do you want us to do? Stand here, touching ourselves trying to figure a way to destroy it?”

Poncho stepped away from him and looked away. They continued to stare at the portal until Patel spoke up again.

“I’m going in.”

“What?” said Clyde. “Don’t be the hero, let me do it.”

“Not happening,” replied Patel. He put his hoof in front of Clyde. “You have something to live for. As for me, I’m just doing this to because of my selfish dream.”

“What’s that?” asked Wahlburn.

“It’s nothing,” said Patel. “It’s not important anymore...” He lined himself up with the portal. He looked at it and then faced his friends. “If I’m not back in five, you know what happened.”

The others saluted him while Tyrone began to cry. “Shit man, you best not die in there, you feel me!”

Patel smiled and nodded to his request. He turned back around and faced the portal once again. He stood still for a second or two to collect his thoughts, then bolted at it. As he was able to run into it, he closed his eyes. Next thing he knew, he ran into the wall behind it.

“Ow,” said Patel rubbing his head. “What the fuck was that?” He got back up and stood in the portal. Nothing happened. “Is it broken?”

Clyde walked up to the portal and reached out his hoof to touch Patel. He smacked him in the face and stepped into the swirling blue glow. Confused, he looked at Patel. “What did you do to it?”

“Me? I didn’t do shit!” Patel and Clyde started doing random ideas inside the portal to see if it would trigger off. They tried jumping in it, jumping into it, and even sitting down. Tired of watching his friends look like idiots, Tyrone stepped inside. Soon, Wahlburn and Cannon joined the fray while Poncho looked from a couple feet away.

“We have five of us in here and this thing still won’t work?” asked Patel in disbelief. “Is this just a fake one or what the hell?”

Poncho walked up to the portal. “Maybe you need six ponies to make it work. Six is always the go-to number in this country.” Poncho laughed and stepped in the portal. As soon as he made contact, the portal began whirling and making a humming noise. Scared, they are tried jumping out of it, but the room around them was sucked up in a blue light.

Confused on what was occurring, Patel looked around. He noticed he was alone, moving forward at extreme speed, stranded in a neverending blue tunnel. He tried to stop his motion, but there was no way to do it. Due to the intense velocity, Patel began to close his eyes, waiting for everything to be over with. As he finally rested his eyes in pitch darkness, the world seemed to stop. He felt a huge force power into his head.

I see you returned, and this time, brought friends. We told you not to come back. I can’t believe you actually walked through the portal, though, knowing it was a trap. I’ll be seeing you soon...

Patel awoke in an unfamiliar location to him. He looked around and noticed he was in a bed in a poorly lit room, the source being a lone candle. He also noticed, that his friends were around the room, also in beds. He rubbed his head and got up.

He slowly and quietly walked around the room trying to figure out where they were. Since the room was so dim, Patel could hardly make out any of the pictures or portraits on the wall. As he was walking around, he heard Clyde getting up.

“Clyde, do you know where we are?” asked Patel.

Clyde looked around and shook his head. “I’ve never seen this room before in my life. Do you know?”

“No.” Patel turned around and saw the door in the near corner of the room. He walked towards it and tried to open it. It was locked. “Gah!” exclaimed Patel in a softer tone so he would awake his sleeping friends, “of course it’s locked.”

“Oh no!” yelled Clyde as he began to panic. He quickly fell out of the bed and searched under it, on top of it, and in the covers. After failing, he sat down and looked at the ground.

“What the hell is your problem?” asked Patel.

“My necklace,” said Clyde sadly, “I can’t find it anywhere.” He laid his head down on the bed and frowned.

Patel rolled his eyes and sighed. “Calm down. There had to be a perfectly clear reason why you don’t have it.” Patel looked around the room. “Tell you the truth, we don’t have any of our stuff we brought with us.” Clyde lifted up his head as he was about to say something, but the door busted open and in the doorway was a large stallion.

“Hello friends,” said the stallion in a voice in a deep voice, “glad you’re alive.” The pony had a brown coat color to match his brown, sullen eyes. His long mane was of a charcoal color. He was wearing some leather armor and he had a sword and bow strapped to his back. The lower part of his face was covered in a cloth. The most noticeable feature he had was the long scar going down through his right eye.

“This dude looks badass!” yelled Wahlburn. Patel looked around and saw that all of them were sitting up in their beds, while Clyde still had his head on his.

“Thank you kindly young gent,” said the stallion. He walked in the room and stood in the middle of it. “Do you gents know where you are?”

“No,” said Patel. “Could you tell us where the hell we are?”

“Ah. I can do that.” The stallion looked at each one of them and pulled out a pipe. After uncovering his mouth by pulling down the cloth, he placed the pipe in his mouth and walked up to the candle in the room. He picked up the candle and lit the pipe. After a few puffs and blows, he returned the candle to its original position. “My name is Skarlin, and welcome to Ciyelor.”

“Ciyelor?” asked Poncho. “Isn’t that some sort of snack brand?”

“No,” said Skarlin in his low voice. “It’s the name of this world Arlin made.”

“Arlin!” yelled Patel, “he’s in charge of this doing this?”

Skarlin nodded. “I’ll explain everything: in the beginning, there was only Arlin. Arlin, and seeing how you already know his name, created clones of himself to build an army. I won’t explain that any more, but as he was creating his army, he realized not every clone had the same dream as him.”

“Some tried to rebel?” asked Patel.

“Aye they did,” said Skarlin before enjoying his pipe again. He stood there in silence as the others looked at each other.

“So, uh,” began Tyrone, “did they get killed or something? Did they get their ass beat?”

Skarlin looked at them gravely. “No, they were put in here.” The group looked at each other again, this time in shock. “Arlin wasn’t dumb, as much as that pains me to say. He knew what he was doing. He paid attention to all of the clones idea about his dream.”

“One day, Arlin saw that there were more clones being made that didn’t share his way of life than those that did. He figured he had to get rid of them somehow, someway that wouldn’t cause any suspicion to the others. So, he got on his computer and began designing a world.”

“He named this world Ciyelor, why? I have no idea. He probably got it from a random name generator or something. Ciyelor is just like your average fantasy game world, swords and bows are the basic types of weapons here. He also wanted to make sure this world wouldn't ever crash and always be stabilized so he banned all guns and explosions from existence.”

“What!” yelled Wahlburn, “that’s lame!”

“Then why didn’t you break out of here yet?” asked Patel. “Couldn’t you have just left after realizing what happened?”

Skarlin laughed. “The problem was nobody here thought of this place as a prison until it was too late.”

“What do you mean?” asked Patel.

“A day after Arlin created Ciyelor, he activated his plan. He gathered all of us clones in the main hangar and told them about a new training program he made that once you step in the portal, you would be taken there. Instead of asking for volunteers, he split the clones into two teams.”

“Oh,” said Cannon, “let me guess, one team was the clones that sided with Arlin.”

“The others were against, exactly.” Skarlin looked up at the ceiling. “Obviously, he told the ones against him that they were the lucky ones to be chosen for the training program. We never thought we were actually the unlucky ones. We all quickly went inside, waiting for the program to start.”

“The portal spawned us in an open field. Thinking Arlin would come and talk to us, we lined up in two rows. Instead of Arlin coming to meet us, another clone did, Jarlin.”

“Jarlin?” asked everyone in shock except Clyde.

“Aye. Jarlin. The ruler of this land. Hoof picked by Arlin himself.”

“What’s so special about him?” asked Poncho. “Is he a lot more feared or smarter than Arlin?”

“No,” said Skarlin in his really deep voice again. He tapped on his pipe and looked at Poncho and the others to examine them closely. “Jarlin is one of the only unicorn clones Arlin has on his side. Now that I think about it, he might be the only unicorn on his side.”

“A unicorn? Isn’t Arlin an Earth pony though? How was he able to make a unicorn clone?” questioned Patel.

“One of his great-great-great ancestors was a unicorn, and even though all of the line after was Earth, there’s still that small chance.”

“So is this Jarlin guy an extreme evil ruler or something?” asked Cannon rubbing his chin. “You seem to despise him, but you haven’t given any explaination why.”

“That’s an easy one young warrior,” said Skarlin. “It’s because, unless Jarlin dies, we are stuck in here forever.” The room gasped as Skarlin nodded in sorrow.

“So you’re being force to stay in this “world” forever until the ruler dies, all because you don’t want to join Arlin’s quest!” Wahlburn stood up. “I’m not staying here either, I’ll help kill Jarlin. He will stay dead right?”

“Aye. If you die in here, you die. It’s as simple as that. This isn’t no virtual reality thing, you’re just in a place not on the map.”

“Well, what are we waiting for?” said Tyrone getting up. “Let’s kill this douche and go home!”

“It’s not that easy,” said Skarlin, telling him to sit down. “You aren’t trained enough to even think about attacking him.”

“Why’s that?” said Tyrone. “Does he have a bunch of thugs to protect him at some castle, high above the land?”

“No, it’s the complete opposite really. Jarlin has no castle nor any bodyguards. It’s just him in a lone tower atop the plateau. You could attack him with a hundred ponies and he would still be victorious.”

“His magic?” asked Patel.

“Yes,” said Skarlin. “Except, it’s not the magic you are probably used to in Equestria.”

“What do you mean?”

“Instead of spells that control the basic elements like fire, ice, or whatever. He uses magic solely to ward himself from other magical attacks and manipulate one’s mind. He gets into it and uses your thoughts against you.”

“What?” said the group, except Clyde again, in unison.

“He’s always known how to do that, that’s his special talent. He can pierce through anyone’s mind when they are least expecting it and start talking to them and messing with them emotionally. If you’re not carefully, he can break you down so bad, you’ll want to kill yourself.”

The group looked around nervously. “Wait a minute,” said Patel. “Was he the voice I heard in my head when I first got kicked out of the hangar and right before I woke up here?”

Skarlin nodded. “I have no doubt that was him. The only reason why he can’t do anything to us now is because this building is protected with a ward.”

“So you do have unicorns here,” said Poncho.

“We do, but there’s only a few. There isn’t enough to force him to overpower him though.” Skarlin got up and turned towards the door. “Well, I think it’s time for you six to get equipped. It’s training time.”

“Training?” asked Tyrone. “We finally about to kick some ass?”

“If that’s what learning about your combat preference is called now, then yes.” Skarlin laughed and opened the door. “Your new equipment is waiting.”

“Wait,” said Clyde. The others looked at him as they forgot he was in the room with them the whole time. “Where’s our other items at? I items we had when we jumped in the portal?”

Skarlin looked at the ground. “I don’t know, my guess is that they will be returned to you if you return to the real world.” Clyde looked at the ground sadly.

“Enough of this,” said Wahlburn. “Let’s do this!” He quickly ran out of the room as the others followed him. Tyrone went over to Clyde and dragged him with him. As the two entered the room, they were quickly overwhelmed at the amount of weapons and armor just laying around.

The room was split into two sides, one weapons and the other armor. The different types of weapons were scattered on the table or either being supported on the wall. Most of the heavy weapons, such as great swords and halberds were hooked on the wall. The smaller and medium sized melee weapons, such as swords and axes, were on the tables or in the pile under it. Patel and the others scanned through the weapons to begin thinking their choice, then quickly looked at the armor.

The armor section wasn’t as cluttered as their weapons counterpart, as it only had two different sets: leather or steel. Attached to each armor set, was a pair of horseshoes that enabled the use of weapons and bows with hooves instead of the mouth. These made it easier, and to some, more fun to fight. Wahlburn quickly picked up the steel set, with a matching helmet, and began putting it on as Tyrone and Clyde took the leather without saying anything. Poncho, Cannon, and Patel, mentally debated against themselves deciding what to pick. After debate, all three picked leather as well, having Wahlburn the only heavy guy of the six.

They went back to the weapons side and began intense thinking. Patel picked up a sturdy longbow with steel-tipped arrows. “We should try to all pick different things to cover more ground in battle, if battle ever does happen.”

“It will,” said Skarlin. “We may all fight for the same goal in this land, but Jarlin knows how to conjure up beings to fight for him?”

“Really?” asked Patel, “what’s the damn point of fighting if he just revives them back up?”

“Don’t you get it?” replied Wahlburn. “It’s open season! If they want to keep getting back up, that’s fine by me. I’ll kill them fifty times if they’d like.” He laughed and picked up the steel greatsword on the wall. He slung it on his shoulder and walked up beside Skarlin. “I’m ready.”

Patel joined him and flipped up his hood that was attached to the leather armor set. “Yo T,” said Patel. “Pick some daggers and be stealthy since you are so good at it.”

Tyrone smiled. “Shit man, you know me. I can sneak in and out like nothing happened.” Tyrone picked up a pair of steel daggers and walked up to the others.

Clyde looked around for a weapon and noticed the small blade of a rapier at the bottom of the pile under the table. As he looked at it, a faint blue glow shined through the pile. Curious, and after pushing some useless swords and axes off of it, he stood their with a shocked on his face. The rapier blade itself was fine and seemed newly made, but on the base of the rapier, the pommel itself, was the light blue diamond-shaped gem on Clyde’s necklace Rarity gave to him before they left for coming here. He quickly picked the rapier up and the gem flashed blue again.

“Maybe it’s destiny after all,” said Clyde as he turned his hoof around to get accustomed to the blade. He looked for another one, but couldn’t find one in enough condition that was usable. He looked across the table and saw a small, silver parrying dagger. He smiled and put it in his sleeve for future use.

“A rapier?“ asked Patel when Clyde walked over to them. “You sure you want to use some flimsy sword?”

“It’s not about damage, it’s about the strikes,” replied Clyde. “Rapiers are elegant and fast. Besides, I’m kind of obliged to it.” Clyde lifted up the rapier to show Patel the pommel. Patel shook his head as Clyde laughed.

“Looks like you found your necklace,” said Patel while rolling his eyes. Clyde patted him on the back and smiled.

Poncho and Cannon looked through the remaining items available to them. Cannon opened his mouth wide as he found a trident with a rope. He remembered the enjoyment of using one when Clyde and him battled in Charles's arena years ago. He also took a small knife to go with his trident. He walked back to the others as Poncho stood there still thinking of a weapon.

He glanced over to the daggers and thought the sais would be cool. Next, he saw the zweihander and thought he would look like a total hero with that on his back. He ultimately decided that the zweihander would be cooler so he picked it up and walked over to the others.

“We all good?” asked Skarlin. The group nodded and Skarlin walked away to the other side of the room. He opened the door and bright light flooded the room.

The room that Skarlin just opened to was a big hall. In the middle of it was a long table with plenty of seats that stretched the whole way down it. There were plenty of ponies, or in this case Arlin clones, walking around and talking to each other.

“Welcome to our guild hall thing we got going on,” said Skarlin. “This is where most of us stay because this side of town is having disputes with the other side.”

“So there’s a conflict going on in this world, but Jarlin doesn’t even care?” said Cannon in shock. “What a dick!”

Skarlin nodded. “It’s not even conflict really, the other side is just mad at us for not sharing some apples, that’s all. Well, tomorrow we should start training, enjoy yourself around here and have as much as you want to eat. I’ll get you in a few hours so we can begin.”

Poncho gave a victory hoof pump and ran towards the table. The others followed him while Patel stayed back.

“Wait. Why do you care about us so much? Why are you helping?”

Skarlin looked at him and took out his pipe. He placed it in his mouth and looked up at the ceiling, just like before. “It’s because...it’s because, I believe we have a shot of getting out of here, and seeing how you are prisoners of Arlin’s scheme, I know you’ll find a way to defeat Jarlin and him both.” Skarlin gave a small bow, and walked away from Patel, leaving him to wonder.

Training

After two hours of eating, talking to the others, or just waiting, Skarlin returned and gathered up the group. “Are you ready?” he asked them once everyone formed up. They nodded and Skarlin turned around. “Follow me.”

He led them to a small room in a back hallway of the building. The room was small and contained nothing except a lone staircase that went down. They went down and once at the base of the staircase, saw that it was connected to a long, narrow, and dim tunnel.

“What is this place?” asked Wahlburn.

“You’ll see,” replied Skarlin. He began walking towards the darkness at the end of the tunnel. They all watched him disappear within the darkness and quickly tried to catch up to him. They all soon realized that the tunnel was not only getting brighter, but it was starting to slope downwards. After a couple minutes of walking straight, they arrived at a huge underground room where Skarlin and other clones were in.

The room was filled with various hay dummies being hit by swords, axes, arrows and all other sorts of weapons. After watching the clones in awe, Skarlin gathered the group over to him. As they converged towards him, Skarlin picked up a box. He opened it and gave everyone one a small stone. As they touched them, they gave off a small aura for a second then laid dead.

“Don’t throw that yet,” he said to them. They did as they were told and just looked at the strange stone on their hoof. It looked completely normal to them but decided to leave it still. “Alright so these stones are going to help you train. I want you to place the stones on the ground and mix them up. After that, each one of you pick a stone up. We can begin after that.”

Confused, the group gently place their stone down on the ground between them all. Patel got on the low on the ground and mixed the stones around quickly and stood back up. He looked at the others who nodded. Patel picked up a stone as the others followed suit. After all the stones were in each other’s hoof, Skarlin spoke up.

“Alright, who wants to head in the ring first?” Skarlin turned around and showed them an combat ring below them in a pit. It was sunken into the ground about twelve feet and the only way out of it was to climb the small rope in the corner.

“I’ll go!” yelled Cannon excitedly. Skarlin nodded and threw down the rope to the bottom pit. Cannon gave a salute and slowly descended into the ring. He looked up at them and laughed.

“What is this place Skarlin?” asked Patel.

“This is our underground training area. Since Jarlin can’t contact us down here, it’s perfect for training. Normally, we would train our new recruits outside to fight dragons and other demons, but since he can just scan the area with his mind, he knows what we are doing.”

“I’m ready!” yelled Cannon from below them. Skarlin and the others leaned over the rails to watch below.

“Alright gent, throw your stone at the ground a few feet away from you!” yelled Skarlin from above. Cannon nodded and looked at the stone in his hoof. He quickly pulled back his hoof and threw the stone on the other side of the ring. As the stone hit the ground, a flash of light burst out of it. Soon, smoke rose from the spot and shaped a dome around the stone. Once the smoke cleared, Cannon was face to face with Tyrone.

“Wait a goddamn minute!” yelled Tyrone from above. “That’s me! Who does that punk ass bitch think he is!”

“No, it’s a carbon copy of you,” said Skarlin. “Like us clones, you share the same features as the original. Except unlike us, your copy will share your personality and whatnot.”

Cannon looked at the fake Tyrone and laughed. “Sorry T, but I’m about to kick your ass.”

“You’re lucky my ass isn’t down there,” said Tyrone bitterly. Cannon laughed again and began walking around the ring, ready to pounce. He rattled his trident around in his hoof while holding on to the rope on his side. The Tyrone copy looked at him and drew out his daggers.

The Tyrone copy watched Cannon’s circular movements and without haste, threw one of his daggers at him. Cannon dodged it and watched it fly into the stone wall. He laughed and turned back to face him. As he turned around, he saw that the Tyrone copy was a few inches away about to strike.

Tyrone’s copy began slashing at Cannon’s neck with his lone dagger. Cannon defended his attacks off one by one with his trident’s handle. After a noticeable opportunity, Cannon flicked his trident upwards that disarmed Tyrone’s copy’s dagger and launched it to the side of the ring. Tyrone’s copy punched Cannon in the face to distract him while he rushed towards his dagger.

Cannon quickly recovered and saw that his opponent was trying to retrieve his weapon. He smirked and threw the trident as his foe. As the trident sailed through the air, Cannon held on the rope, ready to pull back. The trident pierced Tyrone’s copy in the back leg through his leather armor. Cannon pulled on the rope as hard as he could which made the copy of Tyrone fall down. Cannon quickly rushed up to him, still retaining force on the rope, and pulled out his own dagger. He kicked the copy over, and stabbed him in the throat with the dagger and let go of the rope. He saw the copy’s eyes become still and turn white.

As he pulled his dagger out, Cannon noticed there wasn’t any blood. Confused he looked up at Skarlin. “What gives?” As he looked back down, the Tyrone copy burst into smoke. Once Cannon cleared the smoke, all that was remained was his trident.

“These aren’t exact copies of you gent,” called out Skarlin from above. He threw down the rope and held on to it so Cannon could climb back up. “The stone produces copies out of smoke. Once you make a deadly blow that would make a gap into someone, the smoke is no longer connected so they disappear. It’s a neat little spell in my opinion.”

Cannon slowly ascended the rope to regroup with the others. “Man, I never really knew how hard it was to climb ropes,” said Cannon.

“Who wants to go next?” asked Skarlin. The group looked around to see who wanted to be the new participant in the pit. Cannon stood there smiling as he could just sit back and relax now after being victorious.

Wahlburn lifted his hoof. “I’ll do it. I want to kick some ass.”

“You know the drill,” said Skarlin holding onto the rope. It took Wahlburn longer to reach the bottom of the pit than it did Cannon due to the fact he was equipped with heavy steel armor and a heavy sword.

“You should of just threw the armor and sword down there first, then go down the rope!” yelled Cannon from above.

“Too late now,” said Wahlburn. He looked back up the rope and frowned. “I think climbing up is going to be a lot harder anyways.” He shook his head and walked over to the corner of the ring. He looked at the stone in his hoof and threw it at the opposite corner.

Just like Cannon’s stone, his stone followed the same routine. After the smoke cleared, Patel’s copy stood there, clad in his leather armor.

“Oh look at that handsome stallion down there!” yelled Patel, “just look at all that swag!” He laughed as the others rolled their eyes. Patel’s copy quickly threw on his hood. He drew his longbow and quickly nocked an arrow, pointing towards Wahlburn.
Wahlburn laughed and banged on his helmet with his hoof. “I guess I got lucky on this one!” He drew his greatsword and rested it on his back. As he began his slow walk, Patel’s copy started firing his arrows. Wahlburn laughed as the clanked off his armor. “Too easy!”

Wahlburn stood in front of Patel’s copy and pulled his greatsword off his back. He gripped it with both hooves and swung downwards with all his strength. Patel’s copy rolled forward so he was behind Wahlburn. He quickly nocked another arrow and shot Wahlburn in the space where no armor was on his hind leg. Wahlburn clenched his teeth at the pain, but quickly pulled up his massive sword and cut downwards behind him.

Patel’s copy dodged it again and shot an arrow at his neck. Wahlburn quickly lowered his head so the arrow would bounce off his helmet and tried to spin around with the sword. Patel’s copy tried jumping over it, but at the last second, Wahlburn lifted the sword up with all his strength and cut the copy in the chest.

Patel’s copy went flying backwards and crashed into the wall. Wahlburn stared at it laughing at first, but realized, because it didn’t burst into smoke, it wasn’t a fatal blow. Wahlburn quickly turned his head around and pulled out the arrow in his hind leg. He grimaced at the sudden pain and shook it off. Patel’s copy was sitting against the floor, nocking and firing arrows at a drop of a flash. Wahlburn shifted his body at every arrow to make them ineffective and slashed downwards at the copy. Patel’s copy held his bow with both hooves horizontally to block the blade, but after Wahlburn’s extra force, the blade cut through the bow and through the leather armor. The copy transformed into smoke and Wahlburn waved it away.

“Man, I’m used to smoke, but this is ridiculous.” He slowly walked over to the rope where Skarlin hovered over. “How the fuck am I suppose to climb up this? My leg hurts and this armor is heavy as shit.”

“Hold right there,” yelled Skarlin. “I’ll see if some of our mages can lift you.” Skarlin ran over to a group of unicorns to talk to them while Cannon walked over to the rope. He looked down at Wahlburn and uncontrollably laughed.

“The fuck are you laughing at!” yelled Wahlburn so Cannon could hear him.

“It’s nothing,” said Cannon. “I mean, I barely even broke a sweat down there. It looks like you are hurting.”

“Why is that funny?”

“I don’t know. It just is for me.”

Skarlin soon returned with a small group of five unicorns. Skarlin pointed down towards the pit and the unicorns nodded and looked down at Wahlburn. Wahlburn quickly was engulfed by the magical aura and slowly began being raised from the pit. After a minute of concentration and silence, Wahlburn was placed on the ground beside his friends.

“Thanks a lot,” said Wahlburn as he began taking his armor off. The unicorns nodded in unison and walked away. As Wahlburn was fiddling with his armor, Patel turned towards Skarlin.

“Why do you have us fight each other?” he asked. “Why don’t we fight ourselves?”

Skarlin looked at him and glanced down at the pit. “That would be too easy. I wanted you to mix up the stones so you could learn something from all of this other than how well you fare in combat.”

“What’s that then?”

“Tell me, since your clone had already fought, what did you learn from watching it fight your heavy armored friend over there?”

Patel stroked his chin. “Well, I noticed my copy kept firing at his torso until he dodged and shot the weak spot on his hind leg.” Patel looked at him some more until that imaginary light flashed in his head. “Oh I get it now, you want us to watch what not and what to do!”

“Precisely. Take your other friend over there,” said Skarlin pointing at Tyrone. “His clone made a mistake in the very beginning and that was throwing his dagger. That may have helped in a close combat situation, but at that distance, no one would do that unless they absolutely knew it was going to change the outcome of the fight for the better.”

“Can I go next?” asked Patel.

“I don’t see why not.” Skarlin held on to the rope so Patel could rappel down the wall. Once he was a few feet from the bottom, he launched off the wall and landed on the ground. He flicked his hood up and pulled his quiver onto his back where he could easily access it. He tossed the stone at the ground and soon the smoke formed the dome. As it cleared, the smoke copy of Clyde was seen.

“Oh boy,” said Patel. He looked at the copy while aiming his bow. He called up to his friends above him. “Hey Clyde, you should really learn to wear a helmet because this one arrow is going to end your life.”

The real Clyde gave a chuckle and leaned over the railing. “Do it then.”

“You asked for it.” Patel released the arrow and watched it sail in the air towards Clyde’s copy. As the arrow was a few feet away, the copy flicked the rapier up and deflected the arrow. The copy lowered his head and rushed towards Patel.

Patel began firing arrows at a quicker pace, while slowly stepping backwards. Clyde’s copy either dodged them by contorting his body, or with a flick of the rapier.

“I guess those concentration drills for basketball taught me how to concentrate on arrows,” said Clyde as he watched himself advance towards Patel.

“You’re ass is welcome,” said Tyrone with a grin.

As Clyde’s copy went for a quick slash at him, Patel rolled to the side and attempted to nock an arrow. Since this copy was wearing the lighter leather armor, his turn to face him surprised Patel and he fumbled with the arrow.

“Shit,” said Patel quietly to himself. He moved around to dodge the rapier’s quick slashes and tried another arrow to fire. Clyde’s copy caught the curve of the bow and flicked it out of his hooves. As Patel watched the bow fly out of his hooves and hit the ground a few inches away, he quickly dove towards it. As he landed on the bow, Clyde’s copy tried poking him with his weapon while he was down. Patel quickly rolled onto his back and smacked the sword out of the copy’s hoove, sending it flying to the other side of the pit.

The copy quickly drew out his small parrying dagger hidden in his armor’s sleeve and lunged at Patel’s head, only missing by a few inches. Patel took this time to take his bow and sling it over the copy’s head, pulling him downwards. As he pulled the copy down, Patel slid to the left side and got up so he was pulling the bow back tightly on Clyde’s copy’s neck with the unbreakable bowstring. Patel quickly stepped on the copy’s head with one of his front hooves and resumed pulling the bow back with the other.

“You’re going to choke him out!” yelled Clyde from above in anger. “Don’t let him suffer like that!”

“It won’t work anyway,” replied Skarlin. “Choking isn’t a fatal gash into the copy to break the spell. You have to create an almost instantly death injury.”

Patel continued his force on the Clyde’s copy’s head and the bow, as the copy was flailing his hooves around to escape. Patel looked behind him and looked at one of the copy’s hind legs. He remembered something and gave a dark smile.

“Hey Clyde!” yelled Patel. He shifted one of his own hind legs backwards, parallel to one of the copy’s. “Don’t hate me for this, but I wouldn’t look.” He lifted his right hind leg and shoved it down towards the copy’s left hind leg. Due to the force, the angle of the impact, and because of Clyde’s prior injury to that hind leg a few years back, the leg snapped into two.

Because it wasn’t an actual being and just a mere copy made of smoke, the injury didn’t make a loud noise from where they were, but it was noticeable and was gruesome to them. The group above all yelled in disgust at the sight, while Clyde walked away from it as soon as it happened.

Patel let go of the copy’s head and neck and watched it squirm in silent agony. Patel slowly nocked an arrow and aimed straight at the temple. With a quick twang, the arrow pierced the copy’s skull and it soon burst into smoke.

Patel began his climb up while Cannon looked at Skarlin. “These things have bones?”

Skarlin shrugged. “It would appear so. I guess the spell even covers all prior injuries and skeletal structures, trying to give it a more realistic feel.”

“Well that’s freaky as fuck,” said Cannon. He walked over to the others and waited for Patel to reach the top of the rope. As they group congratulated Patel on his victory once he reached the top, Patel looked around.

“Where’s Clyde?” he asked them.

“He left after you sort of snapped his leg again,” said Cannon.

“That wasn’t him though.”

“Yeah, but it probably reminded him of that injury.”

“Seriously?” asked Patel in disdain. “It’s been a few years now. I’m going to go talk to him.” Patel searched around the underground training room to spy his friend. After looking past a group of Arlin clones hitting some targets, he saw him sitting down and leaning on a rock with his eyes closed. Patel walked up to him quietly and sat atop the rock looking down at him.

“What do you want?” asked Clyde without opening his eyes. “Are you going to do that to me now?”

Patel laughed. “Maybe if you betray me in the future.” He looked down and Clyde was flicking his rapier around. “It was a joke.”

“I know.” Clyde stood up and looked over at the group, who was missing Tyrone. He lifted his left hind leg, the one still with the glaring scar from the injury and surgery, and shook it around. “Do you know why I left over there?”

“Because I kicked your ass?” Patel laughed and looked at the serious Clyde. He frowned. “Sorry, joking again.”

“Ever since that incident, I gained a fear of injuring my leg again. I refuse to watch the video clip of it happening.”

“That’s normal once you have an injury.”

“Yeah, but it still bothers me slightly. Most other athletes who require injury come back the next year like nothing ever happened.” Clyde looked at the ground sadly.

Patel, because he hates sappy talks, tried to comfort him. “I bet they still worry about it occasionally. They just don’t tell anyone else.” Patel looked at the others and saw Tyrone already climbing out of the ring. “Instead of constantly worrying about that injury happening again, think of something else that makes you happy.” Patel sighed after realizing what he said, but he saw Clyde nod to himself.

“Yeah, I guess that’s all I can do for now.” Clyde got up and returned to the group leaving Patel bewildered.

“Yeah, no problem man,” he said to himself. Once Patel returned, he saw Tyrone with a happy grin on his face. “What’s with him?” he asked the others.

“Man, I’ll tell you,” said Tyrone. “After you left, I decided it was my turn down there. So I go down there and my opponent is Cannon. I was all like, time to get my revenge for my smoke copy brother.”

“Shut up,” said Cannon with crossed arms.

“Nah dawg. Anyway, just for the fuck of it, I throw, not one, but both of my daggers at him. He dodged them and I heard these boys up here laughing at me. I wasn’t about to have that shit. I ran up to the copy and jumped over his trident which he threw at me.”

“Okay.”

“So, I’m up in this dawg’s face. With one damn punch, I knock that lil’ bitch down to the ground and I start wailing on him. He couldn’t even move because my punches were so powerful. After beating him up for a few seconds, I steal his own dagger and stab him in the chest.” Tyrone leaned on the railing and grinned. “Gotta love my curling.”

Patel began laughing. “Damnit Clyde. You made me miss this pure ownage.”

Clyde rolled his eyes and walked up to the rope. He looked back at Poncho who was staring at some sort of thing on the floor. “I’ll go next. I face either Poncho or Wahlburn.”

Skarlin nodded and held on to the rope. Clyde grabbed on and slowly held on as he walked down the wall towards the bottom of the pit. After reaching the bottom, he equipped his rapier from his side and looked at the pommel. After focusing on it for a few seconds and some thinking in his head, he held it to the side and tossed the smoke copy stone on the ground in front of him. After the smoke cleared, Wahlburn’s clone stood tall.

Clyde stood there waiting for Wahlburn’s copy to move. Wahlburn’s copy pulled out his greatsword from his back and gripped it with both hooves. He lined it up with Clyde from across the pit and drew it back. He placed it on his back and charged at Clyde. Clyde remained still while solely focusing on his opponent.

“He’s going to fucking die if he just stands there,” said Cannon. “What are you doing!”

Clyde ignored Cannon and remained still. Wahlburn’s copy’s run began to slow and he was in the process of grabbing his sword again. By the time Wahlburn’s copy was a few yards away, he jumped and pulled out his greatsword. He lined the sword up again and pushed downward, right for Clyde’s skull. As the sword was a few inches away, there was a loud ‘clang’.

Clyde had caught the greatsword between his rapier and parrying dagger while crossing his hooves.. He held on to Wahlburn’s copy’s sword as the copy tried pushing down to break the hold. Due to the hold being in a ‘X’ shape, the copy’s force couldn’t break it. Clyde flicked his hooves to the right which disarmed the copy. Clyde quickly stabbed his throat and the copy exploded into smoke. Clyde waved it off and looked up.

“How’s that?” he asked.

“What the fuck was that!” yelled Cannon. “You just so happened to stand there the whole time and pull out a counter like that?”

“I guess?”

“Well, it was pretty sweet,” said Wahlburn.

Clyde climbed up the rope and sat down on the ground. “I wasn’t expecting that to be that easy.”

“What the hell were you thinking about while standing there?” asked Wahlburn as he patted his buddy on the shoulder.

“I told myself to think of your copy as my worries involving my injury. If I can beat this copy, then my worries would also be defeated.”

“Well did it work?”

Clyde nodded. “I think so. I still refuse to watch the clip though.”

As Clyde was recovering from his quick battle, Poncho nervously looked around as he was the last one to battle. The others also realized this and turned towards him.

“Hey Poncho,” said Patel with a grin.

“W-What?”

“Looks like you’re next dawg,” said Tyrone.

“B-But...”

“It’s not that bad,” said Cannon. “Just think of your copy as a thing we hate and you’ll win in no time.”

Poncho gulped and slowly walked towards the rope. He looked behind him and saw his friends begin to start a slow clap. As the clapping grew louder, Poncho felt the nervousness inside of him begin to fade. He lifted his hoof and began the rappel down. He heard the roaring applause as he slowly descended into the pit. Once at the bottom, he looked around above him and saw his friends looking down at him.

“Hey Poncho!” yelled Cannon. “Don’t fuck up! If you lose, well, you’ll be the only one to. Don’t do that!”

Poncho gave a heroic wave and gulped again. He threw the last smoke stone on the ground and waited for it to clear to face himself. As the other Poncho rose from the smoke, the real Poncho felt a spark inside him.

“What do we call the other Poncho?” asked Cannon to the others. “Sketchbag 2.0?”

“How about ‘Nega Poncho?’” suggested Patel. The others decided to just go with it because they wanted to watch the fight.
Poncho looked at Nega Poncho with a serious attitude, something that was very uncommon for him. He gripped on the handle of his zweihander with his right hoof and pulled it off his back. He attached it to his utility horseshoes and gripped it with both hooves. After some deep breaths, he looked at his counterpart. Nega Poncho was in the same stance and was also ready to battle.

After a staring contest for the century, both Ponchos rushed toward each other, their zweihanders at the ready on their backs. Once they were in range, they quickly gripped their swords handle and swung as hard as they could. The impact of the two massive swords made a loud metallic noise and knocked both Ponchos to the ground. They quickly got back up and swung at each other again.

After clashing swords three times in a row, Poncho took a stop for a quick breath while Nega Poncho hit him with the pommel. Poncho fell down and looked up as he saw Nega Poncho about to strike the ground with his own zweihander. Poncho quickly held his zweihander horizontally to protect himself. As Nega Poncho struggled to crush him with the sword, Poncho kicked out his enemy’s legs to make him stumble. Poncho sat up as fast as he could and did a low sweep with his weapon. Nega Poncho fell down as Poncho stood above him.
In an attempt to swing downwards, Poncho stopped midway as Nega Poncho copied his trick with the horizontal sword block. Poncho smiled and instead of continuing downwards with the cut, he put the sword under the block and lifted it up. Nega Poncho’s zweihander went flying to the side of the pit as Poncho stood there laughing. He turned the sword upside down and with both hooves on the pommel, thrusted the sword into Nega Poncho’s chest. As the blade penetrated the leather armor, the smoke copy exploded and with him gone, the smoke copies were no more.

Poncho took deep breaths and dropped his sword. He looked up at the others above him, who were staring at him with their mouths open. He tied the zweihander on his back and looked at the rope. He slowly began to climb while thinking of his awesome combat skills he just witnessed himself.

Even though it wasn’t a serious battle to the death, he still felt the adrenaline of a hero building inside him. He felt like he could do anything without any struggles and he didn’t want to feeling to leave him.

He soon reached the top as his friends came over to congratulate him, tell him how much of a badass he looked, and how glad there isn’t another sketchy pony like him alive. Skarlin walked over to them.

“Well, looks like you all didn’t die,” he said in a calm tone.

“What’s next for training?” asked Wahlburn. “I want to keep kicking ass.”

“Hate to break it to you, but there isn’t anymore training.” The group all gasped.

“No more?” asked Cannon in disbelief, “what do you mean “no more?” We still have to get stronger to take on Jarlin.”

Skarlin looked at him gravely. “No, you’re perfectly able to battle his forces now, as they aren’t that strong. It’s just Jarlin that you have to worry about. You all exceeded my expectations down in that pit, and were all victorious with any real harm to you. Jarlin doesn’t normally fight you with melee.”

“Then why have us do all of this trouble with these weapons?” asked Patel. He waved around his bow and looked at it with a frown.

“So when and if Jarlin summoned his weak familiars, some of you can attack them while some others go after Jarlin. He can’t concentrate on two groups at the same time.”

“Oh,” said Patel. “Well, all that leaves left is training for Jarlin’s mind games and we should be fine.”

Skarlin turned around. “That’s the problem, you can’t train for it.” The group gasped yet again.

“Whaaaat?” said Poncho, “then just how are we able to resist the mind games without any sort of practice?”

“You will just have to resist on the spot. No one here knows how to perform that dark magic.” Skarlin turned back towards them and looked at each of them. “It’s your choice now, you can either practice down here, go eat and rest, or we can just assault his tower right now.”

Patel and the others sighed. They looked around the room and in unison voted for the eat and rest option. Skarlin nodded and led them back through the narrow underground tunnel and up the stairs to the main hall where many other Arlin clones were sitting around and eating.

As the group ate, they discussed their game plan for tomorrow's battle. Wahlburn, Cannon, and Tyrone agreed to fight off Jarlin’s army of restored corpses with all of the other Arlin clones, as Patel, Clyde, and Poncho were in charge of dealing with Jarlin. They finished dinner in silence as they went to go rest up for the following day’s meeting at last.

Fear

The rest of the night had them all unable to sleep. Most of them were excited for tomorrow as they were going to get back home. They thought of all the things they would do as soon as they stepped back in their comfy home. They would lounge all day long and do absolutely nothing because in their minds, they knew they were heroes.

The others had it rough. They were kept up due to thinking about the future and the possible outcome that what would occur if they died and wasn’t able to return home. How would others react to their death? Would they be remembered or just forgotten about after the funeral forever?

The next morning quickly arrived and the six of them woke up and got ready. They quickly equipped their armor and gear and waited in the main hall. During this time, all of the Arlin clones were also getting ready for battle. Skarlin was grouping some of them into smaller groups so it would be easier to explain the plan. Poncho, who was the last one to get ready, walked into the hall and looked at his friends.

“This is it guys, our last adventure,” he said to them. He had sadness in his voice, which the others picked up on it.

“What are you talking about?” asked Patel. “This isn’t our last adventure.”

“It might be,” replied Poncho. “What is there else to do after we stop Arlin?”

“I don’t know about world saving, but there is still ‘Bro Nights’,” said Cannon. “Those won’t ever end.”

“They better not,” said Clyde. “I’ve been forced to go to some of Rarity and her friends’ ‘Girl Nights’ and those just aren’t fun.”

Cannon smirked. “At least you fucked them all right?”

Clyde looked at him with a sarcastic expression. “Yes, because that’s exactly how those things work.” He rolled his eyes and Cannon laughed and patted him on the back.

“Anyways,” said Wahlburn. “When I get home I’m throwing a party. I’m inviting weed, booze, and hookers so you all are invited.”

“Can we get Spike?” asked Patel and Cannon simultaneously.

“You guys can get that bastard, I’m not going anywhere near that damn treehouse.”

“Clyde can get him for us,” said Patel with a smirk.

“Are you serious?” replied Clyde. “Why do I have to do everything for you guys?”

“Well,” said Wahlburn with a smile, “you and I both know that since you are friends with nearly everybody in that town, you can help us get Spike back. Just go over there and ask Twilight if Spike wants to hang out or something.”

“I don’t even think I talked to him ten times in my life! Solve your own problems.” Clyde sat down on the ground to wait for Skarlin to come over and talk to them. He looked up at Wahlburn. “You know, maybe if you didn’t get him all into weed, you could still be “best buddies” with him.”

“He was already a fan of weed!” yelled Wahlburn. “I wasn’t going to say no to a damn pot-loving dragon! I could have got burned alive!”

“He’s like two feet tall!” exclaimed Clyde.

“He breathes fucking fire!”

The two stopped talking at this point as Skarlin began to walk over to them. Clyde stood up and got in line with his friends. Skarlin approached them and looked at them individually. “Well warriors, it’s time to wage battle on Jarlin and hopefully break out of this cursed portal.” Skarlin popped in his pipe and quickly lit it. “Any more questions before we leave?”

“How far away is this tower?” asked Poncho.

“Not far, it’s about a mile away. You can see it and the plateau from outside of this building.”

Poncho and the others nodded and looked at each other one last time. They nodded and walked towards the doors. Skarlin nodded at them and lifted his hoof. The groups of clones saluted and burst out of the doors, running in a formal line. Skarlin followed suit while the group did as well.

Once they felt the morning sunshine of Ciyelor, they looked around. Where they stood was atop a large hill. Below them, they could see the small town and pathways up to the main hall. Beside the town, was a large lake that seemed to never end.

It was their first time in this fake world where they weren’t in a building or underground so they looked at all the detail in this artificial world. The grass was bright green and full of life, the sky and clouds were realistic looking, and the water by the lake below them looked deep blue. Even the minor waves of the lake looked natural to them.

Beside the vast lake below them, they noticed that the lake itself was in the middle of a large valley. Large rocky walls surrounded the lake and beamed over them. From what they could tell, both sides of the valley were flat at the top.

“Hey over here!” yelled Skarlin as he beckoned them over to him with his hoof. They ran over the him and saw a pathway leading up to one of the sides of the valley. After a closer look, they saw a small vertical line in the distance on the top of the cliff. “His tower is that small line up ahead. If we hurry now, we can reach it before the new hour.”

Skarlin, the army of clones, and the group began their journey up the cliff. As they walked upwards, they looked around and below them to watch the small town, lake, and hall begin to shrink. They looked upwards towards the tower, which was slowly growing.

About thirty minutes up the path, Poncho sighed and turned his head towards Skarlin. “Are we almost there man?”

“Close. About ten minutes away at most.” As Skarlin looked at the tower, he and the rest of the army and group felt a powerful feeling in the air. They all stopped walking and shook their heads and felt it again.

Ah. I see your futile army has reached my tower. I accept your challenge of war, but it was already known that you were coming. The voice faded out as the army stared at one another.

“Keep moving!” yelled Skarlin. They continued their march and after a few paces, they saw a horde of glowing ponies rush down the path at them. “Army, this is it! Charge forward as we move up! You must not let them best you!” The army saluted again and rushed up the path towards Jarlin’s horde. Skarlin looked over at the group.

“Follow them up the hill! There we will split up.”

“We can’t fight running up the path!” yelled Wahlburn. “I need both my hooves to use my blade, but I can’t run if that happens.”

“That’s why you hurry up there and fight while your friends run past them and charge the tower! You only need to distract the forces!”

Wahlburn and company nodded and charged up the path. They watched the first clash of the two armies ahead of them and pushed harder. They soon reached the warzone and Wahlburn, Cannon, and Tyrone stopped and began helping the clones fight off the horde of possessed ponies.

As clones and Jarlin’s familiars were falling down around them, Patel, Clyde, and Poncho rushed past the warzone and up the remaining path, dodging projectiles and swords along the way. As they reached the top, they looked down at the battle and realized the clones outnumbered the familiars. However, as more of Jarlin’s army died, more sprouted from the ground around them.

“We got to hurry this up before they all die,” said Patel. “They are eventually going to get swarmed.”

“But isn’t that so much fun?” asked a voice from behind them. The three of them turned around to see a hooded pony in black robes standing in front of the tower door. His hood fell down and he looked at them with his cold black eyes. The pony was crimson red with a black mane. His horn glowed with a black aura and he laughed.

“Jarlin?” asked Patel.

Yes, replied a voice in Patel’s head. He stared at Jarlin from afar and saw him standing there with his eyes closed, with only his black aura moving from him. Patel saw Clyde and Poncho look at him and assumed they could hear his voice in their heads too. We don’t normally allow non-Arlin clones into the portal.

“Well, I came here to destroy it and there’s nothing that can stop me from doing so!” yelled Patel. “I won’t allow Arlin take over the world.”

Jarlin’s chuckle rang throughout their heads. Well, the only way to get out of here is to defeat me so you can enter the portal in my tower. I don’t want to end this party just yet.

Suddenly, the ground around them began to form black lines that ran behind them to Jarlin. Jarlin opened his eyes and wall of black magic shot up into the air from the lines. The magic all came together at the top of the sky and formed a small dome. After the dome formed, it faded away and the three looked around confused.

“What was that about?” asked Poncho.

My dome, began Jarlin, is a barrier so others won’t interrupt us. Basically they are invisible walls. Jarlin looked at each one of them and stroked his chin. Who should I start with first?

The three of them looked at each other and nodded. They all stared at Jarlin with a fierce glare. Jarlin saw their charade and laughed into the air. After he calmed down, he closed his eyes.

You, said Jarlin into Clyde’s mind. Clyde flinched at the sudden voice in his head. You seem to have potential.

Get out of my head, said Clyde in his mind. He looked at Patel and Poncho who was still staring at Jarlin. They couldn’t hear the two of them.

Clyde is it? asked Jarlin. That’s a strange name for a pony. Clyde tried thinking of other topics to make Jarlin unable to journey through his mind. He felt the pressure in his head grow as he attempted. I wouldn’t do that.

Get out of my head, repeated Clyde again.

No, that’s alright, laughed Jarlin. So it seems ‘Clyde’ is a nickname yes? You shut out your real name a long time ago, I can’t find it.

Good. Now get out of my head.

Man, you are no fun. Jarlin kept pushing harder into the depth of Clyde’s mind while Clyde tried to resist. Clyde felt the force of Jarlin start to pull away. He kept thinking of random topics to confuse him to help Jarlin leave. As Jarlin left, Clyde grinned. A few seconds later, his grin vanished and his heart dropped as a familiar, lovely voice in his head rang out.

Clyde!

Clyde lost control of reality as he heard Rarity’s voice in his head. He shook his head to ignore it, but at the same time he couldn’t because it was Rarity’s voice that he heard nearly every waking minute for the past few years. It was the voice he was accustomed to and loved dearly.

Clyde! yelled Rarity’s voice in his head, Darling, I need to tell you something...

Clyde knew that tone. She would always used it whenever she was upset or had to tell one of her friends something that would make them upset. No...

Clyde, darling, I’m sorry but-

Stop.

-I need to stop lying to you. I never wanted to hurt you by going this far but it’s just-

Stop!

-I loved all of the time we spent together, and I’m sure you did too-

STOP!

-but even after all this time, I never loved you. My true love was that you loved me so much...

Stop...I don’t want to be alone again...

Clyde felt a downpour of tears run down his cheek and dropped to the ground. Patel and Poncho watched him fall and rushed over to him. He cried and cried, and he abandoned himself to his agony. Patel and Poncho looked confused and tried talking him back to reality. Clyde felt Jarlin laughing in his head.

Poor boy, said Jarlin with a chuckle. Girls like that don’t care about true love. They only love love. They could care less for your feelings. They only like the attention they’re getting.

Clyde opened his eyes and glared at Jarlin. Tears were still rolling down his cheeks, but he grabbed his rapier and flung it into his mouth. He quickly got up and charged at Jarlin. Nothing except the thought of anger was in Clyde’s head. As he jumped into the air to attack him with his sword, Jarlin’s black aura surrounded him. The magical aura stopped him a few feet in front of Jarlin.

Jarlin slowly opened his eyes and looked at Clyde. He saw the blaze in Clyde’s eyes, filled with anger, agony, and passion. He laughed at him.

“It’s so fun to mess with the ones who truly love someone else.” Jarlin closed his eyes again and Clyde was thrown into the invisible dome wall to Jarlin’s side. As his body impacted the wall, Clyde spit out the rapier and it, along with him, fell to the ground. Clyde laid there unconscious beside his weapon, the pommel touching his forehead. Patel and Poncho gasped and gave a cold glare at Jarlin.

Jarlin opened his dark eyes and laughed and looked over at the them. “My, that was fun. Who’s next?”

“Stop with the mind games!” yelled Patel. “Fight us with normal magic at least, or better yet, stop being a bitch and fight us with weapons.” Jarlin sighed and close his eyes. Within a few seconds, Patel felt the voice of him in his head.

You’re the one from before. The one who brought out of these other toys to play with. Arlin wants me to not kill you as he wants to kill you himself.

I’d like to see him try, said Patel.

Well, he can’t right now as he is busy planning out attack on Germaney with his clones. Why he would pick that as the first place to take over, I’ll never know, but what can you do.

Patel thought of a reason on why Arlin would go after Germaney first. It’s because, he wanted to take control of Germaney. Arlin was probably still mad at him for not joining forces so he wanted to make sure he couldn't start one of his own. He laughed in his head.

He’s probably mad at me. I don’t blame him at all.

Your mind is dark and only set on one goal: Germaney, said Jarlin. This isn’t fun. At least Clyde over there made it interesting for me.

Yeah, well, ever since I learned you could get into our minds, I knew I could defeat you. Patel drew his bow and aimed it while trying to distract him with pointless banter. I don’t have any fears to share, other than the full extermination of the master breed. My mind is set on getting out of here, defeating Arlin for good, and restoring that breed back to the powerful Germaney.

You can’t get to him without besting me though. Just how exactly will you do that? Jarlin began laughing. Patel fired some arrows while thinking of topics to let Jarlin search through. After he fired a few he smiled.

With these.

The arrows struck Jarlin into the chest as he broke free from Patel’s mind and yelled in pain. Patel quickly took the opportunity to fire off more arrows at his direction. Instead of dodging the arrows, Jarlin caught them with his magic and launched them back. Patel watched as his arrows flew back at them, about to strike, until Poncho swung his zweihander upward to deflect them.

“Thanks Poncho,” said Patel, catching a few breaths of air.

“Don’t mention it. I’m tired of this guy.”

“You have to distract him while I fire arrows at him somehow,” said Patel. He looked over at Clyde who was still motionless on the side of the invisible dome. “It’s only us two now.”

“H-How are we going to do that?” asked Poncho. He realized he stuttered his sentence and felt nervous all of a sudden.

You’re not.

Patel felt the black magical aura from Jarlin surround him and lift him into the air. Jarlin levitated him to the middle of the dome and turned him around so he could face him.

“I already told you that trying to best me was pointless,” said Jarlin. He flicked his head and slammed Patel into the opposite side of the dome across from Clyde. Patel felt the wind in him drain at the impact and he collapsed to the ground. He looked up weakly, then let his head plummet to the ground.

Poncho gasped at the sudden downfall of his friend. He looked at both Clyde and Patel and began to shake. Both of the strongest willed ponies he knew were defeated within a few minutes. He saw Jarlin look at him.

Jarlin laughed, and this time, it was the loudest of all of his prior outbursts. “The last warrior remains.” He closed his eyes and within a few seconds, met with Poncho’s mind.

The last warrior, Poncho, remains before me. Poncho shuddered at the sound in his head and tried to ignore it. You can’t ignore me that easily.

G-Get out of my mind! yelled Poncho. He was holding on to his head with his hooves and was sitting down.

Your one friend over there told me the same thing, but looked what happened to him. Let’s see what you fear the most...

No!

Oh, but yes! Jarlin kept quiet for a few moments and soon returned to speak to Poncho. It seems you don’t like your friends that much.

W-What? I love my friends.

You say that, but you don’t like them getting credit for everything.

I-

You say that, but you don’t like them because they are all well known or liked and you aren’t.

I-

You say that, but you don’t like them because you fear you will never be remembered!

Poncho sat there on the ground, not thinking about anything. He kept hearing Jarlin’s mantra in his head, over and over again. He knew it was true, but he didn’t want it to be played in his head like a broken record. Poncho thought to himself.

I-I do want to be remembered and I know I’m not as important as Patel, Clyde, or even Tyrone sometimes, but I know they will remember me. Why? Because, I’m the only Poncho in the world and we all bonded because of me!

Ha! laughed Jarlin, don’t kid yourself. You aren’t nothing to them.

Poncho ignored him and stood up. He looked at the ground and clenched his teeth and shot a glare at Jarlin. Jarlin laughed at him, but Poncho began his charge towards him. Jarlin stood there watching as Poncho was running at him full speed, on a mission to show his purpose. A mission to show, he wasn’t worthless to his friends. A mission to show, he would be heroic for once.

As Poncho drew his heavy sword, he felt the black aura around him. He pushed harder to run so the aua couldn’t take him over completely yet, hoping to at least, get one strike on him. Poncho drew the sword and rapidly swung at Jarlin, but was too late and stopped a few inches from Jarlin’s face.

“That was close,” said Jarlin with a sigh. He pushed aside Poncho’s zweihander from his face so he could speak directly to him. “To think, you were closer to kill me than your other friends, and yet, you have the weaker willpower.”

Poncho spat in Jarlin’s face. “Don’t call me weak! I-I’m not weak!”

Jarlin looked at him with a grin. “If you aren’t weak then, why are you stuttering? Stuttering in the time of battle is a sign of weakness.” He lowered Poncho down so he would be on eye level with him. Ponco tried to move his arms to break free from the magical hold on him, but everytime he tried, the hold became tighter.

Poncho held in his outburst because he didn’t want to know Jarlin to know he was in pain. He felt like crying, but he refused to do so. Jarlin lifted his hoof and pressed it against Poncho’s forehead.

“I usually don’t like elemental magic because it’s so boring to me, but since you are the last one in this pathetic effort, I’ll do it anyway.” He released his hoof and stepped back a little. Poncho felt a small spark in his body and soon, he began to be shocked by Jarlin’s magical hold.

Clyde weakly opened his eyes at the feel of something warm touching his head. With his blurry vision, he saw a small blue light flashing in front of him. He batted his eyes to focus on the light. It was the pommel of a rapier that was shaped as a diamond. He looked around to see when he was at and saw Patel laying down about fifteen yards away from him. He looked to his right and saw Jarlin and Poncho a few yards away. Jarlin was facing Poncho who was surrounded in a black aura. Clyde looked back at them and tried to remember what was going on and why he was over here. He glanced over to the rapier and saw the flash of light fade. As it faded, it came back to him.

Rarity...

Clyde weakly, and discreetly, crawled over to the rapier and returned it to its sheath on his side. He took out his small parrying dagger that he hid in his armor’s sleeve and threw it on the ground. He carefully picked it up with his mouth and began crawling over to Jarlin and Poncho. He saw Poncho was being attacked by magic and Jarlin was busy focusing on him. With all of his weak power he had, he began slowly crawling towards Jarlin and Poncho.

Patel slowly opened his eyes and adjusted to the brightness of Ciyelor’s sun. After focusing and rubbing his head, he saw Clyde crawling on the ground with a dagger in his mouth towards the backside of Jarlin and Poncho. Patel wanted to shout at him, but remembered what happened to him and why he was here. Clyde didn’t see him, but he wanted to help anyways. He quietly nocked an arrow and aimed the bow at Jarlin’s neck.

As he was aiming, his focus was fading out and his bow was swaying. Patel kept shaking his head to refocus but he was growing tired still. Patel sighed. He kept wishing he could have enough energy to aim and shoot by the time Clyde made it over to them, but he didn’t know much energy he had left.

At first, Poncho was able to tank the magical attack very well. It started off barely even hurting, but as time went on, Jarlin kicked up the strength of it and Poncho felt powerless. He wanted to scream in pain, but he refused to do so as he didn’t want to show Jarlin anymore weakness. Poncho felt the magical electric pulse flow through him and began to tear up. He resisted as hard as he could and looked at the ground.

Once Poncho looked down, he saw a brief glimpse of Clyde behind Jarlin. He didn’t know for sure if it was him or not, but he also didn’t want to look back up at the sadistic smile of Jarlin. He tried to endure the pain as long as he could.

“Give up,” yelled Jarlin. His eyes were focused solely on the magical pulse attacking Poncho. “No one is here to save you.”

“Y-You’re wrong!” yelled Poncho through the pain.

“Really? Then show me!”

Jarlin finished his phrase and felt a sharp pain on the back of his neck. He flinched, which stopped the spell holding Poncho, and turned around. As he turned around, Clyde lunged at him with his parrying dagger in his mouth and stabbed him in the chest. Clyde quickly grabbed on to him as he spit out blood.

“You bastard...,” said Jarlin, blood running down his mouth. He looked down at Clyde and grunted in pain. Clyde responded with pushing the dagger farther with more force.

Poncho looked up after being dropped to the ground and searched for his zweihander. He weakly stretched his hooves and gripped the sword. He pulled all of the remaining energy he had left in his body that withstood Jarlin’s magic and with a might swing downwards, slashed into Jarlin’s back, hitting his spine.

“Gah!” yelled Jarlin, this time spitting out much more blood. Some of it dripped onto Clyde, but he ignored it and pushed the dagger in farther. Jarlin fell to the ground and gasped for air. Clyde let go of him and pulled the dagger out. He spit it out and fell backwards, panting due to the lack of energy. Jarlin tried moving but was unable and yelled in pain again. “Curses...I think I’m paralyzed...”

“Paralyzed?” asked Patel, who was slowly walking over to them. “How do you think you’re paralyzed? You either are or not.” Patel stopped beside Poncho and patted him on the back. “Good job buddy, you did...it.” Patel also fell to the ground due to fatigue.
Poncho, who was breathing heavily, sat on the ground staring at Jarlin. “See?” he asked him. “I’m not weak.”

Jarlin looked over at him and spat blood, to show disgust. Jarlin looked away and stared at his magical invisible dome. It was being burned away, like a symbolic fire that represented Jarlin’s life and his dark magical reign. “I guess you want to return home now, huh?” His voice was weak and starting to fade.

Poncho stared at him. “Of course. How do we?”

Jarlin ignored his question. He continued to gasp for air and cough up blood. After a minute, he weakly looked over at Poncho. “My tower...all it contains...is a lone portal that takes you...back to Arlin’s desert base where you came in from.”

“Thanks,” said Poncho. Jarlin gave a slight nod and closed his eyes. Poncho sadly watch him cough up more blood and begin to stop gasping for air as much as before. Within a few minutes, Jarlin, the magical ruler of fear and Ciyelor, was nevermore.

Poncho wiped away a tear and fell back on the ground. He didn’t know why he was sad that Jarlin died, as he did try to kill him, but he felt sorry for him in a way. Maybe if he had friends, he wouldn’t have had to die like that. Poncho sighed and closed his eyes to rest. Maybe if Arlin had friends, all of this could have been avoided...

“Poncho,” yelled a familiar voice, “wake the fuck up!” Poncho felt hooves shaking him around. He opened his eyes and saw Wahlburn hovering above him, shaking him awake. “Finally, dammit.” Wahlburn had some cuts and blood all throughout his armor and face.

“Wahlburn?” asked Poncho. He looked around and saw Cannon and Tyrone who were sitting next to Clyde and Patel. “When did you guys get here?”

Wahlburn looked at the others and then back to Poncho. “Well, we were fighting the forces for some time and then all of a sudden, all of Jarlin’s forces vanished instantly. We decided to run up ahead to see if you killed him or something and sure enough, he’s dead right beside me!” Poncho looked past him and saw Jarlin’s body just laying there, like a fallen tree in the middle of the forest. Wahlburn helped him up and and patted him on the back. “I see your blade is stuck in him, did you kill him?”

“I did,” said Poncho, with a sense of pride and sadness.

“Good job brother,” said Wahlburn. Wahlburn walked away and joined the group leaving Poncho to stare at Jarlin one last time. Poncho gave a small salute and walked away to join his friends.

When Poncho walked up to his friends, he was mobbed by Tyrone and Cannon asking about what happened. He nervously began to recall the events while Patel helped him when he needed it. Tyrone and Cannon nodded at their tale and got so into it, that they showed a variety of emotions. During the tale, Clyde kept his gaze to his rapier on his side. When Poncho and Patel finished the tale of the battle against Jarlin, they heard Skarlin and the army of the clones thundering towards them.

“Gents!” yelled the battle-scarred Skarlin. He stopped in front of them, while the army of clones stayed a few yards behind him. Skarlin looked at Jarlin’s corpse laying on the ground and took out his pipe. “I see you dealt with him,” he said gravely.

“Yeah,” said Poncho. “It was a hard fought battle, but we did it.” He looked at Patel and Clyde and grinned. “All three of us.”

“Did he tell you how to escape?” asked Skarlin.

Poncho nodded. “The portal inside his tower will take us home!” Skarlin smiled and the army began cheering. Some threw their armor and weapons into the air while others began crying and kissing the ground.

Skarlin turned around to face the army. “My brethren! Tonight, we live anew!” The army cheered again. Skarlin lifted his hoof to calm the army. As they settled down, he lit his pipe and placed it in his mouth. “Ciyelor was fun, and taught us well, but let us never forget who forced us into here. Arlin is now our only enemy.” Skarlin took out his pipe to blow a small puff of smoke. He quickly smiled. “Let us not worry about that now. Let’s go home!” The army erupted again and ran towards the tower. They busted the tower door down and piled into the tower.

Skarlin laughed as he returned his attention to Poncho and the others. “Let’s get out of here and then we can talk about what happened up here,” he said pointing to Jarlin. They nodded and walked towards the end of the army. After a few minutes, the last of the army entered the tower, leaving only Skarlin and the six remaining in Ciyelor.

They entered the tower and quickly looked around. The interior of the tower was mostly bare, having only a small desk, a bed, and the large portal in front of them. Skarlin went over to the desk to see if he could find a secret journal or something, but his search failed. He walked over to the portal and looked deep into it. “It’s been far too long...,” he said as his voice faded out. He looked back at the group, who nodded. Skarlin jumped into the portal and instantly vanished.

Poncho and the other five looked around and back at each other. Without speaking, they all knew it was time to leave this place for good. Even though the trip itself was brief, it was time to return home. They counted down and all ran towards the portal. As they jumped it, the world seemed to expand and everything went bright.

The bright light remained for five seconds then quickly died out. Poncho and the five looked around and noticed they were on the stage of Area Fifty-Juan. Skarlin and the clone army were all standing in the area where all of the chairs were placed during Arlin’s meeting a few days ago. The group jumped off the stage to join the mosh pit and talk to the others. As they were talking, the group noticed all of their equipment from Ciyelor was gone, but the items they had before they entered were back, as if nothing happened.

Without any explanation, the lights of the hangar turned off and the room was pitch black, except the glow from the portal. The backup generator was heard overhead and soon the lights flicked back on. As the all looked up at the portal, they saw Arlin standing there in the middle of the stage.

Arlin began clapping and began to laugh. “Good job everybody!” he said. He looked around the room and took a deep breath. “You all broke out of there just in time! My army of clones are already at my base in Yacoltsk!” He stopped to look around again. “If you want to join, raise your hoof!” Skarlin’s army looked at each other and just stared back. Arlin sighed, “I figured as much.”

“Nobody wants to join you Arlin!” yelled Skarlin who climbed onto the stage. “You trapped us in there for three years almost.”

“Skarlin!” said Arlin with a tone of compassion. “It’s been far too long my good friend!”

“Friend? No, I’m not your friend. I’m your foe!”

Arlin gasped then turned it into a laugh. “You want to fight my army?”

Patel quickly ran up to the stage. “No, I want to fight your army.”

“Well look who it is,” said Arlin with a grin. “The spy. Did you bring your army this time?” He looked at the army of clones and the five of Patel’s friends.

“I don’t need an army to kill you here right now!” yelled Patel as he lunged towards Arlin. Arlin quickly threw a device on the ground and was sucked into it. As Patel looked around the room for him, he heard Arlin’s voice boom throughout the hangar.

“Don’t keep me waiting too long! My first target is Germaney and I will attack it in two weeks whether you control it or not Patel! For Patel’s friends, my forces will be seeing you all very shortly...” Arlin laughed one more time before his voice disappeared entirely from the room.

“Blasted,” said Skarlin. “Looks like I’ll have to journey to the other side of the world to take him out.” He looked at the portal and looked at it closely. “First things first, we need to turn this off so he can’t come back here and make anymore clones.”

“How do we do that?” asked Poncho from the hangar floor.

“I can tell you,” said a deep, majestic voice from behind the stage curtains. Skarlin, Patel, and the group looked at them in confusion. The curtains soon moved and out came an older aged pony with a gray mane. The room gasped as out from behind the curtains, stood the legendary Morgan Freepony.

“Morgan Freepony?!” said Patel amazed. “I can’t believe I’m standing near the Morgan Freepony!”

“W-What are you doing here, Mr. Freepony?” asked a stunned Poncho.

“I am the guardian of this place,” replied Morgan Freepony. “Ever since my hit series “Through the Wormhole” was cancelled for no reason, the personnel of this army base called me to supervise their portal project. I did so, and soon Arlin took over it.”

“Arlin told me about his plan. I didn’t like it very much and he was mad at me. He didn’t dare banish me, for I am Morgan Freepony, so he told me to just told me to sit over in that corner. I sat there waiting for the right time.”

“Right time for what?” asked Patel.

“The right time for when he would leave this base so I can destroy this blasted portal!” Morgan Freepony sighed and walked up to it. “All it has done in the past few years was nothing except a selfish purpose. I never liked Arlin so I will help you.”

“Awesome!” yelled Poncho who soon frowned. “But how can we destroy it?”

Morgan Freepony sighed a disheartened sigh. “You need to go up to his cloning machine and put your blood in there. That will destroy the machine and make it self-destruct, causing the explosion to cut the connection with the portal.”

“What? How does that work?” yelled Wahlburn from below the stage.

Morgan Freepony glared at him. “Don’t question me, boy.” Wahlburn saluted and looked away as if nothing happened.

Poncho spoke up. “It’s time for me to be the hero, I’ll slash myself so we can blow up that machine.”

Morgan Freepony laughed. “No, you won’t. I will.”

“Why? Why you?”

Morgan Freepony looked at the ground and frowned. “Whoever goes in there, won’t come out. That’s why.” The room gasped at the truth.

“Then don’t do it!” yelled Patel. “Have Poncho do it!” Poncho furiously looked at Patel who shrugged it off.

“No, boy,” said Morgan Freepony. “I have to do it. I served my purpose in this land far too long. It’s time to let the youth take over.” He walked up to the portal and turned around. Patel and the others began crying and waved at him. Morgan Freepony smiled and waved back. He walked into the portal and the others waited. After a minute and a half, the portal’s glow began dimming and soon, shut off completely. The monitor lit up a giant “OFFLINE”, then turned to black.

The room bursted into tears as the legendary Morgan Freepony sacrificed himself for their mission and passed into the afterlife.

After everyone calmed down, the rest of the group ran onto the stage with Patel and Skarlin. They circled around on the stage and looked at Patel.

“So, I guess we’re done here,” said Clyde. He looked at his friends.

“Yeah,” said Tyrone. “I think our adventures are finally finished.”

“Not exactly,” said Patel with a grin. The others looked at him as he laughed. His laughed carried throughout the hangar as nobody understood what was going on.

Apollo

“We’re just getting started!” said Patel excitedly. The others looked at him confused.

“What do you mean, brother?” asked Wahlburn. “The portal is gone and that’s what we came here for.”

“That’s my point,” said Patel. “Arlin’s plan is now crippled as he can’t gain anymore clones. It’s time for my army to strike.”

“Army? What are you talking about?”

Patel smiled and lifted his hoof at an angle straight into the air. “It’s time for me to restore the great Germane Empire of course!” The others gasped.

“You can’t be serious,” said Clyde.

“Oh, but I am.” Patel began to pace the stage. “You see, it all started when I was younger....” Patel sat down and looked at them, ready to tell an anecdote.

“When I was about ten I first learned about the Second World War in school. I loved history class anyways, but every time a war was brought up, I paid extra attention. Anyways, The Great War was interesting, but I was upset that Germaney lost. I liked Germaney a lot just because my ancestors lived near there. We’re not talking about this war though, so I’ll stop babbling on.”

“The Second World War was my favorite topic I ever learned in my life, and probably will always be my favorite. Even when I wasn’t in school, at home, I researched everything I could about Germaney during that time period. They were deemed global enemies but I didn’t care. Their Reich was something I always wanted to join because I agreed with every single topic they believed in. I felt that there was a ‘Master Breed’ and I wanted to be part of it.”

“As I learned more about the war and the eventual outcome, I was disheartened when I learned Germaney lost, but that didn’t get to me. Even though the Third Reich fell so many years ago, I vowed to restore it to its fullest glory. Whether nobody liked it or not.” Patel’s friends, except Cannon, looked at him and shook their heads.

“So, with your big dream you have,” started Wahlburn, “where’s your army? You can’t take over Germaney before Arlin does without an army.”

“I was hoping you guys, after all, you are my friends, would help me since you helped me damage Arlin?” Patel looked at them sadly to help persuade them.

“Not happening,” said Clyde, almost instantly after Patel stopped talking.

Patel glared at him. “Why the fuck not?”

“You said all I had to help you with is stop Arlin, not help you take over Germaney.”

Wahlburn nodded. “He’s right brother. I came here to kick some ass, not join an army for a selfish goal.”

“Yeah dawg,” said Tyrone, “I don’t want to leave this country just for your lust of power.”

Patel shook his head in disappointment at them and looked at Poncho. “Are you going to bash me now?”

Poncho nervously looked around and gulped. “No, but I’m not joining you either.”

“Then fuck all of you!” yelled Patel. Cannon walked up to him and patted him on the back.

“Don’t worry Patel,” said Cannon. “I’ll join your cause.”

Patel’s face lit up with joy. “You will?”

“Hell yeah, besides, Jeb is currently the ruler over there so it’s time to kick him out. My ancestors and the Mark on my ass didn’t tell me to not join the next Reich and oppose it!” Cannon helped Patel up and looked at the others. “I guess this is where we part ways, boys. It’s been a fun ride, but it’s time for planning.”

Wahlburn shook his head and sighed. “You guys are idiots, but I’ll miss you. If you try to attack me, I’ll kick your ass so don’t do that.”

Patel laughed. “I won’t attack you guys, I only care about Germaney. I don’t know if I’ll return to Verona so make sure my stuff is kept tidy.”

Wahlburn nodded to his former roommate. “Will do brother.”

Patel nodded in return and walked up to Clyde. “Good luck with your future endeavours.” He extended his hoof. “I know you didn’t really want to come, but I’m glad you did.”

Clyde accepted his hoof shake and stepped back. “No worries,” replied Clyde, but Patel could tell there were some worries in his voice. “At least I can return home.”

Patel nodded and walked up to Tyrone and Poncho. “See you later thug and sketchbag,” he said with a smile. Tyrone laughed and patted him on the back while Poncho showed some anger, but it was short lived. The four of them waved one last time and walked out of the hangar, back into the exterior of the base, and back out into the desert, heading for Las Pegas.

After his friends left, Patel turned to Skarlin. “What are you going to do now?”

Skarlin looked at his clone army and shrugged. “I have no idea. I know all of us want to stop Arlin though.” Patel and Cannon looked at each other, nodded, and smiled.

“You can join us?” suggested Cannon.

“Yeah, you can be my General, Skarlin,” said Patel. “And all of your cloned brethren can be our army. I know it’s rather small, but I’m sure we can figure out a way to defeat Arlin anyways.”

Skarlin stroked his chin with his hoof. “Hmm. I mean, I guess we could.” Skarlin walked to the edge of the stage and looked out across his friends. He saw the respect they gave him with their eyes and he smiled. Being respected and looked up to, was his favorite feeling in the world. He turned back towards Cannon and Patel and nodded. “What the hell? I’ll join, no, we all will join! For the sole goal of Arlin’s defeat!”

The crowd screamed in joy and began rapidly stomping on the hangar floor to make noise. Skarlin waved them to calm them down as Patel walked up to the edge of the stage. The clones all kept quiet and all focused on Patel.

Patel smiled. “Thank you all for joining my little group, but instead of me wasting time by rambling on how much we want to defeat Arlin, I would like to say, you all made the right decision on joining the Fourth Reich.”

For the next few hours, Patel, Cannon, and Skarlin issued ranks, positions, and weapons to all of their soldiers. Skarlin and Cannon were the two Generals of the Fourth Reich, and both were Patel’s seconds-in-command. Patel and Skarlin specialized in combat formations while Cannon’s role was to make sure all weapons and equipment were in usable condition. The first hours were basic assignment of squads. The hour after was practice and training with firearms that were found in the army base. The old security had a secret armory that Patel soon found and distributed among the army. To finish off the day, the soldiers, along with Skarlin, were deployed to Germaney. Patel and Cannon stayed behind an extra day to tie up loose ends.

Once his army was safety deployed to Germaney, Patel decided to call an old friend on the monitor to see if he could help them.

“Hey Yarlin,” said Patel into the monitor. “We did it.”

“Did what matey?” asked Yarlin. “I haven’t seen ye in a few days.”

“I’ll explain everything later, but Arlin is officially hiding out in Stalliongrad and I was wondering if you wanted to join my army to defeat him.” Patel heard Yarlin speak to someone else beside him. After a brief pause, Patel heard cheering.

“That’s awesome! I would love t’ join ye! That be if Clark and me Cap’n can join too!”

Patel looked at Cannon who nodded. “Of course! The more the merrier! Actually, I wanted to ask if you and your fleet could be head of our navy.”

“The Navy?” asked Yarlin. Patel could tell he moved away from the phone to talk to someone. “Me Cap’n would be privileged to be Cap’n o’ ye Navy!”

“Great!” said Patel. “We probably won’t be using a Navy that much other than locking down all sea routes from Arlin.”

“Fine by us!” replied Yarlin.

Patel and Yarlin continued their conversations until Yarlin had to hang up to go meet up with his Cap’n. Patel learned that after he was kicked out of the initial Arlin meeting, Yarlin snuck out of the base and went back to Amsterdam to see Clark and his Cap’n, which is where he currently was. Patel also told Yarlin what all had occurred with Arlin, the portal, his friends, and this new army he was building.

After the talk with Yarlin, Patel and Cannon began packing up their bags for their flight to Germaney. After packing up, they began shutting down everything in the base, as it had no use to them anymore. Once every room, every monitor, and every light, was turned off, they closed the gates and began their trek to the Las Pegas airport, leaving Area Fifty-Juan vacant and never to be used again.

Patel and Cannon decided to go ‘incognito mode’ and fly to Germaney by plane as they didn’t have to worry about transporting anything. Skarlin, who left with the clones, had some of the unicorns of the army create a magical device at Area Fifty-Juan that once Skarlin reached their base in Germaney, they were able to teleport all of their weapons, equipment, and cargo, to their base. The unicorn clones have become the lead scientists of Patel’s army and were in charge of all inventions or future projects.

After the almost twenty hour flight, mostly due to time difference, Patel and Cannon safely landed in Germaney’s capital. They quickly exited out of the airport and left the city to head to the hidden underground army base in the nearby forest. There waiting for them, were Skarlin and the rest of the army.

“Ah, Patel,” said Skarlin as Patel and Cannon walked into the new base’s small planning room. “We’ve been studying over the castle and we found the optimal ways to sneak in to confront this Prince Apollo.”

“Great,” said Patel. “What’s our best option?”

Skarlin clicked on a button on the monitor in front of him. Soon, a map of the castle grounds was shown and lit up with dots. “This is the castle and the dots are where the castle sentries will be located during the night. They only switch shifts every six hours, so if we sneak in during the middle of the night, we won’t have to worry about that.”

Patel stroked his chin while Cannon studied the map. He traced a path and looked up at Skarlin. “Is there a direct way into the room where Apollo would be?”

“Other than the easy walk through the main doors method, I don’t think so.”

Cannon laughed. “That might work. We could just tell them we wanted to visit our good friend.” He looked up as he heard a knock on the door behind them.

“Sirs!” said a soldier who was saluting. “My squad and I were doing recon in the forest and a small group of Apollo sentries made their way into the forest.”

“Alright,” said Skarlin. “What was so important about telling me this then?”

The soldier nervously looked away. “Uh, we sort of...killed them.”

Skarlin stared at him without any sense of emotion. “You killed them? How many were there?”

“J-Just two. We thought we could help by taking their armor so you could walk right in.” The soldier gave a laugh and sighed.

“Good job soldier,” said Cannon. “Patel and I were wear this disguises to make our life so much easier.”

The soldier looked at him confused. “You mean we didn’t actually do anything wrong?”

“You did, but it was only two, so we can manage those small casualties.” Cannon walked up to him and patted him on the back. The soldier sighed in relief. “Tell us, where is this armor at?”

“My squadmate is watching over it in the barracks. Would you like me to go fetch them?”

“Yes, bring the armor to us. I want to go talk to our old friend tonight.” Patel grinned and looked back at the monitor with Skarlin. The soldier saluted and quickly ran out of the room. He returned in a few minutes with a matching pair of silver armor. It had an emblem on the chest piece, depicting a shield and sun.

Patel and Cannon quickly equipped the armor and looked at each other. They began laughing and made gibes towards each other. After they were done, they looked back over the map Skarlin pulled up on the monitor.

“Alright,” said Skarlin pointing at the monitor. “My strategy is to leave here-”

“Wait,” said Cannon.

Skarlin glared at him. “What?”

“We have a disguise on remember? This shouldn’t be hard at all.” Cannon tapped the silver helmet of his armor.

“But, I have a really nice plan,” said Skarlin sadly.

“I bet it’s awesome, but I have to agree with Cannon on this one for once,” said Patel. “What’s the worse that can happen?”

Skarlin shook his head and waved them off to begin their infiltration mission. They left the base and headed straight towards the castle in the middle of the capital. Due to the darkness of the night, there weren’t any ponies walking the streets other than the normal drunkards. They passed many homes and shops along the way, lit up by lights, but they didn’t stop for a second as they had only one goal in mind.

Once they reached the castle gates, they were stopped by two guards. They were both white coated and wore their silver armor with pride. Their eyes were a bright blue that was surprisingly bright,even though it was dark out.

“Halt!” said one of the guards. “Who are you two?”

Patel lifted his head and spoke with confidence. “We are two of the new recruits back from our patrol in the forest a few hours ago.”

The guards looked at each other and smiled. “Oh, is that right?”

“You better believe it.”

“Before we let you back in, do us a favor?” asked the guard on the left.
Cannon stood up straight. “Sure! What do you need?”

“Can you remove your helmets for a second? I need to check your helmet’s identification number, you know, for security purposes.”

Cannon and Patel shrugged. They took off their helmets and handed them to the guards. As the guards took the helmets the guards laughed.

“What’s so funny?” asked Cannon.

“It’s nothing, you imposter!” The guards lunged at them and tackled them to the ground. Patel and Cannon tried to break free but wasn’t able to move. The guards whistled and soon, more guards came running out of the gates and began wailing on them. Before Patel and Cannon could fight back or push them off of them, they were lifted up in a small magical sphere. They began floating towards the castle doors as guards watched them with their abnormal bright eyes. The two guards at the main doors opened the doors, and the sphere floated into the castle.

As they floated into a big room, the magical sphere ‘popped’ and they fell to the floor. Patel and Cannon looked around to see dozens of guards watching them.

“How the hell did you guys know we weren’t part of this guard?” asked Cannon. All of the sentries laughed in unison, which rang out in the giant room to make it sound creepy. They all pulled off their helmets and instead of the normal mane falling down, a bright blue flame erupted from the top of their head down the back of their necks. The light from the guards’ manes lit up the dark room and surrounded the two imposters on the floor.

Cannon’s mouth dropped and he turned to Patel. “Flaming manes! You never told me about this!”

“I didn’t know they could fucking do that!” yelled Patel. Patel looked at them again and saw them sporadically drop into a bow. Patel, at first, thought they were bowing to him, as he was about to take over this country, but he turned around and saw two ponies in the back of the room.

One of them was another looking guard type, but instead of being a pony, he looked like he was a bat. His armor, instead of silver, was gold, and he too shared the bright blue eyes as the other guards. Patel thought he was a total badass, because he never saw a bat pony before.

The pony beside the bat pony was a white unicorn, about the same size as Patel and Cannon. His mane was also a blue flame, but his was much larger than the guards. His Mark was the guards’ armor’s emblem, a blue sun with a white and blue shield in front of it. He looked down at the two on his floor and stared at them. “Greetings Patel and Cannon, it’s been far too long.”

“Cut the shit Jeb, we know it’s you,” said Cannon rolling his eyes.

The unicorn smiled. “‘Jeb’ never existed. He was my disguise. You should know that by now Cannon. My true name is Apollo and I’m the Prince of this here country.” Apollo looked around and raised his hoof to the guards who were still bowing. They got up, nodded, and walked out of the room. “Why are you two here?”

“The question I should be asking is what are you doing here,” said Patel. “When the hell did you get some henchmen and become a thing we hate like Twilight?”

Apollo laughed. His bodyguard snarled at them, but he calmed him down. “Easy, Helios.” The bat pony looked at him and looked away. “I’ve always been an unicorn. I just used magic to conceal my horn for the longest of times and painted my coat everyday.”

“So, you wore a wig too to hide that flowing flame of a mane?” asked Patel.

“Yeah, I thought I left that at Amsterdam,” said Apollo looking confused.

“You did. Why the hell did you leave anyways?” asked Cannon. “You could have at least told us why you left early. Hell, you could have told Patel and the others who you really were from the beginning.”

Apollo looked at the ground. “It’s not a simple as you think it is, Cannon.”

“Bullshit! I knew you from when we were young colts. I don’t give a shit if you royalty or not, there’s no need to hide something from your friends.”

“I wasn’t trying to hide anything from you guys,” replied Apollo. “I just wanted to leave from this place so I didn’t have any royal responsibilities. I wanted to be normal like you, Cannon, and the rest of the young colts from school.”

Cannon laughed. “You think I’m normal?”

“Uh, okay, maybe not ‘normal’ as in Cannon, but I still wanted to be like the others.”

Patel walked up closer to Apollo. He could feel the guards watching him closely as he approached their Prince. He ignored them and looked straight at Apollo. “Why would you come back here then after so long in Verona if you didn’t want to be part of the royal atmosphere?”

“I’m the rightful heir of Germaney now. It was my responsibility to stop all of the rising terrorism and revolts.”

Patel smiled. “So you were forced to come back here and take control of this country, even though you didn't want to?”

“It’s in my duty as the heir-,” began Apollo.

“No, listen, it may be your duty, but we both know you don’t want to do rule a country. You couldn’t handle the pressure and choices.” Patel looked at Apollo’s guards around him, high above, looking down. “That’s why you should step down and let me take over.”

Apollo shook his head. “No, I can’t do that. It’s not your lineage.”

Patel sighed. “Too bad, I already made up my mind before I came here.”

“What do you mean?”

Before Patel could reply, the sound of crashing glass erupted from above. As they all looked up at the ceiling, they could see ponies rappelling down from the roof’s skylight with rifles and pistols. As the guards pulled out their magical bows, ponies dropped in behind them and held a pistol to their head. As the guards surrendered and more and more armed ponies came into the room, Skarlin walked in with his lit pipe in his mouth. He walked up to Patel and handed him a small pistol. Patel took it and pointed it straight at Apollo. “This is a usurp.”

Apollo’s horn glowed dark blue and his flaming mane blazed more ferocious as a bright flash of light emitted in the room. As the bright light faded, Apollo, his bat pony bodyguard, and all of his guard sentries, were gone.

“Bastard must have teleported his guards and himself out,” said Skarlin, who gave a chuckle. “I don’t blame him.”

“It’s fine,” said Patel. He slowly walked up to the small throne that faced the window overlooking the whole city. As he walked up to it, Cannon, Skarlin, and all of the clones in the room, did a small bow. Patel smiled and looked out at the lit up city.

“Did you bring it?” asked Patel to Skarlin.

Skarlin nodded and stomped his front hoof into the ground. Within a few seconds, an armed clone ran up to Patel with a small package in his mouth. He dropped it at Patel’s feet and quickly ran out of the room. Patel waved to Cannon and Skarlin as he picked the package up into his mouth. “Let’s go boys.”

The three of them, with a small escort in front and behind of them, walked through their newly acquired castle, up towards the roof. As they reached the roof of the castle, it began to rain, however, they ignored the weather and kept walking towards the highest point of the castle, the spot right above the throne room.

Once they reached the site, they looked up the flag pole and saw Apollo’s family flag, flying high in the rainy wind. Patel nodded to Skarlin who walked up to the pole and began to tug at the rope, lowering the flag. Soon, Apollo’s flag was on eye level, so they cut it off. Cannon picked up the old flag and wrapped it up into a small ball while Patel dropped the package from his mouth and began to open it. He quickly tore away the package and picked up some sort of cloth and handed it to Skarlin. Skarlin tied the cloth to the pole and began raising it into the air.

Patel, Cannon, and the small escort groups, stood back and watched the red, black, and gold, flag soar high into the rainy night sky. Skarlin joined them after finishing his task and they all admired it for a few moments.

“Gentlemen,” said Patel as he looked up into the sky to see the new flag of the country, his country. “It looks like the Fourth Reich is in business.”

* * * * *

Wanted

Poncho, Clyde, Tyrone, and Wahlburn made it back to the Las Pegas airport about an hour after leaving Area Fifty-Juan. It took them a shorter time returning to the airport than it took to get to the base because they wanted to get home. As they were ordered tickets for a flight back to Canterlot, Poncho stopped them.

“Don’t buy me one. I’m not going back to Canterlot yet.” Clyde, Tyrone, and Wahlburn turned around to look at him. Poncho was staring at the ground trying to avoid any confrontation.

“The fuck you mean you aren’t coming back?” asked Wahlburn. “Are you staying here?”

Poncho shook his head. “No, I need to go somewhere, that’s all.”

“Where dawg?” said Tyrone.

“I can’t tell you guys. It’s something I just have to do.” Poncho stepped away from them as the three hesitantly waved and walked away from him. They didn’t speak about Poncho the rest of the way to their seats on the plane.

The three of them sat in a row together with Wahlburn being the the middle of them, Tyrone had the aisle seat, and Clyde had the window. Wahlburn complained most of the flight due to not having enough room. Clyde ignored him by listening to music and falling asleep. Tyrone also fell asleep after seeing the plane didn’t have a sexy flight attendant for him to look at.

Five hours later, but technically eight, they arrived back in Canterlot. They went through the routine that they’ve been accustomed to during the past few months and exited the terminal. Tyrone flagged down a cab and told him to take them to Verona.

“I think I’m done with air travel for awhile,” said Tyrone in the back of the cab as they were on the road to their hometown. “I just want to chill, you feel me?”

“I feel you,” said Wahlburn. “I have a whole bag of weed to smoke.” After he stopped talking, he looked down and yelled. “Fuck! I forgot I don’t have any friends to smoke with now!” He looked over at Clyde, who was ignoring his gaze on purpose. “Hey-”

“No.”

“Come on man. Why the hell not?”

“I don’t want to become you.”

Wahlburn looked at him dumbfounded as Tyrone laughed. “I don’t know if that’s a compliment or not. Could you at least get Spike to come to my house?”

Clyde shook his head. “Nah, I’m not feeling that. Why can’t you get him?”

“I’m going to get killed man!” he yelled with slight fear. Tyrone laughed again while Clyde shrugged. Wahlburn looked away to watch the landscape around them change as they were nearing the outskirts of Verona.

The cab dropped them off at Wahlburn’s apartment. Tyrone paid the cab and he quickly rode off. “Well, looks like it’s just us three in this town now.”

“More like two,” said Wahlburn looking at Clyde.

“I still live here. I don’t tend to stay here though because it’s boring and my apartment is lame.”

Tyrone patted Clyde on the back. “That’s alright man, I would leave this place too if it wasn’t for Junior. Guess I should hit the road and go check in with him and BC.” He turned towards Wahlburn to say something, but saw a pony wearing sunglasses walk out from behind the front corner of the building.

“Excuse me gentlemen,” said the stallion. His mane was slicked back and he was wearing a dark leather jacket. “Do any of you fine, cool, looking dudes know the time?”

Tyrone looked at his watch. “Yeah mayne, it’s about ‘tree fiddy’.”

“3:50? Alright man, cool. I’m late for my hangout with some friends.” The slicked-maned stallion began to walk away but stopped. He turned slowly around and looked at the group. “Hey, do you fine dudes know of a Wahlburn?”

Clyde and Tyrone quickly glanced at Wahlburn who gave a blank look. “I know Wahlburn,” said Wahlburn himself. “He’s a pretty cool dude. Everyone I know calls him a badass.”

The stallion grabbed onto the ends of his sunglasses and lowered them. “Where can I find this Wahlburn?”

“If you look hard enough, I’m sure you find him,” replied Wahlburn.

“What?”

“I’m Wahlburn you dipshit.”

The mention of ‘Wahlburn’ made the stallion pull out a small handgun from his jacket and point it straight at him. Wahlburn, who saw the gun as it left his jacket, quickly smacked it out of his hoof, and tackled the stallion to the ground. Tyrone ran over to the gun and picked it up so the stranger wouldn’t get it and Clyde helped Wahlburn hold the stallion on the ground.

“Who the fuck are you?” asked Wahlburn in the stranger’s face. The stranger didn’t answer. “Answer me you fuck!” Wahlburn punched him straight in the jaw. The impact turned the stranger’s face to the side. Wahlburn kept punching him in the face, alternating sides, until the stranger finally gasped and began to plead for mercy.

“Stop!” yelled the stranger, blood coming from his mouth and nose. “I’ll tell you everything! Just don’t kill me!”

Wahlburn pulled away his hoof and grabbed the stranger by the collar of the jacket. “Do tell before I change my mind.”

“Okay! We were sent here to find certain ponies around these parts. Our leader wanted us to persuade or kidnap to join our cause! I was in charge of finding two ponies named Poncho and Wahlburn!”

Wahlburn kept staring at him while Tyrone and Clyde looked at each other confused.

“Who were the others you were looking for?” asked Clyde. He didn’t know why he asked because he already knew the answer.

The stranger looked down at his jacket. “I have a list in my pocket! My group decided to split up and search the Canterlot area for them!” Clyde continued to hold the stranger down as Wahlburn dug into the leather jacket’s pocket. After a brief feel, he pulled out a small piece of paper. Wahlburn handed the paper to Clyde and grabbed the stranger by the collar again.

Clyde turned the note around and began skimming through it:

Wahlburn: Verona area (Weed)

Tyrone: Verona area (Junior)

Poncho: Verona area (Food)

Clyde: Ponyville/Verona area (Rarity)

Clyde kept studying the note as Wahlburn gripped the collar tighter which made the stranger yelp in fear. “Who is this this leader and why does he want these ponies?” asked Clyde.

The stranger shook his head rapidly. “No! I can’t say it!” Wahlburn looked at Clyde who gave a nod. Wahlburn smiled and punched the stranger in the face some more. As Wahlburn was busy, Clyde showed Tyrone the list. After five or six more punches, the stranger yelled. “FINE! I’ll do it!”

“We’re listening dawg,” said Tyrone still examining the pistol.

“I’m from a hitman group our leader, Arlin, sent.” The three nodded as they guessed right. “Since they destroyed his cloning machine, it was time for payback. A group of three, including myself, was sent here a few minutes ago.”

“So what do the notes beside the names mean?” questioned Clyde.

“The location and how to break their will to join us,” said the stranger. He quickly smiled. “In fact, my group is probably already at the targets by now. I’m glad I’m a good at stalling, isn’t that right guys?” The stranger took out a small box from his jacket’s pocket and threw it at the ground. Soon, he magically teleported out of Wahlburn’s grip.

“What the-?” asked Wahlburn in wonder. “Hey guys, did you see-” As he turned around he saw both Clyde and Tyrone with their mouths open. Wahlburn was about to ask what was going on, but he too realized what was wrong.

“Junior!!” yelled Tyrone. With the butt of the pistol in his mouth, he quickly spun around and began running towards the opposite end of Verona, towards his home. Clyde quickly did the same, but turned towards the exit towards Ponyville. As he began running, Wahlburn chased him down.

“Brother, I’ll come help you!” yelled Wahlburn. Clyde ignored him, but he knew he was too focused on getting to Rarity as soon as possible. They both ran as fast as they could towards Ponyville. Wahlburn slowed down some, but Clyde kept pushing harder and faster. As they passed Sweet Apple Acres, Clyde slowed down to a fast jog waiting for Wahlburn to catch up. When he finally caught up, Clyde sprinted off again while Wahlburn sighed.

When Clyde entered Ponyville’s town square, Rarity’s necklace flashed and began to burn his chest. Worried, he looked behind him to see Wahlburn slowly walking towards him and gazing at Twilight’s library in the distance. Instead of waiting, he bolted towards Rarity’s home. As he got there, he felt the necklace burn again and his stomach dropped.

The front door of the Carousel Boutique was wide open. As he was about to step inside, Wahlburn slid under the front window to the side of the doorway and nodded to Clyde. As Clyde nodded back, he ran inside to find Rarity.

The main lobby of the building was empty, except the boxes and racks of fabric and dresses. There were a few mannequins still standing around, but Clyde knew nothing really changed. As he walked near the kitchen, he heard a noise from the room beside it. It was the same room where Patel came to talk to him about leaving for a few days to stop Arlin. Clyde quietly walked through the kitchen and as he looked over the corner of the doorway into the relax room, he saw a stallion that looked similar to the one he met a few minutes ago in Verona. Clyde felt anger building up in him as he stepped into the room.

“Where is she?” asked Clyde with fire in his voice.

The stallion turned around and looked stunned. “That dumb bitch kicked me and ran away. I’m only here for you though, Clyde.” He laughed and pulled out a pistol that was the same model as the one he seen a few minutes ago.

Clyde froze in place and started to back up. “D-Don’t do this here, let’s take this outside.” He continued to walk backwards, hoping he would take the bait.

The stallion smiled and walked forwards. “I’m not here to kill you anyways.” Clyde walked back into the lobby of the building and turned towards the door while remaining his backwards walk. The pistol wielding stallion continued to follow him out the door. As Clyde walked out into the fresh air and sunshine, he quickly looked at Wahlburn who was waiting by the door. To make it not look suspicious, Clyde glanced the opposite way and also to the sky. The stallion laughed as he saw Clyde back into the tree close to the building.

“Looks like you’re stuck now!” As the stallion walked up to him, still with the pistol being aimed, Wahlburn snuck up and smacked the pistol out of his hoof. The stranger watched it fly by, as Clyde tackled the stallion and Wahlburn ran after the pistol.

The stallion was much stronger than Clyde first assumed as he quickly sat up and slammed Clyde into the tree trunk. Clyde gasped at the loss of breath and pushed the stallion back onto the ground. As he held them there for a few seconds, Wahlburn ran up and pistol whipped the stallion on the side of the head. As soon as the pistol impact happened, the stallion fell unconscious. Clyde crawled away from him and looked at Wahlburn.

“Is he dead?” asked Clyde.

“No, I think he’s just knocked the fuck out. I wanted to tie him up and interrogate him.” Wahlburn looked around and at the Carousel Boutique. “Does she have rope or something in there?”

Clyde nodded then gasped again. He forgot about why he rushed here in the first place. He quickly got up and ran inside as Wahlburn followed him. Clyde pointed to the small closet at the side of the room where Rarity kept rope was. It technically wasn’t hers as it was used for one of Applejack’s outfits Rarity made her. As Wahlburn grabbed it, he looked back at Clyde.

“Take your time brother, I’ll tie this dude up and show him to someone.” Clyde nodded as Wahlburn gave a salute and closed the front door behind him. Clyde briefly watched Wahlburn’s attempt to tie up the stallion with the rope out the window. After an unsuccessful attempt, Wahlburn tied the rope as a collar and dragged the stallion away from the building, towards the center of the town. Clyde turned around and bolted up the stairs.

“Rarity? Rarity, where are you?” called out Clyde as he entered the second floor. He looked in the hallway and saw that her bedroom door was closed. He walked over to it and tried to open it. Something was blocking the door. He put his ear up to the door and heard faint sobs. Clyde tried again with a little more force which moved the door opened some more. He knocked on the door. “Rarity. Please open the door.”

He waited a few seconds and tried again, she didn’t move the objects blocking the door, but he managed to push them over. As he walked into the room he saw that the object blocking the door was a lone mannequin. He looked over at the bed and saw bump under the covers. He walked up to it and pulled them down, showing Rarity with black streaks down her face due to her mascara. As he was about to hug her, she quickly pulled him onto the bed and held onto him.

“Y-You came back!” she said with more tears flooding down her face. She attacked him with a barrage of kisses and hugged him tightly. She was shaking and crying at such a rapid rate, Clyde didn’t know what was going on.

“Of course I came back,” said Clyde. He laid his chin on her head. He felt her shaking so he wrapped his arms around her. “Why would I not come back?”

Rarity sat there for a few moments, just crying and shaking, holding onto him as Clyde sat there and embraced her. After calming down a bit, she spoke back up. “Y-You never answered my necklace flashes back. I got scared that you died or threw it away.”

Clyde looked down at her. “You know I would never throw anything you made for me away.” He felt her snuggle into him more as he placed his chin back on top of her head. “I was on my way here as fast as I could when my necklace began burning me. What happened here?” He felt her shift slightly away from him and sat up.

Rarity looked at him with sad eyes as her horn began glowing light blue. Before Clyde could say anything, Rarity leaned forward and placed the base of her horn on Clyde’s forehead. Rarity stared into his eyes as he felt a sudden rush of thoughts and soon, the room around him began to blur.

Rarity sat in the kitchen, drinking some tea, when a knock on the door was heard. She turned her head. “I wonder who that could be. It might be Clyde!” She quickly hopped off the chair and began prancing towards the door. “On second thought, Clyde wouldn’t knock on the door. He would just open it and walk in...” She slowed to a halt at the door and opened it.

“Hello, welcome to the Carousel Boutique, I am Rarity. How may I help you?” She looked at the stallion at the door. As he looked at her, he took out a small comb from his pocket and combed his slicked mane.

“Why hello fair lady,” said the stallion. “I was wondering if you could sell me a suit of some sorts. I need one for a meeting with some friends tomorrow.”

“Suits?” asked Rarity. She frowned. “I’m afraid I don’t normally make outfits for stallions, unless they are for my Clyde and he needs to match my elegant outfit.”

“Well, that’s a bummer.” The stallion sighed and stared at her again. He lowered his dark sunglasses. “Why don’t I take you out or something?”

Rarity looked at him with anger. “No. I have a boyfriend who is very important to me.”

The stallion laughed. He pulled out a small pistol and placed it right below her horn. “I meant the other take out.”

Rarity froze in fear as she looked at the small barrel of the gun above her eyes. She began to shake. “N-No, don’t-”

The stallion placed his free hoof on the side of her face. “Such a shame some pretty mare like you has to go through this.” He moved his hoof down her face and onto her side. “Turn around.”

Rarity stood there and gasped. “W-What?”

“You heard me!” He placed the pistol in his mouth and with both hooves grabbed onto Rarity’s side. He turned her around and laughed. “Oh how fun this will be!” He kept his hooves on her sides as Rarity gulped. As soon, as he touched her tail with his hoof to brush it aside, Rarity sprung onto her front hooves and kicked the stallion in the chest with her hind legs.

The stallion fell to the ground in pain, holding his chest, as Rarity ran upstairs as fast as she could, tears flowing through the wind. She ran into her room and moved a single mannequin in front of the door to help barricade and hid under the covers of her bed.
She looked down at her necklace and kissed it rapidly as many times as she could. She hugged her pillow and with tears still running down her face, kissed the necklace rapidly again.

“Please, Clyde. Please come home...”

Clyde blinked multiple times as the memory faded from his mind. Rarity withdrew from his forehead and snuggled down into him again. Clyde stared at the wall to find words to describe his feelings but was unable to think. He placed his head on hers again as she started to stop shaking and her crying was turning into sniffles.

After twenty minutes of silence and sniffles, Rarity fell asleep. Clyde, who still was in the same position, didn’t want to wake her so he tried to fall asleep too. He felt her slumber breathing on his chest and on his chin so he tried to copy it. Without too much trouble, Clyde fell asleep still holding onto her. His only thoughts before falling asleep were solely about Rarity.

Interrogation

Clyde felt a presence hover over him. “Clyde, darling, get up.” He felt a pair of hooves touch his chest and began to shake him. He opened his eyes to see Rarity looking at him. She smiled as he gave a yawn. He sat up and looked at her which he noticed still had the dark lines on her face. He tried wiping them away with his hoof, which Rarity didn’t resist.

“Are you feeling better?” asked Clyde. He looked out the window and saw that it was night time now.

Rarity nodded. “I always feel better when you’re here with me.” She quickly frowned as she realized on how cheesy she made that sound. She shook her head and looked at Clyde again. “Did you stop that stallion from coming up here?”

Clyde shrugged. “I think Wahlburn tied him up and took him somewhere.” He looked at the ground with a sad expression. “I’m sorry I made that happen.”

“Now do you understand why I don’t like you leaving me alone?” asked Rarity. “Things like that could happen at any time!” Clyde felt bad and continued his depressed stare at the ground. Rarity saw this and placed her hooves on his shoulder. She turned him towards her and looked right into his eyes. “Don’t worry about it darling. None of us got hurt. That’s all that matters, right?”

“I guess,” said Clyde. “The thing that bothers me is that Arlin sent clones at you because of me. I didn’t want you getting hurt or involved with my friends’ problems.”

Rarity drew him closer and gave him a kiss. The kiss quickly turned into a passionate kiss, but only lasted a minute or two. After they were done, Rarity pulled back away from him and smiled. Clyde returned the smile.

“How did you do that flashback thing?” asked Clyde in a happier mood.

Rarity glanced at her horn and frowned. “I had Twilight teach me a memory spell so I could surprise you one day and show you my point of view about one of my favorite memories with you.” Clyde’s stomach growled and Rarity giggled. “How about we go get something to eat?” she asked.

Embarrassed he looked away. “What time is it? I got here at four and it’s already night time.” He looked at the small clock on the wall near her designing station. The clock read eight-thirty. After deciding where to go, Rarity left for the bathroom to redo her makeup as Clyde put on a jacket and went downstairs to wait on her. As he passed the door to the kitchen, he heard a quiet knock on the front door. He stealthily walked up to the window and saw Wahlburn standing outside.

Clyde opened the door and Wahlburn grinned. “Clyde, my brother! When I said take your time, you definitely did!”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you’ve been in there for like four hours. I couldn’t last that long.”

Clyde’s face felt warm as he understood Wahlburn’s message. “That’s not what happened at all!”

Wahlburn grinned. “I’m kidding brother.” Rarity soon came down the stairs and walked up to them.

“Hello Wahlburn,” she said. “It’s been awhile.”

“It has. I hope Clyde isn’t treating you like dirt.” Clyde looked at Wahlburn with an angry glare, but Wahlburn waved him off.

“He treats me like every lady should be treated: like a queen.” She snuggled into Clyde’s side as Clyde smiled at Wahlburn. Wahlburn waved him off again.

“Anyways, Wahlburn,” said Clyde. “Why are you here?”

“I was going to tell you both that the stallion we took down is being held captive at Twilight’s treehouse home thing.”

“You took him there!” exclaimed Clyde.

“I didn’t know where anybody else lived in this town! This is my first time here!” Wahlburn turned around. “I did get to meet Spike again, but he’s changed man.”

“How?”

Wahlburn turned around to face the two. “Twilight made him go through this rehab thing. He won’t even look at weed anymore.”

“Good,” said Rarity. “I don’t understand why you corrupted a child with such nonsense.”

“He’s the one who wanted to try it!” yelled Wahlburn. He looked at Rarity, who flinched back in startlement. Wahlburn looked at her. “Sorry. I’m loud.”

“I noticed...”

The three of the them walked through the town towards Twilight’s treehouse. Clyde complained about food on the way there, but Wahlburn told him to stop bitching as Spike was making some nachos. Once they reached the treehouse, Wahlburn knocked on the door and waited.

Within three seconds, the door opened and Spike greeted them. “Hello, the nachos just got done!” Clyde gave Spike a high-five and ran inside towards the kitchen as Rarity pranced after him. Wahlburn shook his head at Spike.

“Come on man, cut the bullshit. You used to be badass!”

“I’m still ‘BA’ man,” said Spike. “I just had a revelation that’s all.”

“Brother,” said Wahlburn. “Weed is the best revelation there is! I know you still love it!”

Spike shook his head in disagreement. “I’m sorry friend, that’s just not me anymore.” Wahlburn sadly walked into the treehouse as Spike closed the door. When Wahlburn walked into the kitchen he saw Clyde and Rarity sitting at a table. Clyde was devouring a whole plate of nachos as Rarity was taking small bites out of a single chip from his plate.

“What’s wrong with you?” asked Clyde with a mouthful of nachos in his mouth. Rarity gently hit him to remind him of his bad manners and Clyde quickly swallowed the food and coughed. “Sorry. What’s wrong Wahlburn?”

“It’s nothing, brother.” Wahlburn sat down and began to pick apart the stack of nachos.

“Spike, where is Twilight?” asked Rarity.

“She’s downstairs watching over the victim.” Spike climbed up onto a chair and dug into his nacho mountain. “I don’t know why that’s even necessary as she has him binded by a magical rope.”

After they all had enough nachos to suffice, Spike led them downstairs. They saw Twilight sitting on a chair looking at the stallion who threatened Rarity some hours ago. He was awake now and looked at group walking down the stairs.

“There she is!” yelled the Arlin clone as he saw Rarity. “Maybe I came off a little too hard, but I’m glad you came back for me!” Rarity shuddered at his voice and clung onto Clyde’s front leg. Clyde stared at the clone until they all walked down the steps and sat down in chairs beside Twilight.

“So, is this the big torture scene where I tell you where Arlin is and how to stop him?” asked the clone. He tried moving, but the rope began to sink into him more.

“No,” said Twilight. “All we want to know is why did this Arlin send a group of you to attack Clyde and his friends.”

“Oh, that’s an easy one.”

“Yeah,” said Wahlburn. “What is it then?”

“Hmm?”

“Why did he come after us!” yelled Wahlburn.

The clone looked blankly at the ceiling. “Oh, it’s because you destroyed his machine.”

“Machine?” asked Twilight, “what is this machine? You never said anything about a machine.” She looked over Wahlburn.

“It’s his stupid cloning machine,” replied Wahlburn. “Clyde and I actually didn’t destroy the machine. It was Morgan Freepony.”

Twilight looked at him with a blank expression and lowered her eyes. “Really? Morgan Freepony? Do you actually think I’m going to believe that?”

Wahlburn dropped his jaw and threw his hooves in the air. “What? I’m totally being serious!”

“Yeah, okay. Also, next thing you know you’ll stop doing weed.”

Wahlburn’s jaw dropped again. “Ask Clyde, he was there! I’m being serious. For real.”

“Clyde?” asked Twilight.

Clyde laughed. “It may sound weird, but it was actually Morgan Freepony who destroyed the machine.”

“Is this some inside joke thing?” Twilight looked at Rarity. “Do you believe them?”

Rarity looked at the ground and looked at Clyde. She stuck her nose in the air and closed her eyes. “I believe everything my Clyde says.”

Twilight smacked her face with her hoof. “So what you’re all saying is that the famous Morgan Freepony just so happened to be in the area, let alone this secret military base that you guys found too, and stopped some crazy machine in a portal that can also transport you to another world that Wahlburn told me about a few hours ago?”

Wahlburn and Clyde looked at each other. Wahlburn rubbed his head. “Well, when you say it, it sounds like some fake story, but it did happen.”

Twilight sighed. “Alright then. I mean, I’ve seen crazier things with you guys, so I’ll believe this.”

The clone began humming and the others looked at him. “Oh sweet, you guys remembered I’m here. Arlin didn’t send us just for that reason. There were more reasons.”

“What are they?” asked Wahlburn.

The clone looked up to the ceiling again. “Well, one of you helped kill Jarlin. He was his favorite clone and his successor.”

“That’s not my fault that dude was going through my head,” said Clyde. “Other than Rarity, I don’t want anyone to know my personal thoughts.” Clyde saw Rarity look at him with concern but he ignored it.

“You have personal thoughts?” asked Wahlburn.

“Everybody does,” said Twilight. “You would probably have some if you didn’t smoke them away all day.” Twilight and Rarity giggled and Clyde began laughing. Wahlburn looked at the ground disheartenedly. Even Spike and the clone laughed. Before anymore laughing directed at Wahlburn could take place, a faint knock on the main doors of the treehouse was heard.

“A visitor? At this time?” asked Twilight. “Spike, go and see who it is.”

“Yes ma’am!” Spike gave a salute and ran up the stairs as fast as his stubby legs could take him. Once he got to the door, he paused for a deep breath, and opened it. “Welcome to-!” He looked around and saw nobody was there. Confused, he stepped outside and looked down the streets of Ponyville. Spike shrugged, thinking it was a prank and turned around to enter the treehouse again but heard a loud crackling noise behind him. As he turned around, a small sphere grew and erupt into mist. Once the mist cleared, Apollo was standing tall over Spike.

Spike’s eyes widened as he looked at Apollo. “Holy sweet fire mane bro! Can that thing actually burn down trees and stuff! We better not get too close or Twilight is going to get real mad.”

Apollo looked down at him “No, it’s merely cosmetic. Where is Clyde at? I teleported to him, but I was sent here instead.”

“Clyde? He’s downstairs with Rarity, Twilight, and Wahlburn. Some clone dude is down there too.”

Apollo began walking into the house, but stopped. “Am I allowed to enter?”

Spike waved him off. “I don’t care. Go ahead.” Apollo walked into the treehouse and stared at all of the books Twilight had in her library. He soon saw the small staircase that led to the basement and walked down them. As he reached the halfway point down the staircase, he heard the familiar voices of Clyde and Wahlburn. “Hello all of you, Prince Apollo is here,” he said as he stepped onto the basement floor. He saw the awe in the eyes of Wahlburn, Clyde, Rarity, Twilight, and even the Arlin clone.

“Who the fuck is this!” yelled Wahlburn. “Twilight, is this your special lover or something?”

“W-What? I never seen him before in my life!” said a surprised and slightly nervous Twilight.

“Oh my, just look at that mane,” said Rarity in awe of Apollo’s fire mane.

Clyde looked up and smiled. “Oh hey Jeb.”

“Jeb!?” said Wahlburn, Rarity, and Twilight in shock.

“Why are you confused Wahlburn?” said Clyde in confusion. “You were there when Cannon told us Jeb and Apollo were the same dude.”

Wahlburn rubbed his head. “I must have forgotten due to the weed I smoked that night.” Twilight rolled her eyes as Wahlburn yelled at her.

Apollo turned his head towards Clyde. “It’s been awhile.”

Clyde nodded. “It has. We haven’t talked since that day I went to go buy Rarity’s three gifts.”

“Three?” asked Rarity. “You never told me you bought me three. You only gave me two.” She looked at Clyde with a sultry look to try and persuade him on telling her what the last gift was.

“Uh, I counted the bag of gems as two since there were so many of them.” Clyde awkwardly smiled as Rarity frowned.

“Oh...”

Clyde quickly looked back towards Apollo to change the subject. “So, uh, why brings you here?”

Apollo looked away from him at looked at the Arlin clone who was bopping his head to a song or something. “I came here to tell you guys Patel and Cannon are now the rulers of Germaney.”

“Weren’t you the ruler of Germaney?” asked Wahlburn.

“Weren’t you also an Earth pony like your friends?” asked Twilight. Instead of Wahlburn’s tone, she had more venomous tone.

Apollo laughed. “I could say the same for you. Last time you didn’t have wings.”

Twilight flushed red in embarrassment from being called out. “I-I earned my wings and my title! How are you a unicorn now?”

Apollo sighed. “I’ve always been an unicorn since I was born. I was the heir of Germaney, who ruled for thousands of years.”

Twilight looked at him strangely again. “So, you’re saying you were an unicorn when I first met you?”

“Yes. ‘Jeb’ was just a ruse I used to hide from my royal responsibilities. Using the power of illusion, it’s very easy to conceal a horn and a flaming mane.”

“If you were an unicorn the whole time, why didn’t you prevent the whole cult disaster! We could have prevented that whole two weeks of nothing but worry!” The others in the room were confused on why she was so mad. Rarity sighed.

“Twilight, why are you so mad at this? The cult thing happened almost two years ago, so why are you still upset about it?”

“The whole time, Clyde and his friends were being killed off for no reason! If we could have prevented going into that town in the first place, we may have been out of their territory so none of that happened!”

Rarity looked at Clyde and Wahlburn. “That may be true, but it wasn’t a total disaster.”

“Why?” asked Twilight. “Is it because we were lucky enough to bring them back?”

“That, and because I was able to get to know Clyde as more than an associate. It was because of this cult thing Clyde became a friend, and later, the most important stallion in my life.” Rarity quickly reached over and hugged Clyde. Clyde was surprised at the sudden hug, but he didn’t resist it, like all the other affectionate things Rarity surprised him with in the past two years.

Twilight stopped for a moment and looked at one of her best friends. She could tell she was serious and made Twilight realize her rant was pointless. “You’re right. I was clouded by my own experience. It wasn’t a total disaster as their was still some light during it for at least some of my friends.” She smiled as Rarity smiled.

The clone, who was still tied with the rope laughed. “Isn’t that cute! Can I leave now?” The others looked at him.

“No,” said Wahlburn. “We want to know things.”

“Things about what!”

“Like where is Arlin at so I can kick his ass.” Wahlburn smacked his hooves together with a grin.

“Like I would tell you!” replied the clone, “there is no way on this planet I would ever tell you!”

Twilight walked up to the clone and began charging her horn. The horn’s light grew bigger and brighter as she pointed it towards the clone. He began shaking and nervously tried to break free. “No! Don’t do it! I’ll tell you!” Twilight looked at him but continued to point her horn. “He’s at Yacoltsk!”

“What?” asked Wahlburn. “Why is he over there?”

“It’s where our main base is! He wanted to be isolated from others due to the coldness! We have teleportation so location doesn’t mean a thing to Arlin!” The clone sighed in relief as Twilight stepped away from him.

“You better show us where this hideout is then,” said Wahlburn.

“I will!” Twilight walked over to a table and picked up a map of the eastern hemisphere. She floated it over to the clone and placed a pencil in his mouth. The clone lowered his head and marked a crooked ‘X’ on the map. “That’s where our hideout is, but Arlin might not be there this week.”

“Why not?” asked Wahlburn.

“Well, he’s attacking Germaney in two weeks, but this week and next, him and his other leaders are out doing some random events and whatnot. Like, I think one event is some opera concert and another one is a masquerade ball.”

“Masquerade ball!” said Rarity in excitement. “I’ve always wanted to take part in one of those.” She looked at Clyde who was staring at the clone in distaste.

“Can I leave now?” asked the clone. “I told you the basics.”

Twilight nodded. “Yes, you may leave now.” The others looked shocked, even the clone.

“You really mean it?” asked the clone in wonder.

“Of course.” Twilight walked up to him and her aura around her horn glowed again. After a few seconds, the rope fell down as the clone sat there. “You can go now.”

The clone looked around. “What? Where am I? Who am I?” He began to freak out in a nervous breakdown. As he kept nervously looking every which way, Twilight enshrouded him with her aura and he disappeared.

“What did you do to him?” asked Wahlburn, slightly scared.

“I wiped his memory as I undid the rope. I’m not a fan of it, but we can’t let him go back to this Arlin. I teleported him to Canterlot, where hopefully, he finds a new way of life to live.”

“I’m glad I’m not an enemy to you then.” Wahlburn looked away but quickly looked back at her. “I’m not an enemy, am I?”

Twilight smiled. “No, I don’t see why you would be.”

Wahlburn wiped some beads of sweat from his forehead. “Oh thank Celestia.” He turned around and looked at Clyde and Rarity who were sitting beside each other. He then looked pasted them to see Apollo still standing there silently. “I forgot you were here Jeb.”

Apollo sighed. “I’m not Jeb anymore. I never was.”

“That’s cool. Anyways, why did you come all this way then?”

“Well since Patel and Cannon have Germaney, and since this Arlin is about to wage war on it, I figured you guys and maybe Equestria could help.”

Twilight shook her head. “I’m afraid Equestria wouldn’t help because we don’t normally bother with foreign wars. We go against war actually.”

“Can’t you use your Elements or something?” asked Apollo.

Twilight shook her head again in refusal. “No, we don’t have them anymore. They were taken back to the Tree not too long ago. I don’t see how they would help though anyway”

Apollo frowned. “Wahlburn, Clyde, will you help?”

“I’m not joining any sides about Patel and your problem,” said Clyde. “however, I will join a group that goes against Arlin as he did attempt an unforgivable thing.”

“Same,” said Wahlburn. “I’m good for making a small mercenary group to attack while he’s busy with Patel and them.” Clyde nodded as Rarity’s jaw dropped.

“Clyde! I thought you were going to stop with these foolish shenanigans that involve your friends!”

Clyde looked at her with anger, which Rarity was stunned by. “Foolish? You know what almost happened. I’m not letting that go by without me doing something about it.”

“B-But-”

“No. This is my last mission. After that no one should ever attack you again.” Clyde continued his angry gaze at her which made her look at the ground. It was the first time she ever saw anger in his eyes when he was talking to her.

There was a silence in the air until Wahlburn broke it. “So Jeb, are you going to help us or not?”

Apollo sighed again. “I guess I’ll help you plan stuff. When are we starting?”

Wahlburn looked around. “I guess in like tomorrow or something. We need more ponies to help us though. I’ll go ask Tyrone about it tomorrow.” Wahlburn yawned and looked at the others. “Anyways, I’m going to bounce. See you all later.” He waved goodbye and walked up the stairs. As he was about to leave the house, he saw Spike sleeping in the kitchen. He shook his head and departed back to Verona.

Spark

Wahlburn woke up in his apartment around noon the following morning. He turned on the news to see if any crazy shit happened while he was sleeping, but of course, nothing interesting was talked about. He poured a quick glass of juice and gulped it down. After throwing the glass in the sink, a quick stretch, and turning off the news, he walked out of his apartment, which was his only now.

Wahlburn made his way outside and decided to walk to Tyrone’s house as it was a nice day out. He wasn’t in an absolute hurry either, so the walk would be a nice rejuvenation from the Ciyelor battle for him. He didn’t get extremely injured during the battles, except a few scratches and cuts, but he felt hundreds of percent better.

As Wahlburn walked through Verona, he passed the road that led to Clyde, Cannon, Rivs, and Sticky’s apartments. He wanted to go see if Rivs and Sticky came back from their basketball week event so they could join his small group of fighters, but he decided not to waste his time. He walked past the road and continued to the opposite side of town where BC and Tyrone lived.

As he walked up to Tyrone’s neighborhood, he saw that the neighborhood was abnormally quiet. Before thinking too hard on it, he saw Junior and BC on the front step of their crib.

“Ey yo, it’s that dude Wahlburn!” yelled BC as he walked up to him. Wahlburn and BC became associates after the Amsterdam trip as Wahlburn would sell some weed to him on biweekly occasions.

“What’s happening BC. Where’s Tyrone at? I need to talk to him real quick.”

BC looked away. “I’m afraid he ain’t here mayne.”

“What do you mean? Where did he go?”

“He left yesterday night. He told me to watch Junior for him. I ain’t got a clue where he went.”

Wahlburn frowned. “Did he take care of that crazy stallion that tried to attack him?”

“Crazy stallion?” asked BC. “What are you talking about?” Wahlburn recalled yesterday’s event at his apartment then told him about Tyrone’s charge back to his own home. “Nah mayne. I know nothing about that. He must have killed him or something before I got home last night. I got home at like six then he said he was leaving.”

“Six?” asked Wahlburn. “That’s about two hours after he headed towards here. He must have got rid of him or something then.” Wahlburn looked at Junior who still hadn’t said a single word, which was rare for him.

“Junior? Do you know where Tyrone is?”

Junior shook his head. “I don’t Uncle Druggy.”

Wahlburn flinched as BC laughed uncontrollably. “U-Uncle Druggy?”

“Yeah! Dad calls you ‘Druggy’ all the time so I decided to call you that as well!” BC remained laughing as Wahlburn turned away from them.

“Let me know when Tyrone gets back.” Wahlburn quickly left the neighborhood, still being able to hear BC’s laughing a mile away.

After another couple of minutes, Wahlburn entered Verona’s town square. He stopped at the ice cream store for a quick break. As he sat down about to savour his apple pie flavored ice cream, a familiar face sat down beside him.

“Wahlburn! Mi amigo!” yelled Fluffy Johnson.

“Fluffy!” replied Wahlburn in between licks. “How was South Beach?”

“It was good I guess,” he said without enthusiasm. “It’s definitely not as fun as it was when you guys were there.”

“Yeah, the whole zombie thing was pretty fun. Even though we only killed like ten zombies the whole time.”

“Indeed.” Fluffy looked around the square as Wahlburn kept licking his ice cream. After a few minutes, Wahlburn finished his ice cream and Fluffy turned back towards him. “So, how has it been around here lately?”

“Well,” said Wahlburn wiping off some ice cream on his chest, “the past week has been weird.”

“Weird?” asked Fluffy with a curious look. “What do you mean? I thought you guys were the definition of weird?”

Wahlburn smirked. “No, I think that only applies to Poncho.” Fluffy laughed at the answer. “I mean, weird like, weird.”

“Huh...”

“It all started I think like three, four days ago...” Wahlburn recited the past few days involving Patel’s gathering of the group, traveling to Las Pegas, the whole Ciyelor campaign, Patel and Cannon’s new reign in Germany, and the assassin clones that Arlin sent to draw out Clyde, Tyrone, and him.

Fluffy stroked his chin the whole time while listening and sat there for another minute or two in the middle of the town square after Wahlburn’s depiction pondering about what he heard. “That is weird.”

“Right?” Wahlburn got up from the small table and stretched. “Say, are you doing anything tonight?”

Fluffy shook his head. “Nah dude. I mean, I just got back, but I’m down to f-”

“No, not that,” replied Wahlburn with a sigh in which Fluffy chuckled. “I meant, are you doing anything in the next week or so? I’m building a small group to take down Arlin’s leaders and eventually himself while he’s distracted by Patel and Cannon.”

Fluffy placed his hoof on his chin again and pondered about his plans for the next week or two. “I don’t got anything. I guess I’ll join. Who’s all in this thing?”

“Well,” said Wahlburn trying to hold in a chuckle, “there’s only like four of us right now. We have yourself, myself, Clyde, and I’m guessing Jeb, but I wouldn’t count on him doing much of anything.”

“No Tyrone?” asked Fluffy.

“He’s not home. He randomly left last night for some reason so BC is watching Junior. I mean, we could get BC, but then Junior might be annoying the whole time.”

“Also, because Junior is still a young one, we could get into major legal troubles if something bad happened to him.”

Wahlburn nodded. “Yeah, let’s not talk about that anymore.”

“Hmm,” said Fluffy looking into the sky. “Where’s Sticky and Rivs at? Did they come home from their ‘Rival Week’ trip yet?”

“I don’t think so, then again, I don't think they would join my squad of troopers in the first place.”

Fluffy nodded in agreement and looked behind Wahlburn’s shoulder. “Hey, what about Poncho?”

“He stayed behind back in Las Pegas. I don’t know where that sketchbag is.”

Fluffy pointed behind Wahlburn. “Then why is he right behind you?”

“What are you talking about?” Wahlburn turned around and looked at the pony on the other side of the square. His jaw dropped as Poncho looked at him with the same expression. Before Wahlburn could do anything, Poncho stepped backwards and quickly bolted down the road towards his house. Wahlburn chased after him with Fluffy right behind him.

Wahlburn managed to catch up to Poncho in a few seconds as Poncho wasn’t the most in fit stallions of the town. Wahlburn quickly ran past him and stopped in front of him. Poncho ran into Wahlburn and laid on the ground rubbing his head.

“Ow,” said Poncho weakly. “Why did you chase after me for?” Fluffy walked up to them and helped Wahlburn and him up. Wahlburn brushed some dirt off of him.

“Due to the fact you ditched us back in Las Pegas, I’m curious on where the hell you were!”

Poncho spun around to check if anyone was looking at them. He didn’t see any suspicious sights so he leaned into closer towards Wahlburn. “I was at a convention.”

Fluffy and Wahlburn looked at each other in confusion. “Convention?” asked Fluffy. “What convention was it?”

Poncho laughed. “It was a potato chip convention!”

Wahlburn sighed and slapped his hoof to his face as Fluffy nodded. “That’s...different.”

“I know right! I never knew they had one of those! Since I work for the local chip factory, I was able to try new flavors and even bring some back!” Poncho dug into his bag to his side and pulled out a bag of chips. The bag was labeled as “Cupcake”.

“Cupcake flavored chips?” asked Fluffy. “That seems like an experiment result that one pony, Pinkie, would do.”

Poncho’s eyes flashed at the mention of Pinkie. “I know man, I wanted to go over there to see if she wanted to try any. If she liked them, I was going to let her keep the bag of chips.”

“Poncho,” said Wahlburn with disappointment in his voice, “was this your plan the whole time?”

“What do you mean man?” asked Poncho.

“You ditched us for one day just so you could get some weird flavored chips and bring back some for some girl who barely even talked to you during our Seaddle and South Beach trip?”

Poncho began zipping the zipper on his jacket. “Well...”

Wahlburn sighed again. “You know what, at least you tried. Let’s just drop the conversation. We are heading to Ponyville anyways.”

Poncho’s mouth dropped open. “Are you serious!”

“Yes, just don’t act even more sketchy on the way there and while we are there.” Poncho nodded and the three of them set off towards Ponyville. Poncho and Fluffy talked about the convention Poncho was part of to past time as Wahlburn tried to ignore them. As they walked past Sweet Apple Acres, they ran into Applejack on the trail.

“Oh no,” said Wahlburn sadly to himself as they walked up to her.

“Oh howdy!” yelled Applejack, “if it isn’t Clyde’s friends I haven’t seen since that bus trip back to here! How have ya’ll been?”

“Fine,” said Wahlburn walking past her. Poncho and Fluffy gave an awkward smile towards her as they tried to catch back up with Wahlburn.

Applejack ran after them and walked beside them. “What’s the big hurry?”

“It’s nothing,” said Wahlburn.

“Is it about that clone situation that Twilight told me about?” asked Applejack.

Wahlburn sighed. “Is anything in this town kept a secret?”

Applejack shook her head. “Nope. Most of the townsfolk are all friends or acquaintances so information doesn’t really keep quiet.”

“I could tell.” Wahlburn and the other two kept walking before Wahlburn stopped and turned around. Applejack was still following them. “Do you want to come with us, or?”

“Oh!” Applejack put her hoof to her mouth. “I know about the situation, but I don’t think I could help you out at all. To be honest, I don’t think any of us except Twilight could help.”

“Okay then,” said Wahlburn turning back towards the town in the near distance.

“Wait!” yelled Applejack.

Wahlburn turned back around. “Yes?”

“Whatever Rarity says, don’t let her go with you guys. We don’t want her to get involved in your problems, and I know Clyde feels the same way as we do. We all like Clyde a lot and we know where his heart lies, so try to make him stay behind if that will make Rarity stay too.”

Wahlburn laughed. “I’ll try, but no promises. That dude is hard to persuade.”

Applejack nodded and wished them good luck in all future endeavours. As they watched her disappear behind the hill on the trail, they resumed their walk to Twilight’s library. Once they entered the town, Poncho looked around.

“What are you looking for?” asked Fluffy. Fluffy watched Poncho flinch at the sudden voice that surprised him.

“N-Nothing man.”

Wahlburn sighed as they stopped a few yards away from Twilight’s house. “Pinkie lives over in that direction,” he said pointing down the road.

Poncho’s mouth dropped in excitement. “C-Can you guys go with me?”

Fluffy shook his head. “Nah, hombre. This is your battle, not ours.”

“Come on guys...”

Wahlburn walked up to him and patted him on the back. “It’s just a bag of chips dude. Just knock on her door, hand her the bag, and walk away. You don’t even have to say anything.”

Poncho looked at him with a confused look. “Wouldn’t that make me look sketchy?”

Fluffy laughed. “I don’t think you can get any more sketchy than you already are.”

Poncho looked at the ground in defeat. He quickly glanced up and nodded at them. As he turned around to begin his journey to find Pinkie Pie, Wahlburn walked beside him, and soon, Fluffy followed too.

“I’m just kidding, we’ll go with you,” said Wahlburn. “I’m not trying to be near Twilight without some brothers.”

Poncho thanked them and the three of them marched down Ponyville’s main road towards Sugarcube Corner, the home of Pinkie Pie.

Once Poncho reached the main doors, he lifted his hoof out to knock on the doors. Wahlburn stopped him.

“What are you doing? It’s a damn store, just walk in!”

“Yeah, but they might be closed or sleeping...”

Wahlburn flailed his arms around. “It’s like noon! They are open!” He pushed Poncho into the store as Fluffy walked in slowly. As Wahlburn pushed Poncho to the counter, Fluffy looked around the shop to see all of the cakes and other assorted dessert foods. Wahlburn rang the bell on the counter and they sat there waiting.

In a quick second, Pinkie bounced down the stairs and stopped and looked at them. “Oh! I know you guys! You’re the ponies who we took a bus ride with back to Ponyville from Seaddle and managed to get a cult to chase after us and even kill some of you but we managed to magically bring you guys back and we continued our trip and ended up in South Beach where we had to deal with zombies and during that whole trip your friend Clyde and my friend Rarity began getting super close and they even began officially dating even though most of you hated the idea but that’s okay because my friends and I like Clyde so now I have even more friends because of him and that’s you guys!” Pinkie quickly stopped for a quick breath.

Wahlburn looked over at Fluffy. “What the...” he silently mouthed to him.

“So what can I do for you today friends?” asked Pinkie in her normal loud and excited voice.

Poncho awkwardly smiled at her and pulled out his “Cupcake” flavored chips. “I-I wanted to give you these. I saw them at a convention and thought of you.”

Pinkie’s eyes gleamed and she bounced towards him and took the bag. She tore it open and poured the chips down her throat. With one big crunch and gulp, she licked her lips. “Those were awesome!” she yelled in excitement. “Do you have any more?”

Poncho looked at her sadly. “No, I’m afraid I don’t.”

“Oh, well, I have to leave now! I promised Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy that I would help them with something today!”

“Wait,” said Poncho reaching out to stop her. “Do you want to have lunch with me sometime?” Wahlburn and Fluffy put a hoof in front of their mouths in absolute astonishment.

“You mean like a picnic?” asked Pinkie. She smiled and laughed. “Sure! I’ll tell my friends about it! I’m always down for picnics and parties!” She bounced out of the building leaving the three standing there in silence.

“So,” began Poncho. “What happened?”

Wahlburn walked up to him and shrugged. “I have no idea. That girl is more random than a bus driver who can also pilot a large plane.”

“We know someone who can do that though,” said Fluffy.

“I know.”

The three of them walked out of Sugarcube Corner and finally decided that it was time to go to Twilight’s to begin planning the anti-Arlin group. Once they entered the treehouse, Spike led them downstairs where Twilight and the newly named Apollo. Clyde, who was already there, was sitting near the back of the room alone. He nodded his head at Fluffy and Poncho when they entered but he remained sitting there in silence. When asked about Rarity, he told them she was busy with a client's dress.

After they were settled, Wahlburn talked over them and began giving a rundown on the situation, important locations, and tasks. Thanks to the clone, the locations of Arlin and his generals were known so Wahlburn began planning a hitlist, where they would attack each one at the same time. After completing the list, Wahlburn began roll call and roles.

“Alright, I’ll assign your role and target,” said Wahlburn. “First up is me. I’m the leader in all ground operations, but since we are doing solo missions right now, that doesn’t matter right now. My target is Qarlin who should be near London talking making a speech or something to the city.”

Fluffy raised his hoof. “How many is on your hitlist?”

“Like three.”

Fluffy frowned. “So not all of us are going out there?”

“Of course not! We can’t risk “Operation Spark” to be noticed with too many assassins!”

“Spark?” asked Twilight squinting her eyes at the name. “Why did you name it that? Are you trying to put blame on me if this ridiculous plan falls through?”

Wahlburn shifted his eyes away from her. “Maybe. Instead of thinking about failures, you could always help us.”

“I was going to help anyways!” yelled Twilight. “I don’t really have a choice now...”

Wahlburn smirked. “Good, you are designated teleporter and main hub back here. You don’t have to leave your basement, just teleport us there. Jeb over there-”

“Apollo,” said Apollo with a cough.

Wahlburn sighed. “Apollo, will manage the teleportation out of the area back to here. Depending on what he wants to do, he can go with a group or stay here.” Apollo nodded.

“Okay, sweet. Next up is Clyde, my main brother. You can be any role you want. Brother, your target is some clone called “T-arlin” in the city of Venice. He was invited to a masquerade ball and your job is to infiltrate and take out the target.”

“Masquerade ball?” said Clyde in puzzlement. “Of course I get the hardest one.”

“What do you mean?” asked Wahlburn. “There’s going to plenty of ponies in the crowd to blend in with. Getting a costume won’t be hard either, seeing how you know a pony very well to probably be able to get a free one.”

“Yeah, but she’ll want to come and I can’t let her,” said Clyde. He looked away for brief moment and looked back at Wahlburn. “Say, what are we using against the targets anyway?”

Wahlburn stood there and laughed. “Oh man, hate to say this, but I have no idea! I forgot about that part!” The others sighed and began shouting at him in anger. Wahlburn tried to calm them down so he knocked down the small orator stand. Twilight looked at him in anger as he ignored her and turned to his friends. “I have an idea my brothers.”

“What is it?” asked Fluffy.

“It might not sit too well for now, but we’re going to knock them out in any means you can, and have Apollo teleport us back to Twilight’s basement where we can further punish them!”

“What!” yelled Twilight. “I don’t approve of this!”

“Twilight, Twilight, Twilight,” said Wahlburn who wrapped a hoof around her back. “I thought you wanted to help us friends out?”

“I do. It’s just, why are you bringing all of these bad guys and your problems to my house? Can’t you just take them somewhere else for once?”

Wahlburn laughed. “I’m not going to lie to you, but you scare me. That’s why I want them here so you can handle them if needed.”

Twilight shook her head and sighed loudly. She picked up the orator stand with her magic and sat back down in her seat.

“So, if that’s okay, then I guess we can do that!” Wahlburn pointed at Fluffy. “You!”

“M-Me?” asked Fluffy nervous in the sudden call out.

“Yeah, you. You and Poncho, if he wants, are going to find the last clone I have on this list. His name is “Narlin” and he should be in Germaney spying on Patel and them.”

“Bueno. Sounds cool to me,” said Fluffy. “When are we to do this?”

“I think all of our targets should be at said locations tomorrow,” said Wahlburn looking at the list. “That’s probably the best option to attack.”

“How will I know when to teleport them back to here?” asked Apollo.

“Uh, how about you teleport them after an hour? That should be plenty of time. If it doesn’t work, then I guess you got captured or something, but that shouldn’t happen because you were all trained by yours truly.”

“Trained?” asked Fluffy. “You didn’t train us for anything. You’re just hoping everything works out without any troubles.”

Wahlburn smiled. “Exactly.”

After a few more hours of Wahlburn’s motivation speech and planning, the group was dismissed to get some rest before the big day. It was already late at night when Wahlburn finished. Fluffy and Wahlburn stayed the night in Twilight’s basement with Apollo. Spike came down to hang out with them for awhile, but it was awkward for Wahlburn because his best buddy was long gone.

Masquerade

Clyde returned to Rarity’s home to see all of the lights in the building were off. It wasn’t too late at night, but he did know she usually went to sleep early sometimes for “beauty” purposes. He quietly unlocked the door, since she gave him a key to it, and walked up the stairs into the hallway. After peeking into her room, he saw that she was sleeping and holding onto all of the blankets and pillows on her bed. He looked at her work station and desk that was in her room and saw that the mannequin with the dress on earlier was bare. He decided not to wake her and quietly closed the door and made his way downstairs to sleep on a sofa.

The next morning, Clyde felt a sudden burn against his chest. With his eyes still closed, he quickly pulled up his hoof to his chest, to only feel a small diamond shaped object attached to a string. Relieved, he slowly opened his eyes to see Rarity standing a few feet away from him and the soda.

“Good morning Clyde darling,” said Rarity with a smile. “You didn’t have to sleep down here last night, you should have woken me up.”

Clyde sat up and slowly blinked to try and force his eyes open. “It’s alright. I know how much sleep means to you.” He looked around and saw that beside her were a double sided saddlebag. “What’s that for?”

“Oh, Twilight came over earlier to tell you your friends are ready to go with something called “Spark”. I told her you were sleeping to rest up for tonight. After all,you are going to a masquerade ball.” She looked away from him.

Clyde knew that look. “Please, don’t be mad.”

“I’m not mad darling.”

“Rarity, please...”

She glanced over at him. “I’m not mad. See?” She gave a fake smile and saw Clyde give a sigh.

“You know why you can’t come-”

Rarity looked at him this time with more seriousness.“That’s not the point darling! It’s a masquerade ball! Just imagine the culture and costumes that I won’t be able to see! It could give me inspiration! Don’t you want me to have inspiration!” Clyde got up from the sofa and walked over to her, who was still ranting about. He placed a hoof over her mouth to stop her from talking for a few seconds.

“I really do want you to come with me, because frankly, I have no idea what to wear to these things, but I can’t risk you getting hurt anymore because of me.” He looked into her eyes as she sighed. He lifted up his hoof from her mouth and placed it under her chin.

“Your costume is in the saddlebag,” said Rarity disappointedly. “I had it made for you some time ago because there was a masquerade party in Manehatten. I forgot to tell you as I was extremely busy that week.”

Clyde smiled at her. “I’ll take you to one as soon as I can.”

Once Clyde fully woke up and ate a quick snack, Rarity and him walked over to Twilight’s home. As he knocked on the door, Wahlburn opened it up.

“Well there you finally are! We’ve been waiting!” Wahlburn led them downstairs where Twilight and Apollo were standing beside Fluffy. Wahlburn ran up to the spot beside Fluffy and waved Clyde to join them. Clyde nodded and turned to Rarity who gave him a hug, nose snuggles, and kiss. Clyde walked up to the end of the line.

“Alright, due to time zones, every one of Wahlburn’s targets are in his stated location,” said Twilight with an non-enthusiastic tone. “Why I bring myself into these messes, I’ll never know, but once you are teleported, you have approximately one hour to subdue the target so when Apollo teleports you back, they come with you.”

The three of them nodded and gave a vocal green light. Twilight walked up to Fluffy and charged her horn, after a few seconds, a bright flash lit up the room and Fluffy was gone. Content, Twilight moved onto Wahlburn and followed the same procedure. Wahlburn smiled at Clyde and gave a salute as he too vanished after a bright flash. Twilight walked up to Clyde next as Clyde looked over to Rarity. She had tears forming in her eyes, but her face was stern to prevent any tears from dropping. As Twilight’s horn began to flash, Clyde saw in the corner of his eyes Rarity run up to him and hug him. Before Clyde could do anything, a bright light engulfed both of them.

Clyde opened his eyes to see he was in a small conference room of a building with Rarity holding onto him.

“Ha! It worked,” said Rarity proudly. “I’m sorry darling, but I told you before. I’m not leaving you again when something dangerous could happen to you.”

Clyde stood there in shock. “Why did you do that!”

Rarity frowned. “Why are you so angry with me?”

Clyde shook his head. “I’m not angry at you. You know yourself, that I can’t ever be angry at you for a long amount of time.”

“Then why are you so upset I came along, and don’t give me that same excuse you always tell me. I feel safer when I’m with you.”

Clyde sighed. “I don’t really know then. I just don’t understand why you care about me so much, or even began to care about me when I met you.”

Rarity’s mouth opened in astonishment. “What ever do you mean? Why would you ever say I don’t love you? We’ve been together now for almost two years and every single day since then has been marvelous. Why is that, you may ask? The reason is because you were there beside me.”

Clyde looked at the ground. “But I don’t even deserve someone like you. I’m nothing special compared to others. I can’t fly, use magic, and I’m not even high class like you.”

Rarity laughed. “You’re true about all of those things. Like you said, I once only cared about fame or high society was the way for me. It was you, Clyde, who changed my perspective. Love isn’t about any of those things. Love isn't something you find. Love is something that finds you. It’s about someone who cares about you more than any other thing in the world. The trip from Seaddlee and even South Beach showed me that out of every single one of us on that trip, you were the only one, out of your friends, to care about me and protect me in the slightest when I never asked for it.” She walked over to Clyde and gave him a kiss. “Also, I’m not the only one who loves you. I may love you the most, but your friends and even my family loves you too.”

Clyde looked at her in confusion. “Wait, your family even loves me?”

Rarity smiled. “Of course darling! My father loves having someone who knows sports to talk to. He never had a son and I couldn’t bother with sports, unless I’m watching you at a game of course. As for my mother, she enjoys your help with arduous tasks when my father is just too lazy to help. Even Sweetie Belle likes bragging to her friend and schoolmates about you like how you play for some famous team in Canterlot. I let her wear one of your jerseys you aren’t using that week sometimes, however, it's extremely big on her. I even love wearing it sometimes. Even outside of the stadium.”

Clyde smiled. “I’m glad I have their support then. I know for a fact my mother would have loved you so much too.”

Rarity smiled then put her hoof to her chin. “It’s funny though that during the time of our vacation and your trip to Amsterdam, my parents kept talking about you, like why didn’t Clyde come with us, or how’s Clyde been? That whole week was them trying to ask how you were. I never seen you so lionized by them before.” Clyde looked away from her quickly to hide a nervous expression but then calmed down. To switch the topics, he looked at his outfit.

“So, uh, are you ready to go to the ball, my lady?” asked Clyde in a bow. Rarity smiled at him and nodded. “Wait a minute. You don’t have dress do you?”

Rarity winked at him and pointed to the saddlebags. He opened up the left bag and pulled out a black suit with a purple bow tie. Along with the costume came a black mask with diamonds that were colored purple near the eye socket. In the center of each diamonds had a small gemstone that shined a light blue. Clyde placed it on the floor and turned to his right bag. He smirked as he saw a dress.

To Clyde, it looked like the Gala dress Rarity made about a year before she met him, except this time it was black with purple trimming. The mask she had with it was black also, but hers was embedded with various gemstones that contrasted with the dark mask. Rarity walked over to him and picked it up with magic.

“You don’t think I wasn’t prepared for this event?” she asked in a playful tone. “That client’s dress I was busy with yesterday was actually this one. I had a guess that you would be the one to get to go to the masquerade ball, so I made this rather quickly.” She touched the long fabric and sighed. “I normally don’t wear black, but we do what we must...”

Clyde smiled at her. “It doesn’t matter what color you wear. You’re still the same beautiful Rarity I knew since the first I met you. You don’t even need me to tell you that anymore as my opinion won’t change.”

Rarity levitated her dress above her and walked past him. She brushed her tail on his face as she walked by and smiled. “I simply adore you saying it though,” she cooed.

They quickly put on their costumes and looked back at each other. They placed the masks over their face and walked out the door of the room they were in. When the door opened, Clyde and Rarity saw a massive crowd of ponies all dressed up in various suits, dresses, costumes, masks, headdresses, and other exotic clothing. Rarity looked at all of the different ponies in awe as Clyde led her through the crowd into the ballroom where the ponies were headed.

After battling through the crowd, Clyde and Rarity walked into the fairly small ballroom for the number of guests and looked around. In the middle of the room was a large statue of an unknown pony Clyde never had seen before. The walls were covered in famous paintings from the Mannerism era. A large staircase, that also had two sets of stairs at opposite sides of the platform, connected to the floor above them, which had a few ponies in dark clothing overlooking the crowd. Rarity was looking all over the room admiring the walls, paintings, and other guests outfits as Clyde looked up at the ponies behind the railing of the floor above them.

“The target has to be one of those dudes up there,” said Clyde. Rarity paid no attention to him as she was studying a painting on the wall near her. Before Clyde could do anything, one of the ponies on the floor above began speaking to the crowd. Clyde didn’t understand what he was saying, but the crowd applauded so he assumed it was something good. After the pony from the top floor bowed, music began to play and many of the guests grabbed a partner close to them and began to dance with them.

“A dance!” said Rarity in excitement, her eyes shining through the black mask. She pulled Clyde with her as she made her way to the main dance floor.

“What?” replied Clyde, “I can’t dance!”

She stopped dragging him and faced him to look eye to eye with her. “Clyde darling, it’s not that difficult. All we do is touch necks and sway in place.” She leaned forward and wrapped her hoof around the back of Clyde’s neck. “Lean forward and sway.”
Clyde did as he was told and together, they followed the lead of the other ponies and danced until the music died down. At first, Clyde was hesitant on dancing in front of so many ponies, but nobody seemed to look at him as they were too focused with their partner. Clyde also noticed Rarity’s joy in it so he started to enjoy it more.

Once the music completely stopped, the pony above them from before stood near the railings and spoke down on the crowd. The crowd cheered again and another pony from the group above them stepped forward. He spoke in a different language Clyde couldn’t understand either, but he only spoke for a few seconds and said a certain word Clyde knew. T-arlin.

“Alright honored guests!” said the pony who stepped up next. He kept rambling on as Clyde looked down to think. He knew that had to be T-arlin and thought the voice reminded him of some other pony he knew. He shook it off and quickly looked at Rarity.

“There he is,” said Clyde. “I’m going to find a way up there from another room and tackle him down.”

“What?” said a concerned Rarity. “You’ll get hurt!”

“Not if I land on him. I want you to stay here.”

“B-But Clyde-”

“No, please, just this once.” Rarity disheartenedly nodded and gave him a small kiss before he ran off. He ran into the main foyer they came into the ballroom from and looked for an alternate way to get to the top floor. He saw a small staircase to his left and ran up it. Once he reached the top, he followed the hallway. As he walked, we was able to see the ballroom to his left below him past the railings. He looked at Rarity standing in the middle of a group looking up at the orators above. As he reached the end of the narrow hallway, he saw the small group about twenty yards from him. He looked down at the ballroom floor again and this time he noticed Rarity looking at him. He smiled at her and walked up to the group.

The two ponies who already had spoken turned to face Clyde as T-arlin stopped talking and looked at him. The ponies below shifted their gaze to him.

“Look who it is,” said T-arlin with a serious tone. Instead of a normal, traditional, eye mask most of the guests, Clyde, and Rarity, wore, T-arlin had a full mask that covered his whole head.

“You knew I was coming?” asked Clyde.

“Not you, but someone. Arlin has spies everywhere, including the one you had “purged” of all thoughts.” He laughed as Clyde stood there confused.

“Wait, Twilight’s spell didn’t work?”

“Not entirely. It did work, but luckily for us, it used his second teleportation device we gave each spy that entered the Verona area. Arlin and his unicorn clones were able to fix his memory lost and he told us about your resistance group.” T-arlin looked down at the crowd and smirked. “I see you even brought your girlfriend with you.”

“Well, we won’t be long here anyways,” said Clyde. “You’re coming back with us.”

“Am I?” asked T-arlin. “I’ll love for you to try-”

Clyde ran at T-arlin in a sudden burst of speed. As he drew closer to him, the two ponies near him tried to stop him. Clyde dodged them and tackled T-arlin into the railings. He began pushing him to make him fall below, but T-arlin quickly stepped to the side and grabbed Clyde by the neck with both hooves and lifted him over the railings.

Clyde heard Rarity scream from below and the gasps from the crowd. He swung the lower half of his body and kicked T-arlin in the chest. T-arlin dropped Clyde who quickly grabbed the railings and jumped over them. He ran up to T-arlin and grabbed the mask. As he pulled it off, he sat there in shock.

“T?” asked Clyde as he looked at Tyrone. “Y-You’re with Arlin now?”

Tyrone shoved him off. “Let me explain.”

Clyde punched his best friend that he knew for so many years now. “Why did you do it! I thought you were my brother until the end T!”

Tyrone shoved him off again. “I told you dawg! Let me explain! It’s not like I wanted to do this!” yelled Tyrone as he began to cry. Clyde never saw Tyrone this emotional before so he sat there confused, angry, stunned, and a mix of other emotions. Tyrone looked through the railings to see the crowd. He turned back towards Clyde. “What does Rarity mean to you dawg?”

“Rarity?” asked Clyde as he looked down at her. He saw her looking up at him and saw her watery blue eyes through the black mask. “I told you guys plenty of times how I feel about her. I would be here forever if I had to recite it word for word.”

“So, you’re saying you would do anything in this world to make sure she was safe? Anything?” asked Tyrone.

“Yeah, of course. I don’t see how this-” Clyde stopped and stared at Tyrone. He felt Tyrone’s pain as something similar happened to Rarity. “Junior was held hostage, right?”

Tyrone slowly nodded. “I had no choice. I had to join Arlin or they would have killed him dawg. Junior may be a little bastard sometimes, but he’s my little bastard mayne.” Tyrone got up and helped Clyde up.

“It’s okay T,” said Clyde. “Is he safe now?”

“Yeah, but only if I follow Arlin’s order.” Tyrone grabbed Clyde again and pushed him against the railings. “I’m sorry dawg, but I have to capture you.”

“What!” Clyde felt the railings behind him start to break and he became nervous. He tried pushing him back but Tyrone was much stronger than him due to his prison service. As the railing behind him finally snapped, Clyde grabbed onto Tyrone to pull him down with him. The room all screamed in horror as Clyde and Tyrone fell towards the marble ballroom floor. Ponies near the area ran away from the imminent impact site. As they were about to fall to the floor, a large tablecloth in a light blue aura floated below them. They hit the cloth and fell through it, slowing down some and landing hard on the marble floor.

Clyde felt a sharp pain go through his shoulder as he landed on it. Tyrone rolled off of him and slowly got up. Rarity quickly rushed over to Clyde who was holding onto his shoulder with his other hoof.

“Clyde darling! I tried limiting the damage from the fall, but I don’t think it worked...” said Rarity sadly.

“It’s nothing,” said Clyde grimacing through the pain. “I’ve been through worse. I bet it’s only sore. I just need to rest it.” Rarity hugged him tightly from the side of him where his shoulder wasn’t in pain.

Tyrone walked up to them and pulled out a small box. “I’m sorry Clyde, but I have to take you. It’s for Junior’s sake dawg.”

Clyde grunted in pain as Rarity looked up at Tyrone. “Don’t take him! He’s your friend!”

“I’m sorry, but I have to.”

“Take me then!” yelled Rarity. “Don’t hurt my Clyde anymore...”

“No,” said Clyde who leaned on her. “Tyrone, if you have to take someone, take me. Rarity to me is Junior to you. I’ll help you get back Junior.”

Tyrone looked at both of them over and over again and sighed. “I’m taking you both then. I’m wasting time or getting Junior safe.”

Tyrone threw a small box on the floor and the three of them were teleported out of the room, leaving the masquerade ball behind them.

* * * * *

Gold

Poncho, Apollo, Twilight, and Spike, sat in Twilight’s basement and waited for the new hour to come when Apollo would teleport Wahlburn and the others back. To pass the time, Spike played checkers with Poncho. The game was short lived however, after Spike gave up due to Poncho not making a move after ten minutes. Once Twilight saw Spike walk upstairs in anger, she looked at Poncho.

“Hey Poncho, I heard you asked Pinkie to tell us about some picnic you wanted to have,” said Twilight.

“Well,” began Poncho. He looked looked around and fiddled with his hoodie zipper. “I sort of only wanted Pinkie there...”

“Oh,” said Twilight. “I’m sorry to say she’s pretty oblivious to those things. I guess she took it as a request for all of us.”

“Yeah...” said Poncho sadly. He looked over at Apollo and saw him laughing. “What are you laughing at?”

“Nothing,” said Apollo. “It’s just, how didn’t you see that coming?”

“At least I tried!” yelled Poncho. “You wouldn’t have done anything if it was you in my position.”

Apollo began to walk towards him for a size up, but was stopped by the alarm of the clock beside him. He sighed and walked to the middle of the room.

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” asked Twilight, “I can help you if you want me to.”

“No,” said Apollo who lifted up a hoof. “I got this. All you have to do is focus.” He closed his eyes and began searching his mind for Wahlburn. He honed in all of his thoughts so Wahlburn was the only thing on his mind. He charging his horn and let go of the energy, pointing it at the ground. In a flash of light, Wahlburn sat there on the ground.

“It worked!” yelled Wahlburn. He looked around and then panicked. “Wait, where’s Qarlin at?”

“I’m guessing the teleportation only works if I seen the pony before,” said Apollo.

Wahlburn sighed. “Well, that’s stupid as fuck. If I had known that, I wouldn’t have bothered with this hitlist thing. Might as well bring Fluffy and Clyde back now. Clyde is probably going to be pissed at me, but whatever.” He looked around and saw someone wasn’t there waiting for the group’s return. “I’m guessing she ended up going with him?”

Twilight nodded. “She ran up and held onto him as I sent him to his location. I knew she wouldn’t give up on joining him so I expected it. Rarity gets everything she wants after all.”

“Well, don’t blame me if anything happens to them,” said Wahlburn. He looked over at Apollo who was trying to focus and return Fluffy. After a few seconds, Fluffy appeared from the flash and gave a big smile to everyone. Unlike Wahlburn who panicked over not having his target beside him, Fluffy seemed to not care.

“So, how did it go?” asked Wahlburn. Fluffy dropped the smile.

“It was aight.”

“Did you find Narlin?” asked Poncho.

Fluffy shook his head. “I didn’t.”

Wahlburn stroked his chin. “Really? I could have sworn he would be there.”

“You lying!” yelled Fluffy.

“What do you mean brother? I had the list from the clone we interrogated a few days ago.”

“You lying!” says Fluffy.

Wahlburn looked at him in arrogance. “You weren’t even here!”

“You”-Fluffy paused-”oh wait, nevermind. I wasn’t there.”

Wahlburn slapped his hoof to his face as Apollo turned to the others. “It’s not working.”

“What’s not working?” asked Twilight.

“The spell, I can’t get Clyde to to teleport.”

“What do you think that means?” asked Poncho. “Is he dead?”

“No, I don’t think so. It’s just, I can’t focus on him at all.” Apollo sighed and closed his eyes again. “Should I try both of them or Rarity now?”

Twilight walked up beside him. “You worry about Clyde, I can try to locate Rarity.” They sat there in the silence filled room. Wahlburn looked over at Poncho who was eating some chips quietly. He shrugged and sat down on the floor. After a few minutes, both of them shook their head. They began trying every combination possible and with still no luck, Apollo and Twilight looked at the ground. “I’m guessing they got captured...”

“Before anyone puts blame on anyone,” began Wahlburn, “I’m not responsible for this at all since I was teleported out of here before he left. The blame should be put on Clyde or Rarity.”

“How can you even say that?” asked Twilight with anger. “Clyde never wanted her to go in the first place. He didn’t even want to go himself! You pressured him into it which also made Rarity want to go too! You’re still responsible for it!”

“Woah!” said Wahlburn with his front hoofs forward to stop her. “You can’t just call me out like that. At least, we should have a poll or something.”

“Fine,” said Twilight. “Who all here thinks Wahlburn is responsible for all of this?” Twilight rose her hoof and watched Poncho, Fluffy, and Apollo raise theirs too.

“What the hell guys!” yelled Wahlburn in shock and disgust. “You’re all going against the leader of Operation Spark?” He looked around and saw all of them nod their heads slowly. “Well fuck all of you then. I’m going to make a new team and show you all up. I’m going to go rescue my brother and his girl.”

“You’re making an extraction group now?” asked Twilight.

“Of course I am. Since you all think I’m some criminal, I have to redeem myself somehow. Wahlburn isn’t a bad dude. He’s actually pretty chill, especially when he’s high.” The others sighed as he gloated. “Who wants to join my team?”

“If I join, can I choose the name this time?” asked Fluffy.

Wahlburn sighed. “I guess...”

“Okay, I’ll join Gold Team.” Fluffy ran beside Wahlburn and gave a salute.

“Gold Team?”

“Yeah, you know Gold Team. I wanted to be nostalgic and return to our South Beach days. Also, Gold Team rules!”

“Fine. Gold Team will return. Anymore of you?”

Apollo shrugged and walked up to them. “I guess I’ll be your teleportation and offensive guy.”

Wahlburn smirked. “Good, except, we’re making a quick stop somewhere else too. We need more help.”

“Like who?” asked Apollo. Wahlburn leaned closer to his ear and quietly spoke where. “Oh no! We’re not going back there!”

“Stop being so damn butthurt, you bitch!” yelled Wahlburn. “Poncho, get your ass over here. We’re leaving.” Poncho quickly flinched and bolted to the spot beside Wahlburn. Wahlburn looked at the only pony in the basement that stood opposing him. “You’re not coming Twilight?”

Twilight frowned. “No, I’m not. I would just get in the way. I’m not too worried about Rarity as I know she has Clyde beside her. Besides, I really need to get back to all these books I was going to read over the past few days. I was busy with helping you out.”

“Wow Twilight,” said Wahlburn. “I thought friendship was super important to you? Clyde and Rarity could be dead and you don’t even worry or care about it?”

“Of course I care about them. Friendship is very important to me, but it did also teach me to believe and trust my friends. I’ve seen the look in their eyes when they are with each other many times. Nobody is going to separate them from each other. They are very protective of each other. Have more faith in your “brother”.” Twilight gave a wink.

Wahlburn nodded. “Alright, well, it’s been fun and I’m glad you don’t want to kill me anymore, but we have to rescue our pal.”

“I told you! I never wanted to kill you!” she yelled.

Wahlburn smiled at her. “I know.” He looked over at Apollo who was charging his magic. “Jeb! Let’s do this!”

“I told you my name is-”

The group teleported from the basement as Twilight walked upstairs. She pulled some books from the shelf and sat down in a chair. She gave a long sigh and began thinking of Wahlburn’s mission and hoped nothing but the best.

Omega

When Clyde opened his eyes, he noticed that he was sitting against a wall of a small room. He looked to his left and saw a metallic door. In the back of the room was a small bed without a blanket. He felt a memory of the past as it felt like he was in the cell Charles and Xarlin put his friends and himself into. He looked to his right and saw Rarity with her head on the bed’s blanket on the floor. As he moved, she perked her head up and quickly sat up.

“Clyde!” she said excitedly and moved over to him. She hugged his side and looked at him. “How are you feeling darling? Does your shoulder still hurt?”

Clyde looked to his left and attempted to moved his shoulder. He felt the sudden pain and stopped. “I still can’t move it,” he said sadly.

Rarity frowned and moved over to his other side. She looked at his shoulder and studied her dress. She tore off a long piece of a bottom section and lifted it up with her magic. She wrapped it around Clyde’s shoulder and tied it into a knot. Clyde tried to move it, but it wouldn’t budge. “There! That should help it for now.”

“You didn’t have to tear off some of your dress just for me,” said Clyde.

“Nonsense! You protect and care for me all of the time. It’s my turn.” Rarity smiled at him as Clyde looked down and begin to tear up. “Clyde, darling, please don’t cry. I don’t want a stallion who cries most of the time. Emotions are fine, but leave the tears for me.” She gave him a wink.

Clyde rubbed his eyes with his right hoof, the uninjured one, and sighed. “I failed you again.”

“Pardon?”

“I failed you. Again. No matter what I try, I either get in trouble or you get in trouble! I can’t seem to make my promises to you to keep you safe.” Clyde stared at the floor in sorrow and anger.

Rarity sighed and moved over to his good shoulder and leaned her head on it. “Darling, do you want to know another reason why I decided to grow an interest in you? Other than what I told you earlier about you caring for me?”

“Was it pity?”

Rarity laughed. “Pity? Goodness no. Why would you ever say that?”

“I don’t know,” said a disheartened Clyde.

Rarity kept her gaze on a spot on the wall and focused on it. “While it may be true you aren’t the most fashionable of all ponies in Equestria, you do contain something more important to me.”

“What’s that?”

“Your heart and willpower. Your heart knows what it wants and one of those things is happiness. After the time we spent together that one night and during our cell time, I saw that you were completely different from the stallion I met before I talked to you. I was the reason for your happiness, and you soon became my reason for it too. For your willpower, that’s obvious enough. You won’t stop going on about how you are going to protect me and make sure I don’t get hurt.”

Clyde looked up at the ceiling of the room and pondered. “That’s why?”

“Not entirely, but it’s part of it, along with you caring for and protecting me and letting me have someone I can trust. Also, you are very lovable.” She snuggled her head into his shoulder as he sighed in relief.

“So, where are we exactly?” asked Clyde. Rarity looked up at him and blinked.

“I’m not sure.”

A knock on the room’s door was heard and before the both of them could move, Tyrone walked into the room.

“I’m your two’s guard,” he said without any sign of remorse.

Clyde felt Rarity hug onto him tighter. “Where are we T? Why are we in here?”

“You’re both in Arlin’s hideout in Yacoltsk. This room is unscannable by magical means, so your friends or anybody else can’t teleport you out or find a trace of you. Arlin is using you for bait so the others won’t bomb or destroy the base.”

“So Arlin’s here?” asked Clyde.

“Of course. I’m to watch over you two so nothing bad happens or an escape.” Tyrone looked at them and sighed. “I can’t keep this serious tone dawg. I have to keep you here until your friends come and rescue you.”

“So, they are coming?”

“Well, if they want to stop Arlin and save you, they have to. I’ll make sure no other clones bother you. I wanted to make sure you two have your alone time, you know?” Tyrone looked at them with a smirk. Clyde turned red as Rarity giggled. Tyrone laughed and began to walk out of the door. “I’ll bring some food and water later.” Tyrone slammed the door shut leaving the duo sitting on the floor.

That sat there for a few minutes in the cold room. Rarity hugged onto Clyde for warmth, even though they both were still wearing their costumes from the masquerade ball. For extra warmth, Rarity took the blanket from the bed and wrapped it around herself and Clyde.

Tyrone came back a few minutes later with a tray of food and a bowl of water. He placed the tray in front of them and sat on the bed watching them. Clyde saw that he kept the door open, wondering if it’s some sort of test, but since he was so warm and he couldn’t shy away from Rarity’s hug, he didn’t bother asking about it.

“Did Sticky and Rivs come back yet from that trip?” asked Tyrone. Clyde was confused on such a weird, irrelevant question.

“I don’t believe so. Why do you ask?”

Tyrone shrugged and looked away from them. “I’m just trying to stall time dawg.”

“For what?”

“For when our friends-” Tyrone was cut off at a large boom sound coming from the base. The sound sent a shockwave which made the base shake. Tyrone held onto the bed as Clyde put his head on Rarity’s to cover her. After the tremors stopped, a clone slid into the doorway looking at Tyrone.

“We’re under attack!” he yelled.

Tyrone jumped off the bed and looked at him strangely. “Attacked? By who?”

The clone looked at Clyde and Rarity and a faint ping was heard and the clone dropped to the floor. As he laid there, blood began forming a small puddle around his head. As Tyrone got closer to investigate, a stallion who they all knew walked into the doorway.

“Well hello there mates,” said Patel with a smirk. He was holding a silenced pistol and looked at Tyrone. “Well if it isn’t Tyrone on the enemy side.” He aimed the pistol at Tyrone who stopped moving.

“Patel, dawg, I’m not an enemy.”

Patel lifted an eyebrow and raised the pistol higher. “Oh yeah? Why did you randomly disappear a few days ago from Verona and why are you holding your best friend and his girl as a hostage?”

“Arlin threatened to hurt Junior. I had to go with him.”

Patel sighed and lowered the pistol. “You honestly think he was going to do that? You can’t just harm a minor out of the blue like that. That’s illegal! You were tricked.”

Tyrone sighed. “I couldn’t take any chances dawg.”

Patel nodded and looked at Clyde. He saw the fabric wrapped around his shoulder. “What happened to you? You shatter that too like your leg back then?”

Rarity frowned and looked at Patel with seriousness. “Clyde fell from a distance and landed on his shoulder. It’s only sore, but I did that so he wouldn’t strain it.”

Patel noticed her anger at him. “Why are you so angry?”

“Because you are the one who got my Clyde into this mess.” Clyde looked at Patel and shrugged. Patel laughed and looked out the room.

“Well, I’m here to break you out, the others should be around here somewhere trying to find you too.”

“Did you cause that big boom earlier?” asked Clyde.

“No, I personally didn’t. That was your boys Wahlburn and Cannon along with my army. We launched an attack while the others and me aimed to find you two and take out Arlin.”

“Who are the others?”

“Jeb teleported Poncho, himself, and I into here.” Patel looked at the dead clone on the floor and looked back at the others. “How about we talk later when this is all over?”

The three agreed as Tyrone joined Patel in the hallway. Rarity stood up and looked down at Clyde. As he stood up and tried to walk, a small pain went through his shoulder and made him flinch a little. Rarity walked over to his left side and went under his front left leg to prop it up on her back. She smiled at him and helped him walk out of the room.

Patel checked the corners of the end of hallway and lifted his hoof to signal that it was clear. Tyrone looked back to Clyde and Rarity and offered to help Clyde instead of her, but she declined saying Clyde would have done the same if it was her in Clyde’s position.

Once they left the hallway, Tyrone, Clyde, and Rarity, were stopped by Patel. He looked at them with a smile and soon, behind him ran Poncho and Apollo from down the large and bland room.

“Sketch dawg!” yelled Tyrone as he saw Poncho

“Hey what’s going on?” asked Poncho in a serious tone that Tyrone couldn’t handle. Tyrone laughed and hit him gently on the shoulder as Apollo walked up to Clyde and Rarity.

“Did you break your shoulder?” he asked Clyde as he saw the torn fabric that was a makeshift bandage.

Clyde shook his head. “No, it’s just sore. All I need is to not bother it for awhile and I should be good in no time.”

“I could try to fix it with magic or something,” said Apollo.

“No, other than Rarity, I don’t like magic being used on me. It’ll heal in a few days, maybe even hours.”

Apollo nodded his head and turned towards Patel. “Well, we have the target and Tyrone. All that’s left is Arlin right?”

“Yes...then this terrible adventure will finally be over with.” Patel looked down the other end of the room and saw two large doors with gold handles. “He has to be in there, for obvious reasons.”

“You ready for this Patel?” asked Poncho. “It might be a trap.”

“He’s cornered no matter where he turns. Outside as we speak, the Germane army is ripping his clones apart with our advanced arsenal. It’s up to us to finish off the leader.”

Poncho nodded and looked at the others. He saw determination in Tyrone’s eyes that he never saw before. He then looked over at Apollo who was staring off into the distance, pondering about something he had no idea what could even be. Lastly, his gaze watched Clyde and Rarity look at each other, smiling about something. He always hated Clyde for being with her ever since the South Beach incident, but this time it was different. He witnessed a part of their happiness when they are together that brought him a part of regret. He turned away and smiled.

“Alright,” said Apollo. “I just finished scanning the door for traps. There’s nothing there, save the doors themselves. We can enter them.”

“Good job Jeb,” said Patel. “Maybe you aren’t worthless after all.” Apollo ignored the comment and looked at him.

“So, you guys ready?”

“Let me handle this,” said Patel. “I brought all of you into this war with Arlin and I shall end it.”

“Good,” said Clyde, “I’m in no condition for psychical conflict anyway.”

“I wouldn’t let you fight in that outfit anyway,” said Rarity looking up at him. “I spent a good amount of time on that.”
Tyrone laughed. “It’s okay C. I’ll help protect your “handsome face and outfit” for you.” Clyde laughed as Rarity became agitated because no one was taking her seriously.

Patel even laughed, but quickly stopped. He ran towards the doors at the end of the room while the others quickly, and slowly in one case, made their way over to him. As Clyde and Rarity caught up with the group, Patel pushed open the giant doors to see a small office type of room. To the right of the room was Arlin, sitting at a desk with his hooves together near his mouth to solely focus. Patel looked at what he was watching and noticed the left side of the room was a large window that overlooked the ensuing war outside. Patel saw his troops move closer and closer after every second.

“So we meet again Patel and friends...” said Arlin slowly and still focusing at the war outside. “It’s been some time.” He was wearing a long coat that made him look even more sinister.

“It has,” said Patel. He quickly drew his pistol and aimed it at Arlin, who seemed to not be bothered at the sudden move. “I’m not going to make this one of those pointless banters about how I’m going to persuade you of stopping your goal and make you realize your wrongs so you can fix yourself and move on with your life.”

“Nor did I want you do,” said Arlin who finally looked up at him. “I was foolish and didn’t think about what I was doing until it was too late. I decided to keep going with it to try and make it work out, but it didn’t.”

“Here's the sob story,” said Patel with a sigh. “Look, I don’t care, and I doubt my friends cares either.” The others behind him began nodding with his logic.

Arlin got up and walked over to the window as Patel kept a aim on him the whole time. “My last remaining army of clones I made of myself are all out there being killed rapidly. You and your army destroyed the last two years of my work in a matter of hours and minutes.”

“Did you honestly think you would win?” asked Tyrone. “Not only did you make Patel mad, but you angered all of us too. Of course we would help our bro.”

“I knew you would win after you took down Jarlin. I never thought anyone could withstand his mind attacks.” Arlin sighed as a clone outside was killed by a rocket. “It was only a matter of time after the cloning machine was blown up I would lose.”

“Then why did you send all those clones to our town?” asked Clyde furiously. “Rarity and Junior had no part of being involved.”

Arlin smiled. “I love parting gifts. They are my favorite thing in the world if I had to pick something.” Arlin pulled out a pistol from a pocket of his coat and looked at it. Patel focused on him more than before. “Unfortunately, my time draws to a close. My army will soon be gone and I’ll be all that’s left other than that blasted Yarlin, your army, and other clones that are scattered around the world that didn’t join my cause. I only wish them the best.” Arlin lifted up the pistol and instead of aiming at Patel or any of the others, he aimed it at his temple. The group stood there in shock and reacted as such.

“Hold the Celestia damn minute,” said Patel. “You’re just going to kill yourself? Not even shoot any of us?”

Arlin smiled and laughed. “It seems like you forgot about my thing with parting gifts. Farewell Patel and friends! It was fun, but good game. You bested me and my foolish goal.” Arlin pulled the trigger and a loud bang went off and Arlin fell to the floor. Still in shock the others watched him fall down.

“What just happened?” asked Patel. As Patel was distracted by Arlin’s dead body, a clone jumped out from behind the desk and aimed a pistol at him. Patel turned to see him and fumbled with the pistol in his hoof. The clone shot the gun and Patel closed his eyes expecting the worst, only to feel himself being pushed out of the way. When Patel opened his eyes, he saw Poncho standing in front of him. Patel quickly aimed at the clone and shot him in the face, killing him instantly. Patel threw his pistol aside and rushed to catch a stumbling Poncho. As Patel laid him on the floor, he saw blood coming from his chest.

“What the fuck man! Why would you do that?” yelled Patel at Poncho. The others stood still behind them near the doors in total shock. Poncho looked up at him and laughed.

“I don’t know...I felt like I had to do it...” said Poncho who gave a weak cough.

“What ever gave you that reason to do something like that? I’m the one Arlin wanted dead, not you!”

“Well...” Poncho coughed again and laid there without trying to move. Patel saw the blood seeping out of his wound with every second that passed. He knew Poncho wouldn’t be able to survive longer than another minute or two due to the size of the wound and the location of where the bullet hit him.

“Damn it, Poncho...,” said Patel with a tear in his eye. “I didn’t want anyone to die during this whole attack.”

“Don’t worry Patel...you guys can go back to life without worrying about anything ever again. This is something I felt I had to do. I only wish you guys won’t forget me...”

Tyrone ran up to Poncho and dropped to the floor. “Sketch dawg! Don’t worry about that! I don’t think anyone will forget you dawg.” Tyrone wiped a tear from his eye. “This is like the same shit I went through when Patel and Clyde were dead or dying.”

“Except, I don’t remember any of that since I was already dead...” said Patel.

Poncho laughed and covered his chest as pain was eminent when he laughed. Apollo, Clyde, and Rarity walked up to the scene and put their heads down in sadness. Rarity looked at the wound and looked at another long end of her dress. She tore it off with magic and wrapped it around Poncho’s wound, even though she knew and the others knew there was no hope for him.

Poncho looked at the makeshift bandage and looked at Rarity. “I’m sorry I always brought you down whenever Clyde mentioned you. I guess...I guess, I was jealous Pinkie didn’t like me as much as you liked Clyde.”

Rarity nodded. Unlike the others, due to a lack of a close bond with Poncho, she wasn’t as upset. She still showed sadness in his face, but it wasn’t as extreme as the time when they thought Clyde was dead forever. “Thank you for the closure. I normally don’t pay attention to harsh comments about me as somebody loves me for who I am. I’ll make sure Pinkie knows about your feelings toward her.”

Poncho smiled and looked over at Clyde. “I’m sorry I kept calling you a douche for bailing on us in South Beach while you ran off with Rarity and our supplies. Also, for causing our conflict in the hotel that made you do that. To be honest, there’s a lot of stuff I have to say to you...I never did thank you for all of the times you saved my own life, like when I got hit by a bullet while we were running away from the cult members. I’m sorry for being jealous with Rarity and your’s relationship, as I do truly respect all its been through. I hope you both the best...”

Clyde laughed and looked at him with sad eyes. “It’s alright. I forgave you a long time ago as you saved me from dying from a zombie. We may have had pointless fights all the time, but I’m glad I got to meet you. I’ll miss you buddy.”

Poncho gave a weak nod and coughed, turning his attention to Tyrone. “Tyrone, you are the most badass and coolest dude I know...”

Tyrone wiped tears from his eyes and nodded. “Thanks dawg. I’ll make sure I open that pimpin’ business we was talking about. I’ll make sure you are mentioned as being a founder.”

Poncho laughed and turned to Patel. “Patel...even though I don’t like how you made another Reich, I think you’re a real funny dude.”

“Thanks Sketch-, I mean, Poncho.” Patel looked down at him and looked away to conceal emotions. “Not only did you save my life, you saved everyone’s life at some point. You brought us boys together because you always piss us off in a good way.”

Poncho titled his head to the side and tried to sit up. As he lifted his head off the floor, he felt his wound hurt even more. He dropped his head back down and began to breath heavily through his mouth.

The others stared at him in sadness and shock as they couldn’t believe Poncho was slowly dying in front of them and they couldn’t do anything about it.

“Guys...” said Poncho weakly, “I just wanted to...I just wanted to say, I love you guys. Hopefully when I’m dead, I can remember all of you, even you Jeb.” Poncho gave a weak smile at Apollo who frowned.

“Hey, wait a minute, you never gave me words of closure!” he yelled.

Poncho looked at him and laughed. He laughed for a straight minute and slowly closed his eyes. Once he began coughing, he stopped laughing, and before any of them knew it, Poncho died, laughing away at Jeb’s unimportance.

The others stood there in silence for a few moments with their heads looking at the floor. Tyrone began sniffing as Patel had his eyes closed. After the long moment of silence and crying was done, Patel opened his eyes and looked straight at Apollo.

“Let’s teleport out of here. We’re bringing Poncho with us.”

“We are?” asked Apollo.

“Yes. We are going to have a funeral service about him in Verona in a few days. He wanted to be remembered after all. We just can’t abandon him now.”

Tyrone and Apollo looked at him in shock. “Wait a minute, Patel is getting soft?” asked Tyrone amazed.

Patel smiled and looked at Clyde and Rarity. “I hate to say it, but Twilight and her friends were right the whole time. Friendship is magical. Poncho was an important part of our link together.” Patel looked out the window and saw Arlin’s army was only a few dozen now. Before too long, he saw a stallion walk slowly forward, unloading a SAW into the clones. Patel gave a laugh as he knew that was Wahlburn. ”Wait until Wahlburn and Cannon come here to teleport us back, Jeb.”

Patel and the others waited in silence for Wahlburn and Cannon to storm the empty base and charge into Arlin’s overwatch room. At first, they thought the two would never bother coming to this room, but they heard running outside the room. Cannon kicked the door ajar as Wahlburn rolled into the room, aiming his SAW around the room. Once he saw Patel and the others, he lowered it and smiled. He looked to the floor and saw Poncho and quickly frowned.

“What did I miss?” he asked. Cannon walked up to them and gave the same reaction as Wahlburn.

Patel told them both what occurred in the past few minutes while they were busy outside killing off the rest of the clones. Once he finished, Wahlburn and Cannon turned towards Poncho’s lifeless body on the floor.

“Damn,” said Wahlburn sadly. “If I would have known he would be gone soon, I would have never yelled at him so much as of late.”

“The Sketch Master himself is finally gone...” said Cannon, his voice trailing off.

“His funeral service will be next weekend,” said Patel. “We all need to attend it as we are, well, were, his best friends.”

Cannon and Wahlburn nodded and went over to the others to talk a bit. Most of the conversations only lasted a few seconds because there was no mood to talk. No motivation. It reminded them all of deaths that struck them because of Charles and his crazy cult. They were lucky to be alive after all, but this time. This time, there was no going back. Poncho was really gone for good.

“Well, are we good to return now?” asked Patel.

“I do believe,” said Cannon. “Skarlin is taking the army back to Germaney, so we don’t have to worry about them.”

“Good,” replied Patel. “Our journey ends in Verona it seems.”

Apollo nodded and told the group to get close together. They scooched together and in a final burst of light, they teleported out of Arlin’s base in Yacoltsk, and appeared in the square of the Verona.

“Man, it’s been awhile since I was last here,” said Apollo looking around the square through the sunshine. Most of the others were ignored him and looking at Poncho.

“Shut the fuck up Jeb,” said Cannon. “We have a dead comrade beside us and all you care about is yourself?” Apollo frowned.

Patel decided to get help and call the police to take care of Poncho. Once they arrived, they started questioning the group about what happened, when, where, and all the other important questions. After writing down the notes from the group, and taking Poncho’s body away, the police drove off, leaving the group standing in the square alone. They decided to go separate ways until Poncho’s funeral.

Patel moved back in with Wahlburn for the next few days. Wahlburn, who usually smoked after every trip away from home, was too bummed to do so. Instead, he quietly crashed on the couch. Patel also took his idea to liking so he did the same.

Cannon went back to the apartment condo he, Clyde, Sticky, and Rivs, had rooms in. Sticky and Rivs were still not home, but the date on the note they left at their doors said they would be home before Poncho’s funeral service.

Tyrone left for BC’s house to reunite with Junior. As he ran through the door, Junior dropped Greg the handheld game and ran and gave Tyrone a big hug. Greg being angry at being dropped, turned back into his chihuahua form and walked into the kitchen to eat some food. Both of them laughed and Tyrone took him out for some ice cream in the town square.

For Clyde, Rarity, and Apollo. The two helped Clyde back to Ponyville. Once they arrived, they stopped by Twilight’s to tell her what happened. She was shocked and showed sadness when she found out about Poncho’s fate. They told her about the service, to which she agreed to come to. After they left Twilight’s, they walked over to the Sugarcube Corner to go talk to Pinkie Pie. Once Rarity told her about what Poncho said about her before he passed away, Pinkie showed extra sadness. It was the first time Clyde ever saw her truly sad before. She slowly and sadly said farewell to them and closed the door.

At that point, Rarity took Clyde over to her home as Apollo went back to Germaney to fetch Fluffy. Once he saw Fluffy in the kitchen of the castle eating some corn pones, Apollo teleported him back to Verona with him.

With most of Poncho’s friends in Verona, all that was left was the final goodbye.

Legacy

A few days after Poncho’s death, in the dawn of March, Clyde joined Rarity and her parents on a camping trip to a lake near Canterlot as it was the beginning of the fishing season. Sweetie Belle was absent from the trip as she was with her friends on another Cutie Mark Crusader task. Rarity usually never bothered with camping trips, but due to the recent events, she thought it would be good for Clyde and her to relax a little. Clyde’s shoulder was also back to normal so he was able to fish with her father.

Early one morning on the trip, Rarity’s father, Magnum, took Clyde to a small cliff overlooking the lake and casted a line. Clyde sat down beside him and casted his line too.

“So,” began Magnum, “how’s the basketball thing going? Is the season officially called off?”

Clyde sighed. “Pretty much. The next season has already been confirmed so I don’t have to worry about not playing. My two year contract is up in July too, so I can sign with any team who wants me.”

“You finally going to leave this city for more fame or money?” asked Magnum as he began reeling in his rod after feeling a tug.

Clyde shook his head. “I don’t play for fame or money. Besides, seeing how Rarity lives in Ponyville, I can’t be far away and the only closest team is Canterlot. I wouldn’t be against the idea of playing in the Garden if she does move to Manehatten either.”

Magnum looked over at him and laughed. “So I guess it’s about that time, huh? I don’t know why you wanted so long seeing how she’s crazy about you.”

Clyde blinked and nodded. “Yeah, I guess it is.”

They continued fishing for a few hours as the sun slowly ascended into the clear sky. Once the sun had reached the apex of it’s climb, Clyde and Magnum took their fish and walked back to the camp. Rarity and her mother, Pearl, were sitting around the site and talking waiting for them to return. Upon their return, the four of them began talking and laughing about an assortment of topics to lighten up the mood. They spent the rest of the day hiking up some trail that Clyde had to carry Rarity most of the way due to it being more muddy than usual. After returning to the campsite, Clyde then ran into the lake to get clean with her still on his back to scare her some for some laughs.

Later at the camp when the sun was about to set, Rarity watched her father start a fire. She glanced over at a log which had Clyde’s jacket laying atop of it. Rarity felt a breeze hit her and looked over at her mother. “Where is Clyde at? It’s getting cold.”

“He said he wanted to think about something that’s been bothering him lately,” said Pearl. She lifted up the jacket with magic and handed it to her daughter. “Why don’t you go find him?” she said with a smile.

Rarity nodded and placed the jacket on her back. She trotted off following the trail hoping to find her love. After a few minutes, she saw him sitting on the same small cliff her father and him were on a few hours earlier. She quietly walked up behind him and placed his jacket over his shoulders. She walked in front of him and sat down, facing the lake. Clyde quickly put his hooves through the jacket and wrapped them around Rarity, pulling her closer to him. He leaned forward and put his head on her right shoulder. They sat there together watching the sunset hit the horizon of the lake.

“You know darling,” purred Rarity, “have I ever told you how much I love your hugs?”

Clyde smiled. “Well, I would sure hope so by now.”

She smiled at his comment and watched the sunset shine over the lake water. “You always seem to find the most beautiful sceneries”

“That’s not true. One of them found me this time.” Rarity turned her head to kiss his cheek. They sat there for another moment when Rarity asked him a question.

“Why are you up here anyway?” she asked him. “My mother says you had to think about something. Is it about Poncho or your friends?”

Clyde shook his head and looked out across the water’s surface. “No, it’s about you.”

Rarity quickly turned around to look straight at him, breaking through his hug. “Me? Did I do something wrong?”

Clyde smiled and shook his head. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I did.”

“What ever do you mean?”

“I was scared that you would say no, so I waited.” He unzipped his jacket pocket and pulled out a small box.

“Clyde, I don’t understand what you’re saying-” She stopped talking and put her hoof over her mouth, tears forming in her eyes, as she looked at what Clyde was holding. The box was opened and all that was in it was a silver ring with a cut diamond in the center of it.

Clyde looked into her eyes. “Rarity, you know how much you mean to me and to be honest, I don’t know where I would be right now without you. You fixed my heart and soul of the gap that appeared whenever my mom died. You showed me how to love again, something I thought I would never remember. I love you Rarity. So my beautiful lady, will you marry me?”

Rarity, still in shock, looked at the ring and Clyde over and over again. Without speaking, she leaned forward and kissed him slowly. After a few seconds, she leaned away from him and smiled with her lowered eyes. “Does that answer your question? Yes, of course I will.”

Clyde smiled and felt the weight of the world off his shoulders. He watched her pick up the ring with her magic. Before it got near her horn, he stopped her. “Did you see the message on it?”

She floated it in front of her face and looked on the inner side of the band. She smiled as she saw the small message written in cursive. Je t'aimerai toujours...I will love you forever.

“I know how much you love the language so I learned that phrase just for you,” said Clyde, “also that may be a hint to a certain place I can take you someday.” Rarity placed the ring around her horn and gave Clyde a hug, kissed her diamond necklace, and pushed him to the ground, falling on top of him. For the next few minutes, they kissed passionately.

After they were done, which was when the sun had been set for minutes now, Rarity sat up. She squealed in glee and began jumping up and down. “I’m getting married! I can’t wait to show my friends on the wonderful gift my fiancé gave me! Ooh! I just adore saying that!” She kept jumping around as Clyde sat up to try and contain her.

“At least your parents are going to like it. After all, they knew about this for months now.” Rarity stopped jumping and looked at him.

“They knew?”

“Yeah, do you remember how you told me they both kept bringing my name up during your vacation with them while I was in Amsterdam?”

“Yes.”

“Well, before you guys left, while you were busy with a dress one day, I went over to Canterlot for a team “practice session”. I actually went to visit your parents and told them if I could marry you.”

Rarity gasped. “You did?!”

Clyde nodded. “To much of my surprise, they both agreed that I could because they said you always talk about me and they could tell how much you love me. I then told them I was going to buy your ring while in Amsterdam, but I didn’t know when to propose.”

Rarity smiled and looked at the lake. “I’m content on where you did it, even if I’m not totally into camping. The stars and sunsets seem to be our thing.”

“Good, because I didn’t know where else I could have went.” Clyde helped Rarity up and together, walked back to the campsite down the trail. Once Rarity’s parents saw her with the ring on her horn, they ran over to hug and congratulate them. Rarity yelled at them for planning behind her back, but they smiled it away.

The next day, Clyde and Rarity returned to Ponyville to get ready for Poncho’s funeral service. Before returning home, however, Rarity went to each one of her friends to show off her ring. They all gave Clyde a hug and told him he was an official part of their clique now, which Clyde didn’t mind. After getting dressed for the occasion, Clyde and Rarity walked to Verona with Twilight and the others.

Upon arrival of the funeral home, Clyde saw Patel in the back of the room. While Rarity stayed near her friends to talk and wait for the service to begin, he quietly walked over to him and began talking to him. Not even a few minutes later, Tyrone and the boys walked into the service. Instead of the normal “swerve” Tyrone had when he made an entrance, he was clearly disheartened.

Behind him, Wahlburn and Cannon strolled in and came up to the group followed by Rivs and Sticky. Patel called them out on not helping them the past few weeks with the portal and the extraction task. They both shrugged and apologized.

The last of the main group to enter the building was Fluffy and Apollo. Most of the guests stared in awe at Apollo’s presence, but they soon calmed down as he wasn’t important right now.

After everyone filled the room, the service began and everyone had a chance to say one last remark. Clyde watched his friends, Rarity and her friends, Yarlin, Clark, Skarlin, some other ponies that lived in the area, and lastly himself, walk up to the podium near Poncho’s casket and give a brief closing remark in Poncho’s honor. Once everyone had said what they wanted to say, the pallbearers came in and took the casket, and Poncho, away forever, leaving the room silent and full of sadness and sorrow.

When the service officially ended, the crew and the girls met up with each other one last time at Wahlburn’s apartment. After talking for a few minutes, Wahlburn noticied Rarity’s ring and all of the boys started hitting Clyde, calling him a sucker, and congratulated him. Rarity smiled as Clyde tried to fight off the guys.

Wahlburn appeared soon with a bottle of champagne and gave each pony a glass. He poured them each a sample, even if they declined, and told them to have a toast for Clyde and Rarity’s engagement and to the future, because of those two, they were all bonded now. After everyone clanged glasses together and gulped down the champagne, Clyde ordered Wahlburn to fetch another bottle. Wahlburn didn’t decline and ran to find one. The others looked at Clyde confused.

Five minutes later, after everyone had another glass, Clyde gathered everyone around and held up his glass of champagne.
“To one last tribute for Poncho. May he live on in our hearts and our minds.” The group clanged the glasses together one last time and threw them on the floor.

Thus, the Chronicles of Poncho were finally brought to an end...

* * * * *

I leaned back in my chair and sighed. My final “farewell” was finally done and it felt surreal. I threw the pencil down on the desk and looked at the final page of the Poncho Chronicles that I just finished.

I quickly looked out the window and watched June’s sunshine hit me. It’s been three months since Poncho’s death. Most of the crew left the area a week after Poncho’s funeral service. They all told me to keep in touch and tell them whenever the wedding was. I said I would and told them about the stories I was about to write. They all said they would help and love a copy.

Before I go further about them, I should explain my desire for writing some stories that only a few ponies would read. Like Poncho once said; “It’s just something I had to do.” I never felt like I had a true closure with him and even though we barely got along, he still was one of my first friends. Also, we all would have a way to remember him whenever we wanted to.

Like I earlier said, the crew split up a few days after Poncho’s funeral service. The first group to leave Verona was Patel, Cannon, and Apollo. After much debate one day, the three of them decided to return to Germaney and rule it in a triumvirate. Apollo was head of the citizens and listened to their needs, Cannon was in charge of all military operations, and Patel was in charge of all political diplomacy, treaties, and world affairs.

For Wahlburn, he decided to join the Guard here in Equestria after falling in love with his SAW. Even though Equestria wasn’t particularly gung ho in war, he wanted to join anyways.

Fluffy Johnson stayed in Canterlot for another month, then returned to South Beach until next year. Down there, he told me in letter he met back up with Bastiaan, who threw another crazy party. Fluffy had a hard time remembering what time the party even started because it was that intense.

Sticky and Rivs loved North Marolina so much, they told me they were going to sign with their professional team come July. I was a little disheartened at the news, but I knew just how much Marolina meant to them. Before they left, I wished them the best for when they faced me on the court again, as I wouldn’t go easy on them.

Lastly, Tyrone, my closest friend, told me great news one day. He said the Canterlot Crusaders took interest in him and wanted to sign him to the team during the off season. I was excited by the news as I finally was able to play with the pony who helped me get my mark once again. Like the same reason for me, he wanted to stay in the Canterlot area for Junior’s sake.

For Rarity’s friends, nothing really changed much from before. Rarity mostly hung out with them while I stayed behind to work on the stories or practice for the season in October. When I did actually hang out with them, they acted like I was part of their group for years.

Out of all of Rarity’s friends, the one I bonded with the most was Twilight. Not only did she help me with my writing by editing it, she became my publisher, and she even helped me find out I had a decent talent at writing because she made me write a biography.

I looked back at the final page and took it. I walked out of the room and down the steps. Upon reaching the bottom floor, I told Rarity, who was working on multiple dresses, where I was headed and she gave me a smile.

I walked over to Twilight’s house and gave her the page. I told her I wanted to make a copy for everyone, including her friends, as they were in there, and an extra copy. She asked about the extra copy purpose, but I shook my head, refusing to talk. She nodded and told me she would have them all finished by morning, as she spent the last few months figuring out how to publish books.

The next morning I woke early and found one of Rarity’s extra glass boxes. I strapped it to my side and went over to Twilight’s. Like she promised, she had all of the copies of the books I asked for. I wanted to pay her for the time, but she declined all monetary gifts, saying being friends and being Rarity’s fiancé was fine enough. I thanked her of her help and handed her one of the books. I quickly left to begin delivering the others.

For the next few minutes, I ran around Ponyville, trying to find Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack. Luckily, there were all their homes. I told them about the books and they happily accepted them.

For all of my friends’ copies, I ran to the post-office and began, one by one, mailing a copy of the book to one of the addresses my friends were at. After all of the books were sent, I looked at the glass box I had and the two copies left. One was obviously for myself and Rarity, but I had an idea for the extra copy.

I went back to Rarity’s house to give her one of the books. I guess now, it would be my house too, but since she already owned it prior, I decided to stick with her being the main owner. Anyways, I told her I was going to need the box and the extra copy. After I told her what I was going to do, she gave me a kiss for being so thoughtful. I gave her a hug and I raced off for Verona.

After reaching Verona, I looked around and watched the townsfolk wave at me. I haven’t been in the town since I finally moved out of my apartment to officially move in with Rarity. The townsfolk still remembered me since they all were fans of the Crusaders, except some rebel bandwagons.

I walked into the cemetery and walked around trying to find a certain gravestone. After a few minutes, I stopped at a familiar name; Poncho.

I read his epitaph on his gravestone that said, “Well...” I smiled as I read it. That was Poncho alright. I sat down in front of it and sighed. I placed the glass box beside me and took out the extra copy of the Poncho Chronicles.

I looked at the cover of it and looked at the illustrated portrait of Poncho, the others, and myself. Poncho was in the middle of the picture with Rarity and her friends on the left side and the boys and myself on the right. I was standing in the front row, below Poncho, beside Rarity. I smiled as looked at the picture and noticed all of our expressions. I looked back at the gravestone and placed the book back in the box.

I got up and began digging a small hole beside the gravestone, after I dug a hole that the box would fit in it, I jammed the glass box in. Since it was glass, you could see the book clear as day, and because the box was not fully in the hole, any pony was able to open it and look at the book. Content of my placement of the box, I stood up and looked at it.

I gave the box containing the Poncho Chronicles copy and the gravestone one last look before a tear formed in my eye. I turned away and began walking away. Before I took two steps forward, I turned back around and smiled at the gravestone.

“Happy Birthday Poncho,” I said sadly. “I hope you enjoy your present. Now you don’t have to worry about not being remembered. Don’t worry, I’ll see you again in this spot next year.”

I left the cemetery and began my journey back to Ponyville. I felt my closure to Poncho was finally completed and I felt sadness at the same time. I quickly shook it away and smiled.

The song is ended, but the melody lingers on...

Alpha

The warm desert air hit the lone pony on the hill overlooking the infamous, Area Fifty-Juan, located in the middle of the San Palomino Desert. The base’s name was changed not too long ago, when the new owner, a mysterious pony called Juan, decided to outbuy the old owners of it. To this day, no one knows how Juan had enough bits to buy out Canterlot of all ownership, but then again, no one seemed to know about the base either. The pony atop the hill smirked and threw down his hood.

“Finally, we are here,” said Patel, looking out across the desert. After some more glances at the barren wasteland, mountains, and the main base, he looked behind him. “What the hell are you doing!”

Another pony was slowly climbing the hill behind him. In a few moments, the pony stood beside him atop the hill, gasping for breath.

“Arr lad, I’m not as young as I used to be,” said Yarlin. Yarlin took out a bottle of water from his backpack and began drinking it. After a few gulps, he offered Patel the bottle.

“Nah dude, I don’t want anything from you.” Patel looked over at him. “No offense.”

“Come on matey, I don’t have diseases. I know how to play it safe with Clark.”

“No, it’s just...,” said Patel, stopping for a moment. “It’s just, I’m not a big fan of the whole ‘gay’ thing.”

Yarlin laughed and patted him on the back. “Good joke lad! I know you be secretly into me.” Yarlin chuckled some more while Patel looked distraught.

“W-What? I’m straight as can be!”

“Lad, I saw you admirin’ my booty when we were at Amsterdam about two months ago.”

Patel flung a small rock at him. “I never did that! That was you admiring my booty!”

Yarlin looked at him weirdly and then giggled. “You are right lad, I was. I always wanted your booty from the moment I met you.”

Patel shook his head and sighed. “Keep talking like that and you won’t see Clark again. I told you for the, what is this now, the tenth time? I’m not a homosexual and I never will be. I don’t care what ponies sexual choices are, but don’t bother me about it.” Patel threw his hood back on and began his trek down the hill towards Area Fifty-Juan. Yarlin laughed and followed him down the hill.

The rest of the journey to the base was just a straight shot on the flat desert land. The problem was that the base itself was still a mile away. To pass the time, Yarlin and Patel went over their plan.

After the return from the trip to Amsterdam, Patel spent the next month with Yarlin and Clark talking about this yearly ‘Arlin’ meeting in February. As only Patel was interested in this, the rest of the group continued with their daily lives and didn’t bother helping him with his plan. In actuality, Patel never told anyone else his true plan.

For the past year or so, Patel has been secretly studying old film about the old Germane Third Reich. Patel was always fascinated about the mass genocides in Europe and always wanted to see that happen again. This time, however, he wanted to be the leader of the movement. His main goal of this covert operation, was to sneak into the base and find some sort of technology that would help him either restore the Third Reich, or make a new, more powerful one.

Since Yarlin was invited to attend this meeting, he would have Patel accompany him to it, masquerading as Clark. Yarlin told his relatives about Clark, so they would allow him to walk in with no problems. After a plane ride and a lot of walking, they were where they stood.

“Alright lad,” said Yarlin to Patel when they were less than one hundred yards away from the base entrance, “you ready for action?”

Patel nodded. “Yeah. Let do this.”

As they walked up to the gate, the guard stopped them. He was wearing what looked like a SWAT suit. Instead of the SWAT logo on the back, it read ARLIN. Patel looked at his face, and sure enough, his face resembled Yarlin, Pharlin, and even Xarlin.

“Oh look who it is,” said the guard, “how have you been Yarlin?”

“I’ve been fantastic matey! How’s yourself!”

“Great, just great.” The guard looked away from Yarlin and stared directly at Patel. “Is this your, uh, ‘friend’ Clark?”

“Aye! He be a little shy, so he might not talk much.” Yarlin gave Patel a small push to signal he was joking.

Patel smiled awkwardly as the guard laughed. “Didn’t you say he was good with puppets? Have him do a puppet show or something.”

Yarlin and Patel looked at each other in shock. They forgot to bring a puppet just incase someone asked. Before Patel could speak on behalf of them, another pony walked up to the gate from the trail behind them.

“Carlin!” yelled the guard as the pony approached them. This ‘Carlin’ dude was wearing some fancy suit and bolo tie. He wore some pitch black shades with a motto on the side of them: ‘Keeping the haters away since the dawn of time’.

“What’s pip and hip, my friend?” asked Carlin to the guard. He quickly glanced over and looked closely at Yarlin. After a few seconds, Carlin lowered his shades. “Well, I’ll be damned and jamed. If it’s not Yarlin!”

“Carlin, me boy!” He gave Carlin a hug and then patted him on the back. “It be a long time since we last journeyed the seas together!”

“I know my man. I have just been so busy and cozy at my house in Manehatten.” Carlin looked to his left and saw Patel just staring at him. “Is this your Clark I reckon and beckon?”

“That I am,” said Patel. “Before you ask, I forgot my puppets. I must have left them at Little Timy’s house.”

“Timy?” asked the guard, “who is that?” The guard looked over at Yarlin and began laughing. “Is there a third dude on this?”

“What? No!” Patel looked around to see the other three look strangely at him. He didn’t realize his outburst was deemed ‘un-Clark’.
Yarlin grabbed his shoulder. “Me thinks Clark be getting rowdy. Let’s go inside.”

“I’ll follow you guys!” exclaimed Carlin. The guard let them in the gate and quickly closed it. After a quick farewell wave, Yarlin, Carlin, and Patel followed the cobblestone trail to the interior of the main hangar building. As they were walking through the courtyard of the base, Patel looked around and saw all the different kinds of buildings and wondered, just what exactly was stored in this place.

As they arrived at the main hangar at the end of the cobblestone path, the door swung open. For what Yarlin and Patel could tell, nobody was near the door, so they were confused on what happened and why it just mysteriously opened. It wasn’t until Carlin telling them about the new security cameras and sensors did they think it was a ghost that opened the door.

Once inside, Carlin led them to a big room with a stage with a curtain. Around the stage was a bunch of chairs all facing towards it. Near the back of the room was a lone table with a punch bowl and some cookies on it. There was a small sign taped up on the wall that was labeled as: “Punch and Cookies”.

The three weren’t the only ponies in the room, as there were about five or so either standing alone or talking to another pony. Carlin left Yarlin and Patel to go to talk to someone across the room. The two of them stood there and looked around.

“So is this the main meeting room?” asked Patel. “Reminds me of some stupid school club meeting.”

“Aye. Lots of us don’t come to these sort of events.”

“I don’t blame you.”

About twenty minutes after they first walked into the room, the lights dimmed and the others in the room ran for some seats. Yarin and Patel quickly sat in the back row and looked up at the stage. Soon, a small light lit up the stage and out walked a pony.

This pony also shared the same facial resemblance as Yarlin and the others. His coat color was a light brown color and he bore an ‘Alpha’ symbol for his Cutie Mark that was black. His mane, tail, and goatee, were black and his eyes were also a dark black.

“Attention, am I heard from back there?” The pony looked over the small crowd at Yarlin. Yarlin lifted his hoof to answer him. “Okay, good. Welcome my brothers to the annual ‘Arlin’ meeting, hosted by yours truly, Arlin himself.” Arlin looked around at the crowd and sighed. “You know, I really wish you guys would start coming to these. I mean, I know we didn’t have one last year, and that’s my fault, but today is really special.”

As he finished his small rant, Carlin lifted his hoof. “Uh, Arlin?”

“Ah! Carlin! What is it?”

“I don’t know if you know this or not, but do you remember that incident and accident in South Beach a year and some months ago?”

Arlin looked at him while stroking his goatee. “You mean that zombie thing or whatever? Yeah, I heard about it. What’s so important about it?”

“Well, I heard Pharlin died in that outbreak.”

“No way!” said Arlin. He shook his head and resumed talking: “That guy was pretty smart. I really hoped he would’ve helped me with this thing behind me. Oh well.”

Another pony in the crowd lifted their hoof. “Arlin?”

“What is it Wharlin?”

Wharlin was a navy blue pony with a harpoon as his mark. His eyes and mane matched his dark coat color. “I also heard that Xarlin near the Seaddle area hasn’t been found yet.”

Arlin’s jaw dropped. “What do you mean he hasn’t been found yet?”

“Well, I heard some ponies by the docks that Arlin’s store he had in a small town was closed down. They always went there just to talk to him, but he hasn’t been seen since August of a year and a half ago.”

“Well, that’s pretty bizarre. Thanks for your intel Wharlin. Keep up with your whales and whatnot.” Arlin paced the stage for a bit and then turned back towards the crowd. “Alright, sorry about those slight interruptions. It’s a shame both our Xarlin and Pharlin won’t be able to see this, but in honor of them, I’ll reveal the secret of this place!” He turned towards the curtain and stopped in front of them. He moved to the side that had a rope and pulled in down. As the curtain slid across the stage, the room gasped.

Behind the curtain, and now all eyes focused on, was some sort of circular metal frame. Beside the frame was a monitor that was connected with a series of tubes to the side of the metal frame. As the room was studying over the device, Arlin walked in front of the monitor. He hit a button on the screen and soon, the circular frame began to make a noise. The noise continued until a small ball of energy appeared in the center of the frame. Within two seconds, the ball expanded outwards, filling up the frame. The frame glowed a blueish color as the lights above the frame lit up.

“Excellent!” said Arlin as he walked back to the center of the stage. “Behind me my brothers is the ‘gateway’ to my new dreams!”

“What is that exactly?” asked someone from the middle row.

Arlin smiled. “Oh nothing really, except World Domination!” The room let out another round of gasps. Patel just rolled his eyes.

“World Domination!” yelled Wharlin from the front. “Why would you want to do that? I mean, that just seems like a radical idea out of the blue sea.”

“Aye lad,” said Yarlin agreeing with Wharlin. “You be salty I reckon.”

“Salty?” Arlin paced around the stage and then shot his eyes back towards Yarlin. “Salty doesn’t even fucking describe it!” Arlin went back to the monitor and pressed a button. Soon, another pony walked out of the energy frame. Arlin smiled and soon kept pressing the button. With every press of the button, another pony walked out of the portal. All the ponies had different appearances, such as mane, coat, eye color. They even had different marks on their flanks. The only resemblance they all bore was the facial structure.

“I think it’s time I share with you what’s happening,” said Arlin. He walked over to the edge of the stage and sat down. “Wharlin? Do you remember where you were born?”

Wharlin panicked and rapidly smacked his head to remember. “I-I don’t know Arlin.”

“Is that so?” Arlin looked around the room and stumbled onto his next victim. “Carlin, do you remember?”

“Nope and dope my brother. I don’t remember where I was born, but I know you said you took care of us when our parents died.”

Arlin laughed. “Did you ever stop to think, who your parents were?” Wharlin and Carlin, along with the others in the room looked at each other in aghast. “It’s a trick question, because you don’t have parents.”

“W-What? What do you mean Arlin?” asked Carlin. He was showing signs of tears and tried holding them in.

Arlin looked down at the floor of the hangar. “You don’t have parents. I have parents. I made you all.” Arlin looked up at the crowd. His eyes were filled with a burning passion, a passion of hatred.

“B-But,” started Wharlin.

“Don’t you get it!” screamed Arlin. He jumped off the stage and walked straight to Wharlin. He stopped in front of his face, and looked straight in his eyes. “You are different clones of me! I am the first out of all of you! I am the Alpha.” Arlin quickly trotted back on the stage. He faced the portal and looked at the other, newly made clones of him. He slowly turned around and faced the crowd. “Ever since that day when I was deemed ‘too volatile’ to join the Royal Guard. All I wanted was a way of life where I could use my skills to help others in need. Helping the royals of Canterlot would have been great for me, but no. I got shot down.” Arlin glanced over at the lone window high in the hangar. “All I wanted was to prove my worth in this world.”

“Instead of attacking them straight on, I decided to wait. I needed to build an army. How I was going to do that was beyond me, but at my house in Canterlot that one day, I saw some interesting news. They had a news special about some crazy new invention at some base in the western desert of Equestria. I don’t know why it was publicised on a local news station, but I didn’t care.”

“I took this time to pack up my items, and leave Canterlot, never to see it again unless my army was going to wipe them out. After landing in Las Pegas, I wandered the desert until I reached here. Obviously, I snuck in, but I saw this portal frame behind me being worked on. I watched and waited all day until it was time for them to leave for the night. As the base was shutting down and for lockup, I quickly hid in the portal frame room. Once I knew I was in the clear, I started working on the frame itself.”

“Due to the already worked on progress from the ponies before me, I was able to complete the frame in no time at all. I pressed the button on the monitor and like what you saw today, the portal fired up and started glowing. Curious, I stepped into it.”

“Wait,” said Wharlin, lifting his hoof. “Are you sure I don’t have parents? There’s no way I’m a master whale trainer and harpooner without some genes being passed down.”

“I already told you!” yelled Arlin as he was angry that his past anecdote was interrupted. “Let me finish my tale so you know exactly how you were made!” Wharlin frowned and looked at the ground. Arlin coughed and continued. “Anyways, once inside the portal, I was teleported, or placed, in a dark sort of room. All that was in this room, was a lone candle light and another strange contraption against the back wall. This machine was also hooked up to a monitor. I slowly trotted over there and took a good long gander at the monitor.”

“The monitor screen was blank, except one file, a video file. Confused, I tapped on the video and waited for it to load. After it was done loading, I clicked on it again,and sure enough, it began to play. There was no sound to it, but that matters not, as even without the sound, I knew what was happening. Basically, it shows a stallion take a knife and lightly cuts himself on the arm, just enough to draw a little amount of blood. He then takes the blood on the knife, and taps it into the small tray beside the machine. As the blood seeped into the small slot into the machine, the light above it flashes on. The stallion clicked a button on the machine and it began to light up and form another one of those energy balls. After it formed the portal, another stallion walked out of it. As crazy as it sounded, that stallion looked similar to the first one!”

“Wait,” said Carlin, “I’m sorry and starry, but is this how we were made?”

Arlin looked at him with fierce eyes, but instantly calmed down. “You know, to keep this story short, yes. I did exactly what I said happened in the video and formed a small army of about ten or so. Reason being, we had to keep the other workers out of the base now, as it was time to start mass producing ‘Arlins’. I’ve been doing this for three years now.”

“Three years?” asked Wharlin. “Does that mean I’m only three years old?” Will I ever age in my life or will I be an old stallion when I’m actually twenty!”

Arlin laughed. “Do you feel older since you remembered last?”

“No, I feel the same age as before.”

“Well, there you go!” Arlin scanned the crowd again and sighed. “Well, I guess it’s time to wrap this event up. I’ll start ordering the troops to Germaney first because after we take that, and surrouding countries, over, Equestria will be gone in about a day or so.”

“Wait a Celestia damn minute!” yelled Patel as he stood up from the chair. Arlin looked surprised at the sudden remark. “You mean to tell me, that you want to take over the world because you got rejected to be part of the Royal Guard?” Patel laughed. “Thousands of stallions every year get rejected by trying to join the ranks. You’re just some butthurt little bitch that didn’t get what he wanted. I bet you wanted to join the ranks so you would get laid or something, and because you seem so mad about this, everyone laughed at you. You had nobody else to talk to so you made ‘fake’ friends so you would have a fake sense of friendship!”

Arlin’s fire in his eyes burned again. “Who the fuck do you think you are, telling me about my life?” Arlin glared at Patel from across the room and quickly extinguished the fire within his eyes. “Actually, wait a minute, who are you anyways?”

Yarlin jumped up and waved his hoof. “Arlin, this is me-”

“No,” said Patel, throwing his hoof in front of Yarlin. “My name is Patel and I’m here to find a way to restore the power of Germaney.”

“A spy!” yelled Wharlin. “What a twist!”

“Yes, indeed,” said Arlin. “Tell me Patel, why did you sneak in here then?”

“Because like you, I want to become the ruler of the world. Except, ‘world’ in my case is Germaney.” Patel began walking up to the stage down the middle aisle. “I needed to find a way to revive the Third Reich or make a new one. Can that portal go back in time?”

Arlin smiled. “It can do whatever you want it too. All you need is to insert a command into the monitor over there and boom!”

Patel smiled with him. “Wait, a minute, wouldn’t that destroy the fabric of the world if we go to a place and bring them into the world?”

“It might, but I don’t use the portal for that reason. The portal only goes to one room, the room I stated. I have it locked so it only does that.”

Patel frowned. “There has to be another way to bring back a whole army and party....” Patel began pacing the stage as Arlin laughed.

“There might be some sort of invention or two in the base somewhere that would help you, but why do that when you can just join me instead? Soon, I’ll have more troops than any army known in all of existence!”

Patel looked at him and shook his head. “No, I’m not joining the side who is responsible for Xarlin. I only want Germaney, and I will take it. Whether I have to fight you for it or not.”

Arlin frowned. “Well, that’s disappointing. Well, I don’t know why you’re still here then. Get rid of him.” Arlin disappeared to the side of the stage, as ponies from the portal came out towards Patel. Patel tried fighting them off but was soon overrun by the constant flood of them. While trying to bite someone to break free, he felt an object smack him in the head.

Patel woke up rubbing his head. He looked around and saw that he was outside the main gate of where Yarlin and him met the guard and Carlin. The guard from before wasn’t there and nobody for what he could tell was seen anywhere. As he got up from the ground, he felt a powerful voice in his head.

Arlin told me about you. He wanted to spare you as he wants to be the guy to kill you where you stand when he attacks whatever country you’re in. Consider yourself warned. The voice faded and Patel rubbed his head to get rid of the headache the voice, and the object, gave him.

“So, it’s going to be like that,” said Patel, standing at the gate, looking at the main hangar where Arlin would probably be at. “Whether you like it or not, I’m coming back here. Because if you are trying to take over Germaney, I’m going to stop that real quick.” Patel chuckled and began walking away from the base, back to Las Pegas. “I’ll be back with my army.”

Theater

“-not Jeb!” yelled Apollo as they appeared in a large throne room. He looked at the others and quickly around and smiled. “I’m home.”

“Yeah, yeah, no one cares,” said Wahlburn. Wahlburn walked up to the throne and looked up into the guard stations that overlooked the throne room. “Where is everyone at?”

“Probably in the War Room,” said Apollo. “I’ll show you where it is, after all, this was my castle at one point.”

“Are you going to keep complaining the whole time?” asked Fluffy. “A nosotros no nos importa.”

“Yeah, what he said,” said Poncho.

Apollo sighed and led them down a secret door beside the throne. The hallway was extremely compact and narrow so they had to jam themselves into to. At points, they thought they were stuck and doomed to suffocate, but Poncho sucked in air to make himself more thin for a brief second to let the others move. At the end of the dark, small, hallway, Apollo opened the magical lock with his horn and the group spilled into the room. The room was filled with a bunch of monitors and maps on the walls and tables.

“Holy shit!” yelled a familiar voice. “It’s some of my dudes!” Wahlburn and the others looked up and saw Cannon standing above them with a big grin on his face. Some guards in the room armed with firearms ran over and pointed their weapons at them. Cannon waved them off. “Don’t shoot these dudes. We go way back.”

Wahlburn jumped up and hoof bumped Cannon. “How’s it going brother? I haven’t seen you in awhile.”

“It’s good, real good. Patel and I are about to drop a magical bomb on Arlin. We finally found out he’s hiding at Yacoltsk.” Wahlburn and the others flailed their front hooves in the air.

“Don’t do that!” the four of them yelled.

“Why not?” asked Cannon with a frown. “That douche is going down so why can’t we make it awesome?”

“Clyde’s there you dick!” yelled Wahlburn.

“What the fuck is he doing there? Is he a traitor now?”

“No, I’ll explain everything,” said Wahlburn. “Where’s my old roommate at?”

Cannon pointed to the door beside a big monitor and walked over to it. He opened the door and led the group inside. As they walked in, they saw Patel and Skarlin looking over a table pointing and drawing lines. Patel looked up and ran a hoof through his mane in slow motion and smiled. “My friends...”

Wahlburn and the others stood there looking at him with confused and squinted eyes as Cannon laughed. “Oh yeah he does that a lot now. He thinks he’s the most dashing stallion in the Eastern hemisphere with that new manecut.”

“Bitch, I am the most dashing stallion in the Eastern hemisphere,” said Patel with a grin. His grin stopped as soon as he made eye contact with Apollo. “Anyways, I see you brought him back...”

“I’m not here to try and take it back,” said Apollo. “We’re here because Wahlburn needs your help.”

Skarlin walked up to Wahlburn and the others and nodded. “If it’s not the sketchy gent and the badass one. Where’s the black one and the one who cared about some necklace? Are these two I haven’t seen your replacements for them?”

Wahlburn shook his head. “No, no. I’ll explain the past few days.” Wahlburn sat down and began recalling the past few events from the time the others and him got back to Verona, the clone assassins, the interrogation, the formation of the anti-Arlin group, Tyrone’s random disappearance, and the formation of the extraction group.

“So, you’re telling me Clyde got into trouble again because of Rarity?” asked Patel half annoyed.

“I think it’s the other way around this time,” said Fluffy. “Those ponies must be mad in love.”

“That fucker is going to get me or all of us killed one day,” said Patel. He walked over to the monitor and stroked his chin. “Well, I do know one thing though, Arlin is supposed to attack us in a few days now. I wouldn’t mind attacking him first to finish this sooner than later.”

“That’s why we came here,” said Wahlburn. “All of us in this room are against Arlin. Now since he has hostages, it’s time to extract and finish him off.”

Patel turned around and smirked. “If you need weapons, we have you covered.”

“I say we have two groups for this,” said Apollo, “one can help your troops distract Arlin’s army outside the castle or whatever, while I can teleport some of us into the base and find Clyde.”

Patel nodded his head rapidly. “You know what Jeb, I like your thinking. Cannon, Skarlin, and I can manage our troops. You can lead the more dangerous mission of stealth. Besides, you might find and kill Arlin without our help.”

“As long as I can you my trusty SAW again, I don’t even care,” said Wahlburn. “I’ll join you on the front lines.”

“Cannon!” yelled Patel. Cannon jumped up and saluted his boss.

“Patel!”

“You’re in charge of the front lines and assault on the base. I’m joining the stealth team so I can deal with Arlin face to face.” Cannon nodded and grinned.

“Let’s form the teams now, then I’ll show you our super cool armory that blows Skarlin’s Ciyelor one to shame.” Patel laughed as Skarlin shook his head.

“It’s not my fault Arlin gave us medieval weaponry in there. Firearms would have been overkill against Jarlin.”

“Yeah, well we defeated him pretty easily without them,” said Patel who looked at Poncho. “Even Poncho over there was able best him.”

“Hey!” yelled Poncho at the belittling comment. “I’m not as weak as you think I am.”

“I’m not saying you are. I think the main reason we won so easily was because it was three on one. If you hadn’t distracted him long enough for Clyde to get over there, we may have lost.”

Poncho grinned as Patel turned away. “Anyways, two groups.”

“Right,” said Cannon. “It’ll be Skarlin, Wahlburn, and myself, leading the Fourth Reich army to attack the base, drawing out Arlin’s troops.”

“On the other side of things,” began Patel, “I’ll join Jeb and Poncho.”

“Wait a minute,” said Fluffy. “What am I doing during all of this?”

“Oh, well I need someone to stay here and protect home base, you know? I wanted you and some other guards to sit here and watch over the castle and stuff.”

Fluffy’s mouth dropped in excitement. “Aww yiss.”

For the next few minutes, Patel and Cannon took the group through the different rooms they had related to the war on Arlin. The planning room was already shown, so they took them through the barracks, training room, and armory. At the armory, Wahlburn ran through it like he was young and in a candy store.

After a few minutes of searching around, Wahlburn picked up a SAW and smiled. “Me and this girl go way back to the days of South Beach...”

Cannon laughed and whipped out a shotgun that he strapped to his back. He also had a small rifle with a grenade launcher. “It’s like we’re in some video game!” Skarlin joined the two by taking a sniper rifle and a rocket launcher.

Patel looked through the opposite side of the armory and took a silenced pistol and a small knife. He looked over at Apollo. “I probably won’t use the gun, but you never know. I’m guessing you aren’t going to use any of my weapons that I took most from you?”

“Nope,” said Apollo. “I have magic that’s way more dependable.”

“Yeah, okay...” He looked over to his right to see Poncho standing there. “You too?”

“Well...” began Poncho, “I’m not really into firearms. I think they are unneeded.”

“What the hell is wrong with you two?” asked Patel. He shook his head and walked away. Once everyone was ready and equipped, Patel walked over to the barracks. He banged on the wall to calm the noisy guards. “Alright dudes, this isn’t a drill. After some thoughts with my friends, we think attacking before Arlin can attack us is the best and only option. Get ready for war, you leave in five minutes.” The clones began yelling in excitement and quickly ran to their lockers to gear up. Patel walked back over to the others in the armory.

“You ready to leave?” asked Apollo. “I’ll teleport us three inside, but the others have to go with the army.”

“No shit Jeb,” said Cannon. “We’re just going to go with you guys and then walk out the front door, run away from the base, and make a u-turn to attack them.”

“Have I ever told you how much I hate your sarcasm?” Cannon smiled as Apollo shook his head.

“Enough chitter chatter. It’s time to end this damn saga once and for all,” said Patel. He looked at Apollo who gave a nod. Poncho quickly hopped beside them and with a bright light, the three of them disappeared.

“Well,” said Wahlburn to Skarlin and Cannon. “You boys ready to make some noise?”

“Ready?” asked Cannon with a grin. “Ready doesn’t even fucking describe it! Luckily for us, we have teleportation devices too.”

“Hell yeah.” The three ran to the base scientists who gave them a device each. They ran back to the barracks to see all of the clones were geared up and ready for the war. They split the barracks up into three groups so they wouldn’t put too much strain on the device. Once they threw the small box on the ground, a small portal opened up. With Wahlburn, Skarlin, and Cannon, leading the three lines, they marched forward into the portals.

Fluffy watched the three lines of troops shrink in size as they walked through the portals. Once the last troop in each line walked in, the portals collapsed and Fluffy stood there by himself. Not trying to waste time, he ran to the scientists who stayed behind.

“Hey, does anyone know where the kitchen is?” he asked them.

“Why? What for?” replied one of the unicorns.

“I want to make some corn pones.”

* * * * *