Clash of the Legends

A sudden banging against the door woke Luna and Scorch from their post-confusion resting. Due to excessive amounts of worrying about the consequences of them hooking up, and the fact that this was televised, they had both eventually decided to keep clear of each other. Though the pair of them refused to attack each other, they were still not going to work together permanently; after this was all over, they would shake hooves and part ways. Diving out of the bed, rolling along the cobblestone floor, and coming to a defensive position by the doorframe, Luna raised her crossbow and aimed it at the crack forming on the other side. A maroon striped snout peeked through, a disturbing grin on it.

"Found you, flankhole." the snout's owner sneered. Before pushing the door open slowly, the sound of a blade being unsheathed was heard on the other side of the door. Slowly, but surely, the wooden door creaked open, occasionally scraping against a cobblestone brick, and began to reveal the one thing that worried the Night Princess: Scorch-Mane was outside, yet she simply had to look slightly to her right and she could see him lying in bed, still barely awake. Deciding to ask later, she let loose an electrically charged bolt from her gleaming bow as a loud thunk  certified a hit on the copy. A moment passed, just long enough for the clone to curse before thousands of volts tore through his body, contorting his face into a severely pained expression and contracting all his muscles causing him to fall to the floor. A thin wisp of smoke trailed from his mouth and nostrils, occasionally there was a hoof twitch, but other than that, the knife-wielding Scorch-Mane was 'dead'. But, just before she could tie him up for questioning, out of sheer cartoon logic the knife he held suddenly fell from its' levitating position and landed straight into the head of the copy. Blood spilled out of the small holes, and the now-open eyes whited out.

"Wha..." Luna began, crouching over the REALLY dead body. "two...of you...?" Looking over to her 'assistant', an adorably confused expression on her face as though she were a puppy that didn't understand that annoying red light, she emitted a quiet whine and caused Scorch to immediately answer.

"I cloned myself." He blurted. "That was one. There's 255 more to sort out." Luna was shocked. Two hundred and fifty five more? I need a holiday. Luna thought to herself. Before she could consider destinations, she felt something nudge her shoulder. Just as she looked down and expected to punch whatever it was that poked her, Luna's expression softened when she saw Scorch pushing his snout into her shoulder, looking so apologetic he may as well have been Equestria Daily's manager after a scandal.

"Sorry..." Scorch whimpered, looking up to Luna with his head hung low. Immediately taking sympathy for him, she kneeled slightly, looked into his eyes and attempted a smile.

"Don't worry," she soothed. "You tried to earn a tactical advantage through numbers, a commendable plan. You'll make an amazing tactician, so don't go worrying about me being angry."

"But you're a princess..." Scorch replied, turning his head away. "I don't like making my employer upset." Luna sighed, put a hoof under his snout, and moved his gaze unto her.

"I'd only be angry if something were to happen to my favorite guard." she whispered, gesturing to his shiny chestplate, rank badge, and helmet. Trying her best not to hug him, Luna stood up to full height, turned, and looked out the door. As far as she could tell, nopony was there. No clones, but she was sure she could hear a quiet snivelling down the corridor in Cell D. Upon looking the other way to her left, just in the distance two clones could be made out quietly playing cards and what appeared to be smoking cigars. Where they'd found them, Luna didn't know, but she did know that eventually they'd come looking for the other clone.

Unless...she smirked slightly, and looked sweetly at Scorch.

"Scorch, I have a plan to free the other two." she smiled at Scorch, currently twirling the knife around dangerously with magic. He looked surprised, before finally sheathing the knife and clipping it to his thigh.

"Other two?"

"Ok, that's the plan?" Scorch looked rather worried. The idea of him acting like a psychopath creeped the buck out of him, and the fact that the psycho had a huge scar along his left eye didn't help. Luna had offered to give him one, but was quickly declined. "You sure this'll work, ma'am?"

"Yes," Luna sighed, "and stop calling me ma'am throughout this competition, I've been referring to you informally, so you may do so."

"Ok, Lulu." Scorch laughed before Luna cut him off with a buck to the ribs. "Nnnfff...sorry..." he whined as he lay on the blood-tinted cobblestone.

"You're welcome. Anyway, off you go." Luna said, as she pushed Scorch out of the door, before slamming it shut. Scorch simply glared at the door, eye twitching occasionally, as if to say 'Buck you door. You wanna do that again, little wooden flankhole? Try me. Bucking try.'

"Hey!" one of the guards shouted, getting up from his seat and trotting casually over to his 'leader'. "Find 'em?" He asked casually, and through Scorch's best judgement this was Casual-Mane.

"Heck no." Scorch grunted. "Weren't you flankholes supposed to be useful? Hm? You got ordered to help me? Buck that, you're about as useful as 'My Diet Cookbook' by Martha Stewart!" He yelled at the two clones as he defied gravity by hovering a foot from the ground.

"But...who's Martha Ste-"

"BUCK YOU. DID HE ASK YOU A QUESTION, PRIVATE TWINKLEHOOVES?" the other clone yelled at Casual. Scorch also recognised this clone as the one that was fighting with casual a few days ago. Scorch grinned.

"See? He gets it, I like this guy." he laughed as he patted Soldier-Scorch on the oversized helmet. "You two, dismissed. Off you trot, see if there's anything else on the other two. Y'know, the sun goddess and her pet? Go." The two clones looked nervously at each other. "Tell them boss sent you. Go. Stay there and wait for the scouts to get back, I got this stuff down here." Scorch pointed a hoof at the stairs leading up, before making a klok noise with his tongue. "You two bucking deaf? RUN, FORRESTS, RUN!" he yelled at them, both clones snapped off a salute before charging up the stairs so fast that they almost had to powerslide up the spiral steps. Ensuring they were gone, Scorch turned back to the door, knocked, and spoke to Luna on the other side.

"Got them." he hissed through the door. A bolt was heard unlocking, and Luna trotted out as though she were scripted to do so.

"Come on then," she said to Scorch as she turned right and trotted to Cell D. "Let's get the other two." Scorch nodded, keeping his eyes off of Luna's plot as she walked in front of him, and followed after her. "You make a good Psycho." Luna smiled at him as they both trotted side-by-side down the dark corridor. Scorch rolled his eyes.

"Amazing compliment." he sighed to Luna. "Because I always wanted to be noted by her royal highness for being a good Psychopath. My life now feels complete." he sarcastically muttered. "Anyway, why are we rescuing these two?"

"Because," Luna began as they stood outside the door. "one of them is on my team, the other is on your team. Rescue them, then we also have a better chance against the clones." Just as she opened the door, a sharp intake of breath was heard.

"Don't...hit me again..." came Cadence's voice. "Please...it hurts from the last time..." Luna walked in, followed by Scorch, and were immediately enraged by what they saw.

Princess Cadence and Shining Armor were hung by their hooves on chains, both coated thick with their own blood. Cadence's eye was a deep grey colour, and her ribs had patches where there was clear dents. Shining Armor fared no better; a bloody snout, leg bent the wrong way, and eyes almost in tears.

"What..." was all that Luna and Scorch could ask before a huge knife rampage would ensue. Scorch trotted up to Cadence, as she seemed in worse shape, and began asking her questions. "Cadence, it's me." He looked at her as he began to unlock her chains she was hung from, before she suddenly threw him against the wall with a sudden burst of magic rage.

"YOU...JUST THINK THAT YOU CAN TROT IN HERE, AND FREE US? YOU BATTERED US WITH AN IRON POLE!" Cadence roared at Scorch, still dazed by the impact, and limped over to him with the pole. "NO. THAT ISN'T GOING TO HAPPEN, NOT AGAIN!" she yelled, pushing Luna out of the door before she could intervene and locking it with an impenetrable forcefield. Suddenly, she picked Scorch up with magic, before slamming him around the room and causing sickening cracks. Scorch yelled in pain, but the moment Cadence dropped him she began to assault him with the iron pole as Cadence began to bash the pole into his ribs, head, legs, and horn. Luna could be heard crying and bashing the door with all her force against the shielded door, but to no avail. She could only listen and shout at Cadence, but these cries fell on deaf ears. Cadence was still assuming that original Scorch was Psycho Scorch, and thought he was here to bully them more. Blood was falling inbetween the gaps in the cobblestone. Cadence stopped her assault, only to catch her breath, but Scorch was heard loudly whining and coughing obscenities at her.

"C....adence....do-don't...k-kill m-me, p-p-please..." Scorch was whimpering on the floor, desperate to remain alive. It was unlikely that he'd survive; he looked worse than Cadence and Shining put together.

Scorch's legs were all bent out of shape, and his front forehoof had a bone sticking out of it as blood seeped out of the wound. Moving up his body, the armour he wore issued no protection against Cadence's brutal attack. Plates were dented inwards, pushing into broken ribs and damaged lungs. His head fared the worst, ith his horn having a hairling crack running all the way up it, teeth were lying on the floor in puddles of blood as their original positions were full of blood. His snout was broken, and he seemed to be crying blood. His inner fluids were clearly visible as a deep red over his maroon fur, becoming most prominent over the gold stripes across his body that were visible under the armour. Cadence didn't care; she was too busy healing herself so she could escape. Picking up the rod with a forehoof, she simply stood over Scorch-Mane.

"I must admit, you all did very well taking over the castle." she growled at him. "But your self-proclaimed rule is over. Goodbye, Scorch-Mane." But just as Cadence raised the bar over her head, Luna finally managed to teleport into the cell.

"CADENCE!" Luna shouted. "NO!" But it was too late.

Princess Cadence had brought the bar down on Scorch's head, snapping it past his shoulders and coming out with a sickening crack. Any whines or cries for help from the stallion were silenced; much as he wanted to, he couldn't stop Cadence from killing him. It would have been impossible for him to have told her that he wasn't her attacker, for Cadence and Shining wouldn't have believed him.

"My first kill of a clone." Cadence smiled as she threw the pole onto the ground. "I did good, didn't I Luna? Not bad for a first kill, right?" Luna simply was speechless. There were millions of offensive words she could think of to shout at Cadence, but she chose the simple one.

"No." Luna growled at her. "BECAUSE. THAT. WAS. THE. ORIGINAL."

"What?" Cadence's smile dropped quickly.

"You just killed the original Scorch-Mane. He wasn't a clone! If he were the one who beat you, why would he have released you?" Luna yelled at Cadence, tears brimming in her teal eyes as she knelt over Scorch's limp carcass.

"Wha-I didn't...mean to...I mean...I didn't know..." Cadence trailed off. Just then, Shining awoke.

"What's happened?" he asked. "Did you get that nutjob? Where's his body?" Cadence was doing her best to hold Luna back.

"Shining...I didn't...know...but this...was the original...I-I killed him..." Cadence stuttered, worried that he would never speak to her again. He simply looked at the body, before rolling his eyes.

"He'll be out of this arena, by now." He sighed. "Did you not ask the Architect? Heck, did you listen to me asking him? He told me personally that the dead would still be alive out of this arena; they'd just be in bad shape. So, at best guess..." Shining looked up to his head as he thought about what he was going to say.

"...Scorch is alive, but in Canterlot Hospital." Luna resisted the urge to hug him at that.

"Still alive?" she asked excitedly. "HUZZAH! I'll visit him when this is over!"

"I won't." Cadence sniffed. "Not like the murdered wants to meet his murderer."