Moments later...
White Mountain Junkyard

Having just escaped from a massive attack from Sombra's army, Twilight and Dean returned to the Junkyard. Once they arrived, they saw the wreckage of Braeburn's was already there. And after freeing Braeburn and helping him readjust to what happened, the Free Ponies planned their next move.

But one thing was also on their mind; how did Sombra's army knew where to find Twilight when she did her Burning Route. However, Twilight overheard what the group was saying and left Fluttershy to get Braeburn back up to speed. "What's going on, everypony?" She asked, "What are you discussing?"

Akula turned to face the princess, "When you started the Burning Route, Sombra's army somehow knew that you would attempt it. According to the footage captured by Dean's drone, the moment you started the Route, a massive force of enslaved raced to intercept you,"

"Meaning?" Twilight asked, not liking where it was going.

"It means that Sombra knows when you start a Burning Route and free a pony. Somehow, he will know when we try to save somepony. But we don't know how he does it,"

Twilight took a step back in shock. If Sombra knew each time when she tried to free another pony, his army could intercept her and stop her run short. And in these early stages of progression, that would be way too many cars for the Free Ponies to handle.

But also, Twilight remembered something from one of the books she read only moments after she had become an alicorn, something that could be linked to this problem...

"I think I know what Sombra has done," Twilight stated, gaining the attention of the whole group, "I think he has used a 'Magic Flare' spell. I remember this spell. It was in a book I once read, Advanced Magical Theory and Spells, Volume 5 by Starswirl the Bearded himself. This spell, once cast on an object, will set off a magical alert when that object is used. For example, if I cast this spell on a car door, I will get a magical alert whenever somepony opens it,"

What Twilight just revealed had opened the box of knowledge. "Sombra must've set this spell on the traffic light at the Burning Route junctions to go off whenever they go green at the beginning of a attempt," Akula theorised.

"And once he receives the alert, he sends his army to deal with it," Viral finished.

There was no other possibility. Sombra knew each time Twilight would try to free her friends and his army would move to stop them every time.

"Geez, how do we fight back against such numbers?" Dean asked.

"We divide and conquer," Akula answered, before turning to Viral, "Remember that conversation we had, V?"

Viral just nodded slowly.

"Well, it gave me an idea. I wish to try something. Twilight, get Spike and your Mesquite and head to the Mesquite Burning Route. It's on Lambert & 5th. V, while she is doing that, I want you to head into the mountains and do whatever you can to draw as much attention as you can. I'm sure you can handle that, with skills of your calibre. And I'll head to the waterfront and do the same,"

Viral, upon hearing what was going to happen, started quaking with anticipation. She was feeling just like a filly in a candy shop. "FINALLY!!! SOME ACTION!!!" She cried out, before rushing to her GT Concept. Akula just snuffed a laugh at Viral's excitement. But as he turned his head to speak with Twilight, he saw that she had already gathered Spike, hopped into her Mesquite and was already leaving. After ordering the others to stay and look after Braeburn, he ran to his Ikusa and raced away.

Akula pulled his JDM to a stop in the middle of the Wildcats Baseball Stadium, stopping on the pitcher's mound. While travelling towards the Waterfront, he felt something in his demonic power that was calling him to the stadium. Knowing that his demonic power had never let him down, he obliged.

Stepping out of his Ikusa, Akula could sense that he was not alone. And the stadium was far too quiet for the current time of the day. And silence wasn't normal in Paradise City.

Something's not right, Akula thought to himself, looking around at the empty stadium, It's much too quiet here.

But before the demon could figure out was going on, he then felt... something press against his neck. Akula froze in place but he wasn't scared. He had been in worse situations than what he was in now. But Akula also could identify the texture of the object being pressed against him and even that didn't faze him.

Taking a breath, the changeling then said aloud, "The Benelli M4 Super 90, aka the M1014. 12-gauge semi-auto shotgun. There's only one pony that I know with an M4 that has such a unique barrel texture... or should I say, 'changeling?' Right, Druid?"

The changeling in question just kept the shotgun where it was and snicked evilly. "Good guess, Akula. You know me so well," He stated.

Akula didn't reply. He just kept facing straight ahead, when suddenly, the bleachers of the stadium began to reveal the rest of his enslaved friends, all armed with their signature weapons and glowing green eyes with purple haze, staring towards the one who had brought them together without any emotion. And on the back-most row of bleachers at the North-side of the field, mounted behind a Desert Tech Stealth Recon Scout (SRS) chambered in the .243 Winchester round, was Ghost.

Akula had been caught in a trap. While Ko Ko, Strict and Tank remained in the stands with their weapons all trained on Akula, Striker soared down and landed in front of his adoptive father. The alicorn then nodded to Druid, who then lowered his shotgun and backed away.

"Hello, Akula. Great to see you again," Striker greeted, slowly trotting up to the demon changeling.

"I wish I could say the same," Akula replied.

"Now, that's no way to greet your son. I should know," Striker stopped in front of Akula, their faces only inches apart, "If only we were on the same side, maybe that will dampen your spirits," Akula just stared at Striker, not showing any emotion. The alicorn just leaned in and whispered, "Join us, Akula. It's pure bliss,"

Akula just looked at Striker right in his glowing green eyes, trying to find something. But he found nothing. "You are not the Striker I know and is my friend. Your mind is corrupted, so how do I know that you are telling the truth? I'm not joining your sick little family. I'm getting my old family back,"

This caused Striker to slowly pull away from Akula's face and took a few steps away, before suddenly turning back and drawing a Browning Hi-Power, pointing the weapon right between Akula's eyes.

"Fine," Striker said, his voice turning cold, "Then I guess it's time for you to die. Join us, or you will die,"

Akula just scoffed. "No, I don't think so. You're not going to pull that trigger. You know why? Because I know that you don't have the balls to kill a pony in the way that you thinking of right now. And I know that you wouldn't kill the one that brought you up,"

Striker flinched and pulled back the hammer on his Hi-Power. "What if I prove you wrong?"

"You won't. I know you, Striker," The hypnotised Striker had about had enough of Akula and prepared to fire, but before he could, Akula then said, "Let me make it easier for you," before he moved forward, placed his forehead on the barrel of the gun and closed his eyes.

Striker then prepared to pull the trigger and was halfway to firing, when something in his moral fibre begged him not to pull the trigger and kill his own adoptive father. The mind controlling haze clouding his mind was screaming at his soul to pull the trigger while his morals begged him to back off and let him go. And these two sides were now in conflict.

But it was Akula that made his decision. When Striker let his moral get the better of him and pulled the gun off of Akula's forehead, the changeling in question opened his eyes and said, "I thought so," What happened next caught everypony by surprise.

Akula, in one swift motion, pushed the Browning out of his face, snapped Striker's leg around and took control. Having seized control of Striker's pistol with Striker still holding it, he then fired three shots at Druid. The first two rounds hit him in the left fore-leg and the third hit him in the gut. Druid collapsed to the ground, badly injured. Akula then grabbed Striker, forced him to turn around in a action-sequence style move and fired three more shots in Tank's direction. While these shots didn't hit Tank, it did cause the griffon to duck for cover and drop his minigun. Akula then disarmed Striker, causing his pistol to drop to the ground and Akula then kicked Striker into one of the massive concrete walls that separated the bleachers from he field, knocking the alicorn out cold.

Having dispatched of three of his friends, Akula then heard Ko Ko then cry out, "KILL HIM!!!!!!" before gunfire rang out in the stadium. Akula dashed and took cover behind the open door of his Ikusa, as 9mm, 5.56 and .243 rounds slammed into the window and metal. Pinned down by the hail of fire, Akula grabbed his AK-47 and waited for the fire to stop. Sure enough, a few seconds later, Ko Ko and Strict's guns clicked dry. But there was still Ghost. Once the suppressive fire had stopped, Akula rolled out from his cover behind the door and fired a burst at Ghost. And like Tank, Ghost had to take cover or be cut down.

With the main sniper being suppressed, Akula rolled back into cover, just as Strict and Ko Ko opened fire once again. However, Akula then hopped into his JDM and started up the car. And despite being hammered on the front by countless bullets, the Ikusa started up easily. Akula spun the tyres and flick-spun the car around, heading out of the stadium. However, a yellow Hunter Reliable Custom was blocking the exit and a hypnotised Mr. and Mrs. Cake were standing guard with an Uzi each. As Akula approached them fast, Mrs. Cake opened fire. But the Ikusa was coming in too hot and Mr. Cake was forced to jump and tackle his wife out of the way as Akula plowed through the back end of the Reliable, smacking the car out of the way and racing away.

Now satisfied that he had caused enough distraction to draw attention away from Twilight, he then tried to contact her, now knowing if she had freed the next pony...

Author's Note

I'm VERY SORRY about taking so long with this one, but I had to deal with both real-life and a group project, so I apologize.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed! And...

"Twilight is Against The Clock again..."