"Yes, Yes. Now, goodbye!" Twilight said while nearly pushing the stallion 'Blues' out the door. The blue pony was asking for some advice in a relationship he was in, but Twilight had no time to talk. Today was special. She slammed the door behind her and leaned against it, letting out a long sigh. "Disaster averted. Now, to get onto the important business of today. Spike!" she called her servant, Spike, into the room.
"Yes, Twilight?" he said, rubbing his eyes. It was still 3:00 in the morning, and winter wrap up wasn't for another six months, so Twilight had no good reason to be waking him before the crack of dawn. "It better be more important than sleep."
"You know what today is?" she asked, batting her eyelashes.
Suddenly the bitter memory of september 21st lashed into spike's mind. He sighed and said in a unenthusiastic voice: "Clean-a-thon day." Clean-a-thon day fell every September 21st, starting promptly at 3:10 in the morning, and lasts until 11:15 at night. It consisted of nothing but dusting, scrubbing, reshelving, packing, replacing the candles, and all around cleaning. It was dreadful.
"Now, let's go over the Clean-a-thon code. Repeat after me: Everything must be clean." She said, pacing in front of the slumping spike.
"Everything must be clean" he said in a voice with the underlying implication that he'd rather be dead than doing another Clean-a-thon.
"The tree must sparkle!"
"The tree must sparkle."
"There will be no sap, dust, dirt, mud, or grime!"
"There will be no sap, dust, dirt, mud, or grime."
"We will work promtly from 3:10 in the morning to 11:15 at night!"
"Do we really have to work that long, Twilight?"
"You're not repeating after me, spike!" she said with a high tone.
"We will work promtly from 3:10 in the morning to 11:15 at night."
"Very good. Now," She turned on the lights, and said, "Let the 32nd annual Clean-a-thon begin!" She sped off over to her podium, and pulled out two peices of paper. She handed one to spike. It was his schedule.
SCHEDULE FOR SPIKE ON THE 32ND CLEAN-A-THON
1. Dust the upstairs
2. trim the balcony leaves
3. recalibrate the apertures on the nine and quarter catadioptric telescopes.
4. reshelve downstairs library
5. replace the door hinges
6. send all unsent letters to Princess Celestia, including the one entitled '32nd Clean-a-thon'
7. help me, Twilight, with anything I'm doing at the time.
"Well," said Twilight, "Get to work!" as Spike slowly trudged upstairs to do some dusting, Twilight turned back around, levitated a broom from the rack, and began her first job, Sweeping the central library. She realised that she hadn't given Spike enough work, but after all, he is a baby dragon. Nonetheless, Twilight still had to do almost three times as much work as Spike. She might as well do it thoroughly. Halfway through her next job, replacing the candle wax on the downstairs candles, there was a knock on the door. Twilight yelled, "Go away! We're accepting no visitors today."
The knocking continued more heavily, and Twilight yelled, "I said go away! Does privacy not exist to you?" The knocking escalated into a pounding on the door, and Twilight opened it, saying, "Does the solemn holiday of Clean-a-thon mean nothing to you?""
"I'm sorry, miss," Said the griffon at her door. He was wearing a suit and a top hat. His voice was slightly obscured, due to a large metal replacement where his beak once was. He appeared to be a respectable, classy, unusual, griffon. Twilight could only assume this was an entreponuer, and she slammed the door in his face. "Wait, wait, wait!" said the Griffon on the other side of the door.
Twilight re-opened the door and said, "I'm sorry sir, but I'm not interested in anything you're selling."
"But you haven't even given me a chance to introduce myself. I am Sir Arthur Greybeak."
Twilight opened the door completely, stood out side, wide eyed, and said, "You mean the Sir Arthur Greybeak? The single richest Griffon in the world, owner of 'Greybeak Unlimited', the largets superstore chain in Equestria, and the Griffon who masterminded the economic takeover of the tyrannical Griffon king protor?"
Arthur chuckled and said, "The very same!"
"Then come in!" She said, extending a hoof into the library, "I am eager to learn from your extensive knowledge of literature."
Arthur walked in, and Twilight closed the door behind them. "Actually, my dear Twilight Sparckle," he said, "I've come here for you."
"How do you know my name?" Twilight asked.
"Oh, I know much more than that. I know that you are the only pony ever to defeat an Ursa Minor, an exquisite mathematitian, and the most magically skilled of any Unicorn in the land."
"Thank you, but that still doesn't answer my question of how you know this."
"Heh. You may not know thiss, but since the war, I've realised that I am not the only Pony or Griffon with unusual or unique traits. There are uncountable masses of enhanced Ponies or Griffons, which I have nicknamed 'mutants', who are shunned by society. Therefore, I created the COUUPG, or the Coalition Of Unique and Unusual Ponies and Griffons. I've been monitering you ever since you proved your magical ability on the night of the ursa attack, and have decided that the time has come."
"Time for what?"
"Time to enlist you into the COUUPG."
"Why me?"
"Because, like I said, you are the most magically skilled of anypony I've ever met. And the only executive mutant I'm missing, is the one in the field of magic. Twilight, I believe that your magic is not just learned or taught. I believe that in your subconscious, there was knlowledge of this magic since your birth. That's why you learn magic and can use it so easily. Twilight, You are a mutant, and I want you to be my Magic executive for the COUUPG. Do you accept?"
Twilight could see right through this, and said, "But how do I know that you're the real Arthur Greybeak? How do I know that this isn't all just a con? A ruse?"
"Because it isn't. I hope that you trust me."
"How do I know that you're really you?"
"Because,"He said, gripping his metal beak. He pulled it off, showing a gaping hole into his mouth and down his throught. He spoke with a raspy, crackly voice as he said, "I lost my beak in the war between the Griffons and the Zebras," He put his mask back on, "I own the most successful business in the world, and therefore need no con money, and I have no desire to lie to somepony as skilled, and as beautiful," he said, running his claw down her mane, "as you. Now, if you have no desire to join, i'll let you be, and find another unicorn. But if you accept, you may find that it might save your life."
Twilight couldn't argue that this was the real Sir Arthur Greybeak, and his logic was undeniable, but those words: 'It might save your life' had caught her attention, she said, "Spike!"
Soon spike, who had regained his energy leaned over the edge, "Yeah, Twilight?"
"We'll have to postpone the 32nd annual Clean-a-thon. Sir Arthur Greybeak here has offered me a proposal."
"You mean he wants to marry you?"
"No, Spike, it means that he gave me a job opprotunity. I'll be gone for the rest of today, so feel free to kick back."
"Alright!"
Twilight turned back to Arthur, and said, "Shall we get going?"
Greybeak and Twilight walked out of the library, and towards the train sation. "So," said Twilight, "Why exactly did you decide to form this ... Coalitian?"
"Yes, Coalitian, and I formed it because I had a revalation. While I was in the war, the Zebras put me into a concentration camp. They tortured me and my comrades, until another lutenient, Curcuitclaw Techbeak, you'll meet him later on, made an attempt to rescue me. Now, Curcuitclaw's real name is Fiercestrike Talonclaw, but when he tried to rescue me, he made a mistake. His idea was sound: blow up the central control station, thus releasing all remote bindings, therefore releasing me and the others. But Fiercestrike underestimated the power of the explosives he was given, and the entire camp was decimated. Curcuitclaw lost most of his torso, his left arm, and right leg, and half of his head, and I was the lucky one: I only lost my beak. They supplied me with a replacement, and Fiercestrike was saved. However, he was only half Griffon. he was also a cyborg, with a cybernetic head, arm, leg, and body. He was able to fly faster, hit harder, and look farther than any other Griffon, and he came with a bonus: nearly immortal, and, he could fire lasers from his one electronic eye. We gave him the nickname 'Curcuitclaw Techbeak'. It was then that I realised that me and him were one in the same. Him, a cyborg, and me, a genius."
"You're a genius?" asked Twilight, "They sure don't advertise you as one."
"How do they advertise me?"
"As a ruthless, shady, snake of a multi-billionaire."
"Hm. I'll have to consult the advertising company about that. Nonetheless, in case you didn't know, I have an IQ of 160, therefore, I'm a genius. I realised that we were both now better than the average pony or Griffon. I spent five years after military retirement searching both Griffinium and Equestria for others like me and Techbeak. I found so many, that I realized that these 'mutants' were everywhere! And so, I formed the Coalitian Of Unique and Unusual Ponies and Griffons, or the CO double-U PG. I made a tower larger than Manehattan tower to home these mutants, and so my business took off. It started out with me and Techbeak controlling the entire haven, but over time, we got executives in the fields of flight, brawn, disguise, demolition, and the only spot left untaken, was magic. That was where you came in."
"Interesting. I have so many questions for you, though."
"One moment, the train is almost here." They had arrived at the train station a few moments ago, and Arthur could see the train coming over the hill. As soon as it came to a stop, Greybeak and Twilight got on board. They sat at a table on the side of the wall, with Arthur's back towards the back of the train, and Twilight's back towards the front. "So," he began, relaxing in his cusioned seat, "You said that you have questions?"
"Oh, yes. First of all, how are we going to get to the haven?"
"Are you familiar with the Neighagra paradigm?"
"Yes. It states that there is a mythical force in the Neighagra falls caverns, that supposedly leads to the forth dimension, but that's all hokem, right?"
"Well, actually, this train, after stopping in Manehattan, goes up to Neighagra falls. from there, we can travel through the Neighagra falls caverns, which doesn't lead to the fourth dimension, but it does lead to a massive underground cave, at least ten times the square footage of Canterlot. This is where I built the CO double-U PG haven tower. It's the perfect location, because nopony would ever think of looking where they think the Neighagra paradigm is. That's where we're going."
"Amazing. I'm also wondering who else is part of this group."
"Do you know Raincast Dash?"
"Yeah. He's my friend Rainbow Dash's son."
"He was chosen for flight, as he was the only Pegasus ever to complete a double rainboom. It's an amazing story, really. He soared up twenty miles into the air, and began freefall. He completed the rare sonic rainboom as he broke the sound barrier, but then he went so fast that his very bieng broke the speed of light, and he dissappeared. He later shared his story about how he saw the color spectrum and how the laws of the universe worked, but he could not explain it in mortal words. And so, it was obvious that we had to have him."
"Incredible. Who else, besides you, Curcuitclaw Techbeak, and Raincast?"
" There is a pygmy we found named Blowtorch. He got his name because if he could concentrate hard enough, he could light anything on fire, and sometimes, he could even make it explode. It was remarkable, and we chose him to be our demolitionist." The train came to a halt. "We're in Manehattan. One more stop before Neighagra falls. There are two others still: Bloodrage Fiercewing, and Knotmane. Bloodrage was a Griffon that we rescued from a zebra concentration camp during the war. His hate for the Zebras was so great that he broke free of our custody, and ripped the entire camp limb from limb. As soon as we started recruiting, I remembered him, and we got him into our 'Brawn' spot. and Knotmane...That is an interesting story right there, that even I cannot fully understand. We once found an old stallion in the streets of Baltimare one day, who was asking for money. We donated, and as we came by that spot again, there was a different, young adult stallion standing there, also asking for money. We asked him what he can do, and he showed us. He stood on his back hooves with ease, and there was a bright ring around his hooves. It rose up to above his head, and he was transformed into a different pony. He did it again and again, as he immitated me, Curcuitclaw, and others on the bridge. Finally, he showed us his true form: a brown stallion with a knotted mane and tail. Half his face was deformed, and his coat was rugged. We took him into the haven, and he explained his story the best he could: He was a test subject for the humans, you remember them, right?"
"Of course. how could I forget? they ran those horrible tests and simulations on me and my friends once."
"Right. Well, They had taken Knotmane while he still lived under the name Hoops, but when they ran tests on him, he changed. They injected Human DNA into him, so that he could stand on his back hooves, and he lost his wings, but then their next test went horribly wrong. He broke free, assumed the form of the head scientist, a man named Damian Been, and escaped. But before he could get off the grounds, he was blasted with fire, and his face was scorched. finally, he escaped, and started raising money on the Baltimare bridge. I still can't percieve how he can change, or what gave him this power, but he is still a irreplacable spot on our panel." The train stopped again, "Ah, finally. We're here!"
They stepped off the train, and began their trek to the Neighagra Falls Caverns. It took almost three hours to get there, but once they arrived, Arthur couldn't be more exited as they walked down the tunnel, and at the end met a purple stallion with green and black hair, guarding a stone wall with four lines going through it, making eight triangles all pointed to the center. "Ahem," said Greybeak, clearing his throught, "Toxic, listen up: T'ukael kil'orop. Ta'ukakuk'ka Fa'ghetik."
The pony named Toxic closed his eyes, and each triangle in the door receded into the wall, showing a huge chasm, with COUUPG haven tower in the center, streching from the floor to the cieling. Arthur walked down the grate path in front of them, and into the corridor leading into Haven Tower. Twilight got vertigo looking to the top, and then to the bottom, but reluctantly walked inside. on the interior, Twilight saw hundreds, thousands, even of mutants roaming the halls. the halls went around the perimeter of the square tower, leaving the inside a hollow prism reaching to the highest point with a few bridges criss-crossing here and there, and a massive dome at the bottom. "What's the dome?" Twilight asked.
"That is actually four stories. the top story is the dome and observation room, two stories underneath it are learning centers, where mutants learn to control and harvest their powers. We have ponies and griffons who can manipulate rock, fire, water, wind, lightning... anything you can imagine. and the bottom floor is where we're going: the executive meeting room. let's go." the pony and Griffon stepped into the glass elevator, which sped down to the bottom. it took a few minutes, and Twilight witnessed the levels of business, housing, restraunts, and floors that she didn't know the purpose of. finally, they passed the learning floors, where on one, a pony was summoning blades out of thin air, and on the other, a griffon was showing off his fire manipulation skills. then, finally, they came down into a room that was dark, except for a table with a griffon, and two ponies sitting at it, and a wall covered in moniters. Arthur and Twilight stepped out, and sat at their respective spots at the table. also at the table was Curcuitclaw Techbeak, the co-founder of COUUPG and a good friend to sir Arthur Greybeak, and Knotmane sat across from Twilight, with the right side of his face looking stern, and the left deformed into a twisting scorched mess. Also at the table was the pygmy Blowtorch, who was small, like a colt, but with a crazed look in his eyes, and a wretched smile. right now, he was focusing on a wine glass over by knotmane, lighting it on fire, and then putting it out over and over.
Arthur hammered his fist, and shouted, "Attention!" Everyone in the room looked towards him, as he began to say, "Curcuitclaw, turn on Raincast and Bloodrage's moniters, if you will." Techbeak turned to the wall covered in moniters, pressed a few buttons on his cybernetic arm, and Raincast appeared on a moniter, appearing to be in Cloudsdale, and Bloodrage appeared on another, appearing to be outside the tower. "Very well," said Greybeak again, "I hereby call the 734th meeting of the COUUPG executives to order."
Everyone in the room and on the moniters said, "Here here!"
"Yes, yes. Our first order of business: new arrivals! We have two new executives with us here today. first up, I'd like to introduce you to our new Magic executive, Twilight Sparckle!"
Once again, everybody said, "Here Here, Twilight!"
"And now, to unviel my own flesh and blood, to take over the Coalitian when my days have come to an end: my son, Drake Greybeak!" he extended a claw to the glass elevator, where another griffon, with no discernable traits, walked into the room, and sat opposite of his father, and right next to Twilight.
"Objection!" shouted Bloodrage through his moniter.
"On what grounds?" Asked Curcuitclaw, in a robotic voice.
"A non-mutant plaguing our meeting room! I mean, look at him! nothing different between him and any other griffon!"
"Not exactly, Bloodrage," refuted Arthur, "You see, he can do one thing. Show 'em, Drake."
The silent Griffon closed his eyes, concentrated, and suddenly vanished in a cloud of dust, only to reappear behind Bloodrage, then teleported back.
Curcuitclaw clapped respectively, then turned to Bloodrage, who only crossed his arms, and looked away.
"Onto out second order of business: the time has come for us to use the military reserve."
*****
Doctor Been made the final adjustments to his Tech-commandos, which he designed to lead his unmanned android soldiers, which he called TSAs, or Techno-Soldier-Androids. He had an army of over 5,000 TSAs, which were to be led by the five Tech-commandos: Magmus, Aquor, Eartcon, Aistius, and Dargon. He sent them off to the carriers with one mission: Attack and destroy Haven Tower.
*Dun Dun Dunnnnnnn*