//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6 | Change of Plans 
// Story: A Different World: The Future and Fate of Equestria 
// by Riclo 
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I abruptly found myself waking up to the loud sound of metal clanking somewhere outside the hospital. It almost sounded like an engine whizzing to life, and looking towards a nearby window, I was able to see a strange green light shining through. I quickly sat up from the hospital bed and glanced at the clock to see that it was just a little after one in the morning.

'What the hell is that supposed to be?' I stood up from the bed and made my way over to the window. Peering through the glass, I was able to see a tall metal tower sticking out from the roof of one of the well-decorated buildings of Los Pegasus. The light was coming from the top of the tower, which consisted of a large, see-through orb.

'That definitely doesn't look normal, especially at this time of night. Must be Discord.'

"Hey, you all stay put. That thing out there don't look safe." I turned my head to see one of the security guards walking into the room.

"What on Equestria was that noise?" A mare laying in one of the hospital beds asked, rubbing her eyes.

"There's some weird tower that just came outta nowhere outside." The guard replied. "As far as I'm aware, there wasn't any special events planned for tonight. The bigger question right now, though, is why my horn isn't working-- I can't even light up this room!"

Out of curiosity after hearing what the guard said, I decided to run a little test. I imagined something small and simple like a golf ball in my mind, fleshing out the details and preparing myself to create it in the real world. Just like while I was in the cave, though, nothing happened-- it wasn't working.

'God damnit. It's gotta be the tower. It definitely seems to be emitting something, that's for sure.'

"Hey, you!" I looked to see that the security guard was looking at me. "You don't happen to have anything to do with this, do you?"

"No, but I'm about to find out who is. Where's the exit?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't allow any patients to leave the hospital." He replied. "Someone else will take care of whatever that tower is."

"Well, that someone else is me. Let me take care of it-- I'm used to this kind of thing."

The pony frowned. "Look, I don't know who you are, buddy, but everything was going along just fine in this city until outta nowhere you show up and apparently you're some big deal. Then this happens the following night. Sound like a coincidence? I think not."

"Are you really just going to accuse me like that?"

"I don't care. I'm the guard here, and I'm under strict rules to not let any patients out during the night, so you're staying."

'Wow, I hope everyone here isn't like this. I sure would love to just teleport out right now, but I guess I gotta find a better way.' I looked around the room for any possible ways to escape, when the sudden and distinct sound of gunfire coming from the tower caught my attention. 'That might be Duston! Fuck this, I'm going out the window.' Not wanting to waste anymore time, I pulled out the pistol that I had created earlier, using it to smash the window open.

"Hey!! Stop what you're doing right now!" The guard shouted out at me, but I was already barreling out the window by that point. I rolled across the ground and then ran along-side one of the buildings until I reached an alleyway, where I sprinted down through it, trying to maneuver my way through the buildings so that I would get closer to the tower. I could hear horrified screams of ponies coming from there as well, which definitely wasn't a good sign.

'That's strange. Guess I better get ready.' Pulling out one of the two pistol magazines I had created earlier, I loaded it into the gun and cocked it. 'Good thing I made this earlier.' I slowed down my running as to not over-exert myself, and I looked up to see where the tower was. I was getting closer to the building the tower was located at, and I could hear the clattering of hooves surrounding the building. More gunfire rang out, followed by more terrified screams.

'I'm starting to think that might not be Duston.' I made my way through the city more cautiously than before, and I arrived at the building a short while later. I walked along the side of the building until I reached the front, where I saw several ponies and security guards running and scrambling around in the gleaming moonlight. The cyan-green light being emitted from the tower spazzed against the ground, and I moved out to the front a little so I could get a good look at the building. It looked like it was designed to be a pony, with two large fore-hooves constructed out of the front like decorations. A flight of stairs leading to the inside of the building could be seen in-between the two hooves, and a large pony head was located above it all. The tower appeared to be just behind the giant head on the roof, and as I was about to make my way up the stairs, I heard shouting that caught my attention.

"THAT'S HIM!!! HE'S THE MONSTER I SAW IN THERE!" A female voice cried out in horror. "EVERYPONY RUN BEFORE HE GETS YOU TOO!!" More screams were heard as the premises surrounding the front of the building began to get evacuated. I watched as the ponies were seemingly running away from me, which only made me more concerned.

'Are they confusing me for Duston? But he would never do something like this... I think I know what this is.' I began to make my way up the stairs, only to hear another voice calling out to me-- this time one I recognized.

"Klade?" I turned my head to see that Trixie was trotting over to me.

'What is she doing here?' I thought to myself as she approached. "What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here?" Trixie asked in disbelief. "What are you doing here!? What's going on?? Why are ponies running from you? Trixie demands some answers!"

"I didn't do anything." I replied. "But I'm about to find out who did."

"That doesn't sound very convincing!" Trixie frowned. "Is this your idea of how to bring back my great reputation?"

"No, this is something else-- I'm sure this is Discord's doing."

"Discord?" Trixie asked in confusion. "But I heard he was defeated."

"Apparently not. I'm going to see if I can stop this, so you need to stay here in-case it's dangerous."

Trixie didn't seem to like that at all. "How DARE you tell me, the great and powerful Trixie, what to-"

"I don't have time for this." I interrupted as I continued making my way up the stairs.

"Hey wait for me-- I-I mean Trixie!" The blue-colored unicorn called out as she quickly ran to catch up. I made it to the top of the stairs and approached the large, open, and arched entry-way. I stood along the side and peeked within the building, seeing that it was mostly pitch black and that I couldn't see a thing. As I was about to pull out the flashlight I had ever-so-conveniently created earlier back at the hospital, I heard Trixie speak up.

"Let me take it from here." Trixie spoke with confidence as she trotted out in-front of me. She paused a couple seconds later though, narrowing her eyes and then frowning. "What now!? First Trixie's horn does not work in that stupid cave, and now it doesn't work here? What's going on with Trixie's stupid horn!?"

"It's not you, it's the tower." I exclaimed. "It's emitting something that's blocking all magic usage."

"...It is? Such a thing is even possible?" Trixie looked devastated at that.

"Sure looks like it." I pulled out the flashlight and turned it on. I shined it into the building, revealing all sorts of games, lights and slot machines-- it definitely looked like it was from a city named Los Pegasus. I slowly began to walk inside, holding out the pistol in my hand and ready to shoot any mother fucker I saw that looked like me. Trixie was following from close behind, and I stopped as I approached another set of stairs. It seemed to lead up to the middle of the building to some really fancy place, and I looked over at Trixie, who squinted her eyes and looked away when I shined the flashlight in her face.

"Watch where you're pointing th-"

"Be quiet!" I quickly responded in a whisper. "Whoever's in here probably knows exactly where we are now. I was going to tell you to stay here while I go up those stairs."

"You're just going to leave me here?" Trixie replied with a frown. "What if he gets me? You're irresponsible."

"I'm the one who told you not to come in here in the first place. As soon as I see that no one's up there I'll come back."

Trixie rolled her eyes. "Fine. Someone as great as Trixie doesn't need magic to defend herself anyway."

'I sure hope she doesn't get killed.' I thought to myself as I began making my way up the stairs. I covered the majority of the flashlight with my hand so that only a tiny bit of light was shining through-- just enough so that I could see the steps and when they ended. I crouched down as I approached the top, and then lifted my head just above the stairs, shining the light at full intensity across the room. I was taken back for a moment at what I saw; there were dead ponies littered all over the floor, most of which looked like security guards. Blood and bullet holes covered their bodies, and in the distance I could see what looked like a human figure standing. I immediately shined the light at him, exposing him as exactly what I suspected it was-- myself. Well, mostly myself. He was holding what I recognized as an M4A1 assault rifle-- mostly because I was the only one who could've created it-- and I instantly ducked my head back down when I saw him raise the gun and point it at me. Fully-automatic bullets rang out at my position, and I quickly layed down and tried to stay low as I heard the projectiles snap and crack over my head. He stopped firing shortly afterwards, but I knew he was just waiting for me to stick my head back up so I could get shot.

"What is that sound!?" Trixie yelled out, to which I quickly lowered myself further until I was off the stairs and back at the base of them.

"That's one of my clones." I replied, grabbing Trixie and pulling her towards the wall to the side of the stairs, out of view.

"Your clone? What's that supposed to be?"

"A magical creation of myself that I had made awhile back. There's eleven of them total, and Discord is controlling them all now since supposedly they were easy to manipulate with his magic."

"There's more of you out there?" Trixie's ears perked up. "You.. you need to teach me that spell."

"Not right now-- we need to get out of here."

"What!? You mean you're not going to deal with him?"

I paused for a moment as I thought over what I could've done. This was actually the first time I had dealt with gunfire before-- everything else had just been either Discord's tricks or primitive Equestrian violence. The clone had the definite advantage of a fully-automatic rifle and who knows what else, while I only had a pistol from back on earth with fifteen shots and another semi-automatic pistol with two magazines. It really didn't matter though because if I was shot I was pretty much done for-- gunfire wasn't something I wanted to mess with right now-- so I wasn't about to take that risk. After living through being trapped in that damn cave, I wasn't about to get killed doing something stupid here. I was about to respond saying that I couldn't deal with him, though, when an idea suddenly struck me.

"Hold on, stay here." I stood back up and shouted out. "What the fuck are you doing!? I'm one of you, you retard."

There was a silence for a few long seconds afterwards, when I heard another voice that sounded just like me respond from above the stairs. "Which one?"

"I'm clone number twelve." I lied-- I had never created that many. I went back up the stairs and shined the flashlight at him, making sure to be careful and ready to dive back down whenever necessary. I didn't even know why I was doing this-- I had literally just told myself not to do anything stupid-- so I found myself not putting my complete faith into this little trick. "Where are the other ones at? Everyone seems like they disappeared and I don't know what's going on."

"Hold on, let me find out." He replied. I began slowly walking towards him, but something didn't feel right-- he wasn't doing anything to 'find out' other than just standing there. I watched him more closely and noticed that his gun was slowly raising towards me, and realizing that he was just leading me on, I quickly ran back and dived off the stairs as he began shooting at me again.

'Damnit! I was hoping they'd be dumber if they were being manipulated.' I tumbled and rolled down the stairs until I reached the bottom. 'Alright I'm done almost getting myself killed doing stupid shit. No more of that.' I shined the light at Trixie, who was looking at me with a confused expression.

"What happened? It seemed like it was working!"

"Apparently not, let's get out of here."

"But you said you were going to deal with it!"

"We're moving to plan B, now come on." I ran towards the exit of the structure, forcing Trixie to follow me otherwise she'd be left behind. I sprinted until I was outside and turned the corner so that I was out of view from the inside of the building, making my way forward for quite a ways before turning around. I was able to see the tower sticking out from above, and I pointed my pistol at it, aiming specifically for the glowing see-through orb at the top. I shot one bullet at time, making sure to re-aim after every shot in an attempt to have every bullet connect. I continued until the gun clicked empty, and I lowered it, only to see that the tower was still glowing and emitting.

"Well, that didn't do shit." I spoke. "I have another idea, but it's going to involve leaving the city."

"But you can't do that!" Trixie responded. "You're supposed to bring back my reputation, and you're going to do that in this city first. This is the perfect place."

"How are you supposed to do anything with your magic being blocked?" I replied. "I need to get rid of that tower first, and I can't do it from here."

Trixie groaned, clenching her teeth and exhaling with intensity. "Fine. My reputation is never going to be restored at this rate."

'Implying there ever was one to begin with.' I thought to myself. "Los Pegasus is a cloud city, right? I noticed alot of cloud surfaces that I had to take the time to avoid."

"Duh. Does the name not give it away for you, you stupid monkey?"

'She likes that word doesn't she?' "I'm going to need to be someplace as high up as this city in order for this to work. Do you happen to have a map of Equestria anywhere?"

"I had to bring one to find you, so yes, actually; but, it's back at my hotel room."

"Then let's go get it, as well as all your other stuff."

Trixie nodded, and I pulled out the other magazine, loading it into the gun but not cocking it as I put it away. I followed the unicorn through the city, where some ponies would run at the sight of me and others would just look in confusion. I followed her for a few minutes before I realized that just waltzing into the hotel probably wouldn't be a good idea, so I decided to speak up about it.

"Let me know when we're close. Considering ponies are probably going to get the wrong idea about me, it would be safest if I just stayed outside and you came back with all the stuff."

"Don't you think I noticed that already?" Trixie replied. "I had obviously already planned such a thing, and I shall let you know when we approach."

'Sure she did.' Trixie stopped a short while later, turning her head to look at me. I already knew what she was going to say, so I simply nodded my head in silence, staying put while she went on ahead without me. I looked around and waited in the darkness of the alleyway I was currently in, trying to stay out of sight of any ponies who might come by. It took around what must've been almost half an hour before she finally came back with her saddlebags, and I looked at her with a confused expression, to which she glared at me in response.

"I'll have you know that Trixie is perfectly capable of handling herself without magic. Just get the stupid map-- it's in the left bag."

I approached her and opened the saddlebag to see that it was a completely unorganized mess inside. I moved things around and dug through the bag until I found a crumpled up piece of paper, and much to my disappointment, it turned out to be the map I was looking for.

'Better than nothing I guess.' I un-crumpled the map as best I could and used a nearby wall to flatten it against. I wasn't able to see it very well in the darkness of the alleyway though, so I pulled out my flashlight and shined it at the paper.

"Just what do you plan on doing anyway?" Trixie asked as she trotted up to the wall and looked at the map with me.

"I need to be far enough away for the tower to not block my magic, but also high enough to still be able to see it." I answered. There appeared to be a bunch of mountains perfectly located right next to the city of Los Pegasus, and I pointed at them. "These mountains over here should be perfect-- that's where we're headed next."

"We didn't need the map for that, Klade. Everyone knows that there's mountains next to Los Pegasus."

"Well, you're kind of forgetting that I'm not from Equestria." I replied. "Let's hurry up and start making our way over there before something else ends up happening."

Trixie nodded, clearly eager to get this over with so that I could begin working on her reputation. "Follow me. I'll know where I'm going."

I wasn't about to question her on that, so I agreed, letting her lead the way and following close behind.