The same thing that had happened at Baltimare happened at Manehattan, which was nothing - nothing at all. No clones were there to shoot at us, and Discord's presence wasn't even around this time. It was a simple walk inside, destroy the tower, then walk out. It was definitely strange, but we still took it as a sign of progress. After all, the towers were being destroyed - all of them in-fact. It was only a temporary win though; Discord was still around, and this fight wouldn't be over until he was dead.
At the moment we were in the carriage on our way back to Canterlot. Manehattan's tower had just been destroyed not too long ago, and it was currently probably around six in the evening. The sun was setting, and it seemed as if we would all be staying the night in the mountain castle of Canterlot. I turned to look at the other ponies that were in with me - they all had confused looks on their faces. The fact that nothing happened at all was making it seem like maybe we had done something wrong. The only thing we could do at this point is just be ready for whatever could happen next - I knew I was.
Eventually, we arrived at Canterlot, where the carriage landed with a loud thud. From there, I opened the door, stepping out just like all the other ponies were.
"You're all back already?" The voice of Twilight Sparkle spoke up. "It hasn't even been a day yet!"
"Yep! And we got both the towers too!" Pinkie Pie cheerfully replied.
"It was way too easy. Something's up." Rainbow responded. "I don't even think this is worth celebrating over."
"There's no reason to be that pessimistic, Rainbow." Rarity chimed in. "I for one feel this was a great victory."
I wasn't sure what to think - I was mostly just undecided while waiting for Discord's next move. The conversation amongst the mane 6 continued for a short while, but I wasn't paying too much attention to that. I was tired, and I definitely didn't feel how I usually did - unfortunately not in a good way. I didn't want that, but apparently I was going to be stuck with feeling like shit. My brother's confirmed death was bothering me subconsciously whether I liked it or not.
Before I knew it, everyone seemed to be making their separate ways, where I noticed Rainbow walking over to me.
"Hey, you alright?" She asked.
"No." I replied - I wasn't about to be that guy and say yeah where my lying would be totally obvious. "I don't what I should do about this, honestly."
"I think you'll be fine Klade - you still got me." She responded. "There's still alot of others too who care about you. You're not alone."
"Yeah." I said simply, where it proceeded to be silent for the next few seconds until Rainbow responded.
"Maybe you should try talking to Twilight, I don't know. I should start heading to bed though - Did Celestia give you a place to stay? If not then you can crash with me."
"Sure I'll do that."
"Awesome!" Rainbow smiled, and I couldn't help but feel a little better after seeing her excitement. "Oh that reminds me too because I think Twilight wants to find out how your weapons work - she was messing with one of them earlier but she couldn't figure out how. Maybe that's something you can do tomorrow."
"Well it's better than moping around by myself." I replied. Rainbow chuckled, and she proceeded to walk by me, where I followed her through the Canterlot Castle. We soon arrived at a hallway filled with doors on either side - I assumed they were all bedrooms - and Rainbow walked up to one, pushing it open and then proceeding inside. The interior was pretty basic, but it was decorated in a kind of simplistic way that really made the furniture and the yellow and white colors of the room stand out. I closed the door behind us, where Rainbow glanced around then looked back at me.
"It's been awhile huh?" She asked as she flew over to her bed and plopped down right on-top of it. "I can't even remember the last time we were hanging out." She suddenly looked at me with an excited expression as if she just thought of something. "Oh Klade we totally need to do some stuff tomorrow. It's been ages since we practiced my tricks - that used to be so much fun."
"Why do we gotta talk about this now when it's too late to actually do anything." I responded, to which she laughed slightly again.
"Yeah I'm gonna get all excited now." She layed down staring up at the ceiling. "I have to practice though or I'm gonna get rusty and I can't let another mistake happen in-front of the Wonderbolts again. I don't even think I've practiced once since you disappeared."
"I've missed that too." I walked over to a dresser and looked at myself through a mirror that was located on the wall just above it. I looked dope on the outside at least, although I felt un-dope on the inside. I stood there for a few seconds before turning around - there was only one bed, but I wasn't about to have any of that. We were supposed to just be friends, so I created a large bean bag and tossed it down on the floor. Taking the strapped Model 1887 off from my back, I plopped down right onto the bean bag. 'I guess this is my bed.'
"Tired, huh? I don't blame you." Rainbow's voice called out as I layed sprawled out halfway against the floor. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow. Can you shut the lights?"
I responded by creating a tennis ball, holding it in my hand and then throwing it much harder than necessary towards where the light switch was, only to miss. "Fuck." I exclaimed as I created another one, throwing it as well with a loud banging sound. I could hear Rainbow laughing as I once again missed and the balls bounced around in the room.
"You're gonna start waking people up." She remarked in a half-serious voice.
"Okay that's it." I replied as I stood up from the bean bag - I wasn't fucking around anymore. Rainbow bit her lip and watched me with wide eyes, trying her best to hold back laughing as I walked right up to the light-switch. I was about to do some stupid shit, but this was Canterlot, so making a sledgehammer and slamming it into the light switch probably wasn't a good idea - that'd be rude. "This light switch is lucky it's part of Canterlot." I spoke as I simply turned it off and plopped back down on the bean bag.
"I thought you were gonna blow it up." Rainbow replied with a chuckle.
"It was extremely hard not to." I responded.
"We'll get it tomorrow, don't worry."
I smiled a little, exhaling and relaxing as I gazed up at the now-dark ceiling. I was still wearing all my clothing - black leather jacket and all - but I literally just didn't give a fuck right now. At least this way I'd be able to stand up and walk straight out of the room if I needed to - no other preparation needed. I breathed slowly as my mind wandered, and before long, I found myself drifting off to sleep.
I awoke on my own accord - without any outside sources causing it. Opening my eyes, I looked around to find that the room was still dark, although I couldn't tell what time it was due to the absence of any windows or any clocks that I could see. I simply remained lying down on the bean bag for the first few minutes though, thinking about random bullshit and the events that had led me up to this point. Eventually though, the sound of Rainbow Dash rolling over on her bed caught my attention - I had totally forgot that she was still in here with me. It got quiet afterwards though, so she was probably just moving around in her sleep.
'Well, I'm still in Equestria, so that's a good thing.' I looked around and then exhaled. 'Been here for probably a month by now and I'm still thinking like that. I don't even remember the last thing I was doing on Earth.' I stared blankly ahead of me for awhile longer before eventually standing back up. My eyes were pretty adjusted to the dark, and I spotted where I placed my Model 1887. I picked it up and strapped it around my back once again, to which I then turned to look over at Rainbow Dash - she was still sleeping. 'Guess I'll just walk around the castle.'
I quietly exited the room and made my way out of the initial hallway, where I took my time just walking anywhere I felt like going - I didn't really know where I was headed. It was pretty quiet aside from the occasional Royal Guards doing their thing, and before long I found myself coming across the castle courtyard. The outdoors showed that it was still pretty early in the morning; the sun was just starting to rise to brighten up the world, but it wasn't quite high enough yet to be seen. The nature of the courtyard was actually pretty serene and relaxing, although I eventually noticed two Royal Guards still standing and guarding the rock that led to my base.
'Wow they're still guarding that entrance.' Another figure eventually caught my eye though - it was Twilight Sparkle sitting down on a bench. She was staring downwards at the ground, and she didn't seem to be too excited. 'Rainbow did say I should probably talk to her. Might as well.' I began walking over to her, causing her to perk up her head and look at me when she heard me approach.
"Hey Twilight." I spoke as I stepped towards the bench.
"Oh, Klade." She replied as she looked me over. "I didn't think anyone would be up this early."
"Well, normally you'd be right." I responded as I sat down. "I don't know why I'm up, but Rainbow said I should try talking to you."
She didn't respond at first - as if she had spaced out for a couple seconds - and then she blinked. "Thanks. Sorry I'm just kind of.. I don't know, there's just alot bothering me right now." She proceeded to frown. "I feel so stupid. I've done the dumbest things for these past few days and I just.. I hate it. I'm better than this."
"That's kind of a stupid thing to say though. If you were actually better than that, then those things wouldn't have happened in the first place."
Twilight shook her head. "No you don't understand. I was aware at the time that I was making bad choices, but yet I still went on with them anyway... because I'm stupid! I read so many books and I learn so much and then it feels like I can't even do anything by myself. That's really annoying!" She frowned more. "I don't know, I'm just so out of it, and that just makes me even more angry because I don't know how to manage it when I should know how to manage it, and that's just starts a vicious cycle that makes me feel even worse!" She progressively got louder as her rant continued.
I really didn't know how to respond to that. "..You're being too hard on yourself."
"Oh, yeah, definitely." She replied in a mocking tone, rolling her eyes. "I'll just magically let all the things that I did wrong stop bothering me. Thanks!" She looked at me for a few seconds before sighing and placing her hooves on her face. "I'm sorry, that was rude. I shouldn't have done that... Another stupid thing I shouldn't have done. Gosh I wasn't even thinking about this and now I'm all mad right now."
"Well... maybe you're trying too hard to find an immediate solution to all of this, when that's impossible. The best thing you can do is just wait and let everything happen on its own. Overtime you'll feel better and you won't be so much like.. this."
Twilight rubbed her face with her hooves and then moved them away to stare at the ground. "Maybe." She paused for a second before continuing. "I just... I like thinking though. I can't just not do anything because that bothers me - I need to fix this."
"You can't fix everything. You've already tried too hard apparently, because from what I've heard, you've made some mistakes. I guess you'll just have to learn to let that go."
She sighed again. "I guess so." She brought her head back up, where I noticed that she had tears in her eyes. "I... thanks, Klade." She smiled a little at me. "I need to go now though." She stood back up off the bench, seemingly in a hurry to be by herself. I was getting the impression that she wasn't telling me something, however, but I wasn't going to bother her about it.
"I feel like shit too." I replied as I watched her. "I think everything will be fine though." Everything still felt pretty surreal, and I felt like I was coping pretty well with Duston's confirmed death, with my inexperienced self completely unware that it was going to hit me harder than I could've ever imagined later on. Twilight nodded a tiny bit, before quickly trotting off, leaving me sitting by myself in the courtyard.
'I think that helped her.' I exhaled and leaned backwards against the bench, taking the time to relax as I looked around. 'I wonder what she meant by 'I wasn't even thinking about this' though. What else was she thinking about?' I rubbed my arm against the arm-rest as I breathed in the outside air, when eventually I spotted Princess Luna walking by. She noticed me as well, to which she proceeded to approach me.
"Klade, we are well met." She spoke as she stepped over to me. "Please come to the planning room as soon as you are able - I am in the process of letting everyone else know. There are some things that need to be known."
'Already? That was quick.' "I'll be there." I replied as I stood up off the bench. Luna nodded, where she proceeded to continue on her way, presumably to the rooms where everyone else was staying. 'I should remember where that place is.' I thought to myself as I began walking off as well. I was a little uncertain at first, but after spotting familiar rooms and objects, I was soon able to find just where the planning room was located. The other princesses as well as Shining Armor were already there, and as more time passed, the rest of the ponies came in as well. Twilight Sparkle noticeably appeared to have reddish eyes, and Trixie was here as well, probably on her own accord. Once everyone was here, I noticed Luna walk in with the clone beside her. 'Oh, so this is what this is about.'
"Klade's clone, please tell to everyone else what you have told me just last night." Luna spoke as she looked at him. He didn't appear to be brainwashed from what I could see, and I listened to his voice when he spoke. Is that really what I sounded like?
"There were supposed to be five towers in total." He exclaimed. "Baltimare, Manehattan, Vanhoover, Los Pegasus, and the last one was supposed to be at Mount Everhoof. This last tower is supposed to be the biggest and the most powerful out of all of them - the tower that links them all together."
"Did you say... Mount Everhoof?" Twilight asked, looking as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing for some strange reason. There was a weird sparkle in her eyes.
"Yes." The clone simply replied. Twilight looked absolutely bewildered, before turning to look at both Celestia and Luna.
"Luna, Celestia, I-I.. I just had a dream last night about Mount Everhoof." She announced, catching their attention. "Duston was there!!! He was being trapped on Mount Everhoof!! This can't be a coincidence!"
I could feel a shift in my mind after hearing that - was there a possibility that Duston wasn't actually dead? I blinked, zoning out for a couple seconds in shock before hearing Twilight's voice continue.
"You have to let me go there with you Celestia!! You have to - I don't even care if I don't do anything. We need to rescue him!"
"Twilight, calm yourself." Celestia responded, and I watched as the worked up Twilight backed away slightly, having unknowingly walked right up to the princess. I was feeling pretty excited as well; he had to have been dead; this couldn't be true. "Are you certain of this, Klade's clone?"
"Yes." He responded once again, referring to the tower. "What I don't know, is when it will be constructed. I only know that it's planned - it was supposed to be the final tower."
"He has to be there Celestia, he has to!" Twilight spoke up again. "You need to take me with you!"
Celestia paused for a few seconds, seemingly thinking of her response. I hadn't realized just how dull I had been feeling inside until now - the thought of him still being alive was making me want to actually throw a Pinkie Pie style party. "Going to Mount Everhoof is very dangerous." Celestia eventually spoke. "The freezing temperatures can kill a pony overnight, and the high altitude poses a threat as well. We will go, Twilight, but I request that you stay behind. You still need to rest."
Twilight was reluctant at first, but eventually she sighed, seeming to understand as she nodded her head quickly. "Yes Princess Celestia."
"My sister will take great care that Duston is returned home safely if he is there." Luna chimed in. "You needn't worry."
Twilight nodded again as she looked over at Luna, and Celestia proceeded to walk over to the round table that the magical map of Equestria was presented on. She looked down at it, seemingly studying it for awhile, before she spoke up once again. "I believe it would be best if we departed for Rainbow Falls. This is the closest village to Mount Everhoof; we can stay there for the night, and then leave for the mountain the following morning." She then turned to look at Luna and Cadance. "Does this sound like a good plan?"
Cadance nodded her head upon scanning the map. "It's probably our best option."
"Rainbow Falls is quite a distance away from both Canterlot and the mountain.." Luna divulged - whatever the Crystal Empire was, was seemingly out of the question. "Cadance has a point, however. I do not see a better option."
"Then that shall be our plan." Celestia replied, who proceeded to turn her attention to the rest of us. "Ready yourselves, for we shall depart today at two in the afternoon. Shining Armor can supply you with the proper winter clothing, although I still urge to bring whatever necessities you can possibly think of. This will be a dangerous journey."
"Really now?" Trixie spoke up, before clearing her throat. "That sounds like something you'd need me along for."
"You are not allowed to come." Celestia responded, getting straight to the point, and causing Trixie to roll her eyes.
"Then don't get mad at Trixie if something goes wrong."
"It's for your own safety, Trixie." Rainbow Dash spoke up, before continuing with a snicker. "You might as well thank Celestia right now for saving your life."
"How dare you!!!"
"This meeting is over." Celestia spoke once again, defusing the argument before it even started. "Everyone, please begin your preparations."
Trixie glared at Rainbow one last time before turning around dramatically and pacing out of the room. Everyone else began to trickle out as well, when I eventually noticed my clone walking up to me.
"Guess I kinda fucked up bad there, huh?" He spoke as he looked at me. "Not really sure what to say."
"It's not your fault, I know that." I replied as I looked back at him. "I had never even considered the possibility of Discord controlling you douchebags. I'll have to try to find some way to prevent that - some kind of helmet maybe."
"Sounds good." He responded, looking around the room for a bit before looking back at me. "I'm by myself here huh? Got any ideas on what I can do meanwhile?"
"Not sure..." I thought for a few seconds - putting him in my base wouldn't be a good idea, because then I'd need to turn off the alarm, and plus there'd be nothing stopping him just getting brainwashed again. The same issue would present itself if I brought him along with us to Mount Everhoof - I didn't need Discord manipulating him to shoot us all behind our backs. "You know what, I might make a little makeshift place for you to camp out at - something that Discord shouldn't know about. I'll arm it with a railgun so you can watch over us, but I'll still put in some precautionary measures just in-case Discord finds you - then you won't be able to use it."
"I'm ready." He exclaimed, and I smiled as I patted his shoulder. I kinda missed hanging out with these goons.
"Which number were you anyway?" I asked out of curiosity.
"Clone #2." He replied. "From what I've heard, #5, #6 and #11 are dead."
"So that leaves seven still out there, not including you." I remarked. By then I noticed that Rainbow Dash had been standing there, and upon us noticing her, she spoke up.
"So this is your clone?" She asked as she looked over him - aside from some clothing differences, he looked just about identical to me.
"One of them, yeah." I answered.
"That place you all hang out at is pretty epic." Rainbow commented, to which the clone nodded his head.
"Fuck yeah. Some crazy shit's gone down in there."
"How many AC-130s have you called in on Modern Warfare 3?" I asked, to which he chuckled.
"All of us combined? More than we can count. Poor guys don't know what they're up against." I grinned and laughed slightly, before looking over at Rainbow, who didn't seem to understand what we were talking about.
"It's that video-game stuff. I'll show you more of it the next time I get the chance." I explained.
"I can't wait - that stuff was fun." Dash responded. I smiled again as I thought back to that place - that was probably where we should host the party whenever we finally put a stop to Discord for good. I had already done enough Pinkie Pie style parties, so that would be a great change of pace.
"Alright, I got stuff to do with this dude to get ready. Should be back in a few hours."
"Have fun." Rainbow replied, glancing at the clone one more time before trotting off. By now I had noticed that the clone wasn't armed at all, so I decided to ask about that.
"Where's the guns?"
"Luna's got them." He replied. "She wanted me to show her how they worked. Still got my G18s though."
"I see. Well, let's go." With that, the two of us walked out of the room, where I was ready to set everything up for my clone.