//------------------------------//
// Chapter 13 
// Story: The Power of Portals 
// by Flames173 
//------------------------------//

	"So, whats happening?" Jodi asked. "Who is it?"
"I don't know, I can't see, and his voice isn't familiar. If only we had a man on the inside." I answered.
"That can be arranged." Luke said from behind me.
"LUKE!" I shouted lightly. "Dude, so good to see you!" I ran up to him and gave him a bro hug.
"Hey Joe, so what did we miss?" he asked, jabbing a head back to Twilight.
"Not much, just that Celestia was pony napped, Chrysalis isn't the culprit and is actually helping, Flash Sentry and Shining Armor are knocked out, and the one who did pony nap Celestia is in that room." I explained quickly.
"Not sure what any of that means, but hey, I can get you in there, disguised as someone in the room."
"Could you? We need more information and I'm the only one who will understand anything here."
"All right." Luke said. His horn glowed a light green. 
Next thing I know, I'm in the room, dressed in full armor, and with the same dark maroon coat as the guards seen previously. My wings were gone, and I had a horn. It felt weird not having wings after all this time I had them. I looked at the slightly bigger guard next to me then at Flash and Shining. I assumed the larger guy next to me was the boss.
"Sir, why did you do that to those two?" I asked.
"Why I knocked them out because they wouldn't do what I asked." he replied.
"And uh, I forgot, whats your name again sir?"
"Dusk Blade, and I really have to fix that memory of yours."
"Yes, that would be helpful Dusk, er, sir. Oh, and are all of us guards clones?"
"Yeah."
"Now my last question, why did we kidnap Celestia?"
"Because, I am the true ruler of Equestria, she stole that from me, and now, is time for revenge. Now, you get these two out of my sight." Dusk turned around and started talking to the other two guards, suggesting I was the one who had to get them out. I hadn't noticed before, but Dusk was actually an alicorn, so in each group of guards there was a unicorn, a pegasus, and an Earth pony, they must be part of him. I walked up to the two unconscious guards and heaved Flash, the lighter one, onto my back. Pegasi are averagely lighter than other species of pony because they need to be lighter to stay in the air. Then I pushed Shining to the door. I opened it slightly and threw the guards out, and I stepped out right behind, then shut the door.
"Luke. Jodi? Twilight?" I said, looking for my friends. All three appeared out of nowhere and Twilight's horn slowly dimmed it's glow.
"Oh Joe, we thought you were an actual clone thing for a minute." Twilight said, blushing in embarrassment.
"Nope, just me. So, how do I turn off the disguise, and how did you know they were clones?"
"Well, you have to do something the original guard your disguised as can't, but because the spell trades your souls, you and him would switch places. Oh, and I wired you when I cast the spell too." Luke explained.
"All right, so where is the guard in my body?"
"Over there. He freaked out and tried to kill us. We knocked him out and possibly broke some of his bones. I'm amazed you didn't hear his screams. But, since your body is injured, you may not want to stretch your wings for a while, even with Twilight's and my healing spells on, it'll still be painful for a while."
"Oh, cool. So that's why you made me the unicorn guard. So I could stretch my wings and easily reverse the spell if need be."
"Yup. So, while you were in there, Twilight explained to me what you said. So, why DID he pony nap or whatever Celestia, and who is he?"
"It's an alicorn named Dusk Blade."
"Oh dear Celestia." Twilight said quietly.
"What, whats wrong Twilight?"
"Dusk Blade. All alicorns, princess, prince, king, or queen, get supreme control over one thing as you know Joe. Celesia chose the sun and day, Luna chose the moon and night, Cadence chose love, and so on."
"Yeah, and?"
"Prince Dusk, he chose war."
"And?"
"He can raise an army from nothing, his combat spells are much more powerful and advanced than any pony else, and worst of all, he can create a perfect war strategy and detect the other side's in, to put it in Rainbow Dash terms, ten seconds flat."
"So, we're fighting a guy with an army of infinite soldiers, can kill with spells that only maim, and can learn our strategy and counter it in mere seconds? Yup, because this is totally fair." I complained.