//------------------------------//
// Alpha 
// Story: The Poncho Chronicles IV: Through the Portal 
// by BRyeMC 
//------------------------------//

	The warm desert air hit the lone pony on the hill overlooking the infamous, Area Fifty-Juan, located in the middle of the San Palomino Desert. The base’s name was changed not too long ago, when the new owner, a mysterious pony called Juan, decided to outbuy the old owners of it. To this day, no one knows how Juan had enough bits to buy out Canterlot of all ownership, but then again, no one seemed to know about the base either. The pony atop the hill smirked and threw down his hood.
“Finally, we are here,” said Patel, looking out across the desert. After some more glances at the barren wasteland, mountains, and the main base, he looked behind him. “What the hell are you doing!”
Another pony was slowly climbing the hill behind him. In a few moments, the pony stood beside him atop the hill, gasping for breath.
“Arr lad, I’m not as young as I used to be,” said Yarlin. Yarlin took out a bottle of water from his backpack and began drinking it. After a few gulps, he offered Patel the bottle.
“Nah dude, I don’t want anything from you.” Patel looked over at him. “No offense.”
“Come on matey, I don’t have diseases. I know how to play it safe with Clark.” 
“No, it’s just...,” said Patel, stopping for a moment. “It’s just, I’m not a big fan of the whole ‘gay’ thing.”
Yarlin laughed and patted him on the back. “Good joke lad! I know you be secretly into me.” Yarlin chuckled some more while Patel looked distraught.
“W-What? I’m straight as can be!” 
“Lad, I saw you admirin’ my booty when we were at Amsterdam about two months ago.”
Patel flung a small rock at him. “I never did that! That was you admiring my booty!”
Yarlin looked at him weirdly and then giggled. “You are right lad, I was. I always wanted your booty from the moment I met you.”
Patel shook his head and sighed. “Keep talking like that and you won’t see Clark again. I told you for the, what is this now, the tenth time? I’m not a homosexual and I never will be. I don’t care what ponies sexual choices are, but don’t bother me about it.” Patel threw his hood back on and began his trek down the hill towards Area Fifty-Juan. Yarlin laughed and followed him down the hill. 
The rest of the journey to the base was just a straight shot on the flat desert land. The problem was that the base itself was still a mile away. To pass the time, Yarlin and Patel went over their plan.

After the return from the trip to Amsterdam, Patel spent the next month with Yarlin and Clark talking about this yearly ‘Arlin’ meeting in February. As only Patel was interested in this, the rest of the group continued with their daily lives and didn’t bother helping him with his plan. In actuality, Patel never told anyone else his true plan.  
For the past year or so, Patel has been secretly studying old film about the old Germane Third Reich. Patel was always fascinated about the mass genocides in Europe and always wanted to see that happen again. This time, however, he wanted to be the leader of the movement. His main goal of this covert operation, was to sneak into the base and find some sort of technology that would help him either restore the Third Reich, or make a new, more powerful one.
Since Yarlin was invited to attend this meeting, he would have Patel accompany him to it, masquerading as Clark. Yarlin told his relatives about Clark, so they would allow him to walk in with no problems. After a plane ride and a lot of walking, they were where they stood. 


“Alright lad,” said Yarlin to Patel when they were less than one hundred yards away from the base entrance, “you ready for action?”
Patel nodded. “Yeah. Let do this.”
As they walked up to the gate, the guard stopped them. He was wearing what looked like a SWAT suit. Instead of the SWAT logo on the back, it read ARLIN. Patel looked at his face, and sure enough, his face resembled Yarlin, Pharlin, and even Xarlin. 
“Oh look who it is,” said the guard, “how have you been Yarlin?”
“I’ve been fantastic matey! How’s yourself!”
“Great, just great.” The guard looked away from Yarlin and stared directly at Patel. “Is this your, uh, ‘friend’ Clark?”
“Aye! He be a little shy, so he might not talk much.” Yarlin gave Patel a small push to signal he was joking.
Patel smiled awkwardly as the guard laughed. “Didn’t you say he was good with puppets? Have him do a puppet show or something.”
Yarlin and Patel looked at each other in shock. They forgot to bring a puppet just incase someone asked. Before Patel could speak on behalf of them, another pony walked up to the gate from the trail behind them.
“Carlin!” yelled the guard as the pony approached them. This ‘Carlin’ dude was wearing some fancy suit and bolo tie. He wore some pitch black shades with a motto on the side of them:  ‘Keeping the haters away since the dawn of time’. 
“What’s pip and hip, my friend?” asked Carlin to the guard. He quickly glanced over and looked closely at Yarlin. After a few seconds, Carlin lowered his shades. “Well, I’ll be damned and jamed. If it’s not Yarlin!”
“Carlin, me boy!” He gave Carlin a hug and then patted him on the back. “It be a long time since we last journeyed the seas together!”
“I know my man. I have just been so busy and cozy at my house in Manehatten.” Carlin looked to his left and saw Patel just staring at him. “Is this your Clark I reckon and beckon?” 
“That I am,” said Patel. “Before you ask, I forgot my puppets. I must have left them at Little Timy’s house.”
“Timy?” asked the guard, “who is that?” The guard looked over at Yarlin and began laughing. “Is there a third dude on this?”
“What? No!” Patel looked around to see the other three look strangely at him. He didn’t realize his outburst was deemed ‘un-Clark’. 
Yarlin grabbed his shoulder. “Me thinks Clark be getting rowdy. Let’s go inside.” 
“I’ll follow you guys!” exclaimed Carlin. The guard let them in the gate and quickly closed it. After a quick farewell wave, Yarlin, Carlin, and Patel followed the cobblestone trail to the interior of the main hangar building. As they were walking through the courtyard of the base, Patel looked around and saw all the different kinds of buildings and wondered, just what exactly was stored in this place.
As they arrived at the main hangar at the end of the cobblestone path, the door swung open. For what Yarlin and Patel could tell, nobody was near the door, so they were confused on what happened and why it just mysteriously opened. It wasn’t until Carlin telling them about the new security cameras and sensors did they think it was a ghost that opened the door. 
Once inside, Carlin led them to a big room with a stage with a curtain. Around the stage was a bunch of chairs all facing towards it. Near the back of the room was a lone table with a punch bowl and some cookies on it. There was a small sign taped up on the wall that was labeled as: “Punch and Cookies”.
The three weren’t the only ponies in the room, as there were about five or so either standing alone or talking to another pony. Carlin left Yarlin and Patel to go to talk to someone across the room. The two of them stood there and looked around.
“So is this the main meeting room?” asked Patel. “Reminds me of some stupid school club meeting.”
“Aye. Lots of us don’t come to these sort of events.” 
“I don’t blame you.”
About twenty minutes after they first walked into the room, the lights dimmed and the others in the room ran for some seats. Yarin and Patel quickly sat in the back row and looked up at the stage. Soon, a small light lit up the stage and out walked a pony.
This pony also shared the same facial resemblance as Yarlin and the others. His coat color was a light brown color and he bore an ‘Alpha’ symbol for his Cutie Mark that was black. His mane, tail, and goatee, were black and his eyes were also a dark black. 
“Attention, am I heard from back there?” The pony looked over the small crowd at Yarlin. Yarlin lifted his hoof to answer him. “Okay, good. Welcome my brothers to the annual ‘Arlin’ meeting, hosted by yours truly, Arlin himself.” Arlin looked around at the crowd and sighed. “You know, I really wish you guys would start coming to these. I mean, I know we didn’t have one last year, and that’s my fault, but today is really special.” 
As he finished his small rant, Carlin lifted his hoof. “Uh, Arlin?”
“Ah! Carlin! What is it?”
“I don’t know if you know this or not, but do you remember that incident and accident in South Beach a year and some months ago?” 
Arlin looked at him while stroking his goatee. “You mean that zombie thing or whatever? Yeah, I heard about it. What’s so important about it?”
“Well, I heard Pharlin died in that outbreak.”
“No way!” said Arlin. He shook his head and resumed talking: “That guy was pretty smart. I really hoped he would’ve helped me with this thing behind me. Oh well.”
Another pony in the crowd lifted their hoof. “Arlin?”
“What is it Wharlin?” 
Wharlin was a navy blue pony with a harpoon as his mark. His eyes and mane matched his dark coat color. “I also heard that Xarlin near the Seaddle area hasn’t been found yet.”
Arlin’s jaw dropped. “What do you mean he hasn’t been found yet?”
“Well, I heard some ponies by the docks that Arlin’s store he had in a small town was closed down. They always went there just to talk to him, but he hasn’t been seen since August of a year and a half ago.”
“Well, that’s pretty bizarre. Thanks for your intel Wharlin. Keep up with your whales and whatnot.” Arlin paced the stage for a bit and then turned back towards the crowd. “Alright, sorry about those slight interruptions. It’s a shame both our Xarlin and Pharlin won’t be able to see this, but in honor of them, I’ll reveal the secret of this place!” He turned towards the curtain and stopped in front of them. He moved to the side that had a rope and pulled in down. As the curtain slid across the stage, the room gasped.
Behind the curtain, and now all eyes focused on, was some sort of circular metal frame. Beside the frame was a monitor that was connected with a series of tubes to the side of the metal frame. As the room was studying over the device, Arlin walked in front of the monitor. He hit a button on the screen and soon, the circular frame began to make a noise. The noise continued until a small ball of energy appeared in the center of the frame. Within two seconds, the ball expanded outwards, filling up the frame. The frame glowed a blueish color as the lights above the frame lit up.
“Excellent!” said Arlin as he walked back to the center of the stage. “Behind me my brothers is the ‘gateway’ to my new dreams!” 
“What is that exactly?” asked someone from the middle row.
Arlin smiled. “Oh nothing really, except World Domination!” The room let out another round of gasps. Patel just rolled his eyes.
“World Domination!” yelled Wharlin from the front. “Why would you want to do that? I mean, that just seems like a radical idea out of the blue sea.”
“Aye lad,” said Yarlin agreeing with Wharlin. “You be salty I reckon.”
“Salty?” Arlin paced around the stage and then shot his eyes back towards Yarlin. “Salty doesn’t even fucking describe it!” Arlin went back to the monitor and pressed a button. Soon, another pony walked out of the energy frame. Arlin smiled and soon kept pressing the button. With every press of the button, another pony walked out of the portal. All the ponies had different appearances, such as mane, coat, eye color. They even had different marks on their flanks. The only resemblance they all bore was the facial structure. 
“I think it’s time I share with you what’s happening,” said Arlin. He walked over to the edge of the stage and sat down. “Wharlin? Do you remember where you were born?”
Wharlin panicked and rapidly smacked his head to remember. “I-I don’t know Arlin.”
“Is that so?” Arlin looked around the room and stumbled onto his next victim. “Carlin, do you remember?”
“Nope and dope my brother. I don’t remember where I was born, but I know you said you took care of us when our parents died.”
Arlin laughed. “Did you ever stop to think, who your parents were?” Wharlin and Carlin, along with the others in the room looked at each other in aghast. “It’s a trick question, because you don’t have parents.”
“W-What? What do you mean Arlin?” asked Carlin. He was showing signs of tears and tried holding them in. 
Arlin looked down at the floor of the hangar. “You don’t have parents. I have parents. I made you all.” Arlin looked up at the crowd. His eyes were filled with a burning passion, a passion of hatred. 
“B-But,” started Wharlin.
“Don’t you get it!” screamed Arlin. He jumped off the stage and walked straight to Wharlin. He stopped in front of his face, and looked straight in his eyes. “You are different clones of me! I am the first out of all of you! I am the Alpha.” Arlin quickly trotted back on the stage. He faced the portal and looked at the other, newly made clones of him. He slowly turned around and faced the crowd. 			“Ever since that day when I was deemed ‘too volatile’ to join the Royal Guard. All I wanted was a way of life where I could use my skills to help others in need. Helping the royals of Canterlot would have been great for me, but no. I got shot down.” Arlin glanced over at the lone window high in the hangar. “All I wanted was to prove my worth in this world.”
“Instead of attacking them straight on, I decided to wait. I needed to build an army. How I was going to do that was beyond me, but at my house in Canterlot that one day, I saw some interesting news. They had a news special about some crazy new invention at some base in the western desert of Equestria. I don’t know why it was publicised on a local news station, but I didn’t care.”
“I took this time to pack up my items, and leave Canterlot, never to see it again unless my army was going to wipe them out. After landing in Las Pegas, I wandered the desert until I reached here. Obviously, I snuck in, but I saw this portal frame behind me being worked on. I watched and waited all day until it was time for them to leave for the night. As the base was shutting down and for lockup, I quickly hid in the portal frame room. Once I knew I was in the clear, I started working on the frame itself.”
“Due to the already worked on progress from the ponies before me, I was able to complete the frame in no time at all. I pressed the button on the monitor and like what you saw today, the portal fired up and started glowing. Curious, I stepped into it.”
“Wait,” said Wharlin, lifting his hoof. “Are you sure I don’t have parents? There’s no way I’m a master whale trainer and harpooner without some genes being passed down.”
“I already told you!” yelled Arlin as he was angry that his past anecdote was interrupted. “Let me finish my tale so you know exactly how you were made!” Wharlin frowned and looked at the ground. Arlin coughed and continued. “Anyways, once inside the portal, I was teleported, or placed, in a dark sort of room. All that was in this room, was a lone candle light and another strange contraption against the back wall. This machine was also hooked up to a monitor. I slowly trotted over there and took a good long gander at the monitor.”
“The monitor screen was blank, except one file, a video file. Confused, I tapped on the video and waited for it to load. After it was done loading, I clicked on it again,and sure enough, it began to play. There was no sound to it, but that matters not, as even without the sound, I knew what was happening. Basically, it shows a stallion take a knife and lightly cuts himself on the arm, just enough to draw a little amount of blood. He then takes the blood on the knife, and taps it into the small tray beside the machine. As the blood seeped into the small slot into the machine, the light above it flashes on. The stallion clicked a button on the machine and it began to light up and form another one of those energy balls. After it formed the portal, another stallion walked out of it. As crazy as it sounded, that stallion looked similar to the first one!”
“Wait,” said Carlin, “I’m sorry and starry, but is this how we were made?” 
Arlin looked at him with fierce eyes, but instantly calmed down. “You know, to keep this story short, yes. I did exactly what I said happened in the video and formed a small army of about ten or so. Reason being, we had to keep the other workers out of the base now, as it was time to start mass producing ‘Arlins’. I’ve been doing this for three years now.”
“Three years?” asked Wharlin. “Does that mean I’m only three years old?” Will I ever age in my life or will I be an old stallion when I’m actually twenty!” 
Arlin laughed. “Do you feel older since you remembered last?”
“No, I feel the same age as before.”
“Well, there you go!” Arlin scanned the crowd again and sighed. “Well, I guess it’s time to wrap this event up. I’ll start ordering the troops to Germaney first because after we take that, and surrouding countries, over, Equestria will be gone in about a day or so.”
“Wait a Celestia damn minute!” yelled Patel as he stood up from the chair. Arlin looked surprised at the sudden remark. “You mean to tell me, that you want to take over the world because you got rejected to be part of the Royal Guard?” Patel laughed. “Thousands of stallions every year get rejected by trying to join the ranks. You’re just some butthurt little bitch that didn’t get what he wanted. I bet you wanted to join the ranks so you would get laid or something, and because you seem so mad about this, everyone laughed at you. You had nobody else to talk to so you made ‘fake’ friends so you would have a fake sense of friendship!”
Arlin’s fire in his eyes burned again. “Who the fuck do you think you are, telling me about my life?” Arlin glared at Patel from across the room and quickly extinguished the fire within his eyes. “Actually, wait a minute, who are you anyways?”
Yarlin jumped up and waved his hoof. “Arlin, this is me-”
“No,” said Patel, throwing his hoof in front of Yarlin. “My name is Patel and I’m here to find a way to restore the power of Germaney.”
“A spy!” yelled Wharlin. “What a twist!”
“Yes, indeed,” said Arlin. “Tell me Patel, why did you sneak in here then?”
“Because like you, I want to become the ruler of the world. Except, ‘world’ in my case is Germaney.” Patel began walking up to the stage down the middle aisle. “I needed to find a way to revive the Third Reich or make a new one. Can that portal go back in time?”
Arlin smiled. “It can do whatever you want it too. All you need is to insert a command into the monitor over there and boom!”
Patel smiled with him. “Wait, a minute, wouldn’t that destroy the fabric of the world if we go to a place and bring them into the world?”
“It might, but I don’t use the portal for that reason. The portal only goes to one room, the room I stated. I have it locked so it only does that.”
Patel frowned. “There has to be another way to bring back a whole army and party....” Patel began pacing the stage as Arlin laughed.
“There might be some sort of invention or two in the base somewhere that would help you, but why do that when you can just join me instead? Soon, I’ll have more troops than any army known in all of existence!” 
Patel looked at him and shook his head. “No, I’m not joining the side who is responsible for Xarlin. I only want Germaney, and I will take it. Whether I have to fight you for it or not.”
Arlin frowned. “Well, that’s disappointing. Well, I don’t know why you’re still here then. Get rid of him.” Arlin disappeared to the side of the stage, as ponies from the portal came out towards Patel. Patel tried fighting them off but was soon overrun by the constant flood of them. While trying to bite someone to break free, he felt an object smack him in the head.

Patel woke up rubbing his head. He looked around and saw that he was outside the main gate of where Yarlin and him met the guard and Carlin. The guard from before wasn’t there and nobody for what he could tell was seen anywhere. As he got up from the ground, he felt a powerful voice in his head.
Arlin told me about you. He wanted to spare you as he wants to be the guy to kill you where you stand when he attacks whatever country you’re in. Consider yourself warned. The voice faded and Patel rubbed his head to get rid of the headache the voice, and the object, gave him. 
“So, it’s going to be like that,” said Patel, standing at the gate, looking at the main hangar where Arlin would probably be at. “Whether you like it or not, I’m coming back here. Because if you are trying to take over Germaney, I’m going to stop that real quick.” Patel chuckled and began walking away from the base, back to Las Pegas. “I’ll be back with my army.”