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

	As Patel was on his flight back home to Verona, he thought about how he would go back and stop Arlin. He thought of other ponies that would help him, but he didn’t want to reveal why he wanted to go back. 
At first he thought about the Royal Guard. Obviously, that would be really weird if some random pony went to go tell them about some crazy dude in the middle of the desert who is secretly building an army to destroy you, so he excluded them from his search. 
Another big topic was getting back in Area-Fifty Juan in the first place. Yarlin helped him get in, but Yarlin wasn’t with him anymore. Patel thought it would be silly if Arlin and the others just casually let him back in with open arms. He had to think of a way to sneak in, just like Arlin did those years ago. 
Patel shook his head from the thoughts and looked out the plane window. He watched the plane float above the clouds and maintain the same altitude. The sky was pitch black, save for the nightly stars that scattered the sky. Patel looked at them trying to find constellations, but after failing to find a single one, lowered the window blind. 
Patel opened up his notebook and scanned through his papers. Near the back, was some notes he wrote while he was in an Amsterdam museum two months ago. He flipped the page and saw the giant ‘Amsterdam’ on a page that he showed Cannon before they left. He quickly closed his notebook and took out his phone. He scrolled through his contacts until he got to the ‘The Band’ section. 
After looking at the names of his friends he laughed. He did have an army. Not an actual army, but an army of goons that would help him out no matter what. Normally that would be the case, but this time it might be different. The problem for him was to get them all to agree on coming with him to the base. 


For the rest of the flight back home, Patel thought of what he was going to say to the others, one by one, to make them join his attack. He wanted to be back on the flight to Pegas the next day, so Arlin couldn’t clone anymore ponies. He also thought of the ideal order of who to talk to first. 
Patel arrived at the Canterlot airport at precisely seven in the evening. He went through all of the bullshit luggage retrieval and security checks, then quickly found a cab to take him to Verona. Since the cab liked to take the slow and scenic route, Patel arrived at Verona at eight. He tipped his cab and made his way past the road to Wahlburn and his house, towards the condo where four of his friends lived at. He went inside the lobby, said ‘hi’ to the receptionist who was on the computer, and galloped up the stairs. He knocked on Clyde’s door first and waited.
After two minutes, Patel sighed. “Of course he’s not here.” Patel walked over to Rivs’ door and saw a small note attached to it. He picked it up and read it to himself: 


Sticky and I are in Marolina this month for Rivalry Week. Go Dook!


Patel sighed again. Before leaving, Patel checked to see if Cannon was in his room, but like the others, he was also absent. Patel went back down the stairs and back into the lobby. He walked up to the receptionist desk.
“Excuse me,” said Patel. The receptionist looked up at him and smiled. “Hi, do you know where Cannon Schultz is?” 
“Mr. Schultz?” asked the receptionist. “The one who lives up on Floor 4?”
“That’s the one.”
“I think I saw him leave earlier with a bag. I couldn’t tell you where he went. Sorry.”
Patel lifted his hoof. “That’s alright, I was just wondering. Thanks.” Patel turned around to leave but stopped in mid stride. He turned back towards the desk and looked down at her again. “Do you know where Clyde is? I think I already know the answer to this, but I could be wrong.”
The receptionist giggled. “He comes around here seldom anymore. Usually he makes a quick appearance to drop off or take a bag with him. Sometimes he comes in with a mare, or she comes in alone to go and fetch him. I’m guessing that’s his girlfriend, but I can’t remember her name.”
Patel sighed for the third time in about five minutes. “Rarity, I guess?”
“Unicorn who usually always dresses up? I just adore her outfits!” The receptionist went on with her Rarity admiration speech as Patel ignored her. 
“Yep, that’s Rarity alright. I guess he’s at her house then. Thanks again.” Patel turned to leave. The receptionist was still talking about one of Rarity’s appearances as Patel sighed for the fourth time and exited the building. 
Patel began his journey to Ponyville to go talk to Clyde. Patel never was actually in Ponyville before, so he went by Clyde’s description he gave his friends once. As he entered the town, he saw the clock tower show nine o’clock. The town was empty, as everyone was inside getting ready to go to sleep, but the town was lit by the houses along the roads. Patel passed Twilight’s library and wondered if he should stop by to see if Spike was there. It took him a few seconds to realize Spike moved away from this town to stay with Wahlburn and him. Soon, after walking by many of the famous buildings in Ponyville Clyde talked about, Patel stood at the front door of the Carousel Boutique.
Patel saw the ‘Closed’ sign facing out towards him, but he ignored it. He could tell someone was in there, as the lights in the building were seen through the windows. He looked at the detail of the exterior and sighed. He knocked on the door with three loud taps and waited. 
At first, nothing happened and he thought he didn’t knock loud enough to be heard. Before he could knock again, the handle on the door glowed with a light blue aura. 
“Hello?” asked Rarity in a friendly tone as the door swung open. As she saw Patel, her friendly face dropped into a sardonic frown. “Oh, it’s you.”
Patel laughed. “I take that you still don’t like me from what I said to you back on our Seaddle trip?” Her face remained the same as Patel tried switching topics. “Anyways, is Clyde in there?”
“Maybe,” said Rarity with the same serious face and tone. 
“Well, uh, could I talk to him?”
“I mean, you can seeing how you are able to talk.” She gave a sly smile then returned to her serious gaze. 
Patel put his hoof to his nose. “Could I please talk to him? It’s something important.”
Rarity dropped the serious facade and smiled. “Well, I guess since you asked so nicely, and because Clyde is your friend, I’ll allow it. He’s in the kitchen.” She let him in and closed the door with magic. She quickly pranced away back towards the kitchen as Patel slowly followed her and looked around. Once in the kitchen, he saw Clyde standing over a mug of hot chocolate. As Rarity walked over to him he smiled. She pointed to the doorway and Clyde looked up.
“Patel?” he asked. “What brings you to these parts? I thought you said you would never come to Ponyville?” 
Patel laughed. “I wouldn’t have had to come here, if you actually lived at your apartment in Verona.”
“Clyde would much rather stay and spend time with me than live by himself in a plain and boring apartment,” said Rarity. “I don’t blame him honestly.” She smiled and Patel looked past her at Clyde. His response was a simple nod, shrug, and grin. 
“Anyways, Clyde, I need to tell you something about my trip to Area-Fifty Juan.” Patel looked down at the floor trying to go over his plan on how to make Clyde join without him declining.
“Alright, let’s go to the relax room.” Clyde left the kitchen for the adjacent room, which Rarity liked to call the relax room. In it, was two chairs and a matching loveseat sofa. Rarity levitated the mug and pranced out of the room. Patel, like before, slowly walked out of the kitchen and looked around. Once Patel was in the new room, he took a seat in one of the chairs, as Clyde and Rarity sat beside each other on the loveseat. Around them, Patel saw, in the corner of the rooms were fabric spools and other items or materials in boxes that Rarity would use for her designs. 
“So, what exactly do you want to tell me?” asked Clyde. He took the mug of hot chocolate from Rarity and took a few sips as Rarity took this time to cover herself in a blanket  After almost burning his tongue, he gave it back to her. 
“Alright,” said Patel. “Yarlin and I went to the yearly ‘Arlin’ meeting near Las Pegas yesterday. This meeting is where, you know, where Yarlin, even Xarlin and Pharlin if they were still alive,  would meet their fellow brothers to talk about life and shit.”
“Okay.”
“Well, turns out, they aren’t brothers.”
Clyde looked at him strangely. “Are they cousins then?”
“No,” said Patel. “They-”
“Is is just some coincidence they all have the same name almost so they formed an annual meeting?” joked Clyde. Rarity giggled and continued sipping her hot chocolate.
“No!” exclaimed Patel. “They aren’t brothers, cousins, or random ponies that just so happen to have almost the same name. They are the same dude.”
Clyde and Rarity looked at each other. “What do you mean ‘same dude?’” asked Clyde. “They all are different looking.”
“Is this pony a unicorn or something?” asked Rarity. “I’ve never heard of some duplication technique without magic before.”
“He’s a regular Earth pony like Clyde and I,” said Patel. “He showed us how he was able to do it. Basically, Arlin, the ‘main leader’ of them all, found this portal-type machine in the secret base of Area-Fifty Juan that was able to clone himself into different types of himself.”
“How’s that even possible?” asked Clyde. “Is there a sacrifice involved?” 
“Yeah, his blood. Although the blood needed is so small, it really doesn’t matter.” Patel looked down at the nicely polished and clean floor. “He’s been doing this for three years now.”
“Why though?” asked Clyde. “What’s his motive for filling the world with all these different clones of himself?”
“His goal is,” said Patel with a pause. He looked at each of them for a few seconds then closed his eyes. “World Domination.”
Clyde and Rarity looked at each other and instead of acting like they were panicked, they frowned. Patel still had his eyes closed waiting for the reaction, but soon opened them to figure why they weren’t scared. Patel looked over and saw them frowning. 
“Well that’s a lame and unoriginal idea,” said Clyde. 
“I agree. He could have thought of something more productive, like hard labor or models, instead.” Rarity shrugged and sipped some hot chocolate again as she snuggled down further into her blanket.
“So Clyde, you going to help me stop him?” asked Patel while staring at him waiting for an answer. Clyde looked at him puzzled as he was deciding what to say back. He also saw Rarity look at Clyde closely fearing what he would say back. “Do you want to know why I came to ask you first?”
Clyde perked up. “Why is that?”
“I had the option to go to anybody else first, but I thought to myself, why go through that hassle at all. Why not just get the most important one first?” Patel pointed at Clyde. “I knew getting you to come was going to be hard, but I knew that if I could get you to agree, then all the others should join no problem.”
“I don’t understand what-”
“Don’t you get it?” asked Patel. “Everybody likes you dude! Your friends with everybody in this town, Verona, and Canterlot combined! It’s so hard to get your vote on something, take Amsterdam for example.” Patel frowned and talked almost in a whisper: “Also, you are sort of a leader in our group....”
Clyde looked at him without any sort of expression then looked to the ground, thinking about what to do. Rarity placed the hot chocolate down on the table beside her and moved around under her blanket so she could have her head leaning against Clyde. She looked at Patel with the same expression she had against him when he knocked on the door. “So, you came here, to my house, just so you could take my Clyde away from me again?” 
Patel looked at her. “Well, when you put it that way, it sounds like I pulled a dick move. Look, all we need to do is stop Arlin. After that, you can have him forever.”
Rarity gave a ‘hmph’ and looked away from him by snuggling her head into Clyde’s shoulder. Clyde was still staring at the ground and looked down at Rarity to his left. He smiled and looked back at Patel. “Fine. I’ll go.”
Rarity jerked her head back and Patel dropped his jaw. “What?!” they both said simultaneously. 
“Just because Arlin owes me for that one time I died and because if he does go for World Domination, he’ll come here eventually and I don’t want Rarity or her friends getting hurt.”
“Damn,” said Patel. “They should put up a statue of you somewhere. You are heroic as fuck.”
Rarity began to have tears in her eyes. “B-But, Clyde, darling-”
Clyde put his hoof to her mouth. “I’m not going to die. I told you before, my life is about making sure you are happy and out of 	danger.”
As he took back his hoof, Rarity began to pout, but stopped and smiled. “Alright....”
The three of them left the room and went back to the main room that led to outside. Clyde went upstairs to take a bag of things with him, leaving Patel and a sniffling Rarity. Patel noticed how sad she was and, surprisingly, felt bad so he wanted to cheer her up.
“Look, I’ll make sure-”
“Don’t talk to me.”
After a few minutes, Clyde came down the stairs with a lone saddlebag on his side. He walked up to them and looked at Patel. “I’m ready.” 
“Alright man.” He looked over and saw the other two looking at each other. “You know what, I’ll wait outside. Take your time.” Patel quickly left the building, leaving Clyde and a sad Rarity. 
“I promised already I wouldn’t die again so soon,” said Clyde lifting up her face with his hoof. “You don’t have to cry so much.”
Rarity smiled at him. “It’s not that, it’s just...it’s just I don’t like seeing you leave for dangerous and trivial situations your friends get into.”
Clyde laughed. “Yeah, that seems to happen a lot, but it happens. I can’t control what that do.” 
She turned her head towards a mannequin near them. It was bare, except it was wearing a pair of necklaces around it’s neck. Rarity lifted them up and floated them over to him. She placed one over her head and lifted the other one over Clyde’s. “You remember those gems you bought me in Amsterdam? I made some necklaces with a few of them.”
Clyde looked down at his and saw that the main pendant of it was a light blue diamond shaped gem. The light blue color matched Rarity’s Cutie Mark. The string of the necklace looked like it was made out of suede leather or similar material.
“I’ll be sure to wear it everyday,” said Clyde. After a hug, some nose snuggles, and a quick kiss, Clyde said goodbye and turned to leave. Before he took a step, he saw the diamond on his necklace flash blue. He felt a warm, tingly feeling where the gem was touching him on his chest. He turned back to Rarity who had hers to her lips. She looked at him with her sultry, lowered eyes and slowly kissed the necklace. As soon as she did, Clyde’s necklace flashed again and he felt the warm feeling coming off of it. 
“H-How are you doing that?” asked Clyde.
“It’s not me darling, it’s the gem,” said Rarity with a smile. “I enchanted it with Twilight’s help since I didn’t know the spell word by word. Just kiss the gem and the other’s should flash. Also, it should give off a warm feeling, which I’m guessing, is symbolic for our fiery passion towards each other. I figured, if we are ever distant from each other, we would always know that we can still spiritually feel each other.”
Clyde looked back down at his and lifted it up towards his face. The flashing gem was dying down and growing colder, as the gem would only flash for twenty seconds or so. He gave the gem a small kiss, and sure enough, Rarity’s gem on her necklace was flashing too. Rarity ran up to him one more time, for another nose snuggle, and after the real goodbye, Clyde bid farewell and exited the building. 
Patel was sitting down under the tree a couple yards away from the Carousel Boutique. As Clyde walked up to him, he stood up. 
“You done with your sappy shit yet?” asked Patel. Clyde nodded and began to walk away towards the town square. Patel caught up with him and walked beside him. Patel saw some sadness in his eyes. “I’m sorry I just showed up all of a sudden, but we can’t give Arlin time to grow anymore.”
“It’s whatever.” 
As they passed Sweet Apple Acres, Patel spoke up again. “So, how was your holidays and whatnot? We haven’t talked since our return from Amsterdam.”
“It was good,” said Clyde. “I’m glad I finally had someone to spend the holidays with though. It was the first time I enjoyed it since I was real young.”
Patel looked at him. “Didn’t you spend it with her last year?”
“No, I had a basketball game in Detrot,” said Clyde. “Unfortunately, that whole week was away games so I couldn’t spend any time with her at all.”
“That’s sports for you.” Patel looked at the sky to strike more conversation as Clyde still seemed a little upset. “Did she enjoy your gifts from Amsterdam you gave her?”
“Yeah, she loved both my gifts. She used some of the gems I bought her to make this necklace I have on. She also loved her Hearth’s Warming gift, some diamond bracelet thing. She always said she wanted one, so I was happy at her reaction when she opened the box.”
“That’s cool,” said Patel. After a moment, he looked back at Clyde confused. “I thought you said you bought her three gifts from Amsterdam?”
Clyde looked at him. “I did. She doesn’t know about the third one yet.”
“Oh. It’s an-”
“Yep.”
“Ah. Gotcha.” 
As Patel and Clyde finished their talk, Clyde’s necklace flashed blue. Clyde lifted it up and quickly kissed it and dropped it back down. Patel looked at him funny.
“What was that about?”
Clyde smiled. “It’s nothing.” 
Patel shrugged and with Clyde, continued down the road back to Verona to go find the others in their quest to stop Arlin and his army once and for all.