It was eleven at night when Patel and Clyde arrived in Verona. They went to the center of town and sat down along the fountain in the square. Patel looked around and sighed.
“I don’t even know where to start,” he said. Like Ponyville, the town was also silent as it was later into the night.
“How about Tyrone first?” asked Clyde. “He had to take care of Junior now so he should be at his house.”
“Yeah, but wouldn’t that make him have to stay if Junior is there?”
Clyde shook his head. “I don’t think so. His friend BC should be able to watch him. It’s not like we will be long anyways. All we need to do is sneak into the base and destroy the portal and get out of dodge.”
Patel frowned. “Yeah, if only it was that easy.” They got up and began walking towards Tyrone’s ghetto neighborhood. The neighborhood wasn’t an actual ghetto, it was just that a lot of Tyrone’s hood friends all lived in that area so the townsfolk referred to that section the ‘ghetto’. As they got to Tyrone’s front door of his house, they saw there were dumbbells scattered all throughout the yard.
“This is definitely T’s house,” said Clyde. “I’ll go knock on the door.” Patel waited under the tree near Tyrone’s house as Clyde walked up to the door. He knocked five times, to the beat of some song, and waited. Nearly three seconds after the knocking of the door, Junior opened up the door.
“Uncle Clyde!” said Junior. “What are you doing here?”
“Uncle?” said Clyde confused. “Sadly, I’m not your uncle, I’m not even related to you.”
Junior shook his head. “That’s not what my dad told me! He said you and him are brothers! That means you’re my uncle!”
“Well,” said Clyde rubbing his head. “I guess I can’t go wrong with that logic. Anyways, where’s your dad at?”
“He’s inside drinking some grape soda! Do you want to talk to him?”
“Yeah. Can you go and get him for me?”
“I will!” Junior gave a small salute and ran into the house. He was so excited, he left the door open. Soon, Clyde was, very faintly, able to hear Tyrone and Junior talking in a room. After some crying from Junior, Tyrone appeared out of the house. He was wearing a tanktop and curling a weight with his left hoof.
“C, my man!” yelled Tyrone. He hoof bumped him with his free hoof and looked out at Patel. “I see you there too dawg!” Patel waved from afar and went back to his notebook.
“Yo T, how you been?” asked Clyde.
Tyrone looked down as his weight and focused on it while remaining his curling motion. “I’ve been good man. Ever since I got back from Amsterdam, I’ve been curling like non-stop it seems. I think it’s an addiction, but it feels so good.” Tyrone looked at him. “What’s up with you?”
“Nothing man,” said Clyde. “Pretty sure the season is cancelled due to this lockout, so I’m kind of just chilling out with my money from last season.”
“That’s cool. Real cool.”
“Enough about that, Tyrone we need to head to the western desert.”
“You want me to tag along?”
“Yeah,” said Clyde. “It’s a long story, but there’s a guy named Arlin who is using some sort of cloning device to create an army that will eventually take over the world. I know it sounds silly, but ever since the whole Charles and Xarlin thing, I still have a grudge to settle.”
Tyrone nodded and looked back at his weights. “Shit man, I feel you.”
“You’ll come? I know it’s sudden...” Clyde stopped and looked at the ground. “But, we have to do it. To prevent danger in these parts of the country.”
Tyrone noticed the sad and serious vibe around Clyde and patted him on the back. “Dawg, I’m with you anyday of the week. Let me get a bag real quick and tell BC to get his ass up since he has some babysitting to do.” Tyrone quickly ran inside as Clyde walked over to Patel and the tree.
“He’s in?” asked Patel.
“Yeah.”
After a minute or two, Tyrone came out of the house and walked towards the others. “Alright homies, who we getting next?”
Patel looked at his notebook with a list of names he created while Clyde and Tyrone were chatting to each other. “It seems Rivs and Sticky are out of town this week, so they aren’t available. Secondly, Jeb has been gone for like two months, but honestly, who the fuck cares. That leaves: Cannon, Wahlburn, Poncho, and maybe Fluffy and Spike.”
“I bet Wahlburn, Cannon, and Spike, are a part of the crazy party at the university tonight,” said Tyrone. “I got invited to that shit, but fuck that. I had some curling to do.”
“Party?” said Patel confused. “What party?”
“Some party at the university,” said Clyde. “I was invited, but I never replied back to it.”
“What the fuck!” yelled Patel. “I even went there with you guys and I didn’t get invited!”
“That sucks,” said Tyrone. “I wouldn’t let it get to you that much though. All of the ones who went are toolbag bitches.”
“Even Wahlburn and Cannon?”
“Sometimes man, sometimes.”
They stopped chatting and followed the road to the university they all went to a few years back. They passed all sorts of shops and buildings they reminisced about along the way. At the halfway point to the university, they stopped at a particular building they never dared enter, Poncho’s house.
“Guess we should get this guy while we are here,” said Patel. “Who wants to knock on the door?”
Tyrone stepped back. “Nah man, I don’t trust that dude. He’s too sketchy for me.”
“Clyde?”
Clyde sighed. “Fine,” he said with a groan. Patel patted him on the back and wished him luck, then quickly stood beside Tyrone to watch. Clyde waked up to the door and stared at the door knocker. He grabbed it with his hoof and slammed it against the door. As Clyde waited for the door to open, he looked back at Patel and Tyrone. They were waving at him and he just turned his back towards the door to ignore them. Ten seconds of waiting later, the door slowly creaked open.
“Hello?” asked Poncho as he sketchily looked at him from inside. His head was poking out the edge of the door and he was hiding his body behind it.
“Poncho,” said Clyde. “You ready for another adventure?”
“Adventure?” Poncho slid out from behind the door and stood in the doorway. After looking around in his house to check if the coast was clear, he leaned in closer. “What sort of adventure?”
“I don’t quite know yet myself,” replied Clyde. “All I know is that Arlin took over a secret base in the desert and has a way to clone himself. We need to stop him from growing as soon as possible.”
Poncho looked at him. “I don’t know man.”
“Do you want to world to be taken over?”
“Eh...the whole world or just like this land?”
“It’ll eventually spread towards here. Patel says his final plan of attack is Canterlot. That’s too close, so I want to make sure we stop him before we have to worry about that.”
“Why do you care about the others countries so much?” asked Poncho in a curious manner. “Normally, you wouldn’t bother but you care now?”
“I already told you,” said Clyde in a serious attitude. “I don’t want Arlin attacking Canterlot, Verona, or Ponyville.”
“Ah. There we go,” said Poncho. “I knew you needed a motive to help the greater good of the world.”
Clyde looked at him with anger. “What’s that suppose to mean?”
Poncho laughed. “You know what it means. You are only doing this to protect your bitch. Speaking of that cold hearted bitch, she’s probably-”
Poncho was unable to finish his sentence as Clyde punched him in the chest. As Poncho went down to grab his chest and take a breath, Clyde shoved him against the wall. Clyde began to pull back his hoof to strike again, this time at his face. As he was about to punch, Tyrone grabbed Clyde and pulled him away.
“Damn bro!” yelled Tyrone. “Don’t do this!”
“Yeah Clyde,” said Patel. “What the hell are you doing?”
Poncho stood against the wall frozen in place as Clyde struggled against Tyrone’s grip. “Let me go...” said Clyde, still looking at Poncho. He attempted moving forward, but was held back and slowly being pulled away from him by Tyrone.
“Don’t do this Clyde,” said Poncho, breathing heavily. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“No, I’m not holding back this time, there are no witnesses,” said Clyde in full rage. Still flailing around, he managed to break free of Tyrone and charged back at Poncho. As he got close, Tyrone grabbed him again and pulled him backwards. “I told you to never defile her honor. I’m tired of you douchebags calling her names when she did nothing to you in the first place.” He looked at Patel and Poncho.
“Me?” asked Patel confused on such the sudden anger. This was the first time he ever saw Clyde get this angry before. “I did it one time and then joked about it.”
Clyde glared at Poncho. “Him though. He does it everytime we talk.”
Poncho stayed against the wall and looked at Clyde. He could see the anger in his eyes and felt a fire. Poncho knew he liked to joke around a lot, but he could tell Clyde was one hundred percent serious. Feeling bad he sighed.
“Clyde, man, I’m sorry. I know what you’re trying to say but letting it get to you isn’t helping because you don’t have to beat me up at all. You know who she truly is and don’t let some asshole like me mess with you. I’m just a fuck boy and a dick.”
Patel stared at him then began clapping. “Deep man. That was deep.”
Tyrone wanted to join the clapping but forgot he was still holding back Clyde, however, Clyde wasn’t trying to break free anymore. Tyrone let him go and began clapping. Clyde stood there for a moment and looked at Poncho. Poncho looked back and occasionally looked away so he wouldn’t start another fight.
Clyde walked up to him and extended his hoof. “No more pointless fights, huh? You are right, I shouldn’t care that much about what my friends tell me.”
Poncho grabbed his hoof and shook it. “So when are we leaving?”
“All we need is Wahlburn and Cannon and if anybody else is there at the party,” said Patel. “Hurry your ass up.”
Poncho jumped and quickly, and still somehow sketchily, ran back inside to get some things. After four minutes, He came out with a two saddlebags. One was for his items and the other was filled with chips.
The four of them continued down the path towards their old school. The closer they got to it, the more ponies they saw walking around. As they got to the entrance of the campus, the castle shaped sign that read ‘Castle’, they saw lights and lots of ponies going in and out of the main residence hall.
“Welp,” said Poncho. “I guess they are in there somewhere.”
“What kind of party is this anyway?” asked Patel. “Why are these so many here? Don’t they have something productive to do instead of this place?”
“It’s some sort of reunion thing,” said Clyde, “well that’s what my letter said at least.”
“Shit man. I haven’t been here since I walked off the court last it seems.” Tyrone wiped a small tear.
“Yeah? At least you were able to fully walk off the court,” said Clyde disappointedly.
Tyrone looked at him and patted him on the shoulder. “Shit mayne. I forgot.”
“Enough talk,” said Patel. “It’s almost midnight. Let’s extract and get out of this place.” The other three nodded and ran towards the hall. They squeezed through the crowd at the door and entered the building.
The loudness of the music, and the amount of ponies, made them feel like it was Amsterdam all over again. To make the search go faster, Patel wanted them to split up and cover the different floors. Luckily for them, there were only four floors to cover, so each of them could take one.
“Meet back outside when you are finished your floor!” yelled Patel over the loud music. “If there aren’t any questions, let’s get going!”
Poncho lifted his hoof. “I have a question!”
“What the fuck is it!”
“What if we don’t find any of them here!”
“Then we just go ourselves! We four can handle it!” Patel then quickly fled to the staircase. The others followed, except Poncho who had the ground floor.
Poncho politely asked others to move as he traveled through the hallway and dorm rooms. He searched each one and after finding nothing important, quickly fled the hall and sat down at a table. He took out some chips from one of his bags and began to eat them, waiting for the others to come back.
Tyrone walked into the first room of the second floor and looked around. The music wasn’t as loud on the second floor, as the first floor was mostly the main party place, so he could hear himself think.
“Alright, where are my homies at?” Tyrone went room to room to find that this floor was basically empty. Bored, Tyrone decided to go up to the third floor and search with Clyde. As he walked up the stairwell, he saw Clyde waiting outside of the hallway door.
“What are you doing?” asked Tyrone.
“They won’t let me in,” said Clyde. “I’m about to just call quits and go downstairs. I heard that all drugs and alcohol related events are on the fourth floor anyways.”
Tyrone looked through the window of the door. All the rooms were closed and on every door handle was a sock.
“Sheeeeit,” said Tyrone. “No wonder why this door is locked. They are all trying to get laid!”
“Well, guess we go to the fourth floor now?” asked Clyde.
“Nah, let’s just go outside. Patel can handle those guys.”
As Patel walked into the fourth floor hallway, he could smell the aroma of weed. He walked in the first open room and sure enough, Wahlburn was in the process of smoking a bong. Patel looked around the room and saw that Cannon was also in the room passed out on the floor beside him.
“Wahlburn!” yelled Patel.
Wahlburn set the bong down and looked at him. He silently stared at him and blew a puff of smoke. “Patel, brother.”
“You almost done? We need to head out west.”
“The west?” said Wahlburn. “For what?”
“Gotta stop the mass amount of Arlin clones in the world.”
Wahlburn sighed and looked at the ceiling. “Do I get to blow shit up or kill some dudes?”
“Yeah probably! We need to blow up this portal thing at Area-Fifty Juan!”
Wahlburn looked at him wide-eyed. “AFJ you say? Why didn’t you tell me!” Wahlburn quickly jumped up. “That place has got to have some crazy weapons and shit.”
“Cool,” said Patel. He looked down at Cannon. “Wake his ass up, we’re leaving.”
“We’re? Who’s all here?” asked Wahlburn.
“Clyde and Tyrone. Also Poncho.”
Wahlburn laughed. “Poncho....” After he stopped laughing, he picked up a pillow of the couch and threw it at Cannon. Cannon didn’t budge. Wahlburn sighed and picked up a book on the table beside him. He threw it at Cannon and waited for a response. Just like the pillow, Cannon never budged.
“Alright, what the fuck,” said Wahlburn angrily. He got up beside him and leaned down towards his ear. “Hey!” he shouted.
Cannon jumped up and looked around like he was in a daze. “What?”
“Get up you fuck face,” said Wahlburn. “We are leaving this joint.” He pointed to the joint on the table. “Oh, and we are leaving this party too.”
Cannon rubbed his eyes and tried forcing them open. He saw Patel and waved. “What are you doing here Patel?”
“Getting you douches. It’s time to finish Arlin once and for all.”
“Arlin?” said Cannon. “Who the fuck is that?”
“I’ll explain the whole story again on our flight there. Let’s go.” Patel walked out of the room. Wahlburn helped Cannon up and followed him.
They hustled down the stairwell and back into the bottom floor hallway. After pushing and shoving their way to the exit, the three stumbled outside and went to the table where Poncho, Clyde, and Tyrone were waiting. They quickly got reacquainted with each other and stopped to listen to Patel.
“Alright, is there anybody else we can get? Is Fluffy available?”
“I don’t think so,” said Cannon. “I think he told me last week he was going to go visit South Beach for the month due to the weather at this time of year.
“Alright,” said Patel. He looked over at Wahlburn and noticed something. “Hey Wahlburn, where’s Spike.”
Wahlburn laughed. “Well, while you were gone last week, Twilight decided to stop by and tell Spike to come back to Ponyville with her.”
“No way!” said Patel. “So he was in town when I was there earlier.”
“Yeah,” said Wahlburn sadly. “Spike obviously didn’t want to go, and I tried telling her that she just let him do what he wanted, but she kept pulling the ‘he’s only a baby’ card. I got annoyed with her, so I called her a cunt, and that...well that didn’t sit too well with her guards she had with her.”
“Holy shit,” said Patel.
“Yeah I know. I almost got ordered to get executed by a Princess.” Wahlburn laughed again. “Anyways, Spike said he would go back to Ponyville, if I didn’t die. She let me live, but now that I think about it, I don’t think she was going to kill me anyways. She doesn’t seem to be that type of pony.”
“That little fucker,” said Patel thinking of Spike. “He’s such a cool dude.”
“Yeah,” said Wahlburn. “I’ll miss him. I never saw a dragon that liked weed as much as I did. Actually, I never saw a dragon before so that was another reason why he was a cool dude.”
“Anyways, you guys ready to leave?”
“Shit man, I’m down to kill some things.”
“How do you know we are going to fight anything?” asked Cannon. “It could just be a sneak in and out thing?”
“I don’t give a shit,” said Wahlburn grinning. “There’s three things in this world I’m good at; smoking, screwing, and fucking shit up.”
“That’s a nice motto,” said Cannon hoof bumping him.
Patel sighed. “Can we just go now?”
Wahlburn and Cannon nodded. “Yeah.”
The team quickly got in two sets of cabs and ordered them to race to the airport. At first the cab drivers were hesitant, but they soon realized that it was midnight and nobody was really out traveling at this time. Instead of the normal hour it took to get to the Canterlot airport, it only took them twenty minutes. The groups of three tipped their cabs greatly and ran inside the terminal. They quickly went through the security check and ran to the gate of their flight.
Seeing how Patel went out of the way to gather them all up, he bought everybody the tickets. They settled for regular seats this time instead of First Class they bought for their trip to London and Amsterdam. Their seats were six in the row, three per side being divided by the middle aisle. Poncho sat the window seat with Cannon in the middle and Wahlburn beside him against the aisle. On the right side of the row, Patel had the window seat with Clyde in the middle and Tyrone was the aisle seat. Tyrone liked this seat a lot as he could look at the flight attendants when they walked by, just like Amsterdam.
The flight took five hours, but due to time zones, it was only two in the morning. After the whole flight disembarkment routine and grind, Patel led them outside. In the distance was the neon lit city of Las Pegas, but Patel walked away from it.
“It’s about a mile or two in the desert behind those hills,” said Patel pointing. The others looked in the direction and sighed. The mountains were still five miles away. Patel began walking as the others slowly walked behind him.