After two hours of eating, talking to the others, or just waiting, Skarlin returned and gathered up the group. “Are you ready?” he asked them once everyone formed up. They nodded and Skarlin turned around. “Follow me.”
He led them to a small room in a back hallway of the building. The room was small and contained nothing except a lone staircase that went down. They went down and once at the base of the staircase, saw that it was connected to a long, narrow, and dim tunnel.
“What is this place?” asked Wahlburn.
“You’ll see,” replied Skarlin. He began walking towards the darkness at the end of the tunnel. They all watched him disappear within the darkness and quickly tried to catch up to him. They all soon realized that the tunnel was not only getting brighter, but it was starting to slope downwards. After a couple minutes of walking straight, they arrived at a huge underground room where Skarlin and other clones were in.
The room was filled with various hay dummies being hit by swords, axes, arrows and all other sorts of weapons. After watching the clones in awe, Skarlin gathered the group over to him. As they converged towards him, Skarlin picked up a box. He opened it and gave everyone one a small stone. As they touched them, they gave off a small aura for a second then laid dead.
“Don’t throw that yet,” he said to them. They did as they were told and just looked at the strange stone on their hoof. It looked completely normal to them but decided to leave it still. “Alright so these stones are going to help you train. I want you to place the stones on the ground and mix them up. After that, each one of you pick a stone up. We can begin after that.”
Confused, the group gently place their stone down on the ground between them all. Patel got on the low on the ground and mixed the stones around quickly and stood back up. He looked at the others who nodded. Patel picked up a stone as the others followed suit. After all the stones were in each other’s hoof, Skarlin spoke up.
“Alright, who wants to head in the ring first?” Skarlin turned around and showed them an combat ring below them in a pit. It was sunken into the ground about twelve feet and the only way out of it was to climb the small rope in the corner.
“I’ll go!” yelled Cannon excitedly. Skarlin nodded and threw down the rope to the bottom pit. Cannon gave a salute and slowly descended into the ring. He looked up at them and laughed.
“What is this place Skarlin?” asked Patel.
“This is our underground training area. Since Jarlin can’t contact us down here, it’s perfect for training. Normally, we would train our new recruits outside to fight dragons and other demons, but since he can just scan the area with his mind, he knows what we are doing.”
“I’m ready!” yelled Cannon from below them. Skarlin and the others leaned over the rails to watch below.
“Alright gent, throw your stone at the ground a few feet away from you!” yelled Skarlin from above. Cannon nodded and looked at the stone in his hoof. He quickly pulled back his hoof and threw the stone on the other side of the ring. As the stone hit the ground, a flash of light burst out of it. Soon, smoke rose from the spot and shaped a dome around the stone. Once the smoke cleared, Cannon was face to face with Tyrone.
“Wait a goddamn minute!” yelled Tyrone from above. “That’s me! Who does that punk ass bitch think he is!”
“No, it’s a carbon copy of you,” said Skarlin. “Like us clones, you share the same features as the original. Except unlike us, your copy will share your personality and whatnot.”
Cannon looked at the fake Tyrone and laughed. “Sorry T, but I’m about to kick your ass.”
“You’re lucky my ass isn’t down there,” said Tyrone bitterly. Cannon laughed again and began walking around the ring, ready to pounce. He rattled his trident around in his hoof while holding on to the rope on his side. The Tyrone copy looked at him and drew out his daggers.
The Tyrone copy watched Cannon’s circular movements and without haste, threw one of his daggers at him. Cannon dodged it and watched it fly into the stone wall. He laughed and turned back to face him. As he turned around, he saw that the Tyrone copy was a few inches away about to strike.
Tyrone’s copy began slashing at Cannon’s neck with his lone dagger. Cannon defended his attacks off one by one with his trident’s handle. After a noticeable opportunity, Cannon flicked his trident upwards that disarmed Tyrone’s copy’s dagger and launched it to the side of the ring. Tyrone’s copy punched Cannon in the face to distract him while he rushed towards his dagger.
Cannon quickly recovered and saw that his opponent was trying to retrieve his weapon. He smirked and threw the trident as his foe. As the trident sailed through the air, Cannon held on the rope, ready to pull back. The trident pierced Tyrone’s copy in the back leg through his leather armor. Cannon pulled on the rope as hard as he could which made the copy of Tyrone fall down. Cannon quickly rushed up to him, still retaining force on the rope, and pulled out his own dagger. He kicked the copy over, and stabbed him in the throat with the dagger and let go of the rope. He saw the copy’s eyes become still and turn white.
As he pulled his dagger out, Cannon noticed there wasn’t any blood. Confused he looked up at Skarlin. “What gives?” As he looked back down, the Tyrone copy burst into smoke. Once Cannon cleared the smoke, all that was remained was his trident.
“These aren’t exact copies of you gent,” called out Skarlin from above. He threw down the rope and held on to it so Cannon could climb back up. “The stone produces copies out of smoke. Once you make a deadly blow that would make a gap into someone, the smoke is no longer connected so they disappear. It’s a neat little spell in my opinion.”
Cannon slowly ascended the rope to regroup with the others. “Man, I never really knew how hard it was to climb ropes,” said Cannon.
“Who wants to go next?” asked Skarlin. The group looked around to see who wanted to be the new participant in the pit. Cannon stood there smiling as he could just sit back and relax now after being victorious.
Wahlburn lifted his hoof. “I’ll do it. I want to kick some ass.”
“You know the drill,” said Skarlin holding onto the rope. It took Wahlburn longer to reach the bottom of the pit than it did Cannon due to the fact he was equipped with heavy steel armor and a heavy sword.
“You should of just threw the armor and sword down there first, then go down the rope!” yelled Cannon from above.
“Too late now,” said Wahlburn. He looked back up the rope and frowned. “I think climbing up is going to be a lot harder anyways.” He shook his head and walked over to the corner of the ring. He looked at the stone in his hoof and threw it at the opposite corner.
Just like Cannon’s stone, his stone followed the same routine. After the smoke cleared, Patel’s copy stood there, clad in his leather armor.
“Oh look at that handsome stallion down there!” yelled Patel, “just look at all that swag!” He laughed as the others rolled their eyes. Patel’s copy quickly threw on his hood. He drew his longbow and quickly nocked an arrow, pointing towards Wahlburn.
Wahlburn laughed and banged on his helmet with his hoof. “I guess I got lucky on this one!” He drew his greatsword and rested it on his back. As he began his slow walk, Patel’s copy started firing his arrows. Wahlburn laughed as the clanked off his armor. “Too easy!”
Wahlburn stood in front of Patel’s copy and pulled his greatsword off his back. He gripped it with both hooves and swung downwards with all his strength. Patel’s copy rolled forward so he was behind Wahlburn. He quickly nocked another arrow and shot Wahlburn in the space where no armor was on his hind leg. Wahlburn clenched his teeth at the pain, but quickly pulled up his massive sword and cut downwards behind him.
Patel’s copy dodged it again and shot an arrow at his neck. Wahlburn quickly lowered his head so the arrow would bounce off his helmet and tried to spin around with the sword. Patel’s copy tried jumping over it, but at the last second, Wahlburn lifted the sword up with all his strength and cut the copy in the chest.
Patel’s copy went flying backwards and crashed into the wall. Wahlburn stared at it laughing at first, but realized, because it didn’t burst into smoke, it wasn’t a fatal blow. Wahlburn quickly turned his head around and pulled out the arrow in his hind leg. He grimaced at the sudden pain and shook it off. Patel’s copy was sitting against the floor, nocking and firing arrows at a drop of a flash. Wahlburn shifted his body at every arrow to make them ineffective and slashed downwards at the copy. Patel’s copy held his bow with both hooves horizontally to block the blade, but after Wahlburn’s extra force, the blade cut through the bow and through the leather armor. The copy transformed into smoke and Wahlburn waved it away.
“Man, I’m used to smoke, but this is ridiculous.” He slowly walked over to the rope where Skarlin hovered over. “How the fuck am I suppose to climb up this? My leg hurts and this armor is heavy as shit.”
“Hold right there,” yelled Skarlin. “I’ll see if some of our mages can lift you.” Skarlin ran over to a group of unicorns to talk to them while Cannon walked over to the rope. He looked down at Wahlburn and uncontrollably laughed.
“The fuck are you laughing at!” yelled Wahlburn so Cannon could hear him.
“It’s nothing,” said Cannon. “I mean, I barely even broke a sweat down there. It looks like you are hurting.”
“Why is that funny?”
“I don’t know. It just is for me.”
Skarlin soon returned with a small group of five unicorns. Skarlin pointed down towards the pit and the unicorns nodded and looked down at Wahlburn. Wahlburn quickly was engulfed by the magical aura and slowly began being raised from the pit. After a minute of concentration and silence, Wahlburn was placed on the ground beside his friends.
“Thanks a lot,” said Wahlburn as he began taking his armor off. The unicorns nodded in unison and walked away. As Wahlburn was fiddling with his armor, Patel turned towards Skarlin.
“Why do you have us fight each other?” he asked. “Why don’t we fight ourselves?”
Skarlin looked at him and glanced down at the pit. “That would be too easy. I wanted you to mix up the stones so you could learn something from all of this other than how well you fare in combat.”
“What’s that then?”
“Tell me, since your clone had already fought, what did you learn from watching it fight your heavy armored friend over there?”
Patel stroked his chin. “Well, I noticed my copy kept firing at his torso until he dodged and shot the weak spot on his hind leg.” Patel looked at him some more until that imaginary light flashed in his head. “Oh I get it now, you want us to watch what not and what to do!”
“Precisely. Take your other friend over there,” said Skarlin pointing at Tyrone. “His clone made a mistake in the very beginning and that was throwing his dagger. That may have helped in a close combat situation, but at that distance, no one would do that unless they absolutely knew it was going to change the outcome of the fight for the better.”
“Can I go next?” asked Patel.
“I don’t see why not.” Skarlin held on to the rope so Patel could rappel down the wall. Once he was a few feet from the bottom, he launched off the wall and landed on the ground. He flicked his hood up and pulled his quiver onto his back where he could easily access it. He tossed the stone at the ground and soon the smoke formed the dome. As it cleared, the smoke copy of Clyde was seen.
“Oh boy,” said Patel. He looked at the copy while aiming his bow. He called up to his friends above him. “Hey Clyde, you should really learn to wear a helmet because this one arrow is going to end your life.”
The real Clyde gave a chuckle and leaned over the railing. “Do it then.”
“You asked for it.” Patel released the arrow and watched it sail in the air towards Clyde’s copy. As the arrow was a few feet away, the copy flicked the rapier up and deflected the arrow. The copy lowered his head and rushed towards Patel.
Patel began firing arrows at a quicker pace, while slowly stepping backwards. Clyde’s copy either dodged them by contorting his body, or with a flick of the rapier.
“I guess those concentration drills for basketball taught me how to concentrate on arrows,” said Clyde as he watched himself advance towards Patel.
“You’re ass is welcome,” said Tyrone with a grin.
As Clyde’s copy went for a quick slash at him, Patel rolled to the side and attempted to nock an arrow. Since this copy was wearing the lighter leather armor, his turn to face him surprised Patel and he fumbled with the arrow.
“Shit,” said Patel quietly to himself. He moved around to dodge the rapier’s quick slashes and tried another arrow to fire. Clyde’s copy caught the curve of the bow and flicked it out of his hooves. As Patel watched the bow fly out of his hooves and hit the ground a few inches away, he quickly dove towards it. As he landed on the bow, Clyde’s copy tried poking him with his weapon while he was down. Patel quickly rolled onto his back and smacked the sword out of the copy’s hoove, sending it flying to the other side of the pit.
The copy quickly drew out his small parrying dagger hidden in his armor’s sleeve and lunged at Patel’s head, only missing by a few inches. Patel took this time to take his bow and sling it over the copy’s head, pulling him downwards. As he pulled the copy down, Patel slid to the left side and got up so he was pulling the bow back tightly on Clyde’s copy’s neck with the unbreakable bowstring. Patel quickly stepped on the copy’s head with one of his front hooves and resumed pulling the bow back with the other.
“You’re going to choke him out!” yelled Clyde from above in anger. “Don’t let him suffer like that!”
“It won’t work anyway,” replied Skarlin. “Choking isn’t a fatal gash into the copy to break the spell. You have to create an almost instantly death injury.”
Patel continued his force on the Clyde’s copy’s head and the bow, as the copy was flailing his hooves around to escape. Patel looked behind him and looked at one of the copy’s hind legs. He remembered something and gave a dark smile.
“Hey Clyde!” yelled Patel. He shifted one of his own hind legs backwards, parallel to one of the copy’s. “Don’t hate me for this, but I wouldn’t look.” He lifted his right hind leg and shoved it down towards the copy’s left hind leg. Due to the force, the angle of the impact, and because of Clyde’s prior injury to that hind leg a few years back, the leg snapped into two.
Because it wasn’t an actual being and just a mere copy made of smoke, the injury didn’t make a loud noise from where they were, but it was noticeable and was gruesome to them. The group above all yelled in disgust at the sight, while Clyde walked away from it as soon as it happened.
Patel let go of the copy’s head and neck and watched it squirm in silent agony. Patel slowly nocked an arrow and aimed straight at the temple. With a quick twang, the arrow pierced the copy’s skull and it soon burst into smoke.
Patel began his climb up while Cannon looked at Skarlin. “These things have bones?”
Skarlin shrugged. “It would appear so. I guess the spell even covers all prior injuries and skeletal structures, trying to give it a more realistic feel.”
“Well that’s freaky as fuck,” said Cannon. He walked over to the others and waited for Patel to reach the top of the rope. As they group congratulated Patel on his victory once he reached the top, Patel looked around.
“Where’s Clyde?” he asked them.
“He left after you sort of snapped his leg again,” said Cannon.
“That wasn’t him though.”
“Yeah, but it probably reminded him of that injury.”
“Seriously?” asked Patel in disdain. “It’s been a few years now. I’m going to go talk to him.” Patel searched around the underground training room to spy his friend. After looking past a group of Arlin clones hitting some targets, he saw him sitting down and leaning on a rock with his eyes closed. Patel walked up to him quietly and sat atop the rock looking down at him.
“What do you want?” asked Clyde without opening his eyes. “Are you going to do that to me now?”
Patel laughed. “Maybe if you betray me in the future.” He looked down and Clyde was flicking his rapier around. “It was a joke.”
“I know.” Clyde stood up and looked over at the group, who was missing Tyrone. He lifted his left hind leg, the one still with the glaring scar from the injury and surgery, and shook it around. “Do you know why I left over there?”
“Because I kicked your ass?” Patel laughed and looked at the serious Clyde. He frowned. “Sorry, joking again.”
“Ever since that incident, I gained a fear of injuring my leg again. I refuse to watch the video clip of it happening.”
“That’s normal once you have an injury.”
“Yeah, but it still bothers me slightly. Most other athletes who require injury come back the next year like nothing ever happened.” Clyde looked at the ground sadly.
Patel, because he hates sappy talks, tried to comfort him. “I bet they still worry about it occasionally. They just don’t tell anyone else.” Patel looked at the others and saw Tyrone already climbing out of the ring. “Instead of constantly worrying about that injury happening again, think of something else that makes you happy.” Patel sighed after realizing what he said, but he saw Clyde nod to himself.
“Yeah, I guess that’s all I can do for now.” Clyde got up and returned to the group leaving Patel bewildered.
“Yeah, no problem man,” he said to himself. Once Patel returned, he saw Tyrone with a happy grin on his face. “What’s with him?” he asked the others.
“Man, I’ll tell you,” said Tyrone. “After you left, I decided it was my turn down there. So I go down there and my opponent is Cannon. I was all like, time to get my revenge for my smoke copy brother.”
“Shut up,” said Cannon with crossed arms.
“Nah dawg. Anyway, just for the fuck of it, I throw, not one, but both of my daggers at him. He dodged them and I heard these boys up here laughing at me. I wasn’t about to have that shit. I ran up to the copy and jumped over his trident which he threw at me.”
“Okay.”
“So, I’m up in this dawg’s face. With one damn punch, I knock that lil’ bitch down to the ground and I start wailing on him. He couldn’t even move because my punches were so powerful. After beating him up for a few seconds, I steal his own dagger and stab him in the chest.” Tyrone leaned on the railing and grinned. “Gotta love my curling.”
Patel began laughing. “Damnit Clyde. You made me miss this pure ownage.”
Clyde rolled his eyes and walked up to the rope. He looked back at Poncho who was staring at some sort of thing on the floor. “I’ll go next. I face either Poncho or Wahlburn.”
Skarlin nodded and held on to the rope. Clyde grabbed on and slowly held on as he walked down the wall towards the bottom of the pit. After reaching the bottom, he equipped his rapier from his side and looked at the pommel. After focusing on it for a few seconds and some thinking in his head, he held it to the side and tossed the smoke copy stone on the ground in front of him. After the smoke cleared, Wahlburn’s clone stood tall.
Clyde stood there waiting for Wahlburn’s copy to move. Wahlburn’s copy pulled out his greatsword from his back and gripped it with both hooves. He lined it up with Clyde from across the pit and drew it back. He placed it on his back and charged at Clyde. Clyde remained still while solely focusing on his opponent.
“He’s going to fucking die if he just stands there,” said Cannon. “What are you doing!”
Clyde ignored Cannon and remained still. Wahlburn’s copy’s run began to slow and he was in the process of grabbing his sword again. By the time Wahlburn’s copy was a few yards away, he jumped and pulled out his greatsword. He lined the sword up again and pushed downward, right for Clyde’s skull. As the sword was a few inches away, there was a loud ‘clang’.
Clyde had caught the greatsword between his rapier and parrying dagger while crossing his hooves.. He held on to Wahlburn’s copy’s sword as the copy tried pushing down to break the hold. Due to the hold being in a ‘X’ shape, the copy’s force couldn’t break it. Clyde flicked his hooves to the right which disarmed the copy. Clyde quickly stabbed his throat and the copy exploded into smoke. Clyde waved it off and looked up.
“How’s that?” he asked.
“What the fuck was that!” yelled Cannon. “You just so happened to stand there the whole time and pull out a counter like that?”
“I guess?”
“Well, it was pretty sweet,” said Wahlburn.
Clyde climbed up the rope and sat down on the ground. “I wasn’t expecting that to be that easy.”
“What the hell were you thinking about while standing there?” asked Wahlburn as he patted his buddy on the shoulder.
“I told myself to think of your copy as my worries involving my injury. If I can beat this copy, then my worries would also be defeated.”
“Well did it work?”
Clyde nodded. “I think so. I still refuse to watch the clip though.”
As Clyde was recovering from his quick battle, Poncho nervously looked around as he was the last one to battle. The others also realized this and turned towards him.
“Hey Poncho,” said Patel with a grin.
“W-What?”
“Looks like you’re next dawg,” said Tyrone.
“B-But...”
“It’s not that bad,” said Cannon. “Just think of your copy as a thing we hate and you’ll win in no time.”
Poncho gulped and slowly walked towards the rope. He looked behind him and saw his friends begin to start a slow clap. As the clapping grew louder, Poncho felt the nervousness inside of him begin to fade. He lifted his hoof and began the rappel down. He heard the roaring applause as he slowly descended into the pit. Once at the bottom, he looked around above him and saw his friends looking down at him.
“Hey Poncho!” yelled Cannon. “Don’t fuck up! If you lose, well, you’ll be the only one to. Don’t do that!”
Poncho gave a heroic wave and gulped again. He threw the last smoke stone on the ground and waited for it to clear to face himself. As the other Poncho rose from the smoke, the real Poncho felt a spark inside him.
“What do we call the other Poncho?” asked Cannon to the others. “Sketchbag 2.0?”
“How about ‘Nega Poncho?’” suggested Patel. The others decided to just go with it because they wanted to watch the fight.
Poncho looked at Nega Poncho with a serious attitude, something that was very uncommon for him. He gripped on the handle of his zweihander with his right hoof and pulled it off his back. He attached it to his utility horseshoes and gripped it with both hooves. After some deep breaths, he looked at his counterpart. Nega Poncho was in the same stance and was also ready to battle.
After a staring contest for the century, both Ponchos rushed toward each other, their zweihanders at the ready on their backs. Once they were in range, they quickly gripped their swords handle and swung as hard as they could. The impact of the two massive swords made a loud metallic noise and knocked both Ponchos to the ground. They quickly got back up and swung at each other again.
After clashing swords three times in a row, Poncho took a stop for a quick breath while Nega Poncho hit him with the pommel. Poncho fell down and looked up as he saw Nega Poncho about to strike the ground with his own zweihander. Poncho quickly held his zweihander horizontally to protect himself. As Nega Poncho struggled to crush him with the sword, Poncho kicked out his enemy’s legs to make him stumble. Poncho sat up as fast as he could and did a low sweep with his weapon. Nega Poncho fell down as Poncho stood above him.
In an attempt to swing downwards, Poncho stopped midway as Nega Poncho copied his trick with the horizontal sword block. Poncho smiled and instead of continuing downwards with the cut, he put the sword under the block and lifted it up. Nega Poncho’s zweihander went flying to the side of the pit as Poncho stood there laughing. He turned the sword upside down and with both hooves on the pommel, thrusted the sword into Nega Poncho’s chest. As the blade penetrated the leather armor, the smoke copy exploded and with him gone, the smoke copies were no more.
Poncho took deep breaths and dropped his sword. He looked up at the others above him, who were staring at him with their mouths open. He tied the zweihander on his back and looked at the rope. He slowly began to climb while thinking of his awesome combat skills he just witnessed himself.
Even though it wasn’t a serious battle to the death, he still felt the adrenaline of a hero building inside him. He felt like he could do anything without any struggles and he didn’t want to feeling to leave him.
He soon reached the top as his friends came over to congratulate him, tell him how much of a badass he looked, and how glad there isn’t another sketchy pony like him alive. Skarlin walked over to them.
“Well, looks like you all didn’t die,” he said in a calm tone.
“What’s next for training?” asked Wahlburn. “I want to keep kicking ass.”
“Hate to break it to you, but there isn’t anymore training.” The group all gasped.
“No more?” asked Cannon in disbelief, “what do you mean “no more?” We still have to get stronger to take on Jarlin.”
Skarlin looked at him gravely. “No, you’re perfectly able to battle his forces now, as they aren’t that strong. It’s just Jarlin that you have to worry about. You all exceeded my expectations down in that pit, and were all victorious with any real harm to you. Jarlin doesn’t normally fight you with melee.”
“Then why have us do all of this trouble with these weapons?” asked Patel. He waved around his bow and looked at it with a frown.
“So when and if Jarlin summoned his weak familiars, some of you can attack them while some others go after Jarlin. He can’t concentrate on two groups at the same time.”
“Oh,” said Patel. “Well, all that leaves left is training for Jarlin’s mind games and we should be fine.”
Skarlin turned around. “That’s the problem, you can’t train for it.” The group gasped yet again.
“Whaaaat?” said Poncho, “then just how are we able to resist the mind games without any sort of practice?”
“You will just have to resist on the spot. No one here knows how to perform that dark magic.” Skarlin turned back towards them and looked at each of them. “It’s your choice now, you can either practice down here, go eat and rest, or we can just assault his tower right now.”
Patel and the others sighed. They looked around the room and in unison voted for the eat and rest option. Skarlin nodded and led them back through the narrow underground tunnel and up the stairs to the main hall where many other Arlin clones were sitting around and eating.
As the group ate, they discussed their game plan for tomorrow's battle. Wahlburn, Cannon, and Tyrone agreed to fight off Jarlin’s army of restored corpses with all of the other Arlin clones, as Patel, Clyde, and Poncho were in charge of dealing with Jarlin. They finished dinner in silence as they went to go rest up for the following day’s meeting at last.