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

	The rest of the night had them all unable to sleep. Most of them were excited for tomorrow as they were going to get back home. They thought of all the things they would do as soon as they stepped back in their comfy home. They would lounge all day long and do absolutely nothing because in their minds, they knew they were heroes.
The others had it rough. They were kept up due to thinking about the future and the possible outcome that what would occur if they died and wasn’t able to return home. How would others react to their death? Would they be remembered or just forgotten about after the funeral forever?

The next morning quickly arrived and the six of them woke up and got ready. They quickly equipped their armor and gear and waited in the main hall. During this time, all of the Arlin clones were also getting ready for battle. Skarlin was grouping some of them into smaller groups so it would be easier to explain the plan. Poncho, who was the last one to get ready, walked into the hall and looked at his friends.
“This is it guys, our last adventure,” he said to them. He had sadness in his voice, which the others picked up on it.
“What are you talking about?” asked Patel. “This isn’t our last adventure.”
“It might be,” replied Poncho. “What is there else to do after we stop Arlin?”
“I don’t know about world saving, but there is still ‘Bro Nights’,” said Cannon. “Those won’t ever end.”
“They better not,” said Clyde. “I’ve been forced to go to some of Rarity and her friends’ ‘Girl Nights’ and those just aren’t fun.”
Cannon smirked. “At least you fucked them all right?”
Clyde looked at him with a sarcastic expression. “Yes, because that’s exactly how those things work.” He rolled his eyes and Cannon laughed and patted him on the back. 
“Anyways,” said Wahlburn. “When I get home I’m throwing a party. I’m inviting weed, booze, and hookers so you all are invited.”
“Can we get Spike?” asked Patel and Cannon simultaneously.
“You guys can get that bastard, I’m not going anywhere near that damn treehouse.”
“Clyde can get him for us,” said Patel with a smirk.
“Are you serious?” replied Clyde. “Why do I have to do everything for you guys?”
“Well,” said Wahlburn with a smile, “you and I both know that since you are friends with nearly everybody in that town, you can help us get Spike back. Just go over there and ask Twilight if Spike wants to hang out or something.”
“I don’t even think I talked to him ten times in my life! Solve your own problems.” Clyde sat down on the ground to wait for Skarlin to come over and talk to them. He looked up at Wahlburn. “You know, maybe if you didn’t get him all into weed, you could still be “best buddies” with him.”
“He was already a fan of weed!” yelled Wahlburn. “I wasn’t going to say no to a damn pot-loving dragon! I could have got burned alive!”
“He’s like two feet tall!” exclaimed Clyde.
“He breathes fucking fire!” 
The two stopped talking at this point as Skarlin began to walk over to them. Clyde stood up and got in line with his friends. Skarlin approached them and looked at them individually. “Well warriors, it’s time to wage battle on Jarlin and hopefully break out of this cursed portal.” Skarlin popped in his pipe and quickly lit it. “Any more questions before we leave?”
“How far away is this tower?” asked Poncho.
“Not far, it’s about a mile away. You can see it and the plateau from outside of this building.”
Poncho and the others nodded and looked at each other one last time. They nodded and walked towards the doors. Skarlin nodded at them and lifted his hoof. The groups of clones saluted and burst out of the doors, running in a formal line. Skarlin followed suit while the group did as well.
Once they felt the morning sunshine of Ciyelor, they looked around. Where they stood was atop a large hill. Below them, they could see the small town and pathways up to the main hall. Beside the town, was a large lake that seemed to never end. 
It was their first time in this fake world where they weren’t in a building or underground so they looked at all the detail in this artificial world. The grass was bright green and full of life, the sky and clouds were realistic looking, and the water by the lake below them looked deep blue. Even the minor waves of the lake looked natural to them.
Beside the vast lake below them, they noticed that the lake itself was in the middle of a large valley. Large rocky walls surrounded the lake and beamed over them. From what they could tell, both sides of the valley were flat at the top.
“Hey over here!” yelled Skarlin as he beckoned them over to him with his hoof. They ran over the him and saw a pathway leading up to one of the sides of the valley. After a closer look, they saw a small vertical line in the distance on the top of the cliff. 	“His tower is that small line up ahead. If we hurry now, we can reach it before the new hour.”
Skarlin, the army of clones, and the group began their journey up the cliff. As they walked upwards, they looked around and below them to watch the small town, lake, and hall begin to shrink. They looked upwards towards the tower, which was slowly growing.
About thirty minutes up the path, Poncho sighed and turned his head towards Skarlin. “Are we almost there man?”
“Close. About ten minutes away at most.” As Skarlin looked at the tower, he and the rest of the army and group felt a powerful feeling in the air. They all stopped walking and shook their heads and felt it again.
Ah. I see your futile army has reached my tower. I accept your challenge of war, but it was already known that you were coming. The voice faded out as the army stared at one another. 
“Keep moving!” yelled Skarlin. They continued their march and after a few paces, they saw a horde of glowing ponies rush down the path at them. “Army, this is it! Charge forward as we move up! You must not let them best you!” The army saluted again and rushed up the path towards Jarlin’s horde. Skarlin looked over at the group.
“Follow them up the hill! There we will split up.”
“We can’t fight running up the path!” yelled Wahlburn. “I need both my hooves to use my blade, but I can’t run if that happens.”
“That’s why you hurry up there and fight while your friends run past them and charge the tower! You only need to distract the forces!”
Wahlburn and company nodded and charged up the path. They watched the first clash of the two armies ahead of them and pushed harder. They soon reached the warzone and Wahlburn, Cannon, and Tyrone stopped and began helping the clones fight off the horde of possessed ponies.
As clones and Jarlin’s familiars were falling down around them, Patel, Clyde, and Poncho rushed past the warzone and up the remaining path, dodging projectiles and swords along the way. As they reached the top, they looked down at the battle and realized the clones outnumbered the familiars. However, as more of Jarlin’s army died, more sprouted from the ground around them. 
“We got to hurry this up before they all die,” said Patel. “They are eventually going to get swarmed.”
“But isn’t that so much fun?” asked a voice from behind them. The three of them turned around to see a hooded pony in black robes standing in front of the tower door. His hood fell down and he looked at them with his cold black eyes. The pony was crimson red with a black mane. His horn glowed with a black aura and he laughed. 
“Jarlin?” asked Patel.
Yes, replied a voice in Patel’s head. He stared at Jarlin from afar and saw him standing there with his eyes closed, with only his black aura moving from him. Patel saw Clyde and Poncho look at him and assumed they could hear his voice in their heads too. We don’t normally allow non-Arlin clones into the portal. 
“Well, I came here to destroy it and there’s nothing that can stop me from doing so!” yelled Patel. “I won’t allow Arlin take over the world.”
Jarlin’s chuckle rang throughout their heads. Well, the only way to get out of here is to defeat me so you can enter the portal in my tower. I don’t want to end this party just yet. 
Suddenly, the ground around them began to form black lines that ran behind them to Jarlin. Jarlin opened his eyes and wall of black magic shot up into the air from the lines. The magic all came together at the top of the sky and formed a small dome. After the dome formed, it faded away and the three looked around confused. 
“What was that about?” asked Poncho. 
My dome, began Jarlin, is a barrier so others won’t interrupt us. Basically they are invisible walls. Jarlin looked at each one of them and stroked his chin. Who should I start with first?
The three of them looked at each other and nodded. They all stared at Jarlin with a fierce glare. Jarlin saw their charade and laughed into the air. After he calmed down, he closed his eyes.
You, said Jarlin into Clyde’s mind. Clyde flinched at the sudden voice in his head. You seem to have potential.
Get out of my head, said Clyde in his mind. He looked at Patel and Poncho who was still staring at Jarlin. They couldn’t hear the two of them.
Clyde is it? asked Jarlin. That’s a strange name for a pony. Clyde tried thinking of other topics to make Jarlin unable to journey through his mind. He felt the pressure in his head grow as he attempted. I wouldn’t do that.
Get out of my head, repeated Clyde again. 
No, that’s alright, laughed Jarlin. So it seems ‘Clyde’ is a nickname yes? You shut out your real name a long time ago, I can’t find it. 
Good. Now get out of my head.
Man, you are no fun. Jarlin kept pushing harder into the depth of Clyde’s mind while Clyde tried to resist. Clyde felt the force of Jarlin start to pull away. He kept thinking of random topics to confuse him to help Jarlin leave. As Jarlin left, Clyde grinned. A few seconds later, his grin vanished and his heart dropped as a familiar, lovely voice in his head rang out.
Clyde!
Clyde lost control of reality as he heard Rarity’s voice in his head. He shook his head to ignore it, but at the same time he couldn’t because it was Rarity’s voice that he heard nearly every waking minute for the past few years. It was the voice he was accustomed to and loved dearly.
Clyde! yelled Rarity’s voice in his head, Darling, I need to tell you something...
Clyde knew that tone. She would always used it whenever she was upset or had to tell one of her friends something that would make them upset. No...
Clyde, darling, I’m sorry but-
Stop.
-I need to stop lying to you. I never wanted to hurt you by going this far but it’s just-
Stop!
-I loved all of the time we spent together, and I’m sure you did too-
STOP!
-but even after all this time, I never loved you. My true love was that you loved me so much...
Stop...I don’t want to be alone again...
Clyde felt a downpour of tears run down his cheek and dropped to the ground. Patel and Poncho watched him fall and rushed over to him. He cried and cried, and he abandoned himself to his agony. Patel and Poncho looked confused and tried talking him back to reality. Clyde felt Jarlin laughing in his head.
Poor boy, said Jarlin with a chuckle. Girls like that don’t care about true love. They only love love. They could care less for your feelings. They only like the attention they’re getting.
Clyde opened his eyes and glared at Jarlin. Tears were still rolling down his cheeks, but he grabbed his rapier and flung it into his mouth. He quickly got up and charged at Jarlin. Nothing except the thought of anger was in Clyde’s head. As he jumped into the air to attack him with his sword, Jarlin’s black aura surrounded him. The magical aura stopped him a few feet in front of Jarlin.
Jarlin slowly opened his eyes and looked at Clyde. He saw the blaze in Clyde’s eyes, filled with anger, agony, and passion. He laughed at him.
“It’s so fun to mess with the ones who truly love someone else.” Jarlin closed his eyes again and Clyde was thrown into the invisible dome wall to Jarlin’s side. As his body impacted the wall, Clyde spit out the rapier and it, along with him, fell to the ground. Clyde laid there unconscious beside his weapon, the pommel touching his forehead. Patel and Poncho gasped and gave a cold glare at Jarlin. 
Jarlin opened his dark eyes and laughed and looked over at the them. “My, that was fun. Who’s next?”
“Stop with the mind games!” yelled Patel. “Fight us with normal magic at least, or better yet, stop being a bitch and fight us with weapons.” Jarlin sighed and close his eyes. Within a few seconds, Patel felt the voice of him in his head. 
You’re the one from before. The one who brought out of these other toys to play with. Arlin wants me to not kill you as he wants to kill you himself.
I’d like to see him try, said Patel. 
Well, he can’t right now as he is busy planning out attack on Germaney with his clones. Why he would pick that as the first place to take over, I’ll never know, but what can you do.
Patel thought of a reason on why Arlin would go after Germaney first. It’s because, he wanted to take control of Germaney. Arlin was probably still mad at him for not joining forces so he wanted to make sure he couldn't start one of his own. He laughed in his head.
He’s probably mad at me. I don’t blame him at all. 
Your mind is dark and only set on one goal: Germaney, said Jarlin. This isn’t fun. At least Clyde over there made it interesting for me.
Yeah, well, ever since I learned you could get into our minds, I knew I could defeat you. Patel drew his bow and aimed it while trying to distract him with pointless banter. I don’t have any fears to share, other than the full extermination of the master breed. My mind is set on getting out of here, defeating Arlin for good, and restoring that breed back to the powerful Germaney. 
You can’t get to him without besting me though. Just how exactly will you do that? Jarlin began laughing. Patel fired some arrows while thinking of topics to let Jarlin search through. After he fired a few he smiled.
With these.
The arrows struck Jarlin into the chest as he broke free from Patel’s mind and yelled in pain. Patel quickly took the opportunity to fire off more arrows at his direction. Instead of dodging the arrows, Jarlin caught them with his magic and launched them back. Patel watched as his arrows flew back at them, about to strike, until Poncho swung his zweihander upward to deflect them. 
“Thanks Poncho,” said Patel, catching a few breaths of air. 
“Don’t mention it. I’m tired of this guy.”
“You have to distract him while I fire arrows at him somehow,” said Patel. He looked over at Clyde who was still motionless on the side of the invisible dome. “It’s only us two now.”
“H-How are we going to do that?” asked Poncho. He realized he stuttered his sentence and felt nervous all of a sudden. 
You’re not.
Patel felt the black magical aura from Jarlin surround him and lift him into the air. Jarlin levitated him to the middle of the dome and turned him around so he could face him. 
“I already told you that trying to best me was pointless,” said Jarlin. He flicked his head and slammed Patel into the opposite side of the dome across from Clyde. Patel felt the wind in him drain at the impact and he collapsed to the ground. He looked up weakly, then let his head plummet to the ground.
Poncho gasped at the sudden downfall of his friend. He looked at both Clyde and Patel and began to shake. Both of the strongest willed ponies he knew were defeated within a few minutes. He saw Jarlin look at him.
Jarlin laughed, and this time, it was the loudest of all of his prior outbursts. “The last warrior remains.” He closed his eyes and within a few seconds, met with Poncho’s mind.
The last warrior, Poncho, remains before me. Poncho shuddered at the sound in his head and tried to ignore it. You can’t ignore me that easily. 
G-Get out of my mind! yelled Poncho. He was holding on to his head with his hooves and was sitting down. 
Your one friend over there told me the same thing, but looked what happened to him. Let’s see what you fear the most...
No!
Oh, but yes! Jarlin kept quiet for a few moments and soon returned to speak to Poncho. It seems you don’t like your friends that much.
W-What? I love my friends. 
You say that, but you don’t like them getting credit for everything. 
I-
You say that, but you don’t like them because they are all well known or liked and you aren’t.
I-
You say that, but you don’t like them because you fear you will never be remembered! 
Poncho sat there on the ground, not thinking about anything. He kept hearing Jarlin’s mantra in his head, over and over again. He knew it was true, but he didn’t want it to be played in his head like a broken record. Poncho thought to himself.
I-I do want to be remembered and I know I’m not as important as Patel, Clyde, or even Tyrone sometimes, but I know they will remember me. Why? Because, I’m the only Poncho in the world and we all bonded because of me! 
Ha! laughed Jarlin, don’t kid yourself. You aren’t nothing to them. 
Poncho ignored him and stood up. He looked at the ground and clenched his teeth and shot a glare at Jarlin. Jarlin laughed at him, but Poncho began his charge towards him. Jarlin stood there watching as Poncho was running at him full speed, on a mission to show his purpose. A mission to show, he wasn’t worthless to his friends. A mission to show, he would be heroic for once.
As Poncho drew his heavy sword, he felt the black aura around him. He pushed harder to run so the aua couldn’t take him over completely yet, hoping to at least, get one strike on him. Poncho drew the sword and rapidly swung at Jarlin, but was too late and stopped a few inches from Jarlin’s face.
“That was close,” said Jarlin with a sigh. He pushed aside Poncho’s zweihander from his face so he could speak directly to him. “To think, you were closer to kill me than your other friends, and yet, you have the weaker willpower.”
Poncho spat in Jarlin’s face. “Don’t call me weak! I-I’m not weak!”
Jarlin looked at him with a grin. “If you aren’t weak then, why are you stuttering? Stuttering in the time of battle is a sign of weakness.” He lowered Poncho down so he would be on eye level with him. Ponco tried to move his arms to break free from the magical hold on him, but everytime he tried, the hold became tighter.
Poncho held in his outburst because he didn’t want to know Jarlin to know he was in pain. He felt like crying, but he refused to do so. Jarlin lifted his hoof and pressed it against Poncho’s forehead. 
“I usually don’t like elemental magic because it’s so boring to me, but since you are the last one in this pathetic effort, I’ll do it anyway.” He released his hoof and stepped back a little. Poncho felt a small spark in his body and soon, he began to be shocked by Jarlin’s magical hold.

Clyde weakly opened his eyes at the feel of something warm touching his head. With his blurry vision, he saw a small blue light flashing in front of him. He batted his eyes to focus on the light. It was the pommel of a rapier that was shaped as a diamond. He looked around to see when he was at and saw Patel laying down about fifteen yards away from him. He looked to his right and saw Jarlin and Poncho a few yards away. Jarlin was facing Poncho who was surrounded in a black aura. Clyde looked back at them and tried to remember what was going on and why he was over here. He glanced over to the rapier and saw the flash of light fade. As it faded, it came back to him.
Rarity...
Clyde weakly, and discreetly, crawled over to the rapier and returned it to its sheath on his side. He took out his small parrying dagger that he hid in his armor’s sleeve and threw it on the ground. He carefully picked it up with his mouth and began crawling over to Jarlin and Poncho. He saw Poncho was being attacked by magic and Jarlin was busy focusing on him. With all of his weak power he had, he began slowly crawling towards Jarlin and Poncho.

Patel slowly opened his eyes and adjusted to the brightness of Ciyelor’s sun. After focusing and rubbing his head, he saw Clyde crawling on the ground with a dagger in his mouth towards the backside of Jarlin and Poncho. Patel wanted to shout at him, but remembered what happened to him and why he was here. Clyde didn’t see him, but he wanted to help anyways. He quietly nocked an arrow and aimed the bow at Jarlin’s neck. 
As he was aiming, his focus was fading out and his bow was swaying. Patel kept shaking his head to refocus but he was growing tired still. Patel sighed. He kept wishing he could have enough energy to aim and shoot by the time Clyde made it over to them, but he didn’t know much energy he had left.

At first, Poncho was able to tank the magical attack very well. It started off barely even hurting, but as time went on, Jarlin kicked up the strength of it and Poncho felt powerless. He wanted to scream in pain, but he refused to do so as he didn’t want to show Jarlin anymore weakness. Poncho felt the magical electric pulse flow through him and began to tear up. He resisted as hard as he could and looked at the ground.
Once Poncho looked down, he saw a brief glimpse of Clyde behind Jarlin. He didn’t know for sure if it was him or not, but he also didn’t want to look back up at the sadistic smile of Jarlin. He tried to endure the pain as long as he could. 
“Give up,” yelled Jarlin. His eyes were focused solely on the magical pulse attacking Poncho. “No one is here to save you.” 
“Y-You’re wrong!” yelled Poncho through the pain. 
“Really? Then show me!”
Jarlin finished his phrase and felt a sharp pain on the back of his neck. He flinched, which stopped the spell holding Poncho, and turned around. As he turned around, Clyde lunged at him with his parrying dagger in his mouth and stabbed him in the chest. Clyde quickly grabbed on to him as he spit out blood. 
“You bastard...,” said Jarlin, blood running down his mouth. He looked down at Clyde and grunted in pain. Clyde responded with pushing the dagger farther with more force.
Poncho looked up after being dropped to the ground and searched for his zweihander. He weakly stretched his hooves and gripped the sword. He pulled all of the remaining energy he had left in his body that withstood Jarlin’s magic and with a might swing downwards, slashed into Jarlin’s back, hitting his spine. 
“Gah!” yelled Jarlin, this time spitting out much more blood. Some of it dripped onto Clyde, but he ignored it and pushed the dagger in farther. Jarlin fell to the ground and gasped for air. Clyde let go of him and pulled the dagger out. He spit it out and fell backwards, panting due to the lack of energy. Jarlin tried moving but was unable and yelled in pain again. “Curses...I think I’m paralyzed...”
“Paralyzed?” asked Patel, who was slowly walking over to them. “How do you think you’re paralyzed? You either are or not.” 	Patel stopped beside Poncho and patted him on the back. “Good job buddy, you did...it.” Patel also fell to the ground due to fatigue.
Poncho, who was breathing heavily, sat on the ground staring at Jarlin. “See?” he asked him. “I’m not weak.”
Jarlin looked over at him and spat blood, to show disgust. Jarlin looked away and stared at his magical invisible dome. It was being burned away, like a symbolic fire that represented Jarlin’s life and his dark magical reign. “I guess you want to return home now, huh?” His voice was weak and starting to fade.
Poncho stared at him. “Of course. How do we?”
Jarlin ignored his question. He continued to gasp for air and cough up blood. After a minute, he weakly looked over at Poncho. 	“My tower...all it contains...is a lone portal that takes you...back to Arlin’s desert base where you came in from.”
“Thanks,” said Poncho. Jarlin gave a slight nod and closed his eyes. Poncho sadly watch him cough up more blood and begin to stop gasping for air as much as before. Within a few minutes, Jarlin, the magical ruler of fear and Ciyelor, was nevermore.
Poncho wiped away a tear and fell back on the ground. He didn’t know why he was sad that Jarlin died, as he did try to kill him, but he felt sorry for him in a way. Maybe if he had friends, he wouldn’t have had to die like that.  Poncho sighed and closed his eyes to rest. Maybe if Arlin had friends, all of this could have been avoided...

“Poncho,” yelled a familiar voice, “wake the fuck up!” Poncho felt hooves shaking him around. He opened his eyes and saw Wahlburn hovering above him, shaking him awake. “Finally, dammit.” Wahlburn had some cuts and blood all throughout his armor and face.
“Wahlburn?” asked Poncho. He looked around and saw Cannon and Tyrone who were sitting next to Clyde and Patel. “When did you guys get here?”
Wahlburn looked at the others and then back to Poncho. “Well, we were fighting the forces for some time and then all of a sudden, all of Jarlin’s forces vanished instantly. We decided to run up ahead to see if you killed him or something and sure enough, he’s dead right beside me!” Poncho looked past him and saw Jarlin’s body just laying there, like a fallen tree in the middle of the forest. Wahlburn helped him up and and patted him on the back. “I see your blade is stuck in him, did you kill him?”
“I did,” said Poncho, with a sense of pride and sadness. 
“Good job brother,” said Wahlburn. Wahlburn walked away and joined the group leaving Poncho to stare at Jarlin one last time. Poncho gave a small salute and walked away to join his friends.
When Poncho walked up to his friends, he was mobbed by Tyrone and Cannon asking about what happened. He nervously began to recall the events while Patel helped him when he needed it. Tyrone and Cannon nodded at their tale and got so into it, that they showed a variety of emotions. During the tale, Clyde kept his gaze to his rapier on his side. When Poncho and Patel finished the tale of the battle against Jarlin, they heard Skarlin and the army of the clones thundering towards them. 
“Gents!” yelled the battle-scarred Skarlin. He stopped in front of them, while the army of clones stayed a few yards behind him. 	Skarlin looked at Jarlin’s corpse laying on the ground and took out his pipe. “I see you dealt with him,” he said gravely.
“Yeah,” said Poncho. “It was a hard fought battle, but we did it.” He looked at Patel and Clyde and grinned. “All three of us.”
“Did he tell you how to escape?” asked Skarlin. 
Poncho nodded. “The portal inside his tower will take us home!” Skarlin smiled and the army began cheering. Some threw their armor and weapons into the air while others began crying and kissing the ground. 
Skarlin turned around to face the army. “My brethren! Tonight, we live anew!” The army cheered again. Skarlin lifted his hoof to calm the army. As they settled down, he lit his pipe and placed it in his mouth. “Ciyelor was fun, and taught us well, but let us never forget who forced us into here. Arlin is now our only enemy.” Skarlin took out his pipe to blow a small puff of smoke. He quickly smiled. “Let us not worry about that now. Let’s go home!” The army erupted again and ran towards the tower. They busted the tower door down and piled into the tower.
Skarlin laughed as he returned his attention to Poncho and the others. “Let’s get out of here and then we can talk about what happened up here,” he said pointing to Jarlin. They nodded and walked towards the end of the army. After a few minutes, the last of the army entered the tower, leaving only Skarlin and the six remaining in Ciyelor. 
They entered the tower and quickly looked around. The interior of the tower was mostly bare, having only a small desk, a bed, and the large portal in front of them. Skarlin went over to the desk to see if he could find a secret journal or something, but his search failed. He walked over to the portal and looked deep into it. “It’s been far too long...,” he said as his voice faded out. He looked back at the group, who nodded. Skarlin jumped into the portal and instantly vanished. 
Poncho and the other five looked around and back at each other. Without speaking, they all knew it was time to leave this place for good. Even though the trip itself was brief, it was time to return home. They counted down and all ran towards the portal. As they jumped it, the world seemed to expand and everything went bright. 
The bright light remained for five seconds then quickly died out. Poncho and the five looked around and noticed they were on the stage of Area Fifty-Juan. Skarlin and the clone army were all standing in the area where all of the chairs were placed during Arlin’s meeting a few days ago. The group jumped off the stage to join the mosh pit and talk to the others. As they were talking, the group noticed all of their equipment from Ciyelor was gone, but the items they had before they entered were back, as if nothing happened. 
Without any explanation, the lights of the hangar turned off and the room was pitch black, except the glow from the portal. The backup generator was heard overhead and soon the lights flicked back on. As the all looked up at the portal, they saw Arlin standing there in the middle of the stage. 
Arlin began clapping and began to laugh. “Good job everybody!” he said. He looked around the room and took a deep breath. “You all broke out of there just in time! My army of clones are already at my base in Yacoltsk!” He stopped to look around again. “If you want to join, raise your hoof!” Skarlin’s army looked at each other and just stared back. Arlin sighed, “I figured as much.”
“Nobody wants to join you Arlin!” yelled Skarlin who climbed onto the stage. “You trapped us in there for three years almost.”
“Skarlin!” said Arlin with a tone of compassion. “It’s been far too long my good friend!”
“Friend? No, I’m not your friend. I’m your foe!” 
Arlin gasped then turned it into a laugh. “You want to fight my army?”
Patel quickly ran up to the stage. “No, I want to fight your army.”
“Well look who it is,” said Arlin with a grin. “The spy. Did you bring your army this time?” He looked at the army of clones and the five of Patel’s friends. 
“I don’t need an army to kill you here right now!” yelled Patel as he lunged towards Arlin. Arlin quickly threw a device on the ground and was sucked into it. As Patel looked around the room for him, he heard Arlin’s voice boom throughout the hangar.
“Don’t keep me waiting too long! My first target is Germaney and I will attack it in two weeks whether you control it or not Patel! For Patel’s friends, my forces will be seeing you all very shortly...” Arlin laughed one more time before his voice disappeared entirely from the room. 
“Blasted,” said Skarlin. “Looks like I’ll have to journey to the other side of the world to take him out.” He looked at the portal and looked at it closely. “First things first, we need to turn this off so he can’t come back here and make anymore clones.”
“How do we do that?” asked Poncho from the hangar floor.
“I can tell you,” said a deep, majestic voice from behind the stage curtains. Skarlin, Patel, and the group looked at them in confusion. The curtains soon moved and out came an older aged pony with a gray mane. The room gasped as out from behind the curtains, stood the legendary Morgan Freepony.
“Morgan Freepony?!” said Patel amazed. “I can’t believe I’m standing near the Morgan Freepony!”
“W-What are you doing here, Mr. Freepony?” asked a stunned Poncho.
“I am the guardian of this place,” replied Morgan Freepony. “Ever since my hit series “Through the Wormhole” was cancelled for no reason, the personnel of this army base called me to supervise their portal project. I did so, and soon Arlin took over it.”
“Arlin told me about his plan. I didn’t like it very much and he was mad at me. He didn’t dare banish me, for I am Morgan Freepony, so he told me to just told me to sit over in that corner. I sat there waiting for the right time.”
“Right time for what?” asked Patel.
“The right time for when he would leave this base so I can destroy this blasted portal!” Morgan Freepony sighed and walked up to it. “All it has done in the past few years was nothing except a selfish purpose. I never liked Arlin so I will help you.”
“Awesome!” yelled Poncho who soon frowned. “But how can we destroy it?”
Morgan Freepony sighed a disheartened sigh. “You need to go up to his cloning machine and put your blood in there. That will destroy the machine and make it self-destruct, causing the explosion to cut the connection with the portal.”
“What? How does that work?” yelled Wahlburn from below the stage.
Morgan Freepony glared at him. “Don’t question me, boy.” Wahlburn saluted and looked away as if nothing happened. 
Poncho spoke up. “It’s time for me to be the hero, I’ll slash myself so we can blow up that machine.” 
Morgan Freepony laughed. “No, you won’t. I will.”
“Why? Why you?”
Morgan Freepony looked at the ground and frowned. “Whoever goes in there, won’t come out. That’s why.” The room gasped at the truth.
“Then don’t do it!” yelled Patel. “Have Poncho do it!” Poncho furiously looked at Patel who shrugged it off. 
“No, boy,” said Morgan Freepony. “I have to do it. I served my purpose in this land far too long. It’s time to let the youth take over.” He walked up to the portal and turned around. Patel and the others began crying and waved at him. Morgan Freepony smiled and waved back. He walked into the portal and the others waited. After a minute and a half, the portal’s glow began dimming and soon, shut off completely. The monitor lit up a giant “OFFLINE”, then turned to black.
The room bursted into tears as the legendary Morgan Freepony sacrificed himself for their mission and passed into the afterlife. 
After everyone calmed down, the rest of the group ran onto the stage with Patel and Skarlin. They circled around on the stage and looked at Patel. 
“So, I guess we’re done here,” said Clyde. He looked at his friends.
“Yeah,” said Tyrone. “I think our adventures are finally finished.”
“Not exactly,” said Patel with a grin. The others looked at him as he laughed. His laughed carried throughout the hangar as nobody understood what was going on.