When Clyde opened his eyes, he noticed that he was sitting against a wall of a small room. He looked to his left and saw a metallic door. In the back of the room was a small bed without a blanket. He felt a memory of the past as it felt like he was in the cell Charles and Xarlin put his friends and himself into. He looked to his right and saw Rarity with her head on the bed’s blanket on the floor. As he moved, she perked her head up and quickly sat up.
“Clyde!” she said excitedly and moved over to him. She hugged his side and looked at him. “How are you feeling darling? Does your shoulder still hurt?”
Clyde looked to his left and attempted to moved his shoulder. He felt the sudden pain and stopped. “I still can’t move it,” he said sadly.
Rarity frowned and moved over to his other side. She looked at his shoulder and studied her dress. She tore off a long piece of a bottom section and lifted it up with her magic. She wrapped it around Clyde’s shoulder and tied it into a knot. Clyde tried to move it, but it wouldn’t budge. “There! That should help it for now.”
“You didn’t have to tear off some of your dress just for me,” said Clyde.
“Nonsense! You protect and care for me all of the time. It’s my turn.” Rarity smiled at him as Clyde looked down and begin to tear up. “Clyde, darling, please don’t cry. I don’t want a stallion who cries most of the time. Emotions are fine, but leave the tears for me.” She gave him a wink.
Clyde rubbed his eyes with his right hoof, the uninjured one, and sighed. “I failed you again.”
“Pardon?”
“I failed you. Again. No matter what I try, I either get in trouble or you get in trouble! I can’t seem to make my promises to you to keep you safe.” Clyde stared at the floor in sorrow and anger.
Rarity sighed and moved over to his good shoulder and leaned her head on it. “Darling, do you want to know another reason why I decided to grow an interest in you? Other than what I told you earlier about you caring for me?”
“Was it pity?”
Rarity laughed. “Pity? Goodness no. Why would you ever say that?”
“I don’t know,” said a disheartened Clyde.
Rarity kept her gaze on a spot on the wall and focused on it. “While it may be true you aren’t the most fashionable of all ponies in Equestria, you do contain something more important to me.”
“What’s that?”
“Your heart and willpower. Your heart knows what it wants and one of those things is happiness. After the time we spent together that one night and during our cell time, I saw that you were completely different from the stallion I met before I talked to you. I was the reason for your happiness, and you soon became my reason for it too. For your willpower, that’s obvious enough. You won’t stop going on about how you are going to protect me and make sure I don’t get hurt.”
Clyde looked up at the ceiling of the room and pondered. “That’s why?”
“Not entirely, but it’s part of it, along with you caring for and protecting me and letting me have someone I can trust. Also, you are very lovable.” She snuggled her head into his shoulder as he sighed in relief.
“So, where are we exactly?” asked Clyde. Rarity looked up at him and blinked.
“I’m not sure.”
A knock on the room’s door was heard and before the both of them could move, Tyrone walked into the room.
“I’m your two’s guard,” he said without any sign of remorse.
Clyde felt Rarity hug onto him tighter. “Where are we T? Why are we in here?”
“You’re both in Arlin’s hideout in Yacoltsk. This room is unscannable by magical means, so your friends or anybody else can’t teleport you out or find a trace of you. Arlin is using you for bait so the others won’t bomb or destroy the base.”
“So Arlin’s here?” asked Clyde.
“Of course. I’m to watch over you two so nothing bad happens or an escape.” Tyrone looked at them and sighed. “I can’t keep this serious tone dawg. I have to keep you here until your friends come and rescue you.”
“So, they are coming?”
“Well, if they want to stop Arlin and save you, they have to. I’ll make sure no other clones bother you. I wanted to make sure you two have your alone time, you know?” Tyrone looked at them with a smirk. Clyde turned red as Rarity giggled. Tyrone laughed and began to walk out of the door. “I’ll bring some food and water later.” Tyrone slammed the door shut leaving the duo sitting on the floor.
That sat there for a few minutes in the cold room. Rarity hugged onto Clyde for warmth, even though they both were still wearing their costumes from the masquerade ball. For extra warmth, Rarity took the blanket from the bed and wrapped it around herself and Clyde.
Tyrone came back a few minutes later with a tray of food and a bowl of water. He placed the tray in front of them and sat on the bed watching them. Clyde saw that he kept the door open, wondering if it’s some sort of test, but since he was so warm and he couldn’t shy away from Rarity’s hug, he didn’t bother asking about it.
“Did Sticky and Rivs come back yet from that trip?” asked Tyrone. Clyde was confused on such a weird, irrelevant question.
“I don’t believe so. Why do you ask?”
Tyrone shrugged and looked away from them. “I’m just trying to stall time dawg.”
“For what?”
“For when our friends-” Tyrone was cut off at a large boom sound coming from the base. The sound sent a shockwave which made the base shake. Tyrone held onto the bed as Clyde put his head on Rarity’s to cover her. After the tremors stopped, a clone slid into the doorway looking at Tyrone.
“We’re under attack!” he yelled.
Tyrone jumped off the bed and looked at him strangely. “Attacked? By who?”
The clone looked at Clyde and Rarity and a faint ping was heard and the clone dropped to the floor. As he laid there, blood began forming a small puddle around his head. As Tyrone got closer to investigate, a stallion who they all knew walked into the doorway.
“Well hello there mates,” said Patel with a smirk. He was holding a silenced pistol and looked at Tyrone. “Well if it isn’t Tyrone on the enemy side.” He aimed the pistol at Tyrone who stopped moving.
“Patel, dawg, I’m not an enemy.”
Patel lifted an eyebrow and raised the pistol higher. “Oh yeah? Why did you randomly disappear a few days ago from Verona and why are you holding your best friend and his girl as a hostage?”
“Arlin threatened to hurt Junior. I had to go with him.”
Patel sighed and lowered the pistol. “You honestly think he was going to do that? You can’t just harm a minor out of the blue like that. That’s illegal! You were tricked.”
Tyrone sighed. “I couldn’t take any chances dawg.”
Patel nodded and looked at Clyde. He saw the fabric wrapped around his shoulder. “What happened to you? You shatter that too like your leg back then?”
Rarity frowned and looked at Patel with seriousness. “Clyde fell from a distance and landed on his shoulder. It’s only sore, but I did that so he wouldn’t strain it.”
Patel noticed her anger at him. “Why are you so angry?”
“Because you are the one who got my Clyde into this mess.” Clyde looked at Patel and shrugged. Patel laughed and looked out the room.
“Well, I’m here to break you out, the others should be around here somewhere trying to find you too.”
“Did you cause that big boom earlier?” asked Clyde.
“No, I personally didn’t. That was your boys Wahlburn and Cannon along with my army. We launched an attack while the others and me aimed to find you two and take out Arlin.”
“Who are the others?”
“Jeb teleported Poncho, himself, and I into here.” Patel looked at the dead clone on the floor and looked back at the others. “How about we talk later when this is all over?”
The three agreed as Tyrone joined Patel in the hallway. Rarity stood up and looked down at Clyde. As he stood up and tried to walk, a small pain went through his shoulder and made him flinch a little. Rarity walked over to his left side and went under his front left leg to prop it up on her back. She smiled at him and helped him walk out of the room.
Patel checked the corners of the end of hallway and lifted his hoof to signal that it was clear. Tyrone looked back to Clyde and Rarity and offered to help Clyde instead of her, but she declined saying Clyde would have done the same if it was her in Clyde’s position.
Once they left the hallway, Tyrone, Clyde, and Rarity, were stopped by Patel. He looked at them with a smile and soon, behind him ran Poncho and Apollo from down the large and bland room.
“Sketch dawg!” yelled Tyrone as he saw Poncho
“Hey what’s going on?” asked Poncho in a serious tone that Tyrone couldn’t handle. Tyrone laughed and hit him gently on the shoulder as Apollo walked up to Clyde and Rarity.
“Did you break your shoulder?” he asked Clyde as he saw the torn fabric that was a makeshift bandage.
Clyde shook his head. “No, it’s just sore. All I need is to not bother it for awhile and I should be good in no time.”
“I could try to fix it with magic or something,” said Apollo.
“No, other than Rarity, I don’t like magic being used on me. It’ll heal in a few days, maybe even hours.”
Apollo nodded his head and turned towards Patel. “Well, we have the target and Tyrone. All that’s left is Arlin right?”
“Yes...then this terrible adventure will finally be over with.” Patel looked down the other end of the room and saw two large doors with gold handles. “He has to be in there, for obvious reasons.”
“You ready for this Patel?” asked Poncho. “It might be a trap.”
“He’s cornered no matter where he turns. Outside as we speak, the Germane army is ripping his clones apart with our advanced arsenal. It’s up to us to finish off the leader.”
Poncho nodded and looked at the others. He saw determination in Tyrone’s eyes that he never saw before. He then looked over at Apollo who was staring off into the distance, pondering about something he had no idea what could even be. Lastly, his gaze watched Clyde and Rarity look at each other, smiling about something. He always hated Clyde for being with her ever since the South Beach incident, but this time it was different. He witnessed a part of their happiness when they are together that brought him a part of regret. He turned away and smiled.
“Alright,” said Apollo. “I just finished scanning the door for traps. There’s nothing there, save the doors themselves. We can enter them.”
“Good job Jeb,” said Patel. “Maybe you aren’t worthless after all.” Apollo ignored the comment and looked at him.
“So, you guys ready?”
“Let me handle this,” said Patel. “I brought all of you into this war with Arlin and I shall end it.”
“Good,” said Clyde, “I’m in no condition for psychical conflict anyway.”
“I wouldn’t let you fight in that outfit anyway,” said Rarity looking up at him. “I spent a good amount of time on that.”
Tyrone laughed. “It’s okay C. I’ll help protect your “handsome face and outfit” for you.” Clyde laughed as Rarity became agitated because no one was taking her seriously.
Patel even laughed, but quickly stopped. He ran towards the doors at the end of the room while the others quickly, and slowly in one case, made their way over to him. As Clyde and Rarity caught up with the group, Patel pushed open the giant doors to see a small office type of room. To the right of the room was Arlin, sitting at a desk with his hooves together near his mouth to solely focus. Patel looked at what he was watching and noticed the left side of the room was a large window that overlooked the ensuing war outside. Patel saw his troops move closer and closer after every second.
“So we meet again Patel and friends...” said Arlin slowly and still focusing at the war outside. “It’s been some time.” He was wearing a long coat that made him look even more sinister.
“It has,” said Patel. He quickly drew his pistol and aimed it at Arlin, who seemed to not be bothered at the sudden move. “I’m not going to make this one of those pointless banters about how I’m going to persuade you of stopping your goal and make you realize your wrongs so you can fix yourself and move on with your life.”
“Nor did I want you do,” said Arlin who finally looked up at him. “I was foolish and didn’t think about what I was doing until it was too late. I decided to keep going with it to try and make it work out, but it didn’t.”
“Here's the sob story,” said Patel with a sigh. “Look, I don’t care, and I doubt my friends cares either.” The others behind him began nodding with his logic.
Arlin got up and walked over to the window as Patel kept a aim on him the whole time. “My last remaining army of clones I made of myself are all out there being killed rapidly. You and your army destroyed the last two years of my work in a matter of hours and minutes.”
“Did you honestly think you would win?” asked Tyrone. “Not only did you make Patel mad, but you angered all of us too. Of course we would help our bro.”
“I knew you would win after you took down Jarlin. I never thought anyone could withstand his mind attacks.” Arlin sighed as a clone outside was killed by a rocket. “It was only a matter of time after the cloning machine was blown up I would lose.”
“Then why did you send all those clones to our town?” asked Clyde furiously. “Rarity and Junior had no part of being involved.”
Arlin smiled. “I love parting gifts. They are my favorite thing in the world if I had to pick something.” Arlin pulled out a pistol from a pocket of his coat and looked at it. Patel focused on him more than before. “Unfortunately, my time draws to a close. My army will soon be gone and I’ll be all that’s left other than that blasted Yarlin, your army, and other clones that are scattered around the world that didn’t join my cause. I only wish them the best.” Arlin lifted up the pistol and instead of aiming at Patel or any of the others, he aimed it at his temple. The group stood there in shock and reacted as such.
“Hold the Celestia damn minute,” said Patel. “You’re just going to kill yourself? Not even shoot any of us?”
Arlin smiled and laughed. “It seems like you forgot about my thing with parting gifts. Farewell Patel and friends! It was fun, but good game. You bested me and my foolish goal.” Arlin pulled the trigger and a loud bang went off and Arlin fell to the floor. Still in shock the others watched him fall down.
“What just happened?” asked Patel. As Patel was distracted by Arlin’s dead body, a clone jumped out from behind the desk and aimed a pistol at him. Patel turned to see him and fumbled with the pistol in his hoof. The clone shot the gun and Patel closed his eyes expecting the worst, only to feel himself being pushed out of the way. When Patel opened his eyes, he saw Poncho standing in front of him. Patel quickly aimed at the clone and shot him in the face, killing him instantly. Patel threw his pistol aside and rushed to catch a stumbling Poncho. As Patel laid him on the floor, he saw blood coming from his chest.
“What the fuck man! Why would you do that?” yelled Patel at Poncho. The others stood still behind them near the doors in total shock. Poncho looked up at him and laughed.
“I don’t know...I felt like I had to do it...” said Poncho who gave a weak cough.
“What ever gave you that reason to do something like that? I’m the one Arlin wanted dead, not you!”
“Well...” Poncho coughed again and laid there without trying to move. Patel saw the blood seeping out of his wound with every second that passed. He knew Poncho wouldn’t be able to survive longer than another minute or two due to the size of the wound and the location of where the bullet hit him.
“Damn it, Poncho...,” said Patel with a tear in his eye. “I didn’t want anyone to die during this whole attack.”
“Don’t worry Patel...you guys can go back to life without worrying about anything ever again. This is something I felt I had to do. I only wish you guys won’t forget me...”
Tyrone ran up to Poncho and dropped to the floor. “Sketch dawg! Don’t worry about that! I don’t think anyone will forget you dawg.” Tyrone wiped a tear from his eye. “This is like the same shit I went through when Patel and Clyde were dead or dying.”
“Except, I don’t remember any of that since I was already dead...” said Patel.
Poncho laughed and covered his chest as pain was eminent when he laughed. Apollo, Clyde, and Rarity walked up to the scene and put their heads down in sadness. Rarity looked at the wound and looked at another long end of her dress. She tore it off with magic and wrapped it around Poncho’s wound, even though she knew and the others knew there was no hope for him.
Poncho looked at the makeshift bandage and looked at Rarity. “I’m sorry I always brought you down whenever Clyde mentioned you. I guess...I guess, I was jealous Pinkie didn’t like me as much as you liked Clyde.”
Rarity nodded. Unlike the others, due to a lack of a close bond with Poncho, she wasn’t as upset. She still showed sadness in his face, but it wasn’t as extreme as the time when they thought Clyde was dead forever. “Thank you for the closure. I normally don’t pay attention to harsh comments about me as somebody loves me for who I am. I’ll make sure Pinkie knows about your feelings toward her.”
Poncho smiled and looked over at Clyde. “I’m sorry I kept calling you a douche for bailing on us in South Beach while you ran off with Rarity and our supplies. Also, for causing our conflict in the hotel that made you do that. To be honest, there’s a lot of stuff I have to say to you...I never did thank you for all of the times you saved my own life, like when I got hit by a bullet while we were running away from the cult members. I’m sorry for being jealous with Rarity and your’s relationship, as I do truly respect all its been through. I hope you both the best...”
Clyde laughed and looked at him with sad eyes. “It’s alright. I forgave you a long time ago as you saved me from dying from a zombie. We may have had pointless fights all the time, but I’m glad I got to meet you. I’ll miss you buddy.”
Poncho gave a weak nod and coughed, turning his attention to Tyrone. “Tyrone, you are the most badass and coolest dude I know...”
Tyrone wiped tears from his eyes and nodded. “Thanks dawg. I’ll make sure I open that pimpin’ business we was talking about. I’ll make sure you are mentioned as being a founder.”
Poncho laughed and turned to Patel. “Patel...even though I don’t like how you made another Reich, I think you’re a real funny dude.”
“Thanks Sketch-, I mean, Poncho.” Patel looked down at him and looked away to conceal emotions. “Not only did you save my life, you saved everyone’s life at some point. You brought us boys together because you always piss us off in a good way.”
Poncho titled his head to the side and tried to sit up. As he lifted his head off the floor, he felt his wound hurt even more. He dropped his head back down and began to breath heavily through his mouth.
The others stared at him in sadness and shock as they couldn’t believe Poncho was slowly dying in front of them and they couldn’t do anything about it.
“Guys...” said Poncho weakly, “I just wanted to...I just wanted to say, I love you guys. Hopefully when I’m dead, I can remember all of you, even you Jeb.” Poncho gave a weak smile at Apollo who frowned.
“Hey, wait a minute, you never gave me words of closure!” he yelled.
Poncho looked at him and laughed. He laughed for a straight minute and slowly closed his eyes. Once he began coughing, he stopped laughing, and before any of them knew it, Poncho died, laughing away at Jeb’s unimportance.
The others stood there in silence for a few moments with their heads looking at the floor. Tyrone began sniffing as Patel had his eyes closed. After the long moment of silence and crying was done, Patel opened his eyes and looked straight at Apollo.
“Let’s teleport out of here. We’re bringing Poncho with us.”
“We are?” asked Apollo.
“Yes. We are going to have a funeral service about him in Verona in a few days. He wanted to be remembered after all. We just can’t abandon him now.”
Tyrone and Apollo looked at him in shock. “Wait a minute, Patel is getting soft?” asked Tyrone amazed.
Patel smiled and looked at Clyde and Rarity. “I hate to say it, but Twilight and her friends were right the whole time. Friendship is magical. Poncho was an important part of our link together.” Patel looked out the window and saw Arlin’s army was only a few dozen now. Before too long, he saw a stallion walk slowly forward, unloading a SAW into the clones. Patel gave a laugh as he knew that was Wahlburn. ”Wait until Wahlburn and Cannon come here to teleport us back, Jeb.”
Patel and the others waited in silence for Wahlburn and Cannon to storm the empty base and charge into Arlin’s overwatch room. At first, they thought the two would never bother coming to this room, but they heard running outside the room. Cannon kicked the door ajar as Wahlburn rolled into the room, aiming his SAW around the room. Once he saw Patel and the others, he lowered it and smiled. He looked to the floor and saw Poncho and quickly frowned.
“What did I miss?” he asked. Cannon walked up to them and gave the same reaction as Wahlburn.
Patel told them both what occurred in the past few minutes while they were busy outside killing off the rest of the clones. Once he finished, Wahlburn and Cannon turned towards Poncho’s lifeless body on the floor.
“Damn,” said Wahlburn sadly. “If I would have known he would be gone soon, I would have never yelled at him so much as of late.”
“The Sketch Master himself is finally gone...” said Cannon, his voice trailing off.
“His funeral service will be next weekend,” said Patel. “We all need to attend it as we are, well, were, his best friends.”
Cannon and Wahlburn nodded and went over to the others to talk a bit. Most of the conversations only lasted a few seconds because there was no mood to talk. No motivation. It reminded them all of deaths that struck them because of Charles and his crazy cult. They were lucky to be alive after all, but this time. This time, there was no going back. Poncho was really gone for good.
“Well, are we good to return now?” asked Patel.
“I do believe,” said Cannon. “Skarlin is taking the army back to Germaney, so we don’t have to worry about them.”
“Good,” replied Patel. “Our journey ends in Verona it seems.”
Apollo nodded and told the group to get close together. They scooched together and in a final burst of light, they teleported out of Arlin’s base in Yacoltsk, and appeared in the square of the Verona.
“Man, it’s been awhile since I was last here,” said Apollo looking around the square through the sunshine. Most of the others were ignored him and looking at Poncho.
“Shut the fuck up Jeb,” said Cannon. “We have a dead comrade beside us and all you care about is yourself?” Apollo frowned.
Patel decided to get help and call the police to take care of Poncho. Once they arrived, they started questioning the group about what happened, when, where, and all the other important questions. After writing down the notes from the group, and taking Poncho’s body away, the police drove off, leaving the group standing in the square alone. They decided to go separate ways until Poncho’s funeral.
Patel moved back in with Wahlburn for the next few days. Wahlburn, who usually smoked after every trip away from home, was too bummed to do so. Instead, he quietly crashed on the couch. Patel also took his idea to liking so he did the same.
Cannon went back to the apartment condo he, Clyde, Sticky, and Rivs, had rooms in. Sticky and Rivs were still not home, but the date on the note they left at their doors said they would be home before Poncho’s funeral service.
Tyrone left for BC’s house to reunite with Junior. As he ran through the door, Junior dropped Greg the handheld game and ran and gave Tyrone a big hug. Greg being angry at being dropped, turned back into his chihuahua form and walked into the kitchen to eat some food. Both of them laughed and Tyrone took him out for some ice cream in the town square.
For Clyde, Rarity, and Apollo. The two helped Clyde back to Ponyville. Once they arrived, they stopped by Twilight’s to tell her what happened. She was shocked and showed sadness when she found out about Poncho’s fate. They told her about the service, to which she agreed to come to. After they left Twilight’s, they walked over to the Sugarcube Corner to go talk to Pinkie Pie. Once Rarity told her about what Poncho said about her before he passed away, Pinkie showed extra sadness. It was the first time Clyde ever saw her truly sad before. She slowly and sadly said farewell to them and closed the door.
At that point, Rarity took Clyde over to her home as Apollo went back to Germaney to fetch Fluffy. Once he saw Fluffy in the kitchen of the castle eating some corn pones, Apollo teleported him back to Verona with him.
With most of Poncho’s friends in Verona, all that was left was the final goodbye.