Chapter One
"S-spike...?" Twilight groaned as she awoke, rubbing her eyes in frustration. "I-I can't open my eyes! Are you playing one of your little pranks!?"
"Hold still, dear," said a familiar voice in a mocking tone. "Your eyes are still growing in. Should take only a few more moments. Cloning is a timely process!"
"Discord!" Twilight gasped. "What are you doing here!? What are you doing to my eyes!?" Twilight attempted to use her magic to strike out at the chaotic fiend, but found that her horn was not responding. "Oh, Celesita! What have you done to my horn!? Discord, don't make me-"
"Calm down, 'Princess', I haven't gotten to your horn yet. I save magical appendages for last, since they are the most difficult to recreate."
"Recreate...?" Twilight said in confusion. She began to hyperventilate, her quick breaths interrupted by bursts of speech. "What in Equestria is going on!?"
"Ah, your eyes are all done! Now open them and see the world for the first time, my little clone-y!" Stated Discord in a mocking tone.
Twilight's eyes immediately snapped open. The world before her was blurry, but eventually her vision came into focus.
She yelped, jumping into the air like an insane cat.
She was in a large room filled with red objects, from red plastic chairs, to red desks, to even a huge red sun printed on the concrete floor, along with the words “Residents for Eternal Daylight”. Twilight herself was sitting on a crimson bed, the head of which was backed up against one of the walls. She was wearing a strange getup, a vest with a red shirt underneath, as well as brown wide-bottomed pants and dark shoes. She patted her head to find an akubra hat sitting atop it. A pair of sunglasses adorned her muzzle.
There were other beds in the room too. On each was a pony Twilight knew, including her best friends and her brother. They were all dressed in strange clothing as well. A few were awake, looking confused and dazed. Others were unconscious, and seemed to be missing body parts. But as Twilight watched, aghast, they were growing back right before her eyes.
Twilight’s nose wrinkled, and a large snarl formed on her lips. Her stare penetrated into the eyes of the draconequus who sat at the end of her bed. He stared back, a look of childlike glee on his face.
“What... have... you... DONE!” Twilight screeched. She felt her magic bursting from within her, her anger soaring to dangerous heights. However, she could not unleash it. Her horn was still not working. Twilight once again began to hyperventilate.
“Welcome to the world of the living, clone Twilight! Oh, dearie me, you seem to be quite angry... what is the problem?” Discord asked, his eyes growing wide as she played innocent.
“Why did you bring us here, and WHY isn’t my magic working?!” Twilight almost spit venom as she said the words.
“Ha! You haven’t been brought here, my dear Twilight. I’ve simply created you right at this moment! You’re a clone of the original Twilight, designed for service to Princess Celestia in her “glorious” campaign to take Equestria for herself. Does that not make sense?” Discord covered his mouth with a paw, and tried to cover up his fit of giggles.
“Y-you’re lying!” Twilight said. Her brows knit together as she pulled her hat’s sides low. “No... no, you’re joking! I’m not a clone! I remember everything that’s ever happened to me! I’m the real Twilight!”
Discord rolled around on the floor in laughter, going from one tip of the printed sun to the other.
Twilight felt a tap on her shoulder. She whipped her head around to see Fluttershy, dressed in what looked like a lab coat. Red rubber gloves covered her front legs, and brown pants and black boots her back. Angel sat on her shoulder, cooing like a dove. She was near tears, the tiny set of round glasses set on her nose moist with condensation.
“T-twilight!” she stuttered. “What’s happened?! Discord says we are all clones! That can’t be true, can it?!” She hugged Angel close, tears rolling down her cheeks.
Twilight gulped. “I-I really don’t know, Fluttershy... but I’ll sure as hay figure this all out.”
As Discord continued to laugh, a small figure stepped into the room, using a pencil to tap Discord’s tail in order to get his attention.
“Spike?!” Twilight yelled. “You’re here too?!”
The tiny purple dragon wore a purple vest and small horn-rimmed glasses. He carried a notepad in one hand and a pencil in the other. He met Twilight’s gaze in a confused manner.
“Oh. Good morning, RED Sniper. It is nice to see you are up and living,” said Spike in a formal tone. “I’m afraid I don’t know who this “Spike” is. My name is Paul.”
“BAHAWHAW! HAHAHAAA!”
The sound of Rainbow Dash’s laughter filled the room as she sat up from her bed.
“Aw geez, Spike! What’s gotten into you?” Dash rubbed her eyes and yawned. “Hey, what are you doing in my house, anyway? Is Twilight sending you on some kinda errand or-” Dash stood stock still as she opened her eyes, taking in her surroundings. “What the hay...?”
Discord managed to contain his laughter, looking over at Spike. “What is it, Paul?” he asked.
“Paul” cleared his throat. “The BLU team’s room is prepared. We are ready for the cloning process to begin in their base.”
“Perfect. Thank you, Paul,” Discord said. He reached into a pocket of the purple jacket Twilight just noticed he was wearing. He pulled out a huge watch and glanced at it. “And it seems it is also time for the RED team’s members to have a little meet and greet, now that they are all fully formed. Perfect timing!” He swept his arms around the room in a dramatic gesture. “Well, my little clone-ies, I must be off! I will see you all again in about an hour. Have fun in my absence!” And just like that, Discord was gone, leaving a puff of smoke behind.
The room was silent for a moment.
“Wha-what?!” Dash cried. “Twilight, what’s going on?!”
Some of the other ponies in the room began to wake up, yawning and then yelping in surprise when they saw where they were. A large commotion arose, panicked ponies talking among themselves . Twilight noticed that all of her five friends were here, as well as Big Mac, her brother Shining Armor, and even one of the weather ponies from Ponyville; the one called Derpy Hooves.
Rarity was weeping profusely, tears covering the eye mask she wore. Applejack was talking to Big Mac, her eyes wide as she examined her hardhat and overalls. Big Mac was silent, but an unusually fierce expression was on his face. Fluttershy silently cried beside Twilight’s bed, her petite form huddled up with Angel in her embrace. Rainbow Dash flew around the room, looking for an escape. The open hallway Spike had come in from was sealed shut. Derpy sat in her bed, looking confused as she fiddled with the eyepatch covering one of her eyes. It appeared she couldn’t take it off. Shining Armor hurried over to Twilight, and the two shared an embrace.
“Twily, what’s happening? Why is did Discord take us here?” Shining inquired, his face one of concern.
Twilight just buried her head into her brother’s red shirt. “I don’t know... I just don’t know...” she mumbled.
Suddenly, her head snapped up. Wait...
“Pinkie!” she cried. “Where is Pinkie?!”
Everypony in the room paused what they were doing and looked around the room. Rainbow Dash flittered about, calling out when she looked behind the desk at the back of the room.
“She’s behind here!” Rainbow called. “WOAH!”
Twilight trotted over to the desk, glancing behind it. “What the HAY?!”
There, behind the desk, was Pinkie. But it certainly wasn’t the Pinkie Twilight knew. Strapped to her face was a terrifying mask, beneath which were peaking out gruesome burn scars. Her hair was flat and dull-looking, and she wore a red flame-retardant body suit, along with black gloves and boots. In her hooves she had a match, which she was frantically rubbing against the desk.
“Uhh... P-Pinkie...?” Twilight asked hesitantly.
Pinkie’s head slowly turned to look at Twilight, the lifeless eyes of the mask sending chills down her spine.
“Oh my gosh...” Fluttershy said. She put her hooves over her mouth.
By this point everypony in the room was looking at the scene.
After about a minute of silence, Pinkie suddenly leaped up, wrapping her hooves around Twilight in a strong embrace.
“GAH! Pinkie!” Twilight cried, her face turning an even darker shade of violet.
Pinkie continued to hug her, making strange noises. It was like she was trying to talk, but her words were totally mumbled by the mask. After she was done hugging Twilight, she quickly proceeded to do so to Fluttershy, and then to the rest of the group. She seemed to bounce off of the walls, giggling in glee.
A small cough interrupted the scene, and the group’s attention was drawn to Spike. He stood in the middle of the room. His notepad was filled with various scribbles.
“Good morning, team RED,” he said politely, tucking his pencil behind his ear crest. “I am Mr. Paul the Dragon, assistant to Discord the Administrator. You are all clones of various ponies from Equestria, and have been created to fight for Princess Celestia in order to reclaim the land that rightfully belongs to her. You will be fighting against team BLU: Builders of Luna’s Utopia. Each of you has been assigned a specific class, or a role to play on your team. Twilight, you are Sni-”
“Waitwaitwait,” Rainbow Dash interrupted. “What do you mean clones?! I’m the one and only Rainbow Dash, not some random clone!”
Applejack sneered. “Yea, you’re just pullin’ our legs. This can’t be true!”
“Paul” sighed. “Believe me, you all ARE clones, including me. You were all created by Discord to be copies of the ponies you were based off of. However, there have been some significant changes... as well as flaws in the magical cloning system. You all are designed to be ruthless fighting machines, after all, so some memories have been altered, as well as parts of your personality constructs and abilities. Pinkie Pie, for example, is built to be this team’s Pyro. She was given a special affinity for fire as well as a hallucinogenic personality. Though I have to say the schizophrenia was not the most necessary choice... Discord wanted to have a bit of fun... so some changes are as a result of him wanting to make things a bit more chaotic.
“But back to what I was saying before I was interrupted...” Paul gave a quick scowl at Rainbow Dash. “Twilight, you are the team Sniper. Your precision-based magic is finely tuned for the job. You are smart and cunning, using your mind to find the best strategy and positioning. You are also the team leader.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. What in Equestria...? Her mind’s gears where whirring at an incomprehensible pace, taking in all the information that was being pressed upon her. She couldn’t believe this was happening. It had to be some kind of trick Discord was pulling to try to distract her and her friends while he tried to take over Equestria.
And yet...
Twilight noticed that some things were vaguely... off... with her friends. Pinkie was most certainly very strange, but others like Shining Armor were also different. She couldn’t put her hoof on it at the moment, so she decided to keep her eyes on everyone, and observe as much as she could.
“Fluttershy is the team Medic. Her healing skills are unprecedented. She has saved many an animal’s life with her work. Discord has altered her to give her knowledge of pony anatomy as well,” Spike continued.
Fluttershy peeked out from behind her hooves. “I guess I could do that,” she whispered. “But... I am sorry to interrupt... what did Discord do to Angel? He’s not acting like himself...”
“Oh. Discord did not like the personality that the original Angel has. Thus, he changed it to the personality of a dove,” Paul said.
Fluttershy’s breathing grew heavy and her eyes were wide as she looked down at Angel beside her.
“Rarity is the team Spy. Her cunning and knowledge of acting and disguise make her the perfect candidate for infiltrating the enemy team.” Paul said.
Rarity blinked, mouth agape. “What...? How would I even go about doing that?”
“You will all have a small training exercise later on. The skills you need are implanted within you, but you just need to awaken them. Continuing on, Big Mac is the team Heavy Weapons Pony. His muscle gives him the strength to carry the heavy artillery needed to push back the opposing team.”
Big Mac didn’t say anything.
“Pinkamena Diane Pie is the team Pyro. She will handle pyrotechnics.”
Twilight glanced at Pinkie, who was holding the same match from before, but she had found a way to get it ablaze.
“Derpy Hooves is the team Demolitions Mare. She will handle bombs and explosions.”
“Yay!” Derpy said, clapping her hooves together.
“Shining Armor is the team Soldier. He will team up with Twilight Sparkle to make strategy. He also will work with the rocket launcher.”
Shining Armor and Twilight looked at each other. Twilight giggled, a smile appearing on her face for the first time.
“I guess you’ll just be doing the stuff you used to before, my soldier brother... minus the rocket launcher.” Twilight laughed. She didn’t really know why she was laughing. Perhaps the simple thought of her brother having the job he was pretty much already used to on the team was funny to her.
Shining cracked a smile as well... an insane sort of grin. “I am going to dominate every last one of those BLU Equestria-hating scum!”
Twilight’s smile disappeared. “What?”
Before she could say anything more, Paul continued talking. “Applejack is the team Engineer. Her barn-building and farming prowess has been translated into a knowledge of gears and wires. Her mechanical sentries, magical teleporters, and medical dispensers will assist the team greatly.”
“Uh... alrighty then...” Applejack said.
“What about me?!” Rainbow Dash said, tapping her hoof impatiently.
“And last but not least, Rainbow Dash is the team Scout. What she lacks in strength, she makes up for in speed and agility. She can capture points twice as fast as the normal team member, and her scattergun and bat make for intimidating weapons,” Paul said.
“Huh, sweet!” Dash said with a grin. “Sounds perfect!”
Suddenly, a puff of smoke popped up behind Paul, and Discord appeared.
“Hello, my little clone-ies!” He laughed. “I’ve just returned from cloning up the BLU team. Mr. Paul, they are in need of your assistance in explaining their roles.”
“Oh, of course, sir,” Paul said. The hallway opened up for just a moment so he could run out.
“Now... I suppose Mr. Paul told you all your team roles?” Discord inquired.
Everypony silently nodded.
“Excellent. Then it’s time to start training!” Discord said with the grin of a lion.
