Martha and Skits 2: The Cloned Emperor

by Zenitram Nadroj

Remorse in the Dungeon

In the cave, Cadance continues reading the book when the groups feel the earth shaking.

"What's going on?!", Truman asks.

"It's an earthquake.", Sunburst says.

"You think it's more of your kind, Rutherford?", Ember asks.

"No. Earthquake too powerful to be yaks stomping.", Rutherford says.

"I'll locate the source.", Discord says.

His eyes glow and finds the source of the earthquake.

"It's that chancellor who imprisoned us."

"Neighsay!", they all exclaim.

"We've gotta find that spell right now.", Starlight says.

"Shining, keep using your spell.", Cadance says.

He nods and uses his spell again.

---

The emperor and his monsters notice the earth shaking and look down. They see the crooks from the other world in front of the creatures. He then growls.

"That's it. This has gone on long enough.", he says.

The minions growl in query.

"No more hiding. We have to save those creatures right now."

They all descend.

"You will surrender right now.", Fildgemarker says.

They hear flapping and look up. A monster lands in front of the group and he opens his eyes.

"Wait a minute. It's him.", Pablum says. "That's the monster we've been trying to get a hold of."

"So, we finally meet again."

"It's been a while, Your Majesty.", Weaselgraft says.

"Your Majesty?!", the group exclaims.

"That monster is royalty?", Twilight asks.

"You all should fear me now that we've come face to face once more."

"That won't be a problem.", Kablooey says. "Because now we have help."

The chancellor approaches the monster.

"You."

"Oh, sweet Celestia. It's hideous.", he exclaims.

"All this time, I thought all the prejudicial ponies have been gone for centuries. But apparently, one still exists."

"I take it you've heard of me."

"Yes. You've tried to shut down this alicorn's school all because the students were not ponies like yourself."

"How does he know that?", Twilight asks.

Helen shrugs.

"Yes. I did. Until, the princesses reinforced the school's policy making my protests completely useless. And that that we've teamed up, I'll make sure the school stays closed, that unicorn wedding will not have any non-pony creatures attending and every non-pony creature will be deported from the kingdom."

"I should've known that it was all of you who've created a mechanical prison in my kingdom."

"Wait. This wasteland is your kingdom.", Fildgemarker asks.

"It was. But somehow, it was ruined by some sort of being that shares my exact aura."

He then senses a massive burst of energy.

"It's here."

"What's here?", Martha asks.

He looks up and finds the source he was looking for. It was another monster that looked just like the emperor. He descends and confronts the other monster.

"You're me."

"No. You're me.", the other monster says.

It looks behind him and sees its creators.

"My saviors."

"Saviors?"

"I've done it. I found the one who possesses my aura. What should we do with them?"

"We'll just detain him along with the rest of them.", Pablum says as they take out their net blasters.

They capture the emperor and groups.

Back in the cave, the group wait anxiously as Shining's spell wears off again.

"Cadance, did you find the spell yet?", Spike asks.

"I almost found it.", she says.

"Can you please hurry up, honey. I'm starting to get a headache.", Shining says before his horn glows again.

She continues reading until she finds the page she's looking for.

"I found it."

"Hurry, what does it say?", Sea Spray asks.

She reads the page and then gets the spell.

"Alright. Everypony, I'm gonna use it now."

"I hope this works.", Ember says.

"It has to.", Gruff says.

She powers her horn and the locks glow. They all then begin to click open.

"It worked.", Pinkie says.

"Alright. Let's get out of here.", Rarity says.

They all open their cages and bolt out. They keep going until they see the exit.

"I see the exit.", Applejack says.

"We're almost there.", Fluttershy says.

Before they reach it, they are stopped by the crooks.

"Leaving so soon?", Neighsay says.

"Woah. Didn't see that coming.", Discord says.

Later, all the creatures are taken to the emperor's dungeon.

"Thank you for letting us use your dungeon, Your Majesty.", Weaselegraft says.

"Just don't lay a single finger on those creatures.", the emperor says.

"Don't worry. We're just keeping them safe until we've taken over this land.", Bumblecrum says.

"And we'll deport these non-pony creatures forever.", Neighsay says.

Fildgemarker peeks into the door.

"Don't you magic wielders even thing about teleporting or removing those chains. Because we've put up magic sensors all over the room.", Fildgemarker says.

"So if any of you even try escaping, we'll extract your life force leaving you completely weak and helpless.", Neighsay says.

"Neighsay, doesn't that sound a bit extreme?", Pablum asks.

"Absolutely not. I'm not resting until Equestria is back to the way it's supposed to be. Now if you'll excuse us, we have a land to rule."

They all leave the room with the emperor following them. The groups sulk in the dungeon.

"I can't believe we're all gonna be imprisoned in this dungeon.", Twilight says.

"Now we'll never go back to our worlds.", Helen says.

"What's gonna happen to us now?", Truman asks.

"And how are we gonna get out of here without using magic?", Rarity asks.

Everyone then starts panicking.

"How could that monster do this to us?", Helen's dad asks.

"First those crooks took of with the cubs and now they've got us trapped in here.", the zookeeper says.

"Guys, they didn't take the...", Martha says before being interrupted.

"I will not look good with grime stains on my shirt.", Tiffany says.

They all continue arguing and bickering.

"OK, that's enough!", a voice says.

They suddenly stop as soon as they hear the voice.

"Who said that?", Fluttershy asks.

Skits stands up and speaks out.

"I did."

"Skits, you can talk?", T.D. asks.

"Yes. In fact, all of us animals can talk now."

"It's true.", Lilly says.

"Uh huh.", Nelson says.

"You heard him right.", Ruby says.

"How is this possible?", Milo's dad asks.

"We've been confronted by the other monster and he cast some sort of spell that made all of us talk.", Skipper says.

"Yes. So we've all been understanding one another since we've been given this spell.", Trina says.

"And it's about time one of us actually spoke up and let's everyone know what we're actually trying to say.", Skits says. "We have all been completely silent for far too long."

"Now we've all had problems ourselves, me trying to be more obedient, Martha looking for her family, Lilly trying to find a better home, Pops wanting to be adopted, Kitten looking for a family, and Nelson, well do I even need to list his problems?"

"Hey!"

"Whatever the case, we've all had problems that needed to be solved eventually, so what's keeping us from solving this problem?"

"Twilight, they're right.", Sunburst says.

"What do you mean?", she asks.

"We've all had problems of our own. And right now we have our own problem.". Starlight says. "We wanted to ask for your opinion."

"Opinion for what?"

"After me and Sunburst are married, where are we gonna live? Ponyville or the Crystal Empire?"

"Oh, my gosh. That is a problem."

She then thinks about it and gives her decision.

"Starlight, Sunburst, you can live anywhere you want."

"Huh?", they both ask.

"It doesn't matter where exactly you two have to live once you both get married. Wherever you live, you'll both be happy that you're living with each other."

They take the decision and smile.

"She's right, Sunburst. We'll always be together no matter where we live."

"That's very touching of you to say.", Tiffany says. "Only we still don't know how we're gonna get out of here!"

They all start arguing and bickering again.

"I guess sweet moments aren't always enough to raise other people's spirits.", Martha says.

"At this point, I'm not sure what will.", Skits says.

Author's Note:

Sorry that I haven't added more chapters, I've been out of town for a few days and my writing software expired. I just had to write all of this by myself. Thank you for being patient and I'll see you in the next chapter.