> A Different World: The Future and Fate of Equestria
>  by Riclo
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1 | Broken
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight Sparkle's POV

Everything was black. Did I fall asleep? Where was I? What was I doing? I couldn't remember much of anything for some reason. The only word I kept hearing in my mind was Duston... Something had happened with him.. I knew that much, but what was it? My mind felt too numb and sluggish to remember exactly what though, but whatever it was, I knew that it had to have been bad. I just knew it somehow. 

I kept hearing noises in the very distant background, but I couldn't recognize what they were-- it was like my mind was blank and unfocused. I couldn't recognize anything or do much of anything really, as if I had fallen into some kind of deep sleep. As more time went by, however, the noises began to get louder and a little more recognizable. They sounded like faint voices and the pattering of hooves, as if I was surrounded by other ponies, but who were they? I didn't feel any hostile or threatening emotions towards the voices I heard, so with just that knowledge alone I was able to conclude that they must not have been enemies of any kind. 

My curiosity to find out just what was going on urged me to slowly start waking up, encouraging me to discover what these noises were, where I was, what was going on, whatever happened to Duston-- all of the questions that were plaguing my mind. My thoughts felt like they were becoming clearer and more focused, where in an instant I suddenly found myself remembering just what had happened. I fiercely awoke from my slumber and bolted up-right in the bed, gasping and widening my eyes as the thoughts in my head merged with my actions in real life. 

"Duston!!" I shouted, hastily glancing around the blindingly bright room. My first reaction was to squint my eyes, which were blinded by the sudden bright lights of what appeared to be... a hospital? 

"Hey, she's up guys." I heard the familiar voice of Rainbow Dash call out. I blinked multiple times, trying to make out the figures in my vision, when I noticed a sudden pink blur spring up in-front of me. 

"Finally! You've been out for almost a whole day Twilight! I didn't know ponies could sleep that long, at least not--" 

"Pinkie, give'er a chance to wake up first." The distinct voice of Applejack interrupted. "She looks worse than I do after ah've been workin' all day straight in the summer." 

"Oh, whoops." Pinkie replied as she backed away. By this time my vision had mostly cleared, and I looked around to see all of my friends surrounding me-- Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy. I didn't waste any time in speaking up though because I was eager for some answers. 

"Where's Duston?" I quickly asked as I slowly recalled bits and details of what exactly had happened. I hoped that what I was remembering wasn't true or that it was just a dream-- maybe I was even imagining things the wrong way. To my worst dismay, however, a sudden eerie silence followed after I asked that question, which only made my fears so much worse. I stared at the blank gazes my friends were giving back at me, which didn't help at all to calm the rampant thoughts in my head, until eventually Rarity decided to speak up. 

"Twilight, darling. Duston is..." 

"He's not around anymore." Applejack finished with a dull tone of voice. I simply stared back at her with wide eyes, and I could feel my lips start quivering as that fact was unwilling to be believed to me. That couldn't be true. 

"No, no that's not true.. th-that was all just a dream!" I hastily replied in denial. I was already starting to feel tears well up in my eyes, and I gripped the covers on my bed tightly with my hooves. They all only stared at me in response-- all with the same sorrowful expression-- which was only making me feel worse and worse with each passing second. Had that really happened to the person who I had inadvertently gotten so close to..? "Please say it was all just a dream!! Please!" 

"Twilight.." Applejack started, trying to think of any words to say to help comfort her friend. 

"We'll get Discord back for this Twilight." Rainbow spoke up. "I don't care how good he is at hiding. I'll find him and I will make sure that he pays for this! I won't let him do this to you and get away with it-- I'll make sure he doesn't fake his death twice in a row." Rainbow spoke up with confidence and determination in her eyes. I only nodded faintly in response; I was barely able to think straight. I felt myself begin to cry, so I covered my face with my hooves, sinking down further into the bed and closing my eyes. I then felt something start petting my mane, but I didn't bother looking to see who it was because I just didn't care at the moment. 

"Now now Twilight... it's okay. He was a very good person and we all miss him very much." I heard Fluttershy's soft voice whisper in her attempts at trying to comfort me. I didn't bother responding however, and kept quietly crying into my hooves as she continued. "All of your friends are going to be here for you, Twilight. I can't imagine what you must be going through right now.. so we all want to help you as much as we can." 

"Yeah!" I heard Pinkie Pie speak up. "Because that's what friends are for! Don't worry Twilight-- I'll make it my number one goal to make you feel better." Despite the sadness I was experiencing, I couldn't help but smile a little as I listened to all the kind words I was hearing. I un-covered my hooves from my face, looking at all my friends. 

"..Th-thank you all so much. I can't describe how much this all m-means to me.. But..." I trailed off as I let my head tilt downwards. "...I think I just need some time alone right now." 

"Ah understand. This all must be hard on ya." Applejack responded, giving her head a small nod. "C'mon everypony lets do what she asked. We'll all wait outside the door for ya, so don't hesitate to call us when yer ready." 

"Thank you, again." I replied as I watched them begin heading towards the door. They opened up the door, and each one of them walked out one by one until the entire room was empty and silent-- save for the constant beeping of the heart monitor and faint buzzing sounds of other equipment, but I couldn't think about those other sounds right now. I let myself curl up in a ball as I quietly started to cry more. I still couldn't believe he was dead.. I didn't want to believe it-- I almost couldn't. I had never had anyone close to me die before-- let alone right in-front of my own eyes-- and I didn't know how else to manage it. 

I closed my eyes again and continued to sob quietly into my hooves; every thought of Duston would only make me break down crying even more. Just knowing that every single memory I had of him, ever since I had accidentally brought him into this world to the party that was only last night-- just knowing that he was dead now was almost unbearable. I didn't know what to do now. In-fact, what was there to do? Was there anything to even look forward to anymore? Sure I've read the phrase 'You never realize what you have until it's gone.' in a couple books, but to actually experience it was something I never would've imagined feeling like this. I never knew how important Duston was to me until now, and now I'll never ever get to see him again...

I never even got to say goodbye. 





I slowly found myself beginning to awaken, so I opened my eyes, where it took me only a couple seconds to realize that I must've fallen asleep. I looked around, only to find myself still in the hospital bed. How much time had passed? I scanned the room, and my eyes eventually came across a clock hanging on the wall: 4:39 PM. Not like that was much use to me anyway-- I didn't know what time it was when I had originally fallen asleep.

Slowly, however, the events of the previous day started to fill my head again, leaving me in a somewhat saddened and depressed state. We had just gotten back from that party Pinkie Pie was throwing celebrating that we thought we had defeated Discord, but by the time the party was over and me and Duston were making our way back to my library, that's where.. it happened. I felt a little better than before I had fallen asleep, but every thought of Duston would only add to the sadness. I sighed out in a slow exhale as I tried to think of other things. If my mind served me right, all of my friends should still be waiting for me somewhere outside the door. 

I groaned and slowly began to sit up from the bed. It was then I realized just how sore I actually was-- most of my muscles seemed to be aching quite a bit. Had the spell I had cast really taken that much out of me? Either way, it didn't matter right now. I slowly began to place my hooves on the floor, feeling its cold surface as I made my way over to the door. Once I approached it, I placed my hoof on the handle, before turning it and gently pushing the door open. I poked my head outside to see the rest of my friends all seated in individual chairs. Pinkie Pie was the first to notice me, as shown by her ears perking up and her head quickly turning to face me. 

"Twilight!" She excitingly exclaimed, jumping up from the chair and bolting over to me. "You're finally up! How'd you sleep?? Did you have any bad dreams? I hope you didn't!" 

"I'm fine Pinkie, thanks for asking." I replied, smiling a tiny bit at her enthusiasm. "I hope I didn't keep you all waiting for too long." 

"Oh not at all! We would've stayed here forever if you wanted us to! Well, maybe not forever because once it's late enough I think visiting hours end, so then we'd be forced to leave, but if it wasn't for that then we'd stay here as long as you wanted us to!" 

"I appreciate that Pinkie." I replied. 

"Do ya feel any better Twi?" Applejack inquired, walking up to me. 

"A little." I answered. "I could be better obviously, but I'm sure I'll be able to take care of myself." 

"That's good on ya. If ya ever need anything don't forget ta give us a holler." 

"I won't." I responded with a small nod. I glanced over at all my other friends before continuing. "So.. when can I leave?" 

"Nurse Redheart said she has to check you before you leave, to make sure you're okay and such." Fluttershy responded. "I'll go let her know you're up." 

"I'm afraid that won't be necessary." I heard another mare spoke up. I looked in that direction to see Nurse Redheart, who had seemingly appeared out of no-where. "It would be rather irresponsible of me if I let other ponies roam around aimlessly, am I correct?" 

"I suppose so." Fluttershy replied. Redheart just laughed slightly before looking at me. 

"You're free to go Twilight. Just try not to do any strenuous activities for the rest of the day, and if you start to feel lightheaded or nautious, come back so I can see what the cause is. Okay?" 

"Will do." I responded, giving her a slight nod. 

"Great! The exit is just this way." She proceeded to begin walking off, with me and the rest of us following her. After turning through a few hallways and rooms, I found myself approaching the exit door. Redheart walked ahead and opened the door to hold it open for us. 

"Thank you for the help." I stated as I made my way out the door. 

"No problem-- I'm just doing my job. I hope you all have a wonderful day!" Redheart replied, waving goodbye to us as we left. Once we were all out of the building, I turned to my friends. 

"Well... I'm gonna go head off to the library. If any of you guys wanna see me I'll be over there." I exclaimed. They all looked at me with amused faces, though, which only made me confused. "What's so funny?" 

"Twilight, you blew your library up! Remember?" Rainbow asked, who had taken to hovering slightly above the ground with her wings. 

"Yeah you did something that made the whole place go boom!" Pinkie chimed in. 

"..I did?" I replied quietly, taking me a couple seconds to remember what had happened-- the spell I had cast had blown the whole place up. "Oooh right, I remember now... wait, what about all my books?? Are they all fine??" I quickly asked as suddenly the thought of all those books reached my mind. "I had almost all of the rare and super-hard-to-find Starswell The Bearded books! And all those letters Princess Celestia sent me, and--" 

"Princess celestia told us all she was re-sending ya everythin' you had." Applejack interrupted, stopping my rant. 

"She did? Oh thank Celestia." I replied, breathing out a huge sigh of relief. "If I had lost all of those too, I... I don't know what I would've done." 

"She also said she's rebuilin' yer house too, and payin' it with all her own bits. She wants ya to try bein' more careful next time." 

"I'll tell her I'll try my best then." I responded. 

"We all agreed you can stay at my place until your house gets rebuilt." Fluttershy replied. "I hope the animals won't be too much of a bother to you.." 

"They won't, don't worry about that." I replied, before looking around and noticing the absence of a particular figure. "...Wait, where's Spike? Shouldn't he be here with all of you?" 

"Oh, he's asleep at my house." Fluttershy answered. "The poor guy stayed up all night worried for you.. He only lasted until around noon watching over you before falling asleep next to your bed, so I decided to bring him back and tuck him in my guest bed. I'm sure he wants you to see him." 

"Aww... He didn't need to do that. Can I go see him?" 

"Of course you can." Fluttershy replied, before beginning to walk off in the direction of her house with the rest of us following. Eventually after several minutes of walking we arrived, and we went over the small bridge, stepping up to the house's door. Fluttershy proceeded to open it, before walking inside, allowing the rest of us to follow through. She then headed upstairs to the direction of her guest bed, where I saw Spike fast asleep on the bed. I smiled a little, before trotting up to him, placing my hoof on him and shaking him gently. 

"Hey. Hey Spike, it's me." I stated. I felt a little bad for waking him up, but I knew he must've wanted to see me really badly. 

"Twilight..?" He muttered as his eyes slowly starting to open up. He then looked in my direction, when his expression suddenly turned into one of surprise. "Twilight!" He exclaimed, quickly sitting up from the bed. "You're up!" 

"Yes, I'm finally up Spike." I was taken by surprise when he suddenly hugged me, and I couldn't help but smile in response, wrapping my hooves around him and gently hugging him in return. 

"I was so so worried about you Twilight-- I thought you'd never wake up! Are you sure you're okay??" He asked, pulling back and looking at me with concern in his eyes. 

"Yeah I'm fine Spike. You don't need to worry." I answered, looking back at him. "Fluttershy said you stayed up all night looking after me." 

"She did? I, well.. I was just worried." He responded sheepishly and with a little embarrassment. 

"There's no need to be embarrassed Spike. That means alot to me." I replied, giving him a little nuzzle before smiling. "It just shows you really are my number one assistant." 

"Well.. Yeah I guess." He smiled nervously. "I'm glad you're okay and all, but.. what am I doing in Fluttershy's house?" 

"I brought you here when you passed out." Fluttershy softly replied. "I thought about bringing you with us when the hospital opened back up, but I was sure you needed your sleep... Please don't be mad at me or anything! I was just trying to be thoughtful." 

"It's fine! I'm not mad. Honestly I could care less now that I know Twilight's fine." He replied. "I mean I was really worried there for a second." 

"I could see that." I responded with my head perked up slightly. "If it's not too much trouble though, I think I'm gonna walk around outside for a bit to maybe clear my head a little. Is that fine with you all?" 

"Oh not at all! Take your time." Fluttershy replied. 

"Yeah. You must still be really depressed about what happened." Spike added. 

"Right.." I responded with a short sigh. "I'll see you all some other time I guess." 

"Okay dokie lokie! I'll set up a party for you to try and make you feel better!" Pinkie replied. 

"Thanks, but that won't be necessary. I'm not really feeling like participating in a party right now." 

"Oh.. so I'll throw it some other time then! I hope you have fun on your walk!" 

"Me too." I replied, before walking out of the room and out of the house. I exhaled slowly as I closed the front door behind me, and then I breathed in the fresh outside air as I began to make my way forwards. I stared blankly ahead of me and didn't pay too much attention to my surroundings as I tried to recollect my thoughts. Was Duston really dead...? I still couldn't fully believe it. 

The atmosphere of Ponyville still seemed to be mostly the same as I found myself approaching the town, but it did little to effect my depressed state of mind. I did, however, take a few moments to perk my head up and take a look at all of the ponies minding their own business as they trotted along the stone pathways. Time obviously wouldn't stop for me to let myself wallow in sadness-- not like I would want such a thing anyway. I knew that I needed to stay as optimistic as possible for my own good, but I was finding it to be surprisingly difficult as depressive, unhealthy thoughts continued to invade my mind. Part of me wished that I had payed more attention to books that went over how to deal with this kind of thing. 

Before long, the ruins of my library caught my attention as it stood out from the rest of Ponyville's otherwise not totally destroyed buildings. My head perked up as I approached the ruins of the hollowed out tree, and I couldn't help but wince slightly at the sight of all of those books littered everywhere and with pages blown out of them. 

'I really hope Celestia isn't too upset about replacing all of those... I should really try to control myself better next time.' 

I stepped closer to the wreckage of where the front door was hanging off of its hinges, and I walked inside, feeling broken wood and scattered pages against my hooves. I made my way over to a noticeable clearing where my discharged spell must've made contact, and I looked around, before turning my body and facing towards the door again. I felt myself begin to relive the memories of what had happened that unfortunate night, and I trembled as I heard the gunshot clear as day in my mind. I really didn't want to think about it, but doing so would hopefully clear my head a little. 

I sat down and stared at the open door-way-- right where Duston had been standing-- and I felt my breathing get faster. I had seem him die right in-front of my eyes... I swallowed and could already feel tears welling up in my eyes. It hadn't even been that long and I was already regretting doing this to myself, but if there was one thing I had read before, it was that bottling up emotions wasn't healthy-- and I wanted to do everything possible to make this easier in the long-run. I continued to stare at the blown open doorway as I winced once again, and a short gasp followed when I noticed the blood splattered against it and the floor for the first time. I felt my body shiver as I curled up in a ball with the sun shining down on me. 

'Why would Discord ever do such a terrible thing..? Why....?' 

I sobbed quietly to myself as I laid there surrounded by the remains of my own library. This continued for several long minutes-- I really wasn't keeping track of the time-- until I eventually felt mostly satisfied with my crying. One thing, however, wasn't adding up... and it came to my mind rather abruptly and stood out sorely. I opened my eyes, looking back towards the doorway and narrowing my eyebrows. 

'Discord...' 

I got up and slowly made my way over towards the doorway, peering through it, when my eyes suddenly widened as a realization struck me. It wasn't Discord-- it was Klade, Duston's younger brother! I blinked, playing through the memories in my mind once again to make sure that I wasn't just mis-remembering something, but I knew for sure that it had to have been Klade. I could very distinctly remember seeing him standing outside at the door way and also the one who I fired the spell at. He was the one talking and had then shot Duston dead. 

'But... Why would he kill his own brother??? That doesn't make any sense! Unless it really was Discord.. But Klade said he killed Discord... Wait....' 

My eyes widened further as I thought back to when Discord supposedly been defeated. Klade was the only one who confirmed it-- no one else had actually seen him die. Was he lying to us? If he was, what would he even have to gain after helping us for so long? With a strong yearning for answers, I quickly began to run off in the direction of Klade's house, and hopefully before anything else bad happened. 

By the time I finally arrived I was panting rather profusely, and I stood by the door for a few moments to catch my breath. When I felt that I had regained enough composure, I lifted my hoof to knock, but then stopped myself. If he really did turn against us, then knocking probably wouldn't be the best idea, especially if he was presumably willing to kill his own brother. Looking across the front-side of the house, I walked over to one of the windows, carefully peeking inside. From what I could see, there was no one inside, and I couldn't hear anything either that would indicate that the house was occupied. Making my way back over to the front door, I slowly and quietly began to open it, before stepping inside. 

I remained silent as I closed the door behind me as softly as I could, and I carefully trotted forward, looking around at some of the strange objects inside. I could recognize some things, such as the couch that was backed up against one of the walls, but not others-- more specifically the large and thin black rectangle that was positioned at the opposite wall. I assumed they were things that existed back on the world that he came from, but I didn't know if they were dangerous or not, so I made sure to keep my distance just to be safe. 

As I walked forward, I saw another room straight ahead of me and a hallway extending from the wall to my left. I made sure to peek into the hallway first before walking forward into the next room, and after short observation, I concluded that this new room was the kitchen. The next room even further from that appeared to be a dining room, but I still found no trace of Klade. 

I backtracked and proceeded to make my way down the hallway: A bathroom on the left, a bedroom on the right, and yet another bedroom further down on the left. Aside from consisting of strange objects of which I didn't know what they did, I soon found that the house appeared to be empty of any inhabitants. Since I wasn't able to find Klade by looking, I decided to speak up just to make sure. 

"Klade!? Are you here?" I called out, only to not have a response. I took one last look in all of the rooms again before deciding to call out one more time with a louder voice. After still not getting a response, I exited the house feeling satisfied that he wasn't here. 

'I know Rainbow Dash is pretty close to him so she might have an idea of where he's at or if he's been acting weird lately; She might still be at Fluttershy's with everyone else. I better go talk to her, and hopefully before he does something to her. That would be horrible!' Feeling a new sense of worry, I ran off towards Fluttershy's cabin. 

I arrived after several minutes, panting and out of breath again, only this time I felt a little lightheaded. I stopped in-front of the front door and let myself lean against it as I tried to regain my composure without getting too dizzy. 'Nurse Redheart said I was supposed to be resting... I really shouldn't be disobeying doctor's orders! But this is important.' Deciding that I shouldn't run anymore, I pushed open the door, with the thought of knocking having not even crossed my mind as I was too concerned about Rainbow Dash. I quickly trotted inside only to see Spike helping with some animals. 

"Twilight! You're back!" He greeted, smiling at my arrival but then looking concerned when he saw the state that I was in. "Hey are you alright Twilight? You don't look too good." 

"I'm fine Spike-- where is everypony? Did you see Rainbow Dash?" I asked, trotting forward and looking around the room. 

"They all left shortly after you did. Well, except for Fluttershy, she's just outback right now." Spike answered. "Why? What's the matter?" 

"I need to talk to Rainbow Dash. It's important." I replied. "Did they say where they were going?" 

"I think they all just went back to do their busywork." He answered once again. 

'Rainbow could be anywhere then. Hopefully I can spot her outside somewhere.' I quickly turned around to head back outside, but I stopped myself to turn my head and look back at Spike. "Do you want to come with me?" 

"Sure! Just let me go tell Fl--" He was interrupted by my magic as I levitated him up onto my back, and my face scrunched up as I felt it to be surprisingly strenuous to use my horn-- something else I probably shouldn't be doing either. "..Or nevermind then." Spike concluded as I stepped back outside and closed the door behind us with my hooves instead of my magic. Once outside, I quickly began making my way towards Ponyville, making sure to keep my head up and my gaze glued to the sky in hopes of spotting Rainbow Dash. 

By the time I had reached all the way to the town square I still hadn't seen any sign of her, which worried me more, but I couldn't deny that having trouble finding Rainbow was usually a pretty normal thing. I continued my search until I came across Sugarcube Corner, and then an idea popped into my head as the sight of it reminded me of someone peculiar. 'Pinkie Pie! She should be able to find her in an instant.' I hastily made my way over to the candy-designed building and stepped in. Upon looking inside, I found Rainbow Dash to already be there and talking to Pinkie. I felt some relief to see that nothing had happened to Rainbow, and I quickly began trotting over to her. 

"Rainbow!" I called out, walking around the tables and chairs until I approached where she was talking with Pinkie. 

"Oh hi Twilight!" Pinkie greeted in her usual high-pitched and cheery voice. "Are you hungry? You've gotta be after being asleep for so long!" 

Now that Pinkie had mentioned it, I was actually pretty hungry, but I didn't have time for that right now. "Not right now Pinkie. I wanted to ask Rainbow, or rather, both of you actually: have either of you seen Klade?" 

"Klade? Hmm... Not since yesterday night at the party!" Pinkie replied. I then turned to look at Rainbow. 

"Same. I actually went by his house earlier this morning to see if he wanted to check up on you in the hospital, but he wasn't there." Rainbow spoke up. Her expression suddenly changed to one of concern however when a thought struck her mind. "Wait a minute, why are you asking Twilight? Do you think something happened to him too??" 

I shook my head. "Not really. Well, kind of. I think I should probably ask this first though: Why does everyone seem to think that Discord is the one who um.. killed Duston?" 

"Because only he could do something so evil!" Rainbow quickly replied. "He's a piece of shit and if I knew where he was I'd kick his flank right now!" 

"Now that you bring it up Twi, I think we all kind of just assumed it was Discord." Pinkie added. "But why's that so important? You don't think it was someone else, do you? Is there another baddy out there who's even worse than Discord??" 

"Well, it's just that.." I started, playing through the memories in my mind yet again just to make sure I wasn't getting anything wrong. "..It was Klade who killed Duston. I was there and I saw it happen right in-front of my eyes." The two looked at me with blank expressions for a few seconds before Rainbow was the first to speak up. 

"Oh come on Twilight, Klade would never do something like that-- he's too cool. You don't seriously think he'd kill his own brother, do you? I'm sure it was just Discord disguised as him! Or maybe he messed with your head, I don't know." 

"See, that's what I thought too!" I replied. "But then the more I thought about it, the more it began to make sense... I mean, Klade was the only one who confirmed to us that Discord had died. None of us actually saw it happen-- he could have very well been lying to us! He always was kind of a weird one, and even Duston kind of agreed with me on that." 

"I think you're overthinking things way too much Twilight." Pinkie responded. "I used to do that alot too, and it's super duper unhealthy! You just think and you think and you think and then your mind goes all bonkers. It's happened to me before!" I then turned to look at Rainbow, who had been silent for longer than what I would consider normal. Eventually however she chimed in. 

"I don't know Pinkie... Back when we were all in Hayseed Swamps, Discord told me a bunch of things about Klade and how he was secretly working for him. I didn't believe it all for very long though-- Klade convinced me otherwise-- but... it just can't be true. It wouldn't make any sense." Rainbow got up from her chair. "I'm gonna go find Klade so I can find out what's going on. I know Klade and I know he wouldn't betray us." 

I nodded lightly at Rainbow. "If you find him, I want to talk to him too." Rainbow affirmed my request, and then lifted herself up off the ground with her wings, zooming out the front doors. I watched her before turning to look at Pinkie. "What do you think, Pinkie?" 

"You wanna know what I think? I think you need to eat something! I heard your stomach rumble not once, but twice so far!" She replied. "Do you want cupcakes? I'll go make them for you lickity-split!" 

I sighed softly, but I couldn't deny that Pinkie was right, even though I really hadn't planned on eating yet. "No, I'm not really in the mood for sweets. I'll take just a Dandelion Sandwich with Hay Fries for now." 

"Okay Dokie Lokie! What about you Spike?" 

"Huh? Oh uh.. just cupcakes please!" 

"Alrighty! I'll be right back!" Pinkie responded before dashing into the kitchen. I proceeded to sit down on the chair where Rainbow just was in, breathing out a sigh as I watched Spike get off my back and sit down across from me. I stared at him blankly for a few seconds before speaking up. 

"What do you think, Spike? You've been awfully quiet about the whole thing." 

"Well, I don't know what to think Twilight! I never knew Klade that well." He replied. "And even if I did, I'd still find it really unlikely that he'd kill his own brother. That's just weird!" 

"You'd think so, but you have to remember that they are both from an entirely different world too. Their culture could be alot different there in ways that we can't even imagine." 

"Now I think you're stretching things too Twilight. I mean, no offense or anything.. but I think Pinkie is right here. Besides, isn't family supposed to be an important part of pretty much any culture?" 

"Well, yes, it is." I sighed again. "I'm sorry Spike, I'm sure I'm acting totally irrational right now. I guess it's just kind of hard for me to think straight." 

"Don't push yourself too hard Twilight. You should take a few days off! Or something." 

"I guess so..." It was right then that Pinkie came zooming back to the table, placing a tray with my sandwich and fries in-front of me, and then placing several cupcakes in-front of Spike. 

"Here you go guys! I'll be in the kitchen if you need anything." Pinkie replied, before dashing off back into the kitchen. Knowing that Spike was right, I decided to just try and focus on the food and not too much else for the time being. 





Meanwhile in Canterlot...

Princess Luna's POV

The evening was soon approaching, and I was feeling eager to head to my bedchambers for the day, even though there were still a couple more tasks that needed to be done. There was no one around in this particular section of the Canterlot Castle, so I was free to not have to hide my exhaustion as I let my head droop and my body walk slowly across the marble floors. My attention was soon captured when I noticed a figure off in the distance in my peripheral vision, and I perked my head up to see that it was my sister Celestia. We soon approached, and she was the first to speak up. 

"Good evening Luna." 

"Evening, Tia." 

We both walked past each other, having only just acknowledged each other's presence. After only making a few steps past her, however, a sudden thought occurred to me. Since Celestia was right here, I decided to ask while it was currently on my mind.

"Tia," I spoke, stopping my walk and turning my head to look at her. "Do you have a moment?" 

"Yes, Luna. What is it?" She responded, turning her body to face me, to which I did the same. 

"There has been something that I have been meaning to ask you for quite some time now, but I have not been able to, so I would like to now while I have not forgotten." 

Celestia nodded slightly. "You can ask me anything you want to Luna." 

"Of course." I paused for a second before continuing. "I am referring back to when we helped Queen Chrysalis, and you said that you needed to send Duston and Klade back to their original world afterwards. This confused me... you said that you were worried about the Equestrian public's opinion. But why? Surely that would not have been a problem." 

"You're correct." Celestia replied. "At least, not by the point: Everyone already knew of them. That was a mistake by my part." 

"Oh. But.. surely you knew of that at the time. Why did you bring it up, then?" 

"Because there's more to it than that." Celestia exhaled, which caused me to quickly interrupt. 

"I do not mean to intrude in any means; it is simply something that has been on my mind." 

"No it's quite alright, you should know anyway." Celestia responded. "If you haven't already noticed, humans are extremely powerful when it comes to magic-- maybe even stronger than Discord's type of magic. Because of this, I have made sure not to let any of them stay since my reign. This has happened before-- many times actually-- and I've made sure to it that each time they get sent back. Usually it's done fairly quickly, and thus isn't a problem. This time, though.. well you already know the rest." 

"I see..." I stayed quiet for a few seconds, taking in what Celestia had said before continuing. "They have helped greatly in our fight against Discord, however. They are valuable assets." 

"Yes, that's true. However, I still worry, especially with Klade. He seems to be fully aware of his power and is using it to his complete advantage, which is the exact type of scenario that I am worried about. He's been creating all sorts of strange things all in the area surrounding Ponyville, of which I don't even know what most of them do, but I can only assume that they are all very dangerous. Not to mention that he's essentially been using Equestria as his playground and then tossing his literings into the Everfree Forest." 

"So then what do you suppose we do, Tia?" 

"I don't know. Even if Klade is doing all of this for benevolent means right now, I still worry about the future and if he ever realizes just what type of power he holds in this world. I don't consider him responsible for his power-- Duston maybe, but he's no longer with us, and I never knew him well enough to make an accurate judgement anyway. The most we can do for right now is watch him closely and hope for the best. If I see any signs that he's attempting to overthrow Equestria or do anything malevolent, I will take action immediately." 

I nodded my head lightly, feeling inclined to agree with what my sister was saying. "I understand. Thank you for explaining to me, Tia." 

"You don't have any need to thank me for things like this. It's important to ask and make sure we have a proper understanding of everything." 

I nodded again, and then after a short moment we both continued on our ways.
> Chapter 2 | Memories
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight Sparkle's POV

The day had gone by without any sign of Klade. Rainbow Dash seemed to be deeply concerned, which was understandable-- we didn't know if he was really still on our side or if he had been killed just like Duston was, and I knew that Rainbow had a close partnership with him. We wanted answers, and we weren't getting any, much to Rainbow's annoyance. I had sent a letter to the princesses telling them of Klade's unknown whereabouts, hoping that maybe they'd be able to find any traces of him. For the moment, however, everything seemed uncertain.

It was currently the morning of the next day, and I had just said my goodbye to Fluttershy after having left her cabin. It was nice of her to let me stay there for the time being while my library was being rebuilt, and I was definitely thankful for her kindness, so I made sure to try and help her in any way that she would let me. I had decided to visit Duston's house being how I had never actually gotten around to doing it before, and I was currently on my way there-- or at least, where I thought it was. The trip there was mostly uneventful, and before long I came across a building that looked similar to Klade's house.

'This must be the place.'

Walking up to the front door, I opened it and stepped inside. The first thing I noticed was another one of those large and thin black rectangles-- the same thing I had seen at Klade's house-- so I assumed it probably wasn't dangerous if Duston had one too. Despite thinking that, I still decided not to take a closer look, and instead made my way further into the house. I spent my time looking around, examining the furniture and any strange objects that were inside. The interior of the house was pretty barren though, almost as if it was incomplete. One thing that had stood out was a black shirt with red letters fabricated on that very distinctly looked like Rarity's doing, which stated 'You mess with the boss, you get PWNED', whatever that was supposed to mean. The back of the shirt had a red outline of a fist, and I couldn't remember ever actually seeing Duston wear this particular bit of clothing.

Soon enough I found myself walking into his bedroom, and I approached the bed, gazing down at it before slowly crawling on. I could immediately tell it was the bed he slept on from the scent, and I breathed in deeply, laying down on my back and pressing myself against the covers. Just smelling him again was causing me to be flooded with all sorts of memories, and for a brief moment I felt happiness as I gazed up at the ceiling. A smile grew on my face as I remembered when I first saw him and how I had somehow brought him into this world-- I still didn't know what on Equestria I did to make such a mistake, but I was ever-so thankful for it.

'I don't know what I could've possibly done to screw up a simple teleportation spell that badly! I mean, transporting something from a different world, or a different dimension even-- that's gotta take alot of magic, and all I was  trying to do was teleport a rock from one place to another that was only like twelve inches away. I should really, really do more research into this type of thing whenever I have the chance.'

My thoughts soon moved on through the times, and how I was at first so curious about him and his world once I learned that he wasn't dangerous. He wasn't very good at explaining things though, so I mostly had to make guesses so that I could clarify them in my mind. This only lasted for maybe just a day or two though before things started happening-- word had come out that Discord may have been planning things again based off an increase of chaotic magic surrounding his stone prison, and thus I was required to gather up the Elements of Harmony and then head to Canterlot with my friends to deal with the situation. It unfortunately didn't go very well though, and as it turned out, Discord had somehow managed to use the power that the Elements of Harmony put out to his own advantage, to which he then used that power to free himself.

What surprised me, though, is how Duston happened to be there-- something I still had no idea how he could've possibly done on his own when he was supposed to be staying behind at the library, which was all the way back at Ponyville-- yet another thing that I would never have the answer to now that he was dead. Discord was about to attack us and do who-knows-what when Duston had shot him with one of his 'guns' he said they were called-- something that must've been in that backpack of his that was on him when I had brought him into this world. He had saved us from great potential danger, all while being asked to do otherwise--  this nice-spirited gesture had really stood out to me. He didn't need to do what he did, but he did it anyway, and I began to smile again at that thought. That was definitely one of the memories that stood out to me the most.

'I don't think I ever thanked him properly for that either...'

My thoughts went on, and I rolled over in the bed as I went over the events that happened afterwards. Once Discord had been freed, me and Duston had spent alot of time doing magic lessons to get him to use magic proficiently and effectively. I was surprised at first when I found out, or rather, Klade-- Duston's younger brother-- found out that humans could do magic. They didn't have horns like unicorns did! Klade's theory was that humans were always able to do magic, but weren't able to back on their world because their world didn't have something that Equestria did-- something that would allow magic to work. I was never able to confirm if this was true, but way later on we did briefly visit their world and we weren't able to use magic despite being unicorns. Me and Duston would spend hours almost every day together learning spells, and it was during this time that I had found myself really thinking about him alot. We had gone to get cupcakes at Sugarcube Corner so many times that I lost count, and time seemed to go by really fast during those days. When I thought back to it, it seemed like I was the happiest during those days. It was so much fun to have my own personal student to teach to, and I did definitely overwork him at times, but I couldn't help myself because I just got so excited. I smiled wider at the memories, but then winced as the brutal reality of what had happened set in for a moment.

'Duston... No no, don't think about that. Don't.'

I pressed my cheek against his pillow and closed my eyes, continuing to think on through the events. It was around that time that his brother Klade had learned a spell that could create anything out of nothing, and from there things started getting really crazy. He had brought a magic book over from the Canterlot Library that me and Duston studied, but all of the spells there were of magic that pony unicorns such as myself couldn't do, which was something that had really bothered me because there was alot of great spells in there. It was the spell that could create anything out of nothing, though, that pretty much ended our magic lessons because it mostly out-classed all the other spells. With that spell Duston was able to create weapons from his world that could kill in mere seconds, something that made me wonder if his world was any violent at all-- I never did ask him that. Despite that, there were still a few times where we went over more magic spells even though it wasn't entirely necessary. Now that I thought back to it, though, those last study sessions were started by Duston instead of me, which was now making me wonder if he had noticed how disappointed I was that they were ending and decided to keep doing it for awhile longer. If that was actually true...

I opened my eyes backed up and stared blankly at the wall to my side as I thought on. A whole bunch of stuff had happened, all of which was just normal things that would happen in Ponyville-- there was always something happening in this place. It wasn't until awhile later did we hear anything about Discord, and when we did it was a shocker-- the princesses had been captured! I distinctly remembered running to Duston's house that chilly early morning to tell him to meet me at the library, where I had gathered up all of my friends as well as Klade to tell them about what had happened. From there we had all teleported to Canterlot, where we were forced to endure Discord's treacherous games if we hoped to free the princesses. Although we did succeed, and Discord was loyal enough to stick to the rules of his game and release the princesses, we soon found out that he had trapped us inside all of Canterlot with a huge magical barrier-- we had been duped. It was here that Klade had helped us escape through an underground tunnel that he had created with his magic much earlier before this all had even happened, and it was through this tunnel that we arrived at yet another one of Klade's magical creations-- an entire base constructed within the insides of a mountain. He always was pretty  obsessed with doing stuff with magic, as I remembered him telling me once that he had "backup plans to backup plans and then backup plans to those backup plans". From there we had planned our next moves, and soon enough we had liberated Canterlot, as well as Ponyville which had also been Discordified.

It was after this that things toned down as Discord seemingly disappeared for the time being. I remembered feeling strangely eager to spend as much time with Duston as possible, to which I had done just that, having spent almost every living moment in his presence. I felt my heart begin to beat faster as my mind immediately trailed off to something very particular and special that had happened during this brief little break. I rolled over again and rubbed my body against his bed as I recalled going on my first date with him, where certain feelings were shared for the first time. I stretched my body  upwards and stared in-front of me with wide eyes as I thought back to all the little details that were cemented in my mind from that date, and I exhaled slowly, rolling over onto my back and rubbing the back of his head against his pillow.

'It was really nice...' A short bittersweet smile grew on my face, and I tried to control my breathing as I stared upwards. After that day everything pretty much became a blur it was all going by so fast, and it was hard for me to think straight most of the time-- I was feeling so many strange things I had never experienced before with such intensity. It definitely hadn't been a long enough break by the time Discord showed himself once more and we had to go deal with the problem. We thought we had killed him; we thought it was all over; we all partied and had fun with the most care-free minds afterwards. All I could think about was doing all sorts of things with Duston, but then he... he...

Chills spread through my body as my memories and recollections caught up with recent events, and tears began to well up in my eyes.

'He... D...Di...'

I couldn't say it, and I turned around, pressing my face hard against his pillow as I began to cry. Whether it was Discord or actually Klade himself who had killed him, I didn't care right now. I felt rage begin boiling up inside of me this time, unlike the previous times I had broken down crying. I was determined to find out who had murdered him, and I was going to bring revenge upon him in any.. way.. possible.

My hooves gripped his pillow tightly as I sobbed into it, letting myself think through events over and over despite what it did to me-- I just couldn't stop. Tears flowed down my cheeks and soaked into the pillow, and it wasn't until several minutes later that my crying finally began to slow down. I moved over to my side and opened my eyes back up, staring blankly at the open door-way in-front of me. I didn't want to move or get up though, so I remained laying on the bed as the minutes continued to tick by. Soon I closed my eyes, and I found myself drifting off into a short sleep on his bed.

'Duston...'





I woke up groggily some time later, and I groaned, rolling over onto my back. I had just woken up from a really nice dream about Duston where I was doing all sorts of fun things with him one after another, as they all seemed to merge together and last much longer than they really did in my dream-scape. I was saddened to have woken up, but I did definitely feel much better after having slept. I stretched on the bed, extending my limbs and then rolling over to the edge. I stayed on the edge for a few minutes in silence before I finally got off the bed, and I took one last look of the room before stepping out of it. I wandered through the house once again, taking another look at everything inside before heading over to the front door.

'I wonder what's going to happen to this house now that he's gone.' I thought to myself as I opened the front door and stepped outside. It was bright and sunny out, and based on where the sun was I guessed it was probably a little before noon. I walked out quite a ways in-front of me before turning around, taking a look at the front of the house and taking note of the differences between it and the normal Ponyvillian house. What eventually caught my eye though was something placed to the left of the house, and upon closer inspection, I recognized it as one of the things Duston had created back when he had first learned the creation spell.

'I think he said this thing was called a golf cart.' I walked to the side of the large object as I examined it. I remembered  him using this thing as a means of transportation, and I was curious to just how it worked as I approached it and sat down on what appeared to be the seat-- something that definitely wasn't designed for ponies. I looked over the black steering wheel which was something I knew was used to control boats and ships-- an interesting correlation between an invention in his world and ours. I looked down towards the floor to see two black pedals, and I pressed my hooves against them only to find that nothing happened.

'I'm pretty sure there was a way he turned this thing on-- but how?' I examined near the steering wheel to see a key sticking out of something, and my head immediately perked up at that. 'That must open something up that turns it on!' I turned the key, which unexpectedly caused the engine to roar and caught me off guard as the golf cart was suddenly turned on. 'Oh! That works too actually.' I gripped the steering wheel with my hooves and pressed, turning it in different directions, but nothing was causing it to move.

'Hmm... Usually with boats they have something in the back or down under-deck that causes it to move.' I got out of the cart and layed down on the grass, looking underneath the contraption and then using my horn to brighten the area up for visibility. I couldn't recognize or see anything that would cause it to start moving though, so I pulled out and stood back up, making my way towards the back. I opened up the trunk expecting some type of device or means that could get it moving, but instead found that it was seemingly only used for storage, and that there was a bunch of metal-looking objects layed down inside-- something I recognized as guns that Duston probably created with his magic. I knew they were dangerous and didn't know how they worked, so I quickly closed the lid before I made any mistakes.

'What on Equestria gets this thing moving?' I made my way back into the cart and on the seat, examining near the steering wheel to see if there was anything else I might've missed. I couldn't spot anything, but after awhile I noticed the two pedals once again. Kneeling down towards them again, I pressed my fore-hoof against the one on the left down to the floor. Nothing still happened however, so I repeated the same thing with the next pedal without much expectations, only for the vehicle to suddenly jerk forward.

"Ahhh!" My eyes went wide as my body was propelled backwards, and I quickly brought my head up, only to bang it against the steering wheel. "Ow!" I gripped my head with my hooves and then looked forward, only to see that I was now going down a hill. "Oh no no no no!" I death gripped the steering wheel with my hooves and stared ahead tense as fuck as I made extreme care not to lose control or run into anything. His house was pretty far away from most of Ponyville though, so I only had to look out for occasional trees as the cart lightly bounced down the short hill.  Soon enough it stopped, and I let go of the steering wheel as I relaxed and caught my breath.

"So that's how it moves!" I exclaimed to nobody in particular as I looked back down towards the pedals. "But how am I supposed to move this thing and control it at the same time?" I leaned down and tried to grip the steering wheel with one  fore-hoof while the other rested on the pedal, putting me in an awkward position where I couldn't even see in-front of me. I poked my head out the side of the cart to look ahead from there, and I very softly began to press down the pedal. The cart slowly moved forward, but I quickly lost my balance and found myself jumping out of the cart in an effort to avoid pressing my weight down onto the pedal. I rolled on the grass   couple times before getting back up and re-seating myself.

'I wonder if I could use both my hind-hooves and my fore-hooves...' I looked down towards the pedals and scooted forward as far as the seat would let me, stretching out one of my hind-legs towards them as I grabbed the steering wheel with my two fore-hooves. I was just barely able to press down on the pedal and look ahead of the cart, and I slowly began to drive it forwards in the grass. 'This seems to be working so far!' A smile began to grow on my face as I found myself driving the golf cart through the outskirts of Ponyville, and it was actually pretty fun. 'I definitely need to find out what makes this thing work!' I turned the wheel and maneuvered the vehicle past different obstacles, and before long I heard a familiar high-pitched voice call out.

"Woah Twilight that looks like fun!" I turned my head to see Pinkie bouncing towards me from the side, and I brought my hoof off the gas pedal, only for me to realize that wouldn't stop the vehicle.

"Wait.. How do I stop this thing?" I asked mostly to myself as I looked down at the dashboard for anything that might answer that question. I couldn't find anything, but it soon didn't matter anyway as the cart eventually slowed down to a stop on its own. A pink blur filled up my peripheral vision, and I turned my head to see that Pinkie was right there beside the cart. "Pinkie! I was just figuring out how this works."

"Oooh can I try? Pretty pretty please? That looks like it's gotta be so much fun! Isn't that Duston's?"

I nodded lightly. "Well.. yeah. You can sit next to me for now if you'd like; I'm still getting used to the controls and all."

"Okay!" Pinkie jumped right over me and landed on the seat to the right of me with a thud. "How fast does it go?"

"I don't know yet, I haven't tried." I responded. "It's already gone pretty fast though-- faster than most ponies can run even!"

"Wow really? I doubt it can outrun me. Rainbow Dash knows that especially!" Pinkie giggled. "I should get out and try to race it! Who do you think'll win? I bet I would!"

"Not right now Pinkie. I want to make sure I can control this thing optimally before I do anything like that-- I wouldn't want to bump into you!"

"Aww, okay." Pinkie seemed a little disappointed, but that was quickly replaced when I began to press down on the pedal again. Her head perked up as the cart began to move forward, and a wide smile grew on her face. "Hey look, we're moving!"

I smiled a little back at her, and I steered our way through the grass and across a few small and slanted hills. Eventually I was starting to leave Ponyville, so I turned around, which is when Pinkie spoke up.

"Hey can you let me try it now?" Pinkie asked, leaning her head close to me and looking like an excited foal. I was hesitant at first, but I reluctantly agreed after awhile.

"Okay... But just be careful Pinkie!" I replied. Pinkie squeed and seated herself in-front of the steering wheel as soon as she was able to, squirming back and forth and grabbing the wheel. "The pedal on the right will cause it to mov--woah!" I was interrupted by Pinkie slamming her hind-hoof on the pedal, and in an instant we were pushed back against the seat as we sped forward. "I said be careful!!"

"I am Twilight-- there's nothing in-front of me!" Pinkie smiled widely as we zoomed across the grassy fields with wind blowing against us, and I nervously held onto the seat as we went faster and faster. "What does  the other pedal do?" Pinkie asked.

"I don't kno--" I was cut off once again as Pinkie slammed her other hoof on the pedal, which sent us both flying out of cart as it abruptly stopped in place.

"Ahhhh Pinkie!!!!" I flew through the air in-front of the cart for several feet before barreling down onto the grass. Once I stopped tumbling on the ground, I got up, seeing Pinkie giggling and laughing next to me.

"Oh my gosh Twilight that was AMAZING! Let's do that again!" She exclaimed with a wide grin before bolting off towards the golf cart.

"Pinkie you might break it!" I responded as I hurriedly caught up with her and got back onto the seat.

"Oh come on Twilight it's not gonna break. Why else would that pedal be there anyway? That's what it's supposed to do!" Pinkie slammed her hind-hoof down on the pedal again, and I bit my lip nervously as we sped off once more.

"Just be careful Pinkie..." I watched her, not feeling very confident about the wide-eyed grin she had as she looked in-front of her.

"Come on-- faster faster faster!!! We're gonna go flying so far!" The cart gradually built up speed, and I could feel the wind beginning to push against us with increased resistance. I eventually noticed a large rock almost hidden in the grass in-front of us though, and my eyes went wide when I saw it.

"Pinkie look out!!!" I yelled at her, to which she glanced at me in confusion.

"Look out for what Twilight? There's nothing ther-oh!" Pinkie had noticed the rock, but I knew it was already too late at that point. Despite that, Pinkie jerked on the steering wheel, causing the entire cart to flip over as we were both sent flying out the moment it made contact with the rock. Both of us-- including the cart-- went flying through the air before eventually landing with crashes and thuds. I managed to get up shortly afterwards, checking myself over to make sure I wasn't hurt  before quickly making my way over to Pinkie Pie.

"Pinkie are you okay??" I spoke up as I approached her. She got up afterwards, appearing to be okay as she looked at me.

"I'm fine Twilight!" She replied, giggling a little to herself before looking over at the cart. "Um... sorry."

I gasped when I noticed the broken mess the cart had turned into, and I quickly ran over to it to examine the damage. "Pinkie!!" I exclaimed with a harsh tone of voice as I slowly levitated the deformed cart right-side up. "I told you to be careful!"

"I'm sorry.." Pinkie muttered as her ears flopped back against her head. Normally something like this wouldn't bother me so much-- it happened all the time with Pinkie-- but this was something that belonged to Duston. I tried to start the engine again, only to hear weird noises that definitely didn't sound right. My heart sank at this, and after failing to start it, I turned and glared at Pinkie.

"No-- this is what happens when you DON'T LISTEN!!!!" I yelled at her, causing her to back away slightly. "I told you to be careful with it multiple times and NOW look at what you've done! I don't know how to fix this thing!! And this was Duston's and now he's gone a-and..." I trailed off as I started to look downwards at the grass, hiding my face from Pinkie's view.

"Twilight..." Pinkie replied softly. "I said I'm sorry..."

I stared down at the ground for several seconds, not bothering to say anything else. I glanced at the broken cart and then turned around shortly afterwards, making my way back towards Ponyville and leaving Pinkie there by herself. I knew that really wasn't what I should've done, but at that moment I really didn't care enough.

Before long I found myself approaching Ponyville, and I sighed, staring down towards the rock streets. 'I don't know why I lashed out at her like that... Usually I don't do that.' I shook my head slightly and looked back up in-front of me. 'I shouldn't have let her try it anyway because I knew she was going to screw something up. It's also my fault because of that.'

As I gazed ahead of myself, I noticed something that caught my eye-- a bunch of ponies surrounding the remnants of my library. My attention perked up at this as I quickly made my way over there, and as I got closer I realized that they were the ponies who were reconstructing my library.

"Hey!" I called out to them as I approached. "Is there anything you need my help for?"

One of the stallions turned to look at me before smiling. "You're Twilight Sparkle, aren't you? Princess Celestia sent us to rebuild your library!" He paused for a second and then continued. "No, not really. Right now we're just getting rid of all the leftover debris, and then we're going to set up for the tree." He pointed towards a pile of assorted stuff that was off to the side. "You should probably look through there though-- that's where we're putting all the stuff that didn't get totally destroyed."

I nodded at him, making my way towards the pile and examining it. Most of it was just piles of books that weren't touched or at the very least not badly damaged by the huge explosion I had done, while others were personal belongings and furniture. Everything was pretty disorganized though, so I took it upon myself to fix that.

Once I had finished with that and looked through everything around fifteen minutes later, I noticed that all of the debris were gone by now and all that was left was just barren ground where my library once was. I watched in curiosity as a unicorn mare approached, and her horn began to glow as she began digging a hole in the middle with her magic. It took a  few minutes and the hole was really deep before she levitated a seed down into it and covered it back up with dirt. She brought some water over to it, and then everyone proceeded to back away from the clearing while the mare's horn remained glowing. After only a few seconds the seed rapidly began to sprout from the ground, and I watched with a surprised expression as a tree rapidly began to grow from there. After only about a minute it was fully-grown and looked almost identical to my previous library, and the unicorn proceeded to smile as her horn stopped glowing.

"All done!" She exclaimed, looking at me to which her head then perked up. "Oh, Twilight Sparkle! How long have you been  standing there? I didn't even notice you."

"Since about twenty minutes ago I think-- I've just been going through all my stuff." I replied. "When Celestia said she was going to rebuild my library, I wasn't expecting it to be an exact replica!"

The mare giggled slightly before responding. "Now you don't have to go get used to a whole new home! Well, I mean it technically is new, but you know what I mean." She paused for a second and then continued. "Our job here is pretty much done though-- we were supposed to leave a note saying some things but I guess I can just tell you them since you're right here. You have to send Celestia a list of all the books that you currently have that weren't destroyed, and then after that she'll send you all of the other ones that you should've had before." I nodded lightly to which she then replied. "Great! We'll all be on our way then."

I watched as the group of ponies began to walk off towards a distant carriage, and after waving them off I turned to look at my pile of stuff. 'I really need to make this up to Celestia somehow. Alot of those books were no doubt rare and expensive... I hope she doesn't think less of me because of this!' Levitating as much stuff as I could, I made my way into the barren interior of the library. 'Well, time to get to work.'

I spent the next few hours organizing my library and getting everything set up. The basement had been mostly untouched from the explosion, and during my cleaning spree I had decided to re-organize and re-discover all of the stuff that lurked in my basement, which was something I had been putting off for more than I would've liked to admit. As I was finishing up, however, a sudden knock on my door caught my attention.

'Oh that's probably Pinkie Pie! I really need to apologize to her as soon as I can-- I shouldn't put that off forever.' I quickly made my way over to the door and opened it, only for it to reveal Rainbow Dash instead.

"Hey Twilight." She spoke up, without the enthusiastic and vibrant tone that her voice usually had. "Have you heard from Celestia yet? Have they found any signs of Klade?"

I shook my head in response. "No, not yet Rainbow, I'm sorry." I replied. "I'll make sure to let you know as soon as I find out though, because I'm really curious about what's going on too."

"Damnit! I've literally searched practically all day today in every possible place I could think of but I can't find anything. It's like he vanished!" Rainbow frowned, showing clear signs of being upset. "I mean, at least show me a damn body or something so at least then I'll know what happened to him! I've even looked up in the mountains and the forest where all of his 'hidden base' stuff is, but I still couldn't find him there."

"Rainbow.." I spoke as my ears flopped back against my head. "I know this must be hard on you, but... well..." I looked downwards. Normally I would just tell her that everything would be fine, but everything clearly wasn't fine considering Duston had died. Before I could continue, though, Rainbow began talking again.

"There's no way he's dead-- he'd never let that happen-- and I've seen the crazy awesome stuff that he has. He's probably planning something big against Discord, just you wait and see. I bet you that's what he's doing."

I perked my head back up as I listened to the positive direction Rainbow's conversation was going, so I decided to reinforce that mindset. "You're probably right Rainbow, just don't give up hope. Not yet at least..."

"Yeah." Rainbow stayed quiet for a few seconds before continuing. "Anyway, that's all I really came here to ask you about, so I'm gonna head off now."

I nodded lightly as I watched Rainbow fly back outside, and I stood there in the library as I began thinking to myself. 'I  really hope Rainbow doesn't end up having to go through the same thing I'm going through... She doesn't deserve that. I hope she's right too-- Maybe Klade is still alive and hasn't turned on us either and is planning something against Discord. I guess only time will tell.' Looking back at the inside of the library, I decided to put off the last few things that I needed to do for now. 'I need to go see Pinkie, and besides, I'm hungry too so I should get something to eat while I'm at it.' Opening the front door, I stepped outside, closing it behind me and walking off towards Sugarcube Corner.

The sun was setting and illuminating the town with a deep orange glow as I made my way towards the giant gingerbread-house building, and soon enough I arrived. I perked my head up and looked around upon entering the building, and it didn't take long before I saw Pinkie serving a few ponies at their table. I waited until she was done before quickly making  my way over to her.

"Pinkie!" I exclaimed, catching her attention and causing her to look at me.

"Oh hey Twilight." She replied. "I'm sorry I-"

"I'm sorry about what-- oh." I stopped myself when I caught notice of what she was saying, but then I quickly continued. "No no, I should be the one who's sorry. I had no reason to lash out at you like that."

"But... you totally did Twilight! I was being way too careless and I really should've listened to you." Pinkie stepped closer to me. "You don't have to apologize Twilight, especially with what you're going through right now. I was totally in the wrong there and I'm sorry."

I exhaled slowly as I listened to the pink-haired pony's words. "Pinkie..." I stayed silent for a few seconds before continuing. "How about we just put this all behind us, okay?"

"Sure-- I was almost gonna say the same thing!" Pinkie started to smile. "I'll bake you something extra special right now too to make up for it! Well, some of it at least."

My first instinct was to deny her offer, but considering I had already gone over that I wanted to eat something, I nodded my head. "Thank you,  Pinkie."

"No, thank you for being understanding! I'll be right back." Pinkie proceeded to enthusiastically zoom off into the kitchen, and I felt a little more relieved as I made my way over to a table and sat down.

'I'm glad that's resolved.'





It was thirty-seven minutes later by the time I had finished eating, and I was currently saying my goodbye to Pinkie as I exited the building. The evening was approaching, so I decided to wrap things up for the day and head back to Fluttershy's house to let her know that I had a place to stay, and to also bring Spike along with me. I had eventually arrived, and I walked up to the cabin, knocking on the front door and revealing Fluttershy a short while later.

"Hello Twilight." Fluttershy greeted in her usual soft voice. "Have you been feeling okay?"

"I've been fine Fluttershy." I replied. "Is Spike here?"

"Oh he just came back from Rarity's place not too long ago. He's been quite concerned about you, and I've been too."

"I'll be fine. I'm really grateful that you've been letting me stay here, but I don't need to anymore since my library's been rebuilt."

"Already?" Fluttershy asked with a surprised expression.

"It's much faster than I was expecting too, but I'm not complaining or anything. It's still going to be a little while longer until all the books that I'm missing arrive, but I'm definitely not going to complain about that because Celestia is being really generous. I've gotta make it up to her somehow."

"I'm sure Celestia will understand. You shouldn't be too harsh on yourself."

"I'm really not to be honest, Fluttershy.."

"Twilight!" I recognized the voice that called out immediately, and I looked behind Fluttershy to see Spike quickly making his way over here.

"Hey Spike." I responded with a small smile. "Our library is rebuilt, so we can go home now."

"Wait, already? But it hasn't even been a day yet! How'd they patch it up so fast?"

"I'll tell you on the way there." I proceeded to look back at Fluttershy. "If you ever need a place to stay, you're always welcome to stay with me. I mean, not like you weren't able to before or anything-- but I just thought I'd make it clear."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind." Fluttershy smiled back. "If you ever need somepony to talk to, I'd love to listen."

I nodded lightly at her and levitated Spike up onto my back. We said our goodbyes to Fluttershy, and then I began to make our way back towards the library, explaining and answering any questions that Spike had. The moon was just starting to rise by the time we had reached our home-- or new home, technically, even though it was still the same thing-- and I walked inside.

"What do you suppose Discord will do next?" Spike asked as I closed the door behind us.

"Die, hopefully." I replied, catching Spike off-guard with the unexpected bluntness and violent nature of my answer.

"I.. well, that's one way of putting it." He replied. "I hope he dies too!"

We both smiled as I set Spike down from my back, and I walked forward as I began to busy myself with the last few things that I had wanted to do earlier. I finished rather quickly, and I noticed that Spike was pretty tired by now, so I worked on getting him ready for bed. It was a little past 8 PM by the time he was asleep, and I was currently alone with my thoughts as I trotted towards my bed.

'Duston...'

It all still didn't feel completely real. Was I just dreaming? Had the day already gone by? Everything seemed like it had gone by so fast now that I looked back on it, and I frowned as I slowly got on my bed. Part of me felt like I would just go to sleep, wake up, and Duston would be there as if nothing ever even happened. I really wanted to believe that, but I couldn't get myself to because I knew it wasn't true and that it wouldn't happen. He was dead.

I felt my throat begin to close up as I layed down and got under the covers, and I sighed, rolling my eyes and closing them. I couldn't fathom how something like this could bother me so much-- it logically felt like it made sense to not be sad because it felt horrible, but no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't do it. I was devastated, and nothing I did seemed to help with that fact. I felt rage begin to boil within me as I thought about how Discord had taken away so much from my life-- memories and events that I'll now never be able to experience. He took that all away like it was nothing, that cold, heartless demon from Tartarus. I'll never be able to have any new memories with Duston again.

Tears welled up in my eyes as I rolled over, rubbing my body against the bed and feeling a bit restless. I was still tired though, and after dealing with more relentless thoughts going through my head, they slowly began to melt away as I got more and more sleepy. I lulled off into sleep, with tears in my eyes and a body that wouldn't completely relax, all while being completely unaware of what was currently happening in Baltimare...
> Chapter 3 | Shit Starts Once Again
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Twilight! I just got a letter from Princess Celestia!" 

I groaned and stirred as I stretched in my bed, slowly and reluctantly waking up to Spike's voice. I looked at the clock hanging on the wall to see that it was almost 7:30 AM; normally I would be up way before then, but I still felt tired and miserable. My head perked up when I realized just what Spike was telling me though, and I felt a spark of excitement as I looked and saw Spike running over to me. 

"Wait, you were still asleep?" 

"What does the letter say?" I asked, not even acknowledging his question as he approached me. 

"Oh, I haven't read it yet actually-- I got it just now!" I levitated the letter out from his hands and quickly began to read through it. 

'Dear Twilight Sparkle, 

As of approximately 1:30 in the morning, a strange device was activated in the port city of Baltimare. There have been reports that it has disabled the use of magic throughout the entire city, which is not good. You will be able to spot it immediately as it is tall and visible even outside of the city's premises, and I request that you gather up your friends and investigate the cause and meaning behind this travesty as soon as possible, as well as put a stop to it if you are able to. 

As for your question regarding Klade, there have been a few reports that a human creature has been seen within Baltimare, although I've had no luck confirming them so far. Aside from that, there have been no other spottings I'm afraid. We wish best of luck to you all, and be careful as always. 

From Princess Celestia,
And Princess Luna.' 

"What does it say?" Spike asked as I put the letter down. 

"Something's happened in Baltimare, and apparently it's disabled all magic use in the whole city." I replied. "Celestia wants us to go investigate and find out what's going on and put a stop to it if we can." 

"Really? I guess Discord's doing more evil stuff again!" 

"Maybe." I responded. "Celestia also said that there's been unconfirmed sightings of a human there-- there's no one else that could be other than Klade." 

"You don't think Klade is actually the one doing all of this, do you?" 

"I don't know." I sighed. "I really doubt it, but I can't say that I've known him all that well-- he always was a pretty vague and reserved person. He really didn't seem like he was evil though, so I'm not going to jump to any conclusions. I want to stay as critical as possible until I have more answers." 

"That just gives us all the more reason to go to Baltimare!" Spike exclaimed. "Maybe we'll find the answers we've been looking for!" 

"I hope so. Can you go see about getting us a train ride to Baltimare? Just show the conductors Celestia's letter and that should be more than enough reason for them to lend us a ride to Baltimare. I'll go gather everyone up in the mean-time and we'll all meet here." 

"Sure thing Twilight." Spike replied. I watched as Spike ran off back downstairs, and I proceeded to quickly get myself ready for the day. 



 

"They think Klade is there!?" 

Everyone was currently gathered up in the main room of the library, and I had just finished explaining what was going on. As soon as I had clarified that Klade might also be there, Rainbow had been the first to speak up. 

"It's unconfirmed, but we have no other leads right now." I replied. 

"I've gotta see what's going on there!" Rainbow retorted. Before she could zoom out of the front door though, Applejack grabbed her by her tail. 

"Baltimare is half-way across Equestria all the way by the Celestial Sea. Ya don't expect to fly there all by yerself, do ya?" 

Rainbow grunted, clearly impatient and annoyed. "What time is this train supposed to leave?" 

"Spike said it's scheduled to leave at nine." I answered. "It's a little before eight-thirty right now, so we have plenty of time to leave for the train station. They might let us leave a little early too due to the importance of this task." 

"Then what are we still standing around here for? Let's go!" Rainbow remarked. Applejack let go of her tail, allowing her to fly out the front-door. The rest of us began to walk out with her, but I stayed behind for a moment to look at Spike.

"Could you please watch the library while we're gone?" I asked. "We shouldn't be gone for more than a day."

"Yeah I know the drill." He replied. "Go have fun."

He clearly didn't seem to be very happy about staying behind, and I exhaled slowly, glancing at the door. I thought for a moment if I should really bring him along with us, but I eventually decided against it-- I didn't know how dangerous this could be. I proceeded to quickly hurry out the front door, where I saw the rest of my friends there waiting for me.

"Let's go." I announced. We had already been to the train station plenty of times before for other events, so we all knew where to go as we began heading off in that direction. 

We arrived after only around fifteen minutes, and we proceeded to all board the train, one by one. I spotted the conductor while we were getting comfortable, and out of curiosity I decided to approach him and ask a question.

"How long should it take for us to reach Baltimare?" I asked. He immediately turned to look at me, seemingly out of surprise as if he didn't see me coming, before replying.

"Uhh, Baltimare? Usually just under two hours." He responded. I was about to reply, when I abruptly heard Rainbow speak up from the back.

"Two hours!? We need to be there now!"

"This is the fastest way we can get there, darling." Rarity responded. "I've brought plenty of things to occupy myself, however, so I needn't worry about that."

"I don't care about occupying myself-- I just don't want to get there too late!"

"I'm sure Klade will be fine, Rainbow, if he's actually there." Fluttershy spoke up. Rainbow sighed, appearing to be a bit restless.

"Yeah but I still want answers too."

"We all do Rainbow." Applejack remarked. "Two hours ain't too long. Jus' be patient and don't over-worry too much about every little thing-- we'll see what happens when we get there."

"Yeah Rainbow!" Pinkie piped up. "We can talk about all the cool things that might be in Baltimare together! I've never been there before, and when I go to new places I like to think about all the things that might be there before I actually get there. That's fun!"

"We aren't going there on a vacation Pinkie." I exclaimed to her. "If everything goes well we might be able to do a little exploring of the city, but I wouldn't count on it."

"Aww okay Twilight." Pinkie replied. I looked back ahead of me to thank the conductor for answering my question, only to find that he had left already during my friends' little fiasco. I looked around for a moment, before exhaling slowly, making my way over to my seat and beginning to think over things. I really didn't feel like doing any recreational activities-- in-fact, I didn't feel like doing anything at all. The only reason I had forced myself out of bed was because of Celestia's letter, and the thought of finding out about Klade and saving Baltimare was only remotely interesting-- although still the most interesting thing I could've possibly thought of doing. I sighed, holding my head down and staring at the floor in-front of me. I had to do this anyway because it was important.





The trip there was mostly uneventful. It wasn't until we were beginning to approach the city, however, did Rarity abruptly speak up. 

"Twilight dear! My magic isn't working right!" 

My head perked up at this, and I looked towards Rarity to see that her horn was spazzing out while she was trying to do her chores. "We must be approaching the premises of the city." I explained to her. 

"Now my magic won't work at all!" Rarity looked between her eyes at her horn and frowned. "How am I supposed to work like this?" 

"It's like this all over Baltimare." I replied. "Hopefully we can put a stop to it." 

"I sure hope so too Twilight! I simply cannot imagine how those poor ponies are faring without any magic-- to be trapped to work in such... unfortunate conditions." 

"Must be rough." Applejack remarked, getting a glare from Rarity in response. It was then that the high-pitched voice of Pinkie Pie rang out. 

"Hey guys look out the window! I think this is what Celestia was talking about when she said we'd know what it is right when we saw it!" We all proceeded to stick our heads out the window. We could see the city only about a mile away from where we were, as well as a glaringly obvious tower that was located right on the top of the largest sky-scraper. The tower appeared to be emitting some type of cyan-green light, and it was all circling around in what seemed to be some type of see-through orb at the top. 

"That's gotta be it." I spoke up. "Once the train reaches its stop, we all head towards that building and make our way up from the inside." 

"Sounds like a plan." Rarity chimed in. 

"Can I fly up to the roof from the outside and check out what's going on up there?" Rainbow asked. I shook my head in response though. 

"No, it could be dangerous and I wouldn't want you going up there by yourself. We'll all go up together through the inside, and we need to be ready for anything because I'm sure it's being guarded." 

"So would that make the entire inside a trap then?" Applejack inquired. "We could be walkin' right into one." 

"Maybe..." I sighed and rolled my eyes before continuing with an irritated voice. "Whatever, we'll figure out what to do when we get there." The ponies looked at each other, and the rest of the ride proceeded to be silent-- almost awkwardly so. 

The train's brakes screeched as it approached the station a short while later, and we all got off our seats when it came to a complete stop. We made our way off the train and stepped onto the city's streets shortly afterwards, which appeared to be mostly normal. Ponies lined the streets and seemed to be doing their usual business, although some did look confused and even cautious. We eventually arrived at the tall sky-scraper we had seen earlier, only to see a bunch of ponies already there-- and one in particular that was guarding the entrance. Some of the ponies looked scared and even traumatized, and with a curious expression I made my way up to the stallion that was blocking off the entrance. 

"Hey don't go in here!" He spoke up as we approached. "It's highly dangerous and I'm here to make sure no one else gets killed." 

"Gets killed?" Rarity asked with a shocked look on her face. The stallion nodded his head in response. 

"I ain't ever seen crazy stuff like this, let me tell ya-- there's already been a few brave souls who have trekked on through here, and then after a moment of time passes, all ya hear is this thundering BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM, really darn loud and really fast-- like a jackhammer! We've had ponies run out lookin' paler than I've ever seen, and they tell stories of how their brethren are killed right before their very eyes. I can't let that happen to nopony else, so I've taken it 'pon myself to make sure nobody else wastes their lives." 

"It's true!" A mare who sitting against the building added; she was in tears and sobbing profusely. "Please, please listen to h-him and don't go in there. Th-that place is made of nightmares!" 

I turned to look at the rest of our group with a conflicted look on my face. "That doesn't sound like anything we've ever had to experience before-- not even with Discord." 

"Well he did kill Duston, so it's safe ta say he may have changed his ways-- for the worse I might add." Applejack responded. "I ain't too sure if we should continue on." 

"Are you saying we came all this way for nothing!?" Rainbow Dash spoke up, clearly not happy with where this was going. 

"What else can we do?" Rarity replied. "It may just be best if we head back and tell Celestia of just how dangerous this is, and from there I'm sure we can come up with a better plan." 

"I agree with Rarity." Fluttershy spoke up. "I don't think we should go in there.." 

"That's so stupid!" Rainbow cursed out. "Fuck this! I'm finding out what's going on here whether you all are up to it or not." Rainbow proceeded to start flying up towards the top of the building, much to my dismay. 

"Rainbow no!!!" I shouted out to her, before quickly trying to bring her back down with my magic. I was unfortunately reminded of how I still couldn't use any magic at all though due to the tower, and I stomped my hoof on the ground in frustration. "Damnit! I have to go save her!" I barged my way past the stallion and into the building, eliciting gasps from the rest of my friends. 

"Twilight yer actin' just as irrationally Rainbow!" I heard Applejack yell out as she ran in after me, but I was already far ahead of her as I ran up a flight of stairs that was inside, mostly fueled by aggravation. The inside of the building was completely dark, with the only light sources coming from the windows. I was only able to make it so far though before Applejack's better athleticism caught up with me, and she grabbed me before I could make it up to the next floor. 

"Twilight jus' what do you think yer doing!?" She shouted at me in a whisper voice. "You're gonna get yerself killed!" 

I was about to rebuttal back at her, but I stopped myself when I realized that she was right-- just what on Equestria was I doing? I had barged in displaying one of the most arrogant-minded actions ever, and I spent the next few seconds thinking about how out of the ordinary I had been acting lately. Before I could respond though, I heard the voice of Pinkie Pie start whispering. 

"Oh my gosh this place is so dark and spooky!" She spoke up, although the expression on her face clearly showed that she didn't want to be here. "But can we go now? Please? I really, really don't want to be here right now. I don't want to diiiiiiiiiie!" 

I looked to see that Rarity was the only other pony with us, which caused me to speak up as I became concerned for yet another pony. "Where is Fluttershy? Did she follow us in here?" 

"No, she went after Rainbow dear." Rarity replied. "But let us get out of here, please. This is definitely not the place to--" Rarity was cut off by the sudden sound of gunfire coming from the roof, and my eyes went wide open at this. 

"Rainbow!" I gasped out as I abruptly scrambled out of Applejack's grip and ran up the stairs. I felt weird squishy and wet things against my hooves as I turned the corner, but I didn't think too much on it as I ran up to the next room. I suddenly stopped just in-front of the door-way at the end of the stairs, however, as what I saw next made me feel colder than I ever did before. Littered across the floor were the bodies of dead ponies, with their corpses illuminated by a spotlight located all the way at the other end of the room. Blood was pooled and dried all around their bodies and even against the walls, and bullet-holes could be seen surrounding the entire area I was standing at. My gaze slowly moved to the front of me, where I could see a shadowy silhouette of a bipedal creature right in-front of the light. Chills and coldness swept across my body as I felt frozen in fear, simply staring there at the figure-- it looked just like Klade, but at the same time it felt so intimidating and evil as if something was definitely wrong. It was then however that I felt something grab onto my hind-legs, pulling me down the stairs right as he opened fire. Bullets whizzed over my head and I yelped as I tumbled backwards, trying to stay as low as possible. 

"What in the buckin' tarnation!?" Applejack yelled out, who seemed to be the one that pulled me down. "We're gonna be dead meat if we don't get the hell outta here!" 

The bullets rang out for a few more seconds before stopping, but none of us even thought about going back up there. I was traumatized and couldn't even get myself to move, to which Applejack smacked me across the head and grabbed me. 

"Let's get movin' Twilight!" She yelled out as she began to drag me back down the stairs. I blinked before finally managing to take control of my body again, following her along with Rarity and Pinkie Pie as we ran back down the dark building. We eventually made it out the front entrance, where I was eager to collapse onto the ground and catch my breath. I felt weak and sick, and I couldn't stop thinking about what I saw in that room-- the bodies of the ponies as well as the figure standing in the distance-- it was literally the stuff of nightmares. That image had been cemented into my mind, and I sat there on the street staring at the ground for some unknown amount of time before I noticed Pinkie Pie waving her hoof in-front of my face. 

"Hey Twilight? Are you alright?" She asked. I perked my head up and looked at her, but I couldn't say anything, which prompted her to continue. "Fluttershy said she found Rainbow Dash and she wants us to make sure she's okay! Twilight?" 

I blinked, taking a few seconds to comprehend what she said. "I... I'm good Pinkie." I replied. "I just think I just.. I need to-- I just.. to rest for a little while." I slipped up on my words. 

"I guess so-- you're shaking like crazy Twilight!" She responded. "Just what on Equestria did you see up there? You looked like you'd seen a.. well.. worse than a ghost, honestly!" 

"I don't know." I answered. "I don't want to talk about it right now... just go see Rainbow Dash." 

"Um... okay Twilight." She replied, not seeming too convinced but abiding anyway as she zoomed off. I remained on the street for several more seconds before perking my head up, looking around to see that I was in the middle of the road, so I got myself up and headed towards the wall of the building. I sat leaned against the wall, unable to stop thinking about what had just happened. That was the first time I had ever seen dead ponies before, and I shivered when I realized that must've been what those weird wet and squishy things were that I was stepping on-- they were dead bodies. I looked down at my hooves, only to feel a sinking feeling in my stomach when I saw blood on them. 

'No...' I could feel myself begin to hyperventilate, when I eventually noticed the rest of my friends making their way towards me off in the distance.

"Rainbow's been hurt, but she's okay." Fluttershy exclaimed as Rainbow was walking beside her. "One of her wings is damaged, but I couldn't notice anything else that was serious." I tried my best to listen despite how shaken up I was.

"There's no way that was Klade up there." Rainbow spoke up. "I was flying around the perimeter and then out of nowhere I start getting attacked. I couldn't get a good look at where I was being attacked from and yeah it's Klade's weapons but there's no way he would shoot at me just like that. Whatever is up there-- whether it's Discord or something else-- it's definitely not Klade." There was a silence for awhile as my friends just stared at me, probably having noticed by now that I wasn't looking really comfortable. Eventually, though, I spoke up before they did.

"I saw him Rainbow." I replied quietly, causing her to look at me with a bewildered and even disbelieving expression. 

"You saw what? Discord?" 

"No... I saw Klade." I paused for a few seconds before continuing. "It had to be him, Rainbow. There's no other humans it could be and it even looked like him. I saw him move and he shot right at me.. I could've been hit if it wasn't for Applejack."

"But..... that's impossible!" Rainbow frowned. "There's no way..." 

"Come on, let's head back to Ponyville and get yer wing patched up Rainbow." Applejack spoke up. "I ain't too happy about the news either but Twilight ain't lyin'." 

"There's gotta be something we're not getting here!" Rainbow responded. "How and why on Equestria would he-- ahh!" Rainbow flinched and tensed up. "Stupid wing!" 

"Let's just go." I expressed, standing up and making my way back straight towards the station without even looking at anyone. In all honestly I didn't want to talk at all-- I just wanted to sit down in silence for a good long time to try and cope with what I had just experienced put on-top of everything else I was going through. The others followed me soon afterwards, ready to deal with the long, disappointing ride back.
> Chapter 4 | And The Shit Goes On
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I spent most of the ride back in silence, partially listening to what the others were saying and then putting in my input only occasionally. Rainbow Dash was persistent in defending Klade-- she didn't seem to believe that he had really turned against us. I was also trying to rationalize just what I saw in that room-- it couldn't have been some cardboard cutout because I had seen him move and even look at me, not to mention try to kill me. I was also still trying to remain critical in the fact that maybe Discord was trying to turn us against Klade through some magic trickery, but I was really starting to have difficulty juggling all of these possible explanations and trying to deduce logic in my decision-making, while also dealing with so much emotional turmoil. I could barely think straight at this point, and I felt like I was going to just start crying and have a breakdown really soon. Before I knew it, we had already arrived back at Ponyville, where my attention was brought back to the real world as I overheard the last of whatever conversation my friends were having.

"..And so I went over to see how Applebloom was doing after Sweetie Belle had told me how-- wait, we're here already?" Pinkie asked, before starting to smile. "It's about time! Gosh I'm really starting to hate train rides!"

"I sure hope what happened in Baltimare doesn't happen here too. My work will grind to a halt if it does!" Rarity exclaimed. We all proceeded to make our way out of the train, where Applejack was the next pony to speak up.

"Well ah'm headin' back to the farm. If y'all need anything I'll make sure that I ain't too caught up in anything major."

"I'm going back to my place too." Fluttershy softly stated.

"I'll be at Sugarcube Corner! I'm actually hungry too now that I'm thinking about it, so I'll go see what I can have." Pinkie remarked.

"Guess I'll see Nurse Redheart about this dumb wing." Rainbow said with an irritated tone of voice.

"I'll go tell Celestia about what happened." I spoke up. "I'll let you all know when I get a response." We all made our separate ways, and before long I had arrived at the library. I opened the front door and stepped inside, where I felt glad to be mostly done for the day. Despite that though, I still couldn't stop thinking about what had happened.

"Welcome back Twilight." Spike greeted when he noticed me walk in. "Uh.. Are you alright? You don't look too good."

"I'm fine, Spike." I replied a bit harshly as I walked straight towards the stairs.

"Uh... if you say so. I was actually about to start cooking something-- did you want me to make you up something too Twilight?" He asked. I had to think about it for a few seconds before replying.

"Sure, I guess so." I didn't feel all that hungry, but considering I hadn't eaten since this morning and it was currently the early afternoon, I decided not to pass it up for my own health and well-being. I made my way upstairs and grabbed a scroll, staring at it blankly for several seconds before eventually getting ready to begin my message for the princess.

'Dear Princess Celestia,

I've just come back from Baltimare, and unfortunately there was nothing me or my friends could have done to stop the events that are going on there. It was way too dangerous, and we had already done too much as it is which put our lives at stake-- something I take full responsibility for. However, through our investigating, I can say that I did see what appeared to be Klade within the city. He was inside the building that was emitting the magic blockade and was willing to kill us in order to make sure we couldn't get to it. In-fact, there already were several dead ponies inside that I saw with my own eyes.'

I stared blankly at the paper as memories of the traumatic event went through my mind again. I had never actually seen dead ponies before-- not freshly killed where you could even smell the death and the flesh. I could feel myself getting uncomfortable already, but after several more seconds I continued the letter.

'Whether it's actually him or just some magic trickery from someone like Discord, I don't know, but I know that Klade would be a very powerful enemy if he were to be one, and I think the possibility is definitely something that shouldn't be ignored, as much as I'd like for it not to be true.

Your Faithful Student,

Twilight Sparkle.'

I stared at the letter for several seconds before sighing, making my way back downstairs and over into the kitchen where Spike was cooking.

"The letter is on the counter over here for you to send to Celestia." I exclaimed to him as he turned to look at me.

"Okay Twilight." Spike replied. "Lunch should be ready real soon!"

I nodded lightly and walked into the dining room, sitting down at the table and staring mindlessly at it while I waited. It wasn't too much longer when Spike came in with all the food, and I didn't even take the time to look at him as I slowly started eating.

"Are you sure you're alright Twilight? You haven't been acting the same." Spike inquired once again. I was about to just respond saying that I was alright as usual, but the way it felt like he had been constantly asking me that question triggered me to elaborate in a more honest way.

"You know what Spike? No, I'm NOT okay!" I spoke up rather loudly, catching his attention. "I'm so sick of doing all of this annoying, aggravating stuff-- I don't feel like doing anything! I've never felt so unmotivated in my entire life and I just want it all to go away somehow; But, I can't let down Princess Celestia and I know this stuff is important. I can't just not do anything... UGH!" I stomped one of my hind-legs on the floor. "I don't even want to think about it and whenever you ask me it doesn't help! OF COURSE I'm not alright-- why would you even ask that?? The person I was in love with DIED right in-front of my bucking eyes and I've been struggling so hard over trying to keep a level head so I can do my job right as Celestia's student, but I just... I can't! My stress levels are off the BUCKING charts and I don't know what to do about it!"

Spike appeared caught off guard by my sudden, long outburst, and it took him several seconds to think of how to respond. "...I'm sorry Twilight. I uh... I didn't realize how much I was bothering you."

I sighed, pressing my hooves against my face for a short time before looking bringing them away. "I know you didn't mean to-- you're just being a good friend and you're concerned for my well-being. But... I'm not okay, alright Spike? Please don't ask that anymore."

Spike nodded lightly. "I won't Twilight."

The both of us continued eating, and before long I was making my way upstairs and onto my bed. I laid down and stared out the window for what must've been hours-- I felt both mentally and physically exhausted. It had taken awhile, but I had eventually found myself drifting off to sleep, only to wake back up when it was just starting to get dark out. I groaned to myself as I rolled over, feeling restless and constantly thinking about the events that had happened at Baltimare. It didn't take too long for me to realize that I clearly wasn't getting back to sleep anytime soon, and I quietly cursed to myself as I got up from my bed.

'Of course I can't get back to sleep.' I dragged my body down the stairs and made my way over to the front door. Spike seemed to be asleep by now, and I decided to take a short walk out in Ponyville, hoping that would relax me and maybe get me to use some of my energy-- I was sick of lying in bed not falling back asleep. Opening the front door, I stepped outside, closing it behind me and making my way off in a random direction.

The moon was rising and coating the entire town of Ponyville in a deep blue light as I glanced at the last of the ponies who were getting ready to go to sleep for the day. The cool breeze was blowing against my mane while I calmly trotted through the town, and unlike how I would usually be, I wasn't thinking about anything at all-- no mindless ponderings or planning for the next day. My mind was completely blank and null, and before I even realized it I had already trotted all the way over to the outskirts of Ponyville.

'How long have I even been out here?' I perked my head up and looked around, seeing that the Everfree Forest wasn't too far away from me. 'I probably shouldn't get too close to there... I don't even know what I'm doing right now. I feel like I can't even think.'

"What are you doing Twilight?"

The voice that rang out behind me made my thought process stop in its tracks in utter shock. That voice... it couldn't be. I breathed in reflexively and then immediately turned around, and my hooves felt weak at who I was looking at.

"D...D...Duston...?" I blinked, gasping and feeling a million thoughts running through my head. Was I dreaming? What was going on? There was no way this possibly could've been real-- was I losing it now? I stared at the creature in-front of me as I watched him abruptly look confused.

"Duston? Oh right, I'm supposed to be dead. See ya!" He proceeded to pull out a gun, aiming it at his head and then blowing his brains out. I shrieked at this and fell back onto the grass in utter shock as I immediately found myself reliving traumatic memories of that night. I blinked rapidly and shook my head to try and wake myself up from whatever dream this must've been, when I started to hear maniacal and all-too-familiar laughter ringing out.

"Twilight what was that!?" The voice spoke. "That shriek was the weirdest thing I've ever seen come out of you! And the way you fell back like that-- what, did some magical force just push you down onto your flank?" I watched as a figure appeared above Duston's body, a figure who I immediately recognized with glaring hate as Discord. The human who had just shot himself turned out to just be a puppet he was controlling with his magic, and I felt body-trembling rage as I gazed up at that demon.

"DISCORD!!!!!!!!!!" I screamed at him as loud as I could. My horn flared up as I shot out an anger-fueled magical blast at him, but as I took the time to look at where I had just shot it out at, I saw that he was no longer there.

"Oh my, Twilight. Someone's awfully upset-- having a little temper tantrum?" He spoke from behind me, to which I quickly turned around to face him.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!! YOU HEARTLESS BASTARD!!" I shouted out to him, to which he started to grin.

"You mean like how Duston was killed?" He started laughing. "Oh boy, that was a good one! That was such a genuine reaction from you too, and I-" I cut him off by firing another magical blast at him, only to find out that he had dodged it as well.

"WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM DISCORD!? HOW COULD YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT DOING SOMETHING LIKE THAT!?!" I felt tears begin to well up in my eyes as I hastily flung my head in different directions to look for him, only to then hear a voice coming from down below.

"Boo, what a boring question. Why think when you can just do and watch the results?" I looked down to see that he had shrunk himself to a tiny size and was currently standing on the ground in-front of me, and immediately I stomped my hoof where he was, only for him to teleport away again before I could squish him.

"YOU'RE EVIL DISCORD!!! Why!?" All I wanted to do was scream a thousand different things at him at the same time, and I perked my head up to see him floating in-front of me and looking at a watch on his wrist.

"I am? Wow, I hadn't noticed! Excellent observation, Twilight Sparkle, you truly are an intelligent-"

"SHUT UP!!" I screamed out, interrupting his presumptuous rant. "Where is Klade!? Did you kill him too?? Why is he working for you!?" I watched as he brought a hand up to his chin and began rubbing it.

"Ah, Klade-- I had forgotten just how nice it was to not hear that stupid human's name coming up all the time. Klade this, Klade that with all his stupidly overpowered weapons that I simply cannot imagine where he comes up with them, always having the tendency to ruin all of my games and make me look like some dumb, incompetent fool. I'm glad he's dealt with in such an oh so satisfying way-- it delights me just thinking about it!"

"What did you do to him!?" Tears were rolling down my cheeks at this point, and Discord snickered.

"Aww, is someone a little sad? Here you go Twilight." He held out a handkerchief to me, to which I slapped it out of his hand with my hoof.

"This isn't funny Discord!!! You're ruining my life!" I watched as he abruptly burst out laughing at this, which only fueled my anger even more. "You won't be laughing by the time I'm through with you!"

"Oh, really?" Discord replied as he wiped a tear away from his eye. "I guess I should thank you for gifting me with eternal laughter then!"

"THAT'S IT!!" I began charging up another spell, squeezing my eyes closed and tensing as my horn began to glow a bright purple light. I could feel the immense pressure on my horn as I aimed to make it as powerful as I could imagine, and I felt my head shaking as I opened my eyes back up. I scrambled to look for Discord who wasn't where he was before, and I felt even more rage coursing through me as I tried to look through the blinding light. "DISCORD!?!?!?"

"Sorry Twilight, but I have places to be, things to do. You sure did offer some great laughs though, and I thank you for that. So until later... ta-ta!"

"GAH!!!" I cursed out and barreled the magical discharge upwards into the sky. I fell back in exhaustion and panted as I tried to catch my breath, before quickly standing back up. "Come back here Discord!! I'm not done with you!" I didn't get a response this time though, and as I looked around in the darkness of the night sky, I couldn't see any glimpse of him anywhere. I stomped my hoof on the ground and sat back down, lowering my head and letting myself sob.

"I-I can't believe it... how could he be so... heartless!? So cruel..??" I stared at the ground and eventually laid down on my side as I continued crying. "He just leaves just like that... After doing the things that he did.."

I stayed laying on the ground for what must've been a whole hour, simply thinking to myself and about everything that had been happening. The only sounds I could hear were from crickets and other animals that must've been from the Everfree Forest, as well as wind occasionally blowing by. I felt like I had regained enough composure and had calmed down by now, so I stood back up on my hooves, looking up towards the night sky and then in-front of me.

'I should start heading back now... I guess Discord really is still around, but I couldn't get him to explain just what was going on with Klade. At least now I know he's done something apparently.' I exhaled slowly to myself as I began making my way back towards Ponyville. 'Whatever it was, he must be still alive if I saw him in Baltimare. If he is actually working for Discord now, I hope it's not willingly.'

Before long I had arrived back at my library, and I opened the front door, making sure to be quiet since I knew Spike was still asleep. I made my way up the stairs to my bed and laid down, sighing and pressing my head against the pillow. Unleashing that spell had made me pretty tired, of which I was extremely glad for as I lulled to sleep without too much
difficulty.





"Twilight!"

I groaned and stirred on the bed, pressing my head deeper into the pillow. I really didn't want to stop sleeping, and hearing that voice waking me up from my slumber had really irritated me. Waking up was the absolute last thing I wanted to do right now.

"Twilight?"

My eyebrows furrowed as I pressed deeper into the pillow, enjoying the seconds of peaceful silence afterwards after that voice stopped talking. It was staying like that for quite awhile this time, and I could feel myself slowly starting to relax again and lull back to sleep as the silence continued. It felt so nice to finally be away from that disruption so I could go back to sleep...

"Twilight, I-"

"WHAT!?!?!?!?!?" I shot up from the bed and screamed right at Spike's face, glaring at him and panting. He jumped in shock and fell backwards, staring at me wide-eyed for a few seconds before responding.

"I... I got a letter from Celestia..." He said quietly. I levitated the letter out of his hand, unfolding it and looking at it.

"Sorry Spike." I replied, not even bothering to look at him as I started reading the letter.

'Dear Twilight Sparkle,

Your warning has been duly noted. As of right now, I request that you gather up your friends and meet us in Canterlot as soon as you are able to. We have important matters to discuss.

From Princess Celestia,
And Princess Luna.'

I stared blankly at the letter for a few seconds before looking at Spike, who simply gazed back at me in silence. I knew he was curious though, so I spoke up.

"Celestia wants me to gather up my friends and meet her in Canterlot." I sighed and buried my face back into the pillow.

"Uh... are you sure you want to go?" I heard Spike ask from beyond the realm of the pillow my head was shoved in.

"Do I LOOK like I want to go!?" I shouted with a muffled voice. "But I have to. I don't have a choice."

"I'm pretty sure Celestia would let you have some time off if you asked for it." Spike replied. "I really, really think you need it Twilight, and-"

"I'm going, Spike." I interrupted, taking my face out of the pillow and sighing loudly. "Even if I did have a choice, this stuff is important not just for them but for Equestria as a whole. I can't just not go."

"I don't know Twilight..."

"Yeah, well I don't know either." I responded as I got off the bed. "Let's just get this over with."

I quickly got myself ready and gathered everyone up at the main room of my home. A carriage presumably sent by Celestia had landed in-front of the library, of which me and everyone boarded as it took us straight to Canterlot. We only had a short ways to walk after being guided by a royal guard, and we found ourselves in a room which I recognized as the planning room. Both the royal sisters as well as Princess Cadance and Shining Armor were here as well, and Celestia was the first to speak up as she watched us come trotting into the room.

"Hello, everyone." She greeted. "I'm glad you all were able to arrive on such short notice."

"It's not a problem Princess Celestia." I replied, which was a total lie considering how I had been acting when I woke up. "What did you need us all here for?"

"We need to come up with a plan of action against this new threat." Celestia answered. "As of last night, the city of Manehattan fell under the same magical blockade as Baltimare did, and we can only assume that this is going to happen to other cities as well. We have to stop this before it gets out of control."

"The neighboring city of Fillydelphia, which is located in-between Baltimare and Manehattan, is also partially experiencing some effects." Princess Luna added.

"I've taken note of the danger involved in such a task, as well as the apparent problem of Klade." Celestia continued. "Therefore, we are considering Klade an enemy of Equestria until we know with more clarity that he's not."

"What!?" Rainbow shouted out. "But that's so stupid! Klade would never turn on us, and I know that! Come on guys, it's so obvious it's Discord-- he's just tricking you and you're all actually falling for it!"

"I saw him at Baltimare, Rainbow." I spoke up. "I talked with Discord last night too, and he pretty much confirmed that he has in-fact done something with Klade. What it is I don't know yet though-- I couldn't get him to say-- but it's totally possible that he's working for him now."

"Wait, ya spoke to Discord last night?" Applejack asked, to which I nodded.

"I couldn't get to sleep so I went out walking during the night, which is when he appeared."

"Then he's just manipulating you too!" Rainbow replied. "You don't actually believe the junk that he tells you, do you? Klade hasn't turned on us! Are you all really just going to ignore everything he's done to help us?"

"Whether he has or he hasn't, we are still considering him an enemy for the time being." Celestia intercepted. "Until we know for sure that he's still on our side, we are going to treat him like he isn't. But for now, it seems more likely that he is working with Discord."

"But that's... you know what, I'm done." Rainbow frowned. "I can't believe you people are actually going to believe that."

"He might not be working for Discord willingly, Rainbow." I exclaimed. "We don't know what's going on, and until we do, I'm going to have to agree with the princesses here." Rainbow didn't reply, clearly not interested in continuing the conversation, which prompted Celestia to continue.

"I've spoken with Shining Armor about what we can do to free these two cities. Our best choice may be to disable these towers from a distance, to minimize casualties as much as possible. A full-on assault would be much too fatal if it really is as well defended as we are led to believe."

"So how do we go about doin' that?" Applejack asked.

"One idea was to use a multitude of trebuchets to hurl large projectiles at the tower until it collapses, which should stop the magic-blocking aura from being emitted." Celestia replied. "We aren't sure whether any magical projectiles will be effective inside the cities, even if they are casted outside the premises of the blockade, so such an idea will be reserved as a backup plan."

"And what if that don't work?"

"We thought about having a group of pegasai head up from the opposite end of the building while it's being attacked." Shining Armor chimed in. "Whoever is defending it would be distracted this way. We might still do it, even if it's really risky-- if they're caught, they're likely to get murdered. Coming up from the inside is a no-no though no matter what. Even if we did have magic to help defend ourselves, we don't know how many traps might be in there."

"And plus you'd have to watch out for the incoming boulders from the trebuchets while on the roof." Cadance added. "This is going to be done and nighttime too, so.. they're going to be hard to see. I personally don't think it's a good part of the plan."

"Well, what other options do we have?" Rarity asked.

"Hey, I don't mean to interrupt, but... What is our role in all of this?" I spoke up.

"You, Twilight, can help setup the trebuchets in the most optimal position to make sure that they'll hit the target." Celestia answered. "Each one of you will be assigned a role whenever necessary."

"I bet I could ram into the tower real fast." Rainbow spoke up. "I could probably take the whole thing down that way."

"Rainbow..." Fluttershy softly stated. "How do you expect to do something like that with your wing in the condition it's in right now?"

"Oh come on, I'm surrounded by literally all the princesses of Equestria. They've gotta be able to do some kind of magic stuff to be able to fix my wing."

"I think I can help with that." Cadance spoke up. "But, do you really think that's a good idea? The tower might be really solid and won't even budge-- you can really hurt yourself that way."

"I've ran into much worse before!" Rainbow replied. "I'll be fine, don't worry."

"I believe such an idea shall be best reserved as a backup plan." Luna remarked. "If the trebuchets do not work, then perhaps Rainbow Dash can attempt to bring down the tower; however, I do advise the utmost caution on such an endeavor."

"Yeah! Don't go splat Rainbow!" Pinkie Pie added gleefully.

"We have until tonight to prepare." Celestia exclaimed. "If possible, we should try to keep the trebuchets out of sight from the two cities-- at least until nighttime arrives."

Everypony nodded, and we begun our preparations.
> Chapter 5 | Klade
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Klade's POV

I had been trapped in this hellhole for what felt like an eternity. The last moments I had that weren't in this pitch black room felt like they had happened ages ago. I had been heading back to my house from the party that Pinkie Pie had thrown in celebration of defeating Discord-- or at least, celebrating that we thought we had defeated Discord. By the time I arrived at my house and opened the front door, however, I saw that the entrance had been changed to some strange black void instead. Not attempting to get away as fast as possible was my biggest mistake, as the very next thing that happened was that I was pushed inside, where I've been trapped ever since then. Scouting and feeling my way around the darkness proved to be pointless, and no matter what I did, I couldn't find any way to escape. I couldn't contact my clones to get them to teleport me out as an outside source since Discord had taken control of them and manipulated them, and for some reason my magic was currently disabled so I couldn't teleport out on my own. I was stuck here, as I had been for much, much longer than I ever would've liked.

A short conversation with Discord right after I had been trapped revealed that he had plans to kill Duston next. I unfortunately was never able to find out what happened with that, and I couldn't send any telepathic messages to Duston due to the how my magic wasn't working. I assumed that he failed-- there's no way he would've actually been able to kill him-- but the way that I was still trapped in here and the fact that I hadn't received any telepathic messages from him yet was extremely concerning. Ever since then, there hadn't been a single voice to be heard aside from my own. Discord hadn't come to check on me once to see how I was faring with his torture, which was surprising considering the sadist he was, and by this point I was even willing to talk just to him to have at least someone to talk to, or maybe even for a chance that he'd save me, as unlikely as that was-- but I was truly desperate by this point. Nothing happened though, and it was the same thing every day-- not like I could even tell when a day passed. I couldn't even tell the difference between if my eyes were open or closed in this darkness.

I toyed with the gun in my hands as I laid on the floor, feeling weak, exhausted and barely able to think straight. The pistol I was holding was one of the very few that I had that wasn't magically created-- I always kept at least one on me for good measure from Duston's backpack-- and it was getting extremely tempting not to just kill myself and end the misery right now. The air in the room was dry and stale as fuck, and my throat was constantly burning and stinging in pain-- whenever I swallowed it felt like I took a quick visit to the fires of hell. I hadn't had any food or water in what must've been days, and I knew I was dying. The only thing that was probably keeping my sanity was the fact that I knew I could've ended it at any time-- why I hadn't yet was a mystery. The fact that I was on Equestria was probably why, and I didn't want to give that up, or to give up my companionship with Rainbow Dash. I wanted to live, or at least... I still did, a little bit. Maybe a tiny bit. Thinking was hard, and I opted to just lay and lull in the nothingness without any thoughts.

The sound of rumbling didn't even catch my attention. It wasn't until I began to see light peering down from above did I finally comprehend it with my deprived mind, and I blinked, realizing just how heavy my body felt when I tried to move. How long had I actually been laying here? Was I dead? Was I going to die anyway after so long? The light grew in intensity, blinding my eyes and causing me to look away. I didn't know what was happening, and I didn't even have the energy to ponder over the possibilities of what could have been happening at this moment. Realizing how hard it was to move my body had made me aware of just how exhausted my body was, and I didn't even know if I could kill myself even if I wanted to at this point-- I probably wasn't that far away from there anyway. Whatever toying I was doing with the gun must've just been in my mind, as if I was controlling myself in a dream, not even aware of what I was really doing. A voice suddenly rang out, sounding so familiar yet I couldn't figure out who it was.

"Klade?" The feminine voice asked, before continuing. "Why isn't Trixie's stupid horn working in this dump? She can't see a damn thing!" I felt myself being grabbed and dragged along the ground. I made it to the source of the light where it shined down onto my face, blinding me once again as the black outline of the pony's head loomed over me.

"Is he even still alive?" She asked as she looked me over. "What on Equestria was he even doing way out in the middle of nowhere like this anyway? Was he trying to kill himself? You better not have been trying to hide from Trixie!"

Hiding from her? She was delusional if she thought I was that concerned about her. I didn't know why she would even think I was hiding from her anyway-- was she still salty over what I did to her at her magic show? I watched as she looked up at the light and tugged on the rope that was hanging down from there, and then she looked back down at me.

"Trixie is going to try something." She spoke as she began climbing up the rope, leaving me laying half-dead at the bottom of the room-- I would've been pretty pissed if abandoning me to die was what she meant by 'trying something'. Once she reached the top and after a short time later though, I felt myself being wrapped in a magical glow. I levitated upwards and out of the room through the opening at the top, where I was now blinded in all directions from the light as it completely surrounded me. I felt myself being laid down a coarse, rough and hot surface, and I slowly squirmed back and forth as I felt even worse than I did before in that room. My eyes still hadn't gotten adjusted to the light, but despite that, I was still able to make out that she was approaching me with something in her hoof.

"You look like you're going to start cracking and disintegrating any minute now, so you better hurry up and start drinking." I could barely move or even reply to her though, which prompted her to roll her eyes and continue. "Fine, Trixie shall do it." The bottle was pressed to my mouth rather clumsily as water began to pour out and splatter down all over my face. I almost couldn't believe that I was finally drinking water, and I quickly swallowed as much as I could, choking and coughing under all the water that she was pouring out much faster than she really should have been, but I didn't even care at this point since I was just glad to finally be drinking something. She eventually stopped though, taking the bottle away and speaking up.

"Okay that's enough, you can get up now." I tried to get up, but I was barely able to move any of my limbs without feeling like I was going to collapse and pass out; I had never felt like this before, and it was pretty terrorizing. My eyes had mostly adjusted to the light by now though, and I was able to tilt my head up slightly to see what Trixie was doing. Her horn was glowing, and she was moving a large grey rock over what appeared to be a hole in the ground-- or sand for that matter-- and by the time she was finished, her horn stopped glowing and she turned to look at me.

"Don't tell me Trixie has carry you too!" She exclaimed with a groan. "She should've just left you out here." She trotted over to me and levitated me onto her back over her saddlebags, only to groan even more afterwards. "Gosh you're heavy for someone who looks like they're about to die."

'Is that supposed to be an insult?' My body wobbled in response to Trixie's trotting, and I took the time to try and glance around at my surroundings as best I could. Wherever I was, there was sand everywhere that seemed to just stretch on forever, as if I was in a desert of some kind. It didn't take long before I felt my body relaxing though, and I drifted in and out of consciousness, never remaining fully-aware of where I was or what was happening. Everything felt hazy and dream-like, and the sun shining down on my back wasn't helping at all with how shitty I felt.

This continued until I abruptly found myself being dropped to the floor like a piece of luggage, and I groaned as I toppled down on-top of my own weight.

"Trixie needs you to take care of this... animal." The feminine voice spoke out. "Trixie will be back later this evening to bring it back."

'Bitch.' I thought to myself as I felt my body being picked up shortly afterwards. From what I could see, I appeared to be indoors somewhere in some public place, where I was at least glad to not be isolated any longer for once. Glancing a pony's nurse hat allowed me to conclude that I must've been at a hospital, and I felt relieved that maybe I wasn't actually going to die after all. I was carried through hallways and rooms, none of which I was paying any attention to, and upon being laid down on a bed, it didn't take very long for me to pass out again.





I groaned and stirred as I felt myself slowly waking up. I opened my eyes and blinked them as I took the time to look around-- for once I wasn't waking up in that dark, isolated room! That thought alone put me at ease, and I extended my arms as I stretched and made myself comfortable. The room I was in had several other hospital beds lined up, some with ponies in them and others that were empty. A hanging clock told me that it was a little after 2:15 PM, and I was glad to not be feeling completely miserable anymore. A sudden voice to the other side of me where I wasn't looking took me off guard, and I quickly turned to look in that direction to see what appeared to be a nurse pony standing there.

"Heyy, you're finally awake." She greeted. "You can talk, right? I'm not sure if you are who I think you are."

"I can talk." I responded, to which she smiled.

"Oh, so you must be Duston then!"

"Klade, actually."

"Oh, whoops." She laughed slightly. "I don't really stay that up to date in current events-- I just know that supposedly you're really important or something. Anyway, a pony named Trixie took you in and we saw that you were in horrible condition. You were severely dehydrated, so we're working on that-- did you get lost in the desert?"

"The desert?" I asked in confusion, to which she began to clarify.

"The San Palomino Desert. You know, the one that's totally surrounding this area." She paused for a second before continuing. "Do you know that you're in Las Pegasus right now?"

"Not until just now." I replied, to which she nodded her head.

"I thought you seemed confused. Sometimes when ponies arrive here in the hospital from out there, they're suffering from Desert Fever-- I'm sure you'll remember what happened as more time goes on and you recuperate some more. Now that I see you're awake though, I'm going to go let the chefs know so they can cook you up something to eat. You're probably starving too!"

"Thank you." I responded. I watched as the pony nodded her head and walked off, and I proceeded to begin thinking about what she said. 'I'm pretty sure I remember exactly what happened and what that fucktard Discord did. What the fuck was I doing way out in a desert though? I guess that would explain why that room I was in was so dry and hot-- that must've been where Discord trapped me. God I'm glad to be out of that hellhole.' Hearing the nurse pony mention Duston had reminded me that I still didn't know just what had happened with him and if Discord had really killed him or not. Now that I was out of that room and feeling better, I decided to do a little test, lowering my head and closing my eyes.

'Hmm...'

In my mind, I began to imagine a pistol-- no specific brand or name, just something of my own that I was able to come up with. I fleshed out the details in my mind's eye, making sure to get everything exactly the way I wanted it to. I then let the spell itself take care of the rest, reaching into my subconscious and gathering the necessary information to make the gun work the way I would've wanted it to, when I felt an all-too-familiar 'click' in my mind-- something that caused me to grin widely. I opened my eyes back up to see that the gun I had just thought of had appeared in-front of me in the real world, and I examined it before putting it to the side.

'Cool as fuck. Man it feels like it's been years since I've done that-- glad to see my magic is finally working again. Now...' Looking forward, I began to send the telepathic message to Duston.

'Duston, where are you? This is Klade, if it isn't already obvious. It's been a few days by now-- I don't really know for sure though-- but last I heard, Discord is trying to kill you, just like he's already done with me. I don't know if he's actually succeeded-- I would imagine that he hasn't-- but I need you to respond back to me as soon as you can. Discord is getting serious apparently, and we need to kick his ass before he does anything else like this again.' I waited up to a minute for a response, but I didn't get any, which was making me feel uneasy.

'Maybe he's just busy right now.' I took another look around the surrounding area. 'Guess I can just make more stuff while I'm waiting for that nurse to come back.'

I had managed to make two pistol magazines and a flashlight by the time the nurse had come back with the food as well as some water. I had created the flashlight just in-case I was ever stuck in a room like that again, where at least now I'd be able to see something if that happened. I was eager to start eating, so I wasted no time in doing so as the nurse went on to take care of other patients. I had finished almost half an hour later, and the same nurse came up to me when she noticed.

"All done?" She asked, to which I nodded.

"Yeah. When do I get out of here?"

"The doctor who took a look at you recommends you stay here until at least tomorrow morning to make sure that everything is okay." The nurse answered. "You should be fine to leave by then."

"Alright." I answered, watching as she took my dishes. I wasn't about to overwork myself or do some crazy bullshit by leaving right this second, so I decided to listen, getting more comfortable in my bed. I still felt pretty exhausted and weak, so I exhaled slowly and let myself relax. 'Still haven't gotten a response back from Duston... I need to head back to Ponyville as soon as I can tomorrow morning. Or actually, I should go to my base and make sure everything is going alright first-- that sounds like a better idea.' My main base of operations was located within the Foal Mountain range, where with my magic I liked to do all kinds of crazy bullshit, create all sorts of weapons, monitor Equestria to always know what was going on in general. I had probably spent most of my time in Equestria around that area, occupying myself with backup plans and then backup plans to those backup plans against Discord. I loved doing it, and the only reason Discord was still alive and doing what he was doing now was because I had given him a chance to redeem himself-- something I wasn't going to bother with anymore.

Time went by surprisingly quickly-- probably because I was used to waiting due to being trapped in that room for so long with absolutely nothing to do-- and soon enough, evening began to approach. My attention was captured by a nurse approaching me with a familiar blue-colored pony beside her, and my head perked up as I turned to look at them.

"You have a visitor Klade." The nurse announced, and I watched at as that pony made her way over to me with a fierce look in her eyes.

'Trixie.' I thought to myself as she approached.

"You!" She yelled at me. "You're an asshole!" She spoke loud and vulgar enough to catch everyone's attention in the room.

"I am?" I asked. "Don't tell me you're still pissed over what happened at the magic show."

"You humiliated me and made me look like a fool! You have no right to act in such a way towards me-- the great and powerful Trixie-- and I demand and apology."

"Not this again. Trixie, your attitude is shit. Nobody likes you and nobody will like you as long as you keep up your extremely inflated ego. You're continuing to-"

"You have no right to tell me how I should act!" Trixie interrupted. "I am to do as I please; I make my own decisions and you are nothing to me."

'Oh boy.' I thought to myself as I listened. "But.. you're being hypocritical right now. Under that logic, you have no right to tell me that I can't put you in your place."

"You don't understand at all you damn monkey!" Trixie responded rather fiercely. "First of all, I am better than you, so that doesn't even apply to you. Second, you're too stupid to even see what my natural calling is-- magic is my special talent! How am I supposed to live without doing magic shows? You told me to 'look at what I've become'-- what does that even mean? I've become amazing-- far greater than I ever have been before! It's not my fault I just happen to be so much better than alot of other ponies, so what am I supposed to do? Deny that greatness? That would be stupid. Stupider than you, even!"

I sighed. "That's not the problem Trixie. The problem is your attitude. You can do all the magic shows you want, and people might even like them, but nobody is going to like the shit attitude that comes along with it."

"And you can't tell me how to live my life! Do I need to repeat that so your dumb monkey brain can understand it?"

"You know what, you're right." I replied. I really didn't feel like getting in a huge argument over this-- not after I almost died. "Just keep acting like that Trixie and see what happens. I can't tell you to act differently-- I can only suggest it-- and you get everything you deserve for continuing to act that way."

"I can't believe it. He actually understands!" Trixie's eyes went wide as a mock expression of shock took over her face. "But that's not why I tracked you down. I, or should I say Trixie, could care less about whether or not someone like you apologizes. What you're going to do is help me bring back my reputation."

My first thought was to refuse-- I had way more important things to attend to. She did save my life, however, so I needed to pay her back for that at least, otherwise she would be right and I would totally be an asshole. "Alright, I'll help with that."

Trixie looked surprised at first. "You're just going to agree that easily? I-I mean no wait-- of course you would agree that easily! You would be foolish not to." Trixie grinned. "Now, I'm going to get you out of here so you can start working on rebuilding my reputation right away."

"He can't leave until tomorrow morning, at the very least." The nurse spoke up. "You'll have to wait until then. I apologize."

"What!?" Trixie frowned at this. "But why not? He looks perfectly fine to me!"

"He was in horrible condition and we need to make sure that he recovers fully." The nurse replied. "He was so dehydrated that he's lucky to even be alive."

Trixie groaned out in irritation, rolling her eyes and sighing. "Fine, I shall return tomorrow." She looked at me one last time and then turned around. "This better be worth it." She muttered to herself as she exited the room. I had wanted to ask her just where exactly I had been kept prison, but it seemed like that was going to have to wait for another time. The nurse exited as well a few seconds later, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

'I don't see this going anywhere with her current attitude. This better not take too long, because I don't need anything bad happening with Discord or even Duston for that matter while I'm fooling around with this egotistical mare. I wonder if she would be happy if I just created a bunch of a bits for her-- probably illegal, but who cares lol.' With nothing else going on, I relaxed into the bed and exhaled as I rested and waited for the next day to arrive.
> Chapter 6 | Change of Plans
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I abruptly found myself waking up to the loud sound of metal clanking somewhere outside the hospital. It almost sounded like an engine whizzing to life, and looking towards a nearby window, I was able to see a strange green light shining through. I quickly sat up from the hospital bed and glanced at the clock to see that it was just a little after one in the morning.

'What the hell is that supposed to be?' I stood up from the bed and made my way over to the window. Peering through the glass, I was able to see a tall metal tower sticking out from the roof of one of the well-decorated buildings of Los Pegasus. The light was coming from the top of the tower, which consisted of a large, see-through orb.

'That definitely doesn't look normal, especially at this time of night. Must be Discord.'

"Hey, you all stay put. That thing out there don't look safe." I turned my head to see one of the security guards walking into the room.

"What on Equestria was that noise?" A mare laying in one of the hospital beds asked, rubbing her eyes.

"There's some weird tower that just came outta nowhere outside." The guard replied. "As far as I'm aware, there wasn't any special events planned for tonight. The bigger question right now, though, is why my horn isn't working-- I can't even light up this room!"

Out of curiosity after hearing what the guard said, I decided to run a little test. I imagined something small and simple like a golf ball in my mind, fleshing out the details and preparing myself to create it in the real world. Just like while I was in the cave, though, nothing happened-- it wasn't working.

'God damnit. It's gotta be the tower. It definitely seems to be emitting something, that's for sure.'

"Hey, you!" I looked to see that the security guard was looking at me. "You don't happen to have anything to do with this, do you?"

"No, but I'm about to find out who is. Where's the exit?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't allow any patients to leave the hospital." He replied. "Someone else will take care of whatever that tower is."

"Well, that someone else is me. Let me take care of it-- I'm used to this kind of thing."

The pony frowned. "Look, I don't know who you are, buddy, but everything was going along just fine in this city until outta nowhere you show up and apparently you're some big deal. Then this happens the following night. Sound like a coincidence? I think not."

"Are you really just going to accuse me like that?"

"I don't care. I'm the guard here, and I'm under strict rules to not let any patients out during the night, so you're staying."

'Wow, I hope everyone here isn't like this. I sure would love to just teleport out right now, but I guess I gotta find a better way.' I looked around the room for any possible ways to escape, when the sudden and distinct sound of gunfire coming from the tower caught my attention. 'That might be Duston! Fuck this, I'm going out the window.' Not wanting to waste anymore time, I pulled out the pistol that I had created earlier, using it to smash the window open.

"Hey!! Stop what you're doing right now!" The guard shouted out at me, but I was already barreling out the window by that point. I rolled across the ground and then ran along-side one of the buildings until I reached an alleyway, where I sprinted down through it, trying to maneuver my way through the buildings so that I would get closer to the tower. I could hear horrified screams of ponies coming from there as well, which definitely wasn't a good sign.

'That's strange. Guess I better get ready.' Pulling out one of the two pistol magazines I had created earlier, I loaded it into the gun and cocked it. 'Good thing I made this earlier.' I slowed down my running as to not over-exert myself, and I looked up to see where the tower was. I was getting closer to the building the tower was located at, and I could hear the clattering of hooves surrounding the building. More gunfire rang out, followed by more terrified screams.

'I'm starting to think that might not be Duston.' I made my way through the city more cautiously than before, and I arrived at the building a short while later. I walked along the side of the building until I reached the front, where I saw several ponies and security guards running and scrambling around in the gleaming moonlight. The cyan-green light being emitted from the tower spazzed against the ground, and I moved out to the front a little so I could get a good look at the building. It looked like it was designed to be a pony, with two large fore-hooves constructed out of the front like decorations. A flight of stairs leading to the inside of the building could be seen in-between the two hooves, and a large pony head was located above it all. The tower appeared to be just behind the giant head on the roof, and as I was about to make my way up the stairs, I heard shouting that caught my attention.

"THAT'S HIM!!! HE'S THE MONSTER I SAW IN THERE!" A female voice cried out in horror. "EVERYPONY RUN BEFORE HE GETS YOU TOO!!" More screams were heard as the premises surrounding the front of the building began to get evacuated. I watched as the ponies were seemingly running away from me, which only made me more concerned.

'Are they confusing me for Duston? But he would never do something like this... I think I know what this is.' I began to make my way up the stairs, only to hear another voice calling out to me-- this time one I recognized.

"Klade?" I turned my head to see that Trixie was trotting over to me.

'What is she doing here?' I thought to myself as she approached. "What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here?" Trixie asked in disbelief. "What are you doing here!? What's going on?? Why are ponies running from you? Trixie demands some answers!"

"I didn't do anything." I replied. "But I'm about to find out who did."

"That doesn't sound very convincing!" Trixie frowned. "Is this your idea of how to bring back my great reputation?"

"No, this is something else-- I'm sure this is Discord's doing."

"Discord?" Trixie asked in confusion. "But I heard he was defeated."

"Apparently not. I'm going to see if I can stop this, so you need to stay here in-case it's dangerous."

Trixie didn't seem to like that at all. "How DARE you tell me, the great and powerful Trixie, what to-"

"I don't have time for this." I interrupted as I continued making my way up the stairs.

"Hey wait for me-- I-I mean Trixie!" The blue-colored unicorn called out as she quickly ran to catch up. I made it to the top of the stairs and approached the large, open, and arched entry-way. I stood along the side and peeked within the building, seeing that it was mostly pitch black and that I couldn't see a thing. As I was about to pull out the flashlight I had ever-so-conveniently created earlier back at the hospital, I heard Trixie speak up.

"Let me take it from here." Trixie spoke with confidence as she trotted out in-front of me. She paused a couple seconds later though, narrowing her eyes and then frowning. "What now!? First Trixie's horn does not work in that stupid cave, and now it doesn't work here? What's going on with Trixie's stupid horn!?"

"It's not you, it's the tower." I exclaimed. "It's emitting something that's blocking all magic usage."

"...It is? Such a thing is even possible?" Trixie looked devastated at that.

"Sure looks like it." I pulled out the flashlight and turned it on. I shined it into the building, revealing all sorts of games, lights and slot machines-- it definitely looked like it was from a city named Los Pegasus. I slowly began to walk inside, holding out the pistol in my hand and ready to shoot any mother fucker I saw that looked like me. Trixie was following from close behind, and I stopped as I approached another set of stairs. It seemed to lead up to the middle of the building to some really fancy place, and I looked over at Trixie, who squinted her eyes and looked away when I shined the flashlight in her face.

"Watch where you're pointing th-"

"Be quiet!" I quickly responded in a whisper. "Whoever's in here probably knows exactly where we are now. I was going to tell you to stay here while I go up those stairs."

"You're just going to leave me here?" Trixie replied with a frown. "What if he gets me? You're irresponsible."

"I'm the one who told you not to come in here in the first place. As soon as I see that no one's up there I'll come back."

Trixie rolled her eyes. "Fine. Someone as great as Trixie doesn't need magic to defend herself anyway."

'I sure hope she doesn't get killed.' I thought to myself as I began making my way up the stairs. I covered the majority of the flashlight with my hand so that only a tiny bit of light was shining through-- just enough so that I could see the steps and when they ended. I crouched down as I approached the top, and then lifted my head just above the stairs, shining the light at full intensity across the room. I was taken back for a moment at what I saw; there were dead ponies littered all over the floor, most of which looked like security guards. Blood and bullet holes covered their bodies, and in the distance I could see what looked like a human figure standing. I immediately shined the light at him, exposing him as exactly what I suspected it was-- myself. Well, mostly myself. He was holding what I recognized as an M4A1 assault rifle-- mostly because I was the only one who could've created it-- and I instantly ducked my head back down when I saw him raise the gun and point it at me. Fully-automatic bullets rang out at my position, and I quickly layed down and tried to stay low as I heard the projectiles snap and crack over my head. He stopped firing shortly afterwards, but I knew he was just waiting for me to stick my head back up so I could get shot.

"What is that sound!?" Trixie yelled out, to which I quickly lowered myself further until I was off the stairs and back at the base of them.

"That's one of my clones." I replied, grabbing Trixie and pulling her towards the wall to the side of the stairs, out of view.

"Your clone? What's that supposed to be?"

"A magical creation of myself that I had made awhile back. There's eleven of them total, and Discord is controlling them all now since supposedly they were easy to manipulate with his magic."

"There's more of you out there?" Trixie's ears perked up. "You.. you need to teach me that spell."

"Not right now-- we need to get out of here."

"What!? You mean you're not going to deal with him?"

I paused for a moment as I thought over what I could've done. This was actually the first time I had dealt with gunfire before-- everything else had just been either Discord's tricks or primitive Equestrian violence. The clone had the definite advantage of a fully-automatic rifle and who knows what else, while I only had a pistol from back on earth with fifteen shots and another semi-automatic pistol with two magazines. It really didn't matter though because if I was shot I was pretty much done for-- gunfire wasn't something I wanted to mess with right now-- so I wasn't about to take that risk. After living through being trapped in that damn cave, I wasn't about to get killed doing something stupid here. I was about to respond saying that I couldn't deal with him, though, when an idea suddenly struck me.

"Hold on, stay here." I stood back up and shouted out. "What the fuck are you doing!? I'm one of you, you retard."

There was a silence for a few long seconds afterwards, when I heard another voice that sounded just like me respond from above the stairs. "Which one?"

"I'm clone number twelve." I lied-- I had never created that many. I went back up the stairs and shined the flashlight at him, making sure to be careful and ready to dive back down whenever necessary. I didn't even know why I was doing this-- I had literally just told myself not to do anything stupid-- so I found myself not putting my complete faith into this little trick. "Where are the other ones at? Everyone seems like they disappeared and I don't know what's going on."

"Hold on, let me find out." He replied. I began slowly walking towards him, but something didn't feel right-- he wasn't doing anything to 'find out' other than just standing there. I watched him more closely and noticed that his gun was slowly raising towards me, and realizing that he was just leading me on, I quickly ran back and dived off the stairs as he began shooting at me again.

'Damnit! I was hoping they'd be dumber if they were being manipulated.' I tumbled and rolled down the stairs until I reached the bottom. 'Alright I'm done almost getting myself killed doing stupid shit. No more of that.' I shined the light at Trixie, who was looking at me with a confused expression.

"What happened? It seemed like it was working!"

"Apparently not, let's get out of here."

"But you said you were going to deal with it!"

"We're moving to plan B, now come on." I ran towards the exit of the structure, forcing Trixie to follow me otherwise she'd be left behind. I sprinted until I was outside and turned the corner so that I was out of view from the inside of the building, making my way forward for quite a ways before turning around. I was able to see the tower sticking out from above, and I pointed my pistol at it, aiming specifically for the glowing see-through orb at the top. I shot one bullet at time, making sure to re-aim after every shot in an attempt to have every bullet connect. I continued until the gun clicked empty, and I lowered it, only to see that the tower was still glowing and emitting.

"Well, that didn't do shit." I spoke. "I have another idea, but it's going to involve leaving the city."

"But you can't do that!" Trixie responded. "You're supposed to bring back my reputation, and you're going to do that in this city first. This is the perfect place."

"How are you supposed to do anything with your magic being blocked?" I replied. "I need to get rid of that tower first, and I can't do it from here."

Trixie groaned, clenching her teeth and exhaling with intensity. "Fine. My reputation is never going to be restored at this rate."

'Implying there ever was one to begin with.' I thought to myself. "Los Pegasus is a cloud city, right? I noticed alot of cloud surfaces that I had to take the time to avoid."

"Duh. Does the name not give it away for you, you stupid monkey?"

'She likes that word doesn't she?' "I'm going to need to be someplace as high up as this city in order for this to work. Do you happen to have a map of Equestria anywhere?"

"I had to bring one to find you, so yes, actually; but, it's back at my hotel room."

"Then let's go get it, as well as all your other stuff."

Trixie nodded, and I pulled out the other magazine, loading it into the gun but not cocking it as I put it away. I followed the unicorn through the city, where some ponies would run at the sight of me and others would just look in confusion. I followed her for a few minutes before I realized that just waltzing into the hotel probably wouldn't be a good idea, so I decided to speak up about it.

"Let me know when we're close. Considering ponies are probably going to get the wrong idea about me, it would be safest if I just stayed outside and you came back with all the stuff."

"Don't you think I noticed that already?" Trixie replied. "I had obviously already planned such a thing, and I shall let you know when we approach."

'Sure she did.' Trixie stopped a short while later, turning her head to look at me. I already knew what she was going to say, so I simply nodded my head in silence, staying put while she went on ahead without me. I looked around and waited in the darkness of the alleyway I was currently in, trying to stay out of sight of any ponies who might come by. It took around what must've been almost half an hour before she finally came back with her saddlebags, and I looked at her with a confused expression, to which she glared at me in response.

"I'll have you know that Trixie is perfectly capable of handling herself without magic. Just get the stupid map-- it's in the left bag."

I approached her and opened the saddlebag to see that it was a completely unorganized mess inside. I moved things around and dug through the bag until I found a crumpled up piece of paper, and much to my disappointment, it turned out to be the map I was looking for.

'Better than nothing I guess.' I un-crumpled the map as best I could and used a nearby wall to flatten it against. I wasn't able to see it very well in the darkness of the alleyway though, so I pulled out my flashlight and shined it at the paper.

"Just what do you plan on doing anyway?" Trixie asked as she trotted up to the wall and looked at the map with me.

"I need to be far enough away for the tower to not block my magic, but also high enough to still be able to see it." I answered. There appeared to be a bunch of mountains perfectly located right next to the city of Los Pegasus, and I pointed at them. "These mountains over here should be perfect-- that's where we're headed next."

"We didn't need the map for that, Klade. Everyone knows that there's mountains next to Los Pegasus."

"Well, you're kind of forgetting that I'm not from Equestria." I replied. "Let's hurry up and start making our way over there before something else ends up happening."

Trixie nodded, clearly eager to get this over with so that I could begin working on her reputation. "Follow me. I'll know where I'm going."

I wasn't about to question her on that, so I agreed, letting her lead the way and following close behind.
> Chapter 7 | From Offensive to Defensive
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight Sparkle's POV

Our attempt to bring down the two towers had been a failure. All the hours I had spent perfecting the mathematics and the trigonometry needed to get the trebuchets positioned at the most optimal location was practically wasted, since Discord himself appeared and disabled them in his own chaotic way before we were even able to fire them once. Any other efforts to stop the towers either didn't work or weren't done at all in fear of safety-- we didn't want anyone to get killed-- which had ultimately ended with nothing happening to the towers at all. Fortunately though, no one had died, but our problem was still there, and it was now apparent that Discord was actively making sure to defend them himself. We had to come up with a better plan.

At the moment it was the late evening of the same day we had done our attack, and I was currently walking up the steps to my room in one of the Canterlot Castle towers. I was staying here for the time being instead of my library at Ponyville, and Spike was currently on my back-- he was staying with me. All of my other friends had been given their own rooms to stay in at Canterlot as well. I opened the door to my room upon approaching it, and I sighed as I walked on through.

"It's not your fault, Twilight." Spike spoke up. "Sometimes things just don't always work out."

"I never said it was my fault." I closed the door behind me with my magic, then levitated Spike off my back as I continued. "I just... I don't feel really good about this whole thing. It's like we couldn't do anything at all to stop this."

"I'm sure the princesses will come up with something! I mean, they're princesses, and they've been around for a really long time. There's gotta be a way to stop those towers." Spike paused for a second before continuing. "It's uh... well, nevermind."

"What is it, Spike?" I asked, turning to face at him with an expecting look.

"Well.. I was just going to say that it's totally not like you to be all mopey-dopey, saying that there's nothing we can do. I'm sure there's a way! But then I thought: maybe Twilight doesn't want to be reminded that she's acting different, so I decided not to say anything."

I sighed again. "Spike... well you're probably right." I perked my head up and looked around the room. "I'm sorry, but I'm tired, I have a headache, and I really, really just want to go to sleep right now." I made my over to the bed and collapsed down on-top of it, making a muffled groan into the covers.

"And that's okay!" Spike replied. "I really think you overworked yourself today, especially considering how you--"

"I know, I know." I interrupted with an irritated tone of voice. "Ugh..." I rolled over and stared up at the ceiling, where I saw Spike coming up onto the bed with me in my peripheral vision.

"Uh... can I sleep on the bed with you Twilight? I kinda don't know where else to.."

"I don't care." I mumbled as I rolled over and pressed my face into one of the pillows. I groaned louder as I let my head practically melt into the pillow, and I closed my eyes, feeling thrilled to finally be laying down and not doing anything. Today had been a mess, and I didn't even want to think about what the next day was going to bring. Hopefully it wouldn't be any worse.





"Twilight, you're over-sleeping again!"

I groaned loudly and stirred, stretching my body and pressing my face down harder into the pillow. If there was one thing I was quickly starting to hate, it was waking up, especially being woken up.

"Celestia wanted us to meet in the planning room at eight in the morning, remember? You've only got like fifteen minutes to get there! I would've let you known earlier but usually you're the one who's waking me up, not the other way around."

I felt anger coursing through my veins, and I started tightly gripping the bed sheets with one of my hooves, feeling the urge to just slam them against the bed but still feeling too sleepy to do so. I so badly wanted just a few more minutes of sleep, and every second of silence was like an angelic blessing, but not for long; Spike was ever-so-aggravatingly consistent with his talking, and just one more sentence from him was all it was going to take to set me off.

"Come on Twilight, we need to--"

"I BUCKING KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I screamed out at the top of my lungs, bolting up from the bed and slamming my hoof down against the mattress. Spike flung back as the impact sent a rippling wave across the bed, sending him off of it and onto the floor below. I panted and held my head downwards as I stared at the covers, before I grabbed them and threw them off of me. My mane was messy and unkempt as I stepped onto the floor, and I made my way straight over to the door, grabbing it and swinging it open.

"Uh... Twilight!" Spike got back up and ran over to me. "I really think you should calm down before you go see Celestia herself! And at least uh... make yourself look a little better?"

"I'm fine." I muttered deeply as I made my way down the spiral stair-case, not pausing for a second.

"You're really not fine Twilight! No I'm serious." Spike tried to step in-front of me, but I just kept walking around him. "I think we need to tell Celestia that you need a little br-whoa!" Spike accidentally tripped backwards off the steps, sending him tumbling down the stairs. My eyes went wide at this, and I gasped as I watched him fall down.

"Spike!!" I quickened my pace until I reached the bottom, where I saw the small dragon was laying on the floor. "Are you okay?"

"I think so." He replied, rubbing his head and sitting up. "Uh.. what was I talking about again?"

"About me." I answered. "Look, Spike, I'm glad that you care... but you should really just let me handle this on my own. I'll be fine, and Equestria needs everypony they can get to help them right now."

"I uh... I don't consider what you did back in your room 'fine', Twilight."

I sighed, levitating him back on his feet before beginning to walk off again. "I'll be fine."

Spike didn't reply, probably not wanting to get into another argument about this again. I made my way through the hallways of Canterlot Castle until I approached the planning room, where I saw that mostly everyone was already there. I walked right up to the round table located in the middle, watching as Princess Celestia nodded her head at me.

"When Rarity shows up, we'll begin." She spoke, to which I nodded back at her, staying silent. I looked across the map that was layed out across the table, when I saw my brother Shining Armor walk up to me from the side.

"Did you get enough sleep last night?" He asked, to which I sighed.

"Yeah, it's not that that's bothering me." I paused for a second before continuing. "It's really nothing."

"Twilight, I know that face more than anyone. You did alot of work yesterday helping us, and I've been told that you're dealing with some erm.. personal problems."

"Who told you that?" I shot back at him with a tense tone of voice.

"Your pal Spike told me while you were out working non-stop yesterday. He cares a whole lot about you, but if there's anyone who cares even more about you, it would be me." He placed a hoof on my shoulder. "That's why, when we're all done with this, I'm going to take a little vacation so we could spend some time together. Cadance wouldn't mind catching up either-- she liked the idea."

I gritted my teeth and stared in-front of me; I was really getting sick of being pandered so much like this, but I really couldn't get too mad about it this time since it was my brother. I eventually sighed, diverting my gaze around the room for a second before looking back at him. "Shining... Alright. We'll do that." I smiled a tiny bit at him. "But for right now, I really just want to focus on this mess and nothing else."

"Always focused on the task at hoof, huh?" He brought his hoof up and messed with my mane. "You'd make a great princess Twily, I guarantee it."

I rolled my eyes and couldn't help but laugh slightly at that ridiculous notion. "Yeah, totally."

It was then that the sound of hooves clattering against the floor rang out, and I perked my head up to see Rarity running into the room.

"I'm sorry everyone! I hope I didn't keep you all waiting too long."

"It is fine-- there is no need to sweat over a few minutes." Princess Luna replied.

"Unfortunately, this morning we are met with more grim news." Celestia spoke up. "As of last night, the cloud city of Los Pegasus has fallen under the same magic-blocking influence as Baltimare and Manehattan. There is yet another tower to be seen."

"Another one!? Already?" Rarity responded. "These things seem to be sprouting up every day!"

Celestia nodded. "That is why it is of the utmost urgency that we enact our next course of action as soon as possible. This time, there have been a greater number of reports that specify with greater detail that a creature looking like Klade has been spotted in Los Pegasus. One specific report states that he had broken out of a hospital and was disobeying direct orders not to do so."

"Well that don't sound too good." Applejack spoke. "What on Equestria would he be doin' in a hospital? That's where sick ponies go!"

"I'm still trying to find that out." Celestia answered. "For the time being, however, we need to prevent the next tower from being built." Celestia's horn began to glow, and the magical map presented to us on the table began to move and zoom out. "We've looked at where the past three towers have been placed. Two are on the east side of Equestria-- at the top and bottom here, respectively-- and one on the west side, at the bottom left, here."

"I suggested that if another tower is to be constructed, it would be over here." Cadance exclaimed. Her horn began to glow, and the map moved to the top-left portion of Equestria. "Both Tall Tale and Vanhoover are the two cities located in this area. If there were to be a tower placed in one of these cities, that would pretty much form a rectangle if you were to draw a line from one tower to the next."

"If he's going to put a tower in any one of those cities, it'll probably be Vanhoover." Shining Armor chimed in. "That's the bigger city out of the two."

"So what is our role in all of this?" I spoke up.

"You and your friends have the most important role of all this time." Celestia replied. Her horn began to glow once again, and she levitated out a box. Opening it revealed the Elements of Harmony, to which Pinkie gasped.

"Ooh! The Elements of Harmony!" She gleefully pointed out, before frowning. "Hey wait, but those don't work on Discord anymore, right? He can just absorb their power!"

"You are correct." Celestia responded. "However, you won't be using them on Discord. You'll be using them on Klade."

"What!?" Rainbow blurted out abruptly. "You expect me to help kill Klade now? No way-- I'm out."

"The elements won't kill Klade. They will only imprison him." Celestia replied. "From there we can sort things out."

"Hopefully we won't have to use those against him Rainbow." I remarked. "If he's really working for Discord, then we won't have a choice. If he's working for him unwillingly, then this might also be a chance to capture him and find out what's going on ourselves."

"I agree with Twilight Sparkle." Luna spoke up. "In-fact, capturing him should be considered a priority, second to making sure that the tower does not become constructed."

Rainbow exhaled slowly, crossing her hooves as she remained hovered in the air by her wings. "...Fine. But I'm talking to him first as soon as we free him."

The group seemed to agree on that and on the plan, and Shining Armor was the next to speak up awhile later.

"I'll schedule a carriage to take you six to Vanhoover as soon as possible. That carriage will be the same one to bring you back once this is over, as well as Klade if it comes to that."

I nodded and watched as my brother walked out of the room, when I heard Spike's voice sprout up from beside me.

"Why can't I come with you all?"

I looked down at Spike and then sighed, staring blankly in-front of me as I replied. "Because these missions are dangerous and I don't need you getting hurt." I droned out in a bored voice.

"But I'm perfectly capable of watching over myself-- I do it all the time when I stay in your library all day by myself!" He responded. "That excuse just doesn't make any sense Twilight. Are you worried I'm going to get in your way or something?"

I groaned as I listened to him-- I really didn't feel like arguing over something like this right now. I breathed in deeply and then blurted out my reply. "Alright Spike, fine. You can come with us this time."

"Yes!!" He pumped the air with his hand. "Now I don't have to wander around the castle bored out of my mind looking for something to do until you all come back. Thank you Twilight!"

I nodded as I watched his excitement, and I turned around to head back into my room to get everything I would need for this trip. Once I had everything I thought I would need, and after each one of us received the Elements of Harmony, me and my friends-- including Spike-- made our way over to where the carriage was waiting for us. It looked larger than average to accommodate the seven of us, and we all proceeded to gather up inside, where I noticed Shining Armor poke his head in through the window.

"It's gonna be pretty chilly up there." He exclaimed as he levitated in several jackets. "In-case you all end up staying there for longer than we anticipated, I've got your traveling expensives covered too." He then levitated a brown bag of bits inside, and I nodded at him with a small smile.

"Thanks Shining." I replied.

"Don't spend it all on books Twily." He gave us a smile and then closed the carriage door, to which I then heard Pinkie speak up.

"Wow, this is awesome-- thanks Shining Armor! Ooh I want that pink jacket!" She spoke up with an excited grin. "Or should I take the blue one? Or maybe even the yellow one!"

My head perked up when I noticed the five pegasai guards located at the front of the carriage beginning to flap their wings, and after a few more seconds we had lifted off the ground. My friends continued to talk about random things while we flew through the air, but I really wasn't in the mood for that, so after putting on my jacket I remained mostly silent. I stared at the window and exhaled slowly, thinking about what the day might possibly bring.





The trip to Vanhoover lasted for only a couple hours, of which I spent in almost total silence. My friends had tried to get me to converse with them a few times, and even though I did comply, I didn't put any effort into adding onto the conversation other than just answering their questions. I saw the city coming into view, and we landed a short while later with a thud.

"Wow, we're here already?" Pinkie exclaimed. "We should take carriages from now on-- they're totally alot faster than trains!"

I opened the door of the carriage, only to be immediately met with a blast of cold air blowing right up against me. I stepped outside and looked around at my surroundings to see that there was snow all over the place, coating everything in a soft, white color. I could see the particles descending slowly from the sky, and I heard Pinkie gasping from the other side of the carriage afterwards.

"Oh my gosh snow is so much fun!! I wasn't told it was going to be snowing here. This trip just got ninety times better!"

"Ninety times worse, you mean." Rarity replied as she stepped out with her. "It's freezing here!"

As much as I wanted to enjoy the scenery and the adventure, I really just couldn't. All I wanted to do was get this over with, and my head perked up when I noticed one of the guards approaching me.

"We'll be ready at a moment's notice for whenever you need to leave." He exclaimed.

I nodded in response, and I walked over to my friends, who were all already heading towards the city.

"It would probably be a good idea to split up and take a good look around the city first." I spoke up. "Then we'll let each other know if we see anything suspicious."

"Aww c'mon Twilight, we don't get to at least have a little fun first?" Pinkie looked at me. "We could totally have a snow-ball fight!"

"No." I replied bluntly. "We have a really important mission to do, and I'd like to do it right Pinkie."

"Oh... well okay, I guess that's more important." Pinkie frowned.

"Where should we meet up once we're finished?" Rarity inquired. "It looks like it will be easy to get lost in a place like this."

I groaned, perking my head up and looking around. Before I could respond though, Applejack answered that.

"It looks like the city square is just up ahead there." She pointed out, pointing with her hoof in-front of us. There appeared to be a small, nature-themed park located there, and we made our way over in that direction. There were foals playing around and adults sitting on benches doing absolutely nothing, and for a moment it really seemed like nothing was going to happen here; everything seemed perfectly normal, and it was even a bit off-putting.

"Guys, I think this is a map of the city over here." Fluttershy exclaimed. I looked towards her and then quickly trotted over to see her looking at a wooden board that was sticking out of the ground.

"Nice find Fluttershy." I remarked as I looked at the map imprinted onto the board. "Applejack, how about you take the lower-left section over here." I pointed at the map with my hoof. "Rarity and Fluttershy, you can look over this whole area over here on the bottom right. Pinkie, you can take the area up here on the top-right."

"Yes Ma'am!" Pinkie responded.

"Me and Spike will take this area on the upper-left over here, and... Rainbow Dash, you can take to the skies and look for anything from up there."

"I won't be able to for long Twilight or I'm gonna freeze my wings off!" Rainbow responded. "If you think it's cold right now, just wait until you're way up in the air and flying right through it-- that stuff is a killer."

"Right..." I held in a sigh and gritted my teeth quietly. "Um... Just do what you can. Try to at least check all the rooftops because so far it seems like that's where these towers are being placed. We'll meet back here in two hours."

"In two hours it should be lunch time!" Pinkie proclaimed. "I'll see if I could find us a real nice place to eat while I'm searching!"

"That sounds great Pinkie." I responded. "Now, let's get going."

From there we split up, and I began making my way over to where I said I was going to scout out.
> Chapter 8 | Elemental Power
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

All of our exploration had yielded no results of anything deemed worthy enough of being suspicious. Nobody had found any signs of Klade or anything that resembled the towers that we had seen, and I couldn't help but worry that maybe Discord wasn't planning on placing a tower in this city. If anything were to happen though, we'd find out soon enough - Celestia would let us know if things had changed. At the moment it was the late evening, and we were all currently checking into a hotel to stay the night there.

"So, what is going to happen if there doesn't end up being a tower placed in this city?" Rarity asked just as I had finished talking to one of the hotel waiters. Because we were sent by Celestia and that we had an important task, they were letting us stay for free. "Are we just going to stay here and wait?"

"I doubt that." I responded. "I'm sure Celestia will let us know, most likely through a letter, if something has happened. We probably won't be staying here for more than a few days."

"I sure hope so. I cannot take much more of this cold weather!"

We proceeded to make our way up a flight of stairs, where we were led to our room that we would be staying in. I opened the door and stepped inside to be met warm, cozy room decorated with orange walls and a brown carpet floor. A window located at the other end of the room showed the outside with the falling snow illuminated in the moonlight, and for once I was glad to be someplace that wasn't freezing.

"Is this really a good idea though?" Pinkie Pie spoke up. "What if Klade sets up the tower while we're all sleeping in this room? That would be pretty bad!"

"Pinkie, we looked everywhere." I responded with an irritated tone of voice. "We didn't see anything that looked like a tower, or anything that looked like it might belong to Klade. Unless he's just gonna teleport in and do everything in the dark, and in the cold, all in one single night, then we don't have anything to worry about."

"But... he could totally do that, right?"

"So then what do ya suppose we do Pinkie?" Applejack inquired.

"I don't know, maybe like send somepony out to look around in the nighttime? We could take turns! First someone goes out and looks around for a few hours, then when they get tired they come back here and wake somebody up so that then they go looking around for a few hours. That could work!"

"Well, I'm definitely not taking part in that." Rarity chimed in. "I don't even want to think about how cold it's going to be with no sun out."

"Yeah, Rarity's right." Rainbow responded. "And plus it's going to be dark out, so how are we supposed to see anything? I'd probably bump into a building if I were to try flying, and that's implying I don't freeze to death first."

"Don't you kinda wanna see Klade really really badly Rainbow?" Pinkie asked. "I'd think you wouldn't want to miss out on any chances."

"Of course I do! It's been bugging me constantly about what hell's going on." Rainbow sighed, glancing at the other ponies before continuing. "I mean... I guess I could do a quick sweep every once in awhile to make sure there's nothing happening. But only if I feel like it."

"See? That's one volunteer! Well, two if you include me." Pinkie smiled.

"Ah suppose I could go out and look around real quick if anypony needs me to." Applejack stated.

"There's three!" Pinkie proceeded to look at Fluttershy, who backed away slightly when all eyes were on her.

"I... I really don't think I'd do a good job." She softly exclaimed. "So I think I'll sit this one out."

Pinkie then looked at me, obviously waiting for me to say something. I couldn't deny that she was right - you could never be too careful sometimes - and I was glad to see her caring so much about our task. At the same time though, I really, really just didn't care at the moment. I was tired; I was miserable; I wanted nothing more than to just not give a fuck and go to sleep.

"Sorry Pinkie, I can't do that." I answered, much to her surprise.

"Oh... okay. That's fine Twilight." She paused for a few awkward seconds before continuing. "Well, three volunteers is good enough! Who wants to go out first?"

"Ah guess I will." Applejack droned out. "I might as well, but when I come back ah'm hittin' the hay and I don't expect anypony to wake me up afterwards."

"That's fine! I can go look around after you do, unless Rainbow wants to instead."

"Like I said, only if I'm feeling like it." The cyan pegasus replied. "If I'm really tired then I'm not doing anything."

"Understood!" Pinkie responded. With that Applejack walked out the door, and I decided to start getting ready for bed.

"Howcome you didn't want to go with them Twilight?" Spike asked as I made my way over into one of the bedrooms. "I mean, it seems like a good idea."

"Why do you think, Spike?" I frowned. "How many times to I have to tell you..." I breathed in deeply, holding back the urge to yell at him. "I just want to go to sleep."

"Oh, right. Sorry."

I levitated Spike off my back and took off my jacket, flinging it onto a nearby chair with my magic as I crawled onto the bed. I exhaled and groaned as I slipped under the covers, and I rolled over onto my back, staring up at the ceiling in silence. I really didn't know what I was doing; I couldn't focus on tasks like I used to. I felt so unmotivated, more than I had ever been, and thinking about it only made things worse because I didn't know what to do with myself. I looked at the door, thinking over it for a little while if I actually should go back out there and look around. After awhile though, I decided against it.

I rolled over and sighed, pressing my head against the pillow and staring blankly in-front of me. My thoughts lulled on, and after awhile I found myself drifting off into sleep, slowly becoming less aware of the world around me.





"Guys! Hey guys get up - I think we might have a problem!"

My ears twitched, and I groaned as the high-pitched voice of Pinkie Pie talking from the other room resonated in my mind. I was really, really, really getting sick of being woken up like this all the time, and I could already feel the rage building up as I grabbed onto my pillow.

"Hey come on guys I'm not joking." A few seconds later the door to my room flung open, and Pinkie's voice was now much more clearer as she spoke directly to me. "Twilight! I'm like extremely sure the tower is being put up, like right now. We need to get out there as soon as possible and stop it!"

As mad as I was to be woken up like this, I knew that this was serious. I threw the covers off of me and got up off the bed, looking at Pinkie while half-asleep. "Are you sure?"

"Yes! I'm like, 99.9% sure." Pinkie proceeded to zoom out of the room, prompting me to walk out with her. The other expressions of the ponies mimicked mine - they all looked half-asleep and miserable as Pinkie pushed them all into the main room.

"Pinkie, it's almost one in the mornin'." Applejack grumbled out.

"I know! I was looking through the city and then when I went looking inside that building that they're still doing construction on, I swear I saw Klade inside and there was also a bunch of black metal-y tower stuff in there!"

"Do you mean that really tall building?" Rarity asked. "Me and Fluttershy had already searched through there - we didn't find anything."

"Yeah but you gotta believe me, and we need to hurry too, before that tower gets activated!"

"Pinkie's right." I spoke up. "Let's just get ready and check this place out. I'll go get the Elements of Harmony."

Although everyone wasn't super willing, they agreed, and I made my way back into my room, where I heard Spike's sleepy voice speak up.

"What's going on Twilight?" He asked while rubbing his eyes.

"Pinkie thinks the tower is being put up right now." I replied as I levitated my jacket on. "I don't think she'd be willing to wake everyone up like this in the middle of the night if she wasn't really sure, so just stay here while we go and check it out."

"But.. I wanna come with you! There's gotta be something-"

"No." I bluntly interrupted as I gathered the Elements of Harmony. "Not with this, it could be way too dangerous, and just.. no. Sorry I can't think of any other reasons right now." I was already about to exit the room as I finished talking, leaving Spike by himself in the room - I really wasn't in the mood for thinking over something like this. Once everyone was ready a short while later, I levitated their respective elements to each pony.

"Let's go. Pinkie, you can lead the way." I remarked. Pinkie nodded her head, and we all exited the room, making our way down the hall. The hotel was dark and quiet since everyone was most likely asleep, so we put a conscious effort not to make too much noise until we reached the exit doors. Once outside we were met the cold, snowy air blowing right against us, and I could hear Rarity scoff as we stepped outside into it.

"I am never living someplace cold..." She muttered under her breath. Snow was falling from the sky more than it was during the daytime, and Pinkie was the next to speak up.

"It's this way. Follow me and stay super quiet like a mouse!" She trotted off into the fog, and we were all quick to follow her. As much as I didn't want to be doing this, I knew I couldn't have a 'let's get this over with' kind of attitude, otherwise the elements probably wouldn't work - I knew that already from when we had first tried to use them on Discord way back when he had been released the first time.

We made our way through the city until we reached a tall building that had warning signs on it telling us that it was still be constructed. Pinkie stopped, and then raised her hoof as she turned her head to look back at us.

"Okay this is it!" She whispered. "Let's try to be quiet and maybe we can get him by surprise."

"He better have a good explanation for doing all this once I have my hooves on him." Rainbow added. "If it's even him."

"Hopefully this will give us the answers we've been looking for." I concluded. From there we all quietly began to step past the yellow thread that was cautioning us not to enter, and we made our way inside. The interior of the building appeared to be mostly complete, although barren of any fine details. This was only the first floor though, and from what we'd seen so far, the tower was probably going to be up on the roof. Spotting a flight of stairs, we walked over to them and began heading upwards.

Trotting up the stairs, I was suddenly met with a feeling of deja vu - this is exactly what I had been doing back at Baltimare. All of those dead ponies littered across the floor, and the fact that I had almost become one of them. I hesitated my ascent as I thought back to it, and for long enough that it caught the attention of the others.

"Are you okay Twilight?" Fluttershy softly asked, causing me to perk my head up as I saw the rest of my friends looking at me. I thought over what I should say as I gazed back at them, knowing that they could've all possibly been going into very grave danger. We had the Elements of Harmony with us this time, though, so I figured that we would be alright. At least I hoped so.

"It's nothing." I answered. "Let's just keep going.. and be careful too."

We slowly continued our ascent up the stairs, going up from one floor to the next. The rooms began to become more barren and incomplete, affirming that this building was definitely still under construction. We reached a high enough point to where we could see the wood and the metal poles scattered across the floor, and we could even see the moonlight from outside shining in through tiny little openings and archways in the design. We were nearing the roof.

It was at this point where I suddenly noticed a figure standing in the distance, and I immediately felt a flashback back to Baltimare where this exact same thing had happened. There he was - that shadowy figure - standing so ominously at the other side of the room. The rest of my friends stopped shortly after I did, where they realized just what I was looking at. At least this time the floor wasn't littered with dead bodies... not yet at least.

"There he is!" Rainbow yelled out. "Is that you, Klade? What the hell are you doing!? Why are you putting up these towers?"

Although it was hard to see him due to the lack of light, I could still tell from the moonlight that he was only responding by raising his gun up towards us, causing me to gasp in fear. "Everypony get back! Run down th-" I was cut off by the sound of gunfire ringing out straight in our direction. I shrieked and squeezed my eyes closed, as tense as a statue while I stood frozen in terror. I immediately felt like I was going to die right then - that everything was finally going to end at that very moment. I stood like this for what felt like an eternity, paralyzed in horror, before I slowly opened my eyes back up a few seconds after the shooting stopped. To my surprise, I saw that the elements were all glowing, surrounding us all in a pink, magical shield. Whatever Klade's weapon was supposed to do didn't reach us.

"You're not gettin' away with this Klade!" Applejack called out to him. "We're findin' out what's goin' on one way or another!" The human began to back away towards the stairs behind him, dropping his weapon to the ground. His arms moved as if he was beginning to pull something else out, when I heard Rainbow start yelling at him.

"Don't even THINK about running away!" Rainbow tried to speed off towards him, only for me to lunge forward and grab her before she was able to leave the magical barrier.

"Rainbow don't!" Right after I said that more gun-fire rang out, this time sounding different than the last times. It was spamming out at an extremely fast, high-pitched pace, but the bullets didn't seem to be very effective against the glowing pink barrier. By the time the shots stopped whizzing out, the figure had already backed all the way up the stairs, where he proceeded to run off onto the roof.

"Let's go!" I commanded, and we all began to run across the room together. We started to make our way up the stairs, when the sudden, loud sound of metal screeching penetrated our ears. We stopped abruptly, glancing at each other as the sound of metal and gears echoed throughout the room.

"The tower!" Pinkie exclaimed. "That's gotta be the tower! We gotta stop it before it's activated!"

"Ah sure hope it ain't too late!" Applejack replied. "Because it sounds ta me like it's bein' activated right now!" We quickly continued our ascent up the stairs, running up them until we reached the rooftop a couple seconds later. The moon shined directly down onto us through the falling snow as we stepped onto the roof, only to see the black tower fully-built right in-front of us. The see-through orb at the top was glowing and swirling with a green color, which mixed with the illuminated moonlight being shined onto the floor as it swirled around in our vision. We could already feel the effects as if the magic-denying force was pressuring itself against us, and I turned to look at my friends.

"We need to use the elements against that tower!" I shouted out to raise my voice above all the clanking metal. "While we still can!"

Getting in position, we all began to focus our concentration onto the beam that would eventually shoot out. Our collective efforts became almost unison as we focused into the magic, and the elements worn around our necks - aside from my crown - began to glow brighter and brighter with each passing second. I gritted my teeth as I let my frustrations and pent up rage pour out into my concentration, and I pressed my fore-hooves against the floor, looking up at the tower and then firing the magic at it. The rainbow-colored beam of potent magic seemed to effortlessly break through the tower's emissions, barreling straight towards the orb at the top until it made contact. The orb glowed a bright hot white before shattering shortly afterwards in a loud explosion. Shards of glass flew and splattered against our magical barrier as they fell and rattled against the floor, and after several seconds, the magic from our elements stopped, leaving behind a successfully deactivated tower in-front of us.

"We did it!" Pinkie exclaimed with a happy, cheerful voice. "See, I told you I was 99.9% sure! We got the tower and saved all of Vanhoover! You know what this calls for?"

"It's not over yet Pinkie!" Rainbow replied, running out in-front and looking around. "Where the hell did Klade go? He couldn't have gotten off this roof!"

I nodded, and from there we split up, quickly searching the entire rooftop. No matter where I looked though, I couldn't find anyone hiding or any traces of a human sneaking around. We all found ourselves meeting back up a short while later, where Rainbow was clearly not happy.

"How does he disappear like that!?" She cursed out and frowned. "If it wasn't for this stupid tower I would've got him!"

"We all tried our best, Rainbow." I spoke up. "At least we got the tower, which was our primary goal."

Rainbow looked as if she was about to respond, but didn't for a second, presumably thinking of what to say. "...I just don't believe it. The real Klade would NEVER shoot at me, I don't care how unwillingly he's working for Discord. There's something else going on here and next time I'm going to find out what it is no matter what."

I watched Rainbow as she began to walk back towards the stairs, knowing that now she was going to be even more prone to doing something stupid; I was going to have to keep a very close eye on her from now on, especially during dangerous situations involving Klade. We all looked at each other before following her down the stairs, when the voice of Pinkie Pie rang out as we entered the floor below.

"Hey look, Klade left his weapon here!" She announced. "Remember he dropped it when he started backing away?" She went to go pick it up, but I quickly ran over to her and stopped her before she could.

"No Pinkie don't! We don't know how that thing works, but what we do know that it's extremely dangerous."

The five of us looked down at the weapon laying on the floor, when eventually Rainbow made it back to investigate as well.

"Twilight, use your magic to make this place brighter." The cyan pegasus spoke. I abided, and my horn grew a bright purple, lighting up the surrounding area. The weapon was now more visible, and Rainbow leaned her head down as she examined it. "..It should be fine to pick this up. I actually remember Klade showing me one of these that looked exactly like this - he was going over how ponies can't use these weapons." She reached down and picked it up with her hoof. "See the curved pointy part here? He called that the trigger, and that's what makes it shoot. You can't do that with hooves."

"Oh. Well that stinks!" Pinkie frowned. "Here I was thinking we could totally fight him back with his own weapons!"

"We're not doing that." Rainbow glared at the pink pony. "That would kill him, and there is no way I'm on board with that."

"How much did he teach you about these things?" I asked. "They're called guns, right? I know that Duston would use them too."

"Yeah, that's what they're called. I was actually playing an insane game with him once where we were controlling people that were displayed on a screen in his house - it was filled with all kinds of these things. It was loads of fun and we did it for hours." Rainbow started frowning again. "I knew Klade better than anyone here, that's why I don't understand why he would do these things. It's not him, and it just pisses me off when you people don't believe me."

"Excuse me, but can we please talk about all of this someplace else?" Rarity spoke up. "You know, someplace that's not out in the freezing cold in the middle of the night."

"I agree. We should start heading back." I replied. "Spike is still waiting for us too, and I need to send a letter to the princesses telling them what happened tonight. You can tell us everything that you know there Rainbow."

She nodded, and from there we continued our descent, bringing the weapon with us.
> Chapter 9 | Railguns & Rekt Towers
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Klade's POV

At the moment I was currently walking alongside Trixie up one of the several mountains that were located around Los Pegasus. We had originally left the city at around two in the morning, and by now the sun was just starting to rise, signaling that morning was coming. I didn't know when we were going to rest at this rate, and I figured that asking Trixie would be hopeless since I was sure that she would be determined to not waste anytime at all; if there were to be any breaks, it would be announced by her. We were probably only around a quarter of the way up the mountain, although there was no way I was able to tell anyway since it was still pretty dark and there was alot of mountain foresty tree stuff blocking my view. With or without Trixie though, I most likely would've been doing this anyway since that tower needed to be destroyed.

If there was one thing that was really starting to bother me, it was the fact that I still hadn't received any telepathic response from Duston. I had sent that message yesterday, and it had probably been over eighteen hours specifically since when I had sent it. I had contemplated whether or not it had actually sent, but that seemed more like wishful thinking - I was sure that it had went through. Either way, I wanted to find out what happened in person as soon as possible. The last thing I had heard involving him was how Discord told me he was going to kill him, which was making the increased separation of any evidence disproving that more and more worrying. I didn't believe that he would be able to kill him at all at first, but as more time went on, the more skeptical I was becoming and the more it was invading my thoughts.

'I don't know what I should be more mad at: Discord for killing him, or Duston for actually letting himself be killed by that asshole. Once I get back to Ponyville and I talk to Twilight I'll know for sure. For all I know, he could've been trapped somewhere just like I was. I hope that isn't the case though; he'd be dead by now if it was, implying nobody rescued him first.'

The trek up the mountain was mostly silent - so much so that Trixie kept constantly glancing back at me just to make sure that I was still following her. This had continued for awhile, until eventually she seemed to get fed up with it.

"Are you at least going to say something?" She asked with a frown. "We've been walking for hours and you've barely said a damn thing."

"Is it bothering you that much?" I replied. "I don't usually talk that much."

"Like I hadn't noticed already." Trixie rolled her eyes, looking over me before continuing. "Say, what was that plan B you did back there anyway? What was it supposed to do? Or rather - what did you want it to do? Because it clearly didn't work."

"I was shooting at the orb at the top, hoping that would destroy it." I proceeded to pull out the pistol that I had created. "With this."

"Oh, that thing. Wait..." Trixie looked at it more closely. "That looks different than the one I saw on you when I dragged you out of the cave. Actually, now that I think back to it, I don't remember seeing that black thing that emitted light on you either. Where'd you get those from?"

"I created them through magic." I answered, to which her eyes suddenly started to wide with interest afterwards.

"Can you create more of these... things? Different kinds, perhaps?"

"I can create anything I want." Before she could begin demanding how to do that, though, I quickly continued. "However, pony unicorns can't use the spell. The book that I learned these from is filled with magic that ponies can't use, but my human magic can use apparently."

Trixie frowned. "What kind of logic is that!? Since when is there different kinds of magic?? Trixie has never heard of such a thing!"

"If you don't believe me, I'll show you the book when I get the chance. I borrowed it from the Canterlot Library."

"Well then that will be the next thing you do after you restore my reputation." Trixie replied. "But there's something that doesn't make sense... surely you cannot create anything."

Since we had traveled quite a ways from the city, I decided now would be a good time to test out if I was out of the tower's area of effect. I began to focus on one of those plastic water bottles from back on earth as we walked, fleshing out the details in my mind. Once everything was ready several seconds later, I felt an all-too-addicting click in my mind, where the bottle then formed in the real world. I watched Trixie's eyes go wide as I grabbed it from the air, and I un-capped the tip, drinking out of it.

"You can create water? But that's... then how did you almost die in that cave? You could've lived forever in that place if you can just create your own necessities!"

"Something was blocking my magic." I replied after I finished drinking. "The food and stuff I created never was able to match up with what baking something in the real world tasted and felt though." 'She said cave... that must've been where I was at, some underground ditch in a middle of a desert. Thanks Discord.'

"But how is that even possible anyway? That would mean you could live just about anywhere and never have to worry about dying from starvation or something."

"Didn't Discord make those chocolate milk clouds at one point?" I asked. "He seems to be able to do it too. Either way, I never did test out if it's actually true that you can survive solely off that magically created stuff, so I wouldn't know for sure."

"Hmm..." Trixie paused for a second before continuing. "So, just what do you create anyway? Like that thing you were just showing me - what does it do other than be really damn loud?"

"In short, it fires a projectile at an extremely fast pace." I answered. "So fast that it has the possibility of going right through ponies, or anyone else, like Discord."

Trixie looked at me in disbelief. "You mean to tell Trixie that little thing is capable of such power?"

"Yeah." I replied. "The only reason Discord isn't dead yet is because I gave him a second chance to redeem himself and stop his chaotic ways. I'm not doing that again though."

Trixie blinked. "That's... pretty nice, actually, even for someone like you." Since I didn't reply to her compliment, she continued. "What else can you create though? If you really can create anything... then shouldn't you be able to just create something that can stop Discord?"

"What do you mean?"

"Something like... a button, and when you press the button, Discord dies."

"That's not possible." I answered. "Everything I create has to be bound to what's physically possible in reality, otherwise it wouldn't work. I could make the button for example, but pressing it won't do anything since it wouldn't be possible for it to just 'kill' Discord out of nowhere."

"Hmm, of course that's true. Trixie had already guessed that so she was just clarifying if what she thought was true."

'Of course Trixie, that's exactly what you were doing.'

Our trek up the mountain continued for the next few hours. Eventually I had noticed that we were high enough for me to see the tower being emitted from Los Pegasus, and by that time it was almost noon. Since it didn't seem necessary to be at the very top of the mountain, I decided to speak up about it.

"Around here should be a good place." I exclaimed. "We can see the tower from Los Pegasus from here."

"Oh? I was wondering when you'd say something about that." Trixie replied. "So just what do you plan on doing from way out here anyway?"

"Just watch and find out. It's probably going to take around half an hour to get everything created though, so you're gonna have to wait a bit."

"Ugh." Trixie rolled her eyes. "Sure, I'll wait - not like I have a choice anyway."

From there I scouted out a good location nearby to begin setting up. Once I found some ground that had a nice base - a large flat rock more specifically - I began to imagine a white lawn chair in my mind. Once I had created it, I used it to sit down so I could begin on the real stuff.

'Railgun time.'

I proceeded to spend the next half an hour creating the weapon in my mind, and then separately creating the computer panel that I would be using to control that weapon. I had multiple railguns all across Equestria - some of which that even shot nukes out - which were all controlled within my base at the Foal Mountain range. I normally would've just used one of them instead of going through the effort of creating one by scratch, but considering my clones had been manipulated by Discord, I decided not to go there. My base is where I normally housed them all, and I wouldn't feel comfortable going inside without doing some serious scouting first to make sure there weren't any traps.

Eventually I had finished creating the weapon through my magic, and I turned to look at Trixie, who was just staring at me with a deadpan expression.

"Please tell me you are finally done."

"Yeah. It's time to fuck up that tower."

Trixie's ears perked up at this, and I turned to face the computer panel as she walked over to me. "This is some pretty complicated looking stuff." She spoke as I heard her trotting around and examining the thing I made. "Do you have to know how it works to make it? I'm assuming that you do."

"Not really, actually. The spell is more complicated than that." I replied. "I was curious about it too, so I read the 'fine print' that was in the book. Supposedly once the object is ready to be created, the spell peers into your subconscious mind to get the knowledge necessary to do the finishing touches. It looks at how you want it to be made, and then does its best to satisfy that want." I paused for a second before continuing. "Of course though, things don't always work out. I've gone through lots of trial and error where I have to keep making the same thing over and over until it comes out the way I want it to - but that's only for the heavy duty stuff."

"So... you don't even know how this works?"

"The general idea is good enough. Don't worry - I've made these before. Now," I proceeded to create two pairs of ear-muffs. One was for me, and the other I designed for Trixie's pony ears. "This is gonna be loud as fuck, so you're gonna want to put these on."

Trixie nodded, and from there she levitated the mufflers over onto her head. I proceeded to focus my attention back to the computer panel - more specifically the monitor that was displayed in-front of me. It had finished doing its system checks by now to make sure everything was working properly, and through the monitor I was able to see a video feed of what the railgun was looking at. From there, I targeted the black metal tower at Los Pegasus, where the camera then zoomed in and locked on directly to the glowing orb at the top. 'Weapon is ready to fire' Showed up in yellow, red-tinted letters in the middle of the screen, and I glanced back at Trixie before confirming the launch. The lights on the long, narrow barrel of the gun began to brighten, and then shortly afterwards a projectile cannoned out through the center at extremely high speeds. Instead of watching through the monitor, I decided to observe in person since I was right there, where I watched the projectile steer towards the tower. It made direct contact with the far-away orb in less than a second, completely obliterating it in an explosion. Taking off the ear-muffs, I proceeded to look at Trixie.

"Shit be epic." I spoke. Trixie was staring with wide, surprised eyes at what she just witnessed, taking a few seconds to reply.

"...Okay, Trixie admits, she is a little impressed, but that is all!" She looked at me. "Now, let us head back immediately so you can begin restoring Trixie's reputation."

"We'll be going back a different way." I replied, much to her confusion. Before she could ask about it though, I continued. "I'll create something that can fly us over there - it should only take a little over five minutes."

"..Five minutes to get there, or five minutes to create it?"

"Both, probably. I'll drive it really fast."

"Magnificent!" Trixie clearly seemed to like that, and I proceeded to begin creating the next device. I imagined one of the small two-person airplanes that I had already previously created back when I flew with Rainbow Dash and did crazy shit in the air with her. Upon thinking about it, it made me realized just how much I missed hanging out with her.

'It's definitely been awhile. She's gotta be wondering what the hell happened to me since it's been so long - all the more reason to get this reputation shit over with.'

The airplane was created a few minutes later. We were on a mountain though, which meant no flat ground anywhere, but I had made up for that by adding rocket thrusters to the bottom of the plane which would lift us up. I approached it and then jumped inside, turning my head back to look at Trixie.

"Get in on the seat behind me." I stated.

"You don't need to tell me, I'm not stupid." Trixie abided and climbed on, and I started the plane afterwards, warming it up and getting it ready. Instead of the usual controls that a plane like this would have, however, it was a Playstation 3 controller. Once everything seemed to be in order, I activated the bottom rocket thrusters, which abruptly launched us into the air. From there I added to the throttle, giving us momentum and sending us forward until the plane was able to fly by itself. It always felt great whenever I did this - a complete parallel to that dormant, pitch-black cave that I had been trapped in for so long. I didn't even want to think about that hellhole. The air was blowing right against me with ferocity and it was nice - I had already thought over how epic it must've been to be Rainbow Dash and flying through the air constantly like this.

Eventually we began to approach the cloud city, when I suddenly realized we had a problem: I didn't know how to land this thing. Every time I had made one of these I always just did some crazy theatrical bullshit where I would jump out and let it crash somewhere, and I never did get around to actually learning how to properly land one. As I began to get myself ready for another wild landing, I abruptly realized that I had completely forgotten to make a parachute before I took off flying, leaving me stuck in the plane for the time being.

"Uh, you're passing by the city Klade." Trixie spoke up. "What are you doing?"

"Hold on." Making sure there was nothing I could run into, I quickly began imagining a parachute, until it appeared in-front of me about forty seconds later. From there I turned the plane around, and I stood up from my seat, putting on the parachute and then turning to look at Trixie. "I'm going to have to hold onto you - we're both jumping off."

"What!?" Trixie frowned. "We're way too high up to be jumping off! Are you out of your mind you stupid monkey!?"

"We'll be fine. I've got something made that will make us fall nice and slow; now hurry up before we pass the city and I have to turn this thing around again."

Although clearly not willing, Trixie agreed, and she shakily began to try standing up on the seat. She couldn't seem to make it over to me though, so I did that for her, stepping over onto her seat and then grabbing onto her. Right before I was about to jump off though, I realized I was forgetting something else. I quickly imagined and then created a pair of dark sunglasses for badassery points.

'Time to abort.' I put on the shades and then back-flipped out of the plane, making sure to stay held onto the pony as I began steadying myself so that I could face the ground. I could hear Trixie screaming in horror as the wind rushed violently against us, and I activated the parachute a few seconds later, abruptly yanking us up as it slowed our descent. Trixie's screaming stopped shortly afterwards, only to be replaced with shouting.

"DON'T YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN WITHOUT GIVING TRIXIE A WARNING NEXT TIME!!!!!! SHE WASN'T READY!!"

"I'll leave you on the plane next time if that suits you better, don't worry."

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!!!"

We slowly glided down until we arrived seemingly right in the city square of Los Pegasus, where ponies gazed at us in horror - more specifically at me - before pointing and screaming.

"IT'S HIM!!!"

"RUN AWAY BEFORE HE GETS YOU!!"

"IT LOOKS LIKE HE ALREADY HAS SOMEBODY!! AHHHHH!!!" The ponies screamed as they ran away from me and hid, and I set Trixie down, stepping out of the parachute and taking it off.

"What kind of hero's welcome is that? We just saved this city!" Trixie frowned. "Idiots!"

"I'd be confused too if the enemy looked like an exact copy of me." I replied as I took off my shades and put them away. "Not sure how I'm going to be able to convince them otherwise."

"You probably won't be able to, but I will. They should listen to me." Trixie stepped out further and then cleared her throat. "You're all idiots!"

'Wow that's a great start.'

"This isn't the creature who put up the tower." Trixie continued. "That was done by his evil clone, who was being manipulated by Discord. But me... with my help, we were able to destroy the tower!"

'Yeah Trixie you helped alot. Definitely.'

"Why should we believe you?" One of the mares spoke out, poking her head from behind a bench. "I've never even seen you before and I've lived here my whole life!"

"Don't believe her!! She's lying!" Another mare called out. "I saw that monster kill my husband right in-front of my eyes. If she's with him, then she's just as bad as he is!"

"I don't think this is working." I exclaimed quietly to Trixie.

"Just shut up, I have this." Trixie responded. "Why would we lie!? The tower was just destroyed like twenty minutes ago."

"I would NEVER forgive him for what he's done to me!" The mare screeched out with her voice cracking. "H-he's killed so many of us... none of us have any reason to EVER forgive him for this!"

"But that wasn't him, you idiots! That was his clone - I would know because I've been with him the whole-"

"ENOUGH OF YOUR LIES!!!" The mare screamed out. "I'll go there and kill him myself if I have to!"

"Lies!?" Trixie started to frown. "How dare you accuse me of such! Do you have any idea who I am!? I am the Great and Powerful Tr-" Before she could finish, I teleported us both out of there.

"..Ixie! Huh? What just happened?" Trixie blinked and looked around. "Where are we?"

"I teleported us onto a nearby rooftop." I replied. "That clearly wasn't going very well."

"You idiot!!" Trixie cursed out. "I almost had them convinced! Bring me back there right now!"

"No." I bluntly replied. "Either way, I came up with a better idea while I was standing there. I just hope that little event down there didn't just ruin this idea."

"But... Ugh, fine." Trixie groaned out. "What is this new idea? It better be good."

"Well, they don't seem to be very willing to believe us; however, they may not have to. You can set up an event where you pretend to have captured me, and then you kill me - you'll be seen as a hero afterwards."

Once Trixie got what I was saying, she began to nod her head. "That is actually... well, it's alright." She clearly didn't want to compliment my idea. "But how would we do such a thing?"

"I can create a bunch of fliers saying that there will be an event at the city square tomorrow morning at nine." I responded. "Then you'll just have to show up dragging me in a cage."

"I see. And I will just.. pretend to kill you at this event?"

"Well, I guess it doesn't have to be me. I should actually be able to use my clone, if he's still here. If not I'll just have to make a new one - should only take about an hour."

"Trixie likes this plan!" She began grinning, but then quickly stopped. "However, I assure you I could've thought of the same thing given the time."

"Yeah, you sure could have." There was obvious sarcasm in my voice, catching a glare from her. "Anyway, I'm going to start making the fliers now. Once I'm done, you can go spread them around the city while I go see if that clone is still around."

Trixie nodded, and from there I began to imagine a bunch of tall, paper fliers. Once I had about a hundred of them imagined, I made them all at once, all neatly organized in a pile. I handed them to Trixie and spoke up.

"I'm going to teleport you back down now. If anything happens from somebody recognizing you from what just happened... well, clearly you should be able to handle yourself, am I right?"

"Yes, of course!" Trixie looked at the fliers. "Trixie shall play her part perfectly."

"Great." I proceeded to teleport her back onto the ground nearby, leaving me alone on the roof. "Now... time to see that evil clone is still hanging around here."
> Chapter 10 | Interrogations & Reputations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sound of gunfire coming from the building the defunct tower was on was a definite sign that the clone was still there. Even though the tower wasn't working anymore, it seemed like he was still defending it from ponies trying to investigate, meaning that at this point I had to hurry to try and prevent as much lives being lost as possible.

I navigated through the city, trying my best to stay out of sight, which wasn't easy at all considering it was noontime. Most of the time I simply had to run through the streets, knowing that there would be no choice on whether or not someone would see me. I teleported whenever I was able to define a destination to appear, and soon enough I had arrived at the building the tower was located at. The building was surrounded and closed off by security-looking ponies, but I knew that shouldn't be too much of an issue for me if I wanted to get inside.

'Alright, I gotta think of what to do here.' Unlike last time, I was able to use magic now, but that only gave me an advantage. This was gunfire I was dealing with, and I knew I had to be extremely careful otherwise I'd die just as easily as if my magic was still disabled. I didn't want to kill him either - it would be ideal to capture him and maybe try to de-brainwash him as well - so shooting him back wasn't a decent option.

'Guess I could make a tranquilizer gun.' I imagined a semi-automatic tranquilizer rifle in my mind, and after about a minute it magically appeared in-front of me, where I grabbed it and primed it. 'Time to get this douchebag.'

I teleported onto the roof in a bright flash of light - something I knew would give away my position - but if he was down below in the building shooting at ponies then it shouldn't have mattered. As soon as I was able to though, I ran for cover just in-case, peeking around and examining the rooftop. It was all mostly barren, aside from the tower and a small entry-way at the other side that led below. To my surprise, however, I eventually noticed the clone looking in my direction - he actually was up here! As soon as I had noticed, he opened fire, causing me to jerk my head back and hide behind the cover as bullets dented and snapped by me.

'Oh fuck. That's weird though, because I could've sworn I had just heard him firing from inside the building below.' Once the firing had stopped, I peeked my head out for just a split-second before pulling it back in. I had seen that he was running straight towards me, and from there I teleported right at the very top of the black tower. I watched him from above as he jerked his head back, quickly looking in every direction - except for up where I was. I aimed the rifle at him, making sure to line up the shot and give myself a bit of a lead in the direction that he was backing up, before firing once. The dart hit him right in the back, and he quickly turned around, aiming in random directions in a seemingly desperate attempt to find me before yelling out.

"I'VE BEEN..." He couldn't finish his sentence before plopping down onto the floor, unconscious.

'Lol owned.' I was about to teleport back down onto the roof, but something didn't feel right. Why would he yell out like that? It would only make sense if he was talking to someone, which meant that he might not have been alone.

'I wonder if Discord is here too.' I perked my head up and looked around. 'The instant I see him I'm going to kill that fucker.'

I remained on the tower, feeling the wind blowing against me as I made sure to keep my balance and not fall over. I continuously scanned the rooftop for the next several minutes, waiting to see if anything else happened, when eventually it did. My attention became focused on another figure eventually stepping onto the roof from the entry-way below - it was yet another clone.

'Two of them, huh? That would actually explain some things. I wonder how many more are here.' I aimed at him, waiting for the wind to die down a little before firing at him, hitting him in the arm. He jerked back just like the other one, frantically looking around for me before passing out shortly afterwards. 'Hope I'm not actually dumb enough to not look upwards like they both just did.'

I waited for another ten minutes to see if anyone else came out, but no one did, and I hadn't heard any other gunfire since then. 'That might be all of them.' I teleported back onto the roof, making my way over to one of the clones and looking down at his unconscious body. 'Well, time to deal with these douchebags.'





The two clones were currently tied up and bound to two separate chairs inside one of the rooms of the building. I had made sure to block off the doorway with some stuff just in-case any ponies happened to try waltzing in, although I doubted they would try considering how many had been killed so far. I had taken the time to examine just what weapons they were both carrying, which only confirmed that they were carrying what I thought they were. Each one was suited with an M4A1 assault rifle, two fully-automatic G18 machine pistols, a Model 1887 lever shotgun strapped to their back, and a backpack filled with ammo and even some explosives. This was all stuff I had created back at my base, where I had already made a load-out for each of my ten clones, plus the extra one I had created later on as a secret - something Discord apparently seemed to find out about anyway. All in all, they were pretty dangerous mother fuckers, and it was a good thing they weren't able to use magic like I was.

'If there's only two of them here, then I wonder what the rest of them are doing. Hopefully this reputation shit is over with by tomorrow so I can start finding out what's going on and putting a stop to this shit.' I thought to myself. 'These guys most likely have access to all the other weapons I made at that base also - all the railguns and probably that mountain I fucked full of explosives too. Lol that would be funny though seeing an entire mountain flying into something and blowing up with an explosion so big it could probably be seen from the moon, but not really. That's actually kind of bad and alot of ponies would die if they ever used this shit against them. I may have to close off my base somehow before things get out of hand. Maybe Discord hasn't found out about that stuff yet.'

I paced back and forth, waiting patiently for the clones to wake up. Eventually, they did, stirring and groaning as they came to - one about ten minutes after the other. Once they were both awake, I began speaking.

"Do you know who I am?" I asked, looking over at the clones.

"Fuck you." One of them replied. I stepped over to the one that responded.

"Why are you working for Discord?"

"You're the villain here, Klade. Discord is only trying to save Equestria." He continued.

"I'm the one that created you, you retard. You should know everything that's happened and why Discord is doing this. He's obviously not trying to save Equestria; you shouldn't be that stupid, otherwise you're insulting my own intelligence at that point."

"I'm embarrassed to have ever been made by someone like you." He replied. "Now get me out."

'This is reminding me of when I would talk to Discord, only I'm in Discord's place now.' "Why would I do that? You would just try to kill me as soon as possible. Speaking of which, why did you even set up that tower? That doesn't sound like 'saving Equestria' to me, especially when you're killing ponies. How do you explain that?"

"Sometimes sacrifices must be made for the greater good." He replied. "Once all the towers are placed, Discord will finally be able to cleanse Equestria and fix it once and for all."

'So there's more than one tower apparently. Good to know - that must be where the other clones are probably located.' "And just what is Discord going to do once they're all placed?"

"If I told you, I would be stupid."

"Well, you're already stupid for following Discord; although, I guess you can't help it since you're being controlled by him right now." I paused for a second before continuing. "Just what is there to be 'fixed' in Equestria?"

"I'm not telling you anything. You shouldn't even be alive right now."

"Hmm... that reminds me: What happened to Duston?"

"I don't know." He looked at me with a confused expression. "Did something happen?"

He didn't seem to be faking his confusion. "So you didn't hear Discord going on about killing him at all?"

"No." He replied. "And even if he did, I don't care. Duston is your brother, not mine."

'Wow, what an asshole. I doubt I'm going to be able to de-manipulate him if he doesn't even care about Duston, and I don't know any spells that would stop this. Hmm...' I walked in a circle around them. "Alright, I've had enough fucking around. It seems like there's no hope for you idiots." I walked over to one of the Model 1887 shotguns and grabbed it, cocking it and then pointing it at one of the clones. "If you don't have anything else worth hearing, then I'm done with you douchebags."

They seemed visibly taken back at the sudden threat of death, and they stared at me with blank expressions as if they didn't know how to react. After waiting for a few seconds only to get more silence, I decided to fire at the first clone. I had to admit, I felt bad for technically killing myself, but they were magically created clones anyway - they weren't really real. The clone's head burst open and black magical goo oozed out, splattering all over the wall behind him as he slumped in his chair. 'So that's what they're made out of. That's pretty disgusting actually.'

I cocked the lever of the gun and then stepped over to the other clone, pointing it at his head. "Anything half-way decent to say before you join him?"

He remained silent for a couple seconds before responding. "Killing me won't stop Discord. He will live on, and our mission will not die until it is complete." I stared at him for a few seconds before lowering the gun.

"Well, consider it your lucky day, because I wasn't actually planning on killing you anyway. Not yet at least." I placed the shotgun back on a nearby desk. "I've got plans for you first." I proceeded to grab the tranquilizer rifle from before, priming it and pointing it at him. "Time to get knocked out again." I shot, hitting him in the chest with the dart. He continued to stare right at me until he passed out, and I put the rifle back on the desk afterwards.

'Time to get this idiot ready for Trixie. As for all of these guns... I guess I can just take what I need and leave the rest here. Not like it matters - I could always just make my own - but just using all of these is faster.' From there, I began my preparations.

By the time I was finished, I was fully-armed with a Model 1887 Shotgun strapped to my back, two G18s, a couple handfuls of shotgun shells stuffed in one of my pant pockets, and the other two pistols that I already had beforehand. I had also taken the time to create a leather jacket lined with eight tall G18 magazines - four on each side of the inner-front of the jacket - and I was wearing that as well. The clone was tied up inside a grated metal cage with his mouth duct-taped, and he had C4 trapped to his chest underneath his shirt - that was how I was going to make it abundantly clear that he'll die during Trixie's show in a way that everyone would know without a doubt. He was still unconscious at the moment, but it wasn't like it mattered anyway since he was trapped and silenced.

'Think I might be getting a little brutal.' I thought to myself as I looked down at the cage. 'But it's totally fine because it's a magically created clone that's being manipulated by Discord. Now I just need to find Trixie.' Deciding it would be fine to leave him in this barricaded room, I teleported onto the roof, where I walked over to the edge and looked down at the streets below. Ponies appeared to be walking around minding their own business, but they were still taking much care not to go anywhere near this building. I couldn't spot Trixie anywhere though, much to my annoyance. 'Guess I gotta do this the long way.' I created a lawn chair and sat myself down right up along the edge of the roof. 'I'm not about to go walking around and making a huge deal with everyone seeing me and fearing for their lives, so I guess I'll just sit here and wait until I see her. Good thing I'm used to waiting.'

The sun was starting to set and paint the city in a warm, orange glow by the time I finally spotted Trixie wandering around. With her in my line of sight, I concentrated and then teleported her right beside me onto the roof. She was understandably shocked at first, looking around in confusion before glaring at me.

"Warn Trixie before you do these things!!" She yelled out at me with a frown. "What do you want now?"

"It's more about what you want. After all, this is your reputation." I replied. "I've got the clone captured and set up. He's trapped in a metal cage with an explosive strapped to him."

Trixie blinked. "Is that all you brought me over here to tell me? You already told me you were doing that."

"We still need a plan on how we're going to do this. I'm guessing your fliers are placed around successfully?"

Trixie nodded. "Trixie finished with that ages ago, so she was enjoying herself for the remainder of the time."

"Meet me behind this building tomorrow morning at about... twenty minutes before the event is supposed to start. I'll have the clone there, and you can drag him to square from there. Then you can do your little show thingy and blow him to pieces with your undoubtedly powerful magic." I tried my best not to sound sarcastic, which apparently seemed to work as Trixie started to grin.

"These ponies are going to be in for the biggest show of their lives... Trixie shall be their hero!"

"If anyone questions you about the little event that happened earlier with you trying to convince them I was really the good guy, just say that you were being forced to against your will or else some really bad stuff would happen."

"Trixie knows how to handle herself." She frowned at me. "She is fully-capable of handling any criticism."

"Yeah." I paused for a second before continuing. "Guess we're done here then. I'll await you tomorrow." From there I teleported Trixie back onto the streets below. It was a bit abrupt, but I was tired; I had been up since around one in the morning, and I had almost fell asleep in that chair while I waited. I was eager to go to sleep, so that was the next thing I planned on doing.

'Guess I can just sleep somewhere in this building.' I began making my way over to the stairs that led down inside, where I would begin my exploration for a decent place to sleep at.





The morning inevitably came. When I had created the fliers, I scheduled them to have the time of the event at 9 AM - it was currently 8:33 AM. I had been screwing around in the building waiting for about the past hour, messing with the slot machines and observing what other games they had, and I figured it was time I started getting things going. I teleported into the barricaded room the clone was in, watching him stir from his curled up position from the bottom of the metal cage. From there I grabbed onto the cage, where I proceeded to teleport us straight to the back of the building. It was pretty isolated and hidden, and there wasn't any ponies that would be in my line of sight.

'Sometimes I wonder if I abuse teleportation more than creation.' By now I noticed that the clone was fully-awake, banging his body against the cage in some vain attempt to free himself. I was having second thoughts about this by now as I watched his desperate struggles, but it was already too late anyway; it took around an hour to make a fresh clone, and that was time that I didn't have. Even then, it would still be pretty brutal. I would be creating a clone just to kill him afterwards, and that clone wouldn't even be being manipulated. I convinced myself that this was the best course of action.

It took a few minutes after 8:40 AM before I noticed Trixie running over. I was surprised that she was a little late considering how important her reputation was to her, but I didn't bother to bring it up.

"So many ponies are curious about what I shall be doing. I almost couldn't get over here!" Trixie exclaimed. "But I did, of course. All of their questions and curiosities will be satisfied.. by none other than the Great and Powerful Trixie!"

"All according to plan." Noticing there was no way she could drag the cage, I proceeded to create a rope tied around one of the bars that she could use to drag it. "Here's the douchebag."

Trixie approached the cage, examining it and the clone inside as he banged and tried to flip the cage over. It wasn't working despite his best efforts though, and I watched as Trixie turned to look at me. "Don't you have a sheet you can use to cover this? There's no surprise if everyone can just see what's in there while I'm dragging it to the square."

I imagined and then created a white blanket with my magic, handing it to her and watching as she levitated it over the cage. Before she could grab the rope and begin dragging the cage, however, she made sure to turn and look at me. "Trixie does not want you going anywhere until after the show is over. Only after everything goes perfectly may Trixie allow you to leave."

"How about no." I replied. "It's your sole responsibility to make sure this goes right - I've already done everything I can do. Your part is the only one that's left to play now, so it's all up to you on whether or not this works. However, surely someone like you shouldn't have a problem."

Trixie stared at me, clearly not wanting to denounce herself for the sake of not letting me leave. It took her a few seconds to respond. "You... Well we'll see about that! This is your idea after all - Trixie only went along with it because it was convenient."

"Let's hope you don't blame anything that goes wrong on me anyway, regardless of whose fault it really is." Trixie glared at me, but before she could respond I continued. "Whenever you do your little magic stuff to the cage though to kill him, make sure you're far away from it. Really far away from it."

Trixie's eyebrows raised. "And why is that?"

"Because it's going to explode." I answered. "I'll be watching from afar and I'll time the explosion to be in-line with your magic; it'll amplify their perception of your power much more than if you did it alone."

"Hmm..." Trixie nodded slowly. "Trixie can go along with that." She then rapidly shook her head. "Let us not waste anymore time talking! There are great things that need to be done." She began to drag the cage, and I watched as the flat metal bottom grinded and screeched against the floor. That wasn't really nice to hear and see though, so I motioned for her to stop.

"Hold on." I grabbed the cage and tilted it, where I proceeded to create some wheels on the bottom before setting it back down. "Now it won't be so noisy."

Trixie nodded, not bothering to say anything as she continued dragging it once more. I was about to teleport back onto the roof so I could watch from afar, though, when her unexpected voice stopped me and forced me to listen first.

"Say... just what do you plan on doing after this anyway?" Trixie asked, turning her head to look at me. "Trixie demands to know, because she doesn't think you ever told her."

"I'll put a stop to Discord. During my little interrogation with that clone, I found out that there's more of these towers apparently, so I'm going to need to deal with that and kill this piece of shit once and for all." I paused for a second as I thought about my growing uncertainty over my brother Duston's life, as well as the threat that my base had if the manipulated clones ever took control of the weapons there. "Plus there's a few other things I have to do also."

"Interesting." She continued looking at me for a couple seconds before turning her head back in-front of her and resuming. "That is all." She began dragging the cage again, and after watching her for a few seconds, I teleported onto the roof.

'That was kind of weird. You'd think she wouldn't give a fuck about what I've got planned.' I stepped over to the edge of the roof and watched her, making sure not to stick myself out too far since if I was seen, that would totally ruin this whole little show. Ponies were already starting to gather at the sight of her dragging the captured clone, and looking on ahead I saw that there was already a group of ponies waiting at the square. 'Guess I made those fliers pretty good.'

"I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, knows that you all have been very curious about what is going to happen here. All shall be explained very shortly!" She continued to drag the cage until she reached the center of the square, where she resumed her speech. "Trixie is the one who destroyed that tower, all by herself!"

"Who's Trixie?" One of the ponies asked, to which Trixie frowned and glared.

"That's me, you idiot!!!" She yelled out. "I just told you that!"

"Why should we believe you? Nobody knows why that tower stopped working."

"Yeah!" Yet another pony spoke up with a high-pitched voice. "When we tried looking in there yesterday after the tower stopped working, more of that deadly loud thundering rang out, and we had to run for our lives. That place is still dangerous!"

"It is?" Trixie asked in confusion, before shaking her head. "No, that was before Trixie went in there and fixed everything. Trixie is going to prove that and everything to you, right now!" The blue-colored unicorn then grabbed the white blanket with her teeth, yanking it off and eliciting gasps from the crowd as the clone was now visible to everyone. Ponies instinctively backed away, and some even hid from the sight of him.

"Is... is that the cause?"

"That's who I saw in there!! That's definitely who I saw in there!"

"That thing is a MONSTER!!!"

'Things seemed to be going along well so far.' I thought to myself as I watched from the roof. 'Should probably start getting ready.' I pulled out the C4 detonator and held it in my hand, ready and waiting for the right time.

"I, Trixie, captured this beast all by herself!" Trixie yelled out with a grin. "It was very challenging, of course... but Trixie prevailed, even in the face of death." Ponies seemed to be getting more interested in her speech as she spoke. "And now, Trixie comes here to all of you, to finish saving this city once and for all." She turned to look at the cage, before backing away, giving herself quite a distance. From there her horn began to glow, and I watched more closely as the cage began to illuminate in a blue light.

'I guess I could humiliate her again and not even do anything, but I won't do that. I'm sure it won't teach her anything just like last time.' I watched and waited until the cage was completely surrounded in her magical aura. I wasn't sure what she was trying to do specifically, but this seemed like as a good time as any to blow it up. I clicked the remote on the detonator, and like clock-work I watched as the cage burst in a violent explosion. Ponies gasped and even Trixie herself stumbled back a little from shock at just how fierce the explosion was. Black magical 'blood' spewed out everywhere and even got on some of the ponies that were closer to the cage, and I could even see torn apart limbs and a couple teeth laying on the floor. The ponies looked utterly shocked at the sight, until one of them starting cheering. This caused another one to start cheering, and soon enough they all began stomping their hooves on the ground and yelling out in approval.

'Well I think I just made Equestrian ponies alot more violent with that one.' I watched as Trixie went on with her smug egotisticalness, and since nothing much else seemed to be going on aside from that, I figured my job was done here. I knew I still had to leave without being seen though, otherwise this whole little event would've been for nothing. 'I can't make a plane or anything to fly out from on the roof here - that would be way too noticeable. Teleporting from roof to roof until I'm out of the city might work, but each time I do that it's going to make a bright flash of light - that's also pretty noticeable. I might still be able to do that though if I do it right now while they're all distracted, I'll just have to make sure I teleport to enclosed spaces.' I put the detonator away in one of my pockets and backed away from the edge of the roof, taking my time to walk around and scout out the best place I could teleport to. Once I found one, I made sure I was located at the middle of the roof to make the flash of light as unnoticeable as possible before teleporting.

I proceeded through this city in this manner until I reached the end, and from there I did a bunch of sneaky stuff to make it off the cloud city and onto the ground below. I hadn't realized it, but this whole little venture had taken over half an hour so far.

'Alright, glad to be out of that place. I should be able to make the plane by now, and I'll try to use the mountains as cover as I'm flying out just in-case.' I began imagining another two-person plane, and within a few minutes I had created it into the real world. I entered the plane and turned it on, where I sat for a little while as I began thinking over some things. 'I might just go straight to Ponyville first. There's something seriously wrong if I haven't heard from Duston yet or even any of the mane 6.' As much as I didn't want to admit it, the mystery surrounding Duston's fate was really starting to bother me in ways I couldn't have ever imagined happening. I stared ahead of me as I thought over the last words Discord had spoken to me and how he was going to kill him, which was only making me want to know just what happened more and more. As I was about to take off, however, a sudden voice caught me by surprise.

"Wait! Don't leave just yet!" I could already feel myself frowning at that voice, and I turned my head to see Trixie running towards me.

'I'm leaving anyway no matter what she wants.' "What do you want Trixie? And what are you doing way out here? I've already helped you and your reputation - I'm done here."

"Let me speak first you idiot! Trixie has been thinking over some things..." By now she had approached the plane. "Trixie had thought to herself, if she can be known as a hero in Los Pegasus... than what about all of Equestria? Think about it Klade! She can help you stop Discord, and then she'll be known as a hero to every living pony imaginable!"

"Nope." I wasn't even going to think about that. "I'm not doing that."

Trixie frowned at that. "And why is that!? Trixie can be of great help! You don't know what you'll be missing out on!"

"I highly doubt you'll be able to help with anything. I've already made you a hero for one whole city, is that not enough for you?"

She clearly didn't seem to like hearing that first part. "Trixie can help with you MANY things! Was it not her that saved your stupid little life? If you're going to give Trixie that attitude, then perhaps next time she shall just leave you to die."

"So everything I did just now means nothing?" I replied after a few seconds. "I helped you with your reputation only because of what you did for me. I've already paid you back."

"Of course it doesn't mean nothing! Trixie just thinks that saving your life should be worth more than just... this. You're still in-debt to her."

I wasn't about to spent the time arguing over that. "Well that's what you think, not me. I did exactly what we agreed on, so we're done here." I began to throttle the plane to get it moving forward, causing her to trot after me.

"I knew it! You are an asshole, and here Trixie was thinking maybe you weren't so bad after all." She paused for a second before continuing. "I'm not rescuing you again if I ever have to!"

As much as I thought I shouldn't have, I eventually sighed, slowing down the plane and letting her catch up. I stared ahead of me in silence for a few seconds before turning to look at her. "Get your ass on the plane right now before I change my mind."

Trixie blinked, almost as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing, before quickly jumping onto the plane and into the seat behind me. "You will not regret this!"

"I already am."
> Chapter 11 | Rage Beyond Words
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight Sparkle's POV

Back at the hotel room, Rainbow Dash had gone over everything she knew about Klade's weapons and how they worked to the best of her knowledge. Apparently what the guns did was shoot a projectile at an extremely fast pace, so fast that it had the possibility of penetrating through an entire pony with just its mere velocity alone. This could of course mean death to any pony or animal in its vicinity, but unfortunately Rainbow didn't know just how they worked exactly, and I couldn't figure it out either through my ventures with the gun Klade dropped. I knew I remembered seeing more of them back when I looked at the trunk of Duston's golf cart, so the next time I was in Ponyville that was something I was going to have to take a look at in hopes that maybe they would shed more light on just how they worked exactly.

Right after we had returned from deactivating the tower, I sent a letter to Princess Celestia documenting everything that had happened during the trip. She had requested to meet with her the following morning, which is what we were currently working on - we were all packed in the carriage and on our way back at the moment. I at least felt a little better about this trip back; we had successfully made some progress against our enemies, as opposed to our other blunders previously. Our secondary goal of capturing Klade unfortunately didn't go through, much to Rainbow's annoyance, but the rest of us were still glad to at least have done something good. Either way, there was still nothing more I wanted to do other than just lay down not knowing what to do with myself. I didn't know how to handle all of the negative emotions I was experiencing, and I wanted it all to just go away... somehow. I felt horrible, but thinking that I didn't have a choice, I pressed on.

The carriage soon arrived at Canterlot, and we all stepped out, ready to seek out an audience with the princesses to find out just what we could do next. When we arrived at the planning room we saw only Celestia and Luna this time, and I was the first to speak up as we all trotted into the room.

"What is it that you needed to tell us?"

"There is more good news to be heard." Celestia replied. "As of yesterday, Los Pegasus' tower has stopped working. We're unsure why as of now, but we're hoping it will stay that way."

"Really? That's awesome! That means we're making even more progress!" Pinkie Pie cheerfully exclaimed.

"Hopefully that means those things ain't too reliable." Applejack remarked.

Celestia nodded lightly. "That would be desirable. There is one thing that I'd like to ask regarding the Elements of Harmony. I was told that their power was able to stop the tower in Twilight Sparkle's letter, which is something I hadn't considered, but... was this before or after it was activated?"

"Well... both, actually." I answered. "It was in the process of being activated when the elements and us stopped it. We could feel its effects pressuring against us initially, but after the magic was released, it seemed to break through effortlessly. At least.. that's how I remember it."

"It seemed to feel that way too." Rarity chimed in. "So I can agree with that sentiment." The rest of the mane 6 appeared to be nodding their head in agreement, which prompted Celestia to continue.

"If that's the case, then perhaps the elements can be used to put a stop to the remaining two towers in Baltimare and Manehattan."

"We could try." I responded.

"But what of Discord?" Princess Luna spoke up. "We are already aware that the Elements of Harmony no longer effect him. He is still roaming freely and a threat to be considered."

"Discord will have to be dealt with in another way." Celestia replied. "For the moment he seems to be sticking to the shadows, only appearing now and then. He's certainly planning something, but for now there isn't much we can do to him directly unless he changes his strategy."

"So then this could take awhile." Applejack attested. "We take down a tower, then he puts up another one, over and over again."

"That's possible, but we can't just not do anything." Celestia noted. "For now, our next goal it to take down one of the towers in either of those cities."

By now I had found myself unintentionally zoning out, simply staring ahead of me with a blank expression. This was usually something that would never happen when it came to something important like this, but I didn't even realize what was going on until I noticed just how silent it was. I blinked, perking my head up and suddenly feeling a shot of anxiety as I hoped that nobody was waiting on me. Everything seemed normal though, and I felt relieved at that as I heard somepony else speak up.

"Baltimare sounds fine to me then." Rainbow Dash expressed. "We've already been there and everything, so we'll know what it's like."

Celestia nodded. "Then that will be your next destination. I'll prepare a carriage to be ready as soon as possible." She paused for a second before looking directly at me. "Twilight Sparkle, I'd like to have a word with you in private for a short moment."

I didn't comprehend what she was telling me at first, until suddenly my eyes went wide at the realization. "M..me? O-of course Princess." I quickly nodded my head and felt waves of stress flowing through me. What could she possibly want with me? Was I in trouble? Did she notice me zone out? I glanced at my friends who were all looking at me with the same curious expression, before I began trotting forward up to Celestia. I followed her into the next room, where I breathed in deeply and tried my best to look attentive. "What is it Princess Celestia?"

She responded my lifting her hoof and placing it on my shoulder. "Please, relax. You have no need to be so burdened around me."

I nodded lightly and quickly replied. "It's nothing Celestia I.. well I just I.. am just surprised, is all!" I tried my best to force a smile. "I wasn't expecting this!" Was I really stumbling over my words now? This kind of thing usually never happened!

"You are unwell." She replied. "You're pushing yourself too hard and I'm becoming worried for your self-being. You've been through alot, Twilight, so I'll be willing to take your place for these next few endeavors so you can rest."

I blinked as I listened to her - I certainly wasn't expecting something like that. "I... you mean, you'll take my place?" I looked up at her in shock, to which she nodded.

"For the time being, yes. I'd be more than happy to do so."

I slowly lowered my head and stared in-front of me as I thought over what she was saying. Princess Celestia herself was offering to take my place! I felt the urge to just run up to her and suffocate her in a huge, tight hug for that, but... I didn't. Everything inside was screaming at me to say yes, but yet that wasn't what I was doing as I replied. "...Thank you Celestia, that really, really means alot, but um... I'll be fine." I looked back up at her and found myself staring into her eyes. She didn't seem to be convinced by that, but nodded her head after awhile anyway.

"I see." She replied. I didn't know why I was refusing her offer - I felt as if for some reason I would be disappointing her if I accepted. We continued to look at each other for a few more seconds in silence before I was the next to speak up.

"Um... is that all you needed to see me about?" She nodded silently, and from there I slowly began to turn around to leave the room. My steps were slow, and I felt like I should turn around and change my mind; everything in my mind was telling me to do that, but yet I kept walking forward and eventually out of the room. My friends were all looking at me with curious expressions, to which one of them spoke up.

"What did she have to say Twilight..?" Fluttershy asked. I looked at her and it took me a few seconds before I replied.

"It was nothing." Truth to be told, I felt like I had just made a mistake - why on Equestria did I say no? I turned my head to look back at the room I just walked out of, yet I felt as if I had already made my choice and it was over. Did I say no because I wanted to prove myself to her? I didn't even know, and my thoughts were interrupted by Rarity speaking out.

"That look on your face tells the complete opposite. What went on in there, if I may ask?"

I looked over at Rarity before sighing. "She just.. wanted to make sure I was alright. That's all."

"Well, you're not!" Spike replied. "Even I know that!"

"I'll be fine." I paused for a second and then quickly continued before anyone else could respond. "We have to get ready to go to.. Baltimare, right? Let's go!" I walked right past everyone, clearly not wanting to spend anymore time talking about that. I kept walking until I reached the room in the castle that I was staying in, and I went straight to my bed, laying down and letting out a muffled groan as I let my face press into the covers.

'What am I even doing? Why did I say no? I'm such an idiot sometimes! I just...' I rolled over and stared up at the ceiling. 'I think... Spike is right. I think everyone is right - there's something seriously wrong with me. I need to do something.. but I can't just keep doing this. I've never felt like this before and I.. I don't know how to handle it.' I felt like I couldn't relax, and eventually Spike's voice was the next thing I heard.

"What did Celestia tell you in there?"

I stared up at the ceiling, not even bothering to respond for the first several seconds. "She... offered to take my place. For the time being."

"Wait... she did?" Spike looked shocked at that. "And what did you say? Did you actually say no?"

"I.. yes I did, Spike!!!" I shot up from the bed and yelled at him. "I don't even know what I'm doing!! I don't know why I declined her offer, I'm just being so BUCKING stupid right now!!! I hate it! Why is all of this happening to me!?" I slammed my hoof down against the bed. "It's like I'm not even myself!!"

"Twilight... It's not too late to go back and talk to-"

"YES IT IS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I screamed at his face, glaring at him with wide, angry eyes. I panted softly and then sighed, throwing myself off the bed and going straight to my things. "Just don't even talk to me right now - please... before I do something stupid, I don't know." I grabbed my stuff and started forcefully packing it in my saddlebags. "I'm Princess Celestia's one and only student, right? Of course I can handle this! I can handle anything, right Spike?" Before he could say anything I responded for him, imitating his voice. "Oh yeah, you're right Twilight! You're the best! You can do anything!" I paused for a second and then continued again as myself. "You bet I can! I'm Celestia's only student and I can do-"

"TWILIGHT!!!!!" Spike yelled at me, interrupting my long, crazy rant. "Can you please... stop? You're scaring me! I've never seen you like this before."

"Really?? Me neither!!" I let out a loud giggle and smiled. "I'm perfectly fine Spike, don't worry. Just make yourself comfortable while me and everyone are gone." I reached out and patted his head with my hoof. "Celestia must've been a genius when she picked me out to be her student. Don't worry about a thing, I've got this!!" From there I walked straight out of the room with my saddlebag, leaving Spike behind to just stare at me as I left. I searched for my friends, and once everyone was ready, we set off straight for Baltimare.





I spent the trip there mostly in silence, although I did get alot of questioning looks from my friends. Even Pinkie wasn't as talkative as she usually was during these trips, but every time someone asked if I was alright, I would always just dismiss it saying I was fine. The atmosphere of the carriage ride was a bit unsettling thanks to me, but I really couldn't even care about that right now. All I wanted to do was focus on one thing, which was deactivating the tower.

The carriage arrived at Baltimare soon enough, and we all stepped out, where I was the first to speak up.

"Come on, lets go. We can put the elements on when we arrive at the building." I proceeded to walk straight towards the direction of the tower, where Pinkie was the next to speak up.

"Um... Are you sure that's a good idea though? I mean, usually the elements only work if we're all like, really getting along and everything. I'm not sure if I feel that way right now!"

I paused my walking as I felt rage coursing through me - I really didn't want to deal with any criticism right now. I breathed in deeply, trying my best not to yell at her before turning my head and smiling a huge, unnatural grin. "You know what Pinkie, you're absolutely right!!!!!!!! Thanks for reminding me!!" I turned around and walked back towards my friends. "How about we all have one big group hug before we head over to the tower together??"

"Yeah! I like that idea." Pinkie smiled, and in an instant she grouped us all into a circle. "We're in this together!"

"You're right Pinkie!! We're in this together!" I wrapped my hooves around the friends that were next to me and vented out my rage through a much tighter than necessary hug. Once everyone was done, I let go and continued. "Lets go everypony, follow me. If you have any more questions or concerns, please don't mind asking me!" I breathed in deeply and smiled wider. "I would absolutely love to answer any of your questions!!!!!!"

No one seemed to voice any concerns, and from there I began walking towards the building the tower was located at, this time with my friends following close behind me. We eventually arrived after around fifteen or so minutes, and just like last time, the stallion was still guarding the entrance. He blinked when he saw us and then spoke up.

"You six again?" He asked. "I hope that means good news!"

"You bet it does!!!" I responded with a smile. "We're here to try and stop that tower." I turned my head to look back at my friends. "Aren't I right girls??"

"Yeah!" Pinkie happily replied. "I'm surprised to see you still here though mister. It's been days!"

"I know, I know." The stallion replied. "I wasn't planning on it either, but apparently I ain't got a choice - not when pony lives are on the line. I'm here to stay 'til the tower is no more."

"Well, hopefully today is your last day then." I exclaimed. From there I levitated out the Elements of Harmony from my saddlebag, and I brought them over to each of their respective ponies. "Let's go!"

"Twilight, wait!" Rarity spoke up. "There is no need to be in such a hurry. I think we should make sure that the Elements of Harmony are, at the very least, are working properly before we walk into that.. dreadful building."

I paused my walking, feeling my eye twitch as I turned to look at her. "Brilliant thinking Rarity!!!!!!!!!! Let's do that right now." I walked back over to my group of friends, where I concentrated to try and create another unison of our magic - just like when we used the elements before. I could feel the power of the elements resisting the blockade the tower was emitting, and before long we had managed to create a glowing magical shield around us. Seeing as the magic was working, I stopped it nearly immediately afterwards. "It works!! Lets go now." I turned around and started walking straight towards the building again, not even bothering to check behind to see if anyone was following.

Walking into the building and up each flight of stairs that led to the floor above was reminding me of the last time I was here - and conveniently traumatized. I sure loved experiencing that! I kept walking forward though, not even caring about that or if I was going to walk into any traps. At this point I didn't even feel any fear towards death; I couldn't remember the last time I had ever cared so little before, if ever. It was almost exhilarating, and if I was going to die in this building, at least then maybe I would finally have an escape from all these feelings. I felt done with it all.

My steps continued until I eventually began reaching up to where I had been last time. I could feel the wet, squishy flesh of the dead ponies against my hooves as I walked; they must've been here for days by now, and I could definitely tell by the smell. It was horrendous, and it was a wonder I was still walking through it all with no hesitation. I made my way up the steps until I reached the exact floor I was at last time, where I could see the spotlight shining towards us in the distance and the figure still standing there just like before: I was here. I stood there at the entrance, feeling cold shivers throughout my body as I stared at the ominous-looking figure. My hooves planted firmly onto the floor below as I tried my best to ignore the fearful feelings that were suddenly sprouting up, and I stared directly at the figure with a gaze so intense it would make anyone wonder if I was alright. I watched him raising his gun up towards me, and I gritted my teeth, simply standing there and showing no outward signs of dismay. If for whatever reason the elements wouldn't work, I was practically fine with it. My thinking had gotten so narrow-minded at this point that I simply didn't care what the outcome was.

Then, in an instant, gunfire rang out, so loud and so fast that it made me jump as in an instant I felt paralyzing fear - as if all the narrow-mindedness had suddenly gone away with the threat of death now becoming more apparent than ever. Fortunately, the elements seemed to work; the same pink, glowing shield sprung up like before, blocking the bullets from reaching us. I hadn't even noticed that my friends had followed me in this far until now, and it was a good thing too, otherwise I would've been part of those bodies on the floor. Once again I had displayed a stunning display of stupidity in my actions, but I still couldn't care enough to think over all the things I had done wrong and could've done better. Things were at least working out so far, so that's what I was focusing on.

The figure continued firing until the gun clicked empty, and similar to back at Vanhoover, he dropped it and stepped backwards. The rest of us simply waited though as he pulled something out in both hands, and just like back at Vanhoover, bullets rang out at a very fast, high-pitched pace. This continued for a short time until it stopped, when I noticed Rainbow Dash suddenly zoom forward right afterwards. My eyes went wide and I gasped at this, but it was already too late to do anything since she had made contact with the figure by now, pummeling him to the floor.

"Rainbow!!!" I called out to her. The magical shield went away as the rest of us ran over to her, and we watched at the perfect time to see her hoof slamming right against the human's face.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM!?!?!?" Rainbow screamed out at him - she was very clearly not happy. "Are you out of your fucking mind Klade!? Why are you trying to kill us?? You better have a GOOD explanation for all of this!!"

"Fuck you." The human replied. That really seemed to set Rainbow off, and we watched as she picked him up, throwing him across the room and against a wall. She proceeded to slam right into him before he could even fall to the ground, and not wanting things to get out of hoof, I quickly trotted up to them. I had to admit, it was surprising seeing Rainbow go off on him like that considering how she had been nearly constantly defending him, but I decided not to bring that up.

"Rainbow, stop. We can bring him back to Canterlot and question him there."

She turned to look at me for a couple seconds, before looking back at the human laying on the floor, glaring at him and then sighing. "Fine."

"Yeah, we've gotta deactivate that tower next too." Pinkie spoke up. "That was pretty fun when we did it the last time!"

Rainbow proceeded to grab the human's body, hauling him up onto her back. She noticed us looking at her in curiosity, to which she spoke up about it. "I'm not going to just leave him here so he can escape while we're all messing with that tower. We finally got him, so I'm not giving him any chances. Not while I'm around." I liked that train of thought, and from there we all proceeded to continue up the stairs.

We could hear the whirling of the tower getting louder as we approached the top, and soon enough we had stepped onto the roof, where we could see the black metal contraption right in-front of us. We looked up across it, seeing the glass orb at the top with the cyan-green light spiraling around, and from there I turned to look at the rest of my friends. I opened my mouth to speak, but then paused for a moment, taking the time to try and think of something less rash to say. I had already done enough stupid things on the way here, so I didn't want to ruin anything now by having a negative, 'get this over with' kind of attitude. "Alright, everypony, let's do this. Together." The words probably sounded forced, but at least they had the right thought behind them.

I turned my head back to look at the tower, and from there I concentrated my magic, where I felt the magic of the others feeding in with my output. We let the elements amplify our magical power as they glowed a bright light, steadily building up our power and resisting against the tower's emissions. I was so glad to almost be done with this stupid task - to finally go back and then only have one more tower left to deactivate. If I remembered correctly, the only one left still active after this would've been in Manehattan, which was most likely going to be our next task. Then all the towers would be destroyed, and I would hopefully be done with all of this stuff for at least a little while. I didn't even know what I was going to do - I wasn't thinking that far ahead. I just wanted everything I was experiencing now to go away, somehow, without realizing that I really had no clue how to make that happen.

By now I felt our magic peaking, and we shot off the rainbow beam towards the orb at the top right afterwards. Everything seemed like it was going along smoothly, until I noticed just who had intercepted our rainbow beam of magic. There, floating between us and the orb, was none other than Discord himself. The beam of magic absorbed into him and began to surround him, but unlike what it should do, it was only making him glow radiantly with magical power. I could already feel my rage building up as I glared up at that monster, and I only felt my anger multiplying when I heard him start laughing.

"Oh, yes! And I thought this felt incredible when I was barely living entrapped in that cursed statue, but to actually happen to me now... I feel beyond words!" The magical rainbow had completely absorbed into him by now, and he grinned widely as he leaned his head down to look at us. "Aww, what's with the pouty little faces? Did poor little old me put a big boo-boo in your pl-"

"DISCORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I didn't even know how to throttle all of the anger and the un-restrained insanity. I was shaking from it all, and it felt like my body couldn't even properly handle all of these feelings to a satisfying degree. "You... I've had enough of you.. I.. ahahaha!!!!!" I started laughing - I didn't even know why I was. Even my own friends were looking at me in confusion at this point, and Discord only looked more intrigued as he watched me.

"Well, this is interesting." He levitated over to me and patted my head - I didn't know how I managed to hold back from doing anything after that. "Do I need to remind you that you, quite literally, can't do anything about me right now? No amount of shaking and laughing is going to fix that!"

"Thinkin' like that is why you're gonna lose." Applejack remarked.

"Yeah!" Pinkie chimed in. "Plus we're all the good guys, which means we're supposed to win. That's how it works, right?"

"What did you do to Klade!?" Rainbow spoke up. "If you don't answer me, I'll just kill you myself! There's no reason why he would ever act like this!!!"

"Klade? You girls still care about that loser?" Discord replied. "I thought you would've long-forgotten about him now - I know I did. Ugh, what an opportunity wasted too." He facepalmed. "I've just been so occupied - really, I have. But, when there's just so much to do, well.. I suppose I could have a little fun right now with your punishments - you've all been awfully annoying, stopping my towers and such. After all, you're all right here in-front of me - I shouldn't miss out on that opportunity too!"

"WE AREN'T YOUR BUCKING TOYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I screamed out at him, so loudly that my voice even echoed in the wind.

"Oh dear, Twilight, try not to blow out your vocal chords in that little temper tantrum of yours. I sure would hate not to hear you-"

"ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"I shouted out as I immediately barrelled a magical explosion towards him. The entire surrounding area was lit up with a purple light from my anger-fueled magic, and I panted, gritting my teeth as I glared at where Discord just was. I wasn't going to expect him to still be there when the magic went away - I was sure he just dodged it like he always did - so I was ready for that. I stood prepared to send off another blast the instant I heard his hideous, wicked voice laugh out in his taunting demeanor, which is exactly what he did.

"Someone's sure aw-" Before he could even get past a few words, my body spasmed and I screamed as I shot off the magical blast right in the direction of where I heard his pitiful voice. I could feel the strain all this powerful magic was putting on me, but I was so angry at this point that I didn't even care - I wanted nothing more than to make this heartless bastard suffer. The area was lit up in a brighter purple explosion, and I could feel my entire body shaking as I turned to look at where I heard his voice. When the light went away, however, I saw Discord still floating there, much to my dismay.

"THIS ISN'T OVER DISCORD!!!!!!!!!!!! I'M FINISHED WITH YOU!!!! THE CRIMES YOU'VE DONE TO US AND EQUESTRIA WILL NOT GO UNPUNISHED!!!!!"

"Oh?" Discord frowned and rolled his eyes. "That sounds all nice and dandy, but it's shame that you can't do anything about it. I mean, you don't even stand a chance against me as my normal self, but to think you do right now, when I'm infused with all of this elemental power? You're more delusional than I thought you were! But I have to say, your anger outbursts are pretty entertaining though."

I didn't know what to say; I was feeling so much anger, which was only amplified by the fact that he was right. I really couldn't do anything, but I didn't want to accept that. "Discord..." I lowered my head and stared in-front of me. I could see all of my friends looking at me in my peripheral vision - I was sure they had never seen me acting like this before. I panted as I let the rage take control of my actions once again, and I pressed my four hooves firmly against the floor, feeling as my horn began to glow again. I felt much more magical power than I had ever allowed previously flowing through me, and the strain would normally be unbearable by now, but I was simply filled with so much hatred that I was able to force myself through it. The light at my horn only grew brighter and brighter - even more so than when I had blown up my library - and it had gotten so bright at this point that my friends had to squint and look away. My head felt like it was about to explode from the pressure and the pain, and I looked upwards toward the sky, ready to push through one last time and finish this. My entire body was shaking and I was barely able to keep standing at this point, but I was filled with so much fury that I pushed on through anyway, past what was probably safe for me to handle so I could unleash the magic. I was finished and ready to end it all right now.

"...AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
> Chapter 12 | Replaying
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I felt like I was falling through an infinite void of blackness. Everything was spinning, and I felt like I wasn't even a part of my body - I didn't know what was going on. My mind was hazy and unfocused, and it felt as if wind was blowing against me as I fell. My head constantly felt like it was tipping upside-down and backwards, but I couldn't seem to be able to do anything to correct that. I was left in a constant, sluggish free-fall.

As more time passed - not like I could even comprehend that as I was - I could eventually feel the spinning and my thoughts getting clearer. What followed was a loud groan as I began to realize just how much pressure there was at my head: I had to have been experiencing a migraine. I stirred and stretched my body, slowly opening my eyes to see that I was laying down, not falling at all. I squeezed my eyes closed shortly afterwards though, tilting my head forward and grimacing. My head was killing me! I slowly sat up and opened my eyes again, trying to get a good look at my surroundings.

'Where am I...? What happened? Why on Equestria is my head hurting so much!? Ow...' I blinked and exhaled as I took a look around. I appeared to be inside my library, or at least an older version of it, as if this is what it looked like a long time ago. I slowly began to stand up onto my hooves, being careful not to move my pulsating head too much. Why was I here? What had even happened? I couldn't remember, for some reason... I blamed my migraine for that. I carefully began to step forward, soon entering into another room of the library. My attention was then captured by the sound of a door opening, and I quickly turned to look at the source, only for me to wince after moving my head so fast. 'Ahh! I need to be more careful.' I scrunched my face up and breathed deeply, trying to manage the pain, when I blinked and tried to focus on the sound again. My basement door was opening, and my eyes began to grow wide when I saw who was stepping out... Immediately I felt flooded with familiar memories as I remembered just why the library looked like this - it was during this time that Duston was still living with me. He was right there, and was currently running out of the basement.

"D...Duston?" I blinked as I tried to comprehend what I was seeing. "What is.. what's going on? Why are you running - why are you even here?"

"I totally forgot I'm supposed to be at Applejack's at eight this morning!" He replied as he ran over to the front door. He opened it and then ran outside, but I couldn't let him just do that - I had to find out what was going on. This wasn't right, and it was also bothering me unconditionally to just let him run off like that when I hadn't seen him in so long.

"No wait!! Duston come back!" I ran towards the door after him, only for me to yell out in pain as the sudden movements messed with my head. I cringed and squeezed my eyes closed, tilting my head down and trying to manage the pain as best I could. I felt dizzy, and once it seemed like I had finally regained my composure, I opened my eyes back up, only for me to see that I wasn't in the library anymore. I blinked and looked around in confusion to find myself in... the Canterlot Throne Room?

"It seems you all have arrived, and faster than I anticipated too." I could immediately feel anger at the sound of that voice. I knew who that was... and I wanted to kill him more than anything.

"Discord!!!!!!!!!" I shouted out, causing me to flinch from the strain that put on my head. I turned my head to look at where the voice had spoke to see Discord floating there, but something didn't seem right. He didn't feel like he was 'the' Discord, as if he wasn't the one that had been causing all of my torment.

"You better release the princesses right now!" Rainbow Dash spoke up. I turned my head in confusion to see that the rest of my friends were here also. Something seemed extremely familiar about this situation, but I couldn't quite figure out what it was. If the princesses really were captured though - according to what Rainbow Dash had just said - then this was something I had to take seriously. I had to rescue them!

"Feisty aren't we?" Discord responded. "I'll let them go, but only if you win a game."

"What kinda game?" Applejack inquired. The snap of Discord's fingers was then heard, and in an instant I found myself to be in some kind of maze. I looked up and around with hatred in my eyes, looking for any sign of Discord, when I heard him start talking again.

"If you all can manage to get past this maze, which you won't, I'll let your princesses go."

"Hey!! Where are my wings? And where is everypony else!?" I heard Rainbow Dash's voice yell out from some other part of the maze.

"Oh, I must've forgot to mention: No flying or any magic use allowed during the maze." Discord replied. "As for your friends, you will all be separated for the time being. Have fun!" He proceeded to laugh his evil, annoying cackle, which faded away and got quieter as time went on.

"Hey! Give me back my wings!!" Rainbow yelled out. After that though, nobody else talked - it was all strangely silent. I perked my head up and looked around before speaking up.

"Hello?" I called out, careful not to raise my voice too much since I didn't want to make my headache hurt any more. I didn't get a response though, and I sighed, looking back ahead of me. 'I guess I have no other choice but to go through this maze.'

Something about this place seemed so oddly familiar as I made my way through it, but I couldn't quite remember what it was. I was surprisingly not getting too irritated at all the dead ends I kept coming across, which I figured was probably because my headache was just too bad for me to care. At times I lost focus as I walked through the maze, only for me to eventually come back to my senses without even knowing where I had went. I knew I was wandering around aimlessly, but I really wasn't in the right mindset to try and track where I was going. I was just letting everything go by without much thought.

Eventually, though, my eyes caught a glance of some type of clearing - something different as opposed to all the narrow hallways that I kept trotting through. I backtracked my steps and looked down that pathway to see it lead to what appeared to be a bigger, circle-shaped room. I made my way down that hall until I reached the room, and I stepped inside, noticing a strange, glowing object floating in the center. It somehow looked blurry, causing me to blink my eyes, but it wasn't me - it was the object itself. It almost looked like an orb, although I couldn't tell completely because it wasn't focused.

'What is that supposed to be..? Is it even real? Why's it so blurry?' I took a quick glance around the room before slowly beginning to walk towards it. As I neared the glowing object, I eventually began to hear faint voices in my head, which got louder and louder until I noticed them. I couldn't comprehend what they were saying - like it was just a bunch of jumbled, mismatched whispers all speaking to me at the same time - but they only increased in volume the closer I got. I blinked and shook my head carefully, trying to get them to go away, but they still remained anyway.

'What's happening to me now? Is that me doing that? I wish I knew what was wrong with my head.' I squinted my eyes and continued to step closer regardless, scrunching up my face as the voices only served to agitate my migraine even more. I increased my pace, only to abruptly stop when the random chatter suddenly stopped all-together. There were no voices, no sounds, no nothing - all in a split-second. I was close enough to the glowing blur to make out that it did definitely seem to look like an orb, and I found myself staring at it and watching its slow, pulsing glow, until it faded away and disappeared right in-front of me. I blinked, looking around in confusion to suddenly find myself someplace else again. This time it looked like the outdoors.

'This can't be a dream... it feels too lucid and I'm thinking too clearly. What on Equestria is going on? What happened to Discord? We're supposed to stop the towers! Why am I here then? We were at Baltimare.. right? For the second time. I..' I trailed off when I noticed two blurs zooming past me. I diverted my attention to my surroundings, watching the two figures speeding off, when I eventually noticed Duston running as well. My eyes went wide at this, and I quickly began to run to try and catch up with him.

"Duston!!" I called out, grimacing through my head pain as I tried to catch up. I hesitated talking anymore - I didn't want my headache to hurt with even more intensity - but this was too important. I needed to find out just what was going on. "Slow down! Where are you going??"

He didn't reply though, almost as if he didn't even hear me. I gritted my teeth and ran even faster, but no matter what I did, I couldn't seem to catch up - and my head thumped with every gallop I made. Eventually, though, he did start talking, but it seemed like it was more to himself.

"Finally! I knew this was over here somewhere..." He ran even faster, and I continued to follow in my confusion, until I suddenly noticed him jump. I ran up to where he just was and then yelped as I suddenly scrambled to stop myself from going even further - he had just jumped off a cliff! I remained at the edge and watched in horror as he went falling down, when I heard his distant voice start yelling. "No no no, I don't want this! Why did I do that!?"

"Duston wait!!!" I panted as I gazed down at the cliff, and then in an abrupt, non-logical decision, I jumped down after him. "I'm coming!! Just hold on!" I squeezed my eyes closed as I felt the wind rushing past me. Now I was asking myself the same question: Why did I do that? I braced myself as best I could for an impact, waiting to be crushed against the ground by my own, amplified weight. Nothing ever happened though, much to my confusion, and I slowly opened my eyes, only to find myself in a entirely new place now - I wasn't falling anymore.

'This... This is almost like one of Discord's games. Is that what he's doing to me right now?' I perked my head up and looked around to find myself in some kind of round, dark brown cave. What quickly caught my attention though was the fact that Duston was standing in here as well, and I immediately ran over to him the instant I saw him.

"Duston!" I slowed my trotted as I approached him - something I had kept trying and failing to do until now.

"Twilight?" He asked, turning his head to look at me. "Where are the others?"

"What others?" I inquired in confusion, to which he answered.

"You know, your friends, and Klade." He paused for a second before continuing. "If you're here now, then I wonder if we're able to find each other in this maze."

"I... guess so." Was I still a part of that maze Discord had put us in? "This all of Discord's doing.. right?"

"Oh yes." He responded. "I just got done killing a demon that ripped my mom into pieces and then ripped off my arm and my leg. Fun stuff. Thank god that was a dream and not actually real."

"Yeah.." I found myself smiling as I listened to his voice - I hadn't realized just how much I missed it. "Can you um... talk more?"

"Huh?" He looked at me in confusion. "Uh... I guess so." He laughed a tiny bit. "That's kind of a weird request. We need to find out what this room is all about though." As if to answer his question, I suddenly felt the room begin rumbling. "Damnit. What the hell is Discord doing now?" Right after he said that, a large rock fell down from the ceiling in-between us, breaking through the floor. What came out afterwards was none of other than molten lava, and my eyes went wide at that.

"Is that lava!?" I exclaimed as I stepped backwards. "Are we standing below lava?" I felt the ground I was standing on become wobbly and and unstable, which was definitely making it seem like what I had just said was true. I quickly looked around, where I saw more rocks falling from the ceiling, breaking into the floor and causing lava to ooze out afterwards.

"Twilight, look over there!" I turned my head to look at Duston, where I saw him pointing at something. Looking in that direction showed a large digital clock attached to the wall, which had three minutes displayed in big red numbers. They began to count down after I looked. "I think that's how long we have to last to win this."

"Are you sure?"

"Well there's no way to get out of this room." He turned to look at me. "We just have to-" His voice was cut off by another big rock falling from the ceiling, causing both of us to lose our balance and fall to the ground. I tried to get back up afterwards, but the constant rumbling - as well as my pounding headache - was making it nearly impossible to get back to my hooves.

"Are you okay Duston?"

"Yeah yeah." I heard him reply from the other side of the room. The thumping in my head caused me to lose focus for a couple seconds, and I frowned as I perked my head up to try and look around. Much to my dismay, I could already see the lava oozing more onto the floor - so much so that it was starting to coat it.

"We need to get out of here!" I called out over the rumbling.

"How? We're stuck in here!" Duston replied. "Okay, think, the fuck do we do when we're about to die from lava surrounding us? God damnit I've never been in a situation like this to even have a clue. Uh... We should go to the highest point of the ground, right?"

I glanced around the room once again, but everything seemed level - the ground was all the same height across the entire place. The walls were no different, which were mostly flat with nothing there that I would be able to climb or hold onto. I noticed the floor breaking apart in-front of me, causing me to back away, when I heard Duston's voice call out again.

"Wait, maybe we can use that!" I perked my head up and looked at where he was pointing to see the rectangle-shaped clock attached to the wall that he had pointed out earlier. The time it was currently on was only 2:37, and I watched as Duston began to run over to it, avoiding piles of lava and somehow not falling down. I shakily tried again to stand back up and run over to the wall the clock was attached to, only to fall back down again when I tried to slow down. I observed Duston trying to jump up to reach it, but it was too high up for him to grab onto or even touch. He looked over at me shortly afterwards, where he proceeded to step over to me.

"I might be able to lift you up high enough to reach that." He said as he grabbed me and brought me back to my hooves. "Come on we gotta hurry!"

"But what about you?"

"Maybe you can bring me up afterwards."

I ran alongside him until we reached the wall, and then my eyes went wide when I abruptly found myself being picked up - he had never done that before and I wasn't expecting it to feel so weird. I was brought up to his hips at first, until he lifted me up so that my fore-hooves were over his shoulders.

"Can you stand up and reach it from there?" I heard him ask. I tried to stand on his shoulders, but everything was so shaky and wobbly that I kept going back down to grab onto his head and re-balance myself.

"I can't stand up!"

"Hold on, let me try- Ahh!!!" My ears twitched when I heard him yell out in pain right after I felt the ground sink down below us, and I suddenly found myself falling off of him and slamming onto the floor. I hollered in pain from the impact and felt my head seemingly pulsate with constant, never-ending thumps much worse than it was before; I couldn't stand this migraine any longer, but I was still forced to deal with it anyway. I whimpered and slowly rolled over, squinting my eyes and trying to see what had happened. It was quickly starting to get hot in this room, and all the sweat was making my eyes watery - either that or it was happening because of this headache.

"Duston..? What happened? Are you okay?"

"Ow that fucking hurt!" He responded. I watched him crawl over to me, where he almost tipped over a couple times due to the shaking. "I don't think I can stand up like that anymore. I never knew how much lava could sting until now."

"It didn't melt anything off, did it?" I asked with sudden concern.

"I don't think so - my feet are just really stinging now." He replied. He proceeded to look around. "Well this place is falling apart real fast."

I glanced around afterwards, examining just how much lava there was at this point. There was almost more lava than ground to stand on, and I watched as the middle of the room suddenly split in half, becoming engulfed in more of that blindingly bright magma. The room was divided now - unless I wanted to risk my life trying to jump to the other side - and I proceeded to look over at Duston. "We're going to burn alive in here! There's no way we can last another two minutes at this rate."

"God damnit." I watched as he tried to stand back up, only to get back on his hands and knees again. "Fuck it really hurts to try standing."

"Then don't!" It was then I noticed him seemingly looking at something that was behind me, and he didn't seem too thrilled to be looking at it.

"Twilight move to the side!!! Right now!" He yelled out. I blinked, turning my head in confusion, where I saw just what he was looking at; the wall behind me was beginning to crack with lava trickling out, as if it was about to blow. I quickly scrambled over to the side, rolling over a couple times and doing anything to get out of the way fast enough. A few seconds later I saw the wall burst open, and I felt relieved to have not been in-front of it. That relief was short-lasting though, as what followed would probably be scarred into my mind forever.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" That bone-chilling scream of anguish sent shivers down my spine, and I gasped, suddenly feeling cold as I turned to look over at Duston. I almost didn't want to look out of fear of what I might see, and I probably should have listened. I couldn't do anything but stare in shock and horror as I watched the magma spewing out right onto his body, and I felt my mouth trembling while I watched - I felt totally helpless to do anything.

"D...Duston..?" The heat and the collapsing room around us became practically invisible as I only focused on him. Was he even still alive? I slowly began to crawl over to him, trying to make my way around particles of lava that were on the ground around me.

"AHHHH!!!!!" He frantically rolled around on the floor as if he didn't know what to do. I didn't either, and then I shrieked when I saw just how melted his face looked when he perked his head up. His eyes looked like they had completely melted off, leaving only empty sockets behind. I could see the skin on his face melting and dripping down onto the cave floor below as he hopelessly flailed around like a fish out of water, no-doubt overwhelmed by all the pain and emotions, only to eventually fall backwards straight into a pool of lava.

"DUSTON!!!!!!!!!!!!!" My voice screeched and cracked in terror. "THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!!!!!!" My body trembled and tears began to flow as I ran over in a vain attempt to save him, but it was already way too late by that point. I heard his horrified scream slowly become mangled as the lava melted his neck and throat, and I simply sat there staring in complete terror, unable to fathom what I was witnessing. Then, when the screaming finally stopped, it seemed completely silent. I couldn't even comprehend my surroundings anymore as I shook and quivered, watching the very last of him seep into the lava, never to be seen again. The silence was unnerving - I felt completely alone now - and I didn't know what to do. There was nothing to do.

Waves of overwhelming sadness and guilt flooded my mind - the urge to cry had become so powerful that I couldn't even sob. I simply sat there with my mouth wide open and my vision blurred with tears. I shakily tried to stand up after awhile, only to fall back down after each try - I felt so weak and devastated that I couldn't even move. Eventually, though, the anger began to set in. All the confusion that had built up over these strange, unexplained events had reached a peak, and I screamed out louder than I ever had before.

"WAKE ME UP FROM THIS NIGHTMARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I lunged forward right into the lava, squeezing my eyes closed and bracing for my death. I flailed my hooves violently as I fell, waiting ever-so-eagerly for the magma to kill me - I wanted it to kill me. I wanted nothing more than to escape from this demented reality, but yet, that didn't seem to happen. I felt as if I was falling through a void, and I slowly opened my eyes back up in a reluctant curiosity to see what was going on. I was falling through the sky now, descending past the clouds, until I eventually could see the ground come into view. I appeared to be falling straight towards a town - something I recognized as Dodge City - and I braced for impact as I came crashing down into one of the buildings. It was surprisingly not as painful as I expected it to be, and I groaned as I slowly sat up. What was going to happen now?

I looked around, seeing books lined up on shelves. The building seemed to be a library - a wooden, classic-looking library at that - and it seemed so very familiar, yet I still couldn't quite pinpoint why. Regardless, I couldn't care too much about that right now; if this was just another one of Discord's hellish games, then I wanted no part in it. I got up and made my way straight towards the exit, where I noticed another human figure standing outside the front doors. I could immediately feel anger as I thought it was Duston, which I knew it couldn't really be him when he had just died a death I didn't even want to think about anymore. Upon closer inspection, however, I noticed it wasn't actually him, but rather it was Klade instead.

"Hey." He spoke up, turning to look at me. "Duston told me you needed me to send some books back to the library. I overuse the hell out of the teleport spell, so it'll probably work."

"What... what books?" I asked, initially confused, before frowning. "No. There aren't any books. You aren't even real."

"I'm not?" He asked, raising his arms up and looking at both of them. "That can't be good. If I'm not real right now, then there's definitely something wrong here."

I found myself nodding my head slowly. "Yes... yes there is something definitely very wrong here."

He looked around and then back at me. "If this is a dream, then the best thing we could do is try to wake up, somehow. I know that thinking clearly isn't easy during dreams though, so hopefully we don't mess up."

"How should we do that?"

"Follow me." He replied, turning around. Before he began walking though, he turned his head to look at me. "We should probably try to stay in each other's field of vision. Dreams are weird, and we don't need to be disappearing on each other."

I was inclined to agree with what he was saying, and I carefully trotted up alongside him. The last thing I wanted was another trap though. I was so sick of being traumatized, and the migraine in my head was still as unbearable as it had been when I came to; but, if this was a chance to finally wake up and end this mess, then I was willing to take it. As we walked off together, though, a sudden thought occurred to me: What if this was actually Klade himself? I never did know what happened to him - all I knew was that Discord did something - and for all I knew, this could've actually been him, trapped just like I was right now. He definitely seemed to be acting normal, so I turned to look at him, but before I could even say anything, he spoke up first.

"We're here." He stated. I looked back in-front of me to see a small wooden shack in-front of us, and I watched in confusion as he made his way over to it. He didn't open it though, and turned to face me shortly afterwards. "Actually, I should do this first, just to be safe." He stepped back over to me, where he started to put some latches to my hooves so he could lock them against the ground.

"What are you doing?" I asked, feeling extremely tempted to back away and prevent him from doing whatever he was doing. I wasn't getting good vibes over whatever he might've been planning, and I watched as he made his way back over to the shack.

"Having some fun." He replied as he kicked open the shack doors. I suddenly gasped in horror when I saw Duston's limp body inside, hanging with his arms raised above his head; once again I was being traumatized, and I fell right for it.

"No... Not this again!!!! Stop this now!!" I first reaction was to run away, only to find that the latches were keeping my hooves trapped to the ground. I couldn't even move no matter how hard I tried, and I cursed out in anger, mostly to myself for letting this happen again. "You aren't Klade!! And that isn't Duston!"

"Twilight..?" My ears flickered when I heard Duston's voice call out to me. "Twilight you have to get me out of there! Klade is-" He was suddenly interrupted by Klade slamming a metal baseball bat right into his stomach, causing him to lurch forward and me to gasp.

"Having some fun." Klade finished speaking for him. Even though I knew it wasn't real, it still hurt to watch, which only made me even more angry.

"Stop this now Klade!!! You would never hurt your own brother! That makes no sense!!" I yelled out in hopes that I could try to reason him to stop.

"And what do you know about me? You don't know anything." He tossed the bat aside, where he proceeded to pull out a chainsaw from deeper inside the worn-down shed. "Ah, the same chainsaw I used against those three jerks. That was a fun time."

"No.. No Klade don't do this." I proceeded to shake my head. "No, it's not you, it's Discord I should be mad at. You're just a creation of Discord, that's all you are - that's all everything here is!"

"Twilight, you need to save me!" Duston spoke out again. "I don't even want to think about what he's going to-"

"SHUT UP!!!!!!!" I screamed out, directly at him. That outburst seemed to catch Klade's attention as well, and the both of them stared at me in silence. "You're not really Duston!!! I don't know why I was so stupid to even let myself believe something so fantastical before. I'm tired of this! DO YOU HEAR ME DISCORD!? I KNOW YOU'RE THERE!!!!!! THIS ISN'T BUCKING FUNNY YOU SICK, DEMENTED MONSTER!!!!!!!!!!!"

What followed was more silence for another few seconds, until I heard an ominous, figure-less voice respond a few seconds later. Even though I couldn't see him, I knew exactly who that voice belonged to. "Oh come on, Twilight, why must you be so boring? I had so many more ideas on what to do with your little boyfriend and you, but if you're going to be like that, then I suppose I'll just have to do.. other things."

"WHY THE BUCK ARE YOU DOING THIS!? WHAT DID WE EVER DO TO YOU!? THIS IS-" Before I could continue, I heard him abruptly start laughing.

"Oh! Twilight, surely you can't be serious - what did you all do to me? Hmm, I don't know, jail in me a dreadfully stone prison? And not once, but twice!"

"You deserved it both of those times Discord!! You can't just treat Equestria and its citizens like your BUCKING playground!!!"

"I can't? So riddle me this: why can't I do that, but yet someone like Klade can? Now that doesn't seem very fair. Or maybe, are you so pathetically naive towards him that you don't even know all the things he's done across Equestria? But perhaps I'm just pointing things out that you don't want to hear. After all, I'm just the big baddy Discord."

"That... he hasn't done those things. He doesn't torment others, like you do." I replied. "I would know about it if he did, and so would the princesses. You've done INEXCUSABLE things that can't be.." I trailed off when I noticed just how wavy the world around me had become. It looked as if my surroundings were falling apart, and I blinked as I saw them start to fade away into a white nothingness. "What's going on now? What are you doing Discord!? I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS!!!!"

"Oh, that's not me actually." He replied. "I gotta go."

"You won't get away with this Discord! YOU, WILL, NOT, GET, AWAY, WITH, THIS!!!!!!!!!!" Right after I screamed out, a bright flash of light shined out from the nothingness. I blinked multiple times, stepping back a little, only to see that I was back on the roof of Baltimare again. I didn't believe it at first though, and I looked around slowly, seeing cyan-green light swirling across the floor. I perked my head up afterwards, seeing the glowing glass orb at the top - the tower was still emitting. I knew I had to stop it, but tilting my head upwards had suddenly made me feel dizzy. I didn't even realize what was happening until I fell backwards, collapsing onto the ground and catching a glimpse of a flowing, colorful mane before passing out.
> Chapter 13 | The Truth
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Klade's POV

The flight to Ponyville had gone by pretty fast. I still didn't know why I had decided to let Trixie come along, but she hadn't been too annoying, at least so far. During the flight, I had mostly been thinking about what could've possibly happened during all this time; I had been trapped in that cave for days, plus the couple days I spent recovering and then helping Trixie. I hadn't realized just how long had I been gone, and I didn't know what things Discord could've done in all of that time. For all I knew, the mane 6 could've been trapped somewhere as well or off battling him somewhere. I was eager to find out, which is why I was glad to see Ponyville finally coming into view. As I approached, though, I was once again reminded of how I still didn't know how to land these things.

"Alright Trixie, it's about time we landed." I called out over the rushing wind. "Don't say I didn't warn you this time."

"When Trixie said that, she meant the jump!" She responded. "Are you sure there isn't a better way to land these things?"

"There's supposed to be, but I haven't gotten around to learning it." I answered. "Besides, this way is alot more fun." I proceeded to create a parachute in-front of me, putting it on and then steering the plane so that it wouldn't crash into any houses when we jumped off. Once the plane was flying evenly, I stood up, carefully making my way over to Trixie and then grabbing her. "Are you ready?"

"Almost! Just give Trixie a few moments." I watched as she peeked down at the ground below, and I sighed, looking around before looking back at her.

"If we wait too long, I'm gonna have to go sit back down to turn the plane around."

"I... okay okay I'm ready." She frowned at me. "Just do the stupid jump."

"Gladly." I pulled out the shades I had created last time and put them on. I contemplated doing another back-flip this time, but I eventually decided not to just to make it less extreme on her. I hopped off the plane, letting us fall in a orderly fashion as we plummeted downwards toward the ground below. After a short time, I activated the parachute, letting us slowly descend to the ground until eventually landing with a plop. A quick look around showed me that we were just at the outskirts of Ponyville, and I looked over at Trixie as she lifted the chute off of her with her hooves.

"What are we doing in Ponyville anyway? I don't think you ever told me." She frowned. "I don't like this place. Not anymore."

"I need to see Twilight to find out what's happened since my disappearance." I replied.

"Wait... Twilight!?" Trixie started frowning. "Why would you need to see that smug, arrogant little wench?"

"That's not a nice way to refer to someone who's trying to help save Equestria."

"But I'm doing that too now! You have no idea what type of person she is. You don't know her like how I do."

I didn't feel like spending the time trying to defend Twilight at this moment. "Well, I need to see her anyway. Just don't forget that you're the one who wanted to come with me."

Trixie sighed. "That stupid little..." I didn't bother listening to whatever else she mumbled, and I began making my way straight in the direction of the library. It was nice to actually be in Ponyville again, although something did seem off as I walked through the streets. It felt like the town was missing something, but I couldn't quite pinpoint what is was. Eventually though, the two of us began to approach the library, where I noticed a note on the door.

'That doesn't seem good.' I walked up to the door, but before I could get very far into reading the note in my mind, Trixie spoke up.

"What does it say?" She asked, making me decide that I was going to have to read the note out-loud.

"Twilight and I are away right now to help the princesses. We'll be back as soon as we can. Sorry for the inconvenience!" I stated. 'The note doesn't say anything about Duston... unless he was the one who wrote it, but I doubt that - it seems more like it was Spike.'

Trixie scoffed and rolled her eyes. "She thinks she can just put a note on her door saying 'Oh, I'm off helping the princesses, look how cool and important I am!' She thinks she's so perfect."

"Huh." I responded, not even commenting on what Trixie said. "There's one more place I need to stop off at here, then I'll go to Canterlot next if I have to."

Trixie nodded, and then her ears perked up shortly afterwards. "That would give me an opportunity to offer the princesses my help. I shall be much better than Twilight ever was!"

"We'll see about that." I began walking off again, noticing her glare at me after I said that.

"Oh, there will be much to see Klade. You'll witness just what Trixie can be capable of when she puts a hundred percent of her effort into one thing!"

'I can't wait.' I thought to myself as I continued walking. I soon began to reach the outskirts of Ponyville, where I approached a hill with a house located on the top. I knew this was Duston's house that he had created for himself with his magic, and I stepped up the hill until I reached the front door. 'He better be here...'

"Who's house is this way out here? It looks way different than the others." Trixie inquired as I looked at the front door-knob.

"Duston's."

"Duston? Who... was that the other one of you? There was two, right?"

"Yeah, he's my brother."

"Hmm, I've never met him before." Trixie exclaimed. I was barely paying attention to what she was saying though; I was feeling increasingly unsettled at the thought that I kept seeing more and more evidence that he wasn't around anymore. It was really starting to bother me; I pretty much knew that he wouldn't be here, because why would he? I rarely saw him at his house, and if Twilight was gone, then he would probably be with her. I was grasping at straws at this point, but the thought of him actually being dead was making me feel shaky and cold - I had never experienced anything like it before.

"Why are you just standing there?" Trixie eventually asked.

"...No reason." I grabbed the door-knob and opened it, stepping inside slowly and looking around. The place still looked barren and incomplete, and I could immediately feel waves of shivers as soon as I entered and saw just how empty it was. I was sure there was no one here, but I wanted to keep looking anyway. I made my way forward, looking around at the dimly lit kitchen and dining room. It looked like no one had been here for a long time though, which was making me feel increasingly distressed as I walked down one of the halls. The door to his bedroom was already open, making me feel a spark of excitement at the thought that he might be inside. Upon stepping inside though, I saw that the bed was empty, and that there was no one anywhere to been see in the room. There was no one here.

'...I need to go to Canterlot. I need to find out what's going on.' I immediately turned around, walking right around Trixie as I headed for the front door.

"Wait, we're leaving already? Why'd you even come here?" She asked as she followed me back outside.

"We're going to Canterlot now." I replied with a bit of a harsh tone of voice. Trixie didn't seem to bother replying - not that I was paying attention to her anyway - and I walked straight down the hill until I found a decent stretch of flat ground. I stood and began imagining another two-person plane, creating it into the real world within a couple minutes. As soon as I was able to, I climbed up inside, staring blankly ahead of me as I waited for Trixie to come on as well. Once she was on, I began throttling the plane right afterwards, sending us forward and eventually up into the air as I sped off straight towards Canterlot.





The trip there was mostly spent thinking over all the possibilities surrounding his increasingly likely death. I couldn't stop thinking about it now, and it was leaving me constantly stressed out. Canterlot thankfully wasn't very far away from Ponyville - you could even see the town from the castle itself - so it didn't take very long for me to arrive. I steered the plane to face away from the castle as I approached, where I then stood up, making my way right over to Trixie.

"Hold on." I spoke, grabbing her and pulling her up. Instead of jumping like I had done for the past few times though, I simply teleported straight in-front of the castle, making sure that Trixie was brought with me as well. As I began to make my way inside, however, I was suddenly stopped by a group of royal guards.

"Halt!! Stay where you are!" They yelled out as they pointed their lances at me, much to my confusion.

"What are you doing?" I asked. "I've been here before, you should all know who I am. I need to see Twilight Sparkle, or the princesses at the very least."

"You're under arrest for threatening the peacefulness of Equestria!" One of them replied - I was even more confused now.

"But I haven't done anything? I need to see either Twilight or the princesses - it's important." As soon as I went to step forward though, they suddenly charged at me, pummeling me to the ground and pinning me down. 'For fuck's sake.' I would've resisted, but I didn't have any intention of fighting back against royal guards.

"What is the meaning of this?" Trixie spoke up. "I've known his exact whereabouts - he's been doing nothing but nearly dying, which he didn't, thanks to me of course."

"Ma'am, I'd like to ask that you come with us." A guard replied as he stepped over to her. "Are you his accomplice?"

"Trixie serves no one!!" She frowned at that. "I am with him only for my own reasons. He's helping me save Equestria."

'Wow, can she really be that delusional? I've been doing everything so far.' I watched as the guards looked at each other, before looking back at her.

"You're coming with us." One of them approached her, to which Trixie backed off.

"Are you arresting me? How dare you! I've done nothing wrong!!"

"We're asking that you come with us peacefully, or force will be used." He replied. Trixie frowned, not seeming to like that, but she eventually sighed.

"...Fine, Trixie shall come along, but don't touch me. I'm fully-capable of handling myself."

"You need to put these on then." He levitated over a pair of hoof-cuffs to Trixie. She was clearly reluctant to put them on, glaring at the guard, but eventually did so anyway.

"There, they're on. Are you happy now?" I watched as the guard levitated a ring onto Trixie's horn - something I assumed was used to block her magic - and then they began to lead her inside with one guard in-front and one behind. I was cuffed up shortly afterwards as well, where it quickly became obvious that these cuffs were meant for thick pony hooves, not human wrists.

'I could probably slide out of these if I tried hard enough.' The same ring that they put on Trixie was then fitted onto one of my fingers, and the remainder of the guards - at least seven of them - all surrounded me as they led me inside. 'Overkill much? They're treating me like I'm Discord. I guess alot has changed since my disappearance... hopefully not too much. I better find out what's going on soon.' I was constantly being pushed and treated like shit as they brought me straight to the dungeons, where they proceeded to throw me into a prison cell, closing and locking the metal gate with the metallic chiming of keys. Some of the guards proceeded to walk off, but two stayed behind, standing right in-front of the gate and just staring at me, presumably to stand guard.

'They're sure taking this seriously, not that I'd want to break out anyway - that'd stir up too much trouble. Good thing I'm used to waiting.'

"You didn't tell me they were out to arrest you Klade!" Trixie spoke up from another cell located across from me. "There is absolutely no reason why someone like me should ever be in a place like this."

"Well, I didn't know either. I should remind you though that you're the one who wanted to come with me in the first place."

Trixie frowned and glared at me. "Don't you dare even think about trying to blame this on me!!! If Trixie had known you would be arrested, she would have never come along - I could be basking in the riches of Los Pegasus right now."

"I told you I didn't want you to come, but you pressed on with it anyway."

"Are you that stupid?? Did you not hear what I just said? Your own-"

"Enough." One of the guards exclaimed in a loud, firm voice - but not loud enough for it to be considered yelling. "No more talking between you two."

Trixie scoffed, giving me one more glare before sitting and resting with her back up against the stone wall. I wasn't very focused on her complaining though - I was mostly thinking about why this was happening in the first place. There were clones at Los Pegasus that were guarding that tower - clones that looked exactly like me - so it made some sense that perhaps that was the reason I had been arrested. I had been gone for a long time as well, which was something that could definitely raise questions - I could have been doing anything during this past week. It was all the more reason that I needed to talk to someone important to explain what was going on.

In the back of my mind, though, the mystery surrounding Duston's death was still constantly bothering me. These feelings suddenly became my main concern when after several minutes, I saw Princess Luna walking into the hallway outside my cell. A cold shiver spread throughout my body as I was now in the presence of someone who could answer that pressing question - something that I was hesitant to even get the answer to now that I was this close to finding out. She looked over at Trixie, and then at me with a piercing gaze.

"Your actions will not go unpunished."

"Hey!! But I haven't done anything!" Trixie replied, causing Luna to look at her. "I demand an explanation."

"Who are you?" Luna asked, which was something that I could already tell Trixie didn't like hearing.

"I am the Great and Powerful Trixie!!! I have done nothing wrong." She paused for a second before continuing. "Twilight Sparkle... She knows me, where is she? I know that she is with you right now."

Luna shook her head in response, however. "She is not with us at the moment. When the time comes, you and Klade will be given an opportunity to explain yourselves."

"And why can't that time be right now? If I had known this would take so long I never would have let myself be thrown in here!"

"Be patient. When Celestia and the others return, your explanations shall be given to all of them."

'Celestia is gone but Luna is here? That's strange - I wonder what she's doing.' I watched as Luna turned her head to look at me again, before then turning around, beginning to head back. I had been putting off asking her of Duston's fate in fear of what the answer might be, but I knew I had to ask now or else I would have to wait even longer - I needed to find out the truth.

"Luna." I spoke up, causing her to pause her trotting. "Where is Duston?"

The princess remained standing in place for several seconds before turning around to face me, and with a slightly confused look on her face. "Duston has been deceased for nearly a week's time."

That answer weighed down on me as if it pulled me miles underneath water. In an instant I felt so empty - something that I would never be able to regain again had just been confirmed to be torn from me. Was he really gone? Her answer seemed so certain that I would've had to have been in absolute denial not to believe her. Memories of all of the events we had been through together began to flash in my mind; they were all from the past and I knew that no more new ones could possibly be created. He really was gone.. and the longer I thought about it, the more it set in.

I stared blankly ahead of me, not even comprehending what Luna was doing or what was going on around me - I couldn't care about that right now. All the days spent in uncertainty, reaching for any possible explanation that could show that he was still alive - it all felt so pointless and meaningless now. My gaze lowered towards the grey, stone floor as I thought back to our time on Earth together; all of those long, distant memories of a completely different time. We had grown up together, with each of us being a part of our own childhood's. He was something that wasn't from Equestria, something that went further back to a time and place that was so secluded from everything that was going on now. He was the only part of that life that I had in this world, but now he was gone... and it hurt in an incomprehensible way. I felt alone and separated. I felt as if everything I had been through in this world was just a dream.

My vacant stare remained as I sat in the cell with my back up against the wall. I didn't want to believe he was dead, but I knew better than to be so stupid. He really was gone, taken away by the fury of another world's daemons. I would've died too, leaving behind everything I had been through up to this point, all for it to just be forgotten as if it never even existed. I was still here, though. By pure luck I had survived up until this point, something that probably wasn't even supposed to be. I wasn't going to let that opportunity waste away; I was a mark from my previous life on Earth, living and breathing in this world still with the knowledge of what it was capable of.

This was only my beginning.
> Chapter 14 | Meeting
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight Sparkle's POV

I slowly awoke to the feeling of pain in my head once again. I groaned as I sluggishly opened my eyes, blinded at first by the bright light -something that caused me to squint. What was going on now? Memories of recent events began to play in my mind, and I could already feel the anger setting in as I blinked and tried to get a good look around. If this was more of Discord's games, then I was absolutely tired of it. It felt like I had been in an inescapable nightmare, but did it ever end? I couldn't remember the last thing that had happened, and I blinked as I looked around. I was currently laying down on a bed in a beautifully decorated room - something that must've been from Canterlot - when a familiar voice rang out shortly afterwards.

"Hey, she's waking up!" I looked to see Pinkie Pie approaching me, and further looking showed that the rest of my friends were here as well.

"Are you real?" I asked, to which she looked at me in confusion.

"Of course I'm real silly! You didn't get hurt that bad, did you?"

"Twilight!!" Spike's voice called out, and I looked to see the small dragon running up to me. "You're alright! Well, mostly alright."

"Yeah, I'm fine." I replied, not quite comprehending his last point just yet.

"Celestia came and rescued us." Applejack spoke up. "Yer away from Discord for the time being, ya can believe me."

I was still skeptical though, but if there was one thing that I wanted an answer to, it was why my head was still killing me - I was so sick of that throbbing pain. "Why is my head hurting so much?"

"Your horn cracked, Twilight." Rarity spoke up, something that immediately caught my attention.

"Wait... what? My horn cracked?" My eyes went wide at that revelation. Rarity nodded, and she walked to the side of the bed, levitating out a small rectangle-shaped mirror. She held it in-front of me, where I could see my horn wrapped in a white bandage. "It's going to be fine, right?? It should be! I've read books on this type of subject and.."

"Yes, it should be fine." Rarity replied. "There's not a thing to worry about! That is, as long as you listen to Celestia's instructions. You aren't supposed to use any magic, and she said that it would also be a good idea if you took some time off. Frankly, I agree with her - I wouldn't want to be working in that condition!"

I was definitely relieved to hear that, but I still had a couple questions. "Did.. I do this? Was it Discord?"

"We ain't sure about that part just yet." Applejack replied.

"It was probably you - you went kinda crazy there with your magic." Rainbow added.

"What matters though is that you're okay." Fluttershy chimed in. "It's good that you'll be able to fully recover... Just rest easy for now."

"Yeah! I told you that you should've taken a short break." Spike added. "Now look what happened."

I sighed, staring down at the bed in-front of me. It was still so annoying to feel like I was constantly being told to take a break and rest, but I really couldn't get too mad about that right now. What I had heard earlier eventually caught my attention though, and my head perked up as I looked towards Applejack. "Did you say that Celestia rescued us? Like, she was actually there?"

She nodded in response. "She was for sure, and ah saw you pass out shortly afterwards. We were all pretty concerned for ya when we saw you just collapse like that."

"Huh..." To me it was strange that Celestia would do that - I couldn't remember ever seeing her take such an active role before. I couldn't even picture her doing something like that, not that I was complaining. "Where is she now?"

"We were all waiting on you to wake up - it's been a whole day." Rainbow answered with an impatient tone of voice. "Celestia said there was a bunch of stuff to discuss, and it's bugging me about what it could be because I know it has to do with Klade. She hasn't let me talk to him since we brought him back from Baltimare! She wants you to wake up first so we can all be there at the same time."

I nodded lightly. "Well, I'm up now. We should get going."

"Are you sure you should be getting up so abruptly?" Fluttershy asked. "A cracked horn seems very serious."

"I'll be fine, Fluttershy. I'll just have to be careful." I was curious to find out just what was going on with Klade as well - it felt like the mystery surrounding him had been stretching on for ages. I slowly scooted to the edge of the bed, moving my hooves to the marble floor below and standing.

"If you all are ready, then I shall alert the princesses and bring you to the planning room." A guard who must've been stationed here spoke up. I looked over at him, having not noticed him until just now, and then nodded.

"We're ready." I stepped over to him, where me and the rest of my friends proceeded to follow him out the door and through the halls of Canterlot. We soon arrived at the planning room to find that it was empty, where the guard spoke up again.

"The others will arrive shortly." He proceeded to walk off, and I turned to look at the rest of my friends.

"Has Klade done anything since we came back?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Nope. He went straight to the dungeon and I haven't seen him since then." Rainbow Dash answered. "And these guards wouldn't let me sneak in there either!"

"Do you really think he's turned against us?" Rarity inquired.

"We'll find out soon enough." I replied. Silence ensued, and I began to think over recent events as we waited. Spike, Celestia, and everyone else that had told me to take a break were right - so why on Equestria didn't I listen? The princess herself even told me in person that I needed to have some time off, but yet I still refused; now because of it my horn was cracked. I had even known at the time that I was making the wrong choice, so why didn't I do anything? I couldn't fathom it and now it was bothering me too the more I thought back to it.

'I should've listened... I can be so stupid sometimes. I hope Celestia isn't going to be mad at me for this. She probably is... she's going to be so disappointed in me - ugh why do I have to think about things like that? It's not going to help at all, not right now. She wouldn't ever drop me as her student... right? No, not over something like this. At least I hope not..'

After a few more minutes went by, my head perked up when I noticed figures entering the room. I looked to see Princess Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and my brother all walking inside. Behind them were royal guards, who appeared to be transporting a human figure who was bound by chains - that had to have been Klade. Further inspection only made me confused though, as I watched yet another bound human figure walk in behind them. For a brief moment I felt a spark of excitement at the far-fetched, seemingly impossible chance that it could've been Duston - there had to be no other reason why there were two humans walking in! I stared with wide, shocked eyes, but as I got a closer look, I found them both to look exactly the same. They both looked like Klade.

'But... what? Why are there two of them?' Behind them followed yet another figure, this one a pony, who I recognized as Trixie. 'Is that Trixie? What on Equestria is she doing here?'

"There is much to discuss." Celestia announced. No one even replied - they were all too confused at what they were looking at - which prompted Celestia to continue. "The Klade you brought back from Baltimare was not real, as it turns out."

"Wait... just what is that supposed to mean?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Of course he's real! He's standing right there and he tried to kill us!"

"That's not me, Rainbow, that's a clone." Klade spoke up, causing us all to divert our attention to him. "There are at least nine of them that I know of that are still remaining - Discord has taken control of them and manipulated them."

"He's not wrong about the clone that is with us today." Celestia replied. "I've already confirmed that he's being controlled by Discord's magic prior to this meeting."

"You mean there's fake Klades out there?" Rainbow inquired.

"Yes." Klade responded with a simple answer.

"How do we know there ain't more to this?" Applejack chimed in. "He could still be workin' for Discord for all we know; we don't know what he's been doin' since we last saw him over a week ago."

"Yeah, and why's he here now after all of this time?" Rainbow asked, glaring at him. "How'd he even get here anyway? Something's not adding up."

"Excuse me." Trixie spoke up with a frown. "Are you all just going to ignore Trixie? I can answer all of your questions, because I am the one who has been with Klade for the past few days, and also the one who saved his life!"

"Yeah, Trixie, why are you here?" I exclaimed. "You're the last person I ever expected to see here."

"You watch that mouth of yours Twilight Sparkle." Trixie replied with a glare. "Your friends may not know what you're really like, but I do. I know what type of arrogant, smug little brat you are."

"You can save your personal problems for another time." Cadance intercepted after the shocked look from my friends. "Please.. what were you going to tell us? We'd like to hear it."

"Very well." Trixie paused for a second before continuing. "First of all, Klade wouldn't even be here right now if it wasn't for me, something that his monkey brain still hasn't been able to fully-comprehend yet. I saved his life with a magical tracking spell I put on him ages ago after his little 'stunt' he did to me during my magic show in Ponyville - he thinks he's so cool ruining my reputation and my life, just like you did Twilight. But, at least he's making up for that, slowly but surely. About a week ago I noticed he had been in the same place for over a day - out in the middle of nowhere - and I was tired of waiting for him to come back, so I went in and investigated. Well, apparently Discord trapped him in an underground cave out in the San Palomino desert. He was practically half-dead when I got to him, something that he still hasn't thanked me for." She turned to look at Klade to glare at him. "Fortunately for him, Trixie doesn't care about mere words; what he has done to help me has been just fine so far, and I care about that more."

"That is an interesting tale." Luna remarked.

"We've been in Los Pegasus ever since, where Klade was nice enough - unlike Twilight Sparkle - to restore my reputation in that city. With his help, I was able to destroy Discord's tower of evil and save the city! It was after this that we made our way back to here, where I was arrested - that is not something a hero such as me deserves!"

"So that's where Klade's been this whole time?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"That would explain why the Los Pegasus tower had stopped working." Rarity pitched in.

"This is all a surprise for sure, but a welcome one nonetheless." Celestia exclaimed, before turning her head to look at the human. "Klade, I request that you aid us in our fight against Discord, just like you have before. The situation has become dire, and your help would be most beneficial."

The rest of us turned to look at Klade, who responded shortly afterwards. "That mother fucker killed Duston and then tried to kill me. If there's ever a time that I say no, then you should kill me right then because there would clearly be something wrong with me. I'm not going to let that son of a bitch get away with the things he's done."

As skeptical as I still was towards Klade's help, I couldn't deny that it felt very relieving to hear him say that. He was probably the only other person who was experiencing the levels of anger and sorrow that I was towards Discord, and in a way, it felt nice that I wasn't alone with it.

"I see." Celestia replied. "At the moment, there are still two towers remaining: One stands in Baltimare, and the other in Manehattan." She then proceeded to look at me. "Twilight, I request that you take a break. I shall take your place for the time being."

I nodded slowly, seeing the surprised looks on my friends' faces - this was the first time they had heard of Celestia's offer, even though it was the second time she brought it up. This time though, she wasn't asking, she was requesting. "Yes, Princess Celestia."

"I shall accompany your friends to Baltimare to disable the tower, and if all goes well, then we shall move on to Manehattan and do the same. Klade will come with us."

"Actually, I should be able to destroy both the towers from here." Klade spoke up. "I can take the underground passage I made back to my base - the same one we all used when Discord trapped us here. From there I can destroy them both."

Celestia seemed hesitant to the idea, and I watched as both Luna and Cadance looked towards her.

"I do not see why not..." Luna divulged, to which Celestia then replied.

"You will be coming with us Klade. I appreciate your offer, however."

"As long as these towers get destroyed, then I'm fine with that." Klade seemed to be on board with what Celestia wanted, and there was a short silence afterwards, until Trixie was the next to speak up.

"Ahem... I'm still here, you know. I would like to come as well."

I looked at Trixie in confusion - why would someone like her even want to come? I couldn't imagine her being anything more than just a hindrance, being the type of pony she was, and I looked towards the princesses in curiosity of how they'd respond to that. At the same time though, I now felt a little relief at the fact that I wasn't going anywhere - that would mean I wouldn't have to deal with her if she was allowed with them.

"I think it would be best suited that you stay in the castle and watch over Twilight as she recovers." Celestia answered.

"WHAT!?" Me and Trixie both yelled out.

"Are you out of your mind?" Trixie wailed. "Trixie is here to save Equestria, not watch over some pathetically elitist mare. She never came for this!"

"Celestia, please, if I may ask." I spoke up afterwards. "She has... problems... why do you want her looking after me?"

"You two have your differences, surely, but I believe that with some time spent together, you will learn to overcome them." Celestia expressed. Trixie definitely didn't seem to like that - more so than me probably - but at the moment it seemed like we didn't have a choice.

"...Okay, Princess Celestia. I understand." I eventually replied. I looked over at Trixie to see her glaring at me, and I frowned, looking back for a couple seconds until the next voice rang out - this time from Klade's clone.

"None of you know what you're doing to the future and fate of Equestria. Your actions are only going to risk causing a chain reaction that will lead this place to its downfall; Discord is the sole savior who's trying to prevent that from happening."

"..What are we going to do with him, Celestia?" I asked. "He's out of his mind."

"I think de-manipulating him would be the best thing to do." The real Klade replied. "He might know more about what Discord is planning."

"It's worth a try." Celestia acknowledged. "I think that is something Luna can work on during my absence." Luna nodded, and from there it seemed like everyone was on terms with what had been discussed, prompting Celestia to continue. "Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Klade: I suggest beginning preparations for our departure to Baltimare immediately. There is still half a day remaining, and so I expect you all to return ready to leave within an hour."

The mentioned names nodded, and I watched as they began to slowly leave the room, indicating that the meeting was over. Luna turned to look at her sister, where I assumed she was asking something, but I had questions too - so I quickly trotted up to the two of them.

"Um, excuse me, Princess Celestia." I spoke, causing her to divert her attention from Luna to me. "I just wanted to apologize for my rash decisions lately. I really should've listened to you earlier, and I um.."

"The damage is already done, Twilight Sparkle." She replied simply, looking down at me. She didn't appear as harmonious as she usually was, and I gulped, getting the impression that she was disappointed in me. She probably was - she had no reason not to.

"I know, I'm sorry, I'll try to be better from now on. Out of curiosity... do you know how long it's going to take for my horn to heal?"

"Six weeks at most, I'm afraid." Celestia answered, causing my eyes to go wide in response.

"Six weeks?" That meant six whole weeks without any magic usage! During the Winter Wrap-up I had barely managed to last a day - I couldn't fathom lasting for six whole weeks.

"Depending on your health and recovery, it's possible it may be four or five weeks. Regardless, you will be resting for quite some time."

I nodded slowly. "I understand." I continued to gaze up at Celestia for a couple more seconds; I felt like there was so much more I wanted to say, but yet I couldn't think of what those things could've been. It was like I wanted to somehow show her how I felt, but I didn't know how to convey those emotions. I eventually just turned around, slowly beginning to head out of the room, but not before noticing Trixie standing in the distance and glaring at me. I turned my head to look at her, where I could already feel myself frowning at the sight - did this mean I had to deal with four to six weeks of her? I sure hoped not. For now though, it seemed like I was going to have plenty of free time.





Princess Luna's POV

Twilight Sparkle had just finished talking to my sister and was now walking away. Her concerns were understandable, and I felt hopeful that she would learn from her mistakes. She had interrupted my little conversation with Celestia though, to which my sister then spoke up about it shortly afterwards.

"What is it you wanted to ask me?" She turned to look at me, to which I replied.

"Why did you not allow Klade to destroy the towers in his own way? I did not see any reason not to let him do so - his methods have proven to help us before."

"I know." Celestia responded. "It's just a precautionary measure. I want to see how he acts around us and Discord first, if he so happens to show up."

I watched as Klade was un-cuffed, but something didn't feel right with Celestia's explanation - almost as if she wasn't saying something. I thought about asking her about it, and I was just about not going to, but she had already told me before that I was free to ask her anything. She shouldn't have any objections - at least that's what I thought.

"Is there more to it than that, Tia?" I inquired, watching as she turned her head to look at me. She didn't reply until a couple seconds later.

"Yes." Celestia answered simply, before elaborating a short while later. "His power is too dangerous to be left uncontrolled. I'm unsure of what the future holds, after Discord is gone, but I'm hoping it will be a safe one."

"You still do not trust him?"

"At the moment, no. The time I spend with him will help me determine the type of person he is, and from there I'll decide on what to do."

"I see." I looked back at Klade as I watched him walk out of the room. I thought back to what Celestia had told me several days prior: She had told me about the dangerous things he had been doing with his magic, as well as how careless he seemed to be with it all. From what I could see, I hadn't observed any signs of malevolent intentions coming from him, despite what Celestia seemed to be implying whenever she spoke to me about him. Perhaps that wasn't what she was worried about though - maybe there was something else she was concerned about. Either way, Klade seemed to be on a neutral standing when it came to Celestia, at least for now. His actions would decide what happens from there.

My gaze soon moved to his clone, who was still bound up and currently being dragged out of the room. He was my next goal for now; he was being manipulated by Discord's magic, and I was to try and restore his mind. If his clone really was a carbon copy of Klade, then this might also be a chance to peer into his mind and see just what he was really like from my own perspective. I approached him slowly, seeing his piercing yellow-red eyes upon looking at me. He definitely wasn't giving off a friendly impression, and I hoped that would change after I figured out how to cleanse his mind.
> Chapter 15 | Klade's Mountain Base
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Klade's POV

The hoof-cuffs had just been unlocked off of my wrists and the magic-blocking ring taken off with them. It wasn't like it technically mattered though; during my stay in the dungeon overnight, I had slipped my hands through the over-sized hoof-cuffs and replaced the ring with an exact replica created by my magic. This would've allowed me to use magic, and I was almost going to say that the ring they were taking off was fake, but I didn't want to stir any trouble in-case this happened again - then they would make sure I wouldn't be able to repeat that.

'I hope the next pony they put that ring on isn't dangerous.' With my binds now taken off, it appeared as if I had free-roam of the castle - at least for the next hour before we had to depart for Baltimare. I watched as Twilight and Trixie left the room, both spaced out a noticeable difference apart from each other, when Rainbow Dash flew right in-front of me.

"I knew that couldn't have been you who I kept seeing! Literally nopony believed me when I kept saying that it wasn't like you to try and kill us like that - especially me" She pummeled me in a hug, and I sighed, gently hugging her back. "Gosh I'm so glad you're back! I really, really am."

"Yeah." It was conflicting being devastated by the confirmation of Duston's death just yesterday, then being swarmed with affection by my close companion - I wasn't really sure what to make of it. It was at least making me feel a little less like shit though.

"You better not disappear like that again." She replied. "You had me so fucking worried in ways that nopony really should know about - it's kind of not that cool."

"Discord is fucked." I remarked as I gazed back at Rainbow's wide, magenta eyes. "I'm not letting him get away with this."

"Yeah, only if you get to him before I do." Rainbow snickered, and by now I noticed that the rest of Twilight's friends were surrounding me.

"I'm so sorry about Duston." Fluttershy softly exclaimed as she walked up to me.

"We'll be here for ya, just like how we were for Twilight." Applejack chimed in.

It still didn't feel completely real that my brother had died - even with all the time to myself I had throughout yesterday and the night, I still wasn't sure of what to make of it. Hearing Applejack mention Twilight made me remember that she had been in a relationship with him, which prompted me to ask about it.

"How's Twilight been doing?"

"She's been.. coping." Rarity answered. "I'm personally impressed with Celestia's decision to take her place for now. That means that she will be right with us, correct?" She started to smile. "I simply cannot wait to accompany Celestia herself! This has been the best thing to happen to me in a long time!"

"Maybe Celestia is trying to compete with us on who will defeat Discord first?" Rainbow mentioned half-seriously.

"Maybe." I replied simply.

"We should throw a party for you Klade!" Pinkie Pie spoke up. "Once all this is over at least. I don't think Celestia would let me do it before then, and I don't know if I'd want to either. It could be a super-mega-ultra we won and everything is okay now party!"

"I guess." I responded. "Right now though, I think the only thing that's going to do anything to make me feel better would be to see Discord die."

"Twilight probably feels the same way." Rainbow expressed. "I can't wait to see you kick his ass."

I didn't reply at first, watching as Luna walked out of the room with the shackled clone. If she did find a way to de-manipulate him, I'd want to learn it from her. "We should start getting ready." I eventually spoke, turning around and leaving the room. Once I was out, though, I suddenly found myself not knowing what to do. I almost felt as if I was mentally lost, and I looked around at my surroundings, observing the beautifully decorated halls of Canterlot as well as stationed guards looking at me from their posts. Not too long afterwards though, I noticed Rainbow Dash walking up beside me again.

"Duston's death has you that bothered, huh?" She inquired.

"I just found out about it yesterday." I responded, causing her eyes to widen with surprise.

"Wow, really? I didn't know that part... We'll get Discord for this, don't worry. I was really starting to think you were dead or brainwashed or something for the longest time - I really hate him too."

"Well I'm not, luckily." I turned to look at her, suddenly finding that I didn't know what to say at first as I gazed back at her. Eventually though, I continued. "Just what exactly has happened since I disappeared?"

"You mean like.. everything?" Rainbow asked to confirm. "The last time I saw you was the night of the party - the night Duston died and Twilight blew her library up."

I paused for a second as I thought over what she just said. 'So Duston really did die that exact same night... I wonder if he killed him right after he told me he was going to do it. He had to have planned that, that son of a fuck.' Rainbow noticed my silence as I simply stood there in thought, which prompted me to speak up. "When I went home that night, well.. it technically wasn't my home - Discord had trapped it. When I opened the door, there was just a black void on the other side instead, and I was pushed in right afterwards. That's where I was stuck for what must've been days, completely isolated in some pitch black, dry-air hellhole."

Rainbow frowned as she listened to me. "Was that the underground cave Trixie was talking about? I think she said it was in the middle of the San Palomino desert, right?"

"Yeah, it has to be. I don't remember much when she first got me out of there though - I was probably just hours away from dying. I'm really lucky she got me out of there when she did, let alone doing it at all in the first place."

Rainbow's ears remained perked up while she listened. "So Discord tried to kill you too." I could see how angry she must've been getting as she stood there. "I can't believe you couldn't escape though. There was nothing you could've done for that whole time?"

"No. That room was disabling my magic, and as you all seem to already know, Discord brainwashed all of my clones, so I couldn't use them to just remotely teleport me out of there. I need to make sure nothing like that happens again."

"You better make sure that doesn't happen again." For the moment we just looked into each other's eyes in silence, until eventually I turned my head and looked elsewhere. Talking about my clones reminded me that I had wanted to scout out my base in the Foal Mountain Range, and I figured I'd have enough time do that real quick. After all, I didn't know what else I could possibly do for the next hour.

"I need to go do some things." I spoke as I began walking off again, only for Rainbow to follow.

"I'm coming with you." Dash asserted. I didn't see any reason not to let her - I figured she probably wasn't as dumb as Trixie when it came to putting herself in danger - and plus it would probably look better instead of me wandering off by myself after being gone for a whole week. I didn't reply, letting her follow me as I made my way through the hallways of Canterlot Castle, until I eventually reached the courtyard. Memories of the last time I was here began to come to the front of my mind: It was after Discord captured the princesses, and we beat him at one of his games in order to free them. We had fallen for one of this technicalities though. He did free them, sticking to his word, but then trapped us all within the castle with a large, round magical blockade. It was at this courtyard specifically that we had battled a large group of changelings - all of us had been here, including the princesses and Duston.

'It's going to suck doing everything by myself - I just realized that.' By now Rainbow seemed to have an idea of just where we were going - in this courtyard there was an underground tunnel that led straight to my base. We had all taken it before, but when I approached the large, plain grey rock that acted as a door, I noticed that there were two royal guards standing right there. The ground surrounding the rock looked like it had been dug up and then re-covered, leaving behind a mess of dirt, pulled up grass and small rocks. From what I saw, I assumed that the princesses had tried to get in from around the rock after failing to figure out the number-code sequence, located on the rock that would cause it to slide open. I approached the two guards, who were already looking at me as soon as they noticed.

"What's this all about? I need to get in there to check some things." I spoke up.

"I can't do that, sir. Nobody is allowed in here for the time being." One of the guards replied.

"This is Klade though - he's literally the one who made this whole thing." Rainbow responded. "We're working with the princesses anyway and we don't have much time before we gotta leave."

"Sorry, I can't do that. Until we receive direct orders from Princess Celestia stating otherwise, we aren't allowed to let anyone in."

Rainbow turned to look at me with a bewildered expression, before speaking up shortly afterwards. "Come on, let's go talk to Celestia and get this sorted out."

I nodded for the time being, agreeing only until I was out of the range of the two guards, before I responded. "There's another entrance we can go in."

Rainbow stopped and looked at me. "There is? Are you sure that's a good idea though?"

"Yeah, it's always been there - I never ever make just one entrance to anything. It's in the Canterlot Library and it should lead us to the same tunnel."

Although reluctant - something that I didn't fully understand why just yet - Rainbow followed me as I began to walk in the direction of the library. Eventually I had arrived, and it was a familiar sight too; I had visited here back when I had first arrived in Equestria, and it was the place where I had found the magical spell book I was looking for, filled with all sorts of magic only humans could do.

'I think I still have that book in my house somewhere... so much for 'borrowing' it. I don't think I've looked through the whole thing yet though otherwise I'd return it.' I made my way through the hallways, each one suited with tall, blue-colored bookshelves that reached up around four times higher than Rainbow Dash. There were plenty of ladders placed around, as well as signs that clearly dictated that no flying was allowed - they probably didn't want any wind gusts knocking over bookcases, which would understandably make a huge mess. There were some ponies currently here, perking their heads up and watching me as I walked on through, which was starting to remind me of when I had first been transported to Equestria - the same thing pretty much happened.

I soon approached a more distant and secluded part of the library, looking at my surroundings first to make sure no one was around, before approaching one bookshelf in particular that was pressed up against a wall. I got down on my knees and de-clamped some camouflaged levers that were keeping the shelf firmly held in place, then I stood back up, activating a physical strength boosting spell that had I used several times in my other adventures. From there I grabbed onto the shelf and began slowly sliding it over to the side, revealing an open doorway inside the wall behind the shelf.

"Let's go in." I stated as I made my way forward and deactivated the spell. Rainbow followed as I entered the stone passage, where I pressed a button that was located on a nearby wall, causing the shelf to slowly slide back in place and then re-lock itself closed.

"That was pretty cool." Rainbow commented as I turned on the lights that illuminated down the passageway. If the lights were still working, then that was probably a good sign.

"Yeah, I do cool shit." I replied as I started walking forward. Although I didn't mind the proceeding silence, Rainbow did, which caused her to speak up to keep a conversation going.

"Just how strong does that spell make you anyway?" She asked. "I've seen you using it before, and plus you've told me about it."

"It doesn't make you stronger at all actually - I found that out the hard way." I replied, catching her interest.

"Really? So then, what does it do exactly?"

"Well, I read the fine print in the book after fucking up my arm once. Apparently it activates your muscles so you're using them at full-strength at every single thing you do, so I guess an easier way of putting that would be to say that it just makes lifting easier, but also alot more dangerous. If I were to feel myself failing to lift something, it's really important that I don't just try harder because my muscles are already being used at their maximum. It'll just fuck me up."

"Huh." Rainbow responded. "Well that kinda sucks."

"I guess so. It still does give somewhat of an illusion that you're stronger though, but it'll definitely wear you out after awhile."

"Yeah, I can imagine." She replied with a short laugh. The rest of the short trip proceeded to be silent despite Rainbow's social attempt - not like I was helping at all. We had soon arrived at the main tunnel that leaded straight to my base, and I looked around, taking note of how creepy it seemed since the concrete tunnel just seemed to extend on forever into the darkness on both sides. I wasn't about to walk the rest of the way though - that would take forever - so I began imagining a four-wheeler dirt bike in my mind. Rainbow knew I must've been creating something after seeing me just stand there, and after a few minutes it appeared in the real world, where I got on and then looked back at Rainbow.

"Come on, let's have a tiny bit of fun for the rest of the way there." I exclaimed. Dash grinned slightly as she got on behind me, wrapping her hooves around me to hold on. I was still wearing the black leather jacket from earlier, something that was making me look either really badass or really edgy now that I was on the ATV. I hoped it was the first one.

"These things move forward really fast, right?"

"Not as fast as you can fly, but yeah." I replied as I turned the key. The engine turned on, echoing throughout the tunnel as the four-wheeler rumbled with energy underneath us. I revved the engine a few times and then glanced back at Rainbow. "Well, lets go." From there I began to throttle forward, feeling as Rainbow held onto me tighter with her hooves. I hadn't realized how much I missed doing shit with Rainbow until now, and I was really glad to be around her again.

The wind rushed against us as we zoomed across the concrete flooring of the tunnel, where I slowly angled the vehicle through the occasional turns that the passage had. I was going at full speed, where there was unfortunately no jumps or hills to have any fun with - it was all just mostly flat flooring. Rainbow seemed to be enjoying herself as she remained held on, and soon enough I saw the other side of the tunnel come into view, causing me to begin slowing down. I could see the armored van parked from where we had all previously used it to escape from Canterlot when the princesses were captured - it was still sitting right where we left it.

'I wonder if I should drive that back so it's at the Canterlot side in-case something like that happens again.' The ATV slowed down until it was alongside the the van, and I turned the engine off, waiting for Rainbow to let go before I stepped off with her. From there I made my way over to the elevator that led up inside, where I noticed from a panel in the elevator that the base's alarm and defensive systems were currently active.

"Hold on, it seems like the place is trapped right now." I spoke up as Rainbow made her way in with me.

"Trapped?"

"Yeah, I have a trap setup where if anyone tries to enter, it'll seal off the base both physically and magically. It's supposed to let me know either back at my house or through a handheld device that someone's in, and through there I can either release poisonous gas that'll kill everyone inside, or another kind that'll just knock them out."

"Oh, wow. That's pretty brutal."

"Pretty much. I made sure though to have hidden gas masks and a secret way out so that I don't end up killing myself like a fucking idiot if I make a mistake. If it's active right now though, then it should mean no one's inside."

"You really do think of everything, huh?"

"Yep. Backup plans to backup plans." I entered in the correct number-sequence to disengage the alarm, and the red light that the panel was showing proceeded to turn green. 'Alright. Watch me get killed anyway.' I pressed the button on the elevator, watching as the double doors slithered closed, and from there the room began to move upwards. It took only a short time before the elevator had arrived, and the doors opened, revealing the main control room of my base. It was a large, rectangle-shaped room, fitted with shiny, almost reflective marble flooring. I had never gotten around to making any other structures though, leaving the mountain rock itself visible on the walls and ceiling, giving it more of a feeling that it was constructed right into the mountain itself. A big, long table was located in the middle of the room, surrounded by twelve total chairs; five on each side, and then two and both ends. This was for me and my clones to discuss battle plans and shit like that, although I had only ever actually used it once. A large flat-screen TV was located at one end of the table, which was supposed to be connected to all the cameras and video feeds that I had all across Equestria.

Etched into the sides of the control room were multiple smaller rooms, where each one was fitted to control its own railgun. There were six total rooms for this, but there was still leeway for two more - I had unfortunately never been able to get around to making the rest I wanted to create. Each room had a sign located at the top, describing the location of that particular railgun, which went as follows: Canterlot Top, Foal Mountain #1, Foal Mountain #2, Everfree, Smokey Mountains, and Mountains South. The Smokey Mountains and Mountains South railguns - the latest two that I had created - were specially created to shoot actual nuclear bombs instead of regular projectiles. I had definitely been lucky so far that Discord hadn't taken advantage of that yet, and I was going to make sure that he never could while I was here.

"This place looks different." Rainbow commented as she looked around. "It's alot brighter this time. It's like you made it about twenty percent cooler."

"Yeah, I was kind of sick of it being so dark and olde-timey, so I made it look better." I made my way over to the table and glanced across it, looking to see if there might be anything left behind that would hint on what Discord was planning, but there wasn't. From there I made my way into the nearest side-room - the Canterlot Top room specifically. The room wasn't as bright as the control room, with the only light sources being from the various different colored buttons on the control panel, the large display monitor located on the wall above the panel, and an ambient blue light that was giving the room a cool, wavy atmosphere. I made my way over to the panel and sat down at a wheeled chair located right in-front of it, where I turned on the monitor and watched as the live video feed of the railgun located at the very top of the Canterlot mountain was activated.

"I don't see Discord anywhere." Rainbow exclaimed as she looked up at the screen.

"I wasn't expecting to find him - I'm just here to lock this so nobody else can use it." Out of curiosity, though, I began to turn the gun, watching as the video slowly moved with it. I had a viewpoint of pretty much all of Equestria from where this gun was located - it was the perfect vantage point - and lo and behold, I was soon able to see the tower located all the way at Baltimare come into view. I would've easily been able to lock onto it from here and fire at it.

"You could totally destroy that right now." Dash commented. "You should probably just go for it."

"Nah, Celestia didn't seem to want me doing this for some reason. I'll just go with her and do it her way for now." It was definitely tempting to just shoot at the tower now that I was right here looking at it from the video feed, but I didn't want to spark any unnecessary drama with Celestia.

"Well this is dumb." Rainbow frowned. "I've been out with Twilight and her friends for days trying to stop these towers - why should I keep doing that when you could just get the rest of them right now in like five minutes?"

"We'll have to ask Celestia why she didn't want me doing this."

"Honestly, who cares what Celestia wants - I don't think she realizes how much easier this could be. I think you should do it and I'll defend you if she makes a big fuss about it."

I thought about it in silence for awhile as I sat in the chair. It might've just been me, but Celestia didn't seem to be looking at me with a particularly warm gaze whenever she did so. I wasn't sure what the problem could've been - I had been gone for awhile - so maybe that was it. Either way, going with her really wasn't a big deal; if that failed for whatever reason, then I would just offer this suggestion again.

"I'll wait." I eventually responded. "Going with Celestia shouldn't be too much of a big deal. We'll just destroy the towers that way."

"Suit yourself." Rainbow replied. She didn't seem to put too much of an effort to refute my decision, so I proceeded to turn my attention back to the monitor. I didn't need anyone else using this - like my clones for example - so I needed to put a lock on here so that it could only be used if the correct 8-digit number sequence was put in. The clones were essentially total copies of myself though, which meant they had all of my memories - I would've needed to come up with a number that had absolutely no relevance to me.

'Just thinking up of a random number myself might not be good enough... if I can think of it, even if I think it's random, then they might come up with the same number just because they're copies of me.' I turned to look Rainbow. "Hey Rainbow, can you come up with a 8-digit number for me? Try to make it easy to remember."

"Uh, sure." She replied, taking her attention off the display monitor. "1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8?"

I was about to tell her that wouldn't work - that probably was the most insecure pass-code ever. It was definitely something I never would've even thought about using though, which was making me think that maybe it'd be fine - under that logic, my clones would never even think of putting in something so predictable. "Thanks Dash." I faced the control panel again, entering in that specific lock-combination. Just to be safe though, I excerpted the 8 with a 9, making it still extremely similar to Rainbow's suggestion while also keeping it easy to remember. With that complete, the railgun was now locked and couldn't be controlled without entering that pass-code first.

"Time to do that to the other ones." I exclaimed as I stood up from the chair.

"Do what exactly? What were the numbers for?"

"I'm locking these so nobody can use them unless they put in those numbers to unlock it." I answered. "We don't need any manipulated clones coming in and doing a bunch of bad shit."

"Oh. Well you should've told me that first - literally anyone can guess what I just said!"

"It'll be fine, I changed it up a bit."

Rainbow glanced at the monitor and then back at me. "I mean, normally I wouldn't care so much, but if something bad ends up happening then Celestia's not gonna look good at you at all. We should probably uh, take everything a little more seriously."

"That's why I'm here." I responded. "At least now they're all gonna be locked - they weren't before."

"Well.. alright, fine. I guess that works."

With the lock now placed on the railgun, I stood up from the chair, making my way out of the room and heading towards the next one - I was going to have to repeat what I just did to the remaining five guns. Doing so only took less than five minutes, and upon locking the last railgun, I decided that I should check out the rest of the base, just to see if anything had happened. I hadn't been here in awhile either, and I always liked screwing around in here and in the vicinity of the surrounding mountains - it was where I spent the majority of my time in Equestria having fun and doing crazy shit with my magic.

I made my way over to the top left of the control room, where a set-up stairs awaited me - going up them led straight to four large rooms. Each of them were interconnected and formed a square in total - this is where I normally housed all of my clones. I knew Rainbow hadn't been to this part before, so I decided to explain what it was.

"I created these rooms to keep all of my clones in." I explained as I looked around the brightly lit area. "The idea was to fill it with a bunch of stuff that could keep me occupied for years, and then even more." The first room we had entered had a wall completely lined with flat-screen TVs - at least ten of them in total - all fitted with a PlayStation 3 game console below each one and a large sofa extending across the entire wall. There were several controllers laying around, and the four TVs located at the very end of the room appeared to be turned on. Out of curiosity, I stepped closer to observe just what the television was displaying, where I saw that Modern Warfare 3 was currently being played. I grabbed a controller since it was laying right there on the floor, and I looked through the custom classes they had created, only for me to nod my head in approval - there were no tryhard classes to be found!

'These guys know what they're doing.' I set down the controller and turned off the four TVs and consoles, where I proceeded to look around at the rest of the room. A small black shelf nearby was completely filled with game cases, most of them for the PS3, but there were others that were for the Nintendo Wii as well. This was because I had created a single separate Wii located at another part of the room, just to add a little more variety. Nothing else seemed out of the ordinary, so I moved on to the next room - this one was alot more focused on relaxing. There were multiple physical games laying around - a pool table, a ping-pong table, an air hockey table, and a stacker arcade game specifically. There was a small bar located against one of the walls, although it was mostly there just for fun and memes. My clones didn't survive off of food or water, as it was more of a raw magical power thing - something I would get to later. Despite that, I still lined the bar with all kinds of drinks and sodas, just because it looked cool and in-case there was ever more than just my clones having fun here.

"This place seems pretty chill." Rainbow commented as she looked around.

"Yeah, it's pretty epic." The lighting of the room was currently filled with an ambient orange, but I had made it possible to customize the light to any color, unlike the previous room that was stuck with just a white light. Everything seemed pretty normal here as well, so I made my way onward to the next room. The atmosphere of this one was totally different, which would probably give off a creepy vibe to anyone who didn't know what it was for. It was lined with four total machines, two on opposing sides against the walls of the room. These devices were created to give my clones the magical power they needed to survive; in a way they were like batteries, and this is where they went to recharge. The spellbook I had learned these from outlined that a clone would only last about a month by itself before it would rot away into nothingness, so these machines were to prevent that even if I wasn't around to personally replenish them.

"What on Equestria is all of this for?" Rainbow inquired as she examined the strange-looking devices.

"These keep my clones alive, basically." I replied. "Magical energy is what keeps them alive, and these are here so I don't always have to replenish them myself."

"Huh." She responded as she slowly walked around. "I mean... just how similar are your clones to you anyway? The whole idea still seems kinda weird to me."

"They're essentially carbon copies of me." I answered. "They have all of my memories just prior to when I created them, so they would know everything about me too. I'd probably say that the only difference is what they're made out of."

"That's so weird, but so cool too." Dash exclaimed as she walked further into the room. "Hey, what's this one do? It looks way different."

I caught up with her, where I saw her looking a lone contraption that looked way different than the others. What she was looking at was probably the most technical thing I had ever successfully created with my magic. "This is what my clones used to teleport me remotely. This one is actually powered by a magic crystal as well as electricity - I needed the magic crystal to get the teleportation to work. It's like a coordinate-based GPS system thingy that can track my location from anywhere, and from there you can specify where you want it to teleport me. It's really badass and it took me fucking ages of testing to get it working right." I stepped closer and then sat down, looking at the monochromatic screen displayed in-front of me. Sure enough, it was showing my exact location with a dot - right here in the mountain. "So you could even use it right now for example - you could teleport me right into Canterlot if you wanted. What makes this actually work is this ring." I held up my hand, showing her a golden, engraved ring that was currently on my finger. "This is how it finds my location and also what allows it to teleport me. The thing that makes this extremely useful though is that it'll still teleport me, even if I'm in someplace that's disabling my magic. I've gotten out of a few unfortunate situations with Discord because of this."

"Oh wow." Rainbow remarked as she listened to me. "That's actually really, really cool."

"Yeah, it's probably really good that you know about this too; now that I think about it, I should've told more people about this. That way if I ever disappear again, I won't almost die only to be saved by an extreme case of luck."

"You better be more careful from now on." Rainbow replied, looking at me with a stern gaze. "I'm going to kick your ass if you let yourself get almost killed again."

"I'll keep that in mind." I stood up from the device, taking another short look around before heading into the next and last room. This room is where I kept each clone's loadout, which consisted of an M4A1 assault rifle, two Glock 18 machine pistols, a Model 1887 shotgun, and then a backpack filled with ammo and a few explosives. Every single loadout was missing though, which was something I had figured would be true, but it was actually pretty ominous to be seeing this room completely empty in person. Each one of those clones still remaining was out there and dangerously armed.

"What's this room supposed to be?" Rainbow asked as she looked around, clearly confused at the emptiness.

"This is where I keep each clone's loudout set up." I answered. "As you can see though, it's all gone. The same guns they were shooting at you with were taken from here."

"Oh." Rainbow commented with a frown. "There looks like there's alot of room here for stuff."

"Yeah, they're pretty armed." I did another quick look around, before beginning to head back down the stairs. As I was about to return to the control room, however, the sound of the tunnel elevator suddenly caught my attention. I immediately stopped in my tracks, grabbing Rainbow to stop her descent with me as I stood and listened.

"Klade?" Rainbow asked, looking up at me in confusion as I listened closely.

"Someone's here." I replied with a voice somehow even more serious than I had previously been talking. I pulled out one of the G18s that I had, taking the safety mode off and then making my way down the rest of the stairs until there was only a couple left in-front of me. I used the wall as cover as I peeked around the corner; the elevator was located all the way at the other end of the room, with it being at the bottom-right while the stairs I was at was located at the top-left. Since it was so far away, located all the way across the table, I changed the G18's fully-automatic firing mode to semi-auto for increased accuracy. I waited patiently with the gun aimed towards the elevator, ready to kill Discord or any other evil mother fucker that could've walked in - even my brainwashed clones. I tensed as I heard the elevator doors open, my finger waiting right by the side of the trigger as I aimed with more focus, only to see Trixie trot in a few seconds later.

'God damnit, it's just her. What the hell is she doing here?' I changed the gun's firing mode back and put the safety mode back on, returning it to my hip holster and then stepping out into the room. "What are you doing here Trixie?"

The mare in question was startled by my abrupt voice, jumping slightly in place and then turning to look at me. "Do you think you can just leave Trixie like she never even existed? What is all of this anyway? You're still inclined to help me, you know!"

"I didn't forget." I replied as I began making my way over to her. There was still one more room left in the base - the first room that I had created where I currently liked to test things out in, such as weapons - but I figured that was going to have to wait for another time now. "How did you get here?"

"I followed you, duh." She responded with a frown. "Don't even think that I am going to let you run away from me. But really, why is there such a huge tunnel underneath Canterlot? Trixie thought it was never going to end! Her hooves hurt now."

"It's been here for awhile - before you even met me, actually."

"Klade made everything here." Rainbow chimed in. "It's not just awesome, it's 'pure epic' I think he calls it."

Trixie blinked, taking a moment to comprehend that everything around her had been actually created by me. "You made... all of this? That can't be true! But how..? Is it your magic?" She stepped closer to me. "I demand that you teach me!"

"I thought I was fixing your reputation - now I'm doing this too?"

Trixie shook her head. "No, forget that - Trixie can rebuild her own reputation if she learns how to make such extravagant buildings like this." She looked around. "Where is here, anyway?"

"In a mountain." I answered as I made my way over to the elevator.

"A.. mountain?" Trixie asked as she looked around once again, this time taking note of the rocky walls and ceilings. "You mean, inside an actual mountain?"

"Duh." Rainbow replied in a mocking tone of voice.

"Come on Trixie, I probably have to leave with Celestia soon." I spoke up upon entering the elevator.

"You mean you're going to leave already without showing me anything?" Trixie responded as she trotted over to me. "Why are there signs with names on them? What is 'Canterlot Top' supposed to mean?"

"I'll have to show you another day." I answered. "We have to leave now."

Trixie groaned, glaring at me as she walked into the elevator. "You're lucky you have that excuse right now. However, with or without you, Trixie will discover what all of this is."

I didn't bother to reply, pressing the button on the elevator and watching as the doors slowly closed afterwards. The room began to move downwards, where Trixie turned to look at me shortly afterwards.

"What does this room do anyway?"

"It's called an elevator. It's a room where you go inside it, and then the whole thing will more either up or down with you." I answered. "It's like stairs, but better."

Rainbow chuckled slightly at the end, and I watched as Trixie looked up and then downwards. We reached our destination after only a short amount of time, indicated by the room stopping and the doors slithering open. As I was about to leave, though, I suddenly came up with an idea as I glanced at the alarm panel.

"Rainbow." I spoke as I turned to approach it. "Five-digit number."

The cyan pegasus glanced over at Trixie, then trotted over to me, whispering in my ear so Trixie couldn't hear what she was saying. "1-5-4-3-2."

From there I replaced the current code needed to deactivate the alarm with Rainbow's, and then turned on the alarm afterwards, watching as the green light turned red.

"What's going on?" Trixie asked, clearly not liking being left out as she trotted over to us. "What are you two doing?"

"Activating the defense systems." I replied. "Now nobody can come in here without risking their lives - included my brainwashed clones." I proceeded to magically create a handheld device - this is what would alert me if someone tried entering my base. It looked similar to an electronic pad, fitted with a small screen and a few buttons - it was about the size of a phone. I synchronized it with the panel and then covered the pad with a hard case, since I didn't need to be accidentally pressing any of the buttons. I put it away in my jacket pocket then turned to face the two ponies standing there. "Okay, we're done now. Let's go." I began to walk out of the elevator, catching a glare from Trixie, probably because now she wouldn't be able to come here on her own. Instead of heading towards the four-wheeler, however, I approached the van instead. I wasn't about to ride on the ATV with two ponies, and I wanted this van back on the Canterlot side anyway.

"You two can sit in the back together while I drive." I spoke as I approached the back of the armored vehicle. I opened the double doors, revealing the interior; it had a couch, a mounted light machine gun that extended out of the top, and a rocket launcher with a box of rockets that could be shot through a multitude of windows that could be opened up. I thought back to the last time I had used this, when all the mane 6, Duston and the princesses were stuffed in there during our escape from Canterlot. I exhaled slowly as I thought about my brother, pushing it to the back of my mind for now as I turned to watch the two ponies step inside. "Don't beat each other up in there." I commented as I began to close the doors.

"Yeah, I don't think fighting Trixie would be a problem." Rainbow replied. The doors were closed by now, where I could only hear Trixie's angry, incomprehensible response muffled through the vehicle's armor. I couldn't resist laughing to myself as I made my way up to front, and I opened the driver's side door, seating myself inside and then turning the key. The van's engine began to roar to life, echoing loudly throughout the empty, concrete tunnel. I shifted the gear to reverse, then turned the vehicle around, where I proceeded to shift it back to drive and head off in the direction of Canterlot.
> Chapter 16 | Unresolved Tension
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The ride back was pretty uneventful, and I was silent for just about the entire trip - Rainbow Dash and Trixie not so much. I listened to what at first was an argument that had escalated all from that single comment I previously made, and from there it stemmed into a more relaxed conversation. I idly listened as they talked about their lives, but before long, I saw the end of the tunnel approaching.

The vehicle slowed down to a stop, where I proceeded to shift it into reverse, backing it up towards the end of the tunnel so that it was facing the correct way. From there I shifted to park and shut off the engine, stepping out of the van and making my way to the back. Opening the two back-doors, I was greeted with two ponies jumping down onto the concrete floor below.

"I hope we're not too late - We've been gone for awhile I think." Rainbow exclaimed as I shut the doors.

"It's probably been like fifty minutes." I responded, taking note of how useful it would be if I had a watch. "So yeah we should hurry up."

I wasn't about to take the courtyard exit though, which is where I had parked the van; I knew royal guards had been stationed there, and I wasn't about to start any drama by sprouting out from the inside outta nowhere. I began making my way further down the tunnel where we had just came out of, where eventually I came across the small entry-way etched into the wall - the one that would lead us to the Canterlot Library. I walked on in, going through the smaller hallways with the two ponies following behind me, until I reached the end - only to be disappointed at what I saw. The exit was wide-open.

'The fuck..? I know what this is - god damnit Trixie. Just leave the fucking entrance wide open when you sneak inside.' I wasn't about to say anything to her about it though as I walked out into the library. 'I'd be extremely lucky if nobody saw this - now I gotta make a whole other entrance because Trixie is too dumb to close the passageway behind her.'

Once both Rainbow and Trixie were out, I closed off the entrance with the bookshelf, sealing it with the camouflaged locks and then making my way through the library. Random library goers understandably stared when they spotted the strange group of three walking on through, but I really wasn't paying too much attention to them right now. Soon enough we had all arrived straight to Canterlot's planning room, where I noticed that Spike, the rest of the mane 6, and Celestia were already here.

"There they are." Princess Celestia announced as the three of us walked into the room. "I'm glad to see that you have made it on time."

"Yeah, we're here now." I replied. "Is everyone ready?"

Celestia nodded. "All preparations are set, so with everyone now present, our departure shall begin immediately. Everyone, follow me." With that, Celestia began her trot out of the room, where the rest of us followed suit. We soon approached a carriage - a rather royal looking one at that - and Celestia's horn glowed a soft, yellow light as she magically opened the doors. She stood to the side, allowing us inside first, where I turned to see Twilight Sparkle and Trixie standing outside.

"I'm sorry I can't be with you all." Twilight exclaimed with sorrow in her voice. "But... it's probably for the best. I've already made a number of irrational decisions, and it would bother me forever if I made a mistake that really hurts any of you."

"It's fine Twilight!" Pinkie Pie responded. "You've done so much for all of us already. Now the only thing that's left for you to do is... well, nothing!"

"I'm sure Celestia will protect us better than anyone ever could, so you needn't worry." Rarity added. "Your number one priority should be making sure that horn of yours recovers with no mishaps. That's not something I'd like to play around with."

"Don't you dare forget about your obligations to me, Klade." Trixie spoke up. "Celestia may be forcing me to stay here with Ms. Perfect, but that does not mean I will simply let you weasel your way out of this."

"That's not happening Trixie, just calm down." I replied. 'Is she that insecure over her control over me? She keeps telling me that.'

"Uh, guys, it's not like this is a big farewell." Spike started talking. "They're probably gonna be back by tomorrow or something."

"Indeed - they have Princess Celestia with them." Trixie responded. "The only way they could be even better off is I was with them."

"Yes Spike, I suppose I shouldn't hold you all up any longer." Twilight remarked. With that, her and Trixie backed away, giving the carriage room to take off. Celestia waved to the two ponies and the small dragon, bidding them goodbye as the guards unfolded their wings and began to flap them. I decided to wave as well, watching the three figures get smaller as we ascended into the sky.

'I wonder what's going to happen at Baltimare.' I thought to myself as we flew. 'If I see Discord, I'm killing that fucker immediately.'





The ride there I spent mostly answering questions from Twilight's other friends, where I soon found myself entering a discussion on what I had been doing during the past week, as well as finding out what the mane 6 had been up to. It was nice to finally discover just what had happened during my absence - all the other tower locations and their ventures to try and stop them - and it was here that I also found out that I had been labeled as an enemy of Equestria. That definitely explained some things, most notably why Celestia had been eying me so strangely. It was good that I managed to find that out instead of staying in the dark due to some miscommunication.

Eventually, I noticed a city coming into view, something that only could've been Baltimare. A tower erected from one of the buildings was glaringly obvious - it looked just like the one that I had dealt with at Los Pegasus. I suddenly realized though that I wouldn't be able to use magic once the carriage got close enough, and that I really hadn't done any preparations on what I could do to destroy the tower specifically. It had completely slipped my mind amidst everything I had been experiencing in the past couple days, which was something that usually didn't happen.

'Well fuck.' I looked around at the surrounding ponies; Celestia was seated at the front of the carriage, while everyone else including me were in the backseats. 'I know shooting at the tower doesn't seem to do shit - maybe I was just missing it though when I shot, I don't know. I should be able to make some explosives as a backup plan - I don't think I'll spark any drama with that.' With that, I began imagining a tan yellow backpack in my mind, with the interior being completely filled with C4 explosives. I created it into the real world roughly five minutes later, sliding it onto my back and then catching the attention of the other ponies.

"What's that? Oh is that for a picnic?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"No, it's for Discord." I replied. "Just a backup plan against the tower."

"Oh." Pinkie glanced at Celestia - who was currently facing away from us at the front - and then back at me. "Well, I guess you could never be too careful?"

"Klade's like that." Rainbow spoke up.

"Well, as long as Discord gets what's comin' to him." Applejack remarked.

After only a couple more minutes we began to approach the outskirts of the city, where the carriage soon lowered and then landed at a large stretch of grass just outside the premises. We all proceeded to step out from whichever door we were seated closest to, and from there the ponies found themselves grouping around Princess Celestia.

"Discord is not an enemy to be taken lightly, so let us move forward with great care." Celestia exclaimed. I watched as everyone nodded, and we proceeded to follow her into the city. The inhabitants were understandably in awe when they saw the princess walking through the city streets, to which some cheered and began stomping their hooves. The eagerness to be free of the tower's emissions was as clear as day, and Celestia was like a symbol of hope that those days would soon be over.

'I guess magic is pretty important in Equestria, even though only one species of ponies can actually use it.' I thought to myself as I looked around. 'That kind of really makes unicorns seem like the superior race - I wonder if that's sparking some kind of tension. I guess it probably would in the human world because we seem to get butthurt over everything.'

We soon arrived at a building that the tower seemed to be on the roof of, where a saw a stallion who was standing up by the entrance. His eyes went wide when he saw the princess approach, to which he immediately bowed. "It's Princess Celestia!" He exclaimed, lowering his head for a second and then raising it to look at her. "She's returned!"

'Returned? I guess she's been here before then.'

"I hope that when I leave this city today, there will no longer be a tower to plague its citizens." The sound of cheering proceeded after Celestia spoke, and I looked to see that we had already gathered a bit of a following.

"Celestia will restore this city of ours to its former glory!" The stallion exclaimed as he moved out of the way of the entrance. "I'm gettin' tired of standing there all the darn time, I tell ya what."

Celestia proceeded to levitate the Elements of Harmony to each of their respective ponies. She was wearing the crown that Twilight would usually wear, and once everyone was equipped, the princess spoke once again.

"We must stick together once we go inside." With that said, she began to make her way inside the building, with the rest of us following. The interior of the building was dark and gloomy, with the only light sources coming from the outside sun shining in through the windows. That was short-lived, however, as I pulled out my flashlight and used it to shine at our surroundings. The ponies looked at me in first in curiosity towards what I was doing, when Pinkie's voice rang out afterwards.

"The stairs are over here! I've been in here like twice so far, so I kind of know where everything is." Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "That doesn't make it any less spooky though. This place gives me the creeps!"

We followed Pinkie up the creaking stairs, where I made sure to shine the light in-front of us as we went up the building floor by floor. Eventually though, the putrid smell of what must've been rotting flesh became apparent, where I saw Rarity gagging and Fluttershy trying not to throw up.

"Gosh that smells horrible." Applejack remarked with a frown. "Those poor ponies have to have been here for at least a week by now."

"I wonder who they were..." Fluttershy spoke up softly. "But they're gone now.. they've been.. k-killed.."

'This is reminding me of Los Pegasus.' I thought to myself as I walked with the group. 'Has this same thing happened at every tower location? I guess so. That's pretty brutal - has Discord always been like this?'

Soon enough the sight of the bodies came into our view, and I signed my flashlight at one of them, giving everyone a clear view of the rotting flesh that was deteriorating onto the floor below. The pony's ribs were visible by now - dried blood surrounding his, or maybe even her body - and even though the body was so decomposed, I could still make out that it was riddled with bullet-holes. This had to have been the work of my clones.

'That's actually really gruesome to look at, holy shit.' I glanced at the other ponies, seeing their shocked and disgusted expressions. 'It smells so fucking bad too and it's hot as hell in here - I'm starting to sweat my ass off.'

We continued up the stairs to the next floor, where I noticed that the wall behind the stairs was littered with bullet-holes. Ascending upwards we were met with a whole bunch more of them, completely surrounding the floor and the walls around where we were standing. Bodies were spread out everywhere now, and the smell was so much worse - I could barely breathe at this point. The rooms were no doubt poorly ventilated too, and Celestia was the next to speak up.

"The person behind these horrors will face the harshest punishment imaginable." She paused for a second before continuing. "We need to press on." We continued forward across the room, passing by what appeared to be a spotlight that was turned off. What must've been hundreds of shell-casings were all over the ground behind the spotlight, and I noticed some of the ponies glancing at me as we continued on.

'Yeah, I guess that's kind of my bad. It never even occurred to me though that those clones might get magically brainwashed.'

The sound of the tower whirling above became louder and ever-more apparent as we made our way up the next plight of stairs, and soon enough we could see the end of stairs, leading right up onto the roof. The bright light of the outside sun was partially shining through, and Celestia turned to look at us.

"I don't know what might happen up there, but we need to be ready for anything. A strong, evil presence surrounds this place."

I nodded, deciding that now was a good a time as any to pull out one of my G18s. I turned off the safety mode, holding it with both hands as I stepped up each individual stair along with the group. If Discord were to be up there, it would be the first time I'd have seen him since I was trapped and almost killed. For all I knew, he could've thought I was already dead.

The bright light of the afternoon sun blinded us at first as we stepped onto the roof, and I squinted my eyes as I quickly looked around. The roof seemed empty, but that didn't convince me that no one was here. We had gotten this far without a single hitch - that had to be intended. Something was up, and I fully-expected it to happen in the next few moments. The cyan-green light located inside the glass orb at the top of the tower swirled, illuminating us in its constantly moving glow. If worse came to worse, I would blow up the orb at the top with the C4 that I had created earlier.

For the moment we all simply stood on the roof, looking around and waiting for something to happen. Celestia's expression showed that she was waiting for something as well, which meant that surely there was something planned if she was expecting it too. As the seconds went by though, nothing still happened, and eventually Pinkie Pie spoke up.

"Uhh, did Discord forget to show up?" She asked. "We got the guy who was here last time, so it kinda makes sense why we didn't see him, but hasn't it been a whole day since then?"

"Something's fishy." Rainbow responded. "I don't like this."

"What should we do, Celestia?" Rarity inquired as she looked up at the princess.

"Discord is here." Celestia answered. "I suspect he's waiting on us to use the elements so that he can absorb even more of their power."

"Oh." Pinkie frowned. "So then... we can't destroy the tower?"

"We can still try." The princess replied. "He must be planning on defeating me afterwards, but I will not allow that to happen."

"I can destroy the tower from here, Celestia." I spoke up. "He won't have to absorb any power."

Celestia turned to look at me, but she then shook her head. "I want him to show up. If you do that, then he has no reason to appear." She proceeded to look at the rest of the ponies. "Ready the elements."

'She must be planning on battling Discord herself.' I thought as I watched the Elements of Harmony begin to glow. 'Either way, the instant he appears I'm shooting that fuck.' I readied my pistol, with the standard issue full-auto currently set so I could spray the fuck out of him. My excitement was building at the thought of finally putting an end to this bastard - the same one who killed my brother for whatever godforsaken reason. I wanted nothing more than to kill him for what he had done, and at this point my only other wish would be to be able to torture him somehow. I knew he deserved it, but I wasn't the type of person to let any chances slip anyway - I would kill him anyway the instant I had the opportunity.

The ponies began to glow as their magic built up, resisting the tower's influence, until a rainbow beam soon shot out from their united magical output. I readied my gun as I watched the rainbow barrel straight towards the orb at the top, until, to my surprise, it made actual contact. The beam absorbed into the glass, making the entire orb glow a bright, hot white until it eventually blew up with a loud explosion. Shards of glass flew in every direction, rattling and splattering against the floor with high-pitched clattering. I remained alert anyway, looking for any sign of Discord, but he never did show up.

"Well, that works too I guess." Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "We got the tower! Yay!"

"Really?" Rainbow looked around. "That's it? He doesn't even show up? Okay something's seriously not adding up now."

I looked over at Celestia, who appeared to be just as perplexed as everyone else. Eventually though, she spoke up. "If Discord won't show himself, then so be it." She turned her head to look at us. "Let us move on to Manehattan. There should be enough hours left in the day to rid of that tower if we act now."

"Two of them in one day!" Rarity exclaimed. "That would be all of them Princess Celestia, would it not?"

"It would, yes." She replied. "Let's move onward." She turned to look at me for a couple seconds before making her way back down the stairs, where the rest of us followed suit.
> Chapter 17 | It Can't Be
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The same thing that had happened at Baltimare happened at Manehattan, which was nothing - nothing at all. No clones were there to shoot at us, and Discord's presence wasn't even around this time. It was a simple walk inside, destroy the tower, then walk out. It was definitely strange, but we still took it as a sign of progress. After all, the towers were being destroyed - all of them in-fact. It was only a temporary win though; Discord was still around, and this fight wouldn't be over until he was dead.

At the moment we were in the carriage on our way back to Canterlot. Manehattan's tower had just been destroyed not too long ago, and it was currently probably around six in the evening. The sun was setting, and it seemed as if we would all be staying the night in the mountain castle of Canterlot. I turned to look at the other ponies that were in with me - they all had confused looks on their faces. The fact that nothing happened at all was making it seem like maybe we had done something wrong. The only thing we could do at this point is just be ready for whatever could happen next - I knew I was.

Eventually, we arrived at Canterlot, where the carriage landed with a loud thud. From there, I opened the door, stepping out just like all the other ponies were.

"You're all back already?" The voice of Twilight Sparkle spoke up. "It hasn't even been a day yet!"

"Yep! And we got both the towers too!" Pinkie Pie cheerfully replied.

"It was way too easy. Something's up." Rainbow responded. "I don't even think this is worth celebrating over."

"There's no reason to be that pessimistic, Rainbow." Rarity chimed in. "I for one feel this was a great victory."

I wasn't sure what to think - I was mostly just undecided while waiting for Discord's next move. The conversation amongst the mane 6 continued for a short while, but I wasn't paying too much attention to that. I was tired, and I definitely didn't feel how I usually did - unfortunately not in a good way. I didn't want that, but apparently I was going to be stuck with feeling like shit. My brother's confirmed death was bothering me subconsciously whether I liked it or not.

Before I knew it, everyone seemed to be making their separate ways, where I noticed Rainbow walking over to me.

"Hey, you alright?" She asked.

"No." I replied - I wasn't about to be that guy and say yeah where my lying would be totally obvious. "I don't what I should do about this, honestly."

"I think you'll be fine Klade - you still got me." She responded. "There's still alot of others too who care about you. You're not alone."

"Yeah." I said simply, where it proceeded to be silent for the next few seconds until Rainbow responded.

"Maybe you should try talking to Twilight, I don't know. I should start heading to bed though - Did Celestia give you a place to stay? If not then you can crash with me."

"Sure I'll do that."

"Awesome!" Rainbow smiled, and I couldn't help but feel a little better after seeing her excitement. "Oh that reminds me too because I think Twilight wants to find out how your weapons work - she was messing with one of them earlier but she couldn't figure out how. Maybe that's something you can do tomorrow."

"Well it's better than moping around by myself." I replied. Rainbow chuckled, and she proceeded to walk by me, where I followed her through the Canterlot Castle. We soon arrived at a hallway filled with doors on either side - I assumed they were all bedrooms - and Rainbow walked up to one, pushing it open and then proceeding inside. The interior was pretty basic, but it was decorated in a kind of simplistic way that really made the furniture and the yellow and white colors of the room stand out. I closed the door behind us, where Rainbow glanced around then looked back at me.

"It's been awhile huh?" She asked as she flew over to her bed and plopped down right on-top of it. "I can't even remember the last time we were hanging out." She suddenly looked at me with an excited expression as if she just thought of something. "Oh Klade we totally need to do some stuff tomorrow. It's been ages since we practiced my tricks - that used to be so much fun."

"Why do we gotta talk about this now when it's too late to actually do anything." I responded, to which she laughed slightly again.

"Yeah I'm gonna get all excited now." She layed down staring up at the ceiling. "I have to practice though or I'm gonna get rusty and I can't let another mistake happen in-front of the Wonderbolts again. I don't even think I've practiced once since you disappeared."

"I've missed that too." I walked over to a dresser and looked at myself through a mirror that was located on the wall just above it. I looked dope on the outside at least, although I felt un-dope on the inside. I stood there for a few seconds before turning around - there was only one bed, but I wasn't about to have any of that. We were supposed to just be friends, so I created a large bean bag and tossed it down on the floor. Taking the strapped Model 1887 off from my back, I plopped down right onto the bean bag. 'I guess this is my bed.'

"Tired, huh? I don't blame you." Rainbow's voice called out as I layed sprawled out halfway against the floor. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow. Can you shut the lights?"

I responded by creating a tennis ball, holding it in my hand and then throwing it much harder than necessary towards where the light switch was, only to miss. "Fuck." I exclaimed as I created another one, throwing it as well with a loud banging sound. I could hear Rainbow laughing as I once again missed and the balls bounced around in the room.

"You're gonna start waking people up." She remarked in a half-serious voice.

"Okay that's it." I replied as I stood up from the bean bag - I wasn't fucking around anymore. Rainbow bit her lip and watched me with wide eyes, trying her best to hold back laughing as I walked right up to the light-switch. I was about to do some stupid shit, but this was Canterlot, so making a sledgehammer and slamming it into the light switch probably wasn't a good idea - that'd be rude. "This light switch is lucky it's part of Canterlot." I spoke as I simply turned it off and plopped back down on the bean bag.

"I thought you were gonna blow it up." Rainbow replied with a chuckle.

"It was extremely hard not to." I responded.

"We'll get it tomorrow, don't worry."

I smiled a little, exhaling and relaxing as I gazed up at the now-dark ceiling. I was still wearing all my clothing - black leather jacket and all - but I literally just didn't give a fuck right now. At least this way I'd be able to stand up and walk straight out of the room if I needed to - no other preparation needed. I breathed slowly as my mind wandered, and before long, I found myself drifting off to sleep.





I awoke on my own accord - without any outside sources causing it. Opening my eyes, I looked around to find that the room was still dark, although I couldn't tell what time it was due to the absence of any windows or any clocks that I could see. I simply remained lying down on the bean bag for the first few minutes though, thinking about random bullshit and the events that had led me up to this point. Eventually though, the sound of Rainbow Dash rolling over on her bed caught my attention - I had totally forgot that she was still in here with me. It got quiet afterwards though, so she was probably just moving around in her sleep.

'Well, I'm still in Equestria, so that's a good thing.' I looked around and then exhaled. 'Been here for probably a month by now and I'm still thinking like that. I don't even remember the last thing I was doing on Earth.' I stared blankly ahead of me for awhile longer before eventually standing back up. My eyes were pretty adjusted to the dark, and I spotted where I placed my Model 1887. I picked it up and strapped it around my back once again, to which I then turned to look over at Rainbow Dash - she was still sleeping. 'Guess I'll just walk around the castle.'

I quietly exited the room and made my way out of the initial hallway, where I took my time just walking anywhere I felt like going - I didn't really know where I was headed. It was pretty quiet aside from the occasional Royal Guards doing their thing, and before long I found myself coming across the castle courtyard. The outdoors showed that it was still pretty early in the morning; the sun was just starting to rise to brighten up the world, but it wasn't quite high enough yet to be seen. The nature of the courtyard was actually pretty serene and relaxing, although I eventually noticed two Royal Guards still standing and guarding the rock that led to my base.

'Wow they're still guarding that entrance.' Another figure eventually caught my eye though - it was Twilight Sparkle sitting down on a bench. She was staring downwards at the ground, and she didn't seem to be too excited. 'Rainbow did say I should probably talk to her. Might as well.' I began walking over to her, causing her to perk up her head and look at me when she heard me approach.

"Hey Twilight." I spoke as I stepped towards the bench.

"Oh, Klade." She replied as she looked me over. "I didn't think anyone would be up this early."

"Well, normally you'd be right." I responded as I sat down. "I don't know why I'm up, but Rainbow said I should try talking to you."

She didn't respond at first - as if she had spaced out for a couple seconds - and then she blinked. "Thanks. Sorry I'm just kind of.. I don't know, there's just alot bothering me right now." She proceeded to frown. "I feel so stupid. I've done the dumbest things for these past few days and I just.. I hate it. I'm better than this."

"That's kind of a stupid thing to say though. If you were actually better than that, then those things wouldn't have happened in the first place."

Twilight shook her head. "No you don't understand. I was aware at the time that I was making bad choices, but yet I still went on with them anyway... because I'm stupid! I read so many books and I learn so much and then it feels like I can't even do anything by myself. That's really annoying!" She frowned more. "I don't know, I'm just so out of it, and that just makes me even more angry because I don't know how to manage it when I should know how to manage it, and that's just starts a vicious cycle that makes me feel even worse!" She progressively got louder as her rant continued.

I really didn't know how to respond to that. "..You're being too hard on yourself."

"Oh, yeah, definitely." She replied in a mocking tone, rolling her eyes. "I'll just magically let all the things that I did wrong stop bothering me. Thanks!" She looked at me for a few seconds before sighing and placing her hooves on her face. "I'm sorry, that was rude. I shouldn't have done that... Another stupid thing I shouldn't have done. Gosh I wasn't even thinking about this and now I'm all mad right now."

"Well... maybe you're trying too hard to find an immediate solution to all of this, when that's impossible. The best thing you can do is just wait and let everything happen on its own. Overtime you'll feel better and you won't be so much like.. this."

Twilight rubbed her face with her hooves and then moved them away to stare at the ground. "Maybe." She paused for a second before continuing. "I just... I like thinking though. I can't just not do anything because that bothers me - I need to fix this."

"You can't fix everything. You've already tried too hard apparently, because from what I've heard, you've made some mistakes. I guess you'll just have to learn to let that go."

She sighed again. "I guess so." She brought her head back up, where I noticed that she had tears in her eyes. "I... thanks, Klade." She smiled a little at me. "I need to go now though." She stood back up off the bench, seemingly in a hurry to be by herself. I was getting the impression that she wasn't telling me something, however, but I wasn't going to bother her about it.

"I feel like shit too." I replied as I watched her. "I think everything will be fine though." Everything still felt pretty surreal, and I felt like I was coping pretty well with Duston's confirmed death, with my inexperienced self completely unware that it was going to hit me harder than I could've ever imagined later on. Twilight nodded a tiny bit, before quickly trotting off, leaving me sitting by myself in the courtyard.

'I think that helped her.' I exhaled and leaned backwards against the bench, taking the time to relax as I looked around. 'I wonder what she meant by 'I wasn't even thinking about this' though. What else was she thinking about?' I rubbed my arm against the arm-rest as I breathed in the outside air, when eventually I spotted Princess Luna walking by. She noticed me as well, to which she proceeded to approach me.

"Klade, we are well met." She spoke as she stepped over to me. "Please come to the planning room as soon as you are able - I am in the process of letting everyone else know. There are some things that need to be known."

'Already? That was quick.' "I'll be there." I replied as I stood up off the bench. Luna nodded, where she proceeded to continue on her way, presumably to the rooms where everyone else was staying. 'I should remember where that place is.' I thought to myself as I began walking off as well. I was a little uncertain at first, but after spotting familiar rooms and objects, I was soon able to find just where the planning room was located. The other princesses as well as Shining Armor were already there, and as more time passed, the rest of the ponies came in as well. Twilight Sparkle noticeably appeared to have reddish eyes, and Trixie was here as well, probably on her own accord. Once everyone was here, I noticed Luna walk in with the clone beside her. 'Oh, so this is what this is about.'

"Klade's clone, please tell to everyone else what you have told me just last night." Luna spoke as she looked at him. He didn't appear to be brainwashed from what I could see, and I listened to his voice when he spoke. Is that really what I sounded like?

"There were supposed to be five towers in total." He exclaimed. "Baltimare, Manehattan, Vanhoover, Los Pegasus, and the last one was supposed to be at Mount Everhoof. This last tower is supposed to be the biggest and the most powerful out of all of them - the tower that links them all together."

"Did you say... Mount Everhoof?" Twilight asked, looking as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing for some strange reason. There was a weird sparkle in her eyes.

"Yes." The clone simply replied. Twilight looked absolutely bewildered, before turning to look at both Celestia and Luna.

"Luna, Celestia, I-I.. I just had a dream last night about Mount Everhoof." She announced, catching their attention. "Duston was there!!! He was being trapped on Mount Everhoof!! This can't be a coincidence!"

I could feel a shift in my mind after hearing that - was there a possibility that Duston wasn't actually dead? I blinked, zoning out for a couple seconds in shock before hearing Twilight's voice continue.

"You have to let me go there with you Celestia!! You have to - I don't even care if I don't do anything. We need to rescue him!"

"Twilight, calm yourself." Celestia responded, and I watched as the worked up Twilight backed away slightly, having unknowingly walked right up to the princess. I was feeling pretty excited as well; he had to have been dead; this couldn't be true. "Are you certain of this, Klade's clone?"

"Yes." He responded once again, referring to the tower. "What I don't know, is when it will be constructed. I only know that it's planned - it was supposed to be the final tower."

"He has to be there Celestia, he has to!" Twilight spoke up again. "You need to take me with you!"

Celestia paused for a few seconds, seemingly thinking of her response. I hadn't realized just how dull I had been feeling inside until now - the thought of him still being alive was making me want to actually throw a Pinkie Pie style party. "Going to Mount Everhoof is very dangerous." Celestia eventually spoke. "The freezing temperatures can kill a pony overnight, and the high altitude poses a threat as well. We will go, Twilight, but I request that you stay behind. You still need to rest."

Twilight was reluctant at first, but eventually she sighed, seeming to understand as she nodded her head quickly. "Yes Princess Celestia."

"My sister will take great care that Duston is returned home safely if he is there." Luna chimed in. "You needn't worry."

Twilight nodded again as she looked over at Luna, and Celestia proceeded to walk over to the round table that the magical map of Equestria was presented on. She looked down at it, seemingly studying it for awhile, before she spoke up once again. "I believe it would be best if we departed for Rainbow Falls. This is the closest village to Mount Everhoof; we can stay there for the night, and then leave for the mountain the following morning." She then turned to look at Luna and Cadance. "Does this sound like a good plan?"

Cadance nodded her head upon scanning the map. "It's probably our best option."

"Rainbow Falls is quite a distance away from both Canterlot and the mountain.." Luna divulged - whatever the Crystal Empire was, was seemingly out of the question. "Cadance has a point, however. I do not see a better option."

"Then that shall be our plan." Celestia replied, who proceeded to turn her attention to the rest of us. "Ready yourselves, for we shall depart today at two in the afternoon. Shining Armor can supply you with the proper winter clothing, although I still urge to bring whatever necessities you can possibly think of. This will be a dangerous journey."

"Really now?" Trixie spoke up, before clearing her throat. "That sounds like something you'd need me along for."

"You are not allowed to come." Celestia responded, getting straight to the point, and causing Trixie to roll her eyes.

"Then don't get mad at Trixie if something goes wrong."

"It's for your own safety, Trixie." Rainbow Dash spoke up, before continuing with a snicker. "You might as well thank Celestia right now for saving your life."

"How dare you!!!"

"This meeting is over." Celestia spoke once again, defusing the argument before it even started. "Everyone, please begin your preparations."

Trixie glared at Rainbow one last time before turning around dramatically and pacing out of the room. Everyone else began to trickle out as well, when I eventually noticed my clone walking up to me.

"Guess I kinda fucked up bad there, huh?" He spoke as he looked at me. "Not really sure what to say."

"It's not your fault, I know that." I replied as I looked back at him. "I had never even considered the possibility of Discord controlling you douchebags. I'll have to try to find some way to prevent that - some kind of helmet maybe."

"Sounds good." He responded, looking around the room for a bit before looking back at me. "I'm by myself here huh? Got any ideas on what I can do meanwhile?"

"Not sure..." I thought for a few seconds - putting him in my base wouldn't be a good idea, because then I'd need to turn off the alarm, and plus there'd be nothing stopping him just getting brainwashed again. The same issue would present itself if I brought him along with us to Mount Everhoof - I didn't need Discord manipulating him to shoot us all behind our backs. "You know what, I might make a little makeshift place for you to camp out at - something that Discord shouldn't know about. I'll arm it with a railgun so you can watch over us, but I'll still put in some precautionary measures just in-case Discord finds you - then you won't be able to use it."

"I'm ready." He exclaimed, and I smiled as I patted his shoulder. I kinda missed hanging out with these goons.

"Which number were you anyway?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Clone #2." He replied. "From what I've heard, #5, #6 and #11 are dead."

"So that leaves seven still out there, not including you." I remarked. By then I noticed that Rainbow Dash had been standing there, and upon us noticing her, she spoke up.

"So this is your clone?" She asked as she looked over him - aside from some clothing differences, he looked just about identical to me.

"One of them, yeah." I answered.

"That place you all hang out at is pretty epic." Rainbow commented, to which the clone nodded his head.

"Fuck yeah. Some crazy shit's gone down in there."

"How many AC-130s have you called in on Modern Warfare 3?" I asked, to which he chuckled.

"All of us combined? More than we can count. Poor guys don't know what they're up against." I grinned and laughed slightly, before looking over at Rainbow, who didn't seem to understand what we were talking about.

"It's that video-game stuff. I'll show you more of it the next time I get the chance." I explained.

"I can't wait - that stuff was fun." Dash responded. I smiled again as I thought back to that place - that was probably where we should host the party whenever we finally put a stop to Discord for good. I had already done enough Pinkie Pie style parties, so that would be a great change of pace.

"Alright, I got stuff to do with this dude to get ready. Should be back in a few hours."

"Have fun." Rainbow replied, glancing at the clone one more time before trotting off. By now I had noticed that the clone wasn't armed at all, so I decided to ask about that.

"Where's the guns?"

"Luna's got them." He replied. "She wanted me to show her how they worked. Still got my G18s though."

"I see. Well, let's go." With that, the two of us walked out of the room, where I was ready to set everything up for my clone.
> Chapter 18 | Departure
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The 'makeshift' camp-out for my clone turned out to be fully complete by the time I was done with it. I had chosen the mountains around Neighagra Falls for the positioning due to the prime location over-looking both Rainbow Falls and Mount Everhoof, and I also tried to make it as hidden as possible since I didn't need Discord finding it. Because of this, I was forced to only pick a spot that viewed those two areas - anything with 360 degrees of range would've been too far out in the open. The clone had radio communication with me, and there were also several cameras located within the small construction that housed him and the controls; this is what I would use to ensure he didn't look brainwashed, and from there I would allow the gun to be able to fire once I told him to do so. Things were looking pretty good, and I couldn't wait to fuck Discord's plans up again.

The time to depart for Rainbow Falls had come faster than I was expecting, and I had decided to go along with Celestia and the gang instead of flying there by myself. We took the same large royal carriage we used for Baltimare and Manehattan, where we had conveniently flown right over Neighagra Falls during our journey - that sure looked familiar. The evening was just starting to approach when we arrived at our destination, where the townsfolk were seemingly already expecting us - Celestia must've let them known ahead of time. The doors of the carriage opened, where me and the ponies began to step out on either side.

"Wow, this place is really pretty!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. I could agree; there were colorful rainbows everywhere, and they even made up rivers that flowed and then descended down below in stunning shimmering waterfalls - or rather, rainbow-falls. The place almost looked like it came out of a dream, and that was surprising considering Equestria already looked pretty fantastical.

"Did we find Rainbow Dash's second home?" Rarity joked, to which the mentioned mare chuckled.

"No kidding. I could totally live here." Rainbow replied as she looked around the village. "Heck, I could probably even be this town's mayor if I was into that kinda thing."

"Rainbow Dash as a mayor?" I remarked. "That sure would be a weird alternative timeline. Nothing says you can't still be a super cool mayor though."

"Heh, I guess so."

We followed Celestia to what appeared to be a large two-story hotel, where she and the presumed owner talked with each other. Celestia was thanking her for letting us all stay there, although as kind of expected, the owner didn't have any problem at all helping out the princess herself. Since it was already pretty late, everyone pretty much agreed to settle in right now - tomorrow was going to be a big day. From what I'd heard, Mount Everhoof wasn't going to be a fun place to be.

'Makes you wonder how Discord does all of this in the first place. How do you even get a tower set up on-top of the highest mountain in Equestria, let alone in four other cities. Where's he getting these things from? I don't know if it's just me, but something's felt different ever since I got out of that cave... like I'm not in the same place I used to be.' I looked around at my surroundings. 'Normally I'd be more skeptical, but I really think that might just be me. I almost died in that ditch and I was stuck totally alone and in pitch darkness for days - that's bound to mess with someone's head. I'm lucky I got out of there as normal as I am right now.'

I walked up a set of stairs along with the group, where it appeared that all of our rooms were on the 2nd floor. Each one of us had our own separate room booked, and we were free to pick and choose which one we wanted. They were probably all pretty similar though, so I didn't even bother scouting everything out, unlike Rarity who was spending her time checking out every single room - I simply picked one at random and walked right in. Unlike all of the colorful rainbows that completely surrounded this place, the room had more of a brown, homey feel to it - probably to contrast it from the rest of the village so guests wouldn't get tired of all the rainbows. I walked over to the bed that was right next to a window, and I looked outside, taking in the view. There really wasn't much I felt like doing though - I couldn't stop thinking about Duston still being alive - so I eventually just laid down and thought over it. I almost felt kind of restless, but after enough dull thinking, I eventually drifted off to sleep.





I was the first one awake the next day, and I was still pretty restless - I wanted to leave. It was probably only around five in the morning, and the sun wasn't even up yet. I found myself pacing back and forth in my room for a short time, before eventually figuring that I might as well take a look around the town - maybe mess around with my magic too. I quietly exited my room and made my way down the stairs of the hotel to the first floor, where I proceeded to exit and head outside. The first thing I was met with was a cold, chilly breeze, and I shivered as I looked around.

'Right, we're pretty high up in Equestria now - things are gonna be cold. Definitely gotta make sure I'm ready for that when we head for Mount Everhoof.' In a way it was pretty crazy how it felt like the cold air was penetrating right through my leather jacket, so for the time being I created another jacket with my magic - this one made of wool. I put it on and put the hoodie up over my head, before beginning my walk through the village.

The town appeared to be just about entirely constructed on-top of mountains, where I could even see houses in the distance that looked like they were right along the edge of the rocky formations. The rivers made entirely of rainbows were definitely weird to look at, and after a short walk around, it quickly became apparent that this was a pretty small village. 'I wonder what it's like going in one of those rainbow rivers. Not about to try that right now though - maybe when there's less things going on I will. Too much shit affecting my head right now.'

Eventually I managed to survive the boredom as the ponies began to wake from their slumbers. I was armed and ready to go, and through the radio contact that I had with my clone, I confirmed that he was ready and over-looking us from the makeshift base. The time was nearing seven in the morning, and it seemed as if we were getting ready to depart. At the moment we were all currently gathered at the front of the hotel, where we looked over our supplies and made sure that we were all ready for the freezing cold challenge ahead. I was still equipped with the usual: two G18s, the Model 1887, the leather jacket, and the two regular handguns from earlier - one of them being non-magical from back on Earth. On-top of all of that though, I had a wool coat, and I had also decided to create more clothing for my legs. Cold weather wasn't exactly something I liked.

"Everypony, please double-check to make sure that you aren't missing anything." Celestia spoke up. "Once we're at Mount Everhoof, we won't be able to return until tomorrow. Our ride can't stay in those kind of conditions, so I have instructed the royal guards to return to what the designated place of arrival will be at nine in the morning tomorrow, and then to re-visit every twelve hours from there on out in-case we haven't returned by then."

"I think I got everything I need." Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "And when I say that, what I mean is that I hope everyone else knows what they're doing, because I sure don't! I'm good getting ready for parties, not sub-zero temperatures!"

"As long as we stick together, we should all be fine." Applejack remarked. "If anypony strays off, ah can't guarantee them coming back safely."

"Yeah, if I wear anymore jackets I'm not gonna be able to move." Rainbow responded. "Is it that cold up there?"

"Yes it is, Rainbow Dash." Celestia replied. With that there was a short silence as the princess overlooked the rest of the group, to which her gaze eventually reached me. "Are you ready as well, Klade?"

After hearing everyone else talk about how cold it was supposedly going to be, I wondered if I was underestimating just what kind of weather I was going to be running into. With that in mind, I decided to be safe by creating yet another wool jacket, putting it on over my other one - at this point I was wearing three jackets at once. "I am now."

"Good. Then let us depart for Mount Everhoof." With that, we all made our way over to the carriage, where we entered one by one until we were all snuggly fitted inside. Everypony seemed eager to leave, as was I - was Duston really going to be there..? Something was telling me that it was just another false flag, but I wanted to believe - he had to still be alive. He just had to. The guard's wings began to flap, and we lifted off into the air shortly afterwards, heading straight in the direction of the peak.
> Chapter 19 | An End of an Era
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

We could progressively feel the air around us getting colder as we ascended up towards the peak. The mountain wasn't visible at first due to the clouds and the fog, but as we got closer, it did - and we saw just how massive it really was. I had been around alot of mountains already, but they all paled in comparison to just how big this thing really was. It was gigantic. I looked in an attempt to see if I could spot anything - any tower or construction that Duston might be inside - but all I could see was a blanket of blinding white snow. If there was anything here at all, it probably would've been covered in it, but for the moment this place seemed like a barren, snowy wasteland.

It soon became apparent that we wouldn't be able to make it much further on the carriage; the royal guards' wings were beginning to frost up, and proceeding much further would've been a danger to both them and us. Seeing this, Princess Celestia instructed them to begin landing as soon as possible - it seemed as though we were going to have to trek the rest of the way. With the carriage on its way towards landing, I decided to quickly pull out a tablet that I had created that was connected to the base the clone was at. On it was a live video-feed displaying the inside, and from the looks of it, he appeared just fine - simply sitting there on a wheeled chair in-front of the control panel that managed the railgun. I changed the camera to one that showed his face, and it seemed alright too - no visible signs of brainwashing.

"We're about to land at Mount Everhoof. Be ready." I spoke to him. His head perked up, showing that he must've heard my voice, to which I heard his radio-filtered response afterwards.

"Got... Had to turn... thermal vision to see you past.. cloud layer. So far.. clear." His voice came out a bit garbled but still understandable. Was all the snow or the clouds causing interference? I hoped that wouldn't turn into more of a problem.

"You're coming out a bit shaky. If I unlock the gun, take that as a sign to shoot."

"Got it."

With that resolved, I put away the tablet in one of my inner leather jacket pockets - just like I always was, stuffing everything in my front jacket pockets. I noticed some of the ponies looking at me, which was understandable - I hadn't told anyone about this.

"Just a backup plan." I spoke as I zipped up the two wool jackets. I normally would've done even more to be prepared, but ever since recently I had just been too mentally distracted with everything that was going on. I didn't feel like I was putting a hundred percent of my effort against Discord like I had always done, and the more I thought about it, the more it bothered me. 'I mean come on, I should have like five other things on standby for this event. I guess not being able to use my base really takes alot out, so maybe it's just that.'

My thoughts were abruptly cut off when the carriage finally landed with a hard thud, where we were quick to open the doors. Immediately I was met with a blast of air so cold that I couldn't even fathom how it was possible for something to be so freezing, and the initial shock made me hesitate a bit as I stood inside the carriage. 'Holy fuck that's cold.' The other ponies were a little hesitant as well, but Celestia urged us to step out as soon as possible. When I did, I sunk down right into the snow all the way up to my knees - that stuff went down far. 'This is fucking freezing.'

"Oh my gosh I'm gonna turn into a popsicle!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she stood as tense as a statue. "This weather is FREEZING!"

Realizing I was actually still pretty unprepared, I quickly created some gloves for myself with my magic, where I fit them onto my hands that I already had pretty bad control over since they were so cold. Right afterwards I created a face mask, and them some long boots, where I struggled to put them on at first due to just how deep the snow was. 'Something's seriously wrong with me if I wasn't ready for this. Maybe it's not just in my head.' Perking my head up, I shivered as I watched Celestia doing something with the guards that had been hauling the carriage. They were surrounded in an orange glow from Celestia's horn, almost as if she was warming them back up. The other ponies were surrounding her as well, and I was about to walk over too until I suddenly remembered something kind of important. The backpack filled with C4 that I never used I had put in the carriage's trunk, and it was something that would've been a good idea to bring with me to blow up the presumed tower if it ever came to that. Plus, since when was carrying a bunch of bombs ever not a good idea?

'I must really be losing it if I almost forgot about that.' I quickly made my way to the back, where I opened the trunk and hauled out the explosives. I struggled to put it on at first due to just how much shit I was wearing - I was really over-clustering the fuck out of myself at this point. I was absolutely buried in weapons, clothes and equipment, and I groaned as I reached up to slam the trunk closed afterwards. 'If I fall I'm probably screwed.'

Making my way back to the front as fast as I could manage, I met up with the rest of the group just in time to see the carriage beginning to take off - with the help of Celestia's magic levitating it into the air at first. A strong gust of wind nearly made me tumble as the falling snow zoomed wildly around us, and Celestia proceeded to speak loudly over the howling winds.

"Gather up, everyone." She requested, to which we all obliged. Shortly after we were all bundled up, the princess's horn began to glow, which enveloped us all in a beaming orange sphere of magic - the same one that she had surrounded the royal guards with. Immediately we felt like the warmth of the sun was shining down right on us, and I was able to relax a little as the magic seemingly shielded us from the harsh outside elements. "I will try my best to keep us warm, but I cannot hold this magic without weakening myself. That will put us all in an even greater danger is Discord confronts us, and I cannot allow that to happen."

"If we can barely survive here, then how the hell does Discord do it?" Rainbow Dash replied.

"How does Discord do alot of things?" I spoke up. "For a guy who can die with just one bullet to the head, he sure can take on alot of shit."

After several more seconds passed, Celestia dispelled her magic, exposing us to the harsh elements once again. "I will warm us up again when needed. For now, I will put the crystal beacon in place that will show our ride where to land tonight." From there, I watched as Celestia levitated a curvy, triangular-shaped crystal onto the snow - something she must've taken out of the carriage while I was pre-occupied. "This will shine a bright light once the time approaches nine in the evening. We must look for it if we are to leave this place."

Understanding the situation, we all began to trot forward up the mountain, all while bundled up like a bunch of penguins. Extremities like my fingers soon felt numb and barely responsive as the minutes went on, and all I could really think about was the chance that Duston was actually here and alive. That thought made me press on with more determination than I'd normally have, despite the fact that each single step in the snow was its own challenge.

Our trek continued, where Celestia stopped to warm us back up every fifteen minutes or so. I kept looking around, trying to spot anything that wasn't just a sea of white, but I couldn't spot anything - and neither could anyone else apparently. This place was a barren shithole, but I still wasn't convinced that there wasn't anything here. There had to be something - it was too coincidental that Twilight had a dream about this mountain at the same time my clone confirmed that there was supposed to be a fifth tower up here. I was starting to get frustrated as the time went on, until eventually I perked up at the sound of Pinkie Pie's high-pitched voice.

"Guys! Do you see that over there? Look!" She pointed with her hoof, where we all immediately looked in that direction. Peering through the snowy fog, I was able to see what appeared to be an absolutely massive tower way off in the distance right in-front of us - nearly three times as big as all the other towers I had seen. I almost couldn't believe it at first, but the sight of finally seeing some proof that there was something here was making me more excited than ever. Discord was doing his bullshit here, and I was eager to put an end to it - I was sure we all were.

As we gazed in-front of us, though, the appearance of a strange, glowing black orb abruptly caught our attention. We stopped our trek momentarily as it floated several feet ahead of us, and I began to reach for one of my G18 pistols buried underneath fucktons of clothing - I already wasn't liking the look of this.

"What the heck is that?" Rainbow Dash spoke up. Before any of us could respond, however, a voice coming from the orb replied first - and I recognized it immediately.

"It's me! The big baddy Discord - oh nooo." The voice echoed out in a sarcastic tone. "What on Equestria are you all doing up here? And you too, Princess - that's a sight I wasn't expecting to see!" He paused for a few seconds before continuing. "You know, I'm so sick of you people. I really am, especially you Klade - why aren't you dead like you're supposed to be? I'm not letting that happen again." Something about the way he was acting seemed off. Discord was the type to always have fun at the expense of others - to play games and tricks that had no morals. His tone of voice seemed so serious though, as if he was bored or even stressed out. I really couldn't care too much to think about little things like that though, because there were more important matters at hand.

"You're fucked Discord. Where the fuck is Duston?" I loudly spoke up over the wind. There wasn't a response for the first couple seconds, but he did reply.

"Are you delusional now too Klade? He's dead - I killed him. Well, technically you killed him; I used your own clone, with your own weapons." He abruptly laughed a little afterwards. "What, did you think you were gonna get him back if you found me? I can't revive a rotting corpse, Klade. His brain is probably all mushy and deteriorated by now."

I stood in silence as what he said left me feeling practically paralyzed. My first instinct was to not believe him, but he didn't sound like he was lying - and why would he lie anyway? Why did he ever do anything? I could feel my rage building up as I glared at the glowing orb in-front of us, when somepony else from the group spoke up to replace my silence.

"Then why did Twilight have a dream about him being up here?" Pinkie Pie asked. "We know he's here Discord! And we're gonna get him back, our way or no way!"

"As much as I'd like to see you all wander around this forsaken mountain looking for something that doesn't exist, I really can't be helped with that right now." He replied. "Although, you did all arrive at the perfect time to see something legendary. This is an era-defining moment happening right now, and that gets me so excited just thinking about it! The Equestria as you all know it will be totally different after today. Isn't that just enthralling? I never even wanted to do that, but heck, I can't say I don't like being a part of history."

'What the hell is he going on about?' I thought to myself as I listened as rationally as my angered mind could. I was shaking - whether it was from the cold or anger, I didn't know - and I was just waiting so impatiently for the chance to kill him the instant the opportunity presented itself. I gripped the pistol in my hand even tighter, feeling tempted to shoot at the orb even though I knew it wouldn't do anything.

"What's happening, Discord?" Celestia spoke up.

"I'm glad you asked, Princess! How lucky of you to be here right now. You all fought pretty valiantly to take down those towers, although that was mainly my mistake by putting them up one at a time. They're all back up now, and I should say, Klade has been a very good help - his clones have been excellent handymen! They've been working themselves to death, and I mean literally - there's only like two or three left now?"

"Wait wait, they're back up?" Rainbow inquired in disbelief. "All of them? But we just took them down!"

"You can thank Klade for that." He replied. "But enough talking. It's time that the gates of Tartarus are opened up! Oh man, the chaos - its going to be an absolute cluster-fuck!" I could feel the ground beneath us begin to rumble, to which I already had my tablet pulled out to contact my clone. The tower should've been visible to him, and I was about to stop this madness before it even started.

"Discord..." Celestia looked shocked at what she was hearing. "Truly you are out of your mind. How, and why would you ever do such a thing?"

"Princess, I'm always out of my mind - you should know that by now!" He laughed manically after saying that. "Once all the towers are activated, the gates will open, and what are you gonna do about it up here? You're all going to freeze to death - and that wasn't even part of my plan!" As the ground shook more violently, I tried to talk my clone, deactivating the lock on the railgun. He appeared fine through the video cameras, but he couldn't seem to hear me apparently - not like he needed to. Why wasn't he getting the memo? A sudden, extremely loud screeching sound went off where the huge tower was, to which I saw a bright cyan green light beam out from the orb located at the top - it had been activated.

"This ain't good!" Applejack yelled out over the rumbling. "Ah think we got a problem coming straight for us!"

Looking up from the tablet, I noticed that all of the shaking had created a huge avalanche, and it was all coming down straight toward us. Discord's laughter rang out even louder as the snow beneath my feet shook and got loose, causing me to lose my balance and fall over.

'This isn't fucking happening.' I started screaming at the tablet. "Why the fuck can't you hear me!? Shoot the god damn tower, the gun is unlocked!" I looked up, and just in time to see a huge clump of snow ram into half the group, making them disappear from sight immediately as they no doubt went barreling down the mountain. I struggled to stand back up as I looked ahead of us again, only to see more snow coming right in my direction. I braced for impact, covering my arms with my head right before being hit head on by the flurry of snow.
> Chapter 20 | Frozen Peril
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unlike the movies, I didn't lose consciousness when I went tumbling down - although I wish I did. My sense of direction was immediately broken as my body got tossed and rolled around like a ragdoll, where I could quickly feel the weight of the snow piling on as I rolled down faster than most vehicles could drive. I felt like I wanted to throw up from all the high-speed movement, and I probably did; I was so out of it that I couldn't even tell what was going on, and each passing second only multiplied my misery. Was this going to end? Was I going to go down the entire mountain? I felt like I was going to die, and there absolutely nothing I could've done about it. Moving my body felt impossible, although I was hesitant to do such a thing anyway. With all of the weight pressing down on me, any sudden movement or change in pressure probably would've broken my bones. I was lucky to be in a curled up position, and at the moment trying to remain in that position was the only thing I could've done for the sake of my own safety.

My insides felt like they were being torn apart, and my brain was no-doubt being tossed around inside my skull as the tumbling only seemed to increase in speed and intensity. I couldn't even comprehend how long this was lasting until the movement suddenly stopped - I must've hit something. The inertia jerked me like a broken branch as I lurched forward and screamed, and for several seconds afterwards it felt like I was still moving. I was so dizzy and disoriented that it took me awhile before I realized that I had come to a stop, and I panted as best I could from inside all of the snow. I could feel just how much of the cold white stuff was in my mouth, drying it out and giving me brain freeze. I didn't even know if I was okay - I was conscious, sure, but that was all I knew. The state of my limbs and the rest of my body was unknown to me, and I felt worried to try moving them in fear of what I might discover. It was then that I noticed just how cold I was - I was completely surrounded by snow - and that I would die to the elements if I didn't do something soon.

Breathing in, I tried to move my arm, groaning through clenched teeth as I felt the limb move, much to my relief. I proceeded to try to move the rest of my body, tucking in my legs further and reaching my arms upwards. For the first few seconds I felt trapped, as I had absolutely no idea how much snow was on-top of me. I could've been buried with no hope whatsoever of ever clawing my way out, but that thought soon went away when I felt my hand pierce through the top of the snow. I wasn't buried very far, and with renewed hope, I clawed my way upwards until I finally dragged my head out onto the surface. I felt the freezing cold air blow right against my face, causing me to inhale an icy cold breath. My teeth chattered, and I could feel frost forming along my face as I tried to pull myself up even further. Looking around, I could see nothing but snow and rocks, and for the moment things still seemed extremely grim. I doubted I would last even half an hour in this place, especially with all the snow that I had eaten and was completely coating me. I had to do something.

"Ahh... f-fuck." I grunted as I once again tried to pull myself up further, getting my chest up above the pile of snow. I leaned forward, breathing in sharply as I managed to yank my legs up out of the snow afterwards. With my entire body now out, I struggled to stand up, only to lose my balance and fall over to the side. I fell for an extra second longer than I expected, making me fear the worst until I landed with a thud into the snow. Once again I struggled to stand, not knowing if there was something wrong with my legs or if they were just really numb. I eventually did manage, using a big nearby rock for support, where I took a short moment to look around once more. I saw a big splatter against a huge grey rock located more to my right - that must've been what the tumbling snowball I was in hit. Clumps of snow were splattered all around it, and upon looking up into the sky, I could see the huge tower way off in the distance above me. There were two thick, horizontal rays of cyan-green light beaming into the orb at the top from two different directions, and they went on for longer than what I could see. From my perspective, it looked as if it was emitting something through the lasers, and I clenched my fists in response. I had to deal with that tower.

'That bastard Discord... he is fucked. He shouldn't have done that.' A quick reach around proved that my backpack of explosives was still attached to me, and with that in mind, I began to slowly walk forward. What I was doing was completely foolish - I never would've been able to reach the tower without freezing to death - but I was too disoriented and unfocused to think that far ahead. All I could think about was putting a stop to Discord's madness, as well as the possibility that Duston was up there somewhere as well. I didn't want to believe he was dead - I couldn't handle that truth in my current state. Those two things lingered in my mind non-stop as I trekked onwards with a strong sense of determination, although in reality, I wasn't even making much progress.

This would've likely went on until my demise if not for a voice eventually yelling out to my left. I heard it the first time, but I didn't comprehend it until it called out again.

"Klade!!! Over here!" I stopped my ascent, realizing just how much my legs were aching as I stood in place; or at least, as much as they could ache considering how numb they felt. I turned my head to see a pony off in the distance, a pink blur in a sea of whistling snow, and I shivered violently as I opened my mouth to respond.

"Wh...who... who are you!?" I yelled out as best as I could.

The pony responded by trotting towards me, and with a prancy gait that looked so incredibly familiar. I didn't recognize her as Pinkie Pie until she was close enough for her face to be well-visible, and she reached out to grab my arm when she approached.

"Come on! The rest of us are over here - we need to stick together or we're all gonna freeze to death!" I was reluctant at first - the tower and Duston were still on my mind - but further thinking made me finally realize just how much danger I was in. With sluggish legs, I tried to keep up with her, stumbling forward like a drunk person as she continuously pulled my arm. I could see the cold affecting her as well by her trotting, which looked more and more rigid the further we went, but yet we still pressed on until we reached over a small hill. On the other side I spotted more ponies, and I slowly made my way over to them, trying and failing to recollect my thoughts. Celestia appeared to be a part of the group, which was a good sign.

"Are we going to die?" Rarity's voice spoke up over the falling snow. I looked across the group, where at first glance it seemed like everypony was here. At least we didn't get separated too far.

"I will try to my best to ensure such a thing doesn't happen." Celestia replied.

"Is everypony okay for the most part?" Applejack's distinct voice chimed out. "Are you okay Klade? Glad to see you're back with us again."

"Probably not, but I guess I'll find out later." I replied.

"Do we have everyone here now?" Pinkie Pie asked. Everyone did a quick look around, and so did I. At first I noticed an absence of Twilight Sparkle, and I was almost going to say something until I remembered that she was still back at Canterlot. Everypony seemed like they were here, not like I was looking very well - I was still too disoriented and in too much cold misery to really give a shit.

"I don't think so.." Fluttershy's voice spoke up. "Where's Rainbow Dash?"

I looked around again after hearing her name, where this time I noticed that she wasn't in-fact with us. I looked around at the area surrounding us as well, but I still didn't see any sign of her. 'Fuck, she's not here. That's not good.' My concern for her quickly grew and gave me a sick feeling.

"Ah don't see her." Applejack replied. "Rainbow!? Where are you!?" She proceeded to yell out.

"RAINBOOOOOOOOW!!!!" Pinkie Pie screamed in her high-pitched voice. "We're over here! Can you hear us, wherever you are!?"

We didn't get any response though, so I started yelling. "Rainbow, where the fuck are you!?"

"We need to look for her!" Pinkie exclaimed.

Celestia nodded. "Yes, but we cannot spend too much time here, or we will all die. We can only hope that we find her soon."

'Fuck.' I thought to myself as I looked at Celestia. 'We can't all die... what kind of bullshit is that? I'm not letting that happen.' Celestia proceeded to group us all together, where she then spread her large, alicorn wings, wrapping them around us and using them to shield us from the harsh winter elements. It at least seemed to help a little, and from there we all began to walk off in a seemingly random direction, all while bundled up around Celestia.

We called out Rainbow's name multiple times across several minutes, and with each silent response, I only grew more worried. It soon reached a point where if she was actually out there somewhere, she'd probably be frozen to death by now - she would be by herself and probably doing something stupid like I had been before Pinkie got to me. I didn't know what else to do other than call out her name, when eventually the princess spoke up with a grim tone of voice.

"We cannot keep searching." She announced. "We have tried, but we will all freeze to death in this place if we stay and search even longer. I worry that we have already over-stayed past our welcome."

"B-but... we can't.." Fluttershy tried to speak up, only for Applejack to reply when she trailed off.

"She's right. We can't stay here." She exclaimed. "Maybe she's already down the mountain - she could've went further than us."

I knew Applejack was just trying to keep us positive, but I knew immediately that the chance of that being true was stupidly low - it was just false hope at this point. I didn't know how to feel; I really couldn't feel anything at the moment, as that would just have to wait for later when I wasn't freezing to death, dizzy and on the verge of passing out and most likely dying.

"We need to go." I spoke up. "Discord is not going to get away with this, I'll make sure of that more than anything - but we can't do shit if we all die here looking for someone who's probably a-already dead."

There was only silence after I spoke, which continued even after Celestia physically urged us to start moving so we weren't all just standing there ticking away closer to our death. Our descent downwards was slow, but still the fastest we could manage. Looking for the beacon Celestia had placed when we arrived was hopeless - not to mention Discord could very likely take out our carriage when we got on - which left going down the mountain manually as our only option. I could only imagine that we had already gone pretty far when we went tumbling down; I hoped that was true, otherwise we'd be screwed for sure.

The morale surrounding us had seemingly dropped to a new low at our failure to locate Rainbow Dash. Nobody was talking - nobody seemed to really want to do anything after the catastrophic failure that had happened today. Was going to this mountain a bad decision? Discord was actually here, so maybe we just didn't prepare enough? Each step into the snow only seemed to get harder as time went on, which made me wonder just how far we were going to have to walk. I couldn't even move my fingers - my entire hands felt like stubs. The long silence was eventually interrupted by Rarity's voice, who asked a question that we were all wondering.

"How much further do we have to go?"

"I don't know." Was Celestia's simple response. More silence resumed, where the sound of the howling wind was the only thing we could hear.





I didn't know how much time had passed. Our trek seemed like it was endless - to the point that I was starting to wonder how close we were to dying. Looking at the surrounding ponies, they all had wide, almost dreamy looks - as if the constant snow was putting them all in a daze. I couldn't think clearly either; all I could do was walk, and that mundane task being repeated over and over was making it hard for me to do anything else - not in the current state I was in. Celestia's wings were still surrounding us, and the thought of that had suddenly made me wonder just how she was doing. Surely her wings being subjected to that much cold for so long wasn't good. She was located behind us all, where she must've been taking most of the cold. I moved my body a little, trying to get a good look at her, when I noticed that something had been leaning against my back this entire time. I hadn't realized it until now, and further inspection showed that it was Celestia who was leaning against me - as well as the other ponies.

"Celestia?" I spoke up. It took a few seconds for my voice to catch the attention of the other ponies, and even then it was only half of them who perked their heads up. The mentioned princess didn't respond though, so I made more of an effort to turn around and look at her, only to be shocked at what I saw. Her face was pale with bits of frost formed all over, and her eyes had a distant, unfocused look as they gazed blankly ahead of her. Her cheeks were even a little puffy, and from what I saw, it looked like she was dead.

"Are we dying yet?" Pinkie Pie's voice spoke up. "What's going on? Helloooo? This silence is killing me - I feel like I'm about to go crazy!"

"Celestia, are you alright?" I asked, this time with a louder voice. The princess still didn't even budge though, completely unresponsive to her name being called, a revelation that made me suddenly aware of just how serious this was.

"Is everypony okay?" Applejack asked. She turned to look at me, where she at least seemed like she was half aware of what was going on.

"No!" I yelled out in an attempt to get the other ponies' attention. "I think we have a serious problem with Celestia."

"Oh.. no..." Fluttershy replied. Our walking stopped for the moment as we all turned to look at the princess, where we saw just how devoid of life her body looked. Her mane didn't look like it was moving as it always did, and it didn't look like she was holding herself up at all or even walking - was she actually dead?

"Ahhhhhh!!!" Pinkie Pie screamed out. "She looks like a ghost! Am I still alive? Hello hello hello-"

"Stop it Pinkie!" Applejack responded, slapping Pinkie's head with her hoof. She blinked and then shook her head in response.

"I'm not dead?"

"Oh heavens..." Rarity spoke up. "...Surely I must be dreaming right now?"

"We need to keep going, and fast." I replied.

"I can't move my hooves!" Pinkie Pie responded. "Why'd we stop walking?"

"Wait..." Fluttershy's voice remarked. "I... see.. grass?"

"Grass means we must be gettin' close." Applejack exclaimed. "Come on - we're not dyin' yet." She started to move, pushing Pinkie with her hooves to get her to start walking again. We all proceeded to begin our trek once more, where the deep dark green grass became more apparent the further we went. I couldn't feel my legs at all by now, but fortunately I was still able to walk of them as we continued on - was it not as cold as it was before? I could only hope so since we had gotten much lower compared to however high up we must've been. The atmosphere was beginning to change to more of a evergreen forest, although still with smaller mountains off in-front of us and around us. One of these mountains is where I spotted a small cave, and knowing we couldn't keep going on like this for much longer, I pointed it out.

"There's a cave over there." I spoke up, pointing at it with my entire arm. "Let's go there for now."

Everyone silently agreed and changed directions. We made it only a few feet into the cave when Rarity was the first to collapse, and the rest of us followed suit. I panted and groaned as I rolled over on the hard cave floor, pushing Celestia's body off of me. I had wanted to get a good look at her to see if she was alright, but now that I was finally laying down, it only took a few seconds before I already began to pass out, leaving Celestia's condition unknown for the time being.
> Chapter 21 | Battle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight Sparkle's POV

Restlessness plagued my mind. The evening was soon approaching, meaning it had been at least twenty-four hours since Celestia and the others had left for Mount Everhoof. I didn't know for sure when they would return, but when they did, I hoped it would be with Duston. I couldn't stop thinking about the possibility of him still being alive, even though I was sure I had seen him die right in-front of my eyes. I didn't make sense, but I wanted to believe anyway.

'I should be the one with them... not Celestia. I need to be there.' I sighed as my hooves repeatedly stepped across the marble flooring. At the moment I was walking mindlessly through the halls of Canterlot, mostly because I didn't know what else to do. 'I think that's the wrong way of thinking at it though. What could I possibly do that Celestia can't? I'm sure they'll be fine, but I still wish I could be there anyway.'

Eventually I realized that I had accidentally come across the room that Trixie was staying in. She had been cooped up in there for what must've been the whole day by now, all because she didn't want to deal with me. I didn't want anything to do with her either, and I was about to just walk right by. Celestia did want me to try getting to know her though, for some reason that I couldn't possibly fathom. There must've been a reason, and I sighed again as I looked back towards the door.

'Here goes nothing.' I walked up to the door and knocked, waiting a few seconds until the pony in question answered. I could see the look on her face immediately change to disgust when she saw it was me, and she frowned.

"Oh, it's you. What do you want?"

"I want to talk." I replied, which was only followed by her slamming the door in my face, much to my annoyance. "Trixie, don't be like this."

"Go away." Her muffled voice responded from the other side. I groaned, feeling tempted to just teleport inside past the door, but that probably would be a bit too aggressive.

"I don't think Celestia is going to like it when she finds out that you weren't looking over me like you were supposed to." I exclaimed. There was a long few seconds of silence after that, to which the door eventually opened back up.

"Do you feel fine?" She asked.

"No, I don't, really."

"Too bad. Trixie is many things, but she is not a doctor." She exclaimed as she once again closed the door. I outwardly sighed, quickly starting to get aggravated by her behavior.

"What is it you don't like about me, Trixie?" I asked honestly. "Is all of this really from what I did to you at your magic show? It's not polite at all to show off what other ponies can never have because they weren't born the right way."

With that, the door swung open, revealing Trixie's pissed off face. "Not polite?? It's not polite to utterly humiliate me, for no good reason other than to satisfy your own pathetic, narcissistic desires. It's not polite to ruin Trixie's ONLY source of income, which was already embarrassingly small to begin with. This is my TALENT - this is what my cutie mark TELLS ME TO DO!!! Who the hell are YOU to dictate what I can and can't do in my life!?"

I backed away slightly at Trixie's anger-fueled outburst, taking a couple seconds to reply. "Trixie... What you're doing is fine, but.. the way that you're doing it isn't."

Trixie frowned further. "Again, who the hell are you to tell me how I can do things? Until you realize that you are NOT more important than me, then we are never going to 'get along' with each other." From there, Trixie slammed the door closed again, leaving me standing there by myself in silence. I really didn't know how to respond to that, because part of me was saying that maybe she was actually right.

"Trixie... I'm sorry." I spoke softly. I didn't get a response though, which prompted me to continue. "I'm just trying to help. I'm not saying that you can't do what your cutie mark tells you to do, you just..." I trailed off, to which Trixie opened the door one more time.

"I just what? Huh? Are you going to tell me what to do again?"

"Trixie.." I frowned. "...I think that you'd have alot more success with your business if you came across as a more... nice and relate-able pony. That's all."

Trixie stared back at me with a bored, deadpan expression until replying awhile later. "Duly noted." She remarked as she closed the door. I looked at the closed doorway for several seconds before sighing, letting my gaze trail downwards slightly.

'I guess that's a start. I don't think I can do much else right now without making things worse.' I perked my head back up. 'I just wish she wasn't so egotistical - and she's the one who thinks I'm narcissistic? That's projection if I've ever seen it.' I turned, continuing to make my way through the halls of Canterlot. I didn't make it very far though before the feeling of rumbling caught my attention. At first I thought I was just imagining things, but I quickly realized that the rumbling was real - and growing more violent. The walls around me felt like they were rattling and clunking, and I re-made my steps in an attempt to keep my balance. 'What on Equestria?? Is this an earthquake? But there shouldn't be any earthquakes near this part of the world.' The sound of Trixie's door opening was the next thing I heard, and I turned to see her trotting half-way out.

"What's going on now? What is this Twilight? Surely you have an explanation."

"I don't know. This isn't normal!" I frowned. "I'm going to look outside." I quickly proceeded to run through the halls, where I hoped that the rumbling didn't get any worse - after all, Canterlot was a city totally attached to a mountain. I ran until I reached the front gates of the castle, where I almost fell over due to just how abruptly I had stopped my sprint. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until I looked upwards, where at first I didn't believe what I was looking at. Hovering far above the city up in the clouds was a huge red-flaming five-pointed star, which was surrounded by grey clouds that only seemed to spread out further. Peering into the demonic symbol made it look like it was an entryway to another world, and a cold feeling of fear shivered through me when I scarcely remembered reading about something like this before. "Isn't that... Tartarus? But why?"

"That's not Discord, is it?" Trixie's voice rang out - she must've followed me over here when I started running. I shook my head in response, gulping and backing up slightly.

"No... it's not." I replied. "It's much worse." As I was about to run back into the castle, the sight of what appeared to be black dots came pouring out from within the flaming star. Closer inspection showed what must've been hundreds, if not thousands of bat-like creatures gushing out, and I backed away further. "I need to warn Princess Luna.."

"Wait, so what is that thing?" Trixie asked, turning her head to look at me in confusion.

"That's Tartarus." I answered grimly. With that, I rushed back into the castle, heading straight towards the throne room. I ran as fast as I possibly could, until eventually bursting through the large throne room doors as a panting mess. Luna was fortunately there, and understandably disturbed by my current state.

"Twilight?" She asked, sitting up from her throne. "What has got thou-"

"It's Tartarus!!" I interrupted with a shout. "I'm extremely sure - I've read about it before, a-and.. the description matches! It's up there in the sky right now!"

Luna's expression immediately changed to a more serious one after hearing my words. "Are you certain of this, young one?"

"There's a lot of creatures flying straight for the castle, right now." Trixie replied, having arrived shortly after I did. "Can you do something about it?"

"We must warn the others at once." Luna announced. She began to walk down from the throne until the sound of high-pitched clicks and chirps began to resonate around us. It was faint at first, but quickly grew louder, causing us to momentarily stand still as we looked around and listened. It sounded like there were hundreds of these little animal-like voices, to which a sudden loud screeching caused us to flinch as it penetrated our ears. The pretty stained glass windows of the throne room shattered at the noise, where the bats that I saw earlier all proceeded to fly inside. Now that they were much closer, I was able to get a better look at them, showing me just how terrifying they looked with their huge, unnatural teeth as well as their piercing red eyes. My first instinct was to protect us using my magic, but I was able to stop myself before I did any harm to my horn - I still wasn't able to do anything magical related at all.

"Trixie should not be here!" The blue-colored unicorn yelled out as she gazed at the incoming bats. "She could have been sleeping in her mansion in Los Pegasus right now!"

The screeching bats were surrounding us from every direction, but before they could reach us, a beaming blue blast from Princess Luna's horn rang out like a shock-wave. The room rumbled as all of the bats within the building either fell or flew into walls, clearly disoriented from the blast, but it definitely wasn't over. Bats were still flying in from the windows, and Luna turned to look at us afterwards.

"We must make haste!" She ran out of the room, where we were quick to follow as we ran through the castle. The clicks from the bats could be heard all around us from outside the castle walls, as well as the horrified screams and yelling from other ponies. We soon arrived at the section of Canterlot devoted to the Royal Guards, where we already saw a large group of them moving past us equipped with spears and armor. Inside the main room Shining Armor could be seen directing orders, and Luna walked right up to him as we followed.

"Princess Luna!" Shining Armor exclaimed when he turned to look at us. "Twilight! We need to get you all to safety."

"It's Tartarus. I think the gates have opened up - at least, I'm extremely sure of it." I expressed. My brother looked understandably disturbed upon hearing that.

"Tartarus?" He inquired. "That.. oh that's not good at all. Are you sure?"

"She's right." The voice of Princess Cadance rang out. I looked to see that she had ran into the room from the other side, much to Shining's relief.

"There you are!" He remarked with relief. "I haven't had a good look outside yet - is there anything more than the bats?"

"There's much more than just bats in Tartarus." Cadance replied. "I don't want to believe it, but I fear that the gates really have been opened - somehow."

"The gates can't be opened from the inside, right?" I asked, to which Luna nodded.

"You would be correct."

"You all wouldn't think that perhaps Discord has something to do with this?" Trixie spoke up.

"That I do not know." Luna replied. "However, there are much more pressing matters at hoof. To stand up and fight against this threat here would ultimately be a fatal battle. The forces of Tartarus easily outnumber us, even if every city of Equestria were hypothetically here to help."

"Really?" Trixie asked with a surprised tone. "Tartarus has that many bad guys?"

"Now you see how serious this is." Luna responded.

"So then... what do we do?" I spoke up. Luna's following silence weighed down on me, to which I looked towards my brother and Cadance, who also appeared to be clueless.

"Perhaps my sister would know what to do." Luna eventually replied. "But she is not with us at this time."

"Well, we gotta do something." Shining Armor remarked. The sounds of walls crumbling and ponies screaming became apparent from the outside once more, reminding us that we were currently being attacked. "We can't stay here. We need to gather up as many ponies as we can and escape to someplace more safe."

"Someplace more safe than Canterlot?" Trixie inquired with disbelief.

"She has a point. Where would we possibly go?" Cadance responded. "It may be best to just stay and fight."

"We can attempt to travel south to the badlands." Luna affirmed. "They have a more violent culture, so they may be better suited for such a catastrophe. They likely will not be very welcoming, but there is no chance of survival without combining our forces. It would be in both of our interests."

"It's going to take days to go way down there!" Cadance replied. Before anyone else could talk though, a loud cracking sound suddenly resonated from somewhere within the castle. The sound of what seemed like loud, thumping footsteps could be heard, and I frowned as I could only imagine what was going on outside this room.

"We have to decide on something!" I spoke up. "And fast!"

"What Luna said might be our best option." Shining Armor reaffirmed. "We need to work on gathering up as many ponies as we can, and then starting our journey south. Sound good?" Nobody seemed to have anything to rebuttal with, so my brother continued. "Alright then, let's move it!" With that, Shining gathered the guards that were stationed around this room, ordering them to escort us as we all exited. We didn't make it very far before we saw more than just bats: Hellhounds and creatures that looked like deformed meshes of other creatures combined into one were roaming about - most of which I couldn't even name or recognize. There wasn't much time to look at them though as we ran through, where Luna discharged magical beams at the creatures. It didn't seem to damage them, but it was enough to stun them, giving us the opportunity to keep running. Guards that we came across while we sprinted were ordered to form a defensive position around us, and any civilians we saw were commanded to seek refuge within the inner circle of our group. By the time we had reached the front gates of the castle, I was able to see just how much destruction had already happened in such a short time.

"Wow.." I remarked softly as I gazed past the front gates. Huge broken pieces of the castle were scattered across, where civilians ran around them as they struggled to escape from the devilish-looking creatures all over. The Royal Guards were trying to deal with the threat, but they didn't seem to be doing very well by the looks of it. Looking back up towards the sky, it looked as if the flaming star had gotten even bigger, and the grey clouds that surrounded it had spread even further - so much so that it was starting to block out the sun a little.

"Everyone!! Come here! Guards, take position with the others - our destination is the tunnel leading down the mountain!" Shining Armor yelled out as we advanced forward. Now that we were outside, the bats had become more prevalent than ever. They swooped across us, biting and scratching - and it was hard to fight back since they were so fast and mobile. The inability to use my magic was really starting to bother me, and I felt useless as all I did was avoid the creatures as best I could.

"Ahhhh!" I yelped out when I felt one particular bat bite trying to bite my bandaged horn. With the vermin right in-front of me, I managed to grab ahold of it with my fore-hooves, forcing it down to the ground and then stomping on it repeatedly. I felt its body crack and squish underneath my hooves, to which I kicked it out of the way when I was satisfied that it was dead.

"Are you alright Twilight?" My brother's voice called as he approached me. "Once we get to the tunnel I'm hoping things will get easier."

I nodded, feeling just how sweaty and shaken up I was. For the moment I wanted to just stand and regain my composure, but the constant movement from our group forced me to keep going. I had never been a part of such a large-scale battle before, and there was so much going on at the same time that it was overwhelming me.

The sound of a loud, low-pitched roar coming from the direction of the castle suddenly caught mine and the others' attention despite the chaos. Looking back, I was momentarily stunned to see a large minotaur standing right at the doorway. He grabbed one of the large castle doors, jerking it and ripping it right off. He held it his huge arms for a few seconds before hurling it straight towards us, and I gasped in horror at the huge incoming object.

"Look out!" I screamed, feeling frozen in place as it felt impossible to dodge such a big projectile. A light blue shield sprung up from Shining Armor's horn, managing to deflect the projectile from us, but not completely as it steered and rammed into several royal guards that were positioned at the far edges of our defensive circle. I stared wide-eyed at the huge chunk of death that had come from that single attack - the guards had either died from the impact or were crushed underneath the huge metal door.

"We need to hurry it up!!" Shining Armor shouted. "Come on, let's move it!" I stood paralyzed in shock until a pony bumped into me, forcing me to keep moving as we continued on towards the tunnel. The thumping sounds of footsteps that must've been from the minotaur could be heard behind me - it sounded like he was running straight for us - but I dared not look as I focused only on getting away. More civilians took shelter inside our group, all of which were panic-stricken and trying to swing away the swooping bats. Our pace had quickened enough to reach the tunnel not too long afterwards, where the red-eyes of the bats became even more visible as we hurried into the darkness. The tunnel was the only way out of Canterlot on-hoof, and Shining Armor's voice was the next thing I heard.

"Forget the fighting - we gotta lose them in here. Everyone, run as fast you can! Now!" The trampling of hooves echoed throughout the cave as the ponies quickly listened, and upon looking back towards the entrance, I saw the shadow of the huge minotaur from earlier - as if to further reinforce us to start running. I was hasty to abide as well after seeing that, but I didn't make it very far before another pony violently bumped into me during his or her sprint, knocking me down onto the ground.

"Ahh!!" I skidded with a thud, hearing the trampling of hooves all around me as ponies mistakenly ran on-top of me. I curled up in a ball to brace myself as best I could, waiting in fear until I felt the stomping of hooves progressively get quieter as they went further away. I didn't dare move though, now only hoping that whatever was out there didn't see me in the darkness - that was all I could hope for because I wasn't about to risk getting back up. Before long however, someone else made that decision for me when I abruptly felt myself being hauled back to my hooves.

"Let's go Twilight - now!" My brother had come back, to which I saw him look up at something behind me - there must've been something there. "Look out!" He went to push me out of the way, but it was already too late as I felt something dig into me from behind, sending me flying upwards.

"OOF!!!" I went flying forwards into the cave after being launched into the air. I hopelessly flailed my hooves, screaming all the way as wind rushed past me. It had quickly gotten too dark for me to accurately see where anything was though, which ultimately led to my head unexpectedly striking against one of the hard-rock structures of the cave, knocking me right out and filling my mind with blackness.
> Chapter 22 | Calm Before the Storm
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Klade's POV

Time felt nonexistent. Was I dead? My conscious drifted in and out, but never fully-gone, leaving me in a constant half-aware state. There were important things going on - this thought was the only thing that I kept thinking of over and over in my head. So much had happened... but yet I was totally relaxed without a care at all. My body was too exhausted to really do much else, leaving me only to feel wind and chills that I couldn't fully comprehend. This continued on until I suddenly found myself awakening, and I opened my eyes, realizing just how stiff my body was when I tried to move it - totally unlike when I woke up in my bed in a normal temperature. Not being half-dead would've helped too.

"Nnrgh..." I groaned quietly, opening my eyes and blinking them. The first thing I saw was a stone cold grey surface, and it took me a few seconds to remember bits and pieces of previous events. 'Discord... we were trapped. That bastard tried to freeze us to death on Mount Everhoof.' It took some effort, but I slowly sat up, hearing all of my jackets wrinkle as I took a look around. 'How did we get here? I know we were trying to go down the mountain... I'm pretty sure we found this place - this cave.' I noticed the collapsed ponies laying across the cave floor: Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Princess Celestia respectively. Looking at Celestia made me remember the deep concern around her well-being, and I leaned in closer to try and get a better look.

'Fuck. She's Celestia - she can't die, can she? Or is she a demi-god just like Discord?' I bent my body forward, crawling across the cold cave floor until I reached the laying white alicorn. I laid my hands on her to roll her over, feeling a chill down my spine and just how cold she was - surely a living pony wouldn't get that cold. My concerns were only confirmed when I rolled the princess over and saw her pale, lifeless face, fitted with dull, dreamy eyes that seemed to stare off into nothingness. She had to have been dead - there was no other explanation for her looking like that.

'Is she dead? Has Celestia actually died?'

"She's dead." An abrupt voice piped up, startling me with its suddenness. I looked to see that Applejack was seemingly already awake; she had been facing aware from me and therefore I hadn't been able to tell that she wasn't unconscious. "Ah already looked; ah checked her all over. She's gone. Goner than the Zap Apples when they're out of season."

I sat in silence as I turned to look at the alicorn - the now dead alicorn. Saying we fucked up going to Mount Everhoof would've been an absolutely massive understatement. "Well shit."

"Everyone else seems to be fine though, ah checked." Applejack continued. "Jus' asleep for now."

I looked towards the other sprawled out ponies, all suited with their own thick jackets. The cave was a good place to remain for now, but we couldn't stay here - not when the gates of Tartarus had apparently been opened. I specifically remembered that happening for sure. As if to further rush us out of the cave though, the sound of heavy footsteps from deeper inside the cave caught our attention. I peered into the darkness, only to see a large, towering white creature stepping forward. It looked like an over-sized polar bear, but with claws, fangs and a beastly look. It didn't seem happy that we were in what was presumably its cave.

"Think we should start waking the others up." I stated as I began to imagine an M4A1 Assault Rifle in my mind. Applejack went on to try and shake the others awake as I stood and gazed at the large beast, where I was only seconds away from fleshing out the gun and then creating it in the real world. There was a weird hesitation though - the gun wasn't being created - which is when I eventually realized that huge tower had been activated. I must've still been in its area of effect, and I stepped backwards, watching the monster quickly start to increase its pace as it got close. 'God fucking damnit.' I moved to run out of the way, but by then it had already approached me, grabbing me and picking me right up off the ground. "Fuck!"

"Look out Klade!!" Applejack yelled out, running over in some attempt to save me. Before she could do anything though, the monster simply chucked me out of the cave. I went flying through the air until eventually thrashing into the snow outside, which thankfully served as a good cushion as I skidded and then came to a stop.

"How the fuck did I forget about the tower?" Once again I felt like I wasn't as competent as I used to be. I slowly stood back up onto my feet, trying to focus on just the threat that was happening right now - I was still as armed as I usually was. I reached for the Model 1887 that was buried underneath all my jackets, pulling it out and then hurrying back towards the cave. Applejack seemed to have gotten a good distance away from the beast - she was near the exit with both Pinkie Pie and Rarity - but Fluttershy was still inside. She was curled up in a ball deeper inside the cave, and the creature's attention was directly on her.

"Fluttershy!!" Pinkie Pie yelled out. "He's gonna get you! Just get up and run - hurry! We're over here!"

She wasn't moving though, most likely paralyzed in fear, so I quickly took aim once I made it back inside the rocky structure. I fired the gun right at the creature's back, causing it to roar so loud that the entire cave rumbled. It turned to look at us, with pure rage in its eyes as blood poured out from its back - it didn't seem to be dead yet. I cocked the lever of the gun, expelling a shell as it began to run right for us. Each step it took was making me lightly bounce, constantly throwing off my aim as I tried to target its head. The intimidation factor wasn't helping either - if it made it to us, it definitely wouldn't be a pretty sight. Eventually I just substituted for its chest, not wanting to risk a miss as I shot once again. The gunfire went off with a loud bang, echoing deep inside the cave as it made contact with the huge animal's upper-chest. The impact was enough to stop its advance, and it stumbled backwards, stunned but still standing. I cocked a lever of the gun once more, aiming for its head while it stood as an easy target before firing.

The shotgun blast had made contact, as shown by the blood and brain matter splattering against a nearby wall. The beast soon dropped to the floor, limp and totally lifeless as remnants of blood pooled and spurted out of its blown-open open skull. I pulled the lever forward, the sound of clanking, sliding metal resonating inside the cave as I ejected the empty shell, but I made sure not to bring the lever back - I was going to have to reload it. The last time I had killed a beast face-to-face like that with a shotgun was when I had first arrived on Equestria - the very first day in-fact. Using Duston's shotgun, I had killed a brainwashed manticore that had threatened us at Fluttershy's cabin.

"It's gone. You killed it!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

"Before it killed Fluttershy, yes." I replied. Reaching into one of my pockets, I pulled out some shotgun shells that I had put there before, loading three of them into the gun as Rarity went to console the trembling yellow pegasus. Once the gun was loaded, I closed the lever, strapping it to my back and then walking over with her.

"Fluttershy.. are you okay?" Rarity asked when she approached. The pegasus meekly nodded in response.

"I-I think so..." She answered. She slowly started to stand back onto her hooves, backing away from the dead creature. She was trembling - all of us were, really. Everything that had happened so far had no-doubt gotten us shaken up, and the next thing Fluttershy spoke made me remember why I still felt like shit. "Where is Celestia?"

"She's dead." I exclaimed. Fluttershy looked at me in disbelief, as did both Rarity and Pinkie Pie - they must not've known yet either.

"He's not lying. I've already checked on her." Applejack added. It was then that Fluttershy noticed the laying white alicorn corpse behind us, to which she gasped rather loudly afterwards. Pinkie and Rarity turned to look as well, both of which were in shock at what they were looking at. I didn't feel as traumatized, but then again, I wasn't from Equestria to begin with; from their perspective, it was probably like seeing a living god dead right before their eyes.

"She's allowed to die?" Pinkie asked. "But she's like, thousands of years old. She's Celestia - she's always been around!"

"Oh.. dear..." Rarity uttered quietly. I watched as they gazed at her, where in the silence I couldn't help but feel that I played a part in letting this happen. There was no reason why I couldn't prepare us more for this - I always had tons of backup plans to everything we did. I couldn't deny it anymore - I definitely wasn't as prepared as I always used to be. This didn't need to happen, but it was too late to do anything about it.

"She sacrificed herself for all of us..." Fluttershy spoke softly as tears welled up in her eyes. "For us..."

"Discord will pay for this." I reassured. It wasn't just Celestia either - I had come here with high hopes that I would find Duston somewhere on that damn mountain. That was another disappointment; he must've been dead, and the last bits of denial that I had over it were finally going away. He should've been there... but why wasn't he? It felt like everything was leading up to me finally seeing him again.

'He's really gone...' The world around me faded away as I focused only on that thought. When Luna had first told me that he was dead, it hurt alot, but there was still a feeling that she wasn't right - that he was still alive somewhere and everyone just thought he was dead. That feeling wasn't there anymore, and I could feel myself shaking as I stood in the cave - and I was pretty sure it wasn't because it was cold.

"We have to bury her." I heard Applejack speak up. The others had approached the dead princess by now. "We can't leave her like this. She deserves at least some dignity."

I didn't reply, simply standing there and watching as the four ponies picked her up and carried her out of the cave. It was almost surreal to see the dead princess being carried out like that, but apparently that's how things were now. I exhaled slowly, trying and failing to calm myself as I started to pace back and forth in the cave. The 'magical' feeling that Equestria had when I had first arrived didn't seem to be there anymore - in-fact, it felt as if it had been gone for awhile now. Despite that, there was no reason to leave - what was possibly left for me back on Earth? I hated that place - or at least, I thought I did. The idea of being back at my parent's house with Duston still alive, doing random bullshit - it didn't sound too bad at all right about now. It was sure alot better than nearly dying twice, having an already dead brother and now a dead princess. Was it really all partly my fault? Would this have happened if me and Duston had never arrived?

I stepped forward and watched as the ponies had seemingly finished digging past the snow - they were pretty far into the dirt by now. Something seemed to be missing though... alot of things were missing, but this one felt like it shouldn't be missing. I took another look around when it hit me - Rainbow Dash wasn't here. We had never found her during our brief search after everything went haywire.

'Fuckity fuck. Who else is dead now? Anyone else I'm going to remember about? There's no way she's still alive - not on that damn mountain.' This didn't feel real - were all of these bad things really happening? I paced faster and with more emphasis, eventually taking the time to look at the over-sized polar bear laying dead in the middle of the cave - it was hard not to notice. At least I succeeded in killing that thing before anything seriously bad happened; in the past though I had never had any extreme difficulty when it came to dealing with threats or Discord. Maybe I had just been lucky.

"Klade." The voice of Applejack caught my attention, and I turned to see her and the other three ponies looking at me - they had already finished burying the alicorn by now. "It's about time we headed out. There ain't nothin' more we can do here."

I really didn't want to be near anyone - I wanted some time to myself for awhile - but I wasn't about to just stay behind in the cave. Breathing in deeply, I walked over to them, to which I didn't look at them directly since I was sure there were tears in my eyes - I couldn't remember the last time that happened. "Yeah. Let's go."

"Where are we going exactly?" Pinkie Pie spoke up. "Do we even know where we are? I don't think we do."

"As long as it's the opposite direction of Mount Everhoof, then I don't think there'll be any issues." Rarity replied. "I do not believe there's anyplace bad we could end up."

There was a short silence for a few moments. Normally I would've said something then, but I wasn't in a thinking state of mind - it was hard enough just to keep my mental composure. "Twilight's still in Canterlot, and so are the others." Applejack exclaimed. "Ah think that's where we should go next."

Nobody seemed to disagree, so with that, we walked away from the cave and began our trek back. For the moment things seemed peaceful, which made me wonder: had the gates of Tartarus really been opened up? I wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean, but I figured I would find out eventually. From the look on Celestia's face, it seemed like it was serious.
> Chapter 23 | Fighting Fury
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The smaller mountains that surrounded us soon began to thin out the further we trekked. It was still cold, but the weather was noticeably not as unbearably freezing as it used to be - pretty soon I probably wouldn't need to wear such a cluster of jackets at once. The dark green grass appeared to slowly be getting brighter as we went on, as did our surroundings; the sun seemed like it was just starting to rise, coating our surroundings with a warm, inviting light. We appeared to be walking through what seemed to be a huge grassy field - there wasn't too much around here, and I took note of just how much open space there was. If things weren't so grim, this would be the perfect place to mess around in. During my previous exploration I never bothered to look this far up for some reason - I must've just never got around to it with Discord always distracting me.

For the moment, things seemed so serene and peaceful - nobody ever could've guessed that Princess Celestia had died no less then twenty-four hours ago at most. The ponies were no-doubt thinking about her, which was only confirmed when I heard Fluttershy's voice eventually speak up during our walk.

"Do you think the others know that she's gone?" She asked softly, catching our attention from the otherwise silent trip. "I'm worried about how Luna will react... she must've been so worried this whole time. I can't imagine how devastated she's going to be."

"Dear, it won't be just Luna." Rarity replied. "All of Equestria is going to be mourning her loss. I myself still cannot fathom such a thing ever happening... let alone being part of it. History has been made."

"I just wish there was something we could've done." Fluttershy responded. "It makes me feel so horrible. We lost both her and Rainbow Dash... wh-what if she was really close to us? We could have saved her if we looked harder."

"There's no point in thinkin' over what could've happened." Applejack spoke up. "It's over now, there ain't anything we can do. The only certainty is that Discord is a heartless, cold monster that deserves not a shred of sympathy from us, the remaining princesses, or anypony else in Equestria. He's a walking dead person."

"His days are numbered." I exclaimed, one of the few times I had spoken so far since this whole ordeal. From now on I wasn't going to prepare against Discord as just a side-part of my day - I was going to fully devote myself to killing this fucker for every hour of the day. I wasn't going to screw around until he was gone.

"I can't remember ever feeling this empty before." Pinkie Pie confessed. It was a bit hard to see, but it did seem like her mane wasn't as poofy as it usually was underneath her jacket. "I don't even feel like partying. That's never happened before! What's the point of doing anything if Celestia is dead? It's making me think about things I've never even thought about before and it's scaring me like crazy."

"It'll get better. I know that's hard to believe, but it will." Applejack replied. Even though I was sure she was right, I couldn't shake the feeling that this was only the very beginning - as if things were going to get much worse from here, and for such a long time that it would feel like it would never end. It wasn't a good feeling, and as I walked I began imagining a machine gun in my mind as a test. Still though, it wasn't working, which only made me more concerned over me and the others' protection - not being able to use magic would make things much harder. Just being able to make a vehicle to rush us all towards Canterlot would be hugely convenient.

'Why is it still not working? Are the tower's emissions really going that far? I know it's much bigger compared to the other ones, but we're pretty damn far away.' I exhaled and looked around. 'Discord did say that the other towers are back up too apparently... that would be alot of ground he's covering for disabling magic use. Is that what he's going for? He did seem to imply that they had something to do with opening up Tartarus too - I wonder what that was all about. Either way, once I get to my base through Canterlot these towers are fucked. That shit's already previously made, I wouldn't need to use magic for anything. That makes me wonder though - why didn't my clone shoot at the tower? Guess I'll find out when I get there; I'll have to use the video feeds there because that tablet I was using was knocked out of my hands when that avalanche happened, so that's buried on Mount Everhoof somewhere never to be seen again.'

Our trek continued for a short while in silence. So far it was just a bunch of walking, but that was soon about to change when I noticed grey-colored clouds off in the distance. I didn't think too much of it at first - maybe it was just rain - but as they got closer, I realized just how unnatural they were. The others seemed to notice it too, to which Pinkie Pie spoke up about it.

"Anyone else see those clouds?" She exclaimed. "I'm not getting a good feeling about them."

"Me neither." I replied. I gazed across the landscape with a stern look as we walked, to which I didn't spot anything at first. After only several seconds later though, I noticed something off in the distance, causing me to stop walking. It looked like a single bipedal creature running towards us, but although it was so far away, I could still tell it definitely looked nothing like a human - although maybe around the same height at least. It almost looked ridiculous how that one single creature seemed to be charging towards us. 'Da fuq?'

"I think I see something way off in the distance." Rarity spoke up. "Is that a.. Diamond Dog? But they wouldn't run in that kind of way, would they?"

"Yeah, it does look kinda weird!" Pinkie Pie replied. As it got closer, I noticed it appeared to be holding some type of wooden bludgeon - and that it was running straight for us. It's skin was a dark grey color and was fitted with an ancient looking fast-maneuverability armor. Spiked shoulder blades and dangling leather straps outfitted the rest of it, and I wasn't getting friendly impressions.

"It's here to kill us for sure." I spoke up as I reached for one of my G18s. I pulled it out and switched it to semi-auto, aiming down the sights and taking my time to aim since it was still at least over seventy yards away. When I was ready, I shot once, hearing the echo of the gunfire resonate across the grassy fields. I watched as the creature's sprint stumbled for a short time after the shot, so I fired the gun a few more times, continuing until it collapsed forward onto the ground. It was still too far away to accurately tell if it was dead, but I knew it wouldn't be a problem after all of that.

"You can kill things from that far away with a small one of those? Wow, they really are dangerous!" Pinkie Pie remarked.

"Good for us, bad for them." I lowered the gun, but as I expected, I saw more creatures heading towards us - I knew it didn't make any sense for there to just be one. They mostly looked like the bipedal creature I just killed, but a few of them looked more like over-mutilated horses and what I could only describe as some kind of raptor dinosaur. "We've got more of them."

"Is there really nothing else we can do to save ourselves?" Fluttershy inquired - she must not've liked all the death I kept causing.

"These creatures aren't friendly at all - no one runs around with a big wooden bat with the intention of being a nice guy." I answered. "If I were to guess, these are probably affects from Tartarus; if anything these guys are straight out of Tartarus."

"Well we can't fend them all off here." Applejack asserted, but then continued a short while later. "...Can we?"

I looked back towards the group of sprinting monsters. At the moment I could only see around fifteen of them. There easily could've been more, but even then, I doubted they would put up a hard fight against four pistols - two of which could be fully-automatic - a shotgun, a fuckton of ammo and a backpack filled with C4 explosives. I also felt pretty eager to let loose some rage: these past few days had been a sick joke of tormenting and snapping of my emotions. It felt like I hadn't done enough actual fighting as opposed to all the mental fighting that I was absolutely sick of.

"We can." I replied. "Duston might not be here, as well as alot of the others, but that doesn't mean they're not about to get fucked. Besides, they're in our way." I raised the pistol once again, regularly firing through the semi-auto mode as I took the time to aim in-between each shot. They clearly weren't prepared for this type of weaponry, and by the time the gun clicked empty, I had already picked off several of them. There were more coming into view as well, but that shouldn't have been a problem. I ejected the magazine and reached into my cluster of jackets, pulling one of the eight tall G18 magazines that I had strapped to the inner-jacket pockets of my leather jacket; there were four on each side, and each one had a little over thirty shots because they extended so damn far out of the bottom of the pistol. By the time I loaded it into the gun and cocked it, the monsters had gotten quite a bit closer, so I changed the firing mode to fully-automatic.

"I'd start getting ready." I stated as I took aim in the enemy's general direction. I sprayed in a horizontal line across the incoming adversaries, echoing out the high-pitched clattering of the machine pistol as I dropped quite a few of them at once. Afterwards I proceeded to fire short bursts at the closer enemies that were lucky to not get shot, taking them down until the gun clicked empty once again. I dropped the magazine and reached for another - loading, cocking - when the rattling of grass caught my attention. I only had enough time to look downwards when a large snake lunged out from within the sea of grass, hissing and then biting onto my leg.

"Fuck!" I kicked my leg, causing the animal to flail around - but it wasn't letting go. Tossing my gun to the side, I reached down and grabbed the little shit, ripping him off and then flinging it out of the way. Pinkie Pie then jumped and grabbed it in mid-air before fighting it afterwards. Looking back ahead of me, I saw one of the orc-creatures was only a few feet in-front of me, prompting me to rush forward and then jump. His large wooden stick slammed into my side right before I made contact, sending us both to the ground as I cursed out. I quickly scrambled to my feet before kicking him, dazing him momentarily as I took some steps backwards. He was pretty hasty to get back up, but it was just in time for me to pull out my other G18, spraying his body with over thirty bullet-holes as he fell deceased. 'Piece of shit.'

I ejected the magazine and took a quick glance around, watching Applejack battle against another orc. Her and Pinkie were the only ones doing any serious fighting, which was understandable considering the types of ponies Fluttershy and Rarity were. I breathed in deeply through clenched teeth as I loaded the pistol, returning it onto my holster before pulling out my Model 1887 from my back - it was game time.

I aimed and the first shot went out with a loud, distinctive bang, blowing the head off a rabid horse to which it steered and slumped to the grass afterwards. I cocked the lever and quickly took aim at the next creature, shooting and disrupting an entire chunk of his side. The lever clinked and the metal smoothly slid against each other as I fiercely kicked an approaching orc back a couple feet, aiming at him and then blowing his body apart with a close-range blast of death. Seeing as my position was rapidly getting over-run though, I opted to jump back to give myself some room, shooting once more at the closest approaching hostile. The blow was enough to damage both him and another that was behind him, and tossing the gun to my back, I speedily pulled out my G18 and sprayed directly towards all the approaching enemies. By the time the pistol had clicked empty, I had taken out the entire horde of goons that had attempted to overwhelm me.

I let the magazine fall to the ground as I pulled out another, taking the time to observe that Applejack was being over-run. Both Rarity and Pinkie had come in to try and help, but they were out-numbered and most likely out-performed solely because of the fact these monsters from Tartarus were battle-hardened compared to Equestrian Ponies. I rushed over and rammed right into a large clumped group of them, knocking them off balance while I took some steps backwards. The G18's spammy fire-rate wrecked havoc against the entire group, and I ejected the magazine upon emptying it, reaching and discovering I had already used up all the mags on that side of the jacket. I went for other side, but while I was caught off guard, and unseen orc rammed into my side and knocked me straight onto the ground. I rolled over and gazed up at the nasty creature from above, trying to kick him away but not having much success. I watched and held my arms up as I prepared myself for the incoming slam of his bludgeon, but before it could ever make contact, the orange color of Applejack's coat filled my vision as she bucked the hostile right off of me with her hind-legs.

"Are you alright Klade?" She asked as she reached a hoof to help me up. After a quick glance around to make sure nothing was approaching her while she was focused on me, I accepted her help, standing back to my feet.

"Yeah." I replied simply. Seeing I was okay, she went off to help the others, and I took a couple seconds to catch my breath - that was pretty rough. I reached towards the other side of my leather jacket, pulling out a mag and loading it into the pistol. I noticed the orc she had kicked wasn't quite dead yet - it was squirming and struggling on the grass - so I aimed and fired a short burst to finish it off. With that out of the way, I looked around again, taking note of the diminishing enemy count as I watched the others battling the remaining vermin. Changing the firing mode to semi-auto, I took careful aim, picking off what I could without risking any friendly fire. One beast that notably stood out was the raptor-dinosaur abomination that was currently slicing apart Rarity's mane, and seeing as it was a big guy, I opted for my Model 1887 for this one.

"Rarity, get out of there!" I yelled out as I began running towards them. She listened, wasting no time sprinting elsewhere, and with her out of the way, I took aim and fired at the creature. The gun's thundering bang was followed by the sound of blood and guts splattering all across the grass, and without much resistance, the hostile screeched and then collapsed. I cocked the lever of the shotgun with force, but left it open for the moment as I took a quick glance around. Most of the monsters had been defeated, and what wasn't dead was being finished off by the other ponies. Reaching into my pocket, I grabbed some shotgun shells, loading them one at a time - I had actually almost gone through all the seven shots that the gun could hold inside. By the time I was done, the others seemed to have noticed that the battle was mostly over, and after closing the lever, I returned the gun to my back.

"Is that all of them?" Pinkie Pie asked, turning her head in all directions in an almost comical way.

"Pretty much." I answered as I reached for my G18. I hadn't gone through all the bullets that were in the mag, leaving it at about a quarter full, which wasn't exactly something I wanted to leave it at. I took the mag out, putting it on the empty side of my jacket as I reloaded it with a fresh one. This left me with only two more as spares, plus the one that was a quarter full. The dead bodies of the monsters were completely littered all around us, and there was blood everywhere - it looked like a catastrophe had taken place here.

"Are you okay Rarity?" Applejack spoke up, taking note of the shaking, seemingly traumatized mare - but whether she was petrified from the events or because her mane was ripped up, I didn't know. My other G18 was still somewhere in this field after I had tossed it to deal with the snake, so I scanned across the grass as I walked around looking for it. I eventually did find it laying on the ground, and I picked it up, examining it and checking the magazine to see that it was still full.

"Hey, wait a minute. Where'd Fluttershy go?" Pinkie's voice rang out. I perked my head up, realizing that I hadn't really seen her since the battle started.

"She's probably hidin' somewhere." Applejack replied. "Fluttershy, it's okay now. We're done! The fight's over!"

I looked around more after Applejack's words - the pegasus' lack of a response was immediately concerning. I couldn't spot her hiding in the grass anywhere, but my looking was eventually interrupted by Pinkie's high-pitched voice.

"Hey, look, there she is!" She gasped. "Someone's got her!! Look way over there!" I turned, where far off in the distance I saw an orc running off with her carried on its back. I probably could've shot him from where I was, but Fluttershy was in the way - I would only end up hitting her.

"Come on, let's go!" I ordered as I returned the pistol to my other holster. The four of us went running after the orc as fast as we could, sprinting across the grassy plains and making our way around isolated trees and bushes. I noticed the foliage getting more potent as we continued, to which we eventually lost track of him as we turned and maneuvered our way through the thickening woods. The sound of rushing water was the next thing to resonate within our ears, and before long, the sight of a totally massive waterfall came into view. It ascended seemingly all the way up to the clouds as we took the time to marvel at it and the huge lake it was pouring into; a waterfall of that size must've been none other than Neighagra Falls. Unfortunately, we weren't here on a vacation.

"He's gotta be around here somewhere!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she panted to catch her breath. We searched the surrounding area, looking inside bushes and trees - anywhere possible that he could've been hiding, if he even was hiding. Things were starting to seem grim by the time we noticed a cave etched into the mountain the waterfall was pouring down from, where Applejack was the first to point it out.

"Look there, we got somethin' we can go inside." She exclaimed as we all turned our attention to it.

"Another cave?" I commented upon walking towards it.

"He probably ran in there!" Pinkie remarked.

"Probably." I responded, not sounding too excited about the thought that there was only a chance she was inside.

"Whatever those creatures are... if they're like Diamond Dogs, then maybe they would like caves too?" Rarity alluded. "Such a dark, gloomy place. I would know."

"I guess that's our best option then." I stated. "Let's go inside people." With that, the four of us went stepping inside in search of our companion Fluttershy.
> Chapter 24 | Unexpected Guests
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The interior of the cave soon began to look unlike any other cave we had been inside - almost as if it wasn't entirely a natural cave. I wasn't getting a good feeling about it, so I opted to hold one of my G18s in my hand as we made our way through. I vaguely remembered something about Neighagra Falls that was relating to this cave, but I couldn't think back to exactly what it was and why there seemed like I was reminded of a connection. Eventually though, I spotted something trotting through the cave that gave me enough of a hint to remember why: it was a changeling. Celestia had offered that Queen Chrysalis live here from now on since apparently whatever was here was what the changelings needed to survive. I was there during the discussion - as was the mane 6 and Duston - and at that moment Chrysalis should've been on good terms with us. It didn't seem likely that it would've changed since then, but I prepared myself anyway, aiming the pistol at the changeling once he noticed us.

"Hey, hey!" Pinkie called out. "Oh wait, that's not a pony. That's a changeling!" Shortly after Pinkie's talking, the changeling ran off, and I looked back towards the group.

"Chrysalis is here." I stated. "That changeling wouldn't be here if she isn't."

"Oh. Wait, is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Pinkie asked. "She's not our enemy anymore, right?"

"For the most part, I'd think so." Applejack answered. "Celestia did make that compromise with her, but ah don't suspect someone who tries to take over Equestria as somepony trustworthy. She ain't our enemy, but I wouldn't consider her a friend either."

"Well, in times like these she better be a friend." Pinkie replied. "Maybe she can help us! I bet she'll know where Fluttershy is."

"Maybe." I responded. "Things should get interesting."

We continued our way through the cave, where after several more minutes of walking, we began to notice glowing green sacks of whatever hanging from the ceiling and attached to the walls. It was definitely giving off an alienistic vibe, but we didn't make it very far past seeing them before I spotted a large number of changelings walking towards us in the distance. The rest of us stopped in our tracks, and I stood ready to shoot anything if it was necessary. It was then that in the middle of the cluster, a taller changeling began to walk through, someone who could've been none other than Queen Chrysalis herself. That assumption was confirmed when she trotted close enough to us to be recognizable, where she was the first to start talking.

"I've been expecting you." She proclaimed.

"Wait, really?" Pinkie asked. "How?"

"One of your own came to this place just a few minutes prior to your arrival."

"Oh, so you have seen Fluttershy!" Pinkie seemed relieved. "Is she okay? She got captured by a big meany!"

"She is fine, yes." Chrysalis replied, pausing for a few moments before continuing. "The look on your faces isn't normal. What's going on? You have no reason to be around here in the first place."

"Lots of ponies dying, Tartarus has been opened up, overall hell is broken loose." I bluntly explained. Chrysalis blinked, taking a second to comprehend the gravity of what I said in so few words.

"Tartarus?" She asked. "Just how does that happen? Don't play me for a fool if you expect me to believe such things."

"He's not lying, Chrysalis." Applejack replied. "It would be an understatement to say that these past couple weeks are the stuff of nightmares."

"But that doesn't explain why you're here."

"Well, to start off in the very beginning, Discord's been putting up these magical blocking towers all over Equestria, and we've been going around stopping them!" Pinkie began. "That's how it was, and we actually got them all, but then we find out that he's building one way up on Mount Everhoof, so we all go up there to take it down before it's even activated, but then we got caught in a huge avalanche! And..." Pinkie breathed in deeply and then continued her long rant. "And so we all had to go back down on hoof and we were the only survivors! And apparently all the towers are back up too and he opened up the gates of Tartarus at the same time. Anyway, we've been trying to get back to Canterlot since then, but then a bad guy took Fluttershy, so we chased him down to here - and so that's how we ended up in this cave!"

"Horrible things have happened." Rarity added. "Absolutely terrible things."

"Hey, maybe you could help us get to Canterlot?" Pinkie asked. "The faster, the better!"

"Perhaps." Chrysalis responded. "Although I should say, maybe I overestimated Celestia's abilities if she cannot even prevent a place like Tartarus from opening up. How can you not do that? She isn't doing a very good job of protecting Equestria."

"Celestia is dead." I stated. Chrysalis seemed shocked at that, taking a couple seconds to respond.

"Oh. Well, that's unfortunate then."

"She died protecting us from freezing to death on Mount Everhoof." Rarity spoke. "I still can't believe such a thing has happened.."

"So, can you help us?" Pinkie asked again. Chrysalis remained quiet for several seconds afterwards, leaving us all waiting in anticipation. It took her a long time before she finally replied.

"Only with the guarantee that I become one with your ranks in Canterlot, and that the effect would be immediate."

"Wait, you mean like a princess?" Pinkie inquired. "Is that even allowed?"

"And just what do you hope to gain with that?" Rarity asked.

"Celestia, out of the own kindness in her heart, let you go to live here where you and your changelings can survive." Applejack exclaimed. "And then this is how you expect us to repay you for your help?"

"If you think Celestia did this just to be nice, then you're all pathetically naive." Chrysalis replied. "I was a problem, and so she dealt with that problem. It wasn't to be nice, it was to get me out of the way."

"That's not how Celestia works at all!" Pinkie frowned. "We're not gonna do that for you, that's asking way too much."

"Then I suppose you don't need my help." She responded. "Or your friend either."

"What was that now?" Applejack asked, glaring at the queen. "Just what do you plan on doing with Fluttershy if we don't abide?"

"You don't want to do that Chrysalis." I spoke up. I would shoot her right on the spot if I needed to, and she wouldn't have any chance of seeing it coming due to not knowing anything about guns. She was a clear target.

"Tartarus has opened up. We're all in danger." Pinkie advised. "We need to be friends or this can end up badly for all of us!"

"What do you think I'm doing?" Chrysalis retorted. "I'm ensuring the survival of me and my horde. This place was only a temporary refuge, and if what you say about Tartarus is true, then my time here has shortened dramatically. I'm not going to help if I get nothing in return."

"We never said you wouldn't get anything." Applejack responded. "But askin' to be a princess is a bit too much."

"I never asked for that." Chrysalis frowned as if she was getting annoyed. "I want equal say over what happens. I am to be regarded with just as much importance as anyone else."

Pinkie turned her head to look at us. "What do you guys think we should do? I mean, given the choice, I'd rather risk her taking over Equestria than a bunch of bad guys from Tartarus."

"I wish Celestia was here to tell us what to do." Rarity expressed. "We're not exactly the right kind of authority to be making these kind of decisions..."

"Pinkie does have a point though." I noted. "While I don't think any of us have an actual idea of what lies in Tartarus, it probably is safe to assume that Chrysalis pales in comparison to what we may be facing against."

"So are we just gonna give her as much authority as the other princesses, just like that?" Applejack mentioned with a frown. "Ah think we're fully capable of making it back to Canterlot on our own. It shouldn't take more than a couple days."

"Yeah, but anything can happen!" Pinkie replied. "We already fought a bunch of bad guys already. I'm sure there'll be more, and worse things than just getting kidnapped might happen. Besides, what's it say about us if we just leave Chrysalis here to fend for herself? That's not nice!"

"Are you really defending Chrysalis, Pinkie?" Rarity questioned with a frown. "She's already tried to take over Equestria once. There's nothing nice about that mare, so why should we be kind to her?"

"Yeah, but she had to do that. Her and her friends were all in danger of dying!"

I stood there thinking while the others argued back and forth. It was a pretty sticky situation: Chrysalis was essentially forcing us to give her as much power as a princess, otherwise she'd do who knows what to Fluttershy. We couldn't really say no, and even if we could, there was still the chance that she would try to force her way into power anyway. Saying that Celestia was dead probably wasn't a good idea, but it was too late for that now. It seemed as if we didn't have a choice - at least not one I could think of. I did want to remind her of one thing though.

"Chrysalis." I spoke up loudly over the voices of the others. "Do you want to die?"

Chrysalis looked at me with a un-amused expression. "From what? From what I'm seeing here, you need my help more than I need yours." She proceeded to look bewildered. "And if you think you four stand a chance against me and my entire horde, then you're as delusional as you are stupid."

"I wouldn't say that if it wasn't a real threat." I replied. "I'm asking you this now as a fore-warning in-case you ever turn on us. Just know that with us agreeing to give you that kind of authority, that doesn't mean you aren't unstoppable. You will be killed if you ever try to do anything evil, even after Equestria is back to normal."

"Klade, what in Celestia's name are you doing?" I overheard Rarity whisper to me. "We can't battle her here! You weren't here during the changeling invasion, but believe me when I say that there were hundreds of those cursed creatures."

"That's not what I'm getting at." I quietly replied.

"Well, you're certainly more violent than the other one of you that I've met." Chrysalis replied - she must've been referring to Duston back before he died. "If you're going to be like that, then what's stopping me from killing you all right now? I don't need you to grant me power - I can just take it on my own. I've done it before, and I'll do it again."

"Because you'll die if you try killing us." I responded.

"Klade stop it!" Applejack yelled at me in a whisper voice. "You're making this a whole lot worse! Maybe giving her that kind of power ain't so bad - we can sort it out later."

"Um... but why would you kill us?" Pinkie asked. "I mean, you're not actually evil, right? Are you?"

Chrysalis didn't reply at first, almost as if she herself didn't know the answer to that. It took her several seconds before she responded. "The survival of my colony takes priority over everything else. If you consider that evil, then I suppose we were never meant to get along."

"Chrysalis, you've already tried to take over Equestria once before." Rarity spoke up. "We just want to make sure you don't... do it again?"

"This is getting ridiculous." The queen replied. "You're wasting my time."

"Chrysalis, just ignore Klade." Applejack spoke up. "He ain't a pony and he doesn't represent what we stand for. Ah'm sure you're not a bad person if those are really what your moral standpoints are - if anything ah'd say that's mighty noble of ya."

"So you will accept my help?"

"Yes!" Pinkie Pie quickly answered. "We'll even make you a princess!"

"I'm glad to hear that." Chrysalis grinned. "Now, to show what an honorable, non-evil person I am, I will stick to my word and release your friend." With that, the queen turned around and went back further into the cave, leaving us mostly by ourselves aside from all the other changelings still there.

"Klade, just what the heck were you thinkin'?" Applejack asked as she turned to look at me. "Were you out of your mind to threaten her like that? You almost got us all killed!"

"I wanted to make sure she was fully-aware of the consequences if she ever tried to turn on us." I replied. "I would kill her without a second thought otherwise. Besides, I would've shot her if she tried attacking us right here - she wouldn't know what to expect."

"You sure like killing alot of stuff." Pinkie frowned. "I've seen you kill more things than I have hooves already. I mean, I know you're not a pony and all, but that kind of thinking isn't exactly how we do things. There's other ways to solve things - that's what Celestia taught us and that's what Twilight knows too. At least I think she knows that."

"We don't have a choice here." I responded. "You've seen the type of stuff we've gone up against - Discord's tactics have changed. He's killed alot of ponies already, and so if he's going to be like that, then there's nothing wrong with returning that type of treatment."

"Yeah, but this is Chrysalis we're dealing with. She hasn't killed anypony I don't think... right? She seems pretty reasonable to me."

I didn't respond to that, not bothering to comment since she was probably right. Before anyone else could say anything though, Chrysalis returned, and with Fluttershy trotting out in-front of her.

"Fluttershy!" Pinkie called out. "You're okay!"

The pegasus didn't respond as she hastily made her way over to us - the meek pony was probably traumatized over being kidnapped like that.

"We were beginning to fear for the worst when we couldn't find you." Rarity exclaimed as she stepped over to her. "First Celestia, then Rainbow Dash... just what's happening nowadays?"

"So, will you honor our agreement?" Chrysalis spoke up, catching our attention.

"Of course, Chrysalis." Applejack responded. "But there won't be any guarantees until we reach Canterlot."

"I said that the effect would be immediate." Chrysalis retorted with a frown. "As of right now, I am equal with the other princesses."

"But you haven't even helped us yet!" Pinkie replied. "We still need to get to Canterlot."

"Does releasing Fluttershy not count as helping you?" Chrysalis attested. "Or would you have preferred something more... unfortunate."

"That's enough out of you." Applejack growled. "We can save this bickering for later. We both have the same goal of reaching Canterlot, so let's stop with the hostilities and start makin' our way there."

"I like the sound of that." Chrysalis responded. "I will gather up my minions - we leave within an hour."

"Sounds good ta me." Applejack acknowledged. The queen returned back inside the cave, although this time her changelings followed her as well. It was just us now, and I turned as I looked towards our group.

"Seems like we're getting help then." I stated. "I guess that's more of an added bonus since our main problem was getting Fluttershy back."

"Yeah, I'm super relieved that she's okay!" Pinkie exclaimed. "So I guess we're taking a whole changeling army with us to Canterlot? Those bad guys really shouldn't stand a chance now!"

"It'll help." I replied. "Although talking about Canterlot makes me wonder how Twilight and the other princesses are doing. We've seen some effects already and we were in pretty much the middle of no-where - I'm sure it's much worse in a populated, important place like that."

"Ooh, I didn't even think about that." Pinkie exasperated with a frown. "I hope everyone's okay!"

"I hope so too." Rarity chimed in. "Lest we lose any other princesses... just the very act of bringing that up makes me feel sick. Thing should not be like this."

"Well, hopefully we can get this all settled soon enough." Applejack mused. Without much further ado, we opted to wait for Chrysalis by the entrance of the cave, patiently waiting to depart when ready.
> Chapter 25 | The Badlands
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight Sparkle's POV

I couldn't remember the last time I had seen the sun. For what was probably the past couple days - not like I could even tell when a day had passed - we hurried south towards the badlands. Our trek was relentless. The constant threat of enemies kept us on the move non-stop, and civilians who were older and not fitted for those kinds of physical demands were grimly forced to be left behind - and that wasn't including all the others that had already been killed during our escape. Whatever traumatizing events I had been through already paled in comparison to what I, or rather, all of us were going through. Never before had any of us seen so much death and destruction happen so fast and right in-front of our eyes, and not everyone could cope with it. Some civilians had already ran off in some crazy, fanatic madness - none of us would probably ever see them again.

Shortly after our escape from Canterlot, we soon found that something amidst the air somehow prevented our magic from working, which only made our trip even more barbaric. From then on out the consistency of our magic was.. not very consistent. I noticed that it seemed to correlate with the dark grey clouds - the closer we were to them, the less our magic seemed to work. Currently it was okay, but it wasn't very reliable knowing that it could cut out at any time, which would put a huge cut in our defenses.

At the moment we had just finished visiting the nearby Dodge City, where we explained to the locals there of our dire situation as well as what had happened with Tartarus opening up. Thankfully they hadn't been effected yet, and after some discussions with the town's mayor and the rest of the populace, we teamed up in pursuit of the badlands. The supplies that the town had were much needed considering we had escaped Canterlot with barely anything at all, and for once things seemed like maybe it wasn't going to be so bad. I had been wondering almost constantly over what happened with Celestia and my other friends; I assumed they would be fine in the princess's care, but I still wondered how things must've went way up on that mountain. Did they have something to do with Tartarus opening up? Was Duston really there? I hoped I would find out soon. We didn't exactly know what to do in Canterlot, so I felt pretty hopeful that at least Celestia knew what she was doing.

The entrance to the badlands was just south of Dodge City, which is the direction we were currently headed - it would probably be only a couple more hours before we arrived. Because of my damaged horn and everything else that I was presumed to have been through, Shining Armor had made me sit in one of the wooden carriages carrying our supplies so that I wasn't walking anymore. I really hadn't been in the mood to decline, so that's where I still was, laying on my fore-hooves and staring at the pathway ahead of us with a tired expression.

"Why are we moving so slow?" Trixie's voice spoke up. She was in the carriage next to me, and not because she was asked to - while Shining forced to me to get on, Trixie yelled at him to let her on too. Since he wasn't in the mood to argue, he agreed. "This humidity is one of the worst things Trixie has ever had to experience. We're not even in the nearby swamp - we're outside of it! Why is it still so humid?"

"Trixie, please." I sighed and rolled over, staring up at the cloth ceiling of the carriage. "Complaining isn't going to make it better. Just be glad you're not out there walking with everyone else."

"Trixie is allowed to complain. She can do what she wants." She replied. "After being almost killed, I expect some better treatment than this. I shouldn't even be here! Ugh." Trixie shook her head and groaned. "Honestly, it was my own greediness to want to be revered by all of Equestria, not just Los Pegasus, that got me into this catastrophic mess. I should have just stayed in that stupid city!"

I clenched my teeth as I listened to her rant - all of us had almost gotten killed, not just her. Listening to her self-obsessed point of view was really ticking me off, but I didn't have the energy to yell at her about that right now. She wouldn't shut up about how she should've stayed in Los Pegasus either - was she too dumb to realize that Tartarus would eventually effect that place too? "Hey, maybe when we reach the badlands, you can ask whoever the leader is to treat you like royalty. I'm sure that will go smoothly."

"You know, you're exactly right." Trixie grinned, before shaking her head and frowning. "Although, I probably shouldn't expect much from a rustic lizard place like this. Royalty there is probably only as good as an average Ponyville citizen."

'Great, she's going to be like that now.' I thought to myself as I sighed. 'And Celestia wanted her to look after me? Maybe she doesn't know what she's doing after all.'

Our trip of what must've been several hundred ponies continued. Shining had directed the guards to be in formation at the front, back, and a few along the sides of our long convey - all of which were on the lookout for any more bad guys. With the luxury of being able to lay down, it didn't take me much longer before I drifted off to sleep.





"The badlands are in sight!"

I slowly stirred awake after hearing those words. After opening up my eyes, I perked my head up, excitedly looking ahead of us to see the faded red colors of the large mountains that surrounded our destination. The path we were currently on extended straight forward through an entryway in-between the rocky formations - that would be our entry point. Feeling mostly well-rested, I opted to jump off the carriage, trotting all the way up to the front of our convoy where my brother Shining Armor was.

"Do you think they'll let us in? I mean, we've got a whole lot of ponies here." I exclaimed, catching Shining's attention as he turned to look at me.

"I really don't see why not." He replied. "Are you feeling better Twi? Hopefully this will all be over soon."

"I'm fine." I responded simply. A few moments later, and I noticed Princess Luna and Princess Cadance trotting up to the front with us as well - they must've observed that we were nearing the end of our trip.

"If my past research is still correct, then King Ralphis should be the leader of these lands." Luna spoke up.

"You're right about that." Cadance responded. "Although not much is known about him - our present records are mostly focused on us ponies. We can only hope he's a composed king."

"It is in both of our interests to combine forces. I see no reason why he would turn us away." Luna replied.

The entrance to the badlands soon approached, where I could see the guards posted on-top of either side of the large divided mountains - they seemed to double take at the huge amount of ponies heading towards them. There was some scuffling and talking, and by the time we approached the entrance, one of the inhabitants came forward from the ground. He was a black-colored dragon, standing on two legs and several inches taller than Luna. He held a decorated spear in his hands, and stood in a defensive position quite a bit away from us.

"What is this?" He asked.

"We ask that we speak to King Ralphis." Luna responded. "It is of the utmost importance."

The dude looked us over afterwards before replying. "Who are you?"

"I am Princess Luna. Next to me stands Princess Cadance, Twilight Sparkle - Princess Celestia's student - and Shining Armor, our head of the Royal Guards."

"The only name I know is Celestia's." He replied. "Why isn't she with you?"

"It's kind of complicated." I spoke up. "Some really bad things have been happening, and just recently a really bad thing happened that puts us all in serious danger."

"There is much to discuss." Luna added. "Seeking an audience with Ralphis is our top priority. From there things can be sorted out."

"No." The dragon bluntly replied. "Unless you have better reasons than that, then no, go away."

"Tartarus has opened up." I exclaimed. "If you know anything about what that means, then you should know how incredibly dangerous this is."

"I don't care." He replied, which only confirmed to me that he must've been ignorant towards it - that really ticked me off. "I don't know who any of you are, and also, I don't care."

"Who the hell do you think you are!?" Trixie's voice suddenly spoke up. I gasped and looked in her direction to see her walking up towards us.

"Trixie!!!!" I screamed at her - I was really getting sick of her, and this just topped things off. "What are you doing!? Who let you up here??"

"You have no reason to not let any of us in." Trixie continued. "How dare you even think about acting in such a way towards us! You have no idea just who you're dealing with. You should know that-" I cut her off by trotting over to her and covering her mouth with my hoof.

"We don't mean any of that!" I quickly remarked. "Don't listen to her, she shouldn't even be up h-" I was interrupted by Trixie strongly pushing me away.

"I demand that you let me in right this instant." Before she could say anything else, Luna took action by magically covering her mouth and levitating her away. When she was a decent distance away, Luna spoke up. "My deepest apologies. We did not intend for such clownish behavior to ruin our meeting."

The dragon seemed unfazed however, to which he eventually responded. "Let that pony in. Only she is allowed inside."

I was barely able to hold back blurting something out in shock. All of us stood in bewildered silence for several long seconds before Trixie was levitated back up, where we simply watched as she trotted right up to the dragon with the smuggest possible grin I had ever seen.

"Finally, some common sense around here." She exclaimed.

"Follow me. I will lead you to King Ralphis." The dragon spoke. With that, the two of them walked off, leaving us all to stand thinking about what we had just witnessed.

"That... worked?" Shining asked.

"I have no words." Cadance added.

"As long as our message gets across, then we will have achieved our goal." Luna exclaimed. "Ralphis may have a better understanding of the danger Tartarus holds."

"I hope so." I nodded before shaking my head. "I can't believe we have to rely on Trixie, of all ponies for this. She better convey the right message."

"I am sure that she will." Luna replied. "But for now, it seems that we must wait."

I sighed, looking forward towards what we could see of the inside of the badlands. I was really hating that whatever Trixie said would ultimately decide the outcome of all of us, but it seemed as if it was our only option - we didn't appear to be getting anywhere otherwise. With nothing else to do but wait, I began pacing around in circles.





Half an hour passed before we were approached by any more of the badlands' inhabitants. We were all apparently allowed inside, where the 'leaders' of our group were requested to seek an immediate audience with Ralphis - that would mean me, the princesses and my brother. The interior of this place was totally surrounded by mountains, which definitely seemed like it would offer really good defense in-case of an attack. The ground consisted of a mixture of dark red sand and dirt, and the surrounding rock formations and houses were all a sun-baked orange color. Once our group had reached the place where they were to reside for the time being, me, my brother and the other princesses followed a few dragon guards over to a huge mountain fortress - someplace I assumed King Ralphis was. We walked up the initial steps and went inside the building, where I was at first surprised at the sudden coolness the shade was giving - I hadn't realized just how hot it had been outside. We continued our way through the well-decorated rock-mansion, until eventually we reached the presumed throne room, where I saw what must've been none other than King Ralphis. Trixie was in the room too, standing off to the side and still looking as pompous as ever.

"I hear you ponies have been having issues." The dark yellow dragon spoke. He was about the same height as the other ones we had seen, but was extremely muscular - the kind where it looked like he could walk right through a stone wall. His outfit wasn't very regal though - it was more of a tactical apparel, fitted with various leather straps that were designed to hold objects.

"You have been hearing correctly." Luna replied. "The danger Tartarus holds threatens us all. Only minutes after the gates opened, we were forced to escape Canterlot lest we all perished. I worry greatly for the rest of Equestria as this evil spreads."

"Hmm." The dragon thought for a few seconds before continuing. "So why are you here, of all places?"

"Our decision to come here was made hastily during the heat of battle." Cadance answered. "We were totally unprepared for the event of something so catastrophic happening. Our reasoning lied in the fact that your culture is more.. violent than any other place we could have went to."

"Ohh." He grinned. "I like that." He proceeded to look confused. "What do you expect me to do then? Do you really expect me to just house and take care of all of your kind that you brought with you for literally no reason?"

"We must combine forces." Luna responded. "Our only chance of survival lies with that, otherwise we are all doomed."

"I have some of my guards from Canterlot with us." Shining Armor spoke up. "My name is Shining Armor, and I am the head of the Royal Guards. We would have no problem fighting alongside you. As for the civilians, I am afraid they may be forced to take up arms for the sake of increasing our chance at survival - we need everyone we can get. I'll handle training the ones that I think are capable of it."

"I see." Ralphis rubbed his chin for a few moments before continuing. "I guess you ponies can stay here for now. I'll ready my people for battle, but don't be surprised if this 'inevitable doom' ends faster than you think."

"The forces of Tartarus are unlike anything any of us have ever seen." I spoke up. "I've read about it before in books... these are creatures that lust for blood and nothing else. I don't think it'll be over that fast."

"...Who are you?" Ralphis replied. "Are they making unicorns princesses now?"

"She is Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia's student." Luna answered.

"Huh." He furrowed his eyebrows. "Where is Celestia anyway? The king before me has told of how he's fought beside her and that she is a great warrior. For such a grim situation, I see no reason why she isn't with you."

"My sister departed with the bearers of the Elements of Harmony to stop a threat known as Discord." Luna answered. "She had not returned yet when the gates of Tartarus opened up above our capital. I do not know where she is now."

"Hmm, well I don't know who that is." Ralphis replied. "Shame, I would've liked to have met her - that'll just have to wait for another time. For now, you can do whatever you gotta do to get ready for battle. You all, as well as Trixie here are free to stay here in the fortress - but no one else. The rest of your ponies will take camp in your designated corner." I clenched my teeth at the thought of how Trixie was being treated as an equal to us - that was not what I thought she deserved, but I had no choice in the matter.

"Thank you, King Ralphis." Luna expressed. "We will do our best to prepare ourselves."

"Yeah yeah." He responded. "This meeting is over now. I have stuff to do." With that, the dragon walked out of the room, leaving us inside with only his guards.

"I'll have my stallions go through the usual drills. Maybe I can get some civilians involved too." Shining exclaimed.

Luna nodded. "Me and Cadance will have to make an announcement to them as well - I am sure that not everyone knows what is going on. We need to clear up confusion and tell them of the dangers we face."

"Sounds good." Shining replied. With the conversation seeming to reach a close, I decided to speak up.

"What should I do?"

"You have no responsibilities Twilight." Cadance replied. "Let us handle everything for the time being."

I was still a little hesitant to just let go of our situation like that, but I nodded my head - this probably would've been a good chance to finally have some time for myself. I watched as Cadance and the others left the room, and I sighed, staring blankly in-front of me for a little while before looking around. Trixie wasn't even in here anymore; she had probably went off exploring the fortress and judging its quality. I shook my head at the thought of her and left the room - I was feeling pretty adamant that she would never learn her lesson at this rate. With nothing required of me to do, I spent my time slowly trotting around, lost in my thoughts.
> Chapter 26 | Pent
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I spent the rest of the day trotting around the entirety of the badlands, where I took a look at everything since I wasn't exactly sure if and when I would ever be here again. It was at least something to take my mind off of everything else that was happening, although I still couldn't completely get rid of that feeling of looming doom. I could only hope that I was wrong about just how dangerous Tartarus was.

At the moment it was dark out - night time was here and those who weren't sleeping were on the lookout, posted along the red mountains that surrounded this place. The room I was staying in for the night was very well decorated, fitted with all sorts of golden borders and shiny jewels everywhere. Most of the rooms in this fortress seemed to be like this, and I rolled over in my bed as I stared blankly at the ceiling.

'I wonder what Celestia and the others are doing right now...' I sighed, rolling onto my side and nuzzling into my pillow. Even though I wasn't exactly tired, I found myself drifting off to sleep anyway simply out of being lost in my own thoughts.





The sound of a low-pitched bell loudly ringing from the outside abruptly woke me up, followed by a sinking feeling in my stomach. That sound definitely couldn't have been anything good, and after a few seconds I slowly sat up from my bed.

'They're here, aren't they?' I stood up and walked over to one of the glass-less windows. It was still dark out, and I couldn't really see much - but I could hear it. The sounds of hasty footsteps as well as the voices of orders being given out. I had no doubt in my mind anymore that the monsters from Tartarus were here.

I backed away from the window, looking around at my room and then beginning to pace back and forth. What was I even able to do? It wasn't like I could help that much - my horn was still cracked, and I knew from experience how useless I was without magic. I would probably just get in the way if I tried to help. I hated the idea of just standing in here doing nothing though, to which I eventually decided that taking a better look at things couldn't have been a bad idea, right?

I made my way over to the open passage-way out of my room; if there was one thing I quickly learned about this place, it was that doors didn't seem to exist. After a quick look back and forth, I saw that the hallway just outside my room appeared to be empty, so I stepped all the way out and slowly began making my way through. Aside from the bell ringing and the rustling outside, it was surprisingly quiet inside the fortress itself - I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I trotted as far as the hallway extended before it changed directions, and upon turning, the first thing I saw down the other direction was Trixie. Normally I would've been annoyed, but I was too stressed out from the current situation to really care about my gripes with her.

"Have you been outside Trixie?" I asked as I began making my way over to her.

"No." She replied simply at first before continuing. Closer inspection showed that she was still half-asleep. "Do you know why this annoying bell is going off in the middle of the night?"

"I think we're being attacked. By Tartarus no doubt." I replied. "When I looked out my window it sounded like they were getting ready for a battle."

"Oh." Trixie blinked. "Well let's go outside then."

Although still a little hesitant, I abided, trotting with the mare across the lengths of the fortress. It didn't take much longer before we reached the entrance, and upon stepping outside, I saw that it was at least a little bright outside. My guess was that it was very early in the morning - too early for there to be light, but late enough for it not to be pitch black. We trotted further out, where in the darkness we could see the outlines of bipedal creatures marching around - they had to have been the dragons that lived here. It was during my observing that I suddenly noticed King Ralphis himself walking right by us, as well as a few higher ranking-looking dragons surrounding him. At first glance he seemed very pre-occupied, so I opted not to bother him, but Trixie had other plans.

"King Ralphis!" The pony called out, trotting up closer to the king as he turned his attention to her. "Are you going off to battle? Don't forget to bring Trixie - she will be of great help!"

'What in the world is she doing?' I started frowning already. Was this pony out of her mind? "Trixie, what are you doing? It's way too dangerous for somepony like you - you should already know how dangerous these monsters are!"

"Are you going to deny her a chance to prove herself in battle?" Ralphis responded. I was taken back at his reply, to which I really wasn't that ready for an answer.

"I.. well.. no... but-"

"You should go back inside. You're in no condition to fight." The king interrupted, before continuing on with Trixie and his other soldiers. I could already feel myself fuming with rage as he walked off just like that - telling me to go inside and then bringing that entitled abomination Trixie with her.

'..Are you KIDDING ME!? That stupid, smug, egotistical mare - she doesn't know what she's getting into!' I slammed my hooves against the ground. 'I can't believe he's letting her do that! She's going to get herself killed out there - does he not realize that? UGH!' I kicked a nearby rock as hard as I could, sending it zooming out of the fortress and onto the grounds below. 'There has to be something I can do. There's always something I can do, right? There always is! That's how it's always been!' I huffed out and began making my way down the stairs to the ground below. Aside from the dragons hurrying about, I noticed the civilian camp off in the distance, to which a light bulb went off in my head - maybe they could all use my help! I quickly began to run over there, barely not bumping into any of the scurrying dragons during my sprint. Upon getting closer, I noticed that there were a few royal guards there directing orders, so I trotted up to them.

"Do you need me for anything?" I asked, catching their attention. They looked at me for a few seconds in silence before responding.

"Aren't you the captain's sister?" One of them replied.

"I'm pretty sure you're supposed to be resting in the fortress." Another exclaimed. Before I could say anything back though, the voice of exactly who they were talking about rang out - my brother's.

"Twilight! What are you doing here?" He asked, appearing mostly confused by my presence.

"I'm helping." I answered simply.

"Twilight, if there's anything you can do, somebody else can do it. You need to go back and-"

"No! I'm not sitting in that fortress doing nothing while you all are fighting to protect us." I interrupted, and probably more harshly than I intended. "I'm going to be here with everypony else."

Shining hesitated his reply, looking as if he didn't seem to know what to say. Before he was ever able to get a response though, several loud shouts coming from the tops of the surrounding mountains caught our attention.

"Incoming!!!"

With our senses alerted, we began to look around, confused at first until we saw large, black winged creatures flying in from above the mountain range. They looked dinosauric, where the first word to come to my mind in reference to their name was pterodactyls. They swooped down towards us at speeds on par with Rainbow Dash, where the first few of them violently penetrated a couple civilians and then flew off with them.

"Guard up!!! Watch the sky!" Shining shouted out. The other surrounding guard's horns began to glow, creating rounded blue shields that deflected the swooping monsters straight into the ground. From there the non-unicorns guards went in and stabbed the demons with their spears, killing them all while their large beaks were stuck in the soil. I quickly noticed though that the glowing horns of the unicorns were spazzing out slightly - that must've been the effect of the grey clouds that I had hypothesized. Whenever these monsters got close, our magic seemed to stop working, and it seemed as though it was going to be the same case here. There were alot more flying monsters than unicorn guards able to put up shields though, so they were still picking off untrained civilians and horribly murdering them. The sight of it was making me feel sick.

"We have to group up!! Don't let them catch you on your own!" Shining yelled. Most of the civilians were panicking and bumping into each other though, and the sudden anguished scream of a foal being bitten nearly in half made my heart wrench. I had to be able to do something - that was the entire reason I came out here. I couldn't stand for this madness, and the sight of a random pony struggling to fight against a pterodactyl's fiercely biting beak was enough to throw me over the edge.

"They're everywhere!" One of the guards yelled out. With my mind foggy with rage, I closed my eyes and began to use my magic; I knew how much I shouldn't have, but I couldn't possibly care any less at this moment - I had enough. I was immediately met with sharp, piercing pain coming from my head, but I still didn't care - I had to fix this.

"Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!" I screamed out as a violent blast of magic shot out. The shock-wave was enough to paralyze all of the flying demons, causing them to fall to the ground and be much easier to kill. The pain that I felt in my horn right afterwards though felt like a sharp knife penetrating right through my skull. It was so painful that it left me debilitated and falling to the ground, where I let out an ear-deafening shriek of anguish. "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Twilight!!" Shining called out, but I was too much in shock to even comprehend him or anything around me - I had never felt so much pain in my entire life. My entire body trembled as I barely focused enough to cover my horn with my fore-hooves, but it was useless. I felt as if a thousand migraines had gone off at once.

"I.. I-I just wanted to help.." Tears began to well up in my eyes as I felt myself being helped up back onto my hooves. I blinked and tried to focus on my brother; the pain had dulled a little bit and wasn't as debilitating, but it was still bad enough to make me want to hide away in misery. My brother shook his head as he looked at me, appearing deeply concerned and even worried as he turned to look at some nearby guards.

"You two, get over here and escort this mare back to the fortress. Get on it, RIGHT NOW!!"

"Yes sir!" They replied. I sobbed as I looked at the guards approaching me through my watery vision; I had never felt so useless in my entire life, and I hated it more than anything. The two ushered me along until I had composed enough to walk on my own, and then they continued to help me across. We only made it about half-way, however, when I saw the guard to my right suddenly being taken off the ground. I abruptly stopped my walk as I observed some kind of big winged demon land in-front of us with the guard right in his hands: it looked like a minotaur, only skinnier and with wings. I gasped when he threw the pony towards us, directly hitting the other guard to my left as they both skidded across the ground.

"Ahh!" I backed away from the monster, but its movements were hasty - it was already charging towards me. My first reflex was to use my magic again, but I hesitated - I didn't ever want to go through that kind of pain again. I merely stood there frozen in fear, feeling so angry yet so helpless at the same time; it was at this moment that something rammed into the beast from the side. I stood and watched as it roared, reaching its arms behind its back and then flapping its wings to lift itself into the air. It only made it several feet though before a loud and distinct slicing sound was heard, to which it glided down and crashed into the ground afterwards. More slicing was heard, to which my shocked expression soon turned disgusted as I watched its head being cut off. The bipedal dragon that was behind it then kicked the decapitated head like a rock, and upon stepping forward, I saw that it was King Ralphis that had just brutally murdered that monster.

"What are you doing here? I told you to go back inside." He spoke up, directing his attention at me.

"I-I.. I just wanted to help.." I muttered, still in shock from the previous pain and from what I had just witnessed. He was already on the move before saying anything else, picking me right up and then leaping towards the fortress. His surprisingly quick speed brought us both to the building in only seconds, where he dropped me off in a rather un-gentle manner.

"You almost died. Don't do it again." He exclaimed. After that, he was back to running off into battle, jumping around like a crazy person and killing pterodactyls right out of the sky by either throwing blades at them or jumping right onto them mid-flight. I watched in awe at his unexpected display of skill, and then shook my head, forcing myself to stop watching so that I could step back inside the fortress where it was safer.

"Maybe we'll be fine... Why did I even go out there anyway? Gosh I'm so stupid." I really wasn't even in the right mindset to go on a huge mental rant over all the things I thought I did wrong though. I had broken down crying right in-front of my brother and around everyone else out there, and the amount of hate I had for myself at the moment was just too much for me to bother with. I trotted through the hallways until I made it back to my room, slamming the door closed and sobbing.

"Why am I Celestia's student?" I paced back and forth in my room, barely able to form any coherent arguments for myself until I eventually just substituted to sitting down on my bed. I couldn't even remember the last time I had felt normal - it was as if this madness had been going on forever. I couldn't even remember what it felt like to be normal anymore. I thought everything I was doing was just a temporary way of coping, but with it going on for so long now, I began to wonder if this is who I really was - if this was going to be the new 'normal' for me from now. I shook my head and slammed my hoof against the covers, laying down on my side and then restlessly moving over onto my back. I really hoped that wasn't true because this was not a good mindset to be in. I kept making mistakes left and right, and I still was - I had just made one only minutes ago by getting irrationally angry and charging out there. It made me feel horrible and I was so sick of it.

"Please tell me this is going to be over soon. I just want to back in Ponyville with nothing going wrong... Is that even possible anymore? Will I ever even see my friends again?" I felt intense sadness at that last thought, and I rolled back over to my side, staring blankly at the wall in-front of me. "I have to... there's no way I'd never actually see them again, right? That can't be true. This will be all over soon.. it will definitely all be over soon."
> Chapter 27 | Return to Canterlot
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Klade's POV

The large mountain that Canterlot was located on was in view. We had followed along the river that extended out from Neighagra Falls, which acted as a kind of guide that would lead us straight to the mountain. It was probably only about an hour's way by now, and I was eager for the chance to regroup and find out if anything had happened.

Behind us was a huge swarm of changelings; anyone viewing from the outside would probably think Canterlot was about to be invaded, which in a way was technically true. Chrysalis had been promised equal say with the other princesses, so she was supposed to be just as powerful as them - time would tell if they would abide to that though since the decision had been made without their knowledge or consent. The trip so far had been without anymore adversaries in our way, which I wasn't sure if it was just by chance or if the changeling army was intimidating enough to keep the monsters away. I had regularly tested my magic throughout our journey to see if it would work, but unfortunately each time I tried, it was still being blocked. It was starting to make me wonder: Was the tower on Mount Everhoof powerful enough to blanket all of Equestria? I hoped not.

With more steps taken as time went on, the caves that the trains would use to go right up directly to Canterlot became visible. We would have to walk up them manually, but it was still a much better option than having to climb the actual mountain - that would've sucked. One thing in particular I noticed was that the railgun located on the very top of the mountain wasn't there anymore; that was definitely interesting, and I was eager to find out why.

'How many damn mountains have we come across now? I swear, every day it feels like another mountain or another cave. If I see anymore mountains then I'm going to start blowing them up and turning them into cities. That would actually be pretty epic now that I think about it - it's a shame Discord would just mess it up.'

With the entrance to the mountain approaching, we stepped inside, hearing only the echos of our steps around the train tracks. Nothing in here so far showed any signs of destruction, but it a strange way it didn't feel natural - as if there was supposed to be damage done here but there wasn't. Chances are though, it was just me. We had been through alot and the quietness probably wasn't helping to make things seem less spooky either. Either way, I still kept in mind that something didn't seem right - I wasn't the type of person to easily dismiss things as just my 'mind playing tricks.' I took feelings like this way too seriously.

"Do you guys smell that?" Pinkie Pie's voice spoke up. "It almost smells like burnt stuff."

"That can't be good." I replied. "If there's one thing I've noticed though, it's that the clouds have gotten darker - as if this is their central point."

"Yeah, kind of like when it's about to rain!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Maybe that's just it? Oh oh, maybe all of the clouds are just a huge prank from the ponies over at Cloudsdale! Maybe Celestia's death was a prank too, and when we get up there to Canterlot there's gonna be a huuuge party waiting for us!"

I couldn't help but smile at that despite how it seemed like everything around us was turning into a living nightmare. "That would be nice."

Me, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy, Chrysalis, and the mass of changelings behind us continued up the mountain tunnel. Soon enough the other side began to come into view, where the first thing we saw was a large chunk of the castle laying just outside.

"Ah'd start bein' a little more careful from here on out." Applejack spoke up. Everyone silently agreed, and I pulled out one of my G18 machine pistols as we continued forward at a slower pace. Once we approached the exit to the tunnel, we were able to see the entirety of the Canterlot Castle - as well as how destroyed it was. Pieces and chunks were littered everywhere across the front courtyard, and quite of few of the towers that extended upwards were either smashed or broken right off. The whole place looked like it had been through a war.

"O-oh my..." Fluttershy softly remarked at the sight of it all.

"This has happened to Canterlot?" Rarity spoke. "This is horrible! Is there anyone left in this place?"

After hearing her say that, I realized that despite all of the destruction, there wasn't a single body to be found. I could see disturbances in the ground as well as huge foot-prints from what must've belonged to giant monsters, but yet there wasn't any dead bodies out here - whether it be monsters or ponies.

"They might have abandoned this place before they were invaded." I alleged.

"I hope so." Pinkie breathed out a sigh in relief. "So that should mean everypony's still okay!"

"So you mean to say there is no one here?" Chrysalis's voice rang out. Our attention turned to the queen, where I was the first to reply.

"Maybe. I would look through the inside of the castle to see if there's anyone still here."

"And if they're not, then maybe they left a note saying where they went!" Pinkie chimed in. Chrysalis's visual expression didn't appear to change, but she did seem on board with doing that. We continued across the courtyard, separating ourselves a little from the group as we looked around and examined things. One thing in particular I noticed was a huge metal door that I faintly remembered being a part of the front of the castle. Closer inspection showed large splatters of blood stained near the bottom, seemingly as if something had been crushed by it. There were no bodies though, and the door appeared to be laying flat right against the ground - there couldn't have been anything underneath it.

'Something's not right here.' I looked back towards the others. Now that I had seen blood, I began to spot it in other places too: scattered across the blades of grass or sprayed against walls and pieces of debris. Whatever had happened here wasn't without injuries or even casualties, and it was making me wonder if this place had actually been evacuated before the gates had opened. After all, nobody had ever suspected that Tartarus would open up - it would've been a total surprise. If there was an attack though, then surely there would've been bodies - so where were they?

"Let's not wander off too far. Something's not right about this place." I stated.

"Ya got that right." Applejack replied. We soon grouped closer together as we made our way forward towards the castle itself. Our first steps inside echoed throughout the empty hallways as we maneuvered around the other large metal door that was hanging by its hinges. The interior appeared equally as destroyed, with holes in the walls and decorative fabric torn to pieces. Right in-front of us was a big chandelier that had fallen from the ceiling.

"We should split up and then holler out if we find anything." Pinkie spoke up.

"No, that's a horrible idea." I was quick to dismiss that plan. "Something's weird about this place, and the last thing I would want to do is split apart so that we can easily be picked off. I think spending a little more time to ensure our safety is the best thing to do."

"Yeah, but isn't this place still really big?" Pinkie frowned. "Besides, the longer we stay here, the more danger Twilight and the others can be in!"

"Perhaps we can just split into two groups." Applejack elaborated. "We can take half an' half that way without spreading ourselves two thin."

"That sounds like a good plan." Rarity added.

I looked towards everyone else as well as the large horde of changelings. On second thought, that way of doing it didn't sound so bad. Everyone seemed to be agreeing to it anyway, so it seemed as if the decision had already been made. "Alright. Applejack, how about you, Rarity, Chrysalis and the rest of her changelings search the right side of the castle. I'll take the left with Pinkie and Fluttershy." I figured Chrysalis would've been fine by herself with her own little army, but I didn't want her to be isolated from all of us just yet.

"Ah guess that'll work." Applejack replied.

"We'll meet up in the garden that's located inside the castle when we're done searching." I continued. "I'm pretty sure that's in the middle anyway, so it'll be a good spot to regroup."

With our plan made out, we made our separate ways. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy followed me through the left hallway, where we took the time to examine our surroundings and look behind objects and curtains in search of anypony left that could've been hiding. There was nothing though - no sign of anyone anywhere. The castle was dull and lifeless, but yet it still felt like there was something still here. The vibe this place was giving off was creepy, and I wasn't sure if it was just because it was so uninhabited.

"I don't think there's anypony home." Pinkie eventually exclaimed. "It's so weird not to see anypony in Canterlot, but this place is just totally abandoned."

"Yep, doesn't seem like there's anyone here." I replied. We had just finished going up the stairways that the towers consisted of - or at least, the ones that weren't destroyed. Most of the rooms located at the top seemed to be bedrooms, which I figured would be the prime location to find anyone hiding, but there was no one in any of them. We seemed to be re-tracing our steps along the lower-levels at this point, so I decided it was time to end our search. "Let's go to the garden. There's nothing here."

"I hope that the others have found anything that would tell us where everypony went." Fluttershy replied. I was curious about that too, and without any further ado we made our way straight to the Canterlot garden. When we arrived, I noticed how the trees and flowers were all damaged, which was pretty much expected considering the rest of the castle was in partial ruins. Stepping all the way into the courtyard revealed that everyone else was already here - including Chrysalis and her horde of changelings that were just standing or hovering about. It was giving me flashbacks to the last time changelings were seen in this courtyard, to which there was a big battle between them and us.

"Ya'll finally done?" Applejack greeted as we made our way over. Taking a look at the mass of changelings, I realized it was probably an extremely lopsided search when they had hundreds of them searching and we only had just three. It made sense then that they would be done so fast, but there wasn't anything I could do about that now.

"We didn't find anything." I replied.

"We found no pony either, but we think that's a good thing on the contrary!" Rarity responded. "We searched through every floor and along the basement dungeons; and then, located in one of the rooms above, we found a map laying right on a table with an area known as the 'badlands' circled in red. We think this is where the others have escaped to."

"Wow! Really?" Pinkie's head perked up in excitement. "So that's gotta be where we go to next!"

Applejack shook her head at that notion. "Ah want to check out Ponyville first before we go anywhere. We've all seen what's happened here, and I'd be lyin' if I said I haven't been worried sick about my family - even more so now that I've seen the look of this place."

Fluttershy gasped at this. "You're right Applejack. Oh no - I hope all the animals are okay! Gosh, I hope everypony else is okay too.."

"I know." Rarity responded. "It's absolutely dreadful to think about the sheer quantity of horrible things that could be happening." She gagged. "It makes me feel sick... it is simply so much to worry over."

I stood there thinking about all this new information. The badlands... I had no idea what or where that place even was, but I knew I would find out as soon as I had my hands on a map. Ponyville was another factor I hadn't even considered; If a place like Canterlot was abandoned and destroyed like it was right now, then surely every other place on Equestria was at risk too. The only thing was wondering when it would happen - that was the scale of the threat this Tartarus place seemed to hold. Ponyville was close to Canterlot - the closest town to Canterlot actually - so that would make it the most prime location for the next attack, the same one that seemed to happen here. There was one thing I needed to do before our departure though, and it was the entire reason I made sure we met up in the garden.

"We can't leave for Ponyville just yet." I spoke up. "We're going to stop by someplace else first."

"Stop by where?" Applejack inquired. I responded by walking over to a certain section of the garden; the place was in ruins, but the area was still somewhat recognizable. I approached a particular rock that still had the mess of dirt and pulled up grass next to it from the last time I was here with Rainbow Dash.

'Actually surprised there isn't still two guards standing here.' I thought to myself as I leaned down and moved some debris out of the way. I grinned when I saw an electronic number panel attached to the rock, and after putting in the correct sequence, the rock slowly slid open and revealed a pathway that led underground.

"Oh hey, I forgot about that place!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

"This was the place we used to escape from Discord when he trapped us all in Canterlot, correct?" Rarity asked.

"Yep, same place." I answered. I proceeded to make my way down the stairs with the others following behind me. A quick glance around showed that Chrysalis was coming down here by herself and leaving the rest of her changelings at the entrance, which made sense since the opening was only really big enough for one person at a time - for all of them to come down here would take forever and would most likely over-cluster the whole tunnel. Eventually we all reached the armored van that I had conveniently parked on this side of the tunnel the last time I was here with Rainbow Dash and Trixie, to which I then approached the vehicle and opened the two double-doors in the back.

"Everyone inside." I asserted as I made my way towards the front.

"It's just like last time!" I heard Pinkie exclaim as she jumped right into the back. "This was fun!"

I opened the driver side door and sat inside. I took a look behind me, waited until everyone was inside, and when the back doors were closed, I turned on the engine. After shifting into the correct gear, I accelerated the van forward, thus beginning our way to my base.





The other side of the tunnel soon came into view, and with it was the ATV that I had previously used the last time I was here. Upon nearing the end, I maneuvered the vehicle so that the front was facing back towards Canterlot, and then turned off the engine.

"We're here." I announced as I opened the driver side door. Stepping out I saw that the others had already began exiting the vehicle, and once everyone was out, I began to make my way over towards the elevator. I walked right inside and took a look at the panel located inside; the base's alarm and defensive systems were still online as they should've been, although after punching in the code, it gave me an error displaying that it wasn't the correct one.

'Da fuq? Oh wait, I changed it when Rainbow and Trixie were here. Fuck what the hell were those numbers...' I stood there and stared blankly at the panel. Everyone was already inside by now, some of which began looking at me as we simply stood there. It took me a few more moments before I managed to remember something, and after punching in that code, I was lucky to find out it was the right one and the defenses were deactivated. 'I've really been slipping alot - guess I shouldn't change stuff like this as a spur of the moment thing. At least I still remember the other ones.' With that short ordeal resolved, I pressed the actual elevator button, causing the doors to slither closed and the room to begin moving upwards.

During the short time that the elevator ascended, I took the time to notice that Chrysalis had been strangely quiet about all of this. I figured she must've been interested in the fact that all of this was below Canterlot, and it was then I realized she was probably thinking this was a bunch of stuff that the princesses had done - she was most likely taking in everything mentally as if we were about to come across some ancient legendary magic stuff or who knows what from a thousand years ago that the princesses could've had locked away somewhere. It wasn't going to be that though - it would be totally different.

The elevator soon arrived, and the doors slid open, revealing the main control room of my base. Now that I was here, I wasn't going to hold back at all over what I was supposed to do. Princess Celestia, Rainbow Dash, Duston, as well as many others effected by Discord's chaotic sprint had died, and with things going the way they were, I saw no reason not to do everything I was capable of. The things he had been doing lately were plain violent with no games at all to them, and unleashing the demons of Tartarus crossed the line - was that his idea of fun? It didn't even seem characteristic of him, almost as if there was something more to it.

Stepping out of the elevator, I walked straight to the closest railgun-specific room - the Canterlot Top location. As I expected, the monitors on-screen were showing that it was offline - I hadn't seen it on the top of the mountain Canterlot was on when we were trekking over here. It was unfortunate since that had the best possible vantage point, but I still had others located across Equestria. Walking back out of the room, I saw the others looking around - they hadn't seen the new modern look since I re-did this place out of the oldey timey look that it had before.

"What exactly is this place for anyway?" Pinkie's voice spoke up. "Like, what are all the things we can do? I remember that one time you whacked a fake Discord with a bunch of weird buttons and lights and stuff and I saw it happening like I was right there!"

"I have more devices just like that one located all over Equestria." I explained. "Those are what will do the most damage, although I still have alot of other stuff here I want to get ahold of as well. You'll see what I'm talking about." I proceeded to check out every other railgun-oriented room, where I was glad to see that each of the five others were in working condition: Foal Mountain #1, Foal Mountain #2, Everfree, Smokey Mountains and Mountains South - the latter two made to fire nuclear bombs. With those checked out and unlocked, I made my way back to the main room, where I saw that some had taken the opportunity to sit down on the chairs that surrounded the large table located in the middle.

"Klade! What's this big black box do?" Pinkie proceeded to ask, waving her hoof around the large flat-screen TV attached to the wall at the end of the table.

"That has access to all of the cameras and video feeds I have located across Equestria." I answered. That would definitely prove to be useful, and I was also really curious over just what happened to my clone that was supposed to shoot the tower on Mount Everhoof. I figured now was a good time to find out, so I made my way over to a remote that was resting on the table, grabbing it and turning the television on. The first video feed to be displayed was located on a tree over-looking the entrance to the Canterlot Castle, which only revealed what we had already seen - it was all destroyed.

"You can see that from here?" Rarity inquired with a perplexed look.

"Yeah, it's normal stuff back on my world. I've got these everywhere." I replied. Pressing buttons on the remote, I switched to a specific camera - one of the ones that overlooked the makeshift camp-out I had created for that clone. What I saw was disturbing: His dead body laid limp on the floor, which was already starting to disintegrate into what looked like crusty black particles of which I assumed was the magical stuff that kept him alive. On a nearby wall was a black splatter, and on the floor was a pistol - by the looks of it he must've blown his brains out. 'Damn. How the fuck did Discord find out about him? That doesn't make any sense.'

"What's that supposed to be?" Applejack asked.

"That was supposed to be my backup plan in-case things on Everhoof didn't go very well." I responded. "Have no idea how that happened though. I should've had more plans to begin with." I felt bad looking at the dead body - he had survived being manipulated only to somehow end up like that. I knew it was just a magical copy of me, but there was still a form of attachment - probably because it was me.

With that mystery solved, I began to scroll through the cameras at random, bringing up videos from different cities. The first one I recognized as Baltimare since I had been there with Celestia and the others already, and from the looks of it things seemed to be mostly fine; other than the magic-disabling tower, the effects of Tartarus hadn't seemed to reach them yet. It was the same story for other cities that were far away from Canterlot, and cameras that were located in random fields and forests showed nothing out of the ordinary. A couple cameras showed up as only static, which was weird, until one displayed a live feed from Cloudsdale. The place turned out to be in ruins just like Canterlot was: buildings were destroyed and the clouds looked like they had been torn apart as if they were made out of cotton. Some tall structures were hanging downwards barely attached to whatever clouds were left, and looking at that made me wonder what the ground below that sky city must've looked like.

"Oh no, they've been attacked too." Pinkie gasped out. "Wait look, there's still a few of them there!" The pony dashed right over to the screen and pointed with her hoof at places where orc-like creatures appeared to be walking around.

"Whatever happened here was probably recent then." I replied. Bringing up a certain setting from the remote, I specifically picked another Cloudsdale camera, which displayed a different angle of destruction. Located on one of the flat pieces of ground I was able to see an orc bashing the crushed, bloodied remains of what must've been a pony with its club. The pony was so deformed by now that he was barely recognizable, and I could see the looks of horror and disgust from the others when they saw what was happening.

"This is truly horrible.." Rarity softly exclaimed. "Why would anyone ever want to do this?"

I watched winged dragon-looking creatures fly around with orcs sat on-top - that at least explained how they got up there in the first place. The orc who was just beating up the pony proceeded to jump onto a nearby uninhabited monster, where the two proceeded to fly off until they were out of view from the camera.

"Now hold on a second, it looks ta me like they're goin' somewhere." Applejack spoke up. "Can we see Ponyville from here?"

"Yes." I answered, to which I brought up one of the cameras from Ponyville. It was only static, which wasn't very reassuring, and bringing up another camera only confirmed our fears - the place was under attack at the very moment. Ponies could be visibly seen running away from the assaulting monsters, and although there was no audio, it was still as if I could faintly hear the screams just from what I was observing. Applejack immediately stood up from her chair after witnessing this.

"We gotta get over there right now!!" She yelled out.

I stood there as I looked at the screen; time was clearly a liability now, but I still needed to make sure we were fully-prepared for what we needed to do. "Alright. Before we leave, I need to make sure we're prepared. There's alot of stuff here that should make this battle easy."

"We don't have time for that!" Applejack frowned. "Don't you see what's happening?"

"We need to be ready. We can't just charge into a huge battle like that without even a plan." I responded. "We need to be ready for the worst, and I'm sure it's going to be nothing like the few demons we've fought already on our way here. Those seemed more like stragglers to me."

Although clearly not liking the thought of waiting based on the look on her face, Applejack eventually huffed out, seeming to be compliant with it for the mean-time. "Okay. What do you have in mind Klade?"

I looked over everyone that was in the room. Normally I would've had my clones control the inner-workings of this place, but they weren't here - and even if they were, they were still at risk of just being brainwashed like the last time. I was going to need someone to stay behind, and after thinking over the ponies that were here, I eventually decided that Pinkie should be the one to stay. Further thinking made me realize that she might be here for awhile though; This mountain was pretty far away from Ponyville, and I doubted this little skirmish would be the last time I'd need people here. Because of this, I decided that having one pony being here by themselves wouldn't be a good idea, so I opted for Fluttershy to stay behind as well.

"Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy: You two will be staying behind to control the stuff that I have here." I announced. "I'll show you how everything works and how you both can use it. As for the rest of you, you might as well follow me anyway." With that elaborated, I walked to one of the railgun rooms - the Everfree Forest one specifically. This one I had purposely hidden and camouflaged it as best I could. It was created with the sole intent of overlooking Ponyville exclusively, since that was the only place it could look over considering its location. Ponyville was kind of an important place anyway, so I wanted a gun made just for it - one that would be hidden and not out in the open like the others. Once everyone was inside, I began to go over how to work it: How to angle the gun, the targeting system, how to fire it. To use the gun at its most basic was pretty simple, and I wasn't about to over-complicate things by trying to explain how to target multiple things at once for rapid-session firing. I didn't need any confusion.

Once that was done, I went on to re-explain everything to every other room that controlled a railgun, just to get it in their heads to decrease the chance of them forgetting anything. The two Foal Mountain railguns also had a view of Ponyville, but the remaining two were out of the question since they fired nukes - we didn't need to be leveling the whole town and killing everything including innocent ponies. "These are most likely what you'll be using as support when we're in battle." I spoke. "There's one more thing you should all know about though. You might be using this too - or rather, I should have one of you stay near this one specifically so that there's no running around." I made my way to the top-left of the control room and up the flight of stairs. Everyone followed behind me in single-file, and from there I made my way straight to the clone-recharging room, where my teleportation device was located at.

"You can use this thing here to teleport me remotely." I explained as I approached the device. From there I sat down, making sure both Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were the closest ones to me before I continued. "Using this screen here, you can tell where I am by this dot. From there you can decide where you want to teleport me by doing this." Messing with the device, I placed the destination right in the control room of my base. "Once the destination is set, you can teleport me whenever. I'll do it right now as an example." With that being said, I set the device to teleport me at that moment. As the seconds went by though, nothing happened, until eventually the monochromatic screen came up with an error message that said 'Dis shit ain't working'.

"Is it supposed to do that?" Pinkie asked, to which I shook my head.

"No. I don't know why it's not working." I leaned over to the front of the machine and began to take it apart. The magic crystal that powered the teleportation was still there, and it looked like it was perfectly fine. "The magic crystal looks fine." I tried to dig in further when Rarity's voice rang out.

"Klade, I believe that I may know what the problem is." Rarity spoke up. "I still have been unable to use my magic.. so perhaps the use of this machine is being blocked  too?"

I stopped my advances as I thought over what she said. "I think you might be right." I put the front back together and sat up straight again. "Well, so much for that shit. That would've been really useful too." I stood up from the device. 'If that's true, then it seems like even magic crystals can't be used through whatever this magic-blocking influence is.'

"So is that all?" Applejack inquired.

"Almost. Now I just need to show how we'll communicate." I made my way back down the stairs into the main control room once more. From there, I grabbed a few radios that were lying around, and then proceeded to give them to both Pinkie and Fluttershy. "This is a radio. I'll have one of these too, and through it you'll be able to hear my voice when I talk. We'll be able to talk to each other this way."

The two nodded, and then Fluttershy quietly spoke up. "So we will know if everypony is okay..?"

"Yeah, you'll know when we're done dealing with these fuckheads." I replied. With that being said, there was only one thing left for me to do, and it involved the room I never got the chance to go in when Rainbow Dash and Trixie were here last time: The testing room, which also happened to be where I liked to mess around with weapons or where I put them when I was doing screwing around with them elsewhere in Equestria. "I've got a few things I need to bring with me, and then we'll immediately set off for Ponyville afterwards. You all might as well wait by the elevator while I get ready."

Applejack was the first to trot over, and I watched the others for a bit as well before turning around and heading to the top-right portion of the room. The entry-way was strangely angled and designed due to how it was a sloppy connection between that room and the others. This room was the first room I had ever created here, which was done shortly after I had arrived in Equestria - before I even had the idea of making a base in this mountain. After walking through a few tiny little hallways, I arrived, and was glad to see that everything was just how I left it before. The room wasn't like the others as there wasn't artificial floors or ceilings. It was all pure mountain, and on the far side was a big electronic door that would open mid-way from top to bottom. This would lead directly to the outside.

'Play time is over.'

I walked up to the first thing that caught my eye: An M60 Light Machine Gun mounted on a table. It was the very one I had used when I cleared the changeling-infested Canterlot with my clones way back, and the box magazine was still full since I hadn't used it that much during that event. I could feel myself grinning already as I picked up the massive gun, examining it and realizing just how heavy it was without my physical strength boosting spell. I was going to have to deal with it though. On the table lay a spare box magazine, fitted with what must've been at least over a hundred bigass rounds. I was definitely going to use this.

Looking around, I went up to the next thing: A Striker Shotgun that was leaning against a wall. This was nothing like the normal version, however; I had modified it to be capable of firing slug rounds, incendiary rounds, and even grenades. It had a huge round drum mag that was attached to the gun itself and capable of holding 35 total rounds. I picked it up and examined it, taking note of the weathered black color that it had - it didn't have the standard issue brass look to it. This was actually my most recent creation as I fondly thought back to how I had fun completely obliterating a section of the Everfree Forest with this thing. The magazine was currently empty, so I was going to have to manually put in all the rounds. One useful thing about this weapon, however, was the revolving drum magazine mechanism. If I need a specific shot, all I needed to do was move the revolving circle the other way for one click, insert the correct ammo into the empty spot, and then move it back. I would then still have all of the other remaining shots left afterwards.

'That reminds me...' Putting the gun down, I reached over my back and pulled my Model 1887 out. 'Guess I won't be needing this anymore if I have that.' Cocking the lever half-way, I began to empty out all of the shells, placing them all on a nearby table before putting the gun down when I was done. Next to the table was a box each for regular shotgun shells, slugs, incendiaries, and grenades. Before I began fiddling with those though, I looked around to see what else I could bring with me. A belt of frag grenades caught my eye, so I grabbed it, laying it on the table as well. Yet another useful weapon was a mini-nuke launcher laying against the wall; I had never actually used it since I never did find a decent place to test it out, and it only had the one shot that was loaded inside. I grabbed that and brought it over to the table as well. 'Maybe I should save this one for Discord.' A quick glance around showed that there didn't appear to be anything else laying about, and I figured I had enough stuff by now anyway. It was time to load everything up and somehow equip it all.





By the time I was done I was overclustered as fuck. In my pant pockets I had shootable grenades in the bottom right, slugs in the bottom left, regular shotgun shells in the upper left and then incendiaries in the upper right. My G18s were still on both sides of my hip, with two full magazines lined within my leather jacket and then a third quarter full magazine as well. Also in my leather jacket, in the pockets specifically, were the two pistols from the very beginning - one I had created in Los Pegasus shortly after being rescued from the cave, and the other that was non-magically created from back on Earth. That one had only what was loaded in the gun, whereas the other still had a spare mag shoved in that same pocket. In my other inner-jacket pocket was the tablet that was hooked up to my base that would let me know if and when something was going on, and from there I would be able to control certain things with the defenses. Attached to my belt was the radio that I would use to contact Pinkie and Fluttershy with, and in one of my inner-jacket pockets I had a spare radio clipped on from the outside of the pocket as well - just in-case.

Strapped to my back on the left side was the mini-nuke launcher, and on the right was the advanced Striker Shotgun, which was now fully-loaded specially in a way that went as follows: The first three shots were grenades, then four incendiaries, then eight regular shotgun shells, eight slugs, four more incendiaries, and then the rest - the last eight that the drum could hold - were all regular shotgun shells. I knew that thing was going to destroy everything when I pulled it out. Strapped across my body was the belt of six grenades, and more scouting around yielded a flashbang that I had completely forgot I made - that I put in my back-left pocket. The backpack of explosives from before I decided to leave here since it wasn't really necessary anymore; I was already over-clustered as fuck anyway with what must've been at least thirty pounds of shit, and I wasn't even holding the M60 yet.

'Think I might be good.' I thought to myself as I made my way over to the table the M60 was on. 'Won't be overkill at all.' I grabbed the spare box magazine and clipped it to my grenade belt. I proceeded to pick up the huge machine gun and begin making my way back out of the room, only to eventually catch something in the corner of my eye - something in a slightly opened drawer that I had for some reason not even noticed until now. I knew we were kind of in a rush, but I quickly checked it out anyway, only to be surprised at what I saw: It was Duston's Desert Eagle pistol.

'Oh shit.' I stared at the gun for a few seconds due to the emotional impact. I had 'borrowed' it from the backpack that he kept all of his guns in, since I had been meaning to do some magical tests. I never had the chance to stealthily return it when I was done, and it was probably a good thing too since his backpack ended up getting crushed by a cave-in anyway.

'I can't believe I forgot about that.' I set the M60 down and pulled out the massive pistol - it was something where you never realized how big it really was until you held it in person. It was enormous, and I ejected the magazine, observing that it was still fully-loaded with seven huge rounds of .50 Action Express. 'This was stuff he bought too - I remember him telling me just how expensive this and the ammo was. I think this was actually the last thing he got before we ended up being accidentally transported here.' Seeing as I couldn't return it anymore, I decided to keep it for now - it would do much better in my hands than sitting in drawer. It was also a gun that was originally from back on earth, which automatically made it superior: It wasn't magically created which meant there was no possible chance of it disappearing through some magic EMP spell. Such a thing had never happened yet from someone other than myself, but it was still something I always kept in mind. I reached and put it in the inner-jacket pocket with my tablet, where it was barely able to fit due to just how big it was. 'If it's convenient, maybe I'll shoot Discord with this instead, but I wouldn't risk any chance of him escaping just for poetic justice - I'll kill him the instant I see him with the first possible method.'

I exhaled slowly and shook my head, thinking over recent events as I grabbed my M60 and began making my way out of the room. Equestria was never supposed to be like this - at times I couldn't even believe that this is what was really happening. Everything had been going along so normally for the longest time... and now when I thought about how things used to be, it felt like it was ages ago - I couldn't even remember what it was like to have a normal day. This madness had become the new normal.

'Duston may be dead, but he's still left a mark in this world with the things we've done before. I'll remind Discord of that when he realizes that I'm not going to stop until he's dead and Equestria is back to what it should be.' By now I had made it back to the main control room, where I saw everyone looking at me over by the elevator; Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Queen Chrysalis. 'For right now, it's time to fuck some fuckers up in Ponyville.'

"I offer my help in this." Chrysalis spoke up; she had been quiet for the longest time, and it was nice to see her actually saying something. "I will see to it that everyone who is with me will aid in this fight."

"Good." I replied as I approached the awaiting group. "Pinkie, Fluttershy: You remember everything I told you?"

"Yes we do!" Pinkie responded. "We'll help out as much as we can."

"I'll do my best." Fluttershy quietly added. Seeing as we were ready to go, I decided not to waste anymore time, walking straight into the elevator. The others quickly followed, whereas Pinkie and Fluttershy stood outside the doorway, waving us goodbye as the doors slid closed. With the room beginning to descend, all that was left now was to make our way to Ponyville and obliterate every demon there.

'These assholes have no idea what's about to happen.'
> Chapter 28 | Ponyville Massacre
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



"Are you all ready?" I asked to the surrounding ponies. At the moment I was hiding behind some large rocks and bushes located at the outskirts of Ponyville along with Applejack, Rarity, and Chrysalis. The horde of changelings were currently taking a detour around the town with the goal of making it to the Everfree Forest - their reasoning for being there was part of my plan.

"Can you.. repeat the plan one more time please?" Rarity replied.

"There's a big mother fucker out there the size of a building. Once Pinkie and Fluttershy kill him with one of the railguns, I'll start taking out the rest of these goons myself. When I'm ready, I'm going to throw a flashbang way up into the air: You'll know what I'm talking about as soon as you see it. This is going to be the signal that tells Chrysalis' changelings to pour out of the nearby forest and attack whatever is still left. You two can come out after that as well."

"You can be darn sure that ah'll be out there." Applejack responded.

I nodded, then pulled out the radio that was clipped to my belt. "Pinkie and Fluttershy, you two ready? We're about to head in."

"Yep, we're all ready!" Pinkie's voice replied. "The thing is telling me that it's locked on and ready to shoot, and to do that I just press this button, right?"

"Yeah, but not yet. When you see me out there, then shoot." Putting the radio back, I stood up from my crouched down position. 'It's time.'

I stepped out from behind our cover and began to make my way straight towards the town. My M60 was in my hands as I walked step by step closer, where it didn't take much longer before some of the demons started to notice me. They weren't even attacking yet though, as if they were totally confused as to what I possibly could've been doing. The huge guy that I was mentioning earlier soon took notice as well, turning his attention to me and stepping forward. Just his fist was probably bigger than my entire body, and I gripped the gun tighter as I waited for the right timing. The other demons were slowly approaching as well from his sides, and then in an instant a huge projectile rammed into the massive demon's head, penetrating through his skull and dropping him right to the ground.

"FUCK YOU ALL!!!" I shouted out as I pulled the trigger. Bullets immediately rang out, firing so fast and each with its own distinctive bang. The monsters in-front of me began to get ripped apart by the torrent of lead, losing most of their limbs and their heads before they even made it to the ground. All of the noise and the gargled screams of death was beginning to catch the attention of the other monsters, to which they got their heads blown off as soon as they appeared within my line of sight. Their numbers increased as more showed themselves from within buildings and from deeper inside the town, but they were still completely outmatched - each and every one of them got blown to bits before they got anywhere close to me.

I relentlessly fired the gun without pause until it finally clicked empty, where I stood to observe the sight of destruction displayed in-front of me. Bullet holes were everywhere, as were the dead, twitching bodies of Tartarus scum. There had to have been at least fifty of them, and they had all been obliterated in one swoop; there wasn't even anymore in sight, but I knew that wouldn't last long. That was only some of them. 'Time for the other box.'

Cleh-cleehk, bwomp

Cling-cling-cling - thud

Click

Bwhim, cling-cling

Bam BAM

With the spare box magazine now loaded, I looked ahead, and just in time to see another railgun blast penetrate right through several mother fuckers with no visible resistance at all. They were starting to flood my position again, and it wasn't just ground monsters either; I could see at least a hundred bats making my way towards me from further away. I was going to need to deal with them another way unless I wanted to get swarmed, and I knew the perfect way to do so.

Taking off one of the frag grenades from my belt, I pulled the pin, waiting a couple seconds before chucking it far away towards the incoming group. The grenade exploded in mid-air right in-front of them, sending all of the surrounding bats flying from the shockwave - and those were the lucky ones that didn't get torn up by shards of shrapnel. Pulling out another grenade, I repeated the same procedure, only this time they were closer now and the explosive went off right in the middle of their swarm. The bats blew to bits, staining the nearby buildings with blood and sticky body parts. The ground demons were quickly approaching by now though, so I held my M60 back up, and just in-time for yet another railgun blast to put a sizeable dent in their advances. With the pull of a trigger, I was back to completely ravaging everything in-front of me.

The shell casings from the huge gun started to pile up on the ground near my legs as I shot off more ammo than I could count. Whatever armor these demons were wearing stood no chance against the torrent of bullets. Holes were made, and when the ground forces were pushed back far enough, I lifted the gun to shoot at the rest of the bats. It wasn't as effective, but when they got hit with just one bullet, that was it - there wouldn't even be anything left of them. By the time I was finally done with the second box magazine, there was nothing left in my path - the entire advancing force had been completely destroyed with no survivors; at least, none that wouldn't die from their wounds in the next couple minutes. The barrel of the gun was smoking intensely and even slightly red from the non-stop firing. I could feel the heating radiating off of it as well, especially on my hands. With no more ammo left, I let the gun drop to the ground with a loud clunk.

'That was nice. Time to finish them off.' Reaching behind me, I took out the flashbang, pulling the pin and then tossing it as high up into the air as I could. I covered my ears and closed my eyes, lowering my body and waiting. The loud bang and flash of light soon followed, signaling to the others that it was time. Any demons still left in this area probably would've been disoriented too, and reaching over my back, I pulled out the advanced Striker shotgun before making my way forward. I could feel my body sink slightly with every occasional step as the flesh and guts squished beneath my weight - there were dead limping bodies everywhere. After making it past the initial destruction and walking over a short hill made of dirt and debris, I saw more monsters; they were coming out of buildings and beginning to ignore the civilians due to all the noise I had been making. It was at this moment that the changelings began to swarm in - hundreds of them all flying in and pummeling the first demon they saw. The demons were totally overwhelmed by the sheer numbers, and at this rate I wasn't even going to have to do anything else - so far we had totally decimated everyone here. I lowered the shotgun and looked around, where I caught the sight of Applejack rushing towards Sweet Apple Acres. Following her wouldn't be a bad idea.

I took chase, following her through Ponyville until she arrived at her house. It still seemed to be mostly untouched by the looks of it, and after a quick glance at the surroundings, I approached the home several seconds after she did. I walked up the stairs and quietly entered through the front door, raising my shotgun and looking around for any demons that might've been in here. They didn't seem to have made it over here yet though, and voices coming from below caught my attention. Eventually I came across a room that had an opening in the ground, and going down the steps revealed Applejack embracing her family members, who all seemed to still be doing okay. They snapped their heads over in my direction when they heard me step inside, only to look relieved when they saw it was just me and not something else.

"Klade! What are ya doin' here?" Applejack asked.

"The changelings are destroying whatever is left so far. Thought I'd follow you to make sure nothing happened." I replied. I looked over at Big Mac, Applebloom, Granny Smith, as well as Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle who seemed to be in here too. "What's been going on in Ponyville? I haven't been here in awhile."

"Ya mean right now?" Applebloom responded. "Gosh, I don't know. As soon as they started comin' we all came down here and hid. Ah don't know how everypony else is doin' - we need to find out!"

"Eeyup." Big Mac chimed in. Applebloom proceeded to run back up the stairs, followed by the rest of us as we made our way over to the front door together. In the distance we could see the battle currently going on in the central part of Ponyville. Changelings were everywhere, and it seemed as if the battle was already coming to a close.

"Wait, they've got changelings as a part of this too?" Scootaloo spoke up.

"But the skies never got all red and grey when the changelings attacked Canterlot, right?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"They're on our side." I answered. "By the looks of things, they've already dealt with most of these Tartarus demons."

Right after I said that, the loud sound of a tree cracking and falling came from the apple orchard. All of us turned our attention to the sound, where the distinct rumbling of big footsteps was heard off in the distance. More trees visibly fell, and with them out of the way it revealed another huge demon - an oversized manticore-looking abomination.

"Not all of them, apparently!" Applejack remarked. "We gotta get back ta hidin' before it spots us - we can't take that thing on!"

"We can't, but someone else can." I replied as I pulled out my radio. "Pinkie, Fluttershy? Either one it doesn't matter. We got another massive piece of shit over by Sweet Apple Acres."

"I'm looking I'm looking!" Pinkie's voice responded. "This thing turns kinda slow."

I gripped my Striker tighter in my hands as I watched the monster, to which I soon made direct eye-contact with it not much later. After only a few seconds of that, it abruptly began to charge right towards us, effortlessly ramming down any trees in its path.

"Eenope." Big Mac commented as he made his way back inside. The others followed suit, but I only stepped closer towards the demon instead, taking aim with my gun and waiting until I had a decent shot - I knew what the first few loaded rounds were. When I had the opportunity, I fired, sending a whistling grenade through the air with a thwump. It made contact right against the demon's chest, blowing up and halting his advance as he stumbled backwards. Upon regaining its composure, it let out and extremely loud roar, a roar so loud that it caused the ground to rumble and a few trinkets to fall from the barn - it was really ticked off now. I only fired two more times in response, hitting it in the upper-chest and in the shoulder with both grenades. The damage was enough to stun him more, but before he could charge at me again, a large lightning fast projectile rammed right into his head. He jerked to the side as his skull exploded with blood and brain matter, and I could already hear Pinkie's cheering voice from the radio clipped to my belt.

'Surprised the grenades didn't hurt him more. These are some tough bastards.' I examined the drum magazine and moved the revolving mechanism to the other side, deciding to reload some more grenades in the three empty slots that I had just created. I could've sworn I heard more talking from my radio though, so when I was done, I grabbed it, holding it up to my ear in curiosity. "What's going on?"

"We um, Klade, well.. there's some flying creatures heading towards Ponyville right now." Fluttershy's voice replied. "There's so many of them... I think they almost look like dragons? But they have red eyes and they're not friendly looking at all."

Looking back over in the direction of Ponyville only confirmed that observation. There were tons of them flying off in the distance, and if I was fast enough, I could probably make it back to the central part of the town before they arrived.

"I see them. Guess this isn't over yet." I stated. Putting the radio back, I hastily began my sprint. The changelings that were just winding down from finishing off the ground forces were starting to notice by now, and by the time I met up with them, the winged demons were only about a hundred yards away. Taking aim, I fired the first three grenades at the swarm; when each grenade made contact, it exploded, obliterating the one it hit and then taking down the others that surrounded it. Orcs that had been riding them were starting to jump off, and the remaining birds began to dive towards us with the intent of ramming into us with their beaks. I spotted a couple headed right towards me, so I took aim and fired, sending multiple flaming incendiary rounds in their direction. The birds caught fire and their path diverted, sending them slamming into nearby buildings where their necks snapped on impact.

I lowered the gun and jumped over some debris, focusing on the ground for the time being as I spotted a large group of orcs overwhelming a couple changelings. I looked down the sights of my shotgun and fired into the horde, where the next shots loaded happened to be actual shotgun shells. Each blast ripped the orcs apart and sent collateral damage to the ones I wasn't even aiming at. In only seconds the entire group had been killed, and the changelings flew free to join up with a larger fighting force. With that taken care of, I quickly scanned my surroundings, taking notice of a few orcs barging their way into a building. Pony screams from the inside followed, so I was brisk to make my way over. I ran inside and took aim at the first orc I saw, blowing him away with a blast of shotgun. Before I could shoot the other one that was beside him though, a club suddenly slammed into my arm from the side, inadvertently knocking the gun out of my hands.

"AHHHH!!!!!!" I yelled out in pain. I turned to face the other orc and brought my arms up just in time to block another swing. I quickly stepped backwards, but I didn't have time to do much of anything as he was already running after me. I brought my leg up for a swift kick, grabbing onto his club and cursing out as I tried to wrestle it out of his hands. I yanked it back and forth, but it was like he had a death grip on the damn thing - and before I could change my strategy, the other orc had approached from out of my line of sight, slamming something against my back.

"Fucker!!!" I shouted as I fell to the floor, where I quickly rolled my body to the side and then sorely stood back up. They were already making their way over to me though, but before they could, I spotted a wooden chair nearby. I speedily grabbed it and flung it in their direction, giving enough of a distraction for me to reach for one of my G18s. By the time the chair had broken apart on impact, I had the pistol aimed right at them, to which I let the full-auto spray loose on their vile selves. The spammy fire rate made quick work of both of them, and when the gun clicked empty, they were both already dead on the ground. A glance around showed no other demons in the room, so I took the time to eject the empty magazine.

'Mother fuckers. That shit hurt.' I reached into my leather jacket and pulled out one of the two full magazines, pushing it into the pistol and then letting the slide of the gun forward. I returned it to my hip holster and then noticed a couple ponies looking at me from behind an over-turned table. "They're dead now. Hopefully the battle outside is over soon." I spoke to them before making my way back out the front door, picking up my shotgun from the ground in the process.

Returning outside, I saw nearly every changeling currently involved in a fight - either in the sky or on the ground. It would've been too hectic to run out in the middle of it all, so I opted to stay right in the door-way of the building instead - I was going to have to pick these guys off one by one. A couple orcs running around right in-front of me caught my attention, so I took aim and fired, blowing them to the ground with each shot. I continued until the ground in-front of me was clear, then took my aim to the sky, watching and waiting for a clear shot at one of the flying dragons. When I spotted one that was away from the changelings, I shot at him with a thwump, blowing his brains out as he dropped like a bag of sand. The shot was too precise for a regular shotgun round, so I figured I must've been onto the slugs now - perfect timing.

I scanned for the next target, and after careful aiming I shot, bringing him down as if I was using an actual rifle. The slug hit with enough force to send him back a couple feet as he fell, and with him out of the way, I moved onto the next one, attentively sighting in the bastard before taking him out too. I picked off the winged demons like targets until the area in-front of me was clear, and then I made my way out from in the door-way of the building. With some of the changelings freed from having to battle against the demons I had just killed, they quickly began to overwhelm the remaining monsters. The battle seemed to be coming to a close once again, but I made sure to keep my guard up anyway, scouting the surrounding area and taking out any straggling orcs with incendiaries. After only a few more minutes things seemed to be dealt with - the brutal sounds of death and screaming had come to a halt.

"Pinkie, Fluttershy, you see anything left through the railgun cameras?" I asked through my radio as I looked around.

"I don't think so!" Pinkie responded. "I think you got'em all. Wow, that was a whole bunch of them too - it's like you guys took out a whole army!"

"Good. At this rate Tartarus might not be as bad as everyone thought if they just end up running out of demons." I exclaimed. I took another look around, then made my way over to someplace that wasn't as open just to be safe. The changelings were beginning to regroup amongst themselves, and not too long after, I noticed Queen Chrysalis approaching me.

"How are you so powerful?" She spoke up. "There's no magic to use, and yet you took out hundreds of them in only minutes. I've never seen or heard anything like it before - is this common for your species?"

"We're pretty violent where I come from." I replied. "It's a technology thing, not magic; or rather, it's pre-existing magic through some epic spells. We have stuff that can destroy probably hundreds of miles worth of land in only minutes, destroying anything that's inside."

Chrysalis's eyes went wide, to which she then shook her head. "You must be over-exaggerating. You do know how much space that would cover?"

"Yeah. I don't have anything that big - at least I don't think so - but you'll likely end up seeing some of it since Discord's being a fuckhead."

The queen changeling still seemed a little hesitant to believe such a proclaim at first. Before the conversation could continue, however, the sound of Rarity's voice caught our attention.

"Sweetie Belle! Thank goodness you're okay!" She called out. I turned to see that Applejack and the others had arrived, and with that I noticed that other ponies were starting to poke out of their houses as well. I wasn't liking that too much though - the battle seemed like it was over, but nothing was a certainty, and I wanted to make sure of that.

"Pinkie, Fluttershy, zoom out if you can. Make sure there's nothing else headed this way."

"I'll do that." Fluttershy's voice replied this time. I looked back toward the others to see Rarity embracing Sweetie Belle. Other Ponyville citizens were starting to group around them and converse, where I specifically heard Celestia's name being mentioned - Rarity or Applejack must've been breaking the news. Instead of getting involved though, I decided to walk around; Ponyville was where me and Duston spent the majority of our time in Equestria, so I wanted to get a look at things since I hadn't been here in a long time. The place was unfortunately half in ruins due to what the demons had done already, but with the way the ponies of this place were, it probably wouldn't be that big of a deal to fix everything up. I still hated to see it this way though.

During my walk, I eventually caught notice that the door to Twilight's library was partially opened. The building seemed mostly undamaged, and out of curiosity I stepped closer to investigate, pulling my Striker from my back. 'I wonder if Twilight and the others stopped by here during their escape?' I pushed the door open all the way with my hand, keeping my other on the gun as I crept inside. The initial view of the interior appeared empty, until I spotted Spike looking over at me from the front window.

"Are you the real Klade?" He asked.

"Yeah, not a clone." I answered as I lowered the gun - seeing him here was definitely strange. "Why are you here? Weren't you in Canterlot with the others?"

"Well, I was! Boy am I glad you're here. Is everyone else that left with you here too? That should mean Princess Celestia is here - we really needed her! Things have been totally crazy and-"

"Celestia is dead." I replied bluntly. The small dragon blinked, then laughed a tiny bit afterwards.

"Uh, kind of a weird joke, but okay." He stared at me for a few seconds before his eyes started to go wide. "Wait, you're not actually, you know, serious, are you?"

"Yeah, some really retarded bullshit happened at Mount Everhoof and she ended up freezing to death to save us. Rainbow's gone too - she went missing on the mountain."

"I... I can't believe that." Spike's gaze diverted somewhere out of focus. "You mean she's.. dead dead? Gone? Rainbow too?"

"Yeah. Everyone else is fine though." I took a quick glance outside to make sure nothing was happening. "As of right now we're focused on fighting Discord and his goons non-stop until this bullshit is fixed. Why are you here though and not at Canterlot?"

"Whoa...Huh? Oh, right." He cleared his throat before continuing. "It started with me in the bathroom, and while I was in there I started hearing all of these noises coming from outside. It was rumbling and everything and I could hear royal guards yelling from outside the door - it was really really scary! I decided that the best thing for me to do would be to just hide right where I was, so that's what I did. I ended up hiding for a really long time, and then after awhile things got quiet aside from occasional noises.. but what got me was how I couldn't hear anyone talking. I kept waiting and waiting for at least one voice, and that was really starting to spook me. I ended up taking a nap in there, and when I woke up and got out to investigate, there was nopony and the whole place looked like it had been through a battle." He frowned. "I still have no idea what happened, so I started making my way back to Ponyville by myself. When I got here though, the same thing ended up happening, so I ran here and I've been hiding in the basement ever since."

"Tartarus opening up is what happened." I replied after listening to his explanation.

"Tartarus?" His eyes went wide. "I've overheard Twilight talking about that place, and from what I understand, it is not a good place."

"Discord decided it would be a fantastic idea to open that place up. I'm guessing that destroying the towers will stop it, so that'll probably be the next thing we work on. Speaking of which, there should be a map of Equestria somewhere in here, right?"

"Uh, yeah! Just a sec." Spike responded. He went over and looked through the bookshelves, where he eventually picked out a book and flipped to a random page. "Here, it's got it right here!"

I took the book after he walked up to me, then ripped the page out, handing it back to his shocked self. "Thanks."

"Did you just.." He shook his head. "I won't tell Twilight, I promise."

"Let her find out on her own, then blame a demon." I replied. Spike laughed slightly as he returned the book. "You should follow me back outside; it's not like you can stay here."

"I wasn't planning on it." He responded. With that said, I began looking at the map as we made our way back outside. I was going to need this information for the towers, because there was a certain way I wanted to deal with them. The two of us headed towards the other ponies that were grouping up together, where Spike ended up speaking up again.

"Is Celestia and Rainbow Dash really gone?"

"Yeah." I looked down at him. "I don't like it, but I get the feeling that there's going to be more than just them. Something's changed in Equestria.. I don't know what it is, but it's not good."

"I hope you're wrong about that." Spike replied. By now we had reached the group, where Spike went up to talk to the others. I needed to discuss some things with Pinkie and Fluttershy though, so I pulled out my radio.

"Pinkie, Fluttershy, I need you two to do something for me, but answer me this first: do you know what cities are plagued with towers?"

"I do! It's Manehattan, Baltimare, Los Pegasus and Vanhoover. Well, those were all we knew about in the beginning, so there could totally be even more of them out there by now." Pinkie answered.

"Check for whatever you can see through the guns' cameras. If you see anything in any of the other cities, let me know." I was doubtful there would be more towers, but I wanted her to check just to make sure.

"On it!" Pinkie responded. While I waited, I decided now would probably be good time to gear up on some more stuff. The earth-style house that I had created shortly after I learned of the creation spell was located in Ponyville, and I knew I had some stuff there that would be useful. Taking one more look at the others, I began making my way towards the outskirts of Ponyville.

Soon enough I arrived at a house located on a hill; it appeared to be untouched which was a good thing. I remembered that the last time I tried entering, I ended up being trapped in the middle of a desert where I almost died - I was definitely going to be more careful this time just to be safe. I stood to the side of the front door and twisted the knob, pushing it open all the way and peeking inside. Everything seemed normal - there was no black void like last time - so I stepped inside and closed the door behind me. The familiar sight of the couch and TV caught my eye, as well as all the games and controllers next to the television. If I wanted to, I could actually just sit down and play some, but now really wasn't the time for that.

I made my way forward and down the hallway to the left, stepping inside my bedroom located on the right. The first thing I spotted was a table next to my bed where I had my computer, monitor, mouse, and other PC-related crap that was needed. I remembered I was able to access the internet through what I assumed must've been magic, and out of curiosity I decided to turn it on just to see if it was still possible. While the computer was booting up, I took notice of a pair of sunglasses on the bed as well.

'Ah, I remember these.' I thought to myself as I reached and grabbed them. 'Duke Nukem shades. Made out of bullet-proof glass, for when you accidentally get shot in the eye or something, as well as an automatic light dispenser that makes dark places brighter.' I put the shades in one of my inner-jacket pockets and continued around the room. On the other side of the bed was an M4A1 Assault Rifle leaning against the wall, so I picked it up and placed it on the bed. Next to it was a backpack full of ammo for the gun, so I put that on the bed as well. 'This'll be useful.'

With that done, I proceeded to reach inside my pillow, grabbing out a keycard. I crawled underneath the bed and opened up a hidden compartment, exposing a flight of stairs that led downwards to a thick steel door. After sliding the keycard across a nearby panel, the door slowly opened, revealing a small, tech-looking shelter. There unfortunately wasn't anything super badass here - it was more of a spare lookout station equal to that of my base. It consisted of only one room that had a computer panel and a monitor that was connected to the cameras across Equestria, as well as a tracking device that would show where my location was. Attached to a wall was a G18 pistol, so I grabbed it, sliding the mag out and lining it with the other ones in my leather jacket. 'Extra ammo right there.' I looked around for anything else, but the only other thing that would've been useful was a box filled with magic crystals that I had epicly mined a long time ago. Deciding it wouldn't be a bad idea to take some, I stuffed a few of them in my pockets, even though I really couldn't think of any possible use for them. The magic crystals allowed non-magic users to use magic, but if all magic was being blocked off anyway, then there really wasn't any point.

'Guess that's it for here.' I looked at the monitor and pressed some buttons, bringing up cameras from inside my mountain base. I was able to view Pinkie and Fluttershy angling the railguns around in search for any extra towers - they still seemed to be searching by the looks of it. I backed out of the shelter and re-closed the door with the keycard, making my way up the stairs and right up to the bottom of my bed. I crawled back out and then stood up, placing the keycard back in my pillow and glancing at my M4. 'I should start getting ready. I still need to spend the next five minutes reloading that shotgun.'

By the time I was finished, I was once again over-clustered with my M4 in my hands. Bringing the backpack would've been impossible due to how much I was already carrying, so I opted to shove as many M4 mags in my pockets as I could. Every single pocket was filled to the brim with ammo, and I wouldn't be a surprised if a few mags fell out by the time I caught up with the others. My PC was done booting up by now, so out of curiosity I made my way over to it, sitting on my bed and grabbing the mouse. Everything seemed to be working aside from having no internet connection, which was something I kind of expected due to how magic was being blocked. Somehow the magical essence of Equestria had previously allowed me to go online, as little sense as that actually made. It was one of those 'it works because magic, good 'nuff.' explanations.

Turning the computer back off, I proceeded to walk out of the room, exiting the entire house shortly afterwards as the dark-red skies of this new 'Equestria' came into view again. 'Well, that was a nice trip back to the old times. Shame I have to step outside to this retarded bullshit.' Thinking about when I had first arrived in Equestria soon made me reminisce the fun stuff I did with Duston. Before I could get mopey again over that though, a voice coming from my radio caught my attention.

"We haven't seen any additional towers Klade." Fluttershy spoke up.

"Good. There is one thing though that I wanted to be checked..." I pulled out the map and looked at it. "Is it possible to see the Los Pegasus tower or the Vanhoover one through either the Foal Mountain #1 or Foal Mountain #2 railguns?"

"Um... we can check that right now." Fluttershy replied.

I continued my way back into the central part of Ponyville as I waited for them to finish. The others were still grouped up, to which Applejack was the first to speak up.

"There ya are! Where the heck have ya been?"

"Doing stuff. Re-stocking. Hating whatever the hell has happened to Equestria in the past week." I answered.

"We've been discussing what to do next." Rarity spoke up. "Our lead with the remaining princesses and the others being in the Badlands seems to be true. Spike has told us that he overheard the name of that place being mentioned while he was hiding in Canterlot. We are thinking it may be our best option to go there as well.."

"Ya got that map Spike said he gave you?" Applejack asked.

"Yeah." I replied as I handed her the ripped out page. It was right after that I heard more talking from my radio, so I pulled it out and held it to my ear.

"Okay so we looked at those two cities from those two gunnies that you told us to." Pinkie began. "We can luckily see the Los Pegasus one right in-between some mountains, but we can't see the Vanhoover one. I've been thinking while I've been looking though and I realized that we can totally just destroy these other three from right here! We can do that, right? Because that would be the most awesomest awesome thing I've ever seen!"

"Yeah, that's the plan, but I want it done a certain way." I replied. I proceeded to look at everyone else, directing their attention from the map since I wanted them to listen to this as well. "Alright everyone, Pinkie and Fluttershy can destroy three of the normal towers from where they're at. For the huge tower on Mount Everhoof, I plan on them using the nuclear railguns to fuck up the whole mountain - this should take that out without any problems. However, I want these all taken out at the same time, which means we won't be destroying them right now." I paused for a second before continuing. "While I was on Mount Everhoof with the others, Discord told us that he had re-made all the towers we had destroyed earlier, almost as if it's not a big deal for him to put them back up. I'm worried that if we attack them now, he's going to fuck up my guns and prevent us from doing it again before we can get to the last one. This is why I want to take them all out in one big swoop, which should enable our magic use again - and from there I'll be able to make sure that no other towers can be put up without being taken right back down."

"Do you suspect taking them all out will close up Tartarus?" Applejack inquired.

"I don't think that's possible." Spike chimed in. "Once the gates of Tartarus are opened, they can't be closed without a powerful magical force - something like the Elements of Harmony."

"Oh shit." I replied. "We still have all of those?"

"Almost. Ah took Celestia's off when we buried her. Ah still have mine on and so should Rarity, Pinkie and Fluttershy." Applejack responded. "We got five outta six 'cus Rainbow Dash is missing."

"Hmm..." I stood and thought over some things. Before I could say anything else though, Rarity spoke up.

"If you would please clarify, as I am a little confused... Can we not take all the towers out right now?"

"No. The only one the railguns can't get to is the Vanhoover tower." I answered. "Because of this, we would have to make our way there manually. From there I can destroy the tower, and Pinkie and Fluttershy would take out the rest. They should all be destroyed within a few minutes, which should be way more than short enough to ensure Discord doesn't put any back up without me putting backup plans in place."

"So we should go to Vanhoover instead of the Badlands?" Spike asked.

"There's jus' one problem with that though." Applejack exclaimed. "What are we supposed to do with all these ponies from Ponyville? We can't just leave them here."

I looked over at all the ponies that were standing around us. Most of them I was able to recognize, and there was only around a couple hundred. It wasn't surprising that I was able to recognize them, but seeing them all here at once made me realize that Ponyville really wasn't that big of a town. Everyone pretty much knew each other. Either way, most of them seemed capable of a couple day journey. "They'll have to come with us then. We've already got a huge bunch of changelings anyway, so it's not like our numbers weren't already high."

"Wait, so we're not going to meet up with Twilight and the others?" Pinkie's voice came on through the radio.

"Once the towers are destroyed and overall magic use should be possible, then I should be able to create something that can bring all of us straight to the Badlands. It'll take awhile and give me a huge damn headache, but it should be possible."

The others seemed a bit skeptical, but weren't really in a position to question much since they had already seen the destruction I had done to these demons. "So, are we all okay with that plan?" Applejack asked. The others appeared to be nodding their heads in agreement, so I spoke up afterwards.

"Alright. It would probably be a good idea for you people to start gathering up stuff you want to bring - just try to make it stuff that's actually important for traveling." I looked around the town and at the skies. I couldn't really tell what time of day it was due to how the atmosphere was all red and dark from what must've been Tartarus, so it seemed as if whatever time of day it was supposed to be wasn't going to matter. "Try to be ready in an hour. We'll leave on my signal no matter what because I don't want to waste too much time here."

With that said, the others began to disperse into their homes, gathering up what they were going to need for our journey all the way to the very top-left portion of Equestria - Vanhoover.
> Chapter 29 | Escape
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight Sparkle's POV

"Ahhhrghgh!!!"

The gargled scream of a nearby bipedal dragon rang in my ears as the spiked club of an orc rammed into his neck. I watched from within a window of the fortress - that was just one of the many horrible things I had witnessed from this battle alone. Our initial success with this battle had been great. With the royal guards, civilians, and the dragons of the badlands all fighting, we had made short work out of all the advancing monsters. What we weren't prepared for was just how long this fight was going to end up lasting. It felt like we had been battling for ages, and no matter how many of them we killed, they just kept coming. It was endless madness, which was made ever-more obvious by the liter of bodies that were everywhere - it wasn't like they were going to go away on their own. The smell of death was all around us, and at the moment things seemed to be getting grim. We had fallen back to the fortress to try to set up a defensive position, but just about everyone was tired from fighting.

I backed away from the window and made my way over to the throne room, only to see Princess Cadance, Princess Luna, and King Ralphis in a heated argument. Everyone looked like they had been through a war, with the king even more so. He was absolutely littered in bruises, cuts, and bandages - more of which were being put on by his servants while he was yelling.

"Retreating is NOT an option! We stay here and fight to the death." He exclaimed.

"Such a decision is rooted in arrogance and stupidity." Luna replied - even she was ticked off. "We cannot stay here. We must escape so we can fight another day."

"We have to retreat through the Forbidden Jungle." Cadance added. "There are other places we can go - other places we can combine forces with."

"You ponies are infuriatingly soft." Ralphis responded. "We will win this battle. The option of 'retreating' does not exist here and whoever these demons belong to will learn of that when their entire army is defeated by us."

Before the princesses could reply, a royal guard came running and panting into the room. "The front gates have just been breached! Shining Armor has directly requested an immediate retreat. They're going to be in this place in minutes!"

"Idiots!!!" Ralphis cursed out as he stood from his chair, knocking away the servants that were still applying bandages.

"Tell him his request has been granted. We shall escape through the-"

"I'll deal with them." The king interrupted Luna as he already began making his way out of the room.

"Ralphis!! You're going to die if you go back out there!" Cadance protested. I watched as everyone followed him out, so I decided to do the same thing, quickly trotting across the throne room and into the other hallway they had just went down. As soon as we rounded the corner that led to the outside stairs - the same ones that led up to this place - I saw a pony royal guard being flung right inside, slamming into a wall and collapsing to the ground. My audible gasp caught the attention of Cadance, who turned to look at me with a worried expression.

"Twilight! Please stay near us. I fear hiding may no longer be an option."

"Why do we have to listen to Ralphis?" I responded. "I think that the best thing we should do is to just leave anyway - or we'll all end up getting killed!"

Cadance didn't reply at first, not knowing an immediate answer to that question. Before our conversation could continue though, we had already made it to the entrance of the fortress, where Ralphis leaped out and went straight into the fight taking place right outside our front doors. I trotted up alongside the others who were gazing outside, where we could see the dark red skies that were still littered with flying winged demons. The enemy's numbers did not seem to be running out, and my eyes went wide when I caught sight of my brother fighting against two ground creatures. He looked like he had been through way too much, and it was keeping me on a paranoid edge as I watched him, worried that he might make a mistake in the middle of his brawl.

Right when I thought things couldn't get bad enough, I noticed a weird set of flames off in the distance. I narrowed my eyes and looked closer, where after enough strained observing, I saw the outline of what looked to be an absolutely massive monster making its way towards us. It had to have been three times the size of a manticore, and the bulk of it looked like it was at least three times as powerful too. It was holding a huge, flaming axe in one of its hands, and the other demons suddenly became much more rowdy as the being made its presence.

"I think this fight has lasted long enough. Your resistance is commendable, but ultimately futile." The huge demon spoke, marking the first time I had actually heard one of these monsters talk.

"Why are you doing this? Who are you?" Luna raised her voice at the demon.

"I am Lord Mobius. My purpose is greater than mortal boundaries can comprehend." He replied. With that said, he flung his axe straight toward us, causing me to gasp as the flaming projectile quickly approached.

"Get out of the way!!!!" I yelled out, lunging to the side along with the other princesses right before the axe rammed into the fortress with a loud, metallic thunk. The destructive power blew off a huge chunk of the building, and I watched with wide eyes as the large axe proceeded to unhinge itself from the fortress, flying right out and leaving behind a flaming mess of debris. I made my way back to my hooves and hesitantly peeked out to the front again, where I watched the axe glide through the air right back into the demon's hand.

"That's it, we can't stay here any longer." Shining Armor yelled out. "All troops, pony or dragon, I directly order you to retreat into the fortress NOW if you want to live!!"

All the ponies were quick to abide, as well as some of the dragons, and I watched as they all hurried up the steps into the fortress. There was one noticeable figure that wasn't listening though - it was King Ralphis. He was leaping towards the massive demon like an absolute madman, and I couldn't resist staring in awe at either his bravery or stupidity. I was pretty convinced it was the latter.

"King Ralphis! This battle is over!" One of the dragons called out. I watched as the king continued making his way towards the demon though, where he leaped from a rock straight at him, only to be punched right out of the air. He was sent flying back towards us, zooming through the air before ramming into the side of the fortress. The last bit I was able to see was other dragons and a royal guard hurrying over to him before I was ushered by my brother down the hall with the other retreating people.

"We'll escape through the back windows and hug the side of the mountains until we reach the Forbidden Jungle." Shining spoke up. "Come on, let's hurry! Whatever idiots are still out there won't be able to distract them for much longer."

Our group hurried through the hallways, catching Trixie along the way, who surprisingly didn't have anything snarky to say this time. Upon reaching the back of the fortress, we all began to pour out every available window, only because there wasn't actually a back exit designed into this place. We plopped onto the ground below and hid behind rocks and in shadows as we hurriedly trotted towards the crack in the mountains that led to the forest. During our sprint, I eventually noticed a Royal Guard running towards us with something on his back - closer inspection showed that it was actually Ralphis.

"I've acquired the dragon king!" The guard announced as he approached us. "There's even more coming in now - we never would've stood a chance."

Shining seem surprised at first - he probably wasn't expecting to see that guy again. "Amazing work, but we have to hurry."

Our group trekked in the shadows, where soon enough the entrance to the Forbidden Jungle approached - a place rumored to be inhabitable due to the presence of dangerous beasts. What normally would've been intimidating just seemed like foal's play after experiencing the evils of Tartarus in person, and I strongly doubted anything in here would match. We quickly made our way inside, walking past the mountain walls and hopefully away from the demons behind us.





"We can't go any further than this.. This is far enough sir."

Shining Armor looked towards the limping royal guard that was speaking. There were numerous other injuries that had taken place as well, and some ponies were already being carried by others that were more capable.

"I think so too. Let's stop here for now." Shining replied. The wind could be heard blowing against the surrounding trees as most of the ponies immediately collapsed from their wounds and from exhaustion. I watched for a short while, only to be interrupted by my brother when he unexpectedly walked up beside me. "You okay Twily?"

"Oh, um, yeah." I blinked and looked at him. "I'm just... it still feels like none of this is actually happening."

He shook his head and looked onwards. "Me too." He spoke, something that took me a little by surprise.

"But... you're the Captain of the Royal Guard now. I mean, I know obviously nothing like Tartarus opening up has happened, but... You've never been on any missions that dealt with anything similar?"

"Equestria and its citizens only know peace - a war or a battle isn't something that ever happens. Even I've only been in just handful of battles myself, and I'd say less than a quarter of the royal guards have been in anything more than a minor skirmish. I'd go as far to say that it's all just a training regimen, but honestly, that's all that was really necessary."

I nodded slowly as I listened to him talk. "I've read about first-hoof accounts from books dated a long time ago coping with this sort of thing. Well, I shouldn't say coping... it's more of just a recollection of events. I don't think they ever actually cope with it. I remember reading about how even when things go back to normal, that they never actually feel normal, and I never could understand that. I still don't understand that, and I don't think I want to either."

Shining didn't respond, looking on towards the ponies that were resting against trees and lying on the mud-colored dirt. Before our conversation could continue, I heard one of them call out to us.

"Shining Armor! Ralphis has awoken and has asked to speak to whoever is in charge other than him."

My brother began to walk over to him, and I decided to follow since there really wasn't any reason not to. Princess Luna and Princess Cadance were next to the king as well, and getting a closer look showed just how beat up Ralphis was - it was a wonder he was even conscious and talking.

"What happened to my kingdom?" He grumbled.

"We had to retreat, Ralphis, we didn't have any other choice." Cadance responded. "Their numbers were too great, and there was even more on the way. We couldn't possibly hope to.." She trailed off when Ralphis twitched and slammed his fist against the ground, resulting only in him grunting and squirming in pain afterwards from all the movement.

"We saved your life, along with as many of your people that we could." Luna sternly asserted. "If it were not for us, your entire existence would have been wiped out because of your foolishness."

"There is no such thing as retreating." He replied. "Dying in battle as a true warrior is the only way. What you've done is disgrace me and my people."

"There is nothing disgraceful about not being dead!" Cadance denounced. "There was no hope. You're lucky to even be alive - at least this way we can still team up with others. Their numbers can't be infinite."

"Team up with who?" Ralphis asked. "There's no one else near here that's worthy enough to be capable of anything."

I noticed the others looking amongst themselves - it seemed like no one else knew the answer to that either.

"I'll bring the map over. There's gotta be something we can do." Shining proclaimed. He proceeded to walk over someplace else, and I exhaled slowly, taking the time to sit down against a nearby tree. I looked around at the nearby bushes and foliage, taking notice of the dark and breezy atmosphere this place was giving off. In a way it felt nice - it was usually pretty hot here - and before long Shining Armor returned with a couple other royal guards and dragons.

"Ralphis is right, there isn't much around here aside from some rustbucket town and a desert." Shining exclaimed.

The other princesses took a look at the map, and I stood up, making my way over to observe it as well. They were right that there really wasn't anything notable nearby, but there was one thing that did catch my attention. Over to the right, past a small stretch of the Celestial Sea, was a place known as the Dragons' Lair. I remembered from my readings that this place housed the biggest dragons in all of Equestria, and I couldn't think of anyplace that would be safer than that.

"What about the Dragons' Lair?" I spoke up. "I can't imagine these Tartarus monsters standing a good chance against them. We'd also have the advantage of being on a peninsula."

"How would you propose that we all cross the Celestial Sea, Twilight?" Luna inquired.

"Well.." I looked back at the map. "There is one spot here," I pointed with my hoof. "That would be the shortest distance between these two land masses. We should be able to build a raft from there since there would be trees all right next to us."

The others scanned the map more, seemingly looking for any other options. After remaining quiet for almost a minute, Cadance spoke to Ralphis.

"Do you have any objections to this course of action?" She asked. "Any knowledge of this place?"

"They don't like outsiders, but they're not idiots either. I'll convince them to fight one way or another."

Shining Armor turned to a nearby Royal Guard. "Do a head count."

The guard nodded, going on his way, then returning a couple minutes later. "We've got 56 total sir, including Royal Guards, dragons and civilians."

"Specifics?"

"14 Guards, 27 dragons, and 15 civilians sir."

I winced slightly at that number - I remembered there being way more civilians than that with us initially. It made me sick to think about it, so I stopped.

"This might just be the next thing to do then. We should be able to build a raft capable of holding 56 for a few day journey." Shining proclaimed.

"Any other objections to this plan?" Luna spoke up. The silence that ensued afterwards gave her answer, to which she continued. "We will patch our wounded and rest here until the morning arises."

With that being said, I sighed, stepping away with the others as we separated. Looking around once more, it was obvious to notice the ponies that hadn't been involved in the fighting: it was the fillies and elderly that were standing or trotting around as opposed to not being collapsed on the ground somewhere. One of the ponies that was up and walking about was Trixie, and I decided to walk up to her while she was staring at the overgrown pathway ahead.

"Maybe once we reach the Dragons' Lair there'll be something we can do to end this madness." I spoke up, catching her attention and causing her to turn her head towards me.

"Well, I think it'll fix itself without us doing anything." She proclaimed. "You've got Princess Celestia, Klade, and all of your high and mighty friends out there somewhere together. They're bound to do something."

I frowned a little at her remark to my friends, but I really wasn't in the mood to even get that mad over it. "I hope so Trixie. I really do." I looked onwards down the path ahead of us, pondering over what might happen to us next. I was usually the type of person to like thinking over things, but this time I didn't even feel like it - the most I could bother with was just letting things go so I could deal with it whenever the problems presented themselves.

'I wonder how my friends are doing... I should be there with them. There's alot of things I should've done, just like how I forgot about Spike when I was in Canterlot. If anything happened to him...' I shook my head and breathed in deeply. 'Come on, this is the wrong time to be thinking about these things. Nothing's happened to him until I've seen it myself - that's how it's going to have to be.'