> Teenage Mutant Ninja...Ponies? > by MemoryLane > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Bummer... > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Mikey! I swear! Take one more step and I'll make sure that the next button I hit will send you straight to space!" I heard my brother shout from the other room, followed by an amused cackle of laughter. I sighed. They're at it again. I tried to ignore them, as I knew Donnie was never one to fight anyways. I flipped the page of the newspaper I was reading, trying to engage myself. It didn't last very long, as my attention easily shifted. "Come on dude! I'm just checking it o-" I heard Mikey start. Whether he was 'Checking it out', or simply investigating, even I knew that he shouldn't have phrased it that way. I could hear Donnie scoff loudly, cutting him off. He sure was cranky today, but I already knew why. Usually, him and Mikey got along so well... "I don't care! You touch it, then I touch you with the end of my staff!" Donnie threatened. Whoa. Well, time to investigate. I let out a loud sigh as I set the newspaper down on the armrest of the chair and stood up, just seconds before a loud, yet familiar voice pierced through our sewer home. "BOYS!" I heard Master Splinter yell. Uh oh. I walked over to the scene of the crime into what most would call our living room, although it's completely out of the norm of what most den's look like. It had area's for all four of us to put our things. There was an orange, sticker covered half pipe in the lefthand corner of the room from where I entered, along with a large flatscreen television. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that that was Mikey's idea. On the lower left corner belonged to Raph, and to be honest I'm quite surprised that I didn't see him over there. That was where most of the weight equipment was. The adjacent corner was mine, although I'm barely ever in it. It's actually quite empty. The only thing over there was a few shelves full of books and ancient teachings. On the lower right corner of the room was where the 'action' was going on. Donnie was in his corner of the room, his usual multi-monitor computer station was nowhere to be found, and in its place was...some sort of machine. It was round, and had a very large opening. It almost looked like a ring, except it was large enough for someone to be able to easily step through it. He called it a "Tele-Portal". I'm not sure on all the details. Donnie was kneeling down on the ground, tools in his hand and glaring angrily at Mikey, who was cheekily standing over him, clutching his orange skateboard. He meekly rubbed the back of his neck, pulling at his orange mask just a little bit. "Heh...sorry Donnie..." He chuckled. Trying to put on a good face for Master Splinter, who only glared at him. Donnie didn't have time to accept or refuse his apology. "Michelangelo, let him be. You have training today. You should be readying yourself." Splinter set both of his paws on his cane. Mikey only smiled obliviously at him. "Come on, Splinter. Did you not see those moves I was pulling on my skateboard earlier? I've never been more limber!" He held up his skateboard before dropping it on the hard floor, letting a loud clanging sound ring throughout the home. Most noises are easily echoed throughout the area, so I had to resist flinching at the loud clamor. Mikey took out both of his nunchaku from his belt and began twirling them at an intense, and rather impressive, velocity. I knew where this is going. The nunchaku spun all around his body, as he handled them effortlessly, attempting to show off. Three. Mikey was tossing the nunchaku in the air and catching them as they continued to twirl in midair, almost as if he was juggling. Two. Mikey was now spinning the nunchaku behind his shell joyously. One. "OUCH!" Mikey exclaimed as one nunchaku his him directly over the head. As he tried to grab his head in pain with the arm he just used, he neglected his other nunchaku as it swung and smacked him right in-between his legs. He let out a single groan of agony as he collapsed onto the floor. Splinter and I let out a simultaneous groan, while the temptation to laugh was growing inside of Donnie. I could just tell. "Meet me in the dojo in one hour, Michelangelo...." Master Splinter deadpanned as he walked back to his own quarters. Mikey still lied on the ground in a painful mess as he furiously rubbed his head and held his crotch rather awkwardly. Donnie turned back to his device as I heard new footsteps appear behind me. I saw a glint of red in the corner of my eyes, and I didn't need to think twice about who it was. "...Was it a two-fer?" Raphael asked me, while staring down at Mikey, who still had tears in his eyes. I gave Raph a quick nod. Embarrassed, Mikey pulled himself together, standing up and walking over to his television to sit in peace. Raph chuckled to himself, almost laughing at Mikey's pain. "Can't believe I missed it this time..." Mikey hurting himself with those things is definitely normal around here. Which leaves me to wonder, out of all of us, why was the most clumsy and carefree brother given the most complex weapons? Oh well, I'm sure Master Splinter did it for a reason. Raph looked over to Donnie, who was typing on some sort of laptop on the ground. Digital codes were appearing to and fro on it as he remained locked in concentration. I wasn't going to disturb him, but Raph had other ideas. "What are you doing?" He inquired, raising an eyebrow. Donnie turned to look at Raph to explain, losing precious focus for only a few moments. After realizing his mistake, he turned back to his screen, only to see a new, bright yellow message: "ERROR". Donnie let out a frustrated groan and cursed to himself, almost slamming the laptop on the ground. "Gah! I almost had it!" He exclaimed. Now it was my time to get a little curious. I've never seen him this bent out of shape before. I know that he can get a little paranoid and cranky when he's tinkering with things, but this is a new high for him. "Almost had what?" I asked. Seeing that since he had to start his lines of code from the beginning, he decided that now would be a good time to explain. "My Tele-Portal! I was so close! I was running the last line of code!" He growled, a large vein pulsing from his forehead. "Tele-what now?" Mikey was suddenly standing next to me now, no longer holding his head, or his crotch. Well, he certainly heals fast. Donnie angrily sighed, far beyond irritated at this point. "Tele-Portal! For the third time! I know I've told you all about this earlier!" He kept his voice down, as to not alarm Master Splinter. Mikey and Raph simply shook their heads. I remember Donnie specifically chatting with me for a little bit, but he didn't give me much details. I really think Mikey and Raph are just forgetful. I'm sure Mr. ITT would remember telling them if he did, anyways, he's smarter than both of them combined. Donnie let out an exasperated groan. "It's a molecular transportation device, capable of sending electrons using air patterns as their guides to pinpoint exact locations where a beam will rebuild said electrons into a single solid mass! It's revolutionary!" Mikey, Raph and I stared at him dumbly. He knows better than to speak to us in techno-babble. I'll admit, Raph and Mikey were definitely not smart...science wise, and neither was I. Although I think I know what he meant. He grumbled to himself, turning back to his machine. "It's a teleporter." Mickey let out a small "Ohhh..." sound, while Raph looked extremely unamused, steaming just a little bit at Donnie's attitude towards him. I saw Donnie attempt to run his codes again. "Come on, let him be for now..." I said, ushering for Raph and Mikey to leave him alone. Raph was more reluctant to come along, while Mikey was more than happy. That glint in his eye hinted to me that his video games were calling him. "Just wait a minute! What're ya making that contraption for anyways?" Raphael asked, barging right past my attempts to corral him. I should've known that it was a lost cause. It took a minute for Donnie to get to a reasonable point in his codes to where he could stop without crashing the whole program again. "Why not? If it works, it'll be the future! Right here in our sewer!" Donnie dramatically threw his arms in the air to prove his point, although Raph could care less, really. Suddenly, there was a sudden knock above us, sending three echoes throughout the whole place. Apparently, someone was knocking on the manhole cover. "Haha! My pizza's here!" Mikey shot out of his seat, not even bothering to pause or turn off his video games as he bolted out the door at an incredulous pace. It's a wonder how he can move so fast, but only when food or pizza is involved. I felt like smacking my face. Everyone else disregarded him, as usual. "Yeah. Whatever." I would've though that Raph would've asked more questions, but surprisingly he began to walk away. Weird...I let out a soft sigh while wishing Donnie good luck with his work, to which he half-heartedly waved back. I stared at the Tele-Portal. It sure was large, and it was just slightly sputtering. As if it was trying its hardest just to come to life. I quickly walked back to my awaiting newspaper, briefly glancing at the clock. It was almost six in the evening. It was almost time to train. *** Master Splinter was more than prepared today. Our usual japanese style dojo was now COVERED in 10 foot long vertical sticks, all pointing towards the ceiling and miraculously standing on their own. There were literally dozens of them! I wasn't really in the mood to count them all. Raph sighed, he knew what was coming. Balance training. Raph HATED balance training. Splinter was standing on the stick nearest the door. A single furry leg standing on it, while the other was resting, crossed with his other leg. His balance was impeccable. It honestly looked like he was sitting, and there is no way a normal person...or turtle...or rat...could do such a thing without falling. I guess that's why he's the teacher here. Splinter opened his eyes and jumped to the ground, admittedly not getting much air as he did so. "Another balance exercise? Again? Masta' Splinter, we just did one yesterday!" Raph argued, crossing his arms. You can easily tell he was born and raised in New York, and that he picked up a few things. He's the only one who seemed to have that Brooklyn accent. Mikey...no one knows where he learned to talk the way he did. But it's Mikey, no one really questions him. Master Splinter bonked Raphael on his thick skull with his cane, sending his reeling back. Raph silently seethed at his master, holding his head. He growled just a little bit, but he knew better than to do anything about it. "Yes. You boys appear to be lacking. So until you all improve, balance testing will be our main focus." Splinter commanded. Everyone, save for Raphael, gave him a confirming nod. I actually liked balance exercises. I'm pretty good at them, and sometimes it's fun to show up my brothers. Master Splinter wisely closed his eyes, and began to walk down the line of us turtles. Starting with Donnie on the end, then Mikey, then Raph, and then finally me before turning around and going through the cycle in reverse. "Balance is your saviour in combat, turtles." He said boldly. "You may not know it, but one misplaced step could equal death in an instant. That is why we are studying balance, Raphael." Mikey bit the inside of his cheek at the mentioning of the word "death", and Raph was visibly trying to control his distaste for all of this. "Balance is something you need, Raphael. Without it, your body and your mind have no foundation." It was obvious that he was hinting at the fact that Raph lacked the ability to control his anger. Which, subsequently, only made him madder. I leaned over to him, and quietly whispered in his ear. "Chill..." Raph growled, but listened, knowing that I was right. "Without balance, one cannot amount to anything. As you see, I have these wooden pillars here-" Mikey thought it'd be a great idea to rudely interrupt. "Where did you even-" "Today we are going to have a little contest." Oh no...not sure I'm going to like this. "Last one standing on the pillars, wins, bo-" Once again, Master Splinter was interrupted. This time by Raph, who really needs to learn to keep his mouth shut. The guy was more impulsive than Mikey was sometimes. I noticed Splinter frustratingly grip his cane a little tighter, as if he was going to smack Raph with it again. "Alright! Battle Royale!" Raph specifically turned to me and poked my chest, hard. "You're goin' down." Raph and I have always had a terrible sibling rivalry. He's always been trying to one-up me, ever since we were little. He's still a little sore that Splinter chose me to be the "leader" of all of us. Which is only expected since I'm the oldest. But Raph thought otherwise. And ever since he's been trying to prove that he's better than me. Well, I know that Raph's probably going to go straight for me when this all pops off. In my mind, I was already trying to strategize. I had a good feeling, but then something clicked in my head. "Splinter, why are we fighting against ourselves?" I asked, and Splinter smiled at my intuitiveness. "Your goal is to simply be the last one standing on top of the pillars." Splinter repeated. I get it now. If we all wanted, we could simply stand on a pillar, and make this an endurance contest. I know that Raph isn't going to let that happen. He was chuckling to himself as of right now, cracking his knuckles one by one and giving me a sly grin. I wasn't intimidated by him, but I knew this wasn't going to end well. *** A matter of minutes later, all four of us were balancing on the sticks, each one of us occupying a single corner. Raph and Donnie were doing quite well holding their center of gravity, while Mikey was, unsurprisingly, having problems. "Alright...Raph, I know what you're thinking..." I started, he jerked his head in my direction, grinning expectantly. "Fighting each other isn't going to do any good..." I tried to reason with him, almost cooing to him. It was the only way that I could. I definitely didn't want to provoke him. He rubbed his wrists. "I agree. I think endurance is a better way to gain better balance that fighting..." Donnie chimed in, hopping from stick to stick. Raphael completely disregarded him. "If I wanted to have an endurance contest like this, I'd count how long I can stand on one leg!" Raph shouted. I looked over at Mikey now, who was wobbling. I'm pretty sure he's almost fallen about three times in the last minute. "I'm ready to have a little fun!" He cheered menacingly, running at me full speed as his feet bounced from stick to stick. It was impressive that he didn't even have to watch where he was stepping; he already knew. Before I had enough time to react, Raphael lifted up his leg for a high kick, the momentum sending his body spinning. Typical Raph, going into a fight he isn't even prepared for. I swiftly ducked his leg. The temptation to sweep his only foot that kept him upright almost got to me, but I controlled my urges. This wasn't what Splinter wanted of us to do in the first place. Raph let his other foot fall on an adjacent stick and he hurled his fist at me, grunting as he did so. Seeing that I was still crouching, this wasn't an easy decision. The way I was squatting on the stick didn't allow me to block, so with a "humph!" I jumped back, letting my arms fly over my head, hoping to catch the nearest cane. When I felt something hard grace my fingertips, I gripped it, and hauled myself to my feet ontop of the shaft. "Raph! Knock it off!" I shouted at him. That was a close call. Raph is a strong fighter, but I know all of his weaknesses. We're brothers, after all. We spar all the time. I think I've lost count how many times, really. This guy is hotheaded, that's enough. Sometimes, there are cases where Raph completely loses it, and me being the leader, it's my job to calm him down. The last time he got angry was because Mickey ate the last slice of pizza. Now that wouldn't have been such an issue, had it not been the one that Raph had been saving in the refrigerator with a note that specifically said "Raphael's. Don't eat!". Splinter told me a little something that helped me to understand Raph just a little more. He told me a certain quote: "Anger is a shortcut to self-destruction". Sure, it didn't mean much to me at the time, but I've remembered it every time Raph had a little episode, and things always turned out fine. Raph was naturally left handed. He watched me, prepared for me to fight back. He held his left hand in front of his face, as if to jab, while his right was just below his other hand. "Come on brotha'! Lighten up!" He chuckled. I cracked my knuckles. "If you say so, Raph." I gave in. I knew if I didn't fight him, he'd still come after me anyways. Everyone knew it was his chance to impress Splinter. What he didn't know was that this was only hurting his chances. He's not leader for a reason. He'd get all of us killed in action, and he knows that. His impulsiveness will get him extremely hurt one day. "AAAH!!" I heard a scream from behind me, followed by a small "OOMPH". Well, no doubt that Mikey finally lost his balance. Great. Maybe Donnie will actually give me a hand, although I doubt it. He's not much for fighting. "Agh! I scraped my knee! Anyone gotta bandaid?" I heard Mikey call from ten feet below us. I rolled my eyes. Raph, after realizing that he missed a perfect opportunity to attack me while I was distracted, charged at me, ready to hurl another punch that was headed straight to my chest. I jumped to the stick to my right. I had a feeling that he was going too fast to stop, that's what it seemed like to me, anyways. When he tried to change the direction of his punch, it was already too late. Predicting correctly, I jumped and spun kicked the area where I just was, and where Raph was now occupying. The kick smashed into his chest, knocking the breath out of him as he flew off the stick, through the air, and down towards the ground. Well, that was easy enough. I thought it was over until I tried to look down at him to make sure he was alright. I groaned as I noticed that he was still grasping onto the stick about five feet from the ground, not ready to give up just yet. He jumped from the stick upwards, cracking my chin with his fist. He landed on the stick that I was just standing on. Luckily, I recovered from his punch and managed to regain my balance on another stick a few feet away. I rubbed my jaw, pain coursing through it. "Hah!" He shouted pridefully, quite proud of himself for that punch. I've got to give him credit, he got me on that one. "Come on Donnie! Get in there and show 'em who's boss!" I heard Mikey shout from below us. "No! I'm not fighting!" Donnie whined back at him. It's a shame, he has such great fighting potential, yet he remains a pacifist. Although, I guess it's not really a bad thing. He'll still fight if he has no other option, which is the least he can do. "Raph! I'm warning you!" I shouted at him, but he refused to listen, once again. Unbeknownst to me, Master Splinter was watching each and every one of our moves intently. Raph was strangely having a blast. He wasn't...insane. Just overly eager, which is very unlike him. He came at me with various chops and jabs, most either aimed for my gut or face. I had bare milliseconds to dodge, but I used them to my advantage as I, rather clumsily, moved out of the way of most of the attacks, although a few of his punches did manage to clip my side. I had no choice but to back up. I had studied the placement of the sticks earlier, and realized that they were in some sort of pattern. Each stick was about four feet away from the last, diagonally. Using logic, and intense predictions, I effortlessly walked backward. Raph slowed down his punches and ducked down just slightly. I knew what that meant. I ducked down along with him, just in time for him to fly over me, gliding through the air like a pigeon with his leg extended in a strong kick. "Donnie, look out!" I heard Mikey shout from down below. I heard a thick "THUD" as Raph's kick collided with Donnie, who was passively balancing behind us. He let out a grunt as he was sent hurdling to the ground, coincidenly, landing right on top of my youngest brother. Donnie wiped the sweat off his brow as he looked at his brother, who had comforted his fall. "Heh. Thanks." He said meekly. Mikey just groaned in response. "And then there was two!" Raph mumbled. Somehow, he had landed on a wooden stake. I'm was really surprised he hadn't lost his balance yet. Maybe he had been practicing a little bit. It's not easy to do kicks on these sticks. Even I was having a little bit of trouble. Also, there was a large risk for splinters. I seriously doubt that Master sanded these before he put them up. "No. That's it! Both of you!" Master Splinter yelled, breaking the rather tense air with his bold words. Donnie had helped Mikey up to his feet after his nasty fall. Mikey coughed and stood up reluctantly, holding onto his stomach. He definitely looked like he was in pain... "But Masta' Spl-" Raphael started, but Splinter raised his cane at him, giving him a hard stare. He immediately shut up. "You both failed." I felt my heart drop as him, along with Donnie, and a still limping Mikey, walk out of the dojo. "I want to have a talk with both of you later." He muttered, as the door to the dojo shut loudly behind them. Raph proceeded to jump down from the cane he was standing on, and punch a hole through the nearest thing, which happened to be the wall. "DAMMIT!" He shouted and he walked out, leaving me alone once again. I knew it. *** "What was the meaning of that, boys?" Master Splinter asked us later that night. Donnie and Mikey were fast asleep at around this time. I wasn't not very sure, but I think it was about 11. Master Splinter specifically asked us to stay up so that he could speak with us in private in the den. I had a terrible feeling about this, I knew for sure that Splinter was terribly upset with the both of us. "Meaning of what? I was trying to win!" Raphael argued, throwing his arms out in front of him pleadingly. Sometimes, I had to wonder about what went on inside Raphael's mind. Some of the things he says and thinks never mean much, even if he meant it. Master Splinter narrowed his eyes, still a little bit angry with the red-masked turtle. "You were trying to win a game using force. Force is NEVER the first resort." Splinter muttered back, surprisingly keeping his cool through all this. Raph should really pay more attention to what Splinter says. He told me himself most of what the Master says is "pointless jabber" anyways. Needless to say, I wasn't happy with how he happened to phrase that. Well, now he knows. "That was the point!" Raph mumbled, trying to follow Splinter's example. "No...the contest was to see who could stay balanced the longest...it was an endurance contest..." I said for Splinter, who only nodded, glad that I actually understood. Raph looked at me in shock, not wanting to believe his own mistake. I kind of felt bad for him, but it's his fault for letting simple rivalry get in the way of rational thinking. "W-Well, so what? I should at least be praised for my fighting out there." He rebutted. I simply rolled my eyes at his blindness, and rather stupid remark. Does he really think he should be praised for injuring Mikey like that? Not to mention kicking Donnie straight in the chest? "No, you should, and are, banned from training with the rest of your brothers." Raph's jaw dropped along with mine. Whoa, now that seemed a little extreme. I knew it was pointless to argue, but I thought that I should at least put my input in on the whole situation. "Do you really think he deserves something like that?" I forced myself to stand up for Raph. Sure he may have went a little rogue, but that's no reason to basically ground the guy. "Yes." Splinter stared Raphael right in the his emerald eyes. "Raph you have been showing an increased lack of discipline as of recent. And you know better!" Splinter was starting to get a little angry now, so I decided that I might just want to start backing off now. Raph suddenly turned towards me, his teeth bared in anger. "What about Leo!?" He shouted. I felt my eyes soften, was he really going to try and pin the blame on me as well? "Of course Mr. Leader gets to get off scot free yet again!" He hollered. I really hoped he would quiet down. At this rate, half of New York would be making complaints. Luckily, Master Splinter was on my side. "Leonardo didn't want to participate in your little 'battle royale'. You forced him." He stated, bringing Raph up to a boil. "That's not fair, Splinter!" "Leonardo is leader for a reason! You took out one of your own brothers due to your impulsiveness and recklessness! Until you fix that you will NEVER be the leader." Splinter hissed. Raph...was dumbfounded at what he was just told. He looked manic, like he wanted to lose it again. But he didn't. He looked at Splinter, then me, and then the ground. I'm not sure, but I think I saw tears in his eyes. "Fine. I don't care. Psh. Move it." he said as he barged passed me, presumably returning to his room. Splinter sighed, obviously regretting what he had just said. But obviously it needed to be done, so I didn't blame him one bit. I had a feeling that Raph was going to hate me for this for a while. "You are free to go, Leonardo." *** It was very early in the morning when I heard a maniacal shriek from the living room, followed by eager footsteps. "HAHAHA! YES!" The voice repeated once again. I groaned restlessly, wanting to block out the noise and go back to sleep. But it just wasn't in me to do so. In a dreamy haze, I sat up in my bed, sighing and recollecting myself before I actually took a few steps. As my vision began to focus, I saw what seemed to be a bright blue light radiating from the living room pour into mine and lighting it up to the point that I didn't even need to turn on a single light. I darted into the kitchen, grabbing my katana's just in case. You can never be too careful here in New York. Mikey, Donnie, and Raph were all standing in front of the Tele-Portal, which was shining brightly. I had to shield my still-adjusting eyes for just a moment. The ring of the Tele-Portal was covered in some kind of swirling blue mass, almost making it look like a moving wall. There was electricity cackling all throughout the room, all given off from the alabaster machine. Donnie was psyched, almost freaking out over his new invention. "It works! I can't believe it actually works!" He cheered, almost jumping into the air. I stared at him. I can't believe this! "Donnie! What's going on!? It's 4 in the morning!" Mikey shouted over the cackling of both Donnie, and the electricity. Mikey was decked out in blue duck pajamas, which was weird since the rest of us slept without pajamas. There wasn't really a need for clothes. Unless you're undercover, that is. Raph knows all about that. "I couldn't sleep! I just wanted to tinker with it, and what do you know! It actually works!" I was starting to wonder where exactly Splinter is during all of this. Surely he wasn't stil sleeping. I looked at the machine, it was apparent that it still needed to be fixed up, as it rattled occasionally. "I just had to play with the flux capacitor knobs!" I had no idea what a flux capacitor was, but I really didn't care. "Well! Turn it off!" I shouted over the loud noise. The waves that the machine was giving off were sending things crashing throughout the room. Papers and furniture were flying EVERYWHERE. I even heard Mikey's flatscreen fall over in a shattered mess. Mikey was none too pleased as he got down on his knees and held out a single hand, as his other was holding his teddy bear. "NNNNOOOOOO!" He sobbed into his hands. "Gimme a second!" Donnie replied, noting the destruction that the Tele-Portal was causing. He casually walked over to it and pressed a large, red button. To me, it appeared to be a stop button, but when the velocity of the machine started to increase, I knew something was wrong. "What did you do!?" Raph screamed at him, causing Donnie backed away defensively. "I...I don't know!" Donnie said. It was the last thing that I would hear him say. Before there was any warning, the Tele-Portal soon started to inhale, sending Donnie screaming as he was the first to fly inside of the machine and into the blue portal. "DONNIE!?" All three of us screamed. As the power of the machine increased, it was getting harder to keep our ground. Raph and I both grabbed onto steel bars on opposite sides of the room, while Mikey was a little too slow. He was still in the middle of the den at the time after crying about his television. The portal soon began to drag him across the ground towards it as he hollered unintelligibly. I instinctively grabbed his hand, not wanting his to fall through the portal like Donnie just did. "Don't let go!" He shouted at me, almost pleading and begging me with his eyes. No way that was going to happen. What the shell happened to him? Where did the portal take him?! How do we turn this damn thing off!? The strength of the portal was only getting stronger, and it was to the point were Mikey's feet were up in the air due to the force. It was like there was a tornado right in our home, and it was trying to eat us all one by one. It was getting harder and harder to hold onto Mikey, as his hand was quite slippery due to fear. "Hold on!" I shouted, but it was in vain. The portal was pulling him too hard, and he had no way to adjust himself. I felt my own youngest brother slip from my hand and plummet towards the portal, flying through the air with a terrified scream as he did so. "No!" I shouted. Dammit Leo! First Donnie, and now Mikey! This isn't happening! "Leo!?" Raph shouted from the other side of the room. I turned my gaze over to him, firmly placing both my hands on the steel pipes. The only thing keeping me from flying through the air at this point. I could tell that Raph was having a hard time as well. "What the SHELL do we do!?" There were two options: Hold on tight, and hope for the best, or jump in. Part of me was hoping that it would be the former, and that after a little while the machine would sputter and die out. But another part of me completely doubted that that would happen. But, what if the portal would bring us to different places? What if we would't be able to find each other afterwards? Then what would do? And then how would we get back? I decided we'd have to figure that out once we got there. "We jump!" I announced, gaining a shocked look from Raph on the other steel pipe. "What!?" He hollered. It was getting harder and harder to hear with all the noise. "That's insane!" True, but it was best option right now. This way we at least had a chance at finding Mikey and Donnie. "We don't have any options! We have to get Mikey and Donnie!" I shouted back. Originally, I didn't think he was down for it until I mentioned our two, now currently gone, brothers. I saw his gaze soften before giving me a nod of confirmation. "You're the boss..." he replied. I didn't know if he meant that in a good way or not, but I'd worry about that later. "On three!" I shouted back at him. He and I both let one hand go from the steel pipe. "ONE! TWO! THREE!" I shouted, like I planned, Raph and I both jumped. The air was sucked out of me as him and I both yelled as we were forcefully pulled inside of the portal. I remember falling in first, because Raphael was behind me. And then everything went black. > What the Shell? > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Ungggh..." I groaned upon regaining consciousness. My head was throbbing like never before, and I brought my appendage to soothe it, hoping to feel cool fingers gently touch my forehead. I didn't. I was still in too much pain to think correctly, so I didn't take the time to question it. I'm sure that my headache was the culprit behind this. Ugh...what happened? The last thing I remember was falling through the Tele-Portal with Raphael, then everything went black. I felt something cool tickling my back, and I took a solid guess that is was grass. I was on the ground, great. I slowly opened my orbs, only to get a eyeful of the EXTREMELY bright sun. I grunted painfully as I covered my eyes, once again with my arm, closing my eyes as I did so. The tip of my arm came in contact with something new on the top of my head. A moment later, when my eyes once again adjusted, I slowly stood up, which I found more difficult than usual. For some reason I felt pressured into walking on all fours. Why couldn't I stand normally? I heard a grunting noise behind me, causing me to swiftly turn. I'm just going to say this now, I was extremely surprised at what the shell I was looking at. It appeared to be a green...pony...lying on the ground. Actually, there were three in all. Wait...a HORSE!? Two of them appeared to be knocked out, while one was just getting to his feet. I looked at my surroundings, completely bewildered. It was a gorgeous day, and there were plenty of birds soaring through the sky. At least I thought they were birds...I appeared to be in some sort of field, surrounded by various fruited trees. "What the..." The pony was grimacing as he stood up, trembling and almost falling back down to the ground. The pony looked awfully familiar...eventually, it gained it's balance. Then I noticed something, something that I kind of wish I didn't. The pony was wearing an orange mask. "...Mikey...?" I leaned closer to him intuitively. No, surely that can't be him! Of course the Tele-Portal wouldn't do that to him! No way! At the sight of me, the pony's eyes widened, almost in fear. He backed up a little bit, afraid. "W-Whoa! Talking horse!" He shrieked. Well, he's a talki- WHAT!? "What!?" I replied, trying to get a good look at myself. I looked straight down, expecting to see reptilian feet. I was heartbroken when the only thing I was able to see were forelegs. No way, I'm a horse!? "I am!?" I asked, rather dumbly. Mikey just nodded slowly. "Mikey! It's me! Leo!" I told him, only making his eyes grow wider. "W...what happened? Why are you a pony!?" Mikey hollered, causing the other two figures to stir. One of the figures was wearing a red mask, while the other was wearing purple. I took an educated guess at who they were. I took a good look at Mikey, his eyes were still the same bright cerulean blue, and he had a frightened scowl on his visage. Oh man, this is bad... I couldn't help but notice that he still had his nunchaku with him. That's odd, I didn't remember him having it before he got sucked through the portal. He was wearing pajamas, right? I turned to look at myself, noticing that I also had both of my katana's. Well, that's a good thing. There was a strange picture of the very same bright red blades on my...buttcheek? I turned my gaze back at Mikey, looking at his buttcheek. Just a little embarrassing to admit, but still, it had to be done. Instead of swords, he had a tattoo of a single orange nunchuk. "I don't know! Why are YOU one!" I said. I didn't mean to sound childish, but I wanted to let him know that I wasn't the only pony around here. Mikey looked down and promptly began to spasm and freak out. Just what I expected out of him at this point in time. I'm not sure if it was intentional, but a pair of large wings opened up from each one of his sides out of shock. My youngest brother is a flying pony...I was simply awestruck. "Leo! What the...I have wings? But I thought I was a pony!" He cried, trying to manually push the wings back down in his manic state. Even I knew that that wasn't going to work. Hm, ponies that can fly...I've heard about creatures like that, although I could not for the life of me remember what they're called. Eventually, Mikey relaxed and his wings fell down on their own. I have a feeling that Mikey's going to hurt himself with those things. "What is going on!?" I heard a gruff voice behind me shout. I turned around, only to see Raphael helping Donnie to his feet. It seemed that he and Donnie had already taken note of our predicament. Donnie was still wearing his purple mask, rubbing his head in a similar way as to me just a few minutes ago. He was of a marsh color, and on his flank was a purple, wooden bo staff. Speaking of that, he had it lying horizontally on his back. Also, he...he had a large HORN IN HIS HEAD. "Donnie! You have a horn on your head!" Mikey beat me to it. Donnie's eyes widened as he touched the horn in question, inspecting it for a few moments before smiling, amazed. "I'm...a unicorn?" Donnie questioned himself. Wait, didn't that also mean that I was as well? I brought a...hoof...up to my forehead, and sure enough, there was a large horn on the top of my head. Well, I've lost it. My brother and I are unicorns. This is my worst nightmare come to life. To be honest, I'm not surprised that Donnie knows all of this. "What about me?" Mikey said, motioning towards his wings. Yes, I was quite curious myself. It was going to start bothering me if I didn't remember what Mikey was, it was right on the tip of my tongue... "Mikey...I think you're a pegasus..." Donnie said, rather slowly, almost as if he didn't even want to say it. Well, that was the word I was looking for anyways, so at least now I won't have to worry about it. I was honestly concerned for Mikey. Can you imagine? As if Mikey wasn't obnoxious enough, now he can FLY. We might as well find a hospital while we have a chance. I was sure he's going to hurt himself in some way. "What about me?" Everyone turned to Raphael, who was waiting patiently. Of course, he was wearing his usual red mask, along with his sais in a holster on both of his sides, much like my swords. He had a tattoo of them on his buttcheek as well. Donnie and I looked him over carefully, but he appeared to lack a horn or a pair of wings. "I think you're just a regular horse..." Donnie muttered to Raph's distaste. He narrowed his eyes, great. Now he's going to get jealous. Not like there's anything to be jealous of. We're all horses. "So you three get to be magical beings while I'm a regular freakin' horse?" He scoffed, looking off into the distance. "Whatever." Yeah, I knew it. He still has a problem with me after what had happened back in the dojo. We'd have to have a chat about that later. But right now was not the time. "This...this is insane!" Mikey was smiling now as he began to flap his wings, at first off beat. But he soon got the hang of it as he slowly began to fly in the air, but just barely. He could only get about three inches off the ground. Ohhh no! I didn't know how to grab him, since I didn't have hands anymore, so I bit down on the end cloth of his mask and brought him down to reality. "No Mikey!" I told him, and he frowned unhappily. "Aww! Come on! I've always wanted to fly! You know, one with this wind!" He fantasized. I rolled my eyes and turned back to the rest of my brothers, keeping in mind to check up on Mikey occasionally. I had to make sure that he didn't take off, after all, I'm the eldest. "Donnie! What the shell did that thing do to us!? Where are we!?" Raphael suddenly hollered at Donnie, who was once again backing away meekly. He was looking left and right, it sure wasn't hard for him to get intimidated. "I-I don't know! That wasn't supposed to happen! It must've malfunctioned!" Donnie was wracking his brain trying to look for an explanation. I'm siding with him on this one. Donnie's too smart to let something like that happen. Although, it was the first time that the darn thing even turned on, maybe there was a hidden problem inside of it which caused this? How were we even going to get out of here? "Calm down, Raph." I said monotonously, not in the mood to put up with his anger issues. I smacked my forehead with my hoof. "Why should I!? It's his fault we're in...God knows where!" Raphael shouted back at me. Maybe that was a bad move, once again taking the side opposite him. Just because he's my brother, doesn't mean I HAVE to side with him. Most of the time his viewpoints on things are...to put it bluntly...wrong. "But...I..." Donnie looked at the ground, saddened by his simple mistake. His beautiful machine, gone. Along with everything we held dear in New York. "Dudes..." I heard Mikey speak up. There was a large hill to our right, one that Mikey decided to investigate. He was staring over the edge in awe. "I don't think we're in New York anymore..." Oh boy. All three of us walked over to Mikey, and to my surprise it was a lot easier to get used to this body than I originally thought. All the movements came naturally, almost as if I was still a turtle. All four of us gazed over the hillside. It was gorgeous. We were overlooking a small town, no bigger than a single New York district. The houses were all of various different hues, some sticking out more than others. Some where bright pink, while others were a dark brown. It was astounding! There appeared to be a marketplace that was absolutely jam packed with other ponies. I say other unicorns down there, a few other winged horses, and some that simply lacked both characteristics like Raphael. The ponies...most of them were bright and colorfully, smiling gleefully as they did their morning routine. There was a sign on the outskirts of town, which I read out loud for the sake of all my brothers. "Welcome to...Ponyville...?" *** A few moments later, all four of us agreed to walk into the lively town full of ponies. I was almost impressed, this place wasn't like our hometown at all...everyone seemed to be happy and smiling. It gave me a genuine feeling or satisfaction. I wonder what the crime rate was in a place like this. I'm sure it's damn-near nothing. Who would steal in a place like this? I've been there for five minutes and I already feel better. Donnie was trying to ask ponies for help and information as we walked down the street, but that was getting us nowhere, as he wasn't much for socialization. "Excuse me? I-" "Hi!" A bright yellow pony with a white mane cheered as she walked right passed him with a large bag full of fruits and vegetables. Donnie sighed, and spotted a dark magenta pegaus to his right. He turned to her, shell-bent on getting some sort of information. This was getting us nowhere. "Hel-" The pegasus didn't even let him finish his introduction before she gingerly flew away in some hurry. Well, that certainly was rude. Donnie was starting to get a little frustrated with the lack of cooperation from many of the towns ponies. "Ugh..." "Donnie...that's not getting us anywhere..." I told him, to which he nodded knowingly. He almost seemed depressed, although I can't blame him. He's going through a lot right about now. "It couldn't hurt to try..." "This place irritates me..." Raph grunted. That's what I expected. Raph was never one for "pretty, pretty things", so I assumed this place was on his list of things of which he didn't give a crap about. He wasn't going to be of much help, that was for sure. That's fine, we didn't need him. If he wants to pout, let him. He's just not going to bring the rest of us down. "Well that's-" I started. "HI!" A high pitched, ear shattering voice shrieked from behind us, scaring the absolute wit out of Mikey, who was so startled that he ended up on the ground. The rest of us turned to look at the sound of Mikey's equally high pitched scream. Standing over him way a VERY pink (and slightly chubby) pony, who was grinning ear to ear and staring Mikey down. Not in a creepy or intimidating way, but more of in appreciation. Her mane was like cotton candy, and the closer I got to her, the more the smell of flour became apparent. I couldn't help but notice that her and Mikey had very similar colored eyes. Mikey was lying on his back now, contemplating what to do as the bouncing pony stood over him. "Uh..." I think this pony's a little crazy...or a little hyperactive. She appeared to be incapable of standing still as she was shifting her weight frequently. The pink pony quickly bounced off of Mikey, apologizing and helping him back up to his hooves. She let out some sort of embarrassed "Squee" noise as she did so. "Sorry about that! It's just that I've never seen any of you here before! Which made me think 'Hey! Maybe they're new!' and if you guys are knew, then that means that you don't have any friends! So I thought that I would-" The time bomb called "patience" was slowly ticking inside of Raphael, burning down to a minimum. He covered a hoof over his ears, not sure how to cover both due to gravity. I was sure if he had tried to cover both he'd end up face first in the dirt. "Oh my God. SHUT UP!" He hollered. I knew his pain, her voice can get...unbearable. I didn't mean to be rude, but I couldn't help stare at the tattoo on her buttcheek. It was three party balloons...I wondered what that meant...I was sure our tattoos mean something as well. Obviously it represented our weapons, but I was sure there's more to it than that. "Hey! Be nice to the little lady!" Mikey shouted back at Raphael, who raised an eyebrow at him. I'll admit, I've never seen Mikey talk to Raph like that, no matter if he deserved it or not. He turned back to the cotton-ball pony, a dumb smile plastered on his face. "My name is Pinkie Pie! Party pony extraordinaire! Nice mask!" She spoke kindly, toning down her voice a little bit to better suit Raphael. So is that what her tattoo means? Did our tattoos depict our jobs? Is that it? Mikey quickly introduced us all, telling Pinkie Pie our full names and nicknames. I'd really hate it if I was being called nothing but "Leonardo" all day. Pinkie Pie simply smiled, appeased by our friendliness. I had a weird feeling about her...she seemed to be...hopping with excitement? She seemed unable to physically control herself, like her mind and her body were moving at two different mind altering settings. "Nice to meet you! It's so great to have new friends! I'm friends with everypony in Ponyville!" She beamed oddly. Everypony? Is that like a slang term for "everybody"? I'm sure we could get some information out of this pony if she turned serious for a moment. "This means I'm going to have to throw you all a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party!" Raphael and Mikey's ears both perked up excitedly. Strange. "Party, eh?" Raph said, having a change of heart now. He trotted up to Pinkie Pie with a sly smile on his face. "Well, if you say so, I'm always down for a party!" Mikey raised his hoof, as if you ask a question to Pinkie Pie. "Will there be pepperoni pizza?" "What's 'pepperoni'?" Pinkie Pie's head tilted to the side in confusion. Oh, I forgot. Horses are vegetarians. Even if they did have cows or pigs here, I doubt they ate them or used them to make food or ingrediants. I doubt they even knew that they were edible. Mikey replied by getting down on his hind knees and crying out loudly to the heavens. "WHYYYYYY!?" He sobbed loudly. This must be a nightmare for him... "Pinkie..." I started, she instantly turned her attention to me, smiling warmly. "We're not from here...and we're kind of lost..." I wasn't sure how to explain this. Part of me wanted to find somepony else to answer our questions. I changed my tactic in mid-sentence. "Is there anyone that could give us some information of where-" Pinkie Pie inhaled, an idea popping in her head. "Oh! Yes! My bestest friend Twilight is a wiz when it comes to information!" She spoke, I felt a tinge of happiness at hearing her say that. "She works in the library! She's super smart!" Perfect! Now we just needed to find her! Before I even had the chance, Pinkie gasped loudly. "Oh no! I forgot! I was baking cupcakes! BYEGUYSSEEYOULATER!" I didn't have another chance to say anything else before she sped away at a speed that even The Flash would find impressive. I say Donnie sigh rather loudly. "WAIT!" I called after her. "WHERE'S THE LIBRARY?" It was too late, the pony was gone. Great. At least we have a few leads. Mikey seemed oblivious, staring at the pony with a dreamy expression on his visor. He let out a saddened sigh as she left. I'd rather not know what was going through his mind right now. "Isn't she adorable?!" Mikey cooed, completely forgetting the situation at hand...er, hoof. Does Mikey...nah, I'm not even going to question it. It was none of my business anyways. He continued to pull on his orange mask softly. Sometimes, I wondered about that kid, not just for his health, but mentally. "Who's up for a trip to the Library? Hm?" Donnie grinned, for the first time since we've been here. "I'm sure this will all blow over soon." His smile then soon changed to one that almost concerned me, it was almost scared, as if doubt was clouding his mind. "Right?" > What Goes Around... > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, this sure took a turn for the worse. There was good news, and bad news. Good news? We had a lead on where to go, and possibly a way out of here if we could get this "Twilight" pony to cooperate. Bad news? We had NO IDEA where this library was. Also, I just thought of something, how were we going to explain our predicament to her? I'm envisioning this like the roles are opposite. It would be pretty weird if someone came up to you and says "I know I look like one of you, but in fact I am not. I'm basically an alien." Sounds like something from a really cheesy movie. I was trying to figure out how to properly phrase my words in the back of my head. As we walked by, we were getting many weird looks. Many ponies couldn't take their eyes off our weapons that we were carrying. I'll admit, what gives us away back in New York is the fact that were green. That's what sparks most of the suspicion upon us, that and the fact we carried around shells wherever we went. It felt weird not wearing one for once. I've had that thing ever since I was born, you know. Anyways, we fit in pretty well here in Ponyville. The name was pretty redundant, now that I thought about it. I wondered if there's a town full of nothing but pigs somewhere around here named "Swineton" or something. Mikey would enjoy that for more than one reason. We spent a long time walking and meagerly chatting amongst ourselves. Actually, most of us, anyways. Raphael was still pretty upset with me and refuses to even give me a second glance. I hope we'd find the library soon. If we didn't want to cast suspicion, we need to ditch our weapons somewhere. Speaking of the ponies we passed, I tried to inspect some of them. The whole "butt tattoo" thing was really confusing to me. I saw a lively orange pony at a carrot stand. Guess what her tattoo was? Yep, carrots. Maybe my previous assumption that these tattoo's depict someponies job was wrong. Is it just hobbies instead? A mixture of the two? I can see that when it comes to us. I'd consider training and our weapons to be hobbies. Although I'd call it more as a way of life instead. That was another question I should've asked Pinkie Pie. But with the amount of time, it wasn't at the top of the list of things I wanted answered. I felt really bad for Donnie in all this. The guy looked absolutely depressed. His beloved machine has failed him, and potentially put his brothers in danger. For a moment, I thought he was starting to get better, but I guess I had thought wrong. Donnie's inventions hardly ever fail, and they actually got us out of a lot of jams back home. The guy is a genius, but in his mind, he's probably thinking otherwise. This town was indeed small, but it took us another hour to find the library. Apparently, we had passed it MULTIPLE times. Turns out the library was hidden in some huge oak tree, hence the name "Golden Oak Library". Pretty bad sign placement if you walk passed it ten times and STILL can't find it. The oak tree was massive, and it stuck out like a sore thumb...hoof...whatever. For some reason, I couldn't help but notice the fact that there was a porch specifically for sky gazing right near the top. I could tell by the large telescope. This is a weird place... Raph, being tired of walking, and this place already, literally barged inside. Well, he tried. The door appeared to be locked. He swiftly bounced off and landed on his back, his hooves in the air. "Dammit!" He grunted. Mikey bursted into laughter as Donnie helped him up. "Who locks a public library!?" Good question. Suddenly, the bolts on door started to shake and rattle noisily. Someone was unbolting the door. Not a moment later, the door inched open, showing a smiling purple unicorn. She furrowed her brow at the sight of us, but soon remembered her manners and continued to smile politely. "Oh! Hello boys! What can I do for you?" "Are you Ms. Twilight?" I asked, raising an eyebrow of my own. Mikey leaned over in my ear. "Hm, she isn't sparkly like I thought she would be..." Mikey stated quietly. I hoped the lady didn't hear him. "Yep! Twilight Sparkle is my name." She said smartly. "I stand corrected." Mikey uttered again. Ok, now he's talking too much. I swiftly elbowed him in his side, making him jump and let out a small "URK". Twilight didn't seem to take notice. She sure was a sight. Her body was a lovely lavender hue, and her mane was even darker with rosy highlights. Quite a weird color setup if you ask me. But hey, I've been in this place long enough to admit that she is not the craziest looking pony I've seen today. She actually looked like something you would see in a children's cartoon. "Just who the heck locks a public library!?" Raph shot at her, making her raise a hoof as if she was about to depart back inside. Donnie did me a favor and shushed him. Sometimes, I feel like Donnie is easier to get along with than Raph, and that says something since he's the second youngest. "Well, if you would like a book, I usually like to know beforehoof. Did you boys want to check something out?" She questioned me, another smile piercing her face. Mikey looked like he was about to say something, but he didn't. Thank God. A few of my brothers were confused by the term 'beforehoof', but after a minute of thinking they quickly understood. "Well, we heard you're the smartest pony around here. So we wanted to come talk to you, if that's alright." I asked kindly, giving her a smile. Twilight blushed and looked at the ground, hesitating for just a moment. "Who told you that?" She asked. "Some crazy lady named Kinky." Raph spoke up. I rolled my eyes. "Oh..." Twilight muttered, a little confused. "Well, anyways, sure! Come on in!" And with that, her horn glowed a bright purple, enveloping the door with the same...glow as it slowly began to open. She trotted inside, humming a little tune to herself as she walked over to her shelves. Mikey and Raphael were more than eager to go inside. But Donnie and I looked at each other in amazement. Did that unicorn use magic? Does that mean we can too? That's a question I'd rather know now than later. I know I needed to be cool, but I could use magic, that'd be freakin' sweet! We quickly introduced ourselves as we inspected the library. I'll admit, there were a lot of books, but I expected more. There was a staircase possibly leading to another study room or something upstairs. To my right, there was a kitchen. But...this is a library! I don't even... Twilight brought out a few cups of tea. There were a few chairs scattered around the library. Enough for each of us, I guess. All four of us looked at the cups, and then back to our hooves, and then back and forth again. Twilight furrowed her brow once again as she took a seat. "Is everything alright?" She asked, to which I replied for everyone. "Yeah..." I couldn't help but stare at my own hooves. How the heck do we pick things up with these? Other ponies didn't seem to have much trouble. I didn't realize that I had accidenly lied to Twilight until about a half second later. Twilight effortlessly picked up the cup and took a large sip as we all took notes. Mikey was brave. Not knowing how to do it, he still have to give it a shot. He put one hoof on the handle, while the other was on the other side of the cup. Balancing the cup between his hooves, he slowly lifted it up. It was actually working for a second. That was until he tried to tip it so that he could actually drink it. Twilight looked at him, bewildered as the cup slipped from his nonexistent grip and landed on his chair, the floor, and most importantly, his crotch. "HOTHOTHOT!!" He shouted, standing up and beginning to try to manually wipe the hot tea off of his lower area. Twilight was speechless at what she had just seen. And I felt myself turn a little red, embarrassed for Mikey's sake. Mikey proceeded to run around the library, and down the hall to the restroom to clean himself up, screaming the whole time. "How much sugar did ya put in there? We all know Mikey's already has a hyperactive personali-tea." Donnie grinned. Groans. Groans all around. "Oh come on!" *** Soon after, when Mikey's mess was fully cleaned up, and his crotched had stopped sizzling, we all took a seat and tried this again. Twilight must think we're all absolutely crazy. I don't really blame her for that. If anything, we are. We're freaking ponies. In a pony world. Please tell me I had just lost my mind. "Forget how to drink?" Twilight smiled as she sat back down. Mikey rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed and turning a bright crimson. "Something like that." "Twilight, we have urgent matters that we need to speak to you about." Her ears perked up just slightly. She was already looking a little interested. Her plum colored eyes stared into my own. "We're...not from around here." "Oh. I take it you met Pinkie then, if that's the case?" Twilight replied. Raph smashed his hooves together in realization. "That was her name! God she was annoying!" Raph seethed. Dammit, can't we stay on topic for more than ten seconds? "Anyways, what I meant was..." Ugh, how do I phrase this without sounding crazy? "We're not from this world." Twilight stared at me intently for a good minute or so, trying to detect any hint of this being some sort of weird joke. I don't think she was very convinced, as she took another sip of her tea. Now I think she's just showing off with those hooves of hers. "Oh really? Look, I know I may be a little gullible. And I've never seen or heard of those...weapons you harbor. But how am I supposed to believe this?" She stared at Donnie now, eying his bo staff. I think she was a little put off by the fact that we actually had weapons, rather than being confused about them. Don't worry, attacking this lady, yeah...that'd be the thing I'd least want to do. "Look, you have to believe us! We're turtles, not poni-!" Mikey beckoned to her, but I quickly placed a hoof over his mouth. There was no way we could tell her that we were turtles. Giant mutated turtles don't exist in New York, and they sure as shell don't exist here. She'd think we were absolutely bonkers and kick us out on the spot. Twilight arched a brow. "We're humans. We come from Earth. We were brought here after Donnie's portal machine malfunctioned." I said as calmly and as seriously as I could. This was not a joke. Donnie looked at the ground, once again reminded of his feeble mistake. I took my hoof off Mikey's mouth. "Portal machine?" Twilight repeated. I could tell that she wasn't buying it. "Yes! Look, I know it may sound crazy, but you have to believe us!" I was starting to get a little desperate. If this pony was the only one who could help us, and she wasn't believing us, then we were unbelievably screwed... Twilight looked at all of us, one by one. I prayed that my brothers were taking this just as seriously as I am. And to my shock, they were. Raph was staring at her something fierce, while Donnie and Mikey had an apologetic look in their eyes. Was she going to help us or not? The suspension was killing me. "...What do you need me to do?" She asked, looking directly at Donnie, who was more than excited to get started. "First off, how accustomed are you 'ponies' to technology?" Donnie asked back. Hm, good question. I was sure it would be a good idea to let Twilight and Donnie make another Tele-Portal. I was just hoping that it wouldn't be that difficult of a job. "Not much. Everything around here is mainly done by hoof." Donnie smacked his head in frustration. "Well, this is going to be damn near impossible. We need to make another portal..." The rest of my brothers, including me, sighed. Great. I had a feeling that this was going to take a little while. "I don't even have my blueprints..." Twilight raised a hoof. "Well, we do have electricity. We harness them from the storm clouds, although we never use them for meaningful purposes. Does that help?" Donnie swiftly nodded, burying his head in his hooves. This is going to be insanely rough for him, I just know it. I just hoped that that we were actually able to leave. I don't want to stay here forever. Mikey ran at Twilight, making her yelp in fear as he dropped down on his knees. With big, and almost wet eyes, he pleaded to her. He had his hooves clasped together as if he was begging like a dog. "Do YOU have pizza?" He choked. Twilight, once again, arched an eyebrow. Oh God, not this again. Sure, I was hungry for some pizza as well, but Mikey just took his addiction to a whole new level. I hoped he wasn't going to do this to every single pony we came across... "What's 'pizza'?" Twilight breathed, looking at me. Not wanting to explain, I simply shrugged. Mikey said nothing as he started to stare straight ahead at the wall, as if he was in a shock trance. His face was devoid of emotion as his brain seemed to go dead on the spot. He didn't scream or sigh. He just kept staring with his mouth hanging limply. "I...I..." Twilight poked his cheek, to which Mikey barely acknowledged. "Is...is he okay?" "Yeah. He'll be fine. Just let 'em have his moment." Raph waved, trying not to laugh at him. He eventually failed as his small scoffs began to escalate into full blown chuckles. Mikey replied by curling into the fetal position on the floor. He began to slowly rock himself as he proceeded to sob his eyes out. I wonder about that kid... *** Twilight Sparkle and Donnie got along together quite well. I could barely understand either of them half the time due to the fact that they both spoke with long and eloquent science words. I was a little confused when I tried to listen in. Raph and Mikey looked immensely bored, so I tried to think of something they could do, which was hard given the circumstances. My youngest brother was still moping due to his pizza-withdrawal. But I'm sure he'll get over it quickly. "Twilight, Donnie? Do you guys need us to get anything?" I asked. I really didn't like just standing around, and I would much rather do something productive at a time like this. Donnie and Twilight couldn't do ALL the work. "Well, we'll need some tools." She said, eying a blueprint that her and Donnie had been constructing. "I'm sure my friend Applejack has some in her barn." Applejack? These ponies had really weird names. Remembering my own, I guess I was in no condition to say anything. "And where is this Applejack? I'd love to pay her a visit..." Raph sighed, rolling his eyes. Everypony ignored him. Wait, everypony? Oh no, it's spreading... "She lives on Sweet Apple Acres. The apple orchard?" Something in my mind clicked. I waspretty sure I passed a trail that read exactly that. I had a good idea where it was, as we passed it many a times while trying to get to the library. "I think I know where that is...come on guys." I motioned to Raph and Mikey, who both reluctantly got out of their seats. "Leave your weapons here." "No way!" Raph shouted, holding onto this sais tightly. "I'm not lettin' these babies out of my sight!" Mikey sighed at Raph, and set both of his nunchaku down on the table nearest Donnie. I did the exact same with my swords, following my own example. "You don't have a choice. We can't walk around town with foreign weapons." I argued with him. He started to growl at little bit at me as a rebuttal. One of these days, he's going to cause me to snap. And I prayed that day doesn't come any time soon. I had a duty and a reputation to uphold. Was...was Raphael trying to sabotage me mentally? That would be smart, but I didn't think he had it in him. No offense, but he's not clever like that. "He's right. You're lucky no one called the authorities on your way here." Twilight spoke up, not even taking a single look at us. Raph looked at Twilight with an grimace, before chucking his sais on the table recklessly, almost hitting Donnie in the head. "Whatever. Let's go find What's-her-face." He grumbled, heading towards the door. Mikey and I bid Twilight and Donnie a farewell as we trotted out the door. Well, Mikey flew. He's actually starting to get the hang of it, which almost scares me a little bit. I was glad he couldn't fly back in New York. How horrifying would that be? A giant mutated turtle FLYING at you, whipping around nunchaku and shouting a war cry. Reminds me of one of the video games I saw Mikey play a long time ago. I'd still be scared shell-less. "So..." Mikey started. Now was a good time to talk to him. "Mikey, you need to stop obsessing over pizza. That is not the mission at hand." I deadpanned. I noticed Raph give him a tiny nod as well. Mikey slouched a little bit in midair, reminiscing on the days back in the sewer. He was going to be one sad pon- I mean...turtle when we got back. His flatscreen destroyed, I thought I saw his video game system go flying, so THAT'S probably broken. I was sure there's a few cracks or something in his half-pipe. "As a wise man once said," Mikey closed his eyes and held up a hoof, trying his best to act as scholarly as he possibly could. "Ideas are just like pizza, they are made to be tossed around!" "What does-" "So, say that that quote is correct. The lack of pizza, equals a lack of ideas. The lack of ideas means the longer we stay here. The longer we stay here, the longer we have to go without pizza." Mikey rested a hoof on my shoulder nonchalantly. I didn't approve, so I stepped away from him, almost causing him to lose his balance and tumble from his spot in the air. "It's a vicious life cycle dude!" Can't argue with that logic. Actually, no. I don't think it's that. I beleive what just came out of his mouth was so mind-numbing that I didn't even want to bother. Raph looked ready to punch Mikey out of the sky, but somehow, he controlled himself. Maybe Raph is actually trying after all. Although he still refused to talk to me directly. "Raph, do you still have a problem with me?" I couldn't help but ask. I knew sooner or later I was really going to need his help, and I need to get on his good side, should anything happen. He grumbled to himself lowly, to the point where I couldn't even hear what he was saying. I sighed, well I couldn't say I didn't try. A little while longer and all three of us were wandering up the winding trail to the farm. The farther we moved, the more and more apple trees we passed by. The more apples I saw, the more my stomach growled. That reminded me, we haven't had a thing to eat since arriving there, or to drink for that matter. None of us could drink Twilight's tea anyways. The most I could have done with these hooves was nudge things. It felt more like they're just useless nubs more than actual appendages, sometimes. I've been attempting to use magic a little bit on the way there. Twilight made it look childishly easy. I focused, even closing my eyes slightly just to help. But nothing happened. That's odd. It should be easy! Master Splinter told me everything about focus and concentration, and how they help you unlock the deeper things inside of you. I've proved myself in other situations this way, so why wasn't it working? I'll talk to Twilight later, when she's not hard at work with Donnie. After about ten more minutes of walking, we finally reached the farmhouse. It was extremely noisy, as many of the farm animals were having a fit inside of it. The smell wasn't very pleasant either, it reminded me of manure. But all it took was another step towards the trees for my nose to be gifted with fruity goodness. My mind was a little bit conflicted. As we approached the farm, Mikey covered his nose immaturely. "Gah! It smells terrible!" He exclaimed. Raphael didn't seem to be phased by the scent. "Smells like your room..." He muttered, loud enough for Mikey to hear. He gave Raph a genuine smile. "Smells like your mom, dude!" Mikey pointed at Raph with the hoof that wasn't covering his nose, laughing like crazy. Raph rolled his eyes and sighed at him. I knew for certain that it was going to be an insanely long day. Near moments after Mikey's lame comeback, the whole farm went dead silent. The wind seemed to stop blowing, the animals didn't make a sound...uh oh. Whenever time seems to slow, you knew nothing good was ever going to happen. Wait...but who would attack us? We're freaking ponies! "Howdy!" A feminine voice drawled from behind us. Mikey jumped, doing a double take and tumbling down to the hard dirt below. Raph and I didn't move an inch at the sudden noise. Behind us was an orange mare. Or at least, I thought so. That's what they called female ponies, right? Mares? Hm, oh well. She had a blonde mane, hung together like a ponytail. Her tail was the exact same way, and it almost touched the ground. She had large dimples, and a few freckles on each side of her face. For some reason, she was wearing a large Stetson hat. Her butt tattoo? Three bright red apples. Well, I knew she worked at an apple orchard. So I was right? It does depict your job. Ugh, trying to figure these tattoos out was going to hurt my head sooner or later. "Uh, hey there." I stated as Mikey finally picked himself off the ground. I expected him to try to fly back into the air, and was prepared to yell at him, but he stayed grounded. "Ah've never see y'all 'round 'ere before. My name is Applejack, what can I do ya fer?" I was about to cut to the chase, but Raph couldn't contain his laughter. He held onto his chest for dear life as he exploded into a fit of giggles and chuckles. I glared at him angrily, but he didn't seem to care. Applejack was just as displeased as I was. Raph rested a hoof on Applejack's shoulder. "So we got'a country girl on our hands?" "Hoof." Mikey corrected. Good boy. "Whateva." He laughed as Applejack took a step away from him, letting out a grunt. "I like ya tattoo." Applejack narrowed her eyes when she realized he was talking about the tattoo on her butt. She knew that he was being sarcastic. You know what? This mare looks tough. I was going to let HER handle this. You know, for science. "Tattoo? Ya mean mah cutie mark?" She glanced over at her own tattoo. Wait, cutie mark? Was that was they're called? She took a deep breathe, and I hoped that Raph had enough sense not to make fun of her mark anymore than he already has. I thought wrong. Again. "Wanna hear a funny joke? Why did Applejack cross the road?" Applejack glared at him. "To get to the other cider!" Raphael erupted into laughter, bringing a hoof to his chest as he bellowed. The farmer gritted her teeth, but she remained passive. "Oh! She's getting mad! She must hate me to the core!" No one laughed except for Raph, who was pretty much dying at this point. Mikey knew better. Applejack, however, had had enough. With a cranky sigh, she reared up to where Raphael was facing away from her. She slowly kicked her hind legs off the ground, and with a force of which I've NEVER seen before, she kicked him. Far. When I say "far". I meant it. He went flying. "I'm the only one here with wings and he still flies better than I do..." I heard Mikey grumble, watching as his brother went soaring through the sky. With a mighty "THUD", Raph slammed into the ground, clutching his chest the whole time. His torso now had two hoof-sized marks on it, and it had already began to redden. "Nopony makes fun'a me like that and gits away with it!" She hollered with country pride. Wow, that was impressive. I guess working on a farm does come with it's advantages. Raph's a pretty big gu- er, pony, yet she still managed to send him gliding like that...and she did it so effortlessly! I held back the urge to grin at the amount of justice that has taken place there. Raph spat and got his bearings before standing back up, rearing his head down low. Oh boy. "Hah! You really think that would hurt? You may be a girl, but I won't hesitate to kick your butt!" He threatened. Well, time to step in again. Mikey thought the exact same thing. We grabbed him and held him back before he could charge at the apple farmer. "Stop it! This isn't what we're here for!" "Does it look like I care? I'll beat the living shell out of her!" Applejack tilted her head at his remark. Right. Shells. They didn't, nor have ever had one. Applejack delightedly kicked her hoof through the dirt. "Bring it, city boy!" "ENOUGH!" I shouted, louder than actually intended. Everyone stopped what they were doing almost immediately. Raph grunted and shook us out of his grasp, giving me the death stare. He angrily trotted down the hill towards town. I was sure he's going back to the library. Good. It'll give him a good chance to cool down. "Is he always like that?" She asked, turning back to Mikey. He nodded happily. "Yep. I remember just a few nights ago I ate his last slice of piz-" No. No more pizza talk. I rudely interrupted him. "Applejack, we're Twilight's friends. We...don't belong here, and we're trying to get home. Would you mind if we borrowed some of your tools?" I said, bluntly. With the way I phrased it, she had no reason to think we were crazy like Twilight first did. She closed her eyes and shrugged. I've never noticed, but she has gorgeous, emerald colored eyes. "Sure, lemme just git those fer ya." > Overthown > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A short while later, Applejack generously handed us her bright red toolbox from her barn. Mikey was forced to carry it, due to the fact that I had no way to. It's impossible to walk and hold things, and there's no way I was holding it in my mouth. Sure, I saw ponies carrying things in their mouths all the time, and it's a wonder why most of these ponies don't have most of their teeth broken or missing. Mikey held the toolbox by flying into the air, and slipped his hoof into the handle, which was curled around his elbow. Mikey was surprisingly silent most of the walk, but he eventually spoke up. "So...you think Raph's alright?" He muttered. I gave him a swift nod, as I was lost in thought at the time. I was sure Raph was at the library. He was known for running off to cool down, but I knew he didn't go far. And he knew not to start trouble in a place like this. We had no idea what the laws are around here! What if he did something that is legal in New York, but not there! It would be impossible to bail him out of jail! And then what are were we going to say? 'Oh we're from another world, he didn't know any better'. I felt my stomach growl. That reminded me. We haven't had anything to eat since we've been here. Or drink, for that matter. Twilight's tea turned into a catastrophe. To me, it seemed like I needed to get a hold of picking things up, before I do anything else. How much help was I going to be to Twilight Sparkle and Donnie if I couldn't even hold things correctly. Jeez, it's like I almost had to learn to do everything all over again. That reminded me, I was going to have to learn how to use my swords all over again! Well, kind of. I'd either have to learn magic from Twilight, OR I'd have to use my mouth, which seems like a terrible idea, unless I could somehow learn how to use my hooves. Although using magic will most likely be more beneficial...and awesome. Mikey and I eventually reached the Library, and to my surprise, Raph was there. He was staring over the unicorns' shoulders, eying the blueprints with a dazed and confused expression on his face. Twilight and Donnie didn't seem to be making any process. The blueprints looked almost exactly the same when I had left about an hour ago. I sighed, but I decided to ask anyways. "We got the tools. Any progress?" I asked hopefully. Donnie shook his head. "Nope! Nothing! This is going to be impossible! Not with the resources that are in this world! There's no technology, their science is COMPLETELY different from ours, and I still don't know how to move things!" Donnie threw his hooves in the air desperately. Yeah, I knew that feeling. "I keep trying to explain to him that it's easy. But you two are unicorns! It'd just be easier to teach you both a simple spell to move things." She stressed. Well, I guess she had a point. If I could move stuff with magic, then maybe using my hooves could always come later. At least, you know, I'd be able to properly feed myself. "Do you think you can teach it to us sometime soon?" I replied, to which she simply nodded. Donnie started to draw on the blueprints, using his mouth, while Twilight happened to be looking at me. "Sure. Just not right now, Donnie and I might be onto something" Twilight responded kindly, as she turned back to Donnie. Raph let out a sharp, irritated, huff of air at the way she had phrased that. Part of me wanted to leave him alone and let him be. I knew that he had indeed cooled off since his little beat down earlier, but another part of me wanted to find something else for him to do. But even if I did, I was sure he wouldn't be too thrilled, or just get in another fight. He quickly wandered into the kitchen, rubbing his stomach. Randomly, I felt something strange. I was hit with a familiar feeling, one that I felt when I was around my brothers. But this time, it was different...This didn't feel right. It was...cold-blooded. To me, it seemed like it was a...fellow reptile? "Twilight...?" I heard a voice behind everyone say. My brothers and I swiftly turned their heads at the new sound. At first, I didn't see it, but that was until I had decided to look down to see a stubby little...dragon?! He was incredibly short, to the point where it was almost adorable. He had a beige underbelly, and stood there with his arms at his sides. I had to keep myself from breaking out into an audible ''aww'. "Uhm...who are these guys?" He asked. Mikey trotted over him, his eyes wide with fascination, and began to rub his hoof up and down the dragon's purple colored scales. SLOWLY. His eyes were almost glowing. "Coooool...." Mikey drawled. The reptile stepped away from Mikey's inappropriate touching and waddled over to the purple unicorn that was hard at work with Donnie. "Some new friends. I'm helping them make a portal back to their own world." She replied, bluntly. Wow. Way to be subtle. The dragon's jaw dropped, and mine almost did the same. You can't just say it like that! "Wait...what!?" He almost yelled. He looked back at the three of us. That reminded me, what's taking Raph so long in the kitchen? "Boys, meet Spike, my assistant." She introduced. We all gave him an polite nod. "And yes Spike. They were brought here due to a portal malfunction. So now I'm going to help bring them back." She paraphrased. Spike was speechless. He gulped as he noticed my "cutie mark". "W-Why is your cutie mark...swords?" He bit his claws nervously. I smiled, realizing a perfect opportunity to hassle Spike. Because, I mean, come on. Who can honestly say that they intimidated a dragon? "Because I'm an expert in the art...and I like to cut things." I grinned. Spike's eyes widened as he took another step away from me. Just to mess with him even further, I took another step closer to my swords, which were still sitting on the table along with my brothers weapons. He let out a nervous squeak as he stumbled out of the library. Mikey was almost in tears, and I even noticed Twilight had let out a small chuckle. Classic. At that moment, Raph was walking out of the kitchen with a small sandwich. I had thought I saw lettuce and other veggies on it. Lucky...Wait. He was...holding it? Spike almost ran into my brother as he made his way out of the room. Raph shook his sandwich angrily at him. "Watch it shorty!" He grumbled. "Raph, how did you learn to use those!?" I asked. At first, he raised an eyebrow, wondering what the heck I meant by 'those', until it clicked in his mind. He smirked at me mischievously. "Oh, these?" He held up his sandwich again, showing off his almighty hooves. "I see you're still having trouble? Heh." He took a large bite out of the sandwich, smacking his lips obnoxiously. Mikey looked over at him longingly. Actually, I think he was staring at the sandwich. "Practice. Guess it just goes to show, huh?" He concluded. I was really hoping that he wouldn't be the first pony to get the hang of holding things. Now he thought he's better than me, again. And now he has some sort of proof. Or what he believed to be proof. Well, whatever. When I learned how to use magic, he's just going to be upset again anyways. He quickly walked over and took a seat on his usual chair, while Twilight warned him about getting anything on the carpet, or any of her books. I didn't think she'll have to worry about the latter, considering Raph barely reads anyways. "That reminds me, Twilight. What are cutie marks?" I finally got the chance to ask. Twilight's ears perked up, almost glad that I had said something about it. "Oh! Right! I was meaning to tell you. Cutie marks are what all ponies get when they're young. You get them when you discover your hidden talent. It can also represent a pony's personality, their hobbies, you know." She said. Oh. That was much simpler than I would have hoped. Well, my cutie mark definitely made sense then... Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Mikey, who was closest to said door, went over to answer it. He clasped both of his hooves on the doorknob, and turned them, while maneuvering his body similarly. Before the door was a fully open, it shot out. I winced as my brother was crushed between the door and the wall...I was sure he'll be fine... Trotting through a door came a very...bright pony. At first, I was blinded, as her coat shined due to the sunlight hitting it at such an angle. "Twilight?" She spoke, just as I regained my sight. Before taking a look at her, I noticed that she had some sort of Transatlantic accent. Wait...so, there's an Atlantic Ocean here? I knew for sure I've heard her accent before! What the- When I had finally regained my sight, my eyes laid upon a...quite beautiful pony. Her coat was a bright alabaster that shone dazzlingly, and her eyes were a bright azure. Almost like the ocean was resting right in the middle of her eyes. Her mane was a dark violet, and it was curled around her head and her horn. She sure looked good. Mikey was staring at her, dumbstruck. "Hi Rarity." Twilight cheered, smiling at her friend. Rarity huh? Twilight had some really...odd acquaintances. Rarity went up and gave Twilight a gentle hug, before gazing at us with a weird sneer on her face. "Twilight...who are your friend-" Before she could properly finish her sentence, Mikey was already in front of her, causing her to jump and let out a small yelp. He gave Rarity a sultry glance. "Madam, I am Michelangelo, a fellow prodigy along with my...brothers...in the art of combat." He picked up her milky hoof and gave her a quick peck. I, along with the rest of my brothers, all dropped their jaws as if on cue. What happened to Mikey's...way of speaking? He was speaking as if he was a butler to her. "Rarity, what a name! But, if I could choose your name, Clarity would make much more sense." Rarity blushed, but then raised an eyebrow. "The reason you're so beautiful is oh so very clear." Rarity was flushed, and I had to keep from intervening. Please tell me he was not serious. I decided to let him have his moment. Maybe this might turn out well... "Well...I...It's nice to meet you too, Michelangelo. And dare I say you're name is rather...unique as well." She smiled back at him. Raph, once again, started to laugh at Rarity's way of tongue. But after remembering what happened with Applejack, he promptly shut his mouth. "I must say, you are certainly a sight. Heh heh." He set her hoof down. "Surely one as gorgeous as you has to have a special someone?" Oh man, it was getting harder and harder to contain my laughter. I had no idea how Mikey managed to keep a straight face throughout this. Rarity was now a bright crimson, and I saw Donnie and Twilight both roll their eyes, unamused. "I...I'll have to be honest and say that I haven't though much about having a special somepony..." She brought a hoof to her mouth and giggled, almost as if she was flirting back with him. She batted her eyelashes at him. And just like that, Mikey reverted back to his old ways. "Has anyone ever told you that you look like a marshmallow?" The sound of a loud "SMACK" was heard all throughout the library as Rarity huffed loudly and slapped him across the face. "How rude!" She hollered, as Mikey fell to the ground, groaning. Smooth. Well at least now I knew that two of my brothers were stupid enough to get taken out my two different female ponies. Rarity continued to slap him at least two more times until she felt that Mikey had received her point. Mikey wallowed in pain on the ground. While that happened, my brothers and I all introduced ourselves to the new unicorn. Apparently, she was a fashion designer here in Ponyville. Neat. Well, that might explain her cutie mark, which was three blue diamonds. She was actually a very kind pony, after speaking with her for a little bit. Raph was smart, and kept his distance from her, knowing that he wouldn't be able to even say a word to her with her 'funny accent'. Twilight explained that we weren't from this world, and everything and that she was helping us try to get back. Rarity let out a surprised, and extremely dramatic gasp. Raphael growled to himself at the sight of her. Well, once again, we came across another pony that Raphael as a problem with. What else was new? "Oh, that's simply horrible!" She gasped. "If you ever need me to help, just say the word!" Everypony, save for Raph, again, gave her a confirming nod. I wondered just how many friends Twilight had? It wasn't fun having to make acquaintance with Twilight's friends. Especially since we were going to be leaving soon anyways. I hoped. *** It was starting to get dark, so Raph finally thought up of something to do. He decided to train. Seeing as now he could hold his sais now, he needed to adjust his fighting style to that suitable for ponies. I didn't know what or whom we'd fight there, but it's better to be safe than sorry, I guess. Barely saying goodbye, he walked out into the darkness, grumpily. Well, good riddance. "No offense, but Raphael is kind of...uhm...how should I put this...?" Rarity tried to search for the correct word, putting her hoof on her chin and looking at the ceiling quizzically. "Impatient?" Said Mikey, holding up a hoof. "Hot Headed?" I chimed. "Rude?" replied Donnie. "Uhm...right..." Rarity stated, as she gave everyone an apologetic smile. "No worries. He's always like that." Donnie muttered. Even still, him and Twilight were barely making any progress. They weren't even close to getting the blueprints finished. My hopes were slowly starting to deplete. Donnie was actually doing pretty well trying to hold himself together during all of...whatever this was. "If you boys would like, you can spend the night here." Twilight offered. Spike, who was just now standing near her, and as far away from me as physically possible, opened his mouth to give a rebuttal. But Twilight gave him that look that just screamed, "shush, you have no say in this", causing him to instantly close his mouth again. He gave my brothers and I a nervous glance. Rarity was kind enough to make everyone dinner, which was mainly a small bowl of salad. Finally! I was starving! Mikey and I eagerly dove in, thanking the ivory unicorn for the delicious meal. For the first time in hours, Donnie stood up. Stretching all of his limbs comfortably, before coming to join us for the meal. "Don't worry about it, darling!" She replied. I had to admit, the salad was EXTREMELY good. I mean, probably the best salad I've ever had. Even though it had absolutely no sauce of anything on it. But eh, food was food. I was not going to be judgmental at a time like this. Twilight proceeded to get our living arrangements ready. All of us had to sleep in the library with the books. I actually thought that that was a good idea, so Raph would know what was going on when he decided to come back. Also, it was fairly close to the kitchen, and I tended to get up once or twice in the night. Spike wasn't very happy, considering that that was where his bed was. I promised him that I wouldn't do anything to him through the night, although I was sure that goes without saying. Twilight went on to tell me that we will be waking up at around 7:30 the next morning, to which Mikey groaned dramatically. She explained to him that that is when most ponies wake up anyways due to the fact that most ponies work then, and reminded him that this world is not his world, and things were not always the same. So, since we had to get up early, we went to bed fairly early as well. Somehow, the purple unicorn had had blankets that each matched our masks, to which she handed them out accordingly. It was at this point that Rarity took her leave, waving a hoof goodbye. She told us that she would love to stop by again tomorrow to chat. Well, that sounds lovely. Although Mikey wasn't too thrilled. "Night boys." Twilight called as she wandered up the stairs to her room. "G'night." Everyone in the room called. Everyone, save for Spike, had to sleep on either a recliner, a cot, or the floor. Lucky enough for me and Donnie, we took the floor. I convinced my brothers to be generous and give Raph the recliner. He's been through a lot today. You know, being kicked and all. Actually, scratch that. We've ALL been through a lot today. Eh, either way. I was sure we'll be back home soon. This was so strange. For once, I was going to sleep in absolute silence. No cars, no subway trains...nothing. It was like a whole new feeling. It made me realize that...wow...this place is very different from home. I'm not quite sure I liked that. *** I awoke with a start later that night in a warm sweat. Wow, it was hot in there. The air under my blankets almost felt like they were just heated up by a furnace. I quickly tossed off my blankets, letting the warm air hit my overheated body. It felt heavenly, that was for sure. I almost felt like going back to sleep without the cover. But, I didn't think I could. I sat up, looking at my surroundings. I furrowed my brow at the fact that there were only two other individuals in the room. Spike was sleeping soundly in his tiny bed, and Donnie was snoring next to me on the floor. Hm, that was odd. The recliner and the cot were both empty. Where was Raph and Mikey? I glanced at the clock, which read approximately 3:30 AM. With a grunt, I decided to investigate. I slowly got to my feet...hooves...whatever. "It's too early for this..." I mumbled to myself, now extremely cold. I think somepony must have left a window open during the night. I had no idea how Donnie manages to stay comfy. This was ridiculous. A sudden clang caused me to jar my head towards the kitchen. The light was on, illuminating a little bit of the library. I took a good guess at who that could possibly be. Dammit Raph, stop eating all of Twilight's food. I cantered over to the kitchen, rubbing my eyes as I stood in the doorway. The kitchen was extremely bright, and my eyes weren't very happy about it. "What's going on?" I asked as I finished rubbing my eyes. Behind the counter, Mikey and that one mare from earlier, Pinkie Pie, froze in their tracks like they were both deer caught in headlights. They were wearing large, white chef hats, and Pinkie had some sort of italian mustache on her lip. They were both covered in flour, but not only that. It was all over the walls, the countertop, even the floor. Mikey had a soft, flat piece of dough in his hooves, while Pinkie Pie was holding a jar full of a red sauce, along with a whole bar of cheese. "Uh...want some?" Mikey said, rather awkwardly. Pinkie Pie simply smiled at my appearance, once again oblivious. How can she be this cheery so early in the morning? Does she even sleep? "Good morning, silly! We're making this thing called pizza! Mikey said it's really good! Just take cheese, marinara, dough, veggies and some other things and boom! Instant pizza! Hehe! Mikey didn't know how to even hold the ingredients so I taught him everything I know! Isn't it great Leo? Do ya wanna help us? Do ya? Do ya?" She spasmed as she continued to speak a mile a minute. Great, now even Mikey can hold things before I can. He simply shrugged sat Pinkie's hyperactivity. "Yeah. I got a little impatient when it came to waiting until we got back for pizza. Heheh." He admitted. "I guess that's what you call a slice of life?" He laughed obnoxiously, the pink party pony giggled along with him. I didn't even think that that is what "slice of life" means anyways! Mikey needs to get a little more literate. "Oh Mikey, even I found that a little cheesy!" Pinkie cheered. I sighed loudly, not even wanting to question their thinking, or adoration for horrible puns. As I began to walk away, Mikey and Pinkie began to sing a small tune and they tossed the dough into the air. Was Raphael still...training? That's weird. Something's up, that's for sure. His sais were still missing when I went to stick my swords on my back, once again having to use my mouth. Hey, you never know what kind of ponies lurk around late at night. Back in New York, being caught outside in the middle of the night was almost a death sentence. It couldn't hurt to at least arm myself, even if I didn't really know how to use them in my new form. No one's going to mess with a strange pony carrying swords, right? Reluctantly, I trotted out the door into the frosty morning air. It was unbearably dark, and part of me wanted to go back inside and grab a flashlight. Ugh. Twilight has to teach me basic magic soon. And by that, I meant as soon as possible. Because this has got me a little discouraged. The crickets chirped loudly as my nose was filled with the scent of dew. There were few clouds in the sky, which would cautiously drift by, covering the moon and making the night even darker than it already was. The wind's chill inched its way up my spine, making me shiver furiously. I was never one for the cold. I tried to think, where would Raph go? He barely knew the area. After giving it a brief thought, I had a pretty good idea. It took me a minute to find it again, by eventually I went to the hill that my brothers and I first looked down from when we first got there. Surely Raph was here. It's peaceful, quiet, and there's no one to bother you there. That's what I'd imagined anyways. The closer I got to the top of the hill, which must I say was a very large hike, I heard a loud grunting, followed by a thick "thud". It happened about once every ten seconds. I'd know that grunting anywhere. Well, I found him. I gazed at him from the top of the hill. His back was faced towards me as he stared down one of the many apple trees scattered around the landscape. Through the darkness, I noticed that many of the surrounded trees where covered in scratches and tiny little holes. With another grunt, Raphael brought himself up to his hind legs, holding his sais in both of his hooves. Well, I didn't know ponies could stand on their hind legs. That could definitely come in handy. Er, hoofy. That kind of sounded stupid. Anyways, he ran at the tree and stabbed it with his stronger, left hoof. While he brought his right hoof around and repeatedly slashed the tree, like it was a long forgotten war enemy. When Raph hit the tree, a few apples fell down from the branches, almost hitting him in the head. "Raph? You alright?" I spoke softly. I knew he was having another one of his fits, for one reason or another, so I decided to be gentle. Raph didn't turn or even acknowledge me. He just backed up and charged again, carving another mess into the poor tree. Many ponies were going to be upset about this..."Raph?" I called again. This time, he actually turned his head. Upon the sight of me, he gave an angry grimace before turning back to the mangled tree. "Go away." He seethed, backing up to go at the tree for a third time in the last minute. I let out a sigh. Well, obviously it was me that did something. He suddenly started to chuckle to himself, almost grimly. "Big brotha coming to check on his younger kin. How cute." He ran at the tree, stabbing and slashing it at an even more harsh velocity. I'd hate to think about what he was imagining that tree to be. "Come on back, Raphael. It's late." I sighed. He just shook his head. "No. I'm training. Now I'ma tell ya one more time, get out of here." He breathed angrily. I almost felt the will to oblige, almost. But I knew if I left it wouldn't be solving anything. He'd just continue to hate me. Now was a better time to talk to him than ever. "Raph, you and I need to talk." I replied sternly. Narrowing my eyes at my brother. Raphael, sure, he was bigger than me, but he wasn't stronger. "Leo," He sang, obviously trying to keep his cool. "You're starting to piss me off." I bit the inside of my cheek. Ugh, I hoped this wouldn't end in a fight. I took a step towards him. Raph took this as a challenge, and raised his sais at me in his usual fighting stance. Say this did end in a fight. Considering how he was the only one of us who's actually done some sort of training in their new form, I wouldn't stand much of a chance. "Come back to the library so we can talk. It's dark, and it's probably not safe out here." I argued. Raph replied by staring at me for a quick moment, before falling back down to his hooves, setting his sais in his holster. He looked at the ground, and let out another sharp scoff. "You know what your deal is?" I raised my eyebrow. "You're starting to break." I felt my eyes widen at what he had just said. Break? What is that supposed to mean? "With everyone trying to get home, trying to keep everything under control, I can tell, Leo! You're losing it!" He suddenly hollered. I've never thought about it. Breaking? I was...not broken! "Raph! Enough of this! Come back!" I shouted, trying to get his words out of my head. "You may be the leader back in our world, and I'll give ya credit, ya give me a run for my money. But here, you ain't top-scout no more! You're a weak, and stupid freaking unicorn!" He pointed his hoof at me. "And this will be where I prove myself. Don't you see?" His face twisted into some sort of smile, a demented one. One that really put me off. "This is a chance to start over! I can finally have my chance!" "Raph!" I threatened once again. He responded by getting on his hind legs, taking out his sais and pointing them at me, all the while gritting his teeth. "What're you going to do about it, bro?" He breathed. I simply stood there, weighing my options. But I knew it was useless. Without saying a word, I turned around. I had no choice. I really didn't. Raph's words were stuck in my head now. As Raph let out a hearty laugh, he charged at the tree again, making another loud "thud". Was I really breaking? Unbeknownst to me, Raph and I were not the only ponies on the hill that night... > Happiness and Rainbows > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I was shaken awake the next morning, with an extremely loud ringing in my ears. Ugh. It was too early for this. Obviously, it was 7:30. Time to wake up. I opened my eyes to see Spike shaking me awake reluctantly. I was not in the mood to talk, or even look at him at the moment. I was not a morning pony. I turned over, closing my eyes once again as I faced away from the baby dragon. "Go away..." I mumbled, almost unintelligibly. Spike let out a soft huff as he kicked my back. "Come on, Leo. We have breakfast ready." He argued, sighing. My gut turned at the word. I almost felt sick to my stomach at the thought of it. I gripped my abdomen and shook my head, not even bothering to open my eyes. "I don't care." I deadpanned. I really didn't. I was tired and I had barely gotten any sleep the past night. Raph's words were killing me, to the point where I thought I might've been losing it. I'm not...broken! That's not me! Calm and collected! That's always been Leonardo! The leader of the siblings, the eldest! Sure, things have been going awry, but that still didn't mean I'm losing control of anything! Once the smell of some sort of food hit my nostrils, I almost gagged. But unfortunately it woke me up as well. I just wanted to sleep a little longer. Not having a choice now, I opened my eyes and sat up, only to see Spike shuffling into the kitchen, as he had finished his task of waking me up. I did a small stretch before actually getting to my hooves. There was a loud commotion going on inside of the kitchen, well, my brothers were definitely up. I actually could have figured that out by the fact that I was the only one left in the room. I sluggishly trotted into the kitchen area, to see everypony gathered around a round table, hunched over a plate off what appeared to be...square shaped pancakes? "Morning sleepyhead!" Twilight chimed, using her magic to cleanly cut her pancakes into pieces, only to stick them in her mouth a second later. "Spike made haycakes!" ...Haycakes? "Leo! This stuff is better than pancakes! It's like someone took a rainbow, and mixed it with happiness. And out popped this thing!" Mikey was so flabbergasted he wasn't speaking right. Actually, that was normal for him. He eagerly began to cut into his haycakes. Raphael was going to town on his plate as well, loudly smacking his lips and pouring a thick helping of syrup on them. He refused to even glance in my direction. Donnie seemed to be having trouble. Loads of it. He still hasn't figured out how to use his hooves, or use magic, much like myself. He resorted to just digging into it and biting off large pieces with his mouth like some sort of carnivore. I wanted to ask Twilight about magic later. We could both use a hand...hoof...dammit. "I'm not very hungry..." I groaned, walking out of the kitchen. A few of the ponies gave me a concerned look before I actually turned around to leave. "Well, he sure is acting syrup-titiously this morning. Am I right?" I heard Mikey crack just before I was out of earshot. Once again, nothing but groans coming from the very same room. I wanted some fresh air, but I was afraid of vomiting if I did so. I'm not sure what it is anymore. The stress? The realizations? Homesickness? I didn't know, and I really didn't want to know either. I simply took a seat on the floor again, where I was just sleeping a moment earlier. I just wanted a few more moments of peace...please... I was rudely interrupted just a second later. How was I not surprised? This time, instead of dragon, a different purple entity was standing over me. Its horn lit up brightly, flipping the covers off me. I shot out of bed, angrily. Remembering to practice what I preach, I chilled out before I got any more irritated. "Leo, get up. We have to talk." Twilight dropped the blanket over on the recliner. She had that look in her eye, the one that burned with a strong intensity. One would call it determination, others would call it torment, others would call it insanity. I let out an annoyed sigh. "What is it?" I grunted as I stood up, stretching and cracking my back. Ah, that felt nice. Twilight stomped over to me, until she just just inches from my face. She seemed a little angry... "I know you are lying to me." She mumbled, barely above a whisper. It was obvious that she had to keep herself from screaming. "Both you and your brothers." I furrowed my brow. What was she talking about? It's too early for things like this, I couldn't think straight. "What the shell are you talking about?" She narrowed her eyes at me as I spoke. "That right there. I did research on the mythical creatures called "humans". They don't have shells. So why do you keep talking about them?" She asked. Ha, she was trying to corner me. How cute. No way I was going to let that happen, though. I smiled. "Oh, it's just a slang term." I replied, confidently. "All humans say things like that" Okay, so lying wasn't going to help the situation, but it's not like she was going to find out. She growled at me when she realized that she had no proper or purposeful rebuttal. "Just know this, Leo," She took a few steps away from me, her lips twisting into a smirk. "Different species are either stupid, or gullible. It's best to learn which applies to whom." She patted the back of my neck, before she trotted back into the kitchen, humming a very familiar tune. Heh. I could get used to her. She's smart, and she definitely knows her stuff. Hopefully she didn't learn the truth on her own. Or at all... *** A little while later, Twilight was generous enough to try and give Donnie and I magic lessons. Finally. I was getting really tired of being useless, and I was pretty sure Donnie felt the same way. We trotted outside into the front yard of the library. I was still pretty tired, but I forced myself to listen to Twilight's rambling. I'd pay more attention, but she's simply going on and on about things that aren't relevant to the topic at hoof. Ha, caught myself that time. The more I inspected Donnie, the more nervous he seemed to get. "You...think this is a better idea than just learning how to use our hooves?" He asked. I nodded, completely sure. "Of course! It'll save time, energy, and let's face it. We have the opportunity to move things with magic. How are you not excited?" I replied. He simply shrugged, turning back to Twilight as she finished her monologue. "You boys ready?" She asked, to which I eagerly nodded. Donnie was just a little more hesitant, but he nodded as well. "While we're at it, do you know any multi-dimensional spells? It'd save us a lot of time and energy." Donnie asked. Hm, not a bad question. Although I already knew the answer. Surely it couldn't be that simple. It never was. "No, that's impossible..." She deadpanned. "Not even I can do that..." Donnie, now having made the situation a little awkward, began to shuffle nervously. "Oh." "So, how does magic work, anyways?" I asked, I wanted to know exactly what I was working with here, and I wanted Donnie to know as well. "Well, it's an inner phenomenon that revolves around your mental state." She explained. Hm, she almost reminds me of Master Splinter in a way. Strange. "Your mental balance and state of mind, along with IQ in some cases, will determine how strong your magic is. I'm going to teach you the exact way that I was taught as a filly." I saw Donnie perk up. He's going to have fun with this. I thought I heard him say that his IQ is somewhere over 500, which is to be expected. Dude can make technological junk like it was nothing. Well, portals, those he had trouble with. I still didn't know how to feel about that. That meant I was going to have to quit stressing, and it's not something that I can do easily. But I didn't really have time to "relax" right about now. If I needed to blend in around here, then I needed to learn magic. "I'm not able to teach you if your mental state isn't...up to par. I hope you both know that." She stated, to which we both nodded. As she was speaking, I was attempting to clear my mind. I really wanted this. I wanted so much just to be able to help in whatever way I could. "First off all, I want you to feel your horn on your head." At first I thought she meant literally, luckily I didn't follow my first thoughts. I would have looked completely stupid. I numbed myself down, until the only thing that I could possibly feel was my mind, and my horn. I phased every other body part out. I managed to keep my eyes open, for the most part. Donnie simply shut his tightly. "Feel the air around you, feel everything." I tried my best to focus. I ended up having to close my eyes along with Donnie to help myself out. I...I could hear everything. I could feel almost every single change in the air as it grazed passed my emerald coat. I heard the birds chirping loudly. I wasn't even that close, but I could hear the chatter of ponies in town! I never knew that unicorns have such good hearing...this is incredible! I felt as if I was an eternal state of bliss, and I never wanted it to end. Twilight spoke up once again, putting the calm moment to a brief halt. "I want you to concentrate everything inside of you on your horn. Muster up everything." She trotted over to me specifically, almost whispering to me. "Determination, courage, strength, willpower. Everything." What did that mean? I tried my best to do what she had asked. If this is the way Twilight was coached when she was younger, then I wanted to meet that pony who actually taught her. I felt my horn begin to tingle a little bit. I realized that I was squinting so hard that I was starting to get a small headache, a light blue hue appeared shone through my eyelids. "Good. It's working. Open your eyes." She demanded. Wow, pushy. I opened my eyes and looked over at Donnie. His horn was glowing a bright shade of lavender. Darker than Twilight's coat, but lighter than his mask. He smiled at me confidently. So, this is what using magic means? I looked up at my horn. Instead of a purple, it shone like sapphire, almost the same color as my own mask. I almost felt like laughing, this was incredible! I was using magic! From out of nowhere, Twilight dumped our weapons in front of us, almost causing me to yell at her. Didn't anypony ever teach her to be careful with other pony's things? "Pick them up." She ordered, smiling the whole time. Really? She isn't even going to give us any tips or anything? Okay, now the resemblance between her and Master Splinter was uncanny. It's so strange. I tried to do this how the actors do in the movies. I stared at the swords in front of me, pointing a hoof at it and half expecting it to work. Hey, the force never fails, right? I wasn't surprised to find that it didn't work, and that the glow coming from my horn simply sputtered a few times. Donnie was having much better luck. The glow was actually surrounding his bo staff, and he was trying desperately to pick it up. It would get about an inch or so in the air before falling back down onto the soft grass. I looked back at my own swords, why couldn't I do it? I did best back in New York, so why was I so...ugh. I felt depressed. I wasn't useless, was I? Twilight put a hoof on my shoulder comfortingly. I knew exactly what she was going to say. "Yeah, yeah, practice makes perfect, I know..." I sighed. I've been told a thousand times before, but the phrase never meant much to me. She simply smiled at me, showing me a little bit of her pearly teeth. "Practice doesn't make perfect, practice reduces the imperfection." "Ha! Got it!" Donnie cheered. Twilight and I both turned our heads in his direction. He was beaming excitedly, with a bo staff to his right, covering in a dark purple hue. "I actually did it!" Donnie lifted his bo staff in the air to try and twirl it, something he took great joy in doing. It made two rotations before he lost focus and ended up smacking himself in the face. I let out a small chuckle. "Good job, Donnie." She looked back at me and my unmoving swords. She turned tail towards the door of the library. "Let's practice a little later." She muttered as she, using her hooves, opened the door and trotted inside. I helped Donnie to his feet, who now had a small gash on his chin. He smiled meekly. So, that just left me. Every other one of my brothers were helpful in some way. Donnie could use magic, Raph had his hooves, and Mikey could fly. Where did that leave me? It left me alone, unable to help. Even if my life depended on it. I gritted my teeth and turned back towards my swords, closing my eyes and letting the glow surround my horn again. I felt a new spark. Something of which I've never felt before. It was as if something had unlocked. I narrowed my eyes, determined. I refused to be useless! *** Later that day, I was still outside. I was still trying to telekinetically pick up my swords. It was almost lunch and my stomach was growling uncontrollably. I was so hungry...but I refused to eat. Not until I figured out how to do this. I didn't want to look...ridiculous, having to eat without using any utensils. I dismissed it without giving it a second thought. I'd be out here all day if I had to. I didn't care. I'd rather starve to death. Dehydrate, pass out, whatever. I saw myself making some progress. The glow would surround the swords, but they refused to move an inch afterwards. I was starting to get extremely frustrated, and I almost felt like quitting. But, no. Not yet. Master Splinter would be ashamed of me right now. Terribly disappointed, and I wouldn't blame him one bit for thinking so. I was running out of time, options, and patience. With an angry yell, I picked up one of my swords in my mouth and hurled it as far away from me as I could. My face turning red from frustration. I felt like collapsing. Now I had an idea of how Raph felt to be angry. What was happening to me? I heard a scuffle behind me. Shocked, I turned around abruptly. I came face to face with my youngest brother, who was standing outside of the library door with a half eaten cookie in his hoof. He was...frowning? Mikey was frowning. That's new. He looked down at the ground, and then back at me, breaking eye contact for a simple second. I felt slightly embarrassed. I didn't have time to tell him anything before he barged passed me. I could hear his hooves clopping softly on the grass below him. He picked up my sword and gingerly flew back to me. I stood there, not being able to say a single word. He placed the sword in my hooves, which I had to keep from rolling off onto the ground once again. He also gave me a silly grin, before taking another bite of his cookie and walking back inside. I was speechless. I felt like breaking down right then and there. But I didn't. I simply tossed my one sword with the other one the ground. Wait. Where did it go? My other sword was gone! I looked left and right, only to see that it had indeed disappeared. Great...I knew this place wasn't all sugar and spice... "Nice job." I heard yet another voice say, piercing my eardrums and almost causing me to jump. I turned around, once again, to see an unfamiliar face. She was glaring at me hard with rosy colored eyes. Her body was that of a light indigo. She had her foreleg bent, as if she was just about to take off. What really put me off was that her mane and tail...it was a rainbow. I'll be frank, I barely got a good look at her. The next series of events went by a little too fast. "What? Who are you?" I squinted at her, tilting my head just slightly. Instead of answering my question, she simply smirked and pointed behind me. Confused, I looked, only to have my face contort into a large smile. In a light blue hue, my sword was above me, levitating. I actually did it. "No way! Haha! Finally!" I celebrated. I was so excited that I had almost forgot the mare behind me. There was a loud "Fwoosh" as I actually turned back to speak with the mare. She had disappeared. I ran over to the spot where she just was, and began to search. But she was nowhere to be found. Strange... Soon, I didn't even have to focus that hard to carry things. I practiced carrying EVERYTHING. I picked up both of my swords at once, swung them around for a bit, as well as some sticks, a rock or two. I'll admit, I had a blast. Levitating things is almost like riding a bike, so I had the hang of it after practicing for a little longer. I couldn't wait to show Twilight. > I Hate Being a Leader > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The day was going by extremely slow, to the point of where I was just praying for it to end. Inside of the library, it was dead silent. No one was in the mood, not even Mikey, to speak. No one had anything to talk about. I would have considered asking more questions about this place, maybe laws that we should keep in mind while traveling about, but Twilight seemed busy at the moment. Twilight had told Donnie to let her do most of the work, to which Donnie was extremely distraught. He claimed that it was his fault that we were all there, and that it was his job to get us back. Twilight wanted to hear none of it, saying that since she actually had an idea of how to make it, that she should just do it herself. I could understand that, Donnie still didn't have that much knowledge of physics and science here, whereas Twilight did. Donnie was unhappy, but he reluctantly sat down with the rest of us. I was still excited about the fact that I could use magic. It only took a few hours to learn, but it was worth it. At least now I could do basic things like eat and drink. I let out a loud sigh; I was bored out of my mind. Twilight wouldn't let me help her. I couldn't believe this place lacked television. What did ponies here do for fun? I believed that there are plenty of things around town to do; some sort of entertaining places. I knew for sure that there was a diner that we had passed. Hmm, it was still pretty early. Maybe it's not too late to try some haycakes? "Anyone up for a trip to town?" I asked, breaking the monotonous silence. Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello all looked at each other, as if they were trying to come to a mutual agreement using their eyes. Mikey suddenly shot out of his seat, literally doing a cartwheel as he did so. "Sure! Anything's better than sittin' here." He cheered. Donnie sat up as well, hesitantly. I looked over at Raphael, who showed no interest whatsoever. "You comin'?" Donnie questioned. Raph simply crossed his hooves and looked away, childishly. I swear, one of these days... He really needed to get over his little hatred of me. It's going to end up getting me, him, or one of our other brothers hurt, or maybe even killed. I knew that he couldn't hate me forever, and that the emotions will just pass through eventually, but I really needed that to happen sooner rather than later. I'd have to have another talk with him later. "Nah, I'm fine." He waved Donnie off, looking back at Twilight as if he was extremely interested in what she was doing. We all saw through it. "Why not?" Twilight spoke up, taking our side. "It's a gorgeous day outside. Who knows? You may learn more about Equestria this way." Raph, after figuring out Twilight's secret meaning behind what she had just said, stood up in an unamused manner. "Alright, alright. I can take a hint." Raph said as he ushered towards the door. Well, I'm surprised that worked. Deliberately using my magic, I opened the door for everyone. Raph let out a small grunt of displeasure as he walked through the door, staring at me jealously. I'll admit, I didn't think that through, but in my defense he was going to know sometime soon anyways. We all quickly shuffled out of the library in a hurry. It was still a lovely day outside, much more peaceful than New York, that's for sure. Mikey was more than happy to lead the way, seeing as how he was flying ahead of us anyways. I must say, he's really getting the whole flying thing down. He flies so effortlessly, and might I say quickly. Well, I guess being a ninja had its benefits sometimes. I read up on ponies here while being bored at the library. Apparently, there are bigger differences between unicorns, Earth ponies(Wait, Earth? How did that even make sen-), and pegasi. Earth ponies are the most durable, and are much more powerful than the rest. I guess that's why Raph was turned into one. It only made sense. The guy is tough, after all. Unicorns are gifted with magic, but they are physically weaker than the rest. I didn't understand why Donnie and I was turned into unicorns then. I'm not trying to sound like a braggart, but we're not weak. Although the magic, I couldn't complain about that. Pegasi are nimble, and extremely agile in the air. I didn't mean to sound cheesy, but I think Mikey isn't a pegasus for those reasons itself. I think it's more because he can be an air head at times. I'll be honest; I didn't do very much studying. But Donatello sure did. He went through most of the library in a matter of hours this morning. The rate at which he reads is quite astounding, and it's no wonder he's so smart. My brothers and I cantered into the marketplace with a small bounce in our step. For the most part, everyone had calmed down about this whole mess. The marketplace seemed to be just as busy as one would expect a normal Tuesday evening. There were ponies here and there, buying food items and chatting with their friends on the streets. It was a really nice thing to see, the peace was infectious. "So, where are we gettin' the grub?" Raphael suddenly asked, although I'm not sure who he was talking to. "I'm starved." "There is a diner somewhere up ahead." I replied. I cackled to myself. Haycakes here I come! The diner was very small, as we had passed it while searching for the library. It looked quite homely and cozy inside. Just thinking of the place got my stomach growling. "Hey guys!" I heard a very familiar voice shout from among the stands beside me. I turned my head to my left, only to see a very familiar rainbow colored mane. I let out a soft smile. It was the same girl from earlier! Well...awesome. "Oh hey, it's you..." I stated rather awkwardly, realizing that I never actually learned her name. "Leo, you know her?" Donatello asked, not quite sure of what to make of this situation. I simply shrugged, not sure if I even knew myself. "Barely." "I know you guys may be new in town, but I'm surprised you HAVEN'T heard of me." She grinned smugly. I raised an eyebrow at her. "What is that supposed to mean?" I asked. I turned back to notice that Mikey was staring intently at the pegasi's mane. Well, he always did like pretty colors... I can't blame him, it sure it a sight to see. I couldn't help but wonder how much time and effort she puts into maintaining that thing every morning. "I am the Almighty," She struck a pose, flaring her wings. "Undeniably Awesome," Another pose. "Rainbow Dash! Fastest flier in all of Equestria!" She announced boldly. Great, another pony who's full of themselves. I had to resist the urge to look at Raph. They'd make a good couple. For once, we met a pony who spoke semi-normally, so Raphael was more than happy to speak up. "Jeez, full a' yourself much?" Raph muttered. Rainbow cast an angry glare upon him before giving a proper rebuttal. "Can't be full of myself when everything I say is true!" She put a hoof to her chest and closed her eyes, lifting up her chin -you guessed it - smugly. "I accept this challen-!" Mikey suddenly shouted, but Raph put a hoof over his mouth. We didn't need to have any more ponies thinking that we were insane. "Right...anyways, I'm Leonardo." "Name's Raphael." He said, taking his hoof off of Mikey's mouth. "Donatello." "Michelangelo, brah." Rainbow stared at Mikey for an extra moment, a little bewildered at his choice of words. Not wanting to think about his, she shrugged him off. "So what were you doing at the library this morning?" I asked. I was really quite curious. I don't take her as the reading-type. "What? A friend can't see another friend anymore?" She phrased rather awkwardly. Well, this pony was certainly the opposite of that Rarity mare. So, she's Twilight's friend. How many friend's does that chick have? I mean really. "Oh yeah! Now I remember you! You're the one that crashed through the kitchen window this mornin'!" Raphael was suddenly getting annoyed with Rainbow Dash. Wait, window? I didn't know about a window. Mikey decided to fill me in on what had happened while Donnie and I were outside practicing our magic. Apparently, Rainbow had randomly broken through a window attempting one of her new 'stunts'. Looking back on it, I was surprised that she wasn't hurt! "Eheh..." Rainbow Dash blushed, embarrassed. Had I only known what Raph was going to say next... "Psh, some flier you are!" Rainbow Dash's mouth hung limp, trying to understand the words that had just come out of Raphael's mouth. Uh oh. Raph, prepare for another beat down. He seriously needed to learn how to keep his mouth under control; otherwise the ponies here might riot against him; although that would be quite hilarious. Ponies with pitchforks and torches! Ha! There was a long pause as Mikey, Donnie and I took a few cautious steps back. "What? What did you just say to me?" She spat, her anger and frustration rising as well. Well, Raph hit some sort of nerve. Rainbow Dash cracked her...hooves? Wait, how come ponies do that if they don't have knuckles? Do ponies have bones in their hooves? Eh. Anyways, she looked like she wanted to punch the living light's out of Raph, her face was contorted into a furious grimace... ...she didn't go at him though, to my surprise, although she did begin to scream and shout. I wonder what changed her mind...? "Who the heck do you think you are?! Saying I'm not a good flier?! I'm one of the best in Equestria! I've proved myself more times than I can count!" She boasted. Raphael had no tolerance for people, or ponies, who talk too much about themselves; although he does it quite often. He can be a hypocrite at times. "If you're the 'best' flier, but still crash into unmoving objects, such as a window, I really fear for you and this town." Raph uttered. Rainbow Dash's anger was fueling slowly. I noticed her face was turning quite red. Uh oh. Why does Raph always have to do things like this? Deliberately make ponies angry? Did he seriously not learn his lesson last time with Applejack? "Yeah? Well you're opinion doesn't matter! So back off!" Rainbow shouted. I'm not sure, but I think Raph is getting a kick out of this... He was chuckling to himself amusedly. Mikey looked ready to intervene, but I put a hoof on his shoulder instead. "Haha, rainbow weirdo." He was calling names now? What is he, five? Rainbow Dash seemed offended by his insult. "Pukebrain!" Rainbow shouted back at him, not caring much. "Gak face!" "Stop it!" I barely heard the tiny cry over all of the screaming. Everypony looked around, hoping that they haven't gone crazy. "Please stop fighting!" The voice said again. From out from behind Rainbow, another pegasus appeared. Apparently, she had been hiding behind her this whole time. She actually came there with Rainbow Dash, but she was too afraid to say anything the whole time. The pegasus was a little smaller than Rainbow Dash, but not by much. Her coat was a dull yellow that almost reminded me of scrambled eggs. She had a long pink mane than covered her right eye adorably and her cutie mark was three single pink butterflies. So... exterminator pony? Hmm, either way, she is the cutest thing I have seen in this place. Ever. "Fluttershy! Sorry, I forgot you were there!" Rainbow Dash admitted. Well, that was a little bit rude. Well, looks like Fluttershy had to be the one to step in. I personally would rather that they had just duked it out. But I guess it didn't matter. When my brothers and I all laid eyes on her, she stammered back and hid behind Rainbow Dash. She wasn't much for attention, but it was hard enough not to look at her. She was downright adorable! Fluttershy nodded towards Rainbow Dash as if to let her know that she had heard and accepted the cyan pegasus' apology. "Please, just no more fighting." She turned towards Raphael. "But she..." Raph started, Fluttershy frowned pitifully at him. Raphael looked at the rest of us, then Rainbow Dash, and then the ground. "Fine..." Fluttershy's frown did a complete 180 on her face. "Thank you." Everyone nodded, save for Raphael. He looked downright depressed. If I could have read his mind, he was probably thinking "What the shell just happened". He stared at the ground, muttering to himself. "Anyways...you're both Twilight's friends?" Mikey asked. Good idea, change of topic. Rainbow Dash nodded happily."Yep, we've been friends ever since Twilight came to Ponyville a few years ago." She replied. "Ain't that swee-" Raph began, but promptly shut up after receiving Fluttershy's disapproving glance. After that, the moment was actually quite awkward. No one had much to say, and to be honest, I wasn't much for meager conversation. The Marketplace had gotten extremely quiet as all the consumers had finishing doing their daily shopping. Rainbow Dash fluttered her wings awkwardly. I noticed Mikey's ears perk up, as if he had an idea. "Wanna race?" Mikey asked, flaring out his wings as well. Everyone gave him a look of absolute disbelief. Rainbow let out an amused chuckle. "You? You, want to race, me!?" She suddenly burst out into a fit of giggles, much like what Raph had done yesterday with Applejack. For a moment, I thought she was going to pass out from laughing so hard. I didn't even think she was breathing... Mikey was unamused. "What? Are ya chicken or something?" He asked, giving her a cocky smirk. Although I am one for competition, I didn't think this was a good idea. A mare with this much attitude, and one that claims that she is the fastest in the whole nation, I didn't think it was a fair match. Rainbow Dash suddenly stood up tall, and poked Mikey in the chest. Mikey smiled dumbly, while Rainbow Dash gave him a death glare. "I. Am. Not. A. Chicken." With every word, she poked Mikey's chest, each poke harder than the last. Why is it that no pony likes us? I mean really. Rarity hates Mikey for calling her a marshmallow, Applejack and Rainbow Dash hate Raph for obvious reasons. I believe that the only ponies here that didn't hate us are Pinkie Pie, Twilight and that Fluttershy pony. We need to get better at socialization. "You want a race!? I'll give you one!" She curled her hoof in the air, as if she was about to throw a punch. I had a strong feeling that she wouldn't, however. Mikey simpered. *** It took Rainbow Dash and Mikey about two minutes to decide on the rules. From the Market Place, they would fly all the way to Sweet Apple Acres, and back. First one back gets bragging rights. I had a terrible feeling about this. Mikey's barely practiced flying! Especially at high speeds! Testing your skills against a "pro" probably wasn't a good idea right now. But it's not my decision. Plus, I needed a good laugh. Fluttershy was kind enough to draw a small line in the dirt, depicting the starting line for the two racers. Both competitors eagerly got into position at the starting line, ready to show off their various skills. Raph was the most excited for this race to begin. I was not sure if it was for the right reasons, though. He stood next to the racers and held a hoof in the air as if it was a flag. "On your mark!" Raph shouted. Rainbow and Mikey both bent their knees, ready to take off. "Get set...GO!" In a flash, Rainbow Dash took off like a speeding bullet. I didn't even see her take off, I just saw a rainbow colored trail that lead from the cloud to the sky, reaching upwards. Mikey, a little dazed by the colors, had a slow start. "LATER, SLOWPOKE!" Rainbow shouted as she soared. "Talk about a dash of insolence..." Mikey muttered. He jumped into the air and swiftly gave chase to the rainbow pegasus. I'll admit, I was quite surprised by how fast Mikey was flying when he took off. He was obviously slower, but I had a feeling that he would give his opponent a run for her money. They both bolted far into the distance. Both racers were clear over the horizon in about five seconds. Mighty impressive. There was an eerie silence as we waited for both of them to return. "So, you think Mikey's gonna stand a chance?" Raphael pondered out loud. Donnie and I simply shrugged. To my surprise, it only took both racers another ten seconds to return. Rainbow Dash bolted passed the finish line in a blur. I almost wouldn't have noticed if she wasn't yelling a victory yell. Not even ten seconds later, Mikey's panting and worn out body came flying over the line as well. He landed, and immediately began to wobble. He almost looked like he was going to pass out... "Ha! Rainbow Dash wins again! Nice try!" Rainbow cheered. I hate it when people...ponies...creatures talked in third person. "That was a good race, though. You actually kept up." She said kindly, she walked over to Mikey and held out a hoof. Mikey straightened himself up, and politely smiled back. "They don't call me 'Air Mikey' for nothing!" He boasted, while firmly grasping her hoof. Well, that turned out a little better than I had originally thought it would. Well, after congratulating Rainbow Dash, she and Fluttershy went on their way. I think they said something about an Angel. Eh, I wasn't really paying attention. Either way, I was more than happy for everything to be done and over with. Now finally we can get something to eat. Donatello, Raphael, Mikey and I all made our way for the diner. It took a few minutes to get there from the Marketplace, but I knew that it would be worth it. After closer inspection, it turned out that the diner was called "Frosty's" or something like that. The whole entire place had the 'retro' feel to it. All of the booths had ruby colored seats that stank of leather. The walls had a checkerboard pattern on them consisting of a dark indigo, and a clear white hue. There was soft music playing over a jukebox in the corner of the room. I could barely hear it, but I had a feeling that what was playing wasn't really up my alley anyways. Suddenly, a bright green mare was standing in front of us. She had on a waitress' outfit that completely clashed with her coat color... not that I'm judging. Her dark, black mane was almost floating as she gave us a welcoming grin. "Hello! Welcome to Frosty's! Would you like a booth or a table?" She asked, looking at no one in particular. Michelangelo held up a hoof, trying his best to act scholarly. "Booth, my good dudette." The mare grinned and started to walk into the restaurant. She decided to give us a window seat that overlooked the street outside. It wasn't a breathtaking view, but it was one that I definitely appreciated. We ushered ourselves into position on the tables. I ended up sitting next to Mikey, while Donnie and Raph sat on the other side of the table. Donnie is the only pony that Raph doesn't seem to have a problem with right about now. The only reason why Raph even had a problem with Mikey was because of his random outbursts. The mare handed us our menus. "My name is April Showers. Please tell me if you boys need anything!" She said, before trotting away to let us do the ancient ritual of deciding our meals. Hmm...that reminded me of something. I wonder what April and Casey are up to? I hope Splinter was alright as well... "Hey guys!" Mikey called. I hadn't noticed, but he had gotten up out of his seat. He was leaning on the jukebox, trying to be cool. "Who am I?" Before I had a chance to tell him to sit the shell down, he did one of his impressions. He smacked the jukebox with a single hoof, somehow amplifying the sound to the point where I could now hear it as clear as day. He then clapped his hooves together and pointed them at a wall, hunching over his shoulders. "Ayyyy!" Donnie chuckled loudly, while Raph and I simultaneously slapped our foreheads. *** About one hour later, we were all sitting in our seats at the same booth, holding our protruding tummies for dear life. Oh man, those haycakes were amazing... my brothers weren't lying about them earlier. Raphael had gotten some sort of vegetable soup, while Donnie opted for a more healthy option, a regular hay sandwich, complete with lettuce, peppers, carrots, and other delicious treats. Mikey had gotten a large basket of fries. I never would have guessed that this world actually had french fries, although technically they're called "hay fries" here. April Showers came over to us and set the check on the table. We groaned out a "Thanks" as she quickly went to serve another family that had just walked through the door. I could hear her give the exact same introduction that she gave us earlier. "So, who's paying?" Raph muttered, cleaning his teeth with a toothpick. Every one of my brothers sat up, including me. Uh oh. "Don't worry, I got this." Donnie said, taking out a his wallet just as April was making her return to collect the money. "Donnie, I don't think-" I started, but the waitress was already standing over us. I couldn't help but notice how...muscular...she was. Ignoring me, Donnie took out a twenty and placed it on the table confidently, grinning at the confused waitress. "I think that should cover it!" He beamed. April was none to excited. She picked up the dollar, and looked it over carefully, like it was fine silk. She was inspecting it as if she was cleaning a rifle. A few moments passed before she suddenly spoke up, her confused expression emptying from her face. "Uhm...I don't know what this is, but we don't accept this type of currency..." She admitted. I had a feeling. I had to ask, even though it might make us sound stupid. "What currency do you accept?" I asked. April rolled her eyes. "Bits." She spat. I looked at my brothers, putting a hoof over my mouth so April couldn't understand what I was saying to my brothers. The waitress glared at us impatiently. "Anyone have any bits?" I asked hopelessly. All three of my brothers meekly shook their heads. We all gave a nervous smile as we turned back to her. The mare gritted her teeth, literally growling with anger at our lack of money. I gulped. Uh oh. > No Rest For The Weary > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I let out a soft, annoyed sigh as I magically set the now clean plate on the countertop with the rest. Well, that could've gone better. That April Showers mare down right lost it when we told her that we had no actual way to pay. We tried to tell her that we're foreign, and that we didn't know, but she didn't seem to believe us. Great, now we were forced to submit to manual labor until she sees fit. I had the duty of washing the dishes, while Raphael dried them with a soft cloth. He didn't seem to be too happy about this either. I didn't blame it; this was all our faults anyways. Originally, April Showers wanted Mikey to dry dishes, but we had to seriously convince her that that was a horrible idea. We've tried multiple times to leave Mikey alone with breakable objects, every single time, almost everything had gotten destroyed. The guy's like a bull in a china shop. I knew he couldn't help it, but it really concerned me. Speaking of him, Mikey and Donnie were forced to clean the restaurant from top to bottom. I could hear them arguing from the kitchen where Raph and I currently resided. I couldn't tell what about, but Donnie seemed to clearly be getting agitated. "When can we get out of here?" Raph asked, not looking up from the plate he was currently cleaning. I finished cleaning the one in my hooves and handed that one to him as well. Was...he actually talking to me? Well that's a good start! Maybe he's finally getting over his little jealousy act. "Hey, you finally spoke to me." I acknowledge. My brother just shrugged. "Ain't got nothin' better to do." He muttered, taking the plate from my hooves rather delicately. I grinned at him. I wondered how long he'd stay in this mood. I knew for sure that he was still a little salty with me, but hey, this was a start. "I have no idea." I chuckled, truthfully. "I don't think Twilight has much experience making portals. It could take 24 hours, maybe even a few months." I admitted. Raph growled; I must have hit a nerve. Or made him realize something that he would've much rather he hadn't. "Masta' Splinter's probably worried sick." He stated, wrapping the cloth softly around another white porcelain dish. I simply nodded. I didn't want to think about Master Splinter. Not at a time like this. It'd drive me insane with worry. This whole time I've been trying hard not to think about him, but I've felt myself slipping. I...I want to see my father, I miss him. "We'll get home soon..." I replied, feeling a little depressed, as I cleaned the last of the dishes. Suddenly, I heard a loud CRASH from out in the lobby, followed by a painful groan that came from Donnie. "Eheh, oops..." I heard Mikey apologize. I shook my head. He's going to get his ear chewed off by April Showers for that... "That knucklehead is going to get us all in trouble one of these days." Raph deadpanned. I slowly nodded. It was true. Actually no, I think he already has. I remembered when we were exploring an underground lair where there were all those...experiments on humans taking place. Mikey, going on about monsters after reading one too many comic books, unwittingly set off some sort of anti-intruder alarm system. To put in short, we would have been crushed if it wasn't for Raph and his supreme sai throwing skills. I was very grateful, although I was a little disappointed in Mikey. I was not going to die due to one of my brothers careless mistakes. Where's the honor in that? "Totally." I agreed. There was a long pause between the both of us. Neither of us really had anything to say. I considered asking if he was still mad at me, but I decided not to. I didn't want to remind him of his anger. If he's fine right now, I say let him stay that way. To be honest, I feel that he's actually trying to chill out. I think he's starting to learn that ponies aren't nice when they're angry or annoyed. And it only took 36 hours full of butt kicking and dirty looks, just to finally get it minutes ago. "Mikey! Be careful!" I heard Donnie shout from the lobby. I sighed; I didn't even want to know what THEY were up to. "You already fell and broke half the dishes..." "I prefer to call it 'lying down in style'." I heard Mikey retort. Not even ten seconds later, I heard another CRASH, followed by two groans. One was full of annoyance, while the other was full of pain. "Are we almost done?" Raphael asked, trying hard to keep himself from beating some sense into Mikey himself. I nodded. "Well, seeing as Mikey's breaking all the dishes, I'd say ye-" "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" I heard a shrill voice suddenly echo through the retro diner. Great, April Showers is back, and she's in the lobby. Obviously, she found Mikey's mess. "Ow!" I heard Mikey cry. Raph and I both looked at each other expectantly. "Stop hitting me with that thing!" Suddenly, both doors that lead into the kitchen burst open abruptly. I wasn't surprised to see a panting Donnie and Mikey leaning against the door as if to keep April Showers from getting in. "You're going to pay for this! One way or another!" Raph had that look on his face as he reached for both of his sai. "Oh, so it's a fight she wants...?" He chuckled grimly. I held a hoof in front of him, stopping him cold. "Hasn't anyone told you it's not polite to hit a mare?" Donnie questioned. Mikey rubbed his aching head. "Tell that to the crazy lady who thought it was a good idea to hit me over the head with her serving tray..." Mikey sighed. I'll admit, I almost laughed. "Well, you shouldn't have broken all those plates! That stuff costs money Mikey!" Raph argued back. For once, he wasn't screaming. He was speaking normally as he tried to get his point across. Hmm... "It's not my fault that the plates were cheap!" Mikey replied. Raphael smacked his face. "Leo, he may have broken the plates, but if we don't get out of this place soon, my sanity's going to be next." Raphael admitted. I know that feeling. I wanted to go home too. But we didn't have time to think about that. The door banged loudly as April literally tried to BREAK the door down. What the shell is up with her?! "Come out or I'm going to have you arrested for thievery and vandalism!" April Showers threatened. My eyes went wide when I realized our predicament. Either, we had to give ourselves up, and be forced to pay with money that we don't even have and do more physical labor, or make a run for it and try to get out of here. But if the police find us...we're not getting out of here anytime soon. I don't think authority here is very lenient with dimension crossers... "Guys I think we should-" I started, turning back to my brothers. To my absolute terror, I saw Mikey and Donnie running towards the exit. Raph wasn't moving, and had his sai in his hooves, waiting for April Showers to break down the door. That brings up a point, is this mare freaking crazy!? "She wants to kill us, Raph!" Mikey cried, trying to get through the emergency exit. It refused to open, for some reason. Donnie rolled his eyes. "She's trying to kill YOU. You broke her dishes...and about everything else in the lobby..." "Let. Me. Out. Of. Here!"  Mikey shouted. April Showers was getting more and more angry; I could literally see her peering through the door through a crack that she had made in it. She kind of frightened me... "I agree, let's bail!" Donnie added. I guess we didn't have a choice now! Raph sighed and gingerly walked over to the door, inspecting it for two seconds. He pushed Mikey out of the way before grabbing the door handle with his hoof, and pulling open the door. Mikey looked on, flabbergasted. "You know, they should really label doors!" He chuckled. Raph rolled his eyes and pointed to the small sign right above the door handle that conveniently read "pull". Mikey swiftly turned a bright crimson. "Being this pretty comes at a cost, you know." Mikey argued. "Come back here! You're all going to pay for this!" April Showers screamed. Wait, ALL? Oh great. Now I'm being dragged into her unrelenting fury. "Retreat!" I shouted. Mikey was the first one to bolt out of the door, literally flying. Donnie and I followed suit while Raph lagged behind. I saw him look back at his sai, and then the door that April was about to knock down. He was really itching for a fight, I knew it. With a grunt, he shook his head and followed the rest of us out of the back of the diner. *** After our frighteningly close call with the waitress, we all made our way back to the library. I really hoped that April Showers hadn't called the police; otherwise we were in big trouble. I'm pretty she knew our names, as we had unwittingly called ourselves by our names back in the diner. After stealthily making our way inside of library, and scaring the nonexistent pants off of Twilight, we could finally relax. Although, Twilight was none too pleased with our antics once Raph accidently spilled the beans. "You did WHAT?" She hollered, setting down her tools. She was actually making good progress, to say the least. She had actually begun building the darn thing. Although it wasn't much, just a few pieces of hardware really. My brothers and I all stayed silent, although it didn't take Mikey long to speak up. "The crazy waitress girl tried to kill us!" He said defensively. Everyone rolled their eyes; even Twilight knew that wasn't the whole story. "You mean YOU!" Raphael shouted, poking his little brother in the chest. "You just had to get the rest of us involved, didn'cha?" He glared deeply at Mikey, whose only response was a nervous gulp. I did the honors of holding Raphael back; surprisingly, he didn't put up a fight. Twilight let out a weary sigh, and rubbed her left temple. I felt increasingly bad; we only seemed to be bothering her further. We should really just give her space for a while...if that's possible, anyways. "I'll go to the diner and pay for you guys, alright? Just...stay here..." She mumbled, grabbing a nearby bag and hoisting it onto her back. Before we even had a moment to utter an apology, the library door slammed shut. My mouth was just slightly agape. I honestly didn't know how to feel. I was ashamed, disappointed, and furious, all at once. Mikey looked at the floor, seemingly depressed. I didn't know what to say to him, and neither did anyone else. Donnie and Raph didn't seem to notice Mikey's moping, and wandered out of the room to do...other things. Mikey sighed before walking out the door behind the mare. I felt bad, but it was Mikey's fault. If he wouldn't have broken all of those plates... I could just feel the sudden stinging on the back of my head. Splinter definitely wouldn't be happy with me thinking that way. Well, I guess it's not all Mikey's fault. What's in the past was in the past, I guess. I decided to occupy my time by sitting down in the library and read a few books. Obviously, we weren't caught up enough on the way of life here. We needed to learn about the government, laws, currency, those kinds of things. I'm sure Donnie already read up on them, but hey, it's best to have backup knowledge in case he wasn't around. Before I knew it, the sun had begun to set. I wasn't surprised; for some reason, time seemed to go by very quickly around here. I was deep inside a book about some kind of Princess. There appeared to be two princesses who rule this nation of Equestria; Celestia, who ruled over the day, and Luna, who ruled over the night. Hmm, it sounded like something straight out of The Odyssey. The book was fairly old. I wondered if they were still around today...Maybe they could help my brothers and I get back…Or the exact opposite; they could lock us up for being aliens... Twilight had gotten home long ago, but when she did, she didn't say a word to me. She simply stomped upstairs, almost throwing a silent hissy fit. I felt so bad about what had happened today; we needed to apologize to the waitress. I decided to stay up a little later than usual, reading. Donnie and Raph had already fallen asleep. I'll admit, I almost wanted to do the same, but I had just wanted to wait for Mikey to get home first. It made me nervous thinking about what Mikey could be out doing right about now, especially after dark. He hadn't even bothered to check up or anything. At around 12:45 that night, I heard a small commotion outside. I heard two voices, a high pitched one, and another californian style one. It took me milliseconds to figure out who they were. I trotted over to the door, a little dizzy. I had forgotten how long I had been sitting. I hoisted the door open and saw just what I expected to see, Mikey. He stared at me, almost bewildered as I stood in the doorway. He looked like a deer in headlights. "Mikey...what're you doing?" I asked. Mikey looked left, then right, scratching his head. "Uh...nothing." He said. Mikey was a terrible liar. With a sigh, I walked outside and closed the door behind me, as to not wake up anypony else in the library. "Mikey, be honest." I asked, a little forcefully. Mikey looked at the floor, guiltily; it made me just slightly nervous. "I... I was hanging with the townsfolk, alright? Lay off." He replied harshly. Jeez, what was eating at him? He's usually so laid back...something was definitely bothering him. "Who, exactly?" I asked. Surely he's not out making friends at almost one in the morning. I know for sure that it's creepy in New York, as well as here. "Uhm...just a friend." He was specifically trying to avoid telling me exactly who he was with; so that's what was eating him. "Which friend? Tell me, Mikey." I said. I was getting a little annoyed with his uncooperativeness. "Nopon-" "MIKEY!" "FINE!" He suddenly shouted, getting angry at the fact that I was now irritated with him. He looked back at the ground, as if he was embarrassed. "I-I was hanging out with Pinkie Pie." He admitted. I felt my face blush a little bit as a thought crossed my mind. "You 'hung out' with Pinkie, until one in the mor-" "We baked cupcakes!" He said defensively. Oh...good to know. "Look, it's none of your concern." He said, as he tried to barge pass me, but I jumped in front of the door. Something wasn't right here. "What's up with you and this Pinkie mare?" I asked. Now that I thinking about it, he had spent an awfully long time with her since coming here. Just last night, she and Mikey were making pizza in the library. He sighed, getting more and more agitated. "Nothing!" He shouted, trying to rush pass me. Once again, I prevented him by stepping in his way. "Move it, Leo!" "Mikey, what's going on between you two?" I interrogated. I had a very bad feeling about this... "We're friends! So what?" He retorted. "We're here, we're stuck! So what, I try to meet ponies!" I'm not sure if something slipped, or if he just phrased that incorrectly. "Making pizza and cupcakes at the wee hours in the morning? Some friend! It seems like you only hang out with her when nopony is around! Now tell me, what's going on between you two!" I hollered. Mikey was turning a bright crimson, although I wasn't sure if it was due to embarrassment or anger. I already knew what was going on; I just needed Mikey to confirm it. "I...I really like her!" He spat. "I'm in love with her!" My mouth dropped, flabbergasted. Mikey let out a sigh, as if he was glad that he finally had gotten that off of his shoulders. Mikey...is in love...with a pony? "W-what!? Mikey you can't be serious!" I argued, but Mikey was quick to rebound. "I am serious, Leo!" He replied. I was going to explain the irony of that, but now was not the time. "I... she gets me! Pinkie Pie actually gets me!" He pleaded. Really? Pinkie Pie is hyperactive, pink, party pony. Well now that I think about it, they did have a lot in common. They were both...random, and ultimately they both were weird as well. But even still, my brother, who was a turtle, was in love with a pony... "Mikey...don't do this. We're not staying her-" Once again, I was cut off. Man, what is everypony's problem? "I don't care! I feel how I feel bro!" He shouted, poking my chest. "Casey has April to love and...it hurts to watch, okay?" He admitted. Casey and April? Well, yeah, they have been married for about a year now, but I never would have guessed that Mikey was jealous. "Mikey, we're turtles. Mutant ones." I whispered. I still didn't know if Twilight was listening in on us, but I wanted to make sure she didn't learn anything if she was. "As Master Splinter said, 'love from family matters more than that of another." I think that's what he said. Oh well, it had the same message. "No offense, but after sixteen years with you guys, I don't see me spending the rest of my life with you three." I felt a little hurt, but I guess he had a point. When I get older, I kind of wanted to have pupils of my own...I never really thought about what Donnie, Mikey and Raph wanted to do. "I can love whoever I want, and no one can stop me!" And with that, he forcefully shoved me aside and stamped inside of the library in a huff. I simply stood there, shocked beyond belief. This...this is horrible! What's going to happen when we finally get out of here!? He'll be devastated! I let out a sigh as I turned to follow my brother inside. Until I heard a rustle. I abruptly turned my head, a little startled at the sound. My ears had perked up, and I heightened all of my senses. I squinted; something had moved in the darkness. I could make out the shape, it was definitely a pony…but... No... It was wearing a black, ninja-esque outfit. Much like my brothers masks, two strands hung from the figures own mask that seemed to sway in the night air. It bore a dull gray vest. There was a red symbol on its chest that almost made me sick to my stomach upon seeing it; It was the foot of a three toed dragon. > Pieces > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- There was no possible way. A foot ninja?! In Equestria?! I blinked my eyes a few times, but much to my chagrin, the foot ninja continued to stare at me through his large, and yet glowing, yellow eyes. I was contemplating what to do. I could go back inside and tell everypony to wake up. If there's possible danger looming ahead of us, everyone had a right to know. Maybe I could just sit here, and wait for it to leave. It obviously knew where my brothers and I were residing now. Perfect. If I would have known about the possibility of foot ninja here I would have tried to be just a little more stealthy. Now that I think about it, who knew how long we've been tailed by the clan? Speaking of that, how did they get here? My brothers and I teleported through Donnie's Tele-Portal. How did they manage to get here? Did they...did they follow us in? No, I would have noticed if they were at our home when things started going to shell. I'm sure the the machine broke as well...I tried to think, while not taking eyes off of the potential danger about 20 meters away from me. I was almost waiting for it to attack. Obviously it didn't have anything better to do, other than to spy on me. My guess was that Mikey was being watched when he was hanging out with Pinkie Pie, and that he led this foot-face straight to the Library. Good job, Mikey. Once again you exceeded all of our expectations. Fearing the worst, I pulled both of my katana out of their sheaths. I was ready for a fight, since I knew that that was what it was going to come to. As soon as I did, the ninja's eyes seemed to harden. I accidentally blinked, and with a puff of smoke, he was gone. Well, great. Now my next course of action is to somehow convince my brothers of what I saw. Well, I'm sure they'll believe me anyways. I don't lie, unlike some turtles... I sheathed my swords yet again before practically running back inside. The door slammed open loudly, making a huge "BANG" noise. "WAKE UP! IT'S URGENT!" I shouted through the entire house. Raph groaned and threw a pillow over his head, as if to drown out the loud noise. I seemed to have startled Mikey, as he let out a girly scream and raised up his nunchuku. In his state of shock, he proceeded to smack the closest thing to him, which was unfortunate for Spike. "OOPH!" Spike shouted as he was promptly nailed over the head. I couldn't help but wince. It may not look like it, but nunchaku hurt to get hit with, especially by a scared, hyperventilating, half-asleep Michelangelo. I think I saw a tear in Spike's eye. Mikey had soon realized what he had done and rubbed his head. "Eheh..." Donnie was wide awake at this point in time, and Twilight sleepily walked down the stairs from her room. Well, this is going to be just great to explain. "What is it?" Donatello asked. Twilight was barely paying attention, as she was furiously rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "I have bad news, no one freak out over this...but..." I let out a sigh, not really sure how to explain this. Raph let out an irritated, yet grumpy, grunt. "Spit it out! I'm freaking tired." He mumbled through his pillow. Apparently he was listening. "The Foot Clan is here." I just came out with it. The whole room was absolutely silent, except for another one of Mikey's girly screams. Raph and Don practically sat out of bed and proceeded to raise their eyebrows. "...Leo have you lost it?" Raph asked. "In case you may have forgotten, we're in a whole 'nother dimension." He argued. I knew better than to disturb Raph when he's getting his beauty sleep, but I really didn't have the time to deal with it right about now. "I know! But I know what I saw. Mikey, a foot ninja must have followed you home fro-" I caught myself. "-from when you came home earlier." I'm a terrible liar, but whatever. It seemed to appease everypony in the room. Everypony looked over at Mikey, who was blushing meekly. "Hey, don't get mad at me! I didn't know!" "Jeez, we're ninja's remember? Act like it!" Raph said. I sat there slack jawed as Raph finally realized what he had just said. He covered his mouth, but it was too late. Twilight's patience was diminishing. I hoped that she was a little too tired and had misheard him or something for the time being. "What? What did he just say?" Twlight asked, furrowing her brow. Well, we're caught. There's no way out of it now. "Uh....I-I mean..." Raph tried to slip his way though this, but Twilght wanted none of it. "Ninjas?! You guys are ninjas!? What!?" She shrieked. Raph continued to blabber, but even he knew it was useless after a few more moments. He went passed the point of no return on this one. Donnie let out a sigh. "Yes. Back home, we're ninjas experienced in Bushido." Twilight seemed to have no idea what 'bushido' was. I kind of figured. "It's a Japanese fighting style." Twilight also didn't seem know who the Japanese people were. "You know what I mean...The Japanese are a culture back home. Anyways, our master and father, Splinter, taught us everything about the art. That's why we carry our weapons with us everywhere..." Thank God Donnie remembered to keep silent about the fact that we're turtles, and that he left out a key fact about Splinter as well. That's not something Twilight needed to know anyways. "Which is exactly why I was so upset when you told us we're not allowed to keep them around town." Raph added, trying to get everyone to forget about his most recent blunder. "So? You snuck them anyways!" Mikey yelled. That reminded me, he DID have them at the diner. I can't believe I didn't realize that earlier... Raphael proceeded to say nothing, but he did have sly grin on his face. "So, you guys are humans from another dimension, but not only that; you're ninjas?" Twilight paraphrased. My brothers and I all glanced at each other and gave her various shrugs and nods. "Yeah, pretty much." I replied before any of my brothers. Like I said, ex-nay on the turtle-ay. "Uhm...you guys seem afraid of this clan?" Spike added from the corner of the room. He almost scared me, I almost forgot about him entirely. I really didn't want to have to explain this much about us, but Twilight has to know now. She's going to be so angry. I wanted to explain, but I took too long thinking instead, so Donatello beat me to it. "Kind of. Back home, a clan that's called the Foot..." Donnie tried to explain this, while also dumbing it down for her. For some reason, this was really hard for him to explain. "Well, I'll just say this. The leader of The Foot is a mad Utrom-" Donnie caught himself. "...alien, called The Shredder. He runs the clan and hates our guts because we stop all of his 'ingenious' plans to rule the world." Mikey decided to pipe up now, raising a hoof as if he was trying to be polite. "Yeah! He's been kind of our arch-nemesis." Raphael decided 'why not?', and added his input as well. "And he gets pretty darn close to doing it." Twilight looked dumbfounded as her brain tried to process all of what we're telling her. "So...what does this mean?" She said after what seemed like an eternity of silence. All of my brothers and I looked at each other pleadingly, as if to say 'you do it'. "It means he's back." I finally stated, lifting up my eyes to look straight into hers. Now, normally whomever we told this to, we'd get a negative reaction in return. Twilight Sparkle seemed unfazed, however. It bothered me. "...I...I don't get it." She finally said. I wanted to facehoof so bad. My brothers were equally as frustrated. I decided to simply move on from the subject, considering she'd catch on eventually. "Donnie. How the shell did The Foot get here?" I asked, looking at my purple masked brother specifically. I was sure he was thinking of something at this very moment. He slowly brought a hoof up to his chin and tapped it gently in concentration. "Maybe he clicked his heels three times." Mikey stated, to which we all ignored. "Wait...what if...?" Donnie thought out loud. Everyone perked up in there seats. When Donnie's mind gets to working, you know it's to get good. "Well, you know that incident of that one planet with Professor Honeycutt?" Donnie said. "It can work two ways. Someone can bring us back, or send us somewhere." "So...we were sent here because The Foot fiddled with your machine?" Raph pondered, to which Donatello simply shook his head. "No, I think the fact that we came here was completely our-" He looked at the ground for a second. "-my fault. But, The Foot followed us through it." I raised an eyebrow. This...might be making sense? I don't know. "Wait, how is that possible? Raph and I were the last ones through it, and we know that it had gotten destroyed. Bits and pieces were flying everywhere!" I added. Donnie cursed to himself, before somehow snapping his hooves. How did that even work? They didn't even hav- "No, but they are skilled with technology and using their resources. I bet you The Foot simply put it back together. There may have been bits and pieces flying everywhere, but the main supporter and structure was probably still intact." Donnie added. Oh, now I get it. "So lemme get this straight." Raph sat up in his seat, hunched over. "So, we got sent here because of Donnie's blunder, but then The Foot rebuilt it and jumped in behind us." Donnie and I simply shook our heads, while Mikey, Spike, and Twilight looked on in a bewildered manner. "Why?" The question had put Donnie and I off a little bit. That was a good question. "Why...?" Donnie repeated. That wasn't really fair. Donnie's the smart guy in all this, but he's no lawyer. Coming up with proof and reason wasn't his forte at all. "Well, obviously to do what The Shredder does best." Mikey added from the sidelines. Before anyone had time to utter a rebuttal, Twilight let out a sharp scream, and my brothers all quickly shot out of their seats and shouted in my direction. I barely had enough time to duck before she sent the closest thing to her hurdling towards me, which happened to be a vase. It smacked hard into something behind me, which I presumed to be a wall. I stood back up and glared icy daggers at her. "What the shell was that for!?" I shouted. Twilight just pointed a hoof, to which I followed. Behind me was the body of a single Foot Ninja, now unconscious and covered in tiny shards of the vase that was just beaned over his skull. He groaned unintelligibly. I blushed a little bit at my naiveness. Still couldn't believe I didn't notice him... "Heh...thanks." I meekly said, to which Twilight nodded. "Dudes..." Mikey said, looking up at the ceiling with a look of absolute horror on his face. Donnie, Raph, Twilight, Spike, and I all looked up with him, only to see something that made my heart drop like a two ton boulder. Observing our conversation were Foot Ninjas. They were clinging to the ceiling like spiders, effortlessly holding themselves up. Their bright yellow eyes all focused on the different ponies(and single dragon) in the room. They...were spying on us. They do know where we are, and who. Before anyone had a chance to shout, the Foot Ninjas let go of their comfortable position on the ceiling, taking out their swords as they descended on top of us. *** "Look out!" I shouted, jumping and pushing both Twilight and Spike out of the way of a ninja that had gotten a little two close for comfort. They ending up becoming sprawled on the floor, a hint of both terror and confusion in the pairs eyes. Raph smiled at the situation. That's something I both hate and loved about him, always itching to fight. It comes in handy when we're in a fight against these guys, but when he's bored he just picked fights of his own. He let out a childish giggle as he pulled out his sai and approached a single ninja, who was wielding a single katana much like my own. "Finally! Some action! I thought I was going through withdrawal for a second!" He hollered as he charged the ninja, holding out his sai as if to stab him. The ninja easily deflected the attack. Donnie sighed as he held his bo staff in his hooves, which kind of irked me. He had the power of magic at his sides, and he still opted to use his hooves. It's not my choice, I know, but I still didn't know why. He twirled his bow effortlessly, getting at least five full rotations in a matter of two seconds before slamming it into a Foot Ninja who was about to strike Mikey from behind. "This isn't good!" He shouted through attacks. Mikey was having a bit more luck. His nunchaku were terribly easily for him to wield. At least I thought. As he was in battle with a single ninja who was wielding a small mace, Mikey spun his one of his weapons behind his back, causing it to get ensnared in his tail. "YOWCH!" He cried. Knowing that the ninja in front of his would attack no matter what type of pain he was in, he simply smacked him with his other nunchaku entirely, sending him flying onto the floor. "Time out!" He shouted, as he tried to get his nunchaku untangled from his tail, while making small mock sobbing noises as he pulled repetitively. Spike wasn't helping much, he wasn't that brave of a dragon, to say the least. He jumped on Twilight's back, whimpering a little bit as she launched magical beams from her horn at the intruders. One of the ninjas she hit flew back a good five feet and crashed into the bookshelf, which proceeded to fall on him. Twilight gasped, before tussling up her mane. "Not my books!" "I think books should be the last thing you think about at a time like this!" Raphael added through grunts as he continued to fight the same exact ninja as earlier. The ninja brought his sword down on Raph vertically, giving him just the opportunity he needed. Raph caught the sword in his sai and jump kicked the intruder in the chest, all within milliseconds. I was having a little bit of trouble of my own. I magically wielded both of my swords, giving me a much better advantage. After realizing that I was a bigger threat than my brothers, the ninjas decided to team up on me. Great. I effortlessly slashed with one sword, while using the other one to block incoming attacks from others. I quickly found myself being outnumbered three to one. I looked over at Mikey, who was still trying to untangle his tail. "Almost got it..." He muttered to himself. A lone Foot Ninja noticed his situation and jumped to act. Sneaking up behind Mikey, he lifted up his sword. "MIKEY! LOOK OUT!" Donnie shouted, smacking another ninja in the face with his staff. Mikey looked up just in time to see the blade slicing through the air down on top of him. He didn't have time to counter attack, so he let out a girly scream and threw his hooves in front of his face defensively. "MIKEY!" I hollered. Just a second before Mikey would have been sliced into pieces, a purple beam slammed into the ninja, literally sending him soaring out of the nearby window. Mikey looked up, and let out a relieved sigh. Twilight trotted over to him with Spike in tow, and quickly untangled his nunchaku from his tail. "You're welcome." She said monotonously, causing Mikey to blush. Well, he had learned a lesson, that's all that mattered. With a war cry, he jumped up he swung his nunchaku in the air. He flew into the the crowd of ninjas that were almost lining up to fight me, and that I had barely managing to keep at bay. "COWABUNGAAAA!" He shouted and he rushed into the fray, swinging his weapons and smacking intruders with them without mercy one by one. Heh, it was kind of hilarious. Mikey may not be serious when it comes to things like this, but he's a terror, and a butt, to fight in battle. I would know, I've sparred with him more times than I can count. He had potential to be the best fighter among us, but he's just lazy. Or that's what is seemed like to me anyways. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a pink blur flank me from behind. I let out a startled yell as I turned to face it, only to come face to face with...her. Her pink mane shuffled just a little bit at her quick and rather sudden stop, and she was smiling happily at me. "Hi! What's up?" She giggled. My jaw dropped as I realized that she had no clue what was going on at the moment. I pointed behind me at my brother and the dozens of ninja, who were fighting mercilessly behind me. She followed my gaze, before letting out a small "oh." "Now isn't the time, Pinkie!" I shouted. Hopefully, Mikey didn't know of her presence yet. I turned around just in time to kick a ninja straight in the face who had tried to charge me from behind. "They look a little grumpy..." She stated, bringing a hoof to her mouth as her eyes softened. She kind of reminded me of Fluttershy at this point. "LITTLE FREAKING BIT!" Raphael hollered, as he kicked a ninja in the back with a loud grunt. Apparently he knew full well that Pinkie Pie was here. Eh, oh well. "Maybe...they need somepony to cheer them up! Maybe that will make them less grumpy!" I turned to look at her smiling face with disbelief. Was she being serious? Please tell me this was a sick joke. "And I know juuuuuust the thing!" She added. Before I had time to tell her to get lost, she pulled out a large, salmon colored cannon. "W...Where did you get that!?" I shouted as she got behind the cannon, closing an eye as if to line it up perfectly to the battlefield in front of her. "I ALWAYS carry around my party cannon!" She said with a "squee". This wouldn't end well. Out of nowhere, she jumped on top of the cannon and shouted to everypony in the room. "YOU PONIES READY FOR A PARTY!?" She screamed at the top of her lungs, hurting my ears a little bit. Everypony in the room stopped fighting, even my brothers and Twilight, just to stare at the crazy party pony. "Pinkie?" Twilight questioned. "What are you-" "COME ON PONIES! LET'S TURN THOSE WAR CRIES INTO CRIES OF LAUGHTER!" She sung before she pressed a large red button on the top of the cannon. The cannon shot out isn't contents with a large BLANG. The contents hit the ninjas with an unrelenting, and perhaps even deadly, force. The cannon made a large hole in the library wall, and sent all of the Foot Ninjas outside into the dirt, unconscious and in obvious pain. Somehow, not one of my brothers, nor Twilight or Spike, were injured. Twilight stared on in horror as my brothers and I celebrated. Upon further inspection, the contents of the cannon appeared to be confetti, cake, streamers, pinatas, and a clown, who was just as confused as we were upon looking at his surroundings. With a sigh, he got up and walked away into the darkness. "Pinkie! Since when did your Cannon get that powerful!?" She was screaming at the pink perpetrator, as Mikey went over and hugged his love, who generously hugged him back. "I added more sugar!" She grinned. Twilight looked like she wanted to strangle her friends neck. "My...my library...my home is ruined!" She cried, on the verge of tears. Spike petted her mane from his spot on her back. "It's okay, Twilight. We can rebuild it in a week, tops." Spike said, seconds before a large chunk of the wall broke into pieces on the floor. Twilight's eyes watered. "We need to get out of here. We need to hide! They know where we live and will be back with more soldiers in a matter of minutes." I instructed. Twilight nodded, wiping a few tears from her eyes. Spike took the liberty to jump off Twilight's back. "We...let's go talk to Fluttershy. I'm sure she can help..." She choked, before walking through the grass, away from the wreckage and towards the pegasus' house. I think I actually passed it a while back, although I'm not too sure. Donnie, Raph, Spike, Mikey, Pinkie(unfortunately), and I all followed her, a tingle of guilt in out hearts. We knew what was going on now, how real this was. It killed us inside knowing that we'd have to explain to Pinkie, Twilight and Spike the fact that this was only the beginning. > Left Behind, Right Ways, and Middle Ground > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- We traversed through the early morning dawn in silence. No one spoke, grunted, sighed, or anything of the sort. The only sound that was heard was that of our hooves clopping on the pavement through town. Twilight looked absolutely crestfallen at what had just happened. I mean...her home and her livelihood had been destroyed in a matter of minutes! By us and our problems, nonetheless. The only pony who was in a remotely good mood was Pinkie Pie, and her constant smiling and bouncing was starting to wear down everypony's nerves. Well, I guess I had no reason to get mad. She actually saved us if anything. That party cannon really came in handy, and it was crazy how she tactically aimed the darn thing so the contents only hit the Foot Ninja. I'd consider her use it again later if we even come in contact with them again. But I'm sure the Foot will have some sort of retaliation for it. It wiped them out once, I don't think they'll let that happen again. Raphael still had that look on his face, the one that shown of adrenaline; something that my brother could just never get enough of. It worried me, but it gave me a sense of relief as well, for some reason. Part of me thinks that he relaxes through conflict, somehow. Everyone has something that brings them to bliss. Donnie has his gadgets, Mikey has his pizza, and so on. As time went on, Raphael's adrenaline slowly seemed to diminish. Donnie and Mikey stayed absolutely silent. Although I noticed Mikey was staring at Pinkie Pie for a bit. Luckily I noticed before she did, and I gave him a brief shake of my head. It caused him to realize his mistake and briskly look away. I don't know much about girls, in fact, the only one I've actually become friends with was April. But I know staring at them excessively like that was a little creepy. Mikey should have known that, with all the time he spends either on the internet or watching television. I didn't know how to feel about Mikey falling in love with Pinkie. I really didn't. It just didn't make enough sense to me. Sure, they were both hyperactive, love sweets, and have a crazy knack for puns. But...I just couldn't see it! What if Pinkie didn't like him back like that? He'd be heartbroken, and then we'd have another problem to worry about. Back home, it's super easy to cheer him up: Just order a pizza, give him a video game and he'll be laughing and cheering in a matter of minutes with his face covered in pizza sauce. Unfortunately, pizza and video games are out of the question at the moment. Although he could still make some later. I wondered if Ponyville had an arcade? Eventually, we reached Fluttershy's cottage. I had to admit, it looked...peaceful, from the outside at least. There was a large, and rather dark, forest in her backyard. We had to trot over a small bridge that hung over a small stream just to get there. It wasn't a tree, like the library. But there seemed to be a grand amount of foliage on the top of the cottage, to the point of where I really couldn't tell where the roof actually was. Birdhouses were everywhere, at least five on every tree. Maybe she uses the birds to help exterminate or something? Eh, of Twilight's friends, I knew the least about Fluttershy. Well, that's all about to change. Pinkie did the honors of knocking on the door for all of us in a rapid, three pound motion. Not even a few moments later, Fluttershy opened the door, and let out a soft yawn. Unlike Twilight, Fluttershy actually wore something when she slept: a small pink nightcap. ...Okay. I MAY have phrased that weird. I didn't watch Twilight sleep! Honest! It's just whenever she came downstairs she was- Forget it. You get my point. "Hm?" She said when she finally opened her eyes. You could tell that she was fast asleep not even a minute ago. The look on her face was rather priceless when she saw all seven of us at her doorstep. Her eyes shot open voraciously and she let out a small "Eep!". She lowered herself to the ground, as if to make herself as small as possible. "Hi Fluttershy." Twilight muttered, with a fake smile. It was obvious that she was trying to at least seem perky. Maybe not to worry Fluttershy or something? I didn't know. "Um, hi everyone..." Fluttershy squeaked, shivering slighty. She refused to look at me or my brothers. She kept her eyes solely on Twilight or Spike, and sometimes Pinkie. With her constant bouncing it was hard not to notice her. "W-What can I do for you?" She breathed. At least I think that's what she said... "Fluttershy, do you think we could come in for a bit? We need to talk to you." She choked, her charade was breaking, fast. Fluttershy picked up on this, and opened the door just a little bit wider upon realizing that something wasn't right. "Oh! Yes. Come in." She replied. With that, all seven of us trotted inside of her cottage. Upon immediately entering, I was hit with the distinct feeling of...comfort. Hm, interesting. The livingroom was quaint, and rather small. The walls were a dark, oak-ish brown, while the floor was a grassy green. It almost gave me the impression that the house was very...woodsy. There were bird cages on various sides of the room. All were empty, however. A red, floral rug covered about half of the room, while various furniture such as couches and chairs that were the same colors as the floor and rug itself littered the other half. There was a staircase that lead to what must be Fluttershy's room. There was also a room to my left immediately upon entering. I didn't get to glance inside, but I assumed that it was a kitchen. Her home was eerily silent, and I was starting to have second thoughts. Fluttershy took a seat on a virescent colored couch. There weren't many places to sit otherwise. There was a couch that was just a slighter shade of green of which Twilight, Donnie and Raphael all decided to reside there. Mikey and Pinkie both sat in chairs diagonally adjacent to each other, while Spike and I simply resorted to standing. Fluttershy illuminated the room by quickly turning on the lamp on the stand next to her. "Would anyone like tea?" Fluttershy asked politely, finally looking at my brothers and I. All seven of us shook our heads. No one was in the mood. Fluttershy suddenly brought her hoof to her chest. "Oh my! You all look so worn out! What happened?" She asked after taking a good look at all of us. I never realized it, but we were all pretty dirty. For the time being, I wanted to let Twilight talk to her friend, so I motioned to my brothers to be silent. A few were okay with it, while Raph simply rolled his eyes. "Uhm, yeah. The library had gotten attacked tonight, Fluttershy." Twilight's charade had fully fallen through right about now, and I noticed that her eyes were beginning to water. The pegasus instantly cooed at Twilight in a loving manner. "What? Who would do such a thing?" She whispered softly. "Psh, some clan called The Foot. They decimated the library, nearly sending it toppling down on us!" Spike said, walking around the room with his claws behind his back, angrily. He glared at my brothers and I with an eerily strong intensity. I think he seemed to take a liking to us. And, technically, neither my brothers, nor the Foot took down the library. That was Pinkie Pie. Although it probably wouldn't have been a good idea to say that. I guessed if the Foot hadn't shown then Pinkie wouldn't have even needed to use it... "They came here with these guys through some portal or something!" Fluttershy stared at us slack-jawed, and here I thought she was getting used to us. "That's not entirely true!" Donnie replied. But we all knew that it was a lie. "Well, possibly." "The Clan is after them." Twilight choked, referring to us. "And some Shredder character." She stared at the floor, as if she was contemplating what to do next. Her whole home was gone, her hobby was taken from her. The tears were slowly started to dribble down her face. Inside, my heart was breaking. I could tell that all of my brothers were disappointed in themselves as well, even Raphael. "They want us dead, to say the least...we're so sorry to have brought you into this-" I started, but Twilight suddenly stood up, her face quickly contorted in anger to the point of where she was actually starting to scare me. "SORRY!?" She hollered, causing Fluttershy to double back. "YOU'RE SORRY!? You come out of scenic nowhere, make me drop everything by giving me this sob story about how you need me to get home! Then, some of YOUR enemies try and kill Spike and I! Let's not forget that I am completely out of a HOME now!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. I looked back at my brothers, nervously. "And all you have to say is that you're SORRY!?" I was completely silent. I felt the guilt suddenly reel up and bite me in the chest. "I-" "Look! We can fix this! Alright!?" Donnie suddenly exploded. "We know what we need to do for the Tele-Portal-" Wrong move. "Hah! Great! After all this, after all this loss, you all still care more about getting home! What are we going to do? Huh?" Thaaanks Donnie. My purple masked brother simply went back to moping in his seat again. With an angry grunt, she stormed out the front door of the cottage, slamming the door behind her and causing some of the things on the wall to shake violently. Everyone stood there in silence, with Fluttershy cowering on her seat as she tried to block out all the yelling. Part of me wished the Shredder would just come through the door and end it already. *** No one went to sleep after that. The house was extremely quiet as the morning sun shone through the windows of the nimble cottage. Twilight still hasn't returned, and I don't feel that she will anytime soon. I guess it was a good thing, she can finally blow off some steam. She's been under so much stress lately. It was only time before she snapped. My brothers and I didn't do much. We kind of just sat around the living room for most of the morning hours. We didn't have much to do, and with Twilight gone, Donnie couldn't really work on the Tele-Portal. Somehow, Pinkie had brought it along with her, which didn't make sense. The parts are pretty heavy, but I learned not to question her. That's what Fluttershy had told me, anyways. I was bored, and I was getting antsy. I couldn't just sit around. I needed to do something worthwhile with my time. Pinkie Pie was happily baking breakfast in the kitchen, which was very kind of her. She has been trying to cheer eveypony up all morning. Whether it be jokes, funny outfits, or whatever. No one was in the mood. The party pony then decided to make food to make us feel better, which I have to admit, just might work. I was rather starved. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Michelangelo tip toe into the kitchen almost cartoonishly. I raised a single eyebrow as he disappeared between the doorway. Somehow, no body in the else seemed to noticed. Everyone was kind of doing their own thing. I know it's not cool to spy on a relative, but I am the leader, as well as nosey. I also had a good feeling about what he was planning to do, and I wanted to witness it firsthoof. I got up and stealthily peeped through the door, making sure to be extra silent. Luckily, no one else seemed to be paying attention. They were either lost in thought, or they had begun to meagerly chat amongst themselves. Mikey was apparently speaking to Pinkie Pie about something personal, as he had not even said anything and he was already a deep crimson. "Uh, hi Pinkie." Mikey was looking at the tiled surface below him, but between every other word he would switch his glances from Pinkie, to the floor, and then back again. "Hi Mickey! How's it goin'?" Pinkie squealed as she broke a few eggs and dumped the yolks into a plastic bowl. Mickey? That's a new one. Heh, I was going to have to remember that. My brother squirmed just slightly, shifting his weight. "Could be better..." My brother sighed. Pinkie easily picked up on the fact that something was bothering him, and gave him a frown much like his own. "Aw! Don't be sad! Sadness never gets anypony anywhere!" Pinkie exclaimed, getting...unnecessarily close to my brother. I didn't know why though. I'm pretty sure she just wanted Mikey to smile, anyways. Mikey seemed to blush slightly, before taking a half step away. Pinkie's smile became rather crooked. "A wise man once said, the walls we build around us not only keep sadness at bay, but also joy." He mumbled just loud enough for Pinkie to hear. She tilted her head in a confused manner. Mikey sighed. "I'm not sad." "Something's troubling you! Tell me!" Pinkie egged on, getting even closer in Mikey's face, opening her eyes even wider than what they usually were. A little creepy, to be honest. I could tell that Mikey was fumbling around in his head, trying to think of different ways he could get out what he was trying to say. "Uhm, well, have you ever...you know...liked someone?" Mikey asked, looking away. I wasn't even a part of the conversation, and I already knew that Pinkie was going to take that question into the opposite direction that Mikey had wished. "Of course!" Pinkie smiled, Mikey's ears perked up a bit. "I like everybody! Everypony has a friend here in Ponyville, and that would be me!" Mikey's ears dipped, as he grumbled a bit to himself. "What was that?" She asked. "But...how do I ask this...have you ever, you know, liked anypony before?" He asked, putting a little too much emphasis on the word "liked". Pinkie nodded, but Mikey still didn't respond positively just yet. "Eeyep!" She answered. Mikey waited for her to follow up on her reply, but never received one. After a small pause, it was obvious that both ponies were on two completely different levels in all of this. Mikey facehooved so severely that he actually left a small red mark on his forehead. "No! I mean have you ever...uhm, loved anypony before?" Mikey smiled, please that there was no way for her to get around the question this time. "Yes! Multiple times!" Mikey beamed, pleased with himself, but it was short-lived. "I love my bestest-best friends! Like Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, Dashie and Applejack! Oh we've been through a lot together! We like to sing songs together, play games, oh! I've even thrown parties for all of them! They were a blast! You should've came! Then it woulda been a par-" "Pinkie, I think I'm in love with you." My jaw dropped so quickly, so suddenly, that it was inches away from hitting the floor. Did...did he...he couldn't have! The kitchen was so awkwardly silent, that I almost felt like I couldn't watch anymore. Mikey stood like a statue, unable to breathe, or even believe, what had just came out of his mouth. Pinkie, who was just interrupted, still had her mouth open with her tongue just outside of it, hilariously. Although, she did manage to furrow her brow. "I...don't know. It's just that...ever since I met you, there has been some sort of attraction, you know? Something that I can't explain. I've never really felt something like this before, as back home, we don't have...uhm...time for relationships. But I know what it is, and it's killing me inside, and I hope you can understand and that you feel the same way." After Mikey's monologue, Pinkie had just then come to terms with what he had said. She closed her mouth as her cheeks managed to turn an even rosier color than usual. Her usual joking smile on her visage had vanished, and it was placed with a much more sincere one. Well, that's a first. I guess Pinkie could be serious if she actually tried, albeit for very short timespans. "Uh...eheh..." Pinkie was at a loss for words. "I...well, I don't know much about love either. I mean, I have tons of friends, but I guess relationships are a wee bit different, aren't they? Truth be told, I think you're a pretty nice stallion." Pinkie gave Mikey the most heart-melting of smiles. "Really?" "Yup! And your swinging sticks are super cool!" She blabbed, almost going back into her super-hyperactive mode. Should have seen that coming. "Do...do you think that maybe you'd want to go on a date with me? Uhm, if you're not busy or something?" Mikey asked, his confidence rising dramatically. Oh man, the moment of truth! I stared hard at Pinkie, expectantly. "I'm not very used to..uh, dating. I've never even had a coltfriend before." Pinkie admitted, staring deep into Mikey's eyes as she relished in the rather embarrassing fact. "Well, neither am I. So why not learn together?" Mikey asked, reaching out his hoof. Okay, now I know I had heard that on television somewhere! I absolutely knew it! Well, just goes to show that a little too much television can go a long way...I still couldn't believe that this was happening. Pinkie quickly scooted over to Mikey and embraced him with a large hug. Although it was apparent that this time wasn't like the last. It was longer, and both of them were holding each other just a little tighter. "Sure!" *** Pinkie Pie and Mikey quickly resumed to chatting amongst themselves, giggling and laughing occasionally at both of their jokes. I was quickly getting bored and tired of eavesdropping, so I quickly turned back to look at the living room. Everything was exactly the same, except for the fact that it was a little brighter in the room as the sun had risen since I had last checked. Everypony was slowly getting more lively as time rolled by. There was still no news from Twilight, and I was starting to get a little worried. Her house was destroyed, where could she possibly be? Maybe at another one of her friends houses? Raph was the first to break the deafening silence as suddenly hollered, causing most ponies to jump at the sound of it. He threw his hooves in the air, exasperatingly. "That's it! I can't take it anymore!" He shouted, standing up from the couch. "What's goin' on?" Mikey asked as he and Pinkie poked their heads through the door. Donnie, Spike, Fluttershy, and everyone looked towards my red-masked brother. "I'm so sick of this! I'm bored, I'm tired, and I want to kick some Foot Ninja butt!" Raph argued, pulling out his sai and swining them around, causing Spike to take a few cautionary steps away from him. "We need to teach them a lesson for what they did to Twilight's library, and for messin' with us in the first place!" He seethed. Most of the bodies in the room rolled their eyes. "Chill, Raph. We all want to get rid of them, but it's not a good course of action." Donatello remarked, resting his head on his hoof, boredly. "Why not? They're obviously a threat to us, and all the...uh...ponies in this world! I wouldn't be surprised if they don't try to take over! We need to do something about this!" Something told me that Raph was just looking for a fight, but another part of me was curious. "The library was destroyed in minutes, and I doubt that the government has the knowledge or power to hold off the Foot. Only we do!" "Well, what did you have in mind?" Spike humored him, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow at the much-large stallion. "We go and find the Foot, wherever they are hiding, and we sabotage them! Or we knock some sense into them, at least!" Raph asked. I was starting to side with him, but his idea made me completely rethink why I actually listen to him sometimes. I mean, that's ridiculous! "That's...not a bad idea." Donnie replied, holding his other hoof in the air. I saw a small flash of yellow quickly make a break for the other room, although I decided not to question it. "If the Foot are here, chances are their technology is as well. If we can get in to their base and sabotage them, we might be able to grab some things that are necessary for the Tele-Portal." Okay, now this plan was making much more sense. "But there's a problem." I interjected. "We don't even know where their base is!" "Uhm...I might." A small voice squeaked behind me. We all turned to see Fluttershy emerging from the kitchen with a few small photos in her hoofs. "The other day I was exploring the Everfree forest, taking some of my animals on a walk, when I came across some kind of building that I have never seen before. There were these guards, and they chased me as soon as they saw me. I haven't seen my Angel since." Spike leaned over to me. "Angel is her pet bunny." I let out a small "oh" of understanding. "...I...I took a few pictures before they actually spotted me. Are these the ponies you were talking about?" Fluttershy asked, handing the photos around the room. As soon as they reached me, I knew that Fluttershy was onto something. In the middle of some wooded area was a very large, gray building. You could just tell that it was from our world, because it was very...industrial. I haven't seen a building like this one since arriving here. There were many large windows that were completely blacked out. The photo must've been taken in Fluttershy's haste, as it was slightly blurry, but I could have sworn that I saw the Foot Clans three toes dragon symbol on it. On another picture, it was the same exact thing, same place, same atmosphere. The only thing that was different was that it was even more blurry, and that there were two Foot Clan ninjas running towards the camera. That was when Fluttershy ran. To be honest, I was surprised that she actually got away...the Foot never quit... "So you're telling me that the Foot is right in our backyard?" Mikey added. Well, in a sense, they were. They were so close to us that it was rather alarming that we haven't been spotted yet. Raph had the most smug look on his face that made me wants to punch him straight in his jaw... "Yay!" Pinkie randomly cheered. "I'll get the confetti!" Everypony simply ignored her. I took a brief look at the pictures, formulating a plot in my head. I almost immediately thought of one, as the Foot always had some sort of fault in their architecture. We've broken into bases multiple times before, we sure as shell could do it again. "I think I have an idea. Everypony gather around..." I stated as I set the photo's on the ground. "Fluttershy, can you go grab some sort of sketchpad?" I asked, to which she quickly nodded and toddled off to her room to go and retrieve it. My mind was racing faster than it had in a while. The cheap thrill I get from strategic exempt. It was fun for me. I smiled as I finally realized it: I had a plan. > Start Game > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Perspective: Fluttershy We had waited until at least nightfall before we decided to put Leonardo's plan into action. And I have to say, I was not very comfortable with it...Leonardo only debriefed me with my own job. I had no idea what he and his brothers would be doing the whole time, and it made me a little nervous. He simply told Pinkie and I to "distract the guards" when the time was right. At first I was a little confused, but Pinkie was more eager than ever. It was as if she had her own plan ready to go from the start. Leonardo stated that he had very important jobs for each of us to do, even Spike. No offense to him, but I was not very sure what he would possibly do to be able to do to give assistance. I managed to overhear just some of what Leonardo had told him. "Why do I have to be the one to stay back? I want to help!" Spike argued, giving Leonardo a very nasty and cold stare. The young dragon was puffing out his chest, as if to prove that he was big and strong. "I'm not a little kid, I can help!" "You may not know it, but your job is plenty important." Leonardo replied, rather anxious to resume strategizing with his brothers. Spike jumped in front of him, however, not entirely finished yet. "Well, why don't you tell me!?" Spike was frustrated completely, I could tell just by the single fact that a little bit of gray smoke was fuming from his nostrils, although it was hardly noticeable. "You'll know when the time comes. I know you, Spike. You're a quick thinker, and I know you'll do fine." Leonardo answered him, almost deadpanning. With that, he patted the indignant dragon on the head and trotted back to speak with his other brother, Donatello. "Oh come on, Fluttershy!" Pinkie Pie piped as she wrapped a single foreleg around me. "This'll be easy! We just have to show them that we mean business!" She said, looking off into the distance of my cottage. I squealed a little bit at the possible danger looming ahead of us. The two guards have chased me before, and I had barely gotten away from them in one piece! It was so frightening! They were running really fast with some sort of wooden spear! They...they wanted to hurt me! Who would do that? I didn't even do anything... "But...what if something happens?" I brought up. My knees were shaking just slightly, but I tried to hide it, albeit doing a bad job at it. "Oh, don't be such a worry-wart. It'll be easy!" Pinkie replied, closing her eyes and giving me a kind smile. I couldn't help but be a little bit afraid. There were so many things that could go wrong! What if...what if I mess up? What if they...whoever they were, catch us? It was after eleven o' clock that night when we actually left my cottage. Well, everypony else did. Raphael literally dragged me out by my tail, as I was very unenthusiastic about leaving. Eventually, I decided to stand and walk on my own for the sake of everypony else. Leonardo made me lead the way, since I actually knew where the base itself was. That, and I knew this forest like the back of my hoof. The forest was known for being excessively dark, and there are also records of there being very frightening animals in here. Especially at night. There are plenty of creatures that prowl at this time. This was usually their feeding time, as a matter of fact. But what I learned is that most of the creatures didn't, and will not, eat ponies unless you provoke them. You could hear their cries as we made out way though the wood. I was used to the noises by now, but the others sure were not. "Uhm, what exactly are those...?" Michelangelo asked from the back of the line. His voice was shaky, and he was panting rather hard. "Mikey, it's probably nothing. I told you that you watch too many monster movies..." Raphael added. Although he was partially correct, he wasn't entirely. "Oh! Well, I know for sure that timber wolves and cockatrice live in this forest!" Pinkie answered for me. Once again, that wasn't the whole gist of it. "What are those?" Leonardo asked, surveying parts of his surroundings that he could actually see. "Cockatrice are half chicken, half dragon creatures. There aren't very many that live here. I've actually met one before. Looking them in the eyes can turn a pony to stone within seconds." There was a slight gasp from the ponies behind me, and I immediately felt bad. I didn't mean to scare them... "Like...like Medusa?" Donatello asked, to which I raised an eyebrow. I didn't think that Donatello was able to see my gesture, however, as he was near the back of the line with his youngest brother. "I suppose." I guessed, although I have no idea who this "Medusa" was. Donatello's pretty smart, so I bet he is partially correct with whatever he was talking about. "The animals in the forest won't bother us unless we provoke them." There were many relieved sighed behind me, the loudest coming from Michelangelo. After a few more moments, there was a very bright and blinding light coming from deep inside of the forest. It definitely wasn't natural, so there was only one possible answer. "We're here..." I squeaked. I knew what that meant, we're even closer to...doing my "duties". Leonardo charged ahead of me, and everypony else quickly followed suit. This time, I made sure to be last. Perhaps if I hide, somepony else will volunteer! Yep! Sounds like a solid plan to me! The ominous building looked even bigger in the nighttime, for some reason. It was much more menacing. The building was covering in black, held together by gray steel beans that protruded vertically down the sides of the structure. On the front of it, was a large, red emblem that reminded me of one of Spike's footprints. The industrial lights lit up the premises and about everything else within ten feet in diameter. Even still, there were two guards in front of the entrance, both holding wooden, pointed spears upwards as they stood at attention. I gulped loudly. Part of me was wondering why there were only two guarding the building, and not more. But I didn't worry about it. Maybe they're just inside? Taking a nice and quiet nap, perhaps? We all hid behind a long strand of bushes, to which everypony lined up against side by side to get a good look at the factory-like base. I made sure to sit as far away from Leonardo as physically possible while not technically leaving. I knew the woods well, but I still didn't want to get left behind, for any reason. "Now what?" Spike whispered, just loud enough for all of us to hear. I crouched REALLY low to the ground. Oh no... "Spike, I need you to stay right here-" "But why!?" "Just do as I say! And whatever you do...Do. Not. Move." With every word that Leonardo spoke, he moved in a little closer to the small dragons face. By the time he said the word "move", there were only about an inch apart, and Leonardo was giving Spike the most stony of stares. Spike gulped softly, before he plopped on his rump and crossed his arms. He then began to pout and mumble something to himself. "What about Fluttershy and I?" Pinkie whispered, who happened to be right next to Leonardo. Aw, Pinkie! Why!? "Oh, right. Like I said, you will both distract the guards. Also, to draw out any of the Foot who may be hiding nearby. They could possibly be expecting this." Oh, so...Pinkie and I are decoys? That didn't make me feel any better! "On the count of three, I need both of you to run out there and get their attention!" "Okie dokie!" Pinkie understood, giving a small salute. I stood up with a sigh, my knees were wobbling so hard that I almost tripped. "One...two..." I closed my eyes, and prepared myself. I had to do this, I had to get this over with... "Three!" "WHOOPEE- MMPH!" "Aaaaaagh!" I shouted at the top of my lungs as I plunged through the foliage and into the brightness of the spotlight. I didn't know how far I actually ran out, but when I felt like I was out in the open enough, I simply froze. It took me a moment, but I finally opened my eyes after a few seconds. I turned to my left, only to see a lack of pink. Oh no! It was only me, standing there. Pinkie...ditched me? I looked ahead and squealed as I realized that two of the black-clad 'ninjas' were literally two feet in front of me, eying me down and gripping their spears in their hooves menacingly. I felt a hot sweat flow through me as one of them raised their spear at me. I knew exactly what to do. With another cry, this time in distress, I ran back towards the bushes that were about five feet away at the time. I wasn't for certain that the ninja ponies were actually chasing me, as they ran in silence, but I still ran, just in case. I felt a few tears run down my cheek at the situation I was in. I didn't want to die! I was too young! Please, no! As I jumped through the shrubs, my heart dropped as I realized that no pony was there. Everypony was...all gone? My adrenaline was coursing through me, giving me the some sort of unforeseen stamina as I barged my way through. "No! Please!" I wailed at the guards who were silently giving chase, running through the wood with ease. They wouldn't stop. They would kill me this time! As I ran passed the undergrowth, an odd blur in my peripheral vision caused me to do a double take. Was it...purple? "Hey!" A young shout pierced the silence of the forest. I turned around, to see what might be my only hope. Spike. The reptilian had ran in front of the Guards, cutting them off from reaching me. I didn't know why, but I stopped my running. The guards furrowed their brow, and almost looked amused as the baby dragon tried to be heroic. Without wasting another moment, they raised their spears, without a sound. "Leave. Her. ALONE!" Spike suddenly screamed. I was not sure if it was intentional, but Spike emitted a large stream of green fire through his mouth, encasing the two guards in a sea of swirling, neon warmth. The guards immediately dropped their weapons and waved their hooves in the air ecstatically, trying to put out the fire themselves. It was in vain, and it only took a few more moments before they both fell to the ground, all in absolute silence. I brought a hoof to my mouth as I witnessed the entire situation happen right in front of my very own eyes. As they fell, the fire suddenly seemed to put itself out. Their ninja suits were burnt, and their fur color shone brightly underneath. Both were a very pale tan. Spike seemed unfazed at what had just happened, and waddled over to me, perturbed. "Are you okay?" He asked, his eyes were anxious. "I...I..." Spike looked back at the two ninjas, and let out a small tuft of air. "They're fine. They're still breathing. I...I don't know what came over me!" It took me a moment to stop shaking, and to finally come to my senses before I could actually respond. Spike knew just by looking into my eyes that I accepted his apology. It was...hard to watch, I admit, what had happened to those two guards. They didn't deserve it...they were only doing their job! I...I wish I could help... "Shh!" Spike suddenly quipped, holding a claw in the air as if telling me to 'stop'. "Do you hear that?" Both of us immediately looked around, to see the last thing we could have expected. My mouth dropped in awe... In a circle, there were more than a dozen Foot Ninjas. They surrounded us, as if blocking us from any chase of possible escape. Their blank, yellow eyes were emotionless, devoid of giving any sort of mercy. One ninja even stood right in front of the two burnt bodies, although he showed no signs of giving aid. "Uh.." Spike was in awe, his mind making calculations, trying restlessly to think of some feasible way to get out of this situation, but it was to no avail. Uh oh. Before anything else could occur, my mind started to stir. The sudden dizziness was unbearable, and caused me to lose all coordination. "Fluttershy!" Spike shouted as I slammed onto the soft grass with a THUD, before everything went black. *** Perspective: Raphael "Come on!" Leonardo shouted seconds after Fluttershy was tossed into the fray. It was my duty to hold Pinkie Pie back, who knows what she would have done. Eh, oh well. Spike's back there anyways. I was sure that he'd give her a hand. Leo was right, Spike did have a fairly important job. I witnessed it as my brothers, along with Pinkie, made a beeline for the side of the factory. Sure, I felt a little bad for Fluttershy, but we didn't really have a choice. We couldn't use Pinkie as a distraction, since we we're told that we were going to need her, although I have no idea what for. Everypony knew that it would have been impossible to convince her to go out alone. She was such a chicken! I knew deep inside that Leo didn't want to have to resort to that, but we all knew that it had to go down like that. Anyways, as Fluttershy was running towards where Spike was hidden, all five of us were already leaning up against one of the many windows that covered the outside of the base. I was a little confused on how we would get in, at first, but that was before Donnie stepped up. "Stand back...I got this..." He boasted before taking out a small turtle like gadget. Hey...was that...? He actually still has that glass cutting device? Why didn't he say so before? Quietly, he stuck the small turtle onto the glass and pushed its back. The turtle released a large handle from its backside that extended about halfway down the window. On the end of the handle was a knife, I believe, that actually pointed towards the glass. In one swift motion, the handle spun all the way around the utensil, creating a large circle about five feet in diameter in the window glass. When the turtle had made a full circle, the handle retracted back into the machine, and Donnie snapped it off the glass. "All set!" He whispered. He pushed the glass slightly, grabbing it and placing it on the soft grass before it made any sort of loud noise. Great, we have our entrance. I was first to climb through the hole. Since you know, I called dibs. I took the liberty of making sure the coast was clear, which of course, it was. The floor was a shining topaz, while the hallway walls were completely white, like snow. It almost reminded me of a laboratory. "'s all good." I muttered back to everypony behind me. With that, my brothers and Pinkie made their way through the hole behind me. "Well...certainly is clean in here." Leo exclaimed, making sure not to cut himself on any of the glass. We all looked down the hallway. Well, it looks like there was only one way to go. We basically tiptoed down the hall, effortlessly making almost no noise as we moved. It was quiet, almost peaceful, even. I hated it. I mean...gah! I want to kick some shell! I want to teach the Foot a lesson! Well, I guess that'll come in time. I was counting down the days. "Uhm...so...anyone have any good stories to tell?" Mikey asked from the back of the group, in a rather joking manner. Uh oh. Pinkie took in a large inhale of air, but before she could say anything, Donnie stuffed a hoof in her mouth. "Nope!" He whispered, albeit loudly. Mikey got visible angry at Donnie's motion and swiftling removed his hoof. "Sorry Pinkie, but we need to stay silent..." Pinkie nodded her head in understanding. To be honest, I didn't know why the heck Leo thought it was a good idea she come along. Sure, she helped save our butts ONCE. If anything, she was going to be a hinderance! I mean...seriously! I still didn't understand what went on inside that head of his. It's never anything good. He tends to help get us out of jams, but still. I know that I'm still a better candidate than he is... We seemed to walk on for about five more minutes, when we came up to a fork in the hall. "Okay guys...and Pinkie..." Donnie stated. Pinkie beamed. "Here's where we say out goodbyes." "Goodbyes?" Mikey asked. "What do you mean by that?" "Mikey!" Leo shouted in a hushed tone. "I told you this! The plan!?" "Uh...right! Yeah! Totally!" There was a slight pause, and Mikey's shoulders drooped. "No, not really..." Leo hit his head so hard that even Splinter would have been impressed. He let out a nice, long sigh before I decided to just step in and explain things, AGAIN, to the knucklehead. "Here's the deal. You and Leo are going to the control room to shut down the security and sabotage the entire base." I pointed over to Donatello, who was standing next to Pinkie Pie awkwardly. "Donnie, Pinkie and I are going to go find technology that we can use to help build the Tele-Portal. Got it?" I made sure to explain everything nice and slow. Mikey wasn't the sharped tool in the shed, that's for sure. "Isn't that stealing?" Mikey asked. I had to COMPLETELY restrain myself from shouting at this kid. "No. We're just borrowing what we need. I'm sure they have extras." Donatello answered for me. Good thing too. "Now, do you understand?" Michelangelo looked at Pinkie with a frown. The mare simply ushered her hoof over in Leonardo's awaiting direction, with a reassuring smile on her face as if to say "it's okay"...wait...am I missing something here? Are they...nah! Mikey doesn't have that sort of charm, or the body that would be necessary to even get a girl. Now, THESE pecs...that's a different story! "Uhm, yeah. I gotcha." Mikey said gloomily, fiddling with his nunchaku a little bit. Well, great. Now that that's settled, let's get this over with. With that, we split up. Pinkie, Donnie and I both went down the hallway to our right, while Leo and Mikey went down the other. I just hoped that Pinkie wouldn't get...annoying. I swear, I will not hesitate to- Sigh, nevermind. This hallway is much more...active...than I would have expected, or even preferred. We've had to hide from passing Foot multiple times, either resorting to hide in doorways, corners, and even once on the ceiling, making sure to stay out of sight from all of the security cameras. Donnie was very helpful to Pinkie Pie, who wasn't the best at "this kind of hide and seek". It was odd. I would have expected the other hallway that Leo went down to be more crowded than this one! I mean, it's a wonder how we weren't found yet, even considering that we are ninjas. You'd think that there would be more Foot guarding the control room than...wait... "Donnie, where are we actually headed?" I whispered to him seconds after two Foot patrols made their way past us. Fluttershy and Spike must be doing a really good job out there. "Armory, or some sort of technologically advanced room. We just need parts." He replied, his back facing a wall. His hoof was on the bouncy mare's chest, as if to keep her stationary as well. "...Why did we need Pinkie?" I couldn't help but ask. I really wanted to know the answer. It still didn't make sense. "Did you notice at the Library that Pinkie pulled that cannon out of nowhere?" Donnie deadpanned. As if on que, Pinkie peeked her head up from behind Donnie's. "Oh yes! I carry TONS of stuff with me!" Pinkie whispered. Before I could say anything, she pulled the following from her mane: a rubber chicken, tons of silly bands, an UNTOUCHED birthday cake, and a baby bottle. There were many other things, but she pulled them out so fast that I honestly couldn't tell you if she pulled them from her mane, or if she just reached behind her and did it.. I saw a glint of something shiny however, but I didn't feel like inquiring. I think it was a watch? Donnie looked at me with dull eyes. "That's why." "So she can do a magic act?" "So she can carry the tools that we need, Raph!" Donnie exploded, barely managing to keep his voice hushed. Jeez, what's been bothering him lately? He's...not himself. Oh well. I'm not a psychiatrist. I'll ask later. When we were sure that the hallway was clear, we emerged from the little nook that we were in and stealthily made out way back down the hall. I had a feeling that we weren't even close to our destination yet... *** Perspective: Michelangelo "This...this isn't right..." Leo said in a regular tone as he and I stealthily navigated our way down the hallway. There were very many cameras, and it was getting a little...difficult to make sure that we didn't get caught on any of them. After quickly following my older brothers lead, and snaking my way past the moving cameras, I decided to ask. "What isn't right? I can name a few things." I chuckled, poking Leo in the side. I must have hit a pressure point, because he jumped in the air a bit and rudely glared at me. "Mikey! Ugh, I meant the fact that we've been traveling down this hallway for ten minutes, and we haven't seen one guard yet..." He replied snakily. Now that I thought about it, he was right. I haven't seen one Foot Ninja walk down this hall yet. "...Maybe Fluttershy and Spike are doing a good job outside?" I inquired, raising a hoof in the air. There seemed to be a lack of cameras for a good few feet, so we stopped to take a quick break. Leonardo didn't look to pleased. "No...something's not right..." Leo claimed, his eyes opening just a little bit wider as the possible thoughts clouded his mind. The way he said that kind of put me off. I just hoped that Pinkie Pie was okay. I was really leery when it came to even bringing her in here. I couldn't stand to have her get hurt! If she did, it'd be my fault! Well, she might be able to take care of herself, and even if she can't she had Raph and Donnie by her side... I hope they know that she's MINE. "I find this to be a blessing." Leo's mouth almost seem to drop as he turned to look at me. He was hilariously dumbfounded. "What? It makes the job easier! Let's go!" I replied quietly as I jumped ahead of my bro, who rolled his eyes and followed my lead. About fifteen minutes later, we actually found it: the Control Room. I had almost ran right passed it, but luckily Leo was quick enough when it came to grabbing my tail and pulling me back. Leo looked at the door carefully, while I was more impatient. I grasped onto the door and was about to turn the knob, when- "No!" Leo shouted, literally throwing my hoof onto the floor. "Are you insane!?" I rubbed my now sore hoof and stuck out my bottom lip. He can really be a butt sometimes... "What'd I do?" Leonardo was fuming, and pointed to a little dial next to the door. On it, there were little buttons that went from one to nine, and then one that said "enter". Wait...oh. "You almost set off the alarm!" I blushed a little at my impulsiveness, and gave Leo an apologetic, yet goofy, smile. "Eheh...my bad." Leo rolled his eyes as he proceeded to restlessly inspect the lock, sighing disappointedly as his eyes traced over the advanced mechanism. "It appears that it needs a three digit combination...I knew we'd need Donnie for something like this!" He mumbled. I can understand. Donnie is a great asset in our team, and although we really needed him right now, he was the only one who knew what parts we actually needed for the Tele-Portal. I guess Leo thought we could figure it out on our own. Okay, Michelangelo, time to shine! "If watching television has taught me anything, the code is probably something extremely simple." I brought up, but Leo didn't seem to enthused. "Mikey, do you really think that a ninja clan would lock everything with a simple password like "123" or "555" or something? That's ridiculous!" Leo threw his hooves over his head, panicking just a little bit. Hm...I had an idea! "Stand back, and hand me one of your swords!" I announced has I got down on my knees over by the lock. Leo took a step back. "You could break it! It'll set off everything and the whole mission will be compromised!" He replied shockingly, holding onto both of his katana tightly. "I help Donnie with his gadgets all the time! I already have a good idea of how to uhm...'defuse' the lock." I said. I was not good at coming up with words, so I improvised, okay? I'll think of a better word later. Leo looked at me, then the lock, and then back again. "Trust me." Those last two words seemed to do the trick. With a sigh, he unsheathed one of his swords and carefully handed it over to me. With a grin, I grabbed the sword and used the edge of it to slide off the central monitor, getting a good look at the entire motherboard behind it all while Leo stared back at me, seemingly waiting for disaster to strike. Now, Donnie once told me that when it comes to locks, there are always a red wire, and a blue wire. I immediately saw then and raised the sword up to both of them before I stopped myself. Oh. Maybe it was the green wire I'm supposed to cut? Which one was it? Crap. "What are you doing?!" Leo muttered, watching from afar. I was trembling just slightly. "One of these wires will unlock the door, the other two will set off the alarm..." "Dang it Mikey!" Leonardo wasn't very good with technology as Donnie was, but when my bo-staffed brother isn't around, I'm the best choice. Well, more like the only choice. Raph never had the patience for dealing with technology. I raised the end of the sword up to the red wire, then the green, and then the blue. I closed my eyes as I slipped the sword underneath the small wire, and with a plink, I cut the blue wire. I waited, and waited. But nothing happened. I let out a breath filled chuckle as I soon heard the locks inside the door tumble, and the door open itself. Success! Leo was astounded. "I have no words." He mumbled as he peeked his head through the door. I quickly reattached the main frame in a matter of seconds before following my brother inside of the Control Room. The room was fairly small, but it looked extensively complicated. The walls were a dark, steeling color that reminded me of aluminum, and the floor was a similar colored gray. There were dozens of small monitors that shown various parts of the building, most of which we had no idea even existed in this building. There were Foot Soldiers all over the place! Below the monitors was a station that was absolutely covered in different colored buttons and levers. I took on a seat in the chair and began to extensively observe the situation. "We need to find a way to shut own all the cameras..." "Mikey." I didn't hear him, I was too in the zone. "Maybe if we can disassemble the...uhm...this thing...and then flip a few of those switches..." "Mikey?" "Oh! What if we simply destroy the panel?" I thought about it for a moment. That was a horrible idea! "Or, maybe we can somehow signal Donnie to make his way over here and he-" "MIKEY!" Leo suddenly shouted behind me. I jumped in my seat and turned to look at my brother. He deadpanned as he pointed to a different part of the panel of which I didn't see. There were dozens of little switches that read "Camera 1". "Camera 2", all the way up to thirty. All of the switches were "on". "Oh...I knew that." I replied as Leo and I started be quickly flip the switches, and watched as the cameras, one by one, quickly turned to static. Before we forgot, I made sure to find the switch that overrides all of the door locks. You're welcome, Donnie. Although, that only meant that we'd have to get out of here sooner. It was only time until the Foot realized that all the doors that should be locked were wide open, and then a few would come up here to check it out. It took us a second, and we there were only about five switches left before Leo suddenly shouted. "Stop! Hold on!" Leo was staring at a certain camera, which caused me to raise an eyebrow. I kind of had a bad feeling about this. "What's going on?" I asked, trying to get a good view of the camera he was looking at. However, the monitor was in the far corner, and I had trouble seeing it from my seat. With great reluctance, I stood up to get a better view. I wish I hadn't. The camera was for that of a jail cell. It had the cliche steel bars that kept the unlucky captives inside. The walls and the floor were both made of steel, and were lacking in any sort of foundation. It was just a simple room full of nothing...but that was until I saw a little purple dot on the screen. The camera focused itself in on the individual inside of the cell, and I felt my heart instantaneously drop. Inside the cell, Spike was furiously rattling the bars, screaming. The camera appears to lack a microphone, but if I had to take a guess, he seemed to be shouting "Let us out!" Wait..."us"? In the far corner of the cell, there was another splotch of color. One that was a dull yellow, with various hints of pink scattered about. The pony was lying on its side, breathing softly, its eyes shut tightly. She wasn't moving. > +100 points > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Perspective: Michelangelo I...I was not sure, but I really think that that was the tipping point for Leo upon seeing Fluttershy and Spike in containment. He proceeded to curse harshly to himself. I was sure that he would have started screaming and hollering if it was not for the fact that we were still incognito. I have never seen him this upset before. He was usually so calm and collected! Our plan never really work out anyways, I really did not understand. Actually, I believe that that might be the problem right there. Now that I think about it, he is the one that usually comes up with the plans. Of course, not everything works out the way we plan for it to. If anything, we needed to start making more and more backup plans, as we seemed to be in dire need of them as of late. Leo took out his katana and angrily swung them around, slicing at the air as if there were multiple enemies in front of him. "Why!?" "Dude, chill!" I said, holding up a hoof while still keeping my distance. I sure as shell did not want to get hit with one of those blades, although he knew better to put me in danger. When he noticed that I had taken a step back, he reduced the range of his slashes. "Why didn't they run!? Fluttershy and Spike should've gotten away!" He slashed at the air, letting out a sharp cry. "This puts the whole plan into jeopardy! Why didn't Fluttershy and Spike simply fly away! That was the point!" I had a bad feeling about this. His face was going red with fury. I think he may have picked up some things from Raph, or so it seemed. I do not know, I am not a philosophical pony/turtle/thing. I think that was the right word... "Leo! Calm down!" I tried again. He did not appear to hear me. I think I broke him. He continued to yell at himself, as he finally brought the sword swinging to a minimum. He was furious, and I knew that I needed to find a way to calm him down, fast. While he was occupied, I waddled next to him, while dodging his occasional slashes, and promptly smacked him across the face with an open...hoof? Gah! Hoof, hand, same difference. I do not really care anymore. Leo reeled back with a hoof to his face, a look of complete astonishment as he stared at me. There was a brief silence as I rubbed my fist. I accidentally punched the hard part of his jaw. Apparently, ponies have more refined jaws than most of the bad guys that I fought back in New York. He let out a sigh as I finished rubbing away the slight uncomfortableness in my hoof. "Thanks," he grumbled, gently feeling his cheek. I had unintentionally left a red mark on it. Oops. "I needed that," Leo looked at the floor, apologetically. I almost felt bad for him. The stress, man, it could not have been good for anyone. Being a leader had really put a burden on him, it seemed. "So, now what do we do?" I asked, attempting to move on from the awkwardness that I had just created. Leo simply looked at the ceiling, as if he was thinking. Although, it did not take him very long to come up with another idea. "Simple," he stated. "We go and rescue Fluttershy and Spike. I'm sure that Donnie, Pinkie and Raph are still out searching-" "How do you know? They might have the stuff in tow and are heading for the exit as we speak." I brought up, but Leo shook his head. "Not likely. If they had left, we would have known. They would have hinted at us somehow. Plus, I didn't see them on any of the cameras, and none of them seemed to have been tampered with, which leads me to believe that they are still sneaking around in the hallways or an elevator shaft, or something. You know how we do things, Mikey." He explained. I groaned, but he had a point. "Come on," he continued. "Let's go find Spike and Fluttershy," Leo then opened the door to the room, as I trailed behind him. I suddenly found myself a little more excited. "Well, time to save the day again! Do you think Spike will want some autographs? Agh! I forgot a pen-" SMACK "OUCH!" "Payback." *** Perspective: Donatello Ok. This was getting weird. The farther we trekked, the more and more Foot Ninjas we actually began to see. I was actually starting to get a little nervous. I was expecting there to be a decent amount of Foot in the area, say they did have a portal, but I did not expect THIS many. I mean...ugh! There were about a hundred in this wing alone! It was getting much harder to navigate the area. It got to the point of where we had to literally hide inside of a small closet just to make sure that we were not seen. Raph let out a great groan in annoyance. "Great! Now what are we supposed to do? Hide like wimps? We don't have all day!" He said in a hushed tone. Even he knew that the room was not soundproof. "'Course not! Just...just gimme a minute to think..." I said, I opened the door just a crack just to assess the situation. I let out a muffled gasp upon seeing that there were about three figures meagerly guarding the door, idly swishing their tails right in my face. They stared straight ahead, not even moving. Each of them held either a sword, or a spear. Great. In my shocked state, I failed to get a good look at them before I began to retreat. I silently closed the door and looked back to Pinkie and Raph, who were both staring at me with an eye raised. I shook my head. "Yeah. There's, like, three out there." "Hah! We can take 'em!" Raph announced, smacking his hooves together as if he was ready to pound the Soldiers to dust. I noticed Pinkie frown. "...We...we can't just hurt them like that! It's not very nice!" Raph and I both face...hooved? Yeah. That. I need to learn more about horse anatomy. Do not get me wrong, but I did not study up on it much back in our world. I never really found it to be something that I absolutely needed to learn, so I put off the research for a bit. Boy, was I regretting it right about now. "Do you not realize what your cannon did earlier-" I quickly interrupted him. We did not have the time to argue about small things. "She's right. We can't take them out very stealthily, considering that Pinkie lacks the knowledge to...uhm...get the job done effectively. We could try to take them on, but we risk blowing our cover. All in all, it's a bad idea." I concluded. Once again, Raph groaned. "Well, what do we do? We can't get out of here, and we're runnin' short on time," he asked. Suddenly, Pinkie gasped. I almost found it kind of cute. Her eyes almost puffed up. But something weird happened, her tail twitched multiple times. "Uh oh!" She stated, looking around almost nervously. She backed herself up against the wall on her hind legs, as if she was being accused of murder. It was extremely hard to tell if she was trying to be funny, or serious. "What? What is it?" I asked. Once again, I had another bad feeling. "My tail twitched eight times!" She exclaimed, a little louder than I would have preferred. Luckily, the guards outside did not seem to hear. Raph furrowed his brow. "What? What does that have to do with anything?" he asked. "My Pinkie Sense is going off! It means that the door is going to open in approximately forty-five seconds!" She admitted. My eyes widened. Wait...Pinkie Sense? Was that kind of like the Spidey-Sense? Was Pinkie psychic or something? I had no idea... "...What?" Raph said rather dumbly. "You gotta be kidding. Since when do you tell the future?" He rolled his eyes, crossing his hooves vexingly as he sat his rump on the ground. I was a little torn at the moment. "It's true." She suddenly set all of her hooves on the ground. "My Pinkie Sense never lies!" "...That is the dumbest thing I have ever-" Raph stared, but everyone stopped dead in their tracks as we heard a voice just on the outside of the door. It was a new voice, and it was rather gristly. To be honest, it made the fur on the back of my neck stand up. I could not for the life of me understand what the Foot Soldier was saying, but I knew that we needed to get out of there, quick. I scoured the darkness of the room. "We have to get out of here!" I said. Pinkie and Raph quickly got to work, looking for any sort of exit. We were quickly running out of time. I believe we only had twenty seconds, if Pinkie's guess was accurate. "Come on!" I said to myself. Time almost seemed to slow. The air in the room had suddenly gotten very stuffy. Part of me wanted to pass out. "Up there!" Pinkie suddenly shouted, pointing up to an air vent that lied on the ceiling. I cringed. Darn it Pinkie, TOO loud. There was an exchange of words from the other side of the door. Oh no! In a flash, I stuck my bo staff across the door, lodging it in place. The door handle shook vigorously as the pony on the other side of the door grunted with exertion. But it was in vain. Well, that gave us a few more seconds. Although, we still needed to hurry. I had to admit, even I was surprised with the durability of my bo staff sometimes. Raph had already gotten the grate open, causing it to hang from two bolts. Luckily, it was easy to reach if you just stood on your hind legs. We tossed Pinkie up first for obvious reasons. When she was safely in the air vent, she reached out her hoof and hoisted Raph up with her. That just left me. I had to be quick. The door's pounding was getting more harsh. The moment I grabbed my bo staff, the door would open. "Get ready!" I said, still in a hushed tone. Raphael quickly reached out his hoof. The door was literally beginning to shatter. I could see various cracks in the wood, and it was only getting worse with each pound. Not at all hesitating, I grabbed the staff and jumped upwards, silently praying that Raphael would grab my hoof. I felt a force pull me upwards, right into the air vent. I closed the grate behind me just as the Soldiers opened the door. "I know I heard something!" One of them said. Pinkie, Raph and I all observed through the grate. None of us made any sudden movements, or even breathed for that matter. What almost made me nervous was that they did not appear to be Foot. They just looked like regular ponies, albeit similar. The three of them were tan in body color, with a short brown mane. The only thing that differentiated them was the fact that they all had different eye colors. "What the..." The blue eyed one said upon trotting in. He kept his sword at bay. My mind was wracking itself. Are...are the Foot Ninja working with someone? If they were the Foot, they would be wearing the outfits, right? My head was starting to hurt. "I know for sure I heard some kind of high pitched noise..." Raph and I both glared at Pinkie, who cuddled her hooves to her chest like a child, blushing and giving us an innocent smile. Man, Mikey sure lucked out with Pinkie. I sighed. "You're losing it, brother." The one with hazel eyes said. Wait, 'brother'? The one with blue eyes stomped his hoof, childishly. "I really did hear something!" The remaining pony rolled his green eyes, as he began to slowly walk out of the room. "Have fun explaining this mess to the boss." He said. "I'm going to go alert everyone, just incase you did hear something. Don't you worry." Why does everything seem to hate me? I sighed silently as the other two "brothers" left the closet. Pinkie and Raph finally let out the breathe that they were holding in, although Raph immediately turned to me. "What do you think they were talking about? Boss?" "I don't know, and I really don't want to." > Jailbreak > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Perspective: Raphael Well, goodie. We just barely managed to hide from those similar-looking guards in time. I mean, jeez. Too close for comfort, I tell ya. I had a little bit of sweat accumulating on my forehead, which I proceeded to whip away. We had a lot of close calls before, but that really put me on edge. I couldn't stop thinking about those weirdo's back there. They were vastly similar, save for eye color. I don't know. What were they even doing there? If they weren't part of the Foot, then who exactly where they? Ugh, this was going to bother my brain for awhile. With a grunt of discontent, I followed Donnie and Pinkie through the vents. Now, I've done my fair share of vent-crawling. Sometimes, it's kind of fun. It's a great way to eavesdrop on others and learn information. Othertimes, it's simply cool, and a nice place to chill on a hot day. Okay, I may not have done the latter, but you get my point. Either way, I liked vents. The only reason I wasn't so excited about this one was because a pink ball of hyperactivity had her butt directly in my face. Sigh. This was going to be a long day, wasn't it? "Okay, we gotta be gettin' closa' now, right Donnie?" I asked, getting excessively tired of crawling, which seemed to have no ending in sight. I couldn't see Donnie over Pinkie's butt, but I knew that he was having a very hard time up there. I could just tell by the way he was breathing. Maybe the poor guy was just on edge about all of this. I was sure that he was the most disturbed by what had been happening over the last few days, for obvious reasons. "Yeah, just a little bit farther," he sighed. Pinkie noticed Donnie's distressed, and took it upon herself to try and lighten the mood. "Oh, come on, Mr. Grouchy Pants!" She whispered, somehow remembering that we're still on a stealth mission. Don't get me wrong, she's hyperactive, but I still didn't know about her...intellectual skills. Ok, yeah, that may come off a bit bad, but it's hard to tell when she's just being weird, or if she's just genuinely stupid. "We'll be out of here soon, and we'll at least have the parts to your thing-a-mah-doodle!" she continued. Wait, did she not know what that meant? Leo told me about her and Mikey earlier. Maybe she's just not thinking about it, or she didn't care? I didn't know, ignorance is bliss, I guess. Pinkie's attempt to cheer up Donnie failed, as he let out another groan. "Yeah...right," I was, once again, slowly losing my patience with him. He's starting to bum me out. Believe it or not, but I did not take part in pity-parties. Look, if one of my brothers are upset, I'd do my best to help, but as of right now there wasn't nothing I could do. He either needed to cheer up, or spill the beans. As we continued to crawl, Donnie's unnecessary sighs began to lessen, which slowly calmed me down. I had to admit it, I'd much rather be with Mikey and Leo right about now. That reminded me, I wondered how they were doing? There were a ton of the Foot over here, so maybe they were having better luck with all of this. After about five more minutes of vent-walking, Donnie finally stopped. Instead of some sort of sigh or grunt, a soft gasp escaped his lips. "Guys...." he started. I tried my best to look over Pinkie's butt, as well as her fluffy tail and mane. After getting into the most awkward of positions, I finally managed to get a peek at my bro. He was staring down, possibly through some sort of grate. "What? What is it?" I couldn't help but ask. Hey, I was curious. I would've felt stupid if my suspicions were wrong. Maybe he dropped a contact or something. "T-Take a look at this," he whispered, crawling over the grate so Pinkie and I could get a better look. The mare walked over it and somehow managed to turn around to look down it, while I stayed on the same side. We both simultaneously looked down. "Oh..." I emitted. Oh no. There was a loud commotion from the other side of the grate. I was looking into some sort of...multi-purpose room. There were Foot Soldiers all over the freakin' place, they chatted amongst themselves, or...something. I didn't really look at what they were doing, all I knew what that there were way too many of them. They all had weapons, from hammers, to spears, to swords. Some where practicing magic, or flying, or agility like-exercises. "Look, in the north end of the room," Donnie whispered, to which Pinkie and I both adjusted our views. My eyes must have glimmered when they laid eyes upon a very, VERY similar machine. "It's a Teleportal!" Donnie whispered. I stared in silence, and Pinkie was just as dumbstruck. There were foot soldiers walking in and out of the portal. The ones that walked in were carrying some boxes, most likely full of weapons or something. The ones that came through were carrying very large pieces of scrap metal, motherboards, and various other technological things. Also, the ones that came through seemed very unbalanced, as if it was their first time on four- Ohhh... "We need to get some of that!" Donnie explained, slightly worried. I felt myself growing a little leery of this also. There were too many of them to start a fight, plus it would blow our cover. We couldn't be stealthy, we'd be found out almost immediately. Hm, I didn't think we actually planned for something like this. "Uh, I don't think I can fit that whole thing in my mane..." Pinkie added, finally snapping out of her trance. I didn't think it was the Teleportal and the Foot that grabbed her attention. There were a lot of shiny things in there... Donnie almost smacked his head. I could tell. "No!" He yelled, in a hushed manner. "Of course not! We just need to grab as much stuff as we can, and get out of here!" "How do we know what to grab?" I intruded. "A trans-thermalizer, a flux capacitor, a rotor belt, a-" Good thing Donnie stopped so soon, because Pinkie and I were already confused. We both raised our eyes at him, causing his to groan once again. "Grab anything shiny and important looking," he generalized. "Oh! Okay!" said Pinkie, rather loudly. Donnie and I jumped, almost slamming our hears against the top of the vents. Instinctively, we both hopped ontop of her, covering her mouth and hushing her. "MMHPPH!" "Hey, did you hear something?" I heard a Foot Soldier say below me. Everyone stopped instantly upon hearing the voice, and Pinkie gave me the most guilty look I think I had ever seen; the look that basically screamed "My bad! Don't hate me!" Jeez, she has huge eyes. It's kinda creepy. So...how do we pull this off... *** Perspective: Leonardo Ugh. The things I put up with. So far absolutely nothing is going according to plan. Fluttershy and Spike were captured by stupid Foot Soldiers, and are locked up in some sort of jail cell. The same question ran through my head: Why? Why didn't they run? Fluttershy's first instinct is to run from danger, so why did her and Spike stay? She could fly! I was seething at the fact that we have another mission to take care of just because of those two and their stupidity. Whatever, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they didn't have time to run, or something. "How far away is this jail cell anyways?" Mikey asked from behind me. Luckily, there still weren't any soldiers around, so we were able to relax just a little bit. Although I wouldn't allow myself to let down my guard too much. "Not very far. It should be coming up pretty soon..." I said, truthfully. If I wasn't mistaken, we were actually very close. "I'm kinda hungry," Mikey added, causing me to roll my eyes. Leave it to Mikey to be worried about his stomach moreso than the mission at hand...hoof...how do the ponies here even use metaphors? "Can it, Mikey," "I could use a can of soup right about now..." ...I was near moments from smacking him again. I gave him a strong glare, to which he reluctantly noticed. Realizing my displeasure with his playful attitude, he gave me a meek grin. Seriously, what goes though his head during missions like these? Like usual, I decided not to question him. Maybe him and Pinkie actually did make a decent couple... It appeared that I had spoken just a moment too soon, as the hallway that we needed to descend down showed itself just a few seconds later. I knew it was down the hall, but I didn't know how far. That was the only issue. If there were prisoners, that meant there must've been guards keeping watch. The last thing I wanted to do was nab their attention, if there even were any to begin with. I motioned to Mikey to keep quiet by squinting at him and bringing a hoof over to my lips. I leaned up against the wall using my hind legs. I was actually starting to get the hang of doing that, albeit I barely had any practice. At least I had some leverage. Mikey mimicked me to a tee, and put a hoof to his cheek as he whispered, "Come on, dude, is the coast clear?". Part of me wanted to answer that question sarcastically, but it was not really the time for it. I hushed him, and peeked my head around the corner. I only got a very brief look, but it seemed that I was correct when it came to two things: where the jail cells were located, and the guards. I wasn't sure which I was more excited about. Luckily, there were only two guards watching the cells, and they were chatting amongst themselves about something. I really couldn't make out what it was, but that was the least of my worries There were only two jail cells, and they were both right across from each other. They were very stereotypically made, with grey iron bars with a key slot on the door. No worries, we've done stuff like this before multiple times. One of those guards must have the keys to open the cell... However, there was a problem. The guards are chatting. One is facing towards me, while the other is facing in the opposite direction as they spoke. I pulled my head back upon the realization and, somehow, I wasn't spotted. Anyways, the cells were about twenty feet away, and there was absolutely no cover. If we tried to walk down the hall, we'd be spotted within seconds. "There's two guards. We need a distraction," I whispered to my youngest brother, whose face instantaneously lit up like a flashlight. "I have an idea-" Mikey started, but I really doubted that. "Wait, do you hear that?" he said, rather suddenly. He scooted a little closer to me, and I decided to take a minute to listen. I did hear talking, but I never really paid attention to the voices. I tuned myself in: "Shut up, you!" I heard a voice shot, most definitely one of the guards. I heard the scraping of metal on the floor. Were the guards even armed? Er...hooved? ...Ugh. Yeah, probably, it's the Foot, they love their weapons. "Yeah...whatever you are! Sit down before we have to resort to stepping on you!" said what I assumed was the other guard. But this time, it was much more feminine. I wasn't entirely sure. But then, I heard a newer voice. It was a sound that I was surprised to hear at first, but after a split-second of thinking, I realized that I should have expected it at some point or another. "Step on me?!" Spike practically hollered. "Let us out of here! She isn't waking up, she needs help!" Wait, 'she'? Thinking back on it now, he probably meant Fluttershy. That almost unnerved me, as it's been about two hours since Spike and Fluttershy initially distracted the guards. I hoped she was alright. "Don't worry, Fluttershy...Spike....we'll get you out of here soon..." I mumbled to myself. Mikey must've heard me, as he gently patted my back. I had to give the little guy credit though, he was really helping us out. My guess was that he was either really naïve, and thought the guards would let him out if he simply asked, or he was trying to distract them until we came along. It didn't matter, however, as it really did make the job a little easier for Mikey and I. "There's two of them," I whispered to Mikey. "I'll take the farther one, while you take the one that's closer to us," I instructed. I did this for obvious reasons, as any other way would've most likely ended with disaster. Mikey gave a swift nod as I slowly removed myself from the wall, and began to practically crawl towards the jail cells, and the guards. "Lizard...reptile...thing! Whatever you are, I don't care! Shut your dumb mouth before we come in there ourselves!" Closer.... "I'd like to see you try! You guys are nothing but bullies! Big, dumb bullies!" "Yeah, you're lucky we didn't take your lunch money," Even closer... keep it up, Spike... "I don't even have pockets!" Dang it, Spike. The guards, who really didn't have a rebuttal for Spike's statement, decided to end the argument on that note. Imagine their surprise when they saw Mikey and I crawling towards them, with Nunchaku in one of our hooves. The guard closest to me dropped his jaw, while the other grabbed the sword on her back using her magic. She was grinding her teeth, and was growling menacingly. Well, I actually found it kind of funny. She wasn't intimidating in the slightest. "Leonardo! Michelangelo!" Spike announced, happily. I would have facehooved if I had the chance, but the unicorn Foot Soldier angrily swung her sword down on me. Thanks for just...announcing our names like that, Spike. The Foot probably knew it was us, but maybe they didn't know our pony forms, you know? The horn on top of the same guards' head shimmered a bright purple, and so did her sword. Before it hit me, I brought up my own sword and flinched as they both clanged together. "Agh!" I exclaimed. Wow, that was a lot of force. The guard was...much stronger than I originally thought. "Leo! I'm comin' bro!" Mikey shouted, before noisily holding up both of his nunchaku. At first, I thought he was going to charge the unicorn foot soldier who was attacking me. Thank god he actually thought things through and attacked the other guard instead, who had yet to make a move. The unicorn lifted up her sword, disconnecting it with mine in a cheap attempt to jab with it. I was seconds away from being skewered, as I was very vulnerable given the angle I was in. I was practically on my back. With a grunt, I rolled to the right, ending up on my belly as the sword jammed itself into the concrete floor. Mustering up as much strength as I could in that split-second, I stuck my bottom in the air, reared up my legs and slammed them into the guard's chest. It let out a small squeal of pain as she flew back and slammed into the ground with a large THUD as slowly got back up. "OOMPH!" said a non-familiar voice near me, follow by the sound of a body hitting the floor. The other guard which Mikey jumped was clearly knocked out, as the only part of him that was moving was his chest. Above him, Mikey swung both of his nunchaku triumphantly. He gave me an extremely smug grin as he held one up. "I've always wondered why these weren't called 'funchakus'," he joked. I was in the midst of rolling my eyes when a purple magical blast sent me sprawling to the ground, sending some sort of ripping sensation through my chest as I slammed into the wall. "Leo!" The unicorn guard was now on her feet, and she was angry. Very angry. "I'm going to slaughter both of you!" Uh oh. I had a bad feeling about this. I had completely underestimated the unicorn's strength and skill. I jumped back to my, uh..hooves, shaking off the weird tingling in my body as I pointed to the jail door. "Get Fluttershy and Spike out of here! Head for the exit! We'll rendezvous outside!" I didn't care about my volume anymore. Our cover's been blown, and there was nothing we could do about it anymore. Quickly, Mikey grabbed the cell keys off the guard he knocked out, and fumbled with them Spike was cowering inside, and Mikey was having an insane amount of trouble. He dropped the keys multiple times before he finally spoke up a few seconds later. "Come on, let us out of here!" Mikey blew up at the little dragon, picking up the keys yet again of the floor. "The keys are small! The hole is small! These hooves are huge! Give me a minute!" Meanwhile, the unicorn continued to launch those incessant purple blasts at me from her horn, grunting with exertion every time she hurled one in my direction. The lasers were quick to soar through the air, but I found it extremely easy to dodge them. However, I had completely no room to retaliate. The blasts kept coming, and I found myself ducking at every singe opportunity. Wow, I really need to learn how to do that. I'd imagine it was extremely hard to do, the only pony I've seen that knew how to do that was.. ... With an angry charge, I magically held one of my swords vertically infront of my body. I was a bit excited to see that my assumption was correct and every single blast that headed my way simply bounced off it, and into the wall either to my right or left. Although one came extremely close to hitting Spike, which made him squeak like a little girl. With a mighty yell, I tackled the guard to the ground. "Ahah! I got the door open!" Ignoring Mikey, I scuffled with the Foot Soldier until eventually I came out on top, literally. She was on her back, with her forelegs pressed against her chest in submission as I heroically stood over her. I had a bad feeling, and I hoped that my suspicion was false. It couldn't be true. Please, be false. I surrounded the soldiers mask with my blue aura, and narrowed my eyes as I began to slide it off. She extended her hooves as a last resort. "No, wait-" But it was too late. I slid the Foot mask off of her visage, and came face to face with the very disappointed frown of one Twilight Sparkle. > Never Easy... > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Perspective: Leonardo I stared blankly at the mare. Terrible thoughts running through my head as I tried to process exactly what the shell was going on. I tossed the Foot Mask that Twilight was wearing to the ground, far away from her. What was going on? Why was Twilight working for the bad guys? Surely she knew that they were not to be trifled with after the destruction of her home. Mikey had succeeded, finally, in getting the jail door open. Mikey was watching on, just as awestruck as I was. Frankly, all of my brothers had taken at least some sort of liking for the mare. So why would she stab us in the back like this? Spike waddled out of the cell with Fluttershy in tow, asleep. Wow, when that mare fainted, she really didn't joke around... "W-What's going on?" Spike asked, prompting Mikey to turn to him. "Well, you see-" he started, but I interrupted him. Spike already knew where he was, and we can inform Fluttershy after we got out of there. I really hoped we wouldn't have to carry her. I was sure she would wake up soon. The other guard that was working with Twilight had disappeared, leading me to believe that we've been compromised. Also, we had better things to talk about. "Mikey, hold it. We'll explain later." Twilight rubbed her head, like he had a ginormous headache. I would have apologized for hitting her, but considering the situation, I didn't. "Twilight, you have some explaining to do." I said, as she finally rose to her hooves. Her eyes were somewhat bloodshot, as if she hadn't slept in a while. Her face was also sickly pale, and she looked like she wanted to vomit. She was dazed, and with her in this state there would be no hope for answers. Our time is limited, and I wanted an explanation. Now. Using my magic, I stepped off of her and hoisted her to her hooves, making sure she was fully balanced before letting go of my telekinetic grip. She shook her head, raggedly. "Thanks." I said absolutely nothing. I simply growled to show my exact distaste for all of this. "I-I can explain!" she said, raising up a hoof as if I was going to attack her again. Believe you me, I didn't hit girls. But when they try to literally kill me, then it's a whole different story. "Get to talking, then." I said. I had no concern for her feelings right then. I did when she stormed out of Fluttershy's cottage, but not anymore. Is this her payback? She gets mad at me, so she joins the other side? Oh boy, I was going to have a good time listening to her try and weasel herself out of this one. "Look, I'm sorry! There's something weird going on! The ponies-" "Whoa, cool mask..." Spike mentioned, picking up Twilight's mask. He idolized it for a moment before lifting it up to put it over his head, but Twilight noticed just in the nick of time. She let out a jarred scream and smacked it out of his claws. "YOWCH! What the heck!?" he hollered back. At this point, I didn't even care about the amount of noise we made. We were screwed anyways. Besides, if my calculations were correct, we had around four minutes until we were surrounded by angry, flaming Foot Soldiers. "Don't put that on!" Twilight yelled, lifting up the mask using her magic. She turned to me, as Mikey scooted just a bit closer. I think he just felt like being included. "There's something strange going on in Ponyville! The ponies in town are all fakes!" Mikey, Spike and I all raised an eyebrow. Fakes? "Leo, I think you knocked something of hers loose." Twilight frowned, telepathically grabbed one of Mikey's nunchaku, and smacked him across the face with it. Not painfully, but hard enough to get the point across. "I'm not joking! Have you talked to me in the last day or so?" Twilight asked. I wasn't buying this in the slightest, but I decided to humor her. "Nope. You got all mad after your house got destroyed and we haven't seen you since." Mikey rubbed his throbbing cheek as he spoke. Twilight let out a sigh of relief. "Good. Just making sure before I move on-" "Twilight Sparkle, you have five seconds to explain to me what the heck is going on before I leave you here." I threatened. I was in no mood to play games. I did not actually plan on leaving her, looking back on it. I just needed her to speed it up. "The ponies in town are all fakes! The Foot Clan, whatever they are, and those masks! I was attacked after I left Fluttershy's, and they put this mask on me. It was under some kind of mind-control and I couldn't control myself when I attacked you!" "Wait, what?" Spike asked, genuinely confused. To be honest, so was I. "The real ponies that live in Ponyville were kidnapped! They put this mask on them which completely takes over their minds! The ponies you see in town are fakes!" she concluded. What? Okay, let me get this straight, all of the original residents of Ponyville are under the control of the Foot Clan because of those masks? The real ponies in town are fake, or something, or some kind of...illusion? Okay, now I've seen some weird things in my day, but this made little to no sense. "So you're telling me..." I looked over at the cowering dragon who was standing next to Mikey. "That this Spike is not the real one?" I asked, prompting Twilight to shake her head. "Wait! I am the real Spike!! I've always been Spike! Being me is all I know!" said the flailing dragon. Mikey giggled at little bit. "I said ponies, not dragons. I know for sure that that is the real Spike." Twilight replied. I was going to ask why all the ponies in town would be under the control of the Foot Clan, but not Spike. But then I realized, Spike served little to no purpose to them. They probably took one look at his tiny form, and decided to just let him be. That's... slightly embarrassing. "Prove it!" Mikey said, abruptly. Twilight cocked her head in his direction. "Well, if you say there's a clone of you out there, let's see it! It'd prove your story correct after all Twilight!" Mikey said. Out of NOWHERE, he pulled out a magnifying glass and began to inspect her. "If that IS your real name!" Twilight sighed. "Impossible. I took off the mask, so the other clone immediately dissipates." The more and more I listened, the less I actually managed to doubt her. Her face did not show any implications that she was telling falsifications. She looked dead serious as well. "Mikey...I think she's telling the truth." I said, glancing a little bit at my younger brother, who had stuffed the magnifying glass back...uh... wherever he found it. "Yeah, me too. So what do we do then? Take the masks off all of the Foot Soldiers?" Mikey asked. Oh man, I really hoped Twilight said no. That sounds exceedingly difficult to pull off. No pun intended. Was that a pun? I'm not funny... "I-I don't know! We just need to-" There was a ruckus that was forming just inside of the jail cell. Apparently, Fluttershy was coming to. I let out another sigh of relief. She stood up, rubbing her head. "W-what happened? What's going on?" said whispered. There was a small bruise on her head. "We're getting out of here. Come on, Fluttershy. We'll explain everything later." Mikey said, however Twilight stepped in front of her, keeping her from getting to the rest of us. I think I just might have knocked a screw loose. Was she turning against one of her best friends now? Part of me thinks she was just overtired. I'm sure she got little sleep, you know, being under mind-control and all. "No! She's not the real Fluttershy! I said EVERYPONY in town is under control, and that includes her!" Twilight readied her horn, rearing her head to keep Fluttershy from coming with us. A few tears formed in the poor mare's eyes as she took a step back. "Twilight," she gasped. "I-I've always been your friend, of course I'm real." Oh no. We are NOT doing that whole "which is the real Fluttershy" thing, are we? I really hoped not. When me and my brothers always watched movies where that took place, I would always take a guess at which one was the real one before it was revealed. Every single time I guessed wrong. "Leo, she isn't real. If anything, she's on the other side." Wait, well I guess that would explain a few things. Why she didn't run away as planned while she was 'distracting' the guards earlier. No, actually it made perfect sense! Fluttershy got down on her haunches. "No! Please, I am the real Fluttershy! You have to believe me. I'm scared... Spike?" she said, tears freely flowing from her eyes as she turned to the tiny dragon for help. Spike thought quickly, but didn't say anything. I was sure he didn't know what to believe either. "Why don't we just do what they do in movies, and ask her a question only the real Fluttershy would know?" Mikey asked. For once, my little bro actually had a good idea! Good job, man. Horse. UGH. "Nope. The clones also keep the memories of the original ponies." Twilight said. I felt so bad for Fluttershy. She looked like she was going to have a panic attack right in that there hallway. She simply kept begging us not to leave her behind, and how scared she was. I regretted asking the next question the moment it left my mouth. "So what do we do?" Twilight turned to look at me, making sure Fluttershy stayed in her peripheral vision. "Take out your sword, and slice through her." The second Twilight spoke, Fluttershy's cries quickly turned into desperate sobs. She lied down on the ground, making herself as small as possible as she cried into her mane in absolute fear. She was shaking so much, it was like there was a miniature earthquake just on her side of the hallway. "What? Twilight we can't do that! What if she IS the real Fluttershy!" Spike said. Y-Yeah! I was totally just going to say that. Besides, even though I had katanas, I never used them to inflict pain, or cut or stab. I mainly use them for defensive purposes. What if Twilight was wrong, and Fluttershy was real? I wasn't sure if I could live with myself being a murderer. Also, Fluttershy just looked so helpless. "She isn't! I am absolutely sure. Leo, you have to do it now. We don't have much time." Twilight said. I stared at her directly in the eyes, and she watched back. That glint that appeared in her cornea filled me with a feeling of security. I think Twilight knew what she was saying. Also, we really didn't have the time to debate. If I was keeping time correctly, we had about a minute and a half to get out of there. I unsheathed my sword using my magic, prompting Fluttershy's eyes to widen horrendously. Her face was stained with tears and despair. She hugged the ground, like a little child as her large eyes stared up at me, pleading for mercy. "Please! I-I don't w-want to die." She breathed. I was having second thoughts, but I didn't have the time. I raised up my sword. Fluttershy dug her face into her mane, flinching just a little bit at my motion. She did not wish to see it when my katana sliced her. Mustering up all my courage, I brought the blade down on her, closing my eyes and expecting the worst. I heard Mikey and Spike loudly gasp behind me. I opened my eyes, expecting the worse. However, the only thing there was a mixed pile of pink and yellow dust. "I told you she was fake!" Twilight boasted, slightly proud of herself. My head kind of hurt, I will never do anything like that again. It was a horrible experience, to say the least. "Come on, we have to get out of here! Where is Donnie and Raphael?" she asked. Mikey did the pleasure by answering her question. I was a little jarred at the moment. "Oh, them and Pinkie went to go get some parts for the Tele-porter!" he said. Twilight looked at me, wide eyed. I wondered why? I thought about what Mikey had said, and what had just occurred before I put the pieces together. Spike and Mikey are catching on as well. It was a clone. "PINKIE!" we all said unanimously, before making haste to go and find my brothers, just as the emergency alarm began to engage. *** We were all perched over the grate, still trying to figure out something to do. There were so many soldiers down there. What were we going to do? There's too many to fight, and it'd be impossible to just sneak through there. We'd get spotted in seconds! Oh man, this was wracking my brain! "So, now what?" Raph asked. His question was answered by the sound of a roaring alarm system. The room below us turned a dark red as a loud screeching sound filled my ears. Apparently, Mikey and Leo must have tripped some sort of alarm. Most likely Mikey. He had a knack for bringing unneeded attention to himself at times like those. At first, I thought that this was a curse, until I thought about it a little differently. When I looked down, all the guards were leaving the room towards the intruders. Leaving the supplies all alone. Haha! Thanks Mikey! I owe you one! Now we just might be able to get the supplies! Piece of cake! One by one, the Foot Soldiers began to clamor out of the room. It took a minute, considering that there was so many of them to begin with. There was only about fifteen or so left when I felt movement next to me. Pinkiehad her brow furrowed as she raised up her hoof, showing two tiny screws. "Hey, Donnie! You said you needed some supplies, so I went ahead and got started!" she cheered, with an oblivious smile. Raph and I looked at each other, slack jawed. Please, please tell me those screws aren't for the grate that we are all consistently putting our weight on? The grate gave way, filling the room with all three of our screams. "YOU IDIOOOOOOT-" Raph hollered at Pinkie as we all plummeted roughly twenty feet to the floor. Ugh, it took me a minute to get my bearings. The floor is a very hard place, you know. Luckily, my bo staff broke my fall, but not without breaking into a million pieces. Great. I guess I can take back what I said about my staff being extremely durable. I'm sure I can...make a new one? Sigh. I helped Raph and Pinkie to their feet. Almost immediately, Raph tried to take a swing at the mare, who quickly dodged. "You stupid, dumb, ridiculous, goober!" he screamed. I honestly had to use most of my strength just to keep Raphael from getting any closer to Pinkie Pie, who really didn't seem to be so pleased with herself either. There was something in my peripheral vision after I had finally managed to calm Raph down. I turned to look, only to feel my heart drop. We were surrounded by what must be twenty Foot Soldiers, all of them carrying a different weapon. They stared us down, simply waiting for the best chance for all of them to strike. Raph and Pinkie had noticed as well, and I watched as the former groaned and took out his kai's and got in his fighting stance. "That's it! I'm sick of this! I'm sick of ponies, I'm sick of getting hurt in this place! I'm sick of all of it! Time to get out my frustrations!" he screamed, somehow managing to twirl one of his kai's in his hooves. I looked down at my broken staff and sighed, before I laid eyes on something even better. Pinkie handed my a long, metal rod, roughly the same length as my usually wooden staff. She generously smiled as she gave it to me. "Thanks!" I said. Instead of replying, she just nodded. "Alright guys. Let's do this." > Let's Get Outta Here! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Perspective: Donatello We were really in a pickle here. Pinkie, Raph and I were all surrounded by more than a dozen angry Foot soldiers. Time almost seemed to slow as we got into a heated stare down. No one made a move. No one breathed, as we each waiting for the other to make a move. Raph and I knew better than to attack first, the only thing was that Raph really just didn't care. If there was an opportunity to fight, no doubt he was going to be the first one to start slashing. Somehow, he kept his impulses at bay. Almost an eternity passed before a single Foot ninja finally broke the silence, she shouted a war cry as she swung around some kind of wooden bat. The feminine ninja charged directly at who she presumed was the weakest of our trio, whom was unfortunately Pinkie Pie. Luckily, I was closer to Pinkie, so I proceeded to jump in front of her and block the strike with my rod. Raphael got to work on the other Foot ninjas that followed the first ones idea of wildly, yet strategically, attacking. The ninja with the wooden bat was very talented at wielding it. It may not be a weapon suitable for combat, but she sure treated it as if it was. One blow after another, I blocked the bats attacks. One thing I hated about metal weapons, whenever they're hit by something else, say another weapon, it violently vibrates the material. It puts a very weird, yet shocking, feeling in my hooves. Kind of reminding me of getting a VERY rough hoof massage that hurt like no other. I knew how to wield wood, as well as my brothers weapons to an extent, but this rod was killing me. It took much control just to keep from dropping it. Pinkie was wildly dodging various swipes from a ninja with a sword. It was impressive! It was like she knew exactly what the ninja was going to do next! By the time the ninja had already thought about how to strike, Pinkie had already ducked! Pinkie did not fight back, and I could tell that she was not having a very fun time. "Hey!" she exclaimed as she ducked again. "You could poke someone's eye out with that, silly!" The ninja narrowed her eyes, before increasing the amount of attacks on her. I had a better idea. "Pinkie! Start hoarding supplies!" I said. I sidestepped another swing from the ninja with the bat, watching as it collided with the ninja who was attacking Pinkie. Heh... classic. "We'll hold them off, just be inconspicuous!" We were already found out, but if Pinkie could just disappear in the middle of the fight, then maybe she could use the time to her advantage. Pinkie cocked her head as the batted ninja got her bearings. I held up my rod defensively. "What does that mean?" she asked. I sighed. "Just be sneaky!" I said, turning away for a moment to look at Pinkie out of pure frustration. A war cry from the batted ninja caused me to jump and turn back around, just barely being able to keep from being struck. Having enough of this same ninja, I struck the her across the face with my rod. She reeled back as she went sprawling across the floor. Meanwhile, Pinkie watched, amusingly. "Ohhh! Yes, cap'n!" she said, doing some kind of silly salute as she proceeded to run off. Raphael was having a blast, laughing and giggling like a madman as he kicked the shell out of all who came near. "Woot! Do ya smell that Donnie? That's the smell of pure, freshly-made, all-natural butt-whoopin'!" he cheered. I tried to ignore him, I really did. "Donnie! Raph!" I heard a familiar voice. I turned my head to see that Leo, Mikey, Twilight and Spike were all emerging from the doorway. Wait, Twilight? What was she doing here? She stormed out on us earlier, I wonder what made her come back? Twilight kicked the ground, as if she was ashamed, for some reason. Leo wasted no time aiding Raph and I with all the Foot ninja the were slowly descending upon us. Mikey and Twilight got to work on barricading the door. Leo unsheathed his weapons, and slashed at another ninja with a similar sword. "Where's Pinkie Pie?" he asked, as I proceeded to twirl around my rod. It was really weird. My brothers and I could manage to chat during the weirdest times, even when we're being attacked. "She's getting the supplies we need! She'll be back soon!" Upon stating that, I heard Mikey let out a loud, yet purposeful, sigh. Strange. Did something happen while they were out? I was getting that strange vibe again. Spike was, you guessed it, hiding in a corner. Wait, I thought him and Fluttershy ran off after being a distraction earlier? Why was Spike there? If he was there, then chances were so was Fluttershy. I wondered where she was. Given her rather, uh, timid nature, I'm sure that she's probably out of the building or something by now. Raph was taking down foes like it was nothing. Kicking and punching the Foot nimbly, yet with purpose. By the next time I had looked over, he had multiple bodies surrounding him, aching in pain from the ruthless beating they had received. I'd never seen Raph so happy, to put it bluntly. Mikey and Twilight were having a bit more trouble. As we all know, the Foot's door were practically indestructible. I believe that that's just how they make it. That's good for us, seeing as they couldn't just blast the door down. It's bad, because now the Foot ninja's were barging against the door, putting all their weight on it in a strong effort to bust the door open. Mikey, seeing as he had a slight physical advantage over Twilight, held the door in place by propping himself up against it while Twilight stockpiled various metal parts. Every so often, the door would slightly open, only to have Mikey push against it as hard as he could to keep the Foot from pouring in. One of the Foot that was already in the room noticed this, and charged him with a spear. "I could use some help here! AHHHH!" Mikey screamed, ducking girlishly as the spear stabbed the doorway right over his head. The ninja in question was sent soaring as Twilight's magical beams made knocked it to the other side of the room. Mikey rubbed the back of his neck, while Twilight sighed. "I believe that this is the second time I've had to save your butt?" "My butt's gotten into worse situations, thank you very much!" Mikey said. When Mikey was slightly distracted, the ninjas on the other side of the door slammed it again, this time almost coming through. Luckily, Mikey held his ground, albeit poorly. It was about five minutes later when the rest of the ninja's in the room were all incapacitated. "Woo!" Raph said, shaking his head with excitement. "I needed that! I REALLY needed that!" I rolled my eyes. Mikey and Spike wandered over. I was going to question just what the heck he was doing until I looked over at the door. He had placed multiple pieces of rods similar to mine through the handles, making it so no one could easily enter. Good thinking. "Glad to know you guys got to have all the fun..." Mikey frowned. Well, Mikey wasn't much of a fighter anyways. I stuck my iron rod on my back. Seeing as how I didn't have my wooden one anymore, I was just going to have to stick with this one for now. "We have to get out of here! The rods aren't going to hold!" Twilight shouted. "Right! I'll get to work on the masks of the ponies in here-" Mikey started, however, Leonardo grabbed him, roughly. "Mikey, no. We can't. If we do then we'd have to escort them outside. We really don't have the time for that." Wait, uh... am I missing something here? Masks? What did the masks have to do with anything? Leo took one look at my quizzical face and began to explain it to Raph and I. It was all highly intriguing. Apparently, the Foot ninja's we fought are all ponies from the town that were hypnotized, or something, into working for the Foot because of those masks that they were wearing. So... everyone was a fake? Well, besides Twilight and Spike. "Everyone, Donatello." Twilight repeated. I cocked my head. Was she trying to tell me something? But that's when I realized the lack of a fluffy pink pony. However, I had a more important question to ask. "Wait, so... where's Fluttershy? What happened to her?" I asked. Leonardo looked at the ground, sadly. "She was a fake. A clone, if you will. We destroyed it." Oh... normally I would feel myself a little upset by this, but considering that it wasn't the real Fluttershy to begin with, I felt slightly neutral. As if on cue, Pinkie Pie emerged from the metallic rubble in the middle of the room. She stuck a small metal piece that she deemed worthy enough to carry into her mane. "Whoa!! That party was crazy! It reminded me of this one time when Applejack, Big Mac and I played that game with those shady looking guys near the-" We all tuned her out when Mikey took out his nunchaku. He had a frown on his face as I knew what he was going to do to the Pinkie clone. For the second time in the last minute, Mikey was grabbed, but this time by me. "Hey! What gives? She's a clone, remember! I want the real Pinkie Pie!" Mikey complained. I'll be honest. I didn't care about Mikey's feelings right now. What mattered was the mission at hand. "No! She's carrying some supplies! Deal with her later!" I shouted, holding him back. With a sigh, he put away his nunchaku while Pinkie cocked her head. The door behind us rattled again, and we all went wide eyed when we realized something that made our hearts stop: the rods were bending. Leo looked around, and found a large tarp in the rubble. He laid it out flat and shouted orders. "Grab anything important looking and let's get it out here!" Leo commanded. The clock was ticking, starting now. Leo stopped Raph from going to gather supplies and pulled him aside as everyone, including me, dispersed. Luckily, sound traveled in this room and I could hear their conversation easily. "Raph, I need you to start looking for a way out of here. We need to get outside as quick as we can. Also, seeing as you're stronger, you're going to have to carry the bag of supplies!" Leo said. Raph nodded and grunted in understanding before running off. It was strange how Raph just... took it. Earlier he was making a big deal about being a leader, and being bossed around. I was genuinely surprised that he was so okay with doing those two things. Maybe he senses the urgency, and put all his beliefs aside. I wasn't sure, and I didn't dwell on it for as long as I should have. I was busy collecting the parts that we needed. Transthermalizer, check. Flux Capacitor, check. I made mental notes as I tossed the items into the middle of the tarp. About two minutes later, the banging on the door was getting more and more incessant. The rattling of the rods made it obvious enough that we didn't have much time left. Leo took note of this as he through a monitor onto the tarp, making sure not to break it. "Time to go!" he said. That was all I needed. I think I had enough parts that I could at least start making the device. I wasn't sure and I knew that I would check it out later. Raph eagerly rolled up the tarp and hoisted it over his shoulder, like a knapsack. "There's a window over here! We gotta jump!" Raph said. What great luck, a window! It was rather large, but at least we could see outside! "Aren't we on the third floor?" Twilight said. I really didn't know, but considering that she knew the layout of this place rather well, I took her word for it. I looked away from the window for ONE second, and when I looked back... oh man. There are reasons why I don't question things that aren't my business, but this is too much. There was a huge pink balloon right outside! A hot air balloon, to be exact. Pinkie waved at us from the basket, like absolutely nothing was weird or off about this at all. "Look what I brought! I knew it would come in handy!" she cheered. Once again... my mind is blown. No one gave it much thought. I used the same device from earlier to carve a hole into the glass that was just big enough for everyone to slip through. We all jumped as the rods finally gave way. They clattered on the ground as the door burst open. I was not sure how many eyed us down, about thirty, if I had to guess. Yep. Thirty Foot ninjas charged through the door, weapon in hooves, aiming to skewered or beat us into a delicious, pony pulp. "GO! GO! GO!" Raph yelled. The room was rather large, but we had about ten seconds before the ninja's got to us. One by one we all jumped through the door, until it was just Mikey and Spike left. Mikey motioned towards Spike for him to go first. If Mikey went first and Spike didn't jump fast enough... oof. I can see his logic. However, Spike shook his head. "I... I don't like heights!" Spike shivered. Mikey thought quickly. "FLY, LITTLE DRAGON, FLY!" "NO WAIT-" Spike was cut off as he emitted a terrified scream as Mikey literally tossed him out the window and into the basket, and the perpetrator himself followed suit. Raph raised an eyebrow at him for the longest time when Mikey sat down. When Mikey finally noticed, he defensively shrugged. "What?" *** Perspective: ??? I sat in my throne room, meagerly contemplating my next course of action. I had everything laid out perfectly. This world, their resources, and I have no one but those pesky turtles to thank. There were reports that they resided in a place called Ponyville a few days ago. I sent a few of my troops to investigate the town, only to have them cut down. I hadn't heard back from that troop in a while. I'll make sure that they do not get off easy for this. This world... it was strange. Everyone was a pony, or some kind of equine. Even most of my troops. Luckily enough, I body was stronger than the machine's abilities, and I got to keep my humanoid form. A guard to my left leaned over to me after hearing radio chatter in his ear. "Master, there is someone here from Base 11 that wishes to speak with you. She claimed it's urgent." I didn't reply, I just motioned towards the door. The guard knew exactly what I mean, and spoke back into his radio. "You may enter." About ten seconds later, a white unicorn clad in Foot Clan attire came billowing through the door, as if she was in a gigantic hurry. She was absolutely worn, and I started wondering what exactly had happened. She dropped her head, not passively, but as to show respect. Good. "Forgive me, Master, but there has been some trouble at Base 11." I sighed, intentionally showing my displeasure at the situation. However, the ninja did not move. Most ninjas tremble at my feet, or fear some kind of punishment. I was slightly impressed with her attitude. "Please, continue." I said. I was dreading hearing what she had to say. "We were robbed. A group of thieves came in and released two of our prisoners, incapacitated our troops, and made off with various pieces of valuable merchandise." she said, not fazed in the slightest. I felt my blood begin to boil. I grabbed the nearest thing, which was my guards spear, and snapped it over my knee in a fit of fury. The ninja didn't flinch. "Would you care to explain to me HOW in the world this happened?" I asked. Instead of giving a genuine answer, the ninja shook her head. "Sir, I mean no disrespect, but I have no clue. They snuck in while the guards were distracted and failed to trip any of the alarms." I narrowed my eyes at the ninja. Contemplating just what I should do next. There was a long pause. This ninja, she slightly gathered my interest. "You, find another available troop and find the stolen merchandise. Tell everyone else that I told them to carry on their duties." For once, the unicorn seemed a little shocked that I gave her a decent amount of authority. "I trust that you will not fail me." A wide grin spread across her face. "Yes sir. You'll find that my abilities will be more than enough. They're... magnifique, , if you will."