Chapter 9: The Golden Man

Part 2 of 2: The Throne of the King

"Are you absolutely certain he is there?" Celestia asked over the phone. The girls had left the ball after such new was delivered, and were now huddled around a table in one of their suites. A phone was lying face down on the table, and Celestia's voice echoed through the speaker.

"That's what Quincius said," Tara claimed.

"These are serious accusations," Celestia stated. "Suggesting that the king of Virtumia is working with The Unknown is almost ridiculous."

"Look, that's what he told us," AJ said defensively. "Why would a man make up a lie about his own father?"

"I'm not saying that he made anything up," Celestia said, her voice clearly indicating that she was annoyed. "Hell, if anything, I have too much faith in Quincius. I've met the man, and he's brutally honest. Besides, there would be no real reason for him to lie about such things."

"Unless he wanted the throne," Dash suggested. "You know, power hungry, or some shit like that. That seems like a pretty good explanation for me."

"I doubt that," Celestia said. "Quincius hates politics. Plus, his respect for his father is off the charts. No, I'm almost confident that Klius is actually guilty of such things, which is exactly why I'm so pissed off."

The girls nervously glanced at each other. It wasn't often that their superiors showed signs of extreme anger or emotion. In fact, they acted on such a professional level that it seemed like they weren't even human. As such, hearing Celestia in such an enraged manner was very bizarre indeed, and actually made the girls themselves feel confused and afraid.

"Are you alright?" Fiona asked cautiously.

"Technically, no," Celestia said, irritated. "If Klius is in partnership with a terrorist, then any import we take from his country would be met with extreme prejudice. It would be almost like we're aligning ourselves with terrorists. The controversy surrounding that man would be on a ludicrous level."

"So what are we supposed to do?" AJ asked. "Arrest him?"

"We could never get away with that," Celestia stated. "It's physically impossible with all of his security; we could never get it done. And even if we were to do arrest him, it would still reflect badly on us. His people would be able to destroy the evidence once they noticed that he was being taken away, and without any proof of his involvement, it would just reflect badly on us. Not to mention all of the problems that would arrive from sending a team in to arrest him. Paparazzi, a conflict in the United Nations, paperwork… this whole thing is just a damn nightmare."

"You mean we're just supposed to sit here and wait for shit to go down?" Dash said in protest. "The guy is helping the motherfucker we've been chasing for months, and we can't do anything?"

"Not really, no," Celestia said somberly. "It's a pain in the ass, but it's what needs to be done."

"This is why I fucking hate the government," Dash moaned, not caring if Celestia heard. "Too much formal political shit. Why couldn't we have been recruited by, like, a cult, or something? That would make things so much easier."

"Stop complaining, Dash," Tara scolded. "It's not like we want to do nothing either."

"But we always do nothing," Dash said. "What we should really do is sneak into Klius' throne room, kick his ass, and teach him a few manners like the bad-asses we are."

"And get charged with international federal offenses like a bunch of idiots," Celestia spoke again. "Or, worse, get killed in a mad attempt for blind justice. You're thinking of the impossible."

"Wait," Tara said, her eyes wide. "Maybe Dash is onto something."

"You bet I am," Dash said, before pausing in shock. "Wait, I am?"

"Yes, you are," Tara said in realization. "That plan could actually work."

"Okay, seriously, what the fuck is happening to you?" Dash asked in confusion. "First, you start looking like an actual woman, and now, you're agreeing with my violent plan. Are you on drugs? Did Pinky sneak you something? What were in those foods that you ate?"

"Nothing's wrong with me," Tara stated. "Look, Pinky, do you think you can hack into the security network of the castle?"

"Can I ever," Pinky said, cracking her knuckles. "It's just a matter of getting access to a server, which I'm sure they have somewhere around here."

"Well, I think that if we alter the security footage, and take a stealthy, late-night approach," Tara said, formulating the plan in her head as she spoke. However, the speaker on the sudden seemed to erupt.

"Don't you even consider doing something like that!" Celesita screamed. "An operation such as that would put everything at risk! You have no idea how many lives would be ruined if you were to fail…or succeed."

"I know it sounds ridiculous," Tara said. "But we've pulled off crazier things before. We managed to take down both of Discord's headquarters, and we weren't nearly as experienced back then as we were now."

"That was an insane gangster!" Celestia claimed, clearly not any happier. "You're talking about launching an attack on the king of Vitrumia! We're not talking about some million dollar coke industry; we're talking about an event so massive that it could bring an entire continent into a civil war!"

"Nothing bad will happen to us," AJ said, just as confident as ever. "I aint never failed a mission before, and I sure as hell don't plan to fail one now."

"I don't know, guys," Fiona said quietly, almost afraid to speak up. "I mean, this does sound really dangerous. If we mess up, we could end up in a lot of trouble."

"We're not fucking this up," Dash said with a smirk. "We took down the two greatest mercenaries on the planet. A prissy little bitch of a king won't be much of a big deal. Besides, if anything goes wrong, then I'll just lightning punch them all in a fraction of a second." Dash rose to her feet, and in a blur, threw several punches in the air, demonstrating her point.

"I think we can get it done," Rachel said. "I mean, mathematically speaking, we're fucked. But realistically, I doubt that they'll be expecting something like this to come their way. If we take them by surprise, we could actually get this done."

Celestia let out a frustrated growl, and then spoke in a dark voice.

"If something goes wrong," Celestia stated. "I can't help you. No one can help you. The government would deny any attachment to you in a heartbeat. No rescue will ever come. If you fail this, you'll be abandoned to the cruelty of the world. I guess I can't stop you from going through with this, but I'm begging you to stay out of this."

"Celestia," Tara said. "We need to do this. If we don't stop this here, we may never get another chance. I'm sorry, but we have to take down King Daltenoss. To us, there's no other way except for surrender, and none of us are going to let that happen. We won't fail."

Celestia sighed, completely and utterly defeated. What kind of commander was she? None of her soldiers would follow her orders, even when it was for their own good. She wished she had some means of stopping them, but she was left helpless. All she could do was sit back and watch as six teenagers, with only a few months' worth of experience, tried to fight back against impossible odds.

"Let's hope you're right," Celestia breathed out, her words heavy. "For all of our sake."

__________

March 14th, 2016

Guard duty was a bore. It didn't matter what was being guarded, or how crucial it was to perform the duties admirably; it was a complete, utter, painful, frustratingly-long bore. This could mainly attributed to the fact that nothing went on in the estate. The security was tight; no one could get inside of the building without permission, and so most of the interior guard services were uneventful.

For example, there seemed to be no reason to guard the server room at four o'clock in the morning wearing formal suits. The server room itself was on the bottom floor in a remote corner of the castle, far away from where most would ever visit. What was on these servers? Aside the entire security network for the castle, no one really knew. There were rumors that the computers there contained vast secrets, some of which could destroy entire civilizations. However, for the two guards who were instructed to guard the server every single night, interest in such mind-bending things were lost long ago.

These guards had their identity stripped from them many years prior. As an order from the king, all individuality had to be removed for the best to be accomplished. As such, the guards didn't have names, but had codes instead. And while 0221 and 0364 may not have been entirely comfortable with this at first, they accepted their duties of guards of the Daltenoss family, and followed through with their orders.

"Did you catch a glimpse of the big event today?" 0221 asked his fellow guard.

"No, did you?" 0364 asked back, mildly interested.

"Yeah," 0221 said. "Had to drop by to give Devilman the day's briefing. Passed by the main hall on the way there. You should of seen some of the women there…"

"Gorgeous?" 0364 asked.

"Damn wonderful," 0221 answered. "Which once more begs the question to why we must remain unmarried."

"Take it up with King Daltenoss if you're still upset about it," 0364 sighed. "I'm tired of listening to your complaining."

Suddenly, there were footsteps coming from down the dark hall to their left. They wasted no time, and followed through with their practice perfectly. Whipping the handguns out of their back pockets, they pointed the weapons down the hallway, and turned on the flashlight that was attached to the barrel. However, instead of an intruder, they saw a young girl. Not young enough to still be considered a child, but not aged enough to be considered an adult. The girl herself took their breath away; from the long, flowing, violet hair to the perfect hourglass figure of a body, she appeared as if she was from a dream. Two other things seemed very noticeable: her pajamas were very small on her, and she was waving a white can around in a panic.

"H-hello?" the girl called out, scared. "Is someone there? I need help."

"Over here, ma'am," 0221 said to her, causing the tension to leave some of her shoulders. She quickly walked over to the two, keeping one hand on the wall to guide her.

"Oh thank god I found someone," she said quite happily. "I've been feeling so frightened."

"What happened to you?" 0364 asked cautiously.

"I woke up in the middle of the night," the girl said. "I needed to use the bathroom, but I had to get one of my friend's up to help me; I'm blind. But she played a nasty trick on me, and now, I've been wondering aimlessly, trying to find someone to help."

"You didn't find anyone else on the way down here?" 0364 asked.

"None that wanted to help me," the girl said somberly. However, she quickly perked up, and suddenly latched herself onto 0221. "Not like you two gentlemen. You've helped me ever so muc-"

"Rachel, there you are!" a high pitch voice screamed. The two guards now looked back towards the hallway, where another young woman was standing. The big-eyed blonde ran down the hallway, and now hugged her friend.

"Pinky, I'm in the middle of something," Rachel said with a song in her voice.

"I've been looking all over for you," Pinky said. However, something seemed off about her to the two guards; it almost seemed like were words were being produced in a very unnatural manner. "I'm sorry for leaving you behind. Ooh, who are your friends?"

Pinky sprang towards 0364, and hugged him tightly.

"Just some lovely men who greatly helped me out for the night," Rachel said in a seductive tone. "Don't you think we should repay them?"

"Ooh, that sounds like fun," Pinky replied, although her answer couldn't help but sound incredibly forced. 0221 and 0364 glanced at each other, both very confused. However, within a matter of seconds, 0221 gave a sly grin to his comrade.

"Why not?" he said happily. "Not much happens around here anyway."

With a giggle, Rachel took his hand, and started to lead him down the hallway. With a huge smile, Pinky quickly let go of a pleased 0364, and took his hand as well.

"And if those maniacs come for me tonight, pop their heads off like corkscrews."

Pinky suddenly took several steps back in shock, as multiple flashes ran through her mind; images of orders, images of past family, and, most importantly, the instructions of one set of orders given very recently. With horror, Pinky turned towards Rachel as fast as she could.

"THEY KNOW!" she yelled in panic.

The guards didn't waste any time. 0364 pulled out his gun, and with no hesitation, lined his sights with Pinky. However, with a swift kick to the jaw, the gun was knocked to the floor, and 0364 was sent stumbling into the wall. Aware of the deception, Rachel rolled her way out of the man's reach as quickly as possible, before taking a fighting stance. 0221 pulled a long hunter's knife out of his pocket, and lunged at the blind girl. Yet she was far from defenseless, as she contorted her form. While the man swung at thin air, Rachel extended her leg, wrapped it around his arm, and rolled to the ground. With a few twists of her legs, she held 0221 in a tight headlock, with her limbs holding his neck and arms in a very uncomfortable position. Pinky, meanwhile, was busy pummeling 0364 senseless, with none of the grace or style that her counterpart had in spades.

"Do you know what I can do from here?" Rachel asked in a harsh whisper. "From where I'm positioned, all it would take was a sixty-seven degree rotation to dislocate both your collarbone and your shoulder. Very painful. I certainly wouldn't want to experience that."

"Okay, got 'im!" Pinky announced cheerfully, standing over the body of a blood-covered 0364. Her knuckles were bruised form the excessive hitting, and covered in blood, but she didn't seem to mind in the slightest.

"Good, now crack open the door," Rachel said. Pinky gave a salute, and went to work on the combination for the door's keypad. She examined the keypad carefully, her eyes wide with amusement.

"Wow, look at this," Pinky said, pointing at the locking mechanism. "Triple-code, double-access, maximum reinforced, key-and-turn based locking protection. This is really impressive; could take a bit to open."

"Just open the bloody door, will you?" Rachel said, irritated. With a sigh, Pinky opened the outer panel of the keypad, and went to work. For several minutes, Pinky worked on hacking through the door, all while Rachel had to focus on keeping 0221 under control.

"You will never take down the king," 0221 said. "He is unmatched."

"Don't care," Rachel claimed. "Honestly, I had to dress up like a slut tonight, and what's worse is that I thought I had left all that shit behind me. So if you don't mind, I'm not in the best mood right now for any sort of menacing talk."

"Oh, come one, Rachel," Pinky said, not detracting from the task at hand. "We had fun together. I never acted like that before."

"I would say you never acted like anything before," Rachel muttered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Pinky asked, unsure if she was just insulted.

"Stick to hacking computers and shooting things," Rachel said with a hint of displeasure. "Speaking of which, are you almost-"

"Done!" Pinky announced. A beeping sound was heard, and Pinky stood upright happily. Rachel sighed happily, despite more protesting from beneath her.

"You're not allowed in there" 0221 said in anger. However, Rachel had long stopped caring about the fate of this man, and with one quick bend of her arms, she tore his collarbone and shoulder right out of their sockets, just like she claimed she would.

"Shouldn't we just kill him?" Pinky asked, opening the door to the server room. Rachel marched past her into the dimly lit, small room.

"He could be useful," Rachel said, looking at the guard pathetically squeal in pain on the floor. "Anyway, get access of the cameras. I'll tell Tara to be on her guard."

Pulling an earpiece out of her back pocket, Rachel placed the communication device in her ear, as Pinky walked over to the main server, which had a series of monitors for easy access. It only took a few seconds before the P.O.N.Y's had total control of the castle. With a smirk, Pinky turned back to her friend.

"Okay, my part's good," she declared. "Tell the others that the coast is clear. We're ready for action."

__________

Tara unsheathed her sword. She wasn't expecting it to be easy, especially now that she knew she was being hunted. However, her fear had escalated. She felt like she was running the line between right and wrong, and she did not know why. Every part of her brain was informing her that if she went through with this, and she failed, the consequences would be incomprehensible. Some parts of her mind tried to reason with her, reminding her that for every mission, her failure meant death, and it was no different here. But she couldn't help herself; she almost wished she didn't fully have to go through with the assignment.

However, AJ placed her hand on her shoulder, transferring some of the southerner's everlasting confidence to her, and easing her nerves.

"Ya look kinda off," AJ commented. "Are ya sure that yer ready? We do need everyone to be completely focused, after all."

"I'm fine," Tara lied, taking a deep breath. "Really, don't worry about me." Fiona spoke up from behind.

"We don't really need to go through with this," she mentioned. "I mean, if you wa-"

"I'm fine," Tara said, harsher than before. "Besides, if the guards are looking for us, then there really is no turning back. Our rooms are probably under lockdown."

"Which is why we shouldn't still be waiting around," Dash complained. "Look at us; we're in the middle of a fucking hallway. It's like painting a target on our ass."

The girls had been standing in the corridor beneath their suites for twenty minutes, where they had been impatiently waiting around for Pinky to finish her job. Despite the fact that they had been standing in a blind spot in the security system, they could not feel more scared of discovery.

"Let's just wait for Pinky to map the place," Tara instructed. "It'll only take a few sec-… wait, here she is."

A buzzing rang off in Tara's ear, and she lightly pressed two fingers to the small, black device.

"Is it all mapped out?" Tara asked.

"It should be all good," Rachel said. "Handing you to Pinky now."

There was a rustling heard over the device, followed by some complaining, and then a small amount of feedback.

"Okay, you're gonna need to continue down to your right," Pinky instructed. "When you see a bright blue door, turn left, and then turn left again. This should bring you to the central staircase."

The girls followed through with the order. Keeping low to the ground, they sulked down the hall, peering around each corner before moving forward. It took three full minutes to traverse just under one hundred feet, which greatly annoyed Dash. This caused her to complain even more, which in turn caused the others to get annoyed, also.

"Dash, shut it," AJ scolded. "You're speaking too loud, and way too often."

"And we're moving at the speed in which Spark gets laid," Dash said. "I mean, someone could come sprinting from behind. Cautious is fine, but too slow of a pace is way too slow for this kind of job."

"Hold up, you two," Tara commanded, stopping at a corner. She kept her back pressed to the wall, and looked into the main hall. From where she was kneeling, she could see that she was on the second floor of the main hall. At the top of the steps and far corners of the room were three guards, each holding machine guns, and scanning around the room. There did not seem to be any clear way to get around the guards without being spotted.

"Okay," Pinky instructed. "Now, from the second floor of the main hall, there are four corridors. You're in the southeast one; you need to be in the northwest one."

"There are armed guards swarming the place," Tara said. "They look like they have radios with them too. Any other way around?"

"Not unless you want to try scaling the cliff," said Pinky. "You're going to need to take out the guards. The cameras are already down, so you should just be able to wait for the right moment, and then strike."

"Okay," Tara said. She turned back to the others. "Girl's, when I give the signal, we'll launch a simultan-"

Tara paused. Dash was no longer with them.

"What the fuck!" a guard shouted, startling the others. Dash had, in what she thought to be a clever move, sprinted out of cover, and while still moving at her rapid pace, kicked one of the guard's weapon out of hands, and then captured the same guard in a headlock. The other two guards had their sights pressed on their struggling, nameless partner. Dash kept moving the man around in her arms, preventing either of the men from ling up clear shots. One reached for his radio, and attempted to signal an alert throughout the base.

However, without any warning, the radio flew out of his hand. He turned in shock, but he lost sight of the radio; all he could see was a katana less than a second before it collided with his face. The blade split him nearly perfectly down the middle. The other guard failed to react as well, as a silenced bullet whizzed through the air, and cut through his throat, killing him instantly. Dash snapped the final guard's neck, only to be immediately reprimanded.

"Are you crazy?!" Tara shouted at her, momentarily forgetting to keep her voice down.

"Sorry for killing the opposing threat, Spark," Dash retorted sarcastically. "Next time, I'll just let the bad guys execute me. Oh, no, wait, I'll do better. I'll just shoot myself in the head."

"Stop being careless," Tara said. "Of all the times you could act like this, now is not-"

"Ladies, we need to move," AJ stated, reloading her suppressed pistol. "The other guards may have heard the scuffle."

"Alright," Pinky said, examining the monitor. "Now, once you move three doors down the hall, there should be a staircase to your right. Travel up that two floors, but don't enter the hall until I give the signal."

The girls did as they were told (although there were still bitter feelings to be had). They moved quickly down the next hallway, and then climbed the steps as fast as possible, stopping at the doorframe to the next hall. Tara instructed the others to duck down onto the steps, as she pressed tightly to the wall. Sure enough, a patrolling guard passed by, taking quick glances over his shoulder.

"Down the hall to your left is a crossroads," Pinky claimed. "You'll need to turn right, and then turn left. You should reach a bright red hallway."

"Got it," Tara whispered.

"But there are about four guards waiting for you if you don't move fast enough. You need to move right as the guard passes if you want to make it on time," Pinky said. Then, she took another look at her monitor, and then gulped. "Uh, actually, you probably should have made a run for it about twenty seconds ago."

Tara let out a frustrated groan. Taking one last look from behind cover, Tara sprinted out into the hallway, and turned left. She made a one hundred and eighty degree turn, and threw her sword at the guard, who had just turned around, and barely had time to raise his gun. The sword landed directly in his chest, impaling him through the heart. Before the man hit the even ground, the blade flew out of his chest, and flung towards Tara rapidly, spinning through the air. Despite Tara's best intentions, the katana did nearly decapitate Dash, who, like AJ and Fiona, were extremely confused and shocked by Tara's irrational behavior. However, she didn't have time to feel remorse. Instead, the leader turned back around, and followed the route that was initially planned. Moving with fast feet, the girls made a sharp turn right, and ran even faster. Dash had already arrived in the red hall far earlier, and would have ran even further had she known where to go. However, the other girls barely made the turn in time; they dove behind the safety of cover just as four more guards entered the hall from the other side of the crossroads.

"Pinky, they're going to find the body at any moment," Tara said. "A little more help, please?"

"Uh, yeah, yeah," Pinky said, her fingers skittering across the keyboard. "Um, there really should be one more staircase in the center of this hallway. Take that up, and you should be at the entrance to the throne room." The four moved with haste towards the dead center of the hallway, where the staircase was said to be.

However, there was no staircase; only a royal portrait of King Klius Daltenoss.

"Pinky, are you sure that the steps are here?" Tara asked, growing concerned.

"Yes, I'm looking at the schematics right now," Pinky said. She was constantly alternating between looking through the surveillance cameras and a full diagram of the castle's structure, and wasn't paying much attention to the former beyond checking for other signs of life. However, upon hearing such news, she checked back to the live feed, and was shocked to see that she had been mistaken.

"Pinky, where's the staircase?" Tara asked once again, her fear escalating.

"Code Red! Code Red!"

Screams came from many yards away; the body of the deceased guard had been discovered. Almost instantly, a siren rang out throughout the halls, indicating a full alert status.

"We're running out of time, Pinky," Tara said. "Where's the damn staircase?"

"It's right there!" Pinky shouted at her. "I don't know what you want me to say! It should be right there!"

"Well, Spark, you really fucked us over this time," Dash said, frustrated. "For someone who says not to rush into things, you sure know how to get everyone caught!"

"Not helping, Rebecca!" Tara screamed at her. It was getting harder to concentrate over the wail of the alarm, and thus Tara felt her rational thought slipping away from her. Of course, she blamed Dash, and the two started to bicker with each other with little care for what was going on around them.

"Guys," Fiona tried to interrupt. "We probably-"

"I just think you're pretty fucking hypocritical," Dash stated. "Considering it was your thoughtlessness that's gonna get us all killed."

"No one's getting killed!" Tara claimed. "We just need to get out of here; find another exit."

"There aren't any other fucking exits," Dash said. "Face it; we're going to African prison. Say goodbye to all of your fucking rights now, you psychotic bitch."

"We really just-" Fiona tried to speak, but neither girl was listening. She looked to AJ for support, but the more experienced girl simply focused on getting her weapon loaded, and searching for an escape route.

"Insults?!" Tara screamed. "Now you want to focus on obscenities? Well how about this? You're just a-"

Beep Beep BOOP

The argument ended as abruptly as it began, as the picture unhooked itself from one side of the wall, and slid open to reveal the staircase that had eluded them. Showing a frustration that was previously unthinkable, Fiona grabbed onto Dash and Tara's shirts, and dragged them onto the steps. Following close behind, AJ grabbed onto the edge of the painting, and swung it back into the wall, sealing off the passageway.

The staircase inhabited its own small room. The lights were a dull yellow, which reflected off of the mahogany walls that tightly surrounded the four youths. Twenty five stairs ascended upwards towards a thick, black, marble door, which a solid gold handle attached to it. While the room was uncomfortably small (the girls could only barely stand facing forward without their shoulders touching the walls), it did provide a small sense of peace and tranquility. Also, from what Tara could tell, the entire section was soundproof, which meant it was the perfect place for her to let her emotions out.

"How did you know that was there?" Tara asked her pink-haired friend, feeling incredibly relieved. "And how did you know how to open it?"

"Well, actually, I-" Fiona tried to explain, but could barely get out more than a few words before Tara pulled her into a bone-crushing hug.

"Whatever it was, thank you for that," Tara breathed a sigh of relief.

"Uh, attention to Miss Pro-Life," Dash said with a sneer. "I'm not sure if, in your mass hysteria, you realized that we were still under an alert phase, and probably will end up getting either of these doors opened in on us any second now, but… that. Seriously, we did just majorly fuck ourselves."

"Cool it, Dash," AJ instructed, staying at the base of the stairs. She had her ear pressed tightly to the secret door, trying to hear what was going on outside. After a few minutes of silence, she came to the conclusion, "I don't think these guys are coming after us."

"What do you mean," asked Tara, who had released a now heavily blushing Fiona from her grasp.

"They aint entering the throne room," AJ said, her ear tuned to the hallway. "For whatever reason it is, they don't think they need to come after us anymore."

"Let me take a guess," Dash said, rolling her eyes. "Whatever's behind that door is so powerful, that the other guards don't think they have anything to worry about by letting us go."

Tara pressed her hand to her earpiece. "Pinky, what's beyond that door again?"

"Two chambers, both pretty big," Pinky stated. "There's an extra security checkpoint, and then there's the throne room, which looks three times the size as the other room."

"But what is in that checkpoint, exactly?" Tara questioned.

"Uh… give me a sec'," Pinky said, searching through the files. After a few moments of searching, she found what she was looking for, or at least, she thought that she did. "It's something called the… 'T'haki Menfi'. It's just a list of ten names."

"Probably royal guards," Tara said. "Fancy names, and whatnot."

"But those royal guards could be something really cool," Pinky said, allowing her imagination to run wild. "What if they're robots? Hey, Rachel, wouldn't it be so cool if they had robots?!"

"They don't have robots, Pinky!" Rachel shouted from somewhere far away, though Tara didn't know her exact coordinates. "We don't have that technology yet! Trust me, I know!"

"What if they're lizard people," Pinky suggested. "Or pet leopards, or-"

"I think we're good for now, Pinky," Tara moaned. "We'll just move in quickly; try to execute as many as them as possible before they have a chance to strike back."

"And what if they try the genius strategy of, oh, I don't know, blindly firing as soon as the door opens?" Dash said with irritation.

"I'll try to knock them back," Tara stated, advancing up the steps. "If you want, you can run out harm's way the second you can squeeze through."

"Okay, not terrible," Dash said, opening up to the idea.

"AJ, get ready to open the door on my command," Tara said, standing two steps below the black marble gateway. AJ ran past her friend, tucking underneath her arm, and pressed her back to the doorway. Dash stood directly behind her friend, while Fiona stayed further back in the group, several steps downwards. AJ listened carefully for any sings of movement, but found none; either the security chamber was completely empty, or the enemy had already taken its place just outside the door.

"GO!" Tara commanded. AJ flung open the door, and then immediately dropped to the ground. Tara, with glowing, violet eyes, launched forward a magnetic wave into the room. Dash leapt out from behind the cover of her friend, and in a blur, launched a mid-air roundhouse kick to whatever target she could strike.

However, her foot only collided with air. As she hit the ground, Dash turned in a circle, ready to face off against the opposition, but found that there were no enemies to challenge. The room was empty.

Yet empty could not truly be used to describe such a room, for it would say far too little. The floor was made of velvet; the walls, marble. Every square inch of the twenty foot wall had at least some form of decoration, whether it be paintings of the royal family, or hangings of treasured belongings, or simply god-like mosaics. Across from the stairs was another gate, although this was ten feet tall and twelve feet wide. It was bright red, like the floor, and on the front was an insignia of a lion's head, made of solid gold. The other three girls stepped into the vast space, staring at all of the wonderful works of art.

"Damn," was all Dash could say.

"Even when they don't need it, they still make everything look great," Fiona commented.

"Try not to get too endowed," Tara said, keeping her sword at the ready. "Remember why we're here in the first place."

"Speakin' of which," AJ looking around. "Where the hell are the guards?"

On cue, ten shadows dropped from the ceiling. They barely made a noise, but it was obvious that they were present. The ten landed on the ground with grace, surrounding the P.O.N.Y's. The soldiers wore black bodysuits, which covered them from head-to-toe. Diagonally, across the chest, was a dark purple sash, with gold patterns running throughout. On the soldiers' left arms, below the shoulder, were white bands, each with a four digit number.

These soldiers were number from "0001" to "0010".

Five of the soldiers took out pistols. The other five reached behind their backs, and pulled out dual machetes. They said nothing. Instead, they pointed their weapons at their targets, and began to walk towards them. Tara quickly huddled towards the center of the room, and the rest followed suit, so that they were back to back.

"Oh, so ninjas," Dash said with a smirk. "Gonna be honest. This is kind of a letdown."

"Focus," Tara instructed.

"Did you girls think you could march into the king's throne room with no consequences?" asked one of the guards in a surprisingly feminine voice. In fact, now that Tara thought about it, all of the soldiers had a female body structure.

"Oh, so sexy, female ninjas," Dash corrected herself. "That's… an improvement."

"Seriously, Dash," Tara groaned. "I don't like the look of this."

"I know your desperate to get some action, Spark," Dash teased. "But, c'mon! They're ninjas."

"Silence!" another one of the guards screamed. They were only about five feet away by this point, and the machetes could nearly touch Tara's katana. "Do you think this is some form of entertainment? These are your final moments. You should be appreciating them while you can."

"We should not give them the grace of having final moments," another guard spoke. "We should strike them down now."

"The king may want them alive," said another guard. "Perhaps we shou-"

"Spark?"

"Got it."

The guards wielding pistols flew across the room, slamming directly into the marble walls, while their pistols flew out of their hands. Tara gave the order to attack, and the girls were thrust into battle.

Tara lunged at the lone solider before her, sword extended and aimed for the heart. Unfortunately, the solider, 0003, responded much faster than Tara had anticipated, and easily ducked underneath the blade. She thrust out her own two sword, causing Tara to fall on the retreat. She backpedaled constantly as 0003 kept swinging her own machetes at a very rapid pace. Tara was forced to keep her katana high in defense, trying to bide her time. However, this idea quickly backfired, as two more soldiers recovered, and joined in to help 0003. Tara was losing track of her enemies' attacks. Six blades striking almost all at once became disorienting, and she could no longer hear anything over the constant clash of steel against steel.

Tara, running out of options, resorted to using her magnetic manipulation, tossing her opponents away in order to relieve some of the pressure. She lost count of how many times people were pushed out of the way; it seemed like an endless cycle of throwing, recovering, and blocking. Worse, Tara started to feel an unusual amount of pressure in her head, which only made it harder to concentrate. And, as if it wasn't enough already, the opposing blows started coming in faster in faster.

However, when she thought she was going to faint from the tremendous headache she was experiencing, she found her opening. Using what seemed to be her last bit of strength, she used her powers to forcibly throw two of the guards to opposite sides of the room. With only one soldier standing directly before her, Tara went back on the offensive. She used her powers again, by locking onto her enemy's arms, and manipulating them to rise in the air. With her arm's forced out to her sides, 0003 was powerless as Tara thrust the katana into her chest, allowing the blade to cleanly slip between her ribcage.

Tara, however, was tired, and despite the imminent danger, she collapsed to the ground, clutching her head. She looked around in a daze, trying to make sense of her friends' battles. She barely noticed that the two guards which she previously disposed of had risen, and had not taken kindly to the prospect of their companion's death. She also barely noticed that they were charging at her. All she could really focus on was the splitting migraine that she was dealing with, and how much it hurt her to do anything.

Fortunately for the teenage leader, she happened to have a very loyal batch of friends. It was Dash, in particular, who came to her aid in the form of a brutal kick to the head.

"Go back to Japan, you sub-Saharan pieces of shit," Dash taunted, holding up her middle finger. It was a rather risky maneuver for her to take the time to throw out insults, considering that she now had four soldiers trying to kill her. However, she did not seem frightened at all; in fact, she was almost glad that she had an extra challenge. One of the royal guards tried to land a devastating blow from behind. But Dash used her evasive speed to instantly appear on the other side of the room, and was now leaning against the wall in a casual manner.

"Too slow, fuckface," Dash taunted. Within a second, Dash had reappeared inches in front of the soldier, and connected an uppercut directly to the jaw. Dash started to vanish and appear in a continuous sequence. She stopped in front of a solider, hit her, and then moved on to the next victim. One of the guards, 0005, tried to launch a preemptive strike, slashing half of a second before Dash had a chance to attack. Yet Dash was clever, and skipped around the cycle with very selective choices. Thirty seconds passed, and Dash had not slowed down, nor injured any of the guards enough so they could not continue. Once, with guards surrounding from four directions, Dash stopped in the middle of the group, and opened her arms wide, as if she were expecting to be hugged.

"Are any of you going to put up a fight?" she said with a laugh.

However, Tara saw something in Dash's body language; the way her shoulders sagged, the way her breathing was jagged, the way her skin glistened brightly. The rebel wouldn't be able to last much longer in a fight. Dash tried her best to hide it though, with her cheerful smiles and crude jokes. Still, her words could hardly do much help when one of the guards tried to decapitate her from behind. Dash was able to respond quickly enough to the initial attack, but was immediately regretting her decision. She fell to one knee, panting heavily, as the soldiers moved in for a final attack. A blur spread to the secret entrance, but Dash was able to go no further. She wiped the sweat from her brow as she leaned against the wall.

Well, fuck¸ Dash thought to herself. She felt weak. Very, very weak. Being weak wasn't in Dash's style. Rebecca "Dash" Dawson did not feel weak. It simply was not in her character. She never once thought herself as weak, and never planned to. And yet, despite this permanent stance on her mental and physical condition, she had to face a very unfortunate truth.

She was completely helpless. So helpless, in fact, that she could only watch with aching muscles as a blade was launched towards her head at high velocity.

"Move, Dash!"

The advancing soldier was tackled to the ground. Before she had time to recover, Tara rolled to her feet, and brutally impaled her stomach.

"Get your head back together," Tara commanded, bringing up her sword in defense. "And stop using your powers, already!"

"Got it," Dash said, finding enough strength to support herself. She placed her back to Tara's, raising her arms loosely. "You ready to show these punk bitches what we're made of."

"Stop talking," Tara stated, keeping her eyes on her targets, who were now circling like a pack of wolves, waiting to pounce at a moment's notice.

While this was occurring, Fiona found herself thrown to the ground by her attacker. The lone soldier, 0008, waited patiently for Fiona to get up before continuing. The two had been caught in a dance of grappling after 0008 had been disarmed. From what Fiona could tell, 0008 had a sense of honor, or at least enough of a sense of honor to allow her opponents a fighting chance. She personally did not know why (although a religious aspect of it briefly crossed her mind), but she took advantage of it. She rotated her left shoulder around, trying to eliminate a painful soreness that was ailing her.

"Your move," 0008 said. Fiona examined her target thoroughly. The guard pressed lighter on her left foot than her right. Not only that, but her right arm seemed to be barely shorter than her left. Every time she went in for a takedown, she quickly shuffled to her left, placing her left foot directly behind her right for a fraction of a second. It wasn't too much to go off of, but Fiona thought of something she could use.

Fiona took a kick at 0008's head. The guard backpedaled out of the way, and then, like expected, shuffled to her left. At the precise moment her feet were lined up, Fiona went in for the legs. 0008 tried to dodge, but she was off-balance, and was easily tackled to the ground. Fiona moved quickly to secure an armlock, which she was almost able to lock in. However, much to Fiona's surprise (and some disgust), 0008 unlocked her own shoulder from its socket, and rolled her body over her head, allowing her to gain a dominant position. She grabbed onto Fiona's leg with her free hand, and, using some more talented (and very creepy) twisting, she freed her arm, and trapped Fiona in a leglock. 0008 slowly applied pressure by pressing down her legs, which in turn applied more and more pressure to Fiona's ankle.

Okay, think Fiona, the trapped girl thought to herself, as she winced in pain. She's breaking your ankle. It is going to really hurt if you can't get free. Find a weakness in her defenses fast.

Fiona let out a yelp as the royal guard applied even more pressure. They both knew it would be only seconds more before her ankle snapped like a twig. Fiona tried to raise herself off of the ground, but couldn't get enough leverage to reach 0008. She rocked from side to side, trying in vain to relive some of the pressure from her ankle.

But then, Fiona finally realized what she had to do. It did not feel comfortable doing it, but she did not have any choice. Taking a deep breath, Fiona concentrated hard. Suddenly, two large wings emerged from her back, propelling her upwards. She flung over the tangled mess of legs, freeing herself from the pile, and landed on top of 0008's head. She wasted no time. Taking the guard's head under beneath her arm, Fiona gradually applied pressure to her throat, cutting off her airway. Despite her struggle, there was absolutely nothing the soldier could do to overcome Fiona's advantageous position. Even though she was desperately clawing in a poor attempt to free herself, 0008 lost consciousnesses, and her body became limp.

Fiona released the solider from her grasp. Rising to her feet, Fiona collapsed her wings (she hated having them out, no matter how much of a part of her they actually were). However, she was far from relieved; a quick glance over revealed that Dash and Tara were both outnumbered and outmatched. They fought tirelessly to defend themselves, but neither of them was in any good condition to fight. Running over to help her friends, Fiona couldn't help but glance over to AJ.

What a shock it was to discover that AJ was not only fighting against four soldiers all by herself, but appeared to be easily winning. AJ moved with such grace and beauty that she resembled a dancer more than a fighter. The way she docked and weaved out of the way of each attack, never once stopping, transitioning from one movement to the next in perfect fluidity. No matter how many blades came at her at once, she never seemed worried or frightened; she just kept moving through the air with dignity and confidence. Even though it was only for a moment that she saw her, Fiona couldn't help but feel humbled. Seeing how much Tara and Dash were struggling, and considering how much she had struggled with just one guard, it served as an important reminder of how much more experienced AJ was than the rest of them.

But Fiona could not focus on this for long; she had people to help. Tara was barely able to keep up with her attackers, and Dash was too slow to be of much use. With the evened odds, however, the fight became much more balanced. The reduced stress certainly gave Dash some motivation, and her fists flew through the air faster and faster. Tara stayed on the defensive, searching for a moment to parry. She had already attempted to use her powers again, but she was distraught to discover that nothing had happened, and her enemy had remained standing. Still, with Fiona's help, the situation did not seem as hopeless as before.

"Spark, I got an idea," Dash said, leaning her head back to avoid a blade, which otherwise would have slit her throat.

"You want to tell me what it is?" Tara asked in a frustrated manner.

"Too late!" Dash yelled, suddenly sprinting towards her friend, who had her back turned. Dash, without any sort of further warning, forced Tara to bend over, before rolling off of her back, landing in front of the confused girl. Dash immediately transitioned into a low sweep, which the solider Tara had been fighting leaped over with little trouble. However, Tara had recovered from the initial shock, and took the opportunity to slice the solider in two while she had been left defenseless.

"A little more warning, next time!" Tara screamed, turning around to defend herself against another furious solider.

"You could handle it," Dash stated with a sneer, joining Tara in the fight. The solider was clearly outmatched; there was only so much she could do against two very quick fighters without any help. The T'haki Menfi was designed to function as a unit; they were only superior if they could work as one. Unfortunately, individual prowess was sporadic, and this soldier in particular was not very good working by herself. Her thoughts were interrupted as a sharp blade hacked into her side, lodging itself in her hip bone. The sword was forcefully yanked away, and before the guard had any time to truly register the pain, she was cut into again, with the blade now cutting through her spine. In a matter of moments, she had bled to death.

Dash and Tara went to assist Fiona when they heard a sickening crack. Fiona was towering her opponent. Her knee rested on the guard's head, and the grounded warrior had her arm bent backwards at the elbow in a horrid direction. Fiona herself appeared sickened as well; her face was contorted in disgust, and she kept her head turned away from the arm in her grasp. The guard groaned in agony, and this only made Fiona feel worse about her gory deed.

Please just pass out, Fiona couldn't help but think. It seemed like it would never end; the moaning only grew volume. Fiona hated causing people pain. She did it constantly, and had certainly done many worse things in the past, but she still felt horrible about it. The guard had really done nothing wrong to her. Unlike The Beast or any of Discord's men, this woman had only been doing what she was instructed to do. It didn't feel right causing someone so much pain. Eventually, she couldn't take it anymore. She delivered a swift kick to the guard's head, rendering her unconscious.

"Fiona, snap out of it," Tara commanded, noticing her friend's severe displeasure. "We have to help…" Tara paused. She observed the battle AJ was fighting, and realized instantly that there was nothing she could do to help.

The job was already done.

AJ started her finishing series of strikes with a simple dodge. She sidestepped a machete that was thrust at her head. She grabbed onto the soldier's wrist with her left hand, while sending out quick jabs to the elbow, shoulder, and throat with the other. The blade fell out of the guard's grasp, and directly into AJ's open palm. Two slashes to the throat was all it took for the stunned solider to collapse to the ground. AJ knocked the other machete into the air with her foot, and caught it with ease. The last three guards charged all at once.

AJ smirked.

The attacks came in from above. AJ spread her legs apart, and fell to the ground. She delivered three successful strikes to each of the guards' thighs. One bent down as part of a reflex; AJ launched her blade upwards, impaling the guard in the face. She then hopped back to her feet, blocking another attack. Her blade was locked, but she still had plenty of other options. A hard boot to the right knee was enough to bend the leg at an awkward angle. As AJ dug her machetes into either side of the guard's collarbone, another attack came from behind. But the southerner spun out of the way of the attack, and in a single motion, removed her blades from one guard, and place them into the other.

With all guards on the ground, AJ removed her hat, and wiped the sweat from her brow.

"What are y'all staring at?" AJ said, with a half-cocky grin. "We got a king to talk to."

Shaking off the sense of wonder, Tara walked over to the entrance to the throne room, and placed her hand upon the golden lion emblem. She took a deep breath. Her head was still killing her, and she felt very tired, but she knew that she had to focus. Whatever actions she took in this room would decide the fate of millions. It was certainly daunting, but it was too late to go back now. King Klius Daltenoss was working with a terrorist.

And she had to stop him.

With a heart full of determination, Tara kicked the door in. The throne room, as was to be expected, was the most gorgeous room in the entire castle. It wasn't the beautiful murals that covered the walls that made it so. Nor was it the doing of the throne itself, which was bright gold, and was placed atop a raised platform in the back center of the room. No, it was the view that made the room look gorgeous. The entire back wall was made of glass, exposing the vast rainforest on the other side. Directly down from the throne room was the massive cliff, which descended hundreds of feet into the endless green of the trees. With the sun starting to rise over the horizon, a beautiful blue glow was starting to take form in the sky, which nearly distracted Tara from her goal.

Except she was quickly brought back to reality, as she saw that Klius was pacing nervously behind his throne, a distressed look upon his face. He took notice of the P.O.N.Y's, and recoiled in fear.

"Stay back, you lunatics!" he ordered, backing himself into the glass wall. "You're not going to kill me."

"Your majesty," Tara said, pointing her sword at the prestigious man. "We've come here to talk."

"Don't think you can fool me," Klius said. "Is this how the United States thinks it can get me to hand over more of my country's resources? By threatening me?"

"Don't try to lie to us," AJ said, following the others into the room. "We know everything."

"Why are you doing this?" Tara demanded to know.

"What are you girls talking about?" Klius roared. "You burst into my home, kill my guards, and try to threaten me with death, and then you say I'm doing something wrong?!"

"Stop talking like an idiot," Dash said. "Honestly, you make deals with a terrorist, and then you try to pass us off as a bunch of thugs. That's fucking pathetic."

Klius seemed utterly puzzled.

"I… I've done what now?" he asked. "You think I've made a deal with a terrorist? Why?"

"We have files stating about secret exports from this country, and a source that knows you've been talking to a major target of ours," AJ said. "If you would just come with us peacefully, we can resolve this thing before it gets outta hand."

"Exports of secret materials?" Klius sounded shocked. "This is an outrage! I have never broken my word on trading openly with the world. I don't know any terrorist. Nothing I've been doing is wrong. Whoever gave you this information is mistaken. Why would I ev-"

BANG

Klius did not think much after the bullet exited out of the back of his skull. In fact, he did not think of anything at all. He slumped backwards into the glass wall, and slid down to the floor, leaving a trail of blood in his wake.

"Well, this went smoothly," said someone with a deep voice. "I mean, it was real impressive what you girls did for me today."

Quincius Daltenoss walked slowly to the throne with a huge grin on his face, and a pistol firmly in his grip. The girls were too stunned to protest. His eyes never left the throne as he talked, pronouncing every word with intense punctuation.

"I mean, the concept was very difficult to begin with," Quincius stated. "How would I ever get my father off of the throne? I mean, he was the king! I wouldn't be able to complete my side of the bargain until I had full control of our exporting. It was so very complicated. He never knew what we had found deep in this country, and how useful it would be to us. My first thought was to kill him, but then I thought of the consequences. A kingdom wouldn't take kindly to a son murdering his own father. They wouldn't take that well, at all."

"But then, I found you," Quincius continued. "Once I considered it, the choice really seemed obvious. You were people who could get past the guard, you were the people who were easy to blame for such an incident, and…" Quincius smiled wide. "You were the easiest people to fool."

"You tricked us?" Tara said. "You've been lying to us this whole time?"

"It wasn't hard," Quincius stated. "First, we had to get you to the ball, so a simple story about good relations was made up for the ride. Then, we made up a clever little tale about my father 'talking to a faceless man'. From there, you practically took care of the rest yourselves. Taking care of the opposition, openly stating you want to take out the king of Vitrumia, and hell, even wiping the security system that would be able to see what really went on in here."

"This was a fucking set up," Dash muttered under breath. "Never trust any government."

"Oh, but this was just the start," Quincius said proudly. "You may have wiped the cameras clean, but not in time so that we couldn't get a quick shot of you girls leaving your rooms, armed to the teeth. Tell me… how do you think the world will react when they discover America has been using children to pull off assassinations?"

Suddenly, the gravity of the situation became apparent. Quincius had evidence of them trying to assault the king. It wasn't direct evidence, but under an oath from the new king of Vitrumia, it would hardly take much convincing. All Quincius had to do was get access to a main server, and he could unveil all of P.O.N.Y. in a matter of seconds. It didn't matter now that Pinky could erase the footage, or if that they could take out Quincius. The footage existed, and probably had a plethora of backups hidden digitally. Really, if they did anything to protest at all, it would only delay the inevitable.

They had failed. P.O.N.Y. would be finished.

"Oh now, don't look so sad," Quincius said, walking over to the body of his father. "It's all for the good of the world. Now that I'm king, I'll make sure I do everything in my power to raise my country to the top. I've been waiting years for this, and you girls have made it a reality."

Quincius picked up the corpse, and examined it thoroughly.

"Now, time to get rid of the old," Quincius said, turning to face the glass wall. "And usher in the new."

With a growl, Quincius leaned back, and then threw his father's body out of the castle. The glass must have been reinforced, but from Tara could see, Quincius didn't seem to struggle at all to break it. The body sailed through with little resistance, and then tumbled down the cliff, falling to a rocky oblivion.

"Okay, enough of this!" Tara shouted, pointing her sword at the new king. "I don't care what you're planning to do, but we are not going to let it happen. You're coming with us for associating with a terrorist threat. You might as well surrender now. You're far outmatched."

"No. He isn't."

Tara froze at the voice. She had never heard it before, but it sounded ominous, terrifying, and grave. She glanced around to take a look at the speaker, but all she was met with was a blank, white, expressionless mask.

Then, she was thrown to the ground, and was brutally punched in the skull, knocking her out cold. Dash tried to fight back, but her momentum was redirected, and she was tossed effortlessly to the floor. Fiona and AJ both tried to jab at his throat, but it served to no avail. AJ's hand was ducked, while Fiona had her arm grabbed onto. She was thrown towards the throne, where Quincius stood happily, watching the chaos unfold. AJ fought back as hard as she could. She threw everything she had at The Unknown, but it served no use other than to waste time. Against four royal guards, she was confident, collected, and capable. But now, she could barely keep up. It was almost as if the man was toying with her, keeping the fight sustained for as long as possible.

Eventually, he grew tired of fighting her. She launched a right fist towards his head, but he grabbed her wrist. He maneuvered over to her back, where he twisted her arm backwards, testing the joint to see if it would break. She groaned in pain, but fought on regardless, desperately trying to free herself. But it just wasn't meant to be. The Unknown could only bare the sound of her pained groans for a few moments before he grabbed onto her head, and rendered her unconscious. Furiously, Dash rose to her feet, and in a bout of rapid speed, tried to strike the masked man in the face.

The punch was dodged, and Dash was instead greeted with a knee to the stomach. The Unknown grabbed onto her shoulders, and threw her towards Fiona, who she landed next to with a thud.

"Hahaha!" Quincius cheered. "That was beautiful. Quite the excellent display, my friend."

"The guards have been summoned, as requested," The Unknown said dryly. "I'm sure you'll uphold your part of the deal, correct?"

"I'll keep them alive," Quincius said. "Barely. I think that will be fine."

Dash groaned. Everything hurt; both her mind and her body were in agony. She hated to give up so easily, to have come so far only to be swatted down like flies. She refused to be taken to some medieval torture chamber, where she would spend the rest of her days. She would rather die than face such humiliation, which is exactly why one particular idea popped into her mind.

"Fiona," Dash whispered. "Think you have enough energy to use those wings of yours?"

"I think so," Fiona said. "I don't think it I could do much with them, though."

"Well, get ready to use them," Dash said, starting to rise to her feet. With shaky legs, she stood upright, receiving the attention from the two terrorists. Dash quickly grabbed onto Fiona, and hoisted her to her feet. Fiona mainly was used as a support for Dash as she was guided to the glass wall.

"Wait," Fiona said, growing fearful. "You're not about to do that, are you?"

Dash responded with a weak smile. Fiona gulped.

"Where do you two think you're going?" Quincius said with a grin. Dash took one step back at a time, each foot leading her closer and closer to the broken glass.

"We're going out for the evening," Dash replied in a snarky tone. "Catch you later, boys."

"Wait, Dash, I don't think this is a good-"

Fiona could no longer protest, as Dash grabbed on to her tightly, and leapt out of the castle. The fall may have seemed large from a distance, but from up close, Fiona wished it was a bigger cliff. The ground was approaching faster and faster, and Fiona was absolutely positive that she was about to die.

"Fiona, wings, now!" Dash yelled over the sound of the wind.

Fiona did nothing.

"Fiona, open the goddamn wings!" Dash yelled again.

Fiona still did nothing. The ground was getting closer.

"Open the wings, you freak of nature!" Dash screamed ferociously

They were hallway down the face of the cliff, and Fiona continued to do nothing.

"We are going to die, you motherfucking idiot! Open the wings!" Dash was practically begging now. Finally, something seemed to get through to Fiona, and she shook herself out of her terror. Two wings quickly unfolded from her back, and she grabbed onto Dash as tightly as she could. Fiona tried to slow her momentum, but it seemed to be of no use. The ground got closer still. Realizing she would never be able to stop in time, Fiona tried to level herself out the best she could, in hopes of swinging herself back around.

The attempt did not go as planned; it was too late to stop them from crashing into the forest. Even though she was flying almost horizontally, the forwards velocity had been too much to handle. The two P.O.N.Y's crashed into the trees, and became lost in the endless forest. Only a rustling of leaves gave away their location, but this soon faded away, leaving no trace of the girls ever existing.

"Well, there goes two of our problems," Quincius said, looking out the window. A set of fifteen guards came in, and several of them took AJ and Tara by the arms, dragging them out of the throne room.

"There are two others hidden in the castle," The Unknown stated. "You should send out a search for them."

"Already got a man on it," Quincius said, walking in front of his throne. "It looks like things are finally going my way."

"Our way," The Unknown corrected. "Now that we have that footage, it will be a walk in the park to expose the US. And, now that those girls are locked up, they won't be able to interfere with our plan any further."

"Yes… about that…" Quincius said, a smile appearing on his face. The Unknown suddenly noticed the guards were not leaving to return to their posts.

"Quincius, what are you doing?" The Unknown asked.

"All my life, I've been taking orders from people," Quincius said, examining his throne. "Whether it be the USA, or my father, or you. Tell me, as a part of this plan of yours, what does it have to offer me? What would I gain from your psychotic scheme?"

"You're trying to betray me?" The Unknown said, growing furious. "After all that I've done for you. We're in this together, Quincius."

"Sombra!" Quincius screamed, enraged. "Quincius was weak. He never got what he wanted. All he did was let other people tell him what to think. You're telling me all these things about your cause, but do you know what I think?"

Quincius calmed down, and put on a smile.

"I think I like the modern world," he stated. "I like the power. I like the women. I like the money; the unfathomable wealth in my possession. And a thought occurred to me: if we do actually accomplish our goal, all this money is going to become pretty damn useless, now aint it?"

"You're letting greed guide you," The Unknown stated. "Don't forget why we're here."

"I'm here to live my lifestyle like I always wanted," Quincius claimed. "To live like a king; to be appreciated for once in my life like I deserve to be. My time has come to lead my people to wealth and prosperity, and aint no one gonna stop me from doing so. Not. Even. You."

"We'll see about that, you sellout!" The Unknown screamed. The guards tried to subdue him, but he moved far too quickly for them. He lunged towards Quincius, grabbing onto the king's head, and slamming him into the ground. All of a sudden, The Unknown's hand started to tremble, and Quincius's struggling ceased. A pulse started to emerge from the masked man's hand, transferring its way into the king's body. Quincius's face went blank.

"Now, listen here, Quincius," The Unknown said in a low voice. "You're not rebelling against me. You're going to give me what I need, and you're going to be pleased about it. Understand?"

Quincius said nothing. He just stared into space, his face emotionless. Until, that is, he cracked a smile.

"So," he said, amused. "You are a Macer, after all."

Quincius's eyes shot open, glowing gold. His veins popped out on his skin, and a thick, golden substance covered his hand. The Unknown let out a scream of pain, as a metal-like fist collided with his midsection, sending him flying off of his target.

"I thought you might have been influencing the minds of our council," Quincius said rising to his feet. Two guards apprehended the masked terrorist, holding him on his knees, with his arms held outwards. Quincius started to punch The Unknown repeatedly with golden fists, as he continued talking.

"I first suspected something when Chrysalis said she didn't know Celestia was working with the girls," Quincius said. "Why would she join something without any known incentive? It all fits together, doesn't it? That's why Discord never tried to attack our hideout once we abandoned him. He didn't know where it was, did he? You wiped it straight from his mind. But you forgot one little thing…"

Another fist collided with the masked man.

"I'm the most powerful Macer in the world," Quincius stated proudly. "I'm the king of the gods now, boy. And you aint ever gonna change that. Now, take him away to the cells."

"You can't do this to me, Quincius!" The Unknown shouted in rage. "You won't get away with this. I'll kill you, you traitor! I'll end you, and your whole goddamn kingdom! Do you hea-"

The door was slammed shut, leaving Quincius alone with one solitary guard.

"Anything else, King Quincius?" the guard asked.

"Bring me my cigars," Quincius instructed, walking back towards his throne. "And call me 'King Sombra'."

"Of course, King Sombra," the guard sad, leaving the room. Quincius walked to the center of the room, and lifted the sword that was lying helpless on the ground. The craftsmanship looked splendid to him, and he came to the conclusion, after much consideration, that he should put it in his collection.

However, that moment would have to wait, for there was something far more important to do. With much enthusiasm, King Quincius sat down in the golden throne. He would have to get the window fixed. It wasn't the most important thing at the time, but he wanted to make sure it got done. He was the king of all kings, the god of all gods. Everything about his throne room needed to be perfect. The guard returned carrying a small brown box, and a lighter. He walked up to the armrest of the throne, and knelt down before his king. The box was opened, and a single cigar was taken. It was placed inside of the King's mouth, and was lit posthumously. Quincius then handed the sword to the guard, and with a brush of his hand, instructed the guard to put it in the proper location on the wall.

Sombra was pleased. Everything was just as he wanted it to be.

"Ah," King Sombra sighed out, smoke blowing out of his mouth. "It's good to be the King."

End of Chapter 9