The villain's laughter echoed around the penthouse room, enhanced by the blood red glow radiating from the scepter. Invigorated by the presence of the other artifacts, the group could all feel the raw magical power bursting from the ancient relic.

"So Bronco Busters, it seems you defeated Nefillyti. While I am mildly impressed, I think you'll find me far more of a challenge," the stallion cackled, holding up the scepter maliciously.

"You may have some powerful magic, but you're still outnumbered Phony Pharaoh! Surrender now and we can find you a nice jail cell for you to rule!" Midnight threatened, channeling his knowledge of corny hero declarations from his memory. Of course this did nothing but anger the artifact-powered megalomaniac.

"Why must you foals always get my name wrong...!” Phetlock said in a dangerously low tone before snarling out loud! “I am Pharaoh Phetlock, and about-to-be ruler of Trotham! Now that I have the Scepter of Set I can wield his terrible power and unleash the perfect storm upon this city! From the ashes and the rubble leftover, the inhabitants will rise up and rebuild it in my honor! But you, Bronco Bozos, will have neither the honor nor the privilege of beholding my new legacy! You are not welcome in my New Empire!"

The group all tensed up, ready to spring into action, as the crazy stallion raised his new scepter to the ceiling and unleashed a glowing red beam of lightning so powerful it almost blinded the room. In an instant the ceiling was vaporized, the bolt soaring straight up into the sky, already stewing with bad weather. As the beam powered up, the Pharaoh released his grip on the scepter and everyone watched as it floated in place, channeling the power of the almighty Set and enforcing his ancient will on the city's skies. The dark clouds began to spiral, tornadoes were forming here and there throughout Trotham, crackling lightning struck with chaotic random as intense winds roared through the city skyline, sending pegasi spinning out of control and fracturing glass windows of even the most sturdy skyscrapers.

The Bronco Busters watched in rising fear of the deadly storm. It intimidated them all, but for Soarin and Thunderlane, the two most knowledgeable of weather in the group, they were horrified.

"Luna's TEATS this storm's insane!" Thunderlane grabbed his head to try and stop from shaking.

"If we don't stop this craziness quickly, this wacked-out weather will tear a warpath and turn the city to rubble!" Soarin addressed the group in a panic.

"That’s right, fools!” boasted the insane Pharaoh. "Buildings will fall, roads will crack and hundreds of ponies will die!"

“The destruction will leave nothing left!” Soarin yelled at the mad pony, “How can you do this?!”

Pharaoh Phetlock just let his cackles die down before addressing the superhero. "I am this city's new ruler. Those who cannot survive this storm of reckoning will have no place in my New Empire. Those that do, I know will be strong and sturdy slaves, capable of building temples in my honor. Soon this city will achieve its true destiny, as the Empire of the ALMIGHTY PHARAOH PHETLOCK!! AH-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!!!"

As he began cackling again, the stallions knew they had heard enough. Comic or not, real or not, this insane monster was about to destroy and entire city and kills hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of innocent ponies.

He had to be stopped.

"Bronco Busters, ATTACK!" Midnight roared and mustered as much of his power as he could into an immense bolt of black lighting, aiming right at his artifact-wearing foe. Alongside him, Blueblood fired a concentrated energy beam from his horn-cannon, channeled from the suit and Thunderlane grabbed a hoofull of arrows and began launching them.

The attacks zoomed at the Phony Pharaoh, causing an explosion powerful enough to knock them all of their hooves and send the room into complete disarray, breaking display cases, toppling bookcases and destroying parts of the unconscious Falcon's prized collection.

However as the smoke cleared, the group was immensely dismayed to see a pulsing green shield surrounding the stallion, radiating from the protective powers of his Wings of Isis. It seemed the attack had taken a lot of power to defend from, but he was still in the fight.

"Impressive. When you are fighting at full power you are a force to be reckoned with. However I will allow for nothing to interfere with this critical stage. While my powers are grand, I think it might be wiser to level the playing field. I'm assuming you've met my mummies already."

The Pharaoh waved the Staff of Anubis and the familiar green misted cracks opened from the ground, summoning several mummy warriors. However he wasn't finished yet.

"Since you're already acquainted with my mummies, allow me the pleasure of introducing to you some friends of mine… from high places! ANUBIS! GUARDIAN OF THE UNDERWORLD, ARISE! SEKHMET, MISTRESS OF DREAD! UNLEASH YOUR FURY! HORUS, WARRIOR OF OLD! THE SKIES AWAIT YOU! COME TO ME! DESTROY THESE MEDDLESOME INTERLOPERS THAT WOULD DEFY THE WRATH OF SET!!!!"

The ground began to shake until suddenly, two enormous cracks formed and three figures emerged. One was a dog-like creature, not unlike a diamond dog, however it was larger than a minotaur, leaner but well-muscled. Its fur was black and while it's rippled chest was bare, it's waist was wrapped in a golden tunic, and it wore a nemes crown similar to the one on Phetlock’s head. Its ears were long and pointed, its paws bearing claws sharp like thorns, and it's soulless pure-white eyes were ready to obey its master. This was Anubis.

At his side was a tall and ferocious bipedal lioness, garbed in a dress of white and red, flames danced above her head, she pulled her lips back to reveal a menacing smile full of razor-sharp teeth, her eyes like molten gold so vicious they made everyone around her tremble with fear! She was beautiful the way a volcanic eruption was beautiful. This was Sekhmet!

Beside her was a mighty bipedal griffon-like beast. However, its head and wings and feathers were that of a falcon instead of an eagle. Its long razor-sharp talons looked menacing in the red light of the Scepter of Set. It was just as muscled as Anubis, was bare-chested, and wore a similar crown and tunic sky-white. It looked far more menacing than its compatriot. This was Horus.

As the Bronco Busters looked over the new enemies, they couldn't help but gulp as Pharaoh Phetlock gave a menacing grin.

“You know, this actually makes it all the more gratifying,” the power-crazed phony boasted. “I’ll defeat you all right here in the dawning moment of my everlasting glory, and as you all choke on your own blood, you will be given only the slightest glimpse of a new order. And the last thought to cross your puny minds will be the cold and terrible realization that you have failed.

“For with the power I command, how can you possibly hope to stop me?”

“Well, like the Stallion of Steel said,” Blueblood spoke boldly as he and Midnight shared a look of determination before the Iron Stud faced the Phony Pharaoh again and amplified his voice with his suit to make sure all could hear his answer.

“Together.”

"DESTROY THEM!!!!"

Anubis raised his paw, conjuring a staff with both ends sporting a fan-shaped blade. Horus armed himself with a khopesh sword scarab-shaped shield, and Sekhmet a spear in one paw and a whip of flame in the other.

“BRONCO BUSTERS, SPREAD OUT!” Midnight shouted as he sank into the shadows just in the nick of time to avoid Anubis’s attack.

Sekhmet snarled viciously as she thrust out her spear at Soarin…! And he split in two, avoiding the spearhead. Sekhmet snarled in confusion, as red Soarin said to yellow & blue Soarin, “Hey Soarin, let’s get Soarin, and the three of us have a kitty play-date!”

“Excellent idea, Soarin!” the yellow & blue Soarin agreed and glowed yellow before splitting further, creating all three triplicate Soarins.

Sekhmet growled as she pounced at the red Soarin, only for blue Soarin to throw a psychic feather that burst into a tele-portal, into which Sekhmet went through. Unfortunately for her, the tele-portal opened up over the edge of the roof, sending her falling to the streets below.

“AAUUGH!” Big Mac roared as he’d already grown to by Horus’ equal in size, and the two fought.

Horus screeched as he slashed at Mac with his khopesh, but thankfully, Mac’s growing powers not only increased his size but also his strength and durability. It felt more like getting hit with a pipe, and the armored bands on his forelegs protected him further. Horus flapped upwards to avoid an uppercut, only to screech in pain when an energy blast struck the falcon-head monster from out of nowhere.

“Thank ya kindly, Blue!” Mac yelled to his friend in the Iron Stud armor, as Blueblood flew via his rocket-propulsion, and he gave Mac a smirking salute (which his farmer friend couldn't see since Blueblood's helmet was in the way).

“Not a problem, Mac! Now let’s pluck this bird!”

Anubis snarled as he slashed his halberd like a dervish at Cheese, who kept bouncing away, and saying, “Missed me!” - SLASH - "Missed me again!" - SLASH - "OOH! I felt the wind on that one!" - SLASH - "Aw c'mon, it's like you're not even trying!"

Anubis growled in annoyance as he raised his halberd again, only for an arrow to strike his paws and a gray foam erupted from the point of impact and completely covered the jackal’s paws, and Anubis found he couldn’t get his paws free. The foam had quickly hardened when he noticed a ripple of light nearby and saw the black pegasus, his bow raised, as Thunderlane smirked, “High-density polyurethane foam. Useful for stopping bad guys in their tracks. Or just messing with them.”

Anubis growled as he then charged Thunderlane, aiming his halberd, only to feel two long and rubbery coils ensnare his legs, and yelped as he tripped downwards, and whimpered in pain after biting his own tongue! The coils retracted, revealing they were Cheese’s front hooves, as he smiled happily and waved at his teammate. Thunderlane waved back when he noticed something and quickly fired an arrow straight at Cheese.

“Yipe!” Cheese ducked and covered his head, the arrow zooming over him, and it burst into a classic punching glove, and knocked a mummy out before it could sneak up on Cheese. The stretchy stallion looked and realized what had just happened and chuckled nervously at Thunderlane, who smiled back apologetically, and there was a mutual relief of no hard feelings.

Twinken kept hidden within the debris, and had already dragged Carmane Falcon to safety. True, she was a crime-running despot, but Twinken knew helping her avoid the dangers around them was still the right thing to do. He took it all in and yet it was so hard to keep track of everything! He glimpsed here and there, not able to follow it all!

He saw Big Mac bring his mammoth hooves down on several mummies crushing them, a tele-portal opened and out of it came the yellow Soarin, who grabbed a mummy, did an aerial-somersault, and throw it towards a mummy that had been leaping towards Cheese. Cheese took a deep breath, inflating himself into a large ball and signaled Midnight to throw him, sending Cheese to bounce about, hitting mummies like a giant pinball, Midnight punched and zapped Horus as the falcon-headed monster tried to overwhelm the Dark Knight, and was sent spiraling by a powerful haymaker, Blueblood made use of a sonic-cannon on his left fetlock that overwhelmed Sekhmet into falling back down to the streets after she’d just gotten back topside. Thunderlane had flown to a vantage point and was firing all kinds of magic trick arrows, one arrow split into multiple arrows that nailed several mummies to the ground or nearby rubble, one arrow made a mummy burst into flames, one turned into bolas that wrapped up a mummy and stopped it in its tracks. Anubis was on his feet again and had managed to free his paws from the foam but was getting pummeled back and forth between the red Soarin and the blue Soarin through a tele-portal that sent Anubis from one end of the roof to the other right into the Soarins’ hooves. Midnight had engaged the Pharaoh and both ponies were shooting beams at the other, the Pharaoh shooting his heat vision from the Crown of Ra while Midnight fired a focused beam of dark lightning from his horn, the both of them encircling each other, trying to break through the other’s beam attack.

While Midnight matched off against the Pharaoh in a contest of magical power, the rest of the group began to encircle the three conjured warriors and remaining mummies.

Big Mac had enlarged himself to a matching size and was in a battle of strength against Sekhmet, attempting to push the furious feline back. Wrapping around her limbs in an attempt to weaken her was Cheese, using his whole body like a giant anaconda. While his strength was nothing compared to her own, the two stallions were slowly forcing her back.

Anubis was attempting to hack Soarin to pieces, but the three-pony stallion kept using his tele-portals to avoid hits and attack the angry canine when his back was turned. Each swing of his blade seemed to pass through a portal and miss his quarry. The Soarins were certainly getting a kick out of it

"Almost hit me that time!"

*Swipe*

"Too slow Anubis!"

*Swish*

"Ha, maybe we should just call you 'A-Noob-He is', because you can't hit anything!"

*Stab*

The angry biped slashed and swiped, but the Soarins were just too quick. With each miss and each counter attack, he felt himself being pushed back.

In the air Horus let out a shrill screech and he dived at his opponents, but Thunderlane and Blueblood proved too quick for him. With every dodge, Thunderlane would unleash a hail of arrows, causing all number of magical effects. However the Falcon warrior seemed to brush them aside and continue his strikes. Blueblood's attacks seemed to deal greater damage, but they were using up a lot more of magical power. If they couldn't subdue Horus soon, he would likely start to overpower them.

"Hey Blueblood, keep him busy for a sec, I have an idea!" Thunderlane called, swooping away from the warrior and vanished out of sight in a ripple of golden light. Knowing his friend had activated his cloaking device, Blueblood only had a moment to use a boost of thrust to avoid the swipe from the incoming attacker.

"Well Horus, let's see if you like stun missiles!"

The armored stallion sent the activation through his armor and a series of dart-like missiles shot forth at the Falcon warrior, ready to knock him out. Horus proved too fast however and skillfully dodged the incoming projectiles, throwing himself into a twirl and sending them all scattering around the room, into any nearby rubble on the rooftop.

The falcon-headed entity gave a laugh before preparing another attack, when suddenly a hoof-strike slammed into his gut and he keeled over in mid-air. This was followed up by a kidney-strike, then a haymaker, before a powerful hit to his head sent him careening to the floor between Anubis and Sekhmet who had been driven almost back to back by the relentless attacks, alongside what remained of the mummies that hadn't been destroyed in the brawl.

Blueblood puzzled over the strike until a shimmering effect appeared in mid air to reveal Thunderlane smirking as he readjusted Apollomino's invisibility belt.

"You know what. Invisibility just got cool again!"

"Indeed it did. Now Bronco Busters, let’s finish this battle and turn these villainous minions into a pile of bandages and bruises!" Blueblood cried, a sign fully acknowledged by the team.

Big Mac enlarged himself again, now double Sekhmet's height and twice her strength. He raised a massive hoof and slammed into her roaring face, knocking out one of her fangs. Cheese shifted his body around her ankles, causing the massive punch to trip her and knock her to the ground, crushing three unfortunate mummies in the process.

Soarin's triplicates all tele-portalled together and struck Anubis with all their might, using their increased strength to knock him off his pawed feet and stumble in Horus, who was attempting to rise.

With the three summoned entities down and the mummies encircled, Thunderlane fired another arrow from his bow, letting the magic morph into a large net, encompassing the group of miscreants to full-restraint and letting Blueblood power up for the finisher. Sending a massive charge of magic and electricity through the suit, Blueblood fired a massive beam of gold from the glowing reactor on his chest. The minions screamed in terror, but it was no use, and the magical constructs were destroyed, breaking them apart until they were just whips of glowing green mist.

The attack significantly drained Blueblood's systems, so he returned to the ground to save power until his magic systems could recharge. As he did so, the other four stallions all hoof-bumped, high-hooved, and cheered at their collective awesomeness.

"That was sooo cool! Dashie is going to be so jealous when I tell her about this!"

"Yahoo! That was fun, let's do it again!"

"Ah'm just glad wer’ almost done. Ah just wanna get home to muh `Shy."

"After this, I might take up some archery lessons, because these powers are so epic!"

"Absolutely my friends. This has been an exhilarating experience. However there is still some business to attend to."

The stallions all nodded and turned to the Pharaoh, ready to finish the battle.

Midnight and the Pharaoh had evidently ditched the magic beam contest, as they were now duking it out. However the physical altercation taking place was not going well for the delusional despot.

While the Bands of Horus he wore on his front hooves were giving him just the boost in strength he needed, it was becoming painstakingly apparent that his own supernatural strength was not on par with the Stallion of Steel. Even more so was that he wasn't a trained combatant or knowledgeable of several different fighting styles as Midnight's character Night Shield evidently was, or even Midnight himself.

The Phony Pharaoh thrust his hoof forward, connecting a punch to Midnight's face, but the alicorn just shrugged it off and returned the attack with a slug of his own, clipping the earth pony in the shoulder. The attack threw Phetlock off-balance, and before he could stabilize himself, Midnight jumped on him with a follow-up strike to his chest, knocking the air from his lungs. Midnight continued to capitalize on his weakened state, using his hind legs in a donkey-kick to slam into the Pharoah's front legs and start to trip him, only for Midnight to shoulder charge him mid-fall and send him tumbling to the floor in a heap of pain.

The angry stallion pulled himself to his hooves and brought up a hoof to block Midnight's next strike, but weakened as he was, he couldn't match Midnight's moonlight-powered superstrength and his defense crumpled, letting Midnight get another strike in on his face and knock him so hard he was sent head over hooves.

Bleeding and battered, it didn't look good for the Pharaoh. Midnight stood in a fighting stance waiting for his retaliatory strike, and the rest of the Bronco Busters had encircled them, ready to prevent any escape. They were about to win this battle and they all knew it.

So why did Pharaoh Phetlock start laughing?

"Don’t think you’ve won, Bronco Busters…” Phetlock coughed before spitting a loogie of blood and mucus at Midnight’s hooves. “Under normal circumstances you'd be right... but you have forgotten something very important..."

Suddenly his eyes glowed red and the Scepter of Set, forgotten in the heat of the battle, glowed in kind, letting loose a blazing wave of magical energy. The wave slammed into all of the stallions and knocked them for a loop. All but Pharaoh Phetlock.

Laughing like a madpony, the Pharaoh just stood there as the energy passed over him, healing him of the damage he had sustained in the battle and empowering him once more.

"Ha! You fools stand no chance! As long as the scepter is bound to me, I am unbeatable! It wants to fulfill the will of its creator and complete this storm, and it has acknowledged me worthy to be its master! With its power I am unstoppable. Nopony can stop me now!"

It was at exactly that point that a colt’s yelp echoed over the roof, and Twinken fell from the top of a piece of rubble where he had been taking cover. He fell right on top of the Pharaoh, as he’d been holding the scepter above his head, causing Phetlock to stumble forward and drop the scepter, whereupon Twinken staggered in an effort to stay standing… and his hoof came down on a delicate part of the-

*SNAP/SHATTER/FWOOSH*

Almost at once, the stormy above began to calm and ever-so-slowly disperse as everypony gaped at Twinken, who’d lost his balance and landed on his back. But their attention was really drawn to the scepter, that had been broken in half, and the ornamental top and jewel had been broken and shattered!

As the Pharaoh's eyes widened in horror, Twinken just climbed to his haunches and rubbed his head.

"Oops..."

“What have you done…?!”

The question had been as soft and harsh as a wintery chill, as everypony looked at Phetlock, whose gaze was upon the ruined Scepter of Set. His eyes were widened, the left one twitching, as his brows began to furrow and a vein popped on his forehead, and he changed into the very look of Incensed!

“You… You- YOU DESTROYED A PRICELESS RELIC!!!!” He got to his hooves, his eyes glowing the harsh radiance of metallic gold as they fixated upon the frightened colt.
“ALL MY PLANS, ALL MY MACHINATIONS!!! RUINED BY A CLUMSY COLT?!?!?”

“Big brother!!” Twinken cried in a voice so scared, Midnight feeling his heart tighten.

“Give my regards to Ammut, you INSOLENT BRAAAAAATTT!!!!” Phetlock fired his heat vision right at the colt, everypony crying out for him to stop, to leave the colt alone, Twinken’s eyes wide with horror and shedding tears…!

“NOOOO!!!!” Midnight screamed as he reached out and reacted completely by instinct!

*BLZAANG*

The lasers were deflected by some kind of energy shield of silvery blue that appeared right in front of Twinken, saving his life!

“WHAT?!” Phetlock gaped in shock to see this energy shield instead of a smoldering pile of ash. He didn’t ponder further, as he was too distracted by the superstrength-packing sock to his jaw, Midnight having launched himself with a look of fury at the Phony Pharaoh!

The blow sent Phetlock head over hooves into a pile of debris, groaning as he spat out a tooth and looked up at Midnight with a mixture of fear and rage. Midnight leered down at him, the mask on his face serving only to exemplify how he was seething, as if the crackling of black electricity around his horn didn’t send that message. But remembering his training, he tempered his anger and said with an intense tone, “You are going to jail! Or would you rather a tomb?”

Phetlock seethed angrily and glared at the alicorn. "I am Pharaoh Phetlock and this city will be mine! I WILL DESTROY ALL OF YOU!!"

With a rage-induced burst of power, the crazy stallion launched forward at Midnight, his eyes glowing and his energy wings flared at his sides. However before he could land a hit, an elastic hoof wrapped around his neck and swung him in a spiral. Cheese gave a frown at the insane stallion who’d attacked his friends. Tried to harm a child.

Just as he picked up speed in his swing, he launched the Phony Pharoah across the room. Phetlock saw he was about to be slam into the wall face-first and flinched to wait for it. Instead, a glowing blue feather shot past him and opened a portal in his path. Instead of brick and mortar, the Phony Pharaoh was launched into the incoming hoof of the Soarin in blue. The Blue Soarin punched him towards the Red Soarin, who uppercutted him up to the yellow Soarin, who shoulder charged him back to the Blue Soarin. The three Soarins batted him around like a beach ball until finally the three of them all attacked enforce with a powerful haymaker, decking him hard across the room.

The Pharaoh skidded to a stop on the hard floor, blood dripping from his mouth and bruises all over his body. He groaned and started to pull himself up, only to notice a tiny red pony on his muzzle. He only had a second to react before Big Mac enlarged to twice the Pharoah's size and crushed him into the floor. With ease, Mac picked up the moaning pile of flesh and slammed him into the ground before tossing him into the air.

Now airborne, the bruised and battered stallion attempted to regain control of his flight only for a dozen explosive arrows to pelt him and send him rocketing through a support beam and into a bookshelf. He started to drop to the ground, only for a metal coated hoof to grab him around the throat and toss him to the ground, followed by a magical energy beam to make sure he stayed there.

Pharaoh Phetlock just lay in a groaning pile, completely beaten. He had nothing left to fight with, he was defeated. The thought filled him with undying rage, but his body was too weakened to do anything. He looked up to see Midnight and the rest of the Bronco Busters standing in front of him, all powered up and ready to fight. The six of them were a team, and they were far better together than he was alone.

"Would you like to debate this further, Pharaoh?" Midnight mocked, his anger still high from the criminal’s attempt to hurt his little brother.

Pharaoh Phetlock was just about to growl out an obscenity, when he remembered he still had another trick, his proverbial get-out-of-jail free card. He smirked, his eyes glowing, “You may have won this time, Bronco Buster, but next time you will bow before my might!”

“LOOK OUT!” Midnight yelled to his comrades, throwing up his energy shield while they all tensed as a harsh blinding light erupted…!

And then dimmed, and to their disbelief…!

“He’s gone!” Cheese gaped at the spot the Pharaoh had laid, broken and defeated, where there was nothing but a cracked floor and some flecks of blood.

Blueblood skimmed through the different visual ranges in his armor’s helmet, but sighed, “No sign of him. Nothing in the ultraviolent spectrum, electromagnetic, infrared or even thaumaturgical. Cheese is right - The Pharaoh is gone…”

“Whoa…!” Twinken sighed in relief, only to be glomped and he realized his brother was hugging him.

“Midnight?”

“...I’m so glad you’re okay,” Midnight whispered as he held his brother close, and Twinken smiled happily as he returned the hug warmly.

“Well, the Pharaoh’s beaten,” Thunderlane reminded everypony. “What next?”

“The Trotham Police can handle things from here,” Blueblood decided, “but shouldn’t we be getting released back into the real world?”

“Well, even if we’re stuck here a little longer, it’s not all bad," commented Soarin. "These powers, being superheroes! But yeah, as fun as this place is, it’s got nothing on the real world. It’s where my Dashie is!”

“An’ muh `Shy,” Big Mac nodded.
“And my beloved muse, Rarity,” agreed Blueblood.
“Yeah, and I’d miss planning parties with Pinkie,” Cheese smiled.
“And I’d miss Applejack keeping us in line,” Thunderlane chuckled.
“So why aren’t we outta here yet?” Midnight wondered aloud, none of them noticing somepony eavesdropping on them.

“I dunno, but we should be- YAUGH!” Twinken started when he felt something wash over him, as did the rest of the guys, and they all felt like something was sucking them up, which prevented them from noticing something had snaked up and ensnared the corner of Midnight’s cape, and they were gone from Trotham in a blinding flash of light!

Back in Pepper Pony’s, the comic book gave a rumble before it burst open and light streamed from its pages. Seconds later the dazed and confused stallions were ejected from its pages into a pile up on the floor. They groaned and untangled themselves from each other until eventually they were each able to stand up, and see they were all back in their own world and to normal.

“Well,” Soarin said casually, everypony looking at him. “That was something.”

“Yeah, though I kinda miss the costumes!” Cheese chuckled.

“CHEESE!”

The stallions and colt all startled and looked to see Mrs. Spice glaring at her employee through the serving window, “Get back to work, the shift’s not over.”

“Huh, it looks like almost no time passed since we went into the comic,” Midnight commented, Thunderlane looking at the clock.

“You’re right, it’s not even three yet!”

“Well, the time aside, I must say despite that abrupt deviation from our plans today, that experience has inspired me to tinker with some new projects,” Blueblood declared, remembering the remarkable technology he saw and used.

"Well, tha’ was an interestin’ way t’ pass th’ time, but Ah'm gonna head home now and see my `Shy," Big Mac gave a polite nod to the group before heading for the door. The rest of the stallions all decided to follow his lead.

"Yeah, I need to check on Rumble. I think I’ll bring home a pizza `cuz I am starving right now."

"Yes, Thunderlane. Some of Mrs. Spice’s pizza would be marvelous, then I intend to turn in for the rest of the day. For as thrilling and intriguing as all that was, I am feeling very drained right now."

"I'll see you back at the house, Blue. I'm gonna find Dashie and compare notes from her comic experience."

“Well then, I’ll help Mrs. Spice whip up some pizza pies for you all!” Cheese smiled helpfully before he bounced up and then dived through the serving window, Mrs. Spice yelping.

As Blueblood and Thunderlane waited for their takeout, Midnight and Twinken shared a smile. As the alicorn started to head to the door, he noticed that Twinken wasn't beside him.

"Hey, what's up, little brother?"

The questioned just seemed to make Twinken blush, but the colt made sure to look his brother in the eye.

"Midnight, I was hoping for some advice. That's why I came over earlier. See, I have a... a crush on this filly at school and I'm not sure what to do."

Midnight's eyes widened for a moment, before a smiled reached his muzzle. Gently, he levitated his little brother onto his back before resuming his walk towards the door.

"Well, tell me a little about her, bud and I'll see how I can help."

"Well she's Miss Ditzy Doo's daughter, Dinky. She's really sweet and kind and...."

As the two headed for home, neither noticed the comic book being covered in a chaotic purple and yellow mist before disappearing from the room.

On the outskirts of the Everfree Forest, the comic book reappeared, settling gently on the ground, its illustrations darkened by the night sky. Suddenly light filled its pages and a stallion was ejected from the book. His coat was grayish-brown with an obsidian black mane and tail. He wore a crown, a necklace, held a staff and had a bag filled with several other trinkets.

Pharaoh Phetlock looked around in confusion. After he had heard the Bronco Busters talking about the 'real world' he knew something strange was going on, so he had used the moon-shaped pendant around his neck to his advantage. Nothing could perceive the wearer of the Pendant of Khonsu unless Phetlock wished it.

Those foolish stallions hadn't even known he was still with them on that rooftop, just invisible to their eyes and Iron Stud’s sensors. Hidden from sight, the Pharaoh had used his staff to connect a magical tether from himself to Midnight's cape, seconds before the white light had appeared and pulled the Bronco Busters through it along with him.

However wherever the portal had taken him, it was far from Trotham city.

"Why, hello my good Pharaoh. I see you have escaped from the printed pages and joined the real world."

The Pharaoh gave a gasp and powered up his crown, looking around for the insolent wretch that would dare sneak up on him. "Who are you?! Show yourself!"

A chuckle emanated from the treeline behind him, and the Pharaoh turned to see a shadowy figure hiding in the darkness.

"We'll get to who I am later. But first you might like to know where you are. And how you can take revenge on those who truly dared to defy you...."

The Pharaoh's eyes widened before he gave a nod. Whomever this was, they knew of his enemies. Perhaps a partnership could be formed. After all...

His foes needed to pay.

Twinken falling on Phetlock (and breaking the Scepter in the process) was a nod to the MLP Comics where Hum Drum fell on the Phony Pharaoh and knocked him out (by accident, mind you)