Trixie Lulamoon stopped her trot a single step inside town, her traveling wagon bumping into her plot as she did. She held her head high and sniffed at the aroma in the air.

She could smell it. Of course she could. Now the question was whether anyone else could. It was change.

Change was in the air.

After being twice defeated by the likes of Twilight Sparkle, Trixie had gone back home and holed up with her parents as she lamented to them until her tongue went dry. Two days of this later and her parents threw her out. Since then it’d been a life on the road. Not that Trixie minded. While traveling the world, she’d perfected her craft and wowed audiences of all sizes.

Yes. If Trixie actually had sleeves to speak of, she most certainly would have several new tricks tucked away inside them—tricks so tricky and dark and clever that even smart little purple bookworms would have trouble figuring them out. Or… that was the plan, at least.

Taking in another breath of fresh air, Trixie laughed, angling her head to the sky as she did. “Twilight Sparkle! Trixie will find you and she will make you—”

Trixie choked on air and did a double take. Right in front of her—right directly in front of her—sat Twilight, pleasantly enjoying a daisy sandwich on the town bench not twelve steps ahead of her.

Trixie growled deep within her throat and stormed ahead, leaving her traveling wagon behind. She kicked up a mound of dust when she came to a stop.

“Enjoy your sandwich while you can, Twilight Sparkle!” she announced. “For it shall be your last! For after today, each sandwich you eat will only remind you of the day you lost to the Great and Powerful Trixie!”

As Trixie’s words rang clear down the street, Twilight Sparkle looked up at her and took another bite from her sandwich. She swallowed. “All right.” Then she took another bite.

“Umm….” Trixie scratched at a leg. “Well, you don’t have to finish your sandwich right this second, Trixie guesses. Trixie just thought some gentle taunting might help things get started. Magic duel and everything.”

Twilight licked a bit of mustard from her hoof. “Magic duel? Why? I’d much rather eat sandwiches. Do you have any sandwiches I could eat? That would be great if you did.”

Trixie furrowed her brows. “Did you fall on your head at some point while Trixie was away?”

“Nope.” She pulled another sandwich out of a paper bag by her side. “Just been eating sandwiches. They don’t call me Sandwich Sparkle for nothing.”

“Sandwich Sparkle? As in with a capital S?”

“Yep.”

Another Twilight Sparkle galloped up the road, waving a hoof at the Twilight on the bench. “How’s it going, Sandwich?”

Sandwich Sparkle waved back absently. “Can’t complain. Got another sandwich, don’t I?”

The galloping Twilight laughed. “Oh, you. It could be the end of the world and you’d still be happy as long as you had your sandwiches.”

Using a hoof, Trixie shoved her hanging chin back into its upright and locked position. “Two Twilights? Since when?”

Sandwich Sparkle happily munched on what looked like an eggplant parmesan sub. “Since like a week ago. Although there’s definitely more than two of us.”

Trixie grimaced and felt a cube of ice drop into her gut. “How many more Twilights?”

“Come one! Come all! Come see the greatest magician Equestria has ever known!”

A flash of light and a river of fog erupted at Trixie’s side, causing her to turn. Set up on a rickety stage pressed against the side of a building was an upright black box with purple stars on its front. The rectangular box was struck by a crack of lightning and a third Twilight climbed out, a purple magician’s hat and cape tied around her shoulders.

“Greetings, citizens of Ponyville! Who’s ready for some magic?” the Twilight exclaimed. “For the Astute and Naturally Talented Twilight’s first trick, she shall need a volunteer from the audience! How about you, blue mare! How would you like you disappear and never return!”

With a black cane, she pointed directly at Trixie. To make it abundantly clear who she had picked, Twilight even struck her with a spotlight.

“Trixie… umm…” Trixie began, before she heard Sandwich Sparkle loudly chewing by her side.

“I wouldn’t go on that stage if I were you,” she warned her between bites. “The last pony that volunteered actually didn’t return. And the less said about the one she sawed in half, the better.”

In the bright spotlight, Trixie remained as still as a statue. “That’s not the real Twilight, is it?”

Sandwich Sparkle shook her head. “Nope. Trixie Sparkle. Wait. Didn’t you say your name was Trixie?”

The gentle snap in her brain told Trixie to beat it out of town before she either ended up stuck in limbo for all eternity or divided down the middle. Forgoing her traveling wagon altogether, she screamed as high as a tea kettle and bolted from the scene. With any luck, she thought, her parents could dig out their old air mattress again.

Trixie Sparkle scanned the one-pony audience. “No volunteers?”

Sandwich Sparkle raised a leg. “As long as you do your saw-in-half trick next, my foot-long sub volunteers. Damn thing’s too long as it is.”

The Sparkle clone thought for a moment, before fireworks erupted from the stage.

“You got it!”

Sexy Sparkle narrowed her eyes at the inhabitants inside the bar. Her vastly sexy and superior brain collected all the data she needed in a matter of seconds and turned it into a neat list.

Bar: The Prancing Pony.

Drink Specials: Pineapple Splash Cocktails and half-priced shots.

Attendance: 64 ponies—not including the bartender.

Male/female ratio: 60:40.

Minutes until closing time: 271.

Maximum number of possible sexual encounters in 271 minutes….

Sexy Sparkle’s last calculation was interrupted when Gay Sparkle handed her a drink and waved a hoof in front of her eyes.

“Anyone awake in there?” he asked, sipping from his hollowed-out pineapple cup.

Sexy knocked back a single shot of hard cider and slapped her cheeks. “Sorry. Just trying to calculate the room. You and I could do a lot of damage here. I look around and all I see are drinking and happy mares and stallions. Any one of them would be more than lucky to come home with us… or find themselves shoved inside a bathroom stall suddenly… or out in the alley… or perhaps in that carriage I saw parked outside.”

Gay Sparkle held up a hoof. “I get it. You think anyone might be interested in me? It’s hard to tell if a stallion might be gay or not just from looking at them.”

Sexy rolled her eyes. “Please. Consider yourself the male version of me. Once a stallion gets a load of the package I attached to you… it won’t even matter if they’re gay or not.”

“Really?”

She tipped him a wink. “Really. But if I help you tonight, that means you need to help me, remember?”

He nodded. “I remember. But I can’t see anyone turning you down. Tonight should be a cakewalk for you.”

“You’d think that, wouldn’t you? That was before everyone started ruining my reputation around town.” Sexy added a mocking tone to her voice. “I heard Big Mac can’t walk because Sexy Sparkle broke his crotch! I heard Sexy Sparkle doesn’t have any internal organs because she shoved so much stuff in there! I heard that once Sexy Sparkle gets you cornered, she sucks out your very life essence!”

Gay Sparkle cocked a brow. “That last one, I’m pretty sure it was you that told me that.”

With a sigh, Sexy admitted, “Maybe I did. I just wish ponies understood what I meant by ‘life essence.’ Then maybe they wouldn’t be so scared to tango with me every once in a while.”

“You could always be gentler to them. Like me.”

Sexy chuckled. “Nah. I like to see fear in their eyes. It’s a turn on for me, if you’d believe it.”

After finishing half his drink, Gay Sparkle motioned to an empty table near the center of the bar. “Let’s grab that table and come up with a game plan. Hard to say how you want to handle that other clone.”

“There’s a Sparkle clone here?” Sexy spun around and gasped, grabbing another cider shot and gulping it down. With a mischievous smile, she told Gay Sparkle, “Looks like fate has something in store for us tonight. Follow my lead and try and keep up.”

Using a stern hoof on his rump, Sexy forcefully pushed Gay Sparkle along the way until they stood next to Fluttershy’s and Trevor Sparkle’s table. They arrived just as Trevor was finishing up a story, ending on a joke that made Fluttershy spit was little liquid was in her mouth onto the table and keel over with laughter. Her cheeks were flushed red.

“Hello again, Trevor,” Sexy greeted coldly, before eyeing the giggling mare. “Fluttershy.”

“Oh, hello again!” Fluttershy said, still giggling through the hoof she held to her mouth. “Trevor was telling me the funniest story before you came!”

Trevor Sparkle patted Fluttershy’s leg. “It’s wasn’t all that funny, dear.”

Fluttershy’s eyes went wide. “Really? Not even the part about the mongoose and the hole in the log? I mean… and then it gets stuck!” Try as she might, Fluttershy couldn’t get her laughter under control. She hung her head close to the table and snorted.

Smiling thinly, Sexy asked Trevor, “What’s gotten into her?”

He sighed. “About half a glass of cider. And that’s it.”

“Lightweight, huh?”

“Pretty much.” He finally noticed Gay Sparkle by her side. “Not going to cause any trouble, are you, Sexy? I thought I made things pretty clear last time we spoke. This is Fluttershy’s and mines first date out of the house, actually.”

Sexy waved a hoof. “Nope. Sorry, Trevor. Afraid that ship has sailed, hit an rock, and sunk. You wanted these hot and toasty buns all to yourself?” Like a well oiled machine, she shot her plot out to the side, causing a waiter carrying a load of drinks to glance over and upend his tray. “Well, these buns belong to someone else now. Meet… um… Suave Sparkle. Yes. Right here.”

Sexy propelled Gay Sparkle forward with a hard slap to the butt. He yelped and stared at her. “Uh… yes. I’m Suave Sparkle, I guess. Pleased to meet you.”

Trevor held out a hoof and Gay Sparkle shook it, giving it a quick kiss before letting go.

All three of them froze on the spot.

Fluttershy continued to laugh to herself about the mongoose and the log.

Sexy patted Gay Sparkle’s shoulder. “He’s really friendly, this one. I was lucky to nab him like I had. Come here and give us a smooch.” She puckered her lips and watched as Gay Sparkle paled.

He hurriedly shook his head. “I’d rather wait until we’re back home, honey bun.”

“Sexy Sparkle doesn’t wait until she’s behind locked doors to do what she wants. Public displays of affection have always been a turn on of mine. So has nibbling on ears.”

Before he had a change to pull away, Sexy grabbed hold of his shoulders and shoved her head next to his. She nibbled on the tip of one ear before whispering to him, “Just act natural. I’m only trying to make Trevor jealous. Once he sees all the stuff he could do with me and not that shy little mare, I know he’ll come running back to me.”

“Uh…” Gay Sparkle whispered sheepishly, “…what else do you want me to—”

That was when Sexy shoved her tongue into his mouth, wrapping her hoof around his head to keep him still. She closed her eyes and leaned into him. He shuddered and whimpered, trying his best not to gag on her expertly trained and powerful tongue. A single tear crept down his cheek. It seemed Gay Sparkle had a rather large aversion to making out with mares.

Or maybe it was only Sexy Sparkle that was causing such a reaction.

Hardly winded from the act, Sexy unhooked from Gay Sparkle and immediately locked eyes with Trevor. Once he had the chance, Gay Sparkle inhaled again and crumpled to the floor, his face a dark shade of crimson.

Trevor Sparkle looked at Sexy with a raised brow. “Doesn’t seem like he liked it too much.”

Sexy scoffed, “He’s still getting used to it. But he’s amazing in bed! And we just have the best time together! Truly, he can’t get enough of me. Isn’t that right, gummy bear?”

She glanced down at the Sparkle clone still panting on the floor.

She smiled at Trevor. “See? True love. Now don’t you wish you could’ve had me when you had the chance?”

“I did have you. And it was terrifying. And painful. And I hope never to do that again.”

“But…” Sexy turned her head to the side, playing with her mane “… I could be gentle, you know.”

Trevor disagreed. “I doubt it. But I better get this girl home. I had no idea half a glass would turn her into this.”

As he stood, Fluttershy lifted her head up off the table and wrapped her hooves around Trevor’s shoulders, still giggling like an excited filly. “Did I ever mention that time I turned into a vampire bat? Not like a blood sucking one, but a fruit one. It was fun. I had fangs and I was biting things and eating all these apples…”

Using a hoof, Trevor helped her to stand. Once upright, Fluttershy latched onto his shoulders again and set her head near his neck.

“…but I was so hungry, I couldn’t stop. Like right now!” Fluttershy began playfully munching on Trevor’s neck, making small gnawing noises between laughs.

Trevor sighed, staring at Sexy. “She’s usually not like this. Honestly. It was only half a glass!”

Sexy Sparkle couldn’t hide her smirk. “Vampire bat Fluttershy? Damn it. That makes it official now. You’re now on my smexy list.”

A purple aura wrapped around Fluttershy’s middle and lifted her onto Trevor’s back. He gave the other two clones a half-hearted salute. “Well, as usual, it’s been weird. Goodnight.” He gave Gay Sparkle a quick glance. “And good luck to you, you poor, poor soul.”

As Trevor left with Fluttershy on his back, Gay Sparkle stood next to Sexy and took in the short lived scene—his eyes trained on Trevor’s round plot while Sexy took in everything she could. Sadly, instead of mentally cataloging the sight for later, Sexy stomped a hoof against the ground and grumbled, “Just try and keep your perfect plot out of my sight, Trevor. Just try. I’ll get you one day, my smexy stallion, and your little mare, too.”

Gay Sparkle glanced around a bit. “Were you talking to me or to only yourself just then?”

She exhaled sharply. “Never mind. We have a bar full of ponies to deal with, so let’s get to work.”

Two hours later and Sexy Sparkle had nearly cleared out half the bar. Every five minutes, another mare or stallion would send her a drink and she’d take a dainty sip before leisurely going over to greet them. The deal was sealed in the walk, the way she shook her hips from side to side as she made her way over. Sometimes (if the pony in question was one of the better of the bunch) she’d pretend to drop something on the ground and take her time retrieving it, giving the special pony and anyone nearby a sneak peak of what lay underneath the hood.

Ponies gasped at the sight. Some whistled. Many glasses smashed to the floor.

And Sexy loved every minute of it.

Once she’d corralled her targets and got her hooves around them, she’d either motion them to the washrooms at the back or to the alleyway behind the bar. Sometimes she went with only one pony, sometimes with whole tables full.

No families though. That would just be weird.

The bar, Sexy Sparkle thought, as she exited the stallion’s washroom after another round, leaving behind a pair of exhausted ponies on the floor. Why hadn’t I thought of this earlier?

She laughed, pulling out her personalized stamp card and poking out another two holes. Another six sexual encounters and she’d get a free plate of pancakes at Pancake Sparkle’s restaurant. They’d actually become good friends since being created days apart.

Then a sight by the end of the bar made her stop altogether.

Gay Sparkle sat alone at a table with a tall drink between his hooves, his head hung low. Sexy leapt up and flew to his side.

“Tough night?” she asked him gently.

He nodded and didn’t elaborate.

“Want to talk about it?”

He shook his head.

“Want me to take a guess?”

When Gay Sparkle made no motion either way, she took a seat next to him, resting her hooves on the table.

She titled her head. “No gay ponies for Gay Sparkle?”

He nodded, taking a large gulp from his drink.

“I find that surprising. Given how accepting this place is to every type of sexual orientation.” Sexy leaned back in her chair. “You need to change up your game, me thinks. I know you’re the ‘gentle’ version of us, but that doesn’t mean you can’t bend the rules a bit in your favor.”

He finished off his drink and pushed the empty glass away. “You can’t make someone gay in a single night, Sexy. Contrary to your bizarre sexual expertise, it really doesn’t work that way. I don’t think this place is really my scene. I’d have fit better in that dance club across the street. They have glow sticks. I like glow sticks.”

She patted his hoof. “Of course you do. But you tend to forget you’re a clone of my own creation, remember? Meaning I created you to be the sexiest little thing you could possibly be in any situation. I guarantee you I could get you a guy tonight.”

He ears perked up at that. “Really?”

“Sure.” Sexy smiled devilishly. “Pick out a stallion. Go ahead. Anyone that’s by themselves would be best.”

“All right.” Gay Sparkle fixed his sights on the rest of the bar, giving it a quick scan. He nodded to a table a few meters away. “Him. He seemed nice, as briefly as we spoke.”

Sexy turned and saw a light blue unicorn using his horn to flip the pages of a book he was reading. To his side he had an order of hay fries and a coffee. “Why him?” she asked.

“Because he’s reading and I like ponies that read.”

Sexy roughly flicked Gay Sparkle’s horn. “So does every Sparkle clone. What else?”

He smiled as he thought. “He’s also drinking coffee in a bar, meaning he isn’t a big party pony. Sure, I like to dance, but I don’t like to go crazy. I also like unicorns. It means we can stay up late and talk about different kinds of magic together and read to each other by the light from our horns and—”

Sexy held a hoof up to him. “I get it. You’re gay. Like super gay. I see that now. I’ll go and butter him up and when I give you the signal, just do a little twirl. And don’t be afraid to show off the assets.”

“The assets?”

She glared at him.

“Oh. Okay.”

Using her wings to make things easier, Sexy performed a smooth back flip right from her chair to the pony Gay Sparkle had indicated prior. Without a word, she took a seat beside him.

“What you reading?” she asked.

He didn’t look up from his book. “Earnest Hoofingway.”

She nodded. “Sounds boring.”

“It’s really not. Books are a gateway to unlocking the mind. Ask anyone.”

“I’ll make sure to do that.” Sexy thought for a moment. “You know who likes books? My friend over there.”

“That’s nice.”

“Maybe you should actually look at him.”

When the stallion made no motion to do so, Sexy grabbed his horn and yanked him up.

“See? That wasn’t so hard, was it? See that purple stallion over there? The really good looking one? He likes books, too!”

“Oh.” The stallion frowned. “Yeah, I know. He came and talked to me earlier already. Sorry. As I told him, I just don’t swing that way.”

Sexy frowned. “What a sad swing you must be.”

He finally turned to her. “What was that?”

“I asked if you thought he was attractive.”

He furrowed his brows. “Well… sure, I guess, as far as stallions go.”

Sexy’s teeth clicked together, irritated. “You know how long I spent piecing that hunk of meat together from the clone catalogue?”

“What?”

“Nothing. Getting back on track, you do find him attractive. Maybe there’s something more there.”

He shook his head. “I wouldn’t say that.”

Sexy slid her chair closer to him. “Seeing any mares at the moment?”

“No. My last relationship ended six months ago.”

“Hmm. So that means that at the moment, since you’re not married and aren’t seeing anyone, that your success rate at dating mares is at a paltry zero. Oddly enough, I think that makes your success rate of dating stallions exactly the same.”

He looked at her with rising alarm. “I… don’t think I’m following you on this.”

She smiled. “All I’m saying is that maybe it’s time you changed up your game a bit. If mares haven’t been working…?” She rubbed her hooves together suggestively.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

With a huff, she stopped tapping her hooves. “It’s supposed to indicate bumping uglies, but it doesn’t really work with hooves. Anyways, maybe it’s time you admit defeat in the world of mares and play for the other team? If you haven’t even tried it, how can you say you wouldn’t like it?”

She raised her hoof into the air and gave it a twirl. Gay Sparkle took the hint and left the table he was sitting at.

The unicorn by her side dog-eared the page he’d been reading, closing his book. “Look. I’m sorry I’m not interested in your friend. He seems like a great guy, but—” His jaw snapped shut as he caught sight of the display by the bar. His chin quivered out from his control.

“But what?” Sexy asked him with a grin. “Oh. Oh, wait. When you said ‘but,’ did you mean his butt? The one that you can’t seem to take your eyes off of now?”

Across the room, Gay Sparkle was standing at the bar, ordering another drink. The way he stood gave the unicorn next to her the perfect view of his rump. Gay Sparkle hid his face with a leg, clearly embarrassed by displaying himself in such a way.

A bead of sweat rolled down the unicorn’s face. “Why can’t I look away? My mind… it’s picturing things! A lot of… irregular things!”

Sexy chuckled. “When I created Gay Sparkle, I equipped him with a hypnotic gluteus maximum. Or in simpler terms—a booty that steals your attention and doesn’t let go. Having a change of heart about stallions, perhaps?”

He gulped. “I… might be.”

“Maybe you should go introduce yourself.”

After quickly glancing down at the table, he shook his head. “I think it would be better if he came over here. I really don’t want to stand up and make a scene.”

When Gay Sparkle got his drink and left the bar, Sexy tipped him a wink and left the table so he could sit. From a distance, she watched the two stallions chat and even read a bit from that book he’d brought along with him. Thirty minutes later, they left the bar together to get ice cream, holding hooves as they went.

Before Sexy sized up her next target, she gave herself a pat on the back for a job well done. Too bad she wouldn’t be around to see their wedding in seven days time.

Pancake Sparkle shut the door behind her and pulled a thin pancake from her saddlebag, rolling it into a tight joint and using her horn to light the end. She stuck it into her mouth and took a drag—the maple syrup coating the inside adding a honey flavor to the smoke.

She leaned her back against the wall of the restaurant she’d been volunteering at for the past few days. She’d already done a fourteen hour shift and customers were still lined up out the door. Once the town heard she’d be working there, business had increased to the point of hiring new staff with thoughts of expansion. The owners of the place had offered her a great rate with benefits, but she’d shrugged them away. As long as she was making pancakes, she was happy. As long as ponies were enjoying the pancakes she was making, that would be all the compensation she’d need. Pancakes was life to her.

Deep in thought, a most alarming sight made her drop her rolled up pancake to the ground.

Two eyeballs with perfect black pupils floated in front of her, hovering at eye level.

When she took a step towards them, the eyes retreated in turn. Someone spoke to her.

“I was wondering where those had gone off to.”

Pancake Sparkle turned and gasped, her plot hitting the wall of the restaurant behind her. Without making so much as a whisper, another Twilight clone had entered the alleyway and walked until they were only three feet from her. The clone’s coat and mane were a perfect white, as was her tongue, gums, and hooves. It was as if she had been ripped right out of a black and white film strip and somehow brought to life. The only parts of her with anything but white were a stripe of thick black on her tail and mane, and the small trickle of blood escaping from her empty eye sockets.

The all-white clone grabbed the eyeballs from the air and popped them back into her head. She blinked a couple times to set them straight and smiled at her. “That’s better. Sometimes I send out my eyes in order to get a view of things from afar. I can see without them, but from what I understand it’s less intimidating if I keep them in.”

Pancake Sparkle remained motionless, trying to determine how close the rear entrance to the restaurant was to her.

The white clone kept on smiling. “How rude of me. I’m Nega Sparkle. You’re the first clone I’ve run into. Lucky you, I must say. Now you won’t need to witness the death of all your friends.”

She extended a hoof to her. Pancake Sparkle glanced at it, but didn’t move.

Nega Sparkle’s smile faltered a bit. “This is the part where you shake my hoof.”

A powerful force gripped Pancake’s hoof and brought it up, giving the clone a quick shake before she grabbed it back and held it to her chest.

Nega Sparkle nodded, never looking away from her. “Manners are important to me. Manners maketh pony, or so says my master. My master’s the one that sent me here—to do away with all the clones of Twilight Sparkle. Dark Sparkle wants to create a world in her image and she can’t do that unless all of your kind has been done away with.” She tilted her head to the side. “Please, don’t think of your death as personal. I hold no grudge against you personally and I’m sure your pancakes are excellent. I would offer you one last pancake before you go, but I can’t risk you alerting others of my presence. For that, I apologize.”

Pancake Sparkle’s eyes darted to her sides, her breath ragged and quick.

Nega Sparkle caught her looking. “You seem distracted. Are you looking for a way out? I assure you, you will not find one. May I offer advice? This may all be easier if you accept your fate.” She lifted a hoof and it softened into a liquid-like form, before reforming itself into an eagle’s claw. She snapped her fingers and the entrance to the restaurant was swallowed whole by the brick wall surrounding it.

“What… what are you?” Pancake chirped out.

Nega Sparkle smiled, displaying her blindingly white teeth. “I am a lot of things. I could even be you, if I wished.” Quickly consumed by green and black flame, Nega Sparkle took the form of Fluttershy, then Rainbow Dash, then a colored-in version of Twilight Sparkle in rapid succession. One last burst of flames turned her back into her perfect white self. “I also feed on many things—fear, chaos, love, power, magic. This town is full of such things and as I devour you and your fellow clones whole, I will grow more and more powerful.” The smile on her lips dropped and her brows creased. “I would like to lie and tell you that it will not hurt, but dishonesty is impolite. And I abhor impoliteness.”

Pancake Sparkle finally found her voice. “Help! Someone!”

Nega Sparkle nodded. “Yes. If it makes this any easier, you may scream. You smell of fear, so that is what I shall devour from you. It is so potent, now.” A billowing trail of purple smoke floated out from each eye.

Shoving a leg that felt as hard as steel under Pancake Sparkle’s chin, she lifted her up the wall as Nega Sparkle unhooked her jaw and elongated it three times its normal size.

“Hooves off the pancake mare, you hideous clone!”

Nega Sparkle shut her muzzle and turned to the direction of the noise. Applejack, Apple Sparkle, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Speedy Sparkle stood in a tight row by the mouth of the alleyway, legs bent and ready to charge.

Nega Sparkle looked at each of them in turn. “Interrupting someone is impolite. So is name calling. Luckily for you, I will forget such indiscretions as long as you leave us now. For the time being, I am only after the clones of Twilight Sparkle. It is only after they have been devoured that am I to deal with the Elements. Although Twilight Sparkle is to be left untouched.”

Applejack spit a wad onto the ground. “I don’t care what you want, whitey. You mess with one of Twilight’s clones, then that means you mess with all of us.”

“Apples!” added Apple Sparkle.

“So be it.”

Nega Sparkle let Pancake Sparkle fall to the ground as she made her way towards them. As Rainbow Dash and Speedy Sparkle flew into the air to charge, Nega Sparkle reformed a hoof into a lion’s paw and snapped her fingers, creating two dozen circular portals around the pair of pegasi. When one of them flew forward to attack, one of the portals would jump in front of them and shoot them out of another one in an opposite direction. Speedy Sparkle charged through one portal only to exit against a brick wall, knocking herself out.

“Come on, girls!” Rarity cried, leading the rest of them as she lit her horn.

Nega Sparkle’s lion’s paw formed back into a hoof and she pointed it to the left side of the alley. A moment later, it extended another fourteen feet and became as thick as a fire hydrant. As if effortless, she flicked that same leg to the right, colliding into every mare besides Pinkie Pie and smashing them into a dumpster.

Pinkie Pie managed to avoid the leg and ran until she was dead center with her. “Stop being such a big meanie!” she screamed, before grabbing Pancake Sparkle off the ground and helping her up.

Nega Sparkle’s returned her leg to its normal size and softly pressed it against Pinkie’s head. The same black and purple tendrils of smoke drifted from her eyes.

“What are you afraid of, my pink friend?” she asked almost softly. “The end of all joy in Equestria? Here, let me show you a glimpse of the future.”

Tears stood out at the corners of Pinkie’s eyes and she hitched in a breath. By that point, Applejack and the rest had gotten back to their hooves and rushed over to them. She wrapped a leg around Pinkie Pie and dragged her away, never taking her eyes off of Nega Sparkle.

With Pancake Sparkle in the middle of them, the group formed a tight knit circle at the center of the alley, Rainbow Dash keeping hold of the unconscious Speedy. Applejack roughly straightened out her hat. “Don’t think you’ll catch us off guard again! There’s no way you’re getting through us!”

Nega Sparkle sighed. “As much as I hate lying and the liars that tell those lies, now is not your time. I will return for you once all clones have been consumed.” Her eyes hovered over Apple Sparkle and Speedy Sparkle. “Say goodbye to them while you have the chance. Things will be ending very soon. Can’t you feel it?”

A white portal opened up underneath Nega Sparkle and she dropped into it. The moment she was gone, it sealed shut.

For a long, long while not a single mare uttered a word, keeping their backs pressed together to keep an eye on the alleyway. Applejack was the first one to break the silence.

“Well, that was probably the most messed up thing I’ve ever seen.”

Author's Notes:

Oh, man. This story.

First part: dumb comedy.
Second part: uncomfortable sexual humor.
Third part: straight up horror.

And yet it's all the same story! How's this thing gonna end? I sure don't know.