On the night of the massacre day, the donkey stood in his box in the stable and waited.

  He slyly watched the hands of the clock as they slowly approached the reset.

  Ten seconds before they hit their target, he quietly unlatched the door to his stall with his mouth and crept across the thick straw-covered floor to the neighboring stall.

  Here Candycane's gay horse slept unsuspectingly, standing up, as horses do, but with its head lowered and eyes closed. It snored and farted contentedly in its sleep.

  The donkey moved quietly and unnoticed into position. He did not take his eyes off the hands of the clock. At the moment the reset started, the donkey lunged hard with its hindquarters and rammed both hind hooves into the poor horse's belly with full force.

  The horse was wide awake at once, whinnying shrilly in shock and striking out with all four hooves at the same time, which was of no use to him as the donkey had long since dashed back into its own box. Satisfied, he listened to the horse's cries and ate his carrots in the meantime.

  ___________________________________________

  Candycane himself hadn't noticed any of the action; he used the reset at the beginning of the night for a hot threesome with Dimented and MafiaFreyja. They officially called it a “kill trade” so that no one realized what the three of them were actually doing. Well. Everyone in that damn bracket knew what it meant when two or more people retreated to an alleged “kill trade”! It was always the same. “Fifty shades of Grey” was nothing compared to that. But everyone pretended not to know this official, unofficial code and pretended to be as serious as he or she could.

  _____________________________________________

  Marzzzz and DmenAce were sitting at the kitchen table with their arms crossed and angry expressions, staring angrily ahead of them.

  Lady Evelyne came in the door just then and stopped, dumbfounded. “What's wrong with you two?”

  “We don't want to talk about Maximilian,” growled Marzzzz.

  “Exactly. We're not mentioning his name. He's the one whose name can't be mentioned,” DmenAce added gloomily.

  Lady Evelyne automatically reached into the fridge and pulled out the raspberry and cream tart. “A slice or two? How bad is it?”

  “Three,” grumbled DmenAce, ”give each of us three. And don't mention his name. And please don't give him an honorary title either. I know you like to do that without considering that it's the enemy. And that's mean. Towards us. We are your brothers, after all!” He managed to put on a preemptively offended face.

  Lady Evelyne felt that she had been caught out. The title of honor for the main character of the next chapter was already written large and clear on the current page of her notebook: “Maximilan2744, the Raid Eater”.

  _____________________________________________

  Apart from the one whose name could not be mentioned, the night had started very well. Whether in the White House or at the Church of Synergy, everyone got caught. KIRINZAN and KVNTZY, Zoro Roronora and TheBoy09, willuss and CrasoWI, ciara1989 and LukeMan, Rodrigo RDuterte and even the wonderful MightGuySensei. RxW's kill machine was running non-stop and stopped at nothing.

  In the Church of Synergy, Stabbyunicorn felt compelled to give a little speech.

  “Dear members,” she began bravely during the morning circle of chairs, which was repeatedly interrupted by the sound of shells outside, ”I know that times are not easy for us. Nevertheless, I would ask you not to lose heart and, above all, your faith. The bottom line is: we are the good guys! The others are the bad guys. So we will win in the end, because good always wins. The power of our faith is with us...” There was a crash. Frightened, some members threw themselves on the floor and crawled under their chairs. “The power of our faith is with us,” Stabbyunicorn continued angrily, ”and that is something the other side lacks. Don't be impressed by their appearance! It may seem scary for a moment, but they are actually weak. Their aggressiveness only shows that they are afraid. Yes, they are very afraid of us, I can feel it! That's what my findings from my private meditation yesterday tell me.” She paused for a moment. Maximilian took advantage of this and wanted to take the talking animal away from her, but Stabbyunicorn glared at him angrily and held the talking animal firmly. “Then I have something else to tell you,” she began again, struggling to keep her voice steady, ”our beloved leader Sloth had to leave us for personal reasons.” The members of the Church of Synergy cried out in horror, and the circle of chairs was briefly thrown into disarray. Stabbyunicorn waited until her R4 had restored calm, then continued: “He sends his regards to you all. His account will stay here, Saint will take it over. So not much will change in terms of play. Only our souls will miss him a lot.” Stabbyunicorn pulled out a handkerchief and had to blow her nose. “Where's Sloth now?” shouted a shy girl from the group. “Quiet, shut up, you don't have the talking animal!” she was immediately admonished by the others. Stabbyunicorn sighed. “Sloth wasn't doing well here at the end... he's in a phase of self-discovery now. He needs a bit of rest and has therefore decided to stay in the East Indies. There's a new ashram there that has a very good reputation. Sloth left there yesterday. Let's wish him good luck on his journey to himself. May his new guru help him. He's supposed to be a real authority on self-discovery, this guru - what's his name? - Mink.”

  _____________________________________________

  “I don't enjoy it anymore!” roared WHY TRY from [A0L], ”I'm going to sell this account! Let someone else deal with it!”

  “You have to believe in yourselves, please!” begged Stabbyunicorn from the Church of Synergy, ”otherwise we might as well give up!”

  “Nobody gives up here!” shouted MightGuySensei from [A0L], ”but some will end up as doormats!”

  “Right!” yelled General Stas01 from 651, ”Cezar, for example! And where's my donut anyway?”

  “You're a duck!” shouted Just Nakash of the Church of Synergy, ”you're all ducks! And there's a duck chapter coming!”

  “I don't care who you are, because I'm leaving this town!” clamored BadMuthaFcka of [cAS], ”but urgent request goes out to RxW: Please, please burn [A0L] to the ground, and I will be forever in your debt!”

  _____________________________________________

  The night of nights! The night when the male players suddenly started calling their female teammates “Mistress” instead of “Sis”, when the paddles were unpacked and everyone enjoyed either spanking or being spanked. Kill Trade! It's unbelievable what could be hidden behind this code.

  Even the boss of the 652 himself leaned teasingly against the wall of the entrance hall, looked at the Korean Kodaxx with an interested expression and breathed languidly: “Would you like to do Kill Trade with me?”

  Only the donkey stood in his stall, rolled his eyes and grumbled: “Do it properly or not at all! Just kick the damn horse and don't ask for long! But that just goes to show how fucking gay you all are!”

  ________________________________________

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  SY3 had moved into position at Arsenal IV. With the support of other Synergy factions from the Church, of course. The enemy was “only” RXD, but you could just as easily say: The enemy was RXD after all! So it was better not to take any risks. RxW had already taken three arsenals themselves, now it was obviously RXD's turn. But nothing would be left to them here without a fight!

  Teddy Bear Saint had everything under control. Until the raid master arrived - Ghost himself. Saint, quite contrary to his name, cursed. Lots of reinforcements from the Church of Syngergy arrived, with whole crates full of mission journals. It had to be possible to deal with the Ghost!

  Just as they were about to start, there was a cheerful roar: “Yoo-hoo, 641!”

  Saint turned around and his eyes almost popped out of his head. Beyond the fence, the RxW raid team had taken up position.

  “What the hell are you doing here? This isn't your arsenal!” shouted Saint, ”fuck off!”

  “Yeah, fuck off!” yelled Sparkle farts boldly, casting angry glances at the jeering crowd at the fence, who were now setting up folding benches and popping popcorn to make matters worse.

  “It's not our arsenal, but it's our city!” laughed Thunder, ”that's obvious, isn't it? All the buildings go to the RxW family, Gollum even wrote that into the rules in your city hall!”

  “Our city hall is none of your fucking business!” scolded Saint, “get the fuck out!”

  “No!” giggled Ivy, ”we'll shove the sparkle farts back up Sparkle fart's ass first! And the mission journals right after!”

  The Church of Synergy went off the rails. The raidmaster from RXD in the arsenal, the laughing raid team from RxW at the fence, you hardly knew where to focus your attention. Suddenly a loud “DOINK!” was heard.

  “Shit!” yelled Saint, ”where's the UB? Who's got a UB here?”

  Behind the fence, Thunder had climbed onto a bench and raised his hand in plain sight. He elegantly twirled something in the air with two fingers.

  “What's he got there? What's he got there?” screeched Sparkle farts in panic, trying to get rid of the trapper's UB in time.

  Saint squinted his eyes. It went “DOINK!” again, Sparkle farts screamed, behind the fence the next raid was started immediately.

  The little thing between Thunder's fingers flashed in the sun.

  “Damn it, it's a credit card! He's got a credit card!” yelled Saint, startled, ”Retreat! Retreat immediately! Get out of here while we still can!”

  And in a mad panic and completely unsorted formation, the synergists ran off to save themselves in their hive as quickly as possible, regardless of what happened to the arsenal.

  _______________________________________

  At the next Arsenal, number VIII, the Synergetics were in for a wonderful little surprise. Led by Stabbyunicorn, SY4 was waiting to make its grand entrance. Fortunately, there was no RxW raid team in sight this time. Stabbyunicorn breathed a sigh of relief - finally being able to work in peace without feeling constantly watched by those psychopaths and perverts, that was something!

  Suddenly, a small account teleported next to the arsenal. It was a really small account. A loser account from a loser city. Stabbyunicorn snorted contemptuously. What was he doing here? Was he tired of life? She immediately sent an attack at him.

  “Uh-oh!” there was a distant yowl from the 652's clan castle, where half of RxW was glued to the binoculars, ”Watch out, Stabby! Watch out! It's frogland!”

  Who was that supposed to be? Stabbyunicorn didn't give a cent to this shouting. They were just trying to unsettle her, nothing more! As always! These traitors from the city of traitors were all the same!

  Genny chuckled and fought with Black over the binoculars. “They haven't read the first volume of Legends, those idiots! Otherwise they'd know who frogland is! He hasn't even changed his name yet!”

  Thunder Boo groaned softly. “Yeah, he was a painful experience, that frogland... over a million T4s...” Various other RxW fighters also nodded in painful experience.

  “Fuck off!” was the last thing heard from Stabbyunicorn from around the arsenal. Then her troops hit frogland. And were - gone.

  “YES!” the Thunder brothers roared enthusiastically and cheered over to the arsenal.

  Stabbyunicorn scrambled to her feet. Just in time to see that her comrades were also in the middle of sending off. “NO! - NO! - NO!” she screamed desperately, waving her hands in the air. Too late. DOINK!” it sounded as El grito De Lulu's UB landed in frogland's jail, and ‘DOINK!’ hooted the Thunder brothers at the windows of their clan castle.

  Frogland waved a casual greeting over to 652 and skipped away, but not before politely saying goodbye in the SC. “Tell me,” he addressed the Church of Synergy, ”do you train your raid leaders at the Arsenal? But why are you doing this with real T4 troops? I'd recommend a less costly training situation for that... and in general, I'd recommend practicing more...”

  ____________________________________

  “I told you, some end up as doormats,” sighed MightGuySensei.

  “I still haven't gotten a donut!” complained General Stas01.

  “Nobody cares about your donut! You're a duck!” sneered Just Nakash, ”by the way, I'll zero anyone who tags me in SC! Just stop it, you bastards!”

  _____________________________________

  At Arsenal II, the Church of Synergy's luck was tested again.

  The synergetics of SY0 howled as the RxW raid team chilled at the fence just in time for the opening. “Leave us alone already! This isn't your arsenal! You're not even registered here yet!”

  “We want to watch!” roared the Thunder brothers, their mouths full of popcorn and beer.

  “Get the fuck out of here! You fucking peeping toms and stalkers!”

  “Don't be so mean to us! We just want to watch you do it! Maybe we'll learn something from you progamers!”

  “You want to trick us and then shout “DOINK!”!”

  “No, we're not doing that!”

  “Yes, you will!”

  “No!”

  “Yes, you will!”

  The Church of Synergy had had enough. Cursing, they packed up their things and fled home. Their members would come back at a later date, when these nutters had lost the desire to hang over the fence in front of an empty arsenal and eat popcorn!

  Unfortunately, things didn't look very rosy at home either. The hive of the 641 resembled a military hospital, and everyone was greeted at the entrance by a gloomy-looking Maximilian.

  “And what happened to you?” he grumbled, staring sternly at everyone returning home.

  “I don't want to talk about it!” was the most common reply.

  “Leave me alone!” nagged Samuel L Catson. “Besides, you're only allowed to talk here if you're holding the talking animal!”

  Maximilian raised his hand. He held up the small plush sloth for all to see.

  Samuel L Catson crossed his arms in front of his chest and remained defiantly silent.

  “You don't look well, brother,” Maximilian tried again. “You're a little - deranged?”

  “I don't want to talk about it!”

  “Where's your UB?”

  “I don't want to talk about it!”

  “And why are our mission journals hanging out of your ass?”

  “I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!”

  _______________________________________

  In the kitchen of 652, a late visitor was just saying goodbye to Lady Evelyne and Poison Ivy. Kitana from 656 hadn't missed the chance to come to the evening baking class despite the MD and had just taken off her kitchen apron. The cheesecake they baked together was a sight to behold. She carefully wrapped up half of it for her group, leaving half for dessert in 652's clan castle.

  “Oh, by the way,” she smiled cheerfully and nudged the lady, ”I have another present for you!”

  “A present? For me?” said the lady delightedly, ”but for what?”

  “Well, for teaching me to bake! And I thought to myself, you have so much work here and everything - you could do with some help.”

  Kitana slipped outside, giggling, and seemed to be dragging in a large parcel that she had leaned against the wall outside. It was only when she went into the kitchen and into the light that it became apparent that the parcel was moving and apparently alive. Kitana pulled the hood off the head of the “parcel” with a jerk, revealing a very angry, but also very helpless, bound and gagged Cezar underneath.

  “Oh!” cried Lady Evelyne delightedly, ”an angry Russian! I've got another one!”

  “Exactly!” Kitana laughed, ”I thought you could use a kitchen slave here. No one here likes him anyway - I had to kick him out of our faction for saying impossible things and then he just carried on in the city. So I grabbed him today and thought he could at least make himself useful here with you. I've already whipped him once at home, just keep doing it if he doesn't obey.”

  “I can do that!” declared Poison Ivy enthusiastically, ”that really is a great gift. And we can put it to incredibly good use. Thank you, you're a real sweetie!”

  “Always happy to help,” Kitana winked at the two of them and said her final goodbyes to make it back home in time for the reset.

  ______________________________________

  Someone else was waiting for the reset, and that was the donkey.

  He kept a careful eye on the hands of the clock. When there was only half a minute or so until the reset, he quietly unlatched the door to his box with his mouth and crept over to the box of Candycane's gay horse. The horse was asleep.

  This time it had positioned itself so that its belly was protected by the wall. Instead, his fat backside and everything dangling underneath was now pointing unprotected towards the door. Grinning, the donkey crept into the box and got into position. Keeping an eye on the clock, he timed the last few seconds. Then, with pinpoint accuracy, he struck out hard with his hindquarters and kicked the horse right in the balls.

  While the horse went down, whinnying loudly and thrashing about, the donkey had long since returned to its box and listened contentedly to the tower bells ringing out the reset.

  And because the bells were so loud and everyone was busy with other things anyway, only the unfortunate horse could hear the donkey singing happily in the neighboring box:

  “Jingle balls, jingle balls, jingle all the way! Donkey's the only straight one here, the rest of you are gay!”