If one would describe what a junkyard is they would tell you it was nothing but a place to pile up trash on, waiting to be recycled or left to rot, but for Scootaloo it was a place full of treasures waiting to be uncovered.

In the midst of the so-called 'rubbish' she could find something worth to be used and in good shape, sometimes she wondered why somepony throw away those stuff.

Searching through the junkyard made her feel like she's an explorer combing through an ancient temple that has been lost to time, similar to those Daring Do book Rainbow seems to like. But instead of some artifacts from a long lost era, she's searching for something that can be used.

From the smallest thing such as marbles, hoof-held mirrors and other knicks-knacks to something like her new scooter she found yesterday.

Speaking of her scooter, Scootaloo wondered what happened to the masked colt, Rainbow said that she already caught Xandrich before he got eaten by a monster living in the Everfree forest but why did she run away before she answered her question?

Well, there's always a next time to ask, if not then she can search him herse-

"Hey, Scootaloo!"

If anypony said they saw her squawk like a chicken, Scootaloo would deny it and probably kick their flanks for saying things.

Her eyes scanning around the trash piles looking for the culprit, whoever just called her out definitely saw that embarrassing thing.

"Up here, Scoot!"

Her attention instantly on a piece of cloth sitting on a large trash pile, no wait, it wasn't just a cloth because it has a mask sticking on it, strange, that mask seems familiar, she could've swore she seen it befo-

"Xandrich?"

"Yeah, who else could it be?"

Realizing she just did something embarrassing, right in front of a colt of all things, Scootaloo tried to play it cool by leaning on a discarded wooden box.

"Oh, uh…I was just surprised to see you here, yeah that!"

Scootaloo internally cringed, that sounds like she had to reassure herself.

Xandrich's eyes, if it could be called that, stared directly at her as if he's looking for something, then suddenly his head snapped forward, his gaze combing through the trash piles.

Scootaloo didn’t know why he did that, maybe something catches his attention? She tried to take a peek at what he’s actually looking for, though if she paid a little more attention she would’ve noticed the trash around her moved as if something was crawling under it.

The silence caused an uneasy feeling in Scootaloo's stomach, but her mind remembered what Rainbow had said about the masked colt, didn't she say he was in a safe place? Or did she lie about him?

However, why ask herself a question while the answer is right in front of her?

"So…uh Xandrich, I wasn't expecting to see you here, I-i mean why would a colt like you be here all alone?"

He seems to be confused with her question judging by the question marks on his mask.

"Huh what's that supposed to be?"

“Er, it's just that Rainbow said you’re in a safe place, wherever that place is, so why are you here in a junkyard?”

He let out a snort, “What, you think I’d let that flying rainbow catch me that easily? Bah, I could easily out run her with one- er two hooves tied."

"But they're trying to help you! A colt like you shouldn't be out here by yourself, what if a bad pony found you all alone?"

"You make it sound like I'm some damsel in distress, trust me I'm far from being one, how did you think I got away from them. Besides who said I need help, I can get back home all by myself."

Scootaloo racked her brain, trying to find something to rebuke his logic. However, it's been a whole day since Xandrich went into the Everfree forest, where all sorts of beasts and monsters live, and came back unscathed.

She didn't know how he managed to come back from the forest, let alone survive, without getting hurt at all but if he can out run the faster flier in the whole Equestria then a couple of monsters shouldn't be a problem, right?

Oh who is she fooling, definitely not herself for sure. There’s a reason why entering the Everfree forest is forbidden, while she never went there the hearsay of other ponies is enough to discourage anypony who’s courier about the forest.

The weather changing by itself, animals goes to hibernate and woke up without help, and other unnatural pno- phenomo- phenomem- things happening inside it, entering it is the same as suicidal!

“Well I think I wasted enough time here, probably head back home soon, gods know what kind of extra work Captain gonna give me if I report in late, see ya’ Scoot!” and with that the colt disappeared amongst the trash.

“W-wait!” Scootaloo shouted without thinking, while she can't figure out why Xandrich is so determined to go home alone but at least she can get him to stay away from the forest.

Scootaloo almost released a sigh as the colt’s head popped back out.

“Yeah?”

“W-well actually there’s something important I want to tell you,” Scootaloo said the first thing that came to her mind, "we, well everypony actually, are going to celebrate the Summer Sun Celebration, there's going to be lots of food, the sweet kind, pretty flowers, even princess Celestia herself going to be here! There's going to be lots of fun so you have to come…er, pretty please?"

Xandrich tilted his head, his weird mask displayed a '. . .' as if he was thinking about it, "Well…I don't see why not, I might join in for a wee bit, but I cant make promises, alright?"

Well if that's the best she can get, might as well take it, "Alright then, the celebration is happening tonight but you better be there soon, I heard Pinkie Pie is bringing her famous cupcake!"

While his mask completely covered the face, Scootaloo could clearly see his disgust, "Those sugar bombs? Ew, yeah no thanks, I think I'll pass on that. Well, see ya when I see ya again, Scoot!"

And with that the colt disappeared once again and if the little filly wasn't so focused on him, she would notice an odd looking giant bug made out of metal silently crawl away.

[Uploading H.A.W.K.S programs…

.

..

…

Upload complete, begin data synchronization…

.

..

…

Synchronizing complete, begin diagnostic…

Unit_1 status : …STANDBY

Unit_2 status : …STANDBY

Unit_3 status : …STANDBY

Unit_4 status : …STANDBY

Unit_5 status : …STANDBY

Diagnostic complete, no error detected.

Awaiting flight order…]

A row of bird shaped drones perched on the stony window sill of the tower I had claimed as a base, each one emits a soft red glow from the eyes indicating they’re very different from their natural counterparts.

Well aside from the fact it's made out of inorganic materials, the difference in weight, the lack of feather which reveal the smooth metal surface it's constructed from because I didn’t have the right materials to make a proper shell. It’s not like there’s a pile of polymer or plastic in the junkyard so I had to make do with what I got.

Other than the drones, I also managed to grab enough material to build a charging station for the drones and a long range antenna dish that sat on the roof, both of which connected directly to me since I didn’t have enough material to build a separate generator or computer.

Oh well, I could always go for another scavenge run in the future, but for now I need to gather information, which these drones come in.

[Uploading flight path…complete]

One of the drones squawked like a bird, indicating its start of patrol sequence, and took off with a flap of its wings toward the forest then disappeared among the foliage.

On the corner of my HUD, a window appears, showing a live feed of the drone that just left, weaving up and down, left and right, avoiding branches, vines and other obstacles. At the same time my minimap kept track of the drone, represented as a pair of wings with a 1 between it, and updated the area around it.

Occasionally other blips appear on the map, marking it as a 'there's something here', be it a pack of beats, a patch of unknown glowing floras, cave mouths, or something else that can't be identified.

Aside from scouting, the drones would act as an alarm system after securing the perimeter, too bad I don't have enough materials to arm them or make a proper security drone, the best they can do is attack the target like a bird using their sharp talons.

Seeing the drone works like a charm, I began uploading the other flight path to the rest of the drones. Once completed they all squawked before flying off to different directions. Unit 1 through 4 I sent to scout the surrounding area of my base while Unit 5 is on route to the eye searing colorful pony village.

It didn't take long for Unit 5 to reach the edge of the forest, once there I had to dim the live feed because god damn, the first time I laid eyes on the village, it gave me a migraine with how colorful it is, but now? It out right disorienting

Or maybe because I haven't slept in the last 24 hours.

Decorations raging from colorful lights, hanging ornaments, ribbons and other colorful trinkets covered the entire village, making it look like a miniature Las Vegas with how bright it is. Ponies of all shapes, sizes and colors are flocking here and there doing various kinds of stuff, the majority of which happens around the big building in the center of the village.

Oh right, wasn't Scootaloo said there would be a celebration about summer sun? Marking the changing of season perhaps? There's some places that celebrate it but usually it's at the end of every winter as a 'holy shit we survive the cold' kind of celebration.

Manually control the drone, I move closer so to get a better picture but high enough for an eagle-eyed view. Despite being named Ponyville, the settlement is big enough to be called a small town rather than a village.

Thatched roof buildings seem to dominate a large part of the residency, however there's some that stick out like a sore thumb, for example a gingerbread house that looks straight up from a story book with a giant cupcake on top.

Seeing the steady stream of ponies exiting it with a bag full of pastries and breads, I could tell the building is a bakery. Talk about making a statement.

I ordered the drone to mark any place that might be useful, such as the scrapyard for more materials, the local bar for alcohol, the hospital for possible chemicals, and various stores that might have useful stuff.

However what I needed is information thus the logical place to look for is a library. At first I thought the town didn't have one but when the drone circled around for the third time I found it.

Who would've guessed a big fuck off tree is actually a library, while Ive seen building that built around a tree, this is the first time I seen one build into it.

How and why someone would decide to hollow out a tree and use the husk as a library is beyond me, probably some weird sense of humor. Too bad there's no opening big enough for the drone to slip in.

Pulling away from the tree library, I decided to put the drone where it can keep an eye on most of the inhabitants, the center might be a good plac-SHIT!

I immediately took control of the drone and bank it to the right, narrowly avoiding a blue blur that came out of nowhere. While whatever that thing was didn’t hit the drone, it still knocked the metal bird off balance but thankfully nothing was damaged.

I looked around, trying to find whatever that thing was, if it turns out to be that blue flying pony from yesterday I might give her a scratch or two for the trouble.

However it might not be needed, not far off the ground was the blue mare, Rainbow Dash if I remember correctly, still flying albeit at much reduced speed.

If look can kill the drone would be a slag of metal with how hard she glared at it as she shouted something, too bad the drone isn't designed to pick up sound but I'm sure whatever she spouted would make a sailor blush.

I can't help but smile as she continues to fly without paying attention to what's in front of her…

…Which happens to be a horned purple pony bystander.

I let out a chuckle as they both crashed and tumbled down into a puddle of mud, the purple pony clearly wasn't happy with the accident as she, she's definitely a mare, covered with mud.

Both of them get into a bit of an argument before Rainbow suddenly bolts away in a blur and returns in a blink of an eye, this time with a…

I had to run a quick diagnostic on the drone in case the lenses are damaged or there's a software malfunction, because how the hell does she just grab a cloud and push it around like it's made out of cotton.

Of course the physics defying shenanigans doesn't end there as she proceeds to hop on it like a bouncy castle causing the cloud to let out a localized rain, a heavy one at that.

I could feel my eyelid twitch at the blatant, cartoonish way of breaking the law of physics and the logical side of my brain screams for explanation. Sure an average mage could violate it to some degree, they might call it ‘magic’ or ‘divine intervention’ and call it a day but there’s a fully logical and scientific reason behind it.

While summoning rain can be done, it is easier than it sounds. There are evidences of it has been done in the past in records, both physically and digitally, and summoning one require an extensive and complex ritual that can only be done in specific condition, such as the weather condition and whether or not the region is suitable to do it, if it can be done anywhere then building a town in the middle of a desert wouldn’t be much trouble.

And certainly it's not as simple as stomping on a cloud and demanding it to give rain.

Gah, I better not dwell on it, this world is just a simulation with its own set of rules, didnt stop the feeling of a migraine coming.

Shaking my head, I refocused my attention back to the purple and blue duo and mentally ordered the drone to get closer for a better view, it then perched on a nearby tree.

The now soaked to the bone purple pony, which turns out to be a unicorn judging from the horn, said something to the pegasus as she, it's definitely a mare, brushed aside the damp mane with an exasperated sigh.

Rainbow looked sheepish and said something before flying around the unicorn, in less than a minute she picked up enough speed fast enough that a small tornado formed.

My brain once again kicked to override, trying to figure out how she managed to achieve such speed with those small wings and in sort amount of time, however I immediately put a stop on that before it overloaded my processing unit.

The tornado departed, revealing the purple unicorn with a disheveled mane. The culprit roared with laughter, no doubt at her ‘handy work’, she’s not the only one who finds it funny as a small child sized, green and purple scaled bipedal lizard decides to join in.

Huh, since when was that lizard here, and why didn’t I realize it? Eh, probably due to the size.

After a minute Rainbow and the lizard manage to stop laughing at the purple pony’s mess of a mane. The unicorn says something to Rainbow, something about the sky and cloud with how she’s pointing above to which she responds by lying down on a cloud, which has no right of existing by being this low on the ground.

Probably I shouldn’t call them ‘clouds’ by this point, even when it almost touches the ground it remains in this puffy, cotton-like state rather than turn into fog or water droplets.

As I churned over the not-cloud cloud, Rainbow the purple unicorn, screw it I’ll start naming her Uni because y’know, she’s a unicorn, conversation comes to an end as the pegasus prepares to take a flight.

In an instant she streaks across the sky, the drones tried its best to keep track of where she is but unfortunately it can only catch its trails, not that I blame it since I built it out of scraps.

While her speed could rival some of the Old World jet aircraft, it's not what I found to be absolutely baffling. Even though the drones could barely keep up I could clearly see Rainbow clearing the sky of clouds, in less than a minute the once cloudy sky was now clear of any obstacle.

‘Wha- how in the- when di- WHAT?!’

I could feel my processor overheating and a migraine started pounding at the organic brain’s doorstep. I mentally sent an order to the drone to return and patrol alongside its brethren before ending the live feed.

I think I need to lie down for a moment to process all of this, it’s probably the sleep deprivation that makes me see things.

Without realizing I curled up near the window, silently wishing to wake up from this nightmare before drifting off to sleep

[Warning! Warning! Massive energy spike detected! Warning! Warning!

Source detected to be less than 10 meters! Recommended course of action, initiate procedure GTFO!]

I woke up with a groan, the emergency alarm constantly blaring making my head ring like a bell and worsening the migraine, god it's worse than a hangover, at least Amanda has a cure for those.

It took me a moment to process what the alarm was about before bolting upright and began arming for a fight, both my front and back hooves began to change to a more human form and doubled in size to accommodate additional weapons and mechanism, at the same time I formed an armor under the skin and reinforced the bones with some metal.

As I read the more detailed report from the alarm, I got a report from the drones, saying that there’s something in the throne room where the energy spike was detected, and appears at the same time the spike happened.

From what I gathered, Bob decided to flush me out from my little fort by popping in something inside, something powerful if my sensor is correct. Well, I wasn’t about to give up without a fight.

Running a last minute diagnostic scan to make sure everything works as intended, I began walking down the stairs.

It’s time for another beat down.

Author's Note

...forget a couple of month, I couldn't even update this story once every 1 year.

Anyway...

Right, so to tell you guys the truth I've been stuck on how should I take this story. Since we are nearing the start of the timeline, I'm conflicted on how should I pace it, should I make each chapter set in order as the TV series episodes, or should I look up a 'proper' timeline? Well, actually it only made a small difference since I'm planning to have the episode event runs in the back ground while Alex is fiddling away with his own devices...

As always, keep on the lookout for typos, grammar errors, and tell me what do you think of this chapter!

Thanks for reading!

See you all next year or something...