Two days have gone by since Dragonface’s attack on Ponyville, and like the previous days the town was still horribly scarred. The roads and buildings of the eastern to the southern end of the town, were still burned and heavily chard. Many of the towns ponies were left homeless because of this destructions, and many were made jobless when their stalls or work places were set up in flames, which will took months to not only to rebuild but also get back everything that was destroyed.

As both the towns ponies and guards were back to work in rebuilding what has been destroyed, Fluttershy & Rarity trotted through the burnt shopping district, where the atmosphere was still as tense as the day of the attack, and most of the towns ponies were still frighten. Most of the ponies that were locked away in their homes that weren’t destroyed have come out of hiding, but they were just as on edge as the others, afraid that another human like Dragonface would appear and attack them. The town was just full of fear and anxiety that it made the two mares feel even more depressed. But they weren’t the only ones that were affected by the attack. The humans were also not feeling the greatest as they were still recovering from the fight they had with Dragonface, as well as having to make sure that the afro mention elderly human was restrained so he couldn’t harm any pony.

“Rarity, do you think the boys will be alright?” Fluttershy asked as they exited the shopping district, and headed to the west side of town.

“And do you think Dragonface is alright as well?”

“I’m not sure Fluttershy. On both accounts.” The unicorn said as she shook her head.

“I’m sure the boys will be fine, but as for Dragonface…I’m not sure.” Rarity thought back to where she & her friends, along with the princess, went to go visit the elderly man and see how he was doing after spending time with their new friends getting patched up.

But upon seeing him as they entered the most secure area of the dungeons, they all looked upon the elderly human with sadness, as he was shuttering like a scared foal in the corner of his cell. He couldn’t even look at the ponies, or speak properly to them when they tried to talk to him. In fact the only thing he was saying to any of them, was how sorry he was and telling the mare’s to go away before he hurts them. The princess’s tried to help him open up, even Pinkie Pie tried everything to help him not feel so sad, but it was clear that this human was to mentally & emotionally scarred that he couldn’t function properly. The ponies times with Dragonface ended suddenly when the human started to scream in pain, and started to wretch as he rolled on the ground in agony, and then when the ponies were about to open the door to his cell he suddenly become as he was before, a feral animal and nearly incinerated all of them when he unleashed his fire breath. Thank goodness Celestia was able to teleport all of them to safety in the nick of time, but the dungeons were basically reduced to nothing but a blistering fire pit. Not even the royal guards could venture down into the dungeons, as the heat from the searing surfaces of the dungeon were so hot that just being near the entrance was like being near the mouth of a volcano during its eruption. After that incident, the ponies were forced to leave the old man alone, but the princesses had assigned a specialist to try and help the old man, and perhaps with time Dragonface will be healed of the scars placed upon him.

“I’m afraid it may be too late to help Dragonface.” Rarity said sadly, feeling that the elderly human was too far gone to be helped. As the pair continued to venture through the town, they came across Applejack as she was hauling some lumber with Burnt Oak.

“Good evening Applejack & Burnt Oak, how are you two doing today?” the white unicorn greeted as she and Fluttershy approached the two earth ponies.

“Not too bad miss Rarity, although I can’t say the same for town hall. It’s one of the buildings that got hit really bad, and needs some major repairs.” Burnt Oak said as he continued to trot onto Town Hall.

“But don’t you worry ya’ll. We’ll get Town Hall back up and going lickity split.” Applejack said with a small smile as she followed after the old black stallion.

“I’ll see you girls later at the train station when the boys get here, kay.”

“Alright Applejack, just be careful not to hurt yourself while repairing the building.” Fluttershy said as she waved her friend goodbye, and continued to follow Rarity as they patrolled the town, looking for any pony that needed help.

~~Canterlot~~

In the streets of Canterlot Plasma and his friends were following Celestia as the group made their way to the train station, with a patrol of guards trotting beside them while garnering confused, baffled, and surprised looks from all of the ponies that the group passed by. As the small group continued to walk through the city streets, the humans watched as the ponies bowed to the alicorn after they recovered from their baffled states, while some of the ponies just looked at them with confusion. It was probably because none of them were expecting to see one of their rulers walking with them. The guys even caught a few of the nobles, or the more stuck up ponies amongst the crowd, where they gave them the stink eye or some other kind of rude gesture. But they just brushed it off and continued to follow the princess, but as they followed the alicorn they took the opportunity to look around the city, as so far the only places they know of in Equestria was the castle, and a half destroyed Ponyville.

So far the group of humans weren’t exactly impressed with Canterlot. The buildings didn’t look as grand as the tall buildings, or massive complexes of the ones of New York, sure the city had a fantastical and whimsical feel to it, but it just looked a little to, cartoonish for them to find it anything else. Not only that but the whole city was just primarily white with little accents of colors to break it up, the collection of swirling purples, yellow, and light blues along the whites gave the city a candy castle aesthetics. Stopping in the midst of the group, Burner looked back to the castle with a conflicting looking expression on his face.

“Burner, what’s up.” Steel asked as he stopped and looked at his friend, who answered back after a bit of a delay.

“Do you think something should be done about Dragonface?” the rest of the group stopped in mid step and looked back to Burner, the guards following them also stopped and looked at the red-haired human.

“What do you mean Burner?” Plasma asked his friend, sounding very concerned about what his friend might be trying to imply.

“I mean, should we leave him like that. A blubbering mess that could go insane at the drop of a hat, and try to destroy the city.” Burner said as he turned to face his friends. “Shouldn’t we, you know, end his suffering?” the guards were shocked to even hear this, even Burner’s friends looked very surprised by what Burner had just said. But out of all of them Celestia herself looked the most surprised.

“You mean kill him, so he doesn’t hurt anyone, or himself, again?” Circus asked, which Burner just nodded to his friends inquiry. “You do remember we don’t kill ANY, Un-Naturals. We might fight, but we don’t kill those of our kind Burner.”

“I couldn’t agree anymore Circus! And I believe we may be able to help him.” Celestia said as she looked directly towards Burner in particular as she continued on. “With proper care and mental treatment, I believe our doctors will be able to help Dragonface, help him control his powers and his mental instability.” The rest of the group looked from Celestia back to Burner and saw that he still looked unconvinced.

“Then whatever these doctors of yours tries better work.” Burner said before he started to look around himself, looking at the city streets, and every pony that was walking through them.

“Otherwise this city will be a mass graveyard of burned down buildings, and charred bodies of innocent ponies.”

Plasma nor any of his friends said anything to Burner’s final statement, because what he said had some merit of truth to it. As they all looked around themselves and took what their fire wielding friend said into consideration, if Dragonface would somehow, someway get free…then this city would be reduced to blistering rubble. They all then looked over to Celestia, and she looked far more conflicted as if she was trying to not accept what Burner had just said, and suggested they should do to Dragonface, while also being compelled to take Burner’s words into consideration. A moment later and the group continued the march to the train station, but the mood amongst them was significantly less pleasant than when they left the castle.

Once the group had boarded the train and sat in the royal car, it took about an hour and half before Celestia and the six humans arrived in Ponyville, and when they exited the train the still saw that everything was still a wreck. Even from where they were standing they could clearly see that everything was still horribly destroyed. The group then notice that Twilight & her friends were at the station and talking to a few other ponies, sounding as if they were giving advice or discussing what needs to be fixed. After talking to the other ponies, Twilight and the others moved away from the group, where Twilight trotted up to Celestia and the pair nuzzled each other, while the guards approached Twilight’s friends, and began to discuss what they can do to help. As for the six humans they just loitered around the station, before walking up to the edge of the platform and looking back out into the town, and really seeing the level of destruction that happened, as well as seeing the state that the ponies were in. All of them looked so depressed, or utterly scared out of their minds even as they work to fix their town.

“It’s just like Regina all over again.” Circus said as he ran a hand through his hair sighing sadly as he watched the ponies at work.

“Yeah, except Regina had fire fighters, and that Un-Natural that could cause rain storms.” Snap said as he leaned against a pillar, scanning the area in front of him.

“So why did we have to come here again?” Wave asked once Twilight & Celestia finished talking, and the pair turned to walk towards the group.

“The original reason we brought you here was to show you the sights, but as you can see some parts of the town are still being rebuilt.” Celestia said but before she could continue on, Pinkie Pie decided to try and brighten up the mood.

“But luckily Sugarcube Corner and places in the north and west district are still intact, and I think that everypony could use a break. And with that break, I can finally throw you your welcoming party that can double as a lifting up every ponies spirits party!” Pinkie Pie said with all the excitement and energy that everypony was used to seeing of her. But while the ponies were looking forward to the whole thing, none of the humans looked pleased with the idea of having their welcoming party. Instead they all looked at her like she said something stupid, or unreasonable.

“Is she serious?” Burner said as he pointed at Pinkie, while looking at the other members of both their groups, his tone of voice slightly bringing Pinkie’s excitement down.

“What’s wrong with having your welcoming party right now?” Applejack asked as she was genuinely curious. “Any other creature would be happy to have a party thrown by Pinkie, so why do yall humans look so, opposed at the idea?” Applejack asked the young man, but before any of them could say anything Plasma began walking till he was standing by the steps.

“This town was just the sight of an attack, by a mentally unstable and a very powerful Un-Natural human. And was where WE—” Plasma said as he turned to face the group, gesturing to each of his friends. “—just fought said guy which caused even more destruction. And these ponies still look like they’re expecting another attack, and looked ready to run and hide at the slightest loud noise.” Plasma’s point was proven when a single brick slid of a moving cart and clattering against the dirt road, and causing twelve ponies to either duck, bolt, or run for the nearest hiding spot, or cry out in shock.

“They’re all still on edge and scared. I doubt a party would change that, even if you try to cheer them up…they’re still surrounded by destroyed buildings, burned, and scarred streets, and that massive hole where we finally beat Dragonface.” Plasma then turned back to face the town.

“The only thing we should do is help in rebuilding this town, and try to make everyone less tense.”

The rest of the young men felt the same way to what Plasma had just said before turning to the ponies. All of the ponies, from Celestia, to Twilight and her friends, and to the small platoon of guards, all looked at each other with a sense of understanding. What Plasma said was true, a party wasn’t going to fix everything, and right now, it really didn’t seem like the right time to throw one. Because even if they did have one it would distract them from their worries until they were faced with the problem again. Pinkie did deflate slightly, but once she realized that Plasma words had merit, she agreed and decided to put the party on hold till the town was back in shape. The entire group then went into town to help out with the reconstruction, with the six humans lend a hand in rebuilding, as they were partial to some destruction of the town, especially the giant hole in the town square. And as Plasma’s group aided in rebuilding the town with Twilight’s group, and the guards that traveled with them, Celestia reboarded the train and headed back to Canterlot.

~~Earth~~

The sound of gun fire, shouting, and what sounded like bestial snarling and screeching could be heard in the main room of the Enigma’s house of operations, and down the abandon tunnels leading to the hidden base. The guards and some of the workers were fighting something that looked like a human sized animal, a creature that was covered in matted dark brown hair covering the majority of its body, with what looked like sharpen spines or quills lining its back, which were being fired everywhere which were striking various fighters and workers. Some struck some of the guards either in non-vital spots, or in vital locations causing them to cry out in pain. Aside from the spines, a foul-smelling odor could be smelled everywhere the thing leapt, and jumped around as it lashed out at the men and women trying to stop it or even kill it. The smell was so awful that some of the workers and guards passed out, or started to feel gravely sick & nauseous.

While the chaos was happening down on the main work floor, high up on the second loft of the base, looking down at everything with a visibly displeased expression was Edward D. Johnson, or more commonly known as Enigma. Turning away from the chaos that was occurring down stairs, Enigma looked down at the cowering man before him, being held by two of his personal guards.

“I thought you would bring me someone better, Samson.” The old man said to the cowering man who was visibly sweating buckets, and a very panicked expression etched permanently on his face.

“Someone who wouldn’t cause me such, anxiety. Someone that could be one of my newest lieutenants.”

“S-sir I swear, I t-thought I did good, I s-swear!” Samson sputtered as she shook in place, the guards trying to keep him in place.

“I-I thought you could control him like the G.W.S.F does!”

The noise from down below grew even more hectic causing Enigma looked over the railing, his eyes slightly widen as he saw a small swarm of what looked like rats, scurrying around the furry humanoid creature, and swarming onto anyone that got close to it. Running along their bodies biting, nipping, and tearing flesh off of them everywhere they could get. The bestial creature continued to lash out at the workers and fighters, even tearing an arm off one of the workers, and having two fighters be struck in the face with quills piercing their eyes and throats. Then the creature looked up to Enigma, its glowing red eyes peered up at him, snarling before letting out a hissing screech as it lunged at the crates near the loft. It then started scaling the crates before leaping into the air, claws, and fangs at the ready to rip & tear into the old man. Two of Enigma’s guards readied themselves for a fight, but the old man just looked at the thing with a blank expression, before his eyes glowed with a violet light, and then in a split second the creature vanished into thin air.

With the bestial human now gone Enigma turned to look back down at his work force, and saw the rats go limp and appear to be knocked out, where those who were mostly unharmed started to gather them up in plastic bags while others started to treat the injured. Turning away from the downed rats, and his guards and workers recovering from everything that just happened, Enigma turned back and looked down to the shaking man, who looked about ready to pass out. Enigma then waved a hand at the two guards away, leaving him and a terrified Samson on the loft.

“I’m sure you realize how, displeased, I am with you Samson.” Enigma said as Samson just remained in his kneeling pose on the ground.

“I promise sir I won’t disappoint you! Never, never ever again, I swear on it!” Samson pleaded as he looked up to Enigma with a horrified pleading expression.

“I know you won’t Samson.” Enigma said in a cold voice as he looked down at the man, who seemed to have slightly calmed down as a nervous smile grew on his face. “Because you’ll never get the chance to disappoint me, ever again.”

And just like that, Samson was just gone, vanishing into thin air. Groaning slightly Enigma began making his way back to his office, ready to try and relax from this mess, and as he entered his office his secretary was waiting for him with a tray in hand. The tray held a cigar and a single glass of bourbon. Taking the cigar in hand the old man made his way to his desk, sighing as he lights his cigar and turning his plasma TV on to his favorite program.

“We’re going to need a new errand boy.” Enigma said as he looked over to his secretary who was standing just off to the side. “Be sure to find a far more competent one this time Masquerade.” The woman gave a small nod of her head before speaking.

“Of course sir. I will find someone who will prove to be more useful.” She then place the tray on the desk before she left the room, leaving Enigma to relax alone in his office as he smoked and took sips of his beverage.

Author's Note

Well at least it looks like Ponyville is getting back on its feet, but even still things are pretty tense, on both Earth & Equestria. although....what happened to that beast thing & Samson?