“So... are we going now or what?” Silas was getting more and more excited for this venture. Balgo, however, had to get a few things done before he could leave.

“In a couple of minutes. I have a few things to do first before we take off to Manehattan.”

“Make it quick. I hate waiting.” added Devil Kong as he was stabbing away at the critters roaming the floor of the castle.

Balgo walked up to a room protected by multiple magical barriers. It was impenetrable for all but him. Using his full power, he passed through the barriers and entered the room. Inside was just a simple bedroom. The most eye-catching feature of this bedroom was the crib in the right corner. In it rested Golden Plate, peacefully sleeping despite the rocky days she’s had with Balgo on his search for Devil Kong. The emperor walked up to the sleeping baby and looked at her for quite some time, making sure nothing was wrong. After a while, he bent down and caressed the baby’s mane before snapping out of it.

“What am I doing?” His thoughts once more diverged towards Smithy. He thought about him for what felt like hours before finally deciding to get a move on. “I’ll have to tell him eventually... looks like it’ll come sooner than I thought.” He exited the room and went back to his newly formed team.

“’O’ Greater Balgo! The Great and Powerful Trixie assumes we are ready to move to Manehattan?” asked the enchanted unicorn.

“But of course. Follow me everyone, I’ll show you all how we’ll get there.”

~***~

“Holy. Shit. That is awesome!” yelled Silas Mann in admiration at the sight of the imposing vehicle Balgo had showed them. It was a big four-wheeler, but without any interior. It was big enough to fit these three giants as well as the additional unicorn in it.

“I’ll drive us to Manehattan.” proclaimed Balgo as he took out the keys from his pocket and jumped inside the driver’s seat. Devil Kong kept on examining the vehicle before exclaiming with a slight hint of disdain in his voice.

“An admirable four-wheeler...” Trixie was very thrilled with how her night was going, hopping in the seat next to her master.

“Oh sweet Celestia! Don’t tell me we’re going for... a Midnight Ride?” Balgo’s face suddenly sparked upon hearing Trixie’s words.

“A midnight ride... Yes! We should be calling ourselves the Midnight Riders!” Silas took an immediate appreciation to the name.

“Sounds good to me!” Devil Kong, however, didn’t care in the slightest.

“Sure...”
Balgo briefly looked at the demon with caution before leaning closer to Trixie. “We should keep an eye out on him.” The unicorn nodded.

“The Great Trixie will keep that in mind.” Silas went on to sit behind Trixie while Devil Kong sat in the far back of the vehicle, pouting in his corner. The emperor started the engine, and waved off at the Scalers to open the gate. The lizards pulled on a large lever, opening the gate that led outside of Canterlot.

“Let’s get moving chaps!” The engine roared before the vehicle sped out of the city in no time.

~***~

Driving through the nightly landscape of Equestria, the newly formed team of baddies found themselves face with one small issue; it was going to take some time to arrive in Manehattan. Add on top of that the fact that they are acquaintances at best and it only results in a sub-par atmosphere built around them. Silas leaned in closer to Balgo and said.

“Are we there yet?”

“No.” replied the Scaler firmly.

“But are we close, to being there yet?” Balgo instantly knew where this was going, causing his patience to dwindle.

“N-O.” This time, Devil Kong joined in.

“Stop acting like a child Silas and be patient. You are annoying everyone in this vehicle.” Silas turned his head around to face the demon and he approached him on the back seat.

“Hey! I take offense to that Dev- Oh wait, I gotta do something important back at Ghost Town...” He turned around to shout at Balgo. “Stop the car! I have something to do!”

“Bloody hell, what is it?!” yelled Balgo, having fully lost his patience. He hit the brakes, causing the four-wheeler to stop instantly, launching the Reaper out of the vehicle. He landed head first on the ground and got back up as if it was nothing.

“Some guy didn’t pay his taxes, I gotta go fuck him up real quick. Okay, be back soon!” He took out his head and teleported back to the Underworld, much to the Scaler and the demon’s irritation. Trixie looked at the two nervously, wondering if a fight was going to erupt any time soon.

“T-The Great and Respectful Trixie will abstract from commenting.” Devil Kong jumped on the seat next to Trixie, causing her to shriek in surprise and he began to shout at Balgo.

“Can’t fucking believe this! You brought this moron onto the team without much hesitation and then you proceed to treat me like shit!” Balgo’s face contorted into a look of irritation and he looked at the demon before shouting.

“And you know next to nothing about strategy. All you care about is the short-term victory, winning the battles, but I care about winning the war which is why you’ll never surpass me Devil Kong.” Trixie felt that she needed to calm the tension between the two.

“My Lord, the Great Trixie does not believe that such a fight is necessary, you have already proven your superiority. Anything Devil Kong might say now is irrelevant.” Balgo lowered his head, staring her down intensely. Trixie felt fear like never before, keeping a smile on her face in hopes it would calm him down. The tension was broken when the Scaler chuckled.

“Heh, that is factually correct. I’ve got to keep my cool now as the leader of this dysfunctional team... I’ll make it work.” Silas finally busted out of the ground a couple of minutes later.

“Hey sorry it took a while guys. Anyway, I believe we shouldn’t be interrupted anymore!” He backflipped off the ground and landed gracefully in his seat. This prompted Balgo to start the vehicle once more and it took off the Manehattan. They drove in silence for what felt like an eternity to Silas, prompting him to lean in forward, this time to ask Trixie a question.

“Hey Trixie?”

“Yes?”

“You’re a magician. So, are you like, really good at magic and stuff?” Trixie remained silent for a moment, looking to her left where Balgo was sitting. He kept an eye on the both of them, though didn’t seem to care all that much.

“N-No... I’m fairly better than the average unicorn, but I'm not exceptional.” she answered in embarrassment. Her answer got the attention of Devil Kong, who lunged from his back seat and landed on the front of the vehicle.

“Are you kidding me? You’ve chosen this unicorn?! You could have picked literally anybody else!” Balgo simply activated the wipers on the windshield to try and push off the demon, to no avail.

“Hey, mind not getting in my field of view? I’ve got to focus on the road.” he responded without much emotion in his voice. Devil Kong jumped back on his seat, taking on a pouting position. Silas leaned in even further once he stopped some lights in the distance.

“Hey! Is that Manehattan?” Balgo pushed him back with one hand before responding.

“Yes! Yes it is! Now sit down and wait until I park.”

~***~

Now parked atop a hill looking over the city, the Midnight Riders got to see the entirety of Manehattan before them. In the night, the light of the lanterns illuminated the city, giving it a beautiful look.

“Well Riders, this is it. Our goal here is to convert the citizens of this city into the Scaler’s Empire. This does not necessarily call for violence, but you are free to act vicious if the situation calls for it. At exactly 1 AM, we will meet up at the casino. Don’t be late.” announced Balgo to his team. Devil Kong grinned at all the thoughts that were running through his head.

“I sure hope it will come down to that...”

“Hey, don’t go around killing everyone in sight. What good is an Empire without people to rule over?” interjected the emperor. Silas cackled, then, he struck a pose.

“That should be an easy task for the legend of Sleepy Hollow! Everybody fears and respects the mighty Horseless Headless Horseman! Just watch.” Trixie mouth slowly opened in realisation.

“Ah! So that is why you require the help of the Great Trixie! A unicorn will have an easier time convincing the ponies of Manehattan to join your empire!” Balgo patted her head in response.

“Indeed, I trust you will accomplish your mission with ease my dear Trixie. You are one of our greatest assets in this endeavor.” Devil Kong grew impatient, he couldn’t wait to get in the city. He spoke with a very calm and collected voice that Balgo hasn’t heard as of now.

“So, are we done with the nice little chatting? I believe we should be acting quickly before the night fades away.”

“Of course, Devil Kong.” responded the Scaler. “Now everyone; strike a pose! We’re going in now.”

Balgo focussed his dark energy in his legs to leap hundreds of meters in the air in direction of Manehattan while Devil Kong turned into black smoke, leaving behind Silas and Trixie.

“Uh... Oh right! I have some spells to help me navigate around. And you’re a unicorn, so you can use your magic to just teleport in Manehattan.” spoke Silas as he knelt down to match Trixie’s height. “Well, I wish you good luck Trixie! Off I go! Ipsum instantarium!” Before Trixie could say anything; Silas casted the Shadow Leap spell and teleported off somewhere in Manehattan.

“I... don’t really have a teleportation spell...” Trixie sighed and pressed onward. “The not so Great Trixie just walk down this hill and make my way to Manehattan.”

~***~

After he had disguised himself as a stallion prince, Balgo infiltrated a prestigious event at an hotel so to convince some of the guests there to join his cause. He was a rather big stallion, a figure that inspired nothing but respect from the other guests as they wondered just who was this fancy looking stallion that came out of the blue. He walked around for a while, looking for any group or individuals he should strike up a conversation with first. That was, until a beautifully dressed mare approached him, piquing his interest. “Hey there, I don’t think I've ever seen a stallion as fancy looking as you.” started the mare. “What’s your name?”

“I’m prince...” His eyes darted around the room until it landed on the buffet behind the mare. “Blueberry Jam. And you are?” Spoke Balgo with the voice of a gentleman.

“I’m Mrs. Strawberry Jam, of the Strawberry family. Our names are quite similar, it’s almost as if we were meant to meet eventually.” responded the mare, quite amused. Prince Blueberry Jam chuckled.

“Well, ain’t that a funny coincidence!” The prince gave a warm smile as he looked into the mare’s eyes. Balgo hasn’t experienced love at all throughout his life, but he had seen it happen all the time during his many conquests. He could tell simply from looking into her eyes that she was interested in him, well at the very least in his stallion form. This was good, for it would make the arduous task of convincing her to join his empire much easier. “Why don’t we sit down at a table? I’m sure it will be much nicer that way.” The mare smiled back at him.

“Of course! You lead the way Prince Blueberry Jam.”

The prince took her to a small table, just big enough to fit the two of them and they sat down. They got to know each other better, however, most of Blueberry Jam’s information about himself was made up on the spot. It was very hard to tell he was lying however, as Balgo was the king of deception; it has been something he was always born to do to perfection.

“...So, since I saw that business was pretty good around this city. That’s pretty much why I chose to come to Manehattan, for her sake.” finished Blueberry Jam. His story was a mixture of truths and lies of Balgo’s story, but it worked. Strawberry Jam was enthralled by the stallion’s tale, being even more excited to learn more about him.

“What a fantastic story! You really are a charitable soul for taking care of that baby.” replied Strawberry Jam. The prince chuckled in amusement.

“Well, that’s enough about me. I wouldn’t want to sound narcissistic, so I think it’s about time you tell me about yourself.”
Somewhere outside the hotel, a particular Scaler was hiding on the rooftop of a nearby building, spying on the whole event with some binoculars. It was Mugen, unsurprisingly.

“Oh boy! Balgo’s back at it again with the deception tactic! I just need to know what he’s doing in particular... just to make sure he’s not breaking the rules. Or else, I'll have to bring Knoxx in there.”

The mare was in the middle of talking about her life in Manehattan when she suddenly started to quiet down and looked very uncomfortable.

“What’s wrong Mrs. Strawberry Jam?” asked the prince out of concern.

“I think I just... need to go to the bathroom.” replied the mare before she got up from her seat.

“Mind if I accompany you?” proposed Blueberry.

“That won’t be necessary. I just hope I won’t be taking too long. Hehe.” she nervously added. The prince watched on as she quickly made her way to the mare’s bathroom on the other side of the dining room. Blueberry didn’t want to sit idly without getting anything done, so he chose to go to the stallion’s bathroom to get some privacy.

Inside the bathroom were a few stalls, but nopony was inside any of them, leaving him all alone in there. “Good.” he thought to himself as he took out his phone to make a few important calls.

“Hey what’s up dawg?” Blueberry nearly dropped his phone when he heard that familiar voice. His face distorted to look more demonic.

“Damn it Mugen! What’s the matter with you?!” The Scaler kept his usual nonchalant smile as he joyfully answered.

“Just keeping an eye out, on request of your dear brother after all.” The prince’s eyes widened.

“Knoxx is in on the whole thing?”

“E-yup. How about I just tell him to come in now?” Blueberry objected to this idea.

“Not no-” The door opened slowly behind the Scaler, revealing an old looking stallion. He had an eyepatch on his left eye and his front right hoof was completely covered in bandages. And on top of that, he sported a short white beard going nicely alongside his white mane. “No doubts about it. This is my brother Knoxx.” thought Balgo.

“Hello again brother. It’s been a while since we last spoke to each other. I hoped you would have had the time to chat for even just a few seconds. So, pardon me if I intrude on your personal projects.” spoke out a disguised Knoxx in a rather happy tone.

“So, that’s it? You’re just here to chat?”

“Of course. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have showed up this nonchalantly.” Balgo felt more relaxed now. “Mugen, you can leave us now.”

“Okie dokie! Bye guys!” The Scaler disappeared in an instant, leaving the two disguised deities on their own.

“How about we talk somewhere more fitting for the both of us?” proposed Balgo.

“How about the roof? There should be enough space for us to find ourselves a nice corner. We don’t want anyone hearing us after all.” added Knoxx as he made his way out of the bathroom, followed closely by his brother.
Just as they exited the stallion’s bathroom, Mrs. Strawberry Jam came out of the mare’s bathroom, looking quite surprised at the newcomer.

“Who’s that Mr. Blueberry Jam?” she politely asked.

“That’s... my brother.” he answered, giving a quick glance at the old stallion before setting his gaze back on the mare. “I’m sorry, but my brother and I absolutely must talk in private, I’ll get back to you once I'm done.” Strawberry Jam looked quite disappointed, but accepted to leave them be nonetheless.

“That’s alright, there’s still quite a lot of time left for this night after all.”

~***~

Now standing by themselves on the roof, the two brothers could finally talk without worrying about anyone overhearing their conversation.

“So, I see you’re still going on about expanding the Scaler Empire. Don’t you think we already have enough?” started Knoxx, having just regained his true form, keeping his eye patch and bandaged right arm.

“There can be no wrong in strengthening our Empire. The stronger we are, the safer the Scalers will be.” defended Balgo, now back to his true self just like his brother.

“But it can also increase the risk of being attacked, from within I mean. There will always be those who will rebel against their oppressors, brother.” pointed out the Light.

“I can deal with simple rebellions quite easily.” answered the emperor.

“When there are 256 worlds to keep an eye on? Brother, I'm starting to think you might just be overworking yourself, and I don’t like it at all. We’ve grown distant ever since you’ve taken on this endeavor... and I fear it’ll only get worse with time.” Balgo looked in the eye of his brother. He was expressing that same look that the emperor was always weak to. The expression of a worried relative begging him to reconsider. After a few seconds of silence, Balgo caved in.

“Fine, how about I make this the final world I’ll conquer? Then, I’ll spend more time back in our home planet.” Knoxx was very happy to hear it, placing a hand on his brother’s shoulder.

“That’s wonderful to hear.” He then turned around, ready to leave him be. “I’ll leave you to your work now. As long as you’re not breaking the rules, I’m fine with it.”

“Yeah, I’ll see you soon Knoxx. I'll come visit you once I'm done here...”

~***~

After drifting through a black void for a couple of minutes, Applejack was finally awakened by blinding lights. Before her eyes could adjust to this brightness, she heard multiple voices calling out to her. She couldn’t make out who were exactly there as the sounds were heavily muffled. Her ears were still ringing and her vision was still extremely blurry. Now, she could also feel her head spinning and her stomach turning inside out.

“Applejack?” The earth pony turned to face the voice but was incapable of answering. Instead, she vomited on the floor.

“Eeek!” Rarity quickly backed away from her friends and looked at her hooves. “Oh no no no. I have vomit on my hooves! Ugh, it’s so disgusting!” She heard laughter behind her coming from Drag. She looked back at him, visibly angry.

“This always happens when you are resurrected that way for the first few times. We call this feeling: Resurrection Sickness.”

“So, is it bad?” asked Twilight.

“She’ll be very weak for a couple of hours, maybe days. But it will go away soon enough and she’ll be back to normal, as if she never even died.” answered the Tauren.

“D-Died?” said Applejack weakly. Twilight Sparkle turned her head to look at her friend laying on the hospital bed.

“You don’t remember Applejack? You were killed by a demon earlier that night. It was thanks to Drag that we were able to save you.” The earth pony took a moment to let it sink in.

“So... It wasn’t a dream after all.” Rainbow Dash got closer to her friend, curious at her statement.

“Hmm? What happened while you were... you know, gone?” Applejack slowly turned her head to face the Pegasus. She looked terribly worried.

“I was in the Underworld. I... ran into Silas there. He’s probably in Equestria looking for me now.” Rainbow Dash nearly flipped out when she heard the name Silas.

“What?! Are you kidding me? Now, we not only have the Scalers and a demon to deal with, but we also have Silas Mann hunting us down!”

“I hope nothing bad ever happens to any of us again.” added Fluttershy, having just swept away her tears. Drag placed a hand on her head and gave her a warm smile to reassure the Pegasus.

“I’ll make sure it won’t happen again.”

“And so will I. I’m a part of this team too, right?” added Pink. One of the surgeons came into the room and was astonished to see Applejack alive.

“Sweet Celestia, you were not joking! It worked! You’ve brought back a pony from the dead, Mr. Drag!” He exclaimed out of shock.

“Yeah, but I'd rather not have to use it at all. But something tells me I should reserve my mana just in case...” The Tauren took a seat next to the hospital bed. “Just to be safe, I’ll stay here for the night with Applejack. We should keep watch until she’s fully recovered. Pink, you’ll be on guard for the day.”

“Oh come on! I had plans for that day!”

~***~

Pain, humiliation, frustration, all feelings and emotions going on through the mind of Devil Kong. On top of that, feelings of inadequacy kept on looming above him every time he compared himself to Balgo. It was all so frustrating to him. He was focussed entirely on finding a way to one-up the mighty Balgo. However, his mind inevitably swung back to thinking about Twilight Sparkle and Drag. He was now stuck between two problems that were swarming all his thoughts. “I need more power, more magic, but where can I obtain more?” he calmly said to himself, perched on top of a building. The demon looked on the horizon, juggling a few knives in his hands to keep himself somewhat entertained. “Equestria is a gold mine for magic, that is a fact. Surely there must be some sort of power source, or something akin to that. If I can find something that can give me more power, then... I’ll become strong enough to break through any opposition.” He grinned at the thought that ran through his head. “Including Balgo.”

His eyes quickly darted back down the alley he was overlooking, a small group of ponies were taking this dark alley, seemingly thinking they were sneaky. “Tss... As if I’ll ever help you Balgo. I’ll usurp you soon enough.” Devil Kong got up on his feet and jumped down the building.

“Are you sure the guards won’t see us? Cuz if they do, we’ll be in a whole lotta trouble.” said a stallion to the leader of this small group.

“Oh come on, nopony ever takes this alley. We’re pretty much invisible as long as we stay in there. Now just follow me and shu-” the mare’s response was cut short by the sound of something big landing in front of her, completely blocking their path. They could see nothing but a large figure with glowing crimson eye staring them down. The group tried to run away in the other direction, but they were blocked by two dark figures. One of them was that of a stallion with fancy clothes on and the other one was that of a young-looking mare. They could barely see that these two figures were severely mauled and bloodied.

“Wha- What is going on? What is this thing?!” screamed a pony in the small group. Devil Kong looked at them with indifference, trying instead to replace them with mental images of Twilight Sparkle so he could at least imagine the satisfaction of finally flaying her alive.

“Time for a rehearsal I say.”

~***~

Now that he had teleported into Manehattan, Silas waltzed inside a library, ready to begin his mission. He phased through the entrance and began to cackle manically in his Horseman voice as fog filled the entire store. This got some nervous glances thrown at him, but nobody seemed to panic at the sight of him, much to Silas’s confusion. He walked right up to the librarian, wanting to know why no one seemed to care much about his presence.

“Hey hey hey! What a dark and gloomy night this is, I'm quite surprised a library is opened this late. You should have stayed home, for now you shall witness the coming of the legend of Sleepy Hollow!” The librarian looked at him with confusion.

“Sleepy Hollow? Don’t you mean... Sleepy Holl0WND?” His Horseman persona quickly faded away as his jaw nearly hit the floor and the fog quickly dissipated.

“Sleepy Holl0WND? What the hell is this?!” Silas shouted, feeling insulted.

“Well, ever since the Horseless Headless Horseman has been vanquished by the Elements of Harmony, the legend got renamed in an attempt to ease the kids out of the region into not fearing you anymore.”

“Bleh! As if that’ll work.” replied the Reaper in disgust.

“It did sir...” Silas slammed his hands on the counter, startling the mare.

“What?! It did?! But how? I’ve slain so many ponies, made the night scarier than it already was! How come people no longer fear me outside of Canterlot?” The librarian examined Silas from top to bottom before answering.

“Aside from your appearance, you don’t really seem that scary.” Silas hunched over, trying to say something back, but all he could let out were small gasps of air before he ran off to the bathroom.

~***~

Silas Mann was now hunched over in front of a mirror, staring down his reflection with strong emotions filling his head.
“They don’t fear me anymore! This is it, all that I've tried so hard to do has crumbled right before my very eyes! I’ve cursed myself and my entire family all for nothing!” His reflection took on a life of its own once again.

“We can’t let ourselves be humiliated like this Silas! Sleepy Holl0WND? Bullshit! We’ve lost our spark, but it can never be too late to get it back!” Silas fell down on a foetal position, clawing at his pumpkin head.

“How? They don’t even care about our status! We’ve done so much and just one name change seemed to have undone it all! Oh God, I’m so sorry I cursed you all!” The reflection jumped out of the mirror and grabbed Silas by the collar.

“There is one way! Only one way to make it right! Just imagine... if we kill Princess Celestia...”

“She’s dead.”

“Right, if we instead kill Princess Luna... or hell, maybe even Princess Cadance and then we show everybody their decapitated heads and scream something like “You’ll all be next!” They will come to fear us once more!” Silas’s face showed some hope now.

“Why yes... That will surely work. Equestrians really value their princesses! If we can cut ‘em up, and make a work of art of their carcasses... We will be respected!” The Horseman got up on his feet as his reflection jumped back into the mirror. “We shall do it, not just for ourselves, but we will do it for our family. For the Manns!”

Silas was taken out of his rambling once a toilet flushed behind him. Out of the stall came a young stallion who looked rather annoyed.

“Hey! Do you mind keeping it down? I was trying to relieve myself in there!” He then went on to wash his hooves and left the bathroom as Silas was staring him down.

“My God, no one really cares about what I say huh? What a fucking douchebag, I’ll show him soon enough!”
With renewed determination, Silas left the bathroom in search of the princesses. But first, he’ll have to meet up at the casino like Balgo instructed.

~***~

Silas was walking through the streets, however with his confidence being completely absent, his walk was much more subdued, losing all its flair. It took a couple of minutes for him to realise he didn’t know where he was going. He’ll have to ask for directions now...

Luckily, there was a lonesome mare just ahead of him, surely, she can tell him where the casino was. His entire body began to twice and crack as he took on a spider-like posture and began running on all fours towards the mare, jumping over her and landing on his feet, startling her.

“Well, hello there young lady! I am quite lost in this city and hope that you will tell me where the casino is.” The mare quickly got irritated at the scare that Silas gave her.

“You know, you could ask nicely instead of landing inches away from my face. You nearly gave me a heart attack!” Silas bent over and got up in her face.

“Tell me where the damn casino is!” The young pony was now scared for her life as she could feel the Horseless Headless Horseman’s growing aggression and thus, she reached out for something in her bag. Before Silas could see what it was, she sprayed him with it, momentarily blinding him. She took advantage of this moment of weakness to run away from the Reaper.

“Oh fuck me! I can’t believe that bitch pepper sprayed me!” His eyes quickly set themselves on a puddle of water near the sidewalk. His reflection rose out from the puddle to rub the wound in further.

“God damn! Do you see just how much nobody respects you! THAT, is why we must kill an alicorn. Or else, we’ll be the laughing stock of monsters for the rest of our eternal existence! There is no fate worse than this!” Silas nodded in agreement.

“You’re right! This shit can’t keep on happening to me.” On that note, he resumed his search of the casino, this time in a very bad mood. His walk was very erratic, sometimes nearly tripping but he caught himself just before he could fall. It was clear he wasn’t paying much attention to where he was going, and the ponies walking around didn’t pay any attention to the undead amongst them. Eventually, Silas reawakened and his eyes spotted a stallion in a dark alley, seemingly guarding something inside the building next to him. Nopony even dared to look in his direction, but Silas did without any fear or hesitation.

The Reaper nonchalantly walked up to him, stepping on a magician’s hat that he did not notice at all. “Hey. You busy?” The stallion quickly turned back to face the tall axe-wielding undead.

“Hmm? What do you want?” he asked in a rude tone. Silas answered with an ominous voice.

“What do I want? Oh, not much really. I’m just a tourist here, so all I'm going to ask of you is to tell me where the city’s casino is. Oh boy, ain’t that simple?” The stallion remained quiet for a moment, before responding.

“It’s right next to the city’s hotel. You can’t miss this building, it’s so tall that you can practically see it everywhere you go in Manehattan.” Some strange sounds coming from the building behind the stallion caught the attention of Silas Mann.

“Oh? What’s that? You mind telling me what’s going on?” asked the undead as he approached the stallion, bending over in the process so he could stare at him in the eyes.

“That is n-none of your business you undead freak! The Gaping Maw Clan won’t take lightly to intruders.”

“Oh am I intruding now? You see, I absolutely HATE, HATE, HATE when people don’t show me the respect I DESERVE!” shouted the undead as he moved in closer, causing the stallion to back up right into the door.

“Hey... St-stay back you freak!”

“St...Stay back? How about no! How about you kneel before me and beg for mercy!? Huh?! HUH?!” yelled Silas, this time even more unhinged that before. The stallion did exactly as he was told, but Silas still wasn’t satisfied.

“... Is this really the best you can do? Am I a joke to you?”

~***~

It took a while, but Trixie finally got in Manehattan. Fully determined to complete the mission she was assigned, she wandered around looking for ponies that’ll be easy to convince into joining the Scaler Empire. Of course, being just a unicorn without any meaningful status, Trixie knew that the average citizen of Manehattan wouldn’t accept at all if she were to ask. Instead, she’ll have to go to the ones that shares more in common with the Scalers, those that have a certain knack for violence; criminals. The night is the perfect moment to find them roaming about in the darkest corners of the city, there’s just one group she should avoid however, seeing as she’s got a bad history with them.

“Better avoid the Gaping Maw Clan at all costs...” she thought to herself as she walked in the dark alleys of the city. She then tried to brush off her fears by reminding herself who she was working with. “Well, I have the Great and Almighty Balgo on my side, I should be safe. Hopefully.”

She took a sharp turn and used her magic to levitate herself to the roof of an old warehouse. Up there, she looked down at the glass ceiling to spy on the ponies looming inside.

“...Do you think they know we’re here?” said one of the stallions.

“The chances are high; we should be prepared just in case. The city guards are quite good at sniffing out criminals.” replied a female unicorn as she calmly barricaded the door. Trixie could just barely make out the huge scar on her left eye indicating she was quite the veteran in this business. However, she had to see their Cutie Marks just to be sure they weren’t part of the Gaping Maw Clan. Members of that clan always branded their Cutie Marks so they can instantly recognise one another. Well, it was a common practice in the various gangs around Manehattan, but Trixie just had to spot what kind of motif they had branded on their flanks before she could make a move.

“No sign of the Gaping Maw’s in the area?” added another stallion. One of the mares peeked through the window for several seconds before exclaiming it.

“Don’t seem to be any.” Thankfully the stallion’s words confirmed their identity to the hidden unicorn; they are not the Gaping Maw Clan.

“Ok, this is the moment to make my entrance!” thought Trixie before she snuck in the building.
The scarred mare used her magic to take something out of her bag. “Now, I want you all to take a look at this.” She lifted the item in full view of her comrade; it was an ordinary blood bag. But the blood inside it was anything but normal. It was an extremely dark shade of red, almost black and it appeared to be boiling.

“I’ve never seen that kind of blood, and I've spilled so much blood in my time here.” commented one of the stallions in the room.

“What kind of creature in Equestria could have that kind of blood, Mama Scarface?” asked one of the mares.

“It’s quite simple, this blood does not belong to an Equestrian, or at least, something inside Equestria. This, is demon blood.” answered Mama Scarface.

“Demon blood?! You have seen a demon roaming around in Equestria?!” nearly shouted a stallion.

“No, but I know for a fact this blood belongs to that of a demon; it perfectly fits its description in many of the books I’ve read on them. There is a demon on the loose, and it’s somewhere around Canterlot and Ponyville.” clarified Scarface, this time with more worry in her voice, though she hid it very well to her peers.

“Darn, I suppose we should be even more careful at night now. First, it was the enemy clan we had to worry about, then there was a psychopathic axe-wielding undead and now we have a demon?!” blurted out one of the mares in a slight panic.

“Seems like it. We just have to play things smart and everything will be alr-” Their leader was cut off by a sudden burst of smoke popping up behind them on a slightly elevated platform.

“What an interesting conversation you were having. Mind if the Great Trixie chimes in?”

The criminals were now prepping themselves for battle as Mama Scarface’s horn began to glow.

“Woah! Hold on a moment! I’m not here to cause any trouble!” shouted Trixie in a panic. Scarface’s horn started to lose its glow slowly before she took on a more neutral expression.

“Then why are you here magician?” The unicorn let out a sigh of relief before she gave them a proposition.

“The Charming and Charismatic Trixie come to give you a great offer for your clan, Mama Scarface. I see that this demon is worrying you terribly, but with my offer, he won’t be a problem at all. I can guarantee you protection against this beast.”
Their leader raised an eyebrow in interest. “Go on, you’ve got my full attention now.”

“I, am allied with the even Greater than me Balgo. The most powerful being I've ever seen! He has bested the demon without breaking a sweat and has forced it to obey his orders. If you choose to join the Scaler Empire, you’ll have Balgo’s protection from any and all threats in Equestria!”

“This sounds great, but how can we be so sure you aren’t just lying to us?” replied Scarface. Trixie scoffed and lifted her hat, revealing a dark purple crystal hiding inside her mane. She took it out and approached the leader.

“This is a mere fraction of the master's power. Touch it and feel it’s power, feel the Great Balgo’s presence through it.” The scarred mare hesitantly reached out a hoof to touch the dark crystal but when she touched it, she could feel a power so powerful it dwarfed those of the princesses themselves!

“You... aren’t lying.” she said before she nodded in agreement. “Very well, you can count on the Scarface clan to support this, Balgo fellow.”

~***~

Trixie walked out of the abandoned warehouse, satisfied of her success. She had no doubts Balgo will be pleased to hear her news. She trotted happily through the dark streets of Manehattan, ready to head out to the casino as the great one had ordered. Though something felt off about this block of the big city, there wasn’t a single pony in sight. Strange, considering there are still at least a few presents even during the night. Manehattan is a city that never sleeps as some would say. So, this was definitely an oddity. She was taken out of her thoughts by a worrying feeling that she was being followed.
Trixie stopped and looked back; nothing. Nopony was following her, or so it would seem. She’s definitely being stalked right now; she can feel it. The unicorn used her magic to light up her surroundings, even then she couldn’t spot anypony in sight. She felt more and more uncomfortable now. She wanted to get to the casino as quickly as possible now before something bad could happen. But before Trixie could walk away, she was suddenly hit in the back of the head. Dazed and confused, she could only watch as she was being dragged away, unable to do anything about it.

When the pain started to go away, the unicorn could finally use her magic to defend herself. But her aggressors were already prepared and placed a device on her horn, completely inhibiting her magic. Then, they tied up her hooves, leaving her defenseless and at their mercy. Once her vision readjusted, she could finally make out who her aggressors were. One look was more than enough for her to realise that they were part of the Gaping Maw Clan. A stallion was keeping her pinned down with one hoof to her neck.

“Oh, h-hey there. I-I-I was just passing by.” she fearfully said to the stallion pinning her down.

“Save any excuses for the boss. You know what you’ve done, it’s gonna take a lot more than an apology to get yourself out of this one, magician. You should know what awaits you.”

~***~

They putted a blindfold and a gag on Trixie so that she couldn’t see where they were taking her and so that she couldn’t call for help. The ride took a few minutes, but she could hear them opening an old creaky door and she was taken inside what she believed to be their hideout. Trixie was suddenly dropped onto the floor. Her gag and blindfold were removed so that she could finally see what was about to happen.

She was surrounded by multiple stallions and mares around the darkened room. In front of her was a desk and a recognisable figure stood behind it, at least to her this stallion couldn’t be anypony but the one who’s deal she had backed out of. The leader of the Gaping Maw Clan. Needless to say, she was in a lot of trouble.

“Ah, so you’ve finally brought Trixie, the pathetic magician back to me. How long have I been waiting for this moment again? Hmm, must’ve been for months.” spoke out the stallion, his voice was deep, old and perfectly calm regarding the situation. Though Trixie could notice he was still somewhat excited to have finally caught her.

“Oh, M-Mr. Shank, fa-fancy seeing you again.” she replied with a nervous smile.

“Indeed, it is quite nice to be seeing you again. You left without saying goodbye last time, I hope that today would be the day we get to make amends you and I.” Although the stallion’s words didn’t sound harmful at all, she knew that he wanted to see her suffer horribly for what she had done.

“O-O-Ok, wh-what's the p-price I’ll have to p-pay for this?” hesitantly asked the unicorn.

“Hmm, I have spent a lot of time thinking what should be the punishment. I couldn’t think of one for the longest time, but then, I simply thought of what had happened to me and it finally gave me the answer I was looking for.” Mr. Shanks got up from his seat and approached Trixie. She was quite startled at the sight of what had happened to this once mighty looking stallion. He had lost one of his legs completely as well as one eye, now an empty socket that he covered up with an eyepatch.

“...” Trixie remained silent before the now pitiful looking gang leader.

“An eye for an eye as they say. If you hadn’t backed out of the deal, this wouldn’t have happened to me. I think it’s only fair that you get the same treatment as I had so nicely received months ago.” He then chuckled lightly. “Don’t worry my dear Trixie. I won’t kill you, I’m not as cruel as they say. But I hope you know where the nearest hospital is once we’re through with you; You may die of blood loss.”

“W-W-Wait!” tried to object the unicorn. “What if I tell you that I know somepony who can fix your missing leg and eye? Won’t that be good enough to get you off my back?” Shank paused for a moment, contemplating the idea, but he quickly rejected it.

“I’m sorry Trixie, but even that can’t erase what I had to go through. You can go to this pony once we’re done with the procedure. You must at the very least endure the pain I was given.” He turned his head to look at a mare awaiting his orders. “You know what to do.” he said sternly.

The mare nodded and went into the adjacent room to fetch the tools necessary for Trixie’s torture. She later came back with multiple nightmarish looking tools. The poor unicorn was terrified and tried desperately to free herself of her bonds to no avail. The mare approached an old and grizzled stallion and handed him the tools. He grinned at the sight of them, which only made Trixie’s fear worse. The old stallion then trotted up to her and knelt down to start his work. He took out what looked like a sharp spoon to scoop out her eye and started moving it closer to her. Trixie began to shake her head around in distress, much to the irritation of the stallion.

“Hey, hold her head down, will you? I can’t do my work if she keeps squirming!” One of the gang members nodded and placed a hoof on Trixie’s head, pinning her to the ground. “Much better.”

The old stallion then moved his horrific instrument closer to her... but was interrupted by an ear-piercing scream coming from the outside followed up by maniacal cackling. Then, the scream suddenly stopped.

“Wh-What was that Mr. Shank?” asked one of the gang members.

“This is not good. Prepare yourselves for an attack, we’ll deal with Trixie later.” spoke Mr. Shank, this time with irritation in his voice.

Loud stomps could be heard from the other side of the door leading to their room. Then, it was followed by the screams of the many members of the clan outside battling this threat. It kept on laughing manically as it seemingly took them all out one by one. The stomping got closer until it stopped, leaving all the ponies in the room with nothing but silence filling the atmosphere.

The door suddenly went flying, crashing into two of the Gaping Maw Clan’s members. The surviving ones looked back at the entrance only to see the Horseless Headless Horseman stepping foot inside the room, laughing uncontrollably as he brandished his Headtaker.

“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine... Nine of you!” he said in his Horseman voice, a deep, echoing voice that shook all the ponies in the room to their very core.

“Kill him! Kill him!” shouted Mr. Shank in a panicked tone. A stallion bravely charged at the undead, but he bent down and lifted his two arms in the air.

“BOO!” Suddenly, Trixie’s vision was now invaded my horrible, incomprehensible images of untold horror. Monsters, bursting into bloody rain before her eyes as many other horrific imageries accompanied them. This kept on going until the unicorn couldn’t take it anymore and she let out a terrified scream.

“Huh, wha- Trixie?” The effects finally worn off and the mare could see Silas Mann standing before her with his axe high up in the air. He lowered his weapon and knelt down to get a closer look at her. “What are you doing here? What am I doing here again?”

The entire room was now covered in blood, with decapitated ponies littering the floor. Silas had massacred them all, to which he apparently ignored it even happened.

“Oh well, I guess it doesn’t matter. Here, let me help you with those bonds.” He tore off the ropes holding her hooves together with ease and then took off the device covering her horn, allowing the unicorn to use her magic again. She got up and thanked the Reaper for his aid.

“Th-Thank you Silas. If it weren’t for your sudden interference, the Great Trixie believes she would have ended up mangled at the hands of these monsters.” A thought came to Silas’s mind. A thought that made him feel something he wasn’t familiar with.

“So, what you’re saying is... I saved you?”

“Uh, yeah, pretty much.”

“... So, I’m, a hero?”

“The Great Trixie will call you her hero from now on.” said Trixie while giggling.

“A hero...” repeated Silas while in a trance. The thought of being someone’s hero never really interested him. But having saved Trixie from a horrific fate made him reconsider his view. He was appreciated and most importantly, respected by a pony. This felt great to him.

“Well then, the Endurant and uh, Athletic Trixie will go to the casino now on hoof... Um, she’ll appreciate if you stay close by.”

“Oh, b-but of course! I’ll keep a close eye on you!”

~***~

Trotting around the mayor’s office, princess Cadance and Shining Armor were waiting for any news regarding the Scaler situation outside of Manehattan. The city’s guards won’t be enough to deal with the invaders, so the two knew what they had to do, but they didn’t like the idea at all.

“This city is home to many different clans, each at war with one another. As much as I don’t like it, we’ll need their help to protect the city from these Scalers.” affirmed princess Cadance. Shining agreed reluctantly to this idea as well.

“Yeah, they know how to fight, and that’s exactly what we need in order to combat this enemy.”

“The problem is, that these criminals avoid alicorns like they are some sort of contagious disease. Ever since we’ve arrived in Manehattan, crime rates have dropped.” Cadance stopped by in front of a window and looked outside. “They are laying low for as long as we stay in here. It’ll be hard to convince them to fight with us, much less even get in contact with them.” Shining approached his lover and nuzzled her.

“Don’t worry about it. We’ll just have to come to them directly, they’ll be forced to listen to what we have to say.” He then looked out the window too, but with a worried look. Cadance knew what he was thinking about.

“I do know that Ponyville is close to Canterlot. I hope nothing bad happened to that lovely town.” Shining looked down with worry, for he has heard of what had transpired in Ponyholm.

“The adjacent town had it rough. But I haven’t heard anything regarding Ponyville... I hope she’s alright.” Princess Cadance reared her head closer to her lover in an attempt to comfort him.

“I’m sure she is, Shining. For the time being, let’s focus on our task at hand.”

~***~

Now that she had finally recovered from her injury, Luna flew back to Equestria on her chariot. Her first stop; the prestigious city of Canterlot. She stepped out of her ride and was shocked at the sight of the city being filled with Scalers and Ponies alike. The reptiles stared at her with anxiety, their stares were cut short when they started screeching into the night. The lunar princess watched in confusion as their screech went on for a few seconds. She finally understood what they were doing once she saw a big Scaler appear out of the castle, riding a magical flying carpet.

“Wings... and a horn. Oh, so you’re an alicorn. Princess Luna, ain’t it?” started Aruba. The alicorn took on a battle stance, her horn lighting up with magic.

“What did you do to my sister Celestia?” The genie took out a pipe from his chest and took a puff from it.

“So, that’s why you came here I see. You’ll get your answer in Ponyville. If you stay here any longer, I'll have to exercise some “self-defence”. We both don’t want this to happen, trust me.”

Princess Luna was hesitant to leave, but if she had to go to Ponyville to find out what happened to her sister, then so be it. She had made up her mind and thus, left Canterlot using her wings to fly through the dark skies of the night.

It didn’t take her long to arrive in Ponyville. She thought to visit the hospital first, as it made the most sense to her that her sister had to be in there. The staff was very surprised to see her, mostly because she had been absent from the war for quite some time.

“Princess Luna! What brings you here? Are you here to see Applejack?” asked the mare sitting behind the counter. The alicorn looked at her curiously.

“Applejack? What happened to her?” questioned the lunar princess.

“She... um, died and was brought back to life thanks to the Tauren. She is currently resting at the hospital because she’s very sick.” answered the mare.

“Bring me to her room.”

“R-Right away!”

She arrived in Applejack’s room where she immediately spotted Drag sitting by the bed. The Tauren quickly took notice of Luna and got up from his seat.

“Princess Luna. I’ve been wondering where you where this whole time.”

With one simple gesture, she got the mare to leave the two of them alone. “I’ve been injured and had to stay on the moon to recover. I wish I had been here sooner though.” She looked at the sick-looking Applejack sleeping peacefully in the hospital bed. “Seems like I’ve missed a lot.”

Drag took a quick look at the sleeping earth pony and then looked back at princess Luna. “Yeah, you did.” His face suddenly shifted to a grim one. “I assume you’re here for Celestia.”

The alicorn nodded. “Of course, do you know where she is?”

Drag sat back down next to the bed. “I won’t leave Applejack unsupervised, but I can tell you where to go. She’s in the Golden Oak Library, you just have to ask... Twilight for that.”

~***~

Twilight was just about go to sleep after this very emotional roller coaster of a night. However, this night wasn’t over yet for her as indicated by a sudden knock on her door.

“Spike, can you open the door for me?” she politely asked to her awakened apprentice.

“Right away Twilight!” Spike hurried himself to the door and opened it only to be greeted by an unorthodox sight; Princess Luna herself was there. “Twilight! That’s Princess Luna!”

Twilight Sparkle nearly tripped when she heard the name of the lunar princess.

“L-Luna?” She looked back at the door just as Spike let her in.

“Twilight, Drag told me I could find Celestia in the Golden Oak Library. Is it true?”

Twilight’s heart sank. Celestia was dead for quite some time and it was still hard for her to accept it. Now, she had to show Luna what happened to her sister.

“Y... Yes. Well, what’s left of her actually.” She lifted her eyes to look at Luna, but the princess’s horrified expression only made the pain inside her heart worse.

“W-W-What do you mean, what’s left of her?” she asked in a trembling voice.

“Follow me downstairs, I’ll show you what happened to Celestia.” spoke Twilight with tears in her eyes. Her eyes were now red due to all the tears she’s shed during this single night.

~***~

Luna nearly fell over on her knees once she saw the sorry state her sister’s body was in. Princess Celestia’s corpse was locked in a glass container preventing her body from decomposing any further. She looked dried up and her body was covered in lacerations and bruises.

“T-Tia...” said Luna, barely able to even speak her sister’s name as she approached the glass container and looked at it with tears in her eyes.

Twilight looked at the stairs behind her and saw Spike looking over the whole scene in sadness.

“Spike, go upstairs. You don’t have to witness any of this.” she told the baby dragon, not wanting him to stick around. He nodded and slowly made his way up.

“Balgo is a real monster. Somepony you can’t just convince with simple words to do better. We have to fight him, but we’re not stupid. We know we don’t stand a chance.” there she was again. Bane, back again to speak her hopeless thoughts out loud to the unicorn.

Finally, Luna spoke up once she was done crying over her sister’s death. “It was Balgo, wasn’t it?”

Twilight quickly took her eyes off Bane and looked back at the alicorn. “Yes, it was Balgo.”

“Where could he be?” followed up Luna.

“Well, Mugen said he was in Manehat-”

The lunar princess wiped off the tears on her face and quickly walked out of the room, moving towards the entrance of the library.

“L-Luna?! Where are you going?” asked Twilight, but she knew what Luna would do.

“I’m going to make him pay for what he’s done to my sister.” answered Luna, her teeth clenching out of anger. Before the unicorn could say anything, she flew off to Manehattan.

“Oh no... We can’t let Luna fly off to her death!” Bane appeared once more behind her with an idea in mind.

“We can send a letter to princess Cadance and Shining Armor to warn them. They are in Manehattan remember?” Twilight looked at Bane with surprise. The dark reflection had indeed said something helpful to her.

“Right, Spike!” called out the unicorn.

“Yes, Twilight?” responded the baby dragon.

“We’re sending a letter to my brother right now! Get your pen and paper!”

~***~

“That’s the casino alright!” Silas Mann and Trixie have finally arrived at the casino where the group was supposed to meet up.

“I can’t wait to see the Great and Undefeatable Balgo again!” exclaimed the unicorn in excitement. “I can only imagine just how proud he’ll be when I’ll tell him that I’ve accomplished my mission!”

“The mission...” muttered Silas under his breath, realising he didn’t even try. “Oh shit.”

“Come on Silas! Let’s go in.” spoke Trixie as she walked in the casino.

“Right behind you Trixie! Also, I like the way you speak.”

Inside the casino, every pony in sight were looking in one direction; a table in which sat Devil Kong and Balgo. The demon had possessed one of the patrons, so to hide his true identity, while the Scaler didn’t seem to care in the slightest. Nopony dared to even approached these two.

“’O’ master Balgo!” shouted Trixie, getting the attention of the Scaler.

“Ah, so you’ve finally made it back. A bit late, however...” responded the emperor.

“Sorry, we ran into some trouble on our way there. It wasn’t our fault, I swear.” pleaded the unicorn.

“No matter, I hope you two are bringing good news.” Silas sprang into action, pointing his two hands at Trixie.

“Of course we are! Trixie has convinced an entire gang to join the empire! Ain’t that great news!” Balgo smiled and took a sip out of the beer laying on the table.

“Perfect, we’ve made some progress. You have done well, unlike a certain someone over there.” continued the emperor as he pointed a thumb at the demon sitting beside him. “Say, why don’t you come with us and play some games? It’ll be fun.”
The two nodded in agreement and sat to the right of Devil Kong, where as Balgo was sitting on the left side of the table. Before they could start anything, Balgo’s phone rang.

“Hmm, wait here for a moment. I’ve got an important call.”

Positioning himself on the roof of the casino, Balgo answered the call. It was Aruba on the other side, speaking to him.
“Hey buddy, I’ve got some big news for ya.” Balgo waited for a few moments. Expecting the news to come. “ Uh-”
“Don’t wait for a response. You can just tell me straight away, I'm listening.”

“Ah, okay, great. Um, Princess Luna came earlier that night. She was looking for her sister, Princess Celestia.” Balgo smirked once he heard the name of the princesses being mentioned.

“Ho ho ho! You told her what happened to Celestia?”

“Well, I told her to go to Ponyville to get her answers. By now, she should have figured out that you murdered her sister. She’s coming for you Balgo.” Balgo cackled now, excited for this new turn his night has taken.

“Perfecto! I’ll give her a warm welcome into Manehattan. You have done well Aruba, be seeing you.”

“Hmhm, see ya buddy.”

Once the call was over, Balgo looked over the city. Princess Luna was going to arrive any time soon. For the time being, he should just enjoy himself. After all, the best has yet to come.

Wait, what’s that? Everything around Balgo suddenly disappeared, leaving him all alone in the darkness. Somewhere in the distance, he could spot what appeared to be a Scaler. But he immediately recognised who it was. This Scaler was just as big as him, but it was horribly deformed. There were tentacles around his body, his chest was split open, his ribs acting as teeth for this gaping maw that was his chest. His eyes were black with bloody red pupils that expressed nothing but hatred with one of them being much bigger than the other one.

“You... are neglecting your promise, old friend. The promise you’ve made to a dying friend.”

“No... I didn’t forget about my promise Siegfried. Never will I.”

“Even before you’ve arrived here, you’ve neglected it. You’re afraid, Balgo. But you refuse to admit it. Tell him everything...” His last words echoed throughout the emperor’s very bones.

The darkness dissipated and so did the mutated Scaler. Everything was back to normal now.

“My mind must be playing tricks on me again.” tried to reason Balgo. But deep down, he knew that Siegfried’s words were not hollow. “Smithy...”

~***~

Having returned to his seat, Balgo pulled out a set of cards.

“Let’s play a game, shall we?”

...

“Ha ha ha ha! Balgo, draw +4!” shouted Devil Kong in a malicious amount of glee.

“Alrighty then” the Scaler drew four cards. “Take that! A royal flush combo!” Silas slammed his own card on the table.

“I choose you! Mega Mewtwo X! My Mewtwo beats your royal flush combo!” Trixie also had a plan of her own.

“Ha! You all lose for I, the Lucky and Skillful Trixie, summon Exodia the Forbidden One!”

Everypony in the casino looked at the table in sheer confusion.

“What in the hay are they playing?” asked one of the patrons.

“I don’t know, they all have different set of cards.” responded another.

“We’re playing Uno damn it!” yelled Devil Kong.

“We’re playing Poker you dimwitted monkey!” shouted Balgo.

“We’re playing Pokemon! It’s the hot new shit on the block!” added Silas Mann.

“We’re playing the... the Yu Gi Oh, g-game!” yelled Trixie.

“Nobody knows what the fuck they are doing! How can we even play anything like that? This is bullshit!” screamed Devil Kong as he slammed one fist on the table.

Balgo took another look at his set of cards, only to notice Devil Kong trying to peek at his cards. Irritated, he slammed his fist on a button underneath the table. When it didn’t work, he kept on hitting it, only to miss the button repeatedly.
To the others, it looked like Balgo was... um, pleasing himself.

“Balgo what the fuck are you doing?” asked Silas, looking very disturbed.

Finally, the Scaler hit the button and an anvil dropped on Devil Kong’s head, smashing the demon on the table, breaking it in thousands of pieces.

“Ha! Take that, pussy!” Balgo then began to laugh out loud, only to be interrupted by the chair breaking on him. “Woah?!” He fell on his back. Silas found this hilarious and he attempted to get up from his chair to walk to the bar, but he tripped on Devil Kong.

“I, liked the game actually.” said Trixie, looking at the three monsters, all on the floor.

“I hate you all.” announced Devil Kong as he threw the anvil away, scaring multiple patrons of the casino as it nearly crushed them. Trixie looked at the demon for a few seconds before deciding to say what was on her mind.

“Uh, D-Devil Kong?” The demon looked at her with disdain. “The Kind and Honest Trixie just wanted to tell you that I saw a gang of criminals that had your blood in their possession. They seem to know that there is a demon in Equestria.”

Devil Kong looked very displeased through his host. “I see, I’ll have to do something about it soon enough.”
Balgo got up and looked up for a moment before his entire demeanor changed to show excitement.

“Neh he ha ha! Princess Luna is coming!” He looked at the Midnight Riders, it was clear that he had an idea in mind. “Listen gang, here’s how we’re gonna deal with the lunar princess.”

~***~

Luna stormed in the casino in search of Balgo for he had made his presence in there known to all the locals. She stared deeply into the Scaler’s soul once she spotted him, sitting by himself at a table. Her eyes were throwing daggers in his direction and he quickly felt her arrival.

“Ah, Princess Luna. Fancy seeing you again, why don’t you take a seat? We’ll play a little game.” started the emperor.
“I’m not here to play games with you! I’m here to avenge my sister!” shouted the lunar princess as she stomped towards the Scaler.

“Oh, what a shame. I just wanted to play poker with someone.” he responded as he placed his cards on the table.
Luna’s horn began to glow with hatred which surprised Balgo. He looked around the casino to find that there were still ponies inside.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to get aggressive in a place like this. You could hurt innocents if you let loose in this casino. But I’ll be kind enough to let you have you retribution, outside.” With one swing of his arm, Balgo summoned a portal and he jumped off his chair, going into it.

Without skipping a beat, Luna went outside too. She quickly headed to the back of the casino, where she figured he’d be waiting for her.

“So you’re finally here to-”

“Enough talk! You’ll pay for what you’ve done!” interrupted the angry alicorn.

“Assclown...”

Luna opened up the fight with a magic beam heading straight to Balgo’s face. He shielded his face with his dark energy just in time and stomped on the ground, causing a huge column of stone to hit Luna, launching her in the air. She quickly regained her composure and saw the Scaler scaling up the walls of the casino to get in range of her. Using her wings, she stopped herself from being launched too far.

Once he arrived at the top, she used telekinesis to throw the column right at him but he saw it coming and opened his jaws to an impossible length to swallow the whole column of stone. He then turned his attention towards the alicorn. His entire chest tore itself open and his intestines turned into sharp tendrils launching straight towards her heart. She avoided the tendrils by carefully manoeuvring around their attacks.

“My whole body’s a weapon! Let’s get creative now!”

Balgo’s ribs began to orient themselves onto Luna and then, shot out of his body as if they were spears. The alicorn formed a shield with her magic, completely stopping the tendrils and the ribs from getting to her.

“Hmm, fuck. Change of plans, close quarter combat it is.”

The Scaler’s heart shot out from his body and wrapped itself around the shield. Balgo then began to pull on it to bring the princess into melee range. Alicorns are pretty strong with magic, their bodies are fairly resistant to magic, but not blunt force. If Balgo can get a good hit on her, it's going to hurt. Luna undid her magic shield and rammed straight into the emperor, impaling him with her horn. Balgo was quite surprised, but reacted fairly quickly by attempting to close his entire chest on her to crush her neck, but the lunar princess fired a beam of magic into him, launching the monster back. She felt immense satisfaction in pushing the beast back.

Luna washed the blood off her horn as Balgo spat blood on the floor, then he got up as if nothing happened, swiping the viscera off his suit with an indifferent look. It was as if her attacks barely hurt him.

“You’re far more aggressive than your sister.” A large grin formed on his face. “I think I like you better. Hmmm, I just can’t shake off the feeling that there’s something familiar in you. I guess there’s only one way to find out.”

He then loudly snapped his fingers multiple times. Luna watched confused, but prepared herself to attack again when she felt something jumped right next to her.

“Bark bark! Time for lard princess!” It was Silas Mann who punched her in the face, sending the alicorn into an alley.

Slowly opening her eyes, Luna found out that she must have passed out for a moment. She got up and felt very dizzy. The blow must have given her a concussion. Her head was now bleeding and she could taste her own blood.

“If I kill you, Princess Luna! Your people will fear me again! Respect and admiration, all the things that I deserve, I think. Oh well, no sense in telling you this since you’re going to die tonight!”

The alicorn looked behind and saw Silas slowly approaching, his axe already drawn. The ponies around all fled in fear as the undead reacted with glee at this sight.

“Mirror me, you’re right! Just injuring her seems to work well enough. I can’t imagine how good it will get once I take off her head!”

Luna wasted no time, seeing as the zombie was distracted and threw a nearby dumpster at him, transforming it into a large boulder.

The boulder crushed Silas, but he threw it away, looking angry.

“Oh you asked for it now! Caputus, crepitus!”

Silas Mann launched a powerful fireball at the princess. She tried to intercept it with her magic, but found out that the power behind that spell made it difficult to do so. She put even more strength into her magic and successfully stopped it in its tracks. Then, she threw it back at Silas who watched on in shock.

“TF2 Pyro, how?! You can’t reflect spe-” The fireball blew up in his face, but didn’t cause much damage as his entire body is absent of flesh. “Enough!”

Silas threw his axe, flying right past Luna. She looked back instinctively to see the axe hitting a wall behind her and just as she set her gaze back on her opponent, he rammed into her. She flew back, hitting the wall full force and the undead followed up with a strong kick to her abdomen.

He then proceeded to grab her by the throat and slammed the alicorn repeatedly in the wall. Suddenly, a large ball fell on his head, causing him to release Luna.

“Pardon my intrusion, but it seems like someone is in dire need of help!”

It was Mugen who had arrived on the scene.

“Leave me alone! I got an alicorn to kill. Barpo Invisium!”

The Horseless Headless Horseman turned invisible, much to Mugen’s confusion.

“Huh? Where did he g- ?!” Mugen dodged just in time the axe swing aiming straight for his neck. “Hahaha! He can turn invisible!”

Balgo suddenly dropped from the sky, getting in the middle of both Luna and Mugen.

“Jester! You will not intervene in this fight! Stop looking into other people’s business!”

Balgo dashed towards Mugen and knocked him back with a shoulder tackle, then followed up by creating a hammer made from dark energy to knock him high in the air.

“Oh my, guess I felt the wrath of Shao K-” he landed head first on the ground. Silas went back to Luna, placing the handle of his axe behind her head and then proceeded to headbutt her multiple times, drawing blood with each hit.
Mugen morphed into a ball and launched himself at Balgo, but the emperor had faced him so many times he could read him like an open book. This fight clearly bored the mighty Scaler as he had an expression of pure boredom on his face.

“Ha ha! Come on Balgo, lighten up! This can be fun if you just try to make it more entertaining!” said Mugen in a jovial tone. He stopped attacking and took on a clownish pose in an attempt to amuse the emperor, but it didn’t work.
For a split second, Balgo’s eyes became purple and then Mugen found himself on the floor, missing his legs and an arm.

“Ok then, guess you really weren’t in the mood. You’ve used your full power on me for just a split second. I take it you don’t want anything to do with me for the time being?” continued the Scaler, still in a jovial and carefree tone.

“Yes, now go bother someone else.” responded Balgo as he lifted up his foot above Mugen’s head.

“Ha! Will do!” concluded Mugen before he got his entire head crushed into bloody bits. This was not the end for the extravagant Scaler, Balgo knew that but at least, he’ll get some peace for a while. He turned his attention back to the alicorn and the undead.

Silas had grabbed Luna by the mane and was holding her up in the air, then he looked at his axe with shaking hands.

“It’s not as hard as I thought it would be.” he asked as his reflection sprung back to life from a nearby window.

“You still double teamed her, that’s why it felt easier than it should have been. But if you can do this much damage to an alicorn...” started the reflection before he left the mirror and got up in Silas’s face. “Cadance will die at your hands.”
Luna couldn’t take it anymore. To see these monsters who have killed her sister act taking this fight not seriously made her even angrier. Even more so the fact that Silas kept on rambling to himself.

With a sudden burst of magic, she knocked Silas back and shocked Balgo for a moment. Her skin grew darker, armour began to form around her body and her teeth became as sharp as those of the Scaler. In one final attempt to turn this fight around, Luna reverted back to Nightmare Moon.

“Your death won’t be painless, Balgo. I’ll make sure you’ll die a thousand time before peace finally comes to you!” yelled the alicorn in anger.

“Oh, so that’s why I felt something familiar in you. This power, it is related to me one way or another. The Nightmare you draw your power from contains some of my influence.” Balgo grinned, a wide one at that, extending to the very limits of his face. “Now this is getting truly interesting!”

Silas’s jaw dropped to the floor once he saw Nightmare Moon before him.

“Sa mère la pute... Wait, where did that come from?!” Panicking, he ran away from the fight.

The dark alicorn set her eyes on the undead and began firing at him. She was even more powerful now and filled with nothing but wrath. Her focus was taken off Silas however when she saw Balgo following the Reaper on a scooter.

“I’m fucking out of here. Why don’t you stop me from escaping?” he shouted at the alicorn, clearly wanting her to chase him down.

Nightmare Moon flew after the Scaler which amused him greatly. She flew higher in the sky to get a better shot at him. Her shots missed their mark, mostly because the emperor was very good at dodging.

“Be careful now, the sky is about to fall on your head!”

Nightmare Moon lifted her eyes for a second and saw a giant magical barrier made from dark energy forming over Manehattan. In one fell swoop, the barrier fell and hit her back to the ground in an abandoned building.

“You’re not Twilight Sparkle, but you’ll do nicely.”

The dark alicorn stood up and barely dodged a dagger being thrown her way. Bloody crimson eyes were staring her down throughout the darkness of the building. There were no lights in there, so the two fighters were surrounded by darkness with only the hole in the roof shedding some light in the arena.

The eyes suddenly vanished, and Nightmare Moon looked around herself in search of the monster.

“Hiding from me won’t work, I thrive off the darkness of the night. Your attempts at remaining hidden will only be met with failures.” she spoke out loud.

“Fine then, look behind you.” responded Devil Kong.

The lunar princess turned around and saw the demon standing beneath the hole in the wall, the moonlight barely illuminating him. He took out a revolver and spun the barrel by sliding the gun on his forearm and then he pointed it at Nightmare Moon.

“I do not fear the princesses. Your power can’t match mine.” He fired his revolver, but the alicorn reacted quickly; creating a small portal in front of the bullets trajectory and then forming another right next to the demon’s head. The bullet entered the portal and shot straight through Devil Kong’s head.

Blood splattered the floor, but the demon stayed still, barely affected by the bullet. He looked at her with weary eyes.

“Is this all you can do?” mocked the alicorn.

“If that was all I had, I wouldn’t have faced you.” replied Devil Kong in a calm and assured voice.

Suddenly, Nightmare Moon found herself in a jungle. It was still dark, but this darkness felt unnatural.

“Face me, in my jungle of illusions.”

A pony appeared in the corner of the alicorn’s eyes. She looked mutilated, with her right side torn open as if something was forcefully shoved in her sides.

“H-Help me Luna.” begged the pony.

Nightmare Moon was taken aback, and suddenly, she finally came to realise that she had transformed back into her nightmare self. She looked at her hooves in horror, before looking back at the pony.

“L-Luna?” cried out the young mare. “Luna is that y-you?”

It was clear that the mare recognised her, but her Nightmare Moon form scared her. Luna knew that her sister Celestia wouldn’t want her to be taken over by the Nightmare again, she couldn’t stay like this. For her sister’s sake...
She reverted back to her true self as the young mare looked happy.

“L-L-Luna! It’s really you!” she said in a happy tone, but then her face started to contort into a sad and sorrowful expression. “Please, help me, Luna!”

“What happened to you? You look terribly hurt.” responded Luna with much concern. The mare started to tear up.
She then explained what happened at Ponyholm’s library, what Devil Kong had done to her.

“I... I don’t know what my family is going to do without me! I can’t leave them all alone, they need me! I’m scared...” The lunar princess pitied the poor mare and went closer to embrace her. It worked at calming down the youngster.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure your safe. Tell me, what’s your name?”

“I’m Honeybrew.” responded the mare.

“Honeybrew, I promise I’ll bring you back to your family.” Honeybrew looked happy now, she smiled at Luna and the alicorn could feel her heart warming up once more. But then, the mare’s eyes turned into horror.

“B-B-B-Behind you!” she cried out in fear. Luna couldn’t react in time and was stabbed in the abdomen by large claws.
“You ponies are too sentimental for your own good. Look where kindness and friendship bring you; at my mercy.” spoke Devil Kong in a triumphant voice.

Luna felt on the ground, writhing in pain and saw Honeybrew fading away. She screamed out for the lunar princess before finally disappearing.

“You can’t save the dead, Luna. She died, and is now at my command. This is what happens when I obtain a new soul to play with. Hmm, wonder what I can do with your soul...”

Devil Kong pinned Luna to the ground with one hand wrapped around her neck. The demon knew she would use her magic to break herself free from his grasp, so he materialised a hammer from his dark magic and smithed down the alicorn’s horn.

Once Luna saw her horn fly away from the impact, hitting the ground right in front of her, she knew her fate was sealed. The demon started to hit the lunar princess with restraint, not wanting her to break too quickly. He beated her senseless until he felt that he had enough blood on his hands. He grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up to his face, where he opened his mouth to take her soul away. Having no strength left to repel Devil Kong, Luna had to bitterly accept the inevitable as the demon began to draw his mouth closer to her.

A sudden snap from far away stopped him however, and the beast now looked rather irritated.

“Fine. We’ll finish this later.”

He turned around and threw the alicorn as far as he could.

~***~

Her eyes slowly opened. Princess Luna now found herself on the streets of Manehattan once more, no longer in the demon’s jungle. She looked to her left only to see Balgo sitting calmly on a bench, reading a journal.
“Cuz there’s magic in my bones... Oh! There you are, I feared that Devil Kong would have already killed you by the time I get to conclude the show.” He threw his journal away and stood up, walking towards the injured alicorn. “Amazing, see where rash action takes you? If you had been patient and worked with your allies, you could have killed us all. Well, maybe not me, but the rest of my team wouldn’t have gotten away with this.”

“Just... finish me.” asked Luna, struggling to form a full sentence at this point. Without any warning, she was hit in the back of head by a flying pot.

Balgo turned his head to see Trixie, awkwardly standing there.

“You know you don’t really have to do anything.” pointed out the Scaler.

“Sorry, the Great and Powerful Trixie just wanted to help her master...” replied the unicorn.

Luna looked at the unicorn in a mix of shock and horror that her own kind would betray her. Balgo noticed this fact rather quickly.

“Don’t worry about Trixie. She’s just been brainwashed by me. Yeah, nothing to fuss about. Well, at least you’ll get to witness the last act of this entertaining show I call the Midnight Ride, featuring the Midnight Riders.”

“Is that what you call entertaining?” shouted Luna with all the strength she had left. Balgo stood up and looked at Trixie with a malicious grin.

“Trixie, tell me... Is this entertaining?”

The Scaler lunged at Luna, biting her in the torso and lifted her up all the while Trixie applauded. Just as that happened, Princess Cadance and Shining Armor arrived on the scene.

“Princess Luna!” shouted Shining Armor in horror.

“Let her go you monster!” screamed Cadance as she readied herself for an attack.

Balgo responded by spitting out the alicorn and took on a taunting posture.

“Nuh uh, I don’t think you should be fighting right now. There are more urgent business on the table!”

“Don’t think for a moment that we’ll let you get away with this! You’ll have to pay for your crimes against Equestria!” spoke Shining as his horn lighted up too.

“No no, I’m serious. Luna’s going to die if you waste your time on fighting me. My saliva is filled with a deadly toxin. I call it, the Komodo Venom. Her wounds will keep on bleeding ‘till she’s dry. You should take her to someone who can provide healing, like a paladin, hmm?”

The couple looked at the Scaler for a moment before taking their eyes off him, more worried about the injuries of Luna. She had lost consciousness by the time they’ve arrived. By the looks of it, she would die without the help of Drag’s magic.

“You should go to the train station immediately with her. I’ll join you shortly after. Take her to Ponyville, my sister often spoke of a paladin there. I’m sure he’ll be able to do something about her injuries.” said Shining to the Princess of love. She hesitated to go without with him, but figured she can trust that her lover would make it despite the monster’s present in the city.

“Oh don’t worry about Shining, princess. I’ll let the Midnight Riders off of him just for the night. Hehe, have fun with this.” added Balgo before he left, gesturing at Trixie to follow him but the lovers didn’t think about it for even a second.
Cadance lifted up Luna and placed her on her back.

“We don’t have much time, please be quick Cadance.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Without wasting any time, she flew off into the gloomy sky of Manehattan as Shining ran towards the train station as fast as he could.

Author's Note

Took a while to finally get it done... Mostly because I did spend less time working on it. However, I hope that this chapter was a good start for the third act of the story. So anyway, see you next time on the next chapter... The Merchant.