Somewhere on the outskirts of Manehattan, a portal opened. Out of this dimensional gate arrived a figure dressed in a black coat, hiding most of its feature except for the large reptilian tail sticking out and the yellow eyes that pierced the surrounding darkness. It was indeed another Scaler, though an atypical one at that. The average Scaler does not really wear any form of clothing, except for battle armour or a fancy suit should they work directly under Balgo. This reptile took out a strange device from his coat and turned it on.

“Aaahhh... So there are already Scalers in this world.” The Scaler looked around him and spotted the city of Manehattan not too far off from his current position.

“So, there is indeed a civilisation here. Ye he he he, time to make a profit here.”

This, was the strange Scaler known only to his kin as The Merchant.

~***~

Back at Ponyville, Pink was heading off home to sleep. After all, Drag told him he had to stick by Applejack for the day, so better get some rest before he’s stuck there.
On his way home, he came across Rainbow Dash sitting in a tree, looking off in the distance.

“You’re not going to sleep Rainbow Dash?” said Pink, trying to get her attention. It worked, as the Pegasus turned her attention to him.

“How can I get back to sleep after everything that just happened?! My best friend died and was brought back to life in a few hours! How can you fall asleep after all that?!” she shouted at the humanoid.

“Things are just getting more and more complicated around here, frankly I just try to shut off my brain and it works... somewhat.” He sighed. “I’m not the brightest on the team, I don’t have the coolest powers. I’m just the strongest physically and that’s it. I know my place in this world. Sometimes you just have to not overthink it, and I feel that maybe that’s why I adapted quicker than the others.”

The Pegasus jumped down from the tree and said: “Easy for you to say; you haven’t known Applejack or any of us here for as long as we did!”

Pink felt somewhat offended by this aggressive statement. “Woah! I didn’t say that I didn’t care about what happened to Aj. I’m just saying that it’s sometimes best to just not dwell on the what ifs. The fact of the matter is; Applejack is still alive. No need to think about what would have happened had Drag not been there, this kind of thinking doesn’t help at all.”
Rainbow Dash calmed down after hearing Pink’s thoughts. After all, he was right, what had happened cannot be changed.

“Thanks Pink, I feel much calmer now but I’m still not tired in the slightest.” The Guardian just shrugged it off.

“Well, I can’t do miracles. It’s good to know I've at least done something to help. Welp, I’m heading home now, see ya Dash.”
Dash bid farewell to the humanoid before returning to her initial position up in the tree. She was till filled with energy so sleep wouldn’t come to her.

The noise of a train approaching the station caught her attention, she saw the locomotive coming at a fast pace, much faster than usual. Feeling that something’s wrong, Rainbow Dash flew over to the station to see what was up.

~***~

There was barely anypony waiting at the train station, so Dash didn’t have a hard time getting upfront. The train finally arrived, slowing down to a crawl until it came to a stop. It came from Manehattan judging from the direction it came from. The first passenger to leave the train was none other than Princess Cadance, carrying the battered body of Luna. Rainbow Dash was shocked to see the current state of the lunar princess as blood kept on dripping from the massive bite wound on her torso.

“What in the hay happened to her!” shouted the Pegasus, attracting the attention of every other pony waiting at the station. Now everypony could see their princess in a state of near death. Cadance looked at Rainbow Dash, recognising her thanks to Celestia’s description of the Elements of Harmony.

“You must be the Element of Loyalty, correct?” she said quickly, getting close to the Pegasus.

“Uh, y-yeah. That’s me.” she nervously responded.

“Can you tell me where the paladin is? Only he can save Princess Luna!”

“I know where he is! He’s in the hospital with Applejack!”

The Princess ordered Rainbow Dash to take her to Drag. She agreed and they arrived at the hospital, passing through the reception and arriving at Applejack’s room where Drag watched in surprise as they busted in out of the blue.

“What? Another alicorn and wait, is that Luna?” asked Drag.

“No time to talk! Heal her before it’s too late!” shouted Cadance in between panicked breaths.

The Tauren nodded and quickly got to work on the lunar princess, using his Flash of Light spell to close up her wounds. However, the bite mark on her torso wouldn’t fade away no matter how many times he tried to heal it.

“By the Light... There’s venom inside her!” announced Drag to the others.

“V-Venom?” said a worried Rainbow Dash.

“She’s been poisoned?” added Cadance.

“Sure seems like it, there’s still saliva in this wound... She must have faced off against Balgo alone, right?” Princess Cadance looked down out of guilt.

“Yeah, I’m sorry we couldn’t get there in time.”

“You don’t have to blame yourself. We just need to figure out an antidote. I can keep her alive temporarily with my healing spell.”

Rainbow Dash had an idea in mind. “Can’t we just resurrect her like we did with Applejack?”
Drag didn’t approve of this idea however.

“No. Resurrection is very demanding of me; I can’t do it again for some time. Plus, even if we succeed in bringing her back, the venom will still be in her body rendering the whole thing pointless. We need an antidote.” Cadance approached the paladin and the unconscious alicorn.

“How long can you keep her alive?”

“As long as I’m awake, I can do it. For a few days if my body would allow it.”

“Good, Shining Armor should arrive in a few hours once the next train leaves for Ponyville. At least, I hope he’ll make it here alright.” Dash could clearly see the anxiety in the Princess of love. Feeling like she needed to do something, she planned to head off to meet the unicorn.

“I’ll go look for an antidote in Manehattan.” Cadance wasn’t sure it that was a good idea.

“Are you sure? Balgo is in the city, he’ll see you coming.”

“Don’t worry about me, I can stay out of trouble!”
She looked at Drag to get some sort of approval, he simply nodded and she left.

“We’ll send Alduin over there too just in case anything might happen to Dash. For the time being, let’s focus on keeping Luna alive.”

~***~

Just as Drag instructed, Cadance flew up to the mountain close to Ponyville. There, she arrived at the cave inside where Alduin resided. It was very dark inside so she had to use her magic to light up the area. Trotting along the empty cave, she eventually stumbled upon the black dragon sleeping in a pile of gold. Evidently, dragons can’t resist their hoarding urges, even the almighty Alduin himself. She nearly jumped once she snapped out of her thoughts and saw him staring down at her with a very displeased look.

“I don’t care who do you think you are, get out of my cave.”

“Can I at least tell you why I came here? I’m here because one of your friends asked me to come see you.” Alduin raised an eye in interest.

“Was it Drag?” He asked immediately.

“Yes, it’s the Tauren.” Alduin looked around at his pile of gold before finally standing up before the alicorn.

“Fine, but I'll only listen to you because Drag sent you here.”

What a surprise, the old dragon was rather easy to converse with, despite what she had heard about him. It would seem he had warmed up... to Drag mostly.

“What are you looking at alicorn? Aren’t you here because you have something to say to me? Zu'u Alduin, so make it quick.” Cadance snapped out of her thoughts at once and began to tell Alduin what had happened down at Ponyville. “Hmm, and you say that Balgo is indeed present in Manehattan?”

“Indeed, I saw him there. I doubt he’ll leave the city any time soon.”

Alduin grinned at the idea of finally being able to challenge the leader of the Scalers. He looked rather powerful if he had managed to best Drag in a one-on-one battle.

“Of course, I’ll gladly keep an eye on Rainbow Dash. Though I won’t pretend that I do not have ulterior motives to go to Manehattan.”

“Are you that easy to read into normally?” sarcastically asked the Princess of love.

“Not usually, I just don’t feel the need to remain opaque.”

On that note, the black dragon flew out of the cave and into the night sky as Cadance watched on. Now, she just had to return to Drag’s side and hope that Luna will make it out alive in the end.

~***~

Flying through the landscapes of a dark Equestria, Rainbow Dash finally made her way to a nearby cliff overlooking the big city of Manehattan. The first thing that caught her attention was a massive vehicle parked right there. It was unlike any vehicle she had ever seen before.

“Wow, this looks so awesome!”

Dash took her time to inspect every detail of this large and imposing four-wheeler, gushing at how cool it looked. She touched it to get a feel for its material; it wasn’t unlike anything she had seen before anywhere in Equestria. But then she remembered she came here for a reason. “Oh right, the antidote!”

With no time to waste, the Pegasus flew down to the large city in search of an antidote for Princess Luna.

~***~

“Oh come on Trixie! Can't you at least show me one of your magic tricks?”
“The Great and Powerful Trixie would like to, but she has nothing to work with in here.”
Silas Mann and Trixie were strolling down the streets of Manehattan, having a lot of time to kill. They thought to spend the night together since it would be less boring than to be on their own and plus, there are still members of the Gaping Maw Clan out for her head.

As they were walking, Silas noticed that his reflection wanted to speak with him. He moved in closer to the windows of the stores around and asked what it wanted.

“I just noticed; we never really had any friends before. Not in our lives and certainly not in her undeath. This Trixie girl might be our friend ever! You know what to do.” started the reflection.

“No I don’t.” replied Silas.

“You idiot... Friends tell each other compliments. Say something nice to her and she will like us more!” continued the reflection, not wanting his true self to miss this opportunity.

“Ahhh... I get it!” The Reaper turned his head to look at Trixie, who was walking in front of him. “I like your ass.”
Trixie turned around in shock. “Wai- W-W-What?” She covered her flank with her hoof, blushing out of embarrassment.

“What the hell was that?! That’s not how you compliment a friend!” shouted the reflection, throwing his hands up in frustration.

Silas looked at his reflection in confusion. “But. But... I complimented her? Why doesn’t that work?”

“You’re threading on borderline sexual harassment at this point! You could have complimented literally anything else!” spitted out the reflection.

Trixie was weirded out by the fact that Silas was looking at a window, talking to himself. “W-Who are you talking to?”

The undead looked at her rather casually. “Oh, it’s just this asshole who keeps appearing in mirrors telling me to do stuff.” He turned his attention back to the window. “Yeah, I'm talking about you, jackass.”

Not really knowing what to say, Trixie opted to just thank Silas for his rather strange attempt at complimenting her. “Uh, th-thanks for the compliment, I guess. The beautiful and luscious Trixie, uh, appreciates your kindness.”

Silas Mann laughed, finding her way of speaking amusing. “Ha ha! I like the way you speak!”
“Oh? See, that’s how you compliment a friend, Silas. You’re making progress.”

The Reaper stopped walking for a moment, realising he had done it.
“I did it. I made a friend...”

“And he does it by accident! You gotta be FU-”

~***~

Back at the four-wheeler, Balgo went on to retrieve some items he left there. As he did, he closely inspected the vehicle in fear that someone would have tried to vandalise it. The automobile looked perfectly intact at first glance, until the Scaler noticed that in one spot in particular, the painting has been chipped. He bent over and inspected the small damage.

“Hm, now who could have touched my precious four-wheeler?”

His eyes turned purple, heightening all of his senses. The scent of the vandalizer was still there, so this person was there not too long ago.

“Good, I’ll be able to track ‘em down.”

~***~

Threading lightly through the dark streets of Manehattan, Rainbow Dash could easily feel that something’s wrong with the city. A feeling that most likely came from her knowledge of what had transpired here earlier that night. Balgo was here and most likely the one responsible for Applejack’s initial death. She spotted something rounding up the corner of the street just ahead and chose to hide just in case it was bad news.

Sure enough, she was right. Silas and Trixie came out of the blue making their way through an alley in between two abandoned buildings. Rainbow Dash kind of expected Silas Mann to be present one way or another based on what Applejack had said, but she didn’t expect Trixie to be alongside him. Something was clearly off here, she just had to look into it.

Moving slowly but surely, the Pegasus followed the duo as they entered an abandoned warehouse. Dash flew up to the roof, trying to find a sneaky point of entrance so she could spy on them. She found a window overlooking the insides of the warehouse. Carefully opening it, she snuck in the infrastructure now witnessing as multiple other ponies joined the undead and the magician.

“So... I assume the Horseless Headless Horseman is one of Balgo’s ally as well.” spoke Mama Scarface as she came out of the shade.

“Well, Balgo has plenty of strong allies on his team. I’d say we’ve pretty much won at that point.” said Silas in confirmation.

“Hell, we just got back from beating up Princess Luna.”

“Impressive.” continued Scarface in admiration. “So, to summarise it; By joining the Scaler’s Empire, I get to have full control over the city of Manehattan, correct?”

Trixie nodded in affirmation. “Yep, that’s what the Great and Powerful Trrrixie has told you. She doesn’t lie.”

Rainbow Dash got to witness the whole scene. From what it looked like, Trixie had indeed betrayed her own kind. While useful to know, she couldn’t stay there any longer for Luna’s life was on the line. She turned around and started to quietly climb out of the warehouse but was stopped by an extremely large shadow looming over her.

“Ah, but of course. It was a Pegasus who chipped the painting of my beautiful four-wheeler. How about I get some indemnity?” It was Balgo who stood above her. Dash’s heart stopped at that moment, knowing all too well what was about to happen.

The emperor lifted his foot up slowly, but surely and in one swift motion; he kicked the Pegasus, sending her down to the floor of the warehouse. She fell on her back, with her head hitting the floor soon after. The impact caused every occupant in the building to turn around, now seeing the Element of Loyalty in their midst.

“If it isn’t my little Dashie!” exclaimed Silas, excited to finally see one of the Elements of Harmony again.

“Seize her!” shouted Mama Scarface to her underling.

Before Rainbow Dash passed out, she could see everypony in the room running towards her. She was in a lot of trouble now. The last thing she heard, was Silas’s taunting voice speaking to her.

“Ho ho ho ho! The little Pegasus is in big trouble now.”

~***~

Darkness now surrounded her. Even she opened her eyes, Rainbow Dash found herself in a pitch black found, unable to spot anything.

“Uh, I can’t see her Trixie...”

“Right! I’ll light up the room now.”

A sudden flash of light blinded Dash for a moment before her eyes adjusted to it. She was in an isolated room in the warehouse, face to face with Trixie and Silas Mann. Her hooves and wings were tied up, making it impossible to run away, much less even move from her position.

“Trixie! Why are you siding with that jerk?” Rainbow Dash demanded answers.

“Well, from my perspective, it looked like HE chose to side with the Great and Powerful Trixie, not the other way around.” confidently answered the unicorn as she raised a hoof to her chest.

“I can confirm it!” added Silas, raising a hand to draw attention on himself.

“Well then, what are you gonna do to me? Sit there and humiliate me all day?” angrily asked Dash as she tried to break free of her bonds, but it was no use. These ropes have been enchanted with magic to be sturdier than usual.

“That’s the neat part; we don’t know. We tried to ask Balgo, but he just left the area apparently. So, we’re just left with you, we’re thinking about killing you but maybe that’s not what we should do. Bah, I don’t want to think about it any harder or my Jack-O-Lantern's going to fry.” exclaimed Silas as his voice shifted from amusement, to uncertainty.

“And the Great Trixie won’t get her hooves dirty. So we’ll just leave you here for the time being. Don’t worry, it won’t be for long.”

And with that being said, they left the room and Dash was now all alone. She kept on trying to break free of her bonds but no matter how hard she tried, the ropes wouldn’t snap. Eventually, her muscles grew tired of trying and she had to come up with something else if she wanted to get out of this predicament.

“Come on Dash, there’s gotta be something sharp laying around here. It’s an old warehouse after all.”

She scouted the room with her eyes in search of a sharp instrument. The darkness in there made it near impossible to make out anything in there. Just as things began to look hopeless, a knock on the window nearly made her jump. She turned her head to face whoever was at the window.

It was a Scaler, dressed in a black coat. Most of his face was hidden, except for his eyes and nose.
“You got money on you, stranger?” he asked.

“What? Yes, I do have money. Are you just here to rob me?” answered Rainbow Dash, distrusting of this individual.

“Ye he he he! That’s great.” He carefully opened the window and immediately threw a knife at the Pegasus, barely missing her hooves.

“Wha- Hey! What was that for?”

“Cutting the ropes, stranger.”

Intrigued, Dash took a good look at her bonds. They were now cut so deep that they were barely holding on by a thread. With no effort at all, she broke through her bonds, allowing the Pegasus to stand up once more.

“Over here, stranger.” said The Merchant as he gestured at the Element of Loyalty to come follow him. She was unsure whether she should follow him or not but seeing as he freed her, she felt like she owed him something in return. After all, Scalers can be good. Mugen and Smithy proved it.

Thus, she followed the strange Scaler into an alley where a blue torch caught her attention. Right next to that torch lied a rather big stand filled with all sorts of weapons.

Meanwhile, back at the warehouse. Silas went to announce the news to Dash, only to find her missing.

“Hey hey! We finally figured out what to do with yo- Ah, damn it!”

~***~

“Uh... So is that what you wanted to show me?” asked Rainbow Dash, uneasy at the brutal variety of deadly weapons littering the make-shift shop.

“Well of course, stranger. I’m a merchant, I want to show you, my wares.” responded the Merchant.

“None of them are fit for ponies! By the looks of it, I need fingers to use them properly!” pointed out Dash. The Merchant got nervous as he realised, he was losing a potential customer. He walked up to a vending machine and banged on it with his shoulder as he kept his eyes on the Pegasus.

“I’ve got some soda here if you’re thirsty! Everybody loves some good soda!”

“I don’t know, that doesn’t seem really useful to me. Plus, we got apple ciders back at Ponyville. They really hit the spot.” The Merchant got even more desperate and thought of something else.

“Oh, wait stranger! I’ve got more than just weapons; I’ve also got first aid. Everybody can use it, with or without fingers!” He ran up to the backroom and came out later with a spray in hand. “This, is a first aid spray. It disinfects the wounds and heals it quicker. You can’t go wrong with this!” he added as he presented the item proudly.
Dash looked at it for a moment and suddenly got an idea.

“Say, if you have first aid spray, surely you must have something against venoms.” She said as she flew up in the Merchant’s face.

“Bah, easy! I have some items to combat venoms. Just tell me; what kind of venom is it?”

“You know, the Balgo kind of venom.” The Merchant’s entire expression changed, looking less excited.

“Unless you’ve got some good payment; I can’t help you there. The anti-venom for the Komodo poison is very expensive to make. I want to be justly compensated for this expensive endeavor.”

“What?! Are you flipping serious right now?!” shouted Dash as she banged her head on the counter repeatedly.

“Are you gonna buy that first aid spray or not, stranger?” asked The Merchant as he pointed a finger at the item. Dash frustratedly agreed.

“Fine, how much is it?”

“Show me your currency and I'll name a price.” Dash took out a bit from her, pocket? And placed it on the counter. The Merchant’s eyes immediately lit up.

“What?! Gold?!” He quickly regained his composure, having surprised Rainbow Dash. “Alright, it’ll be just one bit for this.”
Dash chuckled; she sure did get it for cheap. It was kind of comical to her.

“Since you know more about this place than I do; can you tell me a good place to relocate my shop?" continued the Merchant. The Pegasus saw a good opportunity to bring him closer to where her friends are. If this Scaler is serious about selling weapons and what-not, he could be of much help for Ponyville.

“Yeah, I think I know a place. It’s called Ponyville, there are ponies, well other beings there that will surely want to buy your stuff!”

The Merchant brought his hand to his chin in reflection, then he announced his decision.
“Hehehe, thank you. I’ll be sure to make a profit there.”

“And if they have enough bits on their hooves, you’ll sell that anti-venom, won’t you?” continued Dash, this time in a more menacing tone. The Merchant didn’t appear fazed at all, but agreed nonetheless.

“Of course, stranger. I’m a Scaler of my words. And remember; I don’t take sides. I may be a Scaler, but that don’t mean I fully support them in anything. All I care about is the satisfaction of my clients as well as the integrity of my shop.”

~***~

“Kryser, I've called you to make sure everything is good here in Canterlot. Yeah, I know Aruba’s returned, but he’s too busy to be contacted at the moment, which is why I’ll be counting on you to report back every important thing.” Once again, Kryser was contacted by Balgo via a hologram.

“Of course, Balgo. I am greatly honored to have been given this much faith.” responded the soldier.

“Now, onto the actual reason why I called you. Bravo Team has discovered that the changeling army is preparing to make a move on Canterlot. Thankfully, they’re unaware of the fact that this city is ours. They won’t be expecting our defenses to strike back. Now remember, their queen is the biggest danger in their army. You must take her down at all cost, Aruba’s presence should make it an easy task for you. Oh, and another thing; keep the baby safe at all costs. She is the key to maintaining our empire’s presence in Equestria... We’re all counting on you, don’t let us down.”

Kryser nodded and the hologram dissipated. A big battle was coming up, but they are prepared for it. In Balgo’s name, he will exterminate this changeling queen.

Author's Note

Well, there it is. This chapter was much shorter, but the next one will be much longer. To be continued in chapter 14 : Superior Genetics.