The war was over, no more Scalers remained in Equestria. The changelings and their queen fled the battle not long after, realising that their assault was a lost cause. Thus, the entire city went silent in an instant. It was a comforting silence, brought by a newfound peace in this kingdom.

There was still two Scalers left however; Smithy and Mugen had not yet teleported away. Instead, they walked up to the elegant princess and her student, both clearly having something to say.

“My oh my! The fun is now over, so it would seem.” exclaimed Mugen enthusiastically, though his smile diminished rather quickly, now replaced with a sad expression. “Fun isn’t infinite I guess... It sucks.”

Smithy stepped forth. “Before we leave, I just wanted to apologise on behalf of my kind, Princess Celestia.”
The alicorn was rather surprised by this apology, but thanked him nonetheless.

“Scalers are not truly evil by nature. Sure, we’re pretty violent but we don’t seek out trouble. Most of us are just following orders from our superiors. And I believe... you should know that evil mostly comes from a lack of knowledge, from ignorance.” continued the young swordsman.

Celestia nodded. “I know it all too well. It’s just the sad reality of war.”

A door opened from thin air behind the two reptiles. Mugen slowly made his way to the door, with Smithy following him soon after.

“Welp, this is probably the last time we’ll see each other. I hope we didn’t mess up your world too much!” exclaimed the extravagant Scaler before passing through the door. The swordsman joined him without a word.
The door closed, leaving Twilight and Celestia all alone amidst the rubbles of Canterlot.

“Well... what now?” asked the unicorn.

The princess sighed once more as she looked at the damage. “This is going to take a while to rebuild.”

“Woohee! We finally won guys!” shouted Pink as he lifted his shovel high up in the air.

“I didn’t get the rematch I sought after.” grumbled Alduin as he bit down on a changeling’s corpse.

Drag crumbled on the floor, looking very worn out. “Finally, I’ll be able to get some peace...”
The dragon pouted in his little corner, disappointed that things didn’t turn out the way he wanted.

“Why does he remind of a spoiled brat?” thought Pink as he watched Alduin.

It was pretty dark in Canterlot since most of the lights have been destroyed during the battle. Tons of dust was being swept around by the strong wind. In its current state, the once majestic city looked especially pitiful. Most of its inhabitants were sheltered in their homes, or at least what was left of them.

Despite the relief brought by the end of the Scaler’s invasion, the citizens were rather depressed to see the sad state of their home.

Amidst the darkness, Pink could see a pair of glowing eyes making its way to him. Upon closer inspection, these eyes belonged to none other than the Merchant.

“Ah stranger! I finally found you!” he exclaimed, waving at the humanoid.

“What? You're still here?” responded Pink out of surprise.

“But of course. I still haven’t delivered on my promise.” The Merchant opened his cloak and pulled out something truly impressive. It was a sniper rifle, but very advanced in technology. Extremely bulky and with a paintjob that commanded nothing but respect, this truly was a mighty weapon that surpassed everything Pink had seen until then. “This is the reward I promised you, stranger. Take it.”

The Guardian took the weapon from the Scaler’s hands and admired the latter’s craft. “My God... This gu-” The Merchant had disappeared, without a sound. Pink looked around in confusion before realising that the reptile was now gone for good, somehow. “How the fuck did he do that?”

“It’s going to take a lot of time to rebuild Canterlot, my faithful student.”

Twilight stared sorrowfully at the ruins of Canterlot. This was her home after all. All this pain and devastation was torturing her inside. “I can see that...” She washed off her pained expression and looked at her mentor with a dutiful look. “I’ll help out with the reconstruction of Canterlot.”

Celestia shook her head in disapproval. “No Twilight. After everything that you’ve done, I’d rather let you get some rest. This is my city after all, you still have plenty to do in Ponyville. Besides, the Guardians will help out in the construction.”

Twilight Sparkle wanted to protest, but ultimately respected her mentor’s decision, feeling a wave of fatigue overcoming her. “Yeah, you’re right. I’m really tired right now.” A thought suddenly sprouted in her mind. “Wait, are my friends there? I mean, my pony friends specifically.”

“Last I heard, they were taking the train back to Ponyville. They said that they would wait for you back at the station in Ponyville. You should join them, Twilight.”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking! I’ll make sure to come back soon, I still want to help out just a little.” responded the unicorn with a cheerful smile.

Celestia smiled back. “Of course, that’d be lovely. But don’t let it distract you from your studies, remember?”

“Don’t worry Princess Celestia, I still take my studies seriously!”

Having arrived at the train station, Twilight noticed that there wasn’t a single pony in sight. The sole exception was the conductor that was waiting for her. He waved at her to come in and she crumbled on one of the beds, falling asleep mere seconds after she lied down.

She woke up after a while, being poked at by the conductor. “Ma’am, we’ve arrived. Please step out of the train.”
Twilight’s eyes were still heavy, barely being able to make out the conductor standing inches away from her. “Hmm? Oh yeah, I’m getting off now.”

She walked out of bed and shambled towards the exit.

Finally, she was able to breath the fresh air of Ponyville after this long, draining night. Though it was odd that her friends weren’t there like Celestia had mentioned. She simply shrugged it off, thinking that they simply went to sleep too. It was very late after all so she wouldn’t blame them for getting some rest like her.

She made her way to town, noticing that it was empty. There was an ominous feeling lingering in the air, though she didn’t think much of it. It was pretty late, everypony in town was most likely sleeping. The lights were indeed off at every single house she passed by.

Was it her or did has Ponyville lost most of its vibrant colors? Even stranger than that, the street lights were all broken, further casting the town in darkness. Growing more and more worried by the seconds, Twilight picked up the pace towards her home.

She was stopped however, by a familiar figure just in front of her. “A-Applejack?” the earth pony didn’t respond, nor did it even look like she heard her call. She had her back to Twilight, looking at apparently nothing.

It was indeed very strange for her to be in the middle of Ponyville at night instead of Sweet Apple Acre. Slowly but surely, Twilight approached her friend with much concern in her eyes. “Applejack, what are you-”

Applejack lifted her back hooves and bucked Twilight with all her might, sending the unicorn to the floor. She clutched her bloodied snout, wondering why her friend would even hit her like that. “Applejack?! What was that for?”

The Element of Honesty turned around and Twilight got to see in just how much trouble she was in. Her friend's eyes were black, with small white pupil staring back at her. Her bloody tears were streaming down her face, a face that was expressionless, indifferent to everything around her.

Worst of all, a familiar voice reached out to Twilight. The one voice she dreaded the most, even more than Balgo, for at least the Devil had some honor in him.

“I’m gonna getcha! I. Am. GOD.”

Author's Note

There you go, a short little chapter meant only to bring some sort of closure for the Scaler's invasion. However, as you can clearly see, there's still one last villain to deal with.

Stay tuned to see Twilight confronting a God on the next chapter. And boy, am I having fun writting this chapter.