Looking to get some relaxation from all the terrible new brought by the war, Fluttershy returned to her cottage, hoping that spending some time with her animals will calm her down. She stayed in her backyard, tending to her animal’s needs for this made her feel calmer and less on edge. She still had the horrible images of the Scaler coming down her chimney and of the stallion whose head was crushed right before her very eyes haunting her. She suddenly heard birds singing from the woods nearby and this piqued her interest. The Pegasus saw a nice opportunity to clear her mind from all its worries so, she started singing too to catch the birds attention. They sang back, inviting her to come to the woods to meet them. She kept on singing to locate their current position, eventually making her way to a small clearing with a pond in the middle. As she arrived, she squealed in surprise once she saw an armored Scaler sitting by the pond looking down at the water. The reptile flinched and turned around; his hands were clutching his sword. He stared at the Pegasus for what seemed like an eternity before returning to his initial posture, seemingly not caring about her presence at all. Fluttershy was now intrigued by this strange behaviour. Last time she saw this Scaler, he was fighting Pink in a brutal duel that nearly got her friend killed. Now, he was sitting peacefully in the forest, staring at his own reflection, meditating quietly as if he never partook in this war.

“Oh, um... the forest is quite beautiful... isn’t it? I-I often come here to relax after a stressful day, as often as they come.”
sheepishly said the Pegasus. The swordsman didn’t respond for a moment, causing Fluttershy to feel even more nervous.
“Yeah... It’s a wonderful place. Don’t you agree?” Her nervosity left quickly afterwards. It was now clear that this Scaler harbored no aggression whatsoever, just like Mugen. Fluttershy hesitated to say what was on her mind for a moment, but she was far too curious to let that chance slide.

“W-why were you fighting us back at the battle in Canterlot? You don’t look willing to fight me at all even though I'm supposed to be your enemy.”

“...” Smithy hesitated to answer. He looked away from the Pegasus for a moment, before turning back to look at her. "I was just doing as I was told. Balgo told me I needed to take down one of their strongest warriors in an honorable duel. But now... I don’t know what to do! I’m stranded from all my peers and my leader! Oh, I’m supposed to be Balgo’s bodyguard, but I don’t even know the way to Canterlot! I failed at my duty! How am I supposed to regain my peers respect after that!?” The light on Smithy’s armour began to glow red, before they turned blue again and his agitation dissipated almost instantly. “Stabilising vital signs.” said the suit.

“I know that feeling, to be all alone, separated from your friends. It really scares me to think about it. But at least, I know that they’ll never give up on me no matter what. I’m sure they must be looking for you right now.” responded the Pegasus in an attempt to comfort the agitated Scaler.

“I suppose you’re right. But I can’t just stand there, waiting for them to come find me. Everyone always looks up to me in high regard. They all think I'm this super confident warrior who never cracks under pressure, but that’s just not true! Outside of my comfort zone, I don’t know what to do in the slightest! I just pretend I do, but that can only take me so far... I just don’t think I’m cut out for this in the slightest.” Once again, the lights on his armour started to glow red, before immediately turning blue again and Smithy’s agitation dissipated in an instant. “Stabilising vital signs.”

“Well, if that makes you feel better, a Scaler just came into Ponyville and he seems rather um... eccentric.” The Scaler turned to look at Fluttershy with renewed hope.

“Eccentric? Could that be Mugen?” Smithy was now standing up, towering over the Pegasus. She flew up to match his height.

“Yes, come with me. I’ll take you to him.” said Fluttershy with a warm smile.

“I suppose that’s all I can really do for now...”

~***~

“And to think I could have bested this damn genie had it not been for this damn Balgo!” Alduin was still bitter about their loss back at Canterlot. Well, it wasn’t so much the fact that they lost the city that angered the dragon. It was more so the fact that he couldn’t devour Aruba’s soul that really got to him. Drag was quite irritated by the black dragon’s priorities. Alduin always seemed to be only on their side as an excuse to keep doing what he loves; to devour powerful souls.
“That’s really all that’s bothering you? Many people died in this fight and you don’t seem to care at all.”

“You should know better than these delusional fools Drag. You cannot truly reform everybody. Everyone here is so stuck up their own friendship worshipping arses that they believe everyone can be a good person if they just try. Heh, try telling that to the Devil himself.” The Tauren looked at Alduin dead in the eyes.

“You could at least pretend to care. Remember this you arrogant douchebag; if I see no reason to keep you around on this ‘team’, I’ll kill you.” The black dragon reared its head back in indignity.

“As if it will go down like last time. You got lucky, but it won’t be the same next time we fight.” Drag smirked at his ally’s response.

“As if I’ll fight you alone. If you go down the path of evil once more; Pink, the Elements of Harmony and the princesses will oppose you alongside me. Those odds don’t seem as favorable now do they?”

“... Tss.” Drag took his eyes off the dragon and looked off in the distance.

“I don’t understand while you’re still acting this way after all this time. I gave you a new home here, new friends, a community that has accepted you in it.” Alduin took a few steps forward to get in the way of the paladin.

“You speak as if you belong here, but we both know that’s not the case. You should know why I feel this way. This... isn’t our H O M E. We’ve lost everything and you just act like it’s not that big of a deal!”

“I’ve already lost everything before I arrived here. I was thinking about killing myself before I mysteriously got here. From my perspective, I got something in here that I’ve lost back in Azeroth. I believe you’re the one who still has yet to adapt to his new life in Equestria. As long as you can’t come to terms with your current situation, you’ll never feel whole again.” And then, there was silence between the two. They avoided any eye contact who what felt like an eternity until Alduin was willing to break the silence.

“I’m getting hungry. I’ll head off to Sugar Cube Corner.”

“So am I. Let’s go together, shall we?”

~***~

Today was a heated day at Sugar Cube Corner. Demands were high for delicious treats; the line grew so big that there were now ponies waiting outside the store. Pinkie Pie was working hard to prepare the treats on time. As she was baking some cupcakes, she realised that she couldn’t find the flour necessary to bake them. “You’re looking for this?” Pinkie jumped at the unexpected voice coming from behind. She turned around to see Mugen standing there with a bag of flour in his hands.
“Wowie! Thanks for helping me find the flour! Say, wanna help me bake some cupcakes? No, help me bake all the treats for the day!” she said as she bounced around in excitement.

“But of course! I love baking treats!” The Scaler and the pony both got together to fill in all the orders until the store almost reached its closing hour. “Man, that sure was one helluva day! Do you know what we should do once our shift is over?”

“Oh, I know! We should totally pull some pranks on people! Rainbow Dash and I love to pull pranks on people! Surely you must love to prank people!” quickly said the earth pony as she bounced all around the Scaler.

“Sounds good to me! We’ll prank everyone in this town! Let me get my gear first.” Mugen dropped on the floor, passing through the ground itself much to Pinkie Pie’s surprise. She heard lots of banging and clanking behind her. She looked back to see Mugen already back, his hands full with all sorts of extravagant objects. “Now we’re ready to prank!” The bell on the counter suddenly rang, urging both of them to check out who is ready to order.

“Oh hi there Drag and Alduin! It’s a nice day, isn’t it? I was just wondering when you’ll come down by to pay me a visit on my shift!” The Tauren gave the pink pony a warm smile as the black dragon pressed its face on the glass.

“I want the biggest treat there is on the menu.” ordered Alduin.

“And I'll just have a muffin, you can choose what flavour to offer me.” added Drag. Pinkie Pie bounced around joyfully.

“No problem! I’ll bake alongside my new friend! He’s really good at baking treats you’ll see!”

~***~

Once their shift was finally over, Mugen and Pinkie Pie were now ready to pull some pranks. First, they chose to prank Rarity with the good old bucket filled with water on top of a door trick. They placed the water filled bucket and knocked on the door before running to hide inside a nearby bush. There, they watched in amusement as the unicorn slammed the door open, only for the bucket to land on her head, dripping her in water from head to hooves. Only, the water looked yellow. Rarity screamed in horror and ran back inside her house to clean herself.

“Woops, that wasn’t the water bucket... That was the Australian piss bucket.” nervously said the Scaler.

“Why would you have a bucket full of piss?” questioned the pink pony.

“It was offered to me in a dream by a sniper, I just had to keep it.” responded Mugen, his smile growing more nervous.

“Anyway, let’s doot our way on to our next prank!” He pulled out a trumpet out of thin air and started going ballistic on it.
For their next prank, they chose to prank Applejack. This time, Mugen had a very elaborate idea. He pulled out numerous materials and started crafting something as Pinkie Pie watched on in awe. Once he finished his craft, the mare got to admire his creations. It was a bunch of fake apples made of sour treats. “Now, watch and learn. Here’s the deal; Aj will buck the tree, realise that the apples seem strange, so she’ll take a bite out of it and won’t be expecting it to be super-duper sour!”

“Wow, you’ve got some really really cool ideas for prank!” said the pink pony while vibrating literally every single atom in her body in joy. Man, she’s quite the eccentric pony. Oh, hey there! I’m usually not supposed to do anything else other than narrate, but I just really want to say something. I’m Mugen, and coffee... is just bean soup. Suck it down Balgo! Well, back to it!

So, they put their plan in motion, savoring every last bit of enjoyment out of the earth pony's reaction to the sour apples, until she ran to the bathroom.

“Oh shit, these were the laxative filled apples.”

“How do you even have all this stuff? Was it given to you in a dream too?”

“No. It was offered to me by a merchant dressed in black.”

As they got back into town, looking for who they should prank next, they stumbled across Fluttershy and Smithy who were looking for them. Every pony around town was hiding in fear of the armored Scaler. “Holy molly! Smithy, nice seeing ya again!” exclaimed Mugen excitedly.

“Thank Knoxx I’m not alone in here! Um, are you lost too perhaps?” replied Smithy with clearer hints of joy in his voice.

“Ha! Absolutely lost, I don’t even know how I got here in the first place.” Mugen turned to look at Mugen who was standing right next to the group. The two mares looked incredulously at this newcomer. “Oh, hey! Is that my mail?” said the Scaler to his clone. The latter nodded and gave a letter to Mugen before climbing into seemingly nothing, resulting in him disappearing.

“Even after knowing you for quite some time, I still remain surprised at the kind of shenanigans you do on a daily basis.” said Smithy, having gotten somewhat used to the Scaler’s strange powers. Pinkie Pie’s began to glow with excitement that Fluttershy had never seen before.

“You can clone yourself?! How do you do it? I wanna know! I wanna know!” The reptile slowly opened his largemouth in order to create more suspense at his eventual answer.

“I don’t know how; I can just do it.” Fluttershy looked at Mugen with upmost confusion.

“That only makes it more confusing.” said the Pegasus.

~***~

Earlier this morning, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, now joined by Silver Spoon, were trotting to school, disappointed by the fact that they still had to attend it despite the circumstances. “Why do we have to go to school again? I thought it would be closed since we are literally being invaded.” spoke out Scootaloo.

“Maybe because they must really value our education. After all, we have been to school while catastrophes were literally happening around us, as odd as it is to think back on it.” replied Applebloom, while rubbing her eyes. “Oh... maybe we shouldn’t have stayed up so late last night.” Silver Spoon, on the other hand, was perfectly fine.

“Ha, told you you girls shouldn’t have gone out Cutie Mark hunting this late in the night. "Added the filly. Scootaloo grumbled in irritation.

“That’s got to be the first thing I agree with you on. The result, or lack thereof speaks for itself.” Sweetie Belle preferred to stay optimistic in this matter, seeing as it was easy for them to be discouraged at their repeated failures to obtain their Cutie Mark.

“Let’s not be discouraged this easily. The Cutie Mark Crusaders will achieve victory one day, I’m sure of it!”

Unbeknownst to them, somewhere in the sky was a robot flying through the clouds. It hid behind a cloud and observed the town below. “Multiple Pegasi detected. Sending information to mainframe.”

~***~

On the outskirts of Ponyville loomed the great evil itself, Balgo... and his newly adopted baby. He was spying on the town, making sure to tell various advices to his child in the process.

“The first step to winning your wars is to know your enemy, Goldy. See what kind of technology or magical talent they have. Observe their behavior and always prepare your next move.” Although the filly didn’t listen to his advices, Balgo kept on going, already aware that she’s not understanding him. She was still brushing herself against his large fingers, trying to make herself comfortable in his hand. Doing this made him feel strangely, good. He couldn’t quite pin it down at first, until suddenly a thought came to mind. He took out a device that can produce holograms and called a group of Scalers. “Bravo Team, how’s the search going?” The Scaler on the other end responded to him, albeit with some interference due to the lack of signal in Equestria. They had to place down some portable satellites to even be able to communicate with their gadgets.

“We still haven’t found him lord Balgo. Who knows, he may have gotten out of the perimeter in an attempt to get back to Canterlot.” The emperor frowned at his last sentence in particular.

“I doubt it. Smithy knows what to do in this kind of situation, I taught him myself after all. Keep searching Bravo Team.”

“Hold on for a moment, my emperor. We have some important information to relay to you.”

~***~

Canterlot was now his responsibility, quite a lot for the commander Kryser, who never had to command such a large group. The entirety of the Scaler army was now under his command for the first time in his career. Although the task seemed daunting at first, the commander gave it his best. It was at this moment that he finally felt what the emperor and his right hand felt when they were commanding the Scalers. It was, quite exhausting indeed. Don’t eat their babies, don’t commit arson, don’t shit outside of bathrooms, it was quite difficult to get them to listen to the lawbook written by Knoxx on how to treat conquered worlds. Failure to keep any of them from breaking these sacred laws will result in the biggest punishment of all; to be judged by Knoxx, the Light himself. Kryser sat on the throne in exhaustion from all the work he had to do until he was called back in action by the buzzing of a hologram. He was surprised to see Balgo calling him directly.
“Lord Balgo!”

“Kryser, Bravo Team has reported unidentified movement coming from somewhere up north of Canterlot. We don’t know what it is but we sure as hell won’t ignore it. Tell the guards to keep an extra eye out on the north. Over.” Just like that, the emperor’s hologram shut off. Kryser stayed in silence on the throne for a moment before finally standing up.

“Well, the moment has passed. Back to work!”

~***~

The great genie Aruba was hovering around the Everfree Forest in search of something interesting to do. It was not often that he got to spend his vacation in a world outside of the one he lives in so he had to make the most of it. “Ay come on. I’m in a magical land filled with talking ponies and friendship magic. Surely, I'm going to land on something cool eventually.” He eventually stumbled upon a massive cave that caught his attention. “Hey, big caves mean big monsters or other crazy stuff. Alright let’s check it out bag myself a trophy perhaps.”

He entered the cave and wondered around before the passage got too dark. He opened his chest and pulled out a set of torches that he levitated in front of him to light up the way. “Holy shit...” In front of him was an ursa major. “That thing’s huge! Good. Let’s fight it.” He hurled one of his torches at the giant bear to wake it up. As it stood up and noticed the genie, it growled in anger and began to charge at Aruba. Just as it got close enough to him, the giant Scaler karate chopped it in the head, crushing the ursa major’s brain, killing it instantly. “Oh, fuck me. I should have dragged out the fight...”

“Wow! You took out an ursa major all by yourself! Amazing!” Aruba nearly jumped at the voice coming from behind him. He looked back only to see two young colts standing before him with admiration in their eyes.

“I once saw Twilight saving Ponyville from an ursa minor, but I never saw any pony take on an ursa major!” added the other colt.

“Uh, who the fuck are you two?” responded Aruba in confusion. The slim one spoke up.

“I am Snails, and this is Snips. We were just wondering through the Everfree Forest because we lost a bet.” The genie raised an eyebrow.

“Why are they just letting kids wonder in the woods, that seems extremely dangerous. Hold on a minute... since you’re talking to me, do you mind telling me what are Cutie Mark supposed to be?!”

“Cutie Marks are supposed to represent your special talent! You get one when you finally discover what your specialty is!” responded Snips. Aruba looked at Snails Cutie Mark for a moment and contemplated whether he should tell them what’s on his mind or not. That was until he finally gave in.

“Then... why is your Cutie Mark a snail?”

“Uh... I don’t know.” replied Snails.

“Well, it’s just that. Uh... being mentally retarted doesn’t really count as a special talent.”

~***~

Drag was standing outside of Rarity’s house, his bags filled with food and supplies for their trip to find their missing friend Twilight. He knocked on her door and awaited a response... but nothing came. Surprised, he knocked again, but louder this time as he thought the unicorn didn’t hear the first time. The door finally opened, but it wasn’t Rarity who was on the other side. It was her little sister, Sweetie Belle. “Drag? What is it?” said the little filly to the Tauren.

“I came here to see if Rarity was ready to go.” responded the paladin, going straight to the point.

“Well, you’ll just have to wait for a moment...” Drag grew more curious as he wasn’t expecting this answer
.
“Wait? Has Rarity still not packed up her stuff? I told her yesterday we were going to go on this journey. What’s taking her so long?”

“A bucket full of piss landed on her head earlier, she is taking a bath to clean it off...” awkwardly responded Sweetie Belle.

“What, the fuck?”

Author's Note

This chapter took a little longer to make. I've got a lot of exams on my schedule, which leaves me a lot more exhausted to work on this project. Thankfully, I'll have a lot more time on my hands during the Holidays.
In the mean time, enjoy this small preview of the ninth chapter : The Repurposed Factory