Equestrian Rim : Here Comes Tom!
The howl of metal struts and heavy machinery being tested to their limit crashed through Rainbow Dash's helmet.
"AH! Dammit, AJ!" Rainbow tossed her head over to look at her co-pilot, then remembered her training and refocused on their fight. They were the only defense Equestria had, its one hope. "AJ! We gotta create some distance, we're no good going hoof to claw with this thing, it's too strong!" Even speaking through state-of-the-magic headsets and surrounded by densely insulated alloys and equipment, the noise was incredible.
The Jaeger, piloted by the two impromptu pilots, had been dubbed Tom at the last minute by Twilight herself. The metal chassis squealed in pain as the Kaiju hammering against the hull pushed harder at the machine's limbs. Massive, several meter wide ball joints and gears churned, fighting to keep the Jaeger upright against the monster's weight, beating against him. The untested metal device they had scraped together was being pushed to its very limits already.
And they had only just started fighting.
"We're already fetlock deep in the apple sauce, Rainbow. It's now or never! Come on, with me!" Applejack sneered from inside her helmet, feeling the click and shift of the armor she was locked into as she readied a retaliatory counter attack. "Right hoof!"
"Dammit!" Rainbow cursed again, but matched her co-pilot's movements fluidly. The duo could feel one another's intent, what the other was doing at the controls through the Drift, so talking wasn't needed. Applejack and RD still preferred it for attacking though, despite what Twilight had trained them on.
The steel grey Jaeger, Tom, squared his hind legs and stopped the sky scraper tall beast's advance on them. The left front leg bent down slightly, then the right rotated to thrust up and struck under the monster's jowls. The entire Jaeger's front end left the ground as the metal creation put all of his might towards killing the enemy.
Kaiju bone and muscle were crushed, skin tore, and a monstrous screech echoed through the harbor city of Manehattan. The Kaiju and its hellish appearance fell away from the devastating upper cut, dazed and confused by the suddenly formidable opponent.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash panted inside the relative safety of their Jaeger's cockpit, sweating through their coats and into the plasteel armor they wore as combat suits. The room they did their nasty work in was hot from the mass amounts of engines and machines working around them.
"We need a plan AJ! Twilight was wrong, we're still no match for it, just like Celestia." Rainbow looked over at AJ again despite knowing she needed to stay focused. She was panicking on the inside, but she didn't dare let it show. "Maybe we should-"
"Rainbow Dash!" Applejack shouted over the thundering footsteps of their Jaeger, as both they and the Kaiju circled one another. "Are you suggesting we turn tail and run? We can't do that!" Her eyes remained trained on their enemy, the creature had recovered from their lucky hit, and stalked as a timberwolf stalked its meals in the Everfree.
Rainbow jerked her head over, the action following over to the mecha's great neck outside. "Are you kidding me? Buck no I'm not, but we gotta do-"
"HEY, get ready! Left hoof, now!" Applejack's eyes widened and she screamed the orders, adrenaline pumping through every vein in her body and bringing it to the point of shaking. Rainbow instinctively followed the command, and Tom danced to the right while his left hoof pushed off from the ground with enough force to fissure the harbor's concrete pavement.
The Kaiju charged across the dock, sprinting on all fours towards the Equestrian machine of war. The beast roared, its voice climbing to the pitch of a screech as it made to slam into the metal brawler facing it down.
Tom's left hoof made contact first and punched into the Kaiju's neck, knocking the hulk to the side.
The Kaiju landed its own attack though, one claw rending a great gash in the Jaeger's armor plating over the right shoulder. As the monster from beyond the depths of the Atlantic Ocean was forced back, both of its claws latched onto Tom's right leg. The Kaiju regained its footing quickly, seething breaths venting from its mouth in fury.
Applejack cried out as the Kaiju's claws sunk into their armor, getting ready for doing what looked like something really, really bad. "Rainbow, pull back now! Now! Right leg, RIGHT!" She looked on as the monster jumped back, pulling their leg along with it.
Both ponies screamed together as their Jaeger was dragged down onto its face. Their hull squealed and the world shook around them from the terrible impact.
Rainbow Dash shook her head and refocused on the cockpit's HUD. The crystal heads up display was cracked down the center from the force of the attack. "AJ!? Are you alright?"
Another bang against their Jaeger made both ponies scream again, AJ's voice answering Dash's question.
"Ah'm fine! We gotta move it or lose it Dash!" Applejack was already engaged in setting up another attack, a stroke of pure improvised nonsense coming to her. "Uh, roll over!" She shouted quickly.
"What!?" Rainbow's eyes scanned the HUD, then caught onto what Applejack was doing via the motion controls and her partner's subconscious. The pegasus joined in, letting her instincts take over just like she'd painstakingly trained to do over the last eight months.
Tom rolled onto his back under the duo's command, just before the next blow from the Kaiju fell on them.
"Now! NOWNOWNOW!" Rainbow yelled the words, focus trained entirely on the most desperate fight of her life.
The legs on their Jaeger mech all locked, then shot up under the Kaiju's head like pistons slamming home in a mana engine. The several hundred ton mechanical limbs made contact with four times the force of their first successful attack.
The Kaiju had been standing over them, and now suddenly wasn't. The attack flung the chitinous creature back through the air, shrieking. When it landed, somewhere in the distance, the Earth itself shook from the weight crashing into the urban cityscape, reverberating through Tom and onwards for kilometers around.
"Yes!" Dash was breathless from seeing such a great blow dealt to the murderous abomination. "We did it! Applejack, oh my gosh." Finally out of breath, Rainbow inhaled a massive gulp of air, then looked over at her friend again. "I mean, I totally knew we could do it." One of her hooves disconnected off her gantry cradle, and was then held under her chin in a pose of confidence.
AJ looked back at Dash with a smug smile showing through her helmet's clear visor. "Is that the truth?" The farmpony cracked her neck, then faced forward again. The calls of other ponies and Twilight came through the radio, calling out congratulations and atta-boys, obviously watching what was happening.
Applejack's face spread into a grin while she stayed on task, not wanting to let up. "Let's not just celebrate quite yet Dash. Help me get Tom here on his hooves again."
Rainbow responded while they went back to work, the gears and pumping hydraulic apparatus around them working their trained movements into information for the Jaeger to perform. "You think it's still alive after that!?" she exclaimed at Applejack. There's no way that thing's still alive, there's blood everywhere... Her eyes scanned the ground around them, looking over the carnage she and her friend had caused against the unprovoked enemy they fought against.
Concrete, re-bar and building crunched around them from outside of their instrument capsule. The wall's insulation and their helmets thankfully reduced it to dull cracking and thudding noises.
"I... doubt it RD, but let's make sure. I can't see the thing in all this dust, so we don't rightly know yet." Applejack glanced over to her old friend, then hesitantly turned down the comm radio. Twilight and the others were being distracting, and she didn't want nor have the heart to tell them to stop chattering at her.
Rainbow nodded her assent to AJ. "Yeah, alright, let's go make sure that thing never hurts anypony ever again... for good." She growled out the words, flexing her legs and body in the restraints that held her into the controls.
Applejack looked at her friend again briefly, while Tom slowly righted himself under the duo's command by rolling back over then standing slowly. The legs supporting his massive weight moved with an engineered grace, shifting to one position, then another, leg segments clunking and shifting until once again he was upright. Every movement he made spoke volumes of just what the creation made to save ponykind and every other race on Earth, was capable of.
Rainbow stared out of her Jaeger with focused determination over the battlefield, eager to see the body of their enemy. She called over the communicative equipment to her partner, still searching the ground. "Alright, where the hay is the body?" They couldn't spot the massive monster anywhere immediately in front of them.
Light glinted off the reflective clear-steel visor off the Jaeger's imposing head as it searched the area. It swiveled from side to side over the battlefield to match the pony's movements. Rended buildings and a spider web of steel frame refuse lay strewn across the dock and nearby businesses of Manehattan. Tom stomped across the ground, slowly, mechanically, at the behest of both ponies. It was faster than anything else of its immense size, but still slow, barely finished in time to defend the city.
Applejack grunted. "It must've gone pretty far. I don't see it through all of this dust." Her eyes shifted back and forth. "Well lets go get 'er then. Stay on your hooves, Dash. I got a bad feeling about this." She felt the tense worry in Dash through the Drift link they shared, but also the hate. That was far stronger. It made her worry.
Tom's rough shod body rounded a smashed and toppled skyscraper, where the Kaiju had definitely been thrown. Dust settled near a large crater on the other side as they moved past the corner, but there was no sign of the Kaiju.
"APPLEJACK, DASH, LOOK OUT! We still have a reading!" Twilight's voice screamed the warning into Rainbow's fuzzy ears over the radio.
Rainbow had enough time to think 'huh', and feel her partner's surprise through the drift, before everything around her began to buck, then jerked from side to side violently. Another yell came from Twilight came. "Six o' clock! SIX!" She was drowned out by a burst of static and the screaming of metal. Applejack's voice was nowhere in the mix at all.
Rainbow tried to get a handle on things, tried to think of how it could sneak up on them like that. Her hooves worked in the controls, trying their best to sync up with AJ's movements and commands.
"BUCK, BUCK!" Rainbow barely heard the screamed curse from somewhere, and had to think twice about just what it meant. It wasn't a curse, the feeling through the Drift said it was her partner giving an order. She raised up her hindquarters in the air during a brief, split second of stability, then bucked behind herself with everything she had.
The monster's howl echoed into Tom's cockpit, along with sparks and ruined apparatus showering both ponies. The Jaeger crashed against the ground again, making everything jump in the aftershock.
Rainbow finally got a handle on what was going on after the whiplash finished. Tom had just kicked the creature's hind legs out from under it, but its front legs were wrapped solidly around them. There was a huge, armored hand-like thing, tipped with serrated talons and crushing Tom's head visor.
"APPLEJACK!" Rainbow screamed out the name, hoping her friend had a plan, something. She couldn't make out anything over the Drift. The emotions and hysteria of her mind were too frantic, and too much was happening at once.
Rainbow was thrown to the right in her harness, slammed against the controls as the Jaeger was shoved over. She pushed out her hooves, trying to get Tom to escape the grapple, move forward, get up, anything.
The unbearable screeching became a thousand times worse. Above Rainbow the cockpit split open, and she was bathed in dusty sunlight. She looked over at Applejack, still screaming, but now to tell her friend they needed to get out. Her hooves tried to hit the release switches for her harness. I can fly us out of here, I can-
The claws and talons returned, ripping more of the Jaeger's head and circuits out. Half of Tom's head was suddenly gone.
Rainbow watched on horrified, while the pony just beside her was torn free of the cockpit. She stared at the empty space beside her for a moment.
"Applejack?" Circuitry and wires sparked everywhere around in the ruined capsule as the only response. The image of her friend being pulled away stayed burned into her eyes.
Suddenly, Tom again crashed against the floor of the city, slamming Rainbow forward in the control harness. In disbelief, she looked up again for her friend.
"No! NO!" Rainbow couldn't stop looking. All the while, Tom shuddered again as more of the Kaiju's pounding assault slammed against his back. There was more screaming through her headset, but it didn't register.
"Applejack." Rainbow's eyes glued themselves to the hole in her cockpit; they were wide and wrought from emotion. She could feel Tom still obeying her, feel the load of suddenly knowing that she was the only pilot, feel Applejack still, and every thought her friend had ever had. And the last ones she'd had.
Something snapped.
Rainbow gave up trying to push the Kaiju off. Instead, she pulled her legs around her head, and brought it down to her.
Outside, Tom's front legs churned and bent back, finding purchase on the creature's body. He pulled and crushed with his engine driven mechanisms at Rainbow's command, wrestling the Kaiju standing over him onto the ground in front.
All the while Rainbow was screaming, as madly as she could. Her legs pushed herself and her remaining friend up, then came down over the Kaiju's neck.
Kaiju. The word means giant monster in Japanese.
The first of these Kaiju made land fall off the coast Baltimare. We didn’t know what to think, or how to react. Here was a creature more chaotic than Discord, more ruthless than Nightmare Moon. It was like nothing that Earth had ever faced before.
It didn’t take long for the thousands dead to become hundreds of thousands. Ponies everywhere in the city unable to escape the destruction were at the mercy of the beast. It was a slaughter, we just weren't ready for anything like it. It didn't seem like anything could be done to stop the killing.
Until Celestia and the Elements of Harmony showed up.
Together, the six famed mares from the little Equestrian town, Ponyville, lit up their magic necklaces as one. Anyone lucky enough to still be alive, or present from trying to help, cheered while the beast's demise reared up on the near horizon. There was no way it could stand up to their best magical defense, the battle's end was near.
Except it never came.
The Kaiju stood untouched by the magic of Harmony and Friendship. There wasn’t a sound after the hum of the magical energy breezed away through the air, like a dying whisper of hope.
Then the screaming began again, ponies fleeing once more in every direction. The Kaiju thundered towards our world's saviors, who stood there as helpless as everypony else.
Celestia stepped in then, her magic and spells from a thousand years of guiding the world standing at the ready. Her wings had spread wide and carried her across the landscape to the forefront with the ferocity of the sun and power itself.
It took everything Celestia had to win, everything, but by the end of it all the monster from beyond the reaches of our world lay dead, rotting in the shattered remains of what used to be one of Equestria’s finest cities.
The damage was done. Even in the wake of our victory, we couldn't find much reason to celebrate.
Worse, Celestia didn’t recover from her battle, she fell into a deep coma. Luna was left to take up the banner, and memorialize her sister’s sacrifice and the tragedy of the event. She did so, but with a heavy heart. The sun set slowly for weeks afterwards.
We rebuilt, we moved on; ponies everywhere from around the world came to help in Equestria's time of crisis. Germany, Great Britain, Australia, Japan; the love and kindness from all around on Earth rose up and came to help their fellow equines.
The body of the Kaiju was destroyed, and hardly anypony spoke of the event again once all was fixed.
Except for Twilight Sparkle. She didn't stop. That mare wanted to know why what had happened, happened. The rift was still there after all, and with it, everypony's silent concern over what might come next. We were afraid, terrified. Our Princess was barely able to stop one Kaiju, and no one wanted to ask the thing we all wondered; what if it happens again?
It did, one year and a month later.
We were in luck though. If it weren't for Luna and Twilight's friends, everything could have ended there. In relative secret, Equestria had funded a project for the Element of Magic; the construction of a massive containment machine. It was something big enough to fight back against monsters. It was called a Jaeger, and it was a creation unlike Earth had ever seen before.
There was a heavy loss that came with the second Kaiju's defeat, but it wasn't in vain. We had gained a way to fight back.
Less than a month later and another Jaeger was made, bigger and stronger than the first, and its creation was celebrated. Alongside it though, was the crippling knowledge that the rift was still untouchable.
Kaiju came, more and more through the rift over the ensuing months, and they didn't just stick to Equestria. They spread like wildfire, attacking every major city and country in the world. They weren't simple beasts, they were an army, they were a plague.
Communicating with them was impossible. Making peace with them simply wasn't an option. So, for the first time in Earth's history, we went to war right back. Where the strongest defense in the Equestrian arsenal failed, ponies of every race and background banded together and succeeded with Jaegers. We figured, if we couldn’t fight the beasts with our traditional, conventional methods, we would create something that could. We created monsters of our own; our massive hybrids of magic and technology.
Jaegers were constructed in every country and by every race that could manage the funds and resources. New industries were made, new practices. Griffons, Minotaurs, Zebras, everypony worked to defend the ones they loved with weapons, because we had no choice.
We were beating the Kaiju. We even got good at it.
Jaeger pilots became celebrities, the Kaiju seemed helpless against the weapons and technologies that were raced into completion in the next few years.
Until now.
Rarity had never been a mare to get down and dirty, so to speak. In fact, even a year before she started trotting through this multi-layered research laboratory, she would have never gone near such a place. What was once her pristine alabaster coat, devoid of any imperfections, was now a dulled mess of black smudges from numerous oil spills and working with grimy tools. She often grimaced at the sight of her rough appearance, but still, she couldn’t complain all that much. It was, in fact, now her job to get down and dirty.
The grated floors clacked and clanged as Rarity’s hooves made contact with their metal surface. She had become quite accustomed to hearing the floor’s raucous protests, but still, she longed for the blissful silence that her boutique’s carpeted floors had preferably provided.
The change from full time dressmaker to lab assistant had been rough, but Rarity still maintained the hope that one day she could go back to her little boutique in Ponyville. Back to her simple life of creating the newest fashion craze every season with the slow hum of her sewing machine, and the complete and utter silence that came when hewing seams of a dress together...
A large steel door separated diagonally, halting Rarity’s train of thought. The next, smaller hallway revealed another door. She sighed and shook away the casual reminisce of her old life that always plagued any free moment she had to herself. I mustn't think of my lot so poorly, she thought. After all, I could be far worse off than having to help one of my dearest friends in the world in her research.
Rarity’s horn glowed a deep azure, then the keypad off to the side beeped and booped until the next large metal door hissed with life. The two corners parted and soon the white unicorn came face to face with a cluttered lab, bathed in a sterile fluorescent light. Her eyebrows furrowed and her gaze surveyed the chaotic placement of various tools and crumpled slips of paper. I did not leave you like this...
“Arrgghh!” The sudden frustrated shout clued in Rarity as to why the relatively clean lab lay in such disorder. She slowly trotted in to find one of her best friends hunched over, levitating various slips of paper around her head.
The unicorn would quickly scan one or correct something on another, before then consulting a glowing data console beside her. Every once in awhile, she would cease her multi-tasking to pay particularly close attention to a certain sketch or report, only to let out a frustrated groan, likely after noticing a mistake in her calculations.
Rarity studied her workaholic friend with remorse for a minute before trying to speak to her. Perhaps if I start by talking about something work related this time? Things had been difficult lately, more so trying to get Twilight to relax some, and not work herself to death.
"Twilight," Rarity trotted to her friend’s side, she got an absent grunt for her trouble. Refusing to back away at her friend’s reply, she continued. "Uhm, good day! I won’t ask how well you are you seem...great.” She stared at her friend, who was furiously scribbling at something. “I don’t suppose...you have made any progress in trying to make the pilot linking more lenient, perhaps?"
Twilight was well aware that Rarity referred to the manner in which pilots were chosen. The level at which they could sync properly, via memories or like-mindedness, was very difficult to manage. Pilots that just didn't sync, just didn't sync, and there had been little progress in the past to overcome that requirement.
Twilight looked up from her data console quickly, the bags under her eyes stretching nearly to her violet furred cheekbones. "Nope, although I've all but given up on that. While I think guardsponies would be better suited to piloting exclusively, so far we've managed the last couple years to get enough candidates." She paused, groaning and rubbing her bloodshot eyes with both hooves. "What matters now, is figuring out how to get that rift closed, and making sure the firepower we churn out can keep up... keep up with these DAMN MONSTERS!" The button board on the desk flipped as Twilight abruptly stood up and strode away, keys and office refuse clattering to the ground.
Rarity cringed at the unexpected use of an expletive. Oh dear, this is going to be one of the bad days...
The librarian turned scientist trotted over to a table topped with various expensive looking tech covering the surface. She quickly went to work tinkering with the parts, all the while maintaining an awkward silence between the occupants of the room.
Rarity cantered over to the table, dodging various flying screwdrivers and spare parts as she did. “Twilight, darling... I simply cannot sit here and watch you coddle yourself in such indignation! It hardly seems befitting a mare of your stature to be toiling away all night in this grease-bucket like this, and alone!” Rarity’s horn lit up with its crystal blue aura, and the entire plethora of oil stained tools on the floor dispersed to their own individual cubbies along the far wall.
Twilight watched them go at first, then growled in retaliation and tried to struggle against her assistant’s magical grasp. Unsurprisingly, she found herself unable to compete with the well rested mare. A strangled noise escaped her throat in one last act of defiance, before she gave up and let her own horn dim.
Twilight ceased her fighting and turned her attention to the white unicorn, who did not look happy.
Rarity raised both of her eyebrows in an expectant look. "Well?"
Twilight straightened, frowning, and began to try and reason with the other mare. “Rarity, I’m perfectly fine... I just can’t sleep very well, is all.” Her posture slouched back after a moment and she drooped her head. “It’s been a month since we’ve made anything that somewhat resembled progress. Need I remind you the Kaiju attacks are starting to get more frequent? We just... three more Jaegers were destroyed last week, and...” She raised her head to lock eyes with Rarity, a clear, puffy red tint infecting her sclera. “I can’t rest, Rarity. I couldn’t, even if I tried...”
Rarity began to speak, but found herself unable to even begin to console her friend. She knew why she wasn’t able to sleep. It was hard for everypony to get through things... especially them, after what happened to Applejack. Her chastising gaze returned to sympathy, thinking of how exactly to give her friend the usual reassuring pat on the back.
Both ponies were interrupted by the metal creak of the heavy steel doors whooshing open. Their movement exposed the presence of a familiar yellow pegasus.
Fluttershy blinked in surprise, suddenly the center of attention. Despite the fact that she knew both mares inside for as long as she could remember, she hunkered down on her legs from the realization that she had two sets of eyes now staring at her.
Rarity turned around and spoke up first. "Fluttershy, darling! How are you? What a pleasant surprise. It's been too long, really." She gave what she hoped was a friendly—and not a weary—smile. "To what do we owe the pleasure?"
Fluttershy looked from Twilight to Rarity, and felt the tension in the air. “Hello girls, um... I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to barge in..."
"Nonsense, we can always make time for you. I hope you had an easy time getting through security; it's just for the occasional reporter or other nosy pony that tries to sneak in, you understand." Rarity laughed halfheartedly and straightened her mane absently with a hoof.
"Oh, no trouble, no." Fluttershy looked at Twilight, who seemed to be jittering a hoof against the floor, as if she were waiting for something. Or maybe for somepony to leave. "I’ll be going now...” The mare made a quick turn and quickly began to dash away. Her eyes widened and a look of absolute terror filled her expression as she quickly found herself unable to escape the room.
A light blue aura covered Fluttershy while she floated up and slowly back over to her friends.
"Fluttershy, wait! We haven't seen you in months." Rarity had acted quickly, not wanting to chase the other pony. "Now, please, tell us how you've been."
"Are you sure?" Fluttershy flapped her wings absently, instinctively trying to regain control of herself. She watched Twilight's tired gaze while she drifted closer to her friends in Rarity's magic. The other mare looked exhausted, beyond exhausted. "I'm not interrupting? I know you two are super busy and need to focus and..."
The pegasus was gently placed down on the metal grated floor. She remained in a leg-locked, paralyzed position in front Twilight and Rarity.
Rarity decided to let Twilight keep privacy, before answering. “Fluttershy, dear, don’t be silly. You weren’t interrupting anything important; just Twilight and I discussing a few issues with one of our Jaegers. Nothing that can’t be sorted out later.”
Fluttershy's legs seemed to ease themselves while the white unicorn spoke her reassurances. “Oh, well okay. I have just missed you both so much, and with Pinkie in another country and Rainbow... Well, I wanted to see you both, and I was just wondering if you wanted to talk... maybe? We could even talk and get lunch?” Her voice seemed to taper off into a mumble towards the end, but from the look of epiphany on Rarity’s face, the other mare must have thought it was a splendid idea. It was Twilight that was her concern, though.
Rarity turned and beamed at Twilight. “That’s a wonderful idea, Twilight. Don’t you agree? Let's get some food, unless you would like to-”
"No, I'm not tired, just too much coffee, and I did sleep some..." Twilight looked towards her terminal longingly, and then back at Rarity. The other mare had raised her eyebrows and opened her eyes a little more as if to say, really? to her. “Um... sure, that sounds great, girls. Let’s uhh... let’s go to the cafeteria and get some food.” She shook her head a little and shrugged out of her lab coat as her final response.
Rarity looked back at Fluttershy, smiling friendlily. "Wonderful, and thank you for coming, Fluttershy." She gave the pegasus a sudden hug, squeezing her tight. "We're always happy to have you as company, even if we're neck deep in work."
Fluttershy gave her usual, characteristic gentle smile back. "I'm glad, I just wish I could do more to help sometimes..."
The three ponies began to walk astride one another into the large, curve roofed hallway that connected the many research labs, hangers and sections of Canterlot's leading development facility. It had been here that the first Jaeger was built, before the manufacturing and assembly was then moved elsewhere over the years.
Rarity looked over at her yellow friend, skillfully detecting the dreary tone she adopted and recognizing the pegasus' doubt. Years of being friends and spa buddies had given her a lot of insight into the other mare. "Fluttershy, darling, you do more than anypony could ever ask of you. Why, I read that article the other day, the one about you." She rested a hoof on her friend's shoulder while walking. "All of those animals and sea life that you were able to save and organize new homes for along the coast of China? That was nothing short of breath taking, putting together a concerted effort like that is hardly matched by those rock-brained construction ponies or the Jaeger mechanics. All they can do half of the time is argue about which tool can turn a bolt better." She hmphed indignantly in finality at the subject.
Fluttershy grinned and nodded. "Oh, it was nothing special Rarity, I just had to help them. When the Kaiju die, their bodies poison the wildlife... it's terrible..." She sighed and frowned, continuing. "I know I probably would have heard about it on the television, but is there any news yet about a way to stop them? To stop all of this violence?"
Twilight stopped and stomped a hoof on the metal paneling under their feet. The bang of metal echoed a moment in the hall. Both Rarity and Fluttershy stopped to stare in surprise and worry at their friend. The purple unicorn's head was facing the floor, her eyes clenched shut.
"Twilight?" Rarity began.
"No, there's nothing, no... no news, or any progress at all." Twilight sniffled, barely holding back tears. A gasp escaped her when she felt a warm body suddenly embrace her front.
Fluttershy clung to her friend, fully aware of what Twilight was facing on the inside, a constant struggle to try and save everypony. "It's okay, Twilight."
Twilight sniffed again, louder that time. "I'm sorry, I... Just dust in my eye." Twilight pulled herself from Fluttershy's motherly hug, the pegasus' wings unwrapping from around her. She smiled into the other mare's caring eyes, managing to get her back at leg's length from herself.
After a moment, Fluttershy spoke to Twilight, breaking the quiet. "Let's go eat, okay?"
Twilight nodded solemnly, looking at Rarity, and then the path they were taking. "Yes, lets, I'm sorry about that, girls." She cleared her throat, and tried to ignore the worried look that her assistant was giving her. "Ahem, I just wish I had something is all. It'll be eight years since this all began soon, and we're no closer to a resolution than when we started..."
"Shall we talk about nicer things?" Rarity smiled widely and beamed at her two friends. She got the elevator for the three of them, pressing her hoof to the button to call for it. "Fluttershy, how has Ponyville been? You still live there, don't you?"
Fluttershy stepped into the elevator along with the other two mares, then blushed in response to the question. "Oh, uhm, no..."
"No? You moved away? That's too bad, I always hoped that at least one of us would stay there in peace. You travel quite a bit though don't you? I imagine you've settled near Cloudsdale in order to get around easier and see your parents." Rarity took to watching Twilight while she spoke; the other mare seemed to not be paying attention.
Fluttershy was wedged between her two friends in the elevator and was unable to shy away from either while she responded. "No, I am staying at... my coltfriend's home." She shyly looked down at the floor.
Silence reigned in the elevator for a moment.
Rarity's eyes abruptly came near to popping out of her skull as she rounded on the pegasus. "YOU WHAT!?" Her voice bounced off of every wall in the closed space, forcing both of the other ponies to cover their ears in pain.
The cafeteria was abuzz with ponies coming and going. Three mares sat at one far corner, busily chatting about news of the utmost importance.
"It's just, I met him and he was so sweet and helped so much with all of the work over in Japan, and he's nice... Did I mention how sweet he was?" Fluttershy dreamily stared down at her food while Twilight chewed mechanically beside her.
Rarity stared at nothing from across the table, muzzle slightly agape. "I never would have imagined dear, congratulations on finding your special somepony! I'm ever so jealous, and you're sure he's the one?"
Fluttershy looked up and nodded. "I am, I apologize for not telling you both, but we met a few years ago, and it only recently became something more." She let out a happy squee of excitement, her wings flapping briefly. "I'm so excited, I could just yell my love for him from the rooftops." Her quiet voice barely made it over the noise from the other ponies in the mess hall. "Well okay, maybe not, but I am excited."
I cannot believe Fluttershy of all ponies was able to fall in true love before me, hohum. What have you done with your poor self, Rarity? Rarity stirred her fork absently in the mushy peas sitting on her plate, stewing in her thoughts at the same time. Another more worrying thought poked at her though, the one concerning her friend's wedding.
"I'm glad you were able to find happiness in these trying times, dear. Please make sure you tell us all about the wedding." Rarity maintained her grin while speaking, hoping to now move on to another subject.
"Oh, I will, and... Wait, are you not coming, Rarity?" Fluttershy tilted her head slightly, her long pink mane moving with it.
Rarity looked over at Twilight and met her friend's eyes, trying to form words or get help from her fellow scientist.
"We really can't, Fluttershy." Twilight said quickly, in an apologetic tone. "We want to, we do, and congratulations by the way..." That made up for staying so quiet, she hoped. "But... there's only bad news I'm afraid, not good. The Kaiju are getting bigger, they're coming faster, and they're trying to destroy us completely. I theorize to make us go extinct. Every nation on Earth together can barely make Jaegers as fast as we... as we lose them. We have to keep working towards a solution, anything." She laid a consoling hoof on her old friend's shoulder, hoping that the words weren't too harsh or frightening for her. I always forget how sensitive she can be.
Fluttershy watched her plate of food before nodding. "I understand, Twilight, perhaps we can wait until you win this." She smiled and looked up happily at the unicorn. "O-or maybe I can talk him into having two weddings for me," her smiled wavered and flashed into a bashful grin for a moment, before she blushed and ducked her head down to take a quick bite of her apple.
"Oh ho," Rarity cooed suggestively, "I see, very clever Fluttershy. If you get married twice, that means you get two honeymoons as weeeell." The white unicorn grinned wolfishly and leaned across the table slightly at her friend.
Fluttershy's eyes widened and her head shot upright, her face and cheeks turning redder than a fire truck with a fresh paint job. "I- I- T-two- Oooh..."
Fluttershy fainted with a splat into her tray of carrots and mushed peas.
Rainbow Dash's face splatted into her own vomit with a wet, slappy noise. A groan escaped her lips while she rolled over out of the mess, her mane covered in her own sick. The ceiling stared down judgmentally at her, disapprovingly.
After being on her own for so long, evading and avoiding her life and guilt as much as she could, drinking was usually the only thing left that filled her time. The wide open sky and clouds stretching to the horizon weren't her home anymore, they reminded her of things, about working on Ponyville's weather team, of her friends.
Rainbow avoided her friends; she hadn't seen them in a while and wasn't sure how long it had been. Pinkie Pie had been the hardest to ditch, but eventually the party goer had stopped trying to find her too. They were all busy, they were all busy saving the world.
Everyday though, Dash told herself she couldn't save anypony. The constant reminder had put her where she was now, sweating in the Appleoosian heat in her apartment room.
"I'm useless." Rainbow Dash whispered the words out from between her lips, not even aware she was speaking.
The ceiling stared down judgmentally at her, disapprovingly.
Author's Note
So, here we go. I realize I'm juggling several other fics right now, but I had to do this. I love mecha, if you've read my sci fi epic then you'll know that full well. I do intend to give this one some special attention despite this though, and I'm also going to try and get outside help. Anypony that can write somewhat decently or better yet, can adapt to my writing style and work with me, is welcome to.
Enough of that though, some notes on the story. This may be a little spoilery, but certain races do not exist in Equestria to up the threat of the Kaiju. For the most part this only includes dragons, that means no Spike. I know it's lame, but it helps maintain the story's immersion. Other than that, everything remains intact for the most part.
Equestria is basically America, and the globe and other countries are merely Pony translations. I am maintaining the peaceful and inherent innocence of the ponies though, giving them an alternate history. I'm pointing that out here because obviously they won't get into that IN the story. You can't go over what's taken for as the norm after all. An example of this would be that Australia was founded by free spirited nature lovers, rather than abandoned convicts.
The Pony's timeline matches that of humans in the show, as does their tech levels, but for different reasons. War was still a very, very minor, perhaps even nonexistant factor in their version of Earth. Replacing the tanks and jets that took down the first Kaiju for instance, would be Celestia. Now I didn't use the fandoms horse pun names for the other countries, and I only did this because I feel that it solidifies in your head what their world looks like. Equestria is for instance shaped like America. Nothing human carries over though so don't speculate in they had a revolutionary war or any of that madness. It's just ponies if ponies started out on earth, no humans, no craziness. (I wont get specific about where places where Ponyville and Canterlot are on the map, but they're inland.)
I plan on bringing a whole different set of unique dynamics to the table for this story, rather than the same ones the humans faced in the movie. This is again, not a retelling, it's a unique re-imagining, and it will be awesome, or I will die trying to make it so. (Not really, but I'll be disappointed by anything less. ^^)
Click here for Luna's Jaeger and co-pilot! This is from the Molestia tumbler I believe. ^^
Luna, Princess of Equestria. The pony stared back at herself in the tall stand mirror, blank faced. I am Luna, The Princess of Equestria. Somehow, the words failed to resound within her with anything but the simple, literal truth of them. They held no power to her, they inspired no majesty, nothing.
I am Luna.
A knock came at her chamber's door; it would be one of her aides, or secretaries, or somepony else that had something desperately important that needed seeing to. Is it wrong that I don't really want to help anypony right now, that I just want a moment of peace? She stood up and strode to the door, allowing the knocking to continue rather than call out and put an end to it.
"Hello? Princess Luna, are you awake-? Oh, sorry if I awoke you Princess." The smartly dressed pegasus secretary blinked in surprise from the suddenness with which the door opened. She ruffled her cream colored wings and cleared her throat.
"You did nothing of the sort, Noisette. It's quite alright." Luna forced a smile onto her muzzle and opened the door wider. "Is there something..." She hated asking this, but it had become habit over the last decade. "Is there something the matter?" If it was serious there would have been alarms, or a phone call, or guards with Noisette. Luckily, it was just Noisette.
"No, nothing like bad news, none good either though, Princess." The pegasus maintained her poise and straightened the glasses resting on her short muzzle. "Twilight Sparkle is here to see you, though she wouldn't say why. It may be good news I suppose, but she seemed distraught if anything."
"Twilight?" Luna inclined her head more at hearing the name. That's odd, she thought plaintively. Usually she phones me beforehoof. She couldn't remember the last time Twilight had shown up unannounced, or simply come up rather than use magic letter or call from her laboratories. "Very well, please show her to my council room Noisette, I'll be there shortly."
The pegasus nodded and bowed out of the room. Luna closed the door after her going.
Luna heaved a sigh as she usually did after regaining solitude. No matter the circumstances or length of time she spent in somepony else's company, she always felt thankful to be alone again afterwards. Her eyes drifted over to her regalia, sitting on their mantle quietly. The ornamental pieces floated up at her bidding and laid themselves over her neck, the sollerets slipping onto her hooves. Finally, the tiara she had once abandoned, then retaken, came to rest on her brow.
After another moment's respite in the calm of her private room, Luna again opened her door, this time to meet Twilight.
It was quiet there as well, sunlight streaming in from the tall windows at the either end of the long hallway to sparkle on the pristine marble floors and ceiling. Across the hall from Luna's bedroom, Twin golden doors bathed in the warm glow; her sister's doors.
Luna stared through the few motes of dust, picturing the never waking alicorn laying in her bed on the other side.
Hesitantly, she turned away and left.
Her hooves rang on the ancient marble as she moved through her capitol's interior to meet her sister's old pupil. She thought of the word briefly. Old. Technically, she was old, over a thousand years now, but she had life experience that barely outshone that of Twilight. Being trapped for most of your immortal life in the moon would do that. Still, she was for all intents and purposes the leader of Earth right then, when before it had always looked to the guidance of Princess Celestia.
The only difference between Luna and Twilight age wise, was that she did not look it. Twilight has aged. One of the wide council room doors cracked open, a guardspony wearing the traditional royal armor pushing it ajar. The Princess of the Night stepped in, and spotted a purple unicorn seated at one end of the comfortable room.
"Princess." Twilight smiled broadly and stood up, bowing low before her.
"There's no need for that, Twilight." Luna swept the unicorn up in a hug, happy to see her friend. "It is good of you to come; I am glad to see thee." She gave the unicorn time to hug her back weakly, then dropped her down to the floor with a clatter of hooves.
Twilight's smile had an embarrassed quality to it when she looked up, grinning sheepishly. "It is? Oh, of course, it's really good to see you too, Princess." She laughed, then inhaled a breath and looked to the table.
"Would you care for a seat?" Luna followed her gaze to the plush chairs, wondering what this was about if it wasn't mere pleasantries as she was detecting.
"Yes, a seat, let's sit." Twilight poked her hooves together in a nervous fashion, then dashed back towards her seat and plopped into its cushioned confines.
Luna watched the flighty unicorn go, and more calmly took her chair at the head of the table beside them both. "Twilight," she began quickly while sitting, "Is something the matter? You're acting rather... out of sorts, I believe."
Twilight looked up from the table; this close, the princess could see clearly the half healed bags under the Element of Magic's eyes.
"Well," Twilight started slowly. "Nothing immediate, just the usual, really. Kaiju and world wide destruction, ponies displaced from homes, untold millions dead..." She heaved a breath, flaring her nostrils briefly, then shook her head and looked back down to the table. "I'm sorry, Princess. I didn't mean to say all that quite so bleakly, it's just what has been on my mind lately. I could barely work this last month."
Luna nodded in understanding, I should have known this visit would be of a dark nature. "You are worried over the battle that took place near the Gryphon kingdoms recently I presume?" She leaned back some in her chair, resting her head on one hoof. Twilight was considered personal company, and the princess relished opportunities to abandon normal poise and etiquette.
"Yes," Twilight answered back slowly. "The two Kaiju that made it inland ravaged half a dozen towns, Princess." She shook her head wearily from the disbelief which returned to her from the incident report. "We have never seen three Kaiju at once, and then of the four Jaegers dispatched to deal with them, only one survived." The room was quiet, until she added, "We can't keep this up forever."
Luna nodded solemnly in return, "You are very right, Twilight..." As bleak and defeatist as it was to admit, there was no evidence that they could hold back the Kaiju indefinitely, even with the constant improvements they made on their machines of war. It seemed that for every weapon or refinement in their tactics they made, the Kaiju did the same, somehow. "Are you here to discuss another plan? Perhaps a new concept I can give to the other researchers? I think we have a few that are still free since your last was completed."
Twilight blinked at the table, then smirked and wore an expression of recognition. "Oh Celestia, that failure... That was such a waste of our time, and it seemed so promising. If I hadn't spent so much of our efforts and resources trying to-"
Luna reached out a hoof and turned up Twilight's chin towards her. She kept her gaze still before speaking, making sure her regal expression had the unicorn's full attention. "Twilight, nothing you do is a waste. Nopony would be alive now if it weren't for you, you understand? Nopony." Relaxing, she fell back in her chair again, maintaining the serious look before smiling warmly. Celestia had left big horseshoes to fill, but Luna did her best.
"The Manehattan project was not a total waste, Twilight; if nothing else we have acquired a new weapon. Even if it didn't force the rift closed as you'd hoped it would, there is that at least." Luna kept talking, despite Twilight trying twice to interrupt, before stopping and waiting.
"But, Princess, I... You're right," Twilight conceded, sighing. "The pollution that horrible device causes isn't worth it being used as a weapon, though. Nuclear anything is just too dangerous. I digress, Princess. I did come here with a few more thoughts on what we should do. I wanted to bring up some rising concerns I have, as well."
Princess Luna's ears poked up at hearing this. "Truly?" When the other pony nodded, she continued. "Is it anything to do with the orbital cannon program that you so vehemently said was a waste of time? I can summon the... other..."
Twilight's furious shaking of her head made Luna turn her own head questioningly. "No, it has nothing to do with that. I would like to talk this over with you first, it's pretty crazy. Even crazier than making something that's the equivalent of one hundred million tons of TNT..." Her hooves steepled in front of her on the table, while she took to staring across its top at the wall.
Luna waited for her to continue.
Twilight's horn lit up as a briefcase from beside the table floated up and spilled its contents over the varnished surface. "We'll need you and Rainbow Dash to make it happen, and some really good pilots." Twilight's eyes flickered across the table at the princess, both of the twinkling orbs holding a seriousness unlike any Luna had seen before in a pony's eyes.
Pinkie Pie squealed with delight as the powerful pneumatics all around her whirred to sudden life. Lights from various, meticulously assembled consoles and walls illuminated meters upon meters of her hard work. Her eyes swept across it all, the blue, green and best of all, pink shaded halogen bulbs sparkling in her eyes. "Eureka," she said quietly, an ear to ear grin appearing on her face as if by magic. Without another second lost she spun in place, once again giggling, and slid down a random cable hanging from a nearby gantry all the way to the floor of the hanger.
The gloves Pinkie wore over her hooves steamed and smoked from the sudden abuse, but delivered her safely to the ground. From overhead an angry, Australian accented voice yelled over the intercom at her. "OI! Pink one, I told yah if yah ever do that again then I'll buck you from 'ere and back across the Pacific to the monarchy you come from!"
Pinkie paused in her mad sprint to stop on her back hooves and wave up cheerfully at the over-watch station, then resumed her galloping. The blast doors began to rumble shut behind her. She spun around mid-slide into the elevator just in time to see her pride and joy one last time from a distance before it would be activated for its first test run.
The Party Cannon positively shined with mechanical magnificence in the glow of the spot lights encircling her. Every pneumatic joint, every mana-well, every rivet and every multi-layered magic tempered alloy metal plate was a thing of pure perfection. Pinkie had overseen all of its construction. Out of the seven Jaegers she had designed over the years, The Party Cannon was by far her favorite. Although, Gummy would always hold a special place in her heart, along with the real Gummy.
The blast doors to the enormous Jaeger hanger crashed shut, and the lift Pinkie had entered began to climb up the rails slowly.
"EEEeeee, I'm so excited, are you excited? I've never been so excited! Except for that time that I went, HAAH, but I mean really, who can top that? WHOO!" Pinkie Pie hopped up and down on her hooves, the hard clanging echoing in the small space continuously.
"Please stop, you're scaring me." A bulky stallion with a nervous expression was leaning as far from Pinkie Pie as he could into the corner of the elevator.
"Aah, you don't have to be scared of little old me!" Pinkie grinned widely at the guy. "After all if you think about it, next to a Kaiju, I'm positively harmless!" She giggled more, sliding next to the stallion and grappling his chest in a lung crushing hug. "And now that my new Jaeger is all done, they might as well be harmless too!" Squealing, she shook him from side to side.
The stallion heaved air out of his lungs from the otherworldly force being exerted on him by the manic mechanic mare. "Please. I don't. Deserve this." Gasping for air, he fell onto the floor with a thud the moment the pink pony let him go.
Pinkie pulled the poor guy back up to standing with one hoof and patted him on the back friendlily. "Aw, don't sell yourself so short buddy! Everypony deserves some lovin' from the one and only Pinkie Pie now and again!" The elevator banged to a stop, the doors opening to the wide hall. At the other end was the door to the over-watch station. "Whup, this is my stop, stranger. Have a funnerifically fantastic day now!" Hopping on all fours Pinkie proceeded to leap like a pogo stick two strides at a time out into the hallway.
The elevator doors closed again behind her, the stallion wide eyed, shaking, and pressed back fearfully into the corner of the small dead end.
The next series of doors opened up, and a friendly, tom-coltish voice called out. "Pinkie Piiiie, mah main mare, way to go! That has to be a new record for fixing a catastrophic mainframe failure."
Pinkie Pie's grin got even wider—somehow—at hearing her name said in such a congratulatory way. She returned the favor, shouting, "Lyra Heartstriiiings! My—! uh..."
"Best drinking buddy?" Lyra offered to the pink mare. Smiling, she trotted away from the window and put on a thoughtful look for her pink friend's conundrum.
"Works for me!" Pinkie renewed her cheerfulness to full again and hoof bumped Lyra... then locked elbows, waggled ears, tail swirled and jumped apart, landing precisely one stride from one another.
"Yeeeeah," both ponies traded the greeting skillfully between one another, carrying the final part to it like a song note.
A series of angry mutters, annoyed grunts and two shouts for quiet came from all around them in the control room.
"Would you bloody mares pipe the hell down? This is delicate work these ponies are doing and your stupidity has no place in here." A stallion that was more mane and uniform than anything else trotted down the outlook's concrete steps towards Pinkie and Lyra. "I can actually hear you both over those magi-tech engines revving up, and that means we have a problem. Am I really going to have to talk about this again?
Another, strawberry maned mare wearing a headset stood up angrily, leaned out of her work-stationed, and sshhhed at the military pony as loudly and fiercely as she could. Then she realized who it was and went fish mouthed. Luckily for her, before the sand colored colonel could turn on her for the insubordinance, accident or not, Pinkie spoke up again.
"Hi Colonel Wallaby!" Pinkie received a hoof stuck in her mouth and a dark glare from the Australian brass.
"Do not. Call me. Wallaby. Do I make myself clear, Pinkie?" Colonel Dustcoat growled the words at her through clenched teeth.
"Mmff fmm mph!" Pinkie mumbled out, gesturing wildly with her front hooves.
The Colonel narrowed his eyes further, then hesitantly removed his hoof from Pinkie. "What?"
"I said, okie-dokie-lokie Colonel Sandypants!" Pinkie giggled and dodged a swipe from one of the stallion's legs, galloping across the floor.
"How are you the best engineering mind that Equestria has to offer, eh!?" Colonel Dustcoat stamped his hoof, glaring after the pony that was about as serious as a filly of six. Scratch that, my daughter of six is more mature than this blasted mare! He turned his spiteful gaze to look at the other mare, who was grinning ear to ear and watching the show contentedly. And how is she one of our best pilots!? Snorting, he turned from the mint green Jaeger pilot and focused on the preliminary tests of the new MK. VI Jaeger that was nearly ready for duty.
Hehe, Doody. Pinkie Pie slid to stop at the other end of the room, stifling her giggling and walking towards the wide windows looking out onto the Jaeger gantries. Her side bumped up against the cream colored mare standing there, doing what seemed to be staring out into space. "Hey Nob Nob, what's shakin', bacon?" She looked back briefly to wave Lyra over, though the other mare was already moving towards her.
Bon Bon blinked in surprise, then looked over at the other pony that had done a good job of making a scene. "Oh, Pinkie..." she said placidly, and then warningly added, "Please say my name right, and for that matter, calm down around here. I know you're just excited to finally be done with your big project, but everypony else that works in the facility gets worried when you act so crazy." The swirled blue and pink mane above her head swayed as she sighed and shook her head in disapproval.
Pinkie rolled her eyes, then looked back at the plethora of smiling faces and snickering ponies at their work stations. "I beg to differ my dear assistant, these ponies are deprived of smiles and laughter, which is just what Pinkie Pie happens to specialiiize in." She pumped a hoof and grinned over at the other mare, winking for good measure.
Bon Bon let out an exasperated breath again and rolled her eyes right back. "Whatever you say Pinkie, and I'm nopony's assistant." The ex-candy maker's expression softened and returned to its flat state. Her eyes began to restudy the Jaeger she was assigned to pilot with Lyra. "Right now I don't want smiles though, I just want to get into Party Cannon and take her for a spin." She flexed her legs against the floor, anxious to test the newly made Australian masterpiece.
Beside Bon Bon, Pinkie Pie exploded into laughter loud enough to momentarily cut off the mild, work oriented chatter in the room. "That's-" She took a gasp, breathing deep to regain enough composure to speak. "What she said, HAH!"
Bon Bon and the arriving Lyra stared at the rolling Pinkie incredulously. Well, Bon Bon did, Lyra began asking frantically what was so funny.
The Colonel's voice managed to rise above Pinkie's laughter though. "SHUT UP! All of you, before I throw you lot in the damn brig and get the damned janitor to pilot that damned thing!"
The janitor looked up from gathering trash and left over lunch from a far corner then shook his head and quickly trotted out of the room. Nopenopenope.
"Sir?" A secretary that had just walked into the bustling office had been the one to address the Colonel.
"WHAT!?" Colonel Dustcoat rounded on the stallion, shouting hard enough to send spittle flying across the pony's face.
The stallion flinched back. "I-I-Is Pinkamena P-Pie here, sir!?" He stood straight at attention and saluted despite himself. "T-There's a phone call for her, sir!"
Dustcoat whirled around again. "PINKIE, GET OVER HERE AND OUT OF MY CONTROL ROOM!" He turned back and regarded the stallion more calmly. "Stop saluting indoors, private. You know bloody well better than that."
The pink mare nearby looked up disappointingly. Aw, but my creation isn't alive yet. She looked over at the monumentous Jaeger, her single multi-core plasma cannon gleaming at her side. The entire mech was a boring steel grey, but it was still hers and beautiful as far as she was concerned.
"P-Pinkamena?" A stallion's voice asked shakily from nearby.
Pinkie turned and looked up at the fellow standing over her. "Oh, are you here for me!?" She turned her head and happily regarded the fellow without getting up.
"Uh, y-yes, that is, sort of, there's a phone call from a Twilight Sparkle fo-" The stallion was cut off as a gale of rushing wind overtook the poor guy. Pinkie was already blazing towards the hallway and the elevator.
...
Bon Bon looked to Lyra and Lyra looked back at Bon Bon, slight expressions of confusion on both their faces. They also both ignored the shouting from the Colonel, who was going on about military decorum or some such thing.
Rainbow rolled over in her bed, her efforts to get comfortable were all for not. Her muscles ached; they had all gone for months with little use whatsoever. She just...just couldn't work up the will to go out and do anything. Sometimes she could. Once, she'd flown for weeks nearly nonstop from ocean to ocean, just flying, just bettering herself. The view of so many wrecked cities and lives had stopped that adventure though, landing her in Appleloosa where she'd stayed. That had been two years ago; something had snapped. It went back together though, eventually, and that's where she was now; a half-broken, motivation-less mess.
The bare board ceiling in her one room personal Tartarus hole stared back down at her, the television with two stations buzzed with static and white noise against the far wall. The kitchenette bore every dish that she had, dirty of course, and smelled of uncleanliness. If it weren't for the open window and the breeze that had begun blowing in, it would have been downright unbearable in there for any living thing.
Rainbow Dash blinked at the ceiling, unmoving, as she did most of the day. Wait a second, I didn't leave the window open- Then, she glanced up again from her pillow in time to come muzzle to muzzle with Pinkie Pie.
"Hi! It didn't smell that great in here Dashie, so I opened your window for you." Pinkie's calm smiled spread out into a massive grin.
Rainbow Dash stared in pure stark panic a moment longer, then rocketed out of her bed and up at the ceiling. The reaction was so delayed Pinkie had time to grab her tail and hang on.
"Wheee! Again, Dashie!" Pinkie hung from the rainbowed tail hair, swinging like a pendulum. A moment later and Rainbow let out another cry, and the two crashed towards the ground hard enough to smash the bed to smithereens. The four legs at each corner all buckled inward, the weight from the two mares crashing into it proving to be too much.
Rainbow Dash grabbed her blanket and cowered away from her old friend. "P-pinkie Pie? How did you get in here?"
Pinkie smiled and answered nonchalantly, "I have a key to your house!"
The pegasus' mouth worked as she tried to formulate a proper response or question to that.
Rarity poked her head into the room then, drawing both of the other mare's attentions. "Rainbow Dash, are you here? Oh, I see Pinkie found you after all, how are you, darling?"
"Hiya Rarity, come on in, she's here alright!" Pinkie sat down on Rainbow's barrel, trapping her. The second that the pegasus tried to wriggle free, Pinkie turned to face her, a dangerous, scary gleam in her eye.
Rainbow gulped, and began thinking over just what her options were.
"Hello Rainbow..." Fluttershy stepped in carefully next, followed closely by Twilight. "Is it alright if I come insi-?" The yellow protector of animals was interrupted by a ghastly gasp from near the kitchenette.
"Rainbow! Honestly, how can you live in such detritus and filth? Why, this is simply horrifying, dear. You haven't been taking care of yourself at all!" Rarity grimaced every which way around herself, getting a good look at just how bad things were. Her eyes settled on what appeared to be... Is that a puddle of uncleaned-!? "Rainbow," She started again, whirling to face the secured pegasus. "How could you do this to yourself? It isn't right, darling. Why haven't you come to us for help?"
Twilight interrupted while trotting towards the destroyed bed. "Rarity, not now, we'll get to that stuff. Rainbow, we need your help. You're an Element of Harmony and we need to use their power once again if we're to have any hope of saving our world. Now I know what you're thinking..."
Twilight sat and began speaking to the floor, now in her zone, and cleared her throat before going onward. "We used them several times to no effect against the Kaiju, even on the portal. There was zero impact, but, I've discovered some spells that are very... well, some spells over the last few years in my free time that-"
Meanwhile, Fluttershy had walked towards her old flight school friend, sad faced and on the verge of tears. Her words were a whisper next to Twilight's spirited over-brief. "R-Rainbow, you look terrible. Have you been alright? Did you mismanage your finances? Oh, don't tell me you were mugged by somepony. I know that the world is kind of... bad, right now, but don't hate them. They probably just lost a lot and are feeling very desperate. Are you hungry? You look-"
"EEENOUGH! STOP, just stop it... guys..." Rainbow had sat up, shoving Pinkie off and onto her side at the end of the bed. She began panting furiously, the stress that was being dumped on her from the other four ponies was proving to be too much. I don't WANT to see you guys. Wasn't me disappearing proof of that? "I'm fine, and I don't care what it is that you need me for, guys. I don't want anything to do with it- Dangit, Pinkieee, let me go! HRG!"
Pinkie Pie had wrapped Rainbow Dash up in a hug. "Dashie, you're not fine! Please just talk to us?" She hugged her consolingly, not a Pinkie Pie hug, just in a normal, comforting hug of friendship. Strong enough to keep her from escaping though, of course.
Rainbow struggled, trying desperately to ignore the puppy dog eyes Pinkie was giving her. I told you, just leave me alone, please...
"Rainbow..." All three of the other mares intoned as one.
Twilight moved the closest and spoke again. "Rainbow, we..." She looked away, unable to say what she needed to, but she did anyway. Her head swiveled up and looked at the cyan pegasus with a hard glare. "You can't keep feeling sorry for yourself. It wasn't your fault, you know it wasn't, and we all grieved, we all went through that together."
Rarity settled her hooves on the bed, taking a deep breath and smoothing the fur on Dash's shoulder. "We need to be together again now, Rainbow Dash, we need you to come back. It's not just because you're hurting yourself by living like this..." The alabaster mare swept the room with her dour look again. "It's because we legitimately need your skills again, as well as the fact you're an Element of Harmony."
"I don't want to, I don't care, if... Look, thank you all for coming out here, but get somepony else to do it." Rainbow jerked her head back, trying to get the jump on Pinkie's grip. She succeeded in pulling a few muscles in various places instead. Buck, I'm so out of shape. Her eyes closed in dismal defeat.
"Rainbow we can't do that." Twilight shook her head from side to side. "Only you can be the Element of Loyalty, you were the one to sync with us when we first used them. Nopony else will ever be able to do that again. Unless-" The purple mare bit her lip to pause, "well, never mind, just trust me. It's what I based the Jaeger's ability to sync off of, it works the same way, you know that! You were there."
Rainbow shook quietly, tears forming at the corners of her eyes, but refusing to spring into existence. Nonono... Her face hid itself slightly in Pinkie's mane.
Twilight heaved a sigh, watching her friend hurt. She turned and began levitating various articles around the room, tidying in order to distract herself. "We need you Rainbow. Look, we've already found somepony to sync with as a replacement for Apple-"
"NO!" There was a loud popping noise and Rainbow got out of Pinkie's grasp. "Leave. Me. Alone!" Then she was off like a shot out of the open window, the room bursting from the sudden vacuum and the boom of wind and air that came with it.
Author's Note
That wonderful art is used with permission from the artist, Midnight6-6-6.
The link is to a comic by IchibanGravity. ^^
Noisette is MrPocket's secretary OC for Rarity in Beyond The Sea. 
Janitor is Hoover, the oc of WIL_I_ZIN. I sorta just saw a spot to put him and thought I would. This story is pretty open ended so why the hay not.
Now as for today and yesterday, all I did pretty much was write Pinkie Pie the last two days. The Pacific Rim and the Abhorsen update are both 90% Pinkie Pie. That's like, 180% pinkie. That's a LOT of Pink. O.O
So yeah, well how is everyone enjoying things? Anypony mad at me for starting another story before wrapping up others? There may be a few of you, but rest assured I will finish these it may go into next year, something I promised I wouldn't let happen, but I'll finish them.
This fic was just so sudden, I felt inspired, I don't even remember writing it or starting, it all just rushed forth in a glorious waterfall of story! Whelp, It'll be less than ten chapters long, so stay tuned for some fast paced hooves to the wall action ponies! 
Bonus:Now, I've established that Rarity is in fact a scientist in this, not a pilot. So what would her Jaeger be like if she wasn't? Well, I think we know.
Lastly, I have room for a Jaeger team, ~~first come first serve on which two lucky OCs get the slots!~~ I changed my mind, the first two ponies to message me all of the hidden sexual innuendo jokes in the chapter, wins. Bonus points if you get some from my other stories. There are many. I will blog about you both extensively. Good luck everypony.
