Chapters “Shining! Where are you??”
Twilight’s screams were barely audible over the panic and roars. She could only see a few feet beyond herself, the dust was so thick. She tried to pick herself up, only to feel her leg trapped under some rubble. She panicked as she tried to pull herself free.
“Shining!” She screamed over and over, with no avail.
“Princess...” She began to give up hope.
The castle shook with terrifying force, causing Twilight to fall once more. Tears of pain and fear began rolling down her face. She began to lose feeling in her leg. The castle shook again, harder this time. She closed her eyes tighter the harder the impacts became. As the shaking grew closer, she braced herself for what she knew was her imminent death.
Suddenly she shaking stopped. She held her eyes shut for what felt like whatever, waiting for the end. Soon, she opened one eye. Most of the dust had fallen and she could see the destruction around her.
Most of Canterlot had been obliterated. most of the population lay dead in the streets. Those who weren’t dead were either unconscious, screaming, or hiding. Twilight stared ahead, everything looked dark, like it was night time, but it was the middle of the day.
A sickening growl from behind paralyzed Twilight with fear. She stared ahead, afraid to turn and face whatever made the noise. She looked to her side just as an enormous claw broke through what remained of the castle wall beside her. She was only half as big as one of the nails on the claw.
Slowly, Twilight gulped and turned to face what awaited behind her. Her hair stood on end as she saw it.
The creature dwarfed Twilight Sparkle. It was at least 80 meters high. Its skin dark, scaly, and bumpy. Strange, tribal marks ran up and down it’s body. The marks pulsed a vibrant orange light. As Twilight’s gaze rose with the creature, she began breathing heavily. It walked on two legs, though it had two sets of arms. Two larger, longer arms, with claws, each with 4 fingers ending in the nails that were twice as large as Twilight. The second set of arms were on the creatures chest, closer together, smaller, and only sporting 3 fingers. Its shoulders had large spikes protruding from them.
Its head was what terrified her the most. Four glowing orange eyes, Rows upon rows of razor sharp teeth, and its mouth pulsed the same orange lights that its body marks shared. But what frightened Twilight most of all was the large protrusion from the monsters forehead and head. A large axe shaped bone structure rose from the creatures cranium.
A deafening roar echoed across the land. Twilight winced and screamed along with the monster. Her ears began to bleed as she struggled to pull her leg free. The monster began tearing away the castle structures around Twilight. The more it tore apart, the closer Twilight was to being crushed by debris. She began kicking at the debris on top of her trapped leg with her free one. She screamed loudly, both at the debris and the creature.
“Please! God! Let me go! Let me go! LET ME GO!!!” She kicked and squirmed desperately. Finally, her leg popped free and she crawled quickly away from the monsters quickly approaching claws.
She reached a doorway on the other end of the hall. She crawled in and began descending the staircase within. The roars of the monster rang clear, though she could tell it was not chasing her personally. She reached the bottom of the stairs and saw they lead to an exit. She pulled herself up and stood on all fours. Her recently freed leg was in pain but she could still walk with a minor limp.
“Shining! Shining Armor!” She screamed for her brother loudly. “Where are you?” She turned the corner of a building to see a line of guards approaching the castle.
“Civilian!” One guard shouted, acknowledging Twilight. Another guard separated from the ranks and approached Twilight. “Are you ok, ma’am?” He asked.
“I.. Think I’m o-ok..” She managed to say. “Has anyone seen Shining Armor?” She asked, addressing the entire line.
“Ma’am, you need to get to safety, now” The guard beside her said.
“No, Shining Armor is my brother!” She screamed a little too loudly at the guard.
He stood there silent for a moment before replying. “He is down the street and around the corner, ma’am.”
Twilight proceeded to follow the guard directions. As she limped down the street, she saw citizens laying in the streets, either dead or injured. Some of them were in such bad condition, Twilight had trouble keeping herself from getting sick.
She reached the corner and rounded it. A crowd of guards were grouped in the middle of the street. She could hear her brother’s voice echoing from the middle of the crowd. She began to limp faster to the group.
“Shining Armor!” She screamed. She pushed through the crowd of guards, hearing her brother’s voice more and more clearly.
She burst through the last of the guards onto the ground. She gazed up and saw her brother staring at her in disbelief.
“Twilight! Oh my god, are you ok?” He galloped over and helped her stand. “What in Equestria happened to you?”
“I’ll survive” She replied, catching her breath. “I was in the castle when that... thing attacked...” She turned towards the castle. The beast towered over the surrounding buildings, as it ascended the sides of the castle, ripping off chunks of the structure as it climbed. Everypony could see the both living and lifeless bodies fall from the wreckage of the castle.
“You were there?” Shining Armor asked frantically. “You survived that things attacks?”
“It had only begun when I finally got out of the castle.” Twilight told her brother. “Have you started a counter-attack?”
Shining Armor lowered his head. “Our magic and physical attacks can’t even pierce its skin.” He said as Twilight gave him a look of shock. “We have been ordered by the Princess to focus our efforts of distraction and evacuation. Celestia and Luna are preparing a final assault on the monster.”
Twilight stared at her brother in disbelief. “That thing... Is immune to magic?”
“It would seem so”
“There must be something we can do...” Twilight insisted.
“We’ve tried everything. You are in no condition to attempt using the elements on it, Twilight, I need you to evacuate while the Princesses prepare their final move.” Shining Armor said simply. He motioned for two guard to help escort Twilight to the “safe zone”.
Twilight resisted at first. “No! I won’t leave you behind!” Tears began falling again. She tried to kick the guards away and return to her brother.
“TWILIGHT SPARKLE.” Her brothers voice shook her very soul. She had never heard his voice so dark and loud before.
“I will not be insubordinated by you in Equestrias darkest hour. You will leave to the safe zone immidiately. That is an order.”
Twilight stared at Shining Armor for a moment before submitting and following the guards out of the city walls.
~
After 3 hours of waiting in a designated “safe zone” far outside Canterlot, the guards had finally begun returning from the city. Only one tenth of the city’s population had been able to escape. Twilight took to attending to the wounded, patching wounds and using magic to help dull pain. As the guards piled into the refuge, Twilight look desperately for her brother.
She approached multiple guard one by one, asking each one if they had seen her brother or knew of his whereabouts. None of them could give her a straight answer. She began to lose hope.
Suddenly, a shock wave burst through the safe zone. Twilight stumbled as the wave blasted her. She steadied herself and turned towards the origin of the blast. She could see the silhouette of the monster against the castle. It began to lose its grip when a flash of light came from somewhere in front of the monster and made contact with it. Within a few seconds, another shock wave came barreling towards the refuge. Everypony braced for impact as tents, beds and supplies were shot backwards.
Twilight squinted to see what had happened. The monster clung to the castle wall, swatting at something in front of it. Another flash of light appeared, expect from much farther away. Far outside the borders of Canterlot. When the light made contact with the creature, the monster was knocked from its position on the castle. It fell to the town below. As it fell, the light began to grow. Twilight stared at the light, confused. It would not stop growing. A second later, a deafening blast shook the ground. The light expanded rapidly, engulfing the castle and surrounding buildings in Canterlot. Twilight’s eyes shot wide open.
“Brace For Impact!!!” She shouted. Everypony clung to something stationary tightly. The light grew until it engulfed most of the mountain Canterlot rested on. The resulting shockwave nearly sent Twilight flying away. She clung to a boulder, praying her grip wouldn’t fail her. After what felt like an eternity, the blast subsided. Twilight opened her eyes and surveyed the refuge. It seems no one was blown away by the blast, but some tents and supplies were lost. She crawled down from the boulder and turned to view the aftermath of Canterlot. Her jaw dropped with horror at what she saw.
There was no Canterlot. No castle, no town, nothing, A clean cut crater in the side of the mountain was all that remained of the once proud capital.
Twilight stared with disbelief and sadness at the empty space. The town she grew up in was gone. No trace. Her old house. Her school. The castle. All gone.
She lowered her head. She began to weep uncontrollably at the destruction. She had lost everything. Even her brother.
“Twilight?” Said a familiar voice.
“Shining??” Twilight said, her head shooting straight up. Her brother stood before her. He was covered in injuries, but altogether alive. She began crying again and ran into her brother. He winced as she embraced him. He smiled and wrapped a leg around her little sister. “It’s ok, sis, I’m here...”
~
The final assault was a success. The creature, dubbed a Terrovore, was destroyed by Princess Celestia and Luna’s blasts. Canterlot was lost in the process. In its place, a memorial to the lives lost was erected. The refugees were spread throughout the country. Life began to return to normal.
Until the second encounter eight months later.
“-After eight hours, The Princesses were finally able to defea-”
“-eaths rose into the thousands. The Terrovore had taken out thirty city blocks befo-”
“-Riots are forming all around the country. We need a solut-”
Twilight stopped flipping through channels. She turned towards the Equestrian council room, filled with ponies, pegasi, and unicorns from all across the country. “These attacks will not stop. We cannot keep relying on the Princesses. The amount of damage to the cities and environment is too great. We must find an alternate defense.”
Chatter broke out amongst the council delegates. Words like “wall” and “magical barrier” kept being tossed around. Twilight felt an uneasiness rise within her. She knew a cowardly solution like building walls would not help stop these things from attacking us. She knew we needed an offense. And an effective one. Soon.
As the council meeting drew to a close, Twilight began packing her supplies. Maps, papers on the biology and behavior of the Terrovores, Notes on the strange portal phenomena associated with the monster appearances, and other related information were gathered by her magic and slipped into her satchel. She exited the council chamber and headed for the exit.
“Hold the door! Hold please!”
Twilight turned as she left the new capitol building in Ponyville. A tall, lean unicorn stallion came stumbling through the door. He was light green and had a brown, bedheaded mane. He had two satchels overflowing with papers and folders. As he passed Twilight, he almost tripped over himself trying to stop. “Thank you. Sorry, papers flying everywhere, I sometimes tend to lose my bal-” He paused, getting a good look at Twilight.
“You’re- You’re Twilight Sparkle!” He exclaimed excitedly.
“I am.” Twilight replied simply, giving a small smile.
“I have something you need to see!” He said, turning to remove something from his satchel. As he lifted one of his folders, stacks of papers began pouring out along with it.
“Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no!” He cried, dropping the folder and trying to re arrange and grab all of his fallen notes.
“Look, Mr...” Twilight began.
“Dr. Parallel” The unicorn said, correcting Twilight as he continued fumbling with his papers. “You are going to love what I’ve got to show you!”
“Dr. Parallel, I’m sure I will, but you seem preoccupied with your papers, and I have a busy schedule. If you need to show me something, feel free to set up an appointment.” Twilight said uneasily, just wanting to go home.
“But Ms. Twilight, what I’ve discovered could change the way we go about stopping these creatures forever!” Parallel retorted, trying to grab his papers and catch up with the departing chancellor.
“And I would love to hear it, I just can’t talk at the moment” Twilight said as she rounded the corner of a nearby building, ready to head home.
Parallel stood by the door of the capitol building, disheartened as Twilight disappeared from view. He lowered his head and sighed, slowly gathering the last few papers on the ground and headed back to his home.
~
As Twilight entered her home, she couldn’t help but feel bad for Parallel. She left him with his mess of papers without so much as a helping hoof. She shook her head in exasperation and shrugged off her feeling of guilt.
“Hey Twilight.”
“Hello Spike.” Said Twilight to her dragon helper.
Spike stood on the bookshelf ladder, returning some of Twilight’s research book to their rightful places. “How did the meeting go?”
Twilight groaned and dropped her satchel by the door to the kitchen.
“Not so well, I’m guessing....” Spike said worried.
Twilight poured herself a glass of water. “Those walls, Spike! That’s all they ever talk about!” She returned to the main room and slouched into her chair. “Ever since the third attack on Manehattan, the only solution these nutjobs can think of is to hide behind some brick and mortar. We need to stop these things, not hold them back. We need to live, not to survive...” She sighed as she took a sip of water.
Spike hopped down from the ladder and climbed onto one of the chair’s armrests. “You’re resourceful.” He insisted. “You should present an idea.”
“I don’t have any time to think, Spike.” Twilight said. “As chancellor, my duties are stretched as far and wide as possible. I haven’t been able to see any of my friends...”
Spike frowned and patted Twilights back. “Come on now Twilight... I’m sure the others understand. You’re trying to save the world for crying out loud!” Spike said reassuringly.
Twilight shrugged. “Well if I’m trying to save the world... I’m doing a lousy job of it....”
Spike crawled over and lay against Twilight’s stomach. He wrapped his arms around one of Twilight’s legs and said, “I think you’re doing great...” He closed his eyes and began to doze off.
Twilight looked over at her dragon friend and smiled. She nuzzled his head before laying her head on an armrest and closing her eyes. The two slowly lulled off into sleep together, where they could forget about the troubles of reality.
~
“Argh, how wrong could I possibly be?”
Parallel had been testing the machine for almost four hours. In all those hours, he had no been able to yield one successful activation trial.
“Alright” He sighed. “One. Last Try.”
He trotted over to a tape recorder sitting on his work desk in his home laboratory. He tapped the record button and began tinkering with the strange machine in front of him.
“Dr. Parallel’s work log. Entry #143. I am in my fourth week of nonstop research and testing of the Trans-Dimensional Magi-Tech Transportation Device, or as I call it, the “Dimensional Doorway”. I believe I am close to a breakthr-”
A loud popping spark noise scared the doctor as it fizzled from a control panel on the machine.
“One second” He said, addressing the recorder. He began bashing the side of the machine with a monkey wrench, trying to stop the incessant noise. Finally the noises ceased and Parallel continued his monologue.
“-close to a breakthrough. I’ve done some re-calculations and figured I shot try to aim for a much closer receiving dimension. Wherever the Terrovores are coming from, their dimension is much too far for my-” He took a quick glance at his mess of a contraption. “-humble set up to reach, but if I could connect with a closer dimension, I could theoretically enter that realm, make a second, ahem, stronger doorway and attempt a connection with the Terrovore universe from there. So here’s to a hopefully successful trial run!”
He took a swig from a mug of Apple Acres Cider on his desk and slammed his hoof into a button on the side of the doorway machine.
Every light went out in Parallels house. For almost 20 seconds, he and his machine sat in complete darkness. Suddenly, lights began flashing all over the doorway. A loud humming begin to emanate from the machine. A giddy grin stretched across the doctors face as a computerized voice faded into life.
“Dimensional doorway is now active.” The female voice droned. “Please turn off all other electrical devices in the vicinity."
Small, blue bolts of lightning jolted from one side of the large, halo-like hole in the middle of the device to the other. The bolts began flashing and intersecting faster and faster. Objects began shaking and vibrating all over the lab. Parallel’s eyes were fixated on the very center of the hole.
As the bolts flashed quicker and quicker, they became constant. One by one, each bolt stayed connected with the opposite side of the “doorway” and they formed a constantly warping web.
“Perfect!” Shouted Parallel, dashing over to the control panel and inputting code after code into the keyboard. “Calibrating location and size of dimensional tear...” He began to sweat the more he typed.
“Input data received” droned the female programs voice. “Forming dimensional tear.”
His house shook violently as the bolts flashed brightly and a vaguely triangular window of energy formed in the center of the bolt web.
“Come on, baby...” pleaded the doctor.
The triangular window grew big enough for a pony to stick their head through. As it grew slowly, Parallel could actually see what was on the other side of the doorway.
“This is it! Oh wow, it’s working!” He shouted frantically. He dashed over to his desk and began cataloging what he was seeing. “Uh, I’m seeing through the doorway to another dimension. This is ridiculous. I can see a sky. This dimension has a sky! Haha. It’s got clouds and rain, oh wow rain... And green flora! It has flora like us! This is fantast-”
The rest of his words were drowned out by a sudden high pitched screeching coming from the doorway. The machine kept screeching as the bolts slowly turned from blue to red and the window began to crack.
“What?” Parallel shouted. “No! Nononononono!” He galloped to the control panel to try to stabilize the connection, but was blown back by a small explosion. Suddenly the machine went dark.
“Ah, Come On!” Parallels annoyed voice rang through his lab. The light flickered back on to reveal a small fire coming from the control panel. He groaned and extinguished the fire with magic before heading back to his room across the hall.
~
A few hours later, a low humming began coming from the doorway. Sparks flew everywhere as the blue bolts rapidly appeared and connected to form the web. They quickly formed the triangular window and grew to twice the size of an average pony in mere seconds. The window remained open and undisturbed for almost 5 minutes before it began to ripple violently. A strange outline could be seen near the other side of the window. It seemed to reach forward towards Parallels lab. Slowly but surely, something began to slide through into the Equestrian universe. First, an armored hand, followed by its connected arm. The arm remained poking through the window for a few moments before the rest of the figure followed. Covered head to toe in a strange black armor/tight suit combination, the figure stood inside Doctor Parallels lab. Its head was covered by a helmet with a visor that reached from the figures chin up to above its forehead. Tinting of the visor prevented anything from seeing what the figure looked like underneath.
The figure opened a panel on its left arm and began punching in codes. A voice chimes in through its helmet’s communication link.
“This is Marshal Hercules Hansen, have you reached the other side?” said the garbled voice from inside the helmet.
“Ranger Stacker Mori reporting in.” Replied the figure. ”I have reached the other end of the dimensional tear.”
“I don’t think I’m on the Precursor homeworld, sir.” Said Stacker Mori, slowly making his way around the room. Everything was dark.
“Switching to night vision” Stacker said into the comm. He pressed a button on the side of his helmet. A green ray of light phases down the visor of his helmet. The inside of the visor lights up to reveal his surroundings.
“I appear to be in a laboratory on some sort.” He said, approaching a sleeping laptop on the nearby desk. “Um sir?”
“Yes, Ranger?” replied the Marshal.
“There’s a laptop in this room.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“There’s a laptop sitting on a desk in a laboratory. I am definitely not in the Precursor universe, sir.”
The comm line went silent for a few seconds before the Marshal finally replied. “I need you to do some recon, Ranger. Find out where you are. Report back to me asap.”
“Yes sir.” Mori said quietly before turning off his comm. He approached the laptop slowly. He walked around the desk to look for a logo. The laptop had a symbol of a pear with a bite taken out of it.
“Hm.” He grunted to himself and went back to the front of the desk. He reached forward and softly clicked the mousepad. The screen lit up a bright blue color to reveal a beach like wallpaper and a number of various computer icons. Mori surveyed the icons curiously, being able to pick out what one or two of the programs actually do. There was a program that looked like some variation of an internet browser while another seemed to allow access to some kind of email.
After looking around the room and finding nothing of true significance, the Ranger quietly opened the door to the main hall. He began to walk down the hall. A noise from the door to his left caused him to pause. He backed against the wall the door the noise came from was on. After a full minute of silence, Stacker reached forward and slowly opened the door.
“One, two, three....” He whispered to himself, preparing to enter the room.
“Now.” He spun around the corner, slipping into the room.
He surveyed, realizing he was in some kind of bedroom. His eyes fixated on the shape in the bed opposite the door. All he could make out from where he was standing was that whatever was under the sheets had hair and it had was roughly the size of a short human. He approached it cautiously, reaching out for the sheets. Stacker gripped the sheets lightly and began pulling them down, reaching for a waist mounted knife with his other hand.
For nearly a minute he stared dumbfounded at the sleeping figure. Stacker couldn’t comprehend what was sleeping in the bed before him. A green unicorn, sleeping in a bed, in a house. He backed away slowly and made for the door. He quickly slid outside only to be stopped in his tracks again. A small crowd of grey unicorns in some kind of armor with their horns pointed straight at him.
“What the fuck...?” Stacker whispered to himself. He slowly reached up and turned his night vision off. The moon was extremely bright in the rural sky. The unicorns all wore the same gold armor.
“Freeze!” Shouted one of the unicorns.
Stacker continued staring at the crowd, unable to move out of confusion. “.... What the fuck.”
In the back of the crowd, Stacker could see a taller looking unicorn approaching the front of the line. Its armor was purple with a gold trim and its fur was white instead of grey. The white unicorn approached Stacker, who was still dumbstruck by what he was witnessing.
“What are you?” The white unicorn asked sternly.
“.... I.... What?” Mori replied, confused.
“You’re not a pony, and you don’t look like any other race I've seen before. So tell me, what are you?”
“You’re a talking horse....” Stacker said, backing away slowly.
“Cooperate or we will be forced to arrest and interrogate you.” The unicorn said, lowering his horn and following Mori’s retreat.
“Whatever you are, you’re not arresting me.” Mori said, sounding full of himself.
The white unicorn smirked. “If you say so.”
Before Mori could retaliate, some kind of blast of yellow energy burst from the white unicorns horn, striking him square in the chest. Pain shot through his body as he stumbled to the ground. As he fell, he saw the group of unicorns begin to surround him. Before he lost consciousness, he heard the white unicorn mention a dungeon.
~
“That, thing was in my house?”
“Why are you surprised, doctor? You were the one tampering with portals. It was only a matter of time before something came through.”
“They’re not portals, captain. They’re dimensional tears. Windows, if you will.”
“Doesn’t matter. The point is, that creature is in our universe and we need to kill it.”
“Kill it? Whoah whoah whoah, wait what now? It can talk, think of what we could learn!”
“What if it’s a Terrovore, doctor? Hm? If we let it live, it could kill us all!”
“I told you already, this thing probably came from the dimension I tore into last night. Not where the Terrovores come from. Imagine our dimension is like a house, and the Terrovore dimension is two houses down.....”
The rest of the conversation faded away as Mori fell out of consciousness.
~
“Wake up, creature.” said a familiar voice. Stacker Mori felt something shoving him. He opened his eyes to see where he was and who was talking to him.
“What...?” Asked Mori.
“I said wake up.” Said the white unicorn, as Mori’s vision finally cleared.
Mori looked around. He noticed he had had his helmet removed. He was chained to a wall in a cobblestone room lit by torchlight. The white unicorn he had seen earlier was standing before him.
“I told you I would arrest you.” said the unicorn simply.
Mori looked up at the unicorn with a look of confusion. “What exactly are you?”
“I’m asking the questions.” replied the unicorn.
“Can I at least know the name of my captor?”
The unicorn paused for a moment before nodding. “My name is Shining Armor. I am the captain of the royal guard. Now that you know who I am, would you tell me who, or more appropriately, what you are?”
Mori lifted his head. “I am Ranger Stacker Mori. I am a soldier.”
Shining gave Stacker a curious look. “I meant what species are you? You’re obviously not a pony of any kind, nor any race I'm familiar with for that matter. So what are you?”
“I am a human being.” Stacker said, squinting his eyes. “And I’m guessing you’re a unicorn?”
Shining nodded. “How is it you know what I am, but I have somehow never seen anything of your kind before?”
“Unicorns are fantasy creatures where I’m from. From stories and fairy tales.” Mori replied.
“And exactly where do you come from?” Shining asked suspiciously.
“I come from a planet called ‘Earth’.”
“You’re awfully talkative for a prisoner.” Shining said, pacing back and forth. “How am I supposed to trust you?”
“You’re the one that locked me up.” Mori retorted.
“A strange creature appears due to a magical, dimensional tear anomaly. The last few times that happened, things didn’t end up well for either party.”
“What are you talking about? The only reason I’m here is because a breach, or as you call it, a dimensional tear anomaly, appeared connecting our world to this one.” Mori sneered, growing tired of the situation.
Shining Armor stared at Mori. “You never told me why you seem to be telling me anything. Surely a soldier would know not to divulge precious information to the enemy.”
“Maybe I don’t see you as an enemy.” Mori shrugged. “Or maybe I just wanted to avoid torture and gave you false information.”
Shining Armor smirked. “You’re not an orthodox soldier.”
“I wasn’t trained to be one.”
Shining Armor looked the human up and down before turning to leave. “I pray you talked because of your first reason.” He added, swinging open the dungeon entrance. “It would be a waste of a good soldier for you to be unfit for combat.”
The door slammed behind Shining Armor, leaving Mori in solitude.
~
Mori had not been kept in the dungeon alone for long before the dungeon entrance swung open again to reveal Shining Armor. “You awake?” The unicorn asked flatly, opening Mori’s cell.
Mori simply sat up and looked at Shining with a look of indifference. “Yes.”
Shining Armor looked behind him and motioned towards Mori. “Unchain him.”
Mori shifted in his sitting position as two unicorn guards approached him. “You’re letting me go?”
“Not exactly.” Shining Armor replied. “You have two more ponies to talk before we reach a verdict.”
“And who might that be?”
“The Princesses.”
~
“So this is the... human?”
Princess Celestia was standing at the podium in the council chamber, her sister by her side.
Mori surveyed the room. Guards were posted at every entrance and exit. He himself had 4 guards surrounding him. Shining Armor stood at post in front of the walkway leading up to the main podium.
“I will commend you on your security precautions.” Mori said, smirking. “Now what exactly am I doing here?”
“You can start by telling me why you are here.” Asked Princess Celestia.
Mori looked up at the white pony. “I’m guessing if I don’t, some sort of punishment will be in order?”
“We try to avoid using violence to acquire our ends, but this is a dark time for our kingdom, and desperate times can lead to desperate measures.” The Princess said. Mori could hear the authority in her voice. He could also hear that this was not an option she would enjoy making.
“You... ponies, seem to be on edge of my appearance. Why exactly is that?”
“The Princesses will be asking the questions!” Shining Armor snapped.
“Shining Armor, I understand your duties to uphold order in the throne room, but he is asking a fair question.” Celestia said calmly. She turned to the human. “Recently, a strange string of attacks have been devastating our kingdom. Enormous monsters have been appearing out of nowhere, destroying our cities and land. Me and my sister-” She motioned to the navy winged unicorn beside her. “-have been able to keep these monsters at bay, but at the great expense of many of our citizens homes.”
Mori’s expression changed to that of suspicion and confusion. “Enormous monsters...?”
The Princess nodded. “We have come to call them Terrovores. They all stand around 80 meters tall, they seem reptilian or amphibious, and seem to be bent on destroying us and our kingdom.”
Mori’s eyes shot wide open, sweat forming on him. “...You’re sure that’s what these... Terrovores.... are like?”
Princess Celestia shot him a disapproving look. “We have had to face these creatures on multiple occasions. I’m sure I know what they look like.”
Mori dropped his head, beginning to shake. Everyone on the throne room stared at him, waiting for a response. Finally, he broke the silence. “Those things that are attacking you... We call them Kaiju. Its a word from our world meaning ‘strange beast’. They almost wiped out all life on my planet around 25 years ago. The only reason I exist is because my mother went on a mission to destroy a dimensional tunnel between our world and theirs. That’s why I came here. Our military detected a dimensional tear anomaly and we were scared another kaiju attack was imminent. They sent me alone because they could only hold the tear open long and large enough for one person.”
The throne room was silent for what felt like ages. Finally, Princess Celestia spoke. “You’ve fought these things before?”
Stacker raised his head. “I have not. but the people of my world have. They created a weapon that could combat these creatures with minimal damage compared to their previous means of attack.”
The Princess raised an eyebrow. “What kind of weapon?”
Mori looked her in the eyes. “Why tell you when I could show you?”
“Where the HELL have you been, ranger?”
Stacker Mori cringed as the marshal’s voice rang in his ears. He stood in Dr. Parallel’s lab, surrounded by Parallel himself, The princesses, Shining Armor, and six others he had not met before.
“I was... deterred, sir.” He replied, standing at attention, as if he were in Hanson’s presence. “I had a run in with the natives of this world.”
“And who exactly are these natives, Mr. Mori?” Herc asked, his patience wearing thin.
“They are a race of horse like creatures with intelligence that equals, if not surpasses our own. Their natural abilities far exceed our own.”
There was a pause on the other end of the telecom.
“Are they a threat?”
Mori gave a sideways glance at Celestia before replying, “No sir, they are a mostly peaceful race. They only seem to retaliate to threats if the threats are deemed unable to cooperate with peaceful negotiations. They are currently facing a far worse threat than they have encountered before, sir.”
“What do you mean?”
“Kaijus are attacking their world, too sir.”
There was another, longer pause.
“Ranger, I want you to be straight with me. What do you mean Kaiju are attacking them?”
“Exactly how it sounds sir. I have seen photographic evidence of these creatures attacking this world. They have encountered an Axe Head, a Knife Head, and an Onibaba. I am one hundred percent sure of Kaiju existence in this world.”
“You are to return to our world immediately.” Herc said sternly.
“I am standing right next to the dimensional tear entry point, sir. I will be coming through soon.”
“Very well, Marshal Hanson out.”
The telecom went silent as Mori turned to the Princess. “Dr. Parallel and I will begin the tearing sequence, ma’am.
“Can somepony tell us just what in tartarus is going on here?”
Everyone turned towards a purple unicorn standing in the group of six ponies Mori had not previously met.
“Twilight, I apologize for not telling you or your friends why I have summoned you here today.” Princess Celestia said to the unicorn. “This creature, Stacker Mori, is, what he calls himself, a human. He is from another universe outside our own who appeared when Dr. Parallel attempted to open a portal between our world and his. He could be our only hope of defeating the Terrovores, or as his kind call them, Kaiju.”
Twilight gave Mori a suspicious look, who had walked over to Dr. Parallel in order to help him prepare the device for the tear.
“And just how can he help us?” She snorted.
Celestia shook her head and looked at Twilight. “His kind have fought and defeated these monsters before, they have some kind of weapon that they used to destroy the bridge these monsters used to gain access to his world.”
“And just how can we trust him? We are fighting a losing battle, and he happens to show up and offer us salvation and asks for us to just enter his world?”
“Twilight, I understand your distrust, but we are too close to defeat to not give this a shot. His kind could be the push we need to win this.”
“Ummm, Princess?” Parallel’s voice interrupted their conversation. “We may have a problem.”
Celestia turned towards him and approached the desk. “What’s wrong, Doctor?”
Parallel turned the laptop screen towards the princess. “Take a look at the atmosphere diagnostic for Mr. Mori’s world.”
Princess Celestia leaned in to observe the charts covering the screen. “I’ve never been very good with technology, Doctor, what does this mean?”
“Well.” Dr. Parallel began. “Our world’s atmosphere contains almost half oxygen and half nitrogen. Due to our atmosphere remaining almost consistently at these levels, Our bodies have adapted to accept and survive in these conditions. Mori’s homeworld’s atmosphere is almost eighty percent nitrogen and only twenty percent oxygen. Due to these highly different levels of oxygen, our lungs would be poisoned within minutes of setting foot into his world.”
“See?” Twilight chimed in. “He wanted to poison us the second we stepped into his world!”
“Twilight, please, calm yourself. I highly doubt Mr. Mori’s intentions were anywhere near poisoning us. Am I correct?” She said, turning towards Stacker.
“This is news to me, ma’am.” He replied. “I was completely unaware of your world’s atmospheric composition.”
Celestia nodded and turned back to Twilight. “See?”
As Twilight shot Mori a suspicious look, Celestia turned back to the human and the doctor. “This does pose a problem for us, though.”
Everyone gave the princess a confused look.
“Lucky for us, though,” She added. “I have an idea.”
She lowered her head and pointed her horn at the Ranger. “Mr. Mori, would you mind holding still?”
Mori took a step back, questioning the Alicorn’s actions.
Celestia simply smiled. “No need to worry, I am simply going to use my magic to scan your body’s biology.”
Mori kept the look of concern but stood straight at attention, willing to allow Celestia to proceed. “Go ahead, ma’am.”
Celestia nodded and closed her eyes. A pink glow began to emanate from her horn. It grew and grew until a burst shot from it and connected with Ranger Moris body. A pink aura encompassed his body and lifted him temporarily, pulses shooting all around him. After about twenty seconds, he was lowered to the ground once more and the aura dissipated.
Celestia smiled and raised her head. “Finished!”
Mori looked at his arms as he held them in front of him. “What exactly did you do?”
Celestia simply smiled again. “ I used a spell to essentially copy your body’s biological structure. I can use it to allow us ponies to enter your world.”
Mori paused for a moment before giving her a confused look. “So... you’re going to turn everyone here into-”
“-Into humans, yes.” Finished Celestia.
“Hold on!” Twilight interjected, running between Celestia and Mori. “You want us to become one of his kind?”
Mori shifted uncomfortably at Twilights words.
“If you have a better idea, please let me know.” Celestia said to her student genuinely.
Twilight opened her mouth for a response, but shut it again when she could not give a second option. She turned and rejoined the other ponies.
Celestia’s horn began glowing once more. “If anypony here does not wish to join us in this, please leave now.”
Everyone stood still, waiting for their princess to proceed.
“Very well.” She said, finally. The glow began to brighten and grow. A pink aura grew to encompass everyone, save for Mori. The light grew brighter until Stacker had to shut his eyes to shield them. The light slowly died away and Mori opened his eyes once more. His jaw dropped at what he saw.
Where each pony once stood, ten human forms had replaced them. Each human was outfitted with a unique variation of Mori’s Pan Pacific Corps Biohazard/ Pilot Suit. As Moris suit was jet black, each of the suits seemed to be colored based on the color of their respective coats of fur.
“I hope this will allow us to enter your realm” Princess Celestia, now a tall woman in a white suit. Her helmet was adorned with a decal similar to her crown. She removed her helmet to reveal her unchanged multi-colored hair.
“Yeah...” Mori said, shocked. “That should work just fine...”
“This is so awesome!”
Everyone turned to the source of the outburst. Pinkie pie was smiling widely back at them. Her armor neon pink, her curly mess of hair bursting out from under the helmet. She pulled the helmet off and began looking at herself and everyone else who had transformed closely. “I’ve got fingers and feet and toes and hands and ears and teeth and-”
“We had those last two already, Pinkie.” Twilight said, examining her body. “This will take some getting used to..” She said, attempting to practice walking on two legs.
The rest of the converted followed suit and began adapting to their new forms.
“This is going to suck.” Muttered Rainbow Dash, looking at her back. “I can’t even fly!”
Mori turned and smiled a bit at Rainbow Dash’s remark before Celestia cleared her throat to speak.
“Dr. Parallel, are you ready to activate the tear?” She asked.
Parallel turned to her, almost tripping over his own feet. “Uh, yes ma’am. Location set, power rerouted to the Dimensional Doorway. Ready on your command.”
“Go ahead.”
Dr. Parallel nodded and carefully formed his hand to have his index finger extended and pressed a key on his laptop. The machine whirred to life. The blue sparks began to spark into existence and a small window appeared fairly quickly. The automated voice slowly activated. “Window parameters holding consistently. Preparing for full breach.”
The window began stretching farther. Everyone could a grey, plain room on the other side of the window.
“Window at full capacity. Currently holding at two meters in diameter.” the automated voice said.
“Hey...” Twilight began said with an astonished tone. “That voice sounds just like me!” She looked at Parallel confused. He opened his mouth to defend himself until Celestia chimed in.
“Ranger.” She said, addressing Mori. “You and Shining Armor enter first.”
Mori and Shining exchanged a look of mutual indifference and nodded to the princess. They walked side by side towards the tear. The tear rippled as they entered. Their outlines could be seen vaguely through the window in the other room.
Two by two, the others entered. The last to enter was Dr. Parallel. He stood nervously in his lab. “Come on, you can do this....” He muttered to himself over and over. He finally sucked in and hauled towards the portal. He flew through the portal. As he passed through he yelped as he ran straight into one of the others who entered before him. The entire group stumbled and fell upon Parallel’s impact.
Parallel opened his eyes once he had landed. He stared straight into Twilight’s eyes. He was laying right on top of her. She gave him an irritated look. “Uh.... Fancy seeing you here?” He said nervously before she shoved him off her.
“Ugh” Grunted Twilight said, as she stood up and steadied herself against a tall structure next to her. “Now Mori, where is this “Amazing Weapon” your race has made to fight the monsters?” She said sarcastically.
“You’re leaning against its toe.” He replied, pointing straight up.
“What are you...” Twilight began before trailing off.
Everyone followed Moris finger. Their eyes shot wide open at what stood before them. Made completely out of metal, it was nearly one hundred and twenty meters tall. It had short, stocky, bent legs. Its torso was thick and wide. A symbol depicting an eye with angel wings extending from either side was painted onto the center of its chest. Its arms hung like that of a gorillas. Between its broad shoulders, a head resembling the cockpit of a stealth bomber hung inanimate. Two large metal plates surrounded the head from the top and sides, seemingly for protection. Scores of other humans were rushing around them, carrying supplies and tools. They climbed up and down ladders along the behemoths legs, repairing damaged portions. Gigantic structures surrounded the mechanical behemoth. Walkways extending from the structures allowed workers to repair parts on the upper half of the automaton.
“Everyone...” Mori said, smirking. “Say hello... To Mustang Hyperion.”
For a full thirty seconds the entire group stood awestruck.
“Hello Mustang Hyperion!”
“Shut up, Pinkie.” Rainbow Dash muttered.
