Invasion of the Astro Monster: All Out Attack

Invasion of the Astro Monster

All Out Attack

Chapter 1

Good Morning, King Ghidorah

A shaft of light stabbed through King Ghidorah's eyelids. The three-headed dragon groaned. Despite his angry growl, the light persisted. Annoying thing. Ghidorah smelled a scent coming from outside his quarters. Eggs, a hint of potato. That was the final nail in the coffin. He was now certain of his fears.

It was morning.

King Ghidorah growled again, and rolled out of his bed. This was his fourth bed since his arrival in Equestria. The staff at Canterlot Castle had yet to find one of suitable durability for his weight. Luna had suggested a diet, only half-joking. Ghidorah took offense to that. The bed creaked loudly, before making a pop. Ghidorah's pillows leaped off the bed and smacked him in the faces.

Time for number five. Maybe Luna was right.

Ghidorah got up, lumbering towards the door. He kicked it open. King Ghidorah was not a morning kaiju. A maid walked passed. "Good Morning, King Ghidorah," she said.

Ghidorah grumbled an unintelligible response. The maid only smiled and continued on her way. The castle staff had long since learnt to handle Ghidorah's moods.

Ghidorah followed the scent, lumbering with thunderous footfalls towards the dining chamber. As he neared the door, he heard screaming on the other side. He sighed. Typical.

He opened the door to be greeted by the usual chaos that abounded in Canterlot Castle. Celestia and Luna were angrily yelling at Discord, who was snickering about something. Rodan sat on a perch, pecking at a fish. He, too, seemed quite amused by something. Biollante sat to the side of the table, basking in the sunlight. Ghidorah sighed, and silently made his way to his seat at the table.

As he sat down, his favorite chef appeared. To be fair, she was his only chef. Gourmet walked towards him, holding a platter with a dish of eggs and potatos. Ghidorah's favorite. "Good morning, King Ghidorah," she said.

Ghidorah grumbled. "What are the fighting about now?" he asked.

She sighed. "Discord turned Princess Luna and Celestia's food into fish. Rodan promptly ate both dishes. Does that explain things adequately?"

Ghidorah nodded, looking as the argument continued to escalate. He wasn't really paying attention. Something about "Goat-face mongrels," and "Sun-butts." Whatever.

Luna took notice of his arrival, breaking off from the argument for a moment. "Why hello, Ghidorah. I trust you slept well?" she asked. Ghidorah merely grunted in response. Luna chuckled.

"Yes, mornings aren't exactly the easiest thing to get used to, are they?" she asked.

Much like the ex-King of Terror, she was not a morning pony. When she first returned from the moon, she too had difficulty accustoming to waking up at six thirty every morning. For her first few years, getting up was a source of extreme stress. So she could relate to his rather grumpy nature in the morning.

Ghidorah ate his food, ignoring the chaos ensuing around him. Just another ordinary day in Canterlot Castle.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

After breakfast, there was little time to waste. Celestia had a very important press conference, and all were required to attend. Within an hour, they stood before a large gathering of ponies. Citizens and reporters in equal measure were present, eager to hear what the princess had to say.

Princess Celestia tapped her microphone to assure herself that it worked. "Good morning, faithful subjects. It is my pleasure to be here standing before you today," she said.

"As you know, it has been three months since King Ghidorah, Rodan, and another kaiju successfully defeated Hedorah and its kaiju underlings and saved Equestria from total destruction. In those three months, not a single kaiju has leaked into our world. Rest assured, we remain on full alert in case one does leak in, but we have chosen to take this time to recognize our three brave defenders for what they have done for all of us,"

Ghidorah turned to Rodan, hissing. "Recognized? I was not informed of this," he said, surprised.

Rodan shrugged. "You were, you just happened to be in one of your moods that day. Not my fault you weren't paying attention," he said.

Ghidorah shrugged back. He would liked to have argued the point, but he knew full well that Rodan was probably right anyways.

"Shut up, you too. We're about to go up," Biollante's avatar chided, frowning.

"Now, if our three kaiju could join us on the stage, please?" Luna asked, gesturing to the trio of giant monsters that weren't quite so giant. The three of them walked up on stage, to be greeted by the two sisters. Celestia had three medals in tow, hovering above the ground magically. First they approached Biollante's avatar.

"Biollante, for your service in the defense of Ponyville and the base of the mountain, we award you this medal of honor. Wear it with pride," Luna said. Biollante kneeled, allowing the medal to be draped over her neck. Luna and Celestia moved on to Rodan.

"Rodan, for your services in the defense of Equestria abroad and far from the capital, we award you this medal of honor. Wear it with pride," Luna repeated, altering a bit of the words to fit Rodan. The medal was draped on his neck as well, and the two princesses moved on to King Ghidorah.

This time, Celestia did the talking. "King Ghidorah," she started. "For defending Ponyville, Canterlot, and all of Equestria on multiple occasions, as well as defeating the greatest threat we have ever faced, I award you this medal of honor. Remember why you fight," she said. Ghidorah noted the completely different wording this time around, and allowed the medal to placed around his middle neck.

"Equestria, your valiant defenders!" Discord exclaimed, confetti exploding above the three kaiju as the crowd erupted in cheers and applause. Ghidorah felt slightly annoyed, mostly because a streamer got caught in one of his horns, but went along with it. Rodan seemed to be enjoying the praise greatly, egotistical jerk that he was. Biollante was as imperceptible as always. For a moment, he thought he saw Luna looking at him out of the corner of her eye, but when he checked she was focused on the crowd.

"And now, I will move on to discussing plans for this year's Grand Galloping Gala," Celestia said, before beginning a long speech of boring details and redundant facts Ghidorah cared nothing for. He sighed. It was going to be a long conference.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Twilight Sparkle sat in her study at Canterlot Castle, staring into the glass of her telescope. Ever since becoming a princess, she had had to juggle her Canterlot with her Ponyville life, and it hadn't been easy. It was late at night, she wasn't sure what time exactly. Spike lay curled up in his bed on the floor, as she made notes. She stared through the glass at the object of her attention.

In Canterlot, it was a scientist's dream come true. Especially if said scientist had access to secret technology nopony else had. The telescope she was using was a prototype, derived from technology used to create the Super X-P. It could see farther and more clearly than any of the contemporary telescopes other ponies used. And she was using it to study one thing. A star. A star that hadn't been there the night before.

There was a knock at her door. Twilight jumped in her seat, surprised by the sudden noise. She quietly rushed to the door, careful not to wake Spike. She slowly opened the door, shocked at who was on the other side.

It was Trixie.

Trixie smiled awkwardly. "Uh...Princess Twilight? May I come in?"

"Trixie? What are you doing here?" Twilight asked.

"There's something I've been meaning to talk to you about, and I just have to get it overwith," Trixie said, trying to gather some semblance of bravado. She wasn't succeeding.

Twilight glanced at Spike, who had rolled over in his sleep. "All right, come in. Just be quiet, please," she said.

Trixie nodded. "Yes, yes! Of course!" she whispered, before following Twilight in.

"So, what did you need to tell me?" Twilight asked, looking back into her telescope and making some notes on a sheet of paper.

Trixie sighed. "When I first arrived at Canterlot, to be a part of the Super X-P project and whatnot, one of the first things I asked the princesses was why me? And when I asked them, they told me that you were the one who suggested me for the program,"

Twilight stopped writing.

"Anyways, I guess I just kind of needed to know, why did you suggest me?"

Twilight looked up at Trixie and smiled. "Trixie, when Princess Celestia asked me who was the most powerful Unicorn in all of Equestria, I didn't hesitate to think of you! That magical laser the Super X-P was outfitted with? It was my design. I made it, knowing full well that few would be able to operate it. But I was sure you could, Trixie. That's why. Does that answer your question?"

Trixie was silent for a moment. "Thank you, Princess. I needed to hear that," she said.

"Not a problem at all, Trixie! And please, just call me Twilight. All my friends do," she said, before returning to the telescope.

Trixie was shocked, and smiled. She turned to leave, before stopping. "If you don't mind my asking, what exactly are you working on?"

Wihtout looking up, Twilight responded. "This star wasn't here last night. I'm not sure what it is, but I think I may have discovered a completely new star system!"

"Oh, that's nice!" Trixie said, a little bit lost.

"Although, I am confused as to how a new star system could even exist. All of Equestrian science suggests that it's impossible!"

Trixie shrugged. "Maybe you should speak to King Ghidorah. I hear he knows quite a bit about space," she said.

Twilight sighed, then smiled. "Yeah, maybe I should. I'll do that tomorrow."

Trixie yawned. "Anyway, it's late. I'm off to bed. Good night, Twilight," she said.

Twilight returned to the telescope. "Good night, Trixie," she shot back.

Trixie left the room, leaving Twilight Sparkle alone with her theories and the vast emptiness of Space.