Chapters Chapter 1- The Case of the Broken City
Manehattan was the largest and most populous city in all of Equestria. It was founded almost three-hundred years prior to the coronation of Princess Twilight Sparkle and, having one of the richest histories of any city in Equestria and containing many recognizable and beloved landmarks, was a very popular tourist destination. Ponies and other equines would come from all over the world to visit what was basically the face of the east coast of Equestria.
Twilight Sparkle couldn't believe her eyes eyes as she and Fluttershy walked through the charred rubble and ruins that was once called Manehattan. She couldn't believe her ears as she heard the cries of small foals looking desperately for their parents and vice-versa, or the shouting of homeless ponies on the street corners, insisting that the apocalypse is among them while holding up signs that read "The End Is Neigh" as they always had. Nopony had taken them seriously up until now. She could still hear buildings that hadn't been destroyed overnight collapsing in the distance. She turned a corner and found a derailed train blocking the road. The nearest train track was about two miles away.
"What could have done this?" Fluttershy asked. That was the problem. Nopony had any idea what happened. One day Manehattan is the crowning jewel of the eastern coast of Equestria, the next day it's reduced to a pile of black rocks. Cities don't just explode overnight.
"Maybe a herd of dragons?" Twilight guessed as she inspected the buildings that still stood for any major structural damage. No dragons lived anywhere near the city, and even then, they usually keep to themselves. But what else could it have been? Before she could speculate any further, Rainbow Dash landed in front of the two, having apparently finished scouting out the land around the city for a cause to its destruction. "Did you see anything?"
"Yeah," Rainbow answered, blowing a few loose strands of multicolored hair from her eyes. She had been putting off getting her mane cut for a few weeks. "I found some huge footprints."
"Dragons?"
Rainbow shook her head. "Whatever it was, it was way bigger."
"Bigger than a dragon?" Fluttershy asked. "Are you sure it wasn't just something with really big feet?"
"Did you take any pictures?" Twilight asked. Maybe she could find a match in the library.
Rainbow Dash removed her saddlebag and started rummaging through it. "I put them in here somewhere. Did you find anything?"
"A lot of ponies in the medical tents got sick around downtown and I want to check that out," Twilight said. "It might lead to some answers. Wanna come?"
"Yeah, let me just... here they are!" Rainbow pulled out two photos and a camera from her bag and handed the pictures to her friends. Twilight and Fluttershy were astounded. Twilight had assumed that Rainbow meant that the footprints were larger than those of a dragon, not that the footprints were larger than an entire dragon. She had remembered seeing them on the train ride to the city, but only assumed that they were craters or dry lakes. The past summer was a scorcher. These footprints were larger than anything that could possibly walk, let alone exist. "Crazy, right?"
"What... what made these?" Twilight asked.
"And where is it now?" Fluttershy brought up a good point. It was likely that some kind of monster had destroyed the city. That monster was no longer in the city and Rainbow's photographs of its footprints showed that it walked away from Manehattan after it was done.
"That's... a really good question," Twilight said. She took the picture Fluttershy was looking at. "I need to find Spike! Princess Celestia needs to see these!" She trotted off with a determined look on her face. Something big was clearly going on.
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy saw their friend out and conversed for a while afterward about what kind of beast could have dealt such damage to one of the greatest cities in the world. Fluttershy ended the conversation after Rainbow suggested that it was a collective hive mind of dragons that could reduce ponies to skeletons and shoot lasers out of its chest. That was as unrealistic as it got, but Rainbow respected her friend's wishes and changed the subject. She was about to suggest that they look for their friends when both of their stomachs gurgled very audibly at the same time.
Very rarely does such a phenomenon occur outside of anime, and the two knew exactly what to do about it. While scouting the area for any clues as to what happened to the city, Rainbow caught sight of a diner that had miraculously escaped the destruction of Manehattan untouched. She guided Fluttershy to the aforementioned diner and, even more miraculously, it was open for business!
"I don't even care that this doesn't make sense!" Rainbow declared as she opened the door for her friend. A bell sounded as the door swung open, alerting a waitress to their entering who guided them to a booth.
"Still, it seems kind of..." Fluttershy looked for the right word. "Convenient."
"Maybe Princess Celestia is setting us up for another adventure and we're supposed to be here," Rainbow said as she flipped through a menu.
"Maybe..." It certainly wasn't unlike the Princess to just bring them to the place and let them do what needed to be done. "But what about-?" Before she could finish her thought the waitress that seated them came up to them with a plate of pancakes and set it in front of Fluttershy. "Um... I haven't ordered yet."
"Times are tough," the waitress said. "We're giving out pancakes for free."
Rainbow threw her hooves into the air. "Yes! Awesome!"
"I'll be right back with a plate for you, sweetie," the waitress told Rainbow. She didn't get three steps away before Fluttershy screamed in terror. On her plate, stuck with the business end of a fork, was what appeared to be a dead rat that somehow found its way into her pancakes.
"What's this?!" Rainbow pointed at the rat.
"Oh, don't worry, dear. It's a toy. The kitchen staff have been doing that all day. They think it's the funniest thing in the world. I'm going to go give them a piece of my mind." She trotted off into the kitchen door. "Guys, did you hear her?! Best one yet!"
"Hrmph!" Rainbow Dash got up from her seat and prepared to confront the waitress and kitchen staff herself.
"Rainbow Dash, please don't," Fluttershy urged her friend.
"Somepony's got to-" The door swung open and the bell ringed. Into the diner walked a strange looking stallion in a fedora and trench coat. The fact that everything about his appearance, from his mane to his coat, was entirely monochrome added to his strangeness. He seated himself at the booth behind Fluttershy, looked through the menu, and began doing what can only be described as "audible thinking".
Another day, another case, Rainbow and Fluttershy heard. 'Course, I wasn't being payed for this one. This job was a little more personal and a little more important than the typical fare. I could already see the headlines. "Manehattan Razed Overnight!" The fillies nodded to each other and got out of their seats.
As I looked through the menu I was approached by a couple a' dames. I would have assumed that these dames were to take my order were they not so recognizable. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were their names. Bearers of the Elements of Loyalty and Kindness respectively. Almost certain of what they were here for, I-
"Excuse me," Fluttershy said nervously. "Are you the one, um... narrating?"
"What?" the stranger asked flatly. "Narrating." Could she have been referring to my inner aside?
"Yeah," Rainbow said just as flatly. "She is. How are you doing that?"
The stranger removed his hat, revealing himself to be an earth pony, and looked to them. "Don't know what to tell you, kids. You're the first to ever complain 'bout it. I assume you heard the part about me knowing why you're here?"
"We did," Fluttershy confirmed.
"Fantastic!" The stranger got up from his seat and shook the girls' hooves. "Name's Grayscale. I'm a private detective. And you're Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Big fan a' your an' your friends' work. World-saving, Wonderbolts, apples, artistry, growing wings, and a very unfortunately short lived career as a model."
"Thank you," Fluttershy smiled and looked down at her hooves.
"Yeah, we've done a lot of stuff," Rainbow said. "Do you have a point?"
"You two've got more expertise in stuff than most anypony else in Manehattan," Grayscale stated the obvious. "I could use that kinda expertise in my investigation."
"Investigation of what?" Rainbow asked, cocking one eyebrow.
"Of Manehattan!" Grayscale declared. "In case you haven't noticed, the place's kinda fallen apart."
"We've noticed," Rainbow said.
"It's hard not to," Fluttershy added.
"Right. See, I've got a theory. Word's been spreadin' around that a monster came and wrecked the place in the night." He guided the two to the door. The bell ringed as he held the door open for them.
"Because there was one!" Rainbow said. "I took some pictures of its footprints! They're huge !"
"Really?! Do you have the photos on you?! Can I see them?!" Grayscale quickly approached Rainbow Dash. His eyes widened. His black pupils shrunk in their grey irises. A large, toothy grin stretched across his face that revealed his grey gums.
"I gave them to Twilight. She's probably showing them to Princess Celestia." Rainbow backed away a bit and stretched out her wings a bit. Grayscale's sudden burst of interest and startled her. She looked over to Fluttershy, who looked even more prepared to fly for the hills.
"Oh. Well, back to my theory," he immediately shifted back to a calm demeanor. "I think that not one, not two, but possibly three monsters wrecked this once beautiful city last night."
"And you think they're out in the wild right now?" Fluttershy asked. She looked around, as if the monsters were all around her.
"They aren't here, that's for sure. I can prove it too! Follow me, kids!" He then trotted off in the direction of downtown with Rainbow Dash in tow. Fluttershy watched them gallop away for a second, took a deep breath, and reluctantly followed them.
Downtown was the epicenter of the destruction that befell Manehattan. Buildings that weren't completely collapsed were scorched a deep black. Most of the roads and pavement had fallen under what was supposedly the weight of giant monsters. It was impossibly hot there, as if the flames that burned the buildings still raged on. Nopony else was there. Just Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Grayscale.
The detective pointed out signs of an all-out war of the gargantuas. Claw marks of varying size and shape were engraved into the surrounding buildings. Some were small (relative to the others), some were gigantic. Some looked like bite marks. He pointed out how the scorch marks on the buildings seemed to follow a random pattern. They would go on in straight lines for hundreds of yards, stop for a few hundred more, then continue on. The scorch marks seemed to vary too. Some were large and destructive, some were smaller and more concentrated.
"See that building? With the top half missing?" He pointed to what was left of a very large and formidable skyscraper.
"Where's the rest of it?" Fluttershy asked.
"Uptown," Grayscale answered. "I think one of 'em threw it at another. Don't know what the heat is, though."
"It could have something to do with the ponies who have been getting sick around here," Fluttershy pointed out.
"We should tell Twilight about this! Come on!" And Rainbow Dash was off again in search of their newly winged friend. Fluttershy started after her. She moved about ten feet before she ground to a halt and thanked Grayscale.
"Hey, don't mention it, kid," he tipped his hat as he saw her off. He walked away from the scene in the opposite direction and started thinking to himself.
They were good kids alright. Excitable. Though a little bland. 'Course, that coulda had more to do with the writing than anything else. As I saw them off I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd see them again...
Now where in the hay was that diner again?
Chapter 2- Having Tea With the Shobijin
"Well, it doesn't sound all that far-fetched," Applejack said as she leaned on one of the medical tent's supports. "We've seen stranger." Her friends were inclined to agree with her. After facing the likes of Nightmare Moon, Discord, the Changelings, and King Sombra, they were pretty much jaded to most villains they encountered. Still, none of those villains had actually succeeded in doing anything quite like destroying Manehattan. And none of them were so large and disproportionately stealthy.
"Still, I don't know..." Twilight Sparkle turned from the sickly pegasus pony she had been trying to heal, to no avail.
"Darlings, where exactly did you say this theory came from?" Rarity asked.
"From a guy in a trench coat," Rainbow Dash said, not missing a beat.
"And a fedora," Fluttershy added to the statement. "He also had a fedora."
"Oh, well at least you got it from a reliable source," Rarity said. A frown made its way onto Rainbow's face.
"Right!" Fluttershy said, not picking up on her friend's sarcasm.
"Ah don't think she was being serious there, sugarcube," AJ placed a hoof on Fluttershy's back. Spike had been trying to teach the little pegasus pony sarcasm, but it was still mostly lost to her.
"Yeah. I'm sorry, guys, but we can't just listen to every pony out there with a nice hat and an idea. This is serious." Twilight turned back to the sick pegasus pony. "Can any of you help me with this? The doctor said that this one, a Mr. Rising Sun, said he saw something, but he's gone into shock and won't tell me anything." The ill pony stared at the ceiling of the tent with a glazed look in his eye. His jaw shook and his wings twitched. From the back of the tent, Pinkie Pie, who had been working to keep the younger patients' spirits up, had heard her friends' plight and rushed over to help.
"Stand back, girls," she gently pushed Twilight away from Rising Sun. Pinkie pulled a lighter from out of nowhere and flicked it on. The tent was already hot, and the small flame made little difference. "I saw this in a movie once." She slowly waved the lighter in front of the pegasus pony's face. His eyes were captured by the comforting glow of the flame, and they followed it smoothly. His jaw calmed down and his wings came to a rest. "What did you see, old man?" Pinkie asked the patient.
"Gojira... Gojira... Gojira... " Rising Sun managed to get out before going back into shock.
"'Gojira...'" Twilight repeated. "I've never heard of that... Pinkie, can you ask him what that means?"
"Sorry, Twilight," Pinkie shrugged. "That's all they did in the movie. I don't know the right wording."
"Of course..." Twilight placed her front hooves on the bed and leaned on it. Manehattan was gone. Tens of thousands of ponies were reported missing. Even more were left homeless. And she had to find out why. Everypony needed her, their new Princess, to magically fix this problem. Maybe she needed it more than anypony. Of course, being a Princess and the most well-read pony she knew, she probably could fix the problem with a little help. She just had to know what caused the problem.
Applejack wrapped her leg around the base of Twilight's neck and was immediately followed by the others. "Don't y'all worry, Twi. We're gonna figure this out, just like we always do." Twilight put all four hooves back on the ground and her friends receded. That moment of friendship had done its duty.
"Thanks," Twilight nodded and turned to her friends. "I need some Neighponese language dictionaries. I need to translate what Rising Sun said, but I also need to write to Princess Celestia. Can one of you get some dictionaries from one of the libraries that hasn't been looted yet?"
"Who would loot a library?" Rainbow asked nopony in particular.
"I'll go!" Rarity volunteered. "Anything to get out of this stuffy old tent."
"Alright, here," Twilight magically lifted her bit purse from her discarded saddlebag and handed it to Rarity. "Just in case."
"Oh, lovely!" Rarity exclaimed with fake enthusiasm. "I've always wanted to send a mugger running in terror."
"Hey, cut me a slice of that action!" Applejack laughed. "Ah'll go with you."
--
Princess Celestia took a sip from her tiny little cup of tea and gazed upon the two white parasprites that had appeared in her throne room not an hour ago. One minute she's planning the reconstruction efforts for Manehattan, listening to complaints, and assuring small children and fully-grown ponies alike that their loved ones were fine. At least she hoped that last one was true. And now she was having a conversation with two tiny beings who claim to come from another world. They do that by speaking.
Still, it wasn't the strangest thing the sun Princess had ever encountered. Discord kind of blows everything out of the water. They claimed they had asked around for the greatest authority in Equestria, and they found her. She couldn't help but let out a little laugh when she learned most of the ponies they asked mentioned having to go see a healer or something to that effect following their meeting them. Like any visitor to Equestria, Celestia sat the two down and requested that some tea be brought for her guests, as that is all there is to drink in the castle.
"You have a lovely home, " the two said in unison. They had a habit of doing that, as far as the Princess could tell.
"Thank you, the staff and I work very hard to keep it nice," Celestia responded.
"It's certainly much nicer than our home, " the two said. There was that segue Celestia had been hoping would arise.
"Yes," she started, "may I ask where you come from?"
"We come from Infant Island, " the two answered. "We are the Shobijin, the Voice of Mothra. " "Mothra." Now there's something Celestia hadn't heard before. Perhaps it had something to do with the destruction of Manehattan. It sounded powerful enough to level a city. Powerful things almost never speak for themselves. There are exceptions, of course, but they're few and far between.
"I'm afraid I've never heard of either of those things," Celestia said as she took another sip of the liquid boredom most ponies refer to as "tea". She forced it down and made a mental note to request that something new be made for her to drink. "I assume you're not from around here?"
"No, " the two said flatly. Good. Finally, some answers Celestia could get behind.
"Alright, can you tell me how you got here?"
"No. " Best day ever. Seriously.
"Ah," the Princess sighed. "Well, I guess that doesn't matter. I think I can dig up a few old spell tomes that could help you return home. If I can convince my student to part ways with them for a few moments."
"We can't leave, " the two protested. "We were sent here for a reason, and we can't leave until the time is right. "
"So you two believe you've been placed here by fate," Celestia said. The fairies nodded. "Along with your master. Mothra, was it?"
"Yes. " The two nodded.
"Do you think Mothra could have had anything to do with the destruction of the city of Manehattan? Can you take me to Infant Island so I can question her?"
"Yes, of course. " The stars were aligning. Everything was coming together. Hopefully, Mothra had just appeared in the city last night and got frightened and blew up most of the buildings. Forgivable, given the circumstances, but not something to go without punishment. "As soon as Mothra hatches, you can ask her whatever you like. "
"What?" Celestia placed her cup on the table and stood up. "Mothra is only an egg?"
"At the moment, yes, " the twins nodded. There went the Princess' best lead, right out the window. "Besides, Mothra is peaceful. She would never purposefully harm any human. Or pony, as the case may be. Unless we were threatened. "
Princess Celestia sighed. Not only did she lose her only lead, but she was also told that her lead would have led to a dead end. "Do either of you have any idea what could have destroyed my city?" The Shobijin looked at each other for a moment. Nothing was said, but a look of agreement came upon their faces before they turned back to the Princess. Perhaps they had conversed through telepathy?
"We have a pretty good idea. " And on that note, a message appeared in a puff of smoke in front of the Princess. A message from Twilight Sparkle. She opened the scroll and read through it. Her eyebrows raised. Apparently, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had reason to believe that Manehattan was destroyed by three monsters. Celestia's brow furrowed and she began to grind her teeth. One giant beast, she could probably handle with her sister and Twilight Sparkle and her friends. Two would have been a problem. But three monsters ?
"Three... Do you know three monsters?"
"We can name a few... "
--
Twilight examined the one dictionary that Applejack and Rarity had retrieved for her. The site where she and her friends had set up camp was the polar opposite of the medical tent they had inhabited before. The sun was down and it was cold and open. She looked up at her friends. They were covered in burns and scorch marks. She pointed out a small bit of Applejack's hat that was still on fire, which AJ put out with some agency. They were tired. Everypony was tired.
"Thanks, this look great!" Twilight declared.
"I certainly hope they are," Rarity said. "I'm not going back out there." She spoke as if she had seen something nopony should ever see.
"Why? What happened?" Twilight asked.
"I'd rather not talk about it," Rarity answered and started for her tent.
"Are you sure? I won't tell anypony if-"
"I don't . Want . To talk about it." Rarity disappeared into her expertly-crafted hoof-stitched tent.
"Well I thought it was rather excitin'," AJ admitted. "But it wouldn't be wise to tell the story in earshot of Rarity. What do ya'll think of that there dictionary?"
"Let's see... I think Rising Sun was speaking in some Neighponese dialect." Twilight started flipping through the book and stopped on G. "Gojira... Gojira... Gojira..." She tapped her hoof on the page. "Gojira! Let's see... It's either a cross between the words 'gorilla' and 'whale' or 'nice lighter'." She closed the book and sighed. What were the chances that it was the gorilla whale?
"Boy, Risin' Sun has a weird way a' lookin' at things," Applejack remarked and sat next to Twilight.
"Or he was dazed and confused."
"You never know," AJ said. A wide grin grew upon her face. "You think Rarity's asleep?"
"Probably, yeah," Twilight answered. She raised an eyebrow and smiled. "What happened while you were out?"
"Ya'll gonna believe what I tell you?" Applejack asked needlessly. Twilight nodded. "Alright, so we had checked just 'bout every library in town. Sure enough, most of 'em were looted. Fresh outta books. There was one left we hadn't checked. Naturally, we found trouble there, as well as some... deformed... dragon thing."
"'Deformed dragon thing'?"
"Alright, how 'bout I start from the beginning?"
Chapter 3- Son of the Nice Lighter
Sure enough, just about every library in Manehattan had been looted. Apparently every other surviving pony in Manehattan felt like finding out what destroyed the city too. All that remained of these once great centers of knowledge were empty shelves, with the exception of the "Teen Drama" sections every time. Rarity shook her head as she stared at the sign which indicated the section, which was separate from the "Young Adult" section a few aisles down. Is that *really its own genre now?* she thought to herself.
She turned to a large pile of rubble and approached it. If she was lucky, there would be a dictionary in there. If she was lucky, no other ponies would be going around looting libraries of all places. She turned her attention to the largest piece of building she could see in the pile and raised her head, and the rubble raised with it. She dropped the boulder to the side and peered into the pile through the hole it left. No language dictionaries at first glance. She started sifting through the ashes and rubble, trying to avoid any- That was a wet spot! That was a wet spot! Why was that spot wet?! She squeaked and stumbled away from the pile and inspected her hoof. It looked like water, felt like water, and smelled like water. She didn't dare taste it.
"Are ya'll okay down there?" Applejack called down from the second floor, where she also searched for language dictionaries.
"Fine!" Rarity called back. "I'm fine!" She picked herself up and returned to searching, being extra careful to avoid that spot. "Have you found anything, darling?" she asked.
"Nuthin' up here," Applejack said as she made her way down the stairs. She sighed and looked up at the night sky through the library's new skylight. There was a full moon out that very nearly lit the city as well as the sun. It shone so bright that not a single star could be seen though its light. "Still, least it's a nice night."
"If only we weren't spending it rummaging through trash and debris," Rarity sighed and removed herself from her pile. "I still have so many designs to work on."
"Are you still in that creative slump?" Applejack started looking through the Teen Drama section, just in case some villainous employee or rambunctious scoundrel thought it would be funny to hide a Neighponese dictionary there.
"And this depressing environment isn't helping it at all!" She turned to her friend. "Why are you searching there?"
"You never know. Just let me check here and we can go back to Twilight."
Rarity let her continue her search and found a nice, clean spot to rest her legs. She and Applejack had been searching for almost five hours and was both more than tiring and less than fruitful. She blew some stray hairs out of her face and fixed what she couldn't blow away with her hoof. Her mane was in desperate need of a good brushing. She turned her eyes to Applejack, who had sneaked some likely poorly-written trash about Changelings and timberwolves and uninteresting protagonists under her hat when she thought nopony was looking. Rarity rolled her eyes and decided not to say anything. Everyone has some sort of guilty pleasure.
Rarity very suddenly turned her head in the opposite direction and spotted something dart behind a corner. That was the fourth time she had seen it do that. She couldn't get a good look at it, but she could tell a few things. It was taller than both her and Applejack combined, it was shaded a light grey, it had a tail, and it had very large eyes for its head. But what was it? And why was it following them?
"Applejack, darling?" Rarity turned her head back to her friend.
"Hm?"
"At any point in the night, have you felt like we were being... followed?" She turned back to the corner the thing had been at. Nothing.
"Now that you mention it," Applejack turned away from the bookshelves of angst, "I have been seeing something movin' around in the shadows. I just thought it was my mind messin' with me."
"I've been seeing that too..." Rarity picked herself up. "Maybe we should leave."
Slam! The sound of the door of the front entrance closing hard reverberated through the building. This meant one of two things. Either that thing had left through the front, or someone else had come in. The latter was quickly confirmed when the sound of twelve hooves trotting over the marble floor followed the door slam. Applejack quickly ducked into the pile of rubble Rarity had searched and silently urged her to do the same, which she silently refused to do. After a few seconds of glaring and waving, she (reluctantly) followed her friend, who was kind enough to take the wet spot for her. No safe pony that isn't looking for a dictionary comes out this late at night.
"Man, I d-don't know," one of the three stuttered. "Just... overnight."
"I know," a second one said in a deep baritone. "That just doesn't happen."
"It almost happens all the time," the third one pointed out. "Did you ever notice that?"
"You noticed it too?" the deep-voiced one asked. The three walked into the girls' view. He was an Earth Pony, colored deep blue, and definitely looked like he had a deep voice, being bigger than both of his friends. "I thought it was just me."
"Every week it's endless night this or sucking out all the love in Canterlot that," the middle one in both size and voice tone said. He was an orange Unicorn. "Can't we ever have something simple, like an oil spill or something?"
The stuttering one, a very thin and green Pegasus Pony, laughed. "Yeah. Hey, c-come on, Flint, help me op-pen the stairs." He and the Unicorn, evidently called "Flint" walked into the Teen Drama section while the Earth Pony split off from them. The two stopped halfway through the aisle.
"Are you kidding me?" Flint asked as he rifled through the books. "Someone took Starlight !" Applejack pulled on the brim of her hat, which concealed the book she took. "I was just getting into it!"
"G-good riddance," the Pegasus Pony said under his breath. He flew up to the top shelf and pulled a book out of its place. The library shook and many angst-filled books fell from their places on the shelves as a flight of stairs opened up to the basement in the Teen Drama section.
Very suddenly, the big Earth Pony peered into the pile of rubble and came face-to-faces with Rarity and Applejack. He grabbed both of them with his front legs and dragged them out of their hole and into the open. They were then approached by Flint, who ran his eyes over both of them, sizing them up. His eyes widened and his eyebrows raised. He recognized them as two of the six fillies who regularly saved the world from those weekly threats.
"Rarity and Applejack," he said. "What might you two saints be doing so far from your thrones?"
"That is none of your business!" Rarity said as she shot up.
"Saints don't have thrones," Applejack corrected him as she got back on her hooves.
"Whatever, you know what I mean," he said to Applejack and turned to Rarity. "And, oh, it is my business, dollface. Name's Flintlock. I own this library now."
"Y'all got a deed?" Applejack asked.
Flintlock groaned. "Jitterbug!" he called back to the Pegasus Pony. "Show her the deed." Jitterbug flew into the basement and came back a few seconds later with a piece of paper, which Flintlock magically lifted from his mouth. "Indeed, I do have a deed."
"Is it written in crayon?" Rarity asked.
"Know what? Deed's not important." Flintlock crumpled up the deed and threw it away. "Point is, I'm in charge and I wanna know why you're here."
"We're lookin' for a Neighponese dictionary," Applejack admitted. "You don't have any, do you?"
"Barbell," Flint turned to the Earth Pony. "Go check the archives." Barbell nodded and ran down into the basement once again. "Any particular reason you're looking for this dictionary?"
"We want to translate somethin'."
"Right. Well, I guess it's-"
"Found one!" Barbell emerged from the basement with a very large dictionary in his mouth, which he handed to Rarity.
"There you go," Flintlock said. "Just be sure to return it when you're done with it."
"Thank you kindly." Applejack tipped her hat, forgetting that she had placed an angst-filled book under it. The door-stopper of a novel hit the floor with a very loud THUD . Everyone looked down at it. Starlight . Applejack and Rarity brought their eyes back to Flintlock, whose brow had furrowed and teeth had gritted. He wore a face of pure rage.
"Crush their skulls. " Barbell approached them and lifted his front legs to stomp on Rarity. Applejack put herself between the two and bucked the large Earth Pony right in the gut and sent him reeling back in pain. Jitterbug took flight and moved to tackle Applejack, only to meet a piece of rubble that Rarity had thrown into the air. He was out like a light. Flintlock, being a smart pony, retreated into the basement. Applejack started to follow him.
"We have the dictionary!" Rarity reminded her. "Forget these ruffians, let's just go!"
"Alright!" She caught up with Rarity and they both started for the door. "But we should come back later with the others! Somethin's going on in that basement!"
They were only feet away from the exit when they both heard a loud pop from behind them. At the same time, one of the windows exploded into the outside. The two turned around to see Flintlock behind them, magically holding two flintlock pistols. Hence the name. "Not one step." He began to slowly approach them.
Rarity looked to Applejack. "I blame you for this."
"So do I."
"So what should I shoot first?" he asked himself as she looked over Rarity and shoved one of the pistols into Applejack's forehead, as she was just about to apprehend him.
"Where'd y'all find those pieces?" Applejack asked. "They aren't very common."
"Made 'em," Flintlock answered. "Building these things is kind of my special talent. Maybe those perfectly pedicured hooves. Or, just for fun, I'll shoot you're lovely mane."
"You touch my mane, you die ," Rarity threatened, her voice carrying all the malice in the world. Flintlock decided to try his luck anyway and blasted one of his pistols just above her head. Applejack covered her ears. Rarity saw him laugh and say something that he probably thought was clever, but she couldn't hear him over the ringing in her ears. His two partners in crime, now recovered, walked up behind him.
"Hey, you guys are back. Check out what I did." Rarity looked around the area immediately around her and saw a fair amount of burned hair all behind her. She looked into one of the windows. It would take weeks for her to fix her mane. It was ruined. She then decided that Flintlock would pay. With his blood. Her horn glowed blue and the marble floor was lifted from under the criminals. With a flick of her neck, Rarity sent the three through a wall and pursued them with Applejack through the hole they left. Flintlock kept the two at bay, threatening to shoot them for real.
"You're not leaving here alive!" Flintlock shouted.
"For cryin' out loud, it's just a book!" Applejack shouted back. Barbell silently approached them from behind and pinned them to the floor.
"It's art !" Flintlock closed the distance between him and his enemies and placed the barrels to their heads. "And nopony steals my art!"
Before he could deliver any killing blows, Flintlock was lifted into the air by a very tall figure. A figure taller than both Rarity and Applejack combined. The figure threw the gunpony to the side and dragged Barbell off of the fillies by his neck and threw him next to Flintlock.
"What is th-that?!" Jitterbug asked anyone who would answer.
"It doesn't matter what it is!" Flintlock responded. "Stop it!"
Jitterbug, wasting no time, jumped onto the thing's back and wrapped his front legs around its neck. The thing thrashed around and tried smacking him off with its claws.
Applejack helped Rarity back onto her hooves and jumped through the whole she had made. Before following her friend, Rarity looked back at the thing. The spines on its back began to glow blue. Seconds later, a shockwave of the same hue burst from the creature strong enough to entirely remove Jitterbug from its back as well as singe Rarity's mane, ruining it further. On the other side of the room, Flintlock had regained his bearings and prepared to shoot the heroic thing. Rarity lifted the other pistol from the floor, took aim, and blasted the other firearm out of the air and reduced to to scrap. She then bent the barrel of her own before discarding it.
Rarity watched as the three criminals accepted defeat and made a mad dash for the hole in the wall and out the front door past Applejack. She turned back to the creature that had saved her and her friend's lives. "Thank you very much," she thank the thing. The creature, in an act of celebration, did a little dance and, hopefully accidentally, fired a ring of blue fire from its mouth that finally put Rarity's mane out of its misery. She then decided that she was done and jumped out of the hole, leaving the creature to itself.
"I got the dictionary!" AJ declared.
"Great, let's go," Rarity said as she shoved her out the door. "Let's go now."
"Are you kidding?!" Twilight asked. "He freaked out like that over a trashy teen novel ?! I wouldn't even do that!"
"That's how it went," Applejack nodded. "You think maybe that little guy was some kind of dragon?"
"I've never heard of a dragon emitting a shockwave from its body," Twilight said. "This could be a major discovery! We should go back there tomorrow and look for it!" A smile grew wider across her face with every word.
"I'm with ya, Twi. The little guy saved my life. I'd like to thank him myself."
"Guys!" a familiar voice called from above. Rainbow Dash swooped down, coming to a stop just in front of them. She paused to catch her breath. That's something that rarely happens. Her wings remained unfolded, ready to take back to the sky in a moment's notice.
"Rainbow Dash! What's wrong?!" Twilight asked as she and Applejack hurried to their very tired friend.
"There's... there's something big going on at the... at the harbor!" Rainbow panted.
"How big?" Applejack asked.
"Big enough to destroy a city!" Eyes widened and jaws dropped.
"I'll wake everyone up, you two get to the harbor!" Applejack started for the closest tent, which belonged to Pinkie Pie. "We'll meet you there!"
A silent agreement was made between the three. Rainbow Dash immediately returned to the skies and started south, toward the waterfront. Twilight Sparkle unfolded her wings and quickly followed. In the distance, Applejack could hear an unearthly wail. A terrible noise that made the entire city rattle, as if Manehattan itself was shaking in fear along with every sane mare and stallion that could hear the roar that only a demon could produce. A roar that could chill even the Princesses to the bone.
"SKREEEONNNNNGK!"
Chapter 4- Skin and Bones
"SKREEEONNNGK!"
That haunting screech penetrated Twilight Sparkle's ears again, louder than before, as she and Rainbow Dash quickly reduced the space between them and the harbor. She had never flown as fast as she had at that time. The possible cause of Manehattan's destruction was just revealing itself to the world, and she wanted to see it firsthand.
Twilight coughed as she foolishly flew through a cloud of smoke billowing from the carcass of a skyscraper that Rainbow had flown around. She was actually quite surprised to see that so many skyscrapers had mostly survived the attack. Most of the damage had been to smaller buildings that weren't built to survive catastrophes of this caliber. Still, it was odd. The skyscrapers that did fall were some of the sturdiest buildings Twilight had ever seen. Why had some survived while others hadn't?
Then it came into view as she wiped the tears and soot from her face. She saw it and stopped in her tracks. Well, she saw its figure, at least. It was too dark to make out any features, but it was big. Oh, it was big . Bigger than some of the skyscrapers that had inhabited Manehattan. Bigger than any living thing should be. She could make out its basic shape. Large spines and spikes ran down its back. It had a tail almost as long as the rest of its body. It was hard to tell, but its body structure looked vaguely reptilian. Maybe it was some undiscovered species of dragon?
"We should find a place to land!" Twilight shouted to Rainbow Dash, who continued to fly towards the beast.
"What?!" Rainbow abruptly stopped and turned to Twilight. "Don't you want to get a good look at that thing?" The two approached each other.
"Well, yeah," Twilight admitted. "But we can't just go up to it! What if it's hostile?"
"What if it's not?" Rainbow blew her mane out of her face.
"Then we shouldn't risk provoking it. We can't just blast it with the Elements of Harmony."
Rainbow Dash sighed. "Alright," she said. "Let's go down." Just as quickly as she had stopped, Rainbow got back in motion. Before Twilight could even tell she was gone she was on the ground and waving for her friend to follow her, which Twilight did with much agency. The two touched down in the middle of a crowd that had come to see what was happening. From their new perspective, Twilight and Rainbow saw the monster's silhouette slowly shift its weight from side to side in front of the moon. Twilight hummed and brought her hoof to her chin. Was it waiting for something to happen? Before she could ask anyone that question, she lost her track of thought when a strange voice started in her head and began to... narrate?
And there it was before me. One third of the riddle: solved. Twilight looked around, trying to find the source of the narration. But two still remained. Where were they hiding? And where did they come from? Those questions would have to go unanswered for the moment, as I was being approached by Rainbow Dash and the recently crowned Princess Twilight Spa-
"How are you doing that?" Twilight asked the completely monochromatic Earth Pony.
"'What?" the pony asked and turned to the princess.
"That... that narrating thing you..." Twilight tried to explain it to him. How could he not know what she was talking about?
"I don't know what you're talkin' about." There was her answer. The pony took notice of Twilight's friend and grinned. "Hey, kid! Good to see you made it to your friends alright!"
"Grayscale!" Rainbow said and approached him. "Twilight, this is the guy Fluttershy and I were talking about. With the trench coat!"
"And a fedora," Twilight added. Grayscale nodded.
"Good to meetcha, Princess," he said. He removed his hat and bowed.
"Please," she motioned for him to get up. "Formalities aren't really my thing. Especially not now." Grayscale picked himself up and placed his fedora back on his head. They all had more important things to focus on than proper etiquette. Twilight started to open her mouth to further the conversation. At the same time, the beast opened its maw and let out another soul-shattering wail. All three of them covered their ears, hoping to protect their eardrums. They were only remotely successful. When all was roared and done, Twilight's ears were ringing.
"Boy, he's getting antsy," Grayscale remarked and turned to the monster. "Reminds me of my ex-wife."
"What does he want?" Twilight asked.
"Don't know, kid," Grayscale said.
"Maybe he's waiting for the other two to show up," Rainbow Dash suggested.
"If there actually are two more," Twilight said. On that note, four more young mares approached them, all of them having torn through the now large crowd and were visibly tired. Twilight turned to them. "Girls! You all made it!"
"Yeah, well," Applejack panted, "most of us did." She turned to the side. Lounging on her back was completely unconscious baby dragon. "He almost made it. Is that our gorilla-whale?" The monster let out another roar; the loudest one yet. Loud enough to shake the ground and reduce a small building nearby to rubble. Spike's eyes shot open and he nearly jumped out of his scales.
"Agh!" he shouted and covered his ear-holes. "Come on! Five more minutes, Twilight!"
"So what're we gonna do 'bout this?" Applejack asked as Spike dismounted.
"Go away and hope it does the same?" Fluttershy suggested as she got up from hiding under her own hooves. Twilight looked to her and then the monster. Maybe that would work. It didn't seem to be doing anything particularly dangerous. Until the scales running along its back began glowing blue
The monster raised its head to the sky and roared once more. With that roar, a beam of heat, bluer than ice, exploded from its mouth. Its heat could be felt from even the hundreds of meters they all stood from him. The light from the beam briefly revealed most of its face. Twilight was taken aback by how little it looked like an animal. The monster's face had a strange look of intelligence. Not intelligent like Twilight. No, this monster probably hadn't read a book in its life and only rarely wrote research papers for fun. Its intelligence seemed more similar to the likes of Rainbow Dash or Applejack. Not particularly well-read, but it could learn.
Twilight pulled her wings over her face and turned her head to her friends, who were reacting to the event in their own ways. Applejack cringed and held her hat in front of her eyes. Fluttershy hid herself under her hooves. Rarity pulled her ruined mane over her eyes. Spike hopped onto Twilight's back and shielded his eyes behind her wings. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash completely disregarded the blinding blue light and started in awe. Other ponies in the crowd started panicking around Twilight and her friends. Children cried, mares screamed, stallions yelled, and just about half the crowd had fled for their homes or tents. Twilight looked to Grayscale, whose only reaction to the blast of heat was to pull the brim of his hat over his eyes to block the blinding light. He was oddly stoic about everything regarding the monster.
The monster closed its mouth. What followed was half a minute of complete and utter silence. Nopony in the crowd said or did anything. The monster itself kept completely still. Neither its tail nor the water it stood in up to its knees moved. It wasn't a pleasant silence. It was a tense, eerie silence. A silence that Twilight broke with the two dumbest words she'd ever said, regardless of context. "Nice lighter..."
Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie burst into cheer. "Woo!" Pinkie shouted as she applauded. "Do it again!"
"Yeah!" Rainbow cheered! "That was awesome !"
"We need to get rid of it," Twilight said stoically. Her statement was met by the looks of her friends, ranging from surprise to disappointment. Murmurs and whispers spread through the crowd. Twilight heard her name among the gossiping ponies several times.
"And just how are we going to accomplish that?" Rarity asked. "He doesn't look very willing to move."
"I know a spell," Twilight started. "It might be enough to kill it. But it's really draining."
"Twilight, don't you think you're going a little far?" Fluttershy spoke up. "Maybe we could relocate it peacefully."
"Yeah, kid, maybe you should hold your horses," Grayscale turned from watching the monster. "Maybe he's peaceful. You never know."
"Because a seven-hundred foot tall fire-breathing monster just screams 'peaceful',"
"It looked more like a laser to me," Pinkie Pie remarked. "Besides, I thought we learned the whole 'don't judge a book by its cover' thing back in season one." More murmurs spread and many members of the crowd exchanged confused looks.
"Monster or not, it's still a living thing." Fluttershy put her hoof down.
"Really, Twi, you're bein' a bit jumpy," Applejack tried to comfort her. "Maybe you should calm down and think this through like you always do."
"I dunno, Twilight," Spike leaned into her view. "That guy might be my cousin for all we know. Where's this coming from?"
"Nothing else we've faced has destroyed any major cities," Twilight argued. "And did you feel that heat? Even if it's peaceful, there's no doubt that it could cause some damage even by accident." She lifted Spike off of her back and onto the ground. Twilight spread her wings and took to the air. She flew upward for almost a full minute before stopping at eye level with the monster. Her horn glowed bright violet as it sapped energy from the rest of her body. She could feel herself getting weaker and hungrier. The monster growled and began to approach Twilight, whether out of curiosity or malevolence, she couldn't tell. After thirty seconds she began to doubt herself and her stance on this. What if it was peaceful? What would happen if she made it angry? What would happen if her spell only hurt it?
Back on the ground Spike's stomach started to audibly and visibly shake. A blast of green flames belched from the baby dragon's mouth and with it came a message from Princess Celestia. The scroll that carried the message was kept rolled up by three red strips of lace. This was an urgent message. Spike unrolled the scroll and read it. Among the typical words of a message was an image. A drawing of the monster that stood in the harbor.
"Dear Twilight Sparkle, " Spike read aloud. "I saw the beam from the castle. He's called 'Godzilla.' He's peaceful. Do not provoke him or bring any harm to him or you * will** condemn every stallion, mare, and foal in Equestria to a horrible, fiery death!*" Spike rolled the scroll back up and looked up at the violet-glowing Alicorn Princess that was about to unwittingly doom all of Equestria. "We have to stop her!"
Twilight was now seriously regretting casting this spell. She had been too hotheaded. She should have gone with Fluttershy's idea. She couldn't stop the spell. She wanted to turn her head and miss. She wanted to, but she couldn't. The spell had drained her to the point that she couldn't even move her neck. She couldn't even see the monster anymore. While it was a very large target, she wasn't sure whether or not it had moved out of the way. She couldn't hear anything over the screeching wail the spell made as it drained her of all her energy. What was that noise?
The spell would have killed Twilight had she tried to cast it before she became a princess. It would have reduced her to skin and bones long before it could destroy any normal-sized monsters, let alone the leviathan that stood in the harbor. Now she couldn't die. It would still reduce her to skin and bones and would leave her in unbelievable pain, but it wouldn't kill her. She couldn't even flap her wings. The spell itself seemed to be the only thing keeping Twilight suspended in air. She felt the spell take every resource it could from her. She felt her wings and legs going numb. She felt her stomach shrink and her ribs protruding through her chest. She realized that her mouth was wide open before it could go numb. That wail wasn't coming from the spell. That wail was her screaming.
Only seconds remained. The spell had taken everything it could from her. The bright light that surrounded Twilight converged and formed a small, very bright ball of light in front of her horn. There was no stopping it. Just a split second before it fired off, Twilight felt a pair of hooves grab her head and shove it to the side, away from its target. A massive and loud beam of violet light, almost as wide and loud as the monster's breath. Already, she could feel some strength returning to her.
The first thing to come back was her sight. Here eyes cleared to see a pale blue Pegasus Pony pushing her away from the monster, which had stumbled backwards and fell into the harbor, startled, but unharmed. More buildings fell and gigantic waves took them to their final resting places. On Rainbow Dash's back was Spike, with Rainbow's mane in one claw and a scroll in the other. The next thing to come back was the feeling in her limbs, which burned with pain.
Then it was done. The spell had been cast and Twilight was reduced to nothing. Without the spell holding her up and lacking the energy needed to fly, Twilight's head slipped out of Rainbow's hooves as she fell to the ground. Rainbow Dash jumped into action and flew downward adjacent to her friend. She took Twilight's crippled form into her hooves and slowly came to a stop, being careful not to break her friend.
"Twilight!" Spike said as he climbed onto Rainbow's head. "Twilight, it's okay! He's peaceful!" He unrolled the scroll and showed it to her. Twilight very slowly scanned the message from her teacher. Even reading was painful. "Godzilla is peaceful!"
"Spike..." Twilight tried with all her might to lift her hoof to her assistant. She tried to apologize. "I'm... I'm s-... so-..." was all she could get out before everything went black.
"So Infant Island would be..." Princess Celestia paused as she scanned a large map of Equestria she had put up in her personal quarters. "Somewhere around here," she said as she pointed her hoof to the ocean southeast of Equestria, not far from Horseshoe Bay.
"Most likely, yes, " the Shobijin nodded.
"And in the center of this island I'll find..." Celestia paused.
"The egg of Mothra, " the fairies finished.
"And when it hatches I can ask Mothra whatever I need to know?"
"If she can answer it, she will. " Finally, things were coming together. Princess Celestia had a basic idea of where Mothra and Infant Island would be and she had just sent a message to Twilight Sparkle informing her of Godzilla's peacefulness. All that was left shrouded in mystery was how they found themselves in Equestria. That, and the other two monsters Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy believed to have fought Godzilla. But first Celestia needed to retrieve Twilight Sparkle and her friends from Manehattan and prepare for the expedition to Infant Island.
Everything was going right, so, naturally, something had to go wrong. A great violet light shone from outside. Princess Celestia approached her window and peered outside. To her horror, she saw a wide beam of violet light fire into the air just above Mahehattan. That beam could only come from a spell that only an Alicorn Princess could cast without dying. She herself had used it at one point to defeat a colony of drakons that had infested Baltimare and she know how devastating the aftereffects were on its user.
Celestia opened her window and leaped out into the night. There was no time for doors or carriages. Twilight Sparkle needed her.
Chapter 5- The Mindset of a Monster
Have you ever taken a moment to stop gorging yourself with donuts and chocolate, looked around at the harem of attractive members of the sex of your choice and the crazy disco sky and realized you were dreaming? Or maybe you saw something else, like Discord trading advice and compliments with a person who sounded exactly like him and a little imp with a bowler hat?
Or maybe you were having a nightmare too ridiculous to happen. You saw a monster emerge from underneath Canterlot, a monster far bigger than the monster called Godzilla. A monster so big that the mountain that the city sat upon was only one of its claws. Just one of its thousands of claws. Not far below those claws were hands and arms large and long enough to reach distant planets and crush them like they were nothing. Upon its shoulders sat thousands of necks which held up thousands of dragon's heads, with each head bearing venom potent enough to melt the sun.
Or maybe it had a donkey's head.
Those were all pretty big hints to Twilight Sparkle that she wasn't exactly conscious. Upon inspecting the area around her, which appeared to be the top of a skyscraper, she also noticed that she could move, as if she hadn't cast that draining spell just moments ago. It would usually be around that point that Princess Luna would appear and ward off the bad dream. Twilight scanned the area around her. Luna was nowhere to be seen, although she did see Rarity who, for some reason, had six horns and a full set of gold teeth.
"This doesn't make any sense," Twilight said to herself as she turned away from the granddaddy of all demons and trotted past turbo-Rarity. If she was going to get a grip on things, it would be best if she were in a familiar place. And what place was more familiar to her than her library from Ponyville?
On a whim, a great tree burst from the cement and steel that comprised the skyscraper, fully grown and healthy as a horse. Planks of wood, nails, tiles, and panes of glass swirled around Twilight like a do-it-yourself hurricane. Without even thinking much about it, she willed the bits of building into place. Walls formed around the tree, kept in place by nails and plaster. Windows were placed in the exact places Twilight remembered them being. With the remaining planks and tiles, she crafted a roof, which she carefully placed atop the walls and tree. Last, but not least, a door was fixed in front of her. Everypony needs their privacy. Home, sweet home. She stepped inside.
The walls were decorated in a manner that Twilight didn't see coming. As opposed to the bookshelves and charts that lined the walls of the main room, the room was filled with various torture devices. Iron shackles hanged from where the windows were supposed to be. Clearly used brass bulls and iron maidens sat where bookshelves once stood. Bloodied saws and hammers littered the floor.
"Weird," Twilight broke the silence that had replaced the sounds of the monster digging itself out of the ground outside. "I usually keep these in the basement." She chuckled to herself and approached a brass bull. She remembered reading about these nasty devices in the Big Book of Terrible Fates, Volume 3 . The victim would climb into the metal bull and a fire would be lit under it. The bull itself was filled with pipes that would twist and turn all through its body leading from the central chamber to the mouth. Eventually the metal would grow hot enough to burn the skin of the one inside, whose wails of pain would travel though the crooked pipes and come out of the mouth, distorted into the roar of a bull. Fittingly enough, the first pony it was used on was its own inventor.
Twilight dared not open the central chamber. She could see the jump scare coming from a mile away. As fascinating as it was, Twilight was fairly certain that she hadn't put it and its friends around her library instead of the bookshelves and blackboards she loved so much. That was understandable. Dreams tend to be very, very strange, and sometimes things just show up for strange reasons. She remembered reading somewhere that brass can symbolize falsehood or deceitfulness, which she thought strange. If anything, she should have been seeing things related to guilt. Seemingly moments ago she had tried to vaporize Godzilla out of nowhere. The thought just popped into her head at that moment that he needed to be destroyed in the most draining way possible. The most draining way possible...
Looking back, that was an oddly specific thought, and definitely not one that Twilight would have. Pinkie was right in that she knew better than to judge a book by its cover. That thought couldn't have belonged to Twilight. But where could it have come from? It could have been planted into her mind telepathically. But who would do that? Why would they do that?
She didn't feel like solving the mysteries of the universe while being surrounded by so much death. She took to the stairs, hoping that there wouldn't be as many tools of death in her bedroom. Maybe it would be completely normal up there. Maybe she'd find a little dream Spike sleeping in his little dream bed. Maybe she'd find turbo-Rarity. Either of them were preferable to the main room.
The climb to the top of the stairs was much longer and more grueling than Twilight remembered. All of a sudden her library was taller than the monster outside. Each step was more difficult than the last, with what felt like another thousand pounds falling on Twilight each time her hoof connected with a wooden stair. Each clop was louder than the last. It wasn't long before Twilight was baring her teeth and fighting back tears. When she finally reached the top of the stairs, she instantly collapsed on the floor. In between fits of panting, Twilight turned her head and set her eyes on her body. Her legs were about as thin as her ribs, which protruded from her emaciated stomach. She looked and felt exactly like she did before she passed out in Rainbow Dash's hooves.
She looked around the room. Everything was where it was supposed to be. Her bed was just a few feet away, though it might as well have been on the other side of the world.
Resigning herself to the floor, she used the last of her strength to look for anything unusual, and unusual things she did find. The Neighponese patient from Manehattan, Rising Sun, suddenly appeared in her bed, staring at the ceiling, still in shock, and still chanting that monster's name.
"Gojira... Gojira... Gojira..."
At least that bed was being used for something . She looked at Spike's bed, which was also being inhabited by someone unexpected. A tiny little Godzilla was curled up in Spike's bed. If Twilight had the energy, she would have laughed at that. Was there also a giant Spike in her dream too, rampaging through Manehattan?
Then she noticed the walls. The walls were the only things out of place in the room, furniture-wise. As opposed to the well-crafted wood planks that made up her wall in reality, this dream wall seemed to be compromised entirely out of pornographic images, so poorly drawn that not even Fluttershy would be flustered by them.
There was definitely something wrong with her mind.
"No way, we're not leaving her like this!" Rainbow Dash spoke for the five little ponies that stood before Princess Celestia. She was referring to Princess Twilight Sparkle, who lay unconscious in her palace quarters in the next room, being tended to by Spike.
"Please, you need to understand," Celestia started, "you're needed elsewhere. Spike and I can rehabilitate Twilight Sparkle. I need you to find Mothra." Looks of confusion replaced those of anger and worry that the girls had been wearing. Celestia had yet to tell them about Mothra or the Shobijin and their connection to Godzilla and the other two monsters. She didn't really understand it herself.
"Princess," Applejack spoke up. "Who's Mothra?"
"Mothra is one of the greatest champions of our world," two tiny voices said from across the room. All six of the ponies turned their heads to their souce. Sitting on the windowsill were two tiny parasprites. An uncomfortable silence lingered for several seconds before Rarity spoke up.
"Did... did those-"
"Yes," the two stopped Rarity mid-sentence. "We are the Shobijin, the voice of Mothra." A semicircle of curious and amazed ponies was quickly formed around the fairies, with the exception of Fluttershy, who instead chose to hide under the table in the center of the room.
"The Shobijin told me everything I know about the monsters from their world." Celestia walked into the semicircle and faced her little ponies. "Out of all of them, Mothra is the only certain ally we have, and she hasn't even been born yet. If the other two monsters are intelligent and hostile, which they may very well be, we need to find her egg and make sure no harm comes to it before it hatches."
"Princess, I don't mean to ask too many questions," Applejack started, "but what are we going to do against two giant monsters without Twi or the Elements of Harmony?"
"What aren't we going to do to them?" Rainbow Dash nodded to her friend and punched her own hoof. Celestia laughed. Rainbow Dash certainly didn't lack any confidence in herself or her friends.
"Um... I have a question," Fluttershy said, sticking her hoof into the air from under the table.
"Yes, Fluttershy?"
"Where is Mothra?" Princess Celestia exited the semicircle and walked towards the timid little pegasus pony.
"We believe her nest is in the sea near the city of Baltimare," the Shobijin explained. An air of worry briefly filled the room. The sea near Baltimare was just south of Manehattan. If the other monsters were fast, they could have already reached the nest and killed Mothra.
"If that's the case," Applejack started, "we've got no time to lose."
Beneath the ocean of the strange and colorful land he found himself in, the King of the Monsters hesitated to rest, even for a moment. Minilla was alone in an unfamiliar city in an unfamiliar land inhabited by unfamiliar creatures. If Godzilla had a choice, he wouldn't sleep until he found his adoptive son. Unfortunately, Godzilla rarely had a choice. A long and strenuous battle against two mysterious and aggressive monsters had drained him of his energy. Of course, he had to find and destroy them too. He couldn't have any dangerous monsters running around, wreaking havoc on his Earth.
Of course, he wasn't entirely sure if he was still on Earth. As impressive as the humans' arsenal of weapons is, he had never seen anything quite like the display he had experienced just hours ago. The humans had never attacked him with any lasers or projectiles that radiated the sheer power that that blast from that tiny creature had. If every inhabitant of this world was just as powerful, he was in trouble and Minilla was in danger. Hopefully, those two other monsters had not been given such a warm welcome.
Godzilla rolled onto his left side and winced in pain. An impressive gash had been left on his left forearm by one of the other monsters, a mechanical cyclops. He wasn't concerned with the wound, as it would likely be gone before he woke up. He was concerned with that monster. It seemed to act as the leader of the duo that he fought, screeching commands at its partner while it kept to the sidelines, only attacking with its hook claws whenever it saw an opening in Godzilla's defense. It got in a few good hits, the worst of them being on his left arm, which it nearly managed to sever.
Its partner was no joke, however. What the beetle creature that accompanied the cyclops lacked in intelligence, it made up for with pure physical strength. Physical strength and drill hands. Neither of the monsters that Godzilla fought seemed to have any appendages that would make sense to exist in nature. Drill hands could be useful for burrowing, but not much else. The cyclops' hook hands could have been used for climbing, were it not for their shape and size. Godzilla had enough experience in life to know when something was specifically designed to kill him.
Then and there, Godzilla made a decision. As soon as he woke up, he would return to the scene of the battle find his son, being careful to avoid causing any more damage. Then he would track down those monsters and kill them before they could cause too much trouble. He was content with that plan. He closed his eyes and wondered if his father would be impressed. Probably not. The previous Godzilla thought with his claws and fangs, a mindset the present Godzilla would likely have adopted were it not for a particularly stressful childhood, which, along with his life, ended when he tried to take a particularly malevolent beast head-on. Fortunately, that was only temporary.
With the weight of making the decision off of his shoulders, Godzilla could finally rest. He rolled onto his less battered right side and curled himself into a comfortable position. Come sunrise, he would set everything right.
Chapter 6- One Search Ends, Another Begins
The last night had been an eventful one. A night full of giant monsters, wrecked cities, and overly-aggressive librarian gangsters. Applejack wished she could have made that up. She knew that not every pony in the world was entirely friendly, but those stallions were completely over the top. She reached beneath her hat and pulled out the book she'd taken that had made them so mad. Starlight: Fixing Dusk. She personally couldn't stand the kind of stuff those books contained. Too much brooding, not enough conflict. She picked it up for Granny Smith. She couldn't get enough of the stuff. That was what Applejack would have told anypony who asked. That is, if she was willing to lie.
"Whatcha reading?" AJ quickly stowed the book back into her hat and turned to meet Pinkie Pie, who was dressed in a ship captain's uniform.
"Just some romance junk," AJ answered. "How's the boat lookin'?" she changed the subject, referring to the boat that Princess Celestia had commissioned for their adventure south from Manehattan. It wasn't the largest vessel in Equestria's fleet. Not by a long shot. Still, it only needed to hold less than ten ponies. They all assumed that baby Mothra either wouldn't take up much space at all or would be big enough that she wouldn't need to ride with them. Heck, some of them could probably ride on her if that was the case.
"She's almost ready!" Pinkie grinned and hopped into the air.
"What about that detective from last night?" Applejack asked. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had told her about his outburst from yesterday involving the pictures of one of the monsters' footprints. That and his convenient appearance last night cemented her suspicion of him. Something was up with him.
Pinkie nodded. "Uh-huh! He came by a few minutes ago and asked if he could come with us to look for Mothra! I agreed to let him on board, but only if he took off his hat." She tipped her captain's hat. "I can't be upstaged on my own vessel. Your's is okay, though."
Applejack turned her head to the docks where their boat waited patiently for everypony to board. Five ponies were ready and waiting for her and Pinkie Pie to join them. Among Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy was the helmspony who would be steering the boat and Grayscale the detective, still completely colorless, still wearing his trench coat and trilby. "He's still wearin' his hat."
"What?!" Pinkie shouted and turned to face the boat. "Hey!" she stomped right up to the boat. Applejack sighed. She wouldn't be reading any trash today.
Before any hats could be grabbed and any boats could be fully boarded, the water in the harbor swelled and rose. The few vessels that had survived the previous days rocked as the water shook and the ground quaked. The main swell reached the height of a medium-sized building before breaking, revealing the lustrous black scales of the largest creature Applejack and surely anyone else in Equestria had ever seen. Most ponies fled the harbor in a panic. Some stopped and stared.
Godzilla rose to his full height and stopped, looking over the wrecked city. He leaned left and right, peering through the roadways between ruined skyscrapers, and squinted his eyes as they adjusted to the light. He was looking for something. Something he apparently decided that he wouldn't find just sitting around in the water all day. He quickly exhaled and lifted his right leg. Once again, the water shifted and shook in response to his movement. Stomp! His foot touched down, still in the harbor, but scarily close to where Applejack's friends and companions were waiting. He lifted his left leg and briefly dangled his clawed foot over the ground. Stomp! The space where Pinkie Pie had been standing had been replaced by a monstrous foot. Quickly, Applejack backed away and watched as the leviathan walked slowly in front of her. After staring for a few moments in awe, she rushed to the boat to check on her friends.
"Everypony okay in here?!" AJ shouted as she kicked open the door to the cabin.
"Applejack!" Fluttershy blurted and peered her head out from behind Rainbow Dash.
"It's okay!" Rainbow declared. "We're all okay!"
"Good," AJ sighed. "We should-"
Again, the king of all monsters was roaming Manehattan, and again, nopony was prepared for him. Grayscale's lengthy aside interrupted her. He stood in the middle of the room, narrating. It was clear that nopony knew what he wanted.
"If y'all could stop narrating for a few seconds, I'll tell ya what he's looking for." Applejack leaped in front of him and hurried out of the cabin. "Follow me!" One by one, with the exception of the helmspony, each pony did so, with only one hesitating.
"Oh, dear..." Rarity sighed and ran a hoof through her miraculously saved mane before following. "Coming, darlings!"
Applejack didn't entirely know where she was going. She knew what she was looking for, but she wasn't sure where it was. Godzilla seemed to be better at tracking it than her, however. As the monstrous dragon weaved his way through the ruins of Manehattan, being careful not to do any more damage, he kept to a single direction. Many ponies noticed his avoidance of collateral damage with several stopping to watch. A few ponies even dropped what they were doing and followed Applejack and her friends behind Godzilla. Still, most ponies hid away from him.
It didn't take Applejack long to realize where Godzilla was going. He stopped just in front of the last library she and Rarity had searched the previous night for Neighponese dictionaries and the only one where they succeeded, but not without some peril. There they had met some colorful but easily enraged arms manufacturers, a profession that was outlawed throughout Equestria. They probably wouldn't have made it out alive if it weren't for the combination of Rarity's unstoppable rage and a six foot tall bipedal lizard creature that could breath fire.
Applejack bolted to the entrance, only to find the doors locked. She looked up to Godzilla, who was clearly hesitating to smash a hole into the building. She couldn't blame him. Too much damage, and Godzilla's left without an heir. AJ looked to the windows. They were all boarded up. Of course, she did remember a way to make a more dramatic entrance.
"Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy!" she turned to her friends.
"Yeah?" Rainbow stepped forward with Fluttershy in tow and asked.
"I remember there bein' a hole in the roof a' this library. I need ya'll to fly me up there."
"Why don't we just ask him to make the hole a bit bigger?" Rainbow asked, referring to the sixty-thousand ton pile of flaming lizard muscle that was standing over them.
"Not while his kid's in there." That was all they needed to know. Rainbow Dash quickly took flight and grabbed Applejack's left front leg. Hesitantly, Fluttershy took her right. Moments later, they were through the roof and in the library. "Okay. Fluttershy, you take care of the door and let everypony else in. Rainbow, could ya help me search for the little guy?"
"Okay," Fluttershy hurried to the door.
"Yeah," Rainbow nodded. The library was in an even worse condition than the night before. Even more books and debris had been scattered about the floor. The air in the building smelled of smoke. "Hey, so what does he look like?" Rainbow asked as she flew up to the second story.
"Kinda like his dad. But smaller." Applejack started searching the Teen Drama aisle.
"Yeah, obviously. What are you doing down there?"
"The switch that opens up the basement is somewhere in this here aisle." After a brief period of searching, Applejack pulled out the last book in the last bookcase. A click sounded throughout the library and was quickly followed by the shifting sounds of the floor in front of Applejack as it collapsed into a staircase leading downward into the basement.
"Cool," Rainbow said in admiration of the floor. The sound of four sets of quickly moving hooves emanated from behind the two. Turning around, they discovered that Fluttershy had retrieved the others and were ready for what came next.
"Wait," Applejack raised a hoof. "Ya hear that?" Conversation could be heard from the bottom of the staircase between two ponies.
"I can't believe that thing!" a pony with a deep baritone shouted from below. Barbell.
"I know," a lesser voice started. "What a waste of rope."
"C'mon, Flint, how was I supposed to know he could breathe fire?"
"What kinda giant lizard doesn't breathe fire?" Flintlock asked. "We're lucky we had those chains."
"Right?" Barbell laughed. "If we didn't, the whole library would... Huh. Who opened the stairs?"
"That's probably Jitterbug with the scrap metal," Flintlock said. A set of hooves could be heard climbing the stairs. An orange unicorn reached the top of the stairs, his head turned towards the bottom. "Come on up here, we'll need all the help we can gAAAAH! " he turned his head towards the protagonistic ponies and screamed in terror after catching sight of the porcelain white unicorn just behind Applejack. Immediately after doing so, he reared back and tumbled down the stairs. The girls and detective all shared glances and raised eyebrows before Applejack led the way down.
The basement of the library was made up entirely of a small, dimly-lit room with a few benches and machines set up against the walls. In the center of the room stood Flintlock, with Barbell trying to hide behind him. Both of them were clearly terrified.
"Stay back!" Flintlock growled. "I have an unnecessarily complicated weapon and I kind of know how to use it!" Floating in front of him was the most improbably weapon Applejack had ever seen. Firearms were stacked upon firearms, knives, and debris to create the least useful looking weapon in the history of assault.
In the corner of the room, a grey mass of scales wriggled on the floor, unable to break the chains that bound it. Rarity stepped forward.
"I said stay back!" Flintlock shouted and pointed the alleged weapon at Rarity. She took another step forward. Rainbow Dash and Applejack followed behind her. "I'm not giving you another warning!" One more step forward.
A rocket shot out of one of one of the barrels and flew between Rainbow and Rarity and exploded on the staircase, far enough that it didn't hurt anypony, but close enough to still be really loud and scary. "That's where I put the rocket laucher!" Barbell declared and slapped himself on the head. The baby monster started crying and thrashed harder than it had been doing before in its corner. The crying was loud. Almost as loud as the explosion and easily loud enough to distract the criminals. In the confusion, Rainbow Dash leaped forward and tackled Flintlock, pinning him to the wall in a single move before introducing his face to her hooves repeatedly. Seeing that her friend was about to get interrupted by Barbell's massive hooves heading directly for her head, Applejack closed the gap between them, turned around, and bucked him straight in the chest.
"It's okay," Fluttershy said to the crying baby Godzilla. "Everything is going to be okay." She stroked the baby's smooth hide as Pinkie Pie showed it some faces and Rarity pulled on the chains with her teeth. The crying only got louder.
Flintlock shoved Rainbow out of his way and went back for his "gun", only to be intercepted by Grayscale, who kicked him in the face before standing him up straight, spinning him around, and pushing him into Rainbow Dash's uppercut. The crying somehow got even louder.
"That's it!" Barbell shoved Applejack out of the way and onto one of the benches and turned to the baby and the three less action-oriented girls. "I'll shut that thing up!" He stomped towards the crowd in the corner of the room. Grayscale left the semi-conscious Flintlock to Rainbow Dash and leaped at Barbell, grabbing him by the neck and pulling him back. With a flick of his muscular neck, Barbell tossed the detective away from him and onto the hard floor.
"No, please!" Fluttershy begged. "Just let me-" Barbell shoved her out of the way and raised his front hooves over the baby's head. The crying reached its peak.
The room began to shake. The quake was not gradual or predictable. It just happened, and Applejack and her friends and companions knew what was causing it. She expected the ceiling to collapse and fall down on them. However, the ceiling, along with the rest of the building, went in the opposite direction that she expected. Godzilla stood over all of them with the entire library in his claws. He turned around and chucked the building into the distance before setting his sights on the hole in the ground that used to be part of that building. The baby stopped crying. Everyone was dead silent until the library finally fell into the water with a massive splash.
Barbell stared up at the leviathan, which must have met his gaze. The mountain of an earth pony gently set his hooves back on the ground. He trotted to the baby's midsection, silently shooed Rarity away, and struggled with the chains with his teeth for a few seconds before they broke. The baby found its way out of the chains and ran up the stairs and back to its father. Applejack got up and off of the bench. Godzilla began to rear his head back.
"So- Ow!" Flintlock winced in pain and rubbed his chin. "Sor-"
"SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEONNNNNNGK!"
The two screamed in horror. Barbell quickly lifted Flintlock onto his back and sprinted towards the stairs, where Rarity had moved to. They screamed again. "Don't let me stop you." Rarity stepped to the side and let them run up the stairs and out of their lives.
The girls, much less hurriedly, followed the criminals and the baby up the stairs and out of the hole. Godzilla growled at his son. The baby cried out and hugged his father's foot as best he could. Godzilla let out another growl, this one sounding quite similar to a sigh, and started back to the ocean, motioning for his son to join him. The baby let out a squeal and followed his father through the city and into the sea. Most everypony cheered.
"Yes!" Rainbow shouted, as well as an obligatory "awesome".
"Looks like Mothra ain't our only ally here after all," Applejack laughed.
"Fluttershy, darling, are you sure you're okay?" Rarity asked Fluttershy, who hanged back from the rest of the group.
"I-I'm fine," she said. "I just need to lie down."
"Darlings!" Rarity shouted. Everyone turned to her and Fluttershy. "Fluttershy is hurt. We should probably return to the boat." Everypony nodded in agreement, with the exception of one.
"No way, we can't go yet!" Pinkie Pie spoke out. "Not after seeing that! You can all go back without me. There has to be an open party store somewhere in this city! We're leaving on the Party Boat!"
"Alright, Pinkie," Applejack said. "You take care of that." Pinkie bounced away, letting her senses guide her to the nearest party shop. "Alright, let's go, 'Shy." Applejack let Fluttershy lean on her and started walking her back to the boat, followed by everypony else, with Grayscale being the last to see Pinkie off.
"Boy, she's a piece of work," he chuckled. "Kinda reminds me of my daughter."
"You have a daughter?" Rarity asked. He nodded.
"How old is she? Ow." Fluttershy winced in pain.
"She's about your age," he said.
"That's still pretty vague," Rainbow joked.
"Really?" Princess Celestia asked the Shobijin that sat at the other end of the coffee table just outside of Princess Twilight Sparkle's temporary bedroom. "He flew ?"
"Yes, " the fairies nodded.
"With his super breath?" Celestia chuckled and took a sip from her cup of tea.
"With his super breath. " Celestia laughed. She and Spike had spent the day talking with the Shobijin and trading stories about their heroes. For some reason, a lot of their stories about Godzilla were exceptionally silly. They had told her that a lot of them were Godzillas of different universes and that the Godzilla that had appeared in Manehattan was not nearly as absurd, but the stories still changed the way she looked at the monster. "And that's how Godzilla saved the world from pollution. "
"Amazing," the sun princess took another sip of tea. She made a mental note to visit Godzilla's many worlds after everything was settled. She could always use a good laugh. "How about I tell you about the time Princess Twilight met her future self and then you can teach me the lyrics to that Jet Jaguar song?"
"Princess Celestia!" Spike shouted from the open doorway. "Twilight's awake!"
Celestia rose to her hooves and followed Spike into the bedroom. "Let me see her. Come on," she said to the Shobijin. Twilight Sparkle lay in the largest, most comfortable bed Celestia could get her in on short notice. It wasn't as impressive as she would have liked, but it would have to do. Princess Twilight's eyes met her teacher's. Celestia suspected they were the only things she could move, but was quickly proven wrong.
"Princess Celestia..." Twilight weakly uttered. "How long have I..?"
"Don't worry," Celestia said. "You've only been asleep for the day."
"What happened back there, Twilight?" Spike asked. "That wasn't like you."
"I... I don't know, Spike..." Twilight's eyes turned to her assistant. "But I intend on finding out..." She struggled to move anything else beneath three layers of blankets and sheets.
"Twilight, please," Celestia said. "Don't strain yourself. I promise, I'll help you find out what happened, but you need to recover from the spell."
"Princess Celestia told us about the spell you used against Godzilla. " The Shobijin spoke up and flew to face Twilight. "You're already recovering much faster than she expected. "
"Who..?"
"These are the Shobijin," Celestia answered. "The voice of Mothra." Twilight still looked confused. "She's a giant moth monster and our only certain ally."
"Everyone else is out looking for her egg right now," Spike added.
Celestia ran a hoof through Twilight's mane. "Get some rest. If you feel like you're up to it, there's some reading material on the nightstand. If you need anything, call for me. Nothing in the world will stop me from returning here for you."
"Thanks..."
"Princess Celestia!" a member of the Royal Guard burst into the room. "A giant walrus is attacking Stalliongrad!"
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Chapter 7- Celestia Does Battle With a Giant Walrus
Princess Celestia carved a wet, slushy trail through the northeastern landscape of Equestria as she raced to stop a giant walrus from destroying Stalliongrad. She didn't even take a moment to let her mind process the idea. She just leaped out the nearest window and flew north. She had to help and defend her kingdom in a trying time while at the same time caring for the incapacitated Princess Twilight Sparkle. Time was not something she could waste.
She looked up to see smoke rising over the horizon. Not stopping for a moment, she turned upward, taking to the skies with the intention of getting a better view of the disaster. She saw Stalliongrad in smolders. Sirens blared. Terrified ponies ran screaming through the streets. Paving a trail of destruction through the city was a giant brown blob of blubber with tusks. The walrus was large, but it only stood at around half of what the Shobijin described to be Godzilla's height. Not far from the city was a glacier with a giant hole in it. Princess Celestia didn't need to guess where the beast had come from and where she was going to put it.
Princess Celestia took off at top speed, immediately shattering the sound barrier and likely accidentally shifting the weather. Celestia didn't feel the bitter cold as she shot down toward her opponent because there was no cold. In that split second, as Princess Celestia rocketed toward the giant walrus that the fairies referred to as "Maguma", she did so while gather all the power from the sun that she could without causing too much damage. In that split second, nopony was cold. In that split second, there were two suns in the sky.
The princess came down on the walrus' face with a force more powerful that a hundred locomotives. Maguma responded by falling back and straight out of Stalliongrad, landing on its back on the glacier that it was once trapped in. Celestia took a few seconds to catch her breath, exhausted from the last half-second. She would have to be careful not to exhaust herself too much or she would end up just like Princess Twilight; tired and emaciated.
Celestia took off after Maguma, this time with considerably less speed and force behind her. Maguma, who had already gotten black on its flippers, displayed and unexpected feat of agility and strength by spinning itself a full 360 degrees around with only its front fins, letting its tail smack right into the princess, who tumbled and skipped over the ice for a few seconds before coming to a stop. She immediately corrected her position.
If Princess Celestia was going to get this done quickly, she wasn't going to waste time with the walrus swatting each other back and forth. If she was going to end this sack of blubber's reign of terror quickly, she'd have to tap into her inner Rainbow Dash. Thoughts of extreme sports and an unnatural fear of baked goods made their way into the solar princess' mind. She wondered how she would be able to balance protecting Equestria, rehabilitating Princess Twilight, and finishing her novel about an awesome young mare who becomes the captain of the Wonderbolts. She then noticed the giant walrus that was about to land a body slam on her.
Celestia dashed out of the way of the oncoming walrus, letting Maguma crash onto the ice. Spotting an opening, she leapened into the air and above the monster. Celestia swooped down and grabbed the creature by the folds of its neck fat, making a mental note to take a bath after this was over. Using her Alicorn strength, she lifted Maguma into the air and swooped downward, slamming the walrus onto the ice.
She darted to the tail-end of the monster and latched her front legs onto its tail fin. Her back hooves planted firmly on the ice, she pulled upward, lifting Maguma into the air and slamming him back onto the ice on its back. She repeated the process, ending with the monster on its belly once again. She dashed back to its head and dove onto its head. Wham! A solid hit, but not enough to get the results she wanted. She repeated the maneuver, this time at a greater speed and from a greater distance. Wham! Almost. She repeated a second time, upping the ante even further. WHAM!
Its tusks had been jammed into the ice of the glacier they were fighting on, Maguma was once again a prisoner to the ice. However, it was clear to Princess Celestia that it would not stay that way for nearly as long as it had before. Maguma struggled viciously to escape its chilly braces. She needed to knock the creature out, but she wasn't physically strong enough to do so. Mentally and magically, she was more than strong enough to end the fight. However, she didn't want to kill the monster. She wanted to rehabilitate it and train it to guard Equestria. That and because having a giant walrus for a pet would be really cool.
Celestia looked south and took notice of a cloud just large enough to create the weather she needed several miles away. Maguma continued to strain for freedom. She took to the skies, speeding south at speeds just short of breaking the sound barrier. After reaching the cloud, she flew to its southern side and pushed it north.
The moment Celestia returned to the scene, Maguma pulled with all its walrus might and undid its inprisonment, reeling back from its own strength and letting out a great roar. Celestia flew upwards and dropped onto the giant cloud. On impact, a large bolt of lightning shot out of the cloud and jutted towards its only target in a flat white landscape. Maguma slid back and wailed in pair. Smoke rose up from the mark on its back that had been burned by the bolt. The attack was effective, but not enough to knock it out. Celestia leaped upward again and came down on the cloud at top speed, not letting up when she hit the cloud. A stream of lightning exploded from the cloud and straight into the monster, which let out another wail. After a few seconds, Celestia let up and Maguma fell down. The battle was over.
Princess Celestia flew back down onto the ice and inspected the monster. She placed a hoof on the right side of its neck. Its skin quaked in a slow rhythm. It was still alive. She let out a sigh of relief, her worries that she had killed or seriously harmed it being alleviated. She raised the walrus into the air and guided the floating mass of fat to the hole in the glacier that it had come out of. She gently returned Maguma to its old prison and ripped a chunk of the glacier out to plug up the hole with. She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes as she forced the bit of glacier that held Maguma to break off from the rest of the body of ice. The sound the ice made as it separated could have easily been mistaken for the sound of thousands of cannons firing simultaneously. In the end, however, she had Maguma. Now she just needed to carry it all the way back to Canterlot.
"Man, these are weird," Spike said as he skimmed through one of the books Princess Celestia had left on the nightstand by Twilight's bed. The book detailed the adventures of Twilight and her friends as they didn't happen. For whatever reason, writers across and beyond Equestria were completely obsessed with them and wrote thousands of fictional stories about them. The one Spike held in his claws detailed Pinkie Pie's descent into madness and her brutal murder of Rainbow Dash. Twilight urged him not to read it, but he did anyway. It was too over-the-top to be scarring.
"I know..." Twilight groaned from beneath her lavender-colored covers. Neither of them were sure as to how they kept getting published behind their backs. "Still... They're pretty cool..." she exhaled.
"Princess Twilight!" Princess Luna exclaimed as she burst into the room, followed by the fairies. "It's good to see you're recovering quickly!"
"Luna..." Twilight turned her eyes to her visitor and smiled. "It's good to see you too..."
"We have been maintaining telepathic contact with Princess Celestia since she left, " the Shobijin said. "She has informed us that she will be out for a few more hours. "
"I'm here to watch over you in my sister's absence," Luna added. "I brought board games!" A stack of boxes floated into the room behind her. "How do you feel about Saviors of Gryphus ?" Spike left Twilight's side and took to setting up the previously mentioned board game.
"Princess Luna..." Twilight inhaled. "When I was asleep, I... had a strange nightmare... Why..."
"Why wasn't I there?" Princess Luna finished Twilight's thought. "I tried to get through to you. That was one of the first things any of us did after my sister brought you here. For some reason, I couldn't get into your dream. Something or someone was blocking me."
"But who's powerful enough..?"
"We believe it may be one of Godzilla's or Mothra's enemies, " the Shobijin said.
The room suddenly began to shake violently. Pictures fell from the walls and furniture displaced itself. From outside, the sounds of terrified screaming filled the air. Canterlot didn't sit near any fault lines. The bed Twilight sat in had moved to the window, giving Twilight a view of the city beneath the castle. Fires broke out. Small buildings crumbled. The mountain the city sat on looked seemed to be falling apart.
With only the tremors as a warning, the side of the mountain exploded. Boulders and dirt pummeled the streets below, causing even greater damage to property and even more harm to innocent lives. However, Twilight didn't focus on that for long. Spinning out of the mountain along with all the debris was a colossal monster, nearly as large as Godzilla. Its form was indistinguishable for the first few moments after its breaching. It spun through the air like a drill much faster than anything its size should be capable of. Its shell opened up revealing insect-like wings which produced an unbearably loud humming noise. Everypony gritted their teeth and covered their ears with the exception of Twilight, who, unable to do those things, continued to observe. The monster corrected itself in midair and hovered above the center of town. The bipedal monster appeared physically similar to a rhinoceros beetle, with a large horn sprouting upwards from its decidedly insect-like face. Where hands or claws should have been, it had drills.
The monster folded its wings and dropped into the city, making a three-point landing. The castle shook once again as it made impact. The monster rose to its full height and let out an eardrum-shattering roar.
"What is that?" Twilight tried to shout.
"Megalon! " the Shobijin cried at the sight of the creature.
Seemingly on cue, Megalon's compound eyes lit up bright blue and focused on the castle. If Twilight didn't know any better, she'd have thought that Megalon was looking directly at her. The monster lift up one colossal foot and brought it down several hundred meters ahead of where it had been before, right on top of a local bakery. The other followed suit. Two steps later, it was at the castle.
Megalon raised its drill claws. Both began spinning. Twilight was able to get a better view of the monster in front of her. The light of the setting sun gleamed off of its metallic exoskeleton and into her eyes. Its own eyes appeared to be protected by a glassy covering. However, it moved too fluidly to be entirely mechanical. Somewhere beneath the electronics and metals was a living creature.
Megalon derailed Twilight's train of thought by jamming its drill claws into the castle. The entire building seemed to sway as the monster shifted its body to the left and right. It was trying to knock the castle down and doing a good job of it.
Princess Luna threw the covers off of Twilight and threw her onto her back. If Twilight could have gritter her teeth in pain, she would have. Spike jumped onto Luna's back behind Twilight. Luna jumped out of the nearby window and flew to the streets below, which were in no better condition.
"What do we do?!" Spike asked as he gazed up at Megalon.
"We can't... fight him by ourselves..."
The bottom of the sea is a very tranquil place, once you get past the extreme pressure. At least, that's what Godzilla thought. He completed half of his plan. His son was safe by his side and his attackers were scared out of their mind. They were lucky. Had they been capable of fighting back, Godzilla would have likely reduced them to a pile of ashes. Fortunately for them and the city they inhabited, they were harmless to him.
Godzilla looked at his left arm. Just as he had expected, it was healed. No bone showing, no blood, not even a scar. That cyclops may have been strong, but this proved that Godzilla was stronger. He still needed to find that cyclops and its partner, but he very rarely actively searched for any threats. Godzilla knew that if his presence was needed anywhere, he would know it and would show up just in the nick of time.
Godzilla's head shot up and his body tightened up. He knew it. He was needed somewhere, and somewhere he would go. He lifted himself off of the ocean floor with his tail and began swimming to the surface. A curious roar sounded behind him. He turned to see his son readily following him. Godzilla's son had been in enough danger. He shot his son a look that would have likely killed any lesser monsters on the spot. Godzilla's heir may have been rambunctious, but he was no lesser monster. The young monster stayed back and returned to the ocean floor. Content with his parenting skills, Godzilla turned around and swam to the surface.
Chapter 8- The Fall of Canterlot
Gigan watched from the foot of the mountain as smoke rose from the city above him and faded into the wind. The screams of the strange little creatures that inhabited the world he found himself in permeated his ear holes. Debris and ashes rained from the suspended city and onto him. If Gigan didn't have a metal beak, he would smile. He considered letting out a good laugh, but decided against it. He read through his target's file, the lumbering pile of radioactive flesh his employers referred to as "Godzilla". He's dealt with enough giggling maniacs.
His partner had spent a good few Earth minutes wrecking the city above. That would be enough to get Godzilla's attention. He had an unusual fondness for the dominant species of his home wold. Hopefully, he would answer these colorful quadrupeds' calls for aid just as he would for the humans of Earth.
A chunk of the palace above landed next to Gigan. The cyclops briefly glanced at the fallen tower, then up to the city. Megalon needed to slow down. If he continued wasting ammo like that, he wouldn't stand a chance against Godzilla. Chances were that Megalon had already forgotten why he was destroying the city and was only doing it for the fun of it. It was even more likely that Megalon had forgotten his previous battle with Godzilla several nights ago.
What a nightmare. Despite being outnumbered, Godzilla was still able to repel them without much difficulty. Gigan nearly took off one of his arms. It didn't slow him down at all. If anything, that attack only made Godzilla fight harder. He wasn't as strong as Megalon or anywhere near as brilliant as Gigan was, but he was a decent balance of the two.
Another part of the palace fell from above. The top levels of a tower raced downward on a path that, unless interfered with, would collide with Gigan's head. The building exploded into dust and rubble as it collided with one of his hook claws, which escaped the ordeal unbent, dent-free, and as smooth as they were when they were new. Gigan returned his claws to his sides and let out an angered metallic screech to Megalon, who continued to cause chaos in the streets above.
"SKREEEEEEEE!" Gigan let out another screech, this one loud enough that, no matter where he was, Godzilla himself likely heard it.
Canterlot fell silent. Moments later, something far louder than any destruction sounded out from below the city. Something loud enough to make Megalon stop in his tracks. Princess Luna and the ponies she was attempting to escort to the hot air balloons stopped and stared at the hulking beetle as it lumbered to the edge of the city and peered downward.
"What's... What's he doing..?" Princess Twilight weakly asked from a conveniently placed bench. Megalon roared a metallic... was that some kind of wargle noise? It let out a wargle noise in response to the earlier screeching.
"It looks like he's..." Luna paused. She really didn't want what she was thinking to be true. "It looks like he's talking to someone." Luna turned to the Shobijin, who had been helping her to evacuate Canterlot. "Follow me." The fairies nodded in agreement. Luna spread her wings and took to the sky and the Shobijin followed, leaving Spike and Twilight to take care of things.
A quick glance over the edge of the city revealed what Luna had feared. A second monster stood at the base of the mountain and screeched in response to Megalon's wargle. This new addition to the cast of monsters was the most dangerous-looking one yet, with hooks for hands, a saw blade for a stomach, and a single piercing red eye.
"Gigan..." the Shobijin muttered. That must have been his name; a name he lived up to. Even from so high above, it was clear that Gigan was taller than Megalon, even if he wasn't as bulky as his partner.
Megalon blurted out another wargle, only to be shot down by Gigan, who screeched almost as loudly as he had done to get Megalon's attention. The taller of the cyborgs let out a barrage of screeches, beeps, and clicks at his partner, who grew more and more unhappy with each sound.
"Gigan appears to be berating Megalon, " the Shobijin said together.
"You can understand him?" Luna asked.
"It's difficult to make out, but it seems that way, " the fairies admitted. "Gigan has... quite the vocabulary. "
Luna laughed. She laughed hard. In a time of so much pain and destruction, she needed something to cheer her up, and that hit the spot. Her joy didn't last long, however. By the time she'd stopped laughing, she realized that the monsters had stopped conversing. She looked down at Gigan only to discover that he was looking right back at her. Princess Luna was making eye contact with a walking arsenal. The red fins on Gigan's back unfolded and stretched out in opposite directions. Could this monster be capable of flight? Fortunately, Luna didn't get to experience firsthand. The silence was broken by a third roar. A roar greater than those of either of the villains before her.
"SKREEEEEEEEONNNNNGK!"
Gigan turned to see the monster he had been waiting for stomp into view from the other side of the mountain. Godzilla had arrived. Gigan folded up his wings and faced off with his target. Godzilla continued to close the distance between himself and Gigan and let another magnificent roar loose from his maw. Gigan stood his ground, his hook claws held in front of his body in a defensive position. He hadn't taken such a position the night he met Godzilla, thinking the simple-looking, non-robotic dinosaur wouldn't pose any real challenge. He wouldn't underestimate his opponent this time.
Godzilla stopped several hundred meters away from Gigan and the two locked eyes. Gigan wasn't sure why his target would hesitate from battle. Perhaps he was smart enough to develop some sort of code of honor. Gigan was smart enough not to. The cyclops screeched and charged at Godzilla and came down on him with his right claw. Godzilla caught Gigan by the arm and struck him in the beak with his clawed right hand. Godzilla released Gigan's right arm, letting his opponent reel back.
By the time Gigan could readjust himself, Godzilla had already made his next move, crashing his long, muscular tail into Gigan's side and sending the cyborg flying through the air away from the mountain. Gigan unfolded his wings and caught himself in midair before landing on his feet unharmed. One of the spikes that lined Gigan's shoulders shot out of his left and stuck itself into Godzilla's chest. The long cable that followed the spike straightened and Gigan could feel the leviathan struggle to stay in place. Gigan jolted back and Godzilla, having failed to hold his ground, stumbled forward, giving Gigan the perfect opportunity to strike at his enemy's head with his his left claw.
Godzilla toppled over, landing on his right side. The spike that had embedded itself in his chest shot back out and returned to Gigan's shoulder. Gigan halted his enemy's recovery and struck him with his right claw, bringing Godzilla down once again. Instead of trying to get up again, Godzilla's legs shot forward and collided with Gigan's, causing the cyclops to trip and fall. Godzilla managed to recover before Gigan and grabbed his right claw. Godzilla hoisted his enemy over his head and chucked him into the mountain. Gigan screeched to his companion to set their plan into motion.
"What's he up to now?" Spike asked as the cyborg beetle turned away from the edge of the city and made his way to the mountainside. "You'd think he'd want to watch the fight." Megalon then proceeded to get right up to the mountain and dug his drill claws into the earth.
"Is he... hugging the mountain?" Twilight asked. Just as she asked, the entire city started to shake again and the ponies who had yet to be evacuated began to panic. A dark blue aura surrounded the innocent equines. Princess Luna landed in front of Spike and hurriedly hoisted all the panicking ponies into the air.
"Princess Luna, what's going on?" Spike asked. "What's he doing?" Luna lifted Spike and Twilight into the air just as she had done with the other ponies.
"We have to go! He's prying Canterlot off of the mountain!" She leaped back into the air, taking everypony else with her. From above, Spike got a much better view of Megalon. The stone and concrete that held Canterlot to the mountain cracked and snapped before finally pulling loose.
Godzilla had found the monsters he was looking for, just like he thought he would, and was doing battle with the leader of the two. The monster wasn't very strong, but he was fast and he was sharp, both figuratively and literally, as most of his body was made up of deadly weapons. The cyclops lunged forward and struck Godzilla in the chest with his hook claws, sending the King of the Monsters flying backwards. The monster jumped into the air and came down on Godzilla with both of his claws. Godzilla caught both claws and struck his opponent's head with his own before tossing the monster off of him and getting back on his feet.
Godzilla turned to see that the monster had already returned to his feet. He charged at the other monster and lashed out at him with his left set of claws. The cyclops parried Godzilla's attack with his right claw and carved an impressive gash into his chest with his own left claw. Godzilla stumbled back and roared in pain. The other monster, having found an opening, lunged at Godzilla, started up its buzz saw belly, and gave Godzilla the hug of death. Gooey chunks of the King of the Monsters painted the landscape a dark red.
The fins on Godzilla's back glowed a bright blue. Godzilla pushed the monster away, his hook claws leaving two more gashes on his back and arms, and exhaled a blue stream of radiation and pain all over the cyclops. The monster took the attack about as well as any other monster did, flying backwards faster than he could run. Godzilla ended the stream of fire as his enemy collided with the side of the mountain and slowly slid down. Before Godzilla could continue his assault, a loud crack erupted from above. A quick glance up revealed that the city that stood above them was falling down.
Godzilla looked back down to the cyclops, who was barely able to stand. However, it seemed that he didn't need to. In a flash of green light, the monster was gone, out of the falling city's path, leaving the settlement with only one target.
Gigan watched from a distance as the city tumbled down the mountainside faster than Godzilla could react and slammed into him harder than anything ever had and ever would. Godzilla took a castle to the face and was buried underneath the streets and buildings. When the dust settled, all was silent, with the only exception being Megalon as he buzzed down next to Gigan. At that point, it had to be over. Gigan had read through Godzilla's file. He had been hit with a lot of things, but never anything as big as a city. He was dead under there, he had to be dead under there. Thinking that they had fulfilled their contract, Gigan and Megalon burst into a joyous dance. Both cyborgs jumped up and down, clapping their claws, for they had won!
The city in front of them started to shift as the monster under it proved not to be dead. The cyborgs stopped their dancing and gawked as the monster they were hired to kill lifted a portion of the city off of him and crawled out of the ruins. They hadn't won yet. Godzilla was alive and well and they were very disappointed. But Gigan's disappointment soon gave way to elation! Hooray! The battle wasn't over!
Godzilla returned to his feet and turned to his very destructive enemies. Gigan and Megalon glanced at each other. Gigan held a hook in Godzilla's direction, instructing Megalon to attack. He did so, charging in Godzilla's direction headfirst. Godzilla caught Megalon by his horn with both hands and dragged him into the wrecked city. Megalon escaped Godzilla's grip and jabbed at Godzilla with one of his spinning drill claws. Godzilla caught the drill, which stopped in his hands. A brief moment passed before Megalon's arm exploded, leaving Megalon dazed and Godzilla armed. The target raised Megalon's severed drill claw and brought it down on Megalon's head, snapping his horn and tearing through his metal exoskeleton.
Godzilla released the claw, which had lodged itself into Megalon's head. Megalon stumbled backwards before falling over. As the blue glow of his eyes faded, Gigan's partner let out a final wargle noise. Godzilla let out a victorious roar and turned his attention to Gigan, who was now very inconvenienced and in no shape to fight. Godzilla's fins glowed blue again and he let out another stream of what Gigan's employers referred to as his "Atomic Breath". Gigan blinked out of its path and unfolded his wings. Now the fight was over. The cyclops took to the skies and fled south, having been defeated once again by a giant, stupid dinosaur.
Several hours passed since the battle. In those hours, Godzilla took off after Gigan, a headcount was made of the surviving ponies, and Megalon's body was examined. Twilight couldn't hide her amazement, despite having only limited control of her face. She was right in suspecting that Megalon was partially organic, but even upon close inspection, it was difficult to tell where the monster ended and where the machine began. The cybernetics that held it together were more advanced than any machine she could ever dream of, and she had a tendency to dream about machines.
"Twilight, look!" Spike pointed to the site where Princess Luna had set up camp for the remaining ponies. Twilight struggled to turn her head in that direction, but she managed it. Princess Celestia had returned from Stalliongrad with a giant hunk of glacial ice in tow. "Come on," Spike said as he helped Twilight up to her hooves. "Let's go see her."
"How..." Princess Celestia stuttered. "How many are left?"
"I saved as many as I could, Tia," Princess Luna said. "But I could only get a few thousand ponies out of the city before it fell. Hopefully, it'll be enough to rebuild."
"They can't all stay here," Celestia said before putting a hoof to her eyes. "The closest town is Ponyville."
"Princess Celestia," Twilight said. "What happened in Stalliongrad? What's that?"
"Twilight!" Celestia rushed to her student's side and helped keep her up. "I'll tell you everything in the morning. It's getting late, and we all need rest."
Chapter 9- Inner Workings
"What do you think kept him alive?" Twilight asked Spike as he walked her through what was left of Megalon's head and into his motionless body. Spike didn't know what to think. The little purple dragon liked to think that he was pretty smart for his age, but the most he knew about machines were the simple machines. Pulleys, inclined planes, wheels, stuff like that. He didn't know squat about robots, let alone cyborgs . He took one more look at the night sky before it was completely obscured by Megalon's exoskeleton. It was probably almost three in the morning. Twilight fired up a spell and summoned a little floating ball of light.
"I don't know," Spike half said, half yawned. "Why don't we go back to sleep?"
"Are you kidding?" Twilight probably would have raised her voice if she had the energy to. Spike was really surprised that she was awake at all. "We're inside a giant cyborg beetle right now! I'm not going to let the opportunity to learn how this guy works slip between my hooves!" At the moment, Twilight could barely move her hooves. If she could, Spike would probably still be asleep.
"Whatever," Spike said and shrugged. The two of them stopped at a fork in Megalon's head. One path led to his stomach, the other to his lungs. At least, Spike assumed that was where they led. Beetles are pretty weird, and robots are weirder. Twilight struggled to raise a hoof and pointed to the left path, not saying where it would lead them. This was just as unfamiliar territory for her as it was for Spike. "He's not even that cool."
"Who?" Twilight asked, turning her head to face him. "Megalon?"
"Yeah. He only went down in, like, two hits ."
"He tore Canterlot off of the mountain and dropped it on Godzilla ."
"And then he went down in two hits. " Twilight gave a weak chuckle. Spike smiled upon hearing the sound. He was worried that Twilight would get all broody and melodramatic in the face of all these disasters and was glad that she was still willing to have fun and joke around. Equestria needed its idealistic young princess, not a gritty anti-hero straight out of an aggressively edgy comic book. So did he. "Hey, so what are we looking for here?"
"I'd really like to see his most vital organs." Twilight scanned around the tube they were walking through. "It would have been nice to see his brain, but I guess Godzilla wanted to see it more."
"What are you trying to find in here?"
"Anything that would give me a clue as to which tube we're in. Corrosion damage would suggest we're in the esophagus, but I don't see any."
"So we're in..." Spike paused, trying to remember which body part was which. "His trachea?"
"Either that or he ate really healthy."
A few minutes passed and Twilight turned out to be right. What a surprise. The tube forked again into two gigantic chambers filled with air sacs. Spike reached into one of the chambers, intent on getting a once-in-a-lifetime feel. Twilight stopped him just before he could touch one of the vulnerable, fragile sacs with his pointy claws and told him to take out the drawing supplies. He reached into the bag he had brought into the monster with him and took out what he could salvage from Canterlot; a couple pieces of paper and a writing quill. It would have to do.
Twilight cast a telekinesis spell on the supplies and began sketching the inside of the lungs, just as she had already done for Megalon's outer body. Spike took this moment to relax, leaning against the lining of the trachea. He was in dire need of sleep. Any amount of sleep would do. Spike eased his eyelids shut and loosed his muscles. He deserved a moment's rest. Unfortunately, his sleep wasn't very restful. His dreams were littered with various things that he didn't usually think about. Ghastly wails and horrible plagues filled his head, along with Rarity. Of course, Rarity showed up in his dreams pretty often, but she usually didn't have gold teeth and six horns like she did in that particular dream.
"Aah!" Spike jolted up at the sound of his screaming friend and immediately turned to her.
"What?! What is it?!"
"Look!" Twilight quickly pointed a hoof in the direction they came from. Spike turned around and found himself face-to-face with a freaky, ugly, yet strangely adorable creature. He immediately reeled backwards from the surprise, and the creature did the same, its large, round eyes shining in the faint violet light of Twilight's magic. Its gray, leathery skin was covered in mucus and various forms of gunk. It appeared that it had already gotten lost inside the monster. The creature blinked and rose as high as it could without hitting the roof of the trachea. Still hunched over slightly, it carefully stepped towards Spike and Twilight.
"Get out of here! Go away!" Spike tried to shoo the creature, which made it hesitate.
"Weird deformed dragon thing..." Twilight mumbled to herself as she studied the creature. She rubbed he leg she had used to point at the thing, which was now sore. Her eyes lit up as she realized what she was looking at. "You're that thing that saved Applejack and Rarity from those firearm guys!" The little monster's eyes also lit up and it opened its mouth, as if to smile. It took a deep breath and let out an adorable baby roar.
"Skreeeengk!"
"Is he a..." Spike paused, letting his pulse slow down. He had heard a fair few roars in the past day alone, but that roar, no matter how cute and tiny, was unmistakable. "Is he a baby Godzilla ?"
"I think he is!" Twilight said as the baby roared again. She immediately disregarded Megalon's lungs and started sketching the miniature Godzilla. "Hold still."
"Where did he come from?" Spike asked, examining the monster from all sides.
"We had this talk," Twilight started, not looking away from the paper. "When a mommy Godzilla and a daddy Godzilla love each other very..." She paused as the obvious occurred to her. "What if there's a whole breeding population ?" Her excitement at the possibility overcame her weakened state. She was too excited to be quiet.
"Probably," Spike said and shrugged as he returned to Twilight's side. The baby monster was doing a good job of keeping still for Twilight.
"This is so amazing! What if he- Oh, shoot."
"What is it?" Spike asked. The creature broke its stillness and approached the two.
"I messed up," Twilight said and sighed. "I made his left eye way too big. I wish Rarity was here." She handed the paper and quill back to Spike and looked up at the baby monster. "Do you remember my friend Rarity? She's a really good artist." Spike packed the art stuff up and slung the bag onto his shoulder before hoisting Twilight up with the other.
"How about we tell Minilla about Rarity outside, where it's not gross?" Spike asked as they began to walk.
"'Minilla?'" Twilight asked back, raising an eyebrow and grinning? "Where did that come from?"
"Miniature Godzilla," Spike explained, shifting his weight to better support his friend. "Why? You don't like it?"
"It's not bad," Twilight said as they passed "Minilla." She rolled her eyes. "But it's a bit too... punny."
"Come on, Minilla!" Spike said to the little monster. He followed without hesitation. "Do you have something better?" he asked Twilight.
"How about Godzilla Jr.?" Twilight asked and looked back at the little Godzilla. "You can't go wrong with Junior."
"Yeah, that's alright," Spike shrugged. "But I still like-"
"Dhlbrry! " the mailmare declared after spontaneously appearing in front of them. Both of them took a step back in surprise. The blonde-maned mailmare held an envelope in her lips and looked at both the dragon and Alicorn princess at the same time with a pair of wonky yellow eyes. "Dhlbrry fuh Prncss Twilut, " she said through the envelope. Twilight lifted the envelope from the mailmare's mouth and opened it as the delivery pony cheerfully clip-clopped away.
"It's from Pinkie!" Twilight happily declared. She quickly read through the letter, which apparently consisted of only three words. "'How about Trevor?'" Her smile faded and she nodded in perplexed agreement. She handed the letter to Spike, who put it in his bag. At that moment, something screeched from the direction of Megalon's lungs. Something big, at least when compared to them. The two shared a worried look before turning to the baby. Despite probably being twice as tall as Princess Celestia when standing straight, he was scared too. "We should go."
Whatever was in the lungs screeched again, louder and clearer than before. It sounded metallic, similar to Gigan, but not as menacing. The source of the screeching made itself known quickly. A gigantic, robotic bug monster emerged from the darkness. Its silvery skin gleamed in the light of Twilight's spell. Its claws and mandibles snapped in anticipation. Its serene blue eyes shifted to a piercing red. Then it lunged at them.
The creature lashed its claws out at the baby, carving a pair of gashes into his chest. Young as he was, he was still Godzilla's son. The larger of the two combatants, he was quick to counter the creature's attack with his own, grabbing its left claw and ripping it off with ease. The insect, not deterred after that, lashed out with its right claw, only to meet its own left claw, which, while not doing any major damage, left an impressive dent in its head. Before it could react, the little monster dealt it another shot to the head, this time nearly decapitating the creature.
The robotic insect backed away from its opponent and began emitting an extraordinarily loud screech. Spike covered his ears with his claws, accidentally letting Twilight fall in the process. Fortunately, she was just strong enough to pick herself back up. The baby evidently wasn't fond of the noise either, as he brought the creature's claw down on its head two more times, silencing it once and for all.
"What was that?!" Spike asked as he returned to Twilight's side.
"That must have been its equivalent of a white blood cell," Twilight quickly explained. "That noise it made must have been it alerting the rest of Megalon's immune system to us. He must still be alive! We should go!"
"Yeah, no kidding!" Spike said as he stood Twilight up on his shoulder and started walking her out of Megalon's trachea. "Come on, Minilla!" Godzilla's son turned and followed them.
"Are you still going with Minilla?" Twilight asked.
"Are we really going to dispute this right now ?" Spike asked incredulously.
"Names are important," Twilight said. "What if I gave you a really dumb name when you were hatched?" Their argument was interrupted by the screeches of dozens of insect creatures from behind them, near the lungs.
"Yeah, that'd be lame," Spike said as he waved for the baby to come closer. "You know what's also important? Living! Let's pick up the pace!"
"Yeah!" Twilight said in agreement as the trio hurried for Megalon's mouth. It wasn't long before Spike felt like Twilight was dragging him behind her. She was getting better way faster than Princess Celestia had said she would be. That was good. Spike didn't like carrying Twilight around. She was heavy. If they weren't in mortal danger, Spike would have breathed a sigh of relief.
Unfortunately, they were in mortal danger. Spike and Twilight stumbled backwards into the baby monster as six more creatures crawled into the light of Twilight's magic, each of them gnashing their mandibles and sharpening their claws. They tried turning around. Hopefully they would find a way out through the lungs. The baby didn't budge, as it was busy facing off with another half-dozen creatures. After a brief moment of silence, the little monster roared its little baby roar and charged at the creatures on its side, which all screeched in return and attacked him.
The creatures on Twilight and Spike's side screeched and rushed them. Twilight quickly fired up some more magic and cast a barrier spell which, predictably, held the monsters at bay. "Not good, not good, not good..." Twilight muttered to herself.
"What are we gonna do?" Spike asked, now clinging to Twilight's leg.
"Maybe we could blast our way..." Twilight looked up to the squishy blue roof of the trachea. "The trachea probably wouldn't take much to break through, but then we'd have to deal with the exoskeleton, which will take ages to destroy. And what if it has an endoskeleton too? How are we going to get through-" She stopped as a bright blue light erupted from behind them. While Twilight was talking, the baby had been fighting and was eventually overwhelmed by the opposing creatures, which were now piled on top of him. However, it appeared that being overwhelmed wouldn't stop him. What could be seen of him was glowing bright blue, much like the color of his father's breath attack. It wasn't clear to either of them what he was about to do, but it was clear that it was going to be destructive. Spike watched Twilight quickly throw up another barrier and throw herself in front of him before the blue light engulfed them.
"Luna!" Princess Celestia shouted to her sister. She poked her head in Luna's tent, which she had constructed herself using what could be salvaged from Canterlot's wreckage. "Luna, wake up !"
Princess Luna woke with a start and a gasp. She sat up and met her sister's eyes. "Tia! What? What is it?"
"It's Princess Twilight," Celestia explained. "She and Spike aren't in their tent. I can't find them anywhere."
Luna got to her hooves and left her tent. "You keep searching, I'll inform the other ponies of their disappearance. What were you going to see her for?"
"I wanted to check up on her recovery process while things were quiet, even for a moment," Celestia said. She had been planning on checking on her after returning with Maguma, who rested in his frigid prison near the far side of Canterlot's ruins, near Megalon's body andfar from where her little ponies had set up camp. Unfortunately, a pair of cyborgs felt that it would be a good idea to attack Canterlot while she was gone, resulting in the city's destruction.
Before the conversation could continue and plans could be made, a bright blue explosion erupted from the supposedly deceased Megalon's chest. "So much for things being quiet," Luna said as her sister took off into the night sky and towards Megalon's corpse. She followed soon after.
When Twilight came to, everything was covered in everything else. Bits of Megalon and his immune system littered the trachea. She picked herself up and scanned the mess. The explosion had destroyed the barrier that was protecting her and Spike. Unfortunately, the explosion had kicked up so much debris and smoke that that was all Twilight could tell from it. Twilight looked behind her to see her assistant out cold in front of the barrier that separated the two of them from the creatures coming from Megalon's head. That barrier stood strong as the robot bugs continued to strike it in the vain hope that they could destroy it.
She turned back in the direction of the explosion. The dust had settled enough that she could see that one combatant had survived the battle. The baby Godzilla stood taller than it had before in the epicenter of the blast and let out an victorious adorable baby roar. Twilight smiled at the sight of him and was surprised that he was standing so tall. Before, he stood hunched over because he was taller than the trachea was wide. Twilight slowly hobbled over to his side, dragging Spike with her, and looked up to see the night sky above them. The explosion the baby had created was strong enough to punch a hole all the way out and through Megalon's exoskeleton.
Before any celebration could commence, Megalon began shaking. The creatures stopped pounding on Twilight's barrier and turned back towards his head. The view of the night sky was slowly being replaced with one of Canterlot's ruins. Megalon was indeed alive, and he was waking up! Twilight wasn't able to react before a warm, bright glow surrounded her and carried her out of the hole in Megalon's chest. She looked back to see that she was followed by the still unconscious Spike and the baby Godzilla, who was visibly very confused. She turned her head back around to find herself face-to-face with her teacher and friend, Princess Celestia, who was backed up by Princess Luna.
"We need to leave."
Chapter 10- Taking In Your Surroundings
Gigan looked back on his fight with Godzilla with embarrassment. He started out coolly and precise like he intended, but it didn't take long for him to lose himself in the action. Wanton destruction was one of his weaknesses. His other weaknesses were giant insects and chainsaws. Fortunately, he was able to escape with his life, unlike his companion. He wasn't concerned for Megalon, though, as he had died plenty of times before. Gigan could make fun Megalon's intelligence all day, but he had to admit that the brute was made of sterner stuff than him.
Gigan turned to look behind and below him. It looked like Godzilla had finally lost his trail and had wandered off to do whatever it is that big, dumb dinosaurs do. The cyclops was glad to see an opportunity to rest and recharge and greedily gobbled it up. He folded his wings back up and let himself plummet to the planet below. The ground shook as he landed and the trees and whatever other forms of flora that were present vibrated excitedly, for they were in the presence of something much greater than themselves. Gigan had a special fondness for invading planets with especially small inhabitants. It made him feel so much greater than he usually did, watching his tiny, pathetic targets flee from him in terror. It was cute.
He stood up and scanned the landscape. He relished the opportunity to turn his head around 360 degrees. It was a neat ability and he didn't get to use it often. He spotted a range of hills and began making his way to it. As he did, he scanned the ground beneath the hills, checking to see if it had anything nice he could use. Lo and behold, there was a sizable deposit of iron right beneath those peaks. Not enough to enhance him in any way, but it was easily enough to fix up his damages.
He raised his bent, dented claws and dug them into the nearest hillside. Inside the dirt and stone, dozens of smaller claws emerged from his hooks and gathered up the materials he needed. As the iron entered his body, it was immediately put to use filling in for lost chunks of body and being used to reforge his claws. Intense heat was naturally required for the process, and the pain it brought was almost unbearable. The fight must have damaged Gigan's nervous inhibitors. That explained why he got so excited during the previous day's fight. While he would prefer to come off as composed and collected, the giant could never take pain very well.
Gigan unplugged himself from the hills and turned to the horizon, not too far off from the mountain he had recently fled from, where a decent-sized settlement sat, separated from the city Megalon had destroyed by a particularly dense forested area, which could have been large enough to safely be called a jungle. It wasn't nearly as big as either of the cities the cyborgs had visited before, but it was too big to be a town. Gigan stared at it, considering taking out his frustrations on the local quadrupeds, but decided against it. As trivial as it would have been for him to wipe the settlement off of the map, it was safe to bet that their armed forces would arrive fairly quickly, with Godzilla not far behind. Whatever these colorful little creatures called their army would be a cute treat, but Godzilla was dangerous. Gigan wouldn't be dealing with that beast until Megalon was back up. Until then, he had a bit of waiting to do.
The sun had begun to set by that point. The cyclops stared at the serene image, taking in all the warmth and color of it, and wished that he had sprung for the solar batteries. The sun was a very commonly recurring symbol on the castle Megalon had destroyed. While it wasn't uncommon for more primitive civilizations to worship their local stars, Gigan could tell that this star earned its following. Every time he stood beneath it, he felt the power emanating from it. There was an odd feel to its presence, however. Everything about it felt deliberate. Whereas most suns have planets form around them, Gigan couldn't help but feel that the opposite was true in this world's case. The sun always rose and set, but he could never feel the planet move.
Whether this quirk was harmless or not, it was still something that the cyborg's employers should have informed him about. An antenna slid out of Gigan's head as he set out to contact them. He was already supposed to request for help if he encountered any complications, such as the death of his companion, but the help wasn't needed. He mostly just wanted to scream at them for not telling him about the weird sun. But, alas, a connection couldn't be established between Gigan and the people who were paying him. He considered the possibility that he was standing on the wrong side of the planet to make contact, but that only ever caused minor disruption. The sun had completely set and night was upon him, so then was a good time to check the stars and catch his bearings.
He looked up and almost immediately tilted his head in confusion. Gigan had been flying between planets, wiping out wannabe heroes, assassinating planets, and getting paid for it for longer than most civilizations have existed. He knew the universe like the back of his claw, but to his surprise, he didn't recognize this planet's night sky. Every notable constellation that was normally visible from Earth was missing. In their place were images that Gigan could just barely make out. There were images of vicious warlords, unusual symbols, and what appeared to be a local quadruped with a long, flowing muzzle. Closer examination revealed that the stars themselves were different from those visible from Earth. The only other body in the night sky was the moon, and even that felt wrong.
Similar to the sun, Gigan could feel a great power emanating from the moon. It wasn't quite as strong as the sun, but it was still strong enough to be felt from the planet below. Unlike the sun, however, this power wasn't strange to him. Gigan had felt this power before, during Megalon's raid on the mountain-perched settlement, coming from one of the local creatures. During the attack, he locked eyes with an airborne quadruped, dark blue in hue. Perhaps it was worshiped by the lesser creatures along with its supposed celestial counterpart.
Gigan turned his head back to face the city Megalon had recently wrecked and, through his telescopic gaze, saw a new commotion rise from the city's ruins. Megalon had risen back to his feet, spitting in the empty eye socket of death once again. That's a good brute. Excitedly buzzing away from Megalon was a pair of flying quadrupeds. Specifically, the dark blue creature and a slightly larger, brightly-colored one with what appeared to be an image of the sun on its flank. The celestial counterpart, if ever there was one. If Gigan had lips, they would have curled. He had never been given the chance to destroy a star.
But still, there was more to them. On the back of the lunar creature was another quadruped, this one lavender and visibly exhausted, as well as a small reptile. Riding the solar one was another reptile, but this one much larger, even bigger than its mighty steed, dyed a simple grey and with a row of blue fins along its back.
Could that have been a juvenile Godzilla? Now there was an interesting development. Gigan looked over his options. On one hook, he could kill the juvenile. If it was left without a parent, it would inevitably fly off into space, seeking revenge. Plus, nothing warmed Gigan's heart quite like youth being cut down before it could peak. On the other hook, he could let the juvenile live. He probably wouldn't be able to convince his employers to give him a bonus for killing a tiny baby they didn't see.
Gigan shook his head and decided then that whatever happened would happen. If the juvenile survived the coming hours, so be it. If it took its last breaths from the business end of one of Gigan's hooks, even better. Using his telescopic vision, he scanned the horizon and quickly found his colossal mark racing across the countryside, back towards the chaos. Taking a moment to factor in the speeds of both Godzilla and Megalon, as well as his own air velocity, Gigan pinpointed an approximate point where all three of them would meet if he left immediately. He unfolded his wings and bared his metal fangs. This would be the night Godzilla died.