The Rise of the Ultracorn
Despite what happened the previous night, Twilight was determined to get through the morning. She had just finished getting dressed, and she stood ready to go about her day. She would head to Canterlot to discuss her dream with Luna in the evening to ask her if she saw what Twilight saw in the dream, maybe even give some insight as to what it meant.
"I wonder if Luna's gonna be able to tell you if your nightmare meant something, Twi." Spike said with concern as he saw her walking out of her bathroom, patting down the skirt she was wearing.
"I do too, spike," Twilight agreed, "I don't know who else to turn to that could help with something that pertains to a dream, let alone a nightmare; such as the one last night."
Spike then used his fire breath to send the letter Twilight wrote to Luna earlier in the morning. "There, it's been sent."
Twilight just sighed, saying, "The only thing we can do is wait." She then looked out of one of the windows in her room and stared down at Ponyville thinking, 'I just hope that this won't lead to some crazy crisis that could threaten Equestria and it won't require the princesses and I to intervene, or my friends in that regard.'
Spike then walked over and put a claw on twilights shoulder, causing her to turn around and be enveloped in a warm, friendly embrace. Spike then broke the hug, saying, "Like I said last night, we've seen seen crazier things in just a few years than alot of ponies should ever have to see in their lifetimes; and the best part is that it's been all of us against it, facing each of those threats down and making sure we've kept Equestria standing, or it's been through the help of those who've been close to us."
She took a deep breath and smiled. "well, I could certainly go for some tea right now, and perhaps a good book. How about you, Spike?"
The dragon's stomach then started to rumble, giving her an answer.
"I think my stomach just gave both of us an answer," the dragon snickered.
Twilight started to giggle and said, "Well, there should be some emeralds in the cupboards in the kitchen; just look over by the sink. Oh, and spike?"
"Yea?" The dragon asked.
The alicorn sighed, saying, "I... recieved a new high powered catadioptric telescope, from Saddle Arabian dignitaries for helping them out with a friendship problem; I got a confirmation it arrived a couple of days ago, but I've been pre-occupied these last couple of days. Would you mind going to pick it up?"
Spike shook his head with a smirk. "Uh, sure. Where at?"
"Manehatten."
" WHAT!?"
"I know it's a long flight for you, and I know the crate it's in is big, but you're the only one besides me, or the other princesses, who can lift something that heavy and still fly."
"Ugh, couldn't you get Rainbow Dash to do it? She's faster than I am." The dragon whined.
"While Rainbow Dash may be the fastest pegasus in all of Equestria and possess strength that can rival an earth pony such as Applejack, the extra weight would just hinder her flying, and she wouldn't have the energy to lug it all the way back here, unless she's as adept with levitation spells as I am, or if she had a big growth spurt like you have.
"What if she used some of the Rainbow Power?" he countered.
The lavender mare sighed and said, "Spike, I think we all know it's best used as a last resort against a big threat to Equestria, not as something that makes us lazy with small tasks we can easily perform without it. Tasks such as lifting a heavy container with my telescope in it. You've grown a lot in these three years, so you're able to do more than you used to; you have the extra strength from your heritage, plus training with Rainbow, or helping AJ out around Sweet Apple Acres, and that means lifting a big crate shouldn't be too much of a problem and you could still stay airborne." She finished sternly
The dragon calmed down a bit before saying, "Alright, fine. I'll do it, but just let me hit up on those emeralds you told me about, and let me get out of my pajamas."
His comment caused the alicorn to smirk and say, "Okay then, but don't take too long with eating them." With that said, Spike walked out of Twilight's bedroom to get his snack and prepare himself to go to Manehatten.
To many, the civilization of the Land of Light looked as though it was a giant crystal ball with smaller crystaline structures protruding from the surface, with Ultras flying in and out of the structures, as well as around or over them. One ultra in particular could be seen weaving her way through the maze of crystaline buildings, finally spotting her intended destination.
This ultra had a slightly silver body with a mix of red, cyan, and purple on her arms, legs and chest, with streaks of blue going down the middle of her chest and across her stomach. Her head possessed the characteristic glowing yellow orbs for eyes her race was known for, three protrusions jutting out of the back of her head, two facing outwards while bending inwards at the midsections and one jutting straight out and bending down at the midsection, that resembled pony tails of a sort, a jewel embedded in her forehead, a mouth indentation, and two stubs on the sides of her head for ears.
She started walking into the structure she landed in front of, taking notice of other young ultras fighting various holograms of monsters while under the watchful eyes of a Space Garrison instructor in the main training room. The young female ultra then continued her walk towards another room, where her training had been taking place for years, and stopped in front of it, stepping through the door, ready to see what training awaited her.
"Shinjoja, you may begin the exercise when you are ready." Said the voice of Ultraman Taro, whose appearance was similar to that of most other ultras, with a few exceptions. His body was primarily red in color with a large white marking starting at his upper abdominal and upper back regions, wrapping around his waist, and going down the front and back of his legs, stopping just below his knees. His head had horns jutting out from the sides, a genetic trait from his father, and a crest on the top of his forehead going to the back of his head with small nubs going on both sides of the base from the front to the back, and a small green colored light at the middle of the forehead, and his eyes had more of a box shape to them, which differed from how many ultras had round glowing orbs for their eyes, and, like any other ultra, Taro could see anything beyond the normal spectrum of color. Taro's upper body had armor plating, albeit different from Zero's and zero's father's armor in the fact that his armor plating couldn't collect and store solar energy to be used in battle, that covered his shoulders, shoulder blades, the area just below the base of his neck, surrounding his color timer, with little ridges and nubs dotting the armor plating. On his left wrist was a relic known as the King Bracelet ,an upgrade made to his Taro Bracelet by his mother.
Shinjoja proceeded to the main training floor in the room, took a fighting stance, and started to charge up an attack.
Her hands started to glow a light orange color and glow brighter with each passing second.
"I'm ready for my target, Taro." She said.
Taro then went over to a control panel in the training room and pressed a button, which caused an odd looking machine to appear come out of a panel in one of the walls of the training room. The machine lit up and cast a projection of a monster, which roared and dropped down from it's point of projection and stood ready to fight, the monster then charged at Shinjoja only to find her attack had been completely charged up due to a ring of spiraling orange colored energy surrounding her body and being guided to her hands , which were in a cross position with her left arm being pointed up at the elbow and her right arm going horizontal at the elbow with her right hand in front of her left hand, and ready to fire at any given moment.
"I'll send you back to the hell you came from." Shinjoja said with a hint of cockiness in her voice. She then let out a grunt and fired her attack, which hit the projected monster head on and caused the monster to dissipate into nothing but thin air. Her attack wasn't with out an adverse effect though, she was on one knee and breathing hard from the effort put into her attack.
When the young ultra rose to her feet she saw Taro in front of her with his arms crossed."Shinjoja, I want you to compose yourself for a moment and look around you." He told her sternly.
Shinjoja's breathing returned to normal after a moment or so and she looked around, seeing what her attack actually destroyed much more than the simulated monster. "Oops."
"It's far more than a simple 'oops', Shinjoja; we've been over this time and again."
"What? I hit my target, didn't I?"
Taro let out a heavy sigh, shaking his head. "Yes, but you've caused untold collateral damage in the process. It's reckless to put that much force into a single attack; you know this."
"I don't see why I'm in my own training room and not out there with the other recruits." Shinjoja retorted.
"It's because your actions during training pose a danger to everyone around you. If you happened to be fending off a kaiju on Earth, in a populated area, you risk putting innocent lives in danger. It isn't something an ultra does, Shinjoja. The ultras have protected the universe for millenia; fighting off kaiju after kaiju and protecting those who need it. But you've proven to me, once again, that you're just as reckless as when you started training under my watch."
Shinjoja only huffed, stomping her way over to Taro, saying, "If someone gets in the way, that's their problem, not mine. I don't see why we're protecting those humans on that planet. All they do is cause trouble for themselves by being naive enough to awaken the kaiju that they're plagued with; I don't see how this pertains to me..."
Taro layed a firm hand on Shinjoja's shoulder, "You don't know how wrong you are, Shinjoja. The humans may be small, but they posess such strong will, and they don't give up. That's why we fight; to inspire hope in them so they won't lose face when grave danger finds its way to them. These are just some of the reasons why Ultra King admires them, because they stand as strong as we do. You know some ultras, including myself, have even merged our life forces or blended in with the humans?"
"Why?" She asked.
Taro tightened his hand on the young ultra's shoulder a little bit and said, "Well, it's mostly because during our battles, some humans are unlucky enough to become caught directly in the cross fire, and as a result, we save their lives by merging our own life forces with them.
Shinjoja only scoffed and loosened herself from Taro's grip. "I'd never give my life force to any human."
"Or," Taro started. "You could just turn yourself into a human, or similar life form if you wouldn't consider merging your life force."
"As if I would do that. I'll just stick to this form."
"Shinjoja," Taro said. "What would happen if you ran out of solar energy during a skirmish with a kaiju? Merging your life force with another being has the added benefit of allowing you to replenish yourself with out the need to ascend into the cosmos to get your power back."
"Like I said before, Taro, I'm better off on my own."
"An ultra must accept help in the most dire of circumstances, whether from fellow ultras or other beings. I remember seeing you as a child with another young Ultra. What happened to the bond between the two of you?"
Shinjoja turned away from Taro, "He ended up getting himself sent away from here because he was tempted by the Plasma Spark, he was banished, and now he's a big shot around here.
"Yes, Zero was tempted, but he received the proper training and learned the true meaning of being an ultra warrior: that you must put others before yourself and protect those that can't protect themselves."
Shinjoja only huffed, "I get that, but when I knew him, we could talk about things with each other, and when he went away, only to come back, deafeat Belial, and be immortalized in history; but it's like he forgot about his friend."
"If he hadn't been sent away, he would've endured the same fate that Belial endured. But Zero defeated Belial and that is what makes him one of the greatest ultras in the known universe." Taro stated. "And, I don't think he would've forgotten about you so easily.
"Well, he did; he forgot who his best friend was. I've felt like I could talk to him, and now he's off on his own and, you know what? So am I.
Taro shook his head again. "Shinjoja, for all you know, you could end up saving us all from a catastrophe if you put aside your resentment towards Zero and applied yourself more during training."
"Well, whatever," Shinjoja shot back. "Are we going to gab all day or are we getting back to my training?"
Taro let out a deep sigh, "Very well, but remember to excercise restraint."
"Let's get this one over with," The female ultra said as she resumed training.
'Shinji, maybe someday you'll learn that your friend didn't forget you, but instead you let your envy take hold of you and destroy your trust towards others who only want to help; you're young, and you still have much to learn. Taro thought to himself.
The time seemed to pass by as spike flew to Manehatten and headed towards the harbor to pick up Twilight's telescope. When he arrived at the docks however, he didn't see a soul in sight.
"Hello? I'm here to pick up a delivery to Princess Twilight, anypony here?" Spike looked around, only to be met with the same sight of an empty shipping port.
"Get outta here, you damn dragon; you've already done enough damage!" Said a frightened, yet angry voice.
"I just got here," Spike countered. "And what are you talking about? What did I do?"
"Don't act like you're the good guy here, especially when you attacked the area and scared alot of ponies." The frightened voice's owner said in accusation.
"I would never knowingly hurt anypony or attack a city. Are you sure you have the right dragon?" Spike said, trying to speak for himself.
"All of you freakin' dragons look the same to me; your sizes, and how you try to scare us ponies by goin' through a town on a rampage just because you think you can."
Spike countered the offensive statement made by the dock worker pony. "Woah, woah, woah, hold up. In case you haven't noticed ,buddy, I'm not like other dragons. Besides, I thought all of the other dragons would've been at the edge of Equestria at this time of the year.
"So, you didn't turn all of Manehatten square into a fire pit a few hours ago, then? And you didn't try to eat a bunch of helpless ponies during that time, either? I'm supposed to believe that?" The dock pony asked.
"What do you mean by a fire pit?" Spike inquired.
"There are a couple of big craters in the square, along with a bunch of giant foot prints, as well as some buildings having damage to them; there are also a few fires going around."
"Did the mayor ask for the local authorities to help?"
"They were all too scared to do anything, so they got the hell outta here."
"How about the Royal Guard?
"I don't know if the mayor tried to call on 'em or not, but I know you need to get goin' and not come back! I don't wanna see you around here again!" The dockworker shouted, standing up from his hiding place. He was a yellow earth pony stallion with orange eyes, a silver mane and tail; he had a dock uniform on, which were overalls, an undershirt, and a hard hat. His cutie mark, a picture of a crate being lifted by hands, was emblazoned on the front of his overalls.
"If that's how you want it, I'll go, but not before I check out the damage in the rest of the city; I'll need to report all of this to Princess Twilight." Spike stated and flew off to the square to take a look at the supposed damage he knew he had to see for himself.
In Ponyville, Twilight decided to go out to sugarcube corner to try and eat something to take her mind off of her nightmare. When she arrived she saw Pinkie, who was wearing a Sugar Cube Corner t-shirt, a dark pink skirt, and roller skates, shuddering uncontrollably, which meant a doozy would happen. When she walked to the counter, up she asked, "Is something big happening, Pinkie? Or is something big gonna happen?"
Pinkie then answered, "I-I-I've b-b-ee-e-n-n ge-e-t-t-ting the s-s-shu-u-t-te-r-r-s since this mo-o-r-r-n-nni-ing."
Just as Twilight was about to ask another question, Applejack walked in, wearing signature Stetson hat, her orange short-sleeve flannel shirt that was tied up to reveal her stomach, her daisy dukes, and her boots, and asked, "Ah see yer still shakin', huh, Pinkie?"
"You came in here earlier, Applejack?" Twilight asked.
"Yup," the farmer said, " Ah decided to take a break fer a spell and head on into town t'check and see if Pinkie needed mah help with bakin', and what do Ah find? Ah find 'er shakin' and Ah'm thinkin' it's got t' be a doozy."
Twilight then sighed and asked, "What kind of a doozy is it?"
"I-I-I-t-t's in Manehatten, oh lookie there, it stopped again, but yeah, my Pinkie Sense is telling me it's in Manehatten."
Twilight then gasped and said, "Oh no."
"What's wrong, Twi?" Applejack asked.
"I sent Spike over there about five hours ago!" The alicorn blurted out
"Why would yaj send him over there if somethin' bad was happenin', Twilight?" The farmer asked. "Ah thought he was back at the Crystal Library."
"I recieved a new top of the line, high powered catadioptric telescope from Saddle Arabia and I asked Spike to go and pick it up in Manehatten."
Pinkie just snickered. "Oh, Twi, when do you not need something all sciencey to just look at the stars or something?"
"This ain't the time to fool around, Pinkie," Applejack reprimanded her, "we're not helpin' Twi out like this."
"Sorry, AJ, I was just trying to joke around."
Twilight sighed and said, "I know you're trying to help ease my worry, Pinkie, but I'm just worried that I may have sent Spike into imminent danger, and your Pinkie Sense only confirms more of that worry."
"Well, Ah think we should ask Spike if he saw somethin' that was out of the ordinary when he gets back." Applejack stated.
"I guess you're right, Applejack, we'll just have to wait for Spike to get back from-"
"Guys! There was an attack on Manehatten!" Rainbow Dash shouted, interrupting Twilight and speeding into Sugarcube Corner. She was dressed in her usual training outfit; a white tank top, a pair of black track pants, and her red sneakers.
"What?!" Applejack and Twilight shouted.
"I said that Manehatten was attacked."
"By what?" Pinkie asked.
"A dragon; I don't know the full story, but a big dragon attacked Manehatten."
"How'd yah find that out, Rainbow?"
"I was doing some cloud busting this morning, and I almost got rammed by another pegasus; he said that a big dragon came into Manehatten and started trashing the buildings, and scaring alot of ponies but he didn't say anything else, so he took off."
"Huh, that's weird." Pinkie said, out of nowhere.
"What's weird, other than you saying that, Pinkie?" The cyan pegasus asked.
"I'm saying it's weird, because Twilight sent Spike to Manehatten this morning to go pick up a telescope."
Rainbow went wide eyed. "How long ago?"
"I sent him there about five hours ago." Twilight said.
"That's how long ago that dragon supposedly attacked. But seriously, aren't the dragons supposed to be on the edge of Equestria at this time?
"Well, yes, but we should get back on our main focus: Spike." Twilight said.
"I guess you've got a point there, egg-head," the pegasus admitted. "Lets focus on what we're gonna do about Spike."
Just as the cyan pegasus finished, a yellow pegasus, who was wearing a blue sundress, flew right in, and right on her tail was an alabaster unicorn, who had on a crop top that exposed her midriff, a long purple skirt, and a pair of orange, low heeled shoes. The unicorn was slightly out of breath from trying to keep up the pace with the timid animal lover. "I just got the news that there was a dragon attack on Manehatten." The pegasus said.
"I'd bet that you are all curious as to know how Fluttershy obtained this information." Rarity spoke.
"Ooh, ooh, can I take a guess?" Pinkie asked. "A little birdie told her."
"You're quite right, Pinkie Pie," the fashionista started to snicker at Pinkie's guess and Fluttershy continued. "I saw a flock of birds flying over, and they must've really been scared of something to want to fly all the way out to Ponyville. I went up to meet them; I asked what was wrong, and one of them told me a dragon attacked the city and they got out of there."
Everypony's expressions went from snickering back to serious, a matter of minutes seemed to pass before Twilight broke the silence. "Okay, so we're caught up on the fact that Manehatten was attacked just a few hours ago, but we need to discuss what we're gonna do about spike."
Fluttershy's expression changed to confused. "I thought he was back at the castle, where is he?" She asked.
"Twi sent him to Manehatten. Ah won't get into the whole thing, but she sent him over there 'bout five hours ago. He should be there right now, Ah reckon." The farmer said.
"Applejack's right," The alicorn in question spoke. "A course of action needs to be taken, though."
"Whatever shall we do, Twilight?"
"Well, we can't risk going there without getting attacked and getting into a fight that puts anypony still trapped there at risk and just causes more destruction. Celestia, Luna, and Cadence are probably just receiving this news in some form, and Luna is supposed to meet up with me to discuss something, something I don't quite know how to explain, so I guess sending the Royal Guard might be the best thing. Other than that, I think the only thing we could do is wait for Spike to get back so we can see if he found anything."
"I'm with you, Twi. As much as I hate to wait for somethin' to happen before I'm able to jump in to try and stop any of the crap that comes our way, which is still crazy, we'll just wait here.
The others nodded in agreement, which put Twilight at ease slightly, and they were all going to wait to see if anything happened to Spike to try and help him if he came back traumatized in any way. The lavender alicorn thought to herself 'Spike, please don't do anything stupid or that dragon will be the least of your problems.'
Back in Nebula M78, the five hours had gone by through a rigorous training session with Taro and Shinjoja sparring with each other and with various monsters generating from the projector machines in the training room.
Taro started to charge up an attack by flexing his muscles and gathering up energy until his body started glowing in a rainbow colored aura, he then crossed his right arm over his chest and balled his left hand into a fist, placing it under his right arm in a T-shape, and fired a beam of a red and green color, destroying a small portion of the projected monsters he was fighting.
"I thought you said I should conserve my energy, Taro." Shinjoja said sarcastically.
Taro shook his head, saying, "I only utilized a small portion of my energy, not as much as you did, just mere hours ago."
"Fair enough," Shinjoja admitted. "let's just finish the rest of these kaiju while we can and be done for today."
"If you say so, my pupil." .
In a matter of five minutes, Taro and Shinjoja had destroyed the rest of the synthetic monsters. After they had finished gathering their breaths, a figure began to walk into the training facility towards them. The being was mostly silver, with patches of red on his arms, chest, neck, back, waist, and legs. His chest was adorned with a color timer, as well as various metallic studs on his shoulders; they symbolized he was a high ranking figure. He also had those same metallic studs on his chest, which were medals of honor from various combat missions against different monsters. His head just had a small head crest, the characteristic glowing yellow orbs for his eyes, the indentations for a mouth, and the ear stubs on the sides of his head.
Taro looked at his commanding officer and said, "It's a pleasure to see you today, Zoffy. How can I help you?"
Zoffy walked closer to Taro, saying, "At ease, Taro, I came by to observe the progress you're making with our new recruit. May I ask how she is faring?"
"Well, I don't know about Taro, but I think I've done decent." Shinjoja admitted
Zoffy then looked at Shinjoja and said, "Ah, I see. Speaking of which," Zoffy then looked back to Taro, "May I have a word with you on a serious matter, Taro?"
"May I ask the reason?" Taro spoke.
"Come with me. Don't fret; you have not done anything wrong, if that is what you're thinking." Zoffy said with an assuring tone.
"Shinjoja," Taro said, pointing over to a blank screen. "Would you mind turning on that viewing screen and observing how some of the other ultras utilized their techniques against different kaiju?"
"If you say so, 'teacher'." Shinjoja said roughly. "I might as well see how Ace, Seven, and Ultraman fared when they were on Earth."
Taro then looked at his superior officer and said, "Well, we should get going, Zoffy."
When Taro and Zoffy were out of the training facility, Shinjoja went over to a control panel that stood directly beside the viewing screen and pressed a button causing the screen to activate and show Ultraman, a warrior almost exactly identical in appearance to Zoffy, without the metallic stubs on his shoulders and chest, who seemed to be a normal looking ultra, fighting off a monster known as Bemular, who was a dark brown, bipedal kaiju with spikey protrusions jutting out from the back of his head down to his tail, short arms that seemed to be almost useless, and the ability to shoot a beam of concentrated energy from his maw, on a planet known as Earth. 'I should ask Taro what makes Earth so important.' Shinjoja thought to herself as she watched Ultraman, who shouted battle cry after battlecry, and Bemular, who was roaring his challenge to Ultraman, fighting in a lake with the water churning and bubbling with each movement. As the battle raged on, Shinjoja took notice of how Ultraman's color timer was turning from blue to red, an obvious sign that the Ultra was losing precious solar energy with each passing second in the fight. As Ultraman took a fighting stance, Bemular fired his beam at him, which he dodged, and ascended to the sky, with Bemular looking around and not noticing the Ultra descending down towards his backside and tackling the monster to the ground. After the monster was knocked down, Ultraman used his brute, two hundred thousand ton, strength the hoist Bemular over his shoulders and throw him into the lake. A minute after tossing the monstrosity, it condensed it's body into a floating sphere, trying to flee, but was stopped by Ultraman crossing his left arm over his chest and jutting his right arm up at the elbow, with his left wrist going horizontally in front of his right wrist, making a cross, and fired his signature attack, the Specium Ray, which destroyed the floating sphere, thus destroying the monster.
As Shinjoja was imitating the techniques she saw, rather sloppily, from watching the battle, Taro and Zoffy were in a corridor outside of the training room, walking to an area where they could talk in private. A couple of minutes had passed when they arrived at their spot; Taro asked, "Is there something on your mind, Captain?"
Zoffy then sighed. "Yes, Taro, something has happened as of recent."
"What happened?" Taro asked with a hint of worry.
"There was a breach in the Space Prison, and it seems that, from the energy coming out of that breach, it was able to open a dimensional rift, allowing it to take refuge within that dimension and begin manifesting itself." Zoffy said with a serious tone.
"Do you have an inclination as to where it might've gone?" Taro inquired.
"We're not entirely certain, but the only habital place is a planet I'm only vaguely familiar with; Equis." Zoffy spoke
"You can't possibly mean that-" Taro started, but was interrupted by Zoffy.
"Yes, it has to be him; he's a criminal that originally came from one of the many lands on that planet. This breach is a sign of the imminent danger he could pose to the denizens of that land. He wouldn't be at full strength if he's just going there as smaller manifestations of himself, but if he's able to control even a single creature there, it's only a matter of time until he's able to break out."
"If this land is the place I think it is, I've heard of the two particular rulers there; they're revered as dieites, and the connection that they seem to have had with him. Something must be done in order to protect them." Taro said.
"I've already dispatched Ultraman and Ultraseven to the location of the energy's manifestation site, they should be within the vicinity at this time." Zoffy told his subordinate.
"The last time this being caused a catastrophe, M78 was almost entirely wiped from existence, because his monstrosities almost destroyed the plasma spark."
"I just thought of something," Taro said. "Why don't we send Shinjoja to help my cousin and Ultraman? It would help her understand what it means to be an ultra."
"Hmmm... that might not be the best suggestion," Zoffy pointed out. "She's reckless; we both know this."
Taro just nodded. "I'm aware of that, but we might have to rely on her. It reminds me of the time when Zero was sent away for being tempted by power."
"With Shinjoja, she's proven she's as dangerous as Zero could have been if we hadn't sent him away. King knows she could be more easily tempted by the plasma spark, only to have a fate similar to Belial's befall her." Zoffy said.
"I know how reckless she can be, but I can sense a change coming to her. And as hesitant as I know we both are to let her try her hand at being an ultra warrior, we at least have to give her the chance, don't we?"
"If I think about granting her a chance, who's to say she won't botch it the moment she arrives? What do we do, then?"
"I remember an old friend worrying about me like that when I was young, do you?" Taro reminded him.
"Yes, but that was so long ago, Taro. I am, however, thankful that you grew out of your recklessness; I've been expecting Shinjoja to be beyond this for quite a few centuries, but I can see that she hasn't." Zoffy finished sternly
"I'm aware Shinjoja is rather 'late' in overcoming this stage, but I know she can make a difference if we gave her a chance. I'll take responsibility if she gets out of control." Taro tried to reassure his comrade.
"Taro," Zoffy started. "I couldn't ask you to do that. You would be throwing away your life and reputation just to fix the mistakes of someone else. Are you really willing to do that? Just ruin your life because of your faith in Shinjoja?"
Taro only said, "I know my pupil isn't the most pleasant to work with, but I took her under my wing when Seven, Ultraman, and Ace refused to give her a chance, because I believed in her, and I still do. I know we have other warriors that are much better suited to deal with this crises, but what would happen if she was the only one who could save us? I realize she has a tough shell to crack, but I think she trusts me enough to let me in and try and help. I would just like to give her this chance."
"Fine, I will grant her a chance, but we should at least get to know what's happening over there. We should inform Shinjoja, however, just to see what she thinks."
"After you, Captain." Taro nodded and started to walk back towards the training room Shinjoja was in, to see her imitating, albeit poorly, a technique she had observed in a battle between Ultraman Taro himself and a monster that was an old enemy of Taro's father.
Taro started to walk towards her, only for her to cast a glance his way and ask, "Did I screw up again?"
"No, well, your form wasn't spot on. That's not what I'm here to tell you, though." Taro told her.
"What then?"
"There's chance you may be able to prove yourself as an ultra."
"Seriously?" Shinjoja asked with minor agitation.
"Yes, but we need need some time to assess the current situation."
"Where will I be going? Earth, or some other planet with humans?" Shinjoja inquired.
"Well, it's a planet with an almost similar atmosphere and landscape to Earth's, the only differences are the dominant races on the planet's surface." Taro explained.
"I thought Humans would be on both of them, why are they not on the other planet?"
"Because the beings that inhabit that other planet, Equis, are ponies; well, the majority of them anyways. They are creatures who have a similar will to humans and some of us are fortunate enough to have developed a friendship with the deities of one of the landmasses of the planet. They are mostly compassionate beings, like humans, and will never give up, even when things seem bleak."
"Ponies!?" Shinjoja asked, insulted. "You're telling me I have to deal with colorful equines!?"
"Yes, Shinji. Besides, I thought you said you wanted to try and prove that you're a great warrior."
The female ultra shook her head, "Well, yea, but-"
"Shinjoja," Taro started. "It might be a good life experience for you. You could give some actual help to different beings."
"I'd rather merge my life force with a human first before I even consider merging with a pony."
"How would you know if you've never tried either species?"
"I-I.." Shinjoja was at a loss for words.
"Perhaps getting back to your training would be a good idea."
Spike flew into Manehatten square, and what he saw confirmed what the dockworker pony had told him; buildings surrounding the square had either been completely reduced to rubble or on fire and slowly burning away. Giant draconian foot prints were scattered all over the square, as well as smashed up carts and shredded up articles of clothing.
"Damn," Spike said. "that dock worker wasn't kidding when he said a fire pit; everything's destroyed. I just hope the city can recover from this."
Just after spike said that, he could've sworn he saw two shadows in the distance, walking closer to where he was, although, it might have been a trick that the smoke around him was playing.
"Um, excuse me, is somepony there?" Spike asked into the distance, and sure enough, the foot steps he heard confirmed his earlier suspicion.
The figures walked even closer and Spike could see what they looked like. They were both clad in brown cloaks. One of the figures wore glasses, and looked a few years younger than Granny Smith, but still up there in age, the other figure looked to be around the same age as the first figure, if not, older.
"Hello, young one," One of the beings spoke. "my friend and I could ask what you could be doing out here."
"I'm just here to find out the damage," Spike spoke. "a dragon, not me, caused the damage."
"So we see." said the second being. "May I ask your name, young dragon?"
"My name's Spike." The young dragon said. " what are your names?"
"I am Shin Hayata, but Hayata is fine." The first stranger stated.
"And I am Dan Moroboshi, but just Dan will suffice." Proclaimed the second stranger
"Well, now that we have introductions out of the way, why are you here? Didn't you see how trashed this part of Manehatten is?"
"That is actually why we have come here." Said Dan.
"Yes," concurred Hayata. "We've come here to find the kaiju, or creature, responsible, and, if we have to, destroy it."
Spike just stared wide eyed, "Um, I know I'd probably insult you if I said this, but how can you expect to fight a full grown version of a member of my species without magic or wings to help you?"
Just as one of the strangers was about to answer, the ground started shaking and cracks were starting to form in the ground, just where Spike was. After a moment of shaking, the ground opened up to reveal what Spike and, apparently the two strangers, had been looking for, a fully grown, vicious, fire breathing drake staring down at them with the intent of making them into it's next meal, and roaring out.
"You'll get your answer to your question in a moment," Dan said. "There's more to us than what you see."
'Just when I think I see something crazy, there's always something that's even crazier.' Spike thought.
Author's Note
Hey guys, sorry it took me so long to write out the second chapter, but I've been busy with college and, not to mention, stuff going on in my family and around my house. This was originally intended as a christmas present, but I didn't get around to it; I'm sorry, and I'll have the next chapter out soon.
