A figure walked around in an anxious manner, its head constantly turning towards a large line of metal plating on the far side of its position. Stepping back would reveal that the metal plating was in the form of a beak, with a curved metal spike pointing inwards on each side of the beak, and higher up on the metal beak was one wide and singular red line, which occasionally reflected the light that constantly illuminated the room.
Looking up, one might suspect that the ceiling was getting closer, but looking down from the side of the platform and you would conclude that you were in a giant elevator. In two consecutive corners were pillars that raised up another platform, albeit smaller and only big enough to be a walkway. Two figures were on the walkway, both in hooded cloaks, but easily identified as ponies, with one in the middle being the figure that was pacing around.
“I’ve got a really bad feeling about this, Black Band,” said the figure in the middle of the walkway. The target of his sentence was on the far left side of the walkway, sitting down and fumbling with his hooves over some metal panel.
“What are you worrying about? Everything’s cleared. We ain’t breaking rules here, at least as far as I know. It would be a first too,” the other figure replied. To confirm his proclamation, the left side figure known as Black Band held up the metal panel, showing a sea-foam green screen to his fellow pony, who quickly trotted up to read the panel. It showed him that everything was green-checked by Princess Celestia. Yet his face still didn’t loosen up.
“I’ve just got that gut feeling again. You know, the same feeling whenever we were on those heists back in the day? The same feeling that something is going to go wrong?” the figure looked with pleading vibrant blue eyes to Black Band’s hazel ones.
Black Band sighed. His partner’s gut did have an uncanny power to tell his partner bad omens. He knew it from experience, and it has saved their hides more than once. Only one way to find out how bad of an omen it would be.
“How do you feel?” he asked.
“Like I ate some bad grass,” the other figure replied.
“But not like you ate some meat or some bad evening meal?” Black Band asked.
“No.”
“Hmm…” Black Band contemplated. His partner always described his gut feeling with how he felt when he was digesting something unwanted. “Well, bad grass means it shouldn’t be real bad…”
“But what if…”
“...which means it won’t be our problem. I’m sure it won’t be something the Rum Guard can’t take care of.”
“But, what if it turns out worse than we thought!”
“Goose, it’s not our problem anymore. We’ve gotten away from the gang. We’re trying to get our lives back together,” Black Band put a hoof on his partner’s shoulder. “We’re not alone anymore. We don’t have to rely on your gut anymore.”
“sigh, I guess so. Can we at least tell someone to be wearetorted.rather not have anypony hurt tonight.”
“Heh, never thought you of all ponies would say that.”
Goose took two steps forward, with a stern look on his face. Black Band backed up.
“Eh heh heh, not the right words to say, huh?”
“No,” Goose said, before turning around and walking to the other end of the walkway.
“Oh, c’mon! I was only making a joke!” Black Band tried to justify himself, but his plea fell on deaf ears. With a huff, he brought his attention back to the panel, before yellow warning lights blazed around his figure. With a knowing look towards Goose, who still gave him the stink eye with his look, they both walked to their control panels nearby the railing close to the red lined metal beak.
The panel was made up of several buttons and levers, each with their own purpose. In the middle of the panel was a warning sticker. It read “WARNING: PLEASE REPLACE COMPONENTS IF RELAYED COMPONENTS FAIL: GYRO-STABILIZERS, BATTERY SINK, OPERATOR.”
“Whose this one’s anyway?” Black Band asked, yelling amid crunching metal that signaled the elevator stopping.
“I don’t know. Rumors sprung up that it might be Prince Blueblood, seeing as how they managed to get the cybertronics green-checked.”
“Yeah, what’s up with that? I thought any tech on a monster was banned unless it was to compensate for a defect, not to enhance it.”
“That’s why ponies are saying it’s Blueblood. It was green-checked by Celestia, and there’s the fact that it was all declared before it was even ID’d. Everyone in the stadium already knows what they will be watching.”
“What’s its name, anyway? I didn’t catch that from the brief.”
“Gigan.”
Black Band shivered. It was rare for new monsters to join the K Leagues. Usually they would go up in one match before their qualified to join the league, and most of them didn’t survive.
“Who’s the contender?” Black Band asked.
“Who else? Anguirus.”
“Really? How is ETR going to get his “coveted title match” if he only challenges newcomers? I mean, sure, Fancy Pants is smart enough to not accept any challenges until his contract’s up, but it’s not like no one’s gunning for it. It’d sooner be Shadowbolt’s or even Diva Violetta’s before Rich could get his hooves on the championship. And even then, how is…“
“Band.” Goose interrupted.
“What?” Band replied.
“This is just a job to me. You know I’m not into the whole political soap opera dramas of Kaiju Royale like you are.”
“sigh, Fine. You’re missing out though, we’ve got a lotta cool discussions going on at the pub,” Black Band smiled.
“I’ll live,” Goose retorted.
A few minutes later, the blazing yellow lights turned a consistent green, and the elevator closed to a stop. With hissing gas, two large panels in front of the walkway opened, letting Goose and Black Band hear the blaring crowd's screams, almost deafening their ears. It was a massive stadium, filled with ponies of many shapes and colors. On the far side of a stadium stood another monster, but it was too far to accurately see. The two ponies did have an idea of who it was. Both ponies pushed a few buttons on their respective panels like they were taught in their orientation, and the walkway parted and swung away from the group, with the elevator lurching forward into the light to reveal to monster the two had known as Gigan.
On one side of the stadium, a tower rose up, being given a good situational view of the whole stadium. Inside the tower were various screens and ponies barking orders at the screens, causing them to move in their wanted places. Further down, two ponies, the left being a unicorn with a beige color, and the right an earth pony with a lighter azule coat, gazed at the window, before turning to a camera behind them, straightening their ties with a smile.
"Hello, my fellow Equestrians, and welcome to another night of Kaiju Royale! A newcomer is up in this match against the competent Extravagant Rich and his monster Anguirus. And boy, this newcomer and its trainer has a lot of news, wouldn't you say Cajun?"
The pony on the right shifted in his seat and wriggled his mustache before speaking, "That’s right, Blaze! This big ol’ monster right here is Gigan, the Kaiju for Prince Blueblood himself! Seems he wanted to get in on the action too, and may have bended a few rules too, as I’ve been told the monster’s actually a Cyborg! And here I thought you couldn’t have no techie stuff in them things!”
“I thought so too, Cajun, but if Princess Celestia herself allows it, then I guess we will have allow it too. And speaking of, there she is!” The third screen in the room cut to a moving spotlight that rested on a familiar white pony, practically glowing under the lights. Princess Celestia raised her right foreleg in order to wave to her ponies with a smile on her face. And next to her stood an interesting dark blue shape.
“Well, now, Cajun, it seems she brought out the newly reformed Luna to her first Kaiju Royale! If any of you ponies haven’t been living under a rock, you would know that Luna has just come back after a 1000 year banishment from her Nightmare Moon episode that we all remember from our old foal stories. She arrived at the castle forestep just a few weeks ago, and many of the Royal guard thought she was still Nightmare Moon, and almost attacked her on sight! Luckily, the Princess saw it was just Luna, depowered and all too wanting to just apologize to her sister Celestia. We haven’t heard much from her since, and I believe this is the first time she has been seen in public!”
The duo spent an unusually long time just letting the camera focus in on Luna, her astral mane drifting in some unknown wind, her eyes curious to everything around her, smiling all the while. Cajun saw a little drool drop on his tie in the corner of his eye, and quickly coughed and straightened himself to continue the broadcast.
“Well, I gotta say, it looks like she’s in for a treat tonight folks, as all you are as well! Let’s have a little look at that Gigan, huh?” Cajun looked to his left to see Blaze still drooling at the screen of Luna, along with a couple other ponies inside the tower.
“Koff, I said, let’s take a look at Gigan?” One pony snapped out of his trance and switched the camera to the fourth screen, giving a semi top-down angle on Gigan. Blaze snapped out his trance as well, and straightened out his tie again.
“Er, right, let’s take a look at our newcomer. And I gotta say, by all accounts, it truly is a monster. Standing by the 1.25 kilometers that is the K-league regulated height, it towers over the ponies that fill this 7 kilometer long stadium down here near Canterlot. Gigan is a dark-hued green bipedal lizard, with a chest of tan scales, but looks like it’s glowing a dull gold under the late-night lights. On its back is what appears to be fans made of a tan skin membrane, which I suppose is to give the idea of wings. On its chest is what seems to be a vertical line of spikes, and as they are shining in the light it’s a good guess they’re made of metal too. The tail looks average, as a tan scaled tail that I guess is supposed to be the counterbalance for a bipedal creature could be. The head of Gigan is adorned with vertical spikes along the top, with a red line acting as the eye for the monster."
Cajun spoke up. “The limbs are the main eye-catcher here, Blaze. Instead of hands, a metal claw seems to be on each forearm. The claws are blunt, and the most likely reason is that the metal was meant to hit hard, not pierce, but I wouldn’t want be on the receivin’ end of those things anyway! Even on it’s feet, they’re just one giant metal claw on each of them too!”
“And here comes the rum guard folks, to put up the shield spell,” Blaze ended the summary of Gigan with a knowing look towards screen 2, right in the center of the field, where the camera focused on three unicorns with a green equivalent of the Royal Guard’s armor. The three guards stood in a triangle point formation with each other in the middle of the stadium, before blasting their horns at the center point in the triangle, above their heads.
The spells combined before shining upwards to a high elevation in the stadium, way higher then Gigan. The spell dispersed in a dome made up of geometric crystalline structures falling down, before falling down to the point where the stands met the field, the ponies in the front seats oohing at the strange geometric contour lines reverberating brightly in the dome’s wall. The dome disappeared, but the front seat ponies could still barely see the crystal structures.
With a final salute to the audience, the three ponies walked from where they came, a small door on the far side of where the tower stood. closing the door.
Hearing a strange noise, the audience and the cameras turned left to where Gigan stood. It’s red eye flickered softly, before it shined brightly with a whirring of machinery coming from everywhere in its body. It stepped forward, and screamed a cacophony that sounded not like animal, but not like machine either. The crowds cheered, eager to see the newcomer in action, before they were silenced by another loud high-pitched scream turning into a baritone growl.
“Heh heh, it looks like Anguirus is all too ready to fight! Anguirus is a mix of a simple brown lizard with a shell of a turtle and hedgehog DNA, allowing it to grow out spikes in its shell and its tail. Then it was grown up to three fourths of a kilometer, but it still packs a wallop with those spikes if you’re not careful!”
Both monsters stared at each other, Anguirus with its nostrils blowing air and Gigan with what can only be described as metallic breathing out of its beak.
“What’s it gonna be Blaze? How are the odds?” Cajun asked his co-hort.
“I don’t know, Cajun. My bookie friend told me its a 52 to 48 chance of Gigan winning, there’s no telling what the cyborg can do.”
Both monsters suddenly let out a scream before they started to charge.
“Oh! And they’re chargin’! It’s already shaping up to have this match start with a bang! And they’re getting closer…”
The two Kaiju never slowed down as they neared each other, ready to strike first blood. As they drew closer, Gigan suddenly jumped low and flipped. When it landed, it threw its right claw down, smashing Anguirus’s head and making the kaiju skid its body across the ground. Gigan stuck its feet together with its tail to stop itself from the momentum.
“Ooooh, and Gigan draws the first strike, laying a nasty blow with its metal claw on top of Angie’s head, and it doesn’t look like he liked it!”
Anguirus looked back at Gigan with murder in its eyes, and charged again. As it neared Gigan, it too jumped up, but Anguirus only half flipped, intending to use the spikes on its back against the cyborg. The attack landed, and Gigan was sent to the ground, its head pinned by Anguirus’s back.
“Oh, and it looks like Angie’s already tryin’ to end the fight. It’s using its signature move to pin itself down on Gigan’s head. If Gigan can’t get itself out, it might suffocate and lose consciousness.
“No, Cajun, I don’t think that’s gonna happen. Although Gigan’s pinned, it being a cyborg I doubt it can lose consciousness. We might need to call it a draw and prepare for another round if Gigan can’t… wait, hold up. There’s something happening down there folks!”
A red light emanated from where Anguirus pinned down Gigan’s head. It pulsated faintly before it disappeared.
BWAAAA! A bright beam of red light sent Anguirus straight up into the sky. A pillar of red light held it faintly in the air before it dissipated. Gravity soon took hold, and Anguirus started falling to the ground with a faint screech. Gigan tug its claws behind its head in a pivoted position, and when Anguirus neared the ground, it flipped itself with its arms, sending a hard metal kick to Anguirus, with enough force to send it in a beeline to the wall of the dome. Anguirus’s body hit the wall with a sickening crunch, as the dome materialized in thick geometric lines to protect the audience. The crowds cheered as Anguirus rolled down the wall, hitting the ground with a loud thud.
“Wow! I was not expecting that at all! It seems Gigan is one of the few monsters with a beam attack! Is Angie down for the count?”
“I don’t think so, Cajun. Look!” The duo looked to see Anguirus rising up, but only shakily. It gave a roar, before standing up shakily on its two hind legs, using its tail for support.
With the cheer of the crowd, both kaiju looked around briefly before locking eyes. The two kaiju squared off, before both of them charged.
The elevator screeched to a stop to let out two passengers. They quickly noted the tense atmosphere, as ponies ran to and fro trying to complete their duties and jobs that Kaiju Royale required them to do. At that moment, a roar was heard, before it was silenced by the ground rumbling.
“Sounds like Anguirus might not survive the fight this time, Goose.”
“Yeah. Poor thing. He doesn’t deserve that abuse, and neither does Gigan.”
“He, Goose? Anguirus is a he?”
“You really think Anguirus should be a she?”
“Their its, Goose. They’re just monsters.”
“Monsters we create to hurt each other.”
“Bah! If you really feel that much for ‘em, go join PETM,” Black Band waved off Goose, turning to catch up with another group of ponies who were all in yellow safety jackets, leaving Goose alone. Goose only shook his head before he kept aimlessly walking, bumping into a green wall.
“Oh, sorry sir, I wasn’t watching where I was going,” Goose apologized. He looked up to see a lighter green unicorn, wearing the dark green armor of the Rumble Guard.
“It’s no matter. I KOFF wasn’t watching where I was walking either,” the guard replied.
“Are you okay? You don’t sound well,” Goose noted the hoarseness of the guard’s voice.
“Ah, it’s nothing. Just a simple cold. I took some medication before sending up the shield spell.”
“...Wait, you were one of the three that did the shield tonight?” Grass, bad grass.
“Yes, why do you ask?” the guard replied, a little bit confused to Goose’s growing expression of panic.
“Okay, I’m no expert on unicorn health, but wouldn’t your magic be diminished and thereby the strength in the stadium shield diminished?”
“Well, yes, but I took some medication to help me.”
“Did they work? How well did they work?”
“They worked fine, of course…” the guard was getting antsy and a bit scared at Goose slowly marching up on him, and he couldn’t feel as if he was smaller than the stallion now.
“But then why did you cough?” Goose stared hard at the guard’s eyes, while the guard seemed to shrink under them. Goose felt a sense of deja vu in this position, and he knew the unfortunate reason why.
“It...I...I just…” the guard finally rolled up into a ball, now understanding the implications of his actions. He shivered there for a few seconds before uncurling himself and standing up. “Okay, we need to let my superiors know that the shield isn’t at full integrity. They can send some spells in to strengthen it, just like we do in particularly long matches.”
Suddenly, the ground rumbled, and another roar was heard, except this roar sounded weak, like it was dying.
"We'd better get to them fast before we end up having a crisis on our hooves," Goose said. The guard nodded, and he ran to his left down a hallway, with Goose soon following. They brushed past Black Band, who was talking to a unicorn in a yellow construction suit.
"Where ya going, Goose?" Band yelled.
"Bad grass!" Goose yelled back. Band was a little bit confused to his answer before his eyes widened in realization. He started to run after.Goose.
"Wait for me!"
Cling! Cling! The sound of metal against bony flesh was a harsh sound, yet the ponies loved it whenever Gigan connected another swing against the now battered and worn Anguirus. One more swing served to throw it a couple kilometers away. With a weak growl, Anguirus stood back up, but shakily it tried to remain on its footing before collapsing. Weakly, it stood up again, and this time it stayed standing.
"I don't think Angie's got much fight in him anymore. The next move might be Gigan's finishing move. You think it had a finished like Anguirus, Blaze?"
"Oh ho ho, I think it does, Cajun. Take a closer look at Gigan there." Both ponies leaned in colder and saw something they were all too excited to see in action.
The blades on Gigan's chest whirred and murmered a bit, before giving a sickening but satisfying screech as the blades turned like a buzzsaw, before slowing down to a stop. Anguirus soaked up whatever remaining strength it had before charging weakly at Gigan. It was for nought however, and Anguirus found itself in metal claws.
Gigan hooked its left claw on Anguirus's neck, and had its right claw lift it at the base of its spiked tail. Holding it up high over its head, Gigan switched the blades on his chest to face upwards, before it threw Anguirus up in the air. Leaning back, the buzzsaw whirred.
It was a move that everypony cheered in roaring success as Gigan whirred its chainsaw when Anguirus came down on it, spinning the Kaiju in a lateral position. The sound of metal cutting through bony flesh never let up, as Gigan's saw kept Anguirus in its grasp for a full 10 seconds.
Gigan stopped the buzzsaw and grabbed Anguirus, holding the Kaiju above its head again. Leaning back, it threw the spiked lizard to the wall. Anguirus collided with the wall, and the whole dome of magic that protected the crowd shattered. It broke from the impact and spread outwards slowly, raining down crystals on top of Gigan and the field.
Some of the crowd stepped back in fear now that they weren't protected, but as soon as Gigan took a step, the Kaiju's red visor glowed dull, and a sound akin to an engine powering down could be heard.
"Wow. What a fight that was Cajun!"
"It was, Blaze. I held my breathe there a couple times, including when Gigan broke the barrier! At least bein' a cyborg helped to stop it before it could do any damage to the crowd, as it is now shut off and being wheeled back to its elevator. The same for Angie too, although its probably taking a trip to whatever infirmary they have for Kaiju."
"Well folks, this has been a great night for Kaiju Royale. Join us in a little bit when we interview both trainers about this battle. This Blaze..."
"-and this is Cajun-"
"Signing off. Have a good night everyone!"
Goose, Black Band, and the guard all released a collectively held breath. Nothing worse would happen, now that the Kaiju are being sent down without doing any damage to the stadium. The guard counted his blessings that they wouldn't have to worry about the barrier.
"Well, that was close," Black Band remarked.
"You're telling me. I thought our jobs were screwed when the barrier broke," replied the guard.
Goose tensed up. "I'd still worry about our jobs, guys..." he muttered. Walking up to them were three stallions in business suits. One in tan brown, one in dark blue, and one in light gray, with matching black ties between them.
"You three knew about the barrier failing?" The stallion in the middle asked.
"Well, uh, you see, it was more of just a gut feeling. Actually it was entirely a gut feeling but this gut feeling is a gut feeling which I, uh, we follow because it is a gut feeling that is very specific about how bad a situation is and uh, he he..." Black Band could only cringe at the sight of the three stallions glaring hard at him, and he put his head down in shame.
Author's Note
So? How'd you like it? Let me know in the comments!
A Business for Some Business
She walked, with no particular steps, to the table. She took a seat at the stool, and only ordered a small glass of water. As she was waiting, she looked around.
In a bar such as this, there were not many things to grab your attention. There wasn't much lighting, only a few stray and flickering lightbulbs, enough to help you not bump into someone. The few tables around were of a bland brown, and some of them had been chipped away, likely by fights that had broken out. The seats were uncomfortable. They had already had their cushioning worn away, leaving only hard plastic substitutes that were usually cold. A TV blared in the background, but judging from the announcer she knew it wasn’t worth her time to watch.
The bar was a small bar. It didn't have many things to grab your attention. The ponies though, they would.
She glanced over to the one table that she knew well. 6 stallions stared back at her, with glares so harsh, she would have died several times over if looks could kill. She knew what they wanted, yet the simple wait for closing time was hell for them. For her, she was just amused at her rule of waiting.
The door clinged, and her eyes, along with everypony else’s eyes, darted to the sound. She was a regular here, and the door clinging at this time meant this pony was new here.
She studied the pony closely. It was a unicorn mare, barely into adulthood, and she wore black glasses, but with an innocent smile.
Too innocent, she thought.
The mare wore a white button down shirt that was a bit stained with green, and she guessed the mare did gardening, or something to do with plants. She had a lavender coat, with purple hair that had pink streaks flowing down in short bangs. There was a blue name tag hanging to the right of where the mare’s heart would be.
In short, this mare was not meant to be here.
“Can anyone help me?” the mare asked. “I’m with a group of field researchers. We’re going to Canterlot mountain to inspect some caves, and I was told a mister… tor-rend was in this town?”
“Doctor Torend?” the barkeep said. He was an old, gruff stallion, like any other barkeep in any other town, except this one curiously had a red rose perked up on his right ear. Everyone knew what it meant to the stallion, and those who didn’t were also outed as newcomers.
Newcomers were never usually welcomed.
“The griffon would be in his house, several blocks down Cane Lane. Go outside, go right, go past the block, and go left at the second street.
You’ll recognize his house,” the barkeep replied.
“Thank you! Here, take this as appreciation!” the mare walked up to the bar and dropped a small bag. The way it jingled as it hit the table, she would have bet 15 bits that it was 30 more.
“Quite a lot of bits you’re putting down for just directions,” she stated.
“Oh, it’s nothing much. It was supposed to be lunch money, but I met a stallion who offered me some free food. Such a nice town you have
here!” the mare walked away, pushing the doors of the bar as she trotted out.
“Three bits saying she met Thunderhoof,” the barkeep said.
“Five on Soarin’, Thunderhoof doesn’t go for any mare with a blue nametag like that, considering his history.”
“Oh? Since when did you know of Thunderhoof’s past?”
“I get close with my clients. It helps to act like you care to get returning customers.”
“That did not sound innocent, if you think about what you said,” the barkeep laughed.
“Oh, you wish, perv. What would your wife say?”
“She say something about getting this blasted flower off my ear!”
“Nah. She’d think it would look cute!”
“Everypony thinks it’s cute…” Both ponies looked at each other before laughing.
“Hehehe, ah… so… you still owe the two hundred, Swirl.”
“I know, and like I’ve told you, you’ll get your business once I get mine settled. By the end of the month the report should come in. I’ll even pay out my own pocket.”
“You sure you just don’t wanna take the other deal and let me use this place as my base, and you get to keep your money?”
“No. I’d rather like to say this business is run by me and owned by me. No one else. Speaking of business… Hey! This place closes in two minutes, Time Turner!”
“I wouldn’t suggest closing now, Swirl. Berry is out tonight. Saw her out by the tavern bar, even Cherrilee was done with her.” A brown earth pony rose up from a table nearby the other group of stallions. He was previously reading the newspaper while sipping on the red glass of wine that still wasn’t completely finished. The mare supposed it wasn’t too much of a rough day for the clock pony.
“Ah geez, you serious? I’m already about done with this mare’s fickle business,”
“Hey!”
“…and I can’t have Berry now running her ‘drinking ideals’ at my shop. Cleaned out my shelves without paying that night, took me weeks to get her to pay back, and she still owes me. Can you be a good stallion and take the girl back to her house? Consider your tab payed for the night here and tomorrow.”
“Oh… Fine. That at least helps me to save up the money for Rainbow here. 60 bits tomorrow night, ya’ hear?”
“I hear. Just how will you hear when Ditzy finds out you took a poor and defenseless mare back to her house and laid her in bed…” Rainbow sighed longingly.
Time Turner blushed. “Now I don’t mean to do anything of the sort!”
“Dash, don’t be so harsh on the poor stallion…You don’t know if Ditzy would want to join in!” Both ponies at the bar laughed as the brown stallion blushed even harder, a deep shade of crimson detailing on his cheeks.
“Well, good day to you two, anyhow. Let your wife know I said hi, Swirl…” Time Turner quickly trotted out of the building, leaving only the group of stallions and two laughing ponies at the bar.
“Well. We’re closed now, Rainbow Dash. I suppose those ponies would like to have a chat?” Swirl hardened his face from smiling to a colder neutral complexion.
Rainbow Dash looked down, her own smile now leaving her. “Yeah, I guess it’s time to face the music. Lock the doors, will ya?”
“If things go worse,” Swirl leaned in to Rainbow’s ear, “Twenty-seven, fourteen, eleven.”
Rainbow nodded, thanking in her mind whatever gods there were that she still had some ponies willing to be loyal to her. She stood up off her seat and started to walk, hesitantly, towards the stallions.
Author's Note
Thank you VampDash for editing this chapter.
Done so nice, it's shaken twice
As soon as she walked close, two of the stallions shifted out of their seats and walked out of the bar, glaring at her with suspicious eyes. Geez, what’s up with them? she pondered. Her attention was brought back to the remaining four stallions at the table.
"Alright, first things first. You're not pulling that move on us again, Rainbow Dash," the stallion seated to her close right spoke accusingly at their prismatic guest. He had a dirty brown coat with blond hair, with a patchy but noticeable stubble growing around his chin. At a glance, the stallions all had brown coats and blond manes. The only differences were their facial hair and their eyes. The one on the right had blue eyes.
“What move?” She asked.
“You put yourself against us! We could have completely lost our operation here! We can’t have breaches like yours again!”
"Well, you won't have to worry. I think I'm going to get a few more games in before I quit out," she responded.
"What? Why ya quittin' out?" The stallion on the left questioned. He had brown eyes and was clean shaven.
"I went real high for Gigan. Like, really high," she remarked casually, looking at her hoof with a small and smug smile.
"H-h-h-how high, Rainb-b-b-bow Dash?" The stallion in the middle stuttered. He had bright green eyes, and a scraggly beard growing along his chin and neck.
"Two hundred–" Rainbow stated.
"Two hundred? That's not high Rain–"
"Million."
"Tuh-tuh-two hundred muh-muh-million!" The stallion in the middle stuttered astonished. "You're s-s-s-set for life!"
"I know. That's why I'm calling it quits now before I get too deep into it. Ya saw what happened to Goose and his friend, right?" Rainbow asked.
"Ah don't know, ah heard they gots some jobs up at the stadium. Regular workers seems like. Don't think you can get out without us ya Pegasus!" The left stallion stood up and leaned dangerously close with his legs towards Rainbow. She stood up as well.
"Ya wanna say that again, Buster? I can take you out and your brothers Bud and Bull too, right here. Heck, I'll take out all your hick friends and get out on my own!" she threatened.
"Hey! We ain't having any more fights here! Rainbow, Buster, sit your flanks down!" a harsh and demanding voice echoed throughout the bar. The voice was strong enough to have all four ponies sit down in fear, slightly cowering in their seats.
A stallion trotted through the back door of the bar, surprising even the bartender, who glanced fearfully at his keys laying next to the register. The stallion had a coat as light as sand, with an unusually jet black mane that was cut short to the forehead of the stallion and combed back. He had golden eyes as bright as clean Bits, but with age they only glowed dimmer each day.
"S-s-s-sorry mister T-Tax Check sir," the middle stallion apologized.
"It's alright Bud, it weren't your fault. However..." The stallion quickly marched up in front of Rainbow Dash, causing her to yelp and lean back in surprise.
"Heh-heh, hey Tack. Long time no see huh?" Rainbow tried to casually smile, but it was more forced than she wanted.
"Rainbow, I need you to do one last job for me before I let you go. Think you can handle that?"
“Wha-wait...really? You’re gonna let me out scot-free?” she asked incredulously.
“You’re actually too much of a liability now. Betting on Gigan for that much money could have ruined us. I know I told you to go on Anguirus. If we lost, I could have collected the revenue at the office. We would have easily four times as much money if you had betted on Anguirus and lost. The revenue from yours and other betters goes into our pockets if we win or lose. That’s how this system works!” Tack stomped the ground in indignation. “But no. You saw a chance to gain money for yourself, and sent about everything on Gigan. You were the only one on his side, you know. Blaze said it was a 52 to 48 chance, but we in the business know Gigan wasn't even supposed to function, much less win. Yet you decided to put two hundred thousand for the million to one chance he would win by a large margin. If Gigan had lost, the office would have known something was wrong, and I would have lost my job and our operation would be up! How would little Scootaloo look up to her guardian after she gets thrown in jail!?”
“Hey! Leave Scoots out of this!” Rainbow stomped her hoof in annoyance.
Tack sighed. “Look, Rainbow. I was already thinking of letting you go tonight, but something’s come up and I need you to do this. If you do, you get away, I’ll clean your record, and you can use the two hundred mil’ whatever you like.”
“And if I don’t?” Rainbow asked.
“The police are informed of your dealings, but before they do we make sure that money goes to some hefty hospital bills, if you catch my drift,” Tack spoke with an threatening gaze, not daring to look anywhere else but Rainbow in the eye. For her part, she glared right back.
“Fine. I’ll do it. What do you need me to do?” Rainbow spoke, with hesitance in her voice. She never liked to do Tack’s field work. Tack eased his gaze, looking towards a window, one specifically looking at Canterlot.
“While Gigan is a welcome addition to the Royale, Blueblood is becoming too much of a competitor to Fancy Pants and his King Ghidorah. Anguirus was considered the biggest contender to the three-headed lizard, despite the stupidity of Rich, and yet Gigan beat him, and it wasn’t by a close margin either. If Gigan wins the championship, the royalties, heh, goes to the royalty. And since the champion can determine some rules and matches, Blueblood can make sure he keeps the championship forever, and the government can start controlling the Royale. They can end all bookies’ careers anytime afterwards.”
“What does this have to do with me? Once I’m done with what favor you need me to do, I’m leaving out of this business, and focusing on my ward,” Rainbow said.
“The rule change, Rainbow. Cybernetics. If Gigan can get cybernetics, so can Ghidorah. You go meet up with some colleagues of mine that will convince Fancy Pants to implement enhancements on his kaiju so he can fight off Gigan... and do it in a Mortal Wound match.”
“Mortal Wound?!” Rainbow gasped. Despite her lack of enthusiasm to join in circles to talk about Kaiju Royale, she knew like anypony else that a Mortal Wound match was when the kaiju would win by delivering a killing blow. It was very risky to engage in one, as even if you win, your monster can also be taken out of commission for a long time.
And if you lose, you get sent into government-mandated exile, never to return to your shame.
“Okay...okay, yeah, now I see what you’re getting. We can’t have Gigan out in the field even if Ghidorah wins. We need to take Gigan out. So, you want me to go to Canterlot with your pals, which I’m going to stay suspicious of since they’re your friends, and convince Ghidorah’s owner to put cybernetic enhancements and call out Blueblood on a Mortal Wound match. We’re likely going to need him to give up the title as a reward to goad Blueblood into taking the match. Am I getting this right?” Rainbow asked.
“Yes. Once you get the match set up, than you can go. But one more thing. I don’t want to hear or see mention or tail of you near my business. We’re the ones gaming the system, Rainbow, not you-”
Suddenly, the bar rumbled and shook. An ear-splitting roar echoed throughout the building, all of its occupants holding their ears as they went underneath the nearest open table, as they were told by the bartender Swirl.
The earthquake lasted for several seconds before abruptly stopping, leaving relative silence. Many birds chirping and cawing in fear soon filled the skies as they flew from the Everfree forest to other parts farther away.
The group burst out of the bar to see many ponies filing out of their homes and businesses, shaken, but eager for information.
"What in Equestria was that!" cried a mare.
"Help! Heeeelp!" an older and croaked voice came from a nearby building.
"Bull, go and check what happened. Buster, Bud, go check on the elderly home. Make sure they're all safe," Tack ordered.
"No worries, they are safe," a light brown mare with a grayed mane came up to the group.
"How do ya know, Mayor Mare?" Swirl asked.
"I was overseeing a bingo night when that dreadful earthquake hit. After a quick check all were accounted for and relatively healthy," Mayor Mare stated. She glanced at Tack with a harsh glare. "Tax Check, a pleasure to meet you here."
"Mayor, a surprise for me as well. Now isn't the time for us to argue though," Tack replied.
"What? We never argue!" the Mayor replied.
"Every time ya meet each other ears fly off. That's not the point though, as Tack said," Swirl stepped in between the two ponies. "I don't know know much 'bout animals, but I do know not even an Ursa Major could make that roar, nor even that much of an earthquake unless it really tried."
"Was it something in the Everfree then?" Rainbow asked. The group all glanced to the forest in question, where they could see birds still flying away.
"Maybe that purple girl knows what that was! She was asking 'bout all that Doctor Toland or sumthin' and going to the mountains up in there Can'rlot!" Bud remarked.
"Doctor Torend! He might know about this earthquake! It was what he studied for, after all," Swirl said.
"Wait a minute. That girl had a blue nametag. You know what that means. If there's something happening in those caves, I doubt they'll be willing to tell us. I can tail them tomorrow before I head to Canterlot for some, er..." Rainbow glanced from Tack to the Mayor, "...business, and see if I can find anything."
"I'll stick close to Rainbow, in case she needs an escape," Buster stepped up.
"I can handle myself, Buster," Rainbow growled.
"No you will not. Buster, you go. Dash, you need to get to Canterlot as quickly as possible. You can relay everything to Buster before you leave. Got it?" Tack ordered.
Rainbow sighed. "Yes, Mr. Tax Check, sir."
"Good. Now, I gather we need to clean up any more of the mess the earthquake might have made. Celestia knows whatever that thing might be," Tack started to trot down the street with Bud and the Mayor. Rainbow and Buster walked behind.
"Rainbow?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you think that thing out there could be..." Buster leaned closer to Rainbow, "a kaiju?"
"I don't know, Buster. But one thing's for sure."
"What's that?"
"I don't want to know, and I hope when I go out there that I won't find it."
Author's Note
Oh, hey, it actually updated.
Weird.
Thank you VampDash for pre-reading.
