US Senate

In the United States Senate building in the United States capital Washington DC, the Equinarch organization were seen holding a meeting with the Senators of the building in a room about the incident that occured five years ago. Then, an Equinarch scientist named Nigel Merlin began presenting a video of the Equestrians that were captured by surveillance cameras in San Francisco. The first video displayed a video of Thorax and Gilda battling in San Francisco.

"What we are witnessing here, senators. Is the return of ancient forgotten super species." Nigel told them, then the large TV on the right displayed videos of four Equestrians "Thorax, the griffons, Twilight Sparkle." He finished, then, he began to talk about the reason of their presence in their world.

"We believe that these 'Equestrians' and others like them provide a significant balance to our world. And while may pose a threat, Equinarch is bravely prepared to determine which of these Equestrians are here to imperil us, and which of these Equestrians are here to protect us." Nigel delineated "The evidence from the surveillance camera footages recovered from San Francisco proves that Thorax, is a nice Equestrian." He told them, however, the senators were not convinced.

"Thank you for your presentation Mr. Merlin." A man said "But we still haven't heard one good reason why Equinarch shouldn't fall under military jurisdiction, or why these monsters shouldn't be exterminated when we have the chance. The Equinarch organization had an obligation of studying and destroying these radioactive monsters. But you either can't or won't tell us how many more are showing up, or why they're showing up. So, maybe it's time for the military to put them down." He told them. However, a Japanese man objected about this decision.

"Killing them would be a big mistake." Toshihiro said sternly "They returned because of what we're doing to our world. It was our atomic bomb testing that awoke Thorax. Other creatures like the Griffons, from strip mining and seismic surveys. But these are not monsters. They are animals rising to protect the world so that they can keep peace and order." He delineated. Then, the man rolled his eyes.

"It almost sounds like you're protecting them, doctor Yasushi." He told him "As if you admire them." He finished.

"I admire all forms of life." Toshihiro told him, then, he stood up from his chair "Senators, if we hope to survive, we must find a way to coexist peacefully with the Equestrians. With Thorax." He finished sternly which made the Senators perplexed, then, Toshihiro's wife Satomi decided to speak up for her husband as he sat back down on his chair.

"A sort of symbiotic relationship if you will."

"Or the scorpion or the frog." The man said "So you'd want to make Thorax our ally?" He asked raising his right eyebrow in confusion. However, Toshihiro thought the opposite way.

"No." The doctor replied shaking his head "We will be his." He told them.

Then, some of the senators in the room all erupted into laughter from Toshihiro's preposterous remark. Why would they ever want to side with a giant monster that was well over 300 feet?

Satomi was going to speak up but then, she received a message on her phone so, she grabbed it out of her pocket with her right hand and turned it on. After that, she saw that she has received two messages from the Equinarch organization. She then showed the messages to her husband and he was surprised.

"We must go." She told him quietly. Then, she looked at Nigel who was trying to clarify Toshihiro's words to them "Sam we have to go." She whispered to him. Then, Toshihiro, Satomi, and Nigel all stood up from their chairs and started to make their ways to the exit of the building.

"Doctor Toshihiro, Doctor Satomi, this meeting is not adjourned." The man told them but, they disregarded them "Doctor Toshihiro, I hope you understand the repercussions of walking out that door." He warned them. Then, Nigel stepped in and decided to present another information to them.

"Uh, you know what senators, while I have a discussion with my colleagues here,I'm gonna show you guys a brief video proving that Thorax is a heroic Equestrian." Nigel said as he turned on the TV with a remote. After that, the TV displayed a video of Thorax battling Gallus and Gilda in San Francisco as well as leaving them alone in the end "As you can see here, Thorax saved many civilians from Gallus and Gilda five years ago in San Francisco which proves that he is not a rouge Equestrian." He told them with a chuckle but, the senators were still not convinced.

Pennsylvania, 5:30pm

In a large forest in Pennsylvania, a ravenous leopard was seen devouring an unfortunate deer for dinner. However, a kilometer away from them, a man was seen taking pictures of the wild animal. And the man's name is Elliot Richard, he is a former Equinarch scientist, the ex-husband to Jessica, and the father of Lily. Elliot was seen snapping pictures of the leopard while listening to it's growling noises. At first, everything seemed equanimous but suddenly, the leopard turned around and started to run away back into the forest.

When Elliot noticed this, he stood up from the ground and scrutinized his surroundings to see if there was another prey here but then, he heard some noises in the sky. The scientist looked up and saw a giant military tiltrotor in the sky landing on the ground near where the leopard was having it's feast. The door slid down and Elliot saw three familiar people exiting the large aircraft, these people were his colleagues in the Equinarch organization. He then let out a sigh.

"Why are they here?" He asked himself in his head.

Elliot lead Toshihiro, Satomi, and Nigel to his house in the forest after a ten minutes walk. Once they were in the house, Elliot asked them why they were here, and Toshihiro and Satomi showed him a video footage that was captured on a surveillance camera in one of the Equinarch outpost's in South Korea on a computer. Elliot looked at the computer screen and saw something that shocked him. In the video were his ex-wife Jessica, and daughter Lily being guided by a group of military personnels.

"We're afraid that your ex-wife and daughter have been captured Elliot. We're very sorry." Toshihiro said with a sympathetic expression.

"I should've been there for her." Elliot said with a shocked expression, then, he looked at Toshihiro "Who are they?" He asked demanding an answer.

"We do not know yet." Satomi replied with a shrug, then, she walked to the computer and tapped on the screen which showed an image of a catwalk platform "But, we believe that they were after this technology." She told him as she zoomed in on the technology that Jessica was holding.

"Oh my goodness." Elliot said with a traumatized expression. He knew what this technology was.

"It's called the transmitter." Nigel told him "And uh... that's why we think they needed Jessica. She believed that if we could somehow replicate the biosonar the Equestrians used to communicate-"

"I know what that piece of junk is." Elliot cut him off with a slightly angry expression "I helped build the stupid prototype." He finished, then, he looked at Toshihiro.

"Who is he?" Elliot asked, then, the man decided to introduce himself.

"The name's Nigel Merlin sir, I'm also a biologist like your wife. I joined Equinarch shortly after you, uh, left." He introduced himself as he stretched his right arm out. But, Elliot did not bother so, Nigel respected him and backed away his arm.

"I'm a big fan of your wife's work, and you as well." He told him with a smile.

Elliot was perplexed about one thing though, so, he decided to get some answers from Toshihiro.

"Jessica and I destroyed the prototype though."

"And then she decided to rebuild it." Satomi told him which made Elliot roll his eyes in aggravation due to his wife's impulsiveness. "After the incident that occured in San Francisco five years ago, she went home to Chicago, and spent years developing it." She finished.

Elliot was so angry about this, why would his wife want to rebuild something that he and she destroyed?

"And what is this going to achieve?"

"It's used to help prevent another attack." Satomi replied simply.

"The transmitter was a grad school science project that was meant to keep whales away from the shoreline." Elliot delineated the technology "Not so you could talk to those colourful giant monsters out there." He told them.

Toshihiro wanted to talk about this but then, Elliot immediately cut him off.

"Listen to me, they'll think it's one of them." He told them "You use the wrong frequency on one of them, and you're going to be responsible for 1,000 San Francisco citizens." He warned them.

"Which is why we need to get it back." Toshihiro told him "Jessica always said no one knew this technology better than you do." He said with a smile.

"It shouldn't even exist." Elliot told him sternly. Then, he turned around and walked to the sink area and looked out the window.

"That may be Elliot. But, it's fallen into the wrong hands of these people. And right now, the transmitter is the only thing keeping Jessica and Lily alive." He told him but, Elliot was still angry so, Satomi decided to talk.

"Elliot, we know that you're hurting right now. But, the faster we find the transmitter, the sooner we'll save your family." She told him. "I promise." She said.

Elliot began to ponder about this hypothetical situation for a bit. Does he really want to embark on this hazardous journey? Currently he is still grieving after the loss of his son five years ago in San Francisco but, he does not want to see Jessica and Lily getting maimed by those military officers too. A brief second later, he turned around and looked at them with a defeated expression.

"I'm in."

"Yes!" Nigel cheered with a smile. Then, he soon lowered his hands when his colleagues stared at him with perplexed expressions "Sorry." He told them.

In the skies, Elliot and his colleagues were seen riding the tiltrotor to their destination. During the trip, Satomi decided to talk to Elliot a bit to see how he's doing

"When was the last time you spoke to Jessica?" She asked.

"About four years ago." He replied with a slightly dejected tone "After San Francisco, we went back home to Chicago. Tried to put the pieces back together. Jessica dealt with it by doubling down on saving the entire world, and I started drinking countless of beers in order to relieve my stress. I can't tell you how much I hated myself for letting Lily see me that way." He finished.

At first, everything was silent, but then, Nigel and Toshihiro walked up to the two of them.

"Mind if we cut it here?" Nigel asked, and Elliot was baffled "It's just, you're gonna want to see this." He told him giving him a panel which Elliot took. He looked down on it and it showed the 'transmitter'.

"Jessica combined the bioacoustics of different Equestrians to create the transmitter's signal. A baseline frequency that all the creatures respond to. Attracting them, repelling them, even sometimes calming them down. It's pretty astonishing really." Nigel delineated with a chuckle.

Elliot swiped the screen and it showed the frequencies of the Equestrians starting with: Twilight Sparkle, Garble, and Thorax.

"The problem is we don't know which Equestrian she combined. But if you can identify those frequencies, we'll be able to tract the transmitter, as well as Jessica and Lily." Satomi told him as Elliot swiped to the other Equestrians and their frequencies dubbed: Shining Armor, Silver spoon, Rover, and Rainbow Dash. The man was completely flabbergasted by how many they were.

"Holy crap, how many of these things are there?" He asked with a slightly traumatized expression.

"Eighteen." Toshihiro replied "And counting after Thorax." He told him.

"Eighteen?" Elliot said with an incredulous expression.

"Most of them are discovered in deep hibernation." Satomi told him "While others we've contained in top secret sites around the world including: India, New Zealand, Brazil, Thailand, Equestrian island and many more. We even found one in Greenland." She finished as Elliot swiped to a slide which showed all Equinarch outpost's built in certain countries.

"Why didn't you guys kill them?"

"The government wants to." Toshihiro told him "However, Jessica and I believe that some are benevolent." He added which made Elliot perplexed.

"Don't be ridiculous doctor." Elliot told him. He then tried to dispute about this but then, the pilot spoke up.

"We have arrived at our destination guys."

Elliot walked to the cockpit of the tiltrotor and looked through the window in front of him. At first, all he saw was clouds but, a brief second later, an oil rig was seen in front of them. Then, the pilot tapped on the communication unit of the aircraft and began to communicate with her colleagues.

"Castle Delta this is Tango one, I'll direct approach." The pilot informed them.

Castle Delta
Equinarch outpost 57

The pilot of the tiltrotor flew up above the oil rig and positioned it until she was hovering above the helipad. Then, her colleagues began to communicate back.

"Tango one, you are cleared for landing."

After that, the helipad of the oil rig slid open and the pilot began to descend slowly onto the bottom helipad of the oil rig, during the landing, Elliot was flabbergasted by the place.

"Well this is new."

"Indeed." Nigel agreed with a nod "We call her Castle Delta. Our new flag ship facility built to track and study Thorax on his own turf." He told him which got him perplexed.

"I thought he was missing."

"Well, only if you know where to look."

Ten seconds later, the tiltrotor slowly descended into the bottom helipad of Castle Delta with a worker directing the pilot's land. Once it reached the ground, the pilot activated the landing gear and landed perfectly onto the helipad. Elliot looked out one of the window's of the aircraft so that he could scrutinize the place, and he was flabbergasted by how big it is.

"Wow."

Author's Note

Another chapter finished! I hope you all enjoyed it!