Version: 2
Once upon a time, in the icy northern reaches of the Equestrian continent, there was a pony of epic proportions. One of the legendary Titans that seemed to spawn from nature itself. She had no name and her exact size was uncertain. She spent all her time stalking the various mountain passes and canyons of the frozen wastelands. Few travelers and explorers dared those paths. Not because of her, but due to the extreme weather that made any excursion extremely dangerous. Most who went into the north caught a glimpse of her, if only from a distance. And the very few who had met her described the encounter as a spiritual one. Life changing. Hence the foundations of her legend were set.
Like all Titans, the mare of the north remained nameless and did not appear to age despite the passage of several hundred years. Those who spoke to her returned with stories of a serene giant who had no interest in harming them and, though mildly curious, appeared determined not to be a part of the wider world. A rarity for Titans. She was, however, truly massive. Possibly the largest of the Titans. "I'd estimate her hooves were as wide as any highway and I couldn't even guess her height," one lucky traveler would say.
Her fur was exceptionally thick, more like a yak's than a pony's, and was a mint green when it wasn't coated in snow. Her seaweed colored mane was long and wild. Her eyes were a deep amber yellow that many claimed actually glowed. Like all Titans she had no cutie mark and she rarely showed any emotions on her face.
For over 300 years she was simply the peaceful Titan of the north. An oddity that didn't generate much of a crowd only thanks to the harsh conditions that would have to be endured to see her. So she remained a legend. A large but quiet wanderer of the most brutal region on the continent. What she ate and how she stayed warm were hotly debated mysteries. Was her Titan fur really enough to stave off the cold? Most Titans were sustained by powerful mana flows that circled the world. Was she feeding off a huge mana vein that cut through the frozen north? Was that why she was the largest Titan ever seen?
All these things were argued between scholars in great universities and by patrons sharing a pint in cozy taverns. The peaceful Titan.
The Crystal Empire. A city that had vanished long ago as a result of a powerful curse. A curse that had finally lifted and freed the long forgotten inhabitants. Its return was like an earthquake that rocked the north, changing the landscape in ways that weren't entirely obvious to the common pony.
Sombra, the originator of the curse, was dead. A new couple ascended to the throne in the city of crystals. There was much to celebrate. There was music. And lights. And change. The city was back and it was time to expand in the new era.
Ponies from across the continent moved in. The Empire began to bulge with new residents. They built new homes. They pushed back the snow. The crystal ponies revealed to the world an ancient technique for fighting off the cold and making a bubble of habitation possible. So civilization began to encroach upon the north.
But everypony forgot one thing. The only peaceful Titan in the world was born just outside the reach and bustle of civilization. And in that isolation she had never found a reason to harm another deliberately...
The Titan loved the song of the wind. The art of the stars. Solitude was her blanket. Against the endless storms of ice she never felt the chill the tiny ones described. They had always been a unique curiosity. She had known them all her life as odd little distractions. The occasional visit was not entirely unwanted, though the questions were always the same. They repeatedly asked her boring mundane things. But if their babbling could be endured she could eventually ask her own questions. Though hers were always the same too, she consistently got new engrossing answers.
The little ones would describe such strange things to her. Cities. Magic. Rivers of flowing water? She tended to learn more in a single visit if she sheltered them from the wind. They usually said her fur was warm and acted like that was a compliment instead of the simple observation it was. The small ones were certainly strange. Delicate. And now annoying.
The Titan spent much of her time patrolling the snow-blanketed landscape. Though she had walked every path a hundred times before she was no closer to growing tired of the journey. With the song of the wind in her ears and the beauty of the stars above, the Titan was always calm. She had never experienced a truly strong emotion in her life. Hers was a quiet existence. Then came the Horizon Glow.
That far north, the sun only barely set and the moon only barely rose. It was a land of perpetual twilight and dusk. There was no real day or night. There was always a shadow of darkness. You could always look up and see the stars. But the Horizon Glow was like the beginning of an infection. A space in the distance where the stars were blurred away. Not hidden by a mountain. Not drowned out by the sun. But permanently lost to a competing light. Destroyed by the little ones.
And the noise. The music. It was far from constant, but for a mare who had experienced so few changes to her world since the day of her birth, it was a violation. An offense. Whenever she was content in her serenity it would strike at the very edges of her perception. The trumpets and drums and cymbals and singing. So much racket echoing through the many canyons and passes. Invading her calm. Some kind of... attack?
For a time the Titan tried to ignore it all. Her world was still much as it had always been. Until the visitors started to come more frequently. Like they were hunting her now.
At most she saw one tiny a year and visits only lasted a day or two. Now, only a short time after the appearance of the Horizon Glow, the visitors became almost constant. Every month she saw one of the small ones crossing her lands. Wasn't it "too cold" for them? A few discussions with this new swarm of little ones soon explained it all. An ancient city, from before even herself, had returned. And it was expanding towards her lands.
For the first time in 300 years the Titan was shocked. Forced to think long, deep, and hard. More small ones wasn't necessarily bad. She decided whether they spoke to her or not. If she didn't want to talk to them she merely had to ignore them and move on. They were so little and slow. Though she usually chose to talk to them if she noticed them. But the stars and the wind... her peace...
More and more she stood on mountain tops staring into the distance. Not at the sky, but at the Horizon Glow. It was getting bigger. Closer too. The tiny ones had also described to her these things called "Holidays". Celebrations when they would unleash their horrible music. Tainting the wind with artificial notes. That was getting louder too. More ponies, more instruments. The invasion was steadily underway.
Fear. It was the first time she had felt it. Fear of change. Fear for the loss of her world.
Denial. They wouldn't spread this far. They hadn't before.
Anger. They were thieves. Little thieves trying to steal her peace.
She had to act. She would stop them. These were her lands and she would not surrender them by doing nothing. She knew how. The small ones lived in "homes" which made up a large portion of "cities". With the passage of so many years the Titan had learned that everything, besides herself, was delicate. Whether it was a tree or a layer of ice, both shattered at her mere touch. These "homes" would be no different. If they had no way to stay warm they couldn't invade her world.
She was under attack and she would defend herself.
Despite her decision the giant green mare hesitated. She waited. Did she really have to fight them? Maybe all they had done would simply be undone if she were more patient. These thoughts did not last long as the attempted visitors became ever more frequent. Eventually she just could not endure it any more.
The largest of the Titans, the peaceful giant of the north, began stomping toward the Horizon Glow.
Each step was punctuated by a crash as her hooves cut into the snow and mud and left an obvious trail in her wake. She was not following any road. She was angry. And sad. And saw no reason to let anything obstruct her journey. Her course was straight. If a hill was in the way she climbed it. If there was a river she walked right through. A collection of evergreen trees were turned to splinters as she marched over them. The tallest of trees were only as high as her knees and the rest were barely noticeable. She had a place to be and something to do. Nothing else mattered.
The Horizon Glow was still a bit away when she finally came across... farms? The land had clearly been flattened and there were rows and rows of some kind of trees or bushes. There were little paths circling and cutting across the many fields that might as well been pencil lines on a piece of paper to the Titan. There were buildings too. Grouped by twos and threes. They were also tiny compared to her. All of them were shorter than her fetlocks and only a few were longer than her hooves were wide. That is to say the majority could fit comfortably under a single foot.
The Titan paused for a moment as she looked down upon this place, the outermost claim of civilization. Should she destroy these buildings? She wasn't sure. Were these homes? She knew about crops and the importance of food, but was it worth the effort to trample this huge area of tilled land? Or were the densely packed homes of the city more important? She argued with herself for what felt like a while before deciding against it. She was wasting time. The city was her target.
But just because she had decided not to hunt the little farm houses did not mean she watched her step.
The Titan's enormous hooves pulverized crops into the ground and left gaping holes that would take weeks for families to fill. Her steps unleashed earthquakes that rattled the little homes and their residence and sent many ponies racing outside. Only to gape at the passing form that towered above them. The mass that was the Titan's mane and tail made it hard to comprehend what they were looking at in the darkness of the night. Some of the farm houses were very unlucky. One home had the misfortune to be exactly in the way of one of the huge mare's careless hooves. The building didn't even seem to put up a fight. The entire structure simply disappeared and its occupants never knew more than a few of the tremors before sudden darkness took them.
The Titan was getting closer. The city was just past another hill. No. Not the city proper. The suburban sprawl. It was such an alien sight. These were definitely homes. Each one was separated from the next on all sides by an amount of space roughly equal to the size of the home itself. Yards. Small fenced off areas around each tiny box of wood where a pony or pony family lived. Roads a bit wider than the ones she had seen in the outskirts, more like marker lines than pencil, curved every which way. The homes and the yards around them were aligned with the twisting black road in blocks of development. Most of the homes ended up with another home at its back, facing the road that curved around the other side at some point. Making it even more confusing, the road also cut across itself numerous times. Some kind of pattern?
The Titan paused to consider the strange design. Did it have a meaning? A purpose? She had never seen anything that compared. It was like one of those mazes a visitor had once described to her. Yet there did not seem to be an entrance or an exit. The mess of connections seemed endless as it kept diverging and converging with itself over and over. Worse, there were so many of the tiny box homes. Hundreds of them leading all the way to the Horizon Glow which had now become a single great light just ahead of her.
As much as she was drawn to the city and eager to be done with this grim task, she was still awed by this carpet of civilization before her. However, as she continued to gawk, little lights began to appear across the sprawl of suburbia. Ponies who had been thrust awake by the rumble of her approach. More and more were stepping outside with confused glances up and down the street. Was it an earthquake? It had felt so regular and distinctly like it was getting stronger. Then it had suddenly stopped. The sun was due to rise in an hour or two. Rise as much as it could that far north. So it was still very dark out. A few ponies were able to pick out the enormous silhouette looming just beyond the city limits. At first they saw the legs. Columns of dark that didn't match the normally empty sky. Their eyes pulled upward as they naturally searched for the top of these mysterious structures. Then their gaze crashed into an enormous chest supported by what were now obviously legs. Finally, as the ponies in question began to shake with fear and disbelief, their necks turned nearly vertical to find a pair of glowing yellow eyes hanging high above them. The eyes of a colossal monster sweeping back and forth over the many houses and streets. Taking it all in. None of the minuscule ponies could do anything but quiver as the Titan took no notice of them.
These buildings were a bit smaller than the ones in the outskirts. None of them were bigger than her hoof. Yet there were more of them and they had wider roads. Strange. Again she faced the dilemma of whether to take the time to smash these structures. There were supposed to be bigger and even more densely packed homes somewhere in the city. Was this worth the effort? Again she debated with herself.
As she stood there mentally going back and forth, the ponies of the Crystal Empire began to recover their nerve. The giant wasn't moving. The green mare was just staring off into space, completely zoned out. Some rushed back inside to call the authorities. Some went to their neighbors and began banging on the door. Others went and woke their kids or spouse and dragged them outside to also gawk at the huge pony. It wasn't exactly panic, but a stir certainly was beginning to spread.
The Titan accepted the truth. The little ones were a threat. She was certain most of her retaliation would be done in the city itself, but these suburbs were also filled with homes and something she could not simply ignore. She didn't know how much damage she had to do to make them leave her alone, so she figured it was best to smash as much as possible. Better to be too aggressive than too merciful.
The Titan looked down at the first rows of homes in front of her. How should she do this? Just... step on them? She felt so lost. She had never done this before. In a strange land filled with creatures that looked like her only very small. Was this embarrassment? Had she ever felt that before? She took a breath to calm herself which became a cloud of condensation around her muzzle. She had to focus. This was war.
The Titan lifted a single huge hoof. Slowly pulling out of the hole it had dug while she had been idle. Dirt and other debris from her walk cascaded off the bottom of her foot like rain as she slowly brought her leg up. Ponies below stepped back in surprise, startled by her sudden movement. The Titan then pushed her leg forward. The enormous hoof, quite a bit larger than any house in the area, drifted over the road. A crystal unicorn stared upward as the dirt crusted surface passed overhead while barely illuminated by a nearby streetlight. The unicorn also had to jump aside as some refuse fell from above and began to paint the road. That enormous foot then came to a stop above a home. And there it stayed for a moment.
A number of ponies felt their hearts racing as they watched from their various vantage points. A giant pony. A hoof dangling so precariously above a defenseless home. Was she about to? Was this going to happen? No. This was a dream. A hallucination. It wasn't happening. Why was she here? Why was the peaceful Titan of the north here?!
A cloud appeared around the Titan's muzzle again as she exhaled. And dropped her hoof.
For a moment the night was silent. Then a boom anypony would describe as an explosion rang out. The earth shook. Ponies stumbled. Somepony's home was gone.
For a few seconds the Titan stood frozen. Simply staring at her foot. Waiting for something. A feeling? Retaliation? Even she didn't know what.
Somepony screamed.
The stir of tiny activity picked up as a number of them realized they were in danger and needed to flee. However, most were stunned or too confused to take action. Trying to understand why or what was happening.
The Titan sighed. This was the first time she had ever attacked another, ignoring various accidents that had occurred over her long life. She half-expected to be herself crushed by a sense of guilt. Instead, she felt nothing. The mare shook her head, took a deep breath, and steadied her mind. As her eyes took in a few groups far bellow who were currently fleeing, she reminded herself of her purpose. The small ones were threatening her land. She was here purely to defend herself. To drive away the little invaders. Her goal was not necessarily to slaughter them. The Titan just wanted to be left alone. She was here to destroy their homes and make them leave. With that conclusion straight she glanced at the many buildings around her.
The Titan lifted her other hoof and easily dropped it onto the next home in the line. The crunch of wood was barely a whisper even to her sensitive ears. Instead, the thing she heard most clearly was the boom and the increase in high pitched screaming of the tiny ones. She huffed once. Then she took another step forward and demolished yet another building. She was following one of the many streets deeper into the suburban sprawl, though she obviously was not using the road. Instead each hoof landed atop the next home in the row, destroying a place of refuge and warmth for the small ones. But there were so many. The Titan wondered if she'd even be able to destroy them all.
Her anger began to boil. She stomped more forcefully. The crowd of panicking little ponies grew larger and their cries grew more frantic. The ground shook ever more violently. Crash after crash filled the early morning air. Some foolish individuals and families thought hiding in their homes was the safest option. Mistakenly believing the Titan would chase anypony they saw running. It was a miscalculation that swiftly cost them their lives.
When the street she was stalking began to turn so that it met another street the Titan stopped and looked back. She measured her work so far. Was that two dozen steps? Two dozen homes? How many of the little ones would that drive away? How many lived in each of these diminutive boxes? She didn't know for sure, but now that street was straddled by huge ugly craters. It was time for the next row. The Titan shuffled into position before a new line of homes on the next street over. She eyed the tiny wooden structures critically for a moment as the occasional pony scurried about beneath her. She snorted and lifted a hoof to resume her grim work.
Crash after crash after crash threatened to drown out the many voices. Parents calling for their children to keep up. Friends trying to find each other. Their many bodies flowed like water down a mountainside. A few individuals would meet and run together. Soon after they would converge with another group. And then that larger group would mix with yet another and another. Eventually culminating in a stream of ponies rushing out of the complex. A river trying to escape the disaster. Some had bags or miscellaneous items. Most had nothing.
The Titan spent several minutes stomping on homes. At the end of each neighborhood she would turn around and march her way over the following row. It wasn't particularly difficult or tiring, but it felt time consuming. Like a tedious repetitive task that just had to be done. However, the sprawl was huge and bordered by other somehow slightly different residential zones. After stepping on so many, the Titan couldn't help noticing the near imperceptible barrier. The line where the style of the homes changed. There was a tiny fence made of some kind of bushes and there weren't many roads that went through it. Also, the layout of the road was a little different. Like the builders wanted more curves here.
The Titan looked back at her progress. There were some homes she had missed in the first section of suburbia she had come across, but it was mostly just craters now and she didn't feel like going back. Instead she eyed the minuscule wall in front of her. It might have stopped a little one from crossing, but to her it was barely more than a line on the ground. She easily lifted a hoof over the useless barrier and dropped it on-top of the closest property. Then she stepped on the next home on the other side of the street. For a second the Titan felt a bit disheartened. There were just so many homes and so many of the tiny ones. Was she even making a dent?
The Titan quickly fell into a mindless rhythm. She was barely conscious of what she was even doing at this point. The work was too simple.
Then something caught the huge mare's attention. A sound. The Titan paused, having only finished with three street's worth of the new buildings. Her head turned and her ears perked. There weren't many ponies left scurrying around anymore. Most of them had already escaped or decided to hunker down in their basements. So it wasn't a crowd of crying refugees that was making that whining noise. What could make a whistle like that?
Then five colorful dots appeared.
Five pegasi in colorful uniforms soared into the airspace of the residential zone. The Titan was impressed. In this polar climate it was usually too cold to fly. Ice would quickly form on the feathers and wings and drag a pegasus right out of the sky. So pegasi that were strong enough to take to the air in these conditions, even if the morning appeared calm weather-wise, were something to admire. Not that the Titan was here to congratulate them. Shaking herself out of those thoughts, the mare evaluated the arrivals with a curious eye. Why were they here? The five pegasi soon paused a short distance away. Well, short for her. For several seconds the group simply hovered there, as though studying her in return.
The Titan quickly lost interest in these ponies dressed in flashy blues and reds and returned to her task. The huge mare located the next target and wasted no time lifting her hoof and dropping it on top of the doomed home. Then she raised another hoof and prepared to crush the building after that, but was stopped by one of the pegasi flying into her face.
The Titan was, although embarrassed to admit it, startled by the speed and suddenness of this colorful dot appearing in her vision. She stumbled back a few steps, tearing up lawns and two different streets as she struggled to keep her balance. Once the huge mare was certain she wasn't about to topple over, she realized the pegasus was still hovering in front of her face. It was rather rude, though it did let her make out some finer details. Like the fact this pony was shouting at her and waving their arms around. The Titan wasn't really interested in what they had to say and only caught something about being "just like the rest" and "you'll pay for this".
The Titan filled her lungs and puffed out her chest. Then she blew as hard as she could at the annoying pegasus.
The little one was sent rag-dolling through the air towards the ground. They flipped and spun and their wings thrashed in all directions. The other pegasi immediately flew after them in an obvious attempt to save them from the terrible fall, but it was over in an instant. The Titan was fairly confident the pest died when they hit the ground, but it was possible they survived one or two of those bounces. With that distraction out of the way the Titan regarded the suburban sprawl around her and returned to stomping on homes. However, her rounds soon took her to where the group of pegasi were all huddled around their fallen friend.
There was a bit of an awkward moment for the Titan.
They weren't really in the way. The Titan was more than big enough to straddle the street with her hooves planted atop the houses on either side at once. But it felt a bit weird to walk over the pegasi. So she found herself looming over the tiny group for a minute or two as she debated with herself if she should go around them. One of the pegasi decided to make the decision for her.
"You cruel bitch!" one of the tiny ponies screamed at the Titan as loud as he could.
For her part, the giant mare was offended. She was only here because of them. They were the cruel ones invading her lands for no reason. Disturbing her just because they could. And now the little thieves had the nerve to be mad at her for defending herself?
The Titan glared at the accusing pony and snorted once. They seemed to wilt under her gaze. Then the entire group backed up a step.
That wouldn't be nearly enough.
The Titan raised a hoof out of the hole that used to be somepony's home and aimed for the collection of pegasi. She couldn't see past her own foot what the reaction was, but she could imagine it was either a sudden sprint for safety or all of them freezing in terror. Whatever they did, the Titan was only sure none had escaped. Her hoof landed in the blink of an eye with such force that it compacted the road a few meters into the ground. And when she lifted her foot a second later, all that remained was her print. Though for the tinies it could only be described as a crater.
Author's Note
Honestly, I sympathize with the Grinch character from those old Doctor Seuss books. His neighbors were inconsiderate and annoyed him. Granted, maybe his sensitivity for their lights and music was a bit extreme.
Version: 1
It was several minutes later, and after crossing into yet another suburban district, that the Titan began to feel like she was wasting her time stomping on these individual homes. Years ago a little one had told her about cluster homes called "apartments" where many more ponies lived. If she was going to be effective at driving the small ones away then finding and destroying these "apartments" would certainly be a better use of her efforts. However, she wasn't sure what they looked like other than being bigger homes. Maybe they were further into the city. The green mare faced the horizon where the endless glow of artificial lights continued to mock her. Looking up, the Titan was disturbed by how few of the stars she could see. Her jaw tensed.
The huge mare began marching towards the city proper while ignoring the field of holes around her that used to be a thriving neighborhood. She also pointedly ignored the ever growing number of pegasi that had come to... do something. The swarm was at least two dozen now. Thankfully, other than that first group, no more had gotten in her face. She knew they were some kind of a response, possibly "police"? But the Titan couldn't be sure. Most of them were buzzing around the path of destruction she had left in her wake, yet the remainder seemed to be watching her. From a safe distance. Not that she cared as long as they stayed out of her way.
What the Titan did take note of as she moved on however, was the gap of empty space between the suburbs and the next zone of civilization. It was just a snow covered stretch that separated two regions of the city and took even her several strides to cross. Well, technically it wasn't entirely barren. Spanning the field were three wide roads which mere moments ago had been packed with refugees fleeing from the first phase of her rampage. By now these highways were deserted though.
The mare wondered as she crossed this region. The tiny ones had a means of cramming a great number of their kind into a single artificial structure, yet they left voids of unused land in-between? She had to give them credit, their size alone was an advantage when it came to living in tight spaces or when creating something with a lot of fine details. So why were they being so wasteful here when they so often bragged of their "inventions" and efficiency? Instead of spreading, like a carpet of fungus engulfing a forest floor, they could have been using this land. Was this bit of territory cursed? It didn't feel different from any ground she had ever walked on. Was it bad in some way she just couldn't sense? If they were so smart why couldn't they fix it?
Maybe she would never truly understand the small ones. They were another species who saw the world from an entirely different perspective. Theirs was an alien mind beyond her comprehension. Her only option was to deal with them.
Clearing the distracting philosophical thoughts from her mind, the Titan refocused on her mission.
The next ring of the city was a collection of buildings that were much broader than the suburban homes, had flat roofs, and featured expansive parking lots of black stone that fused with a complex road network. A few had walls that were entirely glass, but otherwise most seemed to be made of rock or concrete. Were these "office buildings"? Places where ponies spent the entire day working? The huge mare had also heard the term "skyscraper" used to describe that kind of structure, but these weren't much taller than anything she had seen so far. These were not homes, apartments, or offices. So she was left unsure what these buildings were. The roads here were also wider and decorated with colorful lines. There were countless street lights and signs she couldn't read. Lastly, there were a number of vehicles here. Some moving, others parked.
The Titan paused at the edge of this new region like she had when she first encountered the suburbs. Her thoughts swirled. She could see the "inner" city just beyond this section, but in the dim morning light she would have to be closer to discern any meaningful detail other than the simple fact that buildings there were definitely taller. For now she turned her glowing amber eyes down toward the strange boxy things in her path. Once again she faced the familiar question of whether it was worth the time and effort to destroy this zone of development.
This region seemed somehow both spacious and condensed. Possibly because of all the flat rooftops. It was similar to the suburbs, yet completely different. This area made the Titan feel strange. It was nothing like her own lands. The familiar passes and snow covered mountains with their many winding paths. Straight lines were uncommon at best in nature. All of this was weird and wrong. How could the little ones live in a place like this? With so many straight lines and smooth walls? Just the thought of being trapped in this realm made the mare shiver with disgust. The less time she spent here in the world of the tiny ones the better.
She decided to skip through this bit and head straight for the "skyscrapers" beyond.
The Titan gently placed a hoof on top of the first structure in front of her. The bottom of her foot was just wider than the square building, casting narrow crescent shadows around its edges. She did not stay in that pose for long however and she quickly put her weight down. There was a brief crashing sound followed by loud cracking as the stone foundations themselves gave way to her mass. The parking lot shattered and the many pieces shifted. Some slabs of rock rose while others sank. Yet it was over in an instant and the mare was ready to move on to the next building. The little ones and the vehicles she could see fled.
The following structure was a bit far away however, so the huge mare couldn't drop her leg on top of it entirely. Even stretching she could only manage to crush half of the boxy thing. Not that it mattered. A ruin was as good as a crater. So the colossal female continued forward unconcerned. Though she had decided not to smash everything around her, that did not mean she wouldn't purposefully destroy whatever was conveniently between her and her destination. So a few lucky buildings were spared simply because they were too far apart or because they were a little to the side of the course the Titan had chosen for herself. Most were only partly annihilated or saw their parking lot replaced with a gaping hole.
Tiny screams filled the night as the towering mare stomped through the city. While countless bodies scurried about below she hardly spared any of them more than a momentary glance. Every step came with the sound of rushing wind followed by a boom or a crash. Her furry legs and underbelly were barely illuminated by the numerous lights of the urban sprawl. In those early morning hours before the sun so much as peeked over the horizon, she was like a silhouette marching across the landscape. And as she continued her mission the pegasi swarm grew and chased after her. Everypony else was just trying to get out of her way.
Then some foolish ponies tried to make a stand.
It came at her like a minuscule shooting star. A fizzling light that streaked up at her barrel and popped against her fur. For just a moment the Titan paused with confusion and curiosity. Then a second and third bolt came at her. One struck the upper portion of her right foreleg while the other managed to miss her neck and fly off into the distance. The strikes were barely felt and could hardly be described as painful. At worst they were annoying pokes, but where had they come from? The huge mare blinked as she scanned the strange terrain in front of her for the origin. But she hadn't caught the moment they had initially appeared and there were a lot of befuddling roads, blinking lights, distracting ads, and obscuring buildings scattered around. Really, the attack could have come from anywhere. For a second the Titan wasn't sure she could find the source.
Then, from roughly the same location, a barrage of glimmering projectiles came at her all at once.
The huge mare's ears perked and her head recoiled in surprise. Yet she stood her ground and allowed what must have been dozens of magical blasts to land harmlessly across her forelegs and chest while two or three went for her neck. Though she could feel each and every hit, none caused her any more pain than a common rash. More importantly, the event allowed her to find her would-be attackers.
The Titan turned a bit to the right towards a large intersection where a crowd of ponies had gathered in the open space. Now that she focused on them the mare could clearly see how they stood in orderly lines and seemed to be dressed in matching colors. She cocked a curious brow at that before taking a step towards them and lowering her head so she could get a closer look at them. As she turned her muzzle to the side so she could study all of them with her right eye, there came a cry and another rain of magical fire. The Titan closed her eye and endured the storm of insignificant blows for a moment before resuming her analysis.
They were indeed all wearing the same uniform and almost all of them appeared to be unicorns. Obviously, how else could they unleash magical attacks? Though her approach had caused their formation to dissolve a bit as many of them tried to back away from her, one pony remained at the front of the group. The leader actually stepped forward and began barking some nonsense at her.
"Return to the North or we will--" That was about as much of the little one's ramblings the Titan registered before she stopped paying attention.
These were certainly the "police" ponies she had heard about. A force to be feared if you were breaking the law. The thought that these tiny creatures could ever be a threat made the huge mare snort with amusement. Which made the group jump back and begin shooting at her. It was only the Titan's quick reaction time that saved her from getting hit in the eye and suffering real damage. She raised her head back into the air high above the squad of officers and blinked experimentally a few times to make sure. Meanwhile, her legs and chest were peppered with shimmering bolts.
The Titan then spent the next minute or so humoring their attempts to harm her. Honestly, she was waiting for them to become exhausted and run away. Weren't unicorns supposed to get tired quickly using magic? Yet the deluge of attacks seemed endless. Maybe she had been lied to. Wherever they struck her, mostly her legs and chest, was becoming unbearably itchy. The Titan was trying to be merciful and, while her assailants were slowly spreading out and away from her, they certainly weren't retreating. Why didn't they run out of magic and flee already? Eventually she glared down at them and growled. Then she stomped one of her hooves as a final warning. Most of the police ponies stumbled for a moment, but resumed the assault soon after.
The towering mare promptly ran out of patients.
One of her gigantic green hooves floated into the sky like a UFO. The circular foot then drifted forward and overhead ominously. Slowly inching into position. The now more distributed bunch of unicorns, already sweating from casting so many spells in quick succession, began screaming. There was a mad rush to get out from under the shadow of looming death. Spells were now fired at the bottom of the Titan's hoof only to fizzle and do nothing like before. Then it dropped.
There was a gush of wind and a blast not unlike that of a bomb detonating. The ground itself buckled and rolled like a wave on the ocean. Though maybe half the squad had disappeared, all resistance had been crushed. The survivors needed no further encouragement to run away. Some of the pegasi swarm rushed after them, for what purpose the large mare couldn't even guess. So the Titan grunted dismissively. Then she resumed her march, planting her hooves on-top of buildings whenever it was easy to do so.
It was only a few terrible minutes later that the massive mare arrived in the inner city.
Here the Titan was faced with yet another type of building distinct from those she had encountered previously. While these new structures were boxy like all the rest, they were also slimmer and much taller. Until now the tallest buildings she had encountered might have just reached her fetlocks, these new towers were several times higher. There was some variation, but one or two even measured half-way to her knees. Which genuinely impressed the mare. Only the oldest trees could compare to that.
However, the question remained: what were these buildings? Were these offices or the apartments she was searching for?
The Titan lowered her head until her wild mane was scraping along the roadway below. Ponies on the sidewalk stumbled into each other as they ran. Others were just emerging from these mysterious structures in groups, often dragging with them bags that were difficult for them to lift. Ignoring the little ones for now, her glowing eyes diligently inspected the buildings. Her conclusion was not perfect. While these structures certainly had a lot of windows, to the mare they didn't quite have enough to match the descriptions she'd heard of offices. But she wasn't sure.
A growl of frustration rose up in her throat before her attention was drawn to the latest collection of tiny ponies trying to escape. The Titan narrowed her eyes. There was another way to get information.
"You," the enormous mare spoke, her voice vibrating the air like a great horn.
Everypony nearby froze in place. A silent stillness engulfed the area. No pony answered the Titan.
"What kind of buildings are these?" she asked, not particularly caring which member of her audience decided to speak up. No pony replied for several very tense seconds.
"T-these are the North Paleroad Apartments. W-why are you here? What do you--"
"Thank you," the Titan said dismissively and stood up.
So this is what apartments looked like. That was good to know.
The huge mare lifted a forehoof and drew it back. The many muscles beneath her thick fur and hide tensed with power. She scowled and clenched her jaw.
Then she kicked.
A wall of keratin as wide as a city block crashed into the ground sending up a wave of earth and pulverized tarmac. Nothing could stop its rapid and relentless advance. A roar like the angriest avalanche filled the night until the Titan's hoof reached the first apartment a moment later. The shattering of glass joined the orchestra of tearing rock and the screams of helpless ponies. The building almost completely disintegrated. Yet the kick continued.
There was a narrow alley that separated the first apartment from its neighbor that vanished in a mere instant. It wasn't so much the great mare's hoof that destroyed the second building as much as it was the flood of debris that was now quickly growing in-front of it. Like the storm surge ahead of a hurricane. A mass of broken rock and mulch that used to be countless home furnishings crashed into the second tower and soon it too was churned into unrecognizable rubble.
The third and final apartment joined its brothers in ruin with a slight twist however. Instead of waiting for the tsunami of trash to blast it to pieces, the up-welling of its foundations caused the entire structure to begin tilting a split second before it was hit. Its walls began to crack and fail but a blink early as the earth tore before the Titan's hoof arrived. Not that anyone who witnessed it could properly appreciate the difference in the three seconds that the event lasted.
The Titan's hoof soon arced upward up from the ground and carried with it a significant amount of the remains of the apartment complex. Though those fragments did not stay with her foot for long. As her leg came to a stop the many pieces riding on her fur came loose and began sailing through the air by themselves. Only to come crashing down several moments later. A shower of meteors that spread touches of destruction across the cityscape.
A brown scar marked where three tall buildings had once stood. Homes for many dozens. Gone.
With a grunt the Titan then dropped her raised hoof on the next apartment over. However, unlike previous structures which had obediently sunk into the ground, this time debris spilled out the sides like pancake batter under a spatula. And rather than a boom the sound was more similar to a swift crackling. Yet this development meant nothing to the mare.
Thus the third phase of the rampage began as the Titan then lifted her other foreleg and stomped on the next apartment. Then she made a swipe with the first, brushing a number of boxy little buildings away like sandcastles. The landscape buckled with her every step. Neighborhoods and businesses were replaced with gaping craters, vast trenches, and daunting piles of rubble. A patch of utter devastation that spread and spread.
Meanwhile, hundreds of pegasi took to the air. Some lingered nearby to watch, others rushed away to parts unknown. The bodies of land bound ponies, unicorns and earth ponies, packed the streets. Now and then a unicorn fired a spell at the living disaster, only to be stomped or stirred into the rubble. There were also those who tried to talk to her, who begged her to stop, but with so much screaming and the constant racket of destruction at work the Titan could not hear any specific words. Not that she cared. The enormous mare paid no attention to the terrified masses beneath her and simply continued with her grim task.
Soon there were no more obvious apartments left within reach to obliterate and the Titan found herself pausing to consider her surroundings. It was like being stranded in a sea of buildings of every type and description. There were short home-like structures. There were flat wide buildings with colorful signs. There were parking lots and there were open grass areas. There was even a group of entirely glass-walled towers a few steps away.
However, what actually succeeded in catching the Titan's attention were the two other collections of apartments. Like islands on the horizon. For a short time the mare found herself glancing back and forth between the two separate complexes, debating with herself if it was necessary. She considered what she had already accomplished. The suburbs she had leveled, the apartments she had just destroyed, and the countless other structures that had been demolished along the way. Was it enough?
The Titan sighed in resignation.
It was a slow and heavy sound even amongst the endless screams of the tiny ones below.
No, she decided. The mare was not done. She was already here. Coming back later would be annoying in itself. It was better to do too much than to do too little. She hoped she would never have to return to this disturbing place again. So she picked one of the apartment complexes and began marching.
At once her massive legs went crashing through a neighborhood of office buildings. Their glass facades exploded at her mere touch and their concrete skeletons crumbled into fragments and dust. Debris rained down on the narrow roads between the towers. Pony crowds frantically rushed for cover while holding whatever they could over their heads. It was actually a bit difficult for the Titan to force her way through. Though the buildings were delicate, they were taller than anything she had encountered before and they were tightly packed together. It was like walking through water.
Then she came face-to-face with the tallest building in the city.
It sported a pointy top, walls made of mirrors, and a cylindrical shape with many mini-roof surfaces that made the structure wider towards the bottom. There were landing pads for pegasi. There was a multi-level parking lot beside it. There was a neon sign proudly declaring something on the front of it. It stood as a symbol of the tiny one's accomplishments. This was the pinnacle of pony construction. Their greatest achievement.
It only came up to her barrel.
The Titan growled down at it, angered by its simple existence. It dared to block her path. It tried to manipulate her. It defied her will and challenged her to go around.
She would not be diverted from her course by this artificial obstacle.
The mare raised a hoof and struck the tower with a grunt of effort. At once the air was filled with the crackling of hundreds of broken windows. The tower bent in the middle and began to rock. There was a sound of snapping steel. Yet, shockingly, it stayed upright. The Titan raised a brow and pulled back her hoof for a second strike. Again her foot failed to go all the way through, but the skyscraper was further deformed, contorting from the stress of her mighty blow. From its foundations came an ominous noise like popping corn and from the rest of the structure came a continuous note like a low moan. Objects and bodies flowed out of the many holes in the building as though it were a bleeding animal.
Then the base of the tower failed. Crumpling in on itself like an empty can. And the rest of the structure came down after, breaking apart as it fell to the ground like a rock slide. And a few seconds later it was over.
The Titan stared at the pile of rubble. Then she snorted. Then she resumed her march towards the second group of apartments, bulldozing her way through the rest of the office buildings that desperately struggled just to slow her down. Yet she reached her destination all the same and was poised to begin. Nothing could stop her.
A pink bubble appeared over the huge mare's next target.
The Titan blinked in confusion. What was this? The closest thing she could compare it to was the flowing lights that decorated her sky now and then. The phenomenon the tiny ones called the "Aurora Borealis". Yet this thing, while also partially transparent, was only one color and shown with magical power.
The huge mare raised a hoof and gently tapped the surface of the dome. It made a sound like a gong underwater. The surface rippled and flexed. Tiny lights sparkled within it as it re-solidified and appeared to thicken, becoming less transparent. Then it quieted and stilled once more.
The Titan narrowed her eyes. She had been unaffected by the phenomenon so she felt it was safe to test it again. This time when she lowered her hoof she did not retreat. She pressed down and put some of her weight on the dome.
The pink barrier gave slightly, compressing like stiff rubber. A whine like a massive creaky door protested the mare's action. Sparkles appeared wherever wrinkles marked the bubble's surface. Yet it held.
The Titan grumbled with realization. Another response. A shield. The little ones were doing something else to try and stop her. If she didn't break through then they would continue to invade her lands. They would see her as weak. They would conquer her. She was right to keep fighting.
The Titan of the North raised her leg and brought it down with all of her strength, determined to shatter this final defense. The collision rang like the crack of an enormous whip. A wave rushed out across the pink surface and her foot dug a quarter of the way through. Unexpectedly, the mare's leg hurt. The dome was strong. Nearly as strong as her. However, while the wall was stationary, she was not.
The Titan ignored the pain and raised her leg to strike again. And again. And again. Each time denting the half-sphere deeper and deeper. However, what should have been a quick and easy victory, instead became a frustrating grind of attrition. Between each of the tooth-rattling hammer-like blows, a surge of energy would rush through the dome and partially undo some of the damage. The Titan's hoof would hit and, while she was raising her limb for the next strike, the very wound she had just inflicted would begin to fill itself in. Though the Titan was clearly winning overall, the struggle immediately frustrated her.
The battle lasted an entire minute before the Titan paused to take a breath and growl like a disturbed dragon. In a violent fit of anger, the mare reared up on her hind legs and thrashed her immense front legs in the open air. From across the cityscape, everypony could see the Titan rage. It was their only warning. Because she came down immediately after with a double-hoofed stomp that rocked the entire metropolis with a brief but felt earthquake.
The pink shield withstood the impact for only a moment before failing and allowing the huge mare to come crashing the rest of the way down to the ground.
The Titan smirked, pleased by her victory. She had defeated the little ones completely. Surely there would be no further response. All that was left was to finish off this group of apartments, which had already suffered heavy damage from her landing, and possibly the other complex too. Then she could go home.
Yet, as she raised her hoof to crush the nearest building, a glimmering bolt of baby blue light came racing for her head.
The Titan was confused by its trajectory and suddenness. It was as though the attack had been fired by a unicorn that could fly. But that couldn't be right. Even more surprising was her quick discovery that the power behind this spell was much greater than from the previous attacks she had endured. The huge mare actually felt like she had been stung in the left cheek. It hurt.
The huge mare shook her head and stumbled back, predictably causing a bit more damage to the buildings behind her. She snorted and scowled in the direction she had been assaulted. There was, of course, the ever present pegasi swarm keeping a safe distance. However, there was also one distinct individual who was subtly glowing and who was much nearer. The Titan immediately focused on this bold little one who was still coming closer and quickly at that.
The Titan could feel a powerful animosity coming from this pony. Someone who might just be capable of posing a threat. Had this flying unicorn been responsible for the barrier a moment ago? Her muscles tightened as she readied herself to feel more stinging bolts. The seconds ticked by agonizingly slow as she awaited this one's arrival. The huge mare was used to the sluggish passage of great periods of time, so the reverse was extra uncomfortable. Compared to her normal day-to-day, so much had happened. Everything was going so fast. Except this waiting.
The blue comet stopped one hoof length away. The unicorn was pink and also had a pair of wings she spread as she hovered before the huge mare's muzzle. Power radiated off of her like a warm candle. The Titan could feel the hatred.
"What have you done?!" the little pony demanded. "Why are you here?!"
The Titan found rage boiling in her own veins. Not only was this certainly their "Princess", but she too chose to lie and insult the huge mare. There was simply no way the tiny ones did not realize they were invading. How could you attack someone and not realize it? The Titan could stand the nonsense of the small ones no longer.
"You invade my lands and threaten my peace, then you have the nerve to question my actions?" the Titan rumbled. "I am not some part of the landscape you can simply clear and build over!" she roared and raised a hoof.
The Princess seemed to be stunned by the Titan's words. Whether due to the content or because of the sheer volume of the huge mare's voice she would never know. All that mattered was the flying unicorn failed to dodge as the Titan swiped the little glowing dot out of the air.
The Princess flew through the sky like a meteor, crashing to the road some blocks away with a sickening crunch. The Titan, however, was not done with her. She marched after her downed enemy, not even noticing the additional buildings that disappeared beneath her uncaring hooves. Upon arriving at the landing site the huge mare found the Princess laying motionless at the end of a trench she had carved into the ground when she fell. And for a moment the Titan simply loomed over her. Watching her. Thinking, yet not caring enough to stoop down to check if she was alive or dead.
But the Titan did care enough to stomp on her once.
The sun only now crossed the horizon and the first true rays of sunlight began to blanket what remained of the city as the day began in earnest. And a sense of finality settled over the Titan in that moment. With a tired look, she took in her surroundings again and sighed.
Her legs were itchy and her face stung. Her fur and hooves were dirty. Around her were ruins and a path of destruction that led all the way back to the far North. Beneath one of her hooves was the ruler of this city who had looked her in the eye and dismissed all the wrongs the little ones had committed. There were at least two more apartment complexes left and who knew how many more homes here in the inner city and back out in the suburbs. Was it worth it to stay here any longer?
All at once the Titan simply felt exhausted. She eyed the buildings she had not smashed and weighed the importance of continuing her mission. The huge mare glanced down at her hoof, still planted atop the sovereign of this land, and scowled. Surely this would be enough. The tiny ones couldn't possibly believe she was weak after this. Now they would understand that they could not simply take from her without facing her wrath.
So the Titan went home satisfied with her work. Though a small part of her did worry that the small ones would be back. That they would rebuild and continue their advance against her. However, the huge mare also felt a tremendous bloom of confidence rising in her chest as she marched over yet more homes and businesses on her way back to her lands. She had learned a great deal during her quest and now she knew how to stick up for herself.
After all, if the little ones really hadn't learned their lesson...
...she could always repeat it for them.
The End
Author's Note
For those curious why the Crystal Tower does not appear in this story, it is simply that I am lazy. I didn't want to spend the time necessary trying to scale it and Grinch accurately. Heck, maybe the tower just blends in with the skyscrapers of this modern Crystal Empire/City. Maybe Grinch just didn't notice it amongst the "sea of buildings". Also, while I planned for a longer battle with Princess Cadenza, I decided to cut it short because, at that point, I really just wanted to finish the story. And it kind of felt right. Build the Princess up as a potential threat, then have Grinch rage and simply obliterate her with one swing. Classic defying of expectations. No pony can stand up to Grinch. No pony.
So this is the last of the "rampage trio" I had planned since my return to writing, each one themed after Good, Evil, and Neutral. "A True Taste of War" was Good themed, "The Lottery" was Evil themed, and "The Biggest Grinch" was Neutral themed. So I'm done with rampage stories for now. I hope you enjoyed.
