Beasts from Within

Junior had lost track of time as he ran through the forest. Ever since he was forced to retreat from Ponyville, he had been forced to do nothing but run as far as he could in hopes that no one would see him. Especially since he was in no condition to fight. His muscles painfully ached as they struggled to carry his weight at a swift pace. Luckily, due to his immense size, Junior had no trouble with trampling the surrounding terrain as he managed to plow through the trees like a giant ax. Although this did leave a path that could lead to his location, but as far as Junior was concerned, that was the least of his current problems. Instead, Junior was focused on trying to keep his legs from giving out beneath him as he tried to fight off the ever growing pain.

He wasn’t just experiencing physical pain, but Junior was also suffering mentally. Every passing second, Junior was being pushed to the brink by Juvenile as he felt his consciousness be dragged through the dirt. Juvenile had been mostly in control during the Ponyville fight, but was now handing the wheel back to Junior, leaving him to pick up the broken pieces. However, due to the lack of experience, Junior was struggling to grasp the partial power of Juvenile. With each step, the mounting pain of his leg muscles aching, his open wound still pouring blood, and the increasing physical discomfort he was experiencing was proving to be too much for Junior to handle. Something that Juvenile picked up on, but instead of words of encouragement, he chose to do the opposite.

‘I was told that I was the only kaiju spirit alive in this dreaded world. I was told tonight would be my moment!’

“Shut…up”, said Junior in between breaths.

‘Only for not only both statements to be untrue, but the titan that I hate the most is still alive!’

“Shut up”, said Junior again as he began to grit his teeth. He was finding it increasingly more difficult to prevent himself from collapsing.

‘And now, I’m not only at one of the lowest points in my existence since the Final War…but I’m permanently stuck with you.’

“SHUT UP!”

As if he had used all of his energy to tell the voice in his head to stop talking, Junior had reached his limit. He slowed his pace down to a crawl before finally allowing himself to rest. The muscles in his legs gave out as Junior collapsed to the ground. He didn’t bother to attempt to stand back to his feet as he instead clutched his wound which was still bleeding. The might of the atomic blast he had suffered from was ever lasting as he had no more energy to heal his wounds. As such, he was left defenseless as he laid on the ground.

His entire body began to emit a bright glow as Junior felt his head finally be relieved of the intense pressure he had been experiencing all night. Junior’s body slowly began to decrease in size as his scaly hide was replaced with his fur. But instead of a deep cyan that he had his whole life, Junior’s fur was now a desaturated purple, similar to the skin of the titan he had been seconds before. His claws were gone and were replaced with normal hooves, along with his tail which returned to a thin ponytail. The glow completely vanished as Junior was left lying in the middle of the woods, his body twitching as he reeled from the effects of merging for so long.

Despite all of these changes, the one thing that remained were the extensive injuries all across Junior’s body. The once powerful and slick titan was now a heavily wounded and frightened pony that was curled into a ball. While physically Junior could recover, he was mentally in tatters. With a throbbing headache along with what was seemingly a seizure on top of it, Junior had lost complete control of his body as he flailed around. He was struggling to breathe, tried desperately to clutch his head, and was even starting to bleed from the eyes. After a while, Junior’s movements became less sporadic before his body went limp all together.

Silence took over with the only noise there to break it being the labored breaths coming out of Junior’s mouth. He was in, without question, more pain than the average pony could possibly handle. It was a miracle that he hadn’t been killed the first time he had merged and it was an even bigger miracle he was still alive after his fight with another titan. As Junior laid on the ground, his mind remained restless. Just as he had feared, there were already titan spirits in this world. Not only that, but he had just encountered the strongest one of them all. He was the first pony to ever merge with a titan spirit, despite having it for less than a week, and was now lying on the ground in the middle of nowhere with no one around to help him apart from the voice in his head which was becoming softer and softer as he began to close his eyes.

Just as he was prepared to pass out, Junior could faintly hear the sound of clopping approaching him as he started to drift off. From the sound of each footstep, the figure wasn’t a stray animal and instead was an actual pony. However, due to his vision going dark and him not having the energy left to deciphers who it could possibly be, Junior was left at the mercy of this hopeful ally as he laid in the ground with blood coming out of him at all sides. After what felt like hours to Junior with the figure staring at him, Junior’s eyes closed and he passed out from exhaustion, terrible head trauma, and excessive blood loss.

The figure continued to stare at the pony turned vessel before looking up at the way he came. The town which Junior had just come from couldn’t be seen from where the figure was standing; the only indication being the several trails of smoke that billowed into the air. The figure let out a sigh, it seemed that their plan for take over would have to wait. Using his magic, he lifted Junior on to his back before throwing the remaining transportation crystal he had left.

Des looked back at his unconscious right armed stallion and just how wounded he was. It was impressive that Junior with the powers of Juvenile managed to survive an incredible beating; a beating that shouldn’t have happened in the first place. With Junior incapacitated for an unknown amount of time and the discovery that they weren’t the only kaiju vessels in Equestria, Des let out a growl as wisps of purple steam exited his maw, causing the bark of the surrounding trees to burn and disintegrate in a matter of moments. Des turned and walked through the portal back to their mountain hideout, nothing was said aside from the voice that no one but he could hear.

‘How fun.’

The portal disappeared and the forest went silent.

Discord laid on the top bunk of the bunk bed he had created for him and his new roommate. With Junior gone and Des on what he called an ‘expedition’, Discord was finally given a chance to not only rest, but to more importantly experiment. Throughout the night, Discord had been seeing what true limits the gem of madness presented him with. He was still unable to summon portals to different parts of Equestria and his reality manipulation wasn’t nearly as devastating as it once was. However, that didn’t stop him from creating some of the most baffling oddities to be ever witnessed.

In only a couple of hours, the mountain in which Discord was staying had been completely redecorated with a bouncy castle-like floor with gummy snakes hanging from the ceiling. Rocks and boulders became massive jawbreakers or giant rubber ducks that, when squeezed, would spray oil from their bills. Any ray of moonlight that managed to pass through the cracks of the cave walls were all fed into a disco ball that was held in the air by a goat with hummingbird wings. Even the stray fly or insect that found its way inside of the mountain would be either enlarged or have its texture change to either zebra, metal, or even pixelated. On the outside, it was still a mountain, but on the inside it was nothing but madness. Unsurprisingly, everyone aside from Discord found the changes to be less than ideal.

“Discord!”, shouted Biollante as she exited from her chamber with her brows furrowed.

“Not now, Bio, I’m currently working on my personal hobby”, said Discord as he blew into a long balloon and started to stretch it into a frog.

“What did you do to my roses?!”, exclaimed Biollante as she used her magic to levitate her flowers. The once red floral was now covered in white polka dots.

“Isn’t it obvious, I’ve made them even more divine!”, said Discord as he floated over to her.

“You ruined them, that’s what you did! So, change them back, now!”, exclaimed Biollante. Discord rolled his eyes as he finished his balloon animal.

“Just give me a second, I’ve just completed my first masterpiece”, he said before showing the balloon to Biollante. While at first Biollante showed an uninterested and annoyed look, that quickly changed once the balloon started to move. The balloon frog stood on its hind legs as its eyes blinked.

“Hi-ho”, it said in a jolly, upbeat tone of voice. Biollante could only stare flabbergasted at the rubbery amphibian.

“What. The hay. Is that?”, she asked. Discord only replied with a proud smile over his creation.

“What am I?”, asked the frog. “Well, I’ll tell you. My name is Ker-”

The roses Biollante was holding lurched forward and unveiled their mouths filled with sharp teeth before biting down and popping the balloon animal before it could even finish. Afterwards, it retracted back into its stem before returning to a normal rose. It happened for only a few seconds, but that didn’t leave Biollante completely speechless as she instinctively dropped the roses she was carrying. Discord, to no one’s surprise, looked more disappointed than anything else.

“Dang, guess I still need practice”, he said, glumly.

“Discord!”, shouted another voice. Both Discord and Biollante turned to see Orga walking towards them, or more accurately bouncing to them because of the trampoline-esc floor.

“What did you do to my weights?”, he asked.

“What weights?”, Discord replied.

“Don’t play dumb with me, I went to my chamber to workout only to find my dumbbells replaced with these”, said Orga. Instead of pure metal, Orga pulled out two sticks with marshmallows attached to either side of them.

“Well, I thought you could do with a change in pace”, said Discord. “After all, who doesn’t love marshmallows?”

“Just, bring them back, asshole”, Orga said, bluntly.

Discord spat a raspberry before cracking his knuckles. Without any warning, Discord pulled a massive safe out of his ear before typing a code and pulling out another safe. He typed another code into the keypad and pulled out yet another safe. Discord redid the process another three times before finally reaching in and pulling out a pair of dumbbells. However, right when he was about to hand them over to Orga, the dumbbells completely crumbled before being turned to dust and falling to the floor. Discord and Orga watched with wide eyes until Discord merely shrugged.

“That’s unfortunate, looks like they suffered from some safe-cracking”, he joked, much to the expense of his fellow legend.

“I hate you. So. Much”, said Orga.

“Like I haven’t heard that before. By the way, where is our scaly amigo?”, asked Discord.

“Griffon? He usually sleeps outside”, said Biollante. Discord immediately perked up as a toothy grin formed on his face.

“The perfect opportunity”, he said before grabbing another balloon and stretching it into what looked like a water gun.

“If you’ll excuse me, I have an expedition of my own to attend”, said Discord before flying outside of the mountain. Orga let out a sigh of relief.

“Finally”, he said, “peace and qui-”

His sentence was cut short by the roses with white polka dots trying to bite him. Instinctively, Orga took a few steps back before stomping on them and crushing the flowers under his hoof. His eyes widened once he realized whose flowers he crushed and that they were standing right in front of him.

“Oh, sorry, Bio”, he said, softly.

“It’s fine, they were ruined anyways”, replied Biollante as she saw one of her once beautiful flowers sticking out a long, pink tongue. The sight of which caused Orga to look around at the chaos around them such as the several disproportionate insects or the many sweets that hung from the ceiling.

“You know, for a thousand year old demi-god, he sure does have the mindset of a five year old”, he said.

“And yet, Lord Des says that he could be the missing piece we need in order to revive the kaiju”, added Biollante as she picked up the discarded remains of her roses with her magic, cringing in disgust at the sight of them.

“I get that, I just had no idea we would have to play the role of babysitter”, said Orga.

He and Biollante walked over to Des’ chamber which depicted many cave paintings. Surprisingly, it was the one part of the mountain that Discord hadn’t touched. Because of that, the two of them made the massive cave a safe space which allowed them to escape the chaos of flying basketballs with wings of a duck and the trunk of an elephant. As the two of them sat down to collect their breaths and hold on to their sanities, Orga looked back up at the cave paintings depicting several moments in ancient Equestrian history. The sight of the titans brought a thought to as he remembered the whereabouts of their colleague.

“So, how do you think Junior’s rampage is going?”, asked Orga.

“As if I could tell you, I don’t even know the first thing about being a vessel”, answered Biollante. “If anything, I’m more focused on what’s gonna happen when he gets back.”

“What do you mean?”, asked Orga with an eyebrow raised. He noticed the rather anxious signals Biollante was giving off as she stared at the cave’s walls.

“Well, if this whole mission turns out to be a success, then I’d imagine Lord Des is gonna want to have one of us turned into a vessel with kaiju spirits of our own”, said Biollante.

“Well…I suppose”, said Orga.

“And you saw what happened to Junior when he received Juvenile”, added Biollante. Orga had to admit, the memory of watching Junior convulse wasn’t a pleasant sight. While the thought of their souls eventually being linked with the kaiju spirits had never crossed his mind before, the fact this reality was slowly approaching was becoming all the more apparent. So much so that Orga couldn’t simply ignore nor brush it off.

“Hay, Junior was barely even given a week to formulate a bond with his titan spirit before he was forced to merge with it”, said Biollante.

“Well, Lord Des did say that Juvenile was a dweller titan. Maybe different titan classes require different amounts of time to master”, said Orga.

“Even if that’s true, he’s not gonna want to take over Equestria using only dweller titans”, said Biollante. “Which just has me all the more nervous over what kind of titans he wants us to inherit.” The uncertainty of it all was also playing with Orga nerves, though he didn’t want to admit it.

“Guess it all depends on how well Junior holds up”, he said. The two of them shared a look over the mention of their colleague. If Junior was the one that would decide how well linking with a kaiju spirit would go, then the odds were indeed not in their favor.

“Nevertheless, no matter what happens, it’ll all be for a good cause. At least, that’s what Lord Des would say”, said Orga.

Surprisingly, Biollante’s nerves weren’t fully resolved as she continued to struggle with the fact that soon they would all be facing a similar reality that Junior would be facing. However, she and Orga were unable to dwell on it any further before they heard the roar of a dragon from outside followed by child-like giggles. There was a sudden crash, catching both Biollante and Orga’s attention as they immediately left Des’ chamber. They rounded a corner to find what they should’ve expected. Discord, with the laugh of a young child, was being chased by an enraged Griffon who was soaking wet. The draconequus was scooping up piles of stone, as if he was creating a snowball, before chucking them at the smaller beige dragon who managed to dodge the oncoming rock. Orga and Biollante watched this play out before gaining flat looks as they shared an equally unsurprising thought.

“What happened?”, asked Orga, bluntly.

“Oh, nothing, me and your friend here are just having a game of tag. Isn’t that right, Griffey Wiffy”, said Discord. Griffon snarled as he flew toward and tried to punch him in the face. However, Discord’s body managed to curve just out of the way of Griffon’s fist, causing it to be embedded into the wall of the mountain. As Griffon tried to free himself, Discord merely laughed in response.

“My, my, that was fun. Now then, what game should we play next?”, asked Discord, turning to the other two ponies who were watching.

“How about instead you put your toys away before Lord Des comes back and sees what you’ve done to our base”, answered Biollante. Discord replied with scoff, much to Biollante’s annoyance.

“Don’t you worry ‘bout a thing, I’ll be able to turn your entire mountain back to normal…as soon as Des comes back”, he said before letting loose a few stray chortles.

“You better make it soon, though, I’d imagine Lord Des will be back any minute now”, said Orga. Once more, Discord merely brushed these worries off as he waved his lion paw.

“Oh please”, he said, “he’s been gone for barely half an hour. It’ll be a while before-”

The sound of a portal from one of the transportation crystals summoning smacked the smirk off of Discord’s face in an instant. Before Des could even step out of the portal, Discord snapped his fingers and almost everything was back to normal. The ground was no longer rubbery, any freakish creatures disappeared in moments, and all the sweets and surgery treats scattered all across the mountain were finally gone. They disappeared so abruptly that Orga and Biollante had to do a double take as they were shocked by just how fast everything went. Nevertheless, the one thing that didn’t change was Discord’s smile as Des stepped foot on their base.

“Lord Des, welcome back”, said Discord. “I must say, you look quite famished. Shall I prepare a cup of tea for you?”

“Not now, draconequus”, said Des as the portal closed behind him.

“My lord, do you have any updates on how Junior is holding up?”, asked Biollante. The look on Des’ face implied what she feared. Discord, who was standing close to Des, looked behind him as his eyes slightly widened.

“You know, I don’t think that was supposed to happen”, he said.

“What was?”, asked Orga. He, Biollante, and even Gryphon all shared looks of confusion as Des’ horn lit up with magic.

“It appears that there have been certain details that I wasn’t aware of”, said Des as his magic encased whatever was on his back. The rest of the Legends were shocked and confused to find that Des was carrying an incredibly injured and unconscious pony, one that looked very familiar. Junior was set on the ground in front of them with his wounds still open, although they appeared to have slowly started to heal as time went on. Despite that, everyone was flabbergasted to see their colleague in such a state.

“Wh-What happened to him?”, asked Biollante as she bent down to observe his body.

“Is he even still alive?”, asked Orga.

“Only barely, the kaiju spirit within Junior seems to have saved him”, answered Des in a dry tone of voice.

“I thought you said conventional weaponry wasn’t effective against titans?”, asked Biollante. Des didn’t reply as he continued to stare at the body of Junior. He tried not to show it, but he was just as bewildered as the other Legends were.

“How odd? What could’ve possibly done this to him?”, asked Discord. Des’ ear twitched once he heard that as he raised his head.

“This wasn’t the cause of any army or alicorn”, he said as he stepped toward Junior. “This was the cause…of a titan.”

The Legends stood by with their eyes as wide as they could. The thought that another titan, one they had no knowledge of even existing in Equestria, was the reason why their fellow Legend turned vessel was on the ground in pain was so outrageous they at first didn’t believe it. Everyone except for Orga who stood off to the side trying to hide his anxiousness.

“A titan, sire? But that’s impossible, only the Kyojin Tomb could summon a kaiju spirit!”, exclaimed Biollante.

“I believed the same, and I was foolish for being so naive”, replied Des.

“What kind of titan caused this?”, asked Orga. Des sighed before turning toward his chamber, the massive cave painting depicting the two Monarchs was on full display.

“Alpha”, he said, bluntly.

Everyone froze as they heard his name.

“It…It can’t be…how can he be alive?”, asked Orga, incredulously.

“It’s only possible that Alpha could’ve been summoned by either the Kyojin Tomb…or one of our very own”, said Des as he turned toward their snake-like newcomer. Discord blinked for a moment before he gasped in offense.

“You don’t possibly think that I could’ve resurrected a being of such status as Alpha, do you?”, he said.

“After the outcome of tonight, I’m willing to keep my options open”, said Des.

“Oh, pah-lease, summoning Juvenile was enough to wear me out in my current state; I couldn’t even imagine trying to summon Alpha”, remarked Discord.

“So, that means somepony else probably got to the Kyojin Tomb before we could”, added Biollante. Orga perked up when this was mentioned, though he chose to remain silent.

“That would appear so”, said Des, softly as he turned away from the other Legends. The prospect of him being the only being in Equestria to know about the titans was rather far fetched the more he spent on it. This sudden development was now causing Des to second guess his decision on having Junior attack Ponyville as now the truth of the kaiju was revealed to the public. It especially didn’t help that he was mentally kicking himself for thinking otherwise.

‘The mighty ruler of all titans is still among this world’s inhabitants, and we sent a mere dog to fight him. It should’ve been me, if it were I that was sent to Ponyville, I’d have that entire settlement wiped off the map in a matter of seconds. But instead, you thought that an overgrown iguana would be a worthy adversary…pathetic.’

“I am not pathetic”, Des whispered through clenched teeth.

‘Is that so, then why do I still see that same young colt who could only cry for his mother?’

Des let out a deep, raspy growl as he slammed his hoof into the ground, causing the stone beneath him to quake and crack under his immense strength. The rest of the Legends were caught off guard by this reaction and some even recoiled in fear over their leader’s outburst. Silence took over as Biollante looked down at her fellow companion.

“Shall I treat Junior’s wounds…sire?”, she asked, wearily. Des took a deep breath before he straightened his pose and turned to face Biollante.

“That won’t be necessary. Juvenile’s regenerative abilities, while not nearly as instantaneous as Alphas, will be able to relieve his wounds. In the meantime, return him to his chamber so he’ll be able to heal”, ordered Des. Biollante nodded before using her magic to carry the seemingly lifeless body of Junior. The expressionless face on Junior, while it was refreshing to not hear him complain most of the time, was an unnerving sight for her to say the least. The rest watched the vessel be carried by the unicorn.

“How unfortunate for Junior, I could only imagine what pain and fear he must’ve felt when he first saw Alpha”, said Discord as he used a rag to wipe away his crocodile tears.

“Guess that means businesses as usual”, said Orga. Gryphon merely replied with a deep exhale as he flew out of the cave’s entrance. Discord, on the other hand, merely shrugged.

“You could say that…or, may I propose, another option?”, asked Discord. Des replied with a scoff as he walked toward his chamber.

“From what I’ve seen, searching across Equestria for this book has been the equivalent of searching for a microscopic needle in a haystack the size of an entire country”, added Discord.

“What are you on about, draconequus?”, asked Des, his tone showing he wasn’t in the mood for any form of nonsense.

“Well, I’m just saying”, said Discord as he checked his non-existent fingernails, “if you were to remove this wretched gem, then perhaps I’ll be able to summon the Kyojin Tomb with the snap of my fingers.”

Des stopped abruptly, still facing away from Discord. “You can’t possibly be serious”, interjected Orga.

“Oh please, I’m never serious, but I’m also very observant. And from what I can tell, it would be much easier for me to summon the book and hand it right over to big boss here. Doesn’t that sound like a treat?”, said Discord as he sported a proud grin.

Orga didn’t appear amused, however, much to his surprise, he was the only one who felt that way. A few stray, raspy chortles could be heard coming from Des as he had his back facing Discord and Orga with the latter being put off by the sound. Des turned to face Discord, his yellow eyes were practically glowing.

“I may not be as powerful as you, Draconequus, but unlike you, I am incapable of showing such ignorance. Just as you said when we first made our deal, you are mine until Equestria is ours”, said Des as he approached the element of chaos.

“I’m not taking that gem off of you for even a second. Perhaps then you won’t be so arrogant”, added Des. He turned back toward his chamber, much to Discord’s dismay.

“A simple no would’ve been fine”, he muttered under his breath.

Eventually, Discord flew back to his shared chamber with Junior, leaving Orga being the only pony left as he watched Des enter his chamber. The leader of the Legends wasn’t the only one that was cursing themselves mentally. Orga could only wonder exactly how different the outcome of tonight could’ve been if he had only told Des what he and Junior had discovered when they first attempted to free Discord. Such vital information they were forced to keep, or rather, Junior had forced them to keep. But now, seeing as how detrimental their situation had become, Orga found it best to share the knowledge he had learned many months ago and explain it in a way that would hopefully save his skin. With a deep breath, Orga approached his lord.

“Umm…excuse me, Lord Des”, he said. Des’ ear twitched as he slowly turned to face his adversary. Even despite Orga’s impressive height for a regular pony, Des still found a way to make him appear small.

“What is it?”, asked Des. Orga gulped, knowing there was no turning back.

“There’s something I think you should know.”

Anguirus traced back and forth outside of his and his brothers’ house. He was waiting with such anxiousness that he was even starting to leave hoof prints in the front of the house. Patches of scales would appear and then disappear as Anguirus waited, trying to keep his nerves under control. After the events of his first proper Nightmare Night, there were a lot of things on Anguirus' mind. For starters, there was the fact that he, his brothers, and their friends nearly met their fate a few times. Then there was the fact that the last time he saw his older brother was him being carried away into a hospital by Rodan. And finally, there was the massive elephant in the room that Anguirus was struggling to fully grasp. His nerves and fears didn’t go completely unnoticed as he felt his mind start to race.

‘Take deep breaths, your heart rate is high enough as it is.’

“Of course it is!”, exclaimed Anguirus.

‘Try to remain composed, it’ll only be a few minutes until Rodan gets here.’

“How can I remain composed, after all that happened tonight?”, asked Anguirus as he continued to pace back and forth. “It was supposed to be a fun holiday where we could hang out with our friends. But little did we know that today of all days would mark the end of our lives!”

‘This is far from what the darkest day has to offer, but it’s not a good sign.’

Suddenly, the sound of wings flapping could be heard which drew Anguirus’ attention to the sky. The sight of his pegasus brother was a little relieving, but the expression on Rodan’s face showed that he too was also struggling to come to terms with what had happened. Rodan landed on the ground before walking forward.

“How’s Gojira?”, asked Anguirus.

“He’s resting now, the hospital was pretty busy so I’m not too sure how long he’ll be in there for”, replied Rodan. He then faced the front door.

“Is everypony here?”, he asked. Anguirus, still feeling ashamed, slightly nodded. Rodan was about to walk through the front door until his younger brother stopped him.

“Hold on, don’t we want to have some kind of plan before going inside?”, asked Anguirus.

“Like what?”, asked Rodan.

“I…I don’t know, maybe what we’re gonna say to them. Once we go through those doors, there’s no turning back”, said Anguirus. Rodan looked back at the entrance of his house, knowing full well exactly who was on the other side. They had pushed this inevitable moment off for long enough, it was finally time to face the music.

“Well, it’s not like we could anyway”, said Rodan.

Without a second thought, Rodan opened the door with his brother close behind. Sitting in the living room was exactly what he expected. All of their friends, those they had grown close to along with those they had formed tight bonds with were all standing right in front of them. The mane six, Lisa, and Spike were not in the best conditions, especially after the titan battle. Their costumes were in less than ideal conditions and some of them had minor injuries such as a few cuts on Rainbow Dash’s face or a few bruises on Applejack’s limbs. They all stared at the brothers with looks of either anger, confusion, betrayal, and even fear. Despite the wide variety of emotions that could be felt throughout the Zawa household, they all shared similar thoughts about how the events had unfolded.

“So, I think it’s best to say that we haven’t been entirely truthful to any of you”, said Rodan.

“Entirely is putting it lightly”, said Rainbow Dash. Rodan ignored the comment and continued.

“So, if anypony has any questions, then we’ll be happy to answer them”, he added.

“Now, who wants to go first?”, asked Anguirus. For a brief moment, there was silence as everyone in the group glanced at one another. But once that moment past, the floodgates became wide open.

“What exactly are you three and where did you come from?”, asked Rainbow Dash.

“Have y’all always been like this?”, asked Applejack.

“A-Are there any more of you out there?”, asked Fluttershy, frightfully.

“You aren’t working for Zercora…are you?”, asked Rarity.

“Are you from outer space?”, asked Spike. Pinkie Pie perked up when she heard that.

“Pfft, of course they're not”, she said. The three brothers were at first relieved that someone was talking sense, until Pinkie Pie ran up to them and got in their faces.

“They’re obviously a bunch of zombie ponies who can turn into to giant monsters who have come here to do nothing more but feast on our living flesh while disguising themselves as the very prey that walk amongst the world that they need for food”, added Pinkie Pie. She flashed an innocent smile, a sharp contrast to the looks of horror that everyone else had, especially Fluttershy who fainted once Pinkie finished.

“Girls, calm down, I’ve been with them long enough to where I can assure you that they aren’t aliens, or monsters, or…zombies”, reassured Lisa, still a little thrown off by what Pinkie said.

“Thank you, Lil-”, Rodan couldn’t finish when Lisa flashed him a glare.

“But I still want to know exactly what you three are and why you lied to not just them…but to me”, added Lisa, her tone a little hurt once she finished.

“Y-You must understand, we have good reasons as to why we kept this a secret”, said Rodan.

“That’s actually one of my first questions”, said Twilight as she stepped forward, drawing everyone’s attention. “Why did you keep this hidden from us for so long?”

Both Rodan and Anguirus looked at each other, unsure if they should tell the whole truth. “You should first know that we had no intention to hurt you or anypony for that matter. We were given these powers for the opposite reason actually”, said Anguirus.

“Then why didn’t you feel comfortable telling us?”, asked Applejack.

“Because we were told not to”, said Anguirus.

“By whom?”, asked Rarity as she helped Fluttershy back on her hooves.

Once again, Rodan and Anguirus hesitated to answer as they still didn’t know whether to bend the truth or give it to them straight. The anticipation in the room was so intense that no one dared to move or speak. Everyone was so focused that they were each caught completely off guard when the front door of the house swung open with enough force that it slammed against the wall. The sudden noise caused each and everyone to jump in surprise, apart from Fluttershy who fell down and promptly fainted again. At first, the random intruder stood at the entrance as nothing but a shadowed silhouette; at least for those that had only normal eyesight. For those like Rodan who could see in the dark just fine, the sight of an elderly unicorn in gold armor caused his eyes to widen.

“C-Caesar?”, he said. The mention of the unicorn’s name caught everyone by surprise as Caesar stood by the entrance, breathing heavily as everyone stared at him. His focus was then drawn to the two brothers before his eyes narrowed.

“What. The hay. Happened”, said Caesar, incredibly sternly. Both Rodan and Anguirus glanced at one another.

“Well, you see…there was an incident”, said Anguirus.

“An incident? What kind of incident leads to nearly hundreds of thousands of bits worth of damage to an entire town?”, asked Caesar.

“Well, quite a lot, actually”, said Rodan, “since you got stuff like earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamis-”

“Answer the damn question!”, demanded Caesar. Rodan and Anguirus shared one more glance before they both collectively sighed.

“It was a titan”, said Rodan. Caesar stayed motionless for a moment as he stared at the brothers, with a glare that wasn’t as harsh. He closed his eyes to recompose himself.

“And Gojira?”, he asked.

“He merged with Alpha to force the kaiju to leave”, said Anguirus. Caesar’s eyes widened for a moment before he placed a hoof against his temple.

“Not merging”, he muttered to himself, “is he alright, at least.”

“He’s at the hospital, we found him unconscious in the Everfree forest”, said Rodan.

“Was anypony around when you found him?”, asked Caesar. The two brothers immediately stopped talking as they both wore a worried look, which for Caesar was already a bad sign.

“Well, there were a few”, said Anguirus, wearily. Caesar stared at each of them with a stern look.

“Who?”, he asked. Rodan sighed, he had a feeling this was about to get ugly.

“Funnily enough…they’re all right here”, he said.

Caesar’s eyebrow raised until Anguirus gestured to the living room. Caesar turned his head to find a grand total of seven ponies and one small dragon that he hadn’t noticed until now. To say the very least, it was seven ponies and one small dragon too many. Caesar sighed before taking off his helmet and allowing his mane to fall before he turned to face the brothers’ friends. He saw how many of them all stared at him in anxiousness, aside from the yellow pegasus who was just now standing up. Just like what he had done with Luna before, Caesar opened his mouth and started to speak.

“First of all, I must apologize to each and every one of you for the troubles that you have experienced from this night alone”, said Caesar.

“Oh, it’s no trouble at all”, said Twilight.

“Speak for yourself”, muttered Rainbow Dash. Caesar’s apologetic tone, however, quickly changed.

“Secondly, I want you all to promise me that the information you’re about to hear will not be shared with anypony. Not your friends, not your family, only amongst yourselves and the three boys. Do you understand?”, asked Caesar. The mane six, Lisa, and Spike all looked at one another before nodding.

“We promise”, said Twilight. Caesar’s expression and voice softened a bit, out of them all he was the most familiar with Twilight who seemed trustworthy enough.

“Good, now then, what would you like to know?”, he asked. No one said anything for a moment, until Applejack raised her hoof.

“What exactly…are you three?”, she asked.

“Gojira, Rodan, and Anguirus are, on the surface, normal ponies”, said Caesar, “however, they each act as a vessel for a spirit of an ancient species of creatures that once inhabited all of Equestria from millions of years ago.”

Rodan and Anguirus walked to either side of Caesar as their emblems flashed.

“Titans.”

All of a sudden, both Phoenix and Fierce sprouted from Rodan and Anguirus’ manes respectively, much to the complete shock of everyone else. Despite seeing them in the Everfree, the mane six, Spike, and Lisa were still far from comfortable from seeing them.

“S-So…who are they?”, asked Rarity.

“These are Phoenix and Fierce, they are the living spirits of the titans, or kaiju if you wish to call them”, answered Caesar.

“Cashew”, said Pinkie Pie.

“Wha-, no, kaiju”, corrected Caesar.

“I know, I just like cashew more”, replied Pinkie Pie with a little grin. Caesar stared at her, befuddled at first, for a moment.

‘She’s like that a lot, just continue.’

“Anyway, the kaiju spirits are what gives the boys their powers. Incredible strength, greater reflexes than that of pegasi, enhanced senses such as smell and hearing, and many more”, he added. “For instance, Rodan’s eyesight is far more enhanced than that of most eagles today, allowing him to both see in pitch black and zoom in on targets.”

‘That’s why you always see Rodan wearing sunglasses during the day, his eyesight is currently too potent for sunlight.’

“But…what about the scales?”, asked Rainbow Dash. “Anguirus’ body was covered in scales after he was crushed by that falling debris.”

Caesar’s eyes widened in shock when he heard this as he turned to face the youngest Zawa brother. “I’m sorry, what happened?”, he asked.

“It’s…nothing”, said Anguirus. Caesar took a moment to recompose himself before continuing.

“T-The scales, yes, the boys are able to terraform certain parts of their bodies to resemble the titans. For example, the scales on their bodies are much tougher than any metal in Equestria and are possibly even impenetrable”, he said. The girls processed the information, none more than Twilight as she thought about all of the times the three boys showed unbelievable feats of strength and endurance.

“What about spewing fire?”, asked Rarity.

“Well, you see, each of th-…spewing fire?”, said Caesar, just now registering what he was told.

“Yeah, both Rodan and Gojira can breathe fire, kinda like Spike”, said Pinkie Pie. Spike slightly smiled before rubbing the back of his head.

“Well…kinda”, he said, a little flustered. Caesar placed a hoof against his brow before turning to face the brothers.

“Is there anything else I should know about?”, he asked. Both Rodan and Anguirus shook their heads. Caesar cleared his throat before continuing.

“The titan spirits give each of the boys unique abilities. In the case of Rodan, you saw him use Phoenix’s ember torrent, a blast of fire as hot as the epicenter of a volcano”, he said.

‘Gojira’s is a little different since his atomic breath is composed of pure energy, making it far more powerful than whatever I can produce.’

“And the giant lizard?”, asked Applejack.

“Giant lizard?”, questioned Caesar.

‘She’s referring to Titanus Juvenile, Caesar.’

Caesar wore a dumbfounded expression as he turned to look at Fierce.

“Juvenile is in Equestria?”, he asked. He, Fierce, and Phoenix all shared a look, they knew how underwhelming it sounded.

“Is that bad?”, asked Twilight. Caesar turned back to face everyone else.

“It’s far from good, but at least it was only a dweller class”, he answered.

“A dweller class?”, said Rainbow Dash, quizzically.

“There are multiple classes of titans, the one you encountered was one of the lower classes”, answered Caesar.

“Sure didn’t seem like a low class”, remarked Applejack.

“Juvenile is on the higher end of dweller titans, but there are still many more that outrank him”, said Caesar.

“Umm…e-exactly how many more are there?”, asked Fluttershy. Caesar was caught off guard by the timid pony that he didn’t know was even here until she spoke up.

“Well, seeing as how they once inhabited the planet for millions of years, I’d say there could be hundreds of titans”, answered Caesar. Fluttershy’s pupils became microscopic once she heard that. She could already declare that Juvenile was much scarier than a dragon, and he wasn’t even the strongest of his kind.

“So, wait a minute, you mean to tell us that Equestria, a world that’s inhabited by ponies, was once ruled over by monsters?”, asked Rainbow Dash.

“Titans aren’t monsters, they’re just animals”, added Rodan. That wasn’t the right thing to say as Rainbow Dash faced him with a glare.

“Oh, right, my mistake, because all of that was caused by an animal”, she said before angrily pointing out the window.

“It’s true, titans are at the top of the animal kingdom. Their immense size and strength cause them to be in an entire league of their own, especially when compared to most creatures we see today”, said Caesar.

“Like dragons?”, asked Spike.

“I’m talking more than just dragons, I’m talking hydras, sea serpents, even an Ursa Minor. Kaijus are the beings that led to the creation of this very world, they are the true rulers of Equestria”, said Caesar. Everyone glanced at one another, none more than the mane six and Lisa. All of this information was overwhelming to say the very least.

“It can’t be, it’s just impossible to believe”, said Twilight.

“I know how incredulous it all may sound, but we’ve seen it first hoof”, said Anguirus.

“We’ve spent a large part of our lives learning about these creatures, hay, we’re still learning more about them. Like, I didn’t know that kaiju could speak their own language”, said Rodan.

Rodan lightly chuckled at his remark as he wore a nervous laugh. However, everyone else was too busy contemplating everything they had been told. For the mane six and Spike, it was a massive surprise. They had grown close to the three brothers, some had grown very close; only for this massive bombshell to be dropped on them. The sight of someone like Gojira, an intimidating yet kind stallion, turning into a creature of such great magnitude was one that many had fused into their brains. However, for Lisa, the feeling was even worse. She had known the three brothers the longest out of any of them and had no idea that such a secret had been kept from her for so many years. Throughout her intense feeling of betrayal, a certain question still floated around in Lisa’s mind. In fact, it was part of everyone’s minds.

“Why did you hide this from us…and for so long?”, asked Lisa. Rodan’s worried smile immediately disappeared as he stared into Lisa’s hurt eyes. He didn’t know what to say and neither did Anguirus. If it wasn’t for Caesar and their kaiju spirits, they wouldn’t have been able to give a straight answer.

“Something bad is coming to Equestria”, said Caesar. Everyone in the house immediately looked toward the old unicorn from Canterlot.

“What do ya’ mean?”, asked Applejack. Caesar looked at the kaiju spirits.

‘Millions of years ago, there was a worldwide war, led by the only two monarchs that walked across the earth.’

“Monarchs?”, said Twilight.

“The alicorns, if you will, of titan classes”, replied Caesar.

‘The war went on for months and caused immense damage to the planet as well as the titan species. In the end, there was no definitive victory, only loss and despair as the age of titans had come to a grim end.

‘However, from the fallout would emerge what would eventually become the world you know today as Equestria allowing ponies to become the dominant species. And it has stayed that way for millions of years.’

“Until now”, said Caesar. Everyone who had been listening intently perked up by what he had said.

“What do you mean?”, asked Rarity. Rodan and Anguirus both glanced at Caesar who retained a stoic look.

“From what we’ve been told, Caesar and our titan spirits say that the kaiju will one day return to Equestria to finish the final war”, said Rodan.

“And after what happened tonight, it seems that date might be happening earlier than anticipated”, added Anguirus. The mane six, Spike, and Lisa were each managing their composures pretty well up until that point.

“Wait, wait, wait. You mean to tell us that these creatures…are coming back?”, asked Rainbow Dash.

“Indeed”, answered Caesar. Everyone wore separate looks of fear from Twilight and Rainbow Dash who were more so frightened by the uncertainty of it all, to Fluttershy who was trembling over the thought.

“A-As in…a-all of them?”, asked Fluttershy.

“Don’t worry, Fluttershy, they might be freakish and scary, but they’re not nearly as big as that dragon we met at the top of the mountain”, reassured Pinkie Pie.

‘Actually, titans grow to be much larger than what you saw in Ponyville. Some can grow as tall as some mountains here in Equestria.’

With that confirmation and that fact placed in everyone’s minds, Fluttershy passed out for the third time. Anguirus side eyed his titan spirit who could only reply with a shrug.

“But, if what you’re saying is true, that the titans will return to Equestria, then why not tell Celestia about this?”, asked Twilight.

“I had intended to tell Celestia the same that I have told you all, but for that time being, me and the boys kept it a secret so as to avoid causing a global panic”, answered Caesar.

“Well, I don’t think you have to worry about that anymore”, muttered Rainbow Dash.

“However, it seems that the kaiju have returned earlier than anticipated. Meaning it’s only a matter of time until Celestia finds out, and by extension, the true identities of the boys. If that were to happen, then Celestia might be forced to have them imprisoned in Canterlot, or worse”, said Caesar. Rodan and Anguirus’ pupils shrunk once they heard that as they processed what Caesar had said.

“Wait, what! You never told us that!”, exclaimed Rodan.

“Of course I didn’t, you think I wanted you three to have this reaction!”, replied Caesar.

“So, wait, does anypony else know about this?”, asked Spike. Caesar, when he heard that question, wore a slight look of dread knowing how bad the answer would be.

“The only other pony that knows about the titans is Princess Luna”, he said. With each passing question, the tension in the room grew thicker and thicker.

“Wait, hold on now, ya’ mean to say that Princess Luna knows about the titans, but Celestia doesn’t?”, asked Applejack.

“I didn’t have a choice, Luna saw the power of the kaiju spirits first hoof during the Summer Sun Celebration. If I didn’t tell her, Luna might’ve told Celestia about her discovery and thus risked the boys’ futures”, said Caesar.

“Ok, so, if you don’t mind, I’m just gonna repeat everything that we’ve been told”, interjected Rainbow Dash. “All this time, we’ve been friends with stallions who house ghosts inside of them?”

“Spirits”, corrected Caesar.

“The spirits of giant monsters that once inhabited Equestria before going extinct?”, said Rainbow Dash.

“Titans”, corrected Caesar.

“And now the titans are coming back to Equestria and Celestia has no idea about it?”, finished Rainbow Dash.

“That part is correct”, said Caesar, “and there’s one more thing I need to add.”

The tension was at a breaking point as everyone stared at Caesar. Phoenix and Fierce both retreated back into Rodan and Anguirus’ manes as they too stared at their guardian.

“You can not tell anyone about what you’ve learned. Not your friends, not your family, not even those you have grown close to. No one is to know about who these boys are and what is soon to come, or else the panic that it could cause will send Equestria to an early grave”, said Caesar.

“And Celestia?”, asked Twilight.

“When the time comes, I will be the one to tell her. But for now, I strongly advise that you all keep everything that I have told you to yourselves”, said Caesar.

In a matter of a few hours, everyone’s view of Equestria had been flipped over their heads. The mane six, Spike, and Lisa had all discovered that monsters were real and had inhabited Equestria for millions of years. The creatures they had seen today weren’t even an ounce of what was to come. They had learned about the cryptic possibility that even larger creatures known as titans could return to Equestria and cause major havoc. All the while, Celestia, the princess of the sun and ruler of Equestria, was completely none the wiser to it. And yet, there was still the fact that, above it all, the three brothers who they had each grown close to had known about it all along.

Everyone was taking the news better than others. Twilight was just as fearful of the possibility of the titans returning as everyone else, but was also intrigued about their history. Applejack and Rarity were in a similar vein as they too were just as shocked by the sudden revelation, although the farmer pony was taking the truth much harder. Pinkie Pie and Spike, even with their mostly childish nature, couldn’t even begin to perceive such a thought. Fluttershy, however, had taken the news the hardest as the thought of one day coming face to face with a creature the size of a skyscraper caused her to go pale. Rainbow Dash and Lisa, meanwhile, were more so upset rather than distraught. Rainbow Dash was upset since she had a nagging feeling that something wasn’t right with the three brothers. Lisa was upset as she had known them for far longer than anyone else and hadn’t even suspected anything.

To say the very least, this whole night had been a massive cluster of emotion, terror, and revelations. From playing games and having fun, to running for their lives from one of the most bloodlusted creatures they’d ever seen. From watching one of their close friends turn into a giant beast, to discovering that their home was once inhabited by these fearful animals. From learning about what these creatures are and what happened to them, to being told that they’d one day return and their princess was none the wiser to it; Nightmare Night had been a nightmare for all the wrong reasons. No matter the truth, everyone stared at one another to share one final thought. Twilight stepped up to Caesar with a serious look.

“We won’t tell anypony”, she said before looking at Rodan and Anguirus, “but from now on, no more lies.”

Rodan and Anguirus dropped their heads slightly before nodding. Caesar stayed composed as he continued to speak.

“Thank you”, said Caesar. “Now then, I must be off. The royal guard will be setting up an outpost in case, in their words, either creature comes back.”

He then turned toward the two brothers. “So be extra careful when strolling through Ponyville”, he said, sternly.

He then turned back towards everyone else. “As for the rest of you, you all may return to your homes and get some rest. If any of you have any questions, I’ll be stationed near the entrance of Ponyville”, said Caesar.

He stepped to the side to clear the path to the front entrance. Everyone stood still for a moment before Rarity, with the costume she created in taters, was the first to leave. Not long after, Pinkie Pie followed as she wondered how she was gonna explain to the Cakes about what happened to Sugarcube Corner. Then Applejack left, and then Rainbow Dash; the later one glaring at the two brothers before leaving. Fluttershy slowly walked out, only glancing at Anguirus. But once he looked back, Fluttershy jumped before quickly looking away. As Caesar watched as everyone left, he felt a small tug on his leg. Looking down he was met with the young eyes of a small dragon.

“Excuse me, Caesar? What about Gojira, will he be alright?”, asked Spike. Caesar took a moment before bending down to Spike’s level.

“Don’t worry about him, he’ll be fine”, he said in a reassuring tone. “However, I do believe that you’ll come to find that there’s far more beneath that boy’s skin than what you saw tonight.”

It was indeed not the answer that Spike had expected, but he was still happy to hear that Gojira would be alright. Not only him, but so was Twilight, although she was also hooked on the other thing that Caesar had said. She had a slight feeling that there was something up with the three brothers, especially Gojira. But never once did she consider that they housed giant beasts known as titans inside of them. And while Twilight hated keeping this tremendous amount of information secret from Celestia, she decided to respect Caesar’s wishes and keep it to herself. Twilight grabbed Spike and placed him on her back before heading to the entrance. While Twilight didn’t look at neither Anguirus nor Rodan, Spike decided to give them each a small wave goodbye.

This left Lisa who was both the last to leave and possibly the most hurt out of them all. For as long as Lisa could remember, ever since meeting the boys as a young teen, she had trusted them and had formed a special bond with each of them. Which made it all the more confusing and incomprehensible that they were not what they had seemed. However, it was primarily the fact that she felt she had been lied to by the pony she cared the deepest about for many years which hurt the most. As Lisa made her way to the door, she looked up at Rodan with pure hurt in her eyes and an aching feeling in her chest. Rodan could barely look at her, not even sparing with his older brother hurt as much as those pain stricken eyes. Once everyone had left, Caesar stepped forward and faced the two remaining boys.

“So…does this mean we’re moving, again?”, asked Anguirus. Caesar sighed as he looked down.

“What would the point be?”, he said.

“Then what do we do now? The titans are starting to return, Gojira’s in a hospital, all of our friends are mad at us, and now it’s only a matter of time until a couple of guards come knocking down our door to bring us to the dungeon”, said Rodan.

“That won’t happen. While the secret of the titans may be out, your identities aren’t”, said Caesar. “Just in case, I’d recommend that you three stay low for a short while, especially during the fallout that this will inevitably cause.”

“And Gojira?”, asked Anguirus.

“Once he’s fully healed, I’ll be the one to escort back here. In the meantime, you two should start training extra hard; it’ll be only a matter of time until another titan shows up”, said Caesar. A rather unsettling thought, but with nothing more to add, Caesar made his way to the door.

“Get some rest, you two, these next few days are gonna be rough for us all”, he said.

“Don’t have to ask us twice”, said Rodan. However, Caesar kept his stern expression.

“And one more thing”, said Caesar before he left, “remember to look out for one another and those you care for.”

Both Rodan and Anguirus had heard him say that many times before in the past, and yet it felt a little more impactful today than it did before. They both nodded before Caesar turned and left the house. The house was now quiet once everybody had left, even more so since their older brother wasn’t here to say anything. The thought of Gojira made Rodan feel all the more guilty as he remembered the argument they had before the night. They had argued about training and how much they had progressed, about their friends and how much time they were spending, and about whether it was smart to keep socializing especially once their true identities came out. Much to the ache of his pride, Rodan had to admit that Gojira was right. He looked down with shame realizing how delusional he had been. Anguirus noticed this and walked up to him.

“Are you alright, Rodan?”, asked Anguirus.

“Yeah…I’m fine”, said Rodan, weakly. “Just processing all that’s happened.”

“Do you wanna…talk about it?”, asked Anguirus. Rodan lifted his head to look at his younger brother before flashing him a smile.

“I think we’ve had enough talking, let’s just get some shut eye”, he said before standing up and walking upstairs.

“Oh…ok”, said Anguirus as he watched his brother walk away. Rodan heard the tone of his voice as a small frown formed on his face. He let out a sigh before stopping to look back.

“Hey, Aang”, said Rodan, catching his little brother’s attention. “I just want you to know that…I love you.”

Anguirus was caught off guard for a moment before a small smile formed on his face. “I love you too…Rodey”, he said, softly.

Soon a smile formed on Rodan’s face as he went upstairs and to his room. Once he shut the door behind him, he removed his devil costume and sat on his bed for what felt like an eternity. He thought about what had happened and how it ended and how he could do nothing more but kick himself for thinking that everything would be alright. He looked up to find a chest that he had barely touched since they had moved. Although it appeared unappealing at first, Rodan knew what he had inside of it. The thought of opening and sharing the book with his brothers was on his mind for a second, but with just the sheer amount of stuff that happened today, Rodan didn’t want to think about it. He decided to just put it off until morning before turning off the lamp and finally going to sleep. Meanwhile, Caesar walked toward a nearby tree where a fellow guard member was leaning against.

“So, how are the boys doing?”, asked Sharp Shot.

“They’re all alright, just a little shaken up”, replied Caesar.

“That’s good to hear”, said Sharp Shot as he glanced around Ponyville. “Have you ever seen anything like this, Caesar?”

“Can’t say I have”, said Caesar.

“Didn’t think I’d see the day where we would have a potential monster on our hooves, but then again, guess there’s always a first”, said Sharp Shot. Caesar had to resist the urge to correct his friend.

“Hey, by the way, who were all of the mares that came outside? With the state they were in, looked like your friends housed one hay of a house party”, joked Sharp Shot.

“They were the boys’…friends. They had spent the night together before the attack”, said Caesar.

“Well, I’d say they’re quite popular considering how many friends they made. Now come on, we gotta report back to Captain Shining Armor”, said Sharp Shot as he gestured for Caesar to follow him. Caesar merely sighed, he just hoped they were as trustworthy as they were friendly.

Meanwhile, after walking for a brief time past the many destroyed houses and buildings, Twilight was thankful to see that the Golden Oaks Library hadn’t been touched. Once she and Spike entered, the little dragon hopped off Twilight’s back before letting out a big yawn as he started to remove his torn up costume.

“Whew! What a day”, said Spike.

“You got that right”, Twilight said softly as she took off her costume; the meeting was still fresh in her mind. As she removed her scratched up knight costume, something fell and hit the floor with a squeak, catching Spike’s attention. He was a little surprised to see a plush of a green, cartoonish looking lizard with bat wings.

“What’s this?”, asked Spike. Twilight looked over to see the plush on the floor. She was taken aback before grabbing the stuffed animal.

“It’s just something that I won at one of the booths”, she answered.

“Huh, I didn’t think you would want something like that”, said Spike. Twilight didn’t answer for a few seconds as she looked the plush over, her eyes softening as she recalled why she picked it.

“I didn’t win it for me”, she said to herself. Spike tossed his costume to the side before letting out a yawn.

“Well, before I hit the haystack, do you know what you want to write to Celestia?”, asked Spike. Twilight was dragged from her thoughts as she looked at Spike and then the plush.

“Oh, uhhh, why don’t you go and get some sleep, Spike. I’ll have a letter ready to send by the morning”, replied Twilight.

“If you say so”, said Spike as he walked upstairs, “goodnight, Twilight.”

Twilight was now left alone downstairs as she set the stuffed animal on a nearby table before using her magic to summon a pencil and scroll. As she did so, Twilight was still replying everything that she and her friends had been told. From the brief description of the kaiju, to the history of Equestria that she didn’t know about, to the brothers and how they were able to turn into these creatures, and many more. All the while trying to figure out what she would write to Celestia about what she learned about friendship. She had definitely learned something, but then Twilight remembered what Caesar had told them. Looking at the paper yet again and with a pencil being held by her magic, Twilight started to write down whatever came to her mind.

‘Dear Princess Celestia, I unfortunately don’t have a lesson in friendship to write to you about, for I am writing to you about a different subject. I’m more than positive you have heard about the calamity that happened during this year’s Nightmare Night here in Ponyville. You should know that I and my friends are all perfectly fine and well. I’m writing to inform you about everything that I noticed about these two newly discovered mons-”

Twilight quickly erased the previous word before continuing.

‘-creatures. For starters, they both had appeared without warning from a bright flash of light that's blinding to the naked eye. You should also know that kicks from an earth pony, dive bombs from a pegasus, and even magic from a unicorn don’t seem to have any major effects on these creatures, although the smaller of the two seemed to show some form of reaction to magic.’

Twilight decided to leave out the part that she had been the one firing magic at the smaller titan; Celestia probably wouldn’t have liked that thought.

‘While I don’t know anything about what these creatures are nor where they came from, I can say that only the smaller one seemed to show genuine interest in the destruction it caused. The larger creature seemed as though it was trying to protect us as it forced the smaller creature to retreat into the Everfree before it followed suit. For what reason it had to protect us, I do not know.’

Twilight hated that she had to lie. The larger creature did have a reason to protect Ponyville because Ponyville was his home. Although Twilight wanted to say more about the larger titan, knowing full well who he was, she decided to keep going.

‘As of now, that’s all of the concrete information that I have about these creatures. All we can do now is guess and speculate what exactly these creatures are and why they are appearing now. However, considering from how the two acted to one another and from what I could gather, I would at least consider the possibility that these creatures have been around for longer than we could have known. I will notify you of any future information that follows. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.’

The letter that Twilight wrote was long, and yet it didn’t have even an ounce of all the knowledge that she had discovered from just the night alone. But once more, that was from the request of the unicorn that had shared the knowledge with Twilight in the first place. She rolled the scroll with a ribbon before setting it on the table next to the stuffed animal. The sight of the carnival prize brought a small smile to Twilight’s face, only for it to fade slightly as she remembered that the pony it was for was currently unconscious in a hospital. Twilight sighed before walking upstairs, hoping that a goodnight’s sleep would help clear her mind.

What some would consider the middle of nowhere was, to Gojira, a beautiful landscape of tall grass, lush forests filled with trees, a river that went on for miles, and giant mountains beyond the horizon. The scenery was breathtaking as Gojira looked around from its array of beautiful colors courtesy of the several exotic flowers that surrounded the fields. For Gojira, however, the landscape gave him a separate, more nostalgic feeling as if he had been here before since he was a kid. Before he could fully comprehend his surroundings, the ground beneath Gojira’s feet began to tremble, catching him off guard. The tremors started to intensify before a loud roar accompanied the vibrations. It didn’t take long until Gojira pieced together what was happening.

He turned around and was met with a large group of massive creatures that completely dwarfed any living being from Equestria in size. Gojira knew full well where he was, he was standing in the middle of the Equestria from ancient times, the home of the titans. From what he could see, there were dozens of titans with varying sizes, shapes, colors, and features that made them all unique. Some walked on four legs and wore massive spiked shells on their backs. Some were smaller in body mass, but their massive wings made up for it as they flew through the sky. Gojira saw a long, serpent-like titan that emerged from the giant lake that two bipedal titans and their young offspring were taking a drink out of. Despite their large size and intimidating appearances, the kaiju seemed so peaceful with them each living in complete and undeniable harmony.

However, it wasn’t long until the scene slowly began to change. The once clear blue sky started to form thick, black clouds, casting the land in shadows until they blocked out the sun. A mighty gust of wind began to pour over the Earth with enough strength to uproot entire trees. Gojira took note of these changes as lightning began to strike sporadically, even striking a few of the titans. It wasn’t long until all of the titans had their attention drawn to the sudden change in weather. Many gave off frightened roars as some even tried to protect their young as the weather started to intensify. Gojira himself had utterly no clue what was happening, until he saw something. Thunder and lightning illuminated the cloud filled sky for a brief moment, and for those few seconds, Gojira saw a titan.

A massive winged creature plummeted from the sky before landing on one of the nearby mountains. And it was massive, the wings of the kaiju alone dwarfed the other titans as they all backed away in fear. A golden hue could be seen slowly intensifying as the creature raised its snake-like neck as high as it could go; its eyes glowing brightly through the thick cloud cover. Suddenly, its pair of glowing eyes were soon joined by another pair, and then shortly after another pair. Its twin tails shaked like a rattlesnake before it flared its wings as a shower of lightning struck the ground.

The other titans all roared and shrieked in fear as lightning rained down on them. Many fled while others succumbed to painful shocks that caused their hearts to stop. And in the center of it all was Gojira as he witnessed the carnage unfold around, unable to take his eyes off of the giant, three headed terror. It was a spectacle unlike anything he could’ve imagined. Each of its three heads rose as far as their necks would allow them before letting loose a thunderous cry, one that sounded as though it was challenging the entire world.

Little did it know, the world answered.

The sound of heavy footsteps filled the air as they began to grow louder and louder. Gojira managed to pry his eyes away from the three headed monster before what he saw caused his mouth to hang wide open. The creature that stood in front of him stared daggers at the golden dragon as it stomped forward with its stocky legs holding up his full body weight. Its long, thick tail carried with it several rows of dorsal plates that traced all along the creature’s back. Its overall reptilian build wore thick scales which had acclaimed several scars from millions of years worth of experience and war. It was undeniable what Gojira was looking at; a beast from another world announced across the globe that he was their king, and in response, the planet gave him their god.

And that was when Gojira woke up.

His eyes shot open, having returned to their original amber color. Before he could process his absurd dream, Gojira realized that he was currently lying down in some kind of bed. He rose slowly from his bed as he felt some form of stiffness in his bones before looking around and noting where he was. Despite not recalling how he had gotten there nor why exactly he was there, Gojira figured out that he was inside of a hospital. Thankfully, no one else seemed to be around as it appeared that Gojira had gotten a room to himself. He placed a hoof against his temple as he tried to calm his aching head, only to be taken aback by the sight of his hoof. It appeared slightly stockier and even had a gray outline on the bottom. From the dream, to the lack of memory, to the changes in his body, Gojira was so distracted that he was caught by surprise when his head started racing.

‘They found you passed out in the Everfree.’

“Alpha?”, asked Gojira as he looked down at his emblem. It flashed and before long his titan spirit was now floating in front of him.

“How long have I been out?”, asked Gojira.

‘A few hours, the transformation used up most of your energy which almost caused us to permanently link. Thankfully, your brothers and friends found you before that could happen.’

The memories of Nightmare Night hit Gojira like a truck as he sighed. “So, I’m guessing they saw everything?”, he asked.

‘I'm afraid so, thankfully, they seemed to have been the only ones that now know our secret.’

“That’s still not great”, muttered Gojira.

‘Indeed it isn’t, however, it was bound to happen at one point.’

“We’re gonna have to tell them everything, aren’t we?”, asked Gojira.

‘Not necessarily.’

Gojira looked up at Alpha when he heard that. “What do you mean?”, he asked.

‘We won’t have to tell them, because Caesar will have already done that once he finds out that your friends now know our secret.’

Gojira was both a little surprised and unsurprised that Caesar was gonna be the only one to tell them. “Guess that means we’ll have to interact with him once he gets here”, muttered Gojira.

‘He’ll ask for answers, especially hearing that a titan was spotted in Ponyville. And he’s undoubtedly gonna want to speak with you once he hears we’ve merged.’

The mentioning of merging caused Gojira to remember more of what had happened. While the effects of merging weren’t instantaneous, he could still recall the true feeling he had when merged. The power he felt when he was in that form, the strength he possessed, the force he carried just by walking, it was unlike anything he had felt before. However, this thought also caused Gojira to think about the other titan he had faced. While it wasn’t as powerful as him, it still caused more trouble than it reasonably should’ve. Even though he had the most preparation for merging, he was still far from his full potential.

“What do we do now? If this is a sign that the kaiju are returning, then none of us are ready for what it could potentially bring”, said Gojira.

‘I’m more than positive that the other titan spirits and Caesar are thinking the same thing. We’ll have to double-time our progress, thus forcing your brothers to start merge training.’

“They’re gonna love hearing that”, said Gojira, sarcastically.

‘Phoenix and Fierce will have them go through the same process that you did. If they’re just as willing to improve as you were, then they should be fine.’

“Should be?”, said Gojira with a deadpan look. Alpha’s pale eyes seemed almost amused by Gojira’s comment.

‘They’ll probably struggle at first, but it’s all part of the process. Rodan and Anguirus will eventually reach your level of control, especially after seeing how well you held up tonight.’

Although Alpha seemed pleased over that fact, Gojira struggled to share the same sentiment. His mind wandered over the sequence of events that had played out during the night along with the uncertainty of what the future would hold. With the titans now returning to Equestria, how would the public or even the royal guard react to such a revelation? And with their friends now knowing about who they really were, how would they react to being presented with the truth? Gojira could only imagine how well his brothers were holding up while being assaulted with a tidal wave of questions. Alpha noticed the troubled look on his vessel’s face.

‘Is there something you would like to discuss, Gojira? You seem perplexed.’ Gojira suddenly looked up at Alpha who stared directly at him.

“I’m sorry, I’m just thinking about everything”, he said, “it all just happened so fast and I fear I acted a bit brash.” Alpha floated in front of the oldest Zawa brother before extending his misty hand and resting it on Gojira’s shoulder.

‘You should not blame yourself for the attack. No one could’ve predicted what was going to happen tonight. And you also shouldn’t tell yourself that your actions were wrong. If anything, you could consider them rather heroic.’

“I don’t feel like a hero”, said Gojira.

‘That’s because you’re not; you’re just fulfilling your role.’

The spirit and stallion looked each other in the eyes as Gojira let out an exhausted sigh.

“It’s all about making sacrifices”, he said. Though Alpha didn’t have a mouth, if he did, a small smile would’ve been formed.

‘You got that right.’

Alpha then backed away from Gojira.

‘Now then, I’ll leave you to get some rest and allow yourself to fully heal. We’ll have much work to do once you're allowed to leave. Until then, rest well, you’ve earned it, Gojira.’

The calmer more caring side to Alpha didn’t usually come out that often, something that Gojira picked up on. However, it seemed that from Alpha’s tone of voice, he was legitimately pleased with Gojira’s actions. Alpha of course had praised him before, but it felt more personal as his eyes seemingly softened. While Gojira still struggled with how the events unfolded, it was still nice to hear at least some form of support. Before Alpha could retract back into Gojira’s mane, a certain question entered the stallion’s mind, one he had wondered for a long time.

“Alpha”, said Gojira, catching the kaiju spirit’s attention, “can I ask you something rather…personal?”

‘Of course, what is it you speak?’

Gojira took a deep breath.

“Why did you choose us?”, he asked.

Alpha stood silent for a few seconds.

“There are millions of ponies in Equestria, why did you choose us out of them all?”, Gojira added.

Alpha seemingly pandered the question for a moment, his blank expression acting as a mask that was unreadable. Eventually, he blinked once before speaking.

‘I’m unfortunately unable to answer your question, for the moment. But when the right time comes…you’ll know.’

Gojira was visibly displeased with that answer, but was unable to ask any further as Alpha retreated into his mane; followed by his emblem flashing. After everything that had happened these past few days, from the gala, to the intense training, to everything in between, Gojira felt he had been put through a whirlwind of emotions with the events of Nightmare Night being the final straw. Now with the titans revealed to the public, he was unsure of what his and his brothers’ futures would hold. But after letting out a long yawn that showed off his newly sharpened teeth, he decided it was a problem to save for tomorrow.

With a heavy thud against his pillow, Gojira fell back asleep.