Janjira, Japan
15 years ago

The quiet town was in the midst of waking up. The early morning hours were plagued with dark, misty clouds, threatening to spill precipitated payload. In one such home, a young boy crawled out of his bed to start the day. He navigated through his room, dodging all the space and military-themed toys strewn about. There was one item in particular that he needed: A paper banner that read "Happy Birthday."

This kid's name was Ford and today was his father's birthday. As he picked up the hand-made banner, the phone rang.

"I'll get it," Brody heard is father say. "It's probably for me."

The little boy made his way out of his bedroom, dragging the line of strung, paper tiles behind. As he drew closer, he could hear his father speaking about something in Japanese. Despite living in the first world country for as long as they had, Ford still had a difficult time understanding the language, especially when it came to when his father would speak in Japanese to his co-workers at the Janjira nuclear power plant.

"No, Takashi," he heard is father protest. "No. Takashi, just listen to me for a second. I'm asking for the meeting because if I have to shut the reactor down, you're not gonna want to read about it in a memo."

The boy peaked behind the slightly ajar sliding door. He saw his father, Joe, on the phone with his back facing toward him.

"I've been following these tremors since they started in the Philippines and now they're in our own backyard," Joe informed.

...

"No, no, no. Hayato says I need to go through you about this."

Ford just looked on at his father with a disappointed, yet glassy eyes. He wanted to surprise Joe before he woke up with the decorations he made for his father's birthday. But, with him awake and on the phone, that didn't look to be possible anymore.

"Look, I'm just" - Joe turned around, forcing Ford to duck behind the door panel to keep from getting caught - "I'm just trying to follow protocols set forth by the company. That's all. It's my job."

Just then, Ford's mom, Sandra came around the corner, wearing a casual suit.

"He's awake," the boy whispered.

"Oh, I know," his mom replied, whispering, as well. "He got up early."

"What are we gonna do?" Ford asked, still rather upset the surprise was in spoils.

Sandra sighed. "Get dressed. I'll figure it out. Okay?"

"Okay," Ford walked back to his room to prepare for school.

By the time the family was ready to leave, the clouds had begun to let forth the inevitable rain. Thunder rumbled in the distance, notifying the inhabitants of a possible storm.

Later, Dad," Ford raced off to the school bus on the other side of the road.

His father waved him goodbye.

"With all due respect, Takashi, and honor..." Joe tried to pull the car door open, but it wouldn't.

He signaled this to his wife, who pulled at the keys and unlocked the car.

"...respect and honor, with all of that, I'm an engineer and I don't like unexplained frequency patterning near a plant where I'm responsible," Joe said calmly, but forebodingly through the phone. "I need a meeting. Make it happen."

He and Sandra climbed inside the car. As Sandra set her purse down, Joe had resorted to arguing in Japanese, again. She turned to car as she watched Ford race toward the bus.

"Bye, Mom!" He waved at her, his voicing barely discernable through the car.

She waved back with a smile on her face. Sandra turned back to her husband, who, by this point, ended the call and was stuffing the cell phone in his coat pocket.

"He made you a sign," she clipped Joe's identification card on his coat."

"What?" Joe asked in confusion.

"Your birthday sign," Sandra clarified. "He worked so hard."

Joe stared off into space, quickly realizing that it was his birthday today.

"Oh, god," he mentally beat himself up for his neglectful mistake.

Joe watched as the bus slowly rolled away from it's stop. He wouldn't be able to appreciate his son's work until after a long shift at the power plant.

"I'm gonna come home early," Sandra said. "I'll take the car and pick him up and we can get a proper cake. Okay?"

Joe looked at his wife, caressing her cheek, then began rubbing her upper-back. The idea was great, but some work-based things needed to be done.

"Listen, I need to know that it's not the sensors," he said. "Okay?"

Sandra lightly nodded in understanding.

"I can't be calling this meeting and look like the American maniac," he continued. "So when we get there, don't even bother coming up. Just grab a team and go down to Level 5."

"You're not a maniac," Sandra shook her head. "I mean, you are, just not about this."

Joe groaned as they both put on their seatbelts. She wasn't on the same level of urgency as her husband, but she knew that their was something else behind all those tremors. Something...unnatural.

"Must be something we're not thinking of." Joe said.

"Happy birthday." Sandra said melodiously.

He turned back to her. He realized it sooner, but it didn't fully register inside his head until now, until his wife practically had to say it. Joe was slack-jawed for a second.

"What? Is it--?" he said in surprise.

"Yes, it is. Ha, ha," Sandra laughed and hugged him.

"Oh, I forgot all about it." Joe said.

The two hugged and shared a quick kiss.

"Happy birthday," she said again.

"Thank you," Joe said, mostly at a loss for words.

Sandra began peppering him with more kisses.

"I should have a birthday more often," Joe joked and laughed.

Sandra chuckled in amusement. The two pulled out of the driveway and toward the nuclear power plant.

"What is this?" Joe asked as he was handed a packet of papers.

"Seismic anomaly," the worker replied. "This graph is minutes."

He pointed to the lines that made up the info graph on one of the sheets.

"X is minutes, not days. This is now."

"Wait, hold on," the executive said, following closely behind Joe and the worker. "Seismic activity? Seismic like an earthquake? You're talking about earthquakes."

"No, earthquakes are random, jagged," Joe answered, studying the papers. "This is consistent, increasing. This is a pattern."

Meanwhile, in a different part of the power plant, Sandra had readied a team to investigate the goings-on in the reactor area. She put on a protective suit and breathing ventilator to protect herself from the radiation.

"All right," she got the others' attention. "Let's make this quick."

One of the member pressed a red button and the giant, steel door connecting the containment seal to the reactor room hallway opened. Sandra and her team of four made their way down the static white corridor. Giant pipelines ran down the hallways on the walls adjacent on each side. Their were going into the heart of the power plant.

While their task had begun, the three men entered the main control room of the entire plant. Dozens of workers bustled about, monitoring each and every screen on the control panels.

"Takashi what the hell is going on?" Joe asked. "Have you seen this?"

He held out the papers to the man standing in the middle of the room.

"Yeah," Takashi replied grimly. "Maybe not such a good time for a meeting."

Takashi directed Joe to a computer screen monitoring the seismic readings. The lines spiked on two separate occasions, which was followed with a large, wide rise. The lines peaked and stayed that way for a while before dropping back down to near zero.

"What's the source?" Joe asked, unsettled with what he was seeing. "Where's the epicenter?"

"We don't know," Takashi said. "But it keeps getting stronger."

"It's gotta be centered somewhere," Joe stood back up.

Both men didn't know what to make of this. It was unexplainable, which was what made it so concerning.

"Hayato." Joe called out.

"No one else is reporting it," an older man turned from his computer screen. "We are contacting every other plant in the Kantō region."

Joe walked up to one of control panels along the wall. He eyed the bright gauges and graphs that were fastened in the sea green metal paneling. All the while, Hayato tried to add logical sense into this unnatural phenomenon.

"Tōkai, Fujiyama. They're unaffected. But my guess is these readings are just aftershocks from the Philippine earthquake."

"Are we at full function?" Joe asked.

"Yes, we are," Takashi answered.

Joe turned around to face him.

"But, perhaps we should be drawing down, to be safe," the lab-coated man suggested.

Then, things fell into chaos. The entire room began to shake, bad enough to the point everybody was struggling for balance. The lights and screens flickered.

"Take us offline," Joe said.

"Now, Joe, we gotta-" the executive tried to argue, but Joe wasn't hearing it.

"Do it!" he said, a sense of urgency in his voice. "Now. Wind it down."

He raced over to a walkie-talkie while saying something in Japanese. He grabs one of the radios.

"Sandra," he says into it. "Sandra, are you there."

Then there was another, more violent, shake. This times, the lights flickered out completely and the screens went black. Sandra and her team were right outside where the reactor sat when the corridor walls began to shake shake and shutter. Alarms went off and red lights blinked, signaling an emergency.

"We're turning back," Sandra waved the others back. "Let's go."

As her teammates fled down the corridor, another quake occurred. A nasty hissing sound could be heard. Sandra looked back and saw a giant plume of steam blast from the reactor room and straight down the corridor. That meant that the reactor had been damaged in some way and was now leaking dangerous amounts of radiation.

"Oh, my god," she hurried after her team. "Joe, are you there?"

Back with Joe, the control room was beginning to crumble from the unforeseen tremors. He heard Sandra through the walkie-talkie and quickly picked it up.

"Joe, there's been a breach. We're heading back to the containment seal."

"Sandra, listen to me," Joe said stoically, but he was scared for his wife. "You need to get out of there. Run. If there's been a reactor breach, you won't last five minutes with or without the suits. Do you hear me?"

"I hear you," she glanced back at the wave of steam and radiation roaring toward them. "We're coming!"

Suddenly, a third, even more powerful, tremor occurred. People were knocked off their feet, windows shattered, equipment fell to the floor, and the ceiling began to crumble. Warning lights painted the room red. Workers fled out of the control room for safety and shelter. Joe stood back up and looked at Takashi.

"I'll meet them down there myself," he said in a low tone. "Put the safety doors on manual override."

He raced for the double doors.

"Joe, I cannot do that!" Takashi shouted.

"Keep the doors open," the distraught man demanded. "My wife is still in there!"

He barged through the doors, leaving Takashi with a terrified expression plastered on his face. Joe dashed through plant, panting as he passed by dozens of plant workers seeking safety. Warning lights shined and alarms blared, like they were yelling at him to turn around and run away from the danger. He wouldn't falter, he wouldn't turn back, not with his wife in serious peril.

Speaking of which, Sandra was still running for her life with her teammates. She looked back to see the wall of steam gaining on them. She was starting to get the sinking feeling that they weren't going to make it.

"Come on, let's go!" she exclaimed.

Joe rounded a corner, a worried expression etched on his face. Finally, he reach the containment seal. The door was wide open, exposing the corridor within. But, there was no sign of Sandra or her team. Joe pushed a button to communicate with Takashi.

Takashi, tell me this door's on manual," he pleaded expectantly.

"Manual. Yes," Takashi's voice sounded from the speaker. "But, Joe, we are starting to breach."

"I'm right here," Joe replied desperately. "Soon as they're through, I'll seal it."

He held the radio to his mouth.

"Sandra, can you hear me?" Joe asked "I'm at the door. Sandra, I-I'm waiting for you."

Sandra and her team were still nowhere near the containment seal, but the steam was hot on their heals. More tremor shook the corridor causing pipelines to rupture, spewing out more steam.

"I'm at the checkpoint. But you have to run as fast as you can."

"I am!" Sandra exclaimed.

Another tremor knocked one of Sandra's teammates off balance, causing them to trip and smashed into a pipe. The metal pipe broke, gushing steam everywhere. The teammate ricocheted off the pipe and into Sandra, which caused her to fall. The two other teammates ran past them as shattered concrete rained down on them.

"Kenji," Sandra tried to pull him back up, but he was out cold. "Kenji, we need to go!"

She froze upon seeing the wall of steam now just feet away from her. Back outside in the containment seal, Joe was still waiting for his wife to arrive, growing more worried by the second.

"Joe," Takashi said through the speaker.

He then started speaking in Japanese. Joe answered back, also in Japanese.

"Close the door!" Takashi demanded fearfully. "Seal the corridor or the whole city will be exposed."

Joe slowly turned back toward the empty corridor. His wife was still nowhere in sight. The mere thought of locking her in there with no chance of escape...it just couldn't happen! He didn't want it to happen.

"Sandra?" he spoke into the walkie-talkie again.

No response. Joe was beginning to assume the worst had happened.

"Joe?" Sandra's voice finally broke through. "Joe, can you hear me?"

"Yes," he whispered.

"Are you there?"

"Sandra. Sandra, I'm here. Can you hear me?"

"Yeah," Sandra said, sounding out of breath. "Joe, it's too late. We're not coming."

"N-No, don't say that!" Joe shouted, his voice growing shaky. "Don't you say that! Run as hard as you can, honey."

"Joe, you have to close the door." his wife pleaded. "You have to live for our son."

Joe was on the verge of tears hearing her say that. He wanted her to live. He wanted her to make it through this so they could be a happy family. He wistful thoughts were cut short when yet another tremor occurred. Joe stumbled on his feet. The he saw it, the massive wall of steam heading right for him like a tsunami.

"Joe, seal the door!" Takashi shouted through the speaking, outright panicking. "Now!"

"Oh, my god." Joe murmured.

"Five seconds! Four seconds!"

Joe screamed as he stared at the cloud of radioactive death baring down on him. He pushed the red button hard and the containment door slammed shut just as the wall of steam blasted into it. Warning lights illuminated the corridor, coloring the steam in a demonic red.

Joe leaned against the wall, beginning to sob. That's when he heard a faint banging against the door. Opening his eyes, he slowly turned around, praying that he was just hearing things. Through the circular wall, he saw two men in their protective suits desperately banging on the door, begging to be let out.

"I'm sorry." Joe said so quietly, the words barely came out of his mouth.

Then, Sandra appeared through the window. Joe gasped, covering his mouth. He almost wanted to puke. Sandra was panting, on the verge of crying herself. She took of her helmet. Joe just started to cry harder, seeing his wife practically dying right in front of him, and there wasn't a thing he could do about it. A second protective door began to close, leaving Joe and Sandra's time thin.

"Take care of Ford," she said, starting to sob. "Be a good father."

"I will." Joe whispered.

"We didn't make it," Sandra joked, weakly chuckling, just so the final moment could be positively reminisced.

The protective door closed and clamped shut, leaving the soon-to-be-widowed Joe alone. He quietly sobbed against the door, tears streaming down his face in a cascade of guilt, shame, and regret. The depressing moment was interrupted by another powerful tremor. Joe stumbled back, hearing the building beginning to groan and strain. Outside, plant workers ran for their lives as the massive cooling towers began to crumble and collapse. One of which fell right on top of the main building.

Meanwhile, Ford was in the middle of class. They were watching a documentary of the life cycle of a butterfly when all hell broke loose. The TV went dead, the lights flickered, and the entire building shook. An alarm rang out through the entire school. The teacher began instructing her students to vacate the building, both in Japanese and English.

"Let's go out!" she exclaimed.

The class of boys and girls began hastily racing out of the classroom and into the outside where it was safer. As Ford was frantically stuffing his supplies in his pencil pouch, he looked outside. Amongst the obstructed view of the window, thanks to the numerous jarred and plants and paper origami, he saw the entire power plant crumbling apart.

"Hurry!" the teacher urged. "Come on! Ford!"

But, the young boy didn't move. Instead, he slowly inched to the windows, watching as the massive cooling towers fell apart like sandcastles. A look of devastation was painted on his face. His parents were somewhere amongst collapsing structures, but he didn't know if they were even alive at this point. Ford didn't scream in despair, he didn't fall into a heap to start crying, he didn't even say anything, just a distraught, horrified look, seemingly frozen in time. All the while, watching the buildings and smokestacks of the power plant shatter to the ground.

To somewhat to his relief, Ford did later find out his father survived the plant's destruction. Only for that relief but replaced with heartbroken anguish when he also learned his mother did not survive. It took years of pain, therapy, and acceptance, but Ford was eventually able to move on with Sandra's passing. Joe, on the other hand, didn't. He needed to find out what caused such violent tremors. They weren't natural, it had to be something else. Joe pretty much dedicated his life to figuring out the cause of the entire ordeal and Sandra's unfair demise.

To give him some credit, Joe mostly blamed himself for losing his wife. Perhaps this was his way of finding closure. However, this created a rift between him and Ford. There wasn't a brutal falling out, but Ford thought it was best to keep his distance from his father, especially when he married Elle and welcomed Sam into their lives. It was sad to his father like this, but he knew there wasn't much he could do.

Present day

"That's pretty much what led to all of this," Ford finished his story.

The Mane 6 and Spike were...well, there was a lot of amotions going on with them: Sadness, devastation, confusion, sympathy. It was all there.

"That's...That's a lot to take in," Twilight said.

"What an absolute travesty," Rarity lamented. "I'm so sorry that you had to go through that."

"Hey, like I said, I've been able to get over it," Ford said calmy.

"But, it certainly sounds ya father hasn't," Applejack reminded. "He blames himself, doesn't he?"

"...Yeah." Ford sighed. "When mom died, things just weren't the same."

"I don't even think a party can fix this, "Pinkie mumbled sadly.

"But, that don't mean yer relationship is gone," the farm pony impeded. "Look, ah understand yer pa may not be in the best state of mind, but ya got to at least try ta have some sort'o semblance of a relationship. This comin' from somepony who last their ma and pa at a very young age."

"Applejack's right," Twilight concurred. "Being his son, you're the best chance of making him see sense."

"I've tried to," the military officer said. "But, he's adamant on searching for unneeded answers. And every time, he's roped me into it, which has landed us both in trouble."

The was a brief pause, the ponies and dragon took in the words Ford just shared.

"Even so, this may end up being the last time you'll get to see him," Spike spoke up.

"What do you mean?" Elle asked.

"I don't mean to sound morbid, but, who knows when the next time you'll get to see him again," the baby dragon explained. "For all you know, he might not be...alive the next day."

"Spike!" the alicorn reprimanded. "We're supposed to smoothly encourage Ford to fix his relationship, not plague him with horrific "what if" scenarios."

Spike stepped back a bit, a look of regret quickly forming on his face. Then, Rainbow came between him and Twilight.

"No, no. He has a point, Twi," the cyan pegasus came to the defense of Spike. "There's only so much Ford has to mend the relationship between and his father. This might be his last opportunity. I don't mean to play devil's advocate, but he may not get this opportunity again, and he might live with that regret for the rest of his life."

Ford really soaked in Rainbow's words. This could be his final shot to safe his and Joe's deteriorating relationship. It would've been like with his mom's death fifteen years ago; living with the painful thoughts of wishing things had been different and having sleepless nights, racking his brain with 'what ifs" and "should've beens." Then he felt a tug on his pant leg. Ford looked down and saw Fluttershy staring up at him.

"Um, forgive Rainbow and Twilight for the heated discussion," she said. "It sounds like you've about to give up with your father."

"Well, that's the blunt way of putting it," Ford grumbled.

"Listen, I've witnessed families having this kind of dynamic; having an estranged family member," Fluttershy said sadly. "It creates this wedge between the rest of the family. I've seen it tear them apart. I can tell you don't want that."

"But, I also don't want Joe to make things worse, either," the conflicted family man said.

"Yes, but, what Twilight said earlier; you have the best chance of getting your father to come back, put the past behind him, and be a prominent part of the family. None of us want to see this relationship fall apart and do nothing about it. Elle's right, it won't be the end of the world if you just try again."

Once again, Ford was silent. All that was being said, held true, strong purpose and aspiration. Deep down, he wanted his father back, so did his wife and their new friends. This was the golden opportunity that presented itself, and, perhaps with the help of these ponies and dragon, maybe Joe might succumb to the acceptance and come back into their lives.

While Ford and Fluttershy were having a moment, Rainbow was putting an end to her argument with Twilight.

"You know there's, at least, a little bit of validation in what Spike said," she said firmly. "Even then, shouting at him like that was not necessary."

Twilight sighed in embarrassment. Morbid as it was, Spike's words were a reality.

"I know," she said. "And you're right. You're both right. I'm sorry, Spike. I didn't mean to snap like that."

"It's okay, Twilight," the baby dragon said softly. "I know you only meant well."

The two shared a brief hug before turning back to what was more important.

"I'll do it," Ford said.

"Wait, what?" Twilight said confusion.

"You guys are right," Ford declared. "It's better to try and help my dad instead of letting this fly past. I am hoping you'll come along to help."

"Of course, dear," Rarity said cheerfully. "What friends would we be if we didn't."

"Huh, seems like that's been resolved," Spike turned to Twilight.

"Yeah," the purple alicorn said. "Seems like it has."

"Yes! Another mission in the bag," Rainbow pumped her hooves."

"Ah do hope Joe as a somewhat reasonable stallion," Applejack said.

"Deep down he is," Ford said. "I know he is."

"Woohoo! Now this is party-worthy!" Pinkie hopped around in excitement.

"Maybe we should prepare for the trip?" Fluttershy suggested.

"I think that's a good idea," Elle smiled.

"Actually, I still have one question," Rainbow said.

"What is it?" Ford asked.

"What the hay is a nuclear power plant?" she asked.

"Way to be facetious, Rainbow." Applejack rolled her eyes.

"Hey, I'm just curious," Rainbow spat back.

"You know, that's something I'd like to know myself," Twilight pulled out a notebook. "Would you mind explaining."

She had the biggest, gleaming grin that practically begged Ford to share the information with her, look puppy-dog eyes but with her mouth. Ford just sighed in bemusement, his wife chuckling at the alicorn's antics.

"Twi, this is serious," Applejack argued.

"I know," she said. "This could be crucial information."

The orange-furred cowgirl rubbed her face in annoyance. Things seemed to just turned away from the discussions of fixing relationships into something more light-hearted by comparison. Of course, Applejack took issue with it, knowing things were still needing to be resolved. Rarity and Fluttershy were just stood by.

"Perhaps we should get prepared," Rarity grabbed Spike in her magical grasp and put him on her back. "We're mostly going to be in for an emotion-heavy day tomorrow."

The two mares left the bedroom.

"Oh, oh, I'll go pack my party cannon," Pinkie followed after them.

"Wait, you've had that the whole time?" Fluttershy asked.

"Duh, it's where I always put it," the nonsensical mare giggled. "A place called "undisclosed."

Elle turned to Ford with a softening expression.

It won't be the end of the world," she said.

The two shared a loving embrace. Perhaps things wouldn't so clear-cut after all, though. Elle's word may have been an expression, but it perfectly encapsulated what was to come for our friends.

To be continued.

Author's Note

I, for the life of me, couldn’t find out what was being said for the Japanese dialogue.