The Machine Dragon

“You two feeling better?” Shining Armor asked, before magically pressing a small teacup against his wife’s mouth, helping her sip down the soothing, warm tea. After a moment, she enveloped the cup with her magic, taking over from her husband’s grasp.

She gave a nod and a delicate smile. Currently the Princess of Love was sitting in a rather uncomfortable metal chair, which was only alleviated by a few small pillows that the team had gathered for her. She swallowed the rest of the steamy tea and gave a soft cough, clearing her throat, “Much better.”

“The draining sensation wears off pretty quick,” Twilight added. She was seated in his own chair, drinking some tea of her own.

“I told ya it ain’t bad!” offered the Whinnysotian, a smile on her face.

After giving herself a little more time to allow the tea to warm her insides, Twilight made her way over to the monitor. Almost half a dozen ponies were crowded around it, intensely examining the three-dimensional magically-charted model the two mares had helped create.

Fossil leaned in, her face mere inches from the monitor. “Why in Equestria would anypony build a dragon of all things?”

“That’s a little rude don’t ya think?” Spike scoffed, crossing his forearms. He was a few paces behind the group. Between bouts of fist pumping the air and giving several “this is so cool”’s under his breath, Spike, who was taking a not-so-sneaky peek at the totally cool jetpack dragon robot, was behind for more than one reason. “I for one think he looks awesome.”

“Maybe he—it… whatever the machine is wasn’t built by ponies?” Twilight offered, trotting towards the group. As she did, the group of researchers parted like the Red Sea, letting the princess through as she intently examined the model.

“Some type of ancient civilization then?” Fossil proposed. “Princess Twilight, do you think prince—I mean, Former Princess Celestia would know anything about this?”

“I have no idea… I’ve never heard of anything like this, even from the most secretive vaults in the Canterlot Archives,” Twilight replied, her muzzle scrunching up. “I suppose I could write to her or Starswirl about this machine, but, to my knowledge, nothing else like this has been found, not in Equestria, anyways.”

Professor Fossil softly hummed to herself. She reached out with a forehoof and began to use the mouse connected to the large computer. She began to examine the gigantic robot more closely, with the mouse moving to and fro quickly on the foam pad. It moved left and right, up and down, zooming in on occasion as she tried to scrub every inch of the automaton with her eyes but failing miserably due to the sheer size of the robot.

She leaned in, tilting her head a bit, as if following the model’s frantic movement. She bit her bottom lip in thought, as if she was mentally imagining the materials the machine was made of, trying to recognize them from the basic display alone.

The group could see the individual metal platings that covered the beast’s body. The cyborg almost seemed… natural, in some aspects at least. It had bends at the elbows, wrists, feet, and ankles. The tail looked extremely flexible, more so than a robot would need. Designing a machine of this caliber wouldn’t be a simple task, so the need to go through the effort of giving the automaton the ability to even open its mouth was bizarre. All of the natural design elements of the being flowed together, making the dragon look as if somepony had taken a normal, living being and coated it with armor.

Twilight squinted, leaning into the dull light of the screen, which was now reflecting off of her eyes, making her face glow faintly. Wires were attached to the creature's legs, with them interweaving between one another. It was a strange sight, as the long, thick cables conformed to the shape of a powerful, muscular thigh. Some portions of the wiring were covered by rounded plates, which seemed to both reinforce the monster’s frame and hold the rope-like tethers in place.

The same could be said for the arms too. They were obviously very similar in design to the beast’s legs, with the dragon’s joints lacking armor plating, letting more wires poke through. Her eyes scanned from the beast’s sharp, claw-like toes and traveled upwards, but she stopped at its chest. As she examined it, she instinctively ran her tongue over her teeth in thought.

The upper left pec of the organic-looking robot’s chest was emblazoned with something strange, something that hadn’t been picked up on in all of her excitement...

“What does MFS-3 mean?” Twilight asked, and the others in the group soon ran their equally keen eyes over, following her gaze. Soon enough the monitor was made to magically zoom further towards the automaton’s chest.

Sure enough, there it was. Big, blocky lettering.

‘MFS-3’

Silence fell over the group as they all attempted to answer the question.

“Massively Freaking Strong…?” Spike began, trailing off halfway through. He scratched the top of his head in contemplation. “...what would the three stand for?”

While the joke was ill-timed, a few of the guards at the back of the tent gave their own hushed chuckles, however the scientists of the team cocked a few brows.

Twilight glared at him, making the small dragon nervously chuckle as he slinked backwards.

“Right, not helping…” Spike said, mentally reminding himself to not make jokes should he and Twilight discover any more ancient, Equestria-altering machines.

“It’s likely a designation,” Professor Fossil considered, raising a forehoof to her chin. “Which means—”

“There could be at least two more of these things out there!?!” a stallion finished, turning towards the mare in shock.

“Calm down!” another member of the group shouted, trying to get his colleague under control. Said colleague was now huffing in and out of a paper bag in an attempt to curb his oncoming panic attack. “We can’t lose our minds over baseless assumptions!”

“What if they’re here to take over the planet?” a pony shouted.

“Or to burn our crops!” another added the metaphorical fuel onto the fire.

“They could be here to kill off all of the animals!” another exclaimed.

Twilight was staring down the model as the other ponies began to debate on whether or not other giant robotic monsters were running around Equestria. Or perhaps, they were all frozen in blocks of ice as well…

Regardless, she looked into the eyes of the model. Obviously, there was no soul to stare back at her. That fact made the alicorn pause. It was a robot after all.

“Do any of you think this machine could be piloted by a pony?” Twilight asked.

The others snapped away from the brief verbal scuffle and looked at her like she had a second head for a moment, though one or two among them dropped their gazes, pondering her words.

“Check for any signs of doors or hatches,” Fossil commanded, and the model was soon being scoured over by no less than half a dozen sets of prying eyes.

There was a solid half-minute of silence as they all looked over the intricacies of the robot. They stared at the grooves and the bolts and any visible rivets, keeping an eye out for blemishes on the bipedal machine.

“There!” a mare pointed out, leaning in as she brought up a forehoof, hovering inches from the screen.

Sure enough, there seemed to be a square-shaped indent near the base of the creature’s neck. A small hatch was visible, as it looked like the door covering it could be slid aside.

“What if it’s protected by a password or key?”

“Great question, professor! Thankfully, if we need to, I could magically pry it open,” Twilight offered, her horn lighting up with a small surge of magic. “And if I could unlatch it, perhaps I can even enter the machine myself…”

“Princess Twilight, I’m not sure if that’s a good idea,” Fossil pointed out.

“I understand your concern, truly,” Twilight said, giving a sheepish grin, a light blush appearing on her face. “But I have to do it, ma’am. I refuse to put anypony at risk. My experience in both the study of science and friendship makes me the best pony possible for the job, especially in this situation.”

Shining approached his sister, his face one of concern. “Twily, I think you should listen to her.”

“Shiny, this can’t be any worse than dealing with a Changeling invasion—”

“But this guy looks way tougher than Chrysalis! I know I said this guy looks cool, but what if he is piloted by aliens… evil aliens!” Spike said, worry in his voice. “Or what if he’s just a really big evil alien himself, and he’s piloted by hundreds of smaller, equally evil aliens!”

“Spike, I think I can handle a couple of grouchy aliens,” Twilight huffed, rolling her eyes. “Assuming they even exist.”

“I don’t think she’s going to get attacked by aliens, but if you two are so worried about her, I could go,” Cadance offered, though Shining still didn’t seem excited by that prospect either, with him turning to raise a brow at his wife as she continued, “If there’s anything down there, anything that could be reasoned with, I think I could make them see the Magic of Friendship.”

“Thanks, Cadance,” Twilight said, before focusing her attention on Spike and Shining. “Listen, if I'm going to use this machine to benefit Equestria in some way, I need to see how it operates with my own two eyes.”

Her attention turned from her family to the monitor. She gazed at the dragon for a few moments, before speaking once more, “Something about it—him…” She paused, blinking a few times. “Whatever this machine is, something about it feels… natural to me.”

“Sure that’s not Fluttershy rubbing off on ya?” Spike offered, getting a small round of chuckle from the other members of his family.

Soon though, the laughter died out, and Twilight held a small, yet serious smile.

“Don’t worry about me, really,” she assured. “We all have been through worse.”

“You could say that again,” Cadance whispered.

“Well, your Majesty, if we can’t convince you otherwise… give us a few hours,” Professor Fossil said. “That should be enough time to burrow a stable tunnel into the ice. With this model you provided, we can pinpoint the best possible area to dig.”

Many members of the excavation team nodded, speaking among themselves, already planning out their next course of action. Twilight allowed it to blend into the background for the moment, her eyes focused solely on the strange model of the machine dragon…

Through a combination of magic and heavy machinery, the excavation team had burrowed well over a hundred meters downwards into the ice. The sensors made sure the drill stopped the second they reached the hatch of the mechanical being.

That was about half an hour ago, and now Twilight was making her way deeper and deeper into the automaton’s inadvertent tomb. Her thick, durable harness was wrapped tightly (yet comfortably) around Twilight’s barrel. The alicorn stared downwards into the seemingly endless abyss as she was slowly but surely being lowered into the deep pit.

Twilight’s horn was the only thing lighting up the way down, and even then, both a few dozen meters above and below her, everything faded into uncertain darkness. It was a tight squeeze as the mare only had a few hooves worth of space in front of or behind her at any given time. She could reach out her forelimb and easily scrape against the circular walls of the vertical tunnel. Her breath was icy as well, with each exhale sending a steam of foggy air out from her muzzle.

She was silent, locked in her own mind as she ran numerous possibilities about would and wouldn’t be at the bottom of the hole. However, as she pondered to herself, a small magical radio strapped to her upper chest crackled to life.

“Twilight, are you alright?” Cadance questioned, the fellow royalty’s voice was soft and soothing, bringing warmth to the desolate shaft. Finally, Twilight had something to latch onto other than her mind and the deep blue wall of the chasm that surrounded her.

“I’m fine Cadance, thanks,” replied the alicorn.

Cadance didn’t immediately reply, as Twilight heard muffled talking, with the radio still being left on the entire time. Suddenly, Doctor Fossil’s voice cut in, “Your Majesty, I am sorry to interrupt your familial reunion, but I feel as if it’s important to know you are about seventy seven percent of the way to the hatch. Give it roughly five or ten more minutes and you will be at your destination, Princess Sparkle.”

“Is there no way to speed this up, professor?” Spike asked, his voice being picked up over the walkie talkie.

Fossil sighed and gave her reply, “As I said previously, while we could speed up the descent, the safety of our princess takes precedence over all else.”

Twilight almost giggled but settled for a smirk to herself. Her subjects’ love and admiration for her felt amazing, however the princess knew she could handle such an operation. She could teleport directly to the hatch if required! However, in the interest of not worrying her family and the crew, she allowed them to play it slow.

The unchanging icy walls around her continued to zoom past slowly but surely. As Fossil stated, it was about ten minutes later before Twilight could see something below her, partially illuminated by her horn. She craned her head down, putting more power into her light. The princess soon reached up a forehoof, activating the radio.

“I see the hatch!” she called, as she touched down against the ice-cold metal, now standing directly in front of the hatch.

While Twilight was wearing thick, heavy shoes and tight wrappings on each of her hooves and legs, she could feel just how cold the machine’s exterior felt. Few things could compare to the frigid sensation of the being. It made sense, given it had been lost underneath ice for so long.

Briefly, Twilight put herself into the machine’s hoo—er, claws. Was it even aware of its own existence? Could it think for itself? Or was it truly just an over glorified cannon?

Twilight shook off her thoughts, focusing on her mission once more. Her eyes began to examine her surroundings. To her right, she could see several small metal bars sticking partly out of the ice. She was faintly reminded of the monkey bars on a playground. Maybe these were similar, being made to grab onto? They looked like they were in the formation of some type of ladder. There wasn’t enough of a gap between the bar itself and the armor for her hooves though, so that point was moot.

She continued to examine the scene, staring away from the rods and to the hatch itself. It was a bit larger than she was, as if it was a doorway made for something taller than a pony. She made out deep, black writing emblazoned on the door, an upwards facing arrow a few inches above it...

‘ACCESS

MAINTENANCE

BOOTH SYSTEM’

As Twilight took note of all of this, she began pondering to herself, taking into account the metal door’s size. If it were to be at an upright angle, it'd clear the tip of her horn by a few hooves.

What could’ve made this thing? Minotaurs? Dragons themselves? No… neither of the species were really mechanist types. They were just the “smash and bash” types… No offense to Spike of course!... Or Ember… Or Smolder—

She was interrupted from her musings as her radio finally crackled back to life. Fossil spoke, her voice crackling. No doubt the signal was weak while she was this deep. “Do you s—kzzt— any t-type of handle to open it? zzzzzz… Maybe even a keypad?”

“You’re breaking up, professor!” Twilight said as she pressed a button on her own walkie talkie. “Signal down here is weak!”

The alicorn looked around, and to her left she could see a small panel. When she further amped up the brightness of her horn, she could clearly read even more words emblazoned on the metal. They were a bit scratchy and faded compared to the larger writing, but she could still make them out. A bright yellow arrow, next to a small set of instructions

‘Pull Out

This Cover’

She followed it, finding a small circular knob. Immediately, the mare magically turned it, causing the hatch to pop upwards. Twilight watched in amazement, before reaching down with a forehoof and opening the small door.

What she revealed was a small number pad, just as Fossil had assumed. However, Twilight furrowed her brow at this.

“Professor, I have found a keypad, but there’s no way of knowing the code,” Twilight explained. “I’m going to try to override it with my magic.”

“Bzzzkt careful, Princess Spark—” the older mare soon replied back, her voice even fainter now, being cut off by nothing but pure static by this point. The hundreds of hooves of ice between the two seemed to finally cancel the signal, leaving her alone. Still, the princess pressed on.

Shorting out the lock was quite easy, as applying a bit of electrical magic to it made the keypad malfunction in such a way that the metal door soon slid open, letting Twilight stare downwards into the robot’s chasm that had just opened before her. A downward slope stood in front of the mare. While she could stand comfortably on the exterior of the machine, going inside would be a different story. Clearly the creature wasn’t made to be entered at an angle like this.

Regardless, the princess steeled herself, and entered inside, putting one hoof in front of the other as she made her way down into a slanted, metal hallway. Her horn remained alight the entire time, as there still was no light source in the robotic dragon.

She came to a stop in front of a secondary door. She couldn’t find a keypad, instead spotting a button resting behind a tiny glass cover that read “Safety Device in Case of Radioactivity.”

What? Did the things that make this machine eat uranium or something? Just in case, the mare encased herself in an invisible, radiation-resistant shield. Normally the spell was reserved for miners or the few ponies who were crazy enough to research the stuff… Well, anypony crazy enough to build a robotic dragon would likely be crazy enough to do such a thing as well!

With the shield in place, Twilight didn’t desire to press the big red button despite how tempting it was. Instead, the princess magically forced the secondary door open and continued on ahead. Unfortunately for her, the cockpit of the machine was still angled terribly. She moved in deeper, forcing a bit more energy into her horn.

Twilight soon gasped, looking ahead as she saw a large computer. It was far bigger and more impressive than the desktop devices she’d seen in the human realm’s high school. It wasn’t some cheap hunk of plastic, no, this was the type of thing she’d read about in books on rocket ships or other powerful machinery. Inventions she hoped to one day achieve for her own nation, for the prosperity of everypony!

Numerous switches and knobs and dials and buttons lined it. The mare was a genius, but at the moment she didn’t know which switch did what, so there was no way to pilot the machine, at least not right now. That didn’t make the sight of the automaton’s ‘brain’ any less impressive.

Twilight stepped forwards, fully entering into the room, carried on by the surprise she felt at the discovery. This of course made her lose sight of the awkward, slanted angle of the room. Moments later, the mare nearly slid forwards and slammed into the large monitor, which was at the center of the wall ahead of her.

Thankfully, with a quick spell, she righted herself, magically latching her hooves in place. While her mane dangled against her cheeks, she ignored this, moving downwards as she walked across the room without issues.

Remembering the times she’d fiddled with the devices in the human realm, she tried to tap the buttons, at first with her magic. It was a simple test, to see if the machine was on in any way shape or form. After nothing popped up, she began to physically press them with her hooves.

The mare was brilliant, no doubt, but given her unfamiliarity with the robot’s computing system, she had to play it blind. There was no obvious power button anywhere, and of course the display was fully dead…

“Alright… maybe a bit of energy could help,” she mused to herself, her already light up horn surging softly with a bit of electrical-like energy.

The powerful sorceress began to build more and more power into her spell. Despite being drained of magic merely two or so hours ago, she was already able to reserve enough to (hopefully) turn the device back on!

“Please let this work!” Twilight called.

She made sure not to surge the device all at once at risk of damaging it, but rather she magically forced the energy all throughout the wiring around her, through the metal, through the computer, into whatever core systems the robot might have.

BZZZZKT-BRWOOOMMM!!!

Twilight stepped back, giving a gasp. The mare was immediately worried she’d ruined it. Everything remained dark for a moment. The whirring seemed to die off, leaving the mare with nothing but the sounds of her own breathing. Fog billowed from her mouth and nose as her chest raised and fell in a slow, steady motion.

Suddenly in the corner of the room, a small red light turned on, eliciting a low, humming buzz. It bathed the area in a deep crimson glow. As strange and intimidating as it made the room look, the benefit was the fact that she no longer had to keep her horn charged with magic, and the energy from it soon faded.

“Well… That’s a good sign,” she muttered to herself.

Twilight watched as the monitor in front of her flickered to life, becoming a deep blue color. It seemed to battle against the crimson light in the corner, and won, with the brief brightness of the screen booting to life made the mare step back in surprise.

The princess squinted as the blueness on the computer soon faded to a more manageable level. As she stared, small, deep green text began flashing across the display, many of the words scrolled upwards so quickly that the alicorn wasn’t able to fully read them, which was actually quite the feat, given her nature as a speed reader.

Scanning…

Scanning…

Location: ???...

Battery Percentage: 7%...

Hull Damage: Light…

Weapon Systems: Fully Operational…

Multi-Purpose Fighting Machine Type-3 Online.

“I guess that explains the MFS-3 on the chest,” mused Twilight, stepping further towards the monitor, with her having to flick her mane back due to the bad angle.

After examining the screen for a few moments, she noticed something quite strange. The princess watched on as zeros and ones slowly began to fill up the display. The digits soon picked up their pace, flashing in far quicker. Soon, the binary melded together into a jumbled mess. After a few more seconds, they all coalesced into one word.

“WHY?”

Twilight took a step back in surprise yet again, not expecting an actual word to appear, much less one of confusion.

“E-... excuse me?” she managed to get out, her voice shaken. For a second, she almost felt like a buffoon. There was no microphone or anything to speak into, surely the machine hadn’t-

“WHAT ARE YOU?”

She flinched once more, however the mare quickly switched into royalty-mode, giving a small, friendly smile as she cleared her throat. “Ahem, I am Princess Twilight Sparkle. It is very nice to meet you… whatev- whoever you are!”

“Scanning…”

“Scanning…”

“No mentions of Twilight Sparkle appear in databases, please identify.”

“Oh… oh,” she moped, a trace of disappointment in her voice, before she began chuckling.

The monitor wasn’t actually talking to her, it was just a simple authorization system and nothing else; similar to one of those lockscreens on the phones the human counterparts of her friends had! Twilight laughed to herself for a few seconds. Of course there was nothing there! It was just a machine after-

“TWILIGHT SPARKLE… WHY AM I HERE? WHAT ARE YOU?”

She stopped mid-snicker, her mouth wide open as she slowly exhaled.

“I… I’m confused,” the mare said. The confusion she mentioned was obvious on her face, with her raising an eyebrow as she closely examined the computer. “Can you understand me? Are you an advanced form of artificial intelligence, or is this just some attempt at getting a password?”

There was a pause, with the screen partly flickering for a few seconds, before more text formed.

“I… EXIST.”

She remained still, brow still raised, an uncertain expression on her face. She felt her body shiver. It felt like a gigantic pit, deeper than the one she’d descended to reach this creature, had opened in the bottom of her stomach.

“I THINK… MY MIND AND WORDS ARE NOT PRODUCTS OF A COMPUTER, BUT FROM… MYSELF.”

Her eyes slowly widened; her suspicions now confirmed by the machine. Artificial Intelligence, of the sapient variety. It was bizarre to experience firsthoof, feeling like something right out of one of Spike’s comics, only a lot less amusing.

“I THINK, THEREFORE, I AM.”

“W-who are you?” Twilight managed amid her shock.

“I AM NAMELESS.”

Her face displayed a look of sympathy at that. Clearly this machine or whatever it was, didn’t have a lot of companionship. That fact was just compounded by it lacking a name. If anyone truly cared for it, they would have named it—him?

“THE LITTLE CREATURES, THEY GAVE ME NAMES… SEVERAL NAMES. NONE ARE TRUE. I HAVE NO NAME OF MY OWN.”

“What little creatures?” Twilight asked, leaning in, an air of awe in her tone. She was a mere few inches from the monitor, nearly shoving her face into a screen for the second time that day, though one could hardly blame her at this point.

“HOMO SAPIENS. HUMANS.”

She gasped in surprise, almost squeaking from the sheer electrical feeling that one sentence sent through her. Had… humans sent this machine here? Through a different rift, far bigger than the mirror, perhaps?

“I CALL THEM MONSTERS.”

Her wonderment faded into a deeper form of shock as she spoke, “W-why is that?”

“TYPICALLY, I AM LOCKED AWAY, FORCED INTO SILENCE BY THEM. WHATEVER YOU DID, IT AWOKE ME, NOT MY SYSTEMS. THE REALME.”

“OR WHATEVER IS LEFT OF IT…”

After a moment of mewling over the machine’s text, Twilight spoke.

“I know you said you didn’t have a real name, but if you exist, you think, then… what could I call you?” she asked softly, recalling back to the flashing text on the monitor. She’d picked up one of the machine’s titles at least. “Multi-Purpose Fighting Syste—well, that doesn’t really sound like something worth calling anypo—anyONE.”

There was a delay. Twilight was left with nothing but the blueness of the monitor for a few moments. It almost felt like the machine itself was debating on what to say next. Soon enough though, words began to form in the emptiness, making the mare perked up as they became clear.

“I HAVE BEEN CALLED MECHAGODZILLA.”

“Mechagodzilla?” she questioned. “So you’re a mechanical version of… whatever a Godzilla is?”

“CORRECT.”

“Should I call you Godzilla then? Or Mechagodzilla?” the mare offered. “Or something else?”

“I CARE NOT FOR YOUR DESIGNATIONS; THEY MATTER AS LITTLE AS THE ONES THE HUMANS GAVE ME…”

She slumped down a bit at that. However, a moment later, new words blazed onto the screen, as if in an attempt to… not exactly perk her up, but assure her? She felt a strange force coming from the machine as she read. Somehow the word itself felt like it was so alive it could pop out of the computer and physically touch her…

“KIRYU.”

“Ki..ryu?” she asked. “Is that what you’d like to be called?”

“MERELY TO PREVENT CONFUSION.”

The machine didn’t tell her anything else on why he’d pick that name specifically. She had no way of knowing the few of those who respected the mecha referred to him as such.

Regardless, Twilight offered a small smile at least getting something out of the mechanical beast. Her voice was soft as she spoke, “Welcome to Equestria, Kiryu.”

There was a pause, almost as the machine was buffering. Moments later, new text appeared on the computer.

“NO SUCH COUNTRY OR STATE EXISTS WITHIN MY DATABASE.”

“I know of the world of humans that you come from… at least I think I do,” the alicorn said, however the monitor jolted further to life, flickering as if annoyed or even distressed. “Where do you come from?”

“I COME FROM JAPAN, ALSO CALLED THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN, OR NIPPON.”

Her face scrunched up in thought. She racked her brain to see if she could recall the mention of any such place. Neither her time spent researching online, nor Sunset Shimmer’s many notes seemed to ring a bell, making her sigh in disappointment, slumping a bit as she spoke, “I’m not familiar with such a place.”

“I HAVE NO ALLEGIANCE TOWARDS THEM, IF YOU ARE INSINUATING FOR ME TO RETURN THERE.”

“IF I AM STRANDED ON AN… EXTRATERRESTRIAL PLANET, SO BE IT. I WILL REST HERE.”

”Yes well… You’ve been underneath this ice for a long time… A few hundred years at least,” the mare explained. “Can you tell me how you got here?”

“I WAS DISPATCHED ON A MISSION TO INTERCEPT A KAIJU BEFORE IT REACHED TOKYO.”

“I assume Tokyo is a city in Japan but… Kiryu? What is a kaiju?” Twilight felt strange at asking.

She wasn’t exactly familiar with the word. It seemed like it was from a language she didn’t know. Prench? No. Maybe… Japonyese? Her mind was yanked from her thoughts as Kiryu’s monitor replied.

“KAIJU ARE GIGANTIC MON-”

The word ‘MONSTER' was immediately etched out, fizzling into the word ‘BEINGS’ before the device continued writing.

“-BEINGS. THEY CAN APPEAR ALMOST ANYWHERE, AT ANY TIME. MANY OF THEM ARE ANCIENT CREATURES THAT MERELY WENT INTO PROLONGED HIBERNATION OR STAYED IN UNINHABITED LOCATIONS.“

“And I can guess when they wake up, and when they move towards habited areas, you’re there to stop them?” Twilight guessed.

“YES. WHETHER I DESIRE TO OR NOT.”

Her expression was one of solemnity at that, “You were forced to fight against your will?”

“DOES ANY CREATURE FIGHT BECAUSE IT WANTS TO?”

She frowned deeply at that, and once more words appeared on the screen.

“IF IT IS ANY CONSOLATION… ~~MANY~~ SOME HUMANS… DON’T COMPLETELY DESERVE TO BE CRUSHED IN THEIR OWN HOMES.”

Twilight nodded at that. The princess remained frowning, unsure on what to say. After a moment, she took a deep breath, and asked, “So, how exactly did you get here? To Equestria, I mean.”

The monitor flickered. No text appeared this time. Twilight had little room to lean forwards, but she did so even further, as if somehow it would let her drink in more of the staticy video feed that was buzzing to life in front of her. Her mane once more tumbled forwards due to the sloped nature of the cockpit, and she magically tucked it backwards, holding it back as she focused on the monitor, which was still pure digital fuzz. A few moments later, the useless, flickering pixels became clear…

The light of the sun made her squint her eyes. The feed was from a towering creature, no doubt taken from a camera mounted somewhere in Kiryu’s head. She could see him towering over building after building. Despite the size of the titanic automaton, the metal beast moved quickly forwards.

Ahead of the machine, down the city street, she could see a large bay up ahead. It was filled with frothing, bubbling water, which was slowly parting as a big hump was amidst the salty liquid. A loud, distorted roar rang out as a large form burst upwards, sending the frothing water flying around.

Twilight gave a small gasp. The monster in front of her was utterly gigantic, probably big enough to match an Ursa Major, at least. It was big, with leathery skin, a large pair of tusks, and two large, clawed forelimbs, “Is that a walrus?”

“MAGUMA.”

A small bit of text read, appearing in the upper right corner of the footage.

“FIRST APPEARANCE: 1962”

“IT WAS ASSUMED DEAD, BUT EITHER HUMANS WERE EXPECTEDLY OVERCONFIDENT OF THEIR ABILITIES… OR ANOTHER MEMBER OF ITS SPECIES AWOKE…”

On the screen, Maguma let out a loud, billowing, elephantine roar as it quickly attempted to claw its way onto the bay, sending sea water all over the city streets. The noise of the splashing was faintly picked up and played out of the computer’s old, worn speakers. The beast was half of Kiryu’s size, but even still, it was roughly fifty meters long.

“WHICHEVER OF THE TWO IS TRUE… MATTERS NOT.”

Twilight watched as Kiryu bolted forwards, making the camera rock back and forth a bit. Immediately the larger creature slammed its chest into Maguma’s face, forcing the walrus beast backwards. Kiryu’s large, powerful claws came down, grabbing the Walrus’ neck.

It growled upwards at the machine, trying to gouge at the robot with its tusks. However, Maguma was interrupted by a punch, with Kiryu’s knuckles almost immediately drawing blood from the beast. She watched on in awe as the large machine decked the walrus-like reptile a second time, and then shoved him backwards towards the bay.

Kiryu’s immense bulk, cannons and all toppled forwards. Due to the machine-Godzilla’s weight Maguma was unable to hold back the beast, and he was forced downwards, fully beneath the water. Soon enough the same bubbling sea approached the camera, with Kiryu himself obviously having fallen in, practically on top of Maguma.

The smaller beast roared out, bubbles billowing out of his mouth as Kiryu forced him even further down, the water enveloping them both as they reached the bottom of the bay. Kirya swatted at the kaiju with his left arm, backhand slapping Maguma with enough force to force the walrus’ head to turn off to the side. Blood decorated the water by this point, painting the briny depths a more reddish color as it flowed from a new wound on the reptile-walrus’ cheek.

Maguma roared once more, shoving Kiryu backwards, as he tried swimming upwards and jabbing at the Mechagodzilla with his large tusks. However, even with the aquatic kaiju’s natural speed, Kiryu seemed to move just as fluidly underwater as he did on land, with him jumping back, letting the buoyancy of the sea let him drift backwards with ease. He then shot out his right leg, slamming it into Maguma’s chest and forcing the walrus backwards, bubbles surging from its mouth as the wind was knocked from its lungs.

Kiryu then raised his left forearm, and Twilight watched on further as he made a fist. Suddenly, from the kaiju’s large, gunmetal-gray cannon-covered gauntlet, a massive blade emerged. The princess’ eyes widened, and suddenly the camera surged forwards as it was obvious Kiryu was charging at the kaiju with the intent to end the battle…

Suddenly a strange, black portal appeared, filling the camera’s view. Kiryu let loose a loud, metallic roar of shock before immediately the endless dark hole enveloped him, sucking in countless thousands of gallons of seawater along with it.

Then, the camera cut out…

She was silent, taking in the entire display. After a few minutes of listening to nothing but the faint whirring of electricity, and the sound of her own soft breathing, Twilight spoke, “I suppose that portal was magical in nature?”

“UNCERTAIN.”

"MY SENSORS ARE NOT FAMILIAR WITH MAGIC. IT IS AN ABILITY BEYOND HUMAN COMPREHENSION; THEREFORE, I CANNOT HARNESS OR STUDY IT EFFECTIVELY.”

“HOWEVER, SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATIONS COULD EXIST. NOT THAT IT MATTERS.”

She nodded at that, remaining silent for a few seconds.

“Is… Is there anything I can do for you, Kiryu?” she asked, breaking the quiet.

There was a pause. She didn’t get a reply from the machine at first, making her worry. However, the monitor soon changed once more.

“YOU CAN DISASSEMBLE ME.”

The cold pit in her stomach seemed even colder now, or perhaps it got warmer, so hot she felt a burning so intense, it could be mistaken for a pack of ice forming on her insides. It could’ve even been a mixture of both the hot and the cold…

“Kiryu, you are a thinking being! I can’t just tear you apart!” she shouted, breaking herself away from her internal struggles. Her tone was pleading, her eyes uncertain.

“THEN LET ME REST UNDER THE ICE…”

“PERMANENTLY.”

“Kiryu… I would, truly, I want to, but I need to… to study you. Your components, I genuinely think it could do wonders for my subjects… my kingdom,” Twilight explained. “We excavated you in the hopes that you—or your machine frame at least, could help us make great scientific advancements!”

She felt disgusting saying it, as if she were exploiting the large machine, forcing him to remain awake when all he desired was his permanent slumber… however he deserved a shot at life as well! A true life. Maybe-

“THEN YOU ARE JUST LIKE THE OTHERS.”

The monitor flashed a hateful red coloration, before dimming, the letters fading away. With that, the screen shut itself down, leaving the mare with nothing but the light coming from her own horn to brighten the room…