Invasion of the Astro Monster: Destroy All Ponies

Chapter 8

The King and the Castle

King Ghidorah had certainly accomplished a lot in his life. He had destroyed countless worlds, civilizations, and life forms. A myriad of opponents had been humbled before his life. His was a name to strike fear in the hearts of all who heard it. He was the King of Terror. And right now, he was bored.

Boredom was not an emotion Ghidorah felt often. He couldn't even remember the last time he was bored. Most of the time when he had nothing to do, when he was flying through space for instance, he would simply scheme. Scheme for his revenge against Godzilla, scheme for the destruction of the Earth. But right now, returning to his universe certainly seemed like an impossible goal, so he didn't bother. That meant he had nothing to do. And for the first time in a long while, Ghidorah was bored out of his mind.

Ghidorah groaned, before falling back in his bed. After their session yesterday, Princess Celestia saw to it that he was made comfortable. He was to live in the castle, and was not allowed to leave without her permission. The bed he had been given was the largest one available, but even that had not been enough. Upon sitting on it, it buckled under his weight and crushed the small, wooden legs. Now, the frame simply lay on the floor, stuck there permanently.

What was a kaiju to do? He was trapped on this world, stripped of his powers, and forced to play hero. Of all the horrible things that could have happened to him, of all the dimensions he could have been transported to, it had to be this one. He groaned again, before getting up. Perhaps he would go seek out Celestia, or Discord. Maybe one of them could give his something to do. He walked to the door, before pushing it open.

Although he was not allowed to leave the castle, he was given free reign in regards to traveling within its bounds. As Ghidorah walked through the corridors, he couldn't help but feel a little amazed at how quickly the staff had gotten used to him. Everypony he passed didn't seem fazed at all by the dragon that stood three times their size. Each and every one of them waved in a friendly manner, a gesture he never returned. This didn't bother them.

Ghidorah suddenly felt a horrible itching in the back of his mind. He remembered this, he had encountered it not long after he first arrived in this world. Now it was back with a vengeance, and it drove him mad. That horrible thing! What was it? Internally, Ghidorah tried to stop it. There was something there, something inside his mind. How did it get there? Ghidorah had fought psychic kaiju before, and he had trained his mind to be completely inpenetrable! It made no sense! Ghidorah shook his heads violently, trying to get rid of the parasitic feeling in his brain. A pony he walked by gave him an odd look, but said nothing.

That's when it happened. It wasn't anything big, it wasn't even something physical. But it was enough to fill King Ghidorah with dread. As the mare walked pass, a maid off to clean a room no doubt, Ghidorah noticed something odd. For the first time in his life, he didn't hate something. He didn't know why, but he was utterly incapable of hating the mare that had passed by. Normally, Ghidorah hated everything and everyone. Why else would he kill everything he met? But right now, he was devoid of hatred. And Ghidorah without hatred is like the Pacific Ocean without water. It was unnatural, and a cause for serious alarm. The itching in his head reached its highest levels before, without any reason, it disappeared.

Instantly, Ghidorah felt angry. The familiar emotion of hate returned, and at present he hated nothing more than that mare who had just passed. But she was gone by now, and Ghidorah thought better of hunting her down. Ghidorah felt uneasy. Whatever he had just encountered, it had been powerful enough to defeat not only his psychological defenses, but also his most powerful weapon - his pure rage. For the first time in his life, Ghidorah felt scared.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Princess Celestia sat on her throne, contemplating the events of the past couple of days. In an incredibly short space of time, she had met a being from another dimension. In that same time, another being from that same dimension had almost attacked Ponyville. The first being had defeated the second, but proved to be evil, not good. And now Celestia was faced with the difficult task of reforming this being. And here she thought her week would be boring!

Was Celestia afraid of Ghidorah? Certainly. She would be stupid not to be. But Celestia was nothing if not kind, and was more than willing to give him a chance. Giving chances had been how Luna returned, and Discord too. If she could change Ghidorah for good, then just think of what could be accomplished!

The only problem was, Celestia wasn't quite sure how she wanted to do that. Ghidorah seemed set in his ways. Making him see the power of friendship would not be easy. Perhaps Discord could help in some way? After all, he too had once been evil. Celestia sighed. It was a shame that Luna detested Ghidorah so much. She could sense that the pair had much more in common than either of them let on.

Celestia then turned her attention to her subjects. They had a right to know what was going on. At least enough information could be released so that they would understand Ghidorah's presence, and what exactly the threat they were facing was.

Celestia's horn glowed, and with a pop a quill and scroll appeared before her, as she began to write her address to the ponies.

*  *  *  * *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Twilight Sparkle was walking down the street when she noticed the royal officer. He was a stallion wearing armor with the royal emblem, and he was nailing a sheet of paper to the wall of a building. A royal decree. Whenever something of importance occured, Celestia would personally write one of these addressed to everypony who lived in equestria. Twilight had a hunch what this one was about. When the royal officer finished his job, he left, presumably to post more copies of the decree. A crowd of ponies, Twilight including, circled around the paper to see what it said.

It read:

To my loyal subjects,

As I'm sure you are all aware, a large creature attacked the area around Ponville yesterday. This creature was at least the size of a dragon, if not bigger. As you will probably have heard by now, the creature was confronted by another, even larger creature. This second one destroyed the first and saved Ponyville, before disappearing in the area of Canterlot Castle. I have sent out this decree to lay any rumors to rest.

This second creature is named King Ghidorah. He is not from anywhere near Equestria, and he has come with news of a great danger. These giant creatures are called 'Kaiju,' and there are many of them. Ghidorah himself is one, as was the beast that attacked yesterday, named Zilla. We do not know if any more of these kaiju will appear in Equestria, but if so, King Ghidorah has graciously volunteered to protect us.

Please do not be alarmed, and rest assured that your safety is of the highest importance. As more information is gathered, I will keep the public informed.

~Princess Celestia

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Applejack walked to Fluttersh's house. The pegasus pony had sent an urgent letter demanding the cowpony's presence this morning, via carrier pigeons. Applejack wasn't quite sure what she wanted, but she had a hunch it had to do with a contingency plan for Ghidorah. She knocked on the door. "Come in!" Fluttershy's soft voice rang from inside.

Applejack opened the door to be greeted by the strangest sight she had seen all week. A three-headed space dragon, a giant iguana-saurus, and now this. Nope. Not even those last two were weirder than this.

Fluttershy was having tea with a pony that seemed to be made entirely of plant material. And what's more, they seemed to be enjoying themselves. "Oh, Applejack! I see you got my message!" Fluttershy said. The plant-pony took in the orange mare. "So this is the one of which you spoke?" she said.

Wait, what? The plant-pony could talk? Applejack was going to need a cup of hard cider when all of this was over. "Uh, howdy?" she said tentatively.

"Oh, Applejack, where are my manners! This is Biollante, I met her in the Everfree forest yesterday!" Fluttershy said, gesturing to the plant-pony.

"Greetings," Biollante said. Her voice was soft, but ringing, like a bell.

"Biollante comes from the same universe as King Ghidorah! She's offered to tell us information about him, but she said she would wait until you arrived,"

"Well, then? What is it?"

Biollante's face darkened. "You are all in terrible, terrible danger. Ghidorah is a being of pure evil, one who travels the galaxy looking for helpless planets to destroy. His very name sends fear to all who hear it,"

Both of the other pony's eyes widened in shock. "And now he's with the Princesses!" The two mares grabbed each other. "We have to do something!"

Biollante's curiosity was piqued. "Princesses? Are they the leaders of your race?"

Both of the ponies nodded. "Then I would very much like to speak to them,"

"There isn't much time!" Applejack said. "Let's go!"

Just as they were about to leave, Fluttershy thought of something. "Wait just a moment!" she said. She disappeared into her house, only to return with a cloak. This she gave to Biollante, who awkwardly put it on. "There! Now pony's won't ask too many questions!"

And so, the three mares left for the train to Canterlot.