//------------------------------// // Kaiju III - Ramiel - Between Night and Day (part 1) // Story: Sometimes They Call Me Super // by KorenCZ11 //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle “Has anypony seen Applejack or Rarity? It’s already nine thirty, we were supposed to start half an hour ago.” I asked aloud to my team. And while we’re at it, where is Mother? She should’ve been here already as well… it’s not like her to show up late… Pinkie was lounging in her usual spot at the dinner table with another of Fluttershy’s backwards comics, this time it seems as if she finished the last series and moved on to something else. I swear, it’s all she does these days. Goose was doing… something. I keep seeing him with documents that look in some form or fashion official, and other times I see him just staring at a blank piece of paper with a pen in his hoof. I never know what’s going through his mind. Rainbow and Scootaloo were playing some game that Goose brought with him against Fluttershy, and based on the screaming and curse words flying around, I get the feeling neither of them are beating her. “I’m pretty sure you’d be the first to know if they showed up Twi.” Pinkie commented from her couch. Another curse echoed through the bedroom hall and I simply rolled my eyes. “Sure, whatever, it’s not as if our very lives are being threatened, what’s the rush?” I said. Goose sighed. “Look, everypony is worried, we’re just dealing with it in different ways. I’ve been getting work done for my business, Pinkie reads, Fluttershy, Rainbow, and Scootaloo play games together, and you make sarcastic remarks to everypony and pace in circles. Some of us are just more productive than others.” He commented. I scowled at him. “Really? More productive?” I asked. He nodded. “Really, more productive. What’s up with you, anyways? Bad mood because Mommy’s late?” he poked. “No! I don’t care if and when she show up, she can do whatever she wants! I just want to be prepared so we don’t get killed on Sunday!” I shouted. “And that’ll be ten bits, sir.” Pinkie said. From her spot, flipping another page. “Ah, damn it. And here I thought she’d grown a little.” Goose said as he tossed a silver bit to her. She caught it and set it on the table in an instant, nodding reassuringly to herself. “Listen here newbie, not everypony can do a 180 after a life changing event. And if anypony is really incapable of that, it’s princess princess over there. I’ve spent a half year with her, I’d think I’m inclined to know.” She said with an air of superiority. “Geez, what a depressing view on character. Oh well. I had faith in you. Apparently too much though.” Goose said to her, then me. “What the actual fuck. Did you plan this!? You made a bet on whether or not I would react like that?” I yelled. They both shrugged. “What are you even talking about? We do this all the time. I mean, well, everypony does really. Neither of us care enough to hide it from you is all.” Pinkie said after sitting up. She put her book down and continued. “You’re ultra predictable, so we take bets on whether or not your mommy complex is going to get in the way of your judgment, sometimes we bring it up just to see you do it. I doubt I would be alone if I said that your ‘issue’ is holding you back. Hell, even princess Luna has talked to me about it before. Have you ever even considered that just maybe it isn’t just your inexperience that keeps you from being useful on the battlefield? You get upset, you yell at everypony else, and on top of that you won’t even try half the time. ‘Can’t do anything,’ more like ‘Won’t do anything.’” Pinkie spat. “Geez, harsh.” Goose said. She rolled her eyes. “This has been a long time coming. Were it not for Applejack, I doubt she ever would’ve set hoof outside here for anything but grocery runs.” She said. How can she treat me like this!? Why am I letting her treat me like this? “Hey, that’s not-” I started, then she darted up to my face. “It’s not what? It’s not true? Is that what you were about to say?” she asked. I stomped my hoof. “You don’t get to talk to me like that! At least I don’t break down and cry during a fight!” I shot back. As opposed to the reaction I thought I would get, she just smiled. Am I talking to Fluttershy, what is this? “You’re right. You don’t. How could you? You’ve never had a pony die in your hooves, or watched somepony get splattered across the ground, or watched somepony get shot in the forehead so close that their blood splashes on your face. At least I made an attempt to save somepony. At least I never gave up making attempts after all that. What did you do? You just hired ponies you thought could do the job you never could because you weren’t willing to keep trying!” She shot back. “I stopped because I was going to get myself killed if I kept going! It’s not as if I never wanted to try again, I just-” “I just found another way to be useful by letting them direct themselves and proclaiming myself a leader. That’s what you did. Or at least tried to. You don’t give directions like Applejack does, hell you don’t even know how to put into practice half the things you’ve read to ‘teach yourself’ how to lead. You’re a glorified communications channel at best, and dead weight at worst. Or did you really think you were of some use during the Sachiel fight when you got your wing busted and had to be saved? You could’ve teleported, you could’ve pulled a shield up, you could’ve even destroyed the rock before it hit you, I know you can react faster than you did, but no, you froze under pressure and had to rely on somepony else. I can even predict what you were thinking right then; Mommy, save me! That’s what it was, wasn’t it?” She said. I gritted my teeth. “Right. Thanks but no thanks. I’ll stop taking bets on your sub-par personality when it isn’t sub-par anymore.” Pinkie said. Stop it. She can’t see you do that, otherwise she wins. Stop it! Stop it! I couldn’t stop it. The tears started to flow and I turned toward the kitchen hallway and ran. Goose warped next to Pinkie and slapped her across the back of the head. “Ow! What was that for!?” She yelped. “Oh, you know why. That was totally uncalled for.” He said. She rubbed the spot on her head, then went back to her book. “Eh, that remains to be seen. If it helps her pull her shit together, then maybe it was what she needed. I finished that series Fluttershy had me read and man, I just wanted to punch the main character in the face so often. But the more I thought about it, the more it made me think Twilight and I. Until Fluttershy put me in my place a while back, I doubt I ever would’ve pulled my shit together, so maybe she needed the same treatment. It also happens to help that I really get that feeling of powerlessness. It’s the giving up part that pisses me off.” She stated. “Does that series turn ponies into angry Fluttershy? Because if so, we should probably hide it.” Goose said with a laugh. “Maybe. But I think I understand her more now too. If this is the kind of stuff she spent her childhood reading, then there’s no doubt she is who she is because of it. I know I didn’t like that main character because… I was him.” What are you even doing right now? Sitting here, alone in the dark crying because she pointed out things you’ve been afraid to admit? What does that do but make you look even more pathetic? I hate you, I hate you, I hate you! Why are you so useless!? You have all this information, but what good does it do you if you can’t use any of it!? “Damn it!” I yelled and stomped in the dark. A bright violet light built up and flashed around my horn, and only when I heard the explosion did I realize what I’d done. I turned on the lights in the training room, and sure enough, I destroyed most of the back wall with that blast. “Son of a bitch, just another fucking problem for me to fix!” I gritted my teeth this time to prevent accidentally bringing the ceiling down on myself. I sighed and started to repair the damage I’d done. “I’m just the princess in the tower waiting from some prince who’ll never come to take me away.” I muttered. “A prince, is it?” I heard from behind me. I flipped around as fast as I could, and there stood my aunt, looking down on me. “Gah! What are you doing here?” I asked, shocked that she was even awake at this hour. “Today I am acting as a substitute for your mother. I will be hosting your training for the foreseeable future. Now tell me, why is it you shout obscenities and destroy your home?” She asked. I rolled my eyes and went back to fixing the wall. “How rude. And here I was trying to connect with you, yet you ignore me in favor of your wall.” She said. I stopped and faced her. “I would rather not talk about it, okay?” I said. Luna sat down beside me and watched on as I fixed the wall. Great, she’s not leaving. “Very well then. I have more patience than you could imagine. You will lose, and you will speak with me. But I can wait.” She said through a yawn. I don’t know how long it took me to fix the wall, but it felt like hours with this big, cold, blue, statue of a mare casting a shadow on me. I started to walk away, but before I could make it to the door, she teleported in front of it to block my way, laying down casually as if it were nothing. “What is it going to take to get you to leave me alone?” I asked in irritation. “I would like you to move the earth around the sun for the rotation of one year’s orbit.” She said. I simply stared blankly at her. “What?” I asked. “Did I misspeak? I believe I asked you to make the globe perform its annual rotation.” She said. I shook my head and tapped my ears to make sure I was hearing things correctly. “Are you crazy? There isn’t enough magic in the world to make the planet move!” I shouted. Luna laughed. “Your mother and I would beg to differ.” She said. I stared intently at her face and she simply held a smile. “Bullshit.” I stated. “Truth! Tell me Twilight, have you ever heard of a being known as Discord?” She asked. Discord? Like, a disagreement? Or a lack of harmony between notes? “Uh… no?” I responded tentatively. “Of course not. There is a reason for that. Once upon a time, back when Celestia and I had lived through our first millennium, there was a being who visited this dimension. As soon as he appeared, he came to us and offered to take us as his wives. We were flattered of course, but to say his appearance was… unattractive would be an understatement. Celestia was more open to the idea, but it quickly became apparent that he was not of good character and here just to play after he started using his powers. He twisted space with magic we’d never seen before, he turned the sky to whichever color he wished when he felt the need, and he shifted the earth in orbit just because he preferred a certain temperature, time of day or what have you. His powers were immense and he nearly subjugated us. The moon was thrown out of orbit entirely, and lost to the world. With it went the tides, and waters rose and overcame many of the lands, killing billions in the process. But Discord had no conscience, he simply did not care and did as he pleased. He had to be stopped, but for the first time in our history since arriving in Equestria, we had come across an opponent who was more powerful than we were. Our parents had given us six crystals of pure concentrated magic called the element crystals on the day we escaped from home. They reacted to specific emotions and traits within ponies, but as magic is, they were fickle and would not respond without the right conditions in play. After Discord started to abuse the planet for his whims, the crystals had… awoken somehow. They sought us out, and using their power we were finally able to overcome Discord. He was turned into a statue and separated into eleven pieces that are scattered across the world, as the Element crystals had decided his fate. However, even with all their power, the crystals could not restore the lives lost or the planet back to its state before Discord arrived, and that was something we had to do. With the power of the crystals, together Celestia and I repositioned the planet back to where it was supposed to be, and reclaimed our moon to sort the tides. These days, we still find that the moon or the planet will shift off orbit by an inch or so every few decades, and must be prevented for massive climate change like what was experienced during Discord’s reign. However, our powers alone are enough to perform such minor adjustments in space as opposed to fighting the sun and the earth’s gravity to get everything back together. I can move the moon a few inches in any direction I please without so much as breaking a sweat. You of all ponies should know how large the moon is, so tell me, what does that say about my powers?” She asked. This is completely ridiculous. I don’t care how powerful they are, there’s no way they could move the whole fucking planet with a few pretty rocks at their side. “Prove it. I could forgive all the bullshit in the world if you can prove to me that this shit is actually possible. We don’t even have magic bombs that could do what you’re saying you can on a whim, and those things can level whole cities in an instant.” She just smiled. “I was hoping you would ask that. As the moon has already left visibility in the current moment, I took a video in preparation for the day it became necessary. Oh, and before you go spouting such things like that to your mother, because we all know that she may actually do something foolish just to display her power for you, remember that the Caballo crater exists and is approximately 391 miles across, and the bottom of the crater has yet to be fully explored almost two centuries later, even with our rapid technological advancements. To put this in perspective for you, the area of this entire province is not as large as the opening of the crater. Anyways, my video!” She said with glee. Ugh, I don’t need to be reminded. The crater can be seen by the naked eye from space. But is that kind of power really enough to move the whole planet? From where ever, Luna materialized a phone in her magic, flicked the screen a few times with her hooves, and then levitated it in front of me. “Is it rolling?” Came from Luna in the video. The time stamp down at the bottom said that this was recorded ten years ago… The day of the kidnapping… I can only wonder if they’d planned to show me this after I’d gotten home… “It’s all digital now Luna, film reels are quickly becoming antiques. Yes, it’s recording now.” Came from mother’s voice, presumably the one holding the camera. “There is nothing more antiquated on this planet than we are, so I shall say whatever word fits the situation. In any case, here is a console with all of the data to prove this is happening, and a lunar laser pointer to show that its location on the moon shifts more than the regular orbit would have it. Are you ready? Here it goes!” Her horn flared in quite possibly the brightest magical aura I’ve ever seen and up in the corner, the moon gained a faint blue glow and… it shifted. Very quickly, very minute from the camera’s view, but I could see it happen. The data showed a rapid change in distance from the laser and it was now closer to the moon than it was a second ago. “Alright, I got that. Now put it back before there are any negative gravitational changes.” Mother said. “Give me a moment… that… that isn’t easy to do.” She said, practically wheezing. On a whim she says. “Of course.” The camera turned to mother’s face, she had her mane tied up in braids all along her ears. This was indeed taken ten years ago because she stopped using that hairstyle ever since the kidnapping. “I hope that answers your question sweetie. I’ll see you tomorrow after you get home from school.” The player stopped, and Luna sent the phone back to wherever it had come from. “What was that? Why do you have it?” I asked, a part of me being hit with sadness and nostalgia for those days lost, oh so many years ago. “That was to answer a question you asked us. I doubt you remember what it was though. If you didn’t notice by the date, this was taken mere hours before you realized your powers.” She stated. I could feel the tears getting ready to come back and I had to force myself to keep them from flowing. “Yeah? And what was that?” I asked, trying my hardest to keep it in. I already knew the answer though. “You asked if my cutiemark meant that I moved the moon, and your mother’s the sun. In a way, you are correct for my part, but I’m not the only one capable of the feat. The other pony whom can move the moon believed that her daughter would one day have the power to do so as well, so she was named after the time between day and night, in hopes that she might surpass us both. But the more I train you, the more I can sense a shadow within your heart, one that is holding your true powers held captive. What is it that keeps you from realizing your potential? As you are now, you should be more capable than any unicorn on the planet, yet here you stand as average among the gifted. Why?” She asked. A shadow over my heart? Is this what they meant? Am I… really struggling with something that I don’t even realize? “I… I don’t know.” I said. Sure there’s probably some truth to what they said, but what does ‘mommy complex’ even mean? “Hmmm. Now what shall I do with you then? Perhaps… we should test your powers before Sunday… Ah, but not within the dream space. I believe the two of us should work on this issue together, alone.” Luna stated. I tilted my head. “Test my powers? You mean like my magical ability?” I asked. She shook her head. “No. Your powers, as in what the virus gave you. When it first happened, we learned that you could negate magic that had been cast on you. Or so we thought. The archaic brand proved that it was not impossible for magic to affect you, so how is it that other spells simply fizzle out when they target you? I’ve wanted to test your abilities since we learned of your abhorrently grand storage capabilities back before your powers had awoken, and now that we know you simply absorb magic cast near you, the potential you possess could quite literally be limitless! Alas, I was denied permission. Of all the things Celestia loves to do, experiment with ponies is quite possibly her favorite. When it came to you however, she would not let anypony do anything that might put you in harm’s way.” She said, even getting a little excitement in her voice for a moment there. She wanted to test my abilities? There’s no way this is the same pony I’ve spent the last ten years around. “Okay, when exactly were you ‘denied permission’ to test me? Because the aunt Luna I remember didn’t want anything to do with me for all but a single year of my life.” I said through a frown. Luna scratched at her face and looked away. “It… may be a fact that I… once held much contempt for you. After all, you are a living symbol of my sister’s betrayal of my trust over two thousand years together. I… Surely you would feel contempt too, were it one of your allies here that had gone and explicitly broken rules that you both lived by for your whole lives? And then on top of all that, get married alone and carry a child with a stallion you were never introduced to. I was furious! For nearly the entire decade after you were born I remained cold and distant to her. I could not see her as anything but a traitor, and not even as my sister. And you… you weren’t even a pony to me. An aberration, a foul creature derived of a betrayal that I would never be rid of as long as I live because you are her daughter. But… when she’d finally wore me down to allow you to live with us before the incident, I… I started to forget those feelings. I used the word ‘niece’ for the first time and I felt a change. You were my niece. The family I thought would forever be assigned as my sister and I had grown. Maybe things would not be so bad. By the time we took that video, I had honestly believed that we could have just all lived together like that as time marched on without us. For once, there would be somepony other than Celestia that I would never see die, somepony I could truly attach myself to without that looming feeling of, ‘one day will be the last day I see you’ hanging over my head as the moon does the sky. Then… your powers awakened. You were kidnapped, you were threatened, and we didn’t have the power to protect you. I was… afraid. You left us, you left me, and you might never come back. I had allowed myself to feel attachment to somepony again, and in the same year I thought I might never see you again. There was truth in the excuses I made to treat you the way I did. You do have the potential to ruin seals across the country, and quite possibly destroy magical structures in place just by being near them. But more than all that, I was afraid that I would lose you and feel the same sorrow I did the first time I watched a generation die and leave me behind. I… have not yet apologized to you for the way I treated you over these past two decades, and for that I would like to say I am truly sorry. Seeing you bring these incredible ponies together and accomplish the things you have has put in perspective that my views have been flawed, they quite possibly still are flawed, but… I realize that now. As often as I forget this, I too, am a pony. I might be different, I might be special, but I am still a character and I may yet change as time passes me by. I do not want to see you die. I do not want to see your friends die. But they will one day, and I can’t change that. You however, may not. And that, I will prevent. I… I am ashamed to admit this, but when I watched you get hit the other day, I nearly intervened. My fear of losing you had overcome my faith in you and your team, and it took the one pony who I thought would have done the same to stop me. Celestia believes in your potential, and your team’s potential, especially so for that Applejack of yours. When you all managed to overcome that beast, I was astonished. How you came together, and used all of your combined powers to take that thing down was simply amazing. Even you, whom I had long thought never had a place on the battlefield, served a purpose in making your friend’s aim true. It was after this that I was denied that permission. She didn’t mind as long as there was no real danger to you, but to truly test your capabilities, we would have to expose you to high powered concentrated magic, and we don’t know what you can absorb or how fast you can do it. So, I did not argue, as you are her blood and not mine. But! She will be preoccupied for the next day and a half at the very least, so I come to you with this offer; if you are willing to take a risk, I would like to test your powers. Will you allow this flawed old mare the chance to help you?” She asked as she held her hoof out to me. Oh goddess, I don’t even know what’s going on right now. Did aunt Luna just open up to me? I think I just saw her display more emotion in however long that speech took than in my entire life. I… I need to think. I need to clear my head. “I… Will you ask me this again after today’s training? I… I don’t know what to think right now, and this just adds more to everything else going, so I… I’m not sure what to do.” I said as I looked away. She pulled her hoof back and nodded, her ears falling flat. “Of course… I… should’ve expected something along these lines. Very well then. We can come back to this. Once your Rarity gets here, we should be ready to start.” Luna stated, in quite possibly the most dejected tone I’ve ever heard from her. Speaking of which, that was the garage door. She sat there in silence as did I, neither of us able to meet each other’s gaze. “I, uh… I should go greet Rarity. I’ll, um… I’ll gather the group and bring them down once Applejack gets here. O-of course, you’re free to come too. Uh… yeah.” I didn’t know what else to say to her, so I got up and headed to the garage. What is even going on? “What do you mean she’s not coming!?” I practically yelled in Rarity’s face. “I mean she’s not coming. Likely for today and tomorrow while we’re at it. She had some personal affairs to deal with, and apparently, it’s more important than this.” She said as she more or less ignored me and walked toward the living room. I caught back up with her and continued. “What, did she just decide that she doesn’t care anymore!?” I asked. Rarity rolled her eyes. “Twilight, please. You know better than that. If she felt that taking care of whatever it was she needed to do was more important than this, then obviously it’s something she simply can’t avoid. There is no way in hell she of all ponies would abandon us.” Rarity stated with a hint of spite in her tone. I sighed and rolled my eyes. “Whatever. First Mother, now Applejack. It would be one thing without Mother, she wasn’t even involved in our training until last week anyways, but our commander? What are we going to do without a leader against a monster?” I asked, already exhausted by the morning. “Figure something out I suppose. We managed before she showed up didn’t we? We can manage without her for a little while. It’s not as if she’ll not show up when we need her most, so what’s the big deal?” She asked. We’d reached the living room, and Everypony was in various places doing something or other. Fluttershy Scootaloo and Rainbow were playing a card game, probably got frustrated that they couldn’t beat her at whatever they were playing before, but it still didn’t look like it was going well. Pinkie was still reading, and Goose looked like he’d managed to get a few words down on his blank page, but not much. “A-and that makes Exodia. S-sorry, better luck next time.” Fluttershy said with a coy smile. Rainbow tossed her cards on the table and started to pout. “I don’t get it. How do you always have the right cards to block me at every turn? I didn’t know Exodia stun was even a thing. It doesn’t make sense. You can’t have that kind of draw power and the traps to keep me off you all the time. You’ve got to be cheating, I swear.” Rainbow said angrily. Scootaloo giggled. “Or, maybe she has a side deck and prepared for you? There’s more to the game than attacking with big beaters.” She said. Fluttershy shrugged. “Y-you’d think she would’ve learned that a-after getting punished for being so a-aggressive and not blocking all morning.” Fluttershy said as she put her carefully arranged and sleeved cards back in her fancy box. Rainbow picked up all her cards and just shoved them back in her discount store box and threw it back on the table. It looked… like it had been fairly used. “Shut up. I’ll get back at you when I get paid! You just have better cards than I do, that’s all.” She said. “Hate to break it to ya Rainbow, but your deck is more expensive than hers is.” Pinkie commented from afar. “Full power Nekroz well after they’ve been banned for years, and she still can’t win. What a joke.” I made out as she muttered. “Nopony asked for comments from the peanut gallery!” She yelled, fuming. “A-hem.” Rarity coughed, getting their attention. “Oh, what? Well, all we’re missing now is Applejack. She’s pretty late now, isn’t she? That’s not like her.” Goose said, being pulled away from his page. “About that… Applejack is going to be out for the next couple days. She should return by Sunday in time for the real fight, but the chances of her training with us today or tomorrow are next to none.” Rarity stated. Everypony stood up. “What? Why?” or a variant of came from them all. “It was a very personal issue that came up, so I don’t have any right to tell you. She can do that when she returns if she feels the need. All the same, I expect you to trust your Major well enough to understand." Goose looked like he was about to protest, but then he relaxed. “I… Okay, fine. I guess if we needed to know about it, she would’ve told us herself. Who are we training with today? Celestia never showed up, and were she here, she’d make her presence known.” He asked. “Aunt Luna is down stairs in the training room waiting for us. Since Applejack isn’t coming, I guess we’re ready to start.”