The Bridge: A Godzilla-MLP Crossover

by Tarbtano

Chapter 30: Different Views

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Over 70,000 Years Ago, Shambhala, Exact Location Unknown
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A towering man in flowing, gem and gold dotted robes adjusted his now heavy crown as he paced down a long, dead hallway. King "Manju" Manjusandra, Lord of Shambhala, busily scanned his notes and message, eyeing the parchment illuminated by his glowing, crystalline necklace as he approached his destination. Passing through ancient halls filled with now dusty rugs, corroded luster, and chipped mason work, the sovereign of the paradise stole a look out a window and scanned his domain. What he saw ushered a small frown.

Shambhala, known to some as Shangri-La, was in decay. They’d survived, albeit barely, Bagan’s wrath but had been dealt a mortal wound during the rampage. In the span of five minutes, before the Battra and Mothra flocks could stop him, Bagan had leveled seventy percent of what had once been Asia’s crown jewel. A population of hundreds of thousands cut down to a mere two hundred in seconds. The temples and machining works were crushed underfoot. The glowing waterworks, vaporized. The residency district, once home to all manner of man and faerie folk alike, nothing more than a mountain of shattered glass and the scattered ash of what had once been a thriving society. But, the wound was still bleeding out. Bagan was gone, imprisoned in the far north. The once vast flocks of Mothra and Battra, who policed and protected the world alongside their mentor Reijuu, now Bagan; were no more. The effort of sealing their rampaging predecessor cut their protectors down to a single Mothra and Battra each, but there was so much more damage beyond that.

In time, the world might mend physically. The ash clouds choking the sky would eventually die down, the volcanoes would stop erupting, and tremors as well as the tsunamis they begot would cease. The glassed fields that had once been cities would chip and break away into sand to be swallowed up by the forests. Mystically however, the act of imprisoning the destroyer might have destroyed all those who survived; driving a sword through the mana stream’s heart. Across the world mana levels were plummeting faster than they could ever hope to be refreshed. Magic itself was dying out. Shape shifters were losing their gifts and becoming stuck in their forms, dragons vanishing into nothing more than mists or becoming mundane reptiles, Immugi’s losing their gifts of wisdom and enormity to turn into mere pythons; and more and more rakshasa, yokai, and faerie were looking more and more human each passing day. Even the once numerous humanity had been driven to near extinction.

Magic required mana, the energy of the planet's life itself, and the world had been once so brimming with it that the civilizations that rose tapped into the planet’s mana to use a little bit in everything. Anything that had been so much as touched by magic during its creation or operation was going to ruin. Bones and fossils of anything mana reliant disintegrated into dust. Their technology that helped move mountains and construct their cities had started to stop working and crumble away into unrecognizable rock and sand. Even seemingly normal aspects of life were being affected. Some researchers told him it'd be fortunate if any of their grandchildren lived to see 500. They might die at 150, from old age of all things! Further generations might be even lower!

Currently, Terra’s global mana had been so heavily damaged it remained at full strength in only a select few areas and beings. Within Shambhala’s domain, only thirty percent persisted and that was only thanks to the vast amount of mana crystals in the royal treasury surviving the apocalypse. Even then, it was only temporary. King Manju sighed as he finished reading his notes. It had been the first time in centuries he actually held up his reading material in his hands as oppose to a spell, not daring to waste one sliver of mana with levitation. They needed as much as they could for one more act, quite likely the city’s last. That didn't stop the once beloved king from feeling old.

The good king felt a cold shock travel down his back. He reached up and shifted his glasses, rubbing his tired eyes. The loss of all magic, his grandchildren dying young, never living to see his society prosper again; it was… something he’d rather not think about. Manjusandra took in a slow breath, passing into his old palace that had been refitted as one final factory. He put the notes in his cloak and bowed his head to further wrestle with his own mind. Time traveled by through his mental storm until he entered what used to be the main hall. Any exotic decorum, dazzling pillars, and gilded stairwells were entirely cleared out. The palace itself had been almost entirely gutted to clear up space, retrofitted into a makeshift warehouse more than anything. It now more closely resembled a near abandoned and only half lit laboratory than his old home. Standing before a massive, dark container filled with a murky liquid, Shambhala’s last remaining best and brightest busily worked at an intact control panel. One, an old man clad in long robes and beads one to expect of a monk was the city's former archmage, Ghoshana. Beside him and tapping away at the control inputs was a middle aged rakshasi woman in attire resembling a stylized version of a modern day laboratory coat. She was the former grand architect and life weaver, Kootakaar.

Manjusandra looked up at the gargantuan culture vat beyond the controls. Through the dim lighting he could just barely make out something floating within it, curled up in a ball the size of the capital’s entire courtyard. Simply put, it was enormous. The king eyed the half jerry rigged glass container and vast metal shell that had some intake pipes sticking out of it; motioning to it.

“Will it hold?”

The architect turned to him, nodding her head. Even in the low light it was easy to see the bags under the faerie folk’s eyes and droop in her ears. Her formally, almost luminescent, navy blue skin had dimmed considerably and was being replaced with patches of human tones, her claws had turned into pointed nails, and her fangs were becoming smaller and blunter by the day. In a few years time, Manju wondered if she’d look indistinguishable from a human.

“I used up the entire treasury’s worth of philosopher stones and mana chargeable crystals, this will probably be the last enchanted object we leave behind… but…”

She muttered, drowning out her own speech with a pause.

“But?”

King Manju whispered with baited breath. Kootakaar sighed, shaking her head slowly whilst looking down.

“… My estimates from earlier were off. It’ll take all the remaining mana...not just the city, but the entire region to keep him fully energized. 100,000 years is a long time for something this size.... Are you certain it had to be this enormous?”

King Manju felt a flash of horror and dread fall over him like a smothering wave, spurring his retort.

“Bagan wasn’t-“

The archmage interrupted King Manju with a near unreadable expression that seemed to be at least partially comprised of sadness and fear, despite reigning in his tone to sound calm.

“ISn’t…”

Manju paused, taking a deep breath as he closed his eyes and nodded; continuing.

“Isn’t, small either. We need something vast… I only regret we can’t make more, your notes said this one is still smaller than Bagan.”

Kootakaar pulled out some more of her notes and reaffirmed some facts as she read the report's information off.

"Still, 90 meters tall is no slouch. Besides, this is just going to be the first one. We have already received confirmation from Anitun-Tabu, Amaterasu, Enoch, and even the Atlanteans receiving the schematics we've made for this prototype and making their own versions; some of them have more mana than us so they'll be able to make more than one. The world will have its vanguards, these 'Guardian Beasts', yet."

King Manju nodded, reaching up and adjusting his crown that lay upon his tired forehead. For someone only four hundred, he felt four times that age but was keeping up his appearance the best he could.

"And what species are they all using?"

Ghoshana chimed in after a breath. The ancient mage actually being sixteen hundred, he wasn't as good as the king at hiding his weakness and had to support himself with an old staff that bore a glowing crystal entwined into the wood upon the peak. The poor soul hadn't been able to speak well without breaks of breath since Bagan razed the city. King Manju tried to insist someone else, another mage, be brought in to help with this process; but Ghoshana both insisted out of duty and necessity. Many of his apprentices he'd hoped succeed him were the first to be turned to glass when they welcomed 'Reijuu' at the city temple, there were none left to take his place.

" Anitun-Tabu ...is using a theropod, some kind of amphibious species from Lagos island. Amaterasu is working on a tusked turtle... and pterosaur. Enoch hasn't started.... yet but he mentioned something.... about a monitor lizard that can glide and a big ....eared, horned therapsid of some sort. The Atlanteans are supposedly using bats and pterosaurs.... I'm s-sorry I-I'm feeling dizzied..."

King Manju put an arm around his mentor from his youth, helping the old man stand up straight and catch his breath.

"Th-Thank you sire. I'm alright now."

-I have a feeling I won't be a sire to anything much longer...-

Manju puzzled as the thought passed over him. Giving Ghoshana a gentle pat on the back, he turned back to the culture vat and the being inside.

"And, what species are we using Lady Kootakaar?"

"We've blended in several types but the basis is mostly a Tarchia, a type of Ankylosaur dinosaur. There is also some Polocanthus, Nine-Banded Armadillo, and Diictodon was also added in. So far his blend is stable and we'll be adding the fire elemental mana in shortly."

Kootakaar muttered as she typed at the controls. The tubes feeding into the vat shifted in coloration and glimmered as a new substance, almost like a liquid light, poured in and surrounded the growing Guardian Beast like a cocoon. King Manju looked out, not through a window but instead a piece of the wall that had been torn out, and surveyed the scattered ruins of his kingdom as the architect and archmage cast the final spells and carved the last runes. Any surviving lights were going out across the city, the mana crystals powering them being drained dry. More of the surviving structures started to crumble away at a faster rate, and the enchanted gold plating that gave the glorious capital its shine began to rapidly lose its luster as the alchemy charging it cut out. Even Manju himself could feel a cold tug settle over him as the crystals upon his regalia sputtered and died off. He was seeing a sight no mortal had ever witnessed before. He watched his capital take its last gasp, the magic inside going away right before his eyes.

Manju felt his voice stutter a bit, both from the unnatural sensation overtaking him as well as from the somber sight.

"A-Are you sure he'll require so much mana for so long? That we can’t, perhaps, keep some to last the survivors for awhile?"

The glowing liquid forming up around the prototype beast began to shift and harden, becoming an enormous chrysalis of mana imbued crystal that would feed in its power to the growing creation like nutrients in an egg.

"We can't take any risks. He'll need to absorb as much mana as possible from the crystals overtime to reach his full potential. Due to our inability to perform this task properly, the process will be rougher on him than the next beasts. He won’t wake up until it is time and stay in the cocoon."

"Yes, but we can't have him oversleeping when the hour at Attu island is rung. The world is going to need ones like him to lead the charge against that monster."

King Manju sucked in a breath and regarded the enormous shape slumbering within the crystal nexus. He eyed the rows of spines lining a reinforced shell of armor plating, as well as the row of horns lining the back of the beast's head like a crown. This was to be the world's first new guardian and possibly, probably, Shambhala's last success. King Manju pulled off his crown and plucked the dimly glowing crystal in his hands as Kootakaar and Ghoshana removed their own last crystals from their necklace and walking stick respectively. Without a word of debate, they placed their crystals upon the panel before them and watched the glow of their last bits of magic exit the gems and join the collective surrounding their new Guardian Beast of Fire. Ghoshana crumbled a bit in his stance, requiring both former king and architect to hold him up. He held his head low despite the burning light before him, sadness obvious in his tone as he knew he looked upon the end of an era.

"So, this... is how Shambhala dies."

"No,-"

Manju sighed as he felt a tiny, bittersweet smile cross his face.

"This is how the world keeps living... Can he hear us?"

"Perhaps.... You know, your majesty; we never did name the prototype."

Kootakaar muttered. Manju the king, the former king, watched as their mana crystals crumbled away to dust and the last bits of magic, a force he'd felt since birth, faded from the room. He knew what would come. In a few years, his gilded kingdom would join the crystal. In a few millennia, there would be nothing, not so much as a corpse of Shambhala left. His people's descendants might carry the legend, but this place would be no more. But he focused not on the thought of his son bearing the crown or the loss of experiencing a walk with any grandchildren through the shimmering glades. He instead trained his eyes upon their lasting legacy as the last spell cast of Shambhala arranged to teleport the crystal capsule to a safe location underground for it to grow uninterrupted.

"The prototype will be the last of our works left, but it's for those who succeed us. An act from the future’s yesterday for their world's tomorrow.... I have a name for it."

"What is it?"

Manju nodded his head and spoke a single sentence before the chamber and its listening occupant. In it was an older word, but a strong word for a strong name. This was to be the first of the Guardian Beasts, the first and probably the greatest. The word that meant both, it meant "A New Hope, Alpha".

"Grow mighty and keep our...your world, safe; Anghi'ras."

Three days later, with all the mana in the area drained and their creation sealed away; an enraged Battra leveled what was left of Shambhala . Enraged at the loss of even more of the world's magic and its impact upon the world, he concluded humanity and the fae-turned-human needed to be exterminated. He would have finished what Bagan started had the last Mothra not stopped him. Sealing him away in the north but gravely injured from the fight, the wounded protector of mortals' last act before limping back to her island to die was to cause the forest to regrow over the ruins and give the survivors a fighting chance in a renewed landscape as opposed to a desolate waste. She returned to her island and expired after laying the egg that would hatch in the mid-1990s into Lea's mother. True to its last king's prediction, Shambhala, and all the other city states who weathered away after creating their Guardian Beasts, crumbled out of the mortal coil and into legend. Anguirus, like his compatriots, would remain sealed away for tens of thousands of years. However, instead of reawakening on the date of Bagan's release; they instead awakened in the early 2000s to confront other threats. Threats of when the Age of Man became the Age of Monsters.

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Sweet Apple Acres
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The last act of Shambhala, christened titan by its last and greatest king, and the alpha Guardian Beast, Anguirus; loaded his last bustle of apples into a crate. Nudging the crate into place, he took a glance at the elderly clock set next to an elderly pony.

“Last load Mrs. Smith, got a train to catch.”

Granny Smith jogged herself awake from her half nap, eying the crates of zap apples loaded up next to her stands without a single bit of colorful fruit still clinging to the orchards beyond.

“Well ‘ay do say, that’sa grade A pick for a first timer. Thank ye’ kindly for the work Mr. Gear Las.”

-It’s Anguirus..-

Electing to ignore the qualm, the kaiju did look about the orchard for a moment and noticed something big missing.

“Where’s Destroyah? She’s supposed to go to Canterlot with me for the summit.”

“Oh she got her clearin’ duty done early and was off with Applebloom and her little friends in town, so she’ll be at the station. You best get’ now so you make it on time yerself!”

“Right, I will return once this ordeal is sorted out. Place grows on yah, almost feels like back home.”

“That why you slept in the orchard like some crazy-pony rather than the barn?”

Anguirus just shrugged before turning around and heading off, waving a forehoof.

“You could say that. I'm off.”

Picking himself up to a steady trot, a few minutes passed before Anguirus noticed something else in the sea of dirt paths and tree trunks. A bright purple and green baby dragon walking around aimlessly with a juice box in hand, a ruby in his maw, and downtrodden stares from his eyes. In any other context that sentence wouldn’t make much sense. Fortunately Anguirus’ already strong weirdness filter had only broadened upon being stuck in this technicolor world and he trotted up to Spike, more questioning what the baby drake was doing out here rather than him existing.

“Hey kid!”

Spike didn’t hear Anguirus calling him, his eyes cast downward but his focus instead being on what was going on behind his eyes rather than what was in front of them.

“Kid, there’s a hole right in front of- urrg…”

Spike only took notice when he suddenly started to fall forward into a hole before a hoof shot out in front of him and shoved him backward back to level ground.

“Huh! Wah?!”

Spike chirped, looking around before noticing the hoof holding him up and the large stallion it was attached to. Anguirus rolled his eyes and grumbled.

“Tried to get your attention.”

“Oh, sorry Mister... Angilas was it?”

-Why does everyone keep calling me that?!-

“Anguirus.”

Spike shrunk a bit more at the blunt words, something impressive given his already small size.

“S-Sorry… Didn’t mean to bug you, so don’t mind me.”

The little dragon pulled himself off of Anguirus’ hoof and tried to walk off in a new direction. However not two meters into his downtrodden march and whatever going through his head had already taken precedence over what was going on in front of him. Anguirus planted a hoof on the drake’s head, stopping and turning him around to keep Spike from walking off the path absentmindedly and right into a tree trunk.

“You know, despite carrying your head low, you don’t seem to be looking at the ground you're treading over or what lies ahead of you.”

“Guess I get like that when I try to walk and think, my mind is drifting.”

“Well where you walking to?”

“Just back to the library for now.”

“That near the train station? Haven’t quite memorized town.”

“It’s about five-sixths of the way to the station from here, why?”

Before Spike got a verbal answer, he got a physical one when Anguirus hooked his hoof under his belly and hoisted the young drake onto his back. Resuming his own march, Anguirus angled his head backwards slightly to address his temporary hitchhiker.

“I'm on my way to the station, consider this letting you think without you risking walking off a cliff or something.”

“Ah, well it wouldn’t be a problem! Dragons got tough scales.”

Spike quipped, tapping a claw to some scutes on his chest with an almost metallic clang that reminded Anguirus of Yonggary’s living metal armor, just to a lesser degree. While the dragons he battered and bruised at the campground took damage from his assault, it still took mostly beating them down with blunt force as just stabbing through dragon scales took some effort. They were tough creatures for sure, one Anguirus sometimes wished he got for his Equestrian body rather than an ‘earth pony’ as he was informed. Then again, maybe he was just miffed at the loss of a chance to breathe fire again. Anguirus grunted at Spike’s comment when he spoke.

“Hardest armor in the world can’t always save you from everything. Trust me, I know… So, what’s got your mind in a twist anyways?”

“Oh, I uh. I don’t wanna be a bother. Just thinking of some stuff.”

Anguirus rolled his eyes, knowing from experience with youngsters like Gorgo and Rodan, when he first woke up, that “some stuff” was usually code for “I don’t wanna tell”.

“Come on then, out with it. I got nothing to gain from blabbing and if you don’t tell me, I’m dragging you to Canterlot with me to get that purple alicorn to make you spill it.”

He grunted while walking towards town with Spike still on his back. The young drake’s reaction was to jolt and levitate about a meter into the air before landing back down on Anguirus. He looked at the spiny stallion with wide eyes.

“You wouldn’t.”

“Kid I’m not afraid to throw myself in front of blade happy cyborgs, three headed alien dragons, and whatever in the name of Tanaka Destroyah is. Whatever fear you got of a pretty purple princess pony, it ain’t mutual. Oh, and there’s some snacks in my right saddle bag, help yourself.”

Anguirus felt some shifting on his back and someone digging through the bag. Spike cast a smile upon pulling out another juice carton and small jar of zap apple jam, plopping on his haunches and opening the two. Anguirus let a few minutes of sipping and munching sounds carry out before returning his addressing.

“Alright now, let’s have it.”

Spike, having gulped down the entirety of the carton and jar and now having a slightly swollen belly as a result, put the two back in the bag and spoke up.

“I guess, I just feel like I could be doing more. Like I should be doing more.”

Anguirus raised an eyebrow, not having expected that sort of answer but rolling with it. He didn’t seem to be lying. Typically a lie was a simple explanation to pass off a more troublesome scenario, not a more elaborate or vague one.

“Specifics?”

“Twilight and Lea are busy finding a magic solution to the problems and you kaiju are all at the ready to fight off any other attacks coming around; and meanwhile I’m just a useless baby dragon walking around through it all. Maybe if I wasn’t a baby, maybe if I was smarter, or stronger, or bigger I could be more useful!”

Yep, not the sort of problem Anguirus was expecting at all. Age was hardly a fault of anyone, though there was something he was recalling from his experience with the rampaging dragons at the campground.

“I remember the dragons at the campground changing. They grew from a bit bigger than pony size up to whale size in a few minutes. Why are you worried about being bigger if your kind can just do that? Aging must be quick.”

“Greed growth, definitely greed growth. Zecora told me about it. Dragons have two ways to grow up. Natural, old fashioned long way; and greed growth. Greed can make us grow up in the span of hours, or even less, but-”

Spike pulled his knees into him and shuddered slightly. Anguirus was able to put two and two together based off what he’d heard from the dragons themselves shortly before they turned enormous. That and the term “greed growth” was more than a bit self explanatory.

“It makes your greed grow out of control and you go berserk. The drakes at the camp were greedy for territory and revenge against that mare named Rainbow Dash. Saw them get a lot less chatty once they were elephant sized… That and I recall them trying to eat some ponies.”

“Y-Yeah, kinda makes us go more than a bit crazy. I did it once and nearly broke…Ponyville.”

Spike sighed, putting his paws on his cheeks and looking down and to the side. Anguirus took a pause as they neared the edge of town and glanced back at the little one.

“And yet, something tells me you’re considering it again.”

“I just-”

Spike looked up at Anguirus with a glum expression.

“I just wanna grow up, be useful. To help everypony. I can be stronger than I am now, I know I can! Maybe I can find some way to control it!”

The earth pony kept a neutral expression despite the topic. Wanting power for a good reason wasn’t greedy or necessarily wrong, it was something he knew well. Still, he kept face and remained at a semi stoic attention.

“Doubt it. You already got your head on straighter than those punks at the campgrounds kid, especially that red one. But if this greed growth is serious enough you could flip out of it, I wouldn’t risk it.”

“But, what if it’s worth the risk? Even just a little bit of growth might be good. I mean, I’m friends with Equestria’s biggest heroes and heroines! And I’ve helped out myself more than a couple times sure, but this time around I just wish there was more I could do. I feel it in my scales, like it’s destiny; you know?”

Anguirus’ flattened jaw dipped into a frown and he muttered a tired shrug.

-You had to say ‘Destiny’ didn’t you?-

“You shouldn’t rush it kid, destiny can be a hard thing to read even if it looks clear as day to you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Let’s just say I have experience.”

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2001, Somewhere in Japan
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Anguirus, Guardian Beast Alpha and Elemental of Fire could feel it in his pulse. His power, seeping into his body from every direction as he lay entombed in his crystalline cocoon. He lay with his eyes closed, curled up inside the mana charged crystal as it slowly fed into his power. He was the first of the guardian beasts, the prototype. His successors had been made with techniques refined from King Manju’s blueprints so they were quicker to soak up the mana in their surrounding crystals. It had been seventy millennia and Anguirus hadn’t yet reached that level, but he would. He was stronger every day and so long as he stayed like this, he’d reach the peak his creators intended. He just needed more time to unlock it all, but he’d get there. Until then, he rested.

Across the underground chasm that the alpha model’s cell lay, the earth began to rattle and shudder. A set of large, mole-like claws ripped through the cave’s floor. A second kaiju limped its way out of its tunnel. He was known as Baragon, Guardian Beast Epsilon and Elemental of Earth, and he’d been digging through his escape tunnel for several hours to find this chamber. As he limped his way across the ground, dragging one of his hind legs and leaving a trail of blood behind him, it was clear why he’d come here. There was another monster running amok on the surface, one so evil and dangerous that the last mystic in Japan had sent a prayer pleading for their aid. Baragon and another of he and Anguirus’s kin, the beast of water called Gamera, had awakened to try and stop the monster. Baragon confronted it in the highlands near Hakone. He’d managed to cover the escape of many humans, but was drastically outmatched and was beaten to near death. Had he not taken the chance to burrow away under the cover of the mad titan’s beam attack he would have perished. Gamera was moving in to head the threat off at Tokyo, but Baragon knew he’d need help.

And so, he’d crawled his way across the chamber to plead for it. He had to get the alpha, the alpha was the strongest of all of them! He could stop that monster! Baragon held fast to the hope he got from seeing the glowing crystals and the massive shape within. Half choking, he barked and called out to the crystal.

-”Anghi'ras!”-

The diictodon stumbled onto his last good leg, literally clawing his way desperately to his predecessor while calling out to rouse him with another roar.

-”Anghi'ras! Alpha we need you to wake up! It’s too strong, it’s gonna kill-!!”-

Baragon’s leg gave out from under him and he flopped to the ground before the crystal without any sign of change within it. Wincing from the effort and drooling blood, Baragon raised a weak paw and banged on the glowing crystal cocoon. Laying on his side, Baragon whapped on the crystal hard enough to crack it before his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

Anguirus’ eyes snapped open at the sight of a weak paw leaving a blood smear on the distorted crystal surface. He flexed his muscles and thrashed, cracking more of the crystal around him.

=========================================

“Sometimes, when you think it’s your time to shine you’ll find there’s other things to think about. I am the first of the Guardian Beasts, wielder of fire. I was supposed to be the strongest of my kind, so my element took longer to mature than others. I hadn’t even reached the first tier of the powers I was destined to have whereas the others already had, but I was getting there. But, just when I thought I’d rise to greatness to fulfill my destiny when the time came and lead my kin to save the world one day; I lost the force, the mana, that would give me my flames.”

“W-What happened to it? Someone steal it?”

“I gave it away to someone who needed it more… Remember Baragon?”

=========================================

Anguirus, having forced his way free of the crystal, nearly recoiled in a nerve shock upon breaking out into the open air. Being free of the mana that had been nourishing him since the day Kootakaar and Ghoshana put his genome together and engineered him was like suddenly stepping out from a warm room and straight into a blizzard. But, that didn’t have his attention because that wasn’t what was important. The smaller, bloody heap of a barely alive red kaiju he was lifting up was. Carefully balancing Baragon’s limp form on his forelimbs and jaws, Anguirus placed him down within the hollow cavity he once occupied. The cracked and broken crystal he’d torn free from was glimmering brightly at the tips in an erratic fashion, but the entry of another body put an end to that. Anguirus pulled away and pushed the large sheet of crystal he’d kicked out to free himself back into place.

The cocoon reformed itself, stray fragments that lay about the floor levitating back up and falling into place as the crystals grew around Baragon and perfectly encapsulated his form. The mana that would have gone into fostering Anguirus’ powers flowed into the comatose earth guardian. The blood flows closed off and he started to heal. The injuries such as his shattered ribs, burns, and bite wounds would take longer to mend, but the mana would do its job at patching him back up.

Turning up to a tiny hole in his chamber’s ceiling and seeing the beams of moonlight glimmering down from above, Anguirus could sense now what was wrong. He felt for his power like he had before, closing his eyes and concentrating while trying to call up any flame he could. He could feel his spines heat up and give off a dim glow, but every time his metaphorical hand reached out it seemed like what he sought was out of reach. He tried and tried, but the blockage was clear. He hadn’t incubated long enough or absorbed enough mana, he was incomplete.

Grunting after another failed attempt, Anguirus nevertheless made his way into Baragon’s burrow entrance and started to crawl into it, burrowing as needed to widen the tunnel. Incomplete or not, he had a job to do.

=========================================

Spike rubbed his chin as Anguirus finished his story while passing through the fringes of town.

“So this ‘mana’ stuff, the stuff that would have given you all that power. You just, gave it up?”

Anguirus sighed, his tone a mix of affirmative strength with a few hints of sadness.

“Was either that, or someone who’d come to me for help would have died. Two living, milder guardians are better than one strong one I suppose.”

He nodded with a bummed frown.

“But you’ll never be as strong as you were supposed to be?”

“Mana is life force, and I got a lot of life. So, maybe I could grow it back over time and break the block I got now, or perhaps it’ll never happen. I just have to wait and find out. Till then though, incomplete doesn’t mean useless. We all got our parts to play.”

“So it looks like we both got a ways to go to grow up, huh?”

“That’s one way of putting it.”

Anguirus shrugged as the train station came into view.

“What I’m saying is, you got guts kid; you just need to wait awhile for your body to catch up with that spirit of yours. Trust me, a strong will is the first step for the great.”

“But, what about right now?”

Spike muttered as Anguirus kneeled down and shifted his shoulder to indicate to the drake it was time to get off. Spike hopped off Anguirus’ back and turned to face him for his answer with a tilted head.

“For me, I just contribute any way I can to back up those who get their time to shine for now. For you, leave it to us 'old folks' to handle things for now. You got a lot of heroes in your time kid, take some notes from them and be ready when destiny truly comes calling. It’ll come to you, you can’t force it.”

Taking in a long breath, Anguirus broke a small smile before lifting a hoof and patting Spike’s head. The little guy had the workings for future greatness and his will to help was plenty familiar to the Guardian Beast, he just had a ways to go. His smile widened when Spike giggled and tried to push his hoof away from his scalp.

“I’m sure you’ll be a mighty dragon one day, one that will make your home here proud…. But ‘till then, you’re just giving the world more time to prep for your big arrival as you prove your worth. At, the size you are now. Deal?”

“Hehe, okay okay, deal. I’ll drop the greed growth plans and grow up the right way.”

“Good choice. Make your big entrance to the world a surprise party like that and I’ll have to kick your tail like I did those punks at the camp.”

Anguirus pulled his hoof away and Spike put an ‘x’ over his heart before nodding. They stood at the train station with Destroyah and the Crusaders at the other end of the boardwalk. As the distant train whistle blew and signaled the locomotive’s pending arrival, Spike spoke up as he and Anguirus watched it come over the crest of the hills.

“Hey, Mister Anguirus? Just between you and me, did Garble scream like a little girl when you beat him up?”

“Oh like you wouldn’t believe, kid. Then Rodan decided to use him as a landing pad.”

“Hehehe…”

Spike chuckled along with Anguirus as the train pulled in. Anguirus pulled the door to the train car open and stepped in. Turning around, he saw a waving Spike standing on the edge of the walkway as both ignored the protests of the Cutiemark Crusaders trying to hop into Destroyah’s car only to be told to stay. A stray thought crossed Spike’s mind and his eyes lit up.

“Oh, and Mister Anguirus?”

“Just Anguirus works.”

“Right. Well, so you can see what you can do when you get your powers.”

“If I get them.”

“When you get them!”

Spike insisted as he stood up on his tip-toes, sucked in his breath, and shot out a stream of emerald hued flames over the roof of the train; his little form managing a good three meter wide spray for a couple of seconds. Anguirus raised a bemused eyebrow and shook his head as his smile grew. Sitting on his haunches, he clapped his hooves together while chuckling as Spike fell backwards and cut the stream off due to running out of breath. He didn’t raise his voice in cheers, but his encouraging tone put a grin on Spike’s face.

“Well done kid, well done! I’ll try to keep that in mind when I get my shot.”

==================================
On the Crystal Empire to Canterlot Train
==================================

Xenilla had not been absent in thought during the long train ride back to Canterlot, nor was he alone in his cabin. His personal bodyguard and now confidant Blade Dancer was sitting and leaning against him whilst the mare read through another book she’d taken from the library before their departure. Though she’d been quiet as a mouse and chewed through five chapters since they left, the guardsmare hadn’t cast a blind eye to the previously sleeping kaiju’s actions.

“So, you lurched up again when waking up from your nap. Just like last night. Feel like telling me now what’s up?”

Xenilla stayed silent for awhile. He’d dozed off briefly during the train ride due to off and on sleep last night, each time he’d been reunited with alternating recollections. Either it was a rush of the same experience in a storming sea he expected might be from his father’s memories somehow, or his ‘birth visions’ as he’d dubbed them long ago; the sights and sounds of Terra and its fate that greeted him when he first came into consciousness over two decades ago. Each time jolted him awake for awhile before he tried to nod off again, both to get some more rest and to purposefully re-experience it all and keep the memory fresh. When one was rechecking their mental notes, this was about the only way to do it. The fact neither of the two visions altered or changed in any way each time he saw them again was a big warning sign that the new visions of a fight in a storming sea were no more fictitious nor an ordinary dream than the visions that came to him at birth.

Breaking his silence in a tired shrug, he rubbed at his temple without verbally answering Blade Dancer. Frustration born of worry flashed across Blade Dancer’s muzzle as she snapped her book closed and tilted her head slightly in Xenilla’s direction. That got his attention, though thankfully the Colonel let a moment pass over her before speaking so her tone wasn’t sharp.

“Was it something Sombra caused?”

She muttered, still all too familiar with how utterly disheveled the typically pristine and smugly prideful looking Xenilla appeared. It took a few days for the bags under his eyes to lift and her own personal help to get him back to at least looking normal in public. Took some time, a process that she pondered was affected by the fact he refused to let anyone but her see him like that, making everypony from the clerics to Princess Cadance unaware. When asked, he only replied, “Habit. To Mutations, a weakened appearance means weakened status.”.

Thankfully or unthankfully, she couldn’t quite be sure, this wasn’t the case and Xenilla shook his head. Sombra had given his visions and night terrors all to their own. While they were strong enough he admittedly couldn’t sleep for the longest time without Blade Dancer’s presence to help anchor him back to reality, they were still a fiction. These visions he’d had since the Apple Family farm though, they were definitely something else.

“No, those were a farce. Just nightmares. I’ve had these visions since before setting foot in the empire, they’re something else.”

“Visions? What do you mean?”

“I’m not sure.”

“That can’t be good. Last time I heard you say you were unsure, I was risking treason getting you past a jail cell alarm. Must be serious.”

“That remains to be seen, but it’s persistent. I think it’s a memory, but how I’m having it I can’t be sure. It’s hard to explain, but there is someone I intend to find as soon as we’re in Canterlot to clarify it.”

“Well, that’s fortunate I guess. Though to continue this interrogation, I have another question for you before you attempt to doze off again.”

Blade Dancer quipped, reorienting her seating to be sitting parallel to the larger stallion instead of leaning up against his mass. She looked him right in the eye with a strong look that elicited a rare response from the Mutations leader. Of all the multitudes of life forms, including dozens of kaiju, human and alien mechanizations, and now incredibly powerful Equestrian magical demigods he’d encountered over the years, there were very few he’d give a respectful look back to. They’d have to earn it through show of force or character. One of those rare number was a cream colored mare with a dark red mane.

Xenilla put his thoughts aside and gave her his attention. Seeing she had it, Blade Dancer continued.

“...What’s up between you and your brother? Your, “Icka'brod” was it?”

Xenilla blinked a moment before responding.

“Between me and Junior?”

“Yes. I’ve been wondering about you and him. I cornered him in his room one night just to see how far I could push things with him.”

“Yes, you are courting him if I recall.”

Xenilla grunted in a slightly off tone that caused Blade Dancer to raise a brow slightly.

“Was, I’m not interested anymore. But, I was then. I was trying to see what sort of stallion he was and see if I could get some giggles by getting him hot under the collar or under his skin. I play around with a lot of ponies like that, all in good fun of course. Anyways, it didn’t work. But I did get him talking and he mentioned his family more than a few times. He talked about his father, his mother, and talked about his allies almost like they were his family too. But...”

Still hoping that she wasn’t about to, but also knowing she probably was about to hit a nerve anyways, Blade Dancer sucked in her breath and continued.

“ .. He never mentioned a sibling. Probably why I was so surprised when you did so when we first met. When he did mention you, it was only by name and it wasn’t with very much happiness… or, any really.”

Her volume grew quieter at that last part and a moment of silence passed over the two of them. When Xenilla still said nothing after twenty seconds, she continued.

“I also found out from Princess Cadence in a letter she got from Princess Luna that a fight broke out between you two the minute you were in the same room together, at least until Princess Celestia stopped it. Luna said she saw Godzilla attack first, and did so more ferociously than she’d ever seen him fight until the gyaos attack; not even when he fought her.

Xenilla crossed his forelimbs, closed his eyes and took in a slow breath. When he replied, it was in a forcefully quiet, controlled tone.

“... Yes, that fight between us happened. It was far from the first nor will it be the last, merely the latest.”

Xenilla felt a hoof place itself on his, Blade Dancer’s quiet voice being a bit louder in his ear due to her leaning in closer.

“You two are enemies, aren’t you?”

Xenilla let out a sigh that sounded far more tired than it did annoyed. He rubbed at his forehead, spurring Blade Dancer to press the topic despite his silence.

“Xen, come on. I can tell something’s been playing on you and whatever is going on between you and your brother is part of it. The weird chessboard with you two having pieces on it, your breakdown after Sombra hit you with the fear magic, the fact you call him a sibling and he never said so… Talk to me, I want to know so I can help.”

Had that been Xenilla from ten days ago, he’d probably have said no right off the bat and deflected the topic with his typical calculative wit topped with an annoyed comment to show how little the questioning party mattered to him. But, this wasn’t the same Xenilla who could swagger around with ten mental and physical barriers while figuratively and literally looking down his nose at most anyone not named “Destroyah”. To Blade Dancer, he kept his nose down and looked at her on level. Didn’t stop him from mentally cursing himself as he spoke and still trying one last deflection.

“I am his enemy.”

“But is he yours?”

“...... No.”

“Because?”

“Our world is securer with him than without.”

“Xen... what happened between you two?”

Xenilla sighed, casting his gaze downward due to the bad memories confronting him. The question of how the bridges between him and his kin had been burned was clear as day. After all, it was the first thing he did upon his homecoming. His tone was falling back into bluntness.

“I tried to kill our father.”

Blade Dancer’s eyes widened a bit and she stood up some more in her seat.

“Why would you do something like that?!”

“It’s not something simple to explain-”

Xenilla glanced out of the corner of his eyes and saw the look on Blades’ face. Surprisingly, she looked less angered and more attentive and readied with the same determination he’d seen her display several times now. She was wanting answers and would be too stubborn for deflection to work. And after she’d seen him without his barriers after Sombra came close to breaking him, he knew any other routine wouldn’t work anyways. No more excuses.

“-but, this is a long train ride. Get comfortable.”

===========================
Canterlot Celestial Courthouse
===========================

Godzilla Junior walked into the large chamber with Captain Blueberry Frost flanking him. The courthouse had been loaned for the conference. The court room itself was sizable, about fifteen meters in any direction for the square shape and a tall ceiling. Windowless, the main light came from a wide skylight covered in barred glass that layered the roof across half of the room. The streams of sunlight glinted off the lunar guard armor Junior was coated in as he walked up through the center aisle past the rows of seated ponies. Being a public inquiry, a wide assortment of Equestrians were present ranging from nobles, elected officials, reporters, and other VIP representatives from across the nation. Junior recognized a nodding Archduke something, he never bothered to memorize the whole name, Blueblood in the second to front row. He also saw a lot of different expressions as he passed. Some excited reporters jotting down notes between quickly looking up at him every couple of seconds, an older mare he’d eventually learn was the mayor of Ponyville giving him a pleasant smile and a nod, more than a couple worried looks from various other members of the crowds; and a few enthusiastic ones who had to be told to stop clapping for a hero’s welcome after a few hoof clacks. The reactions were actually quite familiar to the new King of the Monsters, it was usually about the same sort of response he got every time he stopped by a human city. Some happy, some worried, and some on the fringes of both.

-Huh, another thing to prove these ponies are a lot like humans after all.-

Junior gave a slight nod as he got near the front rows. He paused when he spotted a pony seated just ahead next to the aisle that had the back of their head to him. He held his head up a bit and tilted it slightly in curiosity. As he passed by, he took a moment to look over at them and was somewhat surprised to find them turning their head and looking right at him. His eyes locked with the mare and he did a quick survey of her features. She was a pegasus with an average size and build, around the same height as the captain but less muscular. Her body fur was a light periwinkle that contrasted with her multi-toned blue, dark purple, curly mane. However, it was the expression on her face and the look in the mare’s eye that gave Godzilla a brief pause. Her lips and brow were nearly unreadable with the slightest traces of a frown and lifted brow that signified a mix of negativity and fear. However, her aqua green eyes were completely still and studious; locking onto his in a manner that made it almost seem like she was looking right through him rather than just at him. Of all the reactions he saw, it was this one that peaked some attention because he frankly couldn’t tell if she was glaring at him in determination or studying him in a saddened manner.

The second passed and Godzilla broke back into his stride and headed up to the front towards a seat Captain Frost indicated to him. A pale unicorn stallion wearing a monocle, “Fancy Pants” as he was often known, was sitting in the judicial seat just above and to the right of Junior’s spot. Clad in formal attire and robes, he gave the Captain of the Guard and their guest a happy smile and nod as they took their seats. Following Blueberry Frost’s example after she took her seat off to the side, Godzilla sat himself down behind the wooden half wall and removed his helmet.

Fancy Pants coughed up his breath before tapping his hooves together to call the murmuring to a close and for the guards stationed in the back of the room to close the doors. He pulled up a bit of paper and adjusted his reading monocle.

“Ahem… We welcome to the committee floor of the City of Canterlot, King Godzilla-... Um, I do apologize if this is a typo but there appears to be no family name listed. Do you wish to keep it anonymous?”

He muttered while tilting his head and raising his ear in Godzilla’s direction. Junior waved his hoof a bit. While in truth he didn’t have a surname, he needed no pause to use a meaningful replacement.

“It’s Gojo.”

“Ah, yes. Thank you.”

Fancy Pants quipped as he sat himself back up and continued.

“We welcome, King Godzilla Gojo the Second from the Kingdom of Terran Kaiju. Thank you for coming your majesty.”

Junior ignored how weird it felt to be given an official royal title. In truth once he found out the ponies were very serious about his informal title given to him by humans, being he didn’t lead, he had suggested just dropping it entirely. However Captain Frost had stated word had already gotten out and too many were focusing on it. “Something fascinating to them that monsters could have a king, despite our track record with them. Might as well use it to give yourself some respect.”, she’d said in retort. Letting his mind waver for just a moment to eye the rest of his surroundings, Junior noticed something else in the courthouse.

Two large seats flanking Fancy Pants' spot were vacant, the sun and moon symbols indicating to him it was tied to the diarchs.

-Celestia told me she would be coming. Where is she?-

“Yes I was told it would be good that I come and give some clarification to some things you ponies were wondering about me. Though I thought one of your leaders was going to be here. Something happen?”

“Yes. Many of us in the Canterlot electoral and noble houses have reviewed your biography as given by Princess Celestia’s memory spell and entered it into public record. As you can imagine, some questions have arose.”

Blueblood rose up from his seat.

“It is the opinion of some of our elected parties and nobility, that the public record of our esteemed guest be as robustly thoroughgoing as possible as to avoid overaudious reactions and or misinterpretations by some members.”

“Quite so good fellow!”

Fancy Pants said with a smile. Godzilla however was still just as confused as to what exactly the archduke just said as he was the first time he heard him talk. Thankfully Blueberry Frost nudged him in the side and whispered to him.

“He says he wants to be sure everyone understands you and doesn’t misunderstand stuff.”

“Ah, thanks.”

Junior leaned back up and Fancy Pants continued on.

“Princess Celestia will be coming in shortly, she needed to step out for a minute regarding a personal entry that was called in late. She said we can wait for her if desired or move on.”

“Well, if you all want to we can proceed as you wish. Speaking isn’t exactly a skill of mine but I can try. Who’s first?”

A noblemare raised her hoof, eliciting a nod from Fancy Pants.

“Do you plan on asking to annex any lands for your kind in return for the alliance with the crown and service in dealing with the attacks?”

Godzilla shook his head after shrugging his shoulders.

“Not interested. I have a home already back where I came from and I intend to get back to it. Canterlot has been kind enough to take me in during my stay so I’d have no use for seizing any territory here even if I did want it. This world is beautiful and all, but you can keep it.”

A pegasus stallion behind the first mare raised a wing to pop his billycot hat off and wave it to get Junior’s attention, busily jotting down his notes.

“Yes?”

“What sorta creature are you chap?”

“I’m a dinosaur.”

“Wha’do you eat? You got some pretty sharp fangs there and had a mouthful in your big form.”

Junior blinked before nonchalantly replying. If the questions were going to be this straightforward he might not have much to worry about with this public speaking business at all!

“I don’t need to eat anymore, I get my energy from my powers. But I’m an omnivore.”

His eyes trained on motion and then he spotted her again. That purple mare with the weird look from before. She had tilted her head and raised her hoof for a question, sporting an unamused but still nearly unreadable expression on her face.

“So you’ve eaten flesh? You’re a predator.”

A slightly odd feeling settled over Junior momentarily, but soon passed as he kept to the truth and just stated the facts verbatim. He always had been a terrible liar so he didn’t even consider that route before he blurted out what started to follow. In hindsight, not the best statements to give to a herbivorous species.

“Um, yes I suppose. But I haven’t done that since I matured decades ago. And I didn’t eat anything smart or could talk.”

“What did you eat?”

“Whales and dolphins mostly.”

Junior responded without breaking stride, soon a bit confused as to why that elicited a lot of worried murmuring in the room. His head tilted and he looked about at a few cringing faces. Turned out Equestrians were a lot like most of Westernized humanity in a few more ways than he was aware of. Namely how tropes played when it came to popular culture’s ‘cute’ and ‘scary’ animals. Furry, warm, and cute were good; scaly, cold, and toothy were scary. To him, dolphins were hyper aggressive surplus killers who killed for fun, forced mating to reproduce, and displayed a cruel intelligence he found more than a bit nasty to him in his earlier days when pods would attack him when out for a swim. He later got big enough that they wouldn’t even try. Reptiles, like the lizards or snakes he’d find here and there were pretty passive, didn’t eat too much, and largely just minded their own business even if they didn’t seem too smart.

Unfortunately to the Equestrians, to each view their own. And to them, Junior just admitted to eating ‘Flipper’ while looking like something out of a horror film.

And the mare, a psychologist named Moonbeam Glimmer who’d previously blasted Godzilla on the radio by calling him a predator and a sociopath; just got verification on that first point. And she, mildly worried as she looked, wasn’t done with her questions.

“So, if you don’t hunt to eat now, how often have you… killed?”

“I’ve killed because I’ve been at war constantly for over a decade. I don’t kill anything I meet right away, it's just for when the situation calls for it. Like with the gyaos attack here, sometimes lethal means were needed for obstacles.”

“And what constitutes an, ‘obstacle’?”

“If I can’t stop them otherwise and lives are on the line.”

“But, obviously not all life is equal to you. After all, you seem to think killing is okay if it stops problems, yes?”

Not knowing he was being lead along and Moonbeam thinking she was illuminating a truth like the full moon illuminates the night, Godzilla answered plainly with one of the worst responses he could give.

“Well, yes. For some problems at least.”

Captain Frost cringed, eyeballing Godzilla Junior and Moonbeam Glimmer, as well as the concerned glances and murmuring the crowd was now giving the former.

-Thaaaaaaat wasn’t a good idea to say out loud…-

A reporter stallion near Moonbeam began to raise his hoof, but a sideways, stealthy glare by Moonbeam caused him to retract his hoof. No one else wanted to ask any questions with her standing up, all eyes now upon the psychologist and the kaiju.

“I read your biography notes as given by some of the nobles. Your father was the king before you, yes?”

“In a way. Why?”

“Well, it’s so intriguing. You obviously have a distinct past and as a psychologist I can't help but see trends.”

“Such as?”

“Well, the fact your father and mother were obviously not married, which makes you a bastard son in some ways with all of its psychological damage and implications. And your father, the old king, seemed to hate these ‘humans’ that raised you. Yet, you lay claim to protecting them. Opposite views, but why? You still clearly respect him and call him your father and king, so what makes you two so different?”

Moonbeam said with a tilted head, seeming remarkably calm despite the wide-eyed expression on Godzilla Junior’s face. She’d hit a nerve there. Junior wasn’t oblivious to his father’s hatred for humans for multiple reasons. He himself obviously begged to differ, but the aftereffects were still there. He’d been the world’s ‘Godzilla’ for almost twenty years and most humans still gave him an admittedly justified caution and fear because of what his father and grandfather did. Didn’t matter much, he still kept doing what he was doing; but he was conscious of it. And despite the difference, Senior was still his protector and father.

“He was my father and I loved him but-”

“So you’re saying you are similar?”

“That’s not what I’m saying. Humans hurt him and he hated them for it.”

Moonbeam’s eyes narrowed and the look was mutual for Junior. The sharpness in the mare’s arguing tone and the frustrated growl in the background of the kaiju’s was just starting to become audible. Swallowing her fear, Moonbeam got out of her seat and stepped closer to Godzilla.

“And on the day of your arrival at Canterlot, you were harmed by Princess Luna and members of the guard. So Equestrians have hurt you before haven’t they?”

“Yes, but why would that matter? That was a misunderstanding.”

“A misunderstanding with someone as powerful as you. Did your father lash out immediately after being hurt?”

Godzilla managed to get a hold of his pulse by taking in a deep breath and letting it slither out of his nostrils with a very faint blue glow.

“He didn’t talk much about it, but no. It took awhile and he-”

“So you said he was the old king, your father, and he hurt those who hurt him but not immediately after. And you two are similar. So, let me please ask you… one last question?”

Junior wanted to do a lot of things right now. Walk out of the room, take a swim, roar at this mare to shut up, but as he was right now he was being diverted in just the right path Moonbeam wanted him to go on. For someone not too versed in communications to not know what flirting was, he also wasn’t too good at recognizing when he was being funneled and pressured into the right state of mind. And state of mind was the realm of psychology, Moonbeam’s forte. Still breathing a bit hard, Junior locked up and bluntly responded.

“What?”

Moonbeam’s face finally broke into a more recognizable emotion as her brow raised and her lips lowered into a frown. The pegasus looked at the crowd around her, then out the skylight above, her position letting her see the top of Canterlot Castle. Moonbeam Glimmer let out a long, tired sigh. The pony then shifted her gaze back down to Godzilla Junior and looked him right in the eye. She looked frightened, no, terrified.

“How do we know, that we’re safe around you?”

“I, don’t want to hurt any of you.”

“And yet you did when you arrived. And you could have done much worse. You still can. You call yourself a king, look like history’s worst tyrant, kill what’s in your way at your own choosing, and follow an example of a father when it comes to dealing with those who hurt you. You’re one of the most powerful monsters Equestria has ever seen...if you decided to one day you didn't like us, I dread how much damage you could do before anyone could stop you, if they could. So, what if you decide you don’t like us one day? Or what if you went berserk like your father did? Then what? Who could keep you in check? Power needs to be feared.”

“Your Princesses are powerful too, why don’t you fear them?”

“We had 1,000 years to learn to trust the alicorns, and they’re of this world with our morality. You look like one, but we all know you’re not. So why would you follow our morals to begin with? You’ve already broken some, why not more?”

“I don’t want to- I’m not going to-”

Junior was beginning to stutter as he was trying to piece his words together in a defense but his sentences just weren't coming out right. His frustration was as obvious in his mannerisms as it was his powers, a blue glow beginning to settle on his mane and back fur. Frantic whispers coursed through the crowd as they began to get more and more riled up by Moonbeam and Junior’s actions. Fancy Pants, quick to notice the problem rung the gavel on the desk to try and call things to order, but the uproar of the crowd and Moonbeam’s raised voice meant it was to no avail.

“Order, order! Calm down everypony! Miss Glimmer stop antagonizing our guest!”

“I am- not my father!”

Moonbeam Glimmer ignored Fancy and took several steps forward towards the kaiju’s seat, beckoning Godzilla in a half demanding, half pleading tone.

“So please, give us something and answer the question. How do we know we’re safe around you?! What if you're worse than you could imagine?”

Junior snapped his head up, his anger reaching up to a new peak as his eyes began to pulse with a red light like it had when he was young.

“Why are you asking me this?!”

He barked, causing Moonbeam to half step into a short backpedal. She pursed her lips before returning her determination and stepping back up to him.

“Because, I care about Equestria. Because a horde of monsters has shown up out of nowhere. Because Equestria is in a crisis and who are we supposed to trust with this, you? We’re scared of you, I’m scared of you. I honestly think the last thing Equestria needs is the greatest monster it’s ever seen, one who’s more than ready to kill as a first option, sitting in one of its cities accountable by next to nopony. If you really want to prove you’re not a threat, why not let the Princesses petrify you and then we revive you when the situation calls for it. You wouldn't be conscious and we could then call you up when you're needed.”

Junior hissed through the stress and snapped up from his seat so quickly the motion broke the wooden halfway in front of him and smashed it to the ground. He lurched towards Moonbeam Glimmer before forcing himself to stop as he loomed over the mare.

“.... You’re that scared of me? Is there- any way, deed- cause I could do to prove otherwise?”

He muttered through a contorting face. Moonbeam Glimmer sucked in her breath and in an impressive show of courage, stood up to the obviously frustrated kaiju of a pony despite the fact he towered over her and she had to practically throw her head back to look him in the eye.

“You’re not of this world, you’re not a pony; so we can't expect you to be like us… So, I really don’t know how you could. To me, you’re a sociopath; and I’m terrified of what you might do to others...”

By now the courtroom was half frantic. Many ponies were trying to get out of their tightly packed seats and make for an exit as others looked to and fro at the growing chaos. Several tried to go up and pull Moonbeam back, half convinced she was about to get herself killed as Captain Frost put herself between Moonbeam and Junior while shouting orders to the guards to try and restore order.

“Why do you hate me? Why do you want them to?”

“I don’t, but I can’t trust what’s dangerous and don’t think others should. Not until we know more.”

“Will somepony shut her up?!”

Moonbeam whispered under her breath.

"I was wrong once, I can't be again."

"What are you talking about?!"

Junior raised himself up a bit more, both stressed and confused as to what was going on and what the mare was talking about. The back doors to the courtroom flew open as a massive flare of light shown through them. Instantly everpony gave it their attention and quelled their arguments, worry, and rowdiness. Gradually dying down to a glorious radiance, Princess Celestia walked through the doors and into the chamber. She had just arrived, but had heard enough. And the stoic, narrow eyed look she sported upon her towering figure showed all in the room that she wasn’t very pleased, even as she maintained a tranquil anger.

“Captain Frost.”

She spoke plainly, Blueberry Frost picking up on what was being requested and nodding back after stepping into attention.

“Yes, your majesty. Sergeant Hammerbolt, please escort Dr. Glimmer out.”

Hammerbolt saluted and loomed over Moonbeam. The pegasus mare sighed, casting one last half-glare half-saddened frown to Junior before turning and heading out of the room without a fight. Princess Celestia walked down the central aisle with a graceful gait that would put any deer to shame, striding up to the still heavily breathing, stressed Godzilla without a hint of fear or hesitation. She put a hoof over the stallion’s back and tapped her horn to his reassuringly to help send a bit of magic into him to help him calm down. She rose back up and addressed the courtroom.

“I apologize for my lateness, I didn’t expect things would be this dire. Somepony requested a late entry as soon as she heard Godzilla was being questioned and I needed to lead her here as fast as possible.”

Princess Celestia affirmed while turning and motioning to the door. Soon, flying in from the doorway was a flock of glowing, golden butterflies that looked almost as if they were composed of light itself. They fluttered along until reaching the airspace about a meter away from the royals, swirling together in a magnificent display before colliding together and begetting a small explosion of rainbows and radiance, both dazzling the audience as well as masking the changeling magic shift. In the light’s place was a tall, pale alicorn with beauty rivaling that of Celestia herself; white fur with a slight green tint contrasting with a flowing, leafy colored mane and tail. Even Junior, who’d seen this ‘alicorn’ before couldn’t help but be impressed. And for all the stress he just went through, he couldn’t fight a smile knowing his oldest and best friend had arrived. Mothra Lea returned the smile with a dignified bow, rising up with a grin.

“Ah, it appears I’ve come just in time!”

She chirped, ignoring the audience’s gasps as she trotted over to Godzilla and motioned for them to take a seat again after using her magic to levitate his podium back into place. She took her spot next to him. Princess Celestia extended a hoof to Lea.

“I introduce to you, my little ponies, Princess Lea Mosura of the Terran kaiju Kingdom.”

Fancy Pants was agasped and adjusted his monocle.

“I do say my lady, you’re an-”

“Alicorn in this body, yes. Though typically butterflies are more my thing.”

She replied with a confident but happy snicker. Junior was already relaxing considerably the moment he saw them show up. He trusted Celestia and Lea always was more presentable and articulate than he was. The fear of being backed into a corner was rapidly diminishing, which was a welcome change that Captain Frost picked up on. He leaned over and whispered to his best friend as she parked herself next to him.

“Glad you’re here, it was getting rough. Some influential ones are still afraid of me.”

Lea sighed, briefly sporting a frown as she gave Junior a reassuring nuzzle before replying.

“Some are. On top of your true form, I found out from Twilight that you have more than a passing resemblance to a pretty bad king in your unicorn body. I’ll explain later, but until then, let me do some of this talking. They trust an alicorn’s authority more.”

“All yours, but what about your disguise? What if it goes off and they see you’re one of those ‘changelings’?”

“Well if it does go off, you won’t be the one they’ll be afraid of at least.”

Lea whispered, earning a groan from Junior as he raised his voice just slightly; but was sure enough to keep it quiet enough that no one else could hear him.

“Lele! I’m trying to be serious. Can you keep it up?”

Mothra Lea cracked a confident smirk and wiggled her eyebrow slyly.

“My dear Goji, when have you ever known me to not practice a spell?”

Hoping for the best, Godzilla nodded and faced forward alongside Mothra. Casting a smile of her own, Princess Celestia raised a hoof and called all to her attention.

“Now that all parties are present, there is something I’d like to say….”

The solar diarch paused, her eyes sweeping along the silent room to take in each face before speaking.

“Forty five thousand, six hundred seventy, and counting several births at the emergency hospital, two. That’s the population of Canterlot, a city founded a thousand years ago that nearly came into ruin for the third time in its history. That population isn’t just a number my little ponies, but the names of every pony, gryphon, minotaur, and beyond in both our city’s citizenry and visitors that were here on that fateful night. These two kaiju, and their associates, came from another world; and yet they both fought to protect Equestria as if it were their own home on their own free will. Both here in Canterlot alongside myself and others, and in the Everfree alongside my beloved student and her company. I think they’ve earned enough for us to give them some real questions and not an interrogation. I trust any of those in attendence to respect the names of all present. Canterlot and Equestria have no enemies in this room, we shouldn’t try to make any. Don’t you all agree?”

Lea beamed at her ‘fellow alicorn’ and nodded as Junior cast a relieved smile; it being clear to him now why the princess commanded as much respect amongst the populace as she did.

-Guess power isn’t always feared.-

Fancy Pants, Mayor Mare, and Blueblood looked amongst each other before smirking and leading the crowd in a gradually building, impressed clap. After a bit of applause, Lea stood herself up and motioned to Fancy Pants.

“I apologize for any scare my colleague caused, he’s not used to this sort of thing and didn’t mean to frighten anypony.”

“Oh understandable, given the antagonizing. Though, to continue the questions I have one myself. How long ago did you two meet?”

“Fourteen years ago. We teamed up to save a mass of kidnapped children from a true monster called King Ghidorah.”

“Did it work?”

“Well Ghidorah got away, but every child was accounted for without any marks that wouldn’t wash off in the bath. So I’d call that a win.”

Mayor Mare, one of the ponies who remained in her seat this whole time to verbally defend Godzilla, having not budged due to the court not getting nearly as chaotic as her usual sessions at Ponyville, composed herself and raised an eyebrow at her hoof to get Princess Celestia’s attention. The diarch gave her a nod as she sat herself at the sun inscribed seat flanking Fancy Pants' spot.

“Excuse my confusion but, if there is a king and a princess, then who’s in command?”

“Oh, Godzilla and I are co-leaders.”

“Are you married?”

Junior and Lea shot a wide-eyed look to each other. In truth the mistake was justified given Lea’s first course of action to calm her friend down was to sit next to him and give him a friendly nuzzle, and then there was the whole title debacle. Lea knew exactly what marriage was and while Junior didn’t know much about social organizations, he had come to understand ‘married’ was basically code for ‘life mate’ among humans and was quick to figure that it was the same for Equestrians. Still, that didn’t stop the two of them from thinking it was the most ridiculous thing ever; Junior mimicking a motion he’d seen Captain Frost do and putting his hoof to his head as Lea burst out laughing for a good few seconds. Wiping her eye, the alicorn shook her head.

“Hails to Tanaka no! Just old friends, Goji here’s been like my kid brother since I met him!”

She smiled and gave Junior a friendly whack on the shoulder. The moth’s playfulness did bounds to help Junior rebound from the stresses of five minutes ago. He turned his head over and gave Lea a deadpanned look.

“I hatched three years before you did, Lele.”

“Aw don’t ruin the joke!”

The happier mood was infectious and did wonders to calm down the courtroom; the Mothra species tended to have that effect on mortals. The literal neighsayers of before had largely simmered down, captivated by the new kaiju. She was beautiful, bore a heavily respected title and form, had a sense of humor, and gave an aura of benevolence not unlike that of Celestia. At the duo’s antics, bits of giggles and snickers spread through the courtroom. A curious reporter from the back stood up and earned a nod from Lea.

“Yes?”

“Do you know when the next kaiju attack might happen? Seeing as some gyaos got away.”

“Ah yes, I’ve been working on a detection spell with Princess Twilight Sparkle that should be done in a day or two that will scry for them. But, rest assured your Princesses, myself, and my allies are well prepared to counter any incursions that might happen.”

‘Princess’ Lea affirmed with a hopeful smile that spread to the eager reporter, who quickly went to jotting down the cliffnotes for her paper. Blueblood, giving an impressed gaze towards the green haired ‘alicorn’, slouched and raised a hoof of his own while briefly averting his glance towards Godzilla Junior.

“Who was it that christened Lord Godzilla with his title of king?”

Junior, feeling he could take this issue, began to sit up to respond. While he figured he could hold onto the king title as others had suggested, if Lea said he resembled some sort of evil king he did feel some record needed to be set straight. Namely, how he didn’t take the title for himself but rather had been given it by others; the opposite of any conqueror. He hoped this would help disassociate himself with his similar-in-form counterpart.

“Well actually-”

But before he could finish, Lea cut him off. Junior was about to protest when he saw the affirmed look in his friend’s eye. She gave him a sweet smile and nod before turning and speaking herself, though not before planting a hoof playfully on the tip of Junior’s muzzle to shush him.

“His father got it as a sort of moniker. The humans feared and respected him for it, so they called him that. But his son was a different case. As humbled as my dear friend here is about it, I’d say he’s more than earned it by now. Our faction grew out of both of our efforts to find those to protect our world and its inhabitants, but a big part in it was Goji here’s magnetic quality to the kindred souls we’ve encountered. He’s a strong one for sure, but he never had to use force to assert himself to a future ally. Honestly, I’ve lost track of how many times he’s brought a new ally before me to fight alongside of or a new friend to live in peace with. All because he’s earned their respect and trust, and all while saving hundreds of thousands of human lives in the process.”

Lea looked at Junior in a deep gaze. For the slightest of moments, her view of him drastically changed. Flashes of her parents’ memories with a nightmarish Godzilla Senior caused her to momentarily wince. But just as quick as the recoil started, it was quelled before anyone but Junior could notice it. Overlaying the traumatic sight of Senior was over a decade’s worth of memories involving the Godzilla the modern Mothra knew, the one she called her best friend. The gnashing visage of a blood soaked Senior was replaced with her oldest ally pulling a monster away from innocents, leading a new friend to the Mu islands; or peacefully sitting on her beach with her to enjoy a sunset and letting her perch on his head. The contrast was like night and day and was strong for all the right reasons. Lea’s smile grew as her vision changed to the present, despite Junior having seen her momentary wince and raising a worried eyebrow.

“And if you’re beloved by those who’d be loyal enough to follow you into battle, certainly wouldn’t that make you a good king?”

Junior lowered his head down a bit and sighed quietly. Lea was a better at verbally expressing herself than he was, he’d known this for fourteen years. Didn’t mean she couldn't sway him just like she could those new to her. Wouldn’t expect any less magic, as much figurative as literal, from the most powerful sorceress on Terra.

“Lele…”

He muttered in a quiet tone. Lea cast her friend a smile and a wink before addressing the intrigued crowd with her speech; as much a clever sales pitch as it was an explanation.

“I know he might look a bit scary and I know Equestria has had a rocky history with its kings in the past; but I ask you to rest assured. Just as Terra bred a completely different sort of magic, it’s bred a completely different sort of king. Equestria has another quality protector looking out for it now. You’ve got nothing to fear from one kaiju I’ve felt honored to call my best friend.”

Princess Celestia sported a refined smile as she closed her eyes, Blueblood gave an impressed nod, and Mayor Mare sat back in her seat with a beaming smile. Fancy Pants shook his head while giving a hearty chuckle.

“Touching, most touching. I can hear the scriptwriters and directors clamoring for the movie rights from here!”

The audience broke into small spurts of giggling. Princess Lea snickered and nuzzled the top of 'King' Godzilla’s head, just as happy to show her sibling figure embarrassing public affection as she was that her ploy had worked. After a few more minutes of Lea handling the questions, Junior felt himself confident enough to step back up to the plate upon an inquiry by a representative from Manehattan, Valencia Orange.

“If I may ask without suggesting Ms. Glimmer’s… drastic suggestions, why are you staying in Canterlot? Well with all the ruckus about here, I’d imagine you may want to go elsewhere in Equestria during your stay?”

Junior took a glance over at Captain Blueberry Frost and only needed a glimpse of her unamused expression and line of sight trailing to his helmet.

-Really, wanna try it?-

Rolling his eyes and tapping his helmet, Junior turned back to the crowd.

“Well occupations aside, I may be the king of the monsters but I doubt Captain Frost over there would let me leave even if I tried.”

His first attempt at a joke earned some laughs and a firm nod from Blueberry Frost. The ‘interview’ closed soon after, having resolved much smoother than expected despite the initial fright. By the end of the hour word of the account had spread across the nation. The gryphons called off their state of emergency, King Leo of the seaponies sent in a letter asking if one of the six kaiju would be willing to make a state visit, and ticket sales for the Neighagra Falls airshow skyrocketed upon word that Rodan was being placed on a flight team sponsored by the crown itself. The only word from Prince Rutherford from Yakyakistan was a letter asking how someone as strong as Godzilla ended up as a pony and not a yak. National polls at the end of day showed the approval rating for the alliance with the Terran refugee kaiju increased thirty percent, many citing ‘Princess Lea’ for being a contributing factor.

==============================
Downtown Canterlot Tavern, about an hour later
==============================

Two hours later and Junior found himself in the second situation he didn’t expect to be in within a 24 hour period. Namely, about an hour after the interviews closed and he returned to the barracks; Captain Frost had instructed him to-

-”Drop yer’ gear and go to your locker for new attire. It’ll already be in there. Put it on and meet me at the back in ten.”-

Assuming she meant ten minutes, he hurried and arrived at the backgate with some help from Cached Ire. The 'new attire' was a duster coat, scarf, goggles, and medical mask scaled to his size to a degree he didn’t bother wondering where the captain got them. Blueberry Frost met him there and walked him out of the castle in the disguise for something he assumed was important….

He was still waiting for her to tell him what was of such dire need as he sat across from her in a booth seat at the back of a pub.

Blueberry Frost nonchalantly leaned in her seat with her hooves behind her head, out of her armor for the first time ever since Godzilla met her. Though, true to some rumors he’d heard amongst the guard, she didn’t part from her lance and instead had it propped up against the wall and resting on the rest of her booth. She took a swing of cider as Junior looked about the room, still covered from head to hoof in his disguise.

“Captain, why are we here again? The Princesses didn’t want me leaving the castle to avoid any attention… And why do I look like I just walked out of the infirmary?”

He grunted dryly with a slight muffle, minding to keep his voice to an appropriate level so that only she heard him. Captain Frost waved her drink in Godzilla’s direction and shrugged her shoulders before putting the mug down.

“Because I like my job, so I put ye' in a suit to keep anypony from recognizing ye' on our way here. And because I’m on break and need a designated trotter to get me back to the castle.”

She snickered in her usual carefree tone. While the joke might have been lost on Junior, the false reasoning wasn’t. Even through the goggles and mask he gave her a head tilted slouch that couldn’t possibly be mistaken for anything else other than annoyed confusion.

“.....” Godzilla didn't replu, too confused to get the wordplay.

Blueberry Frost rolled her eyes at the kaiju of a stallion easily three times her size, winding her hoof in circles in his general direction.

“Besiiides, ye' need to relax.”

She snickered, drawing out the first word with a half trill, “The interview for ye’ is over now so this is the time to chill some. Unwind and all that jazz. Th' storms ova’ for now.”

Godzilla just shrugged with a frown all too obvious through his mask, “I’m not one to relax even if something apparent isn’t going on. Priority rule on Terra was it’s what one can’t see coming that I need to be wary of.”

Blueberry Frost raised an eyebrow, “Then why do I remember ye’ calmin’ down right fine in the chamber once yer’ gal pal showed up?”

Junior lowered down more, “Lea always wanted me to relax more. I didn’t want to fight it and cause more problems so I allowed it. My break is over now, so I need to be alert again.”

His captain shot him an incredulous stupor, “Ye’ call all that drama a break?!”

Blueberry Frost lurched up a bit off center, banging her forelimb on the table while shooting Godzilla an incredulous expression. Junior just shrugged and responded in a blank tone like he was reporting for duty at the barracks: attentive, stoic, and by Bluberry’s count, completely dull.

“It would be irresponsible for me to drop my watch for any longer. That’s why we’re guards right, to stay alert?”

Blueberry Frost rolled her eyes and put her hoof to her head while rubbing it.

“Godzill-.. Junior, one can be alert and all without bein’ so strung up. Yer so wound ye' might snap in two!” She groaned like she was fighting an oncoming headache.

Junior looked off to the side.

“It’s a habit of mine…. Look, is there any real reason you took me here after all that exposure?”

He grumbled, looking back at Blueberry Frost and actually being surprised at what he saw. For first time he could recall aside from a brief flash of it in the halls on his first day in Equestria, the Captain of the Celestial and Lunar guard had a completely serious look on her face. Her expression was utterly devoid of any of its usual casualness or energy, instead maintaining a commanding look one would expect for her rank. Godzilla even found himself straightening up a bit once her stare locked with his.

“It’s ‘cause ye’ have. no. I.Dea.”

He blinked, “Come again?”

Frost frowned, “Aside from that Moonbeam gal gettin’ yer goat in the courtroom, Colonel Blade Dancer is coming back from the Empire today.”

Junior’s eyes rolled up a bit behind his goggles, looking up to the ceiling in an annoyed manner. Blade Dancer was still an enigma to him. She had given him the rundown on Equestrian history like he asked and was friendly enough. Problem was, she was too friendly and kept behaving strangely to him in a manner that he could tell she wanted a response of some kind; but he honestly had no earthly idea what her antics were or what she was looking to get out of him. When he reacted with confusion, she just kept doing ‘it’. When he reacted negatively, she mumbled something about “hard to get” and kept acting weirdly. And when he reacted kindly on that first night, she seemed frustrated and just redoubled her efforts at whatever it was she was doing; leaving Junior completely baffled as to her reasoning. In the end it just left him confused and annoyed more than anything else.

“Greeaaaat…”

“I can see ye’ r'member her well enough. Keep ye' tongue in mind, she was on the same academy team trio as me and Armor.”

“I... meant no offence. She just," he squirmed slightly, unsure, "Left an...impression… Last time someone managed to confuse and creep me out like that involved a giant, psychotic bug.”

Blueberry Frost grumbled lowly and pointed at Junior.

“Aaaaand at that there, my point’s been proven. Besides the fact Moonbeam got under yer hide and ye’ nearly spooked half the press, yer the first stallion I’ve seen rebuke Blades without much reason and lookin’ confused through it all. That means something's off with ye'. So I'm gonna take a guess and think ye’ didn’t get much socializing back home, did ye’?”

“No” Godzilla replied dryly, not needing to exposit that truth.

He was a workaholic that belonged to a ‘race’ not in the double digits and physically barred from the major sentient species of his planet. Long chats, wordplay, speaking skills, and socializing in general weren’t his strong suits.

“Well then, consider this something I’m gonna help ye’ with. Those ornery things that Blade Dancer did around ye’ that creeped ye’ out? She was flirtin’, and heavily at that.”

“... Come again?”

“I see yer skull really is dense…” Captain Frost mumbled before taking another gulp of her second mug of cider.

Once it hit her stomach she wobbled briefly for a moment and Junior noticed a slight flush in her face. Still, commendation to where it was due; her voice and focus were unwavering through it all.

“It’s somethin’ somepony does when they're courtin’ somepony or want to court somepony they got their eyes on. Just to make a short run’round of an explanation, ye’ know what… uh… mating is, right? Or do I gotta go over 'the birds and the breezies' too?”

Via both instinctual knowledge, information from Lea, and natural observation of the species he’d watch growing up; thankfully that route was something already known and needed no explanation.

“I’m aware of it, why?”

“Well, I don’t know how it is with Terra, but here in Equestria we pony folk like to hitch saddles with one pony we really take a shinin’ to and stay with ‘em ‘cus we like each other a lot.”

She spoke as Junior nodded. Some of this was still new to him, but the basic jist of it he actually did have a context for,

“Life mates, like a lot of birds right?”

“Huh.. yeah that’s one way of puttin’ it. Anyways, courtin’, flirtin’, dating’, and all that other stuff is our way of testing’ the waters. See who we like, if they like us; and if it’s lastin’, pick ‘em as a ‘life mate’ as you put it. Ye’ accounted for back home by anypony- er, anykaiju?”

“As far as I know I’m one of only two males left for my species and the females I know has about are either my sister or has the same interest in me as I do her. None.”

Junior deadpanned with a shrug.

“I’ve had too much to think and be committed to, none of which includes hatchlings.”

Blueberry Frost momentarily broke her train of thought to raise an eyebrow.

“Hatchlin's?”

Godzilla motioned to himself.

“Dinosaur, remember?”

“Oh, right. Eggs,” Frost muttered, not seemingly too shocked, and just going back to business.

“Anyways, findin’ yer partner isn’t all about reproducin’. There’s an emotional tie. Both are each other’s support and confidant. Being together just in presence makes both happy. With Blade Dancer? All those things she did around ye’? She was trying to present herself and see if ye’ were interested in linking saddles with her. She’s still lookin’ around for her match.”

And suddenly the fog parted and Godzilla Junior finally understood just what exactly was going on with that crazy mare. True, there was no reciprocation on his side; but now confusion was just replaced with mild self depreciation. Blade Dancer just went from a crazy mare who confused him to a mare crazy enough to try and seek him.

“And she, in her quest to find emotional stability and friendliness, seriously chose to look at me?”

He muttered dryly, emphasizing that last word to make his point. Blueberry Frost rolled her eyes and let her shoulders sag.

“It’s Blade Dancer, she flirts with anythin’ on four legs in her size that she likes. She and Cached Ire used to be an item ‘bout a year ago until they broke off, but they seem to be on good terms now. Heck, she even did it to to me a few times during our years together on the ol' trio with Shiny ‘till she figured out I don’t swing for both sides.”

Blueberry Frost glanced around in a way that Junior guessed was to insure no one was looking their direction, before she crawled across part of the table and lifted up Junior’s goggles to uncover his eyes. She rubbed at her chin while looking over the exposed portion of his face as Junior wisely pivoted his head towards the wall to avoid being seen.

“Hmmm not that surprised she did it to ye’ actually. Personality plays a big roll and yer a nice enough guy; and for someone who’s really a thirty story dinosaur yer unicorn form isn’t too shabby. A bit ruffled but I’d think ye’d clean up nicely. Mares do like a tall stallion.”

“Thanks I guess… Can I have my goggles back now?”

“Hey, listen to what I’m telling ye’! Stay on topic”

Blueberry Frost snipped, holding the goggles away from Godzilla.

“My point is, this whole ordeal brought somethin’ to my attention. Regardless of if Blade Dancer tries to come at you again or not when she gets back, if yer gonna be stuck here awhile I think it best I learn ye’ some social skills. That way anypony, be they Blades or that Moonbeam gal don’t ruffle your fur like earlier and ye’ get yer'self in another mess like the one Princess Lea had to pull you outta.”

“So I can blend in better and not frighten ponies as much?”

“That, and because I can tell you need it.”

She muttered, motioning for Godzilla to come closer. After some hesitation he did so. Blueberry Frost sighed and put a hoof to his cheek to push the medical mask a bit further down.

“I ain’t a bookworm recently, but I ain’t stupid either. Equestria’s a peaceful country, but we in the guard still get called out to trouble. I was a cadet once too y'know, looking at some of the older soldiers. Ye’ can see the stories in their eyes. I looked at my first captain, me and Armor's captain, Stalwart Sentry after he got called off to a case near Foal Mountain; dragon attack burned a whole frontier settlement down. He never did act much the same after he came back. He'd seen some shit. Yer reaction to Blade Dancer’s flirtin’ got me lookin’ at ye’ and I noticed some similarities.”

She brushed some of Junior’s brow fur aside and saw a scar going across his skin under where the fur was slightly ruffled. The captain kept up her quiet tone.

“When I look at yer eyes and body language like I did my first captain, I see someone who’s wound up too tight for all but brief intervals. I didn’t even need to read the medical reports after yer tussle with them gyaos to know you were marked up. Not sure if ye’ used yer quarter’s mirror, but when ye’ look close enough ye’ can actually see the little blemishes in the fur flow to indicate a scar. Yer ‘bout Armor's age, but I can see between yer marks and eyes that ye’ been through loads more and are prepared to take on even more.”

“Being on the front lines to try and keep Terra spinning kept me busy… My mother’s human, and I’m stronger than a human. So if a human was in danger of something they can’t handle, but I can; I gotta do something.”

“Ye’ don’t like bullies, huh?”

Junior sighed, pulling out of Blueberry’s reach while keeping his head down. His tone was more tired than anything else.

“Add in lethal consequences for my inaction and that's one way to put it...”

“Hey, I’m not here to talk ye’ down from yer heroics. I’m sure plenty of these 'hoomans' back on Terra are alive thanks to ye’ and that yer Ma is the proudest parent on the planet. But if there is anythin’ I learned from my service and watchin’ the service of my first captain, it’s how important a good ‘leave’ is…. He’s retired an' taken up painting. Yer one of Terra’s champions, but yer not on Terra right now; so consider this yer ‘leave’ time.”

Godzilla Junior tried hard to listen, he visibly was with the stiffeness that had overtaken him. But it didn't stop his frown, “Captain I’m not sure I-”

Blueberry Frost smacked her hoof onto the table and rattled it along with the nearby wall; a pretty impressive show of strength for a mare of her size, instantly getting Junior to shush as she pointed her other hoof at him and shot him a commanding look.

“My name isn’t ‘Captain’. I’m trying to get ye’ to be more informal so we’re being informal. My name is Blueberry, Blueberry Frost. Ye’ see me in five kilos of platemail right now?”

“You did still bring your lance here.” Godzilla mumbled quietly, glancing aside while trying not to be disrespectful, nodding his head in the direction of the sharp implement as if to verify his statement.

Blueberry, taking a moment to realize he wasn't trying to be rude to someone he clearly held in a regard, snickered, returning to her typical demeanor and hugging her weapon like it was her best friend while waving her half-hanging, free hoof at Junior.

“Awww, but she’s my baby though! the mare sniggered, resisting the urge to laugh at seeing the kaiju shoot her a confused head tilt, "Whaaaaat? Some mares got their saddlebags, others got a hat; my personal carry-on just happens to involve a pointy stick! Heheh! Though, back to the issue at hoof-”

Godzilla stopped listening to her when he noticed something else out of his peripheral vision. The pub wasn’t very crowded so his eyes quickly locked onto the line of sight crossing his easily. The pub waitress, a pinkish purple earth pony mare with a curly mane and grape cutiemark named Berry Punch, was looking directly at him. Unlike before when he first walked in and got a few wayward, odd stares on account of sheer size, this time he had a portion of him uncovered. And his exposed gold eyes with red sclera were as distinct as they were recognizable by the public at large by this point. Berry Punch kept looking at him with widened eyes before muttering something he couldn’t quite make out from the distance and quickly made her way to the bartender.

Godzilla lurched across the table, cutting off Blueberry Frost midspeech and snatching up his tinted goggles.

“I’ve been spotted. We have to go.”

He quickly grunted, fumbling his hooves a bit to get the goggles back on to obscure himself. Needless to say, he was more than surprised when Blueberry Frost, leaning on the backboard behind her, kicked her lance over the table and blocked his exit with it. Reluctant to smash the obstruction, though he easily could, Junior caught the captain snickering and whispering something to him.

“I know. Waaaait for it.”

Junior lurched his head over to Blueberry Frost, the baffled expression across his mostly covered face still plenty evident in his mannerism and eyes. He growled and looked back down, popped the lance free of its wedging between the floor and seat wall just in time for him to see a pair of pinkish-purple hooves walk up to the upper edge of his field of view. Godzilla looked up to see a smiling Berry Punch tilting her head in a relaxed manner, several plates filled with food and two drinks occupying the tray mounted on her side carrier. She pulled the dishes off the carrier and slid them onto the table.

“On the house.”

She whispered while serving the seated pair. Afterwards Berry Punch stood up straight and looked directly at the both of them, collecting herself before smiling to the point of beaming, “… Thanks!”

Berry Punch chirped with a beaming expression before trotting off to get back to work. On the other side of the room, Junior caught a glimpse of the bartender mare giving him a quick smile and nod before returning to business as usual. Godzilla looked back at the food, Blueberry Frost wasting no time to snatch up a hayfry and pop it in her mouth.

-The food smells fresh. They couldn’t have made this just after the goggles came off and they recognized me...it must have taken longer.-

His head snapped up to see a smirking Blueberry Frost reclining in her seat.

“You told them I was here…”

“They knew as well actually.”

“And the free food?”

“Payback for not lettin' them be food to them gyaos.”

Blueberry Frost quipped, taking a long sip of her drink. Lack of motion towards the delicious looking plate caused her to raise an eyebrow at Godzilla.

“... What’s wrong? Allergic to hay?”

Junior twitched his nose and muzzle. The food smelled good and he understood the good will behind the gift, but he still felt a bit weird accepting it.

“First that confusing duke, now this. Guess I’m just as unused to thanks as I am to courting.”

“Well, as I said; consider this time here yer leave. And I’m going to try and help ye’ understand both a bit more so you can enjoy it some.”

“I’m not good at relaxing for other than brief moments. The threats looming are- MPH!”

He was cut off by a very insistent and growling Blueberry Frost lurching over the table and stuffing several hayfries in his mouth. He shot her a grumbling look, snatching them up behind his fangs and gulping them down while admittedly quite liking the salty taste. Blueberry Frost smirked at the kaiju before giggling and reclining back to her seat.

“Ponies are herd animals, and herds look out for each other. Ye’ got us guards, the princesses, the Element Bearers, and yer kaiju buddies all here to stand up to any threat that comes a callin’; just like ye’ are. Equestria’s one big herd and yer lot are now roped into it."

She seemed to pause for a second and collect her breath. She had every ounce of Godzilla's attention at that moment. She was huffing, her ears were erect, and her eyes were intensely focused. For some odd sense, he felt she was talking to the both of them.

"Even... Even if we're different than the normal folk, we're all the same herd. This is your herd, clan, flock... hive. Whatever ye' wanna call it. You look out for them, but they will look out for you. They don't want us to be standing on the sides and watching over them, but to be amongst them. Were we should be," she took in a deep breath and calmed, shooting him a pleasant smile, "So... Stop trying to shoulder watch detail all by yer’self or thinking you're all by yourself. If you worry so hard on what could happen or what has happened, you'll never appreciate the present for what is happening. We’ll all be alert in shifts to protect each other, so yer gonna need to relax some and stop hoggin’ the shift. What ye’ couldn’t give yer’self on Terra, have some in Equestria; ye’ need it. Enjoy the benefits of yer break time.”

She affirmed, whapping her hoof across a fry hanging off the side of his plate and causing it to flip into the air. The mare skillfully caught it in her maw, shooting Junior a goofy snicker as she chewed and swallowed.

“I am.”

Junior sighed, looking down at the food for a time before casting a glance across the bar. There were plenty of ponies present, most of which he recognized as off duty guards from the castle. Some of Equestria’s protectors relaxing in a restaurant, calm but not oblivious. Most were going about their business, with some glancing over and giving him a nod, smile, or wave. Reminded him a bit of the G-force officers he’d see at the institute. Blueberry Frost, already chewing on half her meal proper, gave him a friendly punch in the shoulder. After a bit of thought, he leaned over and took a sip from the drink he’d been provided. With a loud sigh, he let more than the stale air in his lungs sag some; almost like he was taking a massive weight off his back. Having managed to down most of his cider in single gulp, he let himself lean back into his seat.

“.. Alright, Blueberry, well if we’re gonna start anything I want something cleared up. I heard it from someone and it just makes no sense.”

“Oh? What'd they tell ye’?”

Blueberry chirped while bringing her mug up to sip from it.

His ears flopped down, “So I can stop thinking it’s some sort of gruesome act involving mutilation and cooked meat, what’s in the realms is with ponies and 'digging' when it comes to flirting?”

Blueberry Frost half choked on her drink as her eyes expanded to dinner plates. Gagging, she lurched to the side and spat out a spray of cider from her muzzle before erupting in roars of laughter.

“Oooookaaay, who talked to you about that?!”

=============================

Mothra Lea was thankfully having a calm moment of her own up in her and Twilight’s study. The latter party having gone out to grab some more books from the library for their efforts, Lea did a check around to make sure she was out of prying eyes before stomping her hoof on the ground. In a flash of rainbow light and green flames, the changeling hex was called off and a royal changeling stood where an alicorn once did.

-Phew! Glad I could keep that up!-

She shrugged, rolling her shoulders and wings after taking her costume off. While on some level she didn’t like deceiving Equestria as a whole, Princess Celestia and Luna agreed with her and Twilight’s assertion it was for the best; at least for now. With Junior scaring half the country and adult alicorns being seen as a symbol of beauty by the populace, thanks to 1,000 years of benign rule from Celestia; giving them a public face that seemed prettier and more friendly than Godzilla was a useful scheme. And already being a shapeshifter, it wouldn’t be much problem for Lea to keep the act up as long as it was needed.

Unbeknownst to Lea however, she wasn’t alone. There were two eyes watching her from the window. The train from the Crystal Empire had rolled into station several minutes ago, and someone wasted no time flying up to the castle as fast as they could. A psychic grip choked the window latches and locks, forcing them undone and popping open the window to an unnatural wind. Lea whirled around to face the noise just in time to see Xenilla float himself through the window frame. Her wings flared out and horn ignited with a radiance that was quick to spread to her antennae, chest, and eyes. Had Xenilla not dropped himself on his hooves and canceled out any sense of a glowing energy charge of his own, she’d have blasted him with everything she had and probably taken out the back wall and a chunk of the mountainside along with unloading him. Xenilla kept a cool head and neutral expression, raising a hoof offhandedly while closing his eyes in an uninterested manner.

“Nice to see you too Lea. Let’s not waste time on that business however, you can drop the light show. I saw the purple alicorn on the way up here and I know both Empress Cadence and the two bigger ones are also on the castle grounds. I’m not here to pick a fight, you know I’m not stupid.”

“Some of your entrance and timing says otherwise Xenilla. You got me cornered alone without my usual company around. Couldn’t wait for all of us to be in the same room?”

“And yet I don’t see Destroyah anywhere in sight, so I’d affirm this is an even meeting. So can we please cancel the magical light show? I’ve already had one rough fight in the last week, I’m not in the mood for another.”

Xenilla grumbled, sitting himself down and keeping his distance to lower his apparent threat level. Lea glared at him for a good while and didn’t stop glaring as she wound down her energy charge. She didn’t completely cancel it, just hid it in case. She trusted Xenilla about as far as she could throw him and she needed to keep her powers on a quick draw in case he tried anything. Xenilla was fully aware she’d do this and didn’t act on it.

“What do you want Xenilla?”

She muttered, raising herself back up.

Xenilla glanced behind him, his horn glowing as his magic shrouded the window and gently shut it.

“Your expertise in something.”

“And why would I ever willingly do anything for you? Going to try and force my hand?”

“No, you’ll do it willingly-”

Xenilla plainly spoke in a creepily calm tone as he turned back around to face her.

“-because you are a mothra, and you owe me.”

Lea couldn’t hide her confusion at that. Xenilla might as well have told her that the window drapes were a theologian.

“Wh-What are you talking about?”

“Infant Island, 4 years, 254 days, 16 hours, 2 minutes ago. You know, the day of the invasion?”

=================
Infant Island, 2009
=================

Mothra Lea flew as fast as she could back home, back to her birthplace. The telepathic plea from Moll and Lora had come screaming at her an hour ago and in that time she’d flown faster than she even thought possible, crossing most of the Pacific in her route. She pulled out of her mach speed in a tremendous crack that split the sky and parted the clouds. Her worst fear had been realized as she saw what was making landfall on Infant Island’s beachhead. A stampede of walking mountains charged up the shores and swarmed the skies on the island’s northern side. The Mutations had somehow broken through her illusions and hexes to mask her island home, and were rushing her homestead. Afterwards she’d find a GDF submarine had been investigating her magic and unknowingly found a weakened portion of her protection spells. Its passage through her maze of misdirections and barriers had gotten half the Mutations’ attention and they were invading the island after sinking the submarine, attracted by the high energy levels the abundant mana gave off.

She would have dove down to confront them instantly and mow down the entire area with beam fire, but she spotted someone else on the ground. As Krystalakk lunged at a glowing object near the tree, a reptilian hand grabbed his and threw him back with such force that Krystalakk flew into Agon and sent them both crashing into a mountainside. The opposer was tall and saurian. At first Lea thought them to be Junior, whose warning ability had perhaps guided him here, with the Mothra’s safeguards not affecting him. But the gleam of broad shoulder crystals and a triple tipped crest quickly told her how wrong she was, utter confusion replacing her momentary hope; even more so when she saw that Xenilla throwing aside one of the Mutations wasn’t an isolated incident.

Xenilla levitating himself several dozen meters into the air, floating himself around weightlessly to put himself between the other Mutations and Infant Island’s treasures, the nexus tree that created the local mana and the twin faeries that were themselves hotspots of magic. He roared at his own forces, barking commands as he himself made no move on the prize. The Mutations snarled, screeched, and cackled in response before charging Xenilla. Gaira and Zedus, the man eaters, both rushed forth and tackled him to try and shove him to the ground. Their initial impact did stagger Xenilla enough to force him to land, but he quickly caught his footing and grabbed the two by their throats to double choke-slam them into the ground.

No sooner did he do that however, Megaguirus came strafing in from the side to slash her claws across his left flank as Jiger launched an arc of her heat beam to set Xenilla’s right half on fire. Xenilla fired a corona flare at Jiger and forced her to take cover after splitting the skin of her back with a glancing hit. By now Dagahra had taken to the air and attempted to launch himself at the nexus tree while Xenilla was distracted. Despite the fact half of him was still ignited and shrouded in smoke and flames, Xenilla still saw the beast’s attempts to sneak past him. His shoulder spikes glowing yellow, Xenilla grabbed Dagahra in a tornado of telekinesis and smashed him to the ground before flicking his arm and tossing him away. That’s when Megaguirus came rushing in again, crashing into the back of Xenilla’s head and sending him stumbling. With Xenilla’s back turned, the recovered Zedus unhinged his jaw and fired his dagger-tipped tongue through his own leader’s arm. Xenilla shrieked in pain, grabbing the impaling organ to keep Zedus from retracting it. By this point Zigra had adjusted into his terrestrial form, cackling as the jewel above the goblin shark-like kaiju’s ignited and fired a thunderbolt-like beam.

Seeing it coming out of the corner of his eye, Xenilla extended his good arm and flicked his wrist. A crystal spire with a perfectly flat face shot out of the ground and intercepted Zigra’s paralysis ray, reflecting and raking it across Zigra before rotating on its base at just the right moment to redirect the beam into Zedus. Both kaiju jittered and rattled as the beam shocked their systems. A nuclear pulse from Xenilla that shot up Zedus’ tongue sent the sea monster pinwheeling back as Zigra went limp and fell down on his face. Mothra Lea watched it all from afar while still trying to find Moll and Lora, completely baffled as to what she was seeing, nor knowing for sure who to attack. Xenilla kept taking and healing from more and more hits, returning them with gusto. While he was far stronger than the individual mutations, it was a one against nine battle.

After needing to blast off the shower of acidic barems launched at him by Dagahra with a nuclear pulse, Xenilla felt his still healing right side go numb. Ice crystals ran up the length of his arm, torso, and shoulder; freezing them all in place under the blizzard of Bar'ugun’s freezing mist. Then Megaguirus came at him again after flying out at high speed and dive-bombing Xenilla. She hit his frozen shoulder full force and shattered his shoulder crystal as she did the ice. Megaguirus cackled gleefully at the sound of Xenilla’s agonizing shriek. Her grinning stopped when she felt a crystal tipped tail stab into her own and wrap around it. Xenilla whipped the slippery Mutation back and smashed a swiping, crackling paw into her thorax with so much force it completely shattered huge chunks of her exoskeleton. Pulling his tail free from her’s, Xenilla spun around and smashed it into her hard enough to ground her. He staggered, crackling with out of control energy. Xenilla drooled blood and reached for his shattered shoulder crystal’s base. That’s when all the still standing Mutations swarmed over and dogpiled him. Teeth gnashed, claws slashed, beams fired, and feet stomped; Lea only catching a glimpse of Xenilla via a flailing arm and thrashing tail.

Then the micro-oxygen spheres began flying into the crowd, physically blasting several off and sending others scrambling for cover. Destroyah hissed steam from her maw and frill, stomping her thundering footsteps as she advanced from the shore. Momentarily distracted, the remaining number pinning and trying to maul Xenilla to death couldn’t get off in time. The red glow beneath them grew to be blinding, being the only forewarning before a massive nuclear pulse fired off to the sound of Xenilla’s booming roar. A small mushroom cloud and uproar of smoke and dust were the following result. Lea kept where she was, hovering several thousand meters above the island.

As the mushroom cloud dissipated, numerous Mutations struggled up to their feet. One of the first instigators, Krystalakk, lay with the back of his head shoved into the ground and a battered but standing Xenilla grinding his heel into the rebellious mutant’s chest. He had lost one of his two control crystals anchored to his shoulders and the other was cracked severely, putting him in more restrained agony than the missing teeth, numerous bite wounds and cuts; and swollen right eye were. At least the latter set of injuries were quickly and painfully mending, said pain fueling the earth rumbling roar he gave the group. The Mutations still conscious looked amongst themselves to see if any of their number still wished to fight and claim leadership or the treasures behind their current leader. The loud hiss coming from the right of Xenilla signalled which side Destroyah was taking as she stood beside him.

Xenilla kicked the pinned kaiju beneath him away, barking at the group while lighting up his back spines and eyes. The Mutations winced and unanimously lowered themselves, backing down. With a single growl, Xenilla ordered them to leave and they did so; by sea and by air for those who could. Destroyah took several steps to follow them, sharing a silent, mutual glance with Xenilla as she passed him. He nodded to her before flicking his good wrist and summoning up two, ten meter tall crystal spires, one blue and one yellow. Plucking them from the ground by hand, Xenilla kept the blue one and tossed the other to Destroyah. She caught the energy crystal in her maw, hissing as she marched off. She crunched and devoured the token by the time she waded into the surf, surges of power coursing over her. With the blue crystal in hand, Xenilla sucked in his breath before stabbing himself in his broken shoulder with it. The gem flashed and shattered into dust, the sapphire powder accelerating his regeneration and closing the wound. It would take him a good few weeks to grow back his shoulder crystal in full, but he’d stopped the bleeding. Pausing only to catch his breath, Xenilla composed himself as he levitated up into the air. The glowing object from before, the one nestled in the trees and having been the target of most of the Mutations trying to get past Xenilla, floated up with him and revealed itself to be a sphere of crystals roughly the size of a car.

Xenilla regarded the crystal for a time, glancing back at the retreating forms of the Mutations to ensure they were all out of range by now. Shrugging off her confusion and knowing anything involving crystals and Xenilla couldn’t be good, Lea began to silently swoop down in a dive whilst charging up all of her attacks. Xenilla was weakened but if she knew anything about Mutations, it was that they were both hopelessly destructive and always in quests for their own power. Xenilla was alone with the greatest surviving source of mana on the planet and her beloved shobijin, Moll and Lora, were nowhere to be found; something Lea wouldn’t tolerate. And with him weakened, she might be able to finish him off then and there.

Xenilla poked the crystal with a claw at just the right cleavage point, shattering all but its bottom face to form a dish that he held in his good hand. Mothra Lea had just come up behind him, having everything from her wing lightning to her prism eye beams to her buster cannon primed. That was when Xenilla turned around and looked directly at her with an expression devoid of surprise.

He’d known she was there the whole time. And instead of launching a counter attack or calling up any nearby Mutations to defend him, he just swayed slightly in the wind amongst his levitation. Xenilla looked Lea dead in the eye and held the dish of crystal out to her. He extended his arm as far as it could go, letting go of it and seamlessly pushing it the remaining distance via his psychic ability. He said absolutely nothing before or after the time Mothra stole a glance at the dish and froze. He merely turned around and levitated himself away in a slow, weak flight back out to sea and off of Infant Island. By the time his telekinesis cut off due to range, Lea was holding the dish with her own hands.

Inside the dish, having been shielded by a barrier of crystals, were the awakening, albeit groggy, forms of Lora and Moll. While they had been imprisoned in the improvised lock box, there wasn’t a mark on what had been the prime target for the rebelling kaiju.

Link!

===============

Back in the present day, Xenilla stopped his recollection and sat quietly where he had landed upon his entry.

“Surely, after all these years to sort your mind out; you must have suspected the worst motive for my actions as possible.”

He affirmed dryly. Mothra Lea, having shared the trip down memory lane, still spoke with a sour taste on her tongue and in her tone. The shobijin had been loyal aids to the mothra lineage for eons, she never liked to think of any instance they could have been hurt in. That day when her island was breached and attacked while she was away? It was one of the scariest days of her life and any remembrance of it left her dour.

“From you, I expected no better.”

Xenilla grunted, rolling his eyes before climbing back up onto his hooves.

“Regardless of if you suspected it or wished it to be so, you know full well what I did that day. I kept the Mutations from devouring every bit of power you had on your little island, including those faeries of yours. And I suffered my own share of injuries from the effort, all while not seizing the opportunity myself.”

Lea winced, keeping a glare on the stallion for a few moments that caused him to stay where he was; before silently looking away and keeping her eyes off of Xenilla’s own.

“....Why?”

“You’re a smart one, I’m certain you could think of plenty of motives. Maybe I didn’t want one of them getting strong enough to topple me, maybe I wanted the power for myself but left since I knew you were there and would be no match for you in my condition, or maybe something else entirely. We really could play multiple choice for hours here and it would amount to nothing.”

“And what, pray tell then, matters?”

She muttered, sighing before picking herself back up. Her eyes momentarily flashed with surprise at seeing Xenilla had silently closed the distance between them and was right in front of her. The only thing that kept her from jumping up into the air and blasting him through the floor with a buster cannon shot was the fact that he made no move of his own. Even so, he had to keep a calm voice by conscious choice after seeing Lea’s chest give off a dim glow to indicate a narrowly aborted cannon shot.

-She’s on a hair trigger, careful…-

“The fact you owe me, and you’re going to pay me back…”

And then Mothra Lea heard words she never expected to hear addressed to her coming out of the kaiju they were being spoken by, as Xenilla sighed and rubbed at his head.

“Because I need your help. ”

=======================
Hours Earlier on the Train
=======================

“-but, this is a long train ride. Get comfortable.”

After a few moments later of Blade Dancer doing so and Xenilla resigning himself, he continued.

“The circumstances of my ‘birth’ weren’t exactly normal. I won’t bore you with the details, it’s complicated enough as is, but when I say I was born of the blood of my father I’m being very literal. I have no mother.”

While she wasn’t a big science fiction reader or film fan, Blade Dancer did know the tropes well enough to make a guess as to what sort of tracks to truth were being laid out in front of her.

“You’re, a clone?”

Xenilla’s eyebrow twitched a bit, speaking with clearly some restrained anger as he stated his correction to something that was technically true.

“I am not, a clone… A clone is a replication, a copy. I was altered, improved in some ways, changed in others. I am no genetically closer to my father than I would be if were his son born of a mother, so his son I am. One of the alterations were a series of visions, I got them right after I was ‘born’.”

“Visions of what?”

Xenilla shrugged. After over twenty years he was still unsure exactly what he saw, but he had put the pieces together the best he could long ago.

“Home. A blue, brown, and green planet swirling in a void. Terra, the place I was born of, belonged to, and deserved a place in. It really is a sight Blades, seeing a world like that from such a distant viewpoint it looks small enough to hold in your hand. It made it look so fragile, so vulnerable. Like the slightest wrong move could break it…”

Xenilla muttered, holding his hoof out as memory and vision overlay each other. The visage of an outstretched hoof towards the window replaced with the sight of a clawed hand holding a tiny island of a planet amidst a sea of black, clutching it carefully for fear the visual might crack from the slightest miscalculation. It was both the most beautiful and most vulnerable thing he’d ever seen. Xenilla’s almost awestruck face soured and he retracted his limb.

“Then I saw my father, and I saw him killing everything. The fires would burn the greenery, glass the deserts, immolate the animal life and seas alike; leaving the planet itself burning down as it wreathed him in its ashes...”

He hissed in a dead tone. Had he still had fingers, Xenilla wouldn’t be sure if he’d be clenching a fist or gripping his seat like a vice so hard he’d have bent the metal.

“I don’t know how I got those visions, but I knew what I was seeing would become real. My father would destroy the world before I even got to see it because there was no one strong enough to stop him.”

Xenilla looked off to the side in a long stare.

“Except maybe, me…. Someone had to keep the world alive, no matter the cost. I had to pick between the life of my father and the life of an entire world, my world and territory. So, I took a shortcut across an ocean of stars until I found the right sun, having picked the latter. I’d found Terra, my father’s kingdom, and rushed to where he was to usurp him. To stop what was going to happen. Junior had already hatched and been living with our father by the time I arrived, and he saw me go on the attack.”

A slow silence passed between the two of them before Blade Dancer, in a whirlwind of thought and not quite knowing what to make of all this, broke it.

“Did you… do it?”

Xenilla remembered what he did in 1994 well. How close he’d come. Yes, he had to do what he did. Banish the humans from their city to use it as his fortress, goad his father into fighting him with an imprisoned Junior, all to lure Godzilla Senior into his trap. Had the humans not shown up with their mecha M.O.G.U.E.R.A. to rebalance the duel in Senior’s favor with a two on one fight, it would have gone differently.

“... I failed, though not for lack of trying. I ended up having to fight two enemies at once and nearly got myself killed. I barely managed to escape and limp back to the dark side of Terra’s moon before slipping into a coma for years, not ever sure if when I woke up it'd be dead or not. By the time I awoke, I saw the planet still lived. Feeling I had a second, and possibly last, chance; I rushed back down again only to find my father was already dead.”

“What killed him?”

“His own power grew too much, even for him. It consumed him and would have burned the world to ashes like it did him. Had my brother not been there to absorb the energy, our father would have destroyed Terra after all, so at least I know that part of my visions would have come true and I wasn’t insane… But, by the time I found this all out; there was no going back with my brother. To him I was just another monster from the stars who tried to kill his family and threatened his beloved humans. No chance at all at rebuilding the bridges I’d burned. So, in interest of keeping an eye on both him and Terra, I had a back-up plan to bear.”

“If you couldn’t be his brother, you’d be his enemy. Keep your friends close, enemies closer taken to the logical extreme.”

Xenilla chuckled in a bit of empty humor, glancing over at the guardsmare.

“Your wit is as sharp as your weapons Blades… But, yes. Telling a lie is one thing, it’s easy to do but easy to be caught on. Acting a lie for over a decade is a whole different issue. Our father died because he was too weak to contain his own power. My little brother is a hero, but even heroes can grow weak. In the interest of keeping the world going, I wasn’t going to let that happen. So I played the role of the threat, testing both him and his allies to keep them strong and make them stronger. I always have reasons for what I did of course. Being the big threat also allowed me to keep the other abominations opposing my brother in line. Had I not taken command, the true monsters, the Mutations, would have run wild across the planet and probably destroyed it just as badly as my father could have in their nonstop rampages. I could barely keep them in line even with my own and Destroyah’s power. I do not jest when I say I had to fight my own forces just as much as I did Icka’brod’s when one of them grew too prideful and tried to usurp me. A couple of the cleverer ones even tried to ambush and gang up on me a few times and I got the scars to prove it.”

Xenilla grunted, shaking his head at old memories. On one occasion, the only time he’d ever seen the Mutations work together without his command, nine of them tried to gang up on him all at once. He hurt them badly for it, but they returned it all with gusto. They thought him a weak leader for calling them off from attacking a promising power source he knew would make them run wild. Had Destroyah not arrived to back him up, he very well might have been overrun. Megaguirus and Bar'ugon even managed to break one of his shoulder crystals, causing Xenilla’s entire right side to sting for months afterwards. The giant of a unicorn grumbled as the thought of the multitudes he’d commanded over the years came running back. The early GDF and Defenders never would have been able to counter them all at once.

“Had I let them run loose and with only inexperienced Defenders and weakened humans to oppose them, it would have been the end. By seizing control I tempered the damage and used them to train the opposition. Before we came here, my brother and I commanded the two most powerful forces the world had ever seen. Except unlike mine, his actually were improving and coordinating; and most importantly, loyal to him. When I took as many Mutations as I could directly to his doorstep, I knew exactly which side would win even if I disguised the intent as an invasion. I set it all up to get my brother as much help as possible to overrun my forces. Had the fight dragged on much longer, he’d have won decisively and the world would be much better defended than it ever could have been.”

“So all this time, all those years and fights you spurred with him; not even until the very end, you never intended to triumph.”

“I’ve successfully trained my kin to be one of the strongest protectors our world has ever seen, stronger than our father ever was. I got him allied with a group of like minded souls that could defend my home from any threat thrown at it, and I managed to play damage control over a horde of psychopaths and megalomaniacs for years. The world is safe because of me and it’s still spinning despite all attempts to the contrary from all angles! We even had a mass alien invasion I didn't see coming and Icka’brod lead his forces in a charge that repulsed the invaders so badly I barely had to mop up the stragglers. That’s how much stronger they got, thanks to me. All while the only one who’s figured any of this scheme out being my associate Destroyah. That’s probably because she’s the only Mutation actually loyal to me and not power hungry enough to be too oblivious to not notice some things. No Blades, I think for what I’ve been wanting, I’ve already won!”

Xenilla’s lips curled back into a chuckling smile that lasted for a short while. Each low burst from his lungs growing more and more sullen and empty. Blade Dancer’s muzzle cast a frown, unsure if what she was hearing was the most elaborate gambit she’d ever seen or controlled madness from a chaotic world. It was probably a bit of both.

“There’s a difference between an empty win and a triumph. You gained that, helped save your world, but cut yourself off from your only family in the process.”

Xenilla fell quiet and closed his eyes. Even without a word, Blade Dancer could tell from the twitches of his brow and lip that there was a lot going on inside his head.

“Some sacrifices had to be made, I reap what I sowed. I was beyond that event horizon before I even woke up on the moon to find out I hadn’t died of my wounds. I just chose the lesser of the two evils and pursued the one that ensured my home’s and my brother’s long term survival.”

“And the Mutations?”

“Eventually they were too dangerous to keep alive. Even for me. The night we were sent here, I lead them to Icka’brod’s isle at the right place and timing that I knew it would attract as much attention and supports for him as possible. I planned to keep Destroyah around, she’d proven her worth with the other missions I’d sent her on. The rest of those monsters I was purposefully trying to get killed or beaten down enough they'd back down. If I couldn’t contain them much longer, I wouldn’t put the world at risk by letting them persist. The strategy was growing too dire.”

Blade Dancer’s memory was jogged at the word “strategy”. That day she broke into Xenilla’s room to save him she’d found him frantically fiddling with a chessboard. She couldn’t tell what the game or pieces were exactly, but she had noticed something. Two of the larger pieces were two familiar colors, one red to match Xenilla’s energy color, the other blue that matched the same radiance she’d seen at Canterlot during Godzilla’s battle with the gyaos. Most of all, she recalled how much of a panicked, jabbering mess Xenilla became when the blue piece got knocked over.

“That chessboard at the castle when I found you. You freaked out each time the blue piece fell. That one was your brother right? And the board itself was this war-game you’ve been playing, wasn’t it?”

“... You are correct. And I reset it each time because a world without a Godzilla is a weaker one.”

“King Sombra’s penchant for fear magic is legendary, often showing what you fear the most in a way you experience it.”

Blade Dancer hesitated for a moment. She’d just gotten Xenilla to confess to a lot. Patricide, staging a war with years of conflict, and gambling so much on a goal. And she could tell he was telling the truth the whole time. And, there was good intent behind his actions in there somewhere.

“Did you know you were crying when I found you? I can imagine you didn’t notice, you were really caught up in things. Your eyes were still wet by time you fell asleep.”

She slowly put her forehoof on top of his, causing his head to tilt around and look at her.

“He made you see your brother dying, didn’t he?”

Xenilla face twitched, practically cursing the mare. As much as he didn’t like admitting it, that monster of a pony managed to hit him in his only weak point, forcing him to see exactly what he’d been working for over a decade to prevent.

“You didn’t just do what you did to protect Terra, you didn’t want to lose him, did you?”

His silent stare gave her the answer. Blade Dancer couldn’t help but think back to the walk after their first library trip. Her hoof still stung with a phantom twitch from slugging Xenilla in the face, the action having felt like trying to punch a boulder. But she remembered something else, something in the conversation that followed. She’d turned his logic around and told him that if all actions are driven by love and hatred, like he said, he must have loved something once. His response was,

-”I am a slave to no emotion... I have never felt a single romantic feeling in my life and never intend to…”-

She thought he was just disputing her again, but now it made sense. He’d been specific and said he’d never felt romance, he didn’t say he’d never felt love for something. He’d been agreeing with her this whole time.

-There’s more than one kind of love Xen.-

“You didn’t just want a strong Godzilla to protect your home and not succumb like your father did, you wanted him to be strong because you wanted to protect him.”

“.... He is my brother, he never did anything wrong to me or our world. With father gone, what else was I supposed to do but try and look out for him?”

Xenilla tried to get up and look away, tried to stop the discussion where he could. But Blade Dancer wasn’t having any of it. It might have been him only fessing up now because Sombra had broken his haughtiness down, but she wasn’t going to let him do this and go right back into his own persona as soon as they got to Canterlot. She shot up into the air, swung around, and in a surprising show of force given how much heavier Xenilla was than her, put her hooves on his shoulders and pinned him back down to the seats. Before Xenilla could react and throw her off, she relaxed the pin into a hold, putting a hoof to the side of his face to force him to look her in eye.

“Then you’re going to tell him!”

Xenilla could end the conversation in a dozen different ways. He could physically pry her off and force her away, shock her with a nuclear pulse, use his beam, use his telekinesis; anything. But of all the options, none of them involved anything short of physically forcing her away in a harmless manner; none were his usual verbal shtick. There was no words of deflection to get out of this one. So he didn’t even try, instead letting his typical stalwartness fall just a bit more to cast a saddened look at Blade Dancer as he spoke in a whisper.

“It’s too late for me. Even if I told him everything, it wouldn’t change a thing. I’ve done too much, I’m hopeless...”

He muttered, for the first time hopelessness becoming evident in his tone. Blade Dancer cut off her hovering and relaxed her hapless pin on the kaiju. The hoof on his cheek softened, gently patting at him.

“In Equestria, we don’t know the definition of the word. You got doubt, but I can tell you got some hope to even if you can't see it.”

Quiet passed between the two. After some time, Xenilla sat himself back in his seat by his own accord. Blade Dancer got off of him and resumed her seat beside him. She looked to him for a long moment before speaking.

“I’ll be honest, had I not seen otherwise when Sombra attacked, I’d probably think of you the same way Godzilla does. But, I’ve experienced and heard otherwise. You may not think so, but I don’t think this is as set in stone as you think. When we get to Canterlot, I want you to talk to Princess Celestia or Luna about this. Promise?”

She nudged Xenilla on the shoulder with her hoof, daring to pucker a small smile. Xenilla looked over at her for a long time.

“You yourself said Junior’s grown up strong and undid plenty of wrong. Maybe it’s time to stop lying, starting with yourself.”

Xenilla slowly leaned into the smaller mare, causing her to carefully curl her wing over his back. He closed his eyes and nudged Blade Dancer back, leaning on her while keeping his head on his hooves to avoid knocking her over.

-I really hate it when someone makes sense I don’t agree with. Damn stubborn mare is going to be the end of me…-

He shrugged, not knowing to be hopeful or hopeless.

“I’ll consider it.”

Blade Dancer sighed with a smile, leaning up and rubbing the side of her head against Xenilla’s throat just below his jaw. It was as far as the tall mare could reach due to the height difference. She closed her eyes as the distant form of Canterlot mountain came into view from the train car’s window. She spoke in a slightly jesting manner.

“And I’ll be your stubborn bodyguard who’ll hold your hoof if you get scared.”

Blade Dancer felt her cheeks get a bit warm when she felt Xenilla’s hoof place itself on top of hers.

Author's Note:

Blade Dancer owned by Fiddlesticks
Cached Ire owned by Vadram

Blueberry Frost owned and copyrighted by Sword-of-Akasha and licensed by Shadows of Shattered Dreams, all rights reserved

NEXT TIME ON THE BRIDGE!:
Not so happy family reunion and Bagan sends in a queen to seek local help

Comments

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

Damn, so many feels! And someone smack some sense into Moonbeam Glimmer with a big stick or something, because she's going overboard with this fear mongering, though... what in the name of the Emperor did she mean when she said "I was wrong once, I can't be again."?

[The Avenger]

This is starting to feel more like a Gundam anime than a fan fiction.

[Tarbtano]

7225028 Good thing or a bad thing?

7224988 We'll see. She did say it on purpose and she isn't being a card-carrying obstructionist fear monger intentionally. She's legit scared and worrying about things like accountability. She does acknowledge the help Junior played in saving Canterlot, but is seeing him from an outsider's perspective with only knowledge of his habits, bit of history, and abilities. If many of us were in the same shoes, we'd also be worried. I mean heck, before you got to know this story's version of Godzilla; would you have bought that someone who looks like this-
pre02.deviantart.net/3ed0/th/pre/f/2014/317/9/4/fighting_the_horde_by_faith_wolff-d86azqj.png

-was a completely nice guy? She's treating Junior same way one would a dangerous weapon or animal. You don't let a tiger walk around the zoo with the guests out of its enclosure and you don't leave your nukes armed and prepped to fire 24/7 with the launch controls in plain sight.

[Metroid Prime]

Well I liked Starlight's sister, interesting character.

Also Junior has woken up to flirting.

to bad Blade's isn't interested anymore

[HolyCross9]

Does Fiddlesticks have an account on here?

[kahnac]

0_0 Oh, man! That ending bit was really something. I had a feeling this Xenilla might not be as bad as the original, or was at least changing for the better.....but the fact that he's been secretly helping to keep Jr safe all this time by making him stronger, all while playing the role of the villain was....really something. And the fact he's been setting his forces short of Destoroyah to die because he knows that their existence is evil, and also basically testing and training the Earth Defenders just goes to show how strategically brilliant, and how good of an actor he is. Wonder if he ever takes some pointers from David Xanatos? Anyway, this is awesome, and it's helped me see Xenilla in a new light. The rest of the chapter was also awesome, and i can't wait for the next one. I have a feeling i know who the "special help" Legion is going to seek out is.

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

7225030 I guess not

[Corona Blaze]

DA FEEEEEEELZ!

[Saurah X]

This was a great chapter can't wait for the next one

[Moongaze14]

OK, just finished reading this chapter. This was without a doubt my favorite so far in terms of character development. First, the backstory about the origin of the Guardian Beasts was beautifully done, especially with how the civilizations created Anguirus. Next, came Anguirus and Spike conversation about destiny, especially with how Anguirus sympathizes with Spike by telling him about how he sacrificed his opportunity to reach his full potential as the strongest Guardian Beast to save Baragon. The court scene was incredible and filled with twists; I honestly think that Faith did some of her best work with the court scene as it shows how Junior, despite being a hero, can still be volatile under the wrong circumstances. Moonbeam might have acted rashly but it still took brass balls to ask upsetting questions to Godzilla that made him flare up. Mothra using an Alicorn disguise and her friendly personality to increase Kaiju support was well-written, especially her humor around Junior and her reaction to the public's belief that she and Junior are mates. Blueberry Frost was also a great character in this chapter, especially with how she took Junior to a bar and helped him learn about social interactions by instructing him about Blade Dancer flirting and her motivations (gotta say that I'm shocked that Blade Dancer dated Cached Ire given that I thought Ire was a constantly pissed mare with no interest in relationships as opposed to the social butterfly that is Blade Dancer. I mean, how did those two ever hooked up with their personalities being so different?), Moonbeam's psychological manipulations, and gratitude. It was very heartwarming how conserve Blueberry is about Junior's self-sacrificing nature and how she took the time to get him to relax and remind him that Equestria is a place where the ponies care about each other. Also, I won't lie and I admit I really laughed when Blueberry berated Junior for always being alert yet she doesn't see the harm to bring her spear with her and comparing it to a hat and a baby. The true highlight of the chapter, however, was the Blade Dancer and Xenilla's chapter. It was a great development to learn more about BD (kinda sad that she lost interest in Junior, but I think I felt a little jealousy when Xenilla brought out BD's flirting attempts on Junior) and the fact that she earned enough respect from Xenilla that he trusted her with the knowledge of how he was born and why he went after Godzilla Senior. The biggest shocker was the fact that Xenilla's main motivation for being the villain was to protect the world by keeping the sociopathic mutations in check while simultaneously training the Defenders and out of a genuine concern for Junior. You really blew my mind at the fact that Xen actually desires to be acknowledged as a brother by Junior and is afraid that he couldn't get it. Surprisingly, Blade Dancer shows herself to be a stronger mare than I thought, and that's something given my opinion of her when she talked about love, by being empathic enough to listen to Xen's talk about attempted patricide without judging him and encouraging him to become brothers with Junior. I also think she and Xen might be getting interested in each other as Xen didn't physically force himself out of BD's pin despite having the strength to do so and BD was very sympathetic to his emotional plight while being very physically intimate in a non-sexual way. Given how lengthy this critique is, I guess you can say that this is by far my favorite chapter yet and I'm excited to see what the next one will be about and if it will come soon. Still, given your note about a not so happy family reunion, I get the feeling that Blade Dancer seriously underestimated how bad Junior hates Xenilla and that it would end in emotional tragedy for Xenilla and she'd be indirectly responsible for it. This really makes me wish that the next chapter comes soon

[diverseinterests47]

Xenilla, after this chapter, all I can say is this;

[Krazyfan1]

i wonder how Junior would react if he was given undenyable proof of Xenilla's claims?
like, a memory transfer or something?

[Krovgor Warhawk]

In the words of Varic Tethras, "Holy Shit."

[Adamastos]

SO AWESOME!!!! Dude you never disappoint with each chapter!

[jacen]

7224988

"I was wrong once, I can't be again."?

This is just a guess, but I suspect it has to do with what her sister is doing at this point in time.

[ArchimediesMD]

Over 24,000 words by tanaka are you trying to give me sleep deprivation

Also que the angelic choir for a new chapter hath been posted

[jacen]

On the subject of this chapter... it's nice to see more backstory, more motivations, and more character building. This chapter feels like a transition between arcs rather then filler, and I enjoyed the look into the thoughts and feelings of both the brothers. I also liked the glimpse into the worries of Spike and Anguaris (sp), and how the latter cheered up the former.

I do find myself wondering if the years of keeping himself so wound up has left Junior with deeper issues. (PTSD, anyone? I hope not...)

[VampDash]

7225030 I wouldn't but at the same TIME Junior has more then clearly shown that he won't attack unless provoked or you threaten someone or something he cares for. This bitch is only doing this because apparently she was wrong once... newsflash. NOBODY'S PERFECT. God I haven't felt irritated towards one person since I was first introduced to Pinkie Pie.

[Oldtakufanboy]

Great chapter. I'm surprised about Xenilla revealing why he's being mean to Jr. It all makes sense now; Xenilla doesn't hate Jr, he wants him to be strong and better than his old man. Xenilla may be a jerk to his brother, but he loves him.

Bagan sends in a queen to seek local help

OH SHIZA!!!

[chrisharte97]

You know, I've always wondered what the pony Kaijus would look like with Crystalized

[Evowizard25]

A great way of showing off the political landscape. Honestly, politics aren't something often used and that's rather sad. It can lead to some interesting ways to go over how characters and nations work. Glad it's being used her and incredibly smartly too. As always, Mothra Lea and Celestia steal the show. {Best rulers.}

Good to see Spike and Angurius getting along. The little guy deserves someone to get to know similar to him. First he has Ember and now him... wait, he hasn't met Ember yet I do believe. Either way, it's good. Same with Blade and Xen. Xenblade is a go. He really does need someone to talk sense into him from time to time and she's the perfect candidate.

[jacen]

Bagan sends in a queen to seek local help

...I suddenly am plagued with visions of silicon-based arthropods meeting beings that resemble a cross between ponies and houseflies. With both groups ruled by a queen.

This can only end in tears.

I'll let Pinky sum up how I feel about this probability:

[Pen Dragon]

As usual you never disappoint us Tarb. Look forward to the next chapter

[Pen Dragon]

7225272 I don't know? Who knows what could happen in the next chapter?

[SuperSaiyanGodzilla]

Magnificent, just Magnificent

[Mechagodzilla3]

I feel like a jerk for hating Xenilla.

[Dustchu]

A gloriously well done chapter man, nice job on this! much awesomeness!

[Krovgor Warhawk]

I'm sorry, I really don't want to be that guy, but are we going to get more pictures from Faith, or does she have more commission's or other experiments to take care of first? Because I miss her Bridge picture's and the last one she made was perfect like always.

[GamePlayer64]

That Moonbeam is up to something, She said it took a 1000 years to trust Alicorns but their the same race as ponies. I think she's a racist to any living being that isn't a pony, my hypothesis at least.

[Krozairofequestria]

One question is still in my head.
why did no one stopped Moonbeam Glimmer from interrupting Goji every time? I mean, this was meant to be an interview right? and only letting him answer half way was clearly just so that he couldn't give all the information that are needed so others can make the right choice. So why did no one of the guards stop her? Her goal was clear, no answers, no information, no truth only fear. And in Equestria the guards should have put a hoof down and told her to let him finish or be removed from the place.
So why did no one stopped her?

7225272

Moonbeam might have acted rashly but it still took brass balls to ask upsetting questions to Godzilla that made him flare up.

No asking harsh question is nothing to be afraid of but to be proud of, but asking harsh question and not letting the other answer to the fullest is something to be afraid of. If I were in Gojis position i would have told here to let me answer without interruption or this whole thing is over. But Goji doesn't have this sort of patience or social skill. So his answer to this situation would be acting violent. so it is only rude and stupid.

[Black_Knight]

media.giphy.com/media/IU2SFx9zVMyBi/giphy.gif

You Sir are one hell of a writer. You showed us Xenilla in a bright new light.

I cannot but see the similarities between Xenilla and The Boss from Metal Gear Solid 3. Acting as a villain while sacrificing their image just so the one they care grows stronger. I just hope Xenilla will have a better end.

[Tarbtano]

7226219
If you look again, the wording I used to describe alicorns in her words were they were "Of Equestria". Moonbeam isn't racist, she just pretty naturally things that as a denizen of another worlds; Godzilla wouldn't follow the same morality scale as someone like her, Celestia, or an Equestrian gryphon or minotaur would. It's actually a way for her not directly accusing him of any wrong doing, as in her mind he has a different compass of 'right and wrong', just that because he's different that can make him unpredictable or dangerous via values dissonance.

7226157
More will come, she just has some other things she wants to do at the moment.

[The Avenger]

7225030 It depends on which Gundam series I'm comparing this too

[Ultimate Warrior of Zera]

It was really sad when Anguirus' creators were discussing what was going to happen to them after pooling their mana into him.

Anguirus and Spike's talk was really nice. Spike kinda reminded me of Jaune Arc from RWBY.

It was a nice touch when Junior said his last name was Gojo.

Moonbeam Glimmer seriously reminded me of the superhero critics from both Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Captain America: Civil War. Celestia and Mothra's timing couldn't be anymore perfect.

I'm calling it, Destroyah loves Xenilla. Not as a lover, but the same way Lea loves Junior. Why else would she continue to follow him even after learning his true motivation. Speaking of his true motivation, WOW. Xenilla is like David Xanatos or Littlefinger. He played the game in a way I didn't see coming. He's a freaking genius.

[shinigamisparda]

Moonbeam does raise a bunch of legitimate concerns about Goji, even if they are all unfounded in the end, but there's one major flaw I feel is in her stance: She seems so intent on being right (for whatever reason) that she's willing to try and fulfill her own prophecy. This, I feel, is phenomenally stupid. She knows that Junior and the rest probably have enough power to wipe out everything in Equestria, with no one being able to stop them, but the reason they don't is because they don't hate or have ill feelings towards the Equestrians... and she want to give them a reason to hate them?

[Seeking Dusk]

7226726 Pretty much my issue with Moonbeam. She's not wrong in her fears, but if she keeps it up, she's going to be the trigger for all of the bad ends she is going on about. At the moment, the kaiju are trying to fit in as best they can, and aid as much as they can. True, their moral compasses aren't set to Equestria's field, but they've got a good navigator in Lea, and Twilight and the other princesses are good local guide. All Moonbeam is doing is cutting holes in their sails.

I'm not surprised this was Xenilla's scheme. I knew there was more to him that just 'smart bad guy boss' from his interactions with Destroyah and his actions in the empire, particularly the fear vision and the chessboard, made me realize that he's game was to work with, or at least alongside Goji, not directly against him. But the fact that his brotherly love is both so strong, as well as so buried and unrecognized? That part was surprising. Makes his insistence on using Icka'brod both endearing as well as heart breaking. How many older brothers love needling their younger sibling?

[KingXanaduu]

“Destiny is a fickle thing. Said to be a fate meant for those of experience, it is more often than not thrust upon the whims of both men…and children. But is it destiny that defines one to be a man or a monster?...or…is it something more?”

[Krovgor Warhawk]

7226302 Thanks for the update. Again I am sorry for being that guy but it's only because I think the art she makes for this story is comic book museum quality. Seriously if she does not end up working for a studio, blessing others with her work, I have lost all hope for humanity.

[Krovgor Warhawk]

7226010
I don't.

[KingXanaduu]

"You’re not of this world, you’re not a pony; so we can't expect you to be like us… So, I really don’t know how you could. To me, you’re a sociopath; and I’m terrified of what you might do to others...”

Um....WOW. I don't even know how to take this from Moonlight Glimmer, cause this just screams Xenophobia to other worlds. Thank Celestia she hasn't discovered the Mirror to Equestria High, she'd probably give and earful to the students there, especially Sunset Shimmer for choosing to remain behind. In fact, her attitude towards other species NOT from Equestria seems like a huge stopping point for any "Human in Equestria" stories, especially since we're omnivores. Though to be fair, some ponies, especially Fluttershy, should know that some animals depend on the meat of other animals to survive, so Humans eating meat in Equestira shouldn't be a bit of a problem. Heck, she was feeding some Otters FISH in the episode with Philomena, and they seem to be sentient.....I know, it's confusing.

But, apparently, Moonlight Glimmer's Xenophobia seems to stem from the ideal of keeping Equestria safe through Isolation, keeping all the threats that are "non-pony" of this world away at all costs, but this attitude is both dangerous and foolhardy, as the events of both Equestria Girls and The Bridge prove, Equestria can't stay isolated for long, and there are things that Equestria needs to defend itself from, because the rest of the Omniverse doesn't always share their ideals of peace and preservation. I think Q from Star Trek said it best:

"If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross. But it's not for the timid."

Not for the timid is RIGHT on the money, for there are some creatures and beings of the omniverse that will not stop at nothing to achieve their goals, however dark and twisted they may be. The Gyaos are a big example of creatures that have an instinctual need to feed, or else that they will die, but I can think of another creature that is another twisted example of a monster that would be better off EXTINCT. The Xenomorphs:
vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/aliens/images/f/ff/XenomorphXX121.png/revision/latest?cb=20141005001209

These creatures are the PINNACLE example that will stop at NOTHING to ensure their needs are met, even disregarding their own self-preservation, as they only exist for one goal: Expanding their Hive by ANY means necessary, and they will stop at NOTHING to ensure that goal.

They can't be bargained, they can't be swayed, they can't be bought, and they can not be coerced by any means, heck I doubt even Fluttershy herself can sway these creatures, as they view us as either something to be KILLED by any means, or to be a host for their hive, and I assure you, one fate is worse than the other.

So what Moonlight needs to realize is that her morality can't be rigidly extended to all corners of the Omniverse, nor can Equestria remain isolated for long. Sometimes, Lethal force is necessary for the greater good. When to exercise it however, is the TRUE judge of character, as a balance must be maintained. Exercise it too much, and you're a monster; don't exercise it, and people will get hurt by those that have no qualms of hurting the innocent. Moonlight needs to realize, how harsh it may be, that the Omniverse is a lot bigger, but a lot scarier than she may realize, and such forces need to be fought....

[Maxout020]

I don't get it. Her profile says she puts getting the truth above all else, but Moonbeams actions seem to sway to the opposite.

Being confrontational to boarder line aggressive, manipulating Goji both verbally and emotionally, constantly cutting him off mid-sentence while preventing others the chance to get the full picture.

It seems to me that Moonbeam cares not about getting THE truth, but HER truth.

She may bring up some valid points yes, but she clearly isn't in the right mindset for those questions to be relevent.

She seems to busy trying to find a valid reason to fear the Kaiju... almost to the point of being blind.

[Tarbtano]

7227536
Then allow me to elaborate.

She actually was trying to get the truth out. Her intention was benign, even if she is misguided and basically shooting herself in the hoof unknowingly. What she did her is a classic psychology run around to disrupt any possible lies because lies inevitably trip over themselves. Ask a person the same question enough ways and enough times, and if they're lying they'll eventually botch a detail.

From her perspective, Junior is something working off a completely different morality than what is the norm for Equestria. It's not that she necessarily thinks he's evil, but rather that his sense of right and wrong is just different, an 'Orange and Blue' morality vs. the typical 'Black and White' morality scale. Now, mix this with what she's seen and knows about him.

-Doesn't seem to give any pause to using lethal force
-Has a very dubious family history with a father who was a monster to the pony equivalents
-Has the capability to be extremely dangerous
-Had been a predator to an intelligent, liked species (cetaceans)
-Has already had misunderstanding with Equestrians before that nearly turned lethal

She doesn't have anything necessarily against him personally, but rather thinks he's just too big of a risk and that it be a mistake to let him go about in a populated area until they knew more about him; because just one 'misunderstanding' with someone like him could cause mass devastation. She thinks its naive to so quickly trust someone so powerful with such as different life style then themselves. That's why she proposed the idea he allow himself to be petrified. He wouldn't be conscious so it's not harm to him, he can still do the job he's needed for (fighting off other kaiju) when he's called up to help; and there is no chance of an accident or disaster occurring like she thinks there is by letting him out and walking around.

Moonbeam is basically seeing Godzilla as like how we would a dangerous animal or weapon. You wouldn't want the zoo's semi-tame tiger out of its enclosure and roaming the zoo among the visitors nor would you want to leave a fused and armed bomb just laying out in a public space. It's not that there is an assurance something will go wrong, but there is that chance. And when that chance includes possible loss of innocent life, do you really want to take that chance? Now apply that to someone like Godzilla, whom the number of native, good Equestrians who could actually beat him could be counted with one hand.

Moonbeam sees a risk and thinks other Equestrians are being too trusting because she sees Junior as something completely alien to them, not malicious it seems; but still extremely dangerous.

[KingXanaduu]

7227903

Moonbeam sees a risk and thinks other Equestrians are being too trusting because she sees Junior as something completely alien to them, not malicious it seems; but still extremely dangerous.

The same could be said about Spike when he goes on a Greed-Rampage. Or heck, this may be a bit of a stretch, what about Twilight Sparkle and the events of "Lesson Zero", where she had the G-rated version of a "Mind-Rape" spell, yet nopony is out for her petrification, right?

There are literally things in Equestria that could be considered a "Threat" in Equestria, yet they're not enough to cause a complete state of panic among it's citizens like Moonlight is suggesting.

For another great example, what about her own SISTER, Starlight Glimmer and her "Town" with it's brainwashing? That's enough to make her a THREAT in Moonlight's eyes, based on what I'm hearing?

Forgive me if it sounds like I'm ranting, I'm just poking holes in Moonlight's logic.

[Krovgor Warhawk]

7227903
Well then she's just going to love Xenillia and how he views the world. I mean, the guy is perfectly willing to manipulate other monsters to send them to their doom, sacrifice an untold number of human lives who Big G is sworn to protect, and kidnaped and used his brother as bait to draw out and murder his own father, based on a vision alone. Hell, he was perfectly willing to let Cadance die as it would mean the removal of a potential threat. If Moonbeam thinks Big G is a sociopath then I just got to know what she think's of his inbreed abomination of a half-brother.

[Kingofthecouch]

their quick 2 kill Sombra says something different about their beliefs in "no such thing as hopeless" thing

[Tarbtano]

7228269 I'd think Sombra had proven himself irredeemable twice over by that point. And if we go off canon and this story's run, he had plenty of chances and offers to stop and never once tried. Plus there's the little bit of him trying to kill everypony both times so even if hope was there, chance wasn't.

7228058
Very well thought out, but I fear you misunderstand. Moonbeam's qualm with Junior isn't just that he's a potential threat in a public area. It's that he's a potential threat in a public area and he literally dropped out of the sky two weeks ago and has only been in the public eye for about half that time. Unlike Godzilla, powerful magic users and Spike have been raised in Equestria and not only have a known similar moral system (deviants withstanding), but also more time to know them and find ways to regulate or counter there should the need arise.

This is one of the reasons Princess Celestia is easily magnitudes stronger than even a skilled pony of any race, but no one is afraid of her anymore as not only has she had years to win their trust; but they know her morals and know not to be afraid of her now. It wasn't always this way, as you may recall we've had references to the "Night's Rebellion" that occurred right after Nightmare Moon's attack centuries ago. Many of the questions and fears Moonbeam brought up against Junior were identical to the allegations against Celestia. But as time went on and ponies got to know her, they saw there was nothing to be afraid of.

By comparison, Junior is in an even worse predicament, given his family history, sheer power, willingness to kill, fact he is a legit alien from a completely different environment, has had conflict with Equestrians before, plainly admits to eating what most Equestrian's consider a 'good' animal (compare it to how Westerners react to other people eating horse or dog meat); and other factors; and you got a recipe for a pretty bad judgement of Godzilla.

To use a meta example, had you not known this was one of the few outright heroic incarnations of Godzilla; would you trust him walking around in your capital city knowing what he could do? Moonbeam doesn't know the full picture on Junior and thinks no one really does,s o they should be more cautious. Obviously we know this Junior fellow and know she's completely wrong, but her mistake has some justification.

[jacen]

7227903

Moonbeam is basically seeing Godzilla as like how we would a dangerous animal or weapon. You wouldn't want the zoo's semi-tame tiger out of its enclosure and roaming the zoo among the visitors nor would you want to leave a fused and armed bomb just laying out in a public space.

In both of the above cases, it would be the height of foolishness not to have a well-trained individual on hand to handle the situation; you don't have an apex predator who's species is known for targeting humans as prey uncontained in an urban center without at least one trainer capable of controlling the animal on hand and alert at all times. Explosive compounds should always be labeled and handled with the utmost of care, and kept under lock and key when not in use.

As the most cynical view, keeping Junior among the guards is the same thing; they are putting a known threat where it can be safely monitored and where prompt action can be taken in the event of an emergency. Especially in that, like C-4 (which requires a trigger explosion to detonate, and can be safely transported,) Junior requires an external infusion of power to become a true city -destroying threat. By keeping him where the Royal Sisters can deal with him, they are making him as safe as possible.

As for petrification... why deliberately antagonize a potentially useful being and insure that they will turn on you without good cause?

[Tarbtano]

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I was going to expand on this all next chapter, but evidently I shall do some of it now to clear the air since most of my really indepth reviewers are giving me responses that demand answers. If you want to have completely new reactions to see what is going to be coming out of Moonbeam's moth later, don't read. If you don't mind vague concepts that provide explanation to why Moonbeam seemed so insensitive, read on Macbeth.

In both of the above cases, it would be the height of foolishness not to have a well-trained individual on hand to handle the situation; you don't have an apex predator who's species is known for targeting humans as prey uncontained in an urban center without at least one trainer capable of controlling the animal on hand and alert at all times. Explosive compounds should always be labeled and handled with the utmost of care, and kept under lock and key when not in use.

Height of foolishness is exactly the reason Moonbeam is afraid of the situation as it is right now with Godzilla. Just like a dangerous, unrestrained animal or an badly placed bomb; she sees him as unpredictable and trusting him flat out so soon isn't a good idea. Because the two prerequisites you mentioned to make it a safer situation are completely absent. While yes, sticking Godzilla into an area he'll be surrounded by soldiers with combat training is better than having him camp out in an apartment complex; you still need keep mind of what has happened with him so far. After literally crashing face first into the castle, Godzilla was able to get right back up and plow through a large chunk of the lunar and solar guard while barely getting slowed down by them. Yes, one could argue that many of the more experienced fighters like Blade Dancer or Captain Frost weren't participating and the motive of the guards fighting him might have been more apprehend than kill; we need still remember Junior wasn't actively trying to kill the ponies attacking him. It took an hours long fight with an enraged Luna to finally knock him out cold.

Now translate that to the worst-case-scenario Moonbeam is imagining with this wild-card of a kaiju she sees as unpredictable. If Junior ever wanted to go on a rampage, even if just in his unicorn form, he would be very capable of killing a high number of victims or bystanders before he'd have to commit to a fight with either of the two alicorn sisters. And the only reliable means to overpower him are a proximity boosted Celestia or both sisters ganging up on him, now imagine the damage those three fighting could inflict in a populated area.

If Junior was parked at, say, Foal Mountain or the Badlands under the same conditions and supervision; wouldn't be as big a problem. But in this case she can only see him being as unpredictable as a roaming tiger or armed bomb while being a literal stones throw away from thousands of innocents.

As for petrification... why deliberately antagonize a potentially useful being and insure that they will turn on you without good cause?

Note it wasn't the first thing she suggested, so even this would be a last resort for her. But even then, she meant it in a benign way. Junior wouldn't be conscious while petrified and this be the fantasy equivalent of a Sci-Fi film "putting him on ice", just revive him when he's needed. He doesn't have to deal with any misunderstanding or potential stressors from the Equestrians, they don't have to worry about him, he can still do what he's shown he's willing to do; so in her book it's a last resort but the one that seems to hurt eveyone the least.

[jacen]

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So, better to have an unsupervised Junior wipe out a garrison and inflict who knows how much damage to the populous until the Royal Sisters can find and deal with him then to have both sisters less then a minute away and having him dealt with before he can leave the castle. Not to mention potentially finding an alternate power source, or for some malign power to find and control him. Great plan there.

Considering the fact that Discord was aware while petrified, assuming Junior would not be is the height of cruelty. I can only guess that Moonbeam is either the world's greatest sadist, or (more likely) is unaware that petrification does not equal unconsciousness in non-ponies.

This is not an issue I have with the writing or story; it's with the short-sightedness of one character who admits she would never let evidence to the contrary sway her opinions of Junior and potentially of other Kaiju as well. That, and her quest to sway the opinions of others to align with her own, regardless of the known facts of the matter.