A Midsummer Night's Dream.

by Killbles

Special Two

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Chapter 22: Special Two

“Shane!” Twilight barked crossly.

The sound roused Shane from his inert state. He looked up from the pencil he had been intently twirling on the tip of his finger, Twilight's glare pierced into him like daggers.

“Hmm?” He grunted without a measure of interest.

“Shane, are you even paying attention?” The alicorn asked accusingly.

The pencil stopped spinning and dropped to the desk with an obnoxiously loud clatter. The few others in the room, Michael and some of the other higher ranking Shatterdome staff, looked at him expectantly.

“I’m not going to answer that, on the basis that I don’t want to.” Shane replied after a moment of silence, eliciting a sigh of irritation from his instructor.

“The griffon delegation will be arriving tomorrow and you have to be up to scratch on them!” Twilight exclaimed crossly. “I’m sure if I asked you for any of their names you wouldn’t be able to list one.”

He sat up a little straighter, feeling the judging eyes of his brother boring into the side of his head. “Alright, how about you start again. I wasn’t listening.”

He swore part of Twilight’s mane burst into flames before dying down again as her groan of frustration echoed around the room. She took a deep breath, putting a obviously forced smile on her face. “I have had foregone sleep for the last four days to prepare material for this. Some might call it excessive but I think it’s just good business.” She said icily, her left eye twitched dangerously as she spoke. She advanced towards Shane, her horn starting to glow a little. A few ponies shifted away nervously but thankfully a full on rout seemed unlikely. “If you would please pay attention, that’d be grand.” She said sweetly, her horn hovering a few inches from his face. She glared, before smiling again to show that she was harmless.

Mostly harmless, Shane thought.

Michael leaned over. “I never thought I’d say these words, but it’s probably a good thing to listen to the little, angry, purple pony princess.”

Twilight ignored his remark and resettled herself at the front of the room.

“I’ll keep this quick.” She said, throwing all the small cards she’d been levitating into the air with an annoyed flick. “There are three important griffons coming tomorrow. The first is Wing Lord Forsythe. He’s the military commander of Oberon. He’s very old, but could probably turn you into tinned soup if you looked at him the wrong way.”

“Sounds like a pleasant guy.” Shane muttered.

“I’m sure you’ll love him.” Twilight replied deadpan. “Next is Shrike Lysander. He’s the leader of Oberon, elected by their High Council. He’s only been Shrike for a few years, is still young and a little naive by Griffon standards but his eyrie loves him. Personally, I think he’s a reasonable leader and the times I’ve had correspondence him he’s been very personable.”

Michael raised an eyebrow inquisitively.

“He’s one of my penpals.” Twilight admitted with huff. “Now if you’d kindly leave my personal affairs behind?”

“Sure, sure.” Michael agreed..

”Last is Master of Finance, Titania. As you may have guessed, she’s the Shrike’s chief financial advisor and manages the treasury. She also sits on the High Council and has done quite well under Lysander’s rule. As the head of a large arms manufacturer, I’m sure she has a vested inter-.”

“We care, why?” Shane complained.

Twilight rolled her eyes irritably. “They’ll have an escort of about half a dozen guards and a handful of advisors and attendants. As a member of Equestria’s royalty, Princess Celestia has asked me to make sure their trip goes as smoothly as possible so I’d appreciate all the help I could get from you two.”

“No complaints from me, I’d rather not get turned into soup.” Shane chuckled.

Twilight shrugged tiredly. “Any questions or should I carry on?”

“Yeah I got a question.” Michael spoke up. “It’s been bugging me since we got this message… since when have the griffons considered the Kaiju a serious threat and since when have they wanted a Jaeger? Last I heard they thought it was, uh, propaganda or something.”

“I don’t know why they’ve had a sudden change in policy, but remember this is the view of one city, not the nation as a whole. Lysander’s views may not fall in line with what the other Shrikes think.”

Shane picked his pencil up again, twirling it between his fingers absently. “Now, I don’t claim to be clever, but I don’t see how a single city could possibly hope to have the resources for a Jaeger. From what I’ve gathered Equestria is having a hard enough time maintaining its fleet, how is one city going to do it?” He asked.

Twilight retreated to her desk and levitated a large, overstacked clipboard up to her face. “Approximate population of Equestria as per to last census, three hundred and thirty-two million. Population of Oberon and its surrounding territory according to their last public census, one hundred and eighty-eight million.” She said levelly.

Shane and Michael exchanged an incredulous look. “How big is this place?”

“Oberon is the third largest Griffon city, behind Sunstone and Griffonstone.” Twilight continued, “The city itself covers several hundred square kilometres and its territories cover an area roughly a third of the size of Equestria, fairly large by griffon standards.”

“Wow.” Michael muttered in awe. “So it’s more like a country then?”

“Suppose so.” Twilight agreed. “Now, while we’re on the topic, is there anything you think we should do while our guests are here?”

“Jaeger demo?” Somepony suggested.

“Good idea.” Twilight beamed. She looked at Shane sweetly, it was generally accepted that he was the man to go to for anything on Jaeger operations. “Who would be available?”

Shane frowned. “Daring Dragoon and Frontier Justice are scheduled to leave in the next few days, they need to be completely cold for the trip so they’re out.” He looked over at Michael questioningly, they didn’t need words to convey the thought. It would be much safer that way, yes, much safer.

“But I do know who’d be up for it…”

***

Pinkie bounded through the Jaeger bay with her usual enthusiasm. While at first, the pink motor-mouth had drawn equal amount of fear, love and confusion of the ground crews, they were starting to get more used to her now, returning polite greetings or scrambling out of the way without complaint as she bounded past with the enthusiasm of a rubber ball falling down an endless staircase.

Today wasn’t a normal day though, today was special.

Today, Everfree Bandit woke up for the first time.

It wasn’t a real trial, just a reactor shakedown and systems check for the Jaeger followed by a few drills she and Maud had practised. They would hardly move more than fifty metres out from their pen.

She was already in high spirits, after a short briefing from Twilight regarding the guests the entire shatterdome was preparing for, she and Maud had been selected to display Everfree Bandit to the dignitaries. Pinkie was quite beside herself at the announcement, even Maud had let out a rather flat ‘hurrah’ in her excitement.

She was taking the long route around the bay, bouncing along the somewhat precarious gantries which ringed the long hall with little regard for the eighty metre drop, scattering a few more level-headed ponies or simply clearing the heads of the unaware with large bounds. She passed the human Jaeger, Midsummer Night. The machine had barely been out of its pen in the last few months and was constantly crawling with workponies, it seemed to Pinkie that the alien machine just wanted to get out into the open air again and shed the lice which crawled over it.

The coal-black Jaeger's conpod seemed to follow her as she bounced up to it, the golden vision port bunched up into what she imagined to be a fierce scowl.

She smiled back, cheekily sticking her tongue out at the machine.

A figure working at the Jaeger’s neck caught her attention, stopping her mid bounce. She pondered for a moment before changing course, bounding over to the human..

Shane had eschewed the navy blue uniform Michael wore in favour of a light singlet and a dirty pair of cargo pants. His skin was coated in a thin layer of sweat and grease which shimmered in the blazing downlights as he worked silently up on the Jaeger’s shoulder.

“Hiya!” Pinkie exclaimed cheerfully, bounding over the small gap between the gantry and the Jaeger’s hull. She slipped on a patch of oil, a heavy hand grabbing her mane before she had even realised that she was falling.

“Careful.” Shane warned, looking between Pinkie and the long drop down to the reinforced concrete floor.

Pinkie gulped.

Shane released her from his hold, eying the drop cautiously before returning to work on whatever it was he was doing. “Wouldn’t want to slip now.”

“Nope.” Pinkie agreed, scooting away from the edge slightly. Try as she might, Pinkie had never been a very good flier. She plopped her rump down next to where Shane was working on Midsummer Night, casting a slightly vacant look at Everfree Bandit. Her Jaeger, It was nestled across the bay, a towering metal sentinel now oddly devoid of the army of ant-like builders and workers which had crawled around and inside its hull for the last year.

Everfree Bandit was probably the most humanoid of all the Jaegers in the Equestrian fleet. Two smoothly shaped armour plates made its double jointed legs less obvious while standing and the Jaeger’s upper body shared some structural similarities to a de Havilland class Mark III Jaeger. It’s paint scheme was also the least flashy and ostentatious, a simple two tone gray colour scheme contrasting nicely with the cobalt blue machinery and a few stripes of bubbly pink paint around the chest and on its ankles to appease its co-pilot.

It was simple but graceful, possessing a sleek shape from its feet all the way to its conpod. A few new pieces of tech had gone into the machine, a new heads up display and better reactor cooling among the more prominent ones. Each fist housed a complex and power set of hydraulic pistons, allowing the Jaeger’s gauntlets to shoot out at frightening speed. Built into the forearms were complex and according to Twilight, still non functional energy casters. Everfree Bandit wasn’t the fastest Jaeger, that title belonged squarely to Daring Dragoon, but it was built to be quick, flexible and hit hard.

He followed her blank look after a minute of silence, tearing his gaze from the mess of complicated electronics he was working on. “It’s a good Jaeger.” Shane muttered quietly.

“Better than yours?” Pinkie egged him.

“No, not a chance.” Shane growled defensively. “I’d stomp you flat solo.”

Pinkie blew a raspberry at him. She couldn’t claim to know much about being a Ranger but she was sure she and Maud could handle anything, even a grumpy human like Shane. What Pinkie lacked in fighting prowess Maud more than made up for and what her sister missed in social prowess Pinkie made up for several times over.

“Hey Shane?” Pinkie asked

“Yeah?”

“What’s that?” She asked, pointing at a angry red pattern of lines which ran down his left arm.

Shane inspected his arm for a moment. “Circuitry burns. It’s an imprint from the drivesuit. If you get hit bad the neural circuits in the drivesuit can overload and burnout. There are failsafes if there’s too much feedback but these sorts of burns are still quite common. Soarin and Wave Chill have some now as well, if they’re willing to show them off.”

“They’re pretty.” Pinkie said admiringly, her eyes tracing along the intricate patterns.

“I’d love to hear you say that after you get some.” Shane shot back, rubbing his arm self-consciously.

“Do you have many injuries?”

“A few.” He lifted his singlet slightly, revealing a small but wild pattern along his back. “I have some National Guard tanks to thank for that one.” He remarked sourly. “A few scars on my arms courtesy of Switchback and a couple of other bits and pieces here and there. It’s all pretty common stuff. If you look at Michael he’s pretty much got all the same scars.”

“Cool.” Pinkie grinned.

“It’s not cool, it hurts like hell.” Shane chuckled.

Pinkie giggled, flexing her forelegs. “I’d look tough with scars.” She remarked.

“You lot have fur, you would hardly see them.” Shane pointed out.

Pinkie deflated slightly. “Oh yeah.”

Shane let out an amused snort, giving Pinkie’s mane a soft tussle. “How do you fit that all in your helmet anyway? I could knit a rug out of this.”

Pinkie shrugged. “I dunno, it just seems to…” She made a sliding noise, flicking her head back.

Shane pinched the bridge of his nose. “Everything’s a mystery with you, isn’t it.”

“Things happen.” Pinkie agreed. “Sometimes I’m not even sure why, but they do. I just go with it, life’s easier that way.”

“Good advice.” Shane muttered. “You excited?”

“You betcha!” Pinkie squealed, jumping up and down in place. She imagined she could feel the entire Jaeger rocking in time with her. “Aren’t you? I mean, first day for realsies, not just practice!”

“I have to meet with three very highly ranking griffons in a few hours.” Shane muttered deadpan. “I don’t like griffons.”

“Not all griffons are so bad! I know heaps of great ones. I mean, maybe they’re a little cold and grumpy but they’re really nice when you get to know them.” Pinkie said encouragingly. “Just don’t call them chickens, or turkeys or sasquatches or any kind of bird really. They don’t like it.”

“One of those things is not like the others.” Shane observed. He seemed slightly confused about something but decided not to press it.

“Either way, we can have a post launch party! We can have cupcakes, drink punch, conga and go Kaiju bobbing...”

“Conga, maggots.” Shane muttered under his breath, waving a finger around in circles and pulling a decidedly sour look as he returned to work.

Pinkie let out a quiet giggle, Shane was funny when he wasn’t grumpy. Even when he was grumpy he could be funny, some of the faces he made were downright hilarious. She decided that human expressions were something she’d have to investigate further if she ever met any other humans. She said goodbye to the grumpy Ranger and bounced off, singing happily to herself.

***

Michael looked down at the two armoured ponies in his office, barely able to suppress a grin. Seeing a joker like Pinkie in a full drivesuit was like seeing a dog with shoes, a real novelty. How she managed to fit her voluminous mane inside her helmet would probably remain a mystery.

Pinkie and Maud’s drivesuits had been a matching pair when they’d arrived but by now Pinkie’s had been customised, the mare had painted some simple but pretty patterns on the foreleg guards and had stuck a balloon sticker on her helmet. Maud’s flat grey drivesuit matched her to a tee, the level grey matching the mare’s expression almost perfectly.

“You two look right at home.” Michael remarked. “Now, we have a small routine for you to go through here, I’ve had Torque have it upload it to your overview. Just go through the motions, nothing fancy, ok?”

“Yes sir, Mikey!” Pinkie sang, firing off a crisp salute.

Maud blinked in agreement.

“Great, now get along you two. Get settled in and get ready to show these griffons what you can do.”

Pinkie and Maud left his office, Pinkie practically bouncing out, her armour making a racket which could probably be heard in Canterlot. Michael smiled, they seemed so enthusiastic, they reminded him a little of him and Shane when they first got a chance to pilot Midsummer Night, though he certainly hadn't been bouncing around like a spring.

Which was good news all around, Everfree Bandit was their newest Jaeger and would be the best platform to show off to the visiting dignitaries, but more importantly, it kept Pinkie away from said dignitaries. He and Shane had tacitly agreed on that.

Michael couldn’t claim to know anything much about diplomacy, but he could just imagine Pinkie Pie doing something ridiculous, like start a war for instance, by accident. Someone like Misty could be about as inviting as an Arctic blizzard, but Michael knew that she was mostly rational. At least if Twilight’s briefing had been worth anything, the griffons would probably appreciate her brutal honesty or at least wouldn't see past her thinly veiled insults and forced smile whereas Pinkie’s attitude would just confuse them.

Another knock came from the door and Shane barged in, not really waiting to be invited inside. “They’re coming, just got a message in LOCCENT. You ready?”

Michael nodded, standing up and slipping his jacket over his shoulders. It had been hard finding a tailor who could make fancy clothes for them, but Princess Celestia had insisted. Michael wasn’t complaining, it was the nicest thing he’d ever worn by a mile. “Yeah.” He replied, looking up, slightly taken aback that Shane was wearing an almost identical uniform.

Michael was more used to him sauntering around the shatterdome dressed like a mechanic, even in Anchorage, Shane had rarely donned anything resembling a uniform. Seeing him all cleaned up and dressed up in uniform was a little unusual.

“Looking sharp.” Michael noted, resisting the urge to straighten his brother’s tie. That would’ve been too much, he was sure, Shane would’ve rewarded him with a punch to the face for that.

“Let’s just get this shit over with.” Shane grumbled. “Last time I was dressed up like this we were in the capital.”

“And that was awful, wasn’t it.” Michael remarked, buttoning his jacket up and walking out of the office.

“That crap was unbearable.” Shane moaned.

Michael laughed. “And I was the one who went to jail, remember?” He chuckled, keying the elevator. They rode the lift up to the roof, the doors sliding open and dropping them out into the city-side of the shatterdome. Twilight was a few metres away, her mane neatly combed and wearing her royal raiments, a small, understated tiara and a small golden necklace. Misty Fly and Lightning Streak were also present, each wearing a navy blue jacket, a dress shirt and a tie. Misty was also wearing a pair of dark aviator-style sunglasses and looking rather serious.

“Hello, are you Tom Cruise?” Michael asked her slightly tongue-in-cheek as they sauntered over.

“Eh?” Misty replied, cocking her head to the side in confusion.

“Ah, right. Of course, you wouldn’t know who he is.” Michael said lamely. “funny how that slipped my mind.”

“He’s a missile, like a guided rocket.” Lightning Streak explained helpfully. “Shane told me about it once.”

“Yeah… I’m sure that’s right.” Shane smirked. “Remind me to show you Top Gun sometime, I’m sure you’d love it.”

Misty scowled and shook her head, clearly feeling like she was being left out of some sort of joke at her expense.

“I didn’t know we had that.” Michael remarked casually.

“I should probably check.” Shane shrugged. “I’m sure those Wonderwhatsits would love a bit of air-to-air combat, Earth style.”

Michael didn’t reply, he could see an aircraft approaching the shatterdome. Sweeping in low over the bay and running fast like it was being chased by a bat from hell. It wasn’t one of Equestrian designs he was sure. Unlike the dirigible-like creations the ponies seemed to favour, this one was more like a conventional helicopter; a bit like a bastardised version of an Osprey helicopter, he thought.

“That’s them?” He asked, pointing out the craft.

“That’s them.” Lightning Streak confirmed following his arm. “That’s a griffon rotary alright.”

“Looks too small for it to have come far, where’d it come from?”

“They most likely have a boat in the harbour, the griffons don’t use long ranged airships like we do.” The icy blue pegasus replied. He gave his sister a reassuring rub on the back, she looked about as rigid as a steel beam.

“What’s her problem?” Michael asked.

“I don’t like griffons.” Misty hissed though what Michael could tell was a very forced neutral expression. If he didn’t know better, Michael would’ve said that Misty almost looked afraid.

Michael didn’t have a chance to ask why as the Rotary swept in over the roof of the shatterdome, blowing any further chance of conversation away with the thunderous clatter of its propellers. It hovered uncertainly for a moment before it was slowly guided down to the landing pad, touching down with a smoothness that any human pilot would be envious of. The craft was a faded red and silver, the crest of Oberon, a screeching golden eagle, painted proudly on its flanks. The rotary’s engines cut away to a high pitched whine as the pilot powered down, the back of the craft dropping down to meet the roof. A pair of guards came down first, each one armoured with ornate suits of red and silver plate and long beaked helmets which almost completely covered their heads. They moved with a sort of fluidity and precision that Michael knew that could only come from years of familiarity.

Behind them came another griffon, he was much smaller and more youthful than either of his guards. Although he lacked any apparel other than a small amulet strung around his neck, his almost fiery red plumage was in pristine condition, shining brightly in the morning sun.

“Lysander,” Twilight said cheerfully, stepping out to meet the ruler of Oberon. She bowed slightly. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

“Likewise, Twilight.” The griffon beamed, returning the gesture and motioning for his guards to let the pony pass. “It has been far too long since we last talked.” He gave the alicorn a hearty one-clawed hug, a gesture Twilight somewhat awkwardly returned after a moment.

“That’s Lysander? He’s just a kid.” Shane muttered under his breath.

Michael didn’t want to draw assumptions but compared to the few other griffons he’d met in his time in Equestria, Lysander looked very young, doubly so to be the ruler of a massive Griffon state. His thoughts were interrupted as Lysander padded up in front of him, his orange eyes blazing curiously.

“Lysander, this is Marshall Michael O’Connell and his brother, Shane O’Connell. They jointly run our Jaeger program.” Twilight introduced them.

“A pleasure, sir.” Michael said, inclining his head slightly.

“Fascinating.” Lysander beamed, snapping his beak with delight. He sounded vaguely like a Swedish mechanic Michael had known back on Earth, that is to say, he sounded like he was singing while gargling a potato. “I’ll try to be brief, I’m sure I could ask you enough that your mouth would turn numb.”

“Yes sir.” Shane and Michael agreed in unison.

By now, another griffon bedecked in another suit of well fitting ornamental armour had stomped down the ramp and took up position next to Lysander. His plumage was a brilliant , almost snow white with a few black tips, a stark contrast from his dark, though greying fur. Sharp eyes looked out from under the menacing looking helmet and even slightly stooped over, the creature nearly came up to Michael’s shoulder.

Twilight perked up slightly, bowing her head respectfully to the newcomer. “Wing Lord Forsythe, it is a pleasure to have you here.”

Forsythe returned the gesture, grunting quietly at the princess. His eyes fixed immediately turned and fixed on Michael and Shane, a sharp glare shooting at the two humans. “You are shorter than I expected.” He said, his voice disarmingly quiet. It had none of the pomp that the rotary designer Mikhail had, it was dangerous and sharp, each word was pointed like a needle.

Neither graced the comment with a reply. Michael bowed respectfully like Twilight had taught him.

The old griffon seemed unimpressed.

“I understand you are a great warrior, sir.” Michael piped up. “I have heard quite a few stories from the princess.”

Forsythe nodded as if he was merely confirming a fact. He slanted his head forward, removing his helmet with a claw and unwillingly giving it away to an attendant. Unhelmeted, he didn’t look much friendlier, a long mess of scars knotting and twisting around the right side of his face and running through one of his dark eyes. He looked a little like an old, grizzled shark.

Cold. The word seemed to fit Forsythe perfectly.

Another griffon took up position behind Lysander. Although Michael had never met a female Griffon before, she was undoubtedly so, her body was much slicker and more streamlined, lacking the sheer bulk that the guards or Forsythe had. Her plumage was a mottled grey but her golden eyes blazed fiercely. A simple gold circle hung from a chain around her neck This was obviously Lysander's financial advisor, Titania.

Titania, was a world apart from Forsythe. She was smaller, not much bigger than a pony and lacked either the razor talons or the fine armour of her escorts, but her beady eyes were sharp enough to make up for it. She reminded Michael a little of Misty Fly, the same sort of smug air hung around her and crept around the edge of her face,.though unlike the pegasus, she looked much more shrewd. Twilight had warned them that many griffons suffered from a insatiable greediness, Titania hadn’t even opened her beak and she seemed to serve as an exemplar for that. The way she looked at everything made it seem like she was evaluating its worth. She didn’t bother to introduce herself, slotting in behind Lysander close enough so that she could still hear everything.

The introductions done, Twilight led the congregation back to the elevators and down towards the Jaeger bay. Their simple job of saying hello and smiling done, Misty Fly and her brother slinked off, perhaps to watch the upcoming demonstration.from the LOCCENT. With their departure, there was about a dozen of them, the number of griffons in the party outnumbering everyone else three to one.

They arrived at one of the many entrances leading to the Jaeger bay, a guard punching in a code to open the heavy steel door and admitting them into the heart of the facility.

The reaction of the griffons as they strode out into the Jaeger bay was one of barely concealed shock. The scene had been well prepared in advance, hundreds of ponies worked all through the massive bay on the mighty machines housed in their pens. With the exception of Everfree Bandit, the rest of the Jaegers were being treated with a full overhaul.

“Amazing.” Lysander proclaimed enthusiastically.

“Yes, isn’t it?” Twilight smiled. This was the product of her work for the last few years, finally on display for the world to see. The alicorn had every reason to be proud.

“Midsummer Night, Frontier Justice, Castle Bravo, Daring Dragon and Everfree Bandit.” Michael said, pointing to each Jaeger in turn, leading them up several flights of steps and up to one of the gantries which ringed the room. “We have three more hulls currently laid up, under construction or planned.”

“Must be expensive…” Titania finally spoke, her voice harsh and flat.

Michael smiled. “Yes, expensive. On Earth, a Jaeger usually costed tens of billions of dollars. Labour is much cheaper in Equestria.”

Titania looked at him wordlessly. Obviously she wouldn’t know what a dollar was, but the word billions seemed to have a profound effect on the griffon.

“How much less?” She inquired.

“Thanks to the significantly reduced initial R&D costs I would say a Jaeger built off an existing line is roughly two thirds to half cheaper than the first. No concrete numbers, sorry.”

“Still, expensive…” Titania muttered quietly.

“Worth it though. Even a minor incursion can be catastrophic. Nothing but a Jaeger can fight a Kaiju on its level, actually stop it and prevent it from making landfall.”

The three griffons seemed to flinch a little at the word incursion.

“If you would like, we can have a short demonstration with our newest Jaeger, Everfree Bandit.” Michael offered.

“That would be splendid.” Lysander chirped excitedly.

Michael nodded and waved down to the deck chief who radioed LOCCENT. The Jaeger’s crawler grumbled forward, gantries and scaffolding retreating from the Jaeger’s hull as it rolled out of its pen and into the open expanse of the Jaeger bay proper. Work around the massive hall halted as crews stopped what they were doing to watch the new Jaeger power on for the first time.

“We’re live in fifteen...” A voice Michael recognised as Torque’s spoke out over the intercom. A klaxon sounded somewhere overhead and the crew on the deck scattered to a safe distance. A terrific rumble shook the air as the Jaeger growled to life, the powerful reactor housed in its chest thrumming with power. After a few seconds the Jaeger seemed to unfreeze, its limbs and joints drooping slightly, a sure sign that Pinkie and Maud now had complete control. The Jaeger’s arms rose to a ready stance, its fingers flexing eagerly. It moved with a sort of bombastic precision, every motion filled with energy and excitement but still laced with deadly intent. It pivoted and turned in place experimentally as if it were testing its flexibility.

The griffons muttered quietly to each other, their guards shifting nervously. Everfree Bandit looked down at the small group, blasting its horn enthusiastically. Within the confines of the Jaeger bay the sound was absolutely deafening, the blast echoing off the walls like the warcry of a god.

“Jesus.” Shane swore, yawning to unblock his ears. “Count on those two jokers to do that.”

Everfree Bandit ‘cracked’ its knuckles noisily and smoothly extended its right arm out at its abdomen. After a moment, the Jaeger’s hand spun open with a clatter and a whir of motors, the Jaeger’s fingers joining together into a massive pronged projector. A few plates on Everfree Bandit’s forearm flared open, revealing a series of vents and cooling fins.

Michael's eyes went wide with fear. Everfree Bandit’s energy casters were supposed to be disconnected, completely separate from the rest of the Jaeger’s systems while a few potentially fatal flaws in their design were ironed out. For a moment, Michael wondered if he should find some better cover before realising it made little difference, if Pinkie and Maud accidentally fired the weapon a mere concrete wall wouldn’t do him much good.

He covered the quick slip in composure.with a quiet cough, leaning down to whisper in Twilight’s ear. “Is that supposed to happen?”

Twilight seemed too stunned to respond at first. “They’re completely inert..They should be..” She murmured.

“Then how are they doing that?”

Twilight blinked silently but didn’t provide him with an answer.

Michael tried to not look concerned, a rather hard thing to do when the energy projector seemed to aimed squarely between his eyes. If so much as a flicker of energy carried over those rails, the last thing he vowed to do before being turned to ash was fire Twilight.

“This isn’t in the script” Shane noted, clearly thinking the same thing as he was.

“No, it’s not.” Michael answered in a remarkably nonchalant tone.

Shane blinked and shrugged, things were out of his hands for the time being. “You know,” He started, staring down the energy caster with a sneer. ”At first, I thought all those stories of Pinkie’s reality-warping shit were just nonsense, but boy, then you suddenly get egg all over your face and have a little pony doing things she just shouldn’t be able to. Then you really just can’t be sure what to believe in.”

“Ditto.” Michael agreed, breathing a silent sigh of relief as Everfree Bandit raised its ‘hand’ back to shoulder level, the energy caster folding away smartly. Thankfully, none of the griffons other than maybe Forsythe seemed to have quite realised the danger they’d been in; the Wing Lord’s scarred face was a little more screwed up than usual but if that was out of distaste or concern, Michael couldn’t be sure.

Everfree Bandit displayed a few more stances, showing off its flexibility and fluidity before powering down again with an almost disappointed whine. As the Jaeger retreated back into its pen atop its crawler, Michael found himself letting out a breath he hadn’t realised he’d been holding.

“So, what do you think? Great, isn’t it?” Michael asked, cheerfully ignoring the fact that Everfree Bandit had nearly vapourised the party.

The group of griffons seemed somewhat divided with their opinions. While Lysander looked like a kid in a candy shop, his eyes open wide with glee, his advisors expressions were far more neutral. Forsythe was the first to speak. “We cannot fight like that.” He said, rearing back on his hindlegs somewhat clumsily before dropping back down onto his claws. “We fight with beak, claw and paw; two legs does not suit us.” He seemed at least, somewhat pleased with what he’d seen.

“I’m sure we can sort something out. As you’ve seen, the platform is adaptable; making the Jaeger fight exclusively on all fours shouldn’t be too hard.” Michael offered, looking at Twilight to back him up.

Twilight nodded excitedly, clearly relishing the prospect of creating something exciting and new. “Indeed. A few volunteers for neural mapping would be very helpful towards that end.”

Forsythe considered the proposal for a few seconds, looking at Lysander for approval before nodding. “Assuming this deal goes through, I will see if anyone would be willing to stay behind.”

“Well then perhaps we should get to it. If you’ll follow me…” Twilight suggested.

They walked around the Jaeger bay, Michael and Twilight pointing out features on each of the Jaegers and answering questions while Shane lagged behind, occasionally trading looks with an equally silent Forsythe. They caught an elevator up to the LOCCENT before finally adjourning to a briefing room. Titania almost immediately took over, laying down their terms. Her terms in actuality , Michael suspected.

“The Jaeger will be based in Oberon, while you will build the machine, you will train griffons to work on, repair and build new components. You will supply machines, schematics and toolings to fabricate these parts along with spares.”

“Not asking for much…” Shane muttered under his breath.

Titania seemed to miss his remark. “You will provide access for our researchers to necessary technologies and allow them to make copies, notes or whatever else they deem necessary. This includes reactor technologies as well.”

Twilight cleared her throat. “There is one condition the Crown has in regard to technology sharing. In undertaking in this program you will agree to not militarise these technologies. Not weapons, not equipment. Nothing.”

“A bit hypocritical, no?” Forsythe asked curiously. “Does your nation not enjoy the technological boons from these Jaegers?”

“The Crown has kept J-Tech at an arm's reach from the military for practical and financial reasons.” Twilight explained. “Unless that decision is overturned, it’s a policy we intend to keep. Note how I only mentioned reactor technologies, anything else far now is fair game.”

Forsythe looked at her suspiciously before softening and nodding. “Very well.” He concluded succinctly.

Titania looked slightly irritated at the interruption. “We would also have you train pilots and reserves domestically.”

“No, we train them here.” Michael cut in. “We don’t have the resources available to have a Jaeger’s crew on the other side of the world teaching rookies instead of being available to jump in the conpod.”

“Surely you have instructors…”

“Yes, our instructors are our pilots. It’s how we did it at home, it’s how we do it here. I’m sorry, but this one is non-negotiable. It’s just not practical.”

Titania looked at Lysander crossly, clearly upset at the idea. The Shrike nodded slowly, prompting her to return her attention back to the front. “Fine.” She said, not letting her irritation enter her voice.

Shane coughed quietly. “On that note, I’m sure that as much as you’d like to build it at home, you’ll find we’d do a much better job of it here.”

Titania looked set to argue this but Forsythe cut her off before she could even start.

“Agreed. Any delay would be… undesirable.” He said, throwing a withering look at the other griffon to silence her before she could speak again. “You have experience, tools and the factories. As much as we pride our local industries, we could not build something like this without a large delay.”

‘He’s right you know.’ Michael thought. Forsythe was turning out to be a very reasonable figure.

Titania decided to not argue the point, tapping the tabletop with a claw before sitting silently. Forsythe rolled his eyes slightly at her behaviour, the first real expression the ancient griffon had made.

“Well, I think I will take it under advisement.” Lysander said, his gaze flicking between his two advisors. “We’re certainly leaning towards making a purchase, but I’m sure we’d all like to see some numbers first.”

“Numbers.” Titania echoed sullenly.

Lysander gave her an aside glance. “We’ll be in Canterlot for the next week, perhaps your staff could procure some estimates.”

“I’m sure we can come up with something.” Twilight agreed diplomatically.

“In the meantime, with your permission, I’d like to leave a few aides here. They will act as an intermediate point of contact for our ongoing negotiations.”

“That will be fine.” Michael nodded. “If that’s all then..?”

“Actually, I have just one question.” Shane spoke up, giving the griffon congregation a long look.

Here it is.’ Michael thought. He’d been dreading the question Shane was about to ask but he honestly dreaded the answer more. He’d had his suspicions since he’d seen their reactions to his talk in the Jaeger bay, but he was hoping that he was wrong...

“...Why?” He asked. “Why would you travel halfway across the world and spend an inordinate amount of money to acquire a machine solely designed to fight monsters, that from what I gather, your kind have the arrogance to believe don’t exist.”

Everyone seemed to stop and stare at him with surprise, the looks from the griffon side of the table cold. Lysander’s beak clacked uneasily but he fixed Shane with a measured look. “Arrogance… pride… greed. Most griffons suffer from these. Perhaps one day they will be our downfall, but I believe what my eyes see and my ears hear.”

“And what mine have seen is most unpleasant.” Forsythe rumbled quietly, his sharp voice cutting in over Lysander’s. “Eighty-seven square kilometres of dead land, thirteen thousand, two hundred and eighty-one dead, three entire Talon wings destroyed.” He spat, the smallest edge of anger entering his calm voice.

“Impossible.” Twilight breathed, catching the griffon’s meaning immediately.

Forsythe took a folder from one of his retainers in one of his gnarly claws and passed it across the table to the alicorn. She flipped it open silently, her mouth agape as she beheld the grainy, colourless pictures inside. A small port-city was torn asunder, a black smear of torn earth and fire heading inland, swerving left and right seemingly at random before terminating at a thirty metre mound. The Kaiju was small, even by their standards, but trail of destruction it had left was more than enough to display the danger it had posed.

“H-How..? How did it- Whe-?” Twilight’s words caught in her throat, looking at Shane and Michael in disbelief. “We should’ve... “

“Known.” Michael finished for her worriedly.

***

The trip north to Trottingham was nowhere as exciting as Rainbow Dash could have half hoped. As she glared sourly out one of the airship’s many viewports at the small city below them, she was already wishing she was back in Manehatten.

Trottingham was the most northern ‘city’ in Equestria and was the largest city on Shield Island, an appropriately named spit of the land which sheltered the northern reaches of Equestria from the Eastern Ocean. With a population of just over eight-hundred thousand, Trottingham was a fairly small city but had evolved into an important trade hub between Equestria and foreign nations such as the Crystal Empire, some of the more coastal Griffon cities and even further east. Prone to cold weather all year round along with heavy snow and sometimes sea ice in winter, Trottingham was virtually as far north as one could go before they were truly in the wilds.

From the airship, the snow capped buildings of the city looked less inviting than Rainbow Dash would have liked. She was no slouch when it came to cold weather but the climate seemed a little extreme, they were well into spring and the snow had still been falling thick.

“Why would anypony want to scratch a living out here” She asked rhetorically, already shivering despite the warmth of the airship’s heaters. The trip had taken about five hours, five hours of inaction that had left Rainbow Dash incredibly twitchy and irritable. She had wanted nothing more than to simply jump ship and fly there herself, a sentiment she felt was shared by many of the pegasi hitching a ride on the stuffy, cramped airship the Jaeger Corp had chartered. Now though, she wasn’t looking forward to disembarking as much as she had an hour ago when the first of the snow had started appearing.

“Mining, Industry, bit of agriculture.” Somepony answered, causing Rainbow to nearly bang her head against the window. Lightning Dust appeared at her shoulder like she always seemed to when Rainbow Dash wasn’t expecting her, “”Shield Island is like, really rich in minerals and there’s a lot of shipbuilding here. Some more exotic animals and plants are also farmed here thanks to the ever-present cold.”

Rainbow didn’t give her the satisfaction of seeing her surprised look, hiding it with a huff. “How do you know all that?”

Lightning Dust shrugged. “I’m smart.”

Rainbow let out a huff. “Showoff.”

“You expected me to be modest?” Lightning Dust chuckled. “Besides, almost all of that was in the briefing papers, didn’t you read them?”

“You did?” Rainbow asked.

Lightning Dust shrugged again, a noise of indifference coming from her mouth.

“Sucks balls that we get stuck up on the arse-end of the world.” Lightning Dust muttered ruefully, glaring at a snowflake which stuck itself to the window. “Manehatten was much nicer.”

“Agreed.”

“Figures, once I start getting settled in I’m moved somewhere else.” Lightning Dust whined. “Seems to be my lot in life.”

“I’ll miss my friends.” Rainbow Dash echoed sadly.

“You’ve still got that farmer with you, I left my only other friend behind.” Lightning Dust grumped.

“Oh yeah, you and Misty… a perfect match.” Rainbow drawled sarcastically. “Did I see you two hugging before we left?”

Lightning Dust bristled indignantly.. “She hugged me, for the record.”

“Wow, feelings, that’s a first.” Rainbow snorted. “When’s the wedding?”

“Hey how about you shut your mouth, ya bastard.” Lightning Dust shot back.

Rainbow gave her a dangerous glare but Lightning Dust was already gone, floating off with a yawn, presumably to find somepony else she could annoy or sort her few belongings out for landing.

Rainbow Dash let out a grunt of irritation at her co-pilots behaviour, suddenly feeling quite hungry. She glared out the window again, spotting the squat shatterdome which would be her new home. It was a squat, ugly thing half built into a cliff which ran along the waterfront. It towered over everything else, another gray, featureless thing in a gray, featureless landscape.

“At least it’ll be warm.”

Rainbow nearly banged her head against the window again. ‘Why is everypony startling me today?’ She fumed internally. She turned around, her glare immediately softening slightly

“Oh, sorry.” Soarin grinned stupidly. “Wouldn’t want to break a window now.”

Rainbow resisted the urge to blow a raspberry at him, contenting herself with a slightly irritated look. He looked out the viewport next to her, admiring the city below.

“Looks nice enough I guess.” He muttered. “Just add a little sunshine… hey, you wouldn’t mind keeping the weather in check while we’re here would you?”

“Give me twenty good ponies, I’ll think about it.” Rainbow said back. She’d need a whole lot more than that in truth, there was a reason the weather wasn’t controlled here, it’d be too damn hard.

“I’ll keep that in mind. Anyway, we’re landing soon. Thought I might interest you in some lunch when we land? Local cuisine looks… delightful.” He said, picking the word after a moment’s thought.

‘If they have pies you’ll be happy.’ Rainbow thought dryly. The former Wonderbolt could probably live off pies without complaint. “Sure, why not. Can’t be that bad, can it?”

“No,” Soarin chuckled. “No, I guess it can’t.”

***

It took another few weeks to get everypony settled in, there were hundreds of support staff being brought up from Manehatten to form an experienced core of workers to run the shatterdome. A week to the day that Rainbow arrived, Daring Dragoon and Frontier Justice were airlifted to the new shatterdome and stowed away in the much smaller Jaeger bay.

The population of Trottingham rose sharply as ponies came from far and wide to bask in the safety of the facility or simply find work. With several thousand new mouths to feed and house, businesses were booming and there was no shortage of jobs going around.

Rainbow found herself fitting in rather well, she had found the best hangouts and places to relax in the city and the shatterdome fairly quickly. She’d even managed to get quarters with a view over the bay after calling in a few favours. While she missed Manehatten and Ponyville, the shatterdome was much more homely than she’d ever expected.

She quickly fell into a routine. Wake up at the crack of dawn and go out for a flight in the chilly morning air, a few laps of the shatterdome or a circuit over the rooftops of Trottingham was enough to get the blood pumping. Sometimes Lightning Dust would join her, usually egging her on to fly between the narrow gaps in the rows of houses, slalom between light posts or some other generally reckless behaviour. Thankfully for her wellbeing, Lightning Dust’s attendance was patchy at best.

Next came another workout, this time in one of the shatterdome’s gyms. She’d work away for an hour or so with Applejack before breakfast, maintaining her already well formed physique and challenging the ex-farmer to feats of strength or endurance whenever her ego needed a stroke.

Then came the real work, Soarin had set a vigourous course of simulator drills for the two rookies which kept them occupied until well after lunch, an hour break for a meal and a nap was welcome reprieve from the mental stress of the drift.

Rainbow’s least favourite part of the da came next, several gruelling hours of theory and practical work dedicated towards familiarising themselves with every intricacy of their Jaeger’s systems. Usually one of the lead mechanics would tutor her and Lightning Dust, running them over basic field repairs, advanced system diagnostics and all other aspects of technical the wizardry that went into the machines.

Rainbow hated it, this was Twilight’s territory, the pegasus simply struggled to keep up with the flood of numbers, complicated words, calculations and procedures. The fact that her brainier co-pilot picked most of their tutelage only served to annoy her further.

“You’ll get it eventually.” Applejack assured her one morning as she and Rainbow finished up in the gym and trotted down to the Jaeger bay. Daring Dragoon was being shut down for a reactor inspection, the morning sun filtering in through the skylights and gleaming off the machine brightly. It always looked like that, bright and excited like a small dog chasing a ball.

“Somehow I doubt that AJ.” Rainbow grumbled back, tossing a jealous look at Frontier Justice.

Big Mac was on a scaffold by the machine’s ankle his massive red bulk visible next to his equally giant Jaeger. He was methodically replacing a gyro in the Jaeger’s ankle joint. The new part was nearly as big as her torso but Big Mac seemed to have no trouble lifting it unassisted.

Applejack followed her gaze. “Pish-posh. Took me a while to get all this technical do-dads down and I still ain’t the best. Just set your hooves and ya mind to it and it’ll come to you.”

Rainbow Dash didn’t share her enthusiasm. Even when Lightning Dust tried to help her out during their frequent drift sessions, Rainbow felt just as confused as when they’d started.

By the time their tedious systems training was over, it was nearly evening and she had another few hours to herself after dinner. Sometimes she’d catch another bit of shuteye but most of the time she was too frustrated to sleep and either went out for another flight or read a book in the shatterdome’s archives or in Trottingham’s public library if she wanted to be away from the noise of the facility.

She was there one evening, browsing through the old library’s somewhat megre selection of adventure novels and dutifully avoiding the few other patrons for fear one would start talking to her when she noticed that somepony was watching her.

This in itself wasn’t all that strange, she got looks all the time. Even before she’d become a Ranger, she had basically been a local celebrity in Ponyville.

She stole a glance at her follower, peeking above the top of a book she’d pulled off the shelf; he certainly looked familiar. It look another moment to place his squat frame and rough, unkempt mane.

“Thunderblitz?” She asked incredulously.

The stallion looked up at his name, a small smile flickering across his face. “Oh, uh… hi.”

Rainbow gave him a confused look , carefully placing the book back where she’d found it, she’d suffered enough of Twilight’s wrath to know the folly of replacing a book haphazardly. “What are you doing here?” She whispered, floating over the shelf to his rather poor hiding spot in the loft above. He didn’t look much different, a little thinner and more ragged maybe.

“Uh, Ah live here?”

“And I’m from the moon, nice to meet you.” Rainbow drawled sarcastically. “What are you doing all the way up north?” She asked.

He scratched the back of his head. “Well, uh, after the Jaeger Corp didn’t keep me on, I joined the army. Thought Ah might still do some good.” He said. “Got billetted up here a couple of months ago with one of the new Grizzly squadrons.”

“Oh, wow.”

“Yeah, being in one of them tanks is a heck of a lot better than being shot at by one.” He chuckled quietly.

Rainbow scoffed. “Well, a Jaeger is way cooler than a tank.” She boasted.

Thunderblitz smiled politely. “Well, if we ever get in a fight together, Ah’ll make sure we don’t show you up.”

Rainbow smiled painfully. She’d seen a simulation recording Michael had put on where a company of human tanks had been thrown around like toys. somehow, she didn’t imagine that a pack of Grizzlys would fare much better. “Yeah... “ She muttered, trying to not imagine what would happen if a Kaiju put its claw through one of the tanks.

“Yeah…” He echoed lamely. “Say, you wouldn’t want to go and get some, uh, dinner, would you? Catch up=?”

Rainbow’s eyes drifted to the clock on the wall behind him, a thrill of panic creeping up her spine. “Shoot!” She yelped. “I’ve got to get back to the shatterdome. Not tonight bud.” She apologised, giving him a smile and dashing out. It wasn’t abundantly clear if he was just being friendly or if he was actually interested in her, but Rainbow suspected is was the former. He'd complimented her once or twice before but that was fairly normal, a lot of ponies found something about her attractive. It was a moot point regardless, she wasn’t inclined that way towards him anyway.

She left the library as quickly as she could, taking wing as soon as she was outdoors and making a beeline for the shatterdome. One security check and two elevator rides later she came to a halt outside the simulators. Lightning Dust was there, already suited up and looking incredibly bored. She was lounging back against a wall with her forelegs tucked behind her head and a helmet resting on her belly. Her co-pilots gleaming golden eyes immediately locked on her.

“Hey Dash.” Lightning Dust chirped impatiently, rising from where she lounged. “You’re late.”

“Yeah, how about you tell me sometime when I care.” Rainbow puffed.

“Sure, whatever you say.” Lightning Dust shot back, thrusting the helmet she’d been resting on her belly onto her head. She gave her a mischievous smirk as she trotted past into the simulator. “See you in the drift kiddo.”

***

“Wakey wakey Dashie, there’s an alien bug to go smashie.” A voice sang in her ear. Rainbow groggily opened an eye, aware of a insistent beeping coming from a small box beside her bed. She was vaguely aware of Lightning Dust standing over her.

“Go away.” She grumbled into her pillow. It couldn’t have been more than a few hours since she’d last seen her co-pilot. She was tired, Soarin had worked them hard in the simulator with the promise that if they did well they wouldn’t have to endure their technical workshop the next day. Heg limbs were stiff and her head was throbbing in time with the reactor cycle of her Jaeger.

Lightning Dust let out a huff of disapproval but hopped off her bed, jumping to the hard floor with a flutter of wings. She was silent just long enough that Rainbow was starting to think she’d gone when a sudden jab of pain bit her just behind the ear. She was wide awake in an instant, her body reflexively shooting up and her wings splaying out wide with surprise as she tumbled out of bed with a sound halfway between a curse and a moan of delight.

“Oh, so that’s what that does to you.” Lightning Dust chortled, smiling broadly down at the mess of sheets and feathers that was her co-pilot.

“I will end you.” Rainbow snapped back, glaring daggers.

“Save it Sunshine, we’ve got bigger fish to fry. Come on, let’s go.”

Rainbow’s sleep-deprived mind finally caught Lightning Dust’s meaning and she rose to her hooves, her anger momentarily forgotten. She shrugged the twisted sheets off her body and trotted after Lightning Dust, trying to control her jittery wings to little avail. Another surge of outrage washed over her and she vowed to get back at Lightning Dust… somehow.

“What time is it?” Rainbow growled tiredly. It hardly felt like she’d slept at all.

“A little after four in the morning..I was having trouble sleeping, all I could hear was this ‘thrmmmm’ ringing in my ears.”

Rainbow cursed the Kaiju’s timing silently, why couldn't’ they show up at a more reasonable time?

Lightning Dust hummed the distinctive tone again. “Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?”

Rainbow rubbed an eye tiredly with a wing. “Yeah, it’s a reactor. Our reactor.” She yawned.

“Have you been hearing it as well?” Lightning Dust replied, subconsciously mimicking her friend.

“No.” Rainbow said, not entirely truthfully. She’d been feeling it, but she didn’t want to tell Lightning Dust that.

She and Lighting Dust reached the elevator which would take them to the suiting rooms, the doors sliding open smoothly at the press of a button and welcoming the two pegasi into the empty car. The short trip was silent, Rainbow Dash scowling tiredly at the wall the whole time, she was still jittery and her uncompliant wings were starting to get stiff.

“I didn’t realise you’d have quite that much of a reaction.” Lightning Dust said by way of apology when they finally reached the suiting room. “Wish I had a turn-on like that.”

“Screw you.”

Lightning Dust purred cheerfully. “Is that an offer?”

Rainbow shot her a sarcastic look and let the three technicians get to work fitting her drivesuit. Hers was fairly standard, a lightweight half-faced helmet with a sophisticated visor, turquoise plating and a tight-fitting dark grey circuitry suit. Lightning Dust’s suit was similar, though she’d already had some custom decals added, her cutie mark on the back of her helmet and the word ‘Daring’ stenciled across her right shoulder. She blinked as her helmet came down over her head, even without the visor down she could already hear the onboard systems linking up with those on Daring Dragoon.

“Initialising. Uploading preferences. Welcome back, Rainbow Dash.” The almost restless voice of the Jaeger’s computer chimed through the helmet speakers.

That was new, it had never called her by name before, always pilot.

“Kick some butt.” One of the techies said, wearing a face that made it clear she was glad she wasn’t going out. She screwed Rainbow’s last shoulder pad in place and gave the suit a solid whack to make it was all in place.

“Thanks.” Rainbow muttered back, stepping off the plate and following Lighting dust out of the room. For some reason she found herself thinking of the words Lightning Dust had said when they’d first piloted Daring Dragoon.

‘Look unto me and despair, for now I have become a god!’

***

She and Lightning Dust were the first to the briefing room, a long curved chamber a floor under the LOCCENT. One wall boasted ceiling-to-floor windows overlooking the Jaeger bay, giving the occupants an almost panoramic view of the business end of the shatterdome. If Rainbow Dash hadn’t been fretting over the impending Kaiju approaching the city, it really would’ve been quite a nice view to admire. While she was busy worrying, Lightning Dust seemed to have other things on her mind.

“I really can’t get over how much these things bring out our butts.” She marvelled, lounging across two chairs and examining her posterior. Unlike the bulky suits which Applejack and Big Mac wore, theirs were lighter and the joints were more exposed, allowing the two mares to take advantage of their incredible flexibility.

Rainbow gave her a disapproving scowl. “That’s what you’re thinking about, at a time like this?”

“Jeez Dash, it’s like you hardly know me.” Lightning Dust grinned slyly, her eyes slowly drifting down to her co-pilots flank. “It’s sure doing you several favours, your mood notwithstanding.”

Rainbow gave her a silent stare of disapproval and started pacing around the room. They couldn’t have been there for more than a few minutes but time seemed to have slowed to a crawl. Every minute that ticked by seemed to last hours.

“Would you stop that?” Lightning Dust grumped eventually. “You’re starting to make me nervous.”

Rainbow Dash glared at her sullenly but stopped her pacing. She hadn't thought it possible for there to be something worse than just sitting around and waiting for something for happen, but it seemed that waiting around for potentially imminent doom fitted the bill just fine.

After what felt like days, Wave Chill and Soarin trotted into the briefing room, followed moments later by Applejack and Big Macintosh. The two earth ponies were armoured as well, their heavy suits thumping against the floor loudly. Once they’d both settled, Soarin addressed them.

“Approximately six hours ago Manehatten detected a Kaiju breach. Tracking has indicated that in the last half-hour it has entered our sector. It has come further north than any other Kaiju, indications are that it will make landfall on Shield Island somewhere around Trottingham.”

He paused for a moment, his green eyes locking on each of the pilots. The stallion almost looked vulnerable without his drivesuit. Rainbow understood how he felt, she would’ve felt guilty if she were staying behind.

“From what we can tell, it’s a Category III.”

Applejack grimaced at the prospect. Lightning Dust nudged Rainbow Dash excitedly, she could tell her co-pilot was eager to score a big first kill. Rainbow was understandably a little more hesitant, a Category III had destroyed Wild Mustang, nearly killed Soarin and Wave Chill and had taken three Jaegers to kill. What made this any different?

Soarin seemed to be thinking along the same lines. “In light of that, we’re keeping this as foolproof as possible. We’ll deploy about two klicks out, drop some beacons in the water to try and attract it and then you’ll take it out as a team. Keep your spacing tight, you need to be able to help each other out. All clear?”

“Yes sir!” The four rangers chorused.

“Good. Now, we’re expecting Trample to make landfall in about two hours, so keep an ear open for updates.”

Everypony nodded. Rainbow could tell they all felt nervous, well, at least she did, but she knew everypony was counting on her to keep calm and do her job. She’d charged a dragon fearlessly, a several thousand ton monster was easy compared to that.

At least so she hoped.

***

An hour and a half later they were nestled inside Daring Dragoon’s conpod and linked up with the rest of the Jaeger. Frontier Justice was out first, waiting in the centre of the Jaeger bay for its Broadways to hoist it out of the massive flower petal-like upper portal. They methodically ran through the extensive list of pre-launch checks, Daring Dragoon was a highly strung machine in comparison to the brutal simplicity of Frontier Justice. It had maneuvering thrusters on swivels, dynamic control surfaces, massive electromagnets and the ratchet joints which gave it its astounding flexibility.

Once that was done, Lightning Dust pushed the reactor up to power, a low thrum settling over the machine as the reactor spun up. Everything was quiet and slick, at idle the only noise was a barely audible electric hum

“Reactor start complete. Prepare for neural bridge.”

Rainbow set her dial to ‘Ready’ and took a deep breath. A flood of blue swam across her mind, a million images, thoughts, smells and ideas streaming through her consciousness. It almost seemed easier than normal with the whole Jaeger present.

As soon as the neural uplink was established, Rainbow felt restless, twitchy even. Every extremity was alive with feeling and the tips of her ears buzzed with static. The urge to just go was almost overwhelming.

They’d been warned about this. While it was still complete conjecture, many of the rangers swore that their machines were starting to ‘feel’ like their pilots. There was no real way to prove it though and if she’d asked somepony in the J-Tech division, they probably would’ve fired back with some long-winded response about ‘neural separation’ or the impossibility of ‘imprinting’, neither of which she would’ve made heads or tails of anyway.

Regardless, if the claims were true, Rainbow Dash could only imagine what a month of being cooped up in a concrete box would do for her composure. No wonder Daring felt twitchy.

“LOCCENT, scrub transport for us. We’re going for a walk.” Lighting Dust piped up as the thought entered their shared consciousness.

“Uhh… affirmative, opening main doors for you. Standby, we’ll have a crawler for you.”

The doors at the end of the bay started to won’t open.

“I’d say if we keep it slow and gentle, we don’t need a crawler.” Lightning Dust replied.

“Alright, carefully though please.”

Lightning Dust was right, at only a bit over 1500 tons and down on all fours, Daring Dragoon was light enough to not damage the floor at a low stride. As they crossed the threshold and edged down the steep ramp, the Jaeger let loose a blast of its horn, the deep sound echoing across the empty bay. They set off at a natural canter, the reactor purring delightfully as they ploughed their way through the ankle deep water. They’d done very little work on all fours but Rainbow found herself enjoying it immensely, it felt much more natural and helped set her worried mind at ease.

It took only a few minutes to reach where Frontier Justice had been dropped, the massive Jaeger already towering over them on two legs. Their conpod was barely level with the other Jaeger’s hips, they almost looked like an attack dog growling at the side of its master. They held position as the minutes ticked by, waiting patiently as the Broadways either scurried back to the shatterdome or dropped some of the experimental Kaiju lures.

“I‘m picking up something at the edge of our sensors.” Lightning Dust announced. “It’s a big one.”

The conpod lighting dimmed to a soft blue as the Jaeger immediately switched over to combat settings, the inside of Rainbow Dash’s visor coming alive with tracking data and sensor overlays. Faint orange lines started to criss-cross the display as the computer tracked the Kaiju and made course predictions.

It was heading straight for them. Either the lures were working or Trample was really gunning for a fight.

The Jaegers put a bit of distance between each other, Frontier Justice taking point about four hundred metres to their front. They were the anvil which Trample would crash against and Daring Dragoon was the hammer which would crack the Kaiju asunder. In theory at least.

The minutes ticked by on the mission clock and idle thoughts started to permeate the drift. On the surface, Lightning Dust was thinking about having a nap or a strong drink, maybe both. Deeper down she was a little nervous, a little worried about the imminent battle. Rainbow could feel something else as well, a underlying aura of loneliness and remorse.

Rainbow quelched her curiosity, that sort of investigation was dangerous even outside of a combat environment. She’d fallen out of sync with Lightning Dust once, she didn’t want to do it again, certainly not now.

“It is tempting, isn’t it?” Lightning Dust asked softly, biting her lip. “I mean, we share a lot already… but deeper down… just how far does that rabbit hole go?” She mused, her voice springing to the fore of her mind without the pegasus physically speaking. The Jaeger’s reactor levels flickered for a moment and seemed to shudder at the thought, or was just that the ground trembling?

‘Not now.’ Rainbow thought nervously. ‘There’s too much riding on us to muck around.’

Lightning Dust nodded silently and the levels returned to normal.

Daring Dragoon shuddered again, this time in revulsion. The sensor readout chimed, the Jaeger could smell Kaiju. Lightning Dust quelched the alert, the conpod shifting from side to side in time with her head as she scanned the surrounding water.

Besides the patches of gleaming white surf which were picked out in Daring Dragoon’s headlights though, the ocean was empty, an endless black blanket punctuated by flecks of tossing whitecaps and glistening drops of seaspray which clung to them like dew.

A freezing gale had started to blow in from the north, making Rainbow’s fur prickle up uncomfortably as it whistled through the Jaeger’s armour plates and over the sensors in the Jaegers ears. She knew she couldn’t actually feel it, but the machine’s reactive circuits were unnervingly realistic.It would probably snow again tomorrow, covering Trottingham in a fine white coat of slush and powder, that is, unless Trample turned to rubble first.

“Two kilometres.” Lightning Dust called quietly, her golden eyes staying locked on the Jaeger’s sensor readouts. Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but be amazed at how calm her co-pilot was externally, not even a trace of nervousness evident in her stone-cold voice. The Jaeger’s reactor purred impatiently in anticipation. She could taste something foul now at the back of her throat, like rotting fish and decomposing seaweed.

“Wait…” Applejack warned over the radio, the farmers voice cracking with interference slightly. Frontier Justice loomed out of the night like an apostle, the massive Jaeger illuminated by dozens of running lights and helpfully outlined on their display if they somehow missed the ninety metre behemoth.

Another bell. The Jaeger’s short ranged sonar and radar picking up what a casual observer would think to be an island moving towards them.

Rainbow Dash’s wing twitched nervously under her drivesuit, a puff of exhaust venting out of one of Daring’s thrusters in response. She swore silently, the Jaeger’s fingers twitching in their armoured housings.

A loud ping chimed in the back of her helmet as the ‘island’ rose out of the water, a solid wall of white water rushing forward as the Kaiju broke the surface. An orange glow shone out of its mouth, shining over the rough water like a beacon.

Unlike many of the simulated Kaiju she’d fought before, Trample was down on all fours and built like a big cat. Its swamp green flesh was covered by mottled, slightly chipped bone coloured plates of armour and its thin slender legs looked much too small to be hauling its bulk about. Apart from a few weak points on its legs, its belly and on the base of its throat, the Kaiju’s armour covered its body entirely, rising up in spiked ridges along its back. A wicked looking blade jutted out the front of the creature’s head, the front side of the massive curve tapered down to an edge so sharp Rainbow felt squeamish simply looking at it. A few strands of glowing yellow drool dripped from the Kaiju’s open mouth, splashing into the ocean with faint puffs of steam.

Trample hissed at them, arching its back up like a cat would. The air seemed to warp and bend around the Kaiju as it roared.

“Ideas?” Rainbow asked.

“Stay away that knife it's got.” Applejack suggested unhelpfully.

Rainbow resisted giving her friend a similarly unhelpful response and after a lightning fast mental conversation with Lightning Dust, started to circle their Jaeger around to the left, mirroring Trample’s wide arc.

“We’re going to come around on its left side.” She advised Applejack.

Trample noticed them, one of its orange eyes detaching Frontier Justice and locking on the lithe Jaeger as it started to circle around on its flank. Its other eyes were fixed on Frontier Justice, studying the machine with interest. The Jaeger dropped into a combat stance, taking cautious steps every now and then, its outstretched fingers twitching in anticipation. It become a game of cat and mouse, both sides waiting for the other to do something first.

‘Almost there.’ Rainbow thought. Another few moments and they’d be close enough to leap on Trample’s back and introduce it to one of their Impact Hammers…

Trample moved first.
The Kaiju lowered its head, charging at Frontier Justice. It took only a few powerful strides
before it was up to speed, dashing through the surf like a rabbit being flushed out of its hole.

Frontier Justice was ready though, Applejack and Big Macintosh sidestepping its headlong charge with barely a metre to spare and locking a meaty arm around the Kaiju’s neck. Before it could break free, the Jaeger’s other fist slammed down on top of its skull. Trample’s body buckled under the force of the blow, dipping into the surf before it surged back, a talon reaching for the Jaeger’s neck but instead screeching off the armoured bulb on its barrel chest. Frontier Justice pushed forward, releasing its neck and slamming the base of its solid fist on top of the Kaiju’s thick skull again. Before Trample could regain its wits, a wide undercut caught the Kaiju’s jaw and sent it pitching over backwards.

“If you two would quit standing around like idiots…” Applejack snapped, Frontier Justice batting Trample’s head aside with the back of its hand as it tried to rise.

Daring Dragoon was already in motion, its long legs and quick stride eating up the distance between it and Trample. Within seconds the blue flash was on the Kaiju’s back, pressing its palms against the base of its neck.

Trample howled again, bucking and rolling away from Frontier Justice as the Jaeger latched on, prompting Daring Dragoon to push off before it could be thrown off or dragged under. With a quick puff of their maneuvering thrusters, they were back on the Kaiju, sprawling across its belly and pressing one of their hooves against Trample’s armpit.

“Impact Hammer, engaged.”

A surge of energy prickled up Rainbow’s foreleg before finally unleashing with a savage note of joy which sang in the back of her mind. An electric crack split the air as the tungsten plates fired, slamming into Trample’s armpit with a sickening sound like a freight train striking a bison. The outer layer Trample’s armour cracked under the blow, flecks of luminous orange blood and shattered armour spraying everywhere. The Kaiju’s shoulder crumpled inward like a tin can and a blood-curdling scream rose from its gullet. Before either of Daring’s pilots could shift and apply the second charged hammer, the Kaiju’s long tail came whipping around, slamming into the side of the Jaeger’s conpod with terrific force and knocked Daring Dragoon loose. Trample rolled on, rolling over its shattered joint without any apparent worry and pushing the Jaeger’s back into the seabed. It brought its good claw down on the Jaeger’s head, a blood-curdling screech of metal sounding as it tore into the Jaeger’s thin armour.

“Conpod breached.”

She saw Lightning Dust look over at the solid wall beside her, terror wide in her eyes. The armour had held, barely, but the conpod’s interior had gotten quite a bit smaller, a massive bulge the size of wagon visible on the interior wall. Sirens strobed and sparks fizzed from the damaged section, blood-red emergency lighting flickering on. A few small cracks had appeared through which trickled thin trails of water. Another impact shook the conpod, momentarily plunging it into darkness. The computer canted another warning but its words were twisted and distorted, alien gibberish instead of intelligible speech.

She reflexively kicked out with her hindlegs, using as much reverse thrust as she dared to add power to the desperate buck. Luck seemed to be on her side, the flat of the Jaeger’s foot catching Trample’s unarmoured groin. The stabilising pin fired on its own accord, penetrating several metres through the Kaiju’s leathery skin and shattered part of its pelvis. Trample howl rose a full octave, its knees nearly buckling and giving out completely. Everything seemed to be getting harder, every action making her mind and limbs burn with protest. She was vaguely aware of Frontier Justice trying to shove Trample over but its claws were dug into the mud tight and its wicked knife-head stopped them from getting too close.

The Kaiju’s claw came down again, this time Rainbow brushing its talon aside with a quick parry which made her head explode with pain. Undeterred, it turned its head away from Frontier Justice, its jaws opening wide to clamp down around the conpod..Its face was a bloody mess, blood and chips of armour flaking from its head as it came around. For a moment all she could see was the depths of the Kaiju’s gullet, horrifically illuminated by the Jaeger’s spotlights.

“Eat this!” She yelled without thinking, shoving Daring Dragoon’s foreleg inside the Kaiju’s frothing mouth almost on reflex. Trample had a second to look surprised before the pre-loaded impact hammer blew the back of its skull out. The Kaiju immediately dropped like a rag-doll, trapping Daring Dragoon beneath its bulk. Its tail twitched twice before it lay still, its tongue lolling out over Daring Dragoon’s neck.

Rainbow let out a sigh of relief, slumping back hard in her harness. Everything hurt, her head felt like somepony had shoved a spike through it and her limbs felt heavy and hot. She could feel she was bleeding in a few places and the front display kept fizzing out. Somewhere behind her she could her the trickle of water slowly leaking into the conpod.

Something shifted through the Jaeger’s visor, she felt a rumble and then the sky became visible, small brilliant flecks of light covering a slowly brightening blanket of darkness. A white light flooded the conpod and she felt the Jaeger being lifted upright.

Rainbow couldn’t resist, the neural link had been cut without her noticing and she was much too tired to really care. She fought to stay awake for a moment before giving in, the lance of pain through the middle of her skull too much to handle.

‘I think I’ll take that nap now…’

Author's Note:

HEY GUYS. LOOK, IT UPDATED! FANCY THAT.

I procrastinated over this for such a long time and then all of a sudden it just got finished over the course of a few days when on a whim I suddenly just started writing again. Funny that. I'm seriously not sure where all the words came from.

On a random note, that fight was really enjoyable to write. I ended up practically rewriting it from scratch a few times because I kept re-imagining it, but I think the end result was pretty neat. I think my favourite thing was actually changing Daring to fight on all fours rather than upright. When I saw the initial concept art for it, I couldn't help but see just how much like it looked like a hound, how much more aggressive it seemed. Using the finished piece for reference, I guess that really came back to the fore. It just felt that much more 'correct' to me.

Hey look, pretty pictures. Don't hurt me please.

Mk2: Everfree Bandit

Height: 265ft/81m (Upright)
Weight: 2163 tons
Speed: 6
Strength: 7
Armour: 5

Operating System: Arathon-Relay S3.2
Energy Core: COLO Nuclear Drive
Weapons: M-13 HPPS Piston Fists
E-1ZCP Energy Projector
Body Language: Bombastic Wrestler
Power Moves: Double-Tap
Overdrive
Pilots: Pinkie Pie / Maud Pue
Kaiju Killed: N/A

Trample - Category III Kaiju

Technical Information
Given Name: Trample
Breach Date: KDAY +753
Category: III
Status: Deceased

Specifications
Height: 226ft (69m)
Weight 3213 tons
Speed: 7
Strength: 5
Armour: 6

Battle Information
Attack Behaviour: Charger/Brawler
Toxicity: Low
Powers: Blade growth from head. High tolerance to pain.
Weaknesses: Throat, Underbelly, Joints

Target Information
Cities Targeted or destroyed: Trottingham
Jaegers Targeted or Destroyed: Inflicted major damage to Daring Dragoon's conpod.

I honestly don't know what I expected

Comments

[The_Pegasus_Box]

media.tumblr.com/9b2c9c698c93523922369323637072e4/tumblr_inline_n3dkhvrUyu1rszbcl.gif

[Abalin]

*Spit take worth for the kings* IT's ALIVE, IT'S ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!! mhmaaamamaaaaaa!!!

[Everbolt]

ITS ALIVE!

great work, good sir.

[6flyer]

Wow. Haven't seen this story in a while.

[Lord Death]

*A faint Signal crackles in the background*
Co-e -n -nd sl-m, a-d we--com- t- th- j-m!! (I have no idea why i put this)

.....allso more or less my reaction to seeing this

[ginnight]

6584371 no fair you beat me to it but I'm just glad its finally updated and not dead or abandoned

[keaton-furman-prower]

IT LIVES

Luck seemed to be on her side, the flat of the Jaeger’s foot catching Trample’s unarmoured groin.

...If they survive the war, Rainbow will tell her grandkids about the time she kicked a kaiju in the nuts

The outer layer Trample’s armour cracked under the blow, flecks of luminous orange blood and shattered armour spraying everywhere.

Wait, I thought kaiju had blue blood? '

...Unless they're a new breed of kaiju. Which, given what happened in the griffon lands and how that went undetected, may indicate that the masters are stepping up their game.

[Arcane Howitzer]

So that's where Squishy went.
I wonder if we're going to see any more double-incursions like that. Or maybe even an Event that's just a splurge of Cat-0's that scatter up and down both coasts. That'd be an absolute nightmare (and probably the only way the Grizzlies would ever see effective use)

[The Avenger]

You're being featured

[Scarheart]

Nice battle!

[MrAskAPirate]

Haha, I was just thinking about this story the other day, and true to form, at least one song from the Pacific Rim soundtrack turned up on my playlist while reading,

Really looking forward to seeing the Pie sisters in action, but also very worried 'cause it sounds like Lightning Dust got knocked out of the drift during the fight, and Rainbow finished things up solo without realizing it. Hopefully the strain on her corpus callosum wasn't enough to cause her any permanent damage,

[Hadjii]

“Conga, maggots.”

Did Shane ever teleport bread for three days?

[Tundara]

Mmm, that fight at the end. Great stuff! I hope Lightning Dust and Daring Dragoon are okay. Sounded a bit like Rainbow was fighting solo there from the groin kick onwards.

I'm so eager to read more of this story.

[SilentMech]

Want to know something funny? I reread this whole story about a month back to remind myself of everything that has happened up to this point. Then you finally update day before Halloween. Suddenly, I want to make my costume a custom jaeger design. I guess I will work on it for next year.

[Black Hoof]

Great chapter again! I hope Rainbow and Lightning are fine.

[Black Hoof]

6583041
Don't worry about the 6 months cycle. Real life comes first and you can take your time. Also, you are still showing you're alive and giving fresh news regularly. Not like some other authors not logging in for 20 weeks and/or being entirety mute, without even putting their stories on hiatus (and I'm talking years without updates nor news).

[golden spectrum]

1. Good to have you back.
2. Rainbow dust spotted.
3. Did Dust do a dead?

[Earthpatriot117]

Awesome story dude!!!

[ibeachu]

Thank you for that beautiful chapter.
You've made a great deal of us very happy.

[Lt Rainbow Slash]

Owwwwww. Damn that's gonna leave a mark on the Dragoon. I wonder how the near death experience will change RD and LD...

[Lt Rainbow Slash]

6590843 No there was no mention of Dust actually getting hurt or anything. Kill just didn't mention her after that one bit.

[golden spectrum]

6592174 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Guess I just misinterpereted some of the things.

[caloricmango]

And thats how you kill a Kaiju by pissing it off by completely destroying its groin and then getting an awesome headshot.

[Kenshinryuu]

Great, some Kaiju have slipped past the radar and have hit the Griffons. Hopefully the ponies and griffons can work together more to make better Jaegers.

And is it really wrong I expected Pinkie to have somehow converted Everfree Bandit's weaponry into a giant Party Cannon for the demonstration and I wouldn't have found it at all weird?????

[Krysnha]

Thanks for keep it up with the storie

[Booster Spice]

Really glad I decided to have a look at this one, hopefully as creation has got slightly more regular as well, but Im used to waiting for months.

Who here ddoesnt want to be anywhere near the simulator, when they show Fluttershy, Squishy? I hear the Isolated Frozen South is nice in comparison.

A big problem iron has for armour, is that its so weak and soft compared to biological materials. The Stainless Steel Rat was called for being able to eat through concrete. Normal toothe enamel is capable of slicing through bulk aluminium and penetrating steels etc due to being much harder.

It doesnt help that most biological structures are nanotech fractal composite materials, their structure tuned to maximum performance at the molecular level. Im suprised, trying to work on the maths for games engines, just how well the current Jaegers manage to survive so well against the Kaiju.

Will Twilight or any other analysis class Unicorn get a look at that breach, to scan it, to get a energy field measure of it for how it is made, protected, as I would think one of the Elements especially would pick up and Chaotic influences in it, having dealt with Discord previously.

If Discord doesnt want to interfere, letting Chaos reign etc, why cant he be on civilian protection and cleanup, then again, the moving of ten thousand civilians out of the way of a falling Kaiju is rather underwealming for his abilities, so it makes me ask, just what is he doing thats taking far more ability than preventing collateral death and injury?

If Twilight could lift an Ursa Minor as a unicorn, has anyone worked out if she could lift any Jaeger, Kaiju as an Alicorn? what are the mass limits of Luna, or even Celestia? If they were in the 5 figures even combined, then shoving one at orbital speed back through the breach would be a story crippler?

Now Im thinking of Earth side taking a crippled Kaiju, stuffing a couple hundred warheads inside it, Terminator style, then dropping it back through the breach. Just as an experiment. Blame Battlefield Earth for that.

Took me a while before I remembered where Id seen the mind linked dual pilot control from, Alan Dean Fosters series, Commonwealth, about the Human, Thranx integration. Take the combat psychosis of Human, the logical analysis speed and multiple limbs of the Thranx, add neuro drugs, join with a neural link, place in a Stingship, and fire off KK drive powered thermonuclear missiles. Its an oldy, late 70s to mid, late 80s, but a good series.

Important questions to ask though, if a breach trhrows out so much junk, why couldnt they detect the one opening up near to Griffon lands, or, if theres only one, how did the sensors not pick up the one that headed out. Then again, the shadow glitch was whale sized, up to 100 foot length, and the Griffon attacker mound was said to be 30 metres or so. they did a two for one piggyback?

How many Squishies are roaming, exploring, unknown.

Any news on research into various shields, focefield research, or did the creators of the story think that, even given our current known technology, that such devices were too fanciful, non compatible with the story? One example, from the late 80s, early 90s, was the use of high power lasers in optical fibres, using this effect, Evanescent wave, to create a wall shield strong enough to capture and contain cold neutrons against Earths gravity in order to explore the properties of bulk neutronium. Although in the article they mantioned the research into amplifying the effect by thousands of times by coatings, I havent seen anything else about the results or research over the intervening decades.

Lots of fun stuff in optical, microwave, acoustic technologies, such as MITs optical lattice, you would probably more recognise it as a Star Trek structural integrity field, especially when applied to acoustics, and I wonder if the Pacific Rim guys ever looked at the Saturn V, 3200 ton rocket, and its 5 F1 launch engines, keroscene LOX, at 3 tons per second each and thought, well, we could have up to 30 seconds of flight capability, jump capability, or given the acoustic output destroys concrete and melts steel, liquidising and carbonising organic material, cause problems for Kaiju? Then I realised, if its tunedd correctly, it could output 230dB plus sound, meaning Vinyl would end up piloting the Bass Cannon.

Then keeping in line with old tech, theres the microwave emmiters etc.

Would Pinkie be classed as The Philadelphia Experiment, and would she be the one who ended up on Earth through Breach hopping?

Sorry for rambling, the descriptions and explanations Ive seen so far in the story and comments make a decent amount of scense for withing the AU reality of this crossover, such as the crippling limitation of technology in the Jaegers, and the continuing Kaiju. If current Kaiju are the T Rex, how would Jaegers deal with Apatosaurus? That whip tail would fold a Jaeger in half, and it has one at each end.

Really need to watch the movie now.

Cherno Alpha rules. Wish there was Beta, extra on the Gamma, and Delta.

[Vedues]

6617853

Here's my best guess for what Twilight could lift:

In the Friends Forever issue #3, Spike mentions that Twilight turned all of Ponyville upside down once. Twilight's an alicorn during this comic, by the way. Granted, we don't know what method she used, but one way or another, that gives us an idea of how much raw mass Twilight can move with her magic.

According to this analysis, the population of Ponyville is between 3,100 and 4,300.

We'll put our guess right in the middle, at 3,700.

The general consensus is that a pony is about 4 ft tall. Feel free to come to your own conclusions on that and alter the rest of this data accordingly, but that's the estimate I'll be using. Anyway, taking some guesses off the height and weight of earth ponies, an Equestrian pony would weigh about 94.7 lbs.

With our population of 3,700 that comes to a total of about 350,390 lbs. Yes, we're grossly generalizing here, but the weight of the individual ponies isn't really a big deal, as you're about to see, so I figure we can get away with it.

Rural areas in North America have a household size of about 3.1. That works out to 1,194 houses in Ponyville, assuming a similar ratio. Now we have to estimate the weight of a house.

I looked at some screenshots from the show, using the ponies as a reference for size, and concluded that an average house in Ponyville is 24.17 ft wide, and 12.08 ft deep, and has two floors. These guesses were a bit low, by the way.

Using an average weight for wood and for stucco, that puts the weight of the outside walls at 17,508.84 lbs. Then I took a bit of a wild guess and doubled that to account for the internal walls, floors, ceiling, and other things that would be inside of a house. So the average weight of a house in Ponyville is about 36,017.68 lbs.

Multiply the number of houses by the weight per house, and you get 43,005,109.92 lbs. Then add in the weight of the ponies, and you get 43,355,499.92 lbs. That's 21,677.75 tons, and we haven't even taken a stab at the weight of other buildings, such as the hospital, movie theater, school house, etc.

For frame of reference, the author's notes on the latest Kaiju, Trample, put it at about 3,213 tons. So Twilight could, theoretically, move six of them around, whether by telekinesis, teleportation, or some other method.

[Booster Spice]

6625364

Intresting, so, say, if she put all her force into the big Kaiju, and kept it up for 1000 metres, from 500 infront to 500 behind, accelerating it through the sound barrier with the extra push at the end, it would have a most un happy stop at the end of its journy?

Given she can fly, what if she accelerated, threw it vertically to pick up altitude, then accelerated it downwards?

Or even gave it a nudge over, and accelerated its head into the ground?

Then again, go back to the Crystal empire. she casts inverse gravity on it.

[Vedues]

6625493 All of those seem plausible ways that she could, theoretically, take down a kaiju. Of course, Twilight's spell selection seems to make her better suited to battlefield manipulation and control. Here's a list of some of her known spells, and how they might work against a kaiju:

Teleportation/Telekinesis: Like you mentioned, basically beat the thing to death with raw kinetic energy.
Whatever she did to the vampire fruit bats: Take away its inherent desire to cause destruction. Just make sure Fluttershy isn't nearby .
Transform into other creatures: She seems to need a creature to serve as a template for the transformation (like when she turned the group into breezies). A couple of royal guards or other fighters transformed into a kaiju would certainly cause some problems. If they got linked up to the hive mind, they could transform a few dozen ponies and have them rip control of the kaiju away from their normal masters.
Want it, need it: Lure the kaiju away from population centers, then sneak up on it while it's distracted.
Gravity Control: Also like you mentioned. Let the kaiju's own weight work against it.
Zero-point Energy: Or whatever she used in Castle Mane-ia. It's a lot easier to fight something that can't move to fight back.
Reformation Spell: She mentioned using one against Discord, so I don't see why she couldn't develop one to reform the kaiju hive mind.

So yeah, that purple pony is pretty insanely OP, when you think about it.

[Booster Spice]

6625656

Im waiting to see what Discord is up to. After all, that breach can handle nukes, but can it handle the sun being shoved through it, or its surroundings turning into chocolate pudding, or suddenly finding its subspace coordinates translated by a octonion vector around the fish axis.

And then theres Pinkie Unleashed.

I wish I could remember what the name of that fanfic story is where Pinkie ends up with Cthuluu, he who makes Kaiju look like fleeting motes of existance.

Thats not Pinkie Unleashed.

[Vedues]

6625733 Yeah, I'd love to see Discord get involved. He'd probably make the first kaiju he meets dance the can can for two hours before spontaneously transforming into the world's largest ball of twine.

Hopefully we'll be seeing some Pinkie insanity now that she's a pilot. Maybe she'll use her jaeger to make a giant cake and throw a welcome party for the first kaiju she meets. Not likely, but hey, I can dream.

[Killbles]

6626241

Well, uh, she throws a pretty nice party.

Just turn cake into maniacal punching while BASE jumping with a Jaeger and you're getting close.

Without a parachute of course, because they're for wimps and filthy casuals.

6625656

The sheer potential energy involved when throwing a Kaiju around is pretty nuts. There is a reason why Sir Isaac Newton is the deadliest son-of-a-bitch around.

Other spells would have variable effects as Kaiju so far have exhibited an inherent resistance to magic. Inherent resistance to raw kinetic energy? Not so much.

I'm also goign to say it's considerably easier to move an inanimate object that one that's alive. A Kaiju will probably be less than pleased if you try and pick it up.

But yes, purplesmart OP.

[Vedues]

6626422 Thanks for the response and the insight into how kaijus and magic interact. I'll look forward to seeing Pinkie's maniacal punching and BASE jumping party. Now I can't get the image of a jaeger size party cannon out of my head...

[Valikdu]

WHEN IN DOUBT, STAB ENEMY DICK WITH STABILIZER PIN

[Chimp]

Midsummer Night's Dream referencing intensifies.

[Warrior Kitten]

img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130122224809/creepypasta/images/4/49/WALL_OF_TEXT...PREPARE.jpg

[Warrior Kitten]

Broken link to Trample

Mk. 2 Everfree Bandit picture embed failed.

Trample Cat 3 Kaiju picture embed failed.

[the other sans]

“Sure, sure.” Michael agreed..
I’m sure she has a vested inter-.”
changing course, bounding over to the human..
crept around the edge of her face,.though unlike the pegasus
perhaps to watch the upcoming demonstration.from the LOCCENT
He covered the quick slip in composure.with a quiet cough
Lightning Dust bristled indignantly..
A little after four in the morning..I was having trouble sleeping
wide to clamp down around the conpod..Its face was a bloody mess

Extra fullstop.

It’s paint scheme was also the least flashy and ostentatious

Its.

His plumage was a brilliant , almost snow white
Her terms in actuality , Michael suspected

Extra spacing.

Twilight seemed too stunned to respond at first. “They’re completely inert..They should be..”

Extra fullstop and forgot one more to make an ellipses.

Here it is.’ Michael thought

Forgot your apostrophe.

“”Shield Island is like, really rich in

Extra quotation mark.

Rainbow’s least favourite part of the da came next

Day.

Catch up=?”

Extra equal.

Heg limbs were stiff and her head was throbbing

Her.

why couldn't’ they show up at a more reasonable

Extra apostrophe.

reactive circuits were unnervingly realistic.It would probably snow again

Forgot your spacing.

It become a game of cat and mouse, both sides waiting for the other to do something first

It'd./ It became.

The outer layer Trample’s armour cracked under the blow

The outer layer of Trample's armour.