• Published 25th Aug 2019
  • 1,618 Views, 129 Comments

MLP: Lord of the Skies - The Bricklayer



There is a saying, speak of the devil and he shall appear. Apparently, when speaking of Titans this applies as well...

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2: Stirrings

Author's Note:

Whoo boy, now this was a fun chapter to write. Still, thank you Vertigo for your ideas for the ending bit of this piece, and another thank you to the Bridge for inspiring a certain moment in this chapter.

Currently, the now relocated Monarch Headquarters in Canterlot was abuzz with a wave of activity. Seismographs as far away as Azteca and Galiceno had picked up stirrings beneath the earth and at first it had thought to be just an earthquake and not much to worry about. Well, for Monarch anyways. But then on a second look something very… odd had been discovered.

“Don’t you see, right here?” Star Hunter said, the midnight blue pegasus babbling in excitement as he pointed and gestured to the seismograph printouts. “Like, there it is!”

“Yes, yes… we see and we are of the opinion that something is quite amiss!” the Shobijin exclaimed in unison. “Quite amiss indeed!”

Now, the Shobijin being a part of Monarch was quite the story indeed. After Mothra’s return to the world stage, if you will, it had been decided that Monarch needed a way to communicate with kaiju in hopes of warding them away from major cities and population centers. This was, of course, in hopes of preventing another Honolulu or Manehatten. This was not without some pushing and shoving in the bureaucracy of course as all major government moves came with such things, and no small amount of skepticism. Quite a few, in fact, didn’t believe in what the Shobijin were selling and thought them nuts or in the case of the cynics just flat out lying about Mothra’s intentions towards ponykind.

After all, there were those who said she was just hunting, and didn’t have any real interest in defending ponykind. And as of right now goodwill towards Monarch was quite few and far between given that they had deliberately kept hidden the existence of prehistoric monsters, Grogar’s children. Add to that the fact that Monarch had spectacularly failed to stop even one of these creatures when it mattered the most and there were rumors that they were on the verge of being shut down. Princess Twilight refused to comment on matters.

“...Part of a wave of memorials and protests demanding that the secretive monster-hunting coalition known as Monarch be held accountable. Top brass in the mysterious Monarch organization will face another intense grilling as the government continues to…”

Sighing, Star Hunter changed the channel as he went back to checking the printouts. Grumbling in disgust, he listened to the next broadcast.

“...And rumors persist that Monarch may be hiding even more creatures have been discovered since the attacks of six months ago. A historic tragedy that changed the world as we know it forever. The day the world as we know it, discovered that the legendary kaiju of old were in fact real.”

“...Well, they’re not wrong about the rumors bit,” Star Hunter muttered largely to himself. “But we do it only for the best of reasons, after all, if the public truly knew how many kaiju were out there just laying in wait then they’d panic even more than they already are. Goddess above, I envy Daring and Snap at times. When they’re not traveling around the world chasing after new and rogue Titans, they have to be stuck at Monster Island and sending back photos of the Titans in a natural habitat. Allowing the public to see the Titans as animals and not just giant monsters was probably the best idea Pharynx came up with, aside from bringing the Shobijin on board.”

“Are you, or are you not a Monarchy with Princess Twilight as the sole head of state?” the Shobijin questioned, the tiny changelings tilting their heads in unison. It was sorta creepy actually, to Star Hunter’s eyes. “So why can you not just have her shut down this infuriating thing called ‘nobility’?”

“...Well, would you want to appear as a tyrant?” Star Hunter asked looking down at the two small beauties. “Because if that’s what Twilight does as you propose she does, that’s what exactly she will appear as.”

“Bah!” came a snort from the corner of the room, Fizzlepop taking a swig of her whiskey. “Nobles have never been good for anything in my experience. Okay, yes, there’s a few good ones like Fancy Pants and Twilight’s family but apart from that…? Personally, I think Twilight should just strip them of their titles, really…”

“Yes yes, we’re quite aware of what you think Fizzlepop,” Star Hunter muttered accompanying this statement with a small rolling of his eyes “Like it or not, they do take some of the stress away from Princess Twilight, and handle minor things like…the, uh…”

“The uh, what?” Fizzlepop asked setting her whiskey aside and crossing her forelegs.

“...Well, I’m not sure, but I bet I can think of something eventually!” Star Hunter stammered out.

“Oh yes, because that sounds like such a convincing argument…” Fizzlepop deadpanned.

“Well, if what Star Hunter says is true, and they handle minor things that Twilight herself cannot oversee at the time then it is a good reason to keep them on.” the Shobijin stated looking at Fizzlepop who could only suppress a shudder. For such tiny things, they had a way of borrowing their way into your soul with those unblinking eyes of theirs. It was like looking at smaller versions of Pharynx really.

“Yeah yeah, I’ll believe it when I see it,” Fizzlepop muttered to herself. “Annnnyyyyyways, so what have you found?”

“In terms of kaiju?” Star Hunter asked. “Well, Monarch’s been compiling data and so far we’ve discovered 14 Titans… and rising.”

“I don’t mean that, you moron!” Fizzlepop barked making the Shobijin jump in a start. “I meant these… stirrings if you will.”

“Oh yes, that!” Star Hunter said. “At first we thought it to be normal earthquakes, like the rising and falling of the planet’s crust. But they’re nowhere near erratic enough for that. It’s almost as if…”

“Almost as if what?” Fizzlepop asked.

“It’s almost as if something in Azteca is deciding it’s suddenly time to…” Star Hunter said before taking a nervous swallow. He then braced himself for what he had to say next before speaking. “...Wake up.”

Fizzlepop looked at the screen of a long-dormant volcano, and then at another readout taken just a few days before. Bioacoustics. Her eyes widened.

“You got a snappy nickname for this one?” she had to ask. “Out of your kingdom of horrors, which one are we about to be dealing with?”

The Shobijin shared a look before answering. They knew both Monarch members would not like what she had to say. “Your local legends call them Rodan. The Fire Demons.”

“...Well, isn’t that just comforting…” Fizzlepop asked as Star Hunter fainted dead away behind her.


Soulshine considered himself a lucky stallion, for Saddle Arabia as it turned out, held a no-extradition policy. Yes, they were steadfast allies with Equestria but that didn’t always mean they bowed down on bended knee to their sister nation even if Princess Twilight asked nicely. She could scream all she wanted to, but Saddle Arabia’s government was just as stubborn as his own.

Soulshine had seen the ugly side of ponykind, having been present for Hardsteel’s trial and having experienced the wars on the Changeling Kingdoms. As much as he liked to think otherwise, it just got uglier with each passing year. It just got worse. He looked toward a picture on his desk, a younger him with a smiling daughter.

Soulshine suppressed a snarl, and then a sniffle. He swore what happened to her he would never wish upon anyone else. About a year ago, his daughter -the light of his life- had gone missing and about three and a half days later they’d discovered her dead body in a ditch, violated for all to see.

“G-Cells, now just what can't you do with them? Pharmaceuticals, bioweapons, food,” he thought to himself. “It’s just a shame you can’t bring someone back from the dead with them… In any case, we opened Pandora's Box. And there's no closing it now.”

So that meant it was time to make the best of what he had been given. Soulshine wanted what was best for the world, truly. The G-Cells he’d gotten ahold of could easily push his company’s medicines beyond the limit of whatever anyone thought possible. He was well aware of the consequences of his actions. If he proved to the world that G-Cells could do just about anything, then every country on the planet would be scrambling to get ahold of them now. And some of their intentions could turn out to be not quite so benevolent of his own. For all he knew, countries -as that young changeling Ocellus more or less predicted- could now create their own kaiju for defense. Or even worse, attack.

As he said, the nature of the world just kept on getting uglier.

For a moment, he gripped his pendent with his hoof and sighed. “What would you want me to do, Angelic?” he thought, thinking of his ill-fated daughter. Fighting back more tears, the stallion continued to think. “Is this what you really want me to do?”

He knew in his heart that in a way, this was all for her. Try to improve the world, even if only slightly for her sake. Angelic was always smiling, even when times got dark. She wanted to take on the world, and for the sake of her memory, Soulshine swore to do just that.

He walked down to his labs, where his chief scientist Bubbling Beakers was speaking with a very tall stallion, with dark brown fur. Soulshine swallowed. That was one of Saddle Arabia’s higher-ups, Haakim they called him.

“Ah, Soulshine,” Haakim said to the yellow pinto patched unicorn, bowing with Soulshine doing so in return. “Your friend here was telling me all about the possible applications of these… G-Cells?”

Bubbling nodded nervously, perhaps somewhat intimidated by the larger stallion. Haakim stepped closer to Soulshine. “You do know you are playing a very dangerous game, do you not?” he asked. “You’re quite lucky that I haven’t decided to throw you out after that little stunt you pulled with a certain Titan.”

Soulshine swallowed nervously. “Yes… yes, I admit that was a risky maneuver but it paid off in dividends didn’t it? You wanted Titan cells, well I got you some from the King of the Monsters himself!”

“After he and Mokele, the original target trashed the capital!” Haakim shouted. “I’m starting to wonder if all of this money we’re going to be spending repairing it will be worth it. I want to begin seeing returns on this investment!”

“And trust me, my friend,” Soulshine replied calmly even if he was nervously sweating on the inside. It would be all too easy for Haakim to kick him out of the country, and there would be the Princess waiting to scoop him up. “You soon will, as soon as my company begins refining the cells and uses them to produce medicine you will get 50% of the profits. At least!”

“50% huh?” Haakim asked. “50% sounds good…”

“Yes, yes it does,” Soulshine said. “You told me once you were envious of your prince brother for having a gold bathtub right?”

“Yes, I did mention that,” Haakim grumbled. “The little bastard keeps on holding it over me to no end!”

“Well, think of it!” Soulshine said wrapping his arm around his friend. “Can you not just envision it? You could have diamonds encrusted in your bathtub! Diamonds!”

“Yes… yes…” Haakim said with a smile. “I like that idea. But you must understand of course, that if I do not see any returns at all -any returns!- on this little venture of ours I will be reconsidering handing you over to Princess Twilight. Are we clear on this?”

“Clear,” Soulshine said. “Quite clear!”

With that, Haakim took his leave. Soulshine dug into his pockets and pulled out a handkerchief, using it to wipe the nervous sweat away from his brow. That… had not been a fun meeting, to say the least. He was treading dangerous waters, and Haakim was rapidly running out of patience.

“...Maybe it’s time for a rethink,” he muttered. “...Maybe I should have backed out of this plan when I still had the chance…”

“You say that like you had one to begin with,” Bubbling remarked. “You knew perfectly well this wouldn’t be an easy or a safe plan.”

“Yes yes, I know…” Soulshine grumbled. “But Haakim is getting impatient, cracking the code to Godzilla’s cells is easier said than done. We’re going to have to tide him over until then I think…”

“Well, lucky for you,” Bubbling said. “My bird in Monarch decided to suddenly start squawking. Looks like two new Titans are waking up, south of the border. Azteca, Mount Halcón seems to be paying itself host to two residents.”

“Well, isn’t that just interesting…” Soulshine mused. “How soon can you get ahold of some of their DNA?”

“Well, sooner if you… no, this is a crazy idea.”

“My neck is the line, so I’m rather open to crazy by this point,” Soulshine said. “So please do enlighten me as to this idea of yours.”

“How about you let me… wake them up ahead of schedule?” Bubbling asked. Soulshine frowned. He definitely didn’t like the idea. One Titan was bad enough to handle, and they got lucky when they did when Godzilla showed up to bring Mokele back into line. But two, and with no guarantee that they could be handled? No, it was too grave a risk. There was no telling just how many lives would be lost in the process.

“No,” Soulshine said firmly putting his hoof down. “No. We are not waking them up, not in the slightest. I set out to save Equestria when I founded this company, not destroy it! This… this is the exact opposite of that!”

“Well, can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs, as I always say…” Bubbling muttered with a small shrug. “But then again, what do I know. I’m only your top scientist after all…”

Soulshine whirled around his horn alight with magical energy. “One whom I can easily replace.”

“Well, I’m sorry if the cause of science cannot be furthered without a few cos-”

“Costs?” Soulshine growled. “I’m sorry, would you care to repeat that? Lives are never acceptable costs!” he bellowed out.

“Says the stallion who set Mokele-Membe onto Saddle Arabia’s capital city,” Bubbling Beakers pointed out. “Or am I mistaken and something else happened?”

“I did not intend for Mokele to go on a rampage, you know this as well as I do,” Soulshine said. “It was not a desirable outcome. The plan, as you very well know was to laser off some of his flesh.”

“Yes, well… Plans change don’t they? And look what we got instead, the cells from the King of the Monsters himself! Now, I’m sorry that it has to be this way but what would your daughter think?”

But he had finally gone too far. Soulshine stared down Bubbling with undisguised hatred. “Get out. You heard me, I said GET OUT!”

Wisely, Bubbling did so as a blast of magic nearly cleaved his head clean off. Egotism and stupidity, they often went hand in hand with science and if not reigned in and kept in check the consequences of the two meeting could and would often be disastrous. And as Soulshine was finding out, Bubbling Beaker possessed both traits in abundance at times.

He sighed and walked out of the lab soon catching up with Haakim in a large room overlooking the city, the night skies shining down and the stars twinkling in the sky. Luna it seemed, had left Equestria one last gift before her retirement.

“...Am I doing this right?” Soulshine asked. “I want to better the world, but at the cost of the lives I’m being asked? Is that really the way?”

“Science is fun. Science is curiosity. We all have natural curiosity. Science is a process of investigating. It's posing questions and coming up with a method. It's delving in,” Haakim said. “Isn’t that what you told me once? That we all must delve into depths we never thought we would for improvement?”

“I hardly think this is what we call improvement,” Soulshine remarked to his friend. “Bubbling wants to release two Titans, and he’s not even considering the lives of those who may be ruined by their awakening. This is not what I set out to do!”

“Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science,” Haakim noted. “Sadly, I think your friend is one of the ignorant ones.”

“Yes, I admit that,” Soulshine sighed. “For all of his intelligence, Bubbling does have a tendency to treat those beneath him as simply pieces to a larger puzzle and not as…”

“Living beings?” Haakim asked. “Yes, that is a sad thing. We are in an age now, where the consequences aren’t often considered, even by myself I am stallion enough to admit.”

A far cry indeed from the Haakim Soulshine had met just a few minutes before. A far cry indeed!

“So what do we do?” Soulshine asked. “Something tells me Bubbling will, for the cause of science, find some way to make sure that those two Titans are released. I can do nothing, sadly, without relieving myself of your custody.”

“And if you do not, lives may be on the line,” Haakim noted. “I would -if I was in your position- what I thought was right. What do you think is right?” he inquired.

“Yes… yes, you’re quite right,” Soulshine agreed. “It’s time to tell Monarch about what’s going on…”

He took a deep breath before letting out another sigh. This was not how he envisioned his day going when he got up this morning, that was for sure. “Between the idea
and the reality. Between the motion, and the act falls the Shadow…”


Titanosaurus swam, having picked up the hoard somewhere south of the place the small ones called Baltimare. Swimming into Horseshoe bay, the crimson creature frowned as he saw a small boat out in the waters, some type of pleasure craft. This was not what he’d have called ideal to say the least.

He would have to make the best of it, he mused to himself, and try as hard as possible to keep the ones in the boat and in the city beyond out of harm’s way. He doubted Kamacuras would agree to that, however. He would have to be extremely careful and hope that the small ones knew how to run from what was coming.

Out on the boat, several ponies gathered, Snap Shutter and his daughter among them. Scootaloo’s eyes widened as she peered out into the bay, seeing the sails of the massive dinosaur scything through the water, dropping her binoculars in shock.

“Dad!” She shouted, gesturing wildly. Snap Shutter’s eyes widened as he saw it as well.

“Brace for impact!” Snap shouted. The day had started off so simple, he mused to himself. While he would be the first to admit he was hardly the best father in the world, he honestly tried to give his best to his daughter as any father did. Rainbow had sorta slipped him the fact that his daughter had a bit of a crush on Sweetie Belle, so he had elected to take the two on his little trip to Baltimare, just so they could -hopefully- have some sort of alone time.

Of course, neither of them had factored in the creature known as Titanosaurus. Why the massive titan was here was currently unknown, but Snap Shutter knew that when an animal left it’s usual routes and hunting grounds -as Titanosaurus was doing right now- it was generally because it felt threatened by something.

He didn’t know how right he was.

To his surprise however, Snap Shutter never felt the boat beginning to even capsize, as Titanosaurus seemed to vanish. And then he realized, with the stallion running to the other side of the boat and watching the creature vanish beneath the waves. And it was heading on a direct course to Baltimare…

“Oh, sweet Celestia…” Sweetie Belle whispered as she looked out towards the city, rising high above the landscape. “...All of those ponies.”

And then she remembered who else was in the city. “RARITY!”

On the beach, a filly looked out into the waters and tugged at her dad’s shoulder with a hoof. “Dad… why is the tide going in…?”

Her father’s eyes widened as he saw the tides beginning to recede. Now, before all of this he had lived in Honolulu for several years so he knew what was coming. “...Oh dear Celestia.”

And then the shout went up. “TSUNAMI!”

Ponies began to rapidly flee the beach as the call went up. And not a moment too soon, as a wave began to rush in, gallons of water slamming into the seaside leaving only destruction in its wake. Warehouses were flooded and then smashed to bits by the sheer force of the waters, ponies fleeing inside whatever buildings they could and praying and hoping that the walls would hold back the tide.

Then through the flooded streets, Titanosaurus’ form slowly began to reveal itself, scything through the waters as if they were paper. He rose up out of the floodwaters and let out a shrieking roar, nearly deafening in volume. He did not mean to cause such devastation, it was just inevitable with a creature of his size. All of that displaced water had to go somewhere after all. Gallons of it dripping off his body, Titanosaurus slowly made his way into the city, his orange eyes narrowing as he spotted a sharp military green form cutting through the night skies. Kamacuras had arrived.

Devilishly fast, Titanosaurus had no time to zero in on his prey before it rounded a building -glass bulging and then shattering- before striking at him, drawing blood. Titanosaurus shrieked out in pain before he lashed out with his tail slamming the giant mantis into the side of a building. He went for the creature, intending on prying and ripping its infuriating wings off before Kamacuras reacted. With one of its twin scythe-like talons, it slashed into Titanosaurus’ form, drawing more blood. Kamacuras rocketed skywards, his foe just barely following his movements as he saw the creature round a mountainside.

Titanosaurus reacted, prying the monster out of the air and then tossing it into the foothills and valleys beyond the city limits. The sheer force of the mighty toss created a mighty shockwave and a truly cataclysmic thud. Titanosaurus roared and braced himself for the next attack.

Rarity was running for her life, up the stairs of a building as she saw waters began to gather in the hotel lobby below. How had everything gone so wrong, so fast? Her sole intention was to just chaperone her sister on this little visit, and instead, she had found herself in the middle of a battle between Titans. Looking out a window, she saw the first creature struggling to keep the mantis monster away from him, just barely holding the thrashing insect with his forelimbs. Then the dinosaur lunged, grabbing the mantis with his jaws and biting down hard, green blood splattering the windows of the building.

“Please be safe… Sweetie…” Rarity thought to herself, finally feeling confident in her safety. The waters had finally stopped rising. “Oh, goddess… Oh, goddess…” she whispered fearfully.

“Rarity, you alright?” Rainbow Dash’s voice came from behind her. The pegasus was running up, panting and sweating. “Did you see your sister?”

“NO!” Rarity squealed. “And that’s the problem, I didn’t see her at all! Last I checked she was still out on the boat with… Oh goddess, Scootaloo! Rainbow Dash, can you go fly out there and find them!?!”

“In that chaos?” she asked seeing both Titanosaurus and Kamacuras still battling for dominance. “Are you kidding? There’s no way I’m getting between those two! Look, I’m worried about the squirt just as much as you are, even more so perhaps but there’s no way I’m going to get caught up in a battle between those two!”

“WELL THEN!” Rarity shouted her horn sparking with magical energy in her anger and her fear. “I shall just have to go out and search for myself, seeing as how you are too much of a coward to do it yourself!”

Rarity instantly regretted that, knowing Rainbow was probably just as scared for her sister as Rarity was for her own.

“And how do you plan to do that, huh?” Rainbow Dash shouted back, grabbing Rarity by the tail and looking her friend dead in the eye. “The streets are flooded, and in case you haven’t noticed there’s -oh yes!- two kaiju trying to kill each other!” she shouted gesturing outside.

“Well… well…” the fashionista stammered out. “I… I have to do something! My sister’s out there somewhere, and I… I need to know what happened to her!”

A mighty crash came from somewhere outside, and both Rainbow and Rarity looked out to see Kamacuras having broken himself free from Titanosaurus’ grasp before darting back in and ramming him like a 20,000 metric ton piledriver. Titanosaurus fell through a building, shrieking out in pain, smoke rising from the ruins.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened, the kaiju was losing. Her favorite kaiju was losing. Breaking into a gallop, her mighty wings unfurling the pegasus began to run towards an open window. She heard a shout from behind her.

“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity shouted. “And just what the hell do you think you are doing!”

“Lending a hoof.” Rainbow Dash said before rocketing out into the chaos.

“...Good luck Rainbow Dash…” Rarity whispered.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed. She didn’t need to do much, just buy a little bit of time until Titanosaurus was back on his feet, and ready to continue the fight. Kamacuras, by her estimations, seemed to be built more for speed rather than durability. This was a good thing, as it meant Titanosaurus only needed a few good solid blows to actually finish him.

“Alright you bastard, you want a snack? Then come and get it!” Rainbow shouted doing a small barrel roll in hopes of attracting the giant mantis’ attention. Luckily -or unluckily- he turned to look at her, his eyes sizing up the meal. She was tiny, but she would do.

Taking to the skies, he flew after Rainbow Dash, leading her on a chase through the nearby mountains.

Titanosaurus meanwhile had spotted the small one dart out from the safety of the building, and he eyed her possibly thinking her crazy. But then he realized what she was trying to do, and he had to admire her courage. It seemed the small ones had more tenacity than he previously gave them credit for. It seemed he would have to reevaluate his opinion on them. He just hoped this rainbow-maned one’s efforts weren’t in vain.

Rainbow smiled, now she was in her element. Never was she any more focused than when she was in the skies. She could react to dangers in a split second before they happened. A thin whistling sound filled the night skies, a multicolored blur rocketing overhead. The sound started to pool into the air, echoing through the valley passes.

Rainbow had blotted out everything but the necessary thoughts. Pouring on the speed, she smiled.

Being a pegasus meant you could fly faster than anypony could normally run. This was fine, Equestria had thousands of fliers.

It had dozens of speedsters, all of whom could break the sound barrier with very little effort given.

But it had only one who could break even those speeds. It had only one Rainbow Dash.

The sound split the air, and a rainbow wave of light filled the skies.

fffffffffFFFFFFFFWOOOOMMMM!!!

A crack like thunder and Kamacuras was sent spiraling backward, before a massive tail reared up out of nowhere and slammed into him, sending him flying into the bay.

Titanosaurus eyed Rainbow Dash, and Rainbow Dash eyed him. This was no mere unintelligent beast. It knew who to thank. Giving a gruff nod, he chased after his quarry, the 30,000 metric ton dinosaur diving back into the bay. Kamacuras tried to struggle and lashed out with his limbs trying to dig into his opponent's scales but he could not get away. For you see, the waters had ruined his wings and he was easy prey being ripped apart by Titanosaurus’ powerful jaws. Blood sprayed, some of it hitting Titanosaurus and some drenching the bay. It did not matter, the day was won. A roar of victory went up.

However, this victory did not come without a cost. The tumultuous battle had rocked Snap Shutter’s boat back and forth, and it had nearly capsized several times during the battle as Titanosaurus and Kamacuras had thrashed about in the bay.

And then it capsized, as it had been threatening to do, with Kamacuras’ wing beats creating powerful waves. He had not gone quietly.

Sweetie Belle reached out with her magic as she saw Scootaloo tumble into the deep dark waters, Snap being unable to toss a life preserver in all of this chaos.

Groaning out in pain, Sweetie Belle’s horn sparked before glowing green as the young mare tried to reach out and grab her best friend.

“Scootaloo!” Sweetie Belle shouted as she saw her friend being dredged up from the abyss, Titanosaurus’ head rising above the waters with Scootaloo’s prone form sitting firmly on top of it.

He gently leaned down and deposited her on the shoreline, Sweetie and Snap swimming over to her. “Please… Please be okay…” Snap Shutter whispered.

As he desperately tried to resuscitate her, Rainbow Dash landed nearby and ran up whispering and pleading to whatever god who happened to be listening. “Scootaloo…” she whispered before it became a shout. “SCOOTALOO!”