//------------------------------// // New York: Varan The Glutton // Story: Monster King // by Godzilla2020 //------------------------------// The skies over Philadelphia were clear and star filled the only other light was from the airport bellow. The light shone on and off the runaway as planes both took off and landed. From inside one of the control towers the staff walked around listening in for the pilots as they requested permission to land and takeoff. The room was calm just how the head of traffic control liked it. He took a sip from his coffee mug letting out a calming sigh as the warm caffeine went through his body and helped keep him awake. He walked past each monitor seeing the blinking lights of the radars. But one in particular began to make a high-pitched beep signaling something fast was approaching. He raised a brow at the sight walking behind the equally confused woman behind the radar, "Sir, was there supposed to be some kind air force training drill going on today?" "None that I'm aware of." He answered looking down at the radar. The blinking green dot indicating the unknown object approaching the airport at high-speed. His eyes widened in shock at just how fast it was approaching the read out on its speed was close to Mach three and gaining. This wasn't a plane. He looked at everyone in the room, "Ground all flights immediately! Tell all remaining planes to avoid this field! We've got a kaiju!" "Look at that!" Another person pointed up in the sky and everyone followed their point of view. A red streak was flying low in the sky. Those at the airport only saw the creature for brief instance before the wind ripped the building apart like it was made of cardboard. It was like a hurricane was passing through as cars taken were off the ground being thrown straight into the building. Those who were lucky enough not to be trapped under the rubble looked up in shocked horror seeing the massive creature in the sky. Its horns flashed purple as the kaiju let out an earsplitting screech as it beat its wings down leaving a sonic boom behind. In the southern part of the world this creature was simply know as Diablo, a being of death and destruction. Wherever he went horrifying winds followed behind. His green eyes looked over the area the way one would look over a messy room. Disregard and uncaring. He had other things on his mind like the fact that the strange aura he was sensing had vanished as he got closer to his destination. The only other aura he sensed were ones that he knew weren't threats. At least one wasn't a threat. The other made him grind his teeth. The air around him began to swirl as Diablo beat his wings down harder. A Mach cone formed around him as he sped up before a massive sonic boom echoed across the skies. Mach three turned into four as the wind went past Diablo. Something wasn't right and he was going to find out. __________________________ Her vision was hazy as the darkness surrounded her. The only thing she knew was that she was on her back. Sunset felt the pain radiating through her body as she slowly rose up to a sitting position. She also felt a horrifying cold in the air. Things only got worse when she heard a familiar laugh that caused her to tense up. Sunset looked around but she still only saw darkness. The sound of footsteps suddenly echoed around her as the giggling got closer. "Can I play with her, Midnight?" Kuro's voice was colder than whatever dark environment she was in. "Soon, Kuro, but first we should deal with the others." Midnight's voice came out of the darkness. Sunset felt her heart beating through her chest as her. The footsteps got closer she tried to move again in an attempt to hide but Sunset couldn't feel her arms. She started huffing as fear overtook her sense of reason. And as if the darkness was giving birth, Kuro emerged looking directly at Sunset. She tried moving her arms again to back away, but her body refused. All she could was watch with horror as Kuro stepped closer. She whimpered as the woman was soon standing over her the dark smile never leaving her face. Kuro knelt down cocking her head like a bird before reaching out a hand. Sunset tried screaming but nothing came out, her voice was gone. But she didn't focus on that as Kuro's hand didn't go for her throat but instead something at her side. "Aww! But she looks like she makes really fun noises." Kuro sounded like a disappointed child as, to Sunset's surprise, she lifted another woman by her chin. She was unconscious with hair similar to Kuro's own the only exception was that it seemed dirtier than Kuro's pure snow like hair. She wore a grey hoodie with jeans and her arms were tied behind her back. Kuro studied her face with disturbing fascination as her other hand began to creep up into the air like a snake posing to strike. "How about just one little squeeze?" "No, I want them all here, Kuro. I want them all to see what happens when a parasite steals from us." Midnight said looking at the unconscious woman the way one would look at a pile of trash. XERRRRRRRRAAAIN The roar was like thunder coming down. A another being emerged from the darkness only it was much larger. Sunset's eyes followed the dragon like creature as it stood on all fours looking down at Kuro and Midnight, both of whom looked very annoyed by it. It snarled back at them giving them a horrifying glare. Midnight just let an annoyed groan, "Yes, yes, and I'll let you eat feed. WHEN. I'M. DONE!" Smoke began to form around the dark Elias and slowly crept onto Kuro who just giggled looking at her hands as they became transparent. Midnight looked up at the dragon once more giving a final order, "Bring her closer to the water we'll need Gezora to stand guard. And don't eat her!" The dragon just snorted with an annoyed anger. "I swear I'd get more patience from a cat." Midnight grumbled. "Are we getting a kitty?!" Kuro said with pure joy causing Midnight to groan before they disappeared leaving Sunset alone with the dragon like kaiju. She made no noise as the dragon just stood still before finally looking down at her. It let out a loud grunt its hand rose to action shocking Sunset as it rose over her. She tried once again to move but with little results she could only look up in horror as the dragon's hand came down upon her. ......................... ........ .. Sunset screamed bloody murder as she rose up covered in sweat. Her arms covered her face trying to shield herself. She could barely hear the calm voice trying to ease her. "Hey, Sunset, calm down! You're safe." Kubo spoke calmly holding a screaming Sunset by her shoulders. Her eyes started to focus again seeing the calm smiling face of Kubo looking at her. She kept huffing as the screaming had all but left her already pain filled lungs strained. Her eyes began to wander looking at everything around her and taking it in. She was no longer in the hallway, but in her hotel room. She looked around realizing was she up against the wall seeing that the beds were already occupied. Twilight was lying on one with a washcloth placed over her head and a bandage wrapped around her neck. She looked out of it, but was still twitching, which told Sunset she was going through something just as bad as she was. On the other bed both Aria and Sonata were lying down. The younger siren held her cousin in her arms as tears strolled down her face. Aria looked like she was still out, a look of pain was clearly etched onto her face. Sunset noticed that the arm Kuro had grabbed hung uselessly. Sonata had the same white bandage as Twilight wrapped around her neck from where she was pierced by Midnight. If it bothered her Sonata didn't pay it much attention as she was too focused on cradling Aria in her arms. A shaky hand was placed on her shoulder and Pinkie gave her weak smile. The pink haired party planner's hair looked like it lost some of its fluff. She had an ice pack placed her head. Sunset was at least happy to see that she appeared in good health besides the loss of some of her usual pep. When she looked around, she also noticed Rarity and Fluttershy were both back on their feet with ice on their heads. Other than some ruffled hair, that Rarity was trying to fix, they looked alright. "Owww!" Sunset looked up noticing that Rainbow Dash was sitting at the only table in the room. She had her sleeve pulled up revealing a slash on her arm that was slowly being wrapped up by Akiko. "Couldn't you be a little gentle?!" She sneered at Akiko who just rolled her eyes in response. "Would you stop squirming?" Akiko said as she pulled on Rainbow's bandages causing the girl to yelp from the pain. She sent Akiko a glare grinding her teeth. "Trust me, Dash Bow, Akiko knows what she's doing. She just doesn't have much of a gentle touch." Bone Crusher said. Rainbow blushed slightly when she saw he was watching. She cleared her throat straightening herself back out and putting on her usual bravado. Although when Akiko began tugging harder on the bandages it caused her to shiver from the pain. A loud groan soon drew Sunset's attention to the bathroom. She picked up the sound of someone vomiting and a toilet flushing. There was a low groan as Applejack walked out aided by Hikari. The farm girl's eyes looked as if she'd just woken up each step she took was shaky. Hikari was rubbing her back and keeping her steady with a look of concern. "Easy now take it slow." She said easing Applejack along. "Thanks." Applejack was about to say more but she stopped clutching her stomach an intense pained look crossing her face. Hikari kept her steady as her cheeks puffed out. It looked like she was ready to throw up again. She struggled for a moment to keep her footing before managing to stay up. "Think Ah need ta sit down." With a few more steps Hikari managed to help Applejack sit next to Sunset. She heard the Applejack's ragged breaths as she continued clutching her stomach. Kubo looked at them both with sympathy before clicking his tongue. Hikari put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I should have just attacked her when I had the chance." Kubo said looking at Sunset then over to a still crying Sonata. "It's all my fault." "Kubo, don't put this all on yourself." Hikari said. "She's right." Lora and Moll appeared walking from the back of Twilight's head. Both of their glowing hands pressed against her head. Causing Twilight to have a slight sense of relief. Lora looked at the group bowing her head, "The fault is mine I should have realized that the attack earlier was one of Midnight's tricks." Moll copied her older sisters actions looking at the girls with sympathy. Fluttershy looked at the Elias with a small smile, "We don't blame you." "Yes, darling, you weren't the ones who attacked us." Rarity added on. "Yeah, you guys are lot nicer than those two were." Pinkie Pie said. Applejack grunted as she tried adjusting herself to sit up, but still managed to look at all of the G-team. "Speakin a which who the hay were those two?" "And how can I give them some major back!" Rainbow Dash said punching her fist into her hand and immediately regretting it. As a sharp pain raced through her arm. "Kuro and Midnight." Hikari said with a sigh. "And you're not even close to being on Kuro's level." Akiko stated bluntly pulling on Rainbow's bandages causing her to yelp in pain. Akiko finally finished her handiwork, leaving a less than happy Rainbow Dash rubbing her arm, she looked to the girls with serious eyes, "When it comes to fighting, she's a genius." "Oh yeah and she's also insane, obsessive, and willing to kill anyone without so much of a second thought." Bone Crusher added on. Sunset and the others all looked at him with wide eyes. The image of her crazed eyes still present in all of their minds. Sonata looked like she was ready to cry harder. "And even worse she has, Dagi!" The youngest of the sirens cried out. Akiko elbowed Bone Crusher with an annoyed look for making Sonata cry. "Don't worry we'll get her back." The G-team captain gave Sonata a light smile slightly getting her tears to dry. "What about the one who looked like you two? Midnight right?" Sunset asked looking at Moll and Lora. Moll looked to Lora with sad eyes, but her elder sister just sighed looking at Sunset. "She's my best friend or least she was at one point. Now she's someone who must be stopped before she takes things too far." Sunset cocked her head in confusion at hearing the words coming from Lora. "In her mind the human race is a danger to the Earth. Everything that's gone wrong in the world: wars, extinctions, deforestation. Midnight blames these on every human being in her mind none of you will change and for that reason she took it upon her to become the judge of life." Moll said with a sad sigh. "That explains that judgement act she pulled on, Twilight." Rainbow Dash said. Moll shook her head looking at Twilight who was still breaking out in cold sweat. "It's a miracle Midnight merely placed a curse on her instead of killing her." Moll said rubbing her hand across Twilight's face. Sunset was shocked to hear the word curse coming from Moll's mouth. Dark magic was something that both fascinated and terrified her back when she was a student of Celestia. Even reading about the curse of King Sombra was enough to send a jitter down her spine. It also didn't help that she let it take over her for brief period. She was starting to see that this world had more surprises every day. First kaiju, then doll sized women who could use new forms of magic, now dark magic exist in this world as well and it's even worse than what was back home in Equestria. But for now she had to focus on a more pressing matter. "Is Twilight going to be okay?" "We've done all we can for her it would be best if we just let her sleep. It appears the curse Midnight used may have over charged her aura." Moll said but as she spoke Twilight started struggling in her sleep. "Stay away." She muttered out in a weak tone. "Man, I thought you were having an intense dream, Sunset." Rainbow Dash said looking over to the unicorn turned human. Sunset leaned her head against the wall recalling her nightmare with a slight shudder, "It felt so real though almost like a memory." "That's how some nightmares are." Kubo said patting her on the shoulder. But she just shook her head slowly getting back up to her feet. "Something wasn't right about what I saw. Like I was looking at a scene being played out. Kuro and Midnight were both there, but so was this other woman. Midnight wouldn't let Kuro kill her though. She was talking about getting revenge on a group of people." Bone Crusher looked at the others with a raised eyebrow at was being told to them. While Moll and Lora both listened intently. "Then this huge dragon appeared, and Midnight was commanding it." "Okay, some of that sounds like Midnight and Kuro, like the revenge thing. But she only has four kaiju and none of them are dragons." Bone Crusher stated. "They have kaiju!" Applejack shouted but winced clutching her stomach and leaned back with a groan. The girls had the same concerned faces. "Remember when I told you some of our fights didn't appear on the news. Our fights with Midnight and her kaiju fall into that category." Kubo said looking at the group he held up three fingers, "Three of them we call the Seafood Platter." The girls all just looked at him with raised eyebrows at hearing the odd name. "I thought it was funny," Bone Crusher said clearing his throat, "Anyway that group consist of Gezora, an over grown squid, Kamoebas, a turtle who I wouldn't leave alone with children, and finally Ganimes, a crab with more brawn than brain. They're not really all that tough, but they can still cause a lot of havoc. Then there's her main kaiju, Battra, who I'm pretty sure is flying around the city right now." Bone Crusher peeked out the window into the black sky with narrowed eyes. Sunset felt a cold chill at the mention of one of the names. "You okay sugar cube?" Applejack asked as she saw Sunset starting to go pale. "Gezora, I heard Midnight say it in my dream." Sunset said with wide eyes. "And she didn't mention him when you first met?" Hikari asked with a look of shock. Sunset just shook her head. "Miss Shimmer, can you describe this dragon from your dreams?" Lora asked. Sunset was slightly confused by the question but complied, the sight of it was something she couldn't forget, "It had a row of spikes going down its' back, orange scales, and these piercing yellow eyes." Lora looked like she had just seen a ghost as her skin began to pale. Kubo gave her a confused look while Moll just placed a hand on her sister shoulder with concern. "Lora that sounds like..." "Yes, I know, Moll." Lora looked up at the girls and the G-team. "Um, Lora what's up with the world is danger face?" Bone Crusher asked seeing the serious way Lora was looking at them. "The creature from Sunset's nightmare it sounds just like an ancient demon that was imprisoned long ago. Varan the Glutton." There were looks of confusion all around. Sunset the most out of everyone figuring out the creature from her dream didn't just have a name but was also a demon was throwing her for a loop. Rainbow Dash was the one who spoke up out of the group, "Varan the Glutton? What kind of name is that?" "And why is Sunset dreaming about him?" Rarity asked. Lora began weaving her tail, "I was only a child when I heard about Varan, Moll was barely a year old, I only knew from the stories my elders told me. However, even their descriptions of him were vague, they talked as if Varan just spawned from beneath the Earth. But they always spoke of the same thing. His lust for blood." Pinkie Pie gasped loud enough to nearly get everyone to jump out of their skin, "He likes blood that must mean.....HE'S A VAMPIRE!" A silence filled the room as everyone just gave Pinkie Pie confused stares. Rarity nudged her in the shoulder putting a shushing finger to her mouth. "Go on, darling." Lora let out a clearly annoyed sigh before going on, "Varan would kill and eat anything that caught his eye. Before his rampage could continue a group of mages from several temples set off to seal him away. They did succeed but it came at a great cost." Lora's face grew darker, "The only spells strong enough to stop Varan were all forbidden blood seals." "Blood seals?" Fluttershy asked. "A blood seal is a technique that cost the user their life in order to seal away their enemy." Moll stated. "But if he's supposed to be sealed away, why did I see him in my dream?" Sunset asked. Lora rubbed her chin in thought these girls had all turned her view of the world upside down. As well as learning of this Equestria and its forms of magic. When she looked at Sunset she did see that her aura was strong and still growing. "It could be your Equestrian magic that's caused this vision of yours." "My magic?" Sunset asked. "But she didn't have ears or a tail while she was sleeping." Pinkie said pointing at her head and rump. "Didn't you all say you still have no control of your powers?" Lora said with a deadpan expression before looking off in a more neutral expression, "But Varan is another case it could have been that his seal broke without us noticing." 'I hope.' The elder Elias thought to herself dreading the other answer. Sunset looked at her hands trying to feel if any of her magic was coming out, but nothing seemed to be happening. Ponying up was one thing but this was something else. 'Great as if I didn't have enough to start researching.' She thought to herself. Akiko on the other hand had other ideas going through her head. "Yo, Sunny, can you describe anything else that happened in your little dream." She said while pulling at the ends of her hair. Kubo listened intently as well although his mind was already settled on what he was going to do. "Well there isn't much to describe other than the fact that it was pitch black and for some reason it was also cold." Sunset began thinking of anything else that happened, "She told Varan to move closer to the water with Gezora." Akiko nodded her head in understanding and looked out the window then up to the sky. With a squint she noticed the dark clouds that hung over the eastern part of the city. Her eyes hardened at the sight of them. "Lora on a power scale where would you place this Varan thing?" "It's hard to say but from the stories I've heard..." The elder Elias looked at Kubo, Akiko, and Bone Crusher specifically, "Imagine a creature with the strength of Godzilla, the defense of Anguirus, and the speed of Rodan." Their eyes all widened in response at her assumption. "Talk about a triple threat." Bone Crusher said. Kubo just slammed a fist into his open palm shocking the girls, but getting a smile from Akiko. "Who cares? Midnight and Kuro are in the city planning who knows what. And to top it all off she has Adagio with her. That's reason enough for me to go after them." "For realizes?" Sonata asked shocked to hear Kubo's words. He walked over and sat on the edge of the bed the young siren was on. He looked at Aria with a slight frown noticing that she was twinging in pain. With his left hand he pat Aria on the head and with his right he hooked his pinkie around Sonata's. Sonata gazed into Kubo's eyes, that looked similar to her own. "I promise I'll get her back." He said in a soft tone in his left hand he felt a shift. "You won't break it will you?" Aria was looking at Kubo with one eye weakly held open. Kubo just smiled at her, "Haven't broken one yet." Sonata's eyes glistened with tears as she wrapped her arms around Kubo. He just smiled and rubbed her back as she buried her face in his shoulder. She let out muffled a 'thank you' through her sobs. "You're not planning on going alone are you?" Bone Crusher asked with a raised eyebrow Kubo just looked over his shoulder. "No way, Hikari would kill me if I did that." Hikari smiled at him and nodding her head in agreement, "It's true." Bone Crusher smirked cracking his knuckles, "Good I've always wanted to fight a demon kaiju vampire." Everyone just gave him confused looks. He just shrugged, "I have a weird bucket list." Akiko just rolled her eyes in amusement at him before putting a serious face, "Alright if you two really are ready then you better get going. Hikari the two of us are staying here." "But Aki!" Hikari was about to protest but Akiko held up her hand. "The two of us have to take care of the girls and get these kids out of here." Rainbow Dash jumped up shaking her head in defiance, "Woah, Woah, what do you mean take care of us?! We're all going to help you guys get Adagio back." Akiko just rolled her eyes and grabbed Rainbow Dash lightly be the arm causing the girl to yelp in pain. "Did Kuro hit you over the head? Look at what she did to all of you." Rainbow looked at her arm then at over toward her friends. Akiko then looked her in the eye, "That was her holding back if you go back she'll end up doing something even worse." "She's right, Rainbow." Applejack said with a slight wince as she tried standing up, "This isn't something we can handle." Sunset felt hurt at hearing Applejack ready to give up so easily. But then she also saw the pained look in the farm girl's eyes. Rarity and Fluttershy both looked the same way. Pinkie's mood was easy to identify as well due to her deflating hair. There was a moan of annoyance as it started to hit Rainbow Dash as well. For once they couldn't do anything and they all knew it. Akiko pat Rainbow on the head. "Hey you all don't have to look so down. Boney and Kubo will be faster on their own. And we'll still need your help getting your school out of here before this city turns into a warzone. " "What does that mean?" Fluttershy asked nervously. "Moll." Akiko looked at the youngest Elias who just smiled back at her. "On it." Moll's body began to glow bright as she cupped her hands together and knelt in down as if in prayer. Her voice was like that of an angle of she began to sing. ....................... Atlantic Ocean ....................... Godzilla was lying at the bottom of the ocean letting the gentle currents rock his enormous body. Fish swam around him looking for a form of shelter for the night. Sleeping was something he enjoyed and in the open ocean he could finally be at peace after the day he had. His body still felt sore from the electric shocks of Femuto, but with help of his healing factor it was able subside. He let out a low sigh as sleep began to over take him. "Godzilla!" A soft noise played in his head. Almost like hearing a soft breeze it helped in soothing him down. Soon it came back again but it was followed by a strong aura. Godzilla opened his eyes wide feeling the familiar presence of those he would protect. He looked up at the dark skies under the water. He could barely make out the small insectoid form of Mothra flying in the sky. Something was wrong. Like a crocodile he stuck his head out of the water. The small Mothra landed on his snout twitching her antenna in agitation while her mouth began clicking away. Each chirp was fast paced and barely legible. He rolled his eyes with an annoyed snarl before growling. Mothra flew up in the air before pointing in the direction of the city. She chirped again looking at Godzilla she began to show signs of something being wrong. That's when he saw them, the looming clouds slowly starting to come toward the city. When he sniffed the air he could smell the electricity. Godzilla narrowed his eyes. Defiantly something wrong. With a quick snort he pointed his snout toward the city. Mothra chirped once more moving her top leg almost in a form of salute before flying back toward the city. Godzilla dove back under the water beating his tail down to increase his speed. He couldn't see the aura but he knew there was a threat back in the city. Godzilla let out a thundering roar as he charged through the ocean. .................... Crowne Plaza Hotel .................. Moll's body stopped glowing and she was breathing heavily for a moment. "He's coming, Aki." She happily said giving Akiko a thumbs up but her body started to wobble. Lora rubbed her sister's back letting out a soft sigh. "You used to much energy again, Moll." "Sorry, Lora, it takes a lot to get Godzilla's attention when he's asleep." Sunset's eyes widened hearing Godzilla's name. Kubo just nodded in understanding while Bone Crusher just snickered. "Glad to know the Big Guy's just as fired up as we are." "How long until he get's here?" Kubo asked. Moll just looked at him and Sonata with a slight frown. "At least an hour. But Mothra will be back soon." She said attempting to lighten the bad news. "But what about that Varan monster, if he's really in the city can Mothra beat him by herself?" Fluttershy asked nervously looking at everyone in the room. There was a uneasy silence between Moll and Lora as they exchanged concerning looks. "She can at least hold him off while we rescue, Adagio." Lora stated. "What do you mean, we?!" Moll said looking at Lora who walked toward Kubo. "I shall accompany Kubo and Bone Crusher on this rescue. They'll need me to negate Midnight's magic." Lora said Moll was about to voice her opinion of coming along but Lora spun around holding up a finger, "Don't even think about it young lady! You've had to call Godzilla twice now you're energy is too low. You're staying with the girls and resting." Moll looked ready to protest but the look Lora gave her immediately silenced her. Moll just looked away with a slightly hurt expression Lora clicked her while rolling her eyes. She gripped Moll's arm tight and pulled her into a hug. She whispered something into her younger sister's ear which caused her to giggle, "You promise!" Lora just nodded her with slightly red cheeks. Akiko smiled at the sight before snapping her fingers getting everyone's attention, "Okay now that we have our teams worked out let's get going!" There was a quick commotion as they all left the room heading toward the stairwell . Applejack was being helped out by Hikari while Akiko was carrying Twilight on her back. Despite the pain in her own arm Rainbow Dash helped a limping and slightly red faced Aria out. Sonata was walking with a slight wobble but she luckily had Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy by her side to help keep her steady. Sunset was following behind Kubo and Bone Crusher. There was an ache in her chest at not being able to help Adagio with her own hands and not being able to pay Kuro back. The thought of Adagio's actions was still playing in her mind. She held a strong scowl as she walked out. "Alright you three better not do anything stupid out there." Akiko said with a smile as she held out her fist. "Come on Cap, it wouldn't be us if we didn't do something stupid." Bone Crusher joked connecting his fist with hers'. "Will you at least come back in one piece." Hikari said connecting her fist with Akiko and Bone Crusher's. "Hey, I'm supposed to be the overprotective one." Kubo had a sly smile as he held up his fist. Lora stood on Kubo's shoulder as she looked toward Moll who stood on top Hikari's shoulder. Moll looked at her sister with slight frown before slapping her cheeks and putting on a strong smile. She held out her tiny fist looking at Lora who just smiled back copying the action. All of the G-team held trusting smiles each of them showing that they believed in each other. "Hey Kubo ya mine doin me a favor?" Applejack asked getting his attention, "When ya see that white haired varmint giv her good punch in the gut for me." "And break her arm for me." Aria chimed in. "That goes double for me." Rainbow Dash said. "So we've got a rescue, a gut punch and an arm breaking. Yeah I think we can do all that." Bone Crusher held a smile. "Let's go!" All of the G-team shouted preforming a group fist bump. Bone Crusher and Kubo took off up the stairs with Lora screaming for them to slow down. As Applejack watched them leave a blush formed on her face with a sly smile. "Say that Kubo fella got a girlfriend?" She asked Hikari who began stammering. Moll rushed into her face eyeing the farm girl, "Don't even think about! Hikari has already laid claim to his heart." Before Moll could go on Hikari placed a finger over her mouth as her face began to shine bright red. "Don't listen to her. Kubo and I are just friends." Hikari laughed hysterically as she tried speeding up the walk. Akiko just blew some of her hair out of her face while saying uh-huh under her breath. "We are, Akiko!" "I didn't say a thing." Akiko said rolling her eyes with a laugh as she walked ahead of Hikari. "Geez, AJ, didn't know you were so straight forward." Rainbow Dash said looking at the blushing Applejack. The farm girl just returned her smile with her own. "Better to be straight forward than freezing up, Dash Bow." She snickered getting Rainbow Dash to snarl at her. Aria joined in at seeing Rainbow Dash getting embarrassed. Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Sonata started laughing as they began to ease away the tense situation. As they turned the corner heading toward the next floor none of them noticed that Sunset wasn't following them. She looked back seeing the pathway that lead back to the roof. She couldn't stop thinking about Adagio saving her from Kuro and Midnight. She clenched her fist tight, Adagio was alone being put through who knows what. She couldn't move forward with the others something in her body wouldn't let her. Just the thought of trying drove her insane. When she looked up at the steps where Bone Crusher and Kubo ran off to her heart began beating faster with anticipation. She steeled herself taking a deep breath and turned around. Sunset ran up the steps but winced clutching her side the pain from Kuro stomping on her was still present. 'Ignore it, Sunset, you've got a siren to save!' She shook off her pain and continued running. ____________________ It didn't take long for her to reach the roof and to her surprise Kubo and Bone Crusher weren't there. The sound of a roaring engine caught her attention. Sunset ran fast running past the a/c unit where she first encountered Mothra. The sight of the Hawk glowing caused her eyes too widen in shock. Blue flames where coming out the engines as the massive jet began to rise off the ground. She looked down seeing that she was to late too come on board. It was a stupid idea anyway, how was she going to explain wanting to come with them? Suddenly the sound of clanging metal caught her attention. She looked back up noticing that the metal pad door slowly starting to close, but it was wide enough for her to jump through. "Okay you've turned into a demon, created a massive alicorn at a battle of the bands, and turned into an angle to fight a demon. Jumping onto a plane to fight a giant monster is nothing." She said with a nervous laugh. As the Hawk got higher into the air her opening began to get smaller. With a deep breath she took off running putting all of her focus onto the door. Sunset began speeding up each step she took however sent a large amount of pain through her ribcage. 'Just ignore it!' More pain shot through her as she got closer. 'Ignore it!' She focused on seeing Adagio being taken and the cries of Sonata. As the Hawk began getting higher in the air Sunset narrowed her eyes. Her knees bent and it was like being punched in the stomach. 'Ignore it!' With all the strength she had Sunset jumped in the air with a shout of pain and determination. With a desperate hand she gripped closing pad door. She smiled to herself with the luck she had. She soon let the momentum of the swinging door help her. With a hard grunt Sunset pulled herself up with everything she had. Just as the door closed she barely managed to get through rolling down the side and landing on her back. She sighed after managing to beat her first challenge and letting herself relax for a moment. That was a major mistake. The pain in her ribcage skyrocketed through her body. Sunset cupped her hand over her over mouth trying to keep her scream down. When she sat up her head moved like it was on a swivel trying to find something to scream into. Lucky for her the beds hadn't folded back inside the walls she grabbed one of the pillows off the bed and slammed her head into it letting out a muffled scream while banging her feet against the floor. Inside the cockpit Bone Crusher sat at the wheel looking out at the thunder clouds that were forming over the docks and spreading over the city. "I think that's what Sunset meant when she said they were by the water." Kubo nodded in agreement along with Lora, who sat on his shoulder. Their eyes where hardened and ready for action. As they got higher into the air Bone Crusher put his goggles on with a wild smile. He pulled down on the throttle and began flipping switches. "Engines full throttle! Weapons hot! And tunes..." He pushed a button the dash board and a guitar started blasting out of it, "Rockin!" Lora laughed as she saw Bone Crusher rocking his head with the beats. The sound of soft banging suddenly caught her ear. She turned her head looking at the sealed door behind them with a raised eyebrow. "Do you two hear something?" "We didn't have time to pack away everything so stuff is probably going to be rolling around." Kubo said as the Hawk started flying over the city. All three of them were unaware that they had stowaway on board. .......................... Under the City ....................... Pure pain was racking through Yearling's body. She could taste blood in her mouth and nausea was setting in. The only thing she could remember was being attacked from behind by a woman. There was another moaning sound from her side as her vision started to clear. Her eyes widened when saw Soarin coughing and holding his throat. Next to him she noticed Fleetfoot shifting her arms with a grunt as her eyes fluttered open. Yearling's eyes widened when she noticed that Fleetfoot's hands where tied behind her back. Fleetfoot soon recognized the situation herself as she started struggling to free her arms. "What's going on?" Fleetfoot said with a hard grunt. "Hold on Fleet let me see." Soarin said looking at the ropes around her hands. Fleetfoot looked at him surprised, "Soarin what are you doing here?" When Fleetfoot looked around she noticed she wasn't at docks, "Hey where are we?!" "That's what I'm trying figure out." Yearling said looking at the rocky terrain. "Yearling you're here too?!" Fleetfoot looked passed Soarin and saw Yearling. She recoiled when saw that Yearling's face was bloodied and bruised, her left eye was black, and her lip was bleeding from a cut. "Did you fight a train?" "Shut up." Yearling spat out some of her blood out looking at Fleetfoot annoyed. "Could you two just not right now." Soarin said with an annoyed sigh as he began working the ropes on Fleetfoot's hands, "Yearling if you could tell us what happened to you without being sarcastic that would be great." Yearling just rolled her and thought back to before she blacked out, "I was looking for those girls I met this afternoon. When I found their room I was jumped by some crazy woman." "Did you get a good luck at her?" Soarin asked as he finally managed to untie Fleetfoot's hands. But he stopped when a low growl echoed around them like thunder. There was a soft child like giggle that echoed after it as the earth beneath them shook. The smell of rotting meat filled the air as the draconic head of Varan hovered above them all. He growled looking at them with hunger filled eyes. His hunger had grown since he was forced to stay bellow the earth and the smell of fresh meat was now driving him crazy. But the harsh words from his mistress forced him to keep still. From beneath Varan a giggling woman appeared she looked at all three of them with an insane smile. At her side she held a struggling orange haired girl by the neck. On her shoulder stood a miniature woman who gazed at them with pure malice. Yearling looked at them with shock then narrowed her eyes. "You." She hissed. "You know this chick?" Fleetfoot asked with fearful eyes as she couldn't look away from Varan. "That's the woman who attacked me and that's one of the girls I met." Yearling said with a slight growl in her voice. "Whoever she is we have to get that girl away from her." Soarin said getting ready for action. A purple flash of light flew by his cheek. He felt something warm starting to flow down his face. He touched his face and recoiled when he saw that his cheek was bleeding. It was then that the pain of the attack started to register. Soarin fell onto his back screaming. "Looks like you were right Kuro they are awake. Throw Adagio with them." Midnight said as she blew on her smoking hand. Kuro giggled holding up Adagio as she gasped for air. With surprising ease she threw Adagio at the group. The siren groaned as she hit the rocky ground. She slowly sat up gripping her shoulder and glared at Midnight and Kuro. Kuro just returned it with smile before settling her eyes on Yearling, Soarin, and Fleetfoot. "Is it playtime Midnight?" "I don't like the sound of that." Fleetfoot gulped as Kuro and Midnight approached. "What is that thing?" Yearling said looking at Midnight. Midnight merely glared at her as her body began to glow with purple aura. Yearling felt the air leave her body. It felt like there was an invisible hand wrapped around her throat crushing it. "Watch your tongue thief!" Midnight shouted baring her fangs. "A.K! What's wrong with you?!" Soarin frantically held Yearling as she gasped for air. "And who are you calling a thief?!" Fleetfoot stood she was clearly afraid, but she still looked ready to fight. Kuro just smiled at the sight and rushed foreword. Soarin was meet with her foot in his chest and Fleetfoot was hefted into the air by the neck. Midnight stopped her torture leaving Yearling a gasping mess. "You all stole something from our island." Kuro said looking into Fleetfoot's eyes. "Yeah sorry to disappoint you sweet heart but this is the first time we've meet." Fleetfoot managed to get out with Kuro's hand wrapped around her throat. "No, not you but members of your group." Midnight said. Yearling shook off her shock and glared at the two of them, "So what? You two freaks going to torture us for information. Because we're not going to give you..." Kuro threw Fleetfoot into her knocking the wind out of both of them. Adagio watched the situation with horrified eyes. Every fiber in her mind was screaming for her to run away but her body wouldn't let her. She had no idea where she was or if there was an exit and standing in front of her was both Varan and Kuro. Midnight looked at the siren with an evil grin as she clearly knew what was going on in Adagio's head. "We already gained that information from all of you, Yearling." Midnight said her eyes flashing purple as she gazed into Yearling's eyes. "It was quite simple really." Her voice played in all of their heads. "Did you all hear that?" Fleetfoot said looking around confused. "You see we're not torturing you for information," Midnight had an evil smile as she looked at everyone around her, "We're torturing you for fun." Varan growled in annoyance looking down at them all. He sounded like an angry crocodile as he looked down at the humans before him. He could smell the blood flowing through them all. As well as the smell of fear they all produced. It was driving him insane. He had to feed. "Yes, I know we should move along with this, Varan. Kuro pick one." Midnight said. Kuro smiled looking right at Fleetfoot. She licked her lips as the anticipation was beginning to overwhelm her. Soarin saw where her gaze went and he began to break out in sweat. Fleetfoot was one of his closest friends and one of his greatest comrades. She helped with so much. She got him through basic training, pushed him to get his promotion, and introduced him to the love of his life. Something he couldn't stop thanking her for. From his neck he pulled out a gold locket popping it open he cast a small smile before looking at Kuro with hard eyes. Kuro stepped forward her hand twitching as she began giggling to herself. Fleetfoot glared at her but Yearling saw that her hands were starting to shake. Midnight smiled at the sight as well but she heard the sound of rocks moving. She turned to see Soarin rising back up to his feet. "Oh good a volunteer." The dark Elias said. Kuro looked at Soarin with a raised eyebrow. "But I want her." She said pointing at Fleetfoot. "Not happening!" Soarin said he reached into his back pocket pulling out an M9. The sound of clicking behind her drew Kuro's attention to Yearling pointing another gun at her. Midnight just rolled her eyes, "You parasites and your guns. Tell me if by some miracle you do manage to kill us what will you do about him?" She pointed a clawed finger at Varan. Said kaiju was looking down at him with drooling fangs. Soarin kept his hardened glare at Kuro his hands staying in place. Kuro began tapping her chin humming to herself completely unfazed by the fact that she had two guns pointed at her. She then snapped her finger shouting with a loud gasp and smile. Midnight looked at her with a raised eyebrow her eyes flashed purple once more nodding her head. The dark Elias chuckled darkly to herself she held out her hand and a purple ball formed out of it. She clenched her fist causing the ball to spilt in two flying straight into the barrels of Yearling and Soarin's guns causing them both to burst apart. Yearling yelled out in pain as the gun scrapped apart her hands causing her to fall back holding her bloody hands at Fleetfoot's feet. Soarin did the same falling to a knee looking at his now bloodied hands as pieces of his gun remained inside them. Kuro laughed as she knelt down in front of him. Looking at him with a child like smile as she held her chin in her hands. "So you wanna play with me that bad? Well then let's play hot potato!" She said with a smile that caused Soarin to look at her as if she was crazier than she already was. Even Adagio looked at her strange although the fear building up inside of her was growing as she began to sense the same disturbingly calm air she when they first met. "Hot potato?" Soarin said with confusion. "Yep it'll be fun! If I win then you die. If you win then you and your friends runaway." Kuro said. Soarin just kept looking at her with a raised brow clearly showing signs of distrust. Kuro just tilted her head shrugging her shoulders, "Well if you don't wanna play." Midnight held up her hand toward Yearling and Fleetfoot energy charging inside of it. "Stop!" Soarin franticly shouted, "Stop. I'll do it. I'll play, just promise you'll let them go." "I promise." Kuro looked at him with an innocent smile. Soarin looked over to Fleetfoot who stared back at him with fearful eyes. But he just gave her a reassuring smile before looking back at Kuro. "Okay, so how do we play?" "Simple you have to hold onto a little fire cracker. I don't know if it's a dud or not. If it doesn't go off and you don't drop it you win. But if goes off or you drop it I win!" Kuro said reaching into her pocket and pulled out a red stick no bigger than an eraser with a small fuse. Soarin looked at it shocked, "Hey I thought you said a firecracker. That's a stick of dynamite!" "You still wanna play?" Kuro asked tossing the dynamite in her hands. Soarin felt his heart beating in his chest with anxiety. He was caught between a rock and hard place. Fleetfoot had the same frantic look as he did. Soarin pulled his locket out and took it off his neck wrapping the chain around his badly damaged hand. "Love you hot head." He whispered kissing the locket. Soarin held out his hand taking the stick of dynamite. "Soarin, what are you doing?!" Fleetfoot frantically yelled as Soarin began backing away from them. "Don't worry about me just be ready to run when I win." Soarin said with confidence that barely masked the fear that was radiating off him. Midnight smiled at him before firing a blast at the fuse. The sound was like a snake ready to strike. Adagio shook with fear at hearing the fuse get shorter. She held her hands over her ears not wanting to hear the dynamite go off. As well as to drown out the frantic cries of Fleetfoot. Yearling was holding onto her to make sure the woman didn't do anything to comprise them. She could only watch with a hard face that masked her worry. She may not have liked Soarin that much be she at least respected him. Enough that even she didn't wish this situation on him. It also gave her great discomfort at knowing he was doing this to save her. Whether it was a conscious decision or not she silently prayed for his safety. Soarin was doing his best to control his breathing as the fuse got closer to the dynamite. Of all the dumb things he'd ever done this was definitely in the top ten. As it got closer to the stick time seemed to almost slow down for him. He closed his eyes tensing up ready for whatever was about to happen. Kuro smiled licking her lips. Fleetfoot kept screaming for Soarin to drop the stick. Adagio braced herself as well ready to hear the screams of horror. The fuse finally stopped hissing and they waited for the boom. Seconds felt like hours as the smell of the burning string filled everyone's noses. After a few more seconds nothing happened. Soarin opened his eyes and saw that the stick was just smoking in his hand. Fleetfoot saw it as well as and a smile followed by a sigh of relief came out of her mouth. Soarin laughed as the tension started to leave his body and he let the stick of dynamite fall from his hands. Adagio still looked on in fear as she looked at Kuro. Her smiled had only grown wider. "You lose." Before anyone could process what she just said the walls began to move in around them. Adagio was shocked when she lost control of her body and began rolling with the dirt. The same happened with Yearling and Fleetfoot as the wall began to push them. Soarin looked around seeing what was going and looked at Kuro with a glare. "What's going on?!" Just as Soarin was about to rush Kuro he felt a large pain in his throughout his body. Then he felt nothing there was a wet dripping sound echoing around him. His head began to sway and he began to feel drowsy. Fleetfoot managed to get her head to stop spinning and looked up with horror. Yearling saw it as well as her eyes widened and her breath began to quicken. "SOARIN!" Fleetfoot screamed as she saw Soarin was impaled on the tip of a boney spike. Adagio saw it as well and vomit began to spew from her mouth. The wall moved again when Varan growled leaning down next to Kuro. Adagio then looked around noticing another white spike just inches from impaling her. They were scattered all around all leading back to Varan. Then it hit her why Kuro was smiling. Varan had his tail wrapped around them the whole time. Kuro giggled patting Varan on the snout, much to the dragon's annoyance. Soarin coughed up blood as his feet started to dangle off the ground. He looked at Kuro as his eyes started to glaze over. "Y-y-you s-said." Kuro walked forward placing a hand on his cheek, "I said you couldn't drop it. You dropped it." Soarin felt the world going dark around him. The last few bits of the world he saw was Varan leaning closer toward him. When looked over at the scared face of Adagio and then to the crying Fleetfoot he could only form one word, "Sorry." His hand opened letting his locket fall into Kuro's waiting palm. She held it up studying it with fascination. Midnight smiled and snapped her fingers. "Varan feed." His lips curled back and his eyes turned into slits as what looked a horrifying smile morphed onto the demonic dragon's face. He opened his fanged mouth revealing teeth the size of a man and chomped down on the hunk of meat sitting on his tail. Fleetfoot watched with horrified eyes as Soarin was torn away from Varan's tail, some of his blood landing on her face. The kaiju jerked his back letting the limp body of Soarin fly in the air like a rag doll. Varan rose to his full his height and opened wide letting Soarin fall onto his tongue before his jaws snapped shut. A crunch sound could be heard as Varan let out satisfied growls as the blood washed over his tongue. Each time Varan chewed another crunch could be heard causing Adagio to shudder. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the crunching was the sound Soarin's bones. Fleetfoot was shaking as tears continued to stream down her face. But a hum from Kuro soon drew her eyes at the white haired woman as she continued to study Soarin's locket. As she held it in front of her. Fleetfoot's eyes began to shake from rage and sadness. Yearling was still in a state of shock from the sight to notice that Fleetfoot was rising back up. "Put that down." Fleetfoot hissed at Kuro. Kuro didn't acknowledge focusing on the locket in her hands causing Fleetfoot's anger to rise. Without any hesitation or regard for her own safety she rushed forward. Yearling snapped out of her stupor just as Fleetfoot was running off. "Fleetfoot wait!" Yearling called out but it fell on deaf ears as Fleetfoot let out a loud battle cry. Fleetfoot could barely think straight her anger was overtaking any form of rational thought. The only thing she wanted to do was beat Kuro into the ground. Kuro continued to look at the locket completely unaware of the person rushing at her. So it caught Fleetfoot off guard when Kuro back handed her across the cheek with little effort not even once taking her eyes off the locket. She fell to the ground dazed. When she pushed the locket open she took a look at the photo inside. The woman inside had hair like fire with orange eyes she was playfully sticking out her tongue at the photographer. Kuro took the picture out and examined it with another hum before tossing the picture away. It landed at Fleetfoot's, now bruised face. She held up the locket to Midnight who just rolled her eyes, "Midnight what do you think should I keep this or the hat." Kuro pushed up Applejack's hat that still rested on her head. "You know I don't care." Midnight said looking at Adagio, "I have bigger fish to fry." Just as she began to glow both Midnight and Varan shot their heads up. Midnight began to clench her teeth with a growl escaping her throat, "Curse you, Moll." Varan's eyes were wide as he sensed two aura's approaching. One was bluish green and it felt like it was scattered throughout the area but was slowly starting to form together. The other was a strong blue aura it was a good distance away but he could sense how enormous it was. They both held his attention. For it had been ages since he had a good fight. "Change of plans, Kuro, we have guest coming. How about we greet them?" Midnight said with a snap of her finger getting Varan's attention. The kaiju looked up at the ceiling and held his massive hand over all of them. Adagio shook with fear as the hand, with surprising grace, scooped her, Kuro, Fleetfoot, and Yearling. With his other hand Varan scrapped away at the dirt ceiling above them with little effort. He easily managed to push through the ceiling allowing him to push his hand out. Dumping the humans out. Kuro landed with ease while the others fell onto their backs. Adagio let the world stop spinning around her to get her bearings to her annoyance it was still dark, but there was some light coming through. She looked over noticing that their were windows around. There was also a smell that she'd grown to familiar with since meeting Kuro, rotting meat, only this time it seemed ten times worse. The floor was crusty with dark red stains on the floor. When her eyes began adjusting she then noticed the large lumps on the ground and to her disturbance they were moving. Kuro walked past her straight toward the lumps when she reached out the sound of loud buzzing caught Adagio's ears. The lumps seemed to spring to life revealing themselves to be a horde of flies. They flew around in every direction before some settled on the ground or soon sat back to what they were doing. Feasting on the corpses that littered the ground. "What kind of monster are you?!" Fleetfoot said looking at the dead bodies around her with wide eyes. Yearling for the first time felt a fearful gulp going down her throat as she looked at where they were. She began to realize that they were in a warehouse. When she looked at the sides she saw areas where the crew would work on metal objects and the office where their boss worked. Kuro grabbed one of the corpses under her and began pulling it toward the hole that Varan created. "Hear you go, Varan, a little something for your trouble." She threw the corpse down to the awaiting Varan's open maw. He gave a satisfied growl before stomping off underground. Midnight looked at Fleetfoot who glared at them with great anger. She then turned to Adagio who was in a shocked state at seeing the bodies scattered across the ground. "Kuro that parasite, Kubo, is on his way here. Didn't you want to give him a something?" Midnight said with a dark smile. Kuro shared her smile looking at Fleetfoot. "I have to give him an anniversary card!" She shouted clapping her hands together. "Play with those two, Kuro." Midnight said clasping her hands together metal chains began descending from the ceiling as if we they were alive warping around Fleetfoot and Yearling painfully hoisting the women to their feet. The dark Elias vanished in a puff of smoke reappearing on Adagio's shoulder. "Adagio and I need to talk." In the blink of an eye Adagio was inside the head of the office. To the siren's surprise the lights seemed to flash on by themselves slightly blinding her. When she looked up she noticed that Midnight sat on the desk in front of her with an amused smirk as she watched Adagio struggle to readjust once more. She jumped when she heard a high pitched scream coming from outside office followed by maniacal laughter. "I figured you'd want to be in here where it's quiet. Kuro can get quite loud when she plays." Midnight said sitting down and crossing her legs holding her chin in her hand, "Now tell me all about this Equestrian magic that Sunset creature possess." Adagio couldn't the entire situation had left her with out words. Her mind was still trying to process what had been happening. All she could do was fearfully scoot away from Midnight some instinct in her body wanted her to run. Midnight just looked at her before letting out an annoyed sigh sparking her fingers together, "Remember what happened the last time you tried running?" Adagio stopped looking at the scar through her torn jacket that still bled. Midnight smiled at the sight as a thought began to occur to her, "Maybe I should just probe the mind of that little sister of yours again." Adagio glared at her stomping her feet to the ground. Her eyes were like daggers that Midnight rose an impressed brow at, "I told you before you before you can do whatever you want to me, but if you touch Sonata or Aria again I'll.." Midnight's clawed finger was almost inches from her eye as the dark Elias teleported to the siren's face, "You'll what?" Adagio had fear running throughout her body, but with her family in danger she couldn't back down, "Leave them out of this and I'll tell you everything I know." Midnight pulled her claw away from Adagio's eye smiling, "My what a good older sibling you are. But even If I was going to spare your siblings, which I was not, they'd just die in the purge." "If you want me to talk then you'll leave them out of this!" Adagio shouted looking up at her, but she suddenly felt a sharp pain race through her shoulder and Adagio fell on her back screaming in pain. Midnight merely landed next to her with ease holding up her hand. "Dagi, Dagi your compliance was never a factor here. I'll get the information whether you talk or not. Besides you and your siblings have no power so you're useless to me and you have committed a crime that I can't just let go without punishment. But I have taken respect to your courage so I'll let all of the pain that was intended for them and give it all to you." Midnight said whispering into Adagio's ear before a clawed finger went into Adagio's neck, "They'll fell no pain when Battra kills every human in this city!" She cackled as her eyes began to glow bright along with Adagio's. All of Adagio's memories began flowing in front of Midnight. ..................... Outside The Docks .................. The Hawk flew over the dark skies as the clouds continued to spread across the city like a virus. Bone Crusher looked around at the warehouses below with a raised eyebrow. Lora stood on the dash board her body glowing as she attempted to sense Midnight's aura. She just sighed shaking her head. "No luck?" Kubo asked. "Midnight is a master at masking her presences." Lora said. "You guys really sure that Sunset girl was right?" Bone Crusher asked. "Well it's the best shot we have." Kubo said looking at the warehouses bellow noticing something strange. There wasn't a single soul around. "Hey Boney these places should have a night shift right?" Bone Crusher nodded looking at the ground and seeing a very disturbing lack of people. With a quick flip of the switch the Hawk stopped moving and hovered in the air. "You up for a little snooping my dear, Watson?" He asked in a fake British accent. "Lead the way, Sherlock." Bone Crusher settled the Hawk down on the ground. He and Kubo began prepping as they placed their G-armor on over their normal clothing. Kubo cocked his pulse rifle placing it against his hip. Bone Crusher pulled his goggles on top of his head and cracked his neck. Lora glowed with green aura letting the energy dance around her body before jumping on Kubo's shoulder. They were all prepared for whatever was going to happen. They all looked at each other nodding. The door to the cockpit lowered and they both stepped out to the exit. But what was in front of the the exit caused Kubo and Bone Crusher to stop in their tracks. Bone Crusher's jaw hung open. Lora held out a shaking finger with her mouth open a long high pitched gasped escaping her throat. Kubo felt his eye starting to twitch. In front of them Sunset was rubbing her head with her back to them, unaware that anyone was behind her. She rubbed her scalp letting a long sigh. "Finally we're on the ground again." She stretched before shuttering and rubbing her side. "Okay just find Adagio and escape on this baby, simple." She pat Kubo's motorcycle looking it over. "Ahem!" Lora cleared her throat causing Sunset to stiffen like a board. She awkwardly turned her head with sweat pouring down her face. She smiled looking at them laughing nervously. "Hi guys!" Where the first words that came out of her mouths. She could almost see the tumble weeds passing by as Kubo, Bone Crusher, and Lora looked at her. "Just what do you think you're doing?" Kubo said keeping his voice as calm as he could. "Well you see..." Sunset tried her best to think of something to say, but the only thing that came to mind was telling the truth. She sighed 'Darn it AJ' and looked at Kubo with a hard voice, "Adagio rescued me and I plan on returning the favor." Another awkward silence filled the air as Sunset confessed her plan to Kubo and Bone Crusher who just looked at each other. Lora just rubbed her head with a groan. "And I thought Moll was hard to keep settled down." "Look Sunset that's really noble of you, but this isn't some friendship problem that you and your friends can solve with a rainbow laser beam." Bone Crusher said. "Stay here where it's safe we'll find, Adagio." Kubo added on. Sunset just shook her head looking at Kubo with pleading eyes, "I'm not some helpless little girl! Back in Equestria I would go out in the field to study manticores and I even followed a dragon back to his cave just for a research paper! And that was when I was just in grade school! Check my memories, Lora, you'll know I'm telling the truth." Kubo still held hard eyes that said no, but Sunset held strong eyes, "Please you guys I have to save her." "Sunset your knees." Lora pointed toward Sunset's legs. She looked down noticing that her legs were shaking. "I'm just excited!" Sunset said trying to stop her body from shaking. Kubo and Bone Crusher said nothing as they walked past her. Sunset looked downcast only to be surprised by Kubo placing a hand on her shoulder before forcing her down onto his bike. "When we you see Adagio running out of there take Kubo's bike and get her. We'll distract Midnight and Kuro." Bone Crusher said as the hangar door to the Hawk came down. Sunset looked at him with a wide smile while Bone Crusher just rubbed the back of his head, "Let's face it you'll end up following us if we told you to stay here. At least know we can count on you staying in place." "You bet and don't worry I'm good with motorcycles." Sunset said with a cheerful smile. "You better be." Kubo said handing her his keys, but stopped giving her a hard stare, "Wait until you see Adagio." Sunset gave a reassuring smile taking the keys from Kubo and started the engine. Lora just looked at Bone Crusher and Kubo her eyes glowing green as her voice played in their heads. 'Are you two sure about this?' 'No, but I can't think of any other way to keep the girl still.' Bone Crusher said. 'We'll just have to be fast.' Kubo said. Sunset began following them outside on the motorcycle keeping the engine steady. Kubo was surprised at how good she was. Bone Crusher was with them looking at some of the buildings. He pulled down his goggles tapping the sides. He saw the heat signatures of Kubo, Sunset, and Lora. He began looking around and noticed that the there were five heat signatures in warehouse closet to the ocean. "Kubo, I've got something." He pointed out the building nodding. "Let's check it out. Sunset get ready to ride when you see us." Kubo looked to Sunset who gave him a determined nod of understanding, "And don't touch the red button." Kubo and Bone Crusher took off keeping their eyes on everything around them. They stopped at the entrance to the warehouse Lora stood on Kubo's shoulder taking a soft breath. She could smell something horrible in the air and clearly the others could as well. "Something smells horrible." She spoke softly with a worried face. Bone Crusher looked to Kubo who readied his pulse rifle giving a nod and gripping the handle to the door. Bone Crusher gave a quick count down with his fingers. When he dropped his third finger they burst through the door. The sight shocked them. Lora cupped her hands over her mouth at the sight of all the dead bodies. "That's why this place was empty." Kubo said with hard eyes. There was a low moan from deep inside the warehouse prompting them to reluctantly go inside. They held their pulse rifles up, ready for whatever would happen. The moaning increased as they went deeper inside stepping over some the bodies and moving flies out of the way. When the light of the moon came through the window they were shocked to see a woman with dirty white hair hanging from metal chains wrapped around her arms. Her hoodie was torn apart and covered in blood. Her eyes were glazed over and each breath she took was clearly labored. "You?" Another voice familiar to Bone Crusher called out. They looked to the side seeing another woman with black hair was looking at them. Her eyes widened seeing Lora and she began struggling. "No, not another one of those things!" She cried out trying to back away to no avail. Bone Crusher ran over to her keeping the woman calm. "Hey relax she's with us." He said helping her with the chains, "What are you doing hear um?" "Yearling and get Fleetfoot down she needs a doctor fast." Yearling said looking over to Fleetfoot with worried eyes. Kubo went to work getting the chains off of Fleetfoot. He felt something wet when he touched her back. When pulled his hand away he noticed that it was blood. He looked at Fleetfoot's back with wide eyes. There was a message craved into her meant for him. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY "Like your card, Kubo?" Everyone turned to see Kuro sitting on top of a railing with a wide smile, "I made it myself." "Where's the girl, Kuro?!" Kubo yelled. 'I think you should worry about, Miss Shimmer.' Midnight's voice played in their heads as she suddenly appeared on Kuro's shoulder, "Who you so happily brought to me." She smiled snapping her fingers. Lora's eyes widened as Midnight turned off her suppression she could suddenly sense the massive purple aura bellow them moving quickly toward Sunset. "Midnight you witch!" Lora shouted as the ground began to rumble. Outside Sunset held onto Kubo's motorcycle as the ground began to shake. The concrete began to crack apart, but what got Sunset worried was that it was shifting upward. A massive orange fist broke free from the earth it clawed at the surface hefting a large orange body from beneath. Sunset looked up in horror as the dragon from her nightmare now stood in front of her. Varan's yellow eyes glared down at her as he roared into the moon. He could sense the aura resonating off the human in front of him. His mistress wanted her so he was resisting the urge to feast on her flesh. Sunset was breathing quickly as she began reeving the engine. Smoke came out of the motorcycle and Sunset quickly took off. Varan licked his lips as a smile formed across his face. A chase would at least make this entertaining. The demonic dragon howled before chasing after her. Sunset looked over her shoulder seeing that Varan wasn't even running just casually walking after her. Each step he took was like an earthquake causing Sunset difficulty whenever the bike shook. She kept going trying to find someway to escape. A sharp corner was coming up. She prayed it was wide enough for her as she turned between two warehouses. Barely avoiding Varan's hand as it reached out for her. He roared looking down the alley as Sunset found that she in front of a large fence. She looked up seeing if she could climb it, but Varan had other ideas. With little effort he ripped apart one the warehouses the air pressure from the attack knocked Sunset off of the motorcycle. She coughed hard as the dust began filling her lungs. A low growl caught her attention as Varan stomped in front of her. His face was close enough she could smell his hot breath that made her gag. Varan felt slight disappoint at ending his game as he went to grab the girl. Sunset closed her eyes shaking. Suddenly Varan felt something it was the same blueish green aura from before. He looked up seeing a bright flash that blinded him he roared rearing back holding his eyes. All he could hear was small chirps. Sunset opened her seeing to an astonishing sight. Mini Mothra's were flying around Varan each them coming from different parts of the city. They shot at Varan's mouth with mini rainbow burst attacks causing him to roar in pain and back away. Each Mothra began running into each other forming a ball of light that shined like the sun. Finally from the water a bear sized Mothra came flying at high-speed into the ball. Varan grew annoyed at having to shield his eyes more. The light of the Mothra's began to die down and Varan could finally see again only to receive an atomic burst attack to the face from a fully formed Mothra. She held out her wings and stood in between Sunset and Varan. She roared flexing her claws challenging Varan. The dragon just smiled at her beating his spiked tail on the ground. He finally could get some entertainment after such boredom. He pawed the ground like a mad bull and snorting before letting out a loud roar. Mothra returned it and flew right at him with her body glowing Varan chose to meet her head on. The muscles in his legs tensed as he sprung forward claws spread out. Sunset had to cover her ears as the resulting clash sounded like a gong going off.