//------------------------------//
// Persona IX: Monsters and Mirrors 
// Story: Sometimes They Call Me Super 
// by KorenCZ11 
//------------------------------//


Applejack




“Alright, that’ll be enough for today,” Celestia said as she brought us back ta reality.
    “Ugh. Is this what you guys do all the time? That was awful,” Scootaloo complained.
    “I’ll say. This is how you’ve been preparing to deal with the kaiju? By fighting and dying to ‘fake’ ones over and over again?” Rainbow added. Goose tilted his head.
    “Well, not always dying. There are times when we win, but more often than not it’s a loss. With Luna, it’s just difficulty in stages. The first monster is usually something each of us could beat on our own and they require more teamwork and flawless execution as they become more difficult. With Celestia, it’s more like a game of, beat your head against a wall till it breaks, then find a new wall, and every new wall is some more horrifying thing than the last. Before we fought the second kaiju, she didn’t let us go until we beat a whole gauntlet of her very own creations, which were all terrifying by the way.” He pointed his words at the princess toward the end to which Celestia bowed.
    “To be entirely fair, one learns best from mistakes. However, not all the nightmares I’ve faced in my time are recorded in your history books. I suppose it would be fun for me to tell you that some of the monsters I’ve shown you here are real, but long dead or off in other worlds. That aside, today I more or less wanted to gauge your team work as it stands and see how well, if at all, Scootaloo might be of use to our efforts.” The sun princess had a dark smirk on her lips, and it looked like Rainbow was about to growl at her, but then Celestia pulled Scootaloo in close with her wing. “Worry not, I had no intentions of sending her off to fight on the front lines with you all. If I were to guess as to what she could do well, I’d say something along the lines of fine precision instrument work would be her forte.
    It’s very rare for a hybrid type pony like yourself to be born with as few complications as you have. I cannot begin to tell you how terrible it is for a child to have to grow up with active magic vessels and no way to use them, or how fragile a hollow boned Earth pony or unicorn is. Even heavy pegasus like you typically have issues with their muscles not being strong enough to support their skeletons during early childhood and late adulthood, provided they make it that far. It’s part of the reason there are benefits to same race couples with biological children. Hybrids are simply expensive to keep alive. You however, have had no such problems, and you’ve already passed the typically dangerous age range, so… you’re something I’ve never had the chance to work with properly and now… I own you…” Celestia's tone was a strange mix of calculated and excited, and in an odd way, it reminded me of Twilight when she gets a new book… Apples don't fall far from their trees, after all...
    “Mother, please stop treating my residents like one of your experiments. I apologize for her everypony, she has a terrible habit of… analyzing ponies.” Twilight sighed and Celestia shrugged.
    “When you’ve lived for over two thousand years, I only hope that you can find something other than genetics and technological advancements to amuse you. I’ll tell you, in all my time, nothing is ever more surprising than watching evolution take its course in front of your very eyes. It’s simply marvelous, just as you are a wonder of biology yourself. Think about how rare you are, my dearest daughter. You’re one of three of your kind in the entire world, the last of your kind born in millennia, and on top of all that, you, a creature immune to disease, failure of your faculties and regenerative capabilities, contracted the virus! It should have been impossible for your genes to be altered as they were, yet here we are.” The excitement in her voice was ever present.
    “You inherited your father’s powers, you inherited part of your fathers power’s, and you inherited your father’s powers,” she said motionin’ toward Twilight, Goose, and Ah. “Why is it that some powers are passed down as any other gene would, yet some combine, or create something completely new and never before seen in the world? Does it relate to each pony, and it’s that odd mistress of destiny that decides what your talents and how your cutiemark will influence your life? Or is it a separate influence that comes together as nothing more than a roll of the dice with an infinite set of numbers to choose from? Is there a limit to what it can do? Can it be predicted? When you truly begin to look into something a complex as this, the variables grow in number with each new conclusion, and the moment something new comes about, it tears down everything you know and adds another new obstacle for you to overcome!
    I know that unleashing this virus upon my own people was a failure on my part. I had no idea what the consequences were or how many lives I ruined just because I wasn’t careful. But if I’m completely honest here? I likely would’ve tried to spread it anyways over time and through generations, albeit far more controlled than it has. It’s like planting a tree and watching it grow, seeing what shape it will take, what fruit it will bear. What can I do to alter and manipulate its course? Can I control it, or does it spiral into chaos, only to leave me in shock and awe of its magnificence!” By now Celestia’s wings had flared out and everythin' about her was positively glowin’. Literally. She finally took notice of our stares and quickly recollected herself, the multicolored glow comin' off her coat, mane, and tail fadin' away, save fer a fine shade of pink on her cheeks.
    “I apologize for myself. This is exactly the kind of talk that gets me into trouble, and even after all this time, I’ve not yet found a way to completely suppress my… inquisitive personality.” Twilight shook her head and Ah just sorta laughed. “Is something entertaining, Applejack?” Celestia asked. Ah nodded.
    “Fer all yer talk of genetics and such, this side of ya really shows where she gets most of her personality. Her dad musta been the moody one.” Celestia paused and then smiled. She looked off ta the corner of the trainin’ room, but her eyes went beyond that, as if a memory was hidden up there just fer her ta see.
    “Yes, he certainly was. All her actions remind me of him in some way or another, and her personality has maybe a hint of mine and most of his in it. A very noble soul he was, the last in a line of kings that would’ve ended with him… had he not suddenly had an heir with some outsider from another world. I’ve not many regrets, but being so useless back then is certainly my most vivid…” She sighed. “Well, I suppose that’s enough of this for now. Let us move to the living room so we may discuss the Kaiju, hmm?” Rainbow nodded, and the rest of us took that as a sign ta head on upstairs.
    Goose and Ah started out first, followed by Scootaloo and Rainbow, then Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and finally the Princess. The staircase outta the training room isn’t very big so we more or less had ta line up single file as we made our way out with Goose in front makin’ sure Ah didn’t trip since Ah was down a leg fer the foreseeable future. We’d made it about halfway up the staircase when Ah heard a pair of hooves click right behind me. Normally, when ponies walk, our hooves are almost always completely separate and never do they touch unless you’re on a full gallop. Ah turned my head ta see the tell tale signs of a filly about ta slam face first inta crystal stairs, and threw my left foreleg out ta catch her on instinct.
    “Goddess, damn… what the?” At first, catchin’ her hurt. A lot. But after she put her hooves on my leg, then pain started ta subside. Before Ah knew it, the pain was gone entirely and all Ah really felt was a teenager on my foreleg.
    “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! Is your leg okay? I’m usually not this clumsy…” she said in a panick. Ah let her back down on her hooves and then turned and flexed my hoof both ways. There was nothin’ wrong with it.
    “Goose, take me back ta the trainin’ room real quick.” He just shrugged and in a second, we were back down in the giant crystal box.
    “Twilight, give me somethin’ ta break. A nice foot thick wall should be enough,” Ah asked after the others noticed we’d moved. They started comin’ back down, all a little confused.
    “Is something the matter?” Celestia asked.
    “Why, exactly? You’re still injured, you shouldn’t-” Twilight started. Ah rolled my eyes and cut her off.
    “Just do it, please.” She rolled her own eyes in response and then turned her magic on. Just a meter away, a big block of crystal rose from the floor, just about at the dimensions Ah wanted it at. Ah didn’t figure Ah needed it, but just because Ah felt the need ta try, Ah loaded up a trump card punch with my left.
    “Applejack, stop! What do you think-” Celestia began, but Ah threw the punch anyways. It hurt, but not very much, and even more so, it felt stronger than it was before. The block shattered inta rockets of crystal, each shard goin’ in all manner of directions like the cone shaped blast from a shotgun barrel. The back and side walls of the whole trainin’ room were peppered with holes, and my hoof was left smokin’ when all was said and done. Celestia angrily stomped over in a hurry. “You’d best have an explanation as to why you directly disobeyed me. Why did that work? Your foreleg was still in a gooey mesh last I looked at it.” Ah looked at the damage, my foreleg, Celestia, and then finally Ah settled on Scootaloo after she filed out of the stairwell. Ah ran over quick, grabbed her, and set her in front of the now shattered block of crystal.
    “This is a weird request, but would ya put her hooves on this?” Ah asked. She looked at me even more confused than before, but did what Ah asked all the same.
    “Oh… kay?” She put her hooves on the block, and then… nothin’ happened. Ah felt a strange tingle on my left foreleg again, and noticed a gold magic aura on it. Celestia tilted her head ta the side and furrowed her brows.
    “Now how did that happen? This should’ve taken another month to recover, even with your naturally high regeneration speed, but at the moment, it’s as if it were never broken in the first place…” She muttered, probably ta herself. I figured she’ll catch on in a second, so Ah might as well have her try again.
    “When ya tripped and Ah caught ya, what was it that went through yer mind, Scootaloo?” She frowned as she started ta remember.
    “Well, I’m not sure. I… guess I was just hoping I wouldn’t break anything. I’ve tripped in this castle before, and the floors are super hard. Last time, I thought I was gonna break something, and on stairs made of the same stuff, I figured it wasn’t gonna feel good.” Hmm… Ah wonder…
    “Will ya stand on yer hind legs fer me?”
    “Uh… sure?” Unsure, she did as Ah asked, not quite as well balanced as those of us used ta doin’ it. Ah walked behind her and gave her a little push. She started ta freak out as the jagged crystal block’s remains started comin’ closer ta her face, and she stuck her hooves out ta try and stop the fall. Just as her hooves made contact with the block, all the shattered pieces of it stuck in the walls started ta come floatin’ toward it. The pieces fit themselves together like buildin’ blocks until finally, the whole block was the way it started before Ah punched it.
    “And that, would be why Ah disobeyed,” Ah stated ta Celestia. Every pony save her and myself, stared in awe at the reformed block, and Scootaloo simply fell ta her butt and stared at her hooves.
    “Did I… do that?” Celestia looked down at me with one of her dark smiles, then wrapped a wing around me and pulled me off a bit.
    “You and I will need to discuss proper experimentation procedures in the future, but were I in your position, I would’ve done exactly the same thing. Well done, Major Apple.” Celestia stood back up and then turned to the rest of the group. “As you can see, there’s been a discovery made here, and we’ll need to adjust our plans for the moment. For the next few hours, we’re going to train physically while attempting to give Scootaloo here a better grasp on her powers now that all our combatants have recovered. While I won’t deploy her on a mission to begin with, in the event we need a combat medic, I do believe we’ve just found somepony who can fill the spot…” Celestia stated, her devious smile ever present. Twilight sighed, and the rest of the girls and Goose went ta congratulate Scootaloo for figurin’ out what she can really do. Celestia sat back down next ta me and let out a giggle.
    “How fitting. From the sound of her story, both of her parents had powers that diametrically opposed each other, and each served as a near perfect way to protect one’s self, yet the daughter of the two carries a power to mend what’s broken. I can only wonder if what she does is similar to the mother, but with objects and body parts? Or maybe it requires all the pieces near by, or there’s a time limit to the things it can restore? Oh dear, I haven’t been this excited in such a long time. With all the dread and uncertainty in the last few weeks, It’s quite nice to feel this way once again.” That child like excitement from earlier back in her voice, and it made me remember that even as old, wise, and powerful as she is, she's still a pony like the rest of us. Ah nodded.
    “Now ta see what all she can fix. If she put my foreleg back together by accident, and made it stronger based on how it feels now, Ah can only wonder what she does when she puts a conscious effort inta it?” Celestia smiled even wider.
    “It felt stronger than before? Ooh, now I need to examine your leg again, and the block of crystal! I wonder if the structure is not only repaired, but forms a stronger bond to itself in the process, like putting a stronger adhesive back after breaking a toy? Oh, just think of all the testing! It’s time to get to work, I want to figure this out!” Celestia got up and bolted ta the block. Ah shrugged and stood back up myself.
    “It sure is nice ta have somethin’ good happen every once in a while, ain’t it?”



    Instead of actually stoppin’ ta discuss the Kaiju yesterday, Celestia was consumed with tryin’ ta test the limits of Scootaloo’s powers. She almost went so far as ta have one of us break a bone just ta watch her repair it so she could document the process, but luckily Twilight managed ta steer her away from that with the idea ta take her ta a hospital and see what all she could heal. It’d been a couple hours of repairin’ inanimate objects and seein’ how long it took ta tire her out and what all she could do fer how long, and were it not fer Rainbow demandin’ that she give Scootaloo a rest, she probably would've had Scootaloo work till she passed out. Celestia ended up givin’ in and waitin’ ta resume experimentation until after dinner, but then it was right back ta it. She did end up sneakin’ inta a hospital disguised as a pegasus with Scootaloo that night, and with all her data collected, we’ve figured out just what all Scootaloo is capable of.
    Fer inorganic objects, Scootaloo’s powers, when applied ta broken, distorted, and even meted items, will return them ta the state they were in before they became this way. When it comes ta organic thin’s though, her powers don’t work quite the same. Instead of just puttin’ the pieces back together like it would a broken statue, her powers collect all the material that belongs in a certain shape or structure and repairs it till gets to where it should be. Celestia noted that this power has no effect on disease that doesn’t destroy organs and the like, nor will it regrow missin’ body parts, much ta Rainbow’s dismay. It will however, repair limbs and the like that were only recently severed and still intact. What we’ve decided is that as long as somethin’ organic isn't destroyed, Scootaloo can fix it.
    She can only use her powers ta a point, and the more pieces she has ta put back together, or structures she has ta repair, the more drained of stamina she is. Repairin’ inorganics seems ta be easier on her too, since she only had ta rest after reparin’ several broken crystal structures, whereas she needed ta rest after fixin’ four patients with injuries. Celestia wanted ta keep testin’ thin’s, but after her motherly side kicked back in, she decided it would be best just ta call it fer the day. The next mornin’, we reconvened at the livin’ room table ta get her report on Scootaloo and discuss what the possible Kaiju were before hittin’ the sharin’ spell again fer fights against Celestia’s monsters.
    “Now then, I believe it’s time we got into what lies in store for us in the coming four Sundays, shall we?” Celestia asked. Rainbow nodded and then Twilight created a series of screens for everypony ta look at. On the display was a page with information on ‘Success Subject I: Sachiel’ as the title read. Rainbow stood from her chair and then began her explanation.
    “So, before I start talking about Kaiju, I think I need to explain what’s really going on here. My previous employer, or Persona as you know him, is looking for something he calls ‘the original.’ This thing is presumably a mirror just like the ones that cause the kaiju, but is made from fragments of a perfect magical artifact called the six element crystals.” Ah noticed Celestia’s ears perk up right as Rainbow said that. “He… is currently in a state of disrepair due to circumstances unknown, and his life and the life of somepony he cares about are both riding on finding this mirror. If you couldn’t already guess, his time is predicted to end somewhere around October 20th, or the last day we fight a Kaiju, provided we make it that far.”
    “I see. And might you have the name of this employer? I’m sure I could make a few educated guesses at this point but-” Celestia began, but Rainbow stopped her.
    “That… would likely only make things worse. If Persona dies prematurely, then his bombs will go off, and one kaiju would become a blessing in comparison to the horrors they would create in this city.” Rarity shivered.
    “Ugh, please don’t bring that up. I infiltrated Argent Tower not too long ago and watched one of the ‘experiments’ in person before he put out the warning commercial. I would love nothing more than to just forget about that.” Ah nodded.
    “Right. But what are these six element crystals? And, this might be a little strange ta ask, but would Scootaloo be able ta fix his problem? If we can get out of fightin’, then that’d be fer the best Ah think.” Rainbow shook her head.
    “His powers are what’s killing him, and as we’ve seen, Scootaloo can only repair broken things, not cure disease. As for the crystals, I don’t really know. Do you, Princess?” Celestia sighed.
    “The six element crystals. An artifact that was supposed to be locked away and never to be seen again, disappeared years ago. They are of unknown origin and said to be an ancient artifact of the alicorn race, or our particular breed of pony.” She said motionin' ta herself and Twilight. “The power they contain is immense, but inaccessible through normal means. To give an example, there was once a creature who sought to take over the world and distort it from its natural state. Between him and Luna and my combined powers, we were fighting an uphill battle near evenly matched together against him alone. To put this in perspective, the Caballo crater was created in a fit of rage by myself, alone. In this time of need, Luna and I were able to use the power contained within the crystals to seal him away and break what remained of him into pieces, scattering them across the world. They were a power far beyond anything seen before, and nothing like them has been seen since.
    Originally, they were what we used to create the gate that I searched through other dimensions with before Twilight was born. However, when Luna discovered us in my state of disrepair shortly after I escaped her father’s world, she took the crystals and shattered them. The fragments were then collected and hidden away as the power they contained was still immense, but not near enough to make the gate work again, believe me, I tried. Needless to say, I was caught trying to use the crystals, and so Luna had them hidden where I could not reach them… only to lose them herself. The fragments were gone one day, just missing as if somepony had walked away with them. We still don’t know what happened to them back then.” Ah blinked.
    “Ya just… lost ‘em? Somepony walked away with ‘em? How? Ah just…” Celestia shook her head.
    “I wasn’t in charge of that. I don’t even know where they were stored to begin with. The things I hide to never have seen again are never seen again. The only issue with myself hiding things is that I still know where they are, and as you’ve seen I have… an obsession with experimentation. She just came to me a little more frantic than usual one day and said they were missing. We searched for their signature for the longest time, only to no avail.” Ah don't think Ah've ever heard this mare sound so... annoyed over somethin'. Rainbow frowned and started tappin’ a hoof against her mouth.
    “How long ago did that happen?” Celestia turned ta Twilight and said,
    “Let’s see… how old are you?”  Twilight deadpanned her face in response.
    “I cannot believe you don’t know my age. Actually, no. I will not believe it. You’re making a joke.” Celestia giggled and shook her head.
    “How very astute of you. It happened about half a year after Twilight was born, so April of 2011, or nineteen years ago.” Rainbow leaned forward continually tappin’ her hoof ta her face.
    “Well, that fits in the time frame, but what was going on with them before Persona got a hold of them? Whatever, I suppose that’s not important,” she muttered ta herself. “In any case, between your time gap and September of 2018, Persona managed to get a hold of the fragments and form them into the ‘original’ mirror. This mirror evoked the virus and the natural magic within a pony to amplify the powers stored within both, creating something even more powerful above and beyond a powerful Power Pony, without the side effect of losing control completely. The subject used to test the mirror is the villain you know as ‘The Mirror’ from twelve years ago. The story goes is that the subject was some futureless mental patient artificially infected with the virus and then controlled by using the original. It supposedly fixed the patient’s broken mind, and allowed that patient to test the mirror’s power exactly as persona wanted. It all worked up until that fateful day that the Trade Center fell, and both The Mirror and The Original disappeared, never to be seen again.” Suddenly, the muscles in my forelegs tightened unbidden.
    “Ya mean ta tell me… that the bastard that killed my father is still alive!?” Ah yelled as Ah stood up and slammed my hooves on the table. Ah could feel every fiber in my body shakin’. Somethin’ Ah thought was long gone suddenly had a new avenue ta explore. Ah could avenge my dad. It takes a lot ta kill monsters, but ponies? Ponies are fragile. Ponies are weak. Ah could drag it out once Ah find him. Twelve years of heartache and sufferin’, twelve years of cryin’ and depression. Ah could make them pay fer it all…
    “Applejack, sit down,” Celestia ordered. At first, Ah didn’t say anythin’ and just stared her down as all the rage in my body was seethin’ just under the surface. She stared me right back with the most cold and indifferent look Ah’ve ever seen on her face. We stayed like this in silence fer what seemed like hours until finally Ah felt a hoof on my back and a soft voice started ta calm me down.
    “Hey now, come on. That’s not a fight you’re going to win, or want to have. We can talk about it later,” he whispered. Ah felt my muscles start ta lose tension and then everythin’ else soon followed. Ah pulled my hooves out of the new dents in the table and slowly sank back inta my chair.
    “Ah’m sorry y’all. Please, keep goin’.” The rage seeped away like a cloud of mist.
    “You didn’t have to break the table…” Twilight grumbled as her magic turned on.
    “Oh, don’t worry about it, I can fix it!” Scootaloo said before Twilight could do anythin’. She put her hooves on the new dent, and after a second of flyin’ crystal shrapnel, the table was returned ta its original state.
    “Huh. That ability of yours is going to be so very convenient. I suppose I’m not as tactically adept as Mother is, but now I think I’m starting to see just what all you could expedite…” Twilight said as she leaned forward and tapped her chin. Celestia wrapped a wing around her daughter while beaming.
    “Of course you will honey♥ It might take a few centuries or millennia to catch up to me now, but you’ll get there for sure♥” Twilight frowned.
    “Oh gee, how reassuring that you think it’ll only take me a few hundred years to get to your status.” Twilight groaned.
    “Well, you simply can’t beat experience, and I doubt there’s a creature in the world with as much as she has,” Rarity said.
    “Almost correct. There are a few, but I could count them all on my hooves, and I’m also the reason you don’t know who they are. In any case, let us return to our original topic. The Mirror and The Original were lost to time, correct?” Rainbow was just static fer a moment till she realized she was the one being spoken ta.
    “Oh, right! Sorry, this is just all kinds of weird for me. You’re… completely different than the image I’ve built up all my life.” Celestia nodded.
    “Yes, I know it can be quite a shock to know that I too, am a pony, albeit ageless and quite possibly the most powerful being in the world at the moment, but I’d certainly hope I never have to find that out. Please, continue.” A hint of a superiority complex in there, huh?
    “Uh… sure. Anyways, after losing the original, Persona went back to trying to recreate it, but this time without the element crystals. The testing went on for years until he finally found a combination of materials that, when merged under certain conditions, had similar properties to the element crystals, albeit more volatile. Mercury and disruption crystals, when ground, heated and reformed together create something like a magical amplifier that acts in a similar fashion to the element crystals when charged with magic. The resulting metal is something that’s solid at room temperature but has a particular ‘shine’ to it which causes it to reflect seemingly more light than it should rightly be able to.
    Alone, these things are kinda like batteries that power a pony. Little amps that can enhance a pony’s abilities for a short while. I think the longest recorded use of a non virus mirror was a little over fifteen minutes. When the virus is added to it though… then it gets complicated. Applying the virus to the completed mirror causes nothing to happen. Applying the virus to powdered disruption crystal and then heating it to a certain temperature though? That causes it to bond to the disruption crystal.”
    “And that means that the virus itself can be charged with magic…” Celestia muttered.Rainbow nodded.
    “Exactly. But that isn’t the end of it. When the virus powder is heated with the mercury, you’ve created a metallic cocktail that afflicts the enhanced virus to anypony who applies it to themselves and charges them with magic. The result can be anything from adding a second power strain to creating a giant monster that’s lost all control. However, the chance of the former happening is closer to zero and the latter… well, let’s just say that the kills I’ve added to my record over the last year have been mostly out of mercy.
    The mixture and what percentage of what goes into a mirror has changed three times since I’ve arrived, but at the same time, the changes have lead to a more reliable success rate each time. I’d imagine if he had the time to do it, he could probably perfect the mirror given a decade or so. The current generation of mirror, and probably the one Goose has, would be the third generation if it was made after July. The Gen 3 mirrors typically have a success rate of 1 percent, so consider yourself lucky.” Rainbow stated. Goose felt at the spot on his chest. We’d speculated that the chance of him gettin’ the powers that he did was low, but fer it ta be that low…
    “So, that brings us to the file on your screens, the first success, Sachiel. In a strange turn of… luck? I suppose, Persona’s third experiment ended in success with the first generation of mirrors. Sachiel was originally an inmate at one of the many prisons around Manehattan. Persona used his connections to take terminal patients, the mentally ill, and death row inmates from various places around and use them as his own personal lab rats. These ponies were all essentially set to die, so when they went to him, they were classified as dead. I guess that Sachiel and Israfel really are at this point, but who they were before Persona isn’t important.
    Anyways, the pictures below document the experiment. The mirror was applied to the bound Sachiel and the scientists watched on as the transformation occurred. At this point, the strike team Persona hired had been whittled down in number, so a success was more or less necessary here. Sachiel transformed into the kaiju you all fought, but oddly enough, remained motionless. He was the largest so far, but it was as if he just stood there like a living corpse. An hour passed while he stayed in that form, and then he reverted to the criminal he was before.
    What was later discovered was that this transformation was a second ability that the mirror had given him, the power to turn into that big bipedal thing. However, while pony or monster, Sachiel had lost much of his computing power and became little more than a doll that could keep itself alive and take orders. This first success happened back in July of 2027. Another year would pass before a second success occurred.
    The next success was even stranger than the first and appeared just as randomly. The mirrors were difficult to make, but even after a complete year of testing, Sachiel was already a below one percent chance success. More than two hundred ponies ended up as failed experiments, and due to the nature of where they all came from, this didn’t raise suspicions and Persona was never found out. Then comes success two, A Kaiju you haven’t fought yet, Ramiel. Slide on down to the next page for me… and, there, that’s him. In pony form anyways.” Rainbow said as Twilight moved the screens. A crystal pony from the looks of it, a light blue, possibly a shade different than Rainbow herself, and a pure white mane that seemed ta have every single hair shootin’ off straight away from his head. His eyes were a wild green-yellow and one of ‘em was bigger than the other… by a lot.
    “This guy is a freak. Completely and utterly obsessed with energy, the guy was admitted to a mental facility due to trying to see how much charge ponies could handle. Didn’t care where he was as long as he could tinker with the numbers, and couldn’t be kept around other ponies since he could always tell where and how to get to a current. We believe that he’s fried himself more than a few times, so it’s a wonder that he’s alive at the moment.
    His kaiju form is… strange to say the least. Unlike Sachiel, Ramiel transforms into something akin to a floating cube. I know this sounds weird, but stick with me here. He can take himself apart in just about any way you could cut a crystal in that shape and rearrange himself, like his body isn’t actually important. In his kaiju form, he doesn’t have so much as an organic cell that we know of, save for what little of him is part of the mirror, and even after being this way for two years, Persona’s ponies still don’t get how he works. Adding on to his obsession, Ramiel can conduct, charge, store, and fire energy according to the way his body is shaped. His core is typically hidden, except when he’s in his firing form, which is picture five on your list.”
    Ah think the words Ah would use ta describe this… thin’ would be ‘floatin’ square’ in the event Ah ever saw it without expectin’ it. The Firin’ form she was talkin’ about looked like a pointy lotus, or a jagged flat drill bit with a shiny piece in the center.
    “If you see that, then you need to get out of the way. The largest beam recorded was about a ten meter radius, and it is just pure concentrated light. Anything it touches vaporizes on contact. Ramiel can hold this form for about an hour, like Sachiel, but he can charge and fire his beam up to twice in a minute. The longer he charges, the more powerful the beam. Thankfully, he’s very slow in the normal terms, as in the distance he can cover, but he can turn on a dime and he can reshape his body in an instant. To add to this, Ramiel has a natural defense called an SE field, or solid energy. It is a physical barrier made entirely out of some kind of energy with similar properties to magic. It is very hard to break. I’ve never managed to pierce it with my sword, so if we come across him next, I don’t know what we’ll do.” Celestia leaned back and stroked her chin.
    “Similar to magic huh? And you said it fired light as well, correct?” Rainbow nodded. “I can think of a few ways that can work. I’ll need to sit and review this of course, but I’ll likely have a plan for you before the weekend. It’ll require some testing when the time comes though. I’ll get back to you once Luna and I have had a discussion on this. What’s next?” Rainbow tapped her screen and moved the page down ta the next Kaiju.
    The last of the first generation success, this one only taking half the time between Sachiel and Ramiel, was Israfel. She was the first female success, and the only success in the pair experiments. The failures that came after Ramiel prompted Persona to try to pair subjects to see if the results would come out any better. These pairs created a wide variety of monsters, some docile even, but no true success that could revert to their pony forms or even act beyond a high level of mental retardation. That is, until the twins came along.
    They were a pair who honestly believed they could speak with the dead and had a terrible habit of killing ponies just to try and talk to them. Whether or not they were telling the truth was a question left unanswered, and Persona got a hold of them shortly before their death row call. As you know, Israfel ended up as one Kaiju originally, but when severed, she could split her body parts into two. When Israfel first reverted, she’d turned into a single pony that shared two conscious personalities and the physical characteristics of both twins, or the blue and red coats/manes/tails, etc.
    After Israfel’s success, and the next pair of twins Persona found a failure, he decided that it was time to change up the formula for the mirror as the next variable. The next success happened three months in with the new formula. There were many docile and even tameable kaiju created, but none as powerful or intelligent as those from the first generation.
    Matarael, the fourth success was… interesting? Seemingly normal pony, a complete psychopath on the inside, a fetish involving severed limbs and what happens to her? Well… she turns into a giant eye. Just scroll down, you’ll see what I mean.” The pony, as stated, looked like a normal mare you’d find in a cubicle somewhere. She had her green and red mane tied up in a bun, she wore glasses over orange colored eyes, and a white blouse with a black skirt over a pastel red coat. The next picture had all those colors and more in rows surrounding a single orange colored eye in the center of what looked like butterfly wings.
    “W-what am I looking at?” Fluttershy asked.
    “Honestly, I wouldn’t know any better than you do. Once again, the largest of the second generation, and its only claim to success, Matarael was… the weird one of the bunch. She’s big, she’s slow, she floats but weighs so much that no structure can hold her, and she secretes acid, which makes it look like she’s crying. Said acid is likely several times more powerful than whatever it is that’s in Pinkie’s blades, and will melt most things it touches in an instant. While dangerous, I’m not super concerned about Matarael because of why the second generation was discontinued.
    The first generation, no matter if it was a success or a failure, all had some kind of natural defense mechanism to protect the mirror. With Sachiel, it was the bone mask and his regeneration. With Israfel, it was her ability to shift the mirror around and split it in two. As long as either mirror remained in tact, she could regenerate as well. Ramiel has his shield and the ability to reform his body. Matarael though? Nothing. Her skin is tough, and she does have a giant eyelid to protect the mirror at her core, but her actual battle capability is pretty low in general. The other second gen ‘close’ successes usually all had something going for them, but nothing like the first gen, and they were never as durable or destructive.
    When the time comes, I figure you guys can just line up a good shot at her core and be done with her. The only issue comes from how and where her body falls, because that may very well be enough to destroy most of Manehattan alone. All the blood within Matarael is of that same acid that she cries, so that will tear this place apart if her heavy, dense body doesn’t do it first. Her best use is likely as a wide area suicide bomb, so… be ready for that I guess.” Rainbow stated. A suicide bomber, huh? It’s been a long time since Equestria had somethin’ like that happen. Supposedly, the Caballo crater incident happened because a suicide bomber attacked a makeshift hospital not far from the front lines. It killed just over a hundred ponies, some of which were from their side.
    “Hmm… well, all things considered, that is a very good way to search for the element crystals if nothing else.” Celestia muttered. Pinkie tilted her head.
    “What do you mean? Wouldn’t something like that destroy them?” Celestia shook her head.
    “No. You see, while physically a crystal, they can be cut or shattered, but not destroyed. One of the many, and more reckless tests I did while studying them was to see if they could be tampered with. They are unaffected by magic, no acid I could come up with affected them, they were entirely resistant to heat, and exposing them to anything but force, they are immune. When I say this, I don’t mean it lightly, they are as close to a perfect material as once can get. While I never had the chance to learn why, my race was ended over these crystals. Of course, there isn’t much I remember about my own childhood, or even much of the time before my first campaign to conquer the land, but the stories of the wars fought over those crystals isn’t something I could ever forget.” It was a while before she looked up and realized all eyes were on her now.
    “Um… that is a conversation for another time. History forgotten isn’t meant to be history remembered, so just forget I said anything. The point is, destroying everything in his wake is an easy way to get close to what he wants, provided The Original is still in Manehattan, but I doubt he would attack here if he had reason to believe it wasn’t. Please, continue,” Celestia rattled off. Rainbow look to a few of us, then gave up.
    “Oh…kay? Um, if you’ll scroll down, you will find the last Kaiju I have a whole lot of data on, and this would be the guy I am most afraid of running into.” Of all the ponies that looked completely unassumin’, this guy probably took the cake. He was a brown and tan coated pony with a pale mane and brown eyes. It was cut short, and he looked physically average fer an earth pony. He looked young too, maybe a little older than sixteen. Nothin’ special about him at all, until Ah noticed a strange spot on his chest. Metallic, reflective coat, albeit in a tiny spot, was sittin’ there in the open.
    “The most successful subject, and the first success of gen three. Uh, the other being Goose anyways. Sahaquiel. Before coming to work for Persona, Sahaquiel was a very weak, very frail kid. Bullied in school as a kid, angry and vengeful as a teen, but had no power to do anything about it. Like the princess said said the other day, hollow boned earth ponies, which is what he is, are extremely fragile. He was kept in the hospital for most his life and wanted nothing more than the power to fight back. He and the pony behind the mask had a lot in common, and they met at the hospital that Sahaquiel was being cared for in. Persona offered him the chance to have the power he’d always wanted, and as the first test subject of gen three, he got it.
    He is fast, likely close to as fast as Pinkie is. He is likely just as strong as Applejack is. He flies without wings. And to top it all off, he can regenerate in seconds. His powers have no drawbacks, and there is not much in the world that I can think of that could stop him. He has a cruel temperament, and all those years of being picked on and brooding in hospital beds has created something horrible. When he shows up… we better have some kind of plan, because of all the possible enemies I know of that could kill us, this is the guy that could do it the easiest. Even with all my experience, even with all my powers, not once have I ever been able to beat him sparring, much less get a chance to attack. If we manage to get that far, I don’t think anything outside of Rarity’s powers are going to give us an advantage on him, and he knows what she can do, so I doubt he won’t go after her first.” Rainbow lost all the life in her voice, like this guy had already killed us. Speed, power, flight, and regeneration. Perfect. Celestia stroked her chin.
    “A perfect soldier... hmm… I’d been toying with that idea for a while now, and if his personality is as you say it is, I think we may have a way to exploit that, but you are correct, nothing is more dangerous to you than that. Putting that aside though, are there not six Kaiju? The next page is nothing more than a title.” She was right, all the last page had on it were the words: Project Zeruel.
    “Well, that’s because all we know is that it exists. It’s code name is Zeruel, and it is the sixth Kaiju. Sahaquiel was the last Kaiju created that the others and I were aware of. Since the strike team that I was apart of was disbanded due to an internal rumor that one of use belonged to the Lunar guard, this is the only kaiju that was made that nopony really knows anything about. Ever since the rumor started, Persona has had all new information on lock down, and if Zeruel has been seen by anypony, nopony knows that’s who it is. Hell, we don’t even know if it’s real. Persona could just be blowing smoke, but with Sahaquiel under his hooves, I don’t know that he needs a sixth. Out of the three options I know of left, two have a very high chance of killing us easily enough, and one can destroy half the city even if we manage to kill it. And I really do mean half. If you look at the picture of Matarael, you’ll see that she’s about as thick as a car at any point, and her height and width come somewhere around a few miles each.” Pinkie moved from one spot to another and patted her on the back.
    “There, there, it’ll all be alright. We’ve made it this far, and most of us thought we were gonna die before we even fought the first one. At least now, we have some semblance of what to prepare for instead of running in blind with guns blazing. Well, I guess we kind of had an idea with the first one, but the second one was definitely a blind run. We’ll manage somehow.”
    “I-in any case, this new information w-will be put to good use. T-those nuke bullets may g-get fired after all…” Fluttershy added. Celestia’s ears perked up.
    “Nuclear what now?” Twilight straightened up as if a jolt of electricity had shot through her.
    “Hey, would you look at the time, it’s about noon isn’t it? We should get lunch! I’ll go order something, you guys just tell me what you want once I contact you! K bye!” and in a flash of violet magic, she was gone. Celestia sighed.
    “Well, that certainly explains why those went missing. She must realize that escaping me is impossible by now, right? There are only so many reasons magic can simply go dead in a single location.” Pinkie shrugged.
    “Admitting things you do wrong for the right reasons is never easy. Of course, it might also be the fact that you cross the line between mom and terrifying on a dime and have done so at least twice in this sitting alone.” Celestia tilted her head to the side and huffed.
    “I suppose that’s entirely true. In any case, we can discuss this all more tomorrow. I have a few ideas I need to sort out with all this new information, so we’ll run our usual session until six, and then I’ll have to make plans with Luna. I think I’m going to go borrow the library until Twilight returns.” Celestia got up from her chair, but then stopped by me and whispered in my ear. “Those were not the thoughts somepony regarded as a hero. Remember your place.” Just like the storm she is, Celestia left the room, leavin’ nothin’ but destruction in her wake.