========

Zenith

========

In a flash of motion grabbed Megalon’s attention and he spun around to face it, revving up his good drill and emitting weak sparks from his horn. He was still banged up pretty badly from the back-to-back fights with Grand King and then Kaizer Ghidorah, but it would take both of them at once to force him away from who he was guarding. Instead he momentarily dropped his guard when he saw it was Irys flying in, though he brought it right back up when he sensed a graviton surge and saw a winged form fly in behind her. Irys reacted as soon as she saw his horn sparking.

“It’s okay, Megalon!”, she yelped as she threw herself up in front of him with her wings spread, before motioning downwards with her arms, ”... It’s okay, it’s okay, he’s back.”

Megalon paused and looked behind her, recognizing the shape rising up from a slightly rougher landing the moment he saw the pale armor, even if it was now accompanied by multiple gold accents and a pair of wings. Elation in him soared and his compound eyes lit up in glee, the only thing keeping him from charging forward and glomping his returned comrade was the knowledge of whom lay propped up behind him.

Kaizer X sighed, feeling at his new power. It would take time to get used to, likely being temporary for while. He could already feel it waning down to a more reserved state. In a few hours he might not be that much different than his original form and might as well still be called Monster X. In a calmer time he might muse this to be a side effect of the Kaizer Ghidorah personality resigning itself to not be dominant and letting Monster X be the chief one in the driver’s seat given he was the one to form them a life; but this was no time for that. Instead he pushed the thoughts aside and focused his sole attention on the form beside Megalon.

It wasn’t the first time he saw his best friend like this, only this time there was even more damage despite there being less blood.

Gigan lay limp and cold, slumped against the wall with occasional showers of sparks spurting out from his joints or multiple injuries. There was no life or flicker in the cyclopean mechanical eye that was plainly visible in the absence of a currently shattered red visor, one of the two huge dual chainsaws he’d used in his overclocked beatdown on Kaizer Ghidorah was impaled through his chest. X’s newest scar in the making, a dual slash wound in the shape of his namesake ached when he observed the weapons.

Nodding to Megalon, Kaizer X got on one side of Gigan as the other cyborg got on the other with Irys in the middle. Lifted by hand, altered gravity, and Irys’ careful talons; Gigan’s body was brought up and carried.

=========

Canterlot

=========

The dreams of her subconscious were fading away beyond recollection, with her focus upon a moving light high above her. For a while she couldn’t tell if she was still asleep or not, the pinprick of light growing and moving across her field of view. For a single frightening moment, she wondered if this was the end of her epoch.

Then the light moved in a conscious manner, and the world started to trickle back. The light swung to and fro, and cyan eyes slowly opened to greet it. One by one her senses returned to her beyond blinded sight. There were other ponies going about business, barely audible through muffling walls and obviously not in the same room like the scribblings on paper she could hear. The air carried the scents of antiseptics and cleaners. And the pressure on her back belied a firm mattress covered in a sterile comforter.

Sunset Shimmer wasn’t dying or dreaming anymore, she was awake in a hospital room. The light from before emanating from the headlamp of the attending minotauress. Citrus orange in color overall and holding a clipboard of notes, she’d been the source of the scribbling noises Sunset had heard earlier.

“Mmmmmhmm!”, noted the cow-like professional sporting a white coat of her trade, “Good, your eyes can follow the light perfectly! Seems you’re fully conscious without repercussion.”

“Wh-Where?”, Sunset Shimmer murmured, still too confused by her general circumstance to be shocked at seeing an Equestrian in the flesh.

Sunset Shimmer winced, feeling an ache in her sides as some foggy, distant memory surged back into her without recognition. She winced and grabbed at her head, shaking it to clear her vision and feeling at her body to assure herself she was fine.

Doctor Taurus pursed her lips, knowing to expect some delirium and dizziness after what her patient had gone through.

“You’re recommended to take it easy. But don’t worry too much; other than some bruising and a minor concussion, you seem right as rain. Do you feel anything otherwise?”

Taurus sighed, “It’s to be expected since you were concussed, it’ll pass.”

“Can you remember anything?”, Taurus noted with a perked eye from her clipboard.

Sunset Shimmer paused and squinted, groping at her memory. But the more she tried past a certain point, the more it felt like trying to pick up smoke with her fingers… Or hooves, given current circumstances that still amazed her. But there was a point where her lapse in memory stopped, but even then she strained at the recollection. The foggy memory from earlier, that night she was laying in bed before dark mass stretched upon her and she… She felt…

“Cold, I-I remember being cold… I was in bed and right after I woke up I… It was dark, and I remember cold,” Sunset Shimmer shivered, recalling the chill was as unnatural as it was intense.

Doctor Taurus furrowed her brow and made another note, “Amnesia is not unknown in concussions, do you have anything else you might remember? Anything about the event at the plateau you were recovered on?”

Sunset Shimmer tried, she tried as best as she could. But that smoke refused be held for more than gasps of vision. There was something about flashes of bright light, the ground shaking; and a single pony, a white unicorn mare with a purple mane in the style of Rarity’s hair. After straining her brain, she relented with shrug.

“I… I didn’t even know I was on a plateau until you just told me. I don’t even know how I got here. I’m sorry...”

Doctor Taurus sighed and perked the unicorn’s chin up with her hand as she adjusted her glasses. The minotauress beamed and pulled a lollipop out of her coat pocket. Sunset Shimmer cracked a tiny sheepish smile in turn at the sweet she was offered. Taurus patted her shoulder.

“You’ll be just fine here deary, recovery takes time and thankfully it's nothing seriously, I expect to release you today. And some more good news? You have a visitor wanting to check on you, you want me to give her an update so you can send for her when you’re ready?”

-Okay, somehow I’m back in Equestria. There was some sort of attack involving Rarity’s counterpart here, must’ve been the element bearer one Twilight is friends with, and somethingmust have literally and figuratively pulled me out of bed to get me here… Batten down the hatches Shimmer, you’re going to need to talk to folks to figure out just what’s going on.-

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

Blade Dancer hesitated outside the door leading to the hospital room Godzilla Junior was inside. She was aware he’d been conscious for a time, and she’d been waiting even longer. That waiting was something she’d been wanting desperately to not have to do, but after hearing voices inside the room she waited more.

-Xenilla’s okay, you know that. You checked four times yesterday...and were up all night. That just leaves Godzilla. If-If somepony is in there talking already it would be rude for me to just barge in!.. Y-Yes, I’ll just wait until they’re done….-

She looked at the floor, her lie not convincing herself for a moment that she wasn’t just hesitating.

Inside the room, both Lea and Destroyah were back to back between two hospital beds in a sight and scenario that would be downright surreal to anyone on Terra. The co-leader of the Terran Defender faction and part-time second-in-command, part-time attack-dog of the Mutations faction were standing together grilling Godzilla Junior and Xenilla in their own specific way. Lea was flustered and chewing out her best friend in a manner one could practically see her flailing her antenna at him, whilst Destroyah just silently loomed over Xenilla’s recently moved hospital bed without a single word and a deadpan expression.

Lea flailed her wings and narrowed her eyes, “After both of us nearly died just fending him off together and we had to have Gamera and company help us the next time, what do you do when you see Ghidorah again?”

Godzilla Junior groaned and rolled his eyes as he knew exactly she was about to say, “I rushed him solo?”

Lea threw her hooves up into the air, “YOU RUSHED HIM SOLO! Dang it Goji why didn’t you get help?!”

“Was kinda stuck on a plateau and needed to buy time for the ponies. Not like I could fly over.”

Lea lurched forward and put her hoof to his nose on leering at him, “Didn’t stop you from doing that afterwards to fly back towards the planet busting space dragon!”

Junior just looked back at her despite his scrunched face making his voice comedically nasally, “Lele, you’re fretting.”

Junior just kept staring, wisely waiting for it to be over. She’d been at this for fifteen minutes.

Lea’s face scrunched up as she let out a loud groan, “uuuUURRAAARG!.... Yes, yes I am fretting!... Oooooye.”

Junior, having done the sort of thing before on Terra, just with a large tree instead of the pillow he picked up; held it out to Lea as she lurched forward and faceplated into it. The altered moth shrugged and slung her hooves around the pillow and Junior’s collar.

Junior sighed, nuzzling his best friend’s head; knowing full well the fretting was just her way of showing she cared for being scared so much.

Xenilla meanwhile didn’t know if he had it better or worse. Destroyah had come and helped him move into the same room as his brother without question, but she’d been standing over him this whole time without saying a thing as she quietly regarded him.

“... Well?”, he muttered under her stare as he genuinely started to feel unnerved, especially when she moved in closer.

At long last she said something, but in a tone sharp enough to cut despite how blunt it was in wording, “Well. What?”

Xenilla shifted a tad awkwardly in his hospital bed, “Icka’brod’s friend seems quite talkative, you got anything to say?”

“You’ve been staring at me for 5 minutes, I know something’s on your mind, Destroyah….”

Xenilla looked off to the side, “Sometimes I swear you try to be unpredictable on purpose even when you’re not threatening to maul someone. I guess I supposed with you turning over a new leaf in this world you’d be a little bit more verbal with your concern. You definitely have it after the rescue effort, very commendable by the way.”

Destroyah hovered over Xenilla, visibly towering over him, “Flattery is distracting, you should know I get to the point.”

Xenilla shrugged, “Forgive me then. I just presumed that by now we’d get a ‘Don’t do that again, Xenilla’, ‘I was worried for you, Xenilla’, ‘You gave me a heart attack before we saved you, Xenilla’...”

His eyes trailed off as he rambled, noticing Destroyah was getting above him and casting her shadow across him. It was a very rare sight to see Xenilla’s coy bravado take a hit.

“...’ Why didn’t you get me so I could help, Xenilla’, ‘You made me miss a fight, Xenilla’...”

‘Her’ questions she wasn’t even having to say out of her own mouth were getting more aggressive. She loomed above in a way that cast her face in shadow as her eyes gleamed at Xenilla with a slight purple glow across it and her mane.

Xenilla looked up into one of the scariest faces he’d ever seen and muttered one phrase, “...’Do that again and I’ll put you in the hospital myself, Xenilla’?”

Her tone carried no growl or sneer to belie anger. Xenilla, having just now realized how far back he’d leaned into his pillow, felt his pulse slowed back down and he leaned back up with a sigh.

Whether that was aimed at him correctly stating her unspoken question or the fact Destroyah could show kindly concern by terrifying someone; wasn’t affirmed. It probably was a little bit true for both, though it didn’t leave Xenilla questioning slightly when he noticed a very tiny upturn in her lips’ edge. A near microscopic smirk in her nod.

“I’ll get Miss Meltdown out of here so you two can have some peace if anyone else shows up,” she muttered whilst getting up and turning around towards Lea.

Without any real effort at all, Destroyah picked up the also fairly large mare and slung the Guardian of Mortals across her back as the latter incoherently rambled into the pillow about suicidal teammates. Destroyah carrying Mothra out a hospital room while the moth had a dorky breakdown, another surreal sight for the history books.

She paused again and seemed to glance about slightly while trying to think of something friendlier to say. She thought back to the trio of fillies she’d come to Canterlot with that have been trying to coach her on this sort of thing.

-Departures are often done with wishes of good fortune until the reunion. What would I hope neither of them do until I can keep an eye on them again?.....!-

A light bulb went off in her head and with a completely straight face and tiny smile she said two words that caused the nearby glass cup to crack.

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

Blade Dancer perked up at the sound and got up from her chair as Destroyah walked out with Lea in cargo. She steeled herself as the door slowly started to swing closed.

Closing her eyes in a silent moment of contemplation, she paced forward and caught the door before it closed. With her eyes still closed, she pulled the door aside and stepped in. But the moment she heard it click shut behind her and she beheld the room, she was instantly aghast when she saw the form of Xenilla laid across the second bed. A pair of familiar eyes were upon her in addition to his and mind instantly was in the backpedal.

-X-Xen?! Here?! B-But he was across the Ward when I checked this morning! He’s right next to?!-

When she had left in the morning to resume training at the barracks, Xenilla had still been asleep since he’d arrived at the hospital. When she’d found him not in the room, she speculated that he had moved to see to one of the princesses over what happened given all three ruling alicorns were present in the hospital. She never expected him to be here, in the absolute last room she would ever think to look for him in. The room of someone she had stopped from killing him last week.

Her mind was completely out of whack in a spiral of confusion, only clearing up slightly when she finally looked forward at what she had been staring at and seeing the confused expression on Junior’s face. He wasn’t enraged or passively angered like every other time she had seen him in Xenilla’s presence. It baffled her so much it broke through the confusion and left her aghast at seeing Xenilla present. After a good mental minute of reorganizing herself, she remembered what she had come here to do.

Junior cast a suspicious eyebrow when she started to approach, the mare’s past advances and then, justifiably, angered defenses were still in recent memory. But when he saw her bow her head in a clearly shameful manner, it was his turn to mentally take a pause.

Junior blinked a few times in sheer confusion, glancing over to see his brother silently shrug and frown, before looking back up at Blade Dancer. He motioned to the seat next to him and sat up.

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

Princess Luna sat in a shadowed chair in the corner of her room. She thankfully was not a name that appeared in the hospital too often. Sometimes she would for charity or an event for the magic school of course, and then there was that one mishap when Junior first came to Canterlot that spiraled out of control. But of all the few times she had been to Canterlot’s chief medical facility, reading out state offenses and breaches of law was not something she had done before. Let alone for a solid minute on a large scroll.

“-foalnapping, reckless magic use, dark magic use, coercion, assault, theft, and train jumping.”

Princess Luna shrugged and pulled the list away as she glanced at the unicorn mare sitting in the bed across the room. Starlight Glimmer said nothing as the pit in her chest got deeper and deeper.

“Quite the repertoire for someone of thine age. Thou hardly looks a day older than Princess Sparkle. And yet, thou didn’t flee when you had the chance. Clearly such an attempt was doable in your current state of health,” she muttered suspiciously.

Starlight Glimmer frowned and kept her bandaged head down, solemnly shaking her head as she remembered everything she had done to others without thought until she finally realized it.

She gulped, “I was guilty before Ghidorah drove me to do what I did, I really messed up.”

Princess Luna narrowed her eyes and snorted, “Indeed thou has, and does thee understand the consequences of such action? Not only to foreign leadership but to your fellow pony?”

Starlight Glimmer only nodded, not even trying to justify it. What could she blame it on? Lack of friends? Bad influence? Botched entrance exam? No, she just had herself. Princess Luna put the scroll away without relaxing her slight leer.

“All ill deeds to such magnitude require more than just forgiveness, they often call for atonement.”

Her sharp words bit into Starlight, who winced. Biting her lip, Starlight lowered her head and looked out the window to Canterlot for a short while before mustering the courage to look at Princess Luna’s strong gaze in the eye.

“Yes Princess,” she whispered with a gulp,”I-I was wrong and I want to correct it. Please, please let me try, I’ll do anything to atone for my mistakes!....”

She winced and shut her eyes fearfully when Princess Luna leaned forward from her seat. It was several seconds before the Princess of the Night’s voice returned. But instead of the harsh starkness of before, this time it was calmer, quieter, and warmer with an understanding even as it was authoritative in tone.

“You’ve already begun to do so. You are not evil. Misguided, mistaken, and endangering. But not evil.”

Starlight Glimmer’s ears perked up slightly. She mustered the courage to look at Princess Luna, and instantly noticed how the alicorn’s face was no longer one of grief, and shadows cast a gleam in her eyes. She wasn’t smiling, but it didn’t look like she was about to incur the wrath of the moon.

Princess Luna nodded her head slightly to the side, “A certain pair of mares named Night Glider and Lady Rarity came to me personally. The Nightmare Godzilla incident was catalyzed by your hoof, but its ending was also cast by your choice.”

The alicorn motioned towards the unicorn’s restored cutie mark emblazoned on her flank, “Especially before that Mark returned to its owner. Why was it removed in the first place?”

Starlight looked at her own mark, remembering two things. First was the cold weakness she felt upon removing it, it came with a gasp of guilt in memory of what she had helped put the Our Town denizens through even if they all joined by choice initially. The second though, brought back memories of why she removed her own mark. When she had done it after rushing back into the fray at Chibi Moon’s request and granted it to Night Glider in a last-ditch effort to help when her body no longer could.

“S-Somepony might have died, I-... I had to do something,” she whispered with a sniffle. She hadn’t stop thanking any being of fate that might hear her when the answer to her first question upon reawakening was Moonbeam saying-

Princess Luna nodded slightly while sporting a stoic expression, “Such drastic action does not speak of a pony who runs away from duty, not the true self uncorrupted by dark magic at least.... While your ultimate choices were your own, your original intentions were benign. Dark magic is not a matter a growing filly should have ever delved into...”

She frowned briefly before gathering her up in an astute manner befitting the teacher asking a question, “Tell me, young Miss Glimmer, what emotions drive dark magic?”

Starlight Glimmer gulped but answered truthfully, “Angers, jealousies, and wants.”

“Among others,” Princess Luna corrected before continuing on, “Despite the negative connotation, all of them have a benign application as a dark magic is no more inherently evil than other magics. Anger at the pain of innocents, jealousy at an injustice, and want for things to better oneself and others. But in the mind of those not prepared, these can be corrupted into sins that serve only to propagate themselves. Can you guess them?”

Starlight Glimmer pursed her lips and puzzled for a moment before looking back up, “Anger into wrath, endless rage at everything around you.”

She paused momentarily when she remembered her rage at the magic exam right before it went awry.

“That one, I’m guilty.... Jealousy into envy, spite over what others have to the point of hatred.”

She remembered all those happy fillies and colts who attended the school and got to have a life after, something she could never be around both before and after getting her magic.

“Guilty of that one too.... Want into greed, craving anything one wants no matter how much you already have...”

Her tone quieted down in recollection of the past that came flooding forward, how she browbeat and practically brainwashed the whole town into following her if they resisted rather than just settling for one friend. A tear of remorse ran down her muzzle as the cold feeling clamped down in her chest, curling up into herself.

Princess Luna regarded unicorn before sighing, “And to those unprepared, these feelings only reinforce each other. Once lost so heavily to out of control dark magic, it’s impossible to pull free by yourself…. I know from experience.”

A long span of several minutes passed before Starlight realized not a word had been said between them, just the steady ticking on a nearby clock was the only sound in the whole room. Finally she looked up to see Princess Luna looking out of the window and towards the Solar Tower, then beyond into the Everfree and the abandoned home that lay within.

“A young mare, gifted in magic beyond her peers….. Overconfident and thinking she could handle anything… Maybe even trying to get ahead of what she saw as competition by enacting something upon herself that she didn’t understand….. But as the confidence on the outside grew, so did the insecurity and isolation on the inside.”

Princess Luna slowly shook her head at thousand year old memories, “Finally, she lashes out at those she should have loved, should have trusted the most. She hurts her sister, her family, her friends, and cannot be free of what she’s become.”

The realization soon leaked into Starlight Glimmer, and she was solemn. She pulled the pillow in close to her chest for comfort.

“... I guess…”, she muttered while looking off to the side shamefully before managing to avert her gaze back to Luna, “-we both screwed up?”

Princess Luna slowly nodded, “In a way, yes. We did. And the knowledge of what we’ve done will never go away... “

“But,” she took in a deep long breath and regained her composure, “I was pulled free.”

Princess Luna stood up from her chair and stepped closer to the table, into the cast of the warm glow coming through the window.

She calmly said one single sentence that shocked Starlight’s world, “And I’d like to do the same for you.”

Starlight could only blink in dumbstruck surprise as she rapidly looked between the hoof pointing at her and the Princess attached to it.

Princess Luna was unmoved by her shocked shouts, “If we threw you in prison, all those old feelings would just fester back up. The dark magic is known to you and it will never go away. It is better you learned from an expert with past experience on how to control it, not be controlled by it.”

Tears stung at Starlight Glimmer’s eyes as she gripped the blanket across her in her hooves, “B-But after what I’ve done, after what I need to make up for?!”

Princess Luna nodded her head slightly whilst keeping her tone stable, “You will atone. And I will guide you in doing it. This isn’t a free pardon, the road ahead will require toil for which you will have to tread through. Equestria is a land of second chances. Trixie Lulamoon got one, Ambassador Xenilla got one, and I got one.”

Princess Luna looked Starlight in the eye and said one simple word, “Stand.”

Starlight Glimmer bit her lip, pausing to wipe her eyes with her blanket before obeying. She stepped out of bed and stood before the alicorn as Luna spread her wings and held them out to her sides, breaking up the light across her face in the shadows of her wing feathers.

“Starlight Emilia Glimmer, do you accept the responsibility to atone for yesterdays and better tomorrows?”

Starlight Glimmer felt a rock in her throat when she initially tried to speak, her word coming out as but a tiny whisper, “... I will..”

She flinched, feeling a strength in her chest growing enough to burn out the metaphorical stone in her veins and rock in her voice. She felt drive, concentration, even a flicker of hope as she dared to look Luna in the eye.

She stomped a hoof to punctuate her word, “I will do better! I will make better!”

Luna hid a tiny smirk on her lips as she continued, “Do you accept the study to learn magic and all its uses for the good of others before yourself?”

This time there was no hesitation in Starlight’s voice, only the same eagerness that initially drove her to that bookstore so many years ago before she went down a darkened path. This time, the path, nor the future hopes would be anything resembling vile.

Princess Luna paced forward slightly and held up an upturned hoof, looking Starlight dead in the eye as the unicorn’s orbs glistened with a joyful tear. The Princess of the Night chanced a small smile Starlight returned with gusto as she put her hoof to the larger mare’s.

“Then from this date forth, you are my student… Welcome back to Equestria, Starlight Glimmer.”

Her smile grew as she saw the glow coming off the jubilant pony’s face, reading every word upon it. This was a magic prodigy who was a quick study, capable, and driven. And now that she was steered onto the right path, Luna knew she’d forge into a force of good.

On a less grandiose topic however, Luna couldn’t help but ponder how close this was to when Celestia recruited Twilight before she returned. Princess Luna chuckled to herself internally as she had a spring in her step.

-Well, if dear sister can manage a school and one personal pupil; guess I always wanted to try my fare myself! Starlight, Student of the Moon; it fits already!-

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

Sunset Shimmer was so out of the loop as to what was going on and how she got back to Equestria she didn’t know who she could expect to want to see her. This world’s Rarity to check in on her? Some authority asking if she could help in some investigation? Maybe even Twilight given she was just about the only pony who knew who Sunset Shimmer was, or cared…

But when it was Princess Celestia who stepped through the door she couldn’t help but be dumbstruck. When the alicorn and unicorn locked eyes there was a long silence in voice and conversation expression. Celestia was unmoved, holding firm in a neutral expression that belied nothing. Sunset tried to look back at her but slowly her brow begin to turn upwards and her lips turned downwards. Celestia tilted her head slightly with oh so subtle frown forming on her muzzle, Sunset quivered and shrugged her head down. Both felt a strong pressure on their chests, the origin of which was both the same and different. The overly ambitious student who had seen herself above any other because of a sense of power, a negligent teacher who hadn’t taken caution to teach her student about what that power entailed. In a way, two failures reunited.

Princess Celestia dipped her head down slightly and started to advance forward at a glacial pace. With each step, the quivering and stinging tears in Sunset’s eyes grew. The pressure and clamping in her chest were too strong to speak coherently.

“Prin-ia.. I… I! Can’t… I’m- Sorry I!-”, she spat out, trying to say three sentences at once and failing every single one of them.

Princess Celestia paused before spreading her wings slowly and braced. Sunset Shimmer was in a whirlwind freefall of emotion and unable to act coherently. She could only slam her eyes shut and flinch when she saw the alicorn lunge forward.

The entire world around Sunset Shimmer went fuzzy for a while. She was unable to truly sense and feel it, as though she was in a dream. The haze in her mind was slowly ebbed away by a soft hum. Her senses found more stimuli. Extremely soft warmth was wrapped around her even as she marred it with tears and spit. There was a nuzzling from a kind muzzle on her forehead as a limb wrapped around her. The humming was coming from Celestia, a soothing melody she remembered from the back of her mind. Where she learned it was unknown, but it was so placating, sounding almost like windchimes in a gentle breeze.

Princess Celestia pulled back and looked down at the comparatively little unicorn she held. Her own glistening eyes were soon accompanied by the warmest smile Sunset had ever seen in memory as the alicorn used the edge of her hoof to brush away Sunset Shimmer’s tears.

Sunset Shimmer felt weak, leaning in close and resting her head on Princess Celestia’s collar.

Princess Celestia muttered a single word in a tone only a flabbergasted mother would use, “Sunset.”

The hug around Sunset Shimmer tightened very slightly, “I’ve always worried about you.. And how I could have done better…”

Sunset Shimmer blinked, her expression turning aghast. She pushed against Celestia very slightly, not feeling worthy of the embrace.

“N-No! Y-you did great!”, she cried while helplessly pushing against Celestia’s forelimb in a contest between an untrained and not very athletic unicorn against the most powerful alicorn in existence who was at the peak possible strength for an earth pony.

Sunset Shimmer sniffled, “I was, I was the idiot who messed it all up! I was so jealous after Cadance was ascended that I couldn’t take it, I got so jealous I-”

Her eyes crammed shut and she started to curl up weakly, remembering the intense envy and shattered pride she’d felt when Celestia discovered her “niece”. The thought that she, Celestia’s own pupil, didn’t become the first alicorn ascended from a normal pony was bad enough. But finding out that it was some random pony from out in the country who had never taken a day of magic class when she had been studying it for years? That had destroyed Sunset’s worldview. It ramped up everything that was bad about her and she had been regretting it ever since because of all the trouble she ended up causing others both in Equestria and the human world.

The spite at a young alicorn just trying to help her, the terror she wrought where she went.

Her classmates, her fellow pony, the denizens of high school who took her in, the relationship she used and abused before he cut it off, the teacher she once idolized more than anything else in the world? She could have had so much and saved so many so much pain, but that didn’t happen. All spiraling out because of a spoiled brat’s broken pride…

Her defeated tone echoed through the room before Celestia brushed Sunsets mane out of her face.

“But you didn’t do it this time, and you clearly did not enjoy the last time… Sunset, look at me,” Celestia muttered in a calm tone.

Sunset Shimmer looked up and listened, sniffling as she did to avoid her runny nose.

“Rarity told me about what happened. That... entity that covered you, that came through with another monster. You had no control. You’re not responsible for anything it did through you. Known or unknown.”

Sunset Shimmer winced, relenting that her teacher thought she was grieving over an apparent mind control incident whereas in actuality she was remembering and grieving over every timea greedy, envious, controlling witch named Sunset Shimmer was consciously causing problems.

“N-No! Not just that! I chose to steal the Element! I chose to lord over a whole school!”, she gasped and threw her hooves up into the air,”I turned into a she-demon at a dance!”

Princess Celestia chuckled, knowing she had to get some levity to the conversation.

“My my,” she shook her head, “if you’re a demon of the dance I’ll have to ask Twilight to take lessons from you then. Poor girl can’t dance to save her life!”

“I’m serious!”, Sunset Shimmer bellowed, “If I became an alicorn I’d have been the next Nightmare Moon! I could hav-”

She stopped after she snapped and hyperventilated when she saw the look on Princess Celestia’s face. The alicorn of the sun, often seen as a paragon of strength, beauty, wisdom, and grace across the entire species and beyond; was morously frowning and looking off to the side in a defeated manner. Sunset Shimmer slowed her breathing and rubbed her forelimb with her hoof awkwardly, having realized her mentor was trying to lighten the mood and keep her from having a breakdown. There had been enough gloom between them as of late.

Sunset Shimmer was silent, gulping down a lump in her throat. Princess Celestia drew in a breath and repeated herself a touch more authoritatively.

“... Helped at a farm with Applejack, fell off a horse there… Cheered for Rainbow at a game, nearly fell off the bleachers there. Babysat with Pinkie, fell down catching the baby when she climbed up the refrigerator. Volunteered at Fluttershy’s shelter, took a dive dodging a flying bird. Ran errands for Rarity, the other one…”

Sunset Shimmer looked aside with a slight blush on her face, “Escalators, several rolls of fabric, gravity, and my feet don’t mix.”

She felt Celestia’s breath hitch, knowing it was a contained snicker she shared.

Sunset Shimmer shrugged her shoulders, “... Got a job at a sushi spot. Kelp wraps are good, but the tilapia fish still smells weird to me.”

Sunset Shimmer blinked her eyes and took a deep, long breath; exhaling to vent off all the tension she felt building up. When she did, she realized their position had shifted. Princess Celestia was now sitting on the side of her bed stroking her student’s hair and back as the unicorn partially leaned and partially curled up against her comfortably. Sunset smiled and snuggled in a bit closer, finally relaxing while silently pondering when Celestia had altered their positions when she was distracted talking about her friends.

Silence came from Sunset Shimmer she pursed her lips and pondered. Raising an eyebrow, Princess Celestia leaned in a bit closer and whispered to her.

Sunset caught her teacher glancing at something out the window and followed her line of sight, spotting the Solar Tower and library at Canterlot Castle. Her old room had been there when she was the student. Sunset Shimmer blinked in mild surprise and perked her ears.

“A-All this time you... you kept it? Why? I thought Twilight Sparkle got it. After all she was the success, I-I’m the failure! An anti-social, control-freaking, bad attitude failure!”

Princess Celestia only raised her brow slightly and tilted her head, “Do you seem like one now?”

Sunset Shimmer remembered more than the bad this time, even if that was fairly common. This time, she focused on what happened after the last fall formal. The contrast was much like day and night.

“Other than failure to not fall down as much…” She muttered and heard a snicker from her teacher.

Princess Celestia put her hoof under Sunset’s chin and and pitched her head back up.

“Failure is temporary to those who make it so,” she explained, “That room was always yours.”

“You never were,” Princess Celestia slowly shook her head, “I just didn’t think you’d want to be back…”

Sunset giggled a teary smile, astounded at what dream she’d woken up into. She was a pony again, she was home and she was welcomed back into a life she’d thrown aside and in many ways still felt she didn’t deserve. The one being she was wanting forgiveness from was literally awaiting her with open hooves! She wanted to shout in glee, jump for joy and embrace Princess Celestia, maybe even run back and see just where she left everything in her room just to experience it all again. Even the thought of having to dust for years worth didn’t give her pause!...But a pair of pink eyes did.

Sunset Shimmer flinched as the faces crossed her memory. Five human women, a kindly boss and job, a school she was determined to make amends with, and a pale figure with purple-white hair and albino eyes Sunset herself named her for. Irys stood in a small crowd of memories, promises and bonds.

“P-Princess… You’re giving me everything I’d have wanted a few months ago,” Sunset Shimmer sniffled and wiped her eyes, “But…”

Swallowing, the unicorn looked up to the perplexed alicorn. Her expression was pained to a degree, but still sported an honest smile.

“I’d like to finish High School first, I have friends to see and promises to keep. Maybe then we’ll see… if the offer still stands…”

Princess Celestia looked over her pupil, unable to fight a slight frown. But the more she gazed upon the composed young mare, the more a proud beam began to emulate from her visage. She leaned forward and nuzzled Sunset’s forehead.

“You have a life there, embrace it. You having friends is what I wanted for you most, Little Sunspot.”

Sunset Shimmer giggled and waved her hoof slightly, “Thanks… The other you there is almost as cool, almost.”

Princess Celestia cocked an eyebrow and rolled her eyes coyly, “Negating the chance that she’s much older than she looks, I’d chalk it up to mostly experience…!”

Her eyes widened when Sunset Shimmer pounced up and wrapped her forelimbs around her collar in a glomping hug. Smirking sweetly, Celestia embraced the unicorn of whom she’d finally made amends, her conscious and worries at ease as she drew her wings over Sunset Shimmer’s back.

Sunset Shimmer practically purred as she tightened the hug briefly before pulling away and blowing a bang out of her face.

“Thanks Princess, here’s hoping I don’t have to wait four years to see you again.”

She could practically see the light bulb go off in Princess Celestia’s head as the alicorn tapped at her white chin.

“Weeeell, maybe not see per say, but there is something that might help. Sunset, would you enjoy accompanying me to the museum?”

Wiping off the rest of her face to look more composed and restraining her jubilancy at what sort of wonder the alicorn had on the brain, Sunset Shimmer nodded rapidly.

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

“So, been waiting for several minutes and you haven’t said anything. Still waiting?”

Blade Dancer flinched at Godzilla Junior’s question but sighed, knowing she couldn’t keep dodging this forever.

“You… got between me and Xenilla, told me everything he had really been up to…”, He muttered with no small part of regret in his tone.

“I fear…”, she shivered, “I might have made a knee jerk reaction spilling things out like that. Telling you what was going on the way I did and when I did, I mean.”

Godzilla Junior raised up slightly with a cocked eyebrow, glancing over to Xenilla to silently ask if he knew anything about what she was going on about. Xenilla only shook his head. Junior looked back to Blade Dancer and furrowed his brow.

“Colonel Dancer, you do know it was something I had to hear eventually right?”

Blade Dancer flinched and curled her lip back, “I know that! It’s not what I said that’s been stressing me out but why and when I chose to say it!”

She shot up from her seat and into the air on beating wings, pointing a hoof at Xenilla as she hovered.

“You’d given up after he stopped attacking you and the fairies were present!”, she took only a moment to breathe before pointing at the other brother, “and you were still ready to kill him after the situation calmed down!”

“And then this moron bum rushed the situation! Not only did I stop trusting either of you two to act like mature adults, but my blabbering it all out rather than wait for things to settle down more could have just added fuel to the fire!”, Blade Dancer shouted as she smacked her hoof across her heaving chest.

Realizing she’d snapped, she took several long labored breaths before lowering back down to her seat and restraining herself.

“I just wanted it to end and acted on emotion, not logic. Can you imagine how many ways I could have made it worse or tried to play it better?”

Junior didn’t disagree and spoke directly after his brother, “I wouldn't agree to meet with how I was.”

“You said it yourself, and you were right. I was on a warpath even if I didn’t act on it at that very moment.”

Blade Dancer furrowed her brow in frustration, “Getting Lea and the faeries involved? And before you say anything! Think of how many ways it could’ve gone wrong with what I did! Can’t you two get angry at me for five seconds because of how I could have botched all this and didn’t trust you all to fix it yourselves, like you did?! I just.. I just think of the risks and…-Gah, I could hav-”

“BLADE DANCER!”, both brothers yelled in unison and finally got Blade Dancer to stop.

Protracted silence carried between the three of them in an air of stillness and cold. Just the ticking of the clock and distant voices from the rest of the hospital. Blade Dancer felt their eyes upon her and looked to see Xenilla’s gaze. He frowned and shrugged.

“We all take risks, no one knows that more than me. I’ve done a lot of things I regret, and they were wrong. Junior had every right to hate me.”

Godzilla Junior closed his eyes in solemn quiet. A flare of different emotions came upon him, some sad and many angry. Some of them wanted to point themselves at his sibling directly before he consciously decided to push them aside. The difference between forgiving and forgetting was that with the former, you remembered all the pain but chose not to act on it. At least the latter has blissful ignorance.

With a deep exhale Junior followed up on Xenilla’s word, “And don’t think I didn’t make things impossible either. I’m different than my father in many ways, but alike in others. Takes a lot to get under my skin, but if something takes deep roots it would take more than me thinking I was wrong that one time to think otherwise… You saw me explode over one misunderstanding and it took three alicorns and seventy thousand year old faeries in the right place and time to stop me. What about when it happened again with the mindset I had?”

Frustration and shame bore heavy on the monster king’s tone. Blade Dancer glanced worriedly at Xenilla, seeing his face growing sullen before a shrug. She soon found herself gazing to the ground with a tightened grip on the chair as she could begin to guess what Junior was implying. A warmth nudged Blade Dancer’s shoulder and she lifted her ear.

“But what about all the stupid risks I took? Can’t somepony be upset about that? I feel like I gambled lives here… ! And that scares me a lot, I became a guard to prevent those sorts of things,” she whispered, still feeling sick to her stomach after realizing all the danger she’d tightroped in the past with one spur of the moment reveal.

Slowly she gave him her eye and ear, glancing over without raising her head and looking to him through her drooping bangs.

“We’re our own worst critics. Tanaka knows I hate what I’ve done before. But if you were using too much emotion then you’re not using enough now. You seem to have forgotten your own lesson you showed me... Logic, emotion, especially love; they’re not opposites,” he rolled his eyes.

“Having a drive of emotion to convince you to act can make you seek a logical course of action to give it the best chance at seeing it through. No emotion means you just give up on it like I did. You however? You did what you did because it was needed, no matter what source it had,” he quipped with a slight glow in his face as he gazed upon her gratefully.

Blade Dancer rose back up slightly, still feeling weighed down to a degree, “And what about all the other ways we could have tried to end the conflict without me butting in or not letting you two have a say in it?”

“As the Captain of the Guard says,” Junior shrugged, “Could-have or Would-have aren’t the same as ‘did’.”

“He’s right. We’ll never know what those other options could have done, but to be honest any of them could have gone wrong anyways so we should just be happy the one taken didn’t.”

Junior nodded, “And he’s not lying. Trust me, I have enough fretting about what “will” happen to worry much with what “could have” happened. I was on a warpath even after the faeries cleared up the misunderstanding. I was thoroughly convinced Xenilla would show what I thought was his true colors ever since we got here and I’d have to put him down…”

Xenilla just closed his eyes, crossed his forelimbs, and astutely nodded almost like he was as proud as he was resigned to his brother’s conviction despite the subject matter, “None such offense to be had. I expected you to.”

“Point is,” Junior noted as he looked back to Blade Dancer and saw he had her full attention through worried eyes, “Even if I was wrong when I thought it was the time I predicted he’d go rogue and I’d have to put him down, I’d still been on a hair trigger. If you want worry about anything, think about all the ways this could've gone tragically worse if I didn’t know the full picture as soon as possible…”

Blade Dancer mulled through the thoughts as she drooped down slightly, entertaining the possible outcomes and dreading each of them. Junior shrugged his shoulders.

“Look, impulsive, risky, likely emotional or not; I’m happy you did it… I don’t want to think of what I might have done, what I might have lost. What I might find myself regretting in hindsight if I lost my brother to my own wrath.”

Blade Dancer’s ears shot up at the word “brother”. Her eyes dilated and she shot back up. If seeing the two neutral in each other’s presence was shocking enough, hearing Junior say that one word; the one word Xenilla swore up and down when they were in the Empire and beyond he’d never call him, was flabbergasting. She could only slowly widen her gaze in utter surprise as she witnessed it all.

Xenilla cast her a warm smile before rolling his eyes and daring to tap Junior on the shoulder, “We’re a stubborn family, Blades. Just as he was stubbornly convinced how I was, I was stubbornly convinced I could never atone or be forgiven.”

Junior actually smiled, Blade Dancer observed, he smiled at Xenilla and shrugged casually before looking back at her, “We needed somebody to break the ice and our sister isn't present to give us the kick in the tail to do it. Could have been someone else to do it under calmer circumstances? Maybe. But we all make mistakes or take risks. We just make sure to not make a habit of doing it.”

“Or else you become very acquainted with the hospital,” Xenilla deadpanned, “-like I am.”

The sight of Godzilla Junior, someone she still vividly remembered trying his damndest to kill Xenilla with utter spite and wrath at a wrongdoing done to him, laughing and playfully swatting his sibling was surreal. She sat by in a stunned manner, watching the two bicker and tease at one another in black comedy.

-They’re.. They’re laughing together. He called him brother..They seem like a…-

The brothers still had a lot to get through, old wounds to close and an atonement to be made; but they just seemed too happy at the prospect of having a brother to care about details. A tiny smile quivered across her maw.

Junior nodded, “If you need it. Desperate times sometimes call for desperate measures.”

“Every risk has consequences, not always bad. Someone, somepony had to break the boundaries,” Xenilla added in before being overcome with residual chuckles.

Before Blade Dancer’s smile could widen, Junior groaned and spoke with a slight coyness in his tone as he raised an eyebrow at the mare.

“You never did have many boundaries to begin with, you did break into my bedroom and laid in my bed all night.”

Xenilla’s chuckles ceased and Blade Dancer turned a bit red in the face. One could practically hear the older brothers neck bones grinding against each other like a creaking door as it turned towards Junior.

Junior glanced towards him, now knowing what it felt like from the other side when some of his guard friends misunderstood what he said first started out. Though he was quite curious why he was getting this sort of reaction from Xenilla.

Blade Dancer kept her head and raised her hoof before punching herself in the gut with a loud clang. Both brothers jolted up in surprise, Xenilla nearly figuratively and literally levitated out of his bed. The mare winced and coughed a few times, before she melted into an unsteady chuckle. After coughing a few times, she rose back up with laughing elation on her face. Pausing to sniffle and flick a bang out of her face, the old Blade Dancer brand of confident playfulness returned to her speech.

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

Sunset Shimmer gave her surroundings some vital glances as Princess Celestia led her through the Canterlot Museum. The latter had been filling her in further on any of the known details as to what had been going on since Twilight Sparkle’s trip to the human realm, from the friendship lessons all the way up to the kaiju arrival and beyond. Sunset Shimmer could admit to feeling pale in the face after hearing what all happened the last two days.

“And that’s all we know regarding what has happened until now. Your arrival coincided with that of “King Ghidorah” when he emerged from a portal, so we suspect he had something to do with your possession.”

The word portal caught her attention, causing her mind trail back to that bizarre happening in Everfree National Park with Irys’ group. How they left through just such a portal and, judging from what she had heard as well of the giant handprint she saw on what had been a battlefield of some sort, the fact that the group were also very likely kaiju as well. Irys’ words rang through her memory, recollection of her friend trying to warn her about other kaiju.

-They used a similar type of portal to King Ghidorah, does that mean they were on the same team? Or does that mean they’re on the same team as King Godzilla and company against Ghidorah?-

An uneasy pit formed in her stomach, unsure and trying to rationalize it. She had no clear answer, though some details didn’t hesitate to speak up.

-Irys was surrounded by humans and never hurt anyone. And that X person seemed to have destroyed what was attacking the area with that Aria woman, something that clearly had the others freaked out… Y-Yes, they must not be allies to that Ghidorah monstrosity! With how Celestia talks of it, Irys could never be its ally...-

She shook her head, still unsure and not certain if she was just lying to herself for convenience. She was about to say something, maybe an inquiry to Celestia to ask a little bit more details to try and sort things out, when she found herself in the shadow of a giant skeleton she didn’t recognize. Sunset paused in her step and slowly looked up, realizing the shadow was not coming from the skeleton, but just its carriage sized head. Looming above her was an enormous, 30 meter tall form with wings that stretched across the long hall. The bones vaguely resembled a bat of some kind, but the skull was much more reinforced and sported an arrowhead shape pointed plate on the cap. The teeth were practically as long as her limb and left no illusion as to if this creature was a carnivore or not. Sunset Shimmer stammered, dumbfounded as to the identification. It was the size of the dragon, and some dragons could get even bigger, but it didn’t look right at all.

“What in the name of…”, she muttered breathlessly and spurred Celestia to pause.

“A gyaos. New addition, I consider it a bit grisly but the Research Society wanted to put it on display for easier access and the court nobles and mayor committee thought it’d be a good morale boost since these creatures terrified the city so much that fateful night. They came to eat the populace.”

“S-So, this is one of the creatures that King Godzilla and Princess Lea fought off?”

“The same, though they could get a lot bigger than this and there were dozens of them. Most terrifying feature however were their piercing rays that they emitted with their screams.”

Sunset Shimmer paled when she heard mention of the attack method. A ‘piercing ray they emitted with their screams’ was sounding very familiar. She masked the confusion and horror filtering through her mind in a neutral voice.

Princess Celestia frowned, both for the uncertain matter of the subject and the grizzly realizations investigation brought.

“Several got away, along with the albino alpha. We suspect she finished off the flock when they turned on her because we found several bodies in Whitetail Woods that were cleaved in two. Mothra Lea informed us gyaos are often cannibals if they see an injured and the albino was.”

Sunset Shimmer’s mind clung to the description of the attack, recalling when Irys surprised her so much when she sliced Ms. Adagio’s van open. The knowledge that the gyaos, whom she had only heard of in vague description, having such an ability and were led by an albino leader was causing her mind to spiral. Her breath became strained and she lowered her head slightly.

“Did… did the albino… kill anypony?”, she whispered with dread coursing through her mind.

Princess Celestia was not blind to Sunset Shimmer’s turmoil. Something was clearly wrong and on her mind that she wasn’t being vocal about. To a great extent she wanted to inquire more directly about what was wrong, but she gave herself some pause.

-Just act calmly Celestia, if she wants to tell you what’s wrong she will. If you two have made amends, trust is a two-way street. If something dangerous was at hoof, you have to trust her that she would tell you.-

She sighed and gave Sunset her answer with the hopes that maybe that would help calm her some, “No. She didn’t participate in the Canterlot attack, Lea and Twilight repelled her and the flock came on its own.”

Sunset Shimmer nodded and went quiet, clearly mulling over her thoughts. She might’ve been about to say something, but she was stopped when she saw the burn marks on the gyaos’ bones; char no doubt from Godzilla’s plasma beams. Irys’ face flashed before her vision in context to the burns that meant death, and her words on the subject died.

Sunset sighed, “Well, that’s fortunate then! Let’s hope nopony gets hurt in all this.”

“Quite…”, The temptation to try and inquire further was nearly overpowering Celestia, but will to give allowances in a show of restored faith was even stronger.

She couldn’t go about prodding into Sunset Shimmer uncomfortably if she was trying to assure the unicorn that she had faith in her.

“Oh, yes! S-sorry, back to business Princess!”, Sunset Shimmer chirped as she trotted up behind the alicorn and waving her teacher off to assure her it was okay.

She resumed following Celestia through the museum as she and her mentor spoke plainly about events in Equestria, leaving the gyaos skeleton behind. But in the depths of her mind, she couldn’t dislodge Irys’ face from the burned gyaos skeleton. She had assumed her new friend came from an abusive family she had run away from, in some ways she was thinking she might’ve been right on the money for all the terribly wrong reasons; at least until Irys grouped with the current cohorts. But, there would have to be some very big questions for someone next time they met…

After ten more minutes of walking in idle chit chat, Princess Celestia led them to the archives.

“And that’s how things are at school right now. The girls are helping me get suited in again, and the general student body doesn’t really know what to make of me,” Sunset paused as she glanced off to the side with an obvious look of strain.

“Flash Sentry avoids or is awkward around me unless the others are around, Applejack mentioned he brought my lack of presence up a few times when I’m not with them that day; so I have no clue what’s up with him.” she sighed with a frown.

Princess Celestia shared the expression, “I know of his counterpart here, what’s his human version’s ties to you?”

Sunset Shimmer’s bit her lip slightly, “First one I met across the mirror, helped me get on my feet, literally. Then, when I made a grab for popularity later we dated.”

The alicorn raised a curious eyebrow at the unicorn whom seemed to be flushing slightly, though she couldn’t tell if it was because she just admitted to the Princess she dated an alien, not that Celestia would have objected given her nudgings of Luna and Junior together, or if it was for other reasons.

Sunset Shimmer pursed her lips, “Break up of sorts a year ago… I... got walked off after the fall formal before Twilight showed up.”

She swallowed a rock in her throat and let her ears drop, momentarily wincing from a prick of recollection she didn’t enjoy, “I don’t blame him really, I caught him trying to help that world's Rarity in the competition.”

Princess Celestia shared the expression as she laid an instructional wing over Sunset Shimmer’s back, “And you are certain you wish to stay there?”

Sunset Shimmer picked herself back up, took a deep breath, and nodded, “If I made this kind of mess, lots of messes... I want to try and fix it. Staying gives me the opportunity to.”

Seeing her student keep her chin up gave Celestia a small smile out of selfless pride as she nodded back. Turning her head back towards the bookshelf in the archive before her, her magic hummed to life and drew up two hidden old books stashed away in the back of the shelf.

“They are,” Celestia noted as she opened one of them and drew up a pen from a desk nearby, “Though these two I never used much, and since it’s born from my magic each has its own magical aura. It’ll work even across the mirror, Starswirl and I tested it long ago.”

Turning one or two pages of scribbles and odd, esoteric notations that curiously appeared copied on both tomes, to a blank sheet of parchment visible on both books; Princess Celestia brought the pen to the page and wrote what she said word for word.

“We’re still investigating the entity that possessed you. Much has changed in Equestria these past few months, things I’d like for you to be informed of before you return. But should anything strange happen across the mirror or you just want to talk,-”

Sunset Shimmer’s eyes widened as the message appeared in tandem on the other book like the ink was writing itself.

“-this will let you reach me for help. And Sunset, never hesitate to write even if it’s not an emergency. You have been missed... Your teacher, Princess Celestia Alexandria Alicor.”

Princess Celestia finished writing and looked to Sunset Shimmer. The unicorn carefully regarded the tomes as one levitated closer to her in offering, then looked into the reassuring beaming of the alicorn. Her heart warmed and she graciously took the tome into her forelimbs.

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

Junior groaned at the latest antics of his current guest trying to push a vitamin-rich meal into him, “Yare-yare…”

Chibi Moon puffed out her cheeks and pouted, bringing up several colorful fruit.

“Oh don’t you yare yare me Sensei! You fibbed to me about how dangerous that Ghidorah was and I’m gonna make sure you recover from it!”, she barked as she levitated several of them into Junior’s face to try to force them into his mouth.

Godzilla just rolled his eyes and closed them as he pushed the fruit away, “Chibi we’ve been over this. I don’t need to eat. It’s nice but this will just complicate things.”

“Then why bring me to that pub the night you made me your student?”, the little unicorn snipped as she crossed her hooves whilst sitting on her teacher’s bedside.

Junior let out a long sigh, rubbing the side of his head, “That was for you mostly. I get my power from radiation. I just need sunligh-”

He was cut off by a click and an illumination coming over his face. Pausing, he opened his eyes and looked up to see a full spectrum lamp like one would have for their pet lizard attached to the bed railing above his head. He glanced down to see a smug smirk on his student’s face.

To this he could only sigh, a tiny flicker of warmth in his chest ensuing as he reached over and patted her on the head. Chibi mewled and rolled her scalp into his hoof in a way that risked adding insulin shots to his hospital list. The amount of radiation the lamp generated was pitiful, not really having any effect; but the gesture was kind enough.

Chibi Moon pulled free of his hoof and crawled up the side of his bed to wrap her hooves around his neck as gently as she could. After all the nightmares she’d been through recently, a calm moment with someone she felt safe around was what she needed. Someone had to make sure he didn’t go gallivanting off to nearly get killed again when Princess Lea and, more importantly to Chibi, Luna wasn’t around! She rubbed her cheek against his collar while her tail wagged.

She spoke into his neck, holding on to him, “Le-ie, Gojira-Sensei.” (No problem)

She gradually let go and plopped down on her rump at the side of the bed, pouting slightly.

Junior raised his eyebrow and tilted his head, giving her a nonverbal go ahead to ask what was on her mind.

“...Can I do my homework here? Mr. Sentry offered to walk me back to school but…”

Her twintail mane and eyes drooped slightly, not finishing the sentence but making it very clear what her intent was. Junior paused for a moment before chuckling, shifting to sit up some more and give her a bit more space.

“You’re my student aren’t you? You’re supposed to learn how to control your power and use it well, I’d want you know as much as you can even if it's not directly from me,” the edges of his lips curled up slightly more, “and since you said you wanted to teach me some magic later, maybe you can show me some of the ropes along the way?”

Chibi Moon blinked for a few moments before her eyes and mouth shot open a beaming grin. Speaking at a mile a minute as she got out some of her papers and pencils, the King of the Monsters shook his head slowly as he reached over and brought over some coffee for her to down and hopefully slow down with it.

With his student fully focused on her studies, an off sound peeked Junior’s interest. Raising an ear to the direction, he noticed it was coming from Xenilla’s side of the room across from the drawn curtain. Junior tilted his head, having just now noticed the curtain was drawn over due to being distracted by Chibi’s entry. He heard it again, this time sounding like a tiny mewl or moan. After a moment of awkward glancing to make sure that there wasn’t an answer, he leaned over and peeled back the curtain just enough to be able to see around it to either figure out himself or ask what was going on.

It turned out he didn’t miss Blade Dancer exiting the room after all, she was still there and on top of Xenilla. They were curled up against each other, asleep with Xenilla’s head atop her’s. There was a very content smile on Xenilla’s face as he slept, shifting just slightly enough to rub one of his hooves along her flank absentmindedly. The result was the source of the noises, Blade Dancer making quiet, almost kitten-like mewls as she snuggled up to him to enjoy the high body temperatures both brothers had. If, in his rest, Xenilla moved around she’d moan in protest and unconsciously chase him over the bed until she was directly on top of him.

Junior just stared at it with a deadpan expression, eyes wide and jaw flat in bewilderment. He closed the curtain and stared at the ceiling, completely befuddled.

Chibi Moon looked up from her notes and nudged him with her hoof, “Something wrong, Sensei?”

Junior remained in the exact same position as his mind tried to catch up to what he just saw. He knew Blade Dancer had been around Xenilla in the Crystal Empire, and she cared enough about his brother to stare Junior himself down in his defense. But this? Them practically holding each other in their sleep with Xenilla obviously enjoying it and not protesting her curling up with him? That caught him off guard and his mind was desperately trying to catch up to understand it all.

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

To any passerby, they were just a random pair of mares waiting at the train station. One a young yellow unicorn mare with gold and red hair, the other an older white earth pony with a pink mane. But if any could see past the glamor the latter used so often to move amongst the crowds without much notice, they’d have seen Princess Celestia and Sunset Shimmer sat side-by-side at the train station bench before the stop leading back to the Crystal Empire, Sunset with the magical tome in her saddlebags.

“Now, since it seems that there’s some odd goings-on across the mirror I could arrange for one of the kaiju to accompany you back to the human world and investigate. … Would you feel safer with that…? I... know some things must have been happening over there,” Princess Celestia muttered with some concerned hesitation.

Sunset Shimmer let the thought drift over her for a moment, before shaking her head.

“I won’t lie, some weird things are up and happening there, but they seem to have their way of sorting themselves out. Equestria needs all the help and defense it can get right now, especially if these monsters are attracted to magic. It’d make much more sense for any of them to cause trouble here than there. Between you and Princess Luna, a pregnant Princess Cadance and the Crystal Heart, and the Element Bearers all being potential magnets for them; I’d want all of our strong allies who know what they’re up against here.”

Princess Celestia pursed her lips before frowning and glancing down at the unicorn, “Sunset, you were just attacked though. Possessed. Are you sure you wouldn’t like me to request one of the six kaiju to maybe accompany you for a while, just to make sure it’s safe?”

Her worry was palpable and it was hard for Sunset to shake her head at her mentor’s frown, “And what did it was destroyed. Princess, give me this chance to investigate what’s going on back there... I have to… I need this chance to do something to atone for what I’ve done in the past.”

Sunset put a hoof to her heart as dim memories of rejected mentors, exploited trust and goodwill, deserved breakups, and literal she-demons rang through her head. She sighed and looked back to the alicorn.

“So, let me by allowing me to keep a vigil. And if something goes wrong again and I know it’s out of the ordinary? I’ll contact you at the first sign of trouble I can’t handle, or arrange for someone else to write in this book to call for help. Life’s promise!”

In addition to the memories of the poor choices, she recalled something else. The face of a pale skinned girl with beautiful pink irises, flanked by three odd men whom weren’t men. It briefly overlayed the gyaos skeleton, the char marks around the eyespots intermixing with the sight of Irys’ namesake.

-If Irys came back when the other kaiju was around… No, I have to avoid that.There are some things I need to find out, one of the kaiju might get in the way or scare her off and I won’t get answers… I’m sorry Princ-

Princess Celestia’s tone was hollow and hinted with both authority as well as sadness. Sunset snapped back to attention and looked up at her mentor, seeing the alicorn’s face wreathed in shadows. It wasn’t an angered look or a grim one, in fact in many ways it said everything in volume and nothing in detail as she was clearly troubled, concerned, and maybe disappointed all at the same time.

Sunset Shimmer flinched and felt pain in her chest, which she put her hoof to. She bowed her head, knowing it was pointless to lie.

“I’m… sorry, Princess. I’m caught between a bit of a rock and a hard place right now without an easy answer.”

Now regret joined the ensemble of emotions in her voice, quickly spurring Sunset to shake her head.

Sunset swallowed coarsely and put her hoof to Celestia’s chest as a ray of light crossed her face. She looked to the horizon in time to see the sun beginning to set, it’s glorious beamstrickling between the mountains outside of the city limits. Sunset Shimmer and Celestia admired it together.

“There’s just something I really have to look into myself, for someone’s sake. I-I know we just had this whole trust thing again but-”

Celestia lifted a hoof to silence her momentarily and whispered in an astute pitch, “Is this another friend?”

Sunset Shimmer sighed, “... Yes, yes Princess. I’m her first one it seems.”

She heard the alicorn exhale slowly before a wing was drawn over her back. In the mind of Princess Celestia, she hadn’t felt this proud since Twilight learned her lesson. Perhaps one day, Sunset might be able to draw one into an embrace in such a way with a pair of wings after all.

“Then you’ve learned exactly what I was trying to teach you, for you must help them.”

Sunset Shimmer stammered, having been expecting to at least be chewed out over her secrecy. But it seemed 1,000 years blessed the Princess of the Sun with a patience in others many would find astronomical.

Princess Celestia lowered down to her level and spoke plainly, “Let me be clear. As long as nopony gets hurt and you call if it gets out of hoof, I’ll trust you to keep it and help who you can. Just promise me you’ll let me know the moment anything amiss might happen... I don’t want to lose you again, Sunset.”

The train started to roll into the station and for the first time in a long time, Sunset Shimmer felt total content and relief. She snuggled up to and hugged Princess Celestia’s collar, enjoying how soft and warm the short fur was, a gesture not lost on the passersby who saw her hugging the glamor disguise. She held on until the train doors opened, pulling back and holding her hoof up.

“As Pinkie says,” She began to wave it around before her, “cross my heart, hope to fly-”

To her surprise and amusement, the most powerful pony of all time and regal ruler of the most prosperous kingdom in the realm for a millennium, emulated her student from memory of the Equestrian Pinkie Pie to finish off the promise rhyme. It seemed some things were constant no matter what world.

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

Equestria Girls Realm

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

The announcer’s voice buzzed through a car radio, “And now performing, The Dazzlings!”

Eyes rolled and the cheers went ignored as bored attention was given to the squabbling that had overtaken the once peaceful diner. Seeing the naked apes argue, leer, and cast spite as ice began to fester on the tables and chairs was so dull it was barely worth attention. But there was little else to give any notice towards… at least until they heard it.

Coming through the radio was a female chorus, a lead with two in back-up. The entire diner noticed it as well and seemed to freeze in place as much as their drinks had.

And the few who’d just about grabbed something to get physical soon found themselves dropping it and wondering what came over them.

Three figures scrambled out of the diner as the chorus kicked in and peace returned to the diner. Two men and a woman looked to a direction of a sight far beyond their vision, feeling rather than seeing. They thought they felt something stir months ago, but were too far away to investigate. But now, now they felt it in full. Song magic, Equestrian magic. More specifically a type they were very well familiar with, well acquainted through experience.

A mermare’s melody was the catalyst to wide grins. This had been a long, long time coming.

Gales of chilled wind flew out from the bodies, something invisible flying free of the humans and into the night as their hosts collapsed to the ground. They were but wraiths in this realm, only able to influence those weak of will and already on edge, spreading discourse in spurts like a mild plague, but the story was very different in their realm of origin. A place that magic could return the three of them to.

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

One month later

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

“Right, next time tomorrow girls!”, the Rainbow Dash of the human realm hollered as they left the band practice room.

She waved as the van drove off, Flash Sentry having volunteered to commute the rest of the five. Real nice of him to offer it to them on some of the days Sunset wasn’t present for, though Rainbow always preferred a good night jog home. Stretching her toned arms above her head and cracking her back out, Rainbow smirked in anticipation before turning around to lock up with the keys Principal Celestia lent them for practice nights. That was when she felt a prickling on her neck in the crisp air. Rainbow paused and glanced around the darkened school yards. Between the towering buildings, access ramp, and staircases to carry one to the higher stories, there seemed to be nothing but an occasional moth or fly buzzing around a light.

When she turned around however, the corner of her eye caught movement far off to the street. On the edge of a street light she just barely glimpsed someone stepping off down the road to the east. Rainbow Dash paused, hitching her breath as she watched that spot.

With some reluctance she shrugged and locked up, blowing a bang out of her face.

She stopped when she heard an extremely faint echo, guiding her eyes back to the east. Something wasn’t right with the nurse’s office. A pinging indicated a stick tumbling off the top and Rainbow Dash’s eyes shot to the roof, quickly locking upon a protrusion on the roof that was shifting slightly. Before she could speculate if it was an opossum or raccoon, it stood up to, as indicated by it towering over the one foot ventilation pipe, a very large height. A head seemed to tilt before it or they jumped down from the roof, hitting the ground and taking a step towards the young woman. Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened as she recognized a sprinter’s brace as it tensed up before a charge.

“Ooooh f*********- no!”, she muttered under her breath before kicking off in the opposite direction, grabbing a handrail and swinging around to get onto the stairwell.

Rolling back to her feet with the pound of approaching footfalls bearing down on her, Rainbow Dash sprinted up the stairs, skillfully kicking off the walls to change direction and keep her speed up. Her pursuer wasn’t far behind, Rainbow glimpsing the dark figure vaulting itself over a railing to cut a corner with almost as much haste. The cyan teen didn’t however just go up rather than run away in a straight shot on impulse however, having gauged the taller pursuer’s stride the first few steps they took and knowing she couldn’t command a strong lead in the fields behind the school to the west. To get away best she could, she’d have to misdirect them. And where better than the spot she’d gotten her most airtime on?

Shooting through her works, Rainbow Dash reached the top of the stairs and jumped off to the right, grabbing the edge of the roof and swinging herself up to it. Sliding up to her feet, she sprinted on the angled tiles and across the classroom building. She took a glance back to reluctantly verify that yes, whomever it was that had the bright idea of chasing a parkour free runner across a building was still chasing her. She could almost grunt begrudgingly on how they kept up till now, but instead just focused on her next maneuver. Spying the gravel-covered lunchroom building ahead and several meters down, Rainbow jumped for it and braced while tucking herself in. If one landed on hard rocks, even loose stones, like her pursuer had when landing on the grass by Nurse Redheart’s office, foot-first with their knees straight they were just begging to break something. Knowing she had just enough of a lead to be unseen on her landing, Rainbow nimbly rolled across the rocks to break her fall and scramble up to her feet and jumping back while turning around.

She smirked when the dark figure reached the edge of the roof, spreading her arms with her palms up as a taunt.

-Alright buster, either you wise up and stop, or you jump while showing off like last time and bust a leg. What’ll it be?-

She raised a brow when they jumped off the roof without much hesitation, bracing herself for the breaking joints and sickening pop when they showed no sign of doing a break roll. Her eyes went from narrowed squeamishly to bursting open when they were about to land foot-first into solid rock… and then inexplicably slowed down in midair. Several stones levitated weightlessly in unison with them, before the invisible force cut off and safely deposited all of them to the roof. The figure stood right up like it was nothing.

Rainbow Dash could have heard a pin drop, but kept her wit, pulled her jaw off the floor, and sprinted for the other side of the roof to jump into some shrubs for cover. Pounding footfalls echoed through her ears, telling her they weren’t far behind; a bigger stride equaling her faster pace.

Rainbow Dash felt time dilate and her perception grow. She could see everything from a moth buzzing by to a drop of sweat flying off her hand, focusing on a hole in the shrubs she homed in on.

The pounding of her heartbeat and the stomping on the gravel was tuned out, only her own breath echoed through her mind. A hand reached out to grab onto her hair, scraping over the strands. Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes and felt a surge she didn’t know nor focused on, just used. A brief spark of blue light radiated around her and she shot ahead in the pursuit, taking several long strides before launching off the rooftop.

Rainbow Dash felt the air rushing past her without her feet on the ground, relishing it. Times like these she wished she could have her wings all the time or at least got them years earlier, for flying felt so natural. She crossed her arms to cover and shield her face from the foliage she was about to crash into.

She stopped. Not by impact, pull, or fall. Just stopped. Rainbow Dash slowly opened her eyes and looked back as time seemed to slowly wind back up to speed with her perception coming off its rush. She was floating in midair, not even a breeze on her face, with wisps of gold coiled around her in a very thin aura. Her hair flowed up and around like she was underwater, droplets of sweat flying free. Rainbow Dash gasped and struggled, trying to get free of whatever was gripping her; but it was useless. She was weightless and held up by nothing physical, resulting in her spiraling and flailing in a set spot. Rotating around, she felt herself getting towed back and heard a strained grunt trailing into a growl. A strong grip snatched up her shirt and shoulder, hoisting her off the ground just as the weightlessness of altered gravity left her, Rainbow Dash soon finding herself staring into a golden glow slithered out of blood red eyes.

Before she could comprehend just what happened, she was whipped around and shoved into the gravel with a white mask staring her in the face. Rainbow winced and kicked at their side, but only landed one hit before her legs got grabbed and pinned.

Rainbow Dash glared back even through her daze and fear, balling a fist to throw but the force on her shoulder grew in a clear threat. She held her breath and relaxed, the pressure relieving slightly. Message was clear, they were going to talk and she was going to listen, reluctantly.

“Valiant effort, but futile. I can sense where you are. You... and your friends can’t hide. I know now where you all are except the one I need to know. You are going to fix that.”

They loomed in closer, looking her dead in the eye while hovering directly above her. The dim moonlight wreathed pale hair and inky black skin. She took in the features to memory, even catching a glimpse of what looked like a blemish or scar poking out of “Phantom of the Opera’s” eye holes.

“Wouldn't you like to know?!”, RD spat before she felt a firm retort of increased pressure pressed down into her almost like her weight was being increased by a magnitude.

Rainbow winced and pushed back best she could, “This is pointless! She went back to where she came from after dealing with the Fall Formal.”

Her captor reached into their cloak and drew out something Rainbow could see clear as day in the moonlight air. A picture, taken from a phone camera likely. It showed Twilight Sparkle, clear as day near what looked like the mall. Same skirt, same top, same draped down hair, without anything from a sweater or glasses to make her look any different from the last time Rainbow Dash saw her at the fall formal. And yet the picture didn’t even need a timestamp to show when it was taken. Rainbow, naturally the most competitive of the band, had taken pains to scope out any competition at the amateur band concerts. She saw and recognized the winter clad figure of a member in the Dazzlings band in frame.

“This is a week old,” the stalker sneered before jamming the picture into the wall beside the young woman.

Rainbow Dash was momentarily agape. That concert had happened almost exactly a week ago, her mom built the attire for one of the bands and the Rainbooms missed it due to a flat tire. Yet, Twilight Sparkle had come back and not told them. A pair of red eyes loomed closer as they narrowed, almost reading her mind.

Rainbow flinched and grimaced, pushing back as best she could. Confused or not, she had a principle she absolutely wouldn’t break.

-If Twilight came back and didn’t tell us, she had to have a reason! Maybe something up with the Dazzlings or some other band? Magical freaky-deaky stuff? This guy?! Whatever it was she wouldn’t just dump us!-

The grip on her tightened and so too did her struggle against it. The stalker grumbled, “And despite her actions, you are still so loyal to her.”

The eyes narrowed and flashed a glow as golden light from the skin bordering them flared. The gravity intensified even greater and forcefully pinned the young woman to the ground.

“Then let's hope your loyalties aren't misplaced…Call Twilight Sparkle. Call or tell anyone else and I’ll know.”

In an instant she was let go, the attacker towering over her with a reddish gleam and gold outline showing through his eyes through the shadows, even if it seemed to fade slightly from before. She almost she thought she saw him shrink slightly.

At the drop of the second they were gone, rustling and footsteps telling her they’d jumped off the roof and ran off. Rainbow Jennifer Dash Jr. panted as she lay on the roof staring at the sky, still trying to figure out just what happened and dreading the answer. One way or another, they had a serious problem.

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

An hour or so later of sprinting through the town, hitching a ride on the back of a night bus, and staying out of sight, Rainbow Dash’s attacker stopped at the treeline’s edge and ran along the clearing just inside it, looping around the perimeter surrounding an isolated house to check their trail and ensure they weren’t being followed. Confident he was alone, Monster X finally took a deep breath and approached the familiar house, walking across a fallen log to cross over a large creek. Walking right up to the front door, Monster X paused at the entrance and placed a palm upon it. Closing his eyes and focusing, the golden outline encircling his eyes trickled with light while the gravity shifted on the other side of the hardwood. A heavy brace put up against the handle he himself insisted on was lifted out of the way, nudged aside by shifting gravitons that canceled its weight for a brief moment. Finished and knowing the sound had roused the occupant, Monster X waited a few moments for the quick pace of footsteps to rush up that preceded the sound of multiple locks being undone.

Adagio Dazzle peeped out the eyespot and breathed a big sigh of relief, opening the door and stepping aside to let him in. Monster X nodded his head and entered, putting the brace back into place as Adagio latched all the locks. Slightly winded from his rush across town, Monster X placed a hand on a countertop as Aria Blaze leaned back on the hallway wall opposite him with Adagio coming up beside her.

Monster X shrugged and shook his head slightly, “Sadly, Twilight Sparkle was not there, but she will be soon.”

Adagio frowned and tilted her head, “Are... you sure of this? Were you seen?”

“Gave her cause to crawl out of wherever she is hiding. And no, stuck to the rooftops when I gave the message.”

Aria Blaze gave a slightly bemused roll of her eyes and her cousin blinked in confusion.

In unison the three looked down the hall towards the end of the house, roused by the subtle sound of muffled crying and sniffling. All three deflated slightly. Aria cast her gaze off to the corner of the floor, hiding some pain behind crossed arms.

“Somehow I don’t think asleep or awake matters... I thank you for the help, X. Is there anything else?”

Monster X slowly shook his head and kept his eyes trained on the hallway, “No, go. I’ll keep watch.”

The Adagio Dazzle of last year wouldn’t in a million years have let someone like X be alone with her cousin or invite him into their house. Thankfully the current day Adagio Dazzle, having seen and experienced what she had, would just about only accept someone like X to be alone with her cousin or invite him into their house. Freakshow or not, trust had been earned.

Adagio hurried along towards the sobbing, “Think I’m going to stay in there tonight.”

Aria let the edges of her lips curl downwards even before X’s whisper came over her.

Aria sighed and rubbed at her eyes, having been near run ragged. X’s hand patted her shoulder and she felt him draw closer.

Aria grumbled as X walked away before she could give a retort, the Xilian-kaiju sitting down on the couch facing the door. After several moments of being on the watch he couldn't help but let his mind drift. Sonata Dusk, while not especially close, was a friend; and in addition to that family to Aria. As such his desire to safeguard his allies and Aria naturally extended to her and when he first saw how she was it sparked a fury within him that hadn't quelled. It was fortunate for Rainbow Dash's fate the fusion of Monster X and Kaizer Ghidorah leaned more on the latter.

He shrugged, recalling memories and accounts of others from a month back and melancholy about how stark the change was in the end. He wished to much it hadn't been.

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

One Month Ago

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

Deep inside Zenith, a hurried flight across the realm streamed down the halls. Passing eyes caught a glimpse of a trio sprinting on thundering steps and beating wings as they carried a still body to hopefully his salvation. Passing lights above reflected off a single, cracked mechanical eye that refused to light.

Passing illuminations reflected off a motionless, cracked eye lens as the three remaining Dark Hunters ferried the body of their comrade down Zenith’s halls. Sparks and ichors ranging from hydraulic fluid to artificial blood trickled with each step. As they kept their eyes forward in their mad dash for hope, none of them could resist glancing back at Gigan’s body in some desperate hope for a sign. They received none.

To save them time, Kaizer X’s eyes became alight with power to herald the onslaught of a graviton flare far stronger than his normal optic blasts. The spiraling beams shot ahead and burst the wall down, giving them quick entry into their sanctum.

The trio hurried over and set Gigan upright, acting quick without a moment to lose.

“Megalon, try to interface with the computer and get the repairs online. Irys help me get him in place!”

Megalon put his eye level to the display screen and let it scan him, the cyborg’s machinery and cybernetics beginning to wirelessly link to the console. Irys and Kaizer X propped Gigan up into the hangar bay and worked on securing the body.

“H-Hey I got it on!”, Megalon yelped as the display screen registered to him.

It seemed this machine custom built from Gigan’s mind was also suited to work for his brother, a considerate gesture they didn’t have time to focus on.

Kaizer X nodded as he helped close the hangar bay arms down with Irys, “Engage anything that seems like it would be for emergency repairs or vitals!”

Megalon’s eyes flickered and he seemed to squint. But sure enough the hanger hummed to life and a diagnostic scan illuminated the screen. All three Hunters held their breath as it surveyed Gigan.

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

Gigan’s body was propped up in his hanger, the carriage’s arms snapping his broken form into place. The monitors attached to the frame gave no benign message. Only errors, glitches, and signs of failure. Seeing them centered around Gigan’s chest, where the broken off forearm sporting a chainsaw had been impaled through his torso, Monster X felt a cold come over him as he read one of the messages.

“-Heart core compromised, foreign object lodged in core. Imminent failure likely.-”

The data core, the reason the cyborg could survive having his head blown off. He was put in the most heavily armored area of his body for safety, transplanting the majority of his surviving nervous system there to save his life the first time Kaizer mauled him. And now, Kaizer’s actions had managed to cause history to repeat itself. Gigan would be a corpse by now if he was biological, but even as a mechanical being; he was dying. The scar hurt even more.

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

His roar rattled the hall and he took a swing at the infernal display screen that showed his brother’s failing vitals. Circulation was plummeting, muscle systems paralyzed, multiple shattered metallic bones, and a burned out coolant system. But the worst of all was the internals. It was a wise decision by design, be it the cybernetics or whatever genetic hodgepodge that went into making Gigan’s biological parts an emulation of nature, that his head lacked the centralized control organs. It was still important for sensory via vision, smell, and some hearing; but the organic and cybernetic portions that made up Gigan’s nervous system were more distributed; chiefly in his torso and stomach like in some invertebrates. The Nebulan and Xilian designers probably hoped to make it harder for him to be dizzied or potentially killed from a heavy blow to the head by housing the most important parts across the more armored torso and abdomen.

In theory and most practice, not a bad idea. In the instance where Gigan had a chainsaw lodged in his chest that just meant both his heart and neural controls were right in the strike zone. And somewhere along the way, some cords had been cut and plugged by it. The diagnostic readout showed his heart was having trouble pumping and damage to the connectors of nearby neural clusters, his ‘brains’, making it difficult to pinpoint for repairs.

If they pulled the chainsaw out, he’d bleed out before the machines could save him.

If they kept the chainsaw in and kept the wounds plugged, Gigan’s heart would give out and he’d die anyways.

Kaizer X felt like his chest was caving in as Irys caught Megalon’s arm as she tried to quiet the bawling cyborg. He stared at Gigan as his best friend’s lifeless eye stared back at him. The scar on his chest felt like it was on fire and he was glad it did.

This mechanical mercenary, who barely had a request in his life, barely a problem following orders, and had never raised a scythe to those who he called friend. Gigan had been taken apart, put back together, trapped in containment, and freely chosen to carry secrets from his own best friend about the identity of who destroyed most of his original body. And when a threat came to his brother and teammate, he destroyed himself to protect them before throwing away his one and only chance at victory to give his oldest comrade a chance at victory himself. Gigan’s life, his actual life when he wasn’t taking orders from the Nebulans or Xilians, had proven one thing.

A being with a body chiefly made of metal and artificial blood running out of his heart, had proven just how enormous that heart was. Few can boast a greater love, than he who lays down his life for his friends.

He shook, gravity distorting around him; loose mechanical fluid and broken earth rising off the floor.

Kaizer X lifted his arm and outstretched it towards Gigan’s body. Raw power from Kaizer Ghidorah and refined focus from Monster X combined into one task that demanded both. He increased the gravity around Gigan’s heart in extremely precise intervals, gripping inwards to contract and attracting outwards to expand to keep the heart pumping. Technology couldn’t save Gigan, but something else could.

“GO!” Kaizer X roared as he strained, “I’m already exhausted from all that’s happened, I can’t keep this form up forever! Go, get the Master and bring them back here! As fast as you can!”

Irys and Megalon wordlessly stared at what was before them and comprehended his words. The chance, the chance Gigan would live through this after all caused both of their eyes to glimmer. Megalon didn’t care how painful it was to tunnel at high speed with one good drill, he did it. Irys likewise felt a spark travel through her indicated by a brief flash of the runes for the symbol “Eta” appearing across her body, not knowing that she could fly that fast until she found herself dashing towards the center of Zenith.

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

Megalon was naïve about many things, mostly on account of not bothering to care much to look into them. Messing your mind with things that didn’t matter just led to fretting about things outside of your control. Some might call him stupid for thinking that sort of way, narrow-mindedness may be another way of thinking about it; but he liked to disagree. Naivete just meant less troubles, in if nothing could be done about fretting about things outside his control; why bother? When life included months, maybe years locked up inside containment tubes; the cyborg brothers went about it in different but equally effective ways. Gigan focused on study, trying to find out as much as he could about anything he could to busy his mind. Always thinking, always pondering. Megalon just took the simple route and avoided thinking about things that troubled him to begin with and redounded to the good to pass his time.

Point to be made, he was naive; but he wasn’t stupid… But right now he almost wished he could reverse that because he knew full well what was going on. He burrowed through the ground of Zenith, going under or in many cases through walls and chambers as he barreled towards the center.

Technology, the very miracle that made he and his brother possible, couldn’t save his only family. Only a god could.

Of any words he did take time to harp on and ignored, that was one of them. He could pull up the dictionary term of a god, sure. Powerful magical entity with abilities beyond the mortal. But what exactly did that entail? Someone who was just really long lived and pretty really strong? Was Grand King Ghidorah a god then? After all if Ghidorah was stronger than he was, he’d probably seem completely invincible to someone like an Xilian or M Nebulan! But what about him? He was a lot stronger than the little sapients who built him, he even knew he could demolish them like he did elsewhere even if they didn’t want him to. Did that make him a god? He wasn’t quite sure, but he didn’t think so. If being a god was something special, he didn’t feel that way; he felt normal.

But he wasn’t so uncertain of the Master, the “Boss Ball” as he called it. After all Grand King Ghidorah was a lot stronger than he and his friends were, and Megalon saw how the Master floored not only him; but every kaiju in the room! It made him in comparison to the Master feel like what he could only guess a puny little Nebulan felt like in front of himself. A speck in the face of enormity. If there was anything that seemed to be a god in all his travels across the cosmos, Megalon thought his employer seem to fit the description best.

And according to the little he bothered to know, he knew those who served their god asked them for help when they needed it. With his arms already clasped in his drill formation, he could only attempt to pray all the same.

Irys sped along above Megalon, flying down the halls at full speed as she felt a massive energy building up ahead. Something was up in the Master’s chamber.

- I’ve never had a good boss in my life…. All those tiny bug people, they locked me in a tube for a really, really long time before they ever let me out. You, you’re different!-

Back in the chamber, Kaizer X strained as he maintained a precarious balance between forcing the heart to contract enough to keep the pulse up; and risking applying too much forcing crushing it. The prolonged combat had strained him, both Monster X and Kaizer Ghidorah giving it their all to keep it maintained. Megalon continued to pray.

-You’re different. You let me play, have friends.. have my brother. Please, please don’t let me lose the last one…-

The diagnostics on the hanger flashed, reaching critical levels. Gigan was dying of organ failure. And be it some link of the soul or by silicon circuits, Megalon knew that. Sparks streamed from his eyes.

-You’re a god, r-right? You can do almost anything! S-So when you hired us, you offered to give us what we wanted. I didn’t want anything back then, I already had everything I wanted at the time… But I want something now.-

Megalon felt a mass of energy ahead that seemed to be moving, and he burst out of the ground as he begged and pleaded through his soul.

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

But the kaizer’s energy was slithering away from exhaustion, the gold across his form starting to dampen as he reverted back towards the more stable form of a tired and spent Monster X.

A Monster X whom was alone when the very walls of the chamber were split open. The enormity that intruded in didn’t burst through the obsidian, it didn’t break through it, it walked through it as if it were a liquid. Opened up at their masters’ command. Through the corner of X’s eye he could see it as he fought to keep his best friend alive. It’s enormity exceeded even Grand King Ghidorah’s height, but even that greatness in physical scale was eclipsed by mere presence. It felt like standing before a star, an energy bursting out from the entity and seemed to permeate every atom of the room from the ground to the air. It would make one realize something. Zenith hadn’t become the dominion of a god, it had become a part of that god.

Ever since Bagan had overtaken this realm from the demonic spawn it once sired and ferried, it had alchemically rewritten every fiber of the realm’s making. Every molecule of air, every fragment of the ground, every interlocking piece of the Dark Hunter’s chambers from the recreated cave, forest, and quarry to Gigan’s hanger; existed because Bagan had rewritten the basic elements around them to forge it, taking what had been there and altering it into forms none could imagine.

Monster X dropped to his knee, both from exertion for his friend and a show of loyalty to his master.

Bagan advanced forward, multiple pairs of glowing eyes visible through the haze and distortion abounding its body. It extended a hand, arcs of energy jumping between clawed fingers that aimed directly at the scene before it.

Its plans had not been proceeding as it wished. That would mean alteration and correction.

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

Gigan’s vision flickered and he felt an unfeeling. Like looking through a projection he felt as if he weren't really present in the space around him. So much was glimpsed, too much to process. There was no voice, nothing so clear, but it felt like a presence. Something, some sensation of feeling calling out to him. He liked it, feeling welcomed in a glimpsed starry sanctuary he did not recognize by his various travels across the cosmos. But he felt so at ease he didn’t pay much mind to the unfamiliarity of it all or the fact he somehow was seeing it without his normal heads-up display, even if, to someone like him, that should have been as abnormal as a human seeing in ultraviolet and discovering a new color.

The presence called out again and yet again he couldn’t understand, his consciousness a weightless leaf floating through the harmonious sanctum. While the context was still elusive, he still could not shake the sensation he was being called out to. The sensation warmed, suggesting his thought was right. Was he being reprimanded? A warmth washed over him in a wave as he thought he might have glimpsed a broken… glass walkway drifting past him?

An amicable disagreeance. So, if this was the opposite of a punishment, was he being rewarded for something? Some kind of deed undergone? The sensations and distorted calls almost seemed to wrap around him in an embrace, confirmation of the question. He beheld a bright light just outside of his field of vision, having been floating limp and unable to move other than a drift. The voice seemed to call out one last time, seemingly with more haste then before. Almost to the point of annoyance however, he just couldn’t comprehend what they said. It was like listening to someone in a cavern full of chambers that were all echoing at the same time and effectively making them sound like they were talking over themselves. He would commit one detail to memory though, before his consciousness, spirit, whatever was moving, was pulled away from this place.

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

True vision slowly returned to the elder cyborg, finding a stark contrast from the clarity and ease in which he beheld the starlight sanctuary before. This was fuzzy, distorted due to the lack of a focusing lens. Had he been in human form one might reliably classify him as having overly sensitive eyes, beholding too much without a filter to the point it was painful and blurry due to everything from thermal to radiation to normal spectrum viewing all trying to overlay each other. He could just barely make out three sets of reflective shines, logic telling him, given two of them blinked, they were eyes of three individuals… he felt a momentary sense of dread before he recognized they were different colors and nearly give himself a heart attack, thinking it was a Ghidorah.

The view however became more focused as a sheen of familiar red started to climb over his field of view, almost like a broken window putting itself back together piece by piece. Because that is exactly what was happening and his visor was put back together. Gigan felt an enormous, unmeasurable power nearby and though he was too weak to fully behold it, relief washed over him.

Bagan’s taloned fingers glided through the air with the skill of a fine craftsmen, precise movements controlling runes stretched out between the digits with each movement shifting the command. Streams of minerals were broken out of the ground in torrents of pebbles along with gusts of air from the sky, encircling the deity’s arm like a serpent before coursing down to its palm and extending outwards. As they passed through the runes, material was transmuted into the proper building blocks that made up the cyborg’s body; both biological and cybernetic. Exact replications of “Giga-N” metal for plating, nanotube wiring for circuitry, even cells both natural and artificial; everything that went into making the Space Hunter Cyborg.

Bagan stoically observed the trio as they celebrated and embraced, both at the return from near death of their bladed member and the resolution of the turmoil within their other compatriot. The Dark Hunters were among its most loyal enforcers and aides. They were capable in the face of conflict, commendable in respect to their success rate, and cooperative amongst each other; doing exactly as they were told without issue or major distraction. Not many amongst its forces the deity felt confident it could dispatch in groups without infighting, blown cover, or someone neglecting their role. The Anteverse creations lacked their ingenuity, Hedorah and Gaira were marred by being too gluttonous or sadistic to be stealthy, and Legion was locked into a role she couldn’t leave effectively. The group had even managed to surprise Bagan more than once. The power of Kaizer Ghidorah was now stable and no longer a liability like it had been when Bagan dispatched Enjin to take care of it.

While yes, of course that action was done to gain the power for itself and speed along the restoration process; it was also done to ensure the safety and stability of Zenith and its denizens-

Bagan saw Monster X and Gigan crossing forearms, the latter noting the gold ring around his compatriot’s eyes.

-that action for termination no longer seemed needed. The four slowly ended their festivities and turned to their master, in awe of the vast might they could feel permeating through the air. The gyaos seemed momentarily confused, like something was firing off in the back of the Guardian Beast’s mind at feeling such a presence. But evidently, it wasn’t enough to stop her from joining in what happened next. Gigan stepped out of his hanger and, after a moment to test his limbs, dropped down and knelt before Bagan alongside the rest of the team. There was no question as to their loyalty.

Bagan had many reasons for doing as it did, as a deity does. It didn’t have to save Gigan, it could have left him to pass on to the immortal coil like all life would. But it chose to save his life and bring him back from the brink of death. Yes, one could posit it did this to ensure that meddling Harmony didn’t get her hooves upon him. After Gigan’s vast act of friendship enacted some of her magic and got her attention, Bagan could sense that she attempted to reach out to him. Bringing the cyborg back to this realm kept her away and from interfering, thus had a fully pragmatic reason. But there was another reason.

Bagan wasn’t evil, just doing as necessary. All lives would have to be saved from this coil eventually, but it had waited 70,000 years to be free. It waited over 4 billion for civilization to come to Terra. It could afford to wait for the natural end for those whom had proven so loyal. Impatience was unbecoming of a deity. Call it fondness, call it mutual loyalty, call it graciousness towards followers or pragmatism for its best soldiers; no one really knows what a god wants.

Bagan turned and walked back through its realm to return to the throne’s chamber. Monster X and his team just watched on in pride and joy towards their master.

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

Monster X absentmindedly shook his head. It had all seemed so much happier then. For one of the few times in his life everything was well. His friends were all together and alive, he'd finally resolved the turmoil within his mind to fully claim his identity, and he'd gained the greatest master he could ever have asked for. He accepted a scouting mission to the human realm in a heartbeat when it came, only to find what awaited for him on the other side. In the present he hadn't noticed a siren narrowed her eyes and march after him, seating herself alongside the xilian. He finally did notice when she punched him in the shoulder. X tilted his head towards Aria and raised his brow.

"You're thinking about something," she muttered and pointed to his cheek, "You get a line just below your eye when you're thinking."

Aria just shrugged, "Only part of your face I could see for the longest time, had to pay attention... You still didn't tell me anything."

Monster X took in a deep breath and held it, cast a glance towards the back room, "A month ago I realized what it felt to have a friend almost be lost. When it didn't come true it was one of the greatest moments of my life."

"Can you imagine elation I felt at being able to return, and to just search for something not you three?.. Then I find out what happened."

"Awhile back we were doing pretty good for ourselves to. New song, new outlook, new unity. We were topping the charts and trying the whole 'going legit' shtick," she winced and look off to the side, "Then the attack happened."

"I could have been worse Aria, a lot worse. And I won't let it get so... Rest, you'll need it."

Aria Blaze however was not one to be coddled, especially after noticing the slightly strained slouch X was sitting in to indicate fatigue. She narrowed her eyes at her beloved and poking him in the chest.

“You’re the one who should rest, you thought it was a bright idea to sprint all the way here from town,” she grumbled.

“You’re sweating, so you had to be rushing… to get back here… where we are…!”, Aria’s face momentarily flushed red when she realized why he was rushing, punching him in the arm as a very brief flash of gold glossed over her eyes.

X gave her a bemused, deadpan glance as the same color outlined his eyes, a change since he and Kaizer had merged.

If it had been almost any other guy not noticing her eyes were up higher, Aria’s next punch would have been higher up. Instead she noticed he was looking at how she hadn’t let go of her necklace this whole time. Instead she frowned and shrank away.

Aria deflated slightly and let a few fingers remove themselves from her heart necklace, swallowing a rock in her throat. Her bangs wreathed her face.

Her voice was but a whisper, “Not of you, no. Not anymore… Just, confused… I don’t know how this all could have happened. The spell on these should have made it impossible, not even you or that thing could brute force it…”

Monster X sighed, “Magic eluded me in the past and it does now, but I will admit when I learned what happened I was a bit dazed. Shocked even.”

Aria Blaze tucked her body in a touch closer to him before attempting a touch of humor to lighten the tone or at least quell some of the turmoil in her gut.

Monster X picked up on the slight shift in her voice and cocked an eyebrow as he glanced at her. After a moment to puzzle he tried to return the sentiment with something to try and keep both of their minds off worse matters.

“No, that time I was more impressed you managed it and had been practicing, you’re quite angry when you thought I did it... It was what you did after that caught me more off guard.”

His remark got Aria blushing slightly and she elbowed X with a proud smirk on her face, “Well after you clarified it and you had my hands pinned when your scarf had fallen down, had to break out somehow other than what Sonata did the first time. You always did say to be resourceful.”

He taught her that in combat lesson to not just rely on punches and kicks, he didn't exactly mean to add 'grab them with your legs and lip lock them' into the instruction. Seeing the dark kaiju-convert shifting a bit awkwardly and knowing full well the red peeking out from his mask wasn’t just his eyespots gave Aria a momentary snicker. It lasted a good few seconds, giving the man a none too small smile before he sighed. A scarf and mask were set aside and an unobstructed face looked upon Aria Blaze.

“Aria, it’s okay to be afraid… What do you think I was when I rushed back here so fast?”

The purple siren let out a long sigh, moving into Monster X’s hand and shifting closer until she was right up against him. She rubbed the side of her head up against his shoulder and collar, causing him to recognize a call for comfort from memories old and new. Mentally retracing his steps, he rested his chin on her scalp and closed his eyes. They stayed silent for a time, listening to each other’s breath and heartbeat. Unconsciously Aria found her fingertips slipping off her heart necklace and starting to curl around his as he did likewise.

“There is a different magic in this area, one I can’t pinpoint but I know it’s there. I’m willing to bet everything it’s from Twilight. I was sent to investigate and if the chance arises to get it, I will.”

Monster X leaned his head up and back, opening his eyes and looking down as Aria did the same facing up. He slowly exhaled when she traced a nail across a scar framing his cheek, shaking his head slowly. He was loyal to his master, but he had other reasons in mind.

Inside Sonata Dusk’s room, the pictures of happy sea creatures, cartoons of Mexican foods, and beautiful kelp gardens were contrasted with the gloom within by its occupants. Adagio Dazzle held her baby sister while straining not to frown, humming a soft lullaby as the blue siren sniffled in her sleep. Wetting her sister’s arm with tears and mucus, Sonata flinched and curled up against Adagio. An ugly scar was lined across her collar and neck, making it look like she was burned were her necklace would have been. “Would have been”, because she didn’t have it anymore.

Monster X held Aria’s hand as she guided them both and momentarily touched her lips to his, shifting in a sign of an oath as he put his forehead to her's in a gesture they both knew by now.

The Bridge: A Godzilla-MLP Crossover

by Tarbtano

Chapter 42: Restart