//------------------------------// // Monster in Filly's Clothing (short chapter) // Story: My Little Pony Godzilla: Dawn of Monsters // by lazejovanov //------------------------------// Well over twenty days had passed since the defeat of Dogora at the hands of Godzilla Junior and the Young Six, and many things had changed since then. Twilight's adoptive brother, Spike, went through a process called 'The Molt', and gained wings, enabling him to finally fly like other dragons. Although before that, he was extremely vulnerable to the Natural predators in Equestria, one of whom - a gigantic Bird of Prey called a Roc - tried eating Spike (along with Zecora and Rarity). But Godzilla Junior came just in time to drive the Roc off with his much larger size and Heat Ray. Maud Pie had also gotten a boyfriend named 'Mudbriar', who had a fascination with sticks. And the Young Six faced and conquered their fears that the Tree of Harmony (who had become sentient) put them through, to test their friendship. A new student had also joined the School of Friendship, a pegasus filly named 'Cozy Glow'. With the help of Godzilla and Mothra, the ponies repaired the damage Dogora had done to the School of Friendship, and also helped reconstruct the bridge that connected Manehattan to the Equestria mainlands. The former villain Discord was also introduced to Godzilla and the the other kaiju. Although understandably shocked at first, Discord quickly warmed up to them, even using his magic to enlarge himself to be the same size as Godzilla, at which point he and Godzilla shook claws. The Mane Six were rather surprised by this, as they expected Godzilla to be at least a little annoyed by Discord's mischief. But surprisingly enough, the Monster King wasn't the least bit annoyed by the Lord of Chaos. During these last few days, a dragon named 'Sludge' came to the Castle of Friendship, and claimed to be Spike's biological father. Spike (obviously) overjoyed by this, began showing Sludge all around the castle, feed him delicious foods and giving him comfortable beds to sleep in. Though during these times, Sludge behavior was nothing like a father's should be, and it was becoming hard to believe that he was really Spike's father. Unfortunately, these suspicions were proven correct when the Elias read Sludge's mind and discovered his true motives: As it turned out, Sludge was merely pretending to be Spike's father in order to live a life of castle luxury, leaving the young dragon extremely heartbroken by this deception. Sludge argued that 'that' was simply what any dragon would have done - a point of view that Smolder strongly disagreed on. Sludge then proceeded to leave with Spike's pillow, but was stopped by Godzilla Junior, who gave Sludge a deadly glare and a fierce growl. Extremely frightened by the infuriated kaiju, Sludge quickly returned Spike's pillow and flew off in fear. Also during these days, a new kaiju appeared. The turtle kaiju, Kamoebas, appeared near in Sire's Hollow, the home of Stellar Flare (Sunburst's mother) and Firelight (Starlight's father). There, Kamoebas made Sire's Hollow his territory, much to the discomfort of most of it's residents, including Stellar and Firelight. Though Starlight and Sunburst assured them that Kamoebas will not attack them. Finally, Twilight Sparkle introduced Godzilla to Star Swirl the Bearded and the rest of the Pillars, who all happily accepted him and his allies, especially after hearing how he saved them and Equestria on multiple occasions. ... But much more recently, a very strange phenomenon began occurring in Equestria itself. The magic of all the magical creatures and magical artifacts in Equestria mysteriously began vanishing without any explanation. Star Swirl the Bearded estimated that all the magic in Equestria will be completely gone in three days. Of course, all the kaiju were unaffected due to them lacking any magic and not originating in Equestria. The possibility of Tirek being behind this was brought up, and Twilight volunteered to got to Tartarus along with her friends, to see if he was truly behind this phenomenon. ... School of Friendship Twilight and her friends were preparing to for their long journey to Tartarus. "Okay, I left you my lesson plan on my student files, and my sieves notes." Twilight said to Starlight as she packed her bags and exited her office. "If anything goes wrong, get Celestia or Godzilla Junior, you know how he likes to help." She said with a giggle. "Yeah, I know." Starlight also giggled. But then, Twilight suddenly got a very uneasy and nervous look on her face. "Or maybe I should just close the school and send my students home?" She asked with an uneasy smile as she began turning around, only to be stopped by Starlight. "Would you go and save Equestria, already?" Starlight sighed with a smile as she turned Twilight the other way. Everypony gathered as Spike came with his own bag. "Okay, Cozy packed us all up for a trip to 'Bad Guy Central'." He said as Cozy herself came and gave them seven bags. "Don't forget the sandwiches!" Cozy said. "Just in case." She then leaned in and whispered to Spike... "Starlight can't stand mustard." She playfully said, causing Starlight to grin nervously "That's so sweet of you, Cozy." Starlight said with a smile. "But Twilight has asked me to stay here to run the school." She said as Twilight smiled happily. Cozy. however, now looked disappointed as she looks down. "Oh, I thought that after what happened last time-". "If she survived Discord, anything else is a piece of cake." He quickly informed her with a smile before walking off. Cozy turned to Twilight and Starlight sadly, while also doing the 'puppy-dog-eyes'. "Plus, she'll have you to help her." Twilight suddenly added. After hearing this, Cozy quickly brightened up with excitement and joy. "Oh, golly yes!" She exclaimed happily as she hovered in excitement. "I promise, I'll be the best assistant ever!" She quickly flew to Starlight. "Come on! We can start working on your substituted headmare plans right now, if you like." Starlight looked a little surprised by this. "Woah, uh... Okay." With that, she began following Cozy. Twilight turned to Spike with a confident smile. "See? Nothing to worry about!" But it didn't last very long before she quickly got a worrisome look again, and quickly grabbed him, "Tell me there's nothing to worry about!" She whispered worriedly. But then quickly came to her senses, and released him while smiling nervously. Spike simply face-palmed. ... Outside, the Mane Six and Spike had just exited the School of Friendship, and were ready for their long journey to Tartarus. But before they could even take a step... "Princess Twilight Sparkle, please hold on!" The voices of The Elias exclaimed inside their heads, catching everyone by surprise as they quickly halted. "Oh, hey Elias!" Twilight greeted them. "What's going on?" "We have heard about the phenomenon of your world's magic disappearing, and we know who is behind it all!" "Yeah, we know." Rainbow Dash said. "We're going to Tartarus and see what Tirek has to say about it." "You misunderstand. The one called 'Tirek' is not truly stealing the magic. He is working with someone in your school! Someone in your school has betrayed you, and is stealing your magic!" Shocked and horrified gasps of disbelief escaped the Mane Six and Spike after hearing this; Someone in their School of Friendship actually plotting against them? But there was no time to let that fully sink in, as Twilight immediately asked... "Who?!" She practically shouted. "Who would do such a thing?" At first, the Elias seemed a bit hesitant to say the traitor's name. But they eventually do so... "Twilight, the betrayer is none other... than Cozy Glow." Even more shocked gasps escaped the Mane Six and the little dragon! Cozy Glow, one of Twilight's most trusted students and the one who's currently assisting Starlight, betraying them and working with Tirek all this time!? It was more than Twilight, or any of her friends, could handle or believe! "Cozy Glow is behind all this?!" Twilight asked in absolute shock and disbelief at the unexpected revelation. "That's impossible!" Rarity exclaimed. "That's sweet little darling would never do such a thing." "Yeah!" Pinkie exclaimed suddenly. "And maybe you're the one who's stealing magic and trying to frame Cozy!" This, however, earned her sighs from the rest of her friends. "We have read Cozy's mind and looked into her heart. She is not who she claims she is. She believes that Friendship is power, and believes the more friends she makes, the more powerful she will become. She is planning to take over your School of Friendship and rule Equestria." The Mane Six and Spike were still unable to believe this, they simply were not able to. They were almost like statues as they stood there without moving (with shocked faces) trying to process and understand what they had just heard from their other-worldly friends. "To show you the truth, we will allow you hear all the thoughts Cozy Glow has had." With that, the Elias began transferring all of Cozy's past and present thoughts in the Mane Six and Spike, allowing them to hear what she was actually thinking all this time. After no more than seven seconds, everypone gasped in shock and horror to what they had just heard inside their heads! "We have to get back!" Twilight quickly exclaimed. ... Back inside the school, Cozy was walking (or rather, flying) with Starlight through the hallway. "Say, Starlight, I wanna show you something later, if that's okay." Cozy said with a smile. "Sounds great, Cozy!" Starlight said with a smile of her own. "And I think you're really gonna like it!" Cozy added. "Stop right there!" A voice from behind suddenly called out, causing Starlight and Cozy to stop and turn around - to see Twilight and her friends standing there. Both ponies (especially Cozy) looked at the Mane Six and Spike in surprise. "Twilight, what are you doing here? I thought you were heading to Tartarus to see if Tirek has anything to do with the magic disappearing." Starlight said in confusion. "Trust me, Starlight," Twilight said as she began walking up to them before stopping. "The culprit who's stealing magic is right there!" She pointed at Cozy Glow with her hoof - who became even more shocked. At this point, Sandbar, Gallus, Yona, Smolder, Ocellus and Silverstream came to the scene, having overheard Twilight's loud exclaim. "What's going on here?" Smolder asked. "Cozy Glow was plotting against us all this time." Twilight began. "She was secretly writing letters to Tirek, asking him how to steal magic from Equestria. Because she's planning to take over The School of Friendship and later Equestria!" Gasps from everyone besides the Mane Six and Spike filled the entire hallway. Cozy herself looked completely shocked and dumbfounded, but then quickly puts on a sad and emotionally hurt look. "T-Twilight, whatever are you talking about?" She asked, acting innocent. "Why are you doing this?" "Don't play innocent!" Rainbow Dash threatened. "You think you're pretty clever, don't you? But guess what? We have friends that can read minds, and they just read yours!" Cozy's face now turned into complete and utter shock at hearing this. With that, Twilight smiled. "Elias, if you please..." The voices of the Elias quickly reply... "With pleasure, Twilight." Then, every single creature in the School of Friendship (including Cozy herself) suddenly began hearing Cozy's voice in their heads. "Heh, nopony will suspect that sweet, little me is behind the magic disappearing! With Twilight and her ridiculous friends out of the way, I just need to get rid of Starlight. Then, with no other pony in the way, I'll drain all the magic from Equestria and suck it into another realm! And then, everyone will bow to me! The future Empress of Friendship! What? Why are they back so soon? If they find out about my plan, they'll ruin everything! What?! How do they know about my plan? And how do they know about Tirek? No! That's impossible!" Everyone in the School of Friendship was now left in a state of utter speechlessness and shock by this. The cat was out of the bag! Every single creature in the School of Friendship now knew of Cozy's true nature and her sinister intentions! Cozy (who also heard all this) was also left completely speechless, as were the Young Six and Starlight Glimmer. "Now then, Cozy Glow, let's see you talk your way out of this one. If you can, that is." Twilight said as she glared at her. "Cozy, how could you?" Starlight asked as she turned to her, very hurt and heartbroken at the revelation of Cozy's deception. Cozy Glow angrily gritted her teeth, as she knew that there was no chance to talk her way out of this. Finally dropping the innocent act, Cozy gained a sinister and evil smile on her face. "Yes, that's right!" She finally admitted, sounding nothing like she did before. "I came to realize that Friendship is power! The more friends I collect, the better and more powerful I become than everypone else! And I'll have more friends than anypony ever could!" She finished while maintaining her evil smile. "You're wrong." The voices of the Elias suddenly reply. "Indeed, Friendship is very powerful. But you are not making friends. You do not even understand the meaning and concept of friendship! True friends care and respect one another, and their interests. You care for no one but yourself! You are but delusional! What you claim is 'Friendship' is actually nothing more than manipulation and tyranny. So, in the end, you, Cozy Glow, are nothing more than a selfish, power-hungry pony who cares for no one but yourself. You are nothing more than that, and nothing less." Cozy glared hatefully and gritted her teeth. Without any warning, she quickly turned and began flying in the opposite direction, in a desperate attempt to escape! "Oh, no you don't!" Smolder exclaimed as she and Silverstream quickly took off after her with blinding speed! Before Cozy knew what hit her, both Smolder and Silverstream grabbed her by surprise and brought her to the ground! "Let me go!" Cozy exclaimed while struggling to futilely escape. "I don't think so!" Smolder shot back. Twilight and the rest of her friends approach Cozy as Smolder and Silverstream held her. "Tell us how to get our magic back!" Twilight demanded. Cozy simply laughed at her. "Ha! I won't tell you anything! You'll never get your magic back!" "There is no need to. We have already read your mind, Cozy, and know how to reverse this." ... After chaining Cozy up and asking the students to keep an eye on her, the Elias lead the Mane Six, Spike and Starlight to the catacombs under the school library, where they found an elaborate crystal chamber. There, they also found the six artifacts the students collected during their scavenger hunt, and they were placed around a glowing circle on the ground, with large blue-colored orb floating above it. "This must be what's sucking up all the magic." Twilight said, looking at the orb. "Right. Cozy must have linked these artifacts to act like a mystical magnet." Starlight surmised. "Attracting all the magic in Equestria into that orb." "So then I guess removing the artifacts will shut it down, right?" Rainbow asked hopefully. "Yes, but there's also a chance that it will cause a magical feedback and destroy the whole school." Starlight added uneasily, putting everyone in shock. Twilight was especially shocked to hear this. The School of Friendship was everything she worked for - to teach others about friendship, to bring them closer. It was a difficult choice to make, but she knew what the right thing to do was.. "We don't have a choice. We have to do this." She stated firmly and definitively. "It's the only way." Her friends looked at her, and nodded. They all knew that she was right, and that there truly was no other way. "Let's do this!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. With that, each of the Mane Six quickly grabbed one of the artifacts and lifted it, causing the orb to levitate higher and shrink in size. With no time to waste, the Mane Six quickly removed the artifacts, causing the orb to glow with a bright, white light... before... A powerful wave of energy was unleashed, like a bomb going off! ... As the wave emerged from the School of Friendship and began spreading all over Equestria, it gave every magical creature and artifact their magic back when it passed them! ... Back inside the school, the Young Six were in the hallway with the chained-up Cozy Glow, waiting for their friends. "Face it!" Cozy began bragging. "Twilight and the others will never get the magic-" But before she could finish, Twilight and her friends teleported before them in a flash of purple light, much to Cozy's dismay. "You were saying?" Gallus smugly turned to her. "It's over." Twilight confirmed with a smile. "We got our magic back." She then turned to Cozy. "Oh, and one more thing: The Elias also informed Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Chancellor Neighsay about your plan, and their on their way here to take you to Tartarus." With her master plan completely foiled, the enraged Cozy simply glared at her and sneered, before saying "Don't think you've seen the last of me, 'cause I'll be back!" She then turned. "And you, Elias! If you can hear me, know this: I will get out, and I will be coming for you!" She angrily declared. ... After a few more minutes, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Neighsay arrived, along with many Royal Guards, to escort Cozy Glow to Tartarus, where she was locked in a cage next to her 'pen pal' Tirek, for her betrayal and crimes. After Cozy Glow's deception was revealed to everyone in Equestria, Neighsay deeply apologized to Twilight, The Elias and all of non-pony creatures (including Godzilla and the other kaiju) for being so judgmental, and for not seeing the true value of friendship. He finally admitted that Twilight was perfect for this job. ... The next day Twilight was currently in her office, talking to the Elias via telepathy. "I can't thank you enough, Elias!" She said happily while sitting on her chair. "Without you, I don't know how things would have went. I still can't believe that Cozy Glow was plotting against us all this time." "We apologize, Twilight Sparkle." A look of confusion appeared on Twilight's face. "Why are you apologizing? You helped us save Equestria by showing us Cozy's true intentions." "That is precisely the reason, Twilight. When Cozy Glow first came to your school, we sensed darkness within her heart. We did not wish to believe it, but our fears were confirmed when we read her mind and looked into her heart. We should have warned you sooner about her." But Twilight simply laughed it off. "Oh don't worry about that. The fact that you warned us about Cozy is all that matters, and I'm very thankful for it." The Elias' voices could be heard chuckling. "You are far too kind, Twilight Sparkle. It is no wonder why you are the Princess of Friendship." Twilight chuckled to herself. ... Somewhere else Far away from the School of Friendship, in another part of Equestria. Mothra's dark reflection, Battra, was hovering in the sky - flapping in his enormous wings to stay airborne - well above the ground below. Then, Battra's pupiless, crimson-colored eyes suddenly changed to a purplish-color... before a pair of Prism Beams shot from his eyes! The Prism Beams shot downwards - heading towards the ground below, where a large pack of Timberwolves was residing. Upon contact, all of the Timberwolves were completely vaporized and reduce to ashes in a matter of seconds by the two beams! After Battra finished his attack, he turned and flew down to the ground, to meet up with his partner... Tempest Shadow. Upon landing on the ground, Tempest looked at him, and gave Battra a scolding look. "You know, I would've been more than able to take care of those walking piles of sticks." Tempest said with a somewhat annoyed tone. Battra simply responded with a low chirp. "I know your way was faster, but you know that I'm not some damsel in distress." Tempest scolded again, not wanting Battra to think that she was weak. If Battra had pupils, he would have rolled his eyes. After that was over, Tempest gained a more serious expression on her face as she looked Battra in the eyes. "So..." She began. "You're saying that this thing's coming here?" The Divine Moth responded with another low chirp and a nod. The broken-horned unicorn looked down, unsure what to make of this. But if what Battra 'said' was true, then she and every creature in Equestria (perhaps even the world) will be in the fight for their lives. "Guess we have no choice then. Let's go." With that, Battra lowered his head, allowing Tempest to climb on top of his head. Then, with a flap from his gigantic wings, Battra (with Tempest on his head) took to the sky and flew off.