//------------------------------// // 5: A Plan of Action // Story: MLP: Rebirth of the Queen // by The Bricklayer //------------------------------// If the world lives to see another century, please remember what Mothra did for you and the planet you live on. - The Cosmos, Godzilla VS Mothra Monarch Headquarters: Manehatten “Lose?” Twilight asked. “How do you lose a shipment of magical energy surplus direct from the Crystal Empire? It’s like losing the Mare of Liberty!” she shouted wings flaring out in both anger and frustration.  “Exactly like we said Princess,” Star Hunter replied flinching at her anger. “Sometime this past night a ship full of crystals had suddenly vanished from any known charts. There are a few working theories in progress right now.” The midnight blue pegasus sighed to himself. He knew exactly why this was such a big worry for Twilight. The Crystal Empire’s most famed resource could be used in any number of things, such as channeling mana and storing memories for starters. It was one of those things you just requested in spades, and thanks to the Empire constantly regrowing and regenerating its stores -little in part no thanks to the abundance of mana in the air and in the ground- it was easy enough to come by. It was one of the reasons exactly why the country had found itself easy to find its place in modern day Equestria as the crystals were quite rare and sought after. During the thousand or so years the country had been a non-entity so to speak the only source of these crystals had been in the dangerous Diamond Dog mines or in the hoards of dragons. “Yeah, well all your theories can probably be scrapped,” Twilight drawled. “I have a fairly good guess as to who exactly happened to those crystals and they probably weren’t stolen by dragons.” “You don’t think the MUTO had anything to do with it, do you?” Star Hunter asked even though he probably already knew the answer. Hell, he knew it would have been a fool not to have guessed the Titan had something to do with it.  In the back of the room, Fizzlepop scoffed to herself. Everyone looked directly at her. “So, we’re really going to keep on going calling it a MUTO are we?” the mulberry mare deadpanned complete with her left eyebrow raised in fascinating fashion.  “What’s your point?” Star Hunter asked. “Well, calling it a massive unidentified terrestrial life form seems a bit… say, I don’t know, redundant when the lifeform in question is not exactly terrestrial anymore is it?” Fizzlepop remarked with a small wave of her hoof. “So, I guess MUFO meaning a ‘Massive Unidentified Flying Organism’ isn't as catchy of a phrase?” This gained a few snorts from inside the main room which was currently so thick with tension you probably could have cut it with a knife. This was their worst nightmare come to life. For years, Monarch’s sole goal was to have kept the existence of creatures like Titans under wraps but here and now one and possibly more were waking up. To make matters all the worse Princess Twilight’s plan was to send out yet another of these creatures to fight the first one. Star Hunter flashed back to when the Princess first proposed this idea... “He going to be alright?” Twilight asked as she watched the professor get loaded into a medical airship. Stellar was soon to follow and looked to be in much worse condition, Twilight forced herself to look away from the bloody mess that was her leg. Choking back bile, she looked directly at Star Hunter. “Well, is he?” she asked fearfully. “Yeah, he’ll be fine. He got lucky. Him, Snap and Madam Stellar,” the pegasus agreed. A medical bag was hanging around his neck along with a pair of flight goggles. “If you had been a few minutes late, we might very well be having a very different form of conversation. So good to know Celestia trained you in some scrap of medical knowledge. ...Unless you picked that up yourself in a book?” “No, Celestia didn’t want me to go off anywhere without lacking some medical knowledge, either to perform on myself or any friends she hoped I would make,” Twilight replied. “I’m just thanking the Holy Writer I won’t have to give Sunburst a call and explain a few things.” “Don’t start saying that yet,” Star replied. “Stellar may be out of the woods, but she’s pretty banged up. And that leg of hers…” he continued sucking in a breath. “I do presume you have a plan? As of right now, you’re pretty much in charge of the whole operation until Stellar’s back on her hooves.” “I do have a plan, just not sure how you’re going to take it really…” Twilight sighed before sucking in a breath. “Ever since me, Serizawa and Fizzlepop first found the MUTO’s nest in that mine we were thinking of an alternate solution in case Monarch failed to stop it.” “Obviously, we have,” Star Hunter noted. “So out with it. Whatever this plan of yours is, it can’t be all that bad and I do have faith in you. I’m all ears here.” “Um… well…” Twilight said shuffling her hooves. “Fizzlepop had heard legends of a creature that might be able to help us and looking at ancient texts me and Serizawa agreed with her.” “...Don’t tell me, you’re going after a Titan?” Star Hunter gasped his blue eyes widening in shock. “Already had, actually. The one you refer to as Titanus Mosura, the Giver of Life in old Guoxia texts.” Twilight replied sounding rather nervous about how her old university buddy would react. Understandably nervous mind you, but still rather nervous.  “...Welp, it’s official. We’ve officially crossed over into crazy Twilight Sparkle plan territory,” Star Hunter laughed. “You really are Celestia’s student aren’t you? Mind you, not saying this is a bad thing as if you were going to enlist any Titan it might as well be that one.” Could go worse Star Hunter supposed. Twilight could have gone ahead and sought out Gojira or Godzilla or whatever they called him. Should they start calling this kind of plan the Godzilla Threshold after the ancient primordial beast? Seemed fitting enough he supposed.  “So you’re actually on board with this plan?” Twilight asked sound rather pleased. Or relieved. One of the two. “Yeah, I am. I just wouldn’t go spreading it around to the rest of Monarch really,” Star Hunter put in. “Goodness knows how they’d react if they knew two Titans were suddenly about to clash.” “...Chances are they’ll know soon enough anyways,” Twilight pointed out. “I mean, this isn’t exactly something you could easily keep under wraps.” “Fair point,” Star Hunter agreed. “Mind you, something does worry me so…” “And what’s that?” Twilight asked. “If you’re worried about Mothra causing damage that would sort of be an inevitability g-given her size and all.” “It’s not that…” Star Hunter muttered turning his head to a lone pony standing amongst the wreckage. He hadn’t really moved an inch since the creature had awakened. “It’s Captain Hardsteel. He was at ground zero when the creature awakened. He stared it in the eye from what I hear. Lost plenty of his men to it. And I’m worried when he stared into the eyes of the abyss and he blinked…” “...We’ll be lucky if we all don’t see tribunals by the end of the day…” Snap Shutter muttered. “So, our plan is to throw two Titans into the mixer with one another and hope, just hope they don’t decide to make itty bitty babies with one another? Forgive me if I sound unconvinced here or anything.” “You got any better ideas?” Fizzlepop asked starting to regret rescuing the stallion from the rubble. “Seriously, if anyone has any better ideas please do offer them now!” In another corner of the room, Pharynx crossed his forelegs and huffed his wings buzzing in agitation. “Mare’s got a point. I mean, we’re pretty low on options here.” “Wait wait wait,” Snap said. “Look, I’m all for studying Titans and all but not when they’re trashing cities. Several ponies, good ponies died just trying to stop that one! Celestia only knows what happens if we let two of them fight it out.” “And I agree with you there,” Pharynx said. “But from all reports, regular weapons have no effect. Like, zilch. So we can just toss these into dumpsters for all the good they’ll do.” he continued picking up a surge rifle and tossing it behind him with a loud clatter. “Oh, so we’re going to make a Titan our ally? Might as well invite him or her in for a beer,” Snap sighed. “Okay, I’ll go along with this crazy plan. You’re quite right Pharynx, this is probably our only option. Oh yeah, things must have gone a pretty pair if we’re seriously actually considering any of this really…” “So basically every other week really,” Fizzlepop noted. “I mean, it seems every couple of weeks or so something threatens Equestria -me included I do admit- and it takes time to enact an actual plan. Which always ends up meaning it’s always just six or seven ponies who do all the work!” She was astounded this country hadn’t been conquered yet with the ineptitude of those in charge at times. “Well, we can forget bureaucracy and going through the proper channels,” Daring noted. “I mean, there’s not exactly any precedents for giant monsters. Not even elder dragons, who rarely bother us as it is.” “...I’ll make a note of creating a series of precedents just for these cases then,” Twilight remarked. “Assuming we all live through this that is…” “Good thing we were formed then,” Snap remarked taking a sip of his coffee. “We’re a crack team of experts with one thing in common. We’re all part of an elite team composed of lone wolves, nerds, liantes, marginalized heretics and general all around pains in the backside of the academic bureaucracy! Basically, we’re Equestria’s last hope.” “And yet we’re completely unable to form any sort of plan without squabbling amongst ourselves,” Daring Do deadpanned. “So yay us. So, who wants to start writing their wills early eh?” “What a team…” Twilight muttered slamming her head into a table in frustration. Fizzlepop just patted her on the shoulder in sympathy. “We’re probably all going to die aren’t we?”  “ENNNNNNNNNNOOOOUGGGGHHHHHH!!!!” came Stellar’s voice as the mare trotted into the room now sporting a cybernetic leg in place of her old right foreleg. Said leg had been crushed in the rubble and had to have been amputated. Firing a bolt of red energy into the air to make everyone look at her she glared around the room. Serizawa was directly by her side as ever. “Look at you, squabbling like children over the last pint of juice. This is a disgrace! We were formed to keep Equestria and the lands beyond safe from monsters, and we can’t even do that right thanks to our own egos! Now I don’t know about you, but I’m ashamed of what I’m looking at here. I didn’t lose my leg just to see my country die because nobody could pull their heads out of their asses to do something about it! And that includes you Princess Twilight!” she barked out making everyone look quite ashamed of themselves.  Fizzlepop was simply amazed at the mare’s prowess. Not everyone could quiet down a room and publicly shame Twilight in the bargain. And get away with it to boot! Seems Stellar possessed that certain something. Guess that was why she was the head of Monarch by Celestia’s own choice. “Now that’s more like it,” Fizzlepop thought to herself with a small smile. “Seems this entire group was falling apart without knowledge that their commander in chief had survived or was in hospice.” “Tatopoulos!” Stellar bellowed out as she looked directly at a red-furred stallion. “Get me a video uplink of the last thing that the ship’s memory crystal recorded! On the double! March!” she barked making a few other ponies jump at the sheer volume in her voice. “On it!” the stallion said rushing off with two others in lab coats shouting: “Move it, move it, move it! The lady wants results ponies!” As he did so, Serizawa walked over to Twilight and watched the footage that was soon displayed on the screen via a very large movie projector. All seemed calm for the most part until a massive… thing landed letting out a trumpeting call. His fiery orange eyes seemed like they came from the pits of Tartarus itself. As the MUTO Male marched forwards lights went off all over the ship and he lunged towards a pile of crystals held down by ropes. And then all went black as he raised one of its forelimbs… “...Don’t suppose it was stopping off for a light snack was it?” Twilight asked nervously and Serizawa shook his head sadly.  “...If only that were the case,” he murmured in a grave tone of voice. “When this thing was cocooned, I heard it… talking. At first, I thought it was with their Queen, the creature we know as Mothra but now I think differently.” “Talking, as in…” Twilight whispered before her eyes slowly widened in realization. “Oh, dear Goddess!” “That would be an apt phrase for this situation, yes,” Serizawa agreed. “Stellar Flare and I proposed that there was another one, a female. At first, we dismissed this idea claiming it was dead but what if… What if it was simply laying in wait? For the right time IE the male maturing to a proper stage?” “...And just when we thought two Titans were bad enough,” Twilight muttered. “This is not going to go over well with Monarch, you know that right? I had a hard enough time convincing them to let Mothra be, and that was when she and the Male were the only known active Titans. Now there’s two MUTOs to worry about along with any collateral damage that Mothra may cause!” Serizawa simply looked away and started praying in neighponiese. Twilight, for her part, was tempted to join him. Unbeknownst to them, both Stellar Flare had been listening in and she shut her eyes in shame. “Please forgive me, my love…” the mare whispered before turning to Captain Hardsteel. “...I think we need to start considering other options.” “How so?” the buck asked. “Regular weapons don’t work on these things! Flamethrowers maybe, but I’m not sure how many I can get as a requisition order on such a short notice.” “No, it’s not that. Serizawa had plans, he quickly destroyed them and at the time I agreed with his idea. But we are at a crossroads. Twilight has her reality, and we have the MUTOs which are the reality. I have a photographic memory, and I think we can reproduce a weapon which may be able to kill all of these things in one clean blow.” Hardsteel turned to look at her and smiled. Stellar Flare was not above admitting it sent chills down her spine looking into his coal black eyes. “Good, we’re in agreement then. It’s time to show these creatures that we are the true titans…” Hardsteel said. Guoxia Province: Beginning Isle Meanwhile far and away from the happenings of the mainland rested the island. It had remained undisturbed since Princess Twilight and her company had left. Fluttershy for her part was over the moon. Not at Twilight leaving, but getting an up close and personal chance to study the Queen of the Monsters as she had been called several times. Fluttershy didn’t exactly why Mothra was called a monster as she hardly looked the part in any way but she supposed nobody knew what else to call her. Fluttershy was now being treated to a truly wondrous sight. The Shobijin had eagerly told her it was time. Time for what exactly Fluttershy was unsure at first, and then realization had dawned upon her. The time of a rebirth was now at hand and Fluttershy was about to get a front row seat to it. Permit me to explain. Since Twilight had left a massive cocoon had been created under a huge waterfall underneath the temple. Mothra in her larva form had emerged from behind the pounding falls seemingly ignorant to their power and had created her own cocoon. The Shobijin, atop their tigers, were now singing to the creature while Fluttershy looked on in a sense of wonder ignoring the pounding rain.  This was what she had waited for, a chance to see the true Giver of Life in all of her beauty and her splendor. And Fluttershy in all of her patience would be rewarded greatly. All gathered would be rewarded. “Mothra oh Mothra If we were to call for help... “Over time, over sea, like a wave You'd come Our guardian angel… “Mothra oh Mothra If we were to call for help Over time, over sea, like a wave…” Fluttershy found herself almost tranquilized by the Shobijin and their beautiful singing. She even found -to her great surprise- herself singing along with the two little fairies even as tears threatened to break from the beauty of it all.  “Over time, over sea, like a wave You'd come Our guardian angel... “Mothra oh Mothra Of forgotten kindness and ruined spirits We pray for the people's spirit as we sing This song of love…” They were calling for help and for their Queen to save them, and like always Mothra was to answer that call. Soon, the cocoon cracked open and two massive wings gently unfurled with a sense of elegant grace and poise. The rest of Mothra’s body was soon to follow, the truly gigantic yet wondrous creature climbing up the steps of her pyramid temple with her crystal clear blue eyes looking at those below.  Then with a single flap of her wings, she dispelled the storm clouds and let the sun reflect and shine down on her wings. Raising her head skywards she let out a chirping roar and Fluttershy felt a chill run down her spine. All would take heed now, even those who now threatened Equestria. The Queen of the Monsters had returned. Back in Manehatten quite unaware of what was currently transpiring Captain Celeano was in a bar yet again.  “Why is the rum always gone? Why is the rum always bloody gone when I need it the most?” Celeano shouted having been drowning her sorrows. She held up an empty bottle and sighed. “...Oh, that’s why I suppose.” Music played from a jukebox in the corner of the bar as Celeano held the bottle over her opened beak trying to get any last drops still left in it to fall into her awaiting beak. Mullet was watching the parrot with an expression of… maybe it was pity. It was hard to tell really. “...This is just sad,” he muttered to himself. Yep, it was definitely pity.  He’d been watching his Captain ever since they got back from the isle and he’d been studying her reactions to everything. What he’d seen he didn’t exactly like to say the least. Not that he could exactly blame the woman for reacting the way she was. He along with the rest of her crew had been with her through thick and thin even managing to weather through -no pun intended- the oppressive regime of the Storm King himself. He, truth be told, if he was in her place probably would have reacted not all that differently had he been the one in command of Squabble and Boyle when that giant spider creature showed up. Hell, he was fairly amazed that he’d kept himself together this long. “Um… Captain?” Mullet asked, the dark green parrot looking somewhat nervous as he approached the drunken woman. “You’re… uh, making a bit of a scene if I will be honest.” That wasn’t exactly that far from the truth really given several of the other barflies were now staring at the pirate captain with varying levels of annoyance. Mullet wondered how long it was before they both got tossed out on their arses really. He’d probably give it a degree of five minutes or so.  “Sorry…” Celeano slurred slightly. “Goddess above, I’m such a wreck....” “And you criticized me for when I started worshipping Celestia…” Mullet teased her and Celeano laughed bitterly. “Yeah, well, can you blame me for suddenly getting religious on you? Considering half of the shit we’ve been dealing with over the past several days, it does make one start to reconsider certain parts of their lives…” “So, you’re saying you’ll give up being a pirate?” Mullet asked her and Celeano threw back her head and laughed. “Hell no! That’ll be the day. When Tartarus starts freezing over maybe, then I’ll stop being a bit of a pirate. Not someone you could easily tie down. Half the reason I became a pirate was because of the adventure it entailed,” Celeano explained. “The other reason being the booty of course.” “...Yes, well the treasure is a generally very tempting aspect of-” “Who said I meant that kind of booty?” Celeano asked with a knowing smirk. “Trust me, when they find out you’re a pirate… Yummy.” Mullet could only do the most sensible option open to him at that point. Namely, to facepalm.  “You’re definitely something, aren’t you Captain?” Mullet muttered largely to himself. “You are definitely... something.” “The one and the only something!” Celeano chorused throwing her arms up in the air, one hand still clutching onto that one bottle. Inwardly, she sighed to herself. She knew no amount of drinking at any bar in Manehatten -and there were plenty of those she could assure you- would bring Squabble or Boyle back. But she thought fighting back a sob she had fought with them suffered with them. And now one massive spider had killed them both after they’d crash landed on an island she deeply suspected nobody was ever meant to be on. ...That was just her luck really. Free herself from the Storm King’s regime and get a new ship, only to have that ship smashed by a giant moth creature and then two of her crew members killed soon after by the bloody wildlife. Gods, she was such a poor excuse for a pirate it wasn’t even funny anymore. And yet she couldn’t even feel angry towards Fizzlepop for leading them into that hell anymore. She supposed having her little punchout in the rain and in the mud may have had something to do with that.  Her feelings towards Twilight, on the other hand, well she still wasn’t exactly sure where she stood towards the mare. Argh, she supposed she’d figure it out after a few more bottles of whiskey and rum. It generally helped the matter at any rate.  She remembered what her mother had told her on being an adventurer.  “One word kid: curiosity. You long for freedom. You long to do what you want to do because you want it. To act on selfish impulse. You want to see what it's like. One day you won't be able to resist.” The parrot chuckled to herself again. To be perfectly honest, Celeano really did have to wonder if her mother had meant for her to wind up being a fearsome pirate. Oh well, she wasn’t exactly in a place to argue the point anymore was she?  She chuckled to herself, she supposed she had realized why exactly Twilight and Fizzlepop had elected to go along on that little side venture. Curiosity was a funny thing really, it could never truly be satisfied. And as they said, not all treasure was ever really just silver, gold or a pile of rubies.  “Huh, a giant moth creature wasn’t exactly what I would ever designate as treasure,” Celeano thought to herself with a small chuckle. “But for ponies like them, I suppose a new form of life would probably count. Especially if your name is Twilight Sparkle. Might as well raise a glass towards you towards satisfying your own… let’s say a unique form of curiosity. Gotta tip my hat towards you at any rate. You’ve got guts for such a small pony.” Yep, Twilight Sparkle definitely had guts or big brass ones. One of the two. Took a special kind of pony to just extend the hand of friendship towards a pony who had been hounding you for days really. Celeano doubted she would have been so kind in her position. Still, it seemed to be paying dividends on Twilight’s part. Plenty of dividends. Especially if those dividends winded up paying off to Twilight in the way Celeano suspected they were. Goodness knew Fizzlepop and her had some form of relationship that went beyond Princess and Captain.  “So Captain,” Mullet asked of her. “What exactly do you intend to do now?”  “Quite honestly…” Celeano asked. “I don’t know. Firstly, I’m going to drink myself stupid and then I’ll probably figure it out.” Mullet elected not to mention Celeano was probably already halfway there as it was. Even as Celeano listened to the music playing in the background, she thought of Twilight Sparkle and wondered exactly why she felt like scum for abandoning her on that island… There was a certain amount of ease in finding the stolen crystals really. It was a simple enough task once you learned that each crystal gave off a certain magical signature unique to them alone. So, with that in mind, you simply had to narrow down the location of said crystals. Of course, this came with its own risks like everything else but considering there was now a giant parasite creature on the loose that seemingly had every intent of mating with another of his kind… Well, risks like getting eaten alive were sorta were pretty low on everyone’s mind. They had to look at the bigger picture and all that.  It was a little known fact but a changeling king’s -or prince’s- mandibles actually functioned like a unicorn’s horn in some regard. I say little known thanks to Chrysalis pretty much squandering the species and nearly killing them all for her own ego and lust for control. Pharynx was not pleased to learn that his Queen -well, former Queen now- had prevented him from using the full scope of his abilities. There had been quite a bit of cursing involved, along with Pharynx pretty much destroying several dummies made up to look like the former Queen. Several comments had been made on the possibilities of just how exactly sane Pharynx was before a quick glare from said changeling silenced them. At any rate, Pharynx now found himself in the jungles of Haywaii tracking down the lost crystals.  “Eyes open,” Pharynx commanded to his Royal Guard accompaniment. All were armed with either flamethrowers or were capable of performing fire-based spells. “Keep them peeled. I’d really rather not be surprised here. Anything moves… Light it up!”  He hated it being night. It wasn’t the natural wildlife of the jungle that bothered him. No creature was stupid enough to challenge a high ranking changeling who could probably tear them in half with their mandibles alone. It was the unnatural wildlife on the other hoof that did bother him. He’d caught a few glimpses of the MUTO Male’s coloration. His dark shading could allow it to very easily blend into the darkness and catch any one of them by surprise. A simply lovely little thought to entertain really, Pharynx mused with a dark chuckle. His mandibles glowing a dark crimson red color, Pharynx gestured with his hoof for one part of the squad to go around the trees as he looked upwards. Glimmering in the moonlight was a massive selection of both pink and aquamarine shaded crystals. “...Well, I’d say we found our guy’s food stock,” Pharynx muttered. “Lovely.” He knew that if the Male was anything like ants or the old changelings then they were in a lot of trouble. The MUTO Queen’s sole job would be to just mate with the male and provide the young laying egg after egg. Sooner or later, -probably sooner given the speed of these things in relation to their growth cycle- Equestria and the lands beyond would be overrun. Pharynx could not allow that to happen. “Okay… so where are you…?” Pharynx mused to himself. For a brief moment, he wondered exactly why the creatures had developed anti mana waves but passed it off as something for a later time. He had bigger concerns at the moment. He then heard a sound, a creaking one coming from up above and he looked upwards with slowly widening eyes. Atop the crystal pile was the Male, now flaring its wings angrily and roaring at the troops.  Pharynx created a large red energy ball between his ‘horns’ and fired it at the MUTO, for all the good that did. He was just hoping to distract it long enough for his troops to get away. The Male roared again in rage and then slammed his forelimbs down creating an anti-mana pulse that sent several ponies along with Pharynx flying as the creature itself took to the skies. Pharynx's eyes widened as he saw the direction in which the creature was heading. “Honolulu…” Fluttershy meanwhile was taking a train to the airport, having been dropped off on the island by the now exhausted Shobijin. Suddenly, the lights went out all across the city and then when they came back on screams arose from the train car Fluttershy amongst them as the islanders bore witness to the Male stomping around the airport, sending a docked airship flying with one swing of its front leg. A fireball rose up when the airship landed as the Male stomped forwards and peered inside the train car seemingly sizing up the ponies inside. Fluttershy for her part was sinking down into her seat when she heard it. A very distinctive sound Fluttershy would never mistake as the Male was suddenly sent sprawling as a massive form tackled him to the ground. “CHEEEEERRRRNNTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!” The Queen had arrived.