//------------------------------//
// Halloween Special: Nightmare Night 
// Story: The Bridge: A Godzilla-MLP Crossover 
// by Tarbtano 
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Several months after the demise of Grand King Ghidorah, but some time before the realm of the human echos of the ponies became the new grounds of conflict, the world of Equestria was filled with monsters.... One new arrival went unnoticed....




"Everypony ready?" Applebloom happily piped, her face dotted with stitches and coated in a mild green dye. Given her mane was done up to defy gravity and was dyed black with a skunk line, it seemed her answer to if she wanted to be Frankenhoof's Monster or the Bride thereof was 'Yey'.
 
Happily totting up to her companion was probably the cutest Nosferatu in the land, Sweetie Belle's face flanked by a fashionable collared cloak her sister no doubt had a hoof in making with her mane gelled back to echo the infamous Lugosi.
 
"Aaaall set! Were's Scoots?"
 
A voice piped out from the library they were meeting at under Scootaloo's instruction, a curious detail the other two crusaders were keen on, "Almost out!"
 
Both of the fillies perked up noticeably at the sound and sight of green flashes of magic from within the hollowed tree. The door slowly creaked open to reveal a shroud of mist from the after effects of spell use. And walking out from it was... A juvenile Destroyah!
 
Reflexively from last time, the two Crusaders jumped up and got ready for a horde of gremlins to descend upon the town, only for the first of the 'Dessy Swarm' to snicker and wave at them.
 
"Girls, it's me!" It spoke in Scootaloo's voice and-
 
Sweetie Belle yelped, "She ate Scoots!"
 
'Destroyah' felt a bead of sweat roll down her face, "Um."
 
The Bride of and itself of Frankenstallion lurched forward and pried open the filly's jaws, looking inside.
 
"Scootaloo! Speak to us! Did you shrink somehow?! Don't worry we'll get you out!" Applebloom yipped as she tried to peer inside.
 
At the sight of crackling purple light, the flesh golem cosplayer jumped back. Knowing a spray of dissolving plasmatic oxygen was oncoming, Ms. Destroyah very insistent on them knowing how dangerous it could be and to avoid it at all costs, the earth pony and unicorn crusaders both dove for cover!
 
And after several seconds, the vampire and golem both poked their heads out from behind the library sign and shrubs respectively, greeted to the sight of the 'Destroyah' blowing glowing purple bubbles a passing moth harmlessly passed through. It was on the perplexing sight they finally noticed the kaiju-filly had a very familiar spit curl of hair, bat wings that still had a few feathers poking out, and amethyst eyes.
 
Scootaloo, an otherwise near perfect rendition of Destroyah sans certain traits and the presence of a crystal necklace around her neck, giggled, "Awesome costume huh? Princess Lea worked a temporary changeling spell into the crystal!”

She removed the crystal, reverting back to her typical appearance before putting it back on, “Bamo! Instant costume!”

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle had stars in their eyes as they jumped up to their best friend, wagging their tails.

“Awwwwesome!”

“Ye’ gotta have her make us some later!”

“Absolutely!” Scootaloo giggled as she happily trotted in place.

A fourth, much more mature tone crossed the three’s ears as a happy mare trotted up to them, “Are you three ready to go?”

Stepping out of the mist and fog coming from the library, the trio caught glimpses of Twilight within sporting wide grins. At first glance it seemed more like Lea was present given the pale coloration and green hair. In fact when one observed the smooth chitin, long mane, and large butterfly wings it would be a very easy mistake for someone to presume this was perhaps a younger sibling of the secret changeling queen who’d forgot to put her disguise on. The only thing that gave it away that this was actual-alicorn Princess Twilight Sparkle was the shorter height of a slightly taller than an average mare, instead of the towering stunner that was Mothra Lea’s public disguise atop her changeling queen body.

“Woooow, great look there’ Princess Twilight!” Applebloom piped happily, beholden with starry eyes.

Sweetie Belle giggled even as she tilted her head, “Will Lea be a changeling too for tonight?”

Twilight Sparkle’s ears drooped slightly, “Ehehe, not for the night. This changeling look came from us testing out the spell to give Scootaloo her necklace and it didn’t copy over the disguise. We did it with this here.”

She motioned to her own necklace, this one made from a shed scale from Lea’s true form during the Everfree battle which the kaiju had gifted to her after fashioning it into an amulet. Lifting it from her neck via telekinesis, the disguise flickered off and briefly revealed the violet and purple alicorn below before being resumed.

“We wanted to keep up appearances and leave nothing to chance. My costume is fine but weeeell,” She whispered after leaning over, shooting the fillies a brief serious, but not angered, look, “Lea will be joining us later with a costume atop her… other attire.”

Twilight winked at them, hoping for a sign they got the memo. In unison the Cutie Mark Crusaders all shared a glance and a nod. Applejack and Rarity had sat them down awhile back to tell them what Twilight had passed on, ensuring they knew how important this way. No slip ups at the schoolyard. To keep everypony as calm as possible and trusting, every advantage was necessary. That meant passing off Godzilla Junior’s kingly title as the real deal to give him a sense of nobility, not letting Destroyah’s past attacks become public record, and in a world where the most moral leadership tended by be lovely to the eye, not having the one of the leadership of the Defender kaiju look like some evil monarch who’d just attacked Canterlot well within public memory.

As far as Equestria proper was concerned, the benevolent co-leader and protector of Terra was graced with the same form as the benevolent co-leaders and protectors of Equestria. Kept everypony calm and accepting. But that didn’t mean a bit of fun for the holidays wasn’t allowed.

Still, sometimes the fillies entrusted with a national secret couldn’t help but wonder if ‘Princess Lea’ wouldn’t mind unwinding for the holiday, take the mask off.

“And hey little fillies, no need for any long faces. After all, with Spike off visiting Cadance and Shining Armor with my folks, I need some lively company for this Nightmare Night,” Twilight Sparkle, mini-Lea, chuckled, “And you still haven’t seen your other chaperon.”

The alicorn pulled her hoof back and motioned to the library interior. Even Scootaloo was in for a big surprise given the newcomer had been hiding behind a changing wall when she was getting ready. Stepping into the doorway, a pair of thick horseshoes and force belied a massive frame and weight. Black pseudo-leather occasionally studded by a bit of metal hung over a white undershirt which bore holes to allow a pair of massive bat-like wings to cling to the back. The giantess of a mare’s mane was straightened and slightly sticking up in an orderly manner that complimented the thick sunglasses. A crossbow holstered to her flank, one could practically hear the iconic music in Destroyah’s presence.





"Wow! You look so cool!" Applebloom shouted, looking over the massive mare.

"Yeah! You look just like the movie!" Scootaloo shouted with a wide grin… then noticed Twilight looking at her with a raised eyebrow, "Uh… that I totally only saw the posters of. There's no way I would've gotten to see an R-rated movie."

Twilight looked to the towering mare, "Did you take her or Rainbow Dash?"

Destroyah gave a confused look but spoke bluntly, "I did. They thought I’d enjoy an action film… Why?"

The alicorn didn't buy it for a single second, "Just making sure she had adult supervision..."

"Eh, not like there's a reason tah be scared when we have her with us, she'd take care of any bad monster that could come after us!" Applebloom replied.

As if to punctuate that point, Destroyah stomped audibly onto the floor of the library in a manner that risked cracking the wood.Twilight Sparkle resisted the urge to flinch. Kaiju or equine, destructive or good, some folks never changed. Faust have mercy on any would-be foal-nappers out tonight.


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


On the other side of the small town, a cute little light yellow pegasus with a purple mane and tail, dressed up as a little royal guard, walked through town. Alula, like nearly every foal in Ponyville, was eagerly anticipating the Nightmare Night festivities, she just needed to meet up with her best friends at the town square.

 However, as the filly continued along the path...she got got a strange feeling she was being watched. Slowly coming to a stop, she looked around her, "Hello?"

Her eyes finally came upon the reflection of a pair of eyes in the dark, briefly looking a strange blue color and menacing. She gave a scream of fright and jumped back from them.

"Oh, don't be afraid, my little..." said a voice, reminding her of a kindly grandmother as she paused for a moment. The eyes moved forwards, slowly revealing an old mare in a full body, black witch's costume, the signature hat atop her head and a white witch's mask over her face, the fur of her neck very pale, almost ghostly. She was a tall mare, not nearly as large as some ponies Alula knew, but a little above average. "...pony. I was just on my way into town."

"Oh...sorry, you scared me…" muttered the little filly.

"Well it is Nightmare Night, isn't it? Frights are part of the festivities after all," the mare said in a disarming voice with a small chuckle.

The filly sighed, tension eased away. In a night of monsters and dress up, this was just another nice lady getting into the spirit of things; nothing to be concerned with, "Hehe...I guess you're right…"

"But to make it up to you, I was bringing this cart of lollipops into town to hand out to little foals with heads full of wonderful, sweet dreams like you," said the kindly old mare dressed as a witch, moving aside to reveal a cart full of delicious looking spiral lollipops of all colors.

The little foal's mouth instantly began to water at the sight of the bounty of candy.

"How about I give you the first one of the night?" she asked, grabbing one of them and offering it to her.

"Sure!" little Aula chimed back, taking it gleefully...then looking down the road where she was supposed to be going. "Um...could I have two more? I'm going to go meet my best friends…"

"Oh certainly, I always have plenty for everyone. Don't want to miss a single little dreamer tonight," the mare said, taking two and handing them over to her.

"Thank you Miss...um, what's your name?" the filly asked as she put the other two in her bag for safe keeping.

The mare paused for a moment, tapping her chin. "My name? Why it's...Giranbo."

"Ger-ran-bow?...Are you from the same place Miss Tea Song is from?" Alula asked, remembering the kindly Kirin that ran the tea shop.

"Oh yes, yes, that's it. Now, my little pony, you'd best run along, don't want to keep your friends waiting," she said, waving as the foal trotted off...Then gave a small, much darker cackle as her gaze seemed to shift from a kindly grandmother to something more...predatory.

"Oh I so love this place this time of year...a virtual banquet of dreams..." she said, continuing on towards the middle of town, eyes briefly flashing an otherworldly blue as she passed in front of a store window...and cast no reflection.

Busy night, busy night. A world where dreams are literally emblazoned upon the inhabitants. And she had so, so much candy to hand out….


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


Ever since she moved to town, the herbalist of the Everfree’s stories had been in heavy demand come Nightmare Night. Maybe it was a natural charisma for storytelling, maybe it was some lingering memory of how everypony in town had been so silly as to be afraid of her, though undoubtedly her long travels through many areas to accumulate experience or knowledge was a heavy impact. One way or many, Zecora was an amazing ghost story teller.

And clad in her tried-but-true sorceress attire complete with the classic spiders in her mane, the zebra already had a large captive audience giving her a round of applause well in advance of the crusaders and their two chaperones approaching to listen in. Though the herbalist wasn’t alone in her tales, for she had help this year.

Standing beside her at the cauldron was a towering alicorn of a stunnering radiance in her grace as well as her costume. Flowing green robes and faux-gold bands were accompanied by a blue-gem staff, casting a benevolent visage literally crowned by a winged tiara atop her naturally green locks. A combination of a testament to Rarity’s skill and her own growing mastery of changeling magic brought to life a rather liked character from the local arcade from the Colt Icarus game after Lea admired the look.

An ‘alicorn’ magic show with a bit of Terran mana sorcery flavoring in addition to an already interactive herbal magic show brewing from Zecora’s cauldron? The result was one expertly crafted show.

“Maaaany moons ago, when the cities and towns had just begun, an evil trained her eyes upon the young,” the zebra started as she waved her hooves over her cauldron, summoning up smoke from the potion she poured in to stew.

The smoke levitated towards the heavens before it was caught in an invisible web of telekinesis by her storytelling assistant. With motions of her staff, Lea crafted and transmuted the matter within the green hued smoke into a variety of colors to build shape and definition. In reaction to Zecora’s alchemy-infused smog, the mana wove itself around the equestrian magic to avoid mixing; forming a shell that provided an image. A more science fiction-savvy observer might call it the magical equivalent to a vague hologram.

Many zebra, stallion, mare, and foal streamed past the seated audience, much to their oohing and awing. Their attire and their homesteads were simple, implying a great bygone age that befit the tale. However, the promised evil itself took shape. But much to the intrigue of some in the audience, particularly a pair of book lovers from Canterlot who’d never heard of this tale before, it wasn’t some great beast or horrific monster that took form. Instead what appeared before Zecora and Princess Lea in a faded visage was a cloaked form wearing a pointed black hat not any particularly larger than the passing zebra. She didn’t even look particularly threatening, clad in a simple black cloak with a wide-brimmed, classical witch’s hat. Really, it was her clothing that stuck out the most as something distinct from the simple bangles, dresses, and sashes of the zebra.

“The spectre witch was her handle,” Zecora hummed as she summoned up another billow of smoke for Lea to mold into the outline of a zebra colt, “And wherever she went, joy was snuffed as if it were a candle.”

The colt approached the witch, whom beckoned them close with a piece of ornate fruit. But as he came close, the witch’s muzzle smiled under her hat’s brim. The darkness around her cloak seemed to flare out and engulf the colt for a second, the blackness overpowering the shocked audience until it retracted back. When it did, the colt was still standing. Static in his expression, the colt absentmindedly wandered forward, not paying any mind to the confused and gawking adult zebra around him. The audience had similar expressions even before the spectre proceeded to walk into and then through them. The zebra’s coat had been bleached out to remove the stripes, devoid of all color so the only breaches in the uniformity of the pale gray-white coat he now bore was where the black skin underneath was visible. His eyes looked glazed over by darkness, voided and empty of thought or emotion.

And he wasn’t alone.

“She preyed upon children across dozens of years, an undying monster inspiring adult fears,” Zecora continued as the visages took on more and more visions. Most of them were zebra, though occasionally griffon or minotaur, largely inhabitants of lands distant to Equestria, showed up every now and then. And, as if to hammer home how this witch was not just an emotion drainer of a species some might believe her to be, amongst the images of slowly walking, blank eyed, drained children was a changeling with bleached chitin.

“Children of many nations and tribes, all prey to her horrific crimes. Dreams and thought she devoured each time, for upon the very futures of these cultures she dined.”


The witch slithered through the mists and seemed to vanish every few moments, only to reappear elsewhere with some other kind of tainted lure for her victims. Tasty fruit gave way to honey covered breads which shifted to cooked sugary stalks, before finally becoming very similar to, if more archaic, versions of the very candy many in the audience bore. Some unknowingly gave wary glances to their treats. All the while, the witch smirked and cackled, a dark shape towering above her beginning to grow.

Zecora, perhaps sensing the unease in the audience about a candy-giving monster on a night where parents trusted friends and neighbors to give such to their children, expertly continued on to ease her beloved townsponies, “But no evil reigns forever, for at some point she met her better!”

A bright light flickered across the gathering smoke and fog that had encircling the audience, flashes of light illuminated both the silhouette of the witch and some winged attacker. For several moments, the witch was replaced by the towering, bipedal form briefly seen earlier. Once looming over menacingly, it was now recoiling in pain as if it had been struck by yellow light. Lea seemed to take a pause briefly at the spectacle she’d been told to weave, something Destroyah, Twilight, and a glasses-wearing thestral mare seated near them all seemed to have picked up upon.

The witch reappeared before the group, staggering out of the fog and back in her typical form. However several hidden wounds, burns given the smoke coming off her, were causing obvious pain to show she was meaningfully injured from the battle.

“None know whom struck her down, but the outcome of the battle was resound,” Zecora hummed with a smile as the witch staggered back off into the shadows, “It is unknown if the monster met her demise, but given her ceasing of terror many do surmise.”

From the back of the crowd, Giranbo watched, giving a small chuckle as she handed off lollipops to various foals watching. None paying mind to the mare in costume handing out candy among the countless ponies doing the same thing.

"Hear that little ones? The wicked witch is gone, so no need for this to taint your sweet dreams with nightmares…" she whispered like a comforting grandmother whose grandchild had been frightened by lightning.

"Though a little fright may season them just right for this night," she said, getting a chuckle from the foals and giving one in kind. However, as all eyes returned to the stage, her hat lowered over her eyes to hide a malicious, vindictive glare from all outside view. It was a good rendition of the story, the zebra had been a natural… now if only they'd realized most good ghost stories didn't have a happy ending.

"And thus the witch's story goes dear pony folk and friends, and with her defeat the story ends. So please, be off and enjoy the night. After all, it is one where we enjoy a good fright," Zecora stated with a bow as applause came from the crowd. From genuine scares to scares that brought joy, Zecora could decidedly appreciate the irony.

"Thank you all for making our returning guest Zecora at home," Mayor Mare, dressed as a tin plated pony with a funnel on her head, said. "Now, we shall have a question and answer segment with Princess Lea Mosura on safety while trick or treating. Please give her the utmost attention"

The disguised Changeling seemed to start from her position at the cauldron, as if roused from deep thoughts. She quickly regained her composure and gracefully took the Zebra's place as Zecora departed.

"Hello, thank you for having me tonight," she replied, giving a polite bow of her head, "As Lady Zecora's story shows, remaining safe while trick or treating can be a major concern…"

She continued her opening speech… but couldn't shake a strange feeling that story had left her with. Zecora had naturally told her everything beforehoof, but seeing it in action brought a strange sense of familiarity.

As the Guardian of Mortals continued, children continued to wander over to the goods-giver and her cart parked nearby, closer than the rest of the food stalls, taking lollipops from the apparently harmless, kindly old mare. Sweetie Belle took notice of this, she and her friends having not strayed from Destroyah's side and mainly huddled in and around her pillar-like legs at frightening parts of the story, and quickly snuck over.

The witch looked down at the sweet little vampire and gave a chuckle.

"Hello there, my little vampire, have a lollipop, I have plenty for everypony!" she said, offering one that made the little filly lick at her lips.

"Thank you! But can I have three more for my friends?" Sweetie Belle asked, quickly turning on the patented puppy dog eyes.

Giranbo gave a friendly chuckle and patted the filly’s head.

"Certainly, little filly. The more the merrier," she said, getting three more.

"Thank you… huh, you know, you look a lot like the witch from that story…" the little filly noticed… causing her to look a little suspicious.

"Ah, yes. Well you see that is exactly the idea! I am going as that very witch!" the witch explained, not losing her grandmotherly tone for a moment.

Zecora, having left the stage to restock her materials for later displays within the night, turned and looked over upon hearing this. Her face shifted to an unreadable expression.

"...Excuse me, miss I do not wish to annoy, but I find that prospect rather coy. You see that tale is not from these lands near, so it is a very unlikely story for one close by to hear…" The zebra carefully approached, not wanting to take chances.

This was Equestria after all, and her aid in telling the story was a giant moth goddess from another universe, so one should not take chances.

"Oh, well in that case it would make sense…" Giranbo replied, giving a thoughtful look and smile.

"You see, I am a fellow foreigner. I come from yet another land," She cleared her throat.

"Wakarimasu ka?" she questioned in fluent Neighponese, "And there we have the same tale, with small differences. Our own guardian heroes were the ones to fight the witch in our versions of the story.."

The zebra remained somewhat cautious but nodded slowly. Neighpon was indeed one place the story suggested the witch had visited. "That explanation's logic is sound, no fault in it can be found."

"I can understand the caution, the witch is a very formidable and powerful enemy if those tales are indeed true…"

Sweetie Belle nodded and accepted the explanation. After all, Zecora had said the witch was likely long gone, right? Walking over to her friends, she hoofed them each a lollipop.

"Thanks Sweetie Belle!" the other two chimed in happily before licking away at their sweet treat.

"Welcome!" The little vampire gave a gentle tug on Destroyah's false leather jacket. The massive head of her friend turned down to look at her, but by this point there was no intimidation from the giant.

Merely another friend, "I got you one too, Destroyah."

The massive mare gave a small, subdued smile.

"Thanks," she said simply, taking it and looking it over.

Took close to other ponies to safely use Micro Oxygen on it…well, ponies normally ate candy in a very simple to understand way. The Crusaders gave a cringe as Destroyah simply bit down and began crunching up the sugary treat (along with a good portion of its handle) in one massive bite. An easy feat considering her mouth alone was the size of one of the fillies' legs.

"...Well that's one way to eat it," Scootaloo remarked before beginning to happily lick her sugary treat.

"...I will say Equestria does seem to be a far safer place to trick or treat than many places back home, it is such a trusting place," Lea concluded her opening.

As strange as it was given all the monsters and villains this world had, though Terra had its fair share, that was indeed the case. The ponies possessed a sense of trust and kinship that sadly was harder to find back home. Ponies still allowed their children to traverse the town unsupervised and rarely locked their doors.

It was something quite endearing about it, "Any questions?"

A little white furred Earth Pony with fuzzy red mane and tail raised her hoof. From the stage Lea could see her purple glasses, though her Cutie Mark was covered by the Gillstallion outfit she was wearing.

"Yes, little one?"

"My namesh Twist!" she said with an audible lisp, "And what about Nightmare Moon? Do we thill have to give her thome of our candy?"

Lea gave a chuckle, having been informed of this ritual. "I do believe that would be wise. It is part of the Nightmare Night tradition, is it not?"

"I guesth tho…"

Lea kneeled down to get more on her level as the filly leaned up to the stage on an older pony's back.

"That and I'm sure Princess Luna would appreciate it. She's probably too busy to go trick or treating herself, right?" she asked in a hushed whisper, keeping a kind and polite tone, but chancing a bit of playfulness.

Twist nodded, "That'th right, I hadn't thought of that…"

The two shared a small laugh before Lea stood back to her full, impressive height. The goddess imagined that Luna was likely rather busy… or with Junior taking his student trick or treating. She could only imagine what that tiny filly was going as. She had to give a small grin imagining Chibi in a costume of her mentor or something similar.

"Any other questions?"

The glasses-wearing thestral seated close raised her hoof. Lea recognized the dark blue coat and black mane and tail with blue skunk stripe from various interviews instantly, even hidden beneath a very impressively done costume of Junior's kaiju form.

Lea chuckled briefly at the effort, seems kaiju had caught on for costumes as of late, "Yes, Dr. Ghost Story was it?"

"While not just about trick or treating safety, you did say that your did it on Terra as well, so does Nightmare Night exist there?" the bat pony questioned, entering that energetic, somewhat dorky knowledge seeker mode she had.

"Not exactly, but we do possess several similar holidays," the Guardian of Mortals explained with a smile, "The current one is called Halloween, and it is indeed very similar to your Nightmare Night in most regards. Many parallels between Equestria and Terra exist."

"I see...did you and your fellow kaiju ever take part?" asked the folklorist, giving a very intrigued look.

Lea shook her head briefly while snickering, "Sadly it’s not something we can commonly do, given our size. But one of our allies back home living in our equal of your Manehatten does often take part with his human friends… and there is an amusing story King Godzilla once told me from his childhood involving Halloween with a little human girl who he was friends with. Yes, you see he was still a child, a prince if you will, when he was at Kyoto for his first Halloween…"

Looking around, Giranbo saw so many little dreamers with her candy… but many more awaited her elsewhere in town. Thus, the witch turned and gave a hungry chuckle as she departed; almost fading into the shadows.

Destroyah stood listening intently next to her small friends, finding the story about Junior and some small human child mildly amusing. At least, as much as she could for someone who mutually was nearly killed by and tried to kill her. There was however, something amiss beyond odd memories that spurred her to puzzle. Something unrelated to a tale of her first enemy wearing a bed sheet as a ‘ghost’ while Io took him for a stroll down a very confused Kyoto downtown.

Suddenly, her nostrils twitched and she finally seized upon the sense providing such an odd sensation when caught a whiff of something...strange. Not foul or distracting, just strange. Something old and oddly sweet. However, something about it gave her slight unnerving feeling she couldn't place. Like a faint smell of smoke on a chaotically windy day or echoing shout in a deep forest. Turning around however, she saw nothing but foals licking their lollipops and contentedly watching the show while the town's adults all busied themselves setting up stalls, food carts, and games for the night's events. No sign of anything unusual...well, unusual by Ponyville's standards. Still a little on edge now, the Serizawan Legacy turned back as Lea's story continued.

However, upon spending a few more minutes watching the speaker but there were small subtleties only an old enemy like herself could pick up from Lea.  The twitch within her limbs, a subtle stiffening at the neck, then almost undetectable movement back and forth by the head and she continued her story.  The moth turn to changeling queen disguised as an alicorn, dressed as a video game goddess was something she usually was when in front of Destroyah while on Terra. Be it when they first encountered one another or that fateful night on Solgell.

Mothra Lea was on edge, and Destroyah had a feeling she wasn’t the cause of it. She waited for the story to conclude, then made her move.

Mayor Mare took the stage and happily exchanged a bow with Princess Lea, “Ahaha, thank you your majesty for another hilarious tale. Hard to imagine your king was so rambunctious as a child. Quite a good cleanser from the spooktacular speaking before!”









Lea snickered and wore a mask of happiness and contentment, hiding the tingling in the back of her mind, as she made her way off to find Twilight. She got less than ten steps behind a house, wondering if Twilight had wandered off to grab them some of the candy apples they’d talked about earlier. Plan was they could have something solid while she milled about the happy town to siphon off a bit of love here and there, as per her changeling needs.

But on her eleventh step, she was blind sided by a dark figure clad in black that directionally pinned the changeling queen under the alicorn disguise to the back wall. The kaiju was about a split second from loosing barrages of wing lighting after already having thrown up a skin-tight barrier shell when she finally saw who it was.

And she nearly blasted her anyway on pure instinct.

“Gak! Destroyah what’s gotten into you?” She spat, holding back the prism burst from her eyes.

Destroyah stood inches away from her, massive size and her hoof embedded in the wall keeping Lea close so she couldn’t run, lowered her glasses to look at her former enemy; studying her. She leaned in closer, sniffing at Lea’s neck in a way that made the changeling’s face scrunch up.

Thankfully the larger mare pulled back and nodded to her, “You are as worked up I am. Something is wrong.”

Lea’s eye twitched as a flabbergasted grumble came from her throat, the Defender co-leader trying to visually stab her glare through Xenilla’s second in command, “Gak-Wha-What are you?”

“You’re sweating, breath is quicker, heart rate is up, and your temperature is rising. Mine is as well,” Destroyah grunted blunt as a bowling ball, “Do you know what that means?”

No, no she didn’t. Or likely not. Wow, this was making the mothra’s mind go weird places, “.... Care to explain?”

“You are scared and stressed. I know it because usually you all were when I got near you on Terra or our first days on Equestria.”

Lea’s brow deadpanned under her tiara. The brief trip down memory lane included everything from having to frantically dodge a horn katana in the South Pacific while holding onto a yacht to getting swung around by her new tail in Canterlot Castle before getting hurled into Rodan and Anguirus, “Such a mystery as to why.”

Her snark was met with a grunt and, surprisingly in a motion she must have picked up from the CMC, an eye roll, “Yes but you weren’t upon first seeing me, so it’s not me. Obviously I’m not unnerving myself. Something is wrong here.”

Her glancing about the town was met with Lea doing much the same. The disguised changeling reached over to grip Destroyah’s hoof and move it off the wall before she put a hole in it.

“Little tip for living in societies, usually it's the creeps or unsavory types who corner people in dark alleys or punch other folk’s walls. Just to help you adjust to your new nationality,” She chanced the snipe but felt her mouth droop slightly, “But you are right, something’s weird in the neighborhood.”

Destroyah gave her a calm glance and tilted her head, eliciting a sigh from Lea.

“And I suppose who else would you call?”

Destroyah nodded, “It started for you when you were helping Zecora with the story.”

Lea let her mind trail back as she rubbed at her chin, “You’re not at all wrong….”

The Guardian of Morals let herself mentally refocus, closing her eyes to bring up the recollection and her mind wander through the sequence of events.

“Parallels between Terra and Equestria are hardly new, we noticed that the moment we landed and found things like trees, grass, buildings,” Lea counted down and to her bemusement, the typically taciturn Destroyah picked up what was laid down.

“Same number of eyes and limbs usually on the bigger animals,” She noted, only pausing when Lea gave her an odd look that gained a shrug in response, “Godzilla was not the only one who tore apart what came through the rift at the sea floor… I ate a few.”

Lea raised an eyebrow, “Aren’t the Anteverse invading kaiju toxic? Usually I have to do a gathering spell to pile the pollutants together or burn off the blood like Junior does.”

Destroyah grunted, “My microbial swarm is more effective in water. Dissolved, after tearing them up… Oh, and this Equestria also tends to have the same things humans do echoed in the ponies.”

Never before was Lea so glad to get back on topic. Mental images of flesh melting off in micro-oxygen weren’t likely to leave her soon. Thanks, Destoyah…

“And the other nations like the Griffons and Kirin I’m told, right down to some nation and city locations emulating rough alignment and cultures counterparts in Terra. Manehattan to Manhattan, Neighpon to Nippon, two oceans on either side; Equestria itself is akin to North America,” Lea noted with a click of her hooves, “Even with a different history, some stories are very, very similar…. Extremely.”

Destroyah looked to her knowingly and then to the town, “The witch Zecora spoke of?”

“The same. It seemed… It seemed extremely familiar. Even when reviewing it with her earlier, I hadn’t realized just how similar until I saw it all before me with the visuals.”

“You didn’t practice them before and talk about it?”

Lea shot her a defensive glance as she tugged on her outfit, “Rarity had me over longer than expected and I was confident…! Point is, when we got to how the witch was defeated it stopped being just similar, it started feeling familiar.”

“Did you ever fight a fifty story witch?”

Lea paused, as if to take in all the crazy things she or her allies had fought over the years. She didn’t know what to make of it when she could plainly state she was once involved in a team battle that included, but was not limited to, a giant mystical mother and a radioactive dinosaur against a space goblin shark dictator and a hive mind sharp headed squid.

“No, but…” She considered the option. And lacking other possible clauses, it was the only one that made remote sense.

Only question was the company she kept. And what had happened to said company since the portal brought them here… She puzzled for a moment or two, but opinionated that sometimes logic intended stipulating needed kowtow to instinct. The uncertainty regarding the story was starting to nag and addle her mind, demanding attention as if by some subconscious warning there was danger afoot.

And said danger was not the mare standing next to her. Lea took in a deep breath, remembering some of the lessons Twilight had taught her as much as she’d taught the alicorn mana magic. The princess had a special magic all to her own.

Lesson 1, trust and extending the hoof was often the first step to friendship. Not enchanting dolls with spells and loosing them on a crowd.

“Destroyah, I need you to watch over us,” Lea muttered, not quite musting the vigor to look directly at her as she dragged the edge of her hoof across the ground to cut a cross shape.

Destroyah perked and glanced down before intently going back to surveying the town, “Us? What are you doing?”

Twin blue and red lights slipped out from the town they’d been journeying through, summoned by their mistress. Moll and Lora, tattooed shobijin-turned-breezies clad in small archer angel outfits to match Lea’s, encircled her and cut a circumference into the dirt to make the cross embedded within it. A dim pulse of magic caused squiggling lines, like the rays of dawn, to emerge and emanate from the drawing. Lea stood upon it, wings outstretched as Moll and Lora took up point on either wing tip, balancing expertly.

“Checking my familial memories, but I need focus to do it intently.”

“Please watch over us,-” Moll started and Lora finished, “-Lady Destroyah.”

Before she could bemuse a wonder if the faeries gave her some sort of title because all the kaiju seemed to be sporting one nowadays or if it was because she held formerly roughly equivalent rank to Mothra in her old faction; the dim golden glow around all three of the mystics unified. Eyes closed and they all seemed to go into a trance, unresponsive to anything going on around them.

For a moment or two, Destroyah pondered how vulnerable her old enemy was now. Did she still have some hidden magical protection or trick? Maybe a hidden bubble of shielding or her reflector scales being active underneath the disguise? Possible, Destroyah was no mage so she couldn’t tell for sure by any means short of striking her.

But even with some protection, her stillness and closed eyes meant on some level she was more vulnerable in this trance than aware.

And she’d chosen to do so right next to Destroyah, chosen to do so with the request, even trust she’d guard her in case anything happened; even so far as to dive into the trance without confirming with her first. It meant Lea was rushing, unnerved indeed and wary.

Just not of her.

Destroyah took her lay of the land and stood up straighter next to Lea, in front of the mothra and keeping watch for anything ranging from outside attackers to the changeling’s disguise flickering off while she was not aware.


=========


Giranbo quietly stole away when the large mare had pinned the mothra to the wall before she could be seen or heard, moving back to her cart with almost supernatural speed. All she'd needed was to confirm suspicions, though the orange blade receding back into her hoof through an open wound that sealed behind it showed other intentions had the opportunity presented itself.

"It is her… well then, it looks like I'll have to pick up the pace then…" 

She normally prefered to wait for the children to all be in bed, so parents would not realize what had happened until the next morning, but if she were discovered before then, she may come out of this with nothing. A shame, there was nothing quite so good at wetting her appetite than the idea of panicked, screaming parents when they woke up the next morning to find of what had happened in the night. Oh well, this way she might get to hear some screams in person.

Twist's little stomach growled and she looked around, seeing the other children around her with a lollipop or some sugary sweet as they began enjoying the activities of the night.. She looked out of the crowd and her eyes fell on Giranbo as the witch began to depart, seemingly for the night… whose eyes met her own. The old mare gave a smile and, noticing the obvious hints towards Twist's favorite candies her appearance presented, produced a peppermint lollipop from her cart. Twist's little eyes widened and she rushed over, weaving through the legs of the older ponies.

"Here you go, little dreamer," Giranbo said, hoofing her the lollipop… and then looking around very carefully for any eyes looking their way.

"Thankths!" said little Twist, licking eagerly away at the candy.

"You're welcome...hmm, would you like to see a magic trick?" Giranbo asked, as if wanting to share a lovely secret.

"Thure!" the lispy filly chirped.

The giver of treats quietly led her back to an alleyway nearby, making sure all eyes were on the festivities.

"Alright… now look," she said, pointing a hoof towards a nearby reflective window.

Twist followed her hoof and looked into the glass...seeing her own reflection, but not Giranbo's.

"Wow! How'd ya do that?!"

"Magic, of course…" Giranbo replied, lowering down to Twist's level...and giving a predatory grin while the filly's eyes were transfixed on the mirror...and began to hum a quiet little rendition of Pop Goes the Weasel.



=========



Lea moved along the halls of rhombus shaped doors in the expanse of her mind, the familiar greens and golds of her foremothers' memories and orange and dark steels of her forefathers' filling her sight as far as she could see. She still remembered that dive into Xenilla's mind… thankfully these were more orderly, rather than fragmented memories of countless dying gods all patchworked together into an overwhelming cascade of horror.

Still, she made a note to avoid memories of that day. This witch was unlikely to have lived past it had she been fighting a Mothra or Battra then and if there truly was a threat, then she would need to be in top form.

Thankfully, the first door to resonate with her search was further back, during those ancient civilizations' heyday. Hundreds of thousands of years ago, but here fresh in her genetic memory. The memory was that of her maternal ancestor. She checked the age and instantly began to grow concerned.

"Several hundred years before the Extinction…how old is this witch?"

This was a troubling discovery. Nowadays, the mightiest magic users on Terra besides herself were not comparable to the ones that populated the world in the days of old. Dangerous to a mundane mortal, certainly, but compared to the magic users from days of old, they were an ember compared to a wildfire.

"If this witch is a magic user from this age, we need to be careful."

Of course this age gave another, more frightening prospect. What if rather than a fae or mutated human dark mage, this witch was one of the demonic hordes that had threatened Terra in the past? True, most of them had been destroyed, but there were definitely ones that still lived.

She used her magic to open the gateway and entered into the memories of the ancient mothra, thankfully a far more serene and peaceful process than last she'd done this.

This Mothra was far more angular and dangerous looking, as her ancestors often were. Lea wondered at times if her aquatic form was a throwback to those days. The ancient mothra flew over the land, looking down at the mortals below. A holiday was in progress, one that indeed seemed oddly familiar. It was obviously not Halloween, but similar trappings: decorations intended for scaring away evil spirits and keeping them at bay, treats being given out, costumes and masks adoring most of the ancient civilization's citizens. Lea had to turn her head at a mask of a certain god whose visage now filled her more with dread than with the praise of that deity the mask was invoking.

At its most basic level, it and Halloween were cut from the same cloth, which was hardly surprising. Even in modern times, Halloween had its origins in All Saints' Day, the Roman holidays of Feralia and Pomona, and the Celtic holiday of Samhain. However coincidental the similarity may be in this case, it had precedent.

However, suddenly the ancient mothra turned her attention to a distant song. One Lea knew well: the song of her heralds. She was being summoned.

Upon arrival, the ancient guardian discovered her heralds being chased by a titanic creature whose features remained difficult to make out in the shadows of the night. A humanoid with a single blue eye and strange horns, about 100 meters tall. Nearby was a structure on the ground resembling a lantern, one this civilization liked to put up for this holiday… with children streaming towards it, their faces frozen with shrunken pupils as they marched in a trance into the structure. A strange, otherworldly music emitted from it, almost like a beacon. Despite its odd appearance, there was a wrongness about it, a dark, vile magic to it.

Several ancient warriors and mages of this civilization rushed, firing spears, arrows, and magical spells at the titan, faces full of rage and horror at the realization their children were in danger. The massive witch merely gave a haunting, sadistic cackle. A runic spell circle formed around its singular eye and let loose a torrent of flames, burning the brave warriors to ash as it watched with sadistic pleasure. Seeing one warrior had escaped the inferno, it reached down with its left, human-like hand to grab him with intent to slowly crush him to death.

The ancient Mothra didn't wait a second, and instantly unleashed her antenna beams in the behemoth's chest, staggering it back in surprise and saving the warrior as the battle truly began. It was here, however, that Lea noticed something concerning. The creature was winning, outmaneuvering the moth goddess and ultimately teleporting and sending her crashing to the ground with a thunderous slam, sending dust into the air. This was troubling.

"I know this far back my ancestors were far weaker and I, but even then being able to overwhelm one… this witch is indeed dangerous."

The shape slammed its pointed feet into the chest of the ancient insect and pulled back its right hand, a wicked pointed spike, with intent to run Lea's ancestor through with a malevolent, sadistic cackle. Thankfully, several energy blasts struck the beast's chest and knocked it off. Looking up, Lea and her ancestor saw her counterpart battra enter the fray along side another set.

The divine moths bombarded the beast, the second Mothra taking the opportunity to land and heal her fallen relative. She was primarily white and mint green, with pink and yellow accents. Her wings mainly green with yellow eyespots. Giving several screeches signifying all would be well.

The giant fought back, faring disturbingly well despite what it faced, but ultimately unable to battle four divine moths at the same time. Suddenly, it was as if there were five of the invading titan, all attacking at once… until one of them fell back and vanished. While one strike each from the divine moths was more than enough to vanquish the clones, the strange lantern retreated into the earth as if through the surface of the water. A witch's sadistic, mocking cackle was let out as the vessel vanished and realization slowly set in that there were children who had already made it aboard despite the heralds of all four doing their best and saving some. Children who would never be seen again.

Lea could only frown sadly.

"They defeated that creature, but she got away with so many children, and the soldiers who went to her domain trying to save them…"

And the worst part was, she didn't have to guess what became of them. She remembered from Zecora's story what awaited them… they were victims of that witch's hunger…

Still… while this explained part of it, that strange familiarity seemed to come from yet another place. Lea then came to a conclusion that sent a chill down her back.

The mothra shuddered, "This isn't the last time she'd been to Terra...she's been here another time…"

Which, she mentally noted, meant more children had been taken than only these. Leaving this memory, she headed off to find the day the witch returned.


======


Giranbo stood in Everfree before what looked like an ordinary shack one might set up for the holiday. She looked through her cart and counting the candy she'd gave out, each and every piece.

"Hehehe...yes, so many little dreamers with my candy in their stomach…" the witch said, before her eyes glowed blue and her smirk became predatory.

"Dinner is prepared…" 

Giving a witch's cackle as a rune of blood red magic appeared around Giranbo's horn, then formed around the base of the shack. A haunting, otherworldly rendition of Pop Goes the Weasel began to play, causing the rune to glow brightly and activate. The shack dissolved into nothing and the ground beneath it began to ripple and distort like it was water.

The witch continued to cackle as the ground flowed upwards from the ground like water, forming into the shape of a giant jack-o-lantern, its face a horrifying demonic visage with ethereal flames for its eyes and mouth, giving the appearance of a gateway to Hell itself, then became ethereal blue lights like the ones of her eyes… before in a ripple of magic it became as unassuming as any other jack-o-lantern if it weren't for its size, eyes crimson and mouth a steady yellow but still rippling and not clearly formed.

Turning back to town, Giranbo narrowed her glowing blue eyes hungrily, grin extending until her lips could no longer conceal her teeth, revealing them to have more in common with an angler fish's than an equine's.

"It's time for the harvest of futures’ dreams to begin…"


======


Twilight Sparkle walked along the path while glancing about, a pair of candy apples floating in her telekinesis, "Lea? I got the apples…"

Destroyah hadn't been the only one to notice Lea's unnerved state, her dutiful friend had spent more than enough time around Lea to notice when the Guardian of Mortals got twitchy. In the past it had been over Moll and Lora getting ‘lost’ when they actually had just been exploring, finding out monsters or magic accidents tended to plague Ponyville for half hour stretches every other week, or being stuck between both Xenilla and Godzilla for any length of time. Thankfully, more due to visuals than actual risk of a slugfest these days.

Which meant it was of concern to her what could be driving Lea right now. The town was stable and having a great time. By all accounts her kaiju allies, new and old, were also having some good rest during this holiday. Rodan at Appleloosa with Rainbow Dash and Applejack, Anguirus spending time with Gentle Leaf’s family alongside Ki Seong on the West Coast, Xenilla in the Crystal Empire with her B.B.B.F.F. and Cadance, and Princess Celestia had already wrote to her about how secretly giddy Princess Luna was about having the holiday with King Godzilla at Canterlot. No giant monster attacks. No bad set-backs in their studies. There was seemingly nothing to worry about and yet she could clearly tell Lea was.

Just before she could spitball a very out of left field hypothesis about how she was somehow getting put on edge by all the monster costumes, she took a sudden pause.

There was a noise, and that in itself was not the surprising part. There was plenty of racket going on across town with the festivities. What got her was the direction of it. Turning her head to and fro, stopping to walk in a brief circle while twitching her ears, nothing she did changed the volume or direction of the music. It was like the tune had no horizontal direction whatsoever.

It was always very faint and coming from directly above. But when Twilight pitched her head up, perhaps speculating somepony flying was carrying a music box, there was nothing. It only tilted backwards when she pointed her face to the sky. And despite the relative quiet of the soundtrack, the tingling in her mind was beginning to fester like water starting to boil; engendering a tapping headache.

It wasn’t enough to stop her focus, annoying as it was, but it did spur the alicorn to quietly mutter the melody in time with it’s notes.

“Da dun da dun da dun dun dun dun, da dun da dun da duuuuun dun… dad dun,” Twilight unknowingly paced forward while whispering it to herself as her brow furrowed in both recognition and confusion, “da dun da dun da dun dun dun dun…. Pop goes the weasel?- Ooh! I’m so sorry-”

Twilight Sparkle stammered, having accidentally walked into someone and soon realizing from the size difference she’d stepped into a filly. In fact from earlier experience it took her but a moment to realize the little girl under the gillstallion faux fins and scales was the prospective candy maker, Twist.

She briefly noted how the often talkative filly said absolutely nothing in response, but before she could chance a hope that it merely meant Twist hadn’t noticed her intrusion, shock stilled the alicorn’s blood.

The filly was clearly Twist. Buck teeth, glasses, sea-beast costume, but something was very wrong. The filly’s typically poofy mane was laying slack and still against her head, almost as if deflated or wet, while being several shades darker and grayer than before. In contrast to the mane’s darkened hues, her coat was a pasty white, almost as if she’d been covered in a massive amount of white powder or grease paint. Paled, undefined, corpse-like was a term she hated having to think to describe it. Her cutie mark, visible through the bare spot on her back legs, was missing entirely. And her eyes...

More like blacked out orbs.

Twilight’s entire mind went blank, stupefied and horrified all at once. As Pop Goes the Weasel continued on loop through her head.


======


"Yah aren't gonna finish yers, Scootaloo?" asked Applebloom, looking to her friend.

Their bags now full to the brim with candy. Des said she'd had to talk to Lea about something important and not to wander far, and to their credit they hadn't. Only to get some candy from a few houses around the square. Of course this being Ponyville, it was far from easy to get lost, so anywhere they went she'd be able to find them easily enough. And besides, if this was their hometown then what was the harm in traveling a little more than a few house lengths?

"Destroyah liked the other one, so I thought I'd save the rest for her," Scootaloo replied with a smile, her costume having so far been quite the hit tonight. Brimming with a bit of rare pride, she puffed some of her fake, harmless micro-oxygen before moving to stow the lollipop away.

"Didn't you lick it already?" asked Sweetie Belle, sticking her tongue out in disgust.

Scootaloo shrugged, "Eh, she tried to eat a Timber Wolf when we first met her, I don't think she'll mind a little pre-licked candy."

Sweetie Belle had to think on it a second before nodding, "...True."

"Hello again, little one!" 

The little vampire turned and looked to see the friendly witch from before standing and waving.

"Oh! Hello! It's the nice witch who gave me those lollipops!" Sweetie called, prompting the trio to run over.

"Yes, and I do hope you enjoyed them. I worked quite hard on them you know…" the witch replied, giving a kindly smile.

The trio nodded with a mutual cry of "Yeah!"

"Good, good. Because I have another surprise" Giranbo continued, sounding the picture of compassion and warmth.

"Huh? What is it?" Scootaloo asked, the trio leaning in close.

The mare looked around, as if preparing to share an important secret. She knelt down with a friendly grin.

"I plan to set up a wonderful haunted house outside of Ponyville for all the good little fillies' like you to enjoy. There will be ghosts, and ghouls, and lots and lots of candy and treats!"

"Really?!" the trio asked in unison… before Giranbo shushed them, prompting a repeat at lower volume.

The witch gave a nod, "Yes, really, but it's a big surprise."

"How'd yah set it up so quick without anyone knowin'?" asked Applebloom, raising an eyebrow. After all, her family lived at the edge of town and hadn't seen anything.

"Trixie had that big cart with an entire stage in it and Rarity has her gigantic pop out tent for the like three times in history she goes camping," Sweetie Belle replied.

"Yes, that's exactly right, my little pony. It's like how a carnival can not be there one day, then the next it's there. Only it's one night only, and I want you three to be my first guests!" the witch said, framing the honor so that to a young foal's mind it sounded like being knighted by Celestia herself.

"That's so cool…! But we have to get Ms. Destroyah and Twilight first," Scootaloo said, sounding a bit disappointed.

"Of course… but I do have one more secret I want to tell you three first…" the mare replied, not missing a beat, only motioning for them to come closer and kneeling down to head level.

The three moved closer, pointing their little ears to listen whatever secret this mare had in store...instead they were greeted by a haunting hum of the familiar tune of Pop Goes the Weasel.

Suddenly, their minds were overcome by white noise. All thought going blank, eyes going wide and pupils dilating down to pinpricks.

Giranbo grinned, rising up and slowly leading them towards the edge of town, away from the protection of the adults. As she trotted along, she gathered more foals whom had been set in trances. Carefully leading them like little lambs and avoiding the eyes of the adults.

It wasn't until they reached the edge of town she noticed something amiss.

Little Scootaloo's eyes blinked, as if she was starting to wake from a dream. "Ugh…"

Giranbo hid a snarl expertly, "Little one, you didn't eat all your candy, did you?"

"No… I was saving it for a friend… ugh, where are we going?" the little Destroyah aggregate asked.

Giranbo kept her wits about her, but cursed her luck. This was too slow as it was, if she waited much longer then the bothersome moth might find out she was truly here…

It was time for a new costume to speed things up.

Moving off to the side, out of sight, her body began to change. Bones cracked and muscle seemed to rend and reform as her limbs contorted, lengthening but the skin covering them seeming to unnaturally stretch until it started to fray like overtaxed fabric. Her body lengthened as the horn on her head grew longer, a blue tip piercing the existing material as orange blood trickled from the wound. Torso cracked as it lengthened and swelled up from compounding mass beneath coming forth in a disorderly manner, looking like her skeleton had doubled in size while her skin had remained the same. Her costume no longer fit, revealing her Cutie Mark to be a demonic maw of jagged, disorderly teeth. Two bulges began to pop up on her back with a series of sickening cracks, crackling like crumbling metal or scraping plastic. More and more skin started to slough off, popping off and flipping up to slither into the crevices formed across the body, a nest of serpents consumed by the body to reveal blue fur beneath. Finally, the bones of her face cracked and contorted until they became a more shapely, lengthy look that made it look like her skin was an ill-fitting mask beneath the mask she already wore.  

Her now exposed midsection suddenly tore open, orange blood briefly dripping before being supernaturally recalled back into itself. More and more the skin began to peel back like a grotesque opening flower, ripping itself along her legs and belly to reveal blue fur underneath. The old skin and flesh quickly receded onto her back, not one scrap or drop of blood missing from the writhing mass until it slithered into a rip along her back that sealed up behind it. The mask broke away, sliding across the body like drops of rain down a window. The face of the old crone expanded like her maw had become agape, vomiting up another snout that slid out from parted lips. As the face curled back in the manner of a pulled back sleeve, the old mare’s eyes plucking themselves free to slink away and move aside. The optic nerves swished back and forth, collecting up stray bits of fur or ichors before they retreated into the hollow within the dorsum. Crystalline, pristine blue eyes had replaced the vacated orbs, mane and tail like the blue starry sky rippling.

Horrific though it was, the change had only took a few seconds longer than a Changeling's transformation.

The voice was so serene, so calm, "Hello, Scootaloo..."

Still groggy and eyes dropping, the young pony looked up, finding the Lunar Diarch staring down at her jovially.

Scootaloo tilted her head, "Princess Luna?"

"Yes, it is I… and I'm here to give you something…" said the kindly night Princess, giving a reassuring smile.

Scootaloo perked up and practically bounced, "Really?"

Luna leaned down, humming Pop Goes the Weasel as she gently pet the little foal's head.

"I've heard you can't fly…"

Scootaloo's face instantly fell, looking like that'd stabbed her clean through even as she felt more drowsy and light headed. She puffed out a small spatter of micro-oxygen to try and distract her mind with the flashy purple light, but to no end. It was the cold, grimness fighting back against it. All the jeering, some, most by her herself, started to block out the Pop Goes the Weasel melody trying to lull her to calm rest.

Scootaloo glanced back before staring aside at the ground, reflexively buzzing her wings, "Y-Yeah...everypony else my age can…"

"I can fix your wings right away…" the Moon Princess said with a kind, friendly smile, "Fix... you."

"You… you could?" the little Destroyah copy squeaked, eyes still groggy even as they started to get wet, but now with a special spark there.

"Oh yes, one poof of magic and your wings will be full and strong! My special gift to one of my best children of the night!" Luna continued, giving a reassuring pat… then handed her a lollipop in her telekinesis.

"But you have to be a good little child of the night and eat up. We can't do it if you're not full and the spell will take a moment to prepare…" 

Eyes brimming with trust and small trickles of tears, Scootaloo took it and began gobbling it down so quickly she rivalled Destroyah from earlier in the night.

"There!" Scootaloo yelped with a grin.

The Moon Princess nodded, "Good, then we'll do it on three…"

"Alright!"

"One… two…"

Scootaloo waited, still in a bit of a daze.

She wobbled on her hooves, "Um… you're supposed to say three…"

Instead, Luna began to hum once again, the little filly slipping fully into the trance. Asleep, and yet standing. Responsive and yet unawares. Dreaming with her mind and soul offered as the sweetest of fruit, untainted by the souring of age.

The Princess stood back to her full height… and her lips pulled back as she smirked, revealing angler fish-like teeth filling her jaws, eyes glowing blue and having a decidedly predatory iris now.

"Come on, little foals… it's time to go to the land of dreams…"

The fiend looking like the Princess of the Moon spread her wings, humming as she flew and lead the foals into the mouth of her almost solid jack-o-lantern, landing atop it herself with a cackle.

"It's time to ring the dinner bell."

The song suddenly changed its tune.





"Come little children,
I'll take thee away.
Into a land of...
Enchantment." the witch sang, her voice deep, haunting, and beautiful. Even if they were far away, those touched by her candy could hear her song as if they were right next to her muzzle.

======

Alula stood next to her big sister, her best friends not far away. The night had been so great! Sure some of the kids seemed to be acting a bit weird earlier, but she just recalled familial advice about eating candy too fast and wrote it off as they didn’t pace themselves with their sweets. She’d taken plenty of time to finish off the lollipop the nice old mare gave her, relishing the taste and sighing contently. Candy, stories, games, what else was the night missing? Maybe a big musical number of some sort…

[i]"Come little children,
The time's come to play.
Here in my garden of...
Shadows."

Alula's pupils dilated, her mind blanking to static. Her eyes blackened and fur paled, all awareness of what was happening around her blocked out. As if programmed, she began silently stalking towards the source of the song like a little machine.


======


Big Macintosh, dressed with a combination of faux hay, stray hat, and flannel as a scarecrow, quickly trotted through some stalls at the edge of the festival. After glimpsing a certain red-maned filly moving away from where her chaperones had told her to wait, he knew something was amiss the moment he saw Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were missing too.

"Apple Bloom?! Where are yah? Twilight and Des said tah stay put!"

"Is something wrong, dah'ling?"

The big stallion looked back to find a cyan mare in a sunhat wearing a pair of faux antennae and a modified saddlebag that was made to look like a ladybug carapace. Recognizing her as a relative of one of Applejack’s friends, Mac held up as she rapidly trotted up to him. Rainbow Dash's mother, Radiance, or Rainbow Dash Sr., had been walking by with a massive amount of sewing supplies stowed in her bags and across her back.

"I was just getting poor Rarity some more supplies, helping her make costumes," seeing the pursed look on his face however spurred Radiance to tense, “I get the sense something’s wrong.”

"Apple Bloom and her friends are supposed tah be around here, but Ah don't see them anywhere."

"Oh dear, that's not good…" The elder Rainbow Dash had been made to promise by the younger to keep an eye on Scootaloo, and helping Rarity or not wasn't about to break that promise.

”An’ that means they ran off from the chaperons who were ‘possed to be with the tonight, Princess Twilight and Miss ‘Stroyah” Big Mac shook his head, “Ah don’t mean run mah mouth or to raise no alarms just yet. But if trouble’s a’hoof, Bloom and them two friends of hers always find themselves to it.”

“Well then we can’t let this stand now!” Radiance touted as she fastened a zipper on her Ladybug-back-bag, “You check the south side of town as I check the southeast, east, northeast, north, and northwest sides. We’ll meet up at the west and southwest parts and if either of us haven’t got them yet, we’ll sew the borders between our searches shut.”

Big Mac nodded along, then promptly realized the disparity in tasks.

“Doesn’t that mean-” He was promptly cut off by the trail of a cyan blue blur with some sparks of other colors rushing off towards the southeast side of town.

Needing a moment or two to mentally recalculate after off-hoofedly wondering which of the two possibilities was true. Evidently either Rainbow Dash’s most notable trait was from her earth pony parent and not the pegasus or he was now wondering just what her father like. Still, time and place and he could think more if he stopped talking and gawking.

Picking his direction, the oldest Apple Sibling set off southward; hoping he got the trio of missing fillies before he did some stunt like set off a dozen packs of fireworks or some magic shenanigans. He was not looking forward to coming awares in a hole with the school teacher again, or anything else just as silly.

Shortly soon enough, he’d much have preferred the silliness.


======


Pipsqueek, this time a knight, rushed a long, his little bag of candy by his side. Sure, some of it would be going to Nightmare Moon, not that he at all minded sharing it with his favorite princess, but he licked his little lips at the thought of the rest. The lollipop from earlier had been amazing from start to the recent finish!

"Follow sweet children,
I'll show thee the way.
Through all the pain and the...
Sorrows."

The little colt stopped his mad dash for more candy in his tracks, and instantly turned and marched towards the edge of town, beaconed by the sweet song.


======


"Weep not poor children,
For life is this way.
Murdering beauty and...
Passions."

Destroyah gave a groan, feeling suddenly slightly dizzy and ill. Not enough to distract her...but enough to tell her something was wrong. She looked back to Lea, still in her trance.

"You'd better hurry…!!"

She lunged forward, feeling a twisting knot in her stomach. The massive mare staggered, eyes bulging and her wings shooting up. The agony, the twisting coldness in her gut was getting stronger every moment. Like something was trying to rip itself out from her form, walk out of her very mass. All while the singing, the constant singing kept going, and going…

"Hush now dear children,
It must be this way.
To weary of life and...
Deceptions."

Most anyone, of absolutely no fault of their own or shame upon their mettle, would have doubled over in pain. Fortunately or unfortunately, fate had forged her temper. Iron burned into steel by fire. And she’d had to endure the fires of the Old King at his peak-

"Rest now my children,
For soon we'll away.
Into the calm and...
The quiet."

She grunted, nearly staggering but holding herself up by locking down all of her limbs and forcing herself to stay aware as it grew worse with time. She had to stay on guard. Mothra was likely the best hope of finding out what was going on and this new sensation was all but a confirmation it was getting far, far worse than initial fears.

"Come little children,
I'll take thee away.
Into a land of...
Enchantment."

A mass within protested, trying to wrench itself free to follow some command. It was an insult, some fool thinking they commanded her body? There would be Daiei to pay when this was over…

"Come little children,
The time's come to play.
Here in my garden of...
Shadows."

Destroyah grunted and shot a glance at the still entranced Mothra Lea, hoping against time itself this wouldn’t take longer. She’d had worse, but this was rapidly becoming a close second!

Fanged jaws gritted, “Quick-.... Ly!”


=====


Giranbo grinned, sharp teeth showing through in her facade of Luna's face as she watched the fillies approach.

"That's it, little ponies! Come along! The land of dreams awaits you!" she said with a wicked cackle and predatory gleam in her eyes.

"Come little ponies, I'll take thee away,
Into a land of dreams come true,
Come little ponies, today is the day,
To play all day in my shadows."


======


Everything happened at once. One changeling disguised as an alicorn snapped out of her trance, hypothesizing the worst as too many coincidences were piling up to take even remotely lightly. One actual alicorn jogging up to her kaiju friend the moment she spotted her, holding an unresponsive filly in her telekinesis. And one giant of a pegasus that looked like an alicorn finally stumbling and shaking all over.

“WE’VE GOT A PROBLEM!” Lea and Twilight both yelped to each other after lunging forward and touching noses, eyes bulging.

“Twilight I think there’s a child-napping witch demon my ancestor fought who can come to Equestria!” Lea sputtered, still trembling from her vision quest.

"Follow sweet ponies, I'll show thee the way,
Dreams unspoiled by sorrow.
Don't look back ponies,
It's better this way.
No adults to crush your passions."

Destroyah started coughing mutely as she faced away from the other two.

Twilight’s eyes nearly popped out of her skull, “Please tell me it’s not the one from the story?!”

“YES! GIRANBO!” Lea nearly shouted as she grabbed onto her friend, Moll and Lora trying to hang onto her wings in a futile attempt to hold her still lest she break her disguise.

Destroyah’s coughing grew louder and her head started rocking back and forth.

“That’s just about the last thing I’d wanna hear because, look!” The alicorn, the actual one, sobbed as she held up the altered Twist, who was ignoring all of them and floating limply in the telekinetic grip while staring off into the void.

"Hush now dear ponies,
Just come on this way.
Something so sweet awaits consumption.
Rest now my children, for soon we'll away,
Playing in dreams as all's silent."

Destroyah could hear and understand them but not react, instead beating herself across the chest with one hoof as she started heaving. The song, the song was still going!

Lea nearly screamed, both in abject horror at what had become of the innocent filly and at the full realization of how similar Twist looked to the zebra colt in the story as well as memories of so many Terran children in a long gone era.

The Mothra hyperventilated, “Sh-She’s here! Right now! She’s here in Equestria!”

“And we got a situation in town!” Twilight Sparkle barked, wincing from her throbbing headache emanating from her horn, “I got this sudden migraine and found Twist like this a-and I can’t find many of the kids in the festival!”

“We have to-” Lea was cut off by Destroyah crying out and heaving extremely loudly, bashing herself into the wall as it to force out the agony in her gut.

Her toothy maw seemed to almost unhinge as purple light they both recognized all too well overwhelmed the orange of her eyes. Micro-oxygen burst.

“GET-” Moll and Lora screamed, “-CLEAR!” 

"Come little ponies, I'll take thee away
Into a land of dreams come true.
Come little ponies, no reason to stay,
To miss it would be so tragic."

Lea lunged out and tackled Twilight, who held onto Twist with both her hooves and her magic when they bowled over backwards whilst the Shobijin scattered. Destroyah reared up and came down, vomiting up a large amount of ichors that instantly burst into mist on contact with the air as well as a torrent of puked-up micro-oxygen. It bored a small hole into the ground but as it all came flying out, the kaiju-pegasus could feel the singing finally, finally distort and then cease as if it were flung into a distance it was inaudible. Or, less put off into the distance and more violently expelled given it ceased the moment the offending mass was converted into micro-oxygen with the division ability and spewed out.

When the mist cleared and the two mages got their wits about them, they and the pixies looked up at a baffling sight. Destroyah was standing over a depression in the ground, still heaving and panting for breath while looking noticeably smaller than before; roughly on par with Princess Luna or Cadance in scale with her costume sitting slack on her skinnier body. And standing in the quart meter deep depression that had eaten through dirt, sod, and cobblestone was a miniaturized version of the giantess; only missing her horn. Based off the size, she would be older than an infant, but younger than most school fillies.

And unlike her progenitor who’d, in an effort to expel an offending mass, coughed up the split off equivalent mass to her stomach to birth her, this mini-destroyah was bleach white in color with very faded patterning, with flattened black hair and empty, pitch black eyes with no cutiemark. In a manner, extremely similar to Twist. However, Twilight noted her eyes weren't nearly as empty, there was still something there whereas with Twist there was...nothing.

Similarities or uniqueness, there clearly was some intent as the filly started to stagger and limp out of the depression while everyone else watch on gawking. Climbing out of the hole, the mini-destroyah began to walk off towards the edge of town when Twilight seized her in her magic. Much to her consternation, now both the new filly and Twist were looking outwards in the same direction with the latter fidgeting as if to try and walk on air towards that locale.

“W-What just…” Twilight looked to the less-massive-now mare who’d just coughed up a filly, baffled even with having experienced the baby swarm from months back.

Destroyah panted, holding her head to stop the vertigo, “I-I can’t… H-Hear singing. Anymore. Maaht-”

She spat to clear her mouth of any bile, “So-Something was wrong, in my gut. Like I ate something. Had to... Get it out.”

Moll and Lora looked at the micro-version of the kaiju and the afflicted Twist. On the corners of the latter’s lip, they could just barely make out a small, sweet smelling smear.

“Destroyah did you-””-Eat any candy or food?”

Destroyah shook her head briefly, having recalled she and the crusaders intended to find the food stands later. However it was only momentary as one vague memory pushed through the cloud engendered by the dizziness from her vomiting episode.

“W-Wait… Wait, wait, Sweetie Belle let me bite into a lollipop she had,” Destroyah grunted, “I remember because I had to eat it without absorbing it.”

“This child has-” Moll started, Lora finished as they motioned to Twist, “-Eaten such a treat too!”

“Then why did I just vomit out that?!” Destroyah grunted as she motioned to the filly in her image.

“Your larger size and different biology-””-must have weakened it, your body sensed something was wrong-””-and expelled it!”

“Tainted candy, mind-altered children. It’s just like my mother’s memories. The one who fought the witch in the story, it-it was her! Then it’s not just that Equestria has a parallel story,” Lea whispered with an increasingly horrified expression that spread to Twilight as the two locked eyes.

“It’s the story! The witch... She’s in Ponyville… right now…” Twilight’s pulse quickened as she stood up with tightened nerve, “How?! How could it be the same one?! Was she just somehow on Sogell?! Did one of the other Dimension Tide firings hit her?!”

"It might be-""-far worse than that!"

The group looked towards the tiny fairies as they seemed to realize something.

"Moll, Lora, what is it?" Lea asked, having a feeling she might not like where this is going.

"When she appeared in Japan and your mother fought her-""the G-Force agents said they had detected a distortion like a black hole.””When she departed they detected the same thing."

All three creatures listening to the tiny duo's blood ran cold at what that meant. A horrific, terrifying truth that none of them hoped was true.

"Then that means…" Twilight said, paling with horror.

"Giranbo wasn't sent here, she can travel between universes at will!" Lea finished, then her horror grew far more intense. "...Meaning it's not just Equestria and Terra, she could've been feeding on countless worlds all this time. She could...she could've gotten millions of children!"

A town's population each year since the Post-Toba Era, after Reijuu lit the world on fire as Bagan. When the world had no acting Guardian of Mortals after her grandmother had to stop her Battra. The thought of that many children… all gone.

Twilight made a mental note to ask Sunset to do a search on mass child disappearances on her world in the Fall. She now had every belief that it would come up with a disturbing answer...and thinking about dimensional travel brought a new, even more horrifying thought to her mind.

"...Wait, I had a headache earlier and I have one right now. It was exactly like this when you all first arrived. Alicorns seem more tied to the dimensional barriers and if I had one earlier, it could have been when she arrived. And if I got one now that means she must have re-opened the portal! She's gathering up the children to leave right now!" the Alicorn practically screamed.

"If Giranbo escapes-""then we'll never find her," the duo looked at one another in horror, having seen that nightmare before and never wanting to see it again.

"Then we'd never find her or the kids and they'll all…" Twilight started, her voice cracking as she looked back in horror at Twist. She then gave a scream as Destroyah picked her up.

"Then find a way to find her! Now!" the still massive mare shouted.

Twilight and Lea were stunned to see fear in her eyes, something so rare that it was almost impossible to imagine...then it hit Twilight that the CMC must have eaten the candy too to give it to Des…

Destroyah cursed the fact Xenilla wasn't here. If this witch's portal was like a black hole, then he could've tracked it without even trying. They could try and get more help but time was rapidly risking running out.

"But I don't know how! It's like her Pop Goes the Weasel song probably used to call the kids is coming from everywhere! We'd have to have something to follow!" Twilight replied with strain clearly skyrocketing, still hearing the tune in the back of her mind and at least being comforted by the fact that meant the portal wasn’t gone yet. They hadn’t lost the kids… yet.

“I can smell the fake micro-oxygen given off by Scootaloo’s costume but she’s wandered around town so much before I can’t get a bearing on where she had left it from! Arg! I need something to point us in the right direction first!” the gigantic mare growled, showing a bit of the anger she was once known for, but now directed all in one direction.

Slowly, as if on a cue; focus was taken by the small swishing of hooves in the air...before everypony locked eyes on the mini-destroyah still vainly trying to follow something somewhere.

Destroyah instantly dropped Twilight, grabbed the miniature version of herself and flew off using the filly like a dowsing rod and following the direction her head was pointing. Twilight cringed as the giant smashed through several walls like they weren't even there. The Princess of Friendship sincerely could not blame her.

"Let's go! I can call for the others on the way and drop Twist off somewhere safe!" Twilight shouted.

Without question they both followed through the Destroyah shaped hole in several walls.


======


"Apple Bloom!" Big Mac called, now one of many concerned adults yelling and calling for the young.

"Scootaloo! Dah'ling, please come out!" Radiance called, looking over with surprising speed…

The two cringed at a crash, turning to see the unusual party of the massive Destroyah holding a miniature version of herself stampeding by with Lea and Twilight hot behind her, all looking worried.

The two looked for a moment, then turned to each other.

 "I know enough from my little Dashie that if there’s trouble, Princess Sparkle is following it. You with me?" the elder mare asked.

"Eeyup," was the reply before both joined into the stampede.

As they ran, Destroyah nearly plowed into a trick-or-treating Pinkie, who was dressed like a certain cartoon skunk, but she leapt over the mare, took one look at the situation and ran backwards right next to Twilight.

"Hey, Twilight! What's up?!" Pinkie Pie asked.

"Evil witch! Foalnapping! Help!" yelled Twilight.

Pinkie Pie gave a salute and joined in the march by hopping along like the character she was currently dressed as.


======


"Zecora's monster witch is real and she's got mah sister and her friends?!" Big Macintosh asked, galloping after his friends as they struggled to keep up with the massive form of Destroyah, who was doing a very good job of emulating the implacable nature of the character she was dressed as at the moment.

"Yes! Her name's Giranbo! She comes out on some world every holiday like Nightmare Night and mass abducts children to eat!" Twilight shouted back, everyone sharing the same look of panic. She'd left Twist with the Cakes for safety...she was sincerely unsure if being unable to find the filly's parents was a good thing or a bad thing. Sadly they hadn't had time to go get Rarity in time.

"If she touches one hair on their heads, I'm ripping hers' off!" 

For a moment, Big Mac, the elder Rainbow Dash, and Destroyah all shared a surprised look at the collective mental cohesion. Even if Destroyah had been the one to say it, they were all thinking it like some kind of jinx… then nodded, having a common understanding. The Crusaders had to be saved, they all knew this, and no matter what thoughts any of them had to the other, that's what they'd make sure happened.

As they continued their frantic pace to catch up to where Giranbo was, Twilight’s mind was jogged with another thought.

"Lea… if Giranbo has a way to travel between universes, we might be able to get all the kaiju home," Twilight said, looking over to her. They'd been researching that all this time, and here might be a way.

"That would be wonderful if we could figure it out, Twilight. But getting home is secondary to saving the children," Lea resolutely replied, "If we have to remain here for eternity to save them, then that's simply what must be done."

Twilight could only nod in agreement, but hoped against hope they might be able to learn a way from Giranbo.

Destroyah's nostrils twitched as she smelled a familiar scent that her entire biology revolved around.

"I smell Scootaloo's micro-oxygen getting stronger! We're close!" the massive mare replied, slamming through a row of trash cans like they weren't there.

"Then you might want to merge back together, dah'ing! We're going to have to teach this witch a lesson if we want the children back!" Radiance yelled, outpacing most of them. It was unlikely anypony in Ponyville didn't know about the 'Dizzy Swarm' incident at this point.

"But what about whatever that witch poisoned me with?! I don't want to vomit another me!"

“Yes and if she is controlled by Giranbo, I don’t want to risk her getting a kaiju under her thrall,” Twilight belted as she shot the possessed infant destroyah a wary glance.

"...Let me try something. Do you trust me?" Lea said as she looked over to her.

The Serizawan Legacy just looked at her for a moment. The kaiju who she'd mutually tried to kill so many times. The countless energy blasts and wounds the two had exchanged… and also a few minutes ago when the mothra had trusted her with her own safety while completely vulnerable.

Destroyah simply gave a gruff nod.

The mothra flew over and quickly cast a purifying spell on the small filly Des. The white color faded, some substance lifting off and disintegrating like burning embers churned into the wind.

At which point the now conscious juvenile looked at her surroundings like it was the finest of dining and instantly tried to reenact the incident from several months ago.

"Oh no, we're not going through that again," the massive mare stated emphatically, then gripped the infant, who was engulfed by a purple glow, turning to mist and assimilating back into the whole. Destroyah stretched her limbs, growing back to her full size after reconstituting herself. She slowly looked over to Lea. Gratitude came rarely to her, and it came even more rarely to someone who'd been a long time enemy.

"...Thank you," was her simple, blunt reply, all that was needed as her power was felt returning to peak.

"...You're welcome," the Guardian of Mortals said in reply, giving a small smile that caused Destroyah to pause… and return it slightly.

With that, the group stormed forwards, following Scootaloo's micro-oxygen spray like a bloodhound until finally they saw…

"Is that a giant jack-o-lantern?" Radiance asked. The massive structure was huge, probably large enough to cover Godzilla Junior's chest in his true form, but still a jack-o-lantern. A completely solid jack-o-lantern children were filing into.

"Eeyup…" Big Mac said with wide eyes.

"It's a disguise to help lure in children," the Shobijin explained, “It it the gateway to her realm she uses to travel between worlds.”

"The kids!" Twilight shouted, pointing towards the army of children still marching towards the dimensional portal. With a strain of effort she swung out her magic, the group vanished in a blast of purple light and reappeared in front of the crowd of children, about twenty meters from the barrier.

Twilight quickly put up barrier directly in front of the mouth they were trying to file into...at which point the notes switched up and to her horror the kids began rapidly rushing past them to begin slamming themselves violently into the barrier.

Big Mac wasn't a master at rodeo like his little sis, but he was a very large, very strong stallion and thus able to become a somewhat effective living wall to stop the children from slamming into barrier and instead into his softer flesh, but there were just so many that the others quickly had to jump in and help keep the children from badly injuring themselves on the barrier.

"The little ones are stronger than they look!" Rainbow Dash Senior shouted out, before being picked up and hefted off the ground. A pink-furred, dark pink-maned filly dressed up like a circus strong-stallion, Lily Longsocks put her special talent of super strength to Giranbo’s use when she hurled the fully grown mare clear across the field. To her credit Radiance was back in it in a flash, but now she was having to try and keep the possessed Lily from shoving Big Mac aside.

Destroyah looked frantically through the crowd, trying desperately to find her young friends in the sea of children.

"Lea! Purify them like you did the Destroyah clone so we can stop Giranbo for good!" Twilight yelled, trying to hold as many in her telekinesis on top of her barrier.

Lea nodded, flying up and preparing to create a spell seal… when she was suddenly blasted hard into the ground and sent grinding across it by a powerful arcane beam from behind.

"You always get in my way, don't you, Mothra?" asked a familiar voice but lacking all besides the most basic aspects that made it such.

The group turned and looked on in shock as Princess Luna stepped out atop the pumpkin in full view with a coy smile on her visage.

"Yay! The Princess is here to save the day!" Pinkie Pie cheered while holding back the still brainwashed Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon and several classmates.

'Luna' smirked unnaturally wide, her ferocious, angler-fish like teeth bared as her eyes glowed blue.

"...Eenope…" Big Mac muttered, still trying to keep the children back.

"That's not the Princess…" Radiance muttered, eyes wide in horror.

"Giranbo…" Lea growled, glaring daggers at the witch as she got back to her hooves, "Return Ponyville's children now!"

"The children want to come to a world of dreams, who am I to stop them?" the witch asked, her tone temporarily going back to her grandmotherly persona.

Destroyah merely reacted by flying forwards at top speed and trying to smash the witch's face in, only for her target to teleport away and the blow to whiff thin air.

"Now I'm adding impersonating a princess to your very, very long list of crimes!" Twilight yelled, glaring daggers at the monster using one of her senior Princess' faces, still maintaining the barrier lest any children get past the group.

"Hehe… oh little pony, I think I've showed this face more than she has on this planet in the last thousand years!" Giranbo started as she reappeared in the air above.

"...Let's not let King Godzilla or Princess Celestia know about the witch who ate children using their associate’s face, shall we, dah'lings?" Radiance said sheepishly as she tried to hold back the horde of children who seemed deadset to march forwards implacably and smash themselves into the barrier or die trying.

"Yah can take whatever form you want! Ah'm gettin' mah sister back!" Big Mac yelled.

"Oh really? Then how about a little fire, scarecrow?!" yelled Giranbo, blood red rune igniting around her horn and sending a massive cascade of fire with every intent of burning the elder Apple sibling and the fillies he was holding back alive and cackle with glee doing it.

The huge stallion cringed, closing his eyes and pushing the children as far away as he could if he couldn't escape… Only for a barrier of Lea's to block it in its tracks, though with noticeable effort.

"Be careful, she's extremely dangerous, stronger than when my ancestor and mother fought her," Lea warned with a slight pant in her tone.

Energy crackled as Destroyah's response to this was to charge up and get ready to dissolve the witch with a micro-oxygen burst, only for her to vanish and reappear elsewhere before she could fire.

"Great, she's like that stupid cyborg," Destroyah growled.

Suddenly, multiple copies of Giranbo appeared all over the surroundings, all giving mocking cackles that filled the airspace with raucous laughter.

An enraged Destroyah merely flew at the two closest and grabbed them before smashing the pair of victims into the ground hard enough to make a crater into the earth. Both vanished on impact, dissipating into a distorted image and wisps of smoke.

Lea blew away a third that came at her, then her eyes widened.

"They're diversions!" she yelled.

“You can’t hit me,” Giranbo, through all of her copies speaking in unison, jeered as one burst into existence next to Big Mac and the dark imposter of Princess Luna managed to kick him across the side and punt him a good few meters, “But I can hit you!”

All over, the copies went on the attack. Lea blasted one into the distorted warping of space and foggy wisps with prism beams before looking for another to shoot down. However as she spun around, she saw one foe appearing in one place she couldn’t blast, having turned in time to see a Giranbo clone rise up behind Twilight with a magic beam about to fire. The alicorn was unaware, having focused too much on keeping the ‘door’ barrier shut on the entrance to the Jack-O-Lantern while trying to levitate any children away from bashing themselves into it, Twilight could only look at her friend and slowly trail her line of sight. Ears flattening, Twilight turned her head and realized her attacker’s presence, eyes widening as Lea called out. Twilight was directly between her and the copy witch, the mothra couldn’t get a clean shot!

Only for the attacker to vanish when a pitchfork’s set of prongs slammed through it like a spear to impale the copy. The farming tool flopped onto the ground and Twilight looked up to her compatriot.

Lea looked over to see Zecora, who’d lobbed the make-shift weapon from a perch up the trail, galloping from the town and gave a grateful nod.

"I saw the trouble and hurried here, I only wish I was more near," the Zebra said as she leapt over and grabbed her pitchfork, taking a practiced stance, "I will help bring our children back to stay, I saw others on their way."

Giranbo hissed momentarily but burst into another fit of laughter, more and more copies appearing from all angles on the ground, hovering in the air, and perched in the trees. Soon, over a dozen copies of increasingly distorted and uncanny duplicates of Princess Luna began to crowd the area.

"Now now, put that thing down, you might poke somebody's eye out," the witch mocked like a disapproving grandmother, giving a tsk.

"Lea, summon Fairy!" Moll shouted as she hovered before her patron alongside her sister, neither content to be helpless or harmless "Then we can help too!"

“Right!” The Guardian nodded along and clasped her hooves to focus briefly on the spell.

Her body lit up in multiple shards of shimmering light that looked almost like dozens of tiny butterflies flying in sync. Moll and Lora joined hooves with Lea’s horn upon one of these lights and united all three of their mana together in a link older than recorded history. Flying free of their patron, the twin faeries pulled free a budding body of light that, because it was fueled by another’s magic, overcame the limitation this world put upon Terrans. The light burst out like illuminated dust or sparks of a firework.

Instead of another breezie, like which emerged when Mothra tried to tend to the swarm of baby destroyah, a fully grown miniaturized mothra emerged as the twin’s steed.





Fairy Mothra chirped affirmatively, empowered by her bond with the shobijin and flying off to battle. Keeping one hoof clasped together with each other and another on Fairy’s back, the sprites called out as the swift-flying mini-mothra came barreling into a clone. Dodging a fireball sent their way by rolling in a spiral mid-air, the trio flew right through it in an energized charge.

More and more joined the fray in an extremely chaotic melee. More copies appearing, possessed children going all out in their effort to aid their controller, and more heroes having to frantically dodge energy blasts or keep out-of-the-mind children from hurting themselves. If they could get a bead on the real Giranbo it might have been easier, but surprisingly it was the children who made it all the more complicated.

Adrenaline had been commanded to fly and any natural restraint held up to avoid injury was thrown out the window. The same feat that might help a human woman pick a car up off her child was now allowing the kids to summon up strength of ponies twice their size. And that wasn’t even factoring the magic surges and uncanny flight abilities the unicorn or pegasus fillies and colts got in tandem with the earth ponies’ boosted physical might. And the ever-present worry that their uncontested exertion might break their own growing bodies was present on everypony and everyzebra’s mind.

It took almost all the nerve and strength he had for even an exceptionally strong stallion like Big Mac to hold Lily Longsocks still with one of his forehooves wrapped around her trunk to pin her to his side, and that was before she started kicking him in the side.

All the while the witch laughed as if she were watching children roughhouse and play with one another.

Destroyah and Lea’s backs became flush with one another as the micro-oxygen bursts and prism beams flew out from opposing directions, shooting down several copies or blocking launched fire blasts loosed upon the ponies.

“How much longer can she keep this up?!” Destroyah snarled as she grabbed the other kaiju and forced them to duck least a dive bombing pegasus colt kamikaze into them.

Lea’s horn and eyes flashed in tandem with a rune appearing on her chest, the binding and exorcism spell latching onto the colt, “Giranbo only attacks during a single day of the year, and if she was about to leave with the kids it might be her time was up!”

“And what happens then?” Destroyah barked as she grimaced and braced for an impact by a pair of fillies only for thankfully Pinkie Pie to bounce up between them and snag the kids in a set of streamers, shooting the kaiju a salute.

Lea glanced at the great pumpkin, “A dimensional gateway like that isn’t going to be permanent. If we can keep her and others from leaving, she’ll be stuck here.”

“Stuck with me you mean?!” The former Mutation snarled and Lea couldn’t find herself disagreeing, “Everypony hear that?!”

“Loud and clear!” Pinkie Pie yipped before cringing, seeing the super-strong fillies ripping their way through the streamers and snarling like a bunch of rabid dogs, “Yeeeeeeeeesh!”

“My friend Pinkie, do not lose heed,” Zecora huffed, miraculously keeping the ability to rhyme even as she had to dive over a fallen tree to avoid getting roasted by a demonic-looking Luna raining fire down behind her.

The zebra dressed as a good witch poked her head up from the oak trunk as she hefted a potion and pointed behind her, “For our friends have come indeed!”

“There they are! Wha-the Princess Luna...s?” Mayor Mare, still in her ‘Tinmare’ outfit yelped at the absolutely baffling sight before her.

Pinkie Pie went sailing past her, having gotten bucked by Lily, “Nope! Not Luna!”

Radiance pulled on her costume’s antennae and yanked out a pair of the same clubs she had once lent to Rarity to beat away unsavory attention. Still joined by the cord her ladybug antennae had been made of, she swung the make-shift giant nunchucks about to poof a clone that had been advancing on the approaching townsponies.

“It’s the dastardly witch from Zecora’s story. She’s impersonating our princess and has possessed the children!” The speedy fashion designer yelped as she rushed over to get more kids off the barrier Twilight was being forced to hold up.

Twilight winced, having to dodge aside to avoid a stray magic blast from one of the unicorn fillies while simultaneously cushioning and maintaining the shield blocking the entryway to the ‘Dream World’ so the kids throwing themselves at it didn’t hurt themselves.

Only minor relief came to her when fate sought to prove Lea correct. As a clock in the town nearby struck to signal the passing of another hour, the massive jack-o-lantern forming the gate to Giranbo’s realm briefly flickered and seemed to shrink very gradually.

The youngest alicorn winced and kept up her efforts, thankfully she could hear help storming in, “Don’t let them get into the big pumpkin! It might go away but anyone in it might go with it!”

Lea then considered a very possible outcome of this scenario.

"Please be ready to return me or Destroyah to our true forms and get clear at any moment! When my ancestor and mother got her desperate, she transformed into a gigantic creature!" the mothra warned. Could Giranbo do that in Equus? Even if she couldn't, she had more than enough unicorn foals under her spell to accomplish it the brute force way.

Twilight nodded and grimmaced, "Pinkie Pie! Be ready!"

Her eyes widened briefly at the sight of multiple possessed unicorn children who had, on Giranbo’s command, diverted from the barrier and turned to face her. Their magic lit up with uncontrollable surges one would expect only from a baby or somepony in full fight-or-flight mode, all aimed at her. She winced and prepared to try and erect another barrier but matters were complicated when two clones launched salvos of fireballs at the shield to try and break through. If she diverted her focus, even for a moment to teleport away from the childrens' magic, she might risk dropping the shield and letting the awaiting kids still banging on it through.

Salvation came on yellow wings. A mare in a lion costume, having gotten the nerve to try and spend her first Nightmare Night participating with the intent of hoofing out candy, after all, monster costumes weren't nearly as scary as real monsters she'd been helping face the last few months, wasn’t expecting nor ever wanting it to include fighting inter-dimensional witches or a crowd of possessed kids. But when her friend was involved, the typically cowardly lion had quite the roar. Or rather stare.

Fluttershy locked eyes with the possessed children and, perhaps by some kind of magic within it reaching through the mind alteration to the innocent fillies and colts beneath, managed to make them stagger enough for Cloudchaser, Flitter, and Bulk Biceps to swoop down and grab them to point the firework-like magic bursts away.

“Anypony else a good magic user?” Pinkie Pie yelped as she stuffed the barrel of her party cannon onto Lily to jam it into the ground with her inside the metal tube to seal her in.

Unfortunately, while several unicorns were amongst the small crowd who’d rushed over from Ponyville, the names of Sunset Shimmer, Key Ring, Moondancer, or even Trixie weren’t amongst them. And with Lea having to constantly fly about and try to keep the number of airborne clones down, it left only one option.

“Half of everyone try to restrain the kids,” Lea barked as she dove to avoid a magical fire blast that Fairy soon retaliated by blasting the attacker. Even with cover, she felt the need to briefly pant for breath at the exhaustive effort, “Everyone else protect Twilight!”

And they tried their best, but it was certainly no easy task. The clusters of clones were relentless, divebombing, pouncing from the shadows, or loosing barrages of deadly inferno.

Pinkie’s party cannon barrel started having dents punched into it by an enraged Lily.

Several possessed children rushed at Twilight, forcing Fluttershy to help hoist her off the ground and avoid the charge.

Destroyah had to tank through several flamethrowers, shielding her face with her hoof until reaching the source; leaving a headless Luna copy to fall into mist in two pieces as the energy dissipated from the kaiju’s horn.

Derpy Hooves cried out, holding back tears while trying to keep her berserk daughter from blasting anyone in the face with magic bursts that were putting holes trees and ripping lines across the ground. Cloudkicker was in much the same boat trying to keep Alula from dive bombing Twilight like a bird of prey.

Fairy and the Shobijin were sent spiralling through the air with a smoking wing Lora was rapidly trying to heal. A nightmarish distortion of Princess Luna’s face appeared in front of them and lunged down with snapping jaws. Moll frantically summoned a defense, her tattoos lighting up as a bubble formed around the lot of them.

Lea frantically block multiple magic bursts from the children, lighting up all her wing scales underneath her changeling disguise while prioritizing absorption over reflection; least she accidentally hit somepony with a deflected attack.

Mayor Mare and Big Macintosh bucked a Giranbo clone away from Derpy and Cloudkicker, sending it careening into another clone that had just snapped her jaws shut around a glowing light she’d been trying to bite through. Canceling out the shield, Fairy chirped a thank you.

All the while, the Jack-O-Lantern started to shrink more and more, seeping back into the ground. The portal was closing and they all saw it.

As did Giranbo, the real one, who shot a hateful glare at the meddling ponies. They were almost as bothersome as the G-Force humans and that last Mothra in 1996. Meddlers… Then again, she had fun with the former in the end even if the old soldier called Yuki eluded her.

By now, multiple ponies had corralled around Twilight and succeeded in forming a circle of protection around her, with Destroyah and Lea focusing on downing the airborne clones alongside a few more agile pegasi. The children were being held down and taken away from the barrier-covered doorway, even if it gave more than a few plenty of black eyes and bruises in doing so, and her time frame was diminishing.

This had gone on far enough. She had a schedule to keep and the next world perhaps might be less trouble. And if the ponies intended to keep her here, she’d have a pony get her out.

The salvo of fire caught the crowds’ attention, even as Thunderlane and Fluttershy pushed a stormcloud in front of her; repurposing a spooky decoration as a shield with all the water held inside it. The steam of vaporized water droplets thankfully only overly obscured their vision for a moment. But the moment was all Giranbo needed, for what Twilight saw afterwards was what made her pulse go still.

Giranbo, bits of her true visage appearing through fraying and cuts in her Princess Luna disguise that leaked orange blood, shouted through crooked fangs, “Oh my little pony!”

Her raucous cackling sounded off as she held up Apple Bloom and eyed the barrier, an unresponsive Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle at her hooves. Yes, these three. The three that had been with the mothra's friends. It could've been any of the foals and it'd have worked, but these three? They would make that bothersome bug suffer more than any of the others, and Giranbo gave Lea a look to let her know she knew it.

"Apple Bloom!" screamed Big Mac in horror at his little sister in the witch's clutches.

“Want to see a balloon pop?” She jeered with a grin that cut her face in two between uneven daggers for teeth.

Destroyah and Twilight both looked in horror as Giranbo wound her arm back and swung it to bash the filly into the barrier. The former ignored the pain of being hit with a fire spell and dived down with red in her eyes and ice in her heart. The latter’s jaw dropped in fright as she ran through any possible option to save Apple Bloom.

Teleporting her away, trying to blast Giranbo, teleporting herself to the witch. None of them would work or came with too big of a risk. It never crossed her mind for a moment Giranbo was bluffing, as she'd already shown herself willing to kill or incinerate children if it got her what she wanted. And with only nanoseconds to act, the youngest Alicorn could only do one thing.

Twilight Sparkle cringed as she dropped the barrier and let Giranbo throw Apple Bloom inside to disappear within the realm within the Jack-O-Lantern. In the same moment the witch threw the other two inside as well and jumped through herself, leaving a trail of cackling jeers in her way.

“NO!” So many cried out in horror all at once it was hard to tell who it was exactly.

A dark red blur dove into the portal after the witch, tossing aside clones like a bulldozer, before Twilight was forced to put the barrier back into place lest a possessed Rumble fly in as well despite Vinyl Scratch’s and Octavia’s attempt to catch him.

And all the while, the Jack-O-Lantern, now occupied, began to shrink. And despite the original disappearing into the beyond, the clones just kept coming, duplicating out of each other now in droves.

"Feel familiar, Guardian of Mortals?" the clones jeered, continuing to cackle endlessly.

Twilight’s pale face looked to Lea and the Mothra had to think at a mile a minute. After all, they might not have a door in a minute!

“Cover me!” Lea shouted as she dove down to the ground and looked to Pinkie Pie and Radiance, who were having to duck to avoid an airborne party cannon flying into them after Lily threw it off herself.

“You two! No time for questions! Draw a circle around the pumpkin, quick!”

Radiance snapped her weapons’ cord with a drawn up pair of scissors, hoofing off one half to Pinkie Pie. Arguably the two fasted non-winged ponies in town did as instructed, driving the tips of the clubs into the ground and dragging them behind themselves to carve two trenches into the dirt. As if knowing something was planned, the clones converged on the group. Pinkie Pie bounced up and hovered in the air on her flailing legs as a clone flew at her. Just as she started to move ahead, Lea cried out again.

“The line has to be complete! No breaks!” She screamed desperately, summoning up as much magic as she could, "Their lives depend on it!"

Pinkie Pie jumped backwards to get back to where she’d bounced up, ducking under a lunge by the demonic looking Luna copy’s gnashing fangs. Thankfully a potion vial shattered behind the attacker, engendering a gout of plant growth to encircle and crush the copy between growing vines. Zecora had a good pitching hoof. Shooting her a thankful salute, Pinkie resumed her work to carve the circle. More and more Ponyville citizens had to rush in and cover her and Rainbow Dash’s mother, the copies were unending and sending plenty sprawling.

Making mind to send a small wave of healing magic to a burned Thunderlane to regrow his wing feathers, Flitter thankfully catching him before he could crash into the ground, Moll and Lora soon felt the subconscious summon to their patron as her glowing brilliance increased in brightness.

“All done!” Pinkie Pie cried out, hefting the club to double-hit a clone alongside a reunited but now singed and missing-her-hat Radiance Dash.

“That was a babyshower gift for my newborn cutie, you ruffian!” Radiance roared as she clobbered away, mane still smoking.

Moll and Lora were quick to put their hooves to Lea’s horn the moment Fairy landed on the faux-alicorn’s scalp. The symbol of a cross appeared across the disguised changeling queen’s chest. She reared up and stomped her forehooves into the ground, releasing the built up magic as a shockwave through the air and dirt. The magic flowed into the trench like liquid light, trailing the circumference before crossing the inner edges at the top, bottom, and sides. The trails met under the Jack-O-Lantern, forming a cross with radiating lines identical to the Mothra family symbol.

The signet of the guardian had an immediate effect. The Jack-O-Lantern ceased to shrink, near invisible lines of golden light identical to that which made up the symbol appearing over the dimensions of it like spider-web or moth silk.

“I- g-got it!” Lea grunted as she tried to focus on the spell and not the exhaustive efforts therein casting it, “The realm is- f-fighting me! It wants to escape, I can’t keep this up forever!”

Zecora panted as she pointed to the barrier, sporting a bruise across her neck after wrestling with a clone she poofed by hurling it into an oncoming Cloudchaser, “Storm her castle, for one kaiju may not make for the witch much hassle!”

“One kaiju?” Mayor Mare glanced at Lea and soon realized the other giant mare was missing, “Lady Destroyah is already in! We have to help save the children!”

Several brave souls charged the Jack-O-Lantern and Twilight gauged their acceleration. The plan was for the moment they got to the door, she’d open it to let them through before shutting this side of it behind them. Leave a gap on one side so she could see when they, hopefully, returned while keeping any out-of-their-right-mind children from going through or any poor sod getting hurled in by an attacker.

That was the plan until two echoes of Giranbo dove down in front of the barrier. All at once their forms were torn apart, but not by being defeated. Faces split open, eyes retracted, limbs twisted, and the grotesque parade of flesh signaled a most heinous metamorphosis and duplication. Soon, a dozen nightmarish beasts and monsters stood between the would-be rescuers and the barrier.





Part Two Tomorrow!