//------------------------------//
// Chapter 48, Part 1: Side of the Sirens 
// Story: The Bridge: A Godzilla-MLP Crossover 
// by Tarbtano 
//------------------------------//

"And the scepter Storm King stole and that Tempest was carrying will be returned. While it has its origins here in Equestria, your king is an old friend and has used it wisely for millennia," the blue alicorn seated on the throne decreed with a nod to her audience.

Said audience was a young centaur with eerily familiar crimson skin and pale hair. However any resemblance to a horrific force from a bygone age was thankfully dispelled by their demeanor, size, and gender. Respectfully kneeling with a small crown, more akin to a tiara upon her head was a rather lanky youth flanked by two gargoyle guards clad in plate armor. Her attire otherwise was simple but regal in other ways, a short dress covering her haunches, a dress suit on her torso, and a small necklace with a roughly triangular pendant visible through the mane on her neck.

"Grandfather will be happy to hear that he's getting his walking stick back," the centaur princess, Zerani “Zera” Uriel Haydon snickered, "He is again sorry he couldn't make it for the festivities, but you can understand he's getting up there in years."

"Indeed Princess, your grandfather is one of the few beings left who is older than I am. Tempest will be arriving back in the Blasted Lands with you to return the scepter. Perhaps being reacquainted will put a little more spring in his step. Yes?"

The younger princess beamed before moving about slightly and looking at a stained glass window. Even with her perky attitude, there was no mistaking the sight of the bovine-like ears behind her short horns flopping down a little bit at the sight of the youngest alicorn's mural.

"And... um... if it's not a bother to any policy, my request?" Princess Zera whispered a little bit sheepishly.

Princess Luna smiled and nodded her head at the heiress, "We will ensure you an invitation to the gala personally. Of which Princess Sparkle will also be in attendance"

Princess Luna tried to remain unreactive to the slight bounce in the centauress' step or widened smile. She knew hero-worship when she saw it, and was fairly sure when young Twilight returned she would be all too happy about hearing her name had been added to the "Best Princess" tally the youth were calling it these days. With a nod to the foreigner’s bow, she took a moment to steel herself upon their exit.

Before probably letting out an exasperated gasp and tiredly sitting back on the comfortable chair for a few moments before collecting herself again and getting back to work.

An hour later, Princess Luna wiped her eyes as soon as nobody was looking, trying not to lose any poise in public despite how tired she was getting. Her sister gallivanting off on the latest mission, understandable as it was, was more than a little bit unplanned. She'd been running up the wall lately dealing with the dream realm given the recent holiday as well as all the buzz going about in the past year regarding their new guests not dying down. And now she was having to hold down the fort during the day shift as well. Awareness spells could allow one to mentally function and keep up appearances for the most part, but they were no replacement for the dire necessity sleep was.

Luna, making sure none could hear her, or else she’d lose some royal poise, let out a long yawn as if she was venting off pressure before hitting herself with another awareness spell. She'd really have to ask how her sister was able to keep up for a thousand years with her hair turning into a rainbow rather than graying.

Thankfully most of the news was just relatively night-by-night, or rather day-by-day affairs. Setup meetings here, approved building plans there, some messages from other foreign leaders did give her some mental uplift on the reminder that the old gargoyle Scorpan was still alive… the following message made her frown however. Though she could suppose she was walking right into opening that letter from Mako island. It's not like her old rival could have known she'd be the one going through the mail addressed to her sister.

"And a request to ask for magical consultation by several mages for the continued endeavor of opening up sea-bound barrier also referred to as the shroud iiiiss heeereby approved…" she muttered to herself while jotting down the inscription, making very certain the big lunar insignia was all too obvious on the caveat, "... In respect to the island’s native culture and demographics, all mages volunteering to be sent are to be married mares."

She resisted the urge to stick her tongue out as she handed off the letter to Raven Inkwell, who probably spirited it away to the magical academy. Luna turned her attention to the other affairs of the day, in particular a fairly familiar face entering the chamber.

"Ah, the Mayor of Ponyville, our apologies if the long list has kept you waiting," Princess Luna calmly stated with a nod as the middle-aged mayor trotted in.

"Not any longer than I’m used to dealing with, was able to take a few micro naps on the way here while aboard the train," the mayor replied in a jovial tone.

Princess Luna blinked only a few times to make sure there wasn't any sleep in her eyes while putting on a smile slightly too wide, "We will have to ask you for your secret at some point. Now we understand you had business with our sister?"

The earth pony nodded, unable to resist the urge to glance about slightly at the throne room which was decidedly lacking in stock of giant white alicorns, "Yes, Princess Celestia and I had been arranging for one of the old harvest festivals coming up in a few days in ponyville. I had meant to meet her yesterday but I was informed she suddenly took a departure to the Crystal Empire."

Luna managed to hide her grimace, "Indeed, affairs involving herself and some old associates sprung up that needed direct tending to. We hope you do understand our sister is not immune to personal matters."

Mayor Mare rapidly shook her head, eyes a bit wider, "Oh no-no-no-no! I fully understand! She works so hard for all of us it's only natural she should also have her own affairs. And with the recent attack on the castle by that Storm King's lot with a personal assault on Princess Cadence, it's only entirely natural she should be checking in on her niece or her family."

Princess Luna managed to not drop her jaw in absence of thought, rapidly thinking the excuse over. Celestia had left in quite the hurry and only left behind several plausible excuses for doing so. That one was fairly close to an option on the list.

"Yes. You will be happy to be made aware, as I was, that neither Princess Cadence nor her unborn child were lastingly harmed by the incident. However petrification, especially by a magically enchanted item rather than an active spell, can yield wildly divergent results. Most sources can do so harmlessly, but follow-up examination is often necessary," Princess Luna spoke with poise, "As the oldest magical expert to ever exist, naturally my sister was keen to do so."

"Yes, fully understandable and I mean to assure I make no complaint about what else I have to say, but her Majest- er, your sister and I made a point to try and be more casual this time. She said it would be so in honor of the farming families that founded the town… which means we hadn't made formal scheduling agreements just yet and given her arrival would be a big deal for the event I would kind of need information… today... on... organizing at all," she said with an increasing grimace has her head lower down, "And some of the old-fashioned organizers are very insistent they get her word on this as they don't want to mess it up."

"And would they not trust the judgement of myself in my sister's place?" Princess Luna quipped with slightly narrowed eyes.

The mayor shrank a bit more initially but relaxed upon Luna realizing she had come off more intimidating than intended and lightened up, "Oh they mean no offense towards you, it's just that Princess Celestia herself often helped organize and manage the event planning and both out of respect for her imports as well as not knowing how she would want to arrange everything this year, you can understand why they would be a little hesitant."

"Hmm, understandable," was what Princess Luna said but not what she thought.

True she had never asked Celestia about all these small rural events with each specific instance, but she understood very well why her sister organized and attended so many. Today was a big reminder. It got her out of Canterlot for at least a day and compared to the monotonous grind of even a constitutional monarchy, helping operate and manage an event like this was practically a vacation. And that was even with ponies fretting over her every last judgement.

As she sat back brainstorming for a time, considering possibilities like taking over the event and giving her sister one of the lunar events as a trade when she got back, or seeing if she could contact Mothra Lea to see if she could do an impersonation for a longer period than a glamour spell would allow; a new and very familiar voice entered the room.

"I can tend to that."

"Princess Celestia!" Mayor Mare piped as her deliverance literally came walking in.

"So sorry to keep you fretting old friend, it was a bit of a burden making the long trip back from the empire. You'll be happy to know Princess Cadence and her unborn have no lasting side effects from the petrification. And thankfully because the misfortune malachite was a singular entity and the manufacturing method is long gone, we won't be seeing any more of that business," Princess Celestia, in all of her towering, white-pink furred, rainbow-maned glory announced with every ounce of poise and regality any pony would expect of her.

Anypony except the alicorn watching her start talking to the mayor.



Link!


The inflection, the annunciation of certain syllables, the way she held herself with her chest puffed out slightly and neck held very straight to make herself look tall even though she was literally heads and shoulders above everypony. It was a peak of feminine beauty and maturity, what one would expect of a queen even though Celestia had turned down the title.

It was what anypony would expect of Princess Celestia. But what Luna expected of her big sister, on the other hoof…


===============
Human Realm
===============


“The other form or nothing,” that was what she had demanded of him some time ago, snapping in her tone more than he’d most ever heard her say.

It was a simple enough request, or perhaps demand, but one wrought with questions. And thirty or so minutes of traded practice blows and dodges later, he had his own statement to make.

"You're thinking about something."

It was a frankly very casual statement to be making while one was blocking an uppercut poised to impact their sternum. It wasn't however incorrect. Kaizer X knew her quite well after spending months in near constant company when one tallied up the time.

He cocked an arm back to shift his momentum while bringing a leg up to swing. His sparring partner nimbly dodged over the leg sweep of a kick, actually managing to land a hit with a knee strike to the gut. His grounded leg and mass helped absorb the impact, allowing him to take the hit and throw her across the ground. Aria Blaze snarled as she sucked in a breath, rolling some distance and yanking herself up to her feet. She came at him again for a flurry of hits that he was careful to temper his above-human strength against. She however, was going at it with everything she had short of any real intent to harm.

The way her breath didn't fully exhale and seemed to hitch at a certain point, a barely noticeable crease around her brow that was marginally larger on the left. He intercepted an attempt to redirect a punch into an elbow strike, catching the arm and feeling it.

-Yep, tremors.-

Aria blaze kicked off the ground and skidded back, keeping her guard up. Her sparring partner narrowed his red eyes, his scarred face fully exposed in this isolated patch of wood as professionalism was not necessary in private. Kaizer X tilted his head in mild contemplation as he perhaps wondered if she would verbally confirm what her body was saying.

"... I can tell, what is it?" He noted after waiting a few moments, observing how his significant other seemed to be less looking at him and more looking in his direction.

It meant either she saw something behind him that was worth noticing, which he trusted Aria to not remain silent about, or she was imagining something in this scenario the sparring had brought out. The latter option seemed pretty evident given they had both worked up quite a sweat, she was certainly giving it her all and he wasn't going easy. The gold colors encircling his eyes and his darkened hair spoke of that. The siren had gotten a lot stronger since their first encounter at the mall, but this was different then a friendly spat they might have.

Something was getting her adrenaline pumping far more than normal. And only a few emotions got someone that worked up...

She flinched and for a moment he thought she was about to say something, only to quickly react when he noticed faint gold patches around her eyes and her hair darkening. Reflexively she seemed to be taking in a breath and he knew what was coming next based on what he had been told had gone down at the hospital while he was en route.

Kaizer X's eyes widened, he shifted back to his black and white state, and Monster X snapped, "Aria it's me!"

The siren, who had been charging up the same scream attack she once used to launch Enjin across a hospital floor, flinched and shook her head as if shaking off some blindfold. The discoloration vanished from her body and she stood in place, partially hunched over and taking shallow breaths. After several long moments, Aria slowly stood up.

Cool air was misting on her breath, but despite the cold temperature she was still sweating bullets across her entire body, so much so that she had soaked her tank top and gi pants in whatever places they weren't scuffed or marred with dirt. The exertion was very obvious.

Their eyes locked before she looked away, continuing to do so until a hand was on her shoulder.

"Was it fear because of using Kaizer like you asked? I know you two didn't have the best introduction."

After a moment she shook her head, leaving her significant other to shrug. In truth he’d suspected it wasn’t that, even if his love’s thoughts about his current state-of-being were a bit complicated at first. It had largely smoothed out, but Aria was usually quite insistent he keep in the state she knew best most of the time. The midway state and full form of Kaizer Ghidorah were restricted to spars when she wanted gravity training… at least until today.

She’d never asked for a full contact spar with his other states, previously even seeming averse to the idea. He was stronger than her physically in the state of being Monster X, going halfway or entirely to Kaizer Ghidorah was overkill in a purely strength based comparison. More than once he’d nearly called off the entire ordeal after tossing her a good few meters before she came launching back at him with rabid abandon. X forced her to look at him again and now he could at once pick up upon the observation she wasn’t as much looking at him as she was looking in his direction again.

-No, it wasn’t Kaizer she was focused upon or fearful of…-

A thought confirmed when she visibly winced and covered her eyes, huffing in breath for a few moments.

“I think this will be enough for now,” X shrugged as he started to step back and turn around to advance towards their backpacks. It was going to be a very long walk to-  

Aria reacted by rapidly stepping around to cut him off, pushing a hand against his chest. She remained in her haggard state, hair frayed and draping down to cover up her face. X waited for a response. He kept waiting for several minutes as her huffing breath gradually slowed and collected itself. X bent his knees to equalize their height, hovering before his stressed significant with a fairly neutral; if mildly perturbed expression. Aria was usually not a fairly reclusive siren, if something was bothering her she’d make the perpetrator aware. X pondered at what her latest strain could mean and was fairly certain he was on point even before opening his mouth about it.

“You’re thinking about the other Twilight, aren’t you?”

Made sense. She was throwing everything she had at a fight she was making as hard as she could, to temper herself for a source of stress that she didn’t have locally. If she was getting upset and driven by a bother and wasn’t venting upon the transgression, it meant the offender wasn’t there to vent upon. And considering she was having him physically fight her like this…

X closed the gap between them a bit more, “We both know the first concert for the exhibition is soon and that she will be there. You’re expecting her to attack you?”

Finally, at long last a response was gained in a simple nod.

“She came for Sonata, why not me and Adagio?” Aria whispered behind the cloak of her bangs.

“And I as well as Irys and Gigan will be there to intercept her,” X retorted with a frown. He spied something in the distance and pointed to it.

Aria followed his indication and from here, in this isolated patch of wood, one could glimpse the reshaped cliffs of Everfree wilderness. Amongst the spans of rock crags and vines hanging down from the clifftop, were several large gashes that were born of the battle against their still-unknown assailant. X’s giant, small clawed handprint was obvious from here.

“Or is my dutifulness a concern for you?” X grunted with a mildly annoyed shrug in his tone as he looked away from the cliffs and flinched.

Aria had looked back before he did and very close to him, her very wide eyes visible behind the bangs of frayed hair. They seemed to quiver, not sure if wide with fear or trying to contract into a glare aimed at something he sensed was not himself. Her lids shut and she shrugged, tiredly leaning forward and resting her forehead on his collar.

“It’s not just fear…” Aria muttered.

She swallowed what felt like a rock in her throat, too strained and frayed of mind to think clearly for now. All she could do was loosely wrap an arm around his middle and pull him in closer. X sighed, returning the gesture with the arm she hadn’t pinned to his side.

“Aria, I can tell something’s going through your head, enough you're planning something,” he started, pausing only when he felt her tighten her hold on him, “... And-”

He bit his lip to try and articulate, worried less about setting her off and more about not coming across like a klutz. Times like these, he could appreciate having some memories to fall back on that didn’t consist of mostly being locked in an asteroid for months on end and sicced on a planet once in a while for several centuries. What had been forgotten about Praetorian Guard 094 had been recalled by Kaizer Ghidorah and refocused by Monster X. Having those memories of his previous life did give him some experience from some old life lessons, such as knowing when to demand answers, and when to wait.

“If it’s so important as to drive you up a wall like this, it’s serious…” He felt Aria’s hold ease slightly, if possibly side effect of her focus being on his words now, “I’ll trust you to tell me when it’s time, if you can trust me with it when that time comes.”

Aria paused and took in a deep breath, before pushing off him; though with no signs of any aggression or strain she’d sported previously. Her mind was obviously still abuzz with something, but her demeanor had changed somewhat. She took a moment to flash him a small, appreciative smile before walking to their packs and offering him a retrieved water bottle.

X sighed. He really wanted to demand to know what was spinning through her head, for it had to be much more than mere rage at the transgressor they shared a loathing for. X supposed he’d just have to be patient.

===================
Crystal City Outskirts
===================

-”Normality is safety.”-

She focused on the voice and on the sensations around her, trying to normalize it. After some energy spent, the cold’s gnawing was lessened.

-”You are a unique one, full of potential, and yet so alone. That means you aren’t able to get hurt by others. You stand without others clouding your vision, you stand able to see what is in front of you.”-

She wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or not, as the wind howled through the abandoned warehouse that had all of its doors shut. She took it as such, feeling the cold shifting location as the faded image of a form composed of chilled mist circled about.

-”You know what is at risk.”-

The mist, Zephyrus, flew through her and on contact with her head; his protege instantly reacted. Twilight Sparkle gagged briefly, feeling like the air got sucked out of her lungs with a vacuum; causing her lungs to contract in on each other. It sent her into an instinctive panic, especially given she was unsure if the internal constriction of her respiratory system was physically happening or all in her mind. Frankly there was no way to tell how, only that she was being strangled from the inside, throttled by scattered fragments of bygone sights filled in with her own consciousness. She knew not of the distant armies or attackers from a dozen worlds beyond her own, nor of an ancient kingdom called Tambelon that was lost to the world. She knew nothing of those the cyborg cyclops slew, or if they were defender or aggressor upon his masters; just as she was unaware of the magical hexes and runaway magic ripping a whole kingdom into the aether. She only saw the few things precious to her being destroyed.

Crushed under impossibly large feet as meaningless rubble.

Torn apart and hurled into a time-lost void by eldritch, unknowable spells.

With but a glance, a street and all matter, all persons, all creations could be vaporized under a torrent of plasma.

With an infection of magic, normality could be torn asunder; mutilating the physics keeping life from becoming an abomination.

All crushing in from so many angles.

-”Fear is not paralysis. It harms you, but it need not affect you alone. Fear of your failure, spite for your enemy, malice for those that would disrupt. You can control them, but you can also inflict them upon others. Control it and then use it to harm those that would see harm upon you...”-

Her hands were outstretched and yet she felt inwards, towards her chest, towards what was around her neck. Despite the trembling, despite the terror, she didn’t buckle over and scream out. She instead directed it, as one directs sunlight through a magnifying glass. She grabbed all those fears, all that dread and confusion, and shoved it through the vent point around her neck.

All she heard for a moment was white noise, the emotional search having overpowered all of her senses but the haze upon her mind was fading. Especially as the icy cold being visible in the mist exited her body's occupied space as breath leaves an open lung.

-"... Magnificent."-

Hearing Zephyrus with such amazement in his tone was new to Twilight. Had she been in any other state, she might have actually been jubilant with some honest pride. After all, it was a rare feat to create astonishment within a being older than any creature in the world. But the surge of emotions had left her slow to recover, trying to hold on to the otherwise taxing sensations and thoughts lest she lose control.

Seeing the fruit of her effort did help bring a smile upon her face even as her own jaw dropped.

"Did... I do that?" She whispered while stepping forward.

The spirit of winter hovered close by with affirmation dripping in his tone.

-"Indeed young Miss Sparkle, you truly are a prodigy. Magic may not be meant for your world, but it appears fate has made magic meant for you."-

Covering the entirety of the wall, from the floor to the ceiling two stories in the air, was a frozen tidal wave of ice. Twilight's mind raced at breakneck speed. The sheer volume of the ice, easily enough to fit a car into it, far exceeded any possibility this was the aftermath of freezing the suspended water in the air. There simply was too much. And the direction it had flown, leaving a pointed arrow that was emitting from her direction, could only mean that this came from her.

By all the laws of physics this made no sense, matter out of nowhere and propelled with no physical force acting upon it. And this wasn't a panic fire at the school yard where she had been terrified and reacting on instinct with the necklace doing the work.

She had cast a spell, she had just managed to do all that.

Zephyrus appeared to be about to say something when his protege acted on her own accord. She threw out her hand and concentrated as hard as she could. The young woman blinked away a momentary pinprick of tears at the mental image she's subjected herself to as a motivation; her brother would forgive her. after all, if this all worked out he would never be subjected to such a fate.

Another wall of ice suddenly appeared, this time jutting out of the ground in a disorganized mass of icicles in tandem with Twilight raising her hand up. She did it again, the painful thoughts still nagging to drive her fear further but the sting was slightly less so.

But this time the wall of icicles was smaller, less chaotic in nature yes but far less significant. She tried again, to much the same result. And again, and again, and again. The group of people and pets she could cycle through was fairly small, so the testing didn't need to be extensive. Her brother, her sister-in-law, her parents, her puppy dog, and in a moment of honest curiosity but instinctive relief, her only friend Wallflower.

Each time she mentally apologized for using the fear of what might happen to them and the world at large if she faltered. Each time the sting of the negative emotions got dulled, more controlled. Idly pondering it she might consider it similar to picking at a scab. It might be painful but the fact she saw it coming and was consciously controlling it made it less so because it wasn't as jarring.

And each time the ice works got smaller. And Zephyrus watched on plainly.

-"... No, no this is not the same…"-

Twilight tried again, flinching up when the winter spirit flew up in front of her.

-"Stop…"-

She flinched but obeyed, letting her head tilt down slightly at the lecture she impulsively knew was coming. Had gotten it plenty of times at school.

-"What are you thinking about to fuel your magic? You were excelling just a moment ago."-

Twilight Sparkle bit her lip and swallowed, "Fear… I imagined… using some of the memories you gave me from that cyborg monster, what might happen if we fail. I imagined it happening to people I care about."

The incorporeal being audibly hummed, with the matter making up where Twilight suspected his head was seeming to tilt. And then shake.

-"This kind of magic feeds off emotions and surges many would consider undesirable. And are fueled to their greatest when left at their fullest."-

He flew closer and circled around his protege.

-"You can experience them in a selfless manner but you can never excel at them. If you spread these sensations, you will never be lacking in fuel."-

Twilight puzzled, unsure, holding her necklace charm and looking at it, "Sirens grow stronger when they use large amounts of powerful emotions to influence many listening to them."

-"And the magic I have taught you and which would come most naturally thanks to your source works similarly. Selfless, righteous indignation is pittance compared to the potential further within."-

He flew up and faced Twilight directly, glowing pinpricks looking directly into her eyes.

-"If you exude strife and then clot the area around you with it, you will automatically absorb it and become its master."-

"C-can’t I channel that anger positively? Or maybe use something more benevolent? The sirens can control people with a love song, can I do that without manipulating them? The fuel for this charm is a siren crystal after all," Twilight grimaced.

-"Your mission cannot risk itself on weaker measures. You saw yourself the decline of your power when you tried tempering strife into indignation. The sirens can absorb both spectrums of magic because they were born to both."-

Twilight saw where this was going and frowned, "Hence why the one we took care of turned into just a normal girl."

At least that's what everything told her had happened. She had magic and Twilight took it away, what else would there be left? Even so, the young scientist couldn't deny that she would have checked with gusto if the former blue siren hadn't fallen off the map and the purple one hadn’t started hunting her. Twilight instinctively shivered, remembering the sheer hatred she could feel exuded from both sirens remaining when they realized what had happened. The orange one, Adagio, was apparently the leader; but it was the purple one, Aria, that was doggedly chasing her to the point of exhaustion.

The original plan had been to let Aria wear herself out and then target her next, but that was scrubbed when she also disappeared abruptly right before even more crazy invaders came to town.

-”Correct, she is no longer any threat to others or herself.”-

“Still though, if I'm going to be creating large amounts of magic around me wouldn't it be better to think a little more positively?”  she grimaced with a slight urgency in her tone, perhaps as a plea.

Zephyrus was unmoved however, swimming through the air closer.

-”Then you would only succeed in drowning the sirens in what they feed off of to the greater degree. Wash pleasant sentiments from your mind, young pupil. Magic that feeds off love can force drastic changes within others, propagate quicker than any other rival, and change is exactly what we aim to stop; before your world is warped. Do you want to cause magic to continue spreading?”-

He loomed in closer and Twilight shrank back slightly.

-”Do you want your world to be ravaged by invaders? As its inhabitants run rampant with magic they so foolishly mishandled because it felt good? The more magic that is allowed to propagate here, the more it will begin spreading to the rightful natives.”-

She tucked her head back, feeling the fear begin to infect her mind. Magical energies, unknowable and unchecked, acting like an invasive blight. One simpletons might not grasp and start using.

-”What happens when that sort of chaos is unleashed? Others lack wisdom and insight you were granted. It’s already happened, for the monsters are already here and the doorways to the magic might begin opening.”-

Accidents over surges of magic unforeseen. Ill intentioned weaponizing it. Others seeking it, through those that have it. Disparities often bred discourse, she knew this well enough on a microcosm growing through Crystal Prep. And now it was something incalculable, unknowable, and infeasible to be tamed on a wider scale. Not everyone was an outlier like her, and she was only so thanks to Zephyrus. Emotions were a wild, uncontrollable, chaotic mess and the thoughts of real world consequences to that… In such a scenario, even a magically tied force of love was a risk!

She didn’t know what would happen, and…

The cool, glowing mist that made up her mentor embraced her and Twilight tried to hug back, if only to make the mile-a-minute panic her mind was working at stop.

The young girl couldn’t see her reflection in the ice as the visions fed into her mind. All horrific possibilities. In the reflection, a decayed, frostbitten monstrocity with icy antlers held her captive, cradling her head against an exposed ribcage. Twilight shook uncontrollably, terrified as the pressure built up once again.

-”Floodgates are being threatened, the magical are here to control, the monsters are here to chase them. And if not stopped, they will never stop coming…”-

“N-no...” she gagged, stepping through Zephyrus’ ghostly form and throwing her arms out and to the side.

Torrents of ice ripped out from the ground as telekinetic waves threw them all about, shattering some icicles and sending their shards flying like a storm of flechettes. Twilight didn’t see that, all she saw was the sources of her fears, the invaders, imposed over the sources of her frustrations, her pitiful attempts at ice formations formed from controlled indignation.

-”Yess, and controool...”-

Twilight crammed her eyes shut. She felt like a blizzard was brewing around her, a flash of glowing brilliance briefly forming around her glasses.

-”You... Are… it’s... Master!”-

Her eyes snapped open, glazed over with icy hues as her mouth formed into a snarl. She didn’t feel righteous indignation anymore. Not from what she’d been forced to think of, forced to see. She’d been pushed, anger into hatred and hatred into wrath.

Zephyrus admired it all with a smirk, in awe and intrigued. Such potential would rival Sombra, Tirek, Chrysalis, Discord, even himself in his prime. Yes, Grogar would be pleased at his instrument’s discovery. This one has promise indeed…


==============
Camp Everfree
==============


“~Weeee will be adored,~” the sweat ran down the side of her head as she focused on her pitch.

After going through warm ups, octave shifts, and choreography for hours, she felt like her voice was about to give out. Even after over a week of this ‘Siren Bootcamp’, or the ‘Hymnia School of Stonefins’ as her tutor called it.

“Higher! Louder, and remember to strut more in your pace, keep up with me!” Adagio barked, marching ahead of Eventide Hymn with a very attention grabbing motion in her swaying hips, rolling shoulders, and kicking knees.

She could fully admit, the siren almost seeming to swim through her movements was oddly fitting considering Adagio’s marine origin. Or frankly impressive given she apparently didn’t have any legs in Equestria.

Eventide did her best to keep up as Adagio took her by the hand and spun them around in a choreographed move, trying to mirror her mentor’s movements exactly while not constricting her lungs and messing with her singing voice.

“~We won’t be ignored!~” she was straining to make the pitch just perfect, and initially she thought she’d pulled it off, until Adagio sang back.

“~It’s time for our reewaard!~” her tone was sharper, stronger, and more so than being a lead vocal. She was, in essence, speaking over Eventide and perfecting her voice.

The echo to it, the way she threw her voice, the manner Adagio’s pitch rose and fell, it was as if it was dancing in her ears and made Eventide’s efforts look feeble by comparison. Like how one might compare a hit on the perimeter to a bullseye. Eventide wasn’t failing, but she wasn’t excelling. And that, in the stirring within, seemed to sting even worse.

Didn’t help she was still getting spun about in the dance, now back to back with Adagio with their hands clasped together. She started shaking, both from effort, being shown up so thoroughly, and exhaustion.

“N-now you need us-s-swah!!!” Her tone wobbled but just as it hit the perfect pitch, a slightly too high-of-pressure placed on her heel made her foot kick out.

Eventide Hymn squawked and stumbled as her leg shot out from under her. Her vision briefly went full vertigo and spiraled, the ground becoming sky and then a horizontal wall. Part of her leg and haunch smacked onto the ground, whacking her tailbone just hard enough it sent a jolt up and down the spine. Eventide’s jaw dropped and she gagged out all the air in her chest, the wind knocked out of her system. The faux-siren coughed and groaned, as she reflectively tried to scarf down some breaths to freshen her lungs while grabbing at her throat.

Adagio said something but the act of voiding her lungs made her ears ring due to the shock to her nervous system and all she got was white noise. It did mean, lukewarm as it was, she didn’t try to flail or kick reflexively when she was grabbed and coaxed to the ground fully.

By the time her diaphragm stopped spasming so much she was finally able to get more than a sliver of a breath from her groans, Eventide became aware of her position. She was propped up on her legs as if she was sitting up, carefully with her tailbone kept from contact with the hardwood floor of the mess hall. Her back was propped up against a length of stomach and a generous uphilling that squished down considerably in softness. One orange-yellow arm was around her middle up, with the hand reaching over to hold her hip to keep her sitting up. The other was patting and kneading at her back in a way that helped with the diaphragm contracting on its own.

“Figured this part out the first couple of days after we got here,” Adagio said as she eased them to a sitting position, “Only figured out humans really did have a tail under all that ape flesh when I took some medical study.”

Eventide Hymn heaved dryly, trying to slowly pump her lunged back up but it was like attempting to blow up a balloon with an eyedropper’s worth of air. All she could croak out was, “Y-you?”

“Who else do you think patched X up the most after we drove like hell from the hospital? No way was I risking anything, much less safety of the pod, on some doctor getting nosey if someone got hurt. That confidence came later,” Adagio mused while compressing down on Eventide’s diaphragm and then releasing, almost stretching it back out to afford the faux-siren some more air.

“Y-you don’- talk much about-,” Eventide gasped, finally getting a half decent breath without an obstruction, “Early days.”

Adagio hummed contemplatively, “I suppose we need to iron that in as well. All good performers have a backstory… To make it simple and deniable, you are my cousin who’d recently moved in with myself and my sister Aria.”

“B-but Aria’s your cou-” Eventide panted after trying to gather another breath, her chest compressing on its own.

“Cousin yes, but only a few know that. Besides, she’s more in sync with me after twenty years than you ever could be after even twenty days. You being a cousin whom moved in recently gives a reason for you being so sloppy,” Adagio hummed nonchalantly despite the mild insult,  “You were also born roughly 1,000 years ago, plus a few decades, born to Princess Hymnia Sairíne of Mako Island, her second born after Aria. Which makes your relatives…”

Adagio perked a brow and Eventide, having it drilled into her head, repeated it like clockwork, “My cousins are Crown Princess Adagio and Sonata, my aunt was Crown Princess Melpomene Sairíne. I am the fourth-born granddaughter of Queen Amatheia Sairíne…. U-Um!”

Eventide swallowed and poked her fingers together, “Not that your genealogy isn’t cool but… why again do I have to know it by heart? And why admit Aria is my sister there but say she’s my cousin as a human?”

Adagio rolled her eyes in response and shrugged, “Because while I don’t want you going about boasting about it, you are not just pretending to be our human cousin. You are somepony pretending to be a siren pretending to be our human cousin. The last part is just like us.”

“And I have to be just like you to make it believable,” Eventide nodded along as she puzzled, “And given circumstances, several folks out there clearly know you three aren’t normal humans. So for me to be a believable siren…”

Adagio smirked with a visage that showed mild bemusement, “You have to be a believable siren as much as you are a believable part of a normal human music troupe, backstory and all.”

“And because only someone who knows we’re not human would know Aria is your cousin and not your sister but mine,” Eventide continued

Adagio glanced over to her companion, ”Thus, Aria is your sister. The cousin excuse is for the majority who think you are just human to excuse why you might be a bit off cord. They're expecting you to lie to pretend to be human anyways, so if someone catches you slipping up…”

“They’ll expect this to be the lie and not something more, like me not actually being a siren,” Eventide hummed, her brow perking at the ruse, “Cover a lie in a lie and if they assume you’re hiding something, the lie itself will be the cover. Say you’re a human but are actually also saying you’re a siren pretending to be a human; they’ll think the latter is true.”

Adagio smirked, “You catch on well. Good.”

“So um,” Eventide bit her lip briefly before steeling herself, “Bit of a question given your title and all….”

“Aaaaarg, no you do not need to call me ‘Princess’,” Adagio grumbled as she made a quotation motion with her fingers, “Got enough of that from the bug for half a week straight. Besides, I’ll only be a princess as long as I am not queen.”

“Sooo, one of your long term goals is to-” Eventide paused before rewording her phrasing, her entire demeanor changing. She sounded deeper, more mature, and confident while cunning, speaking like it was the most casual affair ever, “One of our long term goals, us sirens and all, is to get back to Equestria and… get back Grandmother’s throne?”

Adagio’s eyes widened for a moment at the shift in Eventide’s acting, mildly impressed. When they first pitched potential personalities and it was clear she couldn’t stand in as the comedian like Sonata, the alpha siren was somewhat surprised at how the seemingly repressed geeky gal opted for the alluring but dark type role.

Adagio Dazzle chuckled briefly before she shrugged her shoulders like it was common knowledge, “But of course little cousin. Our grandmother pulled our kind out of the dark ages of migration and plunder; for materials, goods, and mates. The Eastern Sea Mermares used to have to be on the move constantly to avoid raider or monster attacks. Amatheia and others found Mako island, drawn to its magic. She didn’t want to turn that magic to flooding land to make new shallows and instead settled them on the island as a capital. There they made their culture, their creations, civilization under a throne they put her on….”

Adagio’s gaze shifted to the lake, a facsimile of a calm sea, like others might beam to the beautiful sky. Eventide puzzled briefly. Something about Adagio’s wording was off but she wasn’t entirely sure. She refocused and tilted her head slightly as she followed her line of sight, “Did you know her? I was… young when she died but I never asked.”

The orange siren’s visage hardened and sharpened, like a perilous reef that could shatter a ship hull, “... No. But mother and auntie told me plenty. She died from the monsters that committed an atrocity to our kind and an even worse deed to our mothers. Grandmother Amatheia, the greatest mermare ever, died of a broken heart. Our mothers were betrayed several months later when they turned her own gifts upon her daughters, afraid who they carried…”

Her tone dropped considerably for a few moments and Eventide, based on what she had been told prior, could guess why. She could speculate what worked behind Adagio’s wide eyes in those moments, like this, where she saw the confidence and pride waver for a moment; with the shudder of a muscle group. She’d seen more moments like it as of late with Sonata’s condition and the conflict brewing. The princesses died in the wilds, Melpomene from childbirth bringing Sonata into the world and Hymnia from a tragic storm a decade later.

But even as she dared not speak it to be distasteful, Eventide got the idea beneath the exterior image; Adagio Dazzle blamed more than a storm and tragedy for what killed her mother and dear aunt.

The half second ended and Adagio Dazzle drowned the feeling under her typical pride and collectedness, “It’s my birthright through my mother and it’ll mean security for our family forevermore. The greatest sorceress in the Eastern Sea first wore the crown of Mako, it’s only natural that the second greatest should wear it next.”

That was when the oddity detected earlier clicked. Eventide Hymn nudged Adagio with her elbow, “Um... ‘Cousin’, I think there is something you should be aware of if you intend to rule over a sea. There has been a name change. Twilight Sparkle had told me a few things about history.”

Adagio paused and cocked an eyebrow at her protégé, especially at that last word. Awful strange pick for events within memory, “Yes, yes, I’m aware some changes have happened to Equestria aside from that going from just a country name to that of the continent. Princess Celestia is out of her funk and apparently created two new alicorns, probably to replace her sister. I intend to catch up on how the ponies are faring, I don’t want any further quarrel with them anyway.”

She did however catch how Eventide Hymn was frowning, grimacing at something being thought but not spoken. That wouldn’t stand.

“Eventide, speak up,” Adagio said as she puzzled, trying to ignore how Eventide’s expression grew grimmer. The oldest siren chuckled in an effort to remove some of the weight pressing down on her shoulders, “Come on, cod got your gills?”

Eventide mulled through her thoughts for a bit more even after Adagio lightly jabbed her with her elbow, before breaking her silence, “Um.. Cousin. Twilight- er, Princess Sparkle told me a few things about back home. The eastern sea is now called the Celestial Sea.”

Adagio raised her eyebrow, picking through the thought before shrugging, “So they renamed it did they? Figures, Princess Celestia probably rebuilt her reputation since we left. Must have been one damn good PR campaign to rebound so quick-”

She tapped at her chin, passively noticing how Eventide was squirming more, shaking. Adagio kept going, lighting her tone to try and give some levity, “Huh, should maybe ask for notes given her image was in shambles when we went for Canterlot while you ‘stayed back’. I mean-”

“She didn’t!” Eventide blurted out.

Now it was Adagio who flinched. A hot minute passed as Eventide continued to tremble, Adagio frozen in place.

“Princess Sp-Sp-... Twilight told me about history,” Eventide Hymn swallowed, “Celestia, Princess Celestia, had to rebuild her reputation over decades through the Changeling Crisis after a big fight.”

One could have practically heard the mic drop as Adagio’s body locked up at the word ‘decades’. Eventide Hymn bit her tongue, hunkering down at seeing the paling on the alpha siren’s skin and smelling the cold sweat that began to break out over her body. Guilt stabbed in deep, and she didn’t want to say more. It took Adagio putting a hand on her shoulder, trembling at first and then gripping it tightly as if in both anger but also hidden fright that one as prideful as herself would never show on the outside, to finally get Eventide Hymn to spill it.

“You... still have more to say. Talk.”

Eventide Hymn took in a heavy, icy cold breath and prayed it would offer relief, “The Celestial Sea hasn’t been called the Eastern or East Sea in... 700 years. It’s been just under 1,000 years since we- since the sirens were banished by Starswirl the Bearded......... Most Equestrians don’t even know we exist unless they read ancient history.”



Link!


Adagio Dazzle’s eyes widened so much that her eyebrows seemed to try and hide under her bangs. She said nothing, she did nothing. All that happened were a few raspy, half choked noises that seeped from the back of her throat as her muscles all locked up. It seemed to try and articulate something, express something. All the while, she was so obviously holding a tidal wave of thoughts and emotion back. And the cracks in the dam were growing obvious.

“What?” the whisper from Adagio was so small it was virtually silent to Eventide, “St-Starswirl… he…”

Eventide shuddered and grit her teeth as she chewed on her fingernail, eyes darting back and forth to try and think through what little she knew on this, “Uum, uuh, well obviously not much time passed between now and when you three- us four- Arg! It’s only been, what, few years for you?! I mean I know magic is weird and all but I guess Starswirl probably didn’t even know what-”

“He-! Hrgk! He!” Adagio shook all over uncontrollably, “Twilight didn’t tell us….”

Eventide was sweating bullets, “C-Can you blame her? So-So much has happened and all and maybe she’s had a ton on her mind- We’ll kinda be going up against her-”

Adagio Dazzle suddenly sat herself up, reaching up with a shaking hand to remove the band holding her hair back to let her orange locks cascade down her shoulders. With a shudder, she snapped her wrist and violently threw the band aside as she rapidly stood up. Eventide lost track of her face amidst the hair, seeing only the locks of mane and hearing the increasingly huffing breath behind them.

Concerned, she cautiously outstretched a hand towards the heaving mass; but paused upon seeing two things. Strands of Adagio’s hair, particularly the dark orange locks, darkening slightly and beginning to shift against the typical pull of gravity. They lifted up a bit along their lengths as if something was distorting the gravity like X could. Eventide’s pale face got paler when she saw a glint of a reddened eye through the hair and saw Adagio taking in a deep breath.

The oldest siren jolted up and felt the surge, emanating from the brief spark of yellow coming from her necklace. This was stupid, this was wasteful, this was unbecoming of a future queen.

-Queen of what?! A place you’d be a relic in?!-

She shook, feeling the enormous pressure crushing in from all sides and chilling her face. Wetness ran down her cheek as more was also sweated out. She felt like she was bursting at the seams, wanting to let it all out. What she’d been granted by X wasn’t anything compared to what Aria told her of wielding once, on account of her lack of exposure and lack of affection beyond an acquaintance and ally; more fond of him as someone who made her cousin happy than personal affection. It was a single surge instead of a flood, meant to be used in emergencies for a one-and-done instance.

She’d had imagined so much using it on the bitch who’d scarred her baby sister. On what caused her pain, both in image and sight. She nearly faced towards Eventide Hymn before a wave of cold covered her back. Adagio suddenly stopped in her path and grimaced. Eventide hadn’t dove aside to dodge the potential threat of a siren’s graviton boosted shriek. She’d, as Adagio glimpsed, tried to close the distance and offer an outstretched hand. With a quivering hand raising to her necklace, the cold festered within the oldest siren. The negativity remained, steeping the ground in billows of green and white magical mist born of such dark emotions, though it shifted form.

Sheer hatred and confused rage, remolded to shame and loss.

The surging gravity, darkening hues, and surging pressure within her throat all died on a whimper. Holding her necklace, Adagio Dazzle lowered her face to hide behind her hair.

Eventide Hymn swallowed, feeling like she’d just come off a rollercoaster. Staring down a magical cannon with a lit fuse would do that. She was however, unmoving as she reached out even before Adagio simmered down. But her fingers’ purchase on Adagio’s shoulder or hair was elusive, as the eldest siren stepped back and hunkered down in her stance.

“Training is off for the day, work on your octave range,” Adagio plainly stated in a manner so matter-a-factly it was amazing, “... I…………….”

She couldn’t force out the blockage on her throat, instead only power-walking away.

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

Crystal City Outskirts

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

When the human Twilight Sparkle came to, she felt both exhilarated and exhausted; as if both were waking up from a dream while also still asleep. It was in such a haze that she became aware her body was moving without conscious thought to do so. Slowly, she turned around to see where she had been while stopping her advance towards where she was going.

Behind her was a sight that looked as if winter had incarnated a blizzard inside and where she had been. She quivered and fell to her knees, arms weak and going slack. With an exhale, a glowing mass of mist left her mouth.

-"I was walking you home, or at least somewhere more public. You put on quite the formidable display."-

Twilight was at a complete loss for words, her face quivering as a hand absently reached up to touch her necklace. Not a single shard of ice had formed on it, despite how unbearably cold it felt.

-"The monsters that seek magic might have noticed this, they might be coming…."-

She didn't get back up, hitching in her breath as liquid dribbled from her eye. A hand of some sort was placed upon her shoulder.

-"You are afraid…"-

A tiny whimper of a voice was the answer he received as she raised up a sleeve to wipe her face and shield it from what she saw, "Yes."

-"Of their power, or your own?"-

"I… I felt so much," she gagged on bile.

-"Then there is only one thing left you'll need to do. You have all of your frustration and all of your fear. All that remains is the means to control it. There are very few foci strong enough for that…"-

He waited. Twilight felt simply horrible. Disgusted on the inside and tormented on the outside. But in time, perhaps she looked for relief… Zephyrus didn't continue until she tilted her head slightly, offering her ear.

The cold spirit encircled her as if embracing her, whispering in the ear with an apologetic tone.

-"My dearest student, you've come such a long long way. The path ahead is not much further in length. If I could tread it myself I would do so gladly. You would thusly endure nothing. But this final lesson you will have to learn alone… seek your enemy, do not let them prey upon you but prey instead upon them!"-

The wind began to howl as it picked up around them. Twilight raised a quivering hand and looked at it.

-"Seize your power, command your darker thoughts and emotions as you let them surge. They wish to be the arbiters of this world's fate but that will be you!"-

A sane and rational Twilight Starla Sparkle would never have let any such thoughts run rampant in her head or even flirt with a possibility. She didn't seize them, but she didn't shut the door either. The power that could be felt…

Her hand stopped quivering.

Power, what else mattered in a contest for the fate of a world? Sometimes one had to do everything necessary to get the job done. She listened as Zephyrus started to lift off her and fade.

-”I’ll be watching over you, but you’ll need to take this step yourself. Give them your wrath, use hatred to focus your fears of the future and pains from the past; and then the final lesson can begin. And when it does… nothing can stop that final stroke towards their Midnight.”-

It was a horrid possibility, a loathed potential and seemed… drenched in evil. But, then again, evil was subjective. Who didn’t see their enemies as evil? If she saw them as such, at least for what they were doing and could cause; how was her doing likewise to stop them any different? Did it matter whom a monster saw as evil?

Twilight Sparkle slowly rose to her feet, seeing how her glasses had fallen from her face. A hand slowly outstretched towards it, but didn’t touch it. Instead, she focused as she could. Previously she’d been convicted to stop the magical pollution of her world. Now, it was about hating what could come if she failed.

The glasses, gripped in a field of telekinesis, levitated past her hand and were placed upon her face. When she looked up, she was alone. Which for her, was perhaps a return to the norm.

A distant walk later, and she, one who was resolved to become a monster to stop monsters... for now, seamlessly blended in with the crowds.

She hadn’t seen how Zephyrus had been grinning the whole time.

Cold winds, both north and south at the same time, blew past the sky high above as Zephyrus waited. Incorporeal, none could see the three windigo spirits as they watched the native Twilight Sparkle board a train home. The three winds pushed together at an intersect, occupying the same space, time, and mind to rapidly swap information gained from scouting.

Two factions of foreign monsters, both of which hated each other. One of which was beginning to become unhinged from stress and outside factors.

The sirens were still unknown in location, but the one accompanying them earlier reeked of the Elements. The Retainer had returned, child of their enemy, and was no doubt working with the sirens.

A group of humans, no doubt potential Bearers, had increasingly begun exhibiting innate magical talent and were preparing spells, to counter the sirens no doubt. This also meant someone with them knew of this magic, suspicious

Worrying on fronts, but so much potential for conflict; so much fuel to enact their ploy.

The North Wind, Boreas, cackled in glee at seeing the destruction an unconscious Twilight had wrought; but couldn’t avoid shooting questions at his cohort.

The South Wind, Notus, was far more reserved; no doubt from the thrill hunter’s boredom dragging down his mood to be unkind to his company whooping like some chimp. But he asked as well.

Why Twilight Sparkle, why someone with such potential for good? After all, her own counterpart was the protege of Harmony. If she discovered what magic came most naturally to her, it might align with an Element and backfire.

Of which to answer, Zephyrus need only do two things.

The first was a replay of all memories he’d pulled from this Twilight Sparkle’s mind. Social isolation, hazing, loneliness, ostracizing both for her intelligence and by her very intelligence. The ingredients. And then her heart. Twilight Sparkle was a being of love and Zephyrus had pushed that, cultivated it.

Boreas stopped cackling like a lunatic and Notus paused at the word, the hated word. The south and north winds roared louder, crashing with the east wedged between them. Love, Harmony’s domain… had been cultivated?!

Zephyrus waited and needed only a few seconds for it to come. In their current states, they could still feel and move the other; and his fellow windigo used it. Notus instantly tried to slash his claws across Zephyrus’ back as Boreas charged forward to savage and gore the alpha windigo’s chest and face with his antlers.

The West Wind, Zephyrus, easily grabbed onto both and shoved them headfirst into one another; locking their antlers together. Wrenching his arms back, Zephyrus smashed either fist into the back of his fellow’s heads. Interlocked antlers snapped and snagged, gouging into the other’s head in the process. Not done, Zephyrus let his misty form morph. From the echo of the body he’d used to try and kill Wysteria to the form taken to terrify the ponies, the hippocampus-like windigo reared back and smashed his hooves into either back to send them rocketing dozens of meters into the ground together.

Notus and Boreas were pinned, and at the howling gales from the west, yielded.

Zephyrus’ demeanor, ever calm, changed back to the state more native to this human realm and picked the two up. Where they were now, on the roof of a building where frozen trails could be seen from the spot Zephyrus had driven Notus and Boreas into the roofing, Twilight Sparkle was visible in her travel home.

She looked determined, but clearly distressed; wiping her face again to dry a tear after worriedly looking out at the landscape and people of her world. Zephyrus admired it as one might an occupied, growing cocoon.

A heart capable of love is great, a heart swelled by love was greater, large enough to store so much. But love and hatred aren’t mutually exclusive. They may be incapable of the former, unable to persist with it just as hot can’t persist with cold; and that had been their weakness before. Be it the love of a grieving mother queen, the compassion and courage of a heroic Retainer or the impossibility of friendship between enemies, Harmony’s taint had forced them back all three times.

So then, what better instrument for both ambition and to insult the traitorous goddess, than by corrupting one whom in a different setting could have been great enough to embody an Element of Harmony herself?

Just a few more steps, a few more terrors, and a one big catalyst, and he’d have spited Harmony more than they ever had before.

Boreas paused, twitching idly, before bursting into hackles of jubilation. Notus merely nodded in agreement, bowing slightly to his superior. Zephyrus chanced a smile again, not immune to pride.

They split off yet again. Notus to resume his interference with the humans and their allies, to induct more negative influences where he could. Boreas was to remain hidden as well, but keep a close eye on their two charges. They’d need both soon enough.

Zephyrus slipped out into town and walked invisibly along the train tracks, admiring and noting the sights Twilight had looked upon so protectively, lovingly as they stood now. For now…



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



Irys was a long ways away from her team. Not without precautions, she’d only left to go on a scouting run when she was certain nobody would find Pinkie Pie as the brightly colored human didn’t exude the greatest degree of confidence when it came to stealth. But X was away with Aria, Gigan had his hands full with the likes of Eventide and Adagio, and Megalon was present to keep vigil. 

 -“With even more problems falling onto our plate day by day, including an unknown number of reinforcements the Mothra might summon, we can’t take chances. We need information, but we can’t risk falling into any traps. Keep on the move when you’re outside the park….”-

That had been Monster X’s instruction and Irys had been the volunteer. Outspokenly she pleaded she was faster than her compatriots on foot, making it only logical she perform the scouting runs for these next few days when a run was needed. And with her ability to pick up on even minuscule sounds, she might get lucky and find out just where their quarry had crawled away to in which to hide. Her powers over and perceiving sound had grown by leaps and bounds since before she joined the team. If anyone could potentially pick the other Twilight Sparkle out of a crowd, it be her.

And of course there was the unspoken reason, much as that pained her to maintain. She knew the Mothra had summoned reinforcements. She met one, fought one, and ran away from one. And she hadn’t told anyone.

Was it a risky gambit? Ha! The cold sweat going down her back was evident enough. Memories of the nights prior’s exchange rang in her mind. 

 - -I am Anguirus…. The first of the Guardian Beasts…. I am your family.-

She shook from the phantom image of Anguirus before her, almost speaking into her mind. Just so much the words or thoughts that seemed to flood out of her without conscious effort. It wasn’t just like her happening to understand what the completely alien Monster X, Gigan, Ghidorah, or Megalon were saying, or her being able to perceive what a human was saying the few times she was close enough to listen. That was a sort of subconscious transcription, this was different. Something deeper, of kin. The closest she’d had any prior was how she could understand what the other gyaos were saying the once in a blue moon one had an intelligent utterance or thought. But that was like hearing a solitary word amidst a chaotic uproar of rabble. This was articulate, impactful, compelling. Perhaps, her knee-jerk response wasn’t too irrational?

- I am gyaos, renamed Irys. I am... I don’t know what I am, but ... I am your family.-

She’d called him her brother and he’d called her, by name, his sister; before the whirlwind of confusion caused her to run. 

The fact he didn’t pursue was both perplexing and thankful. 

None of it made sense, not a hint. Irys didn’t know much, but she did know one thing. For now, she didn’t want Anguirus to come to harm. Was it probable Anguirus was the only help the Mothra had summoned? Extremely unlikely. Was it probable Anguirus could be kept away from the conflict entirely? Also, extremely unlikely. Was this entire gambit she was taking probable to backfire horribly? Assuredly… 

She swallowed as the air blew past her face as she hopped off the slow-moving train she’d hitched a ride off the back of, landing on the outskirts of Crystal City. 

Keep the conflict from exploding, try to protect her flock, try to guard her charges, and try to keep Anguirus from falling into conflict with her group. That was all she could do for now, as dread flooded her mind. Sometimes she envied her slain, rabid kin. Consciousness came with burdens…

Trying to hyper focus on the task at hand, she set about trying to see if their quarry was hiding in the next closest settlement to Canterlot where the school was… while keeping an ear out for Anguirus should he be here as well.



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


The door to the mess hall slowly creaked open, the dark interior within slightly illuminated by the sunlight. Within the building however, a gloomy darkness persisted amidst dim glows. On reflex, Gloriosa Daisy and Twilight Sparkle both lifted one of their legs out of the way from what came pouring out like someone had opened the door on a submerged submarine, visible to them due to the magic that was inherent or had touched upon either. Spilling out of the door was a slow flow of illuminated green mist that had been festering across the entire floor. The two women, or at least as far as a former alicorn and potentially something else counted as them, cringed as they looked to one another. It was a pair of metal hands setting themselves on each of their shoulders and pushing forwards that prompted them to both swallow any apprehension and pace through the green fog.

If one thought a siren could generate a lot of emotion magic from their song or acts upon others, one didn’t want to dwell too far on the implications about this much of it coming from just one siren. The mist was near total black out, obscuring everything in sight while wrapping through within it in a cold. Spats of anger, fear, and other negative thoughts jabbed into the newcomers like needles through the skin. The interior was absolutely rife with the mist, blocking out most of the three’s sight as it even played havoc with Gigan’s visual settings.

“I’m just going to guess it’s bad,” the cyborg grunted while walking blind, holding Gloriosa and Twilight’s shoulders to both steer as well as keep them going, “Can’t see anything.”

Twilight cringed and waved a hand in front of her face fruitlessly, “It’s enchanted mist, it carries around emotion-based magic. This means Adagio is… not well.”

“Noo, you think?” Gigan spat, “Hey Sea Hag, cut it out! Twilight grabbed me and I’m not wasting my time with more magical shenanigans!”

Twilight pursed her lips. That was only partially true. She had gone to him to ask for help as he was close by, and she figured someone more familiar with Adagio could talk to her out of a bad spell better than she could. And, honestly, she was worried about checking in on Adagio alone given the subject of the siren’s typical rage was her counterpart. But even before she could reach him she and Gloriosa had already caught the cyborg power walking towards them demanding to know what was wrong.

Gigan’s voice echoed and was promptly thrown back at him, echoing across them from all angles.

“Mist, must be affecting her too in some kind of negativity feedback loop,” Twilight grimaced, “She’s spiraling so much she can’t hear us.”

Gloriosa narrowed her eyes, trying to peer through the veil. She was about to say something, perhaps call out, but an idea jogged to her mind. One born of a night prior. Her hands felt at her necklace, hesitating for only a moment and grabbing on at the lack of vision forced into her head. And with the warm embrace passing over her at her seizing of it, she was assured in her choice. Bowing her head, Gloriosa took in a misted breath.

“Nnnooow the maaagic will beee…” her hand reached down and to the side, “Ooour salvaaation…~”

Her eyes darted to the side and met Twilight's. A quick glance at each other’s necklace lead to Twilight also taking her in hand as she gently held Gloriosa’s hand. Checking with Gloriosa’s lip movements and voice lead to her following along.

“Gaaather clooose… iin ooour proooteecction…~”

Old magic lessons, practice here, and knowledge relating to her talent lead to Twilight reaching out through whom and what she had contact with. Holding onto Gloriosa, her voice carrying a dozen benign memories of Celestia’s private instruction, and sheer determination born of earnest want to help were enough. The amethyst hued crystal for the Element of Magic joined the others in lighting up dimly. The two’s smiles widened mutually, beaming at their success as the green mists started to get pushed back by the light.

With a subtle nod and eagerness to speak first, Twilight took the reins of the song with Gloriosa’s blessing as the latter followed along.

“Thhooough youu’ve been huurt.... by your hiiiistory….. Yooou stiiill have yooour deeestiny…~”

A squeeze to Twilight’s hand led to the duet seamlessly swapping. The glow of the crystals was flickering brighter. If one looked close, they could glimpse a dull purple aura dimly wrapped around Twilight.

“Leeeet hope staaand… for-eveerrfreeeeeeee….~”

The glow swelled up to a luminescence and silenced in a flash. The green mist was being forced out entirely, no longer replenishing as it either seeped into nothingness to be dispelled from the room or leaked away without replacement, leaving a mass outside. Twilight Sparkle panted and gasped in a glee, panting for breath briefly before letting out a loud squeal of glee.

“Oooo-oooh my Celestia! Th-That was my first counterspell delivered through an auditory medium! Oh, oh and these, these crystals HAVE to be this world’s version of the Elements of Harmony! Th-This is huge! This means magic has really been native here all along, just dormant! I mean sure, they maaaybe could have somehow come after the sirens arrived, buuut given the cave Gloriosa took me to they have to be much older and-”

“Twilight,” Gigan grumbled as he manually muted her by pushing her lips together with his hand, “Another time.”

Twilight Sparkle’s ears would have flopped down if she were still a pony, pulling the cyborg’s hand off her grill with a sheepish grin, “Ehehe, right. W-well point is, theory confirmed. That felt just like how it was when my friends and I activated the Elements against Nightmare Moon for the first time. Not quite to the same level though, probably because Gloriosa can only use them partially and I’m not from around here.”

She puzzled as the mist continued to clear, “But who knows, maybe the criteria for a potential Bearer is based more on personality than some predetermined choice.”

“Partial success sounds about right,” Gigan grunted as he looked outside where his sensors couldn’t read through a large mass moving out, “Still can’t see outside so I’m guessing there’s still a lot out there.”

“We can try it again outside to get rid of the rest. Gloriosa though you were amazing! I didn’t know you could sing or channel them like that-... Gloriosa?” Twilight mused, aware her hand had been let go of.

Her eyes met Gloriosa’s briefly before the latter looked away, having approached the back corner of the room next to the kitchen. An emptied bottle clicked on the bench counter, joining several of such labeled drinks situated haphazardly away from a slouched form, orange hair spilled out over the countertop in a mess. Twilight Sparkle grimaced and paced over alongside Gigan, the two alongside Glorisa seating themselves on the bench.

An awkward silence passed for some time before Gloriosa leaned in closer to Adagio, putting the edge of her finger on the siren’s back and hesitating to check for signs of opposition. Getting none, she let her hand spread out over Adagio’s dorsum, gently rubbing at it.

“Need, some more time?” She muttered with a frown.

“If we leave her alone again, she’s likely to wallow again somewhere more secretive,” Gigan grunted while picking up an emptied bottle and sniffing at it, puzzling at it and pointedly ignoring a defensive look he got from Gloriosa, “Seen plenty of angsting spells from X and he doesn’t produce magical fog when he got upset.”

“Bolt for Brains has a point,” Adagio mumbling into the countertop as her shoulders slowly rolled back and started to lift her up, but still kept her face pointed down with her hair draped on either side to obscure it, “Not bad song Eventide, not bad at all.”

She took another swig of her drink, smacking her lips before putting it back down but never taking her grip off it. Gloriosa’s brow lowered and she frowned.

“Where did you get that? There’s no alcohol on camp,” the director quipped, offhandedly remembering how that rule got rigidly enforced when she had her first breakdown over the Rich loan. She was hoping Adagio hadn’t somehow found a case she missed.

“It’s not anything fermented,” Gigan chimed in, tapping a bottle with a metal finger tip, “Smelling with a nose is new to me but I know what alcohol smells like.”

The mound of hair that was obscuring Adagio seemed like she had been about to say something but stiffened, turning the bottle she was holding to look at the label. Twilight puzzled but reached over to an empty one and inspected it, finding the label on it had been rubbed off with a new one applied in marker.

“Smilax ornata… Wait,” she piped before sniffing it to be sure, looking again at the rest of the recipe list under the scientific name, “Wait, this is sarsaparilla.”

“... What?” Adagio’s voice grumbled under the hair.

“Root beer,” Gloriosa hummed, “Huh, this is some of my mom’s homebrew brand. Mom was quite the herbalist, she used to make a bunch of it. I thought I’d found them all, Timber and I used to guzzle these.”

Adagio, opting not to say how she’d found it behind a board that had come loose and sprung out, whispered bluntly, “But.. it’s… still beer.”

“Sarsaparilla, it was… uuuh…” Twilight cringed, rubbing at the back of her head, “Invented… um, er... after your time in Equestria. I thought you acquainted yourself with stuff here.”

Adagio’s back arched and her knuckles went white gripping the bottle, catching Gigan’s attention, “F-F…. Food wasn’t too important. W-When we woke up as naked monkeys, my priorities were finding us a safe spot to sleep, where we were, what to do if one of us got sick, and then matters like how to drive and how to keep what little magic we had functioning. I took classes on how to keep us going, not on the history of flavored drinks!”

Her grip on the bottle got tighter and there was a crack. In a blur a hand swung over and grabbed the bottle just before Adagio’s hand could squeeze the fracture more in a moment of blind frustration. There was a red flash for a split second and Gigan held the bottle away in his hand, having teleported it out of her grip.

For a moment, everyone stood still as Adagio kept panting in wet, heaving breaths under the mass of hair. The frustration, her shaking, and the balled fist she whacked the table with spoke enough to what she was doing behind the cover of her hair.

“Don't… Just don’t make me waste a warp, and don’t make us waste effort patching you up,” Gigan groaned as he looked away.

Gloriosa’s face pulled a brief sneer and she was about to snap out something about the cyborg, who ironically had no actual heart, being heartless; when she felt saw and felt something. Perched on Adagio’s shoulder was a metal hand, and curled around it were a set of orange fingers. The opposite set of which were curled around her own hand, which was on Adagio’s other shoulder. Even behind the red sunglasses, she felt her and Gigan’s eyes meet before they diverted to the siren.

Twilight Sparkle watched on as well, wanting to do something but at the same time, feeling this was maybe something she shouldn’t pry into.

Adagio Dazzle took in a deep breath, swallowing the air, before exhaling harshly. She shook her head slowly, “Guess I shouldn’t be too torn up… The pearl in the muck is there. 1,000 years past has its benefits. I was already over 20 before, now I’m definitely legal to drink.”

“P-please… not for now though,” Gloriosa grimaced.

Adagio shrugged, “Fine. But, this does mean the backstabbing traitors who banished my mother and aunt are long dead…”

“It’ll help the hate pass,” Gigan muttered as he briefly glanced at his free arm, turning it over and moving his fingers. Memory recalled the scythe that used to be on it, even further member recalled the sickle attached to a gold and green body, “Even after I made peace with the metal parts still being ‘me’, sometimes a comfort I had was the creators who did it all to me died a long time ago. Along with those who hurt my best friend… means they can’t hurt me anymore.”

Twilight Sparkle felt like she had a vice on her tongue, feeling like she was betraying an idol. But, even a great pony, or human, or kaiju, could have to do things that don’t have a happy ending for everyone.

“And, eh.. Starswirl died about 900 years ago,” She muttered quietly with a bit of awkwardness, “You three sirens are in the history books, but since you came after Nightmare Moon, not everypony knew the strife you spread was caused by you, and the changeling conflict coming right after meant you’re not extremely well-known. Hay, mermares in general were extremely reclusive until about 10 years ago.”

Adagio let out a low, long groan, “Twiliiight, I can practically smell the worry coming off you. Chill. I know my pod caused problems, and while I’m no bleeding heart for ponies, I know we were running off hate at the time. Hate for what happened to our mothers, hate for what we had, hate for those who took what we thought was ours. Hate-Hate-Hate-Hate-HATE…!”

She deflated somewhat, “And now that hate is even more pointless given anyone who would have had it coming went belly up in the water long ago. Just... rotted out some plans.”

“Would you,” Gloriosa shrugged as she scooted a bit closer, “Maybe mind elaborating?”

Adagio groaned again, cracking her neck, “The decision to banish my mother and aunt was divisive. Mom and Auntie Hymnia knew it. Once it was clear I’d have to be the heir, we figured that if we got enough raw power to force our way into Mako, we could gain support to take over.”

Twilight Sparkle puzzled, “I didn’t know mermare queendom was decided on contests of might.”

Adagio hummed, “I don’t know what kind of contest they’ve got now, if there even is one, but we did learn Mako had some conflict with a northern pod whose matriarch founder was one of grandmother’s rivals before she became queen. She... ooh... Keto I think she called herself, shacked up with some bizarre mate and produced a pod of crossbreeds called kelpies. They wanted Mako too, and to avoid a full on war, a contest between the kelpie matriarch and the queen was decided. Least that’s what the seaponies told us… So, I found out the next contest was drawing close in a few years and I…”

“You went to Equestria to try and bolster your powers to give you a better chance at beating both leaders,” Gigan noted matter-a-factly.

Adagio groaned in exasperation, lifting her hand up and silently pointing at him over her shoulder with her thumb, “Yep, that’s about it. I got so hyped up on training and growing powerful over some years, hate was about all I could focus on. Forgot all about Hymnia’s love song and just doubled down more and more.”

“But,” Twilight paused as she glanced about in obvious thought, mulling over something, “Obviously things have changed. I mean, I voiced support for the whole ‘join the competition’ idea to draw out the other me because I was going to make the case you three didn’t even need to use the strife song. But you didn’t even seem to consider using it.”

Adagio shrugged her shoulders, “Call it sappy, but love magic? Way stronger. If we’d been using it all those years in our Equestrian tour, I don’t think Starswirl would have given a ray’s tail about us as a problem... I’d have been even stronger and probably kicked the tail flukes off both... the queen and matriarch- ARG!”

She lurched forward and banged her head on the counter top twice-

“SO! FUCKING-”

Gloriosa threw her arm out under Adagio’s head and held it-



“STUPID...Aarrrgg!” the siren whined as she kicked her legs back and forth, feeling as if she was stuck in a hole she’d dug herself into.

She didn’t cry again, she never did in front of anyone but her family. As the oldest, she’d always had to have been the wavebreaker for her sister and cousin; holding firm. Just... maybe given past experience and especially this big pile of hubris she was stuck with, a little less firm might be in order.

She kept her head down, planted on Gloriosa’s hand and arm as she sighed, “Thank you.”

“I um…” Twilight stammered as she squirmed at a thought, “I’d like to… Eh- Oh Celestia this new ooooh…I…”

Gigan nudged her with his arm, glancing down at the former alicorn with his glasses removed to expose his eyes. The cyborg casually put them on the table and took up a bottle, looking at and inspecting it oddly as if he’d never used one before but had seen it so, “Speak up. Your heart rate is increasing so I know something on your mind.”

Oddly enough the lack of pointedness in his tone made it easier than normal for her to respond to the kaiju who’d kidnapped her. Twilight put a hand on her chest and took in a deep breath, mentally hyping herself up.

“I am a princess of Equestria. Yes I may not rule, rather unqualified at the moment for that anyways, but... I am a princess, and I got the favor of both diarchs who rule. They trust my judgement. Aaaand if I made a judgement towards somepony, they’d trust my word for it. Especially if they were both away or out of commission when that somepo-someone caused any problems,” Twilight Sparkle sighed as she turned to face Adagio.

Perhaps feeling her gaze on her, the former siren slowly lifted her head to look at the former alicorn. Slowly, she drew up a hand and pulled aside some of her bangs to tuck them behind her ear or pull them over the top of her head; exposing her face. Twilight held back a cringe. While Adagio hid it magnificently, the obvious signs of strain and prior distress were clear as day with patches of redness, paled skin in other patches, and lines to indicate a prior fall of tears. Now, she was calm and focused solely on her.

“....”

Twilight Sparkle put her hand to her sternum in a universal gesture of openness, “A working, stable portal back to Equestria has been established. As you know, I used it to get back here so quickly when… well, X caused a ruckus. Arh, point is!-”

She recalibrated, trying again to be professional, regal perhaps. Unconsciously, the confidence she was trying to exude wasn’t just an emulation of her mentor, her mentor’s sister, or her sister-in-law. She’d been spending time with another royal for quite a while now: her very audience.

Twilight flicked her bangs back in a very familiar manner, tucking some behind her ear, “I, Princess Twilight Starla Sparkle of Equestria, hereby issue a visa of travel and a pardon for past actions… In other words, if you hold to your promise to not cause a problem here or there, I in turn promise to see what sort of situation with Mako can be ironed out. By taking you there myself.”

Adagio Dazzle’s eyes widened as she stilled. Slowly, color started to return to her face as she began to pick herself up from the table with Gloriosa and Gigan’s presence.

“You’d… just… take us back to Equestria?” she whispered, a lot quieter than before.

Twilight Sparkle breathed in deep through her nose before nodding, “On the condition that you don’t hurt anyone here or anypony there, self-defense excluded of course.”

“I….” Adagio paused, looking down and aside in a universal motion of pondering, “....”

“You could go home,” Twilight smiled calmly, earnestly.



Link!


Gigan however, as he was looking to the realm outside at two signatures drawing closer to calm from a training and sparring run in the woods. He frowned with a pointed expression, “That means separating X and Aria. As well as Megalon from his companionship with Sonata.”

Twilight Sparkle was about to say something but stopped short, wilting slightly like a balloon had just started deflating slightly. She glanced at Gloriosa for some assurance but she found the director’s focus wasn’t on her either. In fact Gloriosa seemed to be making a pointed effort not to look at her or Adagio while being far more entranced, or more lightly feinting it, upon the root beer bottle. Her visage spoke of something she didn’t want to say, despite wanting to.

Twilight quickly recalibrated, “Um, though nothing says you have to go fully one way or another! You could come back and forth.”

“Not if I became queen I couldn’t,” Adagio stiffened, her face contorting between two extremes. One looked jubilant, joyous, like she was about to burst forth a wide grin. The other side of her mind, the one perhaps not so far set in a past she now knew was so distant, was… confused.

“It’s... it’s your birthright, though,” Gloriosa mumbled while taking a swing of the bottle, “And-... It’s a one-of-a-kind gift, Twilight’s offering!”

The smile she wore was very genuine as she turned her head to beam at the former alicorn, Twilight however could only partially return it due to the sneaking sense the closed-eyed smile Gloriosa gave was to hide her eyes.

Adagio Dazzle, never one to express herself in such a way, swallowed the surging confusion she was feeling churning like a storm in her gut. She sat back in her chair.

“Certainly something to think about,” she reached over for a bottle and glanced up at Gigan, who seemed to be fidgeting his lips, “You cup them and let it pour in, idiot.”

His eyes, mechanical eyes swiveled down towards her and contracted as his eyelids narrowed, “I haven’t had lips until recently and I don’t eat. Frankly I’m surprised I can talk fine. Besides I’m just… inspecting it.”

He went back to looking inside the bottle perplexingly. There was a faint flash of a smirk on her lips before Adagio scowled, rolling her eyes and taking a swig, “Hm... It’s not at all bad. Even if it’s a damn liar with the name.”

There was something in her tone Gloriosa could detect. Perhaps it was intuition, perhaps it was tied to the small orangey-red hued crystal around her neck; the only one Twilight couldn’t identify as a known element, but she could tell something was off. Adagio wasn’t calmed, though their actions had helped. It was like seeing someone slam a floodgate shut instead of draining the water beyond it. The problem was abated for now, but it wasn’t gone.

There was a temptation to open that gate, make her understand it could only bring harm whatever it was she was keeping back…

But then their eyes met and for the briefest moment, the Retainer to the Elements glimpsed what was inside and trying to be kept contained. A momentary waver in the eye, heaviness in the way her breath came and went, subtle shivers and raising of the hair on her arms. Something, even if it wasn’t just finding she was a millennia out of date, was causing a mix of confusion and fear. Adagio was just very much not wanting to broadcast it, especially when she shot Gloriosa a frown and slight shake of her head.

She didn’t want to talk just yet, at least not about the subject at hand as she took another shot of the root beer, “Kept well despite how old they gotta be.”

Twilight Sparkle chimed in, puzzling as she rubbed at her chin and held up a bottle, “Wait a second, you said these were made by your mother, Gloriosa?”

Gloriosa sat up and shook slightly, forcing herself onto the new subject, “Oh uh- Yeah. She used to make me and Timber it all the time. She had a real green thumb. I tried it myself a few years back but didn’t quite land it as good. Judging from the old labels these are certainly hers.”

“Thought I saw some Smilax growing in the gardens. Vine with the small red berries right?”

Gigan paused in his drink and looked closely at the bottle with contracted eyed, “Were. They tried to wrap around me, remember?”

Gloriosa chuckled a bit awkwardly, “Well I can give it another go at making some of these, they’re regrowing after their latest ‘pruning’… No bindings involved next time.”

“They regrow that fast?” Twilight hummed with a raised eyebrow.

Gloriosa just tapped at her necklace and wiggled her fingers in the air, a subtle green glow about them visible.

“Oooh right, botanokinesis-” Twilight piped briefly.

Gigan cut Twilight off, “You sure you didn’t touch this stash, Vine Head?”

Adagio rolled her eyes, seizing her chance to distract herself, “Aw cute, Bolts-For-Brains gave you a nickname.”

“What does that say about you?” Gigan grumbled, ignoring her smirk as he glanced inside the bottle again, holding the opening right in front of his swiveling eye, “I noticed it earlier. This bottle has Gloriosa’s magic in it.”

Gloriosa’s face flattened in bewilderment, “... What?”

“Allow me to demonstrate,” Gigan quipped nonchalantly before he paced over towards the window, where some wildflowers had grown up around the windowsill on a vine.

Opening the window up, he picked the flower off the stem and turned around. Eying the floor and tapping his foot on it, the cyborg instead opted to walk into the kitchen where his metal-toed boot tapped on tile. As the other two women got up to follow, Twilight passively noted the floor Gigan had at first inspected was wooden and new from repairs.

The cyborg stood over a kitchen sink, “There isn’t much, I was looking for solid compounds in the drink to kill time when I noticed it more for pieces of matter I couldn’t identify. Rampant, unusual, nonsensical energy that had no right to be as it is-”

“We get it, magic,” Adagio griped with crossed arms and lowered brow.

“But that’s impossible I didn’t touch that drink-”

Gigan responded by raising his eyebrow as he poured the root beer onto the flowers, causing them to spring up slightly and shift under the moving liquid. After letting the drink run out and through his hands, the cyborg tossed the flowers and stem to Gloriosa.

Gloriosa caught the flying plant and visibly tilted her head at the oddity, showing indeed the flowers she knew had to have been torn off their vine were now healed from the severed point, with tiny roots visible on the very end where the break in the stem had been.

“At… all,” Gloriosa petered out.

Gigan bemusingly pulled the foliage free and tossed it to her, “New roots, right?”

“Botanokinesis,” Gloriosa muttered as Twilight looked closer and nodded along.

Adagio looked at the drink with a very befuddled or disgusted look for all of five seconds before looking up and shrugging, “I only had fish this morning. I’ll be fine.”

“Stomach acid likely means it wouldn’t cause roots to grow inside your entrails. Only thing I can see it affecting is maybe natural gut flora, and in a good way,” Gigan shrugged as did Adagio before she resumed drinking.

The cyborg looked to Gloriosa again, “You sure you didn’t touch this set?”

Gloriosa shook her head rapidly, confusion growing on her face that only bloomed more when Twilight took the flower and tore a leaf from the flower in half before pouring some of the root beer on. Sure enough, it patched up the wound again.

Gloriosa blinked as her eyes grew wider and wider, before finally it came out in a quiet whisper no one heard, “... How in the fuck?”

“Well it explains the preservation if magic got involved,” Twilight hummed, “Root beer usually has a shelf life of a year at best. No alcohol.”

Gigan growled lowly, “It’s magic, of course it tells the laws of physics to go jump off a cliff and die.”

“How in the fuck?...”

Twilight hummed as she looked off into the distance, “Maybe something with the land? The cave the Elements were in is close by, maybe the magic leaked?”

“How in the fuck?...”

Adagio perked her brow while glancing at Gloriosa, more surprised than anything she actually heard the latter swear even before a flicker of green appeared across the camp director’s form.

Gigan shook his head, “No couldn’t be. Only plants affected by magic make my sensors go ballistic. Faint as it is, only the drinks got tainted. Trees outside are fine.”

“Hey don’t call magic taint! If anything we’ve discovered it’s natural here!”

Looking between the bickering space cyborg and magical pony princess, the hybrid mermaid monster backed up to see how the sparks flew.

“How in the FUCK?!” 

Both Gigan and Twilight flinched at the shout and loud thump, both looking over at the source and soon tilting their heads at the sight.

“... Is this remotely normal for magic? Or does magic take that concept and rip it apart too?” Gigan deadpanned.

“Um… Changes due to moments of intense emotion have happened before, like when I confronted Sunset Shimmer. She used spite, I and the others used our respective Elements and benign traits,” Twilight noted plainly while tilting her head more.

“So intense emotion can lead to transformation here. I guess sheer befuddlement fits the bill…. Oh look, more botanokinesis. Now you know why I didn’t risk letting the drink hit fresh wooden flooring.”

Gloriosa was heaving in breath, a reddish-maroon mask of coloration had formed around her eyes, while strands of her hair had switched from their typical raspberry colored to green-blue with magic playing an obvious role given some patches were glowing dimly. She’d stomped on the floor right on the spot Gigan had avoided, causing patches of green and brown to jut out around her foot in a pattern one might expect a splash into a body of water. The ‘ripples’ were formed by new growths of wood fibers and bark, with even a few leaves forming out of the edges.

Adagio glanced up and down the altered human, circling her with a bemused expression, “This is new… Hey!”

She held her fingers up in front of Gloriosa and snapped them to get the altered human’s attention. Gloriosa flinched and shook herself back to awareness, quickly following their line of sight and looking at a stray strand of her hair perplexingly.

“My hair changed,” She muttered quietly, yipping when Gigan suddenly flicked out a wrist blade and held it in front of her.

Quickly realizing no harm was intended despite the sharp metal object being waved around in her face, Gloriosa’s focus was quickly taken in by the green glowing spots she saw in the reflection.

“That’s not all,” the cyborg pointed his free hand towards his optics and motioned a circle around them, “Humans here are more colorful than I knew them to be, but I haven’t seen that before.”

For a split second, she was decades back; back in the holidays at her aunt and uncle’s out of town. Her mother had been exiting the room, but the face with glowing green eyes that looked back at her both was and wasn’t Wysteria. Faded memory of the ages bygone kept detail vague aside from the recollection being jogged by the familiarity. Gloriosa was about to ask what was going on, when she noticed the green glow flicked out and back on when she blinked. She closed one eye and one of the green dots went out. She opened it, and the second dot returned, Gloriosa realizing it was her own eyes creating the dim light. Blinking a few times to confirm it, she leaned in closer and saw a reddish-maroon mask of coloration encircling darkened eyes that had glowing green irises staring back at her.

“Gah!” she recoiled, almost stumbling over before Twilight caught her from behind.

“You feel okay?” Twilight grimaced, “I’m kinda the only one here to transform, twice, so I know it can be jarring.”

Gloriosa wriggled slightly, feeling at her head testingly as she got back on her feet with stability, “Feel.. fine. Just, not normal.”

“Any weird thoughts? A drive to do things you wouldn’t normally? Just checking, as Sunset Shimmer’s transformation was anything but pleasant,” Twilight frowned hoping any worry was unfounded.

Her now green eyes looked at the siren and then cyborg, remembering a lesson they’d imparted, “No. I-I’m still me. Just feel… wow, I can feel through the ground. I-I felt like this the other night.”

“What were you doing then?” Adagio hummed, taking the welcomed distraction.

“Well, I-….” She took a breath and held her necklace, looking at it as the Elements flickered dimly, “I stopped running from how these were reaching out. I remember singing and... poof! I felt then what I feel now.”

“Singing or some controlled motion helps focus the mind for emotion-tied magic,” Twilight hummed with a slight smile, “You used the song we did earlier, didn’t you?”

“Seemed to fit. I thought good things then, and I did now,” Gloriosa shrugged, “I um- know this sounds crazy but I think my mother was tied to this power somehow.”

“Explains the magic in the drink,” Gigan quipped as he picked up another and inspected it, “You and Twilight are the one afflicted and a magic expert respectively, you should check in on it.”

The two called upon worriedly glanced to Adagio, who was leaned back against a wall and emptying her bottle. The siren finished her gulp and shrugged, waving at them.

“I’m nooooot going to drown the camp in dark mist again, in fact I came in here to avoid that. Eventide has had enough training for today, so I’m just going to relax,” she grunted, making a shooing motion with her hand.

“Well, maybe we won’t go to the cave today,” Gloriosa muttered as the red patches round her eyes lifted and her hair returned to the warm hues, her body reverting to its normal coloration. Her worried eye didn’t leave the siren even as Adagio frowned.

Gloriosa finally averted her gaze, “But we can… maybe look at the grounds of my mother’s old garden. See if anything is astray there. If not, I can always practice this as I don’t quite feel like I’ve got it down. It feels like I’m gripping a doorknob with only one or two fingers.”

The silent awkwardness returned to the room, Twilight biting her lip as she felt a tension slipping through the air again. Just before she was about to try and cut it however, the bladed literal edge lord did.

“Do so, I’ll go with you,” Gigan quipped before pushing both Gloriosa and Twilight out of the kitchen by the shoulders, “Go on ahead and set up, I’ll follow behind to arrange for some observation. Magic makes no damn sense, but looking at it will tell me something.”

“I thought you said you can’t perceive magic, that it’s just scrambled to you,” Twilight piped as she was harried to the door.

“And what is scrambled is there, just not studied and sorted yet. Now go and find where this infernal drink came from,” he shrugged and pushed them out.

Gloriosa was about to say something but a quick message was granted when the cyborg’s red eyes were upon her, then to Adagio, and then back to her. She closed her mouth and nodded, pacing off dutifully with a confused Twilight in tow.

Gigan shut the doors and paused, huffing a breath before an audible sip sounded off behind him.

“You look ridiculous when you worry, you know that?” Adagio huffed insultingly but looked aside as not to gaze up.

“Bite me, Herring Hair, you try partnering up with someone who might spontaneously turn into a raging gravity dragon for a century or two and tell me you don’t get paranoid. I’m not fretting because I’m sentimental, I worry because of risks,” Gigan growled, but without anger in his inflection as he turned around, “You absolutely flooded this hall with dark magic, and not even on purpose. It wasn’t just the realization of temporal dissonance.”

Adagio’s lips shifted and were bitten briefly as she frowned, “It was a shock to be sure. Guess it just… broke a floodgate open.”

“…” Gigan walked past her and back to the spot Gloriosa had caused a growth out of the floor, begging to saw through it to shave the board back down, “You talked about your mother, aunt, and grandmother. Then there is obviously your cousin and sister. What about your father?”

“I don’t have a father. Most mermares only mate to reproduce.”

The answer came out too quickly, “And yet he seems to be a nerve despite being a one-off your mother had.”

“… It didn’t happen that way.”

His auditory receptors pitched up in sensitivity at how quiet she’d gotten. There was a heaviness in his torso at something nagging to be asked, but it seemed like the best chance to throw it off was such. He’d never probed before despite curiosity. Questions in the siren’s story kept cropping up. If most mermares reproduced in what amounted to harmless one-night-stands with compatible males, why the stigma that afflicted the siren’s foremothers? If the society had an outside enemy in the kelpies forcing the leaders to be very capable, and if Adagio at all lived up to her hype for her kind, she’d have made a natural heir to the throne.

“Look, I can’t quantify magic. Want to know the chemical make-up of your left hand’s 3rd fingernail, I can find it. Want to know my maximum flight velocity, I can clock it. Want to know what your heart looks like, I can find a way to see it without gutting you. Magic? Best I can do is,” he paused, straining and perhaps feeling ridiculous at the wording he was about to use, “Say I know the… ‘feeling’, urgh... Point is, that cloud of dark magic you put out in your wallowing? I kept it to myself but I felt it before. And you can guess where.”

Adagio visibly shrunk back, not saying what was obvious. She’d been the first to review the footage Gigan had from his confrontation with the other Twilight and the being that came to her aid. The floor had her full gaze now.

“… It wouldn’t, couldn’t be. That… creature died long ago, even further back now that Twilight unknowingly let out the temporal details,” Adagio whispered.

Gigan hacked through the wooden uplift in another swing, standing up and tossing it into the garbage as he faced the siren, “And yet, somehow I speculate the power you sought those years back in the equine lands wasn’t just to overcome some usurper to your grandmother and her challenger….”

Adagio flinched from a hand placed on her head. The guard went up again, the walls slamming shut. But after several long moments and the sting of stale breath in her lungs, Adagio Dazzle let herself exhale and lower some of the defenses.

“It was just in case…” she said plainly.

“… Hmp, seems we both have been anxious about monsters returning again,” Gigan quipped as he waited for Adagio to finally look up. His mechanical eyes rolled, “I could tell you needed to be alone after getting resettled, don’t let me drive you up a wall for a repeat wallowing episode. I don’t want more dark magic, and it’s unbecoming of you anyways. And our front can’t afford to weaken. Worst case scenario or not, what’s out there is like the creatures that… harmed your mother.”

“Not the same,” Adagio mumbled with a frown, “but similar.”

“Similar enough the right kind of magic can dispel it where my team’s force can’t,” Gigan noted as he motioned to the room voided of the dark magic fog, “I even managed to force it back with the right sentiments. The power Gloriosa, Eventide, you and Aria pack? Might be more than enough… so long as the front doesn’t falter. Got it?”

Adagio took a moment to collect herself, taking in a breath and steadying her shaking. Her hand reached up to take his off her scalp, flicking it away without much spite.

“Then you best catch up to the ‘Vine Head’ and ensure all is going to plan,” the alpha siren hummed, returning to her old smug, confident self.

“You’ve instructed her on magic, the same as Princess Sparkle has. Want to join us?”

Adagio shook her head slightly, playing it off with a shrug as the defenses went back up safely, “For once, I’m the one who’s had my fill of magic for the day out of the two of us.”

The cyborg shook his head and chanced a chuckle, “What is the world coming to now…”

He drew up the last bottle and handed it off to Adagio, “If you start feeling anxious again, go get Aria or Sonata.”

“Aria’s off training, and Sonata is...” Adagio sighed, “Not in a state where she should have to shoulder my burden. Not how being a big sister works.”

“Then get me or Gloriosa. We’ll talk about our enemy when you’re able-minded,” he shrugged as he paced out the door, only pausing when her words chased him down.

“Not like you could do much against dark magic if I had another bout anyways, but you annoy me so much I just might if I got you.”

The slight, oh so slight inflection caused him to smirk as he glanced back and gave a distinctly human gesture with a single finger, “We both know one of those isn’t true… Rest up. I’ll make sure Gloriosa doesn’t vine up the whole camp.”

A nod was exchanged before Gigan departed, leaving Adagio alone in the mess hall with only one bottle of drink. She took in a breath and sat back down near a window, staring out over the lake. A sip of drink, a recollection of the past; recent and distant. Some, now far more distant than she thought previously.

A half finished drink as her only company, Adagio finally dropped her guard as the tears started to roll down her cheeks.

Unbeknownst to her however, her sorrow from earlier didn’t just vacate into the aether. It had been trickling away before being banished, to another building, to another the magic saw familiarity in it. Within the camper cabin, of which the windows were covered over to hide one of its occupants from prying eyes that Irys couldn’t steer away, two forms milled about at a table. Within the tunnels under the cabin a make-shift cooking fire, fueled by both wood spat up napalm pellets with a skillet put over it, was tended to by Pinkie Pie. Another flapjack was churned and skillfully caught, the party planner nimbly flicking the readied pancake onto the outstretched plate of an awaiting Megalon.

Winks, nods, and perhaps some sort of silent sign language were substitute for speech on account of the sleeping form curled up on the bed behind the younger cyborg. Neither noticed the green mist trickling in from under the door…

Sonata Dusk, having been sleeping in her bed under watch of two friends, twitched in her rest. Perhaps from a bad dream, perhaps from the stimuli of the mist itself; but her discomfort was increasingly visible as her sister’s grief and pain was pulled closer. It silently traveled up her arm and under the blankets, before settling upon the ugly scar upon the youngest siren’s neck. It was there it melded into her, absorbed with each breath.

“Brrr, someone open a window?” Pinkie Pie yipped as she rubbed her arms, feeling the chilled skin getting goosebumps.



===================
Crystal City Outskirts
===================

Irys’ eyes were wide as she gawked at what had pulled her here. She shook as she was beholden to the traces of an elusive foe. This.. this was far worse than she, or the gyaos suspected, anyone on her team had anticipated. Twilight Sparkle had been here, she had to have, Irys could still smell her!

 -Which means.. she managed to do this…-

Irys swallowed as the chilly, wretched feeling air stung at her lungs. The ice, all that ice out of nowhere. And somehow that didn't seem to be the only thing just wrong about it... She testingly gripped a spire of ice and seeing if her hand came back with any dampness from where her high body temperature would have, should have melted it. Irys promptly wrenched her hand back soon after, hissing at the cold burn the ice gave off; tiny bits of frost clinging to her skin that refused to melt.

Irys grimaced, trying to wipe the shards off and resigned to shed a few bits of skin to dislodge them. That was when she heard the second thing that could stop her heart for the moment. It was a distant, faint, but growing echo. One imperceptible to any but her for it was as much in the mind as it was in the shifting air. Coming from the direction of the train yard, her brother was calling out.

Irys stilled, many a thought brewing in her mind on what to do next....






====================
Day of the Concert....
===================


Sometimes size did matter. Even if he wasn't an exceptionally speedy individual like a certain mutant iguana or alchemically engineered pterosaur, in his true state Godzilla junior could cover quite a bit of ground when he needed to move. And while he couldn't exactly make as long of a stride at just under about two meters tall then when he could at fifty times that span, truly remarkable endurance and urgency was allowing him to book it down the street at much faster than he initially thought he could. The-kaiju-turned-unicorn-turned-human was also having an easier time than normal given the streets were largely empty. Too many people attending the town festival that the music exhibition was a part of. Most of the storefronts were closed, many of the windows darkened, nothing for a distraction that stopped him from hyperfocusing on the massive amount of radiation he was picking up.

Or at the very least it felt a lot like it. Even if this particular human world seemed a bit more like what he was familiar with as opposed to what Equestria had, some questioning with the locals and a bit of sensing hadn't picked up anything atomic. No nuclear power plants, no weapon silos, not even a mine that might occasionally get something on the level of uranium ore. While he never went sacking power plants like some mutations or his predecessor did, he still could pick them up at a distance even with the shielding. And given how close the signal he was chasing was, it wouldn't even appear to be a case of his human body dulling that sense any.

And if it wasn't radiation, it had to be the next closest thing which he knew from Equestria thanks to Princess Sparkle and Lele's tests. There was something magical blowing up all of his sensory tracking dead ahead, directly where the purple siren had run off to. The last time he sensed a spike of this particular brand of chaotic, unfocused magic was after first contact with the sirens at the school. Now she had run off and he was detecting it again, magnitudes moreso. Cause for concern to be sure.

They might not have come here for equestrian monsters from some bygone era, but if weird things were happening he was bound to get to the bottom of this mess by pursuing any lead he could. The mission was to get Princess Sparkle back, and protect Princess Celestia, her former student, and their human companions. In a big open event like a festival nobody was going to try anything, and ever-loyal Anguirus was on standby.

He swallowed a brief worry while putting more distance between him and the concert.

-You've helped them get a grasp on their abilities in case something really wrong happens. They're not going to try and fight off a kaiju, but they can defend themselves until Anguirus can get to them. They'll be just fine… just fine.-

If anything, the worry hurried him. However unfortunately for the individual sprinting at him from the left, concern had also hyper-focused him. With no one else in the streets there was nothing else to filter out the noise of her advance. He had tried to remain focused only towards where the siren had gone.

He didn't know at all who it was, attempts to chance a glance behind him hadn't been fruitful. But she had seemed to make a very concerted effort to stay on his tail and close the distance. The former was concerning, the latter told him the situation he was in.

It was another reason to put more distance between what was coming and the humans. Very reluctantly he steered his sprint towards the smell of water, a rather large lake being not too far away.

With a water in viewing distance, nobody around, and his pursuer closing in, the king of the monsters took a calculated risk and slowed down.

There was a sound of feet kicking off a roof, and Junior whipped around just in time for a very pale-colored woman to collide with him in a pounce. Time slowed down to a crawl as their bodies inched towards each other.

For the faintest moment he thought her a normal human, or perhaps maybe another exiled creature from Equestria. His left hand which was coming up under her stomach was opened to try and catch, grip, and hold her away. Maybe ask and demand to know who she was and why was she chasing him?

Then she bit him on the left forearm.

Irys was unsure what kind of reaction she would get. On one level she was absolutely terrified with so many unknowns. Where had the Mothra, who so often was a blight to her nightmares, gone off to after X beat her but was forced to escape? What had compelled Aria to demand a plan in which she and X face the enemy alone? Any kind of isolation seemed unthinkable to her. What sort of bravado would compel one to face their terrors alone or with only limited backup? She might have hated her old flock for what they did to her and her mother, but they and her could certainly agree that numbers always mattered.

If there came a day she had to face down the mothra, her resurrected flock, or Gamera; the hyper gyaos intended to do so with a Ghidorah hybrid and two cyborgs at her side with their Master at her back.

Then again she didn't exactly have a stellar relationship with her cannibalistic cousins and any siblings she might have had died in their eggs so perhaps her experience was a bit different than X's mate. Small comfort was granted at the knowledge X and the trained Aria would be more than enough to handle this foe…

-Until said foe started spewing out magic and causing a light show…-

The gyaos shoved that thought aside, hoping on faith, and considering her present as she sailed down at her target. Which left her here. Pouncing at a being she didn’t know to try and help Aria and X’s scheme avoid outside interference while reluctantly leaving them to fight the latest enemy.

He didn’t smell like a normal human, but didn’t give off any magic she could pick up on either. At least not directly, there was something similar. And given her encounter with Anguirus, a name that brought forth many stray thoughts, who knew who the mothra had gotten for help.

Irys launched herself at the target, hoping to get a keen surprise attack so she’d have an advantage. She could only hope it wasn’t-

The dark gray skin, up close, was more noticeable even if it wasn’t heavily armored scales.

-No...-

Milliseconds ticked by when her teeth sunk into his left arm. A horrid taste from some bristling power was so distinct. She was more familiar with how the mothra and Gamera tasted, but this wasn’t an unknown from one time she clashed with a very particular foe. One very, very big mistake.

-No no no not him!-

Amethyst eyes looked into burning gold surrounded by red, the recognition proving mutual.

She grimaced behind her fangs still sunk into the arm, whimpering briefly as she braced. Underneath her, the hand meant to catch her instead balled into a fist. Irys felt her gut get punched so hard that it voided her lungs, her foe twisting around and letting forth a nuclear pulse. The gyaos shrieked and let go of her bite due to energy conducting into both her gut and mouth from the contact, shocking her so much parts of her clothing and hair smoked. She was wrenched around and thrown several yards into a snowbank.

Everything in her mind was a daze from the impact and shocks, so much so her vision was fuzzy and refused to clear for several seconds even as stomping footfalls closed in on her.

On reflex the gyaos vibrated her vocal cords and distended her jaw to spew out a hyper sonic ray of energetic sound. At first yellow, panic made her condense it further into a familiar purple. An outstretched palm caught the beam and grabbed her by the face. Even so, Irys kept firing and she registered the flinching flash of pain in her attacker’s face. The sonic ray was very thin, meant more as a sweeping blow to allow it to slash as the thin puncture would be far less deadly, but with him holding onto her face with an iron grip she couldn’t change its aim.

Irys was dragged off the ground and hoisted into the air, gripping the arm holding her whilst kicking her legs as they dangled over a foot off the ground. The helplessness starting to settle in, even as she was whipped around and smacked against a storefront window several times hard enough to crack it, was thankfully brief. As while her foe had so stubbornly held her by her head, she had stubbornly held onto his arm and continued firing. And even the enhanced durability he enjoyed on loan from his true self had limits. Her attacker shook and grimaced more so than before and the reason soon became obvious when a screaming, thin ray of purple shot out of his elbow after having burrowed through his hand and arm. She must have hit a tendon in there somewhere, as her foe’s arm went slack from the elbow down and his fingers lost their grip.

Irys snarled and grabbed his arm, rather fearlessly yanking herself forward to launch at his throat with her fanged jaws open. Only a flash of blue light stopped her advance. While unable to fly, the enhanced sense of balance and orientation was still there and she acted on it, grabbing him by his face and kicking off his gut to launch herself away and send her sprawling across the ground. Not missing any beat, she sprung away from the frozen and snowy earth to avoid a salvo of atomic plasma as the neon blue burning wrath instantly instantly evaporated a large amount of snow they’d been standing in. Steam born of the conflicting hot vapors and cold air soon whited out much of the nearby terrain.

When she arose her expression was not one of confidence given apparent success, but abject terror. Especially when a dark shadow in the fog started rushing towards her. Godzilla Junior, still bleeding from his hurt hand, came at her swinging with the right. Light and crackling energy engulfed both his eye and hand, and his acceleration was unfit for his size. Without any room to dodge, Irys curled up and crossed her arms before herself while letting a ringing shriek sound off from her throat. A shield of projected power formed in front of her and took the nuclear pulse charged hit, but nothing stopped the momentum as she went rocketing back. A yelp sounded off after a loud, metallic crash.

Godzilla Junior huffed, narrowing his eyes while raising up his bloodied, hurt hand. Before his eyes, the clean stab wound sealed shut and he tested at each finger and knuckle to ensure the ligaments, tendon, and muscle had knit back together properly; with only a scar to show for it on his palm and elbow.

-Lea and this gyaos are unable to fly in this world, with Anguirus having lost his natural spikes. Guess besides the lack of tail for balance, I’m the least-affected.-

The hand balled into a crackling fist as his focus and eyes all narrowed at the streaks of torn cloth, bits of blood, and disturbed sleet that indicated where his enemy had gotten blasted through the fog to. Even with the haze he could easily pick up on the gasping gyaos, who’d apparently gotten back up onto her feet. Then everything went silent, leaving him alone in the white out.

Godzilla Junior kept his guard up, pacing forward slightly while sniffing silently at the air. He soon found the source of the crash from earlier in the form of a bent and twisted newspaper stand the gyaos had apparently been thrown into hard enough she shattered the front and ripped several of its legs out of the bolts anchoring it to the ground.

“I came here looking for trouble, seems I found you,” he growled while beginning to advance through the fog. He was following the gyaos’ trail via scent as best he could, but it was complicated by how much she evidently was leaping about.

He glanced aside, thinking he saw something off to his left and turning that way, while remembering the terms set up by the Element Bearers and Princess. Her fear had been obvious, he could literally smell it, so it was worth a shot to avoid a pointless act.

“I’ll give you a chance to stand down, and I won’t have to do what I did to your flock.”

Or at least, that’s what he tried to say. The thought was there, the articulations of his body parts from his lips, tongue, lungs, and vocal cords all acted as needed and he could even feel it so. But the sound was gone. Totally gone. In fact it sounded like… nothing. He couldn’t even hear the distant concert anymore! A test whack against a nearby phone pole with his knuckles confirmed it. He could feel the pole shake to register to hit, as well as the tactile sensation of hitting it on his hand; but no hollow echo to indicate it.

He didn’t know what it was, who was doing it, or how it came about; only two things were known. It was eerie and messing with his head, and he didn’t like it.

Especially when absolutely nothing audible heralded a purple slicing ray glancing off his shoulder and leaving a shallow, but painful cut. Godzilla gasped mutely, quickly gripping it and snarling as the wound mended. A dim flicker of a shape moving in the mist soon heralded a dark fog mixing in with the haze, evidently generated by the gyaos.

Irys huffed as she dove back and lashed out with another cutter ray, this one gashing the monster across the leg and causing him to stumble briefly… Only for him to immediately get back up and charge her location. She grimaced and rushed away under the cover of her shade. Against some kind of brute, she might have been able to wear him down fairly easily even without the advantage of her flight.

And after several more slashes or stabs with her beam, she was reaching success. Some. It wouldn’t last.

Her canceling out all the noise kept him from hearing her footsteps and a mix of the natural fog as well as the dark mists she was emitting kept her from sight, but the moment she tried to fire he would come instantly barreling at her by following the beam's path.

Irys shook as sweat ran down her face despite the cold air.

Fighting at range was all she had, and it was no small blessing he wasn't firing back that much… in fact he hadn't even unleashed one atomic breath in several minutes. Her brow furrowed on instinct.

-H-He's up to something. Come on, come on I need backup guys! I can't keep this up much longer, I-!!!!?!?!-

The albino cringed and dove to the side to avoid an oncoming projectile that was slinging some smelly liquid everywhere. The gyaos chanced a glance at it as it sailed away and skid across the street, and at what had fallen out of it. The ladder was immediately recognizable as it had turned into one of her favorite snacks in this world, a bunch of corndogs. And a lot of oil in the fryer bin that had apparently been torn off one of the food stalls parked in the street. Irys reactively cringed at some of the oil getting on her, but the fryer must have been off as it wasn't very warm.

Several more fryer bins were launched out of the mist to either side of her, soon accompanied by a dark figure starting to advance through it. Flashing lights were the only warning she got as a ray of short ranged plasma was swept across in a wide arc, raking across the beach and evaporating geysers of water wall scorching the pavement.

Forgetting the peculiarities of thrown projectile choice, Irys opted not to try and block this with her shield and instead ducked under it. Diving on her belly and rolling across the ground as the neon blue heat passed overhead before stopping.

Mentally swearing, Irys scrambled up and away, darling off to the right near the entrance to the lake's pier. She had prepared to circle back around and try to slash Godzilla across the back, only to find herself turning even paler when he also turned to the right and came barreling after her. Irys bolted tiredly up the ramp and down the wooden walkways of the pier, frantically checking all signs as Godzilla remained right on her trail.

-The mist is just as heavy, still keeping up the sound dampening field, and the wind hadn't shifted so he's certainly not smelling me!-

She could feel the pounding vibrations of his footfalls behind her.

-No no no! Stay away from me! Stay-?!-

She slipped, not because of any clumsy footing or tripping but because something on her foot had made her do so. Chancing to glance behind her at the ground Irys' heart sank. Staring back at her were a set of half-a-foot, single step footprints coming from her right leg. Frying oil was almost entirely covering her pant leg, evidently from when she had dove down to avoid the beam.

Milliseconds ticked by as the powerful figure of Godzilla came stomping after her, having been following the footprints his jury-rigged plan created. Even with how accustomed she was to gore, Irys felt repulsed. His clothing was covered in blood from getting slashed so many times, even if the wounds had mended. One particularly large gash across his cheek and jaw was stitching itself back together. All while burning eyes glared down at her…

Irys was not cowed, she was not terrified. She had willingly gone up against two Ghidorah, one of them twice, for the sake of herself and her flock. But after years of running away from confrontations that didn't bode well, she also knew when it was time to fold them.

They were far enough down up here that the blue of the lake was visible below.

Irys' eyes and throat flashed with violet light as she took in a deep breath, energy collecting in her throat as the air started to vibrate. Knowing what was coming, Godzilla held up an arm in front of himself as a shield for his face but did not stop his advance. He suffered the pain of another laceration to close the distance.

it was far less than he expected, but not because his opponent was weakening from tiredness. It was because she had only briefly slashed him across the arm before firing the beam straight up for several seconds. Even with how narrow it was it would be visible for kilometers.

Cutting off the ray, Irys threw herself to the side and launched over the railing. With her opponent briefly stunned, she could make her escape and-...

Air rushed past her pale hair without any heed to an airfoil or pressure differential. Tiny human fingers were spread out without any bat-like membrane between them…

Irys cursed her muscle memory, in her fright and haze forgetting she couldn't fly. At best the fabric foil between her long sleeves and hips did slow her down however. Which meant she had several fractions of a second to realize a shadow coming over her and a faster falling Godzilla had launched over the rail after her.

Surprise looked into stoicism as they both hit the water, the former amphibious dinosaur grabbing the smaller woman who used to be a giant bat. Snarling, Godzilla dragged the gyaos who had been tormenting him so badly under the waves despite her thrashing.

A beam of violet, energized sound shot out of the surging watery surface. It swung about, disappearing briefly as the cutting ray hit something, before slashing across several of the pier’s pylons. A few minutes after piercing the sky, it cut out. Blood bubbled up to the surface.

Far and away, two forces who witnessed the last pillar of light bore down upon the pier. One leaving flashes of red light, the other a trail of a rainbow. All while South Wind howled over the song of the frozen storm clouds above.